The Church And the State

Good evening. We're on lesson 22 out of our 25-part series on ecclesiology. Tonight we're looking at the church and state. In other words, how do we put them together or how do we keep them apart? And the Bible actually has a lot to say about how the church should relate to the state and where authority belongs and where authority is derived from.

So let's begin with Bible point one. The church is that great company of persons whom Christ has saved, in whom He dwells, in whom and through whom He reveals God, and in whom He exercises spiritual dominion. That's our definition we've been working with in regards to the church. United in Christ, the church is a temple of God's dwelling. The church and state both have authority delegated to them by Christ, yet they exercise their authority in different ways — ways is the first blank — and in different spheres, that's the second blank. First blank is ways. Second blank is spheres, S-P-H-E-R-E-S, spheres or realms. The state's authority is ordained — ordained is the third blank — is ordained by God for civil government. Civil government is part of God's common grace — grace is the fourth blank — for the protection and benefit of communities. So first blank is ways. Second blank is spheres. Third blank is ordained. The fourth blank is grace. A rightly administered civil government is necessary to restrain evildoers, protect the oppressed, and promote doing good for the benefit of society.

We kind of unpack that. The church has its own authority. We've talked about that earlier in our series on ecclesiology, the authority of the pastor, right, and the authority of the church, which is simply the word of God, right. It's the word of God — it is the only authority that a pastor has to say, "Thus says the Lord." And that authority is within the realm of the church. It speaks to us in regards to spiritual matters. If a brother is erring and is wandering into sin, you tell him what the word of God says, right, and that's your authority. It's the Lord.

However, the civil government or the state has a different sphere of authority. It's actually not within the church, but it's within society at large — to provide for society, to make sure that first of all the enemies or evildoers are punished. If you did not have that aspect of government, you would have no government at all, right. There'd be lawlessness. Secondly, to protect those who are the oppressed. That's what a good government does. We want to make sure that widows aren't being taken advantage of, that children aren't being harmed. That's why we have law enforcement, right. And then third, it's to promote the general good or the welfare, to reward the righteous doers. Those who follow the law and who live in society, they should reap those benefits. And part of that is having a peaceable life, right, where you can raise your family in peace, and protection — your property should be protected. So that's the realm of civil government. And it is part of God's grace. If we did not have that, we'd be in a world of trouble.

We often think of the government as our enemy. And in a sense, it can be, because a poorly run government can be tyrannical. Any type of authority, whether it's church authority, or whether it's authority in the home, or whether it's authority of the state, if wielded improperly, can be bad, right. You've all seen things where pastors have abused their authority or churches have abused their authority. We've all seen where husbands or spouses have abused their authority towards each other or towards their kids, right. And we've all seen bad actors at the state level too, right. There is no perfect delegated authority, right, because we're all humans. But the authority that it derives from is perfect. And that's God.

Application for number one: do you thank God for government? Most of us don't at all. You know, the last thing we need is more government, right. We pay our taxes and it seems like government's always putting more and more burdens on us. But let me read to you from 1 Timothy chapter two, verses one and two. "Therefore, I exhort" — means I encourage — "I beseech you, first of all, that supplications" — which is an intense form of praying, it's like begging — "that supplications, prayer, and intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings, and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, in all godliness and reverence." At the end of the day, we just want to live our lives in peace, right. We want to be able to raise our children, to run our businesses, to minister to our neighbors, to be able to assemble together in a church in peace. And Paul, when he is writing to Timothy, he's saying, pray for those who are in authority and give thanks for them. Because the civil government is a good thing. I don't know if you remember a few years back, there was a gentleman that we thought might be kind of a threat. So we called the police, and Winter Garden Police came right here. They were here, Johnny on the spot, parked right out front during the whole service. You know, that's a good thing. That's part of common grace. We are to be thankful for government, according to scripture, right. And again, that may be a different way of looking at government, but you have to look at it from God's point of view, that it is given for the good order of society as part of His grace.

By point number two, as the eternal Son who created — created as a first blank — and upholds all things, Christ is Lord over all authorities, both visible and invisible. And we get that from Colossians 1:15, that all things are created by Him and for Him and in Him, all things exist, right. By divine right, because He is our Creator, all authority must answer to Christ, right. And He is the head and the principle over all authority. As the crucified and risen — that is the second blank — He has preeminence over all things, Colossians 1:18. Now that continues there in Colossians 1, says because He's the firstborn from the dead. He is before all things.

This past Sunday, we were blessed to have Dr. Wellham here. And if you recall, Dr. Wellham, one of the things he likes to say is Christ is Lord twice. He's Lord because He is the Creator. He's Lord because He is the head of new creation, right. He's the one who was the firstborn from the dead. And He's the one who ascended to sit at the right hand of the throne of God. And right now He rules over all kings, over all authority from the very throne of heaven, right. He has preeminence over all things.

