1 00:00:04,690 --> 00:00:14,130 Greetings. This is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with a moment of truth, where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and faith. 2 00:00:14,130 --> 00:00:25,530 And today, in keeping with this past 4th of July, it was such a delightful celebration for us and our church as we ministered to crowds along the parade route. 3 00:00:25,730 --> 00:00:29,609 Our church is right on the parade route on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. 4 00:00:29,609 --> 00:00:39,570 And so we, every year, just have great opportunity to minister liberty and some ice-cold water on the 4th of July from our place. 5 00:00:40,450 --> 00:00:49,770 And in keeping with the 4th of July gone past, I would like to challenge you to think through the issue of the Christian origins of the American Constitution. 6 00:00:50,250 --> 00:00:59,170 Now, this topic has more to do with your Christian faith than you may realize, and also has more to do with you and your family's future than you may realize. 7 00:00:59,609 --> 00:01:10,909 By the Christian history of our Constitution, I mean the Christian history in its broadest sense, that is, the impact of Christianity on the West, our culture, society, and our politics, 8 00:01:10,909 --> 00:01:19,390 and the Constitution in its broadest sense, that is, our entire way of American life, conditioned by our founding document. 9 00:01:19,989 --> 00:01:30,829 As I have pointed out to you in the past, our schools, our media, our culture are engaged in the process of inculcating and historical amnesia, 10 00:01:30,829 --> 00:01:38,730 and historical blackout on the American people, that we might forget the Christian origins of the American Constitution. 11 00:01:38,730 --> 00:01:45,870 The political structure of our nation, including our cowardly delegation to Washington, as it is presently constituted, 12 00:01:46,209 --> 00:01:51,890 knows that if most Americans ever knew the principles upon which this nation was founded, 13 00:01:51,890 --> 00:02:01,269 and the biblical philosophy which informed the Constitution, and if this nation knew its founding document as past generations to do it, 14 00:02:01,670 --> 00:02:07,390 then we would reject the agenda of the progressive left with a resounding no. 15 00:02:07,390 --> 00:02:15,210 So, for further documentation, information on this topic, please refer to our other articles on our website, 16 00:02:15,330 --> 00:02:22,770 other recordings series on our website that remembers our Christian past and heritage. 17 00:02:23,289 --> 00:02:27,389 Today, we want to lay the groundwork for the Christian origins of the American Constitution 18 00:02:27,389 --> 00:02:31,069 by examining the origins of government from a Christian perspective. 19 00:02:31,069 --> 00:02:38,750 Is government a mere invention of man, happenstance, randomly put together without any reference to God? 20 00:02:39,110 --> 00:02:43,409 Or has God established a framework within which He rules the world? 21 00:02:44,030 --> 00:02:48,409 Hmm, can you guess which option we're going to pursue today? 22 00:02:48,689 --> 00:02:52,949 In fact, I would like to address the origins of government by asserting three points today. 23 00:02:53,189 --> 00:02:59,270 There's many more, but I want to assert three important ones and establish them from the Bible and history. 24 00:02:59,270 --> 00:03:03,530 Number one, God is the ultimate sovereign ruler of all creation. 25 00:03:04,110 --> 00:03:04,810 We believe this. 26 00:03:04,930 --> 00:03:10,150 Any Christian worth his salt believes this and asserts this as the first point in government. 27 00:03:10,669 --> 00:03:13,830 God is the ultimate sovereign ruler of all creation. 28 00:03:14,629 --> 00:03:17,210 May be self-evident to any Christian who reads the Bible. 29 00:03:18,009 --> 00:03:19,889 Any need of proof, right? 30 00:03:19,969 --> 00:03:24,729 This principle is swiftly being forgotten and expunged from our collective memories 31 00:03:24,729 --> 00:03:27,289 by the socialist left in our nation. 