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What Can We Do for Our Country?
Psalm 9:1-20
Sermon by Rick Crandall
Grayson Baptist Church - Oct. 5, 2014
What's the biggest problem we have in our country today?
-- There are so many to choose from, like the struggling economy.
The good news Friday was the unemployment rate went down to 5.9%.
The bad news is that the main reason why it went down was another 315,000 people dropped out of the work force, giving a new record of 92.6 million out of the work force.
(1)
What's the biggest problem we have in the U.S.A. today?
-- Multiple scandals in Washington?
Ebola in Dallas?
Skyrocketing national debt?
The growing threat of violent Jihadists?
*There are many other possibilities.
But if you really want to know America's biggest problem, you can find the answer in one of the Lord's parables.
In Luke 19, Jesus told this parable about Himself, and the Lord said:
12. . .
"A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return.
13.
So he called ten of his servants, delivered to them ten minas, and said to them, 'Do business till I come.'
14.
But his citizens hated him, and sent a delegation after him, saying, 'We will not have this man to reign over us.'"
*THAT is the biggest problem we have in our country today: People who angrily reject the Lord and say, "We will not have this man to reign over us."
Many of the most powerful positions in our country are occupied by people like that.
It's as if they are shaking their fists at Jesus Christ and saying, "We will not have You to rule over us!"
That is America's biggest problem today.
*What can we do about it?
How can we help our country?
Christians: One thing we can do is vote.
This God-given freedom was established in our Constitution, and it has been protected by the sacrifice of over a million of our soldiers.
*Most people in the world can only dream of the freedom we have been blessed with all of our lives.
Thousands of people were out in the streets of Hong Kong last week, protesting for the freedom we have, hoping for the freedom to vote for leaders not hand-picked by Communist dictators in Beijing.
(2)
*And it would be a shame for us to ignore the God-given freedom we have.
I tell you this today, because tomorrow is the deadline to register for the upcoming election next month.
And all Christians ought to vote.
We are a whole lot more likely to get godly leaders, if godly people vote.
*But as important as voting is, It is by no means the most important thing that we can do for our country.
What else can we do?
Here in God's Word we see four things that will surely help us, and could also help our country.
1.
The first helpful thing is to keep giving glory to God.
*That's what King David was doing in vs. 1-5: giving glory to the Lord.
And in vs. 1-2, David said:
1.
I will praise You, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will tell of all Your marvelous works.
2. I will be glad and rejoice in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.
*David was singing praise to our most high God.
He was praising the Lord not just with his lips, but with his whole heart!
He was singing with gladness and joy in his heart.
And we can sing praise to the Lord.
We can worship Him, adore Him, exalt Him.
We can give Him honor and glory and our thanks.
*Notice in vs. 1-2 that David's worship was intentional: "I will praise You, O LORD. . .
I will tell of all Your marvelous works.
I will be glad and rejoice in You.
I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High."
Four times David said: "I will.
I will.
I will.
I will."
Giving glory to God was something he intended to keep on doing.
And it's something that we need to put in our busy schedules.
We must take time to worship the Lord, thank the Lord, and give Him glory.
*But why should we praise the LORD?
The most important reason is because He is worthy of our worship!
And there are countless reasons why God is worthy of our praise.
But in vs. 2-3, David was praising God for defeating his enemies:
2. I will be glad and rejoice in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.
3. When my enemies turn back, They shall fall and perish at Your presence.
*David could well have been thinking back to the time when God gave him the victory over Goliath the giant.
I say that because the introduction to this Psalm in the KJV says: "To the chief Musician upon Muthlabben."
*That word "Muthlabben" is a mysterious word that could have several meanings.
But the great preacher Charles Spurgeon agreed that it concerned "the death of the Champion who went out between the camps."
-- And that was Goliath.
(3)
*And yes Christians: We will still face giants in our lives.
But they shall fall and be destroyed at the presence of our God!
We see this kind of power on the night before Jesus died on the cross for us.
John 18:3-6 tells us:
3. Judas then, having received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weapons.
4. Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye?
5.
They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth.
Jesus saith unto them, I am he.
And Judas also, which betrayed him, stood with them.
6.
As soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward, and fell to the ground.
*Jesus went on to let that small army get up and arrest Him, because He wanted to save us by dying on the cross for our sins.
But the Lord wanted that army to know who was really in control.
*Jesus also wanted to protect His followers, so the next few verses in John 18 say:
7. Then He asked them again, "Whom are you seeking?''
And they said, "Jesus of Nazareth.''
8. Jesus answered, "I have told you that I am He.
Therefore, if you seek Me, let these go their way,''
9. that the saying might be fulfilled which He spoke, "Of those whom You gave Me I have lost none.''
*Here in Psalm 9:3, we can give glory to God, because our giants will fall and be destroyed at the presence of our God!
Then in vs. 4-5, we can give glory to God, because we see Him fighting for His people.
There David said:
4. For You have maintained my right and my cause; You sat on the throne judging in righteousness.
5.
You have rebuked the nations, You have destroyed the wicked; You have blotted out their name forever and ever.
*Notice that David speaks of all this as being in the past tense.
-- That means it's as good as already done!
So Christians: No matter what happens to us, we can still give glory to God, because He will give us the victory in the end!
*Keep giving glory to God.
The Christians who pioneered our nation surely did.
Melvin Newland once explained: "The hardy souls who sailed on the Mayflower in 1620 fled from tyranny and oppression.
And in the Mayflower Compact which they signed beneath the swinging lantern in the cabin of their ship, they proclaimed that they had come to the new world for 'the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith.'"
*Melvin also explained some of the ways they gave glory to God: "In the early colonies the first public building to be erected was a church house, and the first public event was the worship of Almighty God.
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