Learning About Godly Authority

Aloha, everybody! Happy Sabbath to you as well. Hope our brethren over in Hawaii are doing well. Remember, Kilauea is still erupting, so keep them in your prayers. They are a good bit away from the big action over there, but still, things can happen.

Last week, we were up in Sholo, had a very nice visit with a brother up there, and saw, in fact, services up there as well. And it is good to get some idea of what it's like. I don't know if I can move this away. I feel like I'm about ready to get a tonsillectomy here.

But it was good to visit with everybody and to see how things come across as far as the webcasts. Interestingly, Mr. Becker was talking about having to keep face down when he was recovering. I remember when I was in the hospital and I, of course, had a heart procedure done.

The doctor said, now you must ride in the back seat. So they wheeled me out from the hospital and I sat dutifully in the back seat. They told me, you need to be back there for about two weeks. So, everywhere we went, my wife drove me around and I was in the back seat. I felt like driving Miss Daisy in reverse.

Then we went in and talked to the doctor. I said, doctor, when can I ride in the front seat? He said, you mean you're still riding in the back seat? He said, nobody follows those instructions. I said, well, you know, I happen to follow that. Anyway, it was kind of funny that going through that, and my wife never let me forget it, you know, that she was the boss of the car. She was the big driver. But anyway, it's good to have Larry back and Kenneth back and Cecil back as well. I hope the back is better for you, Cecil, but very good to have you. We do pray for those that have more challenges ahead of them. We pray certainly for the nettles, and hope that again Robert gets on his feet totally and repairs quickly. Well, brother, nearly 240 years ago, in fact, very shortly, we'll come up on the 242nd year, there was a small fledgling group of 13 colonies who declared independence from England. It was on July 4th in 1776. And Thomas Jefferson wrote this in a document we all know familiar with. It's called the Declaration of Independence. And this is what the Declaration says. When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth this separate and equal status or station in which the laws of nature and the natures of God, entitle them a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to separation. And then he wrote, we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to ensure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the government. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish you, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers to such form as to them shall seem most likely to affect their safety and happiness. Those words are beautiful, aren't they, when you read those words about the founding of America? When we read those words, though, some people actually think that this document says that we're all equal. How many of us have that kind of thinking about the Declaration of Independence? The Constitution or the Declaration of Independence ensures that we're all equal.

But that simply, rather, is not so. That, in fact, is not what the document says. And I'll mention a little bit about that in a few minutes. But I heard one man say one time, some are more equal than others. You probably have heard that, too. For instance, when you get pulled over by a police officer and he gives you a ticket, try to slap a ticket on him. It's not going to work, is it? You know, some do have more authority than we do. So all men are not equal. Some have more ability than we do. I will never be able to play basketball the way that some of these professional basketball players play.

And as the years go on, in fact, the difference is even greater. But we don't have the abilities that everybody has. And you and I are not the same straight across the board. You know, what it does say in the Declaration of Independence is that we're created equal. You know, when we are born, in essence, we are equal.

We start out, you might say, on first base. But as life goes on, it doesn't turn out that way, does it? Yes, we all don't have equal opportunities even, you know, in that regard. So, you know, the Declaration of Independence does not say we're all equal. We're created that way. But others have more authority than we do. You know, in the Declaration of Independence, made by our founding fathers, most, again, have the mistaken impression that everyone is. But, you know, we, again, are created equal. And, you know, it does say that certain rights, among them, are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, are the same for everyone, and that governments are instituted for the purpose of securing those rights.

And so that's how, you know, the United States was founded. Now, I'm going through this, brethren, by way of introduction, because, you know, typically, Americans have a problem with authority. Have you ever noticed that? About Americans? It seems like we have a problem with authority. In fact, it was founded on that very thing, where we were uncomfortable with the authority that England had over the United States.

And sometimes, brethren, let's be honest, sometimes even in the Church, we have a problem with authority. We have a problem relating to authority in the proper way. And we need to know, do we not, brethren, how to deal with authority? We need to know how we should, as Christians, relate to authority. You know, throughout our lives, whether we want to or not, we have to, you know, deal with authority. So it is a matter of authority in our lives. Authority is woven into, in fact, the fabric of civilization.

