THE
DAY AMERICA FORGOT GOD
Steve W. Reeves
INTRODUCTION:
A. On
the back of every dollar bill is the Great Seal of the United States. In 1782 Charles Thompson was chosen by the Continental Congress to finalize the design of
the Great Seal. Thompson chose to include in that seal a Latin phrase, “Annuit
Coeptis,” which means “He favors our undertakings.” The founding fathers of our
nation unanimously agreed that this country existed because of the providential
factor of Almighty God.
B. The book of Deuteronomy was written during the early years of another nation,
Israel. In this book, (the fifth book of the Bible and the last book of the Pentateuch),
Moses delivered a series of messages to the Israelites as they prepared to enter the
land of Canaan.
1. Deuteronomy provides some of the great themes of the Bible.
a. When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness He referred to the book of
Deuteronomy, (Deuteronomy 8:3; 6:13, 16).
b. When Jesus was asked “what is the greatest command” (Matthew 22:37). He
replied by quoting Deuteronomy 6:5.
2. Deuteronomy 6 is one of the most important chapters in the Bible.
a. This is the chapter in which Israel was commanded to fear God and keep His
commandments (verses 1-3). “Now this is the commandment, the statutes and
the judgments which the Lord your God has commanded me to teach you, that
you might do them in the land where you are going over to possess it, 2 so that
you and your son and your grandson might fear the Lord your God, to keep all
His statutes and His commandments which I command you, all the days of your
life, and that your days may be prolonged. 3 O Israel, you should listen and be
careful to do it, that it may be well with you and that you may multiply greatly,
just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing
with milk and honey.”
b. In this chapter we find the “Shema,” the Jewish daily prayer, “Hear, O Israel! The
Lord is our God, the Lord is one! 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your
heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:4-5).
Parents were instructed to teach this diligently to their children day and night,
when they would rise in the morning or lie down at night.
C. On this Memorial Day I want us to consider the words of Deuteronomy 6: 10-14 -
“Then it shall come about when the Lord your God brings you into the land which He
swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you, great and splendid
cities which you did not build, 11 and houses full of all good things which you did not
fill, and hewn cisterns which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did
not plant, and you eat and are satisfied, 12 then watch yourself, that you do not forget
the Lord who brought you from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 13 You
shall fear only the Lord your God; and you shall worship Him and swear by His
name. 14 You shall not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who
surround you, 15 for the Lord your God in the midst of you is a jealous God; otherwise
the anger of the Lord your God will be kindled against you, and He will wipe you off
the face of the earth.”
1. These words contain a message for every citizen of the United States.
2. There are three great truths we must learn from this passage. All of them are
connected with “Memorial Day,” because they are based on the word,
“Remember.”
I. REMEMBER THE ONE WHO HAS BLESSED YOU.
A. Israel’s good fortune was not a result of their own effort.
1. They were recipients of God’s promise to their forefathers.
2. They were going to inherit great cities they had not built, furnished houses they
had not purchased, wells full of cool, clean water they had not dug, vineyards
and olive trees they did not plant. They were going to receive prosperity. This
prosperity, however, was not a result of their efforts but of God’s blessings.
B. We often forget that as citizens of the United States we are the recipients of rights,
freedom and blessings we did not earn. We have inherited a way of life that has
been paid for by the blood, sweat, toil and tears of many others.
1. The soldiers who died on the battlefields of Europe, the beaches of the Pacific
the Korean peninsula, the rice paddies of Vietnam, the desert of Iraq of the
mountains of Afghanistan so you and your family could have the freedom of
worship.
2. The Veteran who served our country faithfully at home or overseas to win and
keep peace. An anonymous author has written: “It is the veteran, not the
preacher who has given us freedom of religion. It is the veteran, not the reporter,
who has given us freedom of the press. It is the veteran, not the poet, who has
given us freedom of speech. It is the veteran, not the campus organizer, who
has given us the right to assemble. It is the veteran, not the lawyer, who has
given us the right to a fair trial.”
3. Many Americans have forgotten the generations who came before us and
worked hard to settle this land and build its infrastructure that we enjoy today.
4. Many of us have forgotten the ancestors of faith who sacrificed and gave of
themselves to establish and build up congregations that would be faithful to the
word of God, honor the message of Scripture, proclaim the power of the Gospel,
teach God’s plan of redemption, practice God’s plan for marriage and exhort
Christians to remain unspotted from the world.
