on Christians and the civil government, Christians and politics, and it seems like a timely opportunity to do that. We did this a number of years ago, about eight years ago actually, in the 2016 presidential election cycle, but politics and civil government and Christians' relationships to all of this is certainly something that engenders a lot of questions for us. And so hopefully in the course of things we'll be addressing a lot of those questions. There's a lot of questions we might have that we won't be addressing. But Lord willing we'll trust him to use his word to guide and direct and teach us in all of these matters. So we're anticipating this being a six week series that I'm going to be doing probably the majority of sessions. Pastor Tim's probably going to do a couple as we move along. But that's what we're looking at at this point. So let me open us in prayer and we will get going. Let me silence my cell phone actually before I do that because we don't want to have any distractions. There it is right there. So let me just do that. Do that. There we go. It's all signed. So our father we thank you for the fact that you are living that you rule and that you reign in unchanging sovereignty and authority and glory and that you have designed everything that we might know you through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and to belong to your eternal kingdom. And for those who have come to faith, you have indeed delivered us from the kingdom of darkness and you have transferred us into the kingdom of your beloved son in whom we have redemption and the forgiveness of our sins. And even so, Father, we need grace and we need wisdom and we need strength from you. to know how to live in this world but not be of this world and to be faithful to all that you have called us to. And certainly as that plays out in relationship to all that you have intended for the civil government and for just political realities within that, we pray for wisdom and grace and that you would use our time in your word to instruct us, to sharpen us, to continue to make us more like Christ and to be faithful as we would live in this world. Thank you for each one that's here and pray your blessing on them as well. In Christ's name, amen. Amen. Well, by the way, if you don't have a handout, slip up your hand. We have some back there. They're always in the back, but we also have them available. So if you need one, just slip up your hand. and somebody will bring one to you. We do have lots of questions about how we should think and how we should act regarding government and politics. Questions like how involved or uninvolved should we be and what should our involvement look like. Questions about how should we vote and how should we, should we vote or not vote, who should we vote for, what should we vote for, those are not always easy questions to answer. We have questions about our responsibilities as individual Christians, also our responsibility as a church, and how we should think, of course, and how we should act with regard to all kinds of political and social issues, religious freedom and gender issues, and marriage, and abortion, and euthanasia, and education, and health care, and immigration, and on down the line. And you certainly probably have questions as well. But in view of all of this, that's why we thought it would be timely and beneficial, especially in this presidential election season. to address this topic, and so as I said, this is planning to be a six-week series. We did this many years ago, as I mentioned, eight years ago in 2016, and so this is going to echo a lot of that, but of course, many of you weren't here at that time, or even if you were, We can always use encouragement to be reminded of these things. And so what I want to do today is give a brief overview of both the objectives and the outline of the whole series. And then we're going to look at two foundational truths, namely the path of history and the depravity of man. And as always, as we move along, if you have thoughts or questions, don't hesitate to raise your hand and we can interact and I'll try provide some opportunity for such things along the way. But let me first just speak to the objectives, and these are the things we're praying for and desiring as we look at these matters. First of all, number one there on the front of your handout, to help Christians think and act in Christ-exalting, biblically-informed ways within the challenges and complexities connected to civil governments. We want to think and act in Christ exalting biblically informed ways. And indeed as we think about how we relate to civil government and all the matters of politics it is challenging and it is complex. There are not always just quick neat tidy simple answers to so many of these things. So nonetheless we want to think and act in Christ exalting biblically informed ways. So that's a first objective. Second objective is to help Christians understand and be devoted to the Great Commission, as it's often rightly referred to there in Matthew chapter 28, when Jesus says at the end of the chapter that his people are to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything that he's commanded. That is our mission as his people. And so we want to understand and be devoted to that in the context of God's purposes for the local church in the world. So an element of what we're striving to see the Lord accomplish through these things is to deepen both our understanding and our devotion to that mission. And then related to that, a third objective is to clarify what it means for Christians to love God to love one another, to love unbelievers, and to love our enemies, and how all of this relates to politics and civil governments. And those are key obligations that the Lord has called us to, to love him, to love others, which includes unbelievers, and our brothers and sisters in Christ, and our enemies, and just implications of that related to politics and civil government. And then number four, to strengthen our eternal hope as Christians in Christ. and to avoid expectations for civil government that can lead to the extremes of either utopianism on the one hand or cynicism and despair on the other hand. We want to think and act biblically and to strengthen the eternal hope that we have in Christ. And so that we have hopeful realism with regard to our expectations of civil government. Because all of us probably understand and know experientially we can fall to one of those two extremes often. Either a hunger and a thirst and a longing for some sense of earthly utopianism or just cynicism and despair on the other hand. So we want to try to strengthen our hope in Christ. And then finally to help Christians be confident and content in the truth that suffering for Christ in this life is normal and it's to be expected. that we would be confident, that we would be content, that the truth is that suffering for Christ in this life is normal and is to be expected. And even with the series that we just concluded last week regarding suffering and the persecuted church and all that that means for us in our day, we are reminded that these are realities. And Jesus said in Matthew chapter five in the Sermon on the Mount that blessed are we if we are suffering because of righteousness because of our union with him. And that's a reality that undergirds even how we think and act with regard to civil governments and politics. So those are the five main objectives. Of course, we trust the