Go ahead grab a seat. When you're at a social gathering and you want everyone to get along in polite company, there are two topics you are supposed to avoid. Does everyone know what they are? Religion and politics. Well, I just want to welcome you all to church tonight, where we are going to have a sermon about the government. I invite you to open your Bible and turn with me to Romans, chapter 13, everyone, and we're going to hear what God has to say as we're going through the book of Romans. Paul has been getting very practical in his instruction on what is the way we should live as living sacrifices. What is the renewed way that we're supposed to think so we can do the will of God, that which is good and acceptable and perfect? And we've learned about how we're supposed to be the church together. We've learned about how we're supposed to overcome evil. But this idea of evil, it brings up the idea of injustice and what is going to happen about all of the injustice. And so, that becomes the segue into the topic of the governing authorities and what their role is, as established by God. Government is by God. That's what we're going to see in Romans 13:1-7. And out of respect for God's Word, I want to invite everyone to stand for the public reading of Scripture, and I encourage you to give this your full and undivided attention, because this is not what everybody thinks about the government right now, but this is what God has to say about the government once and for all. Follow along, as I read Romans 13, starting in verse 1, going to Verse 7.
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.
That is the reading of God's Word. Please go ahead and have your seat. And some of you are thinking, maybe I should have done something else right now, besides coming here to church. Did we just read about paying taxes? Right? Well, you're in luck. It's a few weeks till we get to the paying taxes part. But if you've looked at the handout there in your in your bulletin, some of you guys are like, what is going on at this church? This looks like these points are in a foreign language. Has anybody noticed this here? Right? We've lost the plot. We've jumped the shark. We've gone full Bible nerd here at Compass Bible Church, Huntington Beach. So, these are three Greek words. And if you had been able to read the verses that we're looking at tonight in Greek, you would have seen these three words there. And so, I just want to start with verses 1 and 2. And I want to start with right there, what it says in verse one. “Let every person be subject to the governing authority.” So that's the first word, “be subject” is this word. Hupotasso. Okay, hupotasso. We'll throw it up here on the screen so you can write down the definition of the word.
This is point number one up here on the screen: “Hupotasso, to submit.” That's what it means. In fact, we'll put point number one up right after that. This is what it means: to “Willingly place yourself under authorities.” Willingly placing yourself underneath the authorities. You could just write under hupo there. It's a prefix that means “under,” okay. And so, this idea of submission has a negative connotation in the way we talk about it in English in America today. If you are going to submit to someone, that doesn't sound like a pleasant experience, it doesn't sound like something we want to do. The thing about it is the Scripture is telling us to submit on a regular basis. In fact, in Ephesians 5, out of reverence for Christ, out of fear for Christ. In Ephesians 5:21, we're all supposed to submit to one another. Here is a church. We're all supposed to willingly place ourselves underneath other people, putting them above ourselves. Now you can read a lot of different passages that will say this, “to be subject or to submit,” and it's the idea that I'm acknowledging someone else as more significant, or even that someone else has more authority than myself.
And, under point number one, make sure you get this down. This is a command. This is an imperative. So, this is coming across like something we are being told to do by Paul. At least, when he wrote this to the saints in Rome, he was telling them, willingly place yourself under the governing authorities. Now here's the thing, when he's writing this to these people here, he's writing his master-class on the Gospel. Like, if you've been here through the book of Romans, he wanted to go to Rome. He couldn't go to Rome, so he sent them his teaching. He's “not ashamed of the gospel,” and he's told us how to be saved. Justification by our faith in Christ. How to be sanctified. Dead to sin and alive to God. Now he's teaching us this new way to live. But somehow, in Paul's mind, if he's going to teach you about the Gospel, if he's going to teach you the way of Jesus, guess what's included in that? Submitting to governing authorities is a part of following Jesus. That's what Paul thinks. That's why we have these seven verses.
Okay, so we haven't gone to some other topic. We're still talking about the Gospel. What it is how to be saved, how to be sanctified, and how the gospel transforms everything about our lives. It renews everything about our minds. And a part of what you're supposed to think is being a Christian person is. I submit to the government. Go over to Titus, chapter 3, where he says this again. This is a command that comes up a few different times in the letters to Christians. And if you go over to a few pages to the right, there's a bunch of books that begin with “T”: 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, 1st and 2nd Timothy, and then there is Titus, also written by Paul to one of his disciples. And Titus is on the island of Crete. He's telling Titus to appoint elders at the different churches there on the island of Crete. And when he's appointing these elders at these different churches, look what he says in Titus 3:1, “Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities.” So, I mean, can you imagine this? Like Titus has such a big job. He's got to go figure out who the elders are of these churches. He's got to teach. He's got to set it up so the older men are teaching the younger men and the older women are teaching the younger women. And he wants them all to know the grace of God, the grace of God that will teach you to say no to ungodliness and teach you how to live a godly life, being people who are zealous for good works. So, Titus, you've got a lot going on to establish these churches and teach people The Way. And as a part of that, you’ve got to remind the people to be submissive to the governing authorities. Like, if you're going to start a church, this is a part of the message is, we're going to submit to the authorities of the government. Look how it even says it, “Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one.” How are we doing with that? With our governing authorities, everybody. “To speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling.” How are we doing with that with our politics? “To be gentle and to show,” check this out, “perfect courtesy toward,” how many people? “Everybody,” everybody, everybody, no matter what they think, no matter who they're voting for, no matter what kind of opinions and beliefs they're saying, I'm supposed to show perfect courtesy to all people. This is a part of if we're going to have a church and we're going to live for Jesus. This is a part of the teaching for those churches being established.
