Politics and Biblical Authority Part 2 On Submission

Well, if you have your Bibles with you, please open them again to Romans chapter thirteen. On last week, we looked at Romans thirteen one through seven and really just sort of backed up and took a bird's eye view and talked about the way we think concerning these issues issues of politics and government. This week we'll look at the first two verses there in Romans chapter thirteen and examine our responsibility as Christian citizens, what it looks like and what it means for us to be in submission to those authorities that God has placed over us, and particularly here in Romans thirteen, those governmental authorities that God has placed over us. What I wanted to do? Who is Over the next few weeks refer us back again and again to our confession, the London Back's Confession sixteen eighty nine. If you have your hymnals, would you please open those to page six point eighty three, Page six eighty three. We'll be expounding on this more over the next few weeks as we walk through this text six eighty three, Chapter twenty four of the Civil Magistrate. Paragraph one, God the Supreme Lord and King of all the world, hath ordained civil magistrates to be under Him over the people for his own glory and the public good. And to this end hath armed them with the power of the sword, for defense and encouragement of them that do good, and for the punishment of evildoers. Paragraph two. It is lawful for Christians to accept and execute the office of magistrate when called thereunto in the management whereof as they especially to maintain justice and peace according to the wholesome law of each kingdom and commonwealth. So for that end they may lawfully now under the New Testament, wage war upon just and necessary occasions. Paragraph three. Civil magistrates belong. I'm sorry, civil magistrates being set up by God for the end aforesaid subjection. In all lawful things commanded by them ought to be yielded by us in the Lord, not only for wrath, but for conscience sake. And we ought to make supplications and prayers for kings and all that are in authority, that under them we may live a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. Again a succinct presentation of these overarching truths that we find in Romans thirteen and elsewhere. Let's read again that entire paragraph. Romans thirteen, verses one through seven. 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 encour 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 and Avenger, who carries out God's wrath on the wrong doer. 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 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 honor to whom honor is owed. And so he ends the paragraph where he began the paragraph at this place of honor and respect being given to those to whom it is indeed due. It is important that we grasp these truths. It is important that we understand the significance of political authority and governing authorities. They are very real, present, prevalent issues in our everyday lives. They are absolutely inescapable, and it is foolish and ungodly to think otherwise, to think that somehow we as Christians need to speaking on such topics. Listen to John Calvin and his institutes. For although this subject seems from its nature to be unconnected with the spiritual doctrine of faith, which I have undertaken to treat, it will appear, as we proceed that I have properly connected them. Nay, that I am under the necessity of doing so, Especially while on the one hand, frantic and barbarous men are furiously endeavoring to overturn the order established by God. So on the one hand you've got people who do not want to honor governing state authorities and overturn them having been established by God, and on the other the flatterers of princes extolling their power without measure hesitate not to oppose it to the government of God. There's the second one. The second one is those people who are so enamored with public governing authority state authority that they put it in opposition and above the government of God's people in his church. Unless we meet both extremes, the purity of the faith will perish. It is important to meet both extremes, the extreme on the one hand that over emphasizes public state authority, and the extreme on the other hand that under emphasizes state authority. And how do we put those extremes to rest by heeding what God's word teaches us on the subject and today in verses one and two, specifically heeding his command to be in submission and subjection to those proper authorities that have been placed over us. Let's look again in verses one and two and listen carefully. 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. There's the statement on the matter. We want to hasten to the next part of the paragraph and talk about what authority is legitimate and what authority is illegitimate. We want to hasten to the point where we talk about how we rise up against authority because we are, in effect a very rebellious people, a notoriously rebellious people, and folks, we are the worst of the worst. Amen. We are citizens of a republic. And I'll say that again. I'll say that again and again and again. Please stop referring to America as a nation. We are a republic. And secondly, please stop referring to America as a democracy. We are not. Democracy is the cruelest form of government known. Demand. It is not a biblical concept. It is not an American concept. It is not a wise concept. It is a foolish concept. We are a constitutional representative republic. Can we say that together? A constitutional representative republic. Amen, Hallelujah, Praise the Lord. Okay, and