God's Blessings on Abraham's Descendants

Well, happy Sabbath once again! A very special thanks to that awesome special music today.

I had an opportunity to hear three out of the four participants rehearsing that last night while I was working on my sermon. It sounded beautiful. Then I had to stop what I was doing just to take it all in. And the addition of Mr. Graham today, that is very much appreciated. It was very beautiful. Thank you so much for that.

Well, just a few days ago, we as Americans celebrated our national holiday known as the Fourth of July. Mr. Mango talked about that a little bit. And I'll be seeing some things that are kind of parallel to what he said. It's a very important day for we who consider ourselves Americans because it was on that day, 237 years ago, that the Second Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia ratified and signed a document that changed world history forever. It was a document primarily written by Mr. Jefferson, as was mentioned by Mr. Mango.

And he went through some terrible struggles. Mr. Jefferson was a very creative man. And he wrote the document. And like most creative people, like musicians and artists and so on, he thought his original words were inspired and should not be played with.

Well, first of all, it was his words mutilated by the committee that he sat on, which included John Adams and Benjamin Franklin. And then after that, it went to the entire Second Continental Congress, where it was even mutilated further in his opinion. For example, in his original draft, he condemned King George for bringing slaves to the New World. Literally condemned slavery and condemned the king for bringing slaves to the New World, but they couldn't get the Southern delegates to agree to sign the Declaration. So all of that was written out of his original text. This document is unique also in that it acknowledges the presence of a God four times in its text. I used to say three times, and someone pointed out to me where there is actually a fourth reference to God in the Declaration of Independence.

The divine providence of God was used by these founders as a justification, as a reason for rebellion against the British crown. As a matter of fact, God again is mentioned four times in three different capacities by these men. First of all, he is the great legislature.

They refer to him as the laws of nature and nature's God. They refer to him as a creator or the executive of the universe. Secondly, he is referred to as the supreme judge of the world, capital S, capital J, in the original document. Third, he is a guardian. He is referred to and refers to his divine providence as a guardian over the nation. I'd like to quickly read these four areas within the Declaration of Independence where God is mentioned. The reason this is important is that this was a covenant made between our founding fathers and their acknowledgment of a superior power known as God, and the fact that they used God as their excuse as their justification for rebellion against the British crown. It starts out in the Declaration of Independence when in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected to one with another and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and nature's God entitled them. A decent respect for the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to separation.

They start out the Declaration of Independence very quickly acknowledging that it's nature's God that entitles them to do this. The second reference is one that Mr. Mango mentioned that I'm sure we've heard many times. We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And this is a vision.

The Declaration of Independence wasn't perfect. The men who wrote it weren't perfect, but it was a vision of what this nation could become, including the liberty that should be available to all. The third reference near the end, they say, We therefore, the representatives of the United States of America and General Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world.

We throw ourselves, they said, on the mercy of the Supreme Judge of the world, capital S, capital J, for the rectitude of our intentions, due in the name and by the authority of the good people of these colonies solemnly publish and declare that these united colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent states.

They said, What gives us the right to make this statement? That Supreme Judge of the world gives us the right for rebellion. And number four, near the end, they said, And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, capital D, capital P, an original document, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. So again, I want to emphasize why this document is so important. It was the founders, and we know who the founders are, you know, Adams, Jefferson, Hancock, Washington, so many great men that we could recite their names for quite a while now.

It was in this document that they stated that it was nature's God that entitled them to be separate and equal to all the other powers on the earth. And this was more than just inspiring words. This is more than a group of lawyers sitting together in a room in Philadelphia looking for gobbledygoop to justify what they were about to do.

Most of them were very religious men in their own way, even though they did not accept traditional Christianity as it was believed at that time for many of them. For example, Franklin did not believe in Jesus Christ, but he believed in God and he believed in the moral precepts of the Bible and read the Bible.

So they were unique men, certainly not traditional in the sense of religious belief. But again, this was more than just inspiring words. It was a covenant that told the world that this nation was under divine providence. And we may or may not realize it, but what occurred in 1776 was a fulfillment of one of the promises that God gave Abraham. And let's turn there and take a look at that promise in Genesis chapter 17 and verse 5.

