One of the most important things
that a parent can do is to teach their children to respect authority
and to do so from an early age. I recall the first scripture
my parents taught me was the scripture that teaches children
to obey their parents in the Lord, for this is right. And
they taught me from an early age the importance of obeying
those in authority. Where I grew up, you just did
not answer an adult without saying yes sir and no sir, or yes ma'am
and no ma'am. That's just how you answered.
You showed respect for authority. And God will have his people
in this world to subject ourselves to the powers that be. To submit
and obey, to respect and honor those in authority. And the reason,
the chief reason being, God is the power who put the powers
that be where they are. He put the powers that be over
us. And so God tells His people,
as we go through this life, as citizens of a heavenly kingdom,
as subjects of Christ the King of kings and Lord of lords, knowing
there's no power but the power of God, He teaches us to go through
this life in subjection to those powers that be that God has put
in place. We're talking about powers from
the president to state rulers to city rulers, police officers. We're talking about pastors,
husbands, employers, teachers, Whoever God's put in authority
over us, God says we are to be in subjection to that authority. And to that authority we are
to submit, we're to obey, we're to honor them, respect them. That's something we can't begin
too early to teach our children. We must teach our children to
respect authority. Because God's way is order. God's way is order. God will
not have his church to be a place of rebellion and confusion. It's
a place of order. And so God's made society to
be that way. It's God who's made it that way.
It's God who's put the rulers where he's put them. It's God
who rules in the hearts of those that rule. So our text this morning is found
in Romans chapter 13. Now Christ sends His messenger
to preach the good news that Christ Jesus is the salvation
of His people. You'll find this in every epistle.
Just as you find in this epistle, Paul spent the majority of his
time declaring the good news of Christ Jesus our Lord. He
began in the first chapter in his opening remarks saying that
the gospel of God, which he promised to fore in the prophets, is concerning
his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The reason the gospel is the
power of God unto salvation is because therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith. And this is what makes
the just to live by faith. Paul declared to us that all
sinners have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There's
nothing we can do to save ourselves. And He declared that the righteousness
of God, that righteousness God has provided, whereby His people
are justified from all our sins, from which we couldn't be justified
by our works, that righteousness by which we're justified, by
which we're made accepted of God, He is our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the righteousness of God.
He declared God just when He satisfied the law for His people.
He declared God the justifier because He put away the sin of
a particular people. And so when God brings us to
faith, through faith God imputes the righteousness of Christ to
us because Christ made His people righteous. And we're no longer
under the law. That husband is dead to us now. We're married to Christ and our
fruit is produced by Christ our husband. and he gets the glory. And Paul declared this, and he
declared that there is no chosen child of God that God will lose. He has a people among Jew and
Gentile, chosen, saved the same way by the grace of God through
faith in Christ, and God won't lose one of them. So the preacher that Christ sent
is to preach Christ and Him crucified. It's where we spend the majority
of our time preaching Christ and Him crucified, just like
you find in all the epistles. But you also find in all the
epistles, if you read those epistles from beginning to end, just like
the churches were to do when they received these letters,
you're going to find the gospel declared through the majority,
but then you're going to find Christ's messengers also taught
to teach the Lord's people our responsibility and how we are
to conduct ourselves in this life for the purpose of adorning
the doctrine of our Lord Jesus Christ in all things. That's
our purpose is to adorn the doctrine of God in all things. Don't we fail miserably at that? It's no excuse, and I'm not making
an excuse, but when I make that statement, adorn the doctrine
of our Lord Jesus Christ in all things, my first thought is,
oh, I failed in that so badly. I think that's the thought of
every true believer. We failed in this. But it's the
heart's, it's the desire of the heart that God's given. And this
is the purpose of all these precepts of the gospel, is to teach us
to adorn the gospel in our home and in our lives in the world.
