The Demands of Christian Citizenship | Part 1

What happens when a nation loses its character? America was born in a revival. You'll not find this today in many of our schoolbooks, and it is a crime. The American dream was put into the hearts of our founding fathers by God himself.

Welcome to Love Worth Finding. Pastor, teacher, and author Adrienne Rogers said this, A Christian is a citizen of this world and the world above. 1 Peter 2 lists some of the demands of Christian citizenship. If you have your Bible, turn there now as we once again hear from Adrienne Rogers. 1 Peter 2, and in just a moment we're going to be in reading in verse 11. I make no apology whatever for saying without stutter, without stammer, without fear, without reservation, I am a loyal, red-blooded, flag-waving, patriotic American. Amen.

I still get a lump in my throat when we sing the Star-Spangled Banner, because with all of her failures and all of her faults and all of her disappointments, America is still the greatest nation on the face of this earth, and not because of our own doing, but by the grace of God, which I want to show you from God's Word. Today, I want to talk to you on the demands of Christian citizenship, because a Christian is a citizen of this world and the world above. Down here, the Bible gives us some ways we're to live as citizens in this earthly pilgrimage. Begin reading in verse 11.

Now, the word visitation literally means in the day of observation. That is, when they inspect you, when they look you over, they're going to have to say even grudgingly, something different about those people. He goes on to say, as free, and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God, honor all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king. A reporter asked a pedestrian, do you know what the two biggest problems in this country are?

The pedestrian said, I don't know, and I don't care. He said, you have them both. My dear friend, ignorance and apathy are the two biggest problems that we have in America. My prayer to God is that God will open your mind and God will stir your heart, that you will learn today from the word of God and that, dear friend, God will work in your heart and move you from ignorance and apathy to information and zeal and a genuine God-given patriotism. Patriotism, my friend, is a gift of God and it is a Bible quality that we need to inculcate, and our scripture today speaks of it. 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 Gentile 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 viable 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 here for just a moment, the character. Our nation is a nation that exists because of the character of her people. America is great because America is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great. Why is America the greatest nation on the face of this earth? Not because Americans are bigger than other people, not because of our genes and chromosomes, not because of Yankee ingenuity, not because there are more minerals in our land, not because the grass grows greener here in America, not because of any of those things. Other nations and other people have those things. America is a great nation because of her character. And I want to show you that in just a moment beyond any preadventure. And I want you to learn, dear friend, that responsibility, which I'm going to call character, our character, which we will call responsibility, and liberty are linked together.

And when a nation loses its character, that is, its ability to act responsibly, then that nation, ipso facto, loses its liberty. For example, who has less responsibility than anyone that you can possibly think of? A newborn baby. A newborn baby has no responsibilities. The newborn baby doesn't read the newspaper, doesn't check the stock market, it doesn't order the groceries, it doesn't check the temperature in the house, it doesn't order its food, it has absolutely no responsibility. It doesn't have to lock the door, it doesn't have to turn out the lights, it doesn't have to feed the dog, it doesn't even have to change its own diapers. It has absolutely no responsibilities.

It doesn't have to do a thing in the world. But also, a newborn baby has no liberties. He doesn't say, well, I don't think I'll sleep in this bed.

They put him down, that's where he sleeps. He doesn't say, well, I don't think I'll want that brand of milk. He gets it. Whether it's homominized or out of a can, he gets it. He's going to get that kind of milk. He's just going to get strained beets, whether he likes it or not, and he has no choices.

I mean, he's just, he absolutely has no liberties. He's carried around, he's put here and there, but he has no responsibilities. Now, as he continues to grow, he begins to learn. After a while, he can clean up his own room. After a while, he learns how to cut the grass. After a while, he goes to school, he studies, and as he gains more and more responsibilities, what does he get? More and more liberties.

After a while, Dad gives him the keys to the car, because he says, now, son, I believe you're responsible enough to take care of this, and his dad lectures him. But as he grows in his character, that is, his ability to respond and his ability to be responsible, he gets more and more and more liberty given to him. But if he acts totally irresponsible again, then all of his liberties are taken away. If he becomes a criminal, what do they do to him? They put him in jail. Every liberty is now gone. He has no responsibilities.

He doesn't have to turn out the lights, but he can't unlock the door either. He is in jail. And you see, because he lost his character, he lost his liberty. Now, that's exactly what happens to nations. 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. Now, let me tell you about America. America was born in a revival. You may not have known that, but America was born in a revival. From 1740 to 1770, there was a Great Awakening in the United States. We call that the Great Awakening. There were two preachers who primarily led this Great Awakening.

