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My Country, 'Tis of Thee (Psalm 122)
57 Plays4 years ago
My Country, 'Tis of Thee (Psalm 122)
--
Independence Day Message recorded 04 July 2021
by Pastor Victor Morrison
First Baptist Church
1700 Milam
Columbus, TX, USA 78934
http://fbccolumbustx.org/
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Transcript
Introduction to Psalm 122
00:00:00
Speaker
You know this Psalm 122, before I read it, I just want you to understand a few things about it. If you'll notice at the top, it says in the inscription, a song of a sense, a song of a sense. Some translations may say a song of degrees.
00:00:17
Speaker
But what it meant was all of these Jews, three times a year, they would go on a journey and they would go to Jerusalem and they would worship God together three times a year.
Songs of Ascents and Joy of Arrival
00:00:29
Speaker
And so when they were traveling, they sang certain Psalms.
00:00:33
Speaker
from Psalm 120 all the way through to Psalm 134, those were called some of these journey Psalms, some of these pilgrim Psalms. And so what I want us to do is to look at this one because Spurgeon said, you know, Psalm 122 gives you the idea that they're no longer on the journey, but they've just stepped in the gate.
00:00:57
Speaker
They just stepped into the gates of Jerusalem, into their capital city, and now they're going to say, Lord, here's what I'm praying for my capital. Here's what I'm praying for my country, for my people. So would you stand in honor of God's word? I feel like there's some things that we read here that we can be praying for our nation.
Prayers for Unity and Security
00:01:21
Speaker
It says in Psalm 122, I was glad when they said to me, let us go to the house of the Lord. Our feet have been standing within your gates, O Jerusalem. Jerusalem built as a city that is bound firmly together, to which the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, as was decreed for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the Lord
00:01:51
Speaker
Their thrones for judgment were set. The thrones of the house of David, pray for the peace of Jerusalem. May they be secure who love you. Peace be within your walls and security within your towers. For my brothers and companion's sake, I will say, peace be within you. For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,
00:02:17
Speaker
I will seek your good." Let's pray one more time. Oh Lord, your disciples ask you one time, teach us to pray. So I'm going to come and say something similar. Teach us how to pray for our country. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank you. You may be seated. I want to give you six different prayer requests that I think we can pray for our nation.
00:02:43
Speaker
First, I would like for you to join with me in praying for the priority of praise, the priority of praise within our country. You know in verse one, in verse two, verse four, verse nine, there are these references to worship and to praise. It probably was not the temple yet because if David wrote this, they didn't have a temple yet. It was the tabernacle.
00:03:08
Speaker
But I got to thinking, what is God's purpose for nations? Have you ever done a biblical study? Have you ever looked into God's word and said, God, what did you say the purpose for not just America, purpose for every nation?
Seeking God in Nations
00:03:23
Speaker
What is the purpose? Well, one place you could go to would be Acts 17, verses 26 and 27, where it says, God made from one man
00:03:35
Speaker
every nation of mankind, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place. Why? That they should seek God. I think that's at the heart of why we have nations, that we could seek God together.
00:03:53
Speaker
You know, David said in another Psalm in Psalm 22, not Psalm 122, but in Psalm 22 verse 27, he said, all the families of the nations shall worship before you.
00:04:06
Speaker
Do you know that's where we're headed? That's where history's headed. That's where mankind is headed, that all the families of every nation would worship before the Lord. David wrote again in Psalm 86 and verse 9, all the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name.
00:04:29
Speaker
Do you see why I say that we should pray that worship remains a top priority? You know, it's interesting how our first president, George Washington, he made this comment one time at the proclamation of the National Thanksgiving on October the 3rd, 1789.
Historical Duty of Worship
00:04:50
Speaker
Here's what he said, it is the duty
00:04:53
Speaker
of all nations, not just this nation, it's the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor.
00:05:11
Speaker
You see, it sounds a whole lot like what David's praying right here in Psalm 122, when he's saying, you know what? I sense a plus whenever I focus on God. Do you sense a plus whenever you worship God? David said, I was glad when they said to me, let us go to the house of the Lord.
