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Please remain standing for the reading of God's Word.
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Today's Bible reading will be Old Testament reading, Isaiah 40, 15 -24.
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Behold, nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are counted as dust on the scales.
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Behold, he takes us up the coastlands like fine dust.
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Lebanon would not suffice for fuel, nor its feasts enough for burnt offering.
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All the nations are nothing before him.
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They are counted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.
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To whom then will you liken him, or what
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likeness compare with him?
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An idol, a craftsman casts it, as a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts it for silver
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He who is too impoverished for an offering chooses wood that will not
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He seeks out skillful craftsmen to set up an idol that will not move.
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Has it not been told to you from the beginning?
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Have you not understood from the foundation of the earth?
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It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and his
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inhabitants are like grasshoppers.
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He stretches out in the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in.
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He brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as
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Scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth.
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When he blows on them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble.
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The New Testament reading is Acts 22 through 29.
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Up to this word they listened to him.
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Then they raised their voices and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth, for he should not be allowed to
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As they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air, the tribune ordered him
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to be brought into the barrack, saying that he should be examined by flogging, to find out why they were
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shouting against him like this.
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But when they stretched him out for the whips, Paul said to the
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centurion who was standing by, It is not lawful for you to flog a man who is a Roman
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When the centurion heard this, he went to the tribune and said to him, What are you about to do, for this man
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So the tribune came and said to him, Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?
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And the tribune answered, I bought this centurionship for a large sum.
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Paul said, But I am a citizen by birth.
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So those who were about to examine him withdrew from him immediately.
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And the tribune also was afraid, for he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had bound him.
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This being the Fourth of July weekend, I thought we'd look into the word,
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find something relevant for us in this time of celebration.
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So before we look into God's word, let's pray and ask him to open our hearts.
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Father, we come to you now asking that you give us ears
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Lord, I pray for the words that will cross this pulpit,
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that they are consistent with the word of God, that they give us guidance,
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Please, dear Lord, help us to listen carefully.
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We thank you in Jesus name.
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It seems to most of us now that tumult, chaos and near anarchy have overtaken our
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We've seen the death of black men at the hands of the police and others right before our eyes.
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Looting, riots, statues torn down by mobs occupy the nightly news.
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If that's not enough, we've witnessed a sexual revolution unfold in the last few years.
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This revolution just doesn't want to normalize homosexuality and bisexuality.
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It wants to overturn the very idea that gender is a biological fact and is instead
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On top of all that, a pandemic tears at the fabric of our communities, our families and
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And that, too, has led to many too much anger and protests.
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The questions of racial equality, our nation's heritage and history, the right to life or
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the right to abortion, religious freedom, all these things have polarized us in this country.
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So it is that people are moved to activism.
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The annual Right to Life March happens in January and a few weeks later, there's the Women's March.
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Protesters march against racial discrimination and for civil rights.
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Abortion clinics are bombed and businesses are burned down.
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Mobs tear down statues and memes claim we're erasing our history.
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Everyone, no matter where you land on any of those issues, no matter where you land, on one end of the spectrum or the other,
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seem to think that we must act, that it's time for everybody to do something.
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Well, the question is this.
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Is activism in the public arena right or wrong for Christians?
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Is it right or is it wrong?
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Should we get involved in the issues that are tearing apart our country today?
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When is it right and when is it wrong?
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Well, this morning I'd like to build a broad framework from the scriptures that gives us and
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guides us in God -honoring activism in our culture today.
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I think we need to think about these things biblically.
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Here's the first thing I think we need to remember.
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God hates our idolatrous activism.
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God hates our idolatrous activism.
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People have responded in a variety of ways to all the issues that I've just
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There's marches for civil rights.
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There's marches for right to life.
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There's the social media has become one of the major players in how we address these
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things, how we become active.
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There's rioting and looting.
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There's organizing for the purpose of getting control of political parties and all those sorts of things.
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Christians' attempts to do that as well.
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But before we respond to the correctness of these methods, the first and primary
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issue to address is the motive behind it, the issue of the
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We have to talk about the motive behind the activism.
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That's where we need to start.
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We want to save our American way of life or the way of
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life that we think we remember or the way of life that we thought it was like.
