Charles Stanley - America's Perilous Position
The title of this message is "America's Perilous Position". To be in peril is to be in danger. To be in a perilous position is to be in a hazard, threatening position. And while we love what we see going on in many ways, we are in a very dangerous position as an American. And the question is, you know, what are people doing about it? Well, so many people are blind to the truth, they don't see it. They are asleep, they don't feel it. And some just don't care about what happens in this country. And many of us have lived long enough to know what it used to be like. It doesn't mean that you live in the past. It means that you gauge today by the past.
This is one of the most dangerous times in the life of our nation. All you have to do is look around, see what's happening. See where we have been; see where we are and see where we will be if we continue on the present route and there is no change. You say, Well, I thought maybe you'd have an encouraging message this morning. Well, it's encouraging if you're a believer and believe in God and trust Him, and know in your heart that ultimately He'll have the victory over what's happening. And so, when you look at this and you look to see where we are, we have to face the truth. And the truth is, principles cannot be changed.
Listen to this, "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life". Now we would agree that we believe that but most people don't. If you look at the way we're living as a nation, we don't believe that. In other words, and the truth is when he says, "Do not be deceived". He puts that in a term that means stop lying to yourself. Stop lying to yourself. He says because, "God will not be mocked". You can't turn up your nose at God and just say, Well, we're going to do what we want to do and we're going to be blessed anyway and we're going to get by with it. He says, "Whatever a man," or a woman, "sows, this he will also reap". You can't change that.
And people who do not believe it, do not realize that what they're sowing in their own life, they're going to reap. We as a nation have never been in this position before. And you can't change the principle. It doesn't make any difference who gets elected. Doesn't make any difference what decisions we make, that principle is going to stand. Whatever we sow, we're going to reap the results of those seed we sow.
So ask yourself the question this morning, As a follower of Jesus, what kind of seeds are you sowing? Are you expressing your belief? Are you standing with courage? Are you allowing your biblical convictions to determine how you vote, how you relate to other people, how you do your job, how you worship God? What seeds are you sowing? Because all of us are going to reap the result of that. When you think about this principle: You reap what you sow, more than you sow, later than you sow; I want to say again, Later is here. We've sown and sown and sown and now the reaping time has come. And it's a time for God's people to take a willful, deliberate, faithful, loyal, devoted, courageous stand for truth; lest we lose this nation of ours.
So when I think about the path that we've chosen, think about this. And most of us probably here have watched this. When we went to school, you said the Ten Commandments every morning. The teacher read from the scriptures every day. And then we decided that was not the proper thing to do. And now we've become a compromising nation. We have accepted ways of life that absolutely are forbidden; forbidden and warned by God there will absolutely be a judgment. And when I think about it, I could put it in a short term; and characterize our society by seven words. First of all, immoral. We are driven by a lust for sexual indulgence. If you will think about what's happening in our country and where did it begin? It began back there with people, who wanted to have sexual freedom of all types. And now today, everywhere you turn, there's evidence. We have absolutely mocked true, genuine sexuality.
So that's one word, immoral. Second, greedy. And that is we want wealth at any cost. Cheating, lying, stealing, deceiving people, whatever it takes. We want all we can get at whatever cost. The third word is prideful. We are driven by a false sense of confidence. I can handle it. No matter what comes along, I can deal with it. I'm not going to worry about it. And we're living in a time and most people in this nation do not believe they need God. And just under fifty some percent question the idea and are not interested in God. And as difficult as it is for me to admit it less people are going to church; coming to church.
And it's true all across this nation. We've decided we can get what we want, we don't need God. We'll make it work somehow without God's help. We don't have to be a Christian. Somehow we'll make it work. Indulgent, and that's where we are. Driven by the desire to be fulfilled and happy; but driven toward things that do not satisfy the human heart. God's made it simple from the very beginning. You obey God, you'll find happiness. You obey God, there'll be enough. You obey God, you'll have a sense of fulfillment in life. That when you choose the way of the world, it's just a hopeless, hapless search. Slothful, driven by dependency. That is who cares anymore about whether you do your best or not? Didn't you grow up and your parents taught you, do your best. It may not be the best, but it's your best. And not slothful, depending upon somebody else; but show your best, do your best, be your best.