00:05:35
Speaker
Were you glad when it was time to come and worship today? David was. He was glad because in verse 4 he says, when I go to worship, I can give thanks. I can give thanks to the name of the Lord. You know, a Gallup poll said back in 1999 that 70% of Americans belong to either a church, to a synagogue, or to a mosque.
00:05:58
Speaker
So I got to think, well, we're definitely not into the synagogues and mosques, but we are a church. So just think about how many people across the United States in 1999 said, we belong to a place of worship, 70%.
00:06:14
Speaker
But you know something's happening. In 2020, Gallup poll discovered now it's not 70%, it's 47%. They said for the first time since they've been keeping these statistics, we've dropped below the halfway mark of 50%.
Religious Decline and Societal Impact
00:06:30
Speaker
47% of Americans now say, I belong to a church, a synagogue, or a mosque. The others say, I don't feel like I have to. I don't feel like it's important. You know, as the people across any nation,
00:06:43
Speaker
any nation, build their society upon the basic purpose and priority of saying, you know why? God made us so we could glorify Him. That's why we're here. Whenever they do that, it leads to good, wholesome, blessed things, not evil in a civilization.
00:07:02
Speaker
President Teddy Roosevelt acknowledged that all of the good and wholesome things in American culture really spring from one fountainhead. Let's listen to what he said. What was that one place that all the good things we enjoy came from? Well, he said, no candid observer will deny that whatever good there may be in our American civilization
00:07:25
Speaker
is the product of Christianity. Still less can he deny that the grand motives which are working for the elevation and purification of our society are strictly Christian. A belief in Jesus Christ is the very fountainhead of everything that is desirable and praiseworthy in our civilization. And this civilization is the flower of time.
00:07:51
Speaker
I think we ought to pray. God, please help us stay focused on you. Help us remember we were made so we glorify you. Well, let's move to a second request that I feel is pertinent, especially in this day, and that is to pray for the protection of peace within our country.
00:08:08
Speaker
In the midst of his psalm of praise and thanksgiving and prayer, did you hear David mention some things? He mentioned security. He mentioned gates. He mentioned walls.
Call for Peace and Security in America
00:08:20
Speaker
He mentioned towers. You see, this was the place where they worshipped and they wanted to be safe while they focused upon God.
00:08:28
Speaker
You know, humanism teaches that mankind at our core is basically good. That's humanism. But that's not the Bible. The Bible says that all of mankind was created good, but we chose evil. We chose to disobey God.
00:08:47
Speaker
How many Americans live in complete trust of the goodness of all others in terms of your house? How many of us have no walls on our houses? How many of us have no doors and no windows, no locks and no alarms?
00:09:02
Speaker
You see, we enjoy peace this 4th of July in our homes, here in our church, in our community, in our businesses, on our streets, because many have protected that peace and many have prayed for that peace.
00:09:18
Speaker
You know, I urge you to pray for God to continue to protect the peace that we enjoy in America. Back in the early days of the federal convention of 1787, James Madison was taking notes and he wrote down a comment made at the convention by Benjamin Franklin on June 28th, 1787. Let's listen to what Franklin said to the founding fathers of this country about prayer for God's protection.
00:09:46
Speaker
Here's what he said, in the beginning of the contest with Great Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayer in this room for the divine protection. Our prayers, sir, were heard and they were graciously answered.
00:10:03
Speaker
All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of a superintending providence in our favor. And have we now forgotten that powerful friend? Or do we imagine we no longer need his assistance? I have lived, sir, a long time. And the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth that God governs in the affairs of men.
00:10:33
Speaker
Passages from scripture have pointed our nation in the right direction over and over again, from generation to generation. The Bible clearly tells us who and what will protect the peace in our land from generation to generation. For example, remember Proverbs 1434? Proverbs 1434 says, righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.
00:11:03
Speaker
Psalm 33 says, blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. Blessed is the nation. President Roosevelt acknowledged the influence of the Bible, passages like those. Here's what he said, in the formerly days of the Republic,
00:11:20
Speaker
The directing influence the Bible exercised upon the fathers of the nation is conspicuously evident. We cannot read the history of our rise in development as a nation without reckoning with the place the Bible has occupied in shaping the advances of the Republic.
