A Sermon by Dr. Walter A. Maier
“Shouldest thou help the ungodly and love them that hate the Lord? Therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord.” II Chronicles 19:2
GOD, OUR REFUGE AND STRENGTH: We praise Thy goodness for enriching us through faith in Jesus, Thy Son and our Savior, with the heavenly assurance of our eternal triumph over sin, death, and hell, and for fortifying us even now with the guarantee of Thy grace in solving or removing every problem which may beset us. Daily deepen our love for our compassionate Redeemer, who on the Cross shed His blood for our cleansing and salvation! Lead us to ally our souls with Him, and refusing to rely on men who oppose Thy Word, thus overcome every enemy of the faith with the victory cry, “I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me!” Direct our Government to avoid every entangling alliance with atheism by showing our leaders how suicidal is the policy of strengthening those who oppose Thee, almighty Maker and Master of mankind! Guard our young folks from being unequally yoked together in marriage with unbelievers! Convince them that the only home which can have the pledge of happiness is the household in which husband, wife and children have the same true faith! Be with us and keep our souls separate from sin and consecrated to Thee! Comfort the sorrowing, afflicted, deserted, and bereaved! Provide food and warmth for the victims of war’s cruelty! By Thy Holy Spirit, bless us with peace in our nation, our homes, and our hearts! Hear us and help us for Jesus’ sake! Amen!
Would
it be possible for Jesus Christ, were He now with us in body, to be elected
president of she
If Christ would not be elected President, could He—to take a smaller sphere of activity—be chosen Head of the American homes? Probably not, for how many of our families take time to thank the Almighty for the large quantity, the numerous variety, the high quality, of food we enjoy? I have seen families in Berlin bow their heads while the father spoke a warm, earnest word of gratitude to God for the meal: tea—made of leaves and berries, black bread and peanut butter, the last a relief-package item added to welcome visitors; and I have seen people in our land start and finish an entirely prayerless meal, in which the waste sent to the garbage would have kept starving sufferers alive. No! With the divorce rate in some sections reaching the marriage rate; with by far the greater part of our families, including many churchgoing households, too busy to read God’s Word and join in thanks, our Lord would not be chosen Head of the homes in the United States.
Let us narrow the circle once more and ask, if Jesus lived with us, would everyone in this country accept Him as the Savior of his soul and Sovereign of his life? Carlyle once told a woman who asked him what would happen, should Christ come to Great Britain, that the mob would take him out to Newgate and hang Him; and similarly, were the Son of God to appear on the present scene with His scathing indictment of sin, His attacks on pride and sham, His insistent demands for repentance, humility, and sacrifice, masses would coldly turn from Him and allow themselves to be led into crying for His blood. Human nature does not change of itself. Men still love the world more than they love the Lord; they prefer treaties with unbelievers rather than agreements with the Almighty.
Today, therefore, as we ask you who, up to this time, have lived without Jesus to make a covenant with Christ, we cry out in the Redeemer’s name.
Come over to the Savior’s side, separate yourself from sin and thus bring blessings on your country, your home, and especially your own soul! To this end, study the Scripture in the Second Book of Chronicles, chapter nineteen, verse two: “Shouldest thou help the ungodly and love them that hate the Lord? Therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord.”
AN APPEAL TO THE AMERICAN NATION
This
text is taken from that part of the Old Testament which describes an unholy
alliance between Jehoshaphat, God-fearing king of
Judah, and Ahab, godless king of the northern tribes. Like many men in our own
times, Ahab was ruined by his wife Jezebel. Not only was she an unbeliever, the
daughter of a heathen king, but she also made her husband, who knew the true
God, worship Baal, the hideous idol of immorality. So great was the hatred of
the Lord in the heart of blood-lusting Jezebel that she also sought to bring
all
Our twentieth century has many Jezebels. While it is woman’s God-given privilege, in her softer, more sympathetic nature, to help and heal, soothe and strengthen, comfort and cheer; and while wives, devoted to Jesus, have served suffering humanity as human angels of mercy, how hard, cruel, satanic women become when they shake their fists at God and blaspheme His blessed name! You men who want to walk with the Lord should make up your minds that with the Spirit’s help you will not give in to any woman, even your own wife, mother, daughter, who wants you to join her in rebellion against the Almighty! Save yourself now from the doom of Ahab, who lacked the courage to resist and rebuke his wicked wife!
