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 during this Fourth of July season, it may even be the Fourth of July today when you hear me, I want to challenge you to think about our covenantal, our constitutional obligation to posterity. The Constitution was indeed written and composed not only for that generation, but for posterity. When my great-grandfather emigrated from Ireland to America in the late 19th century, he arrived with the clothes on his back and very little else.

And my great-grandfather worked in the fields and orchards of western Michigan. He couldn't read or write, but he swore it would be different for his grandchildren and his children. And it was true. Over the years, over the generations, each of my fathers improved and passed on a heritage. My great-grandfather told him that this was America, he said to my grandfather.

This was America, the land of opportunity, and he must take what was given to him and improve upon it. And each generation subsequently has exhorted the same thing, even as I have exhorted my own children, because they have done the same thing. They have inherited that sense of respect for and burdened to take what was given to them and improve upon it. Dear listener, there are no guarantees in life, only opportunities. And nowhere have those opportunities been more abundant than here in the United States of America.

My generation was handed down. A tradition and a heritage from their fathers developed and a kind of covenant succession. And we summarize it in what we taught our kids about who they were. We asked our kids, who are you? And they were expected to answer, I am Rachel or Katie or John Bass, covenant child.

They had an identity. They were Rachel, Katie, or John Bass, covenant child. And in a world of people who don't know who they are and how they got here and where they're going, our kids always had an identity. They knew who they were. They had a name with a heritage.

They existed within the framework of a sacred covenant with all of its obligations and benefits. And as we will see, every covenant incorporates as a vital part of its very existence, covenant succession. Covenant succession. That is the provision for the bond and blood to be handed down in good faith to the next generation with all of its obligations and its benefits intact. What we will do today is take a brief look at the state of that covenant succession under the civil covenant since it's the 4th of July.

That civil covenant being for us the Constitution of the United States of America. Now, there is a provision for covenant succession in the Constitution. Do you know where it is and what it is? Well, let me make two points with you. Number one, covenant succession.

Covenant succession. It is the sacred obligation of one generation to bequeath to the next generation the covenant under which they live. Yes, we are obliged. It's scriptural. It's biblical.

Covenant succession. That's point number one I want to make with you, covenant succession. It is the sacred obligation of one generation to bequeath to the next generation. The covenant under which they live. Our founding fathers understood the solemn nature of covenant, dear listener, better than we do.

In fact, arguably, the very first Constitution of the United States was the Mayflower Compact in which they swore for the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith. We do covenant and combine ourselves into a civil body politic. Unquote. That was the very first Constitution, 1620. Constitution, covenant, compact.

These were all synonyms for a bond in blood sovereignly administered, as O.P. Robertson defines a covenant. A bond in blood sovereignly administered. In fact, at the Constitutional Convention, they briefly debated just what to call this new instrument of government that they had made. The previous one was called the Articles of Confederation.

But we were more than a loose confederation now under this document. This document bound us more closely as states in a union. And therefore, more precisely, this instrument of government was a Constitution, a compact or a covenant. And Constitution was the term finally settled upon since so many of the 13 states employed that term in their own founding documents. So let this not escape you.

Our Constitution is in fact a sacred covenant, a bond in blood between the governed and those elected to govern. The Founding Fathers mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor, as the Declaration of Independence closes. And unlike those who serve the deep state today and swear to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and then promptly violate that oath at every turn, seeking self instead of others, scoffing at the Constitution, and they say things like, we haven't been a constitutional republic for years now.

Unlike these treasonous, blood-sucking weasels, the Founding Fathers took their world seriously. And they saw honor as a sacred thing, a thing which can only be bestowed by God himself on creatures who keep covenant, even when it means their own personal loss and disadvantage. Psalm 15 verse 4 puts it this way, God honors those who fear the Lord, even when he swears to his own hurt and does not change. And the ancient suzerain vassal covenant treaty, too.

The ancient suzerain vassal, that means king or subject, the ancient suzerain vassal covenant treaty upon which so many covenants in the Bible are based, is composed of six elements, one of which I want to highlight here for you today. But those six elements are the preamble, and the preamble identifies the king or the suzerain as Exodus chapter 20, and the preface to the 10 commandments says, I am the Lord your God. That's the preamble. And then there's a historical prologue that recounts the great king's previous relationship to his vassals and all the benefits he's given to them. And that's reflected in Exodus 20 verse 2.

