Every Last Word

Guest (Male): Can Christians be involved in politics? Are we to obey our government and its laws, even when we don't agree with them? Turn to the Gospel of Luke and listen in, as Christ showed both his followers and enemies how they were to respond to political powers.

Welcome to Every Last Word, a radio and internet program with Dr. Philip Ryken, teaching the whole Bible to change your whole life. Today we continue our studies in Luke, trying to get an understanding of the proper relationship of politics and religion. Phil, as our country is now under the leadership of a new president, cabinet, and other elected officials, what are some things that we can do for those who are in leadership over us?

Dr. Philip Graham Ryken: The first thing is a very obvious thing, but it shouldn't be overlooked, and that is to pray for our leaders. We may or may not admire all of our leaders. If we do admire them, we shouldn't overlook the fact that they still need our prayers. And if we do not admire them, that's not an excuse for not bringing them before the throne of God's grace.

So we certainly want to be doing that for President Obama, everyone in leadership in our country. And also respecting their leadership, respecting at the very least, respecting their office as leaders that God has put in His sovereignty in positions of authority. And that's part of what Jesus is talking about in this parable when He tells us in this parable to render unto Caesar those things that belong to Caesar.

Guest (Male): Well, even when we are given leaders that we all seem to like, there are typically some areas of disagreement. What should we do if we don't like what our government is doing?

Dr. Philip Graham Ryken: I suppose, Mark, with all the complaints that people have about the government, sooner or later there'll be something that we don't like in what our leaders are doing. And this teaching of Jesus then becomes very important for us, because He tells us that we should still follow and obey the government unless the government very explicitly commands us to do something contrary to the law of God.

And this kind of respect and submission to government is part of rendering unto Caesar, but that's also part of rendering unto God, because God has put these leaders into authority, and it's our service to Him that is really at stake in our attitude about the government.

Guest (Male): Thank you, Phil. Let's turn in our Bibles to Luke chapter 20, verses 19 through 26, and listen in to Dr. Ryken.

Dr. Philip Graham Ryken: If you want to start a good argument, start talking about politics. Or religion. Either one. But if you want to start a war, bring your religion into your politics. And since I intend to speak about both religion and politics, we'll see what happens. Few things seem to cause more difficulty than an unholy alliance between political power and religious faith. And if you need an example of that, just consider what has happened in our world from the publication of one little cartoon in a Danish newspaper.

Or consider what has happened in history with the Christian church, because these difficulties have been as apparent there as anywhere. Think of the Crusades, or of the Inquisition, or of apartheid. Think of the way that Christianity was used in this country to defend the institution of slavery. Or to bring things up to date, think of all the trouble we have doing evangelism today, because when people hear about Christianity, they immediately associate it with some particular political perspective.

In America, or at least certainly on my street in Philadelphia, the close identification between the evangelical church and conservative politics makes it more difficult for many secular people to give a fair hearing to the gospel. And then when we go abroad, where America is generally regarded as a Christian country, we find that people's attitudes about Christianity are deeply affected by their views on US foreign policy, often to the detriment of the missionary work of the gospel, or at least it seems that way.

My purpose is not to persuade you to adopt this or that political philosophy, but simply to say that it is hard to get religion and politics right in their proper relationship to one another. And that when we get them wrong, as people often do, including Christians, it causes no end of difficulty. I think if we want to understand the true relationship between politics and religion, probably the best place to start is with one of the most famous things that Jesus ever said, something we find in Luke chapter 20.

And let me encourage you to turn there in your Bibles where we will consider this verse and its surrounding context. Jesus said, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." This is Luke chapter 20, verse 25. It's interesting, even the infamous Jesus Seminar of the 1990s, which tried to cast doubt on nearly everything that our Lord ever said, even that seminar agreed that these were the true words of Jesus.

Somehow it's not surprising, is it, that one of the few sayings they accepted had to do with politics, which of course in our culture is one of the things that people think matters as much as anything in the world. But what did Jesus think about these matters? Well, we should begin by understanding the context in which Jesus made this famous statement. You'll remember that it was the last week of His life on earth, that the tension was mounting.

