If you had your Bible this morning, would you open up to Joshua chapter number 24? The book of Joshua in chapter number 24. I want to read two verses to you this morning. Verse 14 and 15. Very familiar words from the Old Testament. Joshua chapter number 24, verses 14 and 15. Now therefore, fear the Lord, and serve Him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the river and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the river, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Ideas and worldviews, whatever they might be, when put into motion or when acted upon produce a particular set of circumstances and consequences. Now that's a very simple but a very profound statement because at the root it teaches us that what we think and how we view life and what we believe matters. It matters because we act upon the particular worldview that we hold to. And furthermore, we will most certainly experience the consequences, whether good or bad, of the thoughts, the ideas, the views, and the beliefs that we put into motion. Now a worldview, by definition, is a network of thoughts and ideas and beliefs and presuppositions that one holds to that ends up shaping the way that they view and interpret all of life, thereby influencing the way that they live and experience life. And let me add to that statement that not all ideas and worldviews are equal. nor do they bring about the same set of circumstances or consequences when acted upon. So, when it comes to ideas and ultimately to worldviews, we must be very discerning about the different worldviews that we encounter, as well as the one that we've cultivated for our own. Because it's just a truism in this world that you reap what you sow. And everybody is in the business of sowing whatever worldview it is that they hope to. Now, from the biblical perspective and historical storyline of the Bible, we learn that from early on, man, who is the special creation and climax of God's creation, rebelled against God and fell into sin, and this changed everything. The Baptist catechism for boys and girls explains it this way. Question 27, what happened to our first parents when they sinned? Answer, instead of being holy and happy, they became sinful and miserable. The follow-up question, 28, what effect did the sin of Adam have on all mankind? Answer, all mankind is born in a state of sin and misery. To explain it in very simple terms, ever since the fall of man into sin, two primary worldviews have developed, and one of them is wonderful and one of them is miserable. And there's been an ongoing clash between the two ever since. So let me lay it out for you this morning in its most basic form. On the one hand, there is the God-fearing worldview, and on the other is the God-excluding worldview. In the God-fearing worldview, God is seen as the precondition for all things, and He is acknowledged, He is reverenced, and He is feared. In the God-excluding worldview, man becomes autonomous and ultimate, and God is suppressed, God is marginalized, God is excluded, and God is replaced. Now brothers and sisters, I want to show you today that the actions that are taken off of those two different worldviews reap totally different outcomes as it concerns peoples and nations in particular. The apex or the full outworking of the God-fearing worldview takes you all the way to the Bible and to true Christianity. And the fruit of that is freedom. The God-excluding worldview, on the other hand, where man replaces God, climaxes in something I want to talk about today called statism. And the fruit of that is bondage and oppressive tyranny. Let me say it this way, to use a familiar metaphor. Everybody views life as either identifying with the city of God or the city of man. You either have a God-centered or a man-centered agenda. Now with that, the title of my sermon today is in the form of a question, Stateism's Bondage or Christianity's Freedom? What will be the future experience of our nation? So I want to flesh these things out for us today and I especially want to make direct application of these thoughts as it concerns the history of our own nation so that we'll understand where we stand at the present time. In other words, what we're going to wrestle with today is this question. Which worldview do we as a nation hold to at the present time and what will be our future experience based upon that position? Will it be statism's bondage or Christianity's freedom? I have two propositions today to flesh out with you and here's the first one. History is clear that America was founded on a God-fearing, biblical, Christian worldview. And I want to tell you the story of that this morning. America's story actually begins in the Bible. Maybe you've never thought of it that way. But America's story actually begins with Paul's second missionary journey. Because the continent of Europe is so important of the story of America, you have to understand how the gospel and how the God-fearing, biblical, Christian worldview made its way over into Europe. And the story of that is in Acts chapter number 16, verses 6 to 10. It shows us how on Paul's second missionary journey, the gospel jumped continents, penetrating into the southern tip of Europe. In Acts chapter number 16, in verse 6, I'll read it to you. And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. So passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia was standing there urging him and saying, Come over to Macedonia and help us. And when Paul had seen the vision immediately, we sought to go into Macedonia concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to him. Now brothers and sisters, if you get in your Bible and if you look at the map of Paul's missionary journeys and you go to the second one and follow those little trails and hear according to the story in the book of Acts, you will see that that is the moment where the gospel jumped over again into the southern tip of Europe. And the story of the early church in Europe really begins there with the planting of the church at Philippi and also the Thessalonian church. And so America's story begins with Paul's second missionary journey. Now after a couple of hundred years, the early church, if you study out church history, you'll find that it gave way to an apostate form of Christianity known as Roman Catholicism. Historian Stephen McDowell recounts this part of the story in this way. He says, Roman Emperor Constantine's conversion to Christianity around 312 AD helped end persecution of Christians and bring peace to the church. His desire to make his empire Christian was worthy. Yet not understanding God's ways, he superficially united the church and the state and set up a national church. declaring all citizens in his empire must be Christians. His noble yet ignorant attempt, accompanied by the centralization of power in the church via the papal system beginning around the 7th century, redefined Christianity for centuries. The result became an era we call the Dark Ages. It was primarily due to the fact that the light of God's Word was being hidden from the common man. Now, as Tom would march on in Europe, we find that God is a great God who loves people and so He revives His Word and He brings reformation and gospel-like to the continent of Europe. The reformation begins first with the recovery of sacred scripture. There was a man by the name of John Wycliffe who's known as the morning star of the reformation. God raised him up to get the Word of God into the hands of the common man. His mantra was, Scripture must be the common property of all. And that led to his translation of the Bible which affected a huge portion of Europe and laid the foundation for the Protestant Reformation. And from Wycliffe we move on to the magisterial reformers like Luther and Calvin and their great recovery of the five solas, namely justification by faith in Christ alone shook the world and we're still feeling the effects of that earthquake today. This time period of the Reformation is summarized by the simple statement, after darkness there was light. The next major event in the story of America has to do with the way that God providentially brings further progress through the Church of England. A king by the name of Henry VIII, the king of England, was married to a woman named Catherine of Aragon, but she bore him no children. And so, King Henry, he sought permission from the Pope to divorce her and marry another lady named Anne Boleyn. Well, of course, he was denied that. But in response to that, he went ahead and divorced Catherine and married Anne. He also proceeded to divorce his whole country from the Catholic Church, and in its place, he set up a national church of his own that became known as the Church of England. In order to set his country free from the papal system and to secure his national church, he saw that the dissemination of Scripture was the quickest and the most effective way to do it. Now through all of this, William Tyndale, maybe you'll remember that name, he had prayed years before, Lord open the king of England's eyes. And he also desired in this statement, he said, "...to see the boy that driveth the plow, to know more of the Scriptures than the Pope." That was finally becoming a reality. So William Tyndale's translation of Scripture was now being distributed by the king through the Matthew's Bible, which was really Tyndale's translation, and it was bringing Reformation to England. And I think a good lesson that we learned there is that even God uses wicked men to carry out His purposes. Now, the next group that we need to consider were those who were mainly responsible for the planting of the God-fearing biblical Christian worldview on American soil. As time would move on, there was a group of godly men and women who rose up and sought to further purify the Church of England. And they were known as the Puritans. And they lived by the motto, Always Reforming. And as much of their efforts ended in futility, there was another group who rose up out of the Puritans. They were called the Nonconformists or the Separatists. And