What about America?

Introduction

Take God’s Word, please, and be finding the Book of Proverbs chapter 14, and we’re going to read a verse that I believe is one of the most pertinent verses that we could read on this weekend. I’m speaking today on this subject: “What About America.” And the only hope—and I want to underscore that with all of the unction and function and emotion and intellect and dynamism of my soul—the only hope is found in this verse:

Proverbs 14:34 KJV 1900

Righteousness exalteth a nation: But sin is a reproach to any people.

This is not merely what God has said; this is what God is saying to any people. It is universal: “Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.”

Sadly, I must confess that America is number one in divorce, in crime, in drugs, pornography, and perversion—the castaway of little children as unwanted, even while they are in their mother’s womb—number one in violence. And I wonder—I sincerely wonder: What kind of a country am I leaving to my children and to my grandchildren? I believe in God. By God’s grace, I’m going to make it into Heaven. But I wonder about our children. I wonder about the values that our leaders hold today. We’re told, for example, that the great problem is economics: “It’s the economy, stupid.”

But is that the problem? I’ve thought about it. I’d much rather leave to my children and my grandchildren a godly heritage sown by a godly nation than to leave to them great wealth to be squandered by a godless society. The great need in America today is righteousness. I have to ask myself another question. Are we really safer? Are we really better off after the implosion of Soviet communism? After we’ve seen the Iron Curtain come crumbling down, do you have a better feeling of safety? Do you have a better feeling about America? I dare say you don’t—and I’ll tell you why. Because, after we got rid of the demon of Soviet communism, we failed to have spiritual revival. And now seven other more deadly demons have come to take up habitation in America today. America will be destroyed, not because of some enemy without, but because of debauchery within.

Alexander Hamilton said, “We get the kind of government we deserve.” Now something very wonderful happened on July the 4th, 1776, in Philadelphia. A declaration was made, and shortly after that a constitution was formed.

....they were using the cannon to do something it was not designed to do.

Now what has happened is this: that we have a Constitution, the very wonderful instrument, I believe, that certainly, it’s not inspired like the Word of God, but, because of the inspired Word of God, we have the Constitution; because the Constitution reflects, in many ways, the values of God’s Word. But today, we’re shooting frozen chickens. I mean, today, we’re doing something that our Founding Fathers did not intend for us to do.

Now on July the 4th, 1776, there was signed, in the city of Philadelphia, a document we call the Declaration of Independence. Now it was independence from Great Britain, but what many people fail to understand is that this same document was a document of dependence upon Almighty God. Now the politicos today, many of them seem to have forgotten that. But it was clearly and plainly a declaration of dependence. I want you to listen to the closing paragraph. It says this: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are … endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights.” It begins that way; but, it closes this way: “With a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence …”—now, what is reliance? That’s dependence—“With a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence”—what is divine providence? That’s God—“we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.”

All of that in the context of depending upon Almighty God. It was then that the cannons fired. It was then that the fireworks went off. It was then, in the old statehouse, now called Independence Hall, that the Liberty Bell began to ring out freedom. And on that bell are inscribed these words from Leviticus 25, verse 10: “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land” (Leviticus 25:10). And in that document, they said that God created us. It isn’t what we can teach in schools today. In that document, they said that God gives us our rights—not the government. These are inalienable rights, like life, and liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. These have come from the Almighty, and not from government.

I. Righteousness Is the Exaltation of a Nation

Now there are three things I want you to see today, as we look in our text in Proverbs chapter 14 and verse 34: “Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people” (Proverbs 14:34). And the very first thing I want you to see is that righteousness which is the exaltation of a nation. The exaltation of a nation: “Righteousness exalteth a nation.”

Learn this: that righteousness and liberty are inextricably interwoven. You cannot separate righteousness and liberty. You see, what God hath married, let no man put asunder. The reason that we are in danger of losing our liberties is we are losing our righteousness.

Now what is righteousness? Righteousness is responsibility assumed. And the more responsibility that you assume, the more liberty you have.

