In this sermon, David Green explores Romans 13:1-7, discussing the role of government and the Christian's duty to obey it. He emphasizes that governments are ordained by God and should not be desired to be abolished, regardless of the form they take. Green challenges the notion of absolute obedience to government by citing biblical examples, such as Moses, Daniel, and the apostles, who opposed government directives when they conflicted with God's commands. He argues that while Christians should generally be good citizens and adhere to the laws of the land, there are limits when those laws contradict God's law. The sermon highlights the importance of understanding the balance between civil obedience and the higher allegiance to divine authority. Green also notes the historical context of religious liberty and the role of the U.S. Constitution in limiting governmental power, urging Christians to be informed about both biblical teachings and constitutional rights.

So if you have your Bibles, let's go to Romans and today we're going to skip ahead a few chapters. So we're going to go over to Romans chapter 13. Lord willing, We'll be back in our study where we left off in Romans chapter 8 soon. As God allows, we will go on from Romans 8 to Romans 9, depending on the time frame of everything. But we'll continue our study like it was up until the time comes that the Lord gets me into Georgia, takes me home, or raptures us all out of here, whichever one comes first.

Romans Chapter 13 is a passage that's been coming up quite frequently here lately. In fact, thanks to the internet and a lot of the brethren posting their sermons online, I've probably heard more sermons on Romans 13 than what I have ever heard. And it got me to thinking about some things. And so, that, the Lord laid it on my heart to bring a message from this text. We'll read as our text verses one through seven.

Romans 13 beginning verse one, it says, Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God, and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil.

Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same. For he is the minister of God to thee for good, but if thou do that which is evil, be afraid. For he beareth not the sword in vain, for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Wherefore you must needs be subject not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.

For for this cause pay tribute also, for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. Render therefore to all their dues, tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor." honor to whom honor. As we look at this we notice right away that Romans chapter 13 verses 1 through 7 is dealing with our relationship to government. Governments are of God. And God's people should never wish for or want anarchy.

We should never want or desire that the government is done away with. In fact, the Bible here does not even give us what kind of government. It's just saying, hey, government, higher powers, these things are ordained of God. Whether we find ourselves living in a republic or a monarchy or some other form of government. In these times in which we live, the question of government's role in our lives comes up, and it often comes up as people are talking about and looking at the ways that the president is doing things or the way that the governors are doing things.

There's a lot of back and forth debate among the people and indeed even among those who are in positions of power. We've got great access to our government leaders, and so we can oftentimes go online and hear their debates and listen to the things that they are saying. And there's been debates over the role of government from the Congress, all the way into Columbus in our state house and with our representatives. It's important to know where our leaders stand on these sorts of things. And so we must ask ourselves, does the government have full authority in all matters, including religious matters?

And this text is one that is often used for us to examine this question. As I said last Lord's Day, during these times we ought not to be fearful. It's a good idea to make precautions and to make sure to be prudent when you're out and about. If you feel that you ought to wear a mask then wear a mask. Definitely to wash your hands after you've been touching things.

You know those things are good idea for us to do. As we consider the the virus and the things that are going on. Certainly, each person is in a different stage of life and has different things going on. But we need to consider how big of a precaution we ought to have. Some people haven't even left their house since all this started.

And certainly there's a lot of different reasons for that, but some people haven't left their house because they are of higher risk and they don't want a chance getting ill and things like that. So those things are understandable. What I hope came out in my message last time is that we ought not to be among those who are walking around scared to death like as if we have no hope. We want to make sure that we're trusting the Lord And that's true whether we talk about the virus or the threat of tyrannical government, you see. Because if there was any lesson learned from the 20th century, it is that there is a deadlier thing than a virus, and that is communist and socialist governments.

And perhaps the world will never know how many people died in the Soviet Union and China and Germany during the 20th century. But not only should we not fear those things, but we should also understand what role the government has in our lives. How far can they push? What can they do to tell us what to do as the people of God and as the church of God. Now there were those who canceled church or quit going to church because as they said the government recommended it or the government had rules or there were restrictions in place.

