We turn in our Bibles tonight, continuing our study in the book of Romans, to chapter 13, Romans chapter 13, a very important section here tonight, and obviously there's a lot that could be said here, but we will consider the first seven verses, and I would imagine as you're going through a sermon like this, there's all sorts of questions that come out as you're hearing the sermon and thinking, well, what about this and what about this? And hold those. Ask those after we're done. And hopefully some of those will be answered. And if not, talk to your elders. Romans chapter 13 tonight. Romans chapter 13. And that's found on page 1206 in your pew Bible. Let's give our attention tonight to the word of the Lord. Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore, whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? then do what is good and you will receive his approval for he is god's servant for your good but if you do wrong be afraid for he does not bear the sword in vain for he is the servant of god an avenger who carries out god's wrath on the wrongdoer therefore one must be in subjection not only to avoid god's wrath but also for the sake of conscience for because of this you also pay taxes. For the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them, taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. May the Lord bless tonight the hearing of His Word. I've always thought that the book of Revelation is helpful for us to think about the Christian's relationship to the state, what it is to be, and church and state relations. It really is a book that helps us think through those issues. And as we saw this morning, when we look at Abraham and Abimelech and the way that they related to people, God's people, His church and His people as individuals in society, they are to be channels of blessing to the society. They are to be lights to the society. We are to be a blessing to the nations around us. They should see that in us. They should understand that. That was one of the promises, the Abrahamic promises, that you will be a blessing. And Jesus Christ has come to fulfill that. And today, we are channels, as we looked at this morning, of that blessing. But when church priorities are all wrong, it can have terrible influences in society. We know that. Well, the same kind of good and bad problems happen with the state. Tonight's passage gives us a very positive view of the civil government. But Revelation, if you will, shows us in contrast to that, the civil government run wild. Revelation shows us the state, if you will, often described with language of Babylon and demonic forces, a beast that rises out of the sea. It shows us the state under those demonic forces and what it can become, the potential that it has, where it might be going, and the direction of that. In its worst form, the state becomes an oppressive beast compared to Babylon. And Revelation helps us to think through those issues when it doesn't function as it should. And our discussion tonight is about how we as Christians are to relate to the state and how it is to be governed. What is the responsibility of the Christian? We could even ask that in light of the church. And what is the responsibility of the state? And the overarching biblical description for the New Testament Christian as we look at something like Romans 13 gives us a very positive viewpoint tonight, doesn't it? You felt the thrust of that as I read that. And that we, of course, in our sphere are to be that channel of blessing. The state, though, being set apart to curb and to stop injustice and to promote justice and to promote the maintenance of peace among neighbors, God has set this apart for that. Where we struggle, what we really struggle with is how do we work with that? What do we do with that when the state is not functioning like it should? That's the sort of million-dollar question that all of us have on our hearts and minds. What do we do with that? How do we think through that? We proclaim, and now you can kind of think about the Christians in Revelation. We proclaim that Jesus Christ is reigning over all. We just sung about that in Psalm 82. and that he is what history is all about, that he is the king, that all kings are subject to him, the nations of the world are subject to him, and that life under his powerful lordship, we confess, that every knee ultimately will bow and every tongue will confess that he is the Lord, that he is the true king. But what do we do with godless leaders? Christians in the first century really struggled with this. They were suffering. First century Christians were facing major persecution for the faith. They were facing all sorts of things. Many of them were feeling like giving up. Many of them under the knife did and ended up denying the Lord. And you had the empires of the world like Rome in front of them. And Rome was a pillar. Rome was so strong. Was Jesus really more powerful than Caesar? That's the question of Revelation. Who gave Caesar his power? And where is this triumphant king that we all say is reigning? And then if he is the king of kings and Lord of lords, shouldn't we be rejecting any leader who is not bowing the knee to that king? Shouldn't we be? If Jesus is Lord, shouldn't everything be Christian and turned into Christian? Isn't that a fair question? Shouldn't we want prayer in public schools? What do you think? Shouldn't we be a Christian nation? What do you think? What about the church's role? And should the church be fighting against the corruptions of society? How do we do that? Or does that belong to the individual Christian? It got interesting up north where they had a big debate up north in Linden whether they should be selling alcohol on Sunday. Or a casino should go in. Should we pick at abortion clinics? Tonight I want to look at with you a passage that gives us the general rule of things. And it explains for us what our response should be to the civil government and what God has designed that God has designed to