Gateway Church's Podcast
Celebrate Liberty
A Gateway Sermon
It is good to be back with you again and this is Fourth of July weekend and this is another world's record that we set tomorrow, 229 years under the same piece of paper, no nation's ever done that. There's 182 nations in the world right now, 182 nations in the UN, we are the only nation that does not have a revolution every 20 or 30 or 50 years and that's a blessing we often take for granted. So this is a time of celebration, it's been a time of celebration since the very beginning and you know it used to be back in the old days, we even celebrated the Fourth of July with sermons and this is a sermon from 211 years ago, it's from 1794 but we had sermons on the Fourth of July. Now that seems to be an appropriate way to celebrate it at least then but today as Pastor Brady said we have so much separation in church and state stuff that it's kind of told us that well you know governments are secular institution and that's why it's always remained as well as it has is because it's been secular and you religious people really don't need to be involved in it and we don't need to see your 10 commandments out and you know this kind of stuff that goes on all the time. So within that framework is that the intent, is that what was designed? I mean Fourth of July, should that have been celebrated religiously with sermons? If you go back to the original 56 guys who signed that declaration, I find it striking that John Adams and John Adams is one of the guys who literally drafted the declaration, John Adams on the day that they approved the declaration independence, July the 4th he wrote his wife Abigail two letters. Now Abigail was in Boston, that was their home, he was in Philadelphia but he faithfully corresponded with Abigail throughout eight years of the American Revolution telling her what was happening. It's a great set of letters, it's very touching, you really see just love and family and appreciation these guys have the sacrifices they made but on the day that they approved the declaration he wrote her two letters. The first letter was short, sweet, it was concise, he said Abigail, we have done it. We've separated from Great Britain, we're now a free independent nation. The second letter was later in the day and it was a lot longer, it was a lot more pensive and thoughtful. He said Abigail, I've been thinking about what we've done today. He said I think about what we've done today, he said how will future generations see what we've done. Now that's pretty wise, I mean not many of us think about what we do in a day and say what will future generations think about what I've just done. But he actually did that on that day and he decided that probably future generations like us would want to celebrate the Fourth of July. As he told Abigail, he says, I have to believe that this day the Fourth of July will be celebrated by seceding generations as the Great Anniversary Festival. Future generations probably going to celebrate what we've done today. And then he started thinking, is that the right thing to do? Should we celebrate what we've done today? And he decided that yeah that's probably the right thing to do. As he said, he said this day ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance. We ought to celebrate it but look how he said we should celebrate it. We should celebrate it with solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. Now that was the intent for the Fourth of July. That it be a day of celebration but it be a day of celebration with solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. That is so foreign from the minds of most Americans today. You know the concept in the world of a Fourth of July is fireworks and a six pack and at the lake and that's not necessarily what they intended at all. It was a day of deliverance. And it used to be that way. And this man is John Quincy Adams, he's another founding father. He was a president of the United States, he was 17 years in the House of Representatives, he was a foreign diplomat, just he has a long, long history of service to America. And by the way, you remember the famous Massachusetts Minutemen, Lexington Concorde? John Quincy Adams when he was only eight years old had his musket out there with Massachusetts Minutemen fighting off the British. So at the age of eight he was already fighting for his country. And by the way, one of the untold stories up there with the Minutemen is the fact that even though very few individuals were killed that day and shot at Lexington and that original battle shot her around the world, lying on the ground there, you have both black and white patriots. One of the stories of the American Revolution we just don't deal with today is the fact that black and white fought side by side in the American Revolution, we didn't have segregated unions back then. We no longer talk about the fact that the hero of the Battle of Bunker Hill was a black patriot, Peter Salem, the hero of the Battle of Groton Heights is a black patriot, Jordan Freeman, the hero of the Battle of Yorktown was a black patriot, James Armistice. We just don't deal with that part of our history anymore, but that's part of our history. But back to John Quincy Adams, John Quincy Adams when he was, and by the way, he's one of only two founding fathers who lived long enough to have a picture made of him. This is the picture that was made of him when he was 71 years old, but John Quincy Adams at this point in his life is a member of the House of Representatives. He's already been president and now he's sitting in the House of Representatives. On July the 4th of 1837, he gave this speech. We own 70,000 documents from before 1812, and this is one of the originals, and in this speech that he gave, we're just about to enter our 62nd year. We're doing 229 years tomorrow, but he was about to enter the 62nd year since the 4th of July, and he gives us public speech. In this operation, he starts it with this question. He says, "Why is it, friends and fellow