The Demands of Christian Citizenship | Part 2

What does our liberty as a nation have to do with our character as people?

Listen to Adrian Rogers. The liberty that we have as a nation is in direct proportion to our character. And as character diminishes, government grows. And the government, my dear friend, was meant to only do certain things. How wise were the writers of our Constitution? They wrote that the government was to promote the general welfare, provide for the common defense. They were not to provide the general welfare.

They were to promote that. Government, my dear friend, is a watchdog to be fed, not a cow to be milked. And we're going further and further away from the liberties that we had, that we gained, when we had the character that brought this nation into existence to begin with. Welcome to Love Worth Finding, featuring profound truth simply stated by Adrian Rogers. A Christian is a citizen of this world and the world above. In part one of today's message, we began to learn some of our expectations as Christian citizens. We must first be absolutely and totally clean. We must live such godly lives that even those that hate you will have to admit that there's a difference. If you have your Bible, turn to First Peter chapter two, we'll begin in verse 11, as Adrian Rogers reveals more of the demands of Christian citizenship.

Now there are several things I want you to see. And first of all, I want you to see the character, the character that Christian citizenship demands. You're going to find that in verses 11 and 12. Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. First of all, you are to live a righteous godly life. There is to be in your heart and in your life none of what the Bible calls fleshly lust.

A child of God ought to be pure and clean as the driven snow. There are certain things that war against the soul, and the word war is not the idea of hand-to-hand combat. The word for war here is the word that speaks of a strategy, of a conspiracy. There is a conspiracy born in hell, my dear friend, that war is against your soul, the soul of your family, the soul of your church, the soul of this nation. We are at war with unseen forces from the very pit of hell.

There is a battle. And to be prepared for the battle, first of all, you must be absolutely, totally clean. You must renounce, abstain from everything that is wrong. And then what you must do is embrace everything that is right.

Look in verse 12. Having your conversation, that means your behavior, honest among the Gentiles. The word Gentiles speaks of those that are not saved, that whereas they speak against you as evildoers, and they will, they love to badmouth the church, and especially if you're a Bible believer. Oh, do they love to excoriate and to lampool and to ridicule you. Well, they speak against you as evildoers. They may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of inspection or visitation. What that literally means is you're going to have to live such a pure, godly, clean, righteous, honest, forthright life that even grudgingly, even grudgingly, those that hate you will have to admit that there is a difference.

Now let me talk to you about this character for just a moment, the character. Our nation is a nation that exists because of the character of her people. The liberty that we have as a nation is in direct proportion to our character. And as we lose our character, we lose our liberty as night follows day.

A nation like an individual cannot be irresponsible and remain free. And I want you to listen to this. In 1788, James Madison, who was the chief framer and architect of the Federal Constitution and also the fourth president of the United States said this. Now I want you to listen.

This is not the rantings or the babblings of a Baptist preacher. This is James Madison. I want you to listen to what he said. And I quote, We have staked the whole future of the American civilization. Now let me just pause right there and say, he's talking about everything, friend. We have staked the whole future of the American revolution, the American government, the American civilization. We've put everything on this one thing.

I wonder what he's going to say. This is the man now who was the chief architect of the Constitution. He said, Everything rests on this.

Now listen to it. We have staked the whole future of the American civilization, not upon the power of government. Apart 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. Which Ten Commandments, my dear friend, you cannot even post in the classrooms of America's schools today.

My dear friend, how foolish we are to forget this book. No wonder in his inaugural address on April 30, 1789, Washington said, My fervent supplications to that almighty being who rules over the universe, who presides in the council of nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that his benediction, that means his blessing, may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States, a government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes. We ought to be no less persuaded.

Oh, listen to this, my friend. We ought to be no less persuaded. Here's George Washington. We ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rule of order and right which heaven itself has ordained. Washington said, You can't have the smile of God and fail, and you cannot succeed without the smile of God, and the smile of God comes, he says, if you do not disregard the eternal rule of order and right which heaven itself has ordained.

Now what's he saying? George Washington said, There is a right and there is a wrong. He's saying there are values. Now where are we going to get those values?

All the educators stand up and say, We need values. The politicians stand up and say, We need values. Whose values?

How are we going to know right or wrong? Are we going to get our values from the homosexual lobby? Are we going to get our values from television and Hollywood? Are we going to get our values from the humanist and the atheist? Are we going to get our values from the civil libertarians or ACLU?

Where are we going to get our values? Your idea is as good as mine, unless we have a fixed standard of right and wrong, and my dear friend, our founding fathers believe we had one in the word of God. Abraham Lincoln, this was his farewell address. Abraham Lincoln said in 1861, Unless the great God who assisted Washington shall be with me and aid me, I must fail. But if the same omniscient mind and mighty arm that directed and protected him shall guide me and support me, I shall not fail. Let us all pray that the God of our fathers may not forsake us now.

You ought to read that to the Supreme Court. In regards to this great book, I have this but to say. This is Abraham Lincoln. He's talking about the Bible. In regards to this great book, the Bible, he said, I have this but to say. It is the best gift God has given to man. All the good the Savior gave to the world who was communicated through this book. But for it, we would not know right from wrong. That, my friend, is what Abraham Lincoln said.

