I want to read the first six
verses. I exhort, therefore, that first
of all supplications, prayers, intercessions, and given of thanks
be made for all men, for kings, and for all that are in authority,
that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness
and honesty. For this is good and acceptable
in the sight of God our Savior, who will have all men to be saved,
and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one
God and one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ
Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due
time." My subject this morning is those in authority. Paul was writing to Titus and
he said, put them in mind to be subject to the authorities. And I think this is a subject
that hopefully will do us good this morning. Those who are in
authority, and when I'm talking about those in authority, our
presidents, our representatives, our governors, our mayors, those
that God has set in authority over us in our nation. There's
two great institutions in this world, and I tell you, this world
would be hard-pressed to live without either of these institutions.
One is the church. We'd be hard-pressed to live
without the church, wouldn't we? The church is the pillar
and grounds of the truth. And the other one is the state.
Wouldn't we be hard-pressed to live without them? Sometimes
we're hard-pressed to live with them. But it would be hard pressed
to live without the state. The church is a heavenly institution. She's born from above. She's
born of God. She has this heavenly message.
The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel of redeeming
grace. The gospel of redeeming love. The state isn't an earthly institution. Its main goal is to protect the
just and to punish the unjust. You read that in Romans chapter
13. And both these institutions are
of God. Both of them are ordained of
God. The church is God's institution. And he's added to it daily such
as he sees fit to save, such as should be saved. Upon this
rock I will build my church, the Lord Jesus Christ said. And
the state is his institution. When Paul was writing about the
government, those in authority, this is what he said. The powers
that be are ordained of God. He sets up governments and he
pulls down governments, all kinds of governments. If there's a
government in this world, God has set it up. It may be a representative
government like you and I live under. It may be a communist
government, but he sets the government up. He does that in his sovereignty. And when it comes time, he that
set up these powers will pull them down. There's two institutions
in this world. One of them will finally be pulled
down forever when the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ subdues
these kingdoms and the only one that's left is His. The church
will never be pulled down. It's built upon a rock, Christ
Jesus. The church exists for the glory
of God. The government exists for the
good of mankind. What condition would the world
be in without these two institutions? I tell you, we'd live in chaos
without the state, wouldn't we? And without the church, we would
live without hope because she has the message of redeeming
love. Some of you might remember this. I'm sure you will if you keep
track of the news. And I think it shows us what
would happen when people, because of so much
dissatisfaction, grow discontent with the government that they
live under. Remember in 2010 what happened,
that we call it the Arab Spring, when so many governments in the
Arab world Remember that? Just a few years ago, Gaddafi,
that dictator in Libya, was killed, and other Arab countries, Arab
governments failed. The violence spread up into Egypt. And then just before that, a
few years before that, the Iraqi government fell. Saddam Hussein
was killed. Then you go back just a few years
before that, some of us remember the Shah of Iran, and his government
was very, very corrupt. He fell to the Muslims, and the
Atollah still rules until this day. And men thought to themselves,
These are corrupt governments. Sometimes they're very violent
governments, and we need to put them down. And they did. But has it gotten better in those
governments? There was a time in my lifetime
where you could have gone to Iraq and been safe there. You
could have traveled all over that country. You could have
gone to see the old ruins of the Babylonian city. You could
have gone to Iran when the shah was there. You could have seen
all of the old ruins and ancient artifacts that were there. You
remember when They said, was Assad of Syria was so corrupt
they wanted to overthrow his government? And they did partially. But how is it now? It's in chaos. There's danger. And I'm just
saying, we need to be careful. When we think the government
that we have is so corrupt, it has to be replaced. Be careful
what we wish for. We may well get it. That's what I'm saying. The authorities
that be are ordained of God, and sometimes we wonder, why
in the world would God support this kind of government or that
kind of government? But listen, if he has set it
up, if he has set it up, It may be filled with corruption, but
if he removes it or suffers it to be removed, it may be worse
than ever. And I think what Paul is teaching
us here in this passage is that governments Governments, by their
very nature, is corrupt. Now let me say this to you. You say, Bruce, I don't believe
there's any righteous governments in this world. I believe for
the most part they're crooks and criminals. I will agree with
you wholeheartedly. Don't put your trust in the authorities
that be. But having said that, God instituted
them for our good. Either to protect society, or
to correct society, or to show society mercy, and sometimes
to correct the church. But he set them up. But let me
tell you this to begin with. Earthly governments, by their
very nature, are corrupt. You say, Bruce, how do you know
that? I know that without knowing so many governments of this world.
