Government - Part 1: Self Government
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[00:00:00] Uh, if you'd open up to, uh, the book of, uh, 1 Timothy and we are gonna read from 1 Timothy chapter six, beginning in verse 11. 1 Timothy 6:11
And just so you know, I'm hoping my voice does not give out, uh, but, uh, we'll give it our best. So, uh, if you would stand for the reading of God's Word And hear this for what it is, the words of the living God. Again, 1 Timothy chapter 6, beginning in verse 11. "But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, gentleness.
Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of eternal life to which you were called; and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I [00:01:00] charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which He will bring about at the proper time.
He who is blessed, who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, To Him be honor and eternal dominion." And all of God's people said, "Amen." Please be seated. May God bless the reading, the hearing, and most importantly, obedience to His Word.
So a man minding his own business was walking around the gun show, and [00:02:00] a pollster came up to him and he asked him the following question: "What do you think the proper role of the federal government is?" And all of a sudden the man's face turned into a grimace and he looked angry. "Get out of my business.
I don't need Washington telling me how to live my life. Government is too big, too expansive, and it ought to stay out of the way." So the pollster made some notes, and he turned to the man, and he asked a follow-up question. "So you'd support cutting Social Security, Medicare, federal highway funding, and farm subsidies?"
The grimace grew worse. "Hold on. Don't touch my Social Security. Who's gonna fix the potholes in Highway 95?" And farms would go under without subsidy checks. [00:03:00] And sadly, that's how most Americans, even Christians, view the federal government
I purposely added a, uh, subtitle to today's sermon. The title of today's sermon is Government Part One. And I assume that if I just left it Government Part One, most of you would think that I was gonna preach a political sermon. And I just wanna be clear before we move on because we're gonna spend four weeks and we're gonna look at God's view of government.
And I just wanna be very clear and upfront right now, the church has every right to address politics. Not only does the church have the right to do it, the church is commanded to do it. The church is to address all aspects of life, and politics is but one aspect. Then the church should preach and the church should address both the evils and the goods of our political system, and we will get to that.
We will get to the civil sphere [00:04:00] But we're gonna start a short four-week topical study, and we're gonna address the idea of government. What does the Bible say about government? And because it's gonna be a short study, I need to add some caveats. There's going to, for some of you, there's going to appear to be a certain lack of thoroughness.
In other words, we're only gonna do four weeks, and I'm gonna do my best to keep it at four weeks, which means I cannot address everything And the other thing I wanted to address is the idea of topical sermons, because interestingly, in the Reformed world, there are all kinds of opinions, and one of the reigning opinions is never do topical.
Okay? Preach like Jesus did. Go verse by verse. And I say that tongue in cheek because you're not gonna find anywhere in Scripture any of the biblical authors giving a verse by verse sermon Others would argue [00:05:00] only do a topical sermon when you absolutely have to. And this doesn't capture my, my view entirely, but I think topical sermons are important, and I think you need to interject them every once in a while because we as the people of God need to know how to apply our Christian worldview to all areas of life.
We need to know how to apply the scriptures to all areas of life. And so the title of today's sermon is self-government, or I'm sorry, Government Part One, and the subtitle is Self-Government. And if you look in your bulletins, there's a half sheet, and on one side of the half sheet there's a sermon fill in the blank, and on the other side there's a, a table and some Bible verses.
But number one on that table is biblical government. Biblical government. What does biblical government look like? And I want you to take that sheet, and I want you to look on the side that has the table up above and the verses beneath it, because I've tried to lay out in pictorial form what biblical government looks like.
And at the top of the [00:06:00] chart we have God, and it's very important to understand that God alone and only is autonomous. God alone speaks law. God alone makes law. God alone is the rule maker. God alone is absolute. He is a law unto himself. And all other forms of human government must submit to God. And when human government of whatever form does not submit to God, it will fail miserably And then if you look under, in the table itself, you see four spheres, what I would call spheres of government or spheres of authority.
We have self-government, and that's what we're going to address today. We are to govern ourselves. We have family government. We have ecclesiastical government, and we have civil government. And it, it didn't come through unfortunately, I looked at the bulletins and I, I, I looked at the, the copies, it didn't come through, [00:07:00] but if you look at ecclesiastical and civil government, I actually grayed out the top half.
