All right, we're not used to night church. But back where I come from we do night church, so, good to see everyone, see a lot of unfamiliar faces as well as the familiar so welcome if this isn't normally your church home. I'm not sure if you have your Bibles, but we'll be using them so, yeah, all right.

Let me pray before I do anything else.

Father, we have many needs in our nation as a church, this world. Lord, we know that you are sovereign, we know that your Son Jesus Christ is the King of kings and Lord of lords, and we believe that. At various times it's hard to keep from being anxious or concerned. But Father, we're asking that you would give us wonderful confidence in your overall plan, wonderful confidence in the Scriptures that you’ve spoken, wonderful confidence in prophecies that you've already fulfilled so that we can trust you for what happens in the future. Lord, we are a dependent people and we're dependent on you. Not even on a president, king, prime minister, legislative branch, judicial branch. We're dependent on you. And Father, I pray that you give us wisdom as we look at your word as to what this nation looks like, what it should, and really what our response should be as well. We pray this in your Son's name. Amen.

I want to start by just kind of giving you a little personal history. I grew up in northern California. I grew up in the Central Valley farmland. Good old Central Valley, California, USA, and I grew up a very proud, very proud citizen of this country. Love this nation. And love it so much that I desired, growing up, to go into government or politics to some regard whether that was running myself or running campaigns or working for a legislature. I didn't know what, but I just enjoyed the whole process and the freedom that we had to choose those who would govern us from among ourselves.

I enjoyed the whole process and really was turned on to a love of government by my U.S. history teacher and government teacher Mr. T. Wasn't the Mr. T of the movies, but another one. I just had a love for our nation, the government. I had family members, like many of you have, that have a (did I do something wrong, no? Okay.) have family members that served in the armed forces like many of you had. And I was grateful for their sacrifice, their training, what they're ready to do. Grateful for people who serve in the military and put fans on. So as Jeff does. But I grew up with that desire and those loves, went to university and studied political science in order to try to see what maybe I could do to learn more about how our government works and how I could be of influence. I graduated from college and went to a Christian school to teach Government, Economics, and U.S. History and loved it.

But I was saved around that time, and the Lord changed my heart. Still love this nation, love government, loved all the whole process, loved all of it, but the Lord began to give me a heart for his people, his church, and I realized in teaching those classes I really love to teach. I like studying, preparing. I used to get excited my first couple years of teaching—of teaching the lesson on how a bill becomes a law. I thought it was fascinating—whether the students did or not, I thought it was fascinating. I just love all of that.

As I grew in the Lord, I came to this realization that people don't change because I make a political argument. People change because you bring the gospel to someone and their heart is turned upside down and becomes new and their whole life changes. In that sense, they don't need a political argument. They need truth from heaven itself. So while I grew in this love for teaching and explaining things, I started to teach less and less of government and more and more Bible. And at a Christian school we were allowed to do some little devotions before our classes. Well, I knew that I was in trouble as a U.S. government teacher when my devotions became forty-minute sermons, and I tried to get through how a bill becomes a law in five minutes. That wasn't fair to the students or the families paying those tuitions. So, along with others from my church, we had determined that I believe that I'm called to ministry, and not as a U.S. government teacher or political consultant or anything like that.

Also, in my previous life, I did work on some campaigns, served as the political consultant on a couple of California state assembly races. So, all that to say, I love our country. I love what we get to do. I love the influence that we can have. I'm concerned for our country in many responses, but I come today along with the elders behind me, really not as a statesman politician or anything like that but just as pastors, pastors to Christians, pastors to Christians who maybe need a Biblical response as to what's going on. I think there's a lot of anxiety around and I do not believe Christians are called to be anxious no matter if it's President Obama or Nero or anybody in between. We're not called to be anxious, because there is one King of kings and Lord of lords and he just hasn't come back yet, but that doesn't mean he's not in charge.

And so we don't want to be anxious, and we want to look at the Scriptures to see what they say about a number of issues facing us. So this is going to be over a couple nights, as you know. We'll go probably until 7:15 tonight. I don't know when or where in my notes I'll stop, but at some point I'll just kind of land the plane abruptly and we'll say, "See you next Sunday night." I've got a lot of notes and we'll just kind of plow along, so have your Bibles ready and we'll get going.

You know, every year it's customary that the President goes to the U.S. House Chamber and delivers the State of the Union address to both houses of Congress: the Senate and the House of Representatives. And Presidents aren't obligated to go and do that; they're obligated to do that. And many times they went and they would write the State of the Union in letter form and send it to the government, but recently in the era of television and all those good things, they would go and make a show of it and do it publicly, which I think is great. But in a sense, we're doing the same thing today but from a Biblical perspective. We're going to talk about the State of our Union from the Bible's perspective—not a Republican's perspective, not a Democrat's perspective, not a Conservative or a Liberal's perspective. What does the Bible say about how we should be thinking? So I want to give you maybe some things to know before we jump in.

First of all, we are a local church here. What does that matter? Our elders have been given the delegated charge to shepherd our people, our sheep. We're not here to shepherd all Christians. We're called to shepherd our sheep in this local body. If you're a guest tonight and you would want wisdom or counsel as to any of the matters that I talk about or would like to have a pastoral perspective on something specifically in your own life, I would just point you to your own pastor. I would want to honor them by asking you to go and speak with them. If you don't have a pastor or anything like that, then we're certainly available. We're just glad you're here tonight if you're a visitor.

Another thing I want to say: I'm not going to endorse your candidate. I'm not going to do it tonight and I'm not going to do it next week.

