The National Center for Family Integrated Churches welcomes Jeff Bodkin with the following message entitled, How Nations Are Required to Worship, Psalm 2. Thank you, James, and thank you all for being here. Let's begin with prayer. Our Father in Heaven we do thank you for the way that You have called us together as families. You've given us families.

You've put us into families. And we thank You that this is true to Your character that You take the lost and the lonely and You place them in families. And we thank you, Lord, today for the families of nations. And we pray today that you would give us your mind on how we should think about our own nation to begin with, and how we should think about the 195 other nations that exist as part of our generation. And our Father in Heaven, we tell you and confess to you that it's so difficult for us to think about our duties and our responsibilities to so many nations.

We know we have those and we know that you never give any command to frustrate us or exasperate us, but that everything that you command can be performed in faith. And so give us faith today to see the essence of your will for the nations. And in the authority and in the name of Jesus Christ we ask you these things. Amen. I want to begin this afternoon with two quotes, one that you've heard, well, both of which you heard last night in the opening session, the first by Scott Brown, who said, Worship is the hinge point of national survival.

And this was, he didn't have time to go into that, and that's what he's asked me to do. Worship is the hinge point of national survival. What that means is nations will rise and fall, succeed or fail, be blessed or cursed, depending on how they are worshiping, how they are worshiping God. And so how does a nation worship? Joe Moorcraft then stood up and here's his quote.

Courts, C-O-U-R-T-S, Courts are where worship takes place. Courts are where worship takes place. So this is one way, as we'll see at the conclusion of this message, where nations are required by God to be sure that they're worshipping in spirit and in truth. Nations, nations, the courts of a nation. The courts are places of authority.

And this is where worship takes place and will define worship. There are courts in every single place that the Lord has ordained authority. And so you parents have courts in your home. And when your three-year-old says, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, I had it first. They're asking you to pass judgment on a situation in the court of the authority that has been established by Jesus Christ.

And you had better do that carefully. You can't do it on a pragmatic reason. You can't do it. You can't put it off. When there are decisions to be made, this is where worship takes place.

In the home, where you can sit your children down and say, let's find out what the Lord says about private property. What does the Bible say about stewardship? And as you teach your children, as you make a ruling on what to do with a toy, they're learning the doctrines of the law of God and the covenants of God. And this is how people are required to worship. I see up front, for those of you who are coming back, four chairs up here.

If anyone near the edges would please slide more to the center so others could come alongside and slip in. Please do that. In the churches, there are courts. And many churches that are involved in the NCFIC are beginning to learn this. There are courts of first jurisdiction, courts of second jurisdiction, where the men of the body, and especially the officers, are able to gather together, look at the law of God and rule on some very difficult, complicated things that come up.

Nations ordained by God with authorities that God has given. He's given the sword. There are courts and they are required and expected to worship. Our text today is Psalm chapter 2. If you'd like to look there, we will begin to look as quickly and efficiently as we can as one of the major places in Scripture that shows us and gives us a grand overview of this topic.

Psalm chapter 2 verse 1. Why are the nations in an uproar? Why are the nations in an uproar and the peoples devising a vain thing? And so we're making...here we have in the Holy Scripture the reference to nations, plural, that God has created and ordained. And it's true that in nations, They can be devising and pursuing vanity and breathing out together in conspiracy.

And that's what that word means biblically. Everyone breathing the same thing, thinking the same thing. But there are nations in an uproar. They're devising a vain thing. Verse 2, the kings of the earth take their stand.

The kings, plural, of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed saying and you've heard Mr. Brown and and dr. Moorcraft talking about the antithesis that there are good guys and they're bad guys They're covenant keepers. They're covenant breakers And here we have nations and rulers counseling together against the Lord. Against.

This is the antithesis. Against. Standing against. Saying, verse 3, let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us." Talking about the triune God, conspiring against the triune God. Saying, let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords.

What cords? All the cords and the chains that bind them to the higher law of God. And they don't want that because they want to get out from under the highest authority, the sovereign authority of God Almighty, and be their own authority, following the same trends and temptations of sin that Eve had in the garden. When Satan said to her, Eve, wouldn't it be, and this is a paraphrase of course, think about this. If you could be your own authority and be like God and decide for yourself your own ethical system of conduct and behavior.

Everything that you want to decide, you decide for yourself. You can be independent. And this is the same pattern of sin that every single one of your children have tried in your home. And the churches will try with the inventions of men, and that nations will try, and we're seeing exactly by the Holy Spirit here in Psalm chapter 2 what they say. Quote, let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us.

We want freedom and independence from the higher authority. This is what they're saying. Verse 4, he who sits in the heavens laughs. The Lord scoffs at them. This happens all the time, nations plural.

