That last hymn affirms that having conquered death and sin, Jesus reigns over earth from heaven. What a privilege it is to live in post cross days. We can read passages like Deuteronomy 4 with even more hope than saints of old had. So if you would turn to Deuteronomy 4, I want to read God's instructions for national renewal that were possible in the Old Covenant, and did happen from time to time, but which give even more hope in our own day. Deuteronomy 4:32-40.

You may be seated. So far in Deuteronomy 4 we have looked at how true monotheism mandates true monoculturalism. And we have also looked at how easy it is for a nation to drift away from exclusive loyalty to God and His law. Super easy. And Moses knew that Israel was at a spiritual crossroads. The previous generation had chosen to ignore God's law and missed out on God's blessings. This generation would choose renewal and would experience marvelous national blessings in the future. Those are always the options before nations. And I gave several Scriptures last week that universalize the principles in this chapter to all nations. This was not just applicable to Israel.

And I actually got the idea of preaching on "God's Pathway to National Renewal" from early Puritans who preached Deuteronomy 4 to their colonies, calling them to stay faithful to God. And preachers over the next two hundred years also used this chapter to call for national renewal. So, even though the substance of this sermon is brand new (something I have developed), the idea of applying it to American national renewal is not a new idea at all.¹ We are going to look at six things that need to be recovered if a nation is to to truly turn around and be restored.

Recover Historical Memory (vv. 32–34) — A nation without memory cannot repent.

The first thing that needs to be recovered is a historical memory. Obviously Israel's formation was unique. In verses 32-34 God is going to say that no other nation has had the privileges that Israel had. But there is a sense in which every nation is unique. America certainly had some very unique ways in which God richly blessed our formation. But let's first look at how Moses outlines the history of Israel's formation forty years earlier, and see if there are any applications that are relevant to us.

The Imperative to Investigate the Past — “Ask now…” (v. 32)

First of all, he gives an imperative to investigate the past - "Ask now about the former days..." This is so critical for nations that have drifted away from their Christian roots - nations like Switzerland, Sweden, England, Scotland, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Canada, and of course, the American Colonies. The average American would be shocked to learn that our founding fathers believed that God's laws needed to be the foundation for our republic. Yes, there were some pagan influences on our nation, but the Bible had a profound influence as well. For example, John Adams, who was anything but an orthodox Christian (though he did attend a Congregational church), said this,

“Suppose a nation in some distant region should take the Bible for their only law-book, and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited. … What a Eutopia, what a Paradise would this region be!”² 

That's John Adams. In a letter to Thomas Jefferson in 1813, he said,

“Now I will avow, that I then believed, and now believe, that those general Principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable, as the Existence and Attributes of God…”³

And the average citizen was even more inclined to follow God's laws back then than Christians are today. So I would encourage those of you who are engaged in apologetics with other Americans, to encourage citizens to do the same thing - to ask about the former days. Memory is not passive; it requires active investigation. I'm not actually a fan of Will Durant at all, but the first quote in your outlines is from him, and I think it is true. "Those who know nothing about history are doomed forever to repeat it." Moses actually uses a legal inquiry verb (“ask, interrogate”) implying a judicial examination of facts in order to come to a conclusion. He was indicating that if they would honestly look at the facts that happened 40 years earlier, they would recognize that what he has been saying is 100% true.

