You know, ever since I started preaching in Acts, I've been dealing with lawless authorities, because we've seen that. In fact, I didn't do it just in Acts. I started off with Jesus and his crucifixion. And if there's anything that is dealing with lawless authorities, it is an illegal trial and an illegal execution of an innocent man. Now, since the beginning of the Wu Flu, the American people have been controlled in their speech and in their movements, their right to assemble, freedom to worship, and probably a hundred other contrivances by those in authority over us. Within the church, and even in our own Association of Churches. And trust me when I say this, we probably have the most conservative group of churches in SCARB, in the Southern California Area Reform Baptist Churches, that exist on in California. And yet, there are a number of the pastors, and this is not a criticism of them, who kept their churches closed, did not want to have the quarterly meetings, and based it on the reading of Romans 13, submission to authorities. The authorities said to stay closed. And by golly, we're going to stay closed. But here's the thing. The governing authorities have not made any laws to control our behavior. There's not a law that's been passed to say we have to do this or that or the other thing. It is merely on the whim of those authorities. And I do truly mean a whim, because if you noticed, the State of the Union address is coming up. Midterm elections are coming up, and all of a sudden, the CDC says, you know, masks were really never a very good idea. We didn't really need to do that. This assembling in one place, we already know that if you're going to be Antifa and rioting, you're allowed to be in close approximation, but not if you're going to the March for Life in Washington, DC. It is purely a whim that we have been being subjugated by. They've issued mandates, they have issued guidelines, but they have not made any laws, any actual legal guidance. Instead, like I said, they are guided by the whim of the moment. We are being controlled solely. by the whim of elected, but often enough, of unelected bureaucrats. No science guides their decisions. No medical consensus controls their actions. Just what they want us to do at the moment. Now, in a passing nod to the passage in Acts we're ostensibly covering today, but we're not. But we're going into another persecution of the Apostles by the Jewish authorities. And before we get there, I wanted to take a stroll through Romans 13. But Acts 5, 12 through 20 says, and this is just after the healing of the lame man and all that went together there. Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles, and they were all together in Solomon's portico. None of the rest dared join them. But the people held them in high esteem. And more than ever, believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, so that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by, at least a shadow might fall on some of them. The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed. But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him, that is the party of the Sadducees, and filled with jealousy, they arrested the apostles and then put them in public prison. So once again, we have the priests filled with jealousy at the ministry of the apostles, arresting them and throwing them in jail. And we will cover this in more depth in the next week. But you'll note that there is still no charge of law breaking. There's a very good reason for this, and it's because the apostles still have not broken any laws. That they are being held at the whim of the high priest and the Sadducees. They are being held over jealousy and emotion. Now, this leads once again to a defense of the apostles and further into the trial defense and stoning of Stephen, among the first deacons in the Christian church. But before we get into that, like I say, I want to take a dive into Romans 13. After all, we've seen instance after instance of not only the apostles, but Jesus himself not submitting to the authorities. Because see, I've... I have a little bit of a different take on what Romans 13 is about. Because Romans 13, and it's very clear at the beginning, 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. Now, every single And I have a number of them. Every single commentary on this says, this is not a judgment from God that they're going to incur on themselves. This is a governmental judgment that's going to come down on them. And this is one of my main points on this passage. Therefore, whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed. Now, that's very clear, and I am not disputing that. And those who resist will incur judgment. And here's the point. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Now think about that. It's why put yourself under authority and obey the rulers? So that you don't 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. Once again, under authority, do what is good, so that you do not incur judgment. And you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, and there we go again, it's right and wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is a 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 the same reason, 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 owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. So the question is, what does being subject to governing authorities mean? Why should we do it? What do we owe to the authorities? If, like me, you believe that the Bible is true, and I believe that all of the above is true, what does God tell us submission means? What does submission look like? I'm not going to give you... I try never to give you my own opinion. My opinion doesn't matter here. Okay? What does God, in his word, say submission to authorities looks like? To start with, let's go to Exodus chapter 1. You will admit that this is a little bit early in the Bible. Let's see what submission to