For example, a little baby doesn’t assume any responsibilities. He doesn’t have to go out and earn a living; he doesn’t have to mow the grass; he doesn’t have to do the laundry; and he doesn’t have to do the grocery shopping. The little baby assumes no responsibilities. He’s fed and bathed and carried from this place to that place. He doesn’t make choices about anything. He doesn’t have any liberties either, because he assumes no responsibilities.

But that child continues to grow, and after a while, he can learn how to clean up his own room; after a while, to carry out the trash; after a while, to do the dishes; after a while, to cut the grass; after a while, to come and go on time; and, parents watch their child assume more and more responsibilities. And as that happens, the child is given more and more liberties. After a while, he can walk to school by himself or herself. Then comes that day: “Daddy, can I use the car?” “Well, you’ve been—you’ve shown yourself to be—a responsible child.” And you give to this teenager the keys to that automobile, which, in today’s age, is the symbol of almost total liberty. “I’ve got the car now. Mama’s not driving me anymore. I can go where I want and wish, within the rules that my mom and dad have set down for me, because I have shown myself to be a responsible person.”

Now learn this about government—and, this is taught in the Word of God: The more responsibility we assume—that’s righteousness—the more liberty we’re given. The less responsibility we are willing to assume, the less liberty we will have. We have more or less liberty; therefore, according to our character, or, according to our righteousness, when we abuse responsibility, we lose liberty; and, when there is demise in character, there’s always a growth in government. Did that sink in? When there is demise in character, there’s always a growth in government. You cannot be irresponsible as an individual or as a society and, at the same time, expect to remain free.

Now our government, our Constitution, began with a dependence upon Almighty God. And the Constitution was written by people of character, for people of character, and it will work for no other people. If we lose our character in the United States, our Constitution will not work. We’ll be shooting frozen chickens. It wasn’t made for that kind of society.

You see, this nation was born in the white heat of revival. From 1740 to 1770, Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield were preaching, and America was aflame with revival. And other preachers were preaching up and down the seaboard of America. And as a result, churches were built, institutions were formed, and character was placed in the heart and mind of the bosom of our Founding Fathers. Study the writings of our Founding Fathers, and you will see that they were tinctured, and dyed, and embodied with a great belief in God—in the Judeo-Christian ethic. And out of that—out of the fires of that revival; out of that character—came the Constitution of the United States.

And our Founding Fathers, they believed in self-reliance; they believed in responsible lives; they believed in righteousness; and, therefore, they believed that the best government was the smallest government. The smaller government was the better—they believed it would be. And so our Founding Fathers formed a republic—“We pledge allegiance … to the republic for which it stands”—which is a government of law, with representative leadership. And these representatives represent us. But they govern only with the consent of the governed. And it will not work—listen, folks—it will not work, apart from character. “Righteousness exalteth a nation.”

You say, “Well, what do you know about it? What do you know about civics? What do you know about government?” Well, let me tell you what someone who did know said about it. His name was James Madison. He was the architect of the federal Constitution, the fourth President of the United States of America. Let me give you a direct quote from James Madison. He said, “We have staked the whole future of American civilization not on the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future … upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves … to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.” That’s what Madison said; he said we staked everything on this.

What he is saying is this: It’s not that government is going to do it. We must govern ourselves; there must be this inward character. And what was the basis of that character? Not morality by majority, but the Ten Commandments of God. TheTen Commandments our leadership in this nation has said must come down from the classrooms in America, because, if they were to see those Ten Commandments, they might begin to venerate them and obey them. So the Ten Commandments are out, and X-rated, humanistic literature is in. But Madison said we have staked the whole future upon the ability of each and all of us to govern ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God. What Madison, the architect of the Constitution, was saying: It will not work—it will not work—unless you use it the way it was intended to be used. We built it; it was made for people of character, by people of character. And it will work no other way.

What is liberty? Liberty is responsibility assumed. Liberty is responsibility assumed. License is not assuming responsibility; it is doing your thing. Now we think that we can have license and have freedom, but we cannot. Liberty is responsibility assumed. And real liberty, therefore, always comes from within. You have to take the policeman off the street corner and put him in our heart. The less God rules in your heart the more control your going to have from without.

