It's never been more apparent
than in recent days of how rampant idolatry has become in the church
of Jesus Christ. When we think of idolatry, we
consider the idea that we're worshipping a false idol or that
we're worshipping a false god or that we're rejecting the gospel. But friends, I will tell you
in our day that those are the things that are too obvious. But the things that are not so
obvious are the things that rest in the core of our soul. The
center of our heart, the. The thing that's bound up in
our gut. that moves us and molds us and
drives us, that thing which is always there, beckoning us to
see, beckoning us to come, to touch, to believe, to embrace,
to behold the things that is in the core of our affection,
that we long to live for, that we long to speak of, that we
long to make an apology for our love. This is what I care for. Friends, these are idols. These
are the things for which the wrath of God will come. And upon the wickedness and unrighteousness
of men, the wrath of God is coming. And idolatry is at the seat,
is at the center of unbelief. Help me in my unbelief, God.
Because if we were to evaluate our hearts, and we should, we
would see that each of us, whether it be small or large, has the
speck of idolatry in our lives. Whether it be our looks, our
finances, our children, our health, our spouse, family, or government,
or patriotism, or church, or theology. It should be the core of our
heart as Christians to have an affection for Jesus Christ alone.
Not just alone, but the satisfying affection of Jesus Christ. In
comparison to every other affection, there is none. In such comparison
that Jesus says, unless you hate your mother and your father and
your sister and brother, you are not worthy of me, you cannot
follow me. But yet, Jesus says to love your
enemies and to give your life for those who persecute you.
And so how do we hate? Well, we don't hate, we love,
but we love in such a way that is in comparison to our affection
for Christ is hate. There is an issue with this teaching
today because in the hearts of the highest of patriots, they
will see it as un-American. And I'm thankful for that. Because at the end of the day
and at the end of the time, when I stand before my king, he will
not see an American, but he will see his. He will see, as Paul says to
the Romans, Israel, those not who are Jews, but those who are
in Christ Jesus, not those who are in Abraham, but those who
have been born again to a living hope through the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead. By grace, you've been saved.
This is not of your own doing, but it's the gift of God. God
will see not an American Christian, but a child for whom he died. that he purchased and my nationality and my government
and my rules and my rights and my entitlement and my pride of
my nation will be gone. It will pass away. It is of the
world and it is forever standing in the judgment of God. And I speak to you today, not
as one who wishes he were born someplace else. I'm glad that
I wasn't. I'm glad that I'm an American.
But oh, in comparison to what being an American is. What did
Paul say? I counted all this garbage. For the precious reality. And
the knowledge of knowing Jesus Christ, my Lord. Throw it all
away for the sake of the elect. I would give it all up if my
brothers in blood could see salvation. As Paul teaches the Ephesians,
these un-Jews, these Gentiles, uncircumcision according to the
flesh. Remember that at one time you
Gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision by what is
called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hand.
Remember that you were at the time at that time separated from
Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the
covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the
world. But now, in Jesus Christ, you
who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of
Christ, for he himself is our peace. He who has made us both
one has broken down the wall of hostility, of division, in his flesh, by his flesh, by
abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that
he might create in himself one new man in the place of two,
so making peace and might reconcile us both to God in one body through
the cross, thereby killing the hostility. You remember that? That's probably two years ago
or longer when we preached that. and Ephesians 2. And what I see there is what
I don't see there. What I don't see there is Paul
nor Jesus Christ through his ministry mission, upholding the
nationality of any man. What I don't see there is that
God did not draft into any country or nation any people, but he
grafted all nations into one himself. I could go on and maybe we'll
preach about the error of dispensationalism. The error of things like that,
that breed this type of nationalistic, ethnocentric bigotry. And if we can apply it to Jewish
Israel, we can apply it to American, we can apply it to... I caught
heat for asking God, for asking people to pray for Palestine.
