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10232016theelectionreapingwhatwehavesowndonruhl

 

The Election: Reaping What We Have Sown 

Some have asked: Is this the best that America can offer?

Hosea 8.7

Don Ruhl • Savage Street, Grants Pass, Oregon • October 23, In the year of our Lord, 2016

Song Leader and Song Suggestions: Larry Amberg – Songs on God

Prelude: 

  1. Want to hear an understatement? 
    1. This is an unusual presidential election for America.
    2. As Americans we do not experience these kinds of elections.
  2. That does not dismiss the nature of this election, but 
    1. we have always expected much from our candidates, and
    2. we should continue to do so.
      1. However, we must expect the same from ourselves.
      2. Too often I have heard Christians
        1. dismiss their own inappropriate behavior as inconsequential, but
        2. become angry at the inappropriate behavior of leaders.

Persuasion: 

  1. Impeach the People 
    1. Back in the 90s,
      1. we had a president who did some immoral things
        1. in the White House,
        2. in the Oval Office, or in an adjoining hallway and room.
      2. Many people spoke of impeaching the president and the Senate did.
        1. However, World magazine published an article, “Impeach the People.”
        2. The majority of “We The People” put him into office, and
          1. the majority brushed off his immorality, and
          2. later lying about the immorality while under oath.
    2. Currently in America,
      1. we are simply reaping what we have sown.
      2. The Bible warns us that such will happen, but then again,
        1. if we are not reading our Bibles,
        2. we will not know that we reap what we sow!
          1. The Lord said of Israel,

            7a “They sow the wind,
            And reap the whirlwind.”
            (Hos 8.7)
          2. He had Solomon write of the workings of life,

            8a He who sows iniquity will reap sorrow…
            (Pro 22.8a)
          3. Paul echoed the same to the Galatian Churches,

            7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. 8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life (Gal 6.7–8).
      3. How can we expect to live as we please, and then
        1. expect candidates who do not reflect our values?
        2. We have selected the candidates who reflect our thinking and living.
    3. Americans have told God
      1. that we do not want you in the schools,
      2. that we do not want you in the government,
      3. that we do not want you on the job,
      4. that we do not want you on Sundays,
      5. that we do not want you in the home.
        1. We told Him to go away, and
        2. He went away, and
          1. now we are reaping the consequences, and
          2. complaining about it!
            1. We do not like the presidential candidates, but alas,
            2. they are a lot like a huge number of Americans.
    4. Like Absalom’s rebellion,
      1. they told us what we wanted to hear, and
      2. we followed them.
    5. As one writer said of a president and his immorality scandal,

      “The people could have what they want—and that’s the problem” (Joel Belz, World, 01.16.1999).

      1. Historically, this holds more true for America
        1. than for any other nation, because
        2. we put into office whom we want!
      2. He said further in the same issue,

        “More than a dozen years ago, Charles Colson told some of us of a conversation he had with a major TV network executive. ‘Why don’t you folks schedule more uplifting material?’ Mr. Colson asked. ‘I’ll tell you why,’ the fellow responded heatedly. ‘Did you happen to notice that we scheduled Chariots of Fire this past Sunday evening? And did you see how we got clobbered by the competition from another network—which was a sleazy story about two prostitutes?’ Some in the crowd where Mr. Colson told the story argued feebly that it wasn’t a fair test since so many of the potential audience might have been attending the evening services of their churches. But such optimists obviously haven’t been counting attendance at evening services during the last few years” (“Impeach the People,” World, Jan. 16, 1999, Volume 14, Number 2).
      3. Why would Americans select a godly candidate?
    6. Let every American hear the Lord through Hosea the prophet again,

      6 “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
      Because you have rejected knowledge,
      I also will reject you from being priest for Me;
      Because you have forgotten the law of your God,
      I also will forget your children.
      7 The more they increased,
      The more they sinned against Me;
      I will change their glory into shame.
      8 They eat up the sin of My people;
      They set their heart on their iniquity.
      9 And it shall be: like people, like priest.
      So I will punish them for their ways,
      And reward them for their deeds.
      10 For they shall eat, but not have enough;
      They shall commit harlotry, but not increase;
      Because they have ceased obeying the LORD.”
      (Hos 4.6–10)

      1. Jeremiah also revealed how the people often want the kind of corrupt leaders they have,

        30 “An astonishing and horrible thing
        Has been committed in the land:
        31 The prophets prophesy falsely,
        And the priests rule by their own power;
        And My people love to have it so.
        But what will you do in the end?”
        (Jer 5.30–31)
    7. What then do we do for the present election?
  2. Vote the Issues, Not the Candidate 
    1. Abortion
      1. Psalm 139 says it all,

        13 For You formed my inward parts;
        You covered me in my mother’s womb.
        (Psa 139.13)
      2. James Wilson who signed both
        1. The Declaration of the United States and
        2. The Constitution of the United States, and
          1. who served as one of the original Supreme Court justices,
          2. said the following, not even knowing what we know now,

            “With consistency, beautiful and undeviating, human life from its commencement to its close is protected by the common law. In the contemplations of law, life begins when the infant is first able to stir in the womb. By the law, [that] life is protected.”
      3. John Quincy Adams, son of the first vice president and second president, and himself a president,

