If you'd like to take your Bibles to Genesis 9, that's where we will begin tonight. Ronald Reagan famously, maybe he wasn't the first one to say this, but he was famous for saying that the nine most terrifying words in the English language are, I'm from the government and I'm here to help. You know, and that's kind of a tongue in cheek that whenever government gets involved with something, they always mess it up or something, you know. He said that as the president of the government. But tonight I want to talk about government and we're continuing in our series through Christian ethics and just how we as Christians should view the government, how we should relate to the government by government, I mean civil authority that is over you know, there is localized government, there's city and county and state and federal government, that's kind of the thing that we're talking about tonight. And so we're going to start in Genesis chapter 9. This is the first, now the word government's not here, and the word king or the word president is not here, but this is right after the flood where mankind had Corrupted himself and God destroyed all of mankind with the flood he started over with Noah and his family But before he didn't start over and say all right just You guys just do your best. He gives Some instructions here, and he doesn't give a lot of instructions as far as what we would call government in fact these two verses are all that he says initially about government later We would see other things when we get to the law, but that's going to be different because that's going to be for the nation of Israel. And there are things that God set up for Israel that he did not mean for the government of all people for all time. But this is before the law. This is before the nation of Israel. That's important because what God is setting up is a principle for all humanity for all time. And specifically, And we already looked at this when we looked at capital punishment. But that's all that God set up here. But it is an initiating of human government. So here's Genesis 9 verse 5. It says this. And surely your blood of your lives will I require. At the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man. At the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. So, there's obviously a way in which God could carry out things, that God could say, okay, whoever sheds men's blood, I'm just going to kill him on the spot. But God doesn't do that. He puts the sword here, if I can call it that. He puts the instrument of capital punishment into the hand of man. He doesn't go into a lot of specifics. He doesn't say by the hand of the king, but he just says by the hand of man. The way that this initially was carried out, it seems, and you see this in the days of the judges and Deuteronomy and so forth, the way this seems to initially be carried out was by the nearest of kin, that if somebody were to be murdered, then that person's nearest of kin had the right or even the responsibility of putting that person to death. And God set up for Israel later on cities of refuge that the hand of the avenger, he could be delivered if it was an accident. But nevertheless, God set it up that man was to carry out capital punishment. And so this is kind of the first instituting of government And so it asks ourselves, what is the purpose of human government? And that's a big question for nowadays, by the way. Government, there's the phrase big government, where government's getting bigger and bigger in our nation, obviously other nations, and government is taking on the role of so many other things. But what's biblically the role, and I say biblically, we'd say what basically, at the fundamental level, is the purpose of government. And here, God, the first thing that he says is that it's to protect life and broader, we could say to punish evil. And then maybe on the flip side, and we'll look at a passage that talks about this, to punish those that do evil and to reward or to encourage the doing of good. And I know that even the definition of good and evil is different by some people's standards. In other words, what one government might call good might be different than what another government might call good. If one values communism or one believes that there is no God, they're going to have a different definition of good than someone who has a Bible and so forth. But at the fundamental level, the purpose of government is to punish evil and to reward good, and that is to protect and seek the welfare of its citizens. We're not going to dig into, you know, biblically governments doing things that God did not call them to do, like providing for everyone, you know, a welfare state and pushing different agendas and have, you know, doing things to you know, save the world from global flooding and climate change anyway. But there are different things that government's involved in. I think we'd say that at the fundamental level, the purpose of government is to, if someone breaks the government's laws or harms one of its citizens, that government is to punish that and reward good. And we see this in the New Testament as well. Look at 1 Peter. We're gonna come back to Romans 13. That'll be a really important passage we look at later. But look at 1 Peter 2. And I'll go ahead and read the whole passage, verses 13 through 15. We'll get a little bit ahead of ourselves with talking about submission to government. But it talks about the purpose here. So 1 Peter 2.13 says this. Submit yourselves. This is a big phrase here. Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake. whether it be to the king as supreme or unto governors as unto, and here's where we get into the purpose of government, or unto governors as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of them that do well. For so is the will of God that with well-doing you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. So it says here that God has sent, uses that word sent, government officials are sent by God for the purpose of the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of them that do well. Again, they don't always do that, but this is kind of an ideal. This is what God's purpose for human government is. Let's mention a couple of big principles very quickly. Look at a verse in Judges 17, verse 6. One of the things that government is necessary for is to prevent anarchy. What would happen if there were no human government and you would just say, you know what? We've decided that everyone just kind of do whatever you want to do. Well, that wouldn't exactly jive because what if what I want to do is to kill you or you know someone it's like then they don't have the opportunity to do what they want to do because I've just killed them so there has to be rules in place why do there have to be rules in place because man is simple that's the bottom line we need government we need restraint so here's judges 17 and we're not going to read all these chapters obviously but there are two bookends versus it says the same thing judges 17-6 and also the very last verse of the book of Judges. It says this, in those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes. Instead of having a standard which could be God, his word, or governmental laws. Instead of having some kind of standard, there was no standard, there was no king, and everyone just decided, here's what I want to do. And by the way, if you read from Judges 17.6 to the end of the book, what is included is all sorts of atrocities. People did unimaginable things. They were worshiping false gods. They were, and by the way, this was in the days of the law, the law had been given, and God says only a priest could do this and that, and people said, I don't care about that. Who wants to be a priest? Okay, you can be a priest, we'll make our own gods, we'll make our own worship system. Well, people are committing rape, people are responding to that, and murder as well. One woman was taken advantage of and she died, and then her husband, chopped her body up into 12 pieces and sent it throughout all the land of Israel. And what ensued was a civil war between this tribe and this tribe and this tribe and this tribe and one tribe almost totally gets wiped out. They're almost out of people to marry. All the women, you know, all the men don't have anyone to marry. And so they go kidnap some dancing ladies, some ladies that they find and say, oh, we're gonna marry you. And some other people, oh, we're gonna kill you and take your women. And it was just anarchy. And this was the statement that sums it all up. In those days, there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes. And by the way, this was among people to whom God's law had been given, let alone people that didn't have God's law. You just let them do whatever they want to do. So it is necessary because of the human condition, our human hearts, that we have government. It's necessary to prevent this kind of anarchy. Here's a question that some people have. should governments, if we're going to talk biblical New Testament Christianity, the way that Jesus says we should live, if there's someone that does wrong, should the government, and by the way look at a verse here that's used against what we're talking about so far. Look at Matthew 5 in verse 39. Here's Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. He gives a principle, and some people say, shouldn't we live by this instead of having government do that? If somebody does evil, should the government punish it, or should we all just turn the other cheek? So here's Matthew 5, 39. It says, but I say unto you that ye resist not evil. But whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also." So, someone's done wrong. Should that person be punished, or should it just be ignored? Should we just turn the other cheek? Let him continue and go on. And I will say that what Jesus is giving here is a fundamental issue. What he is giving is not the way that he wants societies to be run, but the way that on an individual level, as you as a Christian, if somebody does something to you, you don't take vengeance. But it's not saying that the government shouldn't, because by the way, it was Jesus, he's not contradicting himself, it was Jesus who said the things that we've read. The Word of God, Jesus is the Word of God. Jesus is the one who said, Whosoever shed of men's blood, by man shall his blood be shed." That was Jesus. And Jesus is not changing his mind now. But there's a governmental level, and there's an individual level. If someone is a judge, part of the government, and somebody commits a crime against someone else, That judge is to punish that evil doing. He's not just to say, oh, you know what, just let it go. That's an unjust judge. But on an individual level, if that judge were to go to his car and someone were to say, I don't like the ruling that you did today, and he were to smite him on the cheek, he were to slap him, the judge could, if he were a Christian man, Jesus would want him to say, I'm not gonna, hold that against you. I'm not gonna take you back into court. Now I'm gonna put on my judge hat again and send you to prison for 10 years or something. So notice the difference between an individual level and a government level. The government's there to protect the citizens, but as Christians, we should look at God as the one that protects us. By the way, it doesn't mean that someone can never tell the government, He stole a million dollars from me, and I would like to see that back. But, you know, 1 Corinthians 6 says, why don't you just take wrong? Why don't you just suffer yourselves to be defrauded? That's an individual level. That's not what we're talking