Address—Tim Roach
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I'd like to read a hymn from the echoes of grace before we begin At the start of the meeting #235 Lift up your heads eternal gates. A glowing dawn shines or ye at Salem's door. The sovereign whales. He is the King of glory. Who is the King of glory? The Great. I am the Lord of hosts. He is the king of glory. The palms of your their branches wave when Judah's sons were singing.
Hosanna Zion shall be saved, their gentle monarch bringing but the sun's light at midday died and Judas matrons wailing lamented loud. The crucified all trace of glory failing, Those gloomy years have rolled away the years of Israel's mourning. The rising sun, the healing ray proclaims the King's returning. Lift up your heads. Eternal gates, transcendent dawns.
Close or ye at Salem's door Messiah waits. He is the King of Glory. Who is the King of Glory? Is Jesus wearing many a crown? He is the King of Glory.
Let's let's pray our God and Father. We give thanks for the Lord Jesus. We give thanks that he is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. And we look forward to the day when He will take his place as the King.
Of this world. Until then, Father, we just ask for help to uh live our lives in a way that would be becoming of Saints that are having our eternal destiny in heaven. We just give thanks and ask for help. This evening in Jesus name we pray. Amen.
I handed out sheets with a lot of the verses that we're gonna go over. I may go rather quickly and so you may not have time to look up the verses. You may if you wish, but uh, I will just move along. There's probably not all the verses on there, but it's a good portion of them so.
We sang about the King of Glory, the Lord Jesus Christ, when he reigns in that millennial day and many people today, many people think that voting.
And political involvement in this world is the Christian's civic duty. But tonight I would like to look at scripture to see when Christians should be involved in politics and when Christians should not be involved in politics. And we know from Scripture, scripture that the Christians fight is against the principalities and the power of the air. And that means that the whole political system is controlled by the demonic forces of evil.
You may have a good president, he might even be a Christian, but the system is corrupted and God is allowing Satan to be the God of this world.
And now more than ever, Satan is making a big effort to control everything in this world with coronavirus and stopping the Christians from meeting together and forcing many of us to use Zoom.
Instead of coming together as God intends for the Church to come together.
We are told to provoke one another to love and good works, but that is difficult to do when we are forsaking the assembling of ourselves together with this COVID confusion. When when we are not physically together our focus is changed from an assembly mindset to have everything focused on me and what is best for me and we are in danger of becoming very self-centered.
You know Satan. He attacks us with all of his Wiles and the all his darts of sadness and loneliness and frustrations and regulations and above all having to wear these masks.
It is a control issue. It is a control issue, perhaps in an attempt in an attempt to change the culture of the world.
I saw a cartoon the other day and a dog was sitting in the driver's seat of a car and the dog was looking out the window and he saw people walking down the street wearing masks and the dog said all these humans wearing muzzles, who did they bite?
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Well, we have been humiliated into a place of a dog wearing a muzzle, but that's OK because we can submit to the governor of the state in the honor of Christ Jesus our Lord. We know that Satan is behind all these demonic controls throughout the whole world, and we Christians, we need to live in this world that is controlled by demonic forces.
And in order for us to maintain our godly testimony, it is important for us Christians to have on the armor of God. We've still we've spoken much about the armor of God and the spiritual warfare that we have the last few days, but we need to be ready for the spiritual battle that we are about to experience in this country. And let's I want to read some verses in Ephesians chapter 6. We'll begin at verse 11.
Put on the whole armor of God.
That you may be able to stand against the Wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and against powers, and against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
We Christians are fighting a battle today against the spiritual wickedness in high places, and this spiritual wickedness is permeating the whole of society. Verse 13.
Take unto you the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand in the evil day, and having done all to stand.
I want to look forward to the Church's place in the Millennium. And when we look at the reign of Christ during the Millennium, we find that the Church should enter into politics and at that time we will reign with Christ, Christ the King. And if we turn to Revelation chapter 21, and we start reading at verse 9 and read up to verse about verse five of chapter 22.
