On the Eve of Election 2008
On the Eve of the 2008 Election
Romans 2:3-8
4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? 5 But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. 6 He will render to each one according to his works: 7 to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; 8 but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury
Self-seeking = a good definition of American culture.
I have taken a ‘news’ sabbatical over the last six weeks. But I have been listening to people in our church and community talk about the campaign issues and I listened to people even as I voted last Thursday. Here is what I know the Scripture says and that you should taken into account as you vote.
1. Abortion is wrong and is the most important issue in any campaign and to any nation
Abortion is not wrong just because it is murder. Murder is wrong because it challenges the sovereignty of God as Life-giver, Creator and Sustainer
Psalm 139:16 – 16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.
Jacob to Rachel (Genesis 30:2) – Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?”
Psalms 127:3 – Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,
the fruit of the womb a reward.
Psalm 139:13-16 – For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.
a) A woman does not have the right to do what she wants with her own body.
1) A baby is not her body, it’s someone else’s
2) No one has that right (to do as they please)
b) It’s a fetus and not a human. It’s alive and it has human DNA. How can its nature not be human if it is alive and has human DNA?
No nation can expect that it can kill millions of innocent human beings and escape God’s judgement
Jeremiah 31:8 – Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute.
I’m told the economy is the primary issue in this election butt is inconsistent for a Christian to voice concern about the economy but not care about the abortion issue:
c) Abortion terrorizes the weakest among us
d) God will judge a nation economically because of its immorality
Abortion is the most important issue because every other issue - taxes, health insurance, jobs, immigration – is dependent on life. A culture that does not respect life at conception will not have respect for any other issue. Life is fundamental to all issues.
A culture of death creates a people who turn their hearts from anyone in need. We have suffered at Wall Street and Main Street because we have created a culture that exemplifies Romans 2:8 - for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury
2. Single Issue Voting
ILL – You’re a single issue voter. Everyone is. It’s just that your issue may not be on the ballot this year
It may be that both candidates are pro-death. What then?
Jeremiah 29:5 - “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. 6 Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. 7 But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare
The Babylonians were certainly pro-death and Israel’s sworn enemies. But Israel was commanded to seek the well-being of the country in which they lived as a witness that they were free men unto God and that no country or king could remove their trust in God
So, if both candidates are pro-death, it is still your responsibility to seek the welfare of the country by examining other issues to determine what is best for the country in which God has given you citizenship or residence…..which brings us to the economy –
3. The forced redistribution of wealth is unbiblical
(taxation as redistribution)
The economy is the #1 issue in this campaign and thus just shows us how ignorant of spiritual/biblical/godly matters we are as a nation.
Deuteronomy 11:13-17 – “And if you will indeed obey my commandments that I command you today, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, 14 he will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the later rain, that you may gather in your grain and your wine and your oil. 15 And he will give grass in your fields for your livestock, and you shall eat and be full. 16 Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them; 17 then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and he will shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain, and the land will yield no fruit, and you will perish quickly off the good land that the Lord is giving you.
*We are more concerned about our own physical needs than spiritual truth - the selfishness of our text
*We do not realize that morality sets the foundation for the economy
*We have replaced God with the government
a) The Lord never condemned money, only instructed the rich not to trust in riches and to be generous (1 Tim 6:17-18)
b) He also said that poor people would always exist. (Mt 26:11) No government programs will eliminate the poor
Let me define rich. In your home, or at your disposal, do you have more than enough food to eat today? You are rich by the world’s standards.
There is no such thing as a free-lunch. To think that the government can fund our lives without eventual social, economic, and moral repercussions only shows the depths of ignorance to which we have sunk as a nation. Our selfishness blinds us to
It’s only a matter of time before the person who thinks it is the government’s responsibility to take care of them will think it is your responsibility to take care of them and that is called socialism, Marxism, communism, anything except democracy. (Where do people think the money to take care of them comes from except from other people who are caring for them?)
1 Timothy 6:18 – They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share
If I want to give you some of my money as a ministry of mercy that is consistent with the Scriptures.
But if the government takes your money that you have honestly earned and gives it to people who are dishonest (illegal immigrants and some who live on and abuse welfare - refuse to work or choose to be reliant on the government for their well-being), that is theft. Yet it is a small step for a government that sanctions murder to also sanction theft.
ILL – It is patriotic to pay more taxes. It is unpatriotic to live dependent on the kindness of others or through social or government programs.
Worse than unpatriotic, the Scripture condemns laziness
Proverbs 19:15 – Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep, and an idle person will suffer hunger.
2 Thessalonians 3:6-11 - Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us. 7 For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you, 8 nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you. 9 It was not because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate. 10 For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. 11 For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. 12 Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living
The Scripture does not encourage, support or condone people who will not work. It also does not support or condone a government that creates a system whereby people can or do become dependent on the government for their existence thereby making the government their god
Is there no place for any support from the government?
Ezekiel 16:49 - Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.
Jeremiah 5:1-4 - Search her squares to see if you can find a man, one who does justice and seeks truth, that I may pardon her. 2 Though they say, “As the Lord lives,” yet they swear falsely. 3 O Lord, do not your eyes look for truth? You have struck them down, but they felt no anguish; you have consumed them, but they refused to take correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to repent. 4 Then I said, “These are only the poor; they have no sense; for they do not know the way of the Lord, the justice of their God.
Certainly there is a place for governmental intervention on behalf of the poor but not when or if that government replaces your trust in God with trust in it. We should not expect it to replace God, we should treat it as though it were God…in fact, because it is comprised of men and women who are fallen in mind and heart, we should exercise caution concerning any government
Jeremiah 31:9 - Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.
How should we open our mouths:
a) The government has effectively robbed the church of its responsibility and privilege to support the poor and needy.
b) The church has no other agenda than to extend Christ’s love. The government’s agenda is to be popular so as to gain votes to continue its existence. This is not genuine care for the poor. (Beware the man or government who promises you something for nothing.) This is the self-exaltation of men over God
ILL – The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire – “bread and the circus”
4. Illegal is illegal with regard to illegal immigration
It is sinful for the government to endorse or allow people who entered the country illegally to remain in the country.
a) This teaches legal citizens to disobey the government without fear of repercussion
b) It teaches a young generation to disregard laws and boundaries, be they of the government or of the family
c) It teaches citizens and illegal immigrants to lack respect for the country
d) It affirms lawlessness
Matthew 22:21 - render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s
Romans 13:1-2 - Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment…5 - Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience
e) Any Christian in the country illegally should return to their home country
5. People Get the Leaders People Deserve
a) God always intended Israel to have a king. Wanting a king was not the problem. 1 – Not trusting God and 2 -wanting to be like other nations was the problem. They chose Saul, which was God’s judgement on the nation
Even rulers whom we elect but do us harm are God’s judgment on our sin.
b) We do not have to wait for God’s judgement to fall on us. To elect the leaders we have already elected who have brought us to this juncture is the judgement of God.
Romans 1:21 - For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened….28-32 - And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God’s decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
CONCLUSION:
This nation has created a citizenry, not of responsibility but of entitlement. We are reaping the harvest of our own godlessness. I say, ‘godlessness’ because everything that ails us as a nation is the result of disobedience to God. Like 9 of the 10 lepers healed by Jesus, we have accepted His kindness only to forget His goodness to us and reject His rule over us.
Romans 2:3-8 - Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? 5 But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. 6 He will render to each one according to his works: 7 to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; 8 but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury
The nation must repent of ungodliness and that repentance must begin with Christians and in the church