Article number 49 reads this way. The title of civil government, ordained of God, and we have written all civil government is ordained of God. It is set up by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of them that do well. In all lawful things commanded by them, we ought to be subject, not only for wrath, but for conscience sake. We are to make supplications and prayers for kings and all that are in authority, that under them we may live a quiet, and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. The passage I'm gonna read just now is not included in our statement of faith. I'd like to consider putting it in there. I think this is the very first mention of civil government in the scriptures. Look please, if you will, at Genesis chapter nine, and look at verses four through six. Genesis chapter nine, verses four through six. These are the words of the Almighty. But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, Shall ye not eat? And surely your blood of your lives will I require at the hand of every beast, will I require, and at the hand of man, at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man's blood by man, shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God made he man. Notice verse nine especially. When a man's blood is shed by a person, then by man shall that person's blood be shed, which speaks about the punishment of evildoers. And it sets up government from this point on. In the scripture, we begin to see various kinds of government. It doesn't say what kind. It just says, by man shall the perpetrator's blood be shed. It could be a king. President, a governor, could be a group of men, an oligarchy. It could be a democracy. It could be a republic, such as we have in our land. As we look at this tonight, I want you to consider what it would be like living where we live with no government at all. Maybe you never stop to think about that. Government is a good thing. May I say to you that a good government is wonderful. Most of the time, though, we find that base men are put in places in the government and God Almighty sets them in that place. Some of the worst of the worst have been put in places of authority and power. That's God's purpose. But I'll say this, bad government is better than no government at all. I would hate to live in a place where every man did that which was right in his own eyes. There was a time in Israel when they did that. There wasn't yet a king. Samuel had died. The judges were being brought up to rescue Israel from their antagonists, and they just did what they thought was good, and it turned out to be a horrible thing. So it's set up by the Lord for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of them that do well. Let's read Romans chapter 13, verses one through seven. Romans chapter 13, verses one through seven. Paul writes to the church, which was at Rome, and as a consequence, these words are directed to us just as they were to the church, which was at Rome. Let every soul be subject. What does that mean? at man's cement. Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers, for there is no power. The word power there is authority. There is no power but of God. 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. I've been talking to a number of men in the past few days, and I asked them, and we'll discuss this in the next session at length, I asked them if they ever knew Anyone at any time who bucked their neck against civil authority because that authority has stepped into their private lives, not talking about forbidding them to preach or forbidding them to worship or forbidding them to witness, but trampling into their lives with things that they commonly do every day that has nothing to do with their religious convictions. It goes on to say in verse three, 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. Our nation doesn't use swords, but the people that administer the law carry guns, handcuffs, Those kind of things, and they are sent by the higher authority to execute judgment. For he's a minister of God. Look at that. He's a minister of God, a revenger, to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Wherefore, you must need to be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. For this cause, pay your tribute also. Tribute's another word for what? Taxes, hello, for their 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. I was talking to a preacher today, and he said, I don't pay income tax. And I told him, I did. I said, I do. I didn't say I enjoyed it, but I do pay income tax. It's part of the law of the land. He said, they don't have a right to make the law. I said, they may have bad laws, but it's the law nevertheless. They're waiting on this particular thing continually. Tribute, taxes, submit yourself. Be in fear if you're doing the wrong thing. And we could get into a long discussion here about, well, what if, what if they're bad guys and maybe they're Democrats and they're gonna Do a lot of things that you don't want them to do. They're still in charge if they're put in that place. Let's read 1 Peter 2, verse 13 through 17. Submit yourselves. I like that. Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man. for the Lord's sake, every ordinance of man. Why do you submit? For the Lord's sake. Give yourself up, whether it be to the king, the supreme, or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, or for the praise of them that do well. Now why is that? And this is what the Lord tells us here. For so is the will of God that with well-doing, submitting ourselves, well-doing, you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. I guarantee you, people are gonna rear up against you and say, you don't know what you're talking about, but you got it right here, black and white. And you'll put them to silence. It's the will of God that with well-doing, you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. As free, we are free from all things. We've been set free. but not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but as servants of God. As servants of God, we submit ourselves unto those who are the ordinances of man. As free, not using our liberty as a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. Honor all men, obviously men that deserve honor, Love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king. That scripture is loaded. It's really loaded. Now, we are told to make supplications and prayers for kings and for all that are in authority. Now, who does that cover in this land? There are many, many men and women that are in places of authority in this country. We may not like them. We might even think they're ugly. It doesn't matter what we think. If they're in a place of authority where to pray for them, pray for kings, and all are in authority, that under them we may live a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. To pray for all of these people is good and acceptable in the sight of God, our Savior. Let's read that, 1 Timothy 2, verse one through three. 