32 00:03:27,509 --> 00:03:34,830 As early as the 19th century, Horace Mann, one of the driving forces in the establishment of public schools in America, 33 00:03:35,469 --> 00:03:38,830 along with Thomas Dewey, one of his leading philosophers, said, 34 00:03:39,270 --> 00:03:44,509 what the church has been for medieval man, the public school must become for democratic and rational man. 35 00:03:44,990 --> 00:03:47,710 God will be replaced by the concept of the public good. 36 00:03:47,710 --> 00:03:54,610 Did you know that that was Horace Mann's philosophy and his intention for the church and God in American schools? 37 00:03:54,710 --> 00:03:58,990 This philosophy is directly counter to what our founding fathers believed. 38 00:03:59,409 --> 00:04:06,750 For example, one of our nation's earliest documents acknowledges God's sovereign rule in its very opening paragraph. 39 00:04:06,969 --> 00:04:11,629 And this is the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut from A.D. 1639, 40 00:04:11,629 --> 00:04:18,610 one of the resources the founding fathers used to create the Constitution and the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut say this, 41 00:04:19,029 --> 00:04:24,050 for as much as it has pleased the almighty God by the wise disposition of his divine providence, 42 00:04:24,209 --> 00:04:31,290 so to order and dispose of things that we should have an orderly and decent government established according to God, 43 00:04:31,910 --> 00:04:35,870 unquote, from the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, 1639. 44 00:04:35,870 --> 00:04:41,949 Now, our founding fathers were only recognizing what the Bible clearly asserts over and over again. 45 00:04:42,269 --> 00:04:46,230 As we see in Daniel chapter 4, King Nebuchadnezzar confesses, 46 00:04:46,769 --> 00:04:50,529 his dominion, that is God's dominion, is an everlasting dominion, 47 00:04:50,790 --> 00:04:53,629 and his kingdom endures from generation to generation. 48 00:04:54,149 --> 00:04:56,529 All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, 49 00:04:56,870 --> 00:05:01,930 and he does according to his will among the hosts of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, 50 00:05:02,250 --> 00:05:04,589 and none can stay his hand or say to him, 51 00:05:04,589 --> 00:05:06,189 what have you done, unquote. 52 00:05:06,829 --> 00:05:09,069 What an expression of sovereignty. 53 00:05:09,589 --> 00:05:11,689 And this includes, of course, our own Supreme Court, 54 00:05:11,810 --> 00:05:16,149 which recently denied Judge Roy Moore, the Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, 55 00:05:16,230 --> 00:05:21,029 the right to display the Ten Commandments in the foyer of the Alabama Supreme Court chambers, right? 56 00:05:21,089 --> 00:05:22,610 You remember that from a while ago now. 57 00:05:23,050 --> 00:05:25,410 And the Supreme Court in this decision, many, many others, 58 00:05:25,490 --> 00:05:29,410 has clearly demonstrated that it denies the sovereignty of the God of the Bible 59 00:05:29,410 --> 00:05:35,089 with great scorn and arrogance, but, of course, it is to of no avail. 60 00:05:35,870 --> 00:05:42,110 His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation, right? 61 00:05:42,870 --> 00:05:48,149 Let me assert, secondly, not only is God the only sovereign of all government, 62 00:05:48,550 --> 00:05:53,089 and he rules the world, and his dominion is an everlasting dominion, 63 00:05:53,089 --> 00:05:58,910 and not only that, but secondly, God has sovereignly chosen to govern us in a covenant economy. 64 00:05:59,870 --> 00:06:06,870 Secondly, you must know God's economy if you are going to deal in justice and mercy. 65 00:06:06,870 --> 00:06:10,870 If you're going to deal, then, in dominion and revolution, 66 00:06:11,769 --> 00:06:15,670 God has sovereignly chosen to govern us in a covenant economy. 67 00:06:15,670 --> 00:06:18,310 How do you relate to God, dear listener? 68 00:06:19,050 --> 00:06:23,529 Those of you who do so on a regular basis when it comes to seeking salvation and blessing 69 00:06:23,529 --> 00:06:26,449 and the favor of the Almighty, how do you deal with God? 70 00:06:26,769 --> 00:06:31,790 Do you come to him any old way you please, or do you come to him on the terms he has established? 71 00:06:32,389 --> 00:06:37,649 If you come to him casually and ignorantly in the first way, that is, you will die. 72 00:06:37,730 --> 00:06:42,089 Only if you come to him on the basis of his God-given way will you live through Christ. 