about tonight with government. So let's turn to Romans 13. And verses 1 through 7 is one of the definitive passages in the Bible about government, how we should relate to it as Christians. It's important before we read it to establish the context into which this book was written. It's the book of Romans, so they were under the Roman government, and specifically the Roman emperor was Nero. Nero was a bad man. and that's putting it lightly. He was kind of probably certifiably insane. He was very wicked. The things that he did in the name of, you know, being against Christians, he probably, people believe that he probably was responsible for the burning of Rome, but then he blamed it on the Christians and he used that as an opportunity to place blame on them. And he, in his palace, the walkway up to his palace, he would have stakes in the ground where he would have dead Christians impaled and burn their bodies to light the way for him to walk to his palace. That's what he did to Christians. And so it's by all means a godless, wicked government. But that's what this passage is written under. So by the Apostle Paul, who Paul would write about Nero here, we should respect him, and Nero would later kill Paul. Even though Paul would say, hey, we're not trying to overthrow you. I said to Christians, we should respect you. Nevertheless. So here's Romans 13, verses 1 through 7. It says, let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. That's talking about governance. For there is no power, and the word power there is the word for authority, for there is no power but of God or from God. The powers that be are ordained of God. And by the way, that's such a mouthful to say. God placed Nero there over the Roman Empire, which was over almost all the known world at that time. God put him there. God ordained, and he's gonna use even more words, even stronger language than just that God put him there, but that he is actually the servant of God, the minister of God. We hear the word minister nowadays, and you think, well, I'm a minister of the church, of the gospel. You picture a guy with, you know, minister someone who has a black shirt with a white collar, you know and that type of thing and God says that's what Nero is. He's my minister. He is my servant. God said that by the way specifically about Nebuchadnezzar remember. He calls him my servant who should do my will. All right, so let's keep going. The powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever, therefore, resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God. And they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. Which, by the way, just means judgment. It doesn't mean that you'll go to hell. if you resist the government, but it means judgment from God for rulers. And here's, again, a restating of the principle of the purpose of government for rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Will thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same, for he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid, for he beareth not the sword in vain." By the way, that reference to the sword means that God has given to civil governments the right or the authority to put people to death. They should do it justly, but they might not. But he bears not the sword in vain. For he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Wherefore, ye must needs be subject not only for wrath to avoid, and by the way, I would say that that wrath, in the context, he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath. Whose wrath is that? That would be God's wrath, not the government's wrath. He is the servant of God to execute God's wrath, and then it says, wherefore, you must need to be subject not only for wrath, God's wrath, but also for conscience sake. So what does that mean? We're supposed to submit to the government not only to avoid God's wrath, but for conscience sake, for the sake of our own conscience that we know we're doing right. So there's two negatives there about disobeying the government. If you don't submit to the government, you stand subject to God's wrath through the government and you also will not have a clear conscience. So it says, ye must be subject to the government. They go on. For for this cause pay ye tribute also. So now we're talking about taxes and tolls and things like this. For they are God's ministers attending continually upon this very thing. Render therefore to all their dues Tribute, to whom tribute is due. Custom, to whom custom. Fear, to whom fear. Honor, to whom honor. So it's a really important principle in the Bible with, is what I believe, not a lot of wiggle room. I've talked to some people, some Christians, that have said, and shown this passage, nope, I don't see it. We don't have to submit to the government. It's just really clear here in the Bible. that God, if he were trying to say it in any clearer terms, he couldn't. This is, if God were to try to say to us, listen, whatever government is over you, I want you to obey it and submit to it. That's exactly what God is saying here. So God has set up an authority structure in the world, and whenever a man strikes out against that authority structure, he strikes out against God himself, because God's put him there. It says it three times in this passage that uses the word minister. He is the minister of God, and if you disobey him, he disobeyed God, and the wrath will come, will be from God. It'll be God's wrath. So a really important principle. Look at the book of Isaiah, verse 44. An important principle, another important principle is that all government not only is ordained by God and put there, so we are under the government, but the government is under God. So the government should conduct itself in a way that's consistent with God. It doesn't always, it almost never does, but it should, because it's placed