Another thing: I may criticize your candidate. No candidate is above that, and as soon as they are, we could be even more worried. You may want me to tell others who to vote for. So you're ok if I don't give an endorsement to your candidate, but you may want me to tell others who they should vote for. I'm not going to do that either. Just not going to do that. I will say some specific things about voting for specific candidates next week, but I'm not going to endorse any of them or tell other Christians who they have to vote for as Christians.

I'm going to say some challenging things to the church and even to my own soul. See, I'm not a big believer in the fact that every single problem in the world is outside of me. I think there are a lot of problems that are inside of me. Let me say it this way: my sin is the bigger threat to my family than Hillary Clinton is. Okay?

Our sin is the bigger threat to us in this church than any elected official is. Now, can they make life difficult for us? Hard? Yes, they can, but we need to examine ourselves as well. And so I want to look at the government and we'll have a lot to say about the government. I want to look at the church, the Christian church, and what our response should be, and I also then probably next week want to talk to individual Christians about an individual Christian response in a number of matters. The other thing I want to say is I've given this whole outline, all these notes, to the elder board, and they gave me some wisdom and insight, and so we're saying this as a group of men. I'm just the messenger for the evening.

So the plan for the next two weeks is, I want to really kind of go through three topics, and you can just get these in your mind, or if you want to write them down or go back and listen you can. First I want to address what should every government do, and how are we doing? Number one, what should every government do, and how are we doing? Secondly, where have Christians been misguided, and what and how should we think differently? Where have Christians been misguided and how should we think differently? And third, probably next week, what can we expect and what should we do now?

So I really, I guess you can think of it as starting big and saying what should every government do, every government under the sun according to the Bible, and then look at the church and say maybe how can we reorient our thinking perhaps. And then I want to go to individual Christians at the very end next week and talk about what do we expect and how do we as individuals respond to what's going on, what could happen, things like that. So, we'll go to about 7:15, and we'll be done.

A. What should every government do, and how are we doing?

First, what should every government do, and how are we doing? Now, I want to make a note here. We could spend the next two Sunday nights being critical of everything in the government. We're not going to do that the whole time. That would be a rather dismal exercise. There are things to be critical about, and so naturally even in this first part as we look at what government should do, you're going to, we're going to go to Scriptures and you're going to see the opposite happening today in our government or even in our political process. And that would be reason enough to hang our heads and never come back, but stick with me, we're going to, we're going to get to some better stuff as well.

My prayer, our hope, is that believers would be able to think Biblically about how to live in a secular society as children of God, as citizens first and foremost of heaven, not any nation/state. However, in examining what our government should do according to Scriptures, we will necessarily, especially at the beginning, need to acknowledge some of the dismal aspects of where we stand currently.

Now there are a number of books I've been helped by, even more articles and really this isn't just—I've been studying specifically for this for two months, but this has kind of been a lifetime of study also, but the last two months especially, and there are a number of books I want to commend to you, and we can maybe put these on a as a blog post later this week.

But John Fineburg's book, Ethics for a Brave New World, dealing with a number of issues like abortion, euthanasia, things like that, think ethical issues that are even issues coming up in various states today. John Fineburg's book, Ethics for a Brave New World.

Greg Fraser, professor at the Master's College, wrote a book called The Religious Beliefs of America's Founders and it's probably not the book you think it is. I'll just leave it at that. The Religious Beliefs of America's Founders.

John MacArthur wrote a book called Why the Government Can't Save You. It has been helpful.

Al Mohler has written Conviction to Lead and a book called We Cannot Be Silent. Both have been a help to me.

Russell Moore, maybe one of my favorite books on this list, Russell Moore has written a book called Onward. It's just out in the last couple years. Onward: Engaging the Culture Without Losing the Gospel, which will be part of what we talk about later on.

And finally, David Platt's book Counter Culture which calls Christians to act in a culture where you see some of the things going on that we see today. So just to kind of give you an insight into what I've been reading and maybe some of those things are edifying to you.

So first, first section, we want to look at, What should every government do, and how are we doing? What should every government do, and I've got a list of things that every government should do, and here's where the list came from: my own curiosity. Now I know that God has a theocratic government in Israel in the Old Testament. Israel was a theocracy governed by God. That's why it was such a big deal to God when they wanted a king. I'm your king. But no, it wasn't good enough. So Israel is a theocracy.

We know that the things written to Israel aren't always applicable for us, but I wanted to look at really what the Bible says to pagan governments. I wanted to look at what the Bible says to other governments, not just Israel. What does the Bible expect the king of the Amorites to live like? Because then you can say, Well, it's not just the Israelites that were expected to govern a certain way. It's really all the nations of the world. I thought that would be very insightful for us. So I want to go through a list of what governments are supposed to be about, and some of these things might be surprising.

1.  Rulers are supposed to worship.

First, a government, kings of the earth, are supposed to worship. Whoa, whoa, whoa, separation of church and state. I'm coming as a pastor reading the Bible. Kings are supposed to worship. Psalm 2 is where I would point you to.

For this, Psalm 2 opens up with verses 1 through 3: "Why are the nations in an uproar and the peoples devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, 'Let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us" (NASB). I've mentioned this to you before. The kings of the earth, not just in this time, the time of David, but also moving on from there even ’til today, stand together and they take their stand and say, We're not going to allow God or his Messiah, his chosen one, his child, to regulate everything that we do. We're going to tear those cords apart.

Now, God calls that a vain thing to decide, of course. Verse 10 says this at the end of the Psalm: "Now therefore, O Kings, show discernment; take warning, O judges of the earth. Worship the Lord with reverence And rejoice with trembling. Do homage to the son, that he may not become angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in him" (NASB).