73 00:06:43,149 --> 00:06:45,009 What way has then God established? 74 00:06:45,009 --> 00:06:50,870 First, God traffics in salvation and damnation, grace and wrath, justice and mercy, 75 00:06:50,870 --> 00:06:56,610 in a particular economy, that is, a covenant economy, not in dispensations. 76 00:06:57,250 --> 00:06:57,889 No, no, no. 77 00:06:58,389 --> 00:07:00,509 Only in a covenant economy. 78 00:07:01,250 --> 00:07:07,209 This day have I established my covenant with you, God told the Israelites under the Old Covenant or Testament. 79 00:07:07,689 --> 00:07:12,529 And our Lord himself declared, this cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. 80 00:07:12,529 --> 00:07:15,230 When he established his new covenant with his people. 81 00:07:15,750 --> 00:07:20,769 When God looks down from heaven on the sons of men and in his mercy interacts with them, 82 00:07:20,889 --> 00:07:23,089 he doesn't have to do that, but he does, doesn't he? 83 00:07:23,350 --> 00:07:26,350 Well, then God does so in the way of his choosing. 84 00:07:26,949 --> 00:07:34,790 You would not attempt to buy your groceries at the local superstore, for example, with yen or euros or pesos, would you? 85 00:07:34,790 --> 00:07:41,509 No, we live in a nation where the currency is dollars, and the economy is a free market capitalist economy. 86 00:07:41,730 --> 00:07:49,569 To live in America in any other way is silly, and one would quickly find himself hungry, alone, and alienated from our life and ways, right? 87 00:07:49,569 --> 00:07:51,730 So it is with God's economy. 88 00:07:52,329 --> 00:08:00,430 God traffics in salvation and damnation, grace and wrath, justice and mercy in a particular economy, a covenant economy. 89 00:08:00,629 --> 00:08:04,709 To live in the kingdom of God in any other way is sinful and disobedient. 90 00:08:05,089 --> 00:08:12,629 And this is precisely why so many in false religions find themselves hungry, alone, and alienated from God's way and life. 91 00:08:12,629 --> 00:08:21,490 God does not relate to us on the basis of the Quran, or the cosmic cycles of Buddhism, or the dispensationalism of modern evangelicalism. 92 00:08:21,910 --> 00:08:29,230 No, rather, God relates to us on the basis of an economy of his own choosing, a covenant economy. 93 00:08:29,649 --> 00:08:32,110 And our founding fathers recognized this, too. 94 00:08:32,289 --> 00:08:38,470 All of them who were Christians saw God working and governing the world in a covenant economy. 95 00:08:38,470 --> 00:08:47,710 So much so that they dealt with one another in arrangements structured like biblical covenants, which they likewise called, surprise, surprise, covenants. 96 00:08:48,009 --> 00:09:02,210 From Webster's Dictionary from 1828, he defines covenant as to enter into a formal agreement, to stipulate, to bind oneself by contract, to bind oneself by contract, a covenant. 97 00:09:02,210 --> 00:09:11,509 Here's a word which has faded from the American lexicon in our day, but which was familiar to the age of our founding and all through our tradition to the recent past. 98 00:09:11,610 --> 00:09:23,850 In fact, it has been argued, and I would concur, that the peculiar characteristics of American constitutionalism, that is, government by consent of the governed, reliance on a written constitution, and belief in a higher law. 99 00:09:23,850 --> 00:09:28,809 These were all derived from the church polities of the 17th century. 100 00:09:29,610 --> 00:09:36,909 As Professor Donald Lutz notices in one of his works, he's at the University of Houston. 101 00:09:37,029 --> 00:09:47,289 He says, it is the church and civil covenants of the 17th century America, which were the written documents that influenced the practical political affairs of the colonists. 102 00:09:47,289 --> 00:09:52,289 They had a formative influence upon the development of American constitutional principles. 103 00:09:53,149 --> 00:09:53,490 Unquote. 104 00:09:53,990 --> 00:09:58,750 Church and civil covenants of the 17th century helped shape the constitution, dear listener. 105 00:09:59,289 --> 00:10:06,769 All through the Federalist Papers, for instance, the constitution as it was defended and explained, was referred to as a covenant. 