From His Heart

Larry Nobles: Thank you for joining us today from His Heart with Pastor Jeff Schreve as he continues the third message in the series Foundations. Today, we'll continue to discover what to do as we work in, relate to, and learn to move our government toward more godly principles.

Dr. Jeff Schreve: Human government is something ordained by God and given to mankind, but it's to be carried out in subordination to God's direction.

Larry Nobles: But does that all change if the government happens to be a godless government? Some say yes, some say no. Let's find out today as Pastor Jeff explains the purposes for which God established government. Today, he'll pick up with the second truth regarding government found in Romans chapter 13. Turn there now and get ready to better understand the purpose, function, and relationship between God, government, and Christians. Here's Pastor Jeff Schreve.

Dr. Jeff Schreve: God commands us to submit to governing authorities. Now, that is very clear. Verse one: "Let every person be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God." If you resist authority, it says in verse two, you have opposed the ordinance of God. You're setting yourself up opposite of God. And if you do that, they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves.

Verse five: "Wherefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience' sake. For because of this, you also pay taxes. For rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing. Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor."

God makes it clear. What are we supposed to do as it relates to governing authorities? Whatever that governing authority might be, we're supposed to submit. The word in Greek is *hupotasso*, which means to rank under. It's a military term, which means you get underneath your commander. And in that case, the commander is the governing authority. I'm going to rank under you and I'm going to be obedient to what you're asking me to do. Be in subjection.

Peter said the exact same thing in First Peter chapter two. He said, "Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution." We do that for the Lord. That's the Lord's way. It's always the Lord's way that you submit. Always the Lord's way. The way of the devil is to rebel. Rebel. That's why it says rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and it's a terrible sin when you rebel. The devil's a rebel.

What did he want to get Eve to do? Rebel against God's command. "You shall surely not die, for God knows in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened. You will be like God. Take the fruit, eat the fruit. Do what God says not to do. Disobey. Rebel against the command." People rebel all the time against authority. They don't think a lot about it. You're doing just what the devil wants you to do. He is a rebel and a rabble-rouser and he breeds destruction. God says submit.

How do we submit? What do we do? We're to obey the laws and pay our taxes. That's very clear from the passage that we read. Obey the laws and pay the taxes. Honor to whom honor is due, tax to whom tax, custom to whom custom. He's talking about a custom tax. And so, we pay our taxes. Now, do we not take advantage of opportunities in the tax code to minimize our taxes? Sure. That's all legal. That's all fine. That's part of the law. Live inside the law and do what the law says.

Jesus paid taxes. And Jesus obeyed the governing authorities that were over him. It's interesting about Jesus. He never led any kind of a revolt against Rome. That was one of the reasons why Judas sold him out because he didn't see Jesus—it's like, you need to take control now and we need to turn this thing around and you need to take over. You're the Messiah, so take over and let's break the yoke of Rome. But he didn't do that.

People wonder how in the world did people go from praising him on Palm Sunday, saying, "Hail him, hail him," to just a few days later on Good Friday saying, "Nail him, nail him." Well, one reason, it was a different makeup of the crowd on Sunday versus Friday. But the other reason is because on Sunday, when he came in, this is our Messiah. He didn't do what they thought he should do. He didn't overthrow Rome and that was what they wanted. But Jesus wasn't going to do that. He was going to obey the laws. He was going to submit himself to the governing authorities.

So, we're to do the same. And we're to honor the office of authority. Sometimes it's really hard to do. What are we to give? We're to give what is due. Honor to whom honor is due. Now, some people have a position of authority and they're not very honorable and it's hard, very hard. I've been guilty and I confess that some of the things in politics—I've looked at some of our leaders and I've sounded off and said, "That's just wrong."

And there's a fine line there because John the Baptist did the same thing with Herod. Ended up in jail for it and then he got his head cut off for it, so you got to watch your step there. But there is a sense that you say, "That's wrong," and that's okay. But we always have to honor the office because God is the one that set up the office. Now, let's bring that closer to home. How about as it relates to school? As it relates to your kids on the ball team? As it relates to the coach? He's in a position of authority.

