Civil Government - The Authority of Christ
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[00:00:00] 13. And if you're able, please stand for the reading of God's Word. We will read the first 10 verses of Romans chapter 13. Again, if you are able, please stand, and I would ask that you hear this for what it is, God's living Word Romans chapter 13, beginning in verse one. Every soul, every person, is to be in subjection to the governing authorities.
For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist were established by God. Therefore, whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God, and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. For the rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority?
Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For it, the [00:01:00] authority, is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid. For it does not bear the sword for nothing. For it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. Therefore, it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience's sake.
For because of this you pay taxes. For rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing. Render to all what is due them, tax to whom taxes due, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another. For he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.
For this, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet. And if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, you shall love your neighbor [00:02:00] as yourself Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. May God add a blessing to the reading, the hearing, but most importantly, to obedience to His Word.
Please be seated
So I was fretting a bit this week, how do I present this topic? We have been doing a series on the different spheres of government, and I'll refresh your memory here in a minute, but, uh, we're at that final sphere, we're at civil government, and how do I present that topic? I mean, I'm gonna deal with an elephant in the room here momentarily, but I feel as if there's already an elephant in the room.
There are hot topics that we could talk about, and probably the, the biggest concern is so many modern evangelicals disagree on this topic. [00:03:00] So many Christians do not agree on the role of government, why it exists, and how we should interact with government. So I came up with a couple of different versions, and I wanted to just jot them down to see, you know, which one might work.
And I thought, you know, I could do the caveman version because most unbelievers see us as cavemen anyway. Government, bad. Jesus, good. Okay? But I didn't think that was enough. That's not enough information, so I thought, well, maybe I'd look at the enlightened secular version. And the enlightened secular version goes something like this: government is all we have.
You must submit to the government. You must obey and listen to the government, no matter what it says, no matter what it, it imposes. It's good for you. Think Gavin Newsom. And if you don't submit, you're bad. And by the way, Jesus bad. Or there's the North Idaho version. And the North Idaho [00:04:00] version, and it bleeds into some other states, but the North Idaho version is this, "I don't really care about government 'cause I live off-grid, and government can't find me, and I got guns."
By the way, Jesus is good, so are guns. The only thing that bothers me about Jesus is when he asks me to go to church. That's a little authoritarian There's also the 21st century evangelical version. Government is anti-Christ. Government is anti-Christ, and there is absolutely nothing we can do to change the government.
But hey, it doesn't matter. Jesus is coming any minute. We just gotta wait a little bit longer. But until He comes, I'm gonna keep complaining about government And then last but not least, what I will attempt to demonstrate, what I believe to be the biblical version of government. And kids, [00:05:00] uh, you've got some questions, uh, about this and fill in the blanks, so you might wanna listen up.
Civil government, the state, the president, whatever you wanna call it, civil government exists because of a breakdown in the three other forms of government. Civil government exists because of the breakdown in self-government, because of the breakdown in family government, and because of the breakdown in church government And oh, by the way, it is not the answer.
Civil government is not the answer that our country needs. Civil government is not the answer to our problem. However, when civil government functions in submission to God, it is a human good, and it is something that we should be engaged in. If you open your bulletins, you'll see another handout folded in half, and on one side there's a fill-in-the-blank [00:06:00] sermon outline, and on the other side you'll see a chart, uh, with some Bible s- uh, uh, verses under it.
Look at the chart. And I just wanna remind you what, what we've covered. Uh, we've been looking at the different spheres of government that God has established. And again, God is always on the top. God alone is sovereign and autonomous to rule. But under God, there is self-government, there's the family government, and there is church government.
And lastly, and that's what we're looking at today, there is civil government. And as we go down, you'll see that there is a ruler and an authority in civil government. We typically refer to it as the state, the king, the president. But it's not the top of the hierarchy all the time, it's also the governor, the mayor, the city council
There's a subject in civil government. That's you and me. That's the citizenry. There's a law in human government, and this is our first, uh, controversy because I would argue, I don't have time and [00:07:00] I'm not gonna do it today, but I would argue that the civil government can only function the way it should if it practices God's law.
There is no higher standard. There is no other standard that all men are bound to. There is discipline in civil government. The government, as we heard in our reading, possesses the sword. It can punish people. It can engage in just war. It can exercise capital punishment. It can also exercise civil penalties.