In His exaltation, Christ has been seated at the Father's right hand to rule the universe on His Father's behalf. Christ is "far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come." And that's a direct quote from Ephesians 1:21. He's at the top of the totem pole, so to speak. There is no higher authority. Here, for example, in the city of Winter Garden, you might have say the mayor as an authority person, town council, right. Police officers are another level, another type of authority. Above them, you may have your local representative who represents this district. Above him, you would have say the governor of the state, Governor DeSantis, right. Above him, we'd have our state senators and our state representatives, and we would also have, of course, the president of the United States. There's all types of authorities that are over us, but there's none higher than Jesus Christ. He's above all principalities, all powers, all dominions of both now and forever. There's never going to be one above Christ.

Christ has been given all authority in heaven and on earth. That's from Matthew 28:18. That's the way Jesus starts the great commission. He says, "All authority has been given to me in heaven and earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all men." He says, "I've got all power. You don't have anything to fear because everything's in my hand." Christ is the ruler over the kings of the earth. Revelation 1:5 tells us that. The Father has put "all things under His feet and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all." He puts all things under His feet. Is there anything that's not under the feet of our Lord Jesus Christ? No. He's Lord over all. He gave Him to be head over all things. There's nothing that He's not head over. He gave Him to be head over all things, put all things under His feet, to the church, for our benefit. He's the one who rules heaven and earth. The supreme authority and lawgiver over all things is Christ as expressed in scripture.

All lesser — this is the third blank — all lesser authority, whether it is in the church, the state, or family, is only delegated — delegated is the fourth blank — by Christ.

The church legitimately has authority because Christ delegates. Christ gives that authority to the church. The state legitimately has authority because Christ has ordained that. And so does the family. There's authority in the family. Your children have to obey their parents, for this is right. God ordained that authority. It's delegated authority. Because it's delegated, the church, the family, and the state are accountable to the Lord who delegated that authority to them to wield that authority properly.

Matthew 28:18, this is the great commission, it says, "And Jesus came and spoke to them saying, all authority — not some, but all authority — has been given to me in heaven and on earth." So anywhere you can imagine, up above in the heavens or here on earth, it's His. And then Revelation 1:4 through 5, "John to the seven churches which are in Asia, grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come." That's God the Father. "And from the seven spirits who are before His throne" — representative of the Holy Spirit — verse 5, "and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth." Many kings and authorities let their delegated authority go to their head, and they think that they are God, right? And they act as if they are God. But Christ is God, and He is the one who is over the kings of this earth.

The application for number two: can you appeal to any authority higher — higher is the answer, or the blank — higher than Christ? No higher authority than Christ. And because of that, when we bring our pleadings to the Lord, we're going before the very throne of God, right? He is our high priest who sympathizes with our weakness, who knows us and can understand what we're going through. And there's no higher power that we can appeal to than the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our true priest. He's our true king, and He's our true prophet.

By point number three, the authority of the state is under — under is the first blank for number three — the authority of the state is under Christ. I think it was in 1804, I believe it was, that Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to the Danbury Baptist Association, just as this church is part of the Great Orlando Baptist Association. A lot of churches get together and they cooperate in missions and they cooperate in academic endeavors, like we recently had a Herman Hughes class — I think Jamie was online for that — through our association. Well, they did the same thing 200 years ago in Danbury, Connecticut. And they were having an issue because the churches were being picked upon by the state of Connecticut. And so Thomas Jefferson wrote them a letter and wrote on their behalf, actually, of the Baptist churches. And he talked about there being a wall of separation between the church and the state. And later on, the Supreme Court seized upon that letter to try to help them understand the First Amendment. And they kind of got it wrong. It's not what Jefferson was talking about. Jefferson was just saying that the state has no business butting into ecclesiastical endeavors. But the authority of the state is under Christ. To say that there's a separation of church and state is really not true, because the authority of the state is delegated by Christ, and they have a responsibility to punish the evildoers. They have a responsibility to protect the defenseless and the oppressed. And they have a responsibility to reward righteousness. And when they don't do that, they're failing in their duty, right? The authority of the state is under Christ, over — that is the second blank — over the public.

So the authority of the state is indeed over the public. It's under Christ, but it's over the public. For God's glory — glory is a third blank — and the public's good — good is the fourth blank. In other words, the government has received its delegated authority over the public for one thing only — that's for the glory of God, right? They should be using that to uphold the image of God in society, right? And when they do so, that is also for the public's good. Is it not? Right? If they are glorifying God, what glorifies God is good for the public. How do you glorify God? You keep His commandments. How do you glorify God? You establish righteousness. How do you glorify God? You protect the widow. How do you glorify God? You protect the children, right? You do what scripture tells us to do. So in glorifying God, you are also benefiting society as a whole.

In lesson 17, we learned that the church elders' power is that of spiritual persuasion based on the word of God. Elders exercise their authority by faithfully applying scripture through teaching, exhorting, encouraging, and admonishing the church. So that's what the locus, if you will, of the elders' authority is — simply, or the pastor's authority is — simply saying, "Thus says the word of God," right? It's faithfully expounding the word of God. And as mentioned when we did that lesson, it also depends on their holy living too, right? If they're not living it, no one's going to listen to them, right? So if you go around to tell your neighbor, "Thus says the Lord," but you're not living it, chances are it's going to fall on deaf ears. But that's the realm of the elders' authority.

