If the Foundations are Destroyed

[0:00] We continue to suffer from a depleted congregation due to the COVID thing, and we have taken a position and announced it to the congregation a number of times that we are not telling you that you should be here regardless, and we are not telling you that you should stay home regardless. We are asking that each individual assume responsibility for their own situation, their own family, whether they are here or whether they are not. If you are not comfortable being here because of the possibility of a contagion, you have our blessing to absent yourself, and you can get the messages that are available after they've been presented online for those who wish them.

[0:46] So once again, it boils down to individual responsibility. We all know that we've already had a few people of the Grace Congregation promoted onto glory because of COVID-19, and we do know also that we are dealing with a maturing congregation, and the more mature we are, the more susceptible we are to some of those things that would infect us. So all of these items need to be taken into consideration, and bottom line is each is to assume responsibility for themselves, and none of us has the right to tell someone else you should or you should not be here. So that just seems to us to be the biblical way and the grace way to approach the thing, so that's what we do.

[1:38] Join with me, if you would, in prayer, please. Loving Father, we are grateful this morning for your presence, for the sunshine, for it once again demonstrates your faithfulness to us 24-7, and we are so grateful that you are on the job, even though there are ways that sometimes it does not appear to us that you are. Yet, as we shall see from the message this morning, you always are. You are cognizant, you are fully aware, fully capable of everything that concerns us. We continue to pray for our nation. We recognize that we are a nation in crisis, that there's a lot of divisiveness, a lot of debate, a lot of uncertainty and confusion, the chaos that always comes with it, and we know that it always presents an opportune time for the adversary to work his ways in a congregation and in a nation that is confused. We hear so many different voices claiming so many different things today. We look to you for the ability and the discernment to be able to sort it all out. Most of all, we thank you for what you've already provided for us through our Lord Jesus Christ and the salvation that we enjoy in him. We simply want to give it a workout, and we look to you for the direction, the wisdom, and the strength to do what we know we can't in the flesh. Thank you for being the ever-present God and for undertaking for us in ways that we often do not even understand. We bless you and we ask your blessing upon this time that we spend together in time of fellowship and study of the Word of God. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.

[3:24] In your bulletin, there is an article that is provided by Steve Cutlip on the very back of the bulletin having to do with handiwork of Grace People, and there are tables in the aisle down there as you walk down toward the north end, and you will see Scott Cutlip's handiwork with several of the items that he has gnawed with his own teeth out of these pieces of wood. Wonderful expressions, character, creativity, and everything, and ask him also to show you his teeth because it's taken the edge off of him, you know.

[4:08] He's really been gnawing on those. We're going to nickname him Beaver. We're going to call him Beaver Cutlip, and it seems to fit really well. And if you've got items, by all means, feel free to bring them and put them down there, and we'll just enjoy each other's creativity and handiwork because the point has been made because we serve a God of creativity.

[4:31] He has made us to be creative as well, and we appreciate all of the contributions that might be made. So if you've got things, whatever the area, whether it's painting, drawings, woodwork, metalwork, whatever it is, feel free to bring it in, put it on the table down there, and let the people enjoy it.

[4:49] We'll appreciate that very much. Thank you. Connection with what's going on in our nation that will be tied to the message this morning as we address if the foundations are removed, and there are, of course, those who are in process of doing all they can to try and remove those foundations, so we'll be talking a little bit about that, and for those of you who receive Imprimus from Hillsdale College, you recognize that Imprimus has a circulation of six million a year.

[5:26] I know many Grace people already get it, but there's an article in there featuring Victor Davis Hanson. He's a rather cerebral, very knowledgeable individual.

[5:39] You've seen him on television a number of times. He'll be providing a free opportunity for those who want to take advantage of it, and even though I do not have that to distribute today, I will have it a week from today, and it's something that would be very educational, uplifting, and very much in keeping with our wishes and thoughts regarding citizenship and our responsibility and so on, so if you don't get it at home, you can look forward to the article next week because I will see to it that they are duplicated and copied and distributed.

[6:13] I think you'll find it very, very interesting indeed. Take note, if you will, of the articles that are in the bulletin from the pen of C.R. Stamm, the one true church, and the one true church is not the Catholic church, and it is not the Protestant church.

[6:32] It is the church that is his body that is described by Paul in the epistle to the Ephesians, where there are Jews and Gentiles blended together in one body under one Lord, and that is the true church.

[6:46] That's the church that you have to be a member of in order to go to heaven. It is that church, not the Catholic church, not the Protestant church, but that church, which is the body of Christ.

[6:59] And I think it's pretty much self-explanatory, as well as is the article on the true or the which gospel, because there is more than one gospel, and we'll tell you about that as well.

[7:12] And is there something else that needs to be mentioned that is not in the bulletin and needs to be noised abroad? Anybody? Okay.

[7:25] An old friend. Well, I won't say an old friend. I'll just say a mature friend. That was part of our congregation with his sweet wife, Lucy, back in the 1980s when he was stationed at Wright-Patt and was in the military, and he and Lucy started attending Grace Bible Church, and as they say, the rest is history.

[7:49] Well, he is flying through our area, and he's gracious enough to stop off here and spend a little time with us, and we look forward to getting caught up on a bunch of things after we leave here.

