Belts of World Magazine remembers writing or reading the Wall Street Journal and reading an article 10 years prior to writing what I'm about to read to you. And that article, a phrase stuck in his mind. People want to be lightly governed by strong governments. And for him, that really stuck in his mind. People want to be lightly governed by strong governments. And he writes this. That's what you've wanted since you were a small child. You wanted your dad to be big and strong and able to do anything you could think of, except that when he dealt with you, it had to be with gentleness and tenderness. You wanted a policeman on the corner, tough enough to handle any neighborhood bully, but who would also hoist you to his shoulders and help you find your parents when you got lost in the crowd. Lots of muscle, lots of restraint. There's an innate yearning in almost all of us for that rare combination. When evil people rise up, we want a government with the clout to back them down. Yet we never want that clout turned on us. In the final analysis, people want to be lightly governed by strong governments because that's how God governs. The omnipotent ruler of the universe is also the one who invites us tenderly. Come unto me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. For I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. The passage we have before us this morning seems daunting to me. There's so much theological truth that is relevant for us and so many minefields through which we must navigate. There are so many differing opinions right here in this room of what makes a true patriot. of how much liberty we have to obey or not obey the government. And so I come before you a little bit today. Trembling as I get ready to step on some of your toes, including mine, and I ask grace for that, because we have to remember that the passage before us. The United States was only in the mind of God at that time, and it was not written to bring comfort to us first. It was written to bring comfort for those who lived in the Roman Empire, a time that was much worse than we are suffering through now, a time that is much worse than we may ever suffer through if God is merciful. And yet there are for us today, amen, there are principles, there are truths for us in the scriptures that we must wrestle with and we must keep them in the priority that God gives them to us and apply them in such a way that above all brings glory to him, because that's our marching Now, I will confess to some aspects of confusion of how that's done at times. And yet the place that we always fall back on, according to Paul in Romans 13, according to Jesus in the gospels, there is a safe place for us to always fall back upon that brings glory to God and will change the world around us if we are obedient to the scriptures. So let's dig in this morning. And all I want to do this morning is I want to endeavor to understand these few passages out of Romans and to apply them as strongly as the passage lets us. And to send you on your way with the conviction of the Lord. Because you'll notice there's not a lot of specific giving in this passage about specific situations, are there? They're kind of just blanket statements that make us go, really? In all times, in all places, this is what it's supposed to be like? So I want you to remember that Paul is writing to people who live under the thumb of an emperor who is wicked. Some of an emperor who is already just a few years before Paul's written sent the Jews and any Christians that would have been with them because the Jewish Empire didn't see a difference between Jew and Christian. They were all of the same cult and they sent them out and there was dispute about why they were being sent out, but they were sent out of Rome. That's where Paul met Priscilla and Aquila. So, Priscilla and Aquila, presumably back in Rome now, and hearing this, they've got some absolute foundational, fundamental questions over what they should be doing when the government acts in a certain way. And they were kicked out because, according to the documents of the time, there was a dispute over someone called Prestes, which we believe was Christ. And there were these believers doing things that were so countercultural because everybody was supposed to bow down and say the emperor is Lord. Caesar is Lord. And what did the Christians say? Jesus is Lord. Now, I don't know about you, but in the first century, if I'm thinking of me saying that, there's a lot more cost for me to say Jesus is Lord than there is today. It costs them something, and yet say it, they did. And they were persecuted for it. And many of the times they were persecuted, they were being obedient to the government as they submitted to their persecution. But Jesus is Lord, that was their profession. We have these ultimate questions of taxes in this in these verses. And I know Christians who say we shouldn't ever pay taxes, and they say it for some reasons that are spiritual and some reasons that are not. I know Christians who say we should always pay taxes no matter what, no matter what is done. Paul will tell us to pay taxes. So how do we wrestle through that? How do we wrestle through? Is there ever a time not to pay taxes? Is there ever a time not to submit to the governing authorities, but to resist them? What Paul seems to clearly say, don't resist, always submit. That's why we need to look at all the scriptures. So Romans 13. Remember that the one writing Romans. Was persecuted by the government. but also obeyed them all the way along. Even in his trials that would come up after he wrote this, he was submitting himself to the government, was he not? Even in ways where he called upon the name of Caesar so that he wasn't beaten. He would call upon his rights as a Roman citizen, and that was not wrong for him to do, because those rights were granted to him. Why? By God, who is the ultimate authority over whoever sits on the throne. And yet he went and in his obedience, he knew his obedience would probably sit him before the magistrates, because Jesus had already said, you're going to be taken before the magistrates so you can give witness about me. And don't worry about what you're saying. The Spirit will give you what to say. But Paul knew his witness was going to be in front of the highest powers ever. And all the way, he submitted. At the same time, he said, you can't flog me. I'm a Roman citizen. And he would appeal right up on the chain of command to Caesar. We have the apostles, we have all the way through the Old Testament, we have people being submitted to governmental authorities, even