From His Heart

Speaker 1

Rulership is something given from God to man. Government is a good thing because government is a God thing; God is king. He's King of kings and Lord of Lords.

And God is the ruler of the universe. When He created man, He gave man the responsibility of rulership, of government. Underneath God's direction, it's still an institution that God set up for good and not for evil.

So we want to look today at God, government, and Christians.

Speaker 2

Thank you for joining us today on From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve and today's message: God, Government, and Christians. The truth is, government is a good thing because government is a God thing, created by God to provide protection for the people. God gave mankind the job and responsibility of rulership using a government that would be subordinate to God's direction.

So what responsibility do we as Christians have to that foundational truth? Why is that so important in our life? Today, we begin to learn the purpose and relationship between God, government, and Christians in this inspiring message from Pastor Jeff. It's a five-lesson series, Foundations, and the basis of this series is Psalm 11:3, which tells us, "If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?"

Listen. It's time for Christians to understand that and the importance that plays in our Christian worldview. That is our foundation, the foundation of our nation's government. Without it, we will be destroyed. You can go to promisheart.org to listen again to this message or any that we've had from this series this month; just click the Listen link.

Now let's get started. Open your Bible to Romans chapter 13 for part one of the message: God, Government, and the Christian.

Speaker 1

A few years ago, I was traveling from Texarkana back to Houston to visit family and friends. That's about a five-hour drive or so, and I wasn't really paying that much attention to things that are kind of important, like speed limit signs. So, I'm driving along, and all of a sudden, I look in my rearview mirror, hear the sound, and see the lights—woo woo. I looked at my speedometer; I think I was going 70-something, you know. I pulled over.

The officer got out of his car and came to my window. He asked, "Do you know why I pulled you over?" I replied, "Well, I thought it was 70." He said, "It changes in Linden." I gave him my license, and he took it back to his car to check for warrants or whatever he does. Then he came back and asked me, "Are you a pastor?" I said, "Yes, sir." He then inquired, "Do you know so-and-so?" He named someone from our church. I replied, "Yes, sir." He said, "That's my sister." I responded, "She's a very gracious and merciful person." He chuckled and said, "I didn't really say that; I thought it. I don't believe my sister would forgive me if I gave her pastor a ticket." I said, "No, I don't believe she would."

So, he said, "I'm gonna give you a warning." I replied, "Well, praise God! I'm gonna take that and get on my way." He was very gracious to me, and I didn't get a ticket. We laugh because we can relate to some degree to that story. Most of us who have driven for any time at all have had the uncomfortable experience of seeing the lights and hearing the siren behind us, knowing we're getting pulled over for some kind of traffic violation.

Why do we pull over when the policeman is behind us? It's because that person is in authority over us. We have been in a series called Foundations based on Psalm 11:3: "If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?" Today, we want to talk about another foundation stone: the foundation of government. God alludes to government in Genesis chapter one, at the very end of creation when He creates Adam and then creates Eve, bringing them together and declaring it very good. He says to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, and over the beasts that crawl upon the earth."

Speaker 2

Rule.

Speaker 1

Rulership is something given from God to man. Government is a good thing because government is a God thing. Because God is king. He's king of kings and Lord of lords. And God is the ruler of all. He is the ruler of the universe. And when he created man, he gave man the job and the responsibility of rulership, of government underneath God's direction.

Now we know that when man fell, everything changed. And man's desires became not God-centered, but self-centered. And that's how man knew that he was naked. You know, that was the thing with Adam. When the Lord said, "Adam, Adam, where are you?" And he said, "I heard the sound of you in the garden. And I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid myself." And the Lord said, "Who told you you were naked? You've been naked since I created you. But you didn't know you were naked because you didn't have a self-consciousness; you had a God-consciousness." And when you ate of the tree, that's when your eyes were opened and you became self-conscious.

