Politics (Part 2)

No Compromise Radio

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Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

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No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the apostle

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Paul said, "'But we did not yield in subjection to them "'for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel "'would remain with you.'"

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In short, if you like smooth, watered -down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn't for you.

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By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we're called by the divine trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her

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King. Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. Welcome to No Compromise Radio ministry. My name is Mike Abendroth, and today is part two on the subject near and dear to many of your hearts, politics, politics and the

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Christian. I'm going to use my national platform to introduce that I'm running for office.

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That is not true. I don't think I'd get very far. I have no desire to run for political office.

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Now, I do have a desire to be in charge of stuff, run the show.

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Sometimes I do a good job, sometimes I don't. But anyway, last time, here's what we did.

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We didn't do anything except introduce the concept of Romans chapter 13, especially tying it to Romans 3, 4, and 5.

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How do justified people live? If you have a problem with submission, that's the key word in Romans 13.

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That's the word that you need to remember when someone says politics, what I want to pop into your mind is the word submission.

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Not anything else but submission. Oh, if you want to have some righteous indignation, you can.

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If you like to watch Hannity and listen to Rush and listen to or watch

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O 'Reilly, you're going to have angst and anger and anxiety and you're going to waste your time.

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I guess if that's entertainment for you, okay, but I would rather have you do something else with your time.

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And you said, well, you know, sounds like you're a pessimistic premillennialist.

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Well, some people call themselves optimistic amillennialists. Which one are we?

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I don't think it really makes a difference politically unless you're post -millennial. Then it's going to make a difference.

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Hey, some of my favorite people are post -millennial or at least they were John Murray, Lorraine Bettner.

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I'm kind of on the fence with Jonathan Edwards because I think people that imbibe Edwards too much they kind of go off the deep end.

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I think Edwards was smart enough maybe not to go off the deep end, but if you study his stuff and you don't have the faculties of Edwards, then it's easy for you to go off the deep end too.

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That's just my own personal, it's my own personal deal. I like to read

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Machen. I don't think he went off the deep end. I can understand him. I like to listen to S.

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Lewis Johnson. I know we haven't gotten into room 13 yet, but you need to go to Believer's Chapel in Texas, Dallas, Texas, and listen to S.

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Lewis Johnson's old works. I think you'd be very encouraged. I think you'll see the person and work of Christ Jesus in the text as he explains what's going on.

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You'll be encouraged. Okay, well, submission and government. We are a submitting people.

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Everybody has to submit to authority. There's three realms of authority that I can think of off the top of my head.

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The family, of course, Satan attacks that. The government, Satan attacks that.

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And the church, Satan attacks that. And so everyone has to submit to the government.

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Wives and children have to submit to their fathers. And congregations have to submit to their leadership.

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Oh yes, there's some mutual submission involved in relationships, but there's a lot of myth to mutual submission as well.

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You can type up Wayne Grudem's, The Myth of Mutual Submission. But at the end of the day, everybody has to submit.

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And that's a good word for us to learn, to submit. We submit ultimately to the

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Lord God. And if that is true, then are we not supposed to submit to his authorities?

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So if God has an authority for us, aren't we to submit to that authority? The church, yes.

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At home, yes. And in the government, it's the same thing. F .F. Bruce called Romans 13 the most important words written for, quote, the history of political thought.

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If you'd like to study politics, oh, you can. You can go to a variety of Bible passages and study kings and queens and other things.

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But I want you to make sure it starts with Romans 13. Why do I keep talking about submission?

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It says in verse one, "'Let every person be subject to the governing authorities.'"

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Let every person. The NAS says, "'Let every person,' NAS says, "'be in subjection to the governing authorities.'"

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So remember what Paul's doing. Now, this is fascinating. He just got done saying in chapter 12, do not be conformed to this world.

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I don't let it conform you. So if we're not to be conformed to this world, should we pay our taxes?

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Should we? I have to do the quarterly taxes since I think technically I'm self -employed. I get the 1099s, et cetera, et cetera.

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Do I pay my state taxes, county taxes? Should I vote? Didn't Paul write that we were citizens of another land?

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Philippians chapter three, for our citizenship, that's where we get the word politics, same root in both, is in heaven from where we also look for the

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Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. But Paul is going to say justified people, people that are declared righteous based on the work of Jesus Christ ought to submit to their government.

