We are now experiencing a rapid and reckless abandonment of the faith and values that have been so meaningful to us for generations, as well as being the very foundation stones of our civilization. We're prone to ask the question of Psalm 11 and 3, “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?" That will be our study today. Stay tuned.
My warmest greetings to you, friend, and a hearty welcome to our program of Bible study In Search of the Lord's Way to be saved and His way to be a Christian. We believe the Lord's way to be saved is the only way, and His way to live is the best life that humanity has every known. Say, it's a joy and a blessing to have you with us. We pray we can be a blessing to you, too, in our Bible study together. We are here through the courtesy of some of your friends, and ours, who are members of churches of Christ right here in the reach of your TV or radio station. I'm inviting you to worship with them real soon. Will you do that? Tell them we invited you.
As I said before, these are trying times. We're now witnessing a rapid and reckless abandonment of the U.S., of the faith and values that have made us so meaningful for generations; and, well, as being the very foundation stones of our national life from the birth of our great nation. We are prone to ask the question of Psalm 11 and 3, which says: "If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?"
And, that is the title of today's program: "What Can the Righteous Do?" We will be looking at some things the righteous can do in times like these. If you'd like a copy of it on audio cassette tape or CD or in printed form, simply mail your request to In Search of the Lord's Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083. Our e-mail address is searchtv@searchtv.org. Or you may use our toll-free telephone number, and it is 1-800-321-8633. No, no, you won't need to send money. They are free. Ken Helterbrand's going to lead us in the Edmond Church of Christ in a hymn now and then I'll be back for Bible reading and we will pray together.
Today we are reading from the 11th Psalm, the first three verses. “In the Lord I put my trust; how can you say to my soul, flee as a bird to your mountain? For look! The wicked bend their bow; they make ready their arrow on the string that they may shoot secretly at the upright in heart. If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” And we will go to God in prayer. Holy Father, we are so thankful to You that we are blessed as we are to live with all of our freedoms here in America. And we are thankful that it has been our lot to cast by you that we can live here in freedom and we can be free to speak up for righteous thoughts and righteous things. We pray Your blessings upon our study today so that we can know what the righteous can do from Your word. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
While some things are happening in our country that grieve righteous people very much, there are some things that are positive and encouraging. An optimist is one who can't see the evil that surrounds him. Rather, he has been described as one who can see those problems as opportunities. So in the message today, I'm going to define some of our immediate problems, and then point to some things righteous people can do about them-- with the hopes that they will do what they can do. Probably you already know what God says about the fellow who has the opportunity to do good and refuses to do it, but let me remind you. He says, "To him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin" (James 4:17). And, Jesus taught that kind of sin is deserving of a greater punishment than sin done by the person who doesn't know that he's sinning (Luke chapter 12, verse 47).
God not only created this world, He continues to be "Lord" or ruler over it (Acts 17, verse 24). He sustains it; He keeps it running smoothly when everything is kept within boundaries of His rules or laws then that is the way it is. And that is true in the natural world and in the spiritual as well. Some of those laws are applicable in both the natural and the spiritual worlds; the laws of sowing and reaping, for example. First the Scripture says, "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap" (Galatians 6 and 7). Well, we would believe that if we read it in the Farmer's Almanac, wouldn't we? But the Bible says even if you have never farmed, you know the farmer reaps what he sows. If he sows wheat, he'll reap wheat. If he plants corn, that's what he is going to harvest. God's second law of sowing and reaping goes like this: "He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully." That is 2 Corinthians 9:6. So, we reap what we sow, and we reap in proportion to what we sow. If we plant sparingly, we reap sparingly. The third law of sowing and reaping is this: We reap more than we sow. If we didn't, there would be no reason to work the soil and plant it, would there now? If we sow good, then we'll reap good; but, if we sow evil, it's certain that's what we are going to reap-- and the harvest will be greater year after year.
