SPEAKER_00: Well, there is a British expression about elections.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter who you vote for, the government always gets in.
SPEAKER_00: And I think that is a true expression, even in our own American context.
SPEAKER_00: Doesn't matter which party wins, the government is going to take their seats next year.
SPEAKER_00: Now, Americans and Christians have the luxury of overlooking one of the Bible's main facts about service to one's country.
SPEAKER_00: Service to your country and patriotism, in a sense, is virtuous regardless of the virtue of the country in which you reside.
SPEAKER_00: All countries have a function in God's sovereign plan for the world.
SPEAKER_00: All countries have a function in how they check evil and how they fulfill God's purposes on earth, regardless of the actual morality or virtue of any particular nation.
SPEAKER_00: I'll say it differently.
SPEAKER_00: Christians have the exact same responsibilities in a righteous society as we do in an unrighteous one.
SPEAKER_00: And to make that point even more clear, I want you to imagine with me the most undemocratic form of government you can.
SPEAKER_00: Conjure up a vision of a totalitarian leader who wields absolute power over his citizens.
SPEAKER_00: Give him a massive army with which to terrorize his subjects and expand his empire.
SPEAKER_00: He attacks neighboring nations and those that oppose his aggression.
SPEAKER_00: He simply enslaves and resettles in a different part of the world.
SPEAKER_00: He's so brutal and monstrous that he tortures even Christians, feeding them to lions and often simply burning them alive for no reason other than his own entertainment.
SPEAKER_00: Of course, I'm not describing a hypothetical situation here.
SPEAKER_00: I'm describing Nero.
SPEAKER_00: This is the world in which Paul lived.
SPEAKER_00: He was a brutal dictator.
SPEAKER_00: He exercised his brutality over all of the world he could reach.
SPEAKER_00: He did feed Christians to lions.
SPEAKER_00: He did burn them, turn them into torches for his own entertainment.
SPEAKER_00: It would be hard to exaggerate his wickedness.
SPEAKER_00: And yet he is reigning when Paul writes these verses.
SPEAKER_00: Romans 13, verses 1 through 7.
SPEAKER_00: I'll read them for us now.
SPEAKER_00: Let every person be subject to governing authorities.
SPEAKER_00: For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.
SPEAKER_00: For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad.
SPEAKER_00: Would you have no fear of the one who's in authority?
SPEAKER_00: Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good.
SPEAKER_00: But if you do wrong, be afraid.
SPEAKER_00: For he doesn't bear the sword in vain.
SPEAKER_00: For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath, but also for the sake of conscience.
SPEAKER_00: For because of this you also pay taxes.
SPEAKER_00: For the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing, paid all what is owed to them, taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.
SPEAKER_00: This was not written by Jonathan Edwards to the British king.
SPEAKER_00: This is not written by George Washington and Thomas Jefferson and John Adams to themselves.
SPEAKER_00: This is written to people that were suffering under a very unrighteous ruler.
SPEAKER_00: Christians would have been tempted to apostasize because of the persecution they were facing.
SPEAKER_00: Initially, when Christianity began to spread, they were protected.
SPEAKER_00: If they were identified as Jews, Jews had a certain amount of limited protection.
SPEAKER_00: But about ten years after the book of Romans was written, that would change as well.
SPEAKER_00: But for now, when Paul wrote the book of Romans, if the believers claimed they were Jews, they could have been protected by Rome, but they would have been persecuted by the Jews then.
SPEAKER_00: If they proclaimed that they were aligned with King Jesus, they were subject to persecution by both Rome and the Jews, subject to beatings and martyrdom, a fate that would await Paul.
SPEAKER_00: Paul himself faced many of those.
SPEAKER_00: He was beaten.
SPEAKER_00: He was seized and arrested by Jewish leaders, handed over to Roman leaders.
SPEAKER_00: He was beaten as a Roman citizen.
SPEAKER_00: He was put on trial before governors and kings, ultimately appealing to Caesar.
SPEAKER_00: And of course, his life ends with his own martyrdom.
SPEAKER_00: And it is along that entire path that he tells believers to be subject to the authorities that are placed above them.
SPEAKER_00: He tells them not only to be subject to them, he tells them to honor their king.
SPEAKER_00: He says in verse 13, chapter 13, verse 1, be subject to the governing authorities.
SPEAKER_00: Down in verse 7, pay them your actual money that you owe them.
SPEAKER_00: Respect them, even honor them.
SPEAKER_00: Now these are fallen authorities, and no human authority, of course, is going to be a perfect representation of God's morality.
SPEAKER_00: I think of that when people say they can't vote for this candidate or that candidate of you, I have very much sympathy with, but when they say I can't vote for this candidate or that candidate because they fall short of biblical ethics in this area or that area, okay.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, in this side of the kingdom, there's not going to be a candidate in our own country or in any country that reflects as we would see it biblical ethics, because we live in a fallen world.
SPEAKER_00: We are outside of Eden.
SPEAKER_00: We've been banished from paradise.
SPEAKER_00: The garden has been closed and flooded out.
SPEAKER_00: And now we're in a new world where God does not walk with us, where we are strangers, pilgrims, aliens, exiles, in a sense traveling through this world.
SPEAKER_00: And so, of course, our handbook, our guide for kingdom ethics, is seen in the New Testament.
SPEAKER_00: It's not lived out in our society.
SPEAKER_00: So we do respect the government and honor the government, and this is what Romans 13 is written to describe.
SPEAKER_00: And so I want to give you an outline tonight about the main teaching here in Romans 13.
SPEAKER_00: I want to use my heading, how Christians and Government Relate.
SPEAKER_00: How Christians and Government should relate.
SPEAKER_00: And the way I'm going to break this down as we go through it tonight is with these four little subheadings here.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to talk about the imperative in this passage, the reason for the imperative, the purpose behind it, and then the limits of it.
SPEAKER_00: So those are kind of the four headings we'll work through it this way.
SPEAKER_00: So I guess in a sense, it'll be less of a sermon and more of an instruction time, a teaching from God's word tonight as we work our way through these four headings.
SPEAKER_00: Each of these four headings will have subpoints underneath them.
SPEAKER_00: I'll try to leave the headings on the screen as much as possible so you know where we are.
SPEAKER_00: You won't get lost along the way.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to begin tonight by looking at the imperative.
SPEAKER_00: The imperative itself and the others will come back up there.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, no cheating, don't look ahead.
SPEAKER_00: The imperative itself.
SPEAKER_00: There's two different imperatives in here, and there's there's obviously more than that, but you can bracket this as really two imperatives.
SPEAKER_00: What Paul is actually commanding you to do is to be subject in verse 1, and it's bracketed by the end with paying your taxes, revenue, as it's described.
SPEAKER_00: But the idea of be subject is to allow others to rule over you.
SPEAKER_00: There's no place where the Bible is the law of the land.
SPEAKER_00: We have authority that is placed above us, authority that is often contrary to the Bible, and nevertheless we are called to be subject to it.
SPEAKER_00: I have read even this very week articles by uh different so-called theologians arguing that Christians don't owe allegiance to government because our allegiance is only to God and his word, and when you obey any kind of law that is uh different than God and his word, you're subjecting yourself to a different authority than God and God's word.
SPEAKER_00: And you can't subject yourself to an authority that is out of God's word without committing idolatry.
SPEAKER_00: That was kind of the logic he uh was working for there.
SPEAKER_00: And there's different views of that argument that you've seen bandied around.
SPEAKER_00: The idea that um that a government's laws uh uh need to reflect biblical ethics before Christians can feel complied to submit to them would be another example of that.
SPEAKER_00: Um that kind of teaching fails to account for Romans 13, which commands you to be subject to authority.
SPEAKER_00: Be subject even to ungodly authority.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, when you're talking about earthly authority, is there any other kinds?