Lord to accomplish all that he intends and purposes in each one of our lives within all of this. And I might just note that it is not an objective of this series to tell you how you should vote regarding any specific candidate or any specific issue. That is not our calling as the church. That's not our calling for those of us who are pastor elders. It's not our job to tell you how to vote. Our job is to equip you with the word of God and to proclaim Christ and to encourage all of us to be thinking and acting biblically. But we can't tell you, we can't bind your conscience with who you should or shouldn't vote for or what issues you should or shouldn't vote on and so we want you to know Christ and for that to inform all of that. We think that we should vote, we think that's a right and an appropriate God-given obligation as an expression of our love for him and our love for others. But how anyone votes is ultimately a matter of conscience between you and the Lord and how you vote. So just want to throw out that disclaimer at the beginning, that this will not tell you how you should vote. So any thoughts or questions here at the outset regarding those objectives as we dive into these things? Matt. in regards to even, I mean, you said you can't tell us how to vote, but are there some legal reasons for that as well? Did you mention those, like, being that we're tax exempt and all that? Does that play a role as well? Yeah, yeah, I mean, that's a factor in terms of our nonprofit status as a 501, what is it, 501C3 nonprofit organization, that, yeah, we're not to be, I think, not to be promoting political, candidates, agendas, any of that kind of thing per se. So that's an element, but it's more just what the Lord's called us to. So we have a different calling, a different responsibility. So, good question though. Well, let me go ahead and talk just a little bit about the series outline, and you can see it there on the back page of the bulletin. We're first going to take three weeks to deal with some biblical foundations, really some theological realities born out of scripture that lay the foundation for then thinking about the biblical obligations some primary obligations the Lord's given us. So this morning again we're going to focus on the path of history and the depravity of man. Next week we'll talk about the hope of the gospel and the mission of the church. And then the following week on November 3rd we'll talk about the purpose of government and the sovereignty of God. And again the intent in this phase with these three weeks in looking at biblical foundations is to just lay these solid theological categories before us And just think a bit about implications that come from these truths and how that informs how we're to live in this world, and especially as it relates to our relationship and involvement with civil government and politics. And then we'll take three weeks to look at some key biblical obligations, namely praying and loving, submitting and discerning, and then blessing and speaking. And those are obviously very brief identifiers but we'll explain all of those as we go along. But those are some primary aspects of our obligations before the Lord in this world for what we're to be doing as Christians for those who know and love the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, within all of this, there's a truth I wanna just state. It's not on your bulletin there or on your handout per se, but I just want you to get this because this really frames everything that we're looking at, and it is this. Our theology determines our politics. Our theology determines our politics. And another way of saying that is our politics reveals our theology. Our politics reveals our theology. And what I mean by this is how we think and how we act regarding civil government and politics is ultimately a function of our theology. And by theology, which literally means the study of God. Theo is the Greek word for God and ology means study. It's the study of God. It means our knowledge of and our thoughts about God. That informs how we think, how we act with regard to governments and politics. And the truth in this is we all have theological frameworks that we work out of, whether we recognize it, whether we can define those frameworks or not. We all have thoughts and ideas about God, which are either true or false, which are either biblical or non-biblical. And our thoughts about God, they determine how we live and how we relate in this world. And certainly that applies to matters of government and politics. So for instance Proverbs chapter 4 verse 23 says this, Keep your heart with all vigilance for from it flow the springs of life. Keep your heart with all vigilance for from it flows the springs of life. And the heart the concept of heart as it is spoken of here in Proverbs 4 as we see at many other places in scripture, really has to do with the very center, the very core of who we are. It involves our thoughts, it involves our affections, it involves our desires and our emotions. And what this passage is saying is that what goes on in our hearts determines how we live. From our hearts flow the springs of life. And this includes, again, how we think and act politically and how we think and act regarding civil government. So that's why it's important to lay a theological foundation on some very foundational truths regarding who God is and how he works and what he has done and what he has revealed. So that's why we want to focus on these biblical theological topics over these next few weeks and then we'll look at the obligations going on from there. The last thing I want to mention by way of introduction is you also see on the back page of your handout, just some suggested resources. These are certainly not exhaustive, and I have not read all of them in detail, but I've read them enough to know that they're worthy to be encouraged, with the caveat that, as with anything, that we exercise discernment in what we read. But with those resources that are listed there, you'll notice some are very short, less than 100 pages, and then some are like massive tomes regarding this topic. So I'll just leave that for you as a resource for your consideration. And there's probably other ones, there's no doubt there's others that we could identify, but those are some particular ones that you might find helpful if you want to do a little further thinking and study in these matters. So with all of that, by way of introduction, let's talk about this first theological foundation, the path of history, the path of history. And for this, I'll have you turn to Ephesians chapter one. Ephesians chapter one. And I want us to just look at really two verses that are gonna be the focus of everything we'll consider. We'll be looking at some other passages here and there as we move along. But verses nine and 10 in Ephesians chapter one. says this, and this is the Apostle Paul speaking, this is in the midst of a longer expression of speaking about the blessings that believers have in Christ, and he says in verses nine and 10, part of what God has done is made known to us the mystery of his will according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him, things in heaven, and things on earth. Now this is a far-reaching statement that concerns all of history and the plan of God, the eternal plan of God that ultimately will culminate in him uniting all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth. As we get into this and as we begin to