There are multitudes of people
that say they believe the Bible. There seem to be few, however,
who recognize the glory which is revealed in its pages and
who desire to be closely acquainted with its author. Man naturally
gravitates towards religion and is quite satisfied with the religion
of his choice, which is in most cases the religion of his parents
and or the culture in which he was brought up. Thus there are
a great many people who are of basically moral principles which
they have in great part derived from their religious heritage,
both by active choice and habits which have been instilled in
them which they might not recognize the Bible as the source of. These
traits are often greatly helpful to the societies in which they
live and form the structural integrity upon which these societies
rely for future stability, even when many in the present hour
claim not to believe the Bible's teachings. We are fortunate to
live in a culture and society which has, in the past, been
largely influenced by the moral principles which are taught throughout
the scriptures. Many of our governmental institutions
and their framework was established by men who thought it good and
proper to follow the moral teachings of the scriptures. Most of our
laws reflect the precepts which are set forth in what are known
as the Ten Commandments. When a people are turned over
to a reprobate mind by the Lord, their restraints are loosened
and even removed, and the societies in which they live are made poorer
for it. This is a sure sign of God's
judgment upon a people. In many cases, cities which have
once sat upon a hill are brought down to rubble. How quickly a
nation can be turned from a source of light to that of darkness,
for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of
cruelty. One must hide his head in the sand like the proverbial
ostrich in order not to see this scenario being played out in
the society in which we live. False preachers and politicians,
it is hard to tell the difference most of the time, set forth the
notion that since our society is founded upon biblical principles
that it cannot fail and that the basic goodness of the people
of this nation will cause God to bless us indefinitely, especially
if we do good deeds and pray. The basis of God's blessings
upon any people is strictly according to His sovereign will and purpose
and not according to any supposed goodness which can be discovered
in the inhabitants of their nation. In fact, the blessing of God
upon any nation is what causes them to fear Him and not vice
versa. He will manifest the wickedness
of men by displaying their disregard of His precepts. The wicked shall
be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God. The
awakened sons of God in every generation are those who fear
Him, delight in His law, and meditate therein, not because
they are good people, but because it pleases Him to work in them
both to will and to do of His good pleasure. While none of
them can take any delight in the judgment of God upon their
own society, yet they do recognize His sovereign right to do with
His own exactly as He pleases. So as they see the signs of His
judgment, they are moved to cry out to Him for mercy and to desire
that He might grant repentance to those who rush headlong to
their own destruction. The evidence of God's grace at
work in His children is that they fear Him. The fear of God
which is granted to the sons of God is that which causes them
to revere his name and marvel at his wondrous glory in those
judgments which he is pleased to work in the earth. They will
testify that his way is their delight. Yet the men of this
world fear the work of God because they delight in their own way,
and that way which is of the Lord they see as contrary to
their own. This is demonstrated by the vitriol
of the Pharisees against the Lord as they sought to kill him
on more than one occasion. Yet they could not touch him
until the appointed hour. The psalmist said God is in the
generation of the righteous. The people of God are spoken
of as righteous not because of some intrinsic holiness found
in their character or by any morality produced by them, but
their righteousness is that which is bestowed upon them on the
basis of their relation to the Lord Jesus Christ as His seed
or generation. They are righteous because He
has imputed His righteousness to them as it hath pleased Him. If you would like a free transcript
of this broadcast, email us at 4the4 at windstream dot net.