SPEAKER_00: Be subject to the governing authorities, those that have authority over your life.
SPEAKER_00: Now, the phrase governing authority there, it's going to be expanded on in these seven verses.
SPEAKER_00: The governing authority, you're not called to be subject to all governing authorities.
SPEAKER_00: You're not called to be subject to the authorities in countries that you're not a citizen of or where you don't reside.
SPEAKER_00: When you go to Canada, you better be subject to Canadian authorities.
SPEAKER_00: But that doesn't mean you're subject to Canadian authorities when you're living here.
SPEAKER_00: You are subject to the authorities where you are.
SPEAKER_00: And what defines the governing authorities are those that provide your militia, those who punish wrongdoers, and those who collect your taxes.
SPEAKER_00: That's the governing authorities.
SPEAKER_00: So who you pay your taxes to and who will throw you in jail if you don't, that's your governing authority.
SPEAKER_00: Now I mention that because I think it is important we look at the way nations can claim authorities over other nations, the way nations try to uh rival other nations.
SPEAKER_00: I remember when Iraq invaded Kuwait, they immediately uh published new maps that showed Kuwait as a simply another providence of Iraq, like we published the maps and we got them out quite.
SPEAKER_00: This is before Google Maps.
SPEAKER_00: So we updated the map, so everybody's got to agree.
SPEAKER_00: Look, of course Kuwait's part of Iraq, it's on the map.
SPEAKER_00: But that's not what makes you subject to somebody.
SPEAKER_00: Finding yourself under their jurisdiction on a map doesn't make you a citizen of that country.
SPEAKER_00: I remember when the oh, I don't remember, but I saw a display in the museum about how the 13 colonies were originally settled in the United States.
SPEAKER_00: I do not remember it personally, but I have been reliably informed and uh received a tour uh down in Colonial Williamsburg, and they put the map on the wall there that George Washington would have had in his pocket as he was surveying out on the western frontier of Virginia and was sent to go shoe the uh the French and uh away and um subject the Indians there.
SPEAKER_00: He had a map of what the territory that many of the colonies claimed.
SPEAKER_00: And basically it took the lines that are the uh parallels used by many of the American states now, even for their north-south borders, and just extended them all the way into infinity.
SPEAKER_00: So imagine the line of Virginia going, oh, California would be part of Virginia right now by that line.
SPEAKER_00: It goes all the way across until it hits the ocean.
SPEAKER_00: All of that, because they printed the map.
SPEAKER_00: And so you can imagine as Washington rides in on the French and the Indians and shows them that map, that's going to be less than a compelling argument about why he's the lawful authority there.
SPEAKER_00: Look, I've got a map.
SPEAKER_00: It goes forever.
SPEAKER_00: No, your authority that you are subject to is not ones that print you on a map.
SPEAKER_00: It's not ones that claim to have authority over you.
SPEAKER_00: Your authority that is over you, that you're subject to, are the ones to whom you pay your taxes and the ones who will arrest you if you don't.
SPEAKER_00: They punish the wrongdoers.
SPEAKER_00: You're a citizen or a subject of them.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul is writing, not with a mind that Christians will be determined in that, not that Christians will choose which of the authorities they prefer.
SPEAKER_00: He's simply stating the fact there is going to be authority that is going to be taxing you, and they will throw you in jail if you don't pay.
SPEAKER_00: That's your authority, and you ought to be subject to them.
SPEAKER_00: What that means to be subject to them is that you submit to them, you submit to their leadership, you follow their rules and their laws, you pay to them, verse 7 says, what is owed to them.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 6, he says, Because of this you pay taxes.
SPEAKER_00: And this here is that they have the law enforcement powers.
SPEAKER_00: They are the ones who are arresting those who can't uh who go against their own laws.
SPEAKER_00: God has dispatched them for that purpose.
SPEAKER_00: It says in verse 6.
SPEAKER_00: We'll look more at that later.
SPEAKER_00: That's why you're paying them.
SPEAKER_00: So this is the point in verse 6.
SPEAKER_00: You are paying taxes so that they can arrest you if you don't.
SPEAKER_00: It's circular logic, but it makes the world go round, so just embrace it.
SPEAKER_00: You're paying your taxes so that they have the power to arrest you and build gels to throw you in if you refuse to pay.
SPEAKER_00: Now, of course, they punish other crimes beyond tax evasion.
SPEAKER_00: But Paul says, because of this you pay taxes.
SPEAKER_00: Because they have the capacity to punish, you must pay what is owed them, and you pay everything that is owed to them.
SPEAKER_00: Taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed.
SPEAKER_00: Now, we'll talk about limits to this later, but everything, of course, is on a sliding scale.
SPEAKER_00: There is obviously a point where taxation becomes theft, and that is not a certain dollar amount or a certain percentage amount that is spelled out in the scriptures.
SPEAKER_00: That's not what Paul is dealing with here in Romans 13, nor do I think Nero would be particularly interested in a Christian's view of laissez-fier economics.
SPEAKER_00: The point is if the government taxes you, you pay it, and if you don't pay it, you go in jail.
SPEAKER_00: But to be a good citizen, Christians ought to pay their taxes.
SPEAKER_00: And being subject has the implication to it that when you disoblay disobey, you take the penalty.
SPEAKER_00: Part of being subject to authority is knowing that if you contravene their authority, you will receive a punishment and you embrace that punishment.
SPEAKER_00: That's what it means to be subject to it.
SPEAKER_00: Well, this is the imperative that you're a good subject by being a subject and by paying the taxes that are owed.
SPEAKER_00: Now, Paul gets to the reason behind that imperative.
SPEAKER_00: He gives you three of them theological, prudential, and moral is what have come up with.
SPEAKER_00: And I'll walk you through those real quickly and then we'll look at it one at a time.
SPEAKER_00: The theological reason that you're supposed to be subject to the authority above you is because God made this authority.
SPEAKER_00: That's the theological reason.
SPEAKER_00: God made it.
SPEAKER_00: He also gives you a prudential reason, which means you'll go to jail.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, it's prudent for you to obey them because if you don't, you'll find yourself in the clink.
SPEAKER_00: And the third reason is the moral reason, that your conscience will condemn you.
SPEAKER_00: Your conscience will condemn you.
SPEAKER_00: And those three will stay on the screen for a while, so don't fret as we go through them one at a time.
SPEAKER_00: First, let's look at the theological reason Paul gives.
SPEAKER_00: He says in verse 1, there is no authority except from God.
SPEAKER_00: And those that exist have been instituted by God.
SPEAKER_00: Now, this is speaking of God's absolute sovereignty over human affairs.
SPEAKER_00: He rules the world through his providence, and everything that happens happens under his authority.
SPEAKER_00: So every king that is on his throne, every emperor who reigns over an empire, every gut every governor who occupies a governor's mansion, every mayor, every police officer, every sanitation worker, we're talking all the way across the spectrum of municipal government to federal government.
SPEAKER_00: Those who operate in it are there by God's providence.
SPEAKER_00: Now, this is true not just of government workers, this is true of every person in every walk of life.
SPEAKER_00: You have your occupation by the providence of God.
SPEAKER_00: He opened up the opportunity for you to have your job.
SPEAKER_00: You got hired by his will.
SPEAKER_00: He is the one who created a world and told you to work in it.
SPEAKER_00: You're now working in it according to his will.
SPEAKER_00: His providence directs all of this.
SPEAKER_00: And government workers are no different.
SPEAKER_00: So whether or not you work for the government, you in a sense are working under God's sovereignty, under his providence.
SPEAKER_00: But there's more particular ways that this that Paul describes this as that God made authority.
SPEAKER_00: We looked at this last week.
SPEAKER_00: In a very particular instance, there is no authority, Paul says, except from God.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, the categories of authority that exist in the world were designed by God.