citizens, that we are here assembled? Why is it that entering on the 62nd year of our national existence, you've asked me, a citizen from a former age, to address you?" And he says, "All right, here we are in the 4th of July, we've got this big crowd. How come you want me to speak to you?" And he answers it. He says, "Because I'm old enough to remember what went on back there. I saw it with my eyes and you're wanting an eyewitness to tell you about it, and that's why you asked me." And then he asks the second question. He says, "Why is it that next to the birthday of the Savior of the world," that's Christmas. "Why is it that next to the birthday of the Savior of the world that our most joyous and our most venerated festival occurs on this day? Why is it that next to Christmas, our next biggest holiday in America, is 4th of July? Why are those our top two holidays?" Listen to his answer. He says, "Is it not? Because in the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation, 4th of July, is indecolubally linked with the birthday of the Savior, Christmas. It forms the Fourth of July forms the leading event and the progress of the gospel dispensation. Is it not that the declaration of independence first organized the social compact on the foundation of the redeemer submission on earth, that it laid the cornerstone of human government on the first precepts of Christianity, and only went for the next 61 pages. Well, the reason those two holidays are our top two holidays in America is we essentially celebrate the same thing. On Christmas, we celebrate what Jesus Christ did for the world through His birth. On the 4th of July, we celebrate what Jesus Christ did for America through the declaration of independence. Now, we don't think of the 4th of July as one of our top two religious holidays, but it used to be that way. You see, what we get today is a steady diet of a different kind of information. As a matter of fact, if you want to Google and do some searching on the internet tomorrow, you'll find typical editorials that always come out on the 4th of July over year. I collect these things, talking about how that America was founded as a secular nation. Well, you've got editorials like this one. The authors of the declaration were enemies of Christ. That's the kind of thing they'll be running in the papers tomorrow. Here's another one that runs nationally. The founding fathers were not Christians. Big emphasis on it. And so, what we're told is these guys were secular, and that's what's made us special, and we don't need these religious principles, and this is not a religious day, and we don't need religious celebrations. But you see, they only get away with that because we really don't know who these guys are anymore. I mean, we look up there and we can recognize two or three of those guys, but the chances that we would know that that man is John Dickinson, or the chances that we would even know what John Dickinson, who, one of the guys who wrote the declaration, the chances that we would even know what he said are pretty slim. Let me show you what John Dickinson is. By the way, the founding fathers were prolific writers. They all have volumes of writings, and John Dickinson said this. He says, "Rendering thanks to my Creator, to him I resign myself, humlic and fighting in his goodness and in his mercy through Jesus Christ for the events of eternity." It doesn't sound like an enemy of Christ, and it just doesn't quite fit that, nor does this man. This is Robert Treit-Paine. Robert Treit-Paine was a minister of the gospel, one of the many ministers of the gospel who signed the Declaration of Independence. He was even a chaplain in the military during the American Revolution. Look at his declaration, "Robert Treit-Paine says, 'I express my adoration of the supreme being and full belief in his forgiving mercy revealed to the world through Jesus Christ, through whom I hope for never-ending happiness in a future state.'" That's a very evangelical declaration. You also have this man, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, the final surviving sign of the Declaration of Independence. The last of the fifty-six to die, he says, "On the mercy of my redeemer, I rely for salvation and on his merits, not on any works that I've done and obedience to his precepts." That's Ephesians 2, 8, and 9. By grace are you saved through faith and not of works lest any man should boast, a very evangelical declaration. And then you have Sam Adams, the father of the American Revolution. Look at his declaration. He says, "I rely upon the merits of Jesus Christ for pardon of all my sins." These are very evangelical, but see, we don't know these guys today. We don't know who John Dickinson is, we don't know who Robert Treit-Paine or Charles Carroll is. Here's another one. This man is the Reverend Dr. John Witherspoon, another the many ministers who signed the declaration. Look at his declaration. John Witherspoon said, "I entreat you in the most earnest manner to believe in Jesus Christ for there is no salvation in any other," which is a quote from Acts 4.12. He says, "If you are not reconciled to God through Jesus Christ, if you are not clothed with a spotless robe of his righteousness, you must forever perish." Whoa, that's a sermon. But this is the language that we had from these kinds of guys. This is what the signers of the declaration believed and said. And even this man, this is Dr. Benjamin Rush. Now, Dr. Benjamin Rush is the man who started the Sunday School Movement in America, started in 1791. He also started the first abolition society in America. It is an act of civil disobedience against King George III. That's one of the reasons he got involved in the revolution so we could end slavery. He also is the man who started the first Bible society in America. Look at his declaration. He says, "My only hope of salvation is in the infinite, transcendent love of God manifested to the world by the death of his Son upon the cross. Nothing but his blood will wash away my sins. I rely exclusively