That's the purpose of it. And we're not only to preach
the gospel, but we're to teach these things on how we're to
conduct ourselves. This is as much the word of God
as the first part of the epistle is. It's as important as the
first part of the epistle. We would have no effect and no
power as the church of God were set forth to bear witness of
Christ. We would have no witness whatsoever. If even though we
believed the doctrine perfectly, even though we believed everything
God has declared in truth and we submitted to it, and yet we
went forth into the world and lived like rebellious sinners,
we'd have no witness whatsoever. It would destroy the witness
of the church. And so he teaches us how to conduct ourselves in
a way that's honoring to God. So when Paul gets to Romans 12,
he taught us how as believers to treat one another. And then
he taught us how we are to bless our enemies and not curse our
enemies. He taught us as much as lies in us to as much as possible
live peaceably with all men. And then today he's going to
teach us how we are to conduct ourselves in subjection to the
powers that be. Let me remind you now, this applies
to the president, it applies to state rulers, city rulers,
police officers, it applies to pastors, husbands, teachers,
employers, and so on. I've titled this Reasons We Submit
to Authority. Reasons We Submit to Authority. Here's the first reason. God
put them in power over me. That's the first reason. God
put them where they are. He says in verse 1, let every
soul, every person, every believer, every one of God's saints be
subject unto the higher powers for there is no power but of
God. The powers that be are ordained
of God. So our first reason is God put
them there. God put them there. Then secondly,
the reason we submit to authority is because to resist the power
is to resist God. If I resist the power God put
over me, I'm resisting God. Look here in verse 2. Whosoever
therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God. And they that resist shall receive
to themselves damnation. That's judgment, punishment.
going to receive punishment if we resist the power. For rulers
are not a terror to good works. There's no reason, if you do
well, there's no reason to be afraid of a ruler. But to the
evil, that's who's afraid of the power, those that are doing
evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? And here's the
third reason we're to submit to authority. Each one in authority
He's God's minister to me. God's minister to me. Look here
in verse 3, the second part. Do that which is good, and thou
shalt have praise of the ruler. For he's the minister of God
to thee for good. That's what he's sent for, he's
to make sure you're protected and it's for your good. He's
the minister of God. But, if thou do that which is
evil, be afraid. For he beareth not the sword
in vain, for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute
wrath upon him that doeth evil. He's the minister of God to execute
punishment upon those that do evil. Wherefore you must needs
be subject not only for wrath, not only to avoid punishment,
but also for conscience sake. Knowing in your conscience that
the powers of God, knowing that that's God's minister, knowing
that to resist him is to resist God himself. For, for this cause
pay ye tribute also. Taxes, federal taxes is what's
meant by tribute. For their God's ministers attending
continually upon this very thing, render therefore to all their
dues. Tribute to whom tribute is due,
that's federal tax. Custom to whom custom, that's
sales tax. Fear to whom fear, that means
subjection and submission. Honor to whom honor, that means
respect them as God's minister to you. So knowing God our Father
and His Son Jesus Christ is the great power over all. It's God's
will. This is God's will. It's God's
will that His people be in subjection to all authority. Now first of
all, why will God have us submit and respect authority? Well,
we're to submit to those in authority because God our Savior put them
in authority over me. That's why I'm to submit. God
put them there. Verse 1, let every soul be subject
to the higher powers for there is no power but of God, the powers
that be ordained of God. God ordained the power that is
in place. Now go back to eternity. This
began in eternity. Who was the first power God ordained? God ordained His Son, the Lord
Jesus Christ, to be the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. To
be the Savior of His people, a Prince and a Savior. God ordained
this before the world began. Will we reject the power that's
standing right here in civil government that's over me? Will
I reject that power today? Will you reject Christ? God ordained them both. He ordained
them both. The power that be's of God, both
of them are of God. When God called King David and
made him king over Israel, God was typifying. He was setting
forth a picture of how he ordained the Lord Jesus Christ to be the
king of his spiritual elect, his spiritual Israel, the kingdom
of God before the world was made. David said, the Lord God of Israel
chose me. David knew how he became king.
He said, the Lord God of Israel chose me before all the house
of my father, before all the house of my father, before all
my brothers, God chose me to be king over Israel forever.
He said, he had chosen Judah to be the ruler. He chose Judah. Out of all the tribes, God chose
Judah. And he said, and of the house
of Judah, he chose the house of my father. He chose Jesse.
And he said, and among the sons of my father, he liked me. God liked me. To make me king
over all Israel. David knew how he became king. Well, God chose Judah to be the
ruler. And that's a picture, remember?