they felt that a full purification of the Church of England was hopeless. And so out of personal conviction, they separated from the Church in order to start something new. They would become known as the Pilgrims. With Columbus' discovery of the New World, these separatists set their sights there. And in their thinking, they believed that it would serve as a land of hope for a fuller and more complete flourishing of the city of God. So, on September 16, 1620, 102 passengers set sail on a ship called the Mayflower. And after 66 days, they finally reached America. And with their Geneva Bible in hand, they got on their knees and they gave thanks to God Almighty. Their government charter called the Mayflower Compact clearly reveals their godly aims. Listen to it. Having undertaken, listen to the statement, for the glory of God and advancement of the Christian faith, in the honor of our king and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia, do by these presence solemnly and mutually in the presence of God and of one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic. These very brave men and women were the parents of our great republic. And because of their courage and bravery, the seed of the God-fearing Christian worldview was firmly planted in the New World. In other words, the incubation of Christian America happened because of these early settlers. Now from there, over the next several decades, expansion began to take place in what would become known as the 13 Colonies. This is a fascinating part of American history with far too many details to get in today. But the one thing that I want to place firmly in your mind about that particular time is that with the geographical expansion of America into the different colonies, also came the expansion of the God-fearing worldview that was planted by the original settlers. Of course, there were many different groups of people involved in this. You had Presbyterians, you had Baptists that were there. One storyline that happened during that time is that much of the thinking of the Church of England began to take place on the colonies. There was a desire, even early on, that a church-state system would be set up in America. And the Baptists, we owe a great debt of gratitude to Baptists who were the champions of religious liberty and not joining the state along with the church. But anyway, during that time, Christian thought expanded into the colonies and laid a greater foundation for the greater outworking of the God-fearing worldview as the guiding light for the nation in every part of life. You go back and you study that time and you see that the Bible was central in personal life, in the home, in education, the church, in the government. The laws that were made were based upon its teachings. Society was rooted in sacred scripture. Right. Now with that, we must also take note and mention that over time, this is a sad part of American history, that a generational spiritual decline took place that put the country in tattered spiritual conditions. It was a setback for the whole country. History recounts for us that many of the descendants of the original settlers turned their passions increasingly away from their spiritual heritage to land and to wealth and to worldly success at the expense of service to God. Now it wasn't that they abandoned the God-fearing worldview, but their hearts had grown cold because they turned their attention to worldly rather than spiritual motives. Cotton Mather, who was a minister during those days, expressed it in this way. The Christian faith had brought the colonies prosperity, but the daughter destroyed the mother. He went on to say that they were in danger because the enchantments of the world made them forget their errand in the wilderness, which was to build a city on a hill, an illumination for all the world. Although the colonies had fallen into spiritual decline though, God was not finished with His plans for America. And so to carry on His great work in this land, He brought something about that was absolutely amazing, the Great Awakening. with men like George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards and the Wesley brothers at the forefront preaching with passion and fire the glorious truths of the gospel. The colonies recovered their spiritual footing. Jonathan Edwards and Benjamin Franklin described this amazing time in this way. Listen to Jonathan Edwards about this event. This work of God soon made a glorious alteration in the town, so that in the spring and summer following, it seemed to be so full of the presence of God. It never was so full of love and joy, and yet so full of distress as it was then. There were remarkable tokens of God's presence in almost every house. It was a time of joy and families on account of salvation being brought to them. Parents rejoicing over their children as newborn and husbands over their wives and wives over their husbands. The goings of God were then seen in His sanctuary. God's day was a delight and His tabernacles were amiable. Our public assemblies were then beautiful. The congregation was alive in God's service and everyone earnestly intent on the public worship. Every here eager to drink in the words of the minister as they came from His mouth. The assembly in general were from time to time in tears while the Word was preached. Some weeping with sorrow and distress, others with joy and love, others with pity and concern for the souls of their neighbors. Now listen to a pagan man, Benjamin Franklin, as he describes it this time. It was wonderful to see the changes soon made in the manners of our inhabitants. From being thoughtless or indifferent about religion, it seems as if all the world were growing religious, so that one could not walk through the town in an evening without hearing psalms sung in different families in every street. By this time, in the story of America, the people were awakened. And because of that awakening, they grew to a place of being unified in mind. And they were prepared to courageously stand against tyranny that was being forced upon them from a leader of a country on the other side of the world, King George of Great Britain. The great doctrines of freedom and self-government that were so well understood by the framers of our republic, by men such as Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, Washington, Madison, and Hamilton, they were laid down in one of the greatest documents ever penned by a human hand, the Declaration of Independence. That declaration was given to the tyrannical king and a bloody war for independence followed. America won her independence and became a new nation. She ordered her liberty with the Constitution of the United States of America, another magisterial document of freedom. And when you trace it all back to its origins, you learn that freedom, it was freedom that came because of the blessed fruit and the outworking of the God-fearing worldview that was planted so many years before. Now although the founders were influenced by rationalistic thought as a result of the Enlightenment, the Christian worldview about this time was firmly put in place. And what amazing blessings have come because of that reality. You know, much has happened since the founding of our nation, since we became an independent nation, since the time of the founders. Of course, there's been geographical expansion. Capitalism came, abundance came, prosperity came, all of these amazing things. And of course, we don't have time to go through all of those details. But as we take stock of where we are today as a nation, on the bright side, I know there's a lot of gloom that's hanging over our head today, but on the bright side, we are still experiencing the blessed ripples from the original God-fearing worldview splash that came to this land. Every single one of us here today was born into freedom, which is a very unusual thing in the earth. You know, brothers and sisters, it's a small and it's a fading ripple, but at least for now, it can still be felt. And I'm thankful for that, aren't you? Well, before I move on to my second proposition this morning, let me say a few things by way of application. To maintain the blessing that comes from this worldview, in any particular nation, some important things have to be noted. Number one, the obvious point is that the God-fearing worldview must be held by a great number of the citizenry, hopefully the majority. If not, the blessing will be lost to the influence of something else. And I'm going to argue today that that something else is statism. Secondly, we need to understand the complex nature of the blessing of freedom. Once again, let me give you a quick rundown of a doctrine of freedom. Number one, freedom must be seen for what it is, which is a very rare and an unusual thing. In a fallen world, bondage, not freedom, is the norm. Freedom must be defined. Freedom is deliverance from two forms of bondage. On the one hand, there is oppressive tyranny, which is 100% government. And on the other hand is chaotic anarchy, which is no government. And so, freedom is deliverance from those two things to a position of peaceful liberty or self-rule. It can be further defined from a negative and a positive position. Negatively, freedom is the prerogative to do what you want. It's freedom from oppression. But positively, freedom is the power to do what you ought. It's freedom to or it's freedom for a particular purpose lived out under God. In the next place, the origins of freedom must be understood in our thinking and mark it down well. Spiritual freedom is a prerequisite to societal freedom. And only the God-fearing Christian worldview, which comes from God's self-revelation in the Bible that climaxes in the Lord Jesus Christ, that's the only thing that can produce or account for it. No other worldview can. Freedom must be won. If one does not have it, that's the next step. Because again, naturally, if you don't have it, you would be in bondage and you would have to have it won for you. Freedom then must be ordered. It has to be worked out. It