In contrast, the power of the state is not in spiritual persuasion. The power of the state is the sword — the sword is the fourth blank for number three. The power of the state is the sword, exercised in the civic realm. The state's authority and the church's authority are thus radically different in nature and different in spheres. The church's sphere of influence is within the church congregation itself, right? It's with our brothers and sisters before the word of God. But the realm of the civil magistrate or of the state is in the public at large, and they make laws and they enforce laws with the sword. You say, "Well, people don't carry around swords. What's figurative?" Right? They carry around guns. What happens if you don't pay your taxes?

Now eventually you may have a lien put on your house. If you don't want to leave your house, guess what? They'll drag you out of your house, right? That's what the state does. They use the sword. They use physical coercion to get you to obey their laws. And most of the time that's good — not with taxes necessarily — but thank God we have godly men and women in law enforcement who will arrest people who are evildoers, right? To protect the public.

The state's authority and the church's authority are thus radically different in nature and different in spheres. The state must never be like Uzziah, who tried to administer the sacred priestly duties of the temple. We've talked about Uzziah before. He was after King David. In fact, besides King David, Uzziah was probably the most revered and loved of all of Israel's kings. He came to the throne when he was only 16 years old. He ruled for 52 years, which is a very long time. God blessed his reign and he loved the Lord. And during that reign, Israel had a renaissance, if you will. They conquered their enemies. Their enemies paid tributes to them and the coffers were flowing with money from their foreign foes that they had defeated, right? And Uzziah used that money to create building projects which benefited Israel.

All was good. Well, there at the end of his life, he let that go to his head. And he was king — the kings were not allowed in the Old Testament system to go into the temple. Who was allowed to do that? The Levites, the priests — that was their duty to offer incense and to make sacrifices. Well, he wanted to do it all, right? So he tried to take on not just the role of civil magistrate, but he tried to take on the role of the church, essentially. And God gave him leprosy and he ended up being banished and died in exile, right? Poor way to end a very successful career, if you will. So what I'm getting at is the state must never be like Uzziah. He tried to administer the sacred priestly duties of the temple. The ministry of the word and the administration of the ordinances are part of the church's ministry. In other words, it's the church's duty to preach the word of God. It's the church's duty, as we're going to do this coming Sunday, to have the Lord's supper, right? And to administer baptism — not the state's. And its mission must always be solely in the domain of the church.

The church's ministry is serving one another, right? As we'd serve Christ. And its mission, as Caleb taught us last week, is to go and make disciples of all men. That is the domain of the church. Only the church can do that, right? There are some old blind state churches that never really fully reformed coming out of the Reformation, where the state — such as the Church of England, Church of Scotland — where whatever the state says, the church must do, right? And that's a terrible thing. And so the state must never overstep its boundary, just as Jefferson wrote to the Danbury Convention 200 years ago.

Romans 13:1, Paul writes, "Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God." Maybe a tough pill to swallow when the guy or gal who is your president or senator or whoever isn't a person that you like, right? They're on the other team, so to speak, right? God raises up kings and He deposes them too, right? And they are appointed by God, even if it's but a season. You know, they may not be there long, but they're there. They have authority.

The nature of Christ's kingdom is radically different. In other words, the church is radically different from the state. Look what Jesus said as He was before Pilate early in His trial, John 18, verses 36 through 38. "Jesus answered, 'My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight so that I should not be delivered to the Jews, but now my kingdom is not from here.' Pilate therefore said to him, 'Are you a king then?' Jesus answered, 'You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.' Pilate said to him, 'What is truth?' And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews and said, 'I find no fault in him at all.'" Pilate blew Him off, essentially. But Jesus is saying, "I am indeed a king. I was born a king. I was brought into this world for this purpose." And it's a kingdom of heaven, right? The kingdom of salvation that delivers from the domain of darkness into the glorious domain of the light of the Lord Jesus Christ, right? That's a radically different kingdom than what the civil magistrate protects.

Number three, the application: who alone is the head — head is the blank — of the church? Christ is the head of the church, right? He is who our ultimate allegiance must be to.

Bob, point number four. The state wields the sword for the punishment — punishment is the first blank — for the punishment of the evildoers. Kids, you ever get punished when you do wrong? Yeah, I know y'all don't do much wrong, so you never have to be punished. As you get older, maybe you get grounded or you may get less privileges. But why do your parents do that? To protect you. Because they love you, right? "Whom the Lord loves He chastens." Same with your parents, right? They love you, so they will chasten you. It's out of love. Well, the state doesn't do it out of love, certainly. But they wield the sword for the punishment of evildoers. Because if they don't punish evildoers, what will they do? They will continue to do it again, and again, and again. We've seen that in the news over the last two years, where you'll have that horrendous murderer on that train in North Carolina. He had been, what, arrested like 40-some-odd times with a revolving door. You get arrested, let them out. Arrested, let them out.

