When the Rooster Crows (Matthew 26:46-27:10)

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When the Rooster Crows

Chet Phillips

Transcript

You Well, good morning. My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. I'm excited to be here with y'all this morning. Grab your Bibles. Go to Matthew chapter 26.

If you have one of the blue Bibles, it looks like this. It'll be page 486. And if you do not own a Bible, take this one home with you. That's our gift to you. We want you to have a Bible. We want you to read it often.

We are walking through the Gospel of Matthew, and we are coming into the end of Matthew. And so these next few weeks, we're going to spend looking at the arrest, the trial, the crucifixion of Christ. And in what we're going to look at today, we're going to cover a decent amount of ground this morning. We're going to work through this story, and we're just going to walk through the story and talk about it. We'll make some observations as we go. And then at the end, we're going to look at Peter and Judas and the religious leaders, and we're going to look at their response to sin, their response to shame, their response to their guilt.

The truth is, in life, there are times where we come face-to-face with ourselves. We come face-to-face with our own sin, that we cease to be able to hide who we really are. Often we're very good at deceiving ourselves, but there are times where we finally see it. And so we're going to ask the question as we walk through this text, what do we do in those moments? How do we respond to our own sin and guilt? So let's pray, and then we'll walk through this story together.

God, we ask for you to bless this time. We pray that you would help us to love your word, to trust your word, and to see clearly Christ in his glory, in his greatness towards us. And may we see our sin, so that we might run to a savior. In Jesus' name, amen. Matthew chapter 26, starting in verse 46. Jesus has just been in the garden.

He's been with his disciples. He had the last supper. He said, this is my body broken for you. This is my blood that's shed for you, and a new covenant in my blood. And he says, as often as you do this, you declare my death until I come. He tells his disciples that one of you is going to betray me.

They go through and they ask, is it me? Is it me? Eventually Judas leaves. He goes out with his disciples to the garden, and he tells them, wait and pray and keep an eye out. He takes Peter, James, and John with him a little further in. He falls on his face.

He begins to ask the Lord, if this cup can pass from me, let it. He's stressed. He's troubled. He tells them he's sorrowful to the point of death. He goes back. The disciples are sleeping.

He wakes them up and says, you couldn't stay awake for an hour. Keep an eye out. Pray for yourselves. Pray for me. He goes back. He does this three times, and eventually he says this.

Rise. Let us be going. See, my betrayer is at hand. At some time in the middle of the night, Jesus hasn't slept. The disciples have slept some because they're exhausted. But he wakes them up and says, see, my betrayer is at hand.

And while he was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him a great crowd with swords and clubs from the chief priests and the elders of the people. So Judas has agreed to betray Jesus. He knows where he is. He comes to him in the garden. And he's got a great crowd with him with swords and clubs. Other gospels tell us they had torches and lanterns.

And that some of these are Roman soldiers. Some of these are soldiers that belong to the Sanhedrin that are actually part of the temple group of soldiers. But they've come to arrest Jesus to try to have a trial, to try to pin something on him so that they might kill him. So Jesus wakes up the disciples. He's been praying that this would pass, but now he's facing it. The disciples are waking up.

And you know, immediately, if you've ever jumped out of a kind of a groggy sleep, but maybe you heard a noise or something, their hearts are beating. They're looking. They're suddenly, adrenaline's pumping because there's this large crowd of armed men coming towards them in the darkness. Torches and lanterns, and they're surrounded. And Judas, it says one of the twelve. So one of the men that had been closest to Jesus, had spent the most time with Jesus, had professed that he believed and would follow Jesus, has come to betray him.

Verse 48. Now the betrayer had given them a sign saying, The one I will kiss is the man sees him. And he came up to Jesus at once and said, Greetings, Rabbi. And he kissed him. Now, for Americans, that's weird. And often Americans have read this and tried to read things into it and tried to understand what's going on here.

But this is a, for Middle Easterners, this is not an odd greeting. He's basically saying, The one I go greet, the one I go say hey to, this is the man. Ben Johnson, who's one of our group leaders, was a missionary in Lebanon for ten years. And they greet each other with kisses. They greet, they do three kisses. Just on the cheeks.

They get good at it. They know how to do it. He came traveling back. His home church was in Georgia. He was jet lagged. He was tired.

But he had to run by the, his church building before he could run to his house and try to get some rest. He showed up. He ran into the custodian there who he knew. The custodian said, Hey Ben. Ben said hey and grabbed him and went to kiss him. And it goes over different in Georgia than it does in the Middle East.

And so we read this and we're going, What's going on here? But really all that Judas has said is, It's going to be dark. These people would not have recognized Jesus. Maybe some of them have seen him. It's not like they had wanted posters up for him. It wasn't like us where we get to see famous people.

We get to see them on TV that you might could actually run into a famous person at Walmart and recognize them. They would have heard about Jesus. They might have seen him in the temple, but the ability to recognize him in the darkness is not much of a chance. But they wanted to go under cover of darkness and arrest him. And so that's how they worked out with Judas. Judas will identify him.

Judas has been with him for three years. I bet Judas in the dark, just seeing the disciples silhouetted, could probably tell you by the way they carried themselves who was who. And so he says, I'm going to identify him for you. The one I go greet, that's the one. So he walks over and he says, Greetings, Rabbi.

Would you know that had to sound weird? Too hard trying to sound normal, a little too loud for some reason, a little too quiet. There's no way this came out right because he shows up with this band of people with swords and clubs. Hey, Jesus. Greetings. But he grabs him.

He kisses him. Jesus said to him, this is verse 50, friend, do what you came to do. Then they came up and laid hands on Jesus and seized him. So these military soldiers knew as soon as he, whoever he greets, that's Jesus. That's who we're arresting. They come in.

They grab him. They rough hands clamp down on him to hold him. Verse 51. And behold, one of those who were with Jesus, and that's Peter. We find out one of the other gospels. One of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand, drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear.

So Peter, as soon as they grabbed Jesus, it's go time. He pulls his sword out. He said, I'll go with you even to death. And he meant it. He pulls his sword out and he cuts off the ear of the high priest's servant. The reason he cut off his ear was because he missed.

He was aiming to kill him. You don't swing a sword at someone's head unless you think this is it. Let's go. He missed. I'm assuming he came something like this. The high priest's servant went something like that.

He caught his ear. Cut it off. It would have been a bloody mess. Peter would have. I don't know if you've ever fought multiple people at once. But if you do.

You attack one, you back up and keep your eye on the other one. So Peter doesn't follow that up with more strikes. He swings at that guy. I'm assuming he backs up and looks. And in that that moment, that brief pause when everything got much more intense because they've got swords, they've got clubs, they've got the disciples surrounded. We know at least there's 11 disciples.

There's potentially more here. And they've come armed because they want to show have a show of force to try to a keep there from being violence or be when if there is violence. I don't know if you fought multiple people at once. If you're actually going to get in a fight, it's better to be on the multiple people side. That's what they showed up with. We're going to make this go well for us.

But Jesus, I mean, Peter cuts the ear off and then this is what happens next. Then Jesus said to him, put your sword back into its place for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Do you think that I cannot appeal to my father and he will at once send me more than 12 legions of angels? But how then should the scriptures be fulfilled that it must be so? So Peter attacks.

And in that breath in between when everything could have broken loose, Jesus says, put it up. That's not what this is about. How else would the scriptures be fulfilled? But Jesus says something very interesting here that I think we need to see. He says, do you not think that I could at once appeal to my father and he would not send me more than 12 legions of angels? A legion is a thousand.