Did you see that? God is so audacious that he gives a command not just to Israel, but to the rest of the nations of the world. In that day and age, each nation had their gods. So for any god to demand something from another nation was rather audacious. Our God does that because he is the creator of all of mankind and heaven and earth. He can do that. He alone can do that. He demands worship from kings.

Daniel 4. And if you don't want to turn to all of these you can maybe write some down. Dan. 4:34-37. Nebuchadnezzar talks about what he's been going through. "But at the end of that period, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven and my reason returned to me." Now the Lord had humbled Nebuchadnezzar. In this day and age he was the leader of the world. He was humbled, brought low before God, and he's rehearsing all of that. "I lifted my eyes toward heaven and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever, because his dominion [notice Nebuchadnezzar pointing to God] is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation."

Side note: I'll be out of here soon. "His kingdom endures from generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and no one can ward off his hand or say to him, 'What have you done?' At that time, my reason returned to me. And my majesty and splendor were restored to me for the glory of my kingdom, and my counselors and my nobles began seeking me out." So God put him back on the throne in that sense now that he was thinking rightly. "So I was reestablished in my sovereignty, and surpassing greatness was added to me. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt and honor the King of Heaven for all his works are true and his ways just, and he is able to humble those who walk in pride."

Can you imagine Nebuchadnezzar saying, Just ask me. So much for a foreign ruler keeping his relationship to God to himself.

2.  Rulers are supposed to act in righteousness.

What else is a king or a leader to do? They're to act in righteousness. Worship, one. Secondly, act in righteousness. Prov. 16:12: "It is an abomination to kings to do evil, for the throne is established by righteousness." Kings are supposed to be righteous.

Prov. 29:2: "When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan." We know that, right? We know that. "When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan." Today, our two major candidates have righteousness issues, integrity issues. The vote has become which one is not as poorly, not as unrighteous as the other. And we groan, because those are the options we've chosen.

3.  Rulers are supposed to be just.

Justice is next. Worship, righteousness, justice. Ps. 82:2-4. This is God speaking to the rulers of the world: “God has taken his place in the divine counsel [So God has walked up to the judge’s bench, has taken his place in the divine counsel. In the midst of the gods he holds judgment. And he says this to the rulers of the world]; how long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Give justice to the weak and fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked." We don't rescue the weak and needy. We kill them in the womb. Justice is what every leader under the sun is called to enact.

4.  Rulers are supposed to be wise.

Fourth: wisdom. Kings of the earth are to be wise. Solomon, king of Israel, in 1 Kings 3 was allowed to ask anything he wanted. You remember that old kind of fun party joke or party game or party statement, Hey what would you do if you had three wishes? What would you wish for? Well, God gave Solomon a wish: What do you want? Name it. What did Solomon ask for? Wisdom. Wisdom. And, oh, boy, did the Lord look favorably upon that request. So he gave him everything else. Wisdom. Solomon was asking for understanding and God made him better than the other kings of the world. The implication is kings of the world need wisdom. Look at Solomon, look what he asked for. We need wisdom.

5.  Rulers are supposed to be honest.

Fifth: honesty. Honesty. Prov. 17:7: "Fine speech is not becoming to a fool; still less is false speech to a prince." It's not good for princes, kings, presidents, prime ministers, senators to speak like a fool, to lie. And you know if you read the news, the truth doesn't matter any more. Lies happen all over the place. You can see a speech given, some independent group will go and fact-check the whole speech, and almost half the speech is just lying.

But here's what concerns me most: It doesn't matter. It's almost daily where I'm looking at Twitter or the news and you see something and you think, Oh my goodness, what they just said, that is not true, is going to turn the electorate against them. This is certainly disqualifying. But, no it isn't. We've just been used to being lied to, so it doesn't matter anymore because I think the other one lies a little bit more, so ours lies less.

6.  Rulers are supposed to be moral.

Morality. Morality is another expectation of kings. Prov. 31:4-5, "It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to take strong drink, lest they drink and forget what has been decreed and pervert the rights of all the afflicted." This is calling for morality. In this specific passage it's talking about drunkenness, but a general morality is expected among rulers by God.

7.  Rulers are supposed to be humble.

Humility is next. Humility. I told you about Nebuchadnezzar's testimony and he ends: "Now I, Nebuchadnezzar praise, exalt, and honor the king of heaven for all his works are true and his ways just, and he is able to humble those who walk in pride" (Dan. 4:37). God looked at a pagan king and said, You are too prideful; I'm going to humble you. Pagan kings are expected to humble themselves before the mighty hand of God. I don't care whether you are Sudan, Iran, United States, humility is to be the virtue of a leader.

8.  Rulers are supposed to be teachable.

Next: teachability. Teachability. Eccles. 4:13: "Better was a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who no longer knew how to take advice." Solomon wrote that. Solomon's writing about what's good for any king, and he's saying it's good for a king to know how to take advice, even when they're old.

You know, I am a reader of presidential biographies. I don't know what it is—I'm weird like that—I just love them. Presidential biographies. Teddy Roosevelt read about a book a day. Now I want that trick. I don't know how that happens, but he read about a book a day. Presidents Bush (the father), Clinton, Bush (the son), President Obama, they're constant readers. Constant readers. We've been told by one candidate himself, I don't read, and that's a badge of honor for that person. That's not a good thing. Hear the wisest man to ever live tell kings to keep taking advice. We've got people who will not listen; they think they know everything. We've got other candidates who don't pick the greatest advisors. We've got all sorts of problems in the teachability area.

