This is a message of grave importance.
I believe, and as you see around, it's amazing that it just happened
to fall in the season of the 4th of July. We have a very political
flavor even in our sanctuary today. We have a patriotic grandeur. And I notice that sometimes when
we're singing songs, and this is not just our congregation,
but congregations across the world, And every church that
I've ever been a part of, people will ho-hum, sing through, whatever,
yeah, that's a good song, yeah, ha-ha-ha. But when the Star Spangled
Banner began, something amazing happened. Did you ever notice
that? You ever been there? You ever been in a crowd? I mean,
it used to always blow my mind at some of our meetings and things,
you know, like Cub Scouts and RAs and everybody's just doing
their own thing and the poor guy's up there without a microphone
and he's just trying to get some announcements out. But when the
flag comes forward and someone stands and does this, it's like
supernatural. People stand up. Oh, say can
you see? Oh yes, I can see. You know,
and our blood boils and our skin gets chill bumps and we consider
the ramparts we watched and we see the glory of Her Majesty
the Flag. We are red-blooded Americans
and we love our country as we should, as we should. But what
I've seen there is that that's just the beginning. There are
some who hear that song or think of our freedom or think of our
country and they have disdain. I hate America. You know? Like even some people from other
countries that I meet that are here as refugees have taken asylum
and they go, I hate America. But I'll take it over where I'm
from. And sometimes we get frustrated with anything. A lot of people
come over here and use our welfare and use our health care and do
this and do that. You know how many times I've
heard that? And you know what God reminds me is that I am an
alien in His kingdom. And I rape His resources, and
I ruin His glorious beauty, and I hollow out His holiness, and
yet He embraces me. So it's very, very convicting
sometimes when I hear even other people talk about how America's
for Americans. Well, you know what? We stole
it. from someone else. We raped the land from another
people. And then we violated God's law
and broke away from the Britain government. We broke away sinfully. And then we sing, God bless America. This message is of grave importance.
It will challenge you. And as we begin, I want you to
think about four things. Number one, I've already stated it,
is this message is not an all-inclusive answer to the political issues
surrounding our nation and the world. We could literally every
day for the rest of my natural life, if I live till I'm 100,
I could stand in here every Sunday and I could talk about political
issues and we'd never get through. and sadly pulpits across America
are on fire for politics but they could care less about the
gospel of Jesus Christ. Two, this message is not intended
to deal with every implication of the text that I'm going to
use. It's a very horrible path. job of dealing with everything
that's going to be pulled out of this text. It is impossible
to get it through. And I'm like, okay, let's look
and see what maybe some other great pastors have done. I even
looked. I looked at about 11 different
churches, and none of the men did this. The main text that
I'm going to use today in Romans chapter 13, the first seven verses,
none of them did it. I think the shortest was four
weeks. And then that was just topical at best. I'm just going
to tell you, it's going to be different. Preaching topically
sometimes is easier, but sometimes it's very frustrating if you
want to stay true to exactly what the Scripture is trying
to say. The third thing I want you to know going into this message is that
it would take an entire series of about six weeks to begin the
argument, and I think it would take about a year to engage the
details. And so we're going to do all this in one day, and I'm
going to talk fast. And number four, the purpose
of this message really ultimately, I had to ask myself, what's my
one point? My one point is to diffuse the ultimate necessity
and the rivalry of politics, patriotism, and prejudice that
plagues the body of Christ. I'm going to give you that again.
The purpose of this message is to diffuse the ultimate necessity
and the rivalry of politics, The robbery of patriotism, the
robbery of prejudice that plagues the body of Christ. And you might
say, well that doesn't make any sense. It does make sense. I
was here during the election. I know where each of you stand
because you very, very vehemently announced it. Stickers, signs. I have stickers and signs too.
I mean, I'm not saying, I'm just saying we know where each other
stands when it comes to our political views. But oftentimes we fail
to really even know anything about our spiritual walk together.
There's a warning there. In 1898, the British theologian
Robert L. Otley, he observed, he says, the Old
Testament may be studied as an instructor in social righteousness.
It exhibits the moral government of God as attested in His dealings
with nations rather than with individuals. And it was their
consciousness of the action and presence of God in history that
made the prophets preachers. Not merely to their countrymen,
but to the world at large. There is indeed significance
in the fact that in spite of their ardent zeal for social
reform, they did not, as a rule, take part in political life or
demand political reforms. They desired not better institutions,
but better men. That's taken from the Aspects
of Old Testaments, the Bantam Lectures of 1897. So we think
of politics, we think of kingdoms, we think of countries, we think
of rights, we think of liberty. Actually, our government is built
on a document. Interesting enough, we sometimes
forget that. And that document is foundational,
and that document says that we have the right of what? Life? Liberty? and the pursuit of happiness. And so here we are to do ordain,
we establish this Constitution as the people of the United States
of America. Friends, I would just say on
the onset that America's government is not even an example of historical
government anywhere. We're the only government that
has ever been of the people, for the people, by the people.
Ever. Every other government Now there
may be some that say they're democratic or republic, but every
other government revolves around the government telling the people
what will go, not the other way around. And so keep that in mind
as we continue to go. I've sort of, I've thought a
lot about this over the last few years. And you've heard me
talk about the dangers of the emergent church, the dangers
of the prosperity gospel, the dangers of the cults, the dangers
of the watered-down easy-believe-ism, the dangers of this false truth,
the dangers of all sorts of things that are coming. But one of the
most dangerous issues in the church today is not the emergent
or the prosperity or the cults, but the demands of rights and
social change by the people of God. Pulpits and platforms are
for the proclamation of the gospel, not for social change. They're
not for revolution. They're not for marches. And
they're not for civil rights. They're for Christ. And when
the body of Christ gets tangled up in political minutia, we lose vision. Someone said to me, Jesus is
not a peace-loving, benevolent hippie who wants to save children
and trees. He's not affiliated at all with
the left or the Democrats or the people-focused folks. I thought,
you're absolutely right. And I responded by saying, Jesus
is not a white, gun-toting, red-blooded American. And He's not affiliated
with the right or the patriotic conservatives. And He wouldn't
have voted for George Bush. And He wouldn't have voted for
McCain. And He wouldn't have voted for Obama either. He didn't
go there. Jesus is not Iranian. Jesus is
not Chinese. He's not African. He's not American.