SPEAKER_00: God is the only real authority there is.
SPEAKER_00: He alone is the real authority.
SPEAKER_00: There is no authority outside of God anywhere in the world.
SPEAKER_00: But God chose to mediate some of his authority into the world through different authority structures.
SPEAKER_00: So, for example, in the family, you have the husband who is the head of the family.
SPEAKER_00: He is the authority figure in the household.
SPEAKER_00: This is by God's design.
SPEAKER_00: God designed the family for that person.
SPEAKER_00: A husband, for that reason, to demonstrate that authority.
SPEAKER_00: There's benefit to that, as there's families care for children, and there's provision and protection and all that.
SPEAKER_00: That's by God's design.
SPEAKER_00: So that would be one example of authority that comes from God.
SPEAKER_00: It is designed by God.
SPEAKER_00: We'll learn more about that in our study of Ephesians when we get to chapter 5 in six or seven years, probably, but it's it's on its way.
SPEAKER_00: There's other kinds of authority in the world.
SPEAKER_00: There's authority in the workplace.
SPEAKER_00: You have bosses over you.
SPEAKER_00: This is also going to be described in the book of Ephesians.
SPEAKER_00: It's a common experience of everybody in life.
SPEAKER_00: There's always somebody else in charge.
SPEAKER_00: That's by God's providence, and you respect those people.
SPEAKER_00: Another category of authority is, of course, government.
SPEAKER_00: And it was God who designed government.
SPEAKER_00: And we looked at this last week in Genesis 9.
SPEAKER_00: God invented government and instituted government to be an authority for the purpose of checking evil.
SPEAKER_00: God designed authority for that reason.
SPEAKER_00: He designed governments to constrain each other.
SPEAKER_00: Do you remember without governments there was wickedness growing and growing and growing in the world, so much so that God had to flood the world?
SPEAKER_00: So to keep that from happening again, he designed the authority structure of governments to bear the sword and punish wrongdoers.
SPEAKER_00: Now Lemech, if Lemech says, you know, I'm going to kill one person or seven people or 77 people, Lemech in theory would be killed by his government before he crossed that line.
SPEAKER_00: That is the effect of checking evil.
SPEAKER_00: At the Tower of Babel, you see that people are collaborating, they're conspiring, they're using government for evil.
SPEAKER_00: They figured that out by Genesis 11.
SPEAKER_00: They figured if they pool their resources and they have some kind of authority structure on earth, they can circumvent God's law and they build a tower to perhaps escape a future flood or perhaps to get up to heaven to be like God, or all those reasons.
SPEAKER_00: And so God brings the tower down, confuses their languages, and designs it so nation will check nation now.
SPEAKER_00: Governments check each other.
SPEAKER_00: If one man can't become particularly evil before the government intervenes, now one nation can't become particularly evil before other nations intervene.
SPEAKER_00: Now this is a stunning reality.
SPEAKER_00: Remember that Paul is writing this in Romans 13 to people who are being persecuted by the very government that God in Romans 13 says he instituted.
SPEAKER_00: Now God did not institute government to persecute believers, he instituted government to check evil and restrain wrongdoing, to allow human flourishing in the family, to allow human property through business and commerce and the food chain.
SPEAKER_00: We looked at this last week, to protect the children, which is what the family structure is for.
SPEAKER_00: And then government steps in to protect the family structure and ensure the right sequence of passing down property and wealth, and all of this is in God's design to protect people and society.
SPEAKER_00: On top of that, whoever sheds man's blood by man's hand shall his blood be shed.
SPEAKER_00: God institutes capital punishment for that reason.
SPEAKER_00: That's what government was designed to do.
SPEAKER_00: When government turns that sword against believers, that becomes persecution.
SPEAKER_00: Nevertheless, just because an authority is wrongly used doesn't mean that the category of authority is not from God.
SPEAKER_00: Of course, abuses of authority are sin.
SPEAKER_00: Of course, sin is not from the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: With God, there is no variation due to change, there's no shifting shadow.
SPEAKER_00: God is holy and you shouldn't accuse him of sin.
SPEAKER_00: And so you've heard it said, you know, a husband can't be an authority figure in the home because there is an abusive husband, and therefore that kind of authority is not from God.
SPEAKER_00: Well, correct.
SPEAKER_00: Sin and an abusive husband is not from the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: That is a serious sin because it's a twisting of God's authority.
SPEAKER_00: Nevertheless, the concept of authority in the family is indeed from God.
SPEAKER_00: Ditto with nations.
SPEAKER_00: Just because one nation is persecuting believers doesn't mean that that nation nullifies the very concept of nationalistic authority.
SPEAKER_00: God establishes governments to bear the sword and check evil, even though some nations abuse that, and their governments abuse that and sin with that authority.
SPEAKER_00: Genesis 9 is still in the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: God still ordained governments.
SPEAKER_00: And of course, universally speaking, whether home or family or business or commerce, there is no authority except from God.
SPEAKER_00: And all authority that exists has been instituted by God.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's Paul's, I don't think, trying to go that profound in verse 1.
SPEAKER_00: He's almost making what in his mind is an axiomatic statement.
SPEAKER_00: God is sovereign over all authority, so there is an authority anywhere.
SPEAKER_00: Of course it is from God.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, this is the key in verse 2 whoever resists that authority resists God.
SPEAKER_00: Because God appointed this authority.
SPEAKER_00: And those who resist incur his judgment.
SPEAKER_00: We'll look more at his judgment, what that looks like next week in Ecclesiastes chapter 8.
SPEAKER_00: But for now, so I won't steal too much of that, I'll save some of the judgment you incur next week for those who resist the government.
SPEAKER_00: Just know for now, tonight resisting government is bad because it produces bad things in your own life.
SPEAKER_00: The government has the capacity to punish those that resist him.
SPEAKER_00: What's staggering about this though is that Paul says that those people were put in authority for God's purpose to do good, he says.
SPEAKER_00: That word for servant there, it's the Greek word.
SPEAKER_00: We get our word deacon from that.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, Paul is saying that government workers are God's deacons.
SPEAKER_00: We're getting ready in January to recognize our deacons for the new year.
SPEAKER_00: Our church puts a list of people out that our church recognizes as kind of super servants in the life of the church, and we put that list up.
SPEAKER_00: Paul's saying here is that every government worker in that sense is God's deacon.
SPEAKER_00: They're serving him by serving their country and by serving their government.
SPEAKER_00: They're doing his purpose.
SPEAKER_00: Because government function should be to make life better, to be an expression of common grace for the stewardship of financial resources and family and the protection of life and human flourishing and all that that we looked at last week.
SPEAKER_00: So every person who works for the government, in that sense, is the deacon.
SPEAKER_00: In that sense, is recognized as a deacon by God.
SPEAKER_00: Whether, like I said earlier, they work in the sanitation department, they're the customer service hotline for one of the public utilities, a law enforcement officer, a tax collector, an IRS auditor is God's deacon.
SPEAKER_00: So hand over your receipts and triplicate, amen?
SPEAKER_00: They're working for the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And again, this doesn't hinge on how righteous the country is.
SPEAKER_00: This is true regardless of the righteous element of that country.
SPEAKER_00: So God here, through Paul, is calling Nero a servant or deacon of God.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's nothing that's not offensive in that verse.
SPEAKER_00: The God part would offend the Jews, and the servant part would offend Nero.
SPEAKER_00: The Jews would be offended that Paul says that God appointed Nero on the throne, and Nero would be offended that Paul says he's doing good in the world.
SPEAKER_00: But that's the reality of this passage, that theologically, all authority in the world comes from God.
SPEAKER_00: And he's speaking particularly here of government authority.
SPEAKER_00: Well, the second reason you should obey, and the reason there has to be more than one reason on this, by the way, the reason that just Paul keeps going with two and three is that these are not absolute.