Go over to 1 Peter, chapter 2. 1 Peter. Few more pages over to the right. So, this isn't Paul now. This is Peter, the apostle, the one who spoke the most out of the disciples, the one who was very close to Jesus at many times. Here's Peter. He's writing to believers who are being persecuted, saints who are being scattered, and he's trying to encourage them with the hope that they have, but he's trying to say, make sure you conduct yourself in a way that is honorable among the Gentiles. And when he starts saying how they should conduct themselves, he gets into submission. In fact, he says three different ways that he wants them to submit. Look at 1 Peter2:13. Notice how it says, “Be subject, for the Lord's sake, to every human institution.” Look down at verse 18. “Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect.” And then you can go even further down to 1 Peter 3:1. “Likewise, wives be subject to your own husbands.” So hey, if we're going to act in the way God wants us to, if we're going to have honorable conduct, so even people who don't believe, will end up glorifying God on the day he visits us. Well, if we're going to really be exemplary, then we’ve got to submit. Submit, submit.
So, you're going to have to make a decision whether you think “submission” is a bad word or you think submission is a biblical word, because regularly, believers are told to willingly place themselves under someone's authority. And if you think, well, I'm an American, I don't have to submit to anybody, you need to read your Bible more closely, because everybody here needs to submit to somebody. In fact, Ephesians 5:21 says, we “submit to one another.” There's somebody in your life that you need to willingly place yourself underneath, whether you have a boss or an employer, whether you're a wife to a husband, whether you're a child to a parent, or whether you're just putting yourself there because you consider others as more significant than yourselves. But something we all have in common is back to Ephesians 2:13. We're supposed to be subject, for the Lord's sake, we submit to the governing authorities in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we're supposed to do it to every human institution. It's not leaving us a lot of wiggle room here. “Be subject, for the Lord's sake, to every human institution.” Well, how many institutions are we talking about? All of them, “whether it be to the…” Does everybody see what it says here? Whether it be to the who? Does everybody see that line right there? We're not talking about Star Wars here. Everybody that's not the Emperor we're talking about here, right? This is being written at the time of the Roman Empire, okay? The Roman Empire where you had guys who had complete authority and could do whatever they wanted to do. And a lot of times, what they wanted to do was downright evil, including persecuting Christians even, and included mistreating the Jewish people. I mean, the Romans were over the Jewish people at this time in the first century. Ultimately, the Romans are going to wipe out Jerusalem. Okay? And yet, this is the language with which we're speaking. There is an emperor, and we need to submit to him as supreme or to governors. How about that? We’ve got to submit to our governors, not just the ultimate, highest level of authority, but even other levels of authority, as sent by him, to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.
Now, if you want to start saying, well, I don't think the government's doing a good job of that, supporting what is good and punishing what is evil. Okay, we hear what you're saying. We'll get into that further next week. What is the government supposed to do? But let's just start with step one here tonight. What are we supposed to do towards the government? And it says here, 1 Peter 2:15-17, “this is the will of God.” I mean this. This is a very strong language that Peter is using to try to convince us that this is something that we should be doing, “For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants[d] of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God.” Honor the who, everybody? the guy who's telling you to do things that you maybe don't agree with, the Emperor. You can look up some of the Roman emperors in the first century, people like Nero. They're not people that you would be rooting for to be your emperor. And so, he's saying, for the Lord's sake, we need to be subject to every human institution.
Now, I want you to really try to think about this. And before you start maybe thinking of the objections or looking for the loopholes or thinking about the excuses of why you would not do this, let's just make it very clear, we've looked at three different passages where we are told to do this and we're told to do this by who? The apostle Paul. What is going to end up happening to the Apostle Paul? Does anybody know he's going to be killed by who? The governing authorities. About Peter, who's writing this in a very straightforward way, like this is what you're supposed to do. I don't really see any ways out of what Peter's saying here. This is what you do. You submit even to the Emperor, even to the Governor. That's how we do it. What's going to happen to Peter, everybody? According to church history, what happens to Peter? He gets killed by who? The governing authorities. So, I just want to make it very clear that they didn't just say this in Scripture. They practiced what they preached, and they practiced what they preached to the bloody end.
So, we need to really hear what is being said. Sometimes, when you're having a debate with somebody, sometimes when you're into one of those religious or political conversations, the other person's talking and you're already thinking of what you're going to say back, before you already think of what you're going to say. Back to the sermon tonight. I just want to ask you, can you hear what it's telling you? It's telling you to submit. That's what the word of God says, that you have to willingly place yourself under the authority of those who are over you in the government. That's the command, and that's a part of the commands of Christ. Go with me to Matthew 28, everybody. Turn to Matthew 28. Okay, let's just remind ourselves why we're here in Huntington Beach. Why are we the Church of Jesus? Well, let's go back to Matthew 28 and let's remember the final words here in this gospel. Hopefully, these are precious and familiar words to you, words that your goal is to live these words out. But Jesus said to those disciples, when they gathered to the mountain which he had appointed them to go to, the eleven disciples there. Some worshipped, some doubted, but Jesus came and said to them, this is Matthew 28:18, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” How much authority belongs to Jesus Christ? All of it. There is no authority that exists that Jesus does not have authority over. And so he says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations. And when you get these disciples, you're going to baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And then you're going to teach these disciples to observe all that I have,” what, everybody? “Commanded you.” Teach those disciples to keep all my commands. When you think, what are the commands of Jesus that I'm supposed to, keep being subject to the governing authorities is one of those commands, and here, right here in the Great Commission, we have the reason that we should keep the command, and we have the motivation to keep the command. Well, one is, if we want to be a disciple of Jesus, we're learning the way of Jesus. We're not learning to live a way that we think is the best. We're learning to live the way that Jesus commands us, and we can believe that when Jesus commands us, it's the right way, because he has all authority in heaven and on earth.