And as a matter of fact, He's not even Jewish. What is his
nationality? Jesus does not have a political
standing in the world. He didn't when he walked it,
he doesn't now. God is not pleased about whose
side we're on when it comes to democracy, or politics, or patriotism. As a matter of fact, I would
suggest to you that a lot of times our patriotism is nothing but
idolatry, and that we put our hope in the government of this
nation rather than the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus would not have voted, for
he did not come to change the social face of the world, but
to change the heart of man. Jesus' politics, honestly, are
a figment of our imagination most of the time. It's amazing. Jesus would not march on a city
for slavery. Jesus would not hold a sign for
women's rights. Jesus would not go and confront
abortionists and tell them to stop. Jesus would not go to Capitol
Hill for the immoral lawyers. He would not go and confront
Congress for their backhanded deals. He would not confront
the bankers of America and the National Treasury because they
were cheats. He would not confront these things. How do we know?
Because he did not. The face and the political face
of Jesus' day makes what we are in today look like eternal bliss. But when Jesus was just three
years old, a very nervous king decided he could not deal with
the fact that there might be a child that would maybe usurp
his power one day, even though it was given to him by the Roman
authorities. And so he ordered the death of every child, two
and under, in his region. And so while people slept at
night, officials went into their homes and slit the throats of
their children. And Jesus didn't say this was
wrong. I'm not saying that it is right. It is wrong. But Jesus'
mission was not this world and its politics and its governments. Paul says in 1 Corinthians, And
those who deal with the world, they have no dealings with it.
For the present form of the world is passing away. Now there's
a lot more before that. In other words, we're to deal
with the world as Christians because we're a part of the world,
we're in the world, but we're not of the world in that sense.
And that as we deal with the world, we deal with it as we
have to, as it lays in our lap, But we don't deal with it because
it is the ultimate, because this life is not the ultimate. This
life is not where we should hang our hat. This life is not where
we should put our focus. It is not where our hope lies.
This country will fall one day and there is nothing we can do
about it. For it is the will of God. What are we doing with it for
the glory of God now? There are other things that should
be ultimate for the Christian, and the world and its governments
and political issues are not even on the top of the list.
This country, as I've already said, it will and is passing
away. There is no stopping it. It doesn't mean we sit on our
hands and we allow the evil of the world to overtake everything.
We don't allow murderers to overtake the world and to slay children,
but there is a way to respond in humility. and at peace. America is not a world for us or for
our children or for our grandchildren. How many hours do we spend worrying
about what this world is going to be like for our children and
grandchildren? And we never teach them about
the truth of the world and that it is passing away and that this
world and this kingdom is already subject to decay. That they must
put their eyes on the Kingdom of God. Sadly, as Jesus even told Nicodemus,
that you don't understand these things because you're not of
the truth. America was born in sin. This
is going to blow a lot of our minds, but this is the honest
truth according to the Scripture. The Scripture says that we as
Christians should be subject to all governing authorities,
even authorities that are tyrannous.
That word in our Constitution gives us the right to bear arms
and take over the government so that we may have the pursuit
of happiness and liberty. America revolted in sin. We were
under British rule when we decided that rule was not what we wanted. So we took up arms and we fought
against an established government that God ordained and we took
our freedom away. And in essence, we've become
slaves. We've become slaves to such a place of the flesh in
America that this is the most difficult place to proclaim the
truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the entire world. More
people respond in Iraq to the gospel than they do in America.
They're hungry for truth. And their liberties don't blind
them. They see the need for a Savior. Not one to save them from this
world, but one to prepare them for the next. Believers who are under British
rule should have followed the Scripture. Not their rights,
not their pursuit of liberty, not their pursuit of happiness,
not their lives. See, the problem is, and this
is just my introduction, the problem is that our vision as
Christians, our vision as Americans, our vision is self-centered.
Our vision is self-centered. In other words, what we look
for, and what we hope for, and what we see, and what we seek,
it's all about us. I'm seeking it for them, for
the future generation. It's still for you. It's still for us. It's
about us living in a what? Peaceful, prosperous world. You see the problem? If you have
a biblical worldview, if you are a child of God, you see the
problem. You go, wow, I never looked at it that way. We are
selfish to the core. We like our life. We like our
way. We like our truth and our freedoms. And we're not going to stand
while somebody takes it away. And if you infringe on my right,
boy, you're going to pay and you're going to feel the fury
of my liberty. Sound familiar? Our pride and our value is in
our heritage and our freedoms, not the gospel. So our vision
is self-centered, and I believe our freedom is self-centered.
I believe that we want to be free, and for lack of a better
way to put this, we actually, there are so many people who
would say our freedom in America is our business, and to hell
with whoever else doesn't have freedom. How do I know this? I see people talking about signs
that we shouldn't go and aid countries who are actually being
murdered and all these things. And I'm not saying what is and
what is not a just war. That's for God to decide. But
there is such a thing. And there is such a thing as
to aid people. To help people. To get people
out. And America's about the only
place we can bring them in. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no. You'd never make president because you want to
bring people who are being slain in their country into America
and take care of them. Why not? Is that not what the church is
supposed to do? No, but what we want to do is we want to get
big guns and blow up people. And then we want to leave them
defenseless with no government. You know what no government is?
