Responding to Authorities

Last subject here. These are not in order, so you don't know what's coming next, so you can't prepare yourself. So I'd like to look at this subject of authority and responding to it.

I know that in many cases the word authority causes people to kind of twitch a little bit, in large part because of bad experiences with authority. But if you look in the Bible, authority is a good word, good concept. It is a concept that is established by the Lord, and so it's something that you ought to embrace it.

And actually as we go through here, we ought to thank God for it. And God has established it and there's a purpose in it. So we're going to look at Romans 13 and maybe look at a little bit in 1 Peter, but I want to go over the subject here and talk to you about it and how to respond to authority as we get down to the end here of the message.

So let's acknowledge the Lord and pray, then we'll look into his word. Heavenly Father, we acknowledge your word is the truth. And you said, Lord, that the truth will set us free.

And Lord, the devil is trying to bring us into bondage by believing lies, lies about you, lies about the purpose of life, many lies, Lord. And we know that every lie is coming from the devil. And Lord, we want to embrace the truth.

And may you set people free here to live a life that is pleasing and honoring to you. We pray your blessing now in our time as we open up your word in Jesus name. Amen.

Well, Romans chapter 13 is a chapter that many of us are familiar with with regards to authority. And so let's start here in verse number one. I want to walk down through this passage and look at a number of things.

First of all, verse one says, let every soul. I want to stop right there and say that this message here is for every soul. There are no exceptions.

Let every soul, everyone here, everyone around the world has a responsibility here to authority. We all have some authorities in life. If you're a child, you have more authorities than anybody else.

Starting with parents, you have authorities, governors, mayors, presidents, policemen, you have many, many authorities. And let me just say this to the young people, something that you need to learn in life is that God gives you many authorities in your youth. Because if you'll learn how to respond to authority in a good way, he'll put you in authority and he'll give you places of authority.

Jesus has all authority and power and he subjected himself to his parents and he was under authority. And if you're never, if you never learn to be under authority, you'll never be in authority. That's the truth.

So learn to be under authority. Authority is a good teaching tool. And so there are many authorities in the Bible.

There's parents, there's a husband, there's police, there's governors, there's presidents, there's kings, there's masters. And so we're going to talk all these authorities in life. Let every soul, verse one, be subject unto the higher powers for there is no power but of God.

The powers that be are ordained of God. And so this word power is the word authority. It's a power of the authorities.

And there are higher authorities, those authorities that are above you. For example, the highest authority is God and all of us are subject to him. There are princes and there are kings and there are presidents and there are mayors and there are husbands and all of us have a higher power.

We're not to be under subjection to those under us. Like a husband is not to be under the authority of his wife or parents are not to be under the authority of the children. But let every soul be subject unto the higher powers, those that are above you.

And we'll look at some of them here this morning. First Corinthians chapter 11, verse 3, a very familiar verse. It says, But I would have you to know that the head of every man is Christ and the head of the woman is the man and the head of Christ is God.

And so there's order here. God is supreme. Christ is under his authority.

Jesus came under the authority of God the Father. Man is under Christ and the woman is under the man. So if you look at it this way, the woman has higher powers, her husband or the man, Christ and God.

The man has higher powers, Christ and God. Christ has a higher power, his father. And the father has no higher power than him.

So as you look at the authority structure, you have those who are higher powers. Well, it says here in verse number one, There is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God.

Now we do ordinations here sometimes and an ordination simply is to set someone in a place, in a position. And so here God says that every power is set in place by the Lord. And that's important to remember.

All of these authorities are not man's ideas. You know, the idea of a king, a judge, that came from God in the Old Testament. The idea that a wife is to be under a husband, that's back in Genesis chapter two and chapter three.

All of these authorities are ordained by God. God has chosen this format. So when people reject authority, they're rejecting the ordination of God or the purposes of God.

Every place you go in the world, you'll find authority. And you go to the back jungles of Africa, you're going to find authority there. People who don't even have a Bible, don't even know who Jesus Christ is or who God is, who are atheists.

