Principles of Stability

In this time of national upheaval I again hearken back to the wisdom that God gave to our founders. This wisdom and understanding ever finds its source in a right apprehension of the supremacy of God and our place and responsibility as His creation, an understanding that has largely been lost.

John Jay
(PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS;DIPLOMAT;AUTHOR OF THE FEDERALIST PAPERS;ORIGINAL CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE U.S. SUPREME COURT;GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK)

"Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation, to select and prefer Christians for their rulers."

Jedidiah Morse
(HISTORIAN OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION;EDUCATOR;"FATHER OF AMERICAN GEOGRAPHY";APPOINTED BY BY SECRETARY OF STATE TO DOCUMENT CONDITION OF INDIAN AFFAIRS)

"To the kindly influence of Christianity we owe that degree of civil freedom and political and social happiness which mankind now enjoys. All efforts made to destroy the foundations of our Holy Religion ultimately tend to the subversion also of our political freedom and happiness. In proportion as the genuine effects of Christianity are diminished in any nation...in the same proportion will the people of the nation recede from the blessings of genuine freedom...Whenever the pillars of Christianity shall be overthrown, our present republican forms of government - and and all the blessings which flow from them - must fall with them."

So, it is clear to see that our present societal troubles stem from our national rejection of God's paths. Our founders knew that the principles that undergirded this nation and gave it stability were the principles laid out for us in the scriptures and lived out in the Christian life.

Faith of Our Founders

William Samuel Johnson
(JUDGE, MEMBER OF THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS, SIGNER OF THE CONSTITUTION, FRAMER OF THE BILL OF RIGHTS, PRESIDENT OF COLUMBIA COLLEGE, U.S. SENATOR)

In an address to graduates:

"You this day....have, by the favor of Providence and the attention of friends, received a public education, the purpose whereof hath been to qualify you the better to serve your creator and your country. You have this day invited this audience to witness the progress you have made....Thus you assume the character of scholars, of men, and of citizens....Go, then,....and exercise them with diligence, fidelity, and zeal....Your first great duties, you are sensible, are those you owe to heaven, to your Creator and Redeemer. Let these be ever present to your minds, and exemplified in your lives and conduct. Imprint deep upon your minds the principles of piety towards God, and a reverance and fear of His holy name. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom and its [practice] is everlasting [happiness]....Reflect deeply and often upon [your] relations [with God]. Remember that it is in God you live and move and have your being,-that, in the language of David, He is about your bed and about your path and spieth out all your ways - that there is not a thought in your hearts, nor a word upon your tongues, but lo! He knoweth them altogether, and that He will one day call you to a strict account for all your conduct in this mortal life. Remember, too, that you are the redeemed of the Lord, that you are bought with a price, even the inestimable price of the precious blood of the Son of God. Adore Jehovah, therefore, as your God and your Judge. Love, fear, and serve Him as your Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier. Acquaint yourselves with Him in His word and holy ordinances....[G]o forth into the world firmly resolved neither to be allured by its vanities nor contaminated by its vices, but to run with patience and perseverance, with firmness and [cheerfulness], the glorious career of religion, honor, and virtue....Finally,...in the elegant and expressive language are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsover things are of good report, if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things" - and do them, and the God of peace shall be with you, to whose most gracious protection I now commend you, humbly imploring Almighty Goodness that He will be your guardian and your guide, your protector and the rock of your defense, your Savior and your God."

WOW! To think that this was a commencement address for a public education institution is amazing in light of our situation today.
Would it not be wonderful to hear such an address ring through our land again?

A Heritage Remembered

"The Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children under a free government ought to be instructed. No truth is more evident than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people."

"The Christian religion...is the basis, or rather the source, of all genuine freedom in government...I am persuaded that no civil government of a republican form can exist and be durable in which the principles of Christianity have not a controlling influence."

(Noah Webster/Revolutionary soldier, Judge, Legislator, Educator,"Schoolmaster to America")


"He is the best friend to American liberty who is the most sincere and active in promoting true and undefiled religion, and who sets himself with the greatest firmness to bear down profanity and immorality of every kind. Whoever is an avowed enemy of God, I scruple not to call him an enemy to his country."

(John Witherspoon/Signer of the Declaration of Independance, Ratifier of the U.S. Constitution, President of Princeton)

How far we have departed from these principles!

"The Center of Attention"

Self-centeredness, Self-absorption. We live in such a "self" oriented world. I came into this world with a nature that thrives on self-focus. This is so contrary to reality because only God deserves the focus as the true center of all things. It is my desire to be enamored with God to the utmost!

