The Demands of Christian Citizenship | Part 1

What happens when a nation loses its character. Listen to Adrian Rogers 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 on nation like an individual cannot be irresponsible and remain free America was born in a revival do 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 will consider worth finding a master teacher and author Adrian Rogers said this 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 sees to be great. A Christian is a citizen of this world and the world above. First Peter chapter 2 lists some of the demands of Christian citizenship. If you have your Bible turn there now as we once again hear from Adrian Rogers first Peter chapter 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 stammering, without fear, without reservation. I am a loyal red blooded flag-waving, patriotic American, you may have not hi Diane, when that we sing the Star-Spangled Banner because with all of her failures. All of her falls and all of her disappointments. America is still the greatest nation on the face of this earth and not because of our own, but by the grace of God which I will show you from God's word today I want to talk to you on the demand of Christian citizenship because Christian is a citizen of this world and the world above and down here. The Bible gives us some demands that we to live in ways were to live as citizens in this earthly pilgrimage began reading in verse 11.

Dearly beloved, I beseech you, as strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles, that whereas they speak against you as evildoers, that they may by your good works, which they shall behold glorify God in the day of visitation. Now the word visitation literally means in the day of observation. That is when they inspect you when they look you will. They're going to have to say even grudgingly. There's something different about those people.

He goes on to say, submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord say whether it be to the king, as supreme or under governors as under them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of them that do well for so is the will of God. That was well viewing. He may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men as free and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness bottle as the servants of God honor all men love the brotherhood feared God honor the king reporter ask a pedestrian barrel of 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 an American so 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 inflammation 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 in our Scripture today speaks of now there are several things I want you to see it.

First of all I want you to see the character. The character that Christian citizenship demands. You can 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 lusts, a child of God, to be pure and clean as the driven snow there 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 theory is a conspiracy born in Hill my dear friend that wars 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 right wrong and then what you must do is in grace 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 love to badmouth the church and specially if your Bible believer. All they loved excoriate the lamb cooling to ridicule you with. They speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold glorify God in the day of inspection of 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. Let me talk to you about this character for just a moment the character of 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 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 on America is a great nation because of her character and I will show you that in just a moment, beyond any peradventure and I want you learn dear friend. That responsibility, which I medical character are 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 newborn baby has no responsibilities 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 does in order excluded.

It has absolutely no responsibility do not block the door. The net turn out the lights in the neck to feed the dogs did not mean that the changes owned by it has absolutely no responsibilities. It doesn't have to do a thing or but also newborn baby has no liberties because they will. I don't think I'll sleep in this bed, they put them down is where he sleeps it and say well I don't think I'll want that brand of milk he gets and whether it's a mom and eyes, they're out of the can he get sick. He's going to get that kind of mill age is going to get strained meets.

Whether he likes it or not, and that he has no choices I made. He just he absolutely has no liberties he's carried around is good here and there but has no responsibilities now as he continues to grow. He begins to learn. After a while they can clean up his own room.

After a while he learns how to cut the grass after while he goes to school.

He studies that as he gains more and more responsibilities once to get more more liberal after while.

That gives them 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 Inc., but as he throws 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 buyer if he asked totally irresponsible again than all of his liberties are taken away if he becomes a criminal.

What do they do to they put them in jail. Every liberty is now gone. He has no responsibilities. He didn't have to turn on the lights, but he can unlock the door if he is if he's 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 on nation like an individual cannot be irresponsible and remain free to let me tell you about America. America was born in a revival, you may not have known that.

But America was born in 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 lead this great awakening.

One of them was Jonathan Edwards, Jonathan Edwards was a mighty man of God preached a sermon call centers in the hands of an angry God and people when they would hear Jonathan Edwards preach what actually grabbed hold of the pillars of the church to hold old Leslie slip into hell sinners in the hands of an angry God.

The other preacher.

The priest was George Whitfield up and down this land.

These preachers preach and there was a birth of righteousness, and spirituality in schools were built in towns were built and families were built in and character was instilled and our American revolution was on its way and the Constitution that we have in the Declaration of Independence that we have all of this came out of this spiritual revival. Our government was Bill Frain by a people with character, and it can only be maintained with a people of character, declaration of independence grew out of a desire for liberty. Now let me tell you how our nation got started. You might 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 had 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 that Mayflower compact that the express purpose for coming to this land was full.

