The Government of God - Part 2 (Romans 13:1-7)

And so, church family, for time's sake, you can stand. I'll read it all the way through. Romans chapter 13, verses 1-7. And wow, God's timing is awesome. We started it last week. We'll pick it up in our second uh message of it, this series, the government of God, and uh Romans chapter 13. And I'll read again, just uh follow with me.

Uh let every soul be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God. And the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore, whoever resists authority resists the ordinance of God. And those who resist will be will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works. Got that everybody? The authorities are to implement good. The powers that be, the ordinances of God are for good, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same.

Verse four, for he is God's minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain, for he is God's minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Verse five, therefore you must be subject to not uh not only because of wrath, but also for conscience's sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, and for for they are God's ministers attending continually to this very thing. Render therefore to all their due, taxes to whom taxes is due, customs to whom customs and fear to whom fear, and honor to whom honor.

Lord, in Jesus name, we pray that you'd speak from your word to our hearts. For we live now in the 21st century, in the year of 2025, at a time like this to not be spectators. May our faith and our love and our witness honor you completely in Jesus name. And all God's people said, amen. You may be seated, church family.

And like I said, uh, no coincidences in the kingdom of God. And, uh, what we want to do here real quick as we jump back in, I'm not going to review hardly anything at all regarding last time. I want you to, uh, look at part one, but I will say this uh, weaving them two together or bonding them two together. And it's uh it's really for us to uh wake up to the realization that whenever you read the words like obey, obedience, subject, authorities, uh we don't like it by nature. We don't like that. We don't want to hear it because down deep inside, and again I'm just being honest, down deep inside, there is a a streak of rebellion in the human heart. And uh it's part of our fallen nature. every single one of us.

In fact, you guys know this is true. If I were to tell you, you can't you cannot um you can't cross this line right here. You guys just know this. You can run around this whole sanctuary. Okay? You can have a blast. You just can't come across this line. The moment I say that, you running around and having a great time and all you can think in the back of your head is why can't I cross that line? He said not to cross. And then you you're not you're happy running around, but you're not totally happy because that exhortation was given to you. You can't cross that line. And and you'll come over, you go, "Elar today, were you talking about this line right here? You see what I'm talking about?" "Yeah, yeah, that line. You mean this one right here?" Uh-huh. And you're just itching to put your foot across that line. Where does that come from? Inside there is a sense of rebellion that comes out of us. And so when we hear the Bible say something like you must obey the authorities. We don't like to hear it. And yet God has established the authorities. The authorities are good ordained by God. And they are here for our good and they are listen evil and and uh danger and wickedness should should be terrified of the authorities. That's God's plan. Listen church. Is evil terrified of the authorities today? No. In fact, in most cases, we find out that the authorities are evil. What in the world is going on? You say, "How can you say that?" Oh, listen. You'll hear it a lot today. You'll even hear it from the prophet Isaiah. But my goodness, the Bible tells us, by the way, regarding this in Exodus 20:12, by the way, it's the fifth commandment. The Bible says, "Honor your father and mother that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God has given you." Isn't it interesting that the fifth commandment is uh obey your mom and dad and uh and I think for the parents the sixth commandment is thou shalt not murder. That's a little that was a joke. Not really. It is the but um but it does tell you listen to this. It is interesting that the Bible tells us in the fifth commandment for for uh for kids to to honor their parents and for fathers and mothers uh that they God they are God's authority placed over your life and uh you you are to obey them in in the Lord. Of course, it says in Ephesians 6, verse one, backing this up, uh, children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. And here now, verse two, he quotes Exodus 20:12, honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise. Isn't that interesting? It's the fifth commandment, but the fifth commandment is the first commandment with a promise. What's the promise? If kids obey their parents, they will live a good, long life on the earth. translation. If you disobey the authority that God has placed over you, in this case, mom and dad, watch. You will live a good, healthy, long, prosperous life because you will be learn how to be a good citizen. You will learn how to work hard. You will learn how to keep your word. You will learn about ethics and morality. You will have been parented. And a parent's job is to prepare prepare a kid for the big big world that is out there. And when this is done right, kids flourish. You say, 'Well, I had a horrible experience. You're making my point. Is this, there are good parentage examples, right? And there are bad parentage examples. We all know the good and the bad. Does, listen, does that negate God's call for parents to be parents? No. Parents are to be parents. No matter what kind of experience you've ever had. Listen, just because listen, you had a very very bad marriage doesn't mean that God is against marriage. When things get messed up, they get me messed up at the hands of humans. Are you with me? Do keep that in mind.