Put your finger on any government in this world and you can reach
this conclusion without even going there or knowing anything
about it. That's a corrupt government.
And you know how we know that? Because it's made up of corrupt
men. We talk about our founding fathers
a lot. And we make them out to be saints. We make them out to be so godly. Our Founding Fathers were just
as corrupt as anybody else. They set up a good government
with good laws. They are corrupt because government
is corrupt because man is corrupt. Let me describe to you what the
Bible says about political leaders. Maybe this will help us a little
bit, not to expect too much out of our authorities. Listen to
how Daniel said this, and this is to be said without, well,
just a few exceptions, I would imagine. In Daniel chapter 4
and verse 17, the most high ruler in the kingdom of men, and giveth
it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest
of men." Who are politicians? They are the basest of people.
Who are those that make our laws and enforce our laws? They are
the basest of people. They are the lowest of human
beings. They are the most degraded of
mankind. Political leaders are the lowest
of lows. They're the most degraded in
this human race. Now, is that so or not? And that's
not my opinion. That's not what I've observed
by watching them. That's what God says. That's
what they are. That's God's description of them.
How could such men set up and maintain a government that is
good and wholesome and always seeks the well-being of its citizens
and seeks a sense of justice in everything. I tell you, it's
impossible, isn't it? It's impossible. God gives us
the qualifications of those who are in authority. Listen to what
He says. Here's what God demands of them,
and here's what He expects of them, and here's the way they
will be judged. 2 Samuel chapter 23 and verse
3, God, the God of Israel said, The rock of Israel spake to me
and said, He that ruleth over men must be just. ruling in the fear of the Lord. He that's in authority must be
a just man. But I say this with all reverence,
brothers and sisters, where are you going to find a man like
that? I'll say this with all reverence, God can't even find
a man like that. Because He said there's not a
just man upon earth that doeth good and sinneth not. I pity those in authority, don't
you? There is a sense in which my
heart goes out to the lawmakers and to those that enforce the
laws, and I tell you why. They have to deal with issues
that sometimes are so complex. Sometimes you and I get together
and we talk about, boy, if we were in authority, we would solve
some of these problems. And if we got in there and they
started telling us what kind of problem we faced, we'd throw
up our hands and say we had no idea it was this complex. They passed one law to help one
portion of society only to hurt another portion of society. Isn't
that so? And add to this, and this is
why I feel sorry for these men who are in authority, They are
ruling over a fallen humanity. Sometimes even the best laws
that they pass have unintended consequences. I was doing some
research on the prohibition. They passed a law back in 1920
that there'd be no more alcohol drunk in this country. Wouldn't
that a good law? They closed down all the bars.
They closed down all the manufacturers of booze, and we had the roaring
20s. You know what the roaring 20s
was about? Bootleggers. They had more booze
in the 1920s than they had any time before that in our nation.
The prohibition created more crime underground crime than
we ever had before in the United States. That's why we had to
create the FBI to take care of the crime that the prohibition
started. They passed the law in 1920 and
repealed it in 1933. It only lasted for a few years. You see, brothers and sisters,
it's difficult to be an authority. It's difficult to know which
laws to pass. You can't be too lenient Or you'll
have chaos in your country. But if you're too strict, you'll
make criminals out of everybody. Would you like to be in authority?
