1 Peter 2, verse 13. 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 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 ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men, as free, and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. Honor all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king. So this message that I have here this evening, I had a decision between a message being preached on grief or a message being preached on a political flavor because of the voting season, and I realized, well, you know, at this point, they're really both kind of one and the same at this point. So, I thought it would be more profitable to us, given the timing, to have a sermon on our civic duty, our civic duty as Christians. So, tonight, that's exactly what the title is for this sermon, is this, it's Our Civic Duty as Believers. So, we'll pray and we will get right into this one. Let's pray. Father, we thank you. Lord, I thank you personally. Father, just each time I come up here, I'm just so thankful that you give me the opportunity to preach, that you give me the opportunity to teach. Father, I thank you for your people who are faithful to your house, Lord, that are obedient to your word. when it says, do not forsake the assembling of yourselves, but so much the more as you see the day approaching. Lord, I thank you for people who still take that command of yours in Hebrew seriously. And Father, I pray that you would use me this hour. Lord, I don't, I'm not coming here with You know, the ice cream and the potato chips type of sermon this evening, Lord, this is a very meat and potatoes type of thing, just steady, nutritional type of preaching for the building up of believers, Lord, and I pray that you would use this, Lord, just as we plot along together, and that you would build somebody up with this sermon. Lord, it is in Jesus' name that I pray, and amen. And you may be seated. Now, this message, this verse, is a launch pad into maybe more of a study than anything else. We're going to be in our Bibles frequently this evening as a result. But I'm not here to tell you, I mean obviously we know there's an election, an important election coming up on Tuesday, and this is not a sermon designed to tell you who to vote for. Okay, that's not, now I'm not afraid to tell you who I'm voting for. I'm not afraid to, you know, to have that conversation. I'm not hiding it by any means, but that's not the flavor of this particular sermon. The reality is neither candidate we have for president is very good by my estimation. I'm sure that many of you would agree with that. We have one person who, you know, if you follow his business endeavors, he's done anything he can to get a buck. And, you know, that's not a man of high character. He lies. He cheats. He steals. He's, you know, in my estimation, oppressive and disrespectful to women. You know, he's not a good man. And on the other hand, you have a woman who, you know, has done some pretty inappropriate things to get to the top of the food chain in her endeavors, and I don't think that she's just competent enough to be the President of the United States, that's just my view. So you have both candidates, neither one of them very good, neither one of them particularly excite me. How do we get there? How do we get to where these are the candidates that we have? How do we get to where neither candidate is really good that you have to, you know, not that it's a ballot box anymore, but how do you get to where you have to kind of hold your nose and, okay, fine, you know? Well, it's the lack of doing things God's way as a society is how we get there. And the truth of the matter is, Our time is not well spent talking about how bad the candidates are, how bad the people out there are. I think you know how bad the candidates are. You know how bad the people out there are. You know how bad you are inside, separate from Jesus Christ abiding in you, the Holy Spirit, the hope of glory. But what we can talk about that I think is very profitable to us in this election season, rather than browbeating these two, Let's iron out the framework for God's will to have the preeminence. That's really what I think we should be talking about. Now the truth of the matter is God is still on his throne. No matter who is president, no matter who gets elected, God is still on his throne. He is the one that we are to set our affections on. And it has shocked me over the last few years how much God's people have not been willing to do that. I can give you illustrations of person after person where, you know, a certain political figure will come to town or a talking head or something like that. And I'll tell you, I have had family members who have gone, and I can tell you a specific story. One time he was in Wellington, Ohio. Donald Trump was in Wellington, Ohio for a rally at the fairgrounds, and he was stopped up for miles on Route 58. I had family members go to that meeting, park their cars on the side of the road, and walk over a mile to get to where he was. Now these same people are professing believers in Christ who won't attend church on a Sunday night or a Wednesday night. We've become out of balance in some areas. But the thing is, He, the Lord, is the one who we are supposed to have our affections on. And He is the one that we are supposed to have our directions set towards. And His desire and His will are all that matter. That's what matters. Go with me to Colossians. Colossians 1, verse 12 reads this way. We need to bury this deep into our hearts. Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature, for by him Now get this, verse 16 is the operative verse here. For by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be, get this, thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things. were created by Him and for Him, and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist." It's all about Jesus. It's not about these two. These two have their successes and their failures. These two are, no matter who it is, they're going to have their four years, their eight years, what have you. And, you know, let the church roll on. It's supposed to all be about Jesus. So our eyes are not supposed to be on this. Our eyes are supposed to be on Him. Now having said that, it is also important to know that God being the only one we should aim to please, has distinct roles of framework that permit his will to be seen through on this earth. And government is a part of that equation. We have a heavenly citizenship. I praise God for that. Do you praise God for your heavenly citizenship? Are you a born-again believer in Jesus this evening? If you are, you have a heavenly citizenship. You have a home in heaven. They're building it right now just for you. And you can take rest in that during this political season. But we have an earthly citizenship as well, and just like anything else God gives us, that citizenship should be stewarded effectively and it should be stewarded biblically. So what am I saying tonight? What's the main drive of the message tonight? It's a simple message. It's, like I say, it's meat and potatoes. It's just the simple edifying of God's people. A timely message on civic duty. But here's my main point. Christians are called to be active citizens. balancing our heavenly citizenship with our earthly responsibilities. Now, get this, to understand our civic duty, we have to recognize the different roles that are involved. Now, by understanding these roles, we can fulfill our civic responsibilities effectively. Now, I'm looking at these, I almost titled it this way, but I'll give you the three roles ahead of time. The first one is, what is God's role? The second one is what is our role. The third is what is the role of our leaders, the governmental leaders that are appointed over us. My hope is in doing a look at these different roles and who fills them and how they're to be filled, that we can have a balanced approach, balancing our earthly citizenship with our heavenly citizenship, making good decisions, operating in the framework that God has given us to see his will done. A byproduct of that, if everyone does it, are good candidates. But you have to do the whole thing. Every piece has to be fitly joined together. And my concern is that we get so focused on waiting until the election, and then these are the two candidates we have, and we go, well, I guess I'll pick that one. Well, no, God has more in store than just doing that. He has much more for us to do than that. And I'd like to look at what our responsibilities are. We'll start. Number one, I'd like to look at God's role in this whole picture. So let's start there, number one. So here's God's role in this equation. We talk about civic responsibility, we talk about biblical responsibility, heavenly citizenship, earthly citizenship. God has a role in this. What is His role in this? Number one, His role is this. His role is He is the absolute authority. God is the absolute authority. That is his role. And nothing will ever take that away from him. And he will never supplant that to something else or somebody else. He's always the authority, no matter who the president is, no matter who your senator is, no matter who the governor is, no matter who your mayor is. God is always the sole authority, and he is the bedrock of everything that we are standing on as Christian people. Not the Republican Party, not the Democratic Party. The ultimate authority who ordains leaders and the institution of government is the Lord. Go with me to the book of Romans. Romans chapter 13. Romans chapter 13, verse 1. Reads this way. Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers, for 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. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same. So the ultimate authority who ordains leaders in the institutions of government are God. The powers that be are ordained of God. Now you say, hey, we voted for him. Yes, we did, but the system in which they're voted in is a system that is ordained of God. And he is the ultimate authority of that. He is also this, how else is he authority? He's the leader of government officials. He is the leader of government officials. Go with me to Proverbs. Proverbs chapter 21. The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord. As the rivers of water, he turneth it whithersoever he will. Go with me to Psalm 22. Pastor, I almost said it again. I almost said Psalm 22. Psalm 22, 28. For the kingdom is the Lord's, and he is the governor among the nations. So we see the leader of the government officials is the Lord. He is the one that holds the heart of the king. He is the one that the government leaders are ultimately accountable to. You say, well, they're not saved. It doesn't matter. I want them to be saved. We'll talk about this later. I pray for them to be saved, but they don't need to be saved for them to be directly accountable to Him and how they choose to govern. They're accountable to Him. He is the ultimate authority. So he's the authority who ordains the leaders in the institutions. He is the leader, direct leader of the government officials. And get this, he is also the decider of policy. God is the decider of policy. Go with me to Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy chapter 16. Deuteronomy chapter 16. Verse 18 through verse 20. Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the Lord thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes, and they shalt judge the people with just judgment. Thou shalt not rest judgment, thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift, for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise and pervert the words of the righteous. that which is altogether just, shalt thou follow, and thou mayest live, and thou mayest live, and thou mayest live, and thou mayest live, and thou mayest live, and thou mayest live, and thou mayest live, and thou mayest live, and thou mayest live, and thou mayest live, and thou mayest live, and thou mayest live, and thou mayest live, and thou mayest live, and thou mayest live, and thou mayest live, and thou mayest live, and thou mayest live, and thou mayest live, and thou mayest live, and thou mayest live, and thou mayest live, and thou mayest live, and thou mayest live, and thou mayest live, and thou mayest live, and thou mayest live, and thou mayest live, and thou mayest live, and thou mayest live, and thou mayest live, and thou mayest live, and thou mayest live, and thou mayest live, and thou mayest live, and thou may Now, in the context of this specific verse, this is Old Testament, this is dealing specifically with Old Testament people and Jews, and I recognize that. But the thing is, God is the decider of policy. Here's what God wants. God wants governmental leaders setting their eyes and their hearts upon the Lord and asking Him what He would do. so that he could give that to them through his word so that they can lead the people appropriately. That's God's desire. And he is the decider of policy. You look at our country and the way our country was organized initially, that follows suit. This country was founded on Christian principles. This country was founded on religious freedom. This country was founded on the Bible. That's how we were founded. And the more we've gotten away from that, the more trouble we've gotten ourselves into. But God's role in this is He is ultimately the authority. He's the authority who ordains the leaders and the institutions. He is the leader that our governmental officials are accountable to directly, and He is the decider of policy. He is the ultimate authority. Well, what qualifies Him to do that? This. What more could He have given? You know, the Bible says that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and that if it wasn't for Jesus Christ dying on that cross, bleeding for our sins, every one of us would have an eternal home in hell right now. That is what we deserve. And it's through a gracious and merciful Father in Heaven that sent His Son, Jesus Christ, down to pay for our sins, to reconcile us back to Him. That same gracious God graciously ordains government and governmental leaders, and His requirement of them is that you listen to Me. That is what God wants. That's God's role. God is the authority. Now, how does that apply to you? What does that mean to you? Well, here's what it means to you. You can stand on that. We'll talk more about this later when it comes to our role, but you need to stand strong on the fact that your final and only authority in all faith and practice of your life is God. Stand on that. Vote on that. Behave on that. Everything that is to be done, let it be done on that solid rock. And don't waver from it. That is God's role. He's the authority. There is no higher authority. There is no rule. There is no governmental entity. There is no nature that goes above him, over his head, or anything to that extent. So that is God's role. Secondly, number two, let's look at our role. We've seen God's role. He's the authority. Let's look at our role. Our role in this, we, simple enough, we are the participants. What is our predominant function in this thing? Our function is to engage as active citizens grounded in our faith in Jesus Christ. How do we do this? I've got five, they're not points, Pastor, I understand the rule. They're quick considerations, that's all they are. I'm gonna go boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, that's all I'm going to do. Yeah, yes, there are five sub points. If you can't see, he's looking like this, yeah. You're getting ready to over-preach the whole point right there, aren't you, Cole? Yep, yes I am, yes I am. All right, anyway, so we'll move quickly through them. Point number two, our role in this, we are the participants. So what do we do? Here's what we do. Number one, we pray for our nation's leaders. We have an obligation to pray for our nation's leaders. Go with me to 1 Timothy. 1 Timothy 2, verse 1, 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, who will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. So we are to pray for our nation's leaders. Why? So that we can have a quiet and peaceable life. We're supposed to pray for them, pray for them, pray with them. Now this implies knowing who they are, and I will admit, That's a newer consideration for me, so I can't sit here and tell you, you should know who every single political figure is above your head. We should. I don't. I'm gonna learn that this week, I promise you. That's a newer consideration for me. I wouldn't preach hypocritically to you. I'll tell you honestly, I don't know who mine are. I'm gonna learn who they are, but I think you should learn too. We can learn together. Learn the names of the authorities over you, and let's pray for them by name. Learn a little bit about them. Learn a little bit about their families. Pray for them. You know, I think about an illustration. A couple of years ago, we got to take the teens over to Cleveland Baptist Church, and John Goetsch came and preached that meeting, and John Goetsch is a, he's the president of West Coast Baptist College, and he's, which is Paul Chappell's ministry out there in California, and I asked him a very pointed question, because this was during COVID, and I noticed there was a whole lot of things going on negatively