Completely
domineering her husband, Jezebel started one of the worst persecutions even the
gory pages of ancient history contain. She sent killers to find the Lord’s
prophets throughout the land and to cut them down in cold blood. You see,
despite all our scientific progress, human nature remains the same. Scarlet
unbelief killed God’s servants in that ninth century before Christ, and Red
atheism across the seas massacres men of God in our twentieth century after
Christ, with this difference, that today the Savior’s enemies have destroyed
far more martyrs then hate-filled Jezebel could. As the years have advanced,
men’s mania for blood has steadily led them to discover new means of
slaughtering more widely and more rapidly. You understand this when you see the
evidences of Nazi massacre in
Jezebel,
too, made one mistake. She thought that she could kill all of God’s prophets,
but she could not. A small number escaped, hid in a cave and later came out to
proclaim divine truth. Their warnings were sorely needed, for one day Ahab,
enemy of the Lord and persecutor of His prophets that he was, sent to Jehoshaphat, asking this God-fearing king’s alliance in
waging war against
Besides,
the campaign against
In
this unholy alliance, smart, unbelieving Ahab wanted to shift the burden of battle
on Jehosaphat. Shrewdly Ahab disguises himself while
he requests his own ally, the king of
Ahab,
despite his plans for safety, was killed in the battle, while Jehoshaphat, thanks to divine grace, escaped. How merciful
the Almighty is when, with our thankless neglect of His Word, He spares us and
leads us safely from the dangers into which our sins have plunged us! When Jehosphathat returns to
It must be evident, then, that God does not want His people allied with unbelief. Repeatedly His Word proclaims, “Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men.” Not politics, but Scripture requires of this nation or any nation which would be blessed by His bounty, that its people do not “help the ungodly” nor “love them that hate the Lord.”
Thus
the Christian citizenry of the United States, by the mandate of the Almighty,
has the duty to work and pray that this nation be kept free from entangling alliances
with countries which champion atheism, and such opposition to Christ’s Church
as that waged by Communist Reds, who declare in the words of a leader: “The
campaign of the godless is financed by our [the U.S.S.R.] government, and the
campaign includes many antireligous films, posters,
newspapers, and magazines.” Never has a covenant with crass denial truly built
any nation. A sure quick way to aid in destroying the preeminence of the
As believers we must pray for anti-Christian forces and atheist world powers; we should eagerly give them an example of sacrificial devotion as we feed their starving, send medicine to their sick, assist in keeping their children alive; we should zealously bring them Christ’s Gospel with its assurance of forgiveness and its promise of a new life. However to strengthen them in their unbelief, make them more brazen in their uprising against the Almighty, more cruel in their persecution of believers, clearly contradicts God’s Word, which today reminds us that we are not to “help the ungodly” in their assaults on His Church, nor “love them that hate the Lord.”
It
is high time for the
Must
you not agree, then, that we should strain every effort to keep our land allied
with the Lord and to remove the ruinous, rebellious spirit which can drive the
Almighty beyond our borders? His divine truth declares, “Righteousness
exalteth a nation but sin is a reproach to any people”;
and as you contrast righteousness and sin in the
1 of every 37 births in
the
1 of every 25 Americans is an atheist.
1 of every 23 persons in
the
1 of every 22 American young people continues Sunday school after reaching 15.
1 of every 4 Americans does not believe in life after death.
Less than 1 in 3 American families says grace at meals.
Between 1 of every 3 and 1 of every 2 husbands is unfaithful to his wife at one time or another.
1 of every 3 marriages ends unhappily.
Less than 1 of every 2 Americans is a church member.
Here
are only ten tendencies which show trends in
II
AN APPEAL TO THE AMERICAN HOME
To this send our homes, vital for the nation’s welfare, should be allied with our heavenly Father. The prophet’s question, “Shouldest thou help the ungodly and love them that hate the Lord?” has a direct bearing on Christian and American family life. Jehosphaphat, good as he was otherwise, also failed to recognize this; and perhaps to strengthen his alliance with the north he had his own son, Jehoram, marry Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel. Scripture tells us, “As is the mother, so is her daughter”; and if Jezebel was a fiend in human flesh, Athaliah was no less brutal and bloody. She, too, turned her own husband from the Lord and helped make him a murderer. All this is written for our learning, to teach us the danger of religiously mixed unions in which one life partner loves the Savior and the other rejects Him.
