THE
SALVATION OF A NATION
by Dr. Jack Hyles
First Electronic Printing in
August, 1994, by FFEP Originally published in 1985 This sermon is public
domain text. Permission has been given by the author to distribute freely.
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Help us to get the word out! Dr. Jack Hyles is pastor of First Baptist
Church of Hammond, Indiana (America’s largest church). He started
pastoring at the age of 19 in Texas and in 1959, moved to Hammond to
pastor the First Baptist Church. Dr. Hyles with the help of the LORD, has
seen the church grow to where it is now America’s largest church. Several
Sundays, this church has seen over 3,000 walk the aisles, professing faith
in Jesus Christ as Saviour.
Dr. Hyles also is
Founder-Chancellor of Hyles-Anderson College in Crown Point, Indiana.
Hyles-Anderson College is the nation’s premier training ground for Baptist
preachers, evangelists, missionaries and Christian workers.
THE SALVATION OF A NATION
II Chronicles 7:14, “If My
people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray,
and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from
Heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” Leviticus
2:13, “And every oblation of thy meat-offering shall thou season with
salt; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be
lacking from thy meat-offering: with all thine offerings thou shalt offer
salt.” Numbers 18:19, “All the heave-offerings of the holy things, which
the children of Israel offer unto the Lord, have I given thee, and thy
sons and thy daughters with thee, by a statute for ever: it is a covenant
of salt for ever before the Lord unto thee and to thy seed with thee.” II
Chronicles 13:5, “Ought ye not to know that the Lord God of Israel gave
the kingdom over Israel to David for ever, even to him and to his sons by
a covenant of salt?” Just exactly how are nations saved? This does not
deal with all the people of a nation coming to Christ but rather how a
nation can be saved from destruction and from God’s total disfavor so that
our sins can be forgiven and our land can be healed.
To understand this properly we
turn to the phrase, “the covenant of salt.” II Chronicles 13:5, “Ought ye
not to know that the Lord God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to
David for ever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt?” A
covenant of salt was a covenant made between individuals pledging an
unbreakable friendship. They vowed that strong friendship to each other,
and as a symbol of that covenant, they ate bread and salt together. The
bread symbolized the nourishment of the friendship and the salt with its
savoring capacity emphasized the durability of the friendship. Salt had an
important part to play in religious ceremony and sacrifices in the Word of
God. For example, salt had to be in every sacrifice. Leviticus 2:13, “And
every oblation of thy meat-offering shall thou season with salt; neither
shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from
thy meat-offering: with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt.” The
Christian is called the salt of the earth. Matthew 5:13, “Ye are the salt
of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be
salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be
trodden under foot of men.” Christ is called the Bread of Life. John 6:35,
“And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to Me
shall never hunger; and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst.”
The conclusion is, Christ will
enter into a covenant with His people—a covenant that will not be broken.
However, God will not enter into a covenant with a nation unless there is
enough salt for the preservation of that nation. Since Christians are
called the salt of the earth, there are two requirements for this covenant
before God will enter into such an agreement: First, there must be enough
salt in that nation. Second, that salt must have not lost its savour. God
is looking for enough salt that is savoured in a nation so He can spare
that nation from destruction. Note what this salt is. Salt represents the
righteousness of Christ. Savoured salt represents personal righteousness.
These two forms of righteousness are mentioned in Romans 10:1-3,
“Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they
might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but
not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s
righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have
not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.”
Abraham came to God and begged
for the salvation of Sodom. His nephew, Lot, was there, and Abraham did
not want Lot and his family destroyed. He asked God that if he could find
50 righteous people, would God spare the city? God agreed to do so.
Abraham could not find 50, so he pleaded for the salvation of Sodom if he
could find 40. Again he failed. Then he asked if the quota could be
lowered to 30. It was. He failed again and requested the quota be lowered
to 20. Again he failed to find 20 righteous people. Finally God agreed
that He would save Sodom for 10 righteous people!
Now it must be understood that
these ten righteous people must have both imputed righteousness and
personal righteousness. They must be salt and they must be savoured salt.
This was the only hope for the city. Genesis 19:1, “And there came two
angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing
them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the
ground.” Notice that Lot was at the gate of the city. Some have suggested
that he was an alderman. Others have with justification, supposed that he
was the mayor, for at the gate of the city sat the judges, magistrates and
city leaders. The business of the city was done at the gate, much as it
is done at city hall today. At least we know one thing—Lot was a city
official. Neither cities nor nations are saved because the right officials
are elected! The soul winner does more for the salvation of his nation
than does the precinct captain. The answer for America is not excessive
political involvement on the part of God’s people, but it is the excessive
soul winning on the part of God’s people and the excessive preaching of
righteousness, separation and standards in our pulpits and in our homes!
