Examining The Issues

Let's turn to 1st Timothy chapter 2, 1st Timothy chapter 2, and the title of this morning's message is

Examining the Issues. I thought about a few other titles, like Should Christians Vote?

Let me just say this, the fact that God is in control, the fact that God is sovereign, that is the one thing that gives me peace no matter what happens this

November. So we're going to be talking about the election, but it's not so much about politics, it's about the fact that political issues are often moral issues.

So I want to examine some of these things in light of what God's word says. Here at this church we always try to be biblical in all things, so first we have to ask, what does the scripture say about government and politics?

The bible is certainly not silent, the bible is always relevant, and we are told in 1st

Thessalonians 5 .21 to test all things and hold fast to that which is good, so that's what

I want to do. Churches have a right, if not an obligation, to address the issues of our day.

So let's try and do that, and we'll see that according to 1st Timothy 2, 1 -4, the first and most basic obligation towards government and political leaders is that we are to pray for them.

1st Timothy 2, 1 -4, Paul writes, therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings, and all who are in authority, that we might lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.

For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.

Do you believe that God wants to save all men? Do you believe that God wants to save the two candidates?

I believe so. But we see here that it's very simple, clear instruction, we should pray for all who are in authority.

We also see in the Bible, because there's people who think that, well, a pastor should never, ever, ever talk about politics, but if you look at the

Old Testament, so much is said about the kings of Israel, right? The prophets who were preachers had all sorts of different things to say about the political rulers of their day, so I think it is a fine, if not required at times, to address these types of things.

We also have statements in the book of Proverbs, you can just take a note of this, Proverbs 29, verse 2 says, when the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice, but when a wicked man rules, the people groan.

And Proverbs 14, 34 says, righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.

And then you have in the New Testament, so not only in the Old Testament are the prophets addressing political rulers, you have in the

New Testament, both John the Baptist and Jesus, they had things to say about Herod, and Herod was the political ruler of the land, and they had plenty of things to say to the

Jewish leaders, right, the Sanhedrin, the scribes and the Pharisees. So even though back then state and church were intertwined, as we might say, not a lot was said about the

Romans, though, right, you don't really see the apostles talking, and I'm all, I'm justifying my sermon as of this moment, as you can tell, but the apostles and Jesus really didn't say a whole lot about Rome, did they?

I mean, Caesar was very wicked, but they didn't really say much about Rome because Rome was a pagan empire, it really had not a lot to do with the faith, so they didn't address it.

So here's my point, no matter who you vote for, no matter who is running this election, last election, every election, the candidates claim to be

Christians, did you know that? That both candidates, this time around, just like last time, just like the time before that, always, they claim to be

Christians. Also, in this country, even though we do have a so -called separation of church and state, we still profess to be a nation under God, right?

And no matter who is voted in, they always get sworn in by putting their hand on a

Bible. So they're giving at least lip, you say, well, I don't really buy it, I don't think they're really believers.

Well, listen, they're giving lip service to God, at the very least, and this is a nation under God, according to our own leaders.

Therefore, I think we have the right, as Christians, to examine what they're saying, and what they're supporting.

So what I'm gonna do in this message, I'm gonna try to go over as fairly as I can some of the key issues in this election.

We'll see where each candidate stands, based on their own words, and then we'll look at what the

Bible says, and we'll just see, is this candidate lining up, is this candidate lining up?

So here are a few of the top issues in this year's election. This is what all the polls say, that the number one issue, normally, the number one issue is the economy.

And we're gonna talk about that a little bit, but everyone says that this year, the number one issue is what?

Abortion. Everybody says that, the news agencies, the candidates themselves, some of them.

They say number one, it's about abortion. What else? Well, crime, immigration, where do you stand on the war?

There's two wars, really, there's the war in Ukraine, and then the whole issue of Israel, and as Christians, we care about what's happening in Israel, so there are a few other topics that we won't get to everything, but there's two wars going on, one in Israel, one in Ukraine, and there's a variety of other things, but one thing

I noticed that is not on the ballot, one thing that nobody is talking about, it was an issue 10 years ago, 15 years ago, what is absent?

