Obey the Government?!

[0:00] Well, today as we come to the Word of God, we're looking back to something we skipped over from Titus chapter 3 verse 1. And we're going to tackle this difficult subject of how we, as followers of Jesus, should relate to the government.

[0:17] We're in Titus chapter 3 verse 1 and Jesus is speaking through the Apostle Paul to Titus and he says this, remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient.

[0:40] Second, we have this tendency to disobey. We have this tendency to break the law or at least to want to, to go against the rules.

[0:56] We inherited this from Adam and it's so deeply embedded in us that even today, whenever a new law is made that in any way restricts our freedom, there's that little voice inside of us that just hates it.

[1:09] Don't tell me what to do. And we're tempted. What would happen if I just don't do it? Why is it that the forbidden is so alluring?

[1:24] The answer, according to the Bible, is because it's forbidden and we are rebels by nature. And so when we come to these instructions that are given to us in Titus chapter 3 verse 1, we're naturally disinclined to accept them.

[1:41] Don't tell me this, Pastor Josh. I'm not listening. I don't want to be accountable to this. But these are the very words of King Jesus to us.

[1:52] Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities. To be obedient. Do you feel the dislike for these words rising in your heart already?

[2:05] Do you feel the inner lawyer emerging with a yes, but? Yes, but? Do you feel the inner weasel inside of you squirming to get away from the clear and obvious meaning of these words?

[2:22] He can't seriously mean that as a Christian, I must obey the government. But what about? But what if?

[2:34] Can you feel the excuses rising to the surface? There are a good many Christians who claim to stand on the word of God and believe that every word of this Bible is inspired by God.

[2:46] But when it comes to this verse and others like it, it's as if they've made a few changes here. Added a few exception clauses to the end. Or for some, it's as if they've just stroked the phrase right out of their Bibles.

[3:03] Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities. To be obedient. And we make all kinds of excuses.

[3:15] Maybe these instructions aren't for me. Well, who are these instructions for? As I pointed out a few weeks back, these instructions are for all Christians, all believers.

[3:29] That's who Paul is referring to when he says, remind them. Remind the people. If we look back up just a few verses before this to chapter 2, verse 14, he was saying, Jesus Christ gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness.

[3:47] And he's just flowing right on. So Titus, teach these things to them, the redeemed of Jesus that are there on the island of Crete. Who should be subject to rulers and authorities and be obedient to them?

[4:00] Not only them, but also us. All Christians. All of us who have been redeemed by Christ and belong to him should be subject to rulers and authorities. Excuse number two.

[4:14] Maybe submit just means to kind of, you know, have a submissive attitude. Well, let's look at what all Christians are to do here.

[4:25] There are two infinitive verbs given. And I'm going to put the most literal, hyper-literal translation on screen so you can see the original word order here. This is the original word order in the Greek language.

[4:37] Remind them to rulers and authorities to submit, to obey. This word order helps us see that both submit and obey are meant to be taken together here.

[4:53] They are both together. What we are to do to rulers and authorities. All Christians are to submit and to obey.

[5:05] These words kind of explain each other. They're almost like the left and the right of a stereo speaker coming at you. And they help us know a little bit of these two words, what each other means.

[5:17] What does he mean by be subject or submit? He means to be obedient to. In other words, he's not just telling us to have a submissive attitude, but to actually obey rulers and authorities.

[5:35] And what does it mean to obey someone? I'm going to open this one up to the kids. What does it mean to obey your parents' kids? To do what they say.

[5:50] So then what does it mean to obey the government? To do what they say. It's that simple. Great. So we've got the who and we've got the what so far. All Christians, all followers of Jesus are to submit, are to obey.

[6:07] Excuse number three. Well, who are these rulers and authorities anyway? How can we submit to them if we don't even know what they are? Rulers and authorities.

[6:19] Why do you think Paul uses two words here to describe who we're to submit to today? I think it's the stereo thing again.