interact with this truth, maybe you've heard the popular phrase that is found within much political and social rhetoric these days, and in recent days, that we want to be on the right side of history. You ever heard that phrase? You'll hear it with matters related to racism, and LGBTQ+, and abortion, and all kinds of other issues. We want to be on the right side of history. And really, if you think about it, that phrase communicates, I think, an arrogant and a deluded assumption that we, whoever it is who's putting forth that statement, with their particular philosophies and ideologies and agendas, we're the ones that are making real progress. And we are the ones who are moving things in the right direction of history. And so whatever agenda is being promoted, the argument or the assumption is that this is where we're going to be on the right side of history. But really the problem with this phrase is that it expresses a proud and a self-determined moral judgment of what is right and what is wrong, and what the right side of history actually is. But the truth that we hear in Ephesians 1 verses 9 and 10 is that God alone is on the right side of history. He's on the right side of history because God alone determines God alone writes history. He's the one who defines and determines all history and what is the right and the wrong realities in history. He's the one who sovereignly rules over and controls all of history in accordance with his sovereign an eternal purpose. And so therefore history must be understood as the unfolding of God's sovereign agenda through his sovereign activity. History is not random. It is not accidental. It is not written by mankind. God is the one who determines controls and writes history. And that truth alone has huge implications for both understanding and relating to civil government. And so let's explore this passage just a little bit. Now let me give you a little bit of context of where this passage is found. Paul spends the first three chapters of this letter to the Ephesians, chapters one through three, revealing all that God has given Christians in the Lord Jesus Christ. If you slip up to verse one of chapter three, or chapter one, he says, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. And that really introduces the whole content of everything in chapters 1 to 3. He's unpacking, he's expositing the details of these spiritual blessings that God has given to his people in Christ. And he wants believers to be strengthened in the hope and in the riches and in the power of these blessings, which is why from verse 15 of chapter 1, to the end of the chapter, and then again at the end of chapter three, he tells the Ephesians how he's praying for them, that God would work supernaturally to bring greater and deeper and fuller illumination to the realities, to the assurance of all of the hope and the riches and power and love of all of these blessings that God has given to his people in Christ. So that's what the whole first section is about in chapters 1 to 3. Then in chapters 4 to 6 he's going to get into the obligations, the implications, the commands that we're to live by in view of our union with Christ if we indeed belong to him. Well in chapter 1 verses 3 to 14 this is the opening section of him beginning to unpack these blessings. And you may know that in the Greek verses 3 to 14 is one long sentence from the Apostle Paul which was frequent with him. You get the sense and he's writing this as he's in a prison cell and you get the sense that he's just bubbling over. He's beside himself in thinking about and trying to articulate these things through the inspiration of God. And so in verses 3 to 14 he talks about the electing grace of the Father He talks about the redeeming work of the Son. He talks about the guaranteeing seal of the Holy Spirit. It's a very Trinity exalting reality that he reveals regarding all of these blessings. And three different times, he says all of this has been given and done by God to the praise of the glory of his grace. He says that at the end of verse six, at the end of verse 12, and at the end of verse 14. And so as we zero in on verses 9 to 10 we see that part of God's spiritual blessings in Christ involve him revealing his will to his people. He's revealed what he wants us to know of his will to his people and these have far reaching truths for how we should understand history and we'll talk about some of the implications of this related to the government. But I want you to notice two aspects of God's will that Paul speaks of. First of all, the revelation of God's will in Christ. That's what he says in verse nine. And then second of all, the culmination of God's will, which he speaks of in verse 10. So the revelation of God's will there in verse nine, he says, making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purposes, which he set forth in Christ. So Paul begins by saying God has made this known. He has revealed. He has disclosed. He has made known his will. And the strong point of this is that God has revealed what no human being could ever discover or figure out through human wisdom or observation or experience. This is revealed by God. Paul goes on to elaborate on the grace and the scope of this revelation in chapter 3 verses 1 to 13 and we won't take time to look at that but it's through God's word which all focuses around his purposes in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ that God has revealed as Paul says the mystery of his will. Now mystery has to do in this sense with something that was previously hidden but is now revealed. So it's not unknowable he's referring to something that was previously hidden but now revealed. We might think of it as an open secret if you will. And God's will here concerns his sovereign and eternal purposes and in this context the mystery has to do with the full and sweeping scope of God's redeeming work in the Lord Jesus Christ from eternity past as he speaks of in verses 4 through 6 of chapter 1 to eternity present and to eternity future which is what he's speaking of here in verses 9 and 10. the uniting of all things in Christ. And it's a mystery in the sense of now being revealed what Paul's ultimately referencing here is that in the Old Testament in the Old Covenant God had revealed certain things but only in promises and in prophecies and in types and in shadows that were all anticipating and pointing to His new covenant in the Lord Jesus Christ. Well now that Christ has come the mystery the open secret is now revealed. It was previously unknown but now it's revealed. Paul says this was according to God's purpose which is understood as it's translated in the New American Standard as his kind intention or the New King James Version translates it as his good pleasure. The idea here of the term his purpose and again with those other ways it's translated really has to do with his passionate delight with his generous motives and that are very warm and very personal. In other words God isn't doing these things and revealing these things begrudgingly. It's his eager intention it's his purpose it's his kind and good pleasure. And this was all in Christ which he set forth in Christ publicly displayed in the redemption that Christ accomplished through his life and through his death and his resurrection. And so the truth here of God's revealed will in Christ is that he delights to reveal these things to his people, which are now inscripturated for us forever in his word, to reveal his redemptive