Book of Titus - Ch. 3, v. 1

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Pastor Ben Mitchell

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All righty guys, well, we begin our final chapter of Titus today and our the next section in our study
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I've been dividing up the study in sections and I honestly can't remember what the first few of them were called
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They were so long ago at this point, but this is section 5 and I'm calling it the living example of the pastor
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So you guys remember in chapter 1? The Apostle Paul is given qualifications of the elder and So there we're talking about the character of the pastor and then it he shifts into talking about The false teachers so, you know that section was kind of about the battle of the pastor the battle of the pastor fights that sort of thing then chapter 2 was
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The character or the behavior of church members, so we've talked about a number of different Things different different categories in this study and so in this final chapter for the next
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Let's see here about the next 11 verses Yeah verses 1 through 11 in chapter 3
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Will be within this section I'm calling the living example of the pastor and you guys will see this fleshed out a little bit as we go now as we enter our final chapter of This really incredible epistle that we've been studying for a good while at this point.
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It's technically been over a year now You know with alternating classes and things like that I think we could have gotten through it pretty quickly if we just went straight through But we've been in this for over a year at this point
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And so we'll certainly do a little bit of summary at the very end of the study But it's been really incredible a lot of amazing things
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We've been able to cover and as we enter this final chapter We need to be reminded one more time again of what
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Paul has said to get us to this point in chapter 3 so I alluded to it a second ago, but Paul began his letter with the importance of proper character and Behavior among those called to be elders of the church
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And so Paul gives a robust list of elder qualifications in chapter 1 and then he quickly demonstrates
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Those qualifications are so important and it's because of the false teachers who were subverting whole houses
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Y 'all remember that a little bit. So that was in chapter 1 in chapter 2 Paul then moves into telling
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Titus what he needed to instruct the members of a church congregation How we needed to instruct them what their behavior needed to look like and why?
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So that the Word of God was not blasphemed and we saw that Theme in verses 5 8 and 10 in chapter 2 the reason why
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Titus is to instruct the church in this way and to instruct the older women and the older men and the young women and The young men in this way is so the
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Word of God itself Cannot be blasphemed But in that chapter in chapter 2, which we finished the last time we were together
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It was their behavior among other Christians in church That was the focus so it was the behavior of a church body a local church body how they are to interact with each other
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How they are to act on the individual basis so there can be unity in the church It was the relationship between church family members in chapter 3 of Titus Paul is now
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Moving away from that. He's not concerned with how we live among each other in the church anymore
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Rather what he is about to discuss for a little bit is how we live in society in a pagan culture even
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And he wants his readers to know that our behavior impacts not only the inside of the church
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But also everyone outside of the church, and of course, we've covered a few categories so far in the study that have
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Fleshed that out a little bit already, but it's going to be a little bit more explicit as we move through this final chapter now
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Now I've said it many times at this point, but the way that we live our lives as Christians is what makes our faith believable to the outside world
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It's what? It's what makes them take us seriously. There's nothing worse than a hypocrite
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And especially one that proclaims the name of the Lord Perhaps even claims a particular orthodox denomination
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Baptist Presbyterian, I mean even a Like a John Wesley type person
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Methodist, you know Maybe they they adhere to one of those Denominations and they profess to be a
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Christian and to follow the Lord and these types of things and then they live their life totally opposite At least in many regards to what the
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Word of Jesus actually says Well, that's hypocritical in that it's that kind of stuff that makes the world scoff at the
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Word of God and blaspheme the Word of God Which is what Paul was trying to warn Titus against and so for us in this local
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Church body the way we live our lives again is what makes our faith that we have within us
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Believable to the outside world when they look at us the way that a spiritual reality such as salvation is
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Demonstrated is by living out the words of the one that saved us in the first place
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Even out in the culture beyond our church walls, and that's what chapter 3 is all about So let's dive into it.
