God cares about U.S.
The Providence of God and His Guide
for Human Government
1 Kings 10:23-27
King Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than all
the other kings of the earth. The whole world sought
audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom God had put
in his heart. Year after year, everyone who came
brought a gift--articles of silver and gold, robes,
weapons and spices, and horses and mules. Solomon
accumulated chariots and horses; he had fourteen
hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses, which he
kept in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem.
The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones,
and cedar as plentiful as sycamore-fig trees in the
foothills. (NIV)
2 Chronicles 1:11-12
God said to Solomon, "Since…you have not asked for
wealth, riches or honor, nor for the death of your
enemies, and since you have not asked for a long life
but for wisdom and knowledge to govern my people
over whom I have made you king, therefore wisdom and
knowledge will be given you. And I will also give you
wealth, riches and honor, such as no king who was
before you ever had and none after you will have."
reminds us that wise rulers are vital in order for a nation
to be happy!
Ecclesiastes 10:1-17
Dead flies will cause even a bottle of perfume to stink!
Yes, a small mistake can outweigh much wisdom and
honor. A wise man’s heart leads him to do right, and a
fool’s heart leads him to do evil…5 There is another evil
I have seen as I have watched the world go by, a sad
situation concerning kings and rulers: For I have seen
foolish men given great authority and rich men not
given their rightful place of dignity! I have even seen
servants riding, while princes walk like servants!...
Ecclesiastes 10:1-17
It is pleasant to listen to wise words, but a fool’s speech
brings him to ruin. Since he begins with a foolish
premise, his conclusion is sheer madness. A fool knows
all about the future and tells everyone in detail! But
who can really know what is going to happen? A fool is
so upset by a little work that he has no strength for the
simplest matter. Woe to the land whose king is a child
and whose leaders are already drunk in the morning.
Happy the land whose king is a nobleman and whose
leaders work hard before they feast and drink, and then
only to strengthen themselves for the tasks ahead!
Genesis 3:1-6 (NIV)
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild
animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman,
"Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the
garden'?" The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat
fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, 'You
must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the
garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'" "You
will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. "For
God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be
opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good
for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for
gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave
some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
Genesis 11:1-9 (NIV)
Now the whole world had one language and a common
speech. As men moved eastward, they found a plain in
Shinar and settled there. They said to each other,
"Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly."
They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar.
Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city,
with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we
may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered
over the face of the whole earth." But the LORD came
down to see the city and the tower that the men were
building.
Genesis 11:1-9 (NIV)
The LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same
language they have begun to do this, then nothing they
plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go
down and confuse their language so they will not
understand each other." So the LORD scattered them
from there over all the earth, and they stopped
building the city. That is why it was called Babel-because there the LORD confused the language of the
whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over
the face of the whole earth.
We should notice that the intent of these
men was twofold:
1. To centralize their power
2. To make a name for themselves.
This was contrary to God’s plan for men,
which is for them:
1. To be dependent on him, rather than on
each other.
2. To offer God praise and worship him for his
great work and name…rather then to men!
Exodus 18:9-23 (NIV)
Jethro was delighted to hear about all the good things
the LORD had done for Israel in rescuing them from the
hand of the Egyptians. He said, "Praise be to the LORD,
who rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and of
Pharaoh, and who rescued the people from the hand of
the Egyptians. Now I know that the LORD is greater
than all other gods, for he did this to those who had
treated Israel arrogantly." Then Jethro, Moses' fatherin-law, brought a burnt offering and other sacrifices to
God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat
bread with Moses' father-in-law in the presence of God.
Exodus 18:9-23 (NIV)
The next day Moses took his seat to serve as judge for
the people, and they stood around him from morning
till evening. When his father-in-law saw all that Moses
was doing for the people, he said, "What is this you are
doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge,
while all these people stand around you from morning
till evening?" Moses answered him, "Because the
people come to me to seek God's will. Whenever they
have a dispute, it is brought to me, and I decide
between the parties and inform them of God's decrees
and laws." Moses' father-in-law replied, "What you are
doing is not good. You and these people who come to
you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too
heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone.
Exodus 18:9-23 (NIV)
Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may
God be with you. You must be the people's representative
before God and bring their disputes to him. Teach them the
decrees and laws, and show them the way to live and the
duties they are to perform. But select capable men from all
the people--men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate
dishonest gain--and appoint them as officials over
thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. Have them serve as
judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every
difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide
themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they
will share it with you. If you do this and God so commands,
you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will
go home satisfied."
A God-centered republic accomplishes three
things:
1. It shares the load of leadership, preventing
burnout as well as corruption.
2. It honors the rule of God’s law by men who
fear God and are trustworthy.
