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. And today, why is spiritual revival and reformation the one necessary key to unlock a Christian constitutional republic? Oh, spiritual revival and reformation, so, so necessary. Now, for many weeks, I have been arguing for a Christian constitutional republic to take the place of our now hopelessly lost secular constitutional republic. It's been a difficult and arduous conclusion for me to reach, but I think it's a necessary one.

Because through neglect and laziness, we Americans have allowed the corrupt, corpulent, deep state to so suffuse and become identified with the constitutional republic that the two can no longer be separated. Like a cancer that is metastasized throughout the vital organs of the body politic, to cut the deep state out would kill the patient. To cut off one head of a conjoined twin would kill them both, wouldn't it? These rationales you will find in previous broadcasts at our website, which catalogs our radio program almost four years back. That can be found on the website, omnisprotestas.org.

That's O-M-N-I-S dash, P-O-T-E-S-T-A-S dot org, omnisprotestas.org. And I encourage you to check out those previous radio broadcasts that do catalog these things and many, many other broadcasts which chronicle our understanding of a Christian constitutional republic. And I think that eventually everyone will reach this conclusion because the entire dead and dying deep state must be completely destroyed, burnt to the ground, leveled so that no one stone will be left upon another, as Jesus said about Jerusalem. This may be a controversial statement because there are today three kinds of patriots in our country.

Number one, there are Pollyanna patriots, I call them, Pollyanna patriots. Pollyanna was a naive teenage girl who always saw the positive side of life, thought that everyone meant well, and thought everything would end well if we were just nice to everyone and stayed positive. Most Americans adopt this attitude towards government. And then there are, secondly, course correction constitutionalists. Course correction constitutionalists.

Listen, I used to be one of these because I used to think, well, it's not the document or the system of the constitution that needs to be changed. Rather, the people's hearts, their minds, their lives must change in order for the constitution to work. John Adams said famously, this constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. So then, revive and reform the people, and the constitution will operate as it's supposed to.

Make this course correction, and we will be back on track. I used to be one of these, for sure. Spent years articulating that very thing. And then thirdly, there's the Christian constitutionalist. I am one of those now.

Because part of the reason we are off track at the present is due to an inherent flaw in the constitution from the beginning. That is, it's failure to acknowledge the true supreme authority of the republic. And that is Jesus Christ, not the people. Oh, we the people. No, it is Christ the king who ordains and establishes our constitution.

A covenant, which the constitution is, essentially, it is a covenant. It's a blood bond between two parties, one of whom is a suzerain and the other of whom is a vassal. And that vassal or servant must always acknowledge the suzerain or king if ever the covenant is to work. And the original constitution of 1789 presents us with a circular dilemma. That is, the people is both the suzerain and the vassal of the same document.

That's a circular dilemma. And it's ultimately self-serving. When there are two parties to a covenant, one serves the other mutually. When the two parties honor the terms laid out in the covenant, well, it works. Now, this is possible.

When Christ is the king of the constitution and the people are the servants of the constitution. But when there is one party to a covenant, as there is in our constitution, the people, then the people serve whom? The people serve the people. We serve ourselves, ultimately. And that always eventually descends into a self-serving chaos and tyranny.

Additionally, there is in the nature of the case a polarity in every covenant designed to be a polarity. That is, there is at one end a suzerain and at the other a vassal. At one end a king, at the other a servant. And if it is not there to begin with, it will develop over time. And that's what's happened to us.

The homogenous people has evolved over the centuries into the polarized deep state at one end and the people at the other. And if we had acknowledged the true king of the covenant to begin with, that is, Jesus Christ, we would not have had this problem to deal with. This is one reason why the Christian constitutionalist argues for scrapping or at least seriously revamping the present constitution in favor of an explicit Christian constitution. But then, let us assume for the moment that we were able to wave a magic wand and make this happen, right?

Where Christ the King, in order to form a more perfect union and establish justice, and we go through the preamble, who eventually says, does ordain and establish this constitution for the United States. Let's assume for a moment that we could swear our oaths in God's name. That is, we could say, in the name of God the Father and his son, Jesus Christ, I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, et cetera, et cetera. And let's assume that we can meaningfully come to a national consensus as to what it means to be a Christian in a Christian constitutional republic.