as they were submitted ultimately to God. And that's what we need to figure out today. So as we look at these verses, we're going to see basically two commands. Paul presents two commands concerning our relationship to governing authorities. There are a little more command language in here, but the overarching command that he gives us are everyone must be subject to governing authorities and everyone must pay taxes. That's what Paul's going to tell us. And he's going to give us all kinds of theology and all kinds of reasoning as to why that is so. So, first of all, everyone must be subject to governing authorities. Look right there in verse one. Let every person and there's no exceptions here. Every person, believer and nonbeliever. But who's he writing to here? He's ready for the benefit of believers, right? How they're supposed to act in the government that wants them to say Caesar is Lord when they're saying Christ is Lord. But all people, these are universal principles, are to be subject to governing authorities. Actually, be subject to the governing authority. And so be subject to what does that mean? Does that just mean gritting our teeth? We do what they say and so we don't like it anymore? Because this word has to do with placing yourself under someone. It has to do with being obedient to what they say to do. And, you know, Paul's really smart here, isn't he? Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities until. He doesn't say that, does he? He just kind of states it and he's going to move on, but then he doesn't quite move on because he wants us to understand why he says that. So everyone must be subject to governing authorities. We must understand what they say. We must be able to identify them. And then we must submit to them. We must be subject to place ourselves under their leadership. But he doesn't say just do it. He tells us why. And he gives us several reasons. First of all, because no authority exists unless God grants it. Look at look at verse one. Let every person be subject to governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. So no authority ever, the emperor instituted by God, any authority that he grabs, whether you think it's right or wrong, Roman Christians, it's given to him by God. Primary for us to understand this, right? Because if we don't realize it's given to him by God, then we are going to we are going to lack the power to be able to obedient to a government that does things we don't think they should do. We'll qualify that. Don't get scared yet. But we are able to be obedient to them as under the Lord. He's going to tell us later in this passage. We do it because of our conscience. In the same way, in the same way that I have to give counsel to a married woman whose husband is not a believer and she's still supposed to submit to him and he's not a believer and does not care anything about Christian things. And yet the Bible says submit. Why? As unto the Lord. It takes all of the need to identify whether the one there is worthy of submission because. God has granted those. Now, this includes Jesus as well, right? I mean, we don't want to read this and not see a Christ-centered approach for this. We see this in the Old Testament in Daniel chapter 7. You remember that? Where the ancient of days is there and the one like the son of man. And Daniel says this, I saw in the night vision and behold, with the clouds of heaven, there came one like a son of man and he came to the ancient of days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed. Now, even there in Daniel chapter 7, we see us, don't we? This is his kingdom. This is that we are living in the spiritual aspect of his kingdom, not yet completely calm, but come in the person of Jesus so that everything that goes around us being a believer is now busting into this age that we have power. We have supernatural power. We have a power to obey when nobody else is going to want to obey. And we do it for the benefit of the community around us. Because we are looking forward to the consummation of the age, amen, that's our hope. It's not here. We have no hope here except Christ and all of that. The hope is looking forward so we can endure all of this stuff in this life with momentary light affliction. And we need to remember that because Paul told us in chapter 12 that we're not to be conformed to this world, right? We're not to be in that position. We're to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. So we're in the word trying to figure out what does it mean to be living as those people who are otherworldly, but still battling the flesh in this life, awaiting the consummation of the kingdom? What does it mean for us to obey or not obey rulers, whether wicked or good? What does it mean? Matthew 28, Jesus claims the same thing. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. All evil rulers, you hear me? Evil rulers are placed there by God. So our obedience to them, first and foremost, is unto God, who is the righteous judge, who will judge in his time. Some people wrestle with why Paul changes the subject so drastically here in Romans 13. I don't think he changes it very drastically, do you? Look what he says right before this. Turn back to Romans 12. Look in verse 17. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, as far as it depends on you, live peaceably for all. Beloved, never avenge yourself, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, Vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord. To the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink, for by doing so you will keep burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. And then immediately let every person be subject to the governing authorities. He's going to tell us why, because the governing authorities are there to reward us when we do good. They're supposed to keep evil at bay and they will be God's ministers of God's wrath in this world, even imperfectly as it points forward to the next world where God's wrath will be brought perfectly. We don't understand that all authority comes from him. Our obedience is easy to set aside, isn't it? It's easy to say, well, we can't be obedient in this situation. But if we have to realize that that authority, no matter what it is, no matter how evil the government is, our first response is to be obedient because God has placed that person in control. It doesn't answer all the question, does it? But it sure saves us from from knee jerk error for us. Daniel 221, he changes times and season. He removes kings and sets up kings throughout history. Kings do the bidding of the Lord. Even evil kings remember Jeroboam, one of the most wicked kings in Israel. Listen to this. So the king did not listen to the people, for it was a turn of affairs brought about by the Lord that he might fulfill his word. An evil king doing evil because it was a turn of affairs brought about by the Lord. Remember what Jesus told the Pilate as well, right? Pilate says, You will not speak to me. Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you? And Jesus answered him, You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given to you from above. Even Jesus recognizes that there are authorities placed over him. But that they work and minister and serve according to what God's sovereign hand deems fit. Why do you think God would bring nations against his people in the Old Testament so often? because they were disobedient to the covenant. And he promised them when they were disobedient, there would be curses. And sometimes he rose up, raised up nations to come against them. And then he would hold those nations accountable for their sinfulness. Right. But he would raise them up for the purpose of doing his bidding, being his rod, administering his wrath, even though not not completely. He would bring nations up against them. And ultimately, we look forward to the day, don't we, to when Revelation 19 talks about Then I saw heaven open to behold a white horse. The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True and in righteousness, he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire and on his head are many diadems. He has a name written that no one knows, but himself. He's clothed in a robe dipped in blood and the name by which he is called is the word of God. And the armies of heaven arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. He will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has the name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Now on that day every evil will be set right. Every evil of every government, every Christian that was persecuted unto death, that will all be set right, because God is about summing everything in this life up into Jesus Christ. And that theology causes us to take a step back when we think, I don't want to obey. And we remember, no, this is unto God, because all authority is given by God. Look at what your text says. There is no authority except from God and those that exist have been instituted by God, his sovereign hand manipulated in moving men sinful. Now, before you before we get really crazy about the fact that he would use sinful men, does he use you in your life? We don't think, oh, God can't use me, I'm sinful. So we think we humbly say, I can't imagine that God would use me because he knows my sin. But we allow him by the spirit to move us and to use us to preach the gospel and to see people rescued from darkness. Well, if he can do that with us, he can do that with any ruler. The kings are like water that passes through his hands. So we, first of all, have reverence for God as we obey. But look what else it says. Everyone must be subject to the governing authorities because no one, no authority exists unless God grants it, but also because all authorities are instituted by God. All authorities are instituted by God. We just read that at the end of chapter one. Now, look how he develops this. So resisting authority is the same as resisting God's will. Look at verse 2a. See the little therefore that connects it? All authority is from God. All of it is instituted by God. Based on that fact, whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed. So the first step in our resistance resists the will of God. Now, that causes us to step back and be lots less willing to resist, does it not? The first step in our resistance represents resisting the will of God. Look what he also says in the second half of that verse. Not only is it resisting God's will, resisting authority results in judgment from authorities. Look at the second half of verse two. Therefore, whoever risks the authorities resist what God has appointed and those who resist will incur judgment. So upon the resisting of government, we realize we are resisting God's will and we will incur God's judgment. You say, well, does it say God's judgment? It just says judgment. Well, let's keep reading and it will tell us. Here's where he gives the description of the judgment and summarizing the next two verses. Approval, not judgment for those who do good and God's wrath, not approval for those who do evil. Look at verse three. For. They connected again, follow the train of thought. God institutes all authority. No authority is given except by him. So if authority is resisted, we're resisting God's will. And those who resist will incur judgment for he's going to tell us about that judgment. Now, rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority and 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. So we have several thoughts mixed up in here together, don't we? Rulers are not raised up to be a terror or a cause for fear, is what that literally means, a cause for fear if we're doing good conduct. Now, already there's some questions that are coming up in our mind, right? Well, what if they do do evil? What if they are a cause for fear? Well, Paul doesn't even deal with that for us right now, does he? He just says this is the general purpose of government. The general purpose of government is to maintain a non-chaotic, non-anarchist society. And what governs the government is what is good and what is evil. You want to stay out of the crosshairs of the government? Do what's good and you're safe. If you do what's evil, if you do what's bad, then the government will come against you because they are an agent of God's wrath. You can look right there in verse four. He is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. And now we're even more confused, we're like, OK, that's great, like when like when King David is having a good day, that's good then. But what about today? What about these poor folks under wicked emperors and more to come? What are they supposed to say when the government does evil? Now, those are valid questions, but you notice that Paul doesn't even go there. Paul wants us to understand very clearly the role of government in general. This is what government is supposed to do. This may not be always what government does, but it's what it's supposed to do. This is what God is ordaining government to do. That's why people who come off of biblical authority say the government overreaches all the time, because this is the primary purpose of the government is to restrain evil and promote good. And you think, well, how do they know what is evil and what is good? Well, that's the theme of the whole section, right? Do not be conformed to this world. Twelve to be transformed by the renewal of your mind that by testing you may discern what is the will of God. OK, we resist God. We're going against his will. Well, what is the will of God look like? What is good and acceptable and perfect. And so there are times that the government does not act the way the government should act, and so we're tempted to go, well, then we should resist. If they're doing something that we don't think is right, we should resist. Well, if it was that easy, don't you think Paul would have told the Romans that? The Romans who are already exercising the sword against believers, I mean, look how much authority is given, look at verse five. Verse four, I'm sorry. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. This is not perfect. Right. This is not perfect wrath. There's still mercy. God is still long suffering in this world. There are people walking around, maybe people in this room who have not believed by faith in Jesus Christ and are still enemies with God. And God is long suffering so that you might repent this morning. That's the God that we serve. But we know that there is a day coming that wrath will be finally and perfectly, lovingly and righteously administered. Amen. And sometimes it's done in this world. Sometimes God steps in. You remember Ananias and Sapphira. They lied to the Holy Spirit, gone, destroyed the holiness of the church, and God said, I will not have that. Church is. My family, the church is my body. immediate wrath of God, and yet other times it waits and other times the government steps in and takes care of evil. That's why we have laws. That's why we have. That's why that's why obeying the speed limit is an act of worship. Did you know that? When the government says, don't go past this speed, when you do, you are resisting and you are going against the will of God, it is an act of worship to say, I submit. I don't care if we're on a six lane freeway and the speed limit is fixed. I'm going to obey what it says. There is an act of worship that is life changing for us and culture changing when we joyfully submit to the government. Now, there are times that we can't. We'll talk about that. So resisting authority results in God's judgment from authorities because they are They're giving approval to those who do good, and they're bringing God's wrath, even if it's not in final form, to those who do evil. Now, this is important for us, right? I mean, we want laws that say you're not supposed to murder. We want laws that say you're not supposed to beat up children and kick kitty cats. We want laws that are going to keep us from being anarchists. And we can't enforce them because we don't have the power of the government. And you say, well, what about when there are laws enacted that allow people to kill babies? Well, that might be a different thing, depending on how personal you are involved in it, right? I mean, when the government comes and says for you to kill your next baby because population control is there, that's where you say no. Now, God may take both of you and let them take both of your lives. Because the government bears the sword. But turn back to Romans eight. 31. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Whoso bring any charge against God's elect, it is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died. More than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us, who shall separate us from the love of Christ, shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or what? Sword, as it is written, for your sake, we are being killed all day long. We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. Even if the government bears the sword against you. That's not going to separate you from the love of God. Because it was a given, Jesus was persecuted and killed. His followers will be as well. So we might be tempted to think, well, if I'm charged wrongly and I'm going to gain the sword, I must resist that. And Paul is telling him there's not even that separates you from the love of God. I'm not saying this is a blanket command. I'm trying to get us to weigh the strength of what Paul says before we so radically think that we need to resist the governing authorities above us. And I want us to think about times when that is appropriate and when it is not appropriate. But if I don't move on, we're not going to get to that. I'm going to have to do another sermon. I don't want to do that. So verse five. were to be subject to government authorities because no authority exists unless God grants it because all authorities are instituted by God. Also, because you will avoid God's wrath. Verse five, this is a restatement of what he's already said. Therefore, one must be in subjection. There's a restatement of the primary command from verse one, not only to avoid God's wrath, OK, so when we are in subjection, we avoid God's wrath. His people, the wrath that might be brought to people in the government for disobeying the government. If that's even described here is the wrath of God. Now, we know that's not eternal wrath for a believer, right? This is talking about within this world that God uses the government to maintain good and evil. And there are certain things that they will do because they are acting on God's authority. And even when government is evil, We have to first think about whether we're supposed to submit and how we're supposed to submit before we automatically say we're not going to submit, because I will submit to you that many times our resistance is based on what we think government should be. And if we divorce the government from the fact that God placed them there, then we're free to say that. Look what else it says in verse five, not only to avoid God's wrath, but also for the sake of conscience. So this is the fourth reason we are to be subject to the governmental authority, because we will keep a good conscience. What's a good conscience? We know what is right. The law of God is written on our hearts. We are being transformed by the renewing of our mind, not conformed to the world. So we know what is right. And when we obey, because this passage tells us it's right, then we are doing that in good conscience, which means if there's a time to resist, we must do that in good conscience as well. Amen? I don't think Paul is telling us here and we'll start laying cards on the table. Paul's not telling us there's never a time of resistance. This is what he's saying. This