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That's what they ought to do. What's a justified person? Glad you ask.

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Romans three says, but now apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets.

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Thankfully, God comes along and rescues us. God isn't satisfied with anything less than perfect obedience because he's a thrice holy

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God. He doesn't just overlook sin. That would mean that somehow his justice would be damaged, but the just justifies the unjust.

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Romans three goes on to say, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ, for all those who believe, for there's no distinction, for all have sinned point in time and continually or habitually fall short of the glory of God.

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Being justified as a gift by his grace, declared righteous by his grace as a gift through the redemption, which is in Christ Jesus.

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So we are pronounced to be in right standing by God through works of another

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Jesus Christ, not our own works because our works are sinful.

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And so we need to be rescued. Now at the end of chapter 12, there's another little tie in I want you to think about here that's very, very fascinating if you like context.

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Do not be overcome by evil, Romans 12, 21, but overcome evil with good.

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We're not to take vengeance upon people. That is

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God's right. But we temporarily even know that God sometimes exacts justice on earth through the governing authorities.

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Yes, he'll exercise his right in the last judgment, but he doesn't always wait till the very end.

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Oftentimes he uses the government. Nonetheless, Paul says the key idea here is submission.

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Be subject to governing authorities. And that means you. The idea of submission here means when you are a private, you report to the sergeant or the lieutenant or the general or the corporal.

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I don't really know, I mean, Colonel. You can tell I don't know what I'm talking about. My son's into the

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Navy, but I don't know the chain of command. But it is a military chain of command.

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You place yourself under someone else, and it's an imperative. Put yourself in submission to the government.

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Now, it leads to obedience, which is the external, but this is the internal heart attitude.

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This is from which obedience springs, the attitude of compliance.

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Be in subjection, Romans 8, 7. Subjection, 8, 20. Subjection, 10, 3.

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And now be in subjection here as well. So, voluntarily giving in, cooperating, assuming responsibility, carrying a burden, as one commentary online says.

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And we are to do this underneath the governing authorities. Literally those who are, they hold over.

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They can hold something over you. That is, they're an authority. Above, they have something above.

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They have a higher rank. And so the government has a higher rank than you do. And if the private salutes the general, you salute with your obedience, attitude, life, and checkbook, we'll see in just a little bit, to the governing authorities.

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Paul keeps this very, very generic. Why? Because this is going to be a transchronological, trans -everything issue.

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And so, whether you live 2 ,000 years ago, or whether you live 2 ,000 years in the future,

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I don't think there's going to be such a time. But if there were, this is what you do.

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You submit. So, Nazism, fascism, socialism, communism.

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I'm not talking about America right now, or maybe I am. It doesn't mean the ideology is correct.

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It doesn't mean the governments are completely righteous. Of course, it doesn't mean whatever they tell you to do, you have to do because you have to obey the

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Lord first. And if they tell you to sin, you can't sin. But here we are to put ourselves underneath the governing authorities.

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You say, ah, this is an academic exercise. It wasn't for Paul. Paul was regularly thrown in jail.

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It wasn't for Jesus. He's executed on the pretext of treason, John chapter 19.

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Without regard to godliness, submit. Without regard to goodness, submit.

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Without regard to reasonableness, submit. Without regard to lining up with your political party, submit.

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Without regard to morality, submit. Without regard to them being competent or incompetent, ungodly, wicked, or as MacArthur says, any other caveat, we are to submit.

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There are no loopholes here. Yeah, but Paul didn't really suffer too much.

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Well, yes, he did. And the early church was persecuted viciously until 312

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AD. Paul writes Romans 13 after Acts 16.

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Acts 16, 37, it says, but Paul said to them, they have beaten us in public without trial, men who are

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Romans and have thrown us into prison. And now they are sending us away secretly. No, indeed, but let them come themselves and bring us out.

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You are to submit to the government. How does it show itself? Give me some reasons why

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I should. Well, my name is Mike Abendroth and I'll do that in just a minute. Let me just give you the tagline here, WVNE 760.

