Samuel chapter 8, 1 Samuel chapter 8, and you'll find that on page 842. Wait a minute, what did I say? 482. I suffer from numbers dyslexia, and that's not a joke. I don't suffer from word dyslexia, but I can tell you what, it's the Dickens to balance my checkbook. All right, that's page 482. And you will notice, since we're celebrating the 4th of July this coming week, which it was 249 years ago that it was signed this coming Friday, I am wearing red, white, and blue. White shirt, red bow tie, the only fully red tie I've got. and a blue coat, so red, white, and blue, just trying to remind myself I'm grateful to be in this country. Well, thank you, thank you. Okay, our scripture there on page 429, Israel asks for a king. When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as judges for Israel. The name of his firstborn was Joel, the name of his second was Abijah, and they served at Beersheba. But his sons did not walk in his ways. They turned aside for dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice. Pause with a question right there. Is a campaign contribution bribe. Just something to think about. Then he says there in verse 4, so all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. They said to him, you're old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint a king to lead us such as all the other nations have. But when they said, Give us a king to lead us, this displeased Samuel. So he prayed to the Lord, and the Lord told him, Listen to all that the people are saying to you. It is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. as they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. Now listen to them, but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will do." The word of the Lord. Lord, help me to expound scripture and apply it in a practical way as we think about celebrating the independence of our nation. In Jesus' name, amen. Now what follows in 1 Samuel 8 is a description of central government. What kind of government did Israel have up until this time? It wasn't really efficient, but in effect, it was a federation of tribes who depended on the Lord for guidance. And that meant that when they were not doing right, if you read the book of Judges, when they weren't doing right, they went through really hard times. But I'm going to submit something to you as we think about the 4th of July coming up this week. And that is that human beings want somebody to take care of them. We talked about that a little bit last week. Human beings want somebody to take care of them. And what they're doing, in effect, is rejecting the Lord in asking for this. They're rejecting this form of government that God had blessed them with, with tribal leaders in a very loose form of government. Let that sink in. What government is best? Well, I tend to think that government is best that governs least. that government is best that governs least. And they're rejecting God's lordship over them in demanding a king. Notice the key word there, like the other nations. like the other nations. And so Samuel obeys God and he tells him what life is going to be like under a centralized government with real authority. Because kings in the ancient world ruled virtually with unchecked authority. Whereas the government God established with Israel when he led them out of Egypt under the hand of Moses and brought them into the promised land was a very loose form of government that allowed people to prosper. And when they were following the Lord, they did prosper. So verse 10 of 1 Samuel 8 tells us, so Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking for a king. And you just, I'm going to notice a couple of things with you. Verse 11, this is what the king who will reign over you will do. He'll take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and so on. Then he will go down and verse 12, some will he sign to be commanders of thousands, commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest. Verse 13, he'll take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks and bakers. Verse 14, he'll take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants." Ever heard of the right of eminent domain? I'm struck with that, how government can seize land and so often the seizing of that land is to reward their friends. I've often pondered when I've been in South Texas down near Brownsville and that part of the world, there's a highway that begins there and ends up in Memphis, Tennessee. And very curiously, that highway has a part of itself right here in Texarkana to going to Memphis. But then it goes across the southern portion of Arkansas. Wonder why. Who was president when that was laid out? That highway should go very close to where I live, where Interstate 49 and Interstate 69 would connect. What is that? Well, they can seize your property and then they reward their friends with it. Is anything new under the sun? Then he goes on and he says, He says in verse 15, he'll take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials in attendance. Again, what government does is not take from the rich and give to the poor. The government takes from everybody and gives it to the friends of those who enrich the political leader. I'm just asking these questions as I read through this section in 1 Samuel. And then he says, verse 16, your menservants and maidservants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. He will take a tenth of your flocks and you yourselves will become slaves. May we say that government has the tendency to make the people its slaves. Do you think that's true? That government has the tendency to make the people its slaves. It's true in Samuel's day and boy did God prove it to them with this very tall, handsome, charismatic man who in the beginning was a very humble man and we're talking about King Saul. And then he says in verse 18, when that day comes you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen and the Lord will not answer you in that day. So that's interesting isn't it? People will choose an earthly tyrant over the rule of God through limited government. And then in verse 19, But the people refused to listen to Samuel. No, they said, we want a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles. Verse 21, when Samuel heard all of the people said, he repeated it for the Lord. The Lord answered, listen to them. and give them a king. Then Samuel said to the men of Israel, everyone go back to his town." I find 1 Samuel 8 one of the greatest expositions about civil government the entirety of God's Word. There are other passages that we would consider and I want us to go for a moment over to Romans chapter 13 because we are all familiar with it. Romans chapter 13 and listen to what Paul says. Romans 13 beginning at verse 1 and that is on page 1764. Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God." Let's name those governments, shall we? Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, George Herbert Walker Bush, going all the way back. Vladimir Putin, Mr. Zelensky, Mao Zedong, Adolf Hitler. Are you kidding me? Notice what he says in verse 1, page 1764. Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities for there's no authority except that which God has established. Notice the statement in the second sentence, the authorities that exist have been established by God. Wow, that answers a lot of questions, doesn't it? And what we'll see as we work our way briefly through this passage is that the individual must never take up arms against the government. The individual must never take up arms against the government. That doesn't mean that another government can't take up arms against the government. And I want to just point this out as we think about what happened when the 13 original colonies declared themselves independent from Great Britain. It was not a revolution. I don't like to call it the American Revolution. I like to call it the American War for Independence because individuals didn't do this. It was a delegation of people from the 13 original colonies and they met and they declared their independence from Great Britain. When I think about revolutions, I think about the Russian Revolution. In the Russian Revolution, Pressure was on Tsar Nicholas II to abdicate, and he did abdicate. And in the beginning, the Duma, which is like the Parliament or the Congress, the Duma was in essence a Republican form of government under Mr. Kerensky. It was limited government. There was no massive bloodshed under Kerensky. But then the Bolsheviks, because the Germans were threatened by the Russians' presence in the war, smuggled Mr. Lenin into Russia. And what did Mr. Lenin do? When he arrived, he set about to have the Russian Revolution. In the Russian Revolution, you know the violence that followed. It was anti-God, anti-Christ, and anti-rule. And so what you have is when the Bolsheviks seized the battleship Aurora and forced the Duma, the Parliament, the Congress to resign, They took over with a handful of people, and they ruled Russia with an iron hand for 70 years. That's the Bolsheviks, not the Mensheviks. The Mensheviks were liberal, democratic, Republican-type people. The Bolsheviks seized power. What did they do? They killed people right and left. They executed priests. They seized the church and the priests. They executed all the nobility, and anyone who had good sense, who was of Russian nobility, got out of Russia. My history professor at Westminster Theological Seminary married countess who had escaped from Russia. That was Paul Woolley. Paul Woolley, brilliant theologian and historian, married a Russian countess. I was able to meet her. It was interesting. I once said to her, I mentioned the name of Come on, Mr. Biden, you can work. I mentioned the name of the Starets who controlled Russia, who was supposedly a holy man. His name is just escaping me. Rasputin. Father Grigory Rasputin. And I happened to mention him to her and used the word father. And she said, He was no holy man, and he was not. He was crooked and filthy, an evil beast, and he probably more than any other human being is responsible for the Russian Revolution. He was murdered by the nobility, but he brought a call down a curse on those people. Anyhow, thanks Wanda for helping me. And look at France. France was a revolution. What happens is that France bankrupted itself in part helping us out against the British. And then under Louis XVI, what happens? They seize power. And there was a great invention created by Dr. Guillotine, and that was to make murder efficient. And who do they kill? They kill Louis XVI, and they killed his wife Marie Antoinette. Out of touch, rulers executed. Well, how many people did we execute in the American Revolution? We didn't go out and execute people. We had an orderly transition of power that resulted in a war But outside of the war, people did not go on out killing and executing leaders. The American war for independence was not a revolution in that sense. It wasn't individuals rising up against government. And as Paul says here in Romans 13, The authorities that exist have been established by God, verse 2. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. So the individual cannot take up arms against the government. That is wickedness, it is sinful, it is evil. We're going to see a check to that in a moment. But notice what he says. It has to do with individuals. But in the American War for Independence, it wasn't individuals. It was a duly constituted government elected by the various, eventually, states that met in the Continental Congress. It wasn't individuals. And then he goes on. He says in verse 3, and this is a general rule, and by the way, who was the Roman emperor at the time that Paul wrote these words? It was Nero. Does that help us understand how absolute his words are? He says, For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you, for he is God's servant to you for good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring about punishment for the wrongdoer. Roman Emperor Nero, under whom Paul is later beheaded. He's giving us some pretty absolute rules here. Now, hold your hand there and go back to the book of Acts. May we resist a government that has been established by God. Since every single government, including the Kim dynasty in Korea, has been established by God, we have some balance here. Let's look, for example, at Acts chapter 2 and listen to what is said there. Acts chapter 2. And you see there on page 1694, I'm sorry. I guess I'm thinking actually of Acts chapter 3. Let's turn to Acts 4, page 1696. Acts chapter 4, verse 3. The next day the rulers, elders, and teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. Annas the high priest was there and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and the other members, other men of the high priest's family. They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them. By what power or what name do you do this? Then Peter, notice he's filled with the Holy Spirit. This is Peter who in himself is a coward but was filled with the Spirit of God and that happened again and again in the life of the apostles. Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, rulers and elders of the people, if we're being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and ask how he was healed, then know this, you and all the people of Israel, it is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. He is the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone. Salvation is found in no one else, for there's no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." And so they discuss, they take them out of the room, send them out of the room, and then they call the men again in verse 18, and commanded them not to speak, top of page 1697, not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. Verse 19, But Peter and John replied, judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God, for we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard. After further threats, they let them go. They could not decide how to punish them. And so they go and they pray. And what did they do? After that, they continue to do what they had done. And so we discover on Acts chapter 5, I was thinking about after Acts chapter 4, look at page 1699 and verse 29 after they've been confronted. where the priest, high priest says to them in verse 28, page 1699, we gave you strict orders not to teach in this name, he said, yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man's blood. Peter and the other apostles replied, we must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior, that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him." Now look at verse 33. When they heard this, they were furious and wanted to put them to death. Then Gamaliel reasons with them, and they end up sending them out, and they bring them back in, and what happens? verse 40 of Acts 5 on page 1700. His speech persuaded them. They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus and let them go. The apostles left the Sanhedrin rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the name. Day after day in the temple and courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ, turning back to Romans 13. The individual may not take up arms against the government, but lawful constituted authority may take up arms against the government. What do we do as Christian people? Do we obey what the government tells us to do? Not when it tells us to do that which is wrong and evil. Who determines what is wrong and evil? God's word tells us what is wrong and evil. And let me tell you this, every soldier in the military of the United States is under the uniform code of military justice. What does that tell the soldier? That tells a soldier that taking human life unnecessarily is murder and they will be judged for it. In other words, nobody anywhere at all, including soldiers, has the right simply to park his conscience at the door. And the Uniform Code of Military Justice tells soldiers you don't park your conscience at the door. What does it mean? Does it mean that the soldier has the authority to take up arms against the government? Well, if he's part of a group that is lawfully constituted, he can, but as an individual he doesn't have that authority. What does he do? He says this, I respectfully decline to obey. We do it respectfully. We decline to obey government's unlawful, ungodly orders. And never forget this, governments tend towards tyranny. Governments tend towards making the people its slaves, demanding unquestioning authority. But the individual, whether he's a soldier or a pastor or a medical doctor or veterinarian, whomever that person is, never, never, never parks his conscience at the door and simply follow his orders. After what happened in World War II, we made sure that our military understands that the individual soldier must think before he obeys an order. Now modern military training aims at destroying that. They aim at breaking down the individual and forming him into a cohesive group so that he does things without thinking. What is a huge source of post-traumatic stress syndrome? It's not the things that people have seen, but it's things that people have done in the virtually hypnotic spell of having been remade from individuals into a corporate mass. And then as they come out of that spell, they are affected and afflicted by it. So again, we submit to government. But we never obey government when it commands us to do evil. And when we do that, sooner or later our conscience will awaken. And if it doesn't on the day of judgment, when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, then people will face what they've done. I've prayed with people. I remember praying with a man who had served in Korea. And he had been very tough and very hard. He became a very close friend. And one night with his family, he opened up about what he had done in Korea, how he had shot and killed individual men, women, and children, how he was guilty. And for the first time in his life, he openly confessed it and began to weep and sob. And we were able to pray and offer him comfort What comfort is there for a murderer who has murdered because he was under authority from his government? The comfort is found right here. If you look at Romans 13, and he says at the very end of this chapter, he says, he tells us to love our neighbor. And then he says in verse 11 of Romans 13, page 1765, and