July 4th - A Day to Remember

Deuteronomy 8:1-10

INTRO: This morning I’m going to take a break from our study of the book of Acts. Today is July 4th, Independence Day. For Americans it is a wonderful time to celebrate, gather together with friends and family, have picnics, watch parades, see fireworks and generally kick back and relax.

Our text for this morning is from the book of Deuteronomy 8:1-10. I invite you to turn there and read along with me. “1 Every commandment which I command you today you must be careful to observe, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers. 2 And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. 3 So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. 4 Your garments did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years. 5 You should know in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so the Lord your God chastens you.

6 “Therefore you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him. 7 For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, that flow out of valleys and hills; 8 a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; 9 a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing; a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper. 10 When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you.”[NKJV]

Moses spoke these words we find in the book of Deuteronomy to the nation of Israel on the banks of the Jordan river just before they crossed over into the promised land.
I particularly note the words of wisdom Moses spoke on that day in verse 2: “you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.”

In this life we need both a good memory, and likewise the ability to forget. All the blunders, murmurings and fault findings unjustly made need to be forgotten, but here we read of the fear of Moses that they might forget the God who had led them all the way, who had fed them with manna, bread from heaven, and who had caused their garments not wear out, nor their feet to swell.

The nation of Israel was a chosen nation and had a close relationship, a fellowship with God that no other nation before or since has had, except the Christian nation, the Kingdom which is the church that belongs to Christ. Yet, I would like to suggest that there may be somewhat of a parallel in various ways to this wonderful bit of history. This sermon will not be popular with today’s society. It seems to me that we are only happy when we are pointing out the problems, and there are many, in preference to celebrating the virtues.

Some have called America a child of providence.
I am inclined to agree with those thinkers who believe the founding of the United States of America was providential and that God had a hand in it. This is not to say that America is a chosen nation like Israel, but it is to say that possibly there was a guiding hand in the history of America, one of the greatest countries on earth--whose motto is, "one nation under God with liberty and justice for all."

I think it is unfortunate and unforgivable for a nation that has been blessed as we have, not to remember what God has done for us and how He has led us for more than 200 years.

The Fourth of July weekend was approaching, and Miss Pelham, the nursery schoolteacher, took the opportunity to tell her class about patriotism. 'We live in a great country,' she announced. 'One of the things we should be happy about is that, in this country, we are all free.' Little Johnny, came walking up to her from the back of the room. He stood with his hands on his hips and said loudly, 'I'm not free. I'm four.'

July 4th does not mean anything to most people in the world, but to citizens of the United States it marks the day we call "Independence Day." It commemorates our independence from the rule of Great Britain. Of course, a war followed that declaration, but our "freedom" stood the test.

I think the words that Moses spoke to Israel could, in a real sense, be wisely applied to America. We might state it like this, "You shall remember that the Lord your God led you these 200 some years into the 21st century."

I have traveled a little bit and have seen some other parts of the world, and without "knocking" any other country, I believe that we live in one of the most wonderful countries that exist. I thank God for the privilege of being a Christian and a citizen of the United States of America.
What I am trying to say is that on July 4th Americans should stop and consider their blessings. Be thankful for what we have, thankful for God's blessings on our nation, and thankful for His blessings on us.

I do think the year 1620 marks the real beginning of this splendid land we live in.

We should all gratefully remember that it was the coming of those few Pilgrim Fathers in the historic Mayflower who brought and introduced into this country the supreme idea of the one true God: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. They brought to this land the knowledge that the one true God is a triune God. Jesus and the apostles of Christ revealed this great truth to mankind.

Speaking of the Pilgrims -- Teacher: If there were still Pilgrims alive today, what would they be famous for?
Little Johnny: Their age!

A number of years ago, I had the privilege of looking, inside, and out, at an exact replica of the Mayflower. Great Britain gave this replica of the Mayflower to the United States as a token of appreciation for helping them in World War II. I think that was a nice gesture on the part of England. I was surprised that the boat was so small, just over 100 feet long.

It is said in history that this great undertaking on their part was based on the idea that God would walk together with them. They came here to worship God according to the Christian faith, as they understood it. I wonder what life would be on this continent today, if the people who first founded our country had not been believers in Christ and the Christian religion.

