This is the third sermon on a sermon series of the civil government, and I started in the end of Romans 12 because I mentioned several times that Romans 12 goes before Romans 13, of course, and you have to read them both together, along with the whole book of Romans. So Romans 13, the text tonight is just verses three and four. So I'm just gonna look at three and four, but I'm gonna read one through seven just to get us the whole context here. So this is God's word. Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there's no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore, whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed. and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what's good, and you'll receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain, for he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore, one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath, but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this, you also pay taxes for the authorities or ministers of God attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them. Taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. God's word. I think all of us have it in life where there are some things that just frustrate us and make us upset. We get so frustrated or upset about something sometimes that we really can't find anything good to say about it. It bothers us so much that we just can't find any good in the thing anymore. So maybe your favorite sports team has had a terrible year. I'm thinking of the White Sox. I think they set the record for losses in one MLB season this year. So if you're a White Sox fan, you're frustrated. There's probably nothing you can say good about the White Sox organization. Or maybe you got a different car recently and it's had tons of problems. And it's so frustrating to have to make another appointment at the mechanic and go in and pay for that. And you can't say anything good about the car because it's so frustrating to you. We have things like that in life. In fact, possibly we might have that with the government today. Because there are many frustrating aspects of our government. I'm not going to start listing them. We're not going to go there tonight. But like Mark Twain once said, we have the best government that money can buy. And so it's undeniably true that our government authorities are quite imperfect and there are reasons why we could be frustrated with the government even here, even now. However, we can't allow ourselves to get so upset and so frustrated that we're cynical and jaded so much that we miss some relatively good aspects of civil government, even in our country. You know what I mean? If you focus on the bad so much, and the frustrating aspects, you might miss some of the good things that actually do still exist, or relatively good things. So just let me remind you, because of checks and balances in this country, we don't have a dictatorship. The judicial system in this country sometimes does get it right, and sometimes often gets it right. And we know there are many decent policemen and policewomen who do stop crime. So there are some good things that we have to recognize about our civil government, even if it's quite imperfect. And this relative good in governing systems or civil authority is something to remember as we come to Romans 13 verses 3 and 4, this text that we read. And so in verses 3 and 4 of Romans 13, generally Paul is saying this. This is the theme for tonight. God instituted civil governments to maintain order in society, to punish evil, and to promote decency or to promote good. We already learned about submission, that's one thing that we have to think about, but in these verses we learn that God instituted civil governments to maintain order in society. So that's our focus tonight. Now before I get into verses 3 and 4, I just want to do a very quick recap of last week and give a couple observations as we get into these verses. First of all, a recap is last week we learned that Christians are called to submit to civil authorities because God set the civil authorities up. And God set the civil authorities up for people's good, and we're to respect, honor, obey, pay taxes, and be patient with those in authority over us. But we also learn that ultimately our highest authority is God, and like Acts 5 and other parts of Scripture teach, we obey God above man. So we owe ultimate allegiance and obedience to God. That's what we kind of talked about last time. Now, observation number one, remember also that in Romans 13, these verses we read, Paul is writing in very general terms. He's not giving details, specific details about civil governments and how they should work. He's not covering all the what-ifs or hypotheticals or gray areas. Like what if a ruler comes to power in the country illegally? Paul's not talking about hypotheticals like that. And as we know, the Bible is not a political instruction manual, and it doesn't cover all the what-ifs or hypotheticals of civil government. That's not what Paul is doing. He's giving us general teaching, how to think about the civil government as Christians. So before you debate, sometimes, all those little details about civil government, we want to be grounded in these basics that Paul was teaching us, because this is what we need to hold on to, this clear teaching. So that's a very first observation. Paul is writing in general terms in Romans 13, not covering all the bases. Now, observation number two, we can't say, you know, when Paul was writing this, we can't say that Paul's day and situation was very good, so if he was living in our day, he would have wrote something far different. Do you remember the context in which Paul was living in the middle of the first century, around 55 AD? Remember he was governor of the Roman Empire? It was Nero. And if you know anything about history, you know that Nero was no friend to the Christian faith, nor to the Jewish faith. There were corrupt officials in the Roman government. There were heavy tax burdens. A