 All right, good morning. Welcome, glad you're here, hey brother. This morning we are embarking on a new study as you are well aware, the last few Sundays we were looking at some ecclesiology subjects and in particular the documents of the church. And so over the last three Sundays we've considered the covenant of the church, the constitution and the confession. And so this morning then, we get the joy of starting on a new study still related to ecclesiology, hey brother. And we're going to be coordinating ecclesiology, this ecclesiology study on Sunday morning with what we are doing on Sunday night in the essentials. And so hopefully coordinating those two things will help you sort of better retain all that we're talking about and doing as a church. And pray that I'll be a blessing to you. So this morning we're embarking on a study that we're calling a theology of public life, a theology of public life. There should be outlines available if you wanna get one of those. I gave you this morning a basic outline of the course and I plan to introduce the subject, introduce this course of study to you this morning. We'll get started on that in earnest next Sunday. And if you're looking at your outline, there's two parts associated with it. And those points there that are listed under those two parts will be multiple Sundays long. So this study we anticipate may take us through the end of the year. And so we'll explain more as we go with respect to that. So a theology of public life. Put the subtitle under that lessons for Lot in the city of Sodom. And I think that'll become more clear as we work through the study together. But that's sort of the position that we are in today in our world. We are essentially Lot. If you're a Christian, then you are, as the Bible describes Lot, righteous Lot. And you are living in the city of Sodom, so to speak, that as it did Lot, vexed his righteous soul, vexed his hours as well. And so a theology of public life then is going to deal with that particular subject. And I thought that I would begin our introduction this morning from 2nd Peter chapter three. So turn there with me, 2nd Peter chapter three. And let's look at this text together. I think 2nd Peter chapter three well describes the age in which we live. And then we're going to present to you this morning why we are taking time to develop or cultivate a theology of public life. 2nd Peter chapter three, look there beginning in verse one. Where Peter says, beloved, I now write to you this second epistle in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior, knowing this first that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts and saying, where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. For this they willfully forget that by the word of God the heavens were of old, the earth standing out of the water and in the water by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water, but the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years is one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some count slackness, but is long suffering toward us not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. In other words, what we see going on now is an example, should be a testimony of God's patience, his forbearance, not willing that any of his should perish but that all of his should come to repentance. We're in a time period right now, the way that the apostles described it as being the age to come, this age, the age to come. We're in this evil perverse generation, this age. And during this age in which we find ourselves, the Lord is gathering together his elect from the four corners of the earth and the Lord is patient, not willing that any of them should perish but that all of them should come to repentance. Verse 10, but the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise and the elements will melt with a fervent heat. Both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, here's the question we're answering, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness? During this time in which we live, during this period of increasing wickedness, what manner of persons ought we to be in our holy conduct and godliness? Looking for verse 12, and hastening the coming of the day of God because of which the heavens will be dissolved being on fire, the elements will melt with a fervent heat. Nevertheless, we, according to his promise, look for a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. So, this is the age in which we live, right? Knowing these things, knowing the age in which we live, what manner of persons ought we to be? How should we then live is the way that Francis Schaefer put that question in a book that he wrote. And we're gonna talk about that book as we work through this course of study together. In answer to the question, answer to that question, the reformers would begin to refer to a unifying concept that describes the life of the genuine Christian in this age. The entirety of the Christian life, the reformers would summarize, should be lived quorum deo, quorum deo. Now, if you were in service last Sunday night, we mentioned quorum deo briefly. But that quorum deo, that word, Latin phrase, meaning before God or in the presence of God or before the face of God, the reformers would begin to formulate this summary of the Christian life, quorum deo, as the way that we are to live in this present evil age. Psalm 5613 is where that phrase comes from. David says, for you have delivered my soul from death, have you not kept my feet from falling that I may walk quorum deo before God in the light of the living? Quorum deo came from the Vulgate. It was a Latin translation of that particular verse. And the reformers began to think of the Christian life as in its total in every aspect from one moment to the next moment to the next moment as quorum deo. There was in the church at that time this sort of increasing sacred secular split. You had a clergy class that was in a class by itself, so to speak. You had what went on in the church. The church was beginning to take over matters pertaining to the state. And then you had the rest of the public, so to speak, living their daily lives would come into the church for that which is sacred, go back out into the