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If you all want to open up your Bibles to Titus chapter 3 We will finish out this awesome little letter
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Over the next few weeks. I'm not sure if we'll be able to finish it in this six -week span or not But we'll give it a try
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Let's take a look at just the first two verses for today Titus chapter 3 verse 1 says put them in mind to be subject to Principalities and powers to obey magistrates to be ready to every good work to speak evil of no man
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To be no brawlers, but gentle showing all meekness unto all men so This has happened a couple of times in this letter already, but at this point
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Paul is now speaking directly to Titus and Telling him specifically what to then go tell the other
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Christians in his community and in this case He says put them in mind that literally just means remind them to be subject to Principalities of powers obey magistrates be ready to every good work
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And so he is instructing the pastor to then go and instruct his congregation now in order for us to understand the significance of these exhortations at the beginning of the chapter where Paul is now changing the context from inside the church to outside in the society and in this case a very pagan society
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We need to keep in mind the cultural context that Paul was dealing with here And we've already talked about it a couple of times in this study
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But Crete the island of Crete Was pagan to the max, this is a
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Incredibly pagan culture, you know, we think we have it bad now in the United States and it's pretty bad in many respects
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But Paul didn't even have the love in Titus for that matter didn't even have the luxury of a post
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Christian society Like we have where it one time it was built on you know the moral principles of the
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Bible of Scripture and We now have you know a couple hundred years later kind of the vestiges of that although By and large they're gone, but they're still with us a little bit and even trying to make you come back
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So we have an advantage with that regard Paul and Titus. They didn't have that at all.
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It wasn't Christian In any way shape or form and one of the reasons why we sometimes forget this
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It's because Paul was the one that was introducing Christianity, so of course they didn't have any kind of moral grounded morality in in God's Word prior to Paul and the
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Apostles going out and spreading the word because They were the ones introducing Christianity It was brand new at the time in the
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Gentile world that Paul was dealing with when he wrote this letter it was undiluted and Pervasive paganism unlike what we are familiar with in this country now
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There are still countries out there today that deal with it Perhaps even at the level that the island of Crete had
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But it's tough for us to really understand it because it's just so foreign to what we are used to It was undiluted.
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It was everywhere and they had literally thousands of years worth of Making deals with the devil that got them to where they were by the time that the
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Apostle Paul was writing this letter and trying to disciple new believers in this culture, so we have to remember that as we read these verses because You know you can skim over it.
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Okay. Yeah obey the government wait a second What kind of government did Paul even have in mind when he wrote this and when you consider that it makes it really
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Impactful as we apply this to our own lives Now again thinking about Crete whether you're considering that culture economically like you're looking at it from the economic viewpoint or the religious viewpoint or Philosophically the way their philosophy of life was their lawfare their government structures
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The aspirations of all of the individuals they were all completely pagan and like I said they were for millennia leading up to Paul coming on the scene
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So that's what Paul is working with and not only that But he's now having to tell
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Titus to remind his people that they are under this pagan government For a reason
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I'll flesh that out more in just a second But we one thing because remember the very first phrase it says put them in mind
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It literally means to remind them. So this is something that they have been familiar with this is something they've been told before and Way back in our introduction to the book
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One of the things we talked about was the fact that Paul had been to this island before Titus shows up So Paul goes there perhaps even plants a few churches leaves a lasting impact
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Lee and then leaves the the island ultimately and then Titus goes there with a few other guys that will actually talk about at the end of the letter and So Paul has talked to these believers before at least some of them and now it's up to Titus to kind of finish the job disciple them and more importantly as we remember from the beginning appoint elders to all of the churches so that He can well duplicate delegate quite literally and so He's telling them to him.
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He's telling Titus to remind the churchgoers of something they've already been told before which was to be obedient to their government and Again, it's not that we're just it's not that the
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Apostles are just saying be obedient because we say so They're saying to be obedient for good reason.
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They're saying to be obedient for reasons that they might not understand in the moment, but Paul actually expounds upon later.
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We're gonna look at one place. He does in just a moment and so whether the this whether the society the culture or the government is pagan or Secular or Christian, which of course is a hope that we can all have justifiably the institution government was created and placed here by God and Therefore Christians are obligated to have a right view of it.