9.  Rulers are supposed to provide security.

Next: security. Security is meant to be a reality for a nation given to them by their king. Rom. 13:3-4—we'll look at this passage a little more later: "Rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear for the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will have his approval, for he is God's servant for your good."

The government there is God's servant for your good. The government is there to punish evil and reward good, to provide a general security in society. People should feel safe because their government exists and serves them. People should feel safe.

One candidate evidently cannot handle classified information. I'm not trying to make jokes there; it's a fact. Cannot handle classified information. The other candidate has had fifty national security officials say that they don't trust him with the security of the nation. I'm just saying, we've got two candidates, major party candidates, that people don't feel secure about. It's just a reality, I'm not pointing you to either of them as better or worse; it's a reality. People don't feel secure and the Lord expects the people would be secure as citizens of a nation.

10.  Rulers are supposed to have courage.

Next: courage. Courage. “Then David said to his son Solomon, ‘Be strong and courageous. . . . Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed, for the Lord our God, even my God, is with you. He will not leave you or forsake you, until all the work for the service of the house of the Lord is finished" (1 Chron. 28:20). David called Solomon to be courageous. Moses called Joshua to be courageous. God called Joshua to be courageous. Leaders are courageous. Today, you have a leader answer a question about his opinion one way; thirty seconds later, different talk show, different network, different constituency, he answers in a different way. That's not courage. That's not courage.

A leader says what he believes whether it's popular or not because he's courageous. This is my view, and this is what's right. When you're a leader you have to do hard things. You'll be unpopular; you have speeches to give, difficult meetings need to be had; stands need to be taken. You're on a mission and people will not always agree; if you're trying to make everyone always agree, that's a reflection of a lack of courage. Give me somebody who stands for something even when it's not popular. Give me a Churchill.

Recently I was watching a debate, the Republican primaries, and a moderator tried to bait one of the candidates and basically gave away the moderator's position by asking the question, You say that there should be no exceptions for abortions, not even in the case of rape or incest. How do you expect the American people to follow your leadership? I think many other leaders would have said, would have wiggled out of that somehow. This man stood there and said, You're right. I do not believe it's right, even in the case of rape or incest, to abort an unborn child. And he said, I know there's been a horrendous wrong in the rape and the incest; I know that, but I don't want to add to that wrong by killing a child. That's not the answer.

And I was sitting there on the couch and my wife and I are just—I can't believe he said that! Who says that nowadays? Even if they believe that or lean that way, they'll say it to one group, but then when they get on another channel, they'll say a different thing to another group. Give me someone with courage, who will say that, even if it costs them an election. Not only give me a candidate like that, give me a friend like that, give me a pastor like that, give me a father like that, give me a mother like that, give me people like that who stand up for what they believe in and can't be tossed around.

Well, that's all well and good, Pastor, but he might not get elected. Big deal. This world needs heroes. If a hero loses an election, he's still a hero. If a coward wins an election, he's still a coward. We need heroes who stand for something, who are courageous.

There's just kind of an overview of some Old Testament passages to kings, to leaders, to rulers, what God expects from them. I want you to look at a passage I pointed you to earlier. I want you to look a little more closely at Romans 13, perhaps the best New Testament passage for what a government is supposed to be. And in this passage, the primary aim of this passage is written to Christians as they live under a pagan government, so that's the primary point of this passage and we'll probably get more to that next week, but I just want to show you what is expected of a government.

Rom. 13:1-7—I'll just read those seven verses:

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

Again, he's writing to the church, but just notice what is expected of a Christian, or not of a Christian, just any government. The government is there to be a means of God's judgment whether they know it or not. When the government—whether it's police or the military in a foreign situation—the government is there to punish wrongdoers. That's what the government is expected to do. And they were instituted by God. Notice verses 1 and 2: "Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God."

Now, hold on, did he just say that? Because I've got a list of people in the American government that I think kind of snuck around God's sovereignty. How in the world did they get in there? There is no governing authority except from God.

So in a sense, there's no democracy. In a sense. God places people into ruling positions not always so everything will be wonderful and bright, but sometimes as a form of judgment. But God is sovereign over the governing authorities, "there's no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed and those who resist will incur judgment" (Rom. 13:1-2).

Listen, we don't disobey the government because we say, "Well they're horrible." No, we obey them. They're instruments of God. Now we obey them until they tell us to sin. You can see that in the book of Acts, but otherwise, we obey because they're there by God.

Even poor governments do some good. Even poor governments will punish the bad, often. Now this is speaking of the Roman government, which was not friendly to Christians. And Paul is taking Christians and showing them the beauty and the order that a government provides, even a bad government. That's what Paul's doing. They're there by God's design; they're going to punish bad; they're going to reward evil to some degree. This is the government that eventually killed Christians under Nero where they would take Christians, put them in animal skins, and put them out in the Coliseum so that lions would come and attack them. Paul's pointing the people to obey that government. Because when you obey that government, it shows that you have a greater trust in something beyond that government. They trusted their citizenship in heaven, their king, Christ.

Government also, according to verses 3 and 4, is to cause people to be afraid of bad conduct. People should be afraid when they do evil in this society. That's what the government is there for, to instill some fear, to instill some fear. We make the governing authorities—the law enforcement agencies—we make them the bad guys so fast. They're there to instill fear on people for breaking the law. It's what God says. Verse 3: "Rulers are not a terror to good conduct" (Rom. 13:3).

