We find ourselves in Romans chapter 13, verses 1 to 5. I can't tell you this is one of my favorite passages, but we'll still cover it. Follow along as I read, and then we'll pray. Everyone must submit to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God. And those that exist are instituted by God. So then, the one who resists the authority is opposing God's command, and those who oppose it will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have its approval. For government is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid because it does not carry the sword for no reason. For government is God's servant and avenger that brings wrath on the one who does wrong. Therefore you must submit not only because of wrath, but also because of your conscience. Let's pray. Father, we thank you again for your love, for your care, for the way you have provided for us. We are an abundantly blessed people. We thank you, Father, for an opportunity to look into your Word. Your Word tells us that my people fail due to lack of knowledge. So as we continue to study, we would ask, Lord, that you would open our hearts and our minds to the things that you have for us, and give us grace to walk in obedience by the power of your Spirit. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen. Okay, you'll notice that this is the believer's response to government, part one. Part two, we get to talk about taxes. Everybody's favorite subject if you're a politician. Letter A, first off, we have the standard, and that is submission. It says, let every soul, or in my version, everyone must submit. to the governing authority. So let every soul notice this is for all, but especially for Christians. Okay? As we get started here, let's understand something. One of the complaints that people have in this day and age is, we don't get to see God do things. Question, do we ever let him? We normally are seeing a problem and trying to get it solved, not necessarily by going back to the word of God, seeing what he says about whatever this subject is, and then doing what he says. We try and fix it. Therefore, why should God work? In a marriage relationship, when you have a husband who thinks he's right and a wife who thinks she's right, and they're at odds. What do we want? We want the other person to understand that we're right, and we want them to come over to our view on whatever the subject is. What does God say? Wives, submit unto your own husbands. Yeah, but, in fact, if he's not obeying the word of God, what should you do? Concentrate on being the person that you're supposed to be. That's how you're gonna win him. No, he needs to come around the way I think or else. Hmm. So maybe God doesn't work because we're too busy trying to accomplish things instead of doing it the way God says and seeing what God does. The reason why I start with that idea is when we come to government, we're going to see in this passage that God is the one that has set it up, It serves a purpose, and therefore, when we get to bad government, what should be our response? Should we wait on God to do what God is going to do, being the people that He's called us to be, or should we set things up so we can take over? Hmm, something to think about. So let's take a look here. This is for everyone, but especially for Christians. Now, here's the next line is something that some Christians have a problem with. Christians should be good citizens. Well, we're citizens of heaven. Yeah, but you happen to live here presently. And if you're from America, you're a citizen of this country, you ought to be a good citizen. Now, would that include trying to obey the laws? Would that include voting? Would that include, and we can come up with a whole list of things, of what it takes to be a good citizen. And the reality is, is yeah, we ought to be doing all of those things. Sometimes people get caught up in all of those things and they kind of forget they're a citizen of heaven. because there's a primary and a secondary citizenship there. But while we're here, we ought to be good citizens. Number two, be subject to the governing authorities. The word for subject there is hupotasso, to subordinate, to obey, to be under obedience. It's a military term where The sergeant says to the corporal, do this. And the corporal says, sir, yes, sir. And he goes and does it and actually assigns some private to do it. And then wonders why he got in trouble because it didn't get done. Never mind. That's the idea of the word. And notice it is to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake. And then according to 1 Peter 2.13, whether to the king as supreme or to governors, et cetera, et cetera. Let me read that verse. Therefore, submit yourself to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to king as supreme. And I didn't put in verse 14, which says governors, et cetera. There's a purpose why we're to be submissive to the governing authorities. We'll talk about that as we go. Letter B. It is more than obeying laws. It includes honor and respect. Now, I'll be honest with you, this is one I kind of struggle with, okay? Like I said, this is not one of my favorite passages because It kind of grates on my flesh, okay? But 1 Thessalonians 4, 11 and 12, that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands as we commanded you, that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing. 1st Timothy 2, 1 and 2, "...therefore I exert first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings, and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence." The