Is America a Christian Nation?

To begin this morning with a quote that was made about America. Here's the quote. This is a religious people from the discovery of this continent to the present hour, we find everywhere a clear recognition of this truth that this is a Christian nation." Now, who said this, you say well maybe it was some great preacher like Billy Graham.

No well I say maybe was some great Christian politician like Ronald Reagan. No, well maybe was somebody Christian radio personality like James Dobson. No, actually, what I just read to you was said by the United States Supreme Court's in 1892. In the case. The church of the holy Trinity versus the United States, but the question for us today is was the Supreme Court right is this a Christian nation. That's what we want to talk about today. As we look forward to the upcoming July 4 holiday. And then we want to answer the question. Well, so what so here's our question again is America a Christian nation, while the answer is no. And the reason the answer is no is because friends nations can't be Christians, only people can be Christians. A Christian is a person not who is depending who is trusting, not their own performance, not their own human effort, not their own religious activity. But what Jesus did for them on the cross as their only hope of eternal life and getting into heaven now nations cannot do that only people can and I sure hope if you're a people here today that you have done that because friends everything on the essay about America today is going to make absolutely no difference at all. When you arrive into eternity.

But what you do with Jesus Christ is going to make all the difference in your life when you arrive into eternity. And I sure hope that if you're here today you have embraced Jesus Christ as your personal savior your personal Lord you're relying on what he did for you on the cross as your only hope of eternal life in heaven that makes you a Christian you can be a Christian and I hope you are now America therefore is not a Christian nation, but what the Supreme Court was trying to say is that America was not born in a spiritual vacuum. What the Supreme Court was trying to say is that America's soul was shaped by Christian architects and the Supreme Court was correct.

In fact, to see that one was on July 4 as we celebrate July 4 I wanted to go back and have a little history lesson a little. July 4 history lesson.

So here we go back to 1620 the arrival of the pilgrims at Plymouth Rock and with the pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock. They immediately drafted the Mayflower compact the Mayflower compact was an outline of how they planned to run their new society and at the heart of this document.

Lay the conviction. The God had to be must be at the center of all human government and politics.

Now the Mayflower compact went on to become the foundation upon which another document was written. The hundred and 50 years later. July 4, 1776, known as the Declaration of Independence and it also formed the basis for the U.S. Constitution in our present Bill of Rights. A few years later, the Puritans arrived in New England and what they did is they transformed the good intentions of the pilgrims into reality.

The Puritans set up an entire society in New England that was modeled on the Bible. They called it a Bible Commonwealth where everything from education to incarceration was built firmly on what the Bible says about society following the lead of great godly men like cotton Mather and his son increase Mather the Puritans concept of God being at the heart of human society. That concept became the blueprint for all of early American life. Now the last piece in the puzzle. Historically is what we call the great awakening from 1734 to 1770.

Even in spite of the Puritan influence by the middle of the 18th century.

Spiritually, things had sunk to a pretty low ebb here in America and then in 1734 George Whitfield, here's a pretty picture of him arrived from England and friends George Whitfield rocked America's world. This man rode up and down the colonies on horseback with a little collapsible pulpit. He carried with him and everywhere he went he would gather a crowd. He will unfold as little pulpit he get up on it and he preached he preached that we needed to repent of our sins and turn to God, he preached the new birth. He preached salvation by faith he preached the importance of having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and folks, as a result of his preaching tens upon tens of thousands of people in the colonies came to Christ.

In fact, according to his biographer he preached over 18,000 sermons in those 36 years.

Do the math that is 500 sermons a year for every one of those years and by the way, George Whitfield sermons all lasted two hours, you think I'm bad of all, you ain't seen nothing though you saw George Whitfield but friends, I gotta tell you, the anointing of God on this man was positively unprecedented. This wonderful story in Benjamin Franklin's journal about it. One of his encounters with George Whitfield. Whitfield had come to Philadelphia to preach and Franklin went to herein not because he was interested interested in spiritual things. He went to herein because George Whitfield preached with no amplification and yet huge crowds could hearing clearly and Franklin went to calculate the when he stood where Whitfield was preaching and he walked to the east to the west of the North to the South as far as he could hearing and then he wanted to calculate how many people could stand in that area so they could hearing without amplification, he had a strictly mathematical interest in the mail John Stansell by Benjamin Franklin on you are right so I went to herein.