We should understand what those promises were. And people have said to me, well, Mr. Thomas, I'm not sure that I believe in this theology that the United States and Britain came from the descendants of Abraham. And my response is, that's not a salvation issue. That's okay. But what this will teach you is that God is a God who controls history. That God is a God of prophecy. That's why you need to understand that this is not a salvation issue.

But it's an issue that reminds us that history is His story. Get it? History? His story? It's the story of God's plan for mankind and what He is doing in this world below. Genesis chapter 17 and verse 5, "...no longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be called Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. And I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you.

And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant to be God to you and your descendants after you. Also I give you the descendants after you in the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan as an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.

And God said to Abraham, as for you, you shall keep my covenant and your descendants after you throughout their generations." So this is the beginning of the promise that God makes to Abraham.

Let's drop down to verse 15 here. And God said to Abraham, "...as for Sarah your wife, you shall not call her name Sarah, but Sarah shall be her name, and I will bless her, and also give you a son by her, and I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations." That's plural. Kings of peoples shall be from her. So God gave specific promises to Abraham and Sarah, and he told him that many future nations would be descended from Abraham and his wife. And God would also give his descendants the land of Canaan. But have you ever seen the infomercials they have on TV today?

They say, but that's not all. You see, God is going to double the promise, and Abraham doesn't even have to pay for shipping. Let's go to Genesis 22 and verse 16. Genesis 22 and verse 16. Abraham was willing to do what the Father himself would someday do. The Father would have to sacrifice his very own son for the sins of the world. And he wanted to test Abraham to see if Abraham loved God enough and had enough faith in God's promise that it was through his son that came from him that the world would be blessed to see if he had enough faith to obey God's command to kill his very own son.

It was a test. And Abraham passed the test. We know the story. And here's what God says as a result of that in chapter 22 verse 16. And said, By myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, blessing I will bless you in multiplying, I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven. You see, this is a greater promise than the one he made earlier simply about Canaan and his descendants being in Canaan.

And as the sand which is on the seashore, and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies in your seed, all the nations of the earth shall be blessed because you have obeyed my voice. So we see here that God expands his promise to Abraham. He's now told his descendants would be as the stars of heaven as the seashore. The analogy is this. You're going to have so many descendants, hundreds of millions, that you can't count them all.

You know, even today when the United States takes a census, that our census law allows the census to guess, they take a census of as many people as they possibly can, but because there are so many Americans, they have to sometimes take a sampling of an entire city or neighborhood and guess how many people are there. And that's allowed by law. Why?

Because there are so many people, like the stars in the heavens or the sand in the seashore, that even with our modern technology and our abilities today, we cannot count them all.

That's why. God actually proclaims here a double blessing for the nations of the earth because of Abraham's obedience. In a physical and material way, his descendants would be a people of great wealth and civilization, and they would be a blessing to all nations.

Now, I know the United States in our history has certainly made a lot of mistakes. I know that and I understand what those mistakes are. But I also have to remember that the United States has created a larger middle class than any other nation in the history of mankind, where more people live in comfort and luxury, there is more food to eat, there is technological advances in health care, there is primarily peace in most of the world because of the one superpower demands it. The United States has given a lot to the world in spite of our flaws and our sins and our problems. But even more importantly than that, I want you to focus on verse 18. It says, in your seed. Seed is singular. And as Paul pointed out in his very own writings, from Abraham's descendants would come Jesus Christ, your seed, singular, who would offer spiritual salvation to the entire world and eventually to all who ever lived. So Abraham's blessing was double. It was material blessing by nations, civilizations, and it was more importantly spiritual salvation through Jesus Christ.