upon it. Come, Lord Jesus. Come quickly." Now, these are enemies of Christ, not by a long shot. You see, we're often told they are, but we buy that and so many people across America buy that because we don't know our history. We used to know our history. We used to spot any one of those 56 and tell you about them. Matter of fact, in our public schools, we used to teach all 56 of those. This is an old 1848 public school textbook called Lives of the Signers. We used it for generations and went through every one of the 56, went through their faith, went through their character, went through their family, went through it. We don't study any one. Now, we've reprinted it. It's outside, but we used to know these guys, but not only did so many of them have the strong individual faith in Christ, they had a strong collective faith. And you'll find that the first time that that collective group of guys got together in Congress was September 7, 1774. And when they got together, they opened with prayer and it was not a dinky little prayer. According to historical records, the opening prayer session in Congress ran for three hours. Now, wouldn't it be cool to get Congress to pray for three hours now? I mean, that would be real cool. And somehow our atheist, agnostic, deus-founding fathers prayed for three hours at the beginning. And this man, Silas Dean, said that after that time of prayer, he said even the stern old Quakers had tears running down their cheeks. And John Adams said that not only did they pray that morning, but they studied four chapters of the Bible that morning in Congress. Now, he wrote Abigail a long letter talking to Abigail about how the fact that God had even spoke to them directly, giving them a RAMA word out of one of those chapters. He told Abigail, he said, Abigail, he said, I'm going to beg you to read that Psalm. Read the 35th Psalm to your friends, read it to your father, say the 35th Psalm really was pertinent to what was happening. Because just that morning, they had learned that they were under attack in Boston as being bombed by the British, Charleston as being burned. And this is 1774. We're still all British citizens. What that means is our own army, our own Navy's attacking us. We don't have a defense. We don't have an American army. We're still British citizens. We're two years away from separation. So this is a big concern. What defense do you have when your own army and Navy attacks you? And that's why Psalm 35 was so pertinent that morning. It's a great Psalm to read. You might want to read it after the service this morning, but it essentially says, God, they've attacked us without calls. And Lord, unless you come intervene, they will destroy us, but you'll intervene because of your name. And it was just a great Psalm. He said, I want you to read it. Then I want you to read it to your friends. They don't want you to read it to your father. Her father was the pastor of their church, Reverend William Smith. And he says, look, you got to see what God showed us this morning in Congress. I want you to read it. Then show everybody else and short your dad and let him show it to the church. See, this is a thing where God really spoke to them. And on top of that, he also told Abigail, he said, Abigail, he said, we've appointed a continental fast, a day of fasting and prayer. He says, millions would be up on their knees at once before they're great creator, imploring his forgiveness and his blessings. This smiles on American council and arms. He said, Abigail, can you imagine the impact of having millions of Americans praying and fasting? By the way, Congress issued 15 different throughout the revolution, 15 different calls, national calls to prayer. Now they would start with a day of prayer and fasting and they would list out what we need to pray about this, Boston's under bombardment and Charleston's burn. They would go through and say, praying fast about all these things. And you'll find that three or four months later, they would come in with a day of prayer and thanksgiving. They'd say, hey, you remember how we prayed and fasted a few months ago? Look how God has answered the prayers, look what's happened. And so they would go through all the victories and all the good things that happened. So they were very faithful that when they sought God for help, they went back to thank God for having answered the prayers. Now this is one of, this is the first time in Congress that they sought God for help. First time they called and this is the very beginning day of prayer and fasting. Well John Adams wrote Abigail a letter about six weeks later and said, Abigail, you are not going to believe what's happening. Remember that day of fasting we had about six weeks ago? He said, since then, he said, Colonel Smith and a group of his men have captured a British fort and a British garrison. Now that kind of seems impressive but then again, you got to remember that we really didn't have an army back then and we're trying to start an army but to be a colonel in the American military, you know what it took to be a colonel in the American military back then when we're starting the Continental Army? If you wanted to be a colonel in the American military, what you did was you got a bunch of your neighbors to enlist and when you got a bunch of people to enlist, if you brought them, you could be their colonel. And so that was the way you get to be a colonel in the military. You brought a whole bunch of folks with you to enlist. So when he says, Colonel Smith and a group of his men captured this British fort, what he's really saying is, farmer Smith and a bunch of his neighbors have just taken a British fort and that's impressive because we're not trained military but they are and then he said, Abigail, he said, we've even captured a 20 gun British man of war and a 64 gun British man of war and that's really impressive considering we didn't have a navy. Well we kind of had a navy, if you ever get to go to Washington DC, go to the Smithsonian Museum, Museum of American