We come in our study to the book of Romans chapter 13. We'll spend a couple of weeks here. But this, Paul has been dealing with different aspects of the Christian's life. Begin that in chapter 12. And he comes here tonight and deals with the church's responsibility to the civil government. A lot of questions about this from time to time. And I want to begin by just reading this passage to you. And let's read all the verses. Tonight we'll just get down probably through verse 8. But let's begin in chapter 13 in verse 1. Let every soul, every person, be subject unto the higher powers, the governing powers. For there is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained, they are set up of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, the authority, resisteth the ordinance of God, and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation, judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Will thou then not be afraid of the power, the authority?

Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same. For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid. For he bareth not the sword in vain. For he is the minister of God, a revenger, to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Wherefore ye must needs be subject not only for wrath, but also for conscience' sake.

For for this cause pay ye tribute, pay taxes also. For they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. Render therefore to all their dues, tribute to whom tribute? is due, custom to whom custom is due, fear to whom fear is due, and honor to whom honor is due.

O no man anything but to love one another. For he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not covet, And if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor, therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

And that knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep, for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chamberlain and wantonness, not in strife and envy, but put you on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof."

For the most part, When we read these epistles, whether it's Paul's epistle, or James, or Peter, or whose ever epistle it is, for the most part, it's written to the church. It's written to believers. When Paul first began this epistle, there in the first chapter, he said to you that be at Rome, you that are called of God to be saints. And he says that to all the churches, the church at Corinth, or the church at Colossae.

And so on. But there are passages, and I think this is one of them, which certainly could be directed to everybody that's a citizen of any country. And it has to do with our obedience to civil authority, to the civil government. And we're told here in our text that God has ordained these powers. It's God that has ordered these powers. It's him that really sets up the government. We could say that, couldn't we? He sets up kings. He pulls down kings. He sets princesses in their place and pulls them down.

We see God's order not only in the government, as you read, especially in the New Testament, God has placed authority all through society in certain people. He says here that it's in the government, obey them that have the rule over you. Peter said that very thing, obey magistrate. But it's in every aspect of society, isn't it? It's in a family.

When Paul was writing to the Ephesians, he instructed the wives to submit themselves to their own husbands as they would to the Lord. So when wives are commanded to submit to the husband, it's really a submitting to the Lord Himself in the home. And then, of course, the children are told to obey their parents in all things in the Lord. That's the first commandment of God with promise. So wives, submit yourself, that's the commandment of the Lord, just as you would to Christ, do with your husband. Your children, commit yourself to your parents, obey your parents.

This is well pleasing unto the Lord. And then he says, servants, obey your masters according to the flesh with singleness of heart as unto Christ. So it even reaches unto, I guess then it was slaves and their masters, but it reaches to employers and employees, doesn't it? We serve our employees, we submit ourselves to our employers as we would to the Lord Jesus Christ, because we serve the Lord Christ. It says the same thing about the masters that are over the servants. You masters do the same things to your servants, forebearing threatenance, knowing that you have a master in heaven. And he does the very same thing when it comes to the local congregation. In Hebrews 13, he tells us to obey them which have the rule over us. For they watch for your souls as they that must give account.

So this authority business runs all through society, doesn't it? We're all subject to one type of authority or not. So these powers that be, no matter if it's in the government or in the home or in the place of employment or wherever it may be, in the church, There's no power but what God has ordained. That's what he said. What would society be, I wonder, if we had no government? If we had no authority? I'd be afraid to get on the road and come here tonight, wouldn't you? So God has did this for our good.

I was watching a program Peru up in one of the highest peaks, I guess. Well, the highest peak in all of the Americas is there in Peru, and it's up on a mountain. If visitors want to venture there, they have to take some oxygen with them. That's how high it is. But there's 50,000 people lives there, and they dig for gold and get block out of gold, and there's absolutely no authority.

And I saw the documentary and they said, if you can get nerve to go there, you may not come out. And I saw what they did. And it was chaos. It was anarchy. And I thought, boy, I wouldn't want to live in a place like that. It's done for our good, isn't it?

