In his sermon, Scott Brown addresses the relationship between the church, family, and state, emphasizing the concept of 'sphere sovereignty,' where each has distinct yet interconnected roles. Brown focuses on Romans 13 and 1 Peter 2, arguing that these passages do not demand absolute obedience to government authority, especially when it conflicts with God's higher authority. He illustrates this using biblical examples like the Hebrew midwives and Daniel, who disobeyed unjust government orders, underscoring that all authority is ultimately under God. Brown stresses the sufficiency of scripture for guiding church and family life and discusses the 'regulative principle of worship,' which states that only God, through scripture, can dictate church practices. He warns of potential legal and societal challenges when the church adheres strictly to these biblical principles, highlighting historical instances where governments overstepped their bounds. The sermon also critiques recent governmental attempts to regulate church gatherings, reaffirming that Christ alone is the head of the church and urging Christians to remain faithful to God's commands despite external pressures.

Thank you. Well, we're continuing on our series on the jurisdictions of the church and of the family and of the state and how they interrelate with one another and how each of them possess God's design which is communicated in his word and if we've been dealing with over the weeks what is perhaps one of the most misunderstood passages of scripture on this whole matter. And that would be Romans chapter 13, verses one through seven, and first Peter two, 13 through 17. And we've been trying to explain what Romans 13 means. Next Sunday my plan is to preach through 1st Peter chapter 2 verses 13 through 17 But these passages are often misunderstood to require absolute obedience to the authorities of the governments that are over us.

And we've been asking the question, is it required of Christians to obey every government order? And we've been illustrating from, illustrating Romans 13, or illustrating that Romans 13 does not require unqualified obedience. We started, first of all, just by explaining Romans 13, the limitations that are there because they the doctrine of limitation is built into Romans 13 itself which is often not detected or just ignored. But we started with illustrations in scripture. We began with the Hebrew midwives who disobeyed a government order.

We moved on to Moses' parents who hid their child, I think demonstrating that there are times that you hide from the government, a wicked government that is calling for wicked actions. We moved on to Daniel who prayed against a government order in order to try to illustrate that obedience is not unqualified in Romans 13 or 1 Peter chapter two. There is one great jurisdiction over all the jurisdictions and that is Jesus Christ and him alone. There are three jurisdictions, the jurisdiction of the church and the family and the state, and It's very important that we understand that. I plan to go into some depth about the various authority structures that these institutions imply and how they relate to the civil government.

We're really talking about what many have called sphere sovereignty, that there are various spheres that have sovereign authority, the church and the family and the state. God has granted authority to those institutions. And these are, this authority is granted by God. All authority is from God. Romans 13 makes that very clear.

In other words, because all authorities are under God, no authority is autonomous. And all authority is under the higher authority of God himself. The Bible actually has this phrase, all authority is from God in Romans 13. So no human authority has absolute authority. We've been illustrating that will continue to illustrate it.

No state government has absolute authority. The church is not an absolute authority either because it also exists in the midst of a government authority. The family is not an absolute authority because that authority is under God. Parents have tremendous authority, but they also are under the authority of God and cannot do anything that contradicts the law of God. So God is the one who defines what each authority governs and what it does not govern.

So we've been trying to illustrate that over these weeks. It's really important that we understand this because there's really only one truly life-giving authority and it comes from God. It's such a blessing to live under the authority of the most wise, the most holy, the most loving authority, the everlasting authority in the universe. Christians become such by coming under his authority. They say Jesus is Lord.

That's how you become a Christian. And you acknowledge that your authority has taken you in the wrong direction, that you're a sinner, and that you need an authority above yourself. You need God's authority. You know, people who become Christians recognize that their their authority didn't do them all that good and They need authority from God. They need direction and help From God and so they say that Jesus is now my Lord.