I'm I'm going to be really drawing this out of you today. So, this is a working class, okay? This is a interactive. So with God creating government in the Bible and it's for good then the world that you and I live in are there such things as bad governments? Yes. So what's wrong? What is wrong is that man in a streak of rebellion is doing government without God? Even our founding fathers, not all of them were Christians, but all of them agreed that the Bible is the way to begin a nation and to sustain a nation. They all said that some of the greatest writings on this are the two guys that get beat up the most on it, and that is Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin. But you got to remember something. And John Adams said, "If any nation in the world would take the Bible as their chief book, that would become a great nation." John Adams said that. Wow.

So, church, listen, just by way of review and by way of going forward. The government of God, this is where we're at. It's verses 1-4. And it reveals the sovereignty of God, right? You want to write that down. Reveals the sovereignty of God. And we're looking at this way. This is where we left off. The reality of divine government. That's what we're talking about now for just a moment. Then we'll get in today to the priority of divine government. And then finally, we'll look at the fear of divine government. And so we pick it up. The argument is under this point that the government of God reveals the sovereignty of God. God is sovereign. Boy, I wish we had time to just underscore how history has acknowledged God as being sovereign, but God is sovereign by nature. And we looked at verse one. And we learned about the reality of divine government. Let every soul be subject. That's a hard word for us. To the governing authorities. Two more hard words for us. For there is no authority except from God. What a statement. Backing this up, church, write this down if you would. Isaiah 33:22. This is amazing. And again, if you read anything on our founding of our nation, this verse plays a very prominent role in the birthing of the United States. I'm I'm wondering if you're aware of this or not. So, leave it leaving that on the on the screen. How did our how did our founding fathers uh create our government? You know what they tell you? I'm not making this up. I'm just paraphrasing. You can go look at it later. They determined that when you look at all the governments of the world, they failed on this point or they failed on that point. And un are you listening? Yes. Until the founding fathers crafted a republic, the entire world had only known the divine rights of kings as rulers. Listen, Americans, wake up. The world had only known the divine rights of kings as their rulers until the birthing of the government here in America called a republic. And here's what our founding fathers said. How do we keep it right? How do we keep it from becoming a tyranny? And they went to Isaiah uh 33:22 and said, "This is what we're going to do. For the Lord is our judge. We will create a judiciary. There will be those who will be judges. There will be those who will know the law. Okay, great. That's one. What about the second one? The Lord is our lawgiver. There's going to have to be a legislative branch to craft laws as this nation moves forward. All right, that's number two. Is there a third one? Yep. There's a third one and it's the only one that's left. The Lord is our king. He will save us. This passage, this verse is what was used by our founding fathers in the birthing of this country to ensure and to enshrine the division of powers so that neither one of those groups could become tyrannical. Well, how do you keep them from being tyrannical? Not only the Bible, this nation was founded upon the Bible. That is a sheer fact of history. The number one textbook of our colonies was the Bible. And in the incorporation of this government, they penned the Constitution. It's the Constitution of the United States. I have a point for giving you this history lesson. It's the Constitution of the United States that reminds us of these three branches and how they function. And they must function within the confines of the Constitution. But that's presupposes, you know, the Constitution. And if it's obeyed and if it's applied, well, you know what happens? You come to uh a nation that has survived 250 years uh and where we're at today. The scary part is uh we've got a lot of people who want to throw away the Constitution. When that happens, it's over.

But when we talk about this, it's very important. When we talk about God establishing government, does it include hostile governments or antichrist rulers or governments? You might be surprised to find that the answer could absolutely be yes. It just depends. Um, this is not going to warm your heart, but it's fact true nonetheless. We know that there are bad rulers and bad leaders, even though God says that he establishes the authorities. So, does that mean God is establishing evil for us? Does that mean God is uh setting up bad governments? Well, it goes like this. Number one, and I don't know if we'll have a slide on this or not, but uh there can be bad rulers because God is number one judging a nation for their actions. Did you know that? You might want to write this down. God will grant a nation bad rulers because uh of that nation's actions. In other words, you get what you deserve. You ever heard that before? Um how about this? Number two is that uh there can be bad rulers because God is going to use a nation as a tool of his. You read that in the Old Testament a lot. Third, there can be bad rulers because God is preparing a nation for revival. Amen. Israel is a is a great example of that where there's where where God will use uh what is bad. He doesn't cause it. He'll use it and he'll awaken. He'll allow and have people to be awakened to the fact that wow, this is really this is really horrible. We need to get back to God and maybe God will have mercy and God will send revival. Lord, all right. Wouldn't that be great? Uh I hope that's the answer because the the final one uh is is sometimes I fear it's where we're at and that is uh we can have bad rulers because God is about to destroy a nation. Question, does God destroy nations? Yes, all the time. Well, how does that happen? Well, according to the Bible, he sets up kings and he pulls down kings and he he rewards them according to their doings, says the scripture. So, there's the reality of of divine government. In other words, God will always be interested and watchful over any government that is upon the earth of what level it's irre it doesn't matter. It could be it could be a local city to a presidency or to the realm of a king or some local government. But we know this for sure. All bad governments will answer to God in the day of judgment. That's both good and bad governments. But even Satan, I find it fascinating. Even Satan in the Bible is used sometimes by God. He's he's sometimes used by God like a hammer and like a wrench. Did you know that God uses Satan? God doesn't cause things, but God will use things. And Satan is one of those tools. That's a strange thing.