And finally, there's an inheritance when civil government functions in submission to Christ, peace and safety. But I do want to remind you of one thing as we approach this subject, and that is do not give up your Christian worldview. So often when we approach this subject, you'll hear things like, "Well, it doesn't just apply to a church, the church, it applies to everyone."
Yes, it does. But we shouldn't give up our Christian worldview. By the way, number one on your outline, and kids, uh, I always skip [00:08:00] number one for some reason, but kids, I started including it on your outline as well. I've included the sermon outline on your outline. So number one is introduction to civil government.
And the one thing that I would say, and again, kids, this is on your sheet, and I will say this multiple times today, civil government is wholly dependent on self-government, family government, and ecclesiastical or church government. Civil government will never function properly if those things aren't functioning.
So the first thing that I want to deal with is what I consider to be the elephant in the room, and it's going to be brief and it's going to be short, but that's what many refer to as Christian nationalism. And I want to offer just a simple definition. This is not going to be agreed upon by everyone.
That's one of my concerns with Christian nationalism. One of my concerns with Christian nationalism is there are multiple definitions, and even those who write and think about this don't [00:09:00] agree. Some would argue that it's a cultural identity. Others would say that it is a racial and authoritarian ideology.
Others would say that it's a political movement, and still others would say it's a theological movement. But it seems to me that Christian nationalism is, if it's going to make sense, it seems to me it's, it's, it's simple. It is a nation that submits to the authority of Jesus Christ in every sphere. If a nation were to submit to the authority of Jesus Christ in self-government, family government, church government, the state would be Christian.
Now, let me make a few things clear. I am not anti-Christian nationalism But it is poorly defined, its implementation is poor- poorly laid out, and this is the most important thing, it is not the answer to our problems. Christian nationalism is not the answer to our problems. It may very well be the [00:10:00] outcome of the answer, but it is not the answer.
If you want the answer, and kids, this is on your outline, we simply have to turn to the Great Commission. And in the Great Commission, which begins in Matthew 28:18, and I'm skipping verse 18 for now 'cause we're gonna come back to it, but in verse 18, Jesus claims all authority in heaven and on Earth. But the commission comes in verse 19, and Jesus says, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations."
And Jesus' words are unique because it really doesn't say, "Go therefore." Literally in the Greek it says, "Having gone." You see, Jesus expects a change in our life when we come to Christ. When we embrace the gospel and we understand it, He expects us to be serving Him already. "So as you're serving Me, as you're already going, this is what you need to do, make disciples of all nations."
Literally, that word means [00:11:00] make learners of all nations. Make learners of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them teaching them to observe all that I commanded you." And sadly, in our day and age, oftentimes the gospel is whittled down to this, quote unquote, "message of salvation."
You're a sinner. Jesus died for that sin. Pray this prayer. Accept Jesus Christ. All is well. That is not the gospel, and that is not Jesus' commission. We have been commanded to teach all that He has told us, everything that He has instructed us. We are to disciple the nations. That, my friends, is the answer to our problems, and that is what we're not doing.
You see, another disagreement that we have when we come to this topic is what is the power of the gospel? What is the extent of the [00:12:00] gospel? In Romans 1:16, Paul puts it this way, "I am not ashamed of the gospel. I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation." And again, we want to narrow down that word as if it was just spiritual, I'm in heaven.
No, Jesus came to save us spiritually, yes, but He came to redeem the world. What is the power of the gospel? Is the gospel simply about individual lives, or is the gospel about the transformation of society? Is the gospel about the transformation of the world? And again, we disagree on these things. Number two on your outline, and kids, this will be in yours as well, the birth and breakdown of civil government.
The birth and breakdown of civil government. And again, I submit to you, and I will try to trace this out in the early pages of Scripture, but I submit to [00:13:00] you that civil government comes into existence because of the breakdown of the first three spheres. When there is a lack of self-control and people live lives of sin, when the family is broken and da- dads no longer lead their families, no longer protect their families, wives no longer want to submit to their husbands, and then it affects the church, and the church quits obeying its Lord.
