This sermon was preached at Cornerstone Baptist Church in Cherry Log, Georgia on Sunday, July 7, 2013 by Pastor Paul Mims.

Psalm 33:12-22, Proverbs 14:34
Our family lived in Virginia for fifteen years and enjoyed the history of our Colonial Capitol, Williamsburg. Today, when you go to Williamsburg, it is either 1774, 1775, or 1776. The re-enactments are what happened in those years. You are transported back into history to live the events as though they were actually occurring. As you walk up and down the streets you can meet Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry and others of that era. We enjoyed listening to Patrick Henry as he helped to shape the new country we know as America.

In 1764 he was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses where he became a champion of the frontier people, supporting their rights against the arrogant exercise of power by the aristocracy.

In 1774 he was a delegate to the First Continental Congress. In 1775, before the Virginia Provincial Convention, which was deeply divided between those who supported England and those who desired freedom, he uttered his most famous words, “Give me liberty or give me death!”

During the Revolutionary War he became commander-in-chief of Virginia’s military forces. He was a member of the Second Continental Congress. He helped draw up the first constitution of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and was primarily responsible for drawing up the amendments to our Constitution known as the Bill of Rights.

He became Virginia’s first governor, and was re-elected 3 more times. Then he retired from public life, but despite his strong objections the people went ahead and elected him Governor for the 5th time. But he meant what he said, so he refused to take the office.

He was offered a seat in the U.S. Senate, and posts as ambassador to Spain and to France. President George Washington asked him to join his cabinet to become Secretary of State, and later wanted to appoint him the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. But he refused all such honors and recognitions.

Now listen to his words. He said, “It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded not by religionists, but by Christians – not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

His Last Will and Testament was filed in the Brookneal County courthouse in Virginia. Read his Will and you’ll see that he bequeathed everything to his children, just as most people do. But the last paragraph in his Will is especially interesting.

He wrote, “I have now given everything I own to my children. There is one more thing I wish I could give them and that is the Christian religion. If they had this, and I had not given them one shilling, they would be rich; but if they had not that, and I have given them all the world, they would be poor.”
John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress and signer of the Declaration of Independence said, “Let us humbly commit our righteous cause to the great Lord of the Universe…Let us joyfully leave our concerns in the hands of Him who raises up and puts down the empires and kingdoms of the earth as he pleases.”

Jedediah Morse, father of Samuel Morse, inventor of the telegraph and Morse Code, said “Whenever the pillars of Christianity shall be overthrown, our present republican forms of government, and all the blessings which flow from them, must fall with them.”

We have seen the foundation pillars which our early forefathers laid for our nation erode away.

I. WE ARE IN A STATE OF POLITICAL CONFUSION.

The major political parties are trying to be so politically correct that they do not really know what they stand for. Anytime a party is willing to change its values just to get money for campaigns and votes for candidates, it has lost its soul in confusion.

Our nation has risen to the top of civilization as the greatest nation of freedom, industry, and economics. But what is happening to us now? We are departing from our Judea-Christian roots under the banner of human rights and our society is on a slippery slide from the greatness we have known as a nation. When there is political confusion to the extent that we have it today nothing short of a spiritual awakening can cleanse the body politic.

Benjamin Franklin in his later years saw through the emptiness of Deism, which declared that God created the world and left it to run on its own without his involvement in human lives said, “I have lived a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth—that God governs in the affairs of men. If a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it improbable 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 who build it.” I firmly believe this, and I also believe that without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel.”

Our Scripture text said, “From heaven the Lord looks down and sees all mankind; from his dwelling place he watches all who live on earth…” (Psalm 33:13-14). What does God see from his viewpoint? He sees a nation that he has blessed more than any other nation on earth that is turning against him. He sees a government that has forgotten to honor his sacred word and makes its own rules that are in conflict with his. He sees a nation that has taken his name out of public life on a judicial misrepresentation of the separation of church and state. He sees a nation that has more trust in its military might that it does in his divine providence. Our text says, “No king is saved by the size of his army.” (Psalm 33:16).

II. WE ARE IN A STATE OF MORAL DECAY.

We have seen in the last several decades a dismantling of our core value system and have come to the place where they were in ancient Israel when “everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” We have said that the Bible is no longer our basis of authority in this pluralistic society. The only ultimate authority that we have is the Supreme Court. They make rulings that are in harmony with popular opinion and their interpretation of the Constitution, but are often in conflict with biblical standards. These rulings may foster human rights and at the same time violate the Ten Commandments. This is the tension that we in the church feel with our government structures. We acknowledge that the country is not a church or the theocracy and cannot be operated like one. But we also acknowledge that our country cannot continue to be strong with the moral decay that abounds on every side.

Daniel Webster said, “Moral habits…cannot be safely trusted on any other foundation than religious principle, nor any government be secure which is not supported by moral habits.”

James McHenry said, “Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time: they there 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.”

Timothy Dwight, President of Yale in 1798 said, “Religion and liberty are meat and drink for the body politic. Withdraw one of them and it languishes, consumes, and dies…Without religion we may possibly retain the freedom of savages, bears and wolves, but not the freedom of New England. If our religion were gone, our state of society would perish with it, and nothing would be left.”

These warnings from our founding fathers give us something to think about in 2013. Listen to what God said to Israel: “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, and so confirms His covenant, which he swore to you forefathers, as it is today. If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. Like the nations the Lord destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the Lord your God.” (Deuteronomy 8:17-20).

III. WE ARE IN A STATE OF RELIGIOUS DECLINE.

We are living in what is known as “the post-Christian era” which means that the church has lost its voice in the ability to influence our society toward God. The church has done this to itself by compromising with the prevalent mood rather than standing on the rock of the ages. The church has grown large and prosperous and has allowed the fire of the Holy Spirit to be quenched by our turning to other things other than to the Kingdom enterprises. Much of what is done in churches is done on human might rather than in the power of the Lord. If God were to withdraw his Spirit from the contemporary church – much of what is happening now would continue without anybody noticing. So the church must have a spiritual awakening so that we can lead the nation back to God.

On any given weekend, only about forty five percent of the Nation is in worship, and this includes those who worship on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. If these could have a genuine spiritual awakening and move the Nation toward Jesus we could see some of the following happen: Homes would become strong as the proper attention was given to the family. Business would be conducted according to the highest principles. There would be a genuine concern for the poor. Justice would be available to all in our court system. Our highways would be safer. The church would be revitalized. The lost would be a priority for the church. Biblical values would be reclaimed. The Bible would be authoritative again. The decay in our society would be slowed. You would be able to trust a man’s word again. There would be love in the church on a scale we have not seen for a while. People would turn from their evil ways and be converted to Christ. Churches of all kinds would stop their compromise with evil and would courageously stand for the right. Children and youth would have role models to follow. Their lives could be claimed for Christ before they were caught in the secular mindset. Industry would be more productive because people would have more integrity in their work. There would be more harmony between the environment and man for we would realize that we are stewards of the world that God has placed us in. The economy would improve and jobs would be more available for those who have been lured into governmental dependence. You see, a spiritual awakening in the church is good for the nation. These are just a few things that could happen. For the scripture says, “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.”

Francis Scott Key, who composed the Star Spangled Banner, our National Anthem, said on February 22, 1812: “The patriot who feels himself in the service of God, who acknowledges Him in all his ways, has the promise of Almighty direction, and will find His Word in his greatest darkness, a ‘lantern to his feet and a lamp unto his paths.’ He will therefore seek to establish for his country in the eyes of the world, such a character as shall make her not unworthy of the name of a Christian Nation.”

PRAISE BE TO HIS NAME!