lot of people in the Roman Empire hated Jews and Christians. And don't forget that it was a Roman governor who was in part responsible for Jesus' unjust execution. So Paul understood what it means to live in a government that was very secular and not a friend to the Christian faith. So this generally applies to Christians in different countries around the world throughout history. Paul was writing this in a context where there's a very secular government. That's another thing that you need to remember. So having said those things, let's look at our verses then. In verse 3, Paul says rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. So, what does that mean? It is kind of, I guess, clunky language a little bit. Basically, it means that Paul didn't set up authorities to scare people away from doing good. They're not a terror if you do good things. They're a terror if you do bad things. They'll punish you. So for example, you can think about an illustration. If you see your neighbor's garage on fire, you're looking out, maybe tonight you get home and you see a big fire in your neighbor's garage, you'd go help her put the fire out. You'd save her garage from a lot of damage. And the police, of course, wouldn't punish you for helping her out. They'd probably say, thank you, good job. Because authorities are not meant to be a terror for you if you do good. That's what Paul is saying here in the beginning of verse three. However, he moves on and he says they are a terror to bad conduct. So, they do penalize and punish evildoers. People who do bad things should be afraid of the civil government because the civil government punishes people who do bad things. So, if you start a fire in your neighbor's garage and let it burn, then you should be afraid of the civil government and you should be afraid because they punish people who do evil things like that. God set up authorities as one way to curb and deter evil and crime in a fallen world. If you drive drunk, for example, you should be afraid of a penalty. In Proverbs 20, it says, the king's fury is like a lion's roar. To rouse his anger is to risk your life. To rouse the anger of the civil magistrate by disobeying it is a risk to your life because they're meant to punish. So we can move on then, and we can kind of understand verse 3. Look in the middle of verse 3 then, the first part we went over. It says, there's a question, hypothetical. Would you have no fear of the one who has an authority? Or, you know, do you want to not be afraid of the authority? And the answer is, of course we don't want to be afraid. Then Paul says, do what's good and you'll receive his approval. So in a civil government, if you do what's good and proper, you don't have to be afraid of being put in prison, but you'll probably get a commendation for it. If you make good choices in the government and the situation you live in, you don't have to fear them, but if you do something good, you might actually be rewarded. There are a lot of different stories you could tell about someone getting an award for helping people. This past week, or maybe a week and a half ago, I was listening to a podcast, another rescue podcast, and a few years ago, a couple of men were climbing a mountain in New Zealand, and it was like a semi-active volcano. It was on the North Island of New Zealand. The guys' names were William Pike and James Christie. Anyway, so they're going to climb this mountain in the cold weather. It's, you know, 20 degrees. They find an alpine hut on the side of the mountain where they're going to camp for the night in that hut and then try to summit the next morning. But in the middle of the night, they hear this rumble and they feel this rumble. It sounded like a thunderstorm mixed with a train and the volcano had a partial eruption. It's crazy, they wake up in the middle of the night to this partial eruption, and there's like this volcanic slide of rock and ice and mud. Comes into that little alpine hut, and William gets stuck up to the waist with rocks and ice and mud, and they can't get him out. They try to move stuff, but one of his legs is shredded. So, James has to go in the middle of the night. When it's 20 degrees, their supplies are all mixed up. He can't really find anything. He puts on anything that he has and makes it down the hill in the middle of that cold night. Long story short, he gets help. They rescue William and James receives an award from New Zealand. It's the New Zealand Bravery Medal. So that's an example of what Paul is talking about here. If you do good, they'll commend you for doing good. That's one thing that the government does. They reward you for doing good. You don't have to be afraid when you do something good. That's what Paul is saying in verse 3. Do what's good and you'll receive His approval. You'll be approved by the government. 1 Peter 2 says the same thing. It says, Governing officials praise those who do good. So Peter says the same thing. Okay, so that makes sense so far, I think. Verse 3, it's not too difficult. But that's another reason why God set up civil government. It's just basically speaking to approve and reward good conduct. but also to punish and discipline bad conduct. That's what Paul is saying. And it's for the good of people. Look in verse four. He's God's servant for your good, for people in general's good. It's for the benefit. The civil government is for the benefit or well-being of people in general. And there in verse four, Paul uses the word servant. That's a pretty deep word in scripture. It's actually the same Greek word that we get deacon from, one who serves, but it doesn't mean the same thing as deacon. However, it is a service aspect yet, and we understand that God is the Lord and ruler of all things, and civil magistrates are under him, and God uses them to serve his purposes in a fallen world. And some of his purposes are to approve the good and to punish the bad. That's how God uses his servants, civil magistrates. And so if you're a Christian, of course, you think of yourself