What Does the Bible Really Say About Obeying Government?

Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Go right back to where we left off, and I'll be in Romans chapter 12 yet for just a few more verses, and as I said at the beginning of the first program, I'm going to try and finish Romans in this series of tapings so that we can have them all wrapped up on tape number 25. And speaking of the tapes, of course, remember that all the tapes are available on VCR, six-hour tapes with 12 programs in each one. By the way, I've got the lady that does all of our dubbing with us today, and that's my daughter-in-law, Jeanette, and there she is on the screen, and of course my eldest son, Greg. He's the one who ranches with me, and so we're all in pretty close proximity. Jeanette does all the taping, and Iris, my other little daughter-in-law, does all the wrapping and sending, and we're all pretty much in the ministry together, as well as in the ranching business, so we're just tickled that they're with us today. And then of course every tape has been transcribed into the printed page, and Jerry Poole of course down in McAllister does that, he and his wife Lorna, and then of course we have Keith Decker up here in Tulsa that puts all the material together and gets it to the printer, so we've got everybody working together that we can hopefully get the Word out to a lot of people. Now then for those of you in the studio, as well as those of you joining us on television, we're going to go back into Romans chapter 12 for just a little bit, and then chapter 13, and then hopefully part of 14, and maybe we can get 15 and 16 in that last half hour. Romans chapter 12 where we've been talking about the gifts that God has imparted to every member of the Body of Christ, to fulfill His purpose. A lot of these gifts are most functional within the local Body of Christ, within the local church, but it doesn't confine to that. You can use your gift anywhere, anytime, and I'd like to have you drop in with me then at verse 17, where now we come into our attitude to those around about us, not just in the local church, but to our community as a whole. Verse 17. Romans 12. Now you know that's the human response. Somebody does you dirt, what do we do? Do them dirt in return, but of course that's just not the Christian principle, and we're to provide things honest in the sight of all men. I've always tried to impart the idea that I'd rather charge $5.00 too little, as to overcharge by $5.00. I think this is the whole concept, that if we have that kind of an attitude towards our fellow men, we're not out to get them, we're not out to take advantage of them, but to be a square dealer, as we used to call it anyway. Now in verse 18 I will probably raise some eyebrows. We've all been hammered with the idea that if you're a Christian, you've just got to let people do to you what they want, and after all you're in no position to argue because you're a Christian. Well I've always said verse 18 is a loophole. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. But listen, we're living in a devil's world, and it's not always possible. I've got some illustrations in my own experience of people that have been in my classes where they had taken that approach, that I'm a Christian, and I can't do anything about it. I think of a man several years ago, I think he's already gone on to be with the Lord, and he and his wife had sold a little business that they had made their living from, and he had sold it on a contract, hoping that from the contract income he and his wife would have a decent living. But the guy just never bothered to pay them, never gave them any interest, and certainly no principal. He let the business almost deteriorate down to nothing, and he was telling me about it one night after class, and I said, And he said, I'm a Christian, and I can't take the man to court. I said, is he a fellow believer? Is he in the same church body that you are? He said, Oh no, he's not even a Christian. I said, then for goodness sakes, get after him. I said, that's your prerogative. Go get you a good lawyer. I said, you don't have to sit there and starve to death, because some crook is not fulfilling his obligations. He said, Oh you really think so? I said, I know so, and I showed him this verse. He had done everything he could to get the guy to make some payment, and he was almost starving. I remember one night I gave him $2 .20 I guess, so he'd have some grocery money. The guy was destitute, simply because somebody was being a deadbeat on his contract. Now do you think that's wrong to go to a lawyer in those circumstances? No. Now as I was thinking about this getting ready, do you remember when Paul was called before the religious leaders in Israel? Go back with me a minute to Acts chapter 23. Here Paul is up before the great religious leaders of his day, and they're giving him a bad time. Do you think Paul just stood there like a milk toast? No he didn't. He fired back, and I think once in a while we have to. Now don't take me wrong, this should not be the common thing to do, but if it's impossible to do anything else, you have to exert your Christian rights. Look what Paul is doing here. Acts chapter 23. Acts 1. "...and Paul, earnestly beholding the counsel of these religious Jewish leaders, said, Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God unto this day. And the high priest Ananias commanded them that stood by to smite him on the mouth." Why? Because in Ananias' mind the guy was lying. He hadn't lived in good conscience, and so he gave instructions to hit that man on the mouth, and they did. Now look how Paul