[6:29] It's the left and the right speakers. Parallel words that help convey that this is a general command about how we're to treat various authority figures that we may have in our various situations.

[6:41] He could have simply said, remind the people to be subject to the emperor. Or he could have said, remind the people to be subject to your city mayor or your town magistrate.

[6:52] But it's not just one particular person that he has in mind here. It's not just one type of ruler or authority figure that he has in mind. It's rulers, authorities, plural.

[7:04] Rulers and authorities, plural. This conveys that this is a general command about how we are to treat any of the various authority figures that we may have in our location.

[7:16] Paul could have even listed out all the possible positions that he knew about on the island of Crete here where Titus is. He could have said, be subject and obedient to your mayor, to your law enforcement officers, to the judges, to your regional governor, and to your emperor.

[7:35] But then what if he had missed one in a particular town where they have another name for something? You've got to know that those Christians would be saying, oh, well, look, I don't have to submit to my local leader because it only says these ones.

[7:50] And so rulers and authorities, plural. It's a general whom that lets us know that this applies to all kinds of authorities that we may find ourselves under, not just those of a certain type.

[8:02] So let's put this all together. The who, the what, and the to whom. Jesus Christ, speaking through the Apostle Paul, is commanding Titus to remind the Christians, all the Christians on the island of Crete, to be subject to and obey the rulers and authorities.

[8:22] And at this point, it's worth thinking about what that meant to them back then. Who were the rulers and authorities of these people in this time when this was written?

[8:33] Well, Crete had a good number of cities and towns on this island. And even though the islanders had a reputation of being lawless, of lying, cheating, stealing, they did have government.

[8:50] They did have local leaders and rulers. They had people in positions of authority. They likely had some kind of ruling council or judge or magistrate or mayor or governor in each of the cities and towns on the island.

[9:07] And then on top of that, there would have been the provincial governor. Crete was under the rule of the Roman Empire. And the whole island, plus a little bit in North Africa, were part of one province.

[9:20] And so they would have had their own provincial governor. If you think back to the land of Israel, during the time when Jesus walked the earth, there was the Roman governor Pilate, who Jesus stood before.

[9:36] Pilate was the governor of that whole province of Judea. And here on Crete, they had a similar kind of role, a similar position. A guy who ruled and had authority over the happenings of all the islanders.

[9:48] And then, of course, over the whole Roman Empire, there was the emperor. And in these days, the emperor was a dictator.

[10:00] At this point in Roman history, the imperial cult was in full swing, meaning that the emperor was deified. And he was worshipped as a god.

[10:11] So this is the historical and cultural situation of the Christians on the island of Crete. And it's to these rulers and authorities that Jesus commands Titus to remind the Christians to be subject to them and to obey them.

[10:30] As Christians, Jesus wanted his followers to submit themselves to the rulers and authorities of their day and to be obedient to them. That's the who, the what, and the to whom of this instruction.

[10:46] And it's important to notice. Let's look at the whole first two verses here of chapter 3. Is there a when? Is there an if?

[10:59] Is there an except? Except. Be subject to rulers and authorities. Be obedient to them. When? If? Except. But.

[11:09] However. Unless. No. Now there is a biblical exception to this command.

[11:20] But it's occasional enough. It's rare enough that the general command to submit to and to obey the governing authorities can be stated without the exception. Paul didn't feel the need to mention the exception here.

[11:34] In other words, the normal Christian life is to be one lived in submission to human rulers and authorities. The normal Christian life is to be one lived in obedience to human government.

[11:47] And the exception, we're going to talk about it, it's rare enough that it didn't need to be included in Christ's general instructions about how his people should live.

[11:59] Generally, they're to be peaceable. They're to be considerate. They're to slander no one. They're always to be gentle toward everyone. They're to be ready to do whatever is good. They're to be subject to rulers and authorities and obedient to them.

[12:12] And yet, many Christians today do not hear these words. They struggle to acknowledge this simple instruction from Jesus.

