Sound of Faith

R. G. Hardy: Let's turn in our Bibles to Matthew the fifth chapter, and we're going to look at verses 13 and 14, and we're going to read it together. Verse 13: "Ye are the salt of the earth. But if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trodden underfoot of men." Verse 14: "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid."

We know that Jesus was the speaker here, and I want to look closely at what he said, the final part. We'll refer to the beginning later, but right now I want to look at the last part of this verse: "A city set on the hill cannot be hid." When I was asking the Lord which way to go, because I didn't know which route to go just to stay with the patriotic part or to get into the spiritual part or what to do, as I was in prayer, I heard this scripture. It just came right to me: "A city set on the hill cannot be hid."

So I knew that was the scripture, but I didn't know what to do with it. And then the Lord began to bring things to me. I want to tell you that in a very literal way, our nation's capital, Washington, D.C., is a city set on a hill. How many of you have ever noticed when you watch your news at night and you have the news reporters and they're standing there and the Capitol is in the background? And they'll say, "Such and such reporting from Capitol Hill."

And sometimes they'll even shorten it down and they'll say, "Up on the Hill today, the senators met in secret session." Or they'll say, "On the Hill such and such happened." They always refer, and when you hear someone say "on the Hill," what do you immediately know they mean? They're referring to the Capitol Building. They're referring to the Capitol, the seat of government where the House of Representatives and the senators meet.

Whenever we hear them say "on the Hill," we know exactly what hill they're talking about and that they're speaking of the Capitol. And Washington, D.C., in many ways, is the highest seat of government for the entire planet. There is no higher seat of government, politically speaking, than Washington, D.C. It is the symbol and the emblem of liberty and freedom, the ideal of human government, and the decisions that are made on the Hill have far-reaching power and influence.

Washington, D.C. is a city set on a hill. And Jesus said, "A city set on a hill cannot be hid." So let's look at some of the significance of the literal government buildings and monuments in Washington, D.C. and how our Christian foundations are built on those and they still speak that today as a city that cannot be hid. The Capitol Building, its cornerstone was laid by George Washington himself, our very first president.

Later a box containing very significant documents about the nation's founding was inserted into that cornerstone by Daniel Webster, who at that time was the Secretary of the State. And upon inserting that box in the cornerstone of the Capitol Building, Daniel Webster spoke these words: "To all here assembled, whether belonging to public life or private life, with hearts devoutly thankful to Almighty God for the presence of the liberty and happiness of our country, unite in sincere and fervent prayer that the deposit in the walls and arches, the domes and towers, the columns and entablatures now to be erected over it may endure forever. God save the United States of America."

Because a city set on a hill cannot be hid. Did you hear on CBS News that now they're reporting that the plane that went down in Pennsylvania because the people on board knew what was going on and made it crash, all this time we were told that it was headed for the White House? But now they've released what they believe to be the truth, that it was actually headed for the Capitol Building.

Imagine if it had hit the Capitol Building, the destruction and the loss of life and all of the place where the senators are enacting our laws and carrying out business. What a devastating blow that would be. Because why? A city set on a hill cannot be hid. And the very cornerstone of that building literally has within it the name of Almighty God. If you were to go inside the Capitol and tour it, you would find that in the Rotunda all around it are these beautiful huge oil paintings of our early fathers signing different documents in different postures.

But you will find in all of these pictures some reference to God. Maybe it's a Bible or someone kneeling down to pray. You will find all throughout the Capitol Building scriptures. And if you were to go into the House of Representatives where our 400-plus congressmen meet to enact our laws, you would find engraved upon the marble wall above the very seat where the Speaker of the House sits, our national motto, which was approved by both the Senate and the Congress, that says, "In God we trust."

Because a city set on a hill cannot be hid. Let's go to the White House. In one of its rooms above a fireplace, placed there by the first president that was to reside in the White House, which happened to be President John Adams, he placed over the fireplace these words: "I pray heaven to bestow the best of blessings upon this White House and upon all that shall hereafter inhabit it." Washington, D.C., a city set on a hill that cannot be hid.

Let's go to the Supreme Court. Upon the opening of every single session of the Supreme Court, the court crier opens with these words: "Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! All persons here assembled and having business before the honorable Supreme Court of the United States are admonished to draw near and give their attention, for the court is now sitting. God save the United States and the honorable Supreme Court." Washington, D.C., a city set on a hill that cannot be hid.