And I think it can be a helpful part of our apologetics to encourage American citizens to consider how pervasive Christianity was in not only the colonies, but in the formation of our nation. It wasn't perfectly consistent, but our founding fathers were trying to faithful to Scripture as they understood it. Let me recommend a few Christian books that have investigated America's past and come to this conclusion. A couple of them are in the church library. There is Benjamin Morris' book, The Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States. You may not agree with everything he says, but there is a ton of information about how our courts, our states, our military, and even our Congress was hugely motivated to apply the Bible. Another excellent book was written by Supreme Court Justice, David J. Brewer. It is titled, The United States: A Christian Nation. That’s pretty significant to have a United States Supreme Court Chief Justice to write a book like that. Closer to our time Donald Lutz and Charles Hyneman wrote a book called American Political Writing During the Founding Era (1760-1805). You would be astonished at what our founding fathers wrote about the Bible's influence on their thinking. Jerry Newcombe wrote The Book that Made America: How the Bible Formed Our Nation. He tries to demonstrate how the Bible was the largest influence in the formation of our nation. David Barton wrote, The Original Intent of Separation of Church & State: What the Founders Meant. And by the way, I didn't nuance my statement about the First Amendment adequately last week. It's only one phrase in that amendment that I took issue with. But even on that one, David Barton claims that the original intent was not to make every false religion equal with Christiainity, but to give liberty among Christian denominations. Whether he is correct or not, the reality is that the courts have taken the literal wording at face value and have used the first amendment to turn our nation secular. But I thought I should bring up that I should have given better nuance to that statement last week. I apologize. I nuanced it better in my sermon notes, but not in my verbal speech. Anyway, another useful book is written by Mark Noll, Nathan Hatch, and George Marsden. It is titled, The Search for Christian America. And there are many similar resources that could get you started on obeying this mandate (and it is a mandate) in verse 32. "Ask now about the former days..." Though early America was not perfect, it did start out with Christian roots.

The Scope of the Inquiry — “From the day God created man” (v. 32)

But, continuing on in verse 32, the purpose of this inquiry was to show Israel that God had given them more blessings and benefits than any other nation since the creation of mankind. He says, "For ask now concerning the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other..." He was saying that Israel’s history should be read against the backdrop of creation and subsequent history. If Israel was to honestly compare their history with that of other nations, they would see that they had unprecedented blessings - blessings that they had taken for granted. And I think Americans can do that as well. When people want America to be like socialistic European countries, we should ask them to consider the unique blessings that God had originally given to America - very unique blessings, that are now idiotically being given up out of ignorance.

The Comparative Framework — “Has anything as great as this ever been heard?” (v. 32)

Next, he wants them to remember their history within a comparative framework. He continues, “whether any great thing like this has happened, or anything like it has been heard.” It's so easy to forget the blessings that we have experienced as a nation and to have envy for something else. But we need to have an apologetical method that encourages people to compare the blessings that early America experienced and show how those blessings were far superior to what other nations are currently experiencing. Of course, as Biblicists we would say that America could have experienced even better than what it has ever experienced. But in terms of apologetics, this is a great methodology. Just as Israel's story and blessings were unprecedented, America's story and blessings are unprecedented. But Christians are sadly ignorant of America's history.

The Uniqueness of Revelation — “A people hearing the voice of God from the midst of the fire” (v. 33)

Next, in verse 33 he shows the uniqueness of the revelation Israel had. Verse 33 says, "Did any people ever hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and live?" Israel grounded its law-giving in Yehowah's divine presence and revelation. Though America as a nation cannot consistently say that, several early American colonies could. Their early heroes wrote histories of God's active dealings with them, and certainly the Bible and Biblical messages have permeated early America's history. God was very gracious to allow the Bible to be available in every hamlet and community in America. Sadly, Americans have forgotten the blessings that came when our nation was loyal to God and His laws and His religion. Last week I commented on the significance of God speaking to them (revelation) out of the fire (His fiery judgments), so I'm not going to repeat the significance of that today. But Moses is calling them to true antithesis with the world's ways of thinking. He wanted Israel to be guided by His revelation (now recorded in the Bible). And the books that I mentioned earlier show that early Americans valued God's Bible. They may have taken it out of context sometimes, but America used to be a nation of the Book.

The Uniqueness of Redemption — “Has any god tried to take for himself a nation…?” (v. 34)

Next, he reminds them of the uniqueness of their redemption. Verse 34 says,

"Or did God ever try to go and take for Himself a nation from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?"

You would think that with such awesome experiences, Israel would not soon forget, but forgetfulness seems to be part of the human condition. There are seven Hebrew words that describe Yehowah's redemptive acts in this verse. And certainly, even if our nation forgets, we as God's people should never stop praising God for His incredible redemption of us. And just as God brought covenant lawsuits against Egypt, God brought His lawsuit against the demons that once held us captive. Praise God! That should be a source of incredible joy.

The point of all of this is that the call to remember is not for the purpose of nostalgia. It has a practical purpose of reminding people of what they have needlessly given up. God wanted Israel to interpret their history as a redemptive history. And in the New Covenant there will be more and more nations that will be able to look back and see God's redemptive history for them. As someone once said, “You can’t know where you’re going if you’re blind to where God has already taken you.” A culture that refuses to acknowledge God’s gracious interventions will not be able to as fully repent of its rebellions.

