In this sermon, the preacher discusses the story of Daniel and the lions' den as an example of serving the Lord and facing challenges. He emphasizes the importance of unity in a nation, which is based on common knowledge and common unselfishness. The preacher also talks about the role of the family as a training institute where individuals learn to respond to corrections and guidelines. He highlights the need for a solid foundation in protesting societal changes and shares an anecdote about a revolution in Latin America. The sermon concludes with the idea that God allows wars and revolutions to address selfishness, but ultimately, when God returns, there will be an end to all wars.

I'm going to talk a little bit tonight about the Christians' relationship to government and to politics and to revolution and also to war. So, that's what we're going to deal with tonight, since we have to deal with it sometime. No better time than the present. I want to talk about Christian revolution, give you some guidelines on the peculiar revolutions that are taking place in society, what God has to say about them. I have never been in a genuine revolution. I've been in some miniature little, hello, are we still here? Good. Been in some miniature little revolutions, which you could call gang fights, gang wars. When I was a little kid, there's something about being a skinny kid, that everybody always picks on you when you're a skinny kid. And I've always been skinny, it's not my fault. So, when I was little, I got myself a gang. I needed a gang, because there's something about a skinny kid that makes all the big kids pick on you. When I went to primary school, there was all these kids that came from the children's homes, and they, there's something about kids that come from children's homes that make them very large and gigantic. Kind of the food they feed them, they have three eyes, one in the middle of their forehead. And I was, there's something weird about a little kid, they always pick on them. And I had this big guy, his name was Ross Woodley. And you can just tell with a name like Ross Woodley, that he's the kind of guy that'll beat up on you, as soon as look at you. So, I got some friends of mine, and we put a gang together, basically for protection. I remember going to see a movie called The Desert Song, so I got myself a little mask, a cloak. When we fought at school, we had a wild time. I used to fight with a bolt, on the end of a piece of rope, a big old bolt. When I went in to fight, I swung it, like a helicopter. And clear a path, for the rest of the gang. And then, that was the way we fought. I've always been, ever since a little kid, people picked on me. I remember this one guy, chased me, where he was running after me. And I'd seen in some movies, some guy, you know, he jumped on one of these, grabbed a rope, and he swung. Kicked his way right through a whole bunch of guys. Some guys were chasing after me. This guy running after me, you know. And this guy came up in front of me, and there was a tree right in front of me. And back into my mind came this thing, I have a kick, you know. So I jump up on the tree, and I swing, and I kick. Kicked him right in the mouth, you know. He chased me all over the school, man. I was only little. And I had a suitcase, looked like this. And it was a little lunch box. Now, here's your lunch box. I had that full of lunch. And I go flying out of the classroom, and this big old kid comes chasing after me. And there's a teacher inside the classroom, you know. And just a little hallway. I grab my lunch box, and I beat him over the head with the lunch box as he came in. Thing busted right in my hand. And the teacher came out, because he was screaming and yelling, and I was beating away with the handle of this lunch box. The teacher came out, and the teacher says, What are you doing? And I said, He broke my lunch box. The teacher took him away and caned him, you know. Because we have such violent young people in New Zealand, we have capital punishment there. Bend over and get caned. Like this. So, I, after I arrived at high school, had the unbelievable reputation of being the guy who got the second greatest number of canings in the history of the school. I don't know how it happened. It just turned out like that. And the very first day, here I come, I've graduated from primary school. My lunch box days are behind me. I've come to be a serious scholar, you know. A freshman in high school. I come in, and the very first day, we get a whole day off. And they have a game called King of Simi. That's just a very simple game. Bunch of people line up in one end, one kid stands in the middle. You run through, from this side to the other end, and this kid tries to grab you. He can grab you, pick you up. Then he, the kid he grabs, he joins him, see. Then everybody runs back again, and they try and grab somebody else, until finally, there's a big old mob of people. It's not very much fun for the first half, but you wait till you get on in this game somewhat, you know. And there's 90 people here, and three here. That's really when it gets fun. Well, being a skinny kid, I learned one thing. How to run. Very fast, very rapidly. I had to stay alive. And you'll never guess, which one of the three, who was one of these three people were the 90 people in the middle. And there was this one guy, he was the guy who got the most canes in the school. His name was Boggs. You can tell with a name like Boggs, that he really beats up on people. And Boggs was in the middle of this thing, and he tried to grab me. Reached out his hand and I dropped like that, and he went, I kept on running. And the embarrassing thing was, when I got to the safe place here, he didn't stop running. And neither did I. So my very first day, I was running all over the school, and he was asking me, there's something about a skinny kid, that makes people tick on them, all the time. So, I'm acquainted quite early with violence, and can understand some of the feelings of other skinny kids in society, and the feelings they have. Now when we look in the Bible, about Christian revolution, we are not talking about a political thing. Christian revolution is never political. Do not misunderstand me. Politics is a very corrupt field. But I believe it's time we got some Christians in politics, real Christians. And I'm not against Christians infiltrating secular society, and changing it around. I believe if we could have some real men of God in there, placing them in key places, we'd see some tremendous things. But it's really hard to get there, and to pray your way through all kinds of demonic forces, to get into politics. When you get there, you have to pray to remain a Christian, you know. So, anyway, that's the thing. It may interest you to know, just how much reform has taken place, social reform, by Christians who took intelligently, and carefully, the political platforms, and went in there and did something. William Booth, of the Salvation Army, in the days when William Booth was preaching, they were having little girls, sometimes seven, eight, or nine years old. They were drugging them, knocking them out, and shipping them out in coffins, into white slavery in overseas markets, when William Booth came on. They really had a bad white slavery, prostitution thing. They would invite in girls from the country, into the chief centre parts of London. They'd make advertisements in the newspaper. We have plenty of openings for girls to be maids, and various things, and well-to-do houses, you know. Sell everything you have, and come out, and we'll set you up, you know. So, they would alright. The girls would