[8:01] But Steve Drawn is, well, I'm not even going to try to describe him because in a number of ways he's indescribable, and I'm sure Lucy would agree with that. But when I heard that he was going to be here and that he was going to worship with us this morning, I was really looking forward to that, and Marie and I and Barbara and Dave, Marie's first husband, we go back a long ways, and we all have fond memories of Steve and Lucy, have appreciated their fellowship, and have visited with them in Albuquerque before, and enjoyed that so much.

[8:37] And I've asked Steve if he would come up and bring you up to speed and what's going on in his life, and I even asked him if he would consider just taking the whole message, but he declined, and I should have asked him earlier, and he wouldn't have had an opportunity to decline, but I want you to take whatever time you want, brother, the time is yours, so come on up and share with us whatever the Lord has laid on your heart.

[9:09] Well, good morning. Grace and peace to everybody. Looking at your bulletin on the inside, I was struck by the message topic of if the foundations are destroyed.

[9:22] Very timely, I think. Obviously, all of us as believers know that we have one sure foundation, which is Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior, who was crucified before the foundation of the world for our salvation and our perfection, and I'm very grateful for that, as I'm sure all of you are.

[9:42] One of the things that's on my heart and mind right now about foundations is, as Marv was just saying, there's a tremendous amount of work going on, not only in the United States, but across the planet to try and erase the idea of creation by God and replace it with materialism and evolution and all sorts of other lies.

[10:02] We know from scripture and we know from our examination of the world and true science that creation is the only way that any of this could have happened, and that by God himself and no other force.

[10:15] Along those lines, when we first came here in spring of 1987, Lucy and I became involved with Dr. Ken Ham, who came out of Australia and was trying to form the Answers in Genesis operation in the Creation Museum.

[10:31] We became founding members of that, and we agree with Ken and many others that what Paul the Apostle did on Mars Hill and said, let me introduce you to the unknown God, and he started with the God that created the world and introduced them to the gospel by starting with God does exist and he did create everything, and this is not an accident.

[10:53] Along those lines, that's what's so good about the Creation Museum. I urge each of you, if you have not had the opportunity, when we left here in 91, we left behind three cards that will get three people into the Creation Museum, and I believe the Ark Encounter for free.

[11:11] It's about a two-hour drive from here, down the other side of the river, down in Hebron, Kentucky. I think that you would very much enjoy it, and I urge anybody that you can take down there who is questioning whether or not God exists and whether or not He created the world, that you would take them with you and go through the museum and the Ark Encounter to show them that it is possible and it is true, because I think that in today's day and age, it's very difficult to get anybody to believe that God does exist and that He created because of the bombardment that they receive through all the media channels that He doesn't.

[11:46] Well, they have their agenda and God has His, and we know who's going to win in the end. So, when I take a look back at the foundations of the world and the foundations of America and where we've come since America was founded and all of the ups and downs that we've had, as Marv said, we are a nation in turmoil.

[12:06] We do have a lot of problems. We have a lot of questions. Everybody's wondering what the solutions are. I think everybody in here knows what the solution is, and it's evangelism, and it's talking to people as they will listen about God, about Christ Jesus and His salvation and His free gift by grace through faith to everybody who will receive it and believe it.

[12:28] It's getting more and more difficult to do that, but I urge each of you to pray to God that they will bring individuals or small groups of people across your path, and He'll always give you the words of wisdom to give to those people that they might believe and be saved.

[12:44] Now, look into the future. One of the things that I've been doing off and on over the past year and a half, two years, is I've been doing a fair amount of reading, primarily of resources on the Internet, but also written books, hard copy books, trying to do something that's probably crazy, but I'm trying to recreate Bishop Usher's timeline of the world, starting with Genesis 1-1 and moving forward, and right now I'm working through some of the Roman era to try and nail down in the ADBC timeline, when did certain things happen, and what is the actual year now?

[13:24] And I've personally come to the conclusion, and I'm open to the conversation, I would love to discuss this with anybody who wishes to discuss it with me, that I think Christ was born in late 4 BC, and He had a two-and-a-half or a three-and-a-half-year ministry.

[13:40] It's a toss-up in my mind as to whether it was two-and-a-half or three-and-a-half years, and when you do all the timeline, it says that we are eight to nine years from 2,000 years since He departed.

[13:52] Now, what does that mean? Well, you can't set dates, but it is interesting how God seems to work in groups of time, and when I take a look at the rate at which the world is coming unblued and where we're at and where the world's at in 2,000 years since Jesus departed, I think we should all start looking up for, I believe, that our salvation and the rapture is very, very close.

[14:19] I think that things are going to get tougher for us on an individual and a collective basis, but our home going is coming ever much closer. Some of us will live to see that.

[14:31] Whether or not I will or not, I don't know, but I believe that it's probably this century. We'll see. You know, everybody so far has been wrong when they pick dates, but I urge you to take a look at where things are going and be ready for whatever comes your way.

[14:49] To that end, what I've told my wife since we moved from Albuquerque to South Texas for a lot of different reasons, I'm trying to build her her own little Garden of Eden on a piece of property we have down there because I believe that that's my duty.