world for that which was secular. And there was this increasing secular sacred split. That's not so in the Bible. We don't see that dichotomy in every sense in which they thought of it. That all of life, work, school, home, family, including church, vocation, all of it was to be lived before the face of God. When you rise up in the morning, when you lie down at night to go to sleep, even during the night, all of your life lived before the face of God or in the presence of God. In other words, the one who lives by faith is to live all of life under the watchful gaze of Almighty God, under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, the one whom we love and the one to whom we must give an account. So, and just as his gaze or his Lordship extends to every facet of life, we are to live every facet of life, including every successive moment under his authority and for his glory, Corum Deo, okay? For the reformers, Corum Deo became a unifying biblical concept for a theology of public life. They began to develop, cultivate a theology of public life. Job says this, Job 34, verse 21, his eyes are on the ways of man and he sees all his steps. There is no darkness nor shadow of death where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves. Jeremiah, chapter 32, verse 17. Ah, Lord God, behold, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for you. You show loving kindness to thousands, repay the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them. The great, the mighty God, whose name is the Lord of hosts. You are great in counsel and mighty in work for your eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men to give everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings. We are to live before the watchful gaze of an omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent God, Corum Deo. JC Ryle says this, there's no place in heaven or earth where he is not, no place in air or land or sea, no place above ground or underground, no place in town or country, no place in Europe, Asia, Africa or America where God is not always present. And we know that he's always present in the fullest of his deity at all times and all places. Now, so enter into your closet and lock the door. Ryle says, God is there. Climb to the top of the highest mountain where not even an insect moves, God is there. Sail to the most remote island in the Pacific Ocean where the foot of man never trod, God is there. He is always near us, seeing, hearing, observing, knowing every action and deed and word and whisper and look and thought and motive and every secret of every one of us wherever we are. So we are to live all of life, Corum Deo before the face of God. That express is not so much an aspiration as it does a reality, right? It's a reality that all of life is lived before the face of God. So over the centuries though, that concept twisted and misapplied would lead many into an error called monasticism, right? Monasticism, and we're to live all of life, Corum Deo before the face of God. Well, we need to sequester ourselves away from the world so that we can be holy, right? And monasticism developed. The widespread rise of monasteries, orders of monks and nuns, this movement, the movement of monasticism began largely in the fourth century. Constantine the Great, who was the head of the Roman Empire, issued his Edict of Milan in 313 AD. The Edict of Milan was not necessarily making Christianity the state religion as it was decriminalizing Christianity, making, giving Christianity state protections. And that would largely end what was before widespread persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire. Christians were being severely persecuted, and this would essentially end that persecution. But as the institutional church enjoyed less persecution from without, less attacks and assaults from without, many began to notice an increasing secularism or an increasing corruption infecting the church from within, right? Where Satan couldn't destroy the church from without, Satan began attacking the church from within. And so some decided that in order to live quorum deo, the entirety of our lives before the face of God would require a radical separation even from the institutional church. And that's where monasticism began to rise. What you see in church history then, during the medieval period and after are monks and nuns in caves, in deserts, hiding out on mountain tops. There's this story of Simon the Stylite who lived 37 years on a small platform on top of a pillar. And they had to get his food up to him and take down from him the effects of eating all that food. And he lived his entire life on the top of this pillar, 37 years he spent up there. There's stories of monks and nuns essentially cementing themselves into the walls of cathedrals that were being built, leaving a small space for food to be passed back and forth. This was an ascetic, an asceticism, an ascetic lifestyle. It was something they did that they thought would make them holy. Asceticism is denying or abusing the body for spiritual gain, believing that it will earn merit or earn favor with God. Attempting a physical separation from the world they separated themselves. They hold themselves up in caves, rocks, deserts, even the walls of cathedrals. All as a means they thought to achieve a righteousness that pleases God. And we know that that's not possible, that by no work of the law will men be justified in God's sight, but that through faith alone and Jesus Christ alone is what justifies us. They had a twisted or a misapplied notion of this concept of living a Christian life, Corum Deo. The reformers understood that to live Corum Deo did not mean radical separation. Christians are not to be of the world or to love the things of the world, but Christians are in this world, we're to live in this world. The Lord's Prayer, think about this with me, from John chapter 17, John chapter 17 verse 14. The Lord prays, I have given them your word and the world has hated them because they are not of the world just as I am not of the world. You notice that Jesus Christ didn't separate himself from interacting with sinners, right? He was constantly excoriated by the Jews for eating with tax collectors and sinners. So Jesus