We turn tonight in our Bibles to Romans chapter 13, Romans chapter 13, and you will find that in your pew Bibles on page 1206. Last time we considered together the first seven verses of submission to the governing authorities. Tonight, in light of us coming to Lord's Day 44, and since that really is a Lord's day that summarizes things for us and helps us in how to look at the law. We're going to look tonight at verses 8 through 10. I had intended to go all the way through 14, and therefore the title reflects that, the urgency of love. But I don't really have a better one, so we'll just stick with that title. Okay, so Romans chapter 13 at verse 8, and then we'll turn to the back, page 56, It's Lord's Day 44 in the back of the Blue Psalter hymnal. We'll read through verse 14, beginning at verse 8. Owe no one anything except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet, and any other commandment are summed up in this word. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. By this, you know the time. Besides this, you know the time that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us than when we first believed. The night is far gone, the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk as in the daytime, not in orgies or drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, nor in quarreling and jealousy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires. And we will turn to the back tonight. We'll confess together all of these questions and answers. So we'll start at 1.13. I'll ask the question and have you respond with the answer. What is God's will for us in the 10th commandment? that not even the slightest thought or desire, contrary to any one of God's commandments, should ever arise in my heart. Rather, with all my heart, I should always hate sin and take pleasure in whatever is right. But can those converted to God obey these commandments perfectly? No. In this life, even the holies have only a small beginning of disobedience. Nevertheless, with all seriousness of purpose, they do begin to live according to all, not only some, of God's commandments. No one in this life can obey the Ten Commandments perfectly. Why then does God want them preached so pointedly? First, so that the longer we live, the more we may come to know our sinfulness and the more eagerly look to Christ for forgiveness of sins and righteousness. Second, so that while praying to God for the grace of the Holy Spirit, we may never stop striving to be renewed more and more after God's image until after this life we reach our goal, perfection. I hear a lot of people in this life ask the question of what is the will of God for their life. That has been a constant question that has come before me. In fact, I remember a man years ago who attended the church where I was preaching and he was obsessed with this question. I just don't know what God wants me to do. Why doesn't God just tell me? And should I move here? Should I take this job? Why is nothing working out well in life? I mean, I don't understand it. And this man became incredibly bitter over this kind of thing, getting angry often, and because of that, he ended up in nothing but squabbles with everyone around him. Nobody really wanted to be around him because he was miserable and complaining all the time. He was bitter. He was bitter at God. He was bitter at his circumstances. He wanted something direct from God. He wanted something that would answer that for him. We really have been obsessed with that question in Christianity today. What do we do with our Christianity? And it's always interesting to me that when we look at how the apostles were writing in the New Testament and how they were describing duty as Christians and what they were outlining as obedience for Christians, that they never did what American evangelicals do with it. It's an entirely different approach. You don't find them keeping upon us to-do lists. You just, you don't find them. They're actually challenging us in an entirely different way and in a more special way and well beyond that. Romans has said to us, beginning in the gratitude section of how we are to live, it's said right out of the gates in that section that we are to prove what is the good and acceptable will of God. And tonight it's as if the Apostle Paul has really now, he takes everything that he has been saying about the Christian life, and he encourages us with it with a summary. With a summary that is not a new summary, it's an old summary. It's not something that is brand new, but he's encouraging us now to look at it with new eyes as those who've been redeemed, now living in the day of fulfillment, in the day of Christ's power and glory, in the day when we are enjoying it in fulfillment. And what he's doing is encouraging us with this summary, to see and make sure that everything that we do as Christians is properly driven. The intention of everything that God declared to us in His law, all the specifics of the law is honored, how that is honored, and how the apostle summarizes that for us under the inspiration of the Spirit so that we would understand this and we would be encouraged to set ourselves to do it. You have to be motivated. And you've got to have proper motivation. You just can't heap on people to-do lists. That's the worst kind of application. That's not what he's after. He wants us to understand something. And for us to grasp how great his work of sanctification is, tonight is meant to encourage us in that to see that, yes, this is His purpose for us. And yes, He actively is working this in us. And yes, He wants us to pursue this. Absolutely. If I were to ask the question tonight, as a believer, what does God expect from you? What does God desire of you? Could you summarize that in one line? It might be interesting if I went around and started doing that here. Well, that's what Paul