[12:24] Instead of listening to it and accepting it, we're tempted to go straight to the exception and then from there to pile on a whole bunch more exceptions and sometimes open that up so wide that what's left of this straightforward and clear instruction becomes absolutely irrelevant and meaningless to us.

[12:47] Because we are sinners by nature, we want to do what we want to do. And who are you to tell me what to do?

[12:59] And so we explain away, we diminish, we minimize these words. And in so doing, we dishonor the Lord. When it comes to rulers, authorities, government, the law of our land, this passage is telling us that as Christians, we should be known generally as law-abiding citizens.

[13:22] Not as rebels, not as protesters, not as people who are always looking to subvert or to undermine or sneak around the law. We're to be known as people who, regardless of what the culture is doing, people who actually obey the law.

[13:40] Now, we're going to look at some more exceptions, some more excuses that Christians raise here that are unbiblical. But first, I want you to see just how clear this matter is from a few other places in the Bible.

[13:54] And we're going to stick with the New Testament, even though you could see it in the Old Testament as well. The first passage we'll look at is what the Apostle Peter wrote in his letter. He said, Dear friends, I urge you as foreigners and exiles to abstain from sinful desires which wage war against your soul.

[14:14] Live such good lives among the pagans that though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

[14:26] Submit yourself for the Lord's sake to every human authority, whether to the emperor as the supreme authority or to governors who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.

[14:43] For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil.

[14:55] Live as God's slaves. Show proper respect to everyone. Love the family of believers. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

[15:08] So Peter commanded the believers that were scattered throughout the Roman provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia to submit themselves to every human authority.

[15:19] Even the highest human authority on earth at the time, which was the king of the Roman Empire himself, the emperor. And to the governors that he sent out to each of those provinces.

[15:34] Jesus wants his people to submit to human authorities and government and to be obedient to them. In Paul's letter to the Romans, this is probably the longest passage on the subject.

[15:49] This is what he wrote to the church in Rome. He said, Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except that which God has established.

[16:01] The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted.

[16:12] And those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority?

[16:27] Then do what is right and you will be commended. For the one in authority is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid.

[16:39] For rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God's servants. agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities not only because of possible punishment, but also as a matter of conscience.

[16:58] This is also why you pay taxes. For the authorities are God's servants who give their full time to governing. Give to everyone what you owe them.

[17:09] If you owe taxes, pay taxes. If revenue, then revenue. If respect, then respect. If honor, then honor.

[17:22] Now, I'm not going to bring out all the details of this passage or switch the sermon over to this passage, but it's pretty clear and straightforward. Human authority, human government is a thing that God himself established and ordained.

[17:36] He wants there to be human government and authority. And yes, even in a fallen world, even in a sinful world, he wants it. Human government achieves God's good purposes.

[17:50] Some of his good purposes for governing authorities are to keep human evil in check. To see that wrongdoers are punished. To see that tax revenues are used for the benefit of a society.

[18:05] three times, Paul says that the one in authority is God's servant. Which means that they do things for God.

[18:19] And specifically in verse 4, he says, the one in authority is God's servant for your good. For your good.

[18:31] That's you, the Christians in Rome who he's writing to. For your good. For your benefit. Maybe the first yeah but is rising up here.

[18:45] What about when the person in authority is corrupt? Here's another excuse that we make. Another unbiblical exception that we add into the word of God.

[18:58] Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities except when those authorities are corrupt or immoral or ungodly. Is that what it says in any of these three passages?

[19:14] Not in Titus, not in 1 Peter, not here in Romans 13. Listen, if a certain morality or integrity or character of the ruler is required, surely Paul would have said so here.

[19:30] I mean, Paul's writing to Christians in Rome. Think of this. This is the city of Rome. This is the very heart of the Roman Empire. Who's in charge here? It was the Roman Emperor himself.

[19:44] A man who in the tradition of Caesar Augustus claimed to be a god and worthy of worship. None of the emperors up until this point had been morally virtuous or men of integrity or men of godly character.