Constructive National Unity
00:11:41
Speaker
President Abraham Lincoln also said, but for the Bible, we could not know right from wrong. Whenever we toss out the Bible, we won't know as a society right from wrong. Of course, societies must adapt to changes that happen across the generations and across the decades. Consider some of the inventions that have happened just since the Civil War. We've gone through a lot of changes, right?
00:12:10
Speaker
Think about the telephone, electricity, automobile, indoor plumbing, AC, airplanes, radio, TV, power drills, penicillin, computers, contact lens, cell phones, on and on it could go. We're not against change.
00:12:27
Speaker
The third prayer request though is let's pray for prudence, prudence in any progress within our country. I think this one verse three offers two good words whenever we consider what will this change mean for us, for all of us. You know, David wrote, Jerusalem was built as a city that is bound firmly together.
00:12:54
Speaker
I thought about these two words, built or build, and the word bound. I think we should evaluate any modifications in terms of is this constructive or is this destructive?
00:13:08
Speaker
That's one thing to think, are we gonna build or are we just gonna tear down? The other thing I thought about was this whole idea of binding firmly together. Are these modifications cohesive in addition to constructive? Will they bring us closer together as a nation? You see, I'm told that governments really either produce anarchy, they produce tyranny, or they produce liberty. There are very few options.
00:13:37
Speaker
So I think we ought to just pray. Pray that God will give us wisdom and discernment. He'll give us prudence. Like I said, it's okay to change some things, but some things should never change. May our nation discern what morals, what values, what principles, what actions honor the Lord. Samuel Adams quoted from 1 Samuel 2.30 in an article published in the Boston Gazette on June 12, 1780.
00:14:07
Speaker
May every citizen in the army and in the country have a proper sense of the deity upon his mind. And an impression of that declaration recorded in the Bible, him that honoreth me, I will honor. But he that despithers me shall be lightly esteemed. Oh, that we would remember that. America's founding fathers were not perfect. I'm not here to say they were perfect.
00:14:35
Speaker
No, but they acknowledged God as the source of absolute truth and power and authority. They really felt God enabled them to build and to bind. They believed Romans 13, 1 through 7, that called them to be a just government with a sword to protect, but a sword to protect what? The people, the inalienable rights of the people.
00:15:02
Speaker
America has, from the beginning, been unique from a country such as, let's say, Canada. I lived in Canada for six years, and Canada, it was so clear they wanted to be multicultural, multicultural, multicultural. And so everybody retained all of the cultural distinctives that they had in place before they ever came. But the United States has been described differently, a melting pot.
00:15:27
Speaker
A place where we come together from different places and we respect one another, yes, all of our cultural differences. But somehow we find a way to meld together so that the metals being melted down become a stronger alloy than they were before. You see, immigrants from all over the world have come here to unite together ever since 1780.
00:15:53
Speaker
How did this amazing blending of cultures happen? What was the secret to the building and the binding? Well, two men answered that question, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison. They witnessed how it happened and they wrote it down. Here's what they wrote. For my own part, Hamilton said, I sincerely esteem it a system which, without the finger of God,
00:16:18
Speaker
never could have been suggested and agreed upon by such a diversity of interests. We've always been diverse, always, but yet they came together because God allowed us to come together. James Madison said something similar when he said, you know what, it's impossible for the man of pious reflection not to perceive it,
00:16:42
Speaker
a finger that Almighty hand which has been so frequently and signally extended to our relief in the critical stages of the revolution.
00:16:54
Speaker
They saw it and they said, only God could have brought us together. George Washington said something similar on February 7th, 1788 to the Marquis de Lafayette. He said, as to my sentiments with respect to the merits of the new constitution, I will disclose them without reserve. It appears to me, he said, then little short of a miracle that the delegates from so many different states
00:17:24
Speaker
should unite in forming a system of national government.
00:17:30
Speaker
You see, I believe only God can give us freshness without foolishness if we will say we will continue in our faithfulness. God will give us the freshness that we're all looking for. So let's earnestly pray for prudence for any of the changes that come along.
Biblical Roots of US Government
00:17:51
Speaker
Next, David briefly mentions the system of government established there in the capital city of Jerusalem. He says in this verse,
00:18:00
Speaker
There, thrones for judgment were set, the thrones of the House of David. You know, most students, they've learned this already, right? The systems of government, the branches of US government, the executive, the legislative, the judicial. Where did that idea come from?