I believe a quote from Archbishop William Temple sums up the situation very well. He says, "When we open our eyes as babies we see the world stretching out before us; we are in the middle of it; all we see is determined by the relation of all objects to ourselves. This will be true as long as we live. I am the center of the world I see; where the horizon is depends on where I stand. The same is true of our mental and spiritual vision. Some things hurt us; we hope they will not happen again; we call them bad. Some things please us; we hope they will happen again; we call them good.
Our standard of value is the way things affect ourselves. So each of us takes his place in the center of his own world. But I am not the center of the world, nor do I determine what is good or bad. I am not the center; God is."

"For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen." (Rom.11:36)

Behold your King !

What a stark contrast!

This is what comes to mind as I watch the presentation of Presidents to the people. There is usually great applause and cheering as the man is introduced. We do not expect to hear people shouting out "away with him, crucify him" as they did when the King of Peace was presented.

We applaud those that are like us.
We feel comfortable with those of "like passions".
We look to them for council and salvation.
We rejoice in the corruptible.

Yet, in all the revelry, I must reflect back to another day when a Prince was brought out before the people and the reaction was far differant.

"And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!
But they cried out, Away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar." (John 19:14-15)

This King, they could not bear. His very presence and unwavering stand for the truth brings uneasiness and conviction to man's sinful heart. This Prince of Glory stands in the world and before the people that He has made and they know Him not or desire Him.
He recieves no applause or pity. (Psa.69:20)
They hate Him unto death!

Why? As Pilate asks, "What evil hath He done?"

Therein lies the crux of the problem. Is this not the very reason for their hatred and revulsion?
He has done no evil and therefore He is so unlike us.
In the light of His countenance man is exposed for what he truly is and we will not tolerate this. We will not have this kind of a man to reign over us!

The cry goes forth, "Not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber."
(John 18:40)

As extreme as it may at first sound, we are more comfortable with robbers and murderers than we are with this man who "hath done nothing amiss".

As Peter says to the people, "But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you;
And killed the Prince of Life,...." (Acts 3:14-15)

And I sincerely believe that if Jesus were here in the flesh today that the cry would still be "away with Him, crucify Him".

"An Arm of Flesh"

"Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD." (Jer.17:5)

I saw a caption in the paper this morning and was reminded of this warning from the book of Jeremiah.

The caption read: "Small-town USA hangs expectations on Obama"

How tragic! Once again many Americans are trusting in mortal, fallen man to save them!
We as a nation continue to place our confidence in those who are like us, in those who we believe will bring us prominence, material wealth, and fleshly comfort.

We never seem to grasp this overriding truth, "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God." (Psa. 9:17)

We believe that we can continue to reject God and His precepts in order to follow our own desires. We believe that this is the path that leads to life and happiness.
The way of man has always seemed right in his own eyes.

I thought back to the desire of Israel for a king, a king like the surrounding nations had who would judge them and lead them.
As Samuel prayed, concerning this request, God responded, "...Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them." (1Sam.8:7)

After this request is granted, Samuel later tells them, "Only fear the LORD, and serve him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things he hath done for you.
But if ye shall still do wickedly, ye shall be consumed, both ye and your king."
(1Sam.12:24-25)

What do I glean from these words of instruction? I learn that if a people turns from God, no "arm of flesh" will be able to finally deliver them.

Our nation has turned from God and is leaning to its own understanding as it seeks a deliverer in a fallen son of Adam.

Again, how tragic! We have forsaken the Prince of Glory, the fountain of living waters for a broken cistern.

Will we ever awaken? I pray that that we will be awakened. But, whether we are or not, this one thing is sure, God has the final word!
He has determined who the ruler of heaven and earth is and shall forever be. This has not and will not be decided by sinful men or electoral colleges.
This inauguration has been settled from all eternity!

It is proclaimed in Isa.9:6-7, "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgement and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this."

I must not trust in an "arm of flesh". I must trust in the almighty "arm of the LORD".

"O SING unto the LORD a new song; for he hath done marvellous things: his right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory." (Psa.98:1)

"Purpose of Heart"

"My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways." (Prov.23:26)

In scripture, I am reminded again and again of the importance and place of the heart in our relationship to God. He requires heart devotion.

God's charge against the people of Israel was that, "This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me." (Mark 7:6)

Is this not the situation in our own day?

There is an exhortation given in Acts that speaks to this issue. It is found in Acts 11:21-23. Here, concerning the early church, it is recorded, "And the hand of the Lord with them: and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord.
Then tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem: and they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch.
Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord."

In this passage these new believers who are encountered at Antioch by Barnabas are exhorted to "cleave" to the Lord in a particular way. They are to do this with "purpose of heart".
Why must their "cleaving" have the heart as its source?
Is it because that the heart is the residence of what people truly desire and worship?

We "cleave" to what we treasure and as Jesus said, "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." (Mat.6:21)

So, is it accurate to conclude that in order for a person to "cleave" to Christ, He must be their greatest treasure and He must be esteemed as supremely valuable?

