We're gonna begin our second
service standing and singing. I know
we sing this one a lot, but I think we like it. 354, what a friend we have in
Jesus. 354. What a friend we have in Jesus,
all our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry everything
to God in prayer. Oh, what peace we often forfeit
Oh, what needless pain we bear Oh, because we do not carry Everything
to God in prayer Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? We should never be discouraged. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Can we find a friend so faithful? Who will all our sorrows share? Jesus knows our every weakness. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Are we weak and heavy laden,
Cumbered with a load of care? Precious Savior, still our refuge,
Take it to the Lord in prayer. ? Do thy friends despise forsake
thee ? Take it to the Lord in prayer ? In his arms he'll take
and shield thee ? Thou will find a solace there He would turn
to 56. I am his and he is mine, 56. Everlasting love, Led by grace
and love to know, Here in breathing from above, Thou has taught me
it is so. O this full and perfect peace,
O this transport all divine, In a love which cannot cease,
I am His and He is mine. In a love which cannot cease,
I am His and He is mine. Heaven above this softer blue,
Earth around is sweeter green. Something lives in every hoop. Priceless eyes have never seen. Birds with gladder songs or flow. Flowers with deeper beauty shine. Since I know, as now I know,
I am His and He is mine. Since I know, as now I know,
I am His and He is mine. ? Things that once were wild
alarms ? ? Cannot now disturb my rest ? ? Close in everlasting
arms ? ? Hail, Lord, on the loving breast ? ? Hope to life forever
here ? ? Doubt and care and self-resign ? While he whispers in my ear
? I am his and he is mine ? While he whispers in my ear ? I am
his and he is mine ? Is forever only His ? Who the Lord and me
shall part ? Ah, with what a rest of bliss ? Christ can fill the
loving heart ? Heaven and earth may fade and flee ? Firstborn
light in gloom decline But while God and I shall be, I am His
and He is mine. But while God and I shall be,
I am His and He is mine. Thank you. May we sit. Good morning, everybody. I'm
just going to read the book of Jude. It's one verse, or one
chapter, 25 verses. Jude, starting in verse one. Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ
and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the
Father and preserved in Jesus Christ and called. Mercy unto
you in peace and love be multiplied. Beloved, when I gave all diligence
to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for
me to write unto you and exhort you that you should earnestly
contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.
For there are certain men crept in unawares who were before of
old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men turning the grace
of our God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God
and our Lord Jesus Christ. I will therefore put you in remembrance,
though you once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the
people out of the land of Egypt, saved the people out of the land
of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believe not. And the
angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation,
he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness, unto the
judgment of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah and
the cities about them, in like manner giving themselves over
to fornication and going after strange flesh, are set forth
after example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Likewise,
also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion,
and speak evil of dignities. Yet Michael the archangel, when
contending with the devil, He disputed about the body of Moses.
Durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, the Lord
rebuke thee. But these speak evil of those
things which they do not know. But what they know naturally
is brute beasts and those things they corrupt themselves. Woe
unto them, for they have gone in the way of Cain and ran greedily
after the heir of Balaam for reward and perished in the gainsaying
of Corrie. These are spots in your feast
of charity when they feast without you, feeding themselves without
fear. Clouds, they are without water, carrying about of winds. Trees whose fruit were without
fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots. Raging waves of
the sea, foaming out their own shame. Wandering stars to whom
is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. And Enoch also. The seventh from Adam prophesied
of these saying, behold the Lord cometh with 10,000 of his saints
to execute judgment upon all and to convince all that are
ungodly among them of their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly
committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners
have spoken against them. These are murmurers, complainers,
walking after their own lusts and their mouth speaking great
swelling words have men's persons and admirations because of advantage.
But beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before
the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, how they that told you
there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after
their own ungodly lusts. These be they who separate themselves
central, having not the spirit that ye beloved building up yourselves
on the most holy faith, praying in the holy God, keep yourselves
in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ
unto eternal life. And if some compassion making
a difference and others saved with fear, pulling them out of
the fire, hating the garment spotted by the flesh, Now unto
them that is able to keep you from falling and to present you
faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.