purposes, his works and his words in Jesus Christ. He's done this. Well, then Paul talks about the culmination of God's will in Christ in verse 10. as his flow of thought just leads into this. So he says, as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. And this speaks of the sweeping content of what God has made known, the culmination of his will, which again is to unite all things in heaven and earth in Christ. And so this is his plan. And that term for plan there really has to do with a stewardship, with an administration, if you will. In other words, it speaks of God's ordering, his control, his management of all creation to the fulfillment of his sovereign purposes in Christ. And this is gonna happen when the fullness of time, he says comes the fullness of the times and fullness is a term that Paul uses frequently in this letter. The idea of course speaks of total quantity or completeness or the full measure when the full measure of the times and he's referring to all of the seasons all of the epochs of the whole of human history. They're all going to culminate in the uniting of things in heaven and things on earth and this is ultimately pointing to the coming of Christ, the return of Christ when these things will be culminated. So Paul's point in this is that God is sovereignly controlling, administering or administrating his sovereign will throughout the entire course of human history. Now if you've been with us at all as we've started to get into the book of Daniel and I'm going to be there again in our worship service this morning. This is what's at the very heart of it right. God is telling us the end. And we saw that last week in Daniel chapter 2 with the dream that he gives to Nebuchadnezzar and the interpretation of that dream. He's revealing not only to Nebuchadnezzar and to Daniel but to all of us what the ultimate end of history is that he's going to conquer every human kingdom and that his eternal and indestructible kingdom is going to be established. So this is in many ways the same kind of thought. This is the culmination. This is the end game and the final And it's to unite all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth. And Paul with that statement's revealing the fullness, the culmination of God's redeeming purposes in Christ. And this is really what makes sense, if you will, of all human history. It's much like the climax of a good book or a movie that finally all the ends come together, everything's tied together. Well, this is it. So much that we don't understand and so much that happens that is perplexing and confusing and grievous and painful and difficult and horrendous as we think about just all of the atrocities throughout human history. And yet in God's sovereign purposes he has this at heart that he's ultimately working to bring everything together in union in Christ. And he says all things and this refers not only to the redeemed but to all of creation. all things that are corrupted and broken and divided by sin. It's the redemption, it's the restoration of the whole of God's creation all under Christ's authority and reign. This is what we read of in Revelation chapter 20 through 22 and the whole fullness of all that is revealed there. The final judgment of Satan and all of the wicked and the ushering in of the new heavens and the new earth under the reign of Christ. So Paul is not talking here about universalism. In other words the idea that in the end everyone will be saved. No he's not talking about that. He's talking about the universal rule of Christ over all of God's creation either through redemption or through judgment. But this is the goal this is the culmination the climax of everything and God is sovereignly working this as Paul goes on to say actually in verse 11 that he's the one who works all things all things according to the counsel of his will. And so he's working to establish his eternal kingdom under the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ with the new heavens and the new earth in which everything will be in perfect union united under him. And again this is what we saw prophetically in an anticipatory way in Daniel 2 last week God's kingdom conquering all. And again God is delighted to reveal this and he is showing us this through his word and this is the path of history which God has ordained and we need to have that in mind. Because so easily we think that what we do or what anybody does and what's going to happen in this election is determinative about what the future holds. We need to be grounded in the truth that God is determinative about what the future holds. Now there is the reality of mystery in a different sense there, that we have human responsibility, we have human accountability. How that all plays into God's sovereignty and how he's working all things together in his infinite power and wisdom and love and might and righteousness to bring all these things together, that defies our ability to fully comprehend. And yet we need to be assured, confident, and certain that God is the one who is in charge. Mankind is not determinative. God is determinative. And so in light of that, there's some implications to think about, but maybe I'll just pause for a moment and see if anybody has thoughts or questions regarding these things I've kind of moved quickly through regarding the path of history. Yes, Sherry. Very complex. I mean, if all things are created by God or have by God, but then we are responsible for our lives. It's very, I mean, really, when we can't help it, it'll be a little bit apprehensive about the election. If so-and-so wins, we know that this and that will be passed, or even propositions. I mean apprehensive, is that sinful? It can't be. I know. Yeah, we can be tempted that way, but it is the tension that we belong, we who are believers by God's grace, we belong to his kingdom. We're fundamentally citizens of his kingdom. We eagerly await the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. But we live in the kingdom of this world, and so there is tension with that, but it means, that goes back to, and we'll see this again and again, it means we may suffer. And things in the future, in God's sovereign purposes, may not be like they've been in the past, in a national sense. But we need to, We need to lay hold of what it means to belong to the kingdom and that we, kind of the, as we've mentioned before, the already not yet reality of the kingdom and what our fundamental calling and responsibilities are as God's kingdom people. So, but yes, we feel that. I think everybody understands that, Sherry, and wrestle with that. But we need to be careful we don't let it become sinful worry that undermines our testimony for Christ, yeah. That's a good question, I appreciate your honesty in that too, yeah. Well, let's think about a few implications in light of these things. And so, by the way, a quick footnote, you know, back to that matter of being on the right side of history, whether or not any of us are on the right side of history really depends on whether or not we're right with God through faith in Jesus Christ. The right side of history is to know his eternal blessings in Christ that we'll experience fully when we're in heaven with him glorified and ultimately in the new heavens and the new earth that he will be bringing. Or whether or not we're in hell suffering his eternal wrath for for forever. That's whether or not we're in the right side of history. And so I would appeal to you to make sure you