Trinity Baptist Church

 

Today's message is entitled "Restoring America's Faith", the fifth in our series on America In Crisis. I believe that America needs her faith restored. I hear people talking on television, I read editorials in the newspaper and in the news magazines and everywhere I see cynicism and pessimism. 

 

America used to be an optimistic nation and we ought to be an optimistic nation because God has promised to bless us if we serve Him. The Bible says, "Blessed is the nation who's God is the Lord." We have been reminded that “Righteousness exalts a nation. . .”. We have seen from God’s word that When a nations enjoys the leadership of goldy, righteous people, the nation is blessed. 

 

I would say to you there is much reason for God’s people to be hopeful. Next week I will be reminding us of the faithfulness of America’s God. 

 

And yet it seems we have turned into a cynical nation. A nation that is many times negative toward our leaders, negative toward our future, negative toward our present situation. No matter how much God blesses us, no matter how much God is doing, no matter how much we have, no matter how much prosperity we are given, it just seems that our faith is still shattered.  The more we have, the more we want. The more we have the more we desire. It seems that we are never satisfied. 

 

And I believe the reason for that is that our faith has been shattered and the faith of America must be restored. I believe that the hope of America is the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

 

Now I am not talking about just the church as an organization, but the church as a living organism. The church filled with the Holy Spirit of God, the church that is the mighty army of God, the church filled with the Spirit on mission for Jesus Christ is the only thing that can restore America's faith in God and America's faith in itself. 

 

And I believe that what America needs is a great, spiritual awakening today. And we have never needed it more than we do in this present hour. Yet I do not see spiritual awakening on the horizon, but we pray for it, we hope for it, we long for it. America's faith must be restored when America's church is restored to the place that it once had in American life. Many of you are being faithful to pray daily for America in the days leading up to the election. Forty days of prayer based upon God’s promise to hear from Heaven when His people pray, confess repent and turn from sin.

 

Now, in the book of Nehemiah, you find Israel in this kind of situation exactly. God had sent Nehemiah back to the land of Israel after 70 years of captivity to literally rebuild the nation of Israel. His first task was to rebuild the walls around the city that had been broken down. We have some walls in America that have been broken down; the wall of decency has been broken down. All you have to do is listen to the dialogue even on network television and you will see the wall of decency has been broken down. 

 

Sins that use to slink down the back alley are paraded in full view for family viewing on television so that even the family cannot watch many of the television shows that are put before them by the television networks during family viewing time. Sins like homosexuality, adultery, and many other kinds of sins are paraded in prime time viewing for the eyes of children and young families to see. Walls of decency have been broken down and need to be restored and repaired.

 

The walls of morality have been broken down. Literally, the gays parade down the street, parading sin and celebrating their sin publicly and openly when only 20 or 25 years ago they would have never done so, in fact, they would have died of embarrassment had their sin been made known. The walls of decency need to be restored. 

 

The walls of orthodoxy have been broken down. Do you realize that in the main line denominations that most of the main line denominations have departed from the faith? They have departed from the belief in the inerrancy and the infallibility of the Word of God. 

 

And when you depart from the infallibility of the Word of God, when you say that part of the Word of God is not inspired then all the Word of God becomes corrupt. And yet the Bible says the Word of God is incorruptible, that it fades not away. That the Word of God is like the seed of God, it is like God Himself. That God has exalted His Word above His name. My friend that is a wall that needs to be rebuilt.

 

 

 

So Nehemiah came back and he rebuilt the wall and he was successful. The people began to rebuild their houses and they built fine houses. And they began to rebuild their families, but there was one thing that had not been rebuilt, and that was the house of God. They had rebuilt other things but the house of God had not been restored. 

 

So notice what the Bible says in Nehemiah 10:35-39

 

I want you to notice that last phrase, "and we will not forsake the house of our God." 

 

Now, America's faith has been shaken because the house of God has been forsaken. It has literally been forsaken in the most religious country on the face of the earth, in a nation where over 90% of the people say they believe in God. But only 1/3 of them will be in the house of God on Sunday morning, less than 1/3. In this very city only a very small percentage compared to the vast membership of our churches will be in the house of God on Sunday morning. The house of God has been forsaken.

