Amen all right over there in Romans chapter number 13 and of course this
morning we are continuing a series entitled mixing politics and religion
and we've been looking at this idea of government and politics through the
lens of Scripture and this has not been as I've said every week up to this point
and I'll continue to say this has not been a series endorsing any any
political candidate or anything like that the only reason we're even doing
this series though is because with the election coming up we all are kind of
thinking about politics and think about these things I think it's good for us to
understand biblically what we believe or how we should believe regarding these
these matters so of course this is the third week and if you have missed the
last couple of weeks I'd encourage you to check those out you can find those on
our website you can find it on our YouTube channel this morning I'm
preaching on the subject of Christian civil disobedience I'm going to be
talking about when we should disobey the government when we should not disobey
the government and honestly in order to teach that concept I kind of have to lay
a foundation of government in general so this morning I'm preaching on Christian
civil disobedience but I'm really going to give you a kind of a theology of
government and what I mean by that is it's going to be a very doctrinal sermon
in the sense of what is it that the Bible teaches about government I usually
like to have nice literated catchy outlines for you I don't necessarily
have that I have five statements and I'm going to encourage you to write down and
this will just kind of give you an idea because when it comes to how we deal
with government we need to understand you know what does the Bible even teach
about government what what is it that the Bible says about government so we'll
talk about Christian civil disobedience that's the main focus but we need to
begin by just giving you a theology of government government so I want to give
you five statements and I encourage you write these down on the back of your
course of the week there's a place for you to write down notes and of course
we're always encouraged you to take notes while during the service of course
if you have a baby on your lap or something like that we understand let me
give you five statements and I'll be I'll go ahead and give you statement
number one statement one is this that God ordained government God ordained
government in Romans chapter 13 and verse 1 the Bible says this let every
soul be subject unto the higher powers and the higher powers there is referring
to government authorities and that's clear from the context notice what he
says he says for there is no power but of God the powers that be are ordained
of God the Bible says that there is no power there is no governmental authority
without it being checked or given its authority by God the powers that be are
ordained of God notice verse 2 whosoever therefore resisted the power
resisted the ordinance of God so the first idea that we need to understand
is that God is the one that ordained government so please understand this we
are not anarchists we do not take this position that we just resist government
you know and and today in many of our types of circles around conservative
Christianity you do have this anarchist philosophy that just by default we're
against the government you know whatever the government says we're against it and
we don't want to comply with it and we want to protest against it and nothing
the government does is right now look I understand that when we live in a
society like the one we live in it's very frustrating to see government I see
and I understand that government does many things that we don't agree with we
understand that but in general we need to understand that God did ordain
government the Bible says that the powers that be that that there is no
power but of God the powers that be ordained of God and if we resist the
power we resist the ordinance of God the word ordain or ordinance means to give
order or to give authority in the same way that we might ordain a pastor or
ordain a deacon or ordain an evangelist what are we doing when we do that we are
giving that individual the authority to go start a church to go pastor a church
to go do a ministry well the Bible says that God ordained the powers that be are
ordained of God now you you say well how do we you know correlate that when you
have evil government and we're actually going to talk about that not next week
but the week after that I'm going to be preaching a sermon called the rulers of
the darkness of this world and we're going to correlate this idea between
God's ordaining of government and you know wicked people in high places and I
would encourage you to join us for that but I want you to understand that God
ordained government and all governments are ordained by God and and they're
they're filled and what I mean by that is this there's no government that ever
rose up that what God was like oh man you know that one caught me off guard
you know Hitler got away from us there I didn't want him to be in power all
ordinance all powers are ordained of God the Bible says and to kind of help you
understand this idea keep in place right there in Romans we're going to come
right back to it but go to the book of Acts if you would Acts chapter 17 you
just flip back one book and like I said this is going to be a theology type
message so we're going to flip to a lot of passages I hope you're ready hope you
came to church ready to learn the Bible and understand the Bible and and and be
taught from the Bible go to Acts 17 but let me just say this God instituted or
God created three institutions he created the family and I won't take the
take the time you can study this out on your own he created the family you can
learn about that in the beginning books of chapters of the book of Genesis he
created the church and of course you can study that in the New Testament and he
created government these are three institutions that God created the family
the church and the government so government God ordained government are
you there in Acts 17 look at verse 24 Acts chapter 17 and verse 24 the Bible
says this God this is of course the Apostle Paul and he is speaking on Mars
Hill he's preaching a sermon to these very superstitious Gentiles and he has
just noticed that they have a sacrifice to all these gods and then they have a
sacrifice to the unknown God just in case they missed one the God that they
don't know and then Paul says you know what there's only one God let me
introduce you to him the unknown God that you don't know Acts 17 24 this is
what Paul is doing in this sermon he says God that made the world and all
things therein seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth and I want you to
notice that the Bible says that God is Lord of heaven and earth we're not going
to look at it this week but we'll look at it in a couple weeks in the book of
Daniel the Bible says that the heavens do rule that the heavens are Lord over
the things that happen here on earth that he is Lord of heaven and earth
notice dwelleth not temples made with hands verse 25 neither is worship with
men's hands as though he needed anything seeing he give it to all life and breath
and all things notice verse 26 and ha now this is God we're talking about
that's the context from verse 24 God that have made the world and all things
therein in verse 26 the Bible says God and an hath made notice of one blood
all nations to notice the Bible says that God created nations but it's
interesting here that he says that he made them all of one blood so every
every all of human population can be traced back to Noah really coming off
