RIGHTEOUSNESS INCREASES FREEDOM-PART II (Proverbs 14:34)

This is Part II of a message that I began last week on how the Word of God teaches that righteousness increases freedom, and I put this in the context of what is happening today to this country that we love so much.  We live in a time when the very foundations of our nation are being challenged, and in many ways those foundations have already been unalterably changed.  

Alexander Hamilton said, “People get the kind of government they deserve.”  This means that the government that we have is a reflection of the character of our people.  If the government reflects the character of the people, then you are going to find that the greater the character of the people, the more freedom, the more liberty, those people will have. The less the character of the people, the less freedom, and the less liberty, those people will have. Another word for character is responsibility, because character is responsibility assumed.

So, what is the only hope for America?  I want to state with all of the power of my soul that the only hope for America is found right here in God’s Word. 

Prov 14:34
34 Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.
KJV

This is not merely what God has said in the past, this is what God is saying to any people, any nation.  It is a universal truth from God, “Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.” Unfortunately, the country that we love has overwhelmingly chosen the path that is described by the last half of this verse, where it says, but sin is a reproach to any people.  It is with a very heavy heart that I have to say America is no longer the godly country our founders created.

Now on July 4, 1776, there was signed in the city of Philadelphia a document we call the Declaration of Independence. Now it was independence from Great Britain, but what many people fail to understand is that this same document was a document of dependence upon Almighty God.  Now, without a doubt, the politicians of today have forgotten that fact.  But it was clearly, and plainly, a declaration of dependence upon Almighty God.  

Look at the opening and closing paragraph of this document. It says this: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are … endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights.” It begins that way. But it closes this way: “With a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence …”—now, what is reliance? That’s dependence—“With a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence”—what is divine providence? That’s God—“With a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.”

All of that was stated in the context of depending upon Almighty God. It was then that the cannons fired. It was then that the fireworks went off. It was then, in the old statehouse now called Independence Hall, that the Liberty Bell began to ring out freedom. And on that bell are inscribed these words from Leviticus 25, verse 10: “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land.” 

In that document they said that God created us. Now, that isn’t what we can teach in schools today.  But, our founders said in that document that God, as our Creator, gives us our rights, not the government. These are inalienable rights, like life, and liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. These have come from the Almighty, and not from government.

Click on the link below to hear a message on how our government, our constitution, began with a dependence upon Almighty God. And the Constitution was written by people of character, for people of character, and it will work for no other people. If we lose our character in the United States, our constitution will not work. 

Amen.