The American Soul
The American Soul
The Transformative Power of Godly Sorrow
Jesse Cope explores the connection between biblical principles and American liberty, diving into 2 Corinthians 7 on the difference between godly and worldly sorrow, and examining why America's founders intentionally created a republic rather than a democracy.
• True repentance shows evidence of change and demonstrates our faith in Christ to others
• America's founders deliberately established a republic, not a democracy, which they viewed as dangerous and self-destructive
• Historical quotes from Madison, Adams, and Fisher Ames warn about the dangers of democratic systems
• Abigail Adams' letter to John Adams demonstrates the faith that sustained founding families during national trials
• The restoration of America depends on returning to God and the general principles of Christ
• Recommended resources include America's God and Country Encyclopedia of Quotations and The Patriot's Bible
May God bless you, your marriages, your families, America, and your nation wherever you are around the world.
The American Soul Podcast
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Hey folks, this is Jesse Cope, back with another episode of the American Soul Podcast. Hope y'all are doing well, wherever y'all are, whatever part of the day you're in. As always, I sure do appreciate you joining me, giving me a little bit of your time, a little piece of your day, and for those of y'all who continue to share the podcast with others, tell others about it. For those of y'all that continue to pray for the podcast, thank you so very much, very, very grateful for the prayers and your support. Father, thank you for today. Thank you for you, father, and your Son, jesus Christ, and your Holy Spirit. Thank you for your love and your mercy and your grace and your forgiveness, for all the many blessings you bestow upon us as individuals and as a nation. Thank you for the time to record this podcast. Thank you for the people that listen to it and share it with others, support it. Thank you for those who pray for me. Father, please be with them, be with their families, bless the marriages of those who are married, guide those who have children and raising them to know you and your Son, jesus Christ. Heal whatever brokenness that they have, father, Ease whatever pain and heartache they're going through. Help them to feel your peace and your comfort and your joy To know you. Father, help us to all trust in you and your promises and to know that one day, because of your son not because of anything we've done or haven't done that we will get to spend eternity in heaven with you, forever, where there will be no more tears and no more sorrow, no more sadness, no more pain, no more heartache, only joy, laughter, peace, happiness. Thank you for that, father, that great hope. Please be with our leaders, both in the pulpit and in the state. Help them to rule and lead in fear of you, father. Be with their wives and their children. And please guide my words here. In your son's name we pray Amen. So the Bible today we're going to get into 2 Corinthians 7, 8-16.
Speaker 1:I am not sorry that I sent that severe letter to you, though I was sorry at first, for I know it was painful for you for a little while. Now I am glad I sent it, not because it hurt you, but because the pain caused you to repent and change your ways. You, but because the pain caused you to repent and change your ways. It was the kind of sorrow God wants his people to have, so you were not harmed by us in any way, for the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There's no regret for that kind of sorrow, but worldly sorrow which lacks repentance results in spiritual death. Just see what this godly sorrow produced in you Such earnestness, such concern to clear yourselves, such indignation, such alarm, such longing to see me, such zeal and such a readiness to punish wrong. You showed that you have done everything necessary to make things right. My purpose, then, was not to write about who did the wrong or who was wrong. I wrote to you so that, in the sight of God, you could see for yourselves how loyal you are to us. We have been greatly encouraged by this. In addition to our own encouragement, we were especially delighted to see how happy Titus was about the way all of you welcomed him and set his mind at ease. I told him how proud I was of you, and you didn't disappoint me. I have always told you the truth, and now my boasting to Titus has also proved true. Now he cares for you more than ever. When he remembers the way all of you obeyed him and welcomed him with such fear and deep respect. I am very happy now because I have complete confidence in you.
Speaker 1:Psalm 48, 1-14. How great is the Lord, how deserving of praise in the city of our God which sits on his holy mountain. It is high and magnificent. The whole earth rejoices to see it. Mount Zion, the holy mountain, is the city of the great King. God himself is in Jerusalem's towers, revealing himself as its defender.
Speaker 1:The kings of the earth joined forces and advanced against the city, but when they saw it, they were stunned. They were terrified and ran away. They were gripped with terror and writhed in pain like a woman in labor. You destroyed them like the mighty ships of Tarshish, shattered by a powerful east wind. We had heard of the city's glory, but now we have seen it ourselves the city of the Lord of heaven's armies. It is the city of our God. He will make it safe forever. O God, we meditate on your unfailing love as we worship in your temple, as your name deserves. O God, we meditate on your unfailing love as we worship in your temple, as your name deserves. O God, you will be praised to the ends of the earth. Your strong right hand is filled with victory. Let the people on Mount Zion rejoice. Let all the towns of Judah be glad because of your justice. Go inspect the city of Jerusalem, walk around and count the many towers, take note of the fortified walls and tour all the citadels that you may describe them to future generations. For that is what God is like. He is our God forever and ever and he will guide us until we die.