prays, verse 15, I do not pray that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil one, we're to live in this world, but not be of this world. They are not of this world, just as I am not of this world, sanctify them or set them apart as holy, sanctify them by your truth, your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, what does the Lord say? I also sent them into the world and for their sakes, I sanctify myself, they also may be sanctified by the truth. The Lord says in 1 Corinthians chapter five, think about this text with me. 1 Corinthians chapter five, verse nine. Paul says, I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. And Paul's referring to a former letter that he wrote them, telling them that they weren't to keep company with sexually immoral people. Yet Paul explains, I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world. Since then, with coveters or extortioners or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world, right, what is Paul saying? Can't separate from sinners. If you attempt to separate from sinners, you're gonna have to go out of the world. You're gonna have to monkify yourself in deserts and caves, put yourself on a 40 foot pole and live there for the rest of your life because you're not gonna get away from living in this world any other way. Paul's not telling us to do that, right? But Paul says now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother who is sexually immoral or covetous or an idolater or a reviler or a drunkard or an extortioner, not even to eat with such a person. So that's a text referring to church discipline, not a text teaching us to sequester ourselves away from the rest of the world. We also have the Great Commission, don't we? The Great Commission, Mark chapter 16 verse 15, we are to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. We're not to avoid the world. The Lord Jesus Christ constantly rebuked by the Jews from England with tax collectors and sinners. Okay, so for the reformers then and for the Christian, for you and I today, this means a theology of engagement, not a theology of avoidance. We're not to avoid the world. We are to labor in this world with the gospel. Corum Deo is to live for the glory of God in every aspect of life as we engage this world, this lost world with the gospel. Paul says we are ambassadors for Christ. It's interesting, you know, being an ambassador for Jesus Christ presupposes that you're a citizen of another country, right? You're not a citizen of this world. You are in this world, not of this world. It presupposes that our citizenship is elsewhere. We are ambassadors for Christ as though God were pleading through us. We are imploring men on Christ's behalf to be reconciled to God, right? So what began to flow from this way of thinking was a theology of public life that we first began really to see worked out by the reformers. And that has far-reaching effects on life. It involves every aspect of public life as we'll see working through this study together. So the collective teaching of the Bible then with respect to living as pilgrims and sojourners here in the world, not of the world, living Corum Deo, all of life, live before the face of God before the watchful gaze of God under the authority of God for the glory of God. This teaching of the Bible constitutes what we would call a theology of public life, a theology of public life. Is the Lordship of Jesus Christ a public matter or a private matter? We know the answer to that question, don't we? It's a public matter. The Lordship of Jesus Christ extends to all whether they submit themselves to it or not, whether they believe it or not, whether they know it or not. The Lordship of Jesus Christ is not a private matter. The Lordship of Jesus Christ is a very public matter. Is this the four walls of this building? Is this a monastery? No. Or is this a forward operating base? It is a forward operating base, an outpost of heaven. This is not a monastery. So how am I to walk in this world in a way that is worthy of the calling with which I've been called in every aspect of life? That is a theology of public life. It's the question we're gonna be answering. What is our role as Christians in society in this wicked and perverse generation? Do I have a responsibility as a Christian? Do I have a responsibility to this culture? Do I have a responsibility to my government? Do I have a responsibility to lost people? We know that to be clearly true from the Bible. How are we to conduct ourselves in the public marketplace? How are we to conduct ourselves in the public sphere on the job, at the market, with the government, in politics? Does God's word have anything to say to our nation? And who are the prophetic voices that carry God's word to our nation? Do we have a responsibility to our nation to do that very thing on behalf of the Lord? What is the relationship between the family and the church? What is the relationship between the church and the state? And what is the relationship between the state and the individual Christian? And individual Christian liberties in our theology of public life. Why would we preach at the abortion mills? Why would we consider starting a school? Why would we plant churches in other areas that are not here? Why is there a team in Daha-Bone as we speak? How are we to live in this world? Answers to these questions constitute a theology of public life. And a theology of public life seeks to answer all of those kinds of questions, okay? The difficulty, the difficulty of or associated with a sound biblical theology of public life is that all who desire to live godly in this way in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. Right, we'll suffer persecution. Second Timothy chapter three, verse 12. Conflict and hostility ensues. And conflict and hostility does not ensue when you make a monkry of your faith. When you monasticize your faith. That's not when persecution, with hostility, and conflict ensues. Conflict and hostility ensues when you confront a world, a lost world that has embraced the polar opposite of what you're preaching, right? That's when conflict ensues. That's when people get hostile. We are to preach quorum deo. All of life is lived before the face of God under the