I believe that God has a quota
set for America—a quota of righteous people who are possessed with the
imputed righteousness of Christ in response to their faith and with the
personal righteousness of a holy life! I do not know what that quota is.
In Sodom it was ten, but I believe with all my heart that God has placed a
number of people as a quota for the salvation of this land, and that God
will enter into a covenant of salt with us if we can find sufficient salt
that has not lost its savour! The answer for America is not in a
generation of preachers who leave their pulpits and leave their soul
winning to enter politics. Of course, we should vote. Of course, we should
pray for our elected officials. Of course, as citizens we should have some
participation influencing others to vote properly, but this should be
minute in comparison with the gathering of salt. This nation and every
other nation will be spared only by direct intervention from God Almighty!
I am talking about the walls of Jericho crumbling. I am talking about the
drying of the Red Sea. I am talking about the sun standing still for
Joshua. The only hope for America is for soul winners to get busy winning
souls and for leaders to get busy preaching personal holiness so that God
will enter with us into a covenant of salt and will spare our land! Now
notice Genesis 19:26, “But his wife looked back from behind him, and she
became a pillar of salt.” Why was Lot’s wife turned to a pillar of salt?
There was not enough salt in the city to cause a covenant of salt. When a
city is taken in battle, its destruction was finalized when the conqueror
would sow it with savourless salt. What a symbol this is! Savourless salt
will not spare a nation; it causes its destruction!
What then brings the salvation
of a nation? II Chronicles 7:14, “If My people, which are called by My
name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from
their wicked ways; then will I hear from Heaven, and will forgive their
sin, and will heal their land.” A nation is not saved because the
homosexuals straighten up or because the drunkards sober up. A nation is
saved when there are enough Christians to form enough salt with savour so
God will make with that nation a covenant of salt! Those Christians must
needs be separated and holy in their living. For many years this has been
my goal in my ministry. I have gone day and night for years. The thrust of
my ministry has been twofold—soul winning and separation, for I believe
with all my heart that if we can get enough people saved and possess the
imputed righteousness of Christ and then get those people holy so they
will possess personal righteousness, God will look down from Heaven and
forgive our sins and heal our land. Notice again the words in II
Chronicles 7:14, as follows:
1. “If My people, which are called
by My name.” There you have the salt.
2. “Shall humble themselves, and
pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways.” There you have
the salt with savour.
3. “Then will I hear from
Heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” Here you
have the salvation of the nation. The answer, therefore, is in building
soul-winning churches over the length and breadth of this nation and in
preaching of separation and personal holiness in those churches. The
answer is not in the White House; it is in the church house. It is not
house-to-house registering of voters; it is house-to-house preaching
Christ. I have four children and nine grandchildren. I have lived a lot
of years. At this writing I am 58 years of age. I have preached over
41,500 sermons. I have flown nearly five million miles on airplanes. I
have watched this nation deteriorate. Every patriotic American longs to
see our nation spared. Some fell that its sparing is in political reform.
Some feel that the nation can be spared if conservatives stay in the White
House and Senate. I believe that America can be spared only by Divine
intervention! It will take a miracle akin to that of the crossing of the
Red Sea or of the crumbling of the walls of Jericho. I believe that God
must intervene. He will not intervene until we have won enough people to
Christ and made enough of them holy so that God, Who is the Bread of Life,
can meet with His holy people, who are the salt of the earth, and that
salt and bread can be mingled into a covenant of salt so that God says to
a nation, “I will enter into an agreement with you for an unbreakable
friendship for your generation.”
I long to see my children and
grandchildren live their lives in the kind of America that I have known. I
long to see the judging hand of God stayed. I have given most of my life
to this end. When I lay my Bible down, walk out of the pulpit for the last
time after having preached my last sermon, I want to look at those who
follow me and say, “I did my best to get enough salt and to get enough
salt savoured so that you will have the nation I have known.” I may be
wrong. I don’t think I am.
May God give us preachers and
churches aflame with the message of salvation and stricken with compassion
to preach holiness so that we may have enough people with imputed
righteousness and enough of those with personal righteousness so that God
will look from Heaven and say, “America has met My quota. There is enough
salt and enough savoured salt for Me to enter with them into a covenant of
salt so that their generation may be spared.” To this end I work! For this
I pray! In this I hope! God, save America!