A Bible, a guide to survival That's brought me to this place I still believe the Christian Old-time convictions Are the answer for this modern day Old saints are still praying Old sinners who are straying Are receiving God's saving grace Thank you for listening to another Everlasting Truth broadcast, where we give you everlasting truth in an ever-changing world. With Caleb Osteen, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Live Oak, Florida. And now, Brother Caleb. Alright folks, thank you so much for joining us here yet again at the Everlasting Truth broadcast, where we give you everlasting truth in an ever-changing world. I really am grateful that you take your time, and I know I say this just about every broadcast, but I am grateful that you would take time to be here. Our goal is to help you with the Word of God, and we can't do that if you're not here. And not only are we comforted by the fact that you may be helped through the hearing of God's Word today, but we're also grateful for the fact that since you're here, that's evidence that you must be getting help or you wouldn't keep coming back. So for those reasons, we're grateful that you're here and that you're listening to the broadcast today, and I'm grateful that it's God's message, it's God's words. I don't have to come up with some clever thing of my own today. I don't have to come up with something to tickle your ears and make you feel good. I've been given a simple task of proclaiming what God has already said. He is the manufacturer of the material that'll be given today. He is the one who has put all this together, and so it's just our job simply to find out what God has said already in His Word, and just believe it and proclaim it. So that's what we're here to do today. I appreciate the fact that the Lord does all the work. He just simply asks us to be co-laborers with the Lord. The Bible says that he that planneth is nothing, he that watereth is nothing, but God that giveth the increase, and so He's the one that receives the glory. Anyways, we've got an important subject today, important subject, and we're still in Romans chapter 13, so you can go ahead and get ahead of me and go to Romans chapter number 13. That's where we'll be building this from, but an important place in Romans 13. We're still in verse number one. We're in our third broadcast here, and yet we have still got stuff to cover out of verse number one. As a matter of fact, we've got a couple more broadcasts left in that. I would imagine at least one more. But anyways, we come to a very important truth in your Bible today, and what you find when you come to truths such as the one that we're going to look at today is that oftentimes people in the church and well-meaning men will try to interpret a passage and they'll do one of two things that gives them an erroneous interpretation. One thing they'll do is they will only take one verse. They will not take the whole of Scripture, and they'll take one verse and they'll begin to build their doctrinal belief off of that one verse, whereas the Bible says we're to compare spiritual things with spiritual. We interpret one verse by other verses, And we don't build any one set of beliefs or doctrines off of just one singular verse. We must have the whole counsel of God's Word. And so that's one mistake people make. And then another one people make is the fact that they just don't study the context. They don't study what's going on around that verse. And then also, sometimes people just come to the scripture with their own understanding, their own way of believing, and they read that into the text. And they make the text say things it doesn't really say because they're taking their previous understanding and they're saying, well, the way I believe must be true. So I have to read that into the text and make it line up with my belief. That's what you call eisegesis. We don't isajit scripture, we exajit scripture, which means we don't put things in the text, we pull things out. We just simply take what God has said. But oftentimes when these mistakes are made, you'll take a defined Bible truth and somebody will misinterpret that text and they'll go off in, let's say, the left side ditch of the road. The truth is straight down the middle, they've misunderstood the truth, they are now in the left-hand ditch. And then some well-meaning Christian, or well-meaning group of Christians, or denomination, or whatever you'd like to say, comes along and they say, well, that's wrong. We don't want to be in that ditch. That's not a correct interpretation. And so they tried to bring it back to the middle, and While they are well-meaning and they want to have the truth, they're so afraid of being wrong and in that left ditch that they actually overshoot the middle of the road, overcorrect, and they go off into the ditch on the right side. And now they're on different sides of the road, but they're both off of the road. Neither one of them have it correct. And you and I need to be careful not to do that. There's some people that get so afraid of theological ditches that they actually end up putting themselves in a ditch because they just don't want to be in the left ditch, so we'll go get in the right one. Both are wrong and both are erroneous. And so we want to make sure we don't do that with today's subject. Now, we're in Romans chapter number 13. And we've been talking about being submissive to the government, submissive to authority. But what we come to today is the reason why we ought to be submissive. We ought to be submissive to the government because God ordains the government. Yeah, God in His sovereignty sets forth rulers, kings, leaders, government officials, and I know for some of us that's hard for us to believe and we get afraid of that word sovereignty because we think, well, I don't want to be called a Calvinist and so I can't believe in the sovereignty of God, but you can't be a Bible believer and not believe in the sovereignty of God. It is a Bible truth and my goal today is to show you