Let's go now to Genesis chapter 28 and verse 14. Genesis chapter 28 and verse 14. Also, your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth. You shall spread abroad to the west and east, to the north and south, and in you and all your seed, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. So this is no longer confined to Canaan, which was the original promise. He said your descendants are going everywhere in this world. North, south, east, and west. And they are going to colonize and populate everywhere on this earth. That was his promise. So God added even more information to Abraham's grandson Jacob. Is it possible to count dust? Anyone here have the ability to count dust? I can't. And again, this is an analogy that it wouldn't be possible to count how many descendants would come from Abraham because he obeyed God's command. His descendants would migrate and influence the four corners of the earth. God made a covenant with Abraham and his descendants, and through them a number of nations would be founded on the earth, which would benefit the world regarding the spreading of Christianity, the technological advances of civilization, and safety. Because of their military might and strength, they would enforce peace over most of the earth. These were the kind of blessings that would occur. But there are serious obligations and responsibilities that a nation falls under when they acknowledge, when they say, that we accept God's divine providence over us. There are obligations when you make the statement in your founding document that God gave us the right to be a unique and a free nation.

God gave us the right to rebel against the British crown and create our own form of government.

There are conditions that are attached to that kind of a document and a philosophy.

And let's see what they are. Leviticus chapter 26. If you'll turn there with me, Leviticus chapter 26.

This, of course, were the words of God's original covenant with the nation of Israel.

But this is also true of any nation or any people that claim to be founded on the principles of God's divine providence in their lives. He said, if you walk in my statutes and keep my commandments and perform them, then I will give you rain in its season, and the land shall yield its produce, and the trees the field shall yield their fruit. The threshing shall last till the time of vintage, and the vintage shall last till the time of sowing, and you shall eat your bread to the full and dwell in your land safely. What nation on earth is the breadbasket to the world?

I'll tell you, it's the United States of America. What nation has not suffered the ravages of invasion in their own country like most European countries have? It's the United States of America. What nation is known for its abundant fruits, its oranges, and its grapes that make sweet dino, and all of the blessings of the vine and the fruit trees? It's the United States of America.

That is what it is talking about here. Verse 6, and I will give you peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none will make you afraid. I will rid the land of evil beasts, and the sword shall not go through your land. You will chase your enemies, and they will fall by the sword before you. Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight.

Your enemies shall fall by the sword before you. And what happened to the United States when the United States entered World War I? The timing of the war changed, and because of the involvement, though late in World War I, the Great War, the European powers and the Western nations won the First World War. World War II, who literally saved Western civilization, won the United States as begrudgingly as it did, a pacifist nation finally entered World War II and got our act together and got serious about fighting the Nazis in the Japanese Empire. We were able to defeat them both.

The enemies fell by the sword. What is the nation today that has the ability to have a drone flying in the air and see a house with 16 militants all gathered for a meeting and one drone, not even a human being in that? A few things in technology and a missile comes down and kills all 16 people.

What one nation, one superpower on earth, has the ability to chase their enemies and their enemies fall by the sword before you? It is the United States of America. These are the blessings.

Not because we deserve it, because we don't. Not because we're smarter than anyone else, or better than anyone else, or more righteous than anyone else on earth, but God keeps his promises and he made a promise to a man named Abraham. And that is why this nation has been so blessed. Verse 9, For I will look on you favorably and make you fruitful, multiply you and confirm my covenant with you. You shall eat of the old harvest and clear out the old because of the new. You'll have so much food you can't eat at all. And that's why the United States is able to export so much of the food that we grow to other areas of the world. Verse 11, I will set my tabernacle, God's presence, among you. God said, I will be present among you and my soul shall not abhor you. I will walk among you and be your God and you shall be my people. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt that you should not be their slaves. I have broken the bands of your yoke and made you walk upright. He said, so you don't have to be a slave anymore. Now you can walk with pride. You can walk as a nation upright with dignity. You are the superpower.

You are the nation in which other nations aspire to be. You are the nation where your culture influences the rest of the world. You decide when war will occur and enforce peace when it's necessary. God said, these are the blessings that I will give you if you walk in my covenant. You see, brethren, God's providence comes with moral conditions and expectations of that creator.

That is mentioned in the Declaration of Independence. The United States has historically been greatly blessed. And all the good things that we see mentioned here have fallen on the United States like gifts from God because that's exactly what they have been. Abundant crops, plenty to eat, safety from invasion, military strength that crushes your enemies, a growing population, and national pride. All of those were mentioned in these verses that we just read.