You will understand that these verses explain all about the great city, the holy Jerusalem and the city in these verses represent the church. During the Millennium. We the church, we will have political involvement, if I could say it that way. We will have political involvement with administrative responsibility over this earth during the Kingdom reign of Christ.
Revelation 21 and verse 12 and this verses. These verses are describing the church in the Millennium and the city described here in verse 12 had a Great Wall and high and had 12 gates, and at the 12 gates 12 angels and the names written thereon, which are the names of the 12 tribes of the children of Israel.
Again, the city represents the church. During the Millennium. The city has a high wall. It's got 12 gates around it and 12 angels at each of the gates.
You know, with billions of people being born during the Millennium, every baby that is born is a Sinner.
And many people will grow up to be the enemies of Christ during the Millennium, and they will know that they need to be obedient to the king of Kings. So they will pretend. They will pretend to be good.
There will still be sin. There will still be enemies during the Millennium. And so the great city, the Holy Jerusalem, is seen with a high wall, and the wall around the city means that the church is protected.
And we are separate from the world.
The wall will keep out all sin, it will keep out all sinners, and it will keep out everything that is not of God.
Nothing unholy will enter the city.
And we the Church, We are the city, and we the Church are kept pure for Christ.
No one can infiltrate the church, the city it's protected in. First Corinthians chapter 15.
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First Corinthians, chapter 15. These verses tell us that Jesus Christ will reign until all of these enemies have been destroyed at the end of the 1000 year reign of Christ and in 1St 25 of Ver. Of First Corinthians 15.
For he must reign till he has put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
The verse we read in Revelation chapter 21, verse 12 is about the angels and the gates. The 12 angels at the 12 gates represent many of the angels of God and the angels. They wait outside the gates to do whatever we whatever service that we, the church, ask them to do or tell them to do. And so if you remember in First Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 3.
It says we will judge angels, and I believe this is the time when we will be sending the angels to earth because we will be reigning from heaven and we will have, we will each have authority over certain cities of the world. And then you remember back to Jacob's ladder in the book of Genesis chapter 28, the angels were going up and down the ladder between Jerusalem on earth.
And the church which is in the new Jerusalem in heaven. And so I believe the angels will be going up and down between new Jerusalem and heaven and Jerusalem on earth, and they will be doing our bidding. Then there was an example in Luke chapter 19 and verse 2012 to 27. You can read that one on your own. But in Luke 1912 to 27 it shows us that we the individual believers.
Who belong to the Church. We will each have a certain amount of responsibility and authority in the government of this world, and we will be, uh, have that authority under the administration of Christ the King during the Millennium.
And the amount of responsibility that is given to you will be directly connected to the amount of your faithfulness to Christ now in this present time during this dispensation of the Church.
Let's go to verse 18 of Revelation 21.
Verse 18 And the building of the wall of it was of Jasper, and the city was pure gold like unto clear glass. And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones.
When we look at the holy city that represents the church during the Millennium, the gold and the precious stones in the wall, they don't have any glory of their own.
The beauty of the precious stones is a result of the light shining on them and the stone's ability to reflect the light, and so each stone represents each believer, you.
Me and all the Christian Saints, each stone in that wall has its own qualities of color and beauty.
And for an example.
You are one person.
And there is nobody else like you in the whole world. And I believe this verse shows us that each St. of God will have his own character and his own qualities in heaven. And so I believe that we will be identifiable and we will know each other.
And then the clear glass in the verse. The clear glass of the city refers to the righteousness that will be shown to the world by the church.
And God wants the world to see the glory and the beauty and the righteousness of His Saints in verse 10, Revelation 21, verse 10. And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God.
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This verse is about the Church in heaven during the Millennium.
And we are again called in this verse the great city, the holy Jerusalem. And now I want to look at the gates of the city in verse 21.
And the 12 gates were 12 Pearls. Every several gate was of 1 Pearl.
And so the pearls here in verse 21, they remind us of the big value the church is to Christ.
In Matthew chapter 13.
Verse 45 and 46 It says, The Kingdom of heaven is like unto A merchant man seeking goodly pearls, who, when he had found one Pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.