here by God. And God, if he doesn't like the government, how many governments in the world does God like? Most people would say, God likes my government and that's it. You know, people that are patriotic. All the other governments in the world are horrible except ours. And I don't claim to, you know, there's never been a perfect government in the world, in any nation. And so God could just destroy all of them, but he puts them there. But God is in charge of every king in the world. God is in charge of every president in the world. Whether they recognize Him or not, they might not submit to Him, they might not yield, but God's in charge. And in a second, if He wants to, He says, you're done. Now someone else comes up. So look at Isaiah 44, verse 28. And I know people would say, no, no, that's not true. God doesn't, we elect our leader. God doesn't put him there. No, no matter what, by what means, God gets him there. God, God ordains it. And so here's what God says about King Cyrus when he would come to power. Let's read this verse and then the next verse into chapter 45 verse 1. But saith of Cyrus, he is my shepherd and shall perform all my pleasure, even saying to Jerusalem, thou shalt be built, and to the temple thy foundation shall be laid. Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, Which, by the way, that's the same word that God uses about Jesus. Jesus was God's anointed. It says the same thing about Cyrus. And by the way, Cyrus was not a believer in God. Cyrus was a pagan, heathen king, but God says, I've anointed him. Thus saith the Lord to his anointed to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden to subdue nations before him, and I will loose the loins of kings to open before him the two-leaved gates, and the gates shall not be shut." And there are other things, you know, about Cyrus that God, in the Bible, God says before, you didn't even know me, but I've called you by name. By the way, Isaiah's written hundreds of years before Cyrus was even alive. But he calls him by name, and he says, I'm in charge. I'm gonna put Cyrus here. He's gonna do my will. So God runs governments. Look at Psalm 75, verses 6 and 7. This is a verse for governments. It's also a good verse for us in our, you know, if you're in a job force, you're trying to climb the corporate ladder, say, well, I'm going to be the CEO of that corporation. And God would say, no, you're not, unless I want you to be there. If I want you to be there, I'll put you there. So then they say, okay, God, please, please put me there. Please give it to me. We, a lot of times, use prayer to try to bend God to our will instead of us bending to His will. But here's Psalm 75, six and seven. It says, for promotion cometh, neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge. He putteth down one and setteth up another. People often talk about kingmakers. There are people that are in charge of bringing someone to power. Oh, he's the guy. If he can make that guy become king. No, only God can make someone become king. And God takes him out. If you seek advancement in your life, submit yourself to God. If he wants you to have it, he will. But it doesn't come from anywhere but God. So that's a really important thing with government, to know that structure. We are under government, but the government's under God, and that's why we can submit to government, even though they might be a wicked government. And we're gonna talk about balance here in just a little bit about civil disobedience. Even though the government may be wicked, God will still take care of us if we submit to the government because God's over the government. And we say, well, what happens if I submit to this government and they're bad and they do bad stuff? God will take care of them. And that's the principle for all authority in your life, by the way, everything to look at. If you're a child to your parent or a wife to her husband or an employee to the employer, you say, well, I just don't like the direction that that is going. Well, it's not up to us to determine that direction. It's up to us to submit and leave the rest to God, and God will accomplish all things according to His will. So, I'm trying to decide what I want to mention here. Look at Acts chapter 5. So, the overarching principle is obey the government, but There are examples in the Bible of people who did not obey the government and it was righteous. And it's a pretty simple principle. I will say that at times maybe people haggle about how to apply it, about what exactly, where's exactly the line. But here's in general the principle. We are to submit to the government unless the government commands us to sin. unless the government commands us to do something that God has told us not to do in the Bible, or vice versa. If they command us to do something sinful, or if they command us not to do something that God has commanded us to do. And so we recognize the hierarchy. As I obey the government, I obey God. But if the orders are conflicting, then we go to the higher authority, to God. And so here's an example of this in Acts 5, the apostles. Verse 27. So they had been preaching and arrested for preaching. Why were they preaching? Because Jesus specifically said to them, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. You shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, Judea, and Alasmeria, even to the uttermost parts of the earth. Go and preach the gospel to everyone. And now some people are saying, you can't do it anymore. So verse 27, and when they had brought them, They set them before the council, and the high priest asked them, saying, Did not we straightly command you that ye should not teach in this name, name of Jesus? And behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine." By the way, what a wonderful indictment. If only that could be said, you