And when we see these three things break down, it always results in Leviathan. It always results in civil government. And we already read Samuel chapter 8, and we'll come back to it briefly. But what does Leviathan do? He takes your sons. He takes your daughters. And when you put the whole passage together, he takes much more than a 10th of what you have Civil government always results because of a breakdown in the first three spheres.
Let me read [00:14:00] to you, uh, 1 Samuel 8:18-19 again The people have asked for a king. Samuel has tried to talk them out of it. Samuel says, "If I give you a king," and we pick it up in verse 18, "then you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves." And this word translated cry out, it is a despondent cry.
It is a cry of distress. It is a cry for help. "You will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourself, for Yahweh will not answer you in that day. Nevertheless, the people refused to listen." In both the words and the grammar, it was an outright, "We don't care what you're saying, Samuel.
We are not gonna listen. We want a king. We wanna be like the other nations." The people refused to listen, literally obey the voice of Samuel, and they said, "No, but there will be a king [00:15:00] reigning over us." In this principle of the breakdown of the first three spheres, even our Founding Fathers understood that.
Most of you will be familiar with these words, but in George Washington's farewell address, he wrote these words, "Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable." And John Adams in a letter wrote this, "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people.
It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." Now, I'm gonna give you my conclusion concerning civil government, and my conclusion concerning civil government is it ought to be a human good. It was put in place because of sin. It was put in place to punish and suppress sin. However, and this is important, apart from self-control, [00:16:00] apart from individuals bowing the knee to the authority of Jesus Christ, apart from strong families and strong churches functioning in submission to God, the civil government will always become Leviathan, will always become Leviathan.
And the point that I am trying to make is it's the bottom up, not the top down. We create civil government. Civil government was imposed because of our sin, and as a people behaves, as a people acts, so the civil government will act and behave.
Uh, in your handout, when you open it up, there's a fill in the blank, and then on the left side there's a brief history of civil government. And I just want to go through that history with you. And I gave you the, the heading, so if you want to take notes, you can take notes on that page. But I'm going to start at creation, and I'm going to try to do this pretty quickly, but at creation we have God.
And God is sovereign. He alone is sovereign and autonomous [00:17:00] over every sphere, and He creates the world. He creates Adam and Eve, and in so doing that, He creates self-government. Adam and Eve were to obey God. They were to love God with all their hearts, mind, soul, and strength. He also created the family. He, as it were, walked Eve down the aisle, and He gave Eve to Adam, and they were married, and Adam was to be Eve's head and protector and provider.
At the time of creation, there was no ecclesiastical government and there was no civil government. But what happened? Well, you all know what happened. Adam and Eve sinned. The Fall happened. And why did the Fall happen? Because there was a breakdown in self-government. Because there was a breakdown in family government.
Adam abdicated his position. He no longer protected Eve. In fact, we've covered this story before. Adam stood right there the whole time that Eve was interacting with the serpent. He watched the whole thing. He did nothing. [00:18:00] He acted cowardly, and he allowed his wife to lead. There was a breakdown in self and family government, and so there was sin.
And this breakdown continued. We see it in the stories of Cain. We see it in the timing of Noah and the threat of the flood. So just think about post-flood. Think about before the flood I take it back. Post-flood would be after the flood, but we see a hint of civil government after the flood. Open your Bibles to Genesis chapter 9.
Genesis chapter 9. We're gonna work our way through a few passages. We'll be quick about it, but in Genesis chapter 9 verse 6, we see hints at the beginning of civil government. We see capital punishment. So in Genesis chapter 9, beginning in verse 5, we read these words: "Surely I will require your lifeblood."
Literally in the Hebrew, [00:19:00] I will require the blood of your soul. From every beast I will require it, and from every man and from every man's brother I will require the life of man. Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood will be shed, for in the image of God He made man. So God institutes capital punishment, and there are two things I want to point out about it.
Uh, this phrase, "Whoever sheds man's blood," that is a fascinating word. It's not the word for kill. It's not the word for murder. It's actually a religious term. It's a word that would've been used of, uh, cutting the sacrifice and letting the blood shed on the ground, and it's as if God is trying to communicate all of life is religious.
