Civil Government: Magistracy, Authority, and Romans 13: Authority

God's Preachers: Enemies of a Godless State

Transcript: AI Transcript

Professor: John Weaver

Subject: Civil Government

Genre: Sermon

Dictation Name:

Date: 2014-11-02

Synopsis: John Weaver preaches from 1 Kings 21:17-20, arguing that God's preachers are necessarily enemies of a godless state. He demonstrates that God, Christ, and Christians all have enemies, and that faithful pastors must confront wicked civil rulers. Using Elijah's confrontation with Ahab, Weaver shows that preachers must not soften the enmity between righteousness and rebellion. He explains that civil government becomes an enemy when it usurps authority, rejects God's law, and makes sin legal. The sermon calls believers to choose obedience to God over man and to recognize that supporting ungodly rulers is joining rebellion against God.

[John Weaver] John Weaver, graduated from Bob Jones University undergrad, did over 40 years ago, I believe, and maybe 50, just kidding. Did some graduate work there at Bob Jones University as well. And since that time, has been involved in starting Christian schools, even playing in churches as well. And Pastor Weaver has a history of faithfulness to the scriptures. and preaching on any part of the scriptures, especially those parts that may be ignored in our modern churches.

[John Weaver] He has some, shall we say, real credits to his name. One of them being that he's been called a racist and a hater by the Southern Poverty Law Center. If you know anything about the Southern Poverty Law Center, that is a racist and hateful organization if there ever was one. One of the things we as Christians need to understand is that we should never be loved by people who hate Christ. We must understand that. We can't have people who hate Christ say, you know, I hate Christ, but that's the old saying. Now that's a good guy, I like him. That's a problem. That's a definite problem. One of the things that I appreciate about Pastor Weaver is I listen to his sermons when I can.

[John Weaver] It takes me 50 minutes to get to work. And usually that's not enough time to catch an entire sermon. But it takes me about an hour and ten to get home, so usually I can catch the end of the first sermon maybe and then start another one. But one of the things that I appreciate so much about Caspar Weaver is his understanding of what's happened before, yes, history, with the Scriptures. The Apostle Paul, we're studying 1 Corinthians right now, and the Apostle Paul forever connected history with the Gospel. When he said that Christ, this is the gospel in 1 Corinthians 15, Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.

[John Weaver] You see what Paul's doing there, he's putting them together. The history, he died and he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. We don't know how to judge even the present unless we know how to interpret the past, do we? And Pastor Weaver is as good, I believe, as anyone I've ever heard at interpreting the past in the light of the Scriptures. You're in for a real treat this morning and this evening. Pastor Weaver, it's great to have you. Well, it's a joy to be here, and I'm thankful to be back. Let's see.

[John Weaver] Five years ago, we met in Ryan's house, didn't we? I remember that. I surely do. And I'm thankful. I've got a little larger crowd today, that's for sure. I wanted to say something the pastor mentioned earlier. Thank you, brother. He said no one was early this morning. Well, we've had several early in times past. We've had several late in times past when you spring forward, etc. But one of the funniest things that happened in our church was we had a widow woman and she was a sweetheart. She's now dead. And but she called me one day and She said, pastor, she said, are we having church this Sunday? I said, well, yes, we are. She said, well, are we starting at 10 o'clock as usual? I said, yes, we are.

[John Weaver] She said, are you preaching? I said, yes, I am. But she said, something's funny, because I'm here at the church and you're not here and neither is anyone else. I said, well, Jane, That could possibly be because today is Saturday, tomorrow is Sunday. Yes, she was blonde. So Sunday morning, when she was there, I said, well listen, one thing for sure, Jane is not late. She was 24 hours early.

[John Weaver] So I'm thankful, but she was a trooper, took it all to its stride. We were going somewhere, and she got to be really independent as a willow lady. So we were going somewhere, and I said, well, Jane, may I give you directions? She said, Pastor, I know how to get there. I looked at her and I said, well, if I can't give you directions, Can I tell you where to go?

[John Weaver] She's a new veteran of ours. But she was a fine, sweet lady, that's for sure. I want you to open your Bibles today, if you would please, to 1 Kings, Chapter 21. 1 Kings, Chapter 21. And notice, if you would please, verses 17 through 20. 1 Kings, Chapter 21, verses 17 through 20. I want to bring a message which I've entitled, God's Preachers, the Enemies of the Notice in 1 Kings chapter 21, beginning there with verse 17, the word of the Lord came unto Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Arise, go down to meet Ahab, king of Israel, which is in Samaria.

[John Weaver] Behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, where he is going down to possess it. And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus hath the Lord hath thou killed, and also taken And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the Lord, In the place where dogs lick the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine. And Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? And he answered, I have found thee, because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of God."

[John Weaver] Notice I've said the title of the message is God's Preachers, Enemies of the State. It's absolutely strange that the term enemy bothers some Christians. And the reason it bothers them is because they erroneously believe that somehow Christians are not supposed to have enemies, and especially pastors. The interesting thing is this. We not only have enemies, but the infinite holy God of heaven and earth has enemies as well.

[John Weaver] When you stop and think of the average pastor today, or the attitude or the imagination that most people have of the average pastor, he's some kind of sweet, syrupy, sentimental, effeminate individual who doesn't really bother anyone and no one bothers him. He just stays the same regardless of what's going on. Of course, most people think every pastor is supposed to love every individual, regardless of how wicked and how sinful they are, and regardless how much they hate the Lord Jesus Christ, and how much they defy the Lord Jesus Christ.

[John Weaver] But the truth of the matter is, not only Christians, but pastors, and even God himself, has enemies. I want you to hold 1 Kings chapter 21, if you would, but I want you to turn, first of all, if you would, to Psalm 21. Let me just prove this point to you with just a few passages. If you look at Psalm 21, beginning there with verse 8, I want you to notice what the Bible says concerning God Himself. In Psalm 21, in verse 8, the Word of God says it like this, Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies. Thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee. Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger.

[John Weaver] The Lord shall swallow them as in his wrath, and his fire shall devour them." Note, if you would, thy hand shall find out all thine enemies, and thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee. So God certainly knows who his enemies are, and He's going to find them out. If you would look in your Bibles to the book of Psalms, Psalm 68, beginning there with verse 1, notice again, if you would, what the psalmist says. Psalm 68 and verse 1. In this particular passage, the word of God says, let God arise, let his enemies be scattered, let them also that hate him flee before him. And then he goes on to say how those enemies should be destroyed. But notice, let God arise, let his enemies be scattered. Skip down to verse 21. The Bible says, but God shall wound the head of his enemies, and the hairy scalp of such and one as doth on stillness trespasses. Verse 23. that thy foot may be dipped in the blood of thine enemies, and the tongue of thy dogs in the same."

[John Weaver] If you look in Psalm 92 and verse 9, Psalm 92 and verse 9, again God says it like this very clearly, and we're talking about God's enemies, and remember He's the most holy, just, and righteous being. And yet the Bible says in Psalm 92 and verse 9, for lo by the enemies of the Lord, for lo by the enemies shall perish, all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered. But notice, if you would, how repeatedly the Bible says that God has enemies. And if you look at Psalm 110, concerning this great messianic psalm, which is repeated in the New Testament a number of times in reference to Jesus Christ. The Bible says in Psalm 110, beginning there with verse one, the Lord said to my Lord, sit down at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion, rule thou in the midst of mine enemies. So very obviously, God has enemies over and over. The Bible says he does. There are those who are against God.

[John Weaver] And whether you realize none of God's people have enemies as well. I wish I had time to bring those four messages that I did on imprecatory praying. That is, praying those imprecatory prayers. But if you look very quickly in your Bibles to Psalm 58 and Psalm 59, you'll see just a couple of these prayers where the psalmist is praying against his enemies, which happen to be God's enemies as well. But look in Psalm 58, if you would please, to begin with. In Psalm 58, Notice, if you would, beginning there with verse 7.

[John Weaver] And he's talking about the aliens of God. In fact, go back to verse 3. Go back to verse 3. He says, The wicked are estranged from the womb. They go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies. Their poison is like the poison of a serpent. They're like the death adder that stops at their ear, which will not harken to the voice of charmers. Charming never foot wisely. Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth. Break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Hort.

[John Weaver] Let them melt away as waters which run continually. When he bended his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces. As a snail which melted, let every one of them pass away, like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun. Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away, as will the whirlwind both living and trapped. Now watch!

[John Weaver] The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance. He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked. So the man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous. Verily he is a God that judges in the earth. Note, if you would please, Here's a prayer that David is praying against the wicked, and he says, the righteous shall rejoice when he seeth God's vengeance, and yes, the righteous shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked. If you skip down to Psalm 59, look in verse 1, David prays this.

[John Weaver] deliver me from my enemies, O my God, defend me from them that rise up against me, deliver me from the workers of iniquity, save me from bloody men, for lo, they lie in wait for my soul, am I your gatherer to gather against me, not for my transgression, not for my sin of war." In other words, David hadn't done anything to merit or draw forth their hatred and their anger and their murderous desire, but he says they're just my enemies. So very obviously, Christians do have enemies. And if you would turn very quickly in your Bibles to the book of John chapter 15, and let's begin reading there in verse 18, and you will find that we have enemies just simply by virtue of the fact that we've been saved by the grace of God. Notice if you would, in John chapter 15, beginning there with verse 8, that's what our Lord teaches. John chapter 15 in verse 8, our Lord says it like this. John 15, verse 18 it is. John 15, verse 18.

[John Weaver] He said, if the world hate you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you're not of the world, but I've chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hated you. Remember the word that I've said unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they've kept my sayings, they will keep yours also. So our Lord said, very obviously, we're going to be hated just simply because of the fact that we're not of the world. We don't think like the world. We don't act like the world. We don't live like the world. And they think we're mighty strange. In fact, Peter said it very similarly. He said they think it's strange that you run up with them to the same riot in excess. And obviously they do.

[John Weaver] So it should come as no surprise then that if our sovereign God has enemies, if His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, has enemies, If Christians have enemies, then obviously pastors have enemies as well. Now it would behoove us, not only as pastors but also as Christians, to examine ourselves and to see exactly as to why we have enemies.

[John Weaver] Now when I say that, what I mean is simply this. We should make sure that if we have enemies, it's not because of our own crankiness, unfriendliness, In other words, we don't want enemies of our own making, we want enemies just simply by virtue of being righteous and standing for God. If we've got enemies of our own making, then we need to repent and we need to make things right for them.

[John Weaver] That's very easy and very clear. I want you to look very quickly at Psalm 139. In fact, I'm going to come back to this passage a little bit later, but look at Psalm 139 as and at the prayer that David prayed. Notice Psalm 139, and let's begin reading there with verse 19. Interestingly, Psalm 139, and notice if you would begin there with verse 19, David prays this.

[John Weaver] He says, Surely thou wilt slay them with thee, O God. Now, since God is going to slay them, notice this prayer request. Depart from me, therefore, you bloody men. In other words, I don't want to be around you. I don't want to associate with you, because I know God's wrath is against you. And then he says in verse 20, For when they speak against thee wickedly, that is, they talk against God, and thine enemies take thy name in vain. It's not that they just curse God, they do that as well. But they have no use for God, and they speak idly of God and worthlessly of God. He says, For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain. Now watch verse 21. Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? And have not my grief with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred. I count them thine enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way of everlasting Now, isn't that interesting that David just said, Do not I hate them that hate thee, O Lord?

[John Weaver] Yes, if I hate them with perfect hatred, I count them my enemies. And in his praise, Search me, O God, and know my heart. See if there be wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Obviously, there is no contradiction between hating God's enemies and those that hate God. and being holy and righteous in God, because that's exactly what they did pray.

[John Weaver] Now, I want to answer the question today. How can a preacher be the enemy of the state? Some of you will remember there was a movie a number of years back entitled Enemy of this State. Well, it was an ordinary citizen, best I can remember, but the truth of the matter is this. Many of God's preachers are not enemies of the state. Everyone in this room probably has just heard where the sodomite mayor in Texas has tried to subpoena the sermons of certain preachers that she knew was preaching against sodomy.

[John Weaver] And of course there's a big uproar about it. But I want you to go back to your Bibles to 1st Kings chapter 21 and you know the story in this particular passage where King Ahab and his wicked wife Jezebel were on the throne and Ahab comes to Nabob and he says, tell you what, I'm on your guard. It's close by my palace. I want it for an herb garden.

[John Weaver] And I will either buy it from you at a price or I'll trade you another piece of land for it. And Naboth said God permitted me. Now what Naboth really said was this. God forbids me to sell the inheritance of my father. In other words, I have no right to sell it. I cannot sell it. And what did they have to do? He turned his face to the wall and pouted like a spoiled brat.

[John Weaver] and said, what in the world is wrong with you? He said, I wanted Naboth's vineyard and he wouldn't give it to me. Why? She said, are you not the king in Israel? Why? Go ahead and eat something. I'll get the garden for you. And so she took and she wrote a letter to the elders of Naboth City and said, you proclaim the fast, you set him on high, you let some sons of Elial come in, and then you let them witness against him, and then you take him down to stone him, and then she sealed

[John Weaver] it with a key seal. And would you believe it, the gutless, heartless elders of that city did that. They took an innocent man, proclaimed the fast, set him on high, and had two men come in, and they took Naboth out and stoned him to death for being a blasphemer. He blasphemes God and the king. Well, if he blasphemes God, he deserves to die. If he blasphemes the king, he deserves to have his property confiscated. But you see, they did not just simply murder Naboth. Because if they just simply murdered Naboth, then the inheritance would have gone to his sons. If you read the scripture, they murdered Naboth and his sons. Jezebel comes back in and she tells Ahab, go down to the garden and claim it, because Naboth is not alive, but he's dead. And so he walks to the garden, and if you look at verse 17 again, Now the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Arise, go down and meet Ahab, king of Israel, which is in Samaria. Behold, he's in the vineyard of Naboth, where there is going down to possess it.

[John Weaver] And thou shalt speak unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord, hast thou killed, and also taken possession? And thou shalt speak unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord, in the place where dogs lick the blood of Naboth, shall dogs lick thy blood even thine? And Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? Let me just stop right there. I want you to notice this first point here is the question asked. Notice this question. King Ahab said, to Elijah, hast thou found me, O my enemy? When he asks that question, Ahab is not just simply looking for an answer, he knows the answer to that question in the strictest sense of the word, but actually what he's doing by asking that question is making a declaration of fact. The declaration of fact is this, Elijah, you are my enemy.

[John Weaver] You are the representative of God. You're the prophet of God. You're the preacher of God. I'm the king. I'm the civil ruler. And you happen to be my enemy. I want you to know that King Ahab did not hesitate, nor did he try to conceal the fact that he considered God's prophet his abound enemy. By the way, the humanists And the wicked in this day have no trouble stating the fact that we as Christians and God's true preachers are indeed the trouble makers. In fact, that's what Ahab called Elijah when he married after the drought, when God said, go show thyself to Ahab.

[John Weaver] He said, are thou he that troubleth Israel? I'll paraphrase it. Elijah answered, it's not me you wicked reprobate, it's you and your filthy wife. Yeah, that's what he said, basically. No, it's not me. But the king noted very clearly that here Elijah was his enemy. By the way, the Hebrew word for enemy here is the word oyave, which literally means hating, adversary, a foe, an enemy. It's a word that is frequently used in the Old Testament, and each instance It denotes a real, active enemy. For instance, look in your Bible to the book of Judges chapter 16. Judges chapter 16 and verse 23, and notice what the Philistines said about Samson. In Judges chapter 16 and verse 23, the word enemy in this verse is the same as the word enemy in 1 Kings chapter 21 and verse 20. In Judges 16, verse 23, then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together for to offer a great sacrifice, and to take on their God, and to rejoice, for they said, Our God hath delivered Samson, our enemy, into our hand.

[John Weaver] And certainly Samson was an enemy to the Philistines. He killed them hip and thigh. Surely he was an enemy. And they called him an enemy, a foe, someone that they actually hated. If you look in 1 Kings, I'm not young, Samuel it is, 1 Samuel chapter 18, notice what is said of David concerning Saul, and you remember King Saul tried to kill David several times, but in 1 Samuel chapter 16, or 18 it is, 1 Samuel chapter 18 and verse 23, notice what the Bible says concerning David and Saul. 1 Samuel 18 and verse 23, the Word of God says this, and Saul's servants, let's think about this, 1 Samuel 18 and verse 29 it is, and Saul was yet more afraid of David, and Saul became David's enemy continually. Notice if you would, he became David's enemy continually. It's the same word. He became David's foe. He hated David.

[John Weaver] And so the question is asked by Ahab to Elijah, hast thou found me, O mine enemy? Now, the interesting thing is about the word found. Did you know you'd read that verse and you'd say, what? Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? Didn't Elijah know where the palace was? Well, of course he knew where the palace was. Did he not know where Ahab was in the palace?

[John Weaver] I'm sure he probably did. But if you look in 1 Kings chapter 20, Here is the same Hebrew word, 1 Kings 20 and verse 36. Then said he unto him, Because thou hast not obeyed the voice of the Lord, the old prophet is talking to the prophet who went and prophesied against Jeroboam. Now watch. He said, Because thou hast not obeyed the voice of the Lord, behold, as soon as thou art departed from me, a lion shall slay thee. And as soon as he departed from him, the lion found him and slew him. Well, this was where the man was trying to be smitten, but notice if you would, the lion found him and slew him because he would not smite the prophet, because the prophet said it to him in the name of the Lord. The lion was there, but he was unseen until just at the right moment when the lion finally slew this individual. So here's what Ahab is asking, has thou found me, O mine enemy? I want to point out two or three things right here.

[John Weaver] First of all, here is what the question implies. First, the king did not initiate, nor did he desire, a confrontation. He did not want to face Elijah. Do you realize Ahab knew he was wicked? He knew he was wrong. He knew he did not worship for and through the living God. If Ahab could have gotten away with the murder of Nephoth and his sons, he would have gladly done it. If he could have gotten away without being confronted, or power to him, he would have loved that. But he didn't. Do you understand this?

[John Weaver] Criminals do not like to have their sins and their wickedness discovered and pointed out. Look at all the whistleblowers in our own civil government. Look at what happened when they exposed the corruption and the wickedness inside our own government. They're the ones that are persecuted. They're the ones that are imprisoned. They're the ones that have their goods taken away from them and confiscated. No, Ahab did not initiate this confrontation. He did not want it and I can assure you no Bush, no Clinton, no Obama or anybody wants a confrontation like this. And so Ahab, no, no, he did not initiate it, but it happened.

[John Weaver] The second implication is this. The king, in one sense of the word, expected to be confronted. He asked, hast thou found me, O my enemy?

