Let us read again in Proverbs chapter 14. Proverbs chapter 14 and verse 34. Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. This verse tells us what made Britain great. Righteousness. Righteousness exalted a nation. There has been a lot of debate over recent weeks and months, over what it is that has made Britain great, what it is that is true Britishness. And even on Friday, our Prime Minister Tony Blair said this, tolerance was what made Britain When it comes to our essential values, belief in democracy, the rule of law, tolerance, equal treatment for all, respect for this country and its shared heritage, then that is where we come together. It is what we hold in common. We have our Prime Minister's view of what makes Britain great, our essential values, he called them. He spoke of a belief in democracy. Everyone values democracy, but a democracy can only be as good as the people in the country the Democrats who vote and the Democrats who are voted in. Iraq and Afghanistan are showing us the poverty of democracy where that is lacking. The rule of law, he said, but what law? Whose law? Man's law? The majority's view of law? Europe's view of law? Sharia law? Tolerance, we're told, was what made Britain. Tolerance, was it, that sent our troops into the First and Second World War? Was that what made them sacrifice their lives? by the hundred of thousands, forward, over the trenches, for tolerance? Never. And what does tolerance mean? Does it mean, as it would appear to mean, to people like Mr Blair, no criticism of wrongdoers or wrongdoing or evil? Are there no limits to tolerance? Are we to tolerate Pedophiles? Are we to tolerate all kinds of evil? Is that what makes a nation great? Equal treatment for all, he tells us, is one of our essential values. Does that mean that evangelical Christians are going to get the same space in the media and the same treatment in Parliament as Sodomites? Does that mean that equal treatment before the law is going to be afforded to the unborn infants? Respect for this country and its shared heritage? Well, what have we inherited? We've inherited a glorious heritage, a heritage of righteousness as defined by the Bible. A heritage which is being squandered and frittered away. What is it that made Britain great? This and this alone. Righteousness exalted a nation. What does this mean, righteousness? I'd like to mention six features of righteousness that exalts a nation. First of all, the Word of God. That is what put the great into Great Britain. That our people can point to this book and say of it in a way they can say of no other book, this and this alone is the Word of God. The inerrant the infallible, the inspired, and the all-sufficient Word of God. That this is like no other book in the whole world. That it puts every other so-called holy scripture in the shade and renders them irrelevant and unnecessary. This is the book that has shaped our nation its language, its character, its morals. This is the book that has revealed to generation after generation the character of the true God, his attributes, his nature, his mighty acts in history, his creative power, his providential power, and his saving power, and his judging power. This is the book that is revealed to us what God requires. His law that is defined for generation after generation. What is the law of God? And what should be the law of our land? It has held forth these ten commandments to every generation and said, this is the way, walk ye in it. Here is true righteousness. Here is the behaviour that conforms to God's standard. And not only this is God's law, but also in this book we have how disobedience to it should be judged. Rules about legal process and the penalties that should fall on those who transgress it. This is what made Britain great. The Word of God, not the Quran, not any other so-called holy scriptures, not philosophy, not ideology, but Genesis to Revelation. Here we have the revelation of the righteousness of God. But not only the Word of God, The fear of God. What is the fear of God? The fear of God used to characterise our society. Fundamentally, it is a knowledge, an awareness that the eye of God is upon me at all times. Were you not taught that from your youngest years? God is watching. God is seeing. and that same eye that is seeing you, you are going to have to look into that same eye one day and give an account for your actions. Were we not told as we grew up and many generations before us, you can do things that no one else in the world will see, but God sees and God records and God notes and God will call to account Did that not make a huge difference to people's lives? Did that not make them try to live in accordance with the righteousness of God? The fear of God is also a knowledge that disobedience will bring punishment often in this world and certainly in the world to come. The fear of God involved a 100% belief in hell as a place A perpetual, prolonged, eternal, painful punishment as the end for all who live contrary to the righteousness of God revealed in this book. Hell was in front of our people. It was in their consciousness. It modified behavior. It restrained sin. It inculcated a fear. of the God who could send them, both body and soul, to hell. And the fear of God also meant a knock-on effect in society in that people also feared those who represented God in society. Those whom God appointed to represent Him as their leaders queens, kings, politicians, parents, teachers, policemen. There was that widespread consciousness that these people were not self-appointed, but God's appointed officers, his representatives. And to disrespect and dishonour, such was also to do the same to God. How can we remove the fear of God? How can we remove the fear of hell