[15:06] Ephesians 5 says I should give myself as a sacrifice for my wife and that's what I'm trying to do. And we're building a beautiful little place down there on a little piece of land not far from the Gulf and it's a wonderful life in South Texas.

[15:18] So if you ever want to come to Corpus Christi, we've got a spare room for you. The additional things that I'm also thinking about is with the tougher times coming along, Ephesians chapter 6.

[15:31] Be prepared and always be prepared to give a defense of the gospel. Put your armor on and keep it on. Times are going to get tougher. You've got your helmet, your breastplate, your belt, your shoes, your sword, and prayer, and the Bible.

[15:47] So definitely have them at the ready at all times. Pray without ceasing. It's going to be more and more important with each coming day. The one sure thing that we know, no matter what happens to us individually or collectively, we're all going home.

[16:05] And the Lord is going to come back after seven years of bad, bad stuff on the planet. and he's going to set up his kingdom and he's going to put this world right. And then we will see what a true, godly, theocratic kingdom looks like.

[16:20] By the way, that copy of The Theocratic Kingdom that you gave to me, marvelous books. I thoroughly enjoy them. So thank you very much for that. So I think I've said enough. I think about the past, I think about the present, I think about the future a lot.

[16:35] And I'm very, very focused on the not-too-distant future of America and the world. And I hope that each of us has an opportunity to witness to as many people as God sees fit.

[16:48] I'm hoping that through strenuous times as the devil does what he can to turn the thumbscrews on us, he's also going to turn the thumbscrews on other people.

[16:59] And hopefully that stress and strain will cause them to call out to why is this happening? And start to question the same way I did back in the 1980s that brought me here. And hopefully God will bring those people to people in this church and others who are also grace believers that they can have the simple saved by grace through faith beliefs and have an answer to their problems in life.

[17:26] So with that, that's what's on my heart and mind. Thank you. Thank you, Steve.

[17:38] It was several years ago that Steve and Lucy generously gifted Grace Bible Church with two transferable passes and they have been used profusely.

[17:53] A number of people have used them two and three times and they are free passes to the Creation Museum. And I say that to inform the rest of you who may not have used them.

[18:05] If you're interested, all you need to do is let me know. They're in the top drawer of my desk and I've made them available to countless couples over the last many years. And they are a real financial savings when you go down to the museum.

[18:20] At that time, the Ark had not even been built and I don't know that it was even contemplated. But since then, I know most Grace people have been to the Ark as well and it's indescribable.

[18:33] You just have to see it for yourself. So thanks, Steve, for the tickets again and thanks for being here this morning. We do really appreciate it. Would you open your Bibles, please, to Psalm 11?

[18:49] Psalm 11. While you're turning there, let me just remind you of a couple of things. Last week, we talked about a king that knew not Joseph from Exodus chapter 1 and we pointed out to you and reminded you that Joseph was sold by his brothers into slavery and he enjoyed a very tenuous situation while he was there for a number of years but eventually, through providence, he was elevated to a position of actually what turned out to be the salvation of the nation of Egypt by interpreting the dreams that God had provided that allowed the nation to be sustained with its seven years of plenty followed by the seven years of famine and you're all familiar with that.

[19:39] And that went on then as a rescued state for about the next 350 or so years until a king rose up or a pharaoh rose up that knew not Joseph had little or no respect or appreciation for the enormous contribution that Joseph had made to the salvation of the nation and they began a persecution thing against the Jews and as a result, God raised up Moses to lead them out of the land of Egypt and as they say, the rest is history once they got to the land under Joshua and so on.

[20:19] So what we are simply saying that our Joseph consists of George Washington and John Adams and Tom Jefferson and James Madison and Monroe and Ben Franklin and others, they together all constitute our Josephs and for the most part so many of our present day generation over 200 years later, a generation has risen up that knows not our founding fathers and has little respect or admiration for the contribution that they made which was enormously significant.

[21:01] These were the men who put their lives on the line and pledged as it were our lives, our fortune, and our sacred honor and many of them paid the ultimate price for the position that they took.

[21:16] Today, there appears to be a great disdain, even a contempt for those called our founding fathers and we have noted across the nation the statues of some of our founding fathers being pulled down, desecrated, denied, ridiculed and so on by an element that knows not our Joseph or our founding fathers and it is wreaking division and havoc throughout the entire nation.

[21:51] The foundations that these men laid are under siege and in Psalm chapter 11, the psalmist David makes reference to this when he says as we begin reading in verse 1, follow along if you would please.

[22:09] David says, In the Lord I take refuge. How can you say to my soul, flee as a bird to your mountains? In other words, David is suggesting that he is being provided with counsel from some that simply says, get out of Dodge, run, run for your life.

[22:30] How can I do that? He says, flee as a bird to your mountain for behold, the wicked bend the bow. There's only one reason that you bend the bow when you have a bow and arrow and that is because you intend to insert an arrow into the bow and you bend it when you pull back on the string to let it fly and the idea of course is you're going to send that projectile into the body of someone and possibly end their lives and that's what David's talking about.

[22:59] They bend the bow, they make their arrow ready upon the string to shoot in darkness at the upright in heart. If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?

