7.31.16~Who/What Should You Vote For?

Preacher: Pastor Mike Hale

Who/What Should You Vote For?
America’s greatness parallels her acknowledgement, application, and adherence
to certain basic principles of the Judeo-Christian Faith. The philosophy and practice
of our founding fathers was guided by Biblical principles, and we need to vote for
those who hold these principles dear.
1. Sanctity of Human Life…
The Bible condemns murder.
Exodus 20:13, “You shall not murder.”
Exodus 21:22-23, “If men who are fighting hit a pregnant woman and she gives
birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined
whatever the woman’s husband demands and the court allows. But if there is
serious injury, you are to take life for life.”
Matthew 5:21-22, Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said to the people long
ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’
But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to
judgment.”
Psalm 139:13-16, “You created my inmost being; you knit me together in my
mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your
works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from You when
I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the
earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written
in Your book before one of them came to be.”
America once led the world in regards to upholding the dignity and value of
human life; but today it legalizes the murder of millions of babies through abortion,
and the death of many sick and elderly through assisted suicide.
And so, we end up today with a society that shows more concern for the
protection of plants, animals, fish and birds, than it does for that of human life.
2. Marriages and Families…
God ordained marriage between a man and a woman.
Genesis 2:21-24, “So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man,
and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. The
LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and
brought her to the man. The man said, ‘This is now bone of my bones, And flesh of
my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.’ For this
reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and
they shall become one flesh.”
Genesis 4:1-2, “‘Now Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and
gave birth to Cain. She said, ‘With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a
man.’ Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.”

This was the first family – a husband and wife, soon to be mother and father, to
fulfill God’s desire for them to have and raise their children in accordance with the
principles and precepts God has revealed in His Word.
Ephesians 5:22-25, “Wives, submit your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the
husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the church… as the church
submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their own husbands. Husbands,
love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her,”
Ephesians 6:1-4, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honor
your father and mother’— which is the first commandment with a promise— ‘that it
may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.’ Fathers, do not
exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of
the Lord.”
A society is only as strong and healthy as the individual marriages and families
within that society. Marriage as God ordained it, is the union of one man with one
women, committed to one another in Christ; family as God ordained it, includes the
children given to the man and woman by God, who are to be raised to know and to
honor God.
Common law marriages and same-sex unions are not recognized by God as
marriages, and the godless notion that it takes a village to raise a child is an
abomination to God and a detriment to our society.
3. Common Decency and Modesty…
Common decency begins with the covering of human body parts that are
associated with male and female sexuality, as was exemplified in the story of
Creation.
Genesis 2:25, “The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.”
Genesis 3:1-11, Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the
LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat
from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit
from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree
that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” “You
will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you
eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to
the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also
gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then their were
opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and
made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the
LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from
the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man,
“Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid

because I was naked; so I hid.” And he said, “Who told you that you were naked?
Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
Genesis 3:21-23, “The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife
and clothed them. And the LORD God said, ‘The man has now become like one of
us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take
also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.’”
The loss of human innocence and decency is clearly shown in America today,
where modesty, chastity and abstinence are mocked, while pornography is a billion
dollar business – our news stands, television shows and theaters flaunt obscenity,
profanity, nudity and sex.
2Timothy 3:1-5, “There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers
of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their
parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-
control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of
pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its
power. Have nothing to do with them.”
God’s people are to live in a manner much different from those who reject God.
Ephesians 5:1-17, “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and
live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant
offering and sacrifice to God. But among you there must not be even a hint of
sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are
improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse
joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. For of this you can be sure:
No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any
inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words,
for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient.
Therefore do not be partners with them. For you were once darkness, but now you
are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all
goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have
nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is
shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything
exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible.
This is why it is said: “Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on
you.” Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the
most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish,
but understand what the Lord’s will is.” (See Romans 12:1-2).
4. God-centered education…
God always intended for Biblical instruction to be given to our children, both in
the home and out of the home, as we teach them through doctrine and modeling.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9, “Hear O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love
the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your
strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.
Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when
you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as
symbols on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframe of your houses and on
your gates.”
Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he
will not depart from it.”
In the beginning, all the schools in America used the New England Primer as
their text book – every page of that little book proclaims God’s sovereignty in
creating and maintaining the heavens, the earth and all that exists.
In recent decades, God has been removed from our public education system,
prayers to God have been banned at school, the history of America’s founding
fathers’ deep appreciation and reverence for God’s Word has been deleted from the
text books — and in God’s place, secular humanism has been raised up, resulting in
moral decay, escalating violence at school, lower academic performance, increasing
number of drop outs and teenage pregnancies, and a drug & alcohol epidemic.
5. Work Ethic…
Since the very early days of creation, when the curse of sin began to bring
consequences upon our world and all that lived in it, man was forced to work for his
food by the labor of his hands and the sweat of his brow.
Genesis 3:17-19, “To Adam [God] said, ‘Because you have listened to your wife,
and ate from the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it’;
Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it All the
days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the
plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return
to the ground,since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you shall
return.”
But you know, even life’s most mundane tasks and simplest pleasures can bring
great joy and fulfillment to a person who is in a right relationship with God.
There is dignity to be found in hard work, dignity that a welfare system, which
gives something for nothing, expecting nothing in return, has stripped away from
millions of Americans.
America’s free enterprise system of capitalism, was meant to encourage
ambition, incentive, competition and hard work; but even so, without God’s blessing
no one will find pleasure or fulfillment in their work.
2Thessalonians 3:6-10, “In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you,
brothers, to keep away from every brother who is idle and does not live according

