"In God We Trust" By Dr. David R. Mains

Text:  Psalm 33:12-22

Subject:  A vigilant nation expecting divine protection

Desired Response:  The bottom line conviction of many must still be “In God We Trust”

How To:  Demonstrate this conviction in our

1. Righteousness

Sermon in a Sentence:  In a vigilant nation expecting divine protection, the bottom line conviction of many must still be “In God We Trust”

Worship Theme:  God is Sovereign

Graphics:  Marked with *

Subject:

When Preached before July 4th

* America seeks to be a vigilant nation.  It strives to be alert, watchful, prepared even for the unexpected. This is a good quality to be reminded of on an Independence Day weekend.

When Preached before September 11^th

* America seeks to be a vigilant nation.  It strives to be alert, watchful, prepared even for the unexpected.  This is a good quality to be aware of.

Vigilance has never come easily.  Throughout our 200 plus years as a nation we have always had enemies.  Some here remember the surprise attack on our naval base at Pearl Harbor, the Cold War years and events like the Cuban Missile crisis, and certainly what happened on 9/11/01.

This new threat of terrorist attacks has upped the ante in so many ways.  No one wants us to let down our guard.  But to keep it high is costing us dearly.

* An unnamed writer in Psalm 33 also reminds us that military strength alone is not enough to insure our safety as a people.  I’m reading from verse 12 on:

* Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people he chose for his inheritance.  From heaven the LORD looks down and sees all mankind; from his dwelling place he watches all * who live on earth – he who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do.  No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength.  A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save.  But the eyes of the LORD are on * those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine.  We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield.  In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name.  May your unfailing love rest upon us O LORD, even as we put our hope in you.

These words of the Psalmist are really addressed to believers.  Non-believers would probably hear them as religious rhetoric or even nonsense.  They would laugh at Voltaire’s snide remark about God regularly seeming to bless the side with the most powerful army.

Yes, nonchurch soldiers might cry out to God for help when caught in enemy crossfire, but take away the crises and they will treat God pretty much as a non-factor in what’s going on.  To them “In God We Trust” has about as much meaning as a late night quip from Jay Leno.  They’re words, that’s all.

* Why would a vigilant nation need divine protection? Come on now.  “Divine protection” almost sounds like something an Islamic fundamentalist would talk about.

This morning, however, I’m basically addressing church people – believers.  Phrases like “divine protection” and “In God We Trust” still have deep meaning to you.  So allow me to put my * thoughts for this visit into a sentence.  What I’m saying is this.  In a vigilant nation expecting divine protection, the bottom line conviction of many must still be “In God We Trust”.  So vigilance is important.  But believing that God is ultimately in charge of the affairs of this world is also.  So again, in a vigilant nation expecting divine protection, the bottom line conviction of many must still be “In God We Trust”.

Response:

* A conviction is a deep-seated belief.  It’s a strong persuasion.  It’s something held at the very core of who you are.

Our psalmist held a conviction that there is a God in heaven who’s looking down watching over what’s going on here on earth.  More than that, God is considering what our * actions mean.  Beyond the many guns and tanks and battleships and stealth bombers and intercontinental missiles, he’s the one who has the final say as to which side wins.  That truth is taught numerous times in the Bible.

* Verse 18 again, “…the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those who hope in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death.”  So, bottom line, we want to be numbered with those who (verse 23), “…trust in his holy name.”

How To:

* “In God We Trust” – what specifically might that mean?  How do we today demonstrate * such a conviction?  Let me suggest three ways.  The first would be in our righteousness.

It would be foolish to overlook the obvious.  Our God is holy.  He can’t deny this about himself.

When the scriptures give us snapshots of his realm, such as in the book of Revelation, the four living creatures that surround the throne don’t say “Omnipotent, Omnipotent, Omnipotent.”  Over and over they chant.  But the word they speak is not even “Loving, Loving, * Loving.”  NO.  What’s repeated on and on and on is “Holy! Holy! Holy!”

