Citizens In This World

can park your Bible there this
passage scripture and turn with me to the book of Romans chapter
13 I'd like you to listen as I read the first seven verses
of Romans chapter 13 Romans 13, beginning with verse
1, "...let every soul be subject unto the higher powers, for there
is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained
of God. Whosoever, therefore, resisteth
the power, resisteth the ordinance of God, and they that resist
shall receive to themselves damnation or judgment." For rulers are
not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Will thou then not
be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou
shalt have praise of the same. For he is the minister of God
to thee for good. But if thou do that which is
evil, be afraid. For he beareth not the sword
in vain. For he is the minister of God,
a revenger, to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Wherefore
ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for
conscience' sake. For for this cause pay ye tribute
also, for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this
very thing. Render therefore to all their
dues tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom,
fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor." Now, this evening, I
want us to consider these passages that
we've read. Tonight we'll not be able to
give an exposition of every verse, but I want this evening, if we
can, to talk about, first of all, the duty of Christians toward
civil rulers. Secondly, the ground on which
the command rests. We find it here in Romans 13.1.
First of all, let every soul be subject unto the higher powers.
That's the duty laid down by the Apostle Paul. The ground
upon which this command rests is that there is no government
but that which is of God. And then also he brings it home
to the existing government under which the servants of God are
placed at any given time. And we want to try to divide
our message and talk about those things if we can, as God gives
us enablement. I certainly believe in the sovereignty
of Almighty God, and I certainly believe that most of you believe
in that doctrine as well as my own self. And I think that as
we attempt to understand the teachings of the Word of God,
rather than undermining this doctrine, it will enforce this
doctrine in our hearts. And I believe that this subject
that is before us this evening will give us an opportunity not
only to see the teaching of the Holy Word of God toward this
subject, but will also help us to see the submissiveness of
our own Savior and Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. I certainly
believe this evening that the great example of submission And
that word is an interesting word. And the word subjection primarily
is a military term and it means to rank under. It means that
there are those that rank above us and that we're to be submissive
unto them. And also it means to subject
oneself or to obey, be subject to, or be under obedience to
those that rank over us or hold the rank on us. whom the word
of God exhorts us to subject ourselves unto. Now, we read
not only here, but another passage that I want to refer you to at
this time is in the book of Titus. If you would turn there to Titus,
we can read from the third chapter in verse 1 these words. to be no brawlers, but gentle,
showing all meekness unto all men." Now, the Apostle Paul,
in speaking to Titus, tells him that he, as a minister, is to
put the people in mind to be subject to principalities and
powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work.
Now, I believe that what we find here is, when he says, put them
in mind, I think that there is more here than just simply introducing
this subject to them for the first time. I believe that what
he means is that these people know of this doctrine, they know
of this teaching, they know of this duty, they know of this
command, but you put them in mind of it. I mean, you stir
up their mind, you call this to their remembrance, and you
impress this upon their mind so that they will not allow this
duty to slip, so that they might be obedient unto that duty. Now one of the reasons for that
duty, that we must obey the teachings of the word of God concerning
this, very clearly brought out here in the Epistle of Peter,
where I read to you at the opening of our service tonight, in the
second chapter, and I want you to look at this with me a little
bit, in talking about the duty of the people of God, the servants
of God, those that know the Lord Jesus, those that have passed
from death unto life, and they live in this world, the obligation
that is placed upon them by the Word of God. Now, as we said
this morning, we certainly are under obligation to God's Word. We are not under obligation to
opinions of men. We are under obligation to God's
Word. And so when the Word of God is
plain, and when it's revealed, and I exhort each one of you
to study, I think each one of you ought to read the Bible.
I think you ought to study the Bible. Now, one of the things,
I don't know everything that's in the Bible, but there's not
very many verses that anybody can come up with. In fact, I
don't think there's any that anyone can come up with and flash
it in front of me that I haven't at least read. Because I believe
I've read every verse in the Bible. And I've tried to acquaint
myself with the Bible. And I think you ought to do the
same. I believe if somebody walks up to you and they say to you,
well, don't the Bible say such and such and so and so? Then
you ought to be able to say, no, the Bible don't say that.
The Bible doesn't say that at all, if the Bible doesn't say
it. And then if they come to you and they say, well, now,
you know, the scripture says this and that. And you say, well,
no, the scripture don't really say that. Scripture don't say
that at all. It's just like the expression,
you know, that cleanliness is next to godliness. And you've
heard people say that's in the Bible. Well, that's not in the
Bible. Really, it isn't. Although, somebody
said, as they said to me one time when they was talking to
me about the modern Sunday school, and I told them, I said, well,
it's not in the Bible. You can't find that in the Bible.
And they said, well, this lady said to me, she said, well, if
it's not in the Bible, it ought to be. Well, you see, we're not
any authority on what ought to be in the Bible, it's not. I
certainly am not. I have enough duty involved in
finding out what the Bible does say and what the Bible does teach.
that I might be able to submit myself unto it and obey it and
to follow it. Now then, let us look here in
1 Peter chapter 2 and let us consider what we have here tonight
in the way of duty. And we're told here that the
writer's speaking to those that are strangers and pilgrims. He
says, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. He's
talking to those that are in the Lord Jesus and who have a
relationship, a union with the Son of God, and by the virtue
of that union, they have been delivered from sin and the power
of sin. And he says in verse 12, having
your behavior honest among the Gentiles. You see, and I believe
that he was writing here to Jewish Believers and he says I want
you to have your behavior in the world honest as you live
out here among these Gentiles heathen that don't know the Lord
and do not have any any Understanding of the gospel they're foolish
men, and they're ignorant men I want you to live an honest
life out here in the world before these people whereas or where
they speak against you as evildoers They might accuse you of something.