Then sin entered into the world, and sin tainted marriage, and sin tainted every aspect of life, and sin tainted government. But government is still a good thing. It's still a God thing. It's still the way God set it up to be. Just as marriage is still a good thing, it's still a God thing. It's still an institution that God set up for good and not for evil.

Now, in the fear of the Lord, as we talked about that, the fear of the Lord is the beginning point. Because the fear of the Lord, it's the beginning of wisdom; it's the beginning of knowledge. It teaches us that God is God and we're not God. We need to have reverence and awe and a healthy fear of God because he is God. And because we as a society have gotten away from the fear of God, from the respect of God's authority, it stands to reason that if you don't respect God's authority, you're not going to respect man's authority.

We live in a world today where people don't want to respect the authority of man. They don't want to respect the authority of the police. They don't want to respect the authority of teachers and principals and governmental leaders. And they live in rebellion to that. "Ain't nobody going to tell me what to do." That's the attitude that many people have. You know who else had that attitude? Lucifer, the greatest angel God ever created. He had the attitude that said, "I don't want anyone being over me. I'm going to be my own boss, and I will set my throne above the throne of God." And he got a third of the angels to come with him on this quest to overthrow God. He's the original rebel.

Everything that he does, Lucifer, the star of the morning, became Satan, the father of the night. Everything he does is to foment rebellion in the hearts of people. Rebel against God. Rebel against God's authority. Rebel against the structures that God has put in place for our good.

So we want to look today at God, government, and Christians. What does the Lord have to say to us about these key issues related to governing authorities? Romans, chapter 13. Paul is writing from Corinth. The year is A.D. 57. He's writing concerning his government. He's under the government of Rome. Nero is the Caesar. In about 10 years, Nero is going to be the one that presides over his execution along with the Apostle Peter.

Paul says this: "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. Therefore he who resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God. And they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. For 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 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 upon the one who practices evil. 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 is due, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor."

The Lord is talking about our attitude toward government. And Paul, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, living under a corrupt regime, the regime of Rome, and Nero was a rotten guy. He is Caesar; he is king. And Paul says, this is how a Christian is supposed to act and react in response to government.

Now I want to share with you three truths from this passage that will help us to understand government, to understand God's attitude toward government, and to understand what we're supposed to do as it relates to government.

Truth number one: God establishes government for a purpose. For a purpose. Look at it again in 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." God establishes authority, and he establishes it for a purpose. Verse 4 says, "It is a minister of God to you for good." That is government. It's a minister of God. Now that's a pretty amazing statement, that word, minister of God. The Greek word is diakonos, from which we get our word deacon. And God is saying that rulers and government, they are deacons of God. They are servants of God. Government is God's servant. They do his bidding. They do his will.

Speaker 2

Well, some straight talk from Pastor Jeff Shreve today on from his heart in this message, "God, Government, and the Christian." It's also one of five in the timely series Foundations. You can get your copy online at fromhisheart.org. While you're there, we would like to ask you for a gift this month to From His Heart to help us dispel the lies of the devil to a lost and hurting world each and every day.

If you're listening to this broadcast, it's likely that you are aware that the devil is actively seducing a new generation of people to believe his lies. And that has got to stop. That's why Pastor Jeff has written a new book to dispel these lies. The book is called "The Devil's Newsroom: Muting Satan's Fake News and Tuning in to God's Truth." We can all see the bombardment of distortions that we find in media, social media, politics, and you name it.

That's why your support to From His Heart this month is so vital. You can also learn to detect and reject the main lies of the devil with a gift this month. We'll say thank you by sending you "The Devil's Newsroom: Muting Satan's Fake News and Tuning in to God's Truth," Pastor Jeff's brand new book. Pastor Jeff receives no income from this ministry.

To get your copy, call 866-40-BIBLE (866-40-24253) or go online to fromhisheart.org. Thank you so much for standing with us on the rock. Now back to our message today, "God, Government, and Christians." Here again is Pastor Jeff Shreve.