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So we have to understand why it's there how it's supposed to function understand how it's functioning now we are obligated to have a right view of government and a proper relationship with it and So by showing our obedience to the civil magistrates is the verse as verse 1 says
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We are showing the world around us the unbelieving world that we recognize
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God's Hierarchical structures and that we honor them all throughout the
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Bible you have Hierarchy whether it's in the home whether it is in business whether it's in the church whether it's in government and the relationship between leaders and those subordinate to those leaders and And once more
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God is the one that ordained all these hierarchical structures he he hates any form of anarchy
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He does not like any form of egalitarianism where everyone just tries to throw out the distinctions that he put in his people
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He doesn't like androgyny where it's tough to really even know what's going on. Who is who who's female who's male and Why are the females in the masculine roles and the males in the female feminine roles that sort of thing
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He doesn't like any of it. And so when we as believers go and we show that we
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Recognize the hierarchy that he put there and that we honor it because he put it there
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That in and of itself and we'll flesh this out more in a moment but that in and of itself is a witness to the world around us that we take
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God's Word seriously and They therefore will take us seriously they may not agree with us they may debate us
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They may even hate us but they at least see that we have some conviction and that we believe in something and so all things being equal and You have to throw in that qualifier because as we'll see in a moment there are instances
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Yes Where a government may be tyrannical and they may try to force their hand over against Christians to do something unbiblical
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Sinful and in those cases obviously disobedience is then being honoring to God, but all things being equal
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Christians should obey the government because the government is a slave of the
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Lord Jesus And let me show you what I mean by that turn to Romans chapter 13 Hold your place at Titus because we'll come right back to it
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But if you want to turn with me to Romans chapter 13, I just want to give you guys a brief reminder of The Apostles view of government and we're all familiar with this passage, but it's worth looking at Because it's it's really rich And there's some pretty amazing insights that we get from the
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Apostle Paul With regard to this institution and why we are to take it seriously and it sheds a lot of light on these opening verses in Titus as well
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So Romans chapter 13, let's just read the first seven verses together He says let every soul be subject or submissive unto the higher powers
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For there is no power but of God the powers that be are ordained of God so right there is how we know that this is a
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God -ordained institution and That he is the ultimate head.
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So we're talking about hierarchical structures here He is at the top of all of them And so you have a government that has been put in place
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We are subordinate to it in many respects But guess who they are subordinate to and it's
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God himself And so one of the reasons why we are to be submissive to higher powers is because there is no power
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But of God the powers that be are ordained of God. So any authority that they wield is
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Derivative it's not in and of themselves. It comes from the ultimate power Himself that being
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God look at verse 2 whosoever therefore resisteth the power Resisteth the ordinance of God.
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This is really interesting stuff and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation
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Again, if you ever want to know what the Bible's view of anarchy is this is it it is a warpath to eventual damnation unless of course
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Repentance and in confession take place which can't happen but if for the anarchist that is married to that ideology it is a
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Quick path to damnation look at verse 3 for rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil now right here
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Paul has an assumption You got to remember when you're a teacher you have to generalize when you're talking to a broad audience
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You can't get into the nuances of every situation or you would never get anywhere ever And so what he's doing here is he is assuming something and of course the assumption can change you can you can change the variables?
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And then you you project that out and you see oh, well that gets pretty ugly pretty fast right here
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Paul is assuming that the government is actually doing what it was created to do. So that's his assumption in verse 3
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He says rulers are not a terror for good works But in the evil and what he's saying is that it's good to have a government in place and it's good to honor it because their
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Job is to honor good works and to bring the sword down on evildoers on evil works so capital punishment
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Punishing crime punishing criminals so that those that are doing good and that are actually contributing to society can live peacefully
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Again, there's an assumption there that they're actually doing their job the right way doesn't mean they always do
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But that's what Paul is saying right there. He says will thou then not be afraid of the power
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Do that which is good and thou shalt have praise of the same For so he's just encouraging us to be really good law -abiding
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Citizens for he is the minister of God to thee for good Now the word minister there is very interesting.
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It is the Greek word diakonos it's where we get deacon from so a deacon is a servant of local church body
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What God is saying here is that the government is like the deacon of God It is the servant or the slave of God himself.
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And so people want to say oh well separation of church and state and They say so in such a way that absolutely ignores the historical precedent that that gave us
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That reality in the first place. It was a Protestant idea It was fleshed out even more by the
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Puritans and the separation of church and state is actually a biblically founded idea
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But here's the thing The way we define it now is Keep your religion in the trip behind the church walls and let the government do its thing what they mean by that is run in a secular
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Sort of way. Here's what it's supposed to mean. It's the idea of sphere sovereignty. It's something the
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Reformers Articulated in such great detail and it's that yes
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There are different spheres of government that are separate and distinct the family being one of them
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The civil magistrates being another one the church being another one They are different spheres that aren't supposed to overlap the second you overlap church and state
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It gets really ugly really fast that you look at the Roman Empire. You look at even some of the some of the very early
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Protestant governments after the Reformation happened under Luther and even under Calvin There were some ugly stuff that happened because they were trying to merge
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Church and state beyond what the Bible lays out for us But as long as they're not merged as long as they don't overlap
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They are to be separate. But here's the thing God is God of all of them You don't get church and behind the church walls over here and then secular government over here
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That's where people get it wrong. And that's where how they try to define separation of church and state Keep your religion to yourself.