They're going to view your life, they're going to look you over,
and you have said publicly that you're a Christian, you've been
baptized, said you died with the Lord Jesus, and that you
put him on to wear him before the world, and so they're going
to be watching you to see what you do. And he says, they may
speak of you of evildoers. And he says this, that as they
speak against you as evildoers, that they may by your good works,
which they shall behold. You see, As they look at your
life and examine your life, they may in the back of their minds
say, well now, you know, these people are not everything that
they ought to be. But he says the end in mind in you living
an honest life before the Gentiles is that when they look upon your
life that they might see your good works. When they look upon
your life and they'll glorify God in the day of visitation.
That is in the day when God visits them and saves them. They'll
have to glorify God, saying that the godly example of this man,
the godly life of this man, and the witness of these people,
the witness of God's dear people, and their honesty in the world,
and their faithfulness in the world, has been, well, it's brought
me to God. It's brought me to see the truth,
as it is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Brought me to see the vanity
of my way, and the ignorance and foolishness of my own heart.
And so then he introduces to us this subject that we're talking
about tonight, and shows you the connection that that has
with this testimony before the world. And he says, Submit yourselves
to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether it be
to the king, or as supreme, or unto governors, as unto them
that are sent by him, for the punishment of evildoers, and
for the praise of them that do well. The writer here says that
as children of God in this world, you do have liberty, you are
free as he pronounces in verse 16, but he says this liberty
that you have is in the Lord Jesus Christ and it's a freedom
from sin and the power of sin. You're free not to do as you
want to do and not to rebel against civil government and civil rule
and those that have the authority over you. You're free not to
do that, but you're free to live for the glory of God and you're
free to live and do the things that you ought to do in this
world. And one of them is you ought
to obey those that have made ordinances Obey every ordinance,
submit yourself to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake. Not because it's convenient for
you, not because it suits you, but because it is what the word
of God teaches. Obey, submit yourself to every
ordinance of man and you do this for the Lord's sake. and it's
to the king as supreme or to those that are sent by him for
the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of them that do
well. For so is the will of God that with well-doing you may
put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. By your obedience
unto the civil government, Jews obeying those in government that
are Gentiles and bowing to them and to their authority and submitting
themselves to every ordinance of man As they do this, this
is the well-doing that is the will of God. God would have you
to do this. That you may put to silence.
That you may shut up those that said, these people claim to be
Christians, but yet they're rebellious. Yet they're not submissive. Yet
they want their own way. Yet they dare to be self-willed. They dare to cast off all authority
and will not bow and submit themselves to it. Now, he says in verse
17, and we're going to tie this in here, honor all men. And I'm
sure by that that he has reference to those that are in where position
you find men, give them the honor that's due them. And some men
have more respect and reverence coming to them than other men
because of the elevated position in which you find them in the
world. And we'll talk about that a little bit later on. All right,
but now I'm talking about the duty that we have. All right,
now look at this. He says, love the brotherhood,
fear God, honor the king. Give the honor, the respect,
the reverence to the king that he ought to have. Now you may
think immediately, well, and I know that some do, and by the
way, I want to read a little statement here out of Haldane's
book on the Romans. He's on the Roman epistle, and
he says, this is contrary, this doctrine or this duty of believers,
servants of God, being subject to the higher powers, is contrary
to the wisdom of the world, which takes offense at such subjection,
and contrary to the proud heart of man that would make religion
a pretense to cover up its secret reluctance to submit to disagreeable
restraints. Now, I know that it is not an
easy thing for one to subject himself to something that is
going to hurt him, or to make himself suffer, or to make his
family suffer, or to make his church suffer. It's a very difficult
thing for one to do this. But now listen to what he says
here in verse 18. He talks to servants now, and
he says, and not only to those that were owned slaves, but also
to those who've been made free, but chose to stay with their
masters. He speaks to them, and he says,
be subject to your masters with all fear. not only to the good
and gentle, but also to the mean, also to those that are unkind,
also to those that are not gentle, but are very strict and hard,
and are very, well, impossible people to actually get along
with. He says, now I want you to notice
that because it's important. Because when you relate what
he says here, and then as we go on to see how Christ was the
example of this, and then you see what he says to wives in
verse 1 of chapter 3, you can see that when a man says, well,
anything that's disagreeable with me, anything that put me
out, I will not bow to it. Anything that puts a restraint
on me or my ways, I won't submit to it. We can see how wrong that
kind of thinking is. We can see the duty here is plain
that we're to submit ourselves to every ordinance of man for
the Lord's sake. And it may hurt us, it may bother
us, it may disturb us, it may ruffle our feathers, as the expression
is, but yet the duty is here. And that's what I'm talking about.
