I want you to turn with me tonight to Matthew's Gospel, chapter 22, please. The Gospel by Matthew, chapter 22, and we're reading, please, at verse 15. The Gospel by Matthew, chapter 22, and we're reading, please, at verse 15. And we have come to our 10th study, really, I suppose, our 16th study on this subject, we believe that. And our subject tonight is, we believe that the church and state are distinct. And we're reading from Matthew's Gospel, chapter 22, and verse 15. Some of these subjects I have never spoken on before. Some of them I have never heard preached before. And that concerns the one that lies before us this evening. I have never heard anyone preach on the subject, the church and the state are distinct. And so, if it's new to you tonight, it's all new to me. And what I want to do, by way of introduction, is give you some historical facts, and then I want to go into the substance of the message and lay before you some biblical foundations. Historical facts, and then some biblical foundations. Matthew's Gospel, chapter 22, and verse 15. Then went the Pharisees unto counsel, how they might entangle him, that is, the Lord Jesus, in his talk. And they sent unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true and teachest the way of God in truth. Neither carest thou for any man, for thou regardest not the person of men. Tell us, therefore, what thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar or not? But Jesus perceived their wickedness and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? Show me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny. And he saith unto them, Whose 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 that are God's. When they had heard these words, they marveled. and left him and went their way. In 313 A.D., Constantine established Christianity as the religion of the Roman Empire. This led to the idea of the church claiming the whole world community as her own. All became the subjects of the nation and of the church through the ordinances, especially baptism. Increasingly, infant baptism became not only the mark of membership of a visible church, but of citizenship, since church and state were so closely intertwined. This development, of course, was later to bring persecution to those who refused to baptize their infants in the usual way. You see, the Church controlled every department of life. The result was religious totalitarianism at the cost of religious liberty. At the time of the Reformation, this is what the Anabaptists, this is what set the Anabaptists apart from all the other Reformers and, of course, from the Roman Catholic Church. Constantine had introduced the idea of nominal Christianity, and the idea of the Christian state. And from that time of the Reformation, the church and the state were totally intertwined. The period, of course, between Constantine and the Reformation was known as the Dark Ages. And dark they were indeed, for the true gospel was nearly snuffed out. apart from a few pockets of believers that were dotted here and there through the continent of Europe. At the time of the Reformation, when Martin Luther and John Calvin got saved, they were eventually kicked out of the Church of Rome. But there were now two blocs insisting on the total allegiance of its citizens and members, and those loyalties depended entirely on geographical and political boundaries. You see, my dear friends, the only difference between the Reformers and the Roman Catholic Church on this issue was that Rome's claim was over all of Christendom, whereas the Reformers' claim was over the individual state, the religion of whose subjects was determined by the religion of the prince or the ruler of that state. In practice, the church became the state. in its religious dimension. Through infant baptism, the church claimed each individual life from the beginning with no room for religious liberty. You can imagine, can't you, the tensions were running high. They were running high not only between the Reformers and the Roman Catholic Church, but they were running high among the Reformers themselves. Zingwale was charged by the Anabaptists that he had once agreed with their opposition to infant baptism. And what was happening was this, that the religious and political map of Europe was taking on very definite boundary lines. Luther formed the Lutheran Church in Germany. John Calvin formed the Reformed or Presbyterian Church in Geneva, in Switzerland, and also in France. Zingwali encouraged the persecution and the punishment of Anabaptists in the pursuit of good civil and ecclesiastical order. While John Calvin linked church and state in the control and administration of the city of Geneva and suppressed heresy by calling on those civil powers and their authority. Heretics were the enemies of the cause of Christ. and so should be punished. And so John Calvin did not see any contradiction between the grace of the gospel and the burning of severitis for his Anabaptist and anti-Trinitarian concepts. You see, my dear friends, the Anabaptists proclaimed that the church was a spiritual fellowship of born-again believers. called out and separated from the world. A man may be born into the world, a man may be born into the state, a man may be born into the country, but they must be born again. That new birth was signified by believers' baptism, entered