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Keep it in your heart. That's your thing Let the government run the way it wants to run and that is absolutely
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Antitheistic and anti -biblical why look at verse 4 one more time for he that being the government is the minister or the deacon or the slave of God to you for good
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So they're either going to be a disobedient servant or they're gonna be an obedient servant and the
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The sins that they willed as that deacon as that servant of God Will ultimately come back on them.
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They will be held responsible for that But they're a minister either way. They're a deacon or a servant of God either way
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Look at verse 4 Continuing there But if thou do that which is evil be afraid for he beareth not the sword in vain
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So the government has been given the sword by God on purpose not in vain and he will use it against you yourself
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If you decide to work evil for he is the minister of God. There's the word again
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He is the deacon of God the servant of God a revenger to execute wrath upon him that do with evil
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That's how it's supposed to work. That's what government is for and Therefore we should honor it wherefore you must needs be subject not only for wrath but also for conscience sake for For for this cause pay you tribute also for they are
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God's ministers And what's interesting is the Greek word for ministers there is different and it means to be the slave of a king
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Government is a slave of the Lord. Yes separation between church and state
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You don't want the government coming in and telling us what to preach but that doesn't mean that the government isn't supposed to be
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God honoring and Structuring their lawfare and legislation based upon God's law
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That's what he expects if they they whether or not they do it will come back on them at some point
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But that is what it's supposed to be wherefore needs be Be subject not only for wrath but also for conscience sake it's about the conscience
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We need to be obedient honoring toward the government for the conscience sake for this cause pay you tribute
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I already read this verse I believe for they are God's ministers attending continually upon this very thing Render therefore to all their dues tribute to whom tribute is due
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Custom to whom custom fear to whom fear honor to whom honor. So that is why we as believers can
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Submit to the government. That is why we as believers can honor the government in general all things being equal
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Because it is a slave of the same God that we worship just as we are So assuming that the government is generally doing what it was created to do
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It is a worthy institution to honor within the moral bounds Set by God and that's of course an important thing to emphasize
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It is a worthy institution to honor within the moral bounds that God himself set
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Obviously there will be times when we have governments that are instituting things that are again anti -theistic or anti -biblical and in those cases
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Especially if they try to force the authoritarian hand and say you will do this because we say so Even though it's against the word that you
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Say you follow that's when we have to step back and say
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We fear God before man and just to give you one very good example of what this looks like very recent example, very practical very applicable is
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John MacArthur's Church during the pandemic. They're in California in Sun Valley. I mean, this is you know, this is
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This is where we saw the peak measures being taken to shut down everything and We know that in Hebrews we are commanded as Christians not to forsake
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The assembly we are told to gather we are told to worship even in Frightening times and we think about our brothers and sisters throughout time that would do that even in hiding because otherwise they might lose their heads
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And yet Christians throughout America just quickly, you know Fled to safety at the first kind of opportunity because they had permission to do so and John MacArthur's Church Said no, we're gathering.
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We're not going to abide by the law because we honor God not man So this though we obey the government
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This is a statute that we have the right to disobey Because it is in direct contradiction to what we are commanded that which we are commanded by God himself
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It didn't they ended up getting sued they ended up, you know hair. I take it back They ended up having just fines upon fines just thrown on them that they had law enforcement come try to shut down their services
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They had everything throw at them. You can imagine they stayed firm. They didn't give up. They ended up winning everything
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They ended up not owing a penny they ended up actually being paid back all of the costs for their
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Attorneys and things people they had to hire to fight the the government of California. It was absolutely glorious and it is a
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Testimony of what fearing God over man looks like what it can look like and so there are times
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Where we have to remember within the moral bounds set by God we obey the government all things being equal we obey
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But we always have to come back to God as the standard not anyone else and it's by God's standard that we as Christians can
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Consistently and think about this for a second because it's really amazing We can consistently by using the exact same standard being his word to be submissive
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To those whom God put over us and stand in opposition when they fail in their duty to serve
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God To serve the God that Was the one that appointed them in the first place so by the same standard we can be obedient we can be submissive we can be the best law -abiding citizens and participants in the economy and all these things as anyone and oppose them when they decide that they're going to do things like Well in the case of our higher courts
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You know legalize abortion or legalize same -sex marriage or something like that by the same standard.