Murder is anti-religion, and whoever sheds man's blood, he will be killed
However, if you study your Bibles, it was carried out by the family. It was carried out by the clan. There was still no civil government. This is simply a hint of civil [00:20:00] government. And then we get to Genesis 10 and 11, and you may wanna go home and read that. Genesis chapter 10 is known as the Table of Nations.
It's this long genealogy. And Genesis chapter 11, you're probably all more familiar with, it's the Tower of Babel. And I submit to you that the Tower of Babel and this genealogy was taking place at the same time. So look at Genesis chapter 10 because this is enlightening. But look at Genesis chapter 10, beginning in verse eight, 'cause this is gonna tell us a lot.
And remember, these things are happening at the same time. And this is probably a familiar passage. I know we've covered it in the past, but in Genesis chapter 10 verse eight, we read this, "Now Cush became the father of Nimrod." He became a mighty one upon the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord.
Therefore it is said, "Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord, the beginning of his kingdom was Babel." And then it goes on to mention a few more things. And often we read that and we're scratching our head, and [00:21:00] only someone from North Idaho would really care, but why is it important to say he's a good hunter?
I mean, so he could hunt deer and elk or whatever was... W- why, why does the Bible include that? Because it's not what it means. And if we just back up, Cush became the father of Nimrod, and the, the name Nimrod literally means rebel or revolt. And hopefully you'll remember back in the early pages of the Bible, names meant something.
It described the person. Nimrod is an evil man. He's a rebel. He's revolting. And there's only one thing to revolt from, and that's God And then it says he became a mighty one, a Gibbor. And later in Samuel when, when it's used of David, it means something good, a, a mighty man. But the only place this is used prior to Genesis 10 is Genesis 6, and when you find it there, it is not a compliment.
It is describing evil men who are using their power to inflict it upon [00:22:00] others, and Nimrod is described just like those men. And it says he was a mighty hunter before the Lord, but literally, especially in context, those words could be translated, he was a mighty hunter and he opposed the Lord. He opposed God.
Therefore it is said like Nimrod, a mighty hunter opposed to Yahweh, and the beginning of his kingdom was Babel. There's another hint. Nimrod was at the Tower of Babel. There's a good chance that Nimrod was leading all the people there at the Tower of Babel. And hopefully you remember, but Babel or Babylon from this point on is a phrase that refers to evil government.
So what happens at the Tower of Babel? Nations form. The people are forced to go their separate ways, and nations are formed, and governments are formed. But I want you to notice something very imp- important here. These are secular nations, secular governments. This does not take place with the [00:23:00] people of God.
The people of God are still one family, the family of Abram, which is the next story in the book. And then we get to the Mosaic Covenant, and with the Mosaic Covenant, God is still at the top of the hierarchy. Self-government still exists. Family government still exists, and this is the birth of ecclesiastical government.
God introduces ecclesiastical government, but still, believe it or not, no civil government. There are hints. If you're in Genesis, flip over to Deuteronomy 17 And this is an interesting verse, Deuteronomy 17, we're gonna look at verses 14 and 15. But I have read this passage wrong for years, and I imagine so have you, some of you, maybe not.
But I've always read this passage as if God is the one introducing a king, as if God is the one saying, "In your future, I'll give you a king." It's not. What we find in Deuteronomy 17 is the same thing we find in the Book of Judges, and it's the same thing we find in 1 Samuel. The people [00:24:00] demand a king. And God in His grace, in Deuteronomy 17, simply regulates it.
So look at Deuteronomy 17, the 14th verse. "When you enter the land which Yahweh your God gives you, and you possess it and live in it, and you say," you request, you desire, " 'I will set a king over me, like all the nations who are around me' " And you shall surely do it. You shall surely set a king over you, but now the Lord's gonna intervene.
"You'll set a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses from among your countrymen. You shall set as king over yourselves." So God intervenes. God in His grace always takes the sin of His people and He turns it into something good, and that's what He's doing here. God is not the one who introduced the king.
God is not the one that said, "You need a king, and I'll give you one when you enter the land." It was the people who wanted a king. But again, it [00:25:00] doesn't happen yet. And in Deuteronomy, uh, 17, verses 16 to 20, God gives a bunch of laws that the king is to follow so as to protect His people. But it was the people that desired a king.