the ark and back to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and I want you to notice
what the Bible says the Bible is telling us here that God is the one who created
nations notice and has made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all
the earth on all the face of the earth notice and have determined the times
before appointed and the bounds of their habitation so here we're told that God
created all nations and God it says all nations of men for to dwell on the face
of the earth every nation on this earth God ordained it God created it and have
determined the times before appointed not only did God create the nations he
determined when those nations would rise and when those nations would fall the
Bible says promotion cometh neither from the north from the east or from the west
or from the south but God is the judge he raises up one and set it down another
and a clear picture of this and again we're not gonna look at this this
morning we'll look at this in a couple of weeks but a clear picture of this is
the story of Daniel remember Daniel when Nebuchadnezzar had a dream and he saw an
image and nobody could tell him the dream and nobody could interpret Daniel
was able to do it and Daniel interpreted this dream and Daniel explained to
Nebuchadnezzar that he saw this image and this image represented the nations
and the government's the powers that would rise and fall upon the earth and
of course you had the head of gold and that represented Nebuchadnezzar and the
Empire of Babylon then you had the the breasts and the arms and that
represented the meno-persian Empire then you had the midsection and that
represented Alexander the Great and and Greece rising up in power then you had
the legs and that represented the Roman Empire then you had the feet which would
represent the future coming Kingdom of the Antichrist but in that image God
told Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel and the rest of us through his word he predicted
and told us these are the governments these are the nations these are the
empires that will rise and fall and I want you to understand this that God is
the God is the Lord of heaven and earth and he even resides over the geopolitical
world structure it is God who ordains government it is God who allows
governments to rise and governments to fall he is the Lord of heaven and earth
and notice verse 26 he hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on
the face of the earth and have determined the times before appointed
when they will rise when they will fall and the bounds of their habitation he's
the one that decided that the United States of America would be where the
United States of America is he's the one decided that China will be where China
is he's the one that decided the bounds of their habitation see the government's
and the nation's whether we understand it or not are ordained of God for there
is no power but of God the powers that be are ordained of God I'll give you
another example if you remember when Jesus was meeting with Pilate and Pilate
said to Jesus I have the power to let you go and to make you free and Jesus
responds you have no power but the power that God has given you why because of
the fact that it is God that has ordained government so we must
understand this God ordained government and and and I'm not preaching about this
this morning but I just want you to notice it there in verse 26 it says that
God ordained nations not racist in fact the concept of races as far as you know
black white Hispanic that's not a concept found in Scripture that's not a
concept thought in Scripture you know the only race you find in the Bible is
like running the race the race that is set before us other than that this
concept of oh well I'm black and you're why and you know I guess I'm brown I
don't know you know whatever whatever that that concept you can use that
terminology but just understand this that is not a biblical terminology he
has made of one blood all nations all nations have the same blood that goes
back to Adam and Eve God did not create races but God did create nations and the
bounds of their habitations and had determined the times before appointed so
God is the God over the geopolitical world structure of our day go back to
Romans chapter 13 if you would Romans 13 just flip over to Romans and keep your
place in Romans cuz we're gonna leave it we're gonna come back to it throughout
the sermon I said number one this morning God ordained government God
ordained government you say well what about evil governments just hang with me
next week I'm gonna preach a sermon about the Supreme Court all right and
then the week after that we're gonna look at the rulers of darkness of this
world so just hang with me we'll learn all this together
God ordained government here's statement number two government has a biblical
purpose government has a biblical purpose you say what is the biblical
purpose of government let me show it to you two things Romans 13 verse 3 for
rulers now the word rulers there is referring to political leaders for
rulers are not a terror to good works now please understand this Paul is
speaking here in regards to the government structure in general we're
not specifically talking about any specific government and he is referring
to as to this is how government should work when God ordained government here's
how he ordained it to work so don't try to fit the United States of America into
Romans chapter 13 don't try to fit you know Mussolini's Italy into Romans 13
this is more of a pattern of a blueprint this is how it should work Romans 13
verse 3 for rulers are not a terror to good works but to the evil here's what
he's saying this is how it should be and by the way for the most governments that
have ruled upon this world this is generally how it is rulers are not
necessarily a terror to good works here's what I mean if you're just a good
person citizen just trying to live your life and do it just was do for the most
part rulers are not just going to be attacking you and terrorizing you he
says for rulers are not the terror are not a terror to good works but to evil
he says wilt thou then not be afraid of the power he says do that which is good
and thou shalt have praise of the same so here's what he's saying he's saying
look we should fear government in the sense that it's there to protect the
people and it's there to punish the evildoer I'm going to show it to you in
the text you say what is the biblical purpose of government to protect and to
punish to protect the people to punish the evildoer he says look you don't have
anything to be afraid of if you're not a criminal you don't have anything to be
afraid of if you're not doing bad things he says for the four rulers are
not a terror to good works but to evil wilt thou then not be afraid of power
and again this is in general government in general this how it should be do that
which is good and thou shall have praise of the same he says look if you do good
things your government shouldn't hurt you it shouldn't affect you in fact
it'll praise you if that's the type of citizens that a government should want
to have notice there's four four now the word for there means because he the word
he there is in reference to the representative of government government
representative notice it says for he is the minister of God to thee for good so
notice again God ordained government and here we're even told that he is the
minister of God to thee for good because you say why because the biblical purpose
of government and when government does what they're supposed to do what they're
supposed to do is protect the people they're also supposed to punish
evildoers notice verse 3 again for the rules are not a terror to good works
