FIGHT FOR THE SOUL OF YOUR NATION
SPEAKER: PASTOR DARIN BROWNE
We sing Advance Australia Fair, but but we should sing Advance Australia Where? Our nation is not advancing, it’s reversing, going down the tube in almost every way.
Every generation shapes the soul of that nation. There are battles fought with weapons, and there are battles fought with words, ideas, values, and prayers. History teaches us that a nation can survive military defeat and rise again, but when it loses its moral and spiritual compass, its very soul is endangered.
It’s time to fight for the soul of our nation of Australia!
This is not a call to political hatred. It is not a call to fear. It’s not a call to place our hope in any party, leader, or ideology. It is a call for the people of God to recognise that the greatest battle we face is not over economics, borders, or policies. The greatest battle is over truth, righteousness, justice, mercy, family, worship, and the knowledge of God.
The soul of a nation is shaped by what it loves, what it honours, what it tolerates, and what it teaches its children. We are fast losing our soul in Australia, but this morning I declare what Mordecai said to Esther, Esther 4:14, “who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
A LESSON FROM HISTORY
There is historical precedent for what we are seeing in our nation today. In the late 1700s, England and France were on parallel paths. Society was under pressure and falling apart, so let’s have a look at what happened.
Proverbs 14:34
Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.
Let me describe the situation in those two nations, and you will see a parallels with our nation of Australia.
In both England and France, heavy drinking was widespread. The Gin craze had devastated families across the classes; much the same way drink and drugs have devastated our people. Child exploitation for labour was common, with kids as young as five years of age working in pits. Prisons were overcrowded and brutal, violence on the streets and industrialisation was uprooting families from the countryside bringing them into the cities.
Church attendance was low, pastors were dull and indifferent to the suffering of the people, never speaking out about the evils of their culture. Christianity was openly mocked on stage and in books. The state churches, the church of England and in France, the Roman Catholic Church, were completely disassociated from the people.
In France the king and the state was so far in debt, half of all government revenue was spent on interest. People were taxed to the extreme to keep the government’s spending going, and the age of enlightenment led to heavy criticism and outright mockery of the church and Christianity. Doesn’t that sound a bit like today?
WHAT HAPPENED?
Isaiah 45:22
“Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.
France turned away from God and embraced humanism. Mankind deified himself, chasing a utopia where all men were equal, like communism. They rejected God, and embraced a philosophy promoted by Voltaire, and other atheistic thinkers. The needs of the collective were deemed more important than any individual. The masses were angry and turned to mass violence, thousands faced the guillotine, because each person’s rights were less important that the collective.
England, on the other hand, through the preaching of John Wesley, George Whitfield and others, turned to Christ. The working classes were angry, but Wesley preached and pointed them to Christ, and to quote one historian, “Methodism channelled working-class discontent into religious and social life rather than revolutionary violence.”
One nation turned to God, the other to man-made philosophies. One ended in harmony and prosperity, and the other ended in a violent bloodbath.
Our nation is at such a pivotal moment right now. We have widespread discontent with our culture and especially government, people are hurting, finances desperate, God is being rejected, humanism is dominant, babies are being murdered, children mutilated, and it’s all promoted by the government and media. Our nation is losing hope. Which way will our people turn? Let’s examine what God says.
THE SOUL OF A NATION CAN BE LOST
Jeremiah 9:12-14
Why is the land ruined and laid waste like a wilderness, so that no one passes through? And the LORD says: “Because they have forsaken my law that I set before them and have not obeyed my voice or walked in accord with it but have stubbornly followed their own hearts and have gone after the Baals, as their fathers taught them.
Any nation can become spiritually sick. A culture can become morally diseased. A nation can prosper outwardly while decaying inwardly. That’s Australia right now. Like ancient Israel we have national strength, wealth, and influence, but the heart of the nation has turned from God. Jeremiah declared it, Isaiah described people calling evil good and good evil. And if we are honest, that’s Australia. When this happens…
TRUTH BECOMES RELATIVE. Your truth is different to my truth. If truth is changeable, then it never was truth in the first place! Jesus said in John 8:32 “you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” But false truth enslaves, it never truly sets you free.
MARRIAGE AND FAMILY ARE WEAKENED. When the nation voted for gay marriage, (and remember it was done with an almost 100% media bias), they never imagined that it would open the door for transgenderism, Mardi gras and children being mutilated in the name of gender affirming care. A little bit of yeast spreads.
CHILDREN ARE CONFUSED RATHER THAN GUIDED. Transvestites doing story time for five-year-olds, kids in school being coached to change gender. This is the by-product of a humanistic, godless, secular, woke society!
VIOLENCE AND HATRED INCREASES. Riots on the streets, Muslim men raping and causing damage, protests and fierce anger on Facebook and everywhere.
FAITH IS PUSHED OUT. Christianity can’t even make it onto the census! So much for us being a Christian country.
A nation does not lose its soul in a single day. It loses it gradually – one compromise at a time, one silence at a time, one generation at a time.
Let me take a moment to describe our fight…
1: OUR BATTLE IS PRIMARILY SPIRITUAL
Ephesians 6:12 reminds us…
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age.”