[John Weaver] Now, remember, the lion found the man who refused to slay the prophet. The lion found him. In other words, the lion found him and slew him at the opportune time. Now, here's why. Ahab is saying, hast thou found me, O thine enemy? Ahab knew that Elijah knew where the palace was. Ahab knew that Elijah knew where he was. But let me ask you a question. Since Elijah was considered the enemy of King Ahab, wouldn't you tend to think that Elijah would have been classified as a persona non You're not coming in here. This is my house. This is my palace.

[John Weaver] And probably there are all kinds of instructions to the guards. Don't let that preacher in here. He's a troublemaker. He's an enemy. I don't want to be around him. But what has happened? Ahab has left the protection of his palace and he's gone down to the garden to take possession. And like that lion who came out of the woods to slay the man who refused to slice the prophet, and just like the lion who did come out and kill the false, or kill the prophet that sinned against God when he prophesied against Joashes, or the ashes in the fault reserve Jeroboam, when he prophesied and disobeyed God, a lion met him and slew him as well. And so, Elijah now has come out of the woods and pounced upon Ahab. Elijah caught Ahab off guard at an inopportune time for Ahab, but it was the opportune time for Elijah and for God. So, although the king did not want to be confronted, yet he expected to be confronted. Here's the third implication. Has thou found me, O mine enemy?"

[John Weaver] I want you to understand it is the duty of God's preachers to find out all of God's enemies, even in the political realm, and to quote them and remove them. And it doesn't matter if they're the highest rulers in the land. It doesn't matter their position of office. Ahab happened to be the king. There's no such thing as off limits. when it comes to God's preachers. I've been going through the Bible, and I'm, believe it or not, I've got several messages on this, but I'm going to develop at least one, maybe two messages, which I've entitled, A Model for Secession. A Model for Secession. And the South tried it once, and we're going to do it again, I know. territories will as well but I've been going through the Bible and it's amazing as you go through the Bible to see how many of God's preachers confront wicked corrupt rulers there's no such thing as being off limits when it comes to God's Word In fact, let me emphasize, it was God who sent Elijah.

[John Weaver] Look down, if you would, 1 Kings chapter 21, verse 17. Note, if you would, as the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Arise, go down to meet Ahab, king of Israel, which is in Samaria. Behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone down to possess it. God sent Elijah there. If you look very quickly in 2 Kings chapter 1. Ahaziah was a wicked king, and he fell down through the lattice and got cut and sore. And notice if you would, God sent Elijah to confront him as well. The Bible says in 2 Kings 1 and verse 3, But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, go to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say to them, Is it not the cause that there is not a god in Israel, that you go and inquire of Baalzebub, the god of Akron? So Ahaziah had fallen down through the lattice, he got cut, evidently his sores had become infected, and the god of Ekron was Beelzebub, which means god of the filth or god of the flies.

[John Weaver] And so when he sent messengers to inquire Beelzebub, God said to Elijah, you go tell those messengers to turn around and go back, and you tell Isaiah that he's not going to come up off that bed of affliction where he's laying. In other words, I'm going to kill him. That's what God said. So here Elijah, of course, confronted him. So do not assume, do not assume that Goth preachers do not have a role in civil affairs and political affairs. They do.

[John Weaver] In fact, if you would read Psalm 82, which was already quoted some this morning, that is actually, Psalm 82 is actually against the judicial officers who are corrupt. But in Psalm 82, the preacher of the temple becomes the prophet of the court. And do you realize one of the greatest failings of pastors in this country is our failure to rebuke sin and expose corruption and wickedness in high places, even in civil places? Do you realize our forefathers, and I know most of you do, always held what were known as election sermons? In the founding of this country, there was no civil ruler who could take an office without being preached to by some preacher showing his duties to God and his duties to the people, and also the people's duty to the civil ruler and under God.

[John Weaver] So, it's very astonishing to me today that very few preachers have really opened up and chimed out and shouted against our past civil rulers, especially look at Clinton. Look at the Bushes, look at who we have now, look at Obama, look at the mayor in Houston, look at the wicked civil rumors who are really openly despising God and God's Word. Look at the course of our Congress, look at our judicial system that is absolutely corrupt. Do you remember when Elijah followed Elijah and God separated them and took Elijah to heaven for a whirlwind and a chariot of fire? Do you remember that? Because Elijah had asked for a double portion of the power of Elijah. And Elijah said, if you see me when I'm taken away, it shall be done unto you. But if you don't see me, it's not going to be done. And as God took Elijah away, his mantle fell. Elijah picked up that mantle, went back to the river and took the mantle and smoked the water and said, where is the Lord God of Elijah?

[John Weaver] And the water parted hither and thither and he walked across on dry ground. Can you imagine today, the question should be asked, where are the Lord God's Elijahs? Where are the men that will cry out against civil corruption and civil wickedness? You see, the truth is, unhappily, there's not very many. Most are hiding in caves, or feeling sorry for themselves, or fleeing out of harm's way. Because they understand, if we get in the way of the king, if we get in the way of the civil rulers, that they can take our tax exemption. I mean, they can take our building.

[John Weaver] They can put us in prison. In other words, we'd rather be safe. than be representatives of God and cry out against sin and wicked. God's preachers have a responsibility to deal with the issues and to deal with them biblically. God's preachers have a responsibility to confront wickedness even if it's in the highest civil ruler. So here's the question to ask. Hast thou found me, O my enemy? I want you to look back in 1 Kings chapter 21 and verse 20 because here's the second thing. Here's the question and answer. None of you would. And Ahab said to Elijah, hast thou found me, O thine enemy? And he answered, I have found thee. Ha! Oh boy. The question and answer emphasizes that there is a fine line of separation between God's enemies and God's friends.

[John Weaver] Do you realize that righteousness and unrighteousness do not coexist very well. Do you remember what the Prophet Hanani said to Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles 19 verse 2? He asked this question, shouldst thou help the ungodly and love those that hate the Lord? Wow. And because Jehoshaphat had done that, he said, therefore thou shalt have You remember what he asked in Amos 3 and verse 3, can the two walk together except they be agreed?

[John Weaver] Let me ask you, can you see, can you envision in your mind Elijah or Elisha having prayer at a presidential inauguration today? And the answer is no. Even our Lord said in Matthew 12 and verse 30, what? He that is not with me is against me and he that doth not is scattering abroad. It's impossible for God's preachers to align themselves with God's enemies and still remain the representatives of God. The line is just as clearly drawn today as it was back in the Old Testament.

[John Weaver] You remember when Israel had sinned and they had built the golden calf and the people were dancing and jumping around it and worshipping the golden calf? Moses came down from the mountain, threw the tablets down, and broke them, and he said, Who is on the Lord's side? Let him come over unto me." Ah, there was a clear line of demarcation. So when Elijah answered, I have found thee, it's necessary for us to understand that there is a clear line of demarcation, and that line should be definite and emphatic and clear, and therefore we should be against anyone who is against the Lord. Remember what David prayed.

[John Weaver] I told you I was going to refer to it again. He said, Do not I hate them that hate thee, O Lord. By the way, I'm not going to preach today. I don't have time. But I do have a message, and this is on Sermon Audio. The title of the message is, The Biblical Doctrine of Hatred. Anybody here ever heard it? I want to tell you, you need to listen to it. Because I take you through the Bible and I show you the Sovereign's hatred, the Savior's hatred, and the Saint's hatred. I have a good friend, he's now with the Lord, but when I preached that message years and years ago, he took that and duplicated it and passed it out like it was candy. And I looked at him one day and I said, That's a hard message, and it is. I said, why don't you pass out something a little lighter, a little easier, ease people into something, then give them that message.

[John Weaver] He said, oh, I can separate the wheat from the chaff right away. It'll separate the wheat from the chaff right away, I can assure you. Well, that's exactly what is happening here. You have to understand, folks, David said, Do not I hate them that hate thee, O Lord? Yea, I hate them with a perfect hatred. I count them mine enemies. And then he added, Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me, and know my ways, and see if there be any wicked ways in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to note something about Elijah. This is interesting, because Ahab said, Has thou found thee, O mine enemy? And what was Elijah's response? I have found thee. What? I have found thee. I want you to notice that Elijah did not try to neutralize the situation. He did not try to soften the situation in. He just simply said, yep, you got it right, I found you. He didn't squirm. He didn't flinch. He didn't milly-mouth around. He didn't say, oh, king.

[John Weaver] Now, that word enemy is a very strong word, and it's a negative word. Let's try to put our relationship in a positive light. Let's use some other softer word. No, no, no, no, no. He didn't do any of that. Hast thou found me, O my Nene? Yep, I found you. And you got it right, bud. We're enemies. We're on different sides. And Elijah was acknowledging the enmity that existed between the wicked civil ruler and God's preacher.

[John Weaver] I remember years ago when our church was attacked by the state of Georgia, and you can read my book and find out about it. I tell in there some of this stuff. It was probably the stupidest thing that you've ever heard of in your life. They wanted to give us a license to drink water out of our own well, and the well had already been in the ground over 40 years.

[John Weaver] And there'd never been a problem. And if you don't know what a license is, you can look it up in Black's Law Dictionary, It means permission from a competent authority to do that which would otherwise be unlawful. So, in other words, it would be unlawful to drink water out of our own well without their permission. Well, anyhow, to make a long story short, I mean, I wrote them letters, and I got letters from them, and they were threatening me and all this kind of stuff.

[John Weaver] And finally, they sent one man down to try to resolve the situation, and he brought a witness with him. Well, since he brings a witness, then I'm going to have some, too. And so I had four or five men in the office with me, and I had my tape recorder, and I recorded the entire situation. And so the state agent began like this. He said, now, Pastor Weaver, he said, I don't want to get into theology. He said, I'm sure that you know more theology and know more Bible than I do. And I looked at him, I said, well, yes, I do.

[John Weaver] I was acknowledging the fact, because I knew he was scripturally ignorant. And he said, I just don't want to get in an argument over the Bible. I said, look, I'm not interested in arguing the Bible either, but I'll tell you what I'll do. I said, I've got so many constitutional and statutory problems with what you're trying to do. I'm willing to just discuss the constitutional and statutory issues if, if, You don't bring up theology, but if you bring up theology, I have every right to bring up theology. Is that understood?" Well, he said, yes, that's understood. We didn't get to go five minutes.

[John Weaver] Finally, one of my men looked at him and asked him a question. And the state agent said, look, you see the state in its infinite wisdom, and when he got that out of his mouth, I slapped my desk and I said, that's it, that's it, that's it. He looked at me shocked. He said, what is it? I said, you promised not to bring up theology. I said, you just did. And since you wrote it up, I want to bring it up. I said, you just said the statement is infinite wisdom.

[John Weaver] Infinity is an attribute of God. Only God is infinite. I said, here's the problem. We have two different gods. Your god is the state, and my god is the Lord Jesus Christ, who's revealed himself in Holy Scripture. I said, you serve a different god than I serve. That's the problem right here. He said, well, I see there's not too much use to further this discussion. I said, well, please let it be for the record that you're ending this discussion and not me, but you're the one that brought up theology.

[John Weaver] You have to understand something, folks. There is a real entity that exists, and we can gloss over it and we can pretend like it doesn't exist, but it does exist. We cannot take a conciliatory measure to those who hate Christ. You say, well, I can pray for them, sure. But you can't be reconciled with them in their wickedness and in their sin and in their rebellion against God. Let me show you.

[John Weaver] Hold 1 Kings chapter 21, but turn in your Bible to Psalm 97. Look at Psalm 97 and verse 10. Then we'll go to Psalm 94. Look at Psalm 97 and verse 10. Psalm 97 verse 10. Look at the first part of this verse. Psalm 97, verse 10, you that love the Lord, hate evil. You can't love the Lord without hating everything contrary to the Lord. You that love the Lord, hate evil. In Amos chapter 5, he says, hate the evil and love the good. But look in your Bible, Psalm 94, verse 16. Look at the question that God asks, Psalm 94, verse 16. God asks, who will rise up for me against the evildoers?

[John Weaver] Or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity? In other words, God is looking for individuals who will stand for Him against the workers of iniquity. Obviously. Yes. Elijah said, I found you. I found you. You are my enemy. You are the one that said it, and I'm acknowledging it. I want you to turn your Bibles very quickly to 2nd Kings chapter 3. I want you to see this. I want you to understand it was not just Elijah who had that attitude, but it was also Elisha as well, who was known as he who poured water on the hands of Elijah. Notice if you would, in 2nd Kings chapter 3, if you would, this is an interesting passage here, because in this passage the king of Judah The king of Israel and the king of Edom have gotten together and they're going to fight against the king of Moab.

[John Weaver] And they took a course that took them through the desert, so to speak. And they got out there and there was not enough water to sustain them and their armies, and so it looked like they were going to die. So notice if you would, verse 10. 2 Kings 3 verse 10, and the king of Israel said, Alas, the warden called these three kings together and delivered them into the hand of Moab.

[John Weaver] And Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the Lord, that we may inquire of the Lord by him? And one of the king of Israel's servants entered and said, Here is Elisha, the son of Shabbat, which poured water on the hands of Elisha. And Jehoshaphat said, the water of the Lord is with him. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, the king of Edom, and the king of Edom went down to him. And Elisha, watch, Elisha said to the king of Israel, who was an apostate, Elisha said to the king of Israel, what am I to do with thee? Get thee to the prophets of thy father and to the prophets of thy mother. And the king of Israel said, Nay!

[John Weaver] for the Lord had called these three kings together to deliver them in the hand of Moab. And Elisha said, watch it. And Elisha said, as the Lord of Hosts liveth who over my stand, sure, were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look toward thee nor see thee. Let me paraphrase that for you. Here's what he told the king.

[John Weaver] I wouldn't spit on you if you were on fire. If it wasn't for Jehoshaphat, I'd let you die. Wow. That's what he told him. I would not look toward thee, nor see thee. So when Elijah answered Ahab, and he answered that question, as thou found me, O my enemies, he just simply said, I found you. And you nailed it. We're enemies. We're on different sides. I want you to go back to 1 Kings chapter 21, because here's the third thing I want you to see today. and that is the question analyzed. Notice, if you would, in verse 20, And Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? And he answered, I have found thee. And here is the question analyzed, Because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the Lord. We must ask this question, why are civil rulers and spiritual rulers enemies? Bar not spiritual rulers and civil rulers, spheres and aspects of the same Kingdom of God?"

[John Weaver] And the answer is yes. Do you understand that God only created three institutions? He created the family, which is a ministry of education, the church, which is a ministry of grace, and the state or the civil government, which is a ministry of justice. And each one of these are indeed an aspect and a sphere of God's kingdom. In truth, if each one of these three institutions, if each one of these three spheres functioned biblically, then each one would complement the other, and there would be no animosity. In other words, if the state was scriptural, we'd have no problem. Family and church, scriptural. there would be no problem. The problem comes when you try to move out of your sphere of authority.

[John Weaver] Now, let me point this out. In Romans chapter 13, which was read earlier this morning, in verse 4, you have the civil ruler designated as a minister of God. Each time you read the word minister in verse 4, it's the Greek word dekonos, where we get our English word deacon from. And the word deacon literally means servant. So he is the deacon of God. He is the servant of God. Why did God ordain civil government? He ordained it first to be his servant, to be his minister, to be his deacon. He's called the Avenger of God. The word Avenger there is from the Greek word Ektikaios. Ekt is a preposition which means out of. Tikaios is the word for righteousness. So the Avenger there literally means one who exacts all righteousness. Where do you find righteousness? Only in God and God's law. Why did God ordain civil government? Not just simply to be his deacon and his servant, but to exact his righteousness. If you go through the Bible, you'll find out that rulers, civil rulers and judges, or to judge according to God's law and therefore exact His righteousness.

[John Weaver] But when you get to verse 6, again the civil rule is referred to there as a minister. But here the Greek word is different. It's the word liturgoi. Liturgos is the singular. It's where we get our English word liturgy from. What's a liturgy? It's a public form of worship. Do you realize God ordained civil government to be His His exactor of righteousness and His public form of worship. In other words, the state is just as required to worship God and worship Him scripturally as is the Church and as is the family, because it is an aspect of God's Kingdom.

[John Weaver] Why did it become our enemy? Well, look in verse 20 again. He said, Here's why, because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the Lord. When civil government becomes the enemy of God, it does so by doing that which is evil and contrary to God and his law. Look in verse 25. Notice what it says about Ahab. But there was none like unto Ahab which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up. In that amazing, here the king, the head, who had an obligation to serve God, and he became the enemy of God and the enemy of God's people. How do civil rulers become our enemies? Well, the answer to that is because of their rebellion.

[John Weaver] If you look in your Bibles very quickly at Psalm 2, let's see what the first three verses, and I've just recently preached on this passage and brought it out in far greater detail. We'll look at Psalm 2, just the first three verses. The Bible says this. Why do the heathen race and the people imagine the same thing? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His anointed, saying, Let us break their bands of thunder and cast away their courts from us.

[John Weaver] They said we don't like the limitations that God placed upon us. We don't like the definitions. We don't like the restrictions. We don't like the boundaries. We don't like the bans. And so here's what we're going to do. We're going to break those bans and we're going to break those bounds and we're going to do exactly what we want to do. We don't wish to remain within the confines of which God has ordained us. You see in Hosea 5 and verse 10, Once again, the Bible says, for they broke the barrens, and therefore God poured out wrath upon them like water. Do you realize that when God created three institutions, he gave them sphere authority?

[John Weaver] In other words, the state or the civil government has a proper sphere of jurisdiction as long as it remains in its sphere. So does the church, and so does the family. In other words, I have no right as a pastor to come to the civil authority and say, look, You cannot execute that murderer. I'm against the death penalty. You can't execute it. God says they can. The Bible says that he held, if not the sword, in vain. God gave him the power of the sword. That's his ministry. It's the ministry of justice. But likewise, the civil government can't come to me and say, you can't preach against sodomy. Yes, I can. Because the civil government has no authority to tell me that. It's not his sphere of authority. And you see, the truth of the matter is this, as long as each of these institutions remains in its own sphere and functions the way God says it's going to function, there's no problem. But when it loses, and when it leaves its sphere of authority, then obviously it tries to steal and usurp and take to itself authority that it never had.

[John Weaver] Show me anywhere in the Bible, show me anywhere in our Constitution, Where the civil government has the right of education, it doesn't. Where it has the right of welfare, it doesn't. I could mention numerous. I'm just going to say what happens is you have civil authorities usurping and stealing authority that was never given unto them. Now, listen very carefully to what I'm about to say. Any time you say that government, civil government, is unlimited. Your divine government. I don't care if you're talking about family government, church government, or civil government. The only unlimited government that exists is the government of God himself. For God alone is sovereign. Do you understand? There can only be one ultimate. There can only be one absolute. There can only be one sovereign. And if government has unlimited jurisdiction, if government can do whatever it desires to do, then government is God and God is not God. So you have to ask this question, and I want to show you this.

