Mixing Politics and Religion | Part 3 | Christian Civil Disobedience
We are continuing a series entitled mixing politics and religion. And we’ve been looking at this idea of Government and politics through the lens of scripture. And this has not been a series endorsing any political candidate or anything like that. The only reason we’re even doing this series though is because with the election coming up, we are all are kind of thinking about politics and thinking about these things. I think it’s good for us to understand biblically what we believe or how we should believe regarding these matters. So of course this is the third week. And if you have missed the last couple of weeks, I’d encourage you to check those out those on our website. You can find it on our YouTube channel. This morning I’m preaching on the subject of Christian Civil Disobedience. I’m going to be talking about when we should disobey the Government. And honestly, in order to teach that concept, I have to lay a foundation of Government in general down. So this morning I’m preaching on Christian civil disobedience but I’m really going to give you kind of a theology of Government. And what I mean by that is that it’s going to be a very doctrinal sermon in the sense of what the Bible teaches about Government. I have 5 statements and I encourage you to write them down.
Statement 1: God ordained Government. Romans 13:1, the Bible says this “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers.” This is referring to Governmental authorities. And that’s clear from the context. Notice what he says. “For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.”. The Bible says that there is no power, there is no Governmental authority, without it being checked or given its authority by God. The powers that be are ordained of God. Notice verse 2. “2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God:”. So the first idea is that we need to understand that God is the one who ordained Government. Please understand, we are not Anarchists. We do not take this position that we just resist Government. And today, in many of our types of circles around conservative Christianity, you do have this Anarchist philosophy that just by default we’re against the Government. People just automatically are against whatever the Government says.
I understand that when we live in in a society like the one we live in, it’s very frustrating to see Government do many things that they do. Government does many things that we don’t agree with. We understand that. But in general, we need to understand that God did ordain Government. The Bible says that the powers that be are ordained of God. And if we resist the power, we resist the ordinance of God. The word ordain or ordinance means to give order or to give authority in the same way that we might ordain a Pastor or ordain a Deacon or ordain an Evangelist. What are we doing when we do that? We are giving that individual the authority to go start a Church, to go do a ministry. Well, the Bible says that God ordained the powers that be. They are ordained of God. You say “Well, how do we correlate that when you have evil Government.”. And we’re actually going to talk about that, not next week but the week after that. I’m going to be preaching a sermon called the rulers of the darkness of this world. And we’re going to correlate this idea between God’s ordaining of Government and wicked people in high places. And I would encourage you to join us for that. But I want you to understand that God ordained Government and all Governments are ordained by God. There’s no Government that ever rose up where God said “Oh man, that caught me off guard.”. To help you understand this, turn to Acts 17.
Let me just say this. God instituted or God created 3 institutions. He created the family. He created the Church. He created Government. These are three institutions that God created. In Acts 17, the superstitious Gentiles are sacrificing to all of these gods and in case they missed one, to the “Unknown God” as well. Acts 17:24 “24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;”. Verse 25 “25 Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;”. Notice verse 26, “26 And hath made of one blood” So all of human population can be traced back to Noah coming off the Ark and Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. I want you to notice what the Bible says. “And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;”. So here we’re told that God created all nations and all nations of men for to dwell on the face of the earth. Every nation on this earth, God ordained it, God created it. “and hath determined the times before appointed”. Not only did God create the nations, he determined when those nations would rise and fall.
Another picture is in the story of Daniel. Nebuchadnezzar had a dream and saw an image and nobody could tell him the dream and nobody could interpret it. Daniel was able to do it and Daniel interpreted this dream and Daniel explained to Nebuchadnezzar that he saw this image and this image represented the nations and the Governments that would rise and fall upon the earth. And of course you had the head of gold which represented Nebuchadnezzar and the Empire of Babylon. Then you had the breast and the arms and that represented the Media-Persian Empire. Then you had the midsection and that represented Alexander the Great and Greece rising up in power. Then you had the legs and that represented the Roman Empire. Then you had the feet which would represent the future coming kingdom of the antichrist. But in that image, God told Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel and the rest of us through his word that these are the Governments and nations and Empires that will rise and fall. I want you to understand that God is the Lord of heaven and earth. And he even resides over the geopolitical world structure. It is God who ordains Government. It is God who allows Governments to rise and Governments to fall. He is the Lord of heaven and earth.