come in, expecting to get placed in some job, and they'd say, I'm sorry, all the jobs are closed. And here's a girl, she's sold everything she's had, she's arrived here with a little bag, ready to be a maid. And they would trick her into prostitution, and then just keep her going, on this prostitution trade. Really bad news. And in William Booth's day, the age of consent was 16. Politics, were trying to lower it to 13. And William Booth went in and pushed it up. Politically. There is a guy by the name of Keir Hardie. Radiant Christian, saved under D.L. Moody's ministry. Hardie went in there, and completely revamped the entire Labour laws, and began a brand new party, the Labour Party. That is Christian political action. He went in there, fought it, I'm thinking of Lord Shaftesbury. They used to have a little kid, six or seven years old, as chimney sweeps. And this is the way they'd clean the chimneys. They'd send the kid up the chimney. And that little kid would have to climb up there with his brush, sit up inside this hot chimney, and sweep out all the stuff. And many of them would die, they'd be choked to death inside these flumes. And then they had little kids, working in mines and stuff. And Shaftesbury went in there, and he fought those things, and put in child labour laws, so that it was possible for a little kid like that to be put to work. Now those are political actions, taken place by Christians, who got in there and learned how to use the gospel as a platform of social protest. And understand this, the Christian is the only person who can really do a powerful protest, because he has an absolute to work from. Now, the rest of the society around us, how do they get their laws without God? Have you ever thought about that? Where do you get your law from if you reject God? Where do you get your basis of right and wrong? Well, here's one way. You could call it the dictatorship of the 51 percent. We call it sociological law. And basically it goes like this. To find out what is really right, you take a census of the country. And you ask a person, what is your feelings on this particular issue? Do you think it ought to be done? Do you think this ought to be legalized? And then I write down whatever you say. If you say yes, or I'm unsure, or I'd like to know more about it, or you say no. And then I write that down. When I've finished, I add up the opinions of the country. I find out what the country believes. And then I pass a law. And whatever the country feels as the majority is right, then I do that. That's sociological law. That means if I can get 51 percent of the country to agree that something is right, we'll pass a law and make it like that. Now you think about that for a little while and you find a very scary thing. 51 percent of the people believe it is right to kill everybody with long hair and a beard. That'll happen. If 51 percent of the country believe they should kill everybody with no hair, that'll happen. If 51 percent of the country believe that the legalization of drugs is a good thing, then it will happen. That's sociological law. And the only thing is, you have to get the, it's just basically the opinions of people that is the basis of law. If whatever people think is best, then that's what you make best. And you enforce it by law. You pass a law and say, this is what everybody wants, and boom, you do that. Now where does the Christian come from? The marvelous thing the Christian has is he has the authority of a prophet. And this is in the Old Testament. He had a base for social protest. He came in and he said, listen, this is wrong. And the person said, who said it? And he said, God said it was. And the guy says, well how does God know? He says, he just happens to be in that business. Do you see the power of the Christian? He doesn't stand on any particular, he doesn't say, listen, I am left, or I am right. He stands in the middle and he shoots at both sides. He comes up to this group of people and they say, who are you for? These are what we are standing for. We want to see justice, we want, you know, we want to see law and order. And the Christian says, right on, I want to see that too. And they say, oh wonderful, you and me, you know, the Ku Klux Klan with us. The Christian says, no. He says, well don't you believe in what we, he says, yes, but the trouble with you is, boom, boom, boom, boom, bigotry, prejudice. And the guy says, you must be a communist. And then the new left hears about this, they say, right on brother, you're with us, you know. And the Christian says, he says, I suppose you are also interested in the cause of the oppressed, and you don't like superstition being used to control people, and he uses the classic Marxist terms. And the Christian listens, he says, yeah that's true. The leftist says, oh great, you know. And then he says, the trouble however with you is, and chops the leftist up, see. And the guy says, who's side are you on? He says, I'm on God's side. Now there's the power of the Christian. He has a totally different platform of protest. He doesn't have to listen to so-and-so's opinion, or so-and-so's opinion. He can come to God and get what God says, and do what God says. And preach what God says. And so he comes in as an alien to a culture. And of course this does have its disadvantages, being neither on this side or that side. You ever heard about the guy in the Civil War, he didn't want to get messed up with things. And he was scared if he put a uniform on, that he'd get shot by one side. So what he did is, he put the jacket of one side on, and he put the trousers on of the other side. You know what happened? Both sides shot at him. Now if you're going to be a Christian, you're going to be sticking up for what is right. You'll find a weird thing. Everybody hates you. That's why we said it's never popular to be a Christian. That's why we're having camp. And I start off by saying, prepare to be unpopular, because that's exactly what will happen. You come in for Jesus Christ, you're not going to stick up for a blind, foolish, baseless patriotism, or a blind, foolish, baseless destruction. You're going to stand for Jesus Christ and what he says is right. What does society do without absolutes? Well actually, they don't even have a right to protest. Have you ever thought about this? Some kids are marching, and they say, listen man, our important thing we're trying to get across is that every man ought to be free. Be free. Nobody has a right to tell anybody what to do. That's why we're marching. Have you ever thought about that for a little while? See. I am here to demand the rights that everybody ought to be allowed to do whatever they want to. And I demand that. That is a strange thing, isn't it? It just bothers me sometimes. I wonder why some people really do march for things. I don't always think their reasons are as altruistic and as virtuous as we may be led to believe. I've talked to a lot of kids and I say, what do you really want? Well, we want social justice. What they really want is to throw a rock at a window someplace. Because their mother beat them up when they were little kids or something, you know. A lot of times that happens. The Christian, when he protests, intelligently protests. And I often find complete hypocrisy in some protest movements. I find a kid who is really against the destruction of the ecology of our society. He says, I'm really against polishing up this air, man. And what you really want to do is join our ecology society. I'm going to start a little revolution in planes and in buses. People pull out cigarettes and start puffing them into the air. I'm going to get out a can of Lysol