Please open your Bibles to Romans chapter 13. Having explained some of the backdrop of this and the context, we've been examining the powers of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ in the face of a persecuting government. That persecuting government was Rome. The emperor was Nero. And what should Christians do? How should they navigate the difficulties maintaining honor? And so, The apostle has already instructed the people in Rome, the Christians there, how they ought to live. picking that up in Romans chapter 12 verse 1 and 2 first of all through their worship through their not being conformed to this world and then secondly through faith in verses 3 through 8 by exercising their gifts in the church by making a big deal about being a blessing to the church of Jesus Christ and making sure that you are pouring out your heart and your Treasure and your your gifts upon a local church. That's verses 3 through 8 and then finally through love that the the gospel expresses itself most specifically and and and most graphically and most beautifully in love and in this section in verses 9 through 21 You can count them if you want. I've counted them there are there are at least 25 distinct exhortations for love in that section and each of them really come under the general category of how do you love the people in the church when you're getting beat to death by Nero. That's what that's all about. We have to understand the context of a statement. And so these exhortations that exist in Romans chapter 12 just create such a beautiful image of the culture that God wants to create in a church. What a beautiful culture in a church. Go ahead and read the end of Romans 12. It's just astounding to see how beautiful a life in a real church of Jesus Christ is. And these are all really explanations of love and of the law. The Apostle Paul is actually expounding on the law. And the glory of the law is that it's summed up in two kinds of love. Love for God and love for your neighbor. That's the summary of the whole law. And that's what the Apostle Paul is doing. And he's now doing it to try to help the Roman Christians to preserve love while they're being abused by the government. Literally put to death all day long, as he says in Romans chapter eight. So he's equipping the church. He's readying them for trouble and persecution. Perhaps that's what's happening today. Maybe you're being prepared even today to suffer some kind of loss. Maybe even today you're being prepared to die. It's possible. But that's what the Apostle Paul was doing. He was preparing the saints in Rome to deal with the Nero in their life. And so it's a very, very critical thing. The thing about the governments of the world, the thing about Nero and all the totalitarian regimes is that they're all liars. And they turn everything around. They say things that are loved that aren't loving at all. And I don't know if you've read recently George Orwell's 1984, but in Oceanus, this realm of authority, there was the ministry of truth, which actually was the promulgation of lies. There was the ministry of love, which was actually the ministry of torture. That's what they really did. They called it love, but it was torture. They called it truth, but it was really lies. And that's what's happening to us today. We're being told how to love our neighbor, but it's actually how to hate our neighbor. And we just need to recognize that. Just let's pick up some of the last verses in Romans 12. It's so compelling and beautiful. Look at verse 17. We could read the whole thing, but we won't just for sake of time. But repay no one evil for evil. How about that? When Nero is on your tail. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. In other words, try to be as gracious as you can. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath. For it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. In other words, you don't have to go back wrathfully to Nero and his minions. God is gonna take care of Nero and his minions. And you don't have to worry about it, God will do it. And then he says, therefore, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him a drink. For in so doing, you will heap coals of fire on his head. Which is possibly an image of what you do for your neighbor when his fire burns out and grows cold. You go take coals and you put them on your head. You know, people in the East carry things on their heads. And you take them and you You give them and you lay them on their head for their fire. And then he ends with, do not become overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Well, again, we have to recognize why this was written. This was written under a time of tremendous and extreme persecution. And the apostle is teaching the church how they ought to function in the midst of a persecuted condition. And so it's just very wonderful stuff. Now, You have four points in front of you as we begin to walk through these first seven verses of Romans chapter 13, now that you've seen the context of the words that are here. And the first thing that I want to identify is that God is the God of the authorities. That's verse one. God is the God of the authorities. Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God. And the authorities, plural, that exist, are appointed by God. So you have this authority, the authority of Rome, the authority of the civil government, and you have authorities. And I believe he's talking about two different things he's speaking specifically of the authority of Rome and he's also speaking specifically of the other authorities that God has established and there are other authorities fathers and mothers have authority church pastors have authority and actually individuals have authority in terms of self-government and God is calling his people all the time to govern themselves by the authority of God and So you have this authority, this civil authority, and then you have authorities. In Titus chapter three, one, you see a similar way of speaking of this. Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities to obey and be ready for every good work. to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men. So he's just giving directions that are very, very similar that you read in Romans chapter 13. What's the point? Well, there's several. I'll just begin and itemize some of them. God is the greater authority. Let that be known. There is a division of labor. among the authorities, and God is the supreme king of all the authorities. He is the king of kings and the Lord of lords. He appoints all of our authorities. Jesus Christ has appointed all the authorities who are authorities. If you're a father or a mother here today, it was God that made you that. If you're a husband, God appointed you as to be the head of your wife. and so forth, but these, notice the language. The authorities that exist are appointed by God. What that means is that all the authorities are subservient to the authority who appointed them. You have God and his supreme authority that's being communicated in that sentence. The apostle Paul told the Ephesian church a very similar thing. He said that Christ is the head over all things. Including the government. That Jesus Christ is the king. Job acknowledges this. This is acknowledged in Job chapter 41 verse 11. God tells Job, everything under heaven is mine. Daniel understood this as well. He cried out to God in a vision declaring the mighty hand of God over all the authorities. So I read this in a night vision. Daniel bless the God of heaven. And Daniel answered and said blessed be the name of God forever and ever for wisdom and might are his and he changes the times and the seasons. He removes kings. and raises up kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding." Daniel 2.2. Nebuchadnezzar, after spending seven years out in the rain, out in the sun as a beast because of his pride, he, at the end of that time, acknowledged the reality of God and the authority of God, praising God. And here's what he says. And at the end of the time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me, and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever. For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom is from generation to generation. And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. He does, according to His will, in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, no one can restrain his hand or say to him, what have you done? It was God who set up Pharaoh, it was God who took Pharaoh down. And the Apostle Paul in teaching the Corinthian church says similar things in 1 Corinthians 15, 24. When he says, then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom of God, the kingdom to God the Father. When he puts an end of rule to all authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. For he has put all things under his feet. This is a testimony that God is the authority over all the authorities. In Hosea chapter 13, 11 we learn that God gave Israel a king, a bad king. God gave Israel that bad king to chastise Israel for their sin. God says, I gave you a king in my anger and took him away in my wrath. In Proverbs 8, 15, and 16, we read these words. By me kings reign and rulers decree justice. By me princes rule and nobles, all the judges of the earth. God is the king over the kings. All the kings of the earth are subservient to the authority of God. And that's what Romans chapter 13 states, right? right at the beginning. And God has placed Christ above all authorities. Paul said this to the Ephesian church in Ephesians 1 verse 20 and 21. He speaks of the fact that God raised him from the dead and then seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named not only in this age but also in the age which is to come and he put all things under his feet and gave him to be head over all things to the church which is his body the fullness of him who fills all and all even though God is the one who has established the kings of the earth even though God has exclusive authority in the lives of all the kings of the earth. We find that the kings of the earth often defy God, and they shake their fists at God. You know, one of the most well-known passages of Scripture that speaks of this is in Psalm chapter 2, where we read, Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves And the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed saying, let us break their bonds in pieces and cast away their cords from us. What we find is in most periods of history, most of the kings of the earth are like that. They shake