Number two, it's this the priority of divine government. You see, Jack, why do I need to know this for? I'm just a Christian. Well, if that's your thinking, that's why you're here today. It's no Remember, there's no coincidences. or my I always have a hard time saying that word because my daughter she grew up Rebecca grew up always saying there's no kinky dinks. So every time I say the word coincidence I I'm hearing kinky dink. She couldn't say it when she was a little kid. So that's a kinky dink. It sounds cute. But God says no. The Bible here is very clear. Look at verse one continues. And the authorities that exist are appointed by God. And that should put a little bit of a a jolt up your spine because when you look around the world, listen right now, think of this. Is the government of China appointed by God? The answer is yes. What about North Korea? Yikes. God says yes. You said, "Well, I disagree." God says, "You don't know what I'm doing." Listen, let's be honest. Take it close to home. Um the Biden government was appointed by God. The Trump government appointed by God. Listen, shockingly, Canada. We had hopes for Canada. What did Canada do? They fumbled again right at the end zone and they voted some crazy group into power. It's just But God is watching. God God knows. You say, "Well, Jack, what would have happened if all the good people got involved and went and voted?" Well, then listen. God is also involved. And God will honor efforts for righteousness. See, sometimes we begin to think too simply about this whole package. A lot of people will say stuff like this. Oh, wow. Look at that. My house burned down. Oh, well, God's will. Wait a minute. I don't think you're supposed to think like that. Oh, look. My baby just wandered onto the train tracks. I wonder what's going to happen. God's will be done. You know that fatalistic thinking is actually a bedrock foundation for a very world famous belief system and it's wrong. God says for example if good people do not get involved then you're guilty when you could have done good and you didn't do it. So can we please take a deep breath and realize that there's a balance. Amen. that as long as we do what we are called to do from the Bible and let God be God, things will be fine, even if we live in the most tyrannical government in the world, God will do what God has planned. And he'll even hear the cry of a nation or those who believe within a nation, and it'll turn that nation around.

