On the evening of September 11th, more than 100 members of the United States Congress emerged from a day of horror to confront the reality of a drastically changed world. They stood on the steps of the United States Capitol in Washington as their leaders spoke of their common resolve to respond to the acts of war that had rocked the entire nation earlier in that day. After the speeches ended, and it appeared that the group was about to disperse, someone began singing, God Bless America. And within seconds, everyone present joined in the singing. And from that moment, to this time, the words of that song have echoed and re-echoed across our country. At baseball stadiums, those words have generally replaced Take Me Out to the Ball Game as the song of choice for the so-called seventh-inning stretch. At various memorial services, God Bless America has expressed the emotions of a people grieving over the thousands killed and determined to respond in force. They are words written by one of America's greatest songwriters, Irving Berlin, who died in 1989 at the age of 101. When he was a young man, at the end of World War I in 1918, he wrote the words of a patriotic song which was to be included in a musical production. But he found the song he had written to be unsuitable for that purpose, and so he laid it aside for twenty years. And then in 1938, with the clouds of war descending again on the world, and the twin threats of Nazism and Fascism already menacing the people of Europe, Berlin took the song up again and revised it somewhat. And on November 11, 1938, Kate Smith sang it for the first time in a national radio broadcast that was to commemorate Armistice Day. It was 20 years exactly since the end of World War I. The effect was dramatic. Immediately, Berlin's song became a hit, though it had really only one stanza. And demand for copies of the words in the music were so tremendous that the printers could not keep up with the demand. And Kate Smith's career became identified with that song. I remember that when I was in college, I heard her still singing it at national political conventions and events of that nature. It's simple rhetoric portrays the wide vistas of the American continent and asks for the guidance and protection of God in times of dark trials. It has been somewhat striking to hear it sung so often since September 11th. For it acknowledges the existence of God, in fact that has caused some problems for in some areas of the country, zealous public school administrators who are anxious that no child be prejudiced concerning the fact of the existence of God have simply struck God's name out of the words So it's now just bless America. But it acknowledges the existence of God and it acknowledges the need for his intervention in the affairs of the nation at a time of national crisis. It stirs an affection for our land as our home. As the words say, our home, sweet home. And yet as many times as it has been sung in recent weeks, not too many people seem to recognize one great fact. This song is a prayer. And it is a prayer that has been answered repeatedly through our history. And even since the tragic events of September 11th. It is a prayer specifically, if you listen to the words, which not many people do, that God would guide this nation, that he would stand beside her and guide her through the night with the light from above. Now whatever Irving Berlin's intent in those words may have been, there is no doubt that God in his providence has put in those words the need of this nation at all times and especially in a time of war. I trust you'll be in prayer for our servicemen and women. They are engaged now in battle. I heard yesterday that two of our soldiers lost their lives in the first ground action, helicopter pilots. Their helicopter crashed for some reason and they were killed. I'm sure they will not be the last to lose their lives. Yet the fact is that we sit here this morning and we can say that no nation in the history of the world has known more in the way of an answer to this prayer than has the United States of America. Equally true is the reality that no nation in the history of the world stands in greater danger of divine judgment for rejecting the light that God has given it than does the United States of America. In our Bible reading this morning, we read the divine revelation concerning the eternal Son of God and His entrance to the world. We read especially in the words of verse 5 of our text, that this light, that is the very essence of the Lord Jesus Christ, has indeed shined in the darkness, but that the darkness did not recognize it, and refused to understand it. I have often thought of these words in recent days, Whenever I hear those words stand beside her and guide her through the night with the light from above, if people only had the wit to see the light that has been shining. There lies the great heritage of this nation and the great challenge being given to it at this hour in her history. Today we come to face the truth that the desire expressed in this popular song has been fulfilled by the hand of God. Today, let us consider God's blessing on America. This nation, from its inception, has been bathed in the light from above. The Pilgrims came to the shore of New England in 1620 with the light of God's holy word. And they purposed to spread that word as widely as God would give them the ability to do in the new world. And indeed, the history of the nation during the colonial period, and then through the war for independence, and the 225 years since that struggle, has been marked by its association with biblical truth. Now that's not just the myopic desire of a gospel preacher saying that, that is documented in all the historical documents of our country. Even the founders of the country, who were not themselves Christians, some of them, still recognized that the country they were establishing could not long endure or prosper apart from its dependence on that light emanating from the pages of the Holy Scriptures. In the history of the world, in fact, there is scarcely another example of a country