their fist at God. And you know what God does? He laughs. And so should you. If God laughs you have permission to laugh. Well he sits in the heavens. He sits in the heavens and laughs. That's verse 4 in Psalm 2. And then he holds them in derision. In other words he confuses them. And he gives them enormous amount of trouble. And then he distresses them in verse 5. Then he shall speak to them in his wrath. and distress them in his deep displeasure. Here's one thing you can count on. The kings of the earth, though they talk so high and mighty, they're terrified. They're terrified. Because they know they're next in line to be deposed. And they will be deposed. And they fear it every day. And they do everything they can to try to secure their authority. They are afraid. But the people of God aren't afraid. One of the greatest powers that a Christian can have is to be unafraid in the face of someone who is afraid. And most people in the world are afraid. Right now we live in a culture of fear. It's unbelievable. People are afraid of everything. But Christian people should be like God. They should laugh. They should not be afraid. They should recognize what God is doing. Well, He tells us what He's going to do in verse 9. You shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel. So God is the authority over all the authorities. There is no authority over God. There is no authority over the church. There is no authority except God over the family. We have to understand the authority structure in the kingdom of God. So I think the first thing that we should just assert that the Lord Jesus Christ asserted in Matthew chapter 28 before his ascension where he said all authority is given to me in heaven and in earth. So God is the authority over the authorities. So the government does not have unlimited authority. The government has limited authority under God. Here's the second thing that I'd like us to recognize. Christians ought to be the finest citizens in the realm. Let every soul be subject to governing authorities. This should be the disposition of the Christian. The Christian should find every possible way to obey these authorities. The term that the apostle uses is the term subject, be subject, and it's a military term of ordering under authority. It's not the same word that's used for obedience. It's actually the word that's used in Matthew chapter five for wives submitting to their husbands. Submission in marriage is a voluntary thing. It's not something that you exact from your wife. You young guys, let me just tell you, you do not just go pushing your wives around. You lead them and God commands them to submit. God commands them to do that. Now, if you have a good wife, you'll almost hardly ever, maybe probably never actually have to command her because she has a heart of submission. This is the kind of submission that's here. It's the compliant heart that desires to please and desires to fit in as much as possibly can. And what this means is that Christians are the best subjects in a government. The commentator John Brown, no relation, he's long dead, said this. Christianity is the best friend that magistrate ever has found. And I think that's true. Governments are better served by faithful, lawful, moral Christians than anyone else. You know, when Vladimir Putin, I'm sorry, when Vladimir Lenin was persecuting the church in the Soviet Union, there came a time where he relaxed the persecution against the church because it came to his attention that the Christians were the very best workers in the factories. And the Christians were the easiest to manage. And they were the most productive. And they were the nicest. And so for a period, Lenin relaxed his persecution against the church. A similar thing recently happened in China like this. The government realized, this was a few years ago, that the Christians were just such beneficial workers. And so the morality, of Christianity was actually a blessing to that country. And I think that's what the Apostle Paul is saying. Christians are far less likely to betray their leaders. They are far less likely to slander. God has commanded them not to slander, okay? Far less likely to be motivated by money because the Word of God restricts them from it. And you can see how beneficial it was in Egypt with Joseph in Potiphar's house. The Lord blessed the Egyptians' house for Joseph's sake. That's the quote from Genesis 39 verse 5. When Christians exist serving governors, the governors prosper. In Babylon with Daniel, to Nebuchadnezzar, you find this very same kind of thing. Christians tend to serve out of love and they're not out for the highest bidder. They're faithful to their rulers because they believe that being faithful to man is faithfulness to God as long as it is faithfulness to God. What we find here really is a is the apostle putting a guard on the hearts of the Roman citizens who were Christians to keep themselves from slanderous anger, from outrage, from insurrection, from becoming as murderous as their rulers. The commentator Charles Simeon, 18th century, in the English Revival, he said this, We should guard against an acrimonious sentiment arising in our hearts. And even when we are constrained to disapprove of their conduct, instead of reviling them, we should cast a veil over