know where you stand and to come to faith in Christ if you haven't already. So a few implications. First of all regarding our perspectives regarding our perspectives our perspective And as God's people, if we belong to God through faith in Christ, our perspective should be preoccupied with the kingdom of God, not the kingdoms of this world. That should be our preoccupying perspective. This reality, the culmination of God's eternal plan in Christ, should be the ever-intensifying focus of our hope. and hope not in the sense of wishful thinking, but of confident assurance because of who God is and because of what he's promised. And so our perspective and our hope should be dominated by God's eternal kingdom and plan, not by what's currently going on in government and politics, which it can easily be, can't it? Somebody once said, everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end. That's a biblical statement. Everything is going to be okay in the end, but the end is Ephesians 1, verses 9 and 10. And if it's not okay, then we're not at the end yet. And so our perspective needs to be recalibrated, as it were. And so we should keep all things in this life in proper perspective, and we should Distinguish, as an aspect of this, between reasonable and legitimate desires in this life. This kind of gets to your question, Sherry. Desires that are reasonable and legitimate, that are certainly related to government personnel and politics, among other things. All other kinds of things that are reasonable and legitimate desires related to career, related to relationships, related to any number of things that can be reasonable and legitimate, but don't lose perspective of what is of ultimate importance and hope, and what the end game is, and what it is God has promised and called us to. Somebody years ago made the observation, and I think this is helpful, God's kingdom is not going to arrive on Air Force One. You get it? We need to remember that. Because a lot of times Christians think that way. And there's a whole movement, and we'll get into this a little bit in some of the future weeks, of Christian nationalism, of thinking that we're the ones who need to usher in the kingdom of God and that we need to, you know, that's going to play out in politics. There's a home just a few blocks from here. It's directly that way on Engle. Some of you may have passed it this morning coming in. You might pass it as you leave. It's got a whole bunch of American flag paraphernalia things and Trump. you know, voting for Trump and all of that, but the big sign in the middle of it all says, Jesus is my savior and Trump is my president. I'm not making a statement for or against Trump, but I'm saying if there's a thought that those two are even united in any kind of way, there's misguided thinking. And that's very prevalent. The kingdom of God will not arrive on Air Force One. That's a good way of reminding us of the proper perspective. Seth, I see that. Thank you. This is the way I think about it, so please correct me if I'm in error, but I think all Christians should be monarchists because Christ is king. All Christians should be what? Monarchists because Christ is king. Yeah. Rightly understood. Yes. Yep, rightly understood. it's good for us to think about our perspective. Well, related to that, a second implication is our priorities, our priorities. And you see how these relate. If God's revealed will in Christ culminates in the uniting of everything in heaven and on earth in him, then our constant priority, our constant priority as his people should be to be as fully aligned with God's will as possible. Remember what Jesus said at the end of Matthew 6 verse 33. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things the basic necessities of life that we all need and that we understand they'll be added to us. But there's a very explicit priority. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Many ways that could be a summary statement for the entire for the entirety of scripture. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And even in the context of Paul's letter to the Ephesians this would mean growing in the knowledge of the hope and the riches and the power and the love that we who are believers have in Christ. It would mean growing and striving to walk worthy of our calling as God's people in Christ which is what the last three chapters of Ephesians are all about and how that plays out in our lives in general, how it plays out, of course, in the local church. But we need to be careful that we're pursuing and passionate for the priority God would have us to be passionate for. And a further implication of this related to priorities, think about this, the most powerful political statement that any Christian can make is to live as a citizen of Christ's kingdom in the context of his will for the local church. That's the most powerful, radical, political statement you can make, is to be faithful to what God's called you to, what he's called me to, as his kingdom people and what that means in living in devotion in a local church. Because the local church is an outpost in this world of his kingdom. ever guard our perspective and guard our priorities. And then finally, a third implication relates to our prayers, relates to our prayers. You know, no doubt, what we often call the Lord's Prayer, or many have rightly called it the Disciple's Prayer, Matthew chapter six. How are we to pray? Our Father, who is in heaven, hallowed be your name. And then how's the rest of it go? your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And then the remainder of the prayer that Jesus says there, that we're to pray for our daily needs, we're to pray for the forgiveness of our sins, we're to pray for protection and deliverance from evil, relate to those foundational kinds of needs that we have for provision and for pardon and for protection. And we understand Jesus is not giving us a formula there, he's not giving us a little magic incantation to just recite brainlessly. He's given us a pattern. He's given us a framework. But at the heart of that is the priority. God I want your name to be hallowed. Not the name of America. Not the name of this politician or that politician. Not my own name. Not this movement or that movement or this thing or that thing. God I want your holy name to be hallowed. To be set apart. To be revered. To be honored. I want your kingdom to come. I want your will to be done. You see how all of that is framed by the very truth that Paul speaks in Ephesians 1. And so friends, with our perspectives, with our priorities, with our prayers, they need to be informed by the path of history that God has revealed and that he is writing and that he is governing and that he is ruling over. That's our hope, that's our focus, and that is ever the reality. And so regardless of what happens in a little less, whatever it is, less than a month, just a few weeks with the election, we still should be living this way, praying this way, thinking this way in the confident hope, the confident assurance of the path of history and God's sovereign plan and where it's all going. That's not gonna change because God doesn't change. So any thoughts or questions about that before we look at the next foundational truth? Any thoughts or questions? Hopefully it makes sense. That's a battle. And that's the fight of faith, to ever be coming back to these things. Because we can, like a pendulum, we can swing between maybe passive, uninvolved, total