That's what happens when the state doesn't do its job, and what happens to wickedness? It increases. It's like they're fertilizing it. They wield the sword for the punishment of evildoers, the protection — protection is the second blank — of the oppressed. They're supposed to protect the oppressed. Oftentimes police officers are responding to a crime that's already been committed, unfortunately. But there are many good officers who have put their life on the line, whether it's protecting someone at the roadside while you're changing your tire — they put their car in front of you, and many of them have lost their lives doing that — whether it is jumping into the fray at a school shooting or entering into a domestic abuse situation where they're going to be in the crossfire, and they do that to protect the innocent, right? That's their job. The protection of the oppressed and for the encouragement of good citizens — the encouragement is the third blank — encouragement of good citizens.

When things run well, it encourages you, right? It's like, okay, I have a peaceful place here. It's easier to raise a family in America with the protections that we have than it is in other places where the state can take your children from you, right? And does. Or when gangs come and they say, there's some young boys, we're going to recruit them into our militia, and they take them, conscript them from you, right? That's why we have the protection of the state. It's for the encouragement of good citizens — encourages family, encourages to flourish. Private property rights, right? What you make, you're able to keep and save and put up and hopefully maybe have an inheritance to leave to your kids. That's the encouragement of good citizens.

The state has a delegated power to enforce its laws and protect its borders. The state rules by law, which is backed by the sword. So it makes laws, and then it enforces them. The state is always accountable — accountable is the fourth blank — to God for its actions.

Just as a pastor is accountable to God for his actions, just as parents, we are accountable to God for our children — the state is accountable to God for its authority. Look at 1 Peter, chapter 2, verses 13 through 14. "Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme or to governors or to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good." We're to obey all the ordinances at all the different levels, right? There's a reason why we don't go 80 through a school zone, right? We want to, A, not get a ticket, but B, we want to protect kids, right? We don't want to have a horrible accident in front of a school. This is verse 14, "And of those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good."

The government does send out people to punish evildoers and to encourage or praise and build up those who do good. We're to look at law enforcement not with a jaded eye. It is easy — you see things on the news where police officers abuse their authority sometimes, right? But it's not all police officers, okay? Don't write them all off with broad brushstrokes, right? Again, we have many honorable men and women who are serving us in law enforcement, and they deserve our respect, right? Too often you'll see in videos and in movies people calling them derogatory names and treating them badly. See it on the news — spitting on officers. Never should we do that, because they are representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 13:1 through 7 is one of those great passages that speak, just as we read there in Peter, regarding the civil magistrates. It says, "Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore, whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves."

When I was growing up, there was a song, "I Fought the Law," and the law won, right? It's not a good idea to fight the law. You're bringing judgment on yourself.

"For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil." That's what the rulers are meant to do, is to put the fear of God, so to speak, in wrongdoers. Do you want to be unafraid of the authorities? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. When you get pulled over by a police officer, I know it's not a fun thing, but treat them respectfully, and they will see that. And if you treat them nice, it goes a long, long way, trust me. "For he is God's minister to you for good." A police officer who pulled you over, and I know you don't want to pay that ticket, but he's a minister to you "for good." "But if you do evil, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain, for he is God's minister, an avenger, to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore, you must be subject, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience's sake" — not only because you fear the consequences, but because you know that they are God's minister ordained by God. You want to have a clear conscience before God, right? "For because of this, you also pay taxes." Uh-oh. No one wants to pay taxes, but here he says — Paul's just echoing what Christ says in regards to taxes — "But because of this, you also pay taxes, for they are God's ministers attending continually to this very thing." I wrote a check earlier this year for my property taxes, you know, and part of that goes to pay the salaries of our law enforcement, right? "Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor."

The application for number four: how is the state God's minister — minister is the blank for number four, application for number four, minister? Remember when we talked about the ministry of the church, that simply means servant, right? To minister means to serve. So how is the state, the authorities, God's servant?

Yeah. Not all police cars, but some cities they say to protect and serve, right? And our law enforcement, our fire departments, they will do things that are above and beyond oftentimes, that provide EMT service to people who have made really poor choices and have overdosed, right? On illicit drugs, and just in dealing with them, their lives are at risk because there's needles and there's different drugs that just by touching them — cops have had to self-administer Narcan because coming into contact with people on certain drugs, it has overwhelmed them, right? So they are serving the community. They are God's minister because they serve.

Bible point number five, the state has a power to tax — tax is the first blank for number five — to tax its citizens and require — require is the second blank — civic duties. I've already read in Romans where yes, they have the power to tax. What about requiring civic duties? You ever gotten a jury notice? Yeah, jury summons. It's no fun. You know, I have to be honest with you, especially if you're a busy mom or you're working, you have to take time off. That's part of our legal system, right? They have the power to require you for other civic duties as well.

Remember a couple of weeks ago in Sunday school, we read about Mary and Joseph, that they had to go to Bethlehem to be taxed, right? There are different registrations and things that we have to do — you know, they seem like a hassle, but when you get married, what do you have to do? You have to get a marriage certificate, right? When you get a car, you have to get a car title, right? You have to do all these things. They can require things. You have to fill out taxes. When you fill out your tax forms, that takes hours. I don't get paid for that, right? But it's a civic duty that they put on you, right? But that's part of being a member of society. So they can require civic duties.