SPEAKER_00: Your obedience to government authorities is not absolute.
SPEAKER_00: We'll talk about limits later.
SPEAKER_00: But if it was as simple as you obey all things the government says at all times, you wouldn't need number two and three on this list.
SPEAKER_00: And we'll talk more about why you need number two and three in this list, why you need more reasons at the end tonight.
SPEAKER_00: But for now, just know that Paul's giving you different reasons to obey the government.
SPEAKER_00: The first reason is because God appointed them there.
SPEAKER_00: And that's a good enough reason for most instances.
SPEAKER_00: But sometimes the government steps outside of God's appointed boundaries.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes the government commands things that do not fall under the Genesis 9 category.
SPEAKER_00: The government commands things that aren't for your good or to punish evildoers.
SPEAKER_00: In that sense, you're not obeying government because you're obeying God, because the government has stepped outside its lawfully prescribed boundaries.
SPEAKER_00: But you still might want to think about obeying them for two more reasons.
SPEAKER_00: The second reason is what I call prudential, because they can throw you in jail.
SPEAKER_00: Then he says this here in verse 4 if you do wrong, be afraid, for he doesn't bear the sword in vain.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 3 rulers are a terror, not to good conduct, but to bad.
SPEAKER_00: Do you want to fear the one that's in authority?
SPEAKER_00: Then if you don't want to fear him, do good.
SPEAKER_00: You'll receive his approval.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, you'll be approved by the government if you follow their laws.
SPEAKER_00: You will be punished by the government if you don't.
SPEAKER_00: So, pretend there's a law that is passed by Congress.
SPEAKER_00: It just barely squeaks over the finish line.
SPEAKER_00: It has a filibuster-proof majority and it sails through the Senate, which would be surprising, but it happens because of all the lobbying here, and the law that is passed says that everybody must drive a white car.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: It passed through Congress because who knows what Congressmen think at any time of day.
SPEAKER_00: And it sails through the Senate because the automotive industry was lobbying the you know eight-hold out uh Republicans or whatever that were on the fence about this and they convinced them this is a global warming issue.
SPEAKER_00: White cars you see reflect less heat than black cars.
SPEAKER_00: And so it's actually better for the environment that you drive a white car.
SPEAKER_00: And through their massive lobbying, they got it up to 60 votes and it passes.
SPEAKER_00: And the president signs it, signs it into law.
SPEAKER_00: So you are now required by federal law to drive a white car.
SPEAKER_00: And you say, I'm not convinced that that is for the checking of evil or the promotion of common good.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure I buy this as a Genesis 9 function of government.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm going to exhaust all of my legal recourse first.
SPEAKER_00: This is a violation of the Commerce Clause.
SPEAKER_00: The federal government does not have the authority to legislate what color car I drive.
SPEAKER_00: I'm filing a lawsuit right now.
SPEAKER_00: Alex will be my attorney.
SPEAKER_00: He'll represent me.
SPEAKER_00: Pro bono, this is going to be great.
SPEAKER_00: And we get swatted to the cheap seats.
SPEAKER_00: The court system, because probably Alex, you know, didn't do the right research.
SPEAKER_00: It gets shut down.
SPEAKER_00: The judge says, no, it is a valid use of the commerce clause.
SPEAKER_00: It's regulating interstate commerce.
SPEAKER_00: The government has the authority to mandate you drive a white car.
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: My wife, on the other hand, is in trouble.
SPEAKER_00: She drives a silver minivan.
SPEAKER_00: It's oh, it's in trouble now.
SPEAKER_00: It's a nice-looking minivan, but it is not white.
SPEAKER_00: So she's in trouble.
SPEAKER_00: Does she need to get a white car because God tells her to?
SPEAKER_00: We'll talk more about this later tonight, but probably not.
SPEAKER_00: I don't think that would be God's expression of rule over the world by the color of car that you drive.
SPEAKER_00: However, if she decides that she's gonna roll in her silver minivan, there's a second reason she might want to think twice about that.
SPEAKER_00: That second reason is she could go to jail.
SPEAKER_00: They could arrest her and throw her in the jail.
SPEAKER_00: And my wife is precious.
SPEAKER_00: She's a precious treasure given to me.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if she'll do well in jail.
SPEAKER_00: So maybe, maybe she should drive my truck and I should roll in the minivan.
SPEAKER_00: That's Paul's point here.
SPEAKER_00: That government is established by God, and even if the government goes beyond the boundaries that God gave them, you should still probably obey them because otherwise you will suffer in jail.
SPEAKER_00: And if you don't want to do the time, don't do the crime.
SPEAKER_00: Now, this is why, I mean, I make light of it, but this is why there are unjust laws that are passed.
SPEAKER_00: And this is why the idea of peaceful protesting has always been a staple of Christian civic environment or interaction.
SPEAKER_00: When Christians resist the law, they resist the law not by running from the police that come to arrest them, not by fighting the police.
SPEAKER_00: When Christians resist the law because of an unjust or immoral law, they do so peacefully and they willingly go to jail, they willingly suffer the consequences for their disobedience.
SPEAKER_00: It's a basic part of Christian civic disengagement, is that sometimes you do disobey the law.
SPEAKER_00: And when you do that, you do so fully knowing that you will accept the consequences given to you.
SPEAKER_00: The police officer that arrests you isn't siding with injustice over justice.
SPEAKER_00: He's doing his job that the Lord appointed him to do.
SPEAKER_00: And there you are, off to jail for driving the silver minivan.
SPEAKER_00: Well, Paul gives a third reason why you might want to obey the government.
SPEAKER_00: I'm calling it a moral reason, but it's the sake of your conscience.
SPEAKER_00: You know, it's against Scripture for believers to go against what their conscience says.
SPEAKER_00: When your conscience convicts you of sin, listen to your conscience, even if your conscience is wrong.
SPEAKER_00: The conscience is a guide given to all people to restrain evil.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible speaks about this in Romans chapter 1, 1 Corinthians 8 and 10, as well as other places.
SPEAKER_00: The conscience is a gift to you to restrain evil.
SPEAKER_00: That doesn't mean the conscience is infallible.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes your conscience might convict you of things that are not sin.
SPEAKER_00: So you might, your conscience, the example Paul gives, is eating meat offered to idols.
SPEAKER_00: There's nothing wrong with eating a meat off meat offered to idols because the idol is not a thing, it doesn't exist, it didn't actually taint the meat.
SPEAKER_00: So you can eat the meat that was offered to idols with a clear conscience.
SPEAKER_00: However, if your conscience does bother you about it, then Paul says, don't, because for you, it would be a sin for you to eat if your conscience convicts you of it.
SPEAKER_00: So don't eat the meat offered to idols.
SPEAKER_00: It is better, in God's estimation, and in Paul's estimation, for you to refrain from doing something that you could lawfully do if your conscience convicts you.
SPEAKER_00: Because it's better for you to train yourself to listen to your conscience than it is for you to train yourself to go against your conscience.
SPEAKER_00: So for a Christian, always listen to your conscience, even when it's wrong.
SPEAKER_00: However, you also have to know that your conscience is sometimes wrong.
SPEAKER_00: And the solution to that is not to ignore it, but to teach it.
SPEAKER_00: You give your conscience the word of God, and so you grow your conscience.
SPEAKER_00: This is 1 Corinthians 8 and 1 Corinthians 10.
SPEAKER_00: It should be okay for you to eat meat offered idols.
SPEAKER_00: It should be okay.
SPEAKER_00: However, if your conscience convicts you of it, then don't do it until you've grown more mature in your faith and you're able to do it.
SPEAKER_00: That's the point.
SPEAKER_00: Well, Paul is borrowing that logic here, down in verse 5.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, one must be in subjection not only to avoid God's wrath, so not only to avoid jail, but also for the sake of conscience.