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Or we want an America that reaches some free utopian ideal.
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We're afraid of the disintegration of our beloved Western culture and our heritage.
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Or on the other hand, we're given to the point of this culture is evil.
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We believe that if only the truth would get out, if only people would hear the truth,
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there'd be a cataclysmic change in people's hearts.
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More information about discrimination, a better teaching of history would just change everything.
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I remember some years ago a very powerful, at that time, Christian leader
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making the statement that the problem is that the media elites are keeping the truth from getting out.
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If only the truth would get out, then everything would change.
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Then everything would change.
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Listen, God hates many methods because they are
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motivated by idolatrous and unbiblical desires.
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In other words, we place our trust more in a righteous Washington, D
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.C. and in a more godly America than in the living God.
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We put our trust in what's going to happen politically than we do in the living God.
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Or we put our trust in a more diverse police force.
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Or we put our trust in more anti -discrimination legislation.
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The point is that's where we put our trust.
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We say if only we got this legislation passed, then our problems would be solved.
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Or what's really popular now in some cities, if only we defund the police, then our problems would
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Of course, there's the other side.
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Boy, no, if only we'd really ramp up the police, then our problems would be solved.
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But we put our trust in some kind of action.
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We put our trust in the legislation.
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We put our trust in the government.
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We don't put our trust in the living God.
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It's idolatrous, you see?
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One thing we have to remember is that we are subjects of Christ's kingdom first and
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And too often, in our country, we get the two reversed.
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And in fact, what we often do is we, quote, we equate our political views with
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My political views are biblical.
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So let me illustrate it this way.
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Now, I'm not for mobs tearing down statues, okay?
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But let's say it's all done legally and all these Confederate statues come down.
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What's your reaction going to be to that?
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What's your reaction going to be to that?
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That's going to say a lot about your loyalty.
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So let's say you go through the process and the statues don't come down.
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You've got a segment of the population that says to us, you know, when I see those statues, you know what I think of?
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The enslavement, the beating, and the rape of my people.
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On the other hand, someone says, no, no, no, you're erasing our history.
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You're erasing everything that makes America, well, you know, the things that make America
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Whether they come down or whether they stay up,.
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How much emotion do you have about that, right?
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Listen, if they stay up or they come down, can you still serve Christ and his kingdom?
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Can you still advance the kingdom of Christ?
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Right, but you know what we've done?
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We've invested so heavily in those things that that becomes the most important thing.
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We're Americans first, not subjects of the king first.
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I would think that if we were truly subjects of Christ and his kingdom, whether they came
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up or whether they came down, whether they stayed up or whether they came down, it would register some,
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but not as deeply as many as it registers with many.
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It's not, it's not that big of a deal for the kingdom of Christ, all right?
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Now, I can lean one way or the other.
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We can say, well, maybe one's more consistent with the Bible, but let's face it.
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The emotion that's generated by that says something about your heart and your loyalty.
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You know, I don't know, many of you, as I'm looking at this congregation today, I would say
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that nearly all of you were not here when I came here 35 years ago.
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I can pick out about 10 people, all right?
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Some of them too young to even know.
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So you probably don't notice this, when you go to most churches, what do you see on the platform
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You see the Christian flag, whatever that is, and the American flag, don't you?
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You don't see that here, and that's on purpose.
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And it's not because we hate our country.
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It's not that we hate our country.
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That's not the reason at all.
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The reason it's not up here like in most churches is this.
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This is an outpost of the kingdom of Christ.
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We are here as his representatives of his kingdom, not representatives of America.
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And too often, we equate the American way of life with
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And many times, it is not the case.
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And so, we have to remember that we are citizens of Christ's kingdom
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first, American citizens second.
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That may seem radical to some people.
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That may seem entirely, unbelievably radical, but it's true.
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By thinking that the problem is a lack of information, that we haven't taught our history well enough, or we've
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neglected parts of history, where there's just not enough information out there, is to forget that man is
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inherently rebellious and depraved, and it doesn't matter how much information he gets, he still hates what God
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He's still going to be evil.
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You can get all the education you want.
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You may be able to change some outward behavior, but you never change the human heart.