To the only wise God, our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion
and power, both now and forever. Amen. Father, we come to you again,
thankful for a place to come to hear the gospel. And Father,
we come to you thankful for the all-powerful Lord that is spoken
of in this verse. Father, we just can't be thankful
enough that you sent your son to die for our people. Father,
we were all damned. And Father, you decided to come
and save a people. And Father, there can never be
enough thanksgiving for that. And Father, we ask that you continue
to have us look to you and in all things glorify you. And Father,
we ask that you watch over the one that you've sent to preach
to us this morning. Give him the words you'd have us to hear. And Father, throughout the churches
in the country that preach your gospel, Father, give those men
the words that you would have us to hear. And Father, we ask
that you open hearts and eyes and minds this morning. And we
ask this in Christ's name. All right, brethren, turn with me to Romans chapter
13. Romans chapter 13, and we'll be looking at verses one through
seven. Now, this passage here, it deals
with the believer's duty, responsibility, and attitude toward authority. and it specifically has to do
with civil authority. Now, some of the reasons why
Paul felt it necessary to deal with this subject here is that
the early Christians, you know, they, well, during the time of
Rome, right, they were accused by the government at times of
sedition and They certainly became a scapegoat at times for certain
wicked emperors who blamed things on them as they conducted things
against the city of Rome or other places, and so they were a convenient
scapegoat for the government. And so Paul was confirming to
them, look, don't do anything that would give them the ability
to say, aha, see, we told you, look how they've confirmed it,
right? And we see that wicked men will set people up and then
draw them out into doing things that they maybe otherwise wouldn't
have done and then are able to accuse them of what they themselves
are guilty of themselves there. And then another reason would
be that, well, for Jews who made up a good portion of the early
Christian church, it was hard for them to sit under the rule
of a Gentile. It was a pretty disagreeable
thing. They did not like it at all. And so they could have resented
their gentile rulers. And then another thing is that
many of the rulers of men are themselves wicked. And they're
pretty evil and can be rather disgusting people in terms of
what we think is right and moral and should be upheld in those
that rule over us or are leaders among us, right? And it's interesting,
because I think today we can look at what some of us are aware
of certain things going on in the country politically, and
we can cite many different examples. And probably both sides feel
like they can cite examples by which they could accuse the other
of being wicked or evil or having to pay for certain crimes. Right? But we have to acknowledge the
fact that our brethren who lived before us, they themselves lived
through some pretty troubling, difficult governments, those
that ruled in authority over them at the time. For us here,
we can see examples of corruption. But one of the things, as I was
thinking about it, in the US, certainly, the law of our land
is what we call the Constitution of the United States. And when
our rights, according to the law of the land, the Constitution,
is abused, there is a course by which we can follow to help
remediate that trouble or those those times there. And so, we've
seen, you know, just, the point is to continue looking
to your God, to hear his word, and to trust him, believe him,
because he says it for a purpose, and the purpose is for our good,
right? That we not be caught up with
the condemnation that's coming upon the world. You know, when
we were back in Romans 12, we had just looked at our service
under persecution, right? We just looked at our service
during difficult and trying times, which try the faith of believers. And so our God knows the difficulties
that his people face here in the world and so Paul's point
here is that governments and authorities, civil authorities,
they are appointed by the Lord himself and the reason why I
say that even in the midst of things that you may hear going
on, whispers and rumors and wars and rumors of wars and things
like that, that knowing that our God is in control of the
governments and the authority that he's put in place, it should
work for us great peace and great comfort. You can take comfort,
believer. You can take comfort in your
God because We seek to live peaceably, right? We seek to go about our
business and to do the things that our hands have to do. And knowing that our God has
established authority and put governments in place, they're
meant actually to establish and have laws by which we may know
that we can safely conduct that business and do the things, right?
Many of you have your own businesses. Not everyone, but many of you
have your own business here and the laws, right, the civil and
local laws and authorities, they enable you to go out each day
knowing what to expect, right? You know what's accepted and
what's right and you go out there with that understanding and you
expect certain things to happen a certain way and so when they
work out that way, you have confidence that That's how it's going to
be. You know what to expect and then
you follow those things because you're not rebellious, wicked
people yourself. You know, not you that believe
and trust the Lord. And so the point is, lawlessness
is not what we would have, right? We know that there are wicked
men and women in government. We know that. But we don't want
to see total lawlessness, right? Because then if it was just anarchy
and lawlessness, well then the fittest among us would take what
they want, right? Without regard to property or
human dignity. They would just do what they
will. And then when someone bigger and more fitter than them comes
along, they would do their will upon them. So we do not want
lawlessness, right? There's authority that was set
up by the Lord for our well-being and for our good in that regard. But knowing that there are wicked
people, in government and that exercise authority over people.