Would you like to be in Congress writing our laws? Would you like
to be enforcing our laws? Not me. Not me. And you add to this all the temptation
that goes along with being in authority. I was watching a video that somebody
sent me this week, and it was talking about this organization
that all these criminals were in. And it listed so many had
been arrested for drunkenness, sexual abuse, spousal abuse,
in debt, defrauding people. And they said, which sports,
is this a sports institute? Everybody said the NFL, it's
got to be the NFL. You know who it was? The Congress
of the United States of America. How does a man making less than
$200,000 a year go into Congress and he comes out a few years
later and he's a multi-millionaire? All these temptations that goes
along with being in authority, you're welcome to it. I don't
want it. I had a preacher friend of mine that was running for
Congress. I told him, I'd never vote for
you. You leave the pulpit and go running for a political office,
I'd never vote for you. And you're going to get caught
up in some kind of a scandal. Would you want that office? I
feel for those people, don't you? I certainly feel for those
people. And add to this the lust for
power that it creates. The longer these men are in authority,
the more they crave for authority. That's why they spend all of
their time and all of their life living to do nothing else but
just to reign over men. Thomas Jefferson said the very
instant a man seeks an office to rule over another man, he
shows that he's corrupt. He shows that he's corrupt. And
you add to this, brothers and sisters, these politicians and
those in authority will soon have to leave their office and
die and go to God to give account of how they ruled over other
people. Pilate will give account to God
for how he ruled. King Herod will give account
to God for how he ruled. Our president, the Congress,
the governors right down to our local sheriffs will have to die
just like you and I and go to God and give account of how they
handled the position that God set them in. I don't want it,
do you? I do not want it. How should the church treat those
in authority? What should the church's attitude
be for those who are in authority? Well, look here in verse 1 of
my text. I exhort, therefore, that first
of all supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of
thanks be made for all men, but especially for kings, and those
who are in authority. What should be the church's attitude
towards the state? Prayers for them, supplications
for them, intercessions on their behalf. You see these words supplications
and intercessions? This is just different aspects
of prayer. Supplications means to approach
unto God with a need. And here, not just for yourself,
but who? For those who are in authority. Take time to make intercessions
for those who lead our country from the president right down
to the local mayor. Because they do not realize the
position that they have put in, put themselves in, or other people
put themselves in. But you know. You know the temptations
that they face. You know the wisdom that they
need. Make intercessions to God, supplications for them. And this
word, intercessions, it can be a prayer on someone's behalf,
Or it can be a prayer against somebody. When our Lord Jesus
makes intercessions, He makes intercessions for His people. He represents them before His
Father in heaven. He brings them all from their
guilt, the condemnation. He brings forgiveness for them
in aid and strength and help. He makes intercessions for them. But you know what Elijah did?
Elijah made intercessions against Israel. Lord, they killed your
prophets. They tore down your altars. Elijah
wanted the Lord to correct Israel and bring judgment upon them. And while you and I make intercessions
to God for those who are in authority, we also sometimes make intercession
against them. I'll be honest with you, brothers
and sisters, I have often made intercessions to God against
this present administration. And how could you not? While
I pray for them that the Lord would open their understandings,
give them wisdom and protect them, I pray to God to overrule
their open and profane policies. How could any Christian or any
decent person make intercessions for this administration when
they promote the killing of babies? Or when they promote the open
and profane sin of homosexuality? No, we make intercessions against
them, don't we? We sure do. And giving a thanks
to God for those who are in How can we possibly give thanks to
God for this present administration? Here's the only way. God has
set them there. Here is the sense that we give
thanks to God for those people who are ruling us right now in
this highest authority in the land. God put them there for
a reason. I don't know what that reason
is. It may be he's put them there to bring judgment upon this country.