is the normal route of government. And when God is executing judgment on a nation through poor and evil leaders, then that nation must need judgment from God. Now, we as believers know we are spared from the judgment of God, right? There's now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And yet on this earth, God may bring his rod of judgment against our nation for being evil. And we may experience that vicariously just as it rains on the just and the unjust. Sometimes there is wrath given by God that we experience even in the midst of being a believer. And we have a role in the midst of that to shine as lights among the world. So if we're going to find times to resist, we need to make sure that we're doing that at the right time. We also says. Look at verse six. Now, I don't want to go to verse six, let me back up and take care of this first for four, he does not bear the sword in vain. There's all kinds of viewpoints on what this means, I think it's clear teaching in Scripture that bearing the sword as the right to capital punishment, it's the right to it's not only including that, because sometimes bearing the sword is a deterrent for people doing things that might need the sword to be exercised. So this is including taking a life for a life. This is including capital punishment. And that gets real dicey for us as believers today, because you can read believers all over the place and say we should never have capital punishment. We're always supposed to be turning the other tree and walking a mile with them and give them their inside cloak and not just the outside cloak. We're to love, we're to not to do evil to them. And yet the scriptures are clear that God is set out from Old Testament and New Testament, that there are times that God says that life should be taken because they violated the life that God has given. Turn to Genesis chapter nine. Look at verse five. And for your lifeblood, I will require a reckoning from every beast. I will require it. And from man. From his fellow man, I will require a reckoning for the life of man. Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed. For God made man in his own image. So we look at this and we say, OK, is this saying to man that everyone who sheds the blood of someone else kills them should be killed? Or is this The Bible's way of saying this is what happens. Sin is in the world. And when somebody kills somebody, they're going to be people like Lamech come after you and try to shed more blood and get more vengeance than was even deserved. This is just the way of the world. And I don't think it is because. He says, whoever sheds the blood of man by man, his shall his blood be shed for God made man in his own image. This is tied to the image of God in man. Now, it doesn't mean we always have to do it, but there are plenty of commands in the Old Testament to give death for certain violations of the law. Listen to just a couple of them. I could give you many. Exodus 21, 12, whoever strikes the man so that he dies shall be put to death. Two verses later, in verse 14, if a man willfully attacks another to kill him by cunning, you shall take him from my altar that he may die. That's right after the verse that says, if somebody is being accused falsely, I will give you places that you can go and run and they can go grab a hold of the horns of the altar in the cities of refuge. But if they're proven to have killed somebody anyway, then you're to take them off the altar and you are to take their life. Leviticus 24, 17, whoever takes the human life shall surely be put to death. You think, well, that's all Old Testament stuff. That's all just Old Testament kind of talk and it's not anything in the New Testament. Turn to Acts. Chapter 25. Verse 8. Paul argued in his defense, neither against the law of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar have I committed any offense. But Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favor, said to Paul, Do you wish to go up to Jerusalem and there be tried on those charges before me? But Paul said, I am standing before Caesar's tribunal where I ought to be tried. To the Jews, I have done no wrong, as you yourself know very well. If, then, I am a wrongdoer and have committed anything for which I deserve to die, I do not seek to escape death. But if there is nothing to their charge against me, no one can give me up to them. I appeal to Caesar." And Festus, when he had conferred with his council, answered, "'To Caesar you have appealed. To Caesar you shall go.'" Now, Paul expected that there were certain things that he could have done to be worthy of death. The Jews sure thought that when they kept trying to set up false witnesses against him so that he would be found guilty and put to death. That was the whole premise that was going on when they were trying to kill Jesus. It's because there was an understanding that certain things required death and that Paul didn't speak against it and say, we're not supposed to ever take anybody's life. We're supposed to turn the other cheek and give him the other coat. It was an expectation. Now. Romans 13 tells us that this authority has been given to the government. Paul thought the same thing in us, didn't he? This was the authority of the government to do this or not to do this. And he's appealing to them. You must do good. You should not be a threat to me because I have not done anything wrong. If I have done something wrong, then I stand ready to die. Submitted to the government. Back to Romans 13. Now, This whole idea of capital punishment is a difficult thing for us because there are some people in the public square who trumpet capital punishment as if it's some wonderful thing that Christians ought to be just shouting from the mountaintops. Yeah, we need to kill them. That's what the Bible says. I don't think we can go there. The Old Testament was required to have two or three witnesses before anything would be done, right? It was also required that if you came in and give false testimony, then you would be expected to have the same punishment given to you if it was false testimony that was going to be given to the person that you testified against. Now, I think there are times from things I've read in the last couple of weeks that there are many times that that standard of two or three witnesses has not been met. But most of those people don't end up on death row. And when they do, it can be decades before it ever comes to fruition. So there is the long-suffering and leniency to make sure that we're sure that we're sure. And today we have things like DNA evidence that can be