It would be nonsense to think that a nation can escape punishment when it sins with impunity, in other words, when it sins as though there will never be a day of accounting.  Even ancient Israel couldn’t get by with that.

Contemporary America has transgressed in so many ways.  This is a wicked culture that flaunts its disbelief.  The big question is, what about the righteous remnant?  Does it still maintain its beliefs, and if so, do these convictions manifest themselves not just in words, but also in life response?

* A holy remnant can be a powerful force.  For only ten righteous people the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah would have been spared.

I don’t know where most American Christians are in regard to righteousness.  I fear the culture influences the church far more than the church influences the culture.  If my assumption is correct, I tremble.  It leaves this land in a most precarious position.  When the divine canopy lifts, America is indeed defenseless.

What’s easier to figure out is where each of us is individually.  I know none of us is * perfect.  Only God is.  But Christ does expect his followers to be righteous.

So what if all American believers mirrored your behavior?  Say God picked you out and said “Your righteousness, or lack of it, is typical of where American Christians are.” Would that be positive for the nation or negative?  Would the God who is looking down from heaven and seeing mankind say, “Because of people like you I will continue to protect this land”?  Or would he sadly have to remove his shield and his help?

And if it’s the latter, would you be willing to change?

(PAUSE)

We believe Jesus by his Spirit shows up here every Sunday when we gather.  If he made himself visible, if we could somehow see him bodily among us, I believe we would instantly know that Jesus and sin don’t mix all that well.  Maybe it would be the scars in his hands that would convince us.  Would the physical presence of Jesus here in church say to you, “You don’t take holiness as seriously as Jesus does”?

I believe we have come to a time for Christians to play a key role in our country’s future.  But I promise we will fail miserably if we aren’t a righteous people.

If you still feel strongly about America honoring the phrase “In God We Trust”, to me it’s only logical that you would want to demonstrate your conviction of that trust in God by living righteously.  I mean, bandying the phrase around doesn’t mean all that much if the people * solemnly saying the words don’t live by what they imply.  If you trust in God, then you will also seek to please him by how you live.  It’s as simple as that!

The second way Christians can demonstrate a true conviction regarding this historic * national phrase “In God We Trust” would be in our prayers.  One is in our righteousness, and two is in our prayers.  If we say we trust in God to protect America, even as our nation seeks to be vigilant, but we never take advantage of the powerful spiritual force of prayer on our nation’s behalf, what does that reveal?

How many times in scripture does Israel cry out to God when they are threatened by enemies, some of them incredibly powerful?  And in miracle ways God often answered their prayers, at least when Israel demonstrated righteousness as a people.  That’s in line with the * words of James 5:16:  “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”

It’s not non-believers who are going to form the prayer base for our nation.  That’s going to have to be God’s people.  But are we doing this?

Again, if God picked you out and said this man or this woman is typical of where the average believer in America is in terms of praying for this nation and its leaders, would that encourage the rest of us, or would we have reason to be concerned?

One of the ministries I believe the Lord raised up soon after 9/11/01 was the Presidential Prayer Team.  I know they are a great help to me as I attempt to prayer regularly and meaningfully for our president.  Through them I have a good handle on what he is doing, and how in my prayers I can be supportive.  When a new president is elected, they will play the same role on his or her behalf.

*I encourage you to visit their website.  It’s included in today’s bulletin insert and it’s on the PowerPoint behind me.

The Presidential Prayer Team also keeps me abreast of other key individuals I should be interceding on behalf of, and why.  And this is important, in their materials they attempt in every way to stay politically neutral, which I appreciate very much.

Here’s something else.  This same group helps me remember to pray for those men and women who are serving our country in the military.  I have the name of someone in the Army I’ve never met and probably never will.  But he’s one of thousands of service personnel who have requested prayer.  If you were sent where some of these people are, I’m sure you would request the prayers of God’s people as well.  I bring my individual before the Lord almost daily.  You could do the same thing for someone else.  It’s all explained on the Presidential Prayer Team website.