I'm talking about the duty. Now look at this. Now he says
in verse 19, for this is thankworthy if a man for conscience toward
God, Conscience toward God and this is to be remembered because
we're to be subject not only you see for wrath sake as we
read in Romans But for conscience sake you're not a Christian should
have always the Lord before it It should not be necessary for
a law officer really now to be right with us all the time to
keep us Doing things within the limit of the law it shouldn't
be necessary the Christian has his conscience and he has the
Lord before him Now we would not set ourselves up and say
that we always strive exactly the speed limit and we never
go over it and so on and so forth. But, I'm telling you brethren,
that for conscience sake, he talked about here how that for
conscience to work God, if a man endured grief, suffering wrongfully,
then this is thankworthy. But listen to the next, for what
glory is it when you be buffeted? I mean when you have trouble
with the authorities for your faults. You take it patiently. If the cop stops you or the law
officer stops you and gives you a ticket and you've been driving
70 miles an hour and you take it patiently, that's no Christian
virtue. That is absolutely no Christian virtue whatsoever.
If a man is found out that he has not paid his taxes and if
he has cheated on his income taxes, then he has to pay a penalty. and pay interest. That is no
Christian virtue. In fact, is any of, because it's
unwilling compliance, this one is. And so any unwilling compliance
to the law is not a Christian virtue. It is not. It is not.
But look at this. He says this to us here. He says
that if you be buffeted for your fault, you take it patiently.
Well, that's no glory in that. But when you do well, when you
do well and suffer for it, I mean when you're obedient and you
do what's right, And the hand comes down, the hand of authority,
and says, you, you must do this, you must do that, you must do
so and so. When you do well, and you suffer for it, you take
it patiently, then this is acceptable with God. God says, now this
is acceptable with me. Why? Because it fits the example
of the Lord Jesus Christ. It fits the example of Christ.
For even here unto where you're called, you were called to this
kind of life, called not to suffer as one guilty, But to suffer
in well-doing, suffer wrongfully. Because Christ, he left us this
example that we should follow his steps. He did no sin, neither
was guile found in his mouth. Now listen, beloved, I want to
tell you something tonight. I'd have a very difficult time
preaching on this subject if I did not have the example of
the Lord Jesus Christ. I can hold him up before you
as the example of one who suffered wrongfully. but yet submitted
himself. He was not in a position where
he had to do so. Now, you know, if we ever get
that straight, I believe we'll love Jesus Christ more than we
ever loved him before. The Lord Jesus came into this
world and he became obedient. He subjected himself. The Bible
says when he was about to die, he could have called for 10,000
angels and they could have delivered him. They would have delivered
him. That's right, but what would have happened to you and I? If
the Lord Jesus being in this world would have had the attitude
some of us have and he would have said, well now wait a minute,
I'm innocent. There is no way that I'm going
to be treated like you people are about to treat me. There's
no way I'm going to receive this treatment. This would be wrong
for me to be treated this way. Because I'm righteous, I'm holy.
There's no sin in me. There is no sin in me. There's
no gall found in my mouth. I'm absolutely spotless without
sin, and you're treating me like I was a sinner. Well, you know,
the Lord Jesus Christ, he was legally constituted sin, and
that's why he did it. These were true things. This
is going to happen. But you don't find the Lord Jesus
doing that, do you? No threatening, no threatening.
No, he submitted himself. He committed himself to him that
judges rightly. He committed himself unto God,
unto the cause of Almighty God. That's what he did. Now, Reverend,
whatever you want to say about this, you can say it. But I want
to tell you tonight that God runs this world. He runs this
world. And I'm going to show you the
grounds why Paul taught this truth in just a moment. But I
want you to know that the Lord judges rightly in all things. And if he calls upon you and
places a duty in front of you, then you're obligated to obey
that injunction of the word of God and to walk in the light
of that duty because God judges rightly and whatever it brings
in your life or whatever persecution or trouble it brings in your
life, God judges rightly, brethren. And that's the way the Lord Jesus
looked at it. That's the way he looked at it. He said, I just
commit myself to the Father, to his will. And that's exactly
why he ended up on that cross. And that's why I'm saved today.
Because God judges rightly. He would save his people. And
the Lord Jesus bowed himself, submitted himself, and responded
to the will of Almighty God. And therefore, those wicked men
took him, and they crucified him. They crucified him, and
the Lord Jesus submitted himself unto that. He bore our sins in
his own body to the tree. That we being dead to sin by
his death should live by his life unto righteousness by whose
stripes we've been made well, we're healed, we're without disease
tonight before God through this submission of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now look at verse 1. Chapter
3 now. We've considered the duty of
servants of God we consider the duty of servants slaves as they
had them in in Peter's day, and then we considered the Lord Jesus
his submission and now look at verse 3 and I use this to enforce
the duty and to show you that that Peter's not looking for
easy situations that are in harmony with the carnal minds and opinions
of men and here, but he's showing you the mind of God. Look at
verse 1 of chapter 3. Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection
to your own husbands. Why? Because he's above you in
rank. God has placed him over you.
The man is head of the wife, as Christ is head of the man,
and as God is the head of Christ. So he says, ye wives, you be
in subjection to your own husbands, that if any obey not the truth
or the word, they also may without preaching be won by the behavior
of the wives." The submission. Now you see this carried through
here? You see how that when men, God's people, with well-doing,
they put to silence the ignorance of foolish men, and in the day
of visitation a man glorifies the gospel because of the godly
example you set in submitting yourself to every ordinance of
man? And down here in the wife, she is to obey the husband in
all things, even the lost, the unsaved husband. The wife is
to bow in authority, bow to the authority of her husband, submit
herself to that authority, that he might, by the conversational
behavior of the wife, be converted, be brought to Christ, be saved
by that submission. Now, you may say, well, it just
looks to me like this submission business would never do any good.