I mean, it can't be extracted, as a matter of fact. It's a part of it. It's a part of everything. When you go to school, it's that way. Or you go to work, it's that way. There are things that govern what are done in every sense of the word. So, brethren, learning about authority and how to deal with it is a Christian duty. You know, and I'm going to go through and talk about this because I think it's very important for us.

You know, sometimes, again, we have problems, don't we, again, with authority. We need to learn how to deal with authority. We must learn what godly authority is and how to use it. How should we use authority? You know, we're given that opportunity. How should we use it? Because the Bible tells us that we are going to be one day kings and priests sitting on thrones of judgment in the future.

I know that's really hard for us to swallow, that one day we're going to be actually the man. We're going to be the establishment. We're going to be the ones that are going to have to make judgments. Now, are we going to be an Ahab or are we going to be a Solomon in terms of those judgments that we make?

So as future kings and priests, brethren, we need to know about authority from a biblical perspective. It's an integral part of our lives, as a matter of fact. I know we don't think of it that way when we think about authority, but it is. It's woven into our lives. It's a part of the society that we live in.

And sometimes we exercise authority on a daily basis that we don't know that we're exercising authority, but we are. We are showing, again, the use of authority. If you ever go in and talk to your boss, he's using authority, and you have to learn to relate to his authority.

Parents have authority, and they have to exercise authority in the right way, and there is a right way and a wrong way to exercise authority. How about even somebody who is, say, an officer in a company, the president of a company. He has to exercise authority.

And also, brethren, we need to learn to submit to authority. All of us here have to do that on a regular basis. Citizens, we have to submit to. It's like I mentioned about the doctor giving advice of two weeks sitting in the back seat. We either submit to it or we rebel against it.

Probably it would not have affected my situation health-wise, but what if I rebelled against it, and it did? You see, it could have cost. And sometimes when we go against authority, it costs us and it impacts us. We need to learn how to relate, brethren, to authority as employees and as children as well to their parents.

Kids need to learn how to relate to their parents' authority, that you might live long upon the earth, as one of the commandments says. God wants to give you a long life, and He wants you to live by certain rules and laws that have been learned over a long period of time that can put you in good stead with being around longer than if you apply them.

But frankly, sometimes, brethren, we lack wisdom when it comes to authority, both how we look at authority and sometimes how we exercise authority. People who have authority, who unwisely use it, and people under that authority don't react sometimes in a virtuous manner, in the right way. How do you relate to somebody that's a bad leader? Somebody that exercises authority in a wrong way? It's very prevalent in our society. So in this message, brethren, let's notice what the Bible says about authority. It's all through the Bible. It is hard to miss, actually, but it's amazing. Like a lot of things, people miss these things that are hard to miss. In the world today, I think more than ever, whether you're talking about the United States or any country in the world, probably, it seems that we have more regulations that are being churned out every single day of what should or should not be done.

Up in High Sierra, I was talking to Gary Langley up there, and we got a discussion about governments and what they require. And you know that up in High Sierra, over in California, they now require a test on the well water that is up there in the mountains. It's mountain water.

And they have to pay a fee for this test, of course. I don't know what it is. He didn't say how much it was. Probably $100 or so dollars for somebody to come up there and to test the water. Of course, they've been drinking the water for probably, what, 100 years up there. But now they've got to have a test on that.

I know over in the Mountain Home area in California, they have a fee you must pay for fire protection. It's like $100 or something like that that you have to pay every year. That's in case fire comes, and they use those funds, presumably, to fight the fire.

Also, there's a fee for septic tanks. Again, people have had septic tanks for 100-plus years or more. A lot of people have had outhouses as well. But now that is regulated. There's a fee for somebody to come and see if your septic tank's okay.

Really, what it boils down to is the government gets rich from the fees that are enacted to do this. There are things happening all the time with regard to companies. I'm just talking about homes, but you've got regulation upon regulation upon regulation. It's like the EPA has all kinds of regulations, and these regulations cost money to test. That, of course, adds to the cost that is put on a company to pay.

For instance, there was an example. There was a Department of Water Resources representative who stopped by a Texas ranch. He wanted to talk to an old rancher. He told the rancher, I need to inspect your ranch for your water allocation. The old rancher said, okay, but don't go in that field over there. Stay out of that field. The water representative said, Mr., I have the authority of the federal government with me.