Out of all the tribe, God chose Judah. And you know why? Because Christ came through Judah
because he's the lion, he's called the lion of the tribe of Judah. He's the power of the tribe of
Judah. God said a lawgiver will not,
the scepter will not depart from Judah nor a lawgiver from between
his feet until Shiloh come. It means to him to whom it belongs. To him shall the gathering of
the people be. That's Christ our Lord. And then
out of all the tribes of Judah, God chose the house of Jesse.
Because he prophesied and declared Christ would be the root of Jesse. He's the root and the offspring. He's the root that came before,
that produced Jesse, and he's the offspring that came through
the lineage of Jesse as the man Christ Jesus. And out of all
the house of Jesse, out of all his sons, God chose David. And
out of all God's sons, he chose his only forgotten son to be
his firstborn among many brethren to whom he trusted the whole
house, to whom he trusted his name and all his inheritance
and the whole government to be upon the shoulder of Jesus Christ
our Lord. He ordained Christ to be the
power. He's the power. That's the only
way David was a king forever, was in Christ Jesus, our eternal
King. And so, Psalm 89, 19 says, Then
thou spakest in vision to thy holy one, and said, I've laid
help upon one that is mighty, I've exalted one chosen out of
the people. Who is that one? Who's that one
God chose? David was a pitcher. Who's he
picture? Verse 27, he said, I will make
him my firstborn. My firstborn, the only begotten
Son of God, my firstborn, I'll make him higher than the kings
of the earth. He's the power. When the Son
of God took flesh, he not only was made under the law of God,
he subjected himself to be under the law of civil government in
the land. They accused him of being against
Caesar because they knew he was the king of the Jews. He's the
king of his elect people. And so they took this to mean
he was going to lead insurrection against Caesar. But that wasn't
so. He was in subjection to all civic
rule. Our Lord Jesus Christ even paid
taxes. You remember when they came and
they asked Peter, does your master pay taxes? He said, yeah. And before, as soon as Peter
walked in the house, the Lord said, of whom do they exact? Do they do it of their own children
or of others? He said, nevertheless. He said,
you go over here to the sea, Peter, and you throw a line in,
and the first fish you bring up is going to have a coin in
its mouth. Talk about power and authority. Go over there and
go fishing, Peter. The first fish that bites that
hook is going to have coin in his mouth. You take that coin,
you go pay taxes for you and for me." So Peter did. He subjected himself to all authority. And doing so, Christ established
Again, I've told you this in each of these precepts. We can't
do these precepts to earn a righteousness. Christ did these things perfectly
for His people. He's our righteousness in even
these earthly precepts. He was in subjection perfectly
like none had ever been or have ever been since. And He did that
for His people. And then He went to the cross
and He bore our sins for not being in subjection as we ought. and having made us perfectly
righteous, having purged all our sin, God raised Him. He had ordained this from the
eternity and He raised His Son as the God-man, as the one who
is God and man. He raised Him to His right hand
and gave Him all power over all. In heaven, in earth, in this
world, and in the world to come, all power belongs to Christ.
Look at Acts 2. I know I've read this many times
to you, but it's just so good. Acts 2, look at verse 29. Peter's preaching on the day
of Pentecost, and he's been quoting David. The Jews were so high
on David. Well, he'd been quoting David,
and now he says this, verse 29, Men and brethren, let me freely
speak to you of the patriarch David. He's dead. He's buried. His sepulcher is
with us unto this day. Therefore, being a prophet, and
knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit
of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ
to sit upon his throne. That's what God meant when he
told David, you're going to be a king forever, David. He meant
your house is going to hold the kingship forever because I'm
sending my son. He's going to reign forever.