At first it was only going to be for two weeks, but we see that in many cases it's going to be, in some states, 45 days or more by the time that this is all over with. So the question is, can the government do that? And if they can, can they do it no matter what? Do they have to give us a reason? Or is it only because of some reasons we must understand what is the role between the government and the churches?

There were some that began crying out and saying, hey God's people need to obey the laws of the land. And they used Romans chapter 13 verses 1 and 2. Let's look at it again. Let every soul be subject to the higher powers, for there is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God.

Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God, they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation." Is this an open and shut case for governmental authority to being complete and total in our lives. If we look at this, Romans chapter 13 verses 1 and 2, and divorce it from its context and don't compare scripture with scripture, it would seem as though whatever the government says to do, we ought to do it. And that would be the end of the story. But it's not, it's not. And I'm thankful that we really didn't have to consider it too much in this state or with this church.

And what I mean is Governor DeWine, I don't always agree with him, but he from the start and throughout all of this, he's been very respectful to the First Amendment. When we talk about churches, they got into trouble. For meaning during this, to my knowledge, no church in Ohio got into trouble. I know that there have been protesters in Columbus. And the number of those people has been quite a bit, more than 10.

And they're not practicing anything about social distancing, but the Ohio government has not arrested any of them. He's been very respectful to the First Amendment. And so I appreciate that. But what happens if we get another governor in who's not? What if he decides that because of climate change that we ought not to meet?

Or what if what if he comes in and says hey I just don't like churches. I'm going to ban churches. You can meet online if you want, but I'm going to ban churches. Then what? Then what do we do?

Well, it's a good idea to consider these things before it happens. We want to look at this and consider is did Paul mean this that the churches, that the people of God should be in complete and total obedience to the governments. Well, Romans chapter 13 is really a passage in which Paul is presenting to us, and to the Romans of course, that as Christians we are subject to a kingdom that is not of this world. Now, as such, We might begin to think, well, we've been released to all ties of obedience to human authorities. No need to pay taxes, no need to obey the government.

You know, if the speed limit sign says something, we can just drive as fast as we can. Well, we can be exempt because we're not of this world. But he is actually correcting that line of thinking. In fact, he is telling us that as people of God, we ought to be the best citizens that we can be, knowing that we serve a higher authority. And so, we ought to obey the laws of the land overall.

I mean, if we don't like seatbelts, well, I don't like seatbelts either, but The law of the land is that I wear a seatbelt, and not only that, it's a good idea to wear seatbelts. And so, I'm going to wear a seatbelt. Paul is not, though, advocating that old doctrine of the divine right of kings. So there's a balance here and we've got to look at that and consider it. In fact, when we consider the lives of Paul and the other apostles and look at their lives that we have in the scriptures.

If Paul was advocating for Christians to always obey their government, he was one big hypocrite. Because if anybody got into trouble a lot, it was the Apostle Paul and it was the other Apostles. It was the people of God. In fact, yes men, people who always do what they're supposed to do, they don't end up in jails. They don't end up in prisons.

They don't end up getting beat. They don't end up being put under house arrest. They don't end up being taken to Rome. So this verse cannot stand by itself. Not only is Paul an example of that, but also other of God's people.

Throughout the scriptures you'll find examples of when God's people told the government no. Exodus chapters 8 through 10 is a good example of that. If you want to go back there, we're going to look at a few of these very briefly. Just to kind of consider what I mean when I say that God's people sometimes are lawbreakers. When I say that there are times when God's people told the government no.

When I say that this passage in Romans chapter 13 does not mean absolute authority, absolute obedience no matter what. So in Exodus chapter 8 verse 25 In Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron and said, Go ye sacrifice to your God in the land." Verse 26, and Moses said, it is not mean for so to do, for we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the Lord our God. Lo, shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, and will they not stone us? We will go three days' journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God as He shall command us." So we find first Pharaoh said, hey, y'all want to sacrifice, you can do it, but you're going to do it here. You're not going.

And Moses said, no. No, we're going to go three days journey out. And then in verse 28, Pharaoh said, I will let you go, that you may sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness, only ye shall not go very far away, and treat for me. Moses said, Behold I go out from thee, and I will entreat the Lord that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people tomorrow. But let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully any more in not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.