And therefore, we're told to submit to this authority. A wife that won't submit to her husband won't submit to Christ either. Children that won't obey their parents are not obeying God either. Employees who have no regard for their employer, they have no regard for Christ either. That's the thing about authority, isn't it? We submit because it's under God. It's God that has did these things.

And those who refuse to listen to and obey their pastors when they preach the Word of God to them, they won't listen to them. won't take heed of what they tell them, they wouldn't take heed if Christ was preaching to them. Somebody will say, Bruce, my pastor don't preach the truth and he don't follow Christ himself. Then leave! For God's sake, get out of there and go find you a pastor who does preach the Word and does follow Christ and sit under him and pray for him and obey what he tells you from the Word of God.

So he tells us here in verse one, let all, everybody be subject to these, these governor bodies, those in authority. Well, there is no power, but of God, the powers that be are ordained of God. And then he tells us in verse two, a very interesting statement he makes, whosoever therefore resists the power, the authority, resists the ordinance of God. Now who? would resist the authorities. I think of two people, when I read this, I thought, well, even the believing Jews had trouble with Gentile authority.

I want to show you a passage over in Deuteronomy chapter 17. I never really saw this before until just the other night, but you know Israel were never allowed to set any king over them except a Jew, one of their brothers. And here's what he tells them in Deuteronomy chapter 17 and verse 15.

Thou shalt in any wise set him. Now look in verse 14. When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shall dwell therein, and shall say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me. Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the Lord thy God hath chosen, one from among thy brethren. Thou shalt set king over thee, thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brethren.

Now the Jews were awful, awful hypocrites and they used this passage when it was to their advantage. You remember Barabbas? Remember why they were going to kill Barabbas? He was caught up in trying to overthrow the Roman government. They called him an insurrection and he committed murder trying to overthrow the government. In the 18th chapter of Acts, Rome commanded all Jews to depart from Rome. And it's because they were instigated an insurrection to overthrow.

They were always saying, we won't submit to a heathen king. Ain't that strange? When they had their king, the real king of Israel, they said, we'll not have him to reign over us. And when Pilate said, Release them to you Barabbas or Christ. They said it. We have no king but Caesar. Remember that? You have your king and here he is. We won't have him to reign over us. We'll take a heathen king before him.

They weren't even allowed to have a heathen king. So I imagine Paul, when he said here, whosoever resists the power, he was talking specifically to these Jews. Even believing Jews who said, no, we're not allowed to have a king, a heathen king, and we won't submit to a heathen king. We're not going to obey the Roman government.

And many of them didn't. But imagine probably, too, he was right into believing Gentiles who were mistaken their liberty in Christ as liberty from the authority of the government. Now that's happened. That happened in our own country. When our forefathers came over here from Britain, Britain had so burdened their conscience that they said, never again will we be under a government that brings us into bondage. So when our forefathers set up this government, they had very, very few laws. We don't want laws. We don't want to be ruled and regulated.

But what they finally come to realize was, we've got to have some laws. because it was starting to create anarchy. So they had to go back and they had to start adapting some laws to rule and regulate all the men. Boy, we went up the pendulum and swung up the other way now, hasn't we? We've got enough laws to fill the county of Henry County now. We've got so many laws now, if they enforced all the laws we have now, every one of us would be in jail tonight. That's how many laws we have.

But back then they said, no, we don't want to be in bondage any longer. And sometimes I think Christians, probably back in Paul's day, they had felt this liberty that was in Christ. They had this liberty of conscience. And some of them were saying, well, we don't want to be in bondage to our government. We don't want to have to obey this authority. We're free in Christ. Well, we are free in Christ. But you know, we're not free in our conscience without the law of Christ. If we set aside the law of Christ, we set aside liberty, don't we?

There's no liberty apart from law. And there's no true freedom in this country apart from law, apart from authority. I love that, and I don't know if I can even think of the name of it. It's the song that Catherine Bates wrote, America the Beautiful. And a portion of that second verse, you don't even have to help me quote it, she says, America, America, God mend your every flaw and restrain your soul in self-control and your liberty in law. So there's no true liberty apart from law, is there?