Our enemies are not ultimately people, or political parties or friends who vote differently, think differently, or even those who oppose us. The real battle is against spiritual darkness that seeks to blind minds and harden hearts. It’s demonic.
2 Corinthians 4:4
the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
When the church forgets the spiritual battle, it becomes angry instead of compassionate, partisan instead of prophetic, and worldly instead of holy. Jesus did not call us to win arguments while losing our witness. The woke forces that oppose us are angry, aggressive and constantly offended by everything. We will not win this nation by being more offended and angrier than them. Only truth with love will win the soul of our nation.
The weapons of this fight are not carnal, but spiritual. Prayer, truth, holiness, love, courage and the gospel of Jesus Christ. Revival has never begun in parliament. It has always begun in praying hearts and faithful church communities.
2: HUMILITY COMES BEFORE INFLUENCE
2 Chronicles 7:14
if my people who are called by my name humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
If we want our land to be healed, we, the people of God, must come before God with humility. We often want God to humble the Prime Minister, the ABC, the nation, but God says His people must humble themselves first. Consider this…before we point to the sins of society, we must first examine the sins of the church.
Do we love comfort more than holiness? Have we been silent when truth needed to be spoken? Do we neglect prayer and disciplining our children? Have we cared for the poor and the broken? Have we looked with anger or disgust on a transgender or gay couple? How about reflecting the character of Christ? A proud church does not transform the soul of a nation. It is transformed by a humble, repentant church. One praying believer is more powerful than a thousand angry commentators.
3: SEEK THE WELFARE OF THE NATION
Jeremiah 29:7
Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you…and pray to the Lord on its behalf.
Jeremiah said these words to an exiled nation in pagan Babylon. God did not tell them to withdraw in bitterness. He told them to seek its welfare. God calls Christians to be the best citizens because they belong to a higher kingdom. We are keen to pray against the government and woke, but we need to first seek their welfare and their salvation.
Fighting for the soul of your nation means: Praying for leaders. Voting with a godly conscience. Speaking truth with grace. Defending the vulnerable. Honouring marriage and family. Serving your community without corruption or pride. It means loving all our people, even those who oppose you. We must pray for our leaders, even Mr Albanese.
4: BE SALT AND LIGHT IN OUR SOCIETY
Matthew 5:13-16
“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Salt preserves what would otherwise decay. Light exposes what would otherwise remain hidden. The church must do both. As Salt we must preserve moral truth. We do not surrender biblical convictions because culture changes. As Light we must shine with compassion, integrity, and hope. People must see not only what we are against, but what we are for. A dark world does not need a dim church.
5: REMEMBER THE GREATEST NEED: THE GOSPEL
Laws can restrain evil and change behaviour, but only the gospel can change the heart.
Mark 8:36
For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?
The same is true of a nation. A nation may gain wealth, technology, and power, yet lose compassion, truth, purity, and the fear of God. It can be the lucky country and squander that by moral decay. Our ultimate hope is not One Nation; it is spiritual renewal.
Revival comes when people encounter Jesus Christ. Only then are addicts are set free, families restored, and hearts softened. Communities are transformed not by more handouts, not by NDIS or greater pensions or tax incentives, but by the gospel. People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. The recipe for revival is still the same…if MY people!
IT’S TIME TO STEP UP AND FIGHT!
This is our moment! Every generation faces a defining moment. Moses faced Pharaoh, Elijah faced Baal, Daniel faced the might of Babylon, and Esther stepped up and saved her nation. John the Baptist faced Herod, the early church faced the Pharisees and Rome, and today, we face the government and the woke left. But I’m not afraid, because this is our time!
It will take courage; it will take commitment; it will take parents praying for their kids, churches speaking truth and standing for righteousness, God’s people seeking first God’s Kingdom.
Ezekiel 22:30
And I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none.
Oh Lord, let me be that man, let our church be that church!
Do not say, “Australia is too far gone.” God has revived worse nations before. Do not say, “But I am only one person.” One Daniel influenced an empire. One Esther saved her people. One church turned cities upside down. We can do it. We can see revival in our nation. But…
We must fight for the soul of our nation – not with hatred, but with love; not with fear, but with faith; not with compromise, but with holiness; not merely with opinions, but absolutely with prayer. And remember this: The wickedness of the world does not determine the future of a nation, but the faithfulness of the people of God does.
All that is required for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing! But we can, indeed must, do something…
PRAY
Do you pray for our nation? We often pray against our corrupt governments, the radical left, the depraved ABC. But do we pray for our people? Our leaders?
1 Timothy 2:1-2
I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions,
SAY
We need to speak up, not stay silent, because others interpret our silence as approval.
Proverbs 31:8-9
Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute.
Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.
STAY
We must stay on the Word of God. The Bible must remain our authority, and it must not be watered down by cultural pressures.
Hebrews 4:12
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
PORTRAY
Live out your life before our people, shining in the darkness for Jesus.
1 Peter 2:12
Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honourable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
Isaiah 59:19
When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.
Raise a banner, like Iwo Jima.