has to be organized. It has to be made use of. And then freedom has to be maintained because it's always under the threat of loss. Remember, it's a very rare thing when you do have it and there are no guarantees that you will keep it. And so this has happened in our nation. There was a conquering stage where our freedom was won. There was a fortifying and a domesticating stage where the Constitution was written. And then people in the land began to domesticate their lives around the principles of freedom and have enjoyed all of those things. And now we're in a state of where it has to be protected and it has to be maintained. So let me say something to you about the maintenance or the preservation of national or societal freedom. On a personal level, how do you maintain freedom? Brothers and sisters, you must practice self-control so that you won't require masters to step in and control you. Self-control, as a side note, requires virtue. You must have a measure of virtue in your life to control you. And if you're going to have virtue, you have to have faith that instructs or inspires that virtue. And if you're going to have faith, you have to have the freedom to work out that faith, which is why religious liberty and the First Amendment are so important. Secondly, concerning the family. If we're going to maintain freedom, we have to have strong biblical families because the biblical family is the only thing that provides the strength for the social fabric of the nation. Concerning the church, a nation that wishes to be free must have strong, well-ordered biblical churches to preach the gospel and the truth of God's Word so that the God-fearing worldview stays in place. So it stays in the minds of men. Concerning the government, we have to understand that government is of God and it plays a very important function in society. It restrains evil and it promotes or encourages righteousness, but proper biblical government is limited and it's to be a servant and not the sovereign. It's to operate only within the boundaries that God has placed upon it. Brethren, when this is a nation's reality, freedom is maintained. And so for my first proposition today, history is clear that America was founded on a God-fearing, biblical, Christian worldview. Secondly, history and present circumstances make clear that America in the main has drifted into a God-excluding, man-centered, statist worldview. There's a very important lesson that I want to put in your mind at the outset of this point. And that is that the city of man never lies quiet. Even when it's been defeated in a particular location, it is always active. It is always interested in tearing down the city of God and replacing it with itself. That's the nature of this worldview and the Bible even bears that out. We go back to the early portions of Genesis. Let me just give you three passages. A past situation where this was the case. You remember when Noah got off the ark. and began to work out in society once again, God gave some instruction to him. In chapter 9, verse 1 of Genesis, God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. And then He repeated again in verse 7, And you, be fruitful and multiply. Increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it. In other words, God repeated His divine mandate upon the human race to be vice regents for God, to go out into the world and take dominion for God. But what did man do? Well, we learn in chapter number 11, the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as people migrated from east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens. And let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth. direct rebellion and opposition to God. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the children of man had built. And the Lord said, Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they proposed to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and there confuse their language so that they may not understand one another's speech. So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore it's name was called Babel because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth and from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth. There's a story right there in the past. If you come to Psalm chapter number 2, you find an expression of this that's taking place in the present. Psalm chapter number 2, verses 1 through 3. Why do the nations rage, and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, listen closely, against the Lord and against His anointed, saying, Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords. from us. You see there is an ongoing desire of man to be rid of God. And if you go to the end of the story in the Bible, in Revelation chapter number 17, which by the way I would encourage you to read chapter 17 and 18 of Revelation and start wrestling with it and thinking about it. But my interpretation that I'm going to give you at least at this moment of verses 1-6 and also verse number 18 is that there is a final expression of this in the future where statism is turned into globalism. Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk. And He carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names and it had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations. and the impurities of her sexual immorality. And on her forehead was written a name of mystery, Babylon the Great, mother of prostitutes and of earth's abominations. And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And jump on down to verse number 18. And the woman that you saw, listen, is the great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth. a final expression of statism that has turned to globalism. Again, this God-excluding, man-centered worldview, which by the way is empowered by Satan and his demonic realm, always seeks to find expression in statism. And why is that? It's because statism, and listen to this statement, statism has the greatest power and ability to put and to keep men in bondage. And when men are in societal bondage, the gospel is shielded from them. How would you like to live in North Korea right now? So maybe you're asking the question, what is statism? Let me define it for you. Stateism is when the state becomes the sovereign instead of it being the servant of the true sovereign. In stateism, absolute authority over everything resides with the state. The state is supreme. All rights are derived by the state. The state becomes God and men are totally at the mercy of the state. Stateism is about power and money and pleasure, especially for a few elite. And it's organized to assert itself in the world as supreme. Now it should be obvious, should already be obvious to you as I define that and explain that. that you need to realize that statism is organized politically and economically and socially against the Lord Jesus Christ. The view of statism is completely opposed to Jesus. And here's the reason why. If the Lord Jesus Christ is the Supreme King, and He is, and we all say with that a hearty, Amen! He's King! then every other institution is limited and not absolute. And as a result, they must stay in their own sphere of responsibility that has been assigned to by God. Christianity is a cultural challenge to statism's claims. Christians are the true atheists and traitors because we don't accept the claims of statism. For the Christian, Caesar is not God. Christianity claims supremacy and so it's a threat to statism. Christ as Lord is a threat to Caesar and the city of man. And so there is where you see the conflict. The rebellious state hates the Christian message because the Bible's message is that the state is of God and is limited. And since the Christian message puts limits on the state's desire for absolute power, money, and pleasure, it hates God, and the Bible, and Christ, and His people, and there you have the battle. Stateism, brothers and sisters, is a monster. It brings nothing but misery to the human race and that is a proven fact. It's already been experienced in various parts of the world with particular nations. The results are in and they are horrific. Nothing but pain and misery and death for millions. Proverbs 28, 16 says, rulers who lack understanding, meaning of God's ways, are cruel oppressors. Statism should be judged by the human race as nothing but pure evil and it should be resisted wherever it's found. If it succeeds, slavery and inhumanity instead of freedom and human flourishing will be the result and the experience for men. It brings a depth of despair that is absolutely unbearable. All tyranny is justified as there is nothing higher than statism to appeal to. Now, let me take some time and show you the historical outworking of how America has drifted into a God-excluding, man-centered, statist worldview. In other words, the history of a worldview shift. Let me give it to you in four S's, first in general. Here's a general understanding of how it happened. America, as we've already made the point, had its foundings with a supernatural worldview. A view of God, a view of the Bible, a view of Christianity. All of that was the majority influencing worldview from the very start. But in time, there began to be a slide into what's called secularization. It's a slide from the God-fearing to the God-excluding worldview. In other words, what began to take place among Americans wasn't all of the people having a God-fearing worldview, but now it began to be a mix of a God-fearing and a God-excluding worldview. There was a secularization until that gave way now to secularism, where now the Christian worldview is no longer the standard frame for intellectual reference. God in America is no longer the necessary precondition for understanding all things. And brothers and sisters, do you know what comes after secularism? It's statism. It's the natural outworking. Because the state in this worldview replaces God. And when it's put into place, nations experience a new reality with new fruit. And my friend, it's rotten fruit. And it's nothing like what you have experienced up to this