If He is not, will a person "cleave" to Him regardless of the cost?

It is evident that the people of God, throughout history, have been a people with God-centered hearts. They love Him supremely and account Him as their all in all!
He is their treasure and highest thought.


Psa. 73:26 declares that, "My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever."

"Our Schoolmaster"

When I consider God's Holy Law there is within me a sense of dread. I am brought to see that I am undone and justly condemned by its righteous requirements.
I find in scripture that this is exactly what the law is supposed to produce in me. This is the purposed effect.

In Galatians 3:23-24 I am told... "But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith."

Here is a declaration of the laws purpose. It was not given to justify but that, "..the offence might abound..." (Rom.5:20)
This Holy standard reveals my failure and rebellion. Paul testifies to this purpose of the law in Romans 7:12-14 where he writes, "Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.
For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin."

I find then that the law, like a "schoolmaster", is teaching me that God and His law are pure and holy and that I am not. The law is also like a light that illuminates the manifold offences that sprang from the original offence of Adam.

Therefore, the law leaves me in a state of utter condemnation as it brings charges against me that I can not refute!
In Romans 3:20 the hopelessness of seeking my justification by the law is again brought out. Here it says, "Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin."

Because the law will never pronounce acceptance on anything less than absolute perfection and total submission to its demands I am left without hope.

The Bible shows me again and again where the problem lies. In Romans 8:3 there is this plain declaration, "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh,...."
And in Galatians 3:10 it says, ".....Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written the book of the law to do them."
Again in Hebrews 7:18-19, where the old covenant priesthood is in view, it is affirmed that, "For there is verily a disannuling of the commandment going before for the weakness and un-profitableness thereof.
For the law made nothing perfect,....."

The law had no power to make anything "perfect" it could only reveal the imperfections and the weaknesses.

I find then that I am this "weak link". The law is holy, just, and good and I am not. Under the law I am cursed and incomplete.

But God.....!

A child has been born, a Son has been given. His delight is in the law of the LORD and He always does those things that please the Father!
I note some verses that speak to our deliverance from the law's just condemnation.
First, I find these words in Romans 5:20b-21, "..But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord."
Then in Galatians 3:13 it is said, "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:"
Paul goes on to say in the next chapter , "But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." (Gal.4:4-5)

Finally, I must include the great announcement of freedom from condemnation that is found in Romans 8:1-4, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
For what the law cold not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."

"The Invisible Hand"

God is in control! Or is He?

Do I really believe that God is in control? If so, to what extent?

Does He superintend the "small" things as well as the "big" things?

I recall a saying that I have heard several times that goes something like this...

"For want of the nail the shoe was lost
For want of the shoe the horse was lost
For want of the horse the rider was lost
For want of the rider the battle was lost
For want of the battle the war was lost"

This really makes me think about the place of seemingly insignificant things in regards to the "big picture" and I am confronted with the precision of God's governance.
Are there any insignificant events in life?
Is it right to classify things or experiences as "trivial"?
Is God a God of the details?

I am reminded of one of the classic biblical examples of God's providence. The example I have in mind is the account of the life of Joseph.
When one ponders the various elements that brought Joseph to prominence in Egypt, it is evident that God was in the details.
These individual elements, though likely perceived as negative occurrences in and of themselves, produced a deliverer for a great multitude of people!
Joseph clearly understood this as he acknowledges God's invisible hand in the events of his life. He declares to his brethren......"Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life."
"And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God......" (Gen.45:5,7-8)

"But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive." (Gen.50:20)

What about us? Has God changed? Has His power and control diminished?
Is not the same invisible hand moving over and around us? What a thought!

To know that my life is being shaped, moved, and aligned toward God's good meaning and purpose is a strong rock and consolation!
I do not live by chance or by blind fate but by the Sovereign hand of the God who rules in heaven and earth!

The Blindness of Hatred

Just a short observation.... As I was reading this morning in Luke 22:47-53, I was struck with another powerful illustration of the mercy of Christ.
Though this mob had come to arrest and destroy Him, He concerns Himself with the servant of the High Priest and heals his severed ear!
This act of compassion, evidently, held no sway over these men as they continued to be driven by their blind hatred.
Nevertheless, He who is the light continues to shine in their "hour" and during this time of "the power of darkness".
This is another example of Jesus' own words...."I came not to be ministered to, but to minister".

"A COMMON GROANING"

"For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." (Rom.8:22-23)

There are many common traits among believers and one such common trait is this matter of "groaning". How we desire and long for completion!
We grow weary of the warfare between the flesh and the spirit and we "groan".
Believers can easily relate to Paul's expression of "groaning" when he speaks of "not doing what he wants to do and doing what he does not want to do." (Rom.7)

I desire for that contrariness to be over! I "groan" for glorification, when there will be experiential unity in the wholeness of my being!