Now go back to Romans 13, because that's going to be the compelling reason why would I want to submit to the governing authorities. Look at the governing authorities. Look at what's going on. Look at who our governor is, look at who our president is and on and on and on it could go. If you're looking at the governing authorities, you might be missing what the text is saying to you. Yes, it's telling you to be subject, every single soul. It says that's literally when it's translated, “person” there, it's literally the word for “soul”. “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from…” who, everybody? “And those that exist have been instituted by…” who, everybody? “God”. Okay, God has the authority. He's given all authority to his Son, Jesus, and so Jesus is appointing these governing authorities. We have to have a high view of God. We have to see a God who is sovereign. Our God reigns. Our God sits in the heavens on his throne, and our God does whatever he wants to do. And you know what God wanted to do? He wanted to appoint governing authorities. That's what he did. And so, the reason that I would submit to some governing authority is because I would believe that God, who has ultimate authority, has appointed this government as middle management over this place for such and such an amount of time.
And so that's where we get to our second Greek word. Our second Greek word here is “Tasso”. So you can see this is the original root of word number one. Word number one is this word with a hupo. So tasso means “to appoint.” So, when it says, “Be subject,” I'm placing myself underneath what? The people appointed by God, the authorities appointed by God. See, the command is clear, I need to willingly place myself under their authority. Why would I want to do that? What if I don't agree with them? What if I don't think they're doing a good job? No, the reason, the motivation of why I place myself under their authority is, I believe they have been appointed by God. I believe in a sovereign God. I believe that nothing happens outside of the control of God. Do you believe that as well? I love it when it describes creation. I love it when it describes Jesus creating in John 1, or Colossians 1, or Hebrews 1. How it'll say that “Jesus made everything that was made and nothing was made that wasn't made by Jesus.” Do you know how it kind of catches you both ways there? He made everything. And in case you didn't get me the first time, there wasn't anything that was made that Jesus didn't make, notice how it says it here it says, hey, there is no authority except from God. So, God appoints every governing authority. And if you missed it the first time, those that exist, every governing authority that exists, it has been instituted or appointed or tossed by who? God. So, the reason that I'm subject to the governing authorities is not because I agree with them. It's not because I think they're doing a good job. It's not because I want to go along with something I believe in. No. It's because they're appointed by God, and I am living my life in submission to God, because to be a Christian is to acknowledge that Jesus is the Lord, and I now live to do what my Lord says, not what I think is best, not what I feel like doing.
Have you submitted yourself to God? Because if you have submitted to yourself to God, like James 47 commands us to, if you submit yourself to God, well then, you see the governing authorities as middle management. Let's get that down for point number two: You need to “See government as God appointed middle management.” Why would I want to willingly place myself under these authorities? Because they've been appointed by God. Every single authority comes from God. In fact, no authority exists except appointed by God. Is government of the people, for the people, by the people? Romans 13 is actually saying, government is by God, and he has appointed those governing authorities. And, in fact, turn with me to Acts chapter 17. It's just back to the left a little bit, and I want to drop you into Paul's famous sermon in Athens, right when he was speaking here to these men of Athens that were very religious with their idols and their “Unknown God.” Here he is at the Areopagus, and he's talking about, we'll pick it up in verse 24 of acts 17. He's talking about God. And notice how he now is introducing God, maybe to people who aren't familiar with God. He's not speaking to Jews who would have the Hebrew Bible and have an idea of Yahweh. He's speaking now here, in Athens, to these idol worshipers. And so, he's trying to explain God to them. And he says, in Acts 17:24, “The God who made the world and everything in it.” So, we're talking about a sovereign creator, a Lord of all the Lord; he is being “Lord of heaven and earth. He doesn't live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.” And here's the key verse. You need to underline this. You need to write this down. You need to be thinking of this verse as that election day in November comes closer. “And he made from one man, every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined…” So, he's already determined “the allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place.” And so, all these different nations that God has determined, they should seek God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. And then he goes on to say, but he is actually not far away from each of us. And he ends this by saying in verse 31 “because God has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed. And of this, he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” And there he is now preaching Jesus in the resurrection. But in between him saying that God created all things, and Jesus is going to judge all things, and that Jesus, it's already been shown to us through his resurrection from the dead, he says this fascinating line about the nations of the world. Look at it with me again. Acts 17:26, “From one man came every nation of mankind, and to cover all the faith of the earth, having determined…” God has “determined the periods, the amount of time, and the boundaries, the amount of space of their dwelling place.”
We're wondering, and some of us are really caught up in our thoughts about who's going to be the 47th president of the United States of America. Do you realize that God not only knows who's going to be the 47th president of the United States, he knows how many presidents ultimately there will be of the United States. He knows the whole story from the beginning to the end. How could he possibly know the whole story? Because he determined it. He said, this is where America will be. This is how long America will last, and it's all going to happen because God decided it was going to happen, and yet we are constantly acting like it's spiraling out of control. So, do you believe that governments are appointed by God? Because that's what the Scripture says. That's what Paul was preaching. He believed that, yeah, whatever's going on with these governing authorities, which wasn't good in Paul's day, just like you might think it's not good in our day, they've been appointed by God, and God knows their boundaries, of their time and their space, he's already determined them. So, this idea that God reigns over the government, this could be such a blessing for you in this season of our lives. In fact, the attitude that you have on a daily basis between now and November in the United States of America, in the year of our Lord 2024, will really be determined by whether you believe what the Scriptures are saying here tonight or not. Because if you believe in a God who has authority over the United States of America, you do not need to fear. In fact, what you really need to do is make sure you're hearing what God says, because what God says is what's going to determine what happens to America.
