exact same price. What that means
is nothing but the blood of Jesus. I love that hymn. I don't think
there's a better hymn than that particular hymn. Would you turn
back to Romans chapter 13? I've entitled this message, the
powers that be. And if I give an accurate description
of how a believer ought to deal with government and authority
from this passage of scripture, and that's all I say, I failed.
I want to be enabled by the Spirit of God to preach the gospel from
this passage of scripture. Somebody can look at that passage
that I just read and say, where's the gospel in that? Well, I hope
we're going to see the gospel in that, but the powers that
be. Now, the first part of this chapter is about the Christian's
attitude toward government. All of us have an opinion about
government, don't we? All of us do. And the gospel
affects every area of our life. Why was Paul dealing with something
like this, how the Christian's attitude toward government ought
to be? Well, first of all, because the
Holy Spirit inspired him to. This was inspired by the Spirit
of God. And God intended for this to be in the Bible, for
me and you to be reading about it and studying it tonight. And he is showing that Christians
are not enemies of the government. And you know they were accused
of that. The Jews said to Pilate concerning the Lord Jesus Christ,
he claims to be king. And if you don't crucify him,
you're no friend of Caesar. He's an enemy of Caesar. He's
an enemy of the government. He's an enemy of the authorities.
And you need to crucify him. At that time, much of the church
were Jewish believers, and how they resented Roman rule. Remember how they said we'd be
not in bondage to anybody? They were, but they resented
Roman rule terribly. They resented being under the
authority of Gentiles, and Paul is telling them that that Roman
rule, that Gentile rule, is of the Lord. Therefore, they need
to submit. All authority, all power is of
the Lord. The government that is, is of
God. Now, they also greatly resented
paying taxes. Oh, don't you think it just killed
them to pay taxes to the Romans? And Paul is telling them, you
need to pay taxes to the Romans. And some of these people, had
the idea that since they were in the kingdom of heaven, they
were no longer subjects of the kingdoms of men, especially since
the rulers were quite often wicked and ruthless people. Therefore,
they were not bound to obey them. They were not subject of this
kingdom. They were subject of the heavenly kingdom. And Paul
is saying, yes, you're a subject of the heavenly kingdom, but
yes, you're bound to obey this Gentile rule that's required
of you. So he says in verse 1 of Romans
chapter 13, let every soul, nobody's exempt from this, let every soul
be subject unto the higher powers. Now the higher powers are the
authorities that are over us. The president, the governor,
police officers. our court system and our judicial
system. A teacher over their students. Your boss at work. God has set
that person over you. A pastor over a church. A husband
over a wife. Be subject, be submissive, be
obedient to the higher powers. And somebody says, what if those
higher powers are corrupt? What if they're wrong? Do we
need to be obedient to a higher power if it's corrupt and wrong? Listen real carefully. Any authority,
any power that tells us to not do what God says to do is to
be resisted. Any power, any authority that
tells us to do what God says not to do is to be resisted. If the government said you can't
come to church to hear the gospel preach, you know what you're
to do? You're to resist the government. If the government says you're
not to call upon the name of the Lord, you're to resist the
government. Now that's clear enough, isn't
it? When we're talking about the powers that be, if they call
upon you to do something that God forbids or to not do something
that God plainly commands you to do, you're to resist that
power. Turn with me for a moment to
Acts chapter four. me show you this from the Scripture. Verse 18, Acts chapter 4 verse
18, And they called and commanded them not to speak at all, nor
teach in the name of Jesus. Now there is a command from the
higher powers. And how does Peter and John respond
to that? But Peter and John answered and said unto them, whether it
be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than
God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things
which we've seen and heard. They said, now, we're going to
obey God, not you. We're going to go out and preach in the name
of the Lord Jesus. And oh, how they preached in
his name. They got beat for it. They got
whipped for it. And they rejoiced that they were
enabled to suffer shame for his name. They were happy it took
place. Now, so get this. If the powers
that be tell us to disobey what God says to do, or to do what
God says not to do, those powers are to be resisted. Now, we live
in a government that allows things that we disagree with. I disagree
with abortion, don't you? I know it's wrong. I disagree
with gay marriages. I know they're wrong. We live
in a government where things are allowed that we disagree
with. Things are clearly forbidden
in the word of God, but does the government command you to
participate in these activities? Does the government command you
to abort your children? Recently, in China, the government
commanded that. But does the government command
you to abort your children? No, it doesn't. Does the government
command you to participate in unclean activities? No, it doesn't. It doesn't at all. I really don't know of one law
we have that tells us that we must disobey God so we're to
