But let me just explain this to you.
God created three institutions.
The home, government, I know some of you don't like to hear that.
You're so anti-government, but God actually created government and the local church.
Now obviously governments can get out of control and we believe in minimal government and we
understand that.
But God created these institutions and God created an authority structure within these
institutions.
Just to remove all of the tension from government, let's just use an example of a different institution.
Let's use the example of a home and let's just look at how the authority structure works
within a home.
I'm going to use this as an example, but you can apply it to government in the same way.
Go to 1 Peter chapter number three.
If you kept your place in Hebrews, from Hebrews you can go James and then 1 Peter, 1 Peter
chapter number three.
Let me explain to you how authority works in Bible, in the Bible, whether it's government
or the home or the church or whatever, whether it's your job, just how it works.
1 Peter chapter three, let me just say this as we're talking about this.
The Bible teaches that we should obey our authority.
The Bible teaches that we should obey our God-given human authority, whether that's
children obeying their mother and father or a wife obeying her husband or an employee
obeying his boss or us obeying government officials.
The Bible says that we should obey everything that our human God-given authority tells us
to do, no matter how inconvenient or annoying it might be.
Now let me give you an example of this for wives.
1 Peter chapter three, look at verse one.
Likewise ye wives, be in subjection to your own husband, that if any obey not the word,
they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives.
Look at verse five, same chapter, 1 Peter three and verse five.
For after this manner in the old times, the holy women also who trusted in God adorned
themselves being in subjection unto their own husbands.
Go to Ephesians chapter five, Ephesians chapter five and of course the book of Ephesians closer
to the beginning of the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1st, 2nd Corinthians,
Galatians, Ephesians, Ephesians chapter five, look at verse 22, Ephesians 5, 22.
Wives submit yourselves unto your own husband, notice these words, as unto the Lord.
You can find passages in the New Testament that tell servants to submit themselves to
their masters as unto the Lord.
So the Bible teaches that look, we should, when we have God given human authority over
us, whether it's a father and mother, whether it's a husband, whether it's an employer,
whether it's a government official, the Bible teaches that we should do our best to submit
ourselves no matter how inconvenient or annoying it might be and that we should do it as unto
the Lord.
And the Bible tells us that we should do it in everything.
You're there in Ephesians 5, look at verse 23, for the husband is the head of the wife.
Even as Christ is the head of the church and he is the savior of the body, therefore as
the church is subject unto Christ, so let wives be to their own husbands.
Look what it says, in everything, in everything, look, here's what I believe, the Bible teaches
that wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
No matter how annoying, no matter how inconvenient, no matter how dumb it might be, you married
him, that's your authority, that's your God given authority.
God says you should submit to yourself in everything.
So look, if your husband, you know, just wants you to put the spoons in a certain drawer
and say, well, that doesn't make any sense, it makes more sense to do them here.
But if he's telling you to do them there, put it there, you ought to do it.
You say, well, it's more inconvenient, it's annoying, it's dumb, it doesn't make any sense.
Yeah, but you should obey your husband in everything, in every authority, whether it's
your husband, whether it's your father, whether it's your boss, whether it's the government,
we should submit ourselves as unto the Lord.
Now that is not without its limits, all right, go to Colossians chapter 3, Colossians chapter
3, look at verse 18, if you're there in Ephesians, you got Philippians, Colossians, Colossians
chapter number 3, verse 18, Colossians 3, 18, wives submit yourselves unto your own
husbands, notice, as it is fit in the Lord.
So in Ephesians, we were told as unto the Lord, and Colossians were told as it is fit
in the Lord.
What does that mean?
You should do everything your husband tells you to do, as long as it fits within what
the Lord is asking you to do.
So you want to have Taco Tuesdays, but he wants to have Taco Thursdays, you just have
Taco Thursdays, okay?
Is it a sin to eat tacos on Thursday?
Is he asking you to sin?
If he says, no, I refuse to eat tacos on Tuesday, I'll have tacos only on Thursday, look, it's
not a sin, you ought to obey in everything.
Now if your husband asks you to do something that's sinful, then you disobey, go to Acts
chapter 4, Acts chapter 4, Acts chapter 4, and look at verse 18, Acts 4, 18, the Bible
says this, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Acts chapter 4, verse 18, and they, talking
about the priests, the captains of the temple, the Sadducees, the political leadership, they
called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.
The government officials told the early church, we don't want you teaching and preaching.
We don't want you speaking the name of Jesus.
They did it anyway, Acts 5, 28, if you flip over, Acts 5, 28, here's their response when
they got caught, saying, did not we straightly command you, right, Acts 4, 18, that you should
not teach in this name, and behold, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine and intend
to bring this man's blood upon you?
Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, we ought to obey God rather than
men.
And we like to quote that, but please understand that the only time that you're actually allowed
to disobey your human authority and obey God rather than men is when your human authority
is asking you to do something that goes against what God has commanded you to do.
If your husband is asking you to lie, if your husband is asking you to steal, if your husband
is asking you to steal, if your husband is asking you to break one of the commandments
of God, then we ought to obey God rather than men.
But if he's asking you to put the spoons in a certain drawer or to serve a certain meal
on a certain day, that's not sinful, that's not sinning.
You say it's annoying, it's dumb, it's inconvenient, but you ought to obey in everything as unto
the Lord until he asks you to sin.
So here's the thing, when it comes to the government, we should obey in everything as
unto the Lord as long as it's not a sin.
You say, well I think that the highway should have no limits and we should be allowed to
go as fast as we want and in California you can only go 75, but there's other states where
you can go, but you know what, if you live in California, go 75, you say it's annoying,
but you just submit, is it a sin?
But when they ask you to sin, when they ask you to do something that actually breaks the
laws of God, then we obey God rather than men.
So here's the question I have for you, what is the government doing, what is the government
asking you to do that is so sinful?
To stay at home, to spend time with your family, to not go to stores, I mean, you say it's
annoying, I agree, it's inconvenient, I get it, it's messing up the economy, why do you
care so much about money?
It's, you know, they're doing this, okay, but what's sinful about it?
Where is it sinful?
And again, some of you are saying, well they're not allowing us to congregate, but here's
the thing, if there's actually a highly infectious disease, you don't want to be congregating,
you don't want to be gathering.
And I don't understand the position, you say, no there is an infectious disease, but there
should be an exception for churches, because your church is a magical building?
I mean, if there actually is a virus that's hurting people, then you actually don't want
to gather, and the government, I believe the government is within its rights to lock things
down, you say, but we're not sick, well you don't know that, number one, because you're
not God.
Number two, Leviticus 13 teaches that they have the right to lock people down if they
think they might be spreading a disease.
And number three, I believe that the government is not asking us to do anything sinful.
Now look, we should obey everything in our God-given human authority structure, no matter
how inconvenient or annoying, and we should obey them as unto the Lord, and we should
not obey when human authority asks us to sin.