their faults as a dutious child would do over the faults of his parent. How you speak about governors matters. It reveals your heart. I get really disturbed sometimes listening to conservative talk radio. Often it's very slanderous. Often it's very dishonorable. I think we should side with Charles Simeon. Even when you disapprove of their conduct, instead of reviling them, you should cast a veil over their faults as a duty as child would. You definitely want to raise children who will forgive you for your faults. That they would cast a veil over the things that weren't quite right. You're gonna need that. I need it, I need it now. But this is part of the whole doctrine of honor. Christians honor their fathers and mothers. And the Puritans actually believed that the commandment in the fifth commandment to honor your father and mother, extended to all other authorities, all the authorities that exist, like Titus 3.1 speaks of. In Exodus 22, verse 28, you read these words, you shall not revile God, nor curse the ruler of your people. In Ecclesiastes 10.20, do not curse the king, even in your thought. Do not curse the rich, even in your bedroom. For a bird in the air may carry your voice and a bird in flight may tell the matter. The Christian should be the most beneficial, the most helpful, the most honorable, the happiest, the freest, the least fearful of all the people in the realm. And that's what Paul is trying to teach the Roman Christians in the midst of a ruler to the likes we've never seen anything. Nero himself. Yes, it is true. The apostle is commanding the Roman Christians to honor Nero and to be submissive to him. And then the next thing he says here is that resisting authority is resisting God. That's the third point in your outline here. Therefore, whoever resists the authority resist the ordinance of God and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves so there's a danger for all those with rebellious spirits and perhaps some of the Roman believers were swelling with pride thinking that they were above the law pride makes you opposed to authority and it's very interesting you know you have this matter of Resisting the ordinance of God. Now the Apostle Paul is not saying you're resisting an ordinance of God when you resist a godly proposition. Resisting the ordinance of God is not what we ought to be doing. So, a defiant spirit needs to be checked, and that's what the Apostle Paul is doing. There's a rebellious spirit that's just not fitting for God's people. And when we are under someone's authority, we often chafe at it. You know, when you get a driver's license, when you have teachers, You often resist authority. You know, I was brought before the principal when I was in grammar school because I was being evil in my school. And I resisted that authority. And I was punished for it. And I deserved the punishment. But this is rebellion against God here that he's talking about. Here's Pierre Viret, the preacher of the Reformation. Authorities ordained by God are ordained for the protection and benefit of all mankind. And those who refuse to submit themselves to them are more savage than brute beasts. So the Apostle Paul, though, He did not understand Romans 13 or this verse as a call for unlimited obedience. I'll say that again. The Apostle Paul did not understand his command here to submit to be a call for unlimited obedience. There are a few things that we need to recognize about this just as interpreters of the Bible. The words in Romans 13 do not contain the words always or in everything. The authority of the civil government is limited. And the Bible makes this very, very clear. Let me just give you a few illustrations. When God tells children to obey their parents, does anybody believe that a child has to obey their parents even when their parents ask them to sin? Nobody believes that. There's no qualification in the command for children to obey their parents and yet everybody knows their qualifications. The same thing with wives submitting to their husbands. You know, there are no real qualifications in the command for a wife to submit to her husband. But everybody knows that a wife should not sin by following a sinful command of her husband. I mean, if a husband tells his wife she can't go to church, she needs to disobey her husband, because God commanded her to gather with the saints. Or if a husband or a father commands the subject under authority to steal or to lie, that person has a duty before God not to steal and not to lie. So nobody believes that the commands to obey parents or the commands to obey in marriage are unqualified. They are qualified. And these are also qualified. And often what Christians do is they read this and they say, okay, we have to obey the government in absolutely everything. And the Apostle Paul did not believe that at all. And God tells us that that's not what he meant, you know, in Daniel chapter six, when told not to pray, Daniel prayed. The simplest thing. In Acts chapter five, when the early Christians were told by the religious authorities not to preach, they said, we need to obey God rather than man. We will talk about the Hebrew midwives. We may talk about the wise men who disobeyed a clear command of Herod to come back to him and spring the information about Jesus. We