point in your life. Let me say it this way. When the pilgrims came over here, it was exclusively a God-fearing worldview. And then in time, There was a mix of the God-fearing and the God-excluding, really that began to take place from the founders moving forward. You see, after the Enlightenment, what happened was that it made it possible to see a different view of things that was operational in society. And so you had these different positions that were operating, and it worked for a little while. It was okay for a little bit. But now what has happened is one has given way to the other. The God-fearing worldview has been replaced by the God-excluding worldview. You can call it whatever you want. You can call it paganism. You can call it anti-God. You can call it anything. But it's everything that is opposed to true Christianity and the Bible. Now there it is in general. Now let me give it to you a little bit more specifically. Because we have to ask the question, where did that come from? How did that happen? When America was founded with so many God-fearing people and pastors, and the gospel was going forth and penetrating the colonies, and you have great theologians like Jonathan Edwards and evangelists like George Whitefield, how in the world did we get to the place where we're at now with the worldview that is held by the majority of Americans? And here's where it comes from. It comes from false philosophies and ideas of wicked men. You need to understand the ideas that made it happen. Remember, what are we talking about today? We're talking about a clash of worldviews. Those worldviews are in conflict. They're at war. And the strategy for any particular worldview is to conquer, fortify, and then domesticate the results of that particular worldview. You see, for this to happen in America, ideas that were contrary to the God-fearing worldview had to come in that would then serve as battering rams to tear down the existing worldview. In other words, for statism to come, God had to go. For statism to come, God had to disappear from the culture because statism will never work where there is a God-fearing worldview in place and held to by the majority of the people. They simply will not tolerate it. So new ideas, they have to be placed into the minds of men that, listen to me, that preach a view of life to men that's built on the idea and the lie that life will be better without God. It's all rooted in that thought. And so these different philosophers, they have been used by Satan as a wrecking ball to humanity so the society and culture could be reconstructed with a humanistic, statist worldview. So I want to consider a few of these men. The men who made God disappear from the West. Now listen. I'm only scratching the surface this morning. I'm only hitting the high points, the mountain peaks. There's philosophers, there's literary men, miles long of these different men who have penetrated the culture. But I just want to highlight a few of them. Some of them you may even be familiar with already. How many of you are familiar with Charles Darwin? Charles Darwin was a naturalist. You can really call him a philosopher. He was from England. He was born in 1809. And he is the man who's behind evolutionary theory. He wrote a firebrand of a book, straight out of hell, called the author... He's the author of The Origin of the Species, a very, very dangerous book that has penetrated the educational system in America. Now here's his doctrine or his ideology in simple terms. What it did is that it provided alternatives for every major Christian doctrine. Namely, he replaced God as the creator with an alternative and he replaced the biblical view of man as the special image bearer of God with an alternative that really, when it's reduced down, turns man into nothing more than a beast. And the practical outworking of his view is that life devolves to a power struggle, natural selection, and the survival of the fittest. And the result of his thinking is that because origin, meaning, purpose, and destiny is all redefined with a counterfeit, life becomes meaningless. Number two, Friedrich Nietzsche, a German philosopher, an atheistic existentialist born in 1844. Here's his doctrine. Maybe you're familiar with the statement, God is dead, God remains dead, and we have killed Him. That was His view of life. That was His goal. That was His agenda. God is dead and we have killed Him. In life, the practical outworkings of His doctrine, He boiled it all down to exercising one's will to power or to overpower is how one should live. In other words, He reduced life down to a power struggle between people. And again, with His view, everything in life ends up being pointless. Absolutely meaningless and nihilistic. Another philosopher that's made a huge impact in the West is a man named Sigmund Freud. He was a neurologist from Austria, born in 1856, the founder of psychoanalysis. His doctrine boiled down as that God has set aside for reason and science, and this is necessary so as to escape personal guilt that is produced by religion. Brothers and sisters, guilt is a good thing because it's the only thing that will drive you to the Savior. Amen! The practical outworking of his theories is that moral accountability and responsibility is removed, and so man becomes the victim. The problem is outside of man, not inside of man, which is completely in opposition to the teaching of Christianity. And as a result, man is weakened, man is reduced to a helpless, immoral beast. And none of it's his fault. And when a man views himself that way, and views life that way, and the image of God being created, and the image of God goes, it positions him perfectly for masters, and for control, and for statism. You say, Brother Kyle, what's the point to all this? Well the ideas of these three men that I've mentioned so far along with many other philosophers and many other literary men that again we don't have time to consider today. They have infiltrated the thinking of the American culture and the result has been to exclude God from the culture and to, listen to this, to dehumanize man thereby turning life into one big power struggle. You see, brothers and sisters, God has disappeared. The God-fearing, biblical, Christian worldview has been replaced with the God-excluding, humanistic worldview. And now, our nation is uniquely positioned for the false god of statism to come, and this is where Karl Marx and his ideas come in. By the way, before we look at Marx, just as a side note, Romans 1, verse 22 says, "...claiming to be wise, they became fools." Do not let that escape your evaluation of these kind of philosophers. So what do we say about Karl Marx? Karl Marx was a German philosopher. He was born in 1818. What was his doctrine? What was his idea? What was his view of life? His view was a utopian statism as a substitute for life under God. The practical outwork of his view is that people that give up individualism for the collective and subsequently give their lives over to complete control of the state. And the result of that is oppressive tyranny under those who rule the state, a loss of freedom with bondage and slavery as the normal way of life. Are you all still with me this morning? Let's go a little further with Marx to help us understand Marxist philosophy. It answers a very important question. Now that God is out of the picture, What new God will be in His place? You understand that? Mark said the same view of God. The same thing. Exclude God. Move Him out. And if God disappears from the culture because we are created to worship, our hearts will gravitate to worship a replacement. The question is, if God is gone, if a new worldview has come, what's the new God going to be? Marx's answer was the state. Furthermore, if that's true, what needs to be done in order to make that happen? Marx also provides the answer. And he becomes the philosopher, now listen to this, he becomes the philosopher of administration for organized statism. Did you catch that? Marx, the unique contribution that he plays to this view is that he had an administrative mind Once God was removed from the culture, He figured out a way how to come in and administratively restructure things. That was his contribution. Marx is the man, again, whose philosophy administratively installs a new state god over the people. His philosophy is that which restructures what the godless ideologies tore down. And here's how it works in a nutshell. Really what Marxism does, it appeals to a false sense of justice. Here's the way it works. Marxism pitches the state as a utopian dream to the masses. And so what it does, it first convinces men that the state can be the savior of men, that the state can be the provider, that the state can be the protector and the father and the God, and that life under the state as the sovereign will be wonderful, just like what took place at the Tower of Babel. It appeals to man's lazy, base nature and lack of character by pitting him against those in society who seem to have a better life. And it promises redistribution of resources and privilege so that everything is equalized. Again, it's a perverted sense of justice. Let's take from this group over here and let's give it to this group over here. Here's the mantra of Marxism. Let's make life all about the collective instead of all this variation of the individual. which is a very unbiblical idea. The terms probably that you're most familiar with that come out of Marxist ideology are socialism and communism. And again, it is very attractive to base men because they can let the state own everything, they can let the state produce everything, control it all, distribute everything. And for a man who doesn't want to do anything in life, that sounds like a pretty good deal. Once it's embraced and gains a following, it's put into place and a new kind of society emerges. Now let me bring in another man. Another man by the name of Antonio Gramsci. He was an Italian Marxist born in 1891. Now Gramsci was a disciple of Marx and what he did, his contribution, is that he came along and