Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction:

On November 8, 2022 our nation will head to the polls to participate in the mid-term elections.

One would have to be living under a rock to not realize that our nation is at a crossroads perhaps like never in its history.

While we as believers understand that ultimately, God is in control, that does not negate our responsibility to vote.

Frankly, you really have no right to complain about the direction of our county if you do not vote.

I’m not sure I would go as far to say that it is sinful not to vote, but it is certainly irresponsible not to do so.

For the most part, politicians and rulers at every level of government, I think, seek what they think will best prosper and exalt their nations.

In the end, however, only one factor determines whether a nation rises or falls: righteousness.

Nations that follow God’s standards—that are governed by His Holy Word—are great nations.

Countries that embrace selfishness and sin over righteousness suffer disgrace and shame.

World history repeatedly proves this to be true.

The most obvious illustration is Israel.

When Israel obeyed and followed God, she became the greatest nation on the face of the earth.

But when she forsook God for idols and all manner of sins, she fell.

To this day, Israel has yet to be restored to her former glory.

And, sadly, Solomon, the king who wrote this proverb, actually set Israel’s decline in motion.

This emphasizes the critical importance of individual righteousness and responsibility.

Israel had reached her peak of greatness during Solomon’s reign, but then began her downward slide when the king stooped to living in brazen and unrestrained immorality with 1,000 women.

To make matters even worse, Solomon exposed his nation to the false gods of all these foreign women.

So, the question arises; “If righteousness exalts a nation, how should I, as a Christian vote?”

As believers, we must cast our votes according to the Bible and we should do so regardless if it has political ramifications or is unpopular to do so.

This means that we must have an understanding of the moral and ethical issues that the Bible is 100% clear about and vote accordingly.

The only way to do this is to set aside the personalities of the candidate's and engage with the platform of the party with which that candidate identifies and then compare that to Biblical principle.

We can only do this if we have a biblical worldview.

Our Job is to take the light that Jesus has given us and shine it out into the world in order to point them to Jesus.

In order to do this, we have to take what the scriptures say and let it shine out in our speech and in our actions.

Everything we approach must be through the lens of scripture.

There is no distinction in scripture between spiritual and political.

Here is what we believe the Bible teaches as our worldview:

God created the heavens and the earth.

Therefore, He makes the rules and He has specifically defined right and wrong.

People are responsible for their own choices of right and wrong and the consequences.

God is the author of life and death and determines its beginning and end, not man.

The purpose of government is to make laws to protect from evil and wrongdoing.

Government should not do or sanction evil.

Marriage and sexuality were created and ordained by God and therefore defined by Him.

It is a picture of salvation according to a specific pattern and not to be altered.

We then are to reflect this worldview in all of our choices.

They should shape how we make decisions.

When we live them out and speak them out to a lost world, the world is pointed to Jesus.

They may choose to accept or reject, but we are to point them to Jesus through biblical example and speech.

1.

We are to vote for a biblical worldview.

This passage warns and instructs christians that we will live in a society that is dominated by a non-biblical worldview.

We live in that society today.

There is a major political philosophy in our nation that has exploded in astronomic proportions.

It has overtaken one major political party and deeply infected the other.

Neither is immune.

This philosophy is very consistent and presents a coherent world-view that is opposite the Bible.

God is not the creator and therefore there is not a God to make any permanent rules.

Man is the only judge and is free from any absolute standard but his own expedience.

This produces certain clear and consistent philosophies.

Government is the most important provider.

Everyone is free to do what is right in their own eyes and the only vice is to judge something wrong.

Government is also a force for social engineering without absolute boundaries.

Government is there to provide instead of protect.

Equity as “we” see it is the goal since there is no such thing as an absolute standard of right and wrong.

Abortion is therefore acceptable.

The Homosexual (LGBTQ+IA) agenda is therefore acceptable.

Taxing and harming the poor in society is acceptable because it fosters the “greater good”, i.e. the growth of government.

Speaking to, paying homage to, or acknowledging God is wrong because He does not exist and to admit His existence would be to admit the need to submit to His standards as the Creator.

Those who believe in God are radical and intolerant because they have standards.

This world-view wears many faces, but is clearly evident in how liberals approach most issues.

All liberal politicians validate most or all of these positions, thus proving it is a clearly defined philosophy and worldview.

They are in absolute agreement on certain values which to them form core of beliefs: no absolute truth, abortion, homosexual rights.

These same politicians to a person believe in restricting the rights of Christians to speak while claiming the 1st amendment is so broad in its protection of free speech that drag queens can dance and preform in front of children.

Again, even a cursory review of their positions – positions they hold universally- reveal they have a consistent and clear worldview in opposition to scripture.

It is our responsibility as believers to combat this worldview in the public arena of ideas.

In order to advance the cause of Christ.

2. Evaluate individual issues by scripture.

We then are to vote on issues which relate to our biblical worldview.

We are not to vote on candidates, but on biblical worldview issues.

Allow me just to give you a handful of examples.

A.) Abortion.

Thank God that he saw fit to allow our supreme court to overturn Roe v. Wade this year and making it so that Abortion is no longer a federal right.

But don’t kid your self for one minute that the fight for the life of the unborn is over.

As of July 25th of this year 21 states plus D.C. still have laws that keep abortion legal in spite of federal regulation.

We also have a political party who has not been silent that they stand on a platform that seeks to codify the right to kill the unborn (and even those outside the womb after birth) into federal law.

The abortion issue isn't nuanced and hard to figure out from the Bible.

1.

The Bible clearly teaches that God is the author of life, God plans our lives from the moment of conception and even before we are born, and He numbers our days.

The circumstances of the conception bring nothing to bear upon the sanctity of human life!

No child is illegitimate to God.

Not only does life begin at conception but, the sixth commandment in Exodus 20:13 says:

Murder- is always used to describe the taking of innocent human life.

Abortion is the epitome of taking an innocent human life.

We do not get to play God in order to determine when life begins or ends.

Only God as the sovereign Lord of the universe gets to decide that.

Christians cannot not vote for political candidates who are backed by a platform that endorses the legalization and codifying into federal law infanticide.

WE MUST VOTE TO PROTECT HUMAN LIFE!

The destruction of a human life in the manner referred to as abortion is a horrible and sinful practice against God’s laws.

We may differ on whether a war should be fought or not, but war is not always outlawed by God’s word.

We may differ on an economic plan, but that is not outlawed by God’s word.

The murder of an innocent, unborn life is just that – murder.

It is sin for a Christian to knowingly vote for a politician who is pro abortion.

2. Human sexuality.

The Bible isn't nuanced on this issue either.

The LGBTQ+IA agenda is a sin against God!

Human sexuality, including all its physical, emotional, and spiritual intricacies, was God’s invention.

He gave sexuality to His human creations as a gift with two functions: to perpetuate the human race and to create an intimate bond between husband and wife.

The right use of sexuality leads us to understand intimacy with God in greater ways; the wrong use of it destroys intimacy with God and substitutes sexuality in His place.

Whatever God creates, Satan perverts.