over at Brother Treiber's church, and they were getting all these shutdowns and all these rules and all these things happening to them, and there was really nothing negative going on at Brother Chapel's church, just three hours away from them, and I asked him about that. I said, what's the difference? Why are they getting all this heat and you're not getting any heat? Brother Goetsch said, well, Cole, the fact of the matter is we're praying for and with our elected officials, and they're spending all their time yelling at them. Which one's more biblical? Pray for them so you can have a quiet and peaceable life. They say, oh, you're just pacifying the governmental officials. No, you're praying for them, and there's something deep in the heart of man that appreciates that. It gives you that quiet and peaceable life. It also honors the Father in heaven when you pray for your elected officials. Pray for your nation's leaders. Number two here, and this one seems obvious, pay your taxes. Just pay your taxes. Go with me to Matthew. Matthew 22 verse 21 reads this way. They say unto him, Caesars, then say that he unto them. I'll go back a couple of verses. Let's go to verse 17. I love how Jesus just cuts to the quick with the things that he says. Show me the tribute money, and they brought unto him a penny, and he saith unto them, Who is this image and superscription? They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things which are God's. Pay your taxes. Don't be a Ken Hovind. Do not be that type of person. If you don't know who he is, he was unbelievably intelligent, in my estimation, man, who was really kind of a Christian science enthusiast who did a lot of great work for the Lord in that space, but you know he didn't want to pay his taxes. He got thrown right into prison for that. You don't want to do that. Pay your taxes. You have an obligation to that. Pay the taxes. Say, I don't like paying taxes. I don't like paying taxes either. I think they're too high. I also think they're too high. Pay your taxes. Okay? It's biblical. That's your civic responsibility. 3. Go with me to 1 Peter. Same verse we were in before. 1 Peter 2, verse 13. 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 them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of them that do well. So number three, obey the law. Obey the law. I think these are relatively simple, but it has surprised me over time what people are not willing to do. even though they call themselves Christian. But the Bible says, obey the law. You have a law of the land. If it doesn't directly contradict the word of God, obey that law. If the speed limit is such, follow the speed limit. If the ordinary... Joe's back there smiling at me. He's like, my foot's too heavy for that, Brother Cole. I don't know if I can follow that one. I know, you knew I was going for that, too. Every preacher always uses the speed limit. No preacher ever follows the speed limit. What's going on with all of you? I recognize. Follow the speed limit. If there's a curfew on your street, make sure you and your kids are inside the house or whatever. If they're doing things like that, just follow the laws. The Bible says they're only a terror to evildoers. If there's a law there, now listen, we have to follow them. It's a bad testimony if you don't. You know why? Because they have access to this document. Do you know that? You know they have access to this, people who are non-Christians? Look, a busted clock is right twice a day. They see you not obeying the law, they happen upon that verse and they ask you about it. What are you going to tell them? You ruin your testimony. Why? Because you want to go 75 in a 60? Because you want to use your firearms wherever you want to use them? Forget city ordinances. You know, you want to spend your whole life fighting the government instead of serving the Lord? Don't be that type of a person. Just obey the law. Fourthly, go with me to Romans. Romans again, Romans chapter 13, similar to where we were. Verse four. 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, 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, but also for conscience sake. Go with me back, actually let's start here at verse two. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God, and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation." Number four here, respect your authorities. Respect your authorities. There are authorities that I don't like, and I don't always like them, but they are always my authorities. There's a statement that I live by in my work world. They're not always right, but they're always the boss. Respect them. Show them the respect. If not for the person, respect the position. If Kamala Harris is the president of our country, I'm going to call her President Kamala Harris. It is not because I like Kamala Harris. I don't. But she's the president. If she gets voted in, that makes her the president. She's the president. I will refer to her as President Kamala Harris. If she walked through the door, I would shake her hand and say, hello, President Harris. Why? It's because I respect her. Not necessarily. I respect her position. That's a position that God ordains, friends. And we have to respect it because if we don't, we receive damnation unto ourselves. Now, I know you're angry. I know you get hot under the collar when we talk about that side of things. But you know, go soul winning more. You know why? Because you know what you'll see if you go soul hunting? Joe, did we not see this just a few weeks ago? We went to a duplex, and in the duplex, and I knew this was gonna happen just because I know how the Lord works. There was a duplex, one of them had a Trump sign, the other one had a Harris sign, same duplex. And we walked up on that house and we went, oh, this