a witness just as strong as a person witness. In fact, even be more reliable than a visual witness. And so we need to be careful and we need to make sure that we are praying that justice be done, because when we do this, the government is saying we step in on behalf of God and avenge that person. And they have the right to do that, and sometimes I think the delay is where things get fuzzy. Ecclesiastes 8.10 says, Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil. So we have a lot of wrestling to do, but I just want to leave you with the fact that the government has the right to exercise vengeance according to the scriptures. And that includes taking someone's life if they have taken the life of someone else. And there is absolutely no doubt in human eyes with their evidence that this has happened. Well, look what else it says, everyone must pay taxes back in Romans 13. It gives three reasons, first, because you were submitted to authority, verse 6a. For because of this, you also pay taxes. Because of what? Because you're subjected to authority. Look at verse five. 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 pay taxes. And I think that four looks backward and forward. It is because you are submitted to authority, but it's also because authorities collect taxes of ministers of God. Keep reading in six. For the authorities are ministers of God attending to this very thing. What's this very thing? carrying out God's command, including paying taxes. So when we collecting taxes is something that is a divine work, he's going to give us a little bit more about this, doesn't he? In verse seven. You must pay taxes because you're submitted to authority, because authorities collect taxes as ministers of God and because your submission to authority requires you to pay authorities what is owed them. Look at verse seven. Pay to all what is owed to them, taxes to whom taxes are owed. Revenue, or maybe your version says tariffs or custom. Revenue to whom revenue is owed. Respect to whom respect is owed. Honor to whom honor is owed. Jesus himself said that taxes were due to government. Pay Caesar what is Caesar's, but he also said to pay God what is God's. That's the marching orders for a believer. And I think this whole passage tells us that we are to pay taxes clearly to pay taxes. If there is a is there is a way that the tax law allows you not to pay as much taxes. We're free to do that. Amen. No, we're not. Thank you. Just making sure you're still with me as hard enough as it is. Are you still with me? We're supposed to pay taxes. And there are times that we pay taxes that we don't think we ought to pay. We think they're consist of court, confiscatory taxes. They're way too much that they're rising and they're doing things that the Bible doesn't want us to do. The government's taking over the role of the church and taking care of the poor. I don't want to pay those taxes. Well, I've got to tell you, it happened worse in Rome than it does for us. And yet Paul didn't give them those out. He says, pay them what is due. Because our mission is not to make that a big deal. It's to preach the gospel. And we gain footholds preaching the gospel when we're the ones found obedient. You need to be the one who, when you have money put in your pocket for jobs that are off the books, that you add them to your income tax. That's us. And you say, yeah, well, I hope you've done that. And I can tell you that I have done that. A lot of times I worked as a musician outside of my normal everyday job. I worked as a musician and a lot of that money was just cash under the table because those band leaders didn't want to pay all those taxes. And when I kept my book at the end of the year, I added all those to it. I took all of the money that I made that I didn't have to give to claim for taxes, and I put it on my taxes. And when I did that, that meant I was paying for all of the Social Security tax, all 15 point whatever percent of it, and trying to be honest that way. And so my income tax forms always showed more income than all my documentation showed. I don't know if this is why, but I've never been audited. It's what we're supposed to do. It's putting the good foot forward. And look at this. It says two kinds of taxes, taxes and revenue. So one of these taxes are are direct taxes like property tax and poll taxes. That's what these taxes mean. Your next word that says custom or revenue, that's tax that is like sales tax, customs duties, fees for services. That's how your roads are maintained and public systems are maintained and things like that. So Paul doesn't leave it out. He says, if you owe it, pay it. But that's the easy part, right? They're going to take it from you anyway. Look what he says more. respect to whom respect is owed and honor to whom honor is owed. Those are our governmental authorities. This is a place where I think we as believers need to really take a long and hard look at how we engage people who disagree. Because it is so common to hear believers or see believers on the Internet using just horrible disrespectful no honor language about everybody from a local mayor all the way up to our president. And that does not bring honor and glory to God. And I even see this in my own life. If I've got a president who I think is doing a lot of the right things economically and politically and socially, they're always president so-and-so. You ever done this? The guy who's not? Obama. It's not President Obama. I have to remind myself to say that. He is worthy of the respect because God has placed him there. And there's no more respect due President Bush or the best president ever on the face of the earth, Ronald Reagan. I didn't say that, but I think that. There's no more respect due them than there are President Obama. And for all of those people in Congress that stand up there and to our ears lie to us every day, we need to discern their lying and still give them the proper respect and honor. And people will wonder why you're so respectful to them. Because you run in circles just the same as I do, where it's normal to just talk with a snarl about our enemies, isn't it? I remember one time we were at a class reunion for Paige and a friend of hers that is in the arts, and she's become a friend of mine kind of long distance throughout the years. And she's on Broadway doing costume design and all of this. Very liberal, fits right in, in New York City. And we were standing next to each other in the line to go through to get our chicken or whatever it was that night for dinner. And she started saying something that would just, she forgot where she