Romans chapter 13 and verses
1 through 7. Let every soul be subject unto
the higher powers, for there is no power but of God. The powers
that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth
the power, resisteth the ordinance of God. And they that resist
shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror of
good works or to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then
not be afraid of the power? 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 beareth not the sword in vain, for he
is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that
doeth evil. Wherefore, you must needs be
subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.
For for this cause pay you tribute 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, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. I would remind us this evening
that the Lord Jesus Christ in his prayer in John chapter 17. We normally refer to that prayer
as his high priestly prayer. We know that he is in heaven
now at the father's right hand as our high priest and he continually
makes intercession for all who come unto God by him. And so
we read the prayer. his prayer in John chapter 17,
and we get some idea of his intercession. And in that prayer, one statement,
one request, I pray not that thou shouldest take them out
of the world. Six times in the prayer, he refers
to the fact that his people are those who were given unto him
by the Father. Those who were given unto him
in that eternal covenant of grace. Those that Christ came to save
and laid down his life in their stead and in their place. These
who were with him, the 11 apostles that night, he prayed for them
and he said, I pray not that thou shouldest take them out
of the world. Keep them from the evil. Yes. He did pray that. Keep them from
the evil. Yes. But do not take them out
of the world. Christians, those who are true
believers, are the light of the world. They're not to become hermits.
As we know in church history at one time, that was the thought
that to move into a cave and just separate yourself from the
world, that was a way to be holy and that was a way to serve God.
But that's not true. Christians are part of His kingdom. We've been translated, giving
thanks unto the Father who hath made us meet to be partakers
of the inheritance of the kingdom of light. We've been made partakers
of his kingdom. That is, when we come into this
world, we are born into the kingdom of darkness. That's the kingdom
of Satan. And he reigns and he rules over
every lost person. If you're here tonight without
Christ, then you may not understand this, but you are under the rule
of Satan. He's your master and he reigns
over you. You're in his kingdom. And if
the Lord should have mercy upon you and be gracious unto you
as he is to all of his chosen people, you will be taken out
of that kingdom. It's a kingdom of darkness. It's
a kingdom of death. It's a kingdom in which those
who live are all their lifetime subject to bondage through the
fear of death. When you are saved, you're taken
out of that kingdom and you are placed in the kingdom of his
dear son. It's a kingdom of light, just
the opposite. Just the opposite of Satan's
kingdom, which is a kingdom of darkness. brought into a kingdom
of light. Christians are part of his kingdom,
which is not of this world. You remember he said, my kingdom
is not of this world. His kingdom is a spiritual kingdom. He didn't come riding on a white
horse, leading an army to conquer men and women and by force make
them subject to Him. That's not His way. That's not
the way He conquers. He conquers by His Spirit, using
His Word, and somehow works in the hearts of His people so that
they become willing, willing, willing to come to Christ, willing
to turn from their sins, willing to be saved, as a sinner that
has nothing to offer to God, willing to come, casting oneself
upon the mercy of God. Like that leper in the gospel,
Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. When a sinner
comes like that, what was the response to that leper? I will. I will. Christians are part of His kingdom,
which is not of this world, but all of us, we live in kingdoms,
in countries, in states, which are of this world. The apostle deals with the Christian
his conduct in relation to the civil rulers, the civil authorities,
the powers, as he refers to them. We should remember that Paul,
when he wrote this letter, he had never visited this church
at Rome. He hoped to visit them. He tells
us that in the first chapter. He hoped to visit them and to
be a blessing to them and bringing the word of God to them. But
at this time he wrote the letter, he had not yet visited the church. Yet if you would read in chapter
16 and look at the list of the members, he knew many of them.
Those he greeted in chapter 16 who were members of this church,
he knew many of them. And if you look at their names,
you will see that this church was made up, as many of the New
Testament churches, with both Greeks and Jews, both Jews and
Gentiles. Now, as a general rule, the Jews
especially, the Jews especially disapproved of submitting to
a Gentile ruler. In fact, they had been instructed
in their law by God when they came into the land of Canaan.
