“ Importance of church history ” Near the beginning of this message, Dr. Morecraft explains that we have the responsibility and calling from God to "walk around Zion" (Psalm 48:12), to familiarize ourselves with every aspect of the church of Christ, its history, its future, and what God says He's doing in it. Since the church is not made of bricks and mortar but of people, to "walk around Zion" is to walk around the lives of people who comprise that church, and to familiarize ourselves with them, particularly the great men and women of God who preceded us. Understanding and loving history, and the people of God throughout history, is essential to living the Christian life. If you don't like history, you're not going to be a good Christian. Because running the race of life involves bearing in mind the "great cloud of witnesses" (Hebrews 12:1) that have gone before us. We need to familiarize ourselves with them and learn from them, and be encouraged by the lives they lived as we face many of the same things they faced.
“ God will sustain you ” Dr. Morecraft explains that whatever God brings into your life and lays upon you, cast that upon Him and trust Him to provide you with whatever wisdom or strength or perseverance you need to endure it. John Calvin wrote in his commentary on Psalm 55 that, "There is no other way of relieving our anxious souls, but by reposing ourselves upon the providence of God." Cast your burden upon the Lord and He will sustain you. Trust Him to provide whatever you need to nourish you and to keep you standing and to keep you going. God may let various things happen to you in your life. He may let you stagger under the weight for a while. He may cause you to almost sink under the storms of life. But trust Him that He will eventually deliver you.
“ Imprecatory prayer ” Dr. Morecraft concludes this sermon with an imprecatory prayer using the words of the Psalms for all those in places of power in America who are defiantly standing against God, who are encouraging the legality of abortion and the perversion of homosexual behavior, who are removing God's standards of justice from the courtroom, who are ruining the economy and thereby threatening the existence of the Christian family, who are assaulting the Christian foundations of the nation in order to create an all-powerful and all-controlling state, thereby robbing us of liberty and justice, that God would destroy them in His faithfulness and let them fall by their own devices.
“ Nebuchadnezzar for President ” Dr. Morecraft describes how God humbled King Nebuchadnezzar. Having acknowledged the sovereignty of God, Nebuchadnezzar praised, exalted, and honored the Lord. The U.S. needs a president who could make the same confession of faith. Politics, theology and eschatology are inseparable. If you believe that God is the absolute sovereign over all of life, and that His sovereignty will bring about the growth of His kingdom over all the nations of the world, your politics will reflect your theology and your eschatology, and you will never be satisfied with a president or a civil government that's anything less than theocratic. That is, God's law should be the basis of all law and civil jurisdiction on this planet. If our laws are not in accordance with the law of the Most High God of Heaven, He will break us.
“ Unrighteous nation, unrighteous leaders ” At one point, Dr. Morecraft explains a lesson that occurs throughout Scripture: Like people, like priest. Like people, like leaders. That is, people will always elect the leaders that reflect their particular perspective on life. So don't ever expect an unrighteous nation to elect righteous national leaders. This biblical principle is a fact. Unrighteous nations will never elect righteous leaders.
“ Living in an evil culture ” In explaining Psalm 53:4, Dr. Morecraft notes that when you live in an evil culture that hates Christ, it's going to hate you because you don't belong to it. Every time non-Christians see you, they see you representing something that they hate down in their soul even though they may not be able to express it themselves. There is an irreconcilable hostility in the seed of the serpent toward the seed of the woman. The hatred of the unregenerate towards Christians stops at nothing until God stops it or restrains it. That's the kind of world we live in. We live in a culture that hates your children. And this culture's going to do everything it can educationally and politically, and in every other way, to corrupt your children and to get your children not to think the way you think but to think the way the world thinks.
“ Praise God for such faithful preaching! ” Thank God for the work that He did in Hurricane Helene, and for giving us ministers unafraid to speak the truth about the judgment of God!
“ Opposing the Doegs of modern America ” Towards the end of this sermon, Dr. Morecraft explains that Christians are publicly to condemn the enemies of Christ and the church in our land, regardless of how rich and powerful and evil they may be, or how loudly they try to threaten and intimidate us. The Doegs and Edomites of modern America must be publicly opposed, condemned, called to repentance, and warned of God's impending doom. Do not let their popularity, power, or success intimidate or discourage you. If Doeg the Edomite was judged so severely by God for killing 85 priests, and presiding over the slaughter of a small town, how much more will the President, Congress, and Supreme Court justices of the United States, be judged by God for presiding over the murder of millions upon millions of unborn babies.
“ great sermon JLB101524 ” thank you for the wonderful lesson and I hope that in the future maybe you could cover Alfred the Great as he is one of my favorites.
“ Consequences of sin ” As Dr. Morecraft explains, David's sin harmed his nation, but he was repentant and wanted to make things right with the people to whom he had done wrong. David's sin damaged his nation for generations. In 2 Samuel 12:10 it says, "Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife." For generations in David's own family and in Israel there were injurious effects because of his sin. We have something to learn here: Sometimes sins forgiven still have consequences in this life that we have to endure.
“ Hypocrites cannot save America ” In one part of this sermon, Dr. Morecraft explains that sometimes the very persons who want God's law obeyed and enforced by society on other people (like some conservatives) refuse to submit to it themselves. They treat its precepts with neglect and contempt. For example, a particular businessman in Atlanta spent a great amount of time and money trying to save America. He was very conservative and was involved in many things because he was worried about the way America was going and how it was leaving its Christian roots. But he spent all of his time "saving America" and lost all of his children to drugs and immorality. He wanted America to obey the laws of God, but he wouldn't himself in the bringing up of his children.
“ There is a Judge ” Among other points made in this sermon, Dr. Morecraft explains that from the very beginning of the Bible to the very end there is a presentation of God as a great and righteous Judge. When a culture believes that God is judge, it becomes a morally strong culture. Someday we shall all stand before Him and give an account of our lives. He is a judge before whom we stand every day, who intervenes into our lives with blessings or curses. When a culture believes that it is morally strong. As long as the American culture believed that it was morally strong, although it was never perfect. What happens when a culture no longer believes that God is judge? Look around today and you see the lawlessness, the wickedness, the evil, the immorality, and the perversion. One of the most important things we can call our country back to is that there is a Judge.
12/1/2024 10:00 PM