106 00:10:07,649 --> 00:10:10,629 This is only proper for all through our history. 107 00:10:10,629 --> 00:10:16,169 The founding documents from which our constitution was derived are called covenants. 108 00:10:16,169 --> 00:10:25,750 Yes, having then undertaken for the glory of God, as the Mayflower Compact calls itself. 109 00:10:25,889 --> 00:10:29,009 It's a synonym for covenant, the Mayflower Compact. 110 00:10:29,450 --> 00:10:39,509 It says, having undertaken for the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian religion and honor of our king and country, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic. 111 00:10:39,710 --> 00:10:40,110 Unquote. 112 00:10:40,590 --> 00:10:43,070 From the Mayflower Compact of 1620. 113 00:10:43,070 --> 00:10:48,029 And as Professor Lutz says about this, note what he says. 114 00:10:48,870 --> 00:10:55,669 From the Mayflower Compact, a continuous tradition leads straight to the federal constitution of 1787. 115 00:10:55,929 --> 00:10:56,330 Unquote. 116 00:10:57,190 --> 00:11:11,850 Dear Christian, dear listener, dear brother and sister in Christ, when once you look into the history of our nation's founding, it is impossible to escape the conclusion that this covenant tradition has deeply informed the spirit of our constitution as well. 117 00:11:11,850 --> 00:11:26,730 Ever since the Puritan John Winthrop, who was the founder of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, ever since he stood on the deck of the Arbella and told his listeners, his fellow colonists, that their colony was to be a shining city upon a hill, 118 00:11:27,370 --> 00:11:32,850 we Americans have believed that we are a chosen people singled out by God for a special commission. 119 00:11:32,850 --> 00:11:44,169 In fact, Winthrop says in his sermon, a model of Christian charity preached there on the deck of the Arbella before they disembarked to found the Massachusetts Bay Colony. 120 00:11:44,649 --> 00:11:54,570 He said, the eyes of all people are upon us so that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken and so cause him to withdraw his present help from us, 121 00:11:54,570 --> 00:11:58,710 we shall be made a story and a byword through the world, unquote. 122 00:11:59,409 --> 00:12:06,549 Now, our founding fathers were utterly convinced that the constitution represented a new covenant with God. 123 00:12:06,850 --> 00:12:10,470 John Adams, in his defense of the constitution, says this, John Adams, 124 00:12:10,470 --> 00:12:21,490 the people of America have now the best opportunity and the greatest trust in their hands that Providence ever committed to so small a number since the transgression of the first pair. 125 00:12:21,710 --> 00:12:23,110 That would have been Adam and Eve. 126 00:12:23,669 --> 00:12:32,649 Adams goes on to say, if they betray their trust, they will merit even greater punishment than other nations have suffered and the indignation of heaven, unquote. 127 00:12:32,649 --> 00:12:40,230 If we betray our heritage, dear listener, dear brother and sister, we have earned the indignation of heaven. 128 00:12:41,330 --> 00:12:47,409 Now, taken together, the covenants of the 17th century and the constitutions of the 18th century, 129 00:12:47,769 --> 00:12:51,070 these were all expressions of our intrinsic sense of mission. 130 00:12:51,809 --> 00:12:55,309 Even our Bill of Rights was shaped by the Christian tradition of covenants. 131 00:12:55,990 --> 00:13:02,570 Every 17th century covenant contained a statement of fundamental values and principles that formed its basis. 132 00:13:02,950 --> 00:13:08,990 These shared values and principles bound the individuals who subscribe to the covenant together, 133 00:13:08,990 --> 00:13:12,110 making them a unified people in the sight of God. 134 00:13:12,169 --> 00:13:21,730 Likewise, the 18th century Bill of Rights appended to our constitution expressed the fundamental values and principles of that document and her people. 135 00:13:22,289 --> 00:13:23,529 See how connected they are. 136 00:13:23,529 --> 00:13:28,190 Professor Lutz says again about the Bill of Rights. 137 00:13:28,549 --> 00:13:37,070 He says, and I quote, the reverence in which the Bill of Rights is held today is, in large part, a product of America's covenant tradition. 