I, I kinda grayed it a little bit because... And I think this is important and, and I think we, we should at least admit this, and that is family government, self-government is grounded in creation. I think you can make that argument, that at creation Adam was commanded to govern himself. He was commanded to exercise self-control.
At creation, Adam was created first. We see Paul ground the husband and wife relationship. Adam was the head of the house. Eve was Adam's helper. And so these things are grounded in creation. But I don't think anyone knows 100% what ecclesiastical government or what civil government would've looked like prior to the fall I think it would have looked much different.
I don't even know if civil government would have existed. The church may have been able to handle it. I don't know. I simply don't know what it would have looked [00:08:00] like. So ecclesiastical government and civil government, and there are only hints in Genesis chapter 4 of ecclesiastical government. Hints. And we don't get any hints of civil government until we get to Genesis chapter 9.
And those things are del- uh, developed later, and they're developed because of, and in light of, and in lieu of the fall of man. So just... I think it was just something to, to point out. But all human spheres of authority, all human spheres of government must submit to God and to His government. I think the very first American dictionary, uh, put together by Noah Webster, who from everything I've ever studied was a believer, but Noah Webster defined government this way in his dictionary that was published in 1828, "Control, restraint, the exercise of authority."
And he doesn't get to civil government until he gets quite a, a ways down the page. [00:09:00] And I submit to you that this is how Scripture uses this term. So I looked in the Old Testament, and I tried to come up, I tried to find every, uh, Old Testament word that could honestly be translated government or govern, and I found 11 words.
Now, there's a mixture because some of that is Aramaic, some of that are loan words from other languages that you find in Daniel or Ezra, Nehemiah. But 11 words that can legitimately be translated government, and they all carry with them some idea of rule, dominion, the ability to make judgment. So I did the same thing to the New Testament, and I found four words.
Three of, three of the words all come from the same root, so they kinda mean the same thing. But again, you find the idea of ruler, leader. You find the idea of to be in control, to be in a controlling position, to have authority over[00:10:00]
That was just an introduction. So number two on your outline. Number two on your outline, the autonomous governor
The autonomous governor. As I said, and we'll develop this a little bit further, but God is a law unto Himself. God is the lawmaker. And what I would like you to do, and we're gonna, uh, we're gonna be all over the Bible this morning, so I'm not gonna ask you to turn to every passage that I'm gonna talk on, but if you would, turn to Psalm 135.
Psalm 135, and while you're turning there, we're gonna look at verse six, but while we're turning there, God is the autonomous governor, and according to Ephesians 1:11, and we'll explore this in a little more detail, but God... And I'm paraphrasing here, but I think I'm capturing the text. God governs after the counsel of His own will.
God governs after the counsel of His own will. In other words, God takes advice from no one but Himself [00:11:00] And in Psalm 135, and kids, this is on your handout, Psalm 135 is on your handout. It's a fill in the verse or fill in the blank passage. But Psalm 135 verse six says this, "Whatever," and I just want to make sure we understand that word, because it's easy just to pass over and think, you know, most things.
No, literally the Hebrew, literally there are two Hebrew words translated whatever, and literally it means all which, all what. It means everything, whatever. There is nothing left out of this word or this idea. Whatever Yahweh pleases, whatever Yahweh delights in, what He's pleased with, what He desires. You see, this is a word of volition.
It is a word of will, and God has a volition. God has a will, and we'll find out very shortly that God's will overrides ours. God's will is more important than my will. God's will, [00:12:00] God's desires are above mine. We'll come back to that. Whatever Yahweh pleases, He does. And interestingly enough, this word He does, it comes straight out of the creation account.
It's used over 11 times in Genesis chapter one where God creates. Whatever God desires, He does in heaven and in earth, in the seas, and in all the depths. And this phrase in heaven and on earth all by itself would refer to everything. But then the Bible, the, the, the author adds seas and all the deeps. And I think it's important that we understand this.
God is in control, God is sovereign, and God does what He wants He alone is the autonomous governor. You don't need to turn there, but I just want to read to you from Daniel chapter 4, and hopefully you'll remember the story. You'll remember that Nebuchadnezzar was [00:13:00] the king that was in power in Babylon when Daniel was brought into captivity.
And Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar actually, I believe, became close to one another. And, uh, Nebuchadnezzar has a dream, and Daniel interprets his dream. This is one of many, and basically Daniel says, "You're arrogant, and God is gonna humble you." And that's exactly what happens. Nebuchadnezzar becomes as if he were a beast.
He becomes like an animal. He eats the grass. His hair grows out. I mean, he becomes like a wild man, and then God restores him. And the interesting thing about the story, and there's a lot interesting about this story, kids. It's in Daniel chapter 4. Have your moms and dads read it to you, or go home and read it.
But the interesting thing is, he must have remembered what happened to him. Because when he came out of his sickness, when God restored his health, the first thing he did was bow the knee to God. In fact, I believe we will meet Nebuchadnezzar in heaven. I believe that [00:14:00] when you study this passage, when you study the words I'm about to, to read to you, this is a sincere and a legitimate confession of faith in the true God.
And I believe Nebuchadnezzar is in heaven. But listen to his words. "But at, but at the end of that period, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes to heaven, and my knowledge returned to me, and I blessed, I praised the Most High God. I praised and honored Him who lives forever. For His dominion," and this is one of those words, His government, His rule, His authority, "is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom endures from generation to generation.
All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing." And for some of us, that almost sounds like an insult. But what Nebuchadnezzar has recognized is compared to God, we are [00:15:00] nothing. That would be like a parent comparing a slug to their child. No parent would have any problem eliminating the slug.
Compared to God, we are nothing, and yet it seems to have built up in the church in modern-day America that somehow God owes us something. Somehow He's simply a friend. He's a buddy. We're on some kind of equal level or plane. Even the work of Jesus doesn't raise us that high We are dependent upon Christ.
We are dependent on our acceptance before God, our standing before God, our ability to talk to God, our ability to fall to our knees and cry out to God and accept forgiveness because of the work of Christ and solely because of the work of Christ. And Nebuchadnezzar recognizes that. All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing.
But He does according to His [00:16:00] will, according to His desires in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and no one can ward off His hand or say to Him, "What have you done?" And this expression, no one can ward off His hand, literally no one can smack His hand. It's like when your child disobeys and does something, there, there's occasion and there's a right way to do it where you might grab the little hand and give them a smack on the hand.
No one can do that to God. No one can discipline God. No one correct God, and He does what He wants. Hopefully, you're still in the Book of Psalms. Turn back to Psalm 33. Psalm 33, we're gonna look at verses 10 and 11
And this is a powerful verse, and this is something that you may want to meditate upon later this we- week. But in Psalm 33:10-11, we read, "Yahweh nullifies." Literally, He [00:17:00] breaks, He destroys, He cancels out. "Yahweh nullifies the counsel of the nations," the purposes of nations, the desire and the will of nations.
Yahweh destroys it. Yahweh takes it out of the way. He frustrates, disallows, breaks the plans of the peoples. And yet using the exact same words, the writer then in verse 11 says this, "The counsel of Yahweh stands forever, the plans of His heart from generation to generation." And I think there are at least four things that w- I need to point out about this passage, and first and foremost, it demonstrates that we have a will.
You see, reformed churches, reformed believers are often accused of saying, you know, you don't have a will because we deny free will, and we deny free will because the Bible is very clear. Prior to conversion, [00:18:00] you are a slave to sin. I don't understand how anyone can think their will is free when the Bible clearly says it is enslaved But this passage is very clear.
People have counsel, people have desires, they have plans. People plan their life, and yet the passage also says that God can override it any time he wants. So number one, the passage demonstrates that we have a will, but it also demonstrates that God has a will, and the passage demonstrates that God's will is superior to ours.
And it is so common in the Church, you will hear this all the time, especially in the preaching of the gospel, that God will never override your will. Not according to this passage. Let God be God
We also find out in this passage that God has a plan, and it is an [00:19:00] eternal plan, and He is carrying it out. And the fourth thing that I wanna say about this passage, and let's just be honest, because God knows, most of us, if we're honest, find this offensive. We find it offensive. I mean, come on, who does God think He is?
