“And they began to accuse him, saying, We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ a King. And Pilate asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews? And he answered him and said, Thou sayest it. Then said Pilate to the chief priests and to the people, I find no fault in this man.”–Luke 23:2–4

Dr. W. A. Criswell began his ministry in a small town in Oklahoma. He would often preach on Saturdays to the crowds gathered at the farmer’s market or at the courthouse. One day as he preached, Criswell asked the people why they were not attending church. He later said, “That was a rhetorical, question, and then I added, ‘If you can give any good reason why you separate yourself from the people of God and why you don’t go to church, come up here and tell us why don’t you go.’” To his shock, person after person began to line up and pour out their complaints about what they had experienced in churches.

Criswell said that he went home weeping. He was filled with sorrow at what he had witnessed. Then He said that as he thought about it and prayed, he realized something important. “They had much to say against the preacher, much to say against the deacon, much to say against the church, much to say against the people, but I happened finally to realize not one, not one in all of that throng, not one ever said a word against the Lord Jesus Christ—I find in Him no fault at all.”

We have a perfect Saviour. Only a sinless, spotless Lamb could be the sacrifice for the sins of the world, for otherwise Jesus would have had to pay for His own sins rather than ours. No matter how He is examined, no one ever finds fault with Jesus.

“Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance. The LORD looketh from heaven; he beholdeth all the sons of men. From the place of his habitation he looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth.”–Psalm 33:12–14

When the long battle for America’s independence ended, the Continental Army that General George Washington led through great hardship to victory was disbanded. Before he left New York to return to his home at Mt. Vernon, General Washington wrote a letter to the governors of the thirteen states that made up the new nation. In the conclusion of his letter Washington wrote:

“I now make it my earnest prayer that God would have you, and the State over which you preside, in His holy protection; that He would incline the hearts of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to government, to entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another, for their fellow-citizens of the United States at large, and particularly for brethren who have served in the field; and finally that He would most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility, and pacific temper of mind, which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion, and without an humble imitation of whose example in these things, we can never hope to be a happy nation.”

God has blessed America greatly. While we are not a Christian nation in the sense that all are believers, our government was founded on Christian principles and understanding. The farther we go away from the truth as a nation, the farther we go from God’s protective hand. Our great hope for the future is not political change but genuine revival.