And if we think sometimes, well, I'm a Christian, and I'm not going to be in the bondage of anybody because I'm free in my conscience. Yes, we're free in our conscience, but we're not free as a nation apart from laws to rule us by. Now, if we lived in a perfect society, we wouldn't have to have laws. But we don't live in a perfect society. We live in a fallen society. And therefore, we have to have laws. He said in the last portion here, verse 2, and he that resists these authorities, he that won't live according to the law of land, then he'll receive to himself damnation, which is judgment.

And the word there means, go to law. You'll go to law. If you go up State Road 3 and the speed limit is 60 miles an hour, and here comes Patrick going home tonight, traveling 100 miles an hour, and he sees those lights aflash and they pull him over. And what are they going to do? They're probably going to write him out of tickets and say, you're going to court. We're taking you to law. You're coming before us in the judgment.

And Patrick can't complain, can he? That's what the law is for. He that resists shall receive to himself judgment. You get out here and you kill somebody, you're probably going to prison. And you know something? God has given the government that right. He has. You're in verse 3 and look at this. For rulers are a terror to good works, but to the evil. Will thou then not be afraid of the power of the authority? Do that which is good, and thou shall have praise of the same.

I think most of us can relate to this by just simply saying, if you see a man out here, and he's sort of a lawless person, He's going to have run-ins with the law all the time, ain't he? I mean, he gets out, and he's drunk, and he finds him out on the street screaming at people, or he's always wanting to fight with his neighbor, and they come and have to arrest him. You see somebody who's a lawless person, he's going to have trouble with the law all the time. But you take somebody that's a law-abiding person, and he's careful in his life not to break the law, you know what he's going to do? He's going to say, man, I thank God for the law. I thank God for him. A man that's a lawbreaker sees the law coming, man, he's gonna take over on him. Scares him to death.

But if you're a law keeper, you're a law observer, you don't have to be afraid of the law. You shouldn't be afraid of the law. And he says in verse 4, For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid. for he bears not the sword in vain, for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth good." See what the law is there for? It's there to protect the innocent. It's there to punish the evildoers. That's simply the reason that God has set up these law enforcements.

Now in verse 5, he gives another reason that we must submit to the authority, and not only because of the judgment and the wrath, but here in verse 5, wherefore you must need to be subject, not only for wrath, not only because they'll give you a ticket or put you in jail or worse, but also for conscience sake.

If God has ordained these authorities, then we obey them. And if we don't, our conscience will be afflicted. Because if we're not obeying those that God has set over us in the civil government, then we're really not obeying God. And therefore, our conscience will smite us because of that.

And since all of this is true, he says in verse 6, For this cause pay you taxes also. The word tribute means taxes. For they are God's ministers attending continually upon this very thing. Law enforcement, that's their job, isn't it? And they do it all the time. There's a few part-time fellas, but most of them, it's full-time. And it's because it's full-time and they're watching over us and protecting us, therefore we pay taxes that they might have their salaries paid and do that. In verse 7, Render therefore to all their dues Taxes, to whom taxes?

This word custom, it's another word for taxes. It usually means, you know, when we come through the customs, coming from a foreign country, they call it coming through the customs. Back in the Bible days, they had customs when they did business with a foreign land, foreign country, they exported and imported. And it simply means taxes that's paid on export or import.

So these things here are taxes. If taxes are due, then pay the taxes. If reverence is due them, reverence them. If honor is due them, then honor them. Well, there are certain things that's due government, isn't it? It's due them, and that's our financial support. We don't always like that, do we? We don't always like that. But we do it because we know that it's necessary. Fear to him fear, respect to him respect, honor to him honor.

I was coming through a little town, Westport, Indiana. I think it was about one o'clock one morning, coming back from Tennessee. And I was running pretty fast. Wasn't paying any attention to where I was going. This cop, I met a state policeman. Boy, the lights went on. He turned around and I just went ahead and pulled over. It was late at night. He had no idea who I was. And I watched him through my rearview mirror as he got out. And I could see that he was very apprehensive. Because he was coming up on somebody that he knew nothing. He didn't know what was going to happen.

And the first thing I did was roll my window down and said, Officer, I am sorry. I'm sorry that I got you out late at night because I was speeding. You have no idea who I was, what I may be packing or not. I told him that. I said, I don't have a gun. You just write me out a ticket because I'm guilty and I'm sorry. Why did I do that?