 

Why has the house of God been forsaken? Or perhaps a better question is, “How do we fix it?” How do we restore our faith?

 

I. RESTORE THE SOVEREIGN POWER OF THE CHURCH

 

Now notice first of all, if we are to restore our faith, then we must restore the sovereign power of the church. 

 

 

 

Nehemiah 9:1-3

 

They worshipped, they confessed part of the day it says, they fasted part of the day and another fourth of the day they worshipped the Lord their God. They had an all day service and I don't read any thing here about the Baptists trying to beat the Methodists to the cafeteria! They came to meet with God because they knew the power of God was not upon them. They knew that something was lacking. They knew that something was missing. 

 

And I want to tell you; something is missing in the average church, something is missing in the modern church in America and that something is the sovereign power of the living God. God is not dead but the church is dead in many places, in many instances in our land.   And believers are dead toward God in many places of our land. 

 

Now these folks had been busy; hard at work. They had built the walls around the city as God had commanded but something was missing in their lives. 

 

That says to us it is possible to do the work of the Lord without the Lord of the work. It is possible to go through the motions of religion, to go through the motions of Sunday morning, to go through all of the order of service and not have God upon it. The Bible says that there are a people who have a form of religion but they deny the power thereof. And that is what is happening on this Sunday morning in most places, I say MOST places, across this land today.

 

 

 

God said to the people in Isaiah's day, I am sick of your feast, I am sick of your fast and I am sick of your worship days because they are nothing but a form, nothing but a practice you go through, they are nothing but a ritual and God says they mean nothing to Me. We must have the power of a sovereign God restored.

 

And I want you to see how God's power was restored to them. 

 

First of all, notice, that there was consecration. 

 

Verse 2 - "They separated themselves from all strangers"

 

Now the word consecration means to set apart. It means to set apart for a special purpose. In the Bible you will find that certain vessels were consecrated. They were set apart. Certain animals were consecrated, they were set apart. Certain places were consecrated, they were declared for the purpose of God and God alone. 

 

Now in the New Testament, we know that it is believers who are the vessels of God, believers are the sacrifices of God and we are set apart for God. In I Corinthians 6 we read "what know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which you have of God, that you are not your own, for you are bought with a price." 

 

So we are to be set apart for God. So they separated themselves from the strangers of the land. And they consecrated themselves to the service of almighty God. 

 

And one of the problems today and the reason the power of God is not upon the church is that the church looks so much like the world, that the people in the world cannot tell the difference in the way they live and the way the people in the church live! And there is no separation. The church has lost its witness because we are not set apart for God. 

 

You don't hear much preaching on separation. Every thing you hear today is on being ecumenical, coming together, being user friendly, be as much like the world as possible, make them feel comfortable, make them feel at ease. 

 

My friend, there has to be a difference between a believer and a non-believer that Jesus Christ makes. There is an undeniable difference when Jesus Christ is in your life. It doesn't make you mean, it doesn't make you hard to get along with, it doesn't make you full of pride or holier than thou or self-righteous, it doesn’t mean we don’t welcome folks to church, but it is to make you holy.

 

And I want you to notice that part of this was that they separated themselves. They did this through contrition. It says (verse 1) the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, sackcloth and dust on their heads. All of those are symbols of their deep contrition. These are people who are broken before God. They are in deep mourning and contrition. 

 

Do you remember the story in the New Testament when Jesus and Peter and James and John were on the mountaintop? And while they were on the mountaintop in a glorious experience and Jesus was transfigured that in the valley below the other disciples were there waiting. 

And while they were waiting a father brought his son who was possessed with the demon. And he brought him to the disciples to cast out the demon and they could not. And Jesus came back down from the mountain and they came to Jesus and the disciples said, master the father brought this boy to us; he is possessed of the devil. And we tried to cast out the devil but we could not, why? 