and expect respect to still pervade our society? It just makes everyone else just like me. What right have they got? What right has my parent got? What right has my king got? My queen got? My prime minister? My president? What right has anyone got to tell me what to do? Every man does what's right in their own eyes when there's no king in Israel, no authority, no God-appointed officers in the state, in the family, and in the church. The fear of God made Britain great. But also, thirdly, the image of God, the widespread belief that we were not evolved but created in the image of God. That each one of us were not the result of a big bang and some big luck, but that we were the work of the hands and the mind of a wise God. How can we expect people to be different from animals when they're told that all they are is a higher species of animal, that they are made in the image of monkeys and apes and gorillas. Little wonder, all around us we see the law of the jungle. What a difference it makes to society, to people, when they're told you're made in the image of God and so is everyone. High and low, rich and poor, clever not so clever, black and white, free and slave, rich and poor, able and disabled, sick and healthy, everyone bearing the infant of their Creator. We have that even here in verse 31. He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his maker. The knowledge that in all our dealings we are dealing with people who bear the image of God. and that to mistreat them is to also show your view of God. He that oppresses the poor reproacheth his maker. This widespread belief in the image of God created to be like God, created to treat others as God would treat them. and to treat others as image bearers of the Most High. Knowing we would be called to account by that same God whose very image is before us in the people we deal with in our daily lives. What a difference that makes. Here is the only foundation for equality before the law. and fairness and justice for all. That all men and women, boys and girls are made in the image of God. Fourthly, there is the Church of God. The Church of God. It had such a great role in making known the righteousness that exalts a nation. In manifesting that righteousness that exalts a nation, and in calling that nation to the righteousness which alone would make it great. It's no coincidence that the greatness of Britain began with the Reformation, and as more and more the true Christianity spread throughout our land and our nation, the more prosperous it became, the more industrious, the more influential, The Church of God, what a vital cog it was in the great, that went into Great Britain. What did that church offer? Worship. That reminder of the spiritual part of man. How many there are in our society, how many children there are, they don't even know they've got a soul. They've no idea that there's a spiritual part to them. Here was the church's role to remind, to teach the soul, to teach people to care for their souls, to remind them that they had that spiritual part to them which no amount of money and possessions and achievement could satisfy. Also to remind them of the infinite and the eternal, that there was another dimension to this time and place, an infinite and eternal dimension. The church also had the role in nourishing the soul and in guiding souls who were in darkness. It was a place of stability and steadiness in the midst of decay and change and modernisation and revolution. The church of God had such a vital role in making Britain great. And then of course, there is the day of God. That day which gave life rhythm, which gave life a pattern. That day when the mind and the body was rested and refreshed and the soul was exercised in preparing for eternity. Oh, how much righteousness did the day of God, the Sabbath day, bring into our nation. How blessed that day was in spreading righteousness, in helping people realize how far short they fell of it, how much forgiveness they needed for that, and where they could find mercy for their sins, and where they could find power to live more righteously. The Sabbath day gave that righteousness a place in people's thoughts and minds. Nowadays probably people most hardly know what righteousness means if they've ever heard of it. And then of course there is the gospel of God. The gospel of God. We're told in Romans chapter 1 about this righteousness because righteousness is not only the standards God requires, but the salvation He provides. In Romans chapter 1, we read in verse 17 about the power of the gospel, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed. Martin Luther, for many years, read that verse as a verse of condemnation. All he saw in the Bible was this all condemning righteousness. This high, this holy, this heavenly standard that he could never attain to. That he could never reach no matter how many times he bled his knees going up the steps of this chapel and that chapel. No matter how many times he flogged his back with whips. No matter how many sackcloth habits he put on, he couldn't attain that righteousness. No matter how hard he thought, no matter how hard he worked, it always remained out there, way beyond his reach. And then one day this verse came to him in all its truth and saving power, when he saw that the righteousness of God revealed in the Gospel, wasn't something to condemn, but to save. He saw that in Christ, there was righteousness, a holy life provided for his unholy life, a life that suffered the penalty of unrighteousness to cover his unrighteousness. And he saw that in the gospel, the righteousness of God, a divine righteousness, a holy righteousness, A perfect righteousness was revealed and offered in Jesus Christ. And here was His salvation. Know