he strengthened the weaknesses of Marx. So classical Marxism, if you read the Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital, if you read those works of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, Marx, classical Marxism was primarily economic but Gramsci comes along and he broadens Marxism. He takes it beyond classical Marxism which is focused on economics and he makes it social Marxism. It's called Neo-Marxism. And what Gramsci did is he comes along and he takes a look at the so-called oppressor, oppressed relationships, not just in economics, but in other groups in society as well. And so Gramsci's thought goes along these lines. If you're really going to bring about the collective, because by the way, in Marx's lifetime, it didn't work out so good. It didn't bring about the result that Marx thought it would. So Gramsci says, look, if you're really gonna bring about the collective, if you're really gonna get all these people ready for statism, you have to go beyond mere economic classes to all social classes. Again, it's a broadening of Marxism. It's the Marxist idea fleshed out in more detail. And so Gramsci says you have to break down and flatten out the societal hegemony, meaning the power structures in classes and in institutions. And so it's not just economic redistribution that's needed, but it's societal redistribution in all the areas, in all areas. You've got to have that if you're really going to bring about the collective. And so, when this is achieved, people will stop thinking in terms of individuals, but will rather think in terms of the collective. And listen to me, when that happens, they're then ready to be mastered by statism. Again, you have to appeal to the oppressed. in order to gain a hearing and then a following for the statist utopia. And it works itself out in politics and once this political scheme has been successful and the power struggles have destroyed a nation, which is that is exactly what happens, you begin to pit groups against one another and what do they do? They destroy themselves. And that brings anarchy in a nation. And when that happens, the statist elites are all too ready. The ones who have been manipulating behind the scenes, they are ready to step in and take over. And everybody except the few elites becomes the loser. You know, if you really understand what I've just told you, you have every single thing that you need in your mind to diagnose and discern the whole Black Lives Matter movement. Listen to me. Black Lives Matter, it's not about racism. It's about statism. It's an important statement. It's not about racism. It's about statism. It's about class division. It's about bringing chaos in the communities. It's about riots. Because when that happens and everything is destroyed, the elites are ready to step in and take over and bring about more control. You look across America today and you see all of these governors in America. You see the riots that are taking place in towns and they're not doing anything about it. And they're saying, go ahead. Do you know why they're doing it? It's not because they're ignorant. It's because they have an agenda. They know exactly what they're doing. They're part of the statist machine. When all of that happens, brothers and sisters, freedom is hindered. That's why they're doing it. The 20th century has revealed The horrific misery that comes from these ideas. Just do a study of the 20th century. Listen, the Soviet Union has tried it. Eastern Europe, China, North Korea, Vietnam, Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, Zimbabwe. Men like Lenin and Stalin, Mao, the Kims in North Korea, Castro, Pol Pot, Che Guevara. As a result of those men and men like them, over 100 million people have died and over a billion have been enslaved. The 20th century is the bloodiest century in history all because of Marxist ideologies. The various groups, by the way, that flow out of Marxism are too numerous to deal with. They are everywhere. The Communist Party, USA, ACORN, all of these different groups find all of their ties. The Fabian Society, all of them. They bring their roots down to their true leader who is Marx. And their strategy is to make despotic inroads through the forcible overthrow of all existing societal conditions to then make room for statism. In other words, what they do is penetrate the godly culture, destroy it, and remake it from within. Their revolution, at least in America, has proven to be an institutional restructuring that has taken place over time. Let me give you some more of their strategy. The strategy of the city of man, we could say, against the city of God. It has to destroy all the bulwarks of a free society. Are you still with me? Number one, it has to first replace the existing worldview and establish its own as the majority view. Well, that's already happened. I've already told you the story of that. Secondly, what does it have to do if it wants statism to come in and be the god? It has to tear down the virtuous, self-controlled, independent, free individual and turn him into an immoral beast who needs masters in order to control him. In other words, you have to undermine the morals in a nation. You see, if there's no morality in a nation, then there's no strength in the nation. And no morality leads to self-destruction. And self-destruction means need for masters, and the state steps in to pick up those pieces. Thirdly, it has to destroy the biblical family, which provides the social fabric and the building block of a flourishing society, as the biblical home produces the necessary training and discipline to pass on from one generation to another the heritage that it received before. Fourthly, it has to destroy the church because the church is the pillar and the ground of truth. And the church is the steward of the gospel message which is the source of salvation and freedom and the source of the God-fearing worldview. So let's destroy the church. And also it must take control of every realm of government to exert its influence over the nation until statism has full reign. In summary, let me say it to you real simply, like this. Statism seeks to take over the individual as well as God's institutions then remake and control them. Take over the individual. Take over God's institutions. Destroy them and remake them. Now, those are some of the goals of statism that have to happen if it's going to exert its worldview. It has to tear everything down. It has to remake everything that's opposed to it. Now, how do they do that? What are some of the tools or the strategies or the tactics or the instruments that they use to carry out these goals? Number one, I'll give you a handful of things. There's probably more, but I couldn't fit it all in. Number one, public propaganda. They use media and entertainment to control individuals. This is the avenue that they use to propagate their worldview and their message, and it's how they inculcate immorality into the public. Just look at the things that are on television. Look at the things that are accepted on regular television today. Well, those things have been accepted in the same way 50 years ago. Look at billboards, look at ads, look at businesses as they promote clearly things that are completely against God. It's about ideological indoctrination so as to uphold their worldview. They have to have moral ruination through the media, through propaganda. Again, morals have to be undermined. As a result, it makes man unfit for self-government and freedom. Also, control of the media allows them to promote false narrative which deceive the public while they continue to carry out their true agendas in secret. They manufacture crisis through propaganda to pave the way for power grabs in the name of bringing a resolution to the crisis they created. Secondly, attacks on the home and the takedown of the family is part of their plan. How do you do that? You attack manhood? You have to turn man into a boy instead of a virtuous leader. You have to attack the woman and they've done that through feminism. If you get the woman out of the home and make them feel like victims who are oppressed, you will destroy the family. Also, education of children by the state. Indoctrination through public statist education. The goal is to dumb children down, destroy critical independent thinking, train them for the collective, not as individuals. Educate them, as Lenin said, to be useful idiots of the state. Tax-paid training for corporate statist America. Hitler said, get the children and you will control the future. Erase history in the education. Erase Christian culture in the education. Get rid of everything that had to do with the previous way of life and install something else. My friends, public schools are the greatest influence on the future culture. They have children for eight hours a day and then they invade your home with all of the homework at night too. Think about the power of that strategy to change things. Another tactic is evangelical subversion to destroy the church. Let's infiltrate seminaries and church pulpits with liberal theology and status agenda. You know, the statists would have a state church if they could because they'd use it as a means of control. That's why religious liberty is so important. So their agenda is to make the church about social and material and physical issues instead of spiritual ones. They don't want us preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. They're okay if the church talks about social justice and all of those things because it goes right along with the Marxist agenda. By the way, they've succeeded in all of the mainline denominations in evangelicalism with very few exceptions. Their goal is to force Christians indoors and exclude them from the culture by making their message hate speech. You know, the status agenda doesn't mind that we're in here meeting so much. I mean, they do. But in here isn't the real threat to them. It's what you do when you go out there. And they hate that. And they want to silence you. And so anytime you speak from a position of the