God
Be honest with yourself. I wish that I had matured to the point in my life where I never got upset with God, where I never... It's like I never cried out, "Why, God? Why are you doing this to me? Why are you letting this happen to me? How dare you override what I want. Why would you do this?" And yet the passage tells us, let God be God.
God's will, I mean, if, if we're just honest with each other, you're a creature. I'm a creature. I am nothing compared to God Almighty, and God does what He wants. [00:20:00] Praise God that He's loving. Praise God that He's holy. Praise God that the one thing that controls the will of God is His very holy and righteous character.
So God never sins. God never does something unrighteous. God never does something unholy And we learn in the New Testament that because of His covenant promises, most of what He does on this earth is for His people and for His glory I mentioned Ephesians chapter 1 verse 11, just take note because this also applies to salvation, and this is really where we get offended, that God might make choices in salvation, that it doesn't just depend on me.
But in Ephesians 1:11, "We have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined," predetermined. God decided long before I was even born that certain things would happen, that all things would happen in my life. "We have obtained an [00:21:00] inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose," according to His desire, "who works all things after the counsel of His will."
And interestingly enough, this phrase, "after the counsel of His will," can literally be translated, "after the will of His will." He takes advice from no one, no man. So we find out that God alone is autonomous. God alone is sovereign ruler, and God governs in and through Jesus Christ. You see, Jesus Christ, the incarnate God, has all power and authority.
Turn in your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 1. Turn in your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 1, and as you're turning there, I'm gonna read Isaiah 9
And Isaiah 9 should be a very common and familiar passage for you, but I want you to hear what it says because it introduces Jesus. In Isaiah 9:6, "For a child [00:22:00] will be born to us, a son will be given to us. And the government," and that's one of those 11 Hebrew words that I found in scripture, "The government, rule, dominion will rest upon His shoulders, and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father."
And many people confuse it 'cause that's really a bad translation, eternal father. Literally what the Hebrew says is Father of Eternity. And we're gonna bleed in a little to next week in terms of family government. But in family government, the father is the head of the house. The father exercises his authority in the house.
That is how God designed it. And so when it says that Jesus is the Father of Eternity, Jesus exercises authority over eternity. Jesus is God, Mighty God, the Father of Eternity. And if we jump down to verse 7, "There will be no end to [00:23:00] the increase of His government, His rule, His domain or of peace. On the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and uphold it in justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore.
For the zeal of Yahweh of hosts will accomplish this." So you must ask your-- this question, when did Jesus sit on His throne? When did Jesus ascend to His throne? And Ephesians 1 beginning in verse 20 answers that question. In Ephesians 1:20, it's actually part of Paul's prayer that begins in verse 18. Paul prays that God would open their eyes, that they would understand the power of God.
"Power which He brought about in Christ Jesus," verse 20. "Power which He brought about in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places." Jesus took His throne at the resurrection and the ascension. Jesus rose from the dead, spent about 40 days on earth instructing His [00:24:00] disciples, and then He ascended to heaven and He sat on His throne.
Jesus has been on the throne of David since His ascension
Far above, here's the important part, far above all rule And, and many think that this, these, these next few phrases speak of both angelic and human rulers, authorities, governments. But Paul makes very clear that as His ascension, He rose and He is seated at the right hand of the Father in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also to the one to come.
And He put all things in subjection under Jesus' feet. And I just want you to think about that. All things under subjection into Jesus' feet. What does that mean? Because guess what? Same word he uses that we'll look at next week when he [00:25:00] says wives ought to submit to their husbands
all things into subjection under His feet and gave Him as head, same word that Paul will use of the husband, gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. Christ alone has absolute government. Christ alone has absolute authority
He alone makes the rules, and the rules of God are not ar- arbitrary. As I told you before, the rules, the authority of God stem from His nature. For those of you that like to study, for those of you that like to dig or, or read b- big books or whatever, 'cause I'm not gonna explain this, if you wanna talk about it, ask me later, but God's character, God's being, who and what God is, God is the metaphysical and the epistemological ground for all authority, all [00:26:00] ethics, all government, all rule, all law.
And all of that is in Christ Jesus, along with all the other treasures of wisdom. Kids, this is in your handout, Matthew 28:18 and 20. Listen to what Jesus says. This is the Great Commission, and I want you to hear His words. Jesus came up to His, to His apostles, and there were other disciples there. Jesus came up and spoke to them saying, "All authority," nothing is left out.