[John Weaver] How does governmental rebellion manifest itself today? It's not a fun thing to think about this. Do you understand that yes, we as individuals can rebel, senators can rebel, but so can civil government. I want you to look in your Bibles, very quickly, to Psalm 94. And then we're going to 2 Kings chapter 17. I'll tie this together for you, just momentarily. But look in Psalm 94. Notice if you would please, and let's begin reading there with verse 20. Psalm 94 verse 20. We just read verse 16 earlier, where God asked, Who will rise up for me against evildoers?

[John Weaver] Who will stand for me against workers of iniquity? Now look what he says in verse 20. Here's the question. Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by law? Shall the throne of iniquity...

[John Weaver] Now we're talking about a throne, so it's a governmental entity. It's called a throne of iniquity, so it's a wicked civil government. So here's the question. Shall a wicked civil government have fellowship with God, when that wicked civil government frameth mischief by law? Or that is, it makes sin legal. Another word in the Bible for mischief is Understand, abortion is legal in this country. It's legal to murder as long as you do it through abortion. It's legal to be a sodomite. It's legal to steal, as long as you're a politician, not that you don't understand. All I'm saying is civil government makes sin legal.

[John Weaver] Look at the next verse, if you would. Verse 21. Here's what they do when they make sin legal. They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood.

[John Weaver] Now, I do want you to turn to 2 Kings chapter 17, and I want you to see this. 2 Kings chapter 17, and notice verses 7 and 8. 2 Kings 17, verses 7 and 8. Notice, if you would, what the Bible says about the children of Israel. 2 Kings 17, verse 7, for so it was that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God.

[John Weaver] brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and had feared other gods." Now, wait a minute. How do we know that Israel feared other gods? Well, you say, the Bible just told us they did. I understand that. But in what fashion did their fear of other gods take place? Well, let's look at it. Verse 7,"...and had feared other gods." Verse 8, and walked in the statutes or the laws of the heathen whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel and of the kings of Israel which they had made." So what Israel had done was this. They turned their back against God and against God's law and they began then to follow the laws of the heathen and then the laws of the kings of Israel which they had made which were absolutely contrary to God's law. Look down to verse 19. And Judah also kept not the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel, which they made.

[John Weaver] And the Lord rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them from the hands of the spoilers, and cast them out of His sight." Why did God send the children of Israel into captivity? Because they rejected Him and His law. What did they do? They substituted man's law for God's law. They substituted man's authority for God's authority. Do you understand that not all statutes and all laws and all rulings and all executive orders and all regulations can nullify the Bible or can nullify God?

[John Weaver] I don't care what the civil rulers say. It cannot cancel out God. Let me give you an illustration. There was a court case where a young girl wanted to pray. at her graduation. The court case is Jane Doe versus the Santa Fe Independent School District. So we went to court, and essentially the court said, well, it's all right to have prayer at a high school graduation if you pray the way we tell you. But if you don't pray the way we tell you, then you can't pray. I want you to listen to what the judge told this young Christian girl who wanted to pray at her high school graduation.

[John Weaver] And I've often said, I wish she'd have said this to me. Because I'd have had a few words back for him. I may still be in prison, but I'd have had a few words back, I can assure you. Here's what the judge said. Listen carefully. This court will allow prayer if it is a typical, non-denominational prayer. The prayer can refer to God or the Almighty, but the prayer must not refer to Jesus. And make no mistake, this court is going to have a United States Marshal in attendance at graduation. If any student offends this court and mentions the name of Jesus in a prayer, that student will be summarily arrested and will face six months in incarceration, anyone who violates these orders is going to wish that he or she had died as a child when this court gets through with them. Why? Why? I've got news for you.

[John Weaver] Those in charge today are still selling themselves to work evil. exactly the way Ahab did. They're denying God's sovereign authority. Their attitude is the same attitude that's revealed in Luke 19, verse 14, where those wicked people said concerning Christ, we will not have this man to reign over us. In other words, we don't want God's law. We don't want God's sovereign authority. We want to rule ourselves.

[John Weaver] Do you realize this is the very essence of rebellion? I don't care if you look at Adam and Eve, I don't care who you look at, the essence of rebellion is denying God's authority and trying to establish your own authority, denying God's law and seeking to establish your own law. And that's exactly what Ahab did. And he was considered the enemy of God. He sold himself to work evil. Listen carefully.

[John Weaver] You say, Brother Weaver, what in the world is wrong in our country? Why is it that most people never see what's happening? May I answer that for you? Here's why. Because unless you believe in and understand God's absolute sovereignty, you'll never understand tyranny. You'll never understand tyranny. You'll never understand it civilly. You'll never understand it familiarly. You'll never understand it ecclesiastically. Until you say God is absolutely sovereign and His word is supreme, His law is real and true, you will never, ever recognize tyranny. The second application is that since government has become the enemy of God, we must choose whom we must obey.

[John Weaver] Do you remember when those Jews cried to Pilate when he asked them shall I crucify your king? What did they say? We have no king but Caesar. What? We don't want Christ. We don't want his authority. You remember that passage in Acts 17 where it says concerning those Christians that those who turn the world upside down have come hither also saying that there is another king even on Jesus. And what did Peter and the rest of the Apostles say in Acts 5 and verse 29? When they were forbidden to preach in the name of Jesus, they said, we ought to obey God rather than man. You have to determine who you're going to obey. You have to say, there's a line being drawn. I'll either obey God or man.

[John Weaver] Now, the last one is this. When we aid and and seek to establish rumors that are ungodly and that rule unbiblically, we are joining in with a rebellion against God. Read Hosea 8 and verse 4, read Hosea 5 and verse 11. You cannot support wickedness. The lesser of two evils is still evil. Ahab looked at Elijah and said, hast thou found me, O thine enemy? Elijah answered, I found you.

[John Weaver] And let me tell you something, folks. God shall find out all of his enemies. And as the psalmist said, he shall strike them through. It pays you to be on the Lord's side and not on the side of the weak.

[John Weaver] Let's bow together. Lord God, we recognize you today as a sovereign, as the sovereign. It's easier to say that in these difficult days than it is to act like it and to live it. Oh Lord, by your grace, in everything we say and everything we do both privately and publicly, may we be living testimonies of your authority and your rule and your power over everything. And may we not give in to the lies that are being told to us. That it's okay for you to be sovereign in the church, but no place else. Oh Lord God, we are praying to the God right now who is sovereign over everything.

[John Weaver] That's who we pray to. Oh Lord God, may we as a church, all of us, parents, children, grandparents, grandchildren. May we live like Elijah, who was jealous for the name of the Lord God of hosts. May that be us. May, O Lord, that be us. We thank you again for your mercy to us. Thank you for giving us life. Thank you for giving us your Son, who died a horrifying death that we might have liked. We pray these things in the name of Christ, Savior and Lord. Amen.

God's Preachers: Enemies of a Godless State

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	112141630479
Subject	Civil Government
Course	Civil Government: Magistracy, Authority, and Romans 13: Authority
Genre	Sermon
Date	2014-11-02
Dictation Name
Book	Book 008: Civil Government: Magistracy, Authority, and Romans 13 — Chapter 16
Source Timed Segments	93

Formatted Transcript

Opening

John Weaver graduated from Bob Jones University undergrad, did over 40 years ago, I believe, and maybe 50—just kidding. Did some graduate work there at Bob Jones University as well. And since that time, has been involved in starting Christian schools, even planting churches as well. And Pastor Weaver has a history of faithfulness to the Scriptures, and preaching on any part of the Scriptures, especially those parts that may be ignored in our modern churches. He has some, shall we say, real credits to his name. One of them being that he's been called a racist and a hater by the Southern Poverty Law Center. If you know anything about the Southern Poverty Law Center, that is a racist and hateful organization if there ever was one. One of the things we as Christians need to understand is that we should never be loved by people who hate Christ. We must understand that. We can't have people who hate Christ say, you know, I hate Christ, but that's the old saying—now that's a good guy, I like him. That's a problem. That's a definite problem. One of the things that I appreciate about Pastor Weaver is I listen to his sermons when I can.

It takes me 50 minutes to get to work. And usually that's not enough time to catch an entire sermon. But it takes me about an hour and ten to get home, so usually I can catch the end of the first sermon maybe and then start another one. But one of the things that I appreciate so much about Pastor Weaver is his understanding of what's happened before, yes, history, with the Scriptures. The Apostle Paul, we're studying 1 Corinthians right now, and the Apostle Paul forever connected history with the Gospel. When he said that Christ—this is the gospel in 1 Corinthians 15—Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. You see what Paul's doing there, he's putting them together. The history, he died and he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. We don't know how to judge even the present unless we know how to interpret the past, do we? And Pastor Weaver is as good, I believe, as anyone I've ever heard at interpreting the past in the light of the Scriptures. You're in for a real treat this morning and this evening. Pastor Weaver, it's great to have you. Well, it's a joy to be here, and I'm thankful to be back. Let's see.

Five years ago, we met in Ryan's house, didn't we? I remember that. I surely do. And I'm thankful. I've got a little larger crowd today, that's for sure. I wanted to say something the pastor mentioned earlier. Thank you, brother. He said no one was early this morning. Well, we've had several early in times past. We've had several late in times past when you spring forward, etc. But one of the funniest things that happened in our church was we had a widow woman and she was a sweetheart. She's now dead. And but she called me one day and she said, pastor, she said, are we having church this Sunday? I said, well, yes, we are. She said, well, are we starting at 10 o'clock as usual? I said, yes, we are.

She said, are you preaching? I said, yes, I am. But she said, something's funny, because I'm here at the church and you're not here and neither is anyone else. I said, well, Jane, that could possibly be because today is Saturday, tomorrow is Sunday. Yes, she was blonde. So Sunday morning, when she was there, I said, well listen, one thing for sure, Jane is not late. She was 24 hours early.

So I'm thankful, but she was a trooper, took it all in stride. We were going somewhere, and she got to be really independent as a widow lady. So we were going somewhere, and I said, well, Jane, may I give you directions? She said, Pastor, I know how to get there. I looked at her and I said, well, if I can't give you directions, can I tell you where to go? She's a new veteran of ours. But she was a fine, sweet lady, that's for sure. I want you to open your Bibles today, if you would please, to 1 Kings, chapter 21. 1 Kings, chapter 21. And notice, if you would please, verses 17 through 20. 1 Kings, chapter 21, verses 17 through 20. I want to bring a message which I've entitled, "God's Preachers: Enemies of the State." Notice in 1 Kings chapter 21, beginning there with verse 17, "The word of the Lord came unto Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, which is in Samaria.

Behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, where he is going down to possess it. And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Hast thou killed, and also taken possession? And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the Lord, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine. And Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? And he answered, I have found thee, because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of God."

Introduction: The Strange Idea of Enemies

Weaver introduces the topic by noting that the term 'enemy' bothers some Christians who wrongly think pastors should have no enemies. He states that even God has enemies.

Notice I've said the title of the message is "God's Preachers: Enemies of the State." It's absolutely strange that the term enemy bothers some Christians. And the reason it bothers them is because they erroneously believe that somehow Christians are not supposed to have enemies, and especially pastors. The interesting thing is this. We not only have enemies, but the infinite holy God of heaven and earth has enemies as well.

Biblical Proof that God, Christ, and Christians Have Enemies

Weaver cites multiple Psalms and John 15 to show that God has enemies, Christ was hated, and Christians will be hated by the world.

When you stop and think of the average pastor today, or the attitude or the imagination that most people have of the average pastor, he's some kind of sweet, syrupy, sentimental, effeminate individual who doesn't really bother anyone and no one bothers him. He just stays the same regardless of what's going on. Of course, most people think every pastor is supposed to love every individual, regardless of how wicked and how sinful they are, and regardless how much they hate the Lord Jesus Christ, and how much they defy the Lord Jesus Christ. But the truth of the matter is, not only Christians, but pastors, and even God himself, has enemies. I want you to hold 1 Kings chapter 21, if you would, but I want you to turn, first of all, if you would, to Psalm 21. Let me just prove this point to you with just a few passages. If you look at Psalm 21, beginning there with verse 8, I want you to notice what the Bible says concerning God Himself. In Psalm 21, in verse 8, the Word of God says it like this, "Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies. Thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee. Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger.

The Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them." Note, if you would,

Scripture Reading — Psalm 21:8

"Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies, and thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee."

So God certainly knows who his enemies are, and He's going to find them out. If you would look in your Bibles to the book of Psalms, Psalm 68, beginning there with verse 1, notice again, if you would, what the psalmist says. Psalm 68 and verse 1. In this particular passage, the word of God says, "Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered, let them also that hate him flee before him." And then he goes on to say how those enemies should be destroyed. But notice, "Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered." Skip down to verse 21. The Bible says, "But God shall wound the head of his enemies, and the hairy scalp of such a one as goeth on still in his trespasses." Verse 23, "That thy foot may be dipped in the blood of thine enemies, and the tongue of thy dogs in the same."

Scripture Reading — Psalm 68:1

If you look in Psalm 92 and verse 9, Psalm 92 and verse 9, again God says it like this very clearly, and we're talking about God's enemies, and remember He's the most holy, just, and righteous being. And yet the Bible says in Psalm 92 and verse 9, "For, lo, thine enemies, O Lord, for, lo, thine enemies shall perish; all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered." But notice, if you would, how repeatedly the Bible says that God has enemies. And if you look at Psalm 110, concerning this great messianic psalm, which is repeated in the New Testament a number of times in reference to Jesus Christ. The Bible says in Psalm 110, beginning there with verse one, "The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies." So very obviously, God has enemies over and over. The Bible says he does. There are those who are against God.

Scripture Reading — Psalm 110:1

And whether you realize it or not, God's people have enemies as well. I wish I had time to bring those four messages that I did on imprecatory praying. That is, praying those imprecatory prayers. But if you look very quickly in your Bibles to Psalm 58 and Psalm 59, you'll see just a couple of these prayers where the psalmist is praying against his enemies, which happen to be God's enemies as well. But look in Psalm 58, if you would please, to begin with. In Psalm 58, notice, if you would, beginning there with verse 7. And he's talking about the aliens of God. In fact, go back to verse 3. Go back to verse 3. He says, "The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies. Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear; which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely. Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Lord."

Scripture Reading — Psalm 58:3-11

"Let them melt away as waters which run continually: when he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces. As a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away: like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun. Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath."

Now watch!

Scripture Reading — Psalm 58:3-11

"The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked. So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous: verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth."

Note, if you would please, here's a prayer that David is praying against the wicked, and he says,

Scripture Reading — Psalm 58:3-11

"The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth God's vengeance, and yes, the righteous shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked."

If you skip down to Psalm 59, look in verse 1, David prays this.

"Deliver me from mine enemies, O my God: defend me from them that rise up against me. Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, and save me from bloody men. For, lo, they lie in wait for my soul: the mighty are gathered against me; not for my transgression, nor for my sin, O Lord." In other words, David hadn't done anything to merit or draw forth their hatred and their anger and their murderous desire, but he says they're just my enemies. So very obviously, Christians do have enemies. And if you would turn very quickly in your Bibles to the book of John chapter 15, and let's begin reading there in verse 18, and you will find that we have enemies just simply by virtue of the fact that we've been saved by the grace of God. Notice if you would, in John chapter 15, beginning there with verse 18, that's what our Lord teaches. John chapter 15 in verse 18. John 15, verse 18.

He said, "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also." So our Lord said, very obviously, we're going to be hated just simply because of the fact that we're not of the world. We don't think like the world. We don't act like the world. We don't live like the world. And they think we're mighty strange. In fact, Peter said it very similarly. He said they think it's strange that you run not with them to the same excess of riot. And obviously they do.

So it should come as no surprise then that if our sovereign God has enemies, if His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, has enemies, if Christians have enemies, then obviously pastors have enemies as well. Now it would behoove us, not only as pastors but also as Christians, to examine ourselves and to see exactly as to why we have enemies.

Examining Why We Have Enemies

Weaver urges self-examination to ensure our enemies are due to righteousness, not personal crankiness. He references David's prayer in Psalm 139 about hating God's enemies with perfect hatred.

Now when I say that, what I mean is simply this. We should make sure that if we have enemies, it's not because of our own crankiness, unfriendliness. In other words, we don't want enemies of our own making, we want enemies just simply by virtue of being righteous and standing for God. If we've got enemies of our own making, then we need to repent and we need to make things right with them. That's very easy and very clear. I want you to look very quickly at Psalm 139. In fact, I'm going to come back to this passage a little bit later, but look at Psalm 139 and at the prayer that David prayed. Notice Psalm 139, and let's begin reading there with verse 19. Interestingly, Psalm 139, and notice if you would begin there with verse 19, David prays this.

He says, "Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God." Now, since God is going to slay them, notice this prayer request. "Depart from me therefore, ye bloody men." In other words, I don't want to be around you. I don't want to associate with you, because I know God's wrath is against you. And then he says in verse 20, "For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain." It's not that they just curse God, they do that as well. But they have no use for God, and they speak idly of God and worthlessly of God. He says, "For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain." Now watch verse 21. "Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." Now, isn't that interesting that David just said, "Do not I hate them that hate thee, O Lord?"

Yes, "I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies." And in his prayer, "Search me, O God, and know my heart: see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." Obviously, there is no contradiction between hating God's enemies and those that hate God, and being holy and righteous in God, because that's exactly what David prayed. Now, I want to answer the question today. How can a preacher be the enemy of the state? Some of you will remember there was a movie a number of years back entitled "Enemy of the State." Well, it was an ordinary citizen, best I can remember, but the truth of the matter is this. Many of God's preachers are enemies of the state. Everyone in this room probably has just heard where the sodomite mayor in Texas has tried to subpoena the sermons of certain preachers that she knew were preaching against sodomy.

The Question Asked: 'Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?'

Weaver expounds Ahab's question to Elijah, showing that Ahab declared Elijah his enemy. He explains the Hebrew word for enemy and notes that Ahab did not want the confrontation but expected it.

And of course there's a big uproar about it. But I want you to go back to your Bibles to 1 Kings chapter 21 and you know the story in this particular passage where King Ahab and his wicked wife Jezebel were on the throne and Ahab comes to Naboth and he says, "Tell you what, I want your garden. It's close by my palace. I want it for an herb garden." "And I will either buy it from you at a price or I'll trade you another piece of land for it." And Naboth said, "God forbid it me." Now what Naboth really said was this. God forbids me to sell the inheritance of my father. In other words, I have no right to sell it. I cannot sell it. And what did Ahab do? He turned his face to the wall and pouted like a spoiled brat.