Nations are taking their stand. Kings are consulting together. How can we get away from the higher law and be free from it so that we can do what we want to do and then force that on everyone else who is under our authority as leaders. But he who sits in the heavens laughs and this means that he scoffs in anger at them. It's a wrathful kind of a wrathful kind of laughter.

And then he will speak to them in his anger verse five and terrify them in his fury. And so those I don't know how many of you have heard American evangelical Protestant Christians who say well God is never a God of anger or wrath. But all through the scripture you will see it and you'll see exactly to whom and to what his wrath is directed. And here he's speaking to the nations, to these kings who are conspiring in his anger and terrify them in his fury saying, and this is the decree of the Lord and this is how he responds and what he says, but as for me, I have installed my king upon Zion. As for me, I have installed my king upon Zion, my holy mountain." This is how the Lord answers them.

How He answers the nations. I have installed my king. I have installed my king. And it's as though He's saying to them, Why are you not honoring the king that I have established? Why are you not seeing the authority?

Don't you see that I have installed my king upon Zion, my holy mountain? Verse 7, I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord and this is the decree this is the decree of the Lord he said to me the father speaking to the son you are my son today I have begotten you ask of me and this is what the Father in heaven has decreed and done in history, "...ask of me, " he's saying to the Son, the Father to the Son. This message is about the relationship of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit to the nations. So here's the Father saying to Jesus Christ, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the King of the nations, ask of me And I will surely give the nations as your inheritance, and the very ends of the earth as your possession, and the very ends of the earth as your possession." And so, of course, Christ has asked for this and has been given this. The nations belong to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

So this is where we need to begin our understanding theologically of nations. They belong to the King. There is a higher authority than any king on any throne in the world. A much higher authority. Verse 9, you shall break them, and this again, the Father speaking to the Son, Son, you shall break them with a rod of iron.

You shall shatter them like earthenware. Jesus Christ the King has the authority from the Father to do this to the nations and with the nations. Verse 10, Now therefore, O kings, and this is the command of Scripture, This is God the Father speaking to the nations. Now therefore, O kings, show discernment. Take warning, O judges of the earth.

This is a command directly, do you see this, to the leaders of nations in Scripture. And people will ask, well, wait a minute. You know, you can't... Scripture doesn't speak to the unbeliever. He could never understand or obey.

Look at this Scripture and see what it's saying. The triune God, and in this verse the Father Himself is speaking to and commanding the nations. O kings, show discernment. Take warning, O judges of the earth, the magistrates. He's speaking to the kings and the magistrates, the judges.

Verse 11, worship the Lord with reverence and rejoice with trembling. This is the instruction given by God Almighty to nations and the rulers of nations. And I want you to be thinking in your minds as we walk through this. There are one hundred ninety-five nations in the world today. And this is pertinent and applicable to every single one, the most pagan of pagan nations, the most Islamic of Islamic nations.

This is true for them. This command is being given to them. And who will show them how to worship the Lord with reverence and rejoice with trembling? This is our job. As Christians, this is our job.

Verse 12, the command continues to the kings, do homage to the Son. Do homage to the Son. Kings in every single nation of the world are commanded by God to do homage to the Son, Jesus Christ, that he not become angry and you perish in the way, for his wrath may soon be kindled, the wrath of Jesus Christ who sits on the throne to whom all authority has been given on earth he can have wrath against the nation's plural for his wrath may soon be kindled how blessed are all who take refuge in Him. And so that's the end of the psalm. Let's look at this definition of worship.

And this is, I've tried to distill this down and I want you as you listen to, and I hope all of you who are missing some really good lectures right now are able to go home and take the MP3s and process these with your families. So much of what is being said. You need to be hearing the whole scope of this conference in order to get a full picture of what worship really is. But if it could be distilled into one little slide in a PowerPoint, what would we say? And this is as short as I can possibly make it for you all.

Worship is faithful service to God's ethical standard in all reverence, both privately and publicly. This is as short as I can make it. And this is true in the family. This is true in the church, in the church courts, and this is true for the nations. This is what worship will look like if nations are obeying the Lord and doing it properly.

Faithful service. Service. And as Dr. Morgrath pointed out, there are two words in the Greek and there are two words in the Hebrew that describe service. One, and this is true in both Testaments, one is for reverence that we completely submit ourselves to the higher authority in reverence.

And the second one is service, obedience to what has been commanded in the covenant. And sometimes those two words appear in the very same sentence in Scripture in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. And so nations will always be, and people will be, and families will be, always be covenant keepers or covenant breakers. And so when nations are warned, and when people are warned about keeping covenant, the language that's used is, don't bow down to these other gods and don't serve their ethical systems. You have to serve the covenant that God has revealed in the law.