And Moses went out from Pharaoh and he treated the Lord, and the Lord did according to the word of Moses, and he removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people. There remained not one. And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time, neither would he let the people go." Then if you go over to chapter 10, Notice what happens here. Verse 7 it says, In Pharaoh's servants said unto him, How long shall this man be a snare unto us? Let the men go, then we serve the LORD their God.

Knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed? Moses and Aaron were brought again unto Pharaoh, and he said unto them, Go serve ye the Lord your God, but who are they that shall go? And Moses said, We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds will we go for we must hold a feast unto the Lord and he said unto them let the Lord be so with you as I would we'll let you go and your little ones look to it for evil is before you not so Go now ye that are men and serve the Lord for that ye did desire." And they were driven out from Pharaoh's presence. Pharaoh said, hey I'll let you go but not everybody." And Moses said, no, we're going to take everybody. Get down to verse 24, and Pharaoh called unto Moses and said, Go ye serve the Lord, only let your flocks and your herds stay, let your little ones also go with you.

Moses said, Thou must give us also sacrifices, burnt offerings that we may sacrifice unto the Lord our God. Our cattle also shall go with us. There shall not a hoof be left behind, for thereof must we take to serve the Lord our God. And we know not with what we must serve the Lord until we come thither." Moses said, not a hoof is going to be left behind. Pharaoh said, you can go just leave your herds back here.

Moses said, we're not even leaving one hoof behind. There are times in which God's people have to tell the government's no. In the book of Daniel chapter 3, Daniel chapter 3, very familiar passage there. But in verse 14, Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, Do not ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up? Now, if ye be ready, that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, sultry, and dulcimer and all kinds of music, ye shall fall down and worship the image I have made well.

But if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace, and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?' Shattering Meshach and Abednego answered. I said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and he will deliver us out of thine hand Okay But if not be it known unto thee okay that we will not serve thy gods nor worship the golden image Which thou set up? Shatter me check in the vinegar. They were in a place where the king was very pagan, and set up that idol, wanted everybody to worship and to fall down, and these three said no.

And when they were called out on it, they again said no. So by their actions and their words, they said, they said, King, You can put us in the fire furnace. God's able to deliver us from it, but it's not Being known to you We're not going to serve your gods nor worship the image which you've set up Daniel chapter 6 and verse 10. Now when Daniel knew the writing was signed, he went into his house and his windows being opened in the chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before God as he did a four time. There was a rule put into place that no one could pray to anyone besides the king for 30 days.

Daniel said no. Of course that ended up that he was put in the den of lines but he said no. In the New Testament we go over to the book of Acts chapter 5. Acts chapter 5 and beginning of verse 17 there. Beginning of verse 17 there.

Then the high priest rose up, and all they that were with him, which is the sect of the Sadducees, were filled with indignation, laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in the common prison. But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors and brought them forth and said, go stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life. These guys got in trouble because of their service to God, because of the things that they were doing there And they're put in prison and then the angel let them out. They'll go back and do the things that got you into trouble. In fact, if you think about it, it's probably one of the worst places for them to go is back to the temple where there were a lot of people there who wouldn't see them back in trouble with the authorities.

Verse 29, well Verse 28 says, saying, did not we straightly command you that ye should not teach in this name and behold ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine and intend to bring this man's blood upon us? Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, we ought to obey God rather than men. They were told not to preach, but they kept preaching. The authorities said, shut up, and they said no. They said no.

Verse 19 down to verse 25. The winter master saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they called Paul and Silas and drew them into the marketplace under the rulers. Brought them to the magistrates saying these men being Jews do exceedingly trouble our city, teach customs which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe being Romans. The multitude rose up together against them, and the magistrates ran off their clothes and commanded to beat them. When they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely, who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison and made their feet fast in the stocks.

And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, saying praises unto God, and the prisoners heard them. Paul and Silas got into trouble with the authorities. And by their actions, they said, no. We find that in each of these the pattern is very very clear. If God tells us to do something And the government tells us to do something.

