Welcome to a firm foundation presented by Princeton ministries with Dr. Ken Smith. This is Carol Smith, Ken’s wife. Please enjoy.

Now we know them as the presidents. There was a time when there was a great emphasis placed now, we know them as the presidents. There was a time when there was a great emphasis placed upon the lives of these men and others who were very important in the formation of our nation, but more in particular about the spiritual side of their life. And I thought it would be very appropriate at this weekend to talk about Abraham Lincoln and his spiritual life. There are two texts that I would like to point our attention to. If you would turn with me in your bibles to the Book of Exodus, chapter 20, verses 18 through 21, you’ll remember the circumstances. The Lord had given the ten commandments to Moses.

And in verse 18, we now, all the people witnessed the thundering, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpets trumpet and the mountain smoking. And when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off. Then they said to Moses, you speak with us and we will hear. But let not God speak with us, lest we die. And Moses said to the people, do not fear, for God has come to test you, and that his fear may before you so that you may not sin. And so the people stood afar off. But Moses drew near the thick darkness where God was. If you would turn with me in the New Testament to another mountain, not the mountain of Sinai, but the mountain of Calvary. Luke, chapter 23, single, verse 33.

And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified him and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left. Father, as we see these two mountains in your scripture, we ask that we might come to a fuller understanding of the place of Mount Sinai and the law, and the place of Mount Calvary and grace. And Father, we thank you for. For the heritage that we have within our land. Lord, we ask that as we would look at the spiritual life of Lincoln, that, Father, we might be struck anew, that no one is saved through the law, but it comes only through Mount Calvary as we look upon Jesus Christ. May the words of my mouth, the meditations of our hearts, be acceptable in your sight. I ask it in Jesus name. Amen.

Was Abraham Lincoln a Christian? Now there seems to be great diversity of opinion on the question. One of his earliest biographers was a man by the name of Herndon. Herndon knew Lincoln, and in his biography presents Lincoln as a skeptic. He makes a great emphasis on the fact, which is true, that Lincoln never joined a church. He was never baptized. And according to his earliest biographer, Herndon, that Abraham Lincoln was a man who had no faith in Jesus Christ. It should also be noted that Herndon never met with Lincoln after 1860. Lincoln died 1865. Yet on the other side of the coin, we find a number of biographers who make such declarations, as Bishop Matthew Simpson, who is one of Lincoln’s closest ministerial friends. He said, lincoln believed in Christ as the savior of sinners. Tolstoy said this, Lincoln was a Christ in miniature.

Now, how can a person at the same time be an unbeliever and a believer? Well, I think as we study the spiritual life of Lincoln, it will become clearer how this has happened. But I also want to say that we are not simply studying his life out of mere historical curiosity, because in the essence of the life of Lincoln are to be found certain truths of scripture. And through a study of the life of Lincoln, I believe that we will come clearer to understand the great truths of scripture. And I would also encourage you, as was the case of Lincoln, through most of his life, he was constantly asking himself this question, am I a Christian? That question never was far from the lips of Lincoln. As we shall see, the scripture presents two mountains that are very important in the panorama of scripture.

One is Mount Sinai, where Moses received the ten Commandments. And when he received those tablets, he came down, and the people were afraid, and they stood afar off, and they wanted nothing to do with Moses. They said, as long as you talk to us and tell us what the Lord told you, that’s fine, but we do not want to look upon the face of the Lord. We want to keep our distance. And from Mount Sinai, there were great thundering and lightning and smoke as Moses returned from the mountain to tell the people what he had heard from the lord. And like Moses, Lincoln also ascended Mount Sinai. For from his earliest beginnings, he recalls his mother.

And before we look to the life of Lincoln, as he lived in a family, where the scripture was read each morning and evening, where prayers were made at every meal, we asked the question, how did Lincoln’s father and mother meet? Well, there was a religious revival in Kentucky. The date, February 12, 1809. There was a young man who, while everyone else was in the midst of silent prayer, he leaped to his feet and he began to sing, dance. And soon he was joined by a young woman who also began to dance with him. And they went hand in hand as Tom Lincoln met for the first time, Nancy Hanks. From the marriage that followed, they bore a son, Abraham Lincoln. It was in an atmosphere of revivalism that Lincoln was born.