authority of God and to the glory of God. At the same time, while this world is laboring, tooth and nail to suppress that truth and unrighteousness. We're gonna talk about that this morning in the service. This world is laboring, laboring. They have built up strong defenses. They have packed in concrete around the rebar, around the steel that they've reinforced a hard heart with. And so when you come in and you begin to chip away at that with the word of God, that's when hostility. That's when conflict ensues. If we wanna monkify our Christianity, so to speak, and hold ourselves into the four walls of this building, then we won't suffer any persecution, right? Who's gonna persecute us here, but the occasional stranger that walks in accidentally thinking this was a pharmacy? Or something, you know, it's like, what did I get myself into, right? No, we're not, we face persecution, we face conflict on hostility when we're engaging with the world, all right? There's a song that's quoted with respect to this on a regular basis, right? The world has an entirely opposite, polar opposite worldview, an entirely opposite perspective. And there's a song that's quoted on a regular basis that well illustrates that opposite worldview. And I imagine that's because it is just an absolute brazen rejection of God. Listen to the words. Imagine there's no heaven. It's easy if you try. No hell below us, above us only sky. Imagine all the people living for today. Imagine there's no countries. It isn't hard to do. Nothing to, I'm on the Beatles lately, I watched a documentary on the Beatles the other day. That's the song of my mind. Imagine there's no countries, it isn't hard to do. Nothing to kill or die for and no religion to. Imagine all the people living life in peace. Now he's saying that is a good thing, right? That the people, as a result of this empty, bankrupt philosophy, people are gonna be living in peace. Oh, imagine how good it is where all the people are gonna be living for today, right? You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us and the world will be as one. Now isn't that little piece of satanic deception interesting? And it's interesting, what a complete load of worldly garbage, right? Just garbage. But you think about that, we just read John chapter 17. And if you know the Lord's high priestly prayer in John chapter 17, the Lord is praying that we may be one as I am one in you and you are one in me, that they may become one in us, that we may be one together, right? Talking about our unity with the Lord Jesus Christ and being in unity with the Lord Jesus Christ, how we are one with the triune God as a result of faith in him, having been justified by God, forgiven of all our sin, right? That's the unity that God has intended for his people. One with himself, communion with God. So what then does Satan do? Satan counterfeits that, right? Satan introduces a sham, a counterfeit unity and he bases it upon this bankrupt, worldly absurd ideology that we see expressed in this song. All the people living for today, all the people living life and peace where the world will be as one. The Bible teaches that the only way we can be in one as one is through faith in Jesus Christ. The world believes that the only way in which we can live as one is if we get rid of him, right? So we are, if you think with me now about that, that song was written in the 70s, came out in the 70s, big hit, we are closer today to that imagined so-called utopia than ever before. Since that time, we've only come closer and closer to that stupid dream. Far from the utopia that John Lennon and all humanists like John Lennon imagine, their wicked ideology has unveiled what is a devilish nightmare. Has it not? That ideology, we can see before our own eyes that ideology, that worldly philosophy is a descent into hell, into chaos, into anarchy, into godlessness, into hell. We see people today living as if there's no God, don't we? And increasingly so, the farther we go, the more that we see people living as if there's no God. We see people living as if there's no heaven above or no hell beneath, as if there's no religion. The fast, by far, the fastest growing religious choice on applications today are the nuns. And that's not N-U-N-S, that's N-O-N-E-S. What is your religious preference? None. What is your religious affiliation? None, right? We've never been more irreligious in this country in our history ever. This world has never been more godless than it is today. So we are closer to this so-called utopia than we've ever been before. And are things getting better or worse? Obviously, right? We see people living for today. That's the way people are living today, right? And what has been the result of that godless, bankrupt, immoral, amoral ideology? What the result has been is greed, envy, covetousness, unchecked, unbounded sexual immorality, perversion, hate, division, discord, strife. Not only living for today, but living entirely for yourself, right? Entirely for yourself. And with it, increasing persecution, right? That's the world we're living in. That's where that theology gets you, right? And trust me, it's a theology, right? That's where that theology, that wicked ideology, that's where it gets you. It gets you, we can see the progression. We're in the middle of that progression and it's only getting worse. And the more that that, you know, what the humanist dreams of as a utopian world, they should be able to see for themselves too, right? That it's leading to abject wickedness. That's part of the sermon this morning in Romans chapter one, that they spend their time rejecting or suppressing that truth in their unrighteousness. Question. They wrote that in the 70s. Here we are, 2021. That thing's been on 40 years. They've been propagating that to our kids. I still plays on the radio today. That it's, like you said, it's so pathetic what's really going on. Since they took Bible out of school in 1961, this country has been going straight down the toilet and it's obvious to everyone who knows God can see it. Yeah, we'll see, we'll be getting next week where we're gonna talk about or call it the rise of the new religion, right? Humanism. Shouldn't we also, as Christians, strive to get our younger generation to