Now let’s go back to the little baby that we were talking about. He has no responsibilities, but he has no liberty. As he grows more and more, he gets more and more responsible; he’s given more and more liberty. But let’s say he gets to be an adult, and, as an adult, he ceases to act responsible, and becomes a criminal. Then, what happens? He’s put in jail. He has no character; therefore, his liberties are taken away. Now he has no responsibilities. He doesn’t have to turn out the lights. He has no liberties. He can’t unlock the door. Because, when he ceases to act responsibly, then his liberty diminishes. It follows as night follows day.

Now when our Founding Fathers understood this—“with a firm reliance upon divine providence, we’ll build this nation; and we’ve built a Constitution,” as Madison says, “that will not work apart from each of us governing ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God”—when we believed this; when we came as a nation out of the womb of a revival, what happened? Well, friend, we had an industrial revolution, and great wealth was produced. Why is that? Because Americans are bigger, better, brighter, smarter? No, we’re human—homo sapiens—like other people on the face of the earth. Why is it? Are there more minerals in our soil? Does it rain more on America? No, other nations are beautiful to travel to and see. What makes America different? God has blessed America. God has blessed America. That’s what makes America different. We have been the recipients of the beneficent blessings of Almighty God. And God gave us wealth, and God gave us military strength. “Protect us by thy might, great God our King.”

But today, the scream of the American eagle has become the twitter of a frightened sparrow. Our military is in a shambles, I’m told. No, we have the technology, but do we have the will? Do we have the manpower? We have let people tell us, today, we need to put women in the front lines in combat. And the people say, “Yes, we’ve got to do that; it’s the only reasonable thing to do.” Did you know—in the Bible, when God spoke of His judgment upon a nation, do you know what God said? God said, “I will make their soldiers like women” (Jeremiah 48:41; 49:22). That was God’s judgment. God said, “I will judge them; I’ll make their soldiers like women.” Women are not made for combat in the front lines. Did you know that? But what’s happened? We had a time when we as Americans were respected around the world, and we were people of culture, and people of respect. Today, we’re laughed at, even by those nations where we have pumped money trying to buy respect. They cannot be bought with the Yankee dollar. Let this fasten itself upon your mind. Righteousness is the exaltation of a nation. “Righteousness exalteth a nation.” Righteousness is the exaltation of a nation.

II. Reproach Is the Humiliation of a Nation

Now here’s the second thing I want you to learn: Reproach is the humiliation of a nation. Reproach is the humiliation of a nation. God says, “Sin is a reproach to any people” (Proverbs 14:34). America today is living in reproach. Now the American dream has begun to dissolve. What happened is this: We came through an agonizing Civil War. We got ourselves back together and turned to God. And then, we had World War I, and God gave us victory in World War I. But rather than giving God the praise, we began to live. We wanted liberty without responsibility.

The flapper rage came. The Roaring Twenties came. The Great Depression came. We had failed to understand that earlier blessings had come from Almighty God. And when the Great Depression came, it came as a result of our debauchery, as a result of our loss of character. Then, we began to turn to the government—to ask the government to help us out—and great social programs began to come in America—government programs. And everybody said, “This is wonderful! Look what the government is going to give us!” But the government can’t give us anything that it doesn’t take from us. And so what the government began to do was to begin to grow, and redistribute the wealth, and take theirs off the top.

You know the government always assumes more and more authority when the people lose more and more character. And as character goes down, control goes up, and government begins to grow. And the government began to provide for people. But when the government provides, the government must, as night follows day, control.

I’ve told you before about a man who had some wild pigs that were rooting up his farm. And he tried to capture them, and he couldn’t. And a man said, “I can capture those pigs for you.” And he went out and he put some food on the ground and withdrew. And the pigs came out of the woods and ate the food. He did that several days, and then he put a fencepost up. And the pigs came and ate the food. That fencepost didn’t bother them. And then, he put another, and another, and another. The pigs didn’t like it, necessarily; but, no harm done, they were getting fat and sleek being fed by someone else. No longer did they root in the woods for their own acorns. Somebody would feed them. And then, after a while, a corral was built, and the wire was strung, and only a narrow gate. And the pigs learned to go in and out that gate to get their food. And then, the bar was dropped, the trap set—the pigs captured. And the man said, “That’s simple. Anything that depends upon me for its food, I can control.”