Speaker 1

You know, we have examples in history of good governments and bad governments. Examples in scripture, good governments and bad governments. And God says, whether it's a good government or whether it's a bad government, I have set up the institution of government and no government comes into being without it being established by God.

Now, that's quite a statement when you think about it, because people immediately, they go and they say, Adolf Hitler, Adolf Hitler. What about Hitler? Surely God didn't want Hitler to do what he did. No, God didn't want Hitler to do what he did. Hitler was a terrible, horrible person. He's a picture of the Antichrist. And when the Antichrist comes, he's going to make Adolf Hitler look like a boy scout. Hitler pictures what the Antichrist is going to be when he hits the scene, killing millions and millions of people.

Well, people say, well, how did that come about? How do you reconcile that with a good God? Why would he allow Hitler to come to power and establish Hitler as the power? Well, we may not know the answers to lots of those questions. It's kind of like the question, why does God allow suffering in the world, evil in the world? Those kinds of questions are called theodicy in theological circles. And there are books and books written on that stuff.

But the thing that you need to remember is if Adolf Hitler came to power in some other way and God didn't know about it, or God couldn't stop it, or God was somehow saying, whoops, that got through the crack, what are we going to do now? That's not the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible is in control of all things. The scripture says a sparrow doesn't even fall to the ground unless God allows it to happen.

Now, in America's history, in 1787, the representatives of the states had gotten together to design the government of the United States, and we had won our independence. If you know the history of the Constitutional Convention, you know that there were problems there and that nobody could agree and nobody could get along. Those guys were butting heads and arguing constantly. They were about to say, forget this. We can't go forward with this.

And it was Benjamin Franklin, who was 81 years old. In perhaps his most famous speech, he said this: "I have lived a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid?" He told those guys, we need to pray. And they began to pray, and they began to pray, and they began to pray.

Speaker 2

And.

Speaker 1

And as they prayed, God revealed to them what they were to do. And there was unity and there was victory. Hey, God establishes things. And governors and rulers, they're God's servants. You know, God even says that about Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar the pagan Nebuchadnezzar, the despot of Babylon, the guy that wiped out Jerusalem and destroyed the temple and broke down the wall. God refers to Nebuchadnezzar in Jeremiah, chapter 43, verse 10, as My servant. Nebuchadnezzar, my servant. No, couldn't be your servant. God, he's a terrible guy. No, he's my servant. I use him, he's my servant. God calls Cyrus, the king of Persia. We're not talking about guys that are up for deacon here in the Baptist church. These are rulers that are pagan. God calls Cyrus, my anointed. My anointed. God uses those guys. And God uses the devil too, as his messenger boy.

Government is God's servant. And government is designed to work for our good. What's the purpose of government? It's to serve the purposes of God. And God says, I set up government for your good. And he makes that very clear in verse four. For it is a minister of God to you for good. For good. You know, government brings order to chaos. If you don't have government, you have no one in charge. Things are a mess if nobody's in charge. It says the last verse in the book of Judges says, and in those days in Israel there was no king. Each man did what was right in his own eyes. If you have a society where there's no governing authority and each person does what's right in his own eyes, that's very, very subjective because it might be right in someone's eyes to say, hey, I want your wife, hey, I want your car, I want your house. I'm going to take what I want because that seems right in my eyes. And everything becomes chaotic.

Well, the Lord set up government to set up laws and set up rules so that people could live, so that it could be a safe place to live. You go to other countries that don't have good government and don't have good laws and it's who's ever got the biggest army and the biggest gang and then they rule and nobody is safe in that kind of an environment. Government is given for our good. Now the government can be bad, the government can be corrupt, and God can have purposes that he doesn't share with us of why he's allowed this ruler to come into power, this government to come into power. But know that God is over it all. The principle of government is designed for our good.