He deserved my respect. He deserved to be honored by me. He was risking his life to protect the innocent. So we honor them, don't we? Sometimes when I see a good cop, and this is just how I feel, when I see a good cop, I want to hug him sometimes. I just want to hug him and thank him. Honor, to whom honor? And reverence, to whom reverence?

And I think when we read verse 8 and apply it to all that we've been saying, I think it fits here so good. Oh, no man anything but to love one another. And I think when we apply that to what we've been talking, obedience to the government, I know we owe taxes. We pay our taxes. I know we owe these people honor, and we pay them honor. And if you owe taxes, pay taxes. If you owe them honor, give them the honor. But there's one thing, brothers and sisters, that we'll owe as long as we live, and that's love.

I love my country, don't you? I love where I live. I love the Constitution. I love the advantages that we have here. And I love the law enforcement. And I pray for them. Almost every day, I pray for them. I don't care if it's local, all the way up to our national government. I love this country. God has put us here and put us here to enjoy these things and we love. So I want to make some observations now about what we've said and about this chapter. Some things that you and I must remember. I think that will help us. And the first one is this.

No government is perfect. We demand sometimes perfection from our leaders, all the way down from the deputies, all the way up to our president. The mayors, the governors, and senators, and representatives, all the way up to the president. We sometimes demand perfection, and we're disappointed when we don't get it.

Somebody made the statement, boy, wouldn't it be wonderful if every office was occupied by a true believer. I wonder sometime it would be much better. And here's why. Believers aren't perfect either. Our whole problem is, brothers and sisters, we're living in a fallen world. If the church expects the government to be perfect, then turn our eyes on ourselves. If the church wants them to be perfect, then let us be perfect first. Solomon was the wisest king, I guess, that ever lived. You know what he was responsible for? Splitting the kingdom of Israel. Right in two. He was one of the most burdensome kings that Israel ever had. He touched them to death. Wouldn't you love to have James and John ruling over you when they said, you want us to call fire down from heaven and destroy them? No, thank you. I don't want those guys ruling over me, do you? It helps us when we realize that these governments aren't perfect. And sometimes there's injustices. There's crooked places that'll never be straightened out. I think if we remember that, it'll help us.

I remember years ago, I was going up State Road 3 and I was running 55 mile an hour in a 60 mile an hour speed zone. There's a guy came around me in a big car of some kind and he about blew my doors off. And just as he got up even with me, he saw a police officer sitting down there with his radar on and he jumped on his brakes and went off the exit and they stopped me and gave me a ticket for running 80 mile an hour. That still galls me today. But you know what helps me? That policeman made a legitimate mistake. He's just like I am. And so I just forgave him finally and went on about it. I'll help you if you remember that. And we need to remember this.

There's no power but of God. These rulers are there because God has set them there. It really comes down to what Christ told Pilate. You can have no power over me at all except that we're given you from heaven. There's only one who possesses all authority and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. He has authority over all angels. He has authority over all powers and all principalities. There's kings many and there's lords many. But there is only one Lord of lords and one King of kings.

Listen to what the Bible says. He removeth kings and he setteth up kings. Daniel chapter 2 verse 21. Who does that? Jesus Christ does that. The Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men and he setteth over it whomsoever he will. Who is it that sets these men up? Jesus Christ. He's on the throne. Listen to this one.

He said, By me kings reign, and princes decree justice. By me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth. Boy, that's comforting, isn't it? That's comforting. I tell you what's comforting too about that is this. He not only reigns over all of these authorities, He sets them up for the good of His church. Ephesians chapter 1 tells us that. God has put all things under His feet and given Him to be head over everything to the church. He rules in the kingdom of men for the good of his church.

The third thing I want to comment on is this. Paul is speaking here of the legitimate design of government and not the abuse of power which wicked men make use of. Notice how he never did address wicked men doing wicked things in government. Man, Rome was full of stuff like that. But he talked about the good, legitimate reason that government was set up.

It's to punish evil and protect the just. And those who refuse to punish the evil, now listen to this and see if this ain't so. Those who refuse to punish the evil and they neglect to protect the just, or when they ruled to enrich themselves and not for the moral good of society, they left the legitimate design of the government. That's what he said in verse 3. The rulers are not a charity of good works. Do rulers ever set themselves up as a charity of good works? They do. They have. But that's not legitimate use of it.