"All authority has been given me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and obey me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations." And again, Jesus uses this phraseology, "All authority has been given me in heaven and on earth," and you ought to think of Genesis 1, because in the Hebrew thinking, heavens and earth, that's everything.
There's nothing left out. There's nothing missing, and Jesus possesses all that auth- [00:27:00] authority. So here's our first principle, and there's five principles as we go. Here's our first principle: God is the only sovereign, autonomous ruler. God is the only sovereign, autonomous ruler. And here's the second principle, and it's almost synonymous.
Jesus possesses all authority in heaven and on earth. And kids, this is in your outline as well. I've got these five principles in your outline. You can fill in the blanks. Jesus, the incarnate God, the God man, possesses all authority in heaven and on earth. And praise God, Jesus was given to the church, which means, and again, we've lost sight of this, the church possesses authority And yet we shy away from it.
We don't exercise it. We're scared of it. You see, Jesus is on the throne of David, and Jesus rules and reigns, and this is good [00:28:00] Trinitarian theology. Number three on your handout. Number three on your handout, self-government. Self-government And self-government is the first sphere of ordained, of God-ordained human government.
You have self-government, you have the government of the family, you have the sphere of the church or ecclesiastical government, and you have civil government. And there are hard and fast lines between these spheres, and there's also some overlap, and we'll look at them as we study these things. While God's autonomous government is the foundation of all human government, all human authority, self-government, and this is why we begin with self-government, undergirds the remaining three spheres.
You see, without self-government, you're not gonna have good families. Without self-government, you're not gonna have good churches, and without [00:29:00] self-government, you'll have sick civil institutions. And we see that today in America because our politicians lack self-control, because our politicians have not bowed their knee to Jesus Christ.
Let me define self-government so you know what I'm talking about, and I'm gonna give you several definitions to help you along the way. Self-government, the simplest definition I can think of is it's self-control. Are you in control of yourself? Self-government is self-regulation. A little bit longer definition.
Self-government is wise moral living brought about because of submission to Christ Jesus. Wise moral living brought about because of submission to Christ Jesus. And one more, and, and this last one, sadly, because I've had these conversations, the church struggles with this
[00:30:00] Self-government, someone who is in self-control refers to one who can regulate his or her attitudes and actions. It refers to one who can regulate his or her attitudes and actions. And the, the part where you will get
People will argue is this idea that attitudes can be sinful. There are those in the church that would deny that attitudes can be sinful because some of my attitudes, let's be honest, I wish they didn't pop into my head. They're unwanted. They're intrusive. Some of my attitudes are unyielding. I fight it, and I fight it, and I fight it, and it's there.
And so there are some in the church that have decided that, well, those must not be sinful. Attitudes are just as sinful as actions. Listen, uh, turn to Mark chapter 12. Turn to the Gospel of Mark chapter 12
And the reason that I turn to Mark, [00:31:00] because you can find this in all the Synoptics, is because Mark, uh, actually, in, in one sense, in, in Mark's gospel, Jesus expands this commandment. He adds an, an extra phrase to the commandment. It's a quotation of Deuteronomy chapter 6, and Jesus doesn't change the meaning at all.
Actually, He enforces the meaning. But Jesus is asked, "What is the greatest commandment?" And here's His answer, "You shall love Yahweh your God. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength." And you need to understand that in Hebrew thinking, the heart and the mind, or literally the word is thinking, the heart and the thinking refer to attitudes.
These are attitudes. How do you view God? How do you view what you do in your life? How do you view the things around you? What are your desires? These are attitudes. These are internal. And our attitude of the heart, [00:32:00] the way we think about things, the way we interpret things, the way we view reality ought to be loving to God, and when they're not, they are sin.
If I view sexuality in a way that the Bible doesn't, that is a sin, even if I don't act on it. You're to love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, all your strength. Soul and strength refer to actions. Soul and strength refer to actions. We read Galatians chapter 5 at the beginning of the, the service.
We read Ga- Galatians chapter 5, and Galatians chapter 5 talks about this battle that we still have between the flesh, the residual sin that is still in our lives, and the Spirit, our desire to follow God and follow the Spirit. And we're told not to be controlled by the flesh, but to let the Spirit control us.