What's wrong with that? I have friends who live there. who minister there, who preach
the gospel there. And there are children of God
being killed as we speak. And they are not used. Those who hold to the precepts
of Judaism are not the children of God, and they are not the
people of Christ. They are Antichrist. They are
anathemas, cut off, separated from the commonwealth of Israel,
separated from the promises of God, and separated from Jesus
Christ. And so are those who find their
identity and their ethnicity, and find their identity in their
worth, in their nationality, and find their identity in their
morality, and find their identity in their denomination, and the
list goes on. Friends, it is really the sin
of idolatry. Why is it a big deal? Why do we need to deal
with this? Because it is a piece of fire that the devil has used
and is using to disprove the power of the gospel by the people
who claim to be saved by such gospel. They divide and devour
and destroy and detract and distract and everything else from the
gospel and the glory of God. That's why. And it is a matter
of church discipline as equal, if not greater than adultery
against your spouse or murder against your neighbor or molestation
against your children. It is as equally wicked to divide
over national politics as it is to murder yourself. So, yeah, I'm angry, but I'm
frustrated. But I'm concerned, but I'm passionate. Just as you would be if someone
came into your house. And begin to move in to your
relationships and divide you away from that which was yours. Just as you would if someone
came into your house in the middle of the night and began to try
to take your family. This is how it is with God and
His family. And this is what a shepherd that's
worked his way in salt sees and deals with when it invades the
people of God. We'll be in Romans 13 for a little
bit. In a few minutes, I've got a long introduction. Long. But I want you to understand
the context of Romans 13, the context of Romans is Paul is
speaking to a non-Jewish people who have been told that they
are Israel. See that? For it is not the descendants
of Abraham who are Israel, but all who are in Christ. That's
a direct quote of Paul. Because the Romans were like, we're not
you, we're not. How can we be and how can we
be? When we're not, we didn't grow up with this, we didn't
learn this. We're so far behind. You're a Jew, Paul, and how is
it now you planted a church and you tell us we're the people
of God? Because you are. As God chose a Chaldean who worshiped
the moon to be his representative on earth, through which and through
whom he would actually create a nation of people who were pagans
and call them his. This is what adoption means.
This is what election is. It is salvation. He took a worshipping
Satanist who worshipped the moon, who worshipped the creature rather
than the creation. You find that interesting that
Paul starts Romans with that argument. Why would he do that? Because
that's what Abraham did. That's what Abram did. He worshipped
the creation. rather than the Creator. But
God, in his infinite wisdom and in his sovereign choice, saw
Abram as he worshipped a false god, as he was blinded by the
God of the world, as he looked at the moon and said, there is
the God of the world. And God said, that is the one
I will choose. Just as God saw Saul, birthed
Saul, grew Saul, that he would become one of the most astute
Jews of the first century Palestine, that he would be part not of
just Israel, but pridefully of the tribe of Benjamin, pridefully
of the Sanhedrin, of the ruling class, and sitting on the courts
of the Sanhedrin, part of the Pharisees, who with zeal stood
against the way, which is who Christians were called at the
time, because he had a love for God, Yahweh, Jehovah. And God in His infinite wisdom
saw this zealot with zeal for the law, with a legalistic idealism
of in-brown, in-bred blood covenant, who hated anything against God
of Israel and sought to destroy Christians, and on his way to
find more, Christ saved him. That's who I want. I want someone
that is clearly, clearly not following me, not seeing the
picture. hated Christians. They tolerated them, but as they
grew, and even Paul as a Roman citizen, but he was also Jewish. Then when the Roman people, the
indigenous Romans began to come to faith, Rome through the time
began to see that it was a problem. You don't believe that? Why do
you think Christians were fed to animals? killed and slaughtered
and their heads and bodies used to light the streets. Because
they were a problem. They were a problem because they
stood as Christians, as a citizen of another kingdom. For whom
there was no Caesar, but a King of all Kings and a Lord of all
Lords. And when they would say that
Yeshua is Lord, Jesus is Lord, not Caesar. And so in Romans 13, when Paul
says, let everyone submit themselves to the governing authorities,
he's talking about these same governing authorities that took
his head off. See how, see what kind of egocentric
idealism we have. You know what that means? That
means we think about what we think and how it affects us and
how it applies to us. We read the Bible thinking like
Americans. And Paul didn't even know anything
about America and he didn't write anything about America. There's
nothing about America in the entire Word of God until you
get to Revelation, where it says in the smoke of their torment
goes up forever and ever with Babylon and every nation of all
kingdoms except Christ is in the lake of fire. You know what
a kingdom is? A group of people. You know what
a nation is? A body of people. You know what
the church is? A people. It's not a set of documents. It's not a boundary. It's not
a border. It's not a building. It's not
a government. It's a people. So if our identity
is in our nation, when we stand before Christ, we will go to
hell. And when we invade the body of
Christ and try to make her national, we are on our way there. The hostility of the Roman government.
John had a contemporary, a protege named Polycarp. And Polycarp. He preached the gospel, he was
faithful, he's a Roman. And when he was in his late mid
90s. Maybe early 80s. I know his quote. They tried him and convicted
him, found him guilty of treason against Rome as a Christian. They said that the penalty was
death, but they had pity on him. He's an old man. And he said,
you know what? We don't want to put you to death.