What if they had come from China or India or from the Middle East? Certainly the names of our cities would be different. I am sure the names of people would have been different. Where did these names come from–Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter, James, etc.? I am told in this country there are some six million women who answer to the name of Mary.

I do believe that God providentially had a hand in the Pilgrims bringing His name and the name of His son to these shores. God's people have the right to believe in providential experiences, but they cannot be proven.

It was the posterity of the Pilgrims who settled the thirteen original colonies who in the course of years drafted that immortal document, The Declaration of Independence. Yes, six years of bloody warfare followed to make good the decree.

Finally, with the loss of thousands of their kind and their little country almost literally baptized in the blood of their forefathers, they were recognized as a nation among the sister nations of the world. Our great country springing from a foundation like that now extends from ocean to ocean, and from the Lakes to the Gulf.

Today it has the reputation of being the greatest nation on the face of the earth. I think Americans ought to consider how that perhaps God has kept His eye upon us as a people in our civil and religious privileges. We have come to be exceedingly great.
We are feasting upon the very fat of the land, and our wealth seems unlimited.

In the language of scripture, this too is a land flowing with milk and honey, even more than Canaan was to Israel. God has greatly blessed us.
The eyes of the entire world have for some time looked to America, not only as the world money and trade center, but for that religious life which Christ envisioned would encircle the globe, make spiritual ignorance vanish, and bring untold blessings to the millions of earth.

Unquestionably, we lead all nations in spreading the pure gospel of Christ to a lost and dying world. We do big things in America. I know it sounds like I am boasting but the facts speak for themselves.

In 1936, it took five or six days to cross the ocean on the Queen Mary, probably the fastest sailing vessel in that bygone time. It took the Mayflower five or six months. Lindbergh needed but thirty hours. We can now cross the ocean in five or six hours.

In addition, we are rapidly becoming the Medical Center of the world. Rulers from other countries come here to have surgery. Doctors come from all over to train in this country. We should remember how God has providentially blessed our nation.

In saying these things, I do not mean to imply that all things are right with America, certainly they are not. Just as an individual must recognize their own faults and strive to improve in order to grow, so must we as a nation. Nor do I meant to imply that we are a chosen nation, as Israel was under the law of Moses. I have drawn a comparison between Israel and America because in some ways it seems justified.

It is my sincere hope that we do not make the mistake Israel made by failing to remember how God led them and blessed them. He does not lead us miraculously as He did Israel, but He leads by His written word.

All who are acquainted with the history of Israel know that they did not remember God's goodness toward them. Israel drifted away from God and worshiped idols, and God held them accountable by sending them into captivity to Assyria and Babylonia.

Is it not true that we are living in a country where the influence of God and Jesus is rapidly vanishing? The dominant value systems in America are anything but Christian. The moral values of America are changing right before our eyes. As a nation we have lost confidence in our fellow man and in the Bible. We are in an identity crisis.

We don't seem know who we are, where we came from or where we are going. Many think we came down out of the trees 20 million years ago, and we descended from a mother gorilla.

The old time elements of honesty, uprightness and downright truthfulness are below par on the market of the world. The blackest crimes and the most atrocious acts that ever stained the pages of history lies at our very door.

People are beginning to live like people did in ancient times before Jesus came. The Greek Demosthenes, who lived 300 years before Christ and was one of the greatest orators of all time, said, "We keep mistresses for pleasure and concubines for the day to day needs of the body, but we have wives in order to produce children legitimately."

Seneca, the Roman philosopher who lived in the first century said, "Chastity in Rome is simply proof of ugliness. Innocence is not rare, it's nonexistent." The moral values regarding chastity and marriage are changing in America. Chastity is not considered an important virtue, as it once was. I have heard statistics given that men and women are waiting longer to get married. The average age for women to marry was 27 in 2008, and the average for men was 35.

The U.S. Census Bureau reported that the number of unmarried partners living together has tripled in the past few decades, 6 million in 1996 to 19 million in 2018. People are afraid to commit because of the problems associated with the desolation of a marriage. Yet experts from Masters and Johnson to modern specialists have shown that a committed relationship provides the most fulfillment for both men and women. Within the last twenty or thirty years, pre-marital sex, extra-marital sex, abortion and homosexuality have become acceptable human behavior by the general population.

