Under God
Today, on July 4, 2019, I could not help but think upon the words of “The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.”
The Pledge of Allegiance to our nation’s flag reads as follows:
“I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
While our society is constantly trying to rewrite history and deny the incredible events that led to the founding of this great nation we must strongly reaffirm that we are a nation…Under God!
Psalm 33:12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.
We must remember that we are a nation, “Under God.” Truly without Him, America would not be a nation!
We are a nation Under God.
We are under God…
I. As the Creator
In the beginning of the Declaration of Independence we read these words:
In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness..
Our Founding Fathers knew, and acknowledged that rights come from God, not the government!
Anything the government grants it can take away
Romans 13:1 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.
We are Under God as the Creator because…
1. He was before all things
Colossians 1:17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 The same was in the beginning with God.
Before there was time, there was Jesus!
Before God said, “Let there be light,,”
the Light of the World already existed.
Before God divided the waters from the waters
the Living Water was with the Father.
Before God spoke the world into existence
the Word was with God and the Word was God!
Jesus Christ has always been God, He always will be God, Because He always has been!
2. He is the Beginning of all things
Revelation 3:14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;
This means that He is the ORGIN of all things. He made it all!
Colossians 1:16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
John 1:3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
It was Jesus that created everything.
It was He that said, “Let there be light.”
It was He that called the Light Day and Darkness He called Night.
It was He that said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.”
It was He that called the Firmament Heaven.
It was He that said, “Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear:”
It was He that called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas:
It was He that said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth:”
It was He that said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:”
It was He that made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.
It was He that said, “Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.”
It was He that said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.”
It was He that said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”
He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the Last.
3. He is the one who upholds all things by the Word of His Power
Hebrews 1:3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
He is the one who keeps all of creation going.
Colossians 1:17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
That means He holds all things together.
Scientists tell us that each all matter is made of electrons and protons. Those electrons and protons are constantly moving and should fly apart. They do not know why they don’t. I will tell you why . . .
Colossians 1:17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
It is Jesus that holds it all together!
4. All things were created for Him
Colossians 1:16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
Creation was for God. Man was made to have fellowship with God. We were created for the pleasure of God!
5. He Controls All Things
Proverbs 8:15 By me kings reign, and princes decree justice.
Matthew 28:18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
Psalm 75:7 But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.
Daniel 2:21 And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding:
He setteth up, and pulleth down, He kills and makes alive AT HIS PLEASURE.
*We must never forget the Sovereignty of God!
We are Under God…
II. As the Caregiver
Psalm 33:12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.
On July 2, 1776, as the Continental Congress was meeting in Philadelphia to declare independence, Commander-in-Chief George Washington was gathering his soldiers Long Island to meet the British in battle in and around New York City. He wrote in the General Orders to his men these memorable words which declare that we, as a nation, serve under God:
The time is now near at hand, which must probably determine whether Americans are to be free men or slaves; whether they are to have any property they can call their own; whether their houses and farms are to be pillaged and destroyed, and they consigned to a state of wretchedness from which no human efforts will probably deliver them. The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God, on the courage and conduct of this army. Our cruel and unrelenting enemy leaves no choice but a brave resistance, or the most abject submission; this is all we can expect.
We have, therefore, to resolve to conquer, or to die.
“Our own, our country’s honour call upon us for a vigorous and manly exertion; and if we now shamefully fail, we shall become infamous to the whole world.
“Let us, then rely on the goodness of our cause, and the aid of the Supreme Being, in whose hands victory is, to animate and encourage us to great and noble actions. “The eyes of all our countrymen are now upon us, and we shall have their blessings and praises, if happily we are the instruments of saving them from the tyranny mediated against them.
“Let us, therefore, animate and encourage each other, and shew the whole world that a freeman, contending for liberty on his own ground, is superior to any slavish mercenary on earth.
“Liberty, property, life, and honor are all at stake; upon your courage and conduct rest the hopes of our bleeding and insulted country. Our wives, children, and parents expect safety from us alone, and they have every reason to believe that Heaven will crown with success so just a cause.”