Nothing about the sanctity of marriage. Let's turn to Matthew chapter 19, we'll get to the other issues in a moment, but Jesus was very clear about this subject, and really, all people in nearly every culture, everyone was clear on this subject for the first 6 ,000 years of human history.

Right up until recently, people understood, everywhere, you didn't have to tell them that marriage was between one man and one woman for life.

That is the ideal, that is what God's word says. Now, people haven't always followed the ideal, we realize that, but ever since day one, this has really been the bedrock of human civilization, so even though, well actually, both candidates have something to say about it, but let's look at what

Jesus says. Matthew 19, verses 3 through 6, says the Pharisees also came to him, testing him, and saying to him, is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?

And he answered and said to them, have you not read that he who made them at the beginning made them male and female?

And said, for this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.

So then, they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let not man separate.

So we see the clear biblical teaching that marriage is between one man and one woman.

So where do the candidates stand? Where do the political parties stand on this issue?

It used to be that the Democrats were advocating for so -called gay marriage, and the

Republicans were against it. That's the way it used to be. Today, however, the

Republicans have essentially given up on this issue. Donald Trump was actually the first president elected who ran on the platform of being pro -gay marriage.

So basically, the Republicans today, they stand where the Democrats stood about 20 years ago.

So neither side, here's the point, on this issue, neither side is really upholding the biblical standard.

However, the Democratic Party has now taken this even further, and now they are supporting what is called transgenderism, you know, quote -unquote.

And to be fair, many Republicans are supporting this as well. Fox News, for example, used to have

Bruce Jenner, supposedly Caitlyn Jenner, as a political commentator. So to be fair, neither side is upholding what

God's word says. However, the progressive candidate, Harris, she seems to be pushing this idea of transgenderism.

So Trump, his position, he seems to be pushing back on that. So the

Republicans have basically caved in to the Democrat agenda, except for these two areas.

Donald Trump does not like this being pushed on children, and he doesn't support men playing in women's sports.

And Harris is the more, you know, the stronger advocate for these things, clearly. But the point is, neither side is upholding the biblical standard on this issue.

So this is probably the big, it's been the big controversial issue of our time.

And since we touched on that, we might as well touch on the next big controversial issue. And this used to be how evangelicals would vote, right?

I mean, I'm not saying that this is, you know, my philosophy just for, and although it was, but a lot of people, a lot of Christians would vote for the pro -life candidate, you know, whoever was holding the line on the sanctity of marriage.

But there's been a lot of compromise. So this next issue of abortion, this is maybe, as they're saying, the number one issue of this year's election, where do the candidates stand?

Well, I'll read an article I pulled offline. According to the bbc .com,

Kamala Harris has made abortion rights central to her campaign, and she continues to advocate for legislation that would enshrine reproductive rights nationwide.

So this is a pro -abortion platform, or as they would call it, pro -choice.

Donald Trump, however, considers himself a pro -life candidate. And with his appointments to the

Supreme Court, the article says Roe versus Wade was overturned.

However, Donald Trump has said that he would veto any national ban on abortion, and he prefers to leave it up to the states.

And although Donald Trump identifies as pro -life, he generally supports a woman's right to an abortion within the first trimester.

So again, you see maybe one side is more pro -life than the other, but both have essentially ceded to the issue and support abortion.

Now, what does the Bible say about this? Let's turn to Psalm 139. And again, I understand there's at least a few people sitting here or listening, and you say, well,

I just don't think you should even bring up their names. Or I don't think you should bring up political parties,

Democrat, Republican. You know, and that's your opinion, and that's fine. You're entitled to your opinion.

You know, maybe you're right. Maybe that would be the better approach. Again, I would just say this, that Jesus really didn't have any compunctions about that.

He would pretty much tell it like it was. The apostles would address the political rulers of Israel.

They weren't, hey, don't, hey, Paul or Peter, don't mention the Pharisees. You know, a lot of people support the

Pharisees. Don't mention them. Did they listen to that? No, I mean, they just spoke truth to power.

So that's why I've chosen to do it. That's what I see in the Bible. And as you know, I normally don't get into this stuff, but I think this is important that Christians be aware.

So what does the Bible say about abortion? Psalm 139. The Bible says, for you formed my inward parts.

You covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Marvelous are your works. I hear a lot of pages turning. So Psalm 139, 13.

Did I give you the reference? Okay, Psalm 139, 13 through 16. What's he saying?

He's talking about the baby in the womb is a human life.

That's clearly what is being stated. Verse 15. My frame was not hidden from you when

I was made in secret and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance being yet unformed.

And in your book, they were all written. The days fashioned for me when as yet there were none of them.

So you say, well, the Bible never addresses abortion. Well, a lot of people would say it does in the commandment thou shall not kill.

A lot of people would say that. Also, there's a teaching in the book of Exodus.

Basically, Exodus 21 talks about if a pregnant woman is harmed, let's say two men are fighting and something happens.

There's an accident and a pregnant woman is injured. If she loses the baby, the man who harmed her is to pay with his life.

The point being that according to scripture, the child in the womb is a child.

It is a human being. So unfortunately, although one side is maybe better than the other, both essentially support a woman's right to choose as they call it.

So not a lot of great options so far, but we'll continue.

Now, I know, again, I'm not going to make people happy because some people want me to come up and say, hey, here's why you should vote for Trump.

Like some people want me to preach that sermon, right? One church actually did that. And there was some organization that reported them to the government and they want them to lose their 501c3 tax status.

And they want them to get into all sorts of trouble. And yet there was a church just a week or two ago that actually had

Harris preach from the pulpit. She actually, I think, preached the sermon from Galatians.

And do you think they reported that church? No. That's kind of what bothers me is just the double standard.

Okay, and that's a whole other issue. But there is a massive double standard in this country.

And the Bible speaks against unequal weights and measures. It's just not right.

All right, the next issue, the war in Ukraine. You say, well, the

Bible doesn't say anything about the war in Ukraine. Listen, obviously, the Bible isn't going to specifically address 21st century issues, but it does address the broader subject, right?

There are principles in scripture that apply to everything that's going on today. So I think we can look at this.

Here's what Harris has vowed. She has vowed to support Ukraine for as long as it takes.

So in other words, Kamala Harris wants to support the war and to keep fighting as long as it takes to win.

Donald Trump has vowed to end the war as soon as possible. He claims if elected, he would end the war in Ukraine within the first 24 hours through a negotiated settlement.

Now, whether or not that's possible is another story, but that's what they have said.

A clear distinction. One candidate wants to keep the war going as long as possible and win.

And the other candidate says, no, I want to stop it as soon as possible.

Now, what does the Bible say about war? Well, contrary to popular belief, the

Bible is not against war. For example, Ecclesiastes 3 verse 8 says, there is a time to love and a time to hate, a time of war and a time of peace.

Now, just because war can be justified at times, it doesn't mean that we want war.

Matter of fact, I suspect most people don't want war. So really the question is, is the war justified?

Well, here's the thing about the war in Ukraine. It's really a proxy war between the

United States and Russia. That's really what it is. Ukraine is the proxy for the

United States. And the war wouldn't exist without us involved. Without us,

Ukraine would have lost, I'm sure, a long time ago. Because we're funding the war, we've spent over $40 billion so far and counting.

So Harris, again, wants to keep fighting until we win. Trump, on the other hand, he prefers the

U .S. to disentangle itself from conflicts around the world. His policy has been described as America first.

He says he wants to take that money that's going to Ukraine and use it to help veterans and use it to help people here in the

United States. Now, I will comment on that, but that just makes more sense. America first seems obvious.

Obviously, we should take care of our own. Now, you love your family, right?

You're going to take care of your own children. Do you love the children next door? Yes.

Should you look out for the children next door? Yes. But your responsibility is to your own children.

So you take care of them first, and then you can help your neighbors next door.

So I think that's, again, that's common sense. That should be the way the United States handles things.

But unfortunately, we're not. Now, what about the war in Israel? Harris claims to be a supporter of Israel.

Every U .S. president says they support Israel and their right to exist.

But according to ABC News, Harris has been a longtime advocate for a two -state solution between the

Israelis and the Palestinians. So Harris wants to broker peace by essentially convincing

Israel to give up some of their land so that there can be an establishment of a

Palestinian state. Now, as evangelicals, we often have strong feelings about the land of Israel, that that belongs to who?