notice these words but to the evil so they shouldn't bring terror to people
doing good works but they should bring terror to those who do evil but to the
evil notice verse 4 for he is the minister of God to thee for good but
here's the contrast 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 so according to the Bible what is the
biblical purpose of government it is number one to protect the people and
then it is number two to punish the the evildoer who is whose job is it to
carry out punishment for those who break the law for those who do evil the word
evil means to hurt for those who hurt other people it is the government's job
it says that if thou but if thou do that which is evil be afraid for he beareth
not the sword in vain for he is a minister of God a revenger to execute
the wrath upon him that doeth evil and I just want to make this point and I'll
come back to it later the sermon it is not your job but it is not my job to do
the government's job and to carry out vengeance it is the job of government
biblically speaking the purpose of government is to protect the people and
to punish the evildoer that's it protect the people and punish the evildoer now I
realize that governments and our government has overextended itself they
have extracurricular governmental activities that God never ordained them
but but there are a couple of things that God said government is there to do
is there to protect the people and it's there to punish evildoers now look it
does say it's there to set up a public school educational system it doesn't say
it's there to set up a welfare program it doesn't say it's there to set up a
government health care program it doesn't say that it's there to set up
all these extra government regulations structure systems that are there you say
biblically speaking what is the government supposed to do it's supposed
to protect the people and it's supposed to punish evildoers that's it and by the
way let me just say this as the Bible leaving Christian this is why my wife
and I have done everything on our power to have as little to do with our
government as possible you know as far as them being alright this is why we
don't use their public school system because God did not ordain a public
school system God ordained a mom and dad to raise their kids and educate their
kids you know this is why we don't we we try to reject as much of those things as
possible obviously there's some things we cannot reject but the purpose of
government is to protect the people is to punish the evildoer and look I would
just just please understand this if I were you and I realize sometimes people
have needs and things like that but if I were you I would get out I would get
out of as many government systems programs welfare things as you are able
to because those things come with a price when you let them into your home
look the government doesn't give you money just because they're nice they
give you money so they can put their foot in the door and and control you and
mandate you and cause you to do certain things so look the biblical purpose of
government is to protect people and and and and punish people my goal in in life
and and you know is that I I think up to this point my wife my wife and I have
six kids my wife can tell me if I'm incorrect about this but my wife and I
have six kids my oldest is 13 our youngest is 2 and I think really the
only government institution that they've you know have like some sort of a
membership or card or where they're known is the public library you know and
forgive us for sinning and you know promoting the public library we do use
the public library that's not really a government biblical purpose for the
government either but you know well we'll have to get that right with God I
guess protect the people and punish the evildoers that is the purpose of
government go back to Romans chapter 13 oh you're there in Romans 13 look at
verse 1 I'm sorry so it's not number one God and we're gonna keep going to the
library okay I'm just kidding it's not a perfect state we live in God ordained
government government has a biblical purpose I have to say that sometimes I
make jokes and then people take it to an extreme you know what I mean and there's
these YouTube videos about how like the public library is wicked or whatever
okay I just I'm joking sometimes people don't get what I'm joking my I'm not
funny I get it but um you know just help me I want to be clear number one God
ordained government number two government has a biblical purpose number
three here's statement number three we are to submit to government now just you
know before you just write me off as a FEMA pastor okay and start sending your
emails and make your comments just listen to the entire sermon all right
the Bible teaches that we are to submit to government and I'll just give you a
hint we're not supposed to submit to everything but there is an idea that we
are to submit to government Romans 13 look at verse 1 again let every soul be
subject what is the word subject or submit me it means to come under the
authority of the word sub has the idea of coming under something like a
submarine goes underwater he says let every soul be subject unto the higher
powers we are to bring ourselves under the authority of government again we're
not anarchists we're not gonna set up some you know military militia to go
overthrow the government no the Bible says that every soul be subject unto the
higher powers for there is no power but of God the powers that be ordained of
God knows verse 2 whosoever therefore resisted the power resisted the ordinance
of God he says look you shouldn't be resisting government and they that
resist shall receive to themselves damnation so the Bible teaches that we
are to submit to government to an extent you say why because God ordained
government you say why because there is a biblical purpose of government now
it's not the public school education system it's not the welfare system not
all those things but there is there is a purpose to government go to the book of
Titus if you would Titus chapter number three so if you find all the T books
they're all clustered together 1st 2nd Thessalonians towards the end the New
Testament 1st 2nd Thessalonians 1st 2nd Timothy Titus 1st 2nd Thessalonians 1st
2nd Timothy Titus Titus chapter number three this is a this is an idea that is
taught throughout Scripture that we are to submit to government Titus chapter
3 look verse 1 Titus chapter 3 verse 1 put them in mind to be subject to
principalities here Paul is telling Titus a preacher and he's telling him
hey there's some things you need to teach your church people pastor why are
you why are you preaching these sermons because the Bible actually tells me as a
preacher that there are some things that I need to put in your mind teach you
from the Bible put them in mind why do I put them in mind Paul what do you want
me to do as a preacher put them in mind to be subject to principalities the word
principalities talking about again a political leader principality comes
through the same root word where we get the word like Prince it's talking about
a political leader that's why the ruler it talks about principalities in that
verse in Ephesians 6 about the rules arkness of this world he says put them
in mind to be subject to principalities and powers to obey magistrates what's a
magistrate it's a government leader someone who makes laws and ordains laws
to be ready to every good work notice Paul says hey we need to be subject to
principalities and powers we need to obey magistrates we are to submit to a
government go to the book of Acts if you would acts chapter 5 if you kept
your place in Romans and we're gonna come back to Romans so keep your place