democracy. If fifty one percent of people say that the other forty nine percent must die, then what happens. The other forty nine sent must die because of the will of the people, unrestrained by anything other than their own whims and wishes. That's what democracy is. Folks literally means mob rule. So we are not a democracy. We are a constitutional representative republic. Now here's why we're the worst of the worst, because we are a constitutional representative republic that was born and forged in a rebellion. And we celebrate that rebellion every year the fourth of July Independence Day. We rise up as a people and we say thank you for raising the fist, King George. That's who we are. So not only are we people who have rights and privileges, but we are a people whose country was born and forged out of a rebellion. And then, worse than that, we're not just Americans. We're Southerners. So not only do we have the heritage of America in general that rose up against Britain, but we also have the heritage of the South, of the Confederacy that rose up against the rest of the Union. That's part of our heritage as Southerners. But we're even worse than that. We're Texans. We were our own country and came into this thing voluntarily, understanding all the while we don't like it, we'll leave. And so here we are a bunch of Americans, a bunch of Southerners, and a bunch of Texans talking about submission to authority. Our natural tendency will be to run headlong into the part of the text that has something to do with what the authorities are responsible for, so that we can figure out when and where that natural tendency that we all have and love so much can be justified in its rebellion, to which I say today, not so fast, not so fast. Understand the principles being taught here. First, we have to understand that God is the source of all human authority. God is the source of all human authority. Look at that first verse again. 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. There is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Now we want to run headlong and say, now, wait a minute, wouldn't that only be authorities that meet certain requirements and qualifications. No, all authority. All authority comes from God and is established by God Acts Chapter seventeen. First of all, God is sovereign over human history and migration. He himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything and he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling places. What are allotted periods and boundaries? Those are societies governments. So God, in his sovereignty puts people groups in different places and establishes boundaries that separate them from other people groups folks. God's the one who makes countries. God does this by his sovereign hand. Secondly, God raises up kings and rulers for his purposes. All kings and all rulers are raised up by God and for his purposes. Exodus chapter nine and verse sixteen. There are those who argue all authority comes to God. No, no, no, only the good authorities and right authorities come from God. Really, because Exodus chapter nine and verse sixteen. But for this purpose raised him Pharaoh up to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. God says, I made Pharaoh king Daniel chapter two and verse twenty one. He changes times and seasoned, He removes kings, he sets up kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. That's in the context of what Daniel. Chapter two, Daniel's Nebuknezar says, I had a dream. You only need to interpret it for me. Well, tell us what it is. King, No, I'm not gonna tell you what it is. You got to tell me what the dream was and interpret the dream. We can't do that. Nobody can do that. If you don't do it, I'm gonna kill all of y'all and sorrow all over again. Daniel gets word, why is everybody so upset? Because because the King's gonna kill all of us? Why? Because because he had dream and he wants us to tell him the dream and the interpretation, and nobody can do that. Daniel comes to the King. He pleads with the King for time for God to reveal this, and God reveals it, and God reveals Nebukanza's dream. Neb dreams about this statue made of different metals and elements, and basically long story short, Daniel interprets the dream, and in interpreting the dream, Daniel tells the king what God is going to do in the geopolitical history of the world, not the history the future of the world. Babylonian Empire is going to give way to the Meto Persian Empire. Why because God says so, they're going to give way to the Greeks and to the Romans. And why why are these things going to happen? Because God says so. Every kingdom, every empire, and every ruler that has ever been, they've existed because of God Psalm seventy five, six and seven. For not from the east or from the west, and not from the wilderness comes lifting up. But it is God who executes judgment, putting down one and lifting up another. God also uses and directs kings, whether they acknowledge him or oppose him. God uses and directs kings, whether they acknowledge him or oppose him. Proverbs twenty one to one. The heart the king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord. He turns it wherever he wills. You mean kings that are yielded to him. No, kings that are kings, yeap, Not the kings that hate God. Certainly, certainly God doesn't override the will of kings that hate him. Really, ask Nebeka nezar. Daniel comes to him and Daniel four and says, essentially, Daniel, a Nebican azer, you know you've gotten too proud, and God's going to humble you for seven years. He's going to put you in a condition that thousands of years from now men will