Marriage should be the most harmonious and joyous of earthly blessings; but how can it be when either husband or wife is devoted to Jesus while the other questions the existence of the Almighty, refuses to accept Christ, stubbornly stays away from church, an never finds time for the Bible or prayer? Divorce-court judges and experts in domestic questions will tell you that difference in creed is among the most frequent factor in wrecking homes. If some of you young people, disobedient to God’s expressed command, “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers,” and unwilling to accept the warnings of churchmen in practically all denominations, still think your case is the exception and that you can be happily married with the person of your choice despite such disagreement of faith, then listen to a few of the thousands of letters like these sent us fro peace-robbed families:
In these half-dozen letters I have taken you across the country to show you that when a home is a “house divided against itself” religiously, husband and wife cannot pray, whorship, nor attend Communion together. Besides, they face separation in eternity, since after death believers and unbelievers part forever, the faithful to be blessed by the joys of heaven and he faithless to be cursed by the horrors of hell. If you love the Lord Jesus, don’t pledge yourself to anyone who hates Him! Don’t try to console yourself by saying, “Well, my husband can go to his church and I’ll go to mine”! How about the children? Too often, as experience sows, they attend no church.
Mixed
marriages are among the most destructive of all forces assailing our Christian
Life. It was the rash intermarriage of God’s children with infidels which helped
so completely to demoralize the world that the Almighty sent the flood to wipe
out a wicked, godless generation. Keep the Savior out of the home – unless the
Lord mercifully intervenes, most mixed marriages work to this end – and you
have built on the quicksands. Perhaps for the first
time in the history of the
Nor should you young folks object that if you marry only a true believer of your own faith, you may have to wait too long and perhaps remain single. The Almighty can provide for you, and when you fully trust Him, whatever happens is for your best.
If, as these words are broadcast into your home, your family is divided by this cleavage between devotion and denial, you who are Christ’s work and pray for the conversion of our loved one. Many an unbeliever has been brought to Jesus through the Holy Spirit by the example, the influence, the prayers of a believing life partner. Joy has come to a Defiance, Ohio, family during the past days. Several years ago the mother, concerned about her soul’s salvation, heard our message and wrote us that she wanted her whole household to accept the Savior. One of the pastors cooperating with us visited the home, gave the members thorough instruction in the Biblical faith, and had the blessed privilege of bringing the five children and the mother to Christ. Only the father stayed away from church. However, his wife continued to plead earnestly that he might see the light. Can you imagine what joy it brought us when last this consecrated woman wrote: “Ever since we have known the Lord, I have kept on praying for my husband that he would learn to believe the Savior’s love. For a long time nothing happened, despite my prayers. Words cannot begin to tell you how happy I am to write you that starting next Friday evening, he will take instructions to become a member of our Church. We attend services every Sunday and listen to your messages and pray and worship the Lord together. My husband has accepted our Savior Jesus Christ as his Savior. What a difference this makes in our home life! Thank God and the broadcasts for this blessing!”
If you really want a covenant between the Son of God and your household, which will stifle quarrel and strife, bring comforting guidance in the hours of sickness and bereavement, then follow this simple but short program: 1. Have the whole family, young and old, accept the Lord Jesus as their all-sufficient Redeemer! 2. Let parents and children be baptized, join a true church, and attend services regularly! 3. Have regular daily family Scripture reading and prayer! 4. Let each member pray personally and faithfully for everyone else in the family! 5. See that the children are trained in Scripture, if possible in a Christian day school! 6. Have the family move in church circles, engage in church work, and associate with true followers of the Savior! 7. Remove from the home all anti-Christian and atheistic books, questionable pictures and decorations! 8. Pledge the Lord that in all personal, private, domestic issues, the truth laid down in His Word will rule! 9. Keep the interest of the family uppermost among earthly concerns in the minds of both parents and children so that neither employment, entertainment, nor selfish interest outweighs mutual concern! 10. Let the Spirit of Jesus thoroughly permeate the dwelling, particularly His forgiving and forbearing love, His eagerness to serve rather than to be served!