 

And Jesus said, this kind goeth not forth but by prayer and fasting. There are just some things that are so entrenched, some things the devil has his hold on in such a way that it takes more than just ordinary prayer, it takes more than the ordinary spiritual concerns. It takes the united, undivided, spiritual concern of the church, contrition before God shown by fasting. 

 

They showed it with their sackclothes and their ashes thrown upon them. And also through prayer. We know prayer changes things, that prayer changes us. 

 

Prayer can change America. God says if my people who are called by name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face, then I will hear from heaven. We need the sovereign power of the church restored.

 

Many times in America I think the world is saying, we brought our needs to you and you could not help us because we didn't have the power. We came to your church, we came to your meeting but it was dead, it was lifeless, it was a ritual, it was a form and nothing happened, because this kind goeth not forth but by prayer and fasting. 

 

 

 

In case you don't know it, wake up and look around you and you will see that you are living in a demon-possessed society.  The Bible says in the last days there will come seducing spirits and doctrines of demons. And they are work. They are at work when the kids go back to school; they are at work when you go to work every day. They are at work in the music we listen to, they are at work in the magazines we read, they are at work in the newscasts, they are at work in the election, they are at work everywhere. They are at work in politics, they are at work in government and they want to bring this country down. 

 

And if they bring the church down, they will bring this country down. Did you ever think some of you who are my age twenty years ago or thirty years ago that you would see the day when a church, a main denominational church would ordain homosexuals to the ministry? 

 

God loves the gay community. In fact, that subject is of primary concern to me with this election. I’ll be preaching on that subject in a couple of weeks. But listen: gays need to repent and be saved; they don't need to be placed in the pulpit. They need to be born again.

 

We must see contrition if America’s faith will be restored.

 

And notice they restored the power through confession. Again in verse 2, "the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers and stood and confessed their sins." These were the people of God who confessed their sin. 

 

Some of you walked the aisle forty years ago and you haven't walked it since and you don't think you need to walk it, but my friend you do! One reason sinners don't walk it is that you never walk it! Many of you today, need to walk it and get on your knees and confess to God your heart is cold. You need to confess you haven't won a soul to Christ in many, many years. You need to walk it and confess to God that you are doing nothing for the glory of God. You need to walk it and confess you have had a wrong spirit, you have had a grudge, and you have had an unforgiveness in your heart, that you gossip and lie. 

 

They confessed their sins.

 

We can talk about the adulterers, homosexuals, the murderers, the liars, but the apostle Paul talks about those who have malice, bitterness, and anger in their heart in the same breath. They confessed their sins. And there will be no power in God's church until the church is clean, the spirit of God will not fill a dirty vessel. There was confession.

 

And last of all, there is commitment. Notice the latter part of this verse 3, "they stood up in their place and read in the book of the law of the Lord their God." That is they preached the Word of God

 

 fourth part of the day they listened to the preaching of the Word of God, and another fourth part of the day, they confessed their sin and then they worshipped the Lord their God. Do you know what worship is? It is surrender. Worship is not singing, it is not preaching, it is not teaching, worship is surrender of your heart and life to God. It is submitting to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. That is what worship is. 

And when you refuse to express your worship, you are refusing to submit to the Lordship of God. And you are saying I refuse to acknowledge Him, I refuse to give myself to Him. I have come to day with a hard heart and I am not going to let anything affect me, I am not going to let anything change me. I am going to be resistant to the songs; I am going to be resistant to the message. I am going to resist the Spirit of God. 

 

Worship is being sensitive to the Spirit of God, surrendering to the Spirit of God, being open to the Spirit of God. They worshipped the Lord their God. And this is significant because all of this time they had not worshipped God. They had been building the wall, they had been busy, they had been working, and they had been doing all these things.

 

But I want to tell you friend, when the sovereign power of the church is restored it will do more for America than all the political activism that the church could ever do. And I am for political activism; I am for every Christian voting.

 

And I think it is a shame before God that millions of Christian do not vote because Christians can turn the tide in election. 

