#2: “Biblical Civil Government”

SCRIPTURE: 1 Samuel 8:1-9
When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as judges for Israel.
The name of his firstborn was Joel and the name of his second was Abijah,
and they served at Beersheba. But his sons did not walk in his ways. They
turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted
justice.
So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at
Ramah. They said to him, "You are old, and your sons do not walk in your
ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have."
But when they said, "Give us a king to lead us," this displeased
Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD. And the LORD told him: "Listen to all
that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they
have rejected me as their king. As they have done from the day I brought
them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods,
so they are doing to you. Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and
let them know what the king who will reign over them will do."

SCRIPTURE: Romans 13:1b
“There is no authority except that which God has established. The
authorities that exist have been established by God.”
INTRO:
In the 1 Samuel passage, we see that God allowed civil government
at the request of His people Israel. Samuel was aware that it wasn’t a
good idea, and he pled with God to deny the request, but God in His
wisdom decided to let them have their human ruler. They had failed to
govern themselves, and the domino effect had started, but they didn’t get
it. God was going to let them have the opportunity to learn a tragic lesson.
In the Romans 13 passage, Paul is used by God to help us
understand the foundational principles of civil government.
This morning I want to talk about “Biblical Civil Government.”
First of all, I want to point out that