know, about each of us. You're filling the world with this garbage, if you want to call it garbage. They should say, thank you for saying that. answered God's will, we are filling Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man's blood upon us, which by the way, they were the ones who called for his blood to be on them and their children. Verse 29, then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, we ought to obey God rather than men. So that's a good principle for your life. You obey God rather than men. Now we need to know when to apply it. You don't just say, You know, if your parents say, OK, I want you to go to bed at 10 o'clock. Nope. We have to obey God rather than men. If you can't show me in the Bible where it says I have to go to bed at 10, then, you know, there's that verse in the Bible where David says, I will rise at midnight and give thanks. You know, David says, my eyes prevent the night watchers. David stayed up all night. Jesus stayed up all night and prayed. I'm going to do that. You can't tell me to do it. It's not a sin to tell someone to go to bed at 10 o'clock. So we need to know the Bible first before we can apply this. We must obey God rather than men. You need to know both sets of commands. You need to know what God commands. You need to know what the government or whatever human authority is commanding. Before you can say we must obey God rather than men, you need to know God's will and God's commands. But that's when God allows civil disobedience. But, by the way, They didn't go out and protest, unless you want to call their preaching the gospel to protest. They didn't go out and call for the removal of the high priests. They submitted to, and by the way after this they got beaten, they submitted to the beating. They didn't go out and say, but you don't understand. We are Christians. We have rights by God. We are endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights. They didn't say anything like that. They just submitted to the punishment, but they disobeyed and they submitted to the punishment. And that's a principle that goes together. There are other examples in the Bible of civil disobedience among God's people. Daniel comes to mind. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego come to mind. You have to bow down before this image. You can only pray for the next 30 days to the king. You can't pray to any other god. And there are other examples in the book of Esther. There are examples in the Bible of civil disobedience. You think about the Hebrew midwives, when Pharaoh commanded for all the boys that are born to be thrown into the river, to be killed. It says, but the Hebrew midwives feared God, and they were not going to murder these children. So they deliver them, they save them. And so there is a place for civil disobedience, but you have to be commanded to sin, you have to be commanded to do something that is against. So we can't, by the way, you can't do this. While the government is evil, they're against God. And so because they're against God, therefore, I don't have to obey them. No. If they're not, there are parts of the law that are not, now by the way, if they were to command us to have an abortion, you'd say, okay, if any husband or wife gets pregnant, you have to have an abortion. You're not allowed to have children. We would disobey that. But to say, you know what, I don't like the 45 mile an hour speed limit. I think it should be 80, so I'm gonna go 80. We can't just decide what we think is right and wrong. We are to submit to the government unless they command us to send and then we're to disobey and then submit to whatever the punishment may be and give ourselves, like Jesus did, like Stephen did. And Stephen said, Lord, into thy hands I commit my spirit. We give ourselves to God and he will take care of us according to his will. It begs this question, what about, we're gonna dig where it gets personal for some people, what about something like the American Revolution? We just passed the 4th of July, where we celebrate, where the United States celebrates its independence from Great Britain. And that's like the most wonderful thing that we spend millions of dollars a year on fireworks to shoot up in the air and say, we are independent. But you go back and think about that those steps that led to independence, and then you ask yourself this question, did what the founding fathers do, did it jive with God's work? Was it justified, what they did, in disobeying the British government in establishing their own nation, establishing independence? And I will say this, that among God's people, among Bible teachers and pastors and others, there is a disagreement. And I've actually been, you know, back and forth in my own mind. I've leaned toward, you know, those that say, God would have called them to submit to the injustices that they felt, taxation without representation and so forth that the British government was doing across the... Some people wanna question the legitimacy in the first place, by the way, because the colonists came over and then the British government came over and decided, we're gonna claim this land and we're in charge and King George is the king over the New World America. We're not going to try to hash that out in whose authority was originally legitimate to begin with, but we'll just kind of assume that it was legitimate, that Britain was in charge there, King George. So is what the colonists did, was it ethical? And there are some, John MacArthur is one that comes to mind who believes that what they did was disobeying God. And by the way, never do this in life. Never judge the rightness or wrongness of something by whether or not it works. That's called pragmatism. That's like, God, I'm hungry. I'm gonna go steal that food that no one's looking. And if I get away with it, then I'll take it