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Sermon Notes

“Would Jesus Vote?”
10/20/24

Proverbs 29:2 “When the godly are in authority, the people rejoice. But when the wicked are in power, they groan.”

This Bible verse states a truth for all societies:

When people who are in power honor God and govern by His principles—joy and peace are experienced by that society.

But when those that don’t honor God or even believe in Him are in power, that society groans in misery.

There is ALWAYS buyers remorse when a wicked person is placed in power.
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Now, here in America we have a privilege that most nations in the world don’t have—that is to vote for who will lead our country.
This is an incredible responsibility and privilege granted to us by our Constitution and the Bill of Rights!

Now, since God is sovereign, then He is also in charge of strategically placing millions of His children under the constitutional republic we enjoy as Americans.

And since He has sovereignly placed us here, we have a responsibility to be “salt” and “light.”
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We know that LIGHT removes darkness, but what about SALT?

In Jesus’s day salt was a preservative and was used to keep meat from decaying.

So when Jesus said that Christians are the “salt of the earth,” He was stating that we are sovereignly placed by God in our given society to slow down the process of societal decay.

And in a constitutional republic, one way we do this is by VOTING—in particular, voting for the people whose policies will most uphold Biblical values.
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Now I’m gonna say something strong here:

—When Christians don’t vote, they are abdicating their God-given position of influence in the constitutional republic God has placed them in, and it is a form of passive rebellion.
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That said, let me clear out a bad idea that has crept into our country around the last 45 to 50 years…

…that preachers and Christians shouldn’t talk about or become involved in politics.

Without fail the phrase “separation of church and state” is thrown our way when those that don’t want the church to have a voice want us to be quiet.

But news flash: The phrase “separation of church and state” is nowhere found in the Constitution or Bill of Rights.

It was coined by Thomas Jefferson in a letter to the Danbury Baptist Association to calm their fears that the newly formed American government would not seek to control them like King George had in England.

It was Jefferson’s guarantee that the government would continue to give them the religious liberty they had left England to find.

It had NOTHING to do with telling Christians or preachers not to be involved with politics!
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Here’s a FACT: If men and women of God are wrong to insert themselves into the political arena, then you would have to also say that:

Moses
Daniel
Esther
Nathan
Nehemiah, and
John the Baptist were wrong, just to name a few!

MOSES confronted Pharaoh, the ruler of a nation, to free the people of God.

DANIEL advised three Kings in his lifetime.

ESTHER confronted evil in Persia by approaching the king and exposing an evil plot, and by doing so saved the Jewish people from genocide.

NATHAN the prophet confronted King David about his sin and brought him to repentance.

NEHEMIAH was a confidant to Persian kings.

And JOHN THE BAPTIST called out Herod—the ruler of Galilee—for his adultery and was subsequently arrested, imprisoned, and martyred for doing so.

Catch this: When Jesus was later asked about John, did He say, “Yeah, if John just hadn’t gotten involved in politics he’d still be with us.”

No! Instead Jesus said, “I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John;”—Lk 7:28
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If you do a quick scan through church history you would discover what two historians among many recorded:

“It was from the pulpits of the first, early American colonies that great proclamations thundered forth concerning liberty and freedom and the sovereignty of God and the nature of man, proclamations that ultimately led to the foundation of our Constitution and the American Revolution.”

Christian preachers and leaders thundered against slavery.

Christian evangelists cried out against the plague of alcoholism gripping England and America in the 18 and 1900’s.

For centuries outspoken Christians have brought incredible change and reform to society by simply speaking out and being salt and light for the kingdom of God.
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Now, let’s go to the question of whether Jesus would vote by looking at some Biblical examples of the times He mentioned things of a political nature.

FIRST, Jesus was not in a representative republic like we are.

He was born and raised under Roman dictatorship.

Caesars weren’t voted in, they were appointed.

Who you got is who you had to live with.
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But the Lord still gave us principles in how to respond to government.

One day He was approached with a trick question:

Mark 12:13-17 “Then they sent to Him some of the Pharisees and the Herodians, to catch Him in His words. 14 When they had come, they said to Him, ‘Teacher, we know that You are true, and care about no one; for You do not regard the person of men, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? 15 Shall we pay, or shall we not pay?”
But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, “Why do you test Me? Bring Me a denarius that I may see it.” 16 So they brought it.
And He said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?” They said to Him, “Caesar’s.” 17 And Jesus answered and said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

The word “render” (apodidomi) means “to pay or give back.”
It implies an obligation or a debt.