to the teaching you received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to
follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat
anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day,
laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. We did this,
not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to offer ourselves
as a model for you to follow. For even when we were with you, we gave you this
rule: “If a man will not work, he shall not eat.”
Ecclesiastes 2:24-26, “A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and
find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without
Him who can eat or find enjoyment?”
6. God’s Covenant People/God’s Church…
Long ago God told Abraham that out of his offspring would come a great nation
of people through whom all the families of the earth would be blessed.
Genesis 12:1-3, “The Lord had said to Abraham, ‘Leave your country, your people
and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into
a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a
blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and
all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.’”
God made an eternal covenant with Abraham, to be shared by every true
believer and follower of Christ.
Genesis 17:7, “I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between
Me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your
God and the God of your descendants after you.”
Galatians 3:29 says, “If you belong to Christ, you are Abraham’s seed
[offspring or descendant], and [therefore] heirs according to the promise [of God].”
Jesus tells His disciples (John 14:16-17), “I will ask the Father, and He will give you
another Counselor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth.” In verse 26 He
adds, “The Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will
teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”
Ephesians 1:13-14, “You also were included in Christ when you heard the word of
truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in Him with a
seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until
the redemption of those who are God’s possession to the praise of His glory.”
1Peter 1:3-4, “He has given us new birth into a living hope through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead., and into an inheritance that can never
perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you.”
John 1:12-13, “to all who received Him [Jesus the Christ], to those who believed
in His name, He gave the right to become children of God—children born not of
natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”

This new birth is from God, Who wants a people of His very own, a people who
will honor and obey Him.
1Peter 2:9, “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people
belonging to God.”
2Peter 1:3-4, “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and
godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and
goodness. He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that though
them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the
world caused by evil desires.”
God established the church, so that His people might know Him, belong to Him,
and serve Him through an eternal spiritual body, of which Christ is the head.
John 14:19-20, “Because I live, you also will live. …I am in my Father, and you are
in Me, and I am in you.”
Colossians 1:16-18, “For by Him all things were created: things in heaven and on
earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all
things were created by Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all
things hold together. And He is the Head of the body, the church.”
Ephesians 2:19-22, “You are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens
with God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the
apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the chief cornerstone. In Him
the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.
And in Him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives
by His Spirit.”
1Corinthians 12:12-14, “The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts;
and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we
were all baptized by one Spirit into one body–whether Jews or Greeks, slave or
free–and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Now the body is not made up of
one part but of many.” 18 “In fact, God has arranged the parts in the body, every
one of them, just as He wanted them to be.” 20 “As it is, there are many parts. but
one body.” 27 “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”
7. God’s Civil Government/the State…
God also established human, civil government.
Romans 13:1, “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for
there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that
exist have been established by God.”
1Peter 2:13-17, “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority
instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to
governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend
those who do right. For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the

ignorant talk of foolish men. Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a
cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. Show proper respect to everyone: Love
the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.”
And so, we are to pray for the leaders placed over us; but we must obey God’s
Word, first and foremost, above all authorities on earth: Jesus said (Mark 12:17),
“Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s but give to God what is God’s.”
Ultimately, everything is God’s to do with as He pleases — marriages, families,
churches, communities, institutions, organizations and nations will all fail, when
God’s sovereign Word is not acknowledged, revered, and applied!
We live in a post-Christian America where the majority of its citizens are either
aggressively opposed to God or overtly indifferent toward Him.
Peter Marshall, a Scottish-American Preacher, twice appointed Chaplain to the
US Senate (1947-1949) declared, “The choice before us is plain, Christ or chaos,
conviction or compromise, discipline or disintegration. I am rather tired of hearing
about our rights and privileges as American citizens. The time is come, it now is,
when we ought to hear about the duties and responsibilities of our citizenship.
America’s future depends upon her accepting and demonstrating God’s
government.”
America’s greatness is equal to each of its citizens who acknowledge, apply,
promote and proclaim, God’s plan, purpose, and provision of forgiveness for sins
and eternal life through Jesus Christ the Lord.
America is in a spiritual crisis that is not going to end well, no matter who is
elected into whatever positions of authority; but we, as servants of God, should
make the effort to find out what the various candidates believe, and how they have
voted, in reference to God’s principles, as we have studied them today.
Galatians 6:9-10, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time
we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let
us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”
Colossians 3:17, “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the
name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”