call paranoid schizophrenia. That's that's what we would call it today. What happened to nevgan Azer at God's hand in order to bring him to his knees, we would now refer to as paranoid schizophrenia. And God said beforehand, I'm going to do that. Not only am I going to do it, I'm going to do it for seven years. That's how long I'm going to do it. Not only am I going to do it, and I'll only do I know exactly how long I'm going to do it, but it's going to end at the point when you praise me. The Holy Spirit is a gentleman, and he would never force himself on it. Really wrong answer. God's not running for God, y'all. Isaiah forty four twenty eight through forty five to one. God says of Cyrus, Cyrus, not one of the wonderful godly kings of Israel. This is Cyrus. God says of Cyrus. He is my shepherd, and he shall fulfill all my purposes, saying of Jerusalem she shall be built, and of the Temple your foundation shall be laid. Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue nations before him, and to loose the belts of kings, to open doors before him, that gaate may not be closed. Cyrus, Cyrus. The prophets frequently speak to pagan nations, and God calls them into judgment. So I say again, God is the source of all human authority, not all godly human authority, but all human authority. Listen to Paul again. Let everyone, 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. Secondly, submission to God is always by proxy. Submission to God is always by proxy. Okay, what I mean by that, Well, there are those who want to believe that you can live the Christian life just sort of between you and the Lord and submit to him and not to other human beings. But submission to God is always by proxy. By the way. One of the ways that God ensures this is the doctrine of revelation. Think about this for a moment. The way God has established things and revealed himself. He has revealed himself in his word through individuals who were prophets or held other positions of authority, and through his apostles. But we don't even have those officers. Now what do we have. We have Christ, the final ultimate word of God, and we have the final ultimate revelation of God in the Bible. We don't have continued relation so that people don't sit there waiting for the next instruction from God. In that way, we have God who has spoken, who has preserved his word. So how do we then submit to authority? Talked about this on last week. First of all, in the home, we submit to God's authority through our submission to our parents. By the way, this is all tied up in the Fifth Commandment and our Sunday morning time and our Sunday school teaching time. We're now going through the ten Commandments we just started today. When we get to Commandment number five, who will realize is this submission to authority through whom human agency is really contained and expressed in the fifth Commandment. And so the child's submission to his or her parents is the child's submission to God. In a church Submission to the authority of the church is submission to God. And in the state, submission to the authority of the state is submission to God. We submit to God by proxy through the human agencies that He has established and through those individuals that He has put in authority over us. That's how we submit to God. If we are not in submission to those in positions of authority that God has placed in our life, then we cannot say legitimately that we are submitting to God. Therefore, failure to submit to human authority is rebellion against God himself. Failure to submit to human authority is rebellion against God himself. Look at verse two. Therefore, whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will encourag judgment. If you resist the human authority that God has placed in your life, you are resisting God. You are rebelling against God. Your rebellion against the authority that He has placed in your life is rebellion against Him. Listen to this in the home, children, obey your parents for the next phrase in the Lord, for this is right. Children, Obe your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Children. If you are not obeying your parents, you are rebelling against God. Children, obey your parents in everything Colossian is three twenty, for this pleases the Lord. So the converse would also be true. For you not to obey your parents would be displeasing to the Lord. Wives Phesians five twenty two to twenty four. Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. So the wife who is not submitting to the authority of her husband is rebelling against God. Against God in the church. Be your leaders and submit to them. They're keeping watch over your souls as those who will give an account to whom to God. Let them do this with joy and not withdrowaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. They're looking over your souls. They're watching over your souls. And in the state here in Romans chapter thirteen, verses one and two, it becomes clear that rebellion against the authority that God has established is indeed rebellion against God. Himself. And again we are quick to run and say yes, yes, but yes, but yes, but we'll get to the yes, but but not so fast. We got to get here first. What we want to do is we want to run by this really quickly and go yeah, yeah, I know it's there. But tell me what I don't have to kids want that in a home. Why dose want that in relation to husbands? Church folks want that in relation to church authority, and we all want that in relation to the state. But it's interesting how that is tempered by degrees, isn't it. Let's look at it by degrees, shall we? And so let's take the wife who looks at state