138 00:13:37,070 --> 00:13:39,629 Not dispensational, but covenant tradition. 139 00:13:40,350 --> 00:13:43,909 The evidence for the loss of this covenant tradition is all around us, dear listener. 140 00:13:44,070 --> 00:13:52,129 Gone from among us is the ingrained, well-disciplined practice among our citizens that our constitution is a formal agreement to stipulate, 141 00:13:52,269 --> 00:13:54,970 to bind oneself by contract, as Webster put it. 142 00:13:54,970 --> 00:13:59,230 Americans will no longer be responsibly bound by anything, will they? 143 00:13:59,330 --> 00:14:00,929 But only chant, my rights, my freedom. 144 00:14:01,049 --> 00:14:08,330 Most Americans, especially our children, have no concept that a constitution, a covenant, entails responsibilities as well as rights and freedoms. 145 00:14:09,169 --> 00:14:12,929 Obedience to law, good faith behavior towards one's fellow citizen, 146 00:14:12,929 --> 00:14:25,750 and the acknowledgement of God in all things pertaining to America's good has been utterly lost on today's gang-banging, turned-around, cap-wearing, rap-listening, foul-mouthed, surly-insulin, ignorant, diseased generation of youth. 147 00:14:26,350 --> 00:14:36,769 When a self-indulgent soul dies to the reality of his responsibility in a covenant relationship and merely mouths the mantra of the left, my rights, my freedom, 148 00:14:36,769 --> 00:14:42,909 well, that dead soul will soon degenerate into the state of abject misery he fears most. 149 00:14:42,929 --> 00:14:44,990 Complete and utter slavery. 150 00:14:45,190 --> 00:14:46,129 And this is where we're headed. 151 00:14:46,909 --> 00:14:53,649 America will continue to languish and fail unless and until she returns to the biblical model of the covenant. 152 00:14:54,370 --> 00:15:01,769 This is how God has chosen to relate to us and the model by which we are expected to faithfully relate to one another. 153 00:15:02,610 --> 00:15:11,970 It is, in fact, the very model, the covenant constitutional model, the very model upon which our own constitution was framed. 154 00:15:11,970 --> 00:15:17,529 Foundational to the idea of government, then, is the irreplaceable concept of covenant. 155 00:15:18,129 --> 00:15:29,570 The third point I want to make with you today, underlining, in fact, underlining, in fact, the origins of government, civil government, number three. 156 00:15:30,110 --> 00:15:33,289 The first and rudimentary government is self-government. 157 00:15:33,690 --> 00:15:37,269 The first and rudimentary government is self-government. 158 00:15:37,269 --> 00:15:41,549 Why do we use the word government to describe God's rule over the self? 159 00:15:41,909 --> 00:15:48,490 Oh, in our day, the use of the word government has narrowed to refer primarily to the federal government in Washington, D.C. 160 00:15:48,570 --> 00:15:50,529 You ask people today, what is government? 161 00:15:50,750 --> 00:15:53,389 Oh, it's that monstrosity over in Washington. 162 00:15:54,049 --> 00:15:56,669 Or the government will take care of us through its programs. 163 00:15:56,870 --> 00:15:59,210 This is the modern concept of government. 164 00:15:59,210 --> 00:16:05,769 Well, once again, Webster's 1828 Dictionary defines the traditional understanding of government. 165 00:16:06,090 --> 00:16:10,549 That is direction, regulation, control, restraint. 166 00:16:11,350 --> 00:16:15,490 He goes on to say, these precepts will serve for the government of our conduct. 167 00:16:16,090 --> 00:16:19,649 Men are apt to neglect the government of their temper and passions. 168 00:16:20,149 --> 00:16:22,730 Citations from Webster's Dictionary in 1828. 169 00:16:22,730 --> 00:16:28,429 Government, in its broadest sense, was seen to be operative in five different spheres. 170 00:16:28,769 --> 00:16:32,070 Understand this, dear listener, five different spheres of government. 171 00:16:32,070 --> 00:16:38,149 That is the self, the family, the school, the church, and then the civil sphere. 172 00:16:38,690 --> 00:16:42,309 The beginning and basic sphere, though, of government begins with a self. 173 00:16:42,750 --> 00:16:46,870 Unless you can govern yourself, you won't be able to control another thing. 