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We can oppose them and tell them that what they're doing is wrong and evil and that they will have to answer to their creator for it and that You are bound by the law of God We can tell them these things by the same standard that tells us to be submissive to them when it comes to obeying the traffic
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Laws and the tax laws and the even if it's the bureaucratic regulation regulatory laws and things like that we can obey all of that Until they start telling us that sin is okay, and then we can say no
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Because we have a transcendent standard that says you're incorrect here. We don't have to obey it
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We may get thrown in prison some have there have been a multitude of people that have been at abortion mills
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That have either been either praying in the street or perhaps trying to witness to The mothers that are going in and the fathers that are going with them and all these types of things and those people
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It happens in the UK a lot. It has happened in certain states in the US But they'll get thrown in prison in some cases
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And so that opposition that disobedience to sin to them telling us to sin or to be approving of sin
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We'll sometimes get us in trouble But that happened to the Apostles too it happened to Paul too
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He was chained to a prison wall when he wrote the last letter that we studied verse by verse Philemon And so that may happen sometimes
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But we have to fear God above man. We are reminded To be subject to rulers and authorities just a quick note
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We're back in Titus now if y 'all want to flip back over there y 'all may still be in Romans back over to Titus It says in those open in that opening verse it says to Be subject to principalities and powers
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It is technically the same Greek terms that are used in Ephesians chapter 6 when it says we battle not against flesh and blood
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But against principalities and powers in high places Paul is not talking about the demon world here though same
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Greek term But the the words can mean a number of things depending on the context in Ephesians 6
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He's literally talking about Satan and his minions in Titus 3 1 he's talking about rulers and authorities
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That's another way you could translate them in this context. So just our government He says we are to be subject to rulers and authorities to obey magistrates to be ready to Every good work and what's interesting is the
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Greek term for ready there Means to be eager to do it so as believers, it's not that we need to have just this kind of Like okay fine type attitude when it comes to being a good citizen to good works within the context of An economy of a nation but rather to be eager
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To those good works. That's what the Greek term Is is referencing there.
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So we need to be ready or we need to be eager for every good work and in this context
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I mean, it's just the way it flows in verse 1 That last phrase I really do believe it's more of an exhortation to simply be good
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Be a good productive and contributing citizen so in other words the good works are us as citizens of the nation
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God put us in contributing to that society and Perhaps even contributing to its reformation if it's in a place that needs to be reformed like it is right now.
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And so Some people look at that phrase at verse 1 and say the good works are referencing
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Just simply the life of a Christian perhaps in the church in the home that sort of thing and it would certainly include that it's pretty all -encompassing but I think what
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Paul has in mind here given the context and the way the sentence flows is It's an encouragement an exhortation to just be good citizens in the nation that you live in and to do work in such a way that is contributing that society and is productive and Produces good things within it
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God wants the nation that his people are living in to thrive all things being equal
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There will be times when judgment is a necessity, but generally speaking where his people are
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That nation can thrive I mean look at what happened to Babylon as soon as God's people were taken into captivity there and again in Persia later
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Where God's people are there can be a thriving nation and economy and all these things.
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I believe he wants that Generally speaking and what better way to make that happen than when the
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Christians Are not escapists that kind of retreat from every form of Society that you can imagine but rather are the ones driving the culture forward.
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Is there a time and a place to To leave one area and go to another for sure
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I mean there have been Christians leaving states like California and Minnesota and Washington and Oregon over the last five years like crazy and Justifiably so where they go and they are they're migrating to different states
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They're they're heading east and then they're they're setting down roots again I mean, I've read so many testimonies of people
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One in particular that I believe when they were in Minnesota and went back like eight plus generations in the same area same town the graveyard of the little town had like descendants going way back to the
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Civil War days and They had to leave during, you know 21 22 when they started making laws that kids could transition without their parents noticing about it or getting notified and things like that You know people
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Christians having to leave that local state government because of what was happening there
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So times like that happen, but that doesn't mean that we are escapists Wholesale, it doesn't mean that we you know need to buy the land way off and kind of disappear into total
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You know mystery because the world around is kind of scary kind of bad and things like that I believe one of the ways that God can transform a culture is through his people engaging in it within Reason within again the moral bounds that God has set and as long as they can actually be protected doing it
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Again, you can nuance all you want out of that come up with all kinds of hypotheticals of when it's time to leave or when?