lawless authority looks like in Exodus chapter 1. We're looking at verses 8 through 10 right now. Now, there arose a new king over Egypt who did not know Joseph. And see, I probably could have started back earlier in Genesis instead of starting in Exodus to show you what God thinks about submission. But this is a rather famous story. And I thought, let's just go right to there. And besides, I think I had like a dozen different Old Testament examples. And I realized that we would be here until 6 o'clock if I preached them all. But it says, now there arose a new king over Egypt who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. Come, let us deal shrewdly. Now, anytime the government says, let us deal shrewdly, check your pockets, okay? Let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply. And if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land. So the Pharaoh's idea of dealing shrewdly with the Israelites was to enslave them. Okay? Keep that in mind as you live your lives when the government is dealing shrewdly with you. But still, God blessed his people, even in slavery, and they still multiplied, even under harsh oppression. Verse 15, Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shipprah and the other, Puah, When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him. But if it is a daughter, she shall live. But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live. So the king of Egypt called the midwives and said to them, why have you done this? And let the male children live. The midwife said to Pharaoh, because Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them. So we have here a complete failure to submit to the supreme authority of Egypt. The pharaoh comes to them and says, kill the male babies. And not only do the women not do that, But they lie to his face. They say, we Jewish women are really strong. We don't need the midwife. We have babies before the midwife even gets there. Completely lying to Pharaoh about what has happened. So let's see how God punishes this lie and this failure to submit to Pharaoh the authority placed over the Jews by God. Verses 20 through 24. So God dealt well with the midwives. And the people multiplied and grew very strong. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families. Now you might say, Mike, this is God. He can do what he wants. And I agree 100% God can do as he wants. And he has left his word as an example for us on what doing right before him looks like. And in this case, lying to Pharaoh, disobeying Pharaoh and lying to his face is approved by God. and not just approved by God, but singled out and says, and he gave them families. So this is my point. God has left a record of how to deal with lawless authority. Not only did the midwives disobey, they lied to them. So then Pharaoh orders midwives to drown all the male Jewish babies in the Nile. But Moses' mother set him adrift in a basket of reeds instead. So how did God deal with that insubordination against Pharaoh? Well, you know the story. I'm not even going to read it. I'll just tell you. God had Pharaoh's daughter find Moses and raise him as a prince of Egypt. Right? For the insubordination of setting Moses in a basket of rushes on the Nile, he is raised as a prince of Egypt. So, make a long story short, Moses grew up as a prince of Egypt, kills an Egyptian who was abusing Jews, and flees to the wilderness where God finds him and sends him back to Pharaoh. So he enters the country. I don't know if we can really call this being under the authority of Pharaoh, but he's in the country. He's a stranger. Generally, when you're in a country under a strange king, you're under his authority. So what does Moses do? And again, I'm not going to read the scripture because you know it as well as I do. Moses leads the Jews out of Egypt though Pharaoh did not want them to leave. In fact, he made a big deal of not leaving until finally enough people had died that he decided that it was time for them to go. And he leads the Israelites out of Egypt. You will note that Moses resisted the authorities, as Romans 13 puts it. But though many deaths occurred, Moses did not raise his hand against Pharaoh. The Israelites did not fight the Egyptians. They removed themselves from the authority and left the country. This is just one way we see God approving of resistance against a lawless authority. David, the hero of Israel, shows another. As a young man, they say a youth, but he was actually probably late teen, early 20s, he's the hero of Israel. It's sung of him that Saul has slain his thousands and David his tens of thousands. And Saul gives his daughter, Michael, to be wife to David. But David falls afoul of the jealousy of Saul. Again, note, jealousy is involved here. And David flees from Saul, a lawless authority, but still sought to prove himself loyal to Saul. And one night when Saul was camped close to where David was, 1 Samuel 26, 6-11 starts with David saying, who will go with me into the camp to Saul? And Abishai said, I will go down with you. So David and Abishai went to the army by night, and there lay Saul sleeping within the encampment, with his spear stuck in the ground at his head, and Abner and the army lay around him. Then said Abishai to David, God has given your enemy into your hand this day. Now please let me pin him to the earth with one stroke of the spear, and I will not strike him twice. But David said to Abishai, do not destroy him, for who can put out his hand against the Lord's anointed and be guiltless? And David said, as the Lord lives, the Lord will strike him, or his day will come to die, or he will go down into battle and perish. The Lord forbid that I should put out my hand against the Lord's anointed. And David then removes himself from under the authority of Saul. He doesn't raise his hand against Saul, but he deserts to the hated enemy of Israel, the Philistines. And he lives with them, as the king of the Philistines says, for days