So when tax time rolled around, Jesus backed up his words by instructing Peter to go fishing, and that he would find a coin in the fishes mouth to pay their taxes with.

So Jesus “rendered to Caesar what was Caesars…”

—Jesus did his duty in the societal context He was placed in.
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Now, in America it is not a law that we must vote—it is a privilege and duty.

The framers of our constitution gave every citizen the right to choose who would rule over them.

It is a SACRED DUTY to choose whose leadership you will live under for at least 4 years!

Will the people mourn under grievous laws the godless will enact?
Or will they rejoice over the prosperity, freedom, and protection a person brings whose policies are more in line with Scripture?

—It would not be a stretch to say that “rendering to Caesar the things that are Caesars” would include the act of voting!

And in the spirit of ‘rendering to Caesar the things that are Caesars,’ I also believe Jesus would have led his disciples to vote as well.
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You may say, “But Jeff, I just can’t vote for a person with a checkered past, or bad character…wouldn’t that be the same as endorsing their sin?”

Okay, track with me here—in the Bible there were 3 kinds of kings:

One, there were EVIL kings—Evil kings are wicked people that promote wicked things.

King Ahab would be the best example.

The Bible says that Ahab “did evil in the sight of the Lord, more than all who were before him.”—1 Kings 16:30

EXPAND
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Two, there were RIGHTEOUS kings—Righteous leaders are righteous people who promote righteous things.

Hezekiah was a righteous king.

It says that Hezekiah, “…did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that David his father had done.”—2 Kings 18:1-3

Hezekiah was more zealous for the Lord than any of his predecessors.

Hezekiah boldly removed Pagan altars, idols, and temples from Israel.

The Temple in Jerusalem, whose doors had been nailed shut by his own father, was cleaned out and reopened.

Under Hezekiah’s reforms, revival came to Judah.
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But a third type of king is one that was used by God yet very FLAWED—like Jehu.

—Jehu leaders are ‘flawed people used for good things.’

Jehu was anointed by God to finish what Elijah had started—wipe out Baal worship from Israel, which he did!

“Thus Jehu destroyed Baal from Israel.”—2 Kings 10:28

Yet Jehu was very flawed!

At the end of his life the Bible records, “But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart,…”—vs. 31
The fact is we would all love a Hezekiah to be on the ballot, but he’s not there!

In reality, every single choice we’ve ever had in American history was a Jehu leader possessing some positive qualities wrapped in flawed character.
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So since all we have is a Jehu choice, does that mean we don’t vote?

In the last election, 30 million Christians did just that—refused to vote.

And the election was decided by a strategically placed 42,000 votes!

Here’s what voting is not:

Voting is not a VALENTINE—we don’t vote for a candidate we like, or who looks good, or who has charisma—we vote for their values!

And voting is not a kind of SACRAMENT, like the Lord’s Supper or Water Baptism.

So that we say, “If the choice is not TOTALLY PURE, I just can’t pull the lever.”

We don’t do this with any other choices in life!

Most of you that consider Turning Point your home church are very aware that its not perfect—yet there’s enough right that you support it.

And how about your marriage?

You married someone fully aware that they had flaws, yet you chose to be their husband or wife!

We eat at restaurants, buy homes, spend quality time with friends—none of whom are perfect.

So why does a candidate have to be perfect, cross every “t” and dot every “i”, and jump through all the right hoops?
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Here’s the thing—Jesus is not on the ballot!

What IS on the ballot is the world-view of the candidate, and the positions and policies they will promote if they win!…

Which this time includes policies on:

ABORTION
TRANSGENDERISM
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
CLOSED OR OPEN BORDERS
NATIONAL DEBT
MEN PLAYING IN WOMEN’S SPORTS
CURRICULUM FOR SCHOOL CHILDREN
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
TREATMENT OF ISRAEL

So the question is: Which of the candidates stands closest to Biblical values regarding these issues?

So let me define VOTING:

—It is YOUR power to pick the best AVAILABLE path forward.

If Christians don’t vote and remain silent, then the ONLY VOICES out there will be the godless ones.

Not voting means letting those who would denigrate the name of Christ and dishonor God in their policies have their way in our lives.

The leaders we elect—or do nothing to remove—are going to have powerful influence on our freedoms.

They can choose to protect our first amendment right to religious freedom and the right to spread the gospel, or they can restrict those rights.

They can lead our nation toward righteousness or toward moral disaster.

As Christians, let’s stand up and follow Jesus’s command to fulfill our civic duties and give to Caesar our Christian vote!