In Deuteronomy chapter 17 in verse 15, they were told, one
from among thy brethren shalt thou set up king over thee. Now listen, thou mayest not set
a stranger over thee which is not thy brother. They knew the
law commanded them not to set a Gentile over them as their
ruler, as a king, but one who was of their nation. Remember
in the Gospels when they came to the Lord Jesus Christ and
said, is it lawful to pay tribute to Caesar? Now they thought They
thought they had the Lord Jesus Christ entrapped. No matter how
he answered, he would offend someone. He would offend Caesar
or he would offend the Jewish religious leaders. No matter
how he answered, they thought. But don't we see wisdom, the
wisdom of God in his answer? Show me a coin. And so they brought
him a coin, didn't they? And he asked, whose image is
that? I'm paraphrasing, of course. Well, that's Caesar's. Well,
render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the
things that are God's. This may have influenced some
of them to disregard and to think that their conduct toward the
rulers was not important, because after all, they were Gentiles.
And so also, even the Gentiles may have thought, since many
of these rulers, in fact, most of them were wicked men. They were unbelievers, they were
ungodly men who were in these places of authority. So as a
child of God, I don't need to be subject to them. Now Paul
instructs them and us as children of God who live in this country,
in this state, in this county, our responsibility toward the
powers that be. First, I want you to notice there's
just a general rule. A general rule laid down in verse
1. Let every soul, that is everyone, No exceptions. If you're a child
of God, he's writing to believers. Now he's writing, he's not writing
to lost people here. Keep that in mind. People try
to take these, these principles that are given to God's people
to save people and impose them upon rebels, upon those who are
not believers and have not submitted to the Lord Jesus Christ. And
it doesn't work. They won't have anyone to reign
over them. These are rules, regulations,
principles, I should say, that are given to God's people. If you are one of God's people,
if you know the Lord is your Savior, this is to you, this
is to me. Let every soul, everyone be subject
unto the higher powers. We recognize that while no child
of God is exempt from this rule, that there is a qualification
that is understood. You say, what is it? There is
a qualification for God's children which is understood. The qualification
is that if we are given a command to do something contrary to the
word of God, Then, like the Apostle Peter and John, we say we ought
to obey God rather than men. This letter, when it was written,
Nero was the emperor of Rome. He was wicked, and the latter
part of his reign, he began to persecute and misuse Christians,
but emperors that followed him were even worse than Nero. There came a time when you had
to take a pinch of incense and confess, Caesar is Lord. Caesar is Lord. Now for a child
of God, we have one Lord. One Lord. One God. One Savior. Of course, a believer could not
do that. We have on record the wonderful
testimony of this man by the name of Polycarp. He was a bishop
of the church in Smyrna. He had been a disciple of the
Apostle John. And I love to read this. I see it sometimes. It's always
encouraging and challenging when I read it. He confessed that Jesus is Lord. And they demanded of him, no,
you must confess Caesar is Lord. And his first answer was this. He was an older man. 80 and six years have I served
him and he never did me any harm. How can I blaspheme my king and
my savior? Well, the authorities, I'm sure
they must have had some pity for this older person. And they
tried their best to get him to just say, Caesar's Lord. And his next response was this. Since thou art vainly urgent,
that I should swear by the fortune of Caesar and pretendest not
to know who and what I am, hear me, hear me. I declare with boldness, I am
a Christian. So there's a general rule. for
all of God's children with this one qualification, that if we
are commanded by the authorities, the powers that be, to do that
which would violate our conscience and our relationship to the Lord
Jesus Christ, then we ought to obey God rather than men. All right, second, notice these
reasons that are given for this general rule. First of all, you
notice this in the last part of verse 1. First of all, the
first reason why the apostle gives that every soul should
be subject under the higher power is that civil authority as all
power comes from God. Notice that in the second part
of verse 1. For there is no power but of
God. All power comes from God. In other words, God is the fountain
of all authority, of all rule, of all power. I want you to keep
your places here, but turn back with me to the book of Genesis
for just a moment. And we see this in the week of
creation. Genesis chapter 1 and verse 28. Man is given power over this
creation. The animals are not here for
us to serve. Animals are here to serve man. Man is given power over the animals. You say, why is it right for
a man to take a donkey or an ox and cause that donkey to pull
his plow. What gives him that right? God
did. God did. Notice here in Genesis
1, in verse 28. And God blessed them, and God
said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the
earth. Notice, and subdue it. Subdue
it. And have dominion. Dominion, rule over the fish
of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living
thing that moveth upon the earth. You have dominion. All power is of God, and God
gave this power, this dominion over creation to man. I'm thankful that God has given
men power over creation. And I'm thankful that God has
given men the talent and the gifts and the ability that he
has given to search into things so that you and I, we live in
a day when we are so blessed in the field, for instance, of
medicine. your baby's room the other day,
just a very small baby, four weeks old, and I was just amazed
and thankful for the dominion and power that God has given
unto men that they have these machines that can register everything
that's going on in that little baby's body. Who gave man that
ability? God did. How is it that man can put a
man on the moon? God gave man that ability and
that power. And look at Genesis chapter nine
since you're here. When they came out of the ark,
when Noah came out of the ark, notice here in chapter nine in
verse one, And God blessed Noah and his sons and said unto them,
Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. And the
fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast
of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that
move with upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea.