call themselves benefactors of men and do what they will, though
they tell us to do other things for this cause. It drives us
to pray. It drives us to pray to our God
and to seek him. We had just seen over on our
Wednesday night study in Isaiah 43, verse 22, the Lord reminded
the people, but you've not called upon me. Jacob, right? And so the difficulties that
we see and witness, knowing that our God has ordained governments
and ordained civil authorities, but seeing that when there are
examples of lawlessness or examples of people not doing what they
should be doing, it should drive us to to call upon the Lord. And so I think this is a message
that's relatively pertinent to the time in which we live because
there are people that talk about, well, I'm just mad and upset
and I'm going to grab my gun and I'm going to head out and
battle fatigues down, you know, and cause some trouble, you know,
and make things right. And to them, the Lord, because
a lot of them say, I'm a Christian, I'm a believer, and God's on
our side. And then they take up a weapon
and go out there to harm others. And the Lord said to his people,
you've not called upon me, O Jacob. That should be the first thing
in our heart, is to call upon the Lord when we see the wickedness
and lawlessness of men, and I know, I know, I can get upset and excited
about things, but I'm reminded by my God, seek ye first my face,
you seek my kingdom, and all these things will be added unto
you. Because our God says he's ordained these things, and the
will of God is unfolding before us. He's in control of all things. What was it, I think it was,
we saw it even this morning where it says in Colossians 2, 210,
Colossians 210, which says, and ye are complete in Christ, which
is the head of all principality and power. He's the head over
all things, right? Civil governments, spiritual
powers and principalities, and all things, he's the head of
these things, all right? In light of our being driven
to call upon the Lord, he says in 1 Timothy 2, verse one and
two, I exhort you therefore, I exhort therefore that first
of all supplications, prayers, intercessions and giving of thanks
be made for all men, right? For kings and for all that are
in authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in
all godliness and honesty, right? That's why we like laws and we
like civil authorities. We want them to do the laws that
they put in place because they are good laws. They are very
helpful to us to know what to expect that we may go out and
conduct our business and do what we have to do each day. So the
Lord says you pray and pray for your kings, pray for your local
government as well as those higher above them. So I want to look
at this passage here in Romans 13 verses 1 through 7 in light
of what our Lord says and to give you comfort and confidence
and rest in the Lord during these difficult times. I've titled
it Subject to Powers Ordained of God. Subject to Powers Ordained
of God. As I've noted here, I'm aware
of the corruption of people that are in authority, how they've
abused it before our faces, and we've seen things throughout
our lives. We've seen various things, right?
And so has Paul. Paul is mindful as well. He's
aware. He lived at a time during many wicked governments. And
yet he says to the church, knowing that here, Romans 13.1, Let every
soul be subject unto the higher powers, for there is no power
but of God. The powers that be are ordained
of God." Right? So the first level that this
would strike at is your local governments, right? It would
strike there at your local governments, your local officials, those elected
or appointed, and police officers, and sheriffs, and things of that
nature. It would speak to them. And these
make certain laws in our localities that are placed upon us as local
citizens there. We live and abide by these things
there. And then from there, it climbs up higher to other forms
of government and authorities. It's not speaking of angelic
powers here or spiritual powers, although those people and areas
are under those, you know, subject to some of those powers that
the Lord makes them, but it's not, he's not speaking of, of
those powers and he's not speaking of ecclesiastical powers. He's
speaking of civil authorities, right? Just understand that first. And so in our country going beyond
the, the local there, we have, you know, we know we have the
brand, the, what is it? The legislative branch. the judicial
branch and the executive, which would be the House, you know,
the Congress of the Senate and the House, and then the judicial
would be the Supreme Court, would be the highest court in the land,
and then executive would be the president there, right? And so
all of these, though, thankfully, are bound by the Constitution,
which is the law of our land, all right? And they're bound,
they're supposed to be bound by the Constitution. And thankfully,
we know that that's a pretty solid document. Our Lord was
very kind to us in that he gifted those men with some wisdom by
which they wrote that constitution with it. See, I would say it's
a pretty, pretty incredible document, not as wonderful as the word
of God, but for men. writing a civil document, it's
a pretty good document. So for us living here in America,
Paul says, let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. Be subject, wherever you live
throughout the world, be subject to those laws and local customs
and laws that are placed upon you. For, he says, there is no
power but of God. The powers that be are ordained
of God. Now one such example that we
see this ordaining of God, this blessing of God is actually in
nations, right? The fact that we have nations.