The religious leaders in Jerusalem were trying to destroy Jesus, but they couldn't find a good way to do it, because people were hanging on His every word. That's what we saw at the end of chapter 19. And in chapter 20, we saw them trying to trap Him. First by asking Him if He had a license to preach and to perform miracles at the temple. Jesus responded with a question of His own, an answer so brilliant that they were trapped themselves.

Then He went on to tell them about the murder of the owner's son, and that made them angrier than ever. In fact, at the end of that story, we read in verse 19 that the scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on Him at that very hour, for they perceived that He had told this parable against them, but they feared the people. You see, Jesus had been prophesying by telling this story that they would put Him to death, and that after that, they would lose their spiritual authority.

Well, when they heard that, they wanted to kill Him. In fact, it's almost as if they're trying deliberately to fulfill His prophecy, because their murderous intentions prove the truth of what Jesus was saying about them, that they would put the Son to death. You see, the more that Jesus taught, the more people listened to Him, and the less control that they themselves had over their direction. And the frustrating thing for these religious leaders was that there really wasn't anything they could do about it.

Jesus was much too popular for them to get rid of Him. And therefore, they had the most dangerous of all anger, they had an impotent rage. And then one of them had a very cunning idea. And really one of the best parts about it was that they could get someone else to do their dirty work for them. I imagine that they sent, in effect, the pastoral interns to do it. That's what you see in verse 20.

They watched Him and sent spies who pretended to be sincere, that they might catch Him in something He said, so as to deliver Him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor. Now, here it's important to understand a little bit about the political context. The Jewish leaders in those days did not have the authority to execute the death penalty. That right was reserved for the Romans. But maybe there was a way that they could get Jesus in trouble with the Romans.

That was the thought that they had. And so His enemies seized upon a question related to public policy. I mean, they couldn't catch Jesus in religion, I think they had just about figured that out by now. But maybe they could get Him with politics. And so they asked Him, "Teacher, we know that you speak and teach rightly and show no partiality, but truly teach the way of God." I mean, it's disgusting, isn't it, the way that they were speaking to Him with their hypocrisy and their flattery?

All those words were true. Jesus did teach rightly, He did teach the way of God without any partiality. But of course, these men had an evil intention. It's like it says in the Psalms, their speech was as smooth as butter, yet war was in their hearts. And then finally they came to the question, "Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar or not?" Now this question was designed to discredit Jesus by catching Him on the horns of a dilemma.

Was it lawful to pay tribute to Caesar or not? It was an explosive question in those days. You have to remember, we're talking about politics in the Middle East. It was the same then, very much as it is now. The answer that one gave to this particular question was potentially fatal. The tribute was the basic Roman tax imposed on every Jewish citizen. It was the price you paid for the privilege of living and working in the Roman Empire.

And that tax was highly unpopular, as of course most taxes are. And this wasn't just for economic reasons, but also for political and religious reasons. In fact, there were some zealous Israelites in those days who considered the payment of the tribute to be a sin against God, because you see, the Romans were robbing the money that rightly belonged to God. That was the view that they took of this tax. Now, what answer should Jesus give?

If He told people to go ahead and pay the tax, then many Jews would consider Him to be a traitor to the cause of His people. The masses would turn against Him. He would lose His popular following, and that would be the end of His influence. And yet if He told people not to pay the tax, which is probably what the leaders hoped that He would do, He would easily be guilty of subverting the Roman government.

And they would be able to haul Him before the governor, accuse Him of being an insurrectionist, because if there was one thing that the Romans refused to tolerate, it was any kind of rebellion. And I tell you, a man who told people not to pay his taxes would be swiftly arrested and summarily executed. And so these religious leaders thought they had Jesus right where they wanted Him. It was a win-win situation for them, this dilemma that they were posing.

If Jesus told people to pay their taxes, He was finished as a popular hero. But if He told them not to, He was a dead man. Now, there was, I think, one flaw in their reasoning, and I think seeing it will help us understand the answer that Jesus gave. Because when these crafty men said, "Is it lawful to give tax to Caesar or not," they were asking a yes or no question. They were putting things in terms of an absolute alternative.

Either the tax was lawful or it wasn't. And really that assumed that things either belonged to Caesar or to God, but not in some way to both. And in effect, by demanding a simple categorical answer, these men were insisting on a separation between religion and politics. You see, some things are for Caesar, other things are for God, and they wanted Jesus to put tax in one box or the other. Well, if they thought that they could trap Jesus with one of their tricky questions, they were badly mistaken.