You're supposed to submit yourself to that person's authority. You say, "Well, he's a terrible coach." Well, he might be, but he's still the coach. He's still the coach and the teacher is still the teacher and the principal is still the principal. And we need to treat those people with honor and treat them with respect and not go on social media and blast them because we think they did this wrong or that wrong or the other wrong. Normally, people don't respond well to that.

Now, if you have a problem with authority, what do you do? You appeal to authority, respectfully appeal to authority. Daniel did that. Daniel was in the regime of Nebuchadnezzar and they asked him to do things and he went along with it. He learned the literature and the language of the Chaldeans. When they asked him to eat the king's food that had been sacrificed, the meat that had been sacrificed to the idols, he said, "I can't do that." But he didn't just create a stink and say, "You're a corrupt regime and I would never follow you. I'm a servant of Yahweh and you guys are going to hell in a handbasket." He didn't do that.

He said, "Please, can I just eat vegetables? And then you can test me after 10 days." And he appealed to the authority and the authority let him do it, and God blessed him for that. So, you appeal to authority, but you don't rail against authority because God established authority. And when you start opposing authority, you're opposing the ordinances of God. And then we're to—this is specific for our government—we're to participate in the process.

We participate in the process in America. Paul wasn't able—there was no process in Rome. The only process was who's going to be the next Caesar and if you were in the line, you might kill the guy that's ahead of you so that you could be the next guy. That's how things worked in the realm of the Caesars. Paul has no control over any of that stuff. And in Rome, they didn't vote. We get to vote. We have a part of the process.

Abraham Lincoln said in the famous Gettysburg Address, he said that we are a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. And so, what does our government want from you and want from me? What are we spending the hundreds of millions of dollars in politics? What are they looking for? Your vote. That's what they want from you because they want you to vote for them. That's what your government wants. If we're a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, and if the people don't participate, it doesn't work because it's all of us pulling together and saying, "I'm going to have a part in this."

I like what Edmund Burke said. He is called the father of modern conservatism, lived in the 1700s. He had this famous quote: "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." If good men do nothing, it leaves a vacuum for evil men to come in and take over and start to do evil. And if you don't participate, we're in trouble and the democracy is in trouble. It wasn't designed that way. People bled and died so that we'd be able to vote and in other countries, they would love to be able to vote because they have no say in their government.

To understand the founding fathers and what they were trying to do in America, you need to understand the golden triangle of freedom. Freedom. That's what our country was built upon was freedom. Freedom to practice your faith, freedom to do the things that you want to do. Freedom, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We're in a free society. You hear that all the time. Well, if you look over at freedom, how do you have freedom? Freedom requires virtue. Virtue, a morality about your life.

You can't be free if you don't govern yourself. If you need someone to police you because you keep doing wrong, then freedom's not going to work. So, freedom requires virtue and virtue requires faith. And what the founding fathers understood, because they had experienced it and seen it firsthand during the First Great Awakening—which all that means is people were awakened spiritually to their need for Christ and many people got on fire for the Lord and many people came to the Lord.

And when the people got right with God, crime went down. Drunkenness went down. Bars closed down. Houses of prostitution shut down because it's like, people aren't doing this evil stuff anymore because now they've become virtuous. And so, they said, faith produces virtue. And so they said in the golden triangle of freedom: freedom requires virtue, virtue requires faith, and then faith requires freedom. And all three of those things are so critical.

Listen, when someone attacks religious freedom and our ability to preach the gospel and our ability to say, "Thus says the Lord," and they say, "Oh, you can't say that. That's hate speech. You can't talk about homosexuality. You can't talk against abortion or any of those things because you're going to offend. That's not politically correct." Well, then they put the crimp on our faith. "Keep your faith just to yourself, don't share it." Well, we're commanded to share our faith. "You shall be my witnesses."

