Romans 13:1-7

I've heard of your Bibles through Romans 13.

I'm going to apologize right now because I have some sinus stuff going on.

! It's really messed my throat up.

So the college students who heard me on Thursday night, they're probably like,

Oh no, listening to this for another hour.

So I apologize, but I trust that God will work despite of my voice.

But just join me in prayer real fast.

Father, I'm just thankful to be with your people this morning.

Thank you for your word and how it ministers to our souls.

Show us how important it is that we learn how to relate to our authorities in a manner that glorifies you.

And Lord, this is written for our good and you have great purpose and reason, Lord.

So help me just be able to communicate what's true.

And Lord, what's not really my own opinion, Lord, but just to focus on what your word says.

And for you to receive the glory this morning.

In Christ's name, amen.

Well, we're in Romans 13 now.

And for those of you who have been following along in Romans, these latter chapters of Romans are focused mainly toward the practical outworking of the gospel in our lives.

He spent a huge number of chapters covering biblical doctrine on salvation, the gospel, the sinfulness of man, the grace of God, justification by faith in Christ.

And now, like in response to that, how does that look like in our lives?

And so that's kind of where we're going today.

It's where we were last week.

We talked about letting love be genuine and the outworking of love in our lives to others.

And now we come to the topic of government.

But before we get going, I just want to say that my goal this morning is not to give a situational ethics course on government.

Like if this happens, how do we respond in any little small particular way?

But more or less just about the overall biblical teaching about what government is.

We do have like more specifics about that in ethics and how we respond when government does this or government does that.

Those kind of ideas, but really not the goal this morning.

And also to remember that like government is going to be a gift to us.

It is a gift from the Lord.

We're going to look at that this morning.

But I only have two questions this morning to kind of split this text up, verses 1 through 7.

But underneath those, we have some sub points, if you want to call them that, as answering those questions.

But just getting into it, the first question is, what is the divine purpose of government?

What is the divine purpose of government?

And we see this in verses 1 through 4.

Let every person be subject to governing authorities.

For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.

Therefore, whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.

For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad.

When you have no fear of the one who is in authority, then do what is good, and you will receive his approval.

For he is God's servant for your good.

But if you do wrong, be afraid.

For he does not bear the sword in vain.

For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.

So, verses 1 through 4 kind of give us a place to kind of say this is what God's divine purpose for government is.

So, the little sub points under this.

The first one, the sub point under this is government is by divine decree.

And we see this in verse 1.

No authority except from God.

And those that exist have been instituted by God.

So, all human governments, regardless of their form, have been ordained by God.

And he's ordained them ultimately for the good of all societies.

And to protect them, to serve their good.

And, but they're all, regardless of what government in history, ones today, ones that will be eventually.

We need to understand that like all of them, regardless of how evil they may be,

are still under the sovereign control of God.

Still under the providence of God.

And he uses them for his own means.

Even, it's kind of the mystery of how God's sovereignty works.

He even allows the actions of evil men to play right into his plan every time.

And learning that whatever we intend for evil, God intends for good.

And there's nothing that we can do.

The cross being the ultimate example of that.

When evil men crucified the Son of God, it actually played into God's plan in destroying evil.

And so like God has a plan A, there's no plan B.

He's working it all out.

And he uses governments to achieve that.

And turning the book of Daniel real fast.

I'm just going to show you two passages in Daniel.

But Daniel was an amazing book to go to in relation to how we should live in government.

And he himself saw many kingdoms come and go.

Many empires rise and fall in his own life.

And even foresaw the future.

But Daniel chapter 2, go there first.

Daniel 2 · chapter mention

Daniel chapter 2 verse 20.

Daniel 2:20

So we're going to learn here that God sovereignly works in and through both good and evil governments to accomplish his purposes.

Things don't just happen.

So Daniel 2 verse 20.

Daniel 2:20

Daniel answered and said,

Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might.

He changes times and seasons.

He removes kings and setups kings.

He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding.

He reveals the deep and hidden things.

He knows what is in the darkness and the light that dwells with him.

So, one example.

We'll flip over just two chapters to Daniel 4 real fast.

And this is a confession of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.

And who himself was a very powerful ruler over men.

And he had great wealth and great power.

And God ended up humbling him through a series of events.

And to kind of show him that he really didn't have any power in and of himself.

That it was all granted by God.