submit to our government. Even though there are things
we disagree with, even though there are things that we would
not put our stamp of approval on, we're still called upon to
be subject to the higher powers. And here's why. Verse one, let
every soul be subject unto the higher powers. Four, there is
no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained
of God. God placed them in that position. Now, there is one reason why
President Obama is the president. God's will. That's all you can
say. And whoever becomes our next
president, whether it be Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders, Jeb Bush,
Hillary Clinton, or whoever, it will be the one whom God has
ordained to be there. Aren't you glad about that? He
controls everything. And the powers that be are ordained
of God. Now, there are many forms of
government, democracy, socialism, communism, dictatorship,
kingship, some better than others, but the idea of government is
of the Lord, isn't it? The powers that be, the boss
that's over you, whatever authority is over you is of the Lord. Whether you enjoy being under
that authority or not, it's still true. The authority that you're
under is of the Lord. Now look what he says in verse
two. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power The authority, and
that's what that word means. Whosoever therefore resisteth
the power, resisteth the ordinance of God. When you or I resist
authority, we're resisting God himself. You have a problem with
authority, you have a problem with God. God is the ultimate
authority. And he said, whosoever resists
the power, resists the ordinance of God. Now, you resist the power,
he says, and you'll be punished. You know, if you break the law
and you're caught, you're going to jail. That's the way it is. You will be punished. Now, parents,
the best thing you can teach your children, other than the
gospel, is respect for authority. That's the absolute best thing
you can teach your kids, to actually respect authority. And punish
them if they do not respect authority. And you know that scripture regarding
honor your father and mother, that's respect for authority.
That it might be well with thee, and that days might be long in
the earth. What that's talking about, if somebody learns, and
you know, if you teach your kids the gospel, you'll teach them
to respect authority. The two things go together, they can't
be separated. But if your children are taught to respect authority,
they're going to do better at school, aren't they? And they're
going to do better in every area of their life. They're going
to be more successful in school. They'll be more successful in
their jobs. They're going to be respectful. You teach your
kids. That's the biggest responsibility
of a parent, other than teaching them the gospel, is teaching
them to respect authority. Whosoever, verse 2, therefore
resists the power and the authority, resists the ordinance of God,
and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation, condemnation. You break the law, you'll go
to jail, you'll be punished. Verse 3, 4. Rulers, those whom
God has set in authority, are not a terror to good works, but
to the evil. Will thou then not be afraid
of that power? Do that which is good, and thou
shalt have praise of the same. Now I couldn't help thinking,
but help thinking about 1 Timothy 1 verse 8, where it says the
law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and
the disobedient, for the ungodly and the profane. Now the point
is, if you're a righteous man, you don't need a law. You don't
need to be afraid of that law if you're not breaking it. If
you're not speeding when you see the flashing lights, you
don't need to worry about it. It doesn't make you feel great
when you're not speeding and the lights go by. You think, man, it's not
that way all the time. And then when you're breaking
the law, you see those lights, you tighten up so hard. But the
point is, you don't need to fear the law if you're not breaking
it. The law is not made for a righteous man, but for a lawbreaker, for
a wicked man. And really, if we say we need
to be under the law, as far as even in God's law, if we say
I need to be under the law, what I'm saying about that is I don't
have a righteous nature. I don't have a holy nature. I'm
nothing but evil. People make a strong statement
about themselves when they desire to be under the law. Now, you
don't need to worry about the law if you're not breaking it. Now look what he says in verse
4, speaking of these authorities and these authorities God has
put in place. For he is the minister of God
to thee for good. These laws, they're good. The government
has laws and checks and balances to keep from an abuse of power. I'm thankful for our judicial,
executive, and legislative branch in our government. That keeps
one group from getting too much power, and I'm thankful for that.
What if there were no rules and no laws? Say you've got a house
that's worth $200,000, and all of a sudden it's just worth $200,
and there's not a thing you can do about that. Wouldn't that
be awful? What if there were no laws regarding murder or stealing
or anything like that? You couldn't go out on the streets.
It'd be awful. We're thankful for the laws.
What if there were no punishment for no crimes and there were
no consequences? What a blessing authority and
government is. Even if you don't agree with
everything they stand for, what a blessing government and authority
is. But if you break the law, Be
afraid, look what he says, 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. Now some say that this justifies
capital punishment, when it says he beareth not the sword in vain.