That seems like what he's put them there, doesn't it? He may
put them there to humble the church, but he sent them there. And if God does something, what
should you and I do? Give him thanks for it. We may
not understand it, but there's one thing for sure. The man that
occupies that White House and the men who occupy the governorships
across this great nation, they're safer because God has put them
there. And therefore, you and I ought
to be thankful. Giving thanks for all men. And when it comes time, God can
put them down. Can He not? What should be our
attitude towards these authorities? You and I should make supplications
for them. We should pray for them. We should
intercede to God for them. Because they have an awful, awful
responsibility. Now look in verse 2. For kings
and for all that are in authority, that we may live a quiet and
peaceable life, in all godliness and honesty." See, He tells us
this to pray for them for our own sakes. This nation, this nation with
all the harm that it's done in so many areas of life and around
this world, it's still the best country you can live in. The
best country you can live in. And you and I ought to be careful
about our grumbling and complaining about it because we may get what
some of those nations in the East got worse than ever. I don't want to live in an open
and profane society like Lot lived in. Do you? I don't want to be tempted to
lie and steal just to get by. I feel for those in communist
nations. I had a friend of mine that was
in China, and she wrote me a letter one day, and she said, I have
to be careful even to witness to people. If they turn me in
to the authorities, I can be arrested. I can't hand out pamphlets. I can't hand out books. I've
been reading a little book that Brother Baker gave me about the
ladies suffering mainly in the Muslim world. They're right on
the borderline of lying. They go right up to the borderline
of lying when the Muslims catch them going to public worship.
Well, I'm going to see my sister-in-law. Okay, you go ahead. Well, where's
her sister-in-law? She's at church. So they have
to go right up to the borderline. They have to be guarded. I don't
want to live in a society like that. If the authorities stopped
us on the way to church this morning and said, sir, where
are you going? I'm going to worship God. That's the society I want
to live in. OK, then what should we do? Well,
be careful how you vote. OK, that's all right. That's
fine. But there's something better
than that. You know the best thing we can do if we want peace
in our society? If we want to live a quiet and
peaceable life and not have to lie and cheat and steal? We want
a government where we can have liberties to come and worship
God? Where the gospel is not hindered
in the spread of it? You know the best thing we could
do? Supplications to God. Intercessions to God. Giving
thanks to God. Who rules the government? God
does. And He takes these corrupt men,
the basest of men, and sets them in office, and then He comes
to us and says, now you pray for them, and I will rule their
hearts. I'll guide their hearts. That
you can have a peaceful and quiet and honest life. George Spurgeon said something
like this. He said society that we live
in is like a brush pile that's on fire. And he said when the church ceases
to pray for that government, the flame goes higher and higher. And it's almost like it's going
to get out of control. And when the church begins to
pray, it's like rain that smothers the flame. That's what it is,
isn't it? The Lord sent His church into
captivity because of their sins, but when they were in captivity,
God moved upon the hearts of those ungodly heathens to be
kind to His people. In Shushan the palace, remember
Esther? That Jew, she was exalted. Mordecai,
the Jew, was exalted. And the church had a revival,
and she shamed the palace while they were in captivity. Can the
Lord do that? When it come time to send the
Jews back out of captivity to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple,
He moved upon Cyrus, the Persian king, to send his people back
to Jerusalem. A few years later, when it pleased
God to rebuild the wall, He moved upon another Persian king's heart
and sent His people back to rebuild the wall. I'm saying, brothers
and sisters, the best thing you and I can do is make intercessions
to God for those who are in authority. That's the best thing that you
and I can do. If you want to live a quiet and
peaceable life in all honesty, then pray. Pray. Look now in verse 3. For this
is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior. I don't
always know what's good and acceptable in God's sight. Sometimes I do
things that I wonder, was that the right thing to do? Sometimes
I do things that I know that wasn't the right thing to do.