And guess what one nation on earth has been blessed with all of these things?

The nation that was founded by those individuals on July 4, 1776, who sat down and signed a document that we know of as the Declaration of Independence. But, again, if you break your national relationship with God, something else happens. As a nation, eventually God removes his blessings and you fall under a curse. Let's continue to read these verses. Leviticus, chapter 26 and beginning in verse 14. As a nation, if you reject God, if you reject his commandments, you begin to fall under a curse for your sins. Chapter 26 and verse 14. But if you do not obey me, do not observe all these commandments, and if you despise my statutes, if your soul abhors my judgments, so that you do not perform all my commandments, but break my covenant, verse 16. I also will do this to you.

I will even appoint terror over you. We have millions of people who live in their homes, especially the elderly, who are terrified to leave their homes, who cannot walk out on the streets because they live in terror in certain neighborhoods of this country. We have school children who leave their house and get on the bus, and their parents pray every day that their children come home alive, because they have to go through very dangerous neighborhoods and parts of this country for their children to go and get an education for an opportunity to even better their lives. God said, if you break his covenant, he will appoint terror over you. That's what's happening to our nation.

Wasting disease. Unbelievable the number of cancers and diabetes. I mean, I have a blood cancer myself, so I can certainly relate to this scripture. Wasting disease will come upon your people. Cancers and diabetes and heart problems, and it's phenomenal the disease that exists within our nation and among our people. And fever shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart. Sorrow of heart is called chronic depression, and I am stunned with the number of people that I meet who are depressed. Not discouraged, who are beyond discouraged, who are experiencing chronic depression. In a nation in which we have so much, and in many people's lives they have so much, they've been given so much, yet they suffer from sorrow of heart. Let's continue here.

And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.

And I will set my face against you, and you shall be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you shall reign over you, and you shall flee when no one pursues you. So that is what we might call stage one of what begins to happen when a nation rejects God and begins to fall under his curse.

These things are beginning to happen. Again, many Americans live in terror and are afraid to leave their homes. Disease is rampant in our nation. But God doesn't act swiftly. He's merciful because God is slow to anger. And if a nation doesn't repent at this point, a more serious wave of plagues occur. Let's take a look at verse 18 and see the next level. And after all this, if you do not obey me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. I will break the pride of your power, and I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze.

That's the earth is dry. There's no rain. All there is is hot baking sunshine. And your crops are out there on the earth trying to grow in soil. That's hard as iron. Verse 20, and your strength shall be spent in vain, and your land shall not yield its produce, nor shall the tree of the land yield its fruit. So that's the next level. God calls a nation to repentance because of their sins. And if repentance doesn't occur, another wave of plagues occur. Verse 21, and if you walk contrary to me and are not willing to obey me, I will bring on you seven times more plagues according to your sins.

I will also send wild beasts among you, and you shall rob you of your children and destroy your livestock and make you few in number, and your highways shall be desolate. And if by these things you are not reformed by me but walk contrary to me, then I also will walk contrary to you, and I will punish you, here's another wave of plagues, yet another or yet seven times for your sins, and I will bring a sword against you that will execute the vengeance of the covenant. When you are gathered together within your cities, I will send pestilence among you, and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy. Well, sadly, brethren, our beloved nation is on the path to destruction because of our rejection of his divine providence and because as a people our pleasure in sin, and that's easy enough to see if you just look at a typical Hollywood movie.

We are in the beginnings of these plagues. I can't tell you how far along we are because I really don't know, but I can certainly tell you that this is a dramatically different nation than it was when I grew up as a child in the United States in the late 1950s, in which there was a nuclear family, in which children had the respect for authority. You either respected authority in school or you received a little song from the chairman of the board, and there were a number of times when I received a strong message, a firm message, from the chairman of the board.

My brother went home one day from school and he made the mistake of telling my mother that he had been paddled in school, which was immediately followed by a second paddling from her, wanting to know why he got in so much trouble that he needed to get a paddling in school.