Be honest. Fulfill what you promised that you're going to do. Ungrateful. We're driven by pride. We're not really grateful for what this nation has provided for us. And so, we just figure somehow we're going to make it. I want to tell you, We are at war. And then of course, irreverent. What is sacred anymore? Who reads the Bible anymore? I know that I'm speaking to people this morning who read the Bible and who pray, but this is a nation that has laid aside the Word of God. And so, what is reverent anymore? In the eyes of the world, nothing. No reverence for God; no respect for God; and so many people, for no belief in God. What has happened to this nation of ours?
And when I think about that, we have chosen sin to fulfill us. And we have rejected godliness as God's way of being fulfilled. Living a godly life by the principles of the Word of God is a fulfilling life. But living according to the ways of the world, disobedience, rebellion, absolutely turning their minds and hearts away from the Word of God, we find ourselves facing a judgment that is going to come. And I've watched it happen for years and years and years and hoped that this day would not come. But I'm here to tell you, The day has arrived. And that is unless the people of God stand up, speak up, and live out what you and I believe, and be bold in our convictions and bold in our conversation, then we will lose this awesome nation of ours.
Are you saying that it's hopeless? No, it's not hopeless. But as long as believers are quiet, as long as we compromise, as long as we act like it's not happening and we just go our way and hope it'll somehow go away. What's happening is not going away, unless it's driven away by godly people who refuse to compromise their conviction and live a godly life. So we have to ask ourselves, What has happened to the conscience of a nation? Where is our conscience? What do we believe any longer? What do you believe that you're willing to stand for? What do you believe that you're willing to be rejected for? What do you believe that you'll not compromise, you'll not give up? What do you believe that will cause you to be firm and strong and face whatever's necessary, because you know that what you believe is right? What is right? In this country now, what is right is what I want it to be right? What I believe is true is what I want it to be true. Whatever happened to sacredness and respect and reverence? And whatever has so worked in our lives that we're too busy to pray, and we're only thinking about what's good for me, not what is good for this nation?
And all of us, most of us at least here, we believe the Word of God. We want to live a righteous life, a godly life. And what I want you to see is not that you are necessarily guilty of all of this; but this is our society. We live in a sinful, God-forsaking, sexual-oriented, dishonest, lying, grievous society, that's it. You say, Well, are you hopeless? No, I'm not hopeless, I believe in God. I'm trusting God, but I'm saying we have to wake up. We have to recognize what we're facing. Who is our real enemy? America has become its own enemy. We have allowed our faith to be questioned; our convictions to be questioned; our lifestyle to be changed. And we have allowed it to happen right before our eyes. I'm not accusing you of anything. I'm simply saying, Wake up!
Here's where we are. We have to stand up for what we believe. We're to be true to the Word of God. We know what the truth is. Are we willing to stand for it? What's happened to our conscience? What's happened to our morals? What's happened to our ideals, the things that have made our nation great? When we had to stand strong; and what we believed we were proud to believe. What has happened to our country? What has happened to our conscience? What has happened to the things that are sacred and holy and dear to us? They are being taken away from us, because we're giving them up. And enough of our society has no conviction; enough of our society wants pleasure at any cost. And so there is no barrier. And so what's happened to us? We have to face it. We don't like facing it. It's terrible facing it. But we have to face it.
So somebody says, Well, is there any way in the world we survive this? And yes, there is. So I want you to turn, if you will, to Second Chronicles. I want you to turn to the seventh chapter. Because the people of God were facing a difficult time. And listen to what God said to them. "If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people". That is, if I send devastating things. He says, "And My people who are called by My name". In those name, those days, the Hebrews, today, Christians "will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then," on the basis of that, "I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place".
What God said to Israel in those days, He's saying today. That wasn't, somebody says, Well, that's the Old Testament. Well a lot of things in the Old Testament are still true. And God says, "I will heal their land". If what? If He says, "My people who are called by name," the Christians in America, "will pray and seek My face". That is, get our focus on Him, asking Him to give us direction for our lives, "Turn from their wicked ways". Now what does that mean? Real simple, it's repent of our sin. And we can pray and pray and pray all we want to; but the if is followed by... listen, "Turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin and heal their land". That is the simple divine formula for our rescue of this nation.