We don't want to crucify you. Would you would you just come
up here and say to the people, Caesar is Lord. Just say that
phrase. You say that phrase, we'll just
let you be under house arrest for the rest of your life and
you'll be spared. You're a kind man, but you're
guilty. And Polycarp submitted to the
governing authorities of his day, and he says, for 83 years,
my king has never let me down. Paraphrase here. And he says, how can I blaspheme
my king who saved me? And they killed him. They took his life. Why? Because the day that Christ
came into the heart and life and mind and soul of Polycarp
and breathed life into him through the preaching of the gospel and
maybe through John, Polycarp Though he was still
a Roman citizen, became a citizen of a new kingdom that never perished.
And the kingdom of Rome is gone. See, there's some problems. There's
a problem that people believe that the United States should
be supreme and preeminent in the world. What is that? We're
the greatest nation. No, we're not. Most powerful
nation. No, we're not. We should be. No, we shouldn't. Why? So we
can protect our interests, so we can protect our money, so
we can protect our clothes and our fences and our patios and
our barbecues and our freedoms. So we can pick it outside the
line. Yeah, I got a right to say this. We don't like the way
you look. I mean, that's how stupid America
has become. The generations that don't even
think for themselves can't even tell fallacy from fart. And they're
going around standing and actually being the voice of a nation.
And Christians are falling in line with that and ignoring the
word of God. God's not going to bring judgment
on a nation because it's not moral. God's going to bring judgment
on a people who fail to believe the gospel. God brought judgment against
Israel, who was extremely moral. Because they failed to believe
the gospel. The United States, should it
be supreme and preeminent? Who do we think we are? We raped
and pillaged to get it, and now we think it's ours. It's God's. See how unpatriotic this is?
I wanted to separate July 4th for a little few weeks. This
would have been a good July 4th message. Secondly, there's a problem because
people believe that the United States is a Christian nation
when there's no such thing. There's no such thing as a Christian
nation. There's no such thing as a Christian
government. That makes no sense. That's not having a Christian
shoe. Or a Christian pagans. What does that mean, a Christian
nation, when we're of all nations, all tribes, all people, all tongues,
everywhere, everybody who's ever lived in any nation, there is
representatives of all peoples in the faith. as one body, as
one kingdom. This is the point of the gospel,
that you were divided. Now you're brought together,
that you were uniquely divided in such ways that God at Babel
divided us that we could not even communicate. And then in
Acts chapter two, what did he do? He gave Galatia to the apostles
and to the 120 in the upper room so that they go out and speak
Egyptian and Arabian and Greek and Hebrew. And what God had done in judgment
at Babylon, he undid with grace at Pentecost. And Jewish people went out and
preached to the Gentiles. How awesome is that? If we applied
the same bigotry as Americans to the first century apostles,
we would never be saved. And for someone who claims the
name of Christ, who cares more about national interest than
they do the salvation of a soul, God help. Another problem is
people believe that their calling is to correct the godless government.
And place them in line with Scripture, where is that there's nowhere
to be found. Don't abuse the Old Testament and act like we're
Israel and we've got judges. Don't lie and don't pretend like
the church is the temple and the tabernacle and the priest
or the pastors. Don't do that. That's just silly.
You could fare better watching Cinderella and applying it. Don't
make-believe with the Scripture. Understand what the Scripture
teaches about the covenant of God and about who it is that
Jesus came to save. He's no respecter of persons.
He came to seek and save the lost sheep of Israel, of which
you and I, by faith, are part of. It has nothing to do with
our genealogy, because the only genealogy that counts in this
world is two. You're either in Adam and dead,
or you're in Christ and alive. Another problem is people do
not believe The very scripture that they think is teaching that
they think they want to align the government with. There's
some proofs that I think will happen in this message today,
if nothing else to get you to think differently. One, there's
a proof that will happen and that all of us are bigots in
some way. And when I say that, I'm not
talking about racism, but though it can, I can pull that and prove
it. I've got nothing against different people of different
colors or whatever. Yes, you do. If you just look, it's not
necessarily against them, but it's it is against them. We are
bigots to some degree when we become highly American over Christian. And for example, shutting the
borders off, I'm not saying we should just say, oh, just come
on, anybody wants to come on. But what about those who come?
Why did we come here? You know what an indigenous American looks
like? You don't. We killed most of them. Our European
ancestors killed most of them. Drove them all the way to the
west coast and they scattered along the way. You know American
history? Let me tell you about historians.