[23:20] Last week we spent a great deal of emphasis you will recall on the subject of worldview. All worldviews are inseparable from origins.

[23:37] Origins determine intent, purpose, values, and destiny. Origins become absolutely critical simply because what comes after origins?

[23:54] Everything. Origins is the start of it all. no matter no matter how you interpret it, it all goes back to origins. How we live our lives and the values we associate with them is deeply connected to whether we are here by accident or by intent and by design.

[24:17] If by accident, as some insist, matter of fact, I think we can safely say, insofar as the so-called intellectual elite are concerned, we are a biological accident.

[24:34] We weren't planned by anybody because there wasn't anybody to plan. We just happened in a fortunate, random kind of way of things coming together and voila, you've got life and eventually you've got what we call human life now, which supposedly represents the top of the totem pole of life as being the most furthest advanced.

[25:00] That's the common thinking along those who are referred to as the scientific community. Now, we pick no bones with science because we believe that science is one of the most critical friends that the Christian has because science that is true is simply accurate representation of what is.

[25:24] So we have no bones to pick with science. We consider it one of our greatest allies. But we all know that there is such a thing as science falsely so called.

[25:35] And we also know that there have been a number of things that have been established as scientific fact in textbooks that are now 20 years old and obsolete because they were wrong. So the word science simply means to know.

[25:50] That's all it means. It's to know. And what is there to know? Well, all kinds of things that keep unfolding so that science is an unending project for the simple reason we don't know everything.

[26:07] We're not going to know everything. We are engaged in an ongoing learning process whereby things we didn't know are coming to the fore and that's called discovery.

[26:17] It's called learning. It's called science. It simply means to know. It is a task that is never finished and we need to recognize that and we thank God for science because he's the one that put the whole thing and the principles behind it into practice.

[26:33] So, but if we are here by accident, as by the way, the majority opinion is, particularly those who are in the scientific community, and I say scientific so called, then we have no purpose, we have no destiny, and we have no meaning, nor value that is intrinsic other than what we assign to ourselves.

[26:58] That's it. No purpose, no goals, no objective. After all, what purpose does an accident have? Serves no purpose at all.

[27:10] But if we are here by design, there is a purpose, an objective, an assigned value that is intrinsic because value is built into our humanity.

[27:23] Our humanity provides value and dignity. A nation's foundations are not physical, as we think of structural foundations of a building, but our nation's foundations are simply a metaphor for those items that enable a nation to survive and thrive.

[27:49] Our foundations are the underpinnings of our nation, and they are not physical like the underpinnings of a house or a building, but they are just as real because they are moral and spiritual foundations.

[28:04] It has been said, a nation's foundations are not physical as we think of structural foundations of a building, but foundations are a metaphor for those items that enable the nation to survive and thrive.

[28:23] I think that's worthy of repetition. That is, its moral standards, its ethical values, its pursuit of justice.

[28:35] Who would seek to destroy these foundations? Most Americans, at least those with an appreciable amount of maturity after them, are puzzled.

[28:51] We are at drift. We cannot begin to imagine who or why would anyone want to undermine these foundations that have served this nation so well for 200 plus years.

[29:06] Perfectly? Of course not. This nation, like all other nations, is made up of imperfect human beings. And with that means there are all kinds of character flaws, all kinds of misjudgments, all kinds of evil, all kinds of disappointment, all kinds of you name it.

[29:24] The negatives are there. But this nation, with whatever its lacking may be, is head and shoulders above anything anybody else has going.

[29:35] I do not see. I do not see streams of 10,000s, of hundreds of thousands people, risking all kinds of danger to make an entrance into this nation.

[29:51] I don't see that anywhere else. I don't see that going on in France, or Great Britain, or Germany, or Yugoslavia. What is it about this country that attracts people like that?

[30:06] Why would some risk life and limb and sometimes spend fortunes in order to make it to this country and to make an entrance here illegally?

[30:18] Why would anyone do that? What is it that we've got going that makes us such an attraction? It has to be something different from what they're leaving.

[30:29] Otherwise, they wouldn't leave. Well, we know, and those of us who know it best, sadly, take it so much for granted.

[30:44] And do you know why it's so easy to take it for granted? Because this is all we've known. We've never lived under an oppressive regime. We've always lived in the land of freedom an opportunity.

[30:57] And it is easy. In fact, it's even natural to just take it for granted, ho-hum, assume. Isn't this the way that most of the world lives? No! No, it isn't!

[31:08] It isn't even close. We have a thing here that is called freedom. Priceless, precious, expensive, costs a lot to obtain it, costs a lot to maintain it, and now we are being called upon to be willing to spend a price in discomfort, in effort, in activity, to do what we can to maintain it.

[31:39] It is on the cusp of disintegration. I'm not trying to be dramatic. I'm just trying to be honest.

[31:50] this nation, as we have come to know it, is severely threatened. There is an element with power and very, very deep pockets, most of whom, whose pockets were filled under capitalism.

[32:20] and they seek to derail the very thing that has enriched them. They regard our foundations as failing, failing to achieve equality for the inhabitants.

[32:48] capitalism, we are told, does not achieve equality for the masses.

[33:01] I heard a little saying not too long ago, and I'll never forget it, and I hope you'll never forget it either. free people are not equal.