Most of all I pray for another powerful moving of God’s Spirit within the churches of this nation.  I believe revival is needed above everything else for which I could pray.  That brings me to the third way to demonstrate a conviction that “In God We Trust” is genuine.

*   --We can show this in our Righteousness.

    -- We can show this in our Prayers, and

*   -- We can show this in our Hopes.

*The Psalmist uses that word hope three times:  “But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love.  We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield.  May your unfailing love rest upon us O LORD, even as we put our hope in you.”

For what are you hoping?  What’s number one on your list of what you would like to see God do?  Somewhere toward the top I would trust that you’re hoping for another great season of revival.

*The word “revival” simply means life coming back again.  “Viv” words are life related.  Vivid means full of life.  A vivacious person is one who’s lively.  So “Viv” in the center of “Revival” is a clue that its meaning is life related.

“Re” is a prefix meaning again.  If you recharge your car battery, you put a charge back into it again.  If you refinance your house, it’s something you’re doing that you already did at least once before.  So “re” then “viv” is bringing life back again.

It’s like when a person faints, you hope to revive them.  Life was there originally, now you want it to come back.  The same is true when someone’s spiritual life has grown faint.  That person needs to be revived. And what about when the church is wobbly?  What does it need to be?  That’s right, it too needs to be re _____.

The suffix “al” is that which pertains to.  So the complete word “revival” is that which pertains to life coming back again.  In theatre, when an old play is dusted off and presented anew, we call it a revival of that production.  When home building is booming we term that a revival in the housing industry.

But in a greater sense, the word revival has always belonged to the church.  It refers to a time when generally speaking the people of God have been like the dry bones in Ezekiel chapter * 37.  “Can these bones live?” the Lord asks his prophet.

“O Sovereign God,” he responds, “You alone know.”

Then Ezekiel is told to prophesy to the bones, to say to them, “Hear the word of the Lord.”  What an impossible assignment.  What chance was there that these dry disjointed skeletons could hear him, to say nothing of responding.  But because God told him to do it, that’s what Ezekiel did.  He preached to his dreadfully dead listeners.

“So” writes the man of God, “I prophesied as I was commanded … And as I was prophesying … there was a noise … a rattling sound … oh my gosh … and the bones came together, bone to bone … I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but … there was no breath in them …”

* Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy Son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the sovereign LORD says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain that they may live.’” So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet – a vast army.

That’s a picture of re-viv-al – that which pertains to life coming back again.  And it’s the number one need of the American church today.

Some people have a negative response to the word.  When they hear “revival” they think of a sweaty faced preacher hollering at the top of his lungs for people to repent.  Obviously, that’s not what I have in mind.

When I refer to life coming back again, or revival, I’m picturing the sweet presence of Jesus marking our services.  What would happen if he were here physically instead of by his Spirit?

Well I picture our worship being elevated to a whole new level.  If we sang our songs and we could see with our eyes the one we are singing about, what a difference that would make.

I’m sure the preaching would change if Jesus were to bodily attend our services.  What a challenge it would be for me to somehow adequately represent him.  I’m sure some of you would glance his way occasionally to see how he was responding to what was said from the pulpit.

With our sovereign Lord in our midst Sunday after Sunday I’m confident you would want to bring others to the services.  You would say to friends and loved ones, “You have to come.  I’m sorry to keep pestering, but this is an opportunity of a lifetime.”

Everyone would also be happy to serve him in one way or another.  “Not a problem,” you would say, “It’s nothing, Jesus, compared to all you have done for me.”

Christ-like love would be evidenced throughout the body.  He wouldn’t ever have to say anything about it, because all of us would know that this was very important to him.

My guess is that we would even do much better in regard to holiness.  Like I mentioned before, Jesus and sin don’t mix all that well.  So righteousness would begin to mark us as a people.