I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. That was what he did for Israel. And then there are stipulations and laws, and we go on to enumerate the 10 commandments. And then there are blessings and curses as well, number four. And the blessings and curses are a list of the blessings for obedience and the curses that will fall on the vassal if he breaks that covenant, right?

Then there are signs and seals and confirmations. That's ritual oaths accompanied by physical signs and seals. That is the sacrifice of animals, the throwing of blood on the people and on the altar. And then finally, number six, there is covenant succession. This is a part of every suzerain vassal covenant, and it's a part of the constitution too.

The covenant succession is arrangements and provisions for the continuity of the covenant relationship over future generations. And the feature I want to focus on today is this last one, covenant succession. If a covenant is sacred, that is sealed and witnessed to by God, then that covenant is worth passing on to the next generation. Those under covenant are obliged to bring their children into that covenant relationship too. This was understood in the very bones of biblical men.

It was their heir they breed. It was the food that he ate, so to speak. For example, the civil covenant of which we spoke a few weeks ago is perpetual. It was cut with Noah, but binding on all subsequent generations. God said to Noah, behold, I established my covenant with you and your offspring after you.

Then there was the Abrahamic covenant too. That provided for covenant succession, accompanied by the sign and seal of circumcision. God said to Abraham, for example, I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant to be God to you and to your offspring after you, unquote. And Jesus himself made provision for covenant succession too when he instituted the Lord's supper and gave its meaning. He said, in fact, in the same way, also he took the cup, Paul says, after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood.

Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. And that would be true throughout the generations. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes, Paul says. And then that new covenant succession too was confirmed by the apostles. Peter says in his Pentecost sermon, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.

And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit for the promises for you and for your children and for all who are far off. Everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself. These are a few samples of covenant succession from the Bible. It is important to remember that covenants and constitutions throughout Christendom were modeled on those of the Bible, including our own constitution. Well then, you might say, Mr. Smarty Pants Pastor, where might we find covenant succession in the constitution?

Hmm. Now let's consider for a moment the preamble to the constitution. Do you remember our constitution begins? We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. Ding, ding, ding, ding.

There it is. Do ordain and establish this constitution for the United States of America. That preamble outlines the six purposes of government. And one of those is to secure blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. One of the purposes of government is to make provision for our children.

Selfish and short-sighted is the man who does not consider those who come after him. That is, his children and their children. As honorable men, our founding fathers did consider the generations to come. The constitution was for their children to use and to perfect and to bequeath to their children. Henry Clay, who was a second-generation American, the famous Senator Henry Clay, said this, the Constitution of the United States was made not merely for the generation that then existed, but for posterity.

Unlimited, undefined, endless, perpetual posterity. Unquote. Clay got it. He understood. Brothers and sisters, that includes us.

The Constitution of the United States of America was crafted for us and for our children. And it was given us at great cost and great sacrifice. That is, as Jefferson puts it, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. Now, most of us will never know the price that the generation of the revolution paid to establish that document of genius and God-guided providence. Oh, the voices of those who died to purchase that liberty cannot speak to us for themselves, nor could they enjoy the fruits of liberty that we enjoy.

They bought it for us. Listen to the poignancy and the heavy heart of one of the founding fathers who said, who spoke to us. He says, posterity. He's speaking to us to subsequent generations. He says, posterity.

You will never know how much it costs the present generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make a good use of it. Unquote. That was from John Adams. He understood the cost of the generation of the revolution to purchase our liberty.

And the same can be said for their children who had to beat the British a second time in the war of 1812, or their children who died in the war between the states, or their children's children who died in World Wars I and II, or in Korea, or Vietnam, or the Middle East. We will never know the cost that they paid to preserve our freedom. Oh, dear listener, behold, covenant succession. It's before your very eyes in the pages of our history. That covenant succession is literal.

It is real. It is tangible. It is bought for us in blood, the blood of those who sacrificed for our liberties. But are we making a good use of it, dear listener? Are we, this generation, us, you and me, are we making a good use of it as Adams exhorted?

Oh, that brings me to point two. Covenant succession. Covenant succession. The sacred obligation to bequeath to the next generation the covenant under which we live is in grave peril, if not lost, altogether. Yes, that is my second point regarding the covenant succession built into the Constitution.