indifference and ignorance to things going on in politics and the government and the world. Or we can just become so overly consumed with it that we're just derailed from what The Lord's called us to. So hopefully, by God's grace, we stay where He wants us to be. Well, if there's no thoughts or questions, let's talk more about, or talk about the depravity of man, and we'll see how this relates. And for this, I want us to just turn over to Ephesians chapter two, and we'll look at verses one to three. And I'll read the text in a moment, but think about this. One of maybe the central consuming questions that we often think of in relation to government and politics, the consuming question has to do with how do we fix the problems of this world? That's really what's driving everything regarding government and politics. How do we fix the problems of the world? Whether it's crime, terrorism, poverty, immigration, racism, disease, divorce, suicide, drugs, economics, whatever it is, this is the question that all candidates, presidential and otherwise, are constantly trying to answer. How do we fix the problems of the world? How do we fix the problems of our country? How do we fix the problems of our state. Well, the starting point, the starting point has to be understanding what the real problem is. And often this gets lost, even by Christians, because the real problem is ultimately spiritual. And so we shouldn't look to politicians and the government to solve them. We must ultimately look to God. And the real problem is the depravity of man, the sinfulness of mankind and this really builds on what we've already seen. But look at what Paul says in chapter 2 verses 1 to 3 and we'll again let me read this and then we'll kind of unpack it a little bit and then again think about some implications from these truths. So here what Paul says he's talking to believers he's reminding them of what they were before God graciously saved them and brought them to faith in Christ. So he says in verse one, you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. Well, the context is the same as it was earlier with regard to the whole letter of Ephesians. Paul has been revealing he's been rejoicing in the hope and the riches and the power of God's spiritual blessings in Christ and now what he's really doing is magnifying the wonder of all of these blessings by reminding believers of what we were before God brought us to saving faith in Christ. And so in doing this against the dark black backdrop of our spiritual condition outside of Christ, he's magnifying the brightness, the glory, the beauty of who we are and what we've been given in Christ. And the language that he uses here in verses 1 to 3 is strong, it is descriptive, and it is comprehensive. The core truth here is that every human being, every human being on the face of the planet is not basically good, but basically dead. Not basically good, but basically dead spiritually. And it means that apart from the saving work of Christ, we are morally depraved, we are radically corrupted, we are spiritually dead, we're polluted, we're contaminated, we're fundamentally idolaters. And this truth really flies in the face of worldly thinking about humanity. Worldly thinking that we can see expressed in countless ways in politics, in education, in the media, and all kinds of ways. The thinking that mankind is basically good, not basically dead. And you see, the thinking that goes with that is that if we can just put human beings in the right kind of an environment, and if we can just provide them with the right kind of education and supply lots of good encouragement, then everybody's going to be great. I don't know if anybody's looked around the world, but that's not exactly happening, is it? Because we're not basically good, we are basically spiritually dead. And this is what our text makes clear. What Paul is addressing here is the doctrine of man and the doctrine of sin. Now, in formal theological terms, he's talking about anthropology, the doctrine of man, and hamartiology, the doctrine of sin. One of the Greek words for sin is hamartia. It's one I always get my tongue tied on. But that's why it's referred to as harmartiology. Let's just call it the doctrine of sin. And so this is a key passage, because this is what Paul's dealing with, humanity and with sin. And you'll notice that he speaks of two aspects of our human depravity. First of all, the essence of human depravity, and then the characteristics of human depravity. And I'll just go through this again fairly quickly for the sake of our time together. But the essence of human depravity is there in verse one into the beginning of verse two and you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked. Now dead here means completely separated alienated from life and specifically the life of God. So it happens when a human being is physically dead correct. It's a separation, it's an alienation from life. And to be spiritually dead is to be separated and alienated from the life of God. And it means, likewise, that a person who is spiritually dead is completely incapable of making any improvement on that condition. Any more than a dead person can make themselves alive again. It's the strongest possible term Paul could have used to describe the reality of being separated from God and being enslaved to our sin. And so it's a helpless, it's a hopeless condition because we're incapable of changing our condition on our own. He says we're dead in the trespasses which have to do with rebellion against God's laws and his commands and the sins which have to do with missing the mark, deviating from God's ways. And notice that both terms are in the plural, which would indicate that there are many varieties, many expressions of trespasses and sins. Some that we might quickly identify as raunchy and gross and reprehensible, like murder and abortion and homosexuality and such things, but other sins that we might see as more respectable, as Jerry Bridges coined that phrase a number of years ago in a book he wrote. Things like gossip and grumbling and unrighteous anger and fear and anxiety and on down the line. There's a lot of varieties and expressions of sin but fundamentally there's rebellion and deviation that renders us spiritually dead. And when Paul says you once walked in these things. He's referring to just the normal daily pattern of life, not even really thinking about it. This is just how you lived, walked. You were a walking dead person, alienated from God in your sins. And he's emphasizing that this is you and me. We were once guilty. We were once dead. We were once alienated and rendering us hopeless. This, of course, all began in the Garden of Eden. We read about that in Genesis chapters 1 to 3 as God creates everything. He creates mankind, man and woman in his image. He gives them very clear and explicit commands. He warns them of what will happen should they disobey those commands. Genesis 3, the woman is deceived. The man just high-handedly rebels against God's command and death occurs, alienation from God, which ultimately becomes manifest in physical death. And that's what happened in Genesis and that reality brought a corruption to mankind's nature which is passed on from Adam and Eve to their children to their children to their children on down to every single one of us. And that's what Paul talks about in Romans chapter 5 he kind of unpacks that theologically that in Adam we all sin and we all are born with that nature a