how many sinners have followed Him in our own nation. How many sinners have found that righteousness to exalt them. To lift them up from despair and darkness and hopelessness and helplessness. When they came to see that the righteousness they were aspiring to, the standard of living they were aiming at, and rightly so, they could never actually attain, but that it was actually provided in Christ perfectly for them. The Gospel of God. This is what exalted our nation above all. Yes, the word of God. Yes, the fear of God. Yes, the image of God. Yes, the church of God. Yes, the day of God. But above all, the gospel of God, which revealed the righteousness of Christ. This is what's lifted our nation from degradation, from superstition, from darkness, from false religion and into light. And what are we doing? We're throwing it away, frittering it away, sidelining it and marginalising it. And what's happening? Well, we'll see what's happening in a minute. The Gospel of God is what? It's the Gospel of a God overflowing with love for sinners, who are overflowing with hatred. No, it's more than that. The gospel of God is the gospel, the good news about a God who is overflowing with love for the very people who are overflowing with hate towards Him. And He demonstrates that overflowing love by sending His Son. He demonstrates that by His Son dying on the cross. He demonstrates that by His Spirit coming to live in the hearts of dirty souls. God the Father says here in His love I send my Son. God the Son says here in His love as He lays down His life God the Holy Spirit says here in his love as he comes, enters that soul, this Holy Spirit into an unholy soul and loves it into life, loves it so much that he gives it faith. God so loved the world he gave his Son, the Son so loved the world he gave his life, the Spirit so loved the world that he gave his own presence to those The Father chose and the Son died for. Herein is love. Herein is love. Is this not what exalts, what raises, what elevates? You read the history of our country. You read about pre-Reformation times. Read about the darkness, the persecution, the murder, The barbarism, the superstition, the ignorance. It's frightening. And then the gospel sun rose through the Reformation. What transformation came across our land. It freed people. It freed them from superstition. It freed them from ignorance. It freed them from clerical tyranny. It freed them from the devil. It freed them from sin. It freed them to be true men and women of God. Living before God, answerable only to God. It freed their consciences. It freed their wills. It freed their minds. It freed their bodies. Oh, what freedom! What God-exalting freedom it was! Righteousness alone exalts a nation. This is what made Britain great. What's happening? We're told here that sin is a reproach to any people. That word reproach means brings down before others. Righteousness raises, sin brings down in shame and embarrassment and confusion. Who can deny that this is what we are seeing all around us? Our nation is being degraded and demoralised and depraved as the Gospel leaves and as the Gospel is marginalised. As righteousness is despised and mocked and legislated against. You look through the history of the world You look at great empires and what made them eventually fall. It wasn't primarily military prowess of other nations. No. That might have been the final blow. But great empires usually imploded. They destroyed themselves. Look at Egypt. Look at Israel. Look at Babylon. Look at Medo-Persia, look at Greece, look at the Roman Empire. Go through all history and you'll see these mighty nations, these great powers. And what eventually hollowed them out was unrighteousness that depraved and degraded and weakened them until for other nations they became a walkover. Sin is a reproach to any people. We're not special. We are any people. We have no divine right to be treated any differently from any other nation. Sin is a reproach to any people, including ourselves. Sin is bringing us down. What has made Britain great? We've seen that. What is making Britain fall? What's bringing us down? Well, when Tony Blair came into power we were told about all the things that New Labour were going to do. This isn't political. The Conservatives, the SNP, the Liberal Democrats, nobody's offering any alternative. Nobody's offering any alternative moral or spiritual vision. Everyone's the same. This isn't party political. This is cross-party. They're truly bipartisan on this. What have New Labour given us? They've given us plenty of new things. There's no question about that. What have they given us new? They've given us sodomite marriage. and sodomite adoption. That's new. They've taken away the law that banned the promotion of sodomy in schools. That's new. They've stopped Christian unions being able to preach the gospel and hold out traditional marriage and morality as the right way to live. Ask the students in Edinburgh who've been banned and their bank accounts frozen. Ask the students in Exeter and in Birmingham, whose Christian unions have been banned and their bank accounts frozen because they will not embrace equal opportunity legislation. That's new. What else have we got new? What about Harry Hammond, the preacher, 80-odd years old, who was prosecuted for wearing a sandwich board that simply said stop immorality, stop sodomy, a criminal offence, they died before he was able to serve his sentence. That's new. Preachers being prosecuted for telling the truth, that's new. Hate crime legislation, that's new. Parents being forbidden from disciplining their children in a biblical way, that's new. Firemen, disciplined, demoted and punished for refusing to attend a march of sodomites, that's new. 50% of