Whitfield was actually talking about an orphanage that he had started in Georgia and was raising funds for.

Here's what Benjamin Franklin wrote in his journal and I quote he said I resolved. As I listened that I would not contribute one penny to this because you know this is a penny saved is a penny earned God. You know right okay but before long I softened under Mr. Whitfield's persuasive speech and I decided to give all the copper coins I had in my pocket. Then before long, I decided. In addition to give all the silver coins I had. By the time the sermon was over, Franklin said I had emptied my pockets completely into the collectors dish gold coins and all." Now you know you have an anointing from God when you get Benjamin Franklin to do this, you understand what I'm saying. The most important thing about the great awakening, and George Whitfield oh folks is that what it did is it it down the 13 colonies together in a way they had never been connected before it connected them with a national identity they had never had before, and that identity had Jesus Christ at its center and therefore when they got together a few years later later Whitfield died in 1770 when they got together in 1787 draft. The Constitution of the United States.

They drafted it in light of this new national identity that it, over 34 years of Whitfield's ministry in the great awakening they drafted it around Jesus Christ. Patrick Henry said and I quote, it cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this nation was founded, not by religionists but by Christians, not on religion but on the gospel of Jesus Christ." Folks listen you take Marx and Lenin away and the former Soviet Union makes no sense you take mouth a away and communist China makes no sense you take Gandhi away and modern India makes no sense. And friends you take God and the Bible and Jesus Christ and the Christian faith away and America makes no sense. And that's what the Supreme Court was trying to say now, America had a great spiritual beginning, but how we doing today well. In a recent poll just published this weekend in USA Today by the forum on religious and public life here. Some of what they found.

They found that 94% of Americans say they believe in God, 58% of Americans say that they pray at least once a day.

74% of Americans say they believe there's a heaven. This goes along with the Gallup poll which also found that 88% of Americans believe that God loves him. 64% of Americans believe that Jesus is the son of God. 66% of Americans say that they made a commitment to Christ, and over 80% of Americans believe that the Bible is the word of God you say will now I don't know where all these people live because they don't live in my neighborhood where all these people have. I think they live in the Midwest. I don't know where they live. But that leads to something else that all of these surveys discovered these surveys found that 50% of Americans quote believe that homosexuality is a way of life that should be accepted by society."

Only 33% of Americans.

The poll found believe that premarital sex is wrong. Only 17% of Americans believe that abortion should be illegal. The divorce rate in America has risen over 700% since the beginning of the 20th century.

They found and finally, these surveys found that support for prayer in public schools is at its lowest above since 1963 Winthrop prayer was thrown out of the public school listen to the summation of all of this by the Gallup poll and I quote there is a gap, a GAP, a gap, Gallup says between on the one hand, Americans expressed religious believe and on the other hand, the kind of society that they shape. In other words, Gallup says, while religion is popular in America it is to a large extent, superficial" well, to put it another way, the vast majority of Americans friends are spiritual schizophrenics.

That's what we are. On Sunday we go to church.

We take our Bible we revere the via Bible we pray we believe in God we believe in heaven and then we go out Monday to Saturday and live in a completely different way and we built a completely different kind of society we are spiritual schizophrenics and this is the present state of America spiritually. This explains how our politicians can walk into church every Sunday with the Bible under their arm and walk out of church and support abortion Monday to Saturday. This is how it happens now all of that leads us to ask our most important question of the morning and this is going to be the last time we get to do this before I go on break and so we gotta make this worth it. Can we make this worth of art now here you go Juan to pray how sweet it is you saline alright so what. So I hear all these things about the pull and I'm back in high school learned about the pilgrims already yummy.

What difference is it Eve is making my life.