And we also read this during the confession of sin, but in verses 19 and 21, multiple sins are mentioned, and I'm just gonna pick out four. But what I want you to understand [00:33:00] is these four sins are sins of attitude, not action. Yes, they result in action, but these begin in the heart. They begin in the mind.
They're attitude. Sensuality. Literally, if you look that up in a good dictionary, it means a lack of self-control. The Greek word means a lack of self-control that leads to sin. Enmities, jealousy, envying. These are all attitudes. In Jeremiah 17:9, "The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick."
And again, if we understand our Bible, if we understand the Hebrew way of thinking, heart was the thinking mechanism. You see, apart from Jesus Christ, apart from conversion, our thinking is sick, and there are times that we fall back into that sickness Because our attitudes and our thinking are not trained by the Word of God, because we still have this residual sin in our lives, and we're [00:34:00] to fight against it.
But we need to call sin, sin. In Colossians chapter 3 verse 5, and Paul is writing to Christians, "Consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality." You see, there's a change. You're a new creature, and you need to live like a new creature, and you need to view yourselves as a new creature Consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality.
He's gonna spell it out. Impurity, passion, evil desires, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. These are things, as Christians, we are to fight against, we are to put to death, we are to crucify and remind ourselves that Jesus went to the cross for these sins. And one of those sins is evil desires, evil thinking, evil attitudes.
In James 1:14-15, "Each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lusts." And this, this word here for lust, it simply means strong desire. [00:35:00] And if it means anything else, it's based on the context that it's used in. It is strong desires. Our desires can be sinful. Thus, it is important to a true and proper understanding of biblical self-government, and we are called to self-control.
We are called to self-government, and it is important to understand it. Self-government, self-control involves being both... involves bringing both attitudes or desires and actions into conformity to the will of God. Biblical self-control means bringing our attitudes as well as our actions into conformity to the will of God How do we do that?
How do we submit to God's will? How do we bring our desires into conformity? Well, I think there's two things, and the first one is it begins with divine action. [00:36:00] It begins with divine action. This is where sovereignty and human responsibility come together. Genuine, godly self-control begins with turning to Christ, begins with having a new heart, a changed heart.
So principle number three. Here's the third principle. Because of sin, genuine self-control can only come from bowing the knee to Christ. Because of sin, genuine, biblical self-control can only come from bowing the knee to Christ, and that is an action that begins with God And I think that this might be the most important principle for those of us who live in Bonners Ferry.
I can't tell you how many Christians I run into up here that are more concerned with the civil government and voting and doing things political, and they don't even go to church. They claim Christ, but church is not important. And I just want [00:37:00] to ask you a question based on everything you know of scripture.
What is more important, civil government or evangelism? And I am not saying if you're involved in politics, if you're doing these things, we'll get to it. Do them. Fight the good fight. Get people out to vote. Make sure it's a legitimate vote, that it's fair, and it abides by the rules and the laws. But if you're doing more in politics than in evangelism, it's twisted.
You got your priorities mixed up. If the only way to have good civil government is to have people in self-control, it begins with evangelism. Because of sin, genuine self-control can only come from bowing the knee to Jesus Christ. In Acts chapter 16, and I'm sure you're familiar with this passage, Paul and Silas are in jail, and God miraculously opens up the jail.
Nobody leaves, but God opens it up, and He [00:38:00] does it in the way that He catches the attention of the jailer. And the Philippian jailer comes out and he's about to kill himself, and Paul says, "Stop." And they have this conversation. And when we get to verse 30, we read this, "And after the jailer brought them out, he said, 'Sirs, what must I do to be saved?'"
And of course, you all remember what, what Paul said. You need to pray a prayer and accept Jesus Christ as your Lord. No. It's not what he says. He commands him in the Greek, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ." Believe a command. The gospel is a command. Doesn't mean we have to be offensive the way we share it, but it is a command.
We are commanded to believe in Jesus. And I love this because this is something else we leave out in the modern church They said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved," period, right? Uh-uh. Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, [00:39:00] you and your household. God works with families. And if I come to faith in Jesus Christ, I should expect Him to work in my family.