Christ taught us to pay — pay is the third blank, number five — to pay or render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, right? The state does have its realm. So does the Lord Jesus Christ, right? And so the things that Christ requires of us, we give and we do. What the state requires of us, we do as well. Romans 13:6-7 says, "For because of this, you also pay taxes, for they are God's ministers attending continually to this very thing." So they have to live off those taxes, so to speak. The state is supported by the populace.

Application for number five: how does your obedience — obedience is the blank — how does your obedience affect others? And I have there as a reference, 1 Peter 2:15. Let me read that to you. 1 Peter 2 — I'm going to read to you 13 through 16. "Therefore, submit yourselves to every ordinance of man, for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme or to governors or those who were sent by him, for the punishment of evildoers, for the praise of those who do good." Listen to verse 15. "For this is the will of God, that by doing good, you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men — as free, not using your liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God."

Yes, you're free, but don't forget that you are a slave of God, you're a bondservant of God, and men are watching you. You are being a witness, right? And if you are not paying your taxes, if you're openly, flagrantly flouting the law in many different ways, people will say, "Well, you know, Christie is supposed to be a Christian, but she's littering, and she's going 90 miles an hour down Interstate 50, and she's spitting on cops. You know, what a terrible person she is, but she's supposed to be a representative of the Lord Jesus Christ." Right? So that's why our obedience makes a big difference. How does your obedience affect others? It shows your heart, right? And it reflects ultimately on Christ, whom we serve.

Bible point number six, the church has the duty to pray — pray is the first blank — for its civic leaders. Not only are we to be thankful for them, as we read earlier in Timothy, but we are to pray for them — for its civic leaders. Honor is the second blank — honor its civil leaders. And obey its civil leaders. These three things are kind of ascending there. It's one thing, okay, I can pray. "Lord God, I pray that You would bless this governor that I don't like" — use it hypothetically, okay? Then it's another thing to honor him, right? And it's another thing to then obey him, right? When there are leaders over us that you don't particularly like, you're supposed to still pray for them. You're supposed to honor them, and you're supposed to obey them.

We are to pray for our leaders' administrations so that we can carry on our ministry and mission. That's why Paul tells Timothy, he says, "Pray for those who are in authority over you that we may lead peaceable lives." We can be left alone, but we can worship, right? That we can spread the gospel. We can raise our children, that we can be together as friends and families and be able to serve the Lord ultimately, right? So we pray for our civil leaders.

We are to honor them always, 1 Peter 2:17. Even in disagreement over policy, we are not to slander them, talk bad about them. It's very easy to get worked up, because they don't always return the favor, right? There have been many politicians, even at the national stage, who will use things, call you a basket of deplorables or this or that or the other, and those things get under your skin, right? And you just want to shoot right back at them. "Well, you're no good," you know, whatever. But we're not to do that. We are to honor them.

Let me show you a couple of verses. Acts 23 — this is where we have Paul, who is in a testy conversation with the religious leaders who are telling him not to preach the gospel, and they are not being very kind to him. Let me actually back up to verse 1. I'll read 1 through 5. "Then Paul, looking earnestly at the council" — this is the Sanhedrin, the leaders of Israel, the 70, who were the judges, if you will, over the spiritual matters of Israel — "Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day. And the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth." Bam — slapped Paul right across the mouth. "Then Paul said to him, 'God will strike you, you whitewashed wall.'" So he's saying, "Yeah, you look all white on the outside with your priestly robes and you look clean, but inside you're just a dirty old wall. For you sit to judge me according to the law, and do you command me to be struck contrary to law?'" He's being very harsh — being truthful, but he's being harsh with him. "And those who stood by said, 'Do you revile God's high priest?' Then Paul said, 'I did not know, brethren, that he was a high priest. For it is written, you shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.'" When he was confronted with that, what did he do? He repented publicly. He says, "I shouldn't have done that. The law says I should not have done that. I did not know. I'm sorry." So that is a great example for us.

We're not to slander them. Jude 8 talks about evil men who would creep into congregations, and one of their characteristics is that they speak evil of dignitaries. Now that can be translated as angelic beings, but it can also be translated as dignitaries being rulers in this world. In other words, rulers of every realm, whether it's invisible rulers or rulers of this earth. And one of the ways that you will know them is that they speak evil — they slander dignitaries. And Christians are not to do that. We're not supposed to slander people or talk bad about people's characters. One thing to say, "Yes, that person has sinned. The Bible says you shouldn't sin," and call them to repentance. But it's another thing to gossip, slander, to speak falsehoods about somebody, right? Even if you don't like them or they've been mean to you.

We are to obey them in righteousness, knowing that they are appointed by God for their civic work. We already read that in 1 Peter. Titus 3:1 says, "Remind them" — speaking to Titus, talking to his church, saying Titus is a pastor — "Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, and to be ready for every good work." We need to be reminded to be subject to rulers, right? Because it's very easy to hold them in contempt because some of them are quite contemptible, right? And to speak ill of them. But we are to be subject to our rulers and authorities, to obey, and to be ready for every good work, to prove them wrong, to show them what would be the right way.

