Psalm 12
Help, Lord, for no one is faithful anymore; those who are loyal have vanished from the human race.
Everyone lies to their neighbor; they flatter with their lips but harbor deception in their hearts.
May the Lord silence all flattering lips and every boastful tongue— those who say, “By our tongues we will prevail; our own lips will defend us—who is lord over us?”
“Because the poor are plundered and the needy groan, I will now arise,” says the Lord. “I will protect them from those who malign them.” And the words of the Lord are flawless, like silver purified in a crucible, like gold refined seven times.
You, Lord, will keep the needy safe and will protect us forever from the wicked,
who freely strut about when what is vile is honored by the human race.
I read these verses recently and felt like they must have been written in 2023 by a committed Christian in America today! I do not want to be the one that causes anyone to be depressed and hopeless, but I also don’t want to be a part of the insanity being what we’re being being told that is clearly not true. Fifty years ago, anyone that studied human history or read the Communist Manifesto would have known that assisting a tyrannical, communist regime, like China, run by Mao, the greatest mass murderer in human history and one that hated America, was nuts. And yet we did it under Kissinger and Nixon and we’re still doing it. It was crazy to tell Assad in Syria that if he crossed “a line in the sand” (by using chemical weapons) we would respond forcefully, and then do nothing when Assad crossed the line many times. The arguments for the past 60 years about the separation of church and state, banning prayers in school, and prohibiting manger scenes on state property was again, just not wise and totally opposed to what the former generations and founders of our country intended. So what in the world is happening to us? Have we not learned that over the past 50 or 60 years the utter stupidity of allowing human behavior or child parenting to be taught to us by “experts” who have no respect for the Bible or God’s demands upon mankind?
We’ve been talking for the past fews weeks about what’s required to join a church. What I just read from Psalms and commented about might not immediately seem to be connected, but please bear with me. Today I would point out the single most important thing. We already said that a person had to be baptized, partake in tithing, the work of the church, and you receive the Lord’s Supper when it is offered. Last week we spoke about being kind. But the one thing that is essential, not only church membership, but your eternal salvation is this: A profession of your faith in Jesus Christ.
I interviewed one of the kindest and most polite candidates in years ,to be a summer camp counselor, a few days ago; I was ready to send him the visa documents and a contract, until I asked him about his faith. I had to ask him three times—he seemed to dodge the question. Finally he whispered that he was Muslim. My heart sank, because I knew that our camp could not hire him for one reason: Only a true Christian can confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, and believe in their hearts that God raised him from the dead, and we only hire camp staff that are true Christians. Muslims, Jews, Hindus and even some cult members that call themselves “Christian”, cannot do this. Having “faith” in Jesus is not just believing He’s a good guy, a great prophet or even that He lived a perfect life. Faith is something that is core and central to our conversion and our eternal destination.
In sharing the Gospel, these are the two absolute central, eternal and essential truths about Jesus that we must acknowledge to be a part of His church: (1) He is Lord, and (2) God raised Him from the dead. These two inseparable truths sum up what I must believe and confess if I want to inherit eternal life. Other religions and cults disavow this truth. Have you confessed who Christ really is? Are you able, willing and prepared to declare, acknowledge, avow that He IS who He says He is-—and make a public statement on the matter? If you’re ashamed to admit it, embarrassed or unsure of Him, and therefor cannot make that declaration, you’re still on the outside looking in. To join the heavenly family of God we must profess, as the thief on the cross did, that Jesus is the Son of God, and ask Him to save our souls. There’s no other way. God makes no exception for being shy, bashful, afraid, reserved, unsure, or any other thing that’s holding you back. He does not make you acknowledge Christ before others—-that’s a choice you make——but it’s an irrevocable prerequisite to join His eternal Kingdom. I don’t want you stand before Jesus one day and complain that no one ever told you this. I am telling you right now.
Is He Lord? It’s a two part question in my mind. First, do I believe that He is God in the flesh —the Lord God—— and secondly, that is He my Lord—-, ie. have I abdicated my throne to Him? There was never a call from Jesus to come to Him to simply escape Hell, but rather a call to turn away from blindness and deafness and be re-born into the original kind of creature God intended. Jesus did not come merely to snatch us out of hell, but to offer a new, abundant, eternal life!