Well, what would that be, the capital punishment? I don't know,
it might, maybe it doesn't, I have no idea. But I know this, if
you break the law, the law is there to punish you. He bears
not the sword in vain. Verse five. Wherefore, ye must
needs be subject to these authorities and these powers. You must be
subject, not only for wrath, not only because you're afraid
of what'll happen if you break the law, but for conscience sake. Because it's the right thing
to do. Not simply because you're afraid of being punished. It's
the right thing to do. To submit to all authority. Look in Ephesians chapter 6.
Ephesians chapter 6. Verse 1. Children. Obey your parents and the Lord. Why? for this is right. It's always right to do what's
right, no matter what it costs you, no matter what the consequence
is, no matter how it makes you feel. It's always right to do
what's right. You believe that? It's always
right to do what's right. Children, obey your parents and
the Lord for this is right. Honor thy father and mother,
which is the first commandment with promise, that it may be
well with thee, that thou mayest live long on the earth. You're
going to have a lot better life if you respect authority. Verse
four, and ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath. Well,
it's easy to do that if you're a dad. Provoke not your children
to wrath, but bring them up in their nurture and admonition
of the Lord. Servants, Be obedient to them
that are your masters, according to the flesh, with fear and trembling,
that's with respect, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ. When they tell you to do something,
you think, that's Christ telling me to do something. not with
eye service, as men pleasers, but as the servants of God, doing
the will of God from the heart, with goodwill, doing service
as to the Lord, and not to men, knowing that whatsoever good
any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether
he be bond or free. And ye masters, you who are authorities
over people, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening,
knowing that your master also is in heaven, neither is there
respect of persons with him. Turn with me to 1 Peter chapter
3. 1 Peter chapter 3, beginning in
verse 13. You see, this is a big subject
in the scripture. Peter says, Submit yourselves to every ordinance
of man. Why? For the Lord's sake. He put that man in position,
whether it be to the king, as supreme, or unto governors, as
to them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers,
and for the praise of them that do well. For so is the will of
God that with well doing you might put to silence the ignorance
of foolish men. That's free. not using your liberty
for a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God, honor
all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king. Servants, be
subject to your masters with all fear, not only to the good
and gentle, but also to the forward. For this is thankworthy, if a
man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully
when you're done wrong, knowing that it's God that's in control
of it all. For what glory is it if when
you're buffeted for your fault, you take it patiently? But if
when you do well and suffer for it and take it patiently, this
is acceptable unto God. Now, this thing of submission
to authority, submission, can only be done if we want to do
that. If you tell me I must submit,
I can't do it. If you tell me I've got to do
this, I will not do it. I just know the way I operate.
I've got to want to. I've got to want to. And the
only way you can submit to authority is if you want to do it. A wife
must want to submit herself to her husband, and she'll only
want to if her husband loves her as Christ loves the church. And if she sees her husband loving
her as Christ loved the church, she's going to want to submit
to his authority. You will want to submit to me
as a pastor if you see that I'm your servant and that I am giving
myself to the preaching of the gospel and to feeding your souls
with the truth, and that's my life, that's my heart, that's
everything, that's my whole life, that's it. If you perceive that,
you're gonna want to submit to me as your pastor, hearing the
word of God from me. You're gonna have to want to.
Turn to 1 Peter chapter five. Here's another passage regarding
this. Verse 1. The elders which are among you,
I exhort, who am also an elder and a witness of the sufferings
of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed.
Now here's what the elder is to do, the pastor. Feed the flock
of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by
constraint, not because it's simply a duty that you have to
do, but willingly, because you want to. Not for filthy lucre,
not for a paycheck, but of a ready mind. Neither is being lords
over God's heritage some kind of false authoritarian way, but
being examples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd shall
appear, you shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.
Likewise, you younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea,
all of you be subject one to another and be clothed with humility. For God resists the proud and
gives grace to the humble. Now we see that this is a big
subject in the scriptures. I turn back to our text in Romans
chapter 13. Verse six, for this cause pay ye tribute, taxes also. This is tax time when everybody
starts paying taxes and everybody thinks, should I? This is ridiculous. Everybody thinks that, I'm paying
too much. For this cause pay ye taxes also. For they are God's ministers,
attending continually upon this very thing. Pay your taxes. These
powers that be are God's ministers, and you need them. Even if you
don't agree with everything, it's still true that if they're
not in the position God's placed
them, and they're not forbidding you to do what God says to do,
and they're not keeping, and they're not commanding, or they're
not allowing you to do what God says to do. If they're not doing
that, you are to submit to their authority and to pay those taxes
willingly. It's money well spent, and you
couldn't have the quality of life you have now without these
men in authority. Now, I realize you might think
you might pay too much taxes, but pay them anyway. To not do
so is a crime. It's against the law. And he
says, pay your taxes. And that was so difficult for
these Jewish believers because they felt like this was wrong
in the first place. Verse 7, this is the last verse
we're going to look at. Render, pay, that's what that
word means, pay what you owe, Render therefore to all their
dues, that which is due them, that which they should be treated. Tribute, to whom tribute is due. Custom, to whom custom is due. Fear, to whom fear is due. Honor,
to whom honor is due. Now he says, render, pay off,
discharge that debt which is due. This is duty. This is duty. Pay your taxes. That's your duty. You know, the Lord did. You remember
when he told Peter to throw a hook out into the sea? He said, we're
not going to fend them. We're going to pay. They said,
does your master pay tributes? And Peter said, yes. And he came
to talk to the Lord about it. He said, we're free, but we're
not going to fend them. We're not going to fend them.