If you go into their societies, you'll find an authority structure. And it's all over everywhere you go around the world. If you go, travel to the moon, and there's nobody there.

And you say, I'm finally free from authority. All you got to do is look up into the heaven and say, oh no, I'm not. I'm still under authority.

God the Father and God the Son is my authority. And so God has established authority. And so I don't want you to have a bad taste in your mouth about authority.

It's something that is good. It's something that's ordained of God. And all of these authorities are set in place of the Lord.

Now just stop and think about this for a minute. Can you imagine a world where there's no authority? Just think about that. There is no authority.

In other words, there's no king. There's no laws. There's no police.

There's no husband. There's no parents. Children have as much authority as the parents.

Everybody's on an equal plane. There is no authority structure. What would the world be like if there was no authority? It'd be utter chaos, wouldn't it? No one to give direction.

No one to set speed limits. No one to call, you know, my daughter or my son has just been murdered. Can you come and help me? There are no police.

No one to punish evil. And so it's a good thing and you ought to thank God for authorities. Because apart from authorities, our world would be utterly chaotic.

You remember in the American history when people went out west and they went out to the prairie and they went, you know, to the Montanas and the Wyomings and they established communities out there. But when you're out there, no authorities are out there. There's no government.

And they called it back then the wild, wild west because it was a wild place. And you could murder people and no one would even find the person, no one would even care. I mean, there wasn't any authorities to deal with it.

So it's a different environment. Judges 17, 6 says in the Old Testament, in those days there was no king in Israel and every man did that which was right in his own eyes. And so that's the way the world would be.

Can you imagine that? And so we ought to be thankful. Thank God for the authority structures that we have because if we don't have them, we're going to be in a mess. And I think we ought to be concerned if we have a desire to be out from under authority.

Like I don't need authority. You know, there was a demonic creature named Lucifer who wanted to exalt himself above God and have no authority above him. I don't want authority.

I don't want God to be my authority. I'm going to put my throne up equal with Him. And so it's not a good thing for you to want to be out from under authority.

And so God knows fallen man. He knows his condition. And that fallen man needs authority.

And so let's keep reading here in verse number 2. Whosoever therefore resisteth the authority or the power resisteth the ordinance of God. And they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. Now keep this in mind.

This was written to the Romans during the time of Nero. During the time of 65, 66, 67 AD. This was during a time when the king was an evil king.

One of the most notorious evil kings throughout history. And so when God wrote the Bible, He understood that there would be tyrants. He understood that there would be disobedient husbands.

He understood there'd be corrupt politicians. He understood that there would be parents who'd be drug addicts. He understood that there's a lot of bad situations going to be in the world.

But still I'm going to set authorities there even though those authorities aren't going to be perfect. So here we are today. Many of us are authorities and we acknowledge that we're not perfect.

Neither are our politicians. Neither is our president. Neither are the police.

They're not perfect people. And yet God does not require the authorities to be perfect. And that's something we need to remember.

We do not honor, we do not obey authorities because of their lifestyle. We honor them because of the position that God has given us. And that's the issue.

I don't say that a policeman just recently one picked me up and came to the passenger side of my car and I was going a little over the speed limit and I rolled down the window and he talked to me there, asked for my information. And I don't say to that policeman, do you do drugs? Do you smoke? Are you divorced? And give him the rundown. Well, if you don't have a godly life, I'm not going to listen to you.

I'm going to disrespect you. No, it doesn't matter what his life is like. The fact that he's a policeman gets my respect.

And that's important because when you look at your authorities, sometimes you say they're not good. These people. I mean, my parents, they just, they don't have it together.

How should I respect or how can I respect them? My dad is going out spending the money on alcohol. He comes home half the time drunk. And how are you calling me God to respect authority when look at my authority? It's a mess.

My husband's a mess. Our country's a mess. Our politicians are a mess.

So, it's not about how the person's living, it's the position. Bible says honor the king, honor the position of king, but there's no names ever given. Obey your husband, but no name is ever given.