History up on the third floor, they have the American navy sitting up on the third floor, it's the gunboat Philadelphia. And our gunboat back then, our navy wasn't much more than a rowboat with a cannon in each end and I mean literally, here's the gunboat Philadelphia, you know, and as a matter of fact, here we are attacking the British navy, you know, that's, I just has to scare the British to death to see that coming out, you know. Now we've captured a 64 gun British man of war and a 20 gun British man, what's going on here? John Adams thought he knew, he says it appears to me the eternal son of God is operating powerfully against the British nation, I guess so, I mean, it's obvious to them that God was weighing in and see this is what we used to know, by reading their writings, by reading the accounts, by knowing what had happened back then, man, we saw God all over the place, the things that happened didn't even make sense except for God having done them. Now this is, they had individual faith, they had collective faith, but you know, that faith also affected their character and it should for us too. If we have a strong deep Christian faith, it should affect the way we behave and we see that collectively, we see that particularly, and look what the scripture says about character. This is a great passage you probably recognize at Romans 5 verses 3 and 4, it says, "Pressure, affliction and hardship," and boy did they have plenty of that in the American Revolution, I mean, we hear about Valley Forge, but Valley Forge is what happened every winter because we were always under equipped, always under supplied, always under munitioned, always under staff, we were always under everything. It says, "Pressure, affliction and hardship produce patient and unswerving endurance." If you can make it through the trials of pressure, affliction and hardship, you'll come out with endurance. And if you can come out with endurance, it says an endurance develops maturity of character that is approved faith and tried integrity. If you can go through all that stuff, if you can keep your Christian focus on it, you're going to come out of that thing with character, and character is nothing more than approved faith and tried integrity. Now, that word integrity is a big word than Bible. If you want to have some fun, do a Bible study on the word integrity. Get on your computer, type in the word integrity, pull up all the verses. Look at how God really focuses on that word integrity. Now, here's a great example. First Chronicles 29 passage says here, "I know my God that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity." See, one of the things that God wants to do is he wants to have integrity check, so he'll test your heart to see if there's integrity there. We get those kind of integrity test from time to time. But what in the world is integrity? I mean, would we even recognize integrity if it came up and bit us on the ankle? I mean, what does integrity look like? And Dr. Benjamin Rush gives a great definition of integrity. He says integrity is a strict coincidence between thoughts and words and actions. Integrity is when what you think and what you say and what you do are all the same. And there's a consistency between the inside and the outside and now I deal with politics a lot and it's very common for political people to say and do the right thing, but not really believe the right thing. But they do it because the constituents wonder they got so many letters or contacts. That's not integrity. Integrity is what you think, what you say, and what you believe are consistent across the board. And we used to teach that what happened on the 4th of July was the greatest collective example of integrity in American history. Because if you look at the Declaration of Independence, these guys signed, they announced the world that they're separating from Great Britain. And then these 56 guys say now, we're willing to give it everything we've got. And they say that literally. I mean, you look at the clause there, it says, "And for the support of this declaration, we've announced that we're going to become an independent nation for the support of this declaration and with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledged to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor." They said, "Guys, we're just telling you we're going to become a separate independent nation and the 56 of us have pledged to make that happen." And they pledged to the point, they said, "We're willing to give our lives, our fortunes, our sacred honor." And then they signed it, just like it's a contract. This is a contract. And being that contract, if you want to see integrity, you simply pull off any name off that contract. You pull off over here on the left, George Walton, or Button Gwynette, or you go across Thomas McCain, or you go across to Samuel Chase, Lewis Morris, you just keep going across the names. And you start saying, "All right, you promise to give your life, fortune, and sacred honor." And by the way, when King George III got that declaration, he was not a happy camper, because these are a bunch of his citizens saying, "We're going to overthrow you." So here you have 56 citizens and the day before they signed this declaration, they'd all been British citizens. The day after they signed it, they're now American citizens, but they don't have an army, they don't have a navy, and yet 56 of them, and they weren't all rich by a long shot. You had Sam Adams, who was so poor that his neighbors had to take up a collection to get him a suit so he could go to Congress when he got elected. You had Rich, you had poor, you had school teachers, you had ship owners, you had businessmen, you had everything under the sun. There was a great collection of America. And you have these 56 saying, "We're going to put our personal resources into beating the world's greatest military power." Now, there's really nobody that thinks that can happen in the rest of the world. I mean, you look across the world, the rest of the world