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In all this activism, instead of loving our enemies, we are indistinguishable
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from them because the same fear, mistrust, and even hatred motivate
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We're not known as a people of love.
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We're known as what we're against.
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We're known for our hate.
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We hate the Derek Chauvins, right?
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The policeman who killed George Floyd.
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And we also hate the looters and the rioters.
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That ought not to be the case with Christians.
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We're not motivated by hate.
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The kind of activism that's so characteristic of Christians today is idolatrous and unbiblical and cannot hope
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So we have to look at our motives.
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We have to look at what's going on in our hearts, okay?
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Before we get active, let's see what's going on in our hearts.
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Well, someone says that, amen.
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I've always said that the church should just keep quiet about all these issues that are going on in the culture.
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And to that I would say, no, it's not what I'm saying either, and that's not what the Bible says.
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Turn to Proverbs 24 for a moment.
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Proverbs 24, let's look at
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If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.
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Rescue those who are being taken away to death.
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Hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.
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If you say, Behold, we did not know this, does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?
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Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it?
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And will he not repay man according to his works?
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Here's a command from God.
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We have no choice in the matter.
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When there is injustice, when people are dying, you must be involved.
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We must be the people who get involved.
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Ignorance will not be allowed as an excuse either.
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Doesn't the Lord know it?
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Doesn't he weigh the heart?
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He knows you're not ignorant.
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He knows that you know what's going on, so you must do something.
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In the face, for example, of wholesale slaughter of unborn babies, we need to say something.
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In the face of people dying unjustly, we need to say something.
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We cannot just stand back and not be involved.
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For too long now, Christians have said, you know, those nasty social issues, well, we are going to do what God says
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we ought to do, and so we keep our Bible studies, we keep planning our religious activities, but we don't say anything about what's going on in our
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Now, listen, we are great about saying things about abortion and things like that, but what about these other things?
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What about the loss of life?
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What about a policeman unjustly killing somebody?
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Is that right or is that wrong?
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Should we say something about it?
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We should be horrified and involved when we see someone die by the abuse of power.
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That should horrify us, and we should say something.
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So God causes people to engage their sinful culture.
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He doesn't tell us just retreat and don't be involved at all.
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Now, if God hates unbiblical and idolatrous activism yet demands that we be
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engaged, then what does that look like?
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So we have, God expects us to be involved in a biblical activism.
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God expects a biblical activism from his people.
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What does that look like?
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I think the first place we need to go is 2 Corinthians chapter 10.
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2 Corinthians chapter 10.
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I think this is absolutely foundational bedrock truth we
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If Christians are going to engage our culture, if we're going to be involved in any kind of
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activism, then this is a bedrock principle for us to get a hold of
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and to pay careful attention, okay?
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I'm just going to read verses 10 through 6, and the emphasis is in verses 3 through 5.
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I palm myself and treat you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold
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towards you when I am away.
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I beg of you that when I am present, I may not have to show boldness with such confidence as I count on showing
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against some who suspect us of walking according to the flesh.
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Some people say we just operate like everybody else does.
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For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the
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For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to
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We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take
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every thought captive to Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience when your
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Notice, what does he say?
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He says the philosophy that ought to underlie our activism is this.
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We don't use the same weapons that the world does.
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We do not use the same weapons.
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We ought to fight differently.
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Our temptation is we live in this world, we're in contact with this world, and we have the
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horrible propensity to adopt the weapons of the world, okay?
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So, you know, we say only if we had equal time on media outlets, so that would be it.
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We break the law with tactics of passive resistance.
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We use violence to make the point.
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We think that political power is the way to address the issues, and we fight and we work hard to gain
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the levers of power, right?
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We're involved in a war, but we have to fight with the right weapons.
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We have to fight with the right weapons.
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So we shouldn't be asking, should we be involved in these battles, but rather, am I using the right
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weapons in these battles?
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Well, what are the weapons that we have to use?
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All right, let's talk about that.
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So what are the weapons that we can use if we believe that there are sinful things going on in our
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culture and we need to address them?
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What are some of the weapons that we have to use?
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Now, of course, you know, some of these things fade in your memory.
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When you study and preach through a book,.
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And I remember preaching through 1 Peter 93 to
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They really stick out in my mind.