When you compare the moral values of America today with those of America a hundred years ago, I think it is a sound conclusion that America is drifting away from God. It is an undeniable fact that the dominant value systems of America are anything but Christian. The collapse of the nuclear family leaves children struggling with life and trying to fill the void they feel.

When we remember the birthday of our nation every July 4th, it is also a time to remember our roots; who founded this country, why they founded it, and why they came. This country was founded by people who passionately believed in Christ and the Christian religion. They came to practice and to promote that religion, not the false religions of other nations.

Although it is refreshing to hear Americans from the highest to the lowest stand up for our pledge of allegiance that contain the words, "one nation under God..." even that is under attack.

Yes, Independence Day is indeed a time to remember. We are standing upon the past. We are its products. The land on which we stand today is a made land, made by people who lived hundreds of years before we were born. The soil into which we are to sow our seed is a prepared land.

For this land we enjoy, there is an obligation and duty we owe to God, the Father of our spirits, and that duty must be paid. But... that is not all. God has given us something greater than America.

The church of the Lord Jesus Christ was established twenty centuries ago in Jerusalem, but Christians drifted away from God; the true church fell away from the truth until by 500 A.D. it has almost disappeared from the earth. This false system of Christianity lasted over a thousand years. The church for which Jesus died lay buried beneath the rubbish of superstition and idolatry during the long spell of the Dark Ages, until about 1500 A.D.
From our studies I hope that you have learned of the great historical events that have corrupted the church Jesus purchased with His blood.

The years 1500 to 1800 saw God's hand of providence that opened the Reformation in Europe. A number of protesting churches were formed and broke free from the Papal Church of Rome. They sincerely believed it was a movement back toward the Bible, God’s word, but it did not go far enough. Many of the Protestant churches did not see fit to throw away their distinctive traditions. They decided to stay divided as separate churches with their own different doctrines and names.

However, forces were at work to continue the Reformation. God's providential hand was seen in a further progress. About 1800, a remarkable development occurred in America among the Protestant churches.

It has been estimated that some thirty to fifty Protestant preachers and thousands of members of those churches all over America became dissatisfied and left those churches. They left because they were not teaching the truth on many subjects such as baptism, the Lord's Supper, worship, and other important subjects. This movement became known as the Restoration Movement.

It was a Restoration of the original church as it was in the first century, as it was when the Apostles lived. This is the way congregations of the churches of Christ came into existence. They did not start a new church, they just rebuilt the old church the apostles built and restored the original names given to the New Testament church.
The early church referred to the Lord's church as the churches of Christ and the churches of God.

Romans 16:16 says: – “Greet one another with a holy kiss. The churches of Christ greet you.”
And I Corinthians 1:2-3 – “To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

I would suggest to you that I see a similarity between the Pilgrims who first came to our shores and these people in the 1800's who could no longer worship with people they loved dearly, some of them their relatives and friends, who could not worship God in ways the New Testament did not approve.

The result of this great movement, back to the teachings of the apostles, was like the coming of another Mayflower, bringing to America a new vision and a new respect for God's word. That is the way congregations of churches of Christ came into existence in early America. In doing this, their life was almost as difficult as was the life of the original Pilgrims in that first year and in the ensuing years.

CONCLUSION:
I close with the thought that today members of churches of Christ stand upon the ground prepared by others. We should remember those preachers and people who had the vision to bring the original church back to the world in its worship, apostolic teachings and practice.

I recognize that today I am standing religiously upon the foundation prepared by others.
I would be untrue to myself and ungrateful unless I was willing to look back and remember and give honor to whom honor is due. I am glad to share in the continuation of the work, those good people, under God, began in early America. Consider what I say, and the Lord give you understanding.

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We learn from the New Testament how to be saved. We need to hear the word; believe in Jesus; repent of our sins; we must confess our belief that Jesus is the Son of God; and be baptized for the remission of our sins... If we follow these steps, the Lord adds us to His church.

Perhaps there is someone in the assembly today with the need to be buried with Christ in baptism. If you have never done these things, we urge you to do so today. If anyone has this need or desires the prayers of faithful Christians on their behalf, we encourage them to come forward while we stand and sing.

# 594 – Jesus Will Give You Rest

Reference Sermon: Whitehall Church of Christ