Do What Is Good

00:00 - Speaker 1 Real Life presents the Jack Hibbs podcast with intention and boldness to proclaim truth, equip the saints and impact our culture. 00:09 - Speaker 2 God says, for example if good people do not get involved, then you're guilty when you could have done good and you didn't do it. So can we please take a deep breath and realize that there's a balance, that as long as we do what we are called to do from the Bible and let God be God, things will be fine, even if we live in the most tyrannical government in the world, God will do what God has planned and he'll even hear the cry of a nation or those who believe within a nation and he'll turn that nation around. 00:47 - Speaker 1 You can get the outlines of this podcast by going to jackhibbs.com/podcast today. If this podcast lifts you up and encourages you to live a more fulfilled life in Christ, then make sure you leave us one of those five-star ratings. To us that's like saying amen or yes. Then that rating will encourage others to listen Now open your hearts to what God's word has to say to you. Here is Jack Hibbs. 01:16 - Speaker 2 Inside, there is a sense of rebellion that comes out of us, and so when we hear the Bible say something like you must obey the authorities, we don't like to hear it. And yet God has established the authorities. The authorities are good, ordained by God, and they are here for our good. And they are. Listen, evil and danger and wickedness should be terrified of the authorities. That's God's plan. Listen, church is evil. Terrified of the authorities today, no, in fact, in most cases, we find out that the authorities are evil. What in the world is going on? How can you say that? Oh, listen, you'll hear it a lot today. You'll even hear it from the prophet Isaiah. But, my goodness, the Bible tells us, by the way, way, regarding this, in exodus, chapter 20, verse 12. By the way, it's the fifth commandment. The bible says honor your father and mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord, your God, has given you. Isn't it interesting that the fifth commandment is uh, obey your mom and dad, and uh, I think, for the parents, the sixth commandment is thou shalt not murder. That's a little. That was a joke, not really it is, but it does tell you. Listen to this. 02:35 It is interesting that the Bible tells us in the fifth commandment for kids to honor their parents, and for fathers and mothers that they are God's authority placed over your life and you are to obey them in the Lord. Of course it says in Ephesians, chapter 6, verse 1, backing this up children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. And here now, verse 2,. He quotes Exodus 20, verse 12, honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise. Isn't that interesting? It's the fifth commandment, but the fifth commandment is the first commandment with a promise. What's the promise? If kids obey their parents, they will live a good, long life on the earth. Translation if you disobey the authority that God has placed over you in this case mom and dad, watch you will have a good and healthy, long, prosperous life because you will be learned. You will learn how to be a good citizen, you will learn how to work hard, you will learn how to keep your word. You will learn about ethics and morality. You will have been parented, and a parent's job is to prepare a kid for the big, big world that is out there. And when this is done right, kids flourish. 03:51 You say well, I had a horrible experience You're making. My point Is this there are good parentage examples, right, and there are bad parentage examples. We all know the good and the bad. Listen. Does that negate God's call for parents to be parents? No, parents are to be parents, no matter what kind of experience you've ever had, listen, just because, listen, you had a very, very bad marriage, doesn't mean that God is against marriage. When things get messed up, they get messed up at the hands of humans. Are you with me? Do keep that in mind. I'm going to be really drawing this out of you today. So this is a working class, okay, this is interactive. So, with God creating government in the Bible, and it's for good, then the world that you and I live in, are there such things as bad governments? Yes, so what's wrong? What is wrong is that man, in a streak of rebellion, is doing government without God. 04:54 Even our founding fathers not all of them were Christians, but all of them agreed that the Bible is the way to begin a nation and to sustain a nation. They all said that Some of the greatest writings on this are the two guys that get beat up the most on it, and that is Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin. But you got to remember something John Adams said if any nation in the world would take the Bible as their chief book, that would become a great nation. John Adams said that, backing this up church. Write this down, if you would Isaiah 33, 22. This is amazing. And again, if you read anything on our founding of our nation, this verse plays a very prominent role in the birthing of the United States. I'm wondering if you're aware of this or not. 05:41 So, leaving that on the screen, how did our founding fathers create our government? You know what they tell you. I'm not making this up, I'm just paraphrasing. You can go look at it later. They determined that when you look at all the governments of the world, they failed on this point or they failed on that point. And are you listening? Until the founding fathers crafted a republic, the entire world had only known the divine rights of kings as rulers. Listen, americans, wake up. The world had only known the divine rights of kings as their rulers until the birthing of the government here in America called a republic. 