I'm no longer my Lord The very essence of Christianity is a transfer of authority to Almighty God and thankfully his ways are pleasant ways and all his paths are peace. Now our church has always attempted to appeal to the proposition that Scripture is sufficient for church life and family life and every other kind of life. And boy is it sweet when it's recognized in a family and in a church but one of the applications of the sufficiency of scripture stating that scripture is all you need for life and godliness is what theologians call the regulative principle of worship. And the regulative principle is states that what the Bible teaches about what happens in church is what the church must do. That the regulative principle really states that only God can regulate and design what happens in a church and it's another way of saying that Jesus Christ is Lord over the church.

It's very simple in that sense And we've made this very clear in our preaching and in our application under the foundation that scripture is sufficient and that only God can regulate worship. And this has been the hallmark of our ministry from the beginning. We certainly don't claim that we apply it perfectly and we're always learning, but we believe that we're doing the best we can in light of our own understanding of the Word of God to be regulated by God and not attempt to follow the conventions of our society, not to try to follow the culture, not to try to fit in with the culture, but actually rather to fit in with God. Because as it turns out, you're either gonna fit in with God or you're gonna fit in with this culture. And so embracing the sufficiency of scripture for church and family life, I know has caused difficulty in many of your lives.

It has caused difficulty in relationships with brothers and sisters, dear brothers and sisters, in this very community. And even in your family, even in your families, it has caused difficulty because you have Said that there's only one authority over my family and I I need to do what God has commanded me to do in my family those kinds of things are often despised in our culture and So the difficulties come to churches and families and individuals who end up genuinely embracing that Scripture is sufficient because they have a singular guide for their life and They try to stop looking within and look to God and his word. And, you know, church history makes it very clear that the consequences of believing that scripture is sufficient, that there is only one authority, They often run far deeper than problems in family life or in relations in communities. There are often legal and military consequences of embracing this doctrine. I just want to say that again one more time.

There are often legal and military consequences looking back in church history for embracing the idea that only God has authority over the worship of his church and that should be very sobering for us in our times. I believe I've said this a couple of times but the reason that I'm doing this series on jurisdictions is that I want to try to prepare our church if in the event those times come. Right now we're really in a quiet period because a lawsuit was leveled against our governor and a restraining order was put on his order against the church. So the churches in North Carolina are completely free to do whatever they want, not being bound by the governor's order. That's the enjoyable state that we have right now in North Carolina.

We're not disobeying a law of the governor, but the only reason we're not disobeying the law of a governor right now here in this building is because the governor has a restraining order on his order. So I think that we should be very careful to recognize the things that are happening in our culture, the usurpations, which are breathtaking really all over the country. There's an example in the news, even today, there were some testimony that the government authorities were planning to shut down the power at Grace Community Church where John MacArthur is because they have decided that they're not going to obey the governor's orders for social distancing and masks and numbers of people who can gather together and I don't believe that has happened to the moment, but You know the question is does the government does the government Have authority to tell you how many people can meet and what you do when you meet do they well of course You know the answer that we've been giving over these last weeks is ab is absolutely not and the reason is Because Jesus Christ is the head of the church and this is very clearly stated in scripture in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 22 we learn that God gave Christ head over all things to the church which is his body the fullness of him who fills all and all.

In Colossians 1 18 we learn that he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things, all things, he might have the preeminence. In 1 Timothy chapter 6 verse 15, we read these words, He who is the blessed and only potentate, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in an unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. In Revelation chapter 17, 14, we read the narrative that there are those who make war with the head of the church Jesus Christ and what will happen with those who make war against the head of the church. These will make war with the Lamb and the Lamb will overcome them for he is Lord of lords and King of kings and those who are with him are called chosen and faithful." And then we see in Revelation 19 some very graphic language explaining how all of this will happen 1916 and out of his mouth goes a sharp sword that with it he should strike the nations and he himself will rule with a rod of iron He himself treads the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God and he has on his robe and on his thigh a name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Now one of the things that you discover if you study the Word of God, if you read it from cover to cover, and you look for the doctrine of worship in the Bible, here's one thing that you find. I spent an entire year doing this several years ago. Here's what you find Those peoples who tamper with God's worship God destroys them God destroys Entire nation states because they tamper with the worship of God It's a very very serious thing to tamper with the worship of God and God's regulating principle for his own worship. And so the things that have been happening in government making demands on churches for how they might worship and how they might gather really sounded death knell to those nations and those governments. God will destroy them.