Satanic. Even horrible government is ordained
by God, and I'll prove that to you in a moment. So our freedom
is self-centered. We care more about our rights
to do and have and say what we want, rather than the rights
and freedoms of our enemies and our neighbors. Our world is self-centered. We love the world, and we love
our country, and we close our eyes to everything else. As a
church, as Christians, And you know, this is the rule and there
are always exceptions. Friends, as the body of Christ, I would suggest to you that in
the fifties when they put in, God we trust on our money, that
we would fight to keep that on our dollar bill before we fight
to keep Bibles in our bedrooms. Because our trust is in the dollar,
not the God who owns it. 1 John 2, and it's a little preview,
maybe six months or so down the road, 2. It says, Do not love
the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world,
the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the
world, and he lists them, John does, the desires of the flesh,
the desires of the eyes, the things we see and want, the pride
and possessions, It's not from the Father, but it's from the
world. And the world is passing away along with all of its desires,
but whoever does the will of God abides forever. So our vision,
our freedom, our world is self-centered and I believe that our solutions
are man-centered. We think that the problems of
this world and this country are going to be solved on Capitol
Hill. We think the problems of this world and this country are
going to be solved in the White House. That is the most stupid, retarded,
ridiculous, asinine thing that we could ever think as Christians.
Some strong language, Pastor. Because I'm strongly, strongly,
strongly concerned about the condition of those who call themselves
believers and hang their hope on a person other than the man, Jesus. If your hope for this country
is in the White House or the administration or the law or
the Supreme Court, you have a hard, hard pill to swallow one day. Our ideal Honestly is behavior
and morals, not blessing and approval by God. And we have
the audacity and the arrogance to sing, God bless America. When
America has taken God and thrown him into a selfish pot like a
genie in a bottle. And we ask God to bless a freedom
that we sinfully obtained. However, God can take garbage
and make it glorious. And I believe that God does bless
our nation as he does other nations. And he is long-suffering and
is providential. And I would like for you to just
submit in your mind for a moment the importance of a biblical
worldview and understanding God's government and why he established
it and what our response should be rather than for once considering
yourself an American, consider yourself a citizen of God's kingdom. So what is the solution? Here's
a preview. The gospel of Christ. Now, we
know that. Everybody knows that's the solution.
But our hearts and our actions and our words don't show it.
We show that our hope lies in political parties and persons
whom we think are God's man. Let me tell you who God's man
is, whoever's in charge. When Adolf Hitler was put in
charge of Nazi Germany, God put him there. When Mussolini was
in charge, God put him there. And God expected the Christians
of that area and of that era to subject themselves to the
governing authority of those tyrants, of those murderers. God's man is always in charge.
Political participation. So should, what you're saying,
Pastor, is that we should be political in anything? I didn't
say that. We should have our, we should exercise those rights
we've been given with holiness first, not haughtiness. Those rights are given to us
and we should we should cherish them as given to us by God and
we should use them only to the point or up to the point where
we begin to say that we demand them. When we demand our rights
we have gone too far. Christians should be active in
voting. You ought to vote. I know a lot of brothers and sisters
who go, I'm not ever going to get involved in politics. I'm not
voting. Why? You have an opportunity as a citizen of this country
to actually make political change Now, what's the big deal? You're
saying politics aren't important. Well, they really aren't in the
scheme of things. But they are for now. Because
our Supreme Court has a new member just a few days away. And that new member, whatever
she stands for, will infiltrate our judicial system. So if she
is a person who believes that it's okay to murder children,
then that will be one more link in the chain of pulling abortion
into the absolutely, I don't know, norm. Christians should be active in
standing for truth, for THE truth. What's true? People bear false
witness, we should be able to say, no, no, that's not true.
But it doesn't mean we throw rocks at their courthouse. It
doesn't mean we stand out there with signs and chant and block
traffic and become civil disobedient. It's wrong. Christians should
be active in doing good, Paul. Alright, Titus 3, it says, remind
them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient,
to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one. Let
me stop. I mean, I grew up in the South.
You cut this arm, it's red. You cut this arm, it's blue.
You cut your forehead, it's white. And you put it all together and
the American flag forms in the puddle. I mean, I don't know
how it works, but that's the way it works. We bleed red, white, and blue
down there. And we hold on to everything
that's holy. The American flag. Everything
that's holy. Statues of General Lee. You name it. We've got our shrines.
We've got our altars. We even do reenactments. We even
have the audacity to go to the South to arise again. To do what?
To do what? Oh, wow. This is just fun. And
so we see this and we think, what are we going to be? We have
this political attitude. And in order to actually stand
up for what's right, No pun intended, right hand, right wing. What
is right? We've got to talk bad about everybody
else. I mean, there are friends of mine who has, and even family
who used to have when Clinton was in office, a digital countdown
of when he was going to be done with his second term. And there
are other friends of mine who had a digital countdown of when
W was going to be done with his term. And it was seconds, minutes,
hours, days, weeks, months. and it just big big L they spent
300 bucks on this LCD screen to program it for the amount
of time so when it hits zero they can have a halloween party
and they better listen to my message from last week don't
get drunk and you ask them how things are
going things are going great but I tell you what's going to
happen Bill Clinton is the Antichrist I mean I've heard it I'll tell
you why we're in Iraq because the Bush administration wants
them all old But where is it? I'm ready to pay like 20 cents
for a gallon of gas. If we're going to steal it, let's
steal it. See what I'm saying? It's just continual evil. Now the world's going to do that.
The church should not. The church should not. And I'm
not the church. I'm not speaking for the church. I'm speaking
for God today. When I read His words, you're hearing His words.
Now, but there are still a lot of things that I might say that
are probably tainted because of my upbringing. So we'll look
at God's Word and then we'll subject ourselves to His Word,
not to what James says. But when I say the church shouldn't
say these things, I mean each individual person who is the
church. Each Christian should avoid negative
talk, should avoid speaking evil of no one, to avoid quarreling.
In other words, they should be gentle and they should show perfect
courtesy toward all people. Okay, I'm convicted. You're convicted? We can go home now, right? At
the end of it. Let's look a little further. Christians should understand
that all good, politically, is nothing compared to God's ability.
