Sermon Tone Analysis

Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD,

the people he chose for his inheritance.

From heaven the LORD looks down

and sees all mankind;

from his dwelling place he watches

all who live on earth—

he who forms the hearts of all,

who considers everything they do.

No king is saved by the size of his army;

no warrior escapes by his great strength.

A horse is a vain hope for deliverance;

despite all its great strength it cannot save.

But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him,

on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,

to deliver them from death

and keep them alive in famine.

Canada is a great nation which has enjoyed the richest blessings which Heaven can bestow upon a people.

Rich in natural resources and blessed with the most fertile soils in the whole of the world, wealthy beyond all imagination in possessions, in human ability and in capabilities, Canada has been wonderfully blessed of God.

Bounded on three sides by bountiful seas, we enjoy the longest undefended border in the world with friends to the south.

Three times in recent years Canada has been designated as the best nation in the world in which to live.

Surely, such blessings are not mere happenstance.

No one is so foolish as to believe that our politicians are the cause of these rich blessings.

God, and God alone, is the source of Canada’s hap among the nations.

In the *Thirty-third Psalm*, the Psalmist speaks of a nation richly blessed by God.

In this Psalm, the sweet singer of Israel reminded his readers that God rules over all and overrules all.

A nation is saved neither because of its great resources nor by its armed might.

It is the Almighty who watches over the nation to insure that it is preserved.

By that criterion, we who live in Canada are obviously the recipients of Heaven’s goodness.

God has shown us great mercy, and the most of us are unaware of that grace.

As a nation we have enjoyed the blessings of God, neither because we deserve His mercies, nor yet because we are necessary to His plan for this world.

We have enjoyed His rich blessings because He is gracious and merciful.

Though popular mythology today denies that Canada was ever a Christian nation, we continue to enjoy the fruit of a Christian heritage.

Our forebears were more deeply respectful of the mercies of the Living God than evidence by present day Canadians.

Consequently, national leaders were prepared to make hard decisions regardless of any poll.

Politicians today appear to be more gophers than men, sticking their heads up from subterranean playpens to test which way political winds are blowing before making a decision.

It was not bowing to such political winds which made Canada a great nation.

Great truths are presented in this Psalm and are worthy of our remembrance.

Implicit is the truth that God Is the Source of Every Blessing.

There is a perception that our strength is the source of the blessings we enjoy.

Much as Israel of old, we think that our might and our ability have secured the peace and prosperity we enjoy.

As Moses was concluding his prophecy of the future of those he had led out of Egyptian captivity he warned of complacency.

He spoke of the rich blessings of God—how God guarded Israel as the apple of His eye, how God led the people and enriched them in every way.

Then, in *Deuteronomy 32:15-18* the man of God wrote these startling words:

 

/Jeshurun grew fat and kicked; /

/filled with food, he became heavy and sleek.

/

/He abandoned the God who made him /

/and rejected the Rock his Saviour.

/

/They made him jealous with their foreign gods /

/and angered him with their detestable idols.

/

/They sacrificed to demons, which are not God— /

/gods they had not known, /

/gods that recently appeared, /

/gods your fathers did not fear.

/

/You deserted the Rock, who fathered you; /

/you forgot the God who gave you birth/.

In their arrogance, the people decided they themselves were the source of all their blessings, and having deserted the Lord their God, they were in turn deserted by God.

It was a fulfilment of the warning which Moses had delivered to the nation earlier.

Observe the commands of the LORD your God, walking in his ways and revering him.

For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with streams and pools of water, with springs flowing in the valleys and hills; a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills.

When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you.

Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day.

Otherwise, 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, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

He led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions.

He brought you water out of hard rock.

He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you.

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 your forefathers, as it is today [*Deuteronomy 8:6-18*].

Just so, God has blessed our nation, and to forget that He is the source of our blessing is to invite His judgement on us as a nation.

Israel had a special relationship with God.

Canada cannot claim such a relationship since we were not chosen by God, but we have been used by God to advance the cause of Christ during the past decades.

Canadian Christians underwrote a major portion of the advance of the Faith throughout the world during the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries.

Canadian missionaries advanced the cause of Christ in Asia and in Africa.

Though the role of missionaries is now depreciated among the aboriginal populations of Canada, men and women of conscience sacrificed themselves to ensure that our native populations would receive an education and be equipped to compete in the changed world.

At the same time, those missionaries told of Christ and the love of God.

Though there were among them unconscionable individuals who pretended to be godly, don’t permit that negative fact detract from the great good which was accomplished for the cause of Christ and for the betterment of mankind.

Today, there are scoundrels among Christ’s ministers, and such has always been the case.

Peter warned, there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you.

They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.

Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.

In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up.

Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping [*2 Peter 2:1-3*].

Solomon said that Righteousness exalts a nation [*Proverbs 14:34*], and by that criterion Canada can say that the current blessings we enjoy are in no small measure the result of God’s exaltation of us.

Surely there is no one so contentious as to question the thought that this nation has enjoyed a blessed history in great measure because its God was the Lord?

Large numbers of people did seek God fervently and God blessed the people with peace and prosperity.

Even the ungodly among us have been blessed because of God’s merciful blessings toward His own.

Such is not necessarily the case today, however.

Over one quarter of British Columbians are professed atheists or agnostics.

A pitiful minority ever frequents the services of a church save for a couple of high holy days.

Our nation is not Christian; it is militantly secular.

Our real gods are *money* and *pleasure*.

Nevertheless, the blessings of God surround His people, even in a godless or a secular environment.

It is right to remember Him and to remember His blessings.

What are His blessings?

The Psalm categorises them into three groups.

First, the Psalmist notes *God’s watchfulness*.

The Lord looks down and sees all mankind…  He watches all who live on earth [*verses 13, 14*].

Though few today seem to believe this truth, God, who forms the hearts of all mankind, considers everything they do [*verse 15*].

Though this verse makes a strong case for God’s omniscience, that is not particularly what the Psalmist had in mind.

*Verse 18* gives us the intent of the Psalmist.

But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him,