responds. Verse 3. Acts 1. "...and Paul said unto him, Ananias, God shall smite thee, thou whited wall." What is that? In so many words he says, you blatant hypocrite, you religious leader, you know nothing of the things of God. Verse 4. "...and Paul said unto him, Ananias, God shall smite thee, thou whited wall, for sittest thou to judge me after the law, and commandest me to be smitten contrary to the law." What did Paul do? He exerted his right even as a Christian. I'm not going to take time to have you look up the other one, but you remember he was brought before the Roman magistrates up there in Philippi, and they had beaten him without trial by jury, and the next morning they wanted him to leave town. What did Paul say? He said, Oh no way, listen, you beat me as a Roman citizen without trial, now then we'll just go before your superiors, and boy what happened. They were scared to death. So what did he do? He exerted his legal privilege, and I see nothing wrong with that. Now I don't think believers should run to a lawyer at the drop of a hat, that's not what I'm saying. But when it gets to the place that we have no other way to turn, we do not have to lay down and say, Well walk on me, I'm a Christian. And so I use this verse for that very basis, that there comes a time, hopefully never, but if it does, don't just lay down and let them misuse you because you're a Christian. So if it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. Verse 19. Paul says, "...Avenge not yourselves," and that flies in the face of human nature. We always want to get even, but the Scripture says to a believer, we don't have to try and get even. Who's going to do it for us? God will. Well it may take Him a little longer than it would us, but He will. That goes around, comes around, and it never fails. If God is in control, and you know He is, and someone has misused you, give Him time. He's going to square the matter. And so He says, "...give place to wrath, for it is written, Vengeance is Mine." Verse 19. God says, I will repay, and I'll tell you what, I'd rather have God do it than me, because He's going to be a lot tougher to deal with than I could ever hope to be. Then of course the admonition, verse 20-21. Paul says, "...If thy enemy hunger feed him, if he thirst give him drink, for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." So much for the practicalness of the Christian gifts, and of our dealing with the people around us. Now we come into chapter 13, and Paul is going to deal about our attitude toward government. Now of course one of the beauties of democracy is, if we don't like what's in government, we can complain, we can say what we want, and we have that kind of freedom. But Paul here is admonishing the believer to recognize that every central government is there by divine appointment. Now this is hard to reconcile, I know what it is. Hitler was there by God's sovereign divine appointment, absolutely, and whenever America has someone in the White House that we may not be all that proud of, listen, he is still there by God's sovereign divine appointment. Now I'll read on in chapter 13. Paul says, "...Let every soul, every person, saved and unsaved, be subject unto the higher powers." Now the higher powers isn't speaking of the Godhead, it is speaking of our civil government. So everyone has to give regard to his civil central government, "...for there is no power, no king, no prime minister, no president. There is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God." Now those of you who have heard me teach for many, many years, how many times have you heard me say that one of the amazing things to me is that when you start way back there in the Garden, God turned over to human choice, His pretty much exercise of the free will. And not only to individuals, but to nations. Nations have been given pretty much their free exercise. But in spite of the fact that He has given individuals and nations that exercise of free will after 6,000 years of human history, where are we in God's program? Right on schedule. And this is what's so amazing, that through wars, and famines, and insurrections, and revolutions, the world is still just exactly tonight where God intended it to be. Now that's amazing isn't it? But this is how He works, and so He puts in our civil government in a way that we can't understand or comprehend. Now then He says in verse 2, "...resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God, and they that resist shall receive themselves condemnation." Now I know this raises questions. What if someday we should have a completely totalitarian, ungodly government? First and foremost it's the believer's responsibility to live peaceably under that government. But I think the only place where we as believers will have the right to resist that government is when they go contrary to our Christian experience and to the commands of Scripture. Then of course I think as believers we have every right to say, "...hey, wait a minute, I can't do that." And until then we are to give ourselves under the control then of our central government. Then verse 3 is the reason. Why do we have government? So that we can pursue joy, happiness, and so on and so forth. For rulers are not a terror to good works. But the ruler is supposed to be a terror to the evil element, to the criminal element. That's what government is for. And then He comes all the way through in verse 6. Now we all kind of rebel at this one. "...since government is there for our protection, since government is given by God to help us pursue our life of happiness, yet in order for government to protect us, to give us