SPEAKER_00: So?
SPEAKER_00: They stop me.
SPEAKER_00: They can have my niece on quest when they pry it from my cold dead fingers.
SPEAKER_00: That's what she says.
SPEAKER_00: I'm willing to go to jail.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul says, Okay, a third reason.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe your conscience will convict you.
SPEAKER_00: You drive around, you start to feel guilty for what you're doing.
SPEAKER_00: So just think about that.
SPEAKER_00: Put that into your calculation.
SPEAKER_00: Not that you should, but just that you might.
SPEAKER_00: So factor that in.
SPEAKER_00: Those are the three reasons for you to obey the government and for you to pay your taxes.
SPEAKER_00: Well, this all leads to we've seen the imperative, we've seen the reason.
SPEAKER_00: Third is the purpose, the purpose behind this.
SPEAKER_00: This is why God made government and Christians interact this way.
SPEAKER_00: The purpose, two purposes to reward good and to punish evil.
SPEAKER_00: And we've seen that woven out through these six or seven verses.
SPEAKER_00: It's worth highlighting both of those purposes really quick.
SPEAKER_00: Back in verse two, if you resist the authority, you will incur judgment.
SPEAKER_00: They are a terror to not good conduct, he says in verse 3, but to bad conduct.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, God designed them to terrorize bad conduct.
SPEAKER_00: But if you obey authority, you can get a reward.
SPEAKER_00: You can get the end of verse 3, approval.
SPEAKER_00: God is an avenger in verse 4, but in verse 3, he's an approver of those who do good.
SPEAKER_00: This whole verse, I wish I had a slide that diagrammed it for you, but this whole little argument here, it is parallel.
SPEAKER_00: The two things are parallel.
SPEAKER_00: If you do good, you get good.
SPEAKER_00: If you do good, you get a reward.
SPEAKER_00: If you do bad, you get the sword.
SPEAKER_00: You do good, get an award.
SPEAKER_00: Do bad, get the sword.
SPEAKER_00: Because government is God's servant for your good.
SPEAKER_00: And then again, government is God's servant, God's servant to execute wrath.
SPEAKER_00: You want a reward, do good.
SPEAKER_00: You want the sword?
SPEAKER_00: Don't do good.
SPEAKER_00: God is serving, I mean government is serving God by giving good to good people.
SPEAKER_00: This is not a works righteousness scenario.
SPEAKER_00: Good is not, you know, defined in a works righteousness scenario.
SPEAKER_00: Good is defined very simply.
SPEAKER_00: Do what the government says.
SPEAKER_00: That's good.
SPEAKER_00: And you get rewarded.
SPEAKER_00: You get God's approval, is what the verse says.
SPEAKER_00: His approval.
SPEAKER_00: This is very different for those who do bad.
SPEAKER_00: They don't get God's approval.
SPEAKER_00: The word approval is the end of verse 3, by the way.
SPEAKER_00: You don't get God's approval, you don't get your reward.
SPEAKER_00: And the government approval, if you do bad, instead you get the sword and you get the avenger at the end of verse 4.
SPEAKER_00: This again is astonishing to think about that Paul is talking about Nero.
SPEAKER_00: He's talking about a government that uses the sword to put Christians to death.
SPEAKER_00: He's not talking about democracy.
SPEAKER_00: He's not talking about enlightened countries with progressive tax rates and a social safety net.
SPEAKER_00: He's talking about the Caesar who puts people to death for believing in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: He's talking about Herod, who single-handedly had the power to slaughter all the newborn infants in Palestine.
SPEAKER_00: His point is that even wicked pagan governments check evil.
SPEAKER_00: I mentioned this earlier.
SPEAKER_00: After the Tower of Babel, the nations go their own way.
SPEAKER_00: Now when one nation rises up, other nations check them and check their evil, which makes the world livable.
SPEAKER_00: One country cannot grow in unbridled evil without being checked by others.
SPEAKER_00: As Rome grew larger and larger, soon sections of it begin to fall because other nations rose up against it.
SPEAKER_00: As England strove to dominate the world and expand its empire around the world, eventually they expanded it too far.
SPEAKER_00: And a bunch of rebels started to overthrow them in both here and in India.
SPEAKER_00: When Napoleon tried to rule Mexico, he was stopped.
SPEAKER_00: When Napoleon invaded Mexico, it did not go well for him.
SPEAKER_00: This is the basic way the world works.
SPEAKER_00: When nations rise up and their evil goes too much, they get stopped.
SPEAKER_00: That's how God designed the world to work.
SPEAKER_00: And in that sense, countries punishing evildoers inside their domain is God's way to check evil, and countries punishing each other outside of their domain is also God's way to check evil.
SPEAKER_00: And notice this is true regardless of people's motives.
SPEAKER_00: One country fights another country.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter which country is right or which country is better.
SPEAKER_00: Both of them are checking each other.
SPEAKER_00: When Alexander the Great went to war against the Persian Empire, it didn't matter which empire was more righteous or who had more of a justification for their territorial claims in the Mediterranean.
SPEAKER_00: Countries check each other and that keeps evil in check.
SPEAKER_00: C.S.
SPEAKER_00: Lewis in his book The Four Loves writes about this, and he describes a reality that is hard for many Americans to understand, but he describes it in the four loves in this book The Four Loves that you can have two different people on two different sides of a war, and both of them are operating in righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: Both of them are fighting to suppress evil.
SPEAKER_00: He even describes a scenario where they might pause the battle and have Bible study together.
SPEAKER_00: The same is true locally as well.
SPEAKER_00: In a local government, innocent people can be accused of crimes and police can make mistakes, but the government still bears a sword to bring peace.
SPEAKER_00: Or to say it another way, you can have prosecutors and public defenders, and they both can be Christians and be trying the same case.
SPEAKER_00: And neither one is sinning.
SPEAKER_00: This is the basic way God designed the world and government to work after the flood.
SPEAKER_00: And they're all suppressing evil.
SPEAKER_00: Even wicked governments do this.
SPEAKER_00: You know, it's been said many times that life for Christians in Saddam Hussein's Iraq was actually much better than life under ISIS.
SPEAKER_00: Or life even under the whatever kind of government is there now.
SPEAKER_00: This is the way the world works.
SPEAKER_00: The governments, even wicked governments, can sometimes check evil effectively.
SPEAKER_00: And they end up getting checked by other wicked governments, and that's just the way the world functions.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, the word Paul uses in verse 4, I find fascinating that they avenge the God, the government can be an avenger for the one who carries the sword.
SPEAKER_00: That word avenge, it's an interesting word.
SPEAKER_00: It's the Septuagint word, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, for the phrase the avenger of blood in the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_00: So if you accidentally killed someone, you didn't mean to, and you accidentally murdered them and you or killed them, manslaughter, let's call it, not murder, because there was an intent, it's manslaughter, you're allowed to run to another city and seek refuge.
SPEAKER_00: The family member of the person who died is allowed to appoint an avenger of blood who can go after you and pursue justice.
SPEAKER_00: That word for the avenger of blood, the one who's chasing you down, that's the word that Paul uses here.
SPEAKER_00: Government is that person now.
SPEAKER_00: Inside of Israel, a family member would have to appoint an avenger for justice.
SPEAKER_00: Now in our world today, the government is that avenger himself.
SPEAKER_00: The government bears the sword.
SPEAKER_00: The government tracks the murderer down.
SPEAKER_00: What a just marvel at what a blessing that is.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody robs you, you don't have to get on the case.
SPEAKER_00: Fairfax County PD is all over it.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody commits a crime against you, assaults you, you don't have to sort it out.
SPEAKER_00: You can let the government do that.
SPEAKER_00: The police will respond.
SPEAKER_00: They'll take care of it.