And we don't believe that anymore. We've become so individualized in our lives in America. In Psalm 51:10, David recognizes, "Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a steadfast spirit in me." In Ezekiel 36:26 we read, "Moreover, I will give you a new heart and I will put a new spirit within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh."
You see, self-control begins by bowing the knee to Jesus Christ, but it also begins with a divine act. In John chapter three, Jesus is talking to Nicodemus, and Jesus answers Nicodemus. He says, "Truly, truly, I say to you," literally amen, amen. What I'm about to say is true, and you need to pay [00:40:00] attention and heed this.
"Amen, amen, I say to you, unless one is born again," and literally the words are born from above, unless a divine action takes place, this person cannot see, cannot understand, cannot comprehend the kingdom of God. You see, self-control begins with divine sovereignty. And here's the problem that scares us, and the reason it scares us is because of another attitude that has developed in the modern church.
Because of dispensational theology, I believe, the modern church has come to believe that heaven will be sparse and hell will be overpopulated. That is not the picture I see in scripture. Heaven will have a number you cannot count
So if we believe that God is in the business of saving people, then this would not scare us. We would be out there [00:41:00] practicing evangelism. We would be sharing our faith because God is in the business of saving people. Romans chapter 6 beginning in verse 17, "But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient out of the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed.
And having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness." You see, conversion results in transformation. Do you want to transform Bonners Ferry? Do you want to transform Boundary County? Do you want to transform Idaho? Start with evangelism. Start sharing your faith. Start telling people about Jesus and expect results Turning your Bibles to Galatians chapter five we read this passage at the beginning of the sermon[00:42:00]
And we've already talked about the first half of the passage where Paul lays out all this sin. But I want you just to hear again, maybe-- I, I know you've heard this, I know you're familiar with it, but listen to it as if it were the first time. Listen to the fruit of the Spirit Most of this is attitude adjustment.
If you think about it, most of this fruit is attitude adjustment. But the fruit of the Spirit, Galatians 5:22, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness," and what does he end on? Self-control. And the word literally means the ability to restrain one's emotions, impulses, desires, and actions.
It means to be disciplined. Against such things there is no law. [00:43:00] In other words, if you are full of the Spirit, if you practice and are indwelt by the Holy Spirit and filled with the fruit of the Spirit, your actions and your behaviors will be in line with the law of God. No law speaks against these things.
You would line up with the law of God. And so principle number four, the standard or measure of self-control has always been the law of God. The standard or measure of self-control has always been the law of God. And from a human perspectives, moms and dads, it begins with parents. It begins with parents. We read that in Proverbs chapters 1 through 8.
Proverbs chapters 1 through 8 is one of the best parenting books you're ever gonna find. And Proverbs chapter 1 begins with an introduction, and I encourage you, go home and read it, verses one through seven, all the benefits of studying this book. But listen to verses eight and nine, and I'm gonna read you the first two verses of chapter two and three after this.
But listen, this is really the [00:44:00] first verse of the, the, of the proverb proper. Listen to what Solomon says, "Hear, my son, your father's instruction, and do not forsake your mother's teaching. Indeed, they are a graceful wreath on your head and an ornament about your neck." And I wish I had time to develop this more, but instruction and teaching, it is the law of God that Solomon is referring to.
Chapter 2:1-2, "My son, if you will receive my words and treasure my commandments within you." Chapters 3:1-2, "My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments. For length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you." These commandments, these teachings, this, this law, this instruction, it is the Word of God.
And when Solomon was writing this, you had the Pentateuch, maybe you had Joshua, Judges, Ruth, and you had some of the Psalms. How much more do we have today, moms and dads, to teach our children so that they would treasure these things in their hearts? This is the beginning [00:45:00] of self-control And it looks very different, and I wish I had time, but I'll have to skip this so that we finish, but it looks very different, and there's all kinds of examples in the Old Testament where children were not taught self-control.
Turn over a few pages to 1 Timothy chapter 1, 1 Timothy chapter 1. And, and Paul, it's interesting what he does in, in 1 Timothy because he's gonna talk about the law, and so often we take one passage and we forget about another passage. But Paul is gonna talk about the use of the law. And in 1 Timothy chapter 1, beginning in verse 8, we read these things: "For we know that the law is good."