He says, I have at my disposal at this moment over 12,000 angels. We see in the Old Testament where one angel kills 185,000 Assyrians in one night. So if Jesus calls on more than 12,000 angels, Jesus says, if I want to just let the angels do it, we can kill the entire population of the earth in less than 30 minutes. If I want them to do it rather than me do it. I want us to see something here. We just last week read where Jesus prays in the garden, Lord, if this cup can be moved from me.

If we can go another way, let's do that. But not my will. Your will be done. But even in that, Jesus says, Peter, if I want to stop this, I can. You see, it would show great bravery for Jesus to walk into this and to hand himself over and to then it be outside of his control and him have to face torture and death. But the reality is it was moment by moment inside of Jesus's control to stop this.

He could have moment by moment chosen. To not save us. He could have moment by moment chosen to let us receive the wrath we deserve. He could have moment by moment, lash by lash. Strike by strike. Hammer hit by hammer hit.

He could have moment by moment chosen to stop this. If he had just uttered the words he had at his disposal, more than 12,000 angels. He looks at Peter and he says, no, how else will it be fulfilled? How else will salvation come? How else will the rescue happen if I don't do this? And so Jesus isn't caught up in something that is beyond him.

And faces it bravely. Which we would honor a man if they did that. But Jesus isn't caught up in something beyond himself. He is caught up in something that is under his control at all times. But willingly, humbly, graciously submits himself to it for the sake of those whom he loves.

Don't miss that. Verse 55. At that hour, Jesus said to the crowds, Have you come out as against a robber with swords and clubs to capture me? Day after day I sat in the temple teaching. And you did not seize me. But all this has taken place that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.

Then all the disciples left him and fled. So the disciples now facing, we're not going to fight. This isn't going to be done in hot-blooded anger. This isn't going to be done with adrenaline pumping. What's coming now is going to be dealt out in a cold manner. What's coming now is going to be calculated.

What's coming now is going to be us humbly submitting to arrest. They flee. And Jesus says all this has been done to fulfill the scriptures. That this was God's ultimate plan. That one day Christ would come. That he would die for sin.

That he would die for sinners. That he would save a people for himself. This is something that God had intended all along. Verse 57. Then those who had seized Jesus led him to Caiaphas, the high priest.

Where the scribes and the elders had gathered. And Peter was following him at a distance as far as the courtyard of the high priest. And going inside he sat with the guards to see the inn. Now that's a bold move. Peter just cuts somebody's ear off. Runs.

Catches his breath. Starts sneaking back. To see what happens. Joins the crowd. It had to be a pretty big crowd. For him to just start walking with them.

And kind of keep up with them. It had to be a large group of people that had come out. And he goes. And then he sits with the guards. The guards of the high priest's headquarters. His area.

He sits outside of where the trial is going to take place. But it does seem like he would have been able to see all this taking place. But he sits and he just wants to see what's going to happen. Probably trying not to make a lot of eye contact. But make enough eye contact to not be suspicious.

If you've ever been on the run. You know what I'm talking about. That's what Peter's doing. Verse 59. Now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking false testimony against Jesus.

That they might put him to death. Okay. This is a sham trial. This isn't a real trial. They've arrested him so that they can find somebody to give just enough on him that they can kill it. They're looking for false testimony against Jesus that they might put him to death.

I want you all to see that Jesus submits to, in order to undo, in order to redeem, he submits to wicked justice. Perverted justice. Perverted justice. Perverted justice. That he's caught up in this moment being small and having those who should be handling this well and honestly and appropriately. Those in power using their power for their own gain.

And Jesus steps into that so that he might undo that. Verse 60. That's a testimony to the righteousness of Christ. That even with liars they couldn't get anything to stick to him. That Jesus is sinless. By a human court would have been acquitted.

And we're told that by a heavenly court would be acquitted. That he has no sin. That he's a perfect spotless lamb. But they're trying to lie about him and they can't find anything. And then it says, and though many witnesses came forward, at last two came forward and said, this man said, I am able to destroy the temple of God and to rebuild it in three days. Okay.

That's true. He did say that. We're told that he said that and that he was talking about the temple of his body. That he was saying that the temple was the place where God meets earth. And then he uses that term for himself saying that I am where God meets earth. I'm where humans are going to now be relating to God and connect to God and find sacrifice.

He refers to himself as the temple. And he says, this temple will be destroyed and I'll raise it in three days. But they, misunderstanding what he meant, are like, I'm pretty sure he's a terrorist. He said he's going to blow the temple up. He did say he would build it back in three days, which seems unlikely. But we know that he said he was going to destroy it.

That's the accusation. Verse 62. And the high priest stood up and said, have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you? See, one of the things that Jesus is doing here is he's not trying to defend himself. He knows how this is playing out.

He's not in the hands of the religious leaders. He's in the hands of God. The reality is Jesus is more in control of the situation than they are. So he's walking through this process. He's not there to defend himself. He's there to head to a cross.

The high priest stands up and yells at him. He says, if you know answer to make, what is it that these men testify against you? But Jesus remained silent. And the high priest said to him, I adjure you by the living God. Tell us if you are the Christ, the son of God. And Jesus said to him, you have said so.

That phrase seems a little cryptic to us. You have said so. But we have phrases like it. We have phrases like, yep, you guessed it. You called it. Bet.

Bingo. We got phrases like it. That's what he's saying. Nailed it. That's the phrase there. You have said so.

Is that kind of a phrase? He's not trying to just defer. He's saying, yeah, like you finally said an appropriate. We're now in the place that we need to be talking. You've called it. You have said so.

But I tell you, from now on, you will see the son of man seated at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven. I tell you that from now on, you will see the son of man seated at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven. He doesn't just say. You called it. He doubles down on it. He makes it more.

He quotes Daniel to the religious leaders. They're going to freak out. They understood exactly what he meant. But let's look at Daniel so that we can see this. Daniel chapter seven. This is what he's talking about.

The son of man seated at the right hand of power. He says, I'm not just the son of God. I'm the son of man. The one that you've read about in Daniel. I'm the fulfillment of this prophecy. Daniel 7, 13 says, I saw in the night visions and behold, with the clouds of heaven, there came one like a son of man.

And he came to the ancient of days. That's God. And was presented before him. And to him, the son of man, was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples and nations and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed. He says, are you the Christ, the son of God?

And he says, oh, I'm the one presented to the ancient of days. I'm the one who's given dominion and glory and a kingdom. I'm the one that all peoples, nations and languages should serve. I'm the one who has a dominion that's an everlasting dominion. I'm the one that will not. My dominion will not pass away and my kingdom shall not be destroyed.

Oh, you finally. You finally found it. I am the Christ, the son of God, who has an everlasting dominion. I will be presented to the ancient of days. The next time you see me, I'll be riding on the clouds of heaven. Verse 65.

Then the high priest tore his robes and said, he has uttered blasphemy. What further witness do we need? You have now heard his blasphemy. What is your judgment? And they answered, he deserves death. The high priest tears his robes.

It's an aggressive response to this. The only place we see that is like WWE or something. This is not a muted response. Now, it's possible that this is a bit of a put on because they've heard Jesus say things like this before out in the open and they did not respond this way. But in this trial, this is what they've been waiting for.

This moment when Jesus says something, they can finally pin on him and he stands up and says, what else do you need? He's claimed to be the Christ. The problem with the high priest's question is that he allowed no room for Jesus to actually be the Christ. Jesus actually is the Christ. Caiaphas has since passed away and Caiaphas has since seen the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power. At this moment, they respond and they say he deserves death.