He always destroys them. He always destroys the nations who violate his worship. Read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation and you'll find that out. Now this last week there was kind of a shock wave that was sent through evangelicalism when John MacArthur on behalf of the elders at Grace Community Church in California, issued a statement really explaining this very point in graphic terms. They wrote a position paper explaining that Jesus Christ is the only head of the church and that they will no longer comply with Governor Newsom's orders that restrict worship in any way.

Now in the next few minutes I want to walk through some of the elements of that document. The document is stating what we've stated in various ways. My view at the time that we are in in our particular local church is that is that we need to take time to consider these things that we've considered one passage after another to really walk through the Word of God to have our consciences, our values, our morals, our sense of justice washed by the word of God. It's very important that we do that because we've all grown up with a lot of injustice and a lot of wrong ideas in our heads about everything. And so while we've enjoyed such freedom in the United States of America, and the government has never tampered with the church in America, not in my lifetime, and now it's tampering like never before.

And so it's, the church needs to open up their eyes and see the writing the handwriting on the wall. I don't know what's going to happen but I want us to be prepared for whatever happens and so this series is the reason for that. This statement that John MacArthur and the elders of Grace Community Church wrote is a biblical case for the church's duty to stay open and not close as the governor is demanding. I'll read from the statement. As his people we are subject to his will and commands as revealed in Scripture.

Therefore we cannot and will not acquiesce to a government imposed moratorium on our weekly congregational worship or other regular worship corporate gatherings compliance would be disobedience to our Lord's clear commands and then after after stating that the authors turn to explain a principle that is often misunderstood out of Romans 13 and 1 Peter 2. I quote, some will think such a firm statement is inexorably in conflict with the command to be subject to governing authorities laid out in Romans 13 and 1st Peter 2. Scripture does mandate careful, conscientious obedience to all government governing authority including kings, governors, employers, and their agents, and I would just add parents, in Peter's words, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable, 1 Peter 2, 18. And then the authors turn to the matter of jurisdictions and this section begins with the word however. After stating the fact that God does call his children to be the very best citizens, to be the most, the very most compliant, the very most obedient, the very most blessed citizens, the best citizens in the realm.

While that is true, the authors begin with this word, however. Well, however, while the civil government is invested with divine authority to rule the state, neither of those texts nor any other grants civil civic rulers jurisdiction over the church. Now I'll just pause and insert some of my own words. One of the things that I've tried to emphasize, particularly when we were in Romans 13, is that Romans 13 is not a text about the authority of the government over the church. It's not a text about that.

It's about a completely different thing. They continue, God has established three institutions within human society, the family, the state, and the church. Each institution has a sphere of authority with jurisdictional limits that must be respected. A father's authority is limited to his own family. Church leaders' authority, which is delegated to them by Christ, is limited to church matters.

And government is specifically tasked with the oversight and protection of civil peace and wellbeing within the boundaries of a nation or community. God has not granted civic rulers authority over the doctrine, practice, or polity of the church. And then of course the flip side is true. The church does not have the right to meddle in the affairs of the individual families and ignore parental authority. They continue, and similarly, government officials have no right to interfere in ecclesiastical matters in a way that undermines or disregards the God-given authority of pastors and elders.

Now let me just insert something. The government does have authority over individuals in this church who are evildoers, who practice unlawful activities in terms of theft or sexual crimes or other kinds of crimes. The civil authority actually is appointed by God to come and punish evildoers. Perhaps one of the most visible and biblical manifestations of this authority is the police. The police.