authority and you know, just says instantly when she looks at state authority, I want to know when it's no. Or the husband who looks at state authority and say, I want to know where the line is because I want to know when I can rebel. Does he have the same level of patience with his wife on her submission to him as he expects from God on his submission to the state. If you can't say amen, you ought to say out right here okay? Or how about to his children when it comes to their level of submission. And so if our children want to immediately run to when can I say no, and wives and church members and every if they want to immediately run to when I can say no, we say no, no, no, no no. You have to understand these principles of submission. But when it comes to the state, our predisposition is is not just start with when I can say no, but assume that that is actually the most godly posture that I can have. I hold on to my know until you prove that you're worthy of my yes. That's our attitude towards the State, folks. I hold on to my know until you prove you're worthy of my yes. I am in rebellion to you unless and until you show me that you agree with me and therefore are to walk with you. That is not the posture of the first two verses. Here in Romans chapter thirteen, our posture is one of submission, recognizing that all authority comes from God, and recognize that our submission to God always happens through human agency, and recognizing that failure to submit to human authority is rebellion against God. There's a beautiful picture of this in Acts chapter twenty three, Acts, chapter twenty three. This is very very important you back up to Acts chapter twenty two, beginning in verse thirty. Now, let's put this in context, shall we. We're reading about the same author, the apostle Paul. The apostle Paul is a Jew. He's a Benjamite, a Pharisee. Okay, so Benjamite, Pharisee Jew. Now he has come to faith in Christ and has been radically saved, changed and transformed. He is a Christian. He's writing here in Romans. We see what he believes about Judaism as it is practiced. Okay, that's not what he's practicing. That's not what he's preaching. Keep that in mind here Acts twenty two thirty. But on the next day, desiring to know the real reason why he was being accused by the Jews, he unbound him and commanded the chief priests and all the council to meet. And he brought Paul down and set him before them, and looking intently at the council, Paul said, brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day. And the high priests and Annias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on them. Then Paul said to him, God is going to strike you, you white washed wall all you sitting to judge me according to the law, and yet contrary to the law, you order me to be struck. Those who stood by said, would you revile God's High Priest? And Paul said, he's not a legitimate authority. I'm not under the authority of the High Priest. I'm a Christian. He doesn't have the Gospel right, let alone the civil law right. He's wrong on the civil law having me struck like this, and he's wrong on the Gospel. Who is he not? Paul's response verse five and Paul said, I did not know, brothers that he was the high priest is written, Paul goes to the law, you shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people. Paul's response, I'm sorry because that is not a respectful posture toward a man in his position. I did not know. Had I known his position, I would not have spoken that way. That's Paul, folks, before a Jewish high priest. That's what ought to characterize us. That's the kind of humility and submission to authority that ought to characterize us, not sauntering in with a chest all out, looking eye to eye and speaking like we are equal to authority, saying, who do you think you are and what statute do you represent? Prove to me that you have the authority to do this before I know that is not the Christian response. That's not our attitude toward government. It's humble, it's respectful, and it's obedient. That's our attitude toward authority. And let me say this, especially to men, hear me, heads of household. Do you disdain and despise and disrespect governmental authority and yet expect your wife and your children to submit to yours? You hypocrite, you pompous, self centered hypocrite. Fall on your face and repent before Almighty God and your wife and your children for having that kind of attitude toward the authority that God has placed in your life, while expecting all of them to bow down and obey you without a word. Shame on you, Shame on me, because this is our disposition when it comes to the state. This is our posture when it comes to the state, for submission is always unconditional, but limited. Now we can talk about the butt. Now that we've been rebuked almost sufficiently, now we can talk about the butt, because you can not talk about the butt unless you understand our disposition. Because even even if we have to respond to authority in a manner contrary to that which they desire, there is an attitude of submission even in that. What I mean by unconditional, well, we do not wait for authorities to be worthy of our submission. It's unconditional. We do not wait for authorities to be worthy of our submission. The man who says, or the wife who says, or the son who says, or the daughter who says, I will submit to that authority when it demonstrates itself to be worthy of my submission, has just said I'm never going to submit. Why Because there is no human authority that's worthy of your submission. There never has been, and there never will be. The wife who says, I'll submit to my husband when he owes