America’s Hope!
Psalm 33:1-22
Sermon by Rick Crandall
McClendon Baptist Church - July 1, 2007
*I love this country. There is no place on earth I would rather live. We have been blessed in countless ways, and we have been a blessing to the whole world. Can you imagine what the world would be like today with no Unites States? Hitler and his fascist allies would have taken over the whole world, except for those parts living under the iron fist of Communism, or under the cruel terror of radical Islam.
*Over 30 years ago a Canadian TV commentator bragged on the U.S. this way:
-“This Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans as the most generous & possibly the least appreciated people on all the earth. Germany, Japan, and to a lesser extent, Britain and Italy were lifted out of the debris of war by the Americans who poured in billions of dollars and forgave other billions in debts.
*None of these countries is today paying even the interest on its remaining debts to the United States. When the franc was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the Americans who propped it up, and their reward was to be insulted and swindled on the streets of Paris. I was there. I saw it.
*The Marshall Plan and the Truman Policy pumped billions of dollars into discouraged countries. Now newspapers in those countries are writing about the decadent, warmongering Americans.
*I can name you 5,000 times when the Americans raced to the help of other people in trouble. Can you name me even one time when someone else raced to the Americans in trouble? I don’t think there was outside help even during the San Francisco earthquake.
*Our neighbors have faced it alone, and I’m one Canadian who is . . . tired of hearing them get kicked around.” (1)
*Many people may hate us, but we have been blessed, and we are a blessing. At the same time, we are in danger as we reach our 231 birthday. The United States is under attack from forces outside and inside our country.
*We have fallen away from God in so many ways. As one example, think of our most prestigious universities. Most of them were founded to train Christian preachers. When Harvard was established in 1636, their statement of purpose said, “Every student’s main aim is to know Jesus Christ, and to recognize that Christ is the foundation of all learning.”
*When Yale was founded in 1701, they said that “God is the source of all wisdom.” And they required all their students to attend morning and evening [Christian] prayer services every day. (2)
*Can you imagine the howl, if they did that today?
*There are countless examples of America’s troubles. Secular liberals relentlessly oppose Biblical principles without regard to the damage done to children and families. Melvin Newland gave the example of a school teacher in New York who was fired from her job...
-Not because she was immoral...
-Not because she abused the children...
-Not because she used vulgar language...
*This teacher was fired after one of the little girls in her class tragically died. Grieving students naturally asked their teacher, “What happens when you die?”
*She told them that she thought the little girl was gone to heaven, then she said, “If you want to talk about this, I’ll be glad to meet with you after school is over.”
*29 of the children met with the teacher after school, and she told them about her faith in Jesus Christ. She told them she believed in heaven and that their friend was with God now and happy for all eternity. Then she prayed with the students. But one of the students who had not stayed was upset with the teacher and complained. So, the Christian teacher was fired. (3)
*Our Christian heritage is under constant attack today, but there is hope for America!
1. First, there is hope, if we pour out our praise to God. Christians, our lives should be filled with praise. God calls us to praise Him in vs. 1-3:
1. Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous! For praise from the upright is beautiful.
2. Praise the Lord with the harp; Make melody to Him with an instrument of ten strings.
3. Sing to Him a new song; Play skillfully with a shout of joy.
*“Rejoice in the Lord, you righteous ones!” How are we going to get there? How are we ever going to be righteous ones? There is only one way, and we can see it in the previous Psalm. Take a look at Psalm 32:1-5...
1. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered.
2. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no guile.
3. When I kept silent, my bones grew old Through my groaning all the day long.
4. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was turned into the drought of summer. Selah
5. I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,’’ And You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah
*We can be righteous, because our sins can be forgiven! We can be righteous because Jesus took our guilt when He died on the cross, then rose again to offer His eternal life to all who will trust in Him.
*George Washington certainly knew this. Listen to this prayer he wrote in his diary, “Let my heart, gracious God, be so affected with Your glory and majesty that I may . . . discharge those weighty duties which thou requirest of me. . . Again, I have called on thee for pardon and forgiveness of sins . . . for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ offered on the cross for me. Thou gavest thy Son to die for me; and hast given me assurance of my salvation.” (4)
*If you have trusted in the Lord like George Washington, then you too are a righteous one, made righteous by the blood of Jesus Christ. But you have to start living like it. And one of the most important ways is to praise the Lord.
*Believers, we have the greatest reasons to praise the Lord! In vs. 4, praise Him for His word and His work: “For the word of the Lord is right, and all His work is done in truth.”
*In vs. 5&6, praise Him for His character and His creation. “He loves righteousness and justice; The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.”
*Our God created this whole universe. He created this nation too.
