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Pagosa Springs SDA

Skip Dodson

Civil and Religious Liberty: God’s Priority

Before we begin this morning, I would like to take a moment to remember the Lord in prayer and seek his Holy Spirit as we consider this most important subject.

So please bow your heads with me as I kneel.

Father in heaven, we pray for your divine guidance this morning.

We pray that your purpose would be fulfilled in the presentation of this message.

Lord, the world is being brought to a grand climax of history And the issues that will divide folks into the sheep and the goats are coming to a head.

Father, help us to be on the right side of these questions.

For we ask you this in Jesus' name, and please send your Holy Spirit to open our eyes to your word.

My father always claimed that we were directly related to Alexander Hamilton, 1 of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.

Now I have never studied this out for myself, but I can tell you that my father was not 1 to just make up stories.

So I have no reason to doubt what he said.

Perhaps this is where we get our love of liberty as a family.

Regarding religious liberty, Hamilton said this.

He said, remember, civil and religious liberty always go together.

If the foundation of the 1 be sapped, the other will fall, of course." Meaning in due time.

Thus it is no surprise that the rights of conscience were given first place in the Bill of Rights in the American Constitution, a document over which Hamilton had significant influence, as you know.

The First Amendment says, Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or, here's a very key part of the amendment, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.

And more recently, just think about a year and a half ago or so, the 45th President of the United States, Mr.

"'The United States is founded on the principle that our rights do not come from government, they come from God.

This immortal truth is proclaimed in our Declaration of Independence and enshrined in the First Amendment to our Constitution's Bill of rights.

Our founders understood that no right is more fundamental to a peaceful, prosperous, and virtuous society than the right to follow one's religious convictions.

Now you can disagree with the president on other issues, if you like.

But there is no question that in this matter, his opinion is without question and correct.

I say, friends, it is an ominous sign of the times that so many of our current political class seem ready to discard the American Constitution, calling it a document created to enshrine white supremacy.

Better beware, friends, this pathway, though it may seem to flatter and patronize certain groups of people, will ultimately lead to tyranny and oppression of all people.

The issues of civil and religious liberty are actually front and center in the Bible, if you have been paying attention as you read.

But we often fail to recognize this because we have been in the habit, at least until maybe the last year or so, of taking these liberties for granted.

We don't have to read very far into scripture to see the very first denial of civil and religious liberty.

I mentioned this a couple of weeks ago, but it bears repeating.

Because he was unable to persuade him through reasoning that his way of worshipping God was equally as valid as that of his brother.

God wasn't convinced of Cain's argument either by the way, but Cain could not get to God.

If he could have gotten to God, he would have.

From that story, right through the Old Testament and into the New Testament, we find this great theme and that is that God is the defender of civil and religious liberty.

And I want to demonstrate that truth to you today, that the repression of these liberties was the foremost concern in the history of God's people in the exodus from Egypt.

If we had time, we could examine the formation of the nation of Israel and Palestine.

We could note that its civil and social structure was designed to maximize liberty on every level.

And we could observe how this parallels in certain key respects the formation of our own nation, the United States of America.

Perhaps we will do that on another occasion.

Gotta get a teaser in there once in a while.

But let me summarize my introductory remarks by this statement.

As has been true throughout the Bible, and now in an amplified way, the final conflict of Earth's history will also turn upon these same issues.

Namely, is there a right way and a wrong way to worship God?

And perhaps the most important question of all, who has the authority to decide that question?

Should those who hold a minority opinion be allowed to follow the dictates of their conscience even in times of crisis?

These are the main questions to be settled in the final episode of the Great Controversy.

But I want to suggest to you that they have been at the central focus of the great controversy from the very beginning.

And so with that in mind, let's take the example of the Exodus this morning.

I want to point out how the issues of civil and religious liberty were the central concerns of God and his people at that time.

I hope you'll turn there with me, please.

Notice what Moses is told to say to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt.

God says to Moses, and you shall say to him, The Lord God of the Hebrews sent me to you saying notice these words now everyone let my people go that they may serve me in the wilderness, but so far you have not obeyed.

Note that civil and religious liberty are placed here side by side.

Civil liberty in the phrase, let my people go.

And religious liberty that they may do what everyone serve me in the wilderness.

Then God presents to Pharaoh the urgency of the decision.

He says, but so far you have not obeyed Now there's a point at which the divine patience can be worn out and Pharaoh was approaching that point But before we get into the details of the story, let me make this general observation.

And that is that civil government is governments of any kind are under obligation to God to recognize that he has granted both civil and religious liberty to their subjects.

This is true even of governments where heads of state do not acknowledge him.

I point this out because when the initial request is made to Pharaoh in Exodus 5, verse 1, where Moses says, let my people go that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.

Well, Pharaoh says this, who is the Lord that I should obey his voice and let Israel go.

I do not know the Lord, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.

Now the question is, how does the Lord respond to this?

I should have known better than to make such a demand of you.

Since you do not acknowledge me as God, then you have every right to treat my servants and your citizens however you wish.

Even though Pharaoh, king of Egypt, did not accept that God had any authority over him, the obligation to step out from between him and his servants and not to restrict their freedom was still binding upon Pharaoh was it not?

As it is on every government on planet earth today.

They are, they too, with Pharaoh are under obligation to let go of God's people.

Now I want to point out some specific things that are especially relevant for our generation in the several encounters that we have a record of between Moses and Aaron and Pharaoh.

These come under 1 main heading really, and that is this.

God is not pleased when civil rulers don't stay in their lane.

Civil government has a certain purpose in this world.

God has ordained civil government to maintain law and order, but when civil authorities go beyond this and presume to impede the free exercise of religion, they begin to invite the judgments of the Almighty God.

So to start with, let's take a look at Exodus 8, verses 25 through 27.

Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron and said, Go sacrifice to your God within the land.

But Moses said, it would not be right to do so.

For the offerings we shall sacrifice to the Lord our God are an abomination to the Egyptians.

If we sacrifice offerings abominable to the Egyptians before their eyes, will they not stone us?

We must go a 3 days journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God as he tells us." Now here, interestingly, Pharaoh proposes to limit where God's people could worship him.

Now this is a Situation in which Pharaoh would probably say that he was really not restricting religious liberty.

I'm not restricting your liberties However Moses and Aaron, under inspiration of God, were not going to buy this.

Civil and Religious Liberty: God’s Priority

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