No, well, it's talk about it because it does make a different friends what all this means is that we as Americans who understand the Lordship of Christ over life. All of life who understand the Lordship of Christ over all of human society. We have a big job to do here in America and the big job that we have to do is to keep calling America back to those very core values for human society that we find in the word of God, those very core values that America was originally established upon those very core values that made America the great nation that she is now. There are a lot of these values, not just a few, but I picked three of them to talk to you about today. And these are things I've mentioned to you before but you know we also get and so is Peter said I want to stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance today and remind you of what I think are the three cardinal principles upon which American society was built, all of which are under attack and threatened here in America today. Number one principle number one value number one is the dignity of human life Genesis chapter 1 verse 26 says. Then God said, let us make man in our image, so God created man in his own image.

Genesis 27.

The Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living being. Listen, our nation did not begin with the understanding that human life is a Darwinian accident of nature, our country began. To the contrary, with the believe that every human life is a direct creation of Almighty God and therefore that every human life has intrinsic value intrinsic worth and intrinsic dignity.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal and that they are endowed by nature.

Nonno they are endowed by their Creator tour with certain inalienable rights, which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Now there are a lot of ways in America that we need to reinforce this cardinal value of our nation. We need to reinforce this in the way that we care for the poor in our nation we need to reinforce this in the way that we fight all racism in this country. We need to enforce this in the way that we care for in the way we treat people with disabilities but I think the greatest threats to this principle in our nation today is the curse of abortion and friends. We need to understand that in opposing abortion. We are not simply opposing and evil practice. We are doing that. It is an evil practice, but we're doing much more than that we are actually fighting for a fundamental principle upon which American society was originally built, listen there a lot of areas in the Bible where the Bible grants to us as Christians the right to sincerely disagree with one another, but abortion is not one of them. It is not abortion is not about a woman's right to choose is not about a woman's right to privacy. It is not about her civil rights of the rights to her own body.

It is about the murder of innocent babies and I believe it is Christians, we need to fight as Christians we need to keep fighting until abortion is illegal in every single state in the United States unless unless the health of the mother is in jeopardy.

And you know what, folks. If Planned Parenthood done like it and if the national organization women done like it then I say, they can go to Sweden and have all the abortions they want, but not in America. Not here.

Not here, value number two that American society was built on is the principle of the traditional family. Now let's define the traditional family.

God help us. I never thought I'd have to define the traditional family, but let's define it. The traditional family is one Mayo husband married to one female wife observing sexual fidelity to one another in marriage, raising their children to love God and to serve mankind and refusing to get divorced just because things get a little tough. Now this is the traditional family and it's on this kind of family that America was built. This kind of family has been the key to America strengthen America's stability for three centuries almost exhibit long way to mentally society's different now long things of change. Well listen folks, the family was not society's idea.

Genesis chapter 2 verse 24 therefore the Bible says a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife and the two of them shall become one flesh. Folks man did not create marriage man did not create sex man did not create procreation or parenthood, or the traditional family unit.

God created these things and therefore it doesn't really matter where society goes.

God has never gone anywhere from the family unit that he originally created society to be based upon and is the church of Jesus Christ. We need to be calling America back to its commitment its original commitment to the traditional family.

How do we do that what we fight for family values in Congress and in our state and local legislatures, which we we strengthen the family. Second of all, right here in our own church. We work hard at that to make family strong here and stable here. Why so that number three they can raise children and those families who know then how to go out and establish strong traditional families that are stable for them and will give and teach their children the very same thing another way we do this is by a key to we keep telling Americans that God may forgive divorce and God.

In a few cases may even allow divorce but that God never rejoices over divorce because every body involved gets hurt and even more seriously it divorce undermines.

It undermines the stability in the fabric of American society. When people go on to do second and third and fourth marriages and then the children in all those marriages grow up to repeat that folly. It undermines the very fabric of our culture and finally to stand for the traditional family means that we have to keep telling America the God loves homosexuals. But that homosexuality is sin and that gay marriage is an abomination before Almighty God that threatens the very well-being of American society and we are against it in every form. This needs to be the consistent message that comes out of our mouth about the family every time we open our mouth and speak to it I love it. Ronald Reagan said he said and I quote the traditional family has always been the cornerstone of American society today more than ever. It is essential to remember that the strength of our families is vital to the strength of our nation and he was right.