propensity to sin. Well, that's the essence of human depravity. Well, Paul goes on to then explain some of the characteristics of this depravity. The rest of verse two through verse three, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that's now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, we were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. We don't have time to fully dive into everything that's there, of course, but when he says following, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, he's talking about bondage. This is just what you followed. This is just what you were pulled to, like a rubber band pulling something to itself. You were just following this. You were enslaved to these things. outside of Christ before any of us were converted, if we've been converted, we were in bondage to forces over which we had no control. We couldn't stop sinning, we couldn't stop lying, we couldn't stop living for the gratification of our own flesh in the myriads of ways, we could not change it because we were enslaved. And it's a helplessness that Paul is talking about in this bondage, he describes it really with four characteristics. We were enslaved to the world, we were enslaved to the devil, we were enslaved to the flesh, and we were enslaved under God's wrath. Now again, I'm not going to take time to unpack those more fully, but you see a comprehensiveness to it all. Enslaved to the world, enslaved to the devil, enslaved to the flesh, and enslaved ultimately under God's wrath. children of wrath, as he says. And then notice that powerful statement at the very end of verse three, like the rest of mankind. Every human being, beloved, it doesn't matter if somebody is the most beautiful, self-righteous, morally upstanding, sacrificial, giving kind of person. If they're outside of Christ, they're alienated from God. They're being motivated, driven ultimately by something else. And the same is true with somebody on the absolute opposite extreme, who's just a moral reprobate. All are dead, all are alienated, all are enslaved, all are following the course of Satan and the world and the flesh, all are under God's wrath. And again, with a absolute helplessness and hopelessness of changing that condition. Now we won't go there now we'll look more at this next week when we talk about the hope of the gospel but see where Paul goes in his thinking with what he then after laying all of that out says in verse four and following I'll just read verse four but he says but God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us. Well I'll go on and read verse five. Even when we were dead in our trespasses he made us alive together with Christ. By grace you've been saved. You see, becoming a Christian is not about a bad person becoming good. It's about a dead person being made alive. That's the heart of the gospel. That's what God does in salvation, and God's the one who does it. We don't make ourselves alive. He makes us alive in Christ through his spirit, by his word, all to the praise of the glory of his grace, as Paul says in chapter one. But the point to understanding this is that every human being on the face of the planet is basically bad, not good, basically dead, not alive. And that's why all the efforts that are often put forth in government and in politics about we're gonna fix this, we're gonna fix that, we're gonna do it like nobody's ever done it before, they're all mirages. They're all pipe dreams because they're not dealing with the foundational problem, the foundational issue. That apart from the saving work of Christ, every human being is enslaved to the world, the devil, the flesh, and the wrath of God. And so the hope of the gospel is the hope of the world to be saved. Now, in light of that, and again, just embracing the reality of what God says about mankind, it doesn't mean that we're as bad as we could be, but it means we're nowhere near as good, we're nowhere as perfectly righteous as we should be. And so there's degrees in which that can play out, of course, but fundamentally, we need to be saved. Well, what are some implications? What are some implications? Number one, regarding groaning. in this life, regarding groaning in this life. And the truth here, and the implication is that because of God's universal curse for humanity, the entire world, all of humanity, groans. Which is to say, we experience pain, we experience heartache, we experience disappointment, we experience division, Tragically, we groan, and we will not escape this groaning, even as believers, until we arrive in heaven. And it's therefore to be expected, and it becomes the basis of a further deepening of our eternal hope. Let me show you a couple of places where we see this spoken of. Romans chapter 8, that's where I get the term groaning. And I think we all understand this experientially, don't we? It's painful. So listen to what Paul says Romans chapter 8 I'll start in verse 18 and read through verse 23. He says, I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God for the creation was subjected to futility not willingly but because of him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption. There's depravity in essence the bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now and not only the creation but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the spirit we groan inwardly as we await eagerly for adoption of sons, the redemption of our body. He's speaking of our hope but it's within this framework of groaning, groaning. Another place we see this is in 2 Timothy chapter three. I'll just mention this really briefly, 2 Timothy chapter three. Listen to what Paul says at the beginning of the chapter as he's exhorting Timothy to be faithful to all that God's called him to. He says, understand this, verse 1, 2 Timothy 3, understand this that in the last days there will come times of difficulty for people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness but denying the power. He's talking about depravity. And he's talking about the difficulty that comes from living in a world of human depravity. And even as God saves us and we have the first fruits of his spirit, we belong to him, we have eternal hope, He's transformed us and he is changing us into the image of Christ. Yet we live in this world where we're going to experience these things. That's the basis of suffering. And so we need to remember this regarding the groaning in this life. Well this leads to a second implication regarding expectations for government and politics. Regarding expectations for government and politics. The fall of mankind in the Garden of Eden has resulted in the depravity of the entire human race. And as a result, no human government can or ever will be perfect. And yet often, isn't that what we want? We want perfection. No human government can fix our problems which are fundamentally spiritual. And so we need realistic expectations and not misguided ones. Government cannot save anyone. Now, this doesn't mean that government is altogether bad. As we're going to see in coming weeks, there are God-ordained purposes for human government in this world. And God does have a God-given place for it. And it's there fundamentally to reward those who do good, to punish those who do evil, to maintain justice, and to promote peace and order. And so we can thank God for that and we should do what we can to pray and to reasonably contribute in the things God's given us means to do to those ends that are good for humanity