Well, all of this might be hunky-dory. We might have everything the way the Christian constitutionalist wants it on paper, but I have to ask, as well as you, if you've thought of this already, so what? So what if it's on paper, but not written in the hearts of the citizens of the United States? Wouldn't we be right back to where we are now in the way the course correction constitutionalist describes things? Only worse, which is worse, to have a corrupt apostate people far from their God, though the contract they have with him, that is, the Constitution, is not technically in his name?

Or is it worse to have a corrupt apostate people far from their God, which God has named explicitly in the contract, that is, our Constitution, right there in black and white for all to see? Oh, dear listener, obviously, the latter is far worse. God would have even more reason to judge us than he does now if we had an explicitly Christian Constitution for sinning so egregiously against his name. What is therefore utterly necessary, and this is important for today, what is utterly necessary for a Christian constitutional republic to work?

If it's going to work, if it's going to work, we have to have the hearts of all the people to be converted and revived. We must have the hearts of all the people to be converted and revived. And this must be a miraculous wholesale conversion of the population of the United States for a Christian constitutional republic to work at all. And this, we frankly admit, oh, yes, it won't happen without this. This is the sine qua non, that is, that without which the thing will not work.

And make no mistake, it is God alone who sovereignly gives such conversion, such revival and reformation. As Psalm 85 puts it, restore us again, oh, God of our salvation, and put away your indignation towards us. Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger to all generations? Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?

Show us your steadfast love, oh, Lord, and grant us your salvation. Yes, salvation is God's to give, not ours to obtain solely by ourselves. This was all true. Revival and salvation given by God was true for Israel as God's people, and it's true for us, too, the church as God's people. A Christian constitutional republic cannot come to fruition without a constitution that establishes a true republic, but also that that Christian constitutional republic is composed of true converted Christians who make it work.

We must all ask of him, who is a penitent king. David asked, he asked as well, create in me a clean heart, oh, God, and renew a right spirit within me. David knew that it was God alone who could create in him a clean heart. David knew that it was God alone who could renew a right spirit within him. We must have the same thing happen to us.

There's nothing more urgent than the conversion and reformation of the American people. America, do you not know? America, can you not see? Know what God hates in a people. Oh, he says in Proverbs chapter 6, there are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him, haughty eyes, that is pride.

Americans are proud today. A lying tongue we see in Washington, D.C., nothing but lies. And hands that shed innocent blood. Oh, abortion reigns in America. A heart that devises wicked plans.

We've seen plots. Haven't we not? We've seen conspiracies. You conspiracy theorist. And then God also hates feet that make haste to run to evil.

A false witness who breathes out lies and one who sows discord among brothers, unquote. Oh, until America awakens and comes to a realistic understanding of her spiritual state, America will never right the ship of state. America will never be a Christian constitutional republic. America will continue to flounder and drown and sink in the waters of our own sin. Oh, dear listener, we see it not.

Do we not? Yet we see this not. We hear it not. And we continue to prance and preen ourselves in our sin like the king in his new clothes. The apostle John puts it this way in Revelation.

He says, for you say, I am rich. I have prospered and I need nothing. Not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. America, behold, the king has no clothes. The church has no clothes.

The people in America have no clothes. We think we're rich. We've prospered that we need nothing. Although this pandemic has humbled us to some extent. And we do not yet realize that we're wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.

It's time for Americans to look at themselves the way God looks at them and do something about it. Repent and reform America before we indeed can ever establish a Christian constitutional republic. Well, what does that look like? Two things. Let me describe for you what this looks like.

Number one, repentance means there is a sight, sorrow, and sea change over our sin. Repentance at its core means that there is a sight, sorrow, and sea change over our sin. The hardest thing for an addict to do as you minister to them is to admit his addiction. Listen, his entire ego is vested in lying to himself that he's okay, that he has it under control, that his abuse is not his master. But once that addict admits that he is powerless over his drug of choice, he's on the road to recovery.