But our nation has changed. We no longer respect law. We have taken the beautiful and brilliant concepts of civil rights and we've warped it to allow license for every type of perversion and dysfunction in human society, and we want to call it equality. We want to call it somehow liberty. That's how far this nation has fallen in one lifetime.

Our nation, our constitution, the constitution was created a number of years later. The first government we created after our independence was a failure. It was a government that basically had no central government. All the states were out doing their own things and it was a complete failure. Our founding fathers were smart enough to see after a period of time that they needed to go back to the drawing board. So once again, they went back to Philadelphia and they created the constitution that we have today. The constitution that we have today is built on a very simple principle and it's why the United States has endured so long. Here's the whole crux behind it and the thought behind the founding fathers. It's this. Government and the people who control government, no matter who they are, cannot be trusted with power.

The founders knew that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. They knew that human nature was selfish. Human nature always degenerates towards being oppressive. And the first thing a human government does instinctively is to perpetuate itself and to take everyone else's wealth to its self so we can do what it wants to do and to begin to grab everyone's liberties. They knew that this was the case. Remember, these were men of the Enlightenment. A hundred years earlier in England, they for a short period of time had a republic. They deposed the King of England and they had a republic and it degenerated into despotism. The man's name was Oliver Cromwell and he became just another despot under the guise of a republican government. He died and his son stank so bad as a leader that the people in the parliament begged the old king to come back.

That's how much it failed. They knew that human beings cannot rule themselves without checks and balances. They were men of the Bible. Here are some scriptures that they understood about any time man creates a government, any government. Jeremiah 17, 9, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? They knew that about their own hearts.

They argued and debated among themselves about certain things. Ecclesiastes chapter 9 and verse 3, this is an evil that is done under the sun that one thing happens to all. Truly, the hearts of the son of men are full of evil. Madness is in their hearts while they live. The book of Ecclesiastes says, after that they go to the dead. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 15 and verse 19, for out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, theft, false witness, and blasphemies.

Therefore, what they did, which was unique in human history, is they designed a government with checks and balances to minimize the government's power and to give the people the ability to remove those who were not performing towards the will of the people. Have you ever noticed in your lifetime that unlike Egypt this week, at one point 20 million people in Egypt, like one-third to one-fourth of its entire population, were in the streets demanding the removal of their president?

They had a coup, and the Egyptian military removed its democratically elected president. Have you ever noticed that that does not happen in the United States? Because the United States, we have a peaceful revolution every four years. Every four years the people get to go and make a statement for their president, whoever, and say, I want this bum out, or I want this lesser bum to remain my president for the next four years. I remember Mr. Armstrong, someone asked him about a couple of candidates, and his response was, thank God they both can't win. But our nation was designed with checks and balances. They knew that human nature is oppressive and that human nature always degenerates towards controlling others. They designed three branches with different powers to balance each other and to prohibit another branch from taking too much power. The president's an executive, but he just cannot do much. He can write a few executive orders, but he cannot do much as far as creating law. That's Congress's job to create law. Yet if they create a law the president doesn't like, he can veto it. Yet if there are enough of them in both houses, they can override his veto. Yet if the Supreme Court, whom by the way Jefferson said it was a mistake allowing judges to be unelected and serve for life, if the Supreme Court doesn't like the law, no matter how many people voted for it, they can say the law is unconstitutional and they can negate the law.

But the founders, knowing the corruption of human nature, created checks and balances so that no one branch or group of people can assume and grab too much power. Our nation was also designed so that it cannot lurch in one direction or another rapidly, but change because of our form of government occurs very slowly. Some people don't like that, but the founders did that on purpose. I'll give you an example. Our recent health care debate. This is not a recent issue.

In one of the budgets submitted by Richard Nixon, his budget included the Congress Universal Health Care for All Americans. This has been a debate that's been going on for 50 years.