Bible in a God-fearing worldview, guess what they're going to do? They're going to try to shut you down and say you're guilty of hate speech. Another tool, the tool of ethnic strife. create internal division between groups, divide from within, participate in group politics, intersectionality, critical race theory, create societal chaos and anarchy so the state can step in with more power because anarchy always gives way to tyranny. Another tactic, the classic Marxism, statism, economic destruction through their control. Ruin capitalism is the goal. Control the markets, regulate business, Engage in a dishonest fiat money system. You understand that the dollars that you hold in your pocket today are backed by absolutely nothing except the fact that the government says that it's money. They just print it on demand. They strike a key on the computer and boom! It's created. It's a hidden tax. Inflation is a hidden tax on your wealth. They destroy the markets. They make people economically dependent on the government in order to take their freedom. I don't know what the current statistic is, but the last time that I looked at it or heard about it, I think somewhere in the neighborhood of 47 to 49 percent of American people are dependent upon the government right now for their living to some degree. You see, Franklin said, those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. Give up liberty so that we can be dependent upon the government. Another big one that's happened over the last several years is environmental fear. Brainwash people by making them think that they'll freeze or burn up to create fear. Because if the people are afraid, listen, they will look to the government to step in and do something about it which will lead to more control and will lead to more tyranny. And listen, you can relax because in the Noahic Covenant, God guaranteed that we will not be overtaken by this planet. Seed time and harvest will not fail, God said. God has promised in the Noahic Covenant that this world is here to be used by men. It is a gift of God to men. We're to take dominion of it. And because it's a fallen world, if you don't take dominion of it, then the weeds of sin will wrap around you. You have to fight back the curse. You have to pull the resources out of this world. And when people are afraid they're going to freeze or burn up, they'll look to the government. The government will step in with all of their regulations, all of their purchasing of lands. and more tyranny is the result. How about open borders and illegal immigration? You know, as an American, I'm fine if there are those who are oppressed in other parts of the world who seek to come into this world legally and go through the process and learn the language of the nation and be educated in the customs and the heritage that we have from the past. But what's taking place in our day because of statism is that they've opened up all of the borders, as it were, to offer a free ride to illegals so that those illegals will then come into the nation and support their cause. Appeal to the selfishness. Appeal to the oppression of those who are outside of this country, and it will bring them in in droves. And when they come in, they bring with them their ideologies that are more consistent with statism than with Christianity, which then serves to further the cause of statism while ruining the country. They want to ruin freedom. They want to put you in bondage. All of this sound familiar to you today? You see, the people behind all of this, they know exactly what they're doing. They're barbarians at the gate and they have sent in their Trojan horses to destroy. Now, with that I want to return to the question that I began with. Stateism's bondage or Christianity's freedom? What will be the future experience of our nation? Which worldview do we hold at the present time and what will be our future experience based upon that position? Will it be stateism's bondage or Christianity's freedom? I want to provide some perspective with some poetic commentary. I believe this is where we're at today. Do you hear the awful rattle of the chains? Those thick chains of bondage forged down deep within the bowels and fires of hell. They long to clasp your hands and feet in shackles and with murderous rage desire to slaughter freedom and leave her wasted in the doleful shades of gloom. Will your hands and feet be forced to wear those shackles? Will freedom die and be forgotten in the hills of yesteryear? Will those who fought against the blacksmiths die in vain and be forgotten? Will you just give in and howl the howl of misery's dirge? Do you hear the awful rattle of the chains? Those chains are getting closer as they march across freedom's forest, felled by fear. Oh no, I hear them clanking. I see they're coming after me. The freedom flag of triple color has been dealt an awful blow, her bulwark broken, a fresh grave dug to lay her low. What can we do? What will we do? How will we live when freedom's heavenly song ceases to be sung? The rattle will turn to shackles, and the night of mourning will have come. Do you hear the awful rattle of the chains? You know, brothers and sisters, I know that's very foreboding, but we don't need to despair because there's always hope. Our God is a great God and can do things beyond all that we ask or think. So as I come now to the concluding part of my sermon, I want to make it applicational. And first I want to say something to you as individuals. In other words, some things to you in regards to how you need to respond to these things. Here's the first thing I would say to you. You need to wake up and you need to see the reality because it's late in the day. The hour is late. You need to wake up. You need to look around. You need to understand what's going on. Romans 13, 11 says the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. Secondly, you need to prepare your mind for action. And what I mean by that is you need to take some time to learn and to grow personally. You need to educate yourself. You need to be people of the book. You need to read godly Christian men and get yourself firmly rooted in a biblical understanding of the Christian faith. You need to be people of the book. You need to be spending time in the Word of God. You need to pursue the truth. You need to pursue God and holiness and maturity and love. 1 Peter 1.13 says, Prepare your mind for action. The third thing is you need to brace yourself for these wars that are coming to the Christians. You need to brace yourself for persecution and difficulty and don't be taken captive by the enemy. In Ephesians chapter number 6, verses 10 to 13, we find these words from the Apostle. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." You see, there is the origin of statism. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand firm. Colossians chapter number 2 verse 8 says, See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to the human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. Next thing I would say to you is take action. You need to get into the fray. You need to be courageous. You need to be discerning enough. Now listen to this. This is a hard message for Americans to get. You need to shift focus from your personal interests to the walls of the city because the barbarians are burning them down. If the city walls are falling down, what good does it do for you to tend exclusively to your own house? You see, the Christian worldview came into this land And it conquered, it fortified, and it domesticated. We were born into America in a season of domestication. Do you know what I mean by that? You haven't faced war. You haven't faced having to win freedom. It was given to you. You were born into this because of our forefathers and because of the kind grace of God. And you were able to live out your dreams and your goals and have chance and have opportunity Seek happiness, as the Declaration puts it, and all the rest, and to live under God in freedom, and you could build your life, and your homes, and your bank accounts, and your farms, and your lands, and all that stuff. But my friend, the enemy is at the gate, and there's a time to stop all of the domestication, stop with all of those personal goals and dreams, so to speak, to go look and see what's happening out here on the battlefield. So many Christians are more worried about their retirement and this thing and that thing. My friend, there's not going to be a retirement if statism comes. Don't you understand? You have to move out to the city walls and fight the battle and stand against the barbarians who are there. It's a beautiful verse, I think, that gives a tremendous amount of encouragement to us. In Psalm chapter number 18, verse 29. For by you, talking about God, for by you I can run against a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall. Isn't that beautiful? In 2 Corinthians 10, verses 4-6, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds, demonic strongholds, like Marxism and statism. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience when your obedience is complete. Edmund Burke said, the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. Also, don't underestimate what one man can do by being a godly troublemaker. I thank Gil for this poem. One man awake awakens another. The second awakens his next door brother. The three awake can rouse a town by turning the whole place upside down. The many awake can cause such a fuss it finally awakens the rest of us. One man awake with dawn in his eyes surely then multiplies. Let me move away from individual instruction to you to say to you next, get your family in order according to the biblical design. You men in here, shepherd your family. Lead your family. Take them in the way that they should go. Love your wife. Be tender to your children. Protect them. Provide for them. Be a godly man. Grow a backbone. Don't be a little boy out in the culture. Be a man. Stand up for what's right. Women, you've been deceived so much by the cultural lies I feel for women in our culture today. Who've been bamboozled by the doctrines of feminism and all the rest. Tend to your husband and to your children. And make, listen to me, I know I'm going to say some hard things here, but you would have to refute it from the Bible. I'm giving you God's truth today. You women, you need to make your home and domestic employments your central focus. God's high calling for women is to be a wife and a mother, not out in the world, subject to other men bearing the double curse on your back. The curse to fight out in the world and to provide for the family, that's the curse upon the man. And you know what we've done in our culture? We've taken women and we've thrust them out into the world to bear the double curse in the name of being equal with men. God didn't want you as women to be men. He wants you to be women. And men, He wants you to be men. Do you understand? As to your children, Oh, this is going to rub you wrong, some of you. Be responsible for taking the education of your children into your own hands. Give your children a God-fearing education. Listen to me. The state has an anti-God indoctrination agenda and you need to deliver your children from it. You need to get them out of that totalitarian view of life that's rooted in secular humanism. Don't let the state educate your children. Thomas Jefferson said, if a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be. My friend, your children are going to grow up in a world and they're not going to have freedom if you don't see what I'm talking about today and if Americans don't wake up to this and I'm talking to Christian people. As parents, you can't protect them from the world, but you can help them think like Christians who can stand against the world. Proverbs 1-7, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Where are your children going to learn that if not from you? If you send your children to state-run schools, you give them over to the world voluntarily. Remember, it's the state that has legalized the... Listen to this. Listen to me. Don't check out, even if you're angry at what I'm saying. It's the state that has legalized the killing of children in the womb. And if they kill babies, then they certainly don't care about the well-being of your babies. Do you understand what I'm saying to you? They do not care about your children. Oh, listen to me. I know there are godly and good people who work in public education. I get that. Some of you in here today have done that, do that. I get it. I understand that. There are godly people out there in that realm, but your hands are tied. You can't teach with the Christian worldview. You can't be a true mentor of those people, bringing the Word of God to bear upon those because you have higher-ups that are above you who have an indoctrination agenda that you have to abide by. That's right. If you think that you can send your children to a godless, secular, humanistic school for eight hours a day, and then bring them to church for an hour or two every week, and then turn out fainting like Christians, you dream! That's right. Amen. You dream. Give your life to your children. You need to have an intergenerational commitment, not an election cycle view. Do you understand? The next president, it's important. But that's not how problems are solved. You know how the problems are solved? It's by you passing the faith to your children. And they passing the faith to their children. And it's such a sad thing today. The statistics are in. I know there's been studies that's done by this. I know Answers in Genesis has written a book on this. You can find up all of the details. I don't remember what the percentage is. But in the Southern Baptist Convention, somewhere in the neighborhood of 70% of children who grew up going to a public school and going to church, by the time that they left the home and became independent, completely abandoned the faith. We can't send them to that mess every day and expect them to turn out Christians. Oh, I know the grace of God intervenes. Some of you in here grew up in state-run schools, and God had mercy on you, and He saved you. But you need to have an intergenerational commitment. You need to plant shade trees for your children. You need to leave them the legacy of a God-fearing worldview. They're not going to get that in the public school. They might have used to in olden times, but they certainly don't today. Listen, the burden of proof is for you to refute that. I'm giving you God's Word on it. And to not fall in line with that is to not really come into a full-orbed Christian understanding of the faith. It's pick and choose. I'll line my life up with this, but not with this. I'll do this, but I won't do this. My friend, I know it's costly. I know it's going to mean sacrifices. But if we have a man in the congregation with ten children and he can do it, you can do it. Do you understand? Look at them precious children out in this congregation today. Are you going to turn them over to be devoured by the state when you know better? When God sent you your preacher today to tell you? It's time to make some decisions. Some hard decisions. To step up to the line. The next place. Center your life around the church. You need to be faithful to our Lord as part of His beautiful bride. Show up, hook up, grow up, and stand up. Thanks for that, Charlie. When it comes to the government, infiltrate civil society with the gospel wherever you can. Resist the statist prostitute and show the world the love of the bride. Listen, you get out and vote at the very least. Shame on you if you don't go vote. I'm serious. I want to shame you into voting today. You go get registered and you go vote. Have you missed my meaning? Speak out. I long for the day we're here at this church, not only are men raised up for the gospel ministry, but we raise up statesmen in our church who can go out into the civil sphere and labor for the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Be a full Lord Christian. Have a complete Christian worldview, not a partial one. As a word of encouragement, trust in God. Don't fear the enemy. Pray for revival and pray for awakening. Let me give you a handful of verses I think that are a huge encouragement. Listen to this. Psalm 27. I quote this and me and the girls many times at bedtime. This is one of our verses. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? Now listen to the next part. A lot of times we leave off at that verse, but listen to the next part. When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall. Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. The war arise up against me, yet I will be confident. Isn't that beautiful? Psalm 35. Verses 1-3, Contend, O Lord, with those who contend with me. Fight against those who fight against me. Take hold of shield and buckler and rise for my help. Draw the spear and javelin against my pursuers. Say to my soul, I am your salvation. In Psalm 67, 1-3, May God be gracious to us and bless us and make His face shine upon us, that your way may be known on the earth, your saving power among all nations. Let the people praise you, O God. Let all the peoples praise you. Do you see the progression? There has to be first a work among the people of God for the people who are not the people of God. See the beauty and the wonder of the Gospel. Now, I know this morning that we have our own elders in here today. But for the sake of, hopefully this message may be reaching some other men and women, I want to say a word to pastors. I want to say a word to pastors today who may be hearing this sermon. I love pastors. I am one. It's my conviction that pastors are the most important people on the planet. You say, how could you say such a bold thing like that? Well, if you stop and consider the great task that God has given them, you would say that too. If you really understand that. Some of my greatest friends and greatest relationships are men who are pastors. So, any pastor who's hearing this, when you hear what I say, it may come across as a hard word, but Proverbs 27, 6 says, "...faithful are the wounds of a friend." I come today as a friend. In Acts chapter number 2, verses 41 and 42, it gives us a pattern for gospel order in the church. How things are supposed to work. Listen to it. So those who received His word were baptized and there were added that day about 3,000 souls. And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship and to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Do you see how that worked? People were saved, people were baptized, people were added to the church and people continued in the things of God. They continued, we could say, in gospel order. Now let's be honest today. If we look around, we find that most of our evangelical churches are not in line with gospel order, but rather have developed into synagogues of Satan. One illustration will suffice. You've heard me say it a thousand times. But when only 25% of membership shows up on a given Sunday, something is wrong with the gospel that was preached that created that irregular situation. And we have failed as churches to step in with church discipline and set those kinds of things in order. What are we saying in our churches when we bring someone into membership? We are affirming as a church we believe that person to be saved. And then when members disappear from the church and they're still on the membership roll and they're away from the church and that number reaches the 75% of the church membership, we're still affirming these people as members of the church when probably since, no, in actuality. Since they're not demonstrating the fruits of what the gospel says will be the case, what should we say about people like that? Most likely, they're a false convert. And we've done nothing about it in our churches today. No wonder our churches are in such a mess. And I want to say to pastors today that God sent you to that particular church for no other reason than to set that thing in order. You're holding a station in a church isn't to build up your own little empire or to make a name for yourself. That's