Notice verse 26. “26 And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;”. He’s the one that decided that the United States of America would be where they are and he’s the one who decided that China will be where China is. He’s the one that decided the bounds of their habitation. See, the Governments and the nations, whether we understand it or not are ordained of God. For there is no power but of God, the powers that be are ordained of God. I’ll give you another example. If you remember, when Jesus was meeting with Pilate and Pilate said to Jesus “I have the power to let you go and to make you free”. And Jesus responds “You have no power but the power that God has given you.”. Why? Because of the fact that it is God that has ordained Government. So we must understand this. God ordained Government.
And I’m not preaching about this today but I just want you to notice there in verse 26 that it says that God ordained nations not races. In fact, the concept of races as far as black, white, Hispanic; that’s not a concept found in scripture. That’s not a concept taught in scripture. The only race you find in the Bible is like running the race, the race that is set before us. Other than that, this concept of being black or white or brown or whatever is not a biblical terminology. He has made of one blood all nations. All nations have the same blood that goes back to Adam and Eve. God did not create races but God did create nations and the bounds of their habitations and that determined the times before appointed. So God is the God over the geopolitical world structure of our day.
Number one: God ordained Government. You say what about evil Governments? We’ll get to that in the next few weeks. Here’s statement number two: Government has a biblical purpose. You say what is the biblical purpose of Government? Let me show it to you. Romans 13:3 “3 For rulers”. Now the word rulers there is referring to political leaders. “3 For rulers are not a terror to good works,”. Now please understand this. Paul is speaking here in regards to the Government structure in general. We’re not specifically talking about any specific Government. He’s saying that this is how Government should work with God ordained Government. Here’s how he ordained it to work. So don’t try to fit the United States of America into Romans chapter 13. Don’t try to fit Mussolini’s Italy into Romans 13. This is more of a pattern or a blueprint. This is how it should work. Romans 13:3 “3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil.”. Here’s what he’s saying. This is how it should be. And by the way, for the most part, this is true. If you’re just a good person, good citizen, just trying to live your life and do what Jesus said, for the most part rulers are not just going to be attacking you and terrorizing you. He says “3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:”.
So here’s what he’s saying. He’s saying look, we should fear Government in the sense that it’s there to protect the people and it’s there to punish the evil doer. I’m going to show it to you in the text. You say what is the biblical purpose of Government? To protect and to punish. To protect the people and to punish the evil doer. He says look, you don’t have anything to be afraid of. If you’re not a criminal, you don’t have anything to be afraid of. If you’re not doing bad things. He says “3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power?”. And again, this is in general. Government in general. That’s how it should be. “do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:”. He says look, if you do good things, your Government shouldn’t hurt you. It shouldn’t affect you. In fact, it’ll praise you. Those are the types of citizens that a Government should want to have.
Notice verse 4. “4 For he is the minister of God to thee for good.”. Again, God ordained Government. And here we’re even told that he is the minister of God to thee for good. You say why? Because the biblical purpose of Government, and when Government does what they’re supposed to do, they protect the people from evil doers. Notice again. “3 For rulers are not a terror to good works,”. Notice these words “but to the evil”. So they shouldn’t bring terror to people doing good works but they should bring terror to those who do evil. Notice verse 4. “4 For he is the minister of God to thee for good.”. Here’s the contrast. “But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.”. So according to the Bible, what is the biblical purpose of Government? It is number one to protect the people. And then it is number two to punish the evil doer. Whose job is it to carry out punishment for those who break the law? The evil. The word evil means to hurt. For those who hurt other people. It is the Government’s job it says. “But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.”.
And I just want to make this point and I’ll come back to it later in the sermon. It is not your job. It is not my job to do the Government’s job and to carry out vengeance. It is the job of Government biblically speaking. The purpose of Government is to protect the people and to punish the evildoer. That’s it. Protect the people and punish the evil. Now I realize that Governments have over extended itself. They have extracurricular Governmental activities that God never ordained them to have. But there are a couple of things that God said Government is there to do. They are there to protect the people and they are there to punish evil doers. Now look. It doesn’t say it’s there to set up a public-school educational system. It doesn’t say it’s there to set up a welfare program. It doesn’t say it’s there to set up a Government health care program. It doesn’t say that it’s there to set up all these extra Government regulations, structure systems. Biblically speaking, what is the Government supposed to do? It’s supposed to protect the people and it’s supposed to punish evil doers. That’s it.