The word of the Lord reigns over all kings, kingdoms, emperors, presidents, governors. Everything is decided by what God decides and by what God says is going to happen. And this is why I really wish everybody here would be reading through Kings with us. Has anybody here been reading through Kings with us? If you've been reading through Kings, can I get an amen from the congregation right now? Are we seeing that the word of the Lord reigns over the kings, is story after story. The point you would think the king has the power, but the word of the Lord has the power. You would think that the king has the authority, but actually, guess what? It's the word of the Lord that has the authority. And that guy's only king, because God said he would be king. And the moment God wants that guy to stop being king, listen to what the Prophet says, he's done being king at that time. This is how it works. And we've actually believed the idea that we're deciding how it all works, and the Scripture is telling us that's not how it works. God's appointing who's going to be the rulers and the authorities. God is deciding. And if you want to know what God's thinking, study his Word. Listen to what he says. He'll tell you how he works. He'll tell you how he deals with nations. God gives away in many different passages, his standards, not just for judging his nation in Israel, but his standards for judging all nations. And if you look at God's standards, America is not doing very well right now. And it's not a mystery what those standards are. Just go look for the abominations of the nations, and it will become evident that when nations start doing certain sins, even the land that the nation is on, get sick of those people, and the blood cries out for justice in the land.
So, God is very well aware of what's happening in our country and every other country, and he knows how long that country will exist before it goes the ways of all countries, which is history, something that was and is no longer, that's what will happen to us. That's what happens to every nation. As God decides. Go with me to 1 Kings. Let's go to 1 Kings 12:15. Because if you've been reading with us through 1 Kings, we came across this guy, Jeroboam, and God decided to make Jeroboam a king and he actually divided the kingdom. If you know about this, it became the northern kingdom of Israel. And it can be confusing, because now Israel is two different places. There's Israel in the north, there's Judah in the south. There's Jeroboam in the north, there's Rehoboam in the south. It can be confusing to our modern understanding, but when Jeroboam becomes king, because Rehoboam is so foolish, and he doesn't listen to wise counsel, and so Jeroboam takes the 10 tribes of the north and becomes king. Look what it says in 1 Kings, 12:15. Can everybody find this with me? 1 Kings 12:15. Maybe you read this as we went through this. I want to make sure we're all on the same page. It says here in 1 Kings 12:15, “So the king did not listen to the people.” Why and why didn't this guy listen? And so, the king is making his own decision, and he's making a bad decision, a bad decision that's going to split the kingdom. Why is the king making this bad decision? So, the king did not listen to the people; it was a turn of affairs brought about by the who, everybody? Yahweh, that Yahweh, the Lord might fulfill his Word, which the Lord spoke by Ahijah, the Shilonite, to Jeroboam, the son of Nebat. So, Rehoboam makes a real time decision. Why did he make that decision? Because God already said what was going to happen. I mean, that's how it works. Like water in your hand that you can turn the way you want it to go. Is the heart of the king in the hand of God? Okay, and then, something happens here to Jeroboam. Even though God makes Jeroboam the king of the northern kingdom of Israel over 10 tribes, Jeroboam immediately becomes practical. And he immediately starts thinking, yeah, but the people are going to go down to the temple in Jerusalem, which is now in the Southern Kingdom. They're going to go down there for the feast. They're going to go down there for the sacrifices. And if they keep going down there, they're going to want to return down there, and they're not going to want to listen to me up here. And so, I’ve got to start doing my own sacrificial system up here, so the people don't keep going down to the Southern Kingdom. And right away, Jeroboam, even though he was told he could lead the kingdom like David, if he led it with his whole heart for God, Jeroboam, he starts making evil decisions right away. After he gets the authority, it goes to his head, and he wants to keep the power, and he makes a big mistake. And so, then guess what God does? He says, one of his men, one of his prophets, one of God's many messengers, to go and confront Jeroboam. And this is in 1 Kings 13. And I want everybody to see what happens here, because this man comes up. Let's just read it in 1 Kings 13:1. “And behold, a man of God…” We don't know who he is, but he's one of God's messengers. He “came out of Judah by the word of the Lord.” That is the theme of kings, particularly the theme of 1 Kings 13. The word of the Lord is what has authority, and whatever God says is, what's going to happen. “And behold, a man of God came out of Judah by the word of the Lord to Bethel.” Jeroboam is standing at this altar now, this altar that he's made to make offerings, so the people won't go to Jerusalem. “And the man of God,” 1 Kings 13:2 “cried against the altar by the word of the Lord and said, O, Altar. Altar. Thus says the Lord, behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name, and he shall sacrifice on you, the priests of the high places who make offerings on you, and human bones shall be burned on you.” What is that about that sounds super intense.
Now, what that is supposed to do is it's supposed to make you think, wait a minute, did God just say this guy, Josiah, someday, is going to come and burn human bones on this altar? That's supposed to make you think, man, where does Josiah show up? What is this about? And guess what? Josiah doesn't show up till the end of 2 Kings. So, this is a flex. This is God showing off. Oh, you don't want to do it my way? You think this altar is good? Let me tell you who's going to burn the bones of these prophets, who will be buried by the time he comes. Because Josiah is not coming for three hundred years, but God already wants to let you know I'm so in control of the kings, I can tell you who will be king three hundred years from now. And he's going to come and do exactly what I say he's going to do, because I am the one with authority. That's what Yahweh is saying here. And so, these stories, these real histories of what happened in ancient Israel, they could help your concerned soul about what's happening in America today, because after king after king, you see that God reigns supreme, and the Word of the Lord will judge all kingdoms. And so that's why I want to invite everybody to read through 2 Kings. And you can see you've got a schedule there in your bulletin, if you want to pull this out, everybody. 2 Kings is not like many sequels you might read or watch in the movies today. This is actually a good sequel, everybody. And you want to know why 2 Kings is a good sequel? Because it was originally all one book. That's where they get the best sequels from, when it was originally all one source material. And so, originally it was just Kings, and this hook of who is Josiah and what is he going to show up and do, is meant to be a page turner, keeping you reading kings all the way to the end. And so, if you want to just get constant reinforcement over the next five weeks as we approach the election that God is above the kings, then I encourage you to read 2 Kings. And, this week, we're going to read something just amazing, how Elijah goes up into heaven in a whirlwind. What a departure, what a flight. And then how there's an arrival of a new prophet, Elisha, and all that happens in the kingdom of the Northern Kingdom, the Southern Kingdom. I really want you to encourage you to read this with us, because I want you to see that God appoints the governing authorities. God decides who reigns, and he can already tell you who it's going to be when, because God is in control, the authority really belongs to God.