that the Word of God says clearly that God raises up rulers and he sets them down. Now, I hope you will stay with us not for just this broadcast but the one to come as well because Both of these will be tied together, covering the same subject, Lord willing. We've got a lot of content, and we're already off to a late start. So, let's go ahead and open up the Word of God and see what it says about the subject, for sake of time. Romans chapter number 13, and I want you to go and I want you to look at verse number 1. And we've already dealt with the first half of verse number 1. It says, let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God, the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God, and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation." Now, we've got a load of things to deal with just in these two verses, so we need not go any further right now. So, let's see what this is saying. We've already dealt with the first part of verse number one where he talks about being subject unto the higher powers and being submissive to the rulers and the government, those that are in authority. And then he goes on to tell us why we should be submissive to them. And he tells us the answer to that question is later in verse number one, he says, for there is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God. God tells you that you need to be submissive to rulers and you need to be submissive to authority because God is the one who has established them. God is the one who has put them in the place in which they're in. And I know this raises many questions for you. Well, how can some of the rulers that have been in leadership throughout the years, evil people, how can they be there? How can God put them there? And sometimes we allow those questions to make us rethink what God's Word clearly says. I don't understand how it all works, but I do understand that God's Word clearly says here, and I'm going to show you a trail from the Old Testament all the way to the New, that shows this truth that God does, in fact, ordain leaders. And it gets no simpler than beginning with Romans 13, verse number 1, where he said, but of God." What that declares to us is that nobody gets power or authority or rulership or leadership unless it comes from God Himself. The powers that be, verse 1 says, are ordained of God. If there is a power, if there is a ruler, if there is an authority, if there is a magistrate, a prince, a king, whatever, that is in place, the Bible says that they are ordained of God. I know for some of us that's hard for us to believe, and sometimes we go so far defending the doctrine of the free will of man that we completely forget about God's sovereignty, but you need to be balanced in this. I believe wholeheartedly that man has free will. God looked at man in the book of Ezekiel and he said, why will you die? Why will you die? Why are you using your free will to decide to die? He says, I want you to live. And so there's a conflict there between God's will and man's will, which means that God gives man his own free will. But I also believe in the sovereignty of God. And not because a theologian told me to believe it, but because the Bible teaches it. And so let's break this down. I want to lay out my first point to you here in just a couple of minutes. Number one, God is the source of power. And then secondarily to that, we'll cover in the next broadcast, Lord willing, is since God is the source of power, if anybody has power, there's only one source that it could have came from. Therefore, God ordained them. All right. Number one, he is the source of power. Romans 13 1 says, there is no power but of God. What he's saying there is you can get no power unless it comes from God Himself. Now, I've got a list of references all the way back to the Old Testament I want to share with you. And so, if I flip through some of these kind of quickly, forgive me, but we don't have much time. And I want you to see that this is not just one or two verses that teach this. This is a multitude of scriptures. And so, Psalm 62 11 tells us this. Psalm 62, 11 says, God hath spoken once, twice have I heard this, that power belongeth unto God. Power belongs unto God. Power is His. It is His to give out. And if power belongs unto God, and He has all power, and yet you see some ruler running around with power, where did they get it from? They got it from God. Let's look over a little bit and go to John chapter 19. And here is Jesus on trial before Pontius Pilate. And Pontius Pilate, as a magistrate, as a ruler, as a leader, a governor in the government, he has ability and power, authority if you will, to crucify Jesus Christ. Here is Jesus standing on trial, and Pilate is confused because Jesus is not defending himself. And Pilate looks at Jesus, he says, Don't you know that I have power to crucify you? Why are you not defending yourself? Look at John 19, verse number 10. Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and power to release thee? Now let me just make this clear very quickly. where it says power here. There's an understanding of the Greek that you need to have that I think will help you iron this out. There's two Greek words that are different that are translated into the same English word power in your King James Bible. And so power does not always mean the same thing everywhere that you see it in the English. The two Greek words it comes from are, number one, dunamis. Now, dunamis refers to physical power, physical might and ability. Somebody that has much strength, like Samson, for example, would have dunamis. It's also where we get the English word dynamite. And so there's that kind of power. But then there's a different kind of power. There's exusiazo power. That's the Greek word, exusiazo. And what exusiazo communicates is authority kind of power. It refers to somebody who has come to a level of leadership, a ruler, a magistrate, and they have power, they have authority, they have a kingdom of sorts underneath them, and they have power and authority