01 - America & Ancient Israel-Three Frightening Parallels 2012

Judges 21:25

This verse summarizes the entire book of Judges.

It describes the moral condition that brought Israel into judgment over and again, and it also describes the reigning philosophy of America.

As we’ll see, Israel repeatedly declined, backslid, and got away from God.

Why go into this?

Because America is at the tipping point of moral and financial collapse.

The GOOD NEWS is that we have tools at our disposal to turn it around that I’ll discuss at the end of this message.

Now today, let’s explore the parallels between ancient Israel’s moral and spiritual decline, and America.

First, Israel was established by God Himself, and God gave Himself to them.

He also gave them the law (comprised of 10 commandments).

And He gave them Canaan, the best land on the earth at that time.

So God gave to Israel the Lord, the law, and the land.

God only asked them for one thing in return--that they would love Him, obey Him, and serve Him.

What did Israel do?

They denied the Lord, defied the law, and defiled the land.

So, God brought them into judgment.

The parallel with America is obvious and sobering.

No nation has ever had a Christian beginning like America.

We too have been given the Lord, the law, and a land, and in return we too have denied Him, defied Him, and defiled our land.

Let’s cover these one at a time. First:

1. America has indeed denied the Lord.

Since the 1960’s, the Lord has slowly but steadily been expelled from every public venue.

It started in the public schools, and has spread to public places, court houses, our coins, and our pledge of allegiance.

It’s to the point where we today are fighting battles about what we can even say in the church!

It is no longer just about the separation of church and state, but rather the separation of America from the God Who founded and blessed her!

America has officially denied the Lord.

And next:

2. America has defied the law.

The Supreme Court says that it is against the law to display the 10 Commandments in a public place (though their building displays them!).

They argue that if you display them people might ponder them and if so, they might obey them, and that would be a violation of the separation of church and state.

It is now the official position of our government that the 10 commandments are dangerous!

I have to think of Paul’s words here, “Professing themselves to be wise, they have become fools” (Ro.1:22).

After all, we wouldn't want kids in school to see 'thou shalt not kill' because, oh my, what if they obeyed it!

The direction that our once Christian nation is headed in is foolish, and defies basic common sense.

Like Israel, we have denied the Lord, and we have defied the law... And thirdly:

3. America has defiled the land.

We've done this in many ways, but perhaps the #1 way is found in the spilled blood of aborted babies.

Since Roe vs. Wade was enacted in 1973, fifty million babies have been aborted, increasing by 3,700 per day.

That’s an entire generation of people!

In the book of Jeremiah, God lists several reasons for which His judgment was coming to Israel:

Jer. 22:17 “Yet your eyes and your heart are for nothing but your covetousness, for shedding innocent blood, and practicing oppression and violence.”

God says in Prov. 6:17 that one of the 7 things He hates is “the shedding of innocent blood.”

No other person is more innocent and helpless than a baby in the womb.

That’s why I CANNOT VOTE FOR ANYONE WHO SUPPORTS ABORTION.

God said to Jeremiah the Prophet, “Shall I not punish them for these things? says the Lord. Shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?” (Jer.5:29)

A nation like what? That sheds innocent blood.

God took away His glory from Israel when they did such things.

And I believe He is in the process of removing Himself from America.

We need a national revival.

We need a spiritual awakening!

Like Israel, we have denied the Lord, defied the law, and defiled the land.

Now, let me use the illustration of “a family fortune” to show what happens in the life of a typical nation.

When a family becomes rich there are 3 stages which always seem to occur:

The first generation generates the fortune—these are the producers.

The second generation speculates the fortune—that is, they place it at great risk thru a series of compromises and foolish decisions.

The third generation dissipates the fortune—they squander and waste it away and it is gone.

That is exactly how it works with a nation.

There is the first generation that generates the freedom,

Then a generation that speculates it away, and finally,

A generation that dissipates it until it is completely gone and freedom is no more.

GENERATION - SPECULATION – DISSIPATION

Let’s look at how this pattern was played out in Israel.

First we had:

A. The first Generation

What do we know about the first generation of Israel that entered into the Promised Land?

Under General Joshua, Israel was given victory after victory by God.

Walls came tumbling down, giants were defeated, and kings were subdued.

They won victories they could never have accomplished apart from the power of God.

And that's just how it is with America!