not why God sends men into churches. Men are to set the church in order. And my friend, if you cannot do that because it's so full of devils, then start something new with a handful of true believers. And if you won't do that, then get out and go sell insurance and let a real man of God get in that pulpit. You have to stand for the truth for such a time as this and set that church in order. Do not be silent when you need to step up and speak and act. Abraham Lincoln said, silence makes cowards out of the best of men. Let me say something to you about the present threat of the situation that's upon us. Again, I'm still speaking to pastors. Pastors need to understand this because they're the ones that are leading the ship. They're the ones in charge of Zion under the Lordship of the Lord Jesus Christ. Martin Luther said, if we are faithful on all battlefronts, but neglect where the battle rages the hottest, we are traitors to the cause. Brother Pastor, I hope and pray that you see what the government is calling a health crisis and a pandemic right now is actually a smokescreen to hide the attacks on the foundations of our freedom as they attempt to advance their statist agenda. These men are masters of deceit. And like a magician that captures your attention with his left hand while he does his trickery with his right, so too the government is giving you a false narrative rooted in fear so that you and your church are rendered ineffective and unable to stand up to their mischievous behavior. They want the church paralyzed in the name of a crisis. And I understand that this virus is real. I get that. I know people have died from it. But my friend, it's nowhere even close to what they said it was when this whole thing first started. But they have perpetuated the narrative. In the name of a crisis, listen to me close. In the name of a crisis, they are actually creating what will become a severe crisis to all of the congregations of God, because tyranny and statism and bondage will come. And you'll see. We'll be in the churches singing, Oh How I Love Jesus, and the cattle carts will show up in the parking lot. Do you understand? And don't say it can't happen here, because it has happened in other places. Ephesians 5.11, it says, Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. You know, at the very beginning, when things were uncertain, we gave our leadership and government the benefit of the doubt, but now it should be obvious to all of us what's really going on. And it's evil. It's antichrist. It's statism. And we need to see that and we need to stand up against that. Listen to me. The church, brothers and sisters, is the last stand against the statist agenda. And they know it. We don't know it, but they know it. And that's our problem. It's the church. And this false narrative in the name of love and care for fellow men is a chess move that only serves towards the goal of putting our nation in checkmate. Please see through the hypocrisy. Again, I'm going to use the same illustration. They kill children in the womb and you think that they actually care about the health of the citizenry? They close down the church while keeping bars open and you think that compliance with that is doing your part as a church leader to love humanity? As if somehow the physical well-being of men is more important than the spiritual well-being of men. Who's going to tend to the souls of sinners if the church shuts down and goes quiet? If we give in to all this mess and have drive-in services and masks on the face and all of that stuff that buys into the narrative, they're winning the game. They're winning the game. All this pandemic, all this social justice stuff, every single bit of it is rooted in statism. They're taking advantage of the crisis. That's what they do. Either a real one or a manufactured one. Real love rejoices in the truth. And the truth is that there is an enslaving agenda that needs to be exposed and resisted. Brother Pastor, I pray that you see it and will stand. I also want to say a word to any public, official, or civil magistrate who may be hearing this sermon. First of all, we as the Church of God, we see the state, the true state, as God's institution and we appreciate it and we respect it. We appreciate people that work in that realm. We see the legitimacy of it. We see the value of that office and of that work. Can I get an amen? We do see it. But as a civil magistrate, you have to remember that you're God's servant. And there are limits in the realm of which you occupy. You are not autonomous, nor do you have unlimited power. As a civil magistrate, you will give an account to God for your behavior in His realm. And so you need to know what He requires. You are to restrain evil and promote righteousness by your leadership so that human flourishing becomes the norm and the reality. Furthermore, be reminded that you took an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America. And if you haven't read it or studied it in a while, I would encourage you to do that. Your duty is to protect life, liberty, and property. You need to make sure that you're restraining evil and not inflicting it. and not joining in with those who are not carrying out their duty. You are a servant, not a sovereign. And when other civil leaders, even those higher than you, lose sight of that and begin to take advantage of those whom they are to bless with their authority, you, as a lesser magistrate, have a duty to stand up against them and interpose for the people and to put down their evil tyranny. Amen. Always be on the side of the people when tyranny raises its ugly head. Do not ever join in with any civil leader below or above you who would seek to tyrannize or oppress the people. And God will bless you for such a disposition. You know, my friends, this fallen sinful world has made life very difficult, hasn't it? It's full of complications, bondage. Not freedom is the norm. And that's what makes the gospel message of the Lord Jesus Christ such good news. We have an amazing message, don't we? Maybe as you listen to what I'm saying today, if you find yourself in bondage, listen to the words of my Lord. He said, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me. This is Jesus. because He has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind. To set at liberty those who are oppressed Proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. That's the gospel, brothers and sisters. And it starts with the individual soul, and it works itself out in a worldview that produces the fruit and the beauty of freedom. Nothing else can do that. And everything else is opposed to it. What a beautiful, beautiful thing that we have been given by Almighty God. And so today, as we think about these things, I want to ask you, what's it going to be? What's it going to be for you? What's it going to be for our nation? Is it going to be bondage? Or is it going to be freedom? Now therefore, fear the Lord. And serve Him in sincerity and faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the river and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. And if it's evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve. whether the gods of your fathers served in the region beyond the river or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Let's pray. Father, I thank you today for, oh God, the power and the illumination of your word. Lord, we bow before you today in thanksgiving and gratitude for your great salvation that broke into our darkness and made us free. If we're in Christ, we are free indeed. And Lord, we thank you. There's not enough words to express because this freedom is an eternal freedom, not just here on this earth, Lord, but through all of eternity. What an amazing gift that you sent your son to come into this world to live a perfect life that we could never live and then go to that tree and to die for us and to bear the wrath that we deserve because of our rebellion against you. Oh, and Father, as I think about wicked men today who are behind all of these godless ideologies, Father, my heart breaks for them in pity and compassion because they do what they do in blindness, spiritual blindness, as they are sifted by Satan. And Father, I pray for their liberation. Father, I pray for wicked governors who are seeking to tyrannize men, that the gospel would break in and save. Father, that revival and awakening would come. Father, you know, you remember all those many years ago when this nation fell spiritually and you sent Edwards and Whitfield and the Wesleys and those other godly men who preached the truth of the gospel. Father, do it again. Father, revive your work. open up the floodgates of salvation and pour it out upon sinners. We pray today, Father. We storm the gates of heaven this morning, asking and begging, Father, that the Lord Jesus Christ would be seen as glorious to fallen men. And that they would not only embrace Him as Savior, but they would bow the knee to Him as Lord, because one day they will. One day they will recognize Him as Lord. And Father, I pray that they would do it now while there is an opportunity for this great salvation, this day of opportunity, Lord. Oh Father. and if it be your sovereign will to direct the streams of civilization for this nation in a way that moves to tyranny and statism. Father, give us the courage to bear up in those times and never veer away from preaching the truth. Amen. I pray for your church today, Lord, that you would embolden pastors to take a stand and they would see the false narratives and they would preach the true agenda, Lord, that is harmful to men's souls. I pray for families, Lord, that we would get our families in order. I pray for this particular church, Lord. The Solid Rock Baptist Church. Be merciful to us, Lord. Forgive us of our many failures and sins against you, Lord. Help us to walk with you all the days of our life. And one day, eternally and fully and finally, we will dwell in the house of the Lord. And we thank you for this great promise in Christ's precious name we pray it all. Amen.