do this, understanding the present time, the hours come for you to wake up from your slumber because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over. The day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave decently as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, here it is, verse 14, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ and do not think about how to gratify the desires of your sinful nature. And I want to address this particularly to those who may be watching on the internet, because our internet goes places that we can't go. And there are downloads in Saudi Arabia, the most radical Muslim country in the world. I want to say this. What if you're listening today and you reflect whether it was in Vietnam, World War II, Korea, or any number of other wars that were never declared by Congress since World War II? What do you do with the guilt? Where do you go with the night terrorists? Where do you go as this dear friend of mine, who's now with the Lord, talked about every night he dreamed about the people he had murdered in Korea? Men, women, and children. What do you do with that? You've got to bring it to Jesus because Jesus promises to forgive you. He will break the curse and the judgment. He will free your mind. He will cleanse your conscience. He will enable you to sleep at night. And this whole sermon takes us back to 1 Samuel 8. You don't need to turn there. What was the solution to Israel rejecting God and demanding a king who would fight their battles for them? You know what the solution is? God himself, the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal son of the eternal God, came into the womb of the blessed Virgin Mary. By the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit, he became a real and true human being just like all of us here, except he never sinned and he never had a sinful nature. What did God do to solve Israel's rebellion against him demanding for a king? God became their king once again, not from a distance in Mount Sinai or from the temple in Jerusalem, but in flesh. He tabernacled among them. God became man. God became king. And I'll tell you this, as I reflect on the independence of our nation, I'm grateful that we are independent from Britain. And we've drifted far from the principles of the founding of America. You know, America was founded in the 13 original colonies, not in the southwestern part, because it's the history of Great Britain that makes it significant. You realize that 810 years ago, in January of 1215, The Barons of Britain met at Runnymede and forced King John to sign the Great Charter, the Magna Carta. And that is in no small measure a foundation document for America. And then something else happens. In the 1640s, after Queen Elizabeth had died, they brought King James VI from Scotland to become King James I of England. And he was a man who did not like any check on his government. He rebuked John Knox's son-in-law. He came, and then his son Charles I came. And they demanded the absolute authority over everything, the divine right of kings. And what happens? when Parliament checked the power of the King, because remember, going back to the Magna Carta, only Congress, only Parliament has the authority to raise taxes, not the King. So he had to call Parliament into session. And when they didn't do what he wanted, he ends up in great difficulty. And at one point in this, he appeals to France against the government of the people through their Parliament. And eventually, what happened in 1649, in January? Parliament had him beheaded, King Charles I. In an interesting twist of fate, my 10th great-grandfather was Charles I's ambassador to France, and he was also Charles II's ambassador to France. Lord Richard Brown. Isn't that curious? How was he both for Charles I and II? Because he had to stay in France because he was loyal to the king. And then it's restored. All of that background comes to America. Where do you want to discover what America really is? Our founding documents. They're not found in the southwestern United States in a place where violent anti-people, anti-human rights governments ruled under the Habsburgs. It's in the 13 original colonies. And I'm struck with a statement from Amy Comey Barrett. We don't make up rules out of the air. She rebuked another justice. We follow our Constitution and its written statements and the history out of which it came. So what did God do for you and me? I think that God was in the American War for Independence because in our founding, we guaranteed the basic human needs, human rights in our founding documents, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution. But the final analysis, what our form of government is, finally doesn't amount to a hill of beans on the day of judgment. What matters is, are we submitted to the king? the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Lord Jesus Christ, who became a human being in order to become our King and lead us and rule over us. America's turned aside from that King very profoundly, but you as an individual need to submit to that King because God loves you. and he wants you to repent of your sins, cast yourself on his mercy. And perchance a political leader is listening to this, you do not have the right to rule by your own will. You have the responsibility to submit your will to the Lord Jesus Christ and beg his guidance. And if you do, he will guide you into effective and godly leadership. If you don't, you will be damned along with the rest of humanity that refuses to bow its knees to the Lord Jesus Christ. May we pray. Lord, we pray that you would bless these words as we celebrate our independence from Great Britain and the founding of a great nation that has done much good. But Lord, since World War II, we've also done much evil. And indeed, throughout our history, we are reminded that nations, the best of nations, are terribly imperfect. But Lord, we thank you for an imperfect nation, an experiment for a nation unlike any other in the history of the world that fostered so much prosperity, and freedom and blessing. God bless America and God bless us. In Jesus' name, amen.