Psalm 33:12-22 - Dependence Day

Text: Psalm 33:12-22
 
Sermon in a Sentence: The Lord blesses and defends nations that serve Him.

1- The Lord blesses nations which serve Him (33:12).
 
2- The Lord is omniscient concerning all nations (33:13-15). This is the doctrine of providence. 
 
3- The Lord is the true defense of our nation (33:16-19). 
 
      a. Unwise to trust in the military/humans alone (33:16-17) 

      b. Hope and respect for the Lord is the secret of national security (33:18-19)
 
4- The Lord’s unfailing love rests on nations which trust Him (33:20-22)


John Adams (Signer of Declaration of Independence and 2nd President of the United States): [I]t is religion and morality alone which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand. The only foundation of a free constitution is pure virtue.[1]

Noah Webster (Founding Educator): The most perfect maxims and examples for regulating your social conduct and domestic economy, as well as the best rules of morality and religion, are to be found in the Bible. . . . The moral principles and precepts found in the scriptures ought to form the basis of all our civil constitutions and laws. These principles and precepts have truth, immutable truth, for their foundation. . . . All the evils which men suffer from vice, crime, ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery and war, proceed from their despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible. . . . For instruction then in social, religious and civil duties resort to the scriptures for the best precepts.[2]

Robert Treat Paine (Signer of the Declaration of Independence): I desire to bless and praise the name of God most high for appointing me my birth in a land of Gospel Light where the glorious tidings of a Savior and of pardon and salvation through Him have been continually sounding in mine ears.[3]

John Witherspoon (Signer of the Declaration of Independence): I entreat you in the most earnest manner to believe in Jesus Christ, for there is no salvation in any other [Acts 4:12]. . . . [I]f you are not reconciled to God through Jesus Christ, if you are not clothed with the spotless robe of His righteousness, you must forever perish.[4]

Footnotes
[1] John Adams, The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States, Charles Francis Adams, editor (Boston: Little, Brown, 1854), Vol. IX, p. 401, to Zabdiel Adams on June 21, 1776.
[2] Noah Webster, History of the United States, "Advice to the Young" (New Haven: Durrie & Peck, 1832), pp. 338-340, par. 51, 53, 56.
[3] Robert Treat Paine, The Papers of Robert Treat Paine, Stephen Riley and Edward Hanson, editors (Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1992), Vol. I, p. 48, March/April, 1749.
[4] John Witherspoon, The Works of John Witherspoon (Edinburgh: J. Ogle, 1815), Vol. V, pp. 276, 278, "The Absolute Necessity of Salvation Through Christ," January 2, 1758.