He said, you see this card right here? He said, this card means that I'm allowed to go wherever I wish on any agricultural land. No questions asked or answered. Have I made myself clear? Do you understand? And the old rancher nods politely and goes about his chores. And later, the old rancher hears loud screams.

And he sees the water representative running for his life. And close behind is the rancher's bull. And the bull is gaining with every step for the old rep. And the representative is clearly terrified. So the old rancher immediately throws down his tools, runs to the fence, and yells up at the top of his lungs, Your card! Show him your card! I'm afraid the card won't help with the bull. Don't go in that pasture right over there. Of course, I'm being facetious, but this probably is not too atypical in the world.

People wielding their power. People, though, are typically resistant to government and authority. But, brethren, is that godly? Is it godly? Let's go to Romans 13. Maybe you've been thinking about this verse since I began talking about this. But let's read these passages going down to verse 7. It says, Let every soul, and that applies to everyone here, be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God. God allows governments and authorities. And he says that exists. They are pointed by God.

In verse 2, Therefore, whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God. In other words, what God intended, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise, it says, from the same. For he is God's minister to you for good. But if you do evil, then be afraid. If you're going to go contrary to what the rule is, be afraid.

For he does not bear the sword in vain, for he is God's minister. Do you see what he says here? God's ministers. An avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore, you must be subject not only because of wrath, but also because of conscience. Because now God has entered the picture. We want to obey God before we, in fact, obey man. For because of this, you also pay taxes. For they are God's ministers attending continually to this very thing, sometimes more than we like.

But he says, render therefore to all their due taxes, to whom taxes are due, customs, to whom customs, and fear, to whom fear, honor, to whom honor. So what should a Christian do? Well, exactly what Paul is saying here. That we obey what governmental authorities tell us. Obviously, though, if they are asking you to go contrary to what God commands you to do, you should not do that. None of us can do that. That's a given. Remember, again, when the apostles were at odds with the religious leaders, how did they conduct themselves? The answer they gave was basically whether it's right to obey God or man, you decide.

But we're going to obey God. We're going to do what God tells us to do. Because the leaders at that time commanded them not to preach in the name of Jesus Christ. And they simply could not do that. Same would be true today. If somebody wanted to compel you to break the Sabbath, or compel you to break God's Holy Days, or whatever it might be, you simply couldn't do it.

And you'd have to suffer the consequences in the same way the apostles did. They were willingly subjected themselves to being punished and took it willingly. And that's the example that we have of what, in fact, we should do. If we have to go contrary to what the world wants us to do, what the government wants us to do, we also have to face the consequences of what it might be. Someday it might be we'll be thrown in prison. But remember, again, God is going to be with us no matter what. Paul says it isn't godly, though, to resist the powers that exist.

You know, God Himself allows authority for the overall good of human beings. I'm really thankful in America, the United States, that we have the kind of government we have. I'm appreciative of the fact that I have freedom. My family has freedom. As far as I know, I don't think anybody is putting speakers or bugs in my house and listening to everything I'm doing. I think we have relatively good freedom in this country. And as long as we keep our noses clean, it will probably remain that way for us.

The time may come in the future, though, where religion is going to be a big part of the persecution that's going to happen, it'll be hard for us to hide ourselves from that. But, brethren, it's important, the first message was talking about what's holding you back. I've observed in the church that sometimes when people have a problem with authority, that's what holds them back. Because they don't listen to what the authority within the church, even, is saying to them, trying to teach, trying to convey.

You know, God has put, in fact, the ministry for the purpose of the education of the church. And how can you grow if you resist that? You simply can't. Because you're not going to listen to what a pastor says or an elder instructs. So we must accept as truth, brethren, accept as truth that God's authority should be listened to, certainly.

And, generally speaking, the authorities of this world should be submitted to, again, unless they go contrary to God's way. You know, Cyrus—let's go over to Isaiah chapter 45. Cyrus was not one who was a godly man, although I've done a little bit of it, and it could very well be possible that Cyrus's mother was Jewish. But, you know, I haven't been able to prove that 100 percent. But it might have caused him to have a little different view about things. But I wanted to notice this over in Isaiah 45, and we'll just look at just a few verses here.

