Sermons from a President

I could call this lesson "Sermons From the President." I happen to believe that the President is one of the greatest preachers of our generation. Or I could title this lesson "A Great Example For the Children." A lot of people are complaining about the example being set for our children in the latest national soap opera. But as for me, I believe that we have before us simply one of the very best examples to which we ought to point our children. Stay with me and I will explain to you why.

In the Bible God repeatedly uses prominent politicians as object lessons for his people. Huge chunks of the Old Testament narratives and significant portions of the New Testament narratives are stories of prominent politicians who illustrate some truth that God wants to teach us regarding the blessings of godliness and the curse of sin. See 1 Kings 16:29-34; 21:25,26. So I am in very good company when I point to lessons God may be trying to teach us from the powers that be in our own age. In our current political scandals God is surely confirming for us many of the truths he has been saying to humanity for centuries. What tremendous sermons are being spoken and what great examples are before us to which we ought to point our children. Sermon number:

1. Adultery is just as wrong and harmful as it has ever been. One of the ten commandments is "Thou shall not commit adultery." Fornication (sex between individuals neither of whom is married) is bad enough. But adultery is apparently even worse because it involves the breaking of a commitment. In the OT fornicators were not stoned but adulterers were! Adultery will burn you! There is a reason why Solomon wrote so much to his son warning him about adultery. Read Proverbs 6:23-29, 32-33, 9:13-18. If you ever doubted the awful and sure consequences of adultery, I would direct your attention to one man who got caught and whose adultery is graphically recorded this morning in every newspaper in the country and throughout the world.

2. Honesty is still the best policy. Liars eventually get caught in their own web of deceit - even if they are the most powerful men in the world! We are being told by the liberal media that everyone does it and all men are liars and that a little bit of lying about the right subjects is no big deal. A recent poll says that cheating is common among a majority of our smartest teens. What's the point here? Does this make it OK? Does this mean there are no consequences to lying? I remind you what God says about it. Proverbs 19:1, 5, 9. Revelation 21:8.

3. Truth eventually comes to light. This is because God is a God of truth. He specializes in revealing truth. In contrast, Satan is called a liar and the Father of Lies. Now who do you think is going to win the war? Satan may win a few battles, but God is going to win the war. This is why that truth eventually comes to light. Truth is on the winning side because God is on the side of truth, not deception. Hebrews 4:13.

4. A man reaps what he sows. Proverbs 22:8; Hosea 8:7; Galatians 6:7-8. If you sow wild oats, you're not going to reap apples or potatoes! There will be consequences to pay - even if you change and even if God forgives you, there will be consequences to pay. Defy God and prepare to pay! Payday comes someday! The consequences may be a reputation ruined, a family destroyed, health broken, finances squandered, opportunities lost... Now we have been living in a culture that lives as if there is no such thing as judgment day, that you can live in sin and get away with it. Make no mistake about it, especially you young people. Sow the wild oats and you're gonna pay. It may be in ten, twenty, thirty, forty or fifty years, but you will pay! We have a good example of that in the nation's eye right now. The wages of sin are very expensive. Sin exacts a terrible price. If you want evidence of that, look at the hell one man has been going through for the last seven months. I feel sorry for him. Sin can get to be a very expensive proposition!

5. The breakdown of the family is having disastrous consequences! When a boy grows up in a home with a father addicted to alcohol, a mother addicted to gambling, a brother addicted to cocaine, it doesn't surprise me that this little boy would grow up to be addicted to sex! Sen. Robert Byrd said that the President had sown the wind and was reaping the whirlwind. I would add that our culture and country as a whole has for a generation been defiantly sowing the wind and now we are reaping the whirlwind!

6. What you do in private matters! This is because God is watching and this is because you have to live with your conscience and this is because what you do in private has a way of eventually becoming public. Read Hebrews 4:13; 1 Cor. 4:5. Someone has said that character is what you do when no one is looking! Character is best revealed precisely by what a person does do in private!

7. And because what a person does in private matters, what a person does sexually matters. Modern liberalism tells us that sex has no moral dimension and that what you do is just a matter of personal preference or preferred lifestyle. Our culture and elitists have been boldly preaching now for a generation tolerance of whatever sexual practices in which people want to engage, that all sexual practices are morally equal. Exactly the opposite is true! How we express ourselves sexually is a reflection of our deepest values. Do we make others merely the objects and playthings of our desires, to be used for our own pleasure and then to cast away? Do we keep commitments and can a spouse depend on us to keep our word? When we vow before God and man to be faithful to our spouse, what does the betrayal of that vow say about our character? Can you have much trust otherwise in a person with whom you would not trust with your own daughter? How we behave sexually definitely matters!

8. God punishes sin with sin. Romans 1:18-32. Our country got what we voted for - twice. We made it clear to God what we wanted and he gave us what we wanted. The Bible teaches that if we want sin, God will give us sin as a sort of punishment for sin. It is as if God says, "If you want sin, if you want a society filled with sin, I will give you exactly what you want. Go ahead! Wallow around in the pigpen of sin as long as you please. I will show you just what sin will do to you and to your culture. And you will get just what you asked for." The Bible tells us this is how God deals with people and with nations. He has given us what we wanted. He has punished us with our own sin. Our leaders are a reflection of the country. God is telling us, "Look in the mirror. Do you like what you see?" It is a picture of who you are!

What sermons are being preached. What an example for our children - not to follow. Great sermons. A great example.