or something similar. And every time a person takes a puff, I'm going to take a spray backwards. And when they say, what are you doing? I'll say, what are you doing? This interferes with my rights. It interferes with my lungs. And I'll say, you put yours out and I'll put mine out. The power of a Christian then, in his basis of revolution, is the same power the prophet had. The prophet had a different kind of basis of standard. It was not invested simply in the fact that there was an authority there. We'll see in a second what the Bible has to say about what God has given to authority. But you see, the man in authority was not a man who was above correction. We see in the Bible a man called David that God set up to be king. And David was a good man and a good king. He obeyed God. He did what God told him to do. But one day, David blew it. He got him sitting around, lazing around, instead of doing his job. Got out his binoculars or whatever they had in those days. And he got messed up with Bathsheba. Finally got her pregnant. Had to send back, tried to call back her husband, Uriah the Hittite, from the field. So that the people would think that the baby that she was going to have from David was Uriah's baby. This guy was so faithful to David, he didn't want to go home, spend time with his wife. He said, no I'm going to stick with you. So finally David arranges things so that this guy will be murdered. So nobody would ever be able to say, well Uriah, you know, Uriah wasn't home. And then, he does this. David the king. Now see how he's in power, he's in authority, he has everything. David pulls all the strings in the kingdom. Nobody can speak to him and say, oh David, you know, I suggest you do this. David is the boss. He does all this stuff. And he's got a problem. The thing that he does displeases the Lord. And only one person knows about it. Bathsheba knows about it. Uriah is dead. He died not even knowing why he was murdered. What David did is he sent Uriah the Hittite out on the wall. He put him right in the front. And he told one of his generals. He said, listen, set him right out in the front. And when you come in to attack the city, pull back and leave him without cover. And make sure that he gets killed. Now here's David, the king. He's done all this stuff, sung all these beautiful songs about God. And now sin is making David a murderer. Now nobody found that out. See, it was all covered and hidden. And David thought, well, you know, it's all, it's all covered over. He goes back and he marries this beautiful girl, Bathsheba. And all the people say, isn't David a kind king. See, here is this poor, lonely girl. She's got her husband's child here. She has to bring it up all on her own. And David is such a big-hearted king that he goes and marries this girl. So that the child will have a father. And actually brings him into the royal family. What a marvelous king David is. Nobody knew. Except Bathsheba and David and God. And then, into this chain of authority that is unable to be broken, God sends a prophet. And thank God for prophets. God's going to send some more in the last days. A prophet is a weird character. He comes out of nowhere. Nobody knows what his pedigree is. He doesn't seem to be brought up in the right Bible colleges. He just comes right out of the desert and he says, Thus saith the Lord. Boom. And he throws. But the prophet is kind of God's commando. He's a bomb thrower. He comes in and blows things up when they need to be blown up. Only, the bombs he throws, it works. And not, not the other kind. This guy's name was Nathan. And it just so happened that he was a friend of David. He was a close friend of David. David loved Nathan. He respected him. And Nathan comes in to the king. Now notice his attitude. Nathan doesn't say, Alright David. I've been talking to God about you. And people think you're super cool. But actually I know different. See he has respect for David's authority. He knows who he is. He doesn't come in saying, Here I am baby. You're about to get it. You know. He doesn't say that. He just tells David a story. He says, David I want to tell you a story. David says, oh I like stories. You know. Tell me a story. And Nathan says, Alright I'll tell you a story. Once there was a very rich man. This man had everything he wanted. Sheeps, flocks, everything in the world. David says, yeah go on. He says this rich man one day had somebody to come for supper. And he said in the same city there lived a poor man. This poor man didn't have hardly anything. He only had one thing. He had a little lamb. That he loved just like his own sister. Or his own child. He really loved this little lamb. He treasured it. He talked to it every day. He petted it. He really loved it and cared about it. It was the only real thing he had that he loved. David's sitting there with his tears coming down his eyes. Thinking what a lovely man was this little lamb. Because he'd been a shepherd once. And then he says this rich man had somebody to come for supper. And you know what he did David? David says no. He says he went to see that poor man. And he took his lamb. And he killed it. To give to this other man for supper. David said he what? He said he killed it. He said David what would you do to a man like that? What kind of punishment would you give a man like that? Boy all David's righteous indignation arises within his righteous soul. You know. I am the king he says. Boy you just show me that guy. And I'll give him this, that and the other. And he lifts a big line of things. Everything except dangling him by the ears and flaying him alive. You know. He lifts all these horrifying. He ought to be this, this, that. Nathan just standing there looking at him see. And when David's finished. Nathan walks up to him and he says David. You are the man. There they be is a prophet. A man who has the courage to put principles above personality. And that is the power of Christian protest. We have a base of real values to really preach. And to say there are some real rights and some real wrongs. What makes a lonely desert rat coming from the wilderness by the name of Moses. And stand there with a stick in his hand. And tell the king of the whole earth. Thus saith the Lord let my people. I'll tell you. Because he knows who he represents. Who is Moses? A guy who blew it. Graduated from the universities of Egypt and everything and blew it. Out in the desert 80 years. He's a sheep herder. And then God speaks to him. Says Moses you're ready now. We'll write him off. Put him on an assembly retirement check or something. God is about ready to use Moses. When everybody else has retired him. And here comes Moses. He's coming back. And he's not the same man. He went away. And an interesting thing. Told us with some of the kids. When Moses said who shall I say sent me. Here's God talking to him. What do I feel. Who shall I say sent me God. You know what God said. He said you tell him. I am. And the interesting word is he says. I am that I am sent you. But you could translate that. I will be. What I will be. Or it is perfectly permissible to translate these two Hebrew expressions. Half and half. Like this. I will be. What I am. You tell Pharaoh. I will be what I am sent you. Now we just talked to that guy. What do you like see. And there's old Pharaoh. You know. Sitting up there with a little bug on his throne. You know. And there comes from the desert rat from the wilderness. With white hair and a white beard. And a big long stick in his hand. And Pharaoh says who sent you kid. Moses says. I will be what I am sent me. And he says this to you Pharaoh. Let my people go. That is protest. See. And