Luke tells us in verse 23 that He perceived their craftiness. And He said, "Show me a denarius." Presumably, there was a kind of dramatic pause as someone produced the penny, and then Jesus asked the question, "Whose likeness and inscription does it have?" And of course, the answer was obvious: Caesar's. He was the one on the coin. And you see, already Jesus has done it again. He's countered a question with another question, and it puts His opponents right where Jesus wants them to be.

The likeness on the coin was Caesar's likeness, the inscription was Caesar's inscription. In fact, it said something like this, somewhat abbreviated: "Tiberius Caesar, son of the divine Augustus, Augustus." You see, it was Caesar's coin, and it almost said it in almost a redundant way on the coin itself. And so as a practical matter, whether they wanted to pay any tribute to Caesar or not, as citizens of his empire, they were using the coin of his realm.

Their very money proved that they were part of the Roman economy, that Caesar had a claim on their lives. And Jesus then made His dramatic response to their diabolical question. He said, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." And once again, His enemies are silenced. Jesus easily slips through the horns of their dilemma. I mean, they could hardly object to giving Caesar what belonged to Caesar, and his very face was on the coins in their pockets.

Nor could they object to giving God what belongs to God, because of course they claimed to be His servants. And in framing things this way, Jesus is winning another victory over His enemies in this ongoing conflict that eventually will lead Him to the cross. That's the overall context of what's happening. We see an intensifying conflict between Jesus and His enemies. It's leading to the cross. And here Jesus is triumphing over their accusation.

And they recognize that He's triumphing too, because Luke tells us in verse 26 that they were not able in the presence of the people to catch Him in what He said, but marveling at His answer, they became silent. If only in their silence they had turned to Him in repentance and faith. Well, this is the context for what Jesus said, I think really one of the most important and probably historically influential statements that anyone has ever made on the subject of religion and politics.

It may be just the single most important and influential statement on that subject in the whole history of the world. What is Caesar's belongs to Caesar, what is God's belongs to God. But of course, that still leaves you with two pretty obvious and overarching questions. Which things are the things that belong to Caesar? Exactly what things are they? And which are the things that belong to God? Well, we want to get the practical benefit of what Jesus said.

Let me do some teaching here that will hopefully help clarify a difficult issue that even Christians have struggled a great deal in history. And I want to mention four things that I think belong to Caesar, followed by one thing that belongs to God. And we need to begin by recognizing that there are some things that really do belong to Caesar. When Jesus tells us here to give the government what it deserves, that really assumes that the government has some legitimate prerogatives.

Jesus Christ did not come to overthrow the earthly empire and set up an alternative state, presumably a Christian one. But instead, He acknowledged that even Caesar had his proper place of earthly authority, his appropriate sphere of political influence. And Caesar had this authority because it was given to him by God. Think of the important statement that the Apostle Paul made near the end of the Book of Romans, "Let every person be subject to the governing authorities."

And if you ask why, the answer is, "because there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God." And so we are told to acknowledge the divine authority of human government, and as we do so, I think there are at least four things that God wants us to render unto Caesar. The first is paying our taxes. Paying our taxes. That's a fairly obvious and immediate application of what Jesus was saying, isn't it?

People were asking whether it was lawful to pay tribute to Caesar, and Jesus said, not only is it lawful, but actually it's required. Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's. Of course, what makes it so extraordinary is that Jesus was talking about the Roman Empire, which of all governments was cruel in its oppression, even persecuting the people of God. Nevertheless, Jesus wanted His disciples to pay what they owed, just as we have a duty to pay taxes to our own government.

No matter how wisely or unwisely we think some of our money will be spent. Paying the full amount of our federal income tax and other taxes is an act of obedience to Jesus Christ. Now, you may know that here in Philadelphia that includes the special privilege, so to speak, of paying the heavy wage tax imposed on everyone who lives or works in the city at a rate of more than five percent.

Some years ago now, I discovered to my dismay that this wage tax was due even on money earned out of state. I mean, you perform a wedding out of state, receive a small honorarium for it, and Philadelphia wants a piece of that for the privilege of living and working in this city. When I discovered that that was the case, I hadn't realized it, I knew it was my duty to walk over to the municipal building and figure out what I owed in back taxes and penalties.