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This is no compromise radio. You can go to nocompromiseradio .com. You can go to the

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Twitter, No Compromise for updates. You can go to Facebook. Even if you don't have

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Facebook, just type in Facebook, No Compromise Radio. You don't even have to have an account. You can't interact, but you can look at.

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You can listen online there. You can go to iTunes, No Compromise Radio, and pull those up. Or you can go to bbcchurch .org

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and there's probably a link there. I wanna make sure you know that Pat Abendroth is coming for a

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Bible conference to Bethlehem Bible Church here in Massachusetts this October 4th, 5th, and 6th, 2013.

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And you can sign up online. Friday night, men's sessions only. Pat's going to address the men.

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And then we'll do a Q &A. Both Pat and I will answer the questions. Then Saturday, open to all, the conference is entitled

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Behold the Lamb. And Pat will preach Behold the Lamb, John 1, session one.

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Session two, I'll preach Worthy is the Lamb, Revelation chapter five. And then Pat will preach

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Salvation Belongs to the Lamb. That's from the book of Revelation as well. Then he'll preach both services,

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Sunday morning, October 6th. So we'd love to have you come and you can,

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I don't know if we're the sons of thunder or not. Maybe in my mind, I wanna be the sons of thunder. I'll have Pat on before that as well, sometime here in the fall on No Compromise Radio.

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That is to say, we're still on the air. We're coming up, by the time you hear this, this is going to be aired in August, 2013.

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Our contract is up at the end of August. And so this, by the time you hear this, it'll be our 48th month.

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So let's see, how many shows do we do? I gotta get my pencil out here for a second. If we do 250 shows per year, does that seem to be about right?

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Let's say that's on average 250 times four. That is one, you gotta do more than 250, don't you?

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365, okay, well, let's just say 250 anyway, because there's 52 weeks, five days, zero, carry the one, 260, 260 a year, times four equals four, carry the two, 1040.

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Hey, there you go, 1040. Works out perfect because the Bible's gonna teach us in Romans 13 to pay our taxes.

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See how that all comes around? See, that's a sign. That's a sign that this has got the double anointing.

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I see the clouds coming over. That means maybe the sign is being revoked. So anyway,

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Pat's gonna be here at the end of August and we will see after 1 ,000 shows, what do you do?

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I don't know what you do. I don't think we run out of topics because the Bible is, A, so rich and full, of great ideas and people are so wacky.

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There's plenty of stuff to talk about on No Compromised Radio. And by the way, did you notice today's been a positive, encouraging,

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Caleb, no broken woundedness going on here? Did you notice that? I've been nice, haven't called out anybody, haven't bashed, haven't been known for what we're for, not what we're against.

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See how that works? Isn't this nice? Everybody's nice. It's nice to be nice and it's good to be good.

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Hey, speaking of Pat Ebendroth, we, No Compromised Radio and Omaha Bible Church and Bethlehem Bible Church are going to Israel, not next year, 2014, but February, 2015.

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And we're going to be going over to Israel with an extension to Jordan.

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If in fact, Petra is open at the time, there's no Syria bombing over there or something, who knows what's going on.

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If you'd like to go with us, we have a bus. I think we have 52 slots for two churches in No Compromised Radio.

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And so once those 52 slots are filled, they are filled. So stay tuned, start saving your shekels now.

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You will love to go. And we'll be teaching at the sites there in Israel. And when you listen to Pat, you just close your eyes and think it's the secondary.

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All right. Submission is the key attitude for the Christian when it comes to government.

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Helpfully, Paul includes some other information. He could have just stopped there. He says in chapter 13, verse one, he goes on to say, for there's no authority except from God.

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All authority, this will help you, all authority, all government, the

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Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the, let's see, I'm from Nebraska.

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Everybody has a bicameral, except Nebraska, is that right? Unicameral. Every governing authority is from God.

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There's no authority except from God. God is sovereign, and this was his idea.

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Sovereignty of God is the key. All authority is from God. Proverbs 8, by me, kings reign, and rulers decree justice.

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By me, princes rule, and nobles, all who judge rightly. Daniel 2, verse 21, it is he,

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God, who changes the times and the epics. He removes kings and establishes kings.

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He gives wisdom to wise men and knowledge to men of understanding. Daniel 5, verse 21, talking about Nebuchadnezzar.