does. That's what the apostle is doing for us tonight. He takes the law of God and he frames it in such a way that believers would be able to look at the law of God, appreciate the law of God, value the law of God in a redeemed way as Christians. And that's the beauty of Romans 13. It's giving us this great summarizing command to love. applying this in a positive way and using this as a gauge by which we look at our actions as believers. So what is the perfect will of God for your life, as he said back in chapter 12? Well, let's begin at verse 8, which I believe states it in a very beautiful and succinct way. Owe no one, this is Romans 13 verse 8, Owe no one anything except to love each other, For the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. It really is a remarkable verse, something we should spend a moment on. The verb here gives the sense of do not keep on owing things to people. Do not keep on owing anyone anything except, wait, wait, except to love. except to love. Now, this is really important tonight because he had just got done telling us to do what? Submit. It's the last thing we want to hear. I mean, Romans 13 really does level upon us that the one imperative in the Christian life that we really don't like. We really don't like that. If you don't believe it, look at our society. Ask them what they think of the word submission. Submit. And then he goes on and he says, you know what? I want you also to pay your taxes. And I also, I don't want you, I want you to show respect to whom respect is due. And I want you to honor. Give honor where honor is due. Honor the authority. And when you do those things, When you continue to do those things, you're fulfilling obligations. And Christians should fulfill obligations. It goes without saying that the apostle doesn't even here give us a to-do list on the obligations. I could have a lengthy sermon tonight on the evils of debt. And I actually would like to do that. I think it might be helpful in our day. But it's not really the way the apostle approached it, is it? He didn't really approach it that way. Paul doesn't handle it that way. He does it in a much more effective way than to do what we hear Christians do today with the law. Everyone has a kind of general understanding tonight that we need to pay our debts. We know that. We know that we need to render what is due to somebody else. We know to do so, or at least you should know to do so. If you don't do so, that is theft. That is stealing. But there's something more that has to drive us to want to pay these debts. There's something more that has to drive us to even want to fulfill these kind of obligations that really are not very important to us, or at least we really have no real heart to do it. It's rather fascinating to me that this imperative, this command comes after this whole section on submission to authorities and this section was his command in the heart of it comes this command think of it submission to authorities that sits in the middle of a whole chapter on doing what loving remember chapter 12 i want you to love your brethren and i want you to love even your enemies. And then he hits the governing authorities right after he says that. And he launches into one of the most difficult ways that we love. We all know that we don't trust. We rail against the ones we are really ready and willing to gossip about are the authority structures in our lives, especially when they're corrupt. Blasting leaders makes Fox News, by the way of course it does this is what makes your evening news and we sit there with food and drink and enjoy it and in the heart of this section though on love he's telling us listen what he's saying show honor show respect even for authorities and then he said something shocking right at the beginning of chapter 13 there is absolutely no authority structure there's no governing authority over you that is not appointed by God himself. And Paul's writing this, and you think, well, you've got to be kidding me, you know. And then you think, well, who's in power when Paul said this? It's Nero. And trust me, our president is not as bad as Nero. Nero killed his mom. Nero burned Christians. A horrid history of scandal and abuse. And God in the middle of that section says, listen, if you want to rebel against civil authority, you're going to bring judgment on your head. And he told us to look at civil authorities, even with all of its faults. And as Calvin said, even the worst authority structures that we've seen throughout history still, Calvin said, maintain some kind of desire for justice because God hardwired the governing authorities with a dread of what? Evil works, not good works. They are trying to stop evil. So the heart of that, the thrust of that was, I want you guys to be really good citizens. The Lord wants us to be good citizens in this world. And if you look from this and you go backwards with me, you owe honor, you show it to them, you give it to them, you show respect, you then submit, you pay taxes, you can look at all these things that he has said, Submit to the governing authorities, and you know what? I have absolutely no joy in doing any of those things. Pay my taxes. I mean, I can't stand that little image of Uncle Sam and his beard and his hat. All I see is a collector. It's hard to love a president who I think is tossing the law of God. I struggle with respecting authority. It's rather hard for me to honor authority structures, you know, that in my perspective just don't fit what it should be. Why is God calling me to do that is the question. Why is God calling us to do that? Let's face it, you struggled. I know what you struggled with last week. I preached a sermon on submission to governing authorities and there's something inwardly that made you stir a little bit about that because immediately what you thought was this, well, pastor, what