Now go back to Romans 13. Okay, so hupotasso, we submit. We put ourselves under the ones that God has appointed. That's what tasso means. It means the reason I can submit to these governing authorities. It doesn't really have to do with the governing authorities. It has to do with my faith that they have been appointed by God, and that God is the one who has authority and is in control. And so, just like a wife may not fully have confidence in what her husband's doing, but she submits to her husband, trusting in who God is. And just like an employee may not have full confidence in what their boss is doing and what's going on with this company, but I submit because I trust in who God is. So, you may have no confidence in what our government's doing, but you can still submit to them, because you know who God is. He has appointed the governing authorities, and I have confidence in my God. And so, if he tells me to do it, I'm going to do it, not because I see how it's all going to work out, not because I pragmatically see how it's all before me. No, I'm going to do it because God told me to do it, and I trust God. God wants you to live by faith, not by what makes sense to you. God wants you to believe his Word, and this is a way that some of you will be tested, whether you really believe God or not. Will be in how you respond to the governing authorities. Do you believe what God commands and says about them?
Now look what it says in verse 2, because it's almost like Paul's maybe, this isn't the first time he's talked about the government in polite company, right? Maybe this isn't the first time he's taught this at a church, and it's almost like he knows us, and he knows our hearts, and he knows that submission is not one of our love language words, and he knows that this isn't really a topic that we're going to enjoy talking about. And so, he just wants to make it clear in verse 2 that whoever resists the authorities, let's just go right there. I told you what to do in verse 1. I gave you the reason to do it in verse 1. But since I know how you might take it, if you want to resist the authorities, you are resisting what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.
So, this is where we get now our third word here, antitasso. That's the word translated, “to resist, or to oppose.” I am now against the appointed. God has appointed them, but I don't want to submit myself and willingly place myself under those appointed. I want to resist those appointed. I want to oppose those appointed. This is the same word where it says that “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” That idea that God is against the proud, well that's this word, that you are against the appointed ones of God, the governing authorities. And if you resist them, here's the warning. You might feel very morally justified thinking that you're right and your governing authority is wrong. You might feel like it just makes a lot more sense, and it's a lot more pragmatic to do what I'm saying than the governing authority. But here's the question that you're really supposed to ask yourself, if I go against that governing authority, am I actually going against God himself, because you might be able to judge that person and think you're right, but are you actually now making a judgment against God and trying to prove you're right against God?
Let's get that down for number three. That's the question number three here up on the screen: “If you go against government, are you going against God?” That's something that's a question you want to think about. That's a question before you're going to resist, before you're going to oppose governing authorities. Could you actually be now lining yourself up against what God is doing and what God has determined? That should cause real pause and make us have a real heart check before we're going to speak any evil or do anything to resist the authorities of our government. And so, I want you to think about this, because I want you to think with me for a second about this idea of submission is and let's really think through this question together. So, bear with me here, everybody, but think through this. Is it ever okay to not submit to the governing authorities? Let's think this through. Does submission automatically equal obedience.
We’re thinking about it because what I want to tell you is, if the Bible tells you on three different passages to submit to the governing authorities, your immediate answer to that question should not be, it's okay to not do that. Let me just make this clear, and I need you to bear with me as I'm going to explain it. It is never okay to not submit to the governing authorities. It is never okay. You would be breaking the command of God's Word, and you're thinking, well, I know people who disobeyed. Yes, we have examples of people of faith who disobeyed, but let me ask you this question, did any of those people who disobeyed actually not submit to the governing authorities? See? Let's think this through, because what we did, and there was a lot of talk about this topic during COVID. Does anybody remember COVID? One of the ushers just said, I can't believe that actually happened. Brother, I was there. I believe it. There was a lot of talk about this. And what I remember, me and some of my brothers here at church did is, we opened up our Bibles and we said, people are saying it's okay to disobey the governing authorities. They're saying it's okay because we have examples of doing that. Let's go look up every one of those examples and see what actually happened. Let's not just quote a text, because it serves us and our benefit in this present moment. Let's go make sure we actually know what's happening in all of these examples.