move into politics to help to change this country around? Yeah, we're gonna talk about that. That's gonna be part of this course. That's a good question, very good question. Excellent question we're gonna get there. Yeah, and we'll talk about humanism next week and what some of today are calling the new religion. It's not really a new religion. It's a very old religion, but it's been more codified in the last 150 years or so and we'll notice how, we'll talk about how that has developed and how that has risen over the last century and get into that some. Okay. We've enjoyed a long time in this country to this point where we've had a limited persecution. We've enjoyed some peace where we've been able to preach the gospel, light, limited persecution, momentary light afflictions here and there, but much like the growing error or the growing corruption that took place within the professing church in Rome after the Edict of Milan, the modern day professing church now has grown fat and lazy and full of worldliness. I'm not talking about a church like this. I'm talking about a vast majority of what we would see as American evangelicalism. The problem with American Christianity is that it's American and not Christian. I know that's the issue. It's American, not Christian and the modern day professing church has just exemplified that sadly and so churches are very, I think very ill-prepared for what's coming and those lines that you see it even now in certain conflicts that take place within the church. Most recently, conflicts over social justice. Before that, conflicts related to homosexuality. They're still taking place. Most recently, conflicts related to whether you're gonna wear a mask in church or not, right, those kinds of things. So these conflicts have drawn the lines, I think more clearly with respect to the church and the modern day American evangelical church is ill-prepared for what's coming and I want us, we want our church to be well-prepared for what's coming. We need to cultivate, develop a sound biblical theology of public life. There will be a full frontal assault. It's already begun. It's already happening. There'll be a full frontal assault attempting to drive Christianity into deserts and caves and monasteries and convents and on top of poles within the four walls of the cathedral, so to speak. Many professing Christians will become and already are professing Christians. They will become modern day practicing monastics, unwilling to bring Christianity into the public square and face that conflict or hostility. Christianity will be fine to many as long as it stays within the four walls of this building or within the four walls of your home. But as soon as you bring it outside the four walls of your home or outside the four walls of this building, you're gonna face the wrath of a hostile, wicked and perverse culture and we need to be prepared to do that. We cannot monasticize our faith. We cannot sequester ourselves in our homes with our Christianity or in the four walls of this church with our Christianity, God is king over all. And God rules in the kingdoms of men and he gives it to whomever he wills. And under the lordship of Jesus Christ, we're to take the gospel to the world. We're not to hold up in this building, okay? With the modern church, it's a fear of man. It's unbelief, it's worldly compromise that has driven them indoors and we need to protect ourselves against those errors. Cannot live a Christian life like that. We cannot be a church that functions like that. We must inevitably face an increasing, more objectively defined persecution and we must prepare ourselves to take a stand even now. We do that by formulating a good sound biblical theology of public life. We need to have a clear, well-defined theology. We've talked about this before with how the Bible is laid out, how God reveals himself to us in his word. He does that through indicatives and imperatives, indicatives, statements or assertions of fact, what we believe, the imperatives, how we live in light of what we believe, what we are to do, the commands that he gives us. It's the same thing with the theology of public life. We'll formulate indicatives, all the whys that are related to a theology of public life and then we'll talk about how we are to live in accord with what we say we believe. Our objective with this series will be to simply begin with two aspects connected with the theology of public life and those two aspects very current today with respect to the Lord's church, but we're only gonna talk about two in the beginning. We'll expand on that I think as time goes by. But two to start, if you've got your outline, part one, we're going to consider the relationship of the church to the state and then in part two, we're going to unpack this world's bankrupt notion of social justice. Two really current hot topics fresh off the burner, fresh out of the oven for the church that we're gonna talk about over the next several multiple weeks together. Relationship of church to state and then this issue of social justice. Part one, we're entitling a Leviathan rising where we'll consider the relationship between the church and the state. Where that name came from, Leviathan rising, there was a 17th century political philosopher and he was a humanist, his name was Thomas Hobbes and Thomas Hobbes described the state as having ultimate power and the state having ultimate authority and that ultimate authority, that ultimate power reached into every aspect of your life. He called it favorably Leviathan, right? Had its tentacles in every aspect should have, would have its tentacles in every aspect of your life. So how you live, how you raise your children, how you educate your children, how you interact with your spouse, how you work, don't work on the job. Everything came under the control and the power of the state. It was from Thomas Hobbes bankrupt ideology that a divine right of kings was developed. We'll talk about what that is. And the state began to encroach on personal liberties. The state began to overflow the boundaries of its God-given authority and reaching into places where it ought not and it's called a Leviathan. So we, and there's also a book by Glenn Sunshine that I recommend to you called A