But, you know, God uses Cyrus, King Cyrus, who was a powerful, Gentile king. He uses it to change the course for the Jewish captives of Babylon. They were taken into captivity in 604 to 585 B.C. But Cyrus comes along, and he makes a decree that they could go back after 70 years to rebuild the Jerusalem, which had been demolished as a result of the invasions that had taken place.

But let's notice here in Isaiah 45, it says, Thus says the Eternal to his anointed. Now think about this here. Cyrus is a Gentile king. But God says you're anointed. You know, how did a king become a king in ancient Israel? He got anointed. There were times, of course, when Elijah would go and God said, I want you to go by there and I want you to anoint this Gentile king.

Well, Cyrus was anointed of God. He had a special calling, a very important one for the Jewish people. And it says to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held. So here God says, I'm working with you, Cyrus. And now this is way before Cyrus was even born that God named him. To subdue nations before you, to loose the armor of kings, and open before him the double doors, so that the gates will not be shut.

I will go before you. Here he's talking about the conquering of Babylon in 539 BC. This was well in advance of, in fact, the invasion that ended up with the conquering of Babylon. Remember when Belis Shassar saw the hand right on the wall, and God void him under the balances, and he was found wanting. And that very night when he saw that vision, Babylon fell.

But it was this prophecy here that related to that. How Cyrus and his armies were able to get into Babylon, and they were able to do so because there were gates that were mysteriously left open, so that he was able to go in and conquer Babylon. It's an interesting story if you've never studied into it. But it says, and make the crooked places straight. I will break in pieces the gates of bronze and cut the bars of iron. I give you the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that I, the Eternal, who call you by your name, am the God of Israel. This Gentile king.

You're going to know I am the God of Israel. How'd you like to be Cyrus? Read your name in the book here. But it was recorded again by Isaiah. On down here, let's notice just one other verse down in verse 13. It says, I have raised him up in righteousness. I will direct all his ways, and he shall build my city, talking about Jerusalem, and let my exiles go free, not for price, nor rewards, says the Eternal of Hosts.

You know, there was no ransom that was to be paid whatsoever. In fact, he would help them go back to Jerusalem. They would be able to return to that area. So here we see, very clearly here, if people resisted Cyrus, who were they resisting?

They were resisting God. God had put him there for a certain purpose, and that purpose was to get Israel or the Jews back again to Jerusalem. You know, it's so interesting to me, brother. The Bible says so much about governing. It says so much about kings. You ever notice that about the Bible? It talks about how long kings ruled. It talks about what they did if they were wicked, what they did if they were righteous.

It says a lot about that, and there's a purpose for it. You know, the Bible says a lot about authority, in fact. What is leadership's ultimate goal? What's authority's ultimate goal? How should someone in authority rule? You know, rulers today, unfortunately, particularly as we see in a lot of democratic nations, they're not motivated by this book usually here.

They're politically motivated. And what motivates them? What do the people want? In fact, it was in our very Declaration of Independence. You know, you govern the governments for the people and by the people. In other words, the motivation is to satisfy the people. The Bible says when the righteous rule, then the people are happy. The people are joyful. You know, the people, again, appreciate somebody who's a righteous ruler. But rulers today, brethren, don't have really on their mind righteousness. You know, maybe they do have certain character, and I don't mean to apply.

They don't. But they don't think in terms of the way we think about righteousness. They just do what is popular with people and maybe their constituents. And what happens as a result of that is the nations, like the United States, were drifting further away from God. Every generation gets worse and worse. Again, the Bible says an awful lot about kings, particularly the kings of Israel. But why? Why does he say so much about them? Well, number one, there are two reasons that God says it in the Bible.

Number one is the king was to rule in a way that his own people should live. That's what God intended. And of course, the way he should live should be righteous. It is amazing the impact that a leader can have on other people. Mr. Reagan, Ronald Reagan, was called a great communicator. And he had the ability to make people feel good by his words. He was quite a remarkable man in that way.