The sacred obligation to bequeath to the next generation the covenant under which we live is in grave peril, if not lost, altogether. Dear listener, what can you say about a government, our present tyranny? What can you say about a government tyranny ostensibly structured by the Constitution, which has as its targets its sworn enemies, those who know and insist on fidelity to that Constitution? What can you say about such a government? That is the presence of the state right now, the present state of the state, and it is tyranny.

For example, famously now, the Internal Revenue Service under Lois Lerner. You may remember back in 2012, this came up. Lois Lerner refused tax-exempt status to conservative groups with names that were flagged with words in their title like Tea Party or Constitution or Liberty, right? We now know that Obama himself ordered that prior to the 2012 election, and there have been no consequences for that tyranny. Or another example, more contemporary, John Brennan, that pathetic former CIA director under Obama, thinks that the government should unleash its law enforcement agencies and intelligence community on what he calls a pro-Trump insurgency.

Oh dear, 75 million people who voted for Trump, which includes, of course, a laundry list with which he labels us, a laundry list of undefined smear names. But he also highlights even libertarians. Oh, he's just one of the criminal deep state operatives who are genuinely threatened in their power, privilege, and perks. They're threatened by the Constitution because they are unconstitutional. Or the thing that really turned the corner for me, the thing that woke me up, was listening to an interview with Madeline Albright some time ago, former Secretary of State under Obama.

And she thought that the biggest threat to America was not Russia or China or terrorist states in the Middle East, which had been kind of suggested by her interviewer. But she told her interviewer the greatest threat to America was gun owners, constitutionalists, and veterans in the United States. Oh, that was a cup of cold water for me, but a cup of cold water tossed in my face. It woke me up to the tyranny coming.

And of course, one of my favorites, and this is several examples from many, many, many, many, but one of my favorites in the oops, we let it slip category, a Spokane, Washington deputy, when asked by police, why police, excuse me, when he was asked why police now needed heavy duty military armored vehicles. Oh, your local police are now being militarized, dear listener, not only the militarization of local sheriffs and police, but also federal agencies. The IRS is militarized now. The Federal Drug Administration, what do they need tanks and armored vehicles and M-16s for?

Or the Environmental Protection Agency, what do they need M-16s and armored personnel carriers for? Oh, but this Spokane, Washington deputy, was asked why local police forces now needed heavy duty military armored vehicles. And he responded by saying, and I quote, we've got a lot of constitutionalists and a lot of people that stockpile weapons, unquote. In other words, the average American. And these, dear listener, are only a few samples, just a few samples of the overt threat that a return to the Constitution from the tyranny of the deep state poses to those with vested interests in running the country unaccountably to the people.

This is not an exaggeration, dear listener. And witness the recent presidential election. Exhibit A, the recent presidential election to tell us why we are under a tyranny. The Maricopa County recount has uncovered for us now unquestioned voter fraud in Arizona. That is why the Democrats are doing everything they can to stop that recount, including lawsuit after lawsuit.

The clear indication is that President Trump actually won the state of Arizona. The very same irregularities exist in Pennsylvania and Michigan and Wisconsin and Georgia. President Trump won unexpectedly in 2016, but the deep state was not going to allow that to happen in 2020. And it didn't. Did it?

Dear listener, the Joe Biden presidency is a complete, utter, transparent fraud. He is illegitimate. He has no right or authority to exercise power as president of a constitutional republic. We have every right to withdraw our consent to be governed by such naked tyranny as is resident in Joe Fraudden. Your franchise of power, that is, your sacred vote, has been stolen from you.

And if they did it once successfully, they will do it again and again and again. Your constitutional republic is dead if your franchise indeed is dead, if your vote no longer counts. And that is the case thus far. And that this is a sensitive point for the deep state is indicated by the hysterical labeling of any questioning of the election as treason. Can you believe that?

Even though elections have been questioned all through history, most recently in 2016 to Donald Trump, the Democrats were questioning his election, right? But no, no, no. Now this one with Joe Fraudden in office, if you question it, it's treason. Amen. I would say to that, amen.

It is treason of a sort under Othaliah in the Old Testament in 2 Kings. Othaliah was the queen who betrayed the line of Judah by slaughtering all of the sons of that line, except one who was sequestered away. And when he was restored, she cried treason, treason. And that was ironic too, since it was her who actually betrayed Israel. Well, that's going on in the deep state today.