be meant for our own good. And hopefully this will help to answer at least a larger question of how we carry forward in times when a government is becoming more hostile to the Christian church. And that's what I really want to tackle and look at in light of Romans chapter 13. The outline is fairly simple tonight if you're taking notes. Paul is telling us as Christians how to respond to the governing authorities and then he simply gives us the reasons for that. It's helpful to remember that we're in the gratitude section tonight in Romans. And there really has been nothing easy about the gratitude section, has there? If you really studied Romans chapter 12 and you carefully listen to the sermons, you remember that he called you to present your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God with thanksgiving, which is your reasonable worship. And in chapter 12, then he outlined the responsibilities of the Christian to show that gratitude, and he started with gifts, and then he moved into love. Love for who first? Your brethren. And then he spoke last, love for who? Enemies. Love for your enemies. Even to those on the outside who actively pursue hostility against us, we are to love them. We are not to retaliate against them. It's a remarkable section. Don't you find it interesting that right before the call to submit to the governing authorities, we have a whole section on love your enemies? that's important tonight because the one place christians throughout history have not demonstrated love is who they perceive to be enemies who are not believers in civil positions of authority those are who we attack those are who we go after those are the ones at the dinner table i mean what are the two subjects that are taboo what are the two subjects you can't talk about religion and politics. Notice Paul, under the inspiration of the Spirit, structured it this way. Loving not just our brothers, but a radical kind of love even to our enemies. And so from there, he moves on to our response, excuse me, to the authority structures in our lives that God has ordained for our good. So let's look at verse 1. Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Let everyone obey. Let everyone be actively subject. Let everyone be under firm control before these governing authorities. That is such a countercultural, intuitive response. In other words, we were all taught, at least many of you who were through it, in the 60s to question authority. That was the whole model. That was the whole motto. That was what this country has been built on for the last 50 years. Question it. And particularly tonight, when Paul looks at this, he's addressing this with us. He's speaking about civil authority. He's speaking about those whom God has appointed in the governing authorities. Biblical authors have often applied this to every single authority structure in our lives, boys and girls, to your parents, and to your teachers, and to all of those whom God has put over you. And the fifth commandment extends that kind of degree to all kinds of civil authorities. The striking thing here, for me when I look at this, is how direct it is. There's no argument. There's no, whoa, wait a minute, wait a minute. Let everyone be subject, and then comes, it goes on, there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by Him. Did you hear that? There has never been, ever, a governing authority that has not been directly appointed by God. That's what Romans 13 just told you. in whatever form of authority over you, from the president to the police officer to your boss to your elder, the Lord says submit. And we hate that word. Our culture hates that word. And then you kind of come to the question, well, how far do you take that, pastor? I mean, I remember a pastor who called upon his people to pray for our president. And I read this, something, of course, expressly commanded in 1 Timothy chapter 2, and here was his written response that went out into public. There is nothing about Obama that I respect. In my opinion, he's a master of deception. I will not pray against him, but I cannot pray for him. I cannot support his socialism, pro-abortion, class envy, government-spread wealth around policies. Look at what he supports. Abortion. Do we submit to a man with those kinds of convictions? Are you kidding? The question, isn't it? Before we answer that tonight, I want to look at the context here a little bit. The interesting thing is the context in which this whole command is given. Paul is writing to the Roman church, isn't he? And as he's writing to this church, you have Jews and Gentiles. You have a mixture of Jews and Gentiles. That was the struggle we looked at in chapter 11, Jew-Gentile relationship. But I want you to think for a minute from Jewish ears what they just heard. Think about how shocking this is. From the Jewish ear, they heard this command. What were they looking for? They were looking for the reinstatement of the theocracy. And that's why every Jew was looking for a political Messiah. This was the problem in the Gospels. They wanted Jesus to do one thing. What did they want Jesus to do? Break down Roman rule. You tear it down, Jesus. Remember in John 6, Jesus feeds the multitudes, and he just fed 5,000 people with a few pieces of bread. You know the whole story. and there are men influential men sitting there and they're saying oh boy this is the prophet that's him and then you read right after that this they tried to take him by force to make him king this was it i mean this was the moment now was the time to restore the theocracy now was the time to give the kingdom back to Israel, and they were absolutely offended that a Gentile dog would rule over them. Hated it. Think about the scenario here. The disciples struggled with this in Acts chapter 1, where Jesus has just risen. Hey, this has got to be the moment. He's risen. He has given all authority. He said to them, I have authority in heaven, all authority in heaven and on earth. Go. So then, Lord, are