 

And it is also a shame before God that many of His people will vote for candidates who will appoint supreme court justices who are going to continue the status quo on abortion, who are going to continue the status quo on the expression of God in public life, who are going to continue the status quo of no prayer in the school. 

 

 

One of the most important tasks our president has is the appointment of judges. 

 

And I tell you, in the next four years there is the probability of at least two justices being replaced. And there is only one candidate that will even consider putting justices on that court who agree with the principles of the Word of God! 

 

And if you want things changed and you want America to be changed you better go and vote your convictions. I will not tell you how to vote but you better vote your conviction, you better vote the principles of the Word of God, if you want a change. Now, if you are happy with all the millions of abortions in America, if you are happy with no prayer in public life, if you are happy with no expression of God, if you are happy gay marriages, then vote for a change! Because that is what you will get.

 

 

Number two, not only did they restore the sovereign power, but then we must restore the scriptural provision of the church. 

 

I don’t know who calculates such statistics, but someone has deduced that Americans spend more chewing gum than they do working for the Lord. That’s a shame. It is tragic that 20% of the people give 80% of the money in the average church. It is tragic that so few people are obedient to God in bringing the firstfruits. 

 

 

 

Notice the pattern here in Nehemiah 10:35: 

 

They said, we are going to bring the firstfruits of our ground, why? They had not tithed in 70 years. And many of them hadn't tithed for many years before that. And they went into captivity and they had 70 years to think about it. So they come back that they said, we are going to bring the firstfruits of our ground, trees, sons, cattle, herds, flocks, dough, offerings, wine, oil, that the Levite, that is the priests, who minister in the temple, might have tithes in all the cities of our tillage. The tithe means the tenth part. That is the beginning place for the child of God, not the ending but the beginning place. 

 

That is the command of God all through the Scripture. It began before the law. You say, well I don't want to be under the law so I will not tithe; it is not under the law. Tithing is before the law. 

 

Tithing began with Jacob before the law ever started. Tithing actually started before that, tithing began with Abraham before Moses ever lived. God commanded tithing and before Moses ever lived and before Jesus was born, Abraham paid tithes to Melchezidech who was the high priest forever. It says the same thing about Jesus who is the high priest forever, who ever liveth who makes intercession for us. That is the command given.

 

Then the commitment of giving, "they entered into a curse and into an oath to walk in God's law, which was given by Moses”. All of these are plural pronouns, we, they, them, and us. They did this as a people. We can do so much more together than any one of us can do by ourselves. 

 

That is the genius of the church of the Lord Jesus, the ecclesia. The word ecclesia, church, means the called out ones, it means an assembling, a group. 

 

So they, plural, entered into an oath and a curse. Why a curse? Because there was a curse if you don't tithe, that is in Malachi 3:10-13. The curse says, God says, I will not protect your crops, I will not protect your living, and I will not protect your house. He said, I will not rebuke the devourer. It is not a curse that God puts on you, it is a curse you put on your self through disobedience. When you don't tithe, you only hurt yourself.

 

Ever so often I hear about someone leaving their church because the preacher preaches on money. You need to understand: until an individual learns the joy of giving they will never grow in the Christian life. And if they go to a church that never preaches on it, they will never learn it. And if they never learn it, they will never walk in the principle of God's prosperity. And they will be poorer for it. They will never learn to live by faith. It was a curse and it was an oath. They made a promise that they would do it.

 

And then the consequences of giving. I have mentioned several this morning, giving makes you more like God because God is the greatest giver of all, John 3:16, God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. When you give, God sees His reflection in you. He sees His Son in you when you give.  

 

Giving draws you closer to God, Matthew 6:21.   Jesus said, where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. 

So He says, when you give and you put your treasure in heaven that is where your heart will be. It will be in heaven. If you give to a boat, your heart will be in that boat, you can't wait to get on the lake. When you give to a new car or a truck, your heart is in that car or truck. You want to get out there and try it out. When you give to God, your heart is in heaven and you want to see people go there.