And he had a certain leadership equality about himself. There are other leaders who were presidents, maybe, that were that way. Others, again, you probably could think about, that have impacted the country in a positive way, some impacted in a negative way. Sometimes you could have a leader that causes everybody to begin in fights. They can divide the country right down the middle. Mr. Armstrong, by the way, when he was traveling internationally to world leaders, as you may remember, he would visit certain leaders and he would sit down with them. And it was important for him to do that. And I think of all the leaders that he sat down with and talked about, the way of give and the way of get, probably the one that stands out in my mind is probably he thought more of King Boonapal of Thailand than he probably thought of any leader in the world.

Now, you may not know this, but actually the king of Thailand thinks that his throne is established through King David's throne. It's kind of interesting. But Mr. Armstrong thought King Boonapal was a good king over the nation of Thailand. And he and his wife, Queen Siriket, he felt they were set an example for the people in Thailand. And apparently, he had a great impact. There was concern in Thailand because, as you know, King Boonapal died, whether in fact, the would be a son could hold Thailand even together.

And maybe that's even still a question. But a king should rule in the way that, in fact, he expects the people who are his subjects to live. You see how this ties into being a king and a priest. What God wants us to learn from that. A second reason that the Bible says so much about kings and leaders in that way is we must learn to live right if we are going to rule righteously. We're not going to be living on a separate track somehow, but we're going to have to learn to live righteously and get our act together, so to speak, if we're going to rule righteously in the kingdom. And God will not, brethren, give us authority in the kingdom of God unless we do.

Unless we build those characteristics that we need, and certainly as the first message talked about, God forgives us. He expects us to move forward. He wants us to learn from our mistakes and get better day by day. And sometimes it doesn't feel that way, but if you look at yourself, you probably have changed a good deal since you were called.

And as long as you keep moving forward, you're going to make progress. It might be minuscule at times, but you will make progress, and you'll reach the goal that God has for you. So God expects those in authority to make righteous judgments. When somebody is in authority, they make righteous judgments. Let's go over to Proverbs. The Proverbs are very rich in giving us information about what it's like to rule as a king. Have you ever noticed when God called you that God has given you a little time to change? I remember when God called me back in the 60s. I thought everything would be wrapped up in the 70s. I could wait for that.

That wouldn't be a problem. But no, I think a lot of you are in the same boat. You've had to be around for over 40 years, right? But have you ever noticed that a lot of the righteous kings in the Old Testament, a lot of the righteous kings were around for 40 or more years?

God didn't make it easy for them. God wants us to learn a lot of the same lessons He expected kings to learn. So we're in the same boat. Someday we're going to...we're kings already. But we're going to take office, and we're being trained for that. You're in a classroom for future kings and priests to the kingdom. So you made the cut, if I can put it that way, and you're here. And God wants us all to learn what we need to learn if we're going to be kings in the world tomorrow. But over here in Proverbs 16, let's notice here, in Proverbs 16 to verse 10, it says, Now it says here, divination.

Divination carries the implication of witchcraft. We certainly don't want to have witchcraft on the lips of a king. If you read in the King James Version, I just read the New King James Version, it says, A divine sentence is in the lips of the king. And his mouth transgresses not in judgment. In other words, he is applying the laws of God. He's doing those things where he's applying the law of God, and he wants to arrive at a divine sentence.

In other words, a godly sentence. Now, interestingly, God required the kings of Israel to read the Torah through every single year. I had to go through the Torah. And interestingly, King David was probably, he set the best example as a king. History says that the rabbis, you know, they would get up early in the morning to study the Torah. They would pore over the Torah. But they would get up early in the morning to do it, I mean, before the sun rose. And according to history and tradition of the Jews, David was always up before they were.

He was studying the Torah. He was setting the example as the king of Israel. Let's go to chapter 25 here, chapter 25, in verse 2. It says, it is the glory of God to conceal a matter. But the glory of kings is to search out a matter.

Interesting statement there, isn't it? We know God knows everything, but He doesn't tell us everything. He conceals it. There are certain things He does not tell us. But the glory of God is that a king must search it out. He has to search it out. In other words, He doesn't make capricious decisions. He makes decisions that are well considered.