there before Romans you have the book of Acts Acts chapter 5 and like I said this
is kind of a theology a lesson number 1 God ordained government number 2
government has a biblical purpose it is to protect and to punish to protect the
people to punish the evil door number 3 we are to submit to government now some
of you're thinking wait a minute I thought this one is called Christian
civil disobedience pastor I thought you were gonna tell me you know when can we
finally start writing you know when can we start you know taking up arms all
right well before we can get to the disobedience we need to understand when
we need to obey all right number one God ordained government why should we obey
because God ordained government why should we ordain because government has
a biblical purpose why should we obey because God actually tells us to submit
to the higher powers we are to submit to government here's statement number four
and we'll spend our majority of the sermon on the statement number four we
should disobey when government asks us to sin we should disobey when government
asks us to sin are you there in Acts chapter 5 look verse 28 this is the
quintessential passage on this subject but we're gonna look at lots of them
this morning Acts chapter 5 and verse 28 the Bible says saying and by the way
these are the Sadducees and the Pharisees and the council meeting
together with against the Apostles in the New Testament saying did not we
straightly command you 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 us so here you have the political religious authorities saying we
commanded you to not teach in this name well here's the problem with that if the
Apostles were to submit to that command to that law that would be a sin because
God commanded them Jesus commanded them to go into all the world and preach the
gospel to every creature so they're saying hey well we that we have a law we
command you do not to teach in this name and behold you have filled Jerusalem
with your doctrine and intend to bring this man's blood upon us notice verse 29
then Peter and the Apostles answered and said we ought to obey God rather than
men see there is an authority structure there's an authority structure and above
government is God in fact it is God who ordained government so when government
and God are at odds with each other are in conflict with each other God wins
every time we obey God rather than men now please understand this please
understand this most conservative Christians political type Christians
they'll they love that we ought to obey God rather than men the only problem
that I have with that is that they obey they they they they bring that out for
everything everything the government says we ought to obey God rather than
men the government says you should put a mask on you know when you go into this
building or whatever and like yeah we ought to be God rather than men well
look I don't like mask either I get it they're annoying we and I think there's
a purpose for them and there's a use for them and in certain situations but but
you know that's not a sin do you understand that you say when do we
disobey government we disobey government government asks us to sin other than
that we submit to everything the government said so before you go and
start protesting and start getting your militia together you have to ask
yourself is the government asking us to sin and from time to time the government
does ask us to sin so we disobey other than that we submit because we should
submit to government and we should only disobey when government asks us to sin
go to the book of Ephesians if you would Ephesians chapter 4 you got acts Romans
first second Corinthians Galatians Ephesians Ephesians and then I want you
to get Colossians all right we're going to compare just a couple of things here
acts Romans first second Corinthians Galatians Ephesians then you have
Philippians Colossians get to Ephesians 5 and Colossians 3 acts Romans first
second Corinthians Galatians Ephesians and then you have Philippians Colossians
Colossians chapter 3 Ephesians 5 now I'm going to give you an example that
doesn't have to do with government but let me just remind you remember that God
instituted three institutions he ordained three institutions the family
the church and the government now I'm going to give you an example from the
family and then I'm going to prove it to you using examples in regards to
government but I'm going to show it to you from the family but I want you to
understand that the authority structure is the same in all of these God only has
one authority structure you say what is it when God has given you when there is
a God given authority like it's not that complicated here's how it works you
obey and everything unless they ask you to sin okay so here's an example
Ephesians 5 verse 24 therefore as this church is subject unto Christ so notice
notice how he's saying he's about to give us an example of the family but he
says this is also how the church works this is also how the government works
because all of God's institutions all work the same do you understand that
Ephesians 5 verse 24 therefore as this church is subject unto Christ so let the
wives be to their own husbands notice these two words in everything the Bible
teaches understand this is not popular today but most of the things I preach
are not popular so you know what's the difference but the Bible teaches that
wives are to submit to their husbands in everything that means that look when you
and by the way ladies this is why it's very important who you choose to marry
so he's a jerk well nobody made you marry him but once you're married to him
you are to be subject in everything everything means all things whatever
your husband wants you know that's where you're supposed to know let me just say
this husbands if you are if you're not an idiot you you would you know realize
that God gave you a wife to be a help meet that God has given wives wisdom and
intuition and and you would consult your wife and you would respect her opinion
and you would want to get her thoughts look and there are some things guys let
me just help you there's some things that it's just who cares
why fight about how your wife wants to decorate the kitchen are you are you
cooking I mean if you're cooking then I guess you know but if she's cooking why
would I care if she's doing all the cooking why would I care okay so just
little marriage counseling there all right well I have the authority okay you
do have the authority but don't be an idiot but you know at the end of the day
though at the end a husband you're the authority there does come a point where
you've got to make a decision it in God is going to hold you accountable Adam
notice who takes the blame Eve he always started saying Eve eats of the fruit
gives it to her husband and for the rest of the Bible we're talking about one
man sinned Adam Adam brought sin into the world ah you know you were in Adam
it's like what we were about Eve well Adams a boss he's in authority he's the
head he's the leader he's the one that God holds responsible so the Bible says
therefore as this church is subject unto Christ so let the wise be to their own
husbands in everything go to Colossians chapter 3 keep your place in Ephesians
cuz we're gonna flip right back to it you say okay well I just have to do
everything he says well there is one caveat Colossians 3 verse 18 wives
submit yourselves unto your own husbands they notice these words as it is fit in
the Lord so you say he's got all authority yes he does but there is a
limit to that authority and it the limit is as it is fit in the Lord so he can
look as long as your husband's not asking you to sin you should obey him
and everything you say when do I cross when do we cross the line where I can
