2018 LUKE

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1 AMERICA'S CHRISTIAN HERITAGE 4/1/2018 LUKE 1:10-17

Just as God raised up John the Baptist to proclaim the coming Messiah to Israel, America, too, was raised up to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world. I. THE GOOD AND THE BAD OF OUR HERITAGE A. In 1620 the Pilgrims generated the Mayflower Compact, the first piece of real legislation in the new world. 1. In time the world began to change. 2. Remote colonies developed from sprawling settlements into bustling cities. 3. Roadways changed from dirt paths to stone streets for horse-drawn carriages. B. In time spiritual fervor also began to wane in the wrong direction. 1. The people became complacent and apathetic. 2. The Pilgrims and Puritans came to America to create a Biblically centered society but in time were moving in the wrong direction. 3. The new Zion they were building began to erode. 4. By the early 18th century true Christian living had grown cold. 5. People in the colonies were turning away from God to drunkenness and debauchery. 6. They began to collect dust on their Bibles. 7. Disputes and quarrels began to permeate the colonies.

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8. As today money, work and social standing took precedence in their lives. 9. People became complacent in their sin. 10. Some perceived the gospel as inconvenient. 11. Many were outright rejecting the gospel. II. THE CHURCH HAD LOST ITS WAY A. The church looked to other means to bolster its numbers. 1. Preachers were doing anything to keep people in their pews. 2. "Half way covenants" became popular; a. These covenants were akin to papal indulgences of old. b. People could literally pay to maintain their social standing. 3. Church had become more or less a social club. B. Many of the colonists were unchurched. 1. On the frontier, people simply had no minister to preach to them. 2. The spiritual light of the Pilgrims and Puritans was fading. 3. At the signing of the Declaration of Independence 150 years separated them from the Mayflower compact. 4. The old were was being replaced with powerless religion. III. GOD USED THE CHURCH TO HELP THE COLONISTS FIND THEIR WAY BACK A. Reverend Samuel Willard, a Massachusetts born minister said in 1700; "It hath been a frequent observation that if one generation begins to decline the next that followeth it usually grows worse and so on til God poureth out His Spirit again upon them." B. God raised up a man of God named John Winthrop.

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1. He was a man with a deep committed relationship with the Lord. 2. In passage to America he wrote a sermon entitled, "A Model of Christian Charity." 3. He spoke of his desire to build a faithful community of believers in the New World to be as a "city upon a hill." 4. Cotton Mather described Winthrop as the "American Nehemiah." C. Jonathan Edwards was used of God to ignite the deadness of the church. 1. He was called to the Congregational church in Northampton Massachusetts. 2. He immediately saw the town's spirituality on life support. 3. He found the young people of his town; a. Addicted to sinful pleasures. b. Frequenting the taverns. c. Indulging in lewd practices. 4. Edwards said; "Our people do not so much need to have their heads stored with knowledge as to have their hearts touched." 5. Edwards message gave a graphic description of the torments of hell and the delights of heaven. a. Edwards didn't sugarcoat the Scriptures. b. He was authentic regarding the dangers of sin and the bondage it brings. 6. In time it became uncommon to see anyone walking the streets on Sunday when Edwards was preaching. a. Hard hearts turned soft. b. Narrow minds opened to the love of God

4 c. Cold hearts turned warm. 7. Whenever and wherever Edwards preached; a. Spectators would often interrupt his preaching concerned about their never dying souls. b. People hearing him appealed for salvation as the Holy Spirit convicted them. 8. In his writings Edwards said; "There were remarkable tokens of God's presence in almost every house. It was a time of joy in families on the account of salvations being brought unto them, parents rejoicing over their children as new born, and husbands over their wives, and wives over their husbands. The congregation was alive in God's service...Some weeping with sorrow and distress, others with joy and love, others with pity and concern for their neighbors. There were many instances of persons that came from abroad, on visits or on business, who partook of that shower of divine blessing that God rained down here and went home rejoicing. Till at length the same work began to appear and prevail in several other towns in the country...In every place, God brought His saving blessings with Him, and His word, attended with Spirit...Returned not void." 9. The true greatness of Edwards can be seen in the following statement; "I wish to lie low before God, as in the dust; that I might be nothing, and that God might be all, that I might become as a little child." 10. George Whitefield whom God would mightily use in bringing about the first spiritual awakening read the writings of Edwards and was greatly stirred by doing so. 11. Edwards left a legacy beyond comprehension; a. In Yale's online collection of Edwards materials there are 73 volumes. b. This is just the tip of the iceberg of all that Edwards wrote.