Who Can Save America?
Introduction
Who can save America? Surely America needs saving, because our nation is under attack from a very dangerous enemy right now. Sin has broken through the ranks of our society and has taken us captive. From child pornography to organized crime we are polluted. From drug deaths to alcohol deaths we have a pile of inebriated corpses at our doorsteps. From the greed at the Pentagon to the money‑grabbing insiders on Wall Street we have watched America bow down to an idol of gold. From gangland murders to abortion clinic executions we have become a nation with blood on our hands!
Who can save America? Our soldiers sell our secrets for materialism. Our churches sell their faith for liberalism. Our people sell their morals for paganism. Our country is selling God out for humanism! Ladies and Gentlemen, unless these "isms" soon become "was-ums" America will one day be little more than a school lesson like that told of the ancient and dead Greek and Roman cultures of the past.
Who can save America? The obvious answer is that only the Lord can save America or any nation from collapse, but we must note whenever God gets ready to do something he taps a person through whom to work.
When God got ready to save people from the flood, he called Noah to build an ark.
When God got ready to establish a nation through whom he would send his only begotten Son, he called upon Abraham.
When God was ready to lead his people out of Egypt and slavery, he spoke to Moses at the burning bush.
When God was ready to send his Son into this world, he picked out a young woman named Mary to bear and birth the child.
Even our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, came to us in human form. God in the flesh!
Each time God was prepared to perform a great work he reached down among the sons of men and picked a man or woman through whom he could accomplish his will. God is still looking for individuals with whom he can entrust divine duty.
There is hope for America, but we must become smarter. Did you hear about the international collegiate quiz program? The emcee asked the students on the panel to fill in the following sentence: "Old McDonald had a (blank)." The student from Saudi Arabia answered, "An oil rig." The emcee told him that he was incorrect and then a girl from Russia answered, "An atomic bomb." She too was told that she was incorrect and then the American student was asked, “Old McDonald had a ‘what?’” The American student answered, "A farm." The emcee said, "You are absolutely right." Then the emcee said, "Now for $200,000.00 please spell the word 'farm.'" The American student said, "E ‑ I ‑ E ‑ I – 0."
In spiritual terms, we must become smarter and wiser in understanding what it takes to preserve the nation that God and our forbearers have given us. So, let me share a Bible incident with you. It involves a society that was on the verge of collapse, until there came along the most unlikely character ‑ an eight year old boy who helped to save the nation. Let’s look at this young man and what God did through his life. We find this incident in 2 Chronicles 34.
I. A Seeking Person
In 2 Chronicles 34:1‑3 we learn that Josiah came to the throne when he was but 8 years of age. He followed his father Amon who had been killed by one of his servants. Evil was all around the young lad and that evil had degenerated the nation into a cesspool of sin, false religion and greed.
Then at age sixteen, eight years into his reign, the young king began to seek the Lord. We do not know what prompted it, but we can certainly appreciate it. Judah was on the brink of ruin when this young king began to do that which is primary for any good to come from God ‑ he began to seek God!
Ladies and Gentlemen, this is out need. We need to seek the Lord. Jesus said, "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteous." Indeed, we must do this FIRST! Every great revival, awakening and movement of God in history was born as a result of a few people who truly, with all their hearts, began to seek God! Not to know more about him, but to KNOW HIM!
Among the Telugu people of India a revival broke out some years ago. In one day it is said that 2,000 people were baptized, but soon a coldness came over the church. The life went out of the meeting and some of the missionaries became terribly concerned, so they called for sincere prayer. After much preparation, ten days were set aside for people to pray. One day during the prayer time, about 8:00 PM one evening, someone was praying when suddenly there was a sob. Then in a moment cries and groans could be heard among the people. People began to confess sin and weep for their iniquities. The missionary who told this said that it was the first time in thirty-three years that the people of India had wept for their sins.
I wonder how long it has been since some of us wept for our sins. We need to seek the face of our God and then we will fall on our faces before him in repentance.
It is interesting that we have more churches in America than ever before but we also have more sin in our nation as well. Listen to me, we don't need more sermons, we need more seeking! We don't need more socials, we need more seeking! We must seek the face of God and the power of the Spirit of God.
When Josiah sought the Lord something wonderful began to happen in his life ‑ the same will happen to anyone who does that! First, then, we need to know that the person who can help save America from ruin will be the person who will with sincerity and abandon seek the Lord with all his or her heart!