If there is a contradiction between the two, we must obey God rather than men. God's word is higher than man's word, Regardless of how high man thinks he is, whether a president or a king or a queen, regardless of whether it's a legislature or something like that, you know, leaders tend to be pretty prideful and arrogant. Obama was arrogant. Trump is arrogant. I mean, these guys get pretty arrogant about what they do and how they do things but sometimes God's people have to say no.

Now I know that there have been a lot of folks who have said, not only now but in times past, that we ought to obey the laws of the land regardless. And like I said, this ought to be the usual way we live. This ought to be when a leader puts down a law, There might be some things that we just don't like. But if it doesn't contradict God's Word and God's Law, we're duty bound to obey. Go with me to book of 1 Peter chapter 2.

1 Peter chapter 2 verses 13 through 17 here. Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether it be to the king as supreme, Or unto governors as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well. For so is the will of God, that with well-doing you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men, as free, and not using your liberty as a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. Honor all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king." I heard a preacher up North bring this passage out and he said that this is clear that we need to submit to governmental leaders. And he went on and said that this is the same word that is used for wives to submit to their husbands.

And he said, we as husbands would want our wives to submit to us and not question or rebel against our authority. So I got to looking at it and sure enough Ephesians chapter 5 Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 22, wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. And so we find very similar writing here as what we read there in 1st Peter talking about the governmental authorities And the wives are told to submit, we're told to submit to government, to leaders, to every ordinance of man. And there's that phrase, as unto the Lord, and there in 1 Peter, for the Lord's sake. Does this mean that wives, citizens of a country, are to submit themselves completely and totally to the government or to her own husband.

It does not mean that. In fact, what Paul is writing there in Ephesians chapter 5 does not mean that wives are to submit to their husbands in the same way that they submit to the Lord. We're not to submit to the governmental authorities or laws the same way that we submit to God's laws or God's authority. I give you an illustration here. When you look in the scriptures, we are called the servants of Christ.

You know what that means? That means that we are slaves to our Lord. Are we to be slaves to our government? Are our wives supposed to be slaves to us? And the answer is, absolutely not.

There are limitations. If a husband is an ungodly husband, and he says, you know what, I've lost my job, I'm stressed out, I don't have any money, times are tough." And he says to his wife, Go out and sell yourself on the corner. Is she bound to obey him? The answer is no. Because His law to her, in that instance, is contrary to the Word of God.

We submit ourselves to Christ. Whatever he wants we do, period. To say that a wife owes her husband the same kind of submission, or to say that we as people of the country owe our government the same kind of submission, is to put the husband or the government on the same level as Jesus Christ. And that's blasphemy. We aren't equal with Christ.

Even the best husband or the best ruler may say or command or put a law in that is contrary to God's Word. I do believe that we ought to respectfully decline, respectfully disobey, but there is grounds for that disobedience. Someone once said that if government has the final authority in your theology, then the government is your God. Think about it, consider these things. Even Jesus taught limitations in the book of Matthew chapter 22 when it comes to governmental authority in Matthew chapter 22.

Begin at verse 15, Then went the Pharisees and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk. They sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians saying, Master we know that thou art true and teachest us, there teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man, for thou regardest not the person of man. Tell us therefore, what thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not? But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites?

Show me the tribute money. They brought unto him a penny. And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? They say unto him, Caesar's. They saith he unto them, render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things which are God's.

Then when they heard these words, they marveled and left him and went their way. Caesar of course is the government of power that was in place there. Jesus said render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, To God the things that are God's. There are some things that Caesar has no authority over. I think about my kids.

I home school my kids. I don't send them off to government school. Why not? Because they don't have the image of Caesar. They're an image of God.

And so Caesar has nothing to do with my kids. That's not part of the government's authority. Same thing with this church. Matters of faith. Caesar has no authority over those things.

This is something that Baptists have been fighting for and about for generations. For generations. In fact, as I was considering this topic and looking through a lot of my books and the things that I've gotten, that I've read after and the preachers that I've read after, a lot of them were lawbreakers. Why? Because a lot of times throughout history, the Catholics and then the Protestants believed that the king should have authority or that the king and the pope should be together or whatever.