So you throw that hook in the sea, first fish that comes up, take
the coin out of his mouth, and pay the taxes for me and you.
Now remember, the Lord Jesus Christ paid taxes. That lets us know that me and
you ought to pay taxes. He did it. I love thinking about
that. Custom, to whom custom is due.
What is custom? Charles Hodge, and I'll go with
this, he said that's a merchandise tax. It's a sales tax. It's the
6% we pay here in Kentucky. That's what that tribute is.
It's a merchandise or consumer tax. He says in verse 7, rendered
therefore to all their dues, tribute to whom tributes due,
that's taxes, custom to whom customs due, a consumer tax.
And then it says fear to whom fear is due, and honor to whom
honor is due. Now fear is respect. It's respect. You know the worst
thing you can do to somebody is treat them disrespectfully. I don't care who they are. I
don't care who they are. Everybody ought to be treated
with respect. Fear to whom fear is due. What
if they're not doing it? Don't treat them disrespectfully.
You might not be able to treat them with respect, but you can
prevent treating anybody disrespectfully. You should never treat anybody,
I don't care who they are, I don't care if they're a false prophet,
you're not going to treat someone disrespectfully. You can let
them know that you don't believe they preach the gospel, but you're
not going to be disrespectful because that's just an abusive
way to treat somebody. I don't care who they are. Fear
to whom fear is due and honor to whom honor is due. And that
word honor is actually preciousness, honor, value, of valuing. Whoever is owed that, treat them
as such. Render to all their dues. Now, somebody says, where's the
gospel in all this? Good question. Good question.
It's important. This is very important instruction.
It's part of preaching the gospel. But do you remember when Those
people came up to the Lord about the issue of taxes. And the Lord said, show me the
coin, whose image is on it? And he said, Caesar's. And he
said, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and render
to God the things that are God's. Now, I want to look at this seventh
verse in light of this. Render to God the things that
are God's. So how does that work with this
verse? Well, we're told to pay tribute. What's coming to the Lord? And
you know as well as I do that you don't have anything he needs.
He said the cattle on a hill, on a thousand hills are mine.
If I was hungry, I would tell you about it. He doesn't need
anything you have, but it's concerning what you have, how much of it
is his? It's all his, isn't it? What's
due him? Everything. I think of that man
searching for goodly pearls, and when he found the one pearl
of great price, what did he do? He went and sold joyfully, joyfully,
everything he had to have that one pearl of great price. And when you think that everything
you have belongs to him anyway, you're not worried about losing
it. It's all his anyway. He's in absolute control of everything. All you have is his, and you
like it that way. You love it that way. That's
the way you want it to be. And you willingly submit to that. Tribute to whom tribute is due.
Now this is a real interesting word. Next, custom. This word
custom is found 43 times in the New Testament. 43 times. It's a word that's in there a
lot. But do you realize that 35 of those times this word is
translated the end? The end. It's the word that is
used in Romans chapter 10 verse 4 when it says, Christ is the
end of the law to everyone that believeth. Now, you know what
you owe Christ? You owe it to Him to trust Him
as the end. He's the end of the law for righteousness. I trust Him as the end. You know what that means? I don't
need to worry about anything because I have Him as the very
righteousness of God and I trust Him as the end. He's the end
of the law for righteousness. He's the end. Now, what does
that mean? He's the completion. Anytime that I struggle with
assurance, Anytime I think, I must not be saved if I think that
or if I do that. Maybe I'm not saved after all
because of the things I'm doing. Anytime we think that, you know
what we're doing? We're not paying him his due. He's to be trusted
completely as the end of the law for righteousness. Oh, I
don't want to ever have a doubt again. Now, I look to Him. I mean, I look to myself, I will.
I realize that. But then I'm not being right.