into consciously and voluntarily, and not as in the case of babies, involuntarily and unconsciously. The result? the Anabaptists suffered persecution, tremendous persecution. And they suffered not only tremendous persecution at the hands of the Roman Catholic Church, they suffered tremendous persecution at the hands of the Reformed authorities. Now, this appeal for religious liberty arose out of the Anabaptist view of the Church. All of the confessions of the Anabaptists stressed the spiritual nature of the Church. and all insisted that there could be no state interference in matters of religion. Christians must be a free, unforced, uncompelled religion. Coercion has no place in the realm of belief and religious conviction. Early English Baptists such as John Smith and Thomas Helwys reflected in their writings a similar repudiation of coercion in matters of faith. the 17th century in England, Baptists suffered under the attempts of Archbishop Laud to impose Anglican ascendancy. Later, they also suffered at the Calvinist attempts to impose a Presbyterian ascendancy. They were protected by Oliver Cromwell, who tolerated them as long as they did not subvert or endanger the state. In 1660, with the restoration of the monarchy under Charles I, Baptists with other non-conformists were severely persecuted. John Bunyan, who wrote Pilgrim's Progress, was persecuted in this way. Now, for a while, on the island of Ireland, although they were in the minority, the Protestant Church of Ireland was the state church. That is the church recognized as the official church of the country. And then the Roman Catholic Church became the state church. Indeed, there was little separation between Catholic church and Catholic state. So much so, that it was felt to be truly Irish, you had to be a Catholic as well. And of course, you and I know tonight, up until very recently, the bishops of the Catholic Church had an awful lot of clout in the corridors of power. And what about Ulster? What about this province in which we live? Am I not correct in saying that it was perceived as a Protestant country, where the dominant church was the Church of Ireland or the Presbyterian Church? Now that's the lecture on history over. But let me ask you tonight, after all those historical facts, let me ask you tonight a simple question. Is this how Christ intended his church to develop when he said, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it? Is this how the apostles expected the church to develop when they spent so much time in being persecuted by the state? Did the apostles ever see the day when the church on the one hand and the state on the other hand would become as one? Somehow I don't think so. Now this relationship of church and state remains a very complex issue. And I don't pretend to have all the answers. However, I want to set before you tonight four salient points to help us in our understanding of this topic. First of all, there's a definition we ought to maintain. Two, there's a distinction we ought to make. Three, there's a duty we ought to mention. And then finally, there's a dignity we ought to mark. What is the church? What is the state? The word church in the New Testament, as you know, is the Greek word ekklesia, which means a gathering together of people. The Hebrew equivalent means to summon. Sometimes it is translated assembly when used in relation to the nation of Israel. The English word church is derived from a Greek word, which means belonging to the Lord. And if you fuse all of those strands together, you'll get a biblical understanding of the church. The church is a gathering together of people called out by the Lord and belonging to Him. The state is of a different nature. The state is the total body of all its citizens. Now think with me for a moment of the spiritual church. The church is an organism and it's not an organization. You say, what's the difference? Well, an organism has life. An organization has not. Well, what is an organism? Well, your body and mine is an organism. It is an organic structure revealing in many ways the activity of life. An organization is something totally different. An organization has parts, it's got functions, but it lacks the vital principle of life. The church of Jesus Christ is a living organism created by the Lord Jesus. You remember Paul's words, For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for to make in himself of twain one new man the church, so making peace. There, my dear friends, you have nothing short of a new race of mankind, Jew and Gentile, created by the Lord Jesus. And Christ is the head of that race. He's the creator of the church. He's the Lord of the church. His relationship to the church tonight is that of the head to the body, that of the husband to the wife, that of the shepherd to the sheep. Now, who has any right to come between the Lord and His church? between the head and the body, between the husband and the wife, between the shepherd and the sheep, the new order belongs to its creator and to no other. The body belongs to its head and no other. The wife belongs to her husband and no other. The sheep belong to the shepherd and to none other. My dear friends, because of this intimate organic relationship between Christ and His church, no assembly is too small for His personal presence, interests, resources, and