And as to the providences mentioned in verse 34, I can recommend some additional books that outline the supernatural providences that Americans experienced in the early years. Peter Marshall and David Manuel wrote The Light and the Glory, a book that outlines some pretty remarkable providences that God used to form America. I think many of you have read that book. They start with Christopher Columbus and move up into the early republic. Those stories in many ways parallel the remarkable providences that Israel experienced. Or you can read Mark Beliles and Stephen McDowell's book, America's Providential History. Or the multi-volume curriculum written by Michael Myers and other authors, titled, America in God's Providence. The Foundation for American Christian Education has some similar books. Rod Gregg wrote By the Hand of Providence: How Faith Shaped the American Revolution. Robert Gingrich records the absolutely amazing providences in early America in his book, The Role of Providence in the Founding of America: 99 Important Events that Helped to Shape the United States of America. So according to verses 32-34, the first thing that needs to be recovered is a true historical memory of our nation. That has largely been forgotten in America. Even Christians are not aware of how Christian our nation used to be.

Recover Theological Clarity (v. 35) — No syncretism; no polytheistic multiculturalism.

The second major pillar needed in order to have national renewal can be seen in verse 35, where God calls them to recover theological clarity. He says, "To you it was shown, that you might know that the LORD Himself is God; there is none other besides Him." As we saw two sermons ago, national renewal requires the recovery of the basic truth that true monotheism mandates true monoculturalism. God had manifested Himself to Israel in extraordinary ways in order to show that they needed to confess God as being the exclusive Lord of the nation. As some of our founding fathers in America worded it, "We have no king but Jesus." Actually, look at the quote on page one of your outlines by John Hancock and John Adams. They said, "We recognize no sovereign but God, and no King but Jesus!" They weren't always consistent with that slogan, but they at least said it and they claimed that they believed it.

Divine Revelation Is the Ground of Knowledge — “To you it was shown…”

But unlike some of our founding fathers, Moses makes it clear that a nation must ground its theological knowledge from the Bible alone; not the Bible plus Greek and Roman philosophers; not the Bible plus the Enlightenment authors, John Lock and Montesquieu. He says, "To you it was shown." Moses points to God's revelation as the source of their knowledge. As I explained two weeks ago, epistemology (which is just the theories of how we know that we know, and how to justify that knowledge) must be grounded in the Bible, not in reason or experience.

The Purpose Clause — “That you may know that Yahweh is God”

And Moses insists that this needs to have a purpose of glorifying God, not a selfish purpose. Verse 35 says, "To you it was shown, that you might know that the LORD Himself is God; there is none other besides Him." This is the core thesis of monotheism. America has rejected that for religious pluralism, falsely believing that maximizing the number of religions that we allow in America increases our liberty and shows our tolerance of anything. It shows that we are really kind and hospitable people. But think about it - if you tolerate the gods of Canaan, then you are tolerating child sacrifice - which mean that the children don't get liberty - not the children being slaughtered. If you tolerate the gods of Canaan, then you are tolerating adultery and ritual prostitution - which robs the family of true liberty. If you tolerate the gods of Canaan, you automatically have statism - which robs the citizens of liberty. The point is, freedom of religion automatically robs at least some people of their freedoms. Let me just give you an example from last week. Up in Calgary, Alberta (just north of our border) a pastor was arrested for refusing to apologize for objecting to a Drag Queen story hour for kids at the local library. He wasn't impolite; he didn't harrass. He simply spoke for 90 seconds to the library begging them not to do this since it was harmful to children. That's all he said. Well, apparently that's a crime in Canada, and he was arrested. That's what religious pluralism produces - persecution of Christians who see in black and white. Freedom of religion for all religions does not bring freedom to a nation; it brings bondage. But this passage indicates that the purpose of politics must be to glorify God alone. In the Hebrew, the definite article is in front of God, ha-’Elohim, and it means “the One true God.” Without theological clarity we cannot have political clarity. And I got into this in detail two weeks ago, so I won't repeat myself here.