Now when the government gets people to depend upon them, the government says, “I will be a subsidy.” It follows, as night follows day, when we lose character, at the same time we lose freedom. And we have watched, in America, as one fencepost after another has been set around us, and we’re still eating out of the government trough. And yet, the government is only giving to us what it has first taken from us. And now folks, we’ve turned into a welfare state.

Now not only does the government, then, begin to provide, and the government begins to control; but, if you’re not careful, the government can begin to oppress. You see, government grows as strong as the weak-character people will allow it to grow. And that’s what has happened in America today. Remember what Alexander Hamilton said? “People get the kind of government they deserve.”

Now you say, “But we still have a lot of freedoms in America.” That’s true. But we’re living in the shadow of a constitutional government that was founded by our fathers and forefathers. And that shadow is quickly receding over the horizon. Now if we don’t do something, if we don’t have a spiritual awakening in America, if there’s not a return to the first principles, which is really a return to the God that made us a nation, if we don’t return—here’s what’s going to happen: There will be a disappearance of the middle class. And you’ll have two classes in America: the very rich, and the very poor. Travel around, go to third world countries, and you’ll know what I’m talking about. You’ll have the very rich and the very poor. The very rich will be, by-and-large, those who are in government, or those who have governmental connections. And the rest will make up the masses that keep it all going.

In 1930, there was one governmental worker for every 205 people. Today, the ratio is more like 1 out of 5. What has happened—as character diminishes, government grows. Today, there is one dependent and one bureaucrat for every three working people. As this continues, the middle class goes. There are the very rich and the very poor.

What is the purpose of government? Read Romans 13. Government is here for protection—to punish evildoers, and to defend the land: “He beareth not the sword in vain” (Romans 13:4). But when you get the idea that the government is not here to protect but to provide, then you’re in difficulties. Our Founding Fathers knew this. Our Founding Fathers said that government is to provide for the common defense, and promote the general welfare. Not provide the general welfare—provide the common defense. You and I can’t raise an army. We shouldn’t become vigilantes. We’re here to protect one another. That’s what the purpose is—to provide the common defense; to promote the general welfare.

The Bible says, “If a man will not work, neither should he eat” (2 Thessalonians 3:10). We’re not talking about people that cannot work, or people who are temporarily out of work—they ought to be helped, indeed they should. But when we have a welfare type of state, a form of socialism, then we have gotten away from the teachings, I believe, of the Word of God.

One person has wisely said, “We are in deep trouble, when we look upon our government as a cow to be milked rather than a watchdog to be fed.” Our government is here to protect us. Now once the government begins to provide, then the government begins to control, and they say, “If you’re getting government subsidy, your going to do as we do.” Then, the government wants to begin to oppress.

Sometimes, the government wants the minds of its adherents—to keep the rank and file to do what Big Daddy government wants it to do. And so now, the government has to control the minds. And how do you start with the minds? Well, you start with the children. So what do you do? You get a National Education Association, and a Department of Education, and you begin to take little children; you take the Ten Commandments out, and your values clarification in—and say, “Remember, there are no fixed rules of right and wrong; we can’t say there’s a fixed rule of right and wrong—that’s mixing religion and politics.” And so we take that down, we put values clarification in, and then, we begin to talk about the glories of the welfare state. And then, we begin to talk about a one-world government, and a new world order. And the little children grow up in a nation that our Founding Fathers did not know.

Adolf Hitler said, in 1920, “Give me the minds of the children, and in one generation I will give you the fascist super state.” And he did it. Stalin, in Soviet Russia, did the same thing. You see, out of our education system there, with compulsory education, the Bible is out; prayer is out; Ten Commandments out; creation out; humanism—and its X-rated textbooks—is in.

They say, “We’ve got our Sunday School classes five days a week; and, what we’re going to do is, we’re going to bring in a new society.” The government provides; the government controls; the government oppresses. Why? Because of a lack of character on the part of people. “Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.” Now the truth of the matter is that God holds us as individuals—as parents—responsible to teach our children. We need to teach our children our heritage; we need to teach them our history. And as we talked in this series on The Ten Commandments, it is to go from God, to grandfather, to father, to children; to be passed down that way.