Genesis chapter 1 verse 26 says, "Then God said, let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. Let them have dominion, authority over the fish of the sea." Did you know that? Over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. Verse 27. So God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him. Male and female, he created them. Did you know that? That's the government of God right there. Can you guys say amen? Amen. Genesis 1:26 and 27 is the government of God. That's where it starts. God says, this is amazing. God says to humankind. I have given you dominion over the earth. Go Adam, go fishing and go hunting or go whatever you do. I don't know, go garden, whatever you do, but take care of the earth. remarkable. The Bible also tells us and there's an assumption here that uh there's a appointment of authority that should uh cause some some maybe all who are in authority to walk a little more gingerly if that's the way to put it. Uh before I read this verse, everybody, we now live in a government that is so far from its origins that we've got people running around this country that are using their elected position to actually enrich themselves and to abuse our government. Uh and they demand it that way. They demand it like that. And it's going to continue until people speak up. And you're probably thinking, "But I don't think we should speak up because you just said a moment ago in the Bible that we should be uh subject to the authorities that are over us." You're correct until those authorities no longer do good. You say, "What you mean? You mean an authority? An authority can go bad. Proverbs 21 verse1 says, "The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord. Like the rivers of water, he turns it wherever he wishes." God's in control. And at the same time, we know from the Bible and from history that God expects good people to make a difference. So, for those of you who have friends who say we should never get involved in politics, are you guys listening? I'm I'm going to be very very I'm going to be very literal about that comment. Christians should never be involved in politics. Changing things in the government arena never should happen. Let's let's say that let's say that you're right. Then let's make sure that every woman in India burns to death when her husband dies. Right? What's wrong with that? There's nothing wrong with that because that's what the government says to do. Are you okay with that? Oh, come on. Come on. For those of you who say, "We just preach the gospel. We don't get involved in politics." In the country of India, a missionary by the name of William Kerry who went to India to preach the gospel saw what happens in the right of Seti that when the Hindu man dies and he's covered with uh his funeral p uh wood and branches and leaves and fabric. They cover his body and they put her on top of it. They tie her to it and they burn her alive because he's dead. And that's the way it had always been until one Christian showed up with a Bible to preach the gospel in India. And guess what happened? He changed the law. Oh no, he shouldn't have changed the law. He should have been submissive to the government. No. Notice the women say no in here. Guys, listen. Again, people don't like this because it's pure truth. What do you think about slavery? If you if you take the modern-day approach from the woke, weak pulpits of America, there would still be slavery today. You want to know why? We just preach the gospel, brother. We don't get involved in real life stuff. Human trafficking. Human trafficking as well. Listen, what is the pulpit saying about it? The pulpit avoids it. Listen, a a guy by the name of William Wilberforce in England fought for over 35 years to end slavery in England. His entire life in Parliament and he was put down, mocked, ridiculed, life, his life was threatened. By the grace of God, he finally won out and slavery became illegal in England. You think that's listen it happened because of a Christian who was in politics. Wilbur Force was told, "You should be an awesome preacher. You're amazing. You should be a pastor. You should do this." And he said, "I want to make a difference as a Christian in Parliament." And most of America's pulpit today would say Wilbur Force was wrong. I say Wilbur Force was right. I don't know what you think about slavery, but how do you think it was supposed to end? And have you ever heard of the abolitionist movement? John Witherspoon, excuse me, sorry, Pastor John Witherspoon in conjunction with a guy by the name of John Hancock, John Adams, but most importantly and most veheminently on these things was Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson was a slave owner. Read what he thought about slavery and what he did to get rid of it. See everybody listen. You want to sterilize history in in instantaneous time. It doesn't work that way. But listen, it's hard to turn a big ship, but you got to start turning it. And a lot of people don't realize that when human government is under the fear of God or the priority of God, that government will be exactly as God engineered it to be, a great blessing. But have you noticed, I'm sure you have, only the atheists and the godless people want the Christians to stay out of government and politics. I'm going to say that again. Have you noticed that only the atheist and the godless people want Christians to stay out of politics? They're not dumb. They're not stupid. That's a great thing. They're basically they're saying, "We want to run everything. We want to have porn in public schools. What's wrong with you? You don't. If you don't, then you should stay out of politics. Isn't that crazy? We think children should be molested by this by this information. And if you don't agree with us, stay out of politics. Wait a minute. We're going to define marriage, not you. That's what they say. And our God invented it. Don't you talk to us and don't you preach anything about abortion. That's our territory. That's exactly what crazy is supposed to say. That shouldn't surprise any of you. But if we if we skulk back and and cower back because they're louder than we are, that's wrong. We don't understand the truth that God has given us.

So listen, I don't want to bore you with this. Uh I hope this doesn't bore you, but can we put something on the on the screens here? Benjamin Franklin, God governs in the affairs of men. That is in fact a biblical truth. Here it begins. Mr. President, that is president of the house which at that time was George Washington. He was not yet president. George Washington constitutional convention. The small pro I'm quoting Ben Franklin. The small progress we have made after four or five weeks, close attendance, and continual reasonings with each other, our different sentiments on almost every question, several of the last producing as many nos as yeses. Uh, is me thinks a melancholy proof of the imperfection of the human understanding? We indeed seem to feel our own want of political wisdom. Since we have been running about in search of it, we have gone back to ancient history for models of government and examined the different forms of those republics which having been formed with the seeds of their own disillusion now uh no longer exist. and we have viewed modern states all around Europe but find none of them none of their constitution suitable to our circumstances in the situation of this assembly groping as it were in the dark to find political truth and scarce able to distinguish it when presented to us. How has it happened, sir, that we have not hitherto once thought of humbly applying to the father of lights to illuminate our understandings? In the beginning of the contest with Great Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayer in this room for the divine protection. Our prayers, sir, were heard and they were graciously answered. All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of superintending providence in our favor. And that kind of providence we owe this happy opportunity of consulting in peace on the means of establishing our future national felicity. And we have now or have we now forgotten that powerful friend or do we imagine that we no longer need his assistance? I have lived sir a long time and he was 81 years old at the moment and the longer I live the more convincing proofs I see of this truth that God governs in the affairs of men and if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice is it possible that an empire can rise without his aid we have been assured sir in the sacred writings Bible that except the Lord build except the Lord build they labor in vain who build it. I firmly believe this and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel. We shall be divided by our own little partial local interest. Our projects will be confounded and we ourselves shall become a reproach and a byword down to future ages. And what is worse, mankind may hereafter from this unfortunate instance despair of establishing governments by human wisdom, and leave it to chance, war, and conquest. I therefore beg leave to move that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of heaven and its blessings on the deliberations be held in this assembly. It's called Congress every morning and they still do to this day. Thank God before we proceed to business and that one or more of the clergy of this city be requested to officiate in that service. Benjamin Franklin, Thursday, June 28th, 1787 in Philadelphia.