Our nation is so designed that it's very hard for anything the knee-jerk in our country because these checks and balances slow down any change. Good or bad, it slows it down to a crawl. But eventually, over a 40 or 50 year period, things do change. So in our secular world, independence is important to secure liberty. We've seen and understand that our government or our organization, that any government or organization composed of men has to have checks and balances. And everyone has to be accountable to those whom they claim to rule. Do you know this was even a case in ancient Israel? I want you to think about this, how smart our creator God was. Remember any Levitical kings? I don't because the Levites controlled the priesthood. So to separate too much power, the kings were from different tribes. He never allowed a Levite to be king. And God had another wild card. If the king wasn't doing his job, and if the priest weren't doing their job, which I might add was quite often for both of them, God would send in a third group, a wild card, called the prophets. Who could be from any tribe? And they would remind the king and the Levites of their accountability and their responsibilities. So even in ancient Israel, there were checks and balances so that the king never assumed religious power, so that the Levites never assumed civil power, and that they could both be chewed out equally by any of the prophets that God would raise up. So God even had checks and balances in ancient Israel. The independence is essential in our secular world because any government big enough to provide everything you want is strong enough to take away everything you have, including your ability to support your family and your liberties. So a special thanks to the founding fathers who created a very flawed government, a flawed human government with lots of problems, but nonetheless the best government humans have ever devised among themselves on earth. So is there something like Christian independence? Just a secular independence.

Can our relationship with God be based on part-time or token deference to God? Can we approach God in essence saying, I'll tell you what, God, here's our relationship. You'll be up there and I'll stay down here because I want my independence, and I'll call you when I need you. Can our relationship with God be based on that? Is there any such thing as Christian independence? Maybe we can have a relationship with God just being a smorgasbord Christian, and here all the doctrines come floating down. Let's see, this one's comfortable and this one doesn't require much. Okay, yeah, that's good.

And yeah, I agree with this one. I'll take that and all these others are just floating. You know, can we be a smorgasbord Christian and just pick and choose what we want to believe because it's comfortable or convenient? Is this what we are? Maybe we think we can limit God's power, like Americans can limit their government, that somehow we have the right to limit God's power.

Well, I'm going to tell you something that may shock you today, and that is the spiritual world is totally opposite the physical world. You probably knew that already, but the truth is, is that at baptism we proclaimed our declaration of dependence. Notice, at baptism we proclaimed our declaration of dependence on God. And here's the truth. When you live in a physical, secular world, liberty can only be attained by limiting the government with checks and balances.

In the spiritual world, true spiritual liberty can only be attained by becoming totally dependent on God and letting go and allowing God to totally and completely rule your life.

Now, this is hard for us in the Western world. We value our independence, don't we?

As Americans, we value our independence. No one's going to tell me what to do.

No sovereign power is going to tell me how to live or what I should do. But I'm going to tell you a truth that most of us don't want to accept. I'm going to give you the human life cycle in a few stages. First of all, we're born. And you know what we are when we're born? We are dependent.

You're an infant. You need mama for breast milk. You need mom and dad to change your, you know what, you are totally dependent on someone else. Then you start getting independent. We call that youth, five, six years old teenager. You're independent. You enjoy your, I can do it. No, dad, I can do it myself. Right? We love our independence. But the truth is, if you want to have a balanced and happy life, you become an adult and then you live in interdependence. You see, you're sharing your life with a mate. You're hoping an employer will provide you employment so you can buy the things that you need. We call that interdependence. And then you grow old. And the life cycle comes totally around.

And you know what happens when you get old? You become dependent again. That's hard for a lot of seniors who have lived their whole lives in their own homes and by themselves. But you get to the point, if you're lucky enough to live that long, you get to the point where you have to give up again and life comes full circle and you are dependent on caregivers or your children or others to supply your basic needs. It all starts with dependence and life ends with dependence. And there's a lesson there for our spiritual lives. Let's go to Luke chapter 21 and verse 1. Luke chapter 21 and verse 1.

Jesus is at the temple and you are probably aware of the fact that there was kind of a gift box in the temple that people could give an offering to to help for the maintenance of the temple. And that gift box was prominently displayed so that if you wanted to be a showboat, everybody could see how much you put in it. Luke chapter 21 verse 1. And he looked up and he saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury. And he saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites. And he said, truly I send you to this poor widow has put in more than all.