174 00:16:46,870 --> 00:16:52,750 If a man cannot govern himself, what hope is there for the government of the remaining four spheres? 175 00:16:53,850 --> 00:16:57,070 Gary DeMar, in his book, God and Government, puts it this way. 176 00:16:57,850 --> 00:17:04,230 Government, in our older definition, is moral and personal before it is practical and institutional. 177 00:17:05,170 --> 00:17:09,210 Without self-governed individuals who follow some moral code, 178 00:17:09,589 --> 00:17:14,569 we cannot expect good family, church, and civil governments to be developed. 179 00:17:14,569 --> 00:17:20,650 Self-government, under God, is the foundation of any society, unquote. 180 00:17:21,589 --> 00:17:28,690 Yes, dear listener, from the beginning, self-government has formed the very basis of character and personality for the godly man. 181 00:17:29,450 --> 00:17:33,890 God said to Cain, the very first man born to our first parents, Adam and Eve, 182 00:17:33,890 --> 00:17:36,410 he said to Cain, why are you angry? 183 00:17:36,789 --> 00:17:39,950 That is, he was angry with his brother Abel, about to kill him. 184 00:17:40,289 --> 00:17:43,150 But God goes on to say to Cain, and why has your face fallen? 185 00:17:43,150 --> 00:17:45,430 If you do well, will you not be accepted? 186 00:17:45,750 --> 00:17:48,309 And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. 187 00:17:48,569 --> 00:17:56,690 Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it or govern it, unquote, from Genesis chapter 4. 188 00:17:57,029 --> 00:18:01,650 Cain's failure at self-government resulted in the earth's primal murder. 189 00:18:02,109 --> 00:18:07,509 And ever since then, all disobedient and ungovernable men have followed in Cain's footsteps 190 00:18:07,509 --> 00:18:12,609 in being utterly incapable of governing their hearts, passions, and appetites. 191 00:18:13,329 --> 00:18:16,869 Sin, like a ravenous wolf at our heart store, has desired us. 192 00:18:16,990 --> 00:18:17,910 It has stalked us. 193 00:18:18,130 --> 00:18:21,470 It has devoured us in our ungovernable lusts and passions. 194 00:18:21,470 --> 00:18:28,730 The unbridled lust of the gay community, the cynical greed of Enron executives and Clinton family, 195 00:18:29,130 --> 00:18:33,410 the mushrooming credit card debt, and the personal bankruptcy of the American consumer, 196 00:18:33,529 --> 00:18:38,869 all these things, the lawsuits that spring up like poisonous weeds, as Amos puts it, 197 00:18:39,289 --> 00:18:42,549 the violence and murder and assault and rape and road rage, 198 00:18:42,650 --> 00:18:47,109 the rampant divorce, sexual immorality of our mores and media, 199 00:18:47,109 --> 00:18:52,390 all of these and much, much more, testify to the complete breakdown of self-government 200 00:18:52,390 --> 00:18:54,430 in American life and culture. 201 00:18:54,690 --> 00:18:59,890 My rights, my freedom, damn my responsibility, most people say by action if not in word. 202 00:19:01,170 --> 00:19:07,490 We cry this, almost every spoiled, self-indulgent crybaby American cries this 203 00:19:07,490 --> 00:19:10,150 when asked to define what is America. 204 00:19:10,630 --> 00:19:13,890 And we are left broken, empty, and disillusioned. 205 00:19:13,890 --> 00:19:19,430 As Proverbs 25, 28 puts it, a man without self-control is like a city broken into 206 00:19:19,430 --> 00:19:21,329 and left without walls, unquote. 207 00:19:23,109 --> 00:19:28,869 America is, as 9-11 amply demonstrated, like a city broken into and left without walls. 208 00:19:29,509 --> 00:19:32,130 As Gary DeMar puts it in his book, God and Government, 209 00:19:32,890 --> 00:19:38,509 the central focus of all realms of government is the regenerating work of Jesus Christ. 210 00:19:39,589 --> 00:19:43,490 Institutions and civil governments are made up of people who are governed by the conditions 211 00:19:43,490 --> 00:19:44,109 of their hearts. 212 00:19:44,109 --> 00:19:48,789 If the heart is in rebellion against God, we can expect undisciplined and ungovernable people. 213 00:19:49,430 --> 00:19:53,690 If the heart has been made new in Christ, we can expect a people who will govern their lives 214 00:19:53,690 --> 00:19:56,809 according to the governing principles of the Bible, unquote. 