Similarly, just a week or two ago, I discovered that even the nine dollars and change that I earned for jury duty was taxable income by the federal government. If you did jury duty this year, I'm sorry to be your informant, but you see, it needs to go on the tax return. And even taxes can be for the glory of God if we render them unto Caesar out of obedience to Christ. There is a second way we render unto Caesar, and that is by praying for our leaders.

Praying for our leaders. Jesus may or may not have had this specifically in mind as part of the context here, but it's certainly an important part of New Testament teaching on politics and religion. Christians are people who pray for God to bless their government. Praying for the government's an important part of public worship. Apostle Paul urged this on Timothy. He said, "supplications, prayers, intercessions, thanksgivings should be made for all people, for kings and for all who are in high positions."

And he went on to say, "this is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior." It's also an important part of our private intercession. We are called to pray for the President, asking God to give him wisdom to lead our country. To pray for members of Congress that they would conduct their public office with integrity. To pray for members of the Supreme Court, asking God to make them agents of justice.

And then to pray for the Governor, for the elected officials who lead our state, for the Mayor, for local authorities at every level of civic government. You see, as the people of God, one thing that we alone can do for our city, for our state, for our country is to pray, and God has called us to such prayers. And then here is a third thing we render unto Caesar, and that is the practice of our civil obedience. The practice of our civil obedience.

This is part of what we owe the government as our service to Christ. It is submission to the law of our land. I think this is a helpful comment from the Augsburg Confession, that the gospel does not introduce any new laws about the civil state, but commands us to obey the existing laws. Whether they were formulated by the heathen or by others, and in this obedience we are called to practice love. Now, of course, there are some exceptions to that.

We could talk about them from other places in the scripture. We're not obligated to do anything immoral. We're not obligated to do anything that directly conflicts with the revealed will of God. And so there will be times when as a matter of conscience we have to say what Peter and the apostles said when they appeared before the Sanhedrin: "We must obey God rather than men."

And there is a place for that kind of disobedience, and yet even under such extraordinary circumstances, we need to be ready to suffer the penalty of the law with quiet submission. And in every other situation we owe Caesar our willful obedience, even when we may not agree with what the government is doing. I thought this comment from J.C. Ryle was helpful. It's from more than a century ago, in a different country entirely, but it shows you that some things are the same, and our obligation to the Lord is the same.

Here's what Ryle said, "As long as we have the liberty to worship God in Christ, according to our conscience, and to serve Him in the way of His commandments, we may safely submit to many requirements of the state which in our own private opinion we do not thoroughly approve." Well, the last thing we render unto Caesar is participation in public life. We are citizens of an earthly government. From time to time, we will be called upon to serve our fellow citizens in one way or another.

In a democratic society, this obviously includes taking seriously our responsibility to vote. Voting in keeping with biblical principles, voting our own conscience before God. Some Christians may also be called to serve God in the military. There are examples of that in the New Testament, men like Cornelius, who was a centurion in Caesar's army. It's interesting to know that Jesus and the apostles did not tell such men to leave the army because now they were Christians.

But rather to work in a way that brought honor to His name right in the calling that they had been given in the secular state. Other Christians, of course, may be called to hold public office, and they too should serve with all godliness. These are a few of the ways that we participate in public life as part of our service to God. There may also be times when the church has a responsibility to speak as the church on public issues.

And this is an area for boldness, but let me say also an area for caution. And I think there are some important things here that are often misunderstood by the church today. We do have a responsibility as the church to bear witness to the biblical truth about poverty and injustice, about racism, about abortion, marriage, war, the environment, many other issues that have a moral dimension.

And yet as the church, it is not our responsibility to control the government as if politics were the ultimate prize, or even as the church to devise political solutions to social problems. So often in the evangelical church today, it seems as if the real goal is to gain more political control, and then we will be able to accomplish the work of the church. But that is not the calling of God for the church.

Good government has its place in the plan of God, but our primary work as the church is not the gaining of political influence, it's not the legislating of a Christian society, but rather to use the spiritual instruments, the more powerful instruments of prayer and the word of God, with deeds of mercy, to win people's minds and hearts with the love of Jesus. And that may well have ultimately some political effect on society, but it is not the political leverage that we are seeking.