What? I mean, just so you know, a mite, it's a very poor translation from the original King James. It's a lepton. It was a small copper coin, the smallest and least valuable copper coin in circulation.

It was worth about six minutes of common labor. It wasn't worth very much. So this rich man comes in, he puts in some big Copecs, makes a big show of it, probably shows it off to everybody, shines a flashlight on him, drops it in the slot. Little widow lady comes in, two pennies, plops it in there. He says, truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all.

For all these, out of their abundance they have put in their offerings for God. And she, out of her poverty, has put in all the livelihood that she had. You see, she didn't put conditions on God. When Jesus said in Matthew 6, she took it seriously, take no thought for tomorrow, don't worry about what you're going to eat and drink, don't worry about the clothes that you wear, that God will take care of you. This old widow lady gave everything that she had.

Now, I don't know about you, I'm not there yet. Okay? I'm going to be very honest with you. But the reason Jesus complimented this old lady is because she worshiped God and had faith totally and completely in God. Where's her next meal coming from? What's she going to buy to eat?

I don't know. Now, I'm not saying that you should do that. I'm not saying that I should do that or can do that. But what I am saying is the principle here is the reason the widow is commended in this story is she didn't hold anything back from God. In complete faith, she gave him everything she had without reservation. She said, I am not independent by faith. I am showing I am totally dependent on God. It was her declaration of dependence.

What a remarkable example. Luke 14. Let's go back a few chapters. Luke 14, verse 25.

First, we'll read it from the New King James, which is really a poor translation. For those who go through the baptism classes, I always point out that this is not the best way to translate these verses. Luke 14, verse 25. Great multitudes went with him, and he turned and said to them, If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also cannot be my disciple. I'm going to read this from the New Century version, which does a much better job. If anyone comes to me but loves his father, mother, wife, children, brothers or sisters, or even life more than me, he cannot be my follower.

So being a disciple of Jesus Christ has to be first place in our lives, even above our own family, if we are forced to choose between them. What is that? That's dependence. That's giving up our will, what we want. Independence. A relationship with God with conditions, and that is giving ourselves over to God and making him number one in our lives. It doesn't mean you shouldn't have a wonderful relationship with your family. You should. As a matter of fact, because of what you've learned in God's Word, you should have an outstanding relationship with your family members, with your parents, children, brothers and sisters. But it's talking about a faith that is willing to give up virtually anything and being dependent on God. Let's see another example, verse 27.

And whoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

Now that would have stunned a lot of the people who were hearing him, because all the time the Romans were crucifying people. And the Romans, being as sadistic as they were, would have you carry a huge cross beam on your shoulders, the very one that they soon were going to tie or nail you to. And you would carry that cross beam either on your back, you know, vertically or horizontally, and they would whip you and force you to drag it to the site of your execution. Everyone who heard him say these words knew exactly what he was talking about.

Everyone in his audience understood that they must be prepared even to die, to be a follower of Jesus Christ. Being prepared to die, you know what that is?

That's total dependence on God, not independence.

Again, is this an attitude of independence from God being willing to give up your life, if that's required? A attitude of total dependence. Is that no matter what happens to me, if a disease gets me, or if I'm hit by a truck, or no matter what happens to me in life, that God's divine providence and will will guide my eternity? That's what faith is.

Verse 28, and which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost whether he has enough to finish it, lest after he has laid the foundation he is not able to finish, and all those who see it begin to mock him, saying this man began to build and was not able to finish it. You start the journey for baptism before you are baptized. You need to count the cost.

Matthew 20, verse 20. Let's take a look at another scripture. Matthew 20, verse 20.

We've read this scripture before a number of times, the classic scripture about servant leadership, but I'm going to point out the difference in two Greek words this time.

What Mama Zebedee did here was kind of the very reason that our founders put checks and balances in our national constitution, because this is a political power play. Then the mother of Zebedee's sons came to him with her sons kneeling down and asking something from him, and he said, there would you wish? And she said, grant that these two sons of mine may sit one at your right hand and the other on your left in your kingdom. I don't want much. I just want them to be number two in heaven, in all eternity, in the very throne of God. Can you arrange that? Is that okay? She says.