thought this was a pipe dream, this would not happen. But these guys believed him, but when King George III gets this, he responds immediately. He considers this an act of treason, so he immediately dispatched 25,000 top British troops to America to find those 56 and kill them. If they could find those 56 and hang them, destroy them, execute them, he could stop that movement. So those 56 guys were in trouble. I mean, there's no question about it, no army, no navy, and now they got 25,000 trained soldiers looking for them to kill them. So if you want to see if they have integrity, you take any of the names off the list and see what happens when they came face to face with an opportunity to keep their word. I mean, here's the British coming after them. They got a great opportunity to sacrifice their life, and they say, "Well, you know, I don't see that I gain that much. I'm only one person out of several million in America, and what good to do with the nation if I get killed?" I mean, my wife depends on me, and I've got the kids, and I just don't see where it really helps that much if I get killed over this thing. That's not integrity, because your thoughts and your words and your actions have to coincide. They have to be consistent. And this is where we find some amazing stories out of the American Revolution dealing with integrity. Let me take you through a few real quick. Let me take you, for example, this man. This is Robert Morris. Robert Morris, a strange name. I wonder if anybody recognizes that name right here. Robert Morris had maybe one of the most difficult tasks in the American Revolution. And by the way, before I tell you about Robert Morris, I do have to tell you something that happened in exchange between two individuals up here. These two individuals, Benjamin Rush, I told you about Dr. Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Rush was a great friend of John Adams who circled there on the screen. And Benjamin Rush kept a diary of what happened on the day they signed the Declaration, because the day they signed the Declaration, it was a very somber time. 56 British citizens are putting their name on a document that they know will get them killed if this doesn't work out. If God doesn't show up in this, they're all dead men, and they know that. So as they went to sign the Declaration, they, every account says that as they were going to the table, that the only thing you heard was Charles Thompson, the Secretary of Congress, calling them by name to the table. He would say things like, "Samuel Chase, Maryland." And then you'd hear the footsteps going across the wood floor, and then you'd hear the scratch of the pen on the parchment, and then you'd go back. Then you'd say, "Samuel Huntington, Connecticut," and you'd hear those steps again across the floor, and then you'd hear the scratch on the part. That was all. Nobody was saying anything, because it's a really somber time, because they're all signing their death warrant. The only comment made that day was between two individuals, and it was recorded by Dr. Benjamin Rush who told John Adams about it after the war. He said, "Do you remember what happened?" And those two individuals were these two. This is Benjamin Harrison. A Benjamin Harrison among the 56 signers of the Declaration, he's from Virginia. He was the largest man there. He was a big, huge, strong guy. They said he could pick up a keg and move it where it might take three, four normal guys to move something. He was really powerful. On the other end of the spectrum, you had Elbridge Jerry of Massachusetts. Now, Elbridge Jerry was a tiny, frail guy. He was less than five feet tall. He did not weigh 100 pounds, and he was so small, they used to kid him about how small he was. They said, "Elbridge, good thing you're from Massachusetts, because you guys don't get strong winds up there. If you ever got a strong wind and blow your way, you wouldn't ever find you again. We all know where you're in." So they kid it about how small he was, and so what had happened was the only comment made that day when they signed the Declaration between these two, but it shows you their understanding of their commitment to keeping their word. They knew what was at stake, as Dr. Benjamin Rush said. He says, "John," he said, "do you remember the pensive and awful silence which pervaded the house when we were called up one after another to the table of the President of Congress to subscribe to what was believed by many at that time to be our own death warrants? Remember how quiet it was that day, because we knew we were signing our death certificate. If God didn't show up, we're in trouble here. He said, "The silence and gloom in the morning were interrupted. I well recollect only for a moment," by Colonel Harrison, the big guy of Virginia, who said to Mr. Jerry at the table, the little guy, and you can see it in your mind's eye. Jerry's up there. He's just about to scratch his name on the parchment, and just as he starts to put his pen down, the big guy has something to say, and it's the only thing said all day. And what did he say? He says, "I shall have an astinct advantage over you, Mr. Jerry, when we're all hung for what we're now doing." He says, "From the size and great weight of my body, I shall die in a few minutes, but from the lightness of your body, you'll dance in the air an hour or two before you're dead. When they hang you, you won't even die. You don't win enough to be hung. Only come." And as Benjamin Rush, he said, "That this speech procured a transient smile, but it was soon seceded by the solemnity of it's a whole business. I mean, we laughed for a minute and we thought, "But you know, he's right. We're all going to get hung for this." Basically they knew exactly what they were going into, and that's where it's so cool to see these names. As I started to tell you, Robert Morris here, and Robert Morris, I think, had one of the most difficult jobs in the American Revolution. He was named the financier of the American Revolution. That is, after they