Psalm 33:12-22
It is always good to examine our past so that we might understand our present and so that we might see purpose in our future.
It is especially important to examine the value and the reality of a Godly heritage so that we might see the importance of upholding it and the necessity of preserving it.
Our text this morning is one of many examples in the Bible of a man rejoicing in and reminiscing over the beauty of a Godly heritage.
This week, on Wednesday, we will celebrate our nation's birth and independence.
We have the distinct privilege and responsibility in this country to remember the Christian values upon which our nation was founded.
The consequences of not doing so are disastrous.
The principles and morals that keep order and law in this country would erode away until we become a nation without a moral compass.
The pagan immorality and corruption that brought Rome to its knees will crumble this country as well.
And the most horrific of all consequences, if we forget the God that blessed us in our early years and do not give Him the glory for our successes, He will withhold His hand of blessing and will allow our country to collapse under the weight of its own sin.
Indeed, we owe our nation's successes and strength to the fact that our forefathers spent as much time on their knees as at the table of legislative work.
They attributed their vision to the inspiration of the God of the Bible.
Before we read the text this morning let us examine our past so that we might see the powerful application of the text to our own situation.
John Adams and John Hancock:
We Recognize No Sovereign but God, and no King but Jesus! [April 18, 1775]
John Adams:
“ The general principles upon which the Fathers achieved independence were the general principals of Christianity… I will avow that I believed and now believe that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God.”
–John Adams in a letter written to Abigail on the day the Declaration was approved by Congress
• “[July 4th] ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty.”
"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." --October 11, 1798
December 25, 1813 letter to Thomas Jefferson
"I have examined all religions, as well as my narrow sphere, my straightened means, and my busy life, would allow; and the result is that the Bible is the best Book in the world. It contains more philosophy than all the libraries I have seen."
Samuel Adams:
[ "American Independence," August 1, 1776. Speech delivered at the State House in Philadelphia]
“ He who made all men hath made the truths necessary to human happiness obvious to all… Our forefathers opened the Bible to all.”
[October 4, 1790]
“ Let divines and philosophers, statesmen and patriots, unite their endeavors to renovate the age by impressing the minds of men with the importance of educating their little boys and girls, inculcating in the minds of youth the fear and love of the Deity… and leading them in the study and practice of the exalted virtues of the Christian system.”
John Quincy Adams:
--1837, at the age of 69, when he delivered a Fourth of July speech at Newburyport, Massachusetts.
• “Why is it that, next to the birthday of the Savior of the world, your most joyous and most venerated festival returns on this day [the Fourth of July]?" “Is it not that, in the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior? That it forms a leading event in the progress of the Gospel dispensation? Is it not that the Declaration of Independence first organized the social compact on the foundation of the Redeemer's mission upon earth? That it laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity"?
Charles Carroll - signer of the Declaration of Independence Portrait of Charles Carroll
[Source: To James McHenry on November 4, 1800.]
" Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time; they therefore who are decrying the Christian religion, whose morality is so sublime and pure...are undermining the solid foundation of morals, the best security for the duration of free governments."
Benjamin Franklin: Portrait of Ben Franklin
–Constitutional Convention of 1787 original manuscript of this speech
“ God governs in the affairs of man. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured in the Sacred Writings that except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this. I also believe that, without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel”
In Benjamin Franklin's 1749 plan of education for public schools in Pennsylvania, he insisted that schools teach "the excellency of the Christian religion above all others, ancient or modern."
Alexander Hamilton:
• Hamilton began work with the Rev. James Bayard to form the Christian Constitutional Society to help spread over the world the two things which Hamilton said made America great:
(1) Christianity
(2) a Constitution formed under Christianity.
On July 12, 1804 at his death, Hamilton said, “I have a tender reliance on the mercy of the Almighty, through the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am a sinner. I look to Him for mercy; pray for me.”
[1787 after the Constitutional Convention]
"For my own part, I sincerely esteem it [the Constitution] a system which without the finger of God, never could have been suggested and agreed upon by such a diversity of interests."
Patrick Henry:
"Orator of the Revolution."