And by the way, let me just say this. As Bible believing Christians, my wife and I have done everything in our power to have as little to do with our Government as possible. This is why we don’t use their public school system. God did not ordain a public school system. God ordained a mom and dad to raise their kids and educate their kids. This is why we try to reject as much of those things as possible. Obviously there’s some things we cannot reject. But the purpose of Government is to protect the people and punish the evildoer. I realize that sometimes people have needs. But if I were you, I would get out of as many Government systems, Government programs, welfare, as you are able to because those things come with a price. The Government doesn’t give you money just because they’re nice. They give you money so they can put their foot in the door and control you and mandate you and cause you to do certain things. Look, the biblical purpose of Government is to protect people and punish people. I think the only Government institution that we have some sort of a membership or card too is the public library. The Governments purposes is to protect the people and punish the evildoers. That is the purpose of Government.
Number one: God ordained Government. Number two: Government has a biblical purpose. Number three: We are to submit to Government. Now before you just write me off as a FEMA Pastor and start sending your emails and making your comments, just listen to the entire sermon. The Bible teaches that we are to submit to Government. And I’ll just give you a hint. We’re not supposed to submit to everything but there is an idea that we are to submit to Government. Romans 13:1 “Let every soul be subject”. What is the word subject? It means to come under the authority of the Word. Sub has the idea of coming under something like a submarine goes underwater. He says “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers.”. We are to bring ourselves under the authority of Government. Again, we’re not Anarchists. We’re not going to set up some militia to go overthrow the Government. No, the Bible says “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.”.
Notice verse 2. “2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God:”. He says look, you shouldn’t be resisting Government. “and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.”. So the Bible teaches that we are to submit to Government to an extent. You say why? Because God ordained Government. You say why? Because there is a biblical purpose of Government. Now it’s not the public-school education system. But there is a purpose to Government. This is an that is taught throughout scripture that we are to submit to Government.
Paul is telling Titus who is a Preacher that there are some things you need to teach your Church people. Titus 3:1 “Put them in mind”. Why do I put them in mind? Paul, what do you want me to do as a Preacher? “Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers,”. Principalities comes from the same word like Prince which is talking about a political leader. “Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work,”. What is a magistrate? It’s a Government leader. Someone who makes laws and ordains laws. “to be ready to every good work,”. Notice, Paul tells us to be subject to principalities and powers. We need to obey magistrates. We are to submit to a Government.
Number one: God ordained Government. Number two: Government has a biblical purpose. It is to protect the people and to punish the evildoer. Number three: We are to submit to Government. Now some of you are thinking “I thought this was called Christian Civil Disobedience. I thought you were going to tell me when I could start rioting.” Before we can get to the disobedience, we need to understand when we need to obey. Number one: God ordained Government. Why should we obey? Because God ordained Government and Government has a biblical purpose. Why should we obey? Because God actually tells us to submit to the higher powers. We are to submit to Government. Here’s statement number four: And we’ll spend our majority of the sermon on this statement. Number four: We should disobey when Government asks us to sin. We should disobey when Government asks us to sin.
Acts 5:28 “28 Saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.”. So here you have the political religious authority saying we commanded you to not teach in this name. Well here’s the problem with that. If the apostles were to submit to that command then that would be a sin because God commanded them. Jesus commanded them to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. So they’re saying that they have a law and “command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.”. Notice verse 29. “29 Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.”. See, there is an authority structure and above Government is God. In fact, it is God who ordained Government. So when Government and God are at odds with each other, God wins every time. We obey God rather than men.