Hey listen, if you don't want to be worried about law enforcement, have good conduct. There we go. They're not a terror to good conduct; they're a terror to bad conduct. "Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid." Notice, it's okay for someone to be afraid of the governing authorities. That is God's will, because when they're afraid of the governing authorities, chances are they won't commit crimes.

"But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain" (Rom. 13:4). Now, he says he does not bear the sword. He doesn't say, For he does not bear the ‘citation booklet’ in vain. This is bigger than that. The government has the ability to execute criminals according to Romans 13, not because the government is supreme, but God is supreme. God is the judge and he uses the government as the arm of his justice. They are his tool; he is the one executing the justice, not them. He's a servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. So the government, when they punish evil, even in the case of capital crime, is really making a judgment that God is making on this person and they're the means to make it. But this is God judging that person.

Government is a terror to bad conduct. Now, I think Romans 13 is very instructive because it tells us what a government should be doing, and we have so many people debating about this plan and that legislation that are never even part of what the normal expectation would be for government. It's all other things. And these things tend to maybe not be executed as well as they should be, but this is what a government is expected to do. Even bad ones to some degree do this.

Now in these examples, government—and this is so key I believe for Christians to understand—government is an example of common grace to the world. It's very important to talk about common grace and saving grace. Common grace is this: the grace of God by which he gives people innumerable blessings that are not part of salvation. God gives common grace to the world, not just Christians. Government is an example of a common grace. Love is an example of common grace. Non-Christians can experience love. That's because God is gracious to them, even when they hate him. He's gracious to them. Gives them love. Camping in the forest next to a lake: common grace. Some of you don't agree. Football: common grace. The ocean: common grace. Taste buds: common grace. Loose leaf Earl Grey tea: common grace to the world. God gives common grace and government is one of those common graces. People live in a society where there are people looking out for their safety. That's a common grace of God that nobody deserves, but he gives.

John Calvin says this: "The mind of man," and this is talking about wicked man, unsaved man, "The mind of man, though fallen and perverted from its wholeness, is nevertheless clothed and ornamented with God's excellent gifts. If we regard the spirit of God as the sole fountain of truth, we shall neither reject the truth itself, nor despise it whenever it shall appear, unless we wish to dishonor the spirit of God." Calvin's telling us, Listen, even the government that you're not a big fan of is a gift to you from God. They do some things well. It's a common grace to you. If you're in trouble, you call the authorities; they'll show up to protect you. It's the common grace of God to give this world government.

As we said before, government's been given by God to restrain evil and promote good and generally does a good job of that. That is the reason, by the way, that anarchy is anti-Biblical. Because government, even bad ones, are given by God to help maintain some order. To say: We're all about anarchy; we'll govern ourselves; no government has ever done us right. Poor us; we're going to govern ourselves—it's really to say, God, we don't need a gift that you're giving us. Government's given by God as a common grace.

Now, in our society, we're citizens that are free to influence government. Now, that's a given to us in many ways, certainly was earned for us by people that came before us and sacrificed, but that's a gift that God has given us that's really different than what a lot of people around the world experience, right? I mean, who gets to choose their own leaders? Not everybody. More people today do, but historically, we're one of the few that gets to do that. That's a gift from God. We get to not only choose our leaders, but we get to influence them. There are venues where they'll listen to things that we say. I interned for a Congressman. They do; their staff does. And they get passed on to the Congressman oftentimes. They read the letters we send. They do! That's a privilege for us. That's a gift from God to us as Americans, not to us as Christians, but just to Americans in general and any other democratic nation.

In these senses, in this sense, we have the ability to, in a sense, answer our own prayers. I'll tell you what I mean by that. 1 Tim. 2:1-4, Paul writes to Timothy: "First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions." So Paul is saying, I want you to pray prayers of supplication for people, prayers of intercession, prayers for thanksgiving for people. When's the last time you thanked your Lord for your government? Paul's commending that to the church. "[F]or kings and all who are in high positions," not all who belong to your political party, "all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good and is pleasing in the sight of God our savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth."

Paul's telling Timothy, I want people to pray for their kings. I want people to pray for their rulers and I want them to pray that they would be able to continue to live their Christian lives in a quiet, godly, dignified way. But you know what he's given to America? The ability to do more than just pray. We actually get to vote. We actually get to influence. And I'm just highlighting that because it's a gift from God.

Now it's not a sin not to vote, and as soon as you say that it is, you're saying that something's a sin the Bible doesn't call a sin, so be very careful. But it is a privilege that not everybody has, and so when Paul says, "pray for kings," God in his providence has given Americans the ability to influence who the kings are. That's a kindness from God so I would encourage you, not command you, but encourage you to take advantage of that.

We get to lobby; we get to vote; we get to rally; we get to write; we get to meet with; we get to do those things. Now, to do what we can to see good legislation enacted is a gift from God, but remember, good legislation never saved anybody's soul. Good legislation doesn't save anybody. And this is the difference between common grace and saving grace.

Common grace is something that we enjoy. We get to influence, vote, give, support; we get to do those things, but those things, and even those things carried out to their end, the desired end—good legislation—that doesn't save anybody's soul. It may make America more pleasant, more like we like it, but it doesn't do the saving work of God. And that's what Christians are concerned with, the saving work of God.

Remember Paul in Acts 26 before Agrippa? Now Paul gets an audience with one of the top men in Rome. And most people believe that Paul did get his request and he got to appeal to Caesar who was Nero. So Paul had an audience with some of the strongest people in the world. You know what Paul told his audience? Lets look. Acts 26. Acts 26:13: "At midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, that shone around me and those who journeyed with me." Pause right there.