In verse 4, he is the minister of God to thee for good. David said this about rulers, and it applies to rulers all over this world. He said in 2 Samuel chapter 23 and 3, He that ruleth over man must be just, ruling in the fear of God. Now, somebody said, Bruce, there are very few of those. I agree, but that's the requirements. He must be just.

Listen to Deuteronomy 7, verse 16, speaking of the rulers. He shall not multiply to himself horses, neither shall he multiply to himself silver or gold. Leaders are not to use their office. and their authority to enrich themselves. That's not the legitimate use of the office that they're placed in. When the soldiers asked John the Baptist, they were convicted in their hearts and they wanted to be baptized, and they asked John the Baptist, what shall we do? How should we regulate our lives? We're soldiers. We have authority over other people.

And he told them these three things. He said, do violence to no man. Don't you intimidate good people. Don't you threaten people. Don't make people afraid. Do violence to no man. And he said this, neither accuse any falsely. Deal justly. Deal fairly with everybody. and be content with your wages. Don't use your office to enrich yourself.

That's required of leaders. Now, most leaders don't want to hear that. Most people in authority don't want to hear that, but that's the truth. Leaders, those in authority, they have a great responsibility to lead in a just and good way. Something else that leaders are apt to forget, too.

They will soon stand before the judge of all the earth and give account of themselves, just like everybody else will. I am coming to stand before my Lord in judgment, and so are you, and so are they. The mayor of this small town will stand before God and give account of how he has used his office. Everybody in authority will stand before the judge of all the earth and they'll give account. Did I abuse my authority? Did I enrich myself? Did I fulfill my office? Did I rule justly? Did I rule in the fear of God? That's required of everybody in authority.

When Pilate said, I am pure from the blood of this man, no you're not. When you said, Pilate, that you would not be a partaker of sentencing him to death, that he was an innocent man, there was no cause of death in him, then you better let him go. Washing your hands will not wash the blood of Jesus Christ from them. You'll stand before him and give account that you did not fulfill your office. I wouldn't want to be in authority, would you? That's required of them. They don't believe that. They don't want to hear it, but it's so.

That soldier that pierced the Son of God with his sword, you know he's going to give account of that? That was a man in authority. And when the Lord Jesus Christ comes again, the Bible says those who pierced him, they'll see it. And they'll give account of what they've done. So you and I have an awesome responsibility to be careful to obey those in authority. But I'm telling you, so do they have a responsibility. And they with us will someday stand and give account.

So Romans chapter 13 is telling us what the Lord Jesus told us when He walked upon this earth. Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's. and render to God the things that are God's. And if we can, by His grace, do that, then we'll do well. Is there ever a time when believers are required not to obey the government? Yes, there is. Our obedience to God demands that we be disobedient to the government.

Remember when the Lord Jesus told his church to go out and preach the gospel to every creature, to the world? And the Jews called him up and said, if you speak in his name again, we're going to beat you. Do not speak in his name again. And how did Peter answer that?

He said, we ought to obey God rather than man. When the government gives us no choice between us obeying it and obeying God, then our disobedience to that government is our duty. That's never happened with me, but it may come to happen someday, and God give us wisdom and give us grace if it does to stand against it. Well, the Lord's will, and we'll take up here in verse 9 and finish that chapter next week.

Father, we thank you for your precious Word. We thank you for the instructions you give us and what a help it is to us just to remember these things and how important that they are. That we bring not reproach on your name in any way, help us to honor Those that you've set in authority and pray for them. And thank you for this dear people that's gathered here. That's had it in their heart to come here tonight and worship you and receive these instructions.

And Lord, be merciful to our dear brothers and sisters that are struggling and going through great trials. Trials in their family, heartaches. Oh, Lord, remember them and be merciful to them. And bless all your churches, those that's going through devastating trials right now. Be merciful, Lord, to them. Be merciful to Todd. They're in Todd's Road and the terrible trial that they're in now. Be merciful, Lord, to them. Strengthen them and help them in this time meet their awful need. And keep us in the days ahead. Help us to love and forgive and to be patient one with another. And we pray these things in Christ Jesus name. Amen. Anything before we go?