first verse, verse Thessalonians 4, You might have sat there and said, well, what on earth does that have to do with the price of beans in China? But it's directly related to the concept of submitting yourself to governing authorities because of 1 Timothy 2. You're going to be praying for those men so that you can lead that quiet life. Titus 3, 1 and 2. Remember them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey and be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men. And then 1 Peter 2.17, honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king. So you see, the concept of submission to government includes more than just obeying rules. It calls for a respect for at least the position that the people hold, that are servants of the people in our country. Ouch. I don't know that I've always done that. Well, actually, I can say I know that I haven't always done that. So that's an area that we need to work on, huh? Notice letter C. When exile, God commanded the people, seek the welfare of the city. So here they are in a foreign country. And it says, and seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive and pray to the Lord for it, for in its peace, you will have peace. So again, in being a good citizen, we should be praying for the very people that most of the time it's so easy to complain about. Ouch. Number three. justifiable civil disobedience. In Acts chapter 4 verses 19 and 20, But Peter and John answered them and said to them, Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. in chapter 5 verses 28 and 29 saying, did we not strictly command you not to teach in this name? And look, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine and intend to bring this man's blood on us. And why not? You're the guys that killed him. But it goes on, but Peter and the other apostles answered and said, we ought to obey God rather than men. So justifiable civil disobedience. When government has commanded you to do one thing and God has commanded you to do another, you obey God. So, what are some examples of that? Well, letter A, the midwives before Pharaoh and Moses' parents. The midwives and Moses' parents. Pharaoh had told the midwives, when a Hebrew woman is giving birth, if it's a girl, let her live. If it's a boy, kill him. And they didn't. And then they made excuse as to why they didn't. They may have lied. It doesn't say that they lied. The Hebrew women are strong. They're different than Egyptian women. By the time we get there, the baby's already been born. Oh well. And in so doing, by not doing what Pharaoh had told them to do, God blessed them and gave them their own houses to be over. Moses' parents. You get a son, throw him in the river. What's in the river? Crocodiles, hippopotamuses, And I throw that one in there because they actually kill more people every year than crocodiles do, at least in Africa. And Egypt is part of Africa. So throw your baby in the river where he can gently float. No, no, they didn't disobey, but they didn't obey. They put Moses in a basket and then put him in a place where he would be found. And he was safe and secure from all those things that might eat him. But notice they did not obey. technically. Okay. How about Daniel and his three friends not eating food that had been the king's food. They were commanded to do so. But notice how did they handle the situation. First of all, they didn't want to defile themselves. Now, I don't know if the king was barbecuing pork ribs or whatever the case may be, but at least in their mind, they believed that if they were to eat the king's meat, they would be defiled. They didn't want to do that. So therefore, they had to disobey what had been commanded, which, let me see, what are the possible consequences? Death, okay, or cause him to suffer until he's willing to submit. Okay, those are possible consequences. So what did they do? They appealed and they asked permission. They asked that they might be fed only vegetables. And they asked someone that said, look, if I were to do that, this thing is not gonna work out very good for me. So yeah, this is not even a maybe. Well, let's put it on a trial basis. Trial basis? I mean, what kind of protein can you get from plants? Wayne, obviously there is some protein, but obviously God is also working here. Why? Because we're gonna do what God wants us to do, not what our flesh wants us to do. And so on a trial basis, they eat vegetables for so many days, and when the trial is up, they actually look better than the guys that were eating the king's meat, so they were allowed to continue. But it's done by appeal and asking permission. And then, of course, in Daniel chapter 3, you have Daniel's three friends. Nebuchadnezzar has made a statue, and he wants everybody to bow down. The music's going to play, and when it does, you've got 30 seconds on your knees. And, well, these three guys, when everybody else kneels, if you're standing, you kind of look a little conspicuous. And, of course, there's always someone that is spying out and saying, I saw those three Hebrew boys. They didn't bow the knee. So, of course, Nebuchadnezzar confronts them about the whole thing. And their response, if you go back and read chapter three, their response was respectful and at the same time Defiant. Not defiant in a rebellious sense, defiant in the sense that we are not going to obey you. Our God is able, and even if he doesn't, that's what they say, we're still not going