The Exclusivity Formula — “There is no other besides Him”

But I do want you to notice the exclusivity formula that is repeated- "There is no other besides Him." This leaves absolutely no room for religious pluralism or cultural polytheism. As we saw, the bulk of this chapter can be summarized in three words: monotheism (one God), covenant (one law), and culture (religion externalized). It is astonishing to me that so many Christians naively promote religious pluralism within America. They love the religious liberty clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. That first amendment has some other good things, but that freedom of religion clause (which apparently was originally intended to establish freedom for Christian sects - that's a good thing) has been used to promote every religion. And the way it is written, that’s exactly what it does. But true liberty can only come when we are loyal to the one true God who gives the perfect law of liberty. Here is the logic of this verse: If God alone is God, then: • His law alone is binding, and no human law can bind our consciences. (Wow! Is that not liberating?) • It means that His worship alone is legitimate, and other religious worship must be outlawed - such as Islamic mosques and minarets. We will get later to how God allowed unbelievers to travel into the country - if (and only if) they pledged not to undermine God's law. But hard core Islam would be treated just like the Ammonites and Moabites were. Ammonites and Moabites were not allowed access into Israel without renouncing their false religions and converting. There are some foreigners who are hostiles and should be kept out. • Third, If God alone is God, then His worldview alone is true and authoritative, and we need to not only develop a consistently Biblical worldview, but learn how to maintain it generation after generation. That means that it would be good for you kids to learn how to engage in Presuppositional Apologetics. It's an easy way to refute every false worldview. • Fourth, all of this means that foreign gods represent foreign legal systems. A lot of Christians don't realize it, but foreign gods represent foreign legal systems and automatically bring about a revolution in a country's legal system. As I've already said, every non-Christian religion robs citizens of one or more liberties that Christianity alone provides. That should inform our immigration policies.

In any case, every point in this section must be insisted upon if we are to ever achieve national reform of any lasting significance. This was one of the things that the Colonial pastors were passionate about when they preached on this passage. We don't need bandaids on the cancer; we need major surgery.

Recover Worshipful Reverence (v. 36) — Transcendence restores humility; immanence restores intimacy.

The third major point is outlined in verse 36 - the nation must recover worshipful reverence. "Out of heaven He let you hear His voice, that He might instruct you; on earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words out of the midst of the fire." Let's break this down into five subpoints:

God’s Transcendence — “From heaven He caused you to hear His voice”

First, Christians must regain a sense of God's transcendence. "Out of heaven He let you hear His voice..." God's voice originates from heaven, which stresses that His rule is above creation. He is transcendent. And the Hiphil form of the Hebrew makes it even stronger. It can be translated, "He made you hear," implying divine initiative and authority. Our God is sovereign. And as I mentioned at the beginning of this sermon, Jesus rules over earth from heaven. He is transcendent.

The Pedagogical Purpose — “hear His voice that He might discipline/instruct you”

But (second) God is not just way out there. He is immanent as well, and His voice had a pedagogical purpose. A pedagog is just a teacher, right? So a pedagogical purpose means a teaching purpose. (After last week's sermon someone told me that I really, really needed to define my terms - like a pericope. What on earth is a pericope? Well, it's just a unit of thought that can be composed of one or more paragraphs.) Anyway, this verse goes on to say, "He let you hear His voice, that He might instruct you." The word for instruct can mean “to chasten, train, disciple, instruct.” It's used of the discipleship that a parent gives to his children. God is so close to us that He is like a parent who chastens, trains, disciples, and instructs us. Where God's transcendence humbles us under His Lordship, God's training of us makes us realize that we are special and cared for - like a parent with a child. All of this is designed to make the nation as a whole reverent and worshipful of God. Until politicians begin listening to God more than they listen to the people, they are not going to make headway in God's paradigm for civics. Sadly, most politicians want to be liked by the people; but statesmen want to be pleasing to God.

