Recognizing Spiritual Realities

It’s good to be with you again at the beginning of a new week, sharing with you Keys To Successful Living, which God has placed in my hand through many years of personal experience and Christian ministry. I will be continuing this week with the theme which I commenced last week: “What is a Patriot?” In our American calendar this week is, of course, a very special one. It’s the week in which, as a nation, we celebrate Thanksgiving. I believe you’ll find our theme particularly appropriate for this season.

In my talks last week I defined a patriot as

“one who fulfills his allotted role in the nation in which God has placed him.”

And I dealt with five aspects of attitude or character which we need to cultivate if we are to do this; that is, to fulfill our allotted role in our nation. The five attitudes or aspects of character that I dealt with last week were these:

1. One, seeing ourselves as part of a whole—not as an individual detached from everything and everybody around us.
2. Two, being “relatable”—and that was a word I coined—being the kind of person that other people can relate to with confidence.
3. Three, seeing ourselves as contributors—going into each situation with the attitude “What have I to contribute?” not “What will I get out of this?”
4. Four, communicating a positive attitude—being part of the solution, not part of the problem.
5. And five, being appreciative. And I spoke about being appreciative or grateful as the oil that keeps the machinery of society running smoothly.

In my talk today, still along the same line, I am going to emphasize another important aspect of patriotism, the importance of being a realist, particularly in moral and spiritual issues. Today it seems to me many important political and national decisions are influenced by considerations which obscure the real issue. I would say some of the following are examples of influences or considerations which obscure the issue and which often lead to wrong decisions and wrong policies.

First of all, prejudice. It may be racial prejudice, it may be personal prejudice, it may be religious prejudice, it may be political prejudice, inability to see any good in somebody that represents another political view.

Then there is what I call narrow self-interest—people who are only concerned about their own little interest, pressure groups that just want something that they consider to be for their benefit, regardless of the affect it will have on wider national issues.

Then there is wishful thinking—people who approach a problem or situation hoping it will turn out the way they want it to turn out, although, all the evidence is to the contrary. Personally, let me just say, in passing, that it seems to me so much of our involvement in the Middle East is based on wishful thinking rather than realism.

Then there are false values and false philosophies; philosophies that exalt the individual at the expense of the community—values that are not true to our American background and that which has made this nation great. Values that set aside the Judeo-Christian morality which really is the basis of our Constitution and our national life. People are so often like the proverbial ostrich—when danger confronts them, they bury their head in the sand. Now I just want to comment in defense of ostriches, that doesn’t happen to be true. Ostriches don’t do that, but people do. They are more stupid than ostriches.

A true patriot cannot afford to indulge in any of these; he has to be a realist, especially in moral and spiritual issues. There are some very plain statements in the Bible that we need to give careful attention to. Proverbs 14:34, is a good and a clear example.  

“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.”  

That means, in actual fact, that we cannot pursue courses that involve sin and prosper as a nation. They will drag us down, not exalt us. They may seem to be expedient for a time, economically, financially; they may seem to promise easy or rapid wealth but, if sin is involved, ultimately they will drag the nation down, not lift it up, and will not promote its true welfare or prosperity.

In Numbers chapter 32 verse 23, Moses speaks a word to some of the children of Israel. We do not really need to look into the context. But this is what he says:  

“But if you fail to do this, you will be sinning against the LORD; and you may be sure that your sin will find you out.”  

That’s the truth. We don’t like it. It doesn’t suit us. We could wish it were otherwise, but it’s not. If we do the wrong thing and we sin against the Lord and we sin against the light which God has given us as a nation, we can be sure that our sin will find us out. And notice that Moses was talking there about something that they failed to do, not something that they might do. And so we have to recognize there are sins of omission as well as sins of commission.

James says, “To one who knows to do good, and does not do it, it is sin” (James 4:17). We have to bear that in mind that is true of nations, not just of individuals. If we know the right thing to do and we fail to do it, that is sin. And our sin will catch up with us. It will find us out.

In Galatians 6 verse 7, Paul says: “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” You can’t sow one kind of seed, and reap another kind of fruit. If you plant an orange pit, you will never get an apple tree.

This applies also to nations. The prophet Hosea said to Israel, or said of Israel (Hosea 8:7): “They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind.” See, the thing increases. We sow something that seems comparatively innocuous and harmless and that we can control, but out of it we reap something that is terrible and beyond our power to control. We “sow the wind . . . [we] reap the whirlwind.” That’s a principle of life, that’s a principle of history and it applies to nations. When we as a nation, face these issues of sin and righteousness, there are some truths of Scripture that we need to keep before us. It is futile to resist God’s purposes.

Again we turn to the book of Proverbs. Proverbs 21 verses 30–31:  

“There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD.”  

When we are working against God, we may have every kind of advice and counsel, and skill and expertise, but we will not succeed. There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord. And the next verse continues:  

“The horse is made ready for the day of battle [today you have to put in some kind of modern armament, like the tank or the airplane, or whatever it may be], but victory rests with the LORD.”  

All our armaments will not achieve victory if we are opposing the Lord and His purposes. And I fear there is a tremendous danger of that in the Middle East, that we may stand against the nation that God has elected to bless, the people of Israel. When we do that, there is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed. And then we need to bear in mind that the destiny of all nations, just as of individuals, is in the hands of the Lord, Almighty God. Job makes this so clear in Chapter 12:23 of the book of Job:  

“He [that is God], makes nations great, and destroys them; he enlarges nations, and disperses them.”  

Basically, God blesses and prospers those nations that walk according to the principles of His Word, and in line with His purposes in any given period of history. But the nations that turn against the principles of God’s Word and oppose the purposes of God can be brought low and even cease to exist. There are many, many nations in history that have simply gone out of existence. We have their names, we have maybe some historical records of them, but as nations they no longer exist. Why? Because they turned against God’s laws and they opposed God’s purposes. And so God removed them. He enlarges nations, disperses them. I have to tell you, this can happen to the United States of America, great though this nation is, blessed as though it has been. If we indulge in sin and turn away from righteousness, God will abase us. He will bring us low, as He has done to countless other nations before us.

Well, our time is up for today but before I close, I want to make a special request of you. This week we are asking our listeners across the nation to express their appreciation of this radio ministry by sending us a special Thanksgiving offering. I am sure you understand that this ministry is kept on the air by the offerings of people just like yourself, people who have been helped and blessed by its message. By sending us your offering at this time you will do three important things.

1. First, you will be expressing your appreciation for help that you yourself have received through this ministry.
2. Second, you will enable us to bring the same kind of help to someone else who needs it as much as you do, that may not be in a position to support us financially.
3. Third, you will encourage and strengthen me, personally.

So, please take time to say, “Thank you” at Thanksgiving.