Paul gets an audience with King Agrippa, gets an audience with King Agrippa, and you might imagine that Paul would have some political agenda: You know this law, I don't know why you guys are doing this, and yeah, I've really got some statements about how you're, you know, caring for these people. Paul starts in on his testimony. So a king's listening to Paul, and Paul says, I'm going to tell you my Christian testimony. It's what he does. And he goes back to when he was on the road and God interrupted his journey to kill Christians.

And when we had fallen on the ground [verse 14], I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” And I said, “Who are you Lord?” and the Lord said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and to witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those to which I appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you to open their eyes that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.”

(Acts 16:14-18.)

Pause right there. Paul does what all good gospel testimonies do. They give the gospel as they tell what happened to them in their life story. Listen, King Agrippa, I was going to go kill Christians; I was interrupted and God spoke to me to say that I'm going to go be an instrument for the conversion of the Gentiles so they can escape the slavery of sin and be brought to the kingdom of heaven. I'm just giving you my defense; here's what I'm saying here.

Paul's going through his testimony, his gospel testimony. Verse 19: "Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance."

So Paul's on trial and he goes through the gospel and he talks about people all over the place, not just Jews, but Gentiles. So Paul takes everybody in the world and says, King Agrippa, I'm here to tell everybody in the world to repent and to turn to God and do deeds that are in keeping with their repentance.

For this reason [King Agrippa] the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me. To this day, I have had the help that comes from God, and so I stand here testifying both to the small and the great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass. [Then he gives him a Bible history lesson.] That the Christ must suffer and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim both light to our people and to the Gentiles. [I love it.] And as he was saying these things in his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, “Paul, you are out of your mind; your great learning is driving you out of your mind.” But Paul said, “I'm not out of my mind, most excellent Festus, but I am speaking true and rational words. For the king knows about these things."

Oh, oh. Listen, I'm not crazy. I'm talking about repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, how the whole world needs to embrace that message, and you know what I'm talking about. For I'm persuaded that none of these things has escaped his notice, for this has not been done in a corner. Christianity is changing the world upside down, king, you know it. King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? King, Gentile, Roman, King Agrippa, do you believe Isaiah and Jeremiah? About who they said would come? You've seen what's been happening in the world. Jesus Christ has turned the world upside down. I know you know about him.

And Agrippa said to Paul, “In a short time, would you persuade me to be a Christian?” And Paul said, “Whether short or long, I would to God that not only you but also all who hear me this day might become such as I am—except for these chains.”

(Acts 26:19-29.)

Paul was in a trial before a king, and he told them the gospel, told them what happened to his own life and being converted, and told them that the king needs to respond in repentance toward Jesus Christ. The message we have when we get to talk to an elected leader is bigger than legislation. It's about the kingdom of God. Paul demonstrated this. Paul in a sense wasn't concerned with politics. Now, I'm not saying that we shouldn't be; I just told you I would encourage you to vote. I'd encourage you to influence where you can. I am all for that. Why? Because of common grace. But saving grace is a bigger message. Saving grace is a bigger message.

Recently—and I'll ask you to pray for this—recently I was contacted by a wonderful organization called the Center for Arizona Policy, and they had, on behalf of Governor Ducey, reached out to a handful of pastors and invited us to go and meet with the Governor at Phoenix seminary in their conference room to discuss the legalization of marijuana. So, that happens in two weeks and I get to go with just a few other men and talk to the Governor about the legalization of marijuana. Now, when I get there, I bring this with me. And I'm not making a political argument. Governor if you do this, this group will really approve of that and you're likely to get reelected or more money when you run for the next office. I could care less. Could care less. It's not a political argument; it's not even an economic argument. Governor, it'd be better for the economy of the state to vote this way or that way or to sign this or to veto it. That's not my argument, either. My argument's a Biblical argument. I'm not going to make an economic or political argument, I'm going to tell him what the Bible says about the importance of a mind that is free to think clearly (Ephesians 5). I'm going to tell him that.

My hope is not in the legislation that he signs or does not sign. My prayer is that we as believers can take the message of sin, judgment, grace, and forgiveness to people who are enslaved to narcotics so that they can be reconciled to God through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Our hope is in people being made into new creations. But common grace. But I hope for the good of our state that you enact good legislation, that you sign good legislation, that you override poor legislation. Thank you very much for your time.

My argument's a Biblical argument, right? Now, that's not just me. That's what I would want you to say to the local city council member that you're sitting next to at breakfast. Or when you speak to the governor at some event. Or if the President came and you got to speak to him. We make a Biblical argument because what we're saying there is, Yes, there are political arguments to be made sometimes; there are economic arguments to be made. That's fine, that's fine; that's all well and good, but those are common grace things.

You should do this because it's good for the economy. That's not a bad thing to say, but it's not the best thing to say. The best thing to say is, This is what God expects, and God's laws are given for human flourishing. God's laws are not given to harm people. So when God calls us to clear thinking, to clear mind, not to be induced or swayed by narcotics or alcohol, when God calls us to that, he's doing that for our good, for flourishing. Governor, I'd encourage you to see that from the Scriptures. God is a good God. And if there are people who are enslaved to sin, any legislation in the world won't save them, but God can free them from that enslavement. That's what our ultimate hope is. Again, thanks for having me here.

That's what we say. We're making a bigger argument than just a common grace argument. We're talking about salvation here. Our ultimate hope is in the saving grace of God. I'd say it this way. While we write the letters, vote, give money to elected officials, things like that, while we try to influence, all of our eggs are not in that basket. Our eggs are in the saving grace basket, because saving grace changes a heart from the inside out to where it doesn't even need legislation, it's just not going to do wrong and it's going to do right.