[33:18] Equal people are not free. You got that? That's our everything.

[33:29] Everything free people are not equal. Equal people are not free. If at first you didn't get it, keep mulling it over in your mind, and eventually it'll sink in.

[33:44] When it does, and you grab it, and it grabs you, that's what we're all about. Freedom and liberty. Freedom to risk.

[33:56] risk. Yeah, freedom to risk. Freedom to fail. But freedom nonetheless. What about we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal?

[34:15] Well, with all due respect to our third president, and the time that was spent in editing what he came up with, with the Declaration of Independence, I think Thomas Jefferson was just a little bit off there, because when he says that all men are created equal, that's not exactly true, but what is true is that all men are created with equal worth.

[34:50] It doesn't mean that we are equal in our abilities, in our understanding, in our capacity. There's a lot of inequalities with that, and we all recognize that. But we are created as human beings in the likeness and image of God, endowed by God, our creator, with certain inalienable qualities, attributes, so that no person's life is worth more than another person's life.

[35:21] we put the same kind of value on the human life, regardless of station, or contribution, or deficiency, or capacity, or whatever, we value all people as being equally valuable, not in their skills, or abilities, or contributions, but you know what I mean.

[35:46] when they wrote that, they argued, I understand, they had some knock-down drag-outs over that. What was written in about being free, and also about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

[36:10] And that pursuit of happiness thing is a little bit vague. And that was one of the criticisms that our founding fathers had with it, and that's why they debated back and forth. And another word almost won out, and we probably would have been better off if it had won out, but it didn't.

[36:27] And that other word was life, liberty, and property. ability, the ability and the right to own property was the main contender for that third item, but it got outvoted, and we ended up with the pursuit of happiness, which is kind of nebulous in so many ways.

[36:50] so as we address this today, the question keeps coming up, do we really understand what is at stake?

[37:09] Very existence of the U.S. of A. as we have always known it, all our underpinnings, our very foundations, are under attack.

[37:21] Never before, at least not since World War II, has the threat been so real as it is right now.

[37:35] And my concern is, my great concern is, that if and when that collapse takes place, my concern is that there will not be great numbers of people who will say to themselves and to others, I can't believe it.

[37:58] I would have never thought that could happen here. But it could. Because as much as we value America and our freedoms, you must understand, as an American and as a human being, you are just as capable of being flimflammed as anybody else.

[38:20] And the only thing that can prevent it and keep us from it is to be adequately informed. And that's why we try to put such a huge emphasis here on information.

[38:33] And we've talked about fake news and its prevalence. it makes for creating confusion in the nation when people in high official positions take different positions that contradict with the different positions of this person and a high influence.

[38:49] And the result is confusion and chaos. And we know that the adversary does his best work in the midst of a confused society. There are so many issues that have been chomping away at our foundations that they defy enumerating.

[39:08] But I'm going to name what I think are at least the big six. And here is the first. Shouldn't surprise you. Life itself is deemed worthy only at the behest of those who already have it.

[39:33] The real issue, and this is just a personal opinion of your pastor, you can take it or leave it, but I've been struggling and wrestling with this and the arguments pro and con for so many years, for five decades now, that I'm more than ever convinced that this is the real issue.

[39:49] issue. This is the real issue behind it. And that is the demand to engage in sexual activity in an unresponsible way without undergoing unplanned consequences thereof.

[40:09] In other words, people want to be free to have sex anyway, anytime, with anyone they want, and not have to suffer the consequences and the burden of a pregnancy.

[40:20] Bottom line, that's it. That's it. That's the whole nine yards. I remember 1973 when Roe v.

[40:36] Wade came down. Some of you are not old enough to even remember that. But one of the main plaintive cries of the women's lib and the ACLU and all of their ilk was, we need to do something about child abuse.

[40:55] child abuse in this country is terrible. And they developed a motto. You remember what the motto was? The motto was, every child a wanted child.

[41:10] And the promise was, that's how we will eliminate child cruelty, child neglect. Because if every child is a wanted child, it will be a loved child, and a cared for child, and a happy child, and a developing child, end of problem.

[41:30] Therefore, abortion will guarantee that every child is a wanted child, and we will have a society of wonderful people as a result. You'd be surprised how many people bought into that.

[41:45] You'd be surprised how many said, well, it isn't something that I would do. I wouldn't choose that for me, but who am I to tell others that they can't do that, or that they shouldn't do that?

[41:58] And that's still out and about today. But that's number one. And by the way, can you get any more basic than life? If you don't have that, you don't have anything.

[42:12] You've got nothing else to argue about. That's it. That's the big item. That's number one, and it should be. And hard on the heels of the right to life and the sanctity thereof is the protection thereof.

[42:30] This involves not only the unborn, it involves the born. It involves the living.

[42:44] And when we're talking about protection, what do we mean? We mean, in essence, what has been described as the thin blue line that stands between society that is orderly and anarchy.

[43:08] That thin blue line are the men and women who wear that blue uniform. And they're called upon to do two things.

[43:22] Basically, just two things. That's their motto. Protect and serve. That's the whole package.