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It's time to stay all this kind of stuff. I'm generalizing in General the way that a culture can shift is when
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Christians are not escapists, but the one that are driving Driving the culture forward and you can do that through business.
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You can do that through the arts Hopefully we are doing that in business as we speak. You can do that through ministry All all different ways that you can do that and Christians can contribute to that cultural shift
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Now we can read verse one. It's just a final thought on this verse. We can read verse one
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Put them in mind be subject or submissive to the authorities and to the rulers to obey the government
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Be ready to every good work We can read that and Christians can easily take it a little bit too far in some case in some cases for the sake of comfort
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We can easily say that we should never disagree with anyone Including what the government says to do because we're supposed to be obedient or to never counter falsehoods that may come our way from the government even or to just kind of bob our heads to everything that everyone wants us to affirm like the government and Then just move along you can read a verse like verse one and take it a little too far
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But we have to keep in mind the context with within Within which
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Paul is writing Paul is writing in the context of a Roman government and As we've said it's a wicked and pagan government that was right on the cusp of Persecuting the church in the most brutal terms right after the
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Apostle started dying for roughly a century Christians were slaughtered in mass.
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They were gathered up Those were the Colosseum days and I mean you had a considerable amount of time of just absolute persecution in every way imaginable and that started to slow down a little bit at the turn of the 2nd century and then by the time of Constantine's conversion it turned around quite a bit and the fact that Christianity survived from the human viewpoint makes no sense it's kind of like The way that it doesn't really make a lot of sense that the
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Jews are still around With as many times as they have been persecuted as just an ethnic people as many times as they have been attacked and Dispersed I mean going all the way back to the
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Old Testament all the way through present -day It doesn't really make sense that such a small group of people have survived all this time from the human viewpoint
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We know that God still has a purpose and that's why and the same goes for Christianity from the human viewpoint
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It makes no sense that we survived the first century after the Apostles died
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Because you have the most powerful government in the world with the full strength of its military backing it hunting
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Christians finding them and trying to put them to death actively and they were by the tens of thousands, but There was always a remnant and so Paul is writing in that context
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Rome was not Christianized yet they were still as pagan as can be and Like I said, they were right on the threshold of getting persecuted like never before And so Paul is not saying that we should be okay with anything the government does
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Because that would if that's what he was saying He would be undermining his own argument based upon what he knew was coming
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He already saw the writing on the wall. And of course, it wasn't long after his death that it started taking place
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It's not that Christians are just to be obedient to everything Rome says to avoid having their heads cut off or being thrown in the
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Colosseum or Saying you can worship Jesus as long as he is just one of the gods within our
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Pantheon And as long as you say that Caesar is ultimately Lord, you can worship him ever you want and they say no
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We actually can't do that We actually can't do that and that's what sent them
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To the to the Colosseum and so Paul is not saying that we just do whatever We are just okay with anything the government does without condemning it on the basis of biblical truth but what he is saying is
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That we shouldn't be mobsters about it and we get that from verse 2 look at verse 2 quickly We'll have to end here because we're out of time, but just to briefly touch on it
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He says to speak evil of no man to be no brawlers or fighters or mobsters but gentle showing all meekness unto all men and We'll probably just pick up here next week because we're right at the end of our our time
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But you get the idea we are supposed to exhibit a particular character we're supposed to exhibit
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Particular spiritual weapons in many cases and of course the Bible in no way
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Condemns self -defense In fact, it is actually a part of the law of God itself in Exodus And then
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Jesus at the end of the gospel of Luke tells his apostles to go buy some swords for their own protection
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But we are at the same time told that our weapons are not carnal in 2nd
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Corinthians chapter 10 our weapons are spiritual because they have the might of God himself behind them and We see a couple of them right here
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Speak evil of no man. That means to slander a person to basically be a gossip
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To be no brawlers or fighters. We don't go out. We're not revolutionaries. We're not taking the sword to Capitol Hill We're not bombing abortion mills.
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We're not You know Gathering all the militias we can and trying to overthrow the government.
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That's not who we are. We're not brawlers We're not fighters, but rather we are gentle showing all meekness into all men
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And if you guys recall in our study of Galatians chapter 5 on Wednesday nights the fruit of the
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Spirit There's a couple of them right there gentleness meekness The harmony in Paul's epistles is just crazy and we're gonna look at this more next week
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We'll look at 2nd Timothy as well. He so many different Threads that he draws together in all of his epistles in just reminders.