And then government is designed to punish evildoers. God sets up government to punish evil doers. Look at verses 3 and 4. For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. You're not afraid. If you're driving 55 in a 55 mile an hour zone and your car's inspected and it's in good working order and a policeman comes up behind you, well, you might get a little nervous thinking, what, maybe there's a brake light out, I don't know. But if you know you're not speeding, you're okay. But sometimes when I drive, you know, I'm going along and I'll see a policeman and I'll look down immediately at my speedometer and I'll think, man, I'm good, I'm good. I'm only going, you know, five over and thinking I'm okay, he's all right with me. It's not a cause of fear for doing good. It says, do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same, for it 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 upon the one who practices evil. Government has the sword. The sword. And one of the principal things the government is supposed to do is to avenge evil and to avenge wrongdoers and to punish those who break the law, especially break the law of God. Some people say, well, I don't think it should be like that. Can you imagine if we didn't have any kind of traffic police, if there were no laws, no signs or anything? You just, hey, just drive as fast as you want. You go through a school zone, hey, whatever you think is best. I mean, people would be getting killed, people would be getting in car accidents. It would be awful. We need that to keep us safe.

And as far as crime goes, the government bears the sword. What do you use a sword for? To give swats? No, you bear the sword. Meaning you cut somebody's head off, you execute with the sword. And God is clear about that. We have people today say, oh, capital punishment, so very terrible. Look what the Lord says in Genesis, chapter nine. This is after Noah got off the ark. He says, and I will require the blood of anyone who takes another person's life. If a wild animal kills a person, it must die. And anyone who murders a fellow human must die. If anyone takes a human life, that person's life will also be taken by human hands. For God made human beings in his own image. God is the one who said, if you murder, you will forfeit your own life. The government is the one that does that.

Now, if you were to murder my wife, that'd be horrible. And if you did it in my presence, then it would be okay for me to retaliate. But if she were gone from me, she were on a vacation, or not on vacation, but if she were away and something happened and someone murdered her, I don't have the right to say, well, I'm going to get a gun and I'm going to go find that guy and I'm going to go shoot that guy. Because what he did, no, that's not my right to do. The Lord says that, never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God. For it is written. Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. I can't take vigilante justice. But the government's job is to justly find that guy, prosecute that guy and bring that man, if he's committed a capital crime, to forfeit his own life.

Did you know in the book of Deuteronomy, Moses is speaking to the people and he talks about capital crime in eight different instances, he talks about capital crime. And the reason why that you are to execute those who break these serious laws is because you purge the evil from your midst. You don't let that person hang around. You purge the evil from your midst. Some people say, well, I don't think capital punishment is a deterrent. Well, it is for that guy. You can't argue with that. He's not doing it again because he's gone. And that's not supposed to be. Oh, that's just mean. That's just cruel. That's just terrible. That's the way the holy God of the universe set it up. If you shed man's blood, you forfeit your own blood because man is made in the image of God. A big part of government is to punish evildoers. So God establishes government for a purpose.

Speaker 2

Well, some straight talk from Pastor Jeff today on From His Heart in the message "God, Government and the Christian." This lesson is only halfway through. We'll have part two tomorrow. And also, it's one of five in the series Foundations. You can find out more about that when you go to fromhisheart.org.

When you're online, you can click the testimonies link to read some incredible words of encouragement to us and to you, too, sharing the real fruit from this mission called From His Heart. You can make your gift today to From His Heart and receive the new book "The Devil's Newsroom: Muting Satan's Fake News and Tuning in to God's Truth." Go to fromhisheart.org or call 866-40-BIBLE.

Well, thank you for joining us today on From His Heart. I'm Larry Nobles, and we trust that you'll be back here next time for part two of this transparent lesson that cuts to the chase about God, government, and the Christian. Join Pastor Jeff Shreve on Wednesday as he speaks truth, love, and hope to a lost and hurting world.

Remember, no matter what, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Find out more about that when you go to fromhisheart.org.