Now please understand this. Most conservative Christians, political type Christians, they’ll love that we ought to obey God rather than men. The only problem that I have with that is that they bring that out for everything. Everything the Government says they respond with “We ought to obey God rather than men.”. The Government says you should put a mask on when you go into this building or whatever and they’re like “Yeah, we ought to obey God rather than men.”. Well look, I don’t like masks either. I get it. They’re annoying. But you know that’s not a sin. Do you understand that? When do we disobey Government? When Government asks us to sin. Then we submit to God rather than Government. So before you start protesting and start getting your militia, ask yourself if the Government is asking you to sin. From time to time the Government does ask us to sin so we disobey. Other than that, we submit. Why? Because we should submit to Government and we should only disobey when Government asks us to sin.
Now I’m going to give you an example that doesn’t have to do with Government. But let me just remind you that God instituted three institutions. He ordained three institutions. The family, the Church, and the Government. Now I’m going to give you an example from the family and then I’m going to prove it to you using examples in regards to Government. But I’m going to show to you from the family. But I want you to understand that the authority structure is the same in all of these. God only has one authority structure. You say what is it? When God has given you a God-given authority, you obey unless they ask you to sin.
Ephesians 5:24 “24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ,”. Notice how he’s about to give us an example of the family. But he says this is also how the Church works. This is also how the Government works. Because all of God’s institutions all work the same. Do you understand that? Ephesians 5:24 “24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.”. This is not popular today but most of the things I preach are not popular. The Bible teaches that wives are to submit to their husbands in everything. That’s why it’s important ladies who you marry. If he’s a jerk, well nobody made you marry him. But once you’re married to him, you are to be subject in everything. Everything means all things. Whatever your husband wants. Let me just say this to you husbands. If you’re not an idiot, you would realize that God gave you a wife to be a help meet. They have wisdom and intuition so you should consult your wife and respect her opinion. There are some things where it is not important and not worth arguing about. For example, you’re your wife wants to decorate or what is she cooking.
However, there are some things where God will hold you accountable husbands and you need to make a decision. Notice who takes the blame for eating the fruit. Eve eats of the fruit and gives to her husband and the rest of the Bible we’re talking about the sin of Adam. Adam’s the boss. He’s the authority. He’s the head. He’s the leader. He’s the one that God holds responsible. So the Bible says “24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.”. Go to Colossians 3:18.
However, there is 1 caveat to that. “18 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord.”. So he has the authority but there is a limit to that authority. And the limit is “as it is fit in the Lord”. So as long as your husband’s not asking you to sin, you should obey him in everything. You say, “When can I disobey?”. When he asks you to sin. That’s when it is no longer fit in the Lord. Then you don’t have to submit. So when your husband asks you to bury or help him bury a body then you don’t have to obey. When your husband asks you to help him run a heroin ring, don’t obey. You’re your husband wants you to make him hamburger helper, just obey. Does that make sense?
Look at Colossians 3:20 “20 Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord.”. Children are under the authority of their parents and children should obey their parents in all things. Ephesians 6:1 “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.”. Kids, as soon as your parents ask you to do something that goes against God, you don’t have to obey. Do you understand? This is how authority works. There is a structure to authority. God ordained parents as an authority. You submit to them in everything as it is fit in the Lord. You submit to your husband in everything as it is fit in the Lord. You submit to your parents in everything in the Lord. You say what about Government? Why? Because God ordained Government. We submit to everything in the Lord as it is in the Lord. When they cross the line and it’s no longer fit in the Lord, then we ought to obey God rather than men. See, God ordained Government. Government has a biblical purpose. We are to submit to Government and we should only disobey Government when Government asks us to sin.
Now let me give you some examples of this played out in scripture. We are to obey Government until the moment and up to the moment when Government asks us to sin. Wat is sin? The Bible tells us sin is the transgression of the law. God’s law. So when God gives us a law and Government gives us a law that goes against the laws of God, we go with the laws of God every time. Exodus 1:15 “15 And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives,”. And by the way, let me just say this. God raised up Pharoah who was a reprobate. So God ordained pharaoh. In fact, the Bible says that God raised him up because he needed a reprobate that wasn’t going to obey and listen so that he can have the 10 plagues. And again, that’s a sermon for another day but I’m just telling you all Governments are ordained by God.