on your throne. It's a heavenly throne. It's
not an earthly throne. He's on a heavenly throne. In
heavenly Jerusalem. In heavenly Mount Zion. This
is a spiritual rule. A spiritual kingdom. A spiritual
king. And He rules everybody. Spiritual
and temporal. Look, He, seeing this before,
spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not
left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. This Jesus
hath God raised up, whereof we are all witnesses. Therefore,
being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received
of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, Christ, the King,
He has shed forth this which you now see and hear. They were
preaching in languages they had never learned because Christ
poured forth the Spirit and gave them the ability to preach. There
were so many different nations there at Jerusalem. to come for
Passover and for Pentecost. And so He gave them the Spirit
to be able to preach to those different nations that were there,
but they all preached one message. They preached the resurrection
and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior. And He says, and
Christ shed it forth. Christ is the one that gave them
the ability to do it. For David's not ascended into the heavens,
but he said himself, Thee, Lord, said to my Lord, The Lord Jehovah
said to my Lord Jesus Christ, sit there on my right hand till
I make thy foes thy footstool. Therefore let all the house of
Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom
you have crucified, he's made him Lord, he's made him King,
he's the supreme power and he's Christ, he's the prince and he's
the savior. And so what does God say to us?
Psalm 2, look at Psalm 2 verse 10. So this is what God says
to you and me now. He says in Psalm 2 in verse 10, He says in verse 10, Be wise
now therefore, O ye kings. Be instructed, ye judges of the
earth. Serve the Lord with fear and
rejoice with trembling. Be in subjection to Christ the
Lord. Honor Christ the Lord. Kiss the
son lest he be angry and you perish from the way when his
wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put
their trust in him. Now do you trust Christ? When
we read here that there is no power but of God. That is our
Lord Jesus Christ is talking about. He is the fullness of
the Godhead bodily and there is no power but of Christ. He
said, all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. He
raises the poor out of the dust. He lifts up the beggar from the
dunghill. He sets them among princes. He
makes them inherit the throne of glory for the pillars of the
earth. His people, His rulers, His people,
those He makes kings and priests, the pillars of the earth, are
the Lord's, and He set the world upon them. The government's on
His shoulder, and He set this world upon the pillars, His people,
those He's made kings and priests. This world rests on us, and because
of us. That's the only reason this world's
held in store, is because of His people. but the chief rule,
the government is on his shoulder. He's the king. He removeth kings
and setteth up kings, Daniel said. Get that now. He removes
kings and sets up kings. I don't care what you think of
this president we have or what you thought of the last president
we have. Christ removeth kings and Christ setteth up kings.
Whoever the next election, whoever's elected, Christ removeth kings,
Christ setteth up kings. He gives wisdom to the wise.
He gives knowledge to them that know understanding. He said in
Psalm 815, By me, King Drain and Prince's decree justice.
They can't do one thing without Christ making them do it. They can't do one thing. By me,
Prince's rule and nobles, even all the judges of the earth.
That's Psalm 815. It's by God our Savior. Doesn't that give
you comfort, brethren? I would have no comfort at all.
Here's the problem with getting into these big political discussions
and arguing with people that disagree with you. You end up
taking your eye off Christ and before it's all over with, you
come to this conclusion, we're in a terrible mess. Yes, we are,
if it's just up to men. But it's not. Christ is ruling. Christ rules. And He's ruling
it for the good of His people. That's right. I may not like
the ruler that's in place, but I love the one ruling Him. And
He's ruling for me. He's using that one, no matter
how wicked, no matter how corrupt, He's using Him to rule for me. That's so from the president,
to the police officer, to a pastor, to a teacher, to your husband,
whoever's in authority, God's put them there and they're ruling
for you. They're His people. So our prince and our savior
says be in subjection to him. What does that mean? First of
all, it means pray for him. Pray for him. Preacher, you mean
I'm going to pray for some wicked ruler that I don't agree with
at all? Listen to this. You know, we've
been looking in Jeremiah how God used the king of Babylon,
Nebuchadnezzar, and he brought all of Judah under captivity
to Babylon. And at that time, Nebuchadnezzar
didn't know God at all. He was just a wicked ruler. You
know what God told His children that were taken captive into
Babylon? He said, seek the peace of the
city where I have caused you to be carried away captives and
pray unto the Lord for it for in the peace of that city you
shall have peace. He said pray for them. So he
tells you and me, you may not agree with the rulers that big.