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So as we look at this, 1 Peter is a book about how do Christians
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What are Christians supposed to do when they're persecuted?
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And the book can be divided from chapter 1 through chapter 2, verse 10.
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This is what God thinks, okay?
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And then from chapter 2, 11, all the way to the end of the book, this is how Christians act.
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Now, chapter 2, verses 11 and 12 is the hinge from this is what God is, this is how
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you need to think, and this is how you need to identify yourselves, to this is what you do.
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Chapter 2, verses 11 and 12 is the hinge that gives us the strategy for the rest of
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Chapter 2, verses 11 and 12.
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Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the
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flesh which wage war against your soul.
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Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable so that when they speak against you as evildoers they
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may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
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First, notice, you've got to look at yourself as sojourners and exiles.
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We are not American citizens first.
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We are sojourners and exiles.
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We are citizens of a country but we come from, our citizenship originates in another country,.
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So we're sojourners, we're exiles, to abstain from the passions of the flesh.
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Right away when you read that, what do you think of?
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Sex, drinking, and all kinds of horrible things.
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But when you read the rest of the book, he hardly talks about those things.
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He talks about, I want to be treated fairly.
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I want to be treated fairly.
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Those are the passions of the flesh.
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I'm going to fight you unless you treat me well.
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Unless you treat me with a certain respect.
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That's what he's talking about.
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So anyway, be careful of those things.
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They wage war against your soul.
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Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable so they can never lay an accusation against you.
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And in that way they may join us when Jesus returns and glorify God.
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Live such lives that no charge can be laid against you.
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What's the first thing then that he picks up in the strategy?
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He talks about three areas of life.
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He talks about the government, your work, and your family.
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And all of them are unbelieving, harsh authorities.
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Government, harsh slave owners, harsh husbands.
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What's the first thing he says to do in all three situations?
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Now folks, can I tell you something?
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That just cuts across our American way of thinking.
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What are you going to do when your government treats you badly?
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What are you going to do when your boss treats you not well?
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What do you do when your husband is harsh?
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All of them are unbelieving authorities in our lives.
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Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme or to
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governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.
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For this is the will of God, that by doing good, meaning what?
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Submitting to this government, you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.
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Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover -up for evil, but living as
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Or you might put in there, honor Nero.
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One of the worst emperors there was.
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Rebellion is not acceptable to God.
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God's people should not be known as lawbreakers.
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That should not be our reputation.
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Well, of course, right away.
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I already know a question you have in your mind.
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I already know what it is.
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So when is it okay to break the law?
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That's always the first thing that jumps.
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It's part of our American way.
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Yep, the Bible says over and over, submit to the government.
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That's the first question that pops up.
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Our question is never, oh my, how should I do that?
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Our first question is, okay, when do we not do that then?
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That's almost always the way it is.
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Well, I'm going to answer the question.
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When then do we break the law?
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Not when the law allows evil.
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Presently, our government says, or it's been interpreted that our constitution says,
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abortion on demand is legal, and it allows it.
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But we cannot break the law because the government allows evil.
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Seems to me the government says, you break the law when it requires us to disobey
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As soon as the government says you can only have one child or two at the most, and then after that you must get
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an abortion, that's another story.
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If it says Jewish people, black people, right,
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we want to get rid of them, turn them over.
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I'm going to break the law because now they're requiring me to break
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You remember in Acts chapter 5, you remember in Acts chapter 5 that
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the apostles were preaching, the Sanhedrin says to them, what?
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Stop preaching in the name of Jesus.
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Do you remember what their response was?
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We must obey God rather than men.
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They were told to not do what Jesus had specifically commanded them to
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So that's when we break the law.
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So we got that out of the way.
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The point is, rebels make poor witnesses for the gospel.
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We should not be known as rabble -rousers, rioters, and rebels.
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That should not be our reputation as Christians.
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Well, someone says, as citizens, can we use the government to achieve some good ends?
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Is there a time when we use the government?
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And the answer is absolutely.
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Here's the story of Paul and Silas and Philippi.
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They've cast out a demon from a girl, a woman, who was telling
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fortunes, and her masters were exploiting her and making tons of money.
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And when Paul and Silas came along, they cast out the demon.
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These guys lost their source of income.
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They were pretty ticked about it.