this that we need, what do we have to do? Well, we've got to pay some taxes. Now I don't believe we have to pay as much as we are, but nevertheless government does need tax money. It's the only way they can operate. And so this is what He means here then, when He says for this cause, because of all the things that God intends government to do, for this cause you pay tribute. What's tribute? Taxes! See, they did it already in Christ's time, and they've been doing it ever since, and they're getting better at it all the time, aren't they? Boy they can tax you to death now, and act like they're doing you a favor. But nevertheless, a certain amount of it is required if we're going to have a workable government. For this cause you pay tribute or taxes, for they, the government, are God's ministers, even the ungodly, attending continually upon this very thing. So render therefore to all their dues, tribute to whom tribute, cuss to whom cuss, and so on and so forth. Now I want to come on quickly to verses 8 and 9. Now I don't want to be like one man's pastor told him, that doesn't mean what it says. I'm never going to say that about Scripture. But I think we can better translate it by, do not defraud anyone. There's certainly nothing wrong with going to the bank and borrowing money to buy a home, or whatever else many times we have to do. That's not what the Scripture is saying. But it is saying, do not defraud someone, do not take advantage of someone, but to love one another, for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the Law. That's all it takes to fulfill the Law, is to have love operate in your daily experience. Now then, remember Paul is the one, in fact you're in Romans, yet go back to chapter 6 so you see it with your own eyes again, because this is something that I found our whole television audience is responding to. That they have never realized this complete difference between Law and Grace. Letter after letter comes expressing this, and so now I want you to see it again with your own eyes. Romans chapter 6, verse 14, "...for sin, or the old Adam, shall not have dominion over you." Why? You are not under the Law, but you're under what? Grace. In other words, we're not under the ritual and the stipulations of the Law of Israel. We are not under the demands of Judaism. That's all been set aside, and we're now under Grace. But what have I said over and over? Grace is not license. Grace is not license. That doesn't mean we can just do as we please, or that we can go ahead and sin as we please. No, that's not Grace. Now then in the next verse, what then? Shall we sin because we're not under the Law, but under Grace? And what's the answer? God forbid! Don't think such a thing. We're still under God's providence. Now we're not under His Law as such, that if you break it, this is what's going to happen. But God's mind on sin hasn't changed, as I said in the last program. You go back into Leviticus and read that whole chapter of the things that God told Israel. Don't you dare! Don't you do this, don't you do that. God hasn't changed. Those things are just as abominable in God's eyes tonight as they were back then. But we're under Grace, we're not under Law. Now if you'll come back to Romans chapter 13. So since we're under Grace, and not under Law, and love is the dominant force now in the life of the believer. Remember love is the fulfilling of the Law, so when love is operating, my look what happens. You don't commit adultery, you don't kill, you don't bear false witness, you don't covet, and if there's any other commandment, it's love your neighbor as yourself. Now where are those statements coming from? The Ten Commandments, the Law. And then you see you get into Ephesians, and Peter Paul uses the one concerning children. Obey your parents, the first commandment with promise. But you see, even though Paul repeats nine of those Ten Commandments, and I think most of you know if you've heard me teach which one he doesn't repeat, and that is the Sabbath. The Sabbath has absolutely nothing to do with the believer today. In fact I suppose I should spend a whole half program sometime on that term, Sabbath. The Sabbath was strictly the seventh day as a day of rest for the nation of Israel. It is absolutely incorrect to call our Sunday the Sabbath. The Sabbath was the seventh day, and it was given only to the nation of Israel, and long before the Law. But when the Law came, the Sabbath was incorporated into it, and I guess what got me on the thought was somebody wrote and asked the question the other day concerning Christ's crucifixion. Well, there was no way that the Sabbath, the seventh day, was ever a day of sacrifices. They didn't sacrifice on the Sabbath. It was a day of total rest, it was a day of total inactivity. So now then, Paul never makes mention of that commandment concerning the Sabbath, because we have nothing to do with that. But all other nine are still part and parcel of our Christian experience. Just because we're a believer, we don't have the right to commit adultery. Just because we're a believer, we do not have the right to kill, and to covet, and all these other things. And so love is what keeps us in the straight and narrow, if I may call it that. I think I put it on the board last time, but I won't take time tonight. But I usually put two lines on the board that confine us as believers, even under grace. And on the one side it's love for God, the love for the One who bought us, and on the other side it's love for other people. And so that keeps us within the guidelines of God's commandments. Now then you come on down to verse 10. Ephesians 4. "...love