[20:00] In many cases, they were brutal men. Some of them were responsible for persecuting and even killing Christians. Look at what happened with Pilate and Jesus.

[20:12] Pilate handed Jesus over to be crucified after declaring three times, I find no basis for a charge against him. What kind of justice is that?

[20:24] That's corrupt. Jesus' point here is not that every human authority that's good is established by God, but that every human authority, period, is established by God and serves his good purposes.

[20:42] Not perfectly, of course, but generally, yes. And so generally, yes, we are to submit to and obey the governing authorities of our land.

[20:53] I know that we tend to want to run to the exception here. But before we run there, let's consider, let's think about what points in the story of God, where in God's story did he use flawed and sinful human government to protect and even serve his own good purposes?

[21:17] Think about the many times when the Apostle Paul was being viciously attacked by his Jewish opponents in various cities and towns. How many times was he rescued from their grip by civil servants, magistrates, local government officials, Roman soldiers?

[21:38] How many times did Paul's jail cell for the night save his life from those who would have murdered him had he not been locked up and even protected by the armed guard outside the door?

[21:52] And without Roman government, would Paul's Roman citizenship have done anything for him? On at least two occasions we know of in the scripture, it was his protection, it was his get-out-of-jail-free card.

[22:06] God used the Roman government and the judicial system in Judea, corrupt as it was, to protect Paul from the Jews who were plotting to kill him in Jerusalem.

[22:18] God used the government to give Paul a detachment of 200 soldiers, 70 horsemen and 200 spearmen to safely lead him out of Jerusalem to another city. And then on top of that, Paul was given trial after trial.

[22:34] God used the government to see that Jesus was proclaimed to all these people. And then God used the government, the Roman law, to see that Paul was guaranteed safe passage to Rome.

[22:49] And when he got to Rome, God used the government to protect him until the trial so that he could proclaim the gospel without hindrance. Now yes, Christians were killed by Roman emperors and history has it that Paul himself was later executed by a Roman emperor.

[23:09] But that doesn't change the straightforward command that Christ has for his people in these passages. Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient.

[23:27] Look at Jesus' own life and teaching. Think about it. What was he like with respect to the governing authorities? Was he a rebel? Was he an insurrectionist? He was the rightful king of Israel, chosen by God himself, and yet he did not resist the governing authorities.

[23:45] In fact, Peter says that he's the example to follow when he describes how it's commendable to bear up under unjust suffering. They tried to trap Jesus over the issue of paying taxes.

[24:00] Do you remember this? Was Jesus loyal to God or to the imperial cult? And what did Jesus say? He said, render to Caesar what belongs to Caesar.

[24:17] Pay your taxes. On another occasion, the temple tax collectors came around to collect the temple tax, and this is a tremendously helpful passage in Matthew chapter 17.

[24:30] They came to get some tax from Jesus, and did Jesus agree with the tax? He has this little conversation with Peter, which basically reveals that no, he didn't think that the tax was right.

[24:48] He didn't agree with it. It was ill-conceived. But what did he say to Peter at the end of that little discussion? Chapter 17, verse 27. He said, but so that we may not cause offense, go to the lake and throw out your line, take the first fish you catch, open its mouth, and you'll find a four drachma coin.

[25:07] Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours. Now we like to focus on the miracle there, and it's a wonderful miracle, but let's notice today the stuff around it.

[25:18] What was Jesus' response here? So that we may not cause offense, pay the tax anyway. This is another excuse that we sometimes make, another unbiblical exception clause that we add to Christ's clear teaching about submitting to governing authorities.

[25:35] We say, well, if the law is unjust, or if the law is unfair, or ill-conceived, or just plain stupid, then we don't need to obey it. But even Jesus himself paid a tax he deemed ill-conceived, so that we may not cause offense, pay the tax.