about Germany? And what about North Korea? And what about the old Soviet Union? Those were the thoughts that came into your mind. And we walk away from that. And I suspect we all struggle with the question at these times, well, why do I really need to do that? We could do it with grudges. We could do it as some kind of hard response. We could do it as just a kind of duty. Hey, God said it. Okay, I'll do it. But isn't it something that this is, as the Lord addresses this now, this is not something that He ever wanted from us in terms of just being a duty and doing it with a grudging spirit. It's not ever what He was after. We could do many things in the Christian life that our hearts are not in. It's always been remarkable to me over and over that the Lord is saying that He never wanted sacrifice without mercy. It says this in the Gospels. In the heart of the section on the gratitude section, remember He said, I want you to present your living bodies, your bodies as a living sacrifice to God. And this was a concern in Israel's history when He condemned them and He went after them for saying, what is the multitude of your sacrifices to me? i'm tired of them i'm weary of bearing them because it was of the spirit that jesus said you're drawing near to me but your hearts are far from me and what we're now getting to in romans chapter 13 then after he tells us to do things which we could just look at as empty duty to do he now touches on the motivations for why we do what we do he now hits hard on taking the things that we would say mean absolutely little and say, but God really cares about them. God really cares about these things. And after the apostle describes what we would consider, I mean, there's no heart in paying taxes. There's no heart in submitting to that. Notice what is the issue he raises immediately after that. It's love. why are we behaving certain ways? Why are we doing certain things? Why are we called to do these things? You really do have to have a reason for what you do, don't you? You have to know why you're doing what you're doing. And here's what Paul says tonight, and you'll see how this ties into the confession here in a little bit. Paul says, amidst all the very real debts that show up in life, financially, with respect to showing honor, with respect to authority, and to be a good citizen the reason I'm fulfilling those the reason I'm giving myself to pay back debt the reason I'm constantly setting myself to fulfill obligations in my life and to be an a Christian that always is known as fulfilling obligations is because there is something in my life that is a permanent obligation, and that is love. There's something that is driving the Christian life. I have an ongoing debt throughout my whole Christian life to love. It's really beautiful, isn't it? I pay off, I submit, I respect, I maintain, be a good citizen. I pay all these things off. I continue to pay these off. I fulfill the obligations because there's a greater motivation behind it all. It's my constant obligation to love that now motivates everything that I do. Owe no one anything except this ongoing debt of love. Now, why is that so important tonight? This call to love is everywhere. You see how it changes the way that we look at our neighbors, how we live before our neighbors, how we're good citizens, why we do what we do. Christians often don't fulfill their basic debts well. Why not? Because we're not properly driven. And this is what Paul is doing for us tonight. This is what the Spirit wants us to understand tonight. You know God loves a cheerful giver. Well, if you put the governing authorities in place, think about that. I'm giving and paying taxes to keep justice maintained. What we're studying tonight is an issue of the heart. I asked the elders and deacons the other day in our training, let me give you an example of this. I asked this question, I said, are we called to forgive everyone who offends us even if we're never asked? Does forgiveness require a request? And we had a good round table about this. The conclusion was made. Well, yes, somebody to grant them verbal forgiveness, to go up, to grant them verbal forgiveness and express that I forgive them verbally, they need to come to me. They need to ask them. And I would fulfill an obligation, wouldn't I? But isn't forgiveness much more than a verbal obligation to release the offense when somebody asks? Of course it is. Jesus taught this. Jesus gave a whole parable about this. Jesus talked about a man who owed a great debt and he went to his master and he begged him. He said, I have this great debt and the master forgave the debt and then that servant went out and grabbed another man who owed him something very small by the neck and he would not forgive that debt and that wicked servant did that and abused that other man and remember what happened remember how jesus closed out that little parable when the master heard that he was furious and threw him in prison till he should pay it all and then jesus says this so my heavenly father will do to every one of you if you do not forgive your brother from the heart he took it right to the heart to the heart from the heart having forgiven him from the heart is the love that motivates the expression of forgiveness with the mouth it's the duty that i've granted because it's already there that distinction is important it's fascinating when i go back and i look at the royal law of love in the old testament and i look at the royal law as james calls it and we're looking tonight at dealing with love to neighbor second table it's interesting how it comes listen to this this is the heart of where it came from in Leviticus chapter 19. You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You should not take vengeance. I don't show you bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. Zechariah 8, let none of