to. And of course, God intervenes on their behalf, because they were thrown in the fire, and all of a sudden there's four people walking around in those flames Nebuchadnezzar sees that. And then of course you have Daniel. Daniel in the lion's den. Daniel prays daily, opens his eastern window, western, whichever window it was, and he prays. It's very visible from the street. They know he does it. This is where we can catch this guy. Let's go butter up the king, get him to make a law that no one can pray or anything unless it's to you. And the king goes, you're cool. And he signs the law. And once the law is signed in the Medo-Persian Empire, there is no taking it back. There's no countering executive order. You know, this guy said, open it. That guy said, close it. It's done. No, no, no. The law is there, period. So, and if anyone asks anything of anybody else other than the king, let him be thrown in the lion's den. So finally, Daniel knows about it because if you're in Washington, D.C., you pretty well know what's going on. Out here, we don't know what's going on there. We just know most of it's wrong. But living in there, they have a good idea of what's going on. And so Daniel knows that this law has been made into effect. What does he do? Opens up his windows and prays, knowing he's gonna get caught. Okay, I know I'm supposed to pray, so I'm going to pray. So he gets caught. King Darius wants to do everything he can, but there is nothing he can do, and ultimately they put him into the lion's den. Of course, God works again. Why? Because we're waiting on God to do something. If that means taking me home, okay. If that means he's gonna do something to the lion so that I can live, okay. And so, of course, next day, oh, Daniel, is your God able to save you? Hey, I had a pretty good night's sleep. How about you? And King Darius did not have a good night's sleep. And so, of course, the guys that came up with the whole scheme, they end up getting thrown into the lion's den, at which point the lions didn't get one guy, they got a few families. They were more delicious, apparently, I don't know. So that brings us to letter B, the purpose of submitting to government. God's sovereign establishment of government, letter A, there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Let me look at a couple of verses here for you. Proverbs 8, 15, and 16. By me, king's reign and rulers decree justice by me princes rule and nobles all the judges of the earth uh daniel 221 and he changes the times and the seasons he removes kings and raises up kings he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding daniel 432 and they shall drive you from men and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field they shall make you eat grass like oxen, and seven times shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men." and gives it to whomever he chooses. John 19, 11, Jesus talking to, oh, Herod, I think, it might have been Pilate. Jesus answered, you could have no power at all against me unless it had been given to you from above. Therefore, the one who delivered to me to you has the greater sin. And then Acts 17, 24 to 26, God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is the Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, nor is he worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed anything, since he gives to all life breath and all things. And he has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwelling." So God is the one who has appointed all governmental leadership. Notice, according to Psalm 62, 11, all power belongs to God. God has spoken once, twice I have heard this, that power belongs to God. So when we think of whether it's, you didn't like Donald Trump, you didn't like Barack Obama, you didn't like George Bush, it doesn't matter. Who put him there? Well, some people will say the popular vote. Some people will say the electoral college. Nope. It was God. May have used those procedures in order to get it done, but it was God. They cheated. Uh-huh. It was God. And again, I'm not sitting here saying, isn't that wonderful? I'm saying, ouch. because I don't like what we've seen over the last how many ever years. Recently, my brother remarked about a post on Facebook. If this many people coming into the Ukraine from Russia is an invasion, what do you call the hundreds of thousands, two million in the last two years that have come across from the southern border? And of course, he's from Connecticut. He's a good Democrat. And invasion is not the word we would use. We just need to take care of all these people and do everything for them. And it's kind of like, guys, we're not interested in any of that. Because if we were, let me see, when did we start talking about immigration reform? I know we've been talking about it for at least 20 years. And both parties. have had majorities that they could have done it. They've not done a thing. So when I'm talking about government, I read this passage and I'm like, really Lord? Do I gotta? Do you want to see God work? Do what God says. Ouch. Okay, moving right along. Notice, though Satan is the prince of the power of the air, and I'm gonna let you take a look at those verses, you have John 12, 31, Ephesians 2, 1 and 2, where he's called the prince of the power of the air, 1 John 5, 19, which says, he is the God of this world, for we know we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. So those verses show where Satan's basically in charge of what's going on here