Go back to our first war, the Revolutionary War.

Britain had more men, more money, and better weaponry...

The young, stripling America of 13 colonies was up against all odds.

The long and fierce battle was truly a David and Goliath scenario, but God was on our side and we won!

The great George Washington became our first president.

When he took office he placed his hand on the Holy Bible.

He finished taking the oath and kissed the Bible.

His first official act was to lead the entire congress in a 2 hour worship session.

Our founding fathers made it abundantly clear that this land was founded on God and the Bible.

A textbook called The New England Primer was the first book to be used in Early American public schools for years.

It asked questions like:

Who was the first man? Adam

Who was the oldest man? Methuselah

Who is Jesus Christ? The son of God.

The questions didn’t stop there.

Mere elementary aged students were asked:

What is the chief end of man? Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

What do the Scriptures principally teach? The Scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man.

If one looks at the Founding Fathers’ writings, speeches, and the documents written by them, one sees that the lessons of The New England Primer helped shape, in the Founding Fathers’ case, a nation.

America needs to go back to the one source that made her great – God and the Bible.

So first we had the Generation that produced our Freedom.

Now back to Israel’s history. Following the producers came the generation of:

B. SPECULATION—those that placed their heritage at great risk.

The Joshua generation that gave to them their freedom had seen first-hand the great works of God.

But the succeeding generation was a different story:

Judges records the sad tale. God said to Israel through an angel:

2:1-2 “I brought you out of Egypt and led you into the land I promised your fathers. I said, ‘I will never break My agreement with you. 2 Do not make any agreement with the people of this land. Tear down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed Me. What is this you have done?”

They had placed their heritage at great risk!

Scripture goes on to say that:

v.10 “All the people of (Joshua’s) day died. The children who came after them did not know the Lord. They did not know about the things He had done for Israel.”

This means that the Joshua generation had failed to pass their values on to their children.

What a sad verse!

And so they speculated and squandered it all away by walking away from God and His Word.

This very thing happened in America, beginning in the 1960’s.

In the 60’s the Supreme Court made three devastating rulings:

They removed prayer from our schools, legalized abortion, and ruled for no-fault divorce.

On the heels of this, the American population threw Bible morality out the window with the sexual revolution.

And look at where we are today!

Rather than washed in the waters of God’s Word, Americans today are brainwashed by humanism, situational ethics, and relativism.

We no longer understand the moral foundations and the spiritual principles upon which our nation was founded.

The saddest verse in Judges sums up Israel’s world-view as it does America’s:

Judges 21:25 “In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.”

This perfectly describes situational ethics—the reigning world-view of present day America.

Israel became a people with no absolutes...no standard to live by.

Is that not the nation you and I live in today?

Barna Research shows that 67% of Americans say there is no such thing as absolute truth.

They say that what is true depends on the situation one finds himself in.

Right and wrong are not clear...what is wrong for you is not necessarily wrong for me.

If that doesn't concern you, consider that they did the same survey in evangelical churches, and among Sunday morning attendees, 52% said the same thing!

Imagine Christians saying there's no black and white, no right and wrong!

So there were the generators of blessing, the speculators of that blessing, and finally came:

III. Dissipation—the generation that threw it all away.

The generation that squandered it all away, and ultimately came under judgment, were told by God:

2:3 “I will no longer drive (your enemies) out before you; but they shall be thorns in your side, and their gods shall be a snare to you.’” 4 So it was, when the Angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voices and wept.”

They wept because they knew God had departed from them, they had lost the Source of all they had.

I believe that America is now witnessing the rise of the dissipation generation.

Up to half our population is on government support of some kind.

Fifty million Americans are on Food Stamps—1 out of 6 of us.

We are fast becoming a nation of takers rather than a nation of producers.

Our government has squandered away our vast wealth and dragged us into spectacular debt.

As of this message, every American man, woman, and child’s share of the national debt is $51,000 and rising.

Our national debt grows by 4 billion dollars a day.

We have had our first generation producers, our generation of speculators, and now the squandering dissipaters are here.

The only thing that can turn this around is, first:

The Living God, who promises:

2 Chr.7:14 “If my people…”

And second, the vote of God’s people

We must not vote according to personality, or race, or party loyalty.

This coming election we must vote Bible Values—what God says about the value of life, morality, and financial sanity.

Next time: “Elections Have Consequences”