And when he was nine years old, Lincoln’s mother called the children to her bedside, knowing that she was close to death. And the last words that she spoke, according to Lincoln, were, Abe, I’m going to leave you now, and I shall not return. I want you to love your father. Live as I have taught you. Love your heavenly father. And the last words that she spoke to her son, keep his commandments. There was no minister to conduct the funeral of Lincoln’s mother. Eight months later, after her death, young Abe learned to write. The first letter that he ever wrote was a letter addressed to Reverend David Elkin, asking him to come and to preach a funeral service for his mother. Settlers came from all around to hear the sermon to remember Lincoln’s mother, Nancy.

But Lincoln says the words, keep his commandments rang throughout all of his life. For did not the scriptures teach, thou shalt not bear false witness. Did not the scriptures teach, thou shalt not lie? And so Lincoln became known as honest ape. So incredible was his concern for honesty that it was not uncommon for him in a court scene, if an opposing lawyer forgot a point that he had made, Lincoln would remind him of the point. He was asked by someone why he was so honest. He said, whenever I am tempted to do something wrong, I can still hear in my mind the tones of my mother’s voice as she said, I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage. Thou shalt not lie.

And did not the commandments teach to keep the Sabbath holy? On November 15, 1862, in the midst of one of the most tragic wars America was ever engaged in, the civil war, Abraham Lincoln, as the president, passed the Sunday rest order, and I quote the president, commander in chief of the army and navy, desires and enjoins the orderly observance of the Sabbath by the officers and men in the military and naval service. Keep his commandments. If ever there was a person who attempted to keep the commandments of God, it was Abraham Lincoln. Did not the commandments teach, you shall have no other God before me? We find, according to the records, that from the moment of his marriage, for the rest of his life, Lincoln was an active participant in church.

He and his wife owned a pew in the First Presbyterian Church of Springfield. According to a signed affidavit by the pastor of that church, Lincoln was in church every Sunday that he was not called out of town for political reasons. But on top of that, Lincoln, according to this pastor, was also to be found every Wednesday at midweek, inquirers worship for prayer and the singing of hymns and the study of God’s word. And when he left Springfield, knowing that he was going to Washington as the president of the United States, Lincoln asked the people to pray for him.

And when he came to Washington, DC, there again his family purchased a family pew at the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church where again, according to the minister Gurley who was there throughout the term of Lincoln’s involvement in Washington that Lincoln faithfully attended church each Sunday as well as midweek service. Lincoln was familiar with hymns. His favorite hymns. Am I a soldier of the cross? There is a fountain filled with blood. Alas. And did my savior die? Here was a man who was attempting with all of the might of his personality to keep the commandments of the living God. He was known for his honesty. He read the scripture regularly. He faithfully attended church. But the question can still be asked, was he a Christian? A few days before the election in 1860, Lincoln met with the honorable Newton Bateman.

And Lincoln was concerned if even though it was a national election where the ministers and Christians in Springfield going to vote for him. Incidentally, only three ministers voted for Lincoln in Springfield. The majority opposed him and the majority of Christians did not vote for him in Springfield. At that meeting, Lincoln took out of his pocket a New Testament. And he said, and I quote, I am not a Christian. God knows I would be one. But I’ve carefully read this book and I don’t understand this book. Close quote. Lincoln would go to Washington as the president to oversee a great civil war. But before he would ascend Mount Calvary, he first had to go through Gethsemane.

And he endured both public and personal agony while thousands of soldiers were dying in the field of the civil war in the midst of the storms and the smoke of war. Every day, the tallies would come of those who had died in the field of action. And for Lincoln, every name that came across his desk reminded him of his son, who he loved dearly. And it was as though day after day he was being told that his own son had died. And Lincoln took a personal concern with every name that came across his desk. And every day the agony just continued to build. But nothing could prepare him for what finally happened on February 20, 1862, when Lincoln experienced what for him was perhaps the greatest sorrow of his life, the actual death of his little boy, Willie.