Notice, he said, “The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God, on the courage and conduct of this army…Let us, then rely on the goodness of our cause, and the aid of the Supreme Being, in whose hands victory is, to animate and encourage us to great and noble actions
He understood that their cause was just and good because they fought for the liberty “under God.”
It is GOD that protects us.
It is GOD that blesses us.
We did not do this ourselves!
In 1789, after America had won its independence from England, a group of men met in Philadelphia to draft a new national constitution. Listen to what Benjamin Franklin said:
The small progress we have made after four or five weeks close attendance & continual reasonings with each other-our different sentiments on almost every question, several of the last producing as many noes as ays, is methinks a melancholy proof of the imperfection of the Human Understanding. We indeed seem to feel our own want of political wisdom, since we have been running about in search of it. We have gone back to ancient history for models of Government, and examined the different forms of those Republics which having been formed with the seeds of their own dissolution now no longer exist. And we have viewed Modern States all round Europe, but find none of their Constitutions suitable to our circumstances.
In this situation of this Assembly, groping as it were in the dark to find political truth, and scarce able to distinguish it when presented to us, how has it happened, Sir, that we have not hitherto once thought of humbly applying to the Father of lights to illuminate our understandings? In the beginning of the Contest with G. Britain, when we were sensible of danger we had daily prayer in this room for the divine protection.- Our prayers, Sir, were heard, & they were graciously answered. All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of a superintending providence in our favor.
To that kind providence we owe this happy opportunity of consulting in peace on the means of establishing our future national felicity. And have we now forgotten that powerful friend? or do we imagine that we no longer need his assistance?
I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth- that God Governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid?
We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings, that "except the Lord build the House they labour in vain that build it." I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better, than the Builders of Babel: We shall be divided by our little partial local interests; our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and bye word down to future ages. And what is worse, mankind may hereafter from this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing Governments by Human wisdom and leave it to chance, war and conquest.
I therefore beg leave to move-that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations, be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the Clergy of this City be requested to officiate in that Service-
Proverbs 14:34 Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.
Under God
Under God, America’s been blessed
Under God, brought through every trial and test
We are sheltered by the mercy He chose to give
In priv’ledge and abundance
This nation lives Under God
We need to recognize
We’re dependent on His goodness
Indebted to His care
Maybe more than any people
Anytime or anywhere
Still our only hope and prayer
Is Under God!
When we pledge allegiance now,
It’s under God
Those words have shaped the land we hold dear.
Some insist it’s not allowed
To acknowledge that we need Him now
But it’s never been so clear
Under God, America’s been blessed
Under God, brought through every trial and test
We are sheltered by the mercy He chose to give
In priv’ledge and abundance
This nation lives Under God
Psalm 33:12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.
We must realize that true freedom comes not from guns and ships and planes and tanks…
It comes from God!
Psalm 20:7 Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.
We sing, “God bless America”… but is America still blessable?
We are Under God…
III. As the Christ
He is the Messiah
He is the Master
He is the Mediator
Our Founding Fathers KNEW who Jesus IS! they acknowledged him in the founding documents…
William Bradford (the Governor of the Plymouth Colony) said in 1647:
Last and not least they cherished a great hope and inward zeal of laying good foundations, or at least making some ways toward it, for the propagation and advance of the gospel of the Kingdom of Christ in the remote parts of the world, even though they should be but stepping stones to others in the performance of so great a work.
Patrick Henry said:
It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ! For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here.
Daniel Webster said:
Our ancestors established their system of government on morality and religious sentiment. Moral habits, they believed, cannot safely be entrusted on any other foundation than religious principle, not any government secure which is not supported by moral habits.... Whatever makes men good Christians, makes them good citizens.
Psalm 33:12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.
Eternal freedom from sin comes only through the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
John 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
To have eternal freedom from the penalty of sin you must…
1. Realize that you are a sinner
Romans 3:10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
2. Recognize the price on sin
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Revelation 21:8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
3. Remember Jesus paid sin’s price
Romans 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
4. Repent of your sin
Acts 3:19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;
5. Receive Christ as your Saviour
Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Romans 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
If you were to die right now, would you want to go to heaven?
Would you be willing to ask Christ to save you right now?