I want you to know that Jesus does go to his death and I want you to know that he is the Son of Man who is seated at the right hand of power. That the humility here, the grace here, the love here that is shown for sinners is beyond understanding. Then they spit in his face and struck him and some slapped him saying, prophesy to us, you Christ, who is it that struck you? They show him great dishonor. They slap him. Men slap other men, open hand slap other men when they feel that they are in complete power over them.

This is why I would be much more offended if you slapped me than if you punched me in the face. If you punched me, you're showing me some amount of respect. If you slap me, you don't think there's going to be any return fire from my side. It's very hurtful. They show him great disrespect. They spit on him.

They strike him. They slap him. We're told in the other gospels that they blindfold him. That's why they ask, prophesy to us. Who slapped you? They line him up.

They slap him. Jesus takes this. At any moment, he could stop this. But he submits to the will of the Father and he loves sinners. Verse 69. Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard.

And a servant girl came up to him and said, you also were with Jesus the Galilean. Well, that's a startling moment for Peter. He's sitting in the courtyard. He's paying attention to what's going on. He's heartbroken. He's probably trying to keep that together.

The servant girl walks by and says, hey, you're with Jesus. You're on his team. I don't know if you've ever been trying to hide something and someone pinpoints it. I don't know if you've been in class hoping the teacher wouldn't call on you because you had no clue what the answer was. And it's almost like they could see it in your eyes. So they called on you.

I don't know if you've been in the middle of a lie and someone asked the exact right question they needed to ask to make you have to lie perfectly in that moment. This would have felt like a lightning strike. But he denied it before them all saying, I don't know what you mean. I don't know what you're talking about. I'm like I'm one of the arrestor guys. And when he went out to the entrance, another servant girl saw him.

I'm assuming he waited an appropriate amount of time. Maybe he just started like, well, I was heading this way anyway. But he tries to move away from those people in that situation. He goes out to the entrance. He moves a little bit further out. He thinks maybe if this is going to keep happening, I need to be close to the exit.

Another servant girl saw him and she said to the bystanders, this man was with Jesus of Nazareth. Doesn't even talk to him this time. Just starts telling other people. And again, he denied it with an oath. I do not know the man. This time he promises.

I swear on the temple, I don't know him. He starts doing things that Jesus expressly said not to do. For the record, he lied last time. He's also not supposed to do that. But now he's lying with an oath.

After a little while, the bystanders came up and said to Peter, certainly you too are one of them for your accent betrays you. He sounds like he's from Galilee. Not like he's from Jerusalem. He's from Hicktown. He's like, dadgum, I don't know him at all. They were like, I live here all my life.

No. Then he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear. I do not know the man. And immediately the rooster crowed. So this time he calls a curse.

He swears. Last time it was an oath. This time it's may God strike me if I know him. I've never seen him before. Peter remembered the saying of Jesus. Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.

And he went out and wept bitterly. Peter had told Jesus, I'll go with you to the bitter end. I'll go with you to imprisonment and death. Jesus says, you're going to deny me this very night. And he says, even if everybody else falls away, even if everybody does, I won't. And Jesus says, this night you're going to deny me three times.

Before the rooster crows, you'll deny that you know me three times. Peter says, no, I won't. And Peter does. The rooster crows. And what Jesus had said was true. And it breaks him.

And there are moments where who we want to be and who we think we are and who we tell ourselves we are is crushed by who we are. There are moments where the rooster crows and we wake up to who we are. Not who we think we are. Not who we say we are. Not who we are willing to pretend we are. But who we actually are.

The decisions that we've actually made. And Peter got here quickly. He was doing fairly well. But when it came down to it and he suddenly had this moment where he'd have to profess Christ and face the consequences, he decides not to. And the truth is that some of us have done pretty well until we got into some tight spots. And then we quickly made several decisions that put us in a place where we suddenly realized we were someone we did not think we were.

We made some decisions pretty quickly and in some tight spots that suddenly told us that we weren't exactly as good as we were, as honest as we thought we were, as good of a husband, as good of a businessman, as good of a mom, as good of a friend, as good of a student. That what we had been telling ourselves about ourselves wasn't actually true. Peter goes out and he wept bitterly. Chapter 27. When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to the death. And they bound him and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate the governor.

We'll see more of this later. But the Sanhedrin decides that Jesus deserves death. They're not allowed to perform capital punishment. The Romans gave them some soldiers, let them have some of their own soldiers, let them have some Roman soldiers that they oversaw. But they weren't allowed to do capital punishment.

Every once in a while, mobs would come together and stone people. But it wasn't the Sanhedrin wasn't allowed to oversee that kind of stuff. And so they decide they want to put Jesus to death and the charge against him is blasphemy. But they've got to come together and talk because the Romans don't care about blasphemy. They do it all the time. They're not going to that's not going to work.

So they're going to have to have a discussion about what they're going to accuse him of. We'll see later. They what they accuse him of is sedition. Treason against the Roman Empire. But that's why they take counsel and they decide to deliver him over to Pilate.

Because they're. Let's figure out how to put him to death. Verse three. Then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and he brought back the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. So Judas is going through a similar thing.

He's seeing the outcome of the decisions that he's made. When he sees that Jesus is condemned, he realizes this. I shouldn't have done this. He changes his mind. The phrase there in the Greek is short of repentance. But it does mean he changed his mind.

He decided this shouldn't have gone down this way. He shouldn't have done this. He changed his mind. He brought back the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders saying, I have sinned by betraying innocent blood. And they said, what is that to us? See to it yourself.

And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed. And he went and hanged himself. I want you all to see for just a second the absolute failure of the chief priests and the elders. We've been seeing that Jesus has said this, that the temple is done, that they have failed, that this has not worked, that they have not responded the way they ought to. Judas comes to them and says, I have sinned by betraying innocent blood. But in the chief priests, priests, the ones who are supposed to stand between the people and God, the ones who are supposed to oversee the sacrificial system, say, what is that to us?

We have nothing to do with helping people get past sin. That's on you. What is that to us? See to it yourself. And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed and went and hanged himself. But the chief priests, taking the pieces of silver, said, it is not lawful to put them into the treasury since it is blood money.

So they took counsel and bought with them the potter's field as a burial place for strangers. Therefore, that field has been called the field of blood to this day. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken by the prophet Jeremiah, saying, and they took the 30 pieces of silver, the price of him on whom a piece, a price had been set by some of the sons of Israel. And they gave them for the potter's field as the Lord directed me. Some of that phrase also comes from Malachi. He just ascribes it to Jeremiah because he was the more well-known of the prophet.

They do that a couple of times where they're just saying this has been fulfilled and highlights the main prophet. But he's just showing that Jesus did come to fulfill scripture and that these events do fulfill scripture. So what do we do when we come face to face with our own son? What do we do when we fail to live up to who we think we are, who we want to be? If you're much past high school, you've already begun to do that. You've already begun to see that.

If you're in high school, in middle school, you're doing that, but you're not seeing it. Ask your parents. They might can help you out. But as you get older, you begin to realize that this isn't exactly working out how I thought it was. You begin to see your sin. You begin to see your failures.

You begin to have what you wanted to be and who you hoped you were and how you thought life was going to go. And that begins to fall short. And then we also begin to do things that we wish we could take back, that have consequences. And once you're past it, you're looking back going, how did I ever get there? How did I ever get here? How did I ever make these decisions?

How on earth could I have been a person who did that? What do we do? What do we do in our sin and shame when it clings to us? When it threatens to destroy us? Let's look first at the chief priests.