SPEAKER_00: They're the professionals.
SPEAKER_00: That's the attitude.
SPEAKER_00: They're the avengers.
SPEAKER_00: This word is used in other place in the New Testament, by the way.
SPEAKER_00: 1 Thessalonians 4.
SPEAKER_00: Do not sexually wrong another believer.
SPEAKER_00: Don't take advantage of another believer sexually, because God will be the avenger of that person, Paul says, 1 Thessalonians 4.
SPEAKER_00: That's the other place this word is used in the New Testament.
SPEAKER_00: If there's a crime against you, God will avenge you.
SPEAKER_00: But if you take advantage of someone sexually in the church, God himself, forget the government, God will chase you down and punish you.
SPEAKER_00: Well, God will do that through the government for all evildoers, not just believers, but all evildoers.
SPEAKER_00: And this is important to know because the world hates the church.
SPEAKER_00: The world hates the church.
SPEAKER_00: Romans 12, Paul describes the marks of a true Christian.
SPEAKER_00: We are supposed to live in harmony with one another.
SPEAKER_00: Romans 12, verse 16 says, Romans 12, 17, repay no one for evil.
SPEAKER_00: Live peaceably, Romans 12, 18 says, withal.
SPEAKER_00: If anyone's hungry, give them food.
SPEAKER_00: If they're thirsty, give them drink, Paul says Romans 12, 20.
SPEAKER_00: Romans 12, 19, never avenge yourselves.
SPEAKER_00: Vengeance is mine, says the Lord, I will repay.
SPEAKER_00: So if you're living the Romans 12 ethic, you're going to need a Romans 13 protection.
SPEAKER_00: If you're in the world turning the other cheek to those who wrong you, there better be a government that doesn't turn the other cheek.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody comes up and strikes you and robs you.
SPEAKER_00: The scripture says, turn the other cheek.
SPEAKER_00: They steal your jacket, give them your coat.
SPEAKER_00: They steal one bike, give them the other kids' bike too.
SPEAKER_00: How soon until the world figures it out and they just loot the Christians?
SPEAKER_00: Well, they won't figure that out because the police will come.
SPEAKER_00: And in a functioning government, the police will arrest people who steal your bike even if you're a Christian.
SPEAKER_00: And that's the nature of what's described in Romans 13.
SPEAKER_00: Nations that pride themselves on morality end up turning on the church, usually, because the church proclaims that morality cannot save you from hell.
SPEAKER_00: It's not impressive to God.
SPEAKER_00: A totalitarian state hates the church because the church's members respect Jesus Christ more than their emperor.
SPEAKER_00: They have more allegiance to Christ than they do the king.
SPEAKER_00: So governments eventually turn on the church.
SPEAKER_00: But in the meantime, governments protect the church, not even intentionally protecting the church, just by virtue of protecting their citizens.
SPEAKER_00: And that's the blessing of living in a Romans 13 world, that we receive protection.
SPEAKER_00: We receive rewards from government for doing good.
SPEAKER_00: We receive protection from government when we are harmed.
SPEAKER_00: Romans 12 ends for a Christian a call for Christians not to repay evil.
SPEAKER_00: Romans 13 says the reason you don't have to repay evil for evil is that God will take care of you through the government.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul makes a pretty obvious point here.
SPEAKER_00: The government's not going to protect you if you're rebelling against it.
SPEAKER_00: So you want the Romans 13 protection?
SPEAKER_00: Don't rebel against the government.
SPEAKER_00: The world needs the government, I mean, sorry, the world needs the church to be a light in the world and to confront government for their sin and call them to repent, and governments need the church because Christians are good citizens.
SPEAKER_00: And when both sides realize that, they come to a kind of harmony, a functional truce that can operate well even in Nero's Rome.
SPEAKER_00: So, the imperative, submit to government payer taxes.
SPEAKER_00: The reason, because God made government, so you don't go to jail and your conscience doesn't convict you.
SPEAKER_00: The purpose, because they reward good and they punish evil.
SPEAKER_00: That's what they were designed to do.
SPEAKER_00: That doesn't mean this is a forever without exceptions rule.
SPEAKER_00: You're supposed to submit to government.
SPEAKER_00: That imperative has limits to it.
SPEAKER_00: That imperative, and I'm going to give you four limits that the Bible gives to that imperative, just so you know where we are.
SPEAKER_00: Four limits to that imperative.
SPEAKER_00: The first limit God gives to that imperative is the government can't command you to commit a sin.
SPEAKER_00: The government can't command you to do what I'm calling a positive sin.
SPEAKER_00: The government can't command you to steal something, for example.
SPEAKER_00: The government can't command you to sin.
SPEAKER_00: The government can't command you to worship an idol.
SPEAKER_00: And this sounds far-fetched perhaps to American believers.
SPEAKER_00: It's not far-fetched in different places of the world where believers are required to say, pay taxes to a temple.
SPEAKER_00: Or they are required to do certain things that would be contrary to the scripture.
SPEAKER_00: If the Bible commands you not to do something and the government commands you to do something, that is one of the limits of the government's commands.
SPEAKER_00: You don't commit a sin, even if the government tells you to.
SPEAKER_00: You don't steal, even if the government tells you to.
SPEAKER_00: So the Bible tells you, for example, to congregate, to worship as believers together, and the government tells you you cannot do that.
SPEAKER_00: That's an invalid command by the government because they're prohibiting something the Bible commands.
SPEAKER_00: Or if the government tells churches not to sing, to use another example.
SPEAKER_00: That's an invalid command.
SPEAKER_00: The government cannot prohibit something the Bible commands, that you're supposed to sing to one another, Ephesians 5, verse 19 says, with songs and psalms and spiritual songs, hymns and psalms and spiritual songs, Ephesians 5 19.
SPEAKER_00: The government tells you not to feed each other.
SPEAKER_00: Again, you can ignore that command because we just read it at the end of Romans 12.
SPEAKER_00: If somebody is hungry in the church, you give them food.
SPEAKER_00: The government cannot prohibit that.
SPEAKER_00: The government cannot.
SPEAKER_00: Prohibit something that is a positive moral virtue commanded by Scripture.
SPEAKER_00: The third limit on the government's authority is if the purpose of the law contradicts the mandate of the law.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, what I mean by that is you have freedom when the purpose of a law goes against the reason God gave government.
SPEAKER_00: So the example I used earlier, the government commands that you only drive a white car because it makes society look prettier and reduces global warming because white cars emit less heat than black cars, or whatever.
SPEAKER_00: They have some reason for it.
SPEAKER_00: Just because they have a reason for it doesn't mean you need to follow it.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to obey that kind of law because that's not why God made government.
SPEAKER_00: God didn't make government to dictate what kind of car you drive.
SPEAKER_00: God made government for reasons we looked at last week.
SPEAKER_00: Or it was repeated in Romans 13 to check evil and promote good.
SPEAKER_00: That kind of law does not check evil, nor does it promote good.
SPEAKER_00: It does neither of those things.
SPEAKER_00: So even inside of Romans 13, that kind of law is nonsensical because it does not check evil.
SPEAKER_00: It's not evil to drive a black car.
SPEAKER_00: It's not evil to drive a little red sports car.
SPEAKER_00: It's not evil.
SPEAKER_00: You're allowed to.
SPEAKER_00: And if the government prohibits it, that's not a valid use of government.
SPEAKER_00: Then that doesn't mean you should all go out and buy a red sports car just to show the government because we have those other reasons.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, you could go to jail, your conscience could convict you.
SPEAKER_00: So don't disobey government just, you know, to show its limits.
SPEAKER_00: Of course not.
SPEAKER_00: That's not the Christian's attitude.
SPEAKER_00: The Christian's attitude is not trying to expose how ridiculous some laws are.
SPEAKER_00: The Christian's attitude is trying to fit in.
