We enjoy tremendous freedom. We can order double cheeseburgers, large fries and a DIET coke. We are able to leave cars worth thousands of dollars in the driveway and fill garage with excess. We use our cell phone to screen calls and have call waiting so we won’t miss a call from someone we didn’t want to talk to in the first place. We buy hot dogs in packages of ten and buns in packages of eight. (Steve Shepherd, Mattoon Christian Church; www.SermonCentral.com)
We should use our freedom for good, besides accumulating excess? In the early 1800’s, an unknown man from Europe visited our young country to learn the secret of her greatness. Later, he wrote: “I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers – and it was not there… in her fertile fields and boundless forests and it was not there… in her rich mines and her vast world commerce – and it was not there… in her democratic Congress and her matchless Constitution – and it was not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.” (Attributed to Alexis deTocqueville by Dwight D. Eisenhower in his final campaign address in Boston, Massachusetts, November 3, 1952, but not found in deTocqueville’s works)
A little more recently, just over 20 years ago, Joe Wright, pastor of the Central Christian Church in Wichita, Kansas, was asked to pray before the Kansas State House in Topeka, and this is what he prayed:
“Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask Your forgiveness and to seek Your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, ‘Woe to those who call evil good,’ but that’s exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and inverted our values.
“We confess that: We have ridiculed the absolute truth of Your Word and called it pluralism. We have worshipped other gods and called it multiculturalism. We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have neglected the needy and called it self-preservation. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. We have killed our unborn and called it a choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable. We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem. We have abused power and called it political savvy. We have coveted our neighbor’s possessions and called it ambition. We have polluted the airwaves with profanity and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.
“Search us, O God, and know our hearts today; try us and see if there be some wicked way in us; cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Guide and bless these men and women who have been sent here by the people of Kansas, and who have been ordained by You, to govern this great state. Grant them Your wisdom to rule and may their decisions direct us to the center of Your will. Amen.” (Troy Borst; www.SermonCentral.com)
There was a tremendous amount of controversy that prayer stirred up. One member of the Kansas State House actually walked out in the middle of the prayer.
Later, Paul Harvey read a copy of Joe Wright’s prayer on the radio. As a result, He got more requests for copies of it than any other thing he had ever done.
We do well to heed God’s warning to another young nation just getting its start nearly 1,500 years before Christ. Then, God told the nation of Israel, “When you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God… You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you the ability to produce wealth… If you ever forget the LORD your God… I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed” (Deuteronomy 8:12-19).
The nation of Israel, as predicted, did forget God just one generation after she conquered the Promised Land. As a result, the surrounding nations constantly attacked and ravaged her land over a period of about 400 years. Then God raised a leader and his mighty men to restore Israel to greatness once again.
In 2 Samuel 23, there describes the kind of men God used in David’s day to make Israel great again.
2 Samuel 23:8-12 These are the names of David’s mighty men: Josheb-Basshebeth, a Tahkemonite, was chief of the Three; he raised his spear against eight hundred men, whom he killed in one encounter. Next to him was Eleazar son of Dodai the Ahohite. As one of the three mighty men, he was with David when they taunted the Philistines gathered at Pas Dammim for battle. Then the men of Israel retreated, but he stood his ground and struck down the Philistines till his hand grew tired and froze to the sword. The LORD brought about a great victory that day. The troops returned to Eleazar, but only to strip the dead. Next to him was Shammah son of Agee the Hararite. When the Philistines banded together at a place where there was a field full of lentils, Israel’s troops fled from them. But Shammah took his stand in the middle of the field. He defended it and struck the Philistines down, and the LORD brought about a great victory.
God will work through those who…STAND STRONG IN HIM.
We need to stand firm in His strength. But from where does that strength come? How were these men able to prevail? The answer is found twice, in verse 10 and in verse 12, where it says, “The Lord brought about a great victory.” God gave them their strength. God gave them the victory and they were able to stand strong only by depending on Him.
Today, we must stand strong in Him. We must depend on the Lord. We must wholly rely on Christ, to stand against the propagation of immorality, humanism and atheism in our culture.
We just celebrated July 4th the declaration of our country with a constitution, but notice what made America strong. The signers of our own Declaration of Independence declared their “firm reliance on the protection of divine providence.”
Patrick Henry said, “It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded not by religionists but by Christians, not on religion but on the gospel of Jesus Christ.
George Washington in his Farewell Address to the Nation proclaimed, “Do not let anyone claim tribute of American patriotism if they even attempt to remove religion from politics.”
John Adams declared, “We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Our constitution was made for a moral and religious people… it is wholly inadequate to the government of any other…”
And even Thomas Jefferson, in his address to the Danbury Baptists, said, “The 1st Amendment has created a wall of separation between church and state, but that wall is a one directional wall, it keeps the government from running the church, but it makes sure that Christian principles will always stay in government.”
John Jay, the 1st Chief Justice of our Supreme Court, wrote that “Divine Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty… of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.’” (Letter to John Murray, Oct. 12, 1816)
Indeed, on our nations moto recorded on our currency are the words, “In God We Trust.”
Many of our nation’s founders stood strong in the Lord. They trusted God and relied wholly upon Him for everything.
Once many school children across the United States prayed a prayer to start their day, “Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and we beg Thy blessings upon us, our teachers and our country.”
Then the United States Supreme Court decided that this violated the establishment clause of the First Amendment, and they removed prayer from the public schools.
Later, they took out the 10 Commandments and even the right of a teacher to put a Bible on his or her desk.