Number six, look on the back on number six. Titus 3:2 continues, he says, "Speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men." And that's hard because sometimes leaders, civic leaders, are quite pompous, right? They let it go to their head and they can be quite condescending. But what does he tell us? "Speak evil of no one, be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men." True strength is bridled strength. It's strength under control. That's the definition of meekness, actually. And that's who Christ was. He had all power in His hand, but He didn't always wield it. He didn't use it. He didn't throw His force around, right? He willingly became our Lamb.

Application for number six: how do you pray for poor leadership? When there's a leader that's a poor leader, even a wicked leader, how do you pray for them? Yeah. You pray for their repentance. You pray that God would get a hold of them, that God would bring good things despite their wickedness, right? Remember what Joseph said to his brothers, "You meant it for evil." They'd sold him into slavery, left him for dead, basically. "But God meant it for good, that He might save this people," right? So we can pray that God would work in and through them even when they're not cognizant of it, right? For the good of society, right? And how do we honor those who are evil? You can be respectful, right? You can obey them, recognizing that their authority is delegated — in the sense of being respectful and honoring their title, right? It doesn't mean you have to be their best friend. It doesn't mean you have to like them, but you can be courteous to them. And you can be civil even when they're being uncivil to you.

Bob, point number seven. The church has the duty to disobey — disobey is the first blank for number seven. The church has the duty to disobey the state when it forbids — forbids is the second blank — what God requires — requires is the third blank. The blank is disobey for number seven. The second blank is forbids. The third blank is requires. The church has the duty to disobey the state when it forbids what God requires. Have Daniel 6 as a reference there underneath it. And you know the story of Daniel 6. Daniel was favored by the king. He was an excellent administrator, an excellent ruler underneath the king. And so all the other leaders were jealous of Daniel and they wanted to get him in trouble. And Daniel 6 says they could find no fault in him. The only way that they could get him was in his religious devotion to the Lord. And so they tricked the king, and they said, "Hey, let's proclaim a day, or a period, where no one can worship anyone but you for 30 days and only call out to you." They knew that Daniel was faithful to pray three times a day. And so the king signed it into law. It couldn't be changed once it was signed into law. And they set out spies, and Daniel was faithful to pray three times a day to his Lord as he had always done. And so he was thrown into the lion's den. And the king was actually regretting that. What did the Lord do? The Lord preserved him, thankfully. It's one of those great stories of God's salvation.

But Daniel was willing to die. He was willing to disobey because he would not let the government forbid him from doing what God requires. He was willing to take the penalty, the price for it, but he was willing to disobey in order that he could do what God requires.

Acts 4:19 through 20, here on our page — this is where Peter and John have healed a man, and they're boldly preaching, and the religious leaders are upset with them for preaching in the name of Christ. It says, "And Peter and John answered and said to them, 'Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.'" So we're not going to be quiet. We're going to keep preaching Christ. We're not going to do what you as the religious leaders of Israel are telling us to do.

The next chapter, chapter five in Acts, they continue to preach and they are put in prison for preaching, and an angel sets them free. And what does the angel tell them to do? Go to the temple and keep preaching. And that's stirring up the religious leaders who are very upset about this. Let me read this to you. "Then the high priest rose up and all those who were with him, which is the sect of the Sadducees, and they were filled with indignation and laid their hands on the apostles and put them in the common prison. But at night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out and said, 'Go, stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life.' And when they had heard that, they entered the temple early in the morning and taught. But the high priest and those who were with him came and called the council together with all the elders of the children of Israel. And they sent to the prison to have them brought. But when the officers came and did not find them in the prison, they returned and reported saying, 'Indeed, we found the prison shut securely and the guard standing outside before the doors. But when we opened them, we found no one inside.' Now, when the high priest, the captain of the temple, and the chief priests heard these things, they wondered what the outcome would be. So one came and told them, saying, 'Look, the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people.' Then the captain went with the officers and brought them without violence, for they feared the people, lest they should be stoned. And when they had brought them, they set them before the council and the high priest asked them, saying, 'Did we not strictly command you not to teach in this name? And look, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine and intend to bring this man's blood upon us.' But Peter and the other apostles answered and said, 'We ought to obey God rather than men.'" That's the answer, right? We must always obey God.

Look at 2 Corinthians 11:32 through 33. This is a story that's in Acts, and Paul recounts it to the Corinthians. Paul is preaching the gospel, and they've put out a kill order on Paul, right? The local governor wants him arrested. And look what Paul does. This is the same Paul who wrote Romans 13, saying, "Obey those who are in authority over you." But look what he does here. "In Damascus, the governor, under Aretas the king, was guarding the city of Damascus with a garrison, desiring to arrest me." So it was the God-appointed — or in this case, governor — who was trying to arrest Paul. He had a lawful order to arrest Paul. "But I was let down in a basket, through a window in the wall, and escaped from his hands."