That's just your opinion. The Word of God says it'll do
some good. The Bible says that's right. That's the duty of believers. All right, now let us look here
in Romans 13, these verses that I read to you, and I must hurry
because I want to try to get all this in this evening. But
look next, if you will, at the ground on which the command rests. And that is found also in verse
1. He says that ever so be subject unto the higher powers, for there
is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained
of God. Now, this is the ground, that
the powers that exist, the rulers, the men that are in the position
that they're in, that all of these powers are there by virtue
of the sovereign purpose of Almighty God. God has ordered these powers
to be there. Now, I want to make some statements
and read some scripture to support what I have to say. We wouldn't
have to read any more than what Paul has said right here because
he spoke this by authority. For there is no power but of
God. It's of God's ordination. The powers that be are ordained,
ordered of God. God has placed these powers in
existence. There is no power of God because
it is God in his providence who confirms power on every man who
holds it. No tyrant ever seized power till
God gave it to him. Now I want you to look with me
over in the book of Daniel. First of all, before we look
at Daniel, turn to Jeremiah. Turn to Jeremiah chapter 27 and
look at verse 5. Verse 5. I have made the earth, the man,
and the beast that are on the ground by my great power and
by my outstretched arm, and have given it unto whom it seemed
meet unto me. I have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto
me. Now turn to Daniel 4. You remember Nebuchadnezzar. The Lord would teach him a lesson. And that lesson is the same lesson
that I'm teaching you tonight. Nebuchadnezzar did not believe
in the sovereignty of Almighty God until he was taught that
doctrine by the hand of God. I hope that we don't have to
learn it that way. I hope we can learn it by the word of God
as it is very clearly presented to us. But look in verse 17.
This matter, Daniel 4 verse 17, this matter is by the decree
of the watchers and the demand by the word of the holy ones
to the intent that the living may know. In other words, he's
telling here, or he has already related it in the context here,
what's going to happen to Nebuchadnezzar, how he's going to learn this
truth concerning the sovereignty of God, concerning this truth
that's mentioned in verse 17, to the intent that the living
may know, that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men,
and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it
the basis of men. He said, well, it looks to me
like that if this power of the civil government or the federal
government, the governments of land, magistrates and so on,
if they were of God, that they would all be the very best caliber
of men that could possibly be found. That's not always the
way it is. According to the purpose of Almighty
God. God has a purpose in all things.
Sometimes God puts up or raises up a power or puts men in government
to chastise the people. to judge the people. Sometimes
the best thing for a nation is judgment and chastisement in
hard times and difficult and afflictive times. This is the
purpose of Almighty God. But you'll notice here, the seventh
sense of the word, the basest of men, and that means low, mean,
contemptible men. Now that's what Nebuchadnezzar
was taught by the hand of God, that God does just this. Now
the worst government in any country is of God and is calculated to
affect his purpose and to promote his glory. Turn back to Exodus
chapter 9 and look at verse 16 if you will. Exodus 9 and verse
16 and this is concerning Pharaoh. I said that it's calculated to
affect his purpose and promote his glory. You're not against
that, are you? The purpose of God being promoted
and the securing of His glory? Brethren, listen to me. I tell
you that the purpose of Almighty God in this world is well defined
in the Word of God. God will glorify Himself. God
is worthy of glory and honor. His purpose, His will will be
done. Exodus 9, verse 16, and in very
deep, For this cause have I raised thee up, for to show in thee
my power, and that my name may be declared throughout all the
earth." And many times, who knows? Well, who can say what is the
purpose of Almighty God in the change we've just had in our
government? Who knows the purpose of it? It might turn out to be one of
the most afflictive changes that we've had in a number of years,
and it might turn out to be a blessing. I do not know. I cannot predict.
I will not say. I am optimistic. But I do not
know anything about it. All I know is that it's of God. That I know. I bow to that. I
submit to that. I bow to that. Because it is
of God. The Lord's done it for his reason.
Now wicked rulers are necessary in God's plans many times to
punish wicked nations. And I don't know whether after
we get the new president in, whether we'll have a war right
away or not. We may very well have one. We
may very well have one. And I don't know what is coming
to pass, but nevertheless, God uses nations, and that can be
proven by the Word of God. And it is not only the form of
government, but the governors themselves that we need to consider
that are ordained of God. Those individuals, those personalities
that are in position, they're put there by the favor of God,
by the hand of God, and they're not there by accident. They're
put there by God. Now let us consider that then. And then turn back to Psalms,
if you will, and chapter 75 of the Psalms, and look at this
scripture with me. Well, let's read verse 5 with
it. But now here in Romans, let's
look at some things here. I want to just point out here,
in connection with the grounds that he has laid down here, these
things. He says to us, Whosoever therefore
resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God. And they that resist shall receive
to themselves judgment. For rulers are not a terror to
good works, but to the evil. Now, just a comment on verse
3, and then I've got to bring up something out of the Book
of Acts. But here in verse 3, the rulers are not a terror to
good works. I want you to know that these
rulers, that are the ministers of God to thee for good, as verse
4 states, that these rulers, that they are not against God's
people. They are not against God's people.
