Sermon Tone Analysis

“Righteousness Exalts a Nation”

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Godliness makes a nation great,

but sin is a disgrace to any people.

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What joy (Blessed is)for the nation whose God is the LORD,

whose people he has chosen as his inheritance.

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Introduction:

Introduction:

I think most of you would agree that it is appropriate from time to time to consider patriotic themes, even from the pulpit.

The OT prophets often preached messages of warning and judgment that included national issues.

Often times they would address their message to the kings and rulers of the people.

Sometimes their message would be a review of national history and how God had worked his will in spite of corrupt leaders.

Part of my message today may sound a little like a history lesson.

But I know you’ve heard the statement, “that those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

Sometimes the things we learn from history help us see how far we’ve drifted from our roots as a nation.

Introduction: The United States of America is 228 years old today.

That’s a long time for a nation to remain free.

But, when you look at our history in the context of world history America is really just a “child” among the nations.

Egypt, China, Japan, Rome, Greece all make America’s history seem relatively short.

Consider what a brief time we’ve really been here as a nation: When Thomas Jefferson died, Abraham Lincoln was a young man of 17.

When Lincoln was assassinated, Woodrow Wilson was a boy of 8.

By the time he died Ronald Reagan was a boy of 12.

There you have it.

The life span of four men can take you all the way back to the beginning of our country, 228 years ago.

We are so young.

And yet we stand tall among these nations because of the principles on which we were established: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Thus begins the Declaration of Independence, which is celebrated in our land today.

But we must confess that there are some concerns about the spiritual health of our nation in the days in which we live...

Tuesday, July 4th, America will be 241 years old.

That’s a long time for a nation to remain free.

But, when you look at our history in the context of world history America is really just a “child” among the nations.

Egypt, China, Japan, Rome, Greece all make America’s history seem relatively short.

Consider what a brief time we’ve really been here as a nation: When Thomas Jefferson died, Abraham Lincoln was a young man of 17.

When Lincoln was assassinated, Woodrow Wilson was a boy of 8.

By the time he died Ronald Reagan was a boy of 12.

There you have it.

The life span of four men can take you all the way back to the beginning of our country, 241 years ago.

We are so young.

And yet we stand tall among these nations because of the principles on which we were established: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Thus begins the Declaration of Independence, which is celebrated in our land today.

But we must confess that there are some concerns about the spiritual health of our nation in the days in which we live...

1.

As the Ten Commandments are removed from one public building after another, what remains are blank walls, which are too often being pocked with bullet marks or covered with graffiti.

If nothing but a blank wall remains in place of a moral code, sooner or later people are going to write on it whatever they want.

1.

As the Ten Commandments are removed from one public building after another, what remains are blank walls, which are too often being pocked with bullet marks or covered with graffiti.

If nothing but a blank wall remains in place of a moral code, sooner or later people are going to write on it whatever they want.

2. We are thus living in a nation in which our conduct is being governed, not by the moral laws of God, but by the popular culture of our times.

People assume that it is possible to have morality without God, but the whole underpinning and basis of morality is the existence of God and the principles that He has put into place.

2. We are thus living in a nation in which our conduct is being governed, not by the moral laws of God, but by the popular culture of our times.

People assume that it is possible to have morality without God, but the whole underpinning and basis of morality is the existence of God and the principles that He has put into place.

a.

In his farewell address to the nation, President George Washington said, “Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion.

Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.”

a.

In his farewell address to the nation, President George Washington said, “Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion.

Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.”

b.

Historian Will Durant wrote: “There is no significant example in history, before our time, of a society successfully maintaining moral life without the aid of religion.”

b.

Historian Will Durant wrote: “There is no significant example in history, before our time, of a society successfully maintaining moral life without the aid of religion.”

c.

Author and apologist Ravi Zacharias put it more bluntly: “There is nothing in history to match the dire ends to which humanity can be led by following a political and social philosophy that consciously and absolutely excludes God.”

c. Author and apologist Ravi Zacharias put it more bluntly: “There is nothing in history to match the dire ends to which humanity can be led by following a political and social philosophy that consciously and absolutely excludes God.”

3. We should understand that without the reality of an eternal God there is not ultimate basis for ethics and there are no moral absolutes.

Erwin Lutzer offers a graphic picture of what is happening.

Imagine a heavy steel beam, suspended high above a chasm by a single cable attached to the middle of the beam.

Two men are on opposite ends, and their weight provides the balance needed to keep the bar horizontal.

Now suppose that one of them steadies himself enough to pull out a gun and shoot the other one.

The result is that they both fall into the chasm.

Those who are trying to destroy belief in God cannot do it without destroying themselves.

3. We should understand that without the reality of an eternal God there is not ultimate basis for ethics and there are no moral absolutes.

Erwin Lutzer offers a graphic picture of what is happening.

Imagine a heavy steel beam, suspended high above a chasm by a single cable attached to the middle of the beam.

Two men are on opposite ends, and their weight provides the balance needed to keep the bar horizontal.

Now suppose that one of them steadies himself enough to pull out a gun and shoot the other one.

The result is that they both fall into the chasm.

Those who are trying to destroy belief in God cannot do it without destroying themselves.

4. Historian Edward Gibbon, author of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire attributed the fall of that Great Empire to:

a. the rapid increase of divorce, the undermining of the dignity and sanctity of the home, which is the base of human society

b. higher and higher taxes and the spending of public monies for free bread and circuses for the populace

c. the mad craze for pleasure; sports becoming every year more exciting and more brutal

d. the building of gigantic armaments when the real enemy was within, the decadence of the people

e. the decay of religion---faith fading into mere form, losing touch with life and becoming impotent to warn and guide the people.

5.

And if our nation continues to descend into a godless, entertainment—centered moral relativism that holds no fear of God and no reverence for His commands, we will perish as a nation.

The blank wall will become a blackboard for the finger of God to write the words of : “You are weighed in the balances and found wanting.”

General Omar Bradley said, “America today is running on the momentum of a Godly ancestry, and when that momentum runs down, God help America.”

“So, what?” some will say.

But I think the Christian has a far better question, “So, What Do We Do?”

4. And if our nation continues to descend into a godless, entertainment—centered moral relativism that holds no fear of God and no reverence for His commands, we will perish as a nation.

The blank wall will become a blackboard for the finger of God to write the words of : “You are weighed in the balances and found wanting.”

General Omar Bradley said, “America today is running on the momentum of a Godly ancestry, and when that momentum runs down, God help America.”

We dare not be passive!

We dare not be inactive!