Now, after four decades of unrestrained rejection of God in our public life, and with the complacency and uncertainty in the Christian community we have a moral order left in shambles. It must be obvious to all of us that are thinking Americans, with or without religious faith that our national life now functions with no fixed standards of morality. We're at sea being dangerously tossed about in a storm, with no compass to guide us and no anchor to secure us. We no longer have a generally accepted code of behavior; it's "do your own thing." Right or wrong are determined, are not determined I should say, by a previously accepted code of behavior, as it once was, but by what feels good to the person or to the individual. A person can lie or steal or commit murder or fornication or anything else and maintain his innocence by just pleading innocent. No one can say for certain he did wrong because no one can say what shall be right or what shall be wrong for the other person. That would be called judgmentalism-- and, oh, heaven deliver us from that terrible monster.
Whether we like it or not, the Woodstock counter-culture with its rebellion and its flag-burning and its drug abuse and free and promiscuous sex and total defiance of all traditional values, has now become our culture, so that anything that's pleasurable is acceptable. That explains why some of our sports heroes can attack an opponent, and why some of our music stars can mock and abuse us with vulgarities that would insult anyone if it were not accompanied by musical beat; and that explains why our entertainment idols can win Emmys and Oscars and other awards solely for "coming out" with the grossest kind of human behavior and lifestyles, and our political leaders can disappoint us with their bizarre, outlandish, and far-out behavior and still maintain their popularity with approval ratings. It also explains why it's virtually impossible to seat a jury of one's peers that will find him guilty of the most violent and heinous sin, crimes against society.
Well, how did we get here? Jesus explains that to us, too. In one of His parables, He said, "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemies came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way" (Matthew 13:24 and 25). Yes, while good men sleep, evil grows, and it grows and it keeps on growing. So, "If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?" Well, first: They can wake up! Too many of us have adopted the lackadaisical spirit that "God is still on the throne, so, don't sweat, everything's going to be alright and it will be okay in the end.” Well, some people don't know their Bibles very well.
Secondly: Perhaps the very first and most powerful weapon righteous people have against the powers of evil is prayer. The righteous can pray. Scripture says, "The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers; but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil" (1 Peter 3 and 12). "What then shall we say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us" (Romans 8 and 31)? Well, the apostle Paul who offered so much at the hand, suffered I should say, so much at the hands of the Roman authorities said, "I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and for all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who would have all be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy chapter 2, verses 1 to 3). So, Christians, let's be praying in the crucial days of the election of our national leadership for the next four years of our history. We are being told by the leaders in both of the major parties that this may be the most critical election in our history. So, whatever party you're aligned with, pray. No! Don't pray selfishly for your party to win. Pray for God and His will to prevail.
Well, next: In America the righteous can vote. In America we are blessed to have a voice. In the privacy of the voting booth, you and I have the opportunity to speak up for righteousness and for truth. I've heard two different reports about that. One says only 40%-- 4 out of 10 mind you, of the professed believers in Christ voted in the last presidential election. The other was a little better; it said 50%. At best, then, only one half of the professed righteous people stood up to be counted the last time they were blessed with the opportunity. That’s too bad!
If you are a Bible believer, you believe man and woman did not evolve from some tiny one-celled something that crawled out of the salty-brine of an ocean somewhere and there on the beach developed into the highly complicated body that we inhabit today. You believe we're "the offspring of God," if you are a believer in God, just as the Bible says in Acts 17:29. You believe we were created. You believe that God joined the man and the woman together in marriage, and told them to multiply and replenish the earth-- an impossibility with same-sex-marriages. If you believe in God, you believe the Word, the Bible is His Word, and you need not just pray, but to stand up for Him and His way as described in the Bible. It isn't a question of democrat or republican or independent or whatever else, it's righteousness as opposed to evil. All that's necessary for this evil to abound is for righteousness and righteous people just stay at home and don't vote. The gay community will be there in mass to vote for it, but what about the others? Please don't whine about the immoral direction the country is taking, and the widespread advocacy of homosexual lifestyle in much of the news, and movies, and TV and music, if you don't do what you can to prevent it. And, please, don't write me about Jesus' "Golden Rule in Matthew chapter 7, verse 12 and even 13: "Whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them." Because you see, I don't know about you, but I would like others to know about the evil pitfalls of life to warn me about them. Oh, I appreciate a "caution" sign or a "danger" sign on the highway of life. They don't offend me in the least.