What's that mean? And that everything, if we could, as Americans, get
our government in such perfect harmony with the Word of God,
it still would not be good. If we could get the people of
this country to live as they did in the very beginning days,
to where as a nation we were God-fearing and religious, And
there weren't as many rapes, and as many murders, and as many
thieves, and as many... all these kind of things that
we could pile into this if we could get rid of these people.
Remember what I said a few weeks ago? That if God were to eliminate
evil, there would be no human being left. Because where does
he stop? At the lives? Or does he go up
just to the thieves? Or does he stop there? Because
you know, he had a cousin, or... Heck, I was a thief. I stole, fourth
grade, shoplifted a can of dog food. And got in big trouble. So I guess I'd be eliminated
too. We all would. But see, Christians should understand
that God's kingdom, we are called in God's nation, in God's kingdom,
to be priests, not activists. Exodus 19, 6, and you shall be
to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the
words that you shall speak to the people of Israel. 1 Peter
2, 9, but you're a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim, listen,
why are we God's people? So that you may proclaim the
excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His
marvelous light. It's not about fixing the nations,
it's about being the nation of God. And that's not America. I'm not even American to get
down to it. My people came from Europe. They got in a boat and they came
over here. My mother, grandmother's mother, had Native American.
She was an American. And we robbed her of her land.
Sinfully. It's like the Crusades. You're going to believe in Jesus
or we're going to kill you. You're going to give us this
land or we're going to eradicate you. We're more powerful than
you are, we're richer than you are, we're better than you are.
It's racism. But Jesus came to the world during
a time of great unrest and horrible political climate. Herod, Matthew
2. You saw that he'd been tricked
by the wise man. Remember they went back a different path and didn't
come in and report where Jesus was. He became furious and he
sent and killed all the male children of Bethlehem and all
the region who were two years old or under. And Herod ruled
during a time when slavery was for every free man there was
three slaves. Taxation was so bad, so corrupt, that most people
served prison sentences because they couldn't afford it. Jews considered the Messiah to
come a political freedom fighter. Even the disciples. They wanted
to be free. They wanted to be a nation. They
wanted to be able to sing, oh say, can you see? Can you see we're free? We're
Israel. Eat that Rome. Put that in your
pipe and smoke it. Revolution! Jesus never attempted to make
social change. He never stood on the street
and preached against slavery. He never stood on the street
and preached against genocide. He never preached against infanticide. He never preached against all
the world's doings in trying to change politically the governments.
He never spent time doing that. He had no earthly political agenda. Jesus didn't come to establish
peace on earth. As a matter of fact, it's all mouth that I came
to bring a sword. And I'll divide it up. A little more detail than
that, but that's my redneck rendition. Jesus never attempted to reform
morals, or create peace, or create a peaceable change in the political
climate. He said, Caesars? Render to Caesar the things that
are Caesar's. Who cares? Give to God what is
God's. His kingdom was about the Father's
kingdom. It's about the remission of sin
so that the eternal kingdom, His kingdom, and the will of
the Father could be fulfilled. And He told those who obey the
Pharisees, even though they were evil and wicked. Don't believe
in Matthew 23. Matthew 23, verse 2 and 3. The scribes and the
Pharisees sit on Moses' seat, He says, so practice and observe
whatever they tell you, but do not do what they do. For they
preach, but they do not practice. Jesus did not come to change
the world as we know it. He came to seek after the souls of men,
to show them that their sins need forgiving, and to give them
the light of faith in Him, for He was the Lamb of God. And He
tells them in Mark 16, go into all the world and proclaim the
gospel to the whole creation. He did not come to bring peace,
hope, and life in this world, but to show that this world is
done. passing away, and that the new life and the new birth
are in order, not the earth. Jesus ignored the fact that all
this stuff was going on. He came rather to seek and save
the lost, not to cry out against the injustices of society. Jesus
would not have bat an eye over the political issues today. I
really don't believe He would, especially in America. He was
unconcerned with the issues of the world in His day, for they
all rooted from one thing, the depravity of man. And so he understood
the true fix was to save sin. And he came to fix the root of
the problem. It's like going to the doctor
with an abdominal pain, and he gives you a heat compressor for
your shoulder. Why does your shoulder hurt? Well, because
I bent over so hard with my stomach hurting, I hit on the table.
And he treats your shoulder. And you roll out and fall out
of the bed and hurt your elbow, and he treats your elbow. But
he never looks and sees what's wrong with your stomach. You
ever been to a doctor like that? You end up with 15 prescriptions
and two or three weeks in the hospital and then you realize,
oh, I have a bacterial infection. If you just took some blood work
instead of being a superman and looking through with your x-ray
eyes, I thought it would have been better by now. That's what
we do with our government. We think that we're going to
fix problems and we're going to get people to become more moral
and to love God if we just start passing laws. You know who the
first law passer was? God. And you know what? We broke
the law. And we break the law today. Because
He knows we can't do it. Because we're depraved. We are
sinners. And because we're sinners, then
we're going to sin. Some of us think that we're sinners
because we've accidentally found sin. Sin is in our DNA. The Scripture teaches that. So here's my message. First we'll start. And you don't
have to turn here, just listen. And that Paul and Peter and others,
the Scripture is talking to all Christians, not just Americans.
Peter and his first apostles, to those who are elect exiles
of the dispersion of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Lithuania, all over the place, all Christians
in all political environments, hear this. So Americans, hear
this. Our rights as Americans are to
be laid down for the sake of the gospel. That was Paul's attitude. I'm a Roman citizen. And there
were some times that he exercised those rights. But he never did
it by force, and he never did it in a haughty way. He said,
you know, if I'm to die for my crime, then so be it. But if
I've done nothing, then please, I appeal to Caesar. Please. Romans 13, 1-7. Let's read that
together. And then we'll get on with the
show. It's not an easy mess. It's just
so messy. I feel messed up now in my head.
