AMERICA’S 250th… –“IF WE CAN KEEP IT”

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, DERIVING THEIR JUST POWERS “FROM THE CONSENT OF THE GOVERNED.”

1. The loss of God as The Moral Center

2. Extremism, Polarization, and the Destruction of the Reasonable Center

3. The replacement of Personal Responsibility with Government Dependence

I. We failed to learn the lesson from the Garden — The Pattern is Established.

• Authority – Dominion: not muscle, power, or a throne — The Right to Decide.

Genesis 1:26 – Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, OVER ALL THE EARTH and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

• Accountability – “You shall surely die”

Genesis 2:17 – “…but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

• Our Response – WE pass the buck

Genesis 3:12-13—12Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” 13And the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

• The Result – WE hand deliver our rights to another

Luke 4:5-6—5Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; FOR THIS HAS BEEN DELIVERED TO ME, and I give it to whomever I wish.”

II. Israel failed to learn the lesson from the Garden – The Pattern is Continued

• Mistaking Failed Leadership for a Failed System

1 Samuel 8:1-3—1Now it came to pass when Samuel was old that he made his sons judges over Israel. 2The name of his firstborn was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah; they were judges in Beersheba. 3But his sons did not walk in his ways; they turned aside after dishonest gain, took bribes, and perverted justice.

• Seeking Conformity rather than Correction

1 Samuel 8:4-5—4Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, 5and said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us LIKE ALL THE NATIONS.”

• Rejecting Accountability by Rejecting God

1 Samuel 8:7—And the LORD said to Samuel, “Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them.

• Willing to Accept Slavery to Escape Responsibility

1 Samuel 8:11-18 (summary) — He will take your sons, your daughters, the best of your fields, vineyards, and olive groves, he will take a tenth of your crops, your male and female servants, your finest young men, your donkeys, your sheep, and you will be his servants. The big one – You will cry out to God in that day, and He will not hear you!

1 Samuel 8:19-20—19Nevertheless, the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, “No, but we will have a king over us, 20that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us And Fight Our Battles.”

III. Christ Restored our Dominion from the loss in the Garden

Revelation 5:9-10—9And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, and HAVE redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, 10And HAVE made us Kings and Priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth.”

• Christ Restored the Governance lost in the Garden

Daniel 2:44—And in the days of these kings (Rome) the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.

1. His Government – ekklesia: church

Matthew 16:18 . . . And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

• Christ assigns the church to return His Governance to the World

Matthew 28:18-20—18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “ALL AUTHORITY has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of ALL THE NATIONS, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to OBSERVE ALL THINGS that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, EVEN TO THE END OF THE AGE.”

IV. The Church has forgotten that God uses Government to do His Will

1. Don’t complain about our leaders. Pray for them.

1 Timothy 2:1-2—1Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, 2for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.

2. Don’t forget it is God who ordains their leadership roles.

Romans 13:1—Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.

3. Don’t forget that God chooses to use the lost and saved in government.

Isaiah 45:1, 4-5—1“Thus says the LORD to His anointed, TO CYRUS, whose right hand I have held— To subdue nations before him And loose the armor of kings, To open before him the double doors, So that the gates will not be shut: . . . 4For Jacob My servant’s sake, and Israel My elect, I have even called you by your name; I have named you, though you have not known Me. 5I am the LORD, and there is no other; There is no God besides Me. I will gird you, though you have not known Me.

Jeremiah 27:6—And now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant; and the beasts of the field I have also given him to serve him.

4. Don’t forget we are electing politicians, not preachers.

1 Timothy 3:1-2—1This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work. 2A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach…

Ephesians 6:12—For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.