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And so Paul and Silas were thrown in jail.
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You remember what happened.
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This is when they're singing in prison.
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They're singing in prison.
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And all of a sudden there's an earthquake and everybody's let free, right?
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He's ready to kill himself because he knows his life is on the line.
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And they say, no, no, no!
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And through that, the jailer is converted.
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Now watch what happens in the morning.
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But when it was day, the magistrates sent to the police, sent the police saying, let those men go.
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And the jailer reported these words to Paul saying, the magistrates are sent to let you go.
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Therefore, come out now and go in peace.
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But Paul said to them, they have beaten us publicly, uncondemned men who are Roman citizens
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and have thrown us into prison.
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And do they now throw us out secretly?
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Okay, in that day, everybody born in the empire were not citizens.
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Hardly anybody was citizens.
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That was a really high position to have.
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Now, if you weren't a citizen, the police could take you and beat you and get you to confess to something.
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But if you were a citizen, the law forbade the authorities from beating you to get information.
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In fact, if you were a Roman citizen, a very rare thing, most of the people in the empire were not
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If you were a citizen, you couldn't be thrown in jail without a trial.
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Yeah, if you weren't a citizen, who cares?
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So Paul says, oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
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Well, let's keep reading.
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No, let them come themselves and take us out.
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The police reported these words to the magistrates and they were afraid when they heard that they were Roman citizens.
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So they came and apologized to them and they took them out and asked them to leave the city.
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So they went out of the prison and visited Lydia and when they had seen the brothers, they encouraged them and departed.
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All right, what do you see Paul doing here?
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He's using every bit of the law that he could use.
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He said, you can't do this to us.
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And the magistrates, I mean, they are trembling in their boots.
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They're going to get in big trouble for that, right?
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Now, I don't know why Paul did it, okay?
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Maybe it was to put those guys on alert.
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Maybe it was to offer a sense of protection to the church in Philippi.
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Those folks belong to that guy.
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We don't want to make trouble for them.
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The point is, he used the law, didn't he?
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Look over, you heard today in Acts 22, right?
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Paul's talking in Jerusalem and a riot erupts.
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The tribune in charge of the garrison there in Jerusalem does
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They figure out Paul's the cause of it.
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They haul him into the barracks.
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They're going to beat him.
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And this is how I see it.
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He's kind of looking over his shoulder at the centurion, right?
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And he goes, hey, you in the habit of beating Roman citizens?
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All right, the centurion is like, oh, man.
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Oh, and he runs to the tribune, probably leaves him tied up.
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Goes to the tribune and says, this guy's a Roman citizen.
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The tribune comes back and he says, man, I paid for mine.
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And Paul says, I was born with it, right?
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And then he's shipped off, right?
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The tribune doesn't know what to do with him, so he ships him off to the governor.
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He's shipped off to Caesarea.
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He's in the governor's court, and the Jews come, and they're leveling all kinds of accusations against him.
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They want the Roman government to deal with him, to kill him, essentially.
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And in chapter 25, verse 10, here's what we read.
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But Paul said, Festus is saying, look at verse
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But Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favor, said to Paul, do you wish to go up to Jerusalem and there be
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tried on these charges before me?
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Now he's trying to do the Jews a favor, because they know if they get him to Jerusalem, they can probably kill him.
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But Paul said, I am standing before Caesar's tribunal where I ought to be tried.
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To the Jews I have done no wrong, as you yourselves know very well.
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You know that the charges they're making are wrong.
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He's standing in court, and he's making his point, right?
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Nothing passive about that.
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If then I am a wrongdoer and have committed anything to which I deserve to die, I do not seek to escape death.
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But if there is nothing to their charges against me, no one can give me up to them.
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Then Festus, when he had conferred with his counsel, answered, To Caesar you have appealed, to Caesar you shall go.
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Okay, so he's got a right as a Roman citizen.
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He says, I don't think I'm getting a fair shake here.
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I appeal to the Caesar himself.
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Well, he's got that right.
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And so that's how he ends up in Rome.
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The point is here, yeah, use the government.
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And we ought to say, that's wrong by our laws, don't do that anymore.
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We do have that opportunity.
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If the opportunity is there, take it.