And all of this outcry to defund the police, let's be very clear about what it is. It's a rejection of Christianity. That's all it is. The authors continue, When any one of these three institutions exceeds the bounds of its jurisdiction, it's the duty of the other institutions to curtail that overreach. Therefore, when any government official issues orders regulating worship such as bans on singing.

Many churches around here right now are not singing even though there's no government order against it. Such as bans on singing, caps on attendance, or prohibitions against gatherings and services. He steps outside the legitimate bounds of his God-ordained authority as a civic official and irrigates to himself authority that God expressly grants only to the Lord Jesus Christ as sovereign over his kingdom which is the church. His rule is mediated to local churches through those pastors and elders who teach his word." And then the authors actually speak to the authorities saying we respectfully inform our civic leaders that they have exceeded their legitimate jurisdiction and faithfulness to Christ prohibits us from observing the restrictions they want to impose on our corporate worship services. Then they turn to the matter of who has jurisdiction over worship and they stated in this fashion said another way it has never been the prerogative of civil government to order, modify, forbid, or mandate worship.

When, how, and how often the church worships is not subject to Caesar. Caesar himself is subject to God. And then the document turns and addresses the matter of pastors or elders who have authority in local churches. As was said earlier, the Lord Jesus has delegated authority to elders in churches. As pastors and elders, we cannot hand over to earthly authorities any privilege or power that belongs solely to Christ as head of his church.

Pastors and elders are the ones to whom Christ has given the duty and the right to exercise his spiritual authority in the church. They, the elders, have no duty to follow orders from a civil government attempting to regulate the worship or governance of the church. In fact, pastors who cede their Christ-delegated authority in the church to a civil ruler have abdicated their responsibility before their Lord and violated the God-ordained spheres of authority as much as the secular official who illegitimately imposes his authority upon the church. And I would just want to add it's a very dangerous thing to place a government official over any matter of the worship of God in the church. And those who set it aside, I believe are in danger spiritual danger.

He speaks of the biblical case for this for shepherds for pastors elders having jurisdiction over over the church citing first Peter 5 1 & 2 The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed. Shepherd the flock of God, which is among you, serving as overseers. In other words, God places authority in local churches and they are called elders or pastors. In Hebrews 13 verse 7, it's very clear that there are those who rule in local churches. Verse 7, remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the Word of God to you, whose faith follow considering the outcome of their conduct.

Verse 17, obey those who rule over you and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you. So after establishing the the scriptural basis for this, the authors speak of the autonomy of local churches to the governance by elder authority and I'll just read one of the clauses. Each local church however through its elders and their interpretation and application of Scripture should be the sole judge of the measure and method of its cooperation. The elders should determine all other matters of membership, policy, discipline, benevolence, and government as well." And there are several passages of Scripture that are cited here and I won't go in them.

This the statement I sent that to you earlier in the week you can go look up the scripture or references if you'd like. I thought there was a very important section about permission. Does the church need to get permission from the state to do anything? And the answer is no. Many of you know that the elders of this church, through an attorney, wrote a letter to the governor, two letters to the governor, not asking permission, but asking him to clarify what he meant.

And in one of those letters, telling him that we were going to meet, what would he do about it? But the church does not need to ask permission from the state to do anything unless they absolutely believe that there should be some compelling reason to do such a thing. They make the point that honoring authority does not include compliance to corrupt behavior." Reading the statement, accordingly the honor that we rightly owe our earthly governors and magistrates does not include compliance when such officials attempt to subvert sound doctrine, corrupt biblical morality, exercise ecclesiastical authority, or supplant Christ as head of the church in any way. And then again they state Christ's lordship over Caesar, quoting Matthew 28, 18, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. I thought it was very helpful that they made reference to the Constitution of the United States.

You've probably heard me say a couple of times that our argument is not a constitutional argument. While we're grateful for the Constitution of the United States, particularly grateful for it because the Constitution actually communicates a biblical truth. It isn't the Constitution that gives us rights, it's God that gave our founding fathers to communicate our inalienable rights in the Constitution. So our rights don't come from the Constitution, they come from God. They flow from God.