The argument's just messy. Romans chapter 13, verses 1 through
7. Let every person be subject to
the governing authorities. For there is no authority except
from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.
Therefore, whoever resists the authorities, resists 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 will 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 wrongdoers.
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 may
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 taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect
to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. And I'll
just go ahead and tell you this morning, We're going to stop
at verse 5 because there's no way I'll get into all this. Let's
stop at verse 5. And so we see this text, we see
Paul talking to the Christians in Rome. I mean there's a lot
of issues politically we could go into. I could give you a good
lesson and still I don't even have the whole picture of it.
The people who studied their whole lives to deal with the
culture, the Roman culture and the Christian culture. Anthropologists
and even theologians and historians and it's amazing. And it is interesting
and it is essential to understand how to truly exegete or critique
this text and get the meaning out for the purpose of us relating
it to ourselves. And so what I have, like I told
you, the second thing is that this message is not intended
to deal with every implication of the text. It is too much for
me to handle in the time that I have. And it's over my head
to be able to do this in one message or one month or one year. And so as you disagree or agree
and you'd like to have more studies, you want to spend a couple of
hours together, I would love to sit down with you. And if
we find that I am in error, then we will recant and we will back
up and punt. But I honestly think that if
the way I'm going to present this, it's exactly what Paul
is trying to tell us today. Let every person be subject to
the governing authorities. What does that mean? Every Christian,
every believer, every person, Every soul, the Greek there doesn't
really imply that it says Christian, but that's who the letter's spoken
to. So he's saying, you who are Christian, be subject themselves,
you, yourself, to the authority in this world. Peter. be subject
for the Lord's sake to every human institution, 1 Peter 2,
I have just some proof text here, whether it be to the emperor
as supreme or to the governors as sent by him to punish those
who do evil and to praise those who do good. Why? For it is the
will of God that by doing good you should put to silence the
ignorance of foolish people. Speak evil of no one. Do good. You know why the homosexual,
and in two weeks when you talk about it, it's going to blow
your mind. You think this is a tough message. That was going to be worse. And
I've got 11 years of study in that one, and I'm still not ready. Do you know why the homosexual
community says the church hates them? Because that's exactly
what we've shown them. That's exactly what we've shown
them. Now, you and I may not have done that. But people who carry the name
Christ have stood on the corners and screamed at their faces and
told them that God hates them. That's a lie. And Prop 8, it didn't do much
good for that. It didn't do any good for the
gospel. I mean, I had somebody come to my door the other day
and talk to me about that. Can you sign this petition? No. How
did you vote? I did it. Why? Because the state of California
doesn't have the authority to define marriage because God already
has. And I can't get my mind around
what's going on here politically. And number two, I think it's
wrong that you don't have rights as an American citizen. I feel
sorry for you and I hate that fact that you've been discriminated
against. I said, look, that has nothing to do with marriage.
It's two different issues. I'll get on that in a couple
of weeks. For this is the will of God,
that by doing good you should silence the ignorance of foolish
people. Live as people who are free. Not using your freedom
as a cover-up for evil. But living as servants of God.
Honor everyone. Love each other. Fear God. And honor the Emperor. All Christians should obey every
law. So what are you saying? Every
law. All of them. It continues in
chapter 3, Peter does, "...for it is better to suffer for doing
good, if it should be God's will, than for doing evil." What is
evil? Breaking the law. Whose law?
God's law. What does God's law say? Obey
the... subject yourself to the authorities of the world. Well,
Pastor, what about when they tell us that we have to kill
somebody? Murder! Innocent babies are... this and the other, and we don't
do that. We respectfully and honorably
and silently and quietly refuse to do it. But we don't take up
arms, we don't take to the street, we don't go and threat, we don't
demand our rights, we don't stand up and say, this is an abomination,
and all this junk, and get the public eye on the church as a
bunch of nutcases. We want everybody to live right
because we can't. Why do we want people to live
right? That's a false gospel. We can't legislate morality. Civil disobedience is warranted
when God's decrees are violated. But subjection and mercy from
the authorities must be sought, not riots or revolts. How do
I know this? It is the example. It is the
example of biblical character, Daniel. He was told to eat a
specific meal in prison. Remember this? In Daniel chapter
1? And he says, I plead to you, please, let me eat something
different. I'll honor the king's wishes.
I'll do whatever, but I would like to eat something. He appealed
to them. He says, test your servants for ten days. Let us be given
vegetables and water, and then let our appearance and the appearance
of the youth who eat the king's food be observed by you and deal
with your servants according to what you see." Who are the
servants? He's the servant. He still remains the servant
of the king. Is that the way we do it in America? No. No,
we get an attorney and we stand up because we're an individual
and we've got rights and by God we're going to enforce them.
And Daniel got what he asked for and actually proved his case. And we know the three, Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego. And we know that they were told
to bow down to the king. Remember that? Or to the idol.
And worship the idol, the graven image. And not to pray to God
anymore. And this is what they say, O
Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter.
If this be so, in other words, I'm going to throw you in the
furnace if you don't bow down. What do you say? We have no need
to answer you. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able
to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver
us out of your hand, O King." Still respectful, still honorable,
just saying, look, we respect you, but we cannot violate God. We will not worship anyone but
our God. And if He doesn't deliver us,
we'll perish. But that's okay. We're okay with that. They weren't
trying to escape and kill Him and get all the Christians out. We want a Hollywood-themed Christianity. You know, we bust in LAPD and
all this kind of stuff and act like SWAT teams. Now that's cool.
And if God called us to do that, I'd be first in line. That would
be awesome. But, he said, but if not, be
it known to you, O King, that we will not serve your gods or
worship the golden images that you've set up. Daniel respectfully
disobeyed the king and allowed himself to be cast into the den
of lions when he was told not to pray. He respectfully, he
didn't get on the street and say, you know, pray today, go
away. I mean, he didn't do any of that.