He has a sight of his sin. We're looking at a sight, sorrow, and sea change over our sin. Once the addict has a sight of his sin, that's his first step, and that's also the first step in any nation's road to repentance. Oh, as Solomon prayed to God Almighty, he said, if they, that is Israel, and that means all the people of God always and throughout time, if they turn their heart in the land to which they have been carried captive and repent and plead with you in the land of their captors, saying, we have sinned and have acted perversely and wickedly. Oh, that's the first step.

America must first acknowledge that she has sinned and acted perversely and wickedly. And right now, America struts around the world stage as if she is God's gift to glory and glamour, not realizing that she is wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. Right now, there is no repentance until there is recall of transgression, the full realization that one has offended the Almighty. When that happens, well, then another thing begins to happen. That is, the heart of a nation truly grieves over its offense to God.

There is godly sorrow over sin. Paul puts it this way. Godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. Oh, the Apostle Paul had it down, didn't he? And when we see America's heart torn in sorrow, then we will know that we are moving towards true repentance.

It's happened in the past. It happened during the Great Awakening before the Revolution in 1776, and then again during the Second Great Awakening in the early 19th century. Jonathan Edwards, out of Northfield, Connecticut, he recounts that his congregation was, as he puts it, extraordinarily melted by every sermon preached by the evangelist George Whitefield. He said almost the whole congregation being in tears most of the time. Oh, at that time, the Lord was moving by his spirit among the people of America, and he moved many to repentance during that time.

He needs to do that now. And the effect was quite remarkable. Repentance, Jonathan Edwards says during that time, excited humility, self-condemnation, self-abhorrence, love, and joy. Many fainted under these affections. Oh, our Westminster Standards puts repentance this way.

Repentance is, according to our Westminster Shorter Catechism, repentance unto life is a saving grace, whereby a sinner out of a true sense of his sin and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ does with grief and hatred of his sin turn from it unto God with full purpose of and endeavor after new obedience. Unquote. Just a beautiful, succinct definition of true repentance. But it doesn't stop there. Not only is there a sight and sorrow over sin, but there's also a sea change over sin.

That is, one begins to change his behavior to stop sinning. And we will know when America has truly repented when the abortion clinics are shutting down and children are placed in families with men and fathers instead of being trafficked for sex to men and fathers. And we will know America has truly repented when the evil traitors of the deep state are unmasked and justice marches them down to Guantanamo Bay instead of closing Guantanamo Bay. And we will know that America has truly repented when the hypodermic needle of addictions fall away from the arm of Uncle Sam and become strong again to defend the nation.

But once again, it doesn't stop there. Number two, the United States of America must also bring about not only revival, but a reformation of her morals and religious character. Secondly, oh, dear listener, the United States must bring about a reformation of her morals and religious character. There must be repentance and reformation before there is restoration, before we do indeed establish a Christian constitutional republic. It's not enough to repent, that is, have a sight, sorrow, and sea change regarding sin, but we must also move on from there and reform what has become so terribly blighted and decayed.

John tells the church in Ephesus, remember therefore from where you have fallen, repent and do the works you did at first. Ha ha, this is the essence of reformation. Do the works you did at first. America used to be a nation of goodness and righteousness. Oh, indeed, as de Tocqueville said about America, he said, not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power.

America is great because America is good. And if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great. Quote and unquote. That's Alexis de Tocqueville. Make America good again, not great again, make her first good again.

Our genius and power, as de Tocqueville puts it, is directly proportional to our goodness that is bound to how righteous we are as a nation, the degree to which we practice godly, biblical righteousness. Oh, as Micah said to Israel, it's so true for us too. He has told you, oh man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God, unquote. Oh, that's beautiful.

How the United States stands in need of reform along the lines of Micah. When the United States is serious about biblical reform, she will practice justice again. Presently, there's a two-tiered system of justice in America, one for the Democrat and Republican elite and one for the rest of us. Oh, remember when Dinesh D'Souza went to prison for mistakenly handling $10,000 in campaign donations? He's an obvious political prisoner.