Well, that's, you say, Well, that's a whole lot in one verse, "If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain". And so forth, "If My people, called by My name will humble themselves". Let me ask you a question. Would you consider yourself a humble person? That is, that you acknowledge who you are and the subject to the rules and the regulations, the principles and the blessings of God. And when do you pray for our nation? Are you praying for our nation? Are you seeking the face of God? Are you asking for the will of God? Are you asking, Lord, show me Your will for my life. Show me, show me Your will for my life in my home, on my job, among my friends. Show me, show me your will for my life. And have you turned from, in other words, as God has shown you things in your life that are not right, have you said to Him, God, I don't want that in my life. What You don't want, I don't want. I'm willing to... listen, "Turn from their wicked ways".
And I can hear people now. Well, I'm not wicked. There's nothing, oh, how do you define wicked? Wicked is disobedience to Holy God. Wickedness is deliberate, willful, rejecting the truth of the Word of God, not only because of the truth, but by the way we live. And somebody can say, Well, I pray. What do you pray? Do you come to the Lord God humbly asking Him to search your heart? What would turn this nation around if enough people, how many is enough? I don't know. But not a whole lot. If enough of God's people would read that verse of scripture and say, All right, I want to humble myself before God. That means I want to yield myself to Him, acknowledge His Lordship, acknowledge that He's the God who can change anything and everything.
I'm going to humble myself before Him. Listen, He says, "And seek My face". I'm going to turn my face and my attention and my interest toward God. Lord, what do You want? What do You want for this nation? How do You want to change it? What can You do in my life? What part can I play? I'm only one person, God, but I'm one. And humble myself before Him and pray, genuinely pray. Not just God bless America, but God, turn America around. Send us whatever is necessary to bring us to repentance. That is, repentance isn't Lord, I just want to confess my sins to You. I know I haven't been what I ought to be today. I pray that You'll forgive me, in Jesus' name, amen. That is not repentance. Repentance is God, You have shown me what I've done wrong. My sin is against You. I am ashamed of my sin. I regret my sin. I ask You to forgive me of my sin on the basis of the cross and the blood of Jesus. On the cross and the blood of Jesus, I ask You to forgive me of my sin. And in light of that, I turn from it. This is what I did yesterday, but not today. This is what I used to do in my life, but no longer. I want a change of heart. God, I'm asking You to forgive me of my sin. And I'm going to be one of Your servants, that when I pray, You listen.
And so genuine prayer faces Holy God. Who desires holiness in our heart. Will He listen? Yes, He'll listen and He says, "I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin". And He didn't stop there. He said, "I will heal their land". God can heal America, but it starts with the church. It starts with the people of God. The unbelievers are not going to pray this prayer. The majority of people who live in this country are not believers; and their numbers are increasing. But it can be changed by the people of God, "if My people humble themselves," yield themselves, confess and repent of their sins, He says, "I will hear from heaven, and I will heal their land". You say, Well, do you mean to tell me that if I pray that just one person will make a difference?
Well, let me ask you a question. Who is My people? It's a whole group of ones. It was a whole nation of individuals that He was talking to. And we are God's people as the church. Hebrews were God's people in those days to whom He was referring to. But the same thing is true today. If we humble ourselves and acknowledge we have a responsibility, because let me ask you a question. If we as believers do not obey that command, to humble myself before God, confess and repent of my sin, turn from sin, yield myself to Him and cry out to God to save our nation. If I don't do it, if you don't do it, who's going to do it? If the church doesn't do it, and I mean the body of believers in America. If we don't do it, who's going to do it? Nobody's going to do it and we'll suffer the consequences from now on.
So here's what I want to ask you to do this morning; what I've done in my own heart all week long, praying. I want us to take a few moments for you, every single one of us, to examine our hearts; to ask God to show us this morning whatever sin is in our life, God, surface it. Show me anything and everything in my life that is a contradiction of the Word of God. Show me any desire, any habit in my life, that doesn't fit Your will. And Lord, today I confess that under the blood of Jesus and know that You forgive me. I repent of my sin. I'm willing for You to change anything about my life that You want to change. And Lord, prepare my heart to pray for this nation to save us, oh God. Now you'll have to decide whether you want to pray that prayer or not. So I want us to bow our heads, sit where we are, close our eyes and ask God to speak to your heart about your life for a few moments.
Father, You heard our confession. You'll listen to our repentance. And then we ask of You, Father, You can let it begin right here this morning. Let the truth of this message sweep across this nation. And out of the hearts and mouths of pastors all over this nation, let this truth resound. But Lord, let it take its effect first in this place this morning. In faith, we pray this prayer. In faith, we'll keep on praying it and keep on trusting, and give You thanks and glory, in Jesus' name, amen.