And brethren, with us, we need to again be like it says here. The king must search it out, and the king had to use wisdom to make a right judgment about something. Royal decisions, brethren, carry great implications for people. So a person who is a king, someone who is high responsibility like that, has to weigh carefully the decisions that he's making. Are you making a right judgment? In other words, you can't make a snap decision. Snap decisions like that can cost you. Can you think of any example in the Bible where it costs a king a great deal because he made a snap decision? How about Rebo? What happened with Rebo?

Did he have the elders of Israel come to him because the taxation had gotten too high under Solomon? And Rebo was counseled by the older, look, you better listen to what these people are saying because they like a little bit of backing off here on the taxation. And what did Rebo made a snap decision? He said, you think my dad was tough? I'm going to be tougher than he was.

Of course, he made some hyperbolic statement about what he was going to do far beyond what his dad did. And what happened? Well, all of Israel left, and all Rebo had left. After that happened, was Judah and I think Benjamin, those two tribes. He lost ten tribes of Israel. That became what Samaria, where the capital was up there, and of course Jerobo took over.

So a king must be very careful about the decisions that he makes because, you know, it's going to cost him. Sometimes you have to make decisions, though, by the way, that cost you anyway. You may lose people, but nonetheless, you've got to at least think it through to make sure it's a right thing to do, a righteous judgment in what should be done. Most of all, keep in mind the people that you are making the decision for.

No, God wants you to consider that, and of course what God, first and foremost, wants us to do as well. How about the administration of justice, I should say? Let's go to Proverbs chapter 20 over here. Again, much of it is said here in Proverbs, but in Proverbs 20, down to verse 8, here it says, A king who sits on the throne of judgment scatters all evil with his eyes.

You know, it is interesting how you can have one leader in an office, and he attracts evil men. He attracts people that are going to try to steal or to be deceptive. But then you could have a leader that sits on judgment that evil runs from them, because they know he's got his eye on them. He knows what that leader is going to do. You ever been that way, rather than dealing with people where they may be dealt with you in a certain way, and they don't come to you because they know what you think already?

See, it repels people that maybe would do something that would be wrong, and you wouldn't go along with it. It tends to repel them, and the Scripture is very, very true. You know, in the British Constitution, there's a part of it that deals with a court for the king. And it was called the king's bench. And so when court proceedings were taking place, the king had a position where he could examine everything that was going on.

And his eyes, as it were, were upon everything that was going on. And if he was a righteous type king, you know, in that courtroom, there would not be any corrupt judges. Why? Well, the king is there. The king is going to make sure that doesn't happen. There's not going to be any corrupt lawyers. The king is there, and he watches, and by his eyes he scatters evil.

And again, that was intended to be a part of the British Constitution, or what was done in England. I'm sure it was not done as it was intended. But let's go to Proverbs 20 down to verses 26 and 28 here. It says, By loving kindness, he upholds his throne. So a good leader is loving, and he's kind to people.

But don't mistake his loving kindness for somebody who's going to have the wool pulled over his eyes. Because if the person mistakes that, they could maybe have, as it says here, that the king has a threshing wheel that he can put over them.

What was the threshing wheel about in ancient Israel? You know what the threshing floor was about? You put the grain, and the threshing wheel would actually shift the grain from the chaff. And so the implication here is because the king is there, he sees these things, he separates the good from the bad, the good from the evil. And so they're separated.

And a good king is someone who is able to administer justice so that the evil pay. This is the way it should occur in society. The evil should pay, and those who are righteous should be able to have peace. They should have peace if they live again in a righteous manner. Of course, we don't see that all the time, do we, in the society that we live in?

Let's go to this in chapter 29, chapter 29 here. Chapter 29 and verse 4 over here, listen to this, this. It says, You see, you live in a world where bribery is a part of it. The country goes down, down, down. You have countries now where you have leaders that are multi-billionaires. I'll give you an example. Zimbabwe. I talked to, in fact, Mr.

Pringle, who is over in Zambia. He and his wife had to move out of Zimbabwe because they started taking the land from people, and his next-door neighbor got killed. So he figured that was handwriting the wall. He better get out of there. Mugabe took over over there, and they recently threw him out because he is just a very evil man. But he basically raped the people of all of the wealth. And I don't know what Mugabe's worth.