[25:58] We can disagree with the laws, Jesus did, but we're not free to just disobey them just because we disagree with them. Another unbiblical excuse that some make a reason given for why we don't need to submit to the governing authorities is that as a Christian, there's only one who has authority over me, and it's Jesus.

[26:24] He is the head of the church. There's only one Lord, one King, one head of the church, and therefore the government has no jurisdiction over me. But this is faulty logic.

[26:37] Absolutely, Christ is the head of the church. He is the Lord. He is the King of Kings. And he has told us through his apostles to obey human government.

[26:50] If you think that there's only one authority over you, and that's Jesus, you're living in a Christian fantasy. Jesus is the ultimate authority, yes, but if you are a child, he commands you to obey your parents, to submit to their authority.

[27:06] If you're a bondservant, he expects you to fulfill your contractual obligations to your master and submit to him as one under authority. If you're a wife, he commands you to submit to your husband as the head of your home, just as Christ is the head of the church.

[27:23] And no matter who you are, if you're a Christian, Christ commands you to submit to your leaders in the church. Hebrews chapter 13, verse 17. And no matter who you are, if you're a Christian, he commands you to submit to the rulers and authorities of the land, just as we've seen in every one of these passages.

[27:42] And so saying, I don't have to submit to the government or obey the law because Christ is the head of the church is just faulty logic. It's totally unbiblical. Another unbiblical excuse that we sometimes make, we should only submit to the law if the law is constitutional.

[28:06] This is a devious and clever sounding excuse that we sometimes come up with. Essentially, it's argued that the law that's being put in place, well, it's not a good law. It's a bad law because it goes against the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

[28:22] And I think there's a certain appeal to this line of thinking. Many will say, well, by disobeying this new law, I mean, I'm actually doing good. I'm standing up for the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

[28:34] This is like a righteous thing that I'm doing, protesting this by disobeying it, by breaking it. It's going to help expose just how bad a law it is, how unconstitutional it is.

[28:46] But this is another failure to submit to the clear, straightforward command of Christ to submit to authorities. And to see this, I think we need to just take this passage and apply it to our own context today.

[29:01] Who is the ruler of Canada that we have to submit to? Anyone brave enough to...

[29:15] We're so confused about our own government. It's so complex. But how can we be obedient to this command if we don't even understand how our own government works? Admittedly, we do have a complicated form of government in Canada.

[29:30] The Prime Minister is not the ruler of Canada. He's a member of Parliament. who represents his riding. And he is the head of the government, but he has limited power as such, except in the case of emergencies.

[29:47] So this is your opportunity to breathe a sigh of relief. You do not have to do whatever the Prime Minister says. Technically speaking, the ruler of our land is King Charles.

[29:59] We are a constitutional monarchy. Pretty soon, it will be his face that you'll see on all the coins in Canada. But as most of us know, the role of the Governor General on behalf of the King or Queen in Canada is largely symbolic today.

[30:18] And so who or what holds authority over the citizens of our nation? Any guesses?

[30:36] In Canada, we are a people ruled by law. The law is that highest authority in our land. And the government of the day only has authority over us to the extent that the law says.

[30:51] Now, the members of Parliament who are representatives, they do have the power to make laws and to change laws if they hold a majority of the seats in the House of Commons and if the bill makes it through the Senate.

[31:05] We're not just a constitutional monarchy, we're also a parliamentary democracy. So at the end of the day, it's not the Prime Minister that we must submit to.

[31:16] He's not a dictator or ruler. He has limited power and is himself under the law. How does this apply? We're not being called to submit to person, a person, so much as to a body of laws that have been established by people in our nation over the years.

[31:41] What is it that the police officers enforce? Is it the Constitution? The Charter of Rights and Freedoms? It's the law. That's what the police officers enforce.

[31:53] That's what they're supposed to enforce. What is it that the judges go by to give their verdict or to sentence a criminal? It's the law.

[32:05] The law of the land is the thing of authority which we are under here in Canada and since it is we're to submit to the law and obey the law of our nation.