The merchant man is the Lord Jesus. He sold all that he had so he could buy that Pearl that had a big price, and that Pearl represents the church.
Christ loved the church and gave himself for it, and he paid for the church with his own life. And God wants the world to know how valuable the church is to Jesus Christ. In the middle of verse 21, it says the street of the city was pure gold.
The city has a street of pure gold. A street is where you buy and you sell and you visit people. And this makes me to think that we will be able to visit and to communicate with other Saints when we are in heaven.
And the gold represents God, the divine things of God. And I believe our conversations on the street will, uh, on the streets of gold will always give honor to the Lord Jesus. It will honor God. And there will be nothing in the city that will bring dishonor to God.
Sin sinners, they will not be able to come into the city.
And the gates of the city will always be open so that the nations can bring their glory and their honor to the city.
But they cannot come into the city.
The only ones permitted into the city are those people of faith who have their names written in the Lamb's book of life and the glory and the honor. It's not for the city, it is not for the church, But the glory and the honor is for the one who stays in the city, and that whole that is the Holy One of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. And to him belongs all the glory, He alone.
Is worthy to receive all the praise and the honor and the worship and down in verse.
23 Revelation 21 Verse 23.
And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it, for the glory of God did lighten it. And the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations shall walk by its light. And the kings of the earth bring their glory to it. Notice not into it, but to it.
And its gates shall not be shut at all by day, for night shall not be there.
And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations to it, and there shall in no way enter into it anything that defiles neither whatsoever, works, abomination, or makes a lie, but they who are written in the Lamb's book of Life.
During the Millennium, the holy city, the church, will be a witness to the nation.
Of knowledge and righteousness and truth.
And the nations of the earth will walk in the light of this city. And this means that they will be instructed how they should live according to righteousness and according to truth when they are back in their own country. And so in Isaiah chapter 2 and verse two and three, these verses will explain about how the nations will come to Jerusalem so they can learn the ways of God. Isaiah chapter 2, verse two and three.
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And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all the nations shall flow unto it.
That means that many people from all the other countries will come to Jerusalem, and verse 3 And many people shall go and say, come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the House of God, the God of Jacob, And he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths, For out of Zion shall go forth the law.
And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And so the nations, they will bring money and food and honor and worship to the city of Jerusalem here on earth in the land of Israel. And all of this blessing will be left there on earth in honor of Christ the King.
But Christ the King will be in the heavenly city, in the new Jerusalem, in heaven.
And when the nations come to give honor to the king in Israel, Israel will instruct them how they should live properly when they go back to their own country. And Christ will reign in righteousness. And the people in the nations of the world will be told how to live in a righteous way according to the the law of Jehovah. And many, many will have a desire to know the truth God.
In that day.
The Church.
The Holy City will display righteousness and truth to the world, and the church in that day will be a witness of one.
In all its perfection, and in that day there will be no failure as the churches witness of one as there is today in the world.
Aversion, second Timothy chapter 4.
Second Timothy 4 verse 8.
Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but on to but unto them also that love is appearing.
The Lord Jesus has a crown of righteousness for you, and it is an award for you so that you can reign with him during the millennial reign of Christ.
We should not think that we need to get involved in the world of politics now.
We can wait until that day when we rain with Christ and we will reign with Christ in righteousness and will be reigning from heaven, not here on earth. Today is neither the time nor the place for the Christian to get involved in the government of this world, in the politics of this world. There's a brother in in Malawi, his name is Christopher.
And Christopher is from an assembly there, and he is one of the poorest of the poor. And in that village where he lives, there's two sides to the family and each tribe.
Li lives one on each side of the highway, the of the road, and someone from the other family was the village headman. He was the chief, and when the chief dies, the head man, the chieftainship, reverts to the other side of the family.
And so at one point the head man died and the village leaders, they came to Brother Christopher and they asked him to be the village head. Christopher thought about it and he refused. And he said, I don't want to rain now. I will wait to rain with Christ.