215 00:19:57,130 --> 00:19:59,529 From Gary DeMar in his book, God and Government. 216 00:20:00,369 --> 00:20:06,109 Ironically, our liberties and freedoms depend upon this first principle of self-government. 217 00:20:06,109 --> 00:20:11,470 A man who cannot control his anger and rage, but wants his freedom and rights to vent it, 218 00:20:11,589 --> 00:20:16,710 they will assault and kill, and they have to be restrained by external government, that is the state. 219 00:20:17,230 --> 00:20:21,809 The man who cannot control his greed and covetousness, but wants his freedom and right to spend and acquire 220 00:20:21,809 --> 00:20:28,269 at all costs, will steal and lie and cheat, and have to be restrained by external government, that is the state. 221 00:20:28,410 --> 00:20:31,170 Do you see the point of self-government, internal government? 222 00:20:31,170 --> 00:20:36,970 The man who cannot control his sexual lusts, but wants his freedom and right to express every perversion 223 00:20:36,970 --> 00:20:42,269 of his heart, will commit incest and sodomy and rape and pedophilia, and have to be restrained 224 00:20:42,269 --> 00:20:44,369 by external government, that is the state. 225 00:20:44,690 --> 00:20:48,650 You will be tyrannized if you cannot govern yourself. 226 00:20:49,349 --> 00:20:53,470 In other words, the growth of the state and its laws and the amount of police and external 227 00:20:53,470 --> 00:20:58,930 government in our society bears an inverse relationship to the amount of self-government amongst the 228 00:20:58,930 --> 00:21:04,589 individuals of that society. The greater the self-government of the citizens, the lesser the 229 00:21:04,589 --> 00:21:09,690 external government of the state. The lesser the self-government of the citizens, the greater the 230 00:21:09,690 --> 00:21:15,089 external government of the state. And nowhere do we see this borne out with more tragic vengeance 231 00:21:15,089 --> 00:21:21,930 than in our own nation, dear listener. So make no mistake about this, dear Christian, if America is ever 232 00:21:21,930 --> 00:21:30,430 to reclaim its rightful civil government, if America is ever to reclaim its rightful family government. 233 00:21:30,829 --> 00:21:35,930 This is what we labor for in part, isn't it? If America is ever to reclaim the rightful church 234 00:21:35,930 --> 00:21:42,210 government, it must begin at the most basic primal level. It must reclaim its rightful self-government. 235 00:21:42,630 --> 00:21:48,069 How can we possibly do this, dear listener? I submit to you it is only by the grace and mercy of God. 236 00:21:48,069 --> 00:21:52,529 Be in prayer for these things. See that this revolution takes place in your own heart first 237 00:21:52,529 --> 00:21:58,329 and foremost. See that you govern yourself in all of these spheres first and foremost. And this can 238 00:21:58,329 --> 00:22:05,109 be done only through Christ as our hearts are renewed in him and then disciplined in him so that we live 239 00:22:05,109 --> 00:22:10,630 according to principles of the Bible. Self-government can only come from a heart governed by the Holy 240 00:22:10,630 --> 00:22:18,309 Spirit of God as he ministers the salvation wrought by the Son that is Jesus Christ. Romans 6 verse 4 241 00:22:18,309 --> 00:22:24,369 puts it this way, we were buried with Christ by baptism into death in order that just as Christ was 242 00:22:24,369 --> 00:22:32,309 raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. Oh, we must walk 243 00:22:32,309 --> 00:22:39,730 in newness of life because we are renewed in new life in Christ. One of the fruits too of that newness of 244 00:22:39,730 --> 00:22:45,650 life, oh Christian, is blessed self-government. This is indeed a part of what we talked about last 245 00:22:45,650 --> 00:22:51,210 week. That is the process of sanctification, of becoming more and more holy, being conformed to 246 00:22:51,210 --> 00:22:58,470 the image of Christ, walking in his ways, behaving as he would behave, being righteous in all things, 247 00:22:58,490 --> 00:23:05,910 in every sphere of life, including that of culture, society, politics, and government. Galatians chapter 5 248 00:23:05,910 --> 00:23:13,549 puts it this way, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 249 