And so Nebuchadnezzar, in verse 34, if you go to verse 34, says,

At the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up my eyes to heaven.

And my reason returned to me.

And I blessed the Most High and praised and honored him who lives forever.

For his dominion is an everlasting dominion.

And his kingdom endures from generation to generation.

All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing.

And he does according to his will among the hosts of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth.

And no one can stay his hand or say to him,

What have you done?

And that's a picture of, like, unrivaled sovereignty.

God himself, you know, we talk about the kingdom of God.

And we tend to think as Westerners, as Americans, that democracy is the best form of government on the planet.

That can be argued in a lot of ways.

I would say that it's probably one of the best in the broken, sinful world we live in.

But the majority can be wrong, as we've learned throughout history and other things.

But the kingdom of God, not our democracy, is a monarchy.

But not even just a monarchy, but an absolute monarchy, where he rules over all things.

And we would have reason to fear if he was an unjust and harsh and not a good God.

But he's perfect in all his ways.

So regardless of those who are in governing positions today and in the past,

God has used them for his own purposes to play right into what his ultimate plan is.

Both good and evil governments.

And there's a verse in Proverbs 21 that you can just write down if you don't want to turn there.

Proverbs 21, verse 1.

Proverbs 21:1

It says,

The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord.

And he turns it wherever he will.

This idea that God even can control the kings of the earth to accomplish what he wants.

So, but here's what we see in Scripture.

God can grant good authorities as a blessing to people.

But he also can grant and allow evil wars to be over people as a means of judgment.

And an example of this is when both Israel and Judah, the northern, southern kingdoms that were split,

were in rebellion against God and had a lot of sinful things going on.

And God constantly kept calling them back to repentance.

It's like, repent, come back, do not do this, or I'll have to judge you.

And they continued to resist God.

And so eventually God sent prophets to them.

One of them he sent was Amos.

Turn to Amos chapter 2.

Amos 2 · chapter mention

I only have a few places for you to look this morning.

But look at Amos chapter 2.

Amos 2 · chapter mention

But God called out Israel and Judah for a lot of things.

Social injustice, corruption like in the judicial system kind of thing,

gluttonous living, and religious hypocrisy.

It sounds a lot like where our country could be going in a lot of ways.

And in a lot of ways it's already arrived.

So this is what happened.

God sent Amos to the northern kingdom of Israel to call them back

and basically to say God's done with you guys.

Like he's had it.

Like you guys have been in rebellion for far too long

and you've ignored all his calls to repent.

And this is what he says.

Look at verse 4, chapter 2.

Thus says the Lord,

For three transgressions of Judah and for four,

I will not revoke the punishment

because they have rejected the law of the Lord

and have not kept the statues,

but their lives have led them astray,

those after which their fathers walked.

So I will send fire upon Judah

and devour the strongholds of Jerusalem.

And this is God saying,

my response to this is going to be judgment, discipline.

And flip over to chapter 3 real fast in Amos.

I'll read just one verse out of this.

But we have to understand that this is the same God who's alive and at work today.

The God of the Old Testament was not a different God than we have today.

And when some calamity happens,

regardless of whatever it is,

when some tragedy happens in the government or in a nation,

it's not just randomly happening.

God is at work.

He is the one who's allowing things to happen

and bringing them about himself as a means to call people to repentance,

to show them that their life is fleeting

and they need to repent and believe the gospel,

which was Jesus' response to what people asked him in the gospels.

So look at verse,

sorry, look at verse 6,

I believe.

Yeah, verse 6.

It says,

Is a trumpet blown in a city and the people were not afraid?

Does disaster come to a city unless the Lord has done it?

You know,

and so we see that God even judges nations

by allowing them to be ruled over wicked men.

And in this case, it was Assyria.

God had like protected Israel from Assyria

and like said, you know,

come back to me, repent.

And they refused.

It was like blatantly refused them,

but acted like they still belonged to them,

like gave God a lot of lip service,

but their hearts were far from him.

So what he did to judge them and to discipline them

was to remove his hand of protection

and to allow Assyria to pretty much destroy

the northern kingdom of Israel.

And so that's just an example,

a example of how God uses even evil men

to accomplish his purpose.

And so that's sub-point number one

is that government is under divine decree.

So the second sub-point

is that government is a restraint

on the depravity of man

or the sinfulness of man.

Government is a divine restraint

on the depravity of man.