Regardless of how the situation turns out, they are not against
God's people. Now let me say that the people
of God need the government more than any other people on the
face of the earth. I am convinced, I don't know
whether you are or not, but if it was not for the government,
if it was not for the powers that be that constrain wicked
men, that promote justice on the earth and in the earth, if
it was not for the powers that be, Christian people would be
the first people to be exterminated from the face of the earth. Now
you may not believe that. But I want to tell you something,
Christian people, God's people, it's their cause and purpose
as to why God has raised up and put government. Would you want
to live in America tonight if there was no power that resisted
evil, if there was no government, if there was no authority, if
there was no justice in the land, if there was no law enforcement
agencies? Would you want to live in America?
I wouldn't. I'd rather go out and live in
the wilderness with the wild beast than to live among men
who are unrestrained. You know when there was no king
in Israel, you know what happened? The Bible says every man done
what was right in his own eyes. That's what they've done. And
I want to tell you the way heartless, ignorant, foolish men feel about
God's people. Well, to the lions, to the lions. And that word was cried out even
under authority and even under rulers. But if you take away
the restraint on men, God's people will be the first to suffer.
And that's why I do not believe that any of the people of God
should ever raise their voice in opposition to or to stir up
anything against the government. They are the ministers of God
to thee for good, and don't you ever forget it. Don't you ever
forget it. Now let me say one thing, because I've got to be,
and being honest with this subject, I've got to bring up out of the
book of Acts. I want you to turn there with
me if you please. Now, in regards to our being subject to every
ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, and in regards to our submitting
ourselves unto the higher powers, there is an example in the word
of God that we must consider that in a time when men went
against the authorities and obeyed God rather than men, And there's
two scriptures that I want you to look at with me tonight. First
of all, look, if you will, in Acts chapter 4. And I want us
to consider there verses 14 through 20. And this, and I just want
to read these verses and make a comment on them, and then we'll
turn over in Acts 5. But here in Acts 4, beginning
with verse 14. And beholding the man which was
healed, this is the impotent man that was healed in the name
of Jesus, standing with them they could say nothing against
him. But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council,
they conferred among themselves, saying, What shall we do to these
men? For that indeed a notable miracle
hath been done by them, is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem,
and we cannot deny it. But that it spread no further
among the people, let us greatly threaten them, that they speak
henceforth to no man in this name. And they called them, and
commanded them not to speak, or at all, nor teach in the name
of Jesus. They commanded them not to speak
at all, nor teach, in the name of Jesus Christ. But Peter and
John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight
of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. You
have to be the judge of that. But we cannot but speak the things
which we have seen and heard. Now, when the authorities, magistrates,
powers, governors, kings, presidents, or whoever, would say to the
Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, you can no longer preach the
gospel of Jesus Christ, you can no longer meet for public service,
you can no longer do that, then they'll have to judge whether
it be right for us to obey God rather than men. But we have
to obey God. And we would have to meet If
we have to meet secretly, undercover, night, someplace in an out-of-the-way
place, we have to meet. And we would have to go right
on in preaching the gospel. We must do that. Because we have
the example for that in the Word of God. Now turn over to chapter
5 here, and let me enforce that just a little more. And I believe
that, now brethren, Well, let's look at this verse and then I
can say something more about it. But in the fifth chapter,
and here in chapter 5, the story actually begins in about verse
17. And we find that the hands were
laid on, in verse 18, on the apostles and they were put in
the common prison. The angel of the Lord, by night, opened
the prison doors and brought them forth and said, this is
significant, that's why I'm back up here to read this. And said, verse 20, go, stand,
and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this
life. And when they heard that, they
entered into the temple early in the morning and taught. Remember,
the high priest sent those to the prison to get them and so
on, and would have them brought. The officers came, they found
them not in the prison, and they returned and told, saying, the
prison truly found we shall with all safety keep or stand without
before the doors, but when we had opened, we found no man within.
God miraculously had delivered his people out of prison and
told them, give them this commission, go stand and speak unto the people
all the words of this life. Now, when the high priest and
the captain of the temple and the chief priest heard these
things, they doubted them where into this would grow. And so
then came one and told them, saying, Behold, verse 25, those
whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the
people. Then went the captain with the officers and brought
them without violence, for they feared the people, lest they
should have been stolen. And when they had brought them,
they set them before the council, and the high priest asked them,
Did we not straightly command you that you should not teach
in this name? And behold, you fill Jerusalem
with your doctrine, and tend to bring this man's blood upon
us. that Peter and the other apostles answered and said, we
ought to obey God rather than men. In other words, God said,
go, stand, and speak. And when God tells us to do this,
we must do this. Regardless of what you say, we
have to do this. This is the will of God. We must
do it. Now, I want, this is significant,
and I want to point it out to you. When it says we ought to
obey God rather than man, This is the same word as you find
in Titus 3.1 where it says, put them in mind to be subject to
or to obey the magistrate. The same word. And so when he
says, when you ought to obey God rather than man, then this
supersedes obeying the authorities in this matter. It supersedes
that and means that we ought to obey God in this matter. We're
told we cannot preach. We're told we cannot meet and
worship the living God according as our conscience believes we
ought to do. Then, of course, we have to rebel
against the authority and do that which the Word of God says
that we must do. We must feel in our own heart,
this is our obligation. This was what the brethren felt
was their responsibility, and they felt they had to do this.