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Note as well that what the government can and what the government cannot do.
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The government, according to 1 Peter 2, can punish evildoers and
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praise those who do good.
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The government cannot change one human heart.
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It can only restrain evil.
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It can only praise those who do good.
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Now, it doesn't do very well on the last part either.
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I mean, frankly, how many times have you gotten a letter from the governor saying, good job, you didn't break the speed limit at all
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But if you do break the speed limit, they're really good at getting you for that.
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So the point is, the government can restrain evil, but it cannot change a human heart.
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I remember cities burning in 1968.
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The city just 30 miles down the road, Milwaukee, was up in flames in 1968 after Martin Luther King
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was assassinated, after Robert Kennedy was killed.
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I was in eighth grade when all that was coming down.
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I remember Supreme Court decisions.
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I remember legislative victories.
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I can tell you about integration.
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I've seen it all in my lifetime.
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And I would say that race relations overall have gotten better.
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When I was a teenager, the KKK was something I read about because it was essentially
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The KKK was not anything.
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By the time I was a teenager, it was essentially dead.
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But along comes Internet and social media, and now, what do you see?
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You see a whole host of white supremacist groups, don't you?
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Again, as a teenager, there wasn't any of that stuff.
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But now, there's real easy means of communication,
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The skinheads up in Idaho can indoctrinate somebody down in Wisconsin.
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And now, we have a whole host of white supremacist groups that we're aware of.
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Is that the fault of the Internet?
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With all the victories that were achieved, racial hatred exists in the human
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And the government can do everything it wants with diversifying police forces, passing
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It cannot stop the hatred of the human heart.
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And so, even after all these years of seeming victories that look like victories, what do we have?
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We still see before our eyes racial hatred.
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Because it's born in the human heart, and the government can't do a thing to change it.
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It can't do a thing to change it.
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So, the first weapon is the use of good citizenship, remembering what the government can and
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All right, let's look at Ephesians 5.
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God's people have to use the weapon of rebuke.
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Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead
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Now, that word expose can be translated rebuke.
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Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather rebuke.
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And I think it means to expose by rebuke.
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Bring out the sinfulness of it, the darkness of it.
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No matter what the evil is, we must rebuke it.
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Some will say nothing about George Floyd's death.
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Some people will say nothing about that.
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But boy, they will get really angry about the rioters and the looters.
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Now, others will loudly denounce George
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Floyd's death and make excuses for the rioters and the looters.
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And part of that is, again, we forget our citizenship.
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If I say something about George Floyd's death, people are going to think I'm liberal.
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They're going to think I'm going soft on the police.
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That's what they're going to think.
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But boy, when the looters come out, we're loud and clear about that.
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On the other hand, you've got some who denounce clearly the death of
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George Floyd and make excuses for the looters.
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Because if I say something about them, then it will look like I don't care
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And the point is, it doesn't matter where you land on the political spectrum.
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You declare that unjust, you declare that unjust.
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Listen, this is something I've learned in counseling.
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It's usually never a question of who's right and who's wrong.
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It's almost always a question of who's wrong and who's wrong.
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And Christians ought to denounce any expression of darkness
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without worrying about what people are going to think about you politically.
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And we denounce justice wherever it is seen.
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And we have the weapon of the law of God.
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We have to proclaim His standards of righteousness.
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Now here's something I think we all ought to do.
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When we talk about these things, we ought to talk about God.
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And say, God says this is wrong.
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God says the death of that man is an affront to God because it destroys
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someone who bears the image of God.
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Not just that was racially motivated, if it was.
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Not just that violates our Constitution.
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This is an affront to God.
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When you burn a business down.
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That is not what God calls justice.
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And we got to talk about the law of God.
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It's just another opinion.
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It's just another opinion.
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We've got to say what God thinks about these things.
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We've got to expose the darkness by talking about the fact that God says it's wrong.
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How do we bring the weapons of truth to bear?
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Well, we've got all kinds of freedoms to do that.
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We can write our government officials.
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We can tell them their responsibility to do what is right and to restrain evil.
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We can write letters to the editor.
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We can make our speeches in the speech class in high school and college.
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We live in a country where the Constitution gives us the right to peacefully protest.