5. Here is another important truth to remember. In the same way we
stand on the shoulders of others, those who come after us will stand on our
shoulders. What type of legacy are we leaving for them?
C. Why did God provide this admonition to Israel?
1. He knew the human tendency to become so enamored with the blessings that
we forget the one who gave them.
2. In 1704 Cotton Mather, a puritan preacher in New England, wrote, “Religion
begat prosperity and the daughter hath consumed the mother.”
3. How ironic it is that we become so satisfied and comfortable with the blessings
God has given that we often allow those blessings to turn us away from God.
D. It is God who prospers us. We must not allow our prosperity to cause us to forget
God.
II. REMEMBER THE ONE WHO HAS DELIVERED YOU.
A. It is amazing how quickly people forget.
1. After Israel had been delivered from Egypt it did not take long for them to forget
the hardships they had experienced under slavery.
a. In Egypt they had been subject to the heavy bondage imposed by Pharaoh
(Exodus 1:11; 5:10-13).
b. Pharaoh had even resorted to killing babies to control the rising population of
Hebrews.
2. After they had left Egypt and seen the mighty hand of God at work they still
forgot. They witnessed the parting of the Red Sea. God had provided them with
the blessings of manna, quail and water.
3. They murmured and complained against God and longed to return to Egypt,
(Numbers 14:1-4).
B. A nation or a person who forgets where they have come from is liable to end up at
that same place again.
1. A nation that escaped from tyranny will end up in service to tyranny.
2. An individual who forgets the lost state from which they were delivered will likely
end up in going back. Peter declared, “For if, after they have escaped the
defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become
worse for them than the first. 21 For it would be better for them not to have known
the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy
commandment handed on to them. 22 It has happened to them according to the
true proverb, “A dog returns to its own vomit,” and, “A sow, after washing,
returns to wallowing in the mire.”
III. REMEMBER THE ONE WHO WILL JUDGE YOU.
A. As Moses spoke to the Israelites he reminded them that their failure to remember
to thank, honor, obey and worship God carried serious consequences.
1. They were to worship Him alone.
2. They were not to worship any other god or the gods of the Canaanites.
3. A failure to remember and honor God would result in His wrath coming upon
them.
4. In Judges 2:10 – “All that generation also were gathered to their fathers; and
there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord, nor yet
the work which He had done for Israel.”
B. Are you concerned with the school shootings that have occurred in our nation over
the past twenty years? The names of these places continue to resonate in our
minds. Columbine, Jonesboro, Parkland, Sandy Hook, Santa Fe.
1. What is going on here?
2. Shortly after the Columbine shooting in 1999 the father of one of the students
who had been killed appeared before a congressional committee. The student
was Rachel Scott. Her assailant asked her, “Do you believe in God?” She
replied, “Yes.” He shot her. As her father, Darrell, spoke to
congressmen he read them a poem he had written a few nights after the
shooting.
. Your laws ignore our deepest needs, Your words are empty air. You've tripped away our heritage, You've outlawed simple prayer. Now gunshots fill our classrooms,And precious children die. You seek for answers everywhere, And ask the question "Why" You regulate restrictive laws, Through legislative creed. And yet you fail to understand, Tat God is what we need.”
C. In his book, Abandonment Theology,
John W. Charlfant asserts, “Once God was
shown the door America went into chaos.
Scholastic aptitude tests plummeted, Violent crime rocketed upward, and America’s greatness began to decline.
D. Historian Arnold Toynbee studied the history of 26 great nations. Toynbee said,
“All great nations die from suicide.” They collapse from within due to immorality a
lack of restraint, selfishness and deterioration of moral and spiritual values.
CONCLUSION:
A. There are many notable days in American history: July 4, 1776 (Independence Day), eptember 17, 1787 (U.S. Constitution signed), April 9, 1865 (Lee surrendered to Grant at ppomattox), December 7, 1941 (Pearl Harbor), June 6, 1944 (D-day), September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks).
B. There is another day that marks a sad page in our history. It may not be a specific
date but it nonetheless real. This is the day America forgot God. How desperately we
need to remember another phrase on our currency, “In God we trust.”
C. Jesus said, “If you love me you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15). Do you
love Him? Come to Him in faith (Hebrews 11:6), repent of your sins (Luke 13:3),
confess His name (Romans 10:9-10) and put Christ on in baptism (Galatians 3:27).