God gave the land to Abraham and his descendants. Now, when they're living in disobedience, they may not be enjoying the blessings of living in the land, but God did give the land to them.

So she supports a two -state solution. Donald Trump, I haven't found too much information on this, so I don't know if he supports that or not.

What does seem to be clear is Donald Trump tends to be, or is considered, the most pro -Israel president in modern history.

A lot of politicians have promised to move the U .S. embassy to Jerusalem, which sort of seems like a symbolic act, like moving the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

But why didn't leaders want to do that? Because Jerusalem is disputed.

The Muslims claim to own Jerusalem. So by moving the embassy, that's like the United States recognizing that Jerusalem belongs to the

Jews, and that's why they didn't want to do that. But Donald Trump did, in fact, move the embassy.

So he is a strong supporter of the nation of Israel. Let's turn to Genesis chapter 12.

But to be fair, both candidates would claim they believe, and they probably do believe, that Israel has the right to exist.

But it is important to have a president who is a staunch supporter of Israel.

Why is that? Because, again, evangelicals believe there is a blessing that comes along with standing behind God's covenant people.

Look at Genesis 12, one through three. Now, the Lord has said to Abram, get out of your country, from your family, and from your father's house to a land that I will show you, and I will make you a great nation.

I will bless you and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing. And here's the important part in verse three.

God says to Abraham, and by extension, this applies to his descendants,

I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

So this is the beginning of the history of the nation of Israel. And it's believed that by supporting

Israel, we, as a result, can receive some of God's blessing, as opposed to those nations who oppose

Israel, right? We all know those groups, the Amalekites, you know, the Canaanites, they wanted to destroy the

Israelites. And what happened to all those people groups? They're gone, but the Jews are still here.

Hitler tried to annihilate the Jews. Well, the Nazis, Hitler, they're gone.

But you know what? There's still another group right now who wants to eliminate the Jewish people. They're called

Hamas and Hezbollah. And if you give the Palestinians... We have to recognize that there's a lot of Palestinians.

They're just regular people like us. They're caught in the middle, especially women and children, and we're not against them at all.

But if Palestine gets their own state, Hamas and Hezbollah, they're going to be the ones running things.

That's what we need to understand. That two -state solution is just a recipe for a disaster moving forward.

And really, the peace isn't going to stop until Jesus comes back anyways. But you never want to be on the other side of Israel.

You never want to be a persecutor of the Jews. So I think support for Israel is important.

All right, the next issue at hand. So far, no one's thrown any tomatoes. I considered that...

I tried to find a joke or two to sort of lighten things. And all the jokes are kind of, you know, mean.

And I can't repeat any of these. One joke, it mentioned how

Donald Trump had opened a cheese factory. Did you hear about this? He wanted to make

America great again. G -R -A -T -E. That's pretty bad.

But it's the only joke I could really say that wasn't mean and nasty. So... Yeah.

So the next position is on crime. Here's how the BBC framed it.

Harris, let's see. Harris has tried to contrast her experience as a prosecutor with the fact that Trump has been convicted of a crime.

Trump has vowed to demolish drug cartels, crush gang violence, and rebuild democratic -run cities that he says are overrun with crime.

And Trump has branded himself the law and order candidate. Here's what the

Bible does say about crime. Unfortunately, progressive judges are...

Well, because whoever's president nominates judges, a lot of judges. And progressive judges, this is just a fact, they let criminals go at a much higher rate than conservative justices.

So law and order, I think, is preferable. So Romans 13 verse 4 says about governing authorities, for he is

God's minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain.

The fact of the matter is, and this is true probably for both sides, but America has gone way too soft on crime.

There are places where people can go into a store, and if they steal less than a thousand dollars, they get let go or not even prosecuted.

We have moved away from God's word, certainly. So that's the issue of crime, and I only have a few minutes left, so I have to go through these quick.

But notice this, and this isn't going to be popular either, but notice it says, for he, the governing authorities, for he is

God's minister to you for good. He, not she.

I say, pastor, are you really going in this direction? Yes, I am. Where did we start out?