could talk about the apostles, all of them except John, who were executed because they didn't obey. There are things that they would not do. So the apostle Paul is not talking about unqualified obedience. Don't think for a minute that God is demanding unqualified obedience to unrighteous orders from civil magistrates. I want us to lay that down. I think we need to really understand that as a church. The prophets were almost all in conflict with the civil government. Jeremiah was probably sawn in two. So our responsibility before God is do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind And if our government outlaws practices that are biblical commands we are obligated to obey God rather than man. You know in many states in the United States it's against the law to spank. In many countries of the world it is too. What are you going to do? Let's move to the next point here. The scope of government authority and Christian responsibility. This is verses three through seven. The scope of government authority and Christian responsibility are both communicated in these verses. And what we find here are a number of things. And the first thing I want to point out is that rulers are obligated to do good and to punish evil works. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good. Do what is good. That's your responsibility. What's the government's responsibility? To do good works. And you will have praise from the same. For he is God's minister. to you for good interesting language minister it's the same word for deacon he's God's deacon he's supposed to carry out all the logistics of doing good that's what governor is supposed to do but they don't always we know that for sure Nero wasn't doing it at the time of this writing but if you do evil be afraid for he does not bear the the sword in vain for he is God's minister and avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil therefore you must be subject not only because of wrath but also for conscience sake so there is good government and there's bad government and sometimes you have a government that is a terror to those who do good that was the reality in Rome and there are times when the government commands her subjects to do what's contrary to the will of God That was true in Rome. That is true of many of the government regulations that have been imposed upon us. They are against the word of God explicitly. But the charge to both is to do good and not evil. And sometimes rulers punish good works. They often punish good works. You know in Rome. The Christians were accused of cannibalism because they ate the body and blood of Jesus. They were doing a good work. And I'm sure some of them quit doing that good work out of fear. And they never should have done that. But sometimes rulers punish good works. So don't be afraid of doing good. I take this as if you're doing good, then you don't need to fear man. Do good and fear God. And do all the good you can, even when your government tells you not to do it. Recently, our government was not doing good. and they stood by and didn't protect their populace. Cities were being torn apart. They did not do good at that time. And they actually punished the police who were charged to do good. And that's what we have ahead of us right now. So the civil government is limited to doing good. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. So I want to read to you from a number of interpreters of these verses, just so that you can kind of understand the breadth of synergy that there is among people who interpret these verses. And I'll begin with Francis Schaeffer. This is from his book, A Christian Manifesto, which he wrote in 1980. Very interesting book, I read it at that time and I just reread it a couple of weeks ago. God has ordained the state as a delegated authority. It is not autonomous. The state is to be an agent of justice to restrain evil by punishing the wrongdoer and to protect the good of society. When it does the reverse, It has no proper authority. It is then a usurped authority and as such it becomes lawless and is tyranny. Sometimes people wrongly appeal to Romans 13 as demanding absolute Oskar Kuhlman, another theologian, has written few sayings in the New Testament have suffered as much misuse as this one. And then he says, as soon as Christians, out of loyalty to the gospel, resist the state, the state claims that they should look at Romans 13 and obey them. And sometimes some Christians are doing that now, too. John Murray, who just recently died of COVID-19. He says, he cites a moment when Peter and the apostles did not obey. And he's commenting on the statement, we must obey God rather than men. He says this, the magistrate is not infallible, nor is he the agent of perfect rectitude. When there is a conflict between the requirements of men and the commands of God, then the word of Peter must take effect. And that word is we must obey God rather than man. Charles Simeon, in his commentary on Romans, he says, if a ruler enjoins anything that is manifestly contrary to an express command of God, or forbid anything which God has clearly enjoined, than we are to obey God rather than man. Now, I like his language here. He speaks of things that are manifestly contrary to the command of God. That's where we have to be