From that time, Lincoln’s life by personal friends, it was noted that it was filled with the deepest sadness and melancholy. Lincoln from the death of his son took every Thursday as a day off, a day of mourning. He was not to be disturbed. He would take no visitors, as Thursday followed Thursday as he mourned the passing of his son. It was not long after the death of his son that Lincoln went to a small field, Gettysburg, there perhaps to deliver what many consider the greatest speech that has ever been given. As he sat listening to a speaker who went on for many minutes, Lincoln looked across the fields of Gettysburg. He was surrounded by thousands of white crosses commemorating the death of soldiers who had fallen in Gettysburg. And it was here in Gettysburg that Lincoln ascended Mount Calvary.

Lincoln, who had only known keep my commandments. Now, for the first time, came face to face with Jesus Christ. With Christ who was born across the sea. Now, in the bosom of Lincoln, new life was aflame. Allow Lincoln to tell you himself. When I left Springfield, I asked the people to pray for me. I was not a Christian. When I buried my son, the severest trial of my life. I was not a Christian. But when I went to Gettysburg and saw the graves of thousands of our soldiers, I then and there consecrated myself to Christ. Lincoln had tried all of his life to bear the burden of keeping the commandments. And though he was impeccable in his honesty, he would not see himself as an honest man.

And though he would seek to be humble, he would not see himself as a man of humility. We remember the birthday of Abraham Lincoln, but I think it is fitting for the church to remember the spiritual birthday of Lincoln. November 19, 1863. Gettysburg, when Lincoln for the first time welcomed into his heart Jesus Christ. Jesus, who when he went to Mount Calvary there, took upon himself all of the wrath of the Father, and that Jesus died on the cross so that we might not have the burden of keeping the commandments, but by faith that we might be born anew. And Lincoln knew of that new life. The last act of Congress ever signed by Abraham Lincoln was the one requiring in God we trust, to be inscribed upon all of our national coinage.

The last speech of Lincoln, delivered on April 11, 1865, was calling the nation to prayer to Almighty God for bringing the war to a close. Lincoln wrote one of his last letters, which was addressed to the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church. It was written on Tuesday, April 13, 1865. He wrote to the session of the church and in that letter states his desire to make a public profession of his belief and faith in Jesus Christ and that he desired to make it on the following Sunday. The letter was written on Tuesday for Lincoln to make public profession on the following Sunday, Easter Sunday, but on April 14, Lincoln and his wife went to Ford’s theater. Have you ever read the last words of Abraham Lincoln? They have recently been released from private memoirs and letters that were kept by his son.

And from those letters we have the last words of Lincoln as he spoke with his wife. The play was almost over. Lincoln was nothing very interested in the play. He was leaning forward in his seat. He was speaking to his wife. Lincoln said, Mary, now that the war is over, do you know what I would most like to do? I would like to take a trip with you to the Near east. We could go to Palestine. John Wilkes Booth silently opened the door to the president’s box. We could go to Bethlehem where he was born. Booth stepped into the box. We could visit Bethany. Booth lifts the pistol to Lincoln’s head. And we could go to Jeru. Bang the last words of Lincoln. We could go to Jerusalem.

Lincoln would wake up in the New Jerusalem, that Lincoln would be present with all of the saints of the past to sing glory and praise to Jesus Christ. Lincoln, I believe clearly, the documents show, was a Christian who struggled with the law. What must I do to be saved? What must you do? Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. And your household. Lincoln was a Christian. Are you a Christian? Let us pray. Our God and our father. As we look at the life of this man who has left such a great shadow on our land, help us to see that every person in reality is struggling to understand the meaning of life.

And Father, if there be any here who do not know Jesus Christ, who have sought only to keep the commandments, to attend church, to keep the sabbath, to be honest, Father, that there is only our judgment, for we know that we cannot fulfill the law perfectly, but in Jesus Christ, the law was perfectly fulfilled. Father, help us to trust Christ, that we might put our faith in him alone and allow him to do his work in our life to accomplish those good deeds that he will accomplish through those who have faith. We give you thanks in Jesus name. Amen.

Thank you for listening to a firm foundation presented by Princeton Ministries. This programming is supported by you, the listener. You may go to our website, princetonministries.org, or send your donation to Princeton Ministries Post Office box 21 71, Princeton, New Jersey 08543. That’s Princeton Ministries, post office box 21 71, Princeton, New Jersey 08543. The Lord bless you. And Doctor Smith looks forward to hearing from.