Verse 5, it says, In throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed and went and hanged himself. But the chief priests, taking the pieces of silver, said, It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, since it is blood money. Y'all, this is insane. He says, I've betrayed innocent blood. He throws the coins back to them. They say, we don't have anything to do with that.

That's on you. He leaves. They go scoop the money up. And they go, we can't put this in the treasury because it's blood money. And we don't want to break the law. The religious law.

Y'all, they paid the blood money. Potentially out of that treasury. This is where Jesus told them, Y'all strain out a gnat and swallow a camel. You're worried about all these little fine points of the law, and you're just blind. They don't see their sin. They know it's blood money, but they don't see how that's on them.

Even though they're the ones who paid the blood money. And then they have the audacity to stand there and have a discussion about caring about applying the law. We've got to do this in a lawful way. Whenever you commit murder, you shouldn't murder on the Sabbath. And if someone pays you to murder, you need to tithe on the earnings. It's like, what?

What? This would be somebody who's saying, man, I know that divorce is wrong, so I'll kill my spouse. What? It's that level of insane. And for us to think that for one second, we're not capable of this. Like we haven't shown up to a community group and discussed minute little parts of the Scriptures and failed to acknowledge our sin.

Like we hadn't discussed what it would be like if I did actually, you know, maybe, you know, I think Christians need to repent. We need to understand that God... But we're not... Like we haven't highlighted the parts of our lives where we're obeying pretty well that I give money and I do this and I'm generous here and I'm generous with my time so I don't have to do that. Or I'm... I mean, yeah, okay, I may be falling into some sexual sin, but I'm showing up to my group more than I ever have.

We don't do this. One of the ways that we deal with our sin and our shame is absolute blind denial. God help us. This is one of the reasons why we want to be in community groups. This is one of the reasons why we show each other love by being in life with one another so that we can point out each other's blind spots. Not to make ourselves better, but to help us by God's grace see our sin so that we'll run from it.

But they don't see it. And they head to destruction. Let's look at Judas, verses 3, 4, and 5. It says, Then Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned and he changed his mind. And he brought back the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. And he's saying, I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.

And they said, What is that to us? Let's look at this part first. See to it yourself. He sees what he did was wrong. He brings the money back. His hope is that he can talk to the chief priests and he can somehow maybe undo this.

His hope is that maybe he can somehow atone for this. And they give them, give him the response that religion gives you. And I don't mean religion in the general sense that Christianity is a religion. I mean the process by which humans do good things to make God love them. How we do what's right and don't do what's bad so that we might be on good terms with God. They give him the same answer.

What does your sin have to do with me? See to it yourself. That's the answer that religion gives you. That's on you. If you're good enough you'll be fine. But it's on you to go be good, to go do what's right, to go be moral, to handle your affairs well.

And that works if A, you're too blind to your sin or B, you see your sin but you minimize it to the point that you feel like you're probably not that bad. But that falls completely apart when you see your sin clearly. Because the idea that I'll be moral enough or I'll be good enough and that'll fix it falls apart because we can't fix it. Our good works cannot atone for our sin. Our good works, our good behaviors, our self-made righteousness cannot atone for our sin. It cannot handle our shame.

It's about as good as a spider web is at catching a rock. It can't do it. It falls apart. And you know this. Some of you are in this process right now. You've done some things that were terrible that you're ashamed to mention, that you feel shame creep up on you when you think about it.

You've made some choices that make you, if you really look at it, make you into a person that you don't want to be. And if you admit that that's who you are, it's crippling. So some of you are in the process right now of doing good religious behavior. As if somehow good religious behavior on this side will offset your wickedness on that side, but that's not how judgment works. This is the example I use. I've used it to try to help explain this to people at different jobs I've had, try to help walk them out.

But if you had a doctor who is an excellent doctor, like a real world doctor house, but nicer, and he was the reason why people's lives got saved. They were going to die. Nobody could figure it out. And this person would figure it out. And let's say he saves two lives a month, sometimes more, 50 lives a year, and then three, four times a year, three or four times, sneaks into someone's house and murders them. When he gets to court, he doesn't get to have a chalkboard and go, I've saved 50 lives this year, killed four people that y'all know about.

I'm a plus 46. I rest my case. He didn't get to do that. Because that's not how justice works. And some of y'all are figuring that out. I've been trying.

I've been trying to show up. I've been trying to do good. I've been trying to... And it's not fixing this. It's not fixing what's wrong with me. It's not fixing what I did.

It's not restoring what was broken. He gave the money back, but it didn't fix it. Some of you are figuring that out, and the truth is you're way, way, way further off than a plus 46. So he moves on to the next thing that happens. What happens when religion begins to fail us? Verse 5.

Throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself. What happens when we have to carry the weight of our sin and our guilt and our shame and we have no religious ability to cover it up is we begin to hate ourselves. We begin to destroy ourselves. Some of you walk around daily, mentally, undercutting everything you do. You're wicked. You're terrible.

You're evil. You're broken. In your group, when someone says they love you, you go, not if you knew the real me. You don't say that out loud, but that's what you say in your head. You end up destroying all the relationships you have. This can move on down the line to where you're destroying your body because you care so little about yourself because you know that you deserve destruction.

Even if on most days you're not willing to fully admit it in those terms, that's what you're doing. So you're destroying yourself through guilt, through shame, through pain. Some of you eventually move into cutting. But it's this, this I deserve punishment and the truth is you do. You're not wrong. Some of you look back at what you've done, the way you've used people, the way you've treated people, the way you've treated your spouse.

Some of you, if you would just look at how you treated the people you love most dearly and you still hurt them. Those are the people you're giving your best effort to. And your best effort is at times pathetic. And if you stare at that, it's crushing. And you feel like I don't deserve anything. I just deserve pain and destruction.

And Judas jumps to the end of that line very quickly. He goes out and hangs himself. And some people work themselves to that eventually in life, trying to bear the weight of their sin and shame. And others do it daily, slowly. For years and years and years. Punishing themselves for their guilt.

Trying to atone for their sin. Chapter 26, verse 75. Peter remembered the saying of Jesus, Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times. And he went out and wept bitterly. Through the words of Jesus, Peter sees his sin. Through the words of Jesus, Peter sees his failure.

Peter weeps. He's broken over his sin. Y'all, the next time Peter shows up in the Gospel of Matthew, he's showing up to see Jesus, to listen to him and follow him after the resurrection. We see that Peter moves on into the church that he leads in the church. Peter saw his sin, saw his shame, saw his shame, and took it to Jesus. Peter saw his sin, saw his shame, was broken over it, and ran to the only one who could fix it.

You see, Judas and Peter saw the same thing, that they had failed, that they had shame. Judas knew of no way to fix it, and Peter knew Jesus. Judas proves that he doesn't know Jesus. As if Jesus wouldn't accept him, as Jesus wouldn't give him an opportunity, as Jesus wouldn't accept repentance. He just takes the weight of his sin and shame and is destroyed by it, and Peter runs to Jesus with it. And that's what 2 Corinthians 7.10 says.

For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. We talk about repentance all the time, that we would see our sin, that we would repent, that we would turn from it. The truth is, we want to be grieved by our sin. I think so many people, though, who only understand the worldly approach to this, think that the church gathers so that we can feel bad about ourselves, and that by feeling bad about ourselves, we can go out into the world and be motivated by guilt so much that we'll be good people. No. And if that's what you're trying to do, welcome.

Let me explain this. It's so much better. The truth is, we do want to grieve. We do want to be called to repentance because we want salvation without regret. Somebody say, without regret. Now, the people who really need to say without regret, say without regret.