And so our duties in worship are reverence and obedience, bowing down to the higher authority in the attitude of our heart. And then we show that, don't we? By studying His covenant and keeping the terms of His covenant very, very, very carefully. And if not, if we're learning the ways of the Gentiles and we're keeping their terms of covenant, what they think is right and wrong, what they think the standards of conduct are, then we have learned the way of the heathen and we're serving their higher authority, their rival God system, their rival faith system, their rival law system, and we've become idolaters. Do you see that?

That's really simple, basic Christianity, but it has not been taught in the evangelical world now for about a hundred years that we have these duties, reverence and obedience to the law. Reverence and attitude and obedience to the law to show that reverence, to show that reverence. And so As we look at our quick theology of nations here, one of the greatest falsehoods of Christian duty that has been taught in your generation is that the kingdom of Jesus Christ does not include nations or national leaders. That's false. Okay, I hope you all understand that.

But it's been taught in your generation that the kingdom of God is just something different. Either it's in heaven, it's the dead saints in heaven, or it's something that's going to happen later. But it's not here and now and Christ does not reign over anything right now. He will maybe later. And so the error extends to nations, and people have been taught that The kingdom does not include nations or national leaders who are somehow exempt from obedience to the King of Kings.

They're exempt from being reverent. They're exempt from having to obey. They're exempt from having to worship. And that's a lie. That's not true.

Nations are required to do homage to the Son. It does include all nations. The kingdom of Jesus Christ includes all nations. I wish I could spend hours with you to reinforce this, but I'm assuming that you all have learned this in recent years, that this is a truth. When we pray, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth, Jesus Christ is reigning over His kingdom now, and it includes every corner of the universe, including the nations, the judges in the nations and the kings.

It includes that. It so frustrates me when missionaries go out and they have no intention of discipling the nations because they say but they're not under the kingdom of Jesus Christ. They're not bound by the law. They don't have to obey him. They're exempt somehow and then they have little reasons or traditions or customs that support that falsehood.

Let's look real quickly at the history of nations. Genesis 6 verse 13. And God said unto Noah, and by the way, Noah was a man who walked with God. We're going back to the era of the flood here just to give you a really quick theological basis for understanding what nations are, where they have come from. And God said to Noah, the end of all flesh is come before me, For the earth is filled with violence through them, through all this flesh of humanity.

And behold, I will destroy them with the earth." And so this is what's... I'm telling you this because you need to see where the nations have come from in Genesis chapter eight verse seventeen. 17. Bring out with you this is after the flood after the waters have subsided Noah is commanded bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, that they may breed abundantly on the earth and be fruitful and multiply." In chapter 9 verse 1, God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, Be fruitful and multiply. This is the origin of the nations and the families of the earth and the families of the nations.

This dominion covenant given to Noah after the flood, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. Genesis 9 verse 7, as for you be fruitful and multiply. This is repeated to Noah and his sons. Populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it. Chapter 10, this is chapter 10 verse 5.

From these the coastlands of the nations were separated into their lands. And so we're seeing, and write this down, you're taking notes. Genesis chapter 10, verse 5. Here we're seeing the origin of the nations. The coastlands of the nations were separated into their lands, everyone according to his language, according to their families and their nations.

And in chapter 11, we're told the story of Babel, how the Lord, by the Holy Spirit, separated these peoples by language, each one having a different language, because the Lord confused the language of the whole earth, and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth into nations. And so how are godly nations to be established? Okay, what's their duty? I mean, if these are the descendants of Noah and his sons who have been charged by God to be obedient to the covenants that have been given, and to this refreshing of the dominion mandate. Here's how godly nations are established.

Godly fathers call their children to walk with them in the ways of the covenant. This is how nations are established. This is how nations get good footings and good foundations. Godly fathers call their children to walk with them in the ways of the covenant. Keep in mind, Noah and his sons had been alive for a very, very long time, knowing things that had been handed down to them from Adam, who had walked with God, who knew things about the covenant.

Genesis chapter 17, verse 1. Now we're moving forward in time to the time when God is calling this godly Father to create not just one nation, but nations plural. Read the story with me. Chapter 17 verse 1. Now when Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, I am God Almighty.

Walk before me and be blameless. Have you ever thought about what it really means to be walking with God and homeschooling parents? Let me tell you something. This is just a little detour. I've got to say this.

I hear out there when I'm talking to families, when they're talking about, okay, why are you doing this? Because I ask parents, why are you homeschooling? Do your children know why you're homeschooling? And in many families, the parents don't know, and the children don't know because the parents don't know. And this is one reason so many children are going, well, I don't know why my parents did this.

I guess it was kind of just what they wanted to do. And so I guess the way you live your life is you just do what you want to do. Parents have failed their children because of this kind of absence of teaching, purposeful teaching. And so when parents tell me, well, I guess, you know, as long as they're just walking with God later on, haven't I done my job? Haven't I been successful as a parent?