It is the work that comes by the work of the spirit through prayer and the word of God. And so these are some of the practical questions that we need to ask about the religion of our politics. Are we paying our taxes? Are we praying for our leaders? Are we practicing civil obedience? Are we participating in public life according to our particular calling from God, both as individual Christians in our calling there and as the church in our calling there?

These are the practical questions we need to ask about our involvement in political life. And those are some of the things that belong to Caesar. But of course, we also need to ask what belongs to God, and we need to come to the final point that Jesus makes in His statement here about rendering unto Caesar and rendering unto God. And He moves, you'll notice in this famous statement, from the lesser to the greater, to the infinitely greater.

He moves from the emperor in Rome to the king of the universe. And He says, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." Now, I don't think it takes only a moment of reflection to realize that what belongs to God is absolutely everything. And that's why I say we have a couple of things we can talk about that belong to Caesar, but there's really one main thing that belongs to God, and that's everything there is.

For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. And I think this helps us to understand the true relationship between God and Caesar, because if everything belongs to God, then that must include Caesar himself. I think this was the flaw in the reasoning of these religious leaders. Remember, they were trying to make a distinction here between religion and politics, and of course there is in a way a distinction there.

But they were saying, look, some things belong to Caesar, other things belong to God. But of course, the truth is that even the things that belong to Caesar ultimately belong to God. Caesar himself belongs to God, because God is the one who sets every authority in its place. It occurs to me as I think about this passage that when Jesus wanted to answer the question about Caesar and tribute, He pulled out a coin and He asked the question, "Whose image is on this coin?"

You could ask the same question about Caesar, "Whose image is on him?" And of course, the answer is it is the image of God given to him at creation. And that indicates in the same way that the coin in a way belongs to Caesar, that Caesar belongs to God. His empire belongs to God as well, because the scripture says that the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of our God and of His Christ.

Caesar's money belongs to God, even if it has Caesar's face on it and his name on it, because every coin is part of God's economy. You see, Caesar belongs to God with everything with him. And if that's true, then the things that we have that belong to Caesar also belong to God. And when we render unto Caesar, what we are really doing is also rendering unto God.

As we pay our taxes, as we pray for our leaders, as we practice civil obedience and participate in public life, all of these things are things we are doing for the glory of God. We're rendering to Caesar and rendering to God. And I think this is the heart of the answer that Jesus gave. Rather than separating our political life completely from our religious life, Jesus claimed that even politics is part of true religion.

I think it's significant here the way that the two parts of this famous statement are joined. Not with the word "but," but with the word "and." Jesus isn't saying here render under Caesar but render unto God, thereby dividing everything into two different categories, but He says render under Caesar and render unto God, because rendering unto Caesar is a part of the all-embracing obligation to render to God the things that are God's.

Now, today many secular people take strong objection to that way of thinking. They would prefer to keep religion out of politics altogether. They don't object too much to people practicing their religion as long as they keep their place. Religion is supposed to be private, not public. Politics is the main thing, the most important thing, and as long as people keep God out of Caesar's business, well then they can worship any way they like.

That's the way that people think today. But you know, Jesus Christ absolutely refuses to bow at Caesar's throne. And this is as much as anything else is why biblical Christianity keeps coming into conflict with secular society. Now, I have been saying in this sermon already that sometimes I think Christians get this relationship wrong and they create unnecessary conflict, but there is a necessary conflict that will come simply from the authority that God claims over Caesar.

We believe that everything is for the glory of God, even politics. I think of the famous words of the Dutch preacher and politician Abraham Kuyper, who said, "There is not one square inch in the whole domain of human existence over which Christ, who is sovereign over all, does not say mine." And that is true of every inch of politics as much as anything else. Now let me emphasize again, because I've already said it, this does not mean that Christians are supposed to be in charge of Caesar.

How important it is to get that straight. It's often misunderstood. God never intended the state to become an extension of the church. Understand there are two different kinds of government in the world, an earthly government and a spiritual government. There is Caesar and there is the church. And Jesus acknowledged the authority of the state right here when He says render under Caesar.

He says that's a legitimate category of human endeavor. But He says nothing, either here or elsewhere in the New Testament, about Christians taking control of the Roman Empire, of them seeking to claim political authority. Of course, that's what most people wanted Him to do, but Jesus never did it. In fact, He constantly corrected that kind of thinking. And yet, Jesus still insisted that Caesar and every other secular power, even though they're not under the control of the church, they are under the sovereign authority of Almighty God.