And then we get to the Book of Judges, and in the Book of Judges we have an absolute breakdown in self-government, an absolute breakdown in family and ecclesiastical government In Judges 17:6, we read these words, "In those days there was no king in Israel. Every man did what was right in his own eyes."
And if you understand the context and if you understand this expression, every man reverted to the sin of Adam and Eve. Because when Adam and Eve took from the tree of the knowledge of evil, the knowledge of good and evil, it was their way of telling God, "We will decide right and wrong. We're not gonna submit to your authority, but we will decide what is right and wrong.
We will decide how we will live our lives." And that is how the people were living in the book of [00:26:00] Judges. And what is the result? Well, by the time we get to Samuel, the result is civil government in Israel. The result is God appoints a king. And who was the first king of Israel? Saul. And Saul was a wicked king and a wicked man, and he did exactly what Samuel said he would do.
He took their sons, he took their daughters, he took more than a tithe from them, and the people were oppressed. But this leads to number three on your outline, and it leads to the good news
But in order to understand the good news, you need to understand the history of civil government. Civil government arose because of sin. I would be happy to sit down with anyone, go through the early books of the Bible if you think I've missed something. But it seems to me when you trace it out, civil government started in secular society first, and it didn't start in Israel until the people became so [00:27:00] sinful, and they disobeyed the prophet, and they disobeyed God, and God in His grace intervenes and He controls the process, but it is a result of sin.
But the good news is the first king was Saul, the second king was David. And David is a type and a picture of Christ. And all the kings were failures, but the kings of Judah were types and figures of Jesus Christ. And so number three on your outline again is Christ is King. But I want to stop here for a minute, and I'm going to ask a question that may sound offensive to some of you.
Christ is King. Do you believe it? Because I'm telling you, the majority of modern-day evangelicals do not believe that. They'll say it, they'll give you lip service, but they don't believe it. I had a conversation this week and the gentleman kept saying, "When Christ comes in His kingdom, when Christ comes to His throne."
They don't believe [00:28:00] Christ is reigning. I think that's one of the biggest problems in the church today. Is Jesus King? Is He truly Lord of Lords? Is He King of Kings? Now, He might not be ruling at the speed you want Him to. He might not be doing the th- the things that you think He should be doing in the timing you should be doing, but is He King?
Is He King? Which is why we read Psalm 2 in our responsive reading. So you may wanna flip up to Psalm 2 as we keep going through the Bible. But in Psalm 2, and I'm just gonna read a portion of it. We did it in our responsive reading so you would be reminded of what it says, but I wanna read you verses 2...
I'm sorry, uh, verses 6 and 7. Psalm 2:6-7, because it's important to understand the language here. The language here is very precise, and guess what? The New Testament tells us when this is fulfilled. So we can take the language of Psalm 2, and when the New Testament says it was fulfilled at this particular time, we can understand it properly.[00:29:00]
In Psalm 2, beginning in verse 6 says this, and this is the Father talking, "But as for me, I have installed my king upon Zion." That is finished work. That is completed action. God is saying, "I have installed my king." Now, we need to keep something in mind on Psalm 2. It's a, uh, enthronement psalm. So any time a new king would come to the throne in Judah, this psalm was likely read at the, the enthronement ceremony, and it would be read when the crown was going on the king's head and he was sitting on his throne, and it was a done deal.
He was installed on his throne. Well, the same would apply to the future king, to the Messiah, which this psalm ultimately speaks of. "But as for me, I have installed my king upon Zion." Then the Messiah speaks, the Son speaks, "I will surely tell of the decree of Yahweh." And a, a decree is something that can't be broken.
The word that he's using here, that, that, that the passage is using, it's undoable. This is something God did and you [00:30:00] can't undo it. "I will surely tell of the decree of Yahweh. He said to me, 'You are my Son. Today I have begotten you.'" And we know that ultimately the psalm is speaking of the Messiah because in verse 12, literally most of your translations will say something like, "Do homage to the Son," but literally the Hebrew says, "Kiss the Son," and that is an act of worship.
It is used elsewhere in scripture in the Book of Isaiah, a false idol worship. To kiss the Son was to worship Him as God Well, when was this passage fulfilled? When, when, when did the reality of this passage come to pass? All these verses are in your bulletin, but if you want to turn there, fine. If not, you can just listen.