So would prayer.  I picture lines of people wanting to talk to Jesus.  Some would just like to say “Thank You”.  Others would have personal needs they want to share.  In time, after beginning to get a feel for his importance and the vast extent of his kingdom, we would even want to intercede on behalf of our nation and its leaders.

* Now listen closely.  The outstanding characteristic of all times of genuine revival is an overwhelming sense of the presence of Jesus. That’s a good thing – right?  Revival is marked more than anything else by a marvelous sense of Christ’s presence.  It’s when the very things I’ve been describing happen, because people have a keen awareness that the risen Christ is present with them.

In my humble opinion, this is what the American church has been lacking for far too long.  We haven’t known the working of the Spirit of Christ the way it should be.

True, what I’m describing would make some people uncomfortable.  That’s why during times of authentic revival many people stop attending church.  They’re ill at ease being that close to the Lord.

But I’m confident this is not where most of you are.  My perception is that your hearts long for what I’m describing.  If they don’t, America is really in trouble.  And you see, it’s this hope for another powerful moving of the Lord that also demonstrates for God’s people a conviction that “In God We Trust” is where they are coming from.

This rock solid conviction should show itself in our

• Righteousness, in our
  
• Prayers, and in our
  
• Hopes for God to again visit his church in another thrilling season of revival.

How Long:

I have a sense there must be some preachers today who feel like Jeremiah of old.  This weeping prophet could clearly see what was ahead for Israel if things didn’t change.  But his words for the most part went unheeded.  The sad book of Lamentations – or Jeremiah’s lamentings – spells out the tragedy that followed.  It begins:

*                How deserted lies the city,

                    who once was great among the nations.

                 This is why I weep

                    and my eyes overflow with tears.

                 No one is near to comfort me,

                    no one to restore my spirit.

                 My children are destitute

                    because the enemy has prevailed.

There were all kinds of prophets who preached that everything was fine.  The situation wasn’t anywhere near as dire as Jeremiah made it out to be.  “They dress the wound of my people as though it was not serious.” he had preached.

In medicine, a crisis refers to the interval in time when the patient’s recovery is in question.  It’s the time during which we – as a parent, a spouse, family member or close friend – pace the floor and pray.  Tears are close to the surface, because these are the hours that determine what will follow.

If I can say so, this sermon is being preached from the vantage point of a “crisis”.  It’s as though Christians assume they have unlimited time in which to experience revival.  If revival comes in this decade, praise the Lord; if not, a generation from now would be fine too.  The urgency factor too often is missing.  I don’t want that to be the case with this message.

* In his final book, The State of the Church, Andrew Murray wrote, “If God’s Spirit truly begins to move in the church, the preaching will need a tone of decision hitherto little known.  The hearer must be told that he is being called to face a crisis.  By the grace of God the minister must seek to get hold of him and not let him go until the decision is made.”

My personal belief is that every day believers live with a sense that our nation’s wound is not serious, America moves closer and closer to the brink.

Yes, America is a vigilant nation.  We spend billions attempting to remain on the alert.  Programs such as Homeland Security are where the trust of many is placed.  “In God We Trust” – not really for a lot of people.  For multiplied millions the statement isn’t true anymore.

This morning I’m wondering; have American Christians become so secularized that the * phrase has lost its meaning for them too?  “In God We Trust” – do we really now?

I believe you can tell if it’s still a bottom line conviction for you by examining …

• Your day-by-day righteousness
  
• Your prayers for America’s leaders, and
  
• Your hopes for another powerful national Spiritual awakening.

* And just to keep you honest, remember the psalmist’s words that the Lord looks down from heaven and sees all mankind.  His eyes notice those who fear him, who hope in his unfailing love, who trust in his holy name.

Let’s listen to Diamond Rio, a country-western musical group many of you are familiar with, sing about this phrase I’ve used so often in my sermon …

• In God We Still Trust sermon2.doc - (161_57_In_God_We_Trust_Sermon_for_July_or_Sept_Combo_.doc)