[43:35] And if they're successful in doing that, we are a blessed society. and when hindrances and obstacles are put in their way to prevent them from doing that, and the inanity of something like defund the police, can only be addressed as our latest national insanity.

[43:59] And you know how many times I have talked about and have warned you and tried to inform you and reinforce that all of us as children of Adam who fell completely and totally in Adam and Eve when they fell, everything about them fell, including their reasoning powers and their thinking skills, and all of their fallenness they passed on to us.

[44:29] And we all are inheritors of it. we have a way of exercising faulty logic. Seems logical, like Proverbs says, 1625, there is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof is the way of death.

[44:54] Faulty logic and skewed thinking, skewed intellects, it's part and parcel of the curse. We're born that way. We're born stupid. That's why we have education, to try to overcome the stupidity.

[45:08] And sometimes we succeed a little, and sometimes we have colossal failures. I remember hearing about Alfred Einstein being interviewed, and he said, he was told that there are those, there are those who, in the scientific community, who have examined all of these things, that think that there is really not a great deal of difference between ignorance and genius.

[45:41] What do you think about that? And Einstein said, well, genius has its limits.

[45:54] And that was his answer. Ignorance has no limits. And we see that in the harebrained cockamamie ideas that come across our TV of things that they are advocating that causes us to just look at our mate and say, did you just hear what I heard?

[46:18] Is that what they said? If that isn't the stupidest thing to come out of Washington, D.C., and next week, they'll top that.

[46:32] It'll be something else. I told you we should get up a thing called the insanity of the month. That's the way this nation's going. And you know what all of this does? All of it creates to the confusion and the chaotic factor.

[46:48] And it puts more and more people up in the air as to their thinking, their intentions, their desires, understanding, everything else. And you've got mass chaotic confusion.

[47:00] We've had that with this COVID thing. How many experts have you heard from that contradicted the other experts about masks and no masks and social debt and all the rest? I won't even go there.

[47:10] You know what I'm talking about. And the bottom line is people don't know what to believe. And when people don't know what to believe, you know what they become? They become vulnerable.

[47:25] Very vulnerable. Grasping at straws. Looking for direction. Looking for some kind of confidence. Where can you put your brains?

[47:37] Where can you latch onto and take to the bank? And it's becoming more and more uncertain. seems like there is not a week now that goes by.

[47:56] But what we do not have one of these men or women in blue ambushed, murdered. And you know what all of this is designed to do?

[48:08] And by the way, I'm going to pose something here and I can't prove it, but I'm convinced of it in my soul. And it has to do with this brazen attack on law enforcement.

[48:24] And not just to defund the police and by the way, we've got huge numbers of law enforcement personnel that have just said I've had enough.

[48:39] I took this job to do the job. But they won't let me do the job anymore. So I'm not even justified in staying on the job.

[48:50] I quit. I retire. Who can blame them? So you've got police involved here in what appears to be nothing more than a routine traffic stop.

[49:05] Some violation of whatever. only to walk up to the motor side and be facing a pistol.

[49:18] Kill him right on the spot. What does that do to future traffic stops? What does that put in the mind of the average police officer out there?

[49:31] I don't know what the statistics are. I don't even know if there are statistics about has there been a great decrease in traffic stops. I don't know. But I do know this. I do know there have been a number of really wanted characters brought in and arrested because they were pulled over in just a routine traffic stop.

[49:55] And this guy's wanted for murder in Oklahoma. That kind of thing. So you've got these situations taking place all over the country. All kinds of random shootings.

[50:06] Some of them seem to be random. But so many times law enforcement officers are involved. And you look for some commonality and you say, now wait a minute.

[50:20] Surely there isn't, there couldn't be, there wouldn't be some kind of conspiracy where these people get together and they say, okay, you're going to kill a cop in Oklahoma, you're going to kill a cop in Illinois, I want you to kill a cop in here and you kill a cop in New York and you kill two cops in New Jersey and they're coordinating all of that.

[50:40] I don't believe that's going on for a moment. But I wouldn't be a bit surprised if some body isn't really doing that.

[50:54] people are and I'm talking about the adversary and the way he works his plans.

[51:08] I would not be surprised at all if the adversary himself is not in charge, coordinating, pulling the string just like a puppet and a puppeteer and those who are complying and being used don't have any idea that they're even being used.

[51:24] They are the useful idiots that we've mentioned in the past. They are those who are doing the bidding of Satan and they have no idea that they're doing it.

[51:36] They may not even believe in him, but they're influenced by him. I have no doubt about that at all. And I wonder if the same thing is taking place in various pockets of evil all throughout the nation.

[51:50] The establishment and viability of law enforcement is diminished to protect and serve, suffers a wanton attack upon police authority.

[52:02] It is unparalleled in history. I remember going up as a kid. We had our heroes and one of our heroes, one of our biggest heroes, one of our biggest heroes was the FBI.

[52:19] We believed they could do no wrong. And the cop on the corner was to be respected in the utmost way. And you may engage in physical activity, you may do this, you may do that, you may even shoot another human being, but there's one thing you do not do.

[52:39] You do not shoot a cop. You do not kill a cop. That was the ultimate no-no. No cops. You do not kill cops. That's gone.