you now restoring the kingdom? It's not for you to put times and seasons into your own authority. That's not your business. It's not time yet. The new heavens and the new earth, where everything's outside in the land, the eternal land, where all the offenders are outside, that comes in the new heavens and the new earth. But Right now, you go and you preach the gospel. Now, that's the first shockwave. I mean, think about this in the Roman church, where in Israel, when they were constituted a nation in the land, they had moral laws, they had ceremonial laws, they had civil laws, and in those civil laws, they could have never had a pagan king, ever. Dilemma, dilemma. First shockwave. Now I want you to think about the Gentiles hearing this for a minute, who've just come out of all the idolatries of that, who were bowing down to Caesar, and think about what's happened. Do we submit to those who don't even recognize the Lord Jesus as King, Paul? I mean, we don't want anything to do with these guys anymore. And then you come to the great question, you know, we're living in a day of culture wars, and we now, at least as we've seen, a president who does not share the historic Christian convictions on issues. It doesn't. It's just not there. What do you do with that? You know who was in power when Paul wrote this, if we understand the date? Nero. Nero was said to have murdered his mom, his adopted brother. Later, he would be accused, as history states, he set fire to Rome and blamed the Christians. They were hung as lampposts. Oh, before this, a couple before, Caligula was no better. He was known for his extravagant living, sexual perversity, and utter tyranny. He attempted Caligula to set up a statue in the temple at Jerusalem. The imperial cult was reigning. In other words, the emperors were treated as gods, and Nero even erected a statue in Rome's temple of Mars. Tacitus, a historian, wrote in his annals that Augustus Tiberius, bad one, had each allowed a single temple to be erected in their honor during their lifetimes, and such a temple, Augustus and Tiberius, would not only contain a statue of the ruling emperor, and I quote, that could be venerated in godlike fashion, but the temples were dedicated to the Roman people. Why am I citing this history for you? Well, the answer is, in that culture when Paul is writing, sexual morality was common, these emperors were treated as gods, they were worshipped as gods, and it's in this Greco-Roman environment that Paul is writing to the church in Rome when Nero is the governing authority who is soon to persecute them, if we understand this. And I'm trying to imagine for a moment the gasps in the church when they first heard this struggle. Paul, we understand that we are to submit to moral, good, upstanding men who fear God. But how do we acknowledge them if they don't recognize our Lord? Should we submit to a godless leader? And then you come to Romans 13, verse 1 and 2. And he says, let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. And not only does he say submit, but then he says it's God's minister. Think about the shock of that. God put these men, every single one in place, and not one of them has not been appointed by God himself. Now, I know about all the what-ifs. This is why I gave that little clause at the beginning. Put them aside for a minute. Why did God establish civil government? Remember what happened when Cain killed Abel? Cain cried out. Cain was a wicked man. He was a murderer, 1 John says. Cain cried out because God, he said that anyone after he's done this will see him and in lawless aggression, just take him out. And God put this mark on Cain, and anyone who would take vengeance on Cain in an unlawful manner, in other words, it couldn't just be people going and lawlessly or an anarchy just taking life and doing whatever they wanted. He set up a principle and established a principle of justice. Cain goes out and builds a city, and we know that Genesis has shown us these two cities growing side by side. God established this to maintain peace and tranquility among neighbors so that we don't destroy ourselves. And God set up a governing system to be a common blessing to the world so that when they call upon somebody, when somebody is broken in their house at the middle of the night, there would be a minister of justice to arrive on their doorstep. Or that when your house is on fire, you're calling someone to keep the peace and keep society from not falling apart. God did that. And God took certain men. They don't have to be believers. And God, what did he do? He set them apart. He set them apart to be ministers of justice in this kind of common way, to lead people and to realize justice. And you say, well, wait a minute, wait a minute, prove that. I'm always amazed by how our Lord talked to Pilate. Remember the issue Pilate raised? Pilate takes Jesus into the praetorium. Are you the king of the Jews? Now, the Jews had charged Jesus with three things. Remember what the Jews charged Jesus with? We found this fellow perverting the nation, refusing to pay taxes, and saying that he is a king. That he is the Christ, a king. Now, Pilate's concerned about one thing. Are you the king? He hears the charges, of course, Jesus. And Pilate is interested in his one single question is, are you the king of the Jews? Pilate was concerned with this. Are you claiming to be a rebel against Caesar? Because Romans did not take well to that, if anyone knows Roman history. Are you, Jesus, claiming to take down Caesar's authority? Now, if it was Tiberius who was wicked, Jesus, have you come to overturn Caesar? Jesus, have you come to take down President Obama's reign? That's the question. You're claiming to be king over our leader? I want to know that, says Pilate. It's a grand moment in the Gospels, isn't it? It's a big moment in the Gospels. How does he respond? He says, did you say that of yourself or did others say it to you? Jesus was asking Pilate if he was asking Pilate based on what