How on earth is that possible? Jesus Christ bears the sin of the world for all those who believe in Him. He takes your sin. He becomes your sin. He dies to your sin. We are buried with Him in baptism.

We are raised with Him in a new life. We are washed clean and we have no regrets. Why? Why can we have sin and no regret? Because we have a Savior that washed us clean and my sin only magnifies His glorious grace. my sin only works in me to produce praise. My sin only works in me to help me see, yes, how small and wicked I was.

Yes, how much of deserving of destruction I am. When the enemy comes along and he begins that, let me tell you, he's preaching the first half of a good sermon. When the enemy comes to you and says, you are wicked, you are a sinner, let me drag up behind what you have done in the past. Let me tell you what you've done. Let me tell you how you've hurt people. Let me tell you what you did in high school.

Let me remind you of your sin and your wickedness and your brokenness. Our response, if you belong to Jesus, is come on, get to the end. Get to the end. Tell me about Christ. Tell me about when He went to the cross. Tell me about how His blood was shed.

Tell me about how He died. Tell me about how He was in a tomb and everything seemed dark. Tell me about when life came back into Him. Tell me about how He saved me from my sin. Tell me about how I'm free. Tell me about how I have a salvation without regret.

That is what is for you in repentance. We want you to grieve. We want you to hate your sin so that you will repent so that you will find Christ. Worldly grief just feels bad and destroys you. Grief, when Jesus enters the picture, dies and rises again. We have a salvation without regret.

Thomas Watson says, till sin be bitter, Christ will not be sweet. For some of us the first step is to hate our sin, to grieve over it, to have the rooster crow to stare face to face with our wickedness so that we can see how glorious Jesus is that He dies for sinners. The band's going to come back up. My prayer for you is that you will respond like Peter. The truth is you are responding to your guilt. You are responding to your shame.

Some of you are trying to cover it up. Some of you are trying to deny it. Some of you are trying to hide it. Some of you are trying to just muscle through. Some of you are destroying yourself slowly over time and feeling terrible about it as if somehow tearing yourself up, tearing your body up, tearing your mental state up, will atone for your wickedness. And the reality is Jesus atones for sin and Jesus alone.

Only He sets us free. Only He provides salvation without regret. Some of you are Christians. You've placed your faith in Jesus and you are still in the middle of your sin, not getting to the part of salvation, just grieving, just trying to atone for it by feeling bad. Stop. Do not rob the Lord Jesus of His glorious grace.

Praise Him that He saves wicked sinners like you. When you see your sin, turn from it and run to the one who saves. Some of you right now are trying to deny this. You're trying to hide from your sin. You're trying to cover it up through religious good works and the reality is religion says to you, what has this got to do with me? See to it yourself.

And Jesus says, I'll see to it myself because your sin has everything to do with me because I'm going to cover it for you. May we hope in Christ, in Christ alone. We're about to sing a song called Nothing But the Blood and I want that truth to sink into your head. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Nothing else will fix it.

No amount of good work, no amount of shame, no amount of feeling bad will fix this. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Let's pray. God, we thank you that you're good. Thank you that you save sinners and we pray that in the middle of our shame and our doubt that we would move from grief to repentance and from repentance to salvation without regret that we would walk in the freedom provided by the cross that we might proclaim the glorious grace of Jesus. Lord, may we repent of our religion that stands in the way of us loving you.

May we repent of all of our self-righteousness. May we repent of our wickedness in the places that we failed. Help us to see ourselves clearly so that we may love you fully. In Jesus' name, amen.

Good Government

Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet virtually this week.

Good Government

Chet Phillips

Transcript

Good morning my name is spencer i'm one of the pastors of Mill City Church of casey so this is our second week in a row where because of some coveted exposure we're being cautious and we're live streaming so you're joining us online welcome uh glad you're joining us uh we as a Church believe that Jesus is better than everything else because this is true we get to be a Gospel-centered community on mission which is really important for us individually and as a Church right.

Now as culture is is raging as there's all types of of chaos whether it's coveted whether it's the economy or right now in a heightened political climate which is why we're walking through this series messiah 2020 that no matter what we are walking through we don't have to shift with the rest of culture we have a hope that is secure we are Gospel center that our hope is completely bound up in Christ crucified and raised from the grave that our hope is eternal and we live as eternal people in this world living out the Gospel together that's the hope that we that we celebrate on sundays as we sing songs and worship as we sit.

On the authority of God's word it's also the hope that we get to be grounded and centered in in community groups so one of the things we have in our Church is we have community groups which are smaller groups of our Church family that that live life together that that meet regularly that open up the Bible that eat meals together when it's not in a season where we have to not eat meals together uh but we do this to live out the Gospel together to celebrate who.

Jesus is to keep us centered in the Gospel as a Church family so if you're new welcome we'd love to invite you into that to connect you to some of our groups one of the easiest ways to do that is to go to our website millcitycasey.com and you can go to our community groups page you can fill out some information and we can connect with you and kind of tell you more about our groups which one might be good for you to check out.

If you are not new and you call this Church home we invite you to give we believe that our response to the Gospel is generosity and we open up our wallets in doing that so if you're part of our Church family you can give online you can also come by during the week and drop off checks at our office so i'm going to uh to pray for us that i'll prepare our hearts for worship and i'm going to call us to worship from psalm 95.

Father i thank you that we get to worship because of your great love because you came and you rescued us and you redeemed us that we get to uh sit in an eternal reality and out of that we get to praise we get to sing songs i pray you prepare hearts for worship prepare our hearts to to be to sit under your word we ask us in Jesus name amen i'm going to call us to worship from psalm 95 it says this oh come.

Let us sing to the lord let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation let us come into his presence with thanksgiving let us make a joyful noise with songs of praise for the lord is a great God and a great king above all gods in his hands are the depths of the earth the heights of the mountains are his also the sea is his and he made it and his hands form the dry land oh come let us worship and bow down.

Let us kneel before the lord our maker for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand wherever you're joining with us today let's worship together praise the lord the almighty oh my adoration shelters us under have you not seen how our desires have been granted surely his goodness if this praise to the lord oh let all that is in me adore all that hath life and breath come now with praises before again me again.

Lord now my my life is our first treasure may i reach heavens still be my vision i once was lost in darkest nights first i would refuse to upon display your suffering is hallelujah all i have is Christ hallelujah is my life the truth in any way you choose is is Jesus God all we have to claim before you is Jesus and we're thankful this morning that as your Church we are thankful for the cross of Christ we're thankful that he rose from the grave.

Lord this morning as your Church we pray that you would speak to us that that would be the cry of our heart that all we have is Christ and so we pray that you would reveal yourself through your word that you would speak through chet as he comes to preach in Jesus name amen my fellow americans good morning my name is chet phillips i'm one of the pastors here we are in our second week of our messiah 2020 series we're only doing three weeks on this we're taking a brief pause from the Gospel of Matthew to try to get some sound footing to kind of catch our bearings in the middle of the american political.

Season which seems to be unending at this point but we are in an election year and we wanted to address and begin to ask the questions how as Christians ought we to approach politics how should we think about it what should we do what shouldn't we do and just try to catch our breath and get some firm footing so the primary goal of this series is to help us understand that Christians ought to approach politics distinctly from the rest of our neighbors that we ought to have a distinct approach and understanding to government and two politics.

Because we are first and foremost Christians before we are citizens of any earthly place we said last week that we think we ought to look more similar to believers around the globe than just those who happen to vote like us in our own nation and so that's our goal we've got three weeks to do it what we said last week was that we cannot approach politics in the same way as our cultural allies and those who are across the aisle from us we can't approach it the same way.