III. Revival Is the Restoration of a Nation

Now here is the third and final thing: Righteousness is the exaltation of a nation; Reproach is the humiliation of a nation. Revival is the restoration of a nation. Now the Bible says, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD” (Psalm 33:12). The Bible says, “When the righteous rule, the people rejoice” (Proverbs 29:2). America needs a new birth of freedom, but America will never have a new birth of freedom until America has a revival of righteousness. And therefore, the key to America is not in the statehouse, or the White House, or in the Pentagon, but in the church house, and in your home.

I hope you believe that. I hope you believe that is not mere rhetoric. You see, ladies and gentlemen, we are the salt and the light. Jesus said, “Ye are the salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:13). What does salt do? Salt cleanses; salt purifies; salt preserves; salt penetrates. We don’t have to be a majority. We’re salt.

People say, “We believe in the separation of church and state.” Well, number one, that phrase is not found anywhere in the Constitution. The first amendment teaches that there should be no state-church, no national denomination—and, all others would say amen. We don’t want our tax money subsidizing religion; we don’t want the national church to be a holiness church or any other kind of church. As freeborn Americans we believe in freedom to worship God as we desire, without it being subsidized by the government. We believe that. But our Founding Fathers, never for a skinny minute believed in the separation of God and government. If you think they did, you’d better go back and do some historical study.

Friend, we believed, in the birth of this nation, that there must be righteousness. You don’t put the fish in one barrel and the salt in the other. We’re the salt of the earth—not the pepper, not the sugar—the salt. And Jesus said, and He’s talking to this generation as well as to His, “If the salt loses its savor, it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out and to be trodden under the feet of men” (Matthew 5:13).

Do you know why the church is being trampled today? Do you know why we are the butt of so many jokes, and stand-up comedians laugh and talk about us, and they make jokes about us? Because we’re salt without savor. They don’t respect us. We’re cast out and trampled under the feet of men. I think it’s time to let the salt work. I think it’s time to let the light shine. I’m not talking about arrogance. I’m talking righteousness. “Righteousness exalteth a nation; but sin is a reproach to any people.” Righteousness is the exaltation of a nation. Revival is the restoration of a nation. And it can happen; it can happen in the darkest of days.

Conclusion

In Romania, there was a megalomaniac, a communist dictator—Nicolae Ceausescu. Ceausescu was a tyrant; he was an antichrist. Going to the city of Oradea, he saw a little building there. He had gone to inspect one of his factories. He asked one of his leaders, “What is that building over there?” They said, “Sire, that’s a Baptist church.” He said, “A what?” “It’s a Baptist church.” Ceausescu said, “Destroy that nest of insects.” They started to destroy that church and persecute the people, but then they came back and said, “Sire, these people are known in this community. If we destroy this church, word may get to the West. We may lose some of our benefits from the West.” Ceausescu said, “Then hide it; I don’t want to see it.” And so they said, “How can we hide a church? Well, we’ll build apartment buildings all around it.” So they built apartment buildings all around it, and it brought the people right to the church. And the church began to grow magnificently.

Ceausescu was brutal. He began to repress pastors. There was a pastor in Timisoara. His name was Laszlo Tokes, or Tokes the Pastor. He was a Hungarian pastor there in Timisoara. And he dared to ask, “Can we just have some hymnals, please?” “We don’t have any hymnals.” They saw that as his being too uppity, demanding things of the government. They said, “Tokes is a problem; let’s move him out. We’ll send the security cop there to take Tokes out of the way.” Laszlo got word of the idea, the notion they were coming for him. He told his people—his little church would seat maybe 150 people. Brother Bob, you and I visited that little church—little small church there in an apartment building. It would seat maybe 150 people. He told his people, “They’re coming for me. I want you to be here, when they come.” His people surrounded the little church and began to pray for the pastor because the security was coming for the pastor.