this congregation in this country at this hour. This message I'm giving you could not be preached in any other country but this one. Why? Because given to us by the hand of God has been a government that he has included we the people by the divine fiat of God. He's made it so. A republic given by God that we the people would be able to choose our l our rulers and our leaders. But that's not all. He's asked us to hold them accountable to do what is right for all generations. And that's where the constitution comes in. Yes. Where there's been the divine rights of kings throughout the thousands or millennia of time, there have been Christians who have been raised up under very tyrannical ages. Most of Christian history is such a thing. Christians were born and birthed, think of it, in Christianity, under the heel of the Roman Empire and it flourished. Listen, the greatest danger to Christianity is not being persecuted. The greatest danger to Christianity is becoming comfortable. God could wake us up in a moment if we choose not to be woken up ourselves. And you and I live in a country that I believe God is pleading. America is gasping for her last few breaths. Do not think for a moment that salvation will come from the White House. This current government will soon pass. A government I'm thankful for. Law and order is being reestablished. Listen, those in power are doing the right thing. And I'm not just talking about Trump. I'm talking about the cabinet. And I'm talking about peace officials, law officials throughout this land. There's a moment where people are going back to the law right now. It's almost as though politicians are opening up the law again and looking at it. It's a brief moment in time and we we may only have 18 to 24 months left of it. Maybe maybe less than that in in the uh midterm elections, but politics will never usher into the kingdom of God. It's not coming that way. But does that mean we bow out? No. It means that we speak up because friends listen and my and pastors who are gains is the word that I would use. They're idle shepherds. They never address these issues because they don't want to get criticized. If you're not getting criticized, something's wrong with your ministry. Amen. People need to know the truth. And in America, God has given us the opportunity to form a more perfect union if we would consult him. It doesn't work without him. He's the God of law and order. America, one nation under God. We see it all over our country. In God we trust. We see it all over our cities. But listen, if the leaders of our country today, they want the authority that government grants them, but they don't want to answer to the one who's the authority giver. You know what that's called? That's called stealing. Thou shalt not steal, governor, senator, congressman, assemblyman. Thou shalt not steal. Mayor, city council, thou shalt not steal citizens who seek to use authority that God gives to advance their own cause against the will of God. And how do we know they're against the will of God? Because whatever they decide to do that is anti- good and anti-good, they have resisted the God of heaven. And the Bible's very clear.

Now listen, throughout history, Christians, godly Christians have stood up against tyranny. Can you imagine today if Daniel if Daniel came today and visited us and he would hear from pulpits, Daniel, you shouldn't you shouldn't do that. If the king said bow, you should bow. Can you imagine Daniel saying, I don't know. Seems to me I wrote a book on this. Joseph, listen. Joseph, you need to calm down a little bit. Moses, take a break, will you? You can do you can believe anything you want in the confines of your own little gathering, but don't take don't say anything to the Pharaoh. You're getting political, Moses. Have we fallen asleep as a nation? I fear so. I can prove it. Were you praying more before the election than you do after the election? If you are praying less, it's because you believe your your Messiah has come. No. Or are you praying more? Was it a door that God opened? But the believer now God gave us an open door to speak freely. Listen. Listen. for whatever uh Donald Trump's dynamics are. Here's this thing. I'm grateful for this. I know the Johnson Amendment by the Department of Justice will not come against me while he's president. He's made that a rule. I can say anything I want from the pulpit and not be uh arrested for the violation of the Johnson Amendment. By the way, so can every pastor and every pulpit in America. Proverbs 29:2 tells us this. When the righteous are in authority, those who do right are in authority, the people rejoice. But when wicked but when a wicked man rules, the people groan. In fact, Bible prophecy has a lot has a lot to say about the priority of divine government. But listen to this in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 24. The Bible says in verse 24, "Then comes the end." That is the end of the world. If you were with me today in our prayer time together, I use this verse. Then comes the end. That is the end of the world as we know it of human government. When he delivers the kingdom to God, that is Christ delivers the kingdom to God the father. When he puts an end to all that's human rule and all human authority and human power, for he must reign till he has put all enemies under his foot. Listen, that might bother people. That's first Corinthians in the in the New Testament. There's a time when Christ is coming and he will banish all human government. He will establish his government on earth. It's awesome.