Because the way we're currently pushed to approach politics is to have a high amount of fear so that we'll give our sole allegiance to a political party or a political leader and then work with a bit of anger and animosity and venom to conquer our political enemies that ultimately our culture is telling us we need a messiah we need a savior we need someone to come in and fix all of our problems to give us a hope and a future and we already have a messiah we already have a savior we already have a hope and a future we are already citizens of an eternal kingdom.

Therefore our approach to politics has to be distinct and so we just tried to dismantle some things last week and this week we're beginning to build it back up a little bit so we're asking the question is okay if we shouldn't approach it as if we need a messiah and if we shouldn't approach it with this amount of fear and anxiety and anger how should we look at politics how should we approach this is government good should we have a government that's kind of where we're starting it's like what's a what's a baseline approach to an understanding of how the Bible treats government.

Because some of us in christianity and some of in our Church family would want to say well politics is just too corrupt our system is too broken Christians shouldn't participate at all others would say well Christian's primary role is the Gospel and the proclamation of the Gospel and that we're spiritual beings and that we ultimately need to see God work so we just need to preach the Gospel and let the world sort itself out but reality is we're called to love.

God and our neighbors and that does mean that we have to live in the place we are and interact in the place we are i have two sons i have a five-year-old and a two-year-old and the two-year-old is just beginning to speak uh he's just kind of putting some stuff together and there's times where they'll be off playing together and um you hear him laughing you'll hear him play and then all of a sudden there'll just be chaos screaming shouting arguing.

And then i'll hear the pitter patter of little feet down the hall my two-year-olds are running down the hall crying and he his brother's name's archer but he pronounces it shasha or arsha he hasn't gotten it yet but he'll come down the hall and he'll say and i know what he's saying he's looking at me and he's saying father i beseech you without your good governance it's anarchy it's become lord of the flies the strong rule over the week and you must come rule and give some boundaries.

So that we might have life and have it flourishing i look at him and say i understand son but really he's asking for good government and the reality is we all need good government and God designed government to be good for our sake in the garden prior to sin he tells adam and eve that they would rule and have dominion and that they would multiply and flourish but God meant for there to be some guiding principle some rules some leadership prior to sin and we don't outgrow government we aren't saved from government we're actually saved into a government that.

Jesus is a king and we're told in isaiah that his of his government and his peace there will be no end so we're not moving to heaven and entering into this free no government system we're moving in and having a king that God's design for government is good and that we're in the middle now where there is sin and it's meant to function in a certain way and so we need to understand how to approach it so what we're going to try to aim at.

Today is the understanding that government is good because it was instituted by God to limit evil and promote good for the good of those governed the government's good because it was instituted by God to limit evil and promote what is good for the sake for the good of those governed and that as Christians we ought to participate but we ought to participate as those who have an eternal perspective so let's pray and we'll jump in God we thank you for your grace we pray that as we seek to be good citizens of your kingdom who have been placed here that we would be good citizens of where we are with an eternal perspective working towards.

The good of our neighbors we thank you for government and its intended design for us and we pray that we would grow in our understanding and appreciation of it today in Jesus name amen go to romans chapter 13. we're going to be looking at romans chapter 13 verses 1 through 7. this is Paul writing to the roman Church and he's talking to them about how they ought to think about government he's done a lot about how they ought to interact with each other and how they ought to approach the.

Lord but he's talking now about how they ought to approach the being citizens in where they are so it says this romans 13 verse 1 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 i'm going to read that again for there is no authority except from God and those that exist have been instituted by God therefore whoever resists the authorities resist 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 so Paul says that all institutions are instituted by God and that there are for our good for your good and i can feel it even as i'm reading that.

Because i can feel it in myself but i can feel it in us that we we just want to hold on i got a question like there's the the ultimate american question that just rises in us is what about bad governments what says don't don't resist them but but i have what about bad governments what about in algeria where they're shutting down churches what about in china when the government's overreaching when they're saying that you can't even be a Christian when they're rounding them up or arresting them or making them have only certain places and certain ways that they can meet what about.

When there's a king who puts taxes on your tea but won't let you have representatives in parliament what do we do when there's blatant governmental evil and overreach that's the question we want to ask immediately to push back on this because the idea that God is over all institutions that he's working through all of them for our good does not seem like that always plays out that way and there are times where it feels like the government is overstepping we currently in our culture right.

Now have people who are standing against government authority we have those who are marching who are standing in roads and blocking off bridges and protesting we have churches that are saying even though the local authorities have told them they can't meet they're going to anyway and it really depends on which side of the aisle you fall on as to which one you're saying yes and amen and oh how dare you but we currently have this question even playing out with us and it's what do we do.

And so i think we have to answer that quickly before we can get into God's good design one the good news for bad government is that all government is under the authority of God the good news for us in bad government is that all government is under the authority of God which means that it will be judged it will be held to his standards and judged according to his purposes and that even in the midst of bad government God can work good he does this throughout the old testament he raises up leaders he lowers leaders he raises up kings he lowers kings he raises up nations he lowers nations they work at his discretion he.

Can revoke them or install them as he wills and so that those that do evil at times are used for God's purposes even pagan kingdoms the babylonian kingdom was used for God's purposes for his people to to punish them to correct them as judgment on his people but then he sent the persians in to punish and correct the babylonians and to bless his people and God does this throughout history so even in the midst of a place where Christians are in a bad government they can hope and trust that.

God is good over it secondly the primary role for Christians is not to just transform our governmental systems or to seek power but to testify to an eternal truth to testify to an eternal kingdom that's our primary role that's what pastor wang yi who's a pastor in china who was arrested by the communist government he had pre-written this and told his Church to publish it if he had been arrested for more than 48 hours i want to read an excerpt from this he says as a pastor my disobedience is one part of the Gospel commission.

So he's disobeying the government by having house churches Christ's great commission requires of us great disobedience the goal of disobedience is not to change the world but to testify about another world he goes on from that to say that he doesn't believe that Christians ought to be changing the institutions but that they ought to be primarily focused on eternal things he says this all acts of the Church are attempts to prove to the world the real existence of another world the Bible teaches us that in all matters relating to the Gospel and human conscience we must obey.

God and not men for this reason spiritual disobedience and bodily suffering are both ways we testify to another eternal world and to another glorious king so that the primary role of Christians is not just to transform government not to have all the policies that we wish we would have but to proclaim another kingdom and so when there is a bad government we still have a primary role to play in proclaiming another kingdom which does at times mean as weighing ye is walking out some form of disobedience.

For the greater purposes of God but not for the greater purposes of our political candidate party or system of choice if this is attention that you're trying to work out i would encourage you to read first Peter chapter two i would encourage you to read all of wang yi's letter it's called my letter of uh faithful disobedience i would encourage you to read dr martin luther king jr's letter from a birmingham jail as a kind of a starter on how to ought we to think about Christians interacting with governments.

When government's not operating properly but primarily today we're looking at God's good design so we're going to focus on that not when it goes wrong because it does go wrong in sin and we do have hope that God is an authority over it and we'll judge it but what's his good design for government you see government matters because people matter life matters joy matters there's the people around you matter and so God has designed it for us to have government the reality is without government there are those who would say wouldn't it be better.

If the government just wasn't involved wouldn't life be better if there just was no government the answer to that is no it wouldn't without government the strong make the rules the weak are pushed to the side sin reigns every time a even an evil government falls immediately it's not like oh good the government's gone now everybody can be nice to each other that's not what happens when a bad government falls there's sin women are raped children are abducted people are murdered.