disobey my husband cuz I just really want to disobey him okay well when he
asks you to sin that's not when it's no longer fit in the Lord then you don't
have to submit so when your husband asks you to bury or help him bury a body you
know you're like hey sorry I don't have to submit in that when your husband asks
you to help him run a heroin ring you know you don't have to submit there all
right do you understand that when your husband asks you to make a mistake and
you want to make him hamburger helper then you just submit now here's the
thing husband give us money for the steak all right so but you know in
everything in everything you are to submit as it is fit in the Lord does
that make sense are you there in Colossians 3 look at verse 20 let's look
at another example children obey your parents in all things for this is
well-pleasing unto the Lord children are under the authority of their parents and
children should obey their parents in all things in all things in all things
some of you guys should have said amen there but whatever Ephesians 6 go to it
children are to obey their parents in all things Ephesians 6 verse 1 notice
what the Bible says children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right so
you obey your parents on all things kids in the Lord as soon as your parents ask
you to assume do something that's not as that's not that goes against God you
don't have to obey yours in it this is how authority works there is a structure
to authority so why not the way my parents at all because God ordained
your parents God gave you the parents he gave you the authority you submit to
them in everything as it is fit in the Lord you submit to your husband in
everything as it is fit in the Lord you submit to your parents and everything in
the Lord you say what about government you submit to ever because our God
ordained government we submit to everything in the Lord as there's been
the Lord when they cross the line and it's no longer fit in the Lord then we
ought to obey God rather than see God ordained government government has the
biblical purpose we are to submit to government and we should only disobey
government when government asks us to say now let me give you some examples of
this played out in Scripture go to the book of Exodus if you would
Exodus chapter 1 you have Genesis and Exodus Exodus chapter 1 Exodus chapter
1 we are to obey government until the moment and up to the moment when
government asks us to sin what is sin the Bible tells us sin is a transgression
of the law God's law so when God gives us a law and government gives us a law
that goes against the laws of God we go with the laws of God every time Exodus
chapter 1 let me give you some examples of this verse 15 and these are not
family examples these are government examples Exodus chapter 1 verse 15 and
the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrews to the Hebrew midwives and by the way
let me just say this and again I'm kind of giving you a little bit of a sermon
from a couple of weeks from now but people get this idea like well if it's a
wicked government government then we don't have to obey that government well
let me ask a question was Pharaoh wicked because Romans tells us he was a
reprobate and Exodus tells us that God raised up Pharaoh so God ordained Pharaoh
in fact the Bible says that God raised him up because he needed a reprobate to
that wasn't going to obey and listen so that he can have the ten plagues and
again that's a sermon for another day but I'm just telling you all governments
ordained by God Exodus 1 15 and the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew
midwives of which the name of the one was ship fra and the name of the other
poor and he said when ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women and see
them upon the stools if it be a son then he shall kill him but if it be a daughter
then he then she shall live so here you have the government Pharaoh telling the
midwives who are the ones that are delivering the babies to sin thou shalt
not kill is a command of God and he's saying look if it's a son I want you to
kill him and if it's a daughter then let her live so the midwives have a decision
to make what did they decide well they decided same thing Peter decided we have
to obey God rather than men those were 17 but the midwives feared God and did
not as the king of Egypt commanded them but save the men children alive they
disobeyed their government well how did God feel about it well look at verse 20
therefore God dealt well with the midwives and the people multiplied and
wax very mighty and it came to pass because the midwives fear God that he
made them houses look they disobeyed their government and God was happy about
you said well this is a contradiction because the Bible says we are to submit
the government no the Bible says we submit to government up to the point
when government asks us to sin and when government asks us to sin then we obey
God rather than men so look the midwives should have done everything that Pharaoh
asked them to do but the minute go to Daniel if you would and towards the end
of the Old Testament Isaiah Jeremiah Lamentations of the Eagle Daniel but the
minute that Pharaoh asked them to sin now the midwives have the duty to
disobey because we ought to obey God rather than men go to Daniel chapter 3
let me give you another example Daniel chapter 3 look verse 16 Isaiah Jeremiah
Lamentations Ezekiel Daniel Daniel chapter 3 look verse 16 Shadrach Meshach
and Abednego answered and said to the king now this is King Nebuchadnezzar he
has built an image and he has ordered and commanded that everybody worship
this image the government has given a decree that they should worship this
image well here's the problem with that the God's law say that thou shalt not
make unto thee any graven images and thou shalt not bow down thyself unto
them so it would be a sin God's law is in contradiction of Nebuchadnezzar's law
so what did Shadrach Meshach and Abednego do well the Bible says that they
answered and said to the king Oh Nebuchadnezzar we are not careful to
answer thee in this matter if it be so our God whom we serve is able to deliver
us from the burning fiery furnace and he will deliver us out of thine hand O
king but if not be it known unto thee O king that we will not serve thy gods nor
worship the golden image which thou hast set up what are they saying here's what
they're saying they're saying we ought to obey God rather than men now here's
the interesting thing Shadrach Meshach and Abednego were princes in Babylon the
Bible actually says that Nebuchadnezzar said about these young men that he
found them ten times better than anyone else so I want you to say Shadrach
Meshach and Abednego were not a bunch of revolutionaries they were not a bunch of
anarchists they were actually good employees for Nebuchadnezzar they had
been raised up in the kingdom they had submitted themselves to the powers that
be look these kids were kidnapped from their homes and they said well you know
if this is where we're at then we're just gonna do the best with it and they
worked hard and they were promoted but as soon as they were asked to sin they
said no because consistently in Scripture consistently in Scripture you
find this concept that we as believers are to obey government up to the moment
where government asks us to sin let me give you another example go to Daniel
chapter 6 you're there in Daniel 3 go to Daniel chapter 6
Daniel chapter 6 look at verse 5 Daniel chapter 6 and verse 5 Daniel chapter 6
in verse 5 the Bible says this then said these men these are the men who want to
attack Daniel and by the way this is a great testimony that Daniel has here as
a believer notice what his enemies said they said we shall not find any occasion