SPEAKER_00: Trying to fit in.
SPEAKER_00: We want to do what the government says, but we recognize that if their laws go too far, our mandate to obey stops.
SPEAKER_00: It's probably still a good idea to obey for those other two reasons.
SPEAKER_00: Just to be a good citizen and stay under the radar, it's a good reason to stay under the radar.
SPEAKER_00: That's fine.
SPEAKER_00: But just know that there is a limit to the government's authority.
SPEAKER_00: You can still obey it when it goes over its limit.
SPEAKER_00: I hope you're hearing me clearly.
SPEAKER_00: You can still obey the government when the laws go over the limit.
SPEAKER_00: You can still obey.
SPEAKER_00: I found a fascinating story of a county in, I think it was South Carolina or Georgia, that passed a rule saying you must eat fried chicken with your fingers.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, that was the rule.
SPEAKER_00: No fork allowed.
SPEAKER_00: You must eat fried chicken with your fingers.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if you find yourself in that county and you eat fried chicken with a fork and a knife, you're not disobeying God.
SPEAKER_00: That's not why God made the government to protect you from I don't even know what.
SPEAKER_00: That's not why God made the government.
SPEAKER_00: You're allowed to eat fried chicken with your fingers, even if you're in a county that bans it.
SPEAKER_00: However, you probably should use your fingers so that you don't get in trouble with the law.
SPEAKER_00: Or you probably should use your fingers just so your conscience doesn't convict you.
SPEAKER_00: And I found a news story about this that some friends for to celebrate somebody's 90th birthday party through her birthday party with fried chicken, knowing that she would eat a fork and a knife when they had a police officer show up just to give the birthday girl in her 90th birthday ticket or a hard time or something for violating the law.
SPEAKER_00: It was a big practical joke and it was hilarious, and they all laughed.
SPEAKER_00: But hey, well, like I said earlier, if you don't want to do the time, don't do the crime, even if you're 90.
SPEAKER_00: The purpose of that kind of law violates the purpose of government.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't check evil, it doesn't promote the common good.
SPEAKER_00: And this is not something uh this is a long Christian heritage that comes with this school of thought.
SPEAKER_00: Let me give you a couple other quotes.
SPEAKER_00: Thomas Manton, who was actually kind of a government chaplain, he was Oliver Cromwell's chaplain in government.
SPEAKER_00: He wrote this in about 1670 or so.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Whatever God commandeth, I am bound to do, even in secret, though it may be my absolute to my absolute prejudice.
SPEAKER_00: But now submission to man may be performed by suffering the penalty, though the obedience required beforeborn.
SPEAKER_00: Let me translate that into English.
SPEAKER_00: If God tells you to do something, you do it at all times, even in secret, even in your house, even when nobody is watching, if it's a command of God, you always do it.
SPEAKER_00: But if the government gives you some kind of silly command that does not check evil or promote good, well, now you gotta think through what you're gonna do.
SPEAKER_00: You are still a subject to government if you disobey the command, as long as you suffer the penalty, is what he says.
SPEAKER_00: Though the obedience required may be foreborn.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, you're neglecting obeying the command, you're still a subject by being willing to go to jail for it.
SPEAKER_00: In some cases, a man may do contrary in private, where the thing is indifferent, and there is no danger of scandal and contempt of authority.
SPEAKER_00: So you can violate the law in private, there's no danger of scandal or contempt to authority.
SPEAKER_00: So I mentioned earlier that uh this morning when I was in Bhutan, Bhutan has a law that all Bhutanese citizens need to wear a uniform.
SPEAKER_00: When they're in public, they need to wear a uniform.
SPEAKER_00: It's a certain thing that the men have one style, the women have another style.
SPEAKER_00: Every citizen in Bhutan has to wear that when they're in public.
SPEAKER_00: So it's a question in the church.
SPEAKER_00: Do believers, when they gather in church that they're not supposed to be at, it's illegal for them to be in church, do they wear their uniform when they go to church?
SPEAKER_00: And some of them do, and some of them don't.
SPEAKER_00: There's nobody from the government there.
SPEAKER_00: It's in the church.
SPEAKER_00: It's not a law that promotes righteousness or checks evil.
SPEAKER_00: You're free to wear the uniform or not wear the uniform in God's sight.
SPEAKER_00: Many of the people do wear it just for the sake of their own conscience, and so they don't get in trouble with the government.
SPEAKER_00: It's one less thing to try to hide on their way to church.
SPEAKER_00: And other people don't wear it.
SPEAKER_00: And when they're all together in church, it's a gray error and they defer to each other over that.
SPEAKER_00: You don't judge one believer over another for wearing it or not wearing it.
SPEAKER_00: That's just the way the church operates.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Manton's talking about.
SPEAKER_00: It's in private.
SPEAKER_00: It's not going to be scandalous.
SPEAKER_00: You have freedom to do what you may or not.
SPEAKER_00: I know some of you are uh on the anti-masker side of things, and masks do no good, and all the studies done show that masks do no good, and rah.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, but when you go to giant when you go to giant, put on a mask.
SPEAKER_00: When you're hanging out at my house, you don't need to mask.
SPEAKER_00: When you go to giant, put on a mask.
SPEAKER_00: Because look at the last sentence there.
SPEAKER_00: You don't want to be cause of scandal.
SPEAKER_00: You're not trying to make a point.
SPEAKER_00: Could you win a court case about it?
SPEAKER_00: Probably.
SPEAKER_00: But you're not trying to make an argument, a giant.
SPEAKER_00: Who cares?
SPEAKER_00: Just put it on.
SPEAKER_00: Mask up, my friend.
SPEAKER_00: Pretend you're going to do a masquerade.
SPEAKER_00: It'll be great.
SPEAKER_00: My kids are almost tired of that joke.
SPEAKER_00: Calvin said it much more succinctly this way.
SPEAKER_00: Calvin said, our obligation to submit to laws looks to the purpose of law and not to the laws themselves.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, you're not obliged, you're not obliged to obey the silly laws.
SPEAKER_00: You look to the purpose of law, what promotes common good and what checks evil.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I know a lot of Americans, by the way, have said, no, you obey even the silly laws, you obey all laws unless they command sin.
SPEAKER_00: So a lot of American theologians have only given you the one exception.
SPEAKER_00: If the laws command you to sin, don't do that, but everything else is fair game.
SPEAKER_00: And I think historically, the reason why America there have been Americans that have said that is to justify slavery, to justify silence and slavery.
SPEAKER_00: Like, hey, slavery could go either way on this.
SPEAKER_00: You have to abide by the laws of slavery and turn away runaway slaves or whatnot, because that's what the law says.
SPEAKER_00: You need to submit to the government.
SPEAKER_00: And so I think a lot of American ethics has been skewed by that.
SPEAKER_00: That's why I like the British and even Calvin the French reformer and the Puritans themselves, I think, had a much more robust view of civic engagement in this because it wasn't tainted by the horrors of slavery.
SPEAKER_00: But I want to end with a quote of an American Presbyterian theologian who I think did rightly understand this, Charles Hodge, Princeton theologian, wrote, When the civil government may be and ought to be disobeyed is one which every man must decide for himself.
SPEAKER_00: It's a matter of private judgment.
SPEAKER_00: An unconstitutional, he's American here, so he's using that word the way we would know it, an unconstitutional law or commandment is a nullity.
SPEAKER_00: No man sins in disregarding it.
SPEAKER_00: He disobeys, however, at his peril.
SPEAKER_00: Do you see the Romans 13 echoes in there?
SPEAKER_00: If the government gives a law that's not constitutional and you break that law, you're doing so at your own peril.
SPEAKER_00: But you're not sinning in disobeying a non-constitutional law.
SPEAKER_00: You're not sinning by obeying a law that has been struck down by courts.