God’s Immanence — “On earth He let you see His great fire”

God's immanence can also be seen in the next phrase, "on earth He showed you His great fire." God came near to Israel, but not so that they could be buddies. He's still a God of fire and judgment. But He came near so that they could know the reality of His care (and judgment) of the nation. People often act as if God only cares about individuals, and they therefore think that He gives nations a pass. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Revelation from the Midst of the Fire — “And you heard His words out of the midst of the fire”

But he once again emphasizes the importance of depending upon His revelation - not natural law written on the heart and therefore obscured by sin, but the perfect communication of God's inspired and inerrant revelation. He says, "and you heard His words out of the midst of the fire." And Moses then recorded those words in the Bible. This was a covenantal fire designed to purify, guide, and bind Israel to His covenant. That phrase occurs three times in Deuteronomy 4 and three times in Deuteronomy 5. The fire shows the consequences of disobeying the revelation. But that God has given us a Bible is an incredible blessing for nations - a blessing that Christians still sadly neglect in politics. Without the Bible, whatever renewal we might get in America will not be a lasting renewal. Again, each of these steps are critically important.

So verse 36 shows a balance between transcendence and immanence - between His fiery judgment and His caring provision of revelation. Understanding His transcendence shows us where all political authority and law should come from. It produces humility. Understanding His immanence shows relationship, intimacy, safety, protection, and comfort. Both transcendence and immanence are essential if there is to be a renewed covenant life in America and cultural renewal. A culture that loses a sense of God’s transcendence becomes arrogant and lawless. A culture that loses a sense of His immanence becomes cold, mechanical, and joyless. A covenant people must preserve both. I don't know who said it, but someone once said, "This balance — the fear of God and the nearness of God — is the oxygen of cultural renewal."

Recover Covenant Identity (v. 37) — Identity grounded in God’s sovereign love.

The fourth major pillar of national renewal that Moses raises is that we must recover covenant identity. Verse 37 says, "And because He loved your fathers, therefore He chose their descendants after them; and He brought you out of Egypt with His Presence, with His mighty power..."

The Ground of Election — “Because He loved your fathers”

The ground of their election was not how good they were. It came from his unconditional love. There was nothing lovable about Israel when they were in Egypt. They looked like the Egyptians, talked like the Egyptians, thought like the Egyptians, and acted like the Egyptians. It was grace alone that enabled any of them to be loved by God. The Hebrew preposition tahat means "on account of." Moses grounds God's choice of them in God's sovereign love, not human merit. And any thought that our nation deserves God's favor for any other reason is prideful, and God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. But in our prayers we can appeal to God's covenant love for our forefathers in America.

The Continuity of the Covenant — “He chose their descendants after them”

The next subpoint speaks to the continuity of the covenant - "therefore He chose their descendants after them." Covenant election is generational and not just individual, and families are the carriers of that covenant from generation to generation. This is why there can be hope for any nation that was once covenanted with God, or for nations that have a large core of committed Christian families within them. It was because of Abraham (one individual) that God's favor rested on later generations. And Galatians 3:29 says, "And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise." So believers who are united to Christ are Abraham's seed and can claim the promises made to Abraham (including national promises - and Abraham was promised to be a father of many nations). But again, in our prayer life we can appeal to God's promises of covenant succession from generation to generation.

The Instrument of Redemption — “He brought you out of Egypt”

The next subpoint speaks to the instrument of redemption. "and He brought you out of Egypt..." Election (the first part of the verse) leads to redemption (the second part of the verse). But notice here that redemption is not just of our souls. Redemption had historical, political, and national implications. Too many theologians hugely truncate God's redemption - which is an insult to what Christ accomplished. And there is a new heresy that has arisen that truncates redemption even more. It's called Full Preterism. It's a viewpoint that says that all God's eschatological promises have already been fulfilled. Well, not only does that force Full Preterists to deny that redemption will be applied to planet earth and this universe, but they also deny that redemption will be applied to our bodies. They deny that our bodies will get resurrected. But Romans 8:23 says that anyone indwelt with the Holy Spirit looks forward to that redemption. It says, "Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, that is, the redemption of our body." Notice that phrase: "the redemption of our body." The point is that redemption goes far as the curse is found, with death being the last enemy conquered. Has the curse impacted politics and nations? Absolutely, yes! Which means that Redemption is destined to change politics and nations before the last enemy is conquered. So Revelation 22:2 speaks of Christ's redemption bringing healing to the nations. Boy! They desperately need healing, don't they? Revelation 21:24 says, "And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it." Revelation 15:4 says, "Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy. For all nations shall come and worship before You, for Your judgments have been manifested." And there are many other passages which speak of God's redemption flowing to nations. Without redemption, any fixes politicians might make are temporary fixes and will not bring down God's favor and blessing. All blessings flow through Christ.