And so, they're using this phrase, walking with God, which is a biblical phrase, but What does that mean to people? That they stay out of jail? That they go to church a couple of times a year? And in some circles that's about all it means that they haven't fully turned their backs and renounced the faith. That they're still, well at least, praise God, my children are walking with God.

What does it mean biblically when God says to Abraham in this command, I am God Almighty, walk before me and be blameless. What it means to walk with God is to walk before God blamelessly as a leader teaching others under your authority the covenants of God. And if your children are not being prepared to do that as adults, to walk blamelessly before God, knowing the covenant so they can teach the covenant to their children. How dare we say they're walking with God according to a little shallow definition that we've come up with. We have to be Making sure that any biblical phrase or terminology or language that's used out there in our generation is used correctly, properly, righteously.

We can't be defining God's Word to suit our shallow, compromised way of living. The evangelical church in America has done that. End of my detour. I've got to get back to the text. Here we go.

Walk before me and be blameless. Verse 2, I will establish my covenant between me and you, and I will multiply you exceedingly. This, can you see as this develops, these commands develop, how the nations are being birthed in this one man? Abram fell on his face and talked, and God talked with him saying, as for me, behold, my covenant is with you and you will be the father of a multitude of nations. Can you see where the nations are coming from now?

Nations plural. Oh, Mr. Botkin, this is just about the nation of Israel because wasn't Abram the first Jew? Well, yes, but look at the text. God is saying, Behold, my covenant is with you.

This is the foundation that he's giving Abram for the building of nations, plural. And you will be the father of a multitude of nations. And so then how did Abram walk with God blamelessly? He learned the covenant. He performed family worship.

I mean before there were nations he was performing family worship and we read about that in the next chapter, Genesis 18 and 19. For I have chosen Him. And now this, daddies, this is a fatherhood verse that you should embrace to your heart And make sure that your sons do. Genesis 18 verse 19. For I have chosen him, God is speaking here, meaning Abraham, for I have chosen him so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring upon Abraham what he has spoken about him." So what has he spoken about him?

He's going to use Abraham to be a father of a multitude of nations, plural. Today there are 195 nations, and there is some patrimony of Abraham in every single one of 195 nations, including the one that you're sitting in this afternoon. And so he was chosen to keep the way of the Lord, which is what? Walking in the covenant blamelessly, to keep the way of the Lord. That's David understood that.

Read the Psalms, to walk in the way of thy commandments, to run the way of thy commandments. This is the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice so that the Lord may bring upon Abraham what he has spoken about him. Now what would happen if one of these nations that's being birthed begins to stray and is not teaching the way of the Lord. And we have an example very soon in the book of Genesis with the men of Sodom. Men of Sodom were wicked exceedingly and sinners against the Lord says the scripture.

Genesis 18 verse 20, and the Lord said, The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great and their sin is exceedingly grave. I will go down now and see if they have done it entirely according to its outcry, which has come to me and if not I will know. And so when there is an outcry in a nation, and when people... We can take great comfort in this, and I'll give you Psalm 72 as a reference. And when you're being discouraged about what's going on in your own country and about the leaders who are ruling over you heavy handedly and unrighteously and making demands of you that are unrighteous that feel like judgment because they really are judgment you can praise Psalm 72 God will deliver the needy when he cries for help.

And so God is going to see about this outcry that's coming up from Sodom and what the leaders are doing. Leviticus 18 verse 24. Moses clarifies the covenant in the law of God, and we're moving up through history now. I'm going to have to run really quickly and fast through this. Leviticus 18 verse 24.

Do not defile yourselves by any of these things, meaning the things that these wayward nations have been defiling themselves with. For by all these, the nations which I am casting out before you have become defiled. And so look, I'm just pointing out to you in the law of God what God is saying about nations that are established and they begin to develop customs, theologies, leaders, rival law systems. The Jews are being warned not to be entangled by any of these things or defiled by any of these things because he's pointing out, I have cast them out before you. Don't you see and don't you remember I brought you into a land after casting out these Gentile nations that had so polluted themselves with idols.

You cannot go back to that. And what do we learn from this? Gentile nations are accountable to the law of God in the same way that the Jewish nation is too. They have to walk in the way of the covenant or they will be destroyed like Sodom and like Gomorrah. Leviticus 18 verse 25, For the land has become defiled.

Therefore I have brought its punishment upon it. So the land has spewed out its inhabitants. He's pointing these things out to the Jews. Can you please look at history around you and see what's happened? Don't you realize I'm not bringing you into this land because you're such a clean, perfect, mighty, righteous nation.

They are really dirty and polluted and sinners and I've had to spew them out of the land. And please keep in mind that will happen to you. And this is part of the covenant. If you consent and obey you'll eat the best of the land. If you refuse and rebel you'll be devoured by the sword.

This is That's the covenant in a nutshell. If you refuse and rebel you will be devoured by the sword. Even my chosen people, the apple of my eye whom I love. If you refuse and rebel against the covenant, if you learn the ways of the heathen, you will be punished. You will be punished.