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Well, the neighbors and the relatives from the other side of the village, they became angry at his decision and they burned Christopher's house and they chased him out of the village and they also burned 16 other houses.
From Christopher's side of the family now everybody from both sides of the family were against Christopher. Christopher suffered for righteousness sake.
We are in an evil day right now, and so, like Christopher, we should stay out of this evil world of politics.
The Bible talks about the people of this world in a very bad connotation. He calls them the children of the wicked one. He calls them the children of disobedience, and he calls them the children of the world. And God does not want us to get mixed up in any part of that.
The hearts and the minds of the worldlings are always against God.
And God even warns his people not to get involved in the system of politics, in the system of this world. And God does not want us to interfere with God's strategies that he has planned for this world. And he does not want us to get involved with things that we Christians have no business getting involved in.
I want to look at a verse in Isaiah chapter 45.
And I want us to remember this verse as we try to deal with all the political pressures that surround us in society today, and you, the society today. Even many Christians, they say you need to get out and vote, and they insist that your civic duty and other Christians may reproach you because of your dispensational understanding of God's dealings.
In this world. But they will not understand why you refuse to vote, and they will reproach you. You will be reproached by other people in this world. I want you to remember this verse in Isaiah 45, Nine, It says. Woe unto him that strives with his maker. Let the patcher strive with the potsherds of the earth.
In other words.
Leave the political world to the people of the world as they try to control the system of the world without God. We need to leave the politics to the worldlings.
Some covenants ideological Christians, They are trying to control the world with Judaistic principles, and God has not authorized them to do that.
God wants us to come out from among them and be separate. He wants us to be separate from the system of this world. God wants you to be his servant for his purposes. And in Second Corinthians chapter 6.
And verse 17.
Wherefore come out from among them, and be separate, says the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, and will be a father unto you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.
According to these verses, if you are enjoying your relationship with God as your Father, you will not want to get involved in the in trying to change the system of this world.
We Christians are not of this world. We are the children of God. We have no home. We have no rights in this world. We are citizens of heaven. We are not citizens of this world.
And the Lord Jesus said to his disciples, He said, My Kingdom is not of this world, not yet. There is coming a day when Christ will reign as king of kings and Lord of Lords over this earth, But not yet. We must be patient. We must wait his time. And then when Christ is ready to rule, when he is ready to reign over this earth, we will be a part of his government, and we will reign with him.
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Over this earth and when it is time for us to become in and and that that is the time when we should become involved in the politics of this world.
And so I ask a question.
Is it God's will for Christians to vote in 2020?
I know there are some very passionate issues at stake in this election.
But you know God does not tell. Christians do not vote.
But what does God say? First of all, God never tells the Christian to get involved in the world or the system of this world in any way.
We live in a time when Christ was rejected and we need to accept that fact. And we need to realize that we cannot change the world's demise through political involvement in John Chapter 15 and verse 19.
It says if you were of the world, the world would love his own. But because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
We need to look at the whole picture from eternity to eternity. If we understand God's dispensational dealings with man, we know that we are strangers in this world.
When we release, when we read Philippians chapter 3 and verse 20, we understand that we Christians are citizens of heaven.
And the only way, excuse me, the only way a Christian could vote in a free society in this world is to ignore the dispensational truth of God's word.
And then in Galatians chapter 6 for one more verse on this issue, Galatians chapter 6 and verse 14.
But God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. Oh we see that the cross separates the Christian from the world. We are separate from the world because of the cross of Jesus Christ and the Lord Jesus sanctified himself for the sake of the believers whom the Father had given.
To his Son, Jesus Christ. How did Jesus sanctify himself?
Sanctified means to be set apart for a certain purpose. And the Lord Jesus set himself apart to do the will of the Father, and he went to the cross as a sacrifice for our sin. And he was crucified outside the gate of the city of Jerusalem, which is the capital.
Of the Jewish religion, sometimes it's called the camp and there is another point of sanctification by Jesus. He was outside the gate. Jesus was separate from sinners. He was separate from the world of the Jewish religion. And in John John 17 and verse 19 we see in this verse.