Exodus 1:15 “15 And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah: 16 And he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools; if it be a son, then ye shall kill him: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live.”. So here you have the Government and Pharaoh is telling the midwives or the ones that are delivering the babies to sin. Thou shalt not kill is a command of God. And he’s saying look, if it’s a son then I want you to kill him and if it’s a daughter then let her live. So the midwives have a decision to make. What did they decide? Well, they decided the same thing as Peter when he said that we ought to obey God rather than men.
Verse 17 “17 But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive.”. They disobeyed their Government. Well how did God feel about it? Well, look at verse 20. “20 Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty. 21 And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses.”. Look, they disobeyed their Government and God was happy about it. You say, “Well, this is a contradiction of scripture because the Bible says we are to submit to the Government.”. No, the Bible says we submit to the Government up to the point when Government asks us to sin. And when Government asks us to sin then we obey God. So look, the midwives should have done everything that Pharaoh asked them to do but the minute they asked them to sin then they did the right thing when they disobeyed.
In Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar orders them to build an image of him and that everyone is to worship that image. The problems is that God’s law tells us not to make graven images and not to bow down to them. It would be a sin to obey that. So what did they do? Daniel 3:16 “16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. 17 If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. 18 But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.”. What are they saying? Here’s what they’re saying. They’re saying we ought to obey God rather than men.
Now here’s the interesting thing. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were princes in Babylon. The Bible actually says that Nebuchadnezzar said about these young men that he found them 10 times better than anyone else. So Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were not a bunch of revolutionaries. They were not a bunch of Anarchists. They were actually good employees for Nebuchadnezzar. They had been raised up in the kingdom. They had submitted themselves to the powers that be. Look, these kids were kidnapped from their homes and they said “Well you know, if this is where we’re at then we’re just going to do the best with it and they worked hard and they were promoted.”. But as soon as they were asked to sin, they said no. Because consistently in scripture you find this concept, that we as believers are to obey Government up to the moment where Government asks us to sin.
Let me give you another example. Go to Daniel chapter 6. Daniel 6:5 “5 Then said these men, We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God.”. What a great testimony that Daniel has. His enemies can find nothing to criticize him with other than his devotion to God. Because he’s not going to disobey the law of his God. So what’d they do? They crafted a plan. They got the king to sign it where it was made illegal to pray. Now here’s the problem with that, God commands us to pray. Daniel 6:10 “10 Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.”.
By the way, Daniel was not being a braggart or a showoff for a grandstanding. This is how he always prayed. “Daniel, why don’t you just shut the window?”. Because if you have a pattern for how you pray with the window open and then they pass a law and you shut the window, they’re going to know number one that he’s praying so he’s still breaking the law. But also by shutting the window he is being a coward about it. What Daniel is saying is that we ought to obey God rather than men. So he opened up his windows and he did what he always did. He prayed before God. He got thrown in the lion’s den as a result. God saved him and rescued him. But the point is this, throughout the Bible you see that Christian believers should submit to their Government up until the point that Government asks us to sin. Look, it’s not that complicated.
I’ll be honest with you. Years ago, I avoided Politics in sermons because I listened to these Libertarian Christians and I was just confused. I’m trying to get them to help me understand Romans 13. I’m trying to understand these laws and liberty and the founding fathers. It was just so confusing to me. They would say obey when the Government is righteous but disobey when they are evil. And they had all of these ways of figuring out if they were righteous or not. I was just confused by it. It just didn’t make any sense to me. Finally I just decided to shut off YouTube and just read the Bible. What does the Bible actually say? It’s interesting because when you read the Bible, you realize that it’s not that complicated. You obey Government until the Government asks you to do something that is sin. And this concept works whether you are in Nazi Germany or any Government. So if the Government says “Hey, I want you to drive 25 miles an hour down the street then you drive 25 miles per hour down that street. If Hitler says I want you to put all these bodies in the oven then you disobey.”. It’s not that complicated. The same is true in a Communist Country, under Saddam Hussein or America. Obey until the government asks you to sin. If they say you can’t pray or can’t go soulwinning or can’t read the Bible or can’t go to church then you disobey them. But everything else, fine no problem.