Verse 22. Jesus answered and said, You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? He's saying, are you willing to be beaten, spit upon, marked, slapped in the face? Have a crown of thorns jabbed on your forehead? Are you willing to be ridiculed? Are you willing to be nailed? Have nails go through your hands on a wooden stake? Are you willing to be stabbed in the side with a sword while people are jeering at you? Oh, if you're the son of God, come off the stake! Come on! Are you willing to go through that? He says, that's the price you have to pay if you want to be there. And they said to him, of course, they're clueless. We are able, they said. Verse 23, so he said to them, you will indeed drink my cup. He's implying that they were going to be persecuted and martyred.

Okay, he says, you will indeed drink my cup and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with. But to sit on my right hand on my left is not mine to give, but it is for those to whom it is prepared by my father. And when the ten heard it, they were greatly displeased with the two brothers. They were displeased because they saw that someone came in and tried to play politics and tried to get her children through nepotism to rule at the right and left side of Jesus Christ. But here's the thing I want to focus on in these verses. Verse 25, but Jesus called them to himself and said, you know that the rulers of the Gentiles lorded over them and those who are great exercise authority over him, yet it shall not be so among you, but whoever desires to be great among you, let him be your servant. Now that is one Greek word. It's diohkonos, from which we get the word deacon, and it means a waiter and attendant. Someone who comes serving you food, you may remember in the original account an axe. The widows were being neglected, and the deacons were chosen to make sure that the needs of the widows at mealtime and so on were being taken care of appropriately, and that's what that Greek word means. It means an attendant or a waiter. But Jesus is going to use a different word. Verse 27, he says, and whoever desires first to be among you, let him be your slave. What? That is so anti-American, isn't it? Isn't that anti against everything that we've ever been taught in this secular world? Indeed it is, because it is a spiritual principle. Whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave. That comes from a whole different Greek word, doulos, which means to voluntarily subject yourself to the will of another, devoted to another, to the disregard of your own interests. So Jesus is saying that if you desire to be at the very top of his spiritual body, you must give up your own will and self, and become a slave. A slave to God, obviously. A slave to do his will. You have to become dependent on God and not think that you can have a relationship with God in which you can maintain your own independence. Let's read our final scripture, Philippians chapter 2 and verse 12.

Final scripture today.

We know, of course, we're very familiar that Paul wrote in Romans chapter 12, he told the brethren they should present their bodies as a living sacrifice. That means total, complete, give yourself up to God. He said, be holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. He said, don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

And here's what he says about his own life, his own example. Philippians chapter 2 and verse 12.

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you, both to will and to do for his good pleasure. So God is working with us, and what does he want us to do? What does he want us to do? He wants us to be his slaves, to be dependent on God, and to do his will. And that gives him, obviously, good pleasure. Verse 14, do all things without complaining and disputing that you may become blameless and harmless children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain or labored in vain. And then there's verse 17, in which Paul gives us a tremendous example of his own life. Verse 17, he says, yes, and if I am poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice of service of your faith, on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all, for the same reason you also be glad and rejoice with me. Paul is saying that he gave it everything he had. He fulfilled his calling. He did what God wanted him to do. He lived by faith. He learned that he couldn't be independent with God, that he had to totally rely on God for all of his needs and everything in life. He learned to be dependent on God as a living sacrifice. And that total dependence on God is what gave him true liberty.

So, as we ponder again the American Fourth of July, let us remember that any government ruled by humans because of the flaws of human nature and the weaknesses of men and women, any human government, church or otherwise, government, religious, doesn't matter, any government in which human beings are there, must have checks and balances. And if those don't exist, the end result is abuse. But in contrast to our secular world, if we want to have the deepest possible relationship with God, if we want to fulfill his will, we have to be willing to let go, and we have to be willing to declare our Declaration of Dependence on God for all of our needs and for our entire life. Only then will we be able to experience the joy of true spiritual liberty. Have a wonderful Sabbath day.