careful. We don't want to be corrupt and just do our own thing either. We have a duty to disobey if something manifestly contradicts the command of God. We have to be careful with that. God desires our hearts to be compliant and submissive hearts. Humble hearts, honoring hearts. And so we shouldn't be looking for loopholes all the time. You don't like that when your children do it. And I don't think God likes it when we do it with the civil magistrate. And then he gives examples. He gives examples of the Hebrew youths who did not fall down to the idol and Daniel and all the stories of Nebuchadnezzar and Darius. But then he says this, again this is Charles Simeon again. But where the laws that are enacted by human authority are not contrary to the revealed word of God, they must be obeyed. So we should look at which laws are not contrary and obey them. And of course the apostle is going to give some examples. of this at the very end of this passage in chapter 7. Here's John's thought. Does the requirement to submit still stand in such a morally perverse situation? No. The principle is clear. We are to submit right up to the point where obedience to the state would entail disobedience to God. But if the state commands what God forbids, or forbids what God commands, then our plain Christian duty is to resist, not to submit, to disobey the state in order to obey God. As Peter and the other apostles put it to the Sanhedrin, we must obey God rather than men. This is the strict meaning of the civil disobedience Namely, disobeying a particular human law because it is contrary to God's law. John Knox said it like this, their power is limited by God's word. That's what all that means. So, rulers are under divine obligation to do good, not evil. He is a minister for good. And God defines what is good. And when they do evil, then they have harmed their authority, because absolute obedience is not implied in this verse. And that's why Jesus said in Luke 12, 11, he said, when they bring you to the synagogue and magistrates and authorities, do you notice that language? The synagogues, the magistrates, and the authorities. He's itemizing various kinds of authorities that exist in your life. Do not worry about how or what you should answer, or what you should say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say. In other words, be filled with the Spirit, be filled with the Word of God. Fill your heart and mind with love for God and His words, and then you'll know what to say, and you'll know exactly what to do. Rulers may be wicked, Let me quote Pierre Viret. We must honor them as ministers of God and obey them in all that they command according to their office. For if they are good and faithful, so much more must we obey them. And we must praise God that he has shown us this mercy, if however they are unbelievers, harsh and tyrants. we must also be subject to them as far as possible without violating the law of God who has given them to us to exercise the patience of the saints and to humble and chastise us. And then he says again, and you should not worry about them because God has raised them up and he will take them down. And by the way, he does always take them down. So you have these two parts of Christian duty. There is this voluntary, happy submission as far as you can, and to obey according to your conscience. Do you see that term in verse five? It is a matter of conscience. The Christian's obedience is a matter of conscience, and it does speak to the inner life of the believer. And God has called the Christian conscience to be shaped by the word of God and by the word of God alone. But the conscience can be also informed by other things contrary to the word of God. But when the commands of man violate the godly conscience, then he must take the side of the godliness of his conscience in that sense. It was conscience that sent the Christians to the lions in Rome. It was conscience that sent Christians to the fires in the Reformation. It was conscience that sent the Scottish reformers to be hanged. And why were they hanged? Do you know why they were hanged in the Scottish Reformation? I've got lots of books about it. I've been reading about it for almost 20 years. The Scottish martyrs died because they didn't believe the government had the authority to tell them how to celebrate the Lord's Supper. And they died for that. When we take the Lord's Supper week by week, we have to recognize that there were people who died so that the saints could celebrate the Lord's Supper. Sammy Rutherford, writing during that time, he wrote a book called Lex Rex, The Law's King, because the king was saying that he was the law, and he could do whatever he wanted. And the king was usurping the authority of the home, and he was usurping the authority of the church. He proclaimed himself king over the home and the church. And so, Rutherford wrote Lex Rex, which is really an interpretation of of Romans chapter 13. And of course he's saying in this book that when the state contradicts the laws of God, the state is acting as a tyrant. But Samuel Rutherford wrote this book and he, the reason I got the book many years ago, I think I got this book, I have a first edition of Lex Rex, a 1644 edition. It was a crime, it was a capital crime to carry Lex Rex. the king would