against this Daniel is it they're trying to dig up dirt on Daniel they're like we
can't find anything bad about Daniel we're not gonna be able to get Daniel
fired we can't find anything bad about Daniel except we find it against him
concerning the law of his God they said you know what we can't find anything bad
about Daniel but here's what we can what we know that we can find something
against him concerning the law of his God because he's not going to disobey
the law of his God so what they do they crafted a plan they got the king to sign
it where it was made illegal to pray now here's the problem with that God
commands us to pray so Daniel chapter 6 verse 7 excuse me verse 10 Daniel 6 10
now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed the law was passed against
prayer he went into his house and his windows being open in his chamber toward
Jerusalem he kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave
things before his God as he did a fourth time by the way Daniel was not being a
braggart or a show-off or a grandstanding here this all he always
prayed Danny why don't you just shut the window because if you have a path people
know you pray they see you pray you have a window open and then they pass a law
and he shuts the window they're gonna they're gonna know number one that he's
praying so he's still breaking the law and number two that he's I'm not gonna
be a coward about this here's what he's saying we're gonna obey God rather than
men so he opened up his windows and he did what he always did he prayed before
God he got thrown in the lines and as a result God saved them and rescued him
but the point is this throughout the Bible go to the book of Matthew if you
would Matthew chapter 5 throughout the Bible you see that Christians believers
submit to their government up until the point that government asks us to sin
look it's not that complicated I remember years ago in fact you know for
many years and and look I'm preaching a series right now so this we're done with
the series we're gonna move on to something else okay this is not the new
me mr. political okay it's just a series all right we're doing but you know for
many years I'll be honest with you I avoided I avoided the the the concept of
politics because I would listen you know I would listen to these these these
these libertarian conservative Christian you know Thai people and I was just
confused I mean I'm not trying to like get them to help me understand Romans 13
I'm trying to understand you know like these laws and Liberty and the founding
fathers and it was just so confusing to me because it was like you know will you
obey when the government's righteous but you don't obey when the government's
unrighteous there's all these ways of figuring out there's the government
righteous the government not righteous is this that is just confused by it
just didn't make any sense to me finally I just decided to shut off YouTube and
just read the Bible what is why watch you say it's interesting when you read
the Bible and you realize it's not that complicated you obey government until
the government asks you to do something then you know and by the way this
concept works in any government in every government but what if you grow up in
Nazi Germany well if you're a Nazi Germany you say what do you do well you
submit the government up until the point government asks you to sin so if
Hitler says hey I want you to drive 25 miles an hour down the street you drive
25 miles down that street if Hitler says I want you to put all these bodies these
living people in an oven you say no it's not that complicated you know how do I
live under a communist regime how do I live under Saddam Hussein how do I live
under the United States of America cover how do I look how do you live
under any government under every government it's not that complicated you
submit till they ask you to sin when they ask you to sin you say no we have
to you don't want me to pray I'm gonna keep praying you don't go sewing I'm
gonna keep sewing you want me reading the Bible I'm gonna keep reading the
Bible you don't want me to go to church I'm gonna keep going to church you don't
want me to serve God and walk with God and love God I'm gonna keep doing all
those things but everything else fine no problem
they I realize this is not exciting pastor I thought we were gonna get
behind a pickup truck with our rifles and have a militia you're crazy man we
obey government till government asks us to sin and this model works everywhere
and look let me go ahead and give you an illustration those illustration people
aren't gonna like and I get it people are gonna send me emails or whatever so
why do we say people send you emails because here's what I've noticed when I
don't say I get the emails when I do say people are like when I don't say they
put the comments when I say don't put your comment then like I'm fine called
me out you know let me give you an example right now there's a big deal
going on with churches as far as church some churches are being forced to meet
outside and and honestly I think the tier we're in here in Sacramento that's
not even a thing for us right now but you know I'll tell you this I don't want
to meet outside I want to meet inside we paid thousands of dollars every you
know month for this building and I want to use it and and I will tell you this
I'm not gonna volunteer to meet outside just could Gavin Newsom says whatever
Gavin Newsom says I don't like okay well I'll just do whatever you want Gavin you
know my position is more of like you know I'd rather I'd rather you know ask
you know say sorry than ask for permission but but here's the thing
though and I just and this is part people are gonna like if the garden
nobody's asked us to meet outside nobody said anything to us but if the government
showed up and said you guys must meet outside if they put a target on us is
that you must meet outside you're you know we're you you have to you can't be
in the building you say pastor what would you do I would meet outside you're
a coward it's funny how you know people who don't take any stands don't take any
positions don't fight any battles always want to tell you how you're a coward and
you're a FEMA pastor say you've got you a coward ham to the government you know
some guy running a YouTube channel with three views you would coward ham to that
government well here's the question I have for you is meeting outside of sin
let me let me let me mess you up with with Bible Church is not a building the
church are the people the church is the congregation we've made too much of
buildings excuse me Baptist churches today are worshiping their buildings
paying homage to their building look I don't want to meet outside I'm not gonna
volunteer to meet outside I don't want to meet outside I'm gonna make them you
know give me warning after warning after warning before we meet outside but you
know at the end day if it's a big deal we're gonna meet outside because here's
the thing it's not a sin to meet outside we can have church outside so
I'm not gonna die on that hill do you understand that because I'm not gonna
die and for something that the Bible doesn't even say God doesn't even say we
have to meet a building now you say well why yeah but what if they say you can't
have church at all but do you understand that saying you can't have church at all
and you can have church outside are two different things you say what if they
said you can't have church at all then we're gonna have church but let me let
you on a little secret when the government says we can't have a church
at all you know we're probably meeting outside we're probably not gonna be
meeting in a building and I said well the sign that says better do Baptist