He didn't say, I'm going to do it, and you can just plant those
lips somewhere else. He didn't, he wasn't rude, he
wasn't ugly. He actually said, I cannot. In his heart, and he
just went and did it. He prayed anyway. And they busted
into his house and arrested him. He wasn't on the street, he was
in his home. You know where that's happening today? In a lot of
countries. It was happening in Southern California just a few
months ago. Too many people with a house, the city put a sanction
against them, said they couldn't actually meet there if they were
having a Bible study because they had to have a mass abuse
permit. Now they've recanted that. So anyway, you've got Daniel
and he is of course supernaturally not eaten by the lions and the
king brings him out and what does he say? I told you king!
Gotcha! You didn't listen to me, but
God spared me. Now you see the truth, don't
you? I bet you won't be telling me not to pray again, sucker! No! He says, O King, live forever! You mean you just threw me into
the den of flies to feed me as a snack because I wouldn't pray
to you? And now I'm going to say, yes.
I'm going to say, O King, live forever. That's not cowardice.
Daniel wasn't a coward. He was a man. In Acts chapter 5, the official
said, We charge you strictly not to teach in the name of Jesus,
yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend
to bring this man's blood upon us. And Peter said, We must obey
God. rather than men. And it cost him. He kept going
to jail. Fought Walter Hoy, our brother
in arms. Trying to get the message to
people who won't hope. And he just keeps getting arrested. It's costing him dearly. He's
not being ugly. He's not suing. He's just accepting
it. We need to pray for Him. We should be alert. It's not
that we just allow things to take place. Jesus says, I'm sending
you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents
and innocent as doves. What that means is we keep an
alert, we watch out, we pay attention to what's going on, we know what's
going on in our politics around us, we see the work of the enemy
all around us, but yet we remain peaceful. We remain subject to
God and therefore we also remain subject to the authorities of
this land. Even if it's an unjust rule. Even if it's a stupid law. Because Jesus says we'll be hated
for the gospel's sake. He says you'll be dragged before
governors and kings for my sake to bear witness before them and
the Gentiles when they deliver you over Do not be anxious how
you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are
to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you
who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through
you. Jesus continues in that train of thought. to talk about
what happens when we follow Him. He says, brother will deliver
brother over to death and father his child and children will rise
against parents and have them put to death and you will be
hated all by all for my name's sake but the one who endures
to the end will be saved. See, we accept persecution and
face it honorably with consequences or we move on. See, this is where
we get stuck as Christians sometimes. But the sad thing is that this
is dealing with the persecution of our faith and laws that are
violating our call to... What are we doing? There are
no laws on the books in America that prohibit me from worshiping
God or studying the Bible or telling people about my faith.
Even in the schools, my children start public school Tuesday morning.
I'm freaking out, but I'm trusting Christ. and they're going to
witness to their friends and they're going to read their Bibles
when it's the appropriate time, not during math. That's where
I got in trouble in high school. I was reading, you know. What
are you doing? I'm reading the Bible. I got the right to read
the Bible. You got a problem with the Bible? You an atheist?
Why don't you go to the office young man? Why don't you make
me? I mean, you know, that kind of stuff. I was a... I was an idiot. Yeah. I fought for a lot of rights
in high school. Any underdog buddy, I was right
in the front of the line. Black, white, Hispanic, care who they
were, what color they were, what the cause was. If I thought it
was unjust, I was right there. So this is a lesson for me. God
showed me quickly how that doesn't work in his economy. So we have
to face persecution or we move on. Hey, Southern California
makes it against the law to actually do Bible study, and we do Bible
study. We show up in our homes peaceably.
Sometimes we have to hide, put our Bibles in a Tupperware bag
or something, or have a Tupperware party. We get out, we pull our
Bibles out. We do Bible study. And when one of the people of
the Tupperware party pulls out a gun and puts us all under arrest,
then we either go to jail and keep going to jail, or we decide
to move out of there. That's what we do. Matthew 10
says, when they persecute you in one town, flee to the next.
For truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all
the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes. Why are we
to obey like this? Why are we to just basically
be like a pansy, if you would? I said, that's not your name.
I said that one time, and there's a person there named Pansy. I
said, oh, I'm so sorry. A wimp. Why? Because look at the next
verse in Romans. For there is no authority except
from God. And those that exist have been
instituted by God. They've been instituted by God.
Psalm 62, 11. Once God has spoken, twice have
I heard this. Power belongs to God. So whoever
has power in this world, this has been given to them by God. and it is subject to His authority
and His glory. That means who? All leaders. All leaders. I'm going to quote
John MacArthur here because I believe a lot of you respect him. Listen
to his words. It becomes clear that although
human government was instituted by God and fulfills to some extent
His plan for maintaining order on earth, many governments, if
not most, are under the influence of Satan and are a means of promoting
and perpetrating No, perpetuating satanic activity. The autocratic,
ruthless, and demonic regimes of Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin,
Mao Zedong were no exceptions to God's command to be subject
to civil authority. The equally ruthless empires
of ancient Assyria and Babylon were no exceptions. The Roman
Empire sometime ruled by citizens who proclaimed themselves to
be gods. There was no exception. The apostate and heretical Christian
kingdoms of the Middle Ages were no exceptions. Shaman-ruled primitive
and animistic tribes of South America are no exceptions. And
there are no exceptions. See, that flies right into the
face of an American belief system, doesn't it? And it flies in the
face of me. It flies in the face of me. Because
I'm all for world domination. against tyranny. I think a man
that murders hundreds of thousands of people a year just to keep
people scared ought to be taken out. And sometimes, I don't know,
maybe God is in that. But it's hard for me to see.
I think we have to stand up and say, hey, when is the right time?
