The Government Of God

The following program is sponsored by generous friends and partners of Real Life. Welcome to Real Life with Jack Hibbs. I understand how disgusting politics is. It's horrible. But you and I live in a world where God has implemented governments among the nations. And if you and I know the word of God, we are to hold elected people in power accountable, to God's law, to God's truth, not man's. This is what everyone is supposed to do because we are not to violate the word of God.

On Real Life Today, Jack Gibbs encourages Christians to not avoid politics, but get involved and shape the future for the glory of God. Stay tuned for the message, the government of God. Real life starts now.

Sometimes the people we love need more than a kind word. They need truth spoken plainly. In words of warning, Charles Spurgeon speaks with clarity and conviction about what's at stake when someone drifts from the gospel. Though originally preached over a century ago, his words still hit home today for parents, friends, neighbors, and even ourselves. This short but powerful book reminds us why the gospel matters, not just for eternity, but for how we live now. It helps us see the danger of spiritual complacency and the beauty of fully trusting in Christ. Whether you want to strengthen your own faith or better speak to someone who's wrestling with belief, Words of Warning is a book you'll want to have on hand. It's our thank you gift for your donation of any size to real life. Visit jackkibs.com or call 877-2346 to request your copy. Get Words of Warning today. Someone in your life needs to hear God's truth.

Heat. Heat. Well, listen. The government of God is a real thing. In fact, I don't even like to say the word thing because the government of God is more than all that. God, who is eternal, has determined that it's best for you and I to be governed by his word. His word, the logos, is the very light and instruction to the path of you and I living life. So, in today's message, we're going to be dealing with the Christians responsibility to government. We'll learn in the Bible that government was actually created by God. Not by the Democrats, not by the Republicans, not even by our founding fathers, but in fact, the Bible says God is the inventor of government. And I want to exhaust everything we can on this. so vitally important with the time that we have. I want you to be so equipped in this area that you will have no question in whether you stand or where you stand on the issues. It's so so important. You and I are going to deal with this more and more in our lives. So on what you and I should know or not know is is so instructional, so needed today. Uh what we do and what we mean has got to be defined. People say things today without definition. You and I need to speak clearly and with logic and reason and how we reconcile things that are absolute biblical truth to the world around us. Friends, listen. The Bible is God's revealed reality. The world that you and I live in, what we observe should be held to that standard. So this is very, very important, very practical. And so the government of God is actually what you want to have happening in your life. So I'm going to ask you to grab your Bibles. I'm going to ask you to take notes and get ready uh to write these things down because I just I just kind of predict that you can take this message away uh and talk to friends about it and get in get into it. So, let's do that right now.

Luke 1:26. Luke 1:26 tells us there now in the sixth month of the angel Gabriel was sent to uh sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin betroth to a man whose name was Joseph. They're engaged of the house of David. That's interesting. That's a legal statement. Joseph was a descendant legally of King David. The virgin's name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, "Rejoice, highly favored one. The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women." But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Watch this. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son and shall call his name Jesus. He will be great. Stop right there. What does that mean? He will be great. Well, you might say, Jack, what kind of question is that? Great in every way. Don't you think? I agree. But do you know what every way is? How about every way is always ways or all of the ways including watch this and he will be called the son of the highest. That's a declaration of royalty. Is royalty dealing with government? And the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. Is a throne government, folks? Absolutely. And he will reign. Is reigning an issue of government over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom. That's his politics. The politics of the king is implemented within his kingdom. There will be no end. Wow. Mark these down. These are good verses to know and to understand. And we have more.

Matthew chapter 2, verse one. Matthew 2:1 says, "Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, "Where is he who was born what? King of the Jews." That's a political statement, folks. That's a governmental statement. For we have seen his star in the east and have come to worship him. Isn't that remarkable? You ever think about that? Think about that. Coming together.