under the umbrella of God's authority. He doesn't do anything that God doesn't allow or permit, however you want to say it. Number two, God has delegated power to principalities and powers, or if you will, the divine counsel. Daniel 10.13 says, But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia. Now this is Gabriel coming to Daniel. He's been held up by the prince of Persia for three weeks. Gabriel is an angel. The prince of Persia is a fallen angel. He is not the guy ruling on the throne. He's the principality that is over what we now call Iran. Okay? And Gabriel was held up by this guy, couldn't get there to deliver the message to Daniel, until Michael, the principality of you, if you will, of your people, of Israel, came alongside and helped him. So at that point, Gabriel could finally come and answer the prayer that Daniel had prayed. Number three, Satan is closely identified with the kings of the nations. Now in Ezekiel 28, God is telling Ezekiel, son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre. Okay? And say to him, thus says the Lord God, you were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and beauty, perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was your covering, the sardis, topaz, diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes, musical instruments, were prepared for you on the day you were created. You were the anointed cherub who covers. I established you. You were on the holy mountain of God and you walked back and forth in the midst of the fiery stones." Now, I don't know about you, but this is not the human king. And yet, it's a lamentation against the human king, because Satan is behind his doings. And so he's speaking specifically to Satan as he's talking to this human king. So Satan is closely identified with the kings of the nations. Letter C, just because some authorities are wicked doesn't mean that God didn't put them there, as we've already kind of established. They are there as the rod of His wrath. Habakkuk. 1, 5, and 6. Look among the nations and watch. Be utterly astounded, for I will work a work in your days which you would not believe, though it were told you. For indeed, I am raising up The Chaldeans, a bitter and hasty nation, which marches through the breadth of the earth to possess dwelling places that are not theirs. God was raising up the Chaldeans to conquer. Isaiah 10.5 says, Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger, and the staff in whose hand is my indignation. So a few hundred years earlier, Isaiah is saying, God is upset with the rot of his wrath. Assyria was used by God to judge Israel, the northern 10 tribes. 722 BC takes them all captive, ships them out, moves them out, and then of course puts other people in their place, which caused its own problems. Excuse me. And so he's saying, woe to Assyria. Why? Very often when these wicked nations were used by God to bring about judgment that God intended to bring, they usually didn't hold themselves to God's standards. So if it meant taking a sword and throwing it through the belly of a woman who was pregnant, no problem for some unbelieving pagan. And yet God's sitting there saying, you know, that's not what I intended in this judgment. And so you went so far, now I'm gonna bring my wrath on you. But notice they are called the rod of his wrath. So when we think of, well, you might remember a few years back. the pastor of this church, I don't know how many times he said, Barack Obama is the spanking paddle in the hand of God. Now he didn't say it quite that way, but are we going to learn the lesson was what he kept on asking. And then there was a little bit of relief. At least some people think there was. And again, I say a little bit because even though we might've had a guy in there that knew how to do a few things. Oh boy, what a wonderful four years, huh? And now we have another spanking rod. Did we learn our lesson? And I'm guessing we probably didn't. So therefore, let's rebel and overthrow the government. Do you want to see God work? Okay. Sorry, got a little tickle there that just won't go away, so I'll get out the next halls. Okay, so they are the rod of his wrath. God will hold them accountable for their wickedness. In Isaiah 9, 4, he says, for you have broken the yoke of his burden and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the days of Midian. And who's he speaking to? He's speaking about Assyria. God is the one that judged Assyria ultimately. And of course, we have one story where 185,000 men woke up dead the next day. Yeah, that's the King James Version. When everybody woke up the next day, 185,000 men were found dead. There we go. Number two, resistance is against God. Therefore, whoever resists the authority, resists the ordinance of God. Some examples of that. Korah and his 250 malcontents against Moses. Now, If you're a believer and you've read the story, of course Moses is the good guy in this situation, right? Okay, so who are the people that are complaining against the government? Are they the good guys? Most of us would say, yeah, because we're those people. Yeah, we want to be real careful there, right? In Numbers 16, 3, it says, They gathered together against Moses and Aaron and said to them, You take too much upon yourselves, for all the congregation is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord? Did they do that? No. 13. It is a small thing that you have brought us up out of the land flowing with milk and honey. Out of a land flowing with milk and