        “[T]he Declaration of Independence…will tell you that its authors held for self-evident truth that the right to life is the first of the inalienable rights of man – [and] to secure and not to destroy [that right], governments are instituted among men.“
      4. What does the candidate think of the unborn?
    2. Same-Sex Marriage
      1. Paul explained why law exists,

        8 But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, 9 knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, 10 for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, 11 according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust (1Ti 1.8–11).
      2. Zephaniah Swift who wrote America’s first legal text,

        “It [sodomy], though repugnant to every sentiment of decency and delicacy, is very prevalent in corrupt and debauched countries where the low pleasures of sensuality and luxury have depraved the mind and degraded the appetite below the brutal [animal] creation.”
      3. Charles Carrol who signed The Declaration and helped to frame the Bill of Rights,

        “Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time.”
      4. What does the candidate think about marriage?
    3. Judges
      1. The Bible speaks to judges,

        10 Now therefore, be wise, O kings;
        Be instructed, you judges of the earth.
        11 Serve the LORD with fear,
        And rejoice with trembling.
        12 Kiss the Son, lest He be angry,
        And you perish in the way,
        When His wrath is kindled but a little.
        Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.
        (Psa 2.10–12)
      2. Wise King Jehoshaphat appointed judges,

        5 Then he set judges in the land throughout all the fortified cities of Judah, city by city, 6 and said to the judges, “Take heed to what you are doing, for you do not judge for man but for the LORD, who is with you in the judgment [Cf. Rom 13.1ff]. 7 Now therefore, let the fear of the LORD be upon you; take care and do it, for there is no iniquity with the LORD our God, no partiality, nor taking of bribes” (2Ch 19.5–7).
      3. Thomas Jefferson, writer of The Declaration and our third president,

        “It has long…been my opinion…that the germ of dissolution of our federal government is in the constitution of the federal Judiciary…working like gravity by night and by day, gaining a little today and a little tomorrow and advancing its noiseless step like a thief over the field of jurisdiction until all shall be usurped.”
      4. What does the candidate think about the place of judges?
    4. The Poor
      1. Paul wanted to remember the poor,

        10 They desired only that we should remember the poor, the very thing which I also was eager to do (Gal 2.10).
      2. He also declared that they should do what they can,

        5 For each one shall bear his own load (Gal 6.5).
      3. We need to learn that the poor will not let themselves starve,

        26 The person who labors, labors for himself,
        For his hungry mouth drives him on.
        (Pro 16.26)
      4. Does the candidate
        1. keep the poor, poor, that the candidate might enlarge his election base,
        2. or does the candidate seek to get the poor helping themselves?
    5. Other issues exist, but
      1. my purpose has been to show you
      2. that you can and should use the Scriptures as your guide, because
        1. it is not so much the person we vote on, but
        2. the things for which he stands, for
          1. long after the president has gone,
          2. his policies, influence, and precedents remain.
      3. Therefore,
        1. do not vote for the person;
        2. vote for the issues,
          1. even as we separate the sin from the sinner,
          2. so separate the issue from the candidate.

Exhortation: 

  1. Let us remember the teachings of Jesus in His Sermon on the Mount,

    33 …seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness…” (Matt 6.33).
  2. Remember the words of the man who gave us the Book of Proverbs,

    34 Righteousness exalts a nation,
    But sin is a reproach to any people.
    (Pro 14.34)

    1. Patrick “Give me liberty, or give me death” Henry said of Proverbs 14.34,

      “Righteousness alone can exalt [America] as a nation. Reader! Whoever thou art, remember this; and in thy sphere practice virtue thyself and encourage it in others.”
    2. Frederick Douglass, abolitionist of the 19th century, made Proverbs 14.34 the theme of his politics,

      “I have one great political idea…It is in substance, ‘Righteousness exalteth a nation; sin is a reproach to any people”…[T]his constitutes my politics—the negative and positive of my politics, and the whole of my politics.”
    3. Francis Grimke, a preacher and civil rights leader, said of Proverbs 14.34,

      “If the time ever comes when we shall to go pieces, it will…[be] from losing sight of the fact that ‘Righteousness exalteth a nation, but that sin is a reproach to any people”…Unless we hold firmly to the great principles of righteousness [enunciated in the Declaration of Independence, in the Golden Rule, in the Ten Commandments, in the Sermon on the Mount], [America,] if it continues to exist, will be a curse and not a blessing.”
    4. What then do you think of righteousness?
  3. Beware of all that you are hearing, because 
    1. we are overdosing on overanalyzing,
      1. taking words taken out of context,
      2. failing to have witnesses,
        1. believing easily a negative report about the opposition, but
        2. gullibly swallowing a positive report of the candidate we support.
    2. Jesus warned us to beware of how and what we hear,

      18 “Therefore take heed how you hear. For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him” (Luke 8.18).

      24 Then He said to them, “Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given” (Mark 4.24).

  4. Which do you value more? 
    1. Your American citizenship? or
    2. Your heavenly citizenship?
  5. Daniel 4.17