So when faith gets attacked, then virtue starts to fall apart because when people aren't walking with God, then what do we see? We see more and more crime. Let me tell you something. You can't hire enough police to police people if they don't police themselves. If they're constantly looking to steal and to rape and to pillage and to do this and to do that and virtue is non-existent anymore, the whole thing falls apart. You can't have freedom. Then you have more and more laws and more and more laws and more and more police.

John Adams, who was one of the principal founding fathers, second president of the United States, he said this: "Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people; it is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." Do you remember when some years ago we had the honor system snacks? You'd have those in companies. It's just the honor system. They're just out there. Candy bars, pretzels, peanuts, whatever. It's just like, I can just grab that. It's not even behind glass. I can just grab it. And there's a little slot for money.

The honor system. And it's like, if you're honorable, those Cheetos cost 50 cents. So, I put 50 cents in there. Nobody's looking and then I can take the Cheetos and I feel good about myself. But it's like, man, I could have taken the whole thing and put nothing in there. The Constitution is set up like the honor system. And as long as people are honorable, it works. But you know the guy doing the buying the snacks for the honor system, if you keep taking all the snacks and you don't put any money in, eventually he says, "I can't do this anymore. This doesn't work like that."

If you're dishonorable, if you're going to steal from me, then this doesn't work. That's kind of what we're seeing in America. It's built on the honor system and because faith has been attacked and people don't live by faith and obey the Lord and there is no fear of God in the eyes of so many people, then we lose virtue and when we lose virtue, then we lose freedom and the whole thing falls apart. What does the Lord want us to do? Render to all what is due and in our government, what is due is you vote and you don't vote for yourself, you vote for the good of the land.

God commands us to submit to governing authorities. And lastly and very quickly, God reminds us that there are times for civil disobedience. We obey. That's the way of a Christian. We obey. We don't attack, we don't rebel. We don't involve ourselves with any kind of movement that is going to be violent toward other people, that's going to say, "Hey, come be part of this march and we're going to kick in these businesses and break glass and do all kinds of stuff and get in the face of the police." No Christian should ever be involved in that. That is not the way of God. That's the way of the devil. He does stuff like that.

But there are times when a Christian has to say, "I can't obey. I can't obey here." See, we obey until our obedience becomes disobedience to God and that's where we draw the line and say we can't do it. Can't do it. That we see in the book of Acts. Acts chapter four, where they told the apostles, "You preach no more in the name of Jesus." And they answered and said, "Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge, for we cannot stop speaking what we have seen and heard."

We're commanded by God to preach the Good News. You tell us don't preach anymore in the name of Jesus, then I'm sorry, we can't obey you. So, we obey the government and the governing authorities until that violates what God has told us to do and then we can't obey anymore. And we never bow at the altar of government. A Christian never bows at the altar of government. When Nebuchadnezzar built his statue in Daniel chapter three, and he had everybody, his whole kingdom get together and says, "And we're going to have a big time and I got the band and when I strike up the band, everybody falls down and worships the golden image that I have set up. And if you don't bow down, you're going to go into the fiery furnace."

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego wouldn't bow. They wouldn't bow. We don't bow at the altar of government. We are citizens of heaven. We have bowed the knee to the Lord Jesus Christ. And listen, there is a real concern in America where more and more and more people get on the dole and they get something from the government. And here's the problem with the welfare system. When the welfare system begins to expand and grow and more and more people are on there, you got to ask yourself, "Am I trusting in government or am I trusting in God?"

Because I look to government to feed me, I look to government to take care of my needs. I'm not taking care of my own needs, I'm not being responsible for my own life, it's government that needs to do that. And you better watch it because if it gets like that, then you're depending upon government and you're not depending upon God. The number one commandment: "I'm the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, you shall have no other gods before me." God is the God that we trust. God is the God that we look to. I'm not looking to government to meet my needs, I'm looking to God to meet my needs.