Now you may not, what do you mean by nations? How are nations
proved to be a blessing to us? Well, Peter says in 2 Peter 3,
9, it's based on this. He says, the Lord's not slack
concerning his promise. by which some men count slackness,
right? What's that promise? It's his
promise of eternal covenant grace, eternal salvation for his people
whom he foreknew and loved and determined to save them. And
he's not slack concerning that promise as some men count slackness,
but as long suffering to us were. Our God is long-suffering, putting
up with the shenanigans of man for the sake and the benefit,
for the love that he has for his people. And he's not willing
that any, any of us whom he foreknew that any of us should perish,
but that all of us should come to repentance. And I bring that
up because what the Lord is doing, the powers that he's ordained
is for your blessing, brethren. It's for your good. It's for
your salvation. It's an order that there be an
order with which that gospel goes out and reaches the Lord's
people. So I know that some who claim
to believe the Lord see everything in terms of end times. They look
at everything and are fascinated with end times, But I see things
in light of the gospel of his grace. We see the end times in
light of the gospel. We see what the Lord's doing
in terms of his gospel going forth and conquering the hearts
of his people and reaching his people so that it gives us great
comfort in whatever time we live, under whatever government or
rule that we find ourselves under, according to the ordination of
God, we know that it's for his purpose and sending forth that
gospel in reaching his elect chosen people in ways that glorify
the Lord of them being trophies of his grace. Through all manner
of adversity that we face, the Lord's gospel conquers and overcomes. And he'll glory in those things
in the end, in which we see how our God, nothing of man, nothing
of the devil could overcome the will of our God in sending forth
that gospel that Christ obtained those for whom he laid down his
life and shed his blood. They all came to hear the gospel
and to believe, being created of him, formed of him, redeemed
by Christ, and then called by the Lord Jesus Christ, all right? So even though we find ourselves
under a wicked, tyrannical government, we can know We know, we're assured
that our God is in control, that he's ordained all these things,
all right? And so our God is able to use
these various things to breach his government. So I said the
Lord gave us nations, and that it was a blessing, and that we
see what this blessing and what Peter was saying, that the Lord
is long-suffering to us, we're not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance. I abbreviated that verse a little
bit, by the way. Go over to Galatians, I'm sorry, Genesis, Genesis 11,
all the way in the very beginning, first book, Genesis. Genesis
11, and I want you to see this, where the Lord forms nations,
and I said it's a blessing. The nations that we have are
a blessing, and you'll see why I'm bringing this up shortly. Genesis 11 verse 1, and the whole
earth was of one language and of one speech, and it came to
pass as they journeyed from the east, or rather as they journeyed
eastward from where the ark had landed there on Mount Ararat,
which is probably modern-day Turkey, right, and they're journeying
eastward that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, or modern-day
Iraq, and they dwelt there, and they said one to another, go
to let us make brick and burn them thoroughly that and they
had brick for stone and slime had they for mortar right they're
probably there around the Euphrates River and Tigris and such and
they said go to let us build us a city and a tower whose top
may reach unto heaven and let us make us a name lest we be
scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth now this was
no innocent building they weren't just building a tower for for
beauty, they believed that they would be ascending up to God,
that they would be climbing, making their way up to divinity
by their works. They were trusting in their works,
they were ascending, they were becoming enlightened and becoming
special and new and transforming themselves into something new. And the Lord came down, they
were doing this as one people, one people, one language, one
people on the whole face of the earth. And the Lord came down
to see the city and the tower which the children of men builded.