And John MacArthur and the elders there made that very, very clear. They say, notice, we're not making a constitutional argument even though the First Amendment and the United States Constitution expressly affirms this principle in its opening words, Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. The right we are appealing to was not created by the Constitution. It is one of those unalienable rights granted solely by God who ordained human government and establishes both the extent and the limitations of the state's authority which is communicated in Romans 13 one through seven. Our argument is therefore purposely not grounded in the First Amendment.

It is based on the same biblical principles that the amendment itself is founded upon. The exercise of true religion is a divine duty given to men and women created in God's image. In other words, freedom of worship is a command of God, not a privilege granted by the state. I think it's very important that we understand that and it's a way to illustrate that Jesus Christ is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. He is the authority over all the authorities.

They also make the comment that governments are not always trustworthy, citing 1st John 5 19, the whole world lies in the power of the evil one, and of course you know Satan is the ruler of this world, he is a liar and the father of lies, as the Lord is very clear in John 844. And they make this comment, and I think most of you can relate with this with all the conflicting, strange, bizarre statistics that have been coming out recently. Politicians may manipulate statistics and the media can cover up or camouflage inconvenient truths. So, a discerning church cannot passively or automatically comply if the government orders a shutdown of congregational meetings even if the reason is given even if the reason given is a concern for public health and safety. Well I totally agree with that except I might add this caveat If there was a true plague where lots of people were dying and it really was a dangerous, devastating plague afoot, which this is not, then the language might be shifted here in this statement, be my guess.

They point out that the church is an assembly. It is by definition an assembly. Reading from the statement, that is the literal meaning of the Greek word for church, ecclesia, the assembly of the called out ones. Now, I'm going to read a phrase that I think we should adopt in our own thinking. A non-assembling assembly is a contradiction in terms.

A non-assembling assembly is a contradiction in terms. And the churches who think that they're acting like churches by live streaming, they're not acting like churches. A non-assembling assembly is a contradiction in terms. Now next week I plan to unpack some of the reasons that is absolutely true. Continuing with the statement, Christians are therefore commanded not to forsake the practice of meeting together, Hebrews 10 25, and no earthly state has a right to restrict, delimit, or forbid the assembling of believers.

And then they say we have always supported the underground church in nations where Christian congregational worship is deemed illegal by the state. And then they say, when officials restrict church attendance to a certain number, they attempt to impose a restriction that in principle makes it impossible for the saints to gather as the church. When officials prohibit singing in worship services, they attempt to impose a restriction that in principle makes it impossible for the people of God to obey the commands of Ephesians 519 and Colossians 316. And then they address the matter of distancing. You know, a whole new set of language has come upon us.

What is essential and what is not essential? Social distancing, this is one of them. I'll read from that section. When officials mandate distancing, they attempt to impose a restriction that in principle makes it impossible to experience the close communion between believers that is commanded and then there are several passages of scripture that are listed. In all those spheres we must submit to the Lord and I do plan to elaborate on that next week.

And then they identify the fact that church history proves that appropriate disobedience to the church of the church to the government intrusions is appropriate. They write although we in America may be unaccustomed to government intrusion into the church of our Lord Jesus Christ, this is not by no means the first time in church history that Christians have had to deal with government overreach or hostile rulers. As a matter of fact, persecution of the church by government authorities has been the norm, not the exception throughout church history. Indeed, scripture says, all those who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. 2 Timothy 312.

Historically, the two main persecutors have always been secular government and false religion. Most of the Christianity's martyrs have died because they refused to obey such authorities and the authors write, this after all Christ prophesied if they persecuted me they will also persecute you. John 15 20 And in the last of the Beatitudes he said, blessed are you and people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad for your reward and heaven is great for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you Matthew 5 verses 11 and 12. They make the point that government policies often contradict biblical principles reading from the statement as government policy moves further away from biblical principles and as legal and political pressures against the church intensify, we must recognize that the Lord may be using these pressures as means of purging to reveal the true church.

