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God cares about U.S. The Providence of God and His Guide for Human Government

God cares about U.S. The Providence of God and His Guide for Human Government. 1 Kings 10:23-27

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God cares about U.S. The Providence of God and His Guide for Human Government

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  1. God cares about U.S. The Providence of God and His Guide for Human Government

  2. 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)

  3. 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!

  4. 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!...

  5. 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!

  6. 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.

  7. 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.

  8. 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.

  9. 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!

  10. 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' father-in-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.

  11. 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.

  12. 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."

  13. A God-centered republic accomplishes three things: • 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

  14. 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.”

  15. 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 takeyour 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 takeyour 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.

  16. 1 Samuel 8:4-22 (NIV) Your menservants and maidservants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will takefor 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."

  17. 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..theybecame its slaves

  18. 2 Corinthians 3:17 “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

  19. 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.

  20. 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.”

  21. “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

  22. 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.

  23. 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!”

  24. 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)

  25. 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?

  26. 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."

  27. The World’s View: The State The State ManThe Church The Modern “Christian” View: The State God The State The Church The Biblical View: God Man Man Man The Home The Church The State

  28. Does it really matter whether America stays faithful to God and we remember his past miraculous acts of Grace and mercy to us?

  29. Proverbs 29:2 When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice; when the wicked rule, the people groan.

  30. 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.

  31. Psalms 11:3-7When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?”

  32. What might be the outcome if Christians got involved in their government and the political process?

  33. 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”

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