And the Lord said, behold, the people is one, and they have
all one language, and this, look at what they're doing already
here, this they begin to do, and now nothing will be restrained
from them which they have imagined to do. They were functioning
and operating as one world government. having one purpose that they
were all working toward and doing this thing which the Lord said
is not good. This isn't good for them to do
this. Go to, let us go down and there confound their language
that they may not understand one another's speech. And so
there, all the way back shortly after the flood, the Lord came
and destroyed their one world government. set them back by
creating different languages and they broke off into different
nations whereby they began to fight with one another and war
against one another seeking for their own good, for their own
people, for their own benefit, right? And so that slowed the
whole thing down. It just paused everything because,
why? The Lord is not slack concerning
his promise to you, brethren, as some men count slackness,
but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any of us should
perish, but that all of us should come to repentance. They were
on a fast track to utter destruction all over again, and the Lord
slowed them down by creating nations. You might say, wow,
these nations are fighting with one another, and there's no peace,
Yeah, exactly, that's the Lord implementing the will of God.
All these things work to his glory in that the people of God
are brought to repentance. So verse eight says, the Lord
scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth,
and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of
the city called Babel, because the Lord did there confound the
language of all the earth And from thence did the Lord scatter
them abroad upon the face of all the earth. So what do we
see today? Well, now we can see where they're
still operating. They're trying to get back to
that one world government. And that's a lot of what you
see going on here are strings and levers of society being pulled
where people are trying to go back to that, get back there
to Babel and create that tower, so to speak, by advancing man
and getting him up to this ascending of divinity. Man is wicked and
he's still doing that very, very thing. So the fact that we have
local governments and local things, the Lord saying, Trust me, I
put this here for a purpose, and it's for your good to spread
my gospel. Through all the difficulties
that man makes about it, my gospel's going forth. Just don't seek to upset those
things and try to put your hand to that work. We're to know this
because the night's far spent, and the Lord intends to make
this a short work upon the earth. We know that. We know what he's
doing. He's taught us his gospel. He showed us these things. And
so this one world government is only going to come back and
form back together when the Lord wills. He's in control of the
whole thing. And we can be confident and trust him in that. You know,
I was thinking about Luke 21, verse 24. I was thinking about
that verse for a long time and wondering, like, what exactly
does that mean? I'll read it to you. It says,
speaking of the Jews, they shall fall by the edge of the sword
and shall be led away captive into all nations. It says that
word, nations. And Jerusalem shall be trodden
down of the Gentiles, which is the same word as nations. Be
trodden down by the nations until the times of the Gentiles or
until the times of the nations be fulfilled, you know, and until,
like, the nations are here for a purpose until they've fulfilled
their purpose, and the gospel has gone forth, reaching all
the Lord's people. And then that time of nations
will be done, and there'll be one world government, and then
the end will come. The Lord will bring it to an
end. So we can see that the governments, or these various nation governments,
they're ordained of God, all right? Now, Romans 13 too. Whoever
therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God,
and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. So we should obey the lawful
commandments. We know that there are commandments
of men. Well, those that have proper
authority, they have laws, and we should obey those proper laws. We should hear what they say
and not make trouble or insurrection ourselves, right? We know that
there are certain laws that governments have made, right? You can just
look back in Daniel's time, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, where
they expected them to worship their king as though he were
God. And we know that that is not a lawful command that we
should obey. So that's not true. But the lawful commands, he's
saying obey them because they're appointed of God. Don't go 100
miles an hour down battlefield because you're going to kill
somebody if not yourself and you've broken the law, you're
justly going to be punished for breaking those laws. We know that. So there are local
laws at which we should be following and not creating trouble ourselves
or trying to stir up troubles for the governments and become
part of the problem rather than and allowing them to do their
job justly according to the will of the Lord. And remember, he
said in Romans 12, too, as we just saw, leave vengeance with
the Lord. He will take vengeance upon them
that are wicked and abuse their power. And the Lord drives his
people to pray and to cry out, Lord, what are they doing? When
we see lawlessness, we should cry out and say, Lord, what is
going on? Have mercy. Save us, Lord. They're not doing what they should
be doing. And so there's a process for
working through these things. And we should follow these just
laws, right? And knowing that if we don't,
there's just punishment that comes with that from the local
governments, right? But we don't despise authority. That's certainly something I
want us to understand. We're not looking for anarchy. And
we do see those that are looking to throw off the government and
are willing to do anarchy, you know, commit anarchistic type
behaviors, you know, burning, looting, and murdering, right? And it's, we see it, we're not
blind to it, right? And we see that the, another
thing too, the local news or the news, any news, that's not
your authority that we're called to obey. The news is not the
authority. Just know that. They act like
they're the authority. They claim to be the authority, and they're
not. Our own eyes showed us, there's
the CNN screen there, and they show a reporter standing there
saying, these are mostly peaceful protests. And it says it on the
chair, mostly peaceful protests. And in the background are buildings
all in flames. The whole city is up in smoke
and flames, but it's mostly peaceful protests. So we know. We see it. And they're not the
authority. They're just saying what they're
saying. Don't think that just because
they say to do something that that's the authority. You have
your governors and police and you have your local authorities
that we should obey their lawful commands, all right? And so our
brother was reading in Jude, right? In Jude before, those
that are anarchists, right, it speaks of those. Likewise, also
these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion,
and speak evil of dignities. And he goes on in verse 13 to
say, they're raging waves of the sea, foaming out of their
own shame, wandering stars. Those are the anarchists. They
have no, they're not part of any government or any system.