They love to write what they love to write. And that's about
the end of it. Research. Study the Bible. We all have some bigotry, we
all have a degree of animosity toward foreigners when it comes
to the national interest, when it comes to our rights and our
privileges, when it comes to our nation. We have this undergirded
pride. You know what's happening in
younger generations, though? They see the silliness of it. And
the new atheism is just rising up in such a way because of the
absolute ignorance of what I would call redneck Republican white
man Christianity. And I say that, and I say that
not to degrade anyone, because most of my life I've been white,
most of my life I've been a Republican, and most of my life I've been
somewhat redneck. I work hard to keep that. But
I don't want to identify there and haven't for some time. Because
there's a bigger cause, there's a bigger kingdom, there's a greater
interest as a Christian that we should be looking at. Another proof is that we all
have some idolatry in our hearts concerning patriotism in several
ways really quickly. and considering that our nation
is superior to all other people. You know what that's called?
Isn't that a violation of what the scripture teaches in James?
To not be a respecter of persons? To think we're better? You know
how missions is driven in America's churches? Oh, look at those poor
Aboriginals. Look at those poor Pacific Islanders.
Look at those poor Spaniards. Look at those poor Mexicans.
And it's sinful. Let's go there. Let's go here. Let's create a black church.
Let's create a white church. Let's create a Spanish church.
I'm not talking about language. I'm talking about culture. When
we create a church because we like what's on the buffet, we've
made a mistake. We've violated the gospel. We're not superior to anyone
in any way. Because if you don't think that
God with one man and a sling can take out the whole Palestinian
army, Read your Bible. When David defeated the champion
of the Philistines and they drove them out and killed them all.
You think our Marines are going to withhold the one guy? You think our national security
is going to stop when the Lord says, that's fine, go ahead.
One child could bring the entire nation to its knees if God permitted
it. We put our faith in the wrong
stuff, church. We think we think we're strong because we've got
a good military. We think we're strong because we've got we've
got money. We think we're strong because we've got border patrol.
We think we're strong because we've got economic system that
makes more impoverished, homeless people than any place you'll
ever find. To which most Christians go,
I don't care about that. What's one thing to talk politics? Let's
talk politics. And then we get to the place
where we're supposed to care about people. Let's care about people. And
at the same time, though, there are differing interests there.
We shouldn't want the government to be the church. So if we're convicted or compelled
to do one thing, to be concerned, to be caring, we shouldn't be
trying to push the government into making that thing happen.
We should do it ourselves individually. There's idolatry in our hearts
concerning our patriotism when we have these selfish ideals,
when we fail to remember that we took this land, when we have
a rejection of Scripture for the better of the nation, when
Jesus or when the Proverbs tell us and Scripture teaches us to
love those who are poor, to take care of those who are desolate,
to have a heart for those who are without. Matter of fact,
John says, if you see your brother in need and close your heart
to him, you are not a believer. That's a hard. It's not just
shame on you. It's you're not a God. We have adults in our hearts
concerned in our nation when we have a pet doctrine scripture
and we twist it to make it apply to our nationality. We have adults
in our heart when we created a graven image and we call it
a miracle. We couple biblical promises to
an ethnos rather than to the church. Ethnos meaning ethnicity,
the nation, specific peoples. We have our doctrine in our heart
and we care more about us than others. And even with others. Well, they're the aggressor,
kill them all. Friends, do you understand? I really, I shudder
in my bones when I hear somebody say, well, you know, even Joshua,
you know, they had to kill every man, woman and child and, and
whatever. Hey, don't, don't apply the war
of men to the war of God. Don't apply the war of Jericho
and the battles of Joshua and the battles of King David to
the wars of men and factions between nations today, because
there is no people. It's like the church would have
to start fighting wars. And we know what that turned
into when the Catholic Church decided we're going to take back
the morality. Of the world. And they start
the Crusades, wicked, wicked, wicked. We have idolatry in our hearts
concerning our patriotism when we refuse to see or hear the
truth about it. So that's the proof of idolatry,
the proof that we are all bigots to some degree. And thirdly,
proof that political division is the work of Satan. It is the
work of Satan because it divides the brethren. Why is it that we can't talk
about issues of life like politics without becoming angry? Because
people like to be contrarians, they like to discuss things in
a manner not of uplifting and edifying and building and learning,
but you need to listen to what I have to say and believe what
I believe. That's good, but can we not do it the way the Bible
calls us to? It's the work of the devil. It's going to prove
that those who divide over political issues and national issues very
well may be unregenerate. I want you to hear
that, Church. You notice, look at the words
that I use. Those who divide over issues of nationality or
nationalism, patriotism, politics may very well be unregenerate. I didn't say they were, but they
may very well be. Fifthly, we'll see, and it'll
be proven, that the church is not about the Father's business
when we deal with this. We have idolatry in our hearts.