• This is all the inheritance I can give my dear family. The religion of Christ can give them one which will make them rich indeed.”
—The Last Will and Testament of Patrick Henry
[May 1765 Speech to the House of Burgesses]
“It cannot be emphasized too clearly and too often that this nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religion, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason, peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here.”
John Jay:
Source: October 12, 1816. The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay
“ Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.”
Thomas Jefferson:
“ The doctrines of Jesus are simple, and tend to all the happiness of man.”
“Of all the systems of morality, ancient or modern which have come under my observation, none appears to me so pure as that of Jesus.”
(excerpts are inscribed on the walls of the Jefferson Memorial in the nations capital)
“God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are a gift from God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, and that His justice cannot sleep forever.”
James Madison
“ We’ve staked our future on our ability to follow the Ten Commandments with all of our heart.”
[Letter by Madison to William Bradford [urging him to make sure of his own salvation] November 9, 1772]
• A watchful eye must be kept on ourselves lest, while we are building ideal monuments of renown and bliss here, we neglect to have our names enrolled in the Annals of Heaven.
At the Constitutional Convention of 1787, James Madison proposed the plan to divide the central government into three branches. He discovered this model of government from the Perfect Governor, as he read Isaiah 33:22;
“For the LORD is our judge,
the LORD is our lawgiver,
the LORD is our king;
He will save us.”
Jedediah Morse:
"To the kindly influence of Christianity we owe that degree of civil freedom, and political and social happiness which mankind now enjoys. . . . Whenever the pillars of Christianity shall be overthrown, our present republican forms of government, and all blessings which flow from them, must fall with them."
Benjamin Rush:
[Letter written (1790’s) in Defense of the Bible in all schools in America]
• “I lament that we waste so much time and money in punishing crimes and take so little pains to prevent them…we neglect the only means of establishing and perpetuating our republican forms of government; that is, the universal education of our youth in the principles of Christianity by means of the Bible; for this Divine Book, above all others, constitutes the soul of republicanism.” “By withholding the knowledge of [the Scriptures] from children, we deprive ourselves of the best means of awakening moral sensibility in their minds.”
Justice Joseph Story:
“ At the time of the adoption of the constitution, and of the amendment to it, now under consideration [i.e., the First Amendment], the general, if not the universal sentiment in America was, that Christianity ought to receive encouragement from the state, so far as was not incompatible with the private rights of conscience, and the freedom of religious worship.”
Noah Webster:
[Source: 1828, in the preface to his American Dictionary of the English Language]
“In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed...No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people.”
“Education is useless without the Bible” [Noah Webster. Our Christian Heritage p.5 ]
George Washington:
“ It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and Bible.”
[speech to the Delaware Indian Chiefs May 12, 1779]
“What students would learn in American schools above all is the religion of Jesus Christ.”
[May 2, 1778, at Valley Forge]
"To the distinguished character of patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character of Christian"
[George Washington; from a 24 page authentic handwritten manuscript book dated April 21-23, 1752
I humbly beseech Thee to be merciful to me in the free pardon of my sins for the sake of Thy dear Son and only Savior Jesus Christ who came to call not the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Thou gavest Thy Son to die for me.”
These are just a few of the vast body of evidence that our nation looked to The Lord as their God in its early years.
READ TEXT
PRAY
EVERY CHRISTIAN MUST SEEK TO PRESERVE THE BLESSING OF GOD ON THEIR NATION
1.) Because God is actively involved and interested in the affairs of nations. (VS. 13-15)
2.) Because no amount of military might will save a country from destruction. (VS. 16,17)
1.) By living in the fear of God
> Does your life exhibit holiness?
1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God:
> Do you fear His judgment above the judgment of your peers?
> Do you fear loss of His approval above the loss of your friend's approval?
> Are you deeply concerned that God might remove His hand of blessing from your country?
> Are you concerned that He might judge you in Eternity?
Mt 10:28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
2.) By hoping in his mercy
> Do you pray faithfully for your country to be spared from judgment?
> Do you rest in the personal knowledge that God will grant you mercy on the last day?
> Are you trusting in anything but God's mercy for your own salvation?
V19-22
Mercy is offered, will you accept it?
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