You may not have anything in common with them as far as the
way they're ruling. But God says, first of all, be
in subjection by praying for them. Have we ever thought about
that? You get all these, everybody's king of politics now on the internet. I wonder how many have stopped
and prayed for that one that's in rule. That's ruling thing. Pray for him. Pray for him. God said, seek the peace. And he said, I exhort therefore
that first of all supplication, prayers, intercessions, giving
of thanks be made for all men. And when he says this, he's saying
all kinds of men. Listen, for kings, and for all
that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable
life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable
in the sight of God our Savior, who will have all men to be saved."
He means all classes of men, from kings to paupers, God has
a people. and he's going to have them all
to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. So pray for them. You just don't know what God
may have in store another one like David who's going to be
a godly president. It might be the one we have right
now. I know that sounds hard to believe, but he saved you,
didn't he? He could save me too. He could
save him too. What if he did that? We don't know. We just don't know. And then
being subjection means we're not to rail on authority. We're not to brawl against them
with fists or anything like that. Titus 3.1, put them in mind to
be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates,
to be ready to every good work, to speak evil of no man, to be
not brawlers, but gentle, showing all meekness unto all. Not railing on them, not railing
on them. If I only submit when those in
authority do something I want to do. But I oppose otherwise
that I'm not in submission. So let us be subject to those
in authority because there's no power but of our Redeemer,
none but of Him. And secondly, he says we must
be in subjection because to resist the power is to resist God. Since
He's the only one that is the power that put Him in place,
if I resist them, I resist Him. Verse 2, Whosoever therefore
resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God. You take
any power that exists, to resist any one of those in authority,
I have to resist God. That's what I'm doing. If I resist
them, I'm resisting God. I'm saying to Christ the King,
I'll not have you reign over me. If I resist one he's put
in authority, I'm saying to him, I'm not going to have you reign
over me. That's serious, isn't it? Samuel was the authority God
put over the children of Israel as God's prophet. That was the
chief power in the land. That's how God ordained it to
be. The prophet sent to his people was to be the chief ruler of
the whole land. But Israel didn't like that because
to them that didn't look impressive. They wanted a king like the heathen
nations had. God didn't put a king over his
people. He put a preacher over his people. They wanted a king
like the other nations had. And this displeased Samuel, and
he prayed to the Lord, and listen to this. The Lord said to Samuel,
hearken to the voice of the people and all that they say unto thee,
for they've not rejected you, Samuel, but they've rejected
me, that I should not reign over them. We reject the one God's
put in power, we reject God who put them in power. Angels which are greater in power
and might bring not a railing accusation against the powers
that be before the Lord. You think about that. Angels
who are far above us in power, they don't bring a railing accusation
against the powers that be. Am I going to do that? If I do
that, I'm bringing an accusation against God who put them there,
against my Savior who put them there. A God-sent pastor, he's
not to be resisted. Hebrews 13, 17 says, Obey them
that have the rule over you and submit yourselves for they watch
for your souls. They're the minister of God for
your good. They watch for your souls as they that must give
account that they may do it. That they may do what? Give account. I've always looked at that, that
they may do it, that they may rule over you with joy and not
with grief. But I think he's saying that
they might, he says right before that they're going to have to
give an account to God for you. And he says obey them that they
may do that with joy and not with grief. That they may give
account to God with joy and not with grief. For that's unprofitable
for you. If I resist my parents, I'm resisting
God who ordained them. Children, obey your parents in
the Lord, for this is right. Well, what does in the Lord mean?