There are Othaliahs all over the place. And so it is with our contemporary Othaliah, Nancy Pelosi, a betrayer, a traitor, who is at the forefront of the effort to protect and cover the theft of the 2020 election from Donald Trump. It is this Othaliah who has transformed our capital city, D.C., right, the District of Criminals, into a fortress such that the United States now looks like North Korea and is swiftly on its way to behaving like North Korea too. There is a great deal of evidence that the constitutional republic established by our founding fathers has in fact morphed into the deep state tyranny. Much, much evidence.

And we don't have time to go into all of it today. And don't scoff at the notion of a deep state either. The deep state I define as the well-funded bureaus, agencies, and departments of the federal government, which exercise the day-to-day operations of that government, but who are accountable to no one but themselves. And in fact, increasingly dictate to the shallow state, what I call the shallow state. That is those elected officials we put in office who ostensibly give the appearance that we live in a democracy.

But that's only in appearance. They come and go. The deep state remains and continues like a beast to serve not the people, but themselves. Gorging themselves on power and money and prestige at the expense of us, of we, the people. Well, dear listener, so far with this trajectory, we will bestow the blessings of liberty and prosperity upon no one, much less our posterity.

No liberty and prosperity for our posterity. If this keeps up, and if you cannot see this conspiracy, and I'm a conspiracy theorist as far as this goes, right? And I'm a conspiracy realist as far as this goes. And if you cannot see the conspiracy against the American people, against the American people, and a conspiracy is merely a plan. It's a plan known to some, but deliberately hidden from others, generally those who are being planned against.

A plan is just a, or a conspiracy is just a plan, right? Known to some, but deliberately hidden from others. And that's precisely what's going on with the deep state. And if you don't see it, then you're either consciously a participant in it, or else you are a naive, brainwashed Pollyanna who's whistling his way through the woods. Is this okay with you, dear listener?

Is this okay with you? We are charged, we are obliged under the civil covenant to fulfill all of the terms of a covenant, one of which is covenant succession. That is ensuring that we pass along to our posterity, to our children, a covenant that is fully functional and intact. What is it exactly, dear listener, that you think you will bequeathed to your children under the civil covenant? The particular expression of that covenant is given to us in perhaps the most profound system of liberty ever devised providentially, that is the constitution of the United States of America.

But so many of us seem to be sleepwalking through these days or slough off our responsibility to subsequent generations, like Hezekiah, King Hezekiah, who, when Isaiah told him that the next generation would be taken into slavery, said, the word of the Lord that you have spoken is good. For he thought, why not if there will be peace and security in my days? Unquote. Oh, that's America today for so many Americans. If there will be peace and prosperity for me in my day, then so much for posterity and the devil take the hindmost.

Oh, Groucho Marx put it very succinctly. He said, why should I care about posterity? What's posterity ever done for me? That's hubris, but it gets at the heart of the attitude of so many today. We are at a crucial juncture in the history of our constitutional republic, dear listener.

It may already be too late. There may yet be time, too. We don't know. We are in what one of my professors calls the deep, dark tunnel of chaos. We're in the middle of it.

We don't know what's going to come out the other end of that tunnel, but it is time to fight on every front for it. On it depends liberty and slavery. George Washington said to his troops in the dark days of the revolution, and we are in those dark days ourselves, but he said to his troops, the hour is fast approaching on which the honor and success of this army and the safety of our bleeding country depend. Remember, officers and soldiers, that you are free men fighting for the blessings of liberty, that slavery will be your portion and that of your posterity if you do not acquit yourselves like men, unquote.

Inspiring words from George Washington. Someone once said, events overtake us slowly at first and then suddenly. Oh, we are in that sudden phase right now. Wake up, dear listener. Posterity remembers those who knew the days in which they lived and acted, but history also forgets those who did nothing or shirked their responsibilities or just tried to keep their heads down and not be noticed.

Oh, you will be consumed, dear listener, if you do not stand and fight. We are in those days. We are at that juncture of history. Sam Adams said, and I agree with him, if you love wealth, and many think that they're going to get by or that they're going to make something of this. If you love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace.

We ask not your counsels or your arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your change set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen, unquote. Oh, so is the attitude of Sam Adams. So is my attitude towards those who will not stand and fight who will not ensure to the best of their powers and abilities that we do indeed retain the benefits of liberty to ourselves and to our posterity.

That is what is at stake in this day and time, dear listener. Unquit yourselves like men and stand and make sure you pass on as a heritage to your children the benefits of liberty. This has been Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church. We meet for holy worship on Sunday at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard, and you can call us for more information and feedback at area code 208-523-0196. 208-523-0196.