And Jezebel said, "What in the world is wrong with you?" He said, "I wanted Naboth's vineyard and he wouldn't give it to me." "Why?" She said, "Are you not the king in Israel? Why? Go ahead and eat something. I'll get the garden for you." And so she took and she wrote a letter to the elders of Naboth's city and said, "You proclaim a fast, you set him on high, you let some sons of Belial come in, and then you let them witness against him, and then you take him down and stone him," and then she sealed it with the king's seal. And would you believe it, the gutless, heartless elders of that city did that. They took an innocent man, proclaimed a fast, set him on high, and had two men come in, and they took Naboth out and stoned him to death for being a blasphemer. "He blasphemes God and the king." Well, if he blasphemes God, he deserves to die. If he blasphemes the king, he deserves to have his property confiscated. But you see, they did not just simply murder Naboth. Because if they just simply murdered Naboth, then the inheritance would have gone to his sons. If you read the scripture, they murdered Naboth and his sons. Jezebel comes back in and she tells Ahab, "Go down to the garden and claim it, because Naboth is not alive, but he's dead." And so he walks to the garden, and if you look at verse 17 again, "Now the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, which is in Samaria. Behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, where he is gone down to possess it.

And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Hast thou killed, and also taken possession? And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the Lord, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine. And Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?" Let me just stop right there. I want you to notice this first point here is the question asked. Notice this question. King Ahab said to Elijah, "Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?" When he asks that question, Ahab is not just simply looking for an answer, he knows the answer to that question in the strictest sense of the word, but actually what he's doing by asking that question is making a declaration of fact. The declaration of fact is this: Elijah, you are my enemy.

You are the representative of God. You're the prophet of God. You're the preacher of God. I'm the king. I'm the civil ruler. And you happen to be my enemy. I want you to know that King Ahab did not hesitate, nor did he try to conceal the fact that he considered God's prophet his avowed enemy. By the way, the humanists and the wicked in this day have no trouble stating the fact that we as Christians and God's true preachers are indeed the troublemakers. In fact, that's what Ahab called Elijah when he met him after the drought, when God said, "Go show thyself to Ahab."

He said, "Art thou he that troubleth Israel?" I'll paraphrase it. Elijah answered, "It's not me, you wicked reprobate, it's you and your filthy wife." Yeah, that's what he said, basically. No, it's not me. But the king noted very clearly that here Elijah was his enemy. By the way, the Hebrew word for enemy here is the word oyev, which literally means hating, adversary, a foe, an enemy. It's a word that is frequently used in the Old Testament, and each instance it denotes a real, active enemy. For instance, look in your Bible to the book of Judges chapter 16. Judges chapter 16 and verse 23, and notice what the Philistines said about Samson. In Judges chapter 16 and verse 23, the word enemy in this verse is the same as the word enemy in 1 Kings chapter 21 and verse 20. In Judges 16, verse 23, "Then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together for to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon their god, and to rejoice: for they said, Our god hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hand."

And certainly Samson was an enemy to the Philistines. He killed them hip and thigh. Surely he was an enemy. And they called him an enemy, a foe, someone that they actually hated. If you look in 1 Samuel chapter 18, notice what is said of David concerning Saul, and you remember King Saul tried to kill David several times, but in 1 Samuel chapter 18 and verse 29, notice what the Bible says concerning David and Saul. 1 Samuel 18 and verse 29, the Word of God says this, "And Saul was yet the more afraid of David; and Saul became David's enemy continually." Notice if you would, he became David's enemy continually. It's the same word. He became David's foe. He hated David.

And so the question is asked by Ahab to Elijah, "Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?" Now, the interesting thing is about the word found. Did you know you'd read that verse and you'd say, "What? Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?" Didn't Elijah know where the palace was? Well, of course he knew where the palace was. Did he not know where Ahab was in the palace? I'm sure he probably did. But if you look in 1 Kings chapter 20, here is the same Hebrew word, 1 Kings 20 and verse 36.

Scripture Reading — 1 Kings 20:36

"Then said he unto him, Because thou hast not obeyed the voice of the Lord, behold, as soon as thou art departed from me, a lion shall slay thee. And as soon as he was departed from him, a lion found him, and slew him."

Well, this was where the man was to be smitten, but notice if you would, the lion found him and slew him because he would not smite the prophet, because the prophet said it to him in the name of the Lord. The lion was there, but he was unseen until just at the right moment when the lion finally slew this individual. So here's what Ahab is asking, "Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?" I want to point out two or three things right here.

First of all, here is what the question implies. First, the king did not initiate, nor did he desire, a confrontation. He did not want to face Elijah. Do you realize Ahab knew he was wicked? He knew he was wrong. He knew he did not worship the true and the living God. If Ahab could have gotten away with the murder of Naboth and his sons, he would have gladly done it. If he could have gotten away without being confronted, more power to him, he would have loved that. But he didn't. Do you understand this?

Criminals do not like to have their sins and their wickedness discovered and pointed out. Look at all the whistleblowers in our own civil government. Look at what happened when they exposed the corruption and the wickedness inside our own government. They're the ones that are persecuted. They're the ones that are imprisoned. They're the ones that have their goods taken away from them and confiscated. No, Ahab did not initiate this confrontation. He did not want it and I can assure you no Bush, no Clinton, no Obama or anybody wants a confrontation like this. And so Ahab, no, no, he did not initiate it, but it happened.

The second implication is this. The king, in one sense of the word, expected to be confronted. He asked, "Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?" Now, remember, the lion found the man who refused to slay the prophet. The lion found him. In other words, the lion found him and slew him at the opportune time. Now, here's why. Ahab is saying, "Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?" Ahab knew that Elijah knew where the palace was. Ahab knew that Elijah knew where he was. But let me ask you a question. Since Elijah was considered the enemy of King Ahab, wouldn't you tend to think that Elijah would have been classified as a persona non grata? "You're not coming in here. This is my house. This is my palace."

The Duty of God's Preachers to Confront Wicked Rulers

Weaver argues it is the duty of preachers to find and confront God's enemies in the political realm, regardless of their office. He cites God's sending of Elijah and the historical practice of election sermons.

And probably there are all kinds of instructions to the guards. "Don't let that preacher in here. He's a troublemaker. He's an enemy. I don't want to be around him." But what has happened? Ahab has left the protection of his palace and he's gone down to the garden to take possession. And like that lion who came out of the woods to slay the man who refused to smite the prophet, and just like the lion who did come out and kill the prophet that sinned against God when he prophesied against Jeroboam, when he prophesied and disobeyed God, a lion met him and slew him as well. And so, Elijah now has come out of the woods and pounced upon Ahab. Elijah caught Ahab off guard at an inopportune time for Ahab, but it was the opportune time for Elijah and for God. So, although the king did not want to be confronted, yet he expected to be confronted. Here's the third implication. "Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?"

I want you to understand it is the duty of God's preachers to find out all of God's enemies, even in the political realm, and to confront them and reprove them. And it doesn't matter if they're the highest rulers in the land. It doesn't matter their position of office. Ahab happened to be the king. There's no such thing as off limits when it comes to God's preachers. I've been going through the Bible, and I'm, believe it or not, I've got several messages on this, but I'm going to develop at least one, maybe two messages, which I've entitled, "A Model for Secession." "A Model for Secession." And the South tried it once, and we're going to do it again, I know. Territories will as well but I've been going through the Bible and it's amazing as you go through the Bible to see how many of God's preachers confront wicked corrupt rulers. There's no such thing as being off limits when it comes to God's Word. In fact, let me emphasize, it was God who sent Elijah.

Look down, if you would, 1 Kings chapter 21, verse 17. Note, if you would, "And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, which is in Samaria. Behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, where he is gone down to possess it." God sent Elijah there. If you look very quickly in 2 Kings chapter 1. Ahaziah was a wicked king, and he fell down through a lattice and got cut and sore. And notice if you would, God sent Elijah to confront him as well. The Bible says in 2 Kings 1 and verse 3, "But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say unto them, Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that ye go to inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron?" So Ahaziah had fallen down through a lattice, he got cut, evidently his sores had become infected, and the god of Ekron was Baal-zebub, which means god of the filth or god of the flies.

And so when he sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub, God said to Elijah, "You go tell those messengers to turn around and go back, and you tell Ahaziah that he's not going to come up off that bed of affliction where he's laying." In other words, I'm going to kill him. That's what God said. So here Elijah, of course, confronted him. So do not assume, do not assume that God's preachers do not have a role in civil affairs and political affairs. They do. In fact, if you would read Psalm 82, which was already quoted some this morning, that is actually, Psalm 82 is actually against the judicial officers who are corrupt. But in Psalm 82, the preacher of the temple becomes the prophet of the court. And do you realize one of the greatest failings of pastors in this country is our failure to rebuke sin and expose corruption and wickedness in high places, even in civil places? Do you realize our forefathers, and I know most of you do, always held what were known as election sermons? In the founding of this country, there was no civil ruler who could take an office without being preached to by some preacher showing his duties to God and his duties to the people, and also the people's duty to the civil ruler and under God.

So, it's very astonishing to me today that very few preachers have really opened up and chimed out and shouted against our past civil rulers, especially look at Clinton. Look at the Bushes, look at who we have now, look at Obama, look at the mayor in Houston, look at the wicked civil rulers who are really openly despising God and God's Word. Look at the course of our Congress, look at our judicial system that is absolutely corrupt. Do you remember when Elisha followed Elijah and God separated them and took Elijah to heaven by a whirlwind and a chariot of fire? Do you remember that? Because Elisha had asked for a double portion of the power of Elijah. And Elijah said, "If you see me when I'm taken away, it shall be done unto you. But if you don't see me, it's not going to be done." And as God took Elijah away, his mantle fell. Elisha picked up that mantle, went back to the river and took the mantle and smote the water and said, "Where is the Lord God of Elijah?"

The Question Answered: 'I have found thee'

Weaver highlights Elijah's unflinching answer, emphasizing the clear line of separation between God's friends and enemies. He references David's hatred of God's enemies and Elisha's similar attitude.

Do you realize that righteousness and unrighteousness do not coexist very well. Do you remember what the Prophet Hanani said to Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles 19 verse 2? He asked this question,

Scripture Reading — 2 Chronicles 19:2

"Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the Lord?"

Wow. And because Jehoshaphat had done that, he said,

Scripture Reading — 2 Chronicles 19:2

"Therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord."

You remember what he asked in Amos 3 and verse 3, "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" Let me ask you, can you see, can you envision in your mind Elijah or Elisha having prayer at a presidential inauguration today? And the answer is no. Even our Lord said in Matthew 12 and verse 30, what? "He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad." It's impossible for God's preachers to align themselves with God's enemies and still remain the representatives of God. The line is just as clearly drawn today as it was back in the Old Testament.

You remember when Israel had sinned and they had built the golden calf and the people were dancing and jumping around it and worshipping the golden calf? Moses came down from the mountain, threw the tablets down, and broke them, and he said, "Who is on the Lord's side? Let him come unto me." Ah, there was a clear line of demarcation. So when Elijah answered, "I have found thee," it's necessary for us to understand that there is a clear line of demarcation, and that line should be definite and emphatic and clear, and therefore we should be against anyone who is against the Lord. Remember what David prayed. I told you I was going to refer to it again. He said, "Do not I hate them that hate thee, O Lord?" By the way, I'm not going to preach today. I don't have time. But I do have a message, and this is on Sermon Audio. The title of the message is, "The Biblical Doctrine of Hatred." Anybody here ever heard it? I want to tell you, you need to listen to it. Because I take you through the Bible and I show you the Sovereign's hatred, the Savior's hatred, and the Saint's hatred. I have a good friend, he's now with the Lord, but when I preached that message years and years ago, he took that and duplicated it and passed it out like it was candy. And I looked at him one day and I said, "That's a hard message," and it is. I said, "Why don't you pass out something a little lighter, a little easier, ease people into something, then give them that message."

He said, "Oh, I can separate the wheat from the chaff right away. It'll separate the wheat from the chaff right away, I can assure you." Well, that's exactly what is happening here. You have to understand, folks, David said, "Do not I hate them that hate thee, O Lord? Yea, I hate them with a perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies." And then he added, "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."

Now, I want you to note something about Elijah. This is interesting, because Ahab said, "Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?" And what was Elijah's response? "I have found thee." What? "I have found thee." I want you to notice that Elijah did not try to neutralize the situation. He did not try to soften the situation in. He just simply said, "Yep, you got it right, I found you." He didn't squirm. He didn't flinch. He didn't mealy-mouth around. He didn't say, "Oh, king."

"Now, that word enemy is a very strong word, and it's a negative word. Let's try to put our relationship in a positive light. Let's use some other softer word." No, no, no, no, no. He didn't do any of that. "Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?" "Yep, I found you. And you got it right, bud. We're enemies. We're on different sides." And Elijah was acknowledging the enmity that existed between the wicked civil ruler and God's preacher.

I remember years ago when our church was attacked by the state of Georgia, and you can read my book and find out about it. I tell in there some of this stuff. It was probably the stupidest thing that you've ever heard of in your life. They wanted to give us a license to drink water out of our own well, and the well had already been in the ground over 40 years. And there'd never been a problem. And if you don't know what a license is, you can look it up in Black's Law Dictionary. It means permission from a competent authority to do that which would otherwise be unlawful. So, in other words, it would be unlawful to drink water out of our own well without their permission. Well, anyhow, to make a long story short, I mean, I wrote them letters, and I got letters from them, and they were threatening me and all this kind of stuff.

And finally, they sent one man down to try to resolve the situation, and he brought a witness with him. Well, since he brings a witness, then I'm going to have some, too. And so I had four or five men in the office with me, and I had my tape recorder, and I recorded the entire situation. And so the state agent began like this. He said, "Now, Pastor Weaver," he said, "I don't want to get into theology." He said, "I'm sure that you know more theology and know more Bible than I do." And I looked at him, I said, "Well, yes, I do." I was acknowledging the fact, because I knew he was scripturally ignorant. And he said, "I just don't want to get in an argument over the Bible." I said, "Look, I'm not interested in arguing the Bible either, but I'll tell you what I'll do. I said, I've got so many constitutional and statutory problems with what you're trying to do. I'm willing to just discuss the constitutional and statutory issues if, if, you don't bring up theology, but if you bring up theology, I have every right to bring up theology. Is that understood?" Well, he said, "Yes, that's understood." We didn't get to go five minutes.

Finally, one of my men looked at him and asked him a question. And the state agent said, "Look, you see the state in its infinite wisdom," and when he got that out of his mouth, I slapped my desk and I said, "That's it, that's it, that's it." He looked at me shocked. He said, "What is it?" I said, "You promised not to bring up theology. I said, you just did. And since you brought it up, I want to bring it up. I said, you just said the state has infinite wisdom." "Infinity is an attribute of God. Only God is infinite. I said, here's the problem. We have two different gods. Your god is the state, and my God is the Lord Jesus Christ, who's revealed himself in Holy Scripture. I said, you serve a different god than I serve. That's the problem right here." He said, "Well, I see there's not too much use to further this discussion." I said, "Well, please let it be for the record that you're ending this discussion and not me, but you're the one that brought up theology."

You have to understand something, folks. There is a real enmity that exists, and we can gloss over it and we can pretend like it doesn't exist, but it does exist. We cannot take a conciliatory measure to those who hate Christ. You say, "Well, I can pray for them," sure. But you can't be reconciled with them in their wickedness and in their sin and in their rebellion against God. Let me show you. Hold 1 Kings chapter 21, but turn in your Bible to Psalm 97. Look at Psalm 97 and verse 10. Then we'll go to Psalm 94. Look at Psalm 97 and verse 10. Psalm 97 verse 10. Look at the first part of this verse. Psalm 97, verse 10,

Scripture Reading — Psalm 97:10

"Ye that love the Lord, hate evil."

You can't love the Lord without hating everything contrary to the Lord.

Scripture Reading — Psalm 97:10

"Ye that love the Lord, hate evil."

In Amos chapter 5, he says, "Hate the evil, and love the good." But look in your Bible, Psalm 94, verse 16. Look at the question that God asks, Psalm 94, verse 16. God asks, "Who will rise up for me against the evildoers?"

"Or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?" In other words, God is looking for individuals who will stand for Him against the workers of iniquity. Obviously. Yes. Elijah said, "I found you. I found you. You are my enemy. You are the one that said it, and I'm acknowledging it." I want you to turn your Bibles very quickly to 2 Kings chapter 3. I want you to see this. I want you to understand it was not just Elijah who had that attitude, but it was also Elisha as well, who was known as he who poured water on the hands of Elijah. Notice if you would, in 2 Kings chapter 3, if you would, this is an interesting passage here, because in this passage the king of Judah, the king of Israel, and the king of Edom have gotten together and they're going to fight against the king of Moab.

And they took a course that took them through the desert, so to speak. And they got out there and there was not enough water to sustain them and their armies, and so it looked like they were going to die. So notice if you would, verse 10. 2 Kings 3 verse 10,

Scripture Reading — 2 Kings 3:10-14

"And the king of Israel said, Alas! that the Lord hath called these three kings together, to deliver them into the hand of Moab!" "And Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the Lord, that we may inquire of the Lord by him? And one of the king of Israel's servants answered and said, Here is Elisha the son of Shaphat, which poured water on the hands of Elijah. And Jehoshaphat said, The word of the Lord is with him. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him. And Elisha,"

watch,

Scripture Reading — 2 Kings 3:10-14

"Elisha said unto the king of Israel, who was an apostate, Elisha said to the king of Israel, What have I to do with thee? get thee to the prophets of thy father, and to the prophets of thy mother. And the king of Israel said unto him, Nay!"

"for the Lord hath called these three kings together, to deliver them into the hand of Moab. And Elisha said," watch it. "And Elisha said, As the Lord of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, surely, were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look toward thee, nor see thee." Let me paraphrase that for you. Here's what he told the king. "I wouldn't spit on you if you were on fire. If it wasn't for Jehoshaphat, I'd let you die." Wow. That's what he told him. "I would not look toward thee, nor see thee." So when Elijah answered Ahab, and he answered that question, "Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?" he just simply said, "I found you. And you nailed it. We're enemies. We're on different sides." I want you to go back to 1 Kings chapter 21, because here's the third thing I want you to see today. And that is the question analyzed. Notice, if you would, in verse 20, "And Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? And he answered, I have found thee." And here is the question analyzed, "Because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the Lord." We must ask this question, why are civil rulers and spiritual rulers enemies? Are not spiritual rulers and civil rulers spheres and aspects of the same Kingdom of God?