as a servant of God who trusts in God and believes in God. That's like theologically a servant of God, right? Christian. But verse four is more like very general. Civil magistrates are God's servants, even if they don't know it or acknowledge it. This is part of God's common grace, providential rule of the world. Even in the Old Testament, like Cyrus and Nebuchadnezzar were God's servant to help accomplish his purpose. So I think you understand this, right? Civil magistrates in God's plan serve his purpose to promote wellbeing in the world and to punish crime and evil, to strike fear into evildoers. And that's why Calvin said, John Calvin said, governments are for the safety of mankind. But I want to focus then, before we move on a little bit, I want to focus on Paul's words about doing what's good in verse three and God's servant for your good in verse four. God is good. He sets up authority for people's good, for their well-being. And we as believers are called to do good to people. So think about chapter 12, there's a lot of instances of how we can do good things to people out of love, show love to our neighbor, do good things. And right after these verses on civil government, Paul also again talks about loving others. So if you think about this, big picture of Romans 13 and submitting to civil government, Christians should be the best citizens. Remember what Paul says in Galatians 6, let us do good to everyone. Here he says, submit to civil authorities. So while you're submitting to civil authorities, do good to everyone. We should be the best citizens as Christians. If we live according to Scripture, or even just have a beginning of obedience that Paul, you know, that Scripture calls us to, we would make excellent citizens, or we do, right? We would benefit our neighborhoods. We do when we do Christian things. Think about this, if you, and we do this, I know, that's why I'm saying we already do this, but the more and more that we are patient with people, share with them, like Paul calls us to earlier in Romans 12, we make peace, we're humble, we don't be angry and avenge, we bless others and overcome evil with good. If we practice those things, while submitting to civil government, we will make very good citizens of a nation. We're not a people of violence or anger or anarchy or defiant rebellion and chaos, but we seek to do good to all people. And so if you think about that in the big picture of serving Christ and obeying him, even while submitting to a civil government, there's a triple benefit of doing good as a believer. First of all, it glorifies God when you do good. Second of all, it blesses other people. And third of all, sometimes the government will give you approval, like Paul talks about here, like that man in New Zealand. So that's something to think about as believers, submitting to a civil government while living for Christ. But now we can move on a little bit. Look in verse 4. So the government is God's servant for your good, for people's good. But, see that in verse 4? However, if you do wrong or do evil, be afraid, because he does not bear the sword in vain. He doesn't carry the sword for nothing. And again, I've already said this, you already know this. God set up civil authorities to punish the evildoer. That's what the sword stands for. They carry the sword. And they're not carrying it for nothing. When I was a kid, my parents would sometimes use a spoon. You know what I mean by that, right? And I deserved it every single time, for real. But, and they were following Proverbs, you know, it speaks about physical discipline. If you love your children, you'll discipline them, even physically. And it says, you know, the rod won't kill them. That's what Proverbs says. So for me, when I think about this, when I was a young kid, this spoon stood for discipline. That's what the sword does here. It's for disciplining those who disobey civil government. The government has a sword for a reason. They don't carry the sword in vain. It's to punish the evildoer. In fact, Paul even goes into it a little bit more. He uses the term servant again in verse 4, for he's the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. So the civil magistrate carries the sword to punish evil for God. He's God's servant to carry the sword to punish the evildoer in this earth. And that is something that we have to remember. And Paul uses the term servant again. And this goes back to Romans 12, verse 19. Remember, we've mentioned this before. Vengeance is mine, God says. He will avenge the evildoer, not the church, not the Christian. And he used the state sometimes to avenge wickedness, to make them pay for their crimes and what they did. And so, in part, the civil government serves God by carrying the sword. God delegates judicial authority to the civil government. Now, of course, Paul is not just writing this in a vacuum. He's probably thinking of some Old Testament teaching as well. And one that he might be thinking of, possibly, is Genesis 9. If you remember Genesis 9, after the flood, God said that He demands an account for murder. Remember that text? Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed. So this is way back after the flood. God in his common grace instituted this judicial reality that if you murder someone, it is a prerogative of a proper civil government to bear the sword and punish. Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed. The man would be civil authority. And so the civil government bears the sword to do what Genesis 9 says. Maybe that's what Jesus was talking about when he said to Peter, you know, put away your sword because all who draw the sword will die by the sword. That's what the government does. If you murder, you can expect the government to avenge the crime. And so God instituted and established civil government in this fallen world to punish evildoers. And it could be fines, it could be jail, it could be probation, or all kinds of different kind of penalties, or even the death penalty if properly executed. And so the Westminster Confession of Faith says that God has armed civil magistrates with the power of the sword for the defense and encouragement of them that are good, and for the punishment of evildoers. So I think there's a couple implications here that I want to mention. Implications number one is the civil government sword can also deter and retain or restrain evil in this world. And Paul mentions fear in these verses. If you don't want to be afraid, do what's good. But if you do something wrong, you should be afraid, and that will deter evil in the world. Sometimes the fear of punishment deters people from committing a crime. Maybe you had that even when you were a kid. If your parents said, I'm going to punish you and do this or this if you disobey me, you're not going to do it. So we can think sometimes that the civil government bears a sword to restrain and deter evil. If you have a nice car, a really nice one, maybe someone once thought to himself, I really want to steal that thing. But then they think, no, I would go to jail, I would get it on probation and all that stuff, so I'm not going to do it. So that's something to think about as well. And another possible implication is that the sword protects people from evil. So the civil government bearing the sword to punish the evildoer can restrain evil, but it also protects us from evil. So that person who was going to steal your car, there's a law that says, you know, whatever, you'll go to prison, pay this fine, whatever, if you steal a car. That's going to protect you from the person who's going to steal your car, or worse. When a policeman arrests a thief and puts that thief in prison, that protects us from the thief. The sword protects those who are innocent. And we know this, I think, policemen and women walking the streets does keep crime down. and protects people from crime. So that's other things to think about here with the civil government bearing the sword. And it's for people's good. That's what Paul says. Now I do want to make an observation. We'll end here in just a moment. But again, back to this concept that governments are flawed and imperfect and sometimes we're frustrated with our rulers because they're not great people. Even in His common grace, of course, God has established civil governments to do what we've been talking about, but do remember that all rulers and authorities and magistrates and presidents and kings and so on will have to give an account for their actions before God on the last day. We know there have been plenty of rulers and officials who have been evil and who have done evil and who are doing evil. And we don't avenge them for evil. For doing their evil, I mean. But God will if they don't turn from it. God avenges evil. That's what Paul says in Romans 12. Or if you read in Revelation 18 and 19, there's Judgment Day. Christ returns, and He's going to pay the unrepentant wicked people for their crimes. And in Revelation 18 and 19, it says, including wicked rulers, kings, and officials. They'll have to pay for their crime and their evil that they perpetrated while even leading different countries or being rulers or authorities in different countries. So we don't avenge their evil, but God will on the last day. And we just have to remember that, too, in this discussion. But back to the introduction then. Of course, we know our government, like all governments ever in this world, has many flaws. I mean, anytime you get a whole bunch of sinful people leading something, there's going to be some imperfections and bad things happening. But God is on His throne, and in His providence, don't forget that there are positive things to governing authorities and civil governments. We can thank God when authorities do promote the well-being of citizens. Don't miss that. It's something you can thank God for when the civil government gets it right. And you can thank God when the civil government punishes evil properly and justly. They're doing what they're supposed to do. And you can thank God that the government does promote and provide some order and justice, even in our country, of course. And I think I said this before, and I want you to kind of ponder this yourself, but remember that even a not-so-good government is better than no government. Could we say even a bad government is better than no government? Because if you've got no government, you've got anarchy, chaos, crime, and murder rampant. Something for us to remember. We can be thankful even when we live in a governing system that's far from perfect. It's better than no governing system. And so like I've said before, in conclusion, you guys know this, but scripture calls us to avoid putting our hope and trust in rulers and leaders and governments and politics. We don't put our trust in these people or powers or authorities. Psalm 146, maybe you know this. Do not put your trust in princes and people who cannot save. When they breathe their last, they return to dust and all their plans die with them. So we're called not to put our trust in princes and governing authorities. We need to live a solid Christian life and submit to governing authorities and even be thankful for them as we've been talking about tonight. But as believers, then, if you're a follower of Christ, your highest and ultimate authority is to Jesus, your Savior. He's your King who has rescued you from darkness and brought you into His kingdom of light. He's your King who protects you from all His and our enemies. He's the King of this eternal kingdom, the city of God. And that's where your future lies, in the eternal kingdom. And that's what you should focus on. Seek ye first the kingdom of God, Jesus says. Earthly governments and rulers and leaders and authorities will come to an end when Jesus returns. But Christ's kingdom is forever. And you as Christians belong to that eternal kingdom. So you can say with Paul in 2 Timothy 4, the Lord will rescue me from every evil and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. All glory to God forever and ever. Amen. Let's pray.