directions. He makes that plain when He says, where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them. The context tells us that the Lord Jesus is not speaking of individual believers. He is speaking of a local assembly. He is speaking of a corporate He is speaking of a corporate entity. My dear friends, if Christ is the Lord of the assembly of two or three, then He's the Lord of the assembly of three hundred or ten thousand. This means that He's the Lord of all the assemblies, individually and collectively. He's the Lord of the church. Now, is all this not unfair? That there should be no Lord between the church Christ. That there should be no master over the church but Christ. Here is the basic reason why there should be a separation between church and state. Now it may interest you tonight that historically Baptists have believed, taught, preached, and even died for four basic principles. Principle number one, The Bible has the sole rule of faith and practice. Churches, as against the church, believers' baptism, and the separation of church and state. The Bible is the sole rule of faith and practice. My dear friends, do you know what that means tonight? That precludes an infallible pope. That excludes an authoritative, centralized, ecclesiastical body. We believe in autonomous churches. We believe that this local church is a complete unit. We believe that Christ is the head and He's the only head of the local church. We can't find anywhere in Scripture where the local church has authority to transfer its autonomy to any centralized authority. And then, of course, there's the truth of believers' baptism. We insist that baptism should follow a person's profession of faith and never precede it. Believers' baptism tonight precludes infant baptism. You see, without infant baptism tonight, there can never be any union of church and state. There can be no state church, and there can be no church state. The Roman Catholic Church tonight, claiming the allegiance of all mankind, cannot tolerate believers' baptism. It must demand infant baptism if a child is to enter into the kingdom of heaven. And, of course, we believe in the separation of church and state. Now, having looked at the spiritual church, look with me at the secular power. The state, according to Noel Smith, is the total body of all its citizens. The basic duty of the state is to protect life and property. The very nature of the state obliges it to promote the interests of all and not just of some. And yet, my dear friends, tonight the history of the Roman Catholic Church is a history of the degrading of states. In Roman Catholic states tonight, the interest of the church rather than that of the people come first. In the Roman Catholic state, the church is the master. All public functions must have the blessing of the church. Of course, the church is the Pope, and the Pope's teachings are infallible. And don't forget tonight that the Pope decrees not only on spiritual matters, he decrees on political matters as well. What about the Protestant church? Noel Smith states, the only serious and important demand in England for the services of the Church of England is on Coronation Day or when a member of the Royal Family marries or dies. The Church of England is to the State what the wax dummy woman is to the show window of a big department store, a thing to display expensive dress. You see tonight, this union of Church and State has never been a success for either church or state. With the Roman Catholic Church, the state is degraded. With the Protestant Church, the church is degraded. And neither a degraded state or a degraded church has a message of hope for its citizens. Now, there's the definition we ought to maintain. Let's come to the distinction we ought to make. Let's look at Christ's classic statement. concerning a Christian's responsibility to government. Look at Matthew chapter 22, and notice verse 21. Then saith he, the Lord Jesus, unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's. So we've got a duty to the state in which we live, And we have a separate duty to the God whom we serve, the God who made us. Suppose tonight the commands of Caesar and the commands of God disagree. Do we obey Caesar, arguing that God has set him over us and that God will take care of the consequences of our act? Or do we obey God? Even the matter of taxes is not entirely clear. what of our taxes are being used for immoral ends, to support an unjust war or other evils? Dr. James Montgomery Boyce suggests four possible options regarding the Lord's words. Look at these words again. Verse 21, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's. The first option that James Montgomery Boyce teaches is this, God alone. In the early church, there were persons who were called anchorites. They went off into the desert. They separated themselves from all social context, living solely for God. And today, of course, there are those who believe that we should be so separated from the secular sphere that individual believers should never go into politics or should never vote in an election. They should withdraw from the culture. They should live in distinct Christian communities. They should have only Christian friends. They should have basically have nothing to do with this world. It's just another way of saying that the authority of the state is illegitimate. I want to suggest to you tonight that the Lord Jesus didn't look upon it like that. Do you remember what he said to Pilate? Maybe we should look at it. Look at John's Gospel, chapter 19. John's Gospel, chapter 19. And look at verse 9. Or verse 8, when Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid, and went into the judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer. Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee? Jesus answered, Thou couldst have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above. Now here is Christ. He's the head of the church, and he's appearing before the chief representative of human government, and he says, Thou couldest have no power at all, except it were given thee from above. Now, we know that Pilate made the wrong decision concerning our Lord Jesus Christ, but Christ says that he has the authority to make that decision. You see, believers are to be subject to the powers that be. We're going to see tonight that there are some limits, but Christians are to be model citizens. Now, come back again to the Lord's words in Matthew 22. The first option is God alone. Render therefore unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's. The second option is Caesar alone. And as Dr. James Boyce says, this is the most dangerous option. Do you recall that at the trial of the Lord Jesus, the chief priest said, we have no king but Caesar. And in this option, God is forced out of the picture. And if God is gone out of the picture, there is nothing left but human whims and cruelties. You and I tonight live in a society where some are seeking to remove every vestige of God from national life. They tell us that the state is not in the business to legislate morality. But my dear friends, when the government enforces laws against murder, what's that? Is it not the state saying, we agree that life is precious and it's wrong to take it away? Is that not then enforcing the sixth of the ten commandments? The first option is God alone. The second option is Caesar alone. The third option is Caesar dominant over God. It is one in which God and Caesar both properly exercise authority, but Caesar is dominant. It's the option of the cards. This was the option of Pilate. He didn't want to condemn the Lord Jesus, but he feared the Jews. You remember the cry of the Jews? If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend. Whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar." You see, the Jewish leaders were going to denounce him to Caesar, and so Pilate, fearing that capitulated, he feared man. The last option of these words in verse 21 is God dominant over Caesar. That's the right one. The authority of God and Caesar, but with God in the dominant position. The position is basic to our Lord's words. Thou couldest have no power at all except it were given thee from above. Now you think with me tonight of the world in which the Lord Jesus entered. The people didn't have a democracy. They didn't have the opportunity to vote. They didn't have the freedoms that you and I enjoy tonight. But what did Christ say? He said, render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things which are God's. The Lord Jesus didn't come with power and force to overthrow Roman tyranny. He didn't seek to change. He didn't seek social change. He didn't come with political issues at stake. He didn't come with economic issues at stake. Those were not the concern of His life and ministry. His appeal was always to the hearts of men and women. He preached the gospel of salvation. He wasn't interested in a new social order. My friends, he was interested in a new spiritual order, the church. And he commanded the church of Jesus Christ to carry on the same kind of ministry. So there's the definition we ought to maintain. And then there's a distinction we ought to make. Let's come to our duty tonight. You see, us Christians, our citizenship in heaven. Heaven is our home. And my dear friends, as far as the world is concerned tonight, we're just passing through. But this heavenly citizenship isn't the only citizenship we have as believers. If you've got a passport tonight, you've got another citizenship. Many people now are coming with Irish passports, You know why? They're free. But if you've got a passport tonight, you've got a citizenship. Now let me pause. I want you to see tonight that the Christian faith affects the totality of our life's experience. It touches every element of our life, our thoughts, our words, our actions, our relationships. Nothing is left unaffected by the change that Jesus Christ brings about in a life. Christianity cannot be isolated from any part of life. When we turn to the New Testament, we discover that the epistles speak about the Christian as a citizen. They lay before us our responsibility and duty to civil government. They teach us that we are to obey authority. Come over to Romans chapter 13 for a moment. Romans chapter 13 and verse 1. Romans chapter 13 and verse 1. Let me just take time to read the first three verses. Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers, for there is no power but of God. 