But one thing that I know is good in God's sight, and that's
to pray for those who are in authority. You always know that
that's good. And he says here in verse 4 and
in verse 5, God, who will have all kinds of men to be saved
and come to the knowledge of the truth, Well, there's one
God and one mediator between God, the man in Christ Jesus,
who gave himself a ransom for all kinds of men. You say, Bruce, why do you read
that like that? That's got to be the meaning of it. When he
said pray for all men, could you pray for every last man in
this world with that exception? You don't even know everybody
with that exception. We pray for all kinds of men. We pray for our family, we pray
for our communities, and we pray for those who are in authority. Because God will have all kinds
of men to be saved. See how Paul, see how he does
this. He starts with praying for those
in authority that we may live a quiet and peaceable life. And
he said, brethren, think of this. God may save some of those in
authority. Could God save our president?
Sure He could. How do you know? He's saving
all kinds of people. When they arrested Paul and took
him to Rome, you know what the Lord did? He invaded Caesar's
household. Read Philippians 1 and look at
the people the Lord saved in Caesar's household. God's saving
all kinds of people. And Jesus Christ is the mediator. between God and all kinds of
people. And Jesus Christ gave Himself
a ransom. He atoned for the sins of all
kinds of people. Haven't you ever went to the
Lord in prayer and you were praying for our leaders? And you said,
Lord, open that man's heart and save him. Have you ever prayed
like that? That's a good prayer, isn't it? You go back in the Old Testament,
man, they had all kinds of kings that were converted men. David,
Solomon, Josiah, Hezekiah, they had all kinds of kings. And you
read the history of the last 2,000 years, especially in England,
we had kings and queens that the Lord had saved them. Pray
for those who are in authority. Pray the Lord would keep them,
give them wisdom, give them courage to pass good laws and to enforce
good laws, and pray the Lord, if it's good pleasure, would
save them. Look at Titus. We'll look at
two more scriptures quickly, then we'll go back and eat. And to be honest with you, I've
done been eating. I was so hungry when I got to church, I went
back there. I don't know who bought that hamburger and stuff,
but I'm telling you, it is good. Look here in Titus, the very
same subject, but look how Paul says it. In Titus chapter three,
and look in verse one, put them in mind to be subject to principalities
and powers. and to obey majesty. If you wonder,
Bruce, why in the world are you coming here this morning and
dealing with this subject, here's why. I'm putting you in mind. Stop, brothers and sisters, being
overwhelmed with what's happening in our society. I'm not saying
don't be concerned about it, and I'm certainly not saying
don't pray about it. But don't be overwhelmed and
depressed because of what you're seeing on the news. As a matter
of fact, I would encourage you to stop watching the news. Is it helping you? I haven't watched any news now
for quite some time. I go about every six months and
I go back and get caught up and it takes me about ten minutes
to realize there's nothing new. I'm just saying, the Lord tells
his preachers to put you in mind to be subject to your authorities,
to pray for your authorities, and obey magistration to be ready
to every good work. And look at this, brother, look
at this, to speak evil of no man. If we get so upset that we're
speaking evil of men, then we've got an attitude problem, don't
we? I had a pastor friend of mine.
I used to call him, and man, he'd just rat and rave. He'd
been listening to the news, and he'd rat and rave. And I said,
what's the matter, Rupert? Oh, this sorry low-down guy. And about a few months, I called
him again. He was so happy. And I said, how are you doing?
He said, I'm good since I quit watching the news. It puts you in a bad attitude,
doesn't it? If you've got time to watch that,
read your Bible. pray, to speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers,
argumentative, wanting to fight, but gentle, showing all meekness
unto all men. Obey those who are in authority. You say, Bruce, but they're crooks.
Yes, they are. You say, Bruce, they're corrupt
people. Yes, they are. You say they're
ignorant people. They're deceived people. Yes,
they are. Brothers and sisters, you've got no argument with me
this morning what kind of a man is in authority. We've done settled
that, haven't we? But look in verse 3, we ourselves
also were sometimes foolish. You say, they're so foolish.