God instituted government however flawed for good purposes so this is what he says that we ought to be subject to the governing authorities and even there as he walks this out Christians ought to begin looking different than those around us he says be subject to the governing authorities pay your taxes you ought to pay what is owed to those who tax you it says pay honor oh give honor to those whom it's owed so that Christians ought to be respectful you ought to be able to speak about whoever's in leadership over you in a gracious respectful way even as you disagree with them and that right.

Now just doing that will make Christians look distinct from those in their political party that if we can see the good in others and we can speak to the good and others if we can acknowledge where they're right acknowledge where we're wrong and speak in an honorable way of those that we vehemently disagree with will begin to look more the way he's designed for us to look but see the primary role of of good government is to discourage what is evil and to encourage what is good and he gives more attention on discouraging what is evil that's the basic approach the basic role of government it's that to be under God's authority discouraging evil carrying.

Out God's wrath on the wrongdoer and promoting what is good i mentioned my boys earlier but that's the system primary system of governance at my house i want my boys to grow up i want them to love Jesus but much of the work i'm doing with them is i'm just looking at discouraging what is bad and encouraging what is good and if you're a new parent start there is this behavior good will it help them live in our house does it make me like them is this the type of person i want to be around will this help them live in society encourage that is this behavior bad does this make me not want to.

Live with this person you see children have parents for a reason they're meant to have some governance they would not be better off without you they will make terrible decisions and you're supposed to help them grow into a person that can live in the world very simply at my house one of the rules is if you cry and throw a fit you don't get what you're crying and throwing a fit for it makes my decision easy you don't get to watch that you don't get to eat that you don't get to do the thing you wanted.

Because if i give it to them after they cry and throw a fit what i've taught my children is that in order to be happy they need to be miserable and that's not good for them and the reality is that small scale picture of parenting is ultimately what govern government is supposed to do for us as we are adults and still sinful that they're meant to hold evil at bay and encourage what is good he gives again more attention to discouraging evil.

But let's talk about the encouraging good for a second that they're there for our good this means that governments the Bible doesn't give us a system kings parliament a senate a house of representatives a president voting not voting it doesn't give us that it just says that government was designed these things are instituted for our goods so that there would be some system some oversight and someone who avenges what is wrong and promotes what is good so some of the ways that happens here you can we.

Then get into debates about how big should it be how little should it be how much should they promote how much should they discourage but the reality is under God's authority then there's just some how are they going to practically walk that out as long as they're in line with what God says is good and bad so some examples our government promotes generosity it promotes charitable work charitable organizations don't have to pay taxes our Church doesn't pay income tax we don't pay uh property tax we don't pay tax on the land that we live we people who give money to charitable organizations get tax benefits that's them encouraging things that they think are good our.

Government gives money towards education that's them encouraging things that they think are good that help for human flourishing and that's okay that's inside the bounds of the role of government they discourage evil and there are some places where they they maybe don't discourage it but they least shouldn't encourage it the reality is it's not a it's not against the law to lie if you want to tell people that your benchmax is higher than it really is if you want to tell people that the fish you caught was way bigger than it actually was.

If you want to tell people that you caught a lot of fish when you didn't that's all sin but there's no government control over that but then the government does step in when there are places where people are lying in business or they're lying about a business ben johnson was telling us in lebanon they the government recently took up 40 tons they confiscated 40 tons of expired chicken the chicken was dating back to 2016 that was being sold in markets there they came and confiscated it.

Because the government was like this is unhealthy this is unsafe and you're lying about it and the government's put some restrictions around that and they're discouraging something that's bad it's not good for their people to all be sick with eating bad chicken so they step in and those are some of the roles of government how much how far where those are the things we get to discuss but that's inside the realm of God's good design for government the Bible says that they carry the sword he is the servant of.

God an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrong doer that he does not carry the sword in vain this is one of the primary functions of the government to have a military to have police that's good they're servants of God for our good one of my favorite scenes at the end of the movie the guardians of the galaxy and if you haven't seen it it's like a heist movie but in space one of my favorite scenes is after these criminals who are the main people you're following they save this planet.

And so they tell them that their criminal records have been wiped clean because they saved the planet because they came together and did something good they wiped their criminal records clean and so they're talking to the police officer and one of them says okay well let me ask you a question now that my my slate's wiped clean what if i see someone who has something that i want more than they do and i just take it the police officer says yes that's theft that's that's against the law you will go to jail.

Because that make any sense i want it more than they do and they just kind of push him out of the way and then one of the bigger meaner guys on their team looks at him and goes okay well let me ask you something if someone does something that i find irksome so i remove his spine and the police officer looks at him and goes yeah that's that's murder that's like one of the worst things you can do you would also go to jail and as that's meant to be play out.

For humor but the reality is with no laws with no one enforcing what is good with no one avenging what is wrong the smartest the strongest the meanest often succeed people just do what's right in their own eyes they just take advantage of those who are weak those who are smaller that government is meant to be a good avenger on your behalf in romans chapter 12 the chapter before this Paul's talking to them and he tells them that God is the primary avenger don't be avenged.

When someone does you wrong but leave it to the wrath of God that God is the avenger of all wrongdoing but then in romans 13 he says secondarily God has given the sword to governments to avenge on his behalf for our good my brother is a police officer he's a sheriff's deputy and he is according to romans a servant of God for our good that when someone breaks into someone's home and takes what doesn't belong to them when someone harms someone.

When someone uh because they're bigger physically abuses someone that God has instituted for there to be those who are avengers for the good of those who live in this area that they might have someone to call they might have some resource to go to that God has designed this for our good they're those in law enforcement in our Church family those who've been in military and our Church family and that's a good thing to do they're servants of God for our good.

And so they ought to act as servants of God for our good the the part there that that adjusts how we approach politics and how our politicians act and how our military and police is that they serve God first and foremost and so they ought to act in line with him and therefore work from there so this plays out that that is one of the primary ways that we get to push our government towards what is good is by bringing them in line with the word of.

God and we're going to talk more about that next week and how we we actually get to play that out personally as we interact with our world and as we live out as people who live here but some examples of how this has worked in the past william wilberforce became a believer and he began to push the english government to get to abolish slavery he began to say that you're under God and slavery is wrong so you're out of bounds and what you're allowing and you need to abolish slavery he also pushed.

For uh good treatment of animals because of the same thing he was like no you ought not there ought to be some laws that prohibit this sort of behavior in the u.s one of our greatest thinkers and writers and speakers is frederick douglass who was a freed slave who had no political agency whatsoever could not vote had just earned his freedom had been property most of his life but he began to push he began to speak he began to proclaim he was a amy pastor at one point and he began to push those in leadership and said government ought to be in line with.

God and he pushed for the abolition of slavery he pushed for better rights for women because he said this is what God has designed for us and our government ought to be in line in promoting what is good and holding back what is evil and it worked him and others were able to push to get us to line up with more of God's will and God's good design for us and this is one of the ways that we get to participate as americans you get to vote you get to call your elected officials we live in a place where we have representation that we're supposed to have those who are in our leadership represent us.

Spencer was telling me this week that he had heard that they were getting rid of the adoption tax credit that some of the leaders in south carolina specifically those in the republican party were pushing for this because we live in a primarily republican state and most of our leaders are in the republican party they were pushing for getting rid of the adoption tax credit and so he said he called he called every leader in every in the districts he was in.

So his senators his congress people and he said if you're a republican and you're saying you're pro-life then you also need to be pro-adoption you need to help promote this that's what he called and told them and they ended up not passing it and so two of our pastors right now are in the process of adoption and they get to apply for this tax credit so spencer asked me to tell them on his behalf matt razzier welcome spencer fought for what was good.