Let's move forward. Deuteronomy verse 8 chapter 8 verse 20. Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, so you shall perish. This is a promise of the covenant because you would not listen to the voice of the Lord your God. And so all nations, look at this verse in Isaiah chapter 60 verse 12, for the nation and the kingdom which will not serve you will perish." Serve.

Will not serve you. What does that mean? You must let your children know what this means. And we cannot let the evangelical church redefine this world. We've had people from the film festival and film academy say, you know, I think I've been called by...

So they're pulling one word out of the Bible. I think I've been called by the Lord to serve Him as an actor in adventure movies. Okay? They're taking what they want from Scripture, they're redefining it to suit their own purposes and ends. To serve.

They don't understand what serve means. It means to keep and obey all the commandments whatsoever Christ has given. That's the covenant. And if we're not keeping that, we are not serving the Lord or worshiping Him the way that He requires to be worshiped. Psalm 66, verse 3.

This is how we are supposed to pray. Say to God, how awesome are your works because of the greatness of your power. Your enemies will give feigned obedience to you. We must see, this is one of the goals of the great commission, seeing all these nations giving obedience to the Lord, whether it's genuine or even feigned. And when the Lord by the greatness of His power subdues these nations, which have been so rebellious, and they're willing to give feigned obedience, This can happen and it has happened in history.

Because those who know the law of God and the covenant of God have said and have commanded as ambassadors of Jesus Christ, I must announce the King's will to you. That's what an ambassador does. This is how you set up your law courts. This is how you punish evildoers. This is how you punish murderers.

Because it's the higher law. And we need to do that with every king and with every judge in the world. Verse 4, all the earth will worship you and sing praises to you. They will sing praises in your name. And do you know when nations are transformed by the law of God, and this started happening with the Christians in the New Testament era in the Roman Empire, when Rome finally said, we will get rid of all the Greco-Roman humanistic basis of our law and replace it with the law of Moses.

That finally happened politically and historically and spiritually. And then people were relieved. When God's law comes, it's a kindness. When people say, oh, Mr. Botkin, you can't be preaching that old, horrible, Old Testament God system that's so legalistic and harmful and hurtful and worrisome to people.

The law of God is not that. It's a kindness to men. And it's not a heavy yoke that we have to wear when we take on ourselves the commandments of Jesus Christ and wear them and show people how blessed we are when we fear Him and keep His commandments. Deuteronomy chapter 4 verse 5, again this is the architecture of the nations you need to know as you study the theology of nations. Deuteronomy 4 verse 5, see, says Moses, I have taught you statutes and judgments just as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do thus, " that you should do these statutes and commandments, that you should do thus, and I've told you how to do thus, in the land where you are going to possess it." Verse 6, so keep and do these commandments, for that is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say.

And so this is implied in the scripture that these Jews are going to be living by example the obedience to the covenant and the people all around will see and hear all the things that they do in their families, in their homes, how they're obeying Deuteronomy 6 and they're looking and they're seeing, wow, these people are really blessed, blessed by the God of heaven and earth. And so the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what great nation is there that has a God so near to it as the Lord our God whenever we call upon Him?" And they begin to want the wisdom of God's law for themselves. And this has been true in history. We were talking in our family recently about what happened in Holland in the 1800s, diving into decadence.

But a few people were being blessed by God and the people rallying around and saying, can you tell us about this, The biblical wisdom in the law of God, we need to regain this in our nation. And they began asking Christians to step forward and lead and guide the nation with this wisdom contained in the covenant. Verse 8, Deuteronomy 4.8, Or what great nation is there that has statutes and judgments as righteous as this whole law which I'm setting before you today? All the pagan nations had laws from the Code of Hammurabi forward. They were inferior, broken, pathetic, unjust.

Even when written by men who were trying to be just, they're still men. They don't have the wisdom of God to give justice and judgment. But when Jews or anyone begins to obey the law of God, the wisdom of God is revealed and modeled. And so this is the will of God for nations. Psalm 22 verse 27.

22. All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will worship before you. Will worship. All the families of the nations will worship before you. This is the will of God that the nations...

We... Oh, it hurts me so much when I hear missions organizations saying, oh, well, we sent missions into such and such a country, but of course we can't change their culture. It has to stay the way that it is. In pagan conformity and darkness. And this is a virtue in how we serve our meek and mild Jesus Christ by leaving them in their sin and darkness.

What a perversion of the will of God. This is the will of God for the nations. They will worship before you by keeping the covenant reverently and obediently. Verse 28, For the kingdom is the Lord's and He rules over the nations. The kingdom is the Lord's and He rules over the nations.