Now another thing: We are given the freedom on the ballot to stand up against one of the most destructive of all evils-- the ugly sin of greed-- legalized embellishment of greed. That's what legalized gambling is, my friend, nothing short of it-- legalized embellishment of evil. In whatever form it takes, casinos or lotteries or games or races or whatever, it is the desire of one person to take from other people-- wealth without work. It's a form of robbery with consent. There are many, many, many more losers than there are winners. There has to be. The winners have to be willing to profit from the losses of the losers. Surely we know, don't we, that that kind of life does not build character. I had to learn that myself, in elementary school from the simple little game of playing marbles. I knew what it was like to be a winner. Sometimes I could take home marbles that belonged to another fellow. I also learned what it was to be a loser. I felt guilty and sorry for the loser when I won. And I felt depressed and just plain evil when I lost. And, I didn't need a preacher or youth minister or Bible class teacher or even my parents to tell me about the evil that God says in Romans chapter 12, verse 17, "Provide things honest in the sight of all men."
Another thing: In the very long ago God made a covenant with the human race in which He said, "Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God He made man" (Genesis 9:6). That's the same covenant in which He promised, "I will never again curse the ground for man's sake, although the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; nor will I destroy every living thing as I have done. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease" (Genesis 8:20 and 21). Every time you see a rainbow or a sunrise or a sunset, and with the change of the seasons, from winter to spring, from spring to summer, from summer to fall, and from fall back to winter again, you can be reminded of God's covenant with man which says, "Whoever sheds man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed; for God created him in his own image." And you can know in your own honest heart that God is seriously and greatly grieved by the legalized killing of more than 35, well, now it is up to even 50 million little innocent, helpless pre-born-- or being-born-babies right here in America. If the foundations, the dignity and the sanctity of human life are destroyed, what can the righteous do? Oh, they can stand proudly in the privacy of the voting booth and vote for those measures and/or those people (regardless of party affiliation) that will be more likely to restore those basic virtues to our society. We must, and I repeat, we must, friend, we simply must bring the American holocaust to an end. In a government "of the people, by the people and for the people,"-- without protest-- the righteous bear equally with the unrighteous, the responsibility for the nation's sins. Let’s pray. Father, help us to rise up as one and defeat the evils that we have talked about and studied about today. And help us to be the people You would have us to be. In the name of our Savior, we pray. Amen!
If the foundations of our society are destroyed, what can the righteous do? They can pray. And, in America, they can vote! Oh, I hope you will. I'm not saying anything about for whom you should vote. I'm not saying anything about voting Republican or Democrat or Independent or whatever your party might be registered. I'm simply urging the righteous people to vote for righteousness wherever you find it. The weeping prophet of Israel agrees. "O Lord," he cried, "I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walks to direct his own steps" (Jeremiah 10:23). See you at the poll!
If you would like a printed copy or an audio cassette tape or a CD of this message, you may have it free, by sending your request to In Search of the Lord's Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083 or by e-mail to searchtv@searchtv.org. Or you may use our toll-free telephone number to place your request. It's 1-800-321-8633. We are here through the generosity and the love of your friends in churches of Christ in the area of your TV or radio station by which you are attuned at this time. I would like to invite you to pay them a visit real soon, will you do that? I hope you will. And I hope that when you go, you will want to go back again. I think you will; and you will enjoy their worship in spirit and in truth. We are so thankful that the Lord has given us the way to worship in His Bible; and we try to follow that in the assemblies in which we have our worship nowadays in churches of Christ. We are trying to mimic, or to trying to do just as the New Testament congregations did in their worship. I think you will be impressed with that. And be with us again next week, will you? God bless you now. We love you.
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