We have this ethno-egocentrism, and we get so involved in the
civilian affairs that we're not about the Father's business.
Are we? Can you deny that? What gets
a crowd in the church? Fourth of July, Memorial Day,
Veterans Day. It gets it. Finally, there's a proof that
I think. Hopefully, what you'll see today
is that it will be proven to you that there's more to life
than this. If we gave a tenth of the time
in our false minds and actions and speech to the things of God
that we do to the things of nation, we would see a revival in this
world. Let me give a caveat. I am not
anti-American. I am not unpatriotic. I believe
in free market. I believe In morality, I believe
in a government that should stand for that which is good. I believe
that as a citizen, you should cast your vote to your conscience
according to the plan of God. I believe that we should stand
up against tyranny. I believe that we should have
a voice. I believe that with that which we've been given the
ability to do. is given to us, we should exercise
it. We should exercise our freedoms of speech. We should exercise
our freedoms of choice. We should exercise our freedoms
in this country. Do it. Be a good citizen, Galatians
6 says. Do good. Do it. But it's not ultimate. It's going
away. It's not a legacy. It's not something
that's going to be there for you. and be there for generations
to come. What's more important, having
the United States of America or having the gospel? But we are to engage as citizens of this country,
knowing full well that we're really a citizen of a better
country, of a better kingdom, of a fuller future. There's some
questions that come to mind as I think about these things. How
is it that Scripture for the church? How is it that Scripture is for
the church? If Scripture is for America. How is it that the gospel is
good news if God is building a kingdom out of a nation rather
than the church? Isn't that what the Jews were
guilty of doing? How is it that we're going to
answer God when we stand face to face with him, when we put
such esteem and patriotism over the gospel? Finally, as we get into Romans
13, where is our hope? And to what end are we hoping? Are we hoping for a better America
or are we hoping for the call of God and his providence and
his decrees to be fulfilled? Thy will be done may mean no
USA. Are you OK with that? See, there
it is. Are we, as the people of God
in this country, working to make a better America, or are we working
to be a holy people before God? Because I will tell you, the
will of God is no USA. It may not be today, because
if it was today, there'd be no America. But it will be one day,
for there is no King but Christ, as we'll see. Romans 13. Let's
look. Chapter thirteen, verse one,
let every person. Be subject to the governing authorities,
for there is no authority except from God and those authorities
that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore, whoever resists
the authorities, resist what God has appointed and those who
resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to
good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the
one who is in authority? Then do what is good and you
receive his approval for he is God's servant for your good.
But if you do wrong, be afraid for he does not bear the sword
in vain. For he is a servant of God, an
avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore,
one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath, but
also for the sake of conscience. For because of this, you also
pay taxes for the authorities or ministers of God attending
to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them,
taxes to whom are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect
to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. Now, I'm
just going to let it say, Paul teaches to honor the emperor,
to honor the leaders, to pray for those who govern the kings,
the governors, the rulers, the emperors. That's who Paul's talking
about here. Let's pick this apart. It's not
a lot. Wow. We're going to be another hour. No, we're not. Because in getting you to think
before this, I think the answers are here. First, look at this,
be subject to all governing authorities. What does that mean? Submit come under the confines
of the authorities whom God has put in place. People like to
argue me what God did not submit. God did not put that person in
authority. Yes, he did. God puts it on the
same. In authority, God put Adolf Hitler
in authority. God put Mussolini in authority. God put George Bush and Bush
and Obama and the rest of them in authority. God put them there. He established the government.
How can you say that? Because Paul just told these
people to be subject to the tyrannous government of Rome. be subject to these tyrants. Why? Because God put them there
for your good, that they bear the sword. Who? All. Every person. Let each one of
you Christians be submissive to the governing authorities
because they are all established by God. I want you to hear that,
Church. Do you see how that looks? Do
you see how that looks? Well, then by golly, that means
I have to agree with this or I have to do this. No, if what
the Bible teaches is in contradiction to what the government says is
right, then who do you obey? But when the government says,
I'm going to put you in jail because you won't obey me, then
you go to jail. Well, I don't see that. What
did the apostles fight? No, because there's a bigger
cause here. And that takes us down a rabbit
hole that we don't have time to deal with today. And if you
want to hear my thoughts on it, you'll look back 2008, July 4th. Very inappropriate sermon for
the day. Verse two, if you resist the
governing authorities, you're resisting God. And the outcome
of that resistance is what? Judgment. Why? Because the authorities, verse
three, are for your good, church. The government here in America,
even in other places, though there may be wickedness that
floats in, listen to this. Every government, even governments
that are wicked, and most of them are, hold in check the depravity
of humanity, even if it's for fear. Look what's happening in
Chicago. Eighty-four people were shot
July 4th in several different shootings across the city. It's
a mess up there. It's been a mess. As long as
it's been a state, I mean a city. And it's a mess right now. And
the local police now have gone in and started shooting people
unarmed. And it's just a mess because they're scared to death.