Verse 29, All the prosperous of the earth will eat and worship. All those who go down to the dust will bow before Him. Even he who cannot keep his soul alive, even the most ignorant of pagan nations will be able to see and benefit from this and be able to worship and give thanks. Psalm 138 verse 4, you must know this verse. This is a verse that we've taught our children.

This is a vision I have for as many nations as possible in my lifetime, and I've charged my sons to continue. All the kings of the earth will give thanks to you, O Lord, when they have heard the words of your mouth. It is our duty to tell these kings of the nations the words of his mouth. I got a call just on Thursday afternoon from a man who said, hey, I'd like to introduce you to King so-and-so, who's an African king from a kingdom in South Africa. He's in the U.S.

For a little bit. Would you be willing to meet with him? What did I say? I would love to meet with him. I'll fly to wherever he is and talk to him.

And so here's the application from what I've given you, just a very bare bones skeletal architecture of who the nations are and what they are, who they belong to, what their duties are. So how do we apply that? Mr. Botkin, there's 195 nations. Our own nation is in a shambles.

It has defied the Lord, forgotten the commandments of the Lord. What do we do? Galatians 3.29. I want to give you a vision for what you and your families can be doing for the nations. If you belong to Christ, and this is the apostles' doctrine, hear it and heed it and obey it.

If you belong to Christ then you are Abraham's descendants heirs according to promise. What was God's will for Abraham? That he would be the father of a multitude of nations. We're heirs of Abraham. We're living in a nation that is a son of that beginning where this one father was faithful to walk before God and be blameless, to have family worship, to command his children in his household.

That means all his servants too. After him in the ways of keeping justice and judgment. And we're the benefits of that work that that father did. We're heirs according to promise. And so our duty as heirs is teaching the nations of which we are a part, teaching the nations of which we are a part, the descendants of Abraham, to do justice and judgment and to make sure that our children after us do it too, just like Abraham did.

Do you see the connection, the multigenerational connection? We're not separated from this. If we are in Christ, we're sons of Abraham. The King of the nations was faithful when he was here on earth giving instructions to his disciples. And you know the last command that he gave before he left to sit at the right hand of the Father.

He was faithful to impart a custom, it's a command, it's a custom for generation after generation to teach the nations in terms of the covenant, righteousness and justice. And Jesus Christ did this in Matthew 28. Now how many Christians have succeeded in twisting the meaning of this to move it away from what the Lord Jesus Christ truly intended. Jesus came up and spoke to them saying all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Do we believe that?

Over every nation all authority has been given to him. Verse 19 go therefore and this means the Greek word to to remove to live to to to die to self to depart from life to make a journey is really that is to really the meaning you lose your life for this Messiah's sake and do what He says. We're to teach, we're to order our lives to teach covenant, obedience, and reverence. Verse 20 says, So go therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father. And this means to overwhelm them with the name of the Father.

Remember what Joe Markraff said about this? The name is the entire scope of the covenant that we swear by, the law of God that we live by. The name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, the triune God, teaching them, the nations. We're making disciples of the nations, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded. And lo I am with you always even to the end of the age.

So the entire scope of the gospel of Jesus Christ are the statutes that commands the edicts the laws that belong to him. And it's everything in the Bible. And what we would say, let me just say this, because people say, you know, Sir Botkin, you mean every absolutely everything except the ceremonial laws that have been fulfilled by Christ. All the moral and civil commandments that are laid out for us as case laws in the first five books of the Bible. Yes, we are to keep their binding on us.

And so the command to the nations from Psalm 2 is worship the Lord with reverence and rejoice with trembling. And so this is the message that we take to them as we travel, as we go, as we die to ourself. Worship the Lord with reverence and rejoice with trembling. Do homage to the Son. That means you had better recognize His authority over you and bow the knee to Christ.

Be reverent and obedient. And this will not be easy because, why, we learned in Psalm chapter 2, the nations are in an uproar. So to apply the commands that we're given we must gird up our minds. Gird up the loins of our mind to be sober. John 17 verse 18 the Lord Jesus said as you sent Me into the world, He's praying to the Father, I have sent them into the world.

We've been sent into the world. Jesus said to them again, peace be with you, John 20 verse 21, as the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you. Matthew 24 verse 14, and this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all the nations. The gospel of the kingdom, but the kingdom really is not the watered down, twisted, truncated version of American evangelical playground Christianity. But the real thing is proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations and then the end will come.

And then the end will come. We've been given a very, very clear message. In Luke chapter 11 verse 2, and He said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. This is a command the Lord has given us which should be part of our prayer life as we worship Him in obedience and reverence.

Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And So His kingdom needs to be established, the reign of Jesus Christ needs to extend over every nation. And the kings of the earth, the judges of the earth, have to take notice and obey in balcony. And this is how nations worship. Now, so the kingdom, in closing, we have to define this because it's been so badly misdefined.