All right, but now listen, brethren. I believe that For an example,
let me raise here this example before you tonight. Say that
we were suddenly told by the authorities of this state that
we could no longer meet and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now,
if in the state of North Dakota men were privileged to meet at
will and preach the gospel and worship, then of course what
I would do, rather than rebel against the authorities here
I would move, and I would encourage the church to move. I would encourage
every one of you to move to where we could worship and where we
could preach the gospel without having to rebel against the authorities. I would feel we had to do that.
I feel I must do that, and I must encourage you to do that. Now
that's what I believe. In other words, rather than cause
any trouble, stir up any trouble, have any problems with the authorities,
then I believe that I should flee, as some examples we would
find in early church history, where men fled from persecution
and would go someplace where they could do what they felt
they ought to do. But if there came a time when
it was the law of the land, no more preaching, no more teaching,
no more coming together as we do to meet and to worship God,
then we would have to suffer the consequences, whatever that
would be. We would have to suffer the consequences because we'd
have to preach, we'd have to teach, and we would have to spread
the word of God the best we could. And there's been many in foreign
lands that have suffered and have had to meet. undercover
at night and just when they could. And in the early church, I remember
that reading some testimonies of those who would meet and not
even give out their names to anybody else. Nobody wanted to
know anybody else's name for fear that somebody would say,
well, who's been meeting with you and so on and so forth. And
if they didn't know their names, they didn't have to answer, I
don't know their names, because they didn't know their names.
Well, but now this is what we'd have to do. So brethren, let
me encourage you to do this, that before you fly in the face
of the government, and disobey the teachings of the Word of
God, be willing to put yourself out to do whatever you feel you
must do in order to fulfill your own conscience, or do what your
own conscience dictates to you, but do not resist the power. Because when you resist the ordinance,
or when you resist the power, you're resisting the ordinance
of God. And you better have a good reason,
I mean a good reason, because Whenever those authorities come
and put the finger on you, and whenever you are called upon
to pay the penalty of your having resisted the ordinance of man,
or the ordinance of God, whichever it would be, because we're one
and the same in this case, then, listen to me, then that's the
chastisement of God in your life. And you must look upon it just
like that. And I believe that the resistance
of the government is to resist God. It's what it is. It's to
resist the hand of God. And so therefore, you better
be mighty careful when you do it, and you better have a mighty
good reason, and you better know that you have the example of
the Holy Scriptures on your side. Because if you don't, then of
course you are going to be punished, because they bear not the sword
in vain. They bear not the sword in vain.
I mean, these people, they're sent by God to be a terror to
the evil, and He says, well, thou shalt not be afraid of the
power This is God's power. And you wouldn't fight with God,
would you? You wouldn't want to do battle
with God, would you? Almighty God. Well, friend, listen. You submit yourself. Now listen
to me. I haven't always found this the easiest thing in the
world to do. I was in business for a number of years. And I
know what it is to face the red tape. I know what it is to face
the tax auditors. I know what it is to face the
long arm of the government. in your pockets and in your business
and in your affairs. I know what it is. But I want
to tell you something. That a child of God must learn
this lesson. That to bow to the authority
and to submit himself to the tax authorities and to submit
himself to those that have the rule over him is his obligation. And he must do so with a willing
heart. Because this is what the word
of God teaches. Now, if you take note in verse 1, he says, The
powers that be are the end of God. Now some people would say,
well, now I wouldn't, I would submit myself to the powers if
they were right. If men were right, if they had
the right attitude, and if they did right, and if their government
wasn't corrupt, then I would submit myself. to every ordinance
of man. If the government wasn't corrupt,
I mean, if there wasn't so much evil, and if they spent the money
right, and they did what they ought to do, then I would submit
themselves. You take note here that it does not say that we
are to submit ourselves to the powers that ought to be. But
we are to submit ourselves to the powers that be. That be. The one that's there, that's
the one you're to submit yourself to. And not saying all the time,
well, I think we should raise a stake about this thing. Now,
what is the attitude that we must have toward those that are
in authority? Now, I want you to look at some
scriptures with me here this evening. I'll turn back, if you
will, to the book of Jeremiah again. I like this scripture,
and I think it's one that is important in showing what kind
of an attitude God's people should have. Now, I'm not talking about
now, I'm not talking about something that maybe would be so much manifested outwardly,
although it will be, but I'm talking about a condition of
heart that's got to come about this matter. Willing submission,
like the Lord Jesus willingly submitted himself. Here in the 29th chapter of Jeremiah, we have here story of how that
the people of God, Old Testament people of God, were carried off
by Nebuchadnezzar unto Babylon. And I want you to listen. We'll
start reading with verse 4, read down through verse 7. And I want
you to listen to what the Lord through the mouth of his prophet
Jeremiah tells the people. Thus saith the Lord God, or the
Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried away
captives, whom I have called, to be carried away from Jerusalem
unto Babylon. Sovereignty of God. Do you agree? Whom I have caused to be carried
away. Here's what he says in verse
5. Build your houses, and dwell in them. Plant gardens, and eat
the fruit of them. Take your wives, and beget sons
and daughters. And take wives for your sons,
and give your daughters to husbands, that you may bear sons and daughters,
that you may be increased there, and not diminished. Now look
at verse 7. Look at it good. And seek the
peace of the city, where I have caused you to be carried away
captives, and pray unto the Lord for it. For in the peace thereof
shall ye have peace." How hard would that be, friend? How hard
would that be? You've been taken captive, you
and others, and you've been carried off to this city, and the word
of the Lord comes and says, you go on with your lives here, and
you pray every day for this city. Because when this city has peace,
you will have it. You pray for it. Heathen nation,
not religious worshippers, don't know God, don't have any desire
for God or the things of God, you pray for it! Now that reminds
us of a scripture in the New Testament. Turn over to the New
Testament, into the book of Timothy, 1 Timothy, and chapter 2. And look at this. I exhort therefore,
that first of all supplications, prayers, intercession, giving
of thanks be made for all men, for kings, and for all that are
in authority or in imminent places, high places in the government,
that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness
and honesty, for this is good and accessible in the sight of
God our Savior. from those that are in authority. Do you do that?