And there are some, and they would never look at it this way or say it this way, but it's true. If you get more and more and more from this one entity, there's a tendency to say, "Well, everything I do is dependent upon them, so I'm going to go in that direction." Well, if that entity is wanting to pull you away from the Lord, then you say, "Well, yeah, that violates some things, but I need them." No, you don't. You need God. You don't need them. You don't need them. You just need the Lord.

So we never bow at the altar of government and we accept the consequences of not bowing. We accept the consequences. See, a Christian never takes up arms and, "I'm going to get in your face and we're going to rally and we're going to do this stuff and we're going to push back against the establishment and the authority." We never do it like that because the Lord is not into that. The devil is into that. Saul Alinsky, the guy that wrote the book *Rules for Radicals*, who was the mentor of Hillary Clinton, he is into that. He was a community organizer. He wrote *Rules for Radicals*, how you can get people and whip them up into a frenzy to get them to create change.

Saul Alinsky in his book *Rules for Radicals*, he says this: "Lest we forget at least an over-the-shoulder acknowledgment to the very first radical." This is in the flyleaf of his book. "The first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom, Lucifer." Lucifer. It's in his book, in the flyleaf, in the dedication page. Lucifer is his champion of rebellion. He rebelled against God and won his own kingdom and he gives him an quote, "over-the-shoulder acknowledgment."

Well, yeah, that's the way he does it. God's way is you submit to authority until you can't submit anymore and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego didn't get in King Nebuchadnezzar's face and say, "Hey King, this is a rotten law. We're not going to do this and what are you going to do about it? And we're going to pray that God fries you right here." They said, "King, we can't bow. You don't need to give us another opportunity, we can't bow. And our God whom we serve is able to deliver us and he will deliver us, but even if he doesn't deliver us, let it be known to you this day, oh King, that we will not bow to your image nor worship your golden statue."

And Nebuchadnezzar says, "Heat up the furnace seven times hotter and bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and throw them in the fiery furnace." And they didn't fight. They went in. And when they were in the fiery furnace, Nebuchadnezzar, his eyes got big and he said, "Did we not throw three men in the fiery furnace?" And they said, "Certainly, oh King." And he says, "But I see four men, loosed and walking around, and one is like the Son of God."

You take a stand for the Lord in a respectful manner, but you take a stand for the Lord and the Lord will stand with you. He'll never leave you and he'll never forsake you. God's call to us today is to trust him. You know, in America, although some people hate it, we still have on our money, "In God We Trust." We don't trust in money, we don't trust in government, we trust in God. Now, the question is, is that really true for you?

Larry Nobles: Good question. Do you trust in God? I don't mean do you trust in him like you trust in your brake pedal on your car or the airplane pilot or the security of the almighty dollar. Listen, all those things can and will crumble one day and you'll not want to be putting your weight and faith and trust in them. Knowing God means trusting him in everything, for everything, because of everything—a total surrender. That's where our trust should be placed. He created us to love him and that is all we need to do—love him enough to give him all of us.

If you don't know how to do that, we want you to be able to. We trust that you'll go to fromhisheart.org and click the "Why Jesus" link right there on the homepage. There you can learn how to love God and how much he loves you. Again, that's at fromhisheart.org. Click the "Why Jesus" link. He'll speak to you as you come to him. What a powerful lesson today called "God, Government, and Christians." It's from Pastor Jeff's series, *Foundations*.

It's a five-lesson series that shows what God says about foundational principles like marriage, the sanctity of life, born and unborn, the role of the church in the world, and much more foundational truth. Get your copy of this series in the format of your choice when you go to fromhisheart.org. Click the resource link. And thank you too for joining us today on From His Heart. I'm Larry Nobles, trusting that you'll be with us next time as Pastor Jeff Schreve will have a special message for those anticipating a precious Valentine's Day with the one you love.

The message will be from his *Divine Design* series called "How to Find a Good Thing." Be with us then when we'll again open God's Word and share real truth, real love, and real hope from His Heart.