was. We're in small town, rural Illinois, right? She's coming from big town New York, and all her friends are liberal. All the people standing there were conservative. But where she is every single day, the type of language and speech she was using, she'd expect me to go, yeah, I know. And I just turned around and looked at her. And then she realized automatically what she was saying. Now, I'd be the same thing if I went to go her class reunion and it was in Manhattan, right? I might turn around to somebody and just snarl about the president amongst all kinds of people who are for him. And let me tell you something. Some people that are liberal believe in Jesus. I know that's going to come as shock to you. There are liberals who really have believed in the final, finished work of Christ, and they're going to be in heaven. And when you're going to get there, you're going to find out who was wrong, but it's not going to matter anymore. There are believers who are liberal. There are believers who would disagree with your stance on all kinds of stuff. And yet we think politically that because they disagree on our stance on guns or they disagree on our stance on taxes or how money should be spent or the green movement or whatever, we think because they disagree with us that we should snarl at them. And many of them love Christ. I'm off my soapbox, but I think this passage teaches us that. Just be very, very careful. OK, I'm out of time, but here's what we're going to do. I'm going to try to take five more minutes and summarize a couple of things. We need to make sure that we are people of God, not people of government. That we are people what the Bible says, not what our founding fathers said. Now, there's a whole discussion to have of how Christian our founding fathers actually were. We don't have time for that, but let me just tell you, don't just buy into everything you read, okay? Read selectively, and don't read the people who are being debunked because of their poor use of history and documentation. But listen to this. We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. Now, how much do you think they read Romans 13? Now, I'm not disagreeing with the document now, OK? I think we live in the best government ever to be on the face of the earth. The best country governed in the best form of government. But we're believers. This is not our home. And when we go to the government instead of God, we're going to the documents that are that are derived by men who say that the government derives its powers from the consent of the governed. It's clear that the government derives their powers from the consent of God Almighty. And if it's just from the men who listen, this is where we're walking as believers today from the consent of the governed. Can I tell you something that we're heading toward if we're not already a minority? So if we're ones who are going to go to the Constitution always instead of the Bible, and I'm not dissing the Constitution or the Declaration of Independence from what I'm reading, I'm not. I think that gives us lots of framework in which to exercise rights within our country. I'm all for it. But if we're the people who always go to the government in their documents, where our foundation is wrong, it's not biblical. It may be OK, but it's not what the Bible says. Because when the people in the country change their viewpoint, then abortion becomes legal. Then gay marriage becomes a term instead of an oxymoron. Then those kinds of things impact you. And that's where we're going to have to decide. We're going to have to decide how close they can get before we say, I am not obeying Caesar, but I am obeying God. And that's where it's going to have to be. Philippians 3, but our citizenship is in heaven and from it we await a savior. The Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. First, Peter, Chapter two, be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor supreme or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and praise those who do good. For this is the will of God that by doing good, you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live with people who are free, not using your freedom to cover up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the emperor. I don't think that order is just accidental, do you? This is the marching orders of believers, and when we do this, it changes the world around us. Listen to Jeremiah 27, 12. Bring your next under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him and his people and live. That's God to his people. Serve an evil king and you will leave. Just a couple of you will live a couple of chapters later, but seek the welfare of the city where you where I have sent you into exile and pray to the Lord on its behalf for in its welfare, you will find your welfare. Our job is to pray for those leaders. First Timothy chapter three. This is a good and acceptable thing to God, to pray for the leaders. And it uses four different words on prayer in that passage that we're supposed to be doing that. We're supposed to be doing good to the people around us so that we are making our whole community better. Now, does that mean being politically engaged? I think for some people it does. And I definitely think you ought to vote and you ought to be intelligent when you vote. Amen. Don't just say, oh, I got to go vote today to get my little pen and go punch or pull and do that for people. You haven't researched what they believe about the things that God says. Do that. I believe we can change things when believers band together and live like believers are supposed to do. A little bit of that is voting. A lot of that is the transformational power we have when we do things that are otherworldly. And there are all kinds of ways we can go to talk about people who have been Selectively resisting the Lord. You remember the Hebrew midwives disobeying Pharaoh, but receiving God's blessing. God blessed them. Pharaoh said every time there's a Hebrew boy that's born, kill it. All the Hebrews, they get birthed so quick, you know, we just can't keep up with them. But they saved them and they were blessed by God. Obadiah hides a hundred of Yahweh's prophets from the murderous Jezebel. In Esther, chapter four, this is interesting and instructive for us. She appears before King Hasuerus, though it was illegal. Remember the story? She's supposed to go into the king and plead for her people because Mordecai had set out a death sentence on all of them. But if she goes into the king, Haman. Thank you. I did that the last week, too. Haman is supposed to have already put out this