LWF: The Only Hope for America - Proverbs 14:34 part 1
A Bible study adapted from a sermon once preached by Adrian Rogers
Whenever there's a loss of character, which is assumed righteousness and responsibility there's always a growth of government.
LWF: The Only Hope for America - Proverbs 14:34 part 1
The truth is that righteousness and liberty cannot be separated! And when we abuse righteousness we lose liberty!
So as character disappears from our nation we will lose more and more of our liberty.
Therefore we must either assume responsibility or lose our liberty, the choice is ours!
The point is that we cannot look to government to solve our problems! That's not the purpose of a just government!
The Bible says, “Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people” (Proverbs 14:34).
This scripture is universal and applies to any and all people!
So it's our focus verse for this Independence Day study. And I hope your anchor holds today in these dark and perilous times.
Now if you’re anchored in Christ, it will hold, because He is indeed the solid rock of ages.
This passage from Proverbs is a powerful verse that it truly helps us as we face the troubling future here in our beloved United States of America.
In fact, the only hope for America is found in that verse!
America is number one, but unfortunately America is number one in sexual perversion, abortion, crime, the destruction of family values, and in the enforcement of humanistic political correctness.
America is no longer number one in education, health, wealth or godliness!
You know I often wonder, if The LORD tarries, what kind of a nation are our children and grandchildren are going to inherit?
Almost everyone in the media today says the most important thing is the economy and sadly most Americans believe that.
As a matter of fact, remember the political slogan: “It’s the economy, stupid.”?
Well, is it REALLY all about the economy? Is that REALLY the most important issue?
Well quite honestly, I'd rather leave the future generations the legacy of a godly nation instead of great wealth to be squandered in a godless society.
So I don’t believe it is all about the economy, I believe the economy is actually a result or by product of the practice of righteousness.
In other words, I believe it is what God says. It is righteousness that our nation needs.
“Righteousness exalteth a nation.”
Now ask yourself this question, and it’s a sobering one: Do you feel safer in the world, and do you feel safer in America, after the fall of Soviet communism?
So do you feel safer since the iron curtain fell and disintegrated? Are you better off?
The problem is that we thought we got rid of the demon of communism which most viewed as the paramount threat, but we didn’t have a spiritual revival.
Now we're facing seven other more deadly demons than before, after the house has been cleansed of communism. And the real irony is that this same spirit of communism has invaded the New Democratic Party!
Alexander Hamilton said: “People get the kind of government they deserve.”
So if we want to know what’s right or wrong with America, we need to go look in the mirror.
Something bad has happened in America since our founding in 1776.
Did you know that the airlines fire chickens though a special cannon to test their windshields?
As crazy as that may sound, it's true, we used to do that at PPG when I worked there!
And the British railroads were looking for a way to test the windshields on their locomotives, because sometimes, traveling at those great speeds, they would hit birds flying through the air.
So they borrowed the British Airways' special cannon and sent their engineer to purchase a chicken. He came back with a frozen chicken from the grocery store.
They aimed the cannon, and fired it at the windshield of the locomotive.
The chicken went through the windshield, through the conductor’s chair, and made a big dent in the back wall of the locomotive.
They were very upset, and they called British Airways and they demanded an explanation.
British Airways said, “No problem. But the next time you do this, make certain it’s not a frozen chicken.”
So the point of this silly story is that cannon was not designed to fire frozen chickens at locomotive windshields!
And today we’re trying to make our constitution and our government do something it was never designed to do.
So we need to understand where we’ve come from and what made America the greatest nation on the face of this earth.
On July 4th, 1776, in the city of Philadelphia the Declaration of Independence was signed. Now it's not inspired as The Bible is but is was inspired by the Bible.
And this marked the birthday of our nation destined for world leadership under God.
But today what Americans have forgotten when we talk about our independence is that the same document declaring our independence from Great Britain, declares our great dependence upon Almighty God.
Our Declaration of Independence states: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are…endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.”
And then The Declaration of Independence from Great Britain closes with these solemn words and notice the dependence upon Almighty God:
“With a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.”
“With a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence”. Did you get that???
And “firm reliance” is dependence; dependence upon Almighty God or PROVIDENCE!
So "We the People" said, “We place our dependence upon Almighty God, when we asserted our independence from Great Britain.”
And so, our forefathers signed this declaration, and the cannons fired, fireworks filled the sky, and the bells chimed.
And in Independence Hall, the Old State House, the Liberty Bell rang.
And, on that bell it reads: “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto…the inhabitants thereof” (Leviticus 25:10).
Could you imagine that today? I wonder if it’s still there because those who oppose God also are ignorant of history and simply don’t know it’s there!
So in this Declaration of Independence, we said that Sovereign God is our Creator!
Yet we can’t even teach creationism in school today.
Now get this: The truth is that the Creator gave us our unalienable rights; the government doesn’t give them to us!!!
Therefore the government should not take them from us.
In truth, a just government is only ordained to protect those rights.
See Romans chapter 13, if you want to understand what our Founding Fathers believed about just government.
Now, with that in mind, let's look at America’s only hope.