we can get passionate about protest and not do it mindlessly. Get us out there you know. Let's change the world. Let's make it unselfish. Let's really do something. Somewhere. Somehow. I see kids. I'm against selfishness. I see you're selfish. Well that's true. You know. Talk to a young Marxist in Albuquerque New Mexico. He said. I hate this system. I want to see it changed. He said. I want to see the world changed. You know. I said. That's true. I want to see that too. And I said. How can you change the world till you yourself are changed. Here you are. You're trying to make the world unselfish. Your own life is selfishness and devil. Look at the rabbit. He's against. He's a revolutionary in the Bible. What is he against? Well he's against the Romans. Why is he against the Romans? Because the Romans have stolen from his people. They've invaded their rights. And they've even killed some of his people. And Brabus is against the Romans man. Because of all the rotten things they've done. You know who Brabus is? A thief. A violent revolutionary. And a murderer. Isn't that weird. You can be very strongly against the things you're doing yourself. Seems funny to me. The people that march against the war and quote the commandment. Thou shall not kill. Will kill unborn children by genetic damage. That's true. Drugs. It seems very strange to me. How people who march against thou shall not kill. Should drink booze. And drop drugs. Kill more people. In one year in the United States. And the whole Vietnam war put together. Very strange. Listen if you're going to protest. You better protest from a solid base. And be able to say listen. This is what I have found. And it's real. Now society you change. My friend Lauren Cunningham was in Latin America. When the real revolution was going on. He said he'd come in there to preach. And suddenly bang. Sheen guns. Bombs being thrown. People running up and down the streets. So being in the middle of a real revolution. He asked one of the revolutionaries. He said what do you want here. The guy said we want freedom man. We want freedom. He said oh that's interesting. He says how are you going to get it. Destroy this government. We don't want any government. We want freedom. And that is mindless. Because every single revolution. Always introduces a new form of government. Now watch. And we'll show you. A very important thing. The important thing is this. In the book of Romans. God tells us. Romans 13. God tells us that he gives a nation. The form of government it deserves. Romans chapter 13. I'm going to read. From a. Another translation here. Follow along in the King James version. Romans chapter 13. And the Bible is filled. With the way. God governs and directs man. We've already talked about this a little bit today. Listen to this. Verse 13. Everyone should obey the government that is over him. Because there's no government except that which is put there by God. In William's translation. It goes like this. Everybody must obey the civil authorities that are over him. For no authority exists. Except by God's permission. The existing authorities have been established. By him. And your King James says. Let every soul be subject to the higher powers. And then scripture goes on. And it tells us a great deal about. Resisting authority. And tells us ultimately we're resisting God. Let me show you a little basis. First of all. It's common in popular scripture today. Because most kids. The word authority is a dirty word. It is a swear word today. You really want to say a swear word to young people. Say authority. It's become. You know you just say authority. This kind of thing happens when you say authority. But I want you to see a little change here. We talked this morning to the kids about. Every person is born with a love of conscious freedom. Everybody likes to be free. Everybody loves being free. And it is good to be free. But that freedom must be regulated. So other people's happiness. Are not harmed. By the exercise of that freedom. That's just simple intelligence. In other words. A little kid wants to have its own way. But it cannot always have its own way. Because having its own way perennially. Will interfere with the happiness of its parents. So you're supposed to discipline little kids. Curb that love of conscious freedom. Guide him. So he knows there are some basic limits of wisdom. Within which he can exercise his conscious freedom. I want you to imagine a train running along the tracks. Now that train. Let's imagine it has this desire for conscious freedom. It looks at its tracks. And it says. I hate these tracks. I want to be free. So it jumps right off its tracks. And it does its own thing. Do you see. That as long as a train runs within its prescribed guidelines. It can be free to go whatever speed it can possibly do. It can reverse. The guy can pull on the whistle. They can run up and down inside. They can yell. They can do anything they want. Within the guidelines of the train. But if that train goes off its tracks. They'll yell all right. And that's for fun. They have, if you look at them. They're like a freedom within a form. And that's what God's basic freedom is. There is a form which regulates for us the happiness. So we do not bust into somebody else's happiness. But we are free within those guidelines. To create. To invent. To dream. To paint. To all these other creative things. Now. God teaches us. To respond to his government. Or his rulership. By a chain of authority. Which begins. It's supposed to begin. In the home. We drew this thing in the home. We draw it like a little diamond here. And on top of the diamond. We draw a little chipping tool. And on top of the chipping tool. We draw a hammer. And then on top of the hammer. We draw a hand that holds on to that hammer. And you can see I'm a cool artist by the way I draw hands. One day I'll learn how to draw a hand. This chipping tool represents the kid. Who's grown up in this house. The bottom part of the chipping tool. Represents his mother. And this thing. The top part of the chipping tool. Represents his dad. The hammer represents the word of God. The one who's holding it. God himself. God has designed a family. As a basic training institute. In which we get all the hard knocks chipped out of us. And we learn to respond. To corrections and guidelines. Can you imagine little kids. Who doesn't want anybody to tell them what to do. And he cannot understand how grown ups. Can have all the money they want to spend on ice cream. And not eat ice cream every day. He just cannot understand that. He figures if I had all the money in the world. I'd eat ice cream for breakfast. Ice cream for lunch. Ice cream for dinner. And ice cream for supper. This little kid says. So let's say his dad gives him this choice. The little kid says. Oh goody. Today we're going to eat nothing but ice cream. The dad says is that a law? He says yeah that's a law. Nothing else but ice cream. Dad says alright. Tomorrow we start with ice cream. Kid gets up in the morning. A big old plate of strawberry ice cream. No. Finishes the plate of ice cream. Give me some more. Dad brings him some more strawberry ice cream. He goes off to school. I had a mother. Yeah we're going to eat ice cream all day. The kid says wow. You know what a heavy mother you have. Kid comes home. Well what's for lunch? Well you made the rule. Today we eat ice cream. Oh boy. Chocolate ice cream. Chocolate ice cream. Puts the ice cream in. Then puts half a packet of chocolate ice cream away. For lunch time. Comes back in the afternoon. Do you want a cookie too? No. Ice cream today. Remember you made the rule. Alright. Didn't eat so