And third and finally, and it's no time for you to leave. The best part's yet to come. And here it comes. Verses 2 to four is this. And that is that the government of God reveals the sovereignty of God by the fear of divine government. The fear, the reverential awe and fear. You mean fear? Yes. Fear. The government should be so righteous in its conduct. Even if listen, even if bad people get elected, do you know what they're supposed to do? Silly me. How naive am I? Forget about the person who gets elected. Are they not sworn in? Every single one of them are sworn into office. Did you know that? Do you know how that happens? Somebody of authority, could be anybody that's of some form of authority, brings forth the Bible. The guy, the gal, puts their hand on the Bible, raises a right hand, and swears to uphold the Constitution. So help me, God is how it closes. God heard that. Adam Schiff, God heard that. [Applause] When you absorb the power given to you, when all of a sudden you go from being a businessman in California, maybe not a pretend screenwriter who gets elected and the moment you show up in Washington, people open your doors for you. They call you m uh Mr. senator or your honor and everything's waiting for you perfectly at your at your desk. Everything is manicured for you. You get instant uh respect and you get inside information. All this kind of stuff going on. Listen, without God, that kind of power will go to your head and it will ruin you. Listen, people with God have had that power and it has ruined them. We need to fear the Lord. Walk before him knowing that there's a day of judgment coming. Verse two says, "Therefore, whoever resists the authority resists the ordinances of God. And those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. You can masquerade it all you want. You could call it a bill. You can call it a proposition. If it offends God, it will be actually an albatross or a millstone tied around your neck." In the day of judgment, when people make bad laws and they they get away with it, don't think they got away with it. God will revisit their decision-making process as an authoritative figure that God gave them the authority. He allowed them to have it and they abused it, they did not honor God. And they will own that in the end. Every single one who holds Listen, as a pastor, book of James tells me, I'm going to own every single thing that I said to you in the way of teaching. The Bible says, "All Bible teachers will be judged with a stricter judgment when they stand before God." Wow. The word resist means to position oneself against or in opposition to the governing authorities. The word ordinance means divine institutions, the base or the foundational rules and customs. And so in verse two, their crime is that they legislated and argued against God. Listen to this. Psalm 94. You guys okay? Psalm 94:20. This is amazing. Can unjust leaders claim that God is on their side? Leaders who uh decrees uh permit injustice? They gang up against the righteous and condemn the innocent to death. Wow, that's a great ver that's a powerful verse. Couple of verses there. That's Psalm 94 20 and 21. And listen, I read this in First uh Sacramento 1:1. In 1 Sacramento 1:1. I'm just kidding. It sounds like it, right? Uh it's it's Isaiah chapter 10. Boy, listen. Isaiah chapter 10 verse one. Um wow. I call it first first Californians 1:1. Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, who write misfortune which they have prescribed. I just quoted the Bible, folks. You know what this mean? God says, "Woe to those who do bad government." God gave you government to do the right thing. You came to power and you've taken it and you've prostituted it and you've pimped it and you've done the wrong thing. And you'll write a law that will grease your palms. You wrote a law and you put it forward that will line your pocket. God says, "I see that. To how do we stop these things? by getting involved in voting and knowing about the issues and stop being so committed to entertainment. We've entertained ourselves to the point now that we're we the ship is sinking. The Titanic is going down and we're out there arranging the chairs, putting on music. The ship is sinking. And the amazing thing about comeback is that God can grant this nation or this state a comeback if we will turn to him. He's promised us if we will turn. If if it doesn't turn, God is saying that thing. God is saying this. If it doesn't turn, it's on you. I've given you the power in this country, this unique country, the greatest experiment and governance in the history of man. I've given it to you. What are you going to do with it? Wow.