And the answer is yes. Do you understand that God only created three institutions? He created the family, which is a ministry of education, the church, which is a ministry of grace, and the state or the civil government, which is a ministry of justice. And each one of these are indeed an aspect and a sphere of God's kingdom. In truth, if each one of these three institutions, if each one of these three spheres functioned biblically, then each one would complement the other, and there would be no animosity. In other words, if the state was scriptural, we'd have no problem. Family and church, scriptural, there would be no problem. The problem comes when you try to move out of your sphere of authority.

The Question Analyzed: Why Civil Rulers Become Enemies

Weaver explains that civil government becomes an enemy when it rebels against God, sells itself to work evil, and usurps authority not given by God. He discusses the three institutions (family, church, state) and their proper spheres.

"I wouldn't spit on you if you were on fire. If it wasn't for Jehoshaphat, I'd let you die." Wow. That's what he told him. "I would not look toward thee, nor see thee." So when Elijah answered Ahab, and he answered that question, "Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?" he just simply said, "I found you. And you nailed it. We're enemies. We're on different sides." I want you to go back to 1 Kings chapter 21, because here's the third thing I want you to see today. And that is the question analyzed. Notice, if you would, in verse 20, "And Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? And he answered, I have found thee." And here is the question analyzed, "Because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the Lord." We must ask this question, why are civil rulers and spiritual rulers enemies? Are not spiritual rulers and civil rulers spheres and aspects of the same Kingdom of God?

Now, let me point this out. In Romans chapter 13, which was read earlier this morning, in verse 4, you have the civil ruler designated as a minister of God. Each time you read the word minister in verse 4, it's the Greek word diakonos, where we get our English word deacon from. And the word deacon literally means servant. So he is the deacon of God. He is the servant of God. Why did God ordain civil government? He ordained it first to be his servant, to be his minister, to be his deacon. He's called the avenger of God. The word avenger there is from the Greek word ekdikos. Ek is a preposition which means out of. Dikos is the word for righteousness. So the avenger there literally means one who exacts out righteousness. Where do you find righteousness? Only in God and God's law. Why did God ordain civil government? Not just simply to be his deacon and his servant, but to exact his righteousness. If you go through the Bible, you'll find out that rulers, civil rulers and judges, are to judge according to God's law and therefore exact His righteousness.

But when you get to verse 6, again the civil ruler is referred to there as a minister. But here the Greek word is different. It's the word leitourgoi. Leitourgos is the singular. It's where we get our English word liturgy from. What's a liturgy? It's a public form of worship. Do you realize God ordained civil government to be His exactor of righteousness and His public form of worship. In other words, the state is just as required to worship God and worship Him scripturally as is the Church and as is the family, because it is an aspect of God's Kingdom.

Why did it become our enemy? Well, look in verse 20 again. He said, "Here's why, because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the Lord." When civil government becomes the enemy of God, it does so by doing that which is evil and contrary to God and his law. Look in verse 25. Notice what it says about Ahab. "But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up." Isn't that amazing, here the king, the head, who had an obligation to serve God, and he became the enemy of God and the enemy of God's people. How do civil rulers become our enemies? Well, the answer to that is because of their rebellion.

If you look in your Bibles very quickly at Psalm 2, let's see what the first three verses, and I've just recently preached on this passage and brought it out in far greater detail. We'll look at Psalm 2, just the first three verses. The Bible says this. "Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us." They said we don't like the limitations that God placed upon us. We don't like the definitions. We don't like the restrictions. We don't like the boundaries. We don't like the bands. And so here's what we're going to do. We're going to break those bands and we're going to break those bounds and we're going to do exactly what we want to do. We don't wish to remain within the confines of which God has ordained us. You see in Hosea 5 and verse 10, once again, the Bible says, "For they broke the bounds, and therefore God poured out wrath upon them like water." Do you realize that when God created three institutions, he gave them sphere authority?

In other words, the state or the civil government has a proper sphere of jurisdiction as long as it remains in its sphere. So does the church, and so does the family. In other words, I have no right as a pastor to come to the civil authority and say, "Look, you cannot execute that murderer. I'm against the death penalty. You can't execute it." God says they can. The Bible says that he beareth not the sword in vain. God gave him the power of the sword. That's his ministry. It's the ministry of justice. But likewise, the civil government can't come to me and say, "You can't preach against sodomy." Yes, I can. Because the civil government has no authority to tell me that. It's not his sphere of authority. And you see, the truth of the matter is this, as long as each of these institutions remains in its own sphere and functions the way God says it's going to function, there's no problem. But when it looses, and when it leaves its sphere of authority, then obviously it tries to steal and usurp and take to itself authority that it never had.

Show me anywhere in the Bible, show me anywhere in our Constitution, where the civil government has the right of education, it doesn't. Where it has the right of welfare, it doesn't. I could mention numerous. I'm just going to say what happens is you have civil authorities usurping and stealing authority that was never given unto them. Now, listen very carefully to what I'm about to say. Any time you say that government, civil government, is unlimited, you divinize government. I don't care if you're talking about family government, church government, or civil government. The only unlimited government that exists is the government of God himself. For God alone is sovereign. Do you understand? There can only be one ultimate. There can only be one absolute. There can only be one sovereign. And if government has unlimited jurisdiction, if government can do whatever it desires to do, then government is God and God is not God. So you have to ask this question, and I want to show you this.

Modern Manifestations of Governmental Rebellion

Weaver applies the principles to modern times, citing Psalm 94, 2 Kings 17, and a court case where a judge forbade mentioning Jesus in prayer. He states that making sin legal is framing mischief by law.

How does governmental rebellion manifest itself today? It's not a fun thing to think about this. Do you understand that yes, we as individuals can rebel, sinners can rebel, but so can civil government. I want you to look in your Bibles, very quickly, to Psalm 94. And then we're going to 2 Kings chapter 17. I'll tie this together for you, just momentarily. But look in Psalm 94. Notice if you would please, and let's begin reading there with verse 20. Psalm 94 verse 20. We just read verse 16 earlier, where God asked, "Who will rise up for me against the evildoers?"

"Who will stand for me against the workers of iniquity?" Now look what he says in verse 20. Here's the question. "Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law?" "Shall the throne of iniquity..." Now we're talking about a throne, so it's a governmental entity. It's called a throne of iniquity, so it's a wicked civil government. So here's the question. Shall a wicked civil government have fellowship with God, when that wicked civil government frameth mischief by a law? Or that is, it makes sin legal. Another word in the Bible for mischief is iniquity. Understand, abortion is legal in this country. It's legal to murder as long as you do it through abortion. It's legal to be a sodomite. It's legal to steal, as long as you're a politician, not that you don't understand. All I'm saying is civil government makes sin legal.

Look at the next verse, if you would. Verse 21. Here's what they do when they make sin legal. "They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood."

Now, I do want you to turn to 2 Kings chapter 17, and I want you to see this. 2 Kings chapter 17, and notice verses 7 and 8. 2 Kings 17, verses 7 and 8. Notice, if you would, what the Bible says about the children of Israel. 2 Kings 17, verse 7, "For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods." Now, wait a minute. How do we know that Israel feared other gods? Well, you say, the Bible just told us they did. I understand that. But in what fashion did their fear of other gods take place? Well, let's look at it. Verse 7, "...and had feared other gods." Verse 8, "And walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made." So what Israel had done was this. They turned their back against God and against God's law and they began then to follow the laws of the heathen and then the laws of the kings of Israel which they had made which were absolutely contrary to God's law. Look down to verse 19. "Also Judah kept not the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made.

And the Lord rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight." Why did God send the children of Israel into captivity? Because they rejected Him and His law. What did they do? They substituted man's law for God's law. They substituted man's authority for God's authority. Do you understand that not all statutes and all laws and all rulings and all executive orders and all regulations can nullify the Bible or can nullify God? I don't care what the civil rulers say. It cannot cancel out God. Let me give you an illustration. There was a court case where a young girl wanted to pray at her graduation. The court case is Jane Doe versus the Santa Fe Independent School District. So we went to court, and essentially the court said, "Well, it's all right to have prayer at a high school graduation if you pray the way we tell you. But if you don't pray the way we tell you, then you can't pray." I want you to listen to what the judge told this young Christian girl who wanted to pray at her high school graduation.

And I've often said, I wish she'd have said this to me. Because I'd have had a few words back for him. I may still be in prison, but I'd have had a few words back, I can assure you. Here's what the judge said. Listen carefully. "This court will allow prayer if it is a typical, non-denominational prayer. The prayer can refer to God or the Almighty, but the prayer must not refer to Jesus. And make no mistake, this court is going to have a United States Marshal in attendance at graduation. If any student offends this court and mentions the name of Jesus in a prayer, that student will be summarily arrested and will face six months in incarceration. Anyone who violates these orders is going to wish that he or she had died as a child when this court gets through with them." Why? Why? I've got news for you.

Those in charge today are still selling themselves to work evil, exactly the way Ahab did. They're denying God's sovereign authority. Their attitude is the same attitude that's revealed in Luke 19, verse 14, where those wicked people said concerning Christ, "We will not have this man to reign over us." In other words, we don't want God's law. We don't want God's sovereign authority. We want to rule ourselves. Do you realize this is the very essence of rebellion? I don't care if you look at Adam and Eve, I don't care who you look at, the essence of rebellion is denying God's authority and trying to establish your own authority, denying God's law and seeking to establish your own law. And that's exactly what Ahab did. And he was considered the enemy of God. He sold himself to work evil. Listen carefully.

You say, "Brother Weaver, what in the world is wrong in our country? Why is it that most people never see what's happening?" May I answer that for you? Here's why. Because unless you believe in and understand God's absolute sovereignty, you'll never understand tyranny. You'll never understand tyranny. You'll never understand it civilly. You'll never understand it familiarly. You'll never understand it ecclesiastically. Until you say God is absolutely sovereign and His word is supreme, His law is real and true, you will never, ever recognize tyranny. The second application is that since government has become the enemy of God, we must choose whom we must obey.

Do you remember when those Jews cried to Pilate when he asked them, "Shall I crucify your king?" What did they say? "We have no king but Caesar." What? We don't want Christ. We don't want his authority. You remember that passage in Acts 17 where it says concerning those Christians that those who turn the world upside down have come hither also, saying that there is another king, one Jesus. And what did Peter and the rest of the Apostles say in Acts 5 and verse 29? When they were forbidden to preach in the name of Jesus, they said, "We ought to obey God rather than men." You have to determine who you're going to obey. You have to say, there's a line being drawn. I'll either obey God or man.

Applications: Choosing Obedience and Recognizing Tyranny

Weaver concludes that understanding God's absolute sovereignty is essential to recognizing tyranny. Believers must choose to obey God rather than men, and supporting ungodly rulers is joining rebellion against God.

Now, the last one is this. When we aid and abet and seek to establish rulers that are ungodly and that rule unbiblically, we are joining in with a rebellion against God. Read Hosea 8 and verse 4, read Hosea 5 and verse 11. You cannot support wickedness. The lesser of two evils is still evil. Ahab looked at Elijah and said, "Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?" Elijah answered, "I found you." And let me tell you something, folks. God shall find out all of his enemies. And as the psalmist said, he shall strike them through. It pays you to be on the Lord's side and not on the side of the wicked.

Study Guide

Major Themes

The Necessity of Enemies for God's People

Summary: God, Christ, and Christians all have enemies; it is unbiblical to think pastors should be loved by the world.

Evidence: Weaver cites Psalm 21:8, Psalm 68:1, John 15:18-20, and others to prove that God and His people have enemies.

The Duty of Preachers to Confront Civil Rulers

Summary: God's preachers have a biblical mandate to confront wickedness in high places, including civil rulers, without softening the message.

Evidence: Weaver points to Elijah's confrontation with Ahab and God's command in 1 Kings 21:17-19, and laments the failure of modern pastors to do so.

The Clear Line Between Righteousness and Wickedness

Summary: There is an irreconcilable enmity between those who love God and those who hate Him; believers must hate evil and not align with God's enemies.

Evidence: Weaver references Psalm 97:10, Psalm 139:21-22, and Elijah's unflinching 'I have found thee' to Ahab.

Governmental Rebellion Through Usurpation and Lawlessness

Summary: Civil government becomes an enemy of God when it leaves its God-ordained sphere, makes sin legal, and rejects God's law.

Evidence: Weaver explains Romans 13, Psalm 94:20, and 2 Kings 17:7-8 to show how governments rebel by framing mischief by law.

The Sovereignty of God as the Foundation for Resisting Tyranny

Summary: Only by believing in God's absolute sovereignty can believers recognize and resist tyrannical government.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'Unless you believe in and understand God's absolute sovereignty, you'll never understand tyranny.'

Key Arguments

God Himself has enemies, so it is not strange for His preachers to have enemies.

Summary: Weaver argues from multiple Psalms that God has enemies, and therefore pastors should expect to have enemies as well.

Evidence: Psalm 21:8, Psalm 68:1, Psalm 92:9, Psalm 110:1 are cited to show God's enemies.

Christians are hated by the world simply because they are not of the world.

Summary: Jesus taught that the world hates believers because He chose them out of the world, making enmity inevitable.

Evidence: John 15:18-20 is quoted to show that persecution is a result of being chosen out of the world.

It is the duty of God's preachers to confront wicked civil rulers.

Summary: Weaver insists that preachers must not consider any political office off-limits; God sent Elijah to confront Ahab.

Evidence: 1 Kings 21:17-19 and 2 Kings 1:3 show God commanding Elijah to confront kings.

Elijah did not soften the enmity but acknowledged it directly.

Summary: When Ahab called Elijah his enemy, Elijah simply agreed, demonstrating the clear line between God's friends and enemies.

Evidence: 1 Kings 21:20 shows Elijah answering, 'I have found thee,' without trying to neutralize the situation.

Civil government becomes an enemy when it rebels against God's law.

Summary: Government is ordained by God as a minister of justice, but when it makes sin legal, it becomes a throne of iniquity.

Evidence: Psalm 94:20 and 2 Kings 17:7-8 are used to show that framing mischief by law is rebellion.

Supporting ungodly rulers is joining rebellion against God.

Summary: Weaver argues that voting for or aiding wicked rulers makes one complicit in their rebellion, citing Hosea 8:4.

Evidence: He states, 'You cannot support wickedness. The lesser of two evils is still evil.'

Scripture References

1 Kings 21:17-20

Context: The primary text of the sermon; Elijah confronts Ahab after Naboth's murder.

Psalm 21:8

Context: Used to show that God's hand will find out all His enemies.

Psalm 68:1

Context: Cited to prove that God has enemies who will be scattered.

Psalm 92:9

Context: Shows that God's enemies will perish.

Psalm 110:1

Context: Messianic psalm showing Christ's enemies will be made His footstool.

Psalm 58:3-11

Context: Imprecatory prayer where David prays against the wicked and rejoices in their judgment.

Psalm 59:1-3

Context: David prays for deliverance from his enemies who are bloody men.

John 15:18-20

Context: Jesus teaches that the world hates believers because they are not of the world.

Psalm 139:19-24

Context: David's prayer of hatred toward God's enemies and request for God to search his heart.

Judges 16:23

Context: The Philistines call Samson their enemy; same Hebrew word as in 1 Kings 21:20.

1 Samuel 18:29

Context: Saul became David's enemy continually; same Hebrew word.

1 Kings 20:36

Context: A lion 'found' a man and slew him; same Hebrew word for 'found' as in 1 Kings 21:20.

2 Kings 1:3

Context: God sends Elijah to confront Ahaziah for inquiring of Baal-zebub.

Psalm 82

Context: Mentioned as a psalm against corrupt judicial officers; the preacher becomes prophet of the court.

2 Chronicles 19:2

Context: Hanani asks Jehoshaphat, 'Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the Lord?'

Amos 3:3

Context: 'Can two walk together, except they be agreed?' used to show separation.

Matthew 12:30

Context: 'He that is not with me is against me' shows the impossibility of neutrality.

Psalm 97:10

Context: 'Ye that love the Lord, hate evil' shows love for God requires hatred of evil.

Psalm 94:16

Context: God asks, 'Who will rise up for me against the evildoers?'

2 Kings 3:10-14

Context: Elisha tells the wicked king of Israel he would not look at him except for Jehoshaphat.

Historical References

Southern Poverty Law Center

Context: Weaver is introduced as having been called a racist and a hater by the SPLC, which the introducer calls a racist and hateful organization.

Sodomite mayor in Texas subpoenaing sermons

Context: Weaver mentions a recent event where a mayor in Texas tried to subpoena sermons of preachers who preached against sodomy.

Election sermons in early America

Context: Weaver notes that in the founding of the country, no civil ruler could take office without being preached to about his duties to God.

Jane Doe vs. Santa Fe Independent School District

Context: Weaver recounts a court case where a judge forbade mentioning Jesus in a graduation prayer and threatened arrest.

Weaver's church conflict with the state of Georgia

Context: Weaver shares a personal story of his church being threatened by the state over a well permit, leading to a theological confrontation.

Important Quotes

It's absolutely strange that the term enemy bothers some Christians. And the reason it bothers them is because they erroneously believe that somehow Christians are not supposed to have enemies, and especially pastors.

Significance: Sets up the central thesis that having enemies is biblical and expected for faithful Christians and pastors.

Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.

Significance: Key proof text used to show that hating God's enemies is compatible with righteousness.

It is the duty of God's preachers to find out all of God's enemies, even in the political realm, and to confront them and reprove them. And it doesn't matter if they're the highest rulers in the land.

Significance: Core argument that preachers must confront wicked civil rulers without exception.

Unless you believe in and understand God's absolute sovereignty, you'll never understand tyranny.

Significance: Foundational principle that recognizing tyranny requires a robust doctrine of God's sovereignty.

Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law?

Significance: Key verse (Psalm 94:20) used to define governmental rebellion as making sin legal.

You cannot support wickedness. The lesser of two evils is still evil.

Significance: Application that believers must not vote for or support ungodly rulers.

Discussion Questions

Why do many Christians today think pastors should not have enemies, and how does Scripture correct that view?

Context: Weaver opens by noting that the term 'enemy' bothers some Christians who think pastors should be universally loved.

How should we examine ourselves to ensure our enemies are due to righteousness and not our own crankiness?

Context: Weaver urges self-examination so that we do not have enemies of our own making.

In what ways have modern pastors failed to confront wickedness in civil government, and what are the consequences?

Context: Weaver laments that few preachers cry out against civil corruption and mentions the failure to rebuke sin in high places.

What does it mean for civil government to 'frame mischief by a law,' and can you give modern examples?

Context: Weaver cites Psalm 94:20 and discusses how governments make sin legal, such as abortion and sodomy.

How does a proper understanding of God's sovereignty help believers recognize and resist tyranny?

Context: Weaver states that without believing in God's absolute sovereignty, one cannot understand tyranny.