I'm going to go back to Romans 13 again.

Back to Romans 13,

look at verse 2.

It says,

Therefore, whoever resists the authorities

resists what God has appointed,

and those who resist will incur judgment.

For the rulers are not a terror to good conduct,

but to bad.

Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority?

And then jump over to verse 4,

the second part of verse 4.

But if you do wrong,

be afraid,

for he does not bear the sword in vain,

for he is a servant of God,

an avenger,

who carries out God's wrath

on the wrongdoer.

So we've got to understand that,

you know,

if there's anything

that really is,

that we don't really need to prove

or really search for much evidence,

it's so funny that,

like when you're sharing the gospel

with somebody,

that, like they often have a hard time

understanding this,

when there's so much evidence of this

surrounding us every day.

But we don't need a lot of evidence

to prove that

we live in like a very

corrupt world,

very fallen,

very broken,

very sinful world.

And

government is a divine restraint

against the sinfulness of man.

Martin Luther said,

government is a sign

of divine grace,

of the mercy of God,

who has no pleasure

in murdering,

killing,

and strangling.

If God left all things

to which they would,

as he has among other nations

without good government,

we should quickly dispatch

one another

out of this world.

And

remember that government

was not an institution

in the pre-fall

sinless world.

You know that?

Like you remember

the story.

There was no need for it.

If man

was inherently good,

selfless,

humble,

always seeking the good

of his fellow man,

we wouldn't really

need much government

at all.

But

this is not the case.

Humans are not that way.

We're all the exact opposite.

We're

we have

original sin,

we are selfish,

and we always

look out for number one.

And

that's not

a

good combination

for people living

in harmony

with one another.

So

government is

a restraint

on the rebellion

of man.

And

without which

we would have

no peace,

no stability,

chaos,

anarchy

would pretty much

rule.

And we can see that

in different nations

throughout the world

where there's no

real stable government

and how people

just kind of do

whatever they want

and no one's

safe,

there's no peace

and protection

for people at all.

And even

little moments,

little windows,

places that we can

look in

in our own country

when we see

like a national,

like a disaster

hit,

like Katrina,

and they would say

that so many people

were just running

around rampant,

stealing things,

shooting at

helicopters flying by,

where there's not

like a lot of

law enforcement.

People left

to their own

devices will always

go the other way.

And chaos

and anarchy

would be the result.

And as someone

who really loves

to study empires

of the past,

like I can tell you

like that's just true,

like it's the same

story over and over.

And so,

you might not agree

with this,

it could be argued

that an imperfect

order is better

than no order

at all

in a lot of

situations.

But government

is a mercy

from God

to keep order

and to rule

over the

sinfulness of man.

I have a,

I started trying

to paraphrase this

in my own words,

but as when you're

writing a paper,

if you really can't

do that that well,

you should just

state what's there.

And this is just

a quote by a guy

named Robert Hadlin

on government.

He said,

the institution

of civil government

is a dispensation

of mercy.

And it exists

and its existence

is so indispensable

that the moment

it sees under one

form,

it reestablishes

itself in another.

The world,

ever since the fall,

when the dominion

of one part

of the human race

was over another,

immediately introduced,

that's in Genesis 3,

if you want to know

Genesis 3,

16,

has been in such

a state of corruption

and depravity

that without

the powerful obstacle

presented by government

to the selfish passions

of men,

it would be better

to live among

the beasts of the forest

than in human society.

So he's saying

like in a pre-fall condition,

without government,

we might as well

go out and live

in the woods.

Some of us

would rather do that anyway.

But it says,

as soon as its restraints

are removed,

man shows himself

in his real character

when there was

no king in Israel

and every man did

what was right

in his own eyes.

We see the last

three chapters

of the book of Judges

which were

the dreadful consequences

when everyone just did

what was right

in their own eyes

and there was no ruler

over them.

So,

and as it says

in our text,

back in Romans,

it says that they

wield the power

of the sword.

What does that mean?

It means they have

weapons.

It means that

they have,

if you take away

the sword

from the government,

they don't have

any authority

at all.

They can't make you

do anything.

They can't control

sinful men

or protect

those who are

law-abiding citizens

without the sword.

And so,

going on,

like,

it says that the

governing authorities

are God's servants

carrying out

his judgment

and his wrath

against the evil

actions of man.

and if we look

on and,

no,

don't turn here,

but I was going

to say,

I'll read this to you

from 1 Peter

1 Peter 4:15

chapter 4,

verse 15.