Hey, I'm going to run through some things and I'm going to ask also ask God to stop the clock. I should just keep going and let second and third just go. They can go somewhere else. [Applause] Right. Here we go. Listen. Is abortion legal in California? Yeah. You know, it's legal in America technically. Is abortion legal in the Bible? No. Is uh pedophilia legal in California? Yeah, it's legal in America, too. Is it legal in the Bible? No. How about this? Is adultery legal in California? Yeah, it's it's legal in America. Is adultery legal in the Bible? We got a problem here, folks. Something's wrong. Amen. And so, um, I don't know if you've ever been to Montichello, but just outside the gift shop in Montichello is this is this, uh, logo that Thomas Jefferson had made up. Um, have you ever seen this before? I think it's Have you seen this? Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God. Tom, uh, Tom Jefferson, Ben Franklin used that a lot as well. Wait a sec. Wait a minute. Is that Yeah, but but that's not the Bible. No, I understand that. But how about this? Standing up against tyrants is obedient is obedience to God. When tyrants begin to say, "We're going to kill Christians. You should stand up." Amen. You're going to die anyway if you're a Christian. You should say something. That's Listen, I'm being sarcastic right now. That's if you care. So listen. So, uh, because a law is passed, listen, because a law is passed, does that make it right? Absolutely not. Because a lunatic could have passed a law, and we are the land of lunatics. But listen, do the laws honor God and his word should be our question. If the answer is no, they are to be opposed. That doesn't mean you riot. It means you speak up. It doesn't mean you throw a brick. It means you email your legislator. I'm I'm bite. It's almost like people It's almost like people in the in the apathy does this. It's like, well, I'd rather throw a brick than email my legislator. And actually, that's easier because it's carnal, right? You hearing me? You mean a brick? I mean, a brick could be like two pounds. That's a lot of weight. You want me to throw through a window? No. I want you to email your legislator. Oh, well, that's like 50 pounds. You see what I'm saying? Because one's carnal and the other one is doing righteousness. To send an email to your assembly or senator or governor and say, "This is wrong." what I'm I'm seeing and I'm going to make sure that the po population knows that this bill is tied to your name. Did you know that's doing righteousness? You see why crazy people throw bricks through windows? It's easier. We don't do that. But when something's wrong, woe unto us if we don't speak up. Amen. And so, do the laws punish evildoers and those that are lawless? Not anymore. Not anymore. But listen, they're supposed to. Bad guys are supposed to be afraid of the law. And good guys are supposed to be happy with the law. Do the laws benefit you and your family and the your community at large? If the answer is no, then they're they're in opposition to God. You see, Jack, you know, you're really separation of church and state and all that stuff. Man, boy, you blew that out of the water. Yeah. I'm going to show you some how how how much that's believed. I got a couple of couple of three five slides. Uh justice, the guardian of liberty. That's what it says. You probably can't see that. You see all those lawgivers from left to right? Go all the way left to the right. They're all lawgivers, by the way. All of them are known historical lawgivers. There's one guy. He's got to hog the show. He's in the middle and he's facing everybody. He's really showing off, too. He's sitting down and he's holding two tablets. What? They're labeled 1 to 10. They're labeled 1 to 10. Next slide. Yeah, there he is. And those are not horns. Those are things to keep him from falling off the building. They all have them. Looks like Yoda though to the left, doesn't he? To our left. Next slide. Yeah, this is inside. I don't know if you've ever had a tour. Have you ever been inside? But inside the Capitol building, when you see someone speaking on the news and they're speaking, you don't often see them look this way. Look at my look at my neck head. You don't often see them look up. If they look up at about that angle, they don't want to look up there. You want to know why? All the way around the room are all the all the uh portrait the side views silhouettes of ancient lawgivers, Hammurabi, you name it, they're all there. The only guy in the middle with the full face is looking right at the rostrm. What's his name? Moses. Moses. Separation of church and state. They didn't even know anything about that. It doesn't exist anyway. And again, isn't it funny how the atheist and the crazies are quick to say separation of church and state? Really? Do you really believe that? Because they really don't believe that. Because um if we were to say, okay, that means the government cannot tell us anything, right? Separation of church and state. You don't want the church to say anything to the government, right? That's right. You can't say anything to the government. Okay, then the government can't say anything to us either. Isn't it funny? They think their argument works. There's a separation. Well, first of all, there is no separation. Our government makes that very clear. And poor Ben Franklin, if he called everybody to prayer after what you read a little while ago, too bad he didn't know it. Are you hearing me? Every day, Congress opens in prayer. And you can go to the United States capital and go down to the prayer room and you go in there and you go to pray. By the way, there's prayer meetings happening in there all the time. Now, did I tell you guys last week? Was it the week before that Mike Johnson said that they as far as he knows that's never been seen, never been heard of before? Every day in the Capitol and the White House in the mornings before before 9 a.m. That's before the doors open up for business. There there's worship songs being played in various offices and Christians are singing even in the White House. Never before seen never before know.

Acts Acts chapter 25. Acts chapter 25. And while he answered uh for himself, neither against uh the this is Paul speaking. Neither against the law of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar have I offended in anything at all. But Fesus, wanting to do the Jews a favor, politics, answered Paul and said, "Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and there be judged before me concerning these things?" Watch what Paul does. Verse 10. So Paul said, "I stand at Caesar's judgment seat." In other words, excuse me, you have nothing to do with Jerusalem. You work for Rome. So, watch what he does. I love this guy. He He's amazing. I stand at Caesar's judgment seat where I ought to be judged. To the Jews, I've done no wrong, as you very well know. For if I'm an offender, and if I have committed anything deserving of death, I do not object to dying. But if there is nothing in these things in which these men accuse me, no one can deliver me to them. I appeal to Caesar. Watch this. Then Fesus, when he had conferred with the council about what? When Paul said, I appeal to Caesar. Yikes. He he went time out. Huddle. What are we going to do? Here's what's going on. Here's what's being discussed. This guy believes in Jesus. He's in a bunch of hot water, but he's a Roman citizen. The guy's got rights. He appealed to Caesar. What are we going to do? There's nothing we can do. He's a Roman citizen. We not only have to

Send into Caesar, we have to pay for it. Is this amazing? Paul is using his political and citizenship position to advance the gospel. This is incredible thinking. We don't think like this anymore. We need to think critically like this. Paul leveraged every every opportunity he had. I appealed to Caesar.