Third and lastly, the third value, this nation was built on was the principal of a God centered education. You know, in the Old Testament. Deuteronomy 67 God says and you shall teach these commands to your children throughout the Old Testament throughout the New Testament God says over and over and over again.

When you educate your children. Make sure the central piece of that is educating them about me, about me seeing the mind of God education without God at the center is a non sequitur. It makes no sense to God and you know America began with a deep commitment to education centered in God.

It might surprise you to know that every university established in this country before 1776, with the exception of the University of Pennsylvania.

Every other Institute of higher learning was established here in America with an unapologetic Christian purpose and foundation.

When my son graduated from high school and was being recruited for baseball, boxing colleges, one of the colleges recruiting and was Dartmouth University and he and I went up there to look at the place while we were up there. I wandered in to the building where they can't have a whole floor dedicated to the history of the founding of Dartmouth. Did you know the Dartmouth University was originally founded to train missionaries to go and share Christ with the American Indians. That's how Dartmouth was started today at Dartmouth you can get a degree in gay and lesbian studies, transgender studies, God knows I really want to think about what they study but had either you can major in this Harvard 1646 in their handbook, student handbook, student rules and precepts, and I quote everyone shall consider the main the end of his life and studies that is in Harvard to know God and Jesus Christ. Everyone shall seriously by prayer in secret. Seek his wisdom. Everyone should also exercise himself in reading the Scriptures two times a day that he shall be ready to give an account of his proficiency therein that is upon graduation." Sounds like Harvard today. You know folks in the 19th century when public education started here in America. It started with a distinctively Christian-based McGuffey reader, which form the foundation for Christian for for public education here in America for 100 years was followed Bible verses and Bible stories. It was a distinctively Christian work.

Why even in the 1960s and in my high school, Portsmouth, Virginia Woodrow Wilson high school. We would sit in homeroom every morning and somebody would come over the loudspeaker and read from the Bible and then we all bow our heads and we all pray this was not a thousand years ago. This was in the 60s which at all. That's changed now. Prayer is out of our schools the Bibles out of our schools. God is the creator is out of our schools now even Christmas and Easter out of our schools. We have winter holiday and spring break. We can teach evolution in our schools. We can teach Islam in our schools. We can teach yoga and transcendental meditation in our schools. We can teach witchcraft in our schools. We can teach people how to put on condoms in our school. But God help any teacher that ever mentions the Bible or Jesus Christ you know, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas said and I quote my mother says that when they took God out of the schools. The schools went to hell."

And she's right she's right.

And when you think when you think after Columbine. When you think after all of the other incidents of violence and an assault and criminal behavior that is going on in the public schools of America. These things didn't go on in the 60s. I never went to high school worried somebody was going to shoot me in high school. The biggest thing I warned about in high school was getting caught chewing gum when you think that somebody somewhere would look back and say what has changed since the 60s that were where we are today in public education.

When you think somebody would say what happen after we get here. What were we doing right back then were not doing today is their will on understand what you're saying but I'm just going you know I'm just gonna homeschool my kids and keep them from all that I'll send him the Christian school friends is not that simple.

Sorry but we cannot escape our responsibility as the church that simply because where public education in this country goes is where this country goes and we cannot is the church. Divorce ourselves from that and let it go wherever it wants and think that we will be immune to its consequences. We will not and were already seeing it is or what we do well what we do as Christians and as the church is our moral duty. I believe, to keep the pressure on the public education system of America in action and in prayer to lead God back into the public schools of America and I believe that okay I need we I believe we need to support attempts by localities and dates to teach creationism in our schools look at. They want to teach Darwinian evolution. I don't care, but at least teach creationism next to it so students have a chance to hear that there is at least two theories two choices and we need to support groups like FCA and groups like young life and others in their attempts to get Bible studies back into schools and to get religious clubs back into schools and put them on an equal footing with the Latin club in the Thespian troop in the school and we need to oppose nonbiblical approaches to sex education in our schools and if we can't stop him.