06:32 And here's what our founding fathers said how do we keep it right? How do we keep it from becoming a tyranny? And they went to Isaiah 33, 22, and said this is what we're going to do, for the Lord is our judge. We will create a judiciary. There will be those who will be judges. There will be those who will know the law. Okay, great, that's one. What about the second one? The Lord is our lawgiver. There's going to have to be a legislative branch to craft laws as this nation moves forward. All right, that's number two. Is there a third one? Yep, there's a third one, and it's the only one that's left. The Lord is our king. He will save us. 07:19 This passage, this verse, is what was used by our founding fathers in the birthing of this country to ensure and to enshrine the division of powers, so that neither one of those groups could become tyrannical. Well, how do you keep them from being tyrannical? Not only the Bible. This nation was founded upon the Bible. That is a sheer fact of history. The number one textbook of our colonies was the Bible and in the incorporation of this government, they penned the Constitution. It's the Constitution of the United States that reminds us of these three branches and how they function. And they must function within the confines of the Constitution. But that presupposes you know the Constitution, and if it's obeyed and if it's applied, well, you know what happens you come to a nation that has survived 250 years and where we're at today. The scary part is we've got a lot of people who want to throw away the Constitution. When that happens, it's over. 08:23 But when we talk about this, it's very important why, when we talk about God establishing government, does it include hostile governments or antichrist rulers or governments? You might be surprised to find that the answer could absolutely be yes. It just depends. This is not going to warm your heart, but it's fact, true nonetheless. We know that there are bad rulers and bad leaders, even though God says that he establishes the authorities. So does that mean God is establishing evil for us? Does that mean God is setting up bad governments? 09:01 Well, it goes like this there can be bad rulers because God is number one judging a nation for their actions. Did you know that you might want to write this down? Their actions? Did you know that you might want to write this down? God will grant a nation bad rulers because of that nation's actions. In other words, you get what you deserve. You ever heard that before? How about this? 09:22 Number two is that there can be bad rulers because God is going to use a nation as a tool of his. You read that in the Old Testament a lot. Third, there can be bad rulers because God is preparing a nation for revival. Israel is a great example of that, where God will use what is bad. He doesn't cause it, he'll use it and he'll awaken. He'll allow and have people to be awakened to the fact that, wow, this is really horrible, and he'll awaken. He'll allow and have people to be awakened to the fact that, wow, this is really, this is really horrible. We need to get back to God, and maybe God will have mercy and God will send revival. All right, wouldn't that be great. I hope that's the answer, because the final one is sometimes, I fear it's where we're at, and that is, we can have bad rulers because God is about to destroy a nation. 10:14 Question does God destroy nations? Yes, all the time. Well, how does that happen? Well, according to the Bible, he sets up kings and he pulls down kings and he rewards them according to their doings, says the scripture. So there's the reality of divine government. In other words, God will always be interested and watchful over any government that is upon the earth. Of what level it's erect, it doesn't matter. It could be, it could be a local city, to a presidency or to the realm of a king or some local government, but we know this for sure All bad governments will answer to God in the day of judgment. That's both good and bad governments. 10:59 But even Satan, I find it fascinating. Even Satan in the Bible is used, sometimes by God. He's sometimes used by God like a hammer and like a wrench. Did you know that God uses Satan? God doesn't cause things, but God will use things and Satan is one of those tools. That's a strange thing. Number two it's this the priority of divine government. 11:27 You say, Jack, why do I need to know this? For I'm just a Christian. Well, if that's your thinking, that's why you're here today. Remember, there's no coincidences. I always have a hard time saying that word because my daughter she grew up Rebecca grew up always saying there's no coinkydinks. So every time I say the word coincidence, I'm hearing coinkydink. She couldn't say it when she was a little kid. So that's a coinkydink. It sounds cute, but God says no. 11:58 The Bible here is very clear. Look at verse one continues and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. And that should put a little bit of a jolt up your spine, because when you look around the world, listen right now, think of this. Is the government of China appointed by God? The answer is yes. What about North Korea? Yikes? God says yes. You say well, I disagree. God says you don't know what I'm doing. Listen, let's be honest, take it close to home. The Biden government was appointed by God. The Trump government appointed by God. See, sometimes we begin to think too simply about this whole package. 