While Hillary Clinton goes scot-free, betraying the United States as Secretary of State, grafting millions of dollars in the Clinton Foundation, fat cats like Hillary Clinton are too fat to fail, while the rest of us are too small to warrant being free. And secondly, when the United States is serious about biblical reform, she will love mercy again. Ah, mercy in the Bible is that attribute of God which shows compassion towards the helpless and the forsaken, those who perhaps cannot help themselves and who may not otherwise even deserve our help and compassion.

While God has mercy on the sinner who cannot save himself, we in turn show mercy to one another and to others who otherwise may not be able to help us. And we will show compassion towards the unborn, the sojourner, the orphan, the sick, the hungry, the poor among us. Ah, but this will be done by the church and not the government. Yes, biblical reform. We will love mercy again.

And then finally, when the United States is serious about biblical reform, she will walk humbly with her God. In the past, America has owned the God of the Bible as her own. The Supreme Court back in 1892 said flatly, our civilization and institutions are emphatically Christian, unquote. George Washington was insistent that the divine hand of providence was upon him in the entire course of the American Revolution, for example. The task of reforming America along the lines of justice, mercy, and a humble walking with our God, as Micah puts it, these are immense.

That task is immense. But it must not be ignored, listener. It must not be shirked. The longer we delay repentance and reform, the deeper we will sink into the morass and decay of our sin. And the more difficult it will be to bring reform and to indeed bring the onset of a Christian constitutional republic.

There is this urgency to it. Not only does the task of reform become more difficult with every moment we neglect it, but we also tempt the patience of God in judgment the longer we postpone repentance and reform. Because we have seen in the history of Israel, we've seen in the history of the world in redemptive history, in the secret of God's own will and his own sovereign timing, God reaches a point when repentance and reform are no longer an option, but only judgment. This is clear throughout the Old Testament. For example, in Jeremiah 14, God tells Jeremiah, then said the Lord unto me, pray not for this people for their good.

When they fast, I will not hear their cry. And when they offer burnt offering and an amblation, I will not accept them. But I will consume them by the sword and by the famine and by the pestilence, unquote. There is a point God reaches with a people when he has only judgment for them. That may well be where we are.

He's already said a pestilence. Looks like famine's on the horizon and maybe war as well. Behold what must happen before the United States of America can ever hope to be transformed into a Christian constitutional republic. She must repent of her sin and reform her way of life according to biblical principles. Without this fundamental transformation, any talk of a Christian constitutional republic or even a restored historic constitutional republic, all of this is academic and doomed to certain failure.

Ezekiel puts it succinctly. He says, repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin. Are you listening, America? And lest we not apply this personally, do not do what I tend to do when I hear something that I agree with. I tend to say, amen, go get them.

You tell them, preacher. When it is precisely the very thing I need to hear personally. And that is what it is for me. Repentance, like judgment, begins with me and it begins with the house of God. Peter says, it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God.

And if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? Oh, dear listener. Yes. Do not neglect your own repentance, dear listener. I've begun to change the way that I live.

There are areas of my life in which I got lazy about and I needed to repent of them. I need to do this. And I have people who hold me accountable for my own personal repentance. Dear listener, you need to repent as well. God always begins holding those with whom he's in covenant.

He holds them accountable first. It's time for judgment to begin at the household of God, Peter says. And indeed, that's where it begins. And that's where you need to begin with your own repentance before you even think about national repentance, dear listener. If you know that's coming, if you know judgment is coming, well, get your household in order, believer.

Repent. Reform your own lives. Repent. Reform the lives of your family members and those around you, those in the life of your church, because that is indeed where we need to begin. And then and only then will we begin to see a Christian constitutional republic form and then worldwide when there is worldwide reformation and repentance, dear listener.

This is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church. We meet for holy worship at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. I encourage you to join us for worship and see who we are, see what we preach and believe we're preaching through Revelation right now. And you can call us for more information at area code 208-523-0196. Maybe give me some feedback.

208-523-0196. Or check out the website that chronicles these radio messages. That's omnisprotestas.org. O-M-N-I-S-P-O-T-E-S-T-A-S.org. Or call us at area code 208-523-0196.