And so here's the authorities. What is keeping the rest of the
city from just going in there and just annihilating one another?
The National Guard. The government. Because there's
enough sense in the hearts and minds of depraved people to know,
I want to live more than I want to fight. Some people aren't
like that. Even governments that are necessarily
evil, that do evil things, hold wickedness in check to some degree.
Do you see that? You don't see chaos and anarchy
running rampant across the world. You don't see it. Even in the
wars, the world wars, where it was catastrophic, it wasn't. It wasn't just chaos. It came
to an end because the governments came to it and brought it to
an end. God uses natural things. He does supernatural things through
natural means. He saves people through the natural
teaching of natural writing. He doesn't come in and I come
in with some special anointing and slap you on the head and
you go, and you wake up a Christian. It doesn't work that way. He
doesn't give you revelation by bursting me into flames and I
start shooting fire, but we're not consumed. But everybody would
come watch us not burn. He uses a simple, natural voice
from simple, natural syntax, from words on a page, and you
hear them and you get saved. Verse four tells us that we should
fear the government if we're bad. Verse five says that we
should be subject because of God's wrath. And here's what
I think that that means there. Does God's wrath come upon his
church? No. So we who are Christians,
once we see that we are to be subject to the authorities, we
live in a humility, even in disagreement sometimes with the government.
And we honor the leaders whom God has placed there because
God is the one who put them there. And if we call what God has done
bad, we're telling God he's bad. You know who does that? Unbelievers.
And you know who the wrath of God comes upon? Unbelievers. There you go. And boy, this is
not only governments, but I'll tell you, the governments of
the church. Ecclesiastical leaders, pastors,
elders, deacons, servants of God. Though they may be false
teachers, who are we to disobey the Word of God and just start
a smear campaign? Smear false teaching. Go ahead,
do it. It's good. But be very careful
to guard your heart against the one who does it. Against smearing
the one who does it. Why also the wrath? What about
for the believer? If we disobey the government,
what do we have? We have an uneasy conscience.
For the sake of our conscience, we're at peace knowing that what
we're doing is right before God. We know that we have no fear
that somebody's going to knock on our door. You know why I resist
anybody coming to my door to take me and my family into custody?
Because we've not done anything worth going to jail for. Whoa,
whoa, whoa, whoa, what are you doing? I won't be like, OK, lock
me up. What is this for again? I mean,
why would you resist? Why would you say, wait, what
are you doing? Because you know you haven't done anything. But
you know, all guilty people are innocent. There's not a guilty
man in a prison anywhere. Just ask him. But you know, Christian, if you're
guilty. And when we submit to the laws that are for our good,
we have a clean conscience. You ever had a conscience that
wouldn't let you go about sin? about things that you've done,
about laws that you've broken, wondering when the axe is going
to fall. But what's the remedy for that? What's the remedy for
a clear conscience? The remedy is Jesus Christ. The
remedy is the good news that God, in His infinite mercy and
wisdom, because of the great love with which He has loved
you, has given His Son, who served and lived righteously and wholly,
obedient to the law of commands, fulfilling the fullness of all
the holiness of God. And then, He willfully and absolutely
certainly delighted in going to the cross to carry the burden
of the wrath of God that was due to us. So that we, by faith,
can receive through grace, what? Eternal life in Christ. There's one thing that we see.
We see examples there, verse six and seven. How do we do that? How do we submit to the... We
pay taxes. We pay for what we get. We don't
steal it out of the stores. But most importantly, we pay
respect. And we pay honor. to whom it is owed. That means
we keep our attitudes in check. We watch our slander. We don't
make ridiculous accusations and on Facebook and Twitter and social
media and around coffee and in the church and in our living
rooms, we don't get in these discussions about how awful certain
people are. I can't even ask the saints of
God to pray for men in power because I can't put it on Facebook
without them bombarding my phone and my text and my email and
my Facebook and everything else with dozens and dozens, and I'm
not exaggerating, of crazy accusations about why this man shouldn't
be prayed for and why this woman shouldn't be prayed for and how
wicked they are and how sinful they are. And I want to say,
why don't you look in the mirror? Gossip is murder. Gossip is not lying. That's slander. That's false witness. Gossip. You shall not commit murder. Murder is the heart of hatred
that wants to destroy, by name or force, someone else. You want to destroy the government?