Into your hand they are delivered. Every moving thing that liveth
shall be meat for you, even as the green herb have I given you
all things. The authority that a husband
has over his wife, where did that come from? Where does it
come from? Wives, be in subjection to your husbands. It comes from
God. God has set up this order, my
friends. And I know, and we don't think
that the world is going to accept this, I don't. Don't believe
that for a moment. But I do know this, God's children,
God's people, those who want to serve God and honor God will
bow to the Word of God, to the teaching of the Word of God.
Who gave parents authority over their children? You have little
children, you keep them in your houses till they're 16, 17, 18
years old, and you have rule over them, and that's for their
good. But who gave you that authority?
The authority that parents have over their children. That power
comes from God. That's what Paul is saying. All
power comes from God. How does an employer, how does
he have power over his employees? He tells them, I want you to
clock in at eight o'clock in the morning. I don't like to
get up early. I'm going to come in at nine
o'clock. Who gives him that authority?
All power is of God. That's a principle, a truth,
my friends. And the same for rulers, for
governors, for representatives, for senators, for presidents,
for prime ministers, whatever. All power is of God. It all comes from God. And every
person in one of these places of authority needs to be reminded,
we all do, One day we will answer to God. All right, notice the
second reason why Paul says, let every soul be subject unto
the higher powers. First of all, for there's no
power but of God. Number two, the powers that be
are ordained of God. God has ordained that there be
civil governments in order to keep order and to rule. among people. It's hard to imagine
what it would be like to live at a time and in a place where
there is no civil government, no civil authority. John Calvin,
I believe it was, is one of the writers I read this past week
and he made the point that even bad government is better than
no government. Man needs rule. He needs the civil power. We
do have this example in the book of Judges. The scripture says,
In those days there was no king in Israel. And what was the result? Every man did that which was
right in his own sight. Man was a law unto himself. John
Gill commented, and I quote, The several forms of government
are of human will and pleasure, but government itself is an order
of God. There's different kinds of government.
We live in a republic, so we know our form of government.