The kingdom is the realm of Christ's lawful jurisdiction. I just want to make sure you all understand this. Here in this kingdom on earth, it is required that Christ's authority as King be properly recognized by everyone, including your little two-year-old child, your little three-year-old child, including the current king of Saudi Arabia. He needs to understand this. This realm or dominion includes all of heaven and all earth at all times.

That's the kingdom of Jesus Christ. And remember our definition of worship. It's faithful service to God's ethical standard, which is contained in the law, in all reverence with the right attitude, privately and publicly, privately when we're with him and we bow the knee personally, publicly when we worship in the great congregation of saints, and publicly when we instruct nations on what to do in the realm of their authority. And so we've learned today that nations will be covenant keepers or covenant breakers. There's nothing in between.

There's no middle ground or neutrality when it comes to the law and covenant of God. Kings will be covenant keepers or covenant breakers so will judges so will people so will families so will businesses and so will churches they'll be covenant keepers because the law has something to say to every one of them. And so Psalm chapter fifty verse thirteen. I'll skip this in order to save time. But the Lord says in verse 16, To the wicked God says, What right have you to tell of my statutes, and take my covenant in your mouth for you hate discipline you cast my words behind you.

This is the generation that you've grown up with. There are Christians who have actually done this they've taught they've nullified the law of God and taught others to do so. Psalm chapter two verse 10. Now therefore oh King show discernment. We have to teach all these kings and nations how to have spiritual discernment and to take warning and remind them to worship the Lord with reverence and rejoice with trembling.

Do homage to the Son. And so here's where I'm going with my final concluding remarks to give you something practical. And it's found in Romans chapter 13. Every person, and so that you can see that Mr. Botkin is not just drawing obscure passages from the Old Testament.

It's all wrapped up by the Apostle Paul here in Romans 13. Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. Who has all authority in heaven and on earth? He is the governing authority over everything. And every person from Mr.

Obama to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to every governor of every state, to every king or head of state in any other commonwealth country, or every African country. Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. There is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God, including the authorities that exist in the institutions He has created. And therefore, Whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God, and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves." They will receive. If they oppose it, they will receive.

The wrath of the King Jesus Christ could be kindled in a moment, And these nations could be harmed and hurt because of the carelessness and rebelliousness of the kings who refused to recognize this sovereign authority. Verse 3, for rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior. Okay, This defines who these rulers are and their duties and responsibilities. They're not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. They exist, these rulers, these kings and judges of the earth, they exist as fear for evil behavior.

Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you'll have praise from the same. This is the will of God for every person who's in authority. Daddies, church pastors, business leaders, anyone who's in a position of lawful authority over someone else, a judge, a parliamentarian, a king. Do what is good and you will have praise from the same.

Verse 4, for it, national authority, is a minister of God to you for good. And so the more that we can teach rulers of the earth to use God's covenant to guide them in the ways of justice and judgment, and to teach voters on what they should do when they have an opportunity to vote, to teach young students who yearn to be judges and leaders, to give them the plan, the law of God. It's a minister of God to you for good. This authority that's been ordained by God is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid, for it does not bear the sword for nothing.

The sword is delivered by the hand of God to nations. Nations are legitimate. Civil government is legitimate. Having the sword in the control of the leaders is a legitimate thing in the eyes of God. They have to use it wisely and justly.

Doesn't bear the sword for nothing. For it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. That's what it's for. And so then we close with a message that we must take to the nations. Now therefore, O kings, show discernment.

Take warning, O judges of the earth. And this is why we need to teach the law of God to these leaders in these nations beginning with our own nation beginning with our own nation beginning locally we can begin locally Our church in little rural Tennessee is trying to figure out how to do this locally. It's hard in a very colloquial kind of place that doesn't like outsiders who don't talk like they do. It's hard. But we still have the duty.

They speak the same language we speak. They have a legacy, not only going back just to Dannel Boone and some of those gentlemen but all the way back to Abraham. How do we teach them what's true. How do we teach them to worship the Lord with reverence and to rejoice with trembling. To do homage to the son that he may not become angry and they perish in the way for his wrath may soon be kindled.

How blessed are all who take refuge in him." We want to show them how to take refuge in Christ by what we do with our families. And this is what we have done as a family. This teaches the community. This daddy has really taken refuge in the law of God. He's not ashamed of it.

He's a dad who greatly fears the Lord and delights in His commandments. And His children will be mighty on the earth and when they look at you and your children they see there's a real God who blesses those who bow the knee to Christ, who take delight in His commandments. Psalm 103 verse 19, the Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom ruleth over all. Amen and amen. We have just a few minutes before you leave for any questions that any of you might have.

I want to be sure that you're not leaving here in any confusion about some of these concepts that have been presented that are different from what many of you have heard. Any questions? Yes, sir. When you were talking about Romans 13, the traditional way that I interpret it is that the governing authority is being subject to our national authorities and hence we are to obey what they make as laws. Whereas what you were saying was coming across as the governing authority is God and that's what it's referring to.