Says, and for their sakes, This is the Lord Jesus praying through the Father. And he says, for their sakes, that's you and me, his disciples. For their sakes, I sanctify myself that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
The Lord Jesus was set apart from the world by going back to the glory in the Father's house in heaven, and that's where he is now. And in this manner he was sanctified for our sakes, and He set himself apart from the system of this world. And just like Jesus says in this verse, I sanctify myself that they also might be sanctified through the truth. So the Lord Jesus he wants.
You to be sanctified also, to be set apart from this world by the truth that we have in His word.
We also should be sanctified and set apart from the world by the cross of Jesus Christ, and we should be separated through the truth of God's Word.
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Jesus also was separated, was sanctified by keeping himself separated from the political Kingdom. And when the Lord Jesus was was rejected as King of the Jews, he made it very clear that he and his disciples were separate, were sanctified, were set apart and separate from the political system of this world. Let's look at John 18, verse 36.
John 18 verse 36.
My Kingdom is not of this world. If my Kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews? But now is my Kingdom not from here? According to this verse, Christians should not get involved in this world system of politics and government. We are not of this world and we should not try to change this world.
You know, there are two schools of thought about Christians political involvement within the sphere of the Great House of Christianity.
The two schools of thought are Covenant and Dispensational. First, I'll talk about the Covenant, the Covenant, Covenant ideas of theology. And this idea is that Christians should get involved in politics and they should get involved in the military and and if they get involved in order to make this world a better place. And they think that when this world reaches a certain high moral level and standard that the Messiah.
Will step out of heaven into a world that is ready to receive the Messiah, and for the Messiah to reign, and the world will receive him with joy. This is the covenant ideas, and they believe that the Church will replace Israel and the Church will be inheriting the earth and the church will live on the earth and the church will receive all the promises that belong to Israel.
This is a similar idea to what Jehovah's Witness believe.
And the Hindus and Islam, they are all looking for a Messiah to rescue the world.
And this is the same Satanic sentiment that Hollywood and the movie industry is trying to promote. They are looking for a superhero to come from somewhere to rescue the world. And they want to rescue the world from Christians. And to rescue the world from Jews and from overpopulation and from climate change and from eating meat.
The movie industry does not have it all together, but they're super heroes. Will go by astral, travel to some higher plane of existence to communicate with his dead ancestors and he will come back to earth to promote peace and one world government system. This is what is being promoted in many of the movies in the world today.
That idea that is reflected by the movies, that is the great hope of many people for this world. But you know, Israel is also preparing for their Messiah to come. But they're not waiting for the Lord Jesus. They've rejected Jesus. They don't want Jesus.
They set away with this man. We don't want him crucify him. Well, who's going to answer to the Messiah for all of these people? Well, I believe the Beast and the Antichrist will answer to all of these entities as their superhero and their Messiah. You see, Satan is very clever. He is setting this all up in the world today. And the beast and the Antichrist, they will set up their Kingdom and many people with these beliefs will begin to worship the beast.
And the Antichrist and many of these people who are not true believers.
They will think that this is our Messiah, this is our superhero, and many, many false Christians and Jews will apostatize and they will turn away from God. They will turn away from Christ, and they will take the mark of the beast, and in their process they will sell their souls to the devil.
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In today's Society of COVID confusion, we see that people are believing A delusion. They don't want to believe that there is a sovereign God.
They don't want anything that represents righteousness, and for this 'cause God has given them up to their vile affections, and so they have become deluded.
You realize that in the United States of America, the population is about 330 million.
A week or so ago, I think there are approximately 5 million people who were suggested to have had to have or have had COVID-19, and as many as 160,000 people in the USA are thought to have died from this plague.
And the percentage of death in the United States is about .05%.
Only.
Not 5%, not .5%, but .0.
5% have been thought to have died from this plague.
That minute amount of death has caused an economy stopping fear and panic in this world. And this has happened all over the world. I tell you, people are deluded. It is. It is wise for us to have caution, and that's OK. But it is not OK to live in fear. We are to live by faith, not by fear.