And I pray that the Holy Spirit writes these three truth upon your consciousness, emblazons them upon your soul, and causes them to reverberate through your thoughts this Fourth of July season.
I. The Righteousness that is the Exaltation of a Nation
Look at the verse again: “Righteousness exalteth a nation” (Proverbs 14:34).
We must learn that righteousness and liberty are inextricably interwoven.
We cannot have true liberty without true righteousness.
Righteousness is living responsibly under God.
Righteousness is you and me assuming our God-given responsibilities as citizens of the kingdom of God and as citizens of this great country.
So to truly understand righteousness we must see how righteousness and liberty are inseparably wed together.
For example, a little baby has no responsibilities.
They don't have to worry about paying the light bills or going to the grocery store.
In fact, that little baby doesn’t even have to worry about changing their clothes or their dirty diapers!
So that little baby has no responsibilities, but that little baby also has no liberties.
He doesn’t decide where he’s going to sleep or what and when he'll eat.
He doesn’t decide what kind of diapers he wears and he’s carried around everywhere.
So he has no liberties at all, because he’s not lived responsibly.
But, as the child grows, and assumes more and more responsibilities, the child is given more and more liberties.
After a while, when the child is responsible enough, he may be allowed to walk home from school.
Then comes the day when she is 16 and asks, “Dad, can I borrow the car?”
Then mom and dad have a real decision to make: Is my daughter, a responsible individual?
Has she shown by the way that she lives that she can take this piece of machinery out on the highway and drive it responsibly?
Has she shown enough responsibility that she can be given this great liberty?
And that’s a big decision.
So that's how responsibility and liberty are inextricably interwoven.
Now, when a man becomes a criminal, and no longer lives responsibly, we put him in jail.
So when he fails in his responsibilities, his liberties are taken away.
And now he doesn’t even have to turn out the lights, but he cannot unlock the door either!!!
And what's true for individuals is true for a nation, because a nation is composed of individuals.
So we as Americans will have more or less liberty in direct proportion to our character.
When we lose responsibility, we've lost character.
And when we lose His righteousness, as night follows day, we'll lose our liberty.
So whenever there's a loss of character, which is assumed righteousness and responsibility there's always a growth of government.
The truth is that people who cannot live responsibility from within will be governed from without!!!
And what made America a great nation is that America was born out of a revival.
So never forget that!!!
From 1740 to 1770 there was a great revival that swept across America called "The Great Awakening".
Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield and many other righteous men were preaching, and there was a flame of righteousness burning in this nation.
Then out of that great revival, schools were built and godly principles were taught, and character became very strong.
And a nation was born, declaring independence from Great Britain and dependence upon Almighty God.
So our Founding Fathers knew that the more character you have, the more responsibility you will assume, and the less government you will need.
Our Founding Fathers knew that the best government was the least government.
And so over 200 years later we have in America 'A Constitutional Republic', NOT A DEMOCRACY like everyone wants you to believe!!!
And that's a government based in law with a constitution.
Now that 'law' is supposed to be 'Natural Law' or God's Law not case law, but this 'common law' was usurped by a crafty Bar Association by what is known as 'case law' or equity.
So now we have 'attorneys AT law' rather than attorneys IN law and there’s a huge difference!
You see equity law is like when your children say, "Mom can we go? Everyone's going!"
So that's what equity law says: Well everyone's doing it so it must be legal even if it isn’t lawful.
Please understand that there is a HUGE difference to something being legal and lawful.
For example: abortion is legal in America today. Yet it was illegal in 1960 but it will never be lawful in the eyes of God. So in natural law it is an abomination to God, but at equity law it's legal.
God said no, but man said yes.
And the same applies to gambling, cohabitation, no fault-divorce, Obama Care, modern banking laws, and homosexual marriage to name just a few.
Now remember that those who serve in our government serve only as a representative body.
In other words, they are supposed to represent us, we the people.
Plus they serve only with the consent of the governed, that's us. Because this is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.
Did you hear that recently there was a drive to recall the mayor of LA for his ungodly liberal policies and poor handling of the homeless crisis now plaguing LA and many other liberal, godless, “sanctuary cities”?
Folks America is fed up with this nonsense! Oh btw, did you know this term “sanctuary city” is taken directly out of the Bible from the Book of Joshua? Some irony eh?
Bottom line folks, these elected officials were never elected to lord over us!
BUT, and this is a HUGE BUT!!!
This kind of government can only work where there’s character and this kind of government cannot work apart from character.
So if there's no righteousness, then this kind of government rooted in Biblical ethics will not work.
And don't believe me look at what James Madison, our fourth president and architect the United States Constitution said about this:
“We have staked the whole future of American civilization not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future…upon the capacity of [each and all of us] to govern ourselves…and to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments [of God].”
WOW!!! That’s James Madison, the architect of the Constitution saying that!!!
He was the fourth president of the United States!
So they set our whole future based upon people who have character, and Madison said the basis of that character is the Ten Commandments of God!
Yet these very same Ten Commandments have been taken down from the classrooms of our government schools as they deemed them unconstitutional!