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. Will these truths to be self-evident, that all men are endowed by their walk, create, they believe in creation today you can teach that public schools they believe 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 right 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 soul out of this Declaration of Independence, the Constitution was framed and of those who wrote the Constitution. Of those 55 men 50 of were evangelical Christians, 30 of them. What we would call bold soul winning Christians.

These were the kind of man who wrote the Constitution of the United States of America and I want to listen this in 1780 James Madison, who was the chief framer and architect of the federal Constitution and also the fourth President of the United States said this and I want to listen. This is not the rantings of the babblings of a Baptist preacher. This is James Madison. I want to listen what he said and I quote we have stayed the whole future of the American civilization.

Let me just pause right then say he's talking about everything from we have staked the whole future of the American revolution the American government. The American civilization. We we put everything on this one thing when what is going say this is the man that was the chief architect of constant, he said everything rationalist I listen to. We have state the whole future of the American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it.

We have state the future upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the 10 Commandments which 10 commandments my dear friend you cannot even posted in the classrooms of America schools today. You can even put the 10 Commandments on the wall and the writer of the Constitution, the chief architect said all upon that in December 1820 Daniel Webster said let us not forget their religious character of our origin, our fathers brought hinder their high veneration for the Christian religion. They journey by its light labored in his they saw a listen to the statement. This is Daniel Webster. They sought to incorporate and to infuse its influence through all their institutions, civil, political, and literary that is in every institution in America ought to be infused with the spirit of Christianity listen to it again. I listen to. Let us not forget the religious character of our origin, our fathers brought hinder their high veneration for the Christian religion. They journey by its light labored in it so they sought to incorporate and to infuse its influence through all their institutions, civil, political, and literary and now were told we cannot even pray in our public schools. Yet Daniel Webster said that our father 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 is one Daniel Webster said on June 8, 1845, Pres. Andrew Jackson said the Bible is all wrong 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 revival, it is infused with Bible principles from beginning in my different.

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 aides 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 all listen to this, my friend. We are to be no less persuaded.

Here's George Washington we ought to be no less persuaded that the probe picture 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 have a 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 what to say. George Washington said there is a right and there's a wrong.

He saying their values that were 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 are no right or wrong way to get values from the homosexual lobby, but we had to get values from television in Hollywood.

But we values from the humanist and the atheist, but we values from the civil libertarians are ACLU where we get in our guidance. Your ideas as good as mine. Unless we have a thick standard of right and wrong in my dear friend. Our founding fathers believed we had in the word of God Abraham Lincoln. This was his farewell address.

Abraham Lincoln said 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 are the direct 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 go to read that to the Supreme Court in regards to this great book. I have this what to say this is Abraham Lincoln is 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 will know right from wrong. All things most desirable for man's welfare, here and hereafter to be found portrayed in it in 1913, Pres. Woodrow Wilson said all America was born to exemplify the devotion to the elements of righteousness which derive by the holy Scriptures coming up tomorrow. I hope you can join his familiar 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@lwf.org/radio and you'll find resources and materials that will answer questions you may have about your faith again go to LWF.org/radio and click discover Jesus now if you like to order a copy of today's message in its entirety.

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You can also order online@thewebsitelwf.org/radio or write to order at love worth finding box 38, 600 Memphis, TN 38183 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 e-mails@lwf.org/radio get daily devotions message link sent straight to your inbox and be sure to join us tomorrow for part two of the demands of Christian citizenship. On the way I want to listen to these encouraging words. We received recently. Just wanted to say I heard your sermon today and a lot was very inspirational and very helpful in regards to some things I'm dealing with it is time. Take care and God we love hearing how these messages and the resources we provide each day be equipped you in your walk with Christ as a way to say thank you for your gift right now to send you our book the incredible power of kingdom authority in an upper hand on the underworld as Adrian Rogers explains what kingdom authority is and how to exercise in your life. Request the book when you called her the gift of 1877 love God.

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