you think evil in your heart against your neighbor and do not love a false oath for all things I hate, says the Lord. Everywhere this royal law comes up, it's really fascinating to me that in the heart of it, in the Old Testament, the Lord is mentioning the heart. The promise of the new covenant was that God would do what? He would circumcise the heart to do what? Love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. And the outflow of that would be Jeremiah 31. I will put my laws in their minds and I will write it on their hearts. The whole approach to the law would be different. And true love for our neighbor never happens until it flows from a heart that loves God. and the effects of that love are evidenced everywhere. Now, why is this important tonight? Why am I rehearsing that? Well, the Apostle Paul is encouraging us, and he's encouraging us with now how we are thinking about the law of God, how we as Christians are thinking about the law of God, what is motivating our pursuit of it. This is designed to encourage us tonight. In the little things that we think are pointless, those actions are much greater than you realize toward your neighbor. Here's the exciting thing. He raises tonight now, helping us to understand that what we do matters. And he goes to the second table of the law in verse 9. For the commandments, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, you shall not covet. If there's any other commandment. All are summed up in the saying, namely, that you love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no harm to a neighbor. Love is the fulfillment of the law. Paul is saying this. The striking thing, whatever command there is with regard to your responsibility to your neighbor, all of it can be brought together under one summarizing principle. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. What is he encouraging us with tonight? Why is that so shocking? Here's where Lord's Day 44 really helps us. If you have that open, I want you to listen to question 113. What is required in the 10th commandment? Answer, that there never should be enter into our heart. You see? They knew where they were going in this. There should never enter our heart even the least inclination or thought contrary to any commandment of God, but we should always hate sin with our whole heart and find satisfaction and joy in all righteousness. But can those who are converted to God keep these commandments perfectly? No. Even the holiest, this is what we always quote the Heidelberg, even the holiest in this life, only make a small beginning in this obedience, in this life. Now, this is where we kind of stop with the law. What we do with the law, a very important use of the law, something that has to happen with the law. It comes and it says, thou shall not, thou shall not, thou shall not. And what does that do? It draws out something. This is why we do this in worship it draws out something its goal is and we know this is reformed christians we should have kind of a corner on the total depravity thing by now it confronts us and question and answer 115 really addresses this doesn't it can you obey any of these things perfectly can you obey the commands perfectly well if you can't then why does god want them preached what is the purpose of the law. Why are you doing that? Answer, you need to know your sinfulness. And the law comes and it's searching you and it's saying there, and it's saying there. And the minister comes up and he may not seem like such a nice guy at that moment because he's really saying you guys are adulterers and adulteresses. You're murdering in the heart and you don't even see it like you should. And the minister then, if he's doing his job, is turning you to Christ, isn't he? And that's what 115 says, that we do this and we need to constantly go to Jesus. That's a whole Christian life. We're constantly doing this. This doesn't ever, this is Romans 7. This is what we do. And that is all the purpose when that law was given to show us our need for the Savior and to open our minds to how great a Savior we have who has fulfilled all righteousness that we need for our justification before God. Now what's the danger? The danger is this. That if I only use the law that way, if it only comes that way, then I will begin to see this. And now I'm talking about Christians. Christians redeemed, justified, all righteousness fulfilled for them in Jesus. Now set apart, new creatures, eyes open. If I only use the law that way, It becomes kind of rigid. It becomes kind of hard. It can be kind of unimaginative. And every time we hear the law, what do we do? Can't do it. Can't do it. Can't do it. I just can't do it. Now, when we look at Lord's Day 44, and we look at what it says, Did you notice there, in question 114, that there's a second part to that? Let me show you the danger before I get there. I remember years ago a women's Bible study. And they all got together and they asked the question, can the Christian do any good? And it was amazing to me because a lot of these women in the course of their lives sitting under pulpit ministry and under the law, they had only received the law in its first use. And they drew the conclusion in the study that there was absolutely nothing good that they could do in the Christian life. And they were fine with leaving it that way. And I've seen what happens in that scenario. We have this view of the law and then we never get to the second part of question 114. What is the second part of 114? Nevertheless, can't keep it. We know perfectly. But nevertheless, they begin with serious purpose to conform not only to some, but to all of the commandments of God. Does that make you nervous to say that? Does that make you a little bit nervous tonight? Do you realize that the Lord wants to encourage us tonight? He wants to encourage us. And again, I can't get