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He was given grass to eat like cattle, and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven until he recognized that the

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Most High, El Elan, rather, sounded better the first time, but it was wrong.

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God is ruler over the realm of mankind and that he sets over it whomever he wishes.

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Remember earlier in Romans, Romans chapter nine, Paul quotes God telling Pharaoh, I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.

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A quote from Exodus chapter nine, verse 16. All authority is from God, whether that's

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President Obama, Nero, Cyrus, President Reagan, or anybody else.

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Remember what Pilate said to Jesus, do you refuse to speak to me? Do you realize,

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Jesus said, I have the power either to, excuse me, Pilate said, do you realize that I have the power either to free you or to crucify you?

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Jesus answered, you would have no authority, same word used in Romans 13, over me, unless it had been given you from above.

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For this reason, he who delivered me up to you has the greater sin, John 19.

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What does this mean? If authority comes from God, rebellion against authority is rebellion against God.

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You can't submit to God more than you can submit to the government. I could say the same thing, you can't submit to God more than you can submit to the elders of the local church.

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If you're a child or a wife, you can't submit to God more or less than you can submit to your own husband.

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They're linked together because the authority is given by God, no authority except from God.

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So when you buck against the system and you become a revolutionary at home, feminist at home, when you become a revolutionary when it comes to the government or an anarchist at church, it's against God.

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I was convicted one time by Scott Artavanis who was a friend of mine at Grace Church when he was the high school college pastor,

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I don't know which one he was, but he was one of those two. He's pastoring now someplace in California. And I was telling him that I was having a hard time,

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I was in seminary and I was being selfish regarding my wife and not a good leader and thinking about stepping down from seminary just to try to get my house in order, my life in order.

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And he convicted me as we talked about this very thing. Can my relationship with the

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Lord be disattached from the relationship with my wife?

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If my relationship with my wife isn't right, can my relationship with the Lord be right?

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That was his point. It was when the library was down in the basement of the

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J building, it's no longer there at Master's Seminary, they have their own building for their own library.

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And I got to think about that because I thought my relationship with the Lord was good. I was doing my own study, my own quiet time, my own prayer time, my own seminary time, but then there was a disconnect with my wife.

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And so these are linked together. My love of and for and toward in an agape way, my wife is linked to my relationship with the

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Lord. If I'm not loving my wife well, then I'm not loving the Lord well.

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See how that works? So here too, you say, well, I'm a Christian man, but I'm anti -government.

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I'm a justified man, but I'm going to start, you know, to disobey the law, even when

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I don't have to, that is to say, there's a time to disobey. And when God says you've got to kill your third,

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I mean, when the government says you've got to kill your third child or second child, if it's a girl or something like that, similar to China, then you're not going to do it.

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You're going to just take your lumps afterwards. But civil disobedience, revolutionaries, it doesn't work when it comes to submission.

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Why? Because you're a justified person and God expects you to do what he says.

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And that's just the lot for you in life. We are meant to submit. We are meant to be under.

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And so every authority is from God. How are you doing in that area, by the way?

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How are you doing in that area? If you read 1 Timothy 2, verses one and following, it will be helpful to pray for those.

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It's easier to stomach some of this stuff that's going on. This whole abortion debacle.

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You can think that the immigration reform is dumb, it's unwise, it's illegal.

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You can think about all that, but this abortion issue and the homosexuality issue, you can say this is ungodly, but you still pay your taxes.

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We're going to look at that for next week. You still have to pay your taxes, even though the government uses those taxes to give day after pills and RU -486 and subsidizing all kinds of horrible things.

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Because we submit to God, the government will have to answer to God, the individuals in the government, one day.

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Well, my name is Mike Abendroth, this is No Compromise Radio. We're not so far into the lesson, but we're going to continue this.

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Politics and the Christian. Yes, we have our citizenship in heaven, but we have responsibilities to the government on earth today.

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And that is summed up in one word, that hated word that people hate to say even at weddings, submission.

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But that is the lot for people in a local church, in governments, under governments.

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My name is Mike Abendroth, No Compromise Radio. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

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Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church, firmly committed to unleashing the life transforming power of God's word through verse by verse exposition of the sacred text.

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Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at six. We're right on route 110 in West Boylston.

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You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

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The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE its staff or management.