Slaying Leviathan. That's really good, dealing with this issue of government. We're calling this Leviathan rising. Leviathan is rising. It is stretching out its tentacles into every aspect of your life. How is the Christian to respond? What are we to do about that? How are we to think about it? Romans chapter 13 verse one commands Christians to subject themselves to the governing authorities. Governments are appointed by God to bear the sword against evil doers. And so what then are Christians to do when the government becomes the evil doer? Are there biblical limits to governmental authority? Or are Christians simply to obey everything the government says whenever the government says it? How are we to understand that? And how are we to live under a government that itself has become the evil doer? In part one, Leviathan rising, will carefully consider the role of governments as instituted by God. We'll look at the extent of their authority. We're going to examine biblical texts, multiple texts in the New Testament that speak to our relationship to government, relationship to the state and the limits of state authority. And we're going to develop in the course of that, what's called a biblical theology of Christian resistance. Now, when is it right for a Christian to resist the command of the state? How is that resistance to be lived out? What does that look like? Do we have biblical authority for it, biblical justification for it? And how is that to be done? Part two, and we'll give you some more information on this in just a minute. Part two, we're entitling social injustice. Little play on words there. And we're going to take a biblical look at the ascendancy of what we are calling the new religion, what we're currently in. You notice that social justice is pursued with religious fervor in our day. There is a bankrupt morality that is represented by social justice. And we're going to talk about what that is and why that is so catchy in our day. Look at social injustice. And no other time in our history has secular humanism as a religious force achieved such an organized and cohesive identity as it has in our country at this particular time. It is a religion. It was a time when, if you remember, you had the humanistic manifesto one, humanistic manifesto two and three that came out. And there was this push on the part of humanists in competing, if you will, with Christianity. There was this push on the part of humanists to declare themselves a religion. And so they pursued that for a period of time before they realized that was not going to fit their, or suit their purpose as well. They pursued it as a religion with religious fervor that they wanted all the benefits of a religion, tax exempt status and support for humanism and the same kind of support that the government, quote unquote, gives to protected religious classes, including Christianity. They began to think to themselves though, if we do that, we can't get into the schools any longer. If we're counted as a religion, there needs to be a separation of church and state. And so they lose their influence in the schools, which right now humanism is the only religion that has any inroads into public schools. We're gonna talk about how the state has also encroached on education. So they quickly abandoned their efforts to have that qualified as a religion, but humanism is a religion. We'll talk about why. Secular humanism has weaponized the state. The state is it's a governmental or authoritarian arm. And we'll talk about next week how that is, why that is. Secular humanism has an organized morality. It is not the morality of the Bible. Obviously it is a satanic and deceptive counterfeit. We'll look at that as compared with biblical morality. Secular humanism has an organized mission. We'll talk about that. Secular humanism dominates politics, education, healthcare, government, media. Secular humanism dominates and has weaponized all of those spheres. Secular humanism with all that authority and with all that power is encroaching in dramatic ways upon the church. And Christians need to be prepared to take a stand against that. And it's encroached in significant ways upon the family. And so we'll look at what the Bible has to say about our responsibilities in the church and in the family and how we are to stand against that. Ms. Gina. Respect to the doctrine of lesser magistrates. Yeah, we're actually gonna talk about lesser magistrates in detail. A matter of fact, hold that question for just a second. We're gonna briefly go through the outline and I'll show you where that's gonna fit in and why and we'll explain a little bit about what the doctrine of lesser magistrates is, so. In both parts of this study, what we're gonna endeavor to do is to apply biblical truth to our circumstances, right? And how we are to live. Schaefer asked that question. How then should we live? How then should we live? We want to look at that from the Bible. Lessons for a lot in the city of Sodom. It does no good for us to sort of put our face over, our hands over our face or put our head in the sand and sort of pretend we've got it really good in here. Like really, really good. It is really sweet. This is an oasis. It's an outpost of heaven, right? And, but we can't, we can't monasticize our faith. We need to leave from here with the truth and go to our world with the gospel and preach the gospel to this lost world. And that includes engaging the culture, engaging the government, engaging our world, okay? And we need to inform our consciousness so that with Luther, we can say here I stand, I can do no other, right? When the persecution comes, here I stand, I can do no other, so help me God. Okay, let me give you a brief outline of the, or an expanded outline, if you will. If you look at your handout, you see the course outline on the front page there. I'll expand on each of those topics for us briefly here so you know exactly what this is gonna entail over the next multiple weeks and months. And I wanna be able to answer questions. So if you've got questions, let me know. First, under part one, Leviathan Rising, the authoritarianism of the new religion. Humanism has commandeered government, has seized control of the state, so to speak, and has weaponized the