Where did we start out in 1 Timothy chapter 2? You don't have to go back there. And listen,

I would vote for a woman. If it was between a woman who is upholding godly principles versus the communist,

I'd vote for the woman all day long. But what does God's word say in 1

Timothy chapter 2? 1 Timothy 2, 12, it says, Paul says about leaders in the church,

I do not permit a woman to teach nor to have authority over a man, but to be in silence.

Again, not one of the more popular verses in the Bible. But what's the point of that?

The apostles following, because Jesus appointed 12 men to be apostles.

That's just the way it happened. So the apostles are saying that women are not to be in authority over men.

Granted, that's the context of the local church, that the local church should not be run by females.

But if that's true, if the Lord doesn't want females running the local church, does he really want them running a country?

I don't know, you tell me. I know a lot of people won't like that, but I do believe it's biblical.

I didn't think it was biblical, I wouldn't say it. A few other issues that we don't have time for. The border, okay?

The border is one of those big, big controversial issues going on today.

And there's a lot of disinformation out there. Some people, like one side says, we have open borders.

And then the other side says, no, the borders are sealed or closed. It's like, well, they both can't be true.

Obviously, though, when you see them, when you see a massive amount of immigrants moving in to Greenfield and all the surrounding towns, clearly there is a mass influx of Haitians and whatnot.

And we don't want anyone to misunderstand. If I were living in Haiti, if I were living in Mexico, I would want to come here too.

I don't fault the people, but can we afford to just let millions and millions of people flood in?

Many of them are coming illegally. And by the way, Romans 13, speaking of Romans 13, says you are to obey the governing authorities.

It's not happening. The people in Washington, D .C. are just not following the laws.

They're the ones who make the laws. They don't even follow the law. They look for loopholes. And we're getting millions and millions of people coming into this country.

The bottom line is we can't afford it. You might have noticed that your electric bill has gone up 30%, 40 % from last year.

Why do you think that is? Because all the people that come here are getting all this free stuff. Guess who's paying for it?

You are. And I'll just close with this last issue of the economy. As somebody once said, this was back in 2007, 2008, when they were talking about the election.

And what are the biggest issues? What did they say? It's the economy, stupid, right?

That's kind of the statement that keeps getting brought up. So where do each candidate, where do they stand on the economy?

Well, here's the thing. This is easy because you can test one of them because one of them has been vice president for the past four years.

So this is your homework. On the way home, whether you're driving home alone, maybe you're going to eat lunch with someone, friend, family member.

You drive home with your spouse. Just talk amongst yourselves.

Was the economy better from 2016 to 2020 or has the economy been better 2020 to 2024?

Was the economy better then or is the economy better now? What you conclude is which side is better on the economy.

And here's why the economy matters because someone will definitely say this. Well, the Bible doesn't say anything about the economy and whatnot.

Well, I think it probably does. Bible, again, has something to say about everything. The Bible does care about the poor, right?

The apostles cared a lot about the poor. The apostle Paul said, you know, I had a great heart to help the poor.

And this is the thing with the economy. When the economy is bad, it hurts everybody.

Do you think a bad economy hurts the millionaires and billionaires? No, it doesn't.

Who does it hurt the most? It hurts. Well, it probably hurts the middle class a lot, but it hurts the poor.

People that are poor feel it the most. People who are kind of on the margin. They're just getting by.

And then there's massive inflation to pay for the war in Ukraine. And all of these things have a snowball effect.

People can't pay their bills. They can't get by. They go into a state of depression or despair.

That has an effect on their children. It snowballs, and you get the idea.

So in conclusion, I would only say this. I would say it's very important that Christians vote.

There's some stat. I don't know if it was 30%. I've heard different numbers. But one stat as high as 40 % of Christians do not vote.

Well, if that's true, if it's 40%, then in some ways, it's sort of our fault.

People have said, you get the government you deserve. Well, it's important that we vote, number one.

You have to vote based on your conscience. You need to look at God's word.

As a Christian, look at God's word. Look at the issues. Pray about it.

Pray that God would give you peace. Who to vote for. And then the last point,

I would just say, remember, God is in control. That's not just something we repeat again and again here at Morris Corner Church.

It really is true. The providence of God is that hand guiding human history.

No matter what happens, God is sovereign and he will continue to bless his people.

But we have been given a privilege to vote. And I pray that each one would vote based on the