SPEAKER_00: You're not sinning by obeying it.
SPEAKER_00: But if you disobey it, you do so at your own risk.
SPEAKER_00: And that's the main point I'm trying to communicate to you with this section.
SPEAKER_00: Well, let me bring to the fourth limit here.
SPEAKER_00: The first limit was the government can't command you to positively sin.
SPEAKER_00: Second limit, the government can't command you to ignore a positive act of righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: Thirdly, the government can sometimes pass laws that go further than God's purpose in government, the mandate of government, and fourthly, the government can't infringe on the function of the church.
SPEAKER_00: This is the embassy nature of the church.
SPEAKER_00: We are kind of our own embassy here.
SPEAKER_00: That's the nature of the church in this world.
SPEAKER_00: We are citizens in two kingdoms.
SPEAKER_00: You recognize that.
SPEAKER_00: You're all a citizen, most of you are a citizen of the United States.
SPEAKER_00: You're also a citizen of heaven through faith in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And in most places in those worlds, those two circles overlap just fine.
SPEAKER_00: There's not a conflict.
SPEAKER_00: So when the coin is brought to Jesus and says Caesar's image is on it, should we pay it to Caesar or is that worshiping a false God?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, listen, get your two circles sorted out.
SPEAKER_00: That's my short version of that answer.
SPEAKER_00: Give to God what belongs to God.
SPEAKER_00: Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar.
SPEAKER_00: The more those you define those two circles, the freer you are to operate in this world.
SPEAKER_00: Nevertheless, those two circles do not interlock.
SPEAKER_00: They overlap, but they do not interlock.
SPEAKER_00: The government cannot regulate the affairs of the church.
SPEAKER_00: That's outside of its domain.
SPEAKER_00: Christ established a church.
SPEAKER_00: The scripture is the guide for the church.
SPEAKER_00: The elders are the leaders of the church under the authority of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: The government cannot regulate in terms of frequency of worship, in terms of how often you worship, in terms of what your worship looks like.
SPEAKER_00: It's outside the scope of government to regulate those basic things, which sounds so, again, obvious to Americans.
SPEAKER_00: It is so unusual in a lot of churches in the world, are ruled by their government.
SPEAKER_00: Whether you think the Anglican Church, which the Queen is the head of the Church of England, to different even Nordic countries, their own monarchs, as much as they still have them, exercise authority over the churches there.
SPEAKER_00: Bishops are signed off by a political appointees, even.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that is a common way that much of the world operates, but it ought not be that way.
SPEAKER_00: And in the Baptist tradition, of which we certainly fall in line with, we understand that the government does not have the authority to regulate or interfere with the affairs of the church.
SPEAKER_00: It exceeds their authority.
SPEAKER_00: And we don't flaunt that.
SPEAKER_00: We try to be good citizens in the world.
SPEAKER_00: We try to operate freely so the government leaves us alone.
SPEAKER_00: We want the government to leave us alone so we can work quietly with our hands and let the gospel go forward into the world.
SPEAKER_00: That's our goal.
SPEAKER_00: We don't want to cause a stink.
SPEAKER_00: We don't want to sue about things that are unconstitutional.
SPEAKER_00: We just want to fly under the radar, lead quiet lives, working quietly with our hands, being good witnesses to our neighbors.
SPEAKER_00: That's our goal.
SPEAKER_00: When the government steps in and tries to regulate what happens in the church, it is out of bounds for them.
SPEAKER_00: There's a couple biblical examples of this.
SPEAKER_00: Acts chapter 4.
SPEAKER_00: The leaders of the Sanhedrin were upset at Peter and John for preaching the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Acts chapter 4, verse 17, after arresting them, they decreed that the gospel should spread no further among the people.
SPEAKER_00: So they solemnly charged Peter and John to speak no more to anyone in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: That's in Acts 4, verse 18.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 19, Peter and John answered them.
SPEAKER_00: Well, whether it's right, just listen to their answer.
SPEAKER_00: Whether it's right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than God, you yourselves can judge.
SPEAKER_00: Just think about all the truth that's in that answer.
SPEAKER_00: They say, don't tell people about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Peter and John say.
SPEAKER_00: If it's right for you to say something that contradicts God, you can sort that out.
SPEAKER_00: That's between you and the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: We're not going to tell you it's wrong for you to say that.
SPEAKER_00: You can sort that out.
SPEAKER_00: As for us, we're going to listen to God.
SPEAKER_00: You do you, we'll do us.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 20, we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.
SPEAKER_00: So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them because of all the people who are praising God for what had just happened.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's what happens in that kind of situation.
SPEAKER_00: They arrest the believers, they're going to punish them.
SPEAKER_00: Meanwhile, the crowds outside, who many of whom aren't even converted, are praising God because of the gospel ministry of those two and the signs and wonders and miracles.
SPEAKER_00: So Acts chapter 5, they let Peter and John go.
SPEAKER_00: They go right out at preaching again, find themselves arrested again, back in front of the same judges again.
SPEAKER_00: It's like, hey, you're looking familiar.
SPEAKER_00: When they brought them in, Acts 5, verse 27, they set them before the council, and the high priest questioned them, saying, We strictly charge you not to teach in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Yea, here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us.
SPEAKER_00: But Peter answered him, We must obey God rather than man.
SPEAKER_00: And that really sums up the New Testament ethics on this well enough.
SPEAKER_00: Now, when the government leaves us alone, we have the ability to preach the gospel to the world, like Peter and John were, which is what God has commanded us to do.
SPEAKER_00: The scriptures command us to meet and worship and fellowship and scatter into the world to bring the good news of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: In this era of history, we recognize that God is not building a nation, He's building a church.
SPEAKER_00: And so the Lord's domain over this world is not expressed through a nation, but through a church, many churches, and it's through the church that he is establishing the gospel of righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: But the citizens of the kingdom of heaven are still citizens on earth, subject to our own empires on earth, and we ought to be subject to them well.
SPEAKER_00: Knowing that if we're good citizens, we receive a reward.
SPEAKER_00: And we circumvent their laws, we receive a punishment.
SPEAKER_00: And that punishment can be severe because God gave the government the sword.
SPEAKER_00: And so we would never disobey willy-nilly or flippantly.
SPEAKER_00: We recognize the government has a sword for a reason.
SPEAKER_00: Nevertheless, God alone is owed absolute allegiance.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, we're thankful that even for your model of how you interacted with Pilate, you respected Pilate's authority and yet you recognize that his authority came from your Heavenly Father.
SPEAKER_00: May we do the same.
SPEAKER_00: May we respect our government's authority, may we operate in concert with what your gov our government would have us do, all the while recognizing that their authority is limited because it is divine.
SPEAKER_00: The very thing that requires us to be subject to it puts restraints on it.
SPEAKER_00: We recognize that that thing is a person, that person is you, our Heavenly Father.
SPEAKER_00: And so we submit gladly and willfully to you.
SPEAKER_00: No one is out absolute allegiance except you.
SPEAKER_00: And we're thankful that you are a Master who is gentle and a Master who is forgiving and merciful towards us.
SPEAKER_00: And you are all the you are all those things to us through Jesus Christ, and it's in his name we pray.
unknown: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: And now for a parting word from Pastor Jesse Johnson.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for joining us today.
SPEAKER_00: If you're in the Washington, D.C.
SPEAKER_00: area, I would love to meet you personally at Emmanuel Bible Church.
SPEAKER_00: Our service times and other church information is on our website at ibc.church.
SPEAKER_00: If you want information about the Master Seminary and their Washington, D.C.
SPEAKER_00: location, go to tms.edu.
SPEAKER_00: I hope this resource has been an encouragement to you and it helps you seek the Lord daily, serve others around you, and share the gospel of Jesus Christ with boldness.
SPEAKER_00: May the Lord bless you.