Let no one

suffer as a murderer

trouble with the government.

Let it be for something

righteous,

not for doing evil,

not for,

like,

attacking,

trying to rebel

against the government

in some sinful way.

He's like,

don't be in trouble

by that,

but a major difference

between Romans

and 1 Peter

is that when the book

of Romans was written

historically,

the persecution

from the empire

had not really

started yet,

officially,

and it came

probably the second time

Paul came to Rome

and,

but around 1 Peter

it was already happening,

so Peter's like saying,

in these cases,

you know,

do not suffer

for doing evil,

like,

if you're going to suffer,

suffer for the cause

of Christ,

in the name of Christ,

for loving people

and for laying down

your life for people,

like,

suffer in that way,

so,

you know,

we don't really,

like I said,

this isn't going to be

a situational ethics

mourning,

but,

but also,

the power of the sword

refers to war,

the state has a right

to defend itself,

but also refers to

the idea of capital punishment,

which you can read about

in Genesis 9,

5 through 6,

if you want a basis

for why God commands that,

and it's a large deterrent

for people to do evil,

it doesn't deter everybody,

but it is a deterrent,

and in the,

the means of exercising

that authority

are important,

and even though

sometimes innocent people

suffer,

and may be falsely accused,

the overall institution

is more important

than,

than doing away with it,

and so we look at,

that'll bring us

to the next thing,

which these kind of

go hand in hand,

but government resists

to,

to keep in check

the sinful actions

of man,

but also on the other hand,

this is the last sub point

under this question,

government

is a divine means

to promote good,

if you look at

verses 3 and 4

back in Romans 13,

for the rulers

are not a terror

to good conduct,

but to bad,

would you have no fear

of the one

who is in authority,

then do what is good,

and you will receive

his approval,

for he is God's servant

for your good,

that's what he,

what he says,

so as a general rule,

as a general rule,

the peaceful,

law-abiding citizen

should have no reason

to fear the government,

and it exists

as the deterrent

for evil

and the promotion

of what is good,

seeking,

seeking the good of,

and welfare

of that nation

is what a government

exists for,

it doesn't always do that,

but it does

in a large way,

and like we got

to remember that

no government system

is going to be perfect

because it's made up

of sinful men,

and just like the church

is not perfect

because though we are

born again,

we still sin,

we're made up of people

that have a lot

of issues,

and so,

but we would have,

I'll read you

this little statement

that I think sums up

these two points

in the old

Westminster confession

from the 1600s,

God,

the supreme

Lord and King

of all the world,

has ordained

civil magistrates

to be under him

over the people

for his own glory

and the public good,

and to this end

he has armed them

with the power

of the sword

for the defense

and the encouragement

of them that are good

and for the punishment

of those who do evil.

So,

they're to uphold justice,

they're to seek

the welfare

of their nation,

of their people,

and if they

abuse that authority,

God is very clear

that he will hold

them accountable

for that

and that he will judge

them if they abuse

that authority,

and that's why

we see,

like,

why nations

have destroyed

other nations,

you know,

like,

though God

used Assyria

to punish Israel

and to punish Judah,

like,

eventually,

I mean,

it seems like,

well,

God is on the side

of the Assyrians,

right?

No,

because eventually

God judged the Assyrians

with the Babylonians

and the Babylonians

with the Persians

and the Persians

with the Greeks

and so forth,

so God always

is going to punish

the men in government

who use their power

for evil,

always.

He's going to hold

them accountable

for that.

So,

this brings us

to the second question,

the other half

of this,

is,

how can we glorify

God

in our government

as believers?

How can we glorify

God

in our government?

And this is verses

5 through 7

in Romans.

Therefore,

one must be

in subjection,

not only

to avoid

God's wrath,

but also

for the sake

of conscience.

For because of this,

you also pay taxes,

for the authorities

are ministers

of God

attending

to this very thing.

Pay to all

what is owed

to them,

taxes to whom

taxes are owed,

revenue to whom

revenue is owed,

respect to whom

respect is owed,

and honor to him

honor is owed.

So,

he tells us

in this context

how we should

relate to the government,

and this would have

been a big question

to the church

in Rome.

How do we,

because they had

like the Roman

government

in their faith.

They had the senate

that was there,

they had the

Palatine Hill

where the emperor

lived,

and all these things.