from you that that was what you wanted me to do. Oh, I got away with it. That's not the way to live life, that pragmatism. live by the word of God and not by how things turn out. Because by the way, how things turn out, the story is not fully written yet. There's more to come. You stand before God. And it did work. And here we are in 1776, you know, established independence. And God, I would say that God has blessed America in a lot of ways going forward. but some people believe that God blessed America despite its beginnings and not because of its beginnings, because of how they cast off authority, because of how they didn't submit to the higher powers that were ordained of God. I wanna give, and again, I've been back and forth, I've leaned toward that they did cast off that civil government, but I wanna read, I wanna mention the rationale for why some people believe that it was justified, the American Revolution, there's a phrase that some have used, that it was morally right for a lower government official to protect the citizens in his care from a higher official who was committing crimes against those citizens. So you see that? What they're saying is if you are, for instance, if you're the boss at your job, if you're a regional manager and you are, your job is to protect the rights of those people. And then the CEO of the whole corporation decides, you know what, we're just gonna do this and do something unethical. And you say, hey, this is unethical, what he's doing, I'm gonna protect my people that are under my charge from this. And that's the principle that some lean toward. One of the reasons why I think it was okay is that King George was abusing people and committing crimes against them. And so it was not only acceptable, it was the duty the ethical duty of those lower-level officials to protect them. So there, again, we're not gonna dig a lot into that, but that's one of the rationales that some people give. What about the principle in general of changing, is there a right to overthrow a government and to change it, for instance, to a different form of government? When America happened, it was a monarchy, and that was overthrown and replaced with a, you know, a republic, a constitutional republic or a democratic republic and things like this, is the changing of a government ever warranted? Or do you just submit to whatever it is? If it's a communist dictatorship, I guess that's what it is and it's gonna be like that forever. If it's not gonna be like that forever, that would mean it'd have to change at some point. That would mean that somebody's not gonna like it, by the way. Usually you don't have a communist dictator say, you know what, I'm kind of bored of being a communist dictator. I've done some bad things, why don't you guys come and take me to jail and I'll give it over to a different form of government. That usually doesn't happen. But when does overthrowing that government, is it ever a right thing? And so let's give a couple of verses and examples of this. Look at Judges chapter two. There are times where, and granted these are from the nation of Israel, but I wouldn't say that God makes different rules for Israel than for the rest of all society. that right is right and wrong is wrong. So we'll look at two verses about this. Judges 2, verse 16. It's obviously back to what's happening in the days of the judges. Israel is under God's authority, but then they rebel, so God gives them over to a foreign nation, all right? Now you're under them. And there was a long list. There were the Midianites, and there were the Philistines, and the Moabites, and the Ammonites, and all these nations that they were under, Israel was under their thumb for a while, and then God raised up a judge and delivered them from that tyranny. So look at Judges 2.16. Nevertheless, the Lord raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them. And this happened multiple times. This is kind of a summary statement of multiple times. So whenever that happened, Israel went from being under a government to then overthrowing that government. At least, maybe not toppling the government at its headquarters, at its capital city, but at least casting off that rule from them. God raised up a judge to do that, and now they had their own sovereignty again or whatever. So that's an example of the time that that had happened, look at Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 33. And there could be many ways that we could apply this verse or many examples that would explain it. But it's talking about people of faith. So God, everything that's happening in Hebrews 11, God is praising and saying that it was a good thing. So Hebrews 11.33, again, we're jumping in the middle of the context here, but it says this, who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions. So there were people who subdued kingdoms that were over them. And whether you want to call this, you know, by the way, what God is not endorsing here is a bloody revolution, you know, necessarily, but who through faith, who by, by the way, Daniel, you could say in a way that Daniel overthrew a kingdom by disobeying and then God delivering him from the lion's den, that that edict was overturned and he was raised again to power. And so you could, you could say in a way that he subdued that kingdom. But there are times that you see that in the Bible. Again, all the examples that we see in the Bible that God praises are with his people Israel, and some people would set that in a category all by itself. Well, this is different. This was a theocracy. These were God's people, and anything that God ever allowed to happen, he meant to be temporary. Nevertheless, it is mentioned in the Bible that there were times that people fought against the government, and God gave them victory. So some people apply that to the United States of