What's up with that??? Well it's all by The Protocols of Lucifer and his dark plan for his New World Order.
So truly, liberty is responsibility assumed, but we are not teaching this today!
The Bible says: Righteousness exalteth a nation.
Therefore, "Doing your thing" is not responsibility. That's not liberty, that's license; and, the ultimate result of license is a dependent mentality.
So real liberty always comes from within.
Real liberty is taking the policeman from the street corner and putting him in your heart.
The point is, the less God rules in our hearts, the more control we’re going to have to have imposed upon us from without.
So what's the difference between freedom and slavery?
Well the difference is where the laws are located.
In slavery, the laws are on the outside; in freedom, the laws are written on our hearts.
“Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any [nation].”
So remember that our Constitution was born in the white-hot fires of revival.
And when America was born, she announced her dependence “with a firm reliance upon the protection of Divine Providence,”
Then something wonderful happened, there was an industrial revolution, and America began to produce great wealth.
So was our soil richer? Or did it rain more on America?
Or was good old Yankee ingenuity better and are Americans brighter?
Of course not!!!
There were certain principles of liberty that began to work in America.
And this resulted in the industrial revolution, which combined labor and substance which is the only way to produce true wealth and we got strong and developed a great military strength.
Then we could sing it and mean it: “Protect us by Thy might, Great God our King.”
But back then it wasn't like we are today.
The scream of the great American Eagle, has become the twitter of a sparrow.
And today we put women on the front lines in the Army and threw out God!
Did you know God spoke about His judgment upon a nation who turns their back on Him?
He said: “I’ll make their soldiers like women” (Jeremiah 48:41; 49:22).
That's God’s judgment!!! And it's happening right now to The USA!!!!
God said, “I’ll make their soldiers like women.”
So He'll take away our strength.
Women were not made for combat and they are there on the front lines when a bunch of old, wimpy, sissy men fail to stand up and be the men that they ought to be in the Pentagon!
Our nation became a strong, wealthy nation with culture and prestige and was the admiration of the world when we were RIGHTEOUS!!!
Yet today, we’re scorned and hated because we've tried to buy our way through nations around this world with rotten foreign imperialistic policy all intended to advance the New World Order.
So liberty and character are interwoven.
Liberty is responsibility and character assumed.
“Righteousness exalteth a nation.”
So, there's the righteousness that is the exaltation of a nation and then:
II. The Reproach that is the Humiliation of a Nation
So secondly, there's a reproach that is the humiliation of a nation.
“Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people” (Proverbs 14:34).
Now the truth is that the great American dream has begun to dissolve because of our sin.
We came through the Civil War, then through World War I, both with God’s help.
Yet we were poor winners and didn’t know how to give God thanks for what He’s provided.
Then came The Flapper Age, the Roaring 20’s and America got out of control and became self-indulgent.
Then, in 1929, the Depression struck as the stock market crashed.
So what happened in America didn't just happened recently.
What happened in America began a long time ago.
We wanted our self-government yet without any self-control and that simply cannot be done.
So back at that time coming out of the Great Depression, rather than looking at what was wrong, and PROPERLY fixing it, we tried to fix it the wrong way!
We started to give more and more power to the government!
We began to relinquish more responsibility to the government.
Remember, as character disintegrates, there's a loss of liberty, and government becomes more and more powerful.
So there was the erosion of character with sexual permissiveness, gross perversions, abortion, the breakup of the family, and the obsession with material wealth.
And this all led to an insatiable craving for pleasure, sex, and drugs, while all along the government got bigger, and bigger, and bigger!!!
Now what government does; and it’s a very tricky thing is that it begins to provide for people.
Yet sadly the people fail to realize the government can’t give anybody anything that it first doesn’t take away, because the government doesn’t have anything to give, in and of itself.
It produces no wealth so it only can give the wealth it takes away from others!
But, we’ve been told the government will provide for us.
So as the government provides, it assumes more and more authority, and the government that begins to provide begins to regulate.
There was a farmer who had some wild pigs, on his property, and he couldn’t catch them.
Another man said, “I’ll show you how to catch those wild pigs.”
So he put some food on the ground, and went away, and the pigs came out of the woods and ate the food.
He did that for a while, and then he put a single fencepost in the ground near the food.
The pigs saw it, but it was only a fence post so they ate.
And then, he put another post, and they continued to eat.
Then, another; and then, after a while, he built a little corral.
Yet the pigs kept coming through it to eat.
And then, he began to put up the wire. And, after a while, the entire thing is fenced in, except for the gate.
And the pigs were now coming in through the gate and eating, and going back out, and finally, you know what happened?
The gate was closed, and the pigs were caught!!! And that's what is happening to us today!!!
Then the farmer said, “Well, I didn’t think you could catch them; but, you did.”
The man said, “Of course. Anything that will depend upon me for its food, I can control.”
So you see, when we come to the place where we depend upon the government, it must follow that whatever feeds us will control us.
Remember the government can only give to us what it first takes from us! So we have become a welfare state! Just another version of communism that our nation fought so hard to destroy!
To be continued tomorrow!
SDG!
ken
bro...ken - now made whole in Jesus Christ!
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