If we were to go to the Washington Monument, it rises hundreds of feet into the sky. It's in commemoration of our first president, George Washington. If you were to go inside and you weren't restricted and you were inclined to do so and had the energy and the stamina, you could climb the stairs to the very top. And as you climb those stairs, if you were to pay attention to the walls around you, all the way up you would find scripture verses lining the walls.

You would read such things as, "The memory of the just shall be blessed. Search the scriptures, for in them you shall find eternal life, and they are they that testify of me." You would find "Holiness unto the Lord." You would find, "Suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them not, for such is the kingdom of heaven." You would find, "Train up a child in the way that he should go, and when he is old he shall not depart from it."

You would find our national motto, "In God we trust." You would find this prayer: "May heaven to this Union continue its beneficence." And should you make it to the very top and could you go out and look at that metal golden dome that caps the top of the Washington Monument, you would read the words, "Praise be to God." Because Washington, D.C. is a city set on a hill that cannot be hid.

If you were then to go to the Library of Congress, this is the greatest collection of human knowledge assembled on the planet. Were you to visit its chambers, you would see such verses from the Bible upon its walls as Psalm 19: "The heavens declare the glory of God and the earth shows forth his handiwork." You would read this verse, which is one of my very favorite and speaks to every generation, Micah 6:8: "Thou knowest, O man, what does the Lord require of thee, but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God."

Because Washington is a city that is set on a hill that cannot be hid. We read these words also on the walls there: "This nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom." So that means that when in 1954 the Congress decided to add "under God" into the Pledge of Allegiance, they weren't just inserting their own opinion, but they were going back to the very founders of this country.

They were only repeating the very words that are etched in the walls of the Washington Monument: "One nation under God." Amen? And were you to research while you're in there at the Library of Congress all the inaugural speeches of all the presidents that we've had. What are we up to, 42 now? Something like that. I don't know if George W. is 42, I think. If you were to research all their addresses, you would find every one of them from George Washington to George W. Bush make reference to Almighty God.

In fact, when the president stands before the Supreme Court Justice and puts his hand on the Bible to give the oath of the president's office and to take that office, as he repeats those words with his hand on the Bible, his final word is, "So help me God." Because Washington, D.C. is a city set on a hill that cannot be hid. If you were specifically—we're not going to look at all 42, but let's just look at George Washington's very first inaugural address.

He said, and I quote, "It would be peculiarly improper of me to omit in this my first official act my fervent supplication to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe and who presides in the councils of nations." He said it would be odd, it would be peculiar, it would be totally remiss of me to omit that, to not give supplications to the Almighty God because he rules in the universe and he presides over the politics and the governments and the councils of nations.

Washington, D.C. is a city that is set on a hill that cannot be hid. If you, while you were there at the Library of Congress, decided you wanted to research all the constitutions of all 50 states, you would find in every one of them, every constitution from Alaska to Wyoming, without exception, they include either an appeal to or a prayer to Almighty God. I'll just pick one: New York.

What does New York's Constitution say? "We, the people of New York, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, in order to procure his blessings, do establish this constitution." New York is also a city set on a hill that cannot be hid. If we were to look at all of these buildings, and I'm just really scratching the surface, there's so much more that time doesn't afford me the opportunity to go into any more than this.

But I think you get the idea that our nation, our Christian foundation was set on a hill that cannot be hid. If we look at the Declaration of Independence that started the whole thing, that was the very first thing that birthed our nation. We would find that as this group of men gathered together in hot summer days, and remember they didn't have air conditioning. And there they sat in their white powder wigs and their ruffled collars up to here and their tights on.

There they sat in those hot un-airconditioned buildings and they had come together for their convention so that they could put together their official document that would become the Declaration of Independence. They labored for three hot, sweaty weeks and got nowhere. They looked at all the forms of governments throughout Europe looking for a model that would speak to them after which they could model this government of the United States.

But they couldn't find anything. They found nothing that was what they felt that God wanted for this nation. So after three sweaty, long, miserable weeks, a short, stocky, bespectacled man stood up by the name of Benjamin Franklin. And he said, and I quote, "I have lived a long time and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of the truth that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, it is probable that no empire can rise without his aid. We have been assured, sirs, in the sacred writings"—in case you don't know what that is, that's the Bible—"that except the Lord build a house, they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this."