And there's different forms of government in this world is what
he's saying. And that is according to the
will of man and pleasure of man. But all government, all order
is of God. We live in a republic. We have
a constitution which guarantees the rights of all her citizens. And I want you to look at this
verse in Isaiah chapter 33. There's every reason to believe
that the framers of our Constitution looked at this verse in coming
up with the form of government that we have. In Isaiah chapter
33 and verse 22, for the Lord is our judge. We have a judicial branch of
government. The Lord is our lawgiver. We have a Congress. And the Lord
is our King. We have an executive branch. He will save us. The framers of the Constitution,
they were wise, my friends, and I'm not here to to promote them,
but I tell you, they came up with a document that has withstood
the test of time. We live in a republic. That means
every person, every minority's rights are guaranteed. A democracy, a pure democracy,
what if most, I would think most people have either brown eyes
or blue eyes. I may be wrong about this. I
know there's different colors, but let's say hazel. What if
we had a vote and decided that everyone that has hazel colored
eyes will serve as servants for 10 years? And so the majority,
brown eyes and blue eyes, the vote carries. No. You see what a pure democracy
would be? We live in a republic and we
have a constitution. And I know people like to think,
well, the electoral college, you know, why is it that the
popular vote doesn't choose? It's because the rights of smaller
states are preserved in this way. The men who formed the Constitution,
the government under which we live, my friends, they knew that
man was depraved also by nature. And there had to be laws. He
had to be governed. Be subject, Paul says. And the
third reason to resist, notice the passage, Let every soul be
subject unto the higher powers, first of all, for there is no
power but of God, second, the powers that be are ordained of
God, and third, whosoever therefore resisteth the power resisteth
the ordinance of God. To resist, to disobey, is to
resist the ordinance of God. God has ordained that there be
governments, and when men resist their government, they're resisting
an ordinance of God. It follows then that those who
resist will be punished. Notice what it says. And they
that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. In other
words, they will be fined or they will be punished in some
way if they break the law. And here's the third thing. Encouragements
to follow this general rule in verses 3 through 5. Rulers may
be considered as terrorists, as terrorists, those that we
should fear. But listen, to whom are they
terrorists? They're not terrorists to those
who obey. They're not terrorists to those who obey. who behave
and conduct themselves according to the authority, according to
the law, but they are terrors to those who disobey. On my way from here to my home,
there's a place where there's four stop signs, and there's
an excellent place for a policeman to hide. And I see them there quite often,
constable. When you come up to that stop
sign and you stop, I mean a complete stop, you know what that is.
Not a rolling stop, a complete stop. And then you start off
and you look, hey, there's that policeman over there. That doesn't
bother you at all. But I tell you what, you come
through there and just kind of slow down and keep on going.
Now you're on pins and needles. Why? He's a terror because he
has the power to punish you. That's why. They're not terrorists
to those who obey the law. They're terrorists to those who
disobey. They've been given this power.
They've been given this responsibility to punish those who disobey.
If you look back to chapter 12 and verse 19, we saw this a few
weeks ago, where believers are told not to avenge themselves. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves. Rulers, governments are the ministers
of God, and they have the right to execute wrath upon evildoers,
this verse tells us. When a person, listen, remember
this, when a person is convicted of a crime which is punishable
by death, and the jury and the judge assign that punishment
to this person, that person is then executed, apparent in Huntsville,
he's not murdered. He's not murdered, my friends.
You'll see protesters with that verse, thou shalt not murder.
That man is not murdered. He's executed. He's executed
with the authority that came from God through the civil rulers. Christians are to be subject
to the powers which are ordained of God, not only because of fear. Not only because you're afraid
that policemen might write you a ticket, oh no. Not only that,
but Paul says for conscience sake, remember this, he is a
minister of God. Look at that. Wherefore, you must needs be
subject, that is obey, not only for wrath, not only because you're
afraid, he's a terror to those who break the law, but also for
conscience sake. For for this cause pay you tribute
also, for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this
very thing. I had a pastor friend years ago
who had a policeman who was a member of his congregation, and he was
killed, I believe, on duty. And I remember the pastor, he
made this so emphatic. This man that we're burying here
today, he was a minister of God. He was just as much a minister
of God as I am, or any other preacher, a minister. And the last thing Paul says,
the powers ordained of God are to be supported. They're to be
supported in two ways. First of all, by tribute or taxes,
as we would say, taxes to maintain them. and they are to be supported
by respect. They are to be respected. Honor
to whom honor is due. Look with me at one other verse
in closing, 1 Peter chapter two. I know you parents, you teach
your children to respect authority. They learn to respect your authority. They learn to respect the authority
in the schoolroom, in the classroom. They learn to respect the authority
of the civil rulers. 1 Peter 2, verse 11. Dearly beloved, I beseech you
as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war
against the soul. your conversation honest among
the Gentiles, that whereas they speak against you as evildoers,
they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify
God in the day of visitation, submit yourselves to every ordinance
of man for the Lord's sake, whether it be to the king as supreme
or unto governors as unto 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 may put to silence the ignorance of foolish
men as free and not using your liberty for a choice or for a
cloak of maliciousness but as the servants of God honor All
men, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the King. May the Lord bless His word to
each one of us here tonight. Let's sing a verse or two of
a hymn and we'll be dismissed.