whose roots are so firmly planted in the soil of divine truth as the one in which we live. God has blessed this nation. and He has blessed you in a singular and gracious way in that nation. If you had been born in the darkness of Afghanistan or Indonesia or India or Pakistan or any of the other countries of that part of the world More than likely, you would have grown up in total ignorance of the gospel blessing in which you now live. More than likely, you would have spent your days without ever laying hold of a copy of the Bible. Those nations live in darkness. They have not, in God's providence, received the kind of blessings that have been showered on this country. But sadly, there are many in this country who have rejected those blessings that have come from above. While they sing God Bless America, they stand in defiance of the very blessings that God has already showered upon this country. They have been face-to-face with the light and have defiantly, in the depravity of their hearts, refused to see it. Rejecting the light even while continuing to sing mindlessly, God bless America. I wonder today what you have done with the blessing God has given this country. I wonder if today In your mind, you have come to embrace the truth, or if you still harbor the lie that all religions are equally good and peaceful. I wonder if you have come to embrace the gospel truth or that you still hold on to the notion that if you do the best you can, God will accept you. I wonder if today you're tolerant of the perversions that are perpetrated on this nation in the name of liberty. I want us to remember again that the liberty that we enjoy, and this is the theme as you know that I strike especially at Reformation Month every year, the liberty we enjoy in this country is the legacy of the work of God in the Protestant Reformation. It is a liberty That is true liberty, a liberty to follow the light that comes from above. That light, as we learn in our text, is Christ. And He is shining in the darkness of this hour, as He has throughout His history. The light that comes from above. As Luke puts it in the first chapter of his Gospel, the day spring from on high. As Malachi puts it, the Son of Righteousness who arises with healing in His wings. Do you see that light today? Will you come to that light today? I want you to consider the reality of God's blessing on America. And I propose simply to do this under three headings. First of all, the light of gospel precept. I want you again to remember what I've always emphasized, that from the days when the Pilgrims landed on the tip of Cape Cod in the autumn of 1620, before they sailed across Massachusetts Bay to Plymouth, There has been a witness for the gospel in this nation. Now that is part of the blessing of God. In fact, it is in some ways an irony that the very place where the pilgrims first landed, the tip of Cape Cod, a place now called Provincetown, today is a den of iniquity. It is known as San Francisco East. And a few years ago when we were visiting New England, our family, we met some friends on the streets in Boston and we told them that we were planning to go out and do a little traveling in Cape Cod and that we thought we might even try to get to Provincetown to see the memorial to the Pilgrim's First landing there in November of 1620. They advised us not to go because it is a den of sodomites. Isn't that amazing that the first place where people landed with the gospel now becomes a den of iniquity? But is it not an illustration of the way in which this nation has reacted to the light that has come from above? There has always been a strong reaction to that witness. Because the devil is never happy to have the gospel proclaimed in truth. In William Bradford's history of the Plymouth Colony, the book of Plymouth Plantation, if you've never read that, I commend it to you. It is very instructive. Not only for insight into actually how the people lived, but also the mindset with which the people came to this new world. He speaks in that book of the first comers, or the old comers, meaning the ones who came first. The first settlers, because after them obviously many others came and did not have to face all of the hardships that the first ones faced. But Bradford notes that by the time the first comers or the old comers had reached the end of their lives, The spiritual energy that marked their arrival in the new world and the life of the colony in its early days have been largely dissipated. This was within their lifetimes. It was not a process that took a hundred years or a hundred and fifty years. The desire to live under the gospel and to be governed by the light that comes from above had given way to the desire to prosper as far as possible in material terms. Apostasy began to invade the land while it was still being settled. Indeed, by the turn of the 18th century, Harvard College, which had been established in 1636 for the training of preachers of the gospel, Harvard College had succumbed to the apostasy and had embraced Unitarianism. And it was for that reason that Yale came into existence, as a protest to that. And yet, the 18th century was a time also of great awakening. A great revival that occurred in Massachusetts and in some of the other areas of New England in the 1730s and 40s was a time of great reviving. And then another great awakening marked the first 30 years of the 19th century. So the new nation was basking in spite of the efforts of apostasy, was basking in the glow, in the light of gospel truth. Now, what did they believe? Well, we need not be in any doubt about that truth. We find it expounded in our context in John chapter 1. We notice that this gospel precept, first of all, is the truth of the incarnation and virgin birth of Jesus Christ. You look at verse 14 of John 1. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. The Word of which we read in verse 1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. That Word was made flesh. That is, the One who is the eternal Son of God became a man and lived among men, so that He manifested in the flesh. not in some phantom or some appearance of the flesh, but in the flesh He manifested the glory of God. That is what we read in verse 14. We beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, the One who is called Emmanuel, God with us. We are not here today to proclaim that Jesus was merely an excellent man, a noble man. We are here to say, categorically, He is God. Paul's testimony on this point is vital. You find that in 1 Timothy chapter 3. 1 Timothy chapter 3. And without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. I have said before, I'll say it again, that there are many modern translations that play games with this text. They want to translate it, He was manifest in the flesh. And I want to tell you that every version of the scripture that translates it that way is taking a direct line of attack, whether the translators knew it or not, on the reality of the deity of Christ. There is no basis for that translation in the text. was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. Paul is making it plain. There is no middle ground here. This is the truth of the Gospel. Without this truth, there is no Gospel. If Jesus Christ is not God manifest in the flesh, there is no salvation. If Jesus Christ is not the virgin-born Son of God, there is no way to be delivered from sin. So there is no gospel without the One who is God and man, to use the language of the catechism, in two distinct natures and one person forever. Part of God's blessing on America, listen, is wrapped up in the proclamation of this truth. And the battles on this subject in the early decades of this nation's settlement, the battles on this subject indicate how important it is. Why was apostasy manifested in Unitarianism? Because of the hatred for the doctrine of the deity of Jesus Christ. And that is why liberal Protestantism to this day despises that doctrine. and argues for Jesus merely as a good teacher. So this precept is the truth of the incarnation and virgin birth of Jesus Christ. But we can also say from our context here it is the truth of the divine creation of the world. This is part of the gospel. We read in verse 3 of chapter 1 All things were made by Him. Now I don't know how much more plain the Holy Spirit could make it. All things were made by Him. We have tried to emphasize many times that without the doctrine of creation as a direct act of God, not a process of billions of years, theistic evolution or anything else, but as a direct act of God, you don't have any gospel to proclaim. If evolution is true, then we may as well close up shop. There's no gospel. if this world was not created as a result of a direct act of God. Part of the tragedy of the 20th century in our country has been the willingness to turn away from this truth in the name of some kind of science and to marginalize those who continue to assert it. Do you realize that a hundred years ago, a hundred years that the commonly accepted understanding for the origin of the world was that God created it. That's amazing to ponder that. A hundred years ago, Theodore Roosevelt was President. It was the beginning of the 20th century. William McKinley had just been assassinated. Now there was the youngest man ever to hold the office of President of the United States, and most people believe that the world came into existence as a result of a direct act of God. But during the 20th century, this nation turned away from that truth in the name of some kind of science. So that by 1925, in the famous Scopes Trial in Dayton, Tennessee, when William Jennings Bryan came out of retirement, and in the last act of his life, prosecuted for the state of Tennessee against Scopes, the teacher who was charged with teaching evolution. He was convicted by the way. But Brian, at that time, was portrayed as an idiot. He was a very smart man. Because he believed what the Bible said. He died shortly after that trial. And though he won the trial, The evolutionists won the war and they eventually gained the ascendancy in the public institutions of this country. So that the country turned away from that truth. Now what was the influence? It was apostasy. It was liberal religion, modernistic thinking. So that the light from above was pushed out. The testimony of scripture is very clear on this issue. It's not open to being debated. Colossians chapter 1. Colossians 1. And verse 16. For by Him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible. Whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created by Him and for Him, and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist, so that to deny the truth of creation is to attack Jesus Christ Himself. And why is it that depraved men have sought then to resist this truth, to reject this light, so that they can continue in sin without listening to the voice of conscience? If we are going to sing God Bless America, why do we not also pray that in the public institutions of our land the teaching of creation would once again be set as the standard. If we want the blessing of God on America, we must not reject the light He has already given. The darkness does not comprehend, and that's a word that means it does not receive the light from above. It's not simply a description of somebody who's perplexed, who just doesn't know, but it's an expression of a will, the expression of a will, I won't have that! I don't want that! It's the truth then of the divine creation of the world. But there is something else about this gospel precept that we notice in the context. And that is, it is the truth of the sovereign act of regeneration. This chapter speaks about the new birth. And it speaks about it in verse 13. Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Now here is a reality that I would suggest has been more widely resisted than almost anything we have already discussed. That the new birth is the result of the sovereign working of God. How do sinners gain the power to receive Christ? We learn in verse 13, they do so because they have been born of God. Notice what is denied in verse 13. Not of blood. It's not a case of family relationships or genetic inheritance. Nor of the will of the flesh. It's not a result of anything that a person can do to do works by which God might be propitiated. Nor of the will of man. It's not of anything to do with man. It's of God. The new birth is of God. It's not something that comes about because a man does something. The standard line in evangelicalism today is, well, you come and repent and believe and then you'll be born again. I want to tell you that's not what the Bible teaches at all. People repent and believe because God has worked in their hearts. God has brought them to the truth. That's why they come to Christ. That's what's being emphasized in verse 13. But sadly in our nation, many so-called evangelicals who follow in the train of Charles Finney have despised the truth that is being set before us here. They refuse to receive it. They come along and they say, well, if we preach that God must Himself intervene to regenerate a soul, then that's going to be a disincentive to evangelism. But it's exactly the opposite that is the case. It is when you come to grips with this reality, that then you realize that the conversion of sinners is not resting on your hands. It's not your responsibility. Your responsibility is the proclamation of the truth! Those who rest in the knowledge of divine power are free to deliver the gospel truth. The Lord is saying here, this is the truth. I wish, I wish that this truth could be preached up and down the land. But I want to tell you, in evangelicalism there is no truth that is more hated and despised than this one. Because it leaves nothing to man. It humbles man. It leaves him in the dust. It says, you can't do anything to save yourself. That's the gospel precept. And that's joined to one other thing I would mention about this gospel precept. It is the truth of the reality of saving faith. Notice this in verse 12 of this chapter. As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe. That believe on His name. That is, this is the gospel. Believing on Christ. Following an ethical system never saved a soul. Following the teachings of a false prophet, whether he's Mohammed, or Buddha, or Joseph Smith, or Charles Russell, or anybody else, never brought anyone to Heaven. You must receive Jesus Christ! You must accept Jesus Christ as He is offered in the Gospel! How is He offered in the Gospel? He is offered as Prophet, as priest and as king. You don't come to the gospel and say, well, you know, I'd like to avoid going to hell, but I like the way I'm living. I don't want to change the way I'm living. So, I'd like to receive Jesus Christ as my Savior, but I don't want to receive Him as my Master and my King. I want to tell you, sinners cannot negotiate. You come to Christ, you accept. as He is offered. You must believe on Christ. I am here as a gospel minister today to call you to believe on Christ. The light of the gospel precept has been set to this nation from its beginning. And that above all is what this nation needs now. That is what this nation needs now. In the hour of crisis and war. But there is more than that to this blessing of God on America. We come to the second thing. The liberty of gospel preaching. Not only the light of gospel preaching, but the liberty of gospel preaching. Do you realize what a privilege you have to live in this country, where you can hear the gospel preached freely? Do you realize that not many places in the world has such a privilege ever been enjoyed? Ever! Do you realize that in Europe, with a few exceptions through the course of history, most places, the freedom to preach the gospel has been non-existent! We read in verse 15 of John 1, that John, bear witness of him, and cried, saying, that means he lifted up his voice, this was he of whom I speak. He was pointing to Christ. He that cometh after me is preferred before me, for he was before me. He was pointing to Christ. He was preaching orthodoxy concerning his person, that he existed before John existed. that He revealed the Father. He was preaching the Gospel. Preaching the Gospel is speaking of Christ. The whole purpose in Gospel ministry is to point sinners to Christ. One of the greatest blessings God has given to this nation is the freedom to preach that message. from early days. The liberty to preach, and I want to tell you something, here will be the test, here will be what you can look at. When you see the liberty to preach the gospel being hemmed in and withdrawn, then you will know that the blessing of God is being removed from this country. Why did our founders insist on enshrining the freedom of religion in our constitution. Why did they insist on that? They did so because they knew something. They knew that any state control of religion would hinder the free preaching of the gospel. And they knew the nation needed that preaching. As I said, they were not all Christian believers themselves, but they knew their nation needed to have the gospel preached. Why? From the time when the colony of Plymouth was established in Massachusetts. They knew that if this country was to be established on the right foundations, it would have to be established on the foundation of preaching the gospel. Now I am sad to say that many people perhaps even some here, maybe many here, take such a blessing for granted. You should not do so. Do you realize that if you lived in Saudi Arabia today, you would not have that liberty? You could not preach the gospel. You couldn't even hold a Christian service in Saudi Arabia. It's against the law. You could be tortured, you could be imprisoned and tortured and maybe even put to death. for doing that. That's today, yes, the 21st century. And what's true in Saudi Arabia would be true in many other parts of the world, especially Afghanistan. Even in the so-called Christian countries of the European Union, and I use that word with a large grain of salt, because the Christendom of Europe today is rapidly becoming the Christendom that existed in the Middle Ages. a monolithic Roman Catholic dominated Europe. There's often resistance there to the preaching of the gospel. Carolyn found it with her team this