Let me give you an example right now. There’s a big deal going on with Churches as far as some Churches are being forced to meet outside. And honestly, I think here in Sacramento, that’s not even a thing for us right now. But you know, I’ll tell you this that I don’t want to meet outside. I want to meet inside. We pay thousands of dollars every month for this building and I want to use it. And I will tell you this, I’m not going to volunteer to meet outside just because Gavin Newsome says whatever. And people aren’t going to like this but if the Government showed up and said you guys must meet outside and they put a target on us saying we must meet outside, we would meet outside. People will call us cowards but it’s funny how people who don’t take any stands, don’t take any positions, don’t fight any battles always want to tell you how you’re a coward and you’re a FEMA Pastor.
Here’s my question, is meeting outside a sin? Let me mess you up with Bible. Church is not a building. The Church are the people. The Church is the congregation. We’ve made too much of buildings. Baptist Churches today are worshiping their buildings, paying homage to their building. Look, I don’t want to meet outside. I’m not going to volunteer to meet outside. I don’t want to meet outside. I’m going to make them give me warning after warning after warning before we are outside. But at the end of the day, it’s not a sin to meet outside. We can have Church outside. So I’m not going to die on that hill. Do you understand that? Saying that you can’t have Church at all versus Church must be outside are 2 different things. If they say that we can’t have Church at all then we’re going to have Church. But let me let you in on a little secret. When the Government says we can’t have a Church at all then we’re probably going to be meeting outside. We’re probably not going to be meeting in a building. The point is this. It’s not complicated.
You say “Well what if they mandate vaccines?”. I believe vaccines are sin and I’m going to obey God rather than men. If they mandate putting kids in public school then I don’t think that’s of God so I will die on that hill. But it’s not a sin to meet outside for Church. It’s inconvenient. It’s annoying. It’s stupid. But it’s not a sin. You say, “My parents are idiots. They make me do the dumbest things.”. Well is it a sin to rake leaves with a broom rather than a rake? Maybe your parents have rules that don’t make sense but if it’s not a sin then you are to obey. But if your dad wants you to sell marijuana then you obey God. It’s not complicated. If your husband or boss ask you to do things that are stupid but not sinful then you are to obey. But if your boss asks you to lie then you obey God rather than men. It’s not complicated folks. God ordained Government. God ordained authority. Government has biblical purpose. We submit to Government. We should obey Government until and up to the point when Government asks us to sin.
And I realize that people are making all of these live streams about Coronavirus and the mask at Walmart and things like that. But look, is it a sin? Because if it’s a sin then we obey God rather than men. We should be willingly to get thrown into the fiery furnace as soon as they ask us to sin. But otherwise, we should just submit to Government and quit being such an Anarchist.
Number one: God ordained Government. Number two: Government has a biblical purpose. Number three: We are to submit to Government. Number four: We should disobey Government only when Government asks us to sin. Number five: This is the last point and we’ll finish up here. We should not take the law into our own hands. This is something that we’re often criticized about because we preach and teach things like the Old Testament. We’ll say what God thinks about adultery, homosexuality, etc… Then people say we’re a hypocrite because we don’t enforce what the Old Testament law says. But the Bible tells us that it is the Government’s job to punish the evildoer. And in fact, the Bible tells us that Jesus taught that we are not to take the law into our own hands.
Matthew 5:38. Let me prove this to you from scripture. Here’s an example of the eye for an eye statement. “38 Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:”. Now some false prophets will teach that Jesus here is criticizing this law. This is not true. This is actually a law of God. This is a command of God. You don’t have to turn there but in Exodus 21:24-25, the Bible says “24 Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.”. That was actually a law given to Government. And by the way, I wish we had that law today. I mean the law that when you do something to someone then that same thing should be done to you. I think a lot less violence would be done in our country if that was the law. You might think twice before some gang banger wants to go beat some guy up with a bat if you realize that will be done to you also if you get caught. I think that would do a lot to curb crime. This is biblical. I’m not against it. The law of the Lord is perfect. Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, strife for strife.