Church the point is this look it's not complicated well what if they mandate
vaccines well you know what I believe vaccines are a sin and I'm gonna obey
God rather than men what are they mandate you you know putting your kids
in a public school system well I don't think that's of God I'm gonna obey
I'll die on that hill if it's actually a sin I'll die on it but if it's not a
sin if it's not a sin to meet outside if it's not a sin to what do whatever
they're asking maybe it's inconvenient maybe it's annoying maybe it's stupid
but if it's not a sin then the Bible says you just submit and by the way my
parents are idiots they make me do the stupidest things well if it's not a sin
they make me you know go rake the leaves not using a rake but using a
push broom and I don't know why my dad just he's like I just wants me to use a
push broom and it's like we have a rake right look you obey my dad's an idiot
you obey did you send that my dad wants me to sell marijuana that you weigh God
rather than men it's not complicated my husband's an idiot I know you just obey
when he asked you to sin you don't obey my boss wants me to if whatever he wants
you to do you do it you be a good employee you just do it when he asked
you to sin when he asked you to lie when he asked you to fudge the numbers when
he asked you to take a call and say something that's not true then you obey
God rather it's not complicated folks God ordained government God ordained
authority government has biblical purpose we submit to government we should
obey government until and up to the point when government asks us to sin and
I realize look I'm not trying to pick a fight or whatever I realize people want
to make all these live streams about coronavirus and the mask and Walmart
won't let me walk in without a map but look is it a sin you gotta ask the
answer the question is it a sin as soon as it's a sin we obey God rather men as
soon as a sin we we are willing to get thrown into the fiery furnace as soon as
it's a sin we're willing to get thrown into the lion's den as soon as it's a
sin we're willing to die and go to prison as soon as it's a sin before that
you just submit and quit being such an anarchist I said number one God ordained
government number two government has a biblical purpose number three we are to
submit to government number four we should disobey government only when
government asks us to sin number five this is the last point we'll finish up
here but that sounds like we're almost done we're not almost done but you know
it's the last point we're almost almost done we should not take the law into our
own hands this is something that we're often churches like ours are criticized
about because we preach and teach things like the Old Testament you know and
we'll say things like hey you want to know what God thinks about adultery just
look at the Old Testament you want to know what God thinks about homosexuality
just read Genesis 19 just read Leviticus 18 just read Judges 19 you know we
preach this and then we were like oh well you're a hypocrite well why don't
you just go and do what the Bible says well here's why because it's government's
job to punish the evildoer and in fact the Bible tells us Jesus taught that we
are not to take the law into our own hands Matthew 5 are you there look verse
38 Matthew 5 38 we prove this to you from scripture here's an example of the
eye for an eye statement ye have heard that it had been said an eye for an eye
and a tooth for a tooth now some false prophets will teach that Jesus here is
criticizing this law an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth this is not true
this is actually a law of God this is a command of God you have to turn there
but in Exodus 21 and verse 24 and verse 25 this is what the book of Exodus says
eye for eye tooth for tooth hand for hand foot for foot burning for burning
wound for wound stripe for stripe that was actually a law given to government
and by the way I wish we had that law today I mean the law is this that when
you do something to someone then that same thing should be done to you if you
kill someone then you get put to death you take somebody's eye out then your
eye gets taken out you cut somebody's hand off then your hand you know that's
the principle and by the way I think a lot less violence would be done in our
country if that was the law you might think twice before some gang banger
wants to go beat some guy up with a bat if you're thinking well the cops might
beat me down with a bat because we're gonna do the same thing to you that you
did to other people I think that would do a lot to curb crime this is biblical
I'm not against it the law look the law of the Lord is perfect eye for eye tooth
for tooth hand for hand foot for foot burning for burning wound for wound
stripe for stripe so people look at Jesus bringing this up and they're like
oh Jesus is criticizing Jesus is not criticizing the Old Testament he did not
come to destroy the law but to fulfill the law you have heard is what Jesus
saying you have heard that it had been said and I for an eye tooth for tooth he
didn't say and that's wrong and we shouldn't obey that and we are more
enlightened today no notice what he says verse 39 but I say unto you he's
not talking to government you're talking to Bible believing Christians this is the
Sermon on the Mount preached to Christians but I say unto you that you
resist not evil here's what he's saying saying when you take the law into your
own hands you are not resisting evil he says but you should resist evil this is
not something that you should be doing he says here's what you should be doing
in your personal life but whosoever shall smite thee on the right hand turn
to him the other also it's might be on the right cheek excuse me turns him the
other also so look personally as a Bible-believing Christian when somebody
does me wrong how should I respond when somebody slaps me in my cheek well I for
nine no no that's government do you understand that I mean the Bible says
that whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek to turn the other also see
God says look we are supposed to suffer ourselves to be defrauded we're supposed
to love our enemies bless them that curses pray for them that despitefully
uses he says when somebody hurts you personally you you like Jesus on the
cross you say forgive them father for they know not what they do but
government government has been set up to protect and punish so government should
protect you from getting slapped and getting your eye taken out and getting
you know violently assaulted and they should also punish those who do those
things so Jesus saying here he's saying look you've heard an eye for an eye and
that's good but not personally you don't do that personally that's a job for
government you say well I don't know about that okay well let me give you as
an example where Jesus actually applied this in his life go to John chapter 8
John chapter 8 because if you remember Jesus lived under the Roman Empire Jesus
did not live under the Mosaic law so the ministry of Jesus in many ways mirrors
our lives because Jesus like you and I lives under a government that doesn't
acknowledge the laws of God as their laws Rome had good laws and they had bad
laws so how does Jesus how did Jesus you know live under this non biblical
government the Roman Empire we can learn from that as to how we are to live under
this non biblical government the United States of America John chapter 8 look
verse 3 and the scribes and the Pharisees brought to him the him is Jesus
a woman taken in adultery and when they had set her in the midst they say unto
him master this woman was taken in adultery in the very act and I just