Speaker 1:Proverbs 22, verse 17 through 19. Listen to the word of the wise, apply your heart to my instruction, for it is good to keep these sayings in your heart and always ready on your lips. I am teaching you today. Yes, you, so you will trust in the Lord. You go back to 2 Corinthians, chapter 7, and you notice the difference between sorrow, between worldly sorrow and godly sorrow. Right, if we're really sorry, folks, about our actions, if we really repent of our actions, then there's some change, there's proof of that sorrow and repentance. It doesn't mean that we're going to be perfect None of us are. It doesn't mean we're never going to slip and stumble and fall again, maybe into the same sin, maybe into a different sin, but what it means is that there's quantifiable, there's evidence of change, of repentance, and that action, that attempt, that effort to redress, to fix those problems shows other people our faith in Christ. All right, we'll move on. So again, some great resources when you're looking for to learn about this connection between God and Jesus Christ and our Republic in America and really liberty in general the America's God and Country Encyclopedia of Quotations by William J Federer, the Patriots Bible by Richard G Lee and the Founders Bible edited by David Bartner and the group from Wall Builders, and you can find these quotes a lot of places.
Speaker 1:Folks, avalon Project out of Yale is a good one. This is just a place where they put a lot of quotes together and they kind of tie it into the Bible. They do a really good job of that, actually in the two Bibles, and so it's just kind of it's a nice reference. Article four, section four of the US Constitution the United States shall guarantee to every state in this union a Republican form of government. Right, we seem to have forgotten that a lot today. We're not a democracy and our founders didn't want a democracy. They wanted a Republican form of government, and the universal suffrage that we see today lends itself a lot more toward mob democracy, mob rule, than it does a republican form of government, and you can't have that republican form of government without God and Jesus Christ. Not that produces liberty without those principles of Christ.
Speaker 1:James Madison, democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention, have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property, and have, in general, been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths. Our founders were rightly afraid of democracies. They knew that they didn't last, that they were violent and chaotic and that they ignored security and safety rights, property. John Adams, remember democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide. A democracy is a volcano which conceals the fiery materials of its own destruction. These will produce an eruption and carry desolation in their way. That's Fisher Ames, one of the framers of the Bill of Rights. He's also the guy that actually happened to word the Establishment Clause. We've talked about him often. The point here again, being folks that we didn't, our founders didn't set up a democracy. They didn't want a democracy, and a democracy is a very dangerous, destructive form of government that does not lead to liberty.
Speaker 1:Abigail Adams, one of my all-time favorite first ladies. She was the wife of President John Adams, also the mother of our sixth president, john Quincy Adams. This is a letter. They had a great love story, by the way. If you ever get a chance to read about it, there's a couple of pretty good books about it.
Speaker 1:October 16th, 1774, and she wrote to her husband from their home home in Braintree, Massachusetts. This was right. So, just before war with Great Britain. I dare not express to you, at 300 miles distance, how ardently I long for your return and whether the end will be tragical, heaven only knows. You cannot be I know, nor do I wish to see you an inactive spectator If the sword is drawn. I bid adieu to all domestic felicity and look forward to that country where there are neither wars nor rumors of war, in a firm belief that, through the mercy of its King, we shall both rejoice there together. Your most affectionate Abigail Adams.
Speaker 1:Whatever's coming today, folks, that's the kind of stance, that's the kind of faith that we need to let God worry about the results and to know that because, despite our sins and our failures and our weaknesses, because of Jesus Christ alone and God's promise that we will have eternal life in that country where there are neither wars nor rumors of wars because of the mercy of its King of God and that we will see our loved ones there again who also have faith in Jesus Christ. That's another reason to spread the gospel, spread the word of God, to share the Bible as often as we can, with as many people as we can. There was something else. Oh, the king, I wish I had the quote in front of me. Oh the king, I wish I had the quote in front of me. I can't remember. I think it might have been Thomas Paine, actually, but I'm not sure. That said.
Speaker 1:Some ask where the king of America is, and I tell your friend, he reigns in heaven. That's a poor paraphrase, but that's where we have to turn, folks. If we have any hope of defeating the evils in our country today leftism, socialism, communism, nazism, fascism, islam we have to turn back to God and Jesus Christ. It's not a particular denomination, folks, but scripture and the general principles of Christ. God bless you all. God bless your marriages. God bless your marriages. God bless your families. God bless America. God bless your nation, wherever you are around the world. Listen, folks. We'll talk to y'all again real soon.