Do you do that? What is your attitude toward
the government? What is your attitude toward those that are
in the place of authority? Do you pray for them? Listen,
Paul said you pray for them. The example we give you out of
Jeremiah, pray for this city. Pray for them, because when they
have peace, you'll have peace. Brother, sister, I want to tell
you something right now. I mentioned something about this
when Chet and I was talking to his family and we was talking
a little bit last Monday night about how America, what a blessed
thing it is to live in America. What a wonderful thing it is.
And the fact that this is the best nation on earth. And it's
the last stronghold of freedom there is anywhere in the world.
How merciful God is that I was born in America, could raise
my family in America, my children in America, that they could come
to church, they could listen to the word of God, that we could
be free to do so, that we're not persecuted, and that we're
free to go out and earn a living. We're free to do the things that
we want to do. And this government, there's
many faults. You can find faults in this government. You can find
all kinds of faults in this government. It's not difficult. That's not
hard to do. But listen, friend, what about the benefits? What
about the blessings of this nation? What about those things? What
about it? Friend, listen, this is something
to give thanks to God for and praise to God for. And I've heard
the brethren do it. And I appreciate it when you
do it. And I tell you, do it! Pray for those that are in authority
that we might continue to lead a quiet and peaceful life in
all godliness and honesty. This ain't a war. I don't care
if it goes on just like it is. Just go right on. We got freedom. We're able to meet. We're able
to preach. I mean, our goods are not confiscated. We got a
home. We got a place where we can live. And then we're free
to come and go as we want. I'm free to get up and go across
the country. You are too. You're free to come and go as
you want. You don't have to ask anybody if you want to take a
trip. I clear across the United States. If you want to move your
family anywhere in the United States, you're free to do so.
Just go on and do it. Do whatever you want to. I'll tell you what,
beloved, it can be a whole lot worse than what it is. A whole
lot worse. Some poor souls around the country,
I can weep. I could weep around the world
when you're here about what's going on in other countries.
My friend, bless God, you could have been born in Afghanistan.
Don't tell me you couldn't. For a sovereign God, you could
have been born in Afghanistan. And you'd be under the rule there
of those tonight that do not allow what you are enjoying here
in this nation. You better not. You better hold
back the wrath. Well, let me, I've got to say
some other things before we close. I know I've been at it a long
time, but turn to 2 Peter. about this attitude business,
what we ought to do about this thing. Now I just want you to
listen as I read these verses. I'm going to read a few verses
here, then I'm going to turn to Jude, read a few verses there,
make a comment or two, and then we're going to close. But here
in 2 Peter chapter 2, let's begin with verse 10. He's talking about
false prophets, and as he describes them in verse 1, I won't read
that, Anyway, I want you to listen to something here that is involved
in these people's character and what they have to say and don't
ever allow it to be in yours. Look at it. Chiefly them that
walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despised government. Look down on the government. Presumptuous, that means that
they're bold or daring. He says presumptuous are they,
self-willed. stubborn, addicted to their own
ways, and will not be ruled by others. That's their characteristic.
They are not afraid to speak evil of dignities or glories. That means those that rulers
majesties whom he hath put in the position that they're in,
the honor of being above others. These speak evil of these glories,
dignities. They are put in that position
by God to be his lieutenants, vice-sergeants, and they're spoken
evil of. Now listen. Whereas angels, which
are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusations
against them before the Lord, but these as natural brute beasts,
made to be taken, destroyed, speak evil of the things that
they understand not, they shall utterly perish in their own corruption. Now turn to the book of Jude,
and I want us to look there. Because these are very similar
passages, and I think you'll see a similarity between the
two of them when we read this, but I want you to look here with
me, and I want to make a comment or two here on what we have here
in this chapter. Beginning with verse 8, likewise
also these filthy dreamers devour the flesh, despise dominion,
speak evil of dignities, talking all the time, very reproachfully,
about those that are in higher positions, criticizing the government
and those that are in authority. Yet, now look at this example. I'm going to give you this example
and we're going to close. But this I want you to see because
it's very important and it'll help you if you're inclined to
be helped by the word of God. It'll help you. Look at it. Yet
Michael, the archangel, when contending with the devil, he
disputed about the body Dress not brain against him a railing
accusation, but said the Lord rebuke thee now He gives Michael
the archangel here as proper example of how that one should
speak of Others and I know this Michael the archangel Now this
is what I believe and this is what I think is That is going
on here, what this verse is talking about. Michael the Archangel
buried the body of Moses. You read in Deuteronomy chapter
34, I think it's verse 6, that Moses died and the Lord buried
him. Well, did the Lord come down
and bury him? No, I think he sent... Wait a minute, I'm sorry. Did the Lord come down and bury
him? He might. I don't know. I do not know, but I think that
Michael the Archangel buried the body of Moses. Michael the
Archangel being deputized or sent from the throne of God came
down for that purpose and buried the body of Moses. The devil
knew that. He knew that Michael the Archangel
buried the body of Moses. The devil did not know where
he buried the body of Moses. He wanted to know where Michael
the Archangel buried the body of Moses. He wanted to know.
