James and chapter 4, and let us read again verse 12. James chapter 4 and verse 12. There is one lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy, who art thou that judgest another. Particularly the words, there is one lawgiver Now, on the eve of a general election, it would be easy to simply ignore the election altogether, not to say anything about it. Many people would say, well, that's the right thing to do, to just remember that we are citizens of heaven as we are and that we do not worry too much about earthly things. But I feel that it is indeed time for us, a time, a very suitable time for us to reflect on where we are as a country, as a nation. Where is Great Britain? Is Great Britain any more in any sense great? Or is it, as some say, broken Britain? Now, supposedly, we are what we call a democracy, and that means government of the people, by the people, and for the people. According to a famous man's definition of it, it is not necessarily over against, theocracy. But I think that in our situation, that the idea of democracy has just ruled out and pushed any possibility of the rule of God right off the scene altogether. Yes, democracy is something we should be thankful for, but we would like to think that that democracy was itself subject to the one who is ruler over all, to the one who has established his throne in the heavens and his kingdom ruleth over all. to the one who is the one and only true law giver. For us, as Christians, we have to say that democracy is no longer working in our nation. Supposedly, we have a say in what kind of country we want. Supposedly democracy provides that, that the people of some say in what kind of country they want. And perhaps it was so at one time, but it is no longer so. And I want to first of all address this matter of the massive change which has taken place in the foundations of our country. I'm keeping as far as I can completely clear from any politics here tonight. I do want to focus your attention not on details but on the great principles, great principles which have been undermined and the great principles which have taken the place of these principles. So there is a massive change in the foundations of our country. not just in the politics, not just in the legislature, but the whole foundation on which we stood at one time is completely changed. Changed from what we might call broadly Christian to an assumed secularness. and I say assumed, because more and more I see in what commentators write, political commentators, people like that, in what they write, I see that they very, very easily, though, say, just as if it was just commonly accepted knowledge that Great Britain is now a secular country. I say it is assumed, and that seems to be all there is to it. In any debate now, the assumption is that we are a secular country. But where is the democracy? Have we made this choice? Have we ever had the opportunity to make this choice? If there was a referendum What would be the choice? It would be a question. But there has been nothing like that. And perhaps, no, it would be too late. I don't know. There is something about the way democracy is working which seems to me to go against the will of the people and seems to resist the will of the people. But this secularism has come in not by democratic means, not by political process, but it has come in by stealth. Just by slowly chipping away, bit by bit, at the foundations until now we have a country where it is assumed that we are a secular country, that that is the mindset of our people, that this is the mindset which we want to have, that this is the mindset which is general among the people, but there is no groaned for it. It is not a change which has taken place democratically, but something which has come in by stealth. Now, there is something about this which I find very unhealthy. There is a resistance to any kind of referendum on anything, even on things that we have been promised referenda on, we are not given these, as if the government or parliament was afraid of the will of the people, afraid to let the people express their will. and so the sea change, the change in the foundations of our country goes on and on and on without any break upon it. Certainly the one thing sure is that democracy is not in any way for us a break on that change. The country is simply having no say in major changes which have taken place in Great Britain. Now, the result of this would be perhaps acceptable if the result was neutrality. For the result is not neutrality, but it is an aggressive prejudice against Biblical Christianity. We are seeing today the rage of the heathen against the Lord and His anointed. Let us break their bans on us. Let us cast their cords from us. Let us break all these rules and all these restrictions that have the Christian label or the biblical label. And it is aggressive. and it is prejudiced against biblical Christianity. And in many quarters, more and more, the Bible is considered a hate document. And I do believe that we will see more of that in coming days, unless there is a change. To teach What the Bible says is just the last thing that our legislators and those that drive forward our educational machine, that's the last thing that they want. one of our leading scientists, and