Verse 12. Then Caesar when he had conferred with the council answered, "You have appealed to Caesar. To Caesar you shall go." And Paul went to Rome and presented the gospel exactly as the prophecy of Christ himself was uh given regarding Jesus. I have so much there's you're going to have to look at the rest of the sermon, finish it online yourself when it says that the rulers are a terror.

Look, verse three says, "For rulers are not a terror to good works." So, so look, so do good. Don't do evil. You do evil, you should be scared to death. The Bible says in Proverbs 28 that a wicked man is always running. He's always looking over his shoulder. He's always guilty. What are you so jumpy about? I thought I saw somebody. Well, who' you see? I thought it was a cop. What do you Oh, what's with you?

Notice if you do good, you don't worry about. Listen, when you're doing the speed limit, do you go, "Ah, a cop." If you do, if you're doing the speed limit and you still scream that there's a cop, we need to talk to you. You've got issues. You know, the Bible tells us that those who are in authority are God's officers appointed to enforce righteousness. Everybody, you see, when the government says for you to do wrong, that's when you stand up against it. Amen. And you say, "Well, how can you say that?" I'm paraphrasing. You can read it later. It's in Acts chapter 5, but it's crystal clear.

So, when the believers were preaching the gospel, the empire said, "No more preaching the gospel." Gets everybody all upset. So we forbid you to preach like England is doing right now. England's done, by the way. It's over. England's gone. It's Muslim. England's gone. No more preaching. You'll be fined. You'll be imprisoned. So they told that to the to our brothers and sisters 2,000 years ago. And they said, You guys talk among yourselves as whether to if that's right or not, but we if you're asking us to obey you versus God, we we're we're going to obey God. And they went out and they preached and they and they got arrested again. And they said, "Didn't we not tell you to not preach in that man's name?" Isn't that great? Are you guilty? I want to be guilty of preaching in that man's name. Don't say his name anymore unless you're cussing. Right. Now, we're going to beat you up and then turn you loose to teach a lesson. And they they beat the snot out of the disciples and then turned them loose. And and the Bible says when they got when they were released from getting beat up, they went out in the street and they said, "That was awesome. We they said we are honored to have gotten in trouble for his name." And they went and preached the truth.

So you might say, and they did say, you didn't say, pastors all across America wrote and said to me during COVID, you're making us look so bad by being such a bad witness. Don't you? Oh, are you kidding? I've kept the letters. You should. Romans 13 says you are in sin, Jack. You need to obey the governing authorities. You need to shut the doors of the church. You cannot listen on and on. They just run on. It's like, oh my goodness. All the while, silly me. God said, "Preach this gospel to the ends of the earth, never to forsake the assembling together of the saints." And when the governor made that his rule, which is not law, he made it his rule.

You must remember in tandem when we were told not to come to church. You could still have an abortion. You could still go down to the strip club. You could still buy pot. And you could still go to a bar. friends, family, church, a living example of Romans 13. When the powers issue wrongdoings, they have lost the mantle of God's authority. Authority is given by God to exercise righteousness. And if it is enforced, people live peaceable lives. Your daughters can walk down to BaskinRobins and get an ice cream without any fear. Amen. Your kid could play in the street without getting run over. You could leave your door unlocked and nobody would dare enter. I'm sorry. I'm talking about my past. That's how I grew up.

Listen, Father, I I pray, Lord God, that you would cause us all to walk up out of this place under this banner. Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. That Jesus Christ was crucified for our sins and resurrected from the dead. Jesus lives. The government of God is coming. But the kingdom of God is already within us. And so until you come for us, may we shine as lights in this everinccreasing darkening world. May we speak up. May we pray. May we get involved. anything, Father God, but may we never be found out in the book of Revelation that having known to do the right thing and to not have done it and to wind up being placed in the category of all those who will inherit hell. At the top of the list in the book of Revelation, number one, at the top of whoreongers, murderers, and rapists, at the top is the coward. Wow. Lord, please baptize us in the power of your Holy Spirit. Fill us Aresh and may we fear you and you only and thereby have no fear at all in this world in Jesus name. And all God's people said, amen. God bless you. Let's stand.