The five officers that beat Tyre Nichols to death might well call themselves Christians, because the name “Christian” means so little today——but be sure of this: Jesus is not Lord of their lives. It’s unconscionable that a person can claim to be filled with the Holy Spirit and surrendered to the Lord Jesus Christ and commit the crimes upon a helpless man that these men perpetrated two weeks ago. But what all the media outlets and commentators miss is this: It was not a matter of race that caused five black policer officers to murder a black motorist— CNN’s Van Jones is dead wrong. The progressive left hopes and suggests that it’s always about race, or gender or sexual orientation—-it is not.. And no, it’s not a matter of systemic police brutality that brings about the violence that we saw on TV Saturday night. And the gun violence that is exploding is not because our gun laws are too lax; Congressman Jorge Santos does not lie, embellish and deceive the world because he’s gay and from New York City! The experts should know better that this! What we are seeing is what men do in a society absent the moral standards of right and wrong, accountability for evil choices, and acknowledgement that there is ultimate justice! And the cure the to moral decay in our land is NOT trying to argue that it’s because we don’t spend enough money or better educate and train our police! Good grief, these police WERE trained and experienced. They had the knowledge of right and wrong and what is legal and illegal! What they lacked was the spiritual fortitude to exercise courage, strength and conviction to do the right thing when they got really angry at this young man when he ran away; they needed a proper relationship with Jesus so that they would not take their vengeance out on Tyre when their own pepper spray causing them to suffer.
Friends, the scandalous truth is our nation is not one nation under God…..it is a nation under water, spiritually speaking, where everyone’s opinion of ethical, responsible behavior is accepted, unless it comes from conservative Christianity.
After 50 years of “progressive eduction” (whatever that means) does anyone in America really believe that our children, youth and families are progressing and better off? Bad things happened on occasions fifty years ago—absolutely. But nothing like we are seeing today. Are things better now than 50 years ago?? God and absolutes have been removed from education, and in our zeal to correct errors of the past, we’re destroying the family, patriotism, church and respect for any authority.
Friends thing our children and we must do if we want to join His family is kneel to Him and yield His ultimate and total authority. But we're teaching our children to never submit or offer respect to no one—-not even God Himself. If our allegiance is to Him, then so is our pledge of obedience to Him—-not to some perverted notion that we have a right to understand why must do this or not do that or that our opinion on the topic matters.
Have you confessed Jesus is Lord—perhaps years ago—-but at one point in your life? If you did, is He still Lord….. or have you walked away from His dominion and sovereignty in your life? At one time you gave your life to Him… and abandoned all to Him. You accepted the eternal salvation that only He can offer and you called Him Lord. Are you still in that humble relationship with the Son of God, or have you walked away?
The second point of confessions is this….and it has a direct impact on His Lordship in your life: Do you believe that God really did raise Jesus from the dead? In my understanding of the Bible, this is what changes a man’s life in regard to God. If God really raised Jesus from the dead, then all that Jesus said and did is authenticated and validated—He is the Son of God and the Christian faith is all that the New Testament says it is! If I am unsure of the resurrection I will always be crippled spiritually, no matter how hard I try to believe. If I am unsure, I will also be unsure of the absolutes He taught and that is recorded associated with Him in the Bible. I will soon also began to question the authenticity of the Bible and even the existence of God. But I have come to the conclusion that God did raise Jesus from the dead and that He is Lord—and that’s made all the difference in my life.
I am required to “confess” or “admit” these truths. The criminal on the cross did this, and so did the tax collectors and prostitutes of Jesus’ day—I am no better. I was redeemed not to brag about my own merits, but in spite of my lack of merits to proclaim that He loves me and has saved me. He did all the work—my job is to tell the truth: He is Lord, He paid my debt on the cross and He rose from the dead. If you or I do not confess that it is Christ that lives in me… and Christ alone that has given me the victory..people might look at our lives and think, “Wow, what a good person they are—-look at all they’ve accomplished.” Wrong! What a failure our lives should be were it not for Jesus Christ! Public confession of the Lordship of Jesus Christ gives credit were credit is due! This has been abandoned in our national educational literature and the teaching of history and civics.
I pray every day for our President, Vice President, Speaker of the House, Leader in the Senate, and our Governor. But spiritual revival in a nation never begins with its leaders—-it begins with a spark, among common, God-fearing people; being become awaken, is not the same as being “ a-woken”! Pray that an awakening happens soon in America. Pray that it begins in your own heart as you confess to the world: I believe in my heart that God raised Jesus from the dead—-and He is Lord! Amen