Apart from the Bible, you won't know and I won't know right from wrong. All things most desirable for man's welfare here and hereafter are to be found portrayed in it. In 1913, President Woodrow Wilson said, America was born to exemplify the devotion to the elements of righteousness which are derived by the Holy Scriptures. In March 1931, the United States Congress adopted the Star Spangled Banner as our national anthem and the fourth stanza says, Praise the power that hath made and preserved us a nation.

Then conquer we must when our cause it is just and this be our motto in God is our trust. I wonder what the ACLU would have said if Congress tried to do that today. In 1952, U.S. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas said and I quote, We are a religious people and our institutions presuppose a supreme being. In 1954, Congress adopted the phrase, Under God, to be added to the pledge of allegiance. One nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. And in July 1956, by joint resolution, Congress adopted a bill providing that the national motto of the United States of America is this, In God We Trust. I wonder what would happen in a school today if someone were to take a dollar bill out and just hold it up and say and read it, In God We Trust.

Read our currency. They said, Well, would that be a prayer? It's an incredible thing. Well, they said, Well, you know, if you pray in school, you may you may cause someone's feelings to be hurt. A friend, Christian kids are having their feelings hurt every day.

Every day. The First Amendment is not there to protect you from having your feelings hurt. God's name can be blasphemed, but we've come to a place now where His name cannot be praised. Our national anthem and hymn both speak of the power of God in this land.

I love America. That wonderful piece of music says, Our Father is God to Thee, Author of Liberty to Thee we sing. I wonder if you cannot sing that song in school anymore. You're singing a prayer. You're singing a prayer. Our Father is God to Thee we sing. Long may our land be bright with freedom's holy light.

Protect us by Thy might. Great God our King. You say Americans don't have a king.

Oh, yes, they do. You didn't vote him in, and you can't vote him out. Great God our King.

Why, you're singing a prayer. Do you see the convoluted nincompoopery that these intellectual high muckety mucks have gotten us into? Friend, there are those who would rob us and defraud us and take away our Christian heritage, but I want to tell you that this land was built by people with character, and it will only be maintained by people with character. And as character diminishes, government grows. And the government, my dear friend, was meant to only do certain things.

How wise were the writers of our Constitution? They wrote that the government was to promote the general welfare, provide for the common defense. They were not to provide the general welfare.

They were to promote that. Give us a land where men can do business, but provide the common defense. You and I can't raise an army, and nor should we go around killing people. Government, my dear friend, is a watchdog to be fed, not a cow to be milked.

We'll fail to understand that. And we're going further and further away from the liberties that we had, that we gained when we had the character that brought this nation into existence to begin with. Now I'm talking to you about the character that Christian citizenship demands. That's 1 Peter chapter 2, verses 11 and 12. Secondly, I want you to see not only the character that Christian citizenship demands, but I want you to see the compliance that Christian citizenship demands.

Look in verses 13 and 14. Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man, for the Lord's sake, whether it be to the king as supreme, or unto governors as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of them that do well. A person who is a God-fearing American is going to be a law-abiding American. He's going to submit himself to every ordinance of man, for the Lord's sake, to the laws he likes and to the laws he does not like. And he, as we're going to see, is going to learn how to honor and pray for his government, whatever his government may be. You say, well, I could do that if I had a good government.

I don't know whether you're Republican, Democratic, or Independent, but I'm going to tell you this, my dear friend. The Bible teaches that if there is in you a spirit of rebellion, the spirit of Satan is in you. If there is in you a spirit of submission, the spirit of Jesus is in you. Now, that brings a real problem, because what about wicked rulers? Well, when Peter wrote this, Nero was most likely the emperor, and there's never been a more wicked ruler than this, than Nero was. And yet he says that you're to submit to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake.

What does all of this mean? Well, it means in every law that does not contradict the law of God, you to be submissive. There is a higher power, and if the laws of man contradict, absolutely contradict the law of God, then you must do what the apostles did in Acts chapter 5, when they looked at those who commanded them no longer to preach, and they said to them, we ought to obey God rather than men. If someone were to tell me, Adrian, you can't preach anymore, it's against the law, I'd have to still preach, even if I went to jail. If someone tells you that you have to do certain things that are absolutely contradistinctive to the will and the plan of God, then you have to go with God. The midwives hid the little babies in the days of Moses, and they should. Jacobed hid little baby Moses in the bulrushes.

Was she breaking the law? She was, but not the law of God. Daniel prayed when the king forbade prayer, yet Daniel prayed and got in trouble. But on other matters, Daniel was an exemplary Christian, and there was nothing to be said against Daniel except when Daniel was commanded to contravene and contradict the law of God. My dear friend, a Christian is to have character, and he's to have compliance, and he is to obey every rule of man for the Lord's sake. They ought not to look at us as renegades and law breakers.