Honor your parents. I told the children here this morning, but God didn't give the names of the parents to honor. He just said, if you have parents, you honor them.

If you have a king, you honor him. If you have a husband, you honor him. You honor the position.

You honor the king if he's not a conservative, even. You honor the king if he's pro-abortion. You honor him.

1 Peter 2.13 says, submit yourselves to every ordinance. Some of them, I don't like them. Well, it doesn't say anything about what ones you do like and don't like.

Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, not for your sake, whether it be to the king as supreme or under governors as under them that are sent by him. You notice that? Sent by the Lord. All these kings and governors are ordained of God.

They're sent by him for the punishment of evil doers. Thank God for that. So, authority is very important.

It's God-ordained. And it's not about how the person is living. It's about the position.

For example, God comes down and says, here, children, I set two parents into your life, and I want you to honor them. And the children say, but Lord, you know, my dad and mom, they don't have it all together. I didn't say anything about that.

I said, your parents are your authority. You honor them. And all the way up the list.

Now, there's only one exception, and I'm going to throw that in here, and you see a few examples of this in the Bible. But when your authority asks you to do something that a higher authority says you shouldn't do, and you all understand that, you know, if your husband asks your wife to do something that God tells you not to do, you always appeal to that higher authority. So, there's some beautiful examples of this in the Bible.

And by the way, God loves this. And I'm going to show you, if you do this, you're going to get some special treatment from the Lord. Because if you go back in the Bible and look at all these stories that a person who loved God had appealed to the higher authority, the Lord did amazing things.

For example, you take Daniel, who was commanded by God to pray and to seek His face. As a matter of fact, the psalmist said that we're to pray morning, noon, and evening. Daniel prayed three times a day in obedience to the psalm, and then the decree came from the king that you cannot pray to anyone else but the king.

Remember that story? That's right. Daniel said, I've got to pray to God. He's the higher power.

And he said, I'm going to suffer for it. And he did. And you know, he said now, and I wasn't there, but he said, Darius, listen, I respect and honor you as a position here, but I've got a bigger authority I've got to deal with.

And my Father in Heaven says, pray three times a day, and I'm going to do it. I respectfully have to disobey you. And of course, Darius was upset, but we're going to throw you in the lions, then, because you're not obeying the king, but you're honoring God, who's the higher power.

Guess who showed up? The Lord showed up. And the book of Daniel is filled with these examples. Those three Hebrew children, we tell our children that story, but they were told to bow down to an image, and they said, wait a minute, we've got a higher power here.

The king says you need to bow to this image, but God says, don't bow to the image. I just read that this morning, not making images and bowing before them. And those three Hebrew children said, I'm sorry, Nebuchadnezzar, respectfully.

We can't do it. We've got a higher power that says, I can't do this. Nebuchadnezzar was furious.

Threw them in a fiery furnace. Guess who shows up? The Lord shows up. You know, oftentimes people say, well, my authority, you know, and if you ask me to do this, but I can't, I'm going to suffer.

Well, why don't you go ahead and suffer? And the Lord will show up and do something miraculous. You know, the New Testament, they're told not to preach. Jesus just said, go and preach the gospel everywhere.

And the authorities said, no. And they said, we have to respectfully submit to the higher power. And they threw in a jail cell.

And guess who showed up? Open the door. I think God likes that. Seems like he shows up a lot.

When we have to suffer for doing right. There was a couple up and we helped my wife and I went up to a church in Wellington. Remember that well, we'd leave on Sunday after church.

We have a meal and then drive up to Wellington. It was about two and a half hours north up by Lake Erie. We helped the church for probably two years to get started up there back in the early 2000s.

A bunch of young families, young couples. And there was a young couple there. And I remember I was going through this message.

The wife came to me one night. We were having a meeting. She pulled me aside and said, Brother Jerry, I got a question for you.