He's probably worth over a billion dollars. Fido Castro did it down in Cuba. These men have enriched themselves, and the people go down, and they're not taken care of. But this is what the Bible says. If you allow bribery to take place, then what happens? It destroys a nation. Now, interestingly, I know a lot of us have studied history, where things have changed in terms of history, and a big watershed year was 1215 AD.

What happened in 1215 AD? Remember England? In that time, England was ruled by rulers who basically operated by favors from their subjects. So if you wanted justice prior to 1215, all you had to do was buy it. Sadly, in our world today, it's somewhat like that, because lawyers can cost you so much that you can almost buy it if you can hire the best lawyer in the world today.

But the Magna Carta, which was in fact came out in 1215 AD in England, attempted to bring justice in England. In fact, some of the ancient histories of England say that if a man was obliged to almost ruin himself economically, with all the favors and the gifts he had to give to the kings and the queens and their favorite people, to get a case decided in his favor. But when the Magna Carta was established in 1215, basically the government at the time said you cannot buy justice. And that, of course, was something that changed government a great deal beginning at that time, going forward.

That's not that somebody's not always trying to do that, but it is certainly a magnanimous idea for its time. Let's go to chapter 29 on down to verse 14 and 15 here, or verse 16 as well. The king who judges the poor with truth, it says, his throne will be established forever. That's what we want to do, right? For the kingdom of God. Because our throne, as we rule with Jesus Christ, is going to be forever.

The rod and rebuke give wisdom, but a child left himself bring shame to his mother. So there is a need for administration, punishment, if need be. We could apply that in a child as well as governments. But it says, when the wicked are multiplied, transgression increases. So you have to deal with problems. It's like I know Mr. Armstrong many, many times talked about sometimes. In the church we have problems, and sometimes you have to deal with it. Oftentimes all you do is cut the head of the snake off, and the problem goes away. But God wants us to learn, brethren, as good kings, that we have to utilize, brethren, the truth.

And we do need to, again, treat people in a just manner. One of the things that a king must always keep in mind is he must be merciful and kind, especially to those who cannot defend themselves. In this world that we live in today, in fact, a lot of times people get railroaded over. Big business can do that. People can get run over, basically. And they do not receive justice. Well, God expects us, if we're going to be leaders, that we have to defend the defenseless. You have to watch after those that cannot help themselves and have that willingness to do that as God's people.

One of the most important things as a leader we need to learn is to judge not according to outward appearance. But even Jesus said, brethren, judge righteous judgment. Don't judge by the appearance of somebody. Again, this has to do with how we defend those who are defenseless. There are some people that are not able to even sell their case before a judge as well as another. A judge needs to be aware of that. He has to keep that in mind. And we, as judges in the future, are going to have to keep that in mind as well. Things will not change in terms of... There will be some that will maybe have more ability than others in the world tomorrow. But for those beings, we're going to have to be sensitive to that. Jesus again said in another place, He said, judge not and you be not judged. So we're told not to judge. You know, if we don't stand in judgment of someone, obviously, to condemn... That's what that word, judge, means there. Then we won't be judged. He says, for what judgment you judge, you will be judged. And with a measure you use, it will be meted or measured back to you. So we've got to keep that in mind as judges. The very same yards that we use will be used on us. So again, we need to rule in truth, the coveted truth, exercise authority in truth, and always be merciful. When you consider somebody else, consider your own flaws. Consider what you've gone through in your life and be humble to see that, you know, you're not all that different than another person. And like the Golden Rule, do to others as you would have them do to you. Exercise mercy as a leader in administering justice. Now again, it's not to say that we should be blind to sin. It's not to say we should be blind to offenses. If they're there, you'd have to deal with them in a but inappropriate way, in an appropriate manner. Now, another point I think that is important for us especially, brethren, here today, in this time that we're in, as we look toward the future, is how should someone under authority be? That's all of us, right? How should we be? Well, a couple of points here. God calls upon all to honor the powers that exist. Let's go over here to Proverbs 24, verse 21. Proverbs 24, verse 21, he says, My son, fear the eternal and the king, and do not associate with those given to change.

For their calamity will rise suddenly, and who knows the ruin those two can bring? So we as God's people need to have a respect for those who are in authority. As we read even in Romans 13, we should fear the king, and we should certainly fear God, first and foremost, and stay away from people that are rebellious. Don't follow a crowd to do evil, the Bible says. Some people, brethren, will never submit to authority, even if it's right, even if it's correct, they won't submit to it.