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 the evil. Wilt thou then be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same." Now, I want you to notice here the responsibility. The responsibility. The phrase translated, every soul, means every person. The emphasis is on every individual person. Each one of us tonight has a precise duty. The phrase, be subject, is a military term. It means to line up. It means to take your orders. Each one of us needs to get in line to submit to those who are commanding us. You say, who does the commanding? The higher powers. The freest means the authorities who have authority over us. They are the supreme power. Look at verse 13, or verse 3 rather. They are called rulers. Now, what I want you to see tonight is this, that the text and the context makes no distinction between good rulers and bad rulers. It makes no distinction between fair laws or unfair law. In fact, it was the obedience of Christians to unfair laws and unjust rulers in times of persecution during the early years of the Roman Empire that brought tolerance and eventually acceptance of Christianity within that empire. So we are called to submit. Now, please don't assume that Paul is writing the book of Romans with a Christian government in mind. Certainly the government in Rome was not Christian. It was anything but Christian. Let me say tonight categorically that the only Christian government that will ever exist will be the one in the Millennial Kingdom. All other governments are flawed. Here's our responsibility. Let every soul, every person be subject unto the powers, unto the higher powers. We are to obey civil authority. Maybe you're saying tonight, does that mean we're to submit to everything without qualification? No, there is one limitation. Come back to the book of Acts chapter 4, the Acts of the Apostles chapter 4. Acts chapter 4, And notice, please, verse 13. Now, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, this is the Sanhedrin, the religious authority, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled and took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus. And beholding the man which was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it. But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, They conferred among themselves, saying, What shall we do to these men? For that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them as manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But that it spread no further among the people, let us straightly threaten them that they speak henceforth to no man in this name. And they called them, that is, Peter and John, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said unto them, whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. So when they had further threatened them, they let them go finding nothing, how they might punish them because of the people. For all men glorified God for that which was done." Now, I want you to see here the restriction—the restriction. It's given to us succinctly in verse 18. They commanded the apostles not to teach or preach in the name of Jesus. That's the restriction. It's the decision of this religious council and authority. Look not only at the restriction, look at the response in verse 19. But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge thee. There's now a serious conflict here. The Lord Jesus had told them to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. The authorities said, you're not to preach. So Peter says, in effect, you tell us whom we should obey, you or God. The answer is obvious, isn't it? If civil government commands that which is contrary to what God requires. You see, my dear friends, we have a right to disobey the government when it commands us not to do something that God has commanded us to do. or when it commands us to do something God has commanded us not to do, then we ought to obey God rather than men. I want you to see here the restriction. I want you to see here the response. And then I want you to see the result. They went and had a meeting with the brethren. They had a prayer meeting. Look at verse 31. And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were associated, where they were assembled together. And they were filled with the Holy Ghost, and they speak the word of God with boldness, that shows you who they decided to obey. They weren't quiet at all. But here's our responsibility. Let every soul be subject unto the higher power. Now, come back to Romans 13 again. I know that I'm wakekeeping you moving about tonight, but I'm sure it'll help you from falling asleep. People tell me they're freezing down in the pews. I wish they would be up here. I want you to see the responsibility. And then I want you to see the reason. Verse 1, chapter 13. 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. Despite the abuses of governmental power, human government is still a divine institution. Evil men may be elected to power. Evil men may seize power. They may have no thought of God at all, they may have no thought of the Word of God, but the very fact that God permits them to seize the reins of government means that he has a purpose to fulfill, even through their misrule. Government is appointed by God, and our duty is to obey authority. Many of you have heard of Georgi Vins. He was a believer who lived for many years in the former Soviet Union. He was asked what it was like to live under tyranny, under oppression, under repression, under a communist government. He said that the Christians can't pursue an education, they can't pursue a career, they have no say in the government, they have no freedoms, they cannot speak. The question was then asked, how do you respond to that kind of government? Here's what Georgi Vins said, He said we obey every law in our nation, whether it appears to us to be just or unjust, except when we're told that we cannot worship God or obey the Word of God. But if we are persecuted, if we are put into prison, it will be as a result of our faith in Jesus Christ, not because we have violated some law in our nation. Is that not exactly what the apostle Peter says? Come over to Peter for a moment. 