They had to learn

how do we,

how do we actually

act within this

context

in regard

to our rulers,

and so

the practical

outworking of it,

and this is

sub-point number one.

Humbly submit

to the government.

Citizens

that are

under civil law

are to be

in submission

to their authorities,

even as

believers.

In the midst

of a lot

of people

under governments

who are

slandering the

government

and like

attacking the

government,

we're to place

ourselves in

humble submission

to the government.

And it's a

military term

there,

subjection,

to place

yourself

underneath the

command of

someone who

has a higher

rank than you

and to do

what they say

and to do it

willingly.

It kind of

carries a picture

of like a

willingness,

not being

forced to.

Because Paul

also says

in verse 5

there,

do it for

the sake

of conscience.

So if you

are in direct

rebellion against

the government,

your conscience

will condemn

you.

And it's

because

it's clearly

a command of

God that

you're not

to do that.

And so

I'll read you

from Titus

Titus 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3,

or Titus 3,

chapter 3,

says,

remind them

to be submissive

to the rulers

and authorities,

to be obedient,

to be ready

for every good

work,

to speak evil

of no one,

to avoid

quarreling,

to be gentle,

and to show

perfect courtesy

towards all

people.

So,

this is

not

like debatable.

Like God

says,

be humbly

submitted to

your authorities.

So then the

question will

arise,

is there ever

a time that

we don't

obey the

authorities?

Like,

what if they're

asking us to

do something

that's like

really evil,

really simple?

What do we

do?

Well,

that doesn't

always play out

really pretty,

but here's

the deal.

We obey

the laws

and commandments

of our

authorities

as long as

they are not

in direct

opposition to

God's commands

and God's

laws.

And we

should refuse,

in fact,

to submit

to anything

that would

cause us to

sin against

God and

breaking His

commandments.

I'll give you

three examples

of this.

One was

in Exodus,

the Hebrew

midwives who

were told to

make sure that

the male

children were

killed.

It says this,

it says the

midwives,

well,

I mean,

back up,

Pharaoh commanded

them to do

this.

So their

governing authority

commanded the

midwives to

like play

into the

scheme to

kill all

the male

children.

It says,

but the

midwives feared

God and

did not do

as the

king of

Egypt

commanded,

but let

the male

children live.

That's

Exodus 1,

15-17.

Another

example is

Shadrach,

Meshach,

Abednego,

or you

want their

Hebrew names,

which are

much cooler.

Hananiah,

Mishael,

Azariah,

who were

exiles in

Babylon,

and they

convinced the

king,

Nebuchadnezzar,

to build

this big

statue of

himself.

His guys

convinced him

to do that.

And when the

music sounded,

you were to

bow down and

worship this

statue of the

king of

Babylon,

of Nebuchadnezzar,

and to

give your

worship and

your homage

to him.

So,

very symbolic,

yes.

A really

hard place,

but they

refused to

bow down

to that

image because

it was

idolatry.

It was

turning their

back on the

true and

living God.

That's found

in Daniel 3,

15-18.

Great story

there.

God ends

up delivering

them,

but they

just openly

defied Nebuchadnezzar,

but they

did it in

a very

humble way.

They did

it like,

we love

you,

but we're

not going

to do

that kind

of thing.

And a guy

ended up

delivering them

from the

hands of

Nebuchadnezzar.

But turn to

Acts 5 real

fast.

Acts 5,

Acts 5:27

verse 27.

Acts 5,

Acts 5:27

verse 27.

A third

example.

Acts 5,

Acts 5:27

verse 27.

And this

is when

Peter and

the apostles

were taken

before the

Jewish council

to be judged

for preaching

the gospel,

for telling

people about

Christ.

It says,

when they

had brought

them,

they stood

them before

the council.

The high

priest questioned

them,

saying,

we gave

you strict

orders not

to continue

teaching in

this name,

and yet

you have

filled

Jerusalem

with your

teaching,

intended to

bring this

man's blood

upon us.

Okay,

so we

told you

to shut

your mouth,

and you're

not shutting

your mouth

about Jesus.

Their

response,

but Peter

and the

other apostles

answered,

we must

obey God

rather than

men.

So,

ultimately,

our ultimate

citizenship

and our

ultimate kingdom

is the

kingdom of

God.

And as we

read earlier,

even he

rules over

the nations

and governments

of men,

even he does.