What is the purpose? What are we truly looking for? So Paul teaches that Government
is God's plan for falling humanity. It's decreed with government
included in this plan. In Acts 17 it says, The God who
made the world and everything in it, being the Lord of heaven
and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served
by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself
gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. Did you
hear that? Everything we have, life, breath,
bread, anything we have, success, He gives it to us. We have it
because He has willed it. And He made from one man every
nation of mankind to live on the face of the earth, having
determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling
place. So God established the nations. Don't believe it? Look
at Genesis. Therefore whoever resists the
authorities resists what God has appointed. Verse 2, chapter
13 in Romans. And those who resist will incur
judgment. Now, I've got to move right here,
but I want you to get the gist of this. Disobeying the government
is resisting and disobeying God by disobeying God's chosen ruler,
and by doing so, we will be under the judgment of God as Christians.
People rose against Moses and Aaron in numbers right after
they got freed from Egypt, and they said, ooh, you think you
are going to become a prince over us, a ruler over us? You
bring us out here to die? You took us from the land of
milk and honey? They were calling Egypt the land of milk and honey. They
were slaves, people! And God freed them! It wasn't
Moses deciding, I'm gonna go in and get the slaves out. God
did it. Only God could do that with two
men. But these people revolted against
Moses and Aaron, and as soon as they had finished speaking
the words of disdained, the ground under them split apart, and the
earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, and the households and
all the people who belonged to Korah, and all their goods. So
they and all that belonged to them went down alive into the
depths of the earth, and the earth closed over them, and they
perished from the midst of the assembly." Now imagine that. They disobeyed God and they disrespected
God's leader, and the earth swallowed them up and closed back up. Sounds
supernatural, doesn't it? Because it was. And all of Israel
who were around them fled at their crying. They said, unless
the earth swallows us up, let's get out of here. And fire came
out from the Lord and consumed 250 other men who were offering
incense to an idol. Fire from heaven. I mean, it's
like, what the world? You ever burned ass as a kid
with a magnifying glass? Man, God burned him up. And then
they blame Moses for the death of those people. They didn't
see God's judgment for going against His ordained leadership
and rebellion. And so, number 16, God killed 14,700 more by
striking them dead with a plague. What in the world? So the judgment
of God is on us who disobey the authorities that God has established.
For rulers are not a terror to good conduct. But to that, what
does that mean? Don't fear. If you're doing what
is right and obeying the law, you have no fear. But if you're
disobeying the law, watch out. Would you have no fear of the
one who is in authority? He's basically saying in a rhetorical
sense, you would not have any fear. If you did what was good,
You would have no fear. Then, do what is good, and you
will receive His approval, the approval of the government. When
you obey the law, you have no fear, most of the time. Now,
there are some laws, there are some governments who, just like
Saddam Hussein, just like to kill people, just to keep things
in check. But you still obey or get out,
or cry for help. I don't know. Jesus said to them
in Matthew 26, He says, put your sword back in its place, Peter. He chops off this man's ear.
For all who take the sword will perish by the sword. God is showing
us that when we rebel against authority that the consequences
are His judgment. And He allows the government
to administer those consequences because He's placed them in authority.
The Old Testament, now I've studied the Old Testament law and the
penal code. I'm like, thank you God for our
justice system. Thank you for the rights as Americans.
Man, they would drag them publicly, humiliate them publicly. There
was no private courts. It was immediate, public, and
it was humiliation. And it was for rehabilitation,
and also for deterrence, and it was done quickly, and it didn't
matter who you were. If Moses had done it, they'd
have whipped his butt too. Or is this God's servant for
your good? Why should we subject ourselves? Because God put him
there and he is being used by God for your good. God uses the
government for good. What in the world are you talking
about? Imagine our country without police. You know what it looked like in the
old west? Everybody was a vigilante. You
looked at my mama wrong. String him up. Down south. in the 60s. You lived in Mississippi
then, didn't you? Sherry? It's bad stuff. It's still like that in Jackson
and some other places. You're too dark to be on this side of
the fence, boy. I grew up with it. Imagine this country without
walls. Imagine the highways without the highway patrol. Imagine the
justice system without a court. The government deters evil. Even when it's evil, it deters
evil. But if you do what is 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. God uses government to promote good behavior and
to warn lawbreakers. And Paul says, if I'm a wrongdoer
in Acts 25, and have committed anything for which I deserve
to die, I do not seek to escape death. But if there is nothing
to the charges against me, no one can give me up to them, I
appeal to Caesar. Respectful, even invoking his rights as a
Roman citizen, but basically saying, I will take what punishment
is mine. I will not try to get out of
what I deserve. Paul is willing to die. God uses
government to inflict punishment and death on lawbreakers. See,
here'd be a good time to deal with capital punishment. Here'd
be a good time to deal with some things, but we'll keep going.
Therefore, because of this, because God ordains the authorities,
because the authorities in this world and the government leaders
are the hand of punishment and the deterrent of evil by God,
then, therefore, one must be in subjection. not only to avoid
God's wrath, but also for the sake of conscience. Now, I don't
have time to get into this in a theological sense, but here's
the bottom line. You know what's right and wrong
before anybody ever tells you. Now, albeit I have been ignorant
and small. Like in Georgia, you have the
left turn lanes, the traffic. And there are many of them that
are, you know, the traffic light is a solid red, there's a green
arrow, you know, like this. Yellow arrows, solid red. Well,
one day, when I was a young guy, somebody I was riding with, an
adult, it was green arrow, yellow arrow, red arrow. I'm like, why
are there arrows on some of those? And some of them are solid. Well,
the solid ones are a complete stop. The arrows are stop, yield, and
then turn. So my whole life, I've stopped,
yielded, and turned. And then one day, I get a cop behind me.