children now growing up without fathers, that's new. Mass murderers in government in Northern Ireland, unpunished, that's new. Hospitals removing Bibles from bedsides, that's new. A mosque built to hold 70,000 people in London, that's new. Oh yes, new labour have given us many new things. New sins, new unrighteousness. And it's a reproach and an embarrassment and a disgrace to our nation who cannot but hide their head in shame Who's proud to be British today if that's what defines Britishness? How hard it would be to go to war to defend your country today because what's left to defend that's worthwhile? When we've been hollowed out, when all that we count dear is now despised and mocked and legislated against. We hear a lot about Blair's legacy. What's his legacy? He wants to leave behind a mark on our culture, on our civilisation, on our country. He wants to be remembered. What will he be remembered for? But what will you remember him for? And his government? More crime. More violence. more muggings, more thefts, more murders, more child abductions, more alcoholism, more drug abuse, more gambling, more greed, more sex education, more fornication, more adultery, more perversion, more teenage pregnancies, more abortions, 550 every single day of life. 550 every day of life. 550 today, 550 tomorrow, 550 the next day. What will we remember him for? We'll remember him for more pornography, more blasphemy, more cursing, more profanity, filling our televisions and our newspapers and our magazines and our newsstands. More corruption, more bribery. We'll remember him for more Sabbath desecration. We'll remember him for the promotion of more false religions in Britain than ever before. What a legacy. A reproach to any nation. Are we not embarrassed? Are we not feeling degraded? Have we become totally insensitive to all that is going on around us? Do these things not matter anymore? What must we do? Surely, first and foremost, we must crawl in the dust before God. Do we really think these things can go on and on and on and on and nothing ever happen? Ask Israel. Ask Babylon. Ask Greece. Ask Rome. If nations can continue in this course, untouched, unjudged and unpunished, Oh, judgment is coming, friends. It's time for intercession. It's time for prayer. It's time for people to stand in the gap and to plead with God, to hold back His anger, to give more space and more time to repent. But surely it's also time for Christians, for ministers and individuals to stand up And to say to our Queen and our Prime Minister and our First Minister, to our judges, to our editors, those in charge of programming, you are degrading us, you are demoralising us, you are depraving us, you are utterly destroying us as a nation. You must stop. This is wickedness. We are going further and further into the dirt and the mud and the slime and the filth of sin. Every single day we are embarrassed to be called British, embarrassed to be called Scottish, to be associated with the vile deeds that are coming out of the Scottish Parliament. In the same place that such righteousness used to be preached and told to all our people, Edinburgh, the great centre of Protestantism and Reformation theology, Now a scent of an utter sodomy, wickedness and perversion. And is it not a time to seek personal safety? If judgment is coming and judgment cannot be stopped, what about you? How are you going to avoid being swept away in the tide? In God's wrath? In God's judgment? Who are you going to run to? Have you got any guarantee of safety? What's going to protect you from being corrupted? Some of you already are. You're laughing in your hearts at these things. You're saying this is utterly irrelevant, this is nonsense. And you just reveal your own depravity and your own insensitivity and your own willingness to embrace these things. Look at yourselves. See how far you've fallen from your fathers and your mothers and your grandmothers and your grandfathers. Who wouldn't have tolerated these things for a second? And you laugh and you snicker and you think, fuck, let's get out of here and away from this rubbish. This is destroying us and it's destroying you and it will bring you down to hell unless you learn to hate it and oppose it and fight against it. Because you're going to drown with everybody else if you don't. Oh friends let us awake. We've been stupefied. We've been made drunk with the immorality of our own day. So that we can now live with it so easily and comfortably. Laugh at it and joke at it. And have no sense of moral revulsion and sickness. Oh we're so sophisticated now. so educated, so cultured and advanced, plead that at the judgment seat and see how far it gets you. Righteousness will exalt you. Sin will destroy you. It will pull you down to hell. You, your family, your children, your loved ones, look into their eyes. Are they practicing righteousness? Are you setting righteousness before them as an example? Are you concerned about their souls? Do you see the generation they're growing up in? A wicked and adulterous generation. And who's giving them any moral defences if you aren't? Who's teaching them the fear of God if you aren't? Who's pointing them towards Christ as saviour if you aren't? No one. Oh, love your own soul. Love your children's souls. Love your nation's soul. Plead with God. Pray to God. Earnestly get down on our knees and ask Him for mercy upon us as a nation and as individuals. Let us pray. O Lord, how far we have fallen. We confess we are polluted. We confess that we are unholy. Thine eye beholds the sons of men full well. O have mercy on Scotland. Make us proud to be Scottish again. Return us to the heritage of our fathers. Restore King Jesus to his rightful place in our land again. In his name we pray. Amen.