state for its own ends and purposes. And we'll talk about what that looks like and why. We'll talk about under the rise of the new religion, point A there, humanism and its precepts, historical development of humanism. What is being viewed as a recent American revolution against Christianity and for humanism. How it's displayed in our day, the weapons of its tyranny. That's what it is, is tyranny, government and politics, school, media, economics. And we'll look at the new code, its new code of morality, which is social justice, virtue, signaling, cancel, culture, critical race theory. We'll look at all of that. Secondly, the tentacles of tyranny. Christians have lost sight of the biblical weights and measures by which we are to evaluate the limits of government. In years past, centuries past, this was something the church was very adept at. They understood these things. Why? Because they lived in a time period where they were suffering persecution from the state on a regular basis. Maybe you're like me, you're used to hearing someone say, you know, Romans chapter 13, we're to obey the governing authorities. And we obey Romans 13, we're to obey the Lord, amen. But they'll say, and that text was written under Nero, one of the most heinous Roman emperors of all time. And by saying that, what is meant is that, and Christians are to obey Nero no matter what, that's what's implied, but they forget, they forget that Christians by the thousands were being killed for Christian resistance to Nero and the Roman Empire. Why was it that Christians were being thrown to the lions in the Coliseum or impaled and burned as tar-pitched candles on Nero's roads? Why was that the case? It's because Christians had a developed theology of Christian resistance to tyranny. And there's a reason for that. We're gonna talk about why that reason is. And some people come to that with sort of presuppositions about Romans 13, point C there on your notes, writing wrongs from Romans. We're gonna break down Romans 13. Probably take a couple of weeks to do that and take very careful, a very careful look at exactly what Romans 13 is saying and asserting and how we apply that to the Christian life. And I think we'll be able to come to a common conclusions about that. They're gonna be very, very helpful. Sphere sovereignty, D on your notes. What is sovereignty? What is absolute sovereignty? Who has absolute sovereignty? One alone has absolute sovereignty. There are then spheres of delegated authority from our absolute sovereign. And those include family, godly offspring, the raising, health, the welfare, the education, the discipleship of our children. Sphere of delegated authority is given to the church. And a sphere of delegated authority is given to the civil government. But there is a proper function of state sovereignty. We're gonna talk about that. That's to be under the authority of God. Kings are not a law to themselves. Samuel Rutherford wrote a book that we're gonna talk about Lex Rex and really, really helpful and how the king is not a law unto himself, but the king himself is under the law. And we'll talk about how that impacts us as well. E, historical development of church-state relationships. We're gonna see how this theology is developed over time from Augustine and the city of God to through the divine right of kings, Luther and Luther's two kingdoms theology, and then to English particular Baptist where our heritage comes from and liberty of conscience. We'll talk about where inalienable rights come from and why that's mentioned in our Declaration of Independence. We'll talk about John Locke, our form of government here. We'll talk about the American Revolution a little bit. I think it's gonna be really helpful, the historical development of church-state relations. Next, we'll talk about Lex Rex, the law and the king. We already mentioned that. G, Vindicae contra tyrannous, defense against tyrants. That's another book that written exceedingly helpful book regarding Christian resistance. We're gonna talk about that. And then we'll look at the biblical basis for Christian resistance and we'll examine all of the biblical texts or the pertinent, the material biblical texts that have to do with the Christian resistance. And then we'll look at lastly in this section, part one, practical lessons for lot. I remember reading here not recently, one speaking of the restrictions that they instituted on the church in California. One pastor wrote, I'd rather sing and die than live and not sing. I like that, right? I think that's a good, healthy attitude for a Christian to have. I'd rather sing and die than live and not sing. Doctrine of Christian resistance, a doctrine of Christian engagement, recovering the nature and function of the kingdom of God on this planet, how that works fits together with the kingdoms of men here. And then practical issues. The genus question a minute ago, we'll deal with the doctrine of the lesser magistrate. Luther, we'll talk about this more as we go. Luther originally sort of against a theology of Christian resistance, but himself in hiding from the government under the protection of Frederick in Germany. And then talking to his peers came to the conclusion that his theology was wrong and that Christians are to resist tyranny. And why, you know, he developed a theology. And so Luther, other reformers at the time, developed a doctrine from the Bible called the Doctrine of the Lesser Magistrate. And there are problems with that doctrine in the sense that, and you can see it in the way that Luther, other reformers, applied their theology to civil life at that time. There's a problem with that theology in the sense that it necessitates or involves governmental involvement in enforcing the inalienable rights given to us by God where we can't exactly count on government to help us enforce that. And so from the Doctrine of Lesser Magistrates and Luther's theology of public life arose others after him that developed this more clearly, I think, from the Bible and chiefly among those is Abraham Kuiper, the Dutch theologian who wrote an article on Sphere Sovereignty, we'll talk about. But I think the Doctrine of Christian Resistance or a doctrine of civil engagement on the part of the Christian has