America. Anyway, kinda, I know we're not gonna go back and try to re-litigate it, and whatever you and I decide's not gonna, you know what, I guess they're right. I guess, hey guys, come back and take Mexico, you know, Mexico you can come take California, and Britain you can come back and take the colonies. Obviously not, it's gonna happen. But it is important going forward to see what happens in the past, you know, and, In general, you know, God wants us to submit, to recognize that it doesn't mean the government's never be toppled, but I don't believe that God would have his people, the church, God would not have us as the church to say, you know what, we're gonna overthrow a government and set up our own government. God would have the church to be separate from government. Our job is to preach the gospel. We're not called to overthrow. We're called to pay taxes. You know, going back to that Hebrew search and passage. We're called to pay taxes. We're called to obey. We're called to submit. and leave the rest in God's hands. So it is a you can see kind of a tricky issue for a lot of people. But as Christians we need to at the end of the day submit to God more than man. Let me just finish with a couple of thoughts. So as we submit to the government there are ways that we should always that we should never lift up ourselves against our authorities, the government. We shouldn't do it by seeking their harm. God would never call us to assassinate our officials. I don't like my president. I don't like the congressman or senator or something like that. God would never call for us to assassinate them to seek their harm. God doesn't call for us to speak evil against them. An important verse, Exodus 22-28, thou shalt not revile the gods, and the word gods is talking about human authority that are in the place of God, God is placed in, that's why it calls them the gods. By the way, it's the word Elohim, it is the word for God, but the context is talking about human authority. Thou shalt not revile the gods, nor curse the ruler of thy people. So don't speak evil of them. don't try to cause them physical harm, don't even speak evil about them. God doesn't want us to do that. God doesn't want us to disobey them, as we've already looked at. And also God doesn't want us to steal their honor. Sometimes people, what comes to mind is the story of Absalom in the Bible, where he didn't like the king's authority, his father, and so he stole the hearts of people. Hey, follow me and get their own. It's kind of tricky what we have set up in our American society about this, where as soon as a government official is elected, immediately you kind of start the next election cycle. And the people, you know, for instance, Donald Trump was just elected president, and immediately you have the next wave of Democrats or Republicans as well that might say, I want to be the next president. And so how do they go about it? They go about it by saying everything negative about the president. I'm going to run against him. I'm going to tell you why. I know people are not going to run against President Trump next time, unless he goes for that third term, that elusive third term. Anyway, we'll dig into that. But usually the way that people say, elect me, is by saying, he's horrible. Your elected leader is horrible. He does this and this and this, and we're reviling the gods so that we can lift ourselves up. And it's really tricky for Christians to get into politics and to try to seek office. It can be done right, but most people, politics is a dirty business, and people are getting their hands dirty in a lot of different ways. But nevertheless, God doesn't want us to steal the honor that belongs to our authority. To honor them and to point other people to honor them. Don't call other people to disrespect. And that's 1 Peter 2.17. Honor all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king. Again, that's the same king. When Peter writes it, it's the same king as Paul. The king is Nero. who kills Paul, who tried to kill, who killed many Christians, and he says, honor the king. So it can be tricky if we try to go our own way in the Christian life as it relates to government. We just need to submit to God, ultimately, in God's word. He would have us to submit to our authorities, to recognize them as being placed by God. And by the way, whenever we, I'll just kind of finish with this thought, this is kind of, bridging to other authorities that we looked at in the last couple weeks. If we ever demean our authority, we at the same time demean our own authority. What do I mean by that? If you're, for instance, if I as a father am driving down the road with our kids in the car and I were to say, you know, we passed the speed limit sign and ah, forget that speed limit, or there's a police officer. Those police officers, they're just a bunch of money-grubbing nerds trying to ruin my life. If I say that about my authority to those under my authority, then they might look at me and say, huh, okay, so he obeys the authority that he likes, and if he doesn't like the authority, it's okay to disobey them, it's okay to badmouth them. Then there comes a time when my kids say, oh, wow. I don't kind of like dad's authority. I think dad might be a so-and-so, money-grubbing, and I will diminish my own authority if I try to demean my authority. So just know that in life, and God will see to it, by the way. He that rolls a stone, it shall return upon him. If I disobey my authority, God will see to it that my authority is disobeyed. We saw that with King David and his life and his family and so forth. So really important, if you want God's blessing in your life, this is one of the keys to it, is submission to authority, including government authority, and then leave the rest in God's hands. All right, let's close there tonight in a word of prayer.