Paul was an outlaw here. He was willing to pay the price. He knew if he got caught, he'd be dead, but he wanted to preach the gospel, right? And many men have bucked the authority of the state in order to preach the gospel. Many of you may know or have heard of a man named William Tyndale.

If you have a King James Bible, you'll probably know that about 80% of that Bible was translated by William Tyndale. They used that as the basis of the King James Bible. And he was an Englishman who was firmly convicted that they needed the Bible in English, not in Latin. So he worked hard to translate the Bible into English. Then he raised money to print it. He sold whatever he could to print more copies, and he snuck them in as a smuggler. There's a book about him called God's Smuggler in England. He would sell them wherever he could, and people were willing to buy them. The money he received from that, he went and printed more Bibles, right? Because he wanted the word of God to be in every boy's and every girl's hands. What happened to William Tyndale? He was burned at the stake by the civil magistrate for disobeying. He was willing to trade his life for the gospel, right? We ought to obey God and not men.

The application for number seven: pray that you will preach — preach is the blank for number seven — preach the word boldly before all men. Pray that you will preach. That God will give you the opportunity to share Christ. I say preach — I'm not talking about getting up in a pulpit. I'm just talking about giving the good tidings of the Lord Jesus Christ, sharing the good news. That God will give you opportunity and unction to do so. Boldness to do so.

Bible point number eight. The church has the duty to disobey — disobey is the first blank for number eight. Kind of sounds like number seven. It's a little bit different. The church has the duty to disobey the state when it requires — requires is the second blank — what God forbids — forbids is the third blank. First blank is disobey for number eight. Second blank is requires. Third blank is forbids. And in number seven, we said the church has the duty to disobey the state when it forbids what God requires. Here the church has the duty to disobey the state when it requires what God forbids.

Do you remember the story of baby Moses? In Egypt, the slaves — Israel — they were multiplying. God had blessed them. He had made them into a mighty nation, right? And they were multiplying and they were strong. And Egypt became fearful that these slaves would overthrow them, right? The Israelites would overthrow them. And so they were harsh to them. They made their labor tougher, right? And they were still prospering and they were still growing in population. And so what did they do? They said, "There's a male baby — we should have him killed," right? They told that to the very ladies, the Egyptian ladies who were the midwives, who were there supposed to be bringing life into the world. He told them to be ministers of death. That if a male baby came out, you'd kill that male baby. That's what they were instructed to do.

These midwives, though, they feared God. They had an innate moral understanding, right? That that's wrong. And they did not listen to Pharaoh because Pharaoh was requiring them to do evil. And the church has the duty to disobey the civil magistrate when it requires you to do what God forbids. And we see this in Exodus 1:17, "But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive." When he came to them, he says, "What's up with this? I thought I told you to kill them." And they said, "Well, these Israelite women are different from the Egyptian women. They just push those babies out before we get there." That was the way they covered themselves.

Another example is from Daniel chapter 3. You'll see this on the back. Daniel chapter 3 is Daniel's friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Let me read the story. We'll read 16 through 19 and 27 through 29. "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, 'O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.'" Then Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury, and the expression on his face changed towards Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And he spoke and commanded that they heat the oven seven times more than it was usually heated. And he commanded certain mighty men of valor who were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and cast them into the burning fiery furnace. They had made a decree that they had to worship this golden idol. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were children of Israel who were in captivity, and they would not obey the king who was commanding them to do wrong, right? He was commanding them to go against the Ten Commandments. "You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make any graven images or bow down to serve them." They knew that they could not disobey God. So they tell the king, "You can't tell us what to do. If we die, we die. But just know that we're not going to bow down before your false gods. We serve the true King."

Look at what we find, of course, in verses 27 and 28. The satraps and ministers and governors and the king's counselors gathered together — they were going to watch this spectacle. The soldiers who threw them into the furnace, the flames were so hot it burned them up, right? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were cast into the furnace. The flames didn't touch them. And they saw these men on whose bodies the fire had no power. Their hair on their head was not singed, nor were their garments affected. And the smell of fire was not on them. Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying, "Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who sent His angel and delivered His servants, who trusted in Him. For they have frustrated the king's word and yielded their bodies, that they should not serve nor worship any god except their own God." So he talked about an angel delivering them. Remember he saw a fourth figure like the Son of Man in the fire, right? That was Christ. What a blessing it is to see that picture of God honoring them for their faithfulness to Him.

But for every Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, there's someone in Foxe's Book of Martyrs who wasn't spared, but they died joyfully. They died willingly because they would not bow down to false idols. And the church has the duty to disobey the state when the state requires you to do what God forbids.

The application for number eight: "Pray that you will love" — love is the blank for number eight. "Pray that you'll love God even more than your own life." Pray for that, because that's not natural. It's natural for us to love our own. When men and women are faced with persecution, the natural instinct is to recoil from it, right? The natural instinct is we don't want pain, right? But pray that our love for God would overcome our fear.