honey. They're using the same descriptors that God is using of Israel. They're talking about Egypt. To kill us in the wilderness that you should keep acting like a prince over us. Wow. And again, what do we know about Moses? Arrogant, proud, humble. He was considered to be the most humble man in biblical history. Wow, so they're claiming all this. Verses 31 to 35. Now it came to pass as he finished speaking all these words that the ground split apart under them and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up with their households and all the men with Korah with all their goods. So they and all those with them went down alive into the pit Ouch! So Korah and his 250 malcontents against Moses And then the very next day, we find in Numbers 16, 41, 46 to 48, that there's a bunch of people that complained about what happened to Corey yesterday. Now, question, did Moses open the ground and swallow those people alive? Did Moses burn the 250 guys that, but let's look at what they say here. On the next day, all of the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron. I don't know about you, but you'd think something like that might settle the issue. It didn't. Saying, you have killed the people of the Lord. Verses 46 through 48. So Moses said to Aaron, take a censer and put a fire in it from the altar. Put incense on it and take it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them. For wrath has gone out from the Lord. The plague has begun. Then Aaron took it, as Moses commanded, and ran into the midst of the assembly, and already the plague had begun among the people. So he put in the incense and made atonement for the people, and he stood between the dead and the living, so the plague was stopped. What did God think about Korah and his buddies rebelling? Killed them all. What did he think about the people blaming Moses? Brought a plague. Ouch. So resistance is against God. Number three, resistance brings judgment. He says, those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. This is not speaking of God's direct judgment like we just read about necessarily, but they will suffer the penalty of breaking the law. When we go back to our founding fathers, If we read the things that they wrote, read the founding documents, within the Declaration of Independence, they basically said, look, when government isn't doing what it's supposed to do, let me see, is government doing what it's supposed to do? Well, we're gonna find out what government's supposed to do in a few minutes, and we can take a look at that. But they were following English law and the king wasn't. They said, when we get to that point, we need to just agree, okay, we're done with this relationship, okay? The reality is, is we do that kind of thing all the time. I have a bank down the road here that changed ownership recently, and all of a sudden, I deposit some money, and it doesn't show up in my bank account. Thankfully, this time I didn't throw out the receipt, so I go back in there and say, hey guys, I got a receipt here that says 400 was deposited, and nothing's shown up. And they look, and sure enough, it hadn't shown up. Well, we had a glitch yesterday. Kind of like, cool, but I'd like my money. And after a few days, it was about a week, it ended up back in there. Can I tell you, I've been at that bank for a lot of years, and can I tell you that I lost complete trust. It wasn't the same old people, it was a new batch of people. They got rid of all the other people, new ownership. I just completely lost trust. Now, I still have an account down there, I think it has $2 in it, but I moved all my bank and stuff to my other bank where I had reasons, oh, mortgage, truck payment, so other bank. So we do that all the time. We break relationships because, yeah, this one isn't working out. So do I think our founding fathers did something wrong? I struggle with that because I don't think they did. I think they, but we are of a different governmental background today. but they basically told the king, sorry, but you're not doing what you're supposed to be doing. So we're kind of done with this whole thing. At which point England responded by sending soldiers. And then it was a matter of self-defense after that, I imagine. And I have to say, I imagine I need to do a little bit more research, but we call it the American Revolution. I'm not sure that it was a revolution as much as self-protection. Again, not sure. But when we think of that and we come back here, notice all of those men had basically said, we're doing this knowing that we're breaking the law. And if we don't succeed, we're all gonna be hung as traitors. That's the idea here, okay? So notice, punishment under the Mosaic law was administered as a matter of justice appropriate to the crime. Deuteronomy 19.21, your eye shall not pity. Life shall be for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. So if you did something that cost the life of the other person, Your life was going to be taken. If you did something that caused that person to lose an eye, your eye was going to be taken. The whole purpose of this was so that you didn't get a vengeance situation going. The government would determine, this is what happened, okay, so now you get to pay in equal as to what you damaged, that kind of a thing. Notice number two, it was supposed to be a deterrent to crime. Deuteronomy 17, 13, and all the people shall hear and fear and no longer act presumptuously. When you see a cop has someone pulled over, his