the Jews said of him because that would mean if Jesus had come to be a political king. In other words, did you say that or are you listening to the Jews saying that? Because the Jews want me to be a political king. The answer to that would be, no, I haven't come to set up my throne on the Jerusalem temple right now. On earth. But if Pilate was asking of himself, Jesus was willing to explain his kingship. And so, get that. Jesus would not be boxed into the old theocratic force of the Jews. But a king here, think about what he now says. This is so fascinating what Jesus replies with. Jesus is standing there. He's bound up, could have called legions of angels to set up the kingdom and usher it in right then and there. And what does he do? My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight that I might not be delivered to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from here. My kingdom does not attack the emperor. I'm not a rebel against civil authority is what he was saying. If I wanted it, I'd take it right now. If I wanted to do that, I'd do it and it would be no problem, trust me. Fascinating. And that's why Jesus said, put away your sword, Peter. We're not chopping off ears. Jesus introduced the nature of his reign and kingship. And do you want to know what it is? People are confused about it. Christ said, my rule is spiritual. The kingdom is not with observation, see here or see there. It's in your hearts. You see my reign as people are born again. I didn't come to take over civil governments for the time. Oh, I will return again to judge the living and the dead, and then we'll enter the new heavens and the new earth. I think Paul had this on his mind. There have always been different reactions by Christians to the governing authorities. There have always been enthusiasts who think the government needs to be removed and that the kingdom of Jesus can't really be advanced until the governing authorities are removed. In history, you have all kinds of these enthusiasts. we read about them in Belgic 36. In the days of the Reformation, the Anabaptists took over the city of Munster and turned it into this violent polygamous compound. They executed anyone who did not, and they actually took it to its logical conclusion. They began to execute anyone who did not follow the theocratic laws. In the days of Cromwell, that same kind of spirit developed, and you've seen it in forms in our days. The Crusades, and David Koresh, and Jim Jones, and the complete throwing away of all authority structures. And Paul responds to that in verse 2. Therefore, whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. Now that is serious enough that everyone has to pause and say, God takes governing authorities very seriously. He says, when you're resisting them, you're resisting God. You know, even when Paul was being beaten, None of you have ever been taken into the local jail and had a whip come out and been punched in the face and beaten. Paul was. Remember what happened when he was struck? He got mad. Paul said to that person who struck him, God will strike you, you whitewashed wall. For you sit to judge me according to the law and you command me to be struck contrary to the law. And those who stood by said, you revile God's high priest? Then Paul said, I didn't know, brethren. I didn't know. I didn't know he was the high priest. For it is written, you shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people. Amazing. Whoever resists the authority resists God. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil you want to be unafraid of the authority do what's good and you'll have praise from the same for he is god's minister to you for good the lord designed the authority structures for good to restrain wickedness to stop violence to promote justice and we can't forget that the appointed authorities are set in place to promote this in society what he's saying is this tonight God so wired the government that its greatest fear is what? The government's greatest fear. God wired the government so that its greatest fear is not you doing good. It's evil. You have military set up. You have millions of police officers. You have governing officials. And look at what they're fighting today. Look, you can go to, I mean, we're all nervous to get patted down at the airport, but why? They're trying to stop domestic terrorism. Who did that? God did that. And I know their motives may not always be pure and right. That's not what I'm talking about. Paul is saying that the Christian should see that God wired the government overall to be a dread of evil works in people and God ordered it so that that is their greatest fear. We have an office of homeland national security. Everyone says, well, I don't trust our leaders. I think his motives are this and that. God's saying, you know, the design of government is this and I want you to trust that that's what I have said is the design. And so at the end of the day, even when things are a real mess here in our country, you know what Romans 13 we can at least say is this. It's not so far gone that it's thrown off its ultimate purpose. By and large, the government is still here for the good of the people, as the Constitution states. And I believe John Calvin said it's so powerful. Listen to this. Governments can abuse their power. they all do. Listen to this. Let me just say, because we're sinners, he says this, there's never been a civil government that has not abused its power to some degree. It's fallen. Leaders never so far abuse their power by harassing the good and innocent that they do not retain, even in their tyranny, some kind of just government. Even bad governments are still wired with this interest, even if the government gets to the point of totally abrogating its responsibility, history tells us what happens at that point. God enters in, and that's Psalm 82. When the government is totally thrown off and has totally rejected its purpose, Psalm 82, God has taken his place in the divine