So people look at Jesus bringing this up and they’re like “Jesus is criticizing.”. Jesus is not criticizing the Old Testament. He did not come to destroy the law but to fulfill the law. “38 Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: 39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.”. This is the Sermon on the Mount preaching to Bible Believing Christians. He says that you should not take the law into your own hands. So look, as a Bible believing Christian, when somebody does me wrong, how should I respond? When somebody slaps me in my cheek is it “eye for an eye”? No that’s Government’s job. Do you understand that? I mean the Bible says that whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek, to him give the other also. See, God says look we are supposed to suffer ourselves to be defrauded. We’re supposed to love our enemies. Bless them that curse us and pray for them that despitefully use us. He says when somebody hurts you personally, like Jesus on the cross, you say forgive them Father for they know not what they do. But Government has been set up to protect and punish. So Government should protect you from getting slapped and getting your eye taken out and getting violently assaulted. And they should also punish those who do those things. So Jesus is saying here that we’ve heard an eye for an eye but personally you don’t do that. That’s a job for Government. You say “I don’t know about that.”. Well, let me give you another example.
If you remember, Jesus lived under the Roman Empire. Jesus did not live under the Mosaic Law. So the ministry of Jesus in many ways mirrors our lives. Because Jesus, like you and I, lived under a Government that doesn’t acknowledge the laws of God as their laws. Rome had good laws and they had bad laws. So how does Jesus under this non-biblical Government of the Roman Empire? We can learn from that as to how we are to live under this non-biblical Government of the United States of America. John 8:3 “3 And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, 4 They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.”. It’s interesting that they bring the woman but not the man. What’s that about? Look at verse 5 “5 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?”. Moses gave the death penalty for the sin of adultery. Notice verse 6 “6 This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him.”. So they don’t actually care about justice. They want to trick Jesus or catch him in his words. There’s no right answer to this question. If Jesus says “Hey, you’re right. The law of Moses says to stone her, they’re not going to stone her.”. They don’t care about justice. They would run over to the Roman soldiers and say “This guy is causing us and telling us to follow laws against the law of Rome because Rome did not have that same law. If Jesus said “No, don’t stone her because the Roman Empire doesn’t allow for that then they would run to all of Jesus followers and say this guy is telling us not to follow the laws of Moses.”.
So what does Jesus do? “6 This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.”. This gives us a good lesson that we don’t have to answer every question. Verse 7 “7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.”. I want you to notice the answer that he says is “Look, if you’re going to force me to answer the question of should we obey the laws of God or the laws of man, I am going to give you an answer. The laws of God are always better than the laws of men. But he says in this situation the Roman Empire is our authority and God has ordained it.”. We are to submit to that authority. We only disobey when the Roman Empire asks us to sin. But we don’t take the laws of God into our own hands. When the Government fails to do what it is supposed to like in this situation, it’s not right for you to do it because you are under the authority of the Roman Empire. He says you do not outrank the Roman Empire. He says it’s right for Government to do it but the only person that can actually do it is someone who is over the authority of the Roman Empire. So he says he that is without sin. Because only he that is without sin is over Governments. He that is without sin among you let him first cast his stone at her.
Notice verse 8 “8 And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. 9 And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. 10 When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? 11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.”. By the way, I’m not preaching on this but this is a beautiful picture of salvation. One day we will stand before God and Jesus will say that no man hath condemned us by the grace of God.
He doesn’t justify her. He doesn’t make excuses for her. He doesn’t minimize her sin. He says “Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.”. He says don’t let this happen again because next time I might not be here. Here’s the idea though. In this lesson we learn that Jesus says yes the laws of God are better than the laws of men but unless we have the authority to disobey the laws of man we are not going to take the law into our own hands. Do you understand that? So you say, what do we do when Government sins or does wrong? When they sin we speak against them. If you remember from the sermon last week, our job is to rebuke nations and Governments when they do wrong. But do we take the law into our own hands? No. And look, Jesus didn’t do that. Jesus taught against it. But you say well when do we disobey? Only when Government is asking you to sin. See, if the Government made a law saying that you must commit adultery then you obey God rather than men. The theology of Government, the theology of what the Bible teaches about Government is this, God ordained Government. Government has a biblical purpose to protect and to punish. We are to submit to Government and we should only disobey Government when Government asks us to sin. And we should not take the law into our own hands. This is Christian Civil Disobedience. When we stand up on the authority of the word of God and say we ought to obey God rather than men. But make sure when you say that, you’ve got biblical proof to back up that what the law is asking you to do is actually a sin and not an inconvenience. The Government does a lot of stupid things but that doesn’t mean that we disobey.
Let’s pray.