They just do their own thing. Wandering stars to whom is reserved
the blackness of darkness forever. So don't follow those that would
commit insurrection and seek to throw off the government.
Don't be part of that. Our Lord is saying to us, you
Trust him and you cry out to him, because all things are going
exactly as the Lord has ordained them to go. All right, back in
our text, Romans 13, verse three through five. For rulers are
not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Will thou then not
be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou
shalt have praise of the same. For he is the minister of God
to thee for good. But if thou do that which is
evil, be afraid, for he beareth not the sword in vain. For he
is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that
doeth evil. Wherefore, ye must needs be subject,
not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake." All right,
so none of us likes to be treated unjustly, but We know that it
does happen. You look at Paul, and Paul, when
he was with Silas, they were unjustly treated in Philippi
for preaching the gospel, for declaring the truth. They were
imprisoned. They were beaten. and then in
prison. And then the next day, you know, the jailer is sent
to let them go. And he says, hey, you know, you
guys can go free now. This is good news. You're delivered.
And Paul actually made use of the law. He made use of the fact
that he was a Roman citizen, right? And he says there, it's
captured in Acts 16, 37 and 38. Paul said unto them, they've
beaten us openly, uncondemned being Romans, and have cast us
into prison And now do they thrust us out privily or in private?
Nay, verily, but let them come themselves and fetch us out.
And then we're told that they feared when they heard that they
were Romans, because they didn't know that. They appealed to the
law of the land. They made use of the law. And
so that's the purpose. If we're breaking the law, there's
little recourse. They're justified in what they
do in punishing us. But if we follow the law, There
may be some unjust punishment, but at least it's unjust and
it's for the truth. It's for the spreading of the
gospel. And remember that, that that's what we're called to do.
All right? So we have every right to make
use of the laws, right? There's nothing wrong with knowing
your rights and the laws that are in our land, even if others
are breaking it and being lawless. Don't let that persuade you or
move you from the hope that you have the Lord that he's in control
we know he's keeping it in control until the time when it's time
for it to change and it'll it'll change and and you trust the
Lord through that because he has a purpose in everything that
he's he's doing all right and so then he says in verse six
and seven for this cause pay ye tribute also for they are
God's ministers attending continually upon this very thing Render therefore
to all their dues, tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to
whom custom, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. If you find
yourself being unjustly treated, don't resort to unjust behavior
yourself because you're only giving them fuel to the fire.
When you look at how Paul spoke, he said most noble festus. And
he thanked them for, you know, because he kind of knew a little
bit about them and he spoke to them knowing their behaviors
and what they were familiar with and their land and their customs.
He was, he was, he knew them and was pretty familiar with
them and he made use of the law. You never know how it could work
towards others who are in blindness and in death and in darkness,
how they might be persuaded to see the faithfulness and steadfastness
of the Lord's people who declare His voice and His name, trusting
Him. Now, you know, none of us wants
to see the nation descend further into turmoil or or problems,
so pray. Pray to the Lord. That should
be our first. And he says, you know, you've not called upon
me, O Jacob. And that was the Lord's biggest
complaint with the Jews there in Isaiah. So call upon him if
you see things that are troubling. So they're gonna do what they
do because they're ordained of God. And so, call upon him as
things get harder, as things get weirder, as people say things
that trouble you or concern you, let them drive you to the Lord.