And, you know, rebellious people tend to change their values. It's all over the map. They're given to change. We should not, again, be a part of those or of that mentality.

Number 2 is in Proverbs 16 over here. Proverbs 16. Let's notice this. Proverbs 16, verse 13.

It says here, You know, you know how to talk, in the words, somebody in authority.

How much better to get wisdom, it says, than gold. And to get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver.

And it says, So God wants us to, at the outset of these verses, He wants us to do those things that will gain the favor of the king and not the king's wrath.

And we're talking about principle here, brethren. Obviously, we don't have kings in the world today.

But we do have leaders. We have those who are in authority.

And it is to our advantage to try to gain the favor of someone.

You know, you can take a very rebellious approach to someone and affect the outcome of it very negatively.

I know I've had experiences where that has been demonstrated to me.

That if you take a very humble approach, and in some cases, you know, where maybe there's wrong that has been done to admit that wrong, it could change the whole demeanor of the person who is in authority to make a decision in favor of you.

Now, think about this. If one gains the favor of the king, and again, we're talking about principle here, brethren, it may open a good door for you that you don't know about.

And that door might be for God's purpose.

However, again, if you angrily deal with authority, it can be a one-way ticket to trouble for you.

Why should anyone cut off their nose in spite of their face?

You see, it's wisdom to talk to somebody in authority with respect, to respect them, to honor them, and to use wisdom in how you talk to them.

God once again learned these things, very valuable things.

And I mention Mr. Herbert Armstrong because he visited kings. He visited emperors.

I think Haile Selassie was one of the emperors that Mr. Armstrong visited.

Of course, many not heard of him, in fact, of Haile Selassie, but very instrumental and very powerful man of Ethiopia.

But Mr. Armstrong often talked to these men who were at the very top of the country, and allowed freedom in the country that he would not have had, if he had not had a a cordial meeting with the leaders of those countries.

So again, that is an approach we need to learn for those who are under authority.

You know, God wants us to have certain qualities, brethren. If we are under authority, we should be wise in our conduct.

There's Proverbs. You can go through them and see this.

Wise in our conduct, not to have shameful conduct.

We need to keep our hands clean, in other words, so that what we are doesn't speak so loudly.

They can't hear what we're saying.

Another place talks about purity of heart and graceful lips.

No one wants to be with someone who is always negative.

We want to be positive in the way we talk to people and encouraging.

Another proverb says that we must exercise self-control of our passions and appetites.

And I, of course, paraphrasing that particular verse in Proverbs 23 verses 1 through 3.

Another proverb talks about humility, that humility will protect us and it will protect our reputation.

Now, it may be good to always look before you leap at anything.

Make sure you have the right attitude. And the attitude of dealing with authority when we're under authority is to have humility.

In another proverb talks about patience and gentleness, that these should be qualities of the people of God.

And you know, you could make probably a sermon out of those proverbs alone.

But, brother, if we have these qualities, we will gain the favor of the authorities of our time that we're living in, whether secular authorities or within the church.

We'll gain the favor, most of all, of God.

The God will look upon us as people who are learning how to be future kings in the kingdom. You know, we not only, brother, have to learn how to rule, but we need to learn how to be ruled and have a right attitude in terms of rulership over us.

Brother, in this life, we mostly, most of us, of course, all of us, in fact, are mostly under authority.

But that's okay, because we can learn a lot, we really can, about what God wants in the kingdom of God.

When we look at what goes on in Satan's world, and the way that Satan administers authority, we learn a lot about what God wants in the kingdom and what he doesn't want.

He doesn't want a remake of planet earth, right? He doesn't want what Satan is down here.

But he wants it to be a matter of us being righteous rulers for the kingdom of God.

Think about it, brethren. We're in training right now.

John, over in Revelation 20, looked forward to the time when Jesus Christ returned, and he said, I saw thrones, and they were sitting on the thrones. That's you. That's us, brethren.

Sitting on thrones, and we're making judgments. So, brethren, that time is coming. Let's learn, though, before that time comes, learn to exercise righteous judgment and authority so we can rule with Jesus Christ in the kingdom of God.