The Personal Dimension — “With His presence”

But notice too the personal dimension. "He brought you out of Egypt with His Presence..." Now, granted, the Glory Cloud was a unique manifestation of God's presence, but many Scriptures promise God's presence with any individual or group that submits to King Jesus. That's what any nation should covet - to have God's personal presence with them. George Washington spoke of God's supernatural presence with them on a number of occasions. For example, survivors of the 1755 Braddock expedition in the French and Indian War recounted how General George Washington’s coat was pierced by multiple bullets while he remained unharmed, and later testimony describes this as evidence that God Himself had clearly shielded him. I've seen the holes in his jacket of his preserved uniform. It’s remarkable. When you read some of the books that I listed earlier, you will see many testimonies from soldiers, congressmen, and others of the reality of God's supernatural presence with them. They prayed for His presence and valued His presence.

God's personal power - "with His power"

The last subpoint is that God's personal power was at work in Israel as a national entity. "He brought you out of Egypt with His Presence, with His mighty power." Sadly, politicians trust political power more than they trust God's personal power. And they often fear man more than they fear God. But His power is available to protect, guard, and flourish any politician willing to stand up and boldly support God's definitions of justice. This should be an encouragement to politicians to be bold in promoting the abolition of abortion bills in our nation. Yes, they will get a lot of flak, but they will have God's power and presence with them. Our Declaration of Independence speaks of "a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence."

Recover Moral Order (vv. 38–39) — Acknowledging God’s rule over public life.

The next major pillar for national renewal calls us to recover our moral order by acknowledging God's rule over public life. He is the one that nations are accountable to. Verses 38-39 say, "driving out from before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in, to give you their land as an inheritance, as it is this day. Therefore know this day, and consider it in your heart, that the LORD Himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other." This calls them to acknowledge God's rule over their public life.

God Determines the Rise and Fall of Nations — “Driving out nations greater and mightier than you” (v. 38)

The first clause in verse 38 shows that God is the one who determines the rise and fall of any nation - "driving out from before you nations greater and mightier than you." We saw in the last two sermons why God drove the Canaanite nations out from before Israel. Their ethics were the diametric opposite of God's law. Where God's law is against adultery, adultery was built right into pagan worship, with prostitutes being an essential part of every pagan shrine. Where God's law abominates abortion, abortion was a civil right in Canaan, along with sacrifice of older children. So God disinherited them. And God can disinherit America and make another nation take over our nation. I pray that this will not be the case, but the point of that clause is that God's sovereignty includes the geopolitical realm. It was clearly God's hand that caused Americans to triumph over the vastly superior forces of the British. And the Colonial pastors who preached on this passage pointed to those remarkable parallels.

God’s Purpose in Political Providence — “To bring you in and give you their land”

The next subpoint shows that God's purpose in political providence includes blessing those who are faithful to the covenant with land. It says, "to give you their land as an inheritance, as it is this day." Land (even national land) is important to God. Land is the covenant arena in which God's law is intended to be lived out publicly. Eventually God will redeem the whole planet earth. But in the meantime, He expects His covenant people to progressively take godly dominion of the land. Redemption must always lead to righteous dominion.

The Call to internalize the truth — “Therefore know this day, and consider it in your heart,” (v. 39)

The next subpoint says that God's call is not only extensive outwardly, but is a call to internalize it into the inner recesses of the heart. "Therefore know this day, and consider it in your heart..." Literally it is to "Cause it to return to your heart." It's so easy for us to merely have an externalized Christianity - where we kind of put on a show of listening to God and worshipping Him. But truth must penetrate the heart if it is ever to reshape culture. In fact, many books have defined culture as the internally held religion externalized into everything that we do.

The Confession of Universal Dominion — “that the LORD Himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath”

The next subpoint is that we must confess His universal dominion. Verse 39 goes on to say, "that the LORD Himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath." In effect, this was Moses' version of the Lord's prayer, which says, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." God rules over the entire cosmos, not just the church. And to restrict God's reign and to say that it has no place in American politics is to insult God. And sadly, Christians regularly insult God by excluding Him from politics. But there can be no secular/sacred divide in God's worldview. His dominion is a universal dominion.