But in Acts chapter 13, in Acts chapter 13 verse 33, Paul is preaching at a synagogue in Antioch, and in verse, uh, 31 and 32, he's telling the people that the promises of God have been fulfilled, and this [00:31:00] is how he demonstrates it. In Acts chapter 13 verse 33, "God has fulfilled this promise to our children in that He raised up Jesus."
He raised up Jesus, the resurrection. And I would submit to you when you study this phraseology in the writings of Paul, it always refers to the resurrection and the ascension. So Paul says, "God has fulfilled this promise in the raising up of Jesus as it is also written in the second Psalm, 'You are my Son.
Today I have begotten You.'" That is the fulfillment of Psalm 2. When Jesus is raised from the dead, when Jesus ascends to heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father, that is the fulfillment of Psalm chapter 2 verses 6 and 7. Jesus is on His throne. This is confirmed in the book of Hebrews. We just studied the book, and in Hebrews chapter 1 verses 5 and 13, we read these words speaking of the [00:32:00] superiority of Jesus, "For to which of the angels did He ever say," and he quotes Psalm 2 verse 7, "You are my Son.
Today I have begotten You." And again, "I will be a Father to Him and He shall be a Son to me." He quotes 2 Samuel 7. He takes an enthronement psalm and an enthronement promise, the promise of David's future Son, the Messiah, who would sit upon His throne forever, and he combines them and he says it's taken place.
But he adds to it. In verse 13 of Hebrews chapter 1, he says this, "But to which of the angels has He ever said, 'Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet?'" And what's the hyperlink there? Psalm 110. And Psalm 110 speaks of the Messiah who will become our High Priest, our new High Priest, and He will also become our King.
And the majority of the book of Hebrews is arguing for the fact that Jesus is our High Priest. It's taken place. [00:33:00] If He's the High Priest, He's also King. But the Bible helps us there as well. "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet." All we have to do is turn to Ephesians chapter 1, and in Ephesians chapter 1, Paul tells us that when the Father raised Jesus from the dead, He seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places Jesus is king.
Do you believe that? Jesus is our ultimate authority. Does that give you comfort? I want to go back to the Great Commission. This time I want to look at verse 18. If you want to turn to Matthew 28, please do. We're going to look at verse 18. But these promises in Psalm 2 are fulfilled in the resurrection and the ascension of Jesus Christ.
And Jesus sits now at the right hand of His Father, and He rules and reigns. And it is the heavenly throne of David that Jesus sits on. And any [00:34:00] reduction, I mean, just think about it theologically. For Jesus to leave that throne and take an earthly throne would be a reduction in His glory. It would be a second humiliation.
It's not going to happen. He is on His throne today
But listen to the words of Matthew 28:18. "Jesus came up to them and spoke to them, saying," and these are His disciples, and they're confused, and they're scared, and they're a bit bewildered. They don't understand what's going on, but He begins with words of assurance. "Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, 'All authority, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.'"
In this phraseology, in heaven and on earth, it means the entire universe. If you have a child and they have one of the kids pages, you can look at the picture that I had printed out for them, and it's Jesus on His throne, and He's looking over the universe. He's looking over the entire universe because all authority [00:35:00] in heaven and on earth, all authority in everything that God has created.
In the beginning, God created what? The heavens and the earth. Same phraseology here. Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth. You see, if this isn't fulfilled, if Jesus is not King of kings and Lord of lords right now, if He is not ruling the nations right now, if He is not drawing the nations to Himself right now, if He is not conquering the nations through the gospel right now, then He is a liar.
And He's not a liar. You see, if Jesus is not King, then there's a failure in both Father and Son because Jesus is telling His disciples, "I possess all authority right now." And where did it come from? It was given to Him by His Father
Turn in your Bibles to Ephesians chapter one. We'll look at that word, that, that passage in a little more detail. But as you're turning in your Bibles, I wanna remind you of [00:36:00] Isaiah 9. And most of you are probably very familiar with Isaiah 9, but I think we miss a portion of it
And hopefully you'll remember these words, but in Isaiah 9 beginning in verse 6, and you'll remember this, "For a child will be born, a Son will be given to us. And the government will rest on His shoulders." And we seem to think that what that implies is whenever Jesus gets His government, it's, it's all and done.