much this time. Supper. In comes a big plate of steaming ice cream. For dessert. What else but ice cream. Night time that kid doesn't even want to look at ice cream. His mother brings him his final goodnight snack. Ice cream. At the end of that day that kid is throwing up all over the place. See. He's eating ice cream all the time. Because they know some things he doesn't know. That's why. And whenever some people know more than you do. Smarter or wiser. Or gooder sometimes. Then gooder. You've got to be able to be willing to bow that love of conscious freedom and to accept instruction from them. That's the basis of government. Alright. Should begin in a home, in a family. It should cover all the way through to governing authority. And God says ultimately then. See the parents themselves are under a chain of authority. That goes up into God's allowing various rulers to take positions. Now we want to look again at the Bible. I want you to write some scriptures down. To see that the man or the kind of leadership that God sets up over a country. Is that which God sees the country really deserves most. Please turn the tape over for side two of Winky's message. Romans 13. And again verse 7. Says this. Give therefore to all that do. Pay tribute or taxes to those to whom taxes are due. Custom to whom custom. Fear to whom fear. Honor to whom honor. One teacher. Chapter 2 and verses 13 to 14. If you'd look that up please. And we'll see another command of the Bible. First Peter. Right at the end of your Bible. First Peter chapter 2. Verses 13 to 14. Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man. For the Lord's sake. Whether it be to the king as supreme. Or as unto governors. As unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evil doers. And for the praise of them that do well. For so it is the will of God. That with well doing you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. So God wants us. Not to be known as disobedient people. Not to be known as revolutionary. In a government. If we're going to come and put holes in garbage in a government. We've got to conform our lives as much as possible. To that which is able to be conformed. In other words. If we're going to intelligently make a mark on a nation. And say you are wrong here. We've got to earn the respect of that government first. By being right wherever possible. And obeying wherever possible. So I say to you. As far as government is concerned. The Christian must obey the laws of the land. Provided one. They are based ultimately on God's moral law. Most of the laws of this country originally were set up. As a based on the Ten Commandments. As a matter of fact that's how C.G. Finney got saved. He picked up. He was studying law. He picked up a set of black stones. Commentaries on law. And constantly black stone referred. Probably one of the greatest of all lawyers in his day. He constantly referred to the Bible as the basis of law. And Finney began to read the Bible just as a lawyer. To find out what was the basis of this law thing. And as he began to read it. He got under conviction. And he began to hide his Bible underneath his fingers. People had opened the door. And he didn't want them to see them reading the Bible. So he used to hide it under his law books. And out of that he became a Christian. The Lord spoke to him. He finally came in. God spoke to him and said. You're just going to learn or you're going to die. And eventually gave his life to Christ. And he went out. First day he went out to be a lawyer. Had a very important case there. And from his church he said. You've got this important case for you to plead. Where have you been? Finney looked at him. With those eyes that had seen the presence of Jesus. And he said. I have a retainer from the Lord Jesus Christ to plead his case. And I cannot plead yours. Wow. Secondly. We are to obey all laws that are in accord with the nature. Of my well being. Any law. That fits in with what. God says is most valuable. We are to obey. If there are laws for instance. Governing ecology of a country. Or governing the happiness of different creatures. Anything. First that is founded on the ten commandments. Founded on. Basically God's love law. Or that which fits in to that which is best. For a society. That is to be obeyed. And thirdly. We are to obey. When a law is not moral. When it is amoral. Not immoral. That is when we are to resist. But when a law has no real morality in it. Doesn't really govern moral choices. It is like a. You know has something to do with taxes. Or something that is not intrinsically connected with conscience. We are to obey these laws. On the basis that obedience is better than rebellion. Now some kids. Because they are Christians. They decide. They pick and choose. Which laws they will obey. In a home especially. You think about in a home. You come from a home. Let's say you got really put down in your home. And now God has saved you. So you come back to your mother. And your mother says. Would you watch the business. You say no I am a Christian. She says oh really. You say yes. And your mother says. Can you mow the lawn. No I have been saved. And I am going to do what Jesus wants me to do. Wash the dishes. Clean your room up. A hurricane came to read me. It only came to your room. How many of you know. It is sometimes easier to go to a meeting than wash the dishes. Christian meeting. I know one kid whose dad said. I want you to stay home tonight. He said no. Dad said you will stay home. Kidder I will be. I am a Christian. I am prepared to suffer persecution for Jesus. Came and he got whipped. For unrighteousness sake. He said no you dummy. That is your mark of persecution for idiots sake. So Christians are to obey government. Wherever possible. They are to do that. There is only one exception. And that is when the government passes a law. That directly contravenes the model of God. No government can pass a command. That asks a Christian to break one of God's laws. At that time. And at that time only. The Christian must stand up and say no. I will die. I will not do what you ask me to do. And we see men in the Bible. Daniel. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are two that spring to mind. Three musketeers of Babylon. That is not their name. Those two guys are willing to die. But they would not break God's law. One of them said you bow down. See. And you worship the statue. Three musketeers said no we will not. You may kill us. You may put us to death. But we will not bow down. And the king threw them in a furnace. And they did not get toasted. Daniel. What was he doing? He was doing the opposite. He was worshiping God. And some sneaky guy who wanted to get rid of them. Passed a law that said nobody should worship anybody except the king. So he just went on worshiping. The Lord had said. It is written. He is the Lord your God. You will worship him. No law passed was going to stop him. He went on praying three times a day. I am secretly going to worship you. He just went on doing exactly what he has done every day. Lord I worship you. Three times a day. They came and said. Hey Daniel is doing that. The king said. You know he passed the law. It was too late. Threw them in the lions den. The lions had been hungry. They crunched up everything. Threw them a knock down crunch. They were lions like that. Threw Daniel down. They were lions like that. So they put a big rock over the top. Came back in the morning. King could not sleep all night. He was so bothered about this dumb law that he passed. Pulled the rock back. He looked and there was Daniel. Fast asleep on a lion. He said. Oh Daniel are you there. You are God