What are the practical implications of 'We ought to obey God rather than men' when civil laws contradict God's commands?

Context: Weaver references Acts 5:29 and the need to choose whom to obey when government oversteps its sphere.

Applications

Expect and accept enmity from the world as a mark of faithfulness.

Summary: Believers should not be surprised or troubled when they are hated by the world; it is a sign they belong to Christ.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'We not only have enemies, but the infinite holy God of heaven and earth has enemies as well,' and cites John 15:18-20.

Preachers must confront wicked civil rulers without fear or compromise.

Summary: Pastors have a duty to rebuke sin in high places, even at personal cost, following Elijah's example.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'It is the duty of God's preachers to find out all of God's enemies, even in the political realm, and to confront them and reprove them.'

Maintain a clear line of separation from God's enemies.

Summary: Christians must not align with or seek approval from those who hate God; they should hate evil and love the Lord.

Evidence: Weaver references Psalm 97:10 and Elijah's refusal to soften the enmity with Ahab.

Recognize governmental overreach as rebellion against God.

Summary: When civil government exceeds its God-given sphere (e.g., education, welfare) or makes sin legal, it is in rebellion.

Evidence: Weaver explains Romans 13 and Psalm 94:20, and says, 'Any time you say that government... is unlimited, you divinize government.'

Obey God rather than men when authorities contradict His Word.

Summary: Believers must choose to obey God's law over man's law, even if it means suffering consequences.

Evidence: Weaver cites Acts 5:29 and the example of the apostles, and says, 'You have to determine who you're going to obey.'

Do not support ungodly rulers or policies.

Summary: Voting for or aiding wicked rulers makes one complicit in their rebellion; the lesser of two evils is still evil.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'When we aid and abet and seek to establish rulers that are ungodly... we are joining in with a rebellion against God.'

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-06T04:37:31Z

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T16:50:56Z

Clean Transcript

God's Preachers: Enemies of a Godless State

Clean readable transcript. This view follows the Commentary.net cleaned segment text while preserving timestamps for audio follow-along.