That's wrong. It's wrong. I'm to trust Him
as the end of the law for righteousness. I'm to believe in the very teeth
of my sin that I don't have any. that Jesus
Christ is made to me all I need, all I need. He alone is all my
plea. He is all I need. I'm to trust
Him as the end. Now I love trusting Him that
way, don't you? Trusting Him is my very righteousness before
God. Everything's fine. Everything's fine. He's due,
that isn't he? Is he not worthy of your complete
trust to where you'd never doubt again? He's worthy, and that's
his due. And next he says, fear to whom
fear is due. Now that word fear is not some
kind of slavish fear. that you're always afraid something's
going to happen, bad's going to happen to you. If you go,
I didn't give this month, I'm probably going to have a car
wreck, or God's going to take it out in my wallet, or he's
going to take it out in a coffin, and I'm afraid, and all the different
things people think. That's the fear of unbelief.
That's not the fear of a believer. The fear spoken of here is that
fear which is the beginning of wisdom, that respect for God. And what respect is due to the
Lord. What reverence is due to the
Lord? He's the Lord. He's the Lord
of creation. He spake this world into existence. He's the Lord of providence.
Everything that happens, He's in control of. He's the first
cause of. Nothing happens outside of His
absolute sovereign control. And most especially, He's the
Lord of salvation. My salvation is in His hands. And I like my salvation being
in His hands. I wouldn't want to hold any of
it, would you? My salvation is in the hands of the Lord. He
is the Lord Jesus Christ and we respect Him and we fear Him
as the Lord. I love just the name, the Lord. The Lord. It's the Lord. Let Him do whatever seemeth Him
good. That's His doing. to trust his
Lordship. He's the Lord. He's my Lord.
I love what Thomas said. Now, Thomas was the doubting
disciple. There's no doubt about that. He, in some respects, he
got outshined by the other disciples because the Lord said to him,
Thomas, you've seen and believed. Blessed are they who have not
seen and believed. But I still love Thomas's confession
concerning Christ. When he made himself known to
him, he said, my Lord and my God. Oh, how we respect the Lord
Jesus Christ and fear Him. Here's the fear we have of Him.
We're afraid to look anywhere but Him alone, aren't we? The
fear we have of Him makes us afraid to look anywhere but Him
as everything in our salvation. Fear. And then in verse 7, it
says, honor, honor to whom honor is due. Now, that word honor,
Peter uses it like this. In 1 Peter 2, verse 7, to you
which believe. Anybody know the rest of the
verse? He is precious. He is honor. Now remember, we had been talking
about rendering to Caesar the things that are Caesar's. But
now we're talking about rendering to God the things that are God's. He is precious. Now if you're a believer, this
is one thing I know about you. If you're a believer, this is
true of every believer. To you which believe, He is precious. He's precious in His person.
Oh, could you possibly describe the preciousness, the value,
the honor of the Lord Jesus Christ? He's precious in His work. How
precious is it to you that He said, it is finished? How much
does that mean to you? How much does it mean to you
where it says, to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that
justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
How precious is that? How precious is it that right
now, as I'm speaking, there's a man in glory, seated at the
right hand of the Father, interceding for you. Peter, I've prayed for
you. And that is said of every believer. How precious is his intercession? How precious will it be upon
his return? How precious will it be when
he comes back and you're unable to behold him and suddenly you're
perfectly conformed to his image and made like him? And you won't be a sinner anymore.
you'll be without sin. And you won't even remember what
it's like to be a sinner. How precious is that? Unto you
therefore which believe, he is precious. How precious is his
righteousness? How precious is it to have his
righteousness as your personal righteousness before God? To
you therefore which believe, he is precious. When I stand before thy throne,
Dressed in beauty not my own, When I see thee as thou art,
Love thee with unseeming heart, Then, Lord, shall I fully know,
Not to them how much I owe. Now, I want to render to Caesar
the things that are Caesar's, for Christ's sake, don't you?
No, I want to render to God the things that are God's. Love so
amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all. Let's pray together. Lord, we ask for grace. To be subject. To the higher
powers. For your glory. And we give thanks
for the higher powers. And we want to render to all
their dues. Tribute to whom tributes due,
custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, and honor to whom
honor. Lord, cause our lives to adorn
the doctrine of God our Savior. And Lord, most especially, we
ask that we might be able to render to you your due, that
we might have all of what we have as nothing but yours, that
we might trust thy son completely as the end of the law for righteousness. Lord, that we might fear him
with that godly fear that's the beginning of wisdom and that
we might see he is precious and believe he is precious. Lord,
bless this message for your glory and for our good. In Christ's
name we pray.