He says, you just completely ran through the red light. I
said, no sir, it was an arrow. He goes, yeah, but it was red. There's
a difference in ignorance of certain things. I still have
to pay the ticket, a hundred bucks. What is this? I mean, you know,
all right. But then there are things that
we know are not right. And now we know that to violate
or to fight against the authorities that God has ordained is a sin
against God. And so therefore, if we do it,
we are now sinning against the consciousness of the Holy Spirit. We can't do that. Back to Peter's word, be subject
for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it
be to the emperor as supreme or to the governors sent by him
to punish those who do evil and praise those who do good. Jesus'
answer to the kingdom of the world, so that brings us to where
we are. Jesus' answer to the kingdom
of the world, like I said, I'm going to stop in verse 5. I just don't
have time to go into that. It's to repent. To be born again,
to be made alive in Him. And honestly, in a theological sense,
and in a messianic sense, and in an imagery sense, the governments
of this world are in some way small images of God's oversight
and government. Of God's sovereign rule. of God's
sense of order and sense of justice and sense of provision? But Jesus' answer is that we
must understand as Christians we are not citizens of a nation. We are not Americans first. We
are Christians first. And we are part of the kingdom
of God's design, not of man's design. Where do you get that? Philippians
3.20, "...but our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we
await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ." Colossians 3, "...set
your mind on things that are above, not on things on the earth.
For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God."
I mean, Jesus even spoke to Peter and said, get behind me, Satan.
You're a hindrance to me. "...For you are not setting your
mind on the things of God, but on the things of man." You surely
won't die. You don't have to die. See, we
can fight this thing without you dying. We can liberate Israel
without you dying. See, the whole time, that's what
they're thinking. You don't have to die. Surely
not. Or do you not know that your
body is a temple of the Holy Spirit whom you have from God? You are
not your own. You are bought with a price.
So glorify God in your body. Beloved, I urge you as sojourners
and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh. And we see in 1 John that the
passions of the flesh are the things of the world that wage
war against your soul. See, as believers, we are to
engage in God-honoring and peaceful ways in this political landscape.
We are to avoid stupid political rivalries based on sinful expectations
of heroism. What does that mean? Well, that's
just my easy way for me to say that ain't Obama, or McCain,
or George Bush, or anybody else in the White House. I don't do
a daggone thing for this country. that's worth a hill of beans.
Nothing. My children study the president.
Katie knows almost all the historical facts from the politics. And
she said, Daddy, these presidents don't really do much for our
country, do they? So why do you say, well, the most interesting
thing about them is what they wore, or what they like to eat,
or maybe that they decided to pass a law that brings the people
out from a war. He said, but quite honestly, they're not making
a difference. Because we're right back where we've always been.
That's 11-year-old wisdom. We're to engage in politics from
a biblical worldview, not one that suits us. We are to be subject
to those in authority as to the Lord. And I'll close with this
scripture. In John 3, Jesus is talking with
Nicodemus, and Nicodemus is like, hey, I want to understand. You
surely are a teacher come from God. You got it wrong. He's not
a teacher come from God, he's God come as a teacher. Big difference. So all these people got it wrong.
Wrong, lost. They couldn't see. They're not
been given eyes of faith. And Jesus answered them, truly,
truly, listen to me boy, I'm telling you something that's
very important. Unless you are born again, and I'm changing
the pronoun, from one he to you. Unless you are born again, you
cannot see the kingdom of God. What do you mean? The kingdom
of God is just as it says it is. Jesus was taken the second
time before Pilate, John chapter 18. And Pilate says, Are you
the king of the Jews? And Jesus says, Do you say this
of your own accord, or do others say it about me? And Jesus says,
well, am I a Jew? Like, give the crap. Am I a Jew? Your own nation, the chief priests
have delivered you over to me. What have you done? And Jesus
says these words. My kingdom is not of this world.
If my kingdom were of this world, now listen to this, I love it.
If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting. that I might not be delivered
over to the Jews, but my kingdom is not of this world." So you
are a king. And Jesus says, you say that
I'm a king. For this purpose I was born and
for this purpose I have come into the world to bear witness
to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth
listens to my voice. And Pilate said to him, what
is truth? And then he walked away. He says, I find no guilt
in him. And then we know that story,
and they cried out and said, release Barabbas, the murderer. Crucify
Jesus. Now, a key word, two things,
and then I'm done. Unless you're born again, you
will not see the kingdom of God. And the kingdom of God is not
of this earth. But I came to bear witness to
the truth, and everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.
So my question for you is, are you listening to the voice of
God? If you are, you are of God. If you are not, you are not of
God. See, it's a really black and
white test of where we stand right now as we leave. So if
you hear the Word of God today and He is working in your soul,
you are a child of God. If you know the truth and the
truth has set you free, so cliche now, the truth of Jesus Christ as
the God of the universe who came to give you eyes that you might
see your sin and subject yourself by faith to His righteousness
so that you might be approved by God and enter into the kingdom. Interesting thing about the birth
of my four children, none of them picked it. We even tried
to pick the dates they were going to be born. One of them was a
month early, one of them was a month late, One of them was
out on time and the other one we didn't know when they were
coming. Sort of surprised us. You can't be born of your own
accord. God has to birth you. Do you
trust in that today that God is going to give you and can
give you and will give you eyes of faith to see if you are of
the truth? You listen to my voice. Are you
hearing the Word of God this morning? Or are you sitting there
in opposition thinking, this has nothing to do with me? My prayer for you is that you
would truly see and that you would truly cry out in faith
to be saved and you would know you have eternal life. There's
no magic words. There's no walking in an aisle.
There's no nothing. that you can do that's going
to please God enough, and no ritual you follow, it's about
your heart being in the right standing with God, and Christ
is the only one who can transform that. Do you trust in that? Do you trust in that? The sin
of your heart is why the world is in the problem that it's in. And so Jesus, in some sense,
in a roundabout way, indirectly, is trying to change the face
of the earth. one soul at a time. But the fruit of that is not
ever going to be fulfilled on this world. And as a believer
today, your hope should not be in this government, or this life,
or your future, or your career, your family, or anything else,
but in the person of Christ alone.