And if, if you go and you read 1 Timothy and you read it in context, the, it, he's emphasizing the moral law, God's commandments. "We know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, realizing the fact that the law is not made for a righteous person but for those who are lawless and rebellion, [00:46:00] rebellious."
Now keep in mind, prior to Christ, there are no righteous people. But I want you to understand what Paul is saying here. The law was not made for a righteous man, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, immoral men and homosexuals, kidnappers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching And here's the point when it comes to self-government or self-control.
If you don't have self-government, if you don't exercise self-control, the law will control you. The civil magistrate will be forced to step in and control you, and maybe that's not happening in our country, but we'll get to that in a couple of weeks. But God will restrain you either etern- internally by the Holy Spirit and by cooperation and sanctification, or He will restrain you by His law.
Now [00:47:00] jump to 1 Timothy chapter 6, because now Paul's gonna say... He's gonna word things a little bit different, because there are those Christians that have read this passage and think, "Well, I don't need to worry about the law anymore, 'cause I'm a righteous person. I've been born again in Christ Jesus." And yet in 1 Timothy chapter 6, beginning in verse 13, "I charge you, Timothy," and throughout this book, he's called Timothy the man of God.
"I charge you, Timothy, in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ." And what's fascinating about this verse is this, this word translated commandment, it actually encompasses more than the law of God.
But anything that God has laid down anywhere in Scripture, Timothy, you are to keep it. You are to live your life according to it. It is to add control to your life. That's how, from the [00:48:00] human perspective, we exercise self-control, by studying this book, by asking the Spirit of God to apply this book to our lives, and that's why even our founders understood this.
And we can have arguments all day whether or not the majority of our founders were Christians or whether or not they weren't Christians, but I will make this argument unashamedly, unabashedly, and I think I can demonstrate it. All of our founders were operating within a Christian worldview, whether they embraced it fully or not.
All of them were operating under a Christian worldview. So listen to what George Washington says in his farewell address, and oftentimes we jump to the quote and we forget that in the middle of the address, Washington actually said, "I should probably stop speaking, but I care too much about you." These are his words, "A solicitude for your welfare, which cannot end but with my life, urge me [00:49:00] on this occasion to offer you solemn contemplation to, and to recommend to your frequent review certain sentiments."
You want good government? You want a good country? Here's what you need, and eventually he gets to these words, "Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports." That's just another way of saying biblical self-control, because biblical self-control comes from a man or a woman or a child bowing their knee to Jesus Christ, yielding their life, their desires, their wants, their will to the desires, the wants, and the will of God Almighty, and allowing the Spirit of God to use this book to infuse those things into our thinking, into our life[00:50:00]
Time is horrible. I always run out of it up here. Here's the fifth principle, and we'll end with this Self-government equals self-control. Self-control is to live in obedience to God. Biblical self-control, biblical self-government is the ability to control our desires, our emotions, and our actions in light of God's standards I exhort you, go home this day and judge yourselves.
Where do you need to pick up the pace? Where do you need to do more work? Where are you falling short? Because we're all falling short. And what do you do need to-- what do you need to do to correct it? Because none of these other forms of government will be worth anything if we [00:51:00] don't bring biblical self-control to the party.
Let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you for your Word. Thank you that you have established human authority. Thank you that all human a-authority must bow to you. All human authority must begin with self-control, a biblical self-control, a self-control that loves you. Father, thank you That that's true. Because you have given the church the key to unlock that.
If we would but open our mouths, if we would but share the gospel, if we would tell people about Jesus and stop holding back, if we would expect victory in this life, Father, we could transform this city, we could transform this county, we could transform the world if we would but believe your promises.
But Father, may it begin with this congregation. May it begin with men and women, and especially the children who are taught self-control, [00:52:00] and who exercise and practice self-control, who love your Word, who wanna live lives of gratitude, lives of obedience. Father, thank you that it's not easy, not an easy task, but you have given us all the tools, everything we need, in a book that we can actually carry around with us, in a book that's on most of our phones.
Father, help us not ignore it. Transform our lives so that we can then transform these other spheres of authority. For we ask all of this in the name of Christ Jesus, and all of God's people said, amen.