John Weaver graduated from Bob Jones University undergrad, did over 40 years ago, I believe, and maybe 50—just kidding. Did some graduate work there at Bob Jones University as well. And since that time, has been involved in starting Christian schools, even planting churches as well. And Pastor Weaver has a history of faithfulness to the Scriptures, and preaching on any part of the Scriptures, especially those parts that may be ignored in our modern churches.
#1 | 0:00 to 0:34 | cleaned
He has some, shall we say, real credits to his name. One of them being that he's been called a racist and a hater by the Southern Poverty Law Center. If you know anything about the Southern Poverty Law Center, that is a racist and hateful organization if there ever was one. One of the things we as Christians need to understand is that we should never be loved by people who hate Christ. We must understand that. We can't have people who hate Christ say, you know, I hate Christ, but that's the old saying—now that's a good guy, I like him. That's a problem. That's a definite problem. One of the things that I appreciate about Pastor Weaver is I listen to his sermons when I can.
#2 | 0:35 to 1:21 | cleaned
It takes me 50 minutes to get to work. And usually that's not enough time to catch an entire sermon. But it takes me about an hour and ten to get home, so usually I can catch the end of the first sermon maybe and then start another one. But one of the things that I appreciate so much about Pastor Weaver is his understanding of what's happened before, yes, history, with the Scriptures. The Apostle Paul, we're studying 1 Corinthians right now, and the Apostle Paul forever connected history with the Gospel. When he said that Christ—this is the gospel in 1 Corinthians 15—Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.
#3 | 1:21 to 2:02 | cleaned
You see what Paul's doing there, he's putting them together. The history, he died and he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. We don't know how to judge even the present unless we know how to interpret the past, do we? And Pastor Weaver is as good, I believe, as anyone I've ever heard at interpreting the past in the light of the Scriptures. You're in for a real treat this morning and this evening. Pastor Weaver, it's great to have you. Well, it's a joy to be here, and I'm thankful to be back. Let's see.
#4 | 2:02 to 2:39 | cleaned
Five years ago, we met in Ryan's house, didn't we? I remember that. I surely do. And I'm thankful. I've got a little larger crowd today, that's for sure. I wanted to say something the pastor mentioned earlier. Thank you, brother. He said no one was early this morning. Well, we've had several early in times past. We've had several late in times past when you spring forward, etc. But one of the funniest things that happened in our church was we had a widow woman and she was a sweetheart. She's now dead. And but she called me one day and she said, pastor, she said, are we having church this Sunday? I said, well, yes, we are. She said, well, are we starting at 10 o'clock as usual? I said, yes, we are.
#5 | 2:40 to 3:34 | cleaned
She said, are you preaching? I said, yes, I am. But she said, something's funny, because I'm here at the church and you're not here and neither is anyone else. I said, well, Jane, that could possibly be because today is Saturday, tomorrow is Sunday. Yes, she was blonde. So Sunday morning, when she was there, I said, well listen, one thing for sure, Jane is not late. She was 24 hours early.
#6 | 3:35 to 4:03 | cleaned
So I'm thankful, but she was a trooper, took it all in stride. We were going somewhere, and she got to be really independent as a widow lady. So we were going somewhere, and I said, well, Jane, may I give you directions? She said, Pastor, I know how to get there. I looked at her and I said, well, if I can't give you directions, can I tell you where to go?
#7 | 4:18 to 4:44 | cleaned
She's a new veteran of ours. But she was a fine, sweet lady, that's for sure. I want you to open your Bibles today, if you would please, to 1 Kings, chapter 21. 1 Kings, chapter 21. And notice, if you would please, verses 17 through 20. 1 Kings, chapter 21, verses 17 through 20. I want to bring a message which I've entitled, "God's Preachers: Enemies of the State." Notice in 1 Kings chapter 21, beginning there with verse 17, "The word of the Lord came unto Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, which is in Samaria.
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Behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, where he is going down to possess it. And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Hast thou killed, and also taken possession? And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the Lord, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine. And Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? And he answered, I have found thee, because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of God."
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Notice I've said the title of the message is "God's Preachers: Enemies of the State." It's absolutely strange that the term enemy bothers some Christians. And the reason it bothers them is because they erroneously believe that somehow Christians are not supposed to have enemies, and especially pastors. The interesting thing is this. We not only have enemies, but the infinite holy God of heaven and earth has enemies as well.
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When you stop and think of the average pastor today, or the attitude or the imagination that most people have of the average pastor, he's some kind of sweet, syrupy, sentimental, effeminate individual who doesn't really bother anyone and no one bothers him. He just stays the same regardless of what's going on. Of course, most people think every pastor is supposed to love every individual, regardless of how wicked and how sinful they are, and regardless how much they hate the Lord Jesus Christ, and how much they defy the Lord Jesus Christ.
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But the truth of the matter is, not only Christians, but pastors, and even God himself, has enemies. I want you to hold 1 Kings chapter 21, if you would, but I want you to turn, first of all, if you would, to Psalm 21. Let me just prove this point to you with just a few passages. If you look at Psalm 21, beginning there with verse 8, I want you to notice what the Bible says concerning God Himself. In Psalm 21, in verse 8, the Word of God says it like this, "Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies. Thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee. Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger.
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The Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them." Note, if you would, "Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies, and thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee." So God certainly knows who his enemies are, and He's going to find them out. If you would look in your Bibles to the book of Psalms, Psalm 68, beginning there with verse 1, notice again, if you would, what the psalmist says. Psalm 68 and verse 1. In this particular passage, the word of God says, "Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered, let them also that hate him flee before him." And then he goes on to say how those enemies should be destroyed. But notice, "Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered." Skip down to verse 21. The Bible says, "But God shall wound the head of his enemies, and the hairy scalp of such a one as goeth on still in his trespasses." Verse 23, "That thy foot may be dipped in the blood of thine enemies, and the tongue of thy dogs in the same."
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If you look in Psalm 92 and verse 9, Psalm 92 and verse 9, again God says it like this very clearly, and we're talking about God's enemies, and remember He's the most holy, just, and righteous being. And yet the Bible says in Psalm 92 and verse 9, "For, lo, thine enemies, O Lord, for, lo, thine enemies shall perish; all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered." But notice, if you would, how repeatedly the Bible says that God has enemies. And if you look at Psalm 110, concerning this great messianic psalm, which is repeated in the New Testament a number of times in reference to Jesus Christ. The Bible says in Psalm 110, beginning there with verse one, "The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies." So very obviously, God has enemies over and over. The Bible says he does. There are those who are against God.
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And whether you realize it or not, God's people have enemies as well. I wish I had time to bring those four messages that I did on imprecatory praying. That is, praying those imprecatory prayers. But if you look very quickly in your Bibles to Psalm 58 and Psalm 59, you'll see just a couple of these prayers where the psalmist is praying against his enemies, which happen to be God's enemies as well. But look in Psalm 58, if you would please, to begin with. In Psalm 58, notice, if you would, beginning there with verse 7.
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And he's talking about the aliens of God. In fact, go back to verse 3. Go back to verse 3. He says, "The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies. Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear; which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely. Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Lord."
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"Let them melt away as waters which run continually: when he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces. As a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away: like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun. Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath." Now watch!
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"The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked. So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous: verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth." Note, if you would please, here's a prayer that David is praying against the wicked, and he says, "The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth God's vengeance, and yes, the righteous shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked." If you skip down to Psalm 59, look in verse 1, David prays this.
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"Deliver me from mine enemies, O my God: defend me from them that rise up against me. Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, and save me from bloody men. For, lo, they lie in wait for my soul: the mighty are gathered against me; not for my transgression, nor for my sin, O Lord." In other words, David hadn't done anything to merit or draw forth their hatred and their anger and their murderous desire, but he says they're just my enemies. So very obviously, Christians do have enemies. And if you would turn very quickly in your Bibles to the book of John chapter 15, and let's begin reading there in verse 18, and you will find that we have enemies just simply by virtue of the fact that we've been saved by the grace of God. Notice if you would, in John chapter 15, beginning there with verse 18, that's what our Lord teaches. John chapter 15 in verse 18. John 15, verse 18.
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He said, "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also." So our Lord said, very obviously, we're going to be hated just simply because of the fact that we're not of the world. We don't think like the world. We don't act like the world. We don't live like the world. And they think we're mighty strange. In fact, Peter said it very similarly. He said they think it's strange that you run not with them to the same excess of riot. And obviously they do.
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So it should come as no surprise then that if our sovereign God has enemies, if His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, has enemies, if Christians have enemies, then obviously pastors have enemies as well. Now it would behoove us, not only as pastors but also as Christians, to examine ourselves and to see exactly as to why we have enemies.
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Now when I say that, what I mean is simply this. We should make sure that if we have enemies, it's not because of our own crankiness, unfriendliness. In other words, we don't want enemies of our own making, we want enemies just simply by virtue of being righteous and standing for God. If we've got enemies of our own making, then we need to repent and we need to make things right with them.
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That's very easy and very clear. I want you to look very quickly at Psalm 139. In fact, I'm going to come back to this passage a little bit later, but look at Psalm 139 and at the prayer that David prayed. Notice Psalm 139, and let's begin reading there with verse 19. Interestingly, Psalm 139, and notice if you would begin there with verse 19, David prays this.
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He says, "Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God." Now, since God is going to slay them, notice this prayer request. "Depart from me therefore, ye bloody men." In other words, I don't want to be around you. I don't want to associate with you, because I know God's wrath is against you. And then he says in verse 20, "For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain." It's not that they just curse God, they do that as well. But they have no use for God, and they speak idly of God and worthlessly of God. He says, "For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain." Now watch verse 21. "Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." Now, isn't that interesting that David just said, "Do not I hate them that hate thee, O Lord?"
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Yes, "I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies." And in his prayer, "Search me, O God, and know my heart: see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." Obviously, there is no contradiction between hating God's enemies and those that hate God, and being holy and righteous in God, because that's exactly what David prayed.
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Now, I want to answer the question today. How can a preacher be the enemy of the state? Some of you will remember there was a movie a number of years back entitled "Enemy of the State." Well, it was an ordinary citizen, best I can remember, but the truth of the matter is this. Many of God's preachers are enemies of the state. Everyone in this room probably has just heard where the sodomite mayor in Texas has tried to subpoena the sermons of certain preachers that she knew were preaching against sodomy.
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And of course there's a big uproar about it. But I want you to go back to your Bibles to 1 Kings chapter 21 and you know the story in this particular passage where King Ahab and his wicked wife Jezebel were on the throne and Ahab comes to Naboth and he says, "Tell you what, I want your garden. It's close by my palace. I want it for an herb garden."
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"And I will either buy it from you at a price or I'll trade you another piece of land for it." And Naboth said, "God forbid it me." Now what Naboth really said was this. God forbids me to sell the inheritance of my father. In other words, I have no right to sell it. I cannot sell it. And what did Ahab do? He turned his face to the wall and pouted like a spoiled brat.
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And Jezebel said, "What in the world is wrong with you?" He said, "I wanted Naboth's vineyard and he wouldn't give it to me." "Why?" She said, "Are you not the king in Israel? Why? Go ahead and eat something. I'll get the garden for you." And so she took and she wrote a letter to the elders of Naboth's city and said, "You proclaim a fast, you set him on high, you let some sons of Belial come in, and then you let them witness against him, and then you take him down and stone him," and then she sealed
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it with the king's seal. And would you believe it, the gutless, heartless elders of that city did that. They took an innocent man, proclaimed a fast, set him on high, and had two men come in, and they took Naboth out and stoned him to death for being a blasphemer. "He blasphemes God and the king." Well, if he blasphemes God, he deserves to die. If he blasphemes the king, he deserves to have his property confiscated. But you see, they did not just simply murder Naboth. Because if they just simply murdered Naboth, then the inheritance would have gone to his sons. If you read the scripture, they murdered Naboth and his sons. Jezebel comes back in and she tells Ahab, "Go down to the garden and claim it, because Naboth is not alive, but he's dead." And so he walks to the garden, and if you look at verse 17 again, "Now the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, which is in Samaria. Behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, where he is gone down to possess it.
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And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Hast thou killed, and also taken possession? And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the Lord, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine. And Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?" Let me just stop right there. I want you to notice this first point here is the question asked. Notice this question. King Ahab said to Elijah, "Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?" When he asks that question, Ahab is not just simply looking for an answer, he knows the answer to that question in the strictest sense of the word, but actually what he's doing by asking that question is making a declaration of fact. The declaration of fact is this: Elijah, you are my enemy.
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You are the representative of God. You're the prophet of God. You're the preacher of God. I'm the king. I'm the civil ruler. And you happen to be my enemy. I want you to know that King Ahab did not hesitate, nor did he try to conceal the fact that he considered God's prophet his avowed enemy. By the way, the humanists and the wicked in this day have no trouble stating the fact that we as Christians and God's true preachers are indeed the troublemakers. In fact, that's what Ahab called Elijah when he met him after the drought, when God said, "Go show thyself to Ahab."
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He said, "Art thou he that troubleth Israel?" I'll paraphrase it. Elijah answered, "It's not me, you wicked reprobate, it's you and your filthy wife." Yeah, that's what he said, basically. No, it's not me. But the king noted very clearly that here Elijah was his enemy. By the way, the Hebrew word for enemy here is the word oyev, which literally means hating, adversary, a foe, an enemy. It's a word that is frequently used in the Old Testament, and each instance it denotes a real, active enemy. For instance, look in your Bible to the book of Judges chapter 16. Judges chapter 16 and verse 23, and notice what the Philistines said about Samson. In Judges chapter 16 and verse 23, the word enemy in this verse is the same as the word enemy in 1 Kings chapter 21 and verse 20. In Judges 16, verse 23, "Then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together for to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon their god, and to rejoice: for they said, Our god hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hand."
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And certainly Samson was an enemy to the Philistines. He killed them hip and thigh. Surely he was an enemy. And they called him an enemy, a foe, someone that they actually hated. If you look in 1 Samuel chapter 18, notice what is said of David concerning Saul, and you remember King Saul tried to kill David several times, but in 1 Samuel chapter 18 and verse 29, notice what the Bible says concerning David and Saul. 1 Samuel 18 and verse 29, the Word of God says this, "And Saul was yet the more afraid of David; and Saul became David's enemy continually." Notice if you would, he became David's enemy continually. It's the same word. He became David's foe. He hated David.
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And so the question is asked by Ahab to Elijah, "Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?" Now, the interesting thing is about the word found. Did you know you'd read that verse and you'd say, "What? Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?" Didn't Elijah know where the palace was? Well, of course he knew where the palace was. Did he not know where Ahab was in the palace?
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I'm sure he probably did. But if you look in 1 Kings chapter 20, here is the same Hebrew word, 1 Kings 20 and verse 36. "Then said he unto him, Because thou hast not obeyed the voice of the Lord, behold, as soon as thou art departed from me, a lion shall slay thee. And as soon as he was departed from him, a lion found him, and slew him." Well, this was where the man was to be smitten, but notice if you would, the lion found him and slew him because he would not smite the prophet, because the prophet said it to him in the name of the Lord. The lion was there, but he was unseen until just at the right moment when the lion finally slew this individual. So here's what Ahab is asking, "Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?" I want to point out two or three things right here.
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First of all, here is what the question implies. First, the king did not initiate, nor did he desire, a confrontation. He did not want to face Elijah. Do you realize Ahab knew he was wicked? He knew he was wrong. He knew he did not worship the true and the living God. If Ahab could have gotten away with the murder of Naboth and his sons, he would have gladly done it. If he could have gotten away without being confronted, more power to him, he would have loved that. But he didn't. Do you understand this?
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Criminals do not like to have their sins and their wickedness discovered and pointed out. Look at all the whistleblowers in our own civil government. Look at what happened when they exposed the corruption and the wickedness inside our own government. They're the ones that are persecuted. They're the ones that are imprisoned. They're the ones that have their goods taken away from them and confiscated. No, Ahab did not initiate this confrontation. He did not want it and I can assure you no Bush, no Clinton, no Obama or anybody wants a confrontation like this. And so Ahab, no, no, he did not initiate it, but it happened.
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The second implication is this. The king, in one sense of the word, expected to be confronted. He asked, "Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?"
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Now, remember, the lion found the man who refused to slay the prophet. The lion found him. In other words, the lion found him and slew him at the opportune time. Now, here's why. Ahab is saying, "Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?" Ahab knew that Elijah knew where the palace was. Ahab knew that Elijah knew where he was. But let me ask you a question. Since Elijah was considered the enemy of King Ahab, wouldn't you tend to think that Elijah would have been classified as a persona non grata? "You're not coming in here. This is my house. This is my palace."
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And probably there are all kinds of instructions to the guards. "Don't let that preacher in here. He's a troublemaker. He's an enemy. I don't want to be around him." But what has happened? Ahab has left the protection of his palace and he's gone down to the garden to take possession. And like that lion who came out of the woods to slay the man who refused to smite the prophet, and just like the lion who did come out and kill the prophet that sinned against God when he prophesied against Jeroboam, when he prophesied and disobeyed God, a lion met him and slew him as well. And so, Elijah now has come out of the woods and pounced upon Ahab. Elijah caught Ahab off guard at an inopportune time for Ahab, but it was the opportune time for Elijah and for God. So, although the king did not want to be confronted, yet he expected to be confronted. Here's the third implication. "Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?"
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I want you to understand it is the duty of God's preachers to find out all of God's enemies, even in the political realm, and to confront them and reprove them. And it doesn't matter if they're the highest rulers in the land. It doesn't matter their position of office. Ahab happened to be the king. There's no such thing as off limits when it comes to God's preachers. I've been going through the Bible, and I'm, believe it or not, I've got several messages on this, but I'm going to develop at least one, maybe two messages, which I've entitled, "A Model for Secession." "A Model for Secession." And the South tried it once, and we're going to do it again, I know. Territories will as well but I've been going through the Bible and it's amazing as you go through the Bible to see how many of God's preachers confront wicked corrupt rulers. There's no such thing as being off limits when it comes to God's Word. In fact, let me emphasize, it was God who sent Elijah.
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Look down, if you would, 1 Kings chapter 21, verse 17. Note, if you would, "And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, which is in Samaria. Behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, where he is gone down to possess it." God sent Elijah there. If you look very quickly in 2 Kings chapter 1. Ahaziah was a wicked king, and he fell down through a lattice and got cut and sore. And notice if you would, God sent Elijah to confront him as well. The Bible says in 2 Kings 1 and verse 3, "But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say unto them, Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that ye go to inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron?" So Ahaziah had fallen down through a lattice, he got cut, evidently his sores had become infected, and the god of Ekron was Baal-zebub, which means god of the filth or god of the flies.
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And so when he sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub, God said to Elijah, "You go tell those messengers to turn around and go back, and you tell Ahaziah that he's not going to come up off that bed of affliction where he's laying." In other words, I'm going to kill him. That's what God said. So here Elijah, of course, confronted him. So do not assume, do not assume that God's preachers do not have a role in civil affairs and political affairs. They do.
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In fact, if you would read Psalm 82, which was already quoted some this morning, that is actually, Psalm 82 is actually against the judicial officers who are corrupt. But in Psalm 82, the preacher of the temple becomes the prophet of the court. And do you realize one of the greatest failings of pastors in this country is our failure to rebuke sin and expose corruption and wickedness in high places, even in civil places? Do you realize our forefathers, and I know most of you do, always held what were known as election sermons? In the founding of this country, there was no civil ruler who could take an office without being preached to by some preacher showing his duties to God and his duties to the people, and also the people's duty to the civil ruler and under God.
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So, it's very astonishing to me today that very few preachers have really opened up and chimed out and shouted against our past civil rulers, especially look at Clinton. Look at the Bushes, look at who we have now, look at Obama, look at the mayor in Houston, look at the wicked civil rulers who are really openly despising God and God's Word. Look at the course of our Congress, look at our judicial system that is absolutely corrupt. Do you remember when Elisha followed Elijah and God separated them and took Elijah to heaven by a whirlwind and a chariot of fire? Do you remember that? Because Elisha had asked for a double portion of the power of Elijah. And Elijah said, "If you see me when I'm taken away, it shall be done unto you. But if you don't see me, it's not going to be done." And as God took Elijah away, his mantle fell. Elisha picked up that mantle, went back to the river and took the mantle and smote the water and said, "Where is the Lord God of Elijah?"
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And the water parted hither and thither and he walked across on dry ground. Can you imagine today, the question should be asked, where are the Lord God's Elijahs? Where are the men that will cry out against civil corruption and civil wickedness? You see, the truth is, unhappily, there's not very many. Most are hiding in caves, or feeling sorry for themselves, or fleeing out of harm's way. Because they understand, if we get in the way of the king, if we get in the way of the civil rulers, that they can take our tax exemption. I mean, they can take our building.
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They can put us in prison. In other words, we'd rather be safe than be representatives of God and cry out against sin and wickedness. God's preachers have a responsibility to deal with the issues and to deal with them biblically. God's preachers have a responsibility to confront wickedness even if it's in the highest civil ruler. So here's the question to ask. "Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?" I want you to look back in 1 Kings chapter 21 and verse 20 because here's the second thing. Here's the question and answer. Notice if you would. "And Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? And he answered, I have found thee." Ha! Oh boy. The question and answer emphasizes that there is a fine line of separation between God's enemies and God's friends.
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Do you realize that righteousness and unrighteousness do not coexist very well. Do you remember what the Prophet Hanani said to Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles 19 verse 2? He asked this question, "Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the Lord?" Wow. And because Jehoshaphat had done that, he said, "Therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord." You remember what he asked in Amos 3 and verse 3, "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?"
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Let me ask you, can you see, can you envision in your mind Elijah or Elisha having prayer at a presidential inauguration today? And the answer is no. Even our Lord said in Matthew 12 and verse 30, what? "He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad." It's impossible for God's preachers to align themselves with God's enemies and still remain the representatives of God. The line is just as clearly drawn today as it was back in the Old Testament.
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You remember when Israel had sinned and they had built the golden calf and the people were dancing and jumping around it and worshipping the golden calf? Moses came down from the mountain, threw the tablets down, and broke them, and he said, "Who is on the Lord's side? Let him come unto me." Ah, there was a clear line of demarcation. So when Elijah answered, "I have found thee," it's necessary for us to understand that there is a clear line of demarcation, and that line should be definite and emphatic and clear, and therefore we should be against anyone who is against the Lord. Remember what David prayed.
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I told you I was going to refer to it again. He said, "Do not I hate them that hate thee, O Lord?" By the way, I'm not going to preach today. I don't have time. But I do have a message, and this is on Sermon Audio. The title of the message is, "The Biblical Doctrine of Hatred." Anybody here ever heard it? I want to tell you, you need to listen to it. Because I take you through the Bible and I show you the Sovereign's hatred, the Savior's hatred, and the Saint's hatred. I have a good friend, he's now with the Lord, but when I preached that message years and years ago, he took that and duplicated it and passed it out like it was candy. And I looked at him one day and I said, "That's a hard message," and it is. I said, "Why don't you pass out something a little lighter, a little easier, ease people into something, then give them that message."
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He said, "Oh, I can separate the wheat from the chaff right away. It'll separate the wheat from the chaff right away, I can assure you." Well, that's exactly what is happening here. You have to understand, folks, David said, "Do not I hate them that hate thee, O Lord? Yea, I hate them with a perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies." And then he added, "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."
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Now, I want you to note something about Elijah. This is interesting, because Ahab said, "Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?" And what was Elijah's response? "I have found thee." What? "I have found thee." I want you to notice that Elijah did not try to neutralize the situation. He did not try to soften the situation in. He just simply said, "Yep, you got it right, I found you." He didn't squirm. He didn't flinch. He didn't mealy-mouth around. He didn't say, "Oh, king."
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"Now, that word enemy is a very strong word, and it's a negative word. Let's try to put our relationship in a positive light. Let's use some other softer word." No, no, no, no, no. He didn't do any of that. "Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?" "Yep, I found you. And you got it right, bud. We're enemies. We're on different sides." And Elijah was acknowledging the enmity that existed between the wicked civil ruler and God's preacher.
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I remember years ago when our church was attacked by the state of Georgia, and you can read my book and find out about it. I tell in there some of this stuff. It was probably the stupidest thing that you've ever heard of in your life. They wanted to give us a license to drink water out of our own well, and the well had already been in the ground over 40 years.
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And there'd never been a problem. And if you don't know what a license is, you can look it up in Black's Law Dictionary. It means permission from a competent authority to do that which would otherwise be unlawful. So, in other words, it would be unlawful to drink water out of our own well without their permission. Well, anyhow, to make a long story short, I mean, I wrote them letters, and I got letters from them, and they were threatening me and all this kind of stuff.
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And finally, they sent one man down to try to resolve the situation, and he brought a witness with him. Well, since he brings a witness, then I'm going to have some, too. And so I had four or five men in the office with me, and I had my tape recorder, and I recorded the entire situation. And so the state agent began like this. He said, "Now, Pastor Weaver," he said, "I don't want to get into theology." He said, "I'm sure that you know more theology and know more Bible than I do." And I looked at him, I said, "Well, yes, I do."
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I was acknowledging the fact, because I knew he was scripturally ignorant. And he said, "I just don't want to get in an argument over the Bible." I said, "Look, I'm not interested in arguing the Bible either, but I'll tell you what I'll do. I said, I've got so many constitutional and statutory problems with what you're trying to do. I'm willing to just discuss the constitutional and statutory issues if, if, you don't bring up theology, but if you bring up theology, I have every right to bring up theology. Is that understood?" Well, he said, "Yes, that's understood." We didn't get to go five minutes.
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Finally, one of my men looked at him and asked him a question. And the state agent said, "Look, you see the state in its infinite wisdom," and when he got that out of his mouth, I slapped my desk and I said, "That's it, that's it, that's it." He looked at me shocked. He said, "What is it?" I said, "You promised not to bring up theology. I said, you just did. And since you brought it up, I want to bring it up. I said, you just said the state has infinite wisdom."
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"Infinity is an attribute of God. Only God is infinite. I said, here's the problem. We have two different gods. Your god is the state, and my God is the Lord Jesus Christ, who's revealed himself in Holy Scripture. I said, you serve a different god than I serve. That's the problem right here." He said, "Well, I see there's not too much use to further this discussion." I said, "Well, please let it be for the record that you're ending this discussion and not me, but you're the one that brought up theology."
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You have to understand something, folks. There is a real enmity that exists, and we can gloss over it and we can pretend like it doesn't exist, but it does exist. We cannot take a conciliatory measure to those who hate Christ. You say, "Well, I can pray for them," sure. But you can't be reconciled with them in their wickedness and in their sin and in their rebellion against God. Let me show you.
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Hold 1 Kings chapter 21, but turn in your Bible to Psalm 97. Look at Psalm 97 and verse 10. Then we'll go to Psalm 94. Look at Psalm 97 and verse 10. Psalm 97 verse 10. Look at the first part of this verse. Psalm 97, verse 10, "Ye that love the Lord, hate evil." You can't love the Lord without hating everything contrary to the Lord. "Ye that love the Lord, hate evil." In Amos chapter 5, he says, "Hate the evil, and love the good." But look in your Bible, Psalm 94, verse 16. Look at the question that God asks, Psalm 94, verse 16. God asks, "Who will rise up for me against the evildoers?"
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"Or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?" In other words, God is looking for individuals who will stand for Him against the workers of iniquity. Obviously. Yes. Elijah said, "I found you. I found you. You are my enemy. You are the one that said it, and I'm acknowledging it." I want you to turn your Bibles very quickly to 2 Kings chapter 3. I want you to see this. I want you to understand it was not just Elijah who had that attitude, but it was also Elisha as well, who was known as he who poured water on the hands of Elijah. Notice if you would, in 2 Kings chapter 3, if you would, this is an interesting passage here, because in this passage the king of Judah, the king of Israel, and the king of Edom have gotten together and they're going to fight against the king of Moab.
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And they took a course that took them through the desert, so to speak. And they got out there and there was not enough water to sustain them and their armies, and so it looked like they were going to die. So notice if you would, verse 10. 2 Kings 3 verse 10, "And the king of Israel said, Alas! that the Lord hath called these three kings together, to deliver them into the hand of Moab!"
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"And Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the Lord, that we may inquire of the Lord by him? And one of the king of Israel's servants answered and said, Here is Elisha the son of Shaphat, which poured water on the hands of Elijah. And Jehoshaphat said, The word of the Lord is with him. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him. And Elisha," watch, "Elisha said unto the king of Israel, who was an apostate, Elisha said to the king of Israel, What have I to do with thee? get thee to the prophets of thy father, and to the prophets of thy mother. And the king of Israel said unto him, Nay!"
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"for the Lord hath called these three kings together, to deliver them into the hand of Moab. And Elisha said," watch it. "And Elisha said, As the Lord of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, surely, were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look toward thee, nor see thee." Let me paraphrase that for you. Here's what he told the king.
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"I wouldn't spit on you if you were on fire. If it wasn't for Jehoshaphat, I'd let you die." Wow. That's what he told him. "I would not look toward thee, nor see thee." So when Elijah answered Ahab, and he answered that question, "Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?" he just simply said, "I found you. And you nailed it. We're enemies. We're on different sides." I want you to go back to 1 Kings chapter 21, because here's the third thing I want you to see today. And that is the question analyzed. Notice, if you would, in verse 20, "And Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? And he answered, I have found thee." And here is the question analyzed, "Because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the Lord." We must ask this question, why are civil rulers and spiritual rulers enemies? Are not spiritual rulers and civil rulers spheres and aspects of the same Kingdom of God?
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And the answer is yes. Do you understand that God only created three institutions? He created the family, which is a ministry of education, the church, which is a ministry of grace, and the state or the civil government, which is a ministry of justice. And each one of these are indeed an aspect and a sphere of God's kingdom. In truth, if each one of these three institutions, if each one of these three spheres functioned biblically, then each one would complement the other, and there would be no animosity. In other words, if the state was scriptural, we'd have no problem. Family and church, scriptural, there would be no problem. The problem comes when you try to move out of your sphere of authority.
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Now, let me point this out. In Romans chapter 13, which was read earlier this morning, in verse 4, you have the civil ruler designated as a minister of God. Each time you read the word minister in verse 4, it's the Greek word diakonos, where we get our English word deacon from. And the word deacon literally means servant. So he is the deacon of God. He is the servant of God. Why did God ordain civil government? He ordained it first to be his servant, to be his minister, to be his deacon. He's called the avenger of God. The word avenger there is from the Greek word ekdikos. Ek is a preposition which means out of. Dikos is the word for righteousness. So the avenger there literally means one who exacts out righteousness. Where do you find righteousness? Only in God and God's law. Why did God ordain civil government? Not just simply to be his deacon and his servant, but to exact his righteousness. If you go through the Bible, you'll find out that rulers, civil rulers and judges, are to judge according to God's law and therefore exact His righteousness.
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But when you get to verse 6, again the civil ruler is referred to there as a minister. But here the Greek word is different. It's the word leitourgoi. Leitourgos is the singular. It's where we get our English word liturgy from. What's a liturgy? It's a public form of worship. Do you realize God ordained civil government to be His exactor of righteousness and His public form of worship. In other words, the state is just as required to worship God and worship Him scripturally as is the Church and as is the family, because it is an aspect of God's Kingdom.
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Why did it become our enemy? Well, look in verse 20 again. He said, "Here's why, because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the Lord." When civil government becomes the enemy of God, it does so by doing that which is evil and contrary to God and his law. Look in verse 25. Notice what it says about Ahab. "But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up." Isn't that amazing, here the king, the head, who had an obligation to serve God, and he became the enemy of God and the enemy of God's people. How do civil rulers become our enemies? Well, the answer to that is because of their rebellion.
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If you look in your Bibles very quickly at Psalm 2, let's see what the first three verses, and I've just recently preached on this passage and brought it out in far greater detail. We'll look at Psalm 2, just the first three verses. The Bible says this. "Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us."
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They said we don't like the limitations that God placed upon us. We don't like the definitions. We don't like the restrictions. We don't like the boundaries. We don't like the bands. And so here's what we're going to do. We're going to break those bands and we're going to break those bounds and we're going to do exactly what we want to do. We don't wish to remain within the confines of which God has ordained us. You see in Hosea 5 and verse 10, once again, the Bible says, "For they broke the bounds, and therefore God poured out wrath upon them like water." Do you realize that when God created three institutions, he gave them sphere authority?
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In other words, the state or the civil government has a proper sphere of jurisdiction as long as it remains in its sphere. So does the church, and so does the family. In other words, I have no right as a pastor to come to the civil authority and say, "Look, you cannot execute that murderer. I'm against the death penalty. You can't execute it." God says they can. The Bible says that he beareth not the sword in vain. God gave him the power of the sword. That's his ministry. It's the ministry of justice. But likewise, the civil government can't come to me and say, "You can't preach against sodomy." Yes, I can. Because the civil government has no authority to tell me that. It's not his sphere of authority. And you see, the truth of the matter is this, as long as each of these institutions remains in its own sphere and functions the way God says it's going to function, there's no problem. But when it looses, and when it leaves its sphere of authority, then obviously it tries to steal and usurp and take to itself authority that it never had.
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Show me anywhere in the Bible, show me anywhere in our Constitution, where the civil government has the right of education, it doesn't. Where it has the right of welfare, it doesn't. I could mention numerous. I'm just going to say what happens is you have civil authorities usurping and stealing authority that was never given unto them. Now, listen very carefully to what I'm about to say. Any time you say that government, civil government, is unlimited, you divinize government. I don't care if you're talking about family government, church government, or civil government. The only unlimited government that exists is the government of God himself. For God alone is sovereign. Do you understand? There can only be one ultimate. There can only be one absolute. There can only be one sovereign. And if government has unlimited jurisdiction, if government can do whatever it desires to do, then government is God and God is not God. So you have to ask this question, and I want to show you this.
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How does governmental rebellion manifest itself today? It's not a fun thing to think about this. Do you understand that yes, we as individuals can rebel, sinners can rebel, but so can civil government. I want you to look in your Bibles, very quickly, to Psalm 94. And then we're going to 2 Kings chapter 17. I'll tie this together for you, just momentarily. But look in Psalm 94. Notice if you would please, and let's begin reading there with verse 20. Psalm 94 verse 20. We just read verse 16 earlier, where God asked, "Who will rise up for me against the evildoers?"
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"Who will stand for me against the workers of iniquity?" Now look what he says in verse 20. Here's the question. "Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law?" "Shall the throne of iniquity..."
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Now we're talking about a throne, so it's a governmental entity. It's called a throne of iniquity, so it's a wicked civil government. So here's the question. Shall a wicked civil government have fellowship with God, when that wicked civil government frameth mischief by a law? Or that is, it makes sin legal. Another word in the Bible for mischief is iniquity. Understand, abortion is legal in this country. It's legal to murder as long as you do it through abortion. It's legal to be a sodomite. It's legal to steal, as long as you're a politician, not that you don't understand. All I'm saying is civil government makes sin legal.
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Look at the next verse, if you would. Verse 21. Here's what they do when they make sin legal. "They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood."
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Now, I do want you to turn to 2 Kings chapter 17, and I want you to see this. 2 Kings chapter 17, and notice verses 7 and 8. 2 Kings 17, verses 7 and 8. Notice, if you would, what the Bible says about the children of Israel. 2 Kings 17, verse 7, "For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, which had
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brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods." Now, wait a minute. How do we know that Israel feared other gods? Well, you say, the Bible just told us they did. I understand that. But in what fashion did their fear of other gods take place? Well, let's look at it. Verse 7, "...and had feared other gods." Verse 8, "And walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made." So what Israel had done was this. They turned their back against God and against God's law and they began then to follow the laws of the heathen and then the laws of the kings of Israel which they had made which were absolutely contrary to God's law. Look down to verse 19. "Also Judah kept not the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made.
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And the Lord rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight." Why did God send the children of Israel into captivity? Because they rejected Him and His law. What did they do? They substituted man's law for God's law. They substituted man's authority for God's authority. Do you understand that not all statutes and all laws and all rulings and all executive orders and all regulations can nullify the Bible or can nullify God?
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I don't care what the civil rulers say. It cannot cancel out God. Let me give you an illustration. There was a court case where a young girl wanted to pray at her graduation. The court case is Jane Doe versus the Santa Fe Independent School District. So we went to court, and essentially the court said, "Well, it's all right to have prayer at a high school graduation if you pray the way we tell you. But if you don't pray the way we tell you, then you can't pray." I want you to listen to what the judge told this young Christian girl who wanted to pray at her high school graduation.
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And I've often said, I wish she'd have said this to me. Because I'd have had a few words back for him. I may still be in prison, but I'd have had a few words back, I can assure you. Here's what the judge said. Listen carefully. "This court will allow prayer if it is a typical, non-denominational prayer. The prayer can refer to God or the Almighty, but the prayer must not refer to Jesus. And make no mistake, this court is going to have a United States Marshal in attendance at graduation. If any student offends this court and mentions the name of Jesus in a prayer, that student will be summarily arrested and will face six months in incarceration. Anyone who violates these orders is going to wish that he or she had died as a child when this court gets through with them." Why? Why? I've got news for you.
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Those in charge today are still selling themselves to work evil, exactly the way Ahab did. They're denying God's sovereign authority. Their attitude is the same attitude that's revealed in Luke 19, verse 14, where those wicked people said concerning Christ, "We will not have this man to reign over us." In other words, we don't want God's law. We don't want God's sovereign authority. We want to rule ourselves.
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Do you realize this is the very essence of rebellion? I don't care if you look at Adam and Eve, I don't care who you look at, the essence of rebellion is denying God's authority and trying to establish your own authority, denying God's law and seeking to establish your own law. And that's exactly what Ahab did. And he was considered the enemy of God. He sold himself to work evil. Listen carefully.
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You say, "Brother Weaver, what in the world is wrong in our country? Why is it that most people never see what's happening?" May I answer that for you? Here's why. Because unless you believe in and understand God's absolute sovereignty, you'll never understand tyranny. You'll never understand tyranny. You'll never understand it civilly. You'll never understand it familiarly. You'll never understand it ecclesiastically. Until you say God is absolutely sovereign and His word is supreme, His law is real and true, you will never, ever recognize tyranny. The second application is that since government has become the enemy of God, we must choose whom we must obey.
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Do you remember when those Jews cried to Pilate when he asked them, "Shall I crucify your king?" What did they say? "We have no king but Caesar." What? We don't want Christ. We don't want his authority. You remember that passage in Acts 17 where it says concerning those Christians that those who turn the world upside down have come hither also, saying that there is another king, one Jesus. And what did Peter and the rest of the Apostles say in Acts 5 and verse 29? When they were forbidden to preach in the name of Jesus, they said, "We ought to obey God rather than men." You have to determine who you're going to obey. You have to say, there's a line being drawn. I'll either obey God or man.
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Now, the last one is this. When we aid and abet and seek to establish rulers that are ungodly and that rule unbiblically, we are joining in with a rebellion against God. Read Hosea 8 and verse 4, read Hosea 5 and verse 11. You cannot support wickedness. The lesser of two evils is still evil. Ahab looked at Elijah and said, "Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?" Elijah answered, "I found you."
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And let me tell you something, folks. God shall find out all of his enemies. And as the psalmist said, he shall strike them through. It pays you to be on the Lord's side and not on the side of the wicked.
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Let's bow together. Lord God, we recognize you today as the sovereign, as the sovereign. It's easier to say that in these difficult days than it is to act like it and to live it. Oh Lord, by your grace, in everything we say and everything we do both privately and publicly, may we be living testimonies of your authority and your rule and your power over everything. And may we not give in to the lies that are being told to us, that it's okay for you to be sovereign in the church, but no place else. Oh Lord God, we are praying to the God right now who is sovereign over everything.
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That's who we pray to. Oh Lord God, may we as a church, all of us, parents, children, grandparents, grandchildren. May we live like Elijah, who was jealous for the name of the Lord God of hosts. May that be us. May, O Lord, that be us. We thank you again for your mercy to us. Thank you for giving us life. Thank you for giving us your Son, who died a horrifying death that we might have life. We pray these things in the name of Christ, Savior and Lord. Amen.
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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-06T04:37:31Z