Psalm 110, verse one. Psalm 110, verse one. The Lord says to my Lord, this is David speaking. This is 3,000 years old as of now. The Lord said to my Lord, say, wait, what? David is saying, I pray and I talk and I have a relationship with the Lord. And the Lord said to my Lord, the one I am speaking to God through and with. The Lord said to my Lord, this is a profound statement. Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. This is not only an issue of governance and of politics. It is also of the kingdom that is to come. When Jesus returns, then and only then will the enemies be placed at his feet as he reigns for 1,000 years in the millennium. The Lord will extend your mighty scepter from Zion, saying, "Rule in the midst of your enemies." That's the millennium politics, folks. God's government.

Revelation 17, verse 14. For he is Lord of Lords and King of Kings, and those who are with him are called chosen and faithful. Wow. What about this?

Revelation 19, verse 16. You all know this. And he has on his robe and on his thigh a name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Did you know that? Every time you hear that and say that that is a kingdom declaration of the politics of the Christ.

But we don't want to talk about politics. I understand how disgusting politics is. It's horrible. But you and I live in a world where God has implemented governments among the nations. And if you and I know the word of God, we are to hold elected people in power accountable to God's law, to God's truth, not man's. This is what everyone is supposed to do because we are not to violate the word of God.

Number one, jot it down if you would. The government of God reveals the sovereignty of God. The government of God reveals the sovereignty of God. Very, very important. And we learned this way that in verse one it says Romans uh 13:1, "Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God." Will you write this down? The reality of divine government. God is the author of government coming from him. This is the reality. What is it? That every soul should be subject to the governing authorities for there is no authority except from God. Meaning wherever you live, whatever country you live in, that government is under God's watchful eye and for whatever reasons, God has allowed that government to exist or survive or flourish. In other words, God's in control. The sovereign God over all the nations belongs to Christ, belongs to God. And so, this is very, very uh insightful. I want to show you a few more uh pictures, images, etchings where Israel, for example, received uh their constitution so to speak, right? Their laws and they were the first to receive and they were of course uh the first to export that to the world uh from the Hebrew God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

So number one, first of all, you guys know he's holding the Ten Commandments. Did you go there? "You shall have no other gods before me." Exodus 20:3. This is this is the government of God. You shall have no other gods before me. Is this true or false? It's true.

Number two, "You shall not make for yourselves a carved image." True or false? True. What you say? What's the big deal? I make statues. I make I make totem poles. I mean, what's the problem? It's to bow down to worship. It's to say that you carved something out or in our day we don't really carve stuff out but we go down to the store we buy one and then we set it up and say this is my reason for living right here. Whatever it is could be a gold brick or it could be a house on a hill. Could be a boat. You know what I'm saying? Could be whatever your affection is. You say that's it for me. I've arrived. Oh, that's it. And listen, when you get your first car, you can leave this up. When you get your first car, does it like possess you like it possessed me as a kid? I got my first car. I washed it twice a week. And when I wasn't washing it, I was waxing it. And then I knew it was an idol because God began to speak into my heart. Because when I went and parked at the store, I parked as far away from the store as you possibly could. And I had to walk miles, so to speak, right, to get to the store. Why? Because nothing could get near my God. It's not your God. Yes, it was. Because I listen I transferred my identity to that thing. If it got scra proof listen proof hang on I said to ushers lock the doors. If your idol gets scratched or broken, how do you respond? If you respond like that, if you get all flustered about it, then it is a carved image that holds a place in your heart. Yeah. But Pastor Jack, you don't realize the thing that I own it. Yes. That's part of the self-justification of your idol. But if it gets scratched or dented, does it affect your mood? If it does, it's an idol.

Number three, "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain." That not that does not only mean cursing. You shouldn't curse. You shouldn't implore his name, but it it mostly means this, believe it or not. It means you're not to live in such a way that when you that that when you claim his name, your lifestyle does not back up who he is. It's not so much it. Look, it's bad to say JC or you know the other thing that's bad enough, but what what it means is you're not to say that you know God and you live like you don't know God. That's what it means by taking the Lord's name in vain. Wow.