When the people came for Laszlo Tokes, they said, “Well, ha ha, we’ll wait till the people go away.” But the next day, rather than hundreds, there were thousands. The word had spread, and they were around that little church, just praying. They began to pass food up through the window, and logs for the fireplace, because the apartment was right there in the building near the church. The crowds grew, and Ceausescu said, “Well, it’s getting out of hand. Now I’ll send my men with their guns, and I’ll send the water cannon. I’ll disperse the crowd, and take this renegade preacher.” And when they came, they came with their guns, and they began to move on that crowd with the water cannon.

Somebody in that crowd, who had it up to here with totalitarianism, said, “There is a God,” and shouted it at the top of his voice. And other people around began to take up the chant: “There is a God! There is a God! There is a God!” They turned on that water cannon which can’t be destroyed, and with their bare hands they destroyed that water cannon. With this, the police began to shoot, and the military men to shoot, these individuals there in Timisoara. And they began to shoot. And men who had had enough began to unbutton their coat, unbutton their shirt, and stand in front of a man with a rifle, and say, “Shoot me!” And they shot them in cold blood. They began to shoot little children from the rooftop. They were shooting into the crowd. But the people began to shout all the more: “There is a God! There is a God! There is a God!”

Ceausescu knew he was in trouble. He called for a great crowd there in Timisoara, got out on a platform, up on a balcony, to make an oration, a speech, to tell them how wonderful He was. And out in the crowd, somebody shouted, “Murderer! You’re a murderer!” And others began to shout. And he knew his day was done. Ceausescu fled back to his apartment, up on the roof, got in a helicopter, and took off. He had it land by an armored vehicle, got in the vehicle to take him to safety; but, he had told all of his people, “You can’t have more than 10 liters of fuel in any military vehicle.” He was afraid they would try to escape, themselves. And so here he is trying to escape, and he runs out of gas.

And this great vaunted dictator, who was building for himself a 10 billion dollar palace—I’ve been in the palace, a thousand rooms in his own personal suite—since 1984, he had been building his palace; 24,000 slave laborers working around the clock. It is now 1989; five years they had been building this palace. It’s still about two-thirds built. He has a bunker underground, but it’s not quite finished. He runs out of gas. He has to get out and catch a taxi. Humiliated, they take him; they arrest him, on Christmas Day. This madman is put up against the wall, and a firing squad of 10 put 160 bullets in Nicolae Ceausescu.

In that church, where he said, “Destroy that nest of insects.” That church is now the largest evangelical church in all of Europe. They have a beautiful 3,000-seat auditorium. Souls are coming to Christ. Why? Because the people said, “There is a God.”

There is a God that rules in the affairs of men; and, live or die, we’re going to stand up for what we believe. And it’s time for every red blooded American to say, “There is a God!” And “Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people”—the righteousness that is the exaltation of a nation; the reproach that is the humiliation of a nation; the revival that is the restoration of a nation. I want to leave to my grandkids a godly nation. Isn’t that what you want? God grant it. God grant it. “God bless America, land that we love.” Let’s bow our heads in prayer.

Heads are bowed and eyes are closed. All heads are bowed and eyes are closed. May I ask you a personal question? Are you saved? Sooner or later, America and all nations will join the graveyard of the nations. But there’s a Kingdom that endures forever, and that’s the Kingdom of God. Do you know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior? If you were to die right now, are you absolutely certain that you’d go straight to Heaven? If you would like to receive Jesus, I want to help you to do that right now. Would you pray a prayer like this in your heart? “Dear God, I’m a sinner, and my sins deserve judgment. But Lord, I want to be saved. I need to be forgiven. Lord Jesus, I want you to be my Lord and my Savior. Come into my heart. Forgive my sin. Cleanse me; save me, Lord Jesus.” Would you pray that prayer? “Cleanse me, and save me, Lord Jesus.” Pray it, and mean it. “Save me, Lord Jesus.” If you prayed that prayer, then pray this: “Thank You for saving me. I receive it by faith. I don’t ask for feeling; I don’t look for a sign. I stand on Your Word. You’re now my Lord and my Savior. And begin now to make me the person You want me to be. And Lord Jesus, because You died for me, I will live for You. In Your Holy name I pray. Amen.”