And therefore both of these two kinds of government that there are in the world, the earthly and the spiritual, are ultimately under the rule of God. Now this is a difficult subject, it's a difficult relationship to get right. I think we get a lot of help from the Protestant Reformers, who talked about this by saying that there were two kingdoms. This was their doctrine of the two kingdoms.

One kingdom is the secular government that's conducted by the state. And the laws of that government have to do with external things. Luther said that really what the state does is rule our bodies. The secular government has laws which extend no further than to life and property and external things and relationships on earth. But then he said there is a second kingdom. It is the spiritual government exercised by the church that rules our souls.

For over the soul, said Luther, God can and will let no one rule but Himself. And so you have these two kingdoms, so to speak, these two kinds of government, and what's crucial to understand is that both of them are under the authority of God. John Calvin spoke of a twofold government, both the secular kingdom of the state and the spiritual kingdom of the church, and he said both of them are under the rule and authority of God.

It's as if God has two instruments of government in the world. In the one kingdom God rules by the sword, in the other He rules by the spirit. And you see as Christians we belong both to the church and the state. We have responsibilities in each sphere, and in both of those kingdoms we have an obligation to honor God. This is the way that these things fit together ultimately in the plan and purpose of God.

Now, so far we've been talking only about government. Well, let me just say in closing that what Jesus said about God and Caesar has a much wider application. It's not just one of the most important things He ever said about religion and politics, it's one of the most important things He said altogether. Give to God what belongs to God. And of course, that includes absolutely everything we have. It includes our bodies.

Our eyes, our ears, our hands. These are things God has given to us to use as instruments in His service. We see the needs around us, we listen to God's voice speaking in scripture, and we reach out in the compassion of Christ to serve. Our homes belong to God. They are places where God gives us the goodness of His rest and places we practice hospitality for people in need.

Our time belongs to God. It's the most precious resource we have, I think. It's the canvas where we have the opportunity to paint His grace. And that is for Him, it's for His use and His service. Our work belongs to God. Our play belongs to God. Our relationships belong to God. Our money belongs to God. To be held loosely until we have the next golden opportunity to invest it in the kingdom of God.

You can talk about anything you like in the entire universe. It all belongs to God. If you ask what belongs to God, the answer is everything belongs to Him. And if you ask what right God has to claim all this from us, well, the answer is He's given it all to us in the first place. He is the God who made us. He is the God who takes care of us.

He is the God who is saving us in Jesus Christ. He has a claim on us by creation and by salvation. And therefore it is right for Him to say render to God the things that are God's, and to say that includes everything, it all belongs to God. Now, I've said that in making His point about giving tribute to Caesar, Jesus used a coin made in the emperor's image.

I've said that Jesus could have said that about Caesar himself, that he was in God's image. And of course, He can do the same thing with you. Because you and I are made in the image of our King. We are bearing the impress of His royal identity. And the fact that we are created in His likeness is the proof of His ownership. It shows that we belong to Him and with us everything that we have.

But you know, there is an even greater proof of the ownership of God. An even greater proof than the fact that you are made in His image. And that proof lies in the cross where Jesus died for your sins. Because you see, the God who demands that you give everything to Him has already given everything to you, including His very lifeblood, by suffering and dying on the cross for your sins.

And His claim that He makes on your life therefore is a right and true and legitimate claim. The question is what will you render unto God, the God who Himself is the Savior who has rendered His own body for you. Our Father in heaven, we give you praise for the amazing wisdom of Jesus Christ. What a wonderful way He had of putting everything into its right place.

Lord, how much need we have as the church to understand our right place in the world, how it relates to political government. Lord, give us an understanding into these things and with that understanding a true willingness to give you everything that truly belongs to you, in Jesus' name and for His sake, Amen.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Every Last Word with Bible teacher Dr. Philip Ryken, a listener-supported ministry of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. The Alliance exists to promote a biblical understanding and worldview. Drawing upon the insight and wisdom of Reformed theologians from decades and even centuries gone by, we seek to provide Christian teaching that will equip believers to understand and meet the challenges and opportunities of our time and place.

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