And so, there were four places that we turned, four places that I would like all of us now to do this Bible study together. And I'd like you to start with me in Exodus, chapter 1. Four passages where we can see examples of civil disobedience. But yet, did they not submit? I want you to really think about this with me here as we go through Exodus, chapter 1, and we see here the king of Egypt. This is Exodus 1:15. Maybe you've heard this story before of Shifra and Pua. Does anybody know these ladies? Unfortunately, they're often not known by their names. They're just known as the Hebrew midwives. But I would encourage you to learn the names of these ladies, because they are two ladies who please the Lord in what they did here. Let's read about it. This is Exodus 1:15. “Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shifra, and the other Pua. When you serve as a midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him. But if it is a daughter, she shall live. But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children…” what everybody? Should we give it up for these ladies, I think that they did the right thing. “So, the king of Egypt called the midwives, and they said to him, we're not coming to talk to you, King. We're practicing godly disobedience.” Is that what they say right here? “He says to them, Why have you done this? And let the male children live? And the midwives said to Pharaoh, well, because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous.” I mean, this is a little too much detail for somebody like me, right? They are vigorous, and they give birth before the midwife comes to them, right? So, there we go. Hey, the Hebrew ladies, they're just, you know, those babies are just coming right out, basically. And verse 20. “So, God dealt well with the midwives.” God seems to think these ladies did the right thing. That's the impression this gives us. “And the people multiplied and grew very strong. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families. Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, every son that is born to the Hebrews, you shall cast into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live,” and this sets up the birth of Moses, and on the story goes. Okay, so let's just observe, right?
So, what we have to do when we're trying to understand the Bible in its totality, you might want to write this down under point number three, okay? There's prescription and there's description. Prescription is when you are commanded, you are prescribed to do something. Description is when something is explained, or something is shown to you. Right? So, the commands, like of Romans 13, they're prescription, but these stories that we can read in other places, they're description. And so when you're reading a story, it's not always clear what the point may be. Sometimes it's clearer than others, but you don't want to come up with a point in a description that would contradict a prescription. In fact, you want to use the prescriptions to understand the description. So, if anyone ever asks you to kill a baby or any other human being, your answer one hundred percent of the time should be what? Absolutely not, absolutely not. I don't care who tells me to kill anyone. I'm not going to kill anyone. I know that murder is something that God hates, and that God actually said, if you kill someone, if you shed someone's blood, your blood should also be shed. I actually know that murder was a specific sin that led God to judge the entire world. So yes, if someone ever tells you, even if they're a governing authority, to go and kill some baby, which sounds way too relevant in our day and age, you should say no to that one hundred percent of the time, yes, yes.
That's a clear example, and God seems very pleased. But I want you to know in all four of these examples of civil disobedience that I'm going to take you to all of them go and talk to the governing authorities themselves, and all of them, their attitude towards the governing authorities is not well, I'm going to do whatever I want. It's I'm going to do what God tells me, and then you, as the governing authority can decide what happens to me, which is still, even though they didn't kill those babies, they still went and talked to the king of Egypt like he had authority, authority appointed by God. In fact, it seems like these midwives thought God was a bigger authority than the king, and they would submit to the king, but really they wanted to do what God told them to do.
Okay, go over to Daniel chapter 3, and Daniel chapter 6, where we have two examples now with among these young Hebrew men, these young Jews who get exiled to Babylon, and then Babylon becomes the Medes and the Persians. And you know, in Babylon, they tried to brainwash these young men. It's very unfortunate that you might know them as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, because those are their Babylonian brainwashing names, their real names, their names that they were given as Hebrews, names that gave an identity towards God are Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. Okay, and when you see that at the end or that El at the end, yah at the end of a name is short for Yahweh, usually an El at the end of a name is short for Elohim. So Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah are their real names, and they were guys who worshiped Yahweh, and king Nebuchadnezzar wanted to talk about a governing authority who might have taken his authority a little too far. Let's talk about King Nebuchadnezzar for a moment. He sends up a statue. My guess is the statue was in the image of King Nebuchadnezzar himself. And there's going to be some kind of music, and when the music comes you’d better bow and worship this idol that I have made. And so, these three guys decide that they are not going to bow and worship the idol. And then we have this whole scene where King Nebuchadnezzar gets so hot he's going to throw these guys, speaking of hot, into a fiery furnace. And what do these guys say? We don't have to do what you say, King Neb; we can do whatever we want. What do these guys actually say to King Nebuchadnezzar? Look at it with me here. This is Daniel, chapter 3, and this is their answer in verse 16, “Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego answered and said to the king o Nebuchadnezzar, ‘we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God, whom we serve…’” look at their faith in God as over King Nebuchadnezzar, “our God, whom we serve, is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us. These guys seem confident God's going to deliver us. We're doing what God wants us to do. He will deliver us. But if not, be it known to you, O King, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up. These guys know the first commandment, “You shall have no other gods before me.” You shouldn't have any idols. These guys know who God is. They know there's only one God. They're going to worship God but look at what they say to this King. Let it be known, we think God's going to deliver us, but we're not going to worship your gods. But here they are saying it to the king, and then when the king puts them in the fiery furnace, guess what they do? They go into the fiery furnace. And, in fact, Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury, and the expression of his faith was changed against Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. He ordered the furnace heated seven times more than it was usually heated, and he ordered some of the mighty men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. Then these men were bound in their cloaks, their tunics, their hats and their other garments. They were thrown into the burning fiery furnace because the king's order was urgent, and the furnace overheated. The flame of the fire killed the men who took up Shadrach Meshach and Abednego, and these three men, Shadrach Meshach and Abednego fell bound into the burning fiery furnace. Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished, and he rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, do we not cast three men bound into the fire? They answered and said to the king, “True, O King. He answered and said, but I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt. The appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.” What an amazing thing that God did deliver his servants.