My husband wants me to dress in an immodest way in public. And I know the Bible says to submit yourself to your husband and everything, but I don't know what to do. Should I dress immodestly so that I can obey my husband? And I shared with her, you have a higher authority than your husband.

And the Lord says not to dress immodestly. And so what you're going to have to do is you're going to have to say to your husband respectfully and with honor, you cannot dress this way because you have a conscience toward God and you need to appeal to the higher power. And you may have to suffer for it.

Your husband may get angry with you. Who knows what may happen? And so these things can be real life situations. And so God will show up.

Let's turn. Hold your finger here. We're going to come back.

Turn to 1 Peter chapter 2. 1 Peter chapter 2. Peter comments on this very thing. And also in 1 Peter chapter 2, starting in verse 13. Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether it be to the king as supreme or unto governors.

Now I look at it this way. I'll submit to anything that the king or governor says. I'll do it unless it causes my conscience to be violated before God.

I'll submit. 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.

The well-doing here is obeying authority. As free and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God, honor all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king. Even if he's a liberal.

Servants, now look at this. Servants be subject to your masters with all fear. We'll look at that word in a little bit.

Not only to the good and gentle. Everybody likes that. Give me a husband that's good and gentle.

Give me a king that's good and gentle. Give me parents that are good and gentle. I can submit myself to them.

Not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. You know what that word froward is? Look it up in the concordance. It means the word is warped.

Warped. In other words, the Lord is saying if your authority is warped, you know, sometimes you say, my parents are warped. My husband, he's warped.

This country, the government is warped. Submit to them. Even if they're froward.

Servants. Not just submitting with all fear to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. Now here is the beauty in it.

Verse 19, For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. That's exactly what Daniel did. The three Hebrew children did.

Peter was thrown in prison for doing the right thing and appealing to the higher power. Suffering wrongfully. That lady up in Wellington, I could have said to her, listen, you need to dress modestly.

God has commanded it. And your husband may get angry and you may suffer. He may rebuke and yell and scream.

Who knows? He may hit you. And you may have to suffer. But listen, that's a thankworthy thing.

Look at verse 20, For what glory is it if when you're buffeted for your faults, you take it patiently? But if when you do well and suffer for it, you take it patiently? This is acceptable with God. You know, that's why God shows up. Hey, here's what's really impressing me.

You know, it's not when you go out and you murder someone or you do something evil and they throw you in jail and you have to suffer six months or 20 years in a jail cell. That's not where it's thankworthy. Here's where it's really thankworthy.

If you do the right thing and you pray three times a day and you get thrown in the lion's den for doing it, that's what gets my attention, God. And verse 21, For even hereunto were you called. Oh, how's that one? You and I are called to this kind of a life because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you need to follow in his steps.

Now, anybody knows this, the Lord didn't do anything wrong. As a matter of fact, he's before the king, he's before Pilate and Pilate and the rest of the Jews are trying to figure out something he's done wrong. I mean, I'm sure they went and said, King, he's violated the speed limit.

King, he didn't follow your laws. King, he didn't do this and that. And the other thing, certainly there will be something they could get him on.

He didn't pay his taxes. But he's before the king and they couldn't find anything even amongst the Roman laws that he did wrong. Pilate said, I find no fault in him.

And then he goes on and he gets put on a cross for it and he gets killed for doing the right thing, for obeying his Father. And you and I are called to that life. You know, I don't think we should, why do I have to suffer under this authority I have? Why do I have to go through this? Why is my government like this? Why is my husband, why do my parents, God, why do I have to go through this? It's actually something that you can be benefited by.

I mean, there's some great men, Daniel, Jesus, three Hebrew children, Peter, the apostles, who've already told you and taught you. Hey, respond correctly to it, even to the point of having to suffer. Christ did no sin, yet he suffered for it.

Well, let's keep reading. Jump down to chapter 3, verse 1. Likewise. Now that word likewise, talking about ye wise, goes back to verse 18 of chapter 2. Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear.

It's talking about having to suffer for doing the right thing. Chapter 3, verse 1. Likewise, ye wise, be in subjection to your own husband, that if any obey not the word. You know, thank God that most of us, the wives here, have husbands that obey the word.