1 Peter chapter 2. 1 Peter chapter 2, please. And verse 13. 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 13. He says, Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake. whether it be to the king or 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." Now I want you to see here the setting. Don't forget the setting. The secular power of the time was the Roman Empire. It was the Roman Empire that condemned the Lord Jesus to death. It was the Roman Empire that persecuted the followers of Christ. Many of these believers, to whom Peter wrote, had suffered persecution. The bodies of their friends and loved ones had bloodied the sands of the Roman Colosseums. Their corpses, soaked in oil, had lit that vast stadium. These believers had been the target of the worst kind of mistreatment by the government, by their fellow citizens, by their neighbor. Should these Christians pick up arms and resist a government with such a leader as Nero at its helm? Should they organize, protest, rallies? No, says Peter. Incredibly, in the midst of it all, he says, submit. Now that's the setting. Now look at the command. Look at verse 13. Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake. The word ordinance means creation. It means institution. It doesn't refer to each individual law. It refers to the institutions that make and enforce the law. You see, it's possible to submit to the institutions and still disobey the laws of the land if those laws run contrary to the law of God. You remember Daniel and his three friends refused to obey the king's dietary laws. And so they disobeyed the law, but the way they did it proved they honored the king and respected authority. My friends, tonight, is it not important that we respect the office, even though we cannot respect the man or the woman in the office? You see, that word, submit, it's again a military term. It means to fall in rank under an authority. It's the idea of subjecting yourself. It's the idea of placing yourself under another's authority. I'm here tonight to tell you that God does not promote anarchy. You see, the believer was not put on this earth to overthrow governments. The believer was put on this earth to establish in the human heart a kingdom that is not of this world. And so I want you to see the setting, and then I want you to see the command, and then in verse 13, I want you to see the motive. Look at it. Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake. We obey because we want to honor the Lord Jesus. We want to imitate the Lord Jesus who, when He was reviled, reviled not again. When He suffered, He threatened not, but He committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously. Now, let me ask you tonight, are you an example in civil obedience? You see, when it comes to filling in the tax forms, are you an example? You see, when it comes to driving the car, are you an example? You see, when it comes to keeping the law, are we model citizens? You say, preacher, I don't worry about all that government stuff. I'm a Christian. I'm free in Jesus Christ. The Lord has set me gloriously free. I don't have to obey anyone. Well, Peter tells us in this very passage, he deals with that in this very passage. For he tells us that we're not only to obey authority, we're to act responsibly. Look at verse 16. He says, as free, and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God, In other words, don't use your freedom in Christ as a cover-up for doing wrong. Let's translate that into today's terms. I jump into my car tonight after the service, I go to the top of the road, I turn left, I meet the traffic lights, and suddenly the light goes red. Well, am I not free in Christ? Have I not got liberty in Christ? After all, I don't have to obey those silly laws of the government that they have laid down. I can just go through that red light, and wham, I've wrecked my car. Now let me say tonight, the government has no right to control this pulpit. The government has no right to tell us what we teach or what we preach. But it has every right to control matters that relate to health and safety, and if the law requires a number of exits or fire extinguishers or emergency lights, the church must comply. All that I want you to see is Peter is saying, act responsibly, be a good citizen. The best way to silence the critics of the gospel is by doing good. Ah, but there's something else here. We are not only to obey authority, and we are not only to act responsibly. Look at 1 Timothy chapter 2 for a moment. We are to pray incessantly. Look at 1 Timothy chapter 2. Here's Paul writing to this young pastor at Ephesus. And he says, here's the principle of behavior for the church. I exhort, therefore, first of all, give