[32:16] And here's where the excuse that I just mentioned before unravels a bit. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, I mean, it does not have that same authoritative position in our country that the law does.

[32:30] The Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a guiding document. It's a thing that was agreed on in Canadian history for the making of laws. It sets out an agreement on what are the core values and freedoms we believe that all should have in Canada.

[32:47] However, the Charter itself is not the law. It's more of a value statement. Even in the Charter itself, rights and freedoms are guaranteed, but even the Charter recognizes that rights and freedoms cannot be absolute in a democracy.

[33:05] And there are instances where governments must put laws in place that limit people's freedoms in order to protect the lives and security and freedoms of others. So the Charter is just a guiding document.

[33:19] If the government of the day brings in a new law that in our judgment goes against the Charter and infringes upon our freedoms, that's not an excuse for us to just break that law because the Charter is not the law.

[33:32] The law is the law. And we must obey the law because it's the authoritative thing in our land. The police enforce the law, not the Charter.

[33:45] The judges render verdicts based on the law. And yes, they can consult the Charter and they do and sometimes they overturn the law. They change the law. But in our system, that's the role of the judges to do that, not our role.

[33:58] And so it doesn't hold that we are honoring Christ's command when we break the law because we deem it unconstitutional. It's not our place in our system of government to judge whether laws are unconstitutional or not.

[34:12] That's the role of judges. Now I know that all of this may sound a little abstract, to think of submitting to the law. He says, remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient.

[34:27] But we should remember that the law does empower certain people to do certain things like law enforcement officers or tax collection agents, judges, ministers.

[34:43] So in some cases, obeying the law does mean obeying the person who wields the authority of the law. It's not entirely impersonal and abstract, but on the whole, we need to know that here in Canada, the supreme authority is the law.

[35:01] We also need to know that there are three levels of law, three levels of government in Canada. There's the federal law, the laws of the nation, there are the provincial laws, the stuff that we have to abide by here in Saskatchewan, and then there are the municipal laws, the things in the town or in the city where you live here in Davidson.

[35:23] The bylaws. And all of these are included by this command to be subject to rulers and authorities, whether it's speed limits, town bylaws, building codes, parking laws.

[35:39] There's only one exception in the Bible. One situation in which we may disobey rulers and authorities, or in our case, break the law.

[35:49] And that's when the law of our land says that we should do something that is clearly prohibited by God in His word. Or, the converse, when the law prohibits us from doing something that God has clearly commanded us to do in His word.

[36:07] That's the only exception in the Bible. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they disobeyed King Nebuchadnezzar when he commanded them to worship his idol.

[36:19] Why? Because God had clearly said, you shall have no other gods before me and you shall not bow down to a graven image. That's the first of the Ten Commandments. And God vindicated them and saved them in that moment.

[36:33] Daniel defied King Darius when Darius decreed that no one should pray to anyone other than him. Why? Because God has commanded us to pray to him.

[36:46] And so Daniel defied him and God saved him from the mouth of the lions and vindicated him. The apostles were commanded by the religious leaders of the Jews not to speak anymore in the name of Jesus in the book of Acts chapter 4.

[37:06] But Jesus had commanded them speak in my name go make disciples of me all through the nations preach the gospel. And so they had to say to the religious leaders which is right in God's eyes to listen to you or to him.

[37:25] You be the judges. As for us we can't help speaking about what we have seen and heard. So there is a time for civil disobedience. There is a time to break the law but it is only in the case where there is a direct conflict between being obedient to what God has clearly commanded and what human authority has commanded.

[37:48] And thankfully in our day these situations are relatively rare and occasional. That might change in the near future here but I want to encourage us to stick to the word of God.

[38:01] Sometimes another excuse we make we say well I just feel like the Lord would have me do this. I don't need to do this. I don't need to obey the law. Don't go by your feelings Christian.