I know that if the worst thing that can happen to a believer who dies of any cause is for him to go to be with Christ.
Which is far better.
And if that's the worst thing?
We have to fear.
In death, then, we really have nothing to fear about that.
However, we are told in Scripture, do not tempt the Lord your God. We live by faith, but we don't live by foolishness.
But Can you imagine in the tribulation when one, and I say just one plague will kill 25% of the population of the world?
Right now we have .05%, but this is 25% of the population of the world will die from 1 plague.
Can you imagine the strong delusion people will need to have in order to believe that there is no absolute God with total sovereignty? Who is the intelligent designer? They will believe a strong delusion in order to act as if there is no God.
2nd Thessalonians, Chapter 2, verse 11.
For this 'cause God shall send them a strong delusion, and they that they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned, who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
The 2nd way to look at the political position of the Christian in this world is dispensational theology. And this second way of looking. The 2nd way of Christian thinking understands that the world is degrading. We're not getting better, it's degrading. And the morality of this world is getting worse and worse. In Second Timothy 3 and verse 12. Yeah, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
But evil men, and we can see this today. Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. You know, when God can wait no longer. And when this world's morality goes down, and the false religions get worse and worse, and they become so, uh, corrupt and so repugnant to God, Christ will come to take his true church, the bride of Christ, to be with him in heaven. And some people call that the rapture. And we look forward to the rapture.
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And following the Rapture, the Bible teaches that there will be a time of seven years of tribulation on this world.
And after seven years of having the wrath of God falling on this world of wicked sinners, Christ will return to this world to destroy all the unbelievers and to send them to hell and to lock up Satan in the bottomless pit and then set up his Kingdom. Jesus Christ is the true Messiah.
And then he will reign in righteousness and peace. Christ is the King of Peace, and according to this dispensational truth, the Christian should not get involved in the politics of this world.
I know there's many Christians who think both of these two perspectives.
The Covenant theories and the Dispensational truth. They think that both of these sound good, and many Christians somehow have a belief that is mixed up between the two systems of thought. And you can find Christians mixed up on the scale anywhere at all between these two systems of Covenant and Dispensational thinking in Ephesians Chapter 2.
Ephesians chapter 2 and verse four and verse 6. But God verse six has raised us up together.
And made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. This Is Us even right now. We are raised up above the world, and God sees us already seated in the heavenly sphere. We have heavenly responsibilities even now as we live on earth.
Our focus is on heavenly things, not on earthly things. We should not be involved in political things, because political things are earthly things. Colossians, Chapter 3.
And verse two, it says, set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth, for you are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God.
God has given the United States of America a temporary reprieve, and we are thankful that the spirit of God is busy restraining the extent of the evil in the heart of man. And meanwhile, we Christians, we can see the evil growing and we want to do something about it because it burdens our hearts so and it is easy to get emotionally affected. And we want to vote and we want to protest and we want to demand our rights.
But these verses we have read are very clear that our emotions and our passions and our involvement should not be mixed up in the system of this world. And so, in light of the things we have spoken about tonight, I ask another question. Is it good for a Christian to go into the world?
And our first instinct is to say no.
But Mark, Chapter 16 and verse 15 says go into the world, go into all the world and preach the gospel. And so we should be going into the world, not to change the world, but to eat with the Republicans. And I'm sorry the Republicans and sinners.
We we should be going into the world to preach the gospel and.
And uh, I want to refer to some verses that tell us some things that we Christians can do in this world. We don't have to turn to them. I'm not sure if they're on your papers, but in First Timothy Chapter 2, it says pray for the government. In First Peter chapter 2, it says submit to the government and honor the king or the president or the governor. Second Peter chapter 2 Says it's unjust.
That people speak evil of government. And So what is the Christian's responsibility in this world? Preach, pray, submit, and don't speak badly about the president. It's not always easy to do or not do. But I want to make another point. I have known Christians that are either very liberal and socialistic in their political passions, and I've known other Christians.