separated from Great Britain, they said, "Robert, would you run down to the bank and get us alone on our new revolution?" Now the chances of getting alone on that revolution are slim to none. Nobody believes that this can happen. As a matter of fact, we went three years in the American Revolution with no funding. Nobody would give us any funds to do this because nobody believed we could win. After three years, we'd racked up some battles and then France and Holland and some others started saying, "Well, you know, maybe they can do this after all." So we started getting, but where did the funding come from for the first three years? Came out of his pocket, generous guy. He was a wealthy man and he took $2 million and put in the American Revolution. By the way, 2 million, 200 years ago is a ton of bucks. And it was not like he had $40 million and gave us $2 million so it's no skin off his back. No, he gave us everything he had. And how do we know that? Because back then, now what Robert did was he gave us all the cash, then he had some assets and he had some properties and he had some possessions and he hopped all that to get cash when we ran out of the first cash and he gave us a cash off of what he'd hocked. But the law back then says that when it comes time for that stuff to come out of hock, if you can't pay for it, you go to prison and you stay in prison until you can pay for it, which is kind of a silly way to do it. How do you earn a living to pay for it if you're in prison? But nonetheless, that's what the law was. So he'd given us all the cash, he'd hocked everything, he'd given us that cash, it came time to pay. This guy, this founding father spent his latter years in debtors prison. He didn't have enough money left to keep food on his own table, to keep clothes on his own back. This is a guy who gave his life, his fortune and his sacred honor. And in his latter years in prison, we have his writings and latter years in prison. There he sit in prison, rotten in a prison because he kept his word and you can't find a complaint anywhere at all in terrible situations. But then again, why would you complain? You gave your word, you kept your word, that's integrity. No matter what it cost you, he kept his word. We also have stories of men like this one. This is Richard Stockton. Richard Stockton signed up the declaration. When the British came, they found him, they were looking for him, they caught him and they threw him in a prison ship where they started to torture him. They tortured him, they abused him. He was just about dead when we managed to get his release through a prisoner exchange. Even though he got out with his life, he was so destroyed that he was dying and he knew it. And so here Richard Stockton signed up the declaration from New Jersey as he's dying, he knows he's dying and he's got some young kids and he now realizes these kids will never know they're dead. I'm going to die before, they grow up and they'll never know anything about me. So he wrote out his last will and testament. You see it here, it says, "Richard Stockton, last will and testament." And in that, he gave some, by the way, last will and testament for them was last will and testimony. It was not just a testament, it was not where you list your possessions and give it to kids. It's also where you give very clear guidance and instruction to your children as well as possessions to your children. And you'll see here big words like God and big words like Savior that he was emphasizing. But I want you to see the word and because that starts the sentence, it's right up there at the top of the will, he says, "And as my children will have frequent occasion perusing this instrument," well, let me just show you the language. He says, "And as my children will have frequent occasion of perusing this instrument and may probably be impressed with the last words of their father." And here's a guy who promised his life, he's now given it, and as he's dying, he wants his kids to know. He says, "I think it proper here not only to subscribe to the entire belief of the great and leading doctors of the Christian religion, such as the divinity of the person and the completeness of the redemption purchased by the blessed Savior, the necessity of the operations of the divine spirit, a divine faith, a company of the habitual virtuous, I mean you went to all the Christian doctors that my kids need to know these doctrines, they need to know how important Christianity is." He says, "But also in the bowels of a father's affection, a dying father, in the bowels of a father's affection to exhort and charge them that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom." He said that the way of life held up in the Christian system is calculated for the most complete happiness that can be enjoyed in this mortal state and that all occasions of vice and immorality is injurious, whether immediately or consequently, even in this life. It's the last words and testament of a dying founding father. He's one of nine founding fathers who never lived to see what they wanted us to have. He's one of nine who gave his life in keeping his word. And so Richard Stockton, strong founding father, strong Christian founding father, great story, we don't study anymore. We also don't study the story of John Hart. John Hart was a sign of the declaration from New Jersey. He was the Speaker of the House of New Jersey, and as we're going into the revolution, New Jersey is scared to death about what's going to happen because they don't have an army, they don't have a navy, but he promised to give leadership to the state. And so they sent him to Congress and said vote for independence. He did. He came back home and they are scared to death. They said, "What have we done? We don't have an army. We don't have a navy. We're going to get creamed." And so he stood and the speakers pulled him there in New Jersey House and called for three days of prayer and fasting in the legislature. And he gave a killer sermon. He stood there and said, "Guys, we have