over that kingdom. That's exousiazo power. The power that the Bible uses in Romans 13 where it says there's no power but of God, the powers that be are ordained of God, and the power we find in John 19 is exousiazo. It is government authority. It is leadership. It is magistrate. And so, with that power, Pilate says in John 19.10, Now listen to what Jesus says. Verse 11 of John 19. Jesus answered, Think about that. Jesus said, you could have no power to crucify me unless it was given you from above. Once again, the powers that be are ordained of God. God above must give men below power for men below to be in power. And Jesus confirms that here. He says, you wouldn't be a magistrate, you wouldn't have authority, you wouldn't have power, you wouldn't be in position to crucify me if God had not already given you that power. How about another verse that really makes it simple? Matthew chapter number 28 and verse number 18. Matthew 28, the Great Commission. We're all familiar with this passage. You probably should be able to quote this, but let's read it for sake anyways. Matthew 28, verse number 18. Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Now all power in both heaven and earth is given unto who? Jesus. Once again, how much power does it say in Matthew 28, 18 is in the hands of Christ? All power. Which that means if somebody else gets power, Where did they have to get it from? Only one place it could come from. All power comes from Him because all power is vested in Him. And if you see somebody else with power, guess where they got it from? They got it from God. If you wanted a specific object, maybe it's a toy you wanted for your children, And there's only one store in the entire world that sells that toy. And you see somebody running around that has that toy. that has purchased it, you don't have to ask them where they got it from. It's very clear. There's only one place it could have came from. And the same thing is true for the power of God. And so God is the one who gives power. He has to be because he's the only one that has any power to give. There's no other place to get it from. Look at Luke chapter 1 verse number 32. We're going to build some more cases for this tomorrow, Lord willing, so I hope you'll tune in. Luke 1.32, it says, concerning Christ here, He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David. Now that throne of his father David, that's the millennial reign. That's when Jesus sits on his throne in Jerusalem and he fulfills the Davidic covenant given back in the books of the Kings. And Jesus has all power over the entire world. All the Gentile nations come submit to his feet. They come to Jerusalem for to worship, all those kind of things. And that's what it's talking about here. And it says, Where that this is coming from it says the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David Christ is going to have power on his throne in Jerusalem. And where is he going to get it from? the Lord God shall give It unto him according to Luke 1 32. How about John chapter 3 verse number 35? John 3 and 35 tells us this The father loveth the son and hath given all things into his hand. Whatever power the son had, the father gave him. Not only that, think about the simple term we always use that Jesus is the king of kings. He's the Lord of lords, right? Now, if he is the king of kings, we could say he's the authority of authorities. We could say that he is the master of masters. He is the leader of leaders. He is the ruler of the rulers. He is the one in charge of those in charge. So break this down very quickly in your mind. Those that are in charge on earth. have been put in charge by the one that is in charge of them in heaven. Those that are kings on this earth have been given their kingly position by the king that is above them. They have been appointed, they have been ordained We're watching a transition in our government right now where Donald Trump has been reelected into office and guess what he's doing. He's ordaining people into the cabinet that he would have to serve under him and he's putting people in positions of authority. He's putting people in positions of leadership. As he is the leader above them, he has the ability and the authority to install in his cabinet who he wants to and put in control who he wants to, to a degree. This is true of Christ, except it's not to any limited degree like it is the president. This isn't a democracy that God reigns in. It's a theocracy. And so he is in complete control. Revelation chapter one, verse number five says this, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead, and he's the prince of the kings of the earth. You see a king on the earth, guess what? There's a prince over him. It doesn't matter how much authority they have, there's an authority above them, and that authority above them is the one that has vested the authority that they have to them. And so the point of today has been what Romans 13 1 puts as, for there is no power but of God. The only place power comes from is God. All power is given unto me in heaven and earth, Jesus said. And so tomorrow we'll deal with the next part of verse number one where it says, the powers that be are ordained of God. If anybody comes into leadership, it's because God ordained them and gave them that power to be there because he's the source of power. And so hopefully today's been a help to you, and hopefully you'll join in with us again tomorrow. But until then, God bless you. A guide to survival that's brought me to this place. I still believe the Christian old time convictions are the answer for this modern day. Old saints are still praying, old sinners who are straying are receiving God's saving grace. Yes, the old rugged cross is still saving the lost. Thank God some things never change. Brother Caleb wants to thank you for listening today to Everlasting Truth. Please send all correspondence to Everlasting Truth, 10886 Florida 51, Live Oak, Florida, 32060. Until next broadcast time, may the Lord richly bless each of you.