death sentence, and she's supposed to go in and plead. But when she goes before the king, if the king does not lower his scepter, she's put to death. It's not illegal for her to stay out of the king's office. It's illegal for her to go to the king. And she's his wife. It's illegal for her to do that. Do you remember what was told to her? You were born for such a time as this. She says, if I die, I die. Now, what was she doing? She was being disobedient to the rules. She resisted the rule. Why? Because evil was about to go crazy. And her people were about to be annihilated, decimated. So she resisted the authority. In order to submit to the authority, this is the king's edict that did this, right? The king's edict. We could not even overturn it. But if the king would know about it, maybe they'd be all right to fight against them. Maybe they'd be able to stand their own. So she broke the rules because evil was about to go crazy. Daniel, chapter three, Daniel and his friends are refusing to worship the image of Nebuchadnezzar. And so when they're walking around in the furnace, they're blessed. Right. And what did they say? Listen, we got to be obedient to God. He's either going to save us or he's going to take us out of there. It's all up to him what he does, but we're going to be obedient to God. And they start walking around in all the flames. Daniel and his friends also told not to pray or told not to pray to anyone except the king. And so what's Daniel do as soon as he finds out that Edith has been signed? He goes to his house. He goes up on the upper floor where he can be heard and he gets in front of a window and he prays to Yahweh. Now, he didn't he wasn't commanded to go do that, but he knew that the stopping from praying to his God was the place that he wasn't going to go. Now, these are obedient guys, right? I mean, they're taken into captive by the king at the beginning of Daniel. And they say, eat all this. They said, no, we'd rather not eat all that. We'd rather eat all of this. And so they submit. They ask for permission to eat what's right and they grow healthy. They're submitted to their environment until they're told not to pray to their God. until they're told to worship someone else. In the New Testament, Matthew, Chapter 2, the wise men disobeyed King Herod. Herod said, Go find the child and come back and tell me. And they didn't because they've been warned by God in a dream not to do that. Acts, Chapter 5, very instructive. Peter and the apostles. Defying the Sadducees order, forbidding them to teach in Jesus name, we must obey God rather than men. That's the opposite way of saying, pray, give Caesar what is Caesar's and God what is God's. Now, there's going to come a time where we're going to have to figure this out for us in great detail, but I don't think we're there yet. I don't think any of us here are being asked by the government to do something that requires our resistance. Now, if I'm wrong, you need to come and talk to me about it so I can understand. But I couldn't think of one way that the government is requiring us today to do something that Paul would say, that's time for resistance. That's time to face the sword instead. So I think when we take the totality of this teaching and the understanding that we are for the benefit of our community when we live godly and we do the things that other people think, how can you do that? And we have the platform to say, because God is the one who's in authority. I can put up with this because God is my ultimate authority and I haven't been asked to do anything that violates him and his command. I'm not saying the government's not doing things that are not godly. They are. They're doing things that are ungodly. But until that comes to your doorstep to cause you to do it, every in everything we see in scripture is when it comes to the doorstep of the individual. I think we have to be careful and remember that God is the one who may be maybe judging our country for their faithlessness through poor leaders, leading us into ways that in the history of the world have been things that have brought nations to their knees, like calling homosexuality good. When nations have done that in the past, they've crumbled. That's been a breaking point. And I think this could be time that God is doing that. We have a role in that. Now, maybe it's anarchy and maybe it's another revolution, but I think that's way far down the road, considering that God says that we don't take his kingdom by sword. We take it by the preaching of the gospel. That's why religious freedom is something we ought to be the first people to stand for. And this is where it's not. People will say, well, I don't want that preached in my school. Well, if you want the prayers in your school, you've got to let other people do that. Otherwise, you don't have the right to pray to Jesus. And God says, when you go in and do that, you get to do the old bully trick, right? My God's bigger than your God. We're not to overtake the rest of the world with sword. We are to do it through the preaching of the gospel. And all of this gives us the platform. Well, I need to stop because it's late. Thank you for your patience. Lots more to work out in this. And I'm trusting God to do that in your home groups and in your Sunday school classes as we wrestle more with this. But when I don't want to go back and look at the past and say, well, they could have done this during the revolution, or they could have done this through King whatever in England, or they could have done this. I don't want to be hypothetical like that. I want to look forward. And say, is there anything today that causes us to resist the government? And I don't know of what it is. So let's be about the business of the gospel. And when that time comes, let's figure that out together. And we'll stand in one accord to say Jesus is Lord and not Caesar. Let's pray. Father, thank you for the patience of your people, the teaching of your word, the challenge that your word is for us. And I pray, Father, that as we go through and wrestle with these texts and try to apply them, that we're never ones who are caught up in our political history before we're caught up in biblical history, that we're never caught up in the rights we have in the Constitution before we're overwhelmed with the responsibilities we have from Scripture. Let that be something, Father, that we are known for, that, yes, we stand for what is right, but we do it in such a way that honors the king because you have placed him there. And may we be humble before you as we do that. We ask this in Jesus name. Amen.