priority to this, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings, for all that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. Is that in your Bible tonight? Black ink is on the white page of my Bible tonight, and it says we are to pray for those who are in authority. I just wonder tonight, is this why the United Kingdom is in the mess she's in? We've forgotten to pray for our leaders. You say, Preacher, we don't have the right kind of leaders. We don't have the right kind of men. We need new leaders. My dear friends, it doesn't matter what kind of leaders we have. If God's people pray, God will take care of us. I don't care who the king is tonight. This book says the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord. As the rivers of water, he turneth it whithersoever he will. God is the one who sets up kings. God is the one who established kings. God is the one who removes kings. Do you not believe tonight that God can change a leader? Do you not believe tonight that God can remove a leader? My friends, tonight the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. They are mighty through God to the pulling down of the strongholds of Satan. Now, please don't misunderstand me. I am not saying that through democratic and peaceful means we should not seek to influence our government to uphold good standards of law and morality. What I am saying is that you and I as believers neglected the most powerful weaponry that we as believers have—the weapon of prayer. Here's your duty to civil government. Obey authority, act responsibly, pray incessantly. Come back to Romans chapter 13. Because we are to support financially, Look at verse 6. You see, we're not only to pray for our government, we are to pay for our government. I don't like the inland revenue, do you? I hate those letters coming through the door and they're changing this code and that code and the other code. But the Lord Jesus paid us taxes. What's more, he told Peter to pay his taxes too. Look at verse 6. For, for this cause, pay ye tribute also. The Greek word for tribute refers to a tax levied against individual people. It's referring to personal tax. Now, what I want you to see tonight is this, that in this chapter, Paul lays down two basic responsibilities that a believer has to the government. They are to submit to the government. They are to pay their taxes. But what if we disagree with the government's use of our tax money? What if we disagree with the policies of our government? What if we think that the present tax structure is unfair? The Bible is explicit. Verse 6, for this cause. Pay ye tax also." It doesn't even qualify that statement. It just says, pay your taxes. I wonder tonight how are you and I doing in relation to our civil duty? Do we obey authority? Do we act responsibly? Do we pray incessantly? we support financially. I want to lift you tonight to a higher realm. I want you to think finally about a dignity we ought to mark. It's the dignity of our calling. You remember, the apostle Paul says, we are laborers together with God. Writing to the same church at Corinth, he says, now then, we are ambassadors for Christ. As though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's name, be ye reconciled to God. My dear friends, listen. As Christians, are we not in danger of forgetting our high calling? Certainly there are the prevalent issues in government. We are staring in the face of an election in the next few months. There is nothing wrong in serving in a government position. Daniel did that. Every time he avoided compromise, he received a greater reputation. And as a result of his uncompromising stand and attitude, He was eventually promoted to be the Prime Minister of the Medo-Persian Empire. It is an honor to serve in government, but it was Daniel's conciliatory and yet uncompromising attitude that caused him to prosper. May the Lord give wisdom to those who name his name in government circles. But my friends, these are only current issues. These are only issues of time and sense. The paramount issue is of the kingdom. C.S. Lewis reminded Christians that human beings live forever. The state is only temporal. It is reserved to comparative insignificance. My friends, tonight politics is not our priority. That doesn't mean we're not to be involved as moral citizens, but the heart of our ministry tonight is the gospel. We are a kingdom of priests. We are not a kingdom of politicians. And your purpose and mine in the world is to bring men and women to saving faith in Jesus Christ. Now, let me challenge you in closing. Are you more concerned with the political than with the spiritual? Are you more concerned with the temporal than with the eternal? Are you more concerned with the passing than with the permanent? Are you more concerned with altering the state than the saving of the soul? Plenty of zeal for temporary things. Plenty of zeal for things that are transient. Plenty of zeal for a world that is passing away. But what about the zeal for lost souls of people who tonight are on their way to hell? Do we not need to listen to the words of our Master? But seek ye first the kingdom of God. His righteousness. And all these things shall be added unto you. Mine are the hands to do the work. My feet shall run for thee. My lips shall sound the glorious news. Lord, here am I. Send me." Let's pray.