[52:50] That's gone. Police officers are a fair game for anybody who has a grudge or thinks they've been treated unfairly or whatever.

[53:01] And by the way, am I suggesting that every cop is true blue? Of course not. There are people wearing the uniform who shouldn't be wearing the uniform.

[53:11] They are a liability to law enforcement. I would to God that there's some way we could root them all out, but I don't know how that could be done. And yeah, there are crooked cops.

[53:22] There are cops on the tape. There are corrupt cops. Absolutely. There are corrupt preachers, too. And our prisons, that's another big item.

[53:40] You know what? They used to call these, they used to call them, they used to call them reformatories. Why did they give them that name? Because the idea was somebody who was incarcerated in a reformatory is while they are there, they are going to learn the error of their way and they are going to be reformed.

[54:02] And when they are turned loose, they will be a productive member of society and they won't steal, cheat, kill, rob, because they've been reformed.

[54:14] It isn't working. Have you gathered that? It isn't working. In fact, in all too many instances in our nation's prisons, there are nothing more than PhDs for criminals who learn to be slicker and smoother and sharper and how to avoid law enforcement and sentencing and all the rest.

[54:43] It's backfired. You know what all of this boils down to? And I'm going to make a statement. It's not going to make any politician happy, but I'm absolutely, totally convinced it's true.

[54:56] It is humanity and American humanity in particular, not that we're different from any others because it's worldwide. Humanity does simply not have the ability to govern itself with consistency and fairness across the board.

[55:21] Can't do it. Doesn't fly. We just don't have it in us. None of us do. And do you know what would be the most wonderful thing of turning this culture around?

[55:38] Would be for those who are in the power positions and influence politically, offices, Republicans and Democrats and Independents, to get on their knees and say, oh God, we can't do this.

[55:52] We need help from you big time. Instead, these people from every party are so inflated with their own egos, they say, yeah, the country's in a mess because the wrong people are in power, but you just put us in power and we'll fix it.

[56:10] And to that, we know that's just so much baloney. But are you going to hear these people admit it, acknowledge it? Of course not, because their ego is at stake. And very often, their political office would be at stake and the perks and privileges that go away.

[56:25] with it. So they're not going to admit that. But that's the problem. That's the problem. Sanctity of the ballot box.

[56:37] I must hasten on her. Time is already gone. I want to make this statement as I've made it before. If we do not have the guaranteed sanctity of the ballot box, we're toast.

[56:55] there's just no way that we can survive. Those who are willing to cheat and steal and lie in order to get elected or in order to gain votes for whoever they want elected, those who are willing to do that seem to be greater in number than those who are not willing.

[57:18] And by the way, it doesn't take a great number of them to do that. This is exactly what's going on. And why would anybody do that? Listen, why would anybody be willing to do that?

[57:29] Cheat, steal, lie in order to win an election? Why would anybody? The answer is simple. You know what it is. Look. Look at their worldview.

[57:41] Look at their worldview. That'll tell you why. And if we are, if we are just a mistake, if we are just a biological accident, if we have no destiny, no value, and no dignity, why not abortion on demand?

[57:59] Why not? Why not same sex marriage? Why not steal whatever you have to in order to fill the ballot box with your people? Why not? The name of the game is power.

[58:10] Those who are in power make the rules. You have to do whatever it takes to win. And their motto is, the end always justifies the means.

[58:21] If you have to steal, lie, and cheat to get there, do it! Do it! And do you know how and why they justify that? They tell themselves, eh, the other side's doing it anyway.

[58:32] We might as well. If we don't have that ballot box secured, and we're going to have this coming election, November, to decide it's going to be Katie Bar the door, and the definition and security of our national borders.

[58:59] What I've mentioned, and others are too numerous to engage here and now, but these constitute the foundations that are targeted for destructions.

[59:13] And the first, the attack on the very foundation of life itself is the principal foundation that has already been removed.

[59:26] The foundations are removed or destroyed. That one, life, the big one, that's already removed 50 years ago. Remove that. And all that's coming after it is the predictable outflow of that.

[59:41] Because once you demean life, everything under life is lessened and deteriorates, erodes.

[59:52] It has taken us 50 years to get there. And the further we go, the faster we go.

[60:04] Have you noticed any speed up in changes over the last three or four years? Hold on to your hat. what can the righteous do?

[60:22] Back to Psalm 11. If the foundations, verse 3, are destroyed, what can the righteous do?

[60:38] The implication, and what of course is automatically built into it, is it's the unrighteous who are destroying the foundations. It's those who see no value in origins, in destiny, in anything, but the immediate now, and you do whatever you can to change it, and win whatever you want to win so that you get your way and you can run the show.

[61:00] And by the way, if we cheat to win, if we steal to win, and we do win, they'll thank us.

[61:13] that's a little more of that perverted thinking, skewed logic. They'll thank us because we will have achieved equality, and everybody will be equal.

[61:34] It's called socialism, and it is a word with its root in society.

[61:47] Do you have something against society? Socialism is the answer where everyone will be equal.

[62:02] equal. Someone has pointed out, equally miserable. That's the equality.

[62:13] And by the way, has not history taught us in places like Cuba and Venezuela and others, colossal failures? Has this thing ever worked anywhere it's been implemented?