00:18:20
Speaker
Do you know that it came from scripture? Isaiah 3322 is what James Madison read, and he brought it up at the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Isaiah 3322 says, for the Lord is our judge.
00:18:36
Speaker
The Lord is our lawgiver, and the Lord is our king. He will save us. Isn't that amazing? So instead of consolidation of power in one man, in one institution, they decided, let's spread out the powers. Let's separate the powers. So that's why they thought of, okay, let's have an executive branch, a legislative branch, and a judicial branch.
00:19:02
Speaker
The Founders knew from Scripture the plans of the flaws of human nature. They didn't even trust themselves. That's why they said, we better have checks and balances. They believed that trusting the Almighty would bring blessing, but trusting the brokenness of humanity would only lead to more and more disappointment.
00:19:24
Speaker
That's why Jeremiah said in Jeremiah 17.7 that there's blessings to those who trust God. But in Jeremiah 17.9, he warned the heart though, the heart of man is deceitful above all things and desperately sick.
00:19:42
Speaker
and who can understand it. So comments by the signers of the Declaration of Independence and those who adopted the Constitution, they sensed that the Lord had given them a glimpse of this insight into that and that God had assisted them.
Providence in America's Founding
00:19:58
Speaker
Benjamin Rush said, I do not believe that the Constitution was the offspring of inspiration. It's not equal to the Bible. No way. But he said, I'm perfectly
00:20:09
Speaker
satisfied that the union of the states in its form and adoption is as much the work of divine providence as any of the miracles recorded in the Old and New Testament were the effects of divine power." So he's saying, I believe we couldn't have done anything if it hadn't been God helping us along the way.
00:20:29
Speaker
Listen to a quote from President Harry S. Truman when he was addressing a conference called by the Attorney General on February 15, 1950. You know what they were discussing at that conference? Law enforcement problems. He was pointing the troubled nation back to the one source of wisdom for policies and procedures, the Scriptures.
00:20:52
Speaker
Here's what President Harry S. Truman said, the fundamental basis of this nation's law was given to Moses on the Mount. That's where they go back to to say, we're just trying to follow what God revealed to Moses. The fundamental basis of our bill of rights comes from the teachings, which we get from Exodus and St. Matthew, from Isaiah and St. Paul. I don't think we emphasize that enough these days is what Truman was trying to say.
00:21:22
Speaker
Even President Andrew Jackson said, the Bible's the rock on which our Republic rests.
00:21:30
Speaker
John Jay was the first Chief Justice of the United States. He served between 1789 and 1795. And he acknowledged the best way for America to continue securing our civil and religious liberties was simply to express our gratitude, to never forget where our blessings came from. I recommend a general and a public return of praise and thanksgiving to him from whose goodness these blessings descend.
00:22:00
Speaker
The most effectual means of securing the continuance of our civil and religious liberties is always to remember with reverence and gratitude the source from which they flow. You know, God warned another nation, the nation Israel in Deuteronomy 8,
00:22:19
Speaker
He said, if you by any means forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and serve them and worship them, I testify against you that you shall surely perish. That's what God said to that nation of Israel. I hesitated to bring this up, but the fifth prayer request would simply be to pray for the prosperity, the provision of prosperity for our nation.
Economic Prosperity and Provision
00:22:45
Speaker
I think it's legitimate
00:22:47
Speaker
I'm not a prosperity gospel preacher one bit. I'm against that kind of thing. But I have to admit that scripture addresses handling money and possessions really frequently. As a matter of fact, someone counted 2,350 different verses refer to how we handle our money. I wonder sometimes if we don't want to talk about money and God because we don't want God to tell us what to do with it.
00:23:18
Speaker
You know, the ESV and the CSB, they translated security in verses six and seven, but the New King James, the New American Standard and the Holman Christian Standard Bible, they don't say security in those two verses. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. May they prosper, it says, who love you. Peace be within your walls, prosperity within your palaces. You see, David was praying for the prosperity of his country.