me that he's worthy of my submission, she's a liar, she's a hypocrite, or she is severely, severely wrong in her understanding of the doctrine of man, not just males, but man in general. There's only been one man who's ever walked this earth wife who's been worthy of your submission. And do you know what the Bible says. Your submission to your husband is your way of acknowledging the fact that he is worthy of your submission. And if you're not submitting to your husband, you're not acknowledging the fact that Christ is worthy of your submission. I'll submit to the state, and I'll have a posture of submission to the state when they demonstrate that they are doing what the second part of this passage says that they're supposed to do. If they're not, no, no no no no, no, no no, they're not worthy of your submission. Your submission is unconditional, but it's limited limited. What I mean by that we cannot submit to authorities that require what God forbids, or forbid what God requires. We can't do that. We're not allowed to do that because all authority comes from God. Ultimately, we have to do what God commands and we have to shun what God forbids. That's where that's what the line is. So the question is if we understand that our obligation and responsibility is to be in submission to authority, but we also understand that that submission, though unconditional has to be limited. It has to be limited. We understand where and how to draw the line. They can't command what God forbids or forbid what God commands. But how do we respond once we get there? Listen to this from Tom Schriiner. This text is misunderstood if it is taken out of context and used as an absolute word, so that Christians uncritically comply with the state no matter what is being demanded. What we have here is a general exhortation that delineates what is usually the case people should normally obey ruling authorities. The text is not intended as a full blown treatise on the relationship of believers to the state. It is a general exhortation setting forth the typical obligation that one has to civil authorities. So what do we do when we reach that line? If God's the source of all human authority, and if our submission to God is always by proxy, and if rebellion against authority is rebellion against God? What do I do when I come to a place where that authority is commanding something of me that God forbids, or forbidding of me something that God commands. Here's what we do two categories. There's passive responses and active responses. Number one passive responses passive responses to ungodly exercises of authority. Number one pray pray for the authority for Timothy two to one and two. First of all, then I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. Prayer. That's why we do this. When we gather together as a body, we pray for those whom God has placed in positions of authority. We pray. We pray why because the king's heart is the hand of the Lord. Amen. And so we go to God on their behalf, and we ask God that by his mercy their heart would be changed or stopped. We pray, we pray. Secondly, we model for authority. The picture of this is seen in one Peter three. Listen is what Paul says to wives. Likewise, wives be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives. When they see your respectful and pure conduct. I don't believe it's illegitimate at all for us to extrapolate that to the way that we as followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, respond in the presence of authority, the way that we respect authority and honor authority. Not only do we have these passive responses, but there are active responses, and they increase in levels of intensity. The first is to appeal to the authority. Appeal to the authority. This is done respectfully and in accordance with the means that have been provided by that authority. Respectfully and in accordance with the means that are provided by that authority. We see this in the Old Testament and the New Testament. Moses before Pharaoh. He goes to Pharaoh and he appeals that Pharaoh wouldn't let God's people go. This is an appeal to the authority. Daniel before the steward concerning the food. Daniel doesn't stand up to the steward and say I eaten that. He stands up and he makes an appeal, Please, we don't want to defile ourselves. Can we work something else out? Can we try something It's an appeal to authority, the widow and the unjust judge. Jesus gives that one to us at a parable This woman goes back again and again and again and again, appealing to the judge, over and over and over again, making her appeal, making her plea as it were Paul before Felix in Acts Chapter twenty four, he makes his appeal to Felix, we make an appeal. That's where we start, brothers and sisters. We start with appealing to authority. We don't start with just out and out rebellion against authority. We start with appealing to authority, and we use legitimate channels to appeal to authority. By the way, our founders understood this, that's why it is listed. Even in the Bill of Rights. We think about the First Amendment, and we always talk about one aspect of the First Amendment, and that's the religious freedom clauses in the First Amendment, but also the right to petition our government. Praise God for that. That's biblical. That's biblical appeal to authority. How many times do you and I just run straight to you know, let lets you know, let's let's get the guns and set up our cannon with our you know, come and take it, flag over the top of it, without ever making an appeal pleading. That's where we start. We appeal to authority. Secondly, we confront authority. We confront authority. This