[38:16] I've known lots of good mature Bible believing Christians over the years who said the Lord told me only to find out later that actually they were just kind of hearing their own fears their own thoughts their own anxieties or reasons.

[38:31] If you're a Christian and you're going to break the law it better be obvious in the Bible that the law goes against what the Lord has commanded. Otherwise heed the warning from Romans chapter 13 verse 3 rulers hold no terror for those who do right but for those who do wrong.

[38:54] There's a better way with the Lord's help we just need to simply listen to this straightforward instruction that he's given us. Be a law abiding Christian in our land.

[39:09] Do what's right by the Lord and by the law of the land. And I'm just going to I'm going to end with two examples different examples. If the government passes a law here in Saskatchewan that all highway speed limits shall from now on be reduced to 90 kilometers an hour is that a stupid law?

[39:31] Maybe. Is it fair? Maybe not. Does it infringe on your personal freedoms? Yes. Does it matter if the government who passes this law is corrupt?

[39:46] No. Do you have to like the law or agree with it? No. Is there a place in the Bible where God has commanded us to drive faster than 90 kilometers an hour on a highway?

[39:56] No. What if your wife's about to give birth in the car? Doesn't matter. Do you trust the Lord? Then you must obey the law.

[40:11] Jesus says yes I want my people to submit to rulers and authorities which in our context means to be law abiding citizens. Here's another example the other way. On February 26 the government of Canada introduced the Online Harms Act.

[40:25] And the main purpose of this act is to make online content providers responsible to moderate content that's served on their platforms. Now before you throw the baby out with the bathwater consider that one of the things that this act will do is force online content providers to keep child pornography off of their platforms even if it's just the users who would upload it.

[40:49] That's a good thing. However there's also in all of this an attempt being made to criminalize hatred. This bill would amend the Canadian Human Rights Act to define a new discriminatory practice of communicating hate speech online.

[41:07] With a reporting mechanism and everything you see something that you think is hate you can report that online. The problem is with how this new hate offense is defined.

[41:19] As part of the proposed amendments hate speech would be defined based on Supreme Court of Canada decisions. The bill defines hate speech as the content of a communication that expresses detestation of an individual or group of individuals on the basis of prohibited grounds of discrimination.

[41:40] The grounds of discrimination are race, national or ethnic origin, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression.

[41:55] And some of you may see where the problem is here. By this definition God himself could be accused of hate speech because of what he has said in the Bible about deviant sexual behavior.

[42:08] If this becomes law in Canada it would be illegal for me to preach a sermon on Leviticus 18.22 where God says that homosexual conduct is detestable. And then to post that sermon online as I do all my other sermons.

[42:24] And so what should I do in that situation? When I come to that passage in Leviticus should I skip over it? Should I be silent about it?

[42:36] Should I just not upload it to the internet just to stay under the radar? Has God given a clear command that we should preach his word?

[42:49] Second Timothy 4.2 says preach the word. Proclaim what God has said to his people. So this is a case where man's law prohibits what God himself has clearly commanded.

[43:02] Thankfully they haven't made that determination that the Bible contains hate speech yet. But if this were to happen I must obey God and I must disobey human government.

[43:14] These situations are not always easy. But may the Lord find us faithful. May he give us what we need. Let's ask for that now. Let's pray together. Lord Jesus there are two really challenging things that we come to from these words.

[43:32] First there is how you want us to submit to the government and obey the government as the ordinary course of everyday life. And that's hard. So we pray and ask for your help to be willing to do it, to be honest about it, and to carry it out.

[43:53] Second there may come time where we do need to disobey the government to obey you. And that will be hard as well. And so we pray and ask that you would give us courage and wisdom and a resolute conviction that we are going to follow you no matter what.

[44:13] Help us with these things in the days ahead. Show us the areas in our lives where we have been failing and give us power and joy to submit ourselves to you for the glory of your son Jesus.

[44:27] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Man shouldéfice like you learn the people drop in your record and we share them a document and and we get out.

[44:51] Everybody