is gonna be interesting. You know, the Trump person was the nastiest person. Cigarette in her mouth, yelling at us. We walk over and wonder what Mr. Kamala is going to have to say. He came out, that guy is a born again believer. Loves the Lord. Goes to church. Doesn't do it the way we do it. But he had a testimony of salvation. Why do I bring that up? Because things aren't always as black and white as you think that they are. Respect the authority. And you know what? Because I didn't disrespect Kamala Harris, you know what I got to do? I got to talk to that guy. Respect the authority. It'll do things that you are not aware it's doing. Fifthly, letter E in our part of this. This is important. We like to do this, but we need to do this. Speak out against unbiblical laws and leaders. Go with me to the book of Acts. Acts 5, verse 28. Let's start at 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? And behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man's blood upon us. Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men. Speak out against unbiblical laws and leaders. Stand up for that. Don't give ground that God doesn't give. Stand on it. If it means you go to prison, stand on it. If it means that you lose your freedoms, stand on it. Don't be afraid of it. Don't let COVID happen again. Don't let things like that take place. How can you stand? Well, number one, vote. God's giving you citizenship here. Steward it appropriately. Vote. Influence people. You know, I've heard it said, you know, people always think, well, my vote doesn't matter. You know why your vote doesn't matter? Your vote doesn't matter because you don't have any influence over anybody else. Because you don't spend your time serving people and taking care of people and educating yourself to have an opinion that's worth listening to. Vote, and then have a life and a testimony that influences other people. And if you influence 10 people towards a biblical worldview of voting, guess what? That is 10 votes in a biblical worldview of voting. Influence people. Vote. Influence people. You know what else you can do? You can go soul winning. If you want to save America, get America saved. That's the key. It doesn't matter who you vote for. It doesn't matter what law we have, what law we don't have. If we have a bunch of people going to hell without the Holy Spirit, the blind leading the blind, how is that going to help any of us? You can have a law that completely gets rid of abortion, but people are still going to go out there and get abortions. They're just going to do it illegally. That's a hard problem. We have to go out there and tell them the love of Christ, and how there's hope, and how God's angry with their behavior, but He loves them, and He died for them, and He wants to save them. And then they can receive Him and they have a new nature and that nature becomes one that instead of a woman wanting to kill her baby, it turns into a nature of a woman wanting to raise a family. To follow a husband. To serve the Lord. It produces inside of a man, instead of a man that runs as soon as he gets what he wants, it produces a man who wants to serve the Lord and take care of his family the way the Bible teaches him to. And policy doesn't change that. Preaching and soul winning changes that. And we have to continue in those things. Speak out against unbiblical laws and leaders, but do it the right way. Don't stop your foot on social media. No one cares what you say on social media. Did you know that? You type it out, you send it out, and the only person that cares about it is you and the people who are waiting to disagree with you. Stop it. Go soul winning. Disagree with them on the gospel. Tell them you're wrong. You're on your way to hell. Don't you understand? Stand up for Jesus, not your opinions. Vote. Influence. Go soul winning. Speak out against unbiblical laws and leaders. That's our role, the participants. We pray for our leaders, we pay our taxes, we obey the laws, we respect our authorities, we speak out against unbiblical laws and leaders, we vote, influence, and go slow winning. That's what it means to be a Christian citizen. Thirdly, their role, meaning the leaders. Romans, I've got three quick ones here. Romans 13, 3. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt 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. For he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. The role of the leader is to restrain evil and to promote justice. The role of the leader, as we saw, I won't turn there again, but going back to Deuteronomy 16, verses 18 and 20, God expected it from those leaders. I believe God expects it from leaders today. Number two, be consistent and be honest. That's their role, to be consistent and to be honest. And then number three, we've already touched on this, but their role also as the leaders is to obey the Lord and work on his behalf. And it's our job to make them aware when they're not. So, my way of conclusion here. Christians are called to be active citizens, balancing our heavenly citizenship with our earthly responsibilities. Now, to understand our civic duty, we must recognize the roles that are involved. As I've said, God's role. He's the ultimate authority who ordains leaders and the institution of government. That's his role. Our role is to engage as active citizens grounded in our faith in Jesus Christ. Government's role is to restrain evil and to promote justice within the framework of a biblical worldview. Now, by understanding these roles, we can fulfill our civic responsibilities effectively. And the lack of these things, well, you've seen what it's caused so far. Let's continue in these things. Let's do right by the Lord. Let's do right by our country. Let's pray. Father, we thank you.