So that we might promote what is good in our government and we get to do the same thing that God designed government to be a generic grace-filled good for the world that we're meant to have it and so we ought to be in subject in subjection to it paying taxes honoring those that are our leaders praying for them because God designed this to be good to help us but the reality is while government is good and is meant for our good it does have limitations.

So go back just a few pages to romans chapter 8. so in romans Paul has been walking through salvation he's been walking through our need for Christ by the time we've made it to romans 12 13 and forward he starts giving more practical advice but prior to this he's been giving a lot of theological understanding and so in romans 8 he's talking about the law of God to the law that God gave to Moses and the people of Israel so this is ceremonial law this is the law that of how of his moral law how they ought to relate to.

God this is uh state law how they ought to relate to one another this is the law that God handed to Moses so when it says law here in a second it doesn't just mean the laws we have on the books it actually means the law that God gave to Moses so here's what it says romans 8 verses 3 and 4. for God has done what the law weakened by the flesh could not do by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh.

For sin he condemned sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh but according to the spirit so what Paul is getting at there is that the law that God gave to humanity could not ultimately fix human hearts it could not redeem them it could not change them it was a good law but it could not do he says God has done what the law weakened by the flesh could not do the reason i want us to.

See this is that if the law that God gave to Moses could not change human hearts i hate to break this to you but we will not pass a law in the united states that will be capable of doing it if the law given to the people of God after the Exodus could not ultimately fix them but was meant to show them their inadequacies and their need for Christ then any law we pass any good we promote any evil we prohibit will not ultimately be able to fix our hearts and this is important.

For us as Christians to understand government was given as a good for us but it cannot ultimately fix what is wrong with us it can hold evil at bay it can promote things that are good but Christ has done what the law cannot do he has come in the likeness of sinful flesh for sin to condemn sin in the flesh Jesus Christ came that he took on sin that he died for our sin so that as we place faith in him we might walk in the spirit not in the flesh that we might be changed internally that our hearts might be changed that we might be made new we touched on this idea last week.

When we read a quote from russell moore but what he was getting at was that we could actually get the the right president the best president the right congress the best congress the right policies the best policies but if we do all of that and get the wrong savior we have failed and so Christians are not looking for a savior we have one but we understand that government is good and therefore we ought to participate and promote it as those who understand it is good.

But it is not ultimate we cannot place all our hopes there we cannot place all our trust there we cannot believe that it will fix us that it will save us it will change everything for us that we know ultimately it's good but it's limited and therefore we participate in what is good but we trust that only Jesus will ultimately save us and change our hearts and so we work towards that end i love this quote from martin luther king jr getting at this idea he says it may be true that the law cannot make a man love me.

But it can keep him from lynching me and i think that's pretty important i love that quote and i think it gets at this idea that we believe that government is good that we ought to have it that it's good to have police it's good to have those promoting what is good and prohibiting what is evil and policing that and overseeing that and caring for that and working towards that that they're servants of God for our good so we appreciate our politicians we appreciate those who are in leadership we pray.

For them and we hope for good ones and we trust that God oversees all of that and that ultimately laws will not fix what is broken in us that we have hope for God to do that for our good through Christ so we participate but understanding the limitations we do not give our full hope and our full heart to it we trust that Jesus will ultimately change us and that we need him over and above the good government that God has given us.

So i want to push on those who are politically apathetic have no desire for it it's such a drain on you you think it's a waste of time i want you to see that God designed it for good and that we need good loss we need good oversight we need good to be promoted and evil to be prohibited and i want to encourage you to begin participating there are some people in our Church who should run for office we should have Christians that are holding public office and they should be Christians there's this idea that they should check their christianity at the door.

But nobody else has to do that the the secular humanist doesn't have to check that at the door in order to help make good laws and so we don't believe Christians should either we think you should go and be a Christian and you should help promote what is good and discourage what is evil and that you should use the Bible because ultimately all authority is derived from God you should use that as a good example of how you ought to do this.

So we think some should run for government run for office we think that those who would say but it's too corrupt and therefore you don't want to participate i would push back and say if it's too corrupt we ought to participate all the more we're given avenues for it as Christians in the united states there are some places where we wouldn't but we ought to push we are to participate we are to seek to have that changed so that this can be a good that.

God has given us you ought to vote and here's the thing about voting it's difficult when we only have two parties and you don't like either of the candidates the reality is if you as a Christian are not allowed to vote for anyone who has holds a policy that you disagree with or you as a Christian are not allowed to vote for anyone who holds a moral position a personal position moral action that you disagree with you will not vote so we need to be able to vote understanding that it is not a full endorsement of the character it's not a full endorsement of everything.

But that we've looked and said we think a good bit of this lines up with the heart of Jesus for the good of our nation and we're going to participate and where they're wrong and where they're off we're going to acknowledge it we're going to push for better we're going to practice different things in our personal life that help make up for the fact that i voted here but now i've got to make sure that i come up with some of the deficiencies here.

So you can vote it's not a full endorsement but then you ought to participate in a way that helps compensate start local if you're having a hard time getting motivated to be involved in politics start local this is something i need to grow in is paying attention to our local officials our local leaders caring about them knowing what they're for knowing what they affect but we ought to be involved in the local politics of our city not just our national politics pray that we're meant to pray.

For those who are in authority over us pray for their good not just pray that they would do what we want them to do but that the lord would use them that he'd give them wisdom that he would guide them that he would save them that we would pray for our leadership and lastly trust Jesus government is good and it's a blessing and we should be thankful for it we should be thankful for those who serve for our good they serve under.

God and his authority but we should ultimately trust him that even where things are bad and difficult and things where things are mishandled because we have sinners filling all the offices in our land we would trust that Jesus is working that he will judge what is evil and that all governments are ultimately instituted through him and therefore work at his will and when they get out of line he can remove them or he can bless them and he works through them.

For his good purposes even though we can't always see them so trust him to change hearts trust him to oversee the government we're in and participate in a healthy way understanding that it's good but it's not ultimate so for those of you who have placed too much hope in our political systems too much hope in a political party i would encourage you again this week to repent to begin to detox to begin to break that down so you might understand that it's good.

But ultimately we need God over top of it we need God down here with us changing our hearts and for those of you who've rejected all of this i'll push you to be involved to be engaged because it's a good gift from God that's meant for our good and for the good of our neighbors let's pray God we thank you for your grace your love towards us we pray that you would bless our nation that you would bless our leaders that you would change their hearts that you would give them wisdom and that they would be good servants of yours to discourage evil to promote good.

For the good of those who live in this land i pray that you would help us to not place too much hope in political parties or political systems but to trust you and we pray that you would help us not to be falsely wrongly apathetic towards something a gift that you have given us that we might be engaged for the benefit of our neighbors oh my God like you there is your grace your love exceeds the heaven's reach my my your faithfulness my my guilt and cross laid on your shoulders in my place you broke my bones glory to your.

Lord all right so uh just a couple announcements before we close out uh if you are are new we'd love to uh love for you to check out one of our groups one of the easiest ways you can do that is go to our website go to our community groups page and to fill out some information we'd love to be able to journey with us as we walk through this series as we uh walk through the Gospel together every week in groups come join us uh we'd love to get you connected there.

If you are a part of our Church just a reminder again you can give online uh by going to our website and you can also give by coming by the Church coming out of the building during the week and dropping off checks i want to close us with a word from hebrews 13. it says now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our lord Jesus the great shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the eternal covenant equip you with everything good they may do his will working in us that which is pleasing in his sight through.

Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever and ever amen you guys have a great day.