Weren't you? They're disobedient. Weren't
you? They're deceived. Weren't you? They're serving all of these
divers lusts and pleasures and living in malice and hateful
and hating one another. Didn't you? What's the difference
between us and them now? after that the kindness and love
of God our Savior towards man appeared. Not owing to any of
your merit or your wisdom, Not by works of righteousness,
which we have done, but according to His mercy, He saved us by
the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,
which He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Lord. I tell you, the only difference
between us and them is the difference that grace has made. Is it not? When we ask, how's the authorities
doing? Before we answer that, we should
ask ourselves this question, how's the professing church doing? Twenty-seven percent of all churches
in the U.S. have women pastors. How's the
church doing? That's sorry government. What
about the church? What about the professing church? You and I have been flooded with
health and wealth preachers. How's the church doing? One heresy
after another have risen up in our own ranks. How's the church
doing? Let's don't go abroad to fight
a war when there's a battle raging at home. Let's start with the
professing church. Fifty percent, almost fifty percent
of evangelicals don't believe that we have the infallible word
of God. How's the professing church doing? How's the government doing? I'll
tell you how the government's doing. God's holding them up
or they're going to fall. How's the church doing? How's
the professing church doing? We've got a battle on our hands,
don't we? And it's not with politics. It's with false churches, false
preachers, heresy, rising up. That's our battle. One more place
and we'll close. Look at 1 Peter chapter 2. 1 Peter chapter 2. And look in verse 12. 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 12.
Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles. That whereas
they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works,
which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. Submit yourself to every ordinance
of man. Look at this, for the Lord's
sake. Why should we submit to authority?
For the Lord's sake. I ain't doing it for their sakes.
And you can't persuade me to do it for their sakes. But when
you say, for Christ's sake, oh, that subdues my heart, doesn't
it, you? I hate paying taxes. Just every few years I have to
go down to the lady that's over the property taxes in this county
and say, dear lady, why is my property taxes going up like
this? Can you take them down or do something? And she sometimes
says, yes, I will sometimes. She said, no, Mr. Crabtree, I'm
not going to. And what do I do? I just submit and leave and say,
for Christ's sake, I won't argue with her. And when somebody talks to me
about that dear lady, I bite my tongue instead of speaking
evil against her. And why do I do that? For Christ's
sake. But you'll do a lot for Christ's
sake if you know Christ, won't you? There's been women that stayed
in some bad marriages with abusive husbands for Christ's sake. There's been men and women stayed
on some difficult jobs for Christ's sake. And they've been in difficult
situations and did not complain for Christ's sake. What has God
done for you for Christ's sake? What will you do for Christ's
sake? Whether it be to the king 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. For so is the will of God that
will well do it You may put to silence the ignorance of foolish
men, as free, and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness,
but as the servants of God. Honor all men, respect all men,
love the brotherhood, love the church, love Christ's sheep,
fear God, and honor the King." God bless His Word. Our Father,
we thank you for your word. Sometimes it cuts us down. It
humbles us. It brings a confession out of
us of how we utterly fail to do what you command us to do
and what you've given us grace to do. Forgive us, Lord, and
give us grace to be a kind people, to be a thankful people. not
to be so quick to speak evil of others. When we look at ourselves
and how we failed you, and how ignorant and deceived we often
still are, help us, our Father, to pray for these men that you've
set in authority, make intercessions against their wicked policies,
ask you to overrule them, but to pray for them still. That
you would protect them, that you would open their hearts.
And Lord, even save some of them, if it be your will. Thank you
for this beautiful day. Thank you for this beautiful
people that's come here today to worship you. I pray that this
message will be a help to them and encouragement to them. Thank
you for this good dinner that's been prepared for us. Bless it
as we fellowship around it and take pleasure in your people
this day. For Christ's sake, we pray. Amen. I hope all of you can stay. I
know there's a lot of food. It's Mexican type of food and
it's good. So I hope you can stay. You're
at liberty to go.