 

 Now this is the scriptural provision of the church. It was the provision of the priests and Levites in the Old Testament; it is still the provision of the church in the New Testament. It is the way God finances His work. He doesn't finance His work through bake sales and raffles and bingo games, He finances His work through a plan and that is the giving of His people. 

 

Giving increases your faith. In Malachi 3:10 is the only text in the Bible where God says you can prove He exists. He says, "bring all the tithe in to the store house and prove me now, herewith says the Lord of Hosts. If I will not open the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing so great there will not be room enough to receive it."

 

God wants to pour out that blessing on you, on your family, on our job, on your church, on your life, on our nation. Think what would happen in America if the church had as much money as Budweiser to advertise on TV. What would happen if the true church had enough money to put up the billboards that the world has to put up? 

 

My friend, it is sitting right out here before me, the money is out here and it is out in front of every preacher this morning across this land. 

It is in the bank, it is in the billfolds of God's people, it is in their checking accounts. The average church, all the people could be on welfare, and if they tithed, the church would have more money than it has right now to run the church. 

 

We have over 1,000 members if all of them tithed, they could all be on welfare, and our budget would still be three times what it is now. Think about that!

 

Next week we will have the privilege of receiving our annual Harvest Offering. The Finance Committee has challenged us to Double Our Tithes for that day. It will be a good time for you to give some thought to your giving habits; how much you give as a percentage of your income; Perhaps tithe for the very first time and start it by doubling or catching up. 

 

Giving is an investment in the future. Jesus said, lay up treasures in heaven where they will meet you someday, where they will be there for you someday, Matthew 6:19-20. 

 

Giving brings joy in living. In Acts 20:35 Jesus said it is more blessed to give than to receive. And that word blessed means happy. I have never seen a miser who is happy. Did you know the word miserable comes from the word "miser"? 

 

And people who hoard their wealth are never happy people. Happy people are those who give. Happy people are those who share. People whom give never mind the preacher preaching on giving. They are the ones who are saying amen, get with it, and preach on!

 

Deuteronomy 14:23 "Bring this tithe to the place the LORD your God chooses for his name to be honored, and eat it there in his presence. This applies to your tithes of grain, new wine, olive oil, and the firstborn males of your flocks and herds. The purpose of tithing is to teach you always to fear the LORD your God."

 

Now fear there means trust, reverence, acknowledge. The purpose of tithing is to cause you to always acknowledge the Lord your God as the giver of all things.

 

 

Number three; if we are to restore faith to America, we must restore the spiritual priority of the church. 

 

They said, "and we will not forsake (neglect) the house of our God". 

 

 Are you neglecting the house of God today? Are you neglecting the house of God by your poor attendance, are you neglecting the house of God by lack of prayer, are you neglecting the house of God by lack of identification. The house of God has been forsaken by many today in America. We must restore the spiritual priority of the church. 

 

First of all, they neglected the worship of God. The spiritual priority of the church is first to worship God. That is where we get our energy; that is where we get our devotion; that is where we get our power; that is where we get our joy. 

 

 

That is where we get our strength. The joy of the Lord is our strength and that comes from when we surrender and worship. 

 

That is why church attendance is so important. You are not going to find a soul winner who stays home from church or comes to church once a month. I promise you, if you are coming to church once a month, you are not a soul winner and you are not growing in grace.

 

Secondly, they neglected the warfare of God.

 

The warfare expresses itself in the culture war that we see today, between light and darkness, between right and left. But the real warfare is between God and Satan, between that which we cannot see. We war not against flesh and blood, not democrat verses republican, but against principalities and powers and against the rulers of darkness and against spiritual wickedness in high places. And we must do spiritual battle. 

 

They neglected the work of God. Even though they rebuilt the walls, they were not doing the real work of God, the real ministry of God. And the real work of God is winning souls to faith in Jesus Christ. No matter how beautiful the buildings, and no matter how organized the Sunday School, and no matter how fine the sermons, and no matter how beautifully the choir sings unless a church is winning people to Jesus Christ it is not taking care of the priority that God has given us to do and that is to win people to faith in the Lord.