able to save you. Okay he said. Live forever. He always had to say that to the king. Live forever. They pulled Daniel out of that place. They rounded up the guys. They got them into the predicament. They said throw them in the pit and see how the lions are this morning. Crunch, tear, rip. Nothing. So watch out for the lions. When you serve the Lord. Now. I want to give you something about government now. About the form of government. Kids by now should be able to tell us the two conditions of unity. What are they? Colour. Common knowledge. Common knowledge. And common unselfishness. Now that is the basis of unity in a nation. It's also the basis of judgement that God uses in trying to find out what kind of government he can trust a country with. I want you to draw this little triangle. Divide it up into four sections. And write in it. The Bible tells us in this passage and a number of other ones. Some of which are Daniel 2, 21. That he puts down kings and he sets up kings. Talking about God. Proverbs 8 and verse 15. Proverbs 8, 15. By me kings reign. God says and princes decree justice. Proverbs 21, 1. The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord as rivers of water. He turns it with us over he will. So God will set up a form of government for a nation. The one that he believes they most deserve. When a nation is on the whole both wise and good. Or wise and virtuous as a whole. It doesn't mean that everybody in the nation will be a Christian. It doesn't mean that everybody will be highly informed. But it does mean that as a whole. Significant proportion of a nation is both wise and virtuous. God can trust the kind of leadership with a form of government that he gives that nation. He can trust it with a form of democracy. And under a democracy people have a better respect for law. They are wise on the whole. They are virtuous. They realize laws are for protection and stuff like this. And God can trust them with a democracy. Now as the nation becomes a little less wise. Maybe they don't have as much information. Maybe a little less virtuous. God may have to give it a form of republic. Like, like Plato's Republic. Now a republic is not like a democracy. Democracy is a government of the people, by the people, for the people. You understand that. Alright. But a republic is more a vast mass of people governed by a smaller mass of people who are more intelligent or wise. Plato's Republic had scientist philosophers governing the whole of the body of people. Okay. God may give that nation a form of republic if they are a little less wise and a little less virtuous. If they become even less wise and even less virtuous, God may have to give that country a monarchy. Or a king. Now a monarchy is a stronger form of government. A more powerful form. You'll notice as we go up this triangle. The base of the democracy is a wide number of people have control. A republic, further up the triangle, less people have control. And a monarchy, one person has more and more control as we go up the top of the triangle. Do you see this? Alright. Now a king has a court. He asks his court advice, but they do not tell him what to do. He just simply says, listen, give me some advice. He decides ultimately, and if the court says, this is our advice, and the king says, well I don't listen to it, he doesn't have to. He just does the very opposite. He says, they don't have very much say in a court. They have a little bit, but not very much. God may have to give a nation a form of monarchy. And if a nation really becomes stupid, and it is possible to be informed and be stupid. And a nation becomes evil, turns its back on righteousness. Then God will give that nation a dictatorship. A totalitarian form of government, where one man holds absolute power. And God will give that nation that form of government. Understand, this is not something a man has decided to do. This is what God has allowed. Because God would rather have a strong man, even if he's not a good man, in control, than to have nobody in control at all. God would rather have a dictatorship than anarchy. And you will see this happen. God always arranges situations so that a nation has the form of government it most deserves. I believe this nation, as we sit here tonight, is under the judgment of God. Because of the sins and the selfishness of this nation. People have broken God's heart, and understand it began in a democracy. You had some pretty good people start this country. They may not have all been perfect, but you had some pretty good people. Matter of fact, God allowed a revolution that broke away. It was called the American Revolution. It broke the people away from the control of the monarchy. Because on a whole, they were more wise and virtuous than the British Empire they broke away from. And I know, I'm from the British Empire. We sing God Save the Queen. I sure hope she gets saved one day. This nation was set up on a base that the people would be both wise and virtuous. You move from here to here. And I believe at this moment you are here, really needing somebody more than a simple person. You really need a king. Now, charismatic person. I think the last person, or persons that had it were Kennedy. Jacqueline Kennedy still carries the mystique of a queen with her. Nobody's ever made it like this. And I think that was the last king type president you had. I also believe that unless changes take place in this nation in this very short next few months or year, that we have left, whatever the time is, you'll see a change from a monarchy to the third and last state. And God will allow it. And understand, God is not for the United States of America or for the British Islands. He is for righteousness against sin. And when a nation degenerates to a point where God has to judge it, He will judge it. And He will do it with power. And He will put in the reins of that government somebody who can judge the people. Sometimes God puts a very rotten man up here just to show the people how far they have gone. See, you know, when you have a sort of a leader that at least is kind and he listens to people, the people down on the bottom base can get really pushy and say, Oh, you're just a weak meat, so God arranges things. And finally He puts in a big man there. A very, a powerful man who can really put people down. And then people look up and they say, Oh wow, is that what we're like? Do we need somebody like that to beat around on us? And God will do it. He will allow that to happen. Now watch. I believe that the same thing of course happens in a church. I've seen churches like this. If you wanted to change this, you could write it down in the church. God has a congregation that are wise and virtuous. He could trust it with a congregational type of structure. Up the road further, you could call it a Presbyterian. Further up the road, you could call it a Episcopalian. And up the top, Catholic. That's the form of government of the church. See that? That's why I think it's foolish to legislate the kind of government a church ought to have. Because each different church will have a different group of people, different wisdom, different knowledge, different virtues. Let God put a man in. Sometimes some churches need a strong man who's almost like a pug. He says, this is what we're going to do. Wham. Sometimes a church can be trusted, like a democratic sort of thing, where all the people decide and make decisions. Do you see this? I think we're roughly with me. I understand what you're talking about. Okay, good. Now we're going to talk about Christian revolution. The power of the Christian is this. He does not stand on the left or the right. He