By point number nine, the church, as part of its gospel proclamation, is to call — call, C-A-L-L — call is the first blank for number nine — is to call the state to repentance — repentance is the second blank — when it is transgressing God's law. Just as we call individuals to repentance, the church has the duty to say, "Thus says the Lord, do not oppress the widow. Do not oppress the fatherless. Do not oppress the stranger. Do not have unjust weights," right? We are to call for justice and for mercy.

The church must remind the state of its sphere and the source — source is the third blank — the source of its authority. We're to tell them that your authority is derived. Your authority comes from Christ, and you're just a caretaker of that authority. He raised you up and He can take you out just as quick. You have a solemn duty to wield that authority correctly in the fear of God.

Remember when Christ was before Pilate — did He not say the same thing to Pilate? It says here John 19:10 through 11. "Then Pilate said to him, 'Are you not speaking to me? Do you not know that I have the power to crucify you and the power to release you?'" You say, "I'm like God. Your life is in my hands, Jesus. Don't you get this? Don't you know who I am?" Verse 11, Jesus answered, "You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given to you from above. Therefore, the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin." He says, "You're going to be guilty for what you're doing, but so are the Jews and so is Judas for betraying Me into your hands." He says, "You're doing what you think is right, but you're still going to be responsible for that." He says, "Your authority that you have is given to you."

Ironically, Christ was the one who was making Pilate's heart beat. Remember what Colossians says, that He is the one in whom all things are created, for Him and by Him and in Him all things consist. He alone has aseity. He alone gives life. He's the one who makes our heart beat, who holds us all together. And this insolent, arrogant man sitting in front of Him — Christ was upholding him in life at that very moment.

Application for number nine: exalt — exalt our living Head and proclaim His name. Know that He alone is worthy of praise. He alone is worthy of honor. He alone is worthy of reverence, and He has all power in His hands. So exalt is the blank for number nine.

By point number 10, to relate properly to the state — in other words, how should the church relate properly to the state? — three things are required of the church. First, the church must fear — fear is the blank for number 10, first blank is to fear — God and not man. We can't fear man. We must fear God. To fear God means to honor Him, to respect Him. If you put the honor and respect of man above God, you're going to go down the cliff in a bad way. Your train is all messed up. God is the one who's in charge and He's the one who is the ultimate object of our fear, our trust, and our reverence. So the church must fear God and not man. When we begin to look to man and we begin to play cape man — and to go before men to flatter them, thinking that they are the source of power — we will compromise. But when you go to God, you go to God, before God, on your knees and on your face in humble reverence. So first of all, the church must fear God and not man.

Secondly, the church must know — know is the second blank — the will of Christ as expressed in scripture. We have to know what scripture says. We've been looking at that tonight, that we are to pay taxes, right? That we are to obey, that we are to give honor, right, where honor is due. That's what the scripture tells us to do. But the scripture has a lot more to say about government. We don't have time to get into that tonight. For example, what about war? Some Christians are pacifists, right? Some Christians believe war is necessary and good under just war theory. Scripture has a lot to say about that. What about imperialism? What about manifest destiny or Western expansionism and annexing? What does the scripture have to say about that? We have the duty to know that, right? That way we can be informed when we speak to our government, be able to speak truth to our government, right? What about self-rule and autonomy? What about secession? What about revolution, right? When is that necessary? Is it necessary?

That's why we must know scripture, right? We must not only fear God, but we must know what scripture says. Scripture may not address those directly, but it gives us principles to apply, right? So we can properly relate to the state.

Then number three, the church must be willing — willing is the third blank — must be willing to lose the whole world to keep its soul.

The church — let's say the state here in the United States at some point says, "You know what, churches? You've got to do what we say. You're going to lose your tax exemption, right? We're going to start taxing your property and stuff." Must be willing to say, "Okay, that's fine. You can do that, but we're not going to compromise. You're not going to govern our speech or what we do. If we have to pay taxes, we have to pay taxes," right? But to be willing to give of ourselves, so to speak, in order to preserve our fidelity to our Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only proper way that the church and state can coexist in that sense — that we must fear God, we must know His word, we must be willing to give up even everything if it means protecting our walk with the Lord, to be people of integrity before Him.

Psalm 118:6 says, "The Lord is on my side. I will not fear what man can do to me." What does Jesus say? "Fear not him who is able to take your life, right? Fear Him who is able to destroy both the body and soul in hell. Fear God as He should be feared." Romans 8:37 says, "Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us." Neither death nor life nor principalities — nothing can separate us from the love. We may have bad things happen to us, but we are more than conquerors through Him.

And the application is simply this: be holy. Holy means separate, means consecrated. Be holy in all your conduct. That's what the church is to be, to be holy as Christ is holy.

Let us pray. Heavenly Father, I praise You for Your goodness to us. Lord, I thank You for giving us the state. I thank You, that is part of Your common grace to us, Lord. I thank You, Lord, that they are a good for us, to punish evil, to protect the innocent and the oppressed, and to encourage godliness. I pray that we, Lord, would walk wisely toward the state, that we fear God and not men, that we would know Your word. And lastly, Lord, that we as Your people would be willing to lose in order to gain Christ. It's in His name we pray. Amen.