and years. Well, it sounds like it was a year and a month. They have funny timekeeping in some of these ways that they speak. But a pattern emerges, resistance unto disobedience against lawless rulers, but not to violence. David did not attack. And actually, God restrained him because David was joining in a battle against Israel. And the Philistine commanders did not trust him. and sent him away. So God preserved him from raising his hand against the Israelites. During the Babylonian captivity, we have the story of Shidrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They refused to worship the gods, the Babylonians, and the golden image as commanded by King Nebuchadnezzar and were sentenced to death by burning in a furnace. And Nebuchadnezzar was in a rage that they would disobey him. When they were sentenced to the burning in a furnace, They answered to him thusly in Daniel 3, 16 through 18, O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter. If it be so, our God, whom we serve, is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire. and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But even if he does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up." So very sweetly they have told Nebuchadnezzar, no, we're not doing this. This so enrages Nebuchadnezzar that he had the furnace heated seven times, hotter than usual, and he had them bound, and then some mighty men from his army. And I love the reference to the mighty men, because these weren't just your run-of-the-mill servants. He had the mighty men from his army. bind them and cast them into the furnace, and so hot was the furnace that the mighty men died from the heat, even though they were not inside, but not Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They were spared. They did not obey the king, and God spared them. Again in Daniel, The later King Darius, urged on by satraps jealous of Daniel's place in government, issued a decree that said in Daniel 6-7, anyone who makes a petition to any god or man besides you, O king, for 30 days shall be cast into the lion's den. Now, this was solely aimed at Daniel. Lawless men were determined to take Daniel's life because they were jealous of Daniel's place in the government. We see jealousy again here raising its head. Daniel, of course, was only going to pray to God alone. If you read the full context, Daniel makes sure they see him doing it. He does not do it in private. He makes sure that those officials see him praying, so then they can make their report. And Daniel 6.11 and on says, Then these men came by agreement and found Daniel making petition and plea before his God. Then they came near and said before the king concerning the injunction, O king, did you not sign an injunction that anyone who makes petition to any god or man within thirty days except you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions? Ah, man, they're really sorry as they go to the king and say, man, you know, what a shame. What a shame. O king, did not you sign an indunction? O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions. The king answered and said, the thing stands fast according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be revoked. Then they answered and said before the king, Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, O king, or the injunction you have signed, but makes his petition three times a day. Then the king, when he heard these words, was much distressed, and set his mind to deliver Daniel. And he labored till the sun went down to rescue him. Then these men came by agreement to the king, and said to the king, Know, O king, that it is the law of the Medes and Persians that no injunction or ordinance that the king establishes can be changed. So into the lion's den Daniel went. And the passage concludes in verses 18 through 22. Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting. No diversions were brought to him, and sleep fled from him. Then at break of day, the king arose and went in haste to the den of lions. As he came near the den where Daniel was, he cried out in a tone of anguish. The king declared to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions? Then Daniel said to the king, O king, Live forever. My God sent his angel and shut them lions' mouths, and they have not harmed me because I was found blameless before him, and also before you, O king. I have done no harm. Notice Daniel's response after being thrown into the lions. When he's saved, he comes out and says, O king, live forever. Okay, he's not lifting his hand against the authority, but he did not obey the authority. And the king knows he didn't obey the authority. And the king didn't care because he knew truly who Daniel served. And I suppose I could not run out of these Old Testament examples. We've got Rahab in Jericho going against her people, going against her rulers to help the spies of Israel take down the city of Jericho. And a prostitute, Rahab, helping the Israelites and becomes a great grandmother of Jesus a thousand years down the line. Now we've covered rather thoroughly the New Testament rejection of lawless authority. As I mentioned before, Jesus himself took the time to braid a whip before chasing the money changers out of the temple grounds. It was not an act of rage. He was angry, but it was not an act of rage. Jesus was never out of control in his life. No, rather his actions were deliberate and thought out. So who was he acting against? The money changers defiling the temple, of course, but more so. The people who allowed the money changers in the temple, the rulers of the temple, the high priests, the Sadducees, that's who he was rebelling against, but he didn't use a whip on them. He did not raise his hand. And when Jesus comes before Pilate later on, and he's told, you know, speak now and remain silent, he did not raise himself against the Romans. Jesus instead rejected the authority of the chief priests in charge of the administration of the temple. Does Romans 13 allow Jesus to reject the authority of the chief priests? Well, Jesus is of God, and of course he can reject the leaders of the people. But again, as with Moses, God shows the acceptable pattern. The rejecting authority of the Jewish leaders, Jesus did not use the whip on them and he held his hand. In Luke 21 through 20, and I've gone through this before, Jesus foretells the destruction of Jerusalem. Now the residents of the city are under the authority of the Romans. But Jesus says, not to remain under their authority. He says, but when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come nearer. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside the city depart, and let not those who are out in the country enter it, for these are days of vengeance to fulfill all that is written. He tells them to remove themselves from the authority of the Romans, to get out of town, to save themselves from the coming wrath. So if Romans 13 is not about blind obedience to authority, what is it about? As I said before, verses one through two, 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. John MacArthur says that Paul gives no qualification or condition to being subject to governing authorities. But I hope that I have shown you that God himself shows you exceptions to those governing authorities. That we are not to do anything against God's will, worshipping other gods. That we are not to sacrifice human life as in babies in the Nile. That if God gives us to lead people away from an authority, we have that authority from God to do that. Why did Paul not give those qualifications here in Corinthians? Usually we use the New Testament to explain the Old. In this case, I'm using the Old Testament to explain the New. It is very possible that Paul did not need to bring to their mind the cases of disobedience in Egypt or in Babylonia or wherever they fell because he was speaking to Jews who knew the Torah and knew the Law and the Prophets. So what is Paul's larger point here? All the world, and that's biblical language here, was under the rule of the Roman Empire. If you have not seen anything in my teaching through Acts, the Romans did not hesitate to come down. on people that they thought were disturbing the peace. And that's actually what they meant. It wasn't even lawbreakers, necessarily. It was people disturbing the peace. The Romans, it's called the Pax Romana for a reason. It was a period of peace unprecedented before in the world, and the Romans were going to keep it. The Romans did not hesitate to maintain their rule and the peace with immediate execution. The Romans were cruel because cruelty worked. As Rush Limbaugh would say, cruelty worked every time it's tried. You know, it did work. Already, Christians were a group under suspicion in the Roman Empire. As I've told you before, they were thought to be antisocial because they would not worship the foreign gods. The Romans came and said, we worship your gods. Just worship ours. We can all get along here. And the Christians would not do it. They were thought to be a sex cult because they taught you should love one another. And I've gone through that. They were accused of being cannibals. I just love the digression on these things because they ate the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ. The Romans weren't great on metaphors apparently, you know. So if you wanted to live a long life of quiet contemplation, Paul has a word of advice for you. in Romans, for rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. And we will discuss this in my final part of the sermon, that they are not a terror to good conduct. This is a very simple point, do good. The corollary is this, don't do bad. Verse 3b through 4a says, 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. And this is very simple. I've never been arrested. Yay me! Okay? I've never been arrested. And do you know why? Luck! No. Never mind. It wasn't luck. It was that I've always, my whole life, Strive not to get into trouble, okay? I have not done wrong. My son said I drive like a little old man going across the country. I set my GPS to the exact speed limit and I obey all the laws going across. I've now driven like 20 times across the country without a single, without once being stopped. Now, I'm doomed on my next trip across the country, of course. You can send me courtesy of the chain gang in Georgia. But I've always tried to do good. I've never wanted to do wrong, okay? Because of that, the government authorities have left me alone. And in this case, the authorities have indeed been God's servant for good. See, I'm not denying that this is true. I'm denying certain submissive behaviors that I believe are not what are called for by God. Some commentators, especially John MacArthur, Treat this section in Romans as purely political. And I've never even thought of it as political. Not for a second. I really see this as, do good, don't do wrong. You want to live comfortably? Do good. You want to be under the thumb of the authorities? Do bad. Verse 4b continues, but if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. Trust me on this. The government will come down on you. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore, and I believe that part, as far as that goes, he is the servant of God to carry 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. Do good, do not do wrong. Continuing on how to have a happy life. For the same reason, you also pay taxes for authorities or ministers of God attending to this very thing. Do you want a quiet, happy life? Pay your taxes. Have you ever had adversarial dealings with the IRS? It does not make for a happy life. Trust me on this. Did you know that the IRS agents can not only lie to your face, but are encouraged to do so? Pay your taxes. And if the IRS asks you a question, Get a lawyer. Trust me. Paul then sums up this passage in verse 7. Pay to all what is owed to them. Taxes to whom taxes are owed. Revenue to whom revenue is owed. Respect to whom respect is owed. Honor to whom honor is owed. Pay all that you owe to anyone. This is Paul's advice to the Romans living under tyrants. Don't stand out in a provocative manner. Robin is working on his deck recently. The nail that stands proud of the deck gets hammered. If you have a nail sticking up, You get hammered. That's what happens. Don't stand out in a provocative manner. Don't get hammered flat. Romans 13 is obviously good advice for living under tyranny. Keep your head down, do good, don't do wrong, pay taxes, give respect and honor to those above you. So, how did this work out for them? How did it work out? And I'm not saying not to do this. I'm saying, how did it work out for Paul? You know that there's only one respect in Paul's life where he did not obey authorities. Romans was written about 57 AD. Paul had 10 years or so before he would be executed by the emperor Nero. It is thought that Paul was executed in late May or early June of AD 68. Nero committed suicide on June 9th, 68. The last thing Nero did was to make sure that Paul was dead. Now, was it personal? I don't know that it was. I'm not saying that it was. But basically the last thing Nero did was have Paul executed. Tradition has it that Paul and the apostle Peter were executed in Rome on the same day. And so it would appear that executing the two great apostles was the last thing Nero ever did. That brings to mind Pastor theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the Lutheran pastor who joined the von Stauffenberg plot to kill Adolf Hitler after rescuing a number of Jewish children, things along that line. He was arrested and imprisoned in 1943. Bonhoeffer resisted lawless authority and was arrested for it. He was held until April 9, 1945, when he was executed in Germany. Hitler committed suicide on April 30, 1945. Almost the last thing he did was have Bonhoeffer killed. And with Bonhoeffer, now I don't know if it was with Peter and Paul being personal to Nero, but it was personal with Bonhoeffer to Hitler. and Hitler made sure that Bonhoeffer died before he died. Now, while Bonhoeffer decided his Christian duty was to save Jews by personal effort and also by killing Hitler, I will assure you that Peter and Paul were innocent of everything but preaching the gospel. But back then in 68 AD, preaching the gospel was a provocative act. It is still today. We are moving in this country to marginalize, if not criminalize, the practice of vibrant Christianity. And I do mean vibrant. There is a church in China that I follow. It's called New Rain Covenant Church. It is a reformed congregation. Their pastors are constantly being arrested for sowing for preaching the Bible. Before Pastor Wang Yi was imprisoned three years ago, he wrote, My Declaration of Faithful Disobedience. And it's too long for me to read here, but I'm going to read you the first paragraph. It starts off, On the basis of the teachings of the Bible and the mission of the gospel, I respect the authorities God has established in China. For God deposes kings and raises up kings. This is why I submit to the historical and institutional arrangements of God in China. As pastor of a Christian church, I have my own understanding and views based on the Bible about what righteous order and good government is. And he does go on to share that. But this is his crime. Pastor Wang Yi was secretly sentenced to nine years in prison just recently. He has served three. I don't know in China if that means he's serving 12 or nine, meaning whether he gets out in nine or six years. But we should not be surprised. One man alone has lived a perfect, sinless life. And he was executed as a criminal 2,000 years ago. Despite the governing authorities, the Romans, represented by Pontius Pilate, declaring him innocent twice. But it was better to kill an innocent man than to disturb the peace. If perfection does not keep you out of the clutches of lawless authorities, none of us have a chance if we fall under the scrutiny of the criminals in charge. There was another group of men who chose only to do good. And I previously told you the story of the apostles as they went out into the world, spreading the good news of the gospel and only doing good. 11 of them were executed by lawless authorities. Only the apostle John survived. And Aaron was telling me that the legend, because she's just taught this recently, was that he was exiled to the island of Patmos. And I'm saying this is a legend. because it's not in the Bible, after death by boiling oil failed on him. He's then sent off to Patmos, a nearly deserted Greek isle that even 2,000 years later has about 3,000 residents on it. In Romans, Paul gives advice on how to live as quiet a life as possible, but ultimately, those proclaiming Jesus Christ and Him resurrected will find trouble in this life. We've seen this for 2,000 years, from Jesus Himself to Dietrich Bonhoeffer to Pastor Wang Yi. Jesus said in Matthew 16.24-26, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. This is an invitation and it's a warning. If you are a nail for Christ, standing defiantly above the deck, the lawless ones will hammer you flat. Is it worth it to stand for Christ? Jesus says in the next passage, For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his life? Let's close in prayer. Lord, I hope that that is a faithful reading of Romans 13. I pray that I do not lead anybody astray in the reading of that, in the teaching of that. You've shown us how to respond to lawless authority. You've also told us that we are going to pay a price if we do. The Dietrich Bonhoeffers, the Wang-Yis, the Apostles, Jesus himself all paid that price. Lord, there's a way live a quiet and peaceful life. But I'm afraid it does not include preaching the gospel or speaking for you. Protect us in this world, Lord, and keep us from harm. And I ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.