I would say scientist in inverted commas because I don't think he deserves the name for the kind of thinking that he has. He has said that to teach a child about creation as the Bible teaches it is child abuse. So everything, there is this massive change and it's all weighted against Christianity. And secondly, I want to look at the use of legislation in order to replace conscience. Conscience, especially conscience guided by the word of God, is an extremely useful thing, and it is extremely efficient. It is wide-ranging. and cover more than a multitude of laws could cover. The result of secular thinking is multiplication of laws. Laws for everything. Laws for things in which we are clearly guided in our conscience if we have the Word of God. The Word of God works with our conscience to make the right clear to us. And instead of ten commandments, we have now a mountain of legislation, a mountain of legislation which is, in many cases, telling us what to think, telling us what opinions we should have. And so the whole thing is mounting up moments of legislation which are replacing the place of conscience. In the recent debacle about ministers, about MPs' expenses and all that sort of thing, all that was, the only defence people had, as far as I could see, was that they did nothing against the rules. They might say that they did not do anything wrong, and if that was looked into, it was simply they did nothing against the rules. I don't know that I heard any of them say, I did nothing against my conscience. That is just so sad. that laws and rules are taking over the place that God gave to conscience. And the merging of legislation, the merging of laws, keeps growing. It is as if the very purpose of Parliament is to make more and more laws, and more and more rules, and as if that amounts to government. But it is not the same thing as government. It is not really governing the country. It is just adding to the modem of legislation. We are droning under regulations. Some of them have the most ridiculous, ridiculous results. The reason for that is the exclusion of conscience. as being made to take the place of conscience. Because conscience is excluded, it becomes necessary to control our thinking. Instead of being guided from within and from the rule of God's Word, Instead of that, we have to be ruled from the outside. Rules to guide us in every part of life. That's what we have in these equality and diversity laws. They are an attempt to shape our thinking, to shape our opinions. They are saying to us, these are the opinions you must have. This is the way you must think. And if you express any other opinion, then we will prosecute you. Also, there are more things coming in. and anti-hatred laws, anti-harassment laws, and even now a suggestion of an anti-distress law. You are not going to be allowed to cause anybody any distress, and some want it even within a road home. There is one lawgiver, and that is God, whose justice is perfect, and the civil magistrate bears the sword for the punishment of evil and for the praise of them that do well. I don't see that it says in the Bible that the civil magistrate is there to make more and more laws. I don't see it in the two passages in Romans and 1 Peter. I do not see that, according to the pattern there, that it is any part of the civil magistrate's remit to make more laws and to add to laws. Certainly, the civil magistrate would be required to administer justice, punishment, encouragement, that the law, the crimes would be according to what the law of God defines. There is one lawgiver and that is God. So, the state should fear that one lawgiver who as we read here is able to save and to destroy. Thirdly, there is the dethronement of the triune God. I emphasize here the triune God, and when we come to the end I think you will see why I say the triune God. There is one lawgiver, that is God, the great judge of all, and when we say that we mean the triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But the judges of our land, politicians and judges, have set themselves up as the judges of God's law. Rather than submitting to that law, submitting to the role of God, They are, in fact, setting themselves up to push God off His throne. The Bible makes it clear that there is one lawgiver, and men don't like that lawgiver. Politicians don't like that lawgiver. and they are in the process of trying to dethrone him not that they ever can cause God will always rule he has set his throne in the heavens and his kingdom rules over all he does according to his will the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and who can stay his hand or say to him what doest thou so result of this dethronement, although they would even try and put it forth, put it and promote it as a more benign rule than the rule of God's world, what they end up with is not a more benign rule at all, but very much the opposite. there comes, in place of the Word of God and the Word of God, there comes tyranny, the tyranny of man's wisdom. And it seems to me that that wisdom is becoming more and more tyrannical as time goes on. There is a sort of a certain, I know the phrase political correctness is bandied about, but there is a sort of a, almost like a generally accepted morality which