worketh no ill to his neighbor." If you love your neighbor, you can't do him dirt, or he may do you some. But if love is operating, as much as lieth in us, if love is operating, we're not going to avenge him. We'll let God take care of that. Love is the fulfilling of the law. Now where was the epitome of love expressed that fulfilled the law? On the cross. What put Christ on the cross? Love. It was His love for lost mankind that set His eyes as flint to the cross. It was love that nailed Him. It was love that caused God to pour out mercy at the cross. Now when that love has been imparted to you and I as believers, do you see how sensible that becomes? That same kind of love then is our attitude toward the people around us, and yes even our enemies if we have such. Then reading on down, and quickly finishing the chapter, Paul says that now, knowing the time, it is high time to awake out of sleep, spiritual sleep, and that's where the church is tonight. They are sound asleep. They are totally unaware of all the things that are taking place in this world tonight that are getting the stage set for the coming of that final 7 years of human history. They have no idea. Church people, I've had people tell me, Oh my fellow deacons, my fellow elders, they just think I'm plumb nuts when I start talking about how everything is getting ready for the end time. That doesn't surprise me. They're asleep, and they don't want to be woke up. They say, leave me alone. In Illinois they say, I'm comfortable, leave me alone. And that's so typical. But Paul says, hey, wake up. We are in the end time, and if he thought it was 2,000 years ago, you know it's closer now. And so he says, now is our salvation nearer than when we believe. Verse 12. "...the night is far spent, the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Walk honestly, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But," here's the opposite, "...but instead put you on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts or desires thereof." Now let's just move on quickly in the few minutes we have left in the chapter 14. And here Paul is going to deal with something that I'm not going to take verse by verse. And here we come to the disputes between believers. And in Paul's day, one of the biggest things was eating meat that had been offered to an idolatrous temple. And let's look at just a few things that he says. Verse 1, chapter 14. "...him that is weak in the faith," now do you see who we're dealing with? We're not talking about the strong believer, we're talking about the weak one, maybe a relatively new believer. He said, "...go ahead and receive him, that is, into your fellowship, but not to doubtful disputation." In other words, don't bring him in and let him cause a lot of argument, because he sees you eating meat that you bought at the market place, and it probably came from the temple, and he won't touch it. Don't get into a big argument over it. Verse 2, "...for one believeth that he may eat all things, and another who is weak does not eat." He eats herbs, so what does he become? A vegetarian. Now you know from Scripture, when even old Elijah was out there, and the ravens fed him, what did they feed him? Herbs and veggies, and meat. And so all the way through Scripture there is absolutely nothing that says we cannot eat meat. Now I know some of you don't agree with me, but you're not arguing with me, you're arguing with the Book. The Book says that meat is part of God's diet. There's nothing wrong with eating meat. Now if your doctor tells you that you are absolutely in a position where you can't eat it, that's different. But for the normal, healthy individual, there's nothing wrong with meat. And so he says here, don't let someone come along and say, I'm a vegetarian, and you are a testimony of evil when you eat meat. That's what they were doing. And Paul says, how are you going to deal with it? "...let not him who eateth not, judge him who eateth." Remember what the Book told us back in Romans 8? Who can judge us? No one, in anything. Because who alone is the judge? The one who died for me. And it's the same way here. When you come into contact with other believers who may not just live the lifestyle that you think they should, you're in no position to judge. Now you may be able to point them from some things in Scripture, but you cannot judge another person. Paul absolutely rejects that out of hand. And so he says, God hath received him, and God's the one that's going to do it. Verse 4, and then he uses an everyday example. Do you judge another man's servant? You're not his boss. You're not paying the wages. Are you going to judge him? Well, you don't do any good, because he's not your employee. And that's exactly what Paul is saying. Don't judge someone else. You're not the boss. God is. And then verse 5, he gets into the business of days. Now of course, with Judaism just in the background, that's easy enough to understand. Our time is gone. We'll have to pick it up in our next half hour. But here again, one person may establish one day, and another person says, hey, to me they're all alike. Well, that's the liberty of the Christian faith. Okay, that's it. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a weekly Bible study. If you would like more information about the Les Feldick Ministries, a Bible study in your area, or about this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. That's Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. Through the Bible with Les Feldick is viewer -supported, and your gift is appreciated. Thank you, and be sure to tune in next time for Through the Bible with Les Feldick.