brought this up in a sermon not too long ago and I bring this up every time you
know that we go to this passage I always think it's interesting they caught her
in the very act but they only bring the woman and not the man what's that about
look at verse 5 now Moses in the law commanded us that such it should be
stone look Moses and the law given to the children of Israel the nation of
Israel in the Old Testament put the death penalty on committing adultery so
they bring this woman caught in adultery and they say to Jesus Moses in the law
commanded us that such should be stone but what sayest thou then what do you
think we should do now notice verse 6 this they said tempting him that they
might have to accuse him okay the reason they brought they don't actually care
about justice the reason they brought this situation to Jesus is because they
wanted to catch him in his words and here's why there is no right answer to
this question there's no correct answer because if Jesus says hey you're right
the law Moses has you be put to death let's stone her right now they're not
going to stone her they they don't care about justice they care about just if
they bring the guy to they're just gonna run over to the Roman soldiers and say
that guy is causing us and telling us to follow laws against the law of Rome
because Rome did not have that same law that guy's inciting violence that guy is
telling us to break the law now if Jesus said no don't stone her the Roman
Empire doesn't allow for that then they run to all of Jesus followers and say
this guy is telling us not to follow the laws of Moses we brought him this woman
Moses law says that she should be put there and he told us not to do it see
there's no right answer to this question this they said tempting him that they
might have to accuse him and no matter what answer he gives they'll have
something to accuse him with so what does Jesus do this is look this is why
gee you know Jesus is God you and I we put our foot in our mouth all the time
here's a good here's just a good lesson for you in life you don't have to answer
every question and sometimes closing your mouth is just the best thing to do
but Jesus stooped down and with his finger wrote on the ground as though he
heard them not we were seven so when they continued asking him he lifted up
himself and said unto them he that is without sin among you let him first cast
a stone at her I want you to notice the answer that he is he says look if you're
gonna if you're gonna force me to answer the question should we obey the laws of
God or the laws of man he says I am gonna give you an answer the laws of God
are always better than the laws of men but he says in this situation the Roman
Empire is our authority and God has ordained it so and we are to submit to
that authority we only disobey when the Roman Empire asks us to sin but we don't
take the laws of God into our own hands when the government fails to do so he
says so it is right it is right for here to for her to be stoned but it's not
right for you to do it because you are under the authority of the Roman Empire
he says you do not outrank the Roman Empire he says it's right for government
to do it but the only person that can actually do it is someone who is over
the authority of the Roman Empire so he says he that is without sin because only
he that is without sin is over governments he that is without sin among
you let him first cast his stone at her he says if you got if you're gonna push
me for an answer here's the answer yes the laws of God are always better than
the laws of men but you better submit to the authorities that God has ordained in
your life and unless you're over the authority of government which last time
I checked that was only God the Lord is the God of heaven and earth the Bible
so he says yeah go ahead he that is without sin though he that is without
sin among you let him first cast a stone at her notice verse 8 and again he
stooped down and wrote on the ground and they which heard it being convicted by
their own conscience went out one by one being beginning at the eldest even unto
the last and Jesus was left alone and the woman standing in the midst when
Jesus had lifted up himself and saw none but the woman he said unto her woman
where are those thine accusers hath no man condemned thee she said no man Lord
and by the way I'm not preaching on this but this is a beautiful picture of
salvation when they say when for one one day will stand before God and and and
Jesus will say hath no man condemned thee and by the grace of God will say
because of Jesus no man Lord and Jesus said unto her notice neither do I
condemn thee the one that had the authority to condemn her neither do I
condemn thee go notice he doesn't he doesn't justify her he doesn't make
excuses for her he doesn't minimize her sin he says neither do I command thee
go and sin no more says oh don't let this happen again cuz next time I might
not be here here's the idea though in this lesson we learned that Jesus says
yes the laws of God are better than the laws of men but unless we have the
authority to disobey the laws of man we are not going to take the law into our
own hands you understand that so you say what do we do when government sins when
government does wrong we we allow you know should government put all the you
know have all these things and these laws should they do those things
absolutely when government sins do we speak against it yes do we preach
against it yes if you remember from the sermon last week our job is to rebuke
nations and governments when they do wrong but do we take the law into our
own hands no and look Jesus didn't do that Jesus taught against it but you
said well when do we disobey only when government is asking you to sin see
allowing the woman to live in adultery is not asking you to sin if the
government made a law said you must commit adultery then you obey God rather
than men the theology of government the theology what the Bible teaches about
government is this God ordained government government has a biblical
purpose to protect and to punish we are to submit to government and we should
only disobey government when government asks us to sin and we should not take
the law into our own hands what is Christian this of civil disobedience
when we stand up on the authority of the Word of God and say we ought to obey
God rather than men but make sure make sure when you say that that you've got
biblical proof to back up that what the law is asking you to do is actually a
sin and not an inconvenience is actually a sin and not just annoying is actually
a sin and not just stupid because I will agree with you that our government does
a lot of things that are silly stupid annoying dumb Gavin Newsom just put out a
recommendation that you should put you know you should keep the mask on in
between bites their idiots I get it I'm not mad at you for thinking they're
idiots I think they're idiots but we disobey God rather than men when they
ask us to sin let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer Heavenly Father
thank you Lord for your word thank you for the Bible thank you for the clarity
of Scripture sometimes we listen to these Chuck Baldwin types and it's just
confusing it's just confusing what what am I supposed to do here and Lord I'm
just thankful that when when we when we cut everything out and we just read the
Bible it's clear it's clear that you're ordained government it's clear that we're
to submit to government it's clear that we only to disobey government and every
other authority in our lives only when they ask us to sin and Lord I pray you'd
help us to understand that and to live our lives in that in that arena in that
understanding in that theology in the matchless name of Christ we pray amen