is moved to another level here confront authority. Sometimes it is required of us that we confront authority again. Authority, who's doing what? Authority who's doing something that we don't like? No, authority, who's requiring ring what God forbids or forbidding what God requires? We confront the authority. Nathan confronts King David, you are the man. That was a confrontation. By the way, it was respectful. Even the confrontation was respectful and submissive. Daniel and belshaz are in Daniel chapter five. There's handwriting on the wall. Here's what God says, King, this is what God is going to do because of your rebellious heart. That was a confrontation of authority, by the way, and Daniel, we see all of the different levels basically, but there's the confrontation of authority. John before Herod in March sixteen, fourteen to twenty. John confronts Herod directly with the word of God. What you're doing is wrong. It's immoral, it's sinful. It's a confrontation of authority. By the way, John does this before Herod. Why because God has put him in Nathan before David, Daniel before belshas are John before Herod? What has happened here? Nathan? God has put him in a position that allowed him to confront authority. So he confronted Daniel before what elseh has are the Queen Mother remembers Daniel. He's brought in God's handwriting is on the wall. God has given him an opportunity to confront authority, So he confronts the authority. John before Herod. Herod kind of liked him. It's the favor of God gave him an opportunity to confront authority. Paul before his flogging in Acts twenty two, he appeals to his citizenship in Rome and he confronts the man who's about to flog him because the man is about to break the law, and so he confronts the authority. There is a time to do that. There is a time to confront authority. The most common response is to appeal to authority, but there are times when you were put in a position to in a very direct way confront authority, and sometimes these two can be combined. Finally, we may have to defy authority. We may have to defy authority. Hey, Hebrew midwife, listen. Pharaoh wants the boy Hebrew babies dead. So when the Hebrew women are giving birth, if it is a boy, you kill that boy. If it is a girl, you let her live. No. No, sometimes we must defy authority. Hanna and I a Michel and Azariah and the Golden Image. Again, we know them as Shadrack, Mishak and a bet to go. I think that's terrible that that's how we know them. Those are the names that were given to defile them. And yet when we talk about them, that's what we call them. Their names are Hannaanaiah, Michael, and Azariah. They answered and said to the king, oh Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve, is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O King. 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. We will not. With all due respect, Jesus consistently confronted authority. He's sort of categorically different than us. So we quickly move on to Peter and John and Acts chapter four stop preaching and teaching in this name. You know whether it is right to obey men rather than God. You be the judge. But we cannot stop speaking about what we've seen and what we've heard. Then again, in Acts chapter five, they're preaching publicans. But Acts chapter four stop preaching in the name of Jesus. No. Acts chapter five. They get arrested for preaching in the name of Jesus, and Angel gets them out of jail, and they go to the most public place they can find and do what preach. There is a time to defy on goodly authority. Another response, Sometimes we flee from ungodly authority. How many times in the book of Acts, by the way, everywhere that Paul went there was a revival, a riot or both. Okay, everywhere that he goes, And oftentimes how does Paul make the determination that the spirit is now saying I need to go preach in another place. He gets run out of town by the authorities, and he flees, and he flees. Sometimes that's what we're called to do. The apostle Peter when he writes his epistle, he writes his Epistle to the Diaspora, to those who have been spread abroad because of persecution. Now, let me hasten to say this as I close, if and when we come to this last stage, we still do it in submission to authority, which means we must be ready to receive with gladness and humility, whatever consequence is required. When Hannah and i A, Michelle and Azariah confront the king, they readily get thrown into the fire furnace. Daniel readily gets thrown into the lines dam The apostles readily receive their beating for preaching the gospel. See, we don't have a right view of this. And one of the reasons that we Americans in the South and in Texas always want to run to the point where we shake our fist in the face of authority is because we have the privilege of living in a unique place where we can do that with impunity. But in most of Church history and in most of the world, when you do that, it is the last resort, and you know that you are going to pay the price, but what price. There's a couple of things that can happen. One thing that can happen is deliverance. You appeal to authority and God delivers you. You confront authority and God God delivers you. You defy authority and God delivers you. That can happen, but not usually. There can be a transformation or a change of authority that can happen. Amen, that can happen. Or you can lose your liberty and your property. The apostle Paul is our example of that. He's what you would call a repeat offender. He was terrible for the recidivism rate in the Roman Empire. He went to jail again and again and again. He lost his liberty and he lost his