You want to destroy the president? You want to destroy the emperor?
You want to destroy his reputation? You know why we do that? Because
we don't believe God's sovereign. We don't believe the Bible's
true. We don't believe that there's anything greater than America.
And we think that if we don't do something and say something,
that everybody's going to fail. I would love to see the country
fail if it meant revival. And I've got a lot to lose. I've
got children more than most people. The house, vehicles, dogs, fish, shoes. A lot to lose, isn't it? It's
nothing. It's nothing. Nothing. It's nothing. Count
it all as loss for the priceless gain of knowing Christ. I hope
you see the argument here. We don't put patriotism above And we don't make Christ the
savior of a nation when he's the savior of his church. Don't
confuse the two. Be concerned about policy. Be
concerned about national interest. Be concerned, but be more concerned
for that which the gospel affects in you fully. Have a heart for
people. Have a heart for truth. The law violates the Lord. We humbly and submissively ignore
it. Remember Rome. Remember Polycarp. Remember Paul. In order to fully see and savor
the kingdom of God, we have to quit being nationalistic in our
faith. And if we think that the Bible
teaches that we're to be nationalists or patriots in our faith, Then
we have made Paul, John, and Jesus alike. Who all said, even Peter, we're
not of this world. You joyfully accepted the punishment
of your property, Hebrews states, because you know how to better
and abide in it. So what's the end of all this?
What's the point of all this? The point of all this is I want
you to see something. I want you to see that godless
people run the governments because the people who vote them
into office are godless. And on countries that don't have
the ability to vote, if godless people are there, it's because
God put them there. Guess what? What does it teach
us in Scripture? Man may cast the lot, but God decides the
vote. blow on the dice, you can punch
the button, you can do anything you want to do. And we know history
shows us that Al Gore lost the presidential election, that he
actually won. And people were upset about that. But you know why? God wanted
it to happen. And you know what's good about
the government? They didn't burn America down because of it. We
moved on. And we're still talking about it. Godless people run governments,
especially the government of this country. If they're godless,
not all politicians are godless. I almost stated yesterday that
there's a great chasm between a politician and a theologian.
And I doubt that either of the two have been one in the same.
But I chose not to say that because I don't really believe it now.
Many, most. Secondly, the end of all this
is we need to understand that the people are godless. who vote
godless leaders into office because the church is not doing what
matters, but entangling herself into civilian pursuits with government,
trying to transform the nation through government. The end of all this is knowing
that the church is not Americans, but all nations And no government
or ethnos will stand above another before our King. The end of all
this is knowing that this world is temporal and everything in
it, and that there's no King but Christ. The end of all this
is understanding that we are not to align ourselves with the
left or with the right, because those things are antichrist. They're antichrist. They're saying
the sovereignty and the beauty and the glory of Jesus is not
my identity, but I'm a Republican or I'm a Democrat or I'm a Tea
Party or I'm a coffee man or I'm a Gatorade guy or I'm slap
dab in the middle on the left side of the right. Is that me? I'm progressive. How about be
Christ like? How about be gloriously glued
to the absolute most beautiful thing that is ever or will ever
exist? And that is that God, as Jesus
Christ, the son, saved you through his death and wrath that he endured
so that you could live. He took your sin, Christian,
and that's why you're a Christian. No Christian should be identified
by their political causes. The end of all this helps us
understand that morality has been, what's the word, conquered. Morality has been conquered because
morality is death. Judgment comes for those who
live and think they're moral. and righteous because of their
morality. Jesus came to save us from our morality. God is never, nor has He, nor
will He look for moral people. He's looking for holy worshipers.
And that is something that you and I cannot accomplish. We can
be moral, but we cannot be holy. So how are we holy? Jesus Christ
the righteous. He who had no sin, who knew no
sin, became sin that we might become the righteousness of God.
See what kind of love the Father has given to us that we should
be called the children of God. And so we are. The end of this is so that government
will not be allowed to win the moral war. Government will not win the moral
war. Why? Because God won't allow
it. We can change laws. We can do
this. We can do that. We can say all
the things we want to say. We could write it down and go
perfectly. Well, let's get it back to the way the founders
had it. No, they did not believe that Africans were even humans. partial human, you had to get
two or two and a half to make one. And they were deists. And deists
are pagans. Pagans are unbelievers. And unbelievers are hell-bound. See where we put our hopes? God's
not going to allow the government to win the war of morality. God's
not going to allow it. Why? Because it would steal his
glory. That's Satanism. Christ has already won the war. In the end, the human government
can do nothing to change or to accomplish or to restrict the
will of God, or the providence of God, or the decrees of God.