over, I think Calvin said it right. Paul's design is to reduce the precepts of the law to love so that we might know that we then rightly obey His command. Notice what he says. when you love your neighbor, it's the law that you're fulfilling. That's the emphasis. Did you hear it? When you love your neighbor, it's the law that you are fulfilling. The law with all of its specifics receives its intention. You're no longer under it for condemnation. And this is where we struggle because you have to now go back and say, listen, I'm not saying here that you're fulfilling it for your own righteousness we've already got we've already done that we did that in romans 10 christ fulfilled righteousness for you notice what he's saying here with circumcised hearts you're now tasting the beginnings of what is going to come full in the resurrection but you're tasting it you're getting it why because the heart has been circumcised the beginning work is done the first resurrection has happened the spirit has been given to you and now you're tasting in your lives by his power a beginning of doing the commands you're tasting it and this is what paul said about the commandments the purpose of the command is love from a what pure heart from a good conscience and from sincere faith the lord showed us this everywhere i think he gave us real glimpses of this in the gospels i say to you this um poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury so they put in out of their abundance but she has put in out of the poverty that she had her whole livelihood. How about this one? For she's done a good work for me. Jesus said that. She's done a good work for me. For you have the poor with you always, but me you do not always have. For in pouring this fragrant oil on my body, she did it for my burial. Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will be told is a memorial to her, it's as if Jesus was saying, this is what I'm after. Look at love from a pure heart. Look at love from a redeemed heart. Look what it looks like. See it. I'm going to set up this memorial so you see it. Then turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, do you see this woman? I entered your house. You gave me no water for my feet, but she's wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in, she's not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Tonight, what the apostle has done is called us to love our neighbors with all the interest and care that I love myself with my own faults. And you understand then, when you come to passages like Romans 13, and it's telling us to submit to authority. It's telling us to love our president who, there's the guy that gets under our skin the most. It tells us to honor authority structures in our lives and we just can't stand them. When we have to pay our taxes and we're unhappy about that, when we're called upon to honor somebody that we don't want to do it we do these things now why we do it from a good conscience we're doing these things because with redeemed hearts doing it unto the lord loving the lord we're doing these things now to honor the very intention of the law of god and that changes the perspective of how i look at all of my duty when it's motivated this way with the purpose of the commandment with sincere love from a pure heart now that is my greatest way in life of saying thank you to the lord so when i write the check to the u.s government i can say thank you lord you're promoting and you're keeping the justice and you do what's right with this money and hold those accountable who abuse it. I can say to the Lord, thank you, Lord, for putting authority structures in my life. I'm going to show them the respect. I'm going to love them. I'm going to love them because that is my service reasonably. Because being thankful, I want to honor your law. Everything driven by this command to love. We love because he first loved us and everything i do motivated by love is to show that to my brethren i'm doing it unto the lord whatever i do eat or drink i do it unto the lord you've got a million opportunities this week and it doesn't work to say you know i'm just so bad i'm so bad i'm so bad i really just can't do anything you got a million ways to go encourage you got a million ways to love your neighbor to give them a word of kindness to embrace them to help them all of that when motivated by love fulfills the intention of the law and that's what he wants you to know bear one another's burdens love one another fervently with a pure heart let your love be romans 12 without masks let it be sincere and the purpose from the commandment is love from a pure heart from a good conscience and from sincere faith and in doing that so fulfilled the law of christ let's pray oh lord our god we thank you for the law of god with all of its specifics and all of its commands how we love your law we cherish your law and having been set free from the law of sin and by the blood and the righteousness of Jesus Christ. We now desire to honor this law in gratitude. And we're thankful that you have encouraged us tonight that when we demonstrate love, we are fulfilling the very design and honoring the intention as you had originally given it in the Old Testament. Thank you that we begin to taste that. And even though we fall so far short, we ask for forgiveness. We do ask that you would help us by your Spirit. As we read in question and answer 114 tonight, that we would begin with serious purpose to conform not only to some, but to all of your commandments, because that is your will for us. Help us to do that. And may we always be thankful in everything that we do for the love that was put on display before us this morning in Genesis 22. And let us go out into another week and tell others and show others and demonstrate to others that kind of sacrificial love. In Jesus' name we pray these things. Amen.