God's Preachers: Enemies of a Godless State

John Weaver | Freedom Ministries

John Weaver preaches from 1 Kings 21:17-20, arguing that God's preachers are necessarily enemies of a godless state. He demonstrates that God, Christ, and Christians all have enemies, and that faithful pastors must confront wicked civil rulers. Using Elijah's confrontation with Ahab, Weaver shows that preachers must not soften the enmity between righteousness and rebellion. He explains that civil government becomes an enemy when it usurps authority, rejects God's law, and makes sin legal. The sermon calls believers to choose obedience to God over man and to recognize that supporting ungodly rulers is joining rebellion against God.

Opening

Introduction: The Strange Idea of Enemies

Weaver introduces the topic by noting that the term 'enemy' bothers some Christians who wrongly think pastors should have no enemies. He states that even God has enemies.

Biblical Proof that God, Christ, and Christians Have Enemies

Weaver cites multiple Psalms and John 15 to show that God has enemies, Christ was hated, and Christians will be hated by the world.

The Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them." Note, if you would,

Scripture Reading — Psalm 21:8

"Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies, and thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee."

Scripture Reading — Psalm 68:1

If you look in Psalm 92 and verse 9, Psalm 92 and verse 9, again God says it like this very clearly, and we're talking about God's enemies, and remember He's the most holy, just, and righteous being. And yet the Bible says in Psalm 92 and verse 9, "For, lo, thine enemies, O Lord, for, lo, thine enemies shall perish; all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered." But notice, if you would, how repeatedly the Bible says that God has enemies. And if you look at Psalm 110, concerning this great messianic psalm, which is repeated in the New Testament a number of times in reference to Jesus Christ. The Bible says in Psalm 110, beginning there with verse one, "The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies." So very obviously, God has enemies over and over. The Bible says he does. There are those who are against God.

Scripture Reading — Psalm 110:1

And whether you realize it or not, God's people have enemies as well. I wish I had time to bring those four messages that I did on imprecatory praying. That is, praying those imprecatory prayers. But if you look very quickly in your Bibles to Psalm 58 and Psalm 59, you'll see just a couple of these prayers where the psalmist is praying against his enemies, which happen to be God's enemies as well. But look in Psalm 58, if you would please, to begin with. In Psalm 58, notice, if you would, beginning there with verse 7. And he's talking about the aliens of God. In fact, go back to verse 3. Go back to verse 3. He says, "The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies. Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear; which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely. Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Lord."

Scripture Reading — Psalm 58:3-11

"Let them melt away as waters which run continually: when he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces. As a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away: like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun. Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath."

Now watch!

Scripture Reading — Psalm 58:3-11

"The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked. So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous: verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth."

Note, if you would please, here's a prayer that David is praying against the wicked, and he says,

Scripture Reading — Psalm 58:3-11

"The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth God's vengeance, and yes, the righteous shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked."

If you skip down to Psalm 59, look in verse 1, David prays this.

Examining Why We Have Enemies

Weaver urges self-examination to ensure our enemies are due to righteousness, not personal crankiness. He references David's prayer in Psalm 139 about hating God's enemies with perfect hatred.

The Question Asked: 'Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?'

Weaver expounds Ahab's question to Elijah, showing that Ahab declared Elijah his enemy. He explains the Hebrew word for enemy and notes that Ahab did not want the confrontation but expected it.

Scripture Reading — 1 Kings 20:36

"Then said he unto him, Because thou hast not obeyed the voice of the Lord, behold, as soon as thou art departed from me, a lion shall slay thee. And as soon as he was departed from him, a lion found him, and slew him."

The Duty of God's Preachers to Confront Wicked Rulers

The Question Answered: 'I have found thee'

Weaver highlights Elijah's unflinching answer, emphasizing the clear line of separation between God's friends and enemies. He references David's hatred of God's enemies and Elisha's similar attitude.

Do you realize that righteousness and unrighteousness do not coexist very well. Do you remember what the Prophet Hanani said to Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles 19 verse 2? He asked this question,

Scripture Reading — 2 Chronicles 19:2

"Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the Lord?"

Wow. And because Jehoshaphat had done that, he said,

Scripture Reading — 2 Chronicles 19:2

"Therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord."

Scripture Reading — Psalm 97:10

"Ye that love the Lord, hate evil."

You can't love the Lord without hating everything contrary to the Lord.

Scripture Reading — Psalm 97:10

"Ye that love the Lord, hate evil."

Scripture Reading — 2 Kings 3:10-14

"And the king of Israel said, Alas! that the Lord hath called these three kings together, to deliver them into the hand of Moab!" "And Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the Lord, that we may inquire of the Lord by him? And one of the king of Israel's servants answered and said, Here is Elisha the son of Shaphat, which poured water on the hands of Elijah. And Jehoshaphat said, The word of the Lord is with him. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him. And Elisha,"

watch,

Scripture Reading — 2 Kings 3:10-14

"Elisha said unto the king of Israel, who was an apostate, Elisha said to the king of Israel, What have I to do with thee? get thee to the prophets of thy father, and to the prophets of thy mother. And the king of Israel said unto him, Nay!"

The Question Analyzed: Why Civil Rulers Become Enemies

Modern Manifestations of Governmental Rebellion

Look at the next verse, if you would. Verse 21. Here's what they do when they make sin legal. "They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood."

Applications: Choosing Obedience and Recognizing Tyranny

God's Preachers: Enemies of a Godless State

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	112141630479
Subject	Civil Government
Course	Civil Government: Magistracy, Authority, and Romans 13: Authority
Genre	Sermon
Date	2014-11-02
Dictation Name
Book	Book 008: Civil Government: Magistracy, Authority, and Romans 13 — Chapter 16
Source Timed Segments	93

Lecture Guide

Outline

Introduction: The Strange Idea of Enemies: Weaver introduces the topic by noting that the term 'enemy' bothers some Christians who wrongly think pastors should have no enemies. He states that even God has enemies.
Biblical Proof that God, Christ, and Christians Have Enemies: Weaver cites multiple Psalms and John 15 to show that God has enemies, Christ was hated, and Christians will be hated by the world.
Examining Why We Have Enemies: Weaver urges self-examination to ensure our enemies are due to righteousness, not personal crankiness. He references David's prayer in Psalm 139 about hating God's enemies with perfect hatred.
The Question Asked: 'Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?': Weaver expounds Ahab's question to Elijah, showing that Ahab declared Elijah his enemy. He explains the Hebrew word for enemy and notes that Ahab did not want the confrontation but expected it.
The Duty of God's Preachers to Confront Wicked Rulers: Weaver argues it is the duty of preachers to find and confront God's enemies in the political realm, regardless of their office. He cites God's sending of Elijah and the historical practice of election sermons.
The Question Answered: 'I have found thee': Weaver highlights Elijah's unflinching answer, emphasizing the clear line of separation between God's friends and enemies. He references David's hatred of God's enemies and Elisha's similar attitude.
The Question Analyzed: Why Civil Rulers Become Enemies: Weaver explains that civil government becomes an enemy when it rebels against God, sells itself to work evil, and usurps authority not given by God. He discusses the three institutions (family, church, state) and their proper spheres.
Modern Manifestations of Governmental Rebellion: Weaver applies the principles to modern times, citing Psalm 94, 2 Kings 17, and a court case where a judge forbade mentioning Jesus in prayer. He states that making sin legal is framing mischief by law.
Applications: Choosing Obedience and Recognizing Tyranny: Weaver concludes that understanding God's absolute sovereignty is essential to recognizing tyranny. Believers must choose to obey God rather than men, and supporting ungodly rulers is joining rebellion against God.

Major Themes

Key Arguments

God Himself has enemies, so it is not strange for His preachers to have enemies.

Weaver argues from multiple Psalms that God has enemies, and therefore pastors should expect to have enemies as well.

Psalm 21:8, Psalm 68:1, Psalm 92:9, Psalm 110:1 are cited to show God's enemies.

Christians are hated by the world simply because they are not of the world.

Jesus taught that the world hates believers because He chose them out of the world, making enmity inevitable.

John 15:18-20 is quoted to show that persecution is a result of being chosen out of the world.

It is the duty of God's preachers to confront wicked civil rulers.

Weaver insists that preachers must not consider any political office off-limits; God sent Elijah to confront Ahab.

1 Kings 21:17-19 and 2 Kings 1:3 show God commanding Elijah to confront kings.

Elijah did not soften the enmity but acknowledged it directly.

When Ahab called Elijah his enemy, Elijah simply agreed, demonstrating the clear line between God's friends and enemies.

1 Kings 21:20 shows Elijah answering, 'I have found thee,' without trying to neutralize the situation.

Civil government becomes an enemy when it rebels against God's law.

Government is ordained by God as a minister of justice, but when it makes sin legal, it becomes a throne of iniquity.

Psalm 94:20 and 2 Kings 17:7-8 are used to show that framing mischief by law is rebellion.

Supporting ungodly rulers is joining rebellion against God.

Weaver argues that voting for or aiding wicked rulers makes one complicit in their rebellion, citing Hosea 8:4.

He states, 'You cannot support wickedness. The lesser of two evils is still evil.'

Scripture References

1 Kings 21:17-20: The primary text of the sermon; Elijah confronts Ahab after Naboth's murder.
Psalm 21:8: Used to show that God's hand will find out all His enemies.
Psalm 68:1: Cited to prove that God has enemies who will be scattered.
Psalm 92:9: Shows that God's enemies will perish.
Psalm 110:1: Messianic psalm showing Christ's enemies will be made His footstool.
Psalm 58:3-11: Imprecatory prayer where David prays against the wicked and rejoices in their judgment.
Psalm 59:1-3: David prays for deliverance from his enemies who are bloody men.
John 15:18-20: Jesus teaches that the world hates believers because they are not of the world.
Psalm 139:19-24: David's prayer of hatred toward God's enemies and request for God to search his heart.
Judges 16:23: The Philistines call Samson their enemy; same Hebrew word as in 1 Kings 21:20.
1 Samuel 18:29: Saul became David's enemy continually; same Hebrew word.
1 Kings 20:36: A lion 'found' a man and slew him; same Hebrew word for 'found' as in 1 Kings 21:20.
2 Kings 1:3: God sends Elijah to confront Ahaziah for inquiring of Baal-zebub.
Psalm 82: Mentioned as a psalm against corrupt judicial officers; the preacher becomes prophet of the court.
2 Chronicles 19:2: Hanani asks Jehoshaphat, 'Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the Lord?'
Amos 3:3: 'Can two walk together, except they be agreed?' used to show separation.
Matthew 12:30: 'He that is not with me is against me' shows the impossibility of neutrality.
Psalm 97:10: 'Ye that love the Lord, hate evil' shows love for God requires hatred of evil.
Psalm 94:16: God asks, 'Who will rise up for me against the evildoers?'
2 Kings 3:10-14: Elisha tells the wicked king of Israel he would not look at him except for Jehoshaphat.

Historical References

Southern Poverty Law Center: Weaver is introduced as having been called a racist and a hater by the SPLC, which the introducer calls a racist and hateful organization.
Sodomite mayor in Texas subpoenaing sermons: Weaver mentions a recent event where a mayor in Texas tried to subpoena sermons of preachers who preached against sodomy.
Election sermons in early America: Weaver notes that in the founding of the country, no civil ruler could take office without being preached to about his duties to God.
Jane Doe vs. Santa Fe Independent School District: Weaver recounts a court case where a judge forbade mentioning Jesus in a graduation prayer and threatened arrest.
Weaver's church conflict with the state of Georgia: Weaver shares a personal story of his church being threatened by the state over a well permit, leading to a theological confrontation.

Important Quotes

It's absolutely strange that the term enemy bothers some Christians. And the reason it bothers them is because they erroneously believe that somehow Christians are not supposed to have enemies, and especially pastors.

Sets up the central thesis that having enemies is biblical and expected for faithful Christians and pastors.

Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.

Key proof text used to show that hating God's enemies is compatible with righteousness.

It is the duty of God's preachers to find out all of God's enemies, even in the political realm, and to confront them and reprove them. And it doesn't matter if they're the highest rulers in the land.

Core argument that preachers must confront wicked civil rulers without exception.

Unless you believe in and understand God's absolute sovereignty, you'll never understand tyranny.

Foundational principle that recognizing tyranny requires a robust doctrine of God's sovereignty.

Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law?

Key verse (Psalm 94:20) used to define governmental rebellion as making sin legal.

You cannot support wickedness. The lesser of two evils is still evil.

Application that believers must not vote for or support ungodly rulers.

Discussion Questions

[Question]

Why do many Christians today think pastors should not have enemies, and how does Scripture correct that view?

[Context]

Weaver opens by noting that the term 'enemy' bothers some Christians who think pastors should be universally loved.

[Question]

How should we examine ourselves to ensure our enemies are due to righteousness and not our own crankiness?

[Context]

Weaver urges self-examination so that we do not have enemies of our own making.

[Question]

In what ways have modern pastors failed to confront wickedness in civil government, and what are the consequences?

[Context]

Weaver laments that few preachers cry out against civil corruption and mentions the failure to rebuke sin in high places.

[Question]

What does it mean for civil government to 'frame mischief by a law,' and can you give modern examples?

[Context]

Weaver cites Psalm 94:20 and discusses how governments make sin legal, such as abortion and sodomy.

[Question]

How does a proper understanding of God's sovereignty help believers recognize and resist tyranny?

[Context]

Weaver states that without believing in God's absolute sovereignty, one cannot understand tyranny.

[Question]

What are the practical implications of 'We ought to obey God rather than men' when civil laws contradict God's commands?

[Context]

Weaver references Acts 5:29 and the need to choose whom to obey when government oversteps its sphere.

Applications

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