Sermon Central
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A Great Nation
Contributed by Johnny Creasong on Jul 9, 2002 (message contributor)
Summary: What makes America a Great Nation? Can God still bless the USA?
A GREAT NATION
“Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people he chose
for his inheritance.”
(NIV)
What does it mean, “the people He chose for His inheritance”?
God chose to set apart a people who would belong to Him.
Humans normally do not get the opportunity to choose their
inheritance. When we inherit something, it is because a generous
benefactor considered us worthy to receive a prized possession. It
may be a piece of property, or jewelry, or furniture. But whatever
it is, we did not choose it for ourselves.
The Scripture says, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD,
the people he chose for his inheritance.” God made a choice
before the world spun into motion from His fingertips, before
mankind was created. God chose to set apart a people who would
belong to Him. He reminded the nation Israel, as recorded for us in
Deuteronomy 4:20, “But as for you, the LORD took you and
brought you out of the iron-smelting furnace, out of Egypt, to be
the people of his inheritance, as you now are.” Israel was to be
His inheritance by His choice. But Israel chose to serve idols, to
follow their own ways in unrighteousness rather than God’s
righteousness. Even though repeatedly reminded, the inheritance
God chose did not choose Him.
God still seeks for a nation to bless, a nation “whose God is the
LORD”, a people who recognize their chosenness and choose to
make Him Lord! Is America that nation? How does a nation make
that choice? How can America be a Great Nation?
G - GOOD
French writer Alexis de Tocqueville, after visiting America in 1831,
said, "I sought for the greatness of the United States in her
commodious harbors, her ample rivers, her fertile fields, and
boundless forests--and it was not there. I sought for it in her rich
mines, her vast world commerce, her public school system, and in
her institutions of higher learning--and it was not there. I looked for
it in her democratic Congress and her matchless Constitution--and
it was not there. Not until I went into the churches
of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I
understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great
because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good,
America will cease to be great!"
"It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their own
independence upon the overruling power of God . . . and to
recognize the sublime truth announced in the Holy Scriptures and
proved by all history, that those nations only are blest whose God is
the Lord." - Abraham Lincoln
R - Righteous
Peter Marshall, before the U.S. Senate said it ever so well in a
prayer many years ago. "Lord Jesus, thou who art the way, the
truth, and the life; hear us as we pray for the truth that shall make
all free. Teach us that liberty is not only to be loved but also to be
lived. Liberty is too precious a thing to be buried in books. It costs
too much to be hoarded. Help us see that our liberty is not the right
to do as we please, but the opportunity to please to do what is
right."
Understand three principles regarding “Righteousness”
• We are not righteous by nature…we are sinners.
• We do NOT become righteous by being good
• We are made righteous through Jesus Christ. 2 Cor. 5:21 “God
made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might
become the righteousness of God.”
Our forefathers understood righteousness. They knew that
righteousness was the catalyst to give birth to this nation of people
looking for freedom and liberty. They knew that just as CHRIST
paid the price for our liberty that they too would pay for
LIBERTY. Liberty and freedom has ALWAYS EXACTED A
PRICE.
It all began 226 years ago, when on July 4th, 1776, 56 brave men
signed the document known as “The Declaration of Independence.”
Do you have any idea what price these men paid for the
independence to live in a nation built on the Righteousness of God?
• Five were captured and tortured by the British before they died.
• Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned to the ground.
• Two lost their sons in the war.
• One had two sons captured.
• Nine fought and died from wounds or the hardships of the war.
• Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his
ships swept from the seas by the British navy. He sold his home to
pay his debts and died in rags.
• Thomas McKean was so hounded by the British that he was