Who are very conservative and capitalistic in their political passions. And both groups of Christians are getting ready to vote and they're getting ready and to be involved to change the world. But neither philosophy is godly.
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God has spoken to us through his Son Jesus Christ and another verse in John 17, verse 20 and 21. The Lord Jesus prayed for his believers. He says he prayed for them, which shall believe on me that they all may be one in.
US, you know, democracy is the complete antithesis of the Lord's Prayer in these verses, that they may be one in US.
Democracy divides the people.
First Corinthians chapter one and verse 10.
Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you'd be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
How can Christians have the same mind and the same judgment when they get mixed up in the politics of democracy?
I can't for verse 11, for it has been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the House of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.
I have seen some very harsh words from Christians against other Christians who have different political passions than they have. And I say politics leads to contentions in the church.
Verse 12 Now this I say that everyone of you says I'm appalled. I have a I'm of Apollos, and I have Cephas and I have Christ.
It happens. Democracy divides. And when democracy invades the church, what is the result? Division. I'm appalled. I'm of Apollos. I'm a Baptist. I am Catholic. I am of Trump. I'm of Biden. Is Christ divided? The obvious answer is no. Christ is not divided, and neither should the Christians. We have taken Christ on ourselves. Christ is in US. Why do we want to divide what we have in Christ by getting involved in this world?
So what can you do now in this world to honor God?
We should not just sit around Biden our time.
Until the rapture.
Our time and our service should be guided by truth. Where are we going to find truth in the word of God? First, John chapter 2 and verse 17. The world passes away and the lust thereof. But he that does the will of God abides forever.
Our instruction is to do the will of God, and what is the will of God for you?
And for me, God does not ask us to fix this world.
God says edify the church, encourage the church, exhort the church, preach the Word. And when we preach the Word, he does not give us parameters as to where we should preach the Word. He says Go into all the world and preach the gospel.
And if you can't do that, what can you do?
Maybe. Maybe you feel useless or you feel guilty because you're not able to.
Because you are not out going out and preaching the gospel on the street, or you're not. You feel like you're not doing anything valuable for Christ, and so you decide to vote or to join a protest against some civil injustice in an attempt to change the world for Christ.
We like to feel like we're doing something, but wait, I want you to think that there are things that you can do and you are probably already doing some of these things.
And you can support the ones who do go out and share the gospel and encourage the Saints, the Lord told your shepherd, my sheep. You can be encouraging one another. You know your brethren, They need to be strengthened. They need to be lifted up. They need to be shepherded. Be a positive spiritual help to your friends. My sheep are not of this world, but shepherd my sheep. And so that's something that we can do for the Lord.
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And the Word of God also instructs us to pray for the government and for the authorities of this world. Pray for them, but don't join them.
These are just some of the things that you can do for Christ.
And until the Lord comes, let us live our daily lives for the good of that day when Christ shall receive his place of honor and we will reign with him, and then we can get involved in the politics of this world. In closing, I want to read a hymn again from the Echoes of Grace.
#188.
Our Lord is now rejected and by the world disowned by the many still neglected and by the few enthroned. But soon he'll come in glory. The hour is drawing nigh, for the crowning day is coming by and by.
The heavens shall glow a splendor, but brighter far than they. The Saints shall shine in glory, as Christ shall them array. The beauty of the Savior shall dazzle every eye in the crowning day that's coming by and by.
Let all that look for hasten the coming joyful day by earnest consecration to walk the narrow way, by gathering in the lost ones, for whom our Lord to die, for the crowning day that's coming.
Buy and buy all the crowning day is coming, is coming by and by. When our Lord shall come in power and glory from on high. Oh the glorious sight will gladden each waiting watchful eye. In the crowning day that's coming by and by. Let's pray.
Our God and Father, we give thanks for the prospect of the coming of the Lord to take us up to be with him in heaven, and we look forward to the prospect of coming back with the Lord Jesus.
In all his glory to reign over this world, we look forward to that Father, and we just ask that until then we can remain faithful and so that we can be a help and to be with the Lord as He reigns in this world. We just give thanks. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.