And yet the passage goes on in verse 7, "There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace." You see, even the Old Testament indicates that when Jesus goes to His throne, it will be a, it will be progress. His kingdom will grow in time. His kingdom will increase in time. He will rule the nations, but it will be done in time, and that lines up so well with so many [00:37:00] parables in Matthew and Mark and Luke.
The mustard seed, this little seed, and it grows to the biggest bush in the garden. There's growth in the kingdom of God. So it may not be where you want it to be today, but maybe it's because the church is disobedient in our country, and the church is broken in our country, and the church is not serving its Lord in our country.
I've said it before, I will say it again. I will not shy away. I believe that the United States of America is under and should be under the judgment of God. He has blessed us so much, and we have thrown it in His face But the kingdom is meant to grow. Now listen to the words, hopefully you're in Ephesians.
I wanna read the words of verses 20 to 23. Do you believe these words?
It's speaking of the surpassing greatness of the Father's power. And beginning in verse 20, "This surpassing [00:38:00] greatness of God the Father's power He brought about in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand." The words of Psalm 110. "He raised Him from the dead. He seated Him at His right hand in heavenly places, far above all rule, authority, and power, and dominion."
And we've looked at this passage before. Far above, literally the Greek is simply above above. You can't get any higher. And the Greek is very clear. The English is very clear. He is above all rule, all authority, all power, all dominion, and these words are used throughout the New Testament to refer to both human authorities and angelic authorities.
Jesus does not share His authority with anyone. He has total and full sovereign authority over the world today, and that is good news. That, my friends, is the gospel. That is the message we should be [00:39:00] proclaiming to our friends and our neighbors. All rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but in the one to come.
And He put, the Father put all things in subjection under the feet of Christ. And that's a picture of the king's footstool. And in the Old Testament, this, this, uh, picture of a footstool is, it's a picture of dominion and defeat of one's enemies. And all things are under the feet of Jesus. "And He gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all."
Do you believe that? I submit to you the early church did, and in less than 200 years they conquered Rome. They conquered Rome. The greatest empire in history at the time was conquered by the gospel, by the preaching of the gospel, because the early church believed this. But again, most [00:40:00] American evangelicals do not.
Now turn in your Bibles to Romans 13, and this is the passage we read at the beginning of the sermon. And all I want to do, all I want to do right now is I want to read the first two verses, and then I want to make some concluding comments. But in Romans 13, and we will come back to this passage next week, and I will exegete this passage in detail next week.
We will look at this passage which I believe lays out the role and responsibility of civil government, and I think it also lays out the role and the responsibility of the citizenry. But listen to the words of Paul, and remember that Paul wrote this during the rulership of Nero. During the rulership of the Jews and the high priest oppressing the church.
And these are general words. I think this is Paul's ideal presentation. We'll get into it more next week, but Romans 13:1, "Every person," literally in the Greek, all [00:41:00] souls, every person, everyone, "is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.
Therefore, whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance, the commandment of God. And they who have opposed will receive condemnation," literally will receive judgment upon themselves. So we will look at that more next week, but what are the takeaways? Why did I do things the way I did things today?
What do I want you to take away? What do we need to know in order to understand the, the rest of civil government, in order to understand how we respond to civil government? Well, I've got four takeaways for you, and then one last comment after that. All spheres of human government, all spheres of human authority, the self, the family, the church, the state, [00:42:00] must submit to God or they will fail.
Any sphere of government that does not bow the knee to Jesus Christ will be removed, will fail, and oftentimes the removal is not quick, and so there's persecution, there is judgment. All forms, all spheres of human government must bow the knee to Jesus Christ. Number two, in addition to that, the good of civil government is wholly dependent on the first three spheres.
You want a good government? Do you have yourself under control? Have you bowed the knee to Jesus Christ? You want a good civil government? How do the families in America look? Not really well if you look at the statistics and what's going on in our country. Dads are no longer leading their homes. Dads are cowards.
There's all kinds of out of wedlock children being born. We've already talked about, you know, the woman's lib [00:43:00] movement. How do our families look? And if our fam- families look that bad, what is our government going to look like? The good of civil government is wholly dependent upon self, family, and ecclesiastical governments.