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Here's the principle I have told you before and here it is again Here's how it's slightly different but still the same and just another angle of looking at it.
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It's really amazing So we have that again happening right here. So we'll end with verse 1 today
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We'll we'll hash out verse 2 a little bit more next week and then move on from there Do y 'all have any thoughts or anything?
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I'd like to share real quick So, yes, it's a generalization that's that's the quick answer and we'll flesh this out a little bit more next week
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I'm sad. We ran out of time actually because I was hoping to kind of tie in versus one and two together quite a bit but Yeah, Jenny.
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I mean there are obvious Exceptions to everything. I mean in in one one of the things
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I was going to mention is the fact that whether you're talking about a tyrannical government or Evil people that are just within society because the government has turned the shoulder
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We're on punishing crime. They just decided it's not politically correct to punish crime anymore stuff
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Like what just happened in Cincinnati goes by without any proper ramifications at all and so that all of a sudden makes the citizens start getting really antsy and a lot of civil unrest takes place and in some places in some in some cases it can go really far and so one of the things that we'll talk about next week
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Is the fact that we do have to remember that our the ultimate battle we face is with the devil but there are cases in which there are people that have been given over and So our battle is with them too.
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And in those cases know when you're dealing with You know when you're dealing with vessels of the devil that whether you're talking about the drug cartels or traffickers or Islamist terrorists or whatever.
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No, you don't approach them with gentleness and meekness when you are in the context of You know them trying to kill you then them trying to Undermine God's Word by perhaps wiping out his people or something like that This is general because remember
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Paul is assuming that the government is actually doing what it was created to do There are cases in which you are dealing with an anarchist government in function
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So let's just think about us for a second. We're a democracy, but we have these states across the the interior that have local authorities some of which have again turned a blind eye to Legitimate anarchy in particular cities and maybe it's the fault of the mayor, you know
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You can go all the way down to the local level. Maybe it's fault of the mayor. Maybe it's all the way up to the governor maybe
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It's something else. Maybe it's representatives and things that are just You know, they feel that they need to appeal to the constituency that are the anarchists
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So they're just they're governing governing in an improper way. You will have times and instances like that and when you do
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That is like I said a minute ago We're not to be escapists Wholesale because all of a sudden we snuff out the light you put the light under the bushel and all of that kind of stuff
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We can't be salt and light if we are gone if we're totally absent from the scene But if you come all the way down to the micro view sometimes you'll be in a situation where yes getting out of there is
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The right call I'll give you another just random example About every couple of months you hear about really young Christian couples being slaughtered in Haiti missionary couples stop going there like there is a there is a point in which a
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Sometimes a group of people in a geographical location Sometimes individuals are given over to a reprobate mind and they become implacable as Paul tells us in Romans chapter 1
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Don't send missionaries over there anymore. They they have told us emphatically We hate you.
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We hate God's Word. We hate your God and we're gonna kill you if you come over here So there are time there are exceptions.
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Absolutely so when he tells us to be gentle and meek to all men, he is assuming a Generally a peaceful government economy
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Societal structure with moral underpinnings and all these types of things will flesh this out more next week though Jen because that's a great question
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Is that okay for now? Was that pretty much it? It absolutely does yes
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Yeah, if you're if you're if your president is Stalin that could be an issue or Franco or something like that, but that doesn't mean that There isn't a little bit of a spectrum there
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You might get a president with a vastly different ideology than you have But he's not killing everybody and he's not forcing you to sin
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So what do you do you submit even in times like that because that's honoring to God ultimately So that's a great point great question, we'll flesh it out more next week
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Well, yes Right So that that's key and to speak evil of no man.
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That's another one that's taken out of context a lot We'll look at the Greek term next week a little bit more detail and what it actually means what
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Paul is actually talking about To Ashton's point that does not mean we cannot stand in opposition to sin whether that be the legalization of abortion or same -sex same -sex marriage or whatever whatever it is that they tried to Legislate remember the government is always legislating morality.
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Nothing is neutral It's just which morality are they legislating a secular one or God's? They're always legislating morality.