stands in between. He preaches to both. We're going to talk now about war briefly. Because this is a real question. And it's based on this. Does a government have a right to send its people to war? So the question of war really involves a governmental question, as well as a simple why war. Understand, if a government passes a command, unless that command contravenes the moral law of God, then the Christian is to obey the government of which he is a part. Now the question we have to ask on the war question is this. Does war break the commands of God? That's the real question. When the Bible says, for instance, Thou shalt not kill, and a war is waged by one nation against another, does that break God's law? First of all, Christian has no right to sin. No right at all. And if war is wrong, if war is sinful, and if the particular war in which you engage is sinful, the Christian has no right to participate. We're going to talk about this though. We're going to look at this command, Thou shalt not kill. And we're going to ask this question. When the Bible says, Thou shalt not kill, what does it mean? And the interesting thing is, there are two different words in the Hebrew used for kill. One is the word which means to take life. Another word means to murder. And it is a unique word. It means to selfishly take life. And God actually makes a distinction. If you look in a Revised Standard Version, or some other version, you'll see that the actual reading of that thing itself is, Thou shalt do no murder. And the thing we're going to ask is this. Why human life? Why not animal life? Why not vegetable life? Because it involves that too. God, when he said his command here, has told us this. Do not take selfishly, do not murder any life. And that includes insects, animals, plants, birds, and people. Do not selfishly take life. Now is it permissible to take life? Is it possible to take life unselfishly? How many people think it is possible to unselfishly take life? Let me see your hands. Think about it. Do you think God in the very next chapter gives instructions on how to take the life of somebody who has broken certain of his commands? And God never breaks one command for another one. So, we have exalted human life to a point where it becomes a supreme value. We will go, we'll say, if a person's life is involved, that's the most supreme thing in the universe. But God does not say that. He says when a man breaks the basic law of the universe, sometimes his life may have to be forfeited to uphold that law. In other words, if somebody takes somebody else's life, in today's thing we'd say that was too bad. But God says no, you have to protect their rights. Your life is forfeited. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a life for a life under justice. And God tells people, this is how you are to take the life. These are the crimes for which a person's life is forfeited. And he lists them in the Old Testament. So understand, it does not just mean kill humans. This command, do no murder, involves the entire creation. Now, say a mosquito lands on me. You know, mmmmmmmm And I look at that thing there about to stick its beak into me. I am torn with a tremendous theological struggle. Having read the Bible, see, it says do not kill. What am I going to do? And this little creature is killing me. Now, if it was as big as a horse and stuck its little biscuits into me you would understand what I'm talking about. actually removing some of my life through its little sucker. So I had 9 million mosquitoes. You say, well it's only one isn't it? What if 9 million of them came on to me? And all started sucking at the same time. What if this dude carried malaria? Now I had a problem with this mosquito. A gigantic theological puzzle. What do I do with him? I'll tell you what I do without even thinking theologically. BAM! Have I broken this commandment? And the answer is, no. I have not murdered that mosquito. I have executed him. Now I want you to understand this. That mosquito has invaded my life. To take his life, not in bitterness or in hatred of mosquitoes, but in protection of a high life value as defined by the scripture, I have not murdered him, I have executed him. On the other hand if I took that little mosquito, grabbed him by a leg, held him down and said, you will pay for this you monster. And pulled his leg off. She loathes me, she loathes me not. She loathes me, she loathes me not. If I did that with that mosquito, I have broken that commandment. Here is an animal out here. I am hungry. There is a deer and I shoot this deer. Have I broken that commandment? No. But what if I go and shoot him just for the pleasure of watching him die? Hunting I think they call it. Don't hear many amen's tonight? Amen walls, amen roofs. And what about a flower bed out there? If I can pick some flowers and put them up, threading beauty and harmony to a hug. If I go out there with a stick and I am mad at the world like I used to when I was a little kid. See a bunch of flowers all looking pretty there and I grab that stick, bash, mash, crunch, thunk, jump up and down. I go, I go, I go, I go. I have murdered those flowers. You connect to that electronic gadget on your head and go, ah yee. I have actually broken that command. Now understand there is a distinction then between murder and killing. Is it possible for a man to take somebody else's life and not murder them? The answer is yes. And if you read the Old Testament at all you will see that sometimes God has sent David and his men in to actually execute a nation. And let me talk about this now. Here is a great problem with God. First let's see where war comes. Look in the book of James. Book of James right near the end of the Bible. James chapter 4 says this. From whence comes war and fighting or brawling, that word is, among you? Come they not hence, even of your lusts or pleasures that war in your members? You lust and have not, you kill and desire to have and cannot obtain. You fight and you war, yet you have not because you ask not. So we see here that war first of all begins with selfish people. I want you to imagine God's predicament here. Here are two people and they want to have a war. Not a nation, just two people who are going to beat up on each other. They don't like each other see. Why don't they like each other? Because they're selfish. Let's not talk about two nations. Let's just talk about two people and look at it like this. Here are two people and they're about to punch each other. And you're coming in and you don't like what you see. You hate to see people punching up on each other. What can you do to stop them? You can stand out there and you can plead with them, say, ah, don't do this. But what say you physically step in and say, you stop right here. And they really do want to beat up on each other. What do you think will happen? They beat up on you. In other words, if you want to stop two people having a fight and you come in to intervene, they will fight you and then when they've finished you off, they'll go back to fighting each other. So you have an alternative. Step in and get involved in the fight yourself or stay out and watch with grief. Now you think about God and who he is and you ask me what kind of predicament he is in. Here are two nations now that want to fight each other. God has a choice. He could step right in and stop them and what do you think they will do? They'll fight him and that isn't a fight baby when you know who God is. No fight at all. So what does God do? He can have one of two things. He can either get involved directly and let men fight him and that's the end of the world right there. Or he can