That means if they command me anything in accordance with God's
will, in accordance with God's word, I'm to obey them. Now,
if a parent tells a child, you can't go worship Christ, you
can't serve the Lord, you can't assemble with God's people, now
I'm to side with Christ then. If a husband does that to a wife,
that's the worst fornication there is, is to tell her she
can't worship God. She's to side with Christ, not
with him. But in the Lord, if that ruler is doing what's according
to God's will, I'm to submit. Time to submit. Husbands, teachers,
employers, police officers. Submit yourselves to every ordinance
of man for the Lord's sake whether it be to the king as supreme
or to governors as to them that are sent by him. Now you students,
you who are students, I want you to think of this. Probably
never thought of this before. You're a teacher at school. You're
sitting in a classroom. You don't think this has anything
to do with spiritual things. But your teacher gives you an
order and you disobey that teacher. You're disobeying God who put
that teacher over you. You're resisting God himself
who put that teacher over you. That puts this thing in a whole
different light, doesn't it? Now lastly, we must be in subjection
because the powers that be are God's ministers to us. God's
ministers to us. He says that one that resists,
verse 3, they'll receive judgment, they'll receive wrath, they'll
receive punishment. Rulers are not a terror to good
works, but to the evil, to those that disobey. Will you then be
afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and you
shall have praise of the same. For he is the minister of God
to thee for good. Who's ruling his heart? God is. He's the minister of God. God's
ruling his heart. And God sent that power that
be to minister for your good. You obey, and that's what you're
going to receive. You're going to be ministered
to for good. What happens if you disobey? If you do that which
is evil, be afraid, for he bears not the sword in vain, for he's
the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath, punishment
upon him that doeth evil. And so you must be subject, not
only because you want to avoid wrath, because you want to avoid
a conscience that's guilty before God. knowing you've disobeyed
God and disobeyed the power he put in place. If a person in
authority abuses power, that's wrong. That's just flat out wrong
if a person in authority abuses power. But we see on television
and something evil is going on right now in this nation and
all over the world where authority is being undermined. And you
see all these videos now of police brutality and of teacher brutality
even, you see them now. But they rarely ever show, now
I know there's some exceptions to this, I know there are some
bad rulers. And God will have them punished.
But by and large, you don't see what happened beforehand that
made that person in authority do what they did to that person.
This text says they are the minister of God. God is ruling them. God
is in control of them. And God has sent them for our
good to protect us or, if we disobey, for our punishment. What would it be if you didn't
have police officers protecting you, brethren? Do you know what
anarchy is? Do you want everybody to just
be their own law and just do what comes into their heart?
Do you know what that is? That's hell. That's what hell will be.
You won't have any rule over anybody that do whatever comes
to their heart. We better appreciate that God's put these powers at
bay to protect us. I want to obey them. I want to
be protected. But if you reject them, if you
resist them, You ever seen this, you see somebody, they'll commit
some terrible crime, they murder somebody. You see these shows,
they murder somebody and then they took that body out in the
most remote place there is and they buried it. Place nobody's
been in a hundred years and they buried this body and within a
year somebody's out stumbling along through there and finds
it. and the police end up bringing them, tracing it back to the
person that did it and they end up in jail. Who was in control
of all that? God was. You're not going to
be able to commit crimes against humanity and get away with it.
Because no people might not see you, God sees you. And God has
these ministers working to where he's going to get you and he's
going to put you in jail if you need to be put in jail. And he's
going to do it for the protection of those that obey. and for the
protection of his people. We need to have people who obey. Think about Paul. Paul was arrested
by the rulers and they had no reason to arrest him. They had
no reason to arrest him. He was arrested by the Romans.
But here's what was taking place. This is why he didn't resist.
He knew God's in control of this. And here's what scriptures tell
us what was happening. God made the Romans foot the bill. He made them pay for all the
expenses to carry Rome, to carry Paul in a chariot in a comfortable
ride all the way to Rome and put him in a hired house in Rome
where he could have people come and visit him and Paul preached
the gospel of Christ there and God saved some of the family
in Caesar's house. What would have happened if Paul
would have resisted? What if he would have rebelled
against the police officers that came to arrest him and run away
and they would have shot him and killed him? You see what
I'm saying? He submitted to them. And God
worked his will through it and put him right where he happened
to be and he preached the gospel and he saved people in the most
unlikeliest place you'd ever think they'd be saved, in Caesar's
house. You read one of these epistles
at the end, Paul says, and greet those that are our brethren that
are of Caesar's household. That's why we submit to Him.
We don't know what God's doing. Submit to Him. Rulers are not
a terror to good works but to the evil. So we're to pay our
taxes and do all these things that God says to pay tribute. And do it knowing this, our citizenship's
in heaven. We're looking for the Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body that it
may be fashioned like to his glorious body according to the
working whereby he's able to subdue all things to himself. He's able to subdue all things
to himself. Therefore, my beloved brethren,
stand fast in the Lord. I pray God will bless that.