12:42 A lot of people will say stuff like this oh wow, look at that, my house burned down. Oh well, God will Wait a minute. I don't think you're supposed to think like that. Oh look, my baby just wandered onto the train tracks. I wonder what's going to happen. God's will be done. You know that fatalistic thinking is actually a bedrock foundation for a very world-famous belief system, and it's wrong. God says, for example if good people do not get involved, then you're guilty, when you could have done good and you didn't do it. So can we please take a deep breath and realize that there's a balance, that as long as we do what we are called to do from the Bible and let God be God, things will be fine, even if we live in the most tyrannical government in the world. God will do what God has planned and he'll even hear the cry of a nation or those who believe within a nation, and he'll turn that nation around. 13:47 Before I read this verse, everybody, we now live in a government that is so far from its origins that we've got people running around this country that are using their elected position to actually enrich themselves and to abuse our government. And they demand it that way, they demand it like that, and it's going to continue until people speak up. And you're probably thinking well, but I don't think we should speak up, because you just said a moment ago in the Bible that we should be subject to the authorities that are over us. Subject to the authorities that are over us. You're correct. Until those authorities no longer do good. You say what you mean. An authority can go bad. Proverbs 21, verse 1, says the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord Like the rivers of water. He turns it wherever he wishes, God's in control. And at the same time, we know from the Bible and from history that God expects good people to make a difference. 15:04 So for those of you who have friends who say we should never get involved in politics, are you guys listening? I'm going to be very, very I'm going to be very literal about that comment. Christians should never be involved in politics. Changing things in the government arena never should happen. Let's say that you're right. Then let's make sure that every woman in India burns to death when her husband dies. Right, what's wrong with that? There's nothing wrong with that, because that's what the government says to do. Are you okay with that? Oh, come on. Come on. 15:39 For those of you who say we just preach the gospel, we don't get involved in politics. In the country of India, a missionary by the name of William Carey, who went to India to preach the gospel, saw what happens in the rite of Seti that when the Hindu man dies and he's covered with his funeral pyre, wood and branches and leaves and fabric, they cover his body and they put her on top of it, they tie her to it and they burn her alive because he's dead. And that's the way it had always been until one Christian showed up with a Bible to preach the gospel in India. And guess what happened? He changed the law. Oh no, he shouldn't have changed the law, he should have been submissive to the government. No, notice, the women say no in here. 16:35 Guys listen again. People don't like this because it's pure truth. What do Guys Listen again. People don't like this, because it's pure truth. What do you think about slavery? Pastor John Witherspoon in conjunction with a guy by the name of John Hancock, john Adams, but most importantly and most vehemently on these things was Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. 17:02 - Speaker 1 Thomas Jefferson was a slave owner. 17:05 - Speaker 2 Read what he thought about slavery and what he did to get rid of it. See, everybody, listen. You want to sterilize history in instantaneous time. It doesn't work that way. But listen, it's hard to turn a big ship, but you got to start turning it. 17:20 And a lot of people don't realize that when human government is under the fear of God or the priority of God, that government will be exactly as God engineered it to be a great blessing. But have you noticed? I'm sure you have. But have you noticed? I'm sure you have? Only the atheists and the godless people want the Christians to stay out of government and politics. I'm going to say that again. Have you noticed that only the atheists and the godless people want Christians to stay out of politics? 17:54 They're not dumb, they're not stupid. That's a great thing. They're basically just saying we want to run everything, we want to have porn in public schools. What's wrong with you? You don't. If you don't, then you should stay out of politics. Isn't that crazy? We think children should be molested by this information. And if you don't agree with us, stay out of politics. Wait a minute. We're going to define marriage, not you. That's what they say, and our God invented it. Don't you talk to us and don't you preach anything about abortion. That's our territory. That's exactly what crazy is supposed to say. It shouldn't surprise any of you. But if we skulk back and cower back because they're louder than we are, it's wrong. 18:46 We don't understand the truth that God has given us. Proverbs 29, verse 2, tells us this when the righteous are in authority, those who do right are in authority, the people rejoice, but when a wicked man rules, the people groan. In fact, bible prophecy has a lot to say about the priority of divine government. Listen to this In 1 Corinthians, chapter 15, verse 24,. The Bible says in verse 24, then comes the end, that is, the end of the world as we know it, of human government, when he delivers the kingdom to God, that is, Christ delivers the kingdom to God, the Father, when he puts an end to all that's human rule and all human authority and human power, for he must reign till he has put all enemies under his foot. There's a time when Christ is coming and he will banish all human government. He will establish his government on earth.