In the meantime, we need to at least opt our children out of those classes so that our children are forced to sit and be indoctrinated with theories about sex that are ultra-ultra and contra biblical and finally, many of us need to run for the school board friends in Fairfax County and Montgomery County in the District of Columbia and other places and we need to win those seats and get on those school boards and bring a God centered approach to the way we educate our children in these counties.

We need to get into the power system and not just work outside of the power system. Martin Luther said 500 years ago.

I am much afraid, he said that schools will prove to be great gates of hell, unless they diligently labor in explaining the holy Scriptures and engraving them in the hearts of youth." And how tragic is it that here in America. His words five centuries later, have proved sadly prophetic. Well let's conclude Joey friends. I believe America is the greatest nation in the world.

I love this country God's given me the privilege to travel to a lot of places and I'll tell you what. When I get back to New York City to JFK I get down on my feet and kissed the marble their great JFK and say thank you Jesus. I'm back in America.

I'm telling some of you have travel and I think you had the same experiences as the greatest nation in the world. Thank God for this nation but that's not to say that this nation is not under threat.

That's not to say that there aren't some areas.

If we really love this nation and we really care about the well-being of this nation that there aren't some areas where we as Christians need to rise up and we need to contend for the soul of America, and three of those. The most important three. I believe our number one we must fight. First of all, for the dignity of human life to be lived out in this country when it comes to poor people when it comes to people of every color when it comes to people with disabilities and when it comes to unborn people. Number two, we must fight for the traditional family, and oppose every effort to undermine and destroy the traditional family here in America and finally we have to fight for God centered education for God to get back into the school system of America is Avalon you know me, I hear what you're saying but honestly, gotta tell you I really think it's gone too far and I really just don't think that we can win. Well I don't know whether we can are not friends the future of America's and the sovereign hands of the sovereign God of the universe and you and I'll have nothing to do with and we need to leave it there.

That's not our job to worry about that. Our job is to do what God called us to do and what God called us to do is to stand firm for the truth of the word of God to be a lighthouse for the truth of the word of God in this city, the nation's capital, and we need to do that without compromise.

We can be nice we can be kind can be respectful, but we need to be on compromising, and every time we open our mouth on these issues. The very same thing should come out. It should come out of your mouth is individual follower of Christ wherever you are found in this town and it needs to come out of our mouth as a church. Whenever we open it in this town is the line of least get like this I mean you know the wrong group of people getting power they could take away RRS privileges they could they could do this that friends you know what it's God's job to defend us. It's our job to preach truth. We need to live believe God's job God and we need to do our job, our jobs, to preach the truth and you know what the early church didn't have IRS deductions and the Lord took care of them now not volunteering to lose ours. Don't get me wrong, but I'm just saying we can't worry about what might happen. That's not our business.

Our business is preach truth to this city and I call on you every time you open your mouth to preach truth to the city as a follower of Jesus in this town friends. I'm hoping there's gonna be a great revival in America like George Whitfield Lynn.

Maybe there will, maybe there won't but it's never going to happen if the church of Jesus Christ. Trust me and let me just say in closing, I hope you understand that if we don't stand up and declare truth biblical truth, folks, I am sure you understand this, there is no one else laugh besides us. If we don't do it with the last bastion young Stan, nobody else is around to doing anymore. It's over. It's just us. God help us. God help us do our duty for Jesus Christ in this town is pretty good for Jesus, thank you for challenging us today with biblical truths about our nation, our society, Lord Jesus, I pray that you would make us both as individual followers of Christ and as a church family that you would make us uncompromising in our commitment to stand for biblical truths or we don't know whether we win or lose, we don't know what the future of America is the Lord. If we have to go down, Lord Jesus, help us go down swinging.

And we pray that you would use us in this tale is a lighthouse for truth and Lord our deepest prayer for this nation is that you would raise up another George Whitfield and that there would be another great movement of God across his country calling this country back to you like he did. Lord Jesus, may we at McLean Bible church play some tiny part in that happening. Use us in this town, Lord Jesus, for your glory, for the benefit of the nation. We love we pray these things in Jesus name.

What is God's people say amen. Have a nice Fourth of July discuss