SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Kingdom Bound Church at 74 Kelly Road Extension in Middlebury, Connecticut. We gather for worship at ten AM on Sundays. In our short but deep time together, what I want to talk about today is government authority. Is it ever, is there ever a time where it is okay to resist government authority? That's a really, really good question these days. So um, okay, so let's get let's get this straight from the start. All right, Reformed Baptists, that is what that is what I am. We're not anarchists. Just just want you to know. We are not looking for excuses to flip off the authorities or burn down the city hall. No, no, no, no, no. Don't don't believe that. We believe government is a good gift from God. Romans chapter 13, verses 1 through 2 says it plainly. 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. Now, government exists to restrain evil, promote order, and protect the innocent. When it does that, you better believe it. We give thanks and we submit. But, and this is a big but, government is not God. The same Bible that tells us to submit also tells us there is a higher authority. When the apostles were ordered to stop preaching in the name of Jesus, they answered, we must obey God rather than men. You get that out of Acts chapter 5, verse 29. That single sentence has echoed throughout church history for 2,000 years. It is the line in the sand. So when does submission turn into resistance? Uh we have a clear answer to that, and it's narrow. We resist when the government commands us to do what God forbids or forbids us to do what God commands. That's the principle. In other words, when the state demands that we sin, that's it. Look at the examples scripture gives us. The Hebrew midwives refused Pharaoh's order to kill the baby boys. Exodus chapter 1, verses 15 through 21. God blessed them for it. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to bow to the golden image in Daniel 3. Daniel kept praying after the king's decree made it illegal, Daniel 6. The apostles kept preaching after the Sanhedrin told them to shut up. In every case, the people of God did not revolt for political power or personal freedom. They simply refused to disobey God. Now, this is where our man John Knox comes in, that Scottish reformer, and he does not whisper. The Scottish reformer looked at rulers who demanded idolatry or suppressed the pure teaching of the gospel and said, essentially, you have stepped outside the authority that God gave you. Knox argued that magistrates are under the law of God, not above it. When a ruler commands what God forbids, especially the worship of false gods or the silencing of the true gospel, that command has no force over the conscience of a Christian. Knox was not advocating chaos. He was calling for principled, God-fearing resistance. He even developed the idea that lesser magistrates, local rulers, nobles, etc., have a duty to interpose themselves between a tyrannical, higher authority and the people when that higher authority is forcing sin. The idea later influenced many reformed thinkers. Notice the careful boundaries. We do not resist because taxes are high, because the leader is incompetent, because we lost an election, or because the culture is shifting in ways we we dislike. Remember what I said, we we, you know, if we lose an election, we can go deeper into that, but not right now. Okay. We resist when when obedience to the state would mean disobedience to Christ. The early Baptists in England understood this. Many of them were fined, imprisoned, or worse, for refusing to conform to the Church of England's requirements. They did not claim the right to overthrow the king. They claimed the right to obey Jesus in baptism and worship and in the gathering of the church. This distinction actually matters. If we expand resistance to mean I don't like this policy, we lose the moral high ground and we muddy the clear teaching of scripture. If we shrink it so that we never resist anything, we end up obeying men rather than God the moment the costs get real, get real. The narrow road is a biblical one. Honor the king, 1 Peter 2.17, pay your taxes, Romans 13 7, pray for those in authority, 1 Timothy 2, 1-2. And when they demand that you deny Christ or disobey his clear word, you politely but firmly, and if necessarily publicly, you say no. We have always held these two truths intention because the Bible holds them in tension. Government is God's servant for our good. Christ is Lord over every servant. When the servant forgets who the real master is and starts issuing orders that contradict the master's will, the Christian's duty is clear. We obey God rather than men. That is not rebellion for its own sake, it is loyalty to the highest king. And in the long run, that kind of loyalty has always served the church and even the state, better than either blind submission or angry revolution. You keep your Bible open, you keep your conscience tender, and when the moment comes, you best be ready to stand for the truth. I can say so much more about this, especially in light of recent years. But time is limited. I'd be curious to know your own thoughts and comments on this whole sub this whole topic of is it ever okay to resist government authority? That is it for now. I look forward to our next time together.