been developed beyond Luther and has developed beyond his Doctrine of Lesser Magistrates. There is some reason to include lesser government. So in other words, what this sort of deals with is if the federal government is doing evil, then you appeal to the state government to help take a stand against federal evil. If the state government is involved in state evil, then you take a stand with your local government against state evil and federal evil, right? You see how this sort of trickles down. It's a doctrine of lesser magistrates. But we're gonna talk about a better way maybe to look at that and I think it'll be helpful to you when we get there. Okay, that answer your question, Ms. Gina? Somewhat, okay, we'll talk more or if you have questions we can talk after. In a part two then, we'll wrap this up. Part two, a social injustice. We'll talk about then theology or the bankrupt morality of the new religion. The morality of the new religion, which is universal equality, universal autonomy. And that is, we'll talk about why that is. But the morality of secular humanism is universal autonomy, the autonomy of man that expresses itself in universal equality, which we see all over the place nowadays as social justice. And this is so pertinent to us because social justice is just invaded the professing church. It is staggering to me, like amazing to me, how many otherwise godly men or otherwise like respectable churches have been given over to this bankrupt ideology and how quickly, like it is just like a blitzkrieg through the professing church today. We're gonna talk about that and look at that biblically. The magisterium of the new religion, which the magisterium of the new religion is the state. And we'll talk about that. The sacraments of the new religion, race, abortion, homosexuality, social justice. The mission of the new religion is social justice, right? This universal equality. And that is what they go into all the world to preach to every creature, universal equality. And then practical lessons for lot in the city of Sodom will end that. Old wisdom applied to the new religion. Okay, what questions do you have? Briefly, we've got some time for a couple. Sorry to ramble on like that the entire hour, but I did wanna give you a good introduction of what we're gonna be doing over the next few months together. Any questions, thoughts? Yes, sir. When you were mentioning before about the persecution that comes, I know I've heard in England right now, if you speak out and somebody says that offends me, you know, you could be arrested or actually fined for that. And a lot of street preachers have had to deal with that. Yeah. Yeah, we had a pastor that visited our church. I don't know if you guys met him. Steve, I'm trying to remember his last name now, visited our church from a church up north. And many of you have heard the name Tony Miano. Tony Miano attends his church up there. Well, he was down here on vacation visiting, visited our church. And Tony Miano's been arrested multiple times. And if I remember the account correctly, he's been arrested in the United States. He's been arrested in Canada, been arrested in the UK. And he was standing on a corner preaching in the UK and reading the Bible and reading from 1 Corinthians chapter six, someone said, you know, can you read that again? And it's the text that specifically mentions homosexuality. He reads the text and is arrested. So that's happening more frequently. And there are loud voices calling for that here and terming it hate speech, that not all speech is protected speech. And so if, you know, we're not to be naive in things that can't take place here, it's happening increasingly. I mean, you just saw in the last month or so James Coates being arrested in Canada for taking a stand against government encroachment. So these things are coming. It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when. So what other questions? Last question or two if you have one? Okay, I really pray this study is gonna be helpful. I think you'll, as we get into some of these subjects, you'll realize how helpful we really break down Romans 13. We talk about sphere sovereignty. I think these things are gonna be really helpful. And then as we talk about what we're going to do, Francis Schaefer in his book, a Christian manifesto, Christian manifesto written really in response to humanism manifesto. Schaefer talks about a bottom line and how in terms of Christian resistance, we're to flee persecution, where we can't flee, we defend against or resist persecution and where there is no fleeing, where there is no defense, there's the use of force to defend, right? And Schaefer talks about a bottom line for Christians and thinking through a theology of public life, sort of situational awareness. I was talking to Justin not long ago about situational awareness, as a police officer, you think about the situation that you can put yourself in. And if I find myself in that situation, what will I do? Situational awareness, we as Christians need to have some situational awareness. If I find myself in these kinds of circumstances, what is it that I'm going to do? And how should we then live? Let's pray and get you out of here. We'll talk, if you have questions, please feel free to see me after service today and we can talk more about it. Father in heaven, thank you Lord for the clear instruction that your word gives. Just so grateful Lord, and I wonder at it again at how thorough, how clear, how far reaching, comprehensive your word is, how it applies to life and every area, every aspect of our lives, very grateful for that. Help us Lord to think through this clearly, biblically, faithfully, and may we develop a theology of public life that is honoring to you, faithful to your word. And Lord, may we have the strength supplied by your spirit to live according to what your word says. And may we be faithful to you at this time. The torch has been passed to us and we will soon pass it along to those that come after us. But during this time in which we hold the torch Lord, I pray we'd be faithful with it. We love you, we thank you. Be with us now as we worship you during the morning service. And may the saints be edified, may Christ be magnified, in Jesus' name, amen.