possessions because he appealed to, confronted, and often defied authority. See, we've got an arrogant, pompous attitude toward defying authority because generally this doesn't happen. You go out on the streets and you say something, you put a video up on YouTube, and nothing's going to happen. That's not most of our brothers and sisters in the world. Most of them, when they do this, they lose their liberty and they lose their possessions. So don't think lightly about this. And when they lose their liberty and they lose their possessions, they do it with humility and obedience to the authority, trusting that God will judge those who are doing wrong. The other possibility is that you lose your life. You appeal to authority, you confront authority, you defy authority, and they kill you for it. And generally that's one that we don't think of, but newsflash, that's one that happens all over the world today. So watch yourself. Watch yourself when you have a flippant attitude toward defying authority here in America and think you're being such the big, powerful Christian because nothing's gonna happen to you. But your brothers and sisters and other parts of the world are being imprisoned and beaten and killed right now today for going to worship in defiance of authority. In Muslims countries, for converting to Christianity and being baptized, they get beheaded. So it's convenient for us to have this sort of flippant attitude toward defying authority because we don't like something. But watch yourself with that attitude, because your brothers and sisters are losing their lives. Remember when this is written, and remember what happens shortly thereafter. James the Great, the son of Zebedee, elder brother of John and relative of our Lord, was beheaded. In eight forty four, Philip labored diligently in Upper Asia, suffered martyrdom at Heliopolis and Phrygia. He was scourged, thrown into prison, and afterwards crucified. In AD fifty four, Matthew, whose gospel we love, was slain with a halbard in the city of Nadaba in Ethiopia. In eighty sixty six, James the Less brother of our Lord, at the age of ninety four, he was beaten, stoned by the Jews and finally had his brains bashed out with a fuller's club. Matthias, the replacement for Judas. He was stoned at Jerusalem and then beheaded. Andrew the brother of Peter on his arrival at Edessa, he was taken and crucified on a cross, the two ends of which were fixed transversely in the ground, hence the derivation of the term Saint Andrew's cross mark was dragged to pieces by the people of Alexandria. Peter was condemned to death and crucified, his head being down, his feet being upward, himself so requiring because he was he said unworthy to be crucified after the same manner as his lord. Jude, the brother of James, commonly called Thaddeus, he was crucified at Odessa in eighteen seventy two. Bartholomew he was at length cruelly beaten, then crucified by impatient idolatrs Thomas called Didymus, preached the Gospel and Parthia and India, where, exciting the rage of pagan priests, he was martyred by being thrust through with a spear. Luke, the traveling companion of Paul through various countries, supposed to have been hanged on an olive tree by the idolatrous priest of Greece. Simon the Zealop, preached the Gospel in Mauritania, Africa, and even in Britain. In this latter country he was crucified. And Paul, who wrote us Romans thirteen, suffered in the first persecution under Nero, where he gave his neck to the sword. How dare we be arrogant about defiling human authority when this is the tradition in which we stand, When this is the legacy that is ours. You appeal to authority, do so with the kind of humility that recognizes this truth. When and if you ever have to confront authority, do so with the humility that comes from recognizing this truth. And if you ever have to defy authority, do so with the kind of humility and reverence that recognizes that. Throughout the history of our world and the history of our faith, your brothers and your sisters in Christ have sealed such action in their own blood. We must not take this lightly. God is the source of all human authority. Our submission to God is always always given through human authority by proxy. Rebellion against human authority therefore, is rebellion against God. Our submission is unconditional yet limited. We can in no wise obey those who command what God forbids, and forbid what God commands. But even as we decline to obey, we do so in reverence, humility, and fear. Appealing to authority. Confronting authority in those rare occasions where we have the opportunity and the obligation to do so, defying authority when these things happen in a moment in time where there is no other alternative, all the while recognizing that we will even have to humble ourselves should it cost us our liberty, our property, are our lives. Because remember, even our Lord, Master and Savior, Jesus Christ, the spotless, sinless, perfect Lamb of God, humbled himself before authority. Close with this, Open with me if you will, to Philippians, chapter two, verse five, have this mind among yourselves, which is yours. In Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. Being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross. Here's the good news. It's not the end of the story. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confessed that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. If you ever ever have to defy authority and suffer because of it, what is your goal that, even in doing so, God might be glorified. Our goal is not that we won't be messed with. Our goal is that God will be honored. Let's pray assass