3. It satisfies the people who have more direct
access to its leaders and more
responsiveness to their needs
1 Samuel 8:4-22 (NIV)
“All the elders of Israel gathered together and came to
Samuel at Ramah. They said to him, "You are old, and
your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint a king to
lead us, such as all the other nations have." But when
they said, "Give us a king to lead us," this displeased
Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD. And the LORD told
him: "Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is
not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as
their king. As they have done from the day I brought them
up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving
other gods, so they are doing to you. Now listen to them;
but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king
who will reign over them will do.”
1 Samuel 8:4-22 (NIV)
Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people
who were asking him for a king. He said, "This is what
the king who will reign over you will do: He will take
your sons and make them serve with his chariots and
horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. Some
he will assign to be commanders of thousands and
commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground
and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons
of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your
daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He
will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive
groves and give them to his attendants.
1 Samuel 8:4-22 (NIV)
Your menservants and maidservants and the best of your
cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. He will
take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will
become his slaves. When that day comes, you will cry out
for relief from the king you have chosen, and the LORD
will not answer you in that day.”
But the people refused to listen to Samuel. "No!" they
said. "We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the
other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before
us and fight our battles." When Samuel heard all that the
people said, he repeated it before the LORD. The LORD
answered, "Listen to them and give them a king." Then
Samuel said to the men of Israel, "Everyone go back to his
town."
Rejection of God as king and his words as their
guide for line resulted in a centralized
government that took from them.
• It took their children into its service
• It took the best of their livelihood
• It took chunks of their wealth for the use of
its officials and attendants
• It took their freedom..they became its slaves
2 Corinthians 3:17
“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the
Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
John 8:31-36
To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If
you hold to my teaching, you are really my
disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the
truth will set you free." They answered him, "We
are Abraham's descendants and have never
been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we
shall be set free?" Jesus replied, "I tell you the
truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a
slave has no permanent place in the family, but a
son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you
free, you will be free indeed.
John Adams
“We have no government armed with the
power capable of contending with human
passions, unbridled by morality and true
religion. Our constitution was made only for a
moral and religious people. It is wholly
inadequate to the government of any other.”
“The degree to which the Spirit of the Lord is
infused into a Society (through its people, laws,
and institutions) is the degree to which the
society will experience liberty in every realm.
Christ came to set us free. Spiritual freedom or
liberty ultimately produces political freedom.
External political slavery reflects internal
spiritual bondage.”
Mark Beliles and Stephen
McDowell, America’s Providential History
George Washington
“It is impossible to govern the world without
God and the Bible. Of all the dispositions and
habits that lead to political prosperity, our
religion and morality are indispensable
supporters. Let us with caution indulge the
supposition that morality can be maintained
without religion. Reason and experience both
forbid us to expect that our national morality
can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.
James Madison
“We have staked the whole future of our new
nation, not upon the power of government; far
from it. We have staked the future of all our
political constitutions upon the capacity of each
of ourselves to govern ourselves according to
the moral principles of the 10
commandments!”
Harvard University
“Let every student be plainly instructed and
earnestly pressed to consider well…the main
end of his life and studies is to know God and
Jesus Christ, which is eternal life (John 17:3);
and therefore to lay Jesus Christ as the only
foundation of all sound knowledge and
learning. And seeing the Lord only giveth
wisdom, let every one seriously set himself by
prayer in secret to seek it of him (Proverbs 2:3)
This poses three challenges for you and I
today. Will we be…
#1 fully committed to God and his word?
#2 fully cooperative with God’s Spirit to
work within us?
#3 fully determined to live as Jesus lived,
serving God and men with love, grace, and
humility?
Matthew 20:25-28 (NIV)
Jesus called them together and said, "You know
that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them,
and their high officials exercise authority over
them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to
become great among you must be your servant,
and whoever wants to be first must be your slave- just as the Son of Man did not come to be
served, but to serve, and to give his life as a
ransom for many."
The World’s View:
The State
The State
Man
The Church
The Modern “Christian” View:
The State
God
The State
The Church
The Biblical View:
God
Man
The Home
Man
The Church
Man
The State
Does it really matter
whether America
stays faithful to God
and we remember
his past miraculous
acts of Grace and
mercy to us?
Proverbs 29:2
When the righteous thrive, the people
rejoice; when the wicked rule,
the people groan.
Proverb 28:14-16
Blessed is the man who always fears the
LORD, but he who hardens his heart falls
into trouble. Like a roaring lion or a
charging bear is a wicked man ruling over a
helpless people. A tyrannical ruler lacks
judgment, but he who hates ill-gotten gain
will enjoy a long life.
Psalms 11:3-7
When the foundations are being destroyed, what
can the righteous do?”
What might be the
outcome if
Christians got
involved in their
government and the
political process?
James McHenry
The Holy Scriptures…can alone secure to
society order and peace, and to our courts
of justice and constitutions of government,
purity, stability, and usefulness. In vain,
without the Bible we increase penal laws
and draw (protections) around our
institutions”