last summer. They were coming to a place in Austria. There they were going to have a concert. They were going to preach the gospel there. When the town leaders, who were Roman Catholic, found out the nature of what they were going to do, they cancelled the meeting. No, it's an Austrian thing. It's a democracy. Listen, we ought to rejoice that we have the liberty to preach the gospel here. The reason God has blessed this nation with such abundant prosperity, the reason He has preserved it time and time again through sore trial, is that it has protected the liberty of gospel preaching. When the policy of this nation turns against that liberty, then you'll know that the hand of God's judgment is upon us. The apostles of Christ, in their day, lived under a regime that was not hospitable to the liberty of preaching the gospel. But we find that they persisted in that preaching. For to them it was the most important thing. If you turn to Philippians chapter 1, Philippians chapter 1. Let's look at verse 16 or 15. Some indeed preach Christ, even of envy and strife, and some also of goodwill. The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely supposing to add affliction to my bonds. but the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defense of the gospel. What then, notwithstanding every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached, and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice." Christ is preached. The liberty of gospel preaching is part of the blessing God has given to America. When you look at our nation's history, You find that the history can be traced by its attitude toward the preaching of the gospel. If you were to go back and look at the newspapers from the early years of the 20th century, the last century, you would find that on a regular basis these newspapers reported on what the local ministers had preached, sometimes even including partial or extended copies of the remarks of the local ministers. When there would be evangelistic campaigns or gospel missions in a certain city, the newspapers would report on the progress of these missions night by night. You never read of that now! Because the attitude toward the gospel preaching has shifted. Now it is out on the march. Now it's the action of those fanatic feuds. of those Bible thumpers. But here's the blessing of God on this land, the liberty to preach the gospel. And then there's one other thing I want to emphasize in this blessing of God on America, and that is the life of gospel power. The blessing of God on this country through its history has been evidenced in the encouragement of a way of life that is in agreement with the commandments of God. Until very recently, school children were regularly confronted with the commandments of God. Now it has become a cause for controversy. Now it breaches the wall between church and state. But if you look at the history of our country, What has there been throughout its history? An emphasis on upright living. So that, that which is abominable was regarded indeed as abnormal and as an aberration. What is the norm? The norm is a family composed of a husband and a wife and children born unto them, or adopted by them as the case may be. That is the norm. That is the influence of the gospel in this country throughout its history has been reflected in that. It wasn't an accident of sociology. It was the result of what the gospel accomplished. There was a resistance throughout our history to perversion. It's not a historical accident. It was a reflection of the power of the gospel. Why was it that this nation passed laws in all of its states against adultery, against cohabitation, against sodomy, against fornication? Why was it that they passed laws? Because it was a reflection of the light that came from above! The power of the gospel message. They said, our people need to live according to this light. The blessing of our society depends upon it. That is why it grieves my heart that we now live in a state that has repealed all those prohibitions. And that in effect has said, it is quite legitimate to live together with someone without benefit of marriage. That sodomy is on par with a legitimate way of relations between men and women. Light has been shining from above. It was the founders of our nation who recognized that the government they instituted in the Constitution was a government that would require a religious and a moral people for it to prosper and to succeed. John Adams said, it was wholly unfit for any other kind of people. That is, a people who would be irreligious and immoral would not be able to maintain the kind of republic that they envisioned. And we are finding out that they were promised. God bless America. That's what people sing. Country and western singers sing it. Classical singers sing it. Instrumentalists play it. It becomes a rallying cry and so it should be. But I would that people would recognize that God has already answered that prayer. God has given the light from above. What will this nation do with the light? That's the blessing of God. We ought to pray that this blessing will continue. Because if God withdraws it, this nation is doomed. Let's pray that it will continue. Let us resolve that in our own lives we will not shut out the light. We will receive the life if you have not come to Christ in saving faith. Let this be the day when you come to believe on Him. Let us pray that those who have been charged with the leadership of this nation will come to see the truth that has been given from above. They will not persevere in the charade of pretending All religions are equal. The light has been given from above. We are told in our text in John 1 and 5. That is the true light. The light shineth in the darkness. In the night, in the dark time, the light is shining. Let us pray that with that light come the grace of God that will enable people to see the light and to receive the light so that they may enjoy the reality of the answer to that prayer, God bless America. May He indeed continue to bless America with the light from above. Jesus Christ and the pure gospel.