It is not just the seeking person that is needed, but also the…
II. A Standing Person
Further note in 2 Chronicles 34:4f that Josiah began to take a stand against the things that were wrong in his country. This took great courage ‑ more courage than you or I can imagine. Josiah was only twenty years old when he began a campaign to get rid of the sin which was devastating his country. The leaders of the sin were entrenched and powerful. They were making a lot of money and had positions of influence. For this young man to stand against them took all the spiritual courage that one can muster.
America will only be saved by people who have seek God and who are willing to take a stand to stop the things that are wrong. Many today are waiting for someone to do something. That someone may just be you. You say that your voice does not count for anything ‑ you are wrong. In a meeting recently I heard a man state that a congressman told him that one handwritten letter from a concerned constituent is counted as confirming the attitude of 10,000 citizens. Your letter is powerful. Most of us do not send them because we are just too busy, or we feel that our voice will not matter. We must get “un-busy” and use what we have to take a stand. Josiah took a stand and he made a great difference.
III. A Sacrificial Person
In verses 8f we note that Josiah became concerned about the Temple of the Lord. He was in the eighteenth year of his reign and was twenty-six years old when he decided that the Temple needed to be repaired. The Temple was in ruins and he knew that the Temple reflected on the Lord's glory and the people's faith, so he wanted it renovated. He knew this would cost greatly, but he was willing to sacrifice to see it done.
There is no hope for America if God's people fall in love with materialism and allow the house of the Lord to go uncared for. This calls for sacrifice in a materialistic age like our own. Josiah could save his nation because he was willing to sacrifice for his church.
IV. A Scriptural Person
While the temple was being renovated, the priest Hilkiah found a copy of the Word of God (probably a copy of Deuteronomy ‑ perhaps an original autograph of Moses) in the Temple. He gave it to Shaphan who gave it to Josiah. When Josiah heard it read, he tore his clothes (an act of conviction and repentance) and ordered that God be called upon regarding the Book! In other words, he wanted to totally obey the Word of God.
No person can be used of God who will not accept God's Word. This is one reason Josiah could help save his nation ‑ he accepted the Word of God.
Of course a person needs to be a Christian for the Bible to have a proper effect. I heard about a baby in New York the other day that drank elephant's milk and gained 100 lbs. in three weeks. It is a true story! Imagine that, 100 lbs. in three weeks. But, now for the rest of the story - the baby who drank the milk was a baby elephant, not a human being! Only an elephant will grow like that on elephant's milk. Let me say clearly that only a Christian can grow on the Word of God. But, a Christian isn’t going to grow unless he or she is drinking from the Bible milk.
Many years ago Dr. George W. Truett, the peerless Southern Baptist preacher, delivered a message entitled:
"THE BIBLE, LOST AND FOUND". In that message he pointed out that the Bible may be lost in four ways
(1) By neglect
(2) By substitution
(3) by mutilation, and
(4) By disobedience.
He also stated that without the Bible tragic ills beset the people! How right the old saint was. We must be a people of the Book, if we expect to make a difference in our own lives, in the lives of others and in the life of our nation.
V .A Sharing Person
Josiah went to the Temple and stood before the people and shared in two ways.
A. A Confession
Josiah was willing to share his own shortcomings and failures before the people. Kings seldom show weakness! Josiah had been a strong defender of the Lord's work, and yet he was still willing to make a public commitment to the Lord in front of his people. He was a humble and submissive man, one without pride or a haughty spirit. He knew that an arrogant attitude kept a man from God's blessings and from being useful to his nation, church and people.
This is a great need - a willingness to admit our own sin. Especially those of us who care and are trying to make a difference must be willing to stand honestly before God and cry out for forgiveness and divine assistance. Pride produces Pharisees while humility produces disciples!
B. A Call
Secondly, he called upon the people to make a commitment. He actually asked the people to join him in his dedication. One by one they started to come to the pillar of the Temple and make a new commitment. Suddenly a revival swept Jerusalem ‑ it all started when a sixteen year old young man began to seek the God with all his heart, and he continued by standing for the Lord, sacrificing for the Lord, being scriptural.
Conclusion
Yes, there is hope for America. That hope lies in you and in me.
We begin by coming to the pillar (the altar) as Josiah did that day.
We strip ourselves of pride and haughtiness.
We must confess our need.
We begin anew to seek the Lord!
Who will join me today in an old‑fashioned re‑commitment of your life to Him who saved you by his grace?
And just maybe you are unsaved! Come to Christ today. Let us have a new dawn of hope born in our hearts by our devotion to Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.