take your head off if you had it. So the book I have in my library was carried by a very bold man. And in simple terms, what Samuel Rutherford was presenting in Lex Rex is that the king is not law, but the law of God is king. So you might say that Romans 13 says that Christians need to obey all things that the governor commands, and that's not demanded in this text. And that's not consistent with the experiences of the apostles or the prophets. And it's just not consistent with scripture itself. When we read a verse of scripture, we should be good interpreters. And in this case, we should appeal to the right principles of biblical hermeneutics. Scripture interprets Scripture. If you read Romans 13 without the rest of the Bible, you will misread it. And you'll think that you're supposed to obey absolutely everything a governor says. And then if you read Ephesians 6, 1 through 4, you'll say, if my parents tell me to steal, I've got to steal. And if you read Ephesians 5, 22 to 33, you'll say a wife can be a harlot if her husband commands her to. Well, that's just not true. because the authority is constrained by the word of God. And it's very important that we understand that. Francis Schaeffer, if civil government is autonomous, it renders the church without authority. Let me read that again. If the civil government is autonomous, it renders the church without authority. Well, I'm gonna turn that around, and I'm gonna give you a Scott Brown quote. If the civil government is autonomous, it renders the family without authority. Because God has established the family as a real authority with laws to govern it in marriage and in child raising and everything. So the governor is under the law in that sense. Be a good interpreter of Scripture and let Scripture interpret Scripture. We're going to spend the next few weeks doing that. We'll be walking through lots of different passages of Scripture that speak about these things. But nowhere in the Word of God is unlimited obedience to civil authorities demanded. Not in Romans 13, not in 1 Peter 2, not in anywhere in the Bible. I want us to understand that. Civil leaders will be judged by God. And by the way, if you read the history of worship in the Bible. Years ago, I did a conference called The Worship of God, and I spent the entire year really just studying this whole matter in history. And here's what you find in the Bible. If you read your Bible carefully, you'll find that God destroys kings and nations that subvert the worship of God, that corrupt the worship of God. The kings who destroy the worship of God will be destroyed. And you can find dozens of examples of that in the Bible. You don't mess with the worship of God. Well, in these final two verses, six and seven, we see how the magistrates carry out their work, because they do have work to do. They are supposed to be ministers of good, and so they need money. They need taxes, they actually do, and God commands you to pay your taxes so that they can do their work. Verse six, for because of this, you also pay taxes. Because of what? Because they're ministers of good, they're ministers, they're deacons, the deacons need money. For they are God's ministers attending continually to this very thing, doing good. Render therefore, to all their due, taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs are due, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. So God has command, he makes this very specific. One way that you honor the king is you give him your tax money. And there's quite a bit to say about that. Well, let me just close with some of the final words in Romans 12. If it is possible, so much as it depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath, for it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. So it's for us who live in the midst of a government of some kind that we honor as much as we can, but we have to remember who we are in the world. We are the people of God. We are the living stones. We are the strangers and the sojourners. Our citizenship is in heaven. And we walk in a different way. We talk in a different way. We live in a different way. And God has appointed us as his people to obey his law in everything as we walk through the world. And we shouldn't be fearful by being faithful. We should be fearful if we break the laws of God. That's what should make us fear. And so, I wanted to lay this as a foundation that Romans 13 does not teach the church unqualified obedience. Because you have to read the rest of the Bible to understand what it means. And actually, the context itself tells you what it means. So I pray that we will be an obedient people to God. The very best citizens North Carolina has ever seen. the sweetest, most productive, the most obedient citizens that this land has ever seen, that should be the legacy of the Church of Jesus Christ. Would you pray with me? Father, we pray that you would help these words to ring in our ears, that we would do good, that we would be the people who do good, the things that you have declared are good. Lord, we're so thankful for the many freedoms we've enjoyed here in this land. And we pray, oh Lord, that our magistrates would be dedicated to what is good. And we want to do good. And we want to honor them as much as we can. Amen. Boy, it's very late.