And inevitably there'd be some state church that was set up, and they would say, well, you can't preach unless you've been licensed by the state. You can't meet unless you do so under our terms. And a lot of times those guys said no. Men like John Bunyan, the writer of Pilgrim's Progress, and some of those fellows, and even in our own country, Clark and Holmes, if you don't know who John Clark is or Obadiah Holmes, go and study their lives and what they did and how they stood up to the powers that be. The powers that be.

The kings, the governors, the princes, the queens, the presidents. None of these people have any authority over spiritual things. Earthly things, yes. Spiritual things, no. Reading in a book right now, Tracks on Liberty of Conscience and Persecution, writings from 1614 to 1661.

And Edward Underhill wrote in that book, secular potentates have neither place nor dominion in the kingdom of him who is blessed and only potentate the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. As there is but one Lord, so is there but one lawgiver in the church, Jesus Christ." If that sounds familiar, it should because that's Baptist doctrine. We have one king, we have one head, one lawgiver in the church and that is Jesus Christ. The book I read previously before that one was Francis Wayland. He wrote a book called Notes on the Principles and Practices of Baptist Churches.

He said, another article of our belief, and the last one that I will mention, is that the Church of Christ is distinct from every other association of men and is holy and absolutely independent of the civil power. The authority we plead for this belief is found in reply of Peter and John to the Jewish Sanhedrin. In Acts 4 19 and 20 He said, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you, more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. We accordingly, Wayland goes on to say, have ever believed that the state has no authority to legislate in matters pertaining to the conscience?

When man violates the rights of man, the state may interfere and prevent or punish the wrong, But in matters which concern our relations to God, the state has no jurisdiction. It has no right to take cognizance of our duties to God. Hence, it is guilty of wrong if it prohibit or annoy any form of religion, if it favor one more than another, if it restrict the exercise of any form of devotion, either public or private, or in any matter, whatever interfere in the matter of religious belief or practice. And on and on we could quote and we could look how the blood was spilled over this idea, this doctrine. Now sometimes some of our governmental leaders have tried to get away with things even in this country and in the last couple of months and they said well we're not targeting churches.

We're treating you no different than we are theaters or sporting events. And if you listen close, you hear them say that sort of thing. But then in their actions, they don't restrict the Walmart. They don't restrict the state-run liquor stores or the marijuana facilities, and what they've done is they've lumped churches And we can't fault them because they're depraved. They don't know.

But they lump churches in with entertainment. And they say, well, we'll leave the essential things open because the non-essential things. And they're looking at us like as if we're entertainment. Folks, some churches might be entertainment more so than churches and we understand that, but the church of the Lord Jesus Christ is not a place of entertainment. What the governor should have done in every state is said hey these are our recommendations and it's up to you churches whether you want to do it or not but will not interfere and that should have been the way it was.

We find that there are limitations to their roles and their authorities over us. We find that as we've looked, comparing scripture with scripture, and by looking at this historically. But that's not all. Even in this text there are limitations in Romans chapter 13. And so let's go back there for a moment.

I know our time is running out here, but let's go to verses three through seven. For rulers are not a terror to good works but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power do that which is good? Thou shalt have praise of the same, for he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid, for he beareth not the sword in vain, for he is the minister of God, a revenger, to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.

Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience' sake. For for this cause pay ye tribute also, for they are God's ministers attending continually upon this very thing. Render therefore to all their dues tribute to him tribute is due, custom doom custom, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. And so we find then that there are limitations. Now he doesn't tell us what kind of government, like I said, but he does say the role of government in our lives.

So what are what are governments? They're supposed to be terror to evil. We find it there to be a minister of God to thee for good. Think about some of the brutal dictators that have happened even in the last couple hundred years. For instance, what would you do if you lived in Germany during Nazism.