stood for what is right and God will come to our assistance." He says, "But even if God doesn't come to our assistance, we're still going to stand for what's right." It sounded like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, you know. We're not going to bow, and if God helps us great, if he doesn't, we'll still get thrown in the fire, but we're not going to bow. And so was that kind of a sermon. Well, he was a great leader. He promised his leadership. It turns out that when those 25,000 troops landed in Boston, that some of them went west and some went south. Those that went south went into New Jersey looking for John Hart. Well John Hart lived in Hopel, New Jersey, had a nice farm there, good crops. He had a big family, had 13 kids, loved his kids, loved his wife, just a great family. And as he's there one day bringing in the harvest, bringing in the crops, his neighbors came busting through the front door. And on that particular day, his wife was really sick. He'd been nursing his wife back to health and taking care of the kids and taking care of the harvest. But here come the neighbors busting through the front door and they said, "John," said "The British troops found out where you live. They're a quarter mile down the road. They're coming to get you. They intend to kill you. You got to get out of here now." He says, "I can't." He said, "My wife, I'm taking care of her and the kids." And the harvest, they said, "Look, you promised us your leadership and your way to valuable to lose. You leave now." So they shoved him out the back door and he fled into the woods. Shortly thereafter, the British troops came up the front path, broke in the door, went in searching for him, couldn't find him, figured he must have fled to the woods. So they sent British patrols out to find him in the woods and bring him back. They then sent dog patrols out to sniff him out, to track him down and bring him back. For the next one year, he was an old man at the time. He was in his 60s. And that was impressive because the average life spent in America back then was only 35 years old. So he's in his 60s. He's an old man and he's out in the woods now. And for the next one year, he eluded those British troops in the woods back and forth across the state of New Jersey for four full seasons. And over those four seasons, he never slept in the same place two nights in a row. He would climb up in the bowels of trees to sleep. He'd be getting into the overhang of creek banks. He'd dive under a rotted log. He'd bury himself with leaves. But for a full year, he eluded those British troops. After a year, British said, "We're out of here. We got other guys to catch." So they leave. He decides they're safe to go home. So he heads home. And the first thing he sees when he gets home is he doesn't have a home anymore. It's been burned flat to the ground. And they also burned his tool sheds and his barns and all of his crops and then panics sit in. My wife, my kids, were they? Well, he searches and finds that his wife, who had been sick when he left, had died of her sickness. And he hadn't been there when she died. And that tore his heart out. He said, "My kids, I've got to find my kids." He finds that the British have taken his 13 kids and scattered them to the forends. He spent the rest of his life searching for his 13 kids and never found them. He died six months later, literally of exhaustion, trying to track down his kids, this old man trying to track down. You see, and as he was dying, he too, set his life in order, set his last wool and testament out. And it was real clear. He says, "Knowing that's as appointed for all men once a die, and after that the judgment," Hebrews 9, 27, "he says, 'I give and recommend my soul into the hands of Almighty God who gave it, and my body to the earth to be buried in a decent and Christian-like manner, and to receive the same again at the general resurrection by the mighty power of God." He says, "I'm out of here, but I'll see my kids again at resurrection." I mean, it's going to happen. And so here's another strong guy with great character, great integrity. One more I'll show you. This man is Stephen Hopkins. He's a strong Christian-founding father. He's the governor of Rhode Island. He's the first-founding father to be able to sign an anti-slavery law. Great Britain would not let us end slavery. One of the reasons we separated, so as soon as we signed the Declaration of Independence, lots of northern states just started wiping out slavery. He's the first governor to sign anti-slavery law, because we tried to do it before we separated from Great Britain. King George III vetoed every anti-slavery law. Now that we're Americans, we can do it, and he did it. So strong Christian man, Quaker man, and by the way, you can tell he's a Quaker because of the half that he wears. And because of that half that he wears, you can find Stephen Hopkins in any founding painting. I mean, literally, guess which one is Stephen Hopkins? No, that's not real hard, the guy with the hat at the back. Now Stephen Hopkins, of all the 13 governors, is reputed to have the most elegant handwriting of any of the 13 governors. All of them. He's got the best handwriting. So you look at the Declaration of Independence, look for the name Stephen Hopkins. You're looking for pretty handwriting, and then you see this right there, and you kind of raise an eyebrow and say, "Well, look at it closer." See that? That has got to be the ugliest signature on the Declaration of Independence. So what's the deal with the good handwriting? Well, he was approaching his 70th birthday when he was called to sign the Declaration. Approaching, and again, that's impressive, 70. He had just suffered a paralyzing stroke on the right side of his body. So as he went up to the table that day to sign the Declaration, he went there dragging that dead right foot and that dead right arm. He got to the table, and he took his good left arm, and he grabbed that dead arm and threw it up on top of the Declaration. He took his left