Number four, uh remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. The believer is supposed to be on cruise control, resting, holy. What's beautiful about this is God told the Jewish people to have a Sabbath day. And then the book of Colossians tells us that Jesus Christ is our Sabbath where we can rest every day. We're no longer having to keep the law because the law now is inside of us and God works the law out through us and he is, the Bible says, our Sabbath. But listen, let's make it uh uh per uh personal and and uh as of now remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. It means you you need to take a day and shut down and focus on God. Think about that for a moment. Well, somebody might say, "Well, it's it's from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset." Well, maybe for you, but not for me. I'm I'm called to work really hard on that day. Paul the Apostle said, 'I understand that. That's why I don't esteem one day above the other. I esteem all days exactly the same regarding Sabbath. The Christian should be in a perpetual state of Sabbath. I hope you are. I hope you are.

Next, "Honor your father and your mother." Honor them. You got to read the fine print on this one. I'll paraphrase it. Honor your father and mother so that you don't get killed by your father and mother. No, the Bible says if you honor your mom and dad, you'll live a long life. Okay, that's uh that's a tough one because a lot of moms and a lot of dads are hard to honor because they're so godless. There's a way to show respect.

Next, "You shall not murder." Murder. Sorry, Marine. Picking on you right now, but man, you're sitting duck right up front. and you're and you're in your dress blues, man. So, you you can't hide. Um, you know what I you know what I want him to know and what I want every uh soldier, every marine, every guardsman, every pilot to know, what every law enforcement you you need to know this. You shall not murder. Uh that's not that's not your problem. If you go into war and you're in battle, nowhere in the Bible, if you kill a thousand guys or one guy, that's not murder. Did you know that? It doesn't say, "Thou shalt not kill." If you read anywhere on anybody's madeup Ten Commandments and it says kill, it doesn't say kill in the Hebrew language. It's murder. You are not allowed to murder. But if you are a law enforcement officer and you're in a gun battle and you take the bad guy out, the Bible says you exercised righteousness and you were God's instrument for good. Same is true for our United States armed forces. Think about that. A lot of people don't know that. If I had anything to say to a a group of Marines or US Army or anybody else, I'd tell them before you're deployed, you need to understand something. You are instruments of God's righteousness. And if you take somebody out, it will not be murder. It's killing. And God sanctions killing in war. God says to David, "Go out there and kill the giants." You think God was conflicted? Was God confused? No. This is a This gets me going. I'm sorry. I got to move on. I got to move on.

Number seven. Number seven. "You shall not commit adultery." I saw in Time magazine it said that adultery may be in our DNA. Well, you think about that. Actually, I I had the same reaction you did, by the way. And then I thought about it. Wait a minute. It is in our DNA. S I N. Positive. S I N. If we don't have guardrails and laws, if we don't have a government that tells us such things as God told the children of Israel, then we will do what's right on our own eyes. And listen, we will want to do whatever we want to do. And sometimes body parts yell at us louder than any other part. And you need to say that body part, you need to get the back of the line. This body of mine belongs to God. And we're not going to do that. Okay. So, listen. When the Bible tells us you shall not commit adultery, no kidding. I had a this this is this is a tough day. When you're doing marriage counseling and they they come in and the you can always tell you always look at the woman. You could always tell a lot by looking at her. And then listen, this is just between us. When you ask the when you ask the guy a question, don't take your eyes off of her if you want to get the answer. Because if you if you look at him and say, "Did you commit adultery? Come on. I'm so offended by that. You just asked me straight up like that, man. What do you think I am?" And then I'll look at her. Look, I'll look at her and say, "Now, I'm gonna ask you again, sir. Did you commit adultery?" And she's she's got the answer on her face. And then you'll say to him, "I know you have. Who told you?" It's like, "Hands up." And then I've had people say, "Listen, um, I'm a good husband. I've never committed adultery. You don't get any points for that. You know that you weren't supposed to do that. God says don't do it. Why? It destroys the family, destroys people, and it just tears up both this the the perpetrator and the and the victim and all involved. It tears them up. It ruins them. Destroys them. But for the grace of God.