is really quite separate and different in its basic presuppositions to what the word of God says. The Confession of Faith says this, that God alone is Lord of the conscience, and hath left it free from the commandments and doctrines of men. God alone is Lord of the conscience. When man abandons or pushes conscience out of the way and puts something else in place of conscience, then they are in doing so, they are dethroning God himself. Further, reading the confession of faith, about the freedom of conscience that we have under God, and it flows from that fact that God alone is Lord of the conscience, and necessarily it flows from that, that we have a certain amount of Christian liberty, which it is utterly wrong for man to take from us, and yet these things are being taken from us. And our liberty as Christians is being replaced by a yoke of external control. not over just our deeds, not even over just our words, but even over our thoughts and opinions. Now the result is not a stronger country, not stronger men and women, but a weaker country and weaker men and women. The strength is being taken out of them. awakening of moral fibre. Moral fibre has its growth surely in the fear of God. We see today that men and women just do not have that moral fibre. They cannot resist temptation. indulgence and overindulgence is very much the rule of the day. There is no basic dignity allowed for man. He is just nothing more than a splendid animal. He is weakened, he has little moral fibre left, and he is ready. A nation of such people is ready for a takeover. And I can see that that takeover is taking place. By what? What is the most likely thing to take over Great Britain? It is Islam. Islam. What does that mean? It means a God who is not triune. What does that mean? It means that God, of whom it cannot be said, that God is love. The Muslim will never say, God is love, because the Muslim doesn't see God that way, cannot see God that way. You can only see that, the truth of God is love, when He is triune. It is not that he is loving, always loving, but that he is love within himself. I think we were speaking about this not long ago. That is what God is love, that is what it means, that there is this beautiful, perfect love between the three persons. We are ready for a takeover, for the cold, loveless hand of Islam. having surrendered the benign role, the loving role of the Godless love, we are going to be taken over. And all it takes is the present change in the proportions of population of the population in this country to continue as it is and it won't be many years until Muslims are in the majority and they know that they know very well that they don't have to go to war to take over Great Britain all they have to do Let things carry on as they do, and it will happen. So, I brought before you three things. I hope you don't think that this lacked gospel tonight. I know it does. But in another sense, I do know this, that the triune God, is the only God there is, and the only God of whom we can say that He is love, and the only God whose role is absolutely just, and the God who is not quick to come to judge but He gives opportunities to repent, extended time to repent. Sometimes we think that He gives too much time, but that is the way He is. Are we going to just surrender this? What can we do? Well, we can pray. And I do think that there should be earnest, earnest prayer that God will turn our nation. I do not think, I'm sorry to say this, but I do not think that the democratic means is ever going to turn our nation. But I do believe that if God's people prayed that God could answer that prayer way beyond Ruskin. Now, I hope I haven't been political. I haven't told you who to vote for or anything like that. That's not what this is about. Please don't think it. This is simply about the great principles that underlie the changes in our nation. dethronement of God that is involved, the replacement of conscience by legislation, and the chipping away of the foundations by stealth, without any opportunity to say yes or no. We want that or we don't want that. Our type of democracy no longer allows for that. They won't have it. There is no doubt that in some things, and it has been very clear in the recent past, the government don't want to hear what the people have to say. But it is as if they know best, this is what you must have. And I think that that is so serious. It has happened by itself. And it is just aggressively against biblical Christianity. Our gracious God, we pray for Thy help and guidance at this time. Help us, Lord, to know what to do, whether to vote or not to vote. To guide us, Lord, as to how we should vote. O Lord, we pray. Do pray earnestly that thou wilt guide us. Yet, O Lord, we cannot but our hopes in these processes. But Thou hast given to us a far more powerful weapon, and that is the weapon of prayer, for that we will be heard in the sacred place pleading for Thy mercy upon our nation, pleading at the woods visitors, the sake of her children and her children's children. O Lord, would Thou intervene, would Thou hear the cry of Thy people, would Thou bring forth that cry from them, Lord? Give the prayer and then answer it. Go before us now, Lord. Forgive us and cleanse us. In Jesus' name. Amen.