lights are on, what's the first thing you do? I was gonna say, you're either letting off the gas pedal or you're checking the speedometer. Isn't that true? Because there's justice being performed, or at least we think, and we are afraid that justice might get performed over here. That's the idea of biblical punishment. Number three, it was supposed to be impartial. The 13.6 Deuteronomy, if your brother, your son, or your mother, your son or your daughter, the son of your mother, your son or your daughter, the wife of your bosom, or your friend, who is as your own soul, secretly entices you saying, let us go and serve other gods, which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers. Now the whole point of this verse is you're not supposed to do that. Okay? But it doesn't matter who the person is. You're actually supposed to kind of turn them in if necessary so that foolishness would be driven out of Israel. So it didn't matter who it was, you were to be impartial. Number four, it was supposed to be without delay. Deuteronomy 25 to then it shall be if the wicked man deserves to be beaten that the judges will cause him to lie down and be beaten in his presence according to his guilt with a certain number of blows. Ecclesiastes 8 11 because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily. Therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. Now, this is why part of our Constitution requires a quick and speedy trial that you might get two or three years after you've done the wrongdoing. because somewhere in rush we got away from God, therefore didn't see the need for, it needs to be taken care of. Why does it need to be taken care of? There's a few reasons. One might be so that the victim actually knows it's been dealt with. Another reason is if you're not dealing with these things, Ecclesiastes 8, 11 here, man hardens his heart, he stiffens his neck and he continues to do it. And boy, do we not see that? with some of the things that have gone on in our country the last few years. Think about politicians. There's at least one party in this country that if any of their people get caught doing anything wrong, they just deny to follow any subpoenas or anything like that, and nothing ever happens to them. Yeah. And so therefore, everybody thinks they don't have to do it until you and I get put in that situation. And if you don't do it, you're going to jail. That kind of thing. Number five, except for when the law provided for pardon and rehabilitation, Deuteronomy 25, 3, 40 blows he may give him, and no more, lest he should exceed this and beat him with many blows above these, and your brother be humiliated in your sight." So punishment was supposed to fit the crime. It was supposed to be impartial. It was supposed to deter crime. It was supposed to be without delay, and it was supposed to be taken care of, unless there's a way to provide pardon and rehabilitation. Some of the Old Testament laws, if you did this, well, then you had to pay back that plus some. Well, that was justice. But in this particular case, this guy was getting beaten whether he liked it or not. So God's job for government. Number one, to restrain evil. Notice it says, for rulers are not a terror to good works. Well, that's the job of government, not to be a terror to those that are doing good. Now, we know that governments don't always follow that, right? But why? Because government is a problem? Because God who appointed that government to be a problem? Or because man is sinful? Yeah. So, good works are essential to any nation's self-preservation. You know, when I'm talking to people about salvation, Why should God let you into heaven? Well, I'm a good person. I am so glad you're a good person. Because if you were a serial killer, this would be a problem. But because you're a good person, if we have a lot of good people, life's a whole lot easier to handle. What have we seen lately? What do we see coming January 1st in Illinois? The whole concept of cashless bail, I understand what they say it's all about, but the reality is we're going to be putting guilty people back out on the street as quick as we can, which makes the victim of their crime feel just at rest and peace and don't have to worry about it. So, yeah, good works are essential to any nation's self-preservation. Without them, any nation self-destructs. If you think about what's been going on in this country, how the bad people, and again, that doesn't mean that the ones that didn't participate in it are good, but there's been an awful lot of bad things that have been happening, and bad people have been involved in doing it, burning down businesses, billions of dollars of damage, and so on and so on and so forth. And what was done to any one of those people? They got elected. Yeah, that's not too far from the truth. You know, now, several years later, we're finding out that the millions and millions of dollars that have been donated to one of those organizations, a lot of that money has been what's the, Pilferd, and bought $6 million homes for one of its leaders. It didn't do anything to help the poor people of that particular group. And some of those people have now been arrested because they've laundered the money and stuff like that. But again, it is one of those things where without them, any nation self-destructs. We see we're in the middle of this country going down at least a tube of some sort, because we've gotten away from being a law-centered, law-abiding nation to a lawless