*As Melvin Newland once wrote:
-The first thing right with America is that our earliest settlers were people who came here primarily looking for religious freedom. Other nations, for the most part, came into existence by conquest for selfish and ambitious motives. But it was primarily in the atmosphere of God, not gold, that America was born.
*The hardy souls who sailed on the Mayflower in 1620 fled from tyranny and oppression. And in the Mayflower Compact which they signed beneath the swinging lantern in the cabin of their ship, they proclaimed that they had come to the new world for "the glorie of God and the advancement of the Christian faith."
*In the early colonies the first public building to be erected was a church house. And the first public event was the worship of Almighty God. When sorrow came they gathered at the church to appeal to God for help. When bountiful harvests filled their barns they gathered at the church for thanksgiving to God. (4)
*They knew to praise the God who gives us every good thing we will ever have. Praise Him for His word and His work. Praise Him for His character and His creation.
*Samuel Adams was often called the “Father of the Revolution.” At the signing of the Declaration of Independence, he declared, “We have this day restored the [King] to Whom all men ought to be obedient. He reigns in Heaven, and from the rising to the setting of the sun, let His Kingdom come.” (4)
*That is the spirit of praise that brings hope to America!
2. There is hope, if we pour out our praise to God. But we must also give reverence God’s counsel and commands.
*We must give reverence to His purpose and His plan. Listen again to vs. 8-12 from the Amplified Bible:
8. Let all the earth fear the Lord [revere and worship Him]; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.
9. For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.
10. The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nought; He makes the thoughts and plans of the peoples of no effect.
11. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the thoughts of His heart through all generations.
12. Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He has chosen as His heritage.
*In vs. 10, the Lord brings all the plans and schemes of ungodly nations to nothing. But in vs. 9, the Word of God stands firm, and in vs. 11, God’s Word will stand forever!
*The secular liberals who have written most of our children’s textbooks, and those who have done everything possible to drive God out of the public arena would have you believe that the Word of God had very little to do with the start of the Unites States. But the truth is that America was founded on biblical principles. There is abundant evidence that our early leaders embraced God’s Word. For example, in 1782, the United States Congress voted to approve this resolution: “The Congress of the United States recommends and approves the Holy Bible for use in all schools.” (5)
*William Holmes McGuffey was the author of the McGuffey Reader, which was used for over 100 years in our public schools with over 125 million copies sold until it was stopped in 1963.
*Over his long career, McGuffey served as professor at Miami Univ. in Ohio, President of Cincinnati College, President of Ohio Univ., President of Woodward College, and Professor of Philosophy, at the University of Virginia. President Lincoln called McGuffee the “Schoolmaster of the Nation.”
*Listen to these words from William McGuffey, “The Christian religion is the religion of our country. From it are derived our notions on the character of God, on the great moral Governor of the universe. On its doctrines are founded the peculiarities of our free institutions. From no source has the author drawn more conspicuously than from the sacred Scriptures. From all these extracts from the Bible I make no apology.” (6)
*Pres. John Quincy Adams said, “The highest glory of the American Revolution was that it connected the principles of Christianity with the principles of government.” (7)
*The greatest men in our history gave reverence to God’s purpose and His plan. Our hope is not in man’s wisdom, but in the Word of God.
3. There is hope for America, if we reverence God’s counsel and command. But we must also remember how God connects with His creation.
*Many people foolishly leave God out of the equation of their lives. If they think of God at all, they think of Him as some distant, uninvolved being. But vs. 13-15 show us that God is very much connected and concerned with what is going on in His world. Listen to these verses again:
13. The Lord looks from heaven; He sees all the sons of men.
14. From the place of His habitation He looks on all the inhabitants of the earth;
15. He fashions their hearts individually; He considers all their works.
*Does that sound like God doesn’t care? Does that sound like God is too busy for you? I promise you that God is paying close attention to His world.
*God has infinite insight and intense interest in our lives. In vs. 13, He sees: “The Lord looks from heaven; He sees all the sons of men.” In vs. 15, He shapes: “He fashions their hearts individually; He considers all their works.”
*A few years ago evangelist and author Ravi Zacharias gave a great testimony about how God sees and shapes our lives. Ravi was at a conference when an acquaintance invited him to dinner. After dinner the host asked Ravi if they could take a walk, because he had something to tell him.
*Ravi said, “He told me about his son who, while at college, had been tragically killed in an auto accident. [The man] added: ‘For a long time I was not able to get over my son’s death. There had been many things going on in his mind that I wished we had been able to talk about. I agonized for months over opportunities forever lost.’