Is there any accuracy in saying that those governing authorities are national leaders? Well, I mean, there is the authorities that have been established by God are these parents over children church officers over the congregation and not as tyrants right but as leaders you know shepherd leaders those who love those allotted to their charge. And yes, national leaders are one of the authorities established by God. But all of those three that I've mentioned that are instituted by God must bow the knee to Christ because they're ministers of the law. Okay?

And so it is, it should grieve your hearts when people say, oh, no, wait, Mr. Botkin. What that means is we can't say anything to a national leader. If we get a national leader, whatever he says goes, and we have to bow our faces to Him and worship Him and serve His ethical system. And there are people who do that because they don't want to gird up the loins of their mind and fight the battles that require us to confront them and say, Thus saith the Lord, on all these laws that you've been twisting.

Did you know the Bible teaches about taxation and capital punishment and abortion and private property? You have violated all these. Let's repeal what's false and install what's true and real and will be a blessing to a people. Every single jurisdiction that has done this has been blessed by God. I mean, and probably the experiment that has been the most vibrant, and this is one reason why humanistic historians have erased it.

Byzantium. For a thousand years they tried to apply the laws of God to running an empire. Now they were very imperfect in how they did that, but at least they knew they needed to do it. A thousand years they had the blessing of God on them until they began to waver and wander from the commandments, and then they were overthrown by, does anybody know who overthrew the Byzantine Empire? The Islamic terrorists came in and overthrew a 1, 000-year-old Christian kingdom.

A man who realized the wisdom of this has been called the great. He is the only king in English history who has that title, the great. Alfred the Great understood this when Britain was just a baby little coming out of paganism little nation of people who were oppressed by paganism. And he said, we have to teach everyone how to read Scripture, and we have to codify every law that we have according to the Mosaic law. And he started, he taught himself to read.

He taught himself to read two or three different languages so that he could transcribe and translate Hebrew and Greek into a language that they could understand. He came up with a book of law for his people and he said, I'm going to make it 120 chapters because that's how long Moses lived. I want to honor Moses. I want to honor the law of God. And he gave a foundation.

That little nation that was beginning to be formed was a descendant of the nations that had been ordained by God through Abraham. And then there was England. And almost everyone in this room today can trace their ancestry back to those pagans who are coming out of a horrible paganism in Western Europe and in England. And I am grateful to God for our fathers and our ancestors who were willing to go through that and learn biblical obedience and learn biblical manners and learn biblical ways and customs that they would give to their children, that they would try to walk before God blamelessly and teach their children and their households and their servants and everyone who is in their households. And this is part of our legacy that we have as American Christians.

And I'm thankful to God for it. Now what are we going to do with it? Twist the definitions of the Bible so that we can have an easy life. And so that we really, if all, you know, all we need to do for the nations is take a little short term missions trip and take our little rap group over there to entertain the little native children and then come back with trinkets and we've had a really cool little vacation we can feel good about ourselves. Shame on us for even thinking this way.

We have such a duty and obligation to God to represent the majesty of His covenant, showing them how to worship. Yes, sir, question. You know, there is one. It's really hard to read, though. Anna, do you remember the title of that one do some looking around okay Christian survey of world history touch and touches on it okay on Byzantium yes sir sorry Gibbon is somewhat problematic, okay?

And it takes, I would say, read a lot of other history before you read given, okay? You know, here's an area that we need to take dominion of. The learning of history, the reorganizing of history back to the biblical model, the providential model that's true and not twisted. And some of us, and there are, I've been able to meet some young people who've dedicated their lives to trying to do that. And it's something that needs to be done because we've inherited such twisted, perverted, reorganized history that's really false.

And most of it is to erase this idea of covenantal worship through reverence and service of God's ethical system. And so of course they'll completely redefine the whole pattern of history and say, oh, it's just a cyclical thing or it's an economic thing. But when the wrath of Jesus Christ is kindled against a nation, it will fall, including this nation right here, This nation who had been given so much and has rejected so much. I mean we are in big trouble for what we've done. Now praise God that those who begin to keep the covenant receive the promises of God's blessing on their lives.

And I believe if you daddies will greatly delight in the Lord's commandments, your children will be mighty on the earth. Wealth and riches will be in your house. Will be. You better be training your children how to be good stewards of righteousness and the law and assets that you're given. And His righteousness endures forever is the way that that verse ends.

I want multi-generational righteousness come out of your homes and your families by the way that you relate to the covenant. Okay, well, I want to thank you all very much for your attention, your good questions, and I'll be here just for a little bit right after if you have any further questions. But God bless you. Make sure you get the MP3s from the other messages and listen to those for more messages articles and videos on the subject of conforming the church and the family to the Word of God, and for more information about the National Center for Family Integrated churches, where you