In our “politically correct” culture, some students are afraid to mention the name of God. Yet a clever fourth grader gave a report on the origins of the Thanksgiving holiday. He said, “The pilgrims came here seeking freedom of you know what. When they landed, they gave thanks to you know who. Because of them, we can worship each Sunday you know where. (Leadership, Vol.19, No.4)
It’s time to repent. It’s time to stand strong in Him.
We need to be the kind of people that God can work through. But sometimes we will need to be people who might have to…STAND ALONE.
When we choose to stand strong in the Lord, there will be times we might need to stand by ourselves. We do not need to wait for others to join our stand.
That’s what David’s three mighty men had to do. In verses 9-10 (of 2 Samuel 23), all of Israel withdraws. In verses 11-12, it’s the same story: “Israel’s troops fled, but Shammah took his stand…”
And that was true of our founding fathers, as well.
After the 13 Colonies declared their independence from Great Britain, a large number of colonists never fully united behind the war effort. A third of the population sympathized with Great Britain, calling themselves “Loyalists.” And nearly a third remained indifferent about the outcome of the war, supporting neither side. That put the outcome of the Revolutionary War in the hands of a few Patriots, who made up less than one-third of the entire population.
They stood alone, and that’s what we may have to do, if we choose to stand strong for the Lord today. We will probably have to stand alone, because standing for the Lord is not all that popular today.
God works through people who will stand strong in Him. God works through people who will stand alone. We need to be people who will…
STAND TRUE no matter what.
We must remain faithful no matter what the cost; we must be loyal to the Lord and to His cause.
And that’s also what many our founding fathers did. They stood true to the cause of freedom and guarantee the inalienable right to worship God for every citizen even at great risk to themselves.
On July 4, 1974, just a couple of years before our country’s bicentennial, Paul Harvey talked about the price our founding fathers paid on his News and Commentary radio broadcast. This is what he had to say:
“Americans, you know the 56 men who signed our Declaration of Independence that first 4th of July – you know they were risking everything, don’t you? Because if they won the war with the British, there would be years of hardship as a struggling nation. If they lost they would face a hangman’s noose. And yet there where it says, “We herewith pledge, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor,” they did sign. But did you know that they paid the price?
“When Carter Braxton of Virginia signed the Declaration of Independence, he was a wealthy planter and trader. But thereafter he saw his ships swept from the seas and to pay his debts, he lost his home and all of his property. He died in rags.
“Thomas Lynch, Jr., who signed that pledge, was a third generation rice grower and aristocrat – a large plantation owner – but after he signed his health failed. With his wife he set out for France to regain his failing health. Their ship never got to France; he was never heard from again.
“Thomas McKean of Delaware was so harassed by the enemy that he was forced to move his family five times in five months. He served in Congress without pay, his family in poverty and in hiding.
“Vandals looted the properties of William Ellery and George Clymer and Lyman Hall and Button Gwinnett and George Walton and Thomas Heyward Jr. and Edward Rutledge and Arthur Middleton.
And Thomas Nelson, Jr. of Virginia raised two million dollars on his own signature to provision our allies, the French fleet. After the War he personally paid back the loans wiping out his entire estate; he was never reimbursed by his government. And in the final battle for Yorktown, he, Nelson, urged General Washington to fire on his, Nelson’s own home, then occupied by Cornwallis. And he died bankrupt. Thomas Nelson, Jr. had pledged his life, his fortune, and his sacred honor.
“The Hessians seized the home of Francis Hopkinson of New Jersey.
Francis Lewis had his home and everything destroyed, his wife imprisoned – she died within a few months.
Richard Stockton, who signed the Declaration of Independence, pledging his life and his fortune, was captured and mistreated, and his health broken to the extent that he died at 51. And his estate was pillaged.
“Thomas Heyward, Jr. was captured when Charleston fell.
John Hart was driven from his wife’s bedside while she was dying; their thirteen children fled in all directions for their lives. His fields and gristmill were laid waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves and returned home after the War to find his wife dead, his children gone, his properties gone. He died a few weeks later of exhaustion and a broken heart.
“Lewis Morris saw his land destroyed, his family scattered.
Philip Livingston died within a few months of hardships of the War.
“John Hancock, history remembers best, due to a quirk of fate – that great sweeping signature attesting to his vanity, towers over the others. One of the wealthiest men in New England, he stood outside Boston one terrible night of the War and said, “Burn Boston, though it makes John Hancock a beggar, if the public good requires it.” He, too, lived up to the pledge.
“Of the 56 signers of the Declaration, few were long to survive. (29/56)
Five were captured by the British and tortured before they died.
Twelve had their homes – from Rhode Island to Charleston – sacked and looted, occupied by the enemy or burned.
Two of them lost their sons in the Army; one had two sons captured.
Nine of the 56 died in the War from its hardships or from its more merciful bullets.
“I don’t know what impression you’d had of these men who met that hot summer in Philadelphia, but I think it’s important this July 4, that we remember this about them: they were not poor men, they were not wild-eyed pirates. These were men of means and morals; these were rich men, most of them, who enjoyed much ease and luxury in personal living. Not hungry men – prosperous men, wealthy land owners, substantially secure in their prosperity. (Paul Harvey, News and Commentary, July 4, 1974; www.SermonCentral.com)
We need to honor God, stand strong in His strength, maybe at times stand alone, stand true to Him against our culture at all cost, and trust God with the outcome.
1 Peter 2:13-17 “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.”