Next. "You shall not steal." Do I need to talk about that? Um, how about this? You're not supposed to take home the company's pencils, pens, and erasers. See, you thought I was going to say you can't steal a horse. Can't steal a car. Shucks. Can't steal a car. Listen, when we take home company uh uh property, the our our justifiable thought is, well, they've got 10,000 pens and pencils at this place. So, they sure do. They paid for every one of them, too. And it's not yours, right? Think about that. How about this? You can't steal from company time. But I'm a Christian and I was witnessing to that guy on the job. You need to repent, get back to your job, and ask the guy to meet you at break time because you're stealing from the company. I can tell by your response there'll be no parking problem next week.

Next, "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor." Don't lie and destroy your neighbor. Lying with the intent to undermine, destroy, to uh in any way harm your neighbor. Thou shalt not lie.

Number 10, "You shall not covet." Covet. Wow. Covet. For covetous sake, people will murder and do everything else down that list. Wow. Those are structured because they are given to us by God. And it's vitally important that we understand that the Bible tells us, "Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God." And it's God's announcement to us that in Proverbs 29:2, it is his will. Listen everybody, it is his will that not to deny leadership and to deny government. Nope. God says you need to get involved in leadership. Here it is. Proverbs 29:2 tells us this. "When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice. But when a wicked man rules, the people groan." God didn't say stay out of leadership or politics. He said for good people to get involved. See, well, it's dirty. Yeah, it's dirty. It's cutthroat, brutal, just where Christians ought to be. Well, the Lord is on his throne. There's no doubt about that. Jesus right now is enthroned in heaven above, but he's coming back to establish his own kingdom as the Bible says. Listen, founding father Benjamin Franklin said it well. In fact, he echoes the words of the Bible when he said that God governs in the affairs of men. Not only is that true, I believe that and we've all witnessed that in the world around us throughout human history. But until Jesus Christ comes back, you and I need to conduct ourselves in a way that is called righteousness. Simply meaning we need to do the right thing. So God's government and the believer should be in absolute correlation. Right? But if that government becomes tyrannical, what if the government takes that God-given authority and then begins to abuse it? Well, that's a different story. The Bible makes it very clear, and I quote, "Whether is it right to obey God or man? You can be the judge. But as for the apostles, they announced we must obey God." So friends, think about that. You and I live in an age where governments are going lawless. We see elected officials no longer keeping their oath here in the United States to the Constitution. What should be done about that? Well, according to the Bible and according to the laws of the land, they are to be removed from office. How do we do that? In America, we have the beautiful privilege of voting. You know, you can vote in a way that is righteousness. you can vote the right things and bring about God's desire for your country by how you vote. It's vitally important. We need to practice that. We must not sit idle. So friends, listen. All of this is geared up for you to be a more practical follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. Friends, listen. It is so so necessary that we stay in the word of God together. And so I just want to invite you to go to jackhibbs.com and get the studies that are there for you to share with your friends and certainly assimilate into your own faith. But by all means, keep your eyes on Christ. Walk with Christ and he'll never let you down. He'll never abandon you. So let's stay close to him in Jesus name. Amen.

You are watching Real Life with Jack Hibbs. Sometimes the people we love need more than a kind word. They need truth spoken plainly. In words of warning, Charles Spurgeon speaks with clarity and conviction about what's at stake when someone drifts from the gospel. Though originally preached over a century ago, his words still hit home today for parents, friends, neighbors, and even ourselves. This short but powerful book reminds us why the gospel matters, not just for eternity, but for how we live now. It helps us see the danger of spiritual complacency and the beauty of fully trusting in Christ. Whether you want to strengthen your own faith or better speak to someone who's wrestling with belief, Words of Warning is a book you'll want to have on hand. It's our thank you gift for your donation of any size to real life. Visit jackhibs.com or call 877-2346 to request your copy. Get Words of Warning today. Someone in your life needs to hear God's truth.

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The preceding program was sponsored by generous friends and partners of Real Life.