One Nation Out from Under God — E.A. Johnston

America’s Rejection of God’s Authority

America used to be one nation under God. It was a nation under the authority of God and recognized the authority of the Almighty. My message today, friends, is entitled One Nation Out From Under God because that's what this nation has become, a country that has turned her back on the God of the Bible.

Back in the 18th century in America, in colonial times, there was a reverence for God in the land. Even men like Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, who would not consider themselves Christians, still possessed a respect and acknowledged the God of creation.

It was not uncommon for a city leader to call a day of fasting and prayer and repentance because of certain judgments of God in the land like earthquakes and hurricanes. The average person in America back then, at the very least, possessed a certain degree of fear of the living God, whether that person was a Christian or not.

God was still in the land back then. God was still at the family altar. God was still held in great awe and fear. But today, we've lost the fear of God in America and the shame of sin. Very little shocks us in society today because we've been desensitized towards sin by living in the very culture that promotes it.

A great wickedness, which a Christian would have publicly denounced years ago, is now accepted and even indulged in. When a nation commits national sins against a holy God and allows such acts of anarchy to exist without attempting to lessen them or eliminate them, then that nation stands under a great judgment from God.

The Great Awakening and the Church’s Loss of Power

Listen to this, friends. Back in the 18th century in New England, God displayed His manifest presence through the Great Awakening and Revival, whereby untold thousands were converted and swept into the kingdom of God under men like Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield and other preachers like Thurstite.

There was no fear of man back then or being politically correct back then. Rather, the people of God feared God and submitted to Him. Today, the people of God fear man and submit to the pagan culture of society.

Is it no wonder there is no revival today? Is it no wonder there is such powerless preaching today? Is it no wonder the church has become just like the world? In the book of Proverbs, it states where there is no vision, the people perish.

It is clear that because of our national sins, we as a nation have grieved the presence of God from us and that there's been no national revival in America since the 19th century. Corporately as a church, we have grieved Him away from our sanctuaries and replaced Him with methodologies and programs and entertainment.

And personally, we have lost the presence of God in our preaching and prayer life because we maintain such a low view of Him and consequently allow sin in our lives that should never be there. Is it no wonder that the world today sees the church in the West as a great impotent hypocrisy?

Jonah’s Call to Nineveh

But listen, can judgment from God be halted if a nation turns to Him? I believe it can, friends. Look at the biblical example of this very thing. Look at the book of Jonah. You can turn in your Bibles there now.

Many are familiar with the story of the runaway prophet Jonah. He disobeyed God by not going to Nineveh to proclaim the message from God, which was, arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before me.

But instead of obeying God's command, we see that Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord and went down to Joppa. Jonah realizes his error through the judgment and mercy of God by being swallowed by a great fish and then delivered from it.

He finally preaches the God-intended message to the people of Nineveh. The message was, yet 40 days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. That gripped that whole city with fear. It's critically important to observe how those pagan people of that great city responded to the cry of the prophet.

They could have ridiculed him and thrown him out of town, which would have resulted in God destroying them and their city. Or they could have simply ignored him as Israel ignored the many prophets sent by God to her.

Rather, the people of Nineveh listened. They listened to the cry of Jonah about, yet 40 days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. The message disturbed them. It shook them to their core. We see from the following passage the response to the preaching of Jonah.

Nineveh’s Repentance and God’s Mercy

So the people of Nineveh believed God and proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest of them even to the least of them. For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth and satin ashes.

And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed nor drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily unto God, yea, let them turn everyone from his evil way and from the violence that is in their hands.

Who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not? And God saw their works that they turned from their evil way, and God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them, and he did it not.

Three Responses That Can Restrain Judgment

Listen, friends, there's three things that the people of Nineveh did. And I believe if the people in America today did the same, God would stay at the hand of judgment on this land and even send blessings back to it in the form of revival.

Look at the three things the people of Nineveh did in response to the preaching of Jonah. Number one, they believed God. Number two, they humiliated and humbled themselves before God. And number three, they cried unto God and turned in repentance from their evil way.

These actions, both inward and outward, by the people of Nineveh moved the heart of God, and he relented from bringing evil upon them. He spared the city because of their seeking Him in national repentance.

Nineveh’s Later Destruction

God's wrath was restrained. But notice this, the generation that repented and turned to God died off, and the next generation did wickedly in the sight of God and was ultimately destroyed. A hundred years passed since the preaching of Jonah, and Nineveh fell into grievous sin which mocked the mercy of God that He had given them in grace before.

And in the book of Nahum, we read that His fury is poured out like fire. The point is that a country or nation or city that is under the judgment of God can indeed stop His judgment by national and corporate repentance.

America Under Chastisement

Listen, friends, America is under the chastising hand of God today for her wicked ways and will remain under that condition until contrite hearts turn to God in repentance throughout this once great land.

The 1798 Call to Fasting and Prayer

Listen to what happened in America back in 1798. We had a president who was humbled before God and led the nation in a day of fasting and prayer and humiliation. Listen to this. I'm taking this from a newspaper published in Philadelphia on May 9, 1798.

It says,. A discourse delivered in the First Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia on Wednesday, May 9, 1798 recommended by the President of the United States to be observed as a day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer throughout the United States of America.

A Call for National Repentance

Oh, friends, what would happen to this country today if the leaders of this nation humbled themselves and called the nation to fast in prayer and seek the God of the Bible once again? How desperately this nation needs to repent before the Lord to receive the blessings of God in the form of plentiful effusions of divine grace God has graciously bestowed upon this once great land revival in times past.

But who in this nation will lead this nation back to God? Will the church humble herself right now and turn back to the God of the Bible and do so like the people of Nineveh did and sit in sackcloth and ashes so that the Lord will relent of the great judgment He's about to bring upon us?

Who will turn from their wicked ways to seek the Lord of glory in our day? I pray that America will humble themselves and turn back to God again before it's too late.