The governments of this world cannot change anything God has
decided. Nothing. Nothing. If God can
take an entire nation like Nineveh to the preaching of one man who
hated him and turn them to repentance, then God can do anything. If
God can take you who hated him and falsely understood Him and
make you alive in Christ, He can do anything. If God can take, as He showed
us in the Old Testament, the smallest and weakest and poorest
of nations and give them the world, He can do anything. Government will not win because
God will not allow it. And they will not change God's
plan. In the end, the U.S. or any other nation is ineffective
in anything glorious. And let me summarize that for
you. No matter how great our heritage is, it's boring. And I study it, and I teach it,
and I enjoy American history. I love it. I read journals and
articles. Theological articles, I love
to read the source, not the historians. As much as you can. And I get
excited about it, and I look at it and I'm like, this is exhilarating
and awesome, but it's boring. And the reason it's exhilarating
and awesome is because I see a sovereign God through the ignorance
and blindness of the history of humanity, bringing to fruition
the fullness of His purpose to save people from death and hell,
even through the development of this great nation. Why does
America exist? To show us that everything but
Christ is boring and helpless. And that through what we have,
we can affect the nation for the gospel. We're the freest
country, per se, in the world, but yet fewer and fewer and fewer
and fewer and fewer people are preaching the gospel from America.
Do you know that foreign missionaries are coming to the United States
to preach the gospel to us? And we're offended. Bring them.
Some of them are coming illegally here. God is sending people through
the borders of our country under the cover of darkness in crates
for weeks so they can come here and preach the gospel in obedience.
Just like I have brothers who sneak into Afghanistan and who
sneak into China and who illegally bring contraband into foreign
nations so that the gospel of Jesus Christ at the sentence
of death can be preached. And we dare stop God. We won't
stop God. Well, we got to understand. Please
hush your mouth when you say that you say you got understanding
it. I think I would explode. We don't have to understand anything,
but Christ is sovereign. And if we're not preaching to
the nations, somebody will. Our missions is a joke. We should do good as citizens. What did Jesus say? Oh, so inappropriate
to say this to the Pharisees. Well, we should tithe. That's
what good Jews do. But don't forget the more important
things. Be a good citizen of America, but don't forget whose
kingdom you actually stand for. Is the Bible for all nations
or is it for America? In the end, we do not fear, Church.
In the end, we will not fail. In the end, we will not forget
what God has promised to us. Do not ignore His Word. Do not
justify our beliefs based on historical philosophies. And
we do not refute Scripture for the freedom of man or for the
policy of markets. We are Christians, not American
Christians. We belong to Christ. not another
kingdom. Therefore, our gospel is effective. Our Jewish Savior is effective in us and through
us in missions, in redemption for all people, all nations,
all the time. Church, if we don't stop what
we're doing and our high patriotism, we're actually sealing people
out of the kingdom when we think that our churches
are to be active in transforming our government. What if there were one sitting
in our service today who was not American? Would this service, would this
sermon be for them? Yeah. Because they suffer from
the same egocentrism as we do. The sad effect is this church.
People are willing to die to get to this country. Because they're looking for hope. And when they get here, they
can't find it because it's not in the land. It's not in the
policies, it's not in the law, it's in Christ Jesus. And the
church needs to stop preaching patriotism and start preaching
Christ. Do you know Christ? Are you born
again? Do you believe by faith that
he saved you through his life? I'm so thankful that Christ is
not a bigot and that we came to his own and his own did not
receive him. All who did receive him and believed in his name,
he gave the right to become the children of God. Not because of blood, by birth
or by choice of the will of the mind, but by the will of God. God, take this. and put it in us. Help us to
be patriotic to the place you've called us. Lord, let us lay it
aside for the sake of Christ. We thank you, Lord, for your
glorious grace in us and toward us. Thank you for saving us,
Lord. Let this be not the answer, the
platform, the way. Let us let this day be the beginning
of a new way of thinking. And when we are active in our
faith, let us be active in our faith as citizens also. In addition to. Not in place. And help us to see that there's
no place of division amongst the brethren, that we can disagree
on matters of state and still have fellowship. Because if we
cannot, someone is not in the faith. And Lord, that may mean
that we all need to keep our mouths shut. And even when we
disagree, we just smile and preach that which we do agree on and
share that which we do agree on. Lord, give us wisdom and
discernment to say and do that which is good for all people,
good for the gospel, good for the church, because you've planted
in us a glorious power through Christ. And it's in his name
we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. God bless you, Church.