stand back and be grieved and allow wars to take place. Pleading, trying to send his kids in there to bust things up so selfishness is dealt with at its root so that nations will be changed by revival instead of violent revolution. And that's God's alternative. He has no other alternative. And you can say this to the kid who says if God is a God of love, why is there war? You can simply say this. God could stop the war. He could stop it in the next 60 seconds. He could stop it by annihilating every selfish person on the face of this planet. Second question. How many people would still be here after 60 seconds went by? God will stop the war. He will stop all wars. But as C.S. Lewis puts it, when that happens it is the end of the world. When the author walks on stage the play is over. There will be no war. And there will be no more chances. That is the end. And the only reason God has not stepped in and stopped more wars is because when he comes back that's the end of time. He will come back. And I believe in our century and our time. And that will mark the end of war. When that happens it is the end of the world. And God has deliberately allowed himself to be grieved. Allow these wars to take place. With great longing and grief in his heart. Because the only alternative is to get involved directly himself. And when that happens it's the end. God cannot force people to be unselfish without robbing them of their choices. And that's his problem. Now what about local wars? And we'll finish off with this. What about local wars? I want you to imagine a surgeon, a famous surgeon, who has a friend who is a pianist. And the pianist is playing. And one day he comes to his friend and he says, I've got this funny little bump on my finger. Do you know what it is? And the surgeon looks at it and he cuts a little piece out and he sends it to the lab. He says, I don't know it looks a bit weird. Wait till we get the report back. The lab brings it back and says, I'm sorry that's a tumor and it's malignant. Now what does the surgeon do? Well, he takes his friend and he loves him. He knows that his career is dependent on his finger. And he tries to treat the finger. He treats it with radiation, with drugs. He tries to kill that tumor. What say the tumor does not respond to treatment? It just continues to grow and grow and grow until it begins to affect the finger. What choice does the surgeon have? He has a choice of allowing the finger to continue to be infected until finally it spreads to the hand and then the arm and then the body and then he loses his friend. Or to step in and do a very hard thing for both him and his friend. To amputate the finger. Now that will mean the following things for the finger. It will mean death for the finger that was chopped off. It will mean separation and it will mean bloodshed. But the only alternative God has, only alternative, is to let the whole man die. When God sees nations fighting or getting ready to fight and he sees one particular nation getting so evil and so bad that it is a cancer that begins to spread right through the whole of the world. God sometimes sends in some people, the surgeons, to amputate it. Not in hatred, not in great bitterness, but as God's executioner. And do you think that God loves the people that he cuts off? He has to cut them off. Of course he loves them. But there's a choice. Lose the finger or the whole man. And so sometimes God sends in his people to execute whole nations. You say, what about the little kids? I don't happen to have a theology that believes that babies are born sinful. And I happen to believe a kid that dies in infancy goes right into the presence of God. And that is a pretty cool thing if you're a baby from a hidden country. You get old enough to make some choices and you won't do that. And what if your parents are all killed, executed for their moral things, and the kids are left all on their own. You've got a whole nation of kids that nobody can take care of. And then they grow older, get bitter because their parents are gone, and start the whole cycle all over again. So God simply says, take everybody. Wipe the whole nation out. Kids all get saved because, you know, they haven't had any problems yet. But parents are judged for their sins. And understand if God can find one righteous person in this whole thing, he spares them. Here's Rahab the harlot. She's a prostitute. People come in to destroy the city. She, she believes God. She believes that he's really going to do that. And when the, the city comes in to be destroyed, there's one scarlet cord hanging out the window and they say, don't touch the person in that house. Everybody else is destroyed. That one is saved. See God is so care, careful, if there's one person he can possibly spare, he'll do it. He'll find it. Some of the people God has sent in, his children in, to execute as judgment, the Ammonites are one of them. You may think it's a pretty rotten thing that God sent them in and said, listen, you kill everybody here, but I don't think you know who the Ammonites were and what they did. Israel asked for passage. They said, can we come through? We've got a long journey to make. We won't touch any of your stuff. All we want is safe passage through the land. The Ammonites said no. The Israelites went round the outskirts. You know what the Ammonites did? They waited for the woman that was pregnant. They were slow. See they had to ride very slowly. The Ammonite soldiers fell on the pregnant woman and ripped them up. They had a delight in killing children that were still unborn. And they did that continually. They picked on God's kids. You don't do that. And when the Ammonite iniquity was full, God said, that's it. I'm going to send you back in and you're going to teach the world a lesson. You do not mess with my people. And the world has seen it. God is very just. He will judge. What happens in a war? Death, separation, bloodshed. What alternatives do you have? Deal with every selfish person on the face of the earth. Either wipe them out or get them changed. And that's our alternative. We can work for Jesus Christ, see men's hearts change, which results in family change, which results in national change, which can result in world change. And we are to spare whoever we can before God comes in with judgment. There's the basis of Christian revolution. Let's close in prayer. Heavenly Father, we have a lot to think about tonight. These are areas and issues that you are concerned about. One thing for Christians to say, don't talk about politics or things like this, but you talk about government and you talk about kings and you give us instructions of how we are to pray for those in authority. You tell us in your word about men that you send in to correct authority that was going away from you or from your book. You tell us that you set kings up and put them down. You are the one who told us this in your book. And if it's important to you, it's important to us as your children. There are some things we cannot understand, O God, when we read your book, because we do not know all the circumstances. We do know one thing. You are always wise and you are always loving and nothing ever happens to a nation unless it has been first gifted through infinite wisdom and love. We see, O God, what you have done, what you have asked of us to do. Help us to understand that you really are the God the Bible talks about. You are kind. You are not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Give us understanding of God and questions like this, politics and war, so we may be effective for Jesus Christ. Amen. 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