So saving grace is what we spend most of our efforts in. Titus 2:11-14: "For the grace of God" [this is saving grace] has appeared, bringing salvation for all people [this is Jew and Gentile, everybody in between], training us [Notice what saving grace does. It doesn't just save from hell; it then trains us] to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for the blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and savior Jesus Christ who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works."

When you have saving grace change your life and give you a new disposition, new desires, a new heart, you live godly and self-controlled as a pattern of life—not perfectly all the time; just see any of us. But you live, as a pattern of life, a godly life. So yes, legislation is good to help control a society, but saving grace, the gospel message, is what needs to take place to change the world, not the right president, because the gospel changed the world. And Nero was king—please hear that. The gospel changed the world and no Christian would have ever voted for him. And the gospel axis turned the world upside down. It doesn't matter who's at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in a saving grace perspective. In a common grace perspective, for the ease of our own life and for the enjoyment of our life, yeah, we care. In a saving perspective, it doesn't matter. God is king.

Remember, God said, "I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it" (Matt. 16:18). God never promised that America would be here forever. He just didn't. I wish he had, but he didn't. But he promised that his church would be here forever. He did promise that.

B. Where have Christians been misguided, and how should we think differently?

Now, secondly—so one major heading: What should every government do? How are we doing? I've hopefully given some answers to that. Secondly, for just a few moments—I'll probably stop partway through this—save it for next week. Where have Christians been misguided, and what should we, or how should we think differently? Where have Christians been misguided, and how should we think differently?

Now it's easy to blame everybody around us for the nation being in the condition it is in. However, it's important to see how we can easily be part of the larger problem ourselves sometimes. We must also see how we can obey Scripture as it relates to submission, showing honor, and praying for our leaders. So I'll give you, I'll give you some things that myself and the elders and other pastors around the nation believe that Christians can maybe change in their thinking, maybe ways that Christians have been misguided.

We are trying to hold onto cultural Christianity.

First, we are trying to hold onto cultural Christianity. We're trying too hard to hold onto cultural Christianity, which is different from actual Christianity. I'll explain what I mean by that. We're trying too hard to hold onto cultural Christianity, which is different from actual Christianity.

Law-abiding citizens on Main Street, USA, and gang members on Crenshaw Boulevard in Los Angeles, both, both, both end up in hell unless they're overcome by their own sinfulness and call out to Jesus Christ for salvation. Law abiding citizens on Main Street, and the gang member on Crenshaw Boulevard, without repenting of sin and putting faith in Jesus Christ, both end up separated from God for eternity. We've assumed—and when I say we, I don't mean every Christian—in many cases we've assumed that as long as things are okay on Main Street, people are okay with God. Cultural Christians are moral, and that's good for society. Now my neighbor is not a Christian, but he keeps his yard up, he's nice to my kids, very nice to my kids, kind to us; they brought us a gift when we moved in. That's good for our neighborhood. Common grace, that's good. That doesn't equal salvation.

Cultural Christians are moral. So were the Pharisees. Cultural Christianity, while good for society, is harmful to people who may be lulled into thinking that because they pay their taxes, volunteer at the local food pantry, and maintain their yard, they're naturally acceptable in the sight of God. Luke 18:9-14:

Jesus told this parable to some who trusted themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: “Two men went out to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself prayed like this, 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all I get.' But the tax collector standing far off would not even lift his eyes up to heaven, but beat his breast saying, 'God be merciful to me, a sinner.' [Jesus says,] “I tell you, this man went to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

This Pharisee sounds like many people we know. God is looking for a broken person, a poor in spirit person. These are the ones he makes into actual Christians. And in many cases, we've thought that as long as the right morals are out there in society, we're fine. That's not true. You can be moral and going to hell.

Russell Moore says this. Many Christians may be interpreting the great cultural shifts in America wrongly.

We have many Christians who are fearful and panicky because their illusion of a Mayberry-like Christian America is falling apart. Brothers and sisters [Moore says], the shaking of American culture is no sign that God has given up on His church. [I'm going to read that again: Brothers and sisters, the shaking of American culture is no sign that God has given up on His church.] The shaking of American culture well could be a sign that God is rescuing His church from a captivity we didn't even know that we were in. The dramatic cultural change does not mean this is “a time for fear.” This is good news [And you think, How in the world is this good news? This is good news] because with the changing of the culture around us, what is falling is the almost Christianity of cultural Christianity. Mayberry is great unless there's a hell [unless there's a judgment day]. And if there's a day of judgment, an almost Gospel is worse than no Gospel at all. So we must be prepared to be the people who stand and stand fast, and if necessary, to be the people who are willing to stand alone.

Now let me give you an example of cultural Christianity versus true Christianity. Cultural Christianity says that if you're law abiding, then you're okay. True Christianity says we've all broken God's laws. Have you gone to him who's eager to forgive? Cultural Christianity says the problem is outside of us: the other political party, the other philosophy of government. True Christianity says that I'm still in the flesh and I need to renew my thinking constantly or I will engage in sin. In that way, true Christianity is humble and dependent on Christ personally. Cultural Christians tend to get upset or embarrassed when their child embraces a homosexual lifestyle. True Christianity goes to that child and says, I've got sin problems too. I'm naturally broken too. Christ forgave and freed me and he's eager to do the same for you. I always want you to know that I love you. Cultural Christianity just gets embarrassed by those kids and gets angry that they're not doing the thing that we do in our family. That's cultural Christianity. That's an almost gospel, but it's not the gospel.