Also, I note that Paul refers to the "whole creation" in this passage. We also have commonality with the rest of the created order. It too "groans" for deliverance from the "bondage of corruption".

What a wonderful day it will be when the great deliverance is complete, when all of creation is free! The day when all that Christ has wrought will finally be experienced without any hinderance of sin and death!

One day we will have this new body which will never experience another evil thought, word, or deed!

I must keep my eyes on this sure hope. I cling to the precious promise given in Phillipians.

Here it is said...."For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:
Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself." (Phil.3:20-21)

"UNREQUITED LOVE"

"And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved." (2Cor.12:15)

I must pause whenever I read such passages as this because I am left in awe of a love so selfless and persevering! Though Paul's great love for other believers was often not reciprocated, he still loved.
This is beyond the bounds of what one encounters in the world. It eclipses the natural way of things. This is a love that grabs a persons attention and will not let go! This is a love that finds its source in God alone.
I noticed a similar statement in the Psalms where it is said...."For my love they are my adversaries: but I give myself unto prayer.
And they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love." (Psa.109:4-5)

I see Jesus here so plainly! Who can equal the love he showed while continually requited, not with love, but with hatred?

Therefore, I don't see Paul in the above passage as much as I see Christ. This former proud Pharisee is now a "clay pot" full of the Spirit of Christ!

This is that radical thing called Christianity. It transforms self-centered sinners into self-sacrificing servants who cheerfully give of themselves though they may receive disdain in return.

Why is love often reacted to in this way?

Is it not because love speaks the truth and in so doing irritates the flesh? As Jesus and His people speak and live the truth, which is a manifestation of love, they are hated for it.

Paul asks, in his letter to the Galatians, "Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?" (Gal.4:16)

Though he is evidencing such great love for them by telling them the truth they resent it!
But, nevertheless, he faithfully keeps loving them. He can do no other! For it is no longer Paul that lives but Christ living in him. He is simply experiencing what his master experienced. In John 8:40 Jesus says...."But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth..."

Yet, the truth keeps coming because it is His nature to love and so it is with those who are His own.

This is the kind of love that "turns the world upside down"!

America, where art thou?

"And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;" (Rom.1:28)

Is it time to write a lamentation for America?

Have we passed the point of no return?

Have we become another revival of Sodom and Gomorrah?

Have we, a people so blessed of God, despised His goodness to the point of reprobation?

If reprobation is defined as "being void of judgement" or as being "thoroughly bad" do we as a nation fit that definition?

It is certainly evident that we have been desensitized to much of the evil in our day.
We are slowly but surely being led down the same path of destruction that previous civilizations and empires have travelled.

Our consciences have been hardened by continual exposure to ungodliness. Just consider the content of what we call "entertainment"! The minds of the people have become a dumping ground for vileness of every sort.
We are being boiled like the proverbial frog in the pot of water!

We have become a people that cannot blush or feel shame. Moral Relativism rules the day. Every man does that which is right in his own eyes!

Where is the church in all this? Where are the professed follwers of God?
Have we also been desensitized? Have we been conformed to the image of this world?
Is there no one to stand in the gap?

I am left in a state of conviction! Within me there is a sighing and a groaning, a desire for God's intervention.
I am confronted again with this question....what is man without God's prevenient grace?
The answer quickly comes...He is lost and undone!

But, I have a hope. It is a hope in God's restoring grace. This hope is expressed in the words of Jeremiah as he laments God's judgment on His rebellious people.

He prays...."Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old." (Lam.5:21)

I pray that we will be "turned back unto God" rather than "turned over to a reprobate mind"!

O' God, turn us back to thee!

THE FRIEND OF SINNERS

I am so glad that Jesus was and is guilty of what He was charged with in Mat.11:19.
He was accused of being "a friend of publicans and sinners." And so He is!

There are many who claim to be friends but where are they in time of need or in times of failure?

There were those who claimed to be Jesus' friend but instead were shown to be His enemy....."Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me." (Psa.41:9)

A true friend, in contrast, will abide as a friend indeed, come what may!

As the proverbs relate..."A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity." (Prov.17:17)

But who can find such a friend and brother in this earth? There is one, the man Christ Jesus. He is the one described in scripture as....."a friend that sticketh closer than a brother." (Prov.18:24)

This is He who will faithfully succour us and also will "wound" us when it is needed. (Prov.27:6)

This is also the one who demonstrated the greatest love by His willingness to lay down His life for those He called friends! (John 15:13,15)

Can there be any greater friend?

So-called friends may come and go, but thank God, there is a faithful friend, a friend of sinners, who will stick closer than a brother, and ever liveth to make intercession for such as I!