nation, okay? Rulers are not to be a terror to good works, but to evil. In 1 Peter 2.14a it says, "...as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers." That's the job of government, to punish evildoers. But it even goes on a little bit further here where they are to praise those that are doing good. Number two here, until recently, murder, robbery, and rape were almost non-existent in some communist countries. Now that's not me saying communism is better than free market capitalism or anything like that, but because people feared what might happen to them if they were doing these things, it was kept to a minimum. They tried to keep it secret or whatever because when communists deal with these kinds of things, they deal with them, okay? And again, that's not to promote communism in any way, shape, or form. Notice, not only are they to restrain evil, but they are to promote good. It says here, do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same. Again, 1 Peter 2.14b, and for the praise of those who do good. So the two aspects of the job that we see thus far is they are to restrain evil and they are to promote good. When we redefine terms, And good is called evil and evil is called good, which Jesus said would happen in the end times. We see what's going on in this country today. We find ourselves right there. Okay. Notice, "...for he is the minister of God to you for good." From what I can see in the Constitution, government's job was to protect the rights of the free people. And that would be domestic or foreign. You have police for the domestic concepts. You have the army for the foreign concepts. But it was to protect the people that they would be free. Notice number three, the third thing that government is supposed to do. Not only do they try and restrain evil, but when evil has its way, they are to judge evil. It says, but if you do evil, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. The sword is an instrument of death, symbolizing the right to inflict punishment. And we see in Genesis 9, 6, "...whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God he made man." And again, I recognize that a lot of people argue against, including many Christians, argue against capital punishment. There's a few reasons for it, reasons given anyway. One of them, well, now we're in the age of grace. I'm sorry, this one has never been negated by God's word. Okay. Number two, well, some people are wrongfully convicted. Yep. I understand. And I don't want to see any of that kind of thing happen. There ought to be a good trial with impartial judges and lawyers and all that kind of stuff. But if they have evidence that this man has killed that man, God says he ought to die. Wow, but what about forgiveness? He can get that. Doesn't mean he should live. And again, if we're gonna go back to that impartial thing, well, what if it was your son? Yeah, I understand. I understand. What does God say? Ouch. Okay, so, notice again, government is God's servant, God's minister, and he is an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Once again, we can look at our government and see where that doesn't seem to be their understanding of their job. That's a good way of putting it. Okay, but this is what God says. So that brings us to a fourth reason why we ought to submit ourselves to government, and that's for conscience sake. Probably should have been letter D instead of number 4. Verse 5, You must be subject not only because of wrath, not only because fear of what government may do to you, but also for conscious sake. 1 Peter 2.13 says, Notice, in that verse it says, for the Lord's sake. Here it says, for the conscience' sake. Is there a contradiction? When you don't submit under the government and do the things that you're supposed to do, what happens to your conscience? You are convicted of being guilty. Again, let's drive down the street and we see a cop got someone pulled over. That first thing that we do, let off the gas pedal. Why? Because I'm probably speeding. Why? Because that is my habit. Then I look at the speedometer. Oh man, I'm doing 10 miles under the speed limit. Maybe I can speed back up. That's not usually the case. But I was coming back from working out the other day at lunchtime and I'm going down the hill, coming up by Wolf Branch here, going down the hill, and I look in my rear view mirror, and there's a police Ford Explorer, whatever they are, whatever they drive in, kind of like, let off that gas pedal, because I'm doing 52, coasting down the hill, coasting, my foot was on the gas pedal. And I'm thinking, well, I'm guilty, you know, and so I pull up to the first light that's down there by Green Haven or wherever it is there, and he's right behind me. And I'm thinking, okay, where am I going to pull in because I'm in the fast lane, going fast. Where am I going to pull in if those lights come on? So we take off, we get up to Huck's. He still hasn't pulled me over. He's kind of like, he'll turn left or right, because I thought I was a Swansea cop. And he's still following me. So I get over, and it was Secretary of State, State Police. I'm like, okay. Found out that they can pull someone over, but I didn't find out through experience. Thankfully. But whole point being is, conscience sake. As soon as I saw that cop, my conscience said, what are you doing? Oh, and I slowed down pretty quick. So for conscience sake, you're supposed to submit to those that are in authority. Notice number one here, to silence foolish men. In 1 Peter 