The Exclusivity Imperative — “There is no other”

And the last phrase in verse 39 once again shows the imperative of exclusivity - rejecting the influence of any other god in our politics. It says, "that the LORD Himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other." We must take this seriously in our immigration policies. We will see later in Deuteronomy that any foreign sojourners who wanted to stay in the nation for a while had to make a public pledge to abide by God's law. They didn't have to be converted to be able to trade and sojourn in the land, but they could not subvert God's law. That should be so obvious. To do otherwise is to automatically undermine the monoculturalism of the nation. There should be no Muslim mosques or Hindu temples or Hindu statues in our nation.

The point is that theology must be applied to public life, and not just to our private devotions - as important as private devotions is. What is the Gospel according to Acts 10:36? Is it just Jesus as Lord and Savior or our souls? No. The good news goes way beyond that. Acts 10:36 says, "preaching peace through Jesus Christ — He is Lord of all." Jesus is Lord of all. That is an essential part of the Gospel. This grounds all civics in God alone. Public servants must acknowledge that Jesus is Lord and Savior.

Recover Generational Obedience (v. 40) — Obedience leads to multi-generational blessing.

The final major point of instruction in God's pathway to national renewal is to recover generational obedience. It's not enough for the forefathers to have submitted to God; each subsequent generation must do so. Verse 40 says, "You shall therefore keep His statutes and His commandments which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which the LORD your God is giving you for all time.”" Let's look at each phrase.

The Final Imperative — “Keep His statutes and commandments”

God's final imperative to this nation was, "You shall therefore keep His statutes and His commandments which I command you today." A moral order is impossible without concrete keeping of God's laws. Stephen Wolfe advocates for fuzzy natural law and says that this natural law is different from the case laws God will give later in this book. Instead, Stephen Wolfe wants to get his laws from Greece and Rome. But God does not contradict Himself, writing one thing on the heart and then writing something quite different in His objective revelation. As Cornelius Van Til points out in his monograph on natural law, that is to make a moral dualism in God Himself - where God internally has two contradictory moral standards. Well, that view of natural law portrays a false God, not the God of the Bible. Cornelius Van Til said, "We make Scripture the standard of our thinking, and not our thinking the standard of Scripture." And I say, "Amen!"

The Purpose Clause — “That it may go well with you”

And what is the purpose of this keeping of the law as a nation? It is, "that it may go well with you." God's law was designed to bring societal flourishing on every level - not just the political level, but in education, business, ecology, economics - you name it. God's law was not designed to be a burden to keep us down. It is repeatedly called the source of our liberty and flourishing. It is the formula for covenant blessing. And our founding fathers recognized this. If you read the books that I referenced earlier, you will see hundreds of examples from the Colonial period through the first hundred years of our Republic. Noah Webster (sometimes called the Schoolmaster of America) said,

"The Bible was America's basic text book in all fields. God's Word, contained in the Bible, has furnished all necessary rules to direct our conduct."

And I say, "Amen!" Noah Webster also said,

"Every civil government is based upon some religion or philosophy of life. Education in a nation will propagate the religion of that nation. In America, the foundational religion was Christianity. And it was sown in the hearts of Americans through the home and private and public schools for centuries. Our liberty, growth, and prosperity was the result of a Biblical philosophy of life. Our continued freedom and success is dependent on our educating the youth of America in the principles of Christianity."

How pervasive was that kind of thinking? Was it just the odd person here and there who made statements like that? Apparently, it was a pretty pervasive opinion. Daniel Dreisbach, who is Professor of Justice, Law & Criminology at American University, wrote a book called, Reading the Bible with the Founding Fathers. In that book he shows that even though America was indeed very much influenced by British constitutionalism and common law (which was a mixture of the Bible and other things), and even though some of them were influenced by Enlightenment thinkers like John Lock and Montesquieu, and by the classical republicanism of Cicero and others, he claims that the dominant influence on their thinking was the Bible. He went through thousands of personal letters from our founding era, and political pamphlets, civil discussions and debates, and books written by the founding fathers of America. And he demonstrates rather convincingly that by far the heaviest influence on all of our founders (even the ones who weren't theologically orthodox - like Adams) was the Bible. He claims that more than one third of the quotes made by our founding fathers were taken from the Bible - with a huge proportion coming from Deuteronomy. Robert Charles Winthrop, a speaker of the US House of Representatives back then, said, "Men, in a word, must necessarily be controlled either by a power within them or by a power without them; either by the Word of God or by the strong arm of man; either by the Bible or by the bayonet."⁴ James McHenry (one of the signers of the Constitution) said,