council in the midst of the gods. These are the leaders. He holds judgment how long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked give justice to the weak and fatherless maintain the right of the afflicted and destitute rescue the weak and the needy deliver them from the hand of the wicked they have neither knowledge nor understanding they walk about in darkness all the foundations of the earth are shaken i said you are god sons of the most high all of you nevertheless like men shall die and fall like a prince arise oh god judge of the earth for you shall inherit all the nations so you've seen governments get toppled who's doing that who throughout history is toppling governments so that not one has ever stood one secular government has ever stood throughout that's the lord and the encouraging thing here is to what what he says is do good when government sees us actively as christians being, this is my whole point today, being good citizens, you know what? They're going to respond to that. But when we are constantly attacking the government, it's going to respond to that too. It's not going to take well to that. That's why that principle of Hebrews 13 is so important. Obey those who rule over you and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls as those who must give an account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you. In other words, the principle is when we are not letting them do it with joy and we're constantly attacking them all the time, they're not going to rule well. So there's a reciprocal relationship. You want to be unafraid? Do good. He will praise you, for he's appointed for good. And I think Abraham and Abimelech demonstrated that to some degree today. So he says in verse 6, for this reason you pay taxes. They're God's servants, ministers, attending continually to this thing. Render them. Pay them. I've met many Christians in our time who say we don't have to pay taxes. That's not what Scripture teaches. I mean, it's so plain here. Pay them. Be good citizens. If they're going to attack us, they can't attack us for being rebels. They attack us for being good citizens. This is what every Christian who's ever been persecuted says to the civil government. We're good citizens. We keep the laws of the land. We honor this. We want a good conscience before God and men. That's what Paul says here. This is for your own conscience. You ever met people who are constantly attacking authority? They're miserable. Now, I close with this because this is the million-dollar question. Is there ever a time when we can't? Absolutely. absolutely remember when Peter and John were beaten for preaching in the name of Jesus and they brought them before the council and commanded them listen they commanded them never to teach again in the name what did they do they went out and taught in the name I mean, you do not obey something directly against God's law. Never. Never. Remember the three, as we call them with their pagan names, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, boys and girls, were commanded to bow down to Nebuchadnezzar's gold image. They wouldn't. We don't do it. When the authorities try to constrain our conscience to do things against the will of God and undermine our king, we can't obey. It's that simple. Our primary responsibility is to the kingdom of Christ. He is our king. And so if the government said one day, I don't want you coming together for worship, we'd be really tested, wouldn't we, in this country? What would we do? I'm going to preach. I'm not stopping. If I have to do it on Broadway or if I have to go into the parsonage, I'm preaching. And I hope you'll be there because God's commanded you to worship. It's fascinating. Paul said this. Look at this principle. The Lord is calling us to recognize authority. Wives, be subject to your own husbands that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives. Even if some are directly disobeying the word of God, you could take the approach of still demonstrating a submissive spirit and try to win them. That's what God says. And then we remember tonight the example of our Lord. For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow in his steps, who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth. Listen to this. When he was reviled, didn't revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously. That's your approach. I will commit it to him who is the true judge to judge righteously and not avenge this myself. Who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree. He stayed silent so you would enjoy this. That we having died to sins might live for righteousness by whose stripes you were healed. That's what he did for us. And he says, I want you to model the same. Our true citizenship, says Peter, is where? In heaven. And we eagerly await for the revealing of the Savior to take us to be there. Who will transform our lowly bodies and conform us to Christ's glorious body. According to the working by which he is able to subdue all things to himself. Until then, let us honor those whom God uses to rule over us, submitting as unto the Lord. Amen. O Lord, our God, we thank you for instructing us tonight in a difficult subject. We want to be good citizens, but we're also concerned, Lord, when governments go corrupt and don't acknowledge you. We could wish that every knee of every king would bow and submit in the fear of the Lord as Abimelech did this morning. recognizing who you are. That's our prayer tonight, that all kings and those in authority would honor that particular office and calling and the design that you have given and that you would give us wisdom, wisdom how to first and foremost honor you, to submit the way that we should and to pray for our leaders as you call us to. Give us that until the King of kings and Lord of lords returns in glory and every knee bows and every tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord over all, King of kings and Lord over all. In his name we pray, amen.