Go over to Daniel chapter 6. Daniel chapter 6 is an amazing story of what Daniel is guilty of. What Daniel is guilty of is that three times a day he would go in his room and pray out a window toward Jerusalem. And so Daniel now, not only was he kind of a right hand man for King Nebuchadnezzar, he's now risen to the top spot in the kingdom of the Medes and Persians, and there's so much jealousy and envy towards Daniel, they're using the full resources of the government to dig up whatever dirt they can on Daniel, to take Daniel down. And after going through his entire internet history, after going through all of his trash, after seizing all of his bank accounts and using whatever resources they had to dig up dirt on somebody at that time, here's what they find out. Daniel's secret. What does he do when he's all by himself? What does he do at the end of the day when nobody's around? He prays. That's his secret. As he talks to God every day, three times a day, like he's praying towards the temple in Jerusalem. And so, they say, well, if we're going to get this guy in trouble, we're going to have to get him in trouble with his God. And so, they talk to Darius here. This is Daniel, chapter 6. “They talk Darius into making it a law that no one can pray to any god or man for thirty days, except to the king.” So, notice what these can do, everybody? Just take note. Number one was killing babies. Number two was bowing down to an idol. Number three is you cannot pray to any god or man but a king. These aren't like the speed you should go on the freeway, kinds of things. These aren't like building code kinds of things. These aren't like government over management kinds of things. These are like core things about taking someone else's life, or what you really believe, who you really worship, who you really pray to. And they know Daniel prays to Yahweh, and they now want to make it illegal for him to do what he's always been doing the whole time he was there in Babylon, the whole time he was there beforehand. And now they want to act like you can't pray to Yahweh anymore. Well, no, Daniel's going to keep praying to Yahweh, because Yahweh is his God. And look at what happens here in this story, right? If you've ever read this before, Daniel, he goes into the lion's den, because that's the punishment. And now the king is so sad that he's going to go in there, because the king appreciates Daniel. Look at Daniel 6:16, “Then the king commanded, and Daniel was brought in, cast into the den of lions. The king declared to Daniel, may your God, whom you serve, continually deliver you.” Almost sounds like the king's breaking his own law right there when he says that, hope your God can rescue you. “Because the king realized he was tricked by these other advisors, and a stone was brought and laid it on the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own Signet. And when the Signet of his lords that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel. Then the king went to his palace, and he spent the night fasting. No diversions were brought to him. Sleep fled from him. Then at break of day,” we don't know what's going on with Daniel and the lions. We're just getting it from the king's perspective, and the king's so sad about this law that he made. He's hoping Daniel's okay. “And the king arose and he went in haste to the den of lions. And as he came near to the den where Daniel was, he cried out in a tone of anguish. The king declared to Daniel, ‘oh Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions? Then Daniel said to the king,” look at the tone with which Daniel addresses the king. “O King, live forever. My God sent his angel, and he shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not harmed me because I was found blameless before him.” And also look at this, “and also before you, O King, I have done no harm.” Yeah, he disobeyed the law that the king made, but he could still say to the king, I have done no harm to you. That's not how I hear people talking these days. That's not how I hear my brothers and sisters in America talking, like once the government crosses some kind of line, I can now do whatever I want. No, you are commanded to submit to the governing authorities, and that has to do with your tone, that has to do with your attitude, that has to do with your willingness to place yourself underneath. Daniel, he was still praying to Yahweh, but it seems like he still cared about submitting to the king at the same time. Do you see that? And so, “Daniel was taken up out of the den, no kind of harm was found on him, because he had trusted in his God, and the king commanded and those men who had maliciously accused Daniel were brought and cast into the den of lions. They, their children, and their wives, and before they reached the bottom of the den, the lions overpowered them and broke all their bones in pieces.
In both of these stories, just in case you want to say it was a defective fiery furnace, or just in case you want to say those lions weren't hungry, other people died, just to prove that God can stop fire and God can shut the mouth of lions, and God can keep Hebrew midwives alive, and God is worthy of trusting. And if God tells you to submit, you should trust that God is over the authorities. Go to Acts 4 and 5. Go to Acts 4 and 5. You might have heard this one quoted, “We must obey God rather than men.” That's the line that is often quoted here in Acts 4 and 5. Let's go read the story. Let's go get the context of why are Peter and John and the early church there in Jerusalem, what is this conflict they're having with the governing authorities? How are they going about this? And so, we can see here in Acts chapter 4, this is where they have to go before the council, and this is now the same council that killed Jesus, and they're now before them, and Peter's giving this amazing answer. Remember the man who denied Jesus three times on the night before he died, now filled with the Spirit, is telling the guys who killed Jesus, you did it. “And there's only one name given among men by which anyone can be saved. And it's the name of the Lord Jesus.” Peter is speaking very boldly, very freely here. And even these guys who are the enemies of Jesus, the enemies of these apostles, they are impressed by what Peter says, because they know he's an uneducated common fisherman from Galilee, and he's bringing it with some kind of power beyond himself. And so, it happens here a little bit later in Acts 4:18, that after they kind of come out of their counsel here, it says, “They called them and charged them.” Now, look what they're being told not to do. Observe what the government is commanding here. “So, they charged them not to speak or teach at all, in the name of…” who, everybody. Okay. Now, if you know the book of Acts, there's kind of a theme verse for the book of Acts. It's in Acts 1:8, where Jesus looks at these same guys and he says, “You will be my …” what? “Witnesses.” So, when Jesus looked at you and said, “You will be my witnesses.” And now, these guys, look at how they say, don't speak anymore in the name of Jesus. Who are you going to listen to? Right? So, look what they say. Look at how they answer them. “Peter and John answered them whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to...” Can everybody underline this? Can everybody circle this? Because I didn't hear people quoting this. You must what? Hey, we're going to keep talking about Jesus, and you can decide before God what you're going to do with us. That doesn't sound like rebellion. It sounds like we have a previous command. We have a previous instruction. And think about what they're telling them not to do. They're not telling them, don't meet like this in the temple. They're not telling them, hey, you guys spend too much time together. Hey, you guys are giving too much money to the poor. Hey, you guys aren't coming and spending enough time with us in our religious synagogues. No, they're saying to them, stop talking about Jesus, that's the command. The central thing that we do, the very heart of what it means to be a Christian, is to speak his name and believe in his name and proclaim his name to anybody who will listen to you. And the amount of people who want to quote, “We must obey God rather than men.” And I want to say to them, brother, when was the last time you told anybody about Jesus Christ? And you want to quote that Scripture. The reason these guys got persecuted is they were filling the city with the name of Jesus. Is that what we're doing, or are we talking about other things besides Jesus? They told him to stop talking about Jesus. They tried to eliminate their faith, the spread of the Gospel.