If these are weak, Leviathan results. Third takeaway, civil government came into existence because of the breakdown of these first three spheres. Civil government came into existence because of sin. There's no getting around it. And last but not least, civil government in submission to God is a human good.
Civil government in submission to God is a human good. I opened this sermon with the question, how do I present this material? I think it's fitting that I close the sermon with why have I presented it the way that I have? And I pray that you will go home this [00:44:00] week, and I pray that you will look through these passages, that you will look through the first 11 chapters of Genesis, that you'll look at the Book of Judges, the Book of Samuel, Psalm 2, that you'll look at the fulfillment found throughout the New Testament.
I pray that you will go home and you will study these things. But the reason I presented it the way I did is because it lays a foundation for further study. First and foremost, I think it is the biblical view, but it lays the foundation for further study and further understanding. But secondly, it explains a lot.
It explains a lot about government. It explains why and how government becomes Leviathan. It explains how and why most human governments in the history of the world, I might dare say all human governments in the history of the world, have become evil The reason is sin. The reason is the breakdown in personal self-control in the family, in the church, which will [00:45:00] always lead to wicked government.
It is the natural result and it is judgment. But here's the question that I want you contemplating. Will we own our culpability? Will we own our responsibility? What will we do as a church? What will we do as an individual, as a family to rectify this problem? Government is wicked because people are wicked, which just...
And I, I won't cover this in detail next week, but it may explain this whole idea of the breakdown of the family and the self and the church, and so the government becomes Leviathan. I think it explains why both Jesus and Paul said even during a wicked government's reign that we're to pay taxes. We're to continue to submit to the government and pay taxes.
Now, scripture says a whole lot more than that, but I think this is eye-opening. A wicked government is judgment. A wicked government is [00:46:00] judgment on the breakdown of the other spheres. And most importantly, the reason I presented things this way is it explains how to fix wicked civil government. You see, the power is in our hands, not the government's, and here's my main point.
It starts from the bottom up. If you're involved in government, if you're involved in anything government, that's a good thing because as Christians we ought to be involved. But where are your priorities? If you're involved in government and you don't share your faith, you're gonna fail. If you're involved in government and you're not concerned with your family, if you're a wife submitting to your husband, encouraging him to be a leader, if you're a husband leading your household, you will fail.
If you're involved in government because you think government is the answer to our woes, you will fail The way you fix Leviathan [00:47:00] is from the bottom up. The way you fix Leviathan is by taking a knee to Jesus Christ and asking him to be Lord of your life and asking the Spirit of God to teach you how to live that way.
The way you fix evil government is by reading your Bible, by reading the Scripture so you know the law of God, so that you're training your family how to live according to his law and his word The way you change an evil government starts from the bottom up with evangelism and prayer that God will change the hearts and minds of people.
Now, we can multitask. I'm not saying get out of government until that's done. I'm saying multitask, but where are your priorities? It is from the bottom up. It will result from submission to Jesus Christ and presenting His message. How do we rate on that report card? Let's pray. Father in heaven [00:48:00] Continue to teach us about civil government.
Continue to teach us about our role. Continue to help us understand its origin, its breakdown. Father, may we be faithful. Spirit of God, I ask, pour yourself out. Pour yourself out on your people. Convict us Give us anxiety if we're not following you. Cause us to turn, cause us to do whatever it would take to turn and follow you, to love you with all of our hearts, all of our minds, all of our souls, all of our strength.
Father, may it begin here and now. May it begin with each individual in this room. Father, I pray that you would continue to draw every child in this room so that they would love you from such an early age, that they would grow in their love for you, that they would grow in their belief and their understanding of you.
Because Father, this is a generational problem, and it [00:49:00] must be solved generationally Help us to teach our children. Help us to bring them up in the godly fear of Yahweh, in submission to Jesus Christ. And Father, in doing these things, help us branch out to our jobs, to our neighborhoods, to our little town of Bonners Ferry, that we would be bold in preaching the gospel, in living the gospel, and in believing in its transformative power.
Father, thank you for your Word. Thank you that you have given us the playbook. Father, I pray that we will play by your rules. For we ask this in Christ's name. And all of God's people said? Amen. Amen. Please stand if you're able