Succumbing to governmental overreach may cause churches to remain closed indefinitely. How can the true Church of Jesus Christ distinguish herself in such a hostile climate? There is only one way, bold allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ. And then there's a section, a historical section, that identifies various moments in history where these kinds of things have taken place. They cite what is called the 1622 ejection when The Puritans were ejected from their pulpits because they refused to bow down to government mandates regarding the common book of prayer, book of common prayer and the wearing of vestments and other aspects of worship.

They come toward the end of the statement by charging pastors to be stewards who are actually appointed as stewards of church life, But again Christ is the only one true head of his church and we intend to honor that vital truth in all our gatherings. For that preeminent reason we cannot accept and will not bow to the intrusive restrictions government officials now want to impose on our congregation. We offer this response without rancor and not out of hearts that are combative or rebellious, but with a sobering awareness that we must answer to the Lord Jesus Christ for the stewardship he has given to us as shepherds of his precious flock. To government officials we respectfully say with the Apostles whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge. And our unhesitating reply to that question is the same as the Apostles.

We must obey God rather than men. That's Acts 5-29. So the statement identifies a number of the challenges that are upon churches in the United States of America. While we in North Carolina have existed in a quiet period untampered with, and it has been such a blessing. I want us to be aware of the movements that are afoot in our culture.

Don't be afraid, God is doing all of this. He's doing every bit of it. And the church, you know, never needs to cower in fear about what He is doing in a culture. God is always glorifying Himself through the edicts and the activities and the demands of the wicked. God will get the glory for all of what's happening.

And what should we do? We should be sweetly composed to find all of our hope in the Word of God and to do the things, the simple things that God has commanded the church to do. And Christianity is preserved both in the hearts and in the institutions of those who call him Lord. And I pray that our families will recognize the authority that God has given them and to exercise all of their God-given authority to teach their children in the training in the admonition of the Lord, to teach their children when they sit in their house, when they walk by the way, when they lie down and when they rise up, that they would take the full measure of their jurisdictional authority and that the church as well would would enter into the full measure of the blessings of Jesus Christ and to do everything that God has commanded the church to do that we should go for it with all of our hearts plunge all of our our beings in biblically ordered regulated church life my prayer is that you that you as a congregation as you have been doing continue to pour yourself into this local church, into the preaching, into the singing, into the fellowship, into the breakings of bread, and all the things that we do, milk it for all it's worth.

I'm actually writing a book on that subject right now, particularly for young families. And what I'm gonna say to young families is look, There's a local church out there and you should milk it for all it's worth and fill your family up with the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the meetings of the church and the various experiences and fellowships. Do not miss it. If you miss that, you'll miss something really, really important for your family. And as we, you know, experience this quiet period in North Carolina, where we have no legal restrictions upon us, I think we should just continue to enjoy it, and we'll just continue to enjoy it no matter what the government says and we'll keep doing that and I think it's important for all of you to know that this is the position of your pastors this is the direction we will be leading this church regardless of anybody's imposition so it's a very sobering time I think for us as shepherds because these things are very very new to us We've never had to consider them our whole life long, and now we're having to do it.

And the strategy for us is to saturate our minds in the Word of God. We're going to continue to think about these things and find the various things that are true about these jurisdictions and to make them everything that God has intended them to be. I praise God for this church. I am so thankful for you and I don't bring any of this as any kind of rebuke to anyone in this church. I am just so pleased to see how you all have functioned in the midst of this panic and you have not panicked.

Praise God. Let's pray. Oh Lord we thank you that you have established these institutions for your glory and we pray that we would find all of our hope in you and in your word that when we said Jesus is Lord that that cry would continue to shape everything in our lives as the years pass. Lord I pray that you would use this season to glorify your son Jesus, to save many who are lost, to encourage many who are broken-hearted. In Jesus name, Amen.