00:23:49
Speaker
The principles embedded within the Judeo-Christian worldview, they actually work. John Adams acknowledged this as the reason for America's success. You see, Scripture's real clear. You don't steal from people. You work hard with your hands, and that's how you make the money that your family needs.
00:24:12
Speaker
You avoid incurring debt. Jesus said, you don't worry about physical things. You trust the Lord to provide them. The Bible encourages us to reduce spending. Wealth is a way that we can honor God rather than saying, no, God, He doesn't belong in how I spend my money.
00:24:30
Speaker
If you think about all the missionaries, think about Jacob Tice and think about Jesse and Daniel Cook. There's 3,604 overseas. There's 3,057 stateside. But that's just Southern Baptist. Think beyond that.
00:24:45
Speaker
Think about how many missionaries would be impacted if this economy were to crater. I think we need to pray. God, please be merciful. Please watch over us that families and businesses would not tank and go under. Let me close with one last one. Pray for the providence over the people of our country.
00:25:06
Speaker
Listen to what David says that he was praying for peace within the capital city of Jerusalem. Why was he doing that? He says, for my brothers and companion's sake, I will say, peace be within you. He's still praying for Jerusalem. That's what he means within you. It's within Jerusalem, within the capital.
00:25:27
Speaker
Prayer for God's sovereign control and plan for his capital and his country was important because he remembered what our nation's made up of, families, friends, coworkers, fellow students.
Virtues Over Government Quality
00:25:42
Speaker
You see, Jesus wept over the Capitol in Matthew 23, and Paul wept over his countrymen in Romans 9. Sometimes it almost seems to me like celebrities or politicians or professional athletes, they're forgetting it's about people.
00:25:59
Speaker
It's not just a thing, it's people that make up this country. The Founding Fathers of the nation understood that the future of the nation would be more determined by the virtue of the people than the quality of the government.
00:26:14
Speaker
Listen to what Samuel Adams wrote to James Warren in a letter dated February 12, 1779, while the people are virtuous, they cannot be subdued. But when once they lose their virtue, they will be ready to surrender to their liberties to the first external or internal invader.
00:26:35
Speaker
It's us. It's about us. Reagan understood this. He made this statement in 1983. It's a pretty lengthy quote, but basically what he's saying is, you know what? Our faith, our values, our convictions, our morals, they came from the Bible. They came from the Lord. The preamble to the United States Constitution says these words, we the people.
00:27:03
Speaker
We the people of the United States. You know, the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence were not perfect. I said it at the beginning. I'll say it at the end. They weren't perfect. But they were men of strong conviction. And they felt so strongly that they wanted a nation that would be free.
Commitment to Liberty and Spiritual Freedom
00:27:24
Speaker
They were willing to sacrifice for our liberty.
00:27:29
Speaker
So the last sentence of the Declaration of Independence speaks of their resolve. It says, and for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.
00:27:50
Speaker
You know, history tells us five of those men that signed that document that day, did they mean it? Five of them were captured by British troops and tortured. 12 had their homes looted, ransacked, and burned. Two lost sons in the Revolutionary War, two more had sons captured in that war, and nine, nine of those who signed it, fought and died from wounds they suffered in the Revolutionary War. I think they meant it.
00:28:20
Speaker
But I'll tell you who else meant it, Jesus. Jesus meant it. Whenever we celebrate and we observe the Lord's Supper, we remember that not our national freedom, totally something different, but our eternal salvation, our freedom from sin,
00:28:40
Speaker
Jesus died in our place so that we would be free from sin's penalty and power. Jesus said, you know, if the Son sets you free, you'll be free indeed. Listen, I want you to experience the spiritual freedom that we have only in Christ. Let's pray together. Lord, thank you so much for the national freedom that we have. We want to say that on this day.
00:29:08
Speaker
Independence Day, thank you for those who have protected it and those that you have used to provide for it. We're very grateful. But now, Lord, as we close out the service, we want to put the focus back on Jesus and back on spiritual freedom and realize that you also sacrificed as a substitute for our sins.
00:29:29
Speaker
so that we would not have to pay the price for our sins, that we would not face some eternal punishment for our sins, that we could be free. And so, Lord, help us to experience spiritual freedom, most of all. But guide us as we close out this service by focusing on you. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.