1 Timothy 2, verses one through three. I exhort, therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings, and for all that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty, for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior. Our prayer Our prayer for them is that we might lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. We'll do more by praying in this way than we will by all of the political jockeying that we can imagine. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God. That ought to be enough right there to make us pray for all of these people. You can't remember all of them by name, but Brother Craig's made a list. I have a list. Go down the list and I can call her name. Some of them I don't know, but I call his name. God knows who he is. He knows who he is. And we do that. And it's right to do that. It's wrong not to do it. Now, the next article is number 50, and it's brief, and I'm gonna go ahead into that tonight. It's entitled The Same Thing Ordained of God, and it has a different slant to it. Let me read this to you. If civil government does not favor us in the practice of our faith, We must continue in obedience to Christ. We are to witness to the truth of the Old and New Testaments under the death, if necessity require, in the midst of all trials and afflictions, as his saints of old have done. In so doing, we count not our goods, lands, wives, children, fathers, mothers, brethren, sisters, and our own lives dear unto us, so finishing our course with joy. Our Baptist forefathers, those who framed the 1644 and 1646 London Baptist Confessions, wrote this about this particular article. Article number 59 in the 1646 Confession says this, but in case we find not the magistrate or governing authority to favor us herein, yet we dare not suspend our practice because we believe we ought to go in obedience to Christ. in professing the faith which was once delivered to the saints, which faith is declared in the Holy Scriptures, and thus our confession of faith a part of them, and that we are to witness to the truth of the Old and New Testaments under the death, if necessary required, in the midst of all trials and afflictions, as the saints of old have done, not accounting our goods, lands, wives, children, fathers, mothers, brethren, sisters, yea, and our own lives dear unto us, so we may finish our course with joy, remembering always that we ought to obey God rather than men, who will, when we have finished our course and kept the faith, give us the crown of righteousness, of whom we must give an account of all our actions, no ban being able to discharge us of the same. In the New Testament scriptures, sometimes God's men were forbidden to speak. Such was the case with Peter and John. Don't speak anymore in this name. In Acts 4.19, they said, But Peter and John answered and said unto them, whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. Acts chapter five, verse 28 and 29. Here they're rehearsing that. Did not we straightly command you that you should not teach in this name? And behold, you filled Jerusalem with your doctrine and intend to bring this man to blood upon us. Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, we ought to obey God rather than men. We're going to have adversaries. When we try to worship the Lord and preach the gospel of Christ, we're going to have enemies. Many are not going to speak well of us. We ought to be disturbed when everybody does speak well of us. Look at Philippians chapter one, verse 28, 29. And in nothing terrified by your adversaries, which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation and that of God. For unto you it is given on the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake. And you all remember what Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego said to Nebuchadnezzar when he said, when you hear the music, you fall down and worship the idol. They said, we're not careful to answer thee in this matter, O King. Our God is able to deliver us, but if he doesn't, we're not going to worship your idol. When our adversaries say, don't preach, we must preach. When they say, don't testify, we must testify. When they say, don't pray and don't worship, we must keep on. Some of our judgment will be for how we submit it to the powers that be. Remember, there's no authority but of God. The powers that are in this world are ordained of God, whether it's in Russia, Sweden, Italy, in the islands of the sea, or in this land. And if we resist that authority, we resist the very ordinance of God, and we receive to ourselves condemnation. I like what Timothy said, what Paul said in 2 Timothy chapter four. He knew he was about to die. That gives us a great deal of thought. Paul was the instrument that God used to write the 13th chapter of Romans and tells us to submit to the higher powers. And when he wrote the book of Romans, Nero was the emperor of Rome, the Caesar. When they took Paul before Festus and Felix, he finally said to them, I stand at Caesar's seat. And they said, you've appealed to Caesar, to Caesar you'll go. The Caesar was Nero, and he lost his appeal. He died, and now he's at the point where he's fixing to die. And he says in 2 Timothy 4, 6 through 8, I'm now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I've fought a good fight. I've finished my course, I've kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day. And not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearance. Civil government is instituted of God for our good. Some of these people are horrible people, there's no question about that. But there's places of power, we're told in scripture to submit ourselves. So what do you do? You submit yourself. Let's do that, what do you say?