So,

which one

are we

going to

submit to?

Always the

law of

God,

as long

as it's

not in

contradiction

to what

the laws

of man

would say.

that's the

sub-point

number one,

humbly

submit to

the government.

And,

sub-point

number two,

back in our

text in

Romans,

pay taxes,

right?

For it

says,

for because of

this you pay

taxes for the

authorities or

ministers of

God,

attending to

this very

good.

And it

says to

give taxes

to them,

taxes to

their own,

honor to

honor his

own,

so forth.

And so,

we're

commanded in

scripture to

pay taxes to

our government.

And God

will hold

them accountable

again and

judge them

for how

they're using

that money.

If they're

doing it in

a sinful,

unlawful

way,

God will,

what goes

around comes

around.

They'll get

what's coming

to them if

they're abusing

that authority.

And so,

just because we

disagree with

the way that

some taxes are

being spent or

whatever,

it doesn't give

us the right to

refuse to pay

taxes.

Consider the

context in which

Romans is

written.

You know,

the Christians

there are

taxing so

Caesar can

throw people in

the amphitheaters

and watch them

die,

and paying

taxes so

Caesar can go

and conquer

more lands

for Rome.

So,

we see that.

Can you

imagine what

it would have

been like living

under the

Assyrians or

Babylonians?

If we think

our government

is bad,

like,

man,

just go and

read a little

bit,

read a book.

I'll recommend

some good history

books for you.

But,

like,

paying taxes

under those

empires,

far more

terrifying.

Far more

terrifying.

So,

if you don't

believe me,

let's just ask

Jesus himself,

so,

those of you

who have a

skewed view

of how to

read scripture

sometimes,

like,

Paul said

this,

but Jesus

said this,

kind of thing,

they say the

same things.

I'll read

something right

out of the

mouth of

Jesus.

They ask

him,

is it

unlawful to

pay taxes

to Caesar?

And,

he understands

that they're

trying to test

him and

cause them

hypocrites.

And then he

says,

throw me a

coin,

so they

give him

a denarii,

and he

says,

he says

on there,

like,

whose likeness

inscription is

on this

coin,

and they

say Caesar's,

then he

says,

alright,

then render

to Caesar

the things

that are

Caesar's,

and to

God the

things that

are God's.

Pay your

taxes to

Caesar,

and what's

owed to

God,

give to

God.

And so

Jesus himself

says to

submit in

the government

that way.

sub-point

number three

is,

use your

freedoms to

do good.

Use your

freedoms to

do good.

we live

in a

nation

where,

unlike any

other in

history,

we have

so many

rights that

have been

granted to

us by

government

and freedoms

that we

can operate

within.

So,

Christians should

seek the

good of

their nation

by operating

within their

legal boundaries

as citizens

granted to

them by the

government.

So,

we even see

this by

Paul.

He exercised

his rights

in a context

as a Roman

citizen in

many,

many different

cases.

He would

say,

hey,

I'm a

Roman

citizen,

the law

says this.

And they

would be

like,

you're right.

And they

would always

be used

for good.

And also,

to vote.

Like,

we've been

given a

chance to

vote against

things that

are evil

and vote

for things

that are

good.

Sometimes

there's,

it's the

less of two

evils in

some situations.

And I leave

that up to

your conscience

whether you

decide to

vote on

things like

that or not.

But,

at the end

of the day,

we have

the ability

to have

some influence

on our

government.

And also

the ability

to speak

out against

things that

are sinful

and unrighteous.

And,

but,

here's,

I don't want

to give you

a bad

impression.

I think

the way

that we're

going to

change the

nation as

believers

is not by

getting,

going and

picketing,

you know,

like,

no more,

whatever,

rah,

rah,

rah,

rah,

I don't

really think

that's going

to change

anything.

But,

there's ways

that we

can fight

for righteous

causes.

And we

have to

understand that

even when we

speak out

against things,

we have to

do it with

humility and

gentleness,

not,

you guys are

evil and,

you know,

whatever.

It's not a

picture of that.

And an

example,

I don't have

time to get

into this,

would be like

William

Wilberforce

in the

19th century

when he

was a

British MP

in the

House of

Commons and

God used

him at

times almost

single-handedly

over a huge

period of

time to

bring down

the slave

trade in

the British

Empire.