And remember, remember why we're here. It's not to have our flesh
pampered. We're thankful for those times
that, you know, I'm thankful for a hot shower. I don't want
those things to change. I don't want things to descend
into chaos. I pray that the Lord would sustain
the things that we've grown to enjoy and appreciate. But remember
that we're here to preach the gospel, even in the face of adversity. We're called to serve even in
the face of persecution and difficulty. So never lose sight of the bigger
picture. Even if we see things, if we
see things moving towards a one-world government, we can be thankful
that, you know what, Lord, you're wrapping it up. Let me do what
I need to do and labor knowing that the night is far spent,
that in the darkness no man can then work and things could get
difficult. But be thankful, trust the Lord
because He's ordained it all. Things aren't out of control.
We don't need to take things into our own hands. We trust
Him. We can pray. We can take things
up with the Lord in our voice crying out to Him. I was thinking
of one other verse in 1 Thessalonians 5. 1 Thessalonians 5 there. You know, verse 17 tells us, tells us pray without ceasing,
right? Pray without ceasing. And then verse 18 says, in everything
give thanks. Why do we give thanks to the
Lord? Because whatever the situation is, whatever the difficulties,
He tells us, this, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus
concerning you. So the things that are unfolding,
we can be confident knowing that our God is in control of all
things. Now you think, I would think
that nations are absurd because they're always fighting and always
arguing and always doing for themselves. But the Lord used
that all for the purpose of slowing things down to send that gospel
out and bring you all in. to the knowledge of your Savior,
your God and Savior. And so we see His hand in that
and His ordination in that. And so we can trust Him that
everything that we see is all working to His glory. And so I just wanted to say that,
you know, as people are talking and, you know, they're escalating
the tension with words and they're saying things that are not conducive
to peace and to moving on, you know, if you will. they're gonna
work out the way they're gonna work out. I can talk to you what
I think is gonna happen, but who cares what I think. What's
gonna happen is what the Lord's will is. And so we can be confident
in that. So I pray that, again, He set
your eyes upon the Lord Jesus Christ. You look to Him who laid
down His life. and shed His precious blood to
deliver you from your sins and the punishment of your sins and
that He's given you life and hope by His Spirit and the Lord
Jesus Christ. Rejoice in Him. Be glad in that
and proclaim that freely. And if you suffer for that, happy
are you. Happy are you. So trust Him to continue serving
Him even in the midst of opposition and weirdness in our country.
Rejoice. I pray the Lord comfort your
hearts in that. I know it's not, you know, full
of sweetness in that passage there, but it's for our good.
Paul said it for our good. So look to the Lord in it. So I pray he bless that word
to your heart. Our gracious Lord, we thank you, Father. We pray
for your wisdom, because you know our heart, you know our
minds, you know what troubles us and what ails us in many ways,
But Lord, we do know and do trust that you've ordained the principalities
and powers we see and that your hand is even in these things
that we see before us in this day. And Lord, we do pray that
you would establish peace here in the land and that there would
not be the troubles and evil that we think we see coming. But Lord, we know that you're
God and that you're in control of all things. And just because
we think it doesn't mean it's going to come to pass. What will
come to pass is what you've ordained and purposed. And for the glory
of your son and for the furtherance of your gospel and the salvation
of your people. And so I pray that you indeed
remind your people of these things as we see your hand and your
will unfolding before us. For it's in Christ's name we
pray and give thanks. Amen. Let's stand and sing a closing
hymn, 287, Like a River Glorious, 287. Like a river glorious is God's
perfect peace, Over all victorious in its pride and priest. Perfect yet it floweth fuller
every day, Perfect yet it groweth deeper all the way. ? State upon Jehovah, hearts
are fully blessed ? ? Binding as He promised, perfect peace
and rest ? ? Hidden in the hollow of His blessed hand ? ? Never
foe can follow, never traitor stand ? Not a surge of worry,
not a shade of care. Not a blast of hurry, touch the
spirit there. State upon Jehovah, hearts are
fully blessed. Finding as he promised, perfect
peace and rest. Every joy or trial falleth from
above. Trace the honor dialed by the
Son of Love. We may trust Him fully, all for
us to do. They who trust Him wholly find
Him wholly true. Thank you.