They ought to look at us as the best and most productive citizens in this land. There's a third and final thing I want to say, and it speaks not only of character and compliance, but it finally speaks of conduct. Look, if you will, in verse 17, honor all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, and honor the king. And in one sentence, by divine inspiration, you have the conduct of the Christian citizen. First of all, he says, honor all men.

Do you see that? Look in verse 17. The word honor is a Greek word which means to give worth to. It's the idea of something being precious. You see every man, woman, boy, and girl on the face of this earth as precious in the sight of God. Honor all men. Every person is intrinsically precious, and the Christian citizen will see him that way. And if there is in you, my dear friend, racial prejudice, or if there is in you racial pride, or if there are people in this world that you do not see as precious, you do not understand the demands of Christian citizenship.

There is this demand in your social life that says red and yellow, black and white. They are precious in his sight. Honor all men.

That's your social life. And my dear friend, then I want you to look in your church life. Look in verse 17. He says, love the brotherhood. Love the brotherhood. What's he talking about now when he says the brotherhood?

He's talking about the church. We're to honor all men, but all men are not our brothers. Don't let anybody palm off on you the universal fatherhood of God and the universal brotherhood of man because, friend, that's just not true. God is the father of those who have been born into his family through a new birth, and brothers and sisters in Christ are brothers and sisters because they are in Christ. You say, well, God made everybody. That makes us all children of God. No, we're not all children of God. We're all creatures of God.

God made rats, roaches, buzzards, and rattlesnakes. He's their creator, not their father. Listen, my dear friend, God becomes the father. God becomes the father of those who have been born again, and when God becomes our father, we become brothers. And he says here, we are to love the brotherhood.

And the word that he uses for love here is the word agape love. You want to be a good citizen? You want to be a good Christian? My dear friend, you love the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to tell you with all of the unction, function, emotion of my soul, the answer to America's problems are not in the White House, not in the Pentagon, and not in the Capitol or the State House or even in the schoolhouse, but in the church house. God says, if my people who are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

Listen, in our social life, honor all men. In our church life, love the brotherhood. In our spiritual life, look at it, fear God. Fear God.

Do you know what's wrong in America today? There's no fear of God. Our situational comedies and our stand-up comics today take great delight in lampooning holy things. You show me what a nation laughs at and what a nation weeps over, and I'll tell you the spiritual condition of that nation. And we have a nation today, and it frightens me. There is no fear of God.

People laugh and mock at holy things, and sir, you can laugh your way into hell, but you won't laugh your way out once you get there. Fear God. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. In our social life, honor all men. In our church life, love the brotherhood.

In our spiritual life, fear God. And in our political life, honor the king. Honor the king.

That's what he says right here in verse 17. Honor the king. Now, whether it be a president, whether it be a governor, whatever. I was praying for a politician the other day, and I said, Lord, you know I don't like him.

I just don't like him. But, Lord, I give him honor, and I pray for him. And I believe if we would criticize less and pray more, God may change some of these people.

The Bible says the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, and as rivers of water, he turns it whithersoever he will. But, my dear friend, you can honor them without venerating them or even liking them. We are to be good citizens in this land, and that speaks, my friend, of our character, our compliance, and our conduct, and may it be so.

I'm only one, but I am one. I can't do everything, but I can do something, and what I can do and what I ought to do, that by the grace of God I will do. My dear friend, let's have revival in America. May God help us to be Christian citizens. Father, stir our hearts, I pray. Lord, deliver us from both apathy and ignorance. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.

What a powerful message for us today. Will you join us in praying that our hearts would be stirred? Will you pray with us that the Lord would deliver us from apathy and ignorance? At Love Worth Finding, we are proud to come alongside you and pray with you. If you can, go to our website homepage at lwf.org slash radio and scroll down to our prayer wall. There you'll find the option to either submit a prayer request or pray for others. This is one of our favorite ways to keep the ministry and the community praying continually for one another's needs.

Let us hear from you today. Again, go to lwf.org slash radio and scroll down to our prayer wall. Now, if you'd like to order a copy of today's message, you can call us at 1-877-LOVE-GOD. Mention the title of today's message, The Demands of Christian Citizenship.

You can also order online at lwf.org slash radio or write us at Love Worth Finding, Box 38600, Memphis, Tennessee 38183. Do you meet the demands of Christian citizenship? Prayerfully consider your character, your compliance and your conduct. Thanks for studying in God's word with us today. Join us next time for more timeless truth from Adrian Rogers right here on Love Worth Finding. You know, as a pastor, teacher and author, Adrian Rogers had two great passions. He loved introducing people to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and he loved encouraging believers toward a deep abiding love for God's word. He taught that Christians who are saturated in scripture are unstoppable. That's why we are so excited to announce that this summer the Adrian Rogers Legacy Bibles are in stock. Now featuring large print and red lettering, this new King James version of the Bible includes sermon notes and treasures from the Love Worth Finding archives as well as Adrianisms, the quips and quotes from Pastor Rogers people love. To purchase your Legacy Bible right now, call 1-877-LOVE-GOD, 1-877-568-3463. Or you can purchase it online at lwf.org slash radio.