*He went on to say that some months later, still in grief, as he was driving somewhere. He decided to play some of his son’s favorite music on tape, hoping somehow to reach back into his son’s life. In what had to be a shock to him, suddenly, his son’s voice spoke as clearly as if he were sitting in the back seat of the car. The voice, of course, was on the tape itself.
*The father discovered that a few weeks prior to the accident, his son had made a fresh commitment to Christ during some meetings at his college at which I spoke. So deep an impact had been made on his heart that he returned home and recorded an expression of his spiritual journey.”
*God allowed that father to hear the great news about his son’s fresh commitment to Christ, and he wanted to thank Ravi for the role God gave him in that spiritual renewal. The father also wanted to tell Ravi how meaningful it had been for him to hear a voice that had passed from his life. (8)
*God saw, He knew, He cared, and He helped. God sees our lives and He intervenes to shape our lives.
4. There is hope for America, if we remember how God connects with His creation. But we must also trust in His mercy more than our might.
*There is no country on earth that has as much military might as the United States. But as good as that is, and as much as we appreciate our courageous soldiers, we can never place our trust in our military power. As God’s Word says in vs. 16-17, “No king is saved by the multitude of an army; a mighty man is not delivered by great strength. A horse is a vain hope for safety; neither shall it deliver any by its great strength.” If the Lord were writing His Word today, He would say an aircraft carrier or a missile is a vain hope for safety.
*Even though we do have the strongest army in the world, and even if we did have all the missiles in the world -- That won’t save us. The only thing that can save the United States is the merciful God of vs. 18&19, who says, “Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His mercy, to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine.”
*Time after time God has intervened on behalf of our country. In 1776, the British Empire had the most powerful army and navy in the world. The rag-tag American army of farmers and shop keepers was out-manned, out-gunned and out-financed.
*The colonies had no chance of winning the war against England: No chance short of God’s miraculous intervention -- But God did intervene.
*On Aug. 27, 1776, just a month after the Declaration of Independence was signed, Washington’s army of 8,000 was trapped by the East River, near Brooklyn, NY. Twenty thousand crack British soldiers were poised to attack, waiting only for their fleet.
*General Washington’s small boats could only hold a few men at a time. And Washington knew that when the sun came up, the boats would be easy targets for the British artillery. But thank the Lord, sudden rains and a strong northeast wind kept the British fleet from sailing.
*When night fell, Washington began to evacuate his army across the mile-wide river. Then just as the sun rose, a very unusual, dense fog formed and visibility dropped to just 6 yards. The fog hovered low until the very last boat, carrying Washington himself, set off across the river. Then suddenly the fog lifted, and the British were stunned to see the empty shore. They fired their guns at Washington’s boat, but it was out of range. (9)
*You can call all of that a coincidence if you want to, but the men who were there knew it was the Hand of God. 231 years later there is still hope for America in the merciful Hand of God, but only if we trust in the Lord.
*All of us need to say what the Psalm writer said in vs. 20-22, “Our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help and our shield, for our heart shall rejoice in Him, because we have trusted in His holy name. Let Your mercy, O Lord, be upon us, Just as we hope in You.”
*Our hope and trust must be in Jesus Christ! He is our help and our shield! And our hearts can rejoice, if we have trusted in His holy name! Put your hope in Jesus!
1. Adapted from SermonCentral sermon “ONE NATION UNDER GOD” by MELVIN NEWLAND Psalm 33:12
2. SermonCentral sermon “One Nation Under God” by Paul Hammons Psalm 33:12
3. SermonCentral sermon “God Bless America” Melvin Newland - 2 Chron 7:14-22
4. Adapted from SermonCentral sermon “BLESSED IS THE NATION - Part 1” by MELVIN NEWLAND - Psalm 33:12
5. http://www.bereanpublishers.com/Important_Issues (See: christian_history_of_the_united_.htm
6. Lincoln quote online; McGuffey quote many sources such as: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Holmes_McGuffey
(career information: http://ohiobio.org/mcguffey.htm)
7. SermonCentral sermon “God Has Established” by MELVIN NEWLAND - Romans 13:1-7 [Date: July 4, 1821 - Source: in a speech to the U.S. House of Representatives] - (see http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/John.Quincy.Adams.Quote.77BA)
8. Adapted from KERUX ILLUSTRATION COLLECTION - ID Number: 10172 - SOURCE: A Slice of Infinity: Ravi Zacharias International Ministries; http://www.gospelcom.net/slice/ - TITLE: Hearing God’s Voice - AUTHOR: Ravi Zacharias - DATE: 11/21/02
9. Adapted from SermonCentral sermon “Blessed Is the Nation - Part 2” by Melvin Newland - Psalm 33:12