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But whatever we do, we ought to make sure that it's contrary to what God says.
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Otherwise, we're just another opinion.
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Now, you say, but most people aren't going to care whether God says it or not.
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What they think is the definition of right and wrong.
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Without God, there is no right and wrong.
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You're all protesting for nothing.
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At least I've got something that says it's wrong.
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If God's people don't proclaim the truth and confront evil, who will?
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And I think this is the most important.
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This is the last weapon that I'm going to mention.
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Remember, we have different weapons than the world.
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We have different weapons than the world.
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We've talked about good citizenship, realizing what the government can and cannot do.
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We've talked about the weapon of rebuke.
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This is the last one I'm going to mention.
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Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work,
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to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect
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courtesy toward all people.
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For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures,
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passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.
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But when the goodness and lovingkindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of works done by us in
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righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of
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the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being
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justified by His grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
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The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, that those who have believed in
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God may be careful to devote themselves to good works.
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These things are excellent and profitable for people.
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Lastly, we must use the weapon of the gospel.
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Most importantly, this is our most powerful weapon in our arsenal.
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We not only proclaim the law of God, that is, what is wrong and what brings condemnation, but
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we proclaim the gospel of God as well, which brings salvation and which changes human hearts.
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When it comes right down to it, the issues of abortion, euthanasia, racial prejudice,
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riot and looting are heart issues.
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The government can't change a heart, it can only restrain the evil.
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The government can really clamp down on rioters so that they don't get away with it, but there's still going to be riot in
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There's going to be violence in their hearts.
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Abortion expresses the hatred of children, expresses selfishness,
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expresses exactly what Titus says here, lives that are devoted, just given up to passions and
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Racial prejudice expresses hatred of people who are made in the image of God,
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And they must have their hearts changed.
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But God saves us, He renews us, He changes our hearts.
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The law and the government can only restrain sin.
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It can never change the sinner.
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Only the gospel can change the sinner.
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You know, I love God's call to Jeremiah in Jeremiah chapter 1.
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And this is what God said to Jeremiah, Now I have put my words in your mouth.
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See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down,
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to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.
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You know what God says there?
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His word, the gospel, can tear down entire nations and can build
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That's how powerful it is.
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It's interesting to me that Jesus was crucified as a criminal.
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Now I want you to think about this.
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Under the Roman system, you only crucified the worst of the worst.
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So when Jesus is hanging on the cross, 99 of the people that day were looking at
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Him saying, Wow, look at that criminal.
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They didn't say, Wow, look at that magnificent teacher crucified.
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They said, Boy, he must have really done bad things.
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That's how they looked at Him.
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He was unjustly tried, unjustly crucified.
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What changed the Roman Empire in 300 years?
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What turned it upside down?
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It was in political activism.
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It was the message that the one you counted as a criminal is really the Son of God who has been raised from the dead.
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And that's what turned the world upside down.
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You know, I've got sitting on my desk right now a book.
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It's written by this historian who essentially says, he starts out the book by talking
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about how slaves were and how criminals were and how they were treated.
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He said this one guy who was claimed to be a criminal, right, hung on a cross,
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Do you realize that the message that came from that guy are the values that
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dominate Western civilization today?
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Now you say, well, we're losing it.
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Certainly we are, but they still dominate.
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We wouldn't even be talking about civil rights if it weren't for
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It wouldn't even be part of our discussion.
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So you see, the gospel, the gospel is the greatest weapon we have.
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We do more for justice by proclaiming the gospel than anything else that we do.
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So, the fight for justice is not an option for us.
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We have to be involved for God commands it.
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We can't remain inactive, but we have to use the weapons that God gives us, not the
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God helped us to be biblical in our activism, to be people who stand for what's right, who stand for
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justice, but use the weapons that God has given us.
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God, thank you for your word.
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Again, we're thankful for the freedoms that we have today.
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We're thankful that we can freely proclaim the gospel, but Lord, we're well aware of the fact that if we lose
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those freedoms, our citizenship in your kingdom continues, and we can still
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change people by the ministry of the gospel.
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So, help us, Lord, to remember where our citizenship lies, and help us as we live in
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this world and stand for what's right against all that is
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Help us to remember to use the weapons that you have given us.