hand at the quill and the ink and then put it in his fingers and closed those dead fingers around it, and with his left hand, he forced his right hand to sign his name on the Declaration, which is what you see there. Anybody else would have said, "Whoops, time out, medical disability. I've had a stroke. I can't be there." Not this guy. He pledged his life. He's only lost half his life. The right side's dead. The left side still works pretty good. He's got half a life to go. So he just never crossed their mind to break their word, and that's significant because if you look at Psalms 15 verses 1 and 4, the question's asked, it says, "Lord, who'll abide in thy tabernacle and who'll dwell in thy holy hill?" What's the answer? Who's going to be with God? The answer is he that keeps his oath even to his own hurt. Who's going to be with God? Those that can keep their word no matter what it costs them. This is a time for integrity check. You ought to be really judicious in giving your word to people, but when you give your word to people, how well do you keep your word? To your spouse, to your children, to neighbors, to employers, to friends, say God wants people of integrity. Why? Because God is a God of integrity. God is a God who keeps his word at all costs. I mean, he kept his word. He was willing to kill his own son to keep his word, and aren't we glad that God's a God of integrity? No. He was willing to make huge sacrifices. Well, see, that's what the Fourth of July was. It entails sacrifices. We don't even think about it. We no longer study those things. Well, bringing this to a close, there's a couple of verses that are pertinent here. One is, we know from Psalms 33, 12, that blessed is that nation whose God is the Lord. But it's not just a national thing on the Fourth of July. It's a great thing for individuals, because the Scripture also says happy is that people whose God is the Lord. Not only is it national, but it's also individuals. Not only should we thank God for this should be a day of solemn deliverance, a day of deliverance, a solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty, we ought to look at our own character, look at our own faith, our own integrity. As a matter of fact, this man John Jayden and John Jay was an early general in the American Revolution. He went on to become the first Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. John Jay authored the Federalist Papers. John Jay, great founding father, look what he said. He said, "I recommend a general and a public return of praise and thanksgiving to him from whose goodness these blessings descend." He said, "We need to have public times when we stop and say thank you, God, for the blessings you've given us." He says, "The most effective means of securing the continuance of our civil and our religious liberties is always to remember the reverence and gratitude, the source from which they flow. Best way to keep our religious liberties and our civil liberties is to remember that they come from God." And that's a good thing for a nation to remember. That's a good thing for an individual to remember. As a matter of fact, Thomas Jefferson, first book he ever wrote was this book right here. He wrote this during the American Revolution. Now, here's the chief author of the Declaration of Independence. This is the first book he wrote during the American Revolution, and this is what he told us. It's engraved by the way inside the Jefferson Memorial. If you ever get to go to Washington, D.C., they have taken his 60 volumes of writings, they've taken the five best quotes out of there, and they've engraved four of them and four tablets of stone, and they put the fifth one inside the Jefferson monument all the way around the top. You read those five quotes, four out of the five are absolutely God-centered. Now, he's supposed to be the least religious founding father, and when 80% of the political rhetoric of your least religious founding father is God-centered, it tells you something about the rest of the guys. So Jefferson, this is a quote that is inside the Jefferson Morals, and one of those tablets of stone, he says very simply, he said, "Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure if we remove their only firm basis?" Now, newsflash, what does Thomas Jefferson think is the only firm basis of national liberties? He said, "It's a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God, that they are not to be violated but with His wrath." He said, "Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, and His justice won't sleep forever." So his thing is, if we ever lose the conviction that what we have comes from God, we'll lose what we have. I mean, we have to recognize that it's a gift of God, and if we lose that conviction in our mind, we're, so that's what's good about the Fourth of July, it should be a time force to think nationally on a national level about what God has done for us. At the same time, it's also time force to look individually. You remember John Witherspoon? I mean, what Witherspoon said is perfectly right even for right now. He says, "If you are not clothed with the spotless robe of His righteousness, if you're not reconciled to God through Jesus Christ, you must forever perish." So the Fourth of July is a great time, and I challenge you to do this this weekend, today and tomorrow, is to make this a day of deliverance, celebrate as a day of deliverance, but with solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. On behalf of the nation, let's thank God for what's gone on the nation, but let's also take us a time to look inside and look at ourselves and see if we have that same caliber of dedication and commitment as Christianity permeated us so much that we are people of integrity at all costs, that we keep our word no matter what it cost us, no matter what the hurt is to us, we do that. That's the Fourth of July. That's what it's all about. If we keep that focus, we'll continue to have a lot of Fourth of Julys in the future. God bless you guys. [APPLAUSE]