00:23:13,789 --> 00:23:21,430 gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law, unquote. The rebirth of self-government 250 00:23:21,430 --> 00:23:27,829 in America begins with a new birth of every American who desires to be faithful first to the covenant 251 00:23:27,829 --> 00:23:35,289 established by our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, that is the new covenant. Firstly, we must be reborn in 252 00:23:35,289 --> 00:23:40,730 faithfulness to the new covenant in Christ. And secondly, the rebirth of self-government in America 253 00:23:40,730 --> 00:23:46,529 begins with a new birth of every American who desires to be faithful to the covenant established 254 00:23:46,529 --> 00:23:52,230 by our founding fathers, that is the United States Constitution. Our founding fathers fully expected 255 00:23:52,230 --> 00:23:59,930 America to continue to be a Christian nation too, dear listener, not for it to languish someday as it has 256 00:23:59,930 --> 00:24:08,710 and descend into a decrepit progressive hellhole. No. John Adams says, our Constitution was made only for a 257 00:24:08,710 --> 00:24:16,049 moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other, unquote. What a wise 258 00:24:16,049 --> 00:24:23,769 insight. And indeed, the people who are governed by this Constitution, which we ostensibly hold up 259 00:24:23,769 --> 00:24:29,670 as our Constitution, though I have argued elsewhere that it really is a zombie Constitution anymore and 260 00:24:29,670 --> 00:24:36,710 needs to be revived as we are reborn in Christ. No. If indeed our Constitution was made only for a 261 00:24:36,710 --> 00:24:44,910 moral and religious people, then we must become equal to the moral and religious demands of the 262 00:24:44,910 --> 00:24:50,589 Constitution. That can only be done through Christ as we are reborn in Him and as we walk in His ways. 263 00:24:50,950 --> 00:24:57,630 Because that moral and religious order that John Adams talked about was not a Buddhist moral religious 264 00:24:57,630 --> 00:25:06,269 order. It was not an Islamic Muslim moral order. That moral order is entirely inadequate for America 265 00:25:06,269 --> 00:25:12,690 too, by the way, for those of you who are thinking of coming under Sharia law. No. Our Constitution was 266 00:25:12,690 --> 00:25:17,930 made only for a moral and religious people, and that was intended to be a Christian morality, a 267 00:25:18,670 --> 00:25:24,289 Christian religion. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other, as Adams puts it. Dear 268 00:25:24,289 --> 00:25:30,930 Christian, if you would remain faithful to the new covenant spiritually established by God, you must 269 00:25:30,930 --> 00:25:36,549 remain faithful to the Christ of that covenant too. And dear Christian, if you would remain faithful to 270 00:25:36,549 --> 00:25:43,289 the Constitution established by our founding fathers under the guidance of God, we can trace the Christian 271 00:25:43,289 --> 00:25:51,130 roots of the American Constitution back through the history of the West too. If then you would remain 272 00:25:51,130 --> 00:25:58,289 faithful to the Constitution and reestablishment in our generation, then you must remain faithful to the 273 00:25:58,289 --> 00:26:04,630 Christ of that new covenant too, because we can trace our roots directly back to it. This has been 274 00:26:04,630 --> 00:26:11,269 Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with a moment of truth. New Geneva meets for 275 00:26:11,269 --> 00:26:20,009 holy worship at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. And you can come out, we pray. 276 00:26:20,130 --> 00:26:25,829 We pray that you would come out to meet us now as a congregation. Perhaps you've been listening for a 277 00:26:25,829 --> 00:26:30,670 while, interested in who we are, what we have to offer. Well, we'd like you to come and visit us at one of our 278 00:26:30,670 --> 00:26:37,869 worship services. Beautiful summer days, our doors open, and we meet at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the 279 00:26:37,869 --> 00:26:42,890 corner of 4th and Boulevard. And you can call us for further information or comment on this broadcast 280 00:26:42,890 --> 00:26:49,690 at 523-0196. That's 523-0196.