and that are good for people and that ultimately serve even the progress of the gospel. But we need to have realistic expectations. Our hope is in Christ and Christ alone, not the government. Sometimes I think of the political arena and especially now as the course, presidential race heats up all the more. But I think of the political arena, really the whole world, kind of like a demolition derby. You know what a demolition derby is? I don't know if you've ever been to one. If you haven't been to a demolition derby, you need to go to a demolition derby. But what it is, it's where all these old, beat-up cars are just fighting for who's going to survive the longest. And it's an absolute free-for-all. They're hilarious. Because, I mean, there's no rules. You just basically, you're crashing into everybody, and everybody's out for themselves, and it's the last man standing that wins. It's a total demolition derby. That's why it's called that. That's kind of what so much of politics is, isn't it? Just a demolition derby. Everybody's out for themselves and fundamentally don't care about anybody else but just their own self-promotion, their self-agenda, whatever it may be. So we need to have realistic expectations regarding government and politics. Well, a third implication regarding God's design for the church in this world, regarding God's design for the church in this world. And of course, we'll talk more about these things in days to come as well. But it is the church in God's design that is comprised of redeemed, regenerated men and women where God is displaying his kingdom realities. It's where he's displaying his wisdom, his love, his power, his goodness, his glory. And it's an author, some of you know, by the name of Jonathan Lehman. He's a contemporary author and pastor who's written a lot about these kinds of topics. And he refers to the local church as an embassy from the end of history. Isn't that a beautiful reality? I think that's exactly right. That's what God's doing in the church, not just in a general sense of the church worldwide, but what he's doing in local churches that are formed by him in his name and through his power for the glory of Christ. We are an embassy from the end of history. And so it's a reminder of our identity. It's a reminder of our calling. It's a reminder of our blessings and privileges and responsibilities. We are citizens of the eternal indestructible kingdom of God. And we have the privilege of proclaiming him to a world that desperately needs him. And so that's why what God's working to do in and through the church is through the life and the unity in a local church, he's displaying the supernatural life and unity and beauty of himself in Christ. Paul talks about that a lot, especially in Ephesians chapter 3, and that's what really informs all the obligations, commands he goes on to talk about in chapters 4 through 6. But that's what God is doing. He's revealing what real politics are to look like, what a real government under his authoritative kingship. And amen to what you shared there, Seth, regarding he's a monarch. He's the king of kings. He's the Lord of lords. And this is what his kingdom is to look like. And so the most, as I said earlier, the most powerful political statement that any of us can make in this world as Christians is to live as citizens of Christ's kingdom and be submissive and be devoted and be faithful to his will for us in a local church. It's the most powerful political statement, because the world doesn't have a category for that. And that's the means by which we proclaim the unsearchable riches of Christ to the world that desperately needs him, including every politician as well as every man and woman. So that's a little bit about the path of history. That's a little bit about the depravity of man and how those biblical theological realities have great implications regarding how we live in this world and certainly how we relate to government and to politics. I've covered a lot of ground, and I know this has been a little bit lecture-y. Thank you for indulging me in that. But any closing thoughts or questions before we wrap this up today? Anybody have any thoughts, or even maybe things that you hope we address in weeks to come? Yes, Randy, I see that hand. A quick thought, yeah. What you talked about today is God is sovereignly involved Speaking of politics, as his children, we should be also being about his business. Thank you. Amen. And as we understand how we live in the world, but not of the world, and how much involved, little involved in specific things like politics, that's not always easy. And it may play out somewhat differently. But fundamentally, our primary priorities are crystal clear. So good. Yes, Jason. One of the things that I'm kind of curious if you're going to plan on touching later on, to what extent, but one of the things that's kind of unique about America is as a country founded literally in rebellion, who's got rebellious tendencies enshrined in some of our founding documents and protections for dissent and sorts of things that are very contrary to the submissive tone believers to government in the Bible, it sort of adds a complex dynamic, especially as it relates to politics. So I'm kind of curious, are you going to touch on that in the submission section? Sure. Yes. Yep. And if we don't, don't hesitate to. But yeah, what you're alluding to, I mean, it's part of our national DNA. Yeah. And we see that expressed in many ways. So let me just make a quick note. And then Christina, quick comment, and then we'll wrap up. On the touch of what maybe we might cover in this series, I was thinking about columns 24, 11, and 12, because that's often what I think of when it comes to politics and how I should be thinking about how I vote. And that says, rescue those who are being taken away to the death. Pull back those who are subject to the slaughter. Does not he who weighs a heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it? And will he not repay man according to his work? And I think that in this, and that's a heavy thing. You can talk about it just really in one small section or silo of anything. Ultimately, yes, those headed to the slaughter are eternal. It's an eternal slaughter, and that's what we should be most concerned about. In this day and age, it's so easy to get trapped in theories and news and knowledge, and yet we are called to be aware, and how much so, is my question. And how do we guard ourselves against being deceived in the process? Yeah, we'll touch on some of that. And again, if we don't, don't hesitate to ask him, but we will strive just in the flow of things, absolutely. Because those are, that's where the rubber meets the road and just how does this work out? So, yeah. Let me just make a note. So, good. Well, let me pray and we'll close up for today. Lord, thank you for the really relatively brief time we've had to just feed on your word. Please grant us ever increasing understanding that we who are your people might live in the hope and the riches and the power that we might live faithfully as citizens of your kingdom and know what that means and what that should look like even in this world regarding civil government and politics. And God for any among us who may not be your children who may be dead in their trespasses and sin may you awaken them and may you bring new life to them through faith in Christ. We pray for your blessing in that way and thank you for the time in Christ's name. Amen. Amen.