2.15, for this is the will of God that by doing good, you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. I don't know about you, but have you ever heard anybody that talks about Christians being a bunch of hypocrites? Okay? Now, have we ever given them a reason to think that of us? Probably. See, once again, do we want to see God work? Maybe we ought to be the people that God has called us to be and let God do what he says he's going to do. In 1 Peter 3.15, Consecrate the Lord God in your heart and be ready to give an answer for the hope that you have in you. Answer would indicate question. Why would anybody have a question? Because of the way you're living. That's the idea here. Live in such a way that you put foolish people to silence. They won't be able to say, well that guy's a hypocrite. Because you weren't being a hypocrite. That doesn't mean you're not gonna have your failings. But when you deal with your failings, how do you deal with them? Justify, no, no, no, that's not it. You deal with them. You make sure there's reconciliation made. You go and apologize, ask for forgiveness of those that you may have wronged. And then they can talk about what you did wrong, but they also know you dealt with it. Okay? So to put foolish men to silence, how about number two here? How? By living for God, in 1 Peter 2, 16 and 17. As free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bond servants of God. Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king. So again, live as a Christian, even in front of a wicked government. Now, being wicked, they might not like you. Okay. They might persecute you. Okay. But submit to the government. Why? Because God put it there. Yeah, but they're a wicked government. And did we not deserve the wicked government? Oh, so live the way you're supposed to live. And that brings us to letter B here. 1 Peter 2.13b-14, whether the king is supreme or to governors or to those who are sent by him. That would include the various agencies that are regulating and trying to enforce the law. Again, not one of my favorite passages because it is so easy to see where government has become more and more wicked, more and more lawless. They have forgotten that they're servants of the people, that this government is supposed to be by we the people, of the people, by the people, and for the people. They have forgotten that. Now let's talk about how we're gonna deal with that. We're gonna be good citizens. We're gonna submit where we can submit. And when they're wrong, they're telling us to do something that God has told us not to do, or vice versa, there's going to be justifiable civil disobedience. But what happens then? More persecution, maybe, more suffering. Okay. So therefore, we do what God says, regardless of what they're doing, what they're like. Questions, thoughts? Yes, Wayne. And again, when people want to bring up the Roman Empire and Paul and all that kind of stuff, our government, at least on paper, is so different from any one of them. But in practice, they are becoming just like them. And therefore, what are we left with? What God says. You want to see God work? Do what God says, let him do the work. Okay, let's close in prayer. Oh, Leanne, you got a question? Uh-huh. Herod, was he an Idomenean, or was that Herod the Great? Edomite. He was an Edomite, which Esau was a brother of Jacob. That's where the Edomites came from. And ultimately he had, I think he had killed his brother in order to marry his brother's wife. So he was just wrong all over the place. I have no problem saying that, you know, Joe Biden was wrong when he said, if he was wrong in what he said. I can tell you that there were times when Trump was wrong when he said, okay? So I don't think that John the Baptist was wrong in calling him out for doing wrong, but he also paid for it. That is one of the things we have to remember. And again, within that passage, we're praying for them. And I don't know about you, but a pastor brought it to our attention as a church when Barack Obama was elected. You know, we need to be praying because God tells us to pray for kings and everybody else. And some Christians got upset and left because we were praying for Barack Obama. Did we agree with Barack Obama? Not for a minute. But we were told to pray for them, so we did. And so I think sometimes we want to complain about them, but we don't want to pray for them. Let's close in prayer. And we'll continue to struggle with this as we talk about taxes next week. Not next week. That's true. Not next week. Not even possibly the week after. We will announce when we have our next Sunday evening service. Okay, let's pray. Father, we do thank you that you have a program for dealing with evil. We recognize that man and Satan, they can corrupt just about anything, I imagine. And so therefore, we deal with sometimes wicked people being in the position of Ruler, government, Father, we recognize more and more where, as a nation, we've got the leadership we deserve. We don't necessarily like it, but you have called us to be submissive to it. So we ask, Father, that you would give us grace to follow you in the midst of times when we just want to shake our head. and wonder what on earth is going on. But we know that all these things are within your control. You have a plan, you have a purpose. And so we would ask, Lord, that we might shine as lights in the midst of a dark and perverse generation for your honor and glory. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.