And even

when he was

in Parliament

arguing with

the other

guys in there

about slavery,

he had like

such a kind

and humble

spirit as he

did it.

He never

attacked them

personally.

They attacked

him personally

a lot.

And it's

just amazing

to go back

and read

how he

dealt with

those situations

in a way

that glorified

Christ.

And God

used him to

destroy slavery

in the British

Empire.

Eventually that

would spill

over into

America again

many years

later.

An example

of that today

is abortion.

We've been

talking about

that a lot

at Christ's

Family to

stand up for

the unborn.

So in all

these things,

we're to use

our freedoms

to do good,

but not

boast about

our freedoms

like we're

free and

we have a

right to be

a pain in

the neck.

No we're

not.

We have

freedom to

influence our

government and

our nation in

a humble way.

And to speak

about those

things with

them, to go

to our

congressmen, to

our senators,

whatever, and

try to influence

them for good.

So another

sub-point

underneath this

is to pray

for the

government.

Pray for

the government.

So instead

of slandering

and speaking

out against

and hatred

towards our

leaders, we're

to pray for

them.

That's what

the command

is.

1 Timothy

1 Timothy 2:1

chapter 2

verse 1.

First of

all, then I

urge you that

supplications

and prayers,

intercessions,

and thanksgiving

be made for

all people.

So pray for

these people.

It says for

kings,

and all

those who

are in

high positions,

that they

may lead a

peaceful and

quiet life,

godly and

dignified in

every way.

That's 1

Timothy 2,

1 through

2.

So the

last point

here, the

last sub-point,

I think is

probably the

greatest influence

we can have

on the

government,

have on our

nation,

preaching the

gospel.

This is it,

preaching the

gospel.

realize that

the gospel is

what changes

societies.

The gospel is

what changes

societies,

always has.

Let me give you

an example.

When Christ

came into

the world,

he came into

a very, you

know, broken,

sinful world,

just like we

did.

Rome was the

existing ruler

and authority,

and slavery

was going on,

you know,

obviously,

in the Roman

Empire in a

legal way.

So all these

things, all

these things

that existed

when Christ

came into

this sinful

world,

what did he

do?

Did he, like,

take up a

picket sign

and start,

like, charging,

you know,

the Senate and

saying, you

know, hey,

stop slavery,

hey, you

know, like,

this needs to

stop these

unjust things

that you're

doing?

No.

But what

did he do?

He submitted

to all the

institutions,

even to the

Mosaic Law,

because at

that time,

the fullness

of it had not

come.

Like, he

hadn't died,

he hasn't

resurrected yet,

so he even

submitted himself

to that,

to the Roman

government,

political,

economic systems.

He submitted

to that,

but here's the

deal.

He stayed

focused on

his mission

while he was

here,

and his

mission was

not to

overturn

the Roman

government.

It took

his disciples

forever to

figure that

out, like,

not why I'm

here, guys.

And so,

so what if

the government

was replaced?

Okay?

We learn from

history that

if a bad

system can be

overturned or

overruled,

it usually can

be replaced

with another

bad system

right after

that.

So, is

that really

the answer

to the

problem?

No.

So, Christ

came to

focus on a

much bigger

problem,

on the

spiritual

bondage

of man,

to focus

on the

sinfulness

of man,

and he

understood

that the

power of

the gospel

changes people

from the

inside out,

and he

understood

that if

he could

work in

their hearts

and their

minds,

the sinful

systems of

men would

be destroyed.

Well, like,

renewed hearts

that love

God and want

to worship

God in

spirit and

truth,

the overflow

of that

would be

the destruction

of sinful

governments

and sinful

laws,

and he

knew that

the greater

included the

lesser there.

So, as

his followers,

we're to

unleash the

power of the

gospel in

all areas of

society,

wherever we

work, in

our homes,

in our

government,

whatever we

do, we're

to, like,

unleash the

power of the

gospel.

We shouldn't

expect sinful

men to, like,

always act in

accordance with

God's law.

The power of

the gospel is

the only thing

that can free

them and

actually change

those societies

is Christ.

And as

people were

changed and

they love

God, they

also will

value their

fellow man

even more as

a result of

that.

And so, we

see that, you

know, I

guess Britain is

another example

to use of

that with what

Wilberforce was

doing, okay?

He was fighting

to end the

slave trade.

There were a

lot of

people,

who were

saying we

need to

just overthrow

the government,

overthrow