They tried to stop souls from being saved. That's what they went after. And they said, well, you decide what's right. You decide what you're going to do with us. We're going to go tell people about Jesus. And then they huddle up and they have a prayer meeting, and they say, God, you heard their threats. You have authority. You decide what's going to happen to us. And then, at the end of their prayer meeting, there's an earthquake, and they run out of there and they go fill the city with the name of Jesus all over again, because we're here to tell people about Jesus. That is our passion, that is our mission, that is our purpose. We're not going to stop doing that. Ain't nobody going to stop me, and I hope nobody's going to stop you talking about Jesus till the day I die, or they kill me. They can decide what they're going to do about it, but we're here to speak his name. That's what this was about. This wasn't about traffic violations. This wasn't about building codes. This wasn't about how we can assemble as people. It's about can you speak his name? It's about the core issue of faith. They're trying to eliminate the church, and they're like, we're going to keep doing it. And you decide. And so, then they went before them again in Acts 5. And you can go over to verse 28 of chapter 5, when they brought them… You can start in Acts 5:27 here. “When they brought them, they set them before the council.” Here we go. Now round two, because you prayed to God's authority, and then you went and kept telling more and more people in Jerusalem about Jesus. And so now here we go, round two, saying, “’We strictly charged you not to teach in this name. Yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us.’ But Peter and the apostles answered, ‘We must obey God rather than men.” Or you can translate it, we must obey God more than men. “The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him in his right hand as leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.’ When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to…” what everybody? And where is Peter when they're enraged and want to kill them submissively, standing right there in front of them, giving his answer for what he's doing. Peter, who will later in Acts be thrown in prison, Peter, who will later watch James get killed before he miraculously gets rescued out of prison, Peter, who will later write 1 Peter 2:13-17, and will say to all of us, “Be subject to the governing authorities.” And when he wrote that he didn't think he contradicted it here. You decide. You judge what you're going to do with me. I’ve got to tell people about Jesus. I am a witness of Jesus Christ, but you decide what you want to do with me, and they wanted to kill him. And then guess what happens? God comes in, because God is the authority over the authority.
So yes, I went with my brothers, and I studied all the examples that I could find of civil disobedience, and I noticed they were very intense issues, core issues, issues like the sanctity of human life, and issues like the freedom of who you have to worship in your own heart, who you have to pray to in your own heart, who you have to believe in and speak about. It was about how loving God and loving other people is what they were about. Those were always the issues in the example of civil disobedience, and the people who disobeyed the specific command, they always went before the authorities and they ended up in fire and they ended up in a lion's den and they ended up in prison, and they trusted God. See, we can submit to the government, because the government has not, is not and will never be in control, but our God reigns, and we can always willingly place ourselves underneath the government, and if they tell us to injure, kill other people, yeah, we're not going to do that, but we'll submit to the government. And if they tell us what to worship, pray to, or speak about or believe in, yeah, we're not going to do that, but we can still have a submissive attitude, believing that our God has appointed them. And I don't want to resist them. I don't want to oppose them, because I might find myself resisting God's work himself.
Have you ever been encouraged by the story of Daniel in the lion's den? Have you ever been encouraged by the story of these guys in these furnaces or these midwives? Has Peter's faith, has Peter's boldness, ever inspired you? Maybe that's what this was all about. Maybe, sometimes, God even uses evil authorities so that his people will have to rise up and show that they really trust him. Maybe you and I are here for such a time as this, and if we're out here demanding our own rights and talking bad about our governing authorities, I don't know if people are going to get the point that I believe God, and that's why I'm doing what I'm doing, because I think that God is over the authorities, and I think he has a plan that he is always working towards, a plan for his glory and my good. And so, I hope this really encourages you to consider afresh the command to submit to the governing authorities. Let's pray about it.
Father, we need your word. Our ears are filled with political opinions. Our ears are filled with biased news. Our ears are filled with our own thoughts and our own desire for our own rights, or what is right. God, we need your Word to get our minds right, to get our minds renewed, that even if our governing authorities seem to be doing evil things, we can submit to them because you have appointed them, and you are in authority over them, and that we need to be careful in the way we would speak about our governing authorities. God, I pray that we would be convicted about complaining about our governing authorities when we should be praying about them. Father, I pray that we would be convicted about talking bad to one another about our governing authorities, when we should be encouraging one another to speak evil of no one. Father, what we're showing when we get so focused on the governing authorities is that we don't have a high enough view of you. We don't see you overall. We don't see your authority as supreme. We don't see you on the throne with all authority that you gave to your Son Jesus, when you gave him the name that is above every name, and you called him Lord of heaven and earth. And all the nations will bow before King Jesus, and Jesus will rule from horizon to horizon. And all the nations, Russia, China, America, they will be like the names of Babylon and Persia and Rome; all the nations have an expiration date. They have a time, a boundary for where they will be and how long they will last. But there is one kingdom. There is one name that will always reign above all. God, we come here tonight to worship Jesus, and we pray that with all the politics, with all the news, with all that's going on with this election, God, will you turn our eyes upon Jesus? Let us look full in his wonderful face, and let the nations of this world grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. Father, help us to see your sovereignty over the governing authorities. And let us see the name of Jesus above all. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.