"[P]ublic utility pleads most forcibly for the general distribution of the Holy Scriptures. The doctrine they preach, the obligations they impose, the punishment they threaten, the rewards they promise, the stamp and image of divinity they bear, which produces a conviction of their truths, can alone secure to society, order and peace, and to our courts of justice and constitutions of government, purity, stability and usefulness. In vain, without the Bible, we increase penal laws and draw entrenchments around our institutions. Bibles are strong entrenchments. Where they abound, men cannot pursue wicked courses, and at the same time enjoy quiet conscience."

Benjamin Rush, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, insisted that the nation would only survive as it maintained allegiance to the Bible, and to the degree that we deviated from the Bible, we would lose our liberties.⁵ So, just as Moses encouraged this next generation to remember their national heritage, I would encourage us to not forget the way our nation stood in covenant with God - however imperfectly. And their national blessings flowed from loyalty to the Bible.

The Generational Expansion — “And with your children after you”

This verse goes on to show how God's law isn't just intended to bring occasional blessing to individuals atomistically. It was designed to have compounded blessings generation after generation. The next phrase says, "and with your children after you." Judgments and blessings echo throughout the generations. Just as disobedience brings multi-generational curses in Exodus 20:5-6 (unless, of course, those curses are self-consciously broken off), obedience extends blessings through time according to this phrase - it extends them multi-generationally. In contrast, when the state acts like it is God, the state promises to bring blessing, prosperity, and riches - but in reality it does the opposite. It robs, impoverishes, and enslaves. Whatever you think of Henry Ford, I really like his incisive rejection of socialism. He said, "Any man who thinks he can be happy and prosperous by letting the government take care of him better take a closer look at the American Indian." His point is that our care of the American Indian has led to their impoverishment, not their blessing. No. Generational expansion of blessings can only come as a nation submits to King Jesus.

The Geographical Stability — “That you may prolong your days on the land”

But verse 40 goes further and shows that it brings geographical stability - "and that you may prolong your days in the land." Enduring social orders that have prosperity and blessing are not accidents of history. They are covenant blessings that God brings upon the land itself when a nation is faithful to God. But Deuteronomy 11:8-9 is quite clear that it can only come through national obedience. Can you see why we can't be satisfied with promoting conservatism in politics? We must go back to what is on our money - "in God we trust" and what is in our national motto - "one nation under God." That is a key to us having geographical stability.

God’s Covenant Commitment — “Which Yahweh your God is giving you for all time”

And the last clause shows that when there is a monocultural devotion and faithfulness to God, God will commit Himself to longterm blessing - "which the LORD your God is giving you for all time." I love those last three words - for all time. There can be longterm blessing. Why was Israel cast out of the land twice? Because they ignored the words of Moses in these first forty verses. If we want national renewal, we must have longterm goals that think beyond our generation - that think to (what this words it) "for all time" or literally, "all the days." That phrase shows that there is enduring validity to all of these covenant principles for all time. That's why God's promise to Abraham was not that he would just be a father to Israel - his own personal descendants. Genesis 17:4 says, "My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations." And that promise is repeated in the next verse. Paul quotes that and applies it to New Covenant times in Romans 4:17-18. The Abrahamic covenant will eventually bring blessing to every nation.

Now, I will admit that I have given you a ton of information this morning and in the last two sermons. But if you want to find the books that I have mentioned, and want to be reminded of some of the details in this sermon, a print copy of this sermon will go up online on Monday. But hopefully even today the outline itself has been extensive enough that this can generate more discussion after the service and instill in you a desire to make plans for longterm dominion on behalf of King Jesus. A culture is only as good as its God, its worldview, and its longterm vision. When churches in our nation tolerate “many truths” and “many lifestyles” (as they have been doing in recent years) they reject the Lord’s oneness. Keep the three words that summarize this long pericope (or unit of thought) in mind - true monotheism (one God); true covenant (the law of God in Scripture), and true culture (the religion of the Bible externalized). And may He receive all the glory. Amen.