He felt he had a right to know. He felt he should know. He just
wanted to know it. And you know, that's the way
we are sometimes about things. We just like to know things. We
just feel we ought to know more than what we do. Well, maybe
we ought. But the devil said, I just like...
And so he disputed with Michael the archangel about the body
of Moses. Now, I believe that why he wanted to know was that
in after time that it might be a snare to that people or that
he might bring, as it were, the people to the place and a means
to bring them to idolatry. And this seems probable if we
consider what work the devil has made in the world with the
bodies of saints and martyrs and how much idolatry he has
brought in through or by this. I think that's what he had in
mind. But Michael the archangel, he wouldn't have any part of
it. And so the devil ripped him up one side and down the other.
I mean he give it to him. Up one side and down the other.
But Michael the archangel, now here is what he did. Being the Lord's deputy, if you
please, you might think, well, boy, he would have let in on
that cuss and he would have laid him out. The devil I'm talking
about. He would have just laid him out. He would have told him
what he thought. He would have put the devil in
his place and put the finger right on him and put him in his
place and spoke to him, just ripped him out one side and down
the other. But do you know that he did not
do that? You know what the Bible says
he did? The Bible says he just referred him to the Lord. He
said, the Lord be with you. The Lord do it. What he meant
was, the Lord put you to silence. The Lord hinder thy design. The Lord put you out of business.
The Lord do it. You see, Michael the archangel,
he believed in the sovereignty of the God he served. And therefore,
he didn't think it was necessary for him. It was beneath his dignity
as a servant of most high God to become a brow beater of somebody
even like Satan. He wouldn't even, he wouldn't
begin to verbally abuse the devil even. He wouldn't do it. He said,
The Lord be with thee. Now friend, if you've got any
argument against the government, you've got any argument against
anybody in high places, if you've got any argument against any
senator, any congressman, anybody, anywhere, just commit them to
the Lord. Commit them to the Lord. If you've got anybody of the
President of the United States, brethren, we're all guilty of
this, and we are guilty, and we've sinned against God in doing
it, just railing upon the leaders of our nation. We've done it,
just like you know that we had all the answers. We knew everything.
And now the next verse here says, these speak evil of those things
which they know not. How many times have you opened
up your mouth? And allow the old venom of your
heart to roll out of your mouth against somebody that you really
didn't know a whole lot about. That you just could not really,
truthfully, just, you know what I mean, just if you would pin
right down, you couldn't prove the things that you said. You
just couldn't do it. How many times have we done that?
What we've done our whole life. I have. I'm guilty. I plead guilty. But by the grace of God, not
anymore. By the grace of God, not anymore. These things taught
me a lesson here. They taught me a great lesson. They helped
me some. Because if old Michael the archangel, now listen, if
anybody ought to be ripped out, the devil ought to be. Certainly
his design, his design, and his ideas about this thing. Why,
you know what his design was. It wasn't any good design, but
old Michael said, well, this is the Lord revealed to me. The
Lord revealed to me. I believe in the sovereignty
of God. Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord. Turn him
over to God. Just put him in God's hands. That's what you
ought to do. Now brethren, Maybe this will help you some. I hope
it will. I hope it will. But I want you to know, and Thomas
Matten made this statement, and I believe he's right. And you
may have to study it a while before you agree with him. But
he said, through what the word of God teaches, he says that
God would have civil authorities, he would have governments to
know that he is on their side. That he is on their side. And
that God will take the side of the government against any that
rebel against him. That God will take the side of
the government against those that rebel against him. Now you
may have some problems with that, but I want you to know that if
you do rebel against this government, it'll be God's power that takes
vengeance upon you. Don't do it. Don't do it. Submit
yourself. Now I've tried the best I can
to not be as honest as I know how to be with the scriptures. Now there's undoubtedly more
verses and other things that could be considered in a study
like this, but I certainly couldn't bring it in because I know I've
used more time now than what I ought to. But nevertheless,
I've tried to be as honest as I know how to be and tried to
tell you the truth about this subject. That what I have said
is the truth. I believe it's supported by the
word of God. I believe this is just what the Bible says. And
I hope that this subject will be a help to you and that you'll
be able to respond and submit yourself and obey the Lord. And if you suffer, be willing
to suffer. Jesus set the example. He set
the example. Be willing to suffer for well-doing
if necessary. This is thankful. This is well-pleasing
to God. This is the way you put the silence,
the ignorance of foolish men. This is the way you do it. The
how-and-how. Subject yourself. Submit yourself.

Citizens In This World

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