A
household which has this covenant with Christ making Him the Head and Hope for
the family, will not escape afflictions and difficulties; but it will always be
blessed with the Redeemer’s love, which can make “all things,” even crushing
burdens, “work together for good.” The home allied with the atoning Son of God
may not heap up much money, but it will have a happiness
unknown in many mansions. Robert Newton, beloved English pastor, and his bride
began their married life by kneeling twice each day to pray for and with each
other. They kept that prayer alliance until his death. When their golden
anniversary approached,
III
AN APPEAL TO YOU
Above everything else you yourself need an alliance with the Almighty, a covenant of grace between God and our own soul. Far more important for you than these weighty issues of the nation and the family is your own salvation. Therefore, I ask you in the question of our text, “Do you ‘help the ungodly’ and love the unbelief of ‘them that hate the Lord?” Is your life directed to Christ or away from Him? Are you headed toward heaven or toward hell? Is your Bible shut, while you find plenty of time to read sex stories and murder novels? Do you swell the crowds in attendance at public entertainment, but by your absence from worship keep church attendance disastrously small. Do you run around with people who make fun of our faith, profanely abuse the precious name above all other names, Jesus, glorify sin, live for lust, liquor, and the lure of the flesh? Despite your church membership and pretended piety, are you a hypocrite, carrying on secret affairs, congratulating yourself that you are smart enough to keep your crimes concealed? Then in these moments during which, I pray, the Holy Spirit will bring many of you over to Heaven’s side, He can ask you, “Shouldest thou help the ungodly and love them that hate the Lord?” impressing on you the warning that God knows those who are against Him and penetrates the false front which their hypocrisy may invent.
A recent report shows that in 95 percent of the trials instituted in Federal courts last year the Government was successful in securing a conviction; but the Almighty and All-knowing has a 100 percent record in revealing guilt. If you ally yourself with Christ’s enemies, the time is irresistibly approaching when you must stand before the Lord to receive the sentence pronounced on your rebelion against the Redeemer. If you have never realized that every unforgiven sin sentences you to hell; if you have laughed at Scripture when it warns, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God,” may the Holy Spirit mercifully open your mind’s eye today and make you understand the awful doom contained in this sentence of seven short words, “He that believeth not shall be damned.” Jesus, the Mediator of mercy, spoke this awful sentence; He cannot make a mistake; this must be true. Stop making common cause with those who oppose the Savior! Come over to His side! Make a soul-covenant today with Christ!
Praise the Lord of love with me today that the blessed Savior wants us to ally ourselves with Him! We are sinful, selfish, sordid, but instead of casting us away forever, He yearns for us and offers us a treaty with the Triune God, a covenant with His compassion, an agreement with His unfailing grace. If you feel despair over the crimson botches which stain your life, and you ask for the Heaven-given assurance that you will not be damned to hell but have the pledge of Christ’s grace, if you want to begin life over again, wholly dedicated to your divine Deliverer then turn to Isaiah’s prophecy, read, believe, and memorize this peerless guarantee: “the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but My kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of My peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.” Then, when you want to know more about this pact of peace, peace with your Maker and peace with your own conscience, turn to the last chapter of Hebrews and read, “The God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,” can make you perfect!
How
marvelously merciful is this league with the Lord! It is open to you, no matter
how selfish men may have persecuted you because of your color or your
nationality. It is an unchanging covenant; for, while human pledges are
altered, your Redeemer is ‘the same yesterday and today and forever.” This
alliance with the atoning Savior is sure, for it is sealed with “the blood” He
shed on the accursed cross at
This alliance is a benediction of endless bounty; it puts the Almighty on your side, with His angels ready to protect and sustain you; it makes you who up to this time may have been rank unbelievers, children of God, so that everything which happens to you comes from your heavenly Father’s mercy, marvelously designed for your good.
This
oneness with God grants you His power to defeat the devil and despair, to
resist and reject temptation, to triumph over sorrows and hardships. Not long
ago a middle-aged man, or rather merely the shadow of a man, returned to the
city of
Christ’s pledge in His everlasting covenant is signed and sealed by His own blood. Accept this mercy! Give yourself to Him this Lord’s Day! Better, ask the members of your family now to gather with you! See to it that the entire household, especially those who have kept their distance from Jesus or whose loyalty to Him has steadily been lowered, are brought together! In His saving name, I now beg you ally yourselves, everyone in the family with the Savior! Join us in giving Joshua’s vow of allegiance to the Almighty: “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord”! The Holy Spirit help you to keep that covenant for Christ’s sake! Amen!
Note: this sermon first aired on the last Sunday in January 1948. From the book “One Thousand Radio Voices for Christ”