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And so if they are legislating it in a secular morality, which is actually immoral
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Then we have the right as believers to stand up and say look You're not the church, but you are subject to Christ as Lord and his word because you are his deacon
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You are his servant. You are his slave and we may get in trouble for it might be a slap on the wrist
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It might be imprisonment But we have every right to do that. And in some cases depending on who is called to do what?
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You know, we actually verbally do that. Yes, sir Oh, of course
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Right Right, well in the of course we have so if you do want to get into the nuance anybody and see
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What can this look what can this look like in various contexts in real time? Just read the book of Acts What do you got 24 something chapters 26 chapters?
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I think and there are times where you have the Apostle Paul escaping in a basket in Times when he is standing right in the middle of there are times where the where Stephen is
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Authoritatively and firmly yet somehow meek at the same time telling them that you just crucified your
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Savior God Himself and It is the his blood is on your hands and here's the entire biblical history to back it up Acts chapter 7
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Give you goosebumps every time you read it and then they kill him He was called in that moment to martyrdom, but not everybody that was
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Stevens. That was Stevens battle and so Every man and woman is called to certain
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To certain points in time depending on gifts They were given to perhaps be prophetic to speak
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Authoritatively and firmly and to tell them what they're doing is wrong and sinful and that I am NOT going to capitulate
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But there may be other times where they have a window of opportunity that the Lord opened up to get your family out of there
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And go to a different land What are some examples Well And they were supposed to what's amazing is that when
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Jesus gave the Great Commission and then when it's reaffirmed at the beginning of Acts it says
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Judah and then Samaria or maybe is Jerusalem Judah Samaria and then the uttermost parts of the world
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Yeah, the the strangers that are scattered and so we were absolutely we were supposed to mobilize in fact
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That's one of the that's one of the principles of war that applies to evangelism is mobilization
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We're supposed to get out there and be on the move not necessarily just confined to one particular area It's another good proof that we're not to be escapists necessarily but What was the thought let's see they moved?
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They moved to utter most parts of the world I forgot I had a thought on that I forgot but it's okay.
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Yeah Perfect example
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Revolutionary outliers like the men that participated in the Boston Massacre They were brawlers
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And they had the true like the true leaders of the War for Independence come in and defending those
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British soldiers that were involved in that Marching forward You have the character of George Washington versus the
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Sons of Liberty The brawlers, the outliers that kind of tainted the whole thing
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You know people compare it so much to the French Revolution now Right It was totally different Yes, you want if you guys want a just amazing
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Like this what we're talking about lived out in not all that You know long history long ago history and even in our own country's history
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It is the War for Independence the colonies prior to that what happened leading up to it and the difference between the true revolutionaries that were like after the after the antics of Napoleon versus the
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Christians the Christian Puritans the Pilgrims that fought for independence
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It's not this black and white thing where we were just all revolutionaries and we took up arms and overthrew a government
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That's not actually what happened If you look at the original sources of and you read Washington's letters and all of these guys
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It was a moral problem they were dealing with It wasn't just they got fed up with it and now we're going to pick up the guns
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There were moral issues involved and they were actually reforming They were going back to what Britain once was
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What made Britain the empire that it was but they had been cascading on a very steep downhill slope for some time morally and then they were trying to bring that over to the colonies and enforce that upon them and in some cases like Ash just said you had legitimate revolutionaries like the
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Boston Massacre the Sons of Liberty that rose up and were doing an unbiblical form of fighting that tyranny off and then you had the moral
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Christian Puritan Pilgrims come in and actually trying to stop that from happening because they knew they weren't meant to be brawlers
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That doesn't mean there's not a time to take up arms and that there's not just war That's not the point The point is they were doing it all the wrong way
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They were looking for a fight They were being contentious It's really interesting stuff So you can see these principles that Paul talked about in Romans 13 now in the first couple verses of Titus 3 many other places in the
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New Testament You can see it played out throughout history and it's a really thrilling thing to see and you can see the results of when people are obedient to the principles when people are disobedient to them what the results look like It's just fascinating You could just talk about it forever
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With that being said, we better dismiss because we are now five minutes past the hour So we'll dismiss for now and pick this up next week
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Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this wonderful day for bringing us all together and giving us this opportunity to abide in your word once more
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Thank you for this study and the fact that we are nearing the finish line of it We thank you so much for the edification that it has brought in the opening two chapters and we know that the third and final chapter will be just that as well
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So we ask that you illuminate all of it for us that you bless the study as we continue and that you bless the rest of our time together today and the rest of our services and we ask all these things in your name