Adolf Hitler is your president or your king or whatever his title was. And you are a Jew. You know that story about Schindler's List, one of the things they get left out of the movie is that he was stockpiling guns and trying to arm the Jews. Was he wrong in doing that? Should the Jews have just lined up and went to their death and should the German Christians have just turned a blind eye to it?

Is it true that Hitler was the kind of leader that Paul is talking about here? Well, let's look. In verse 3 it says, For rulers, let us just substitute, for Hitler is not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, thou shalt have praise of the same.

For Hitler is the minister of God to thee for good. We know that that's not right. He wasn't. He wasn't. Was Hitler breaking the law of Germany when he was killing Jews?

No. He wasn't breaking the German law. In fact, it was perfectly legal for him to do that. As far as man's law goes, When the United States and others went after him for, and those that worked for him for doing the things that he did, what was it? What was their reason?

Was it international law? No, there was no international law that said that he shouldn't be doing that. He was a murderer. And he had to answer to God, God's law for those things. Same thing with Stalin and other of these guys.

Romans 13 is not teaching us absolute submission no matter what. I mean if history were to repeat itself and one like Hitler decided to do the things that he was doing, we ought to nod to say, well, he's the king, he can do whatever he wants. Oh, wait a minute, that's happening right here in America. With abortion. We can't say, well, abortion is okay because the leaders have said in Romans chapter 30...

No. No. There's a problem there. There's a problem, a big problem. There are, There are those who understand their limits.

There have been good kings and good governments. But we must remember that There are times, like I said, overall we ought to be obedient, but there are times when obedience to God means disobedience to our rulers. Or in other words, if you want to put it another way, there are times when disobedience to rulers means obedience to God. We've just got to be wise in knowing when that is. Christians are not to ever cooperate with the state in doing wrong, even on the demands of authority.

When man, any man, tells us to do something that God forbids or forbids us to do something when God commands it, we cannot and must not obey. Notice our text here in Romans chapter 13. Rulers are not a terror to good works but to the evil. What's that mean? That means rulers are our servant as the people of the country.

Who's more important in this country? Is it the president or the people? Or what about a monarchy? Who's more important? The people or the king?

Well I've heard of countries without kings, but I've never heard of a king without a people. So think about that for a little bit. We are the most important ones and these guys are our servants. We're not their servants. The state, the government was instituted by God.

And it was instituted for a reason. For the benefit of humanity. It is servant to the people, never to be master. The minute that a state turns into a master or a tyrant, it is disobeying the law of God. The law of God that they are bound to here in Romans chapter 13.

In our country, not only are they bound to Romans chapter 13 in the scriptures, but they're also bound to the Constitution of the United States. It's important that as we the people live in such a place that we know what the scriptures teach, but we also ought to know what the Constitution says. The Constitution, the Bill of Rights, it was meant to limit the government, not to limit us. Not to limit us. Very quickly, I'll just say that if a country or if a government goes too far and disobeying the law of God, then that government needs to be punished.

It needs to be thrown out and replaced by one that abides by the teachings of Romans chapter 13. And that's how we have our government that we have today. At least that's how we have our constitution, the Bill of Rights is in a note. This is the spirit of our Declaration of independence. Where did these guys get these ideas from?

They got it from the scriptures. One of the reasons why our republic form of government is worth defending Because rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. You understand something that in all of this, there are people that are calling on President Trump to shut down the whole of the United States. But he hasn't. Why is that?

Well, because we have in place the Constitution. And I believe God has placed his restraining hand over President Trump's arrogance. And even a couple of times when he threatened to do something more because people were calling on it, the governor said no you can't do that. Praise God for that. Pray for your president, pray for your governor, and understand what Romans Chapter 13 is all about.

Let us be the kind of model citizens of this country, but let us understand where the government can do and where they can't, what their limitations are. And let us be willing to not only educate our fellow citizens, but also as we need to, let us educate our leaders too, because sometimes they forget. And so, there's ways that you can do so without violence. Think about You can vote. You can write letters.

You can talk to your friends and your neighbors and make phone calls and all that sort of thing. May God have the blessing to the study of his word and may God bless our republic. Let's stand to be dismissed. Brother Andrew, would you please pray for us.