[62:24] Has it ever worked? No! But you know why? It's only because the right people were not in charge. You put us in charge, we'll make it work, and you'll thank us. It is amazing how many people have bought into that.

[62:41] The magic word, that mantra, is equal. Everybody needs to be. Why should anybody have millions of dollars when this person's living on the street? What's fair about that?

[62:55] And do you know, on the surface, on the surface, yeah, they've got some arguments, but when you start examining it and lay it all out, it all collapses just like a house of cards.

[63:09] One thing that socialism and communism never take into consideration, absolutely deny, and that is the true nature of humanity.

[63:21] Their view is human nature is perfectible, and you put us in power and we will perfect it, and everyone will be perfect, and it will be equal, and it will be utopia, utopia.

[63:38] Can't wait. So if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? Well, I'll tell you what the righteous can do, and as far as I'm concerned, this is all the righteous can do, and that's verse four.

[63:52] the Lord is in his holy temple. The Lord's throne is in heaven. His eyes behold.

[64:05] In other words, none of this escapes God. His eyelids test the sons of men. What a beautiful expression. You know what that's saying? His eyelids test the sons of men.

[64:17] We often don't think about our eyelids, but have you ever thought if you're going to look at something very carefully, maybe something small and minute, and you hold it in your fingers, and you want to examine it as best you can with your eyes, do you know what you'll do?

[64:33] You don't go like this with your eyes wide. No, no. You bring your eyelids down almost to a squint, and you look at that real careful with your eyelids down.

[64:48] That's what this text is saying. Nothing gets past God. Everything is naked and open before him with whom we have to do. And the text says, his eyes behold, his eyelids test the sons of men.

[65:05] The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked, and the one who loves violence his soul hates. Upon the wicked he will rain snares. Fire and brimstone and burning, burning wind will be the portion of their cup, for the Lord is righteous.

[65:23] He loves righteousness. The upright will behold his face. You realize this is our only appeal?

[65:37] The Lord is in his holy temple. You know what that means? Say the Lord is in his holy temple, that means God is in the Lord is in business. And he has not resigned.

[65:47] He's on the job. Like Dr. Walter Wilson corrected me years ago, I had an opportunity to show for him about. We were talking about the times, and I said something to the effect, well, I'm just glad that God is still on the throne.

[66:03] Aren't you, Dr. Wilson? He said, well, I'm glad he's on the throne, but he isn't still. And there's a lot of truth in that.

[66:15] The Lord is in his holy temple. You know what that means? That means that our only appeal is not to Washington. It's to the Lord, to the temple.

[66:29] This means that as citizens and responsible people who care about this nation, we ought to do all that becomes incumbent upon us to do, to turn things around, by all means, by all means, you need to cast your vote for the person you think best qualified to do the job.

[66:49] And if you don't bother to go to the polls, that's your responsibility. But please, please, don't let me know about it. Because it'll just, well, every Wednesday night, six o'clock, there's about a dozen, maybe a dozen and a half at the most.

[67:13] And by the way, everybody's welcome. We'd love to have the off. Not only do we have a serious time of prayer, and by the way, some people are scared to death to think that they might have to pray in public.

[67:24] And oh, dear me, what would happen? The world would come to an end if I said thee, and I was supposed to say thou. You know, we, this, this is a very relaxed, about half the people who gather there pray audibly, and the other half just pray along with them as they listen to them pray.

[67:43] Nobody's under any obligation to pray or anything like that. It's very relaxed. We just have a wonderful time of fellowship. Yeah, we have a lot of laughs, too, because sometimes that's the only way you can keep from crying, is to laugh, you know, like I said on the bulletin board.

[68:01] So we just want you to know that you're welcome, and this is where our real power is. The Lord is in his holy temple, and we're going to call upon him. And we like to think that there are thousands and thousands of groups just like ours all over this country who are as upset about this nation as we are, and they're praying too.

[68:24] And our prayer is that the Lord may exit his holy temple and come down. and do what we can't do.

[68:36] So we implore him. We appeal to him. We eschew the evil that's going on. And in the midst of it all, we try to remember our main objective is to proclaim the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, because that transcends even the condition that this country's in.

[68:53] So it all has to be kept in perspective. perspective. And, okay, I'm not finished, but I quit. So let's pray. Father, there isn't one of us here, including myself, that's really sufficient at all to address these issues as they need to be addressed.

[69:17] And that's why you are our only hope. And we appeal to you to do what we know we can't do. We appeal to you for the salvation of this nation. We appeal to you for your enlightenment and your power and your ability to affect discovery and understanding, understanding, because we cannot make that happen.

[69:41] So once again, we just want to besiege heaven with our requests, knowing that you do all things well. And we don't know why you choose to answer some requests and not answer others.

[69:59] But we do know that whatever you choose to do is the right thing. It always is. We take great comfort in that. So as much as lies within us, we as a congregation want to be available to you as individuals and a congregation to be at your disposal any way you may see us to be useful.

[70:20] It would be an honor. We pray that the same may be true and expressed by others like Grace Bible Church all throughout this land. We just want to be ready and willing and you make us able.

[70:34] And we'll go, whatever that involves. Thank you for it all in Christ's name. Amen.