One of them was Jonathan Edwards. Jonathan Edwards, who was a mighty man of God, preached a sermon called Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. And people, when they would hear Jonathan Edwards preach, would actually grab hold of the pillars of the church and hold on unless they slip into hell.

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. The other preacher that preached was George Whitfield. Up and down this land, these preachers preached, and there was a birth of righteousness and spirituality, and schools were built and towns were built and families were built and character was instilled, and our American Revolution was on its way. And the Constitution that we have and the Declaration of Independence that we have, all of this came out of this spiritual revival.

Our government was built, framed by a people with character, and it can only be maintained with a people of character. The Declaration of Independence grew out of a desire for liberty. Let me tell you how our nation got started.

You'll not find this today in many of our schoolbooks, and it is a crime. The American Dream was put into the hearts of our founding fathers by God Himself. When the Mayflower pilgrims came to this land in 1620, they came seeking religious liberty.

Those pilgrims huddled beneath the deck of that little Mayflower ship, and they wrote something called the Mayflower Compact. That was a covenant that they agreed on. They began with these words, in the name of God, amen. And then they said, in that Mayflower Compact, that their express purpose for coming to this land was for the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith.

That's why they came. And then, after the spiritual awakening, Americans decided they would no longer live under the tyranny of Great Britain, and so they wrote what we call the Declaration of Independence. And as you know, it says, we hold these truths to be self-evident. That is, we don't quibble about this, we don't argue about this. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are endowed by their what?

Creator. They believed in creation. Well, you can't teach that in public schools.

They believed in creation. All men are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights. That is, the government doesn't give these rights. God gave those rights.

We don't argue about this. All men, everyone, has these rights. That was the Declaration of Independence, but my dear friend, while it was a Declaration of Independence from England, it was a Declaration of Dependence upon God at the same time. And so out of this Declaration of Independence, the Constitution was framed. And of those who wrote the Constitution, of those 55 men, 50 of them were evangelical Christians, 30 of them what we would call bold, soul-winning Christians.

These were the kind of men who wrote the Constitution of the United States of America. 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.

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. Which Ten Commandments, my dear friend, you cannot even post in the classrooms of America's schools today.

You can't even put the Ten Commandments on the wall. And yet the writer of the Constitution, the chief architect, said, we built it all upon that. In December 1820, Daniel Webster said, let us not forget the religious character of our origin.

Our fathers brought hither their high veneration for the Christian religion. They journeyed by its light, labored in its hope. They sought, now listen to this statement.

This is Daniel Webster now. They sought to incorporate and to infuse its influence through all their institutions, civil, political, and literary. That is, every institution in America ought to be infused with the spirit of Christianity. Listen to it again.

Now listen to it. Let us not forget the religious character of our origin. Our fathers brought hither their high veneration for the Christian religion. They journeyed by its light, labored in its hope.

They sought to incorporate and to infuse its influence through all their institutions, civil, political, and literary. And now we're told we cannot even pray in our public schools. Yet Daniel Webster said that our fathers said that this spirit should infuse the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity. He went on to say from the day of the Declaration, the American people were bound by the laws of God, which they all, and by the laws of the Gospel, which they nearly all acknowledged as the rules of their conduct. That's what Daniel Webster said. On June the 8th, 1845, President Andrew Jackson said, the Bible is the rock upon which our republic rests. You cannot even really understand the Constitution of the United States of America.

Unless you understand that it was born in the womb of a revival, it is infused with Bible principles from beginning to end. My dear friend, how foolish we are to forget this book. In his inaugural address on April the 30th, 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 believed 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 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. And coming up tomorrow, I hope you can join us when we'll hear part two of this important message. But maybe today you have questions about who Jesus is, about what He means to you, how to receive the forgiveness He's offering you today. Go to our Discover Jesus page at lwf.org slash radio and you'll find resources and materials that will answer questions you may have about your faith. Again, go to lwf.org slash radio and click Discover Jesus. Now, if you'd like to order a copy of today's message in its entirety, call us at 1-877-LOVEGOD and mention the title The Demands of Christian Citizenship.

You can also order online at the website lwf.org slash radio or write to order at Love Worth Finding, Box 38600, Memphis, Tennessee 38183. Well, thanks for joining us for our study in God's Word today. Before we go, I want to be sure to remind you to sign up for our daily heartbeat emails at lwf.org slash radio.

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