I think in many ways we tried to hold onto a cultural Christianity, which is different from the actual thing, and by the way, I think we're finding out today that there are less people who are actually Christian than we thought in the first place.

We’re trying to make Christianity cool and therefore accepted by the world.

Secondly, we're trying to make Christianity cool and therefore accepted by the world. I heard a radio talk show host—it was actually a journalist who was on a show as a guest of the host. This journalist said the Republican Party needs to change in their speaking out against same sex marriage. They need to embrace same sex marriage. Republican Party needs to reform is what this journalist said. And that doesn't really trouble me that they said that, and to be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if the platform happened—I hope it doesn't—but if that changed, the platform happened, I really wouldn't be surprised. The thing that is the most alarming is when churches change to acquiesce to the culture. That's the big concern. Parties are going to do whatever gets them into office. The church better not do that.

We've thought I think for many years that church is more popular than it actually is. We've tried to make it cool: Look, we're just like you except we just kind of do this church thing on Sunday. No, we're not just like them, we're totally different from them. Totally different from them.

There's a saying in Austin that says, "Keep Austin weird." Russell Moore uses this saying, "Keep Christianity strange." We're different, and that's okay. But to try to make it look like the rest of the world is to lose the gospel and to lose Christianity.

1 Tim. 3:15: "If I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God [Notice what he says the household of God is, the church of God is, the church of God is.], the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth." Listen, when truth, when your favorite party compromises on truth, you need to be in a place in a church, Paul told Timothy, in a church that stands as the pillar and buttress of the truth. You should expect a church to stand for truth even when 99 percent of Americans think you're an idiot. I don't care. We stand for truth. Every organization that once claimed to stand for truth that goes away is acquiescing to the culture. The church better not do that, and sad to say, the church has started to do that.

One of the things you're going to see, I believe—this is my belief; it's not ... I don't know what's going to happen. I believe you're going to see it become less popular to be a Christian, and it's already not popular to be one, but I think it's going to be even less popular. The question is will you acquiesce to what the culture wants a Christian to be, or will you stand for what a Christian actually is and take the bullet, literal or theoretical?

Carl Truman, a seminary professor wrote this quote in only the way he can. He wrote this to pastors who were trying to be too cool and to embrace the culture and to get the culture to think that they're just like them. Hey, I'm cool too. Christianity's cool. Carl Truman wrote this, and before I give you the quote, I want you to think about what you think when I say white supremacists. When you hear that term, you think, Ach, no. That's a horrible philosophy, a horrible way to live. This view that looks at other nationalities as less than. You get a bad taste in your mouth when you hear "white supremacists."

Listen to Truman, says to pastors: "You really do kid only yourselves if you think you can be an orthodox Christian and be at the same time cool enough and hip enough to cut it in the wider world. Frankly, in a couple of years, it will not matter how much urban ink you sport, how much fair trade coffee you drink, how many craft beers you can name, how much urban gibberish you spout, how many art house movies you can find the redeemer figure in, and how much money you divert from gospel preaching to social justice." He says this: "In a couple years, maintaining Biblical sexual ethics will be the equivalent in our culture of being called a white supremacist." That's the way we're going to be viewed. We can either compromise or take it. Our Lord took it. He didn't change the truth.

Listen, true Christianity is not threatened by the current state of our nation. True Christianity is not threatened. Fake Christianity that only exists when it's popular is very much threatened, and that's okay. True Christianity is not threatened. "I will build my church and the gates of Hell," and all of its arms and the politics and economics and everything else, "The gates of Hell will not prevail against it" (Matt. 16:18).

America may change. Canada may change. Mexico may change. Our counties might change. Things that we once enjoyed might be taken away. The true church is not threatened one bit. The relative ease of being a true Christian is threatened, but that's okay because our Lord never promised that in the first place. It's just been a gift we've been enjoying for a while.

I've got some more things that I think would be good for the church to hear, but we're going to stop right there. So I'm one and a half points in of a three-point message, so we got about fifty percent. The unfortunate thing is there's more content in the next fifty percent, so somehow we'll figure out how to get that all in.

Thanks for coming tonight, let me pray for us.

Father, we together as a people who are concerned, do love this nation, do love the people in it. We come before you and ask you to reorient our thinking to trust you that even when it appears we're not as popular as we once were, maybe we won't be able to do the same things we once did, that we can say with your Son, It's okay. We have chosen to take up a cross; we've chosen to walk a narrow road, chosen to walk through a narrow gate, because we know he's with us. And so Father, I pray that you would overwhelm us with your grace, with the sense of your presence with us even when we don't appear popular among our friends and neighbors and family. Give us a great confidence in the future and also a great confidence that you care for us now.

Lord, we do pray for our nation. We are thankful for it. We are thankful for our government. There are so many things we enjoy that other nations don't have. Lord we're thankful for it, we do pray for kings, leaders, prime ministers, rulers in our nation, local, state, county, federal level, somebody would bring a Bible to them and show them passages like these. Someone would show them how you give good commands to people because you're a gracious God. You're gracious to the whole world. May they trust in that, Father.

Lord, we pray for our own lives. It's easy to point at others and to see what's wrong. It's harder to look at ourselves and to acknowledge things that we need to regularly confess and repent of. Would you help us be a gracious and humble people with other people because we've dealt with our own sins first? Father, thank you for your truth. Thank you for your truth that speaks so clearly. I pray that you send us on our way safely, coming back next Sunday to enjoy time together. We ask this in your Son's name, Amen.