But if any does not obey the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives, while they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear. So again, it doesn't matter whether the husband's good or bad. It's how you respond to your authority.

We might come back to this passage here in just a little bit. Jump back to Romans 13. Romans 13 here, that's one thing I like to hear.

You know, these computers and these phones, you're looking at your Bible, you don't hear those pages of the Bible go back and forth. Isn't that nice? Romans 13. Let's keep reading.

Verse 2. Whosoever therefore resists the power, resists the ordinance of God, and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. And so when we resist authority, we resist the one whom God has set in that place. And so we are resisting the Lord.

And the word damnation here means judgment. Judgment is the same as damnation. You know, we talk about damnation, that's kind of a scary word.

We'd rather use the word judgment. Eternal damnation is the word that's really troubling. Eternal judgment.

But it says if you resist those authorities, you're going to be judged. A lot of people have judgments in their life because they're in rebellion against authority. Judgment comes to those who resist authority.

Children, obey your parents and the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment, with promise that it may be well with you. Listen, if you respond to your authority good, it'll go well.

If you rebel against your authority, it won't go well. And that goes right up the line. Wives, it won't go well if you don't respond to your authorities.

You know, in the government, it won't go well if we don't respond to our politicians and our governors and our mayors and our police. A long life, it goes well. The eye that mocks father and mother is going to get plucked out.

That doesn't sound like an appealing thing to me. In the Old Testament, sons and daughters who cursed their parents were brought to the congregation in stone. That's what God thinks of.

You know, you curse my authority, you curse me. You curse who I set in authority over you, you curse me. Verse 3 of Romans 13, for rulers are not a terror 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 does evil. Now, notice here, and I've taught this before, but I think it's important that some of you haven't been here, but three times here it says, he is the minister of God.

Now, I know this is moving more towards our civil authorities. How many of you think of President Biden as the minister of God? How many of you think of the policeman out there as the minister of God? Well, I tell you what, if you thought of the policeman as the minister of God, you'd say, yes, sir. You'd have respect for him.

Minister of God. You know why he's the minister of God? Because God ordained and set him right here. He's ordained.

He's placed there by the Lord. He's the Lord's minister. He may be unconverted.

Most of them probably are, but God has set them in place. The President is the minister of God. The Governor is the minister of God.

Your husband is the minister of God. Your parents are the minister of God. The police are the ministers of God.

You know, our society is falling apart because people are losing respect for authority, and it's going to be chaos. Calling policemen pigs and cops instead of having respect. Disrespecting our President.

Disrespecting our Governor. Disrespecting our husband. Disrespecting our parents.

This thing is just collapsing. And chaos is coming, if it's not revival. Notice what it says here in verse 4, for he is the minister of God to thee for good.

God has good in mind. Some of you think, let's just get rid of all this authority and life would be wonderful. No, life would be chaotic.

God knows what he's doing. He is setting authorities in your life for your 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 does evil. God has given him the right to bear the sword.

In other words, he has the right to discipline and to punish. That's why parents are given the right to spank their children. Their authority.

God says, Mom, Dad, your children here when they do wrong, you discipline them. You give out punishment. And that's why the policeman has a gun and he can throw you in a prison.

That's why the President can put you in a lion's den. Authorities have been given the right to carry a sword. The authority to discipline.

So God gives these ministers the right to punish evil. Now I'm not a pacifist and God is not a pacifist. You know what a pacifist is? It's not someone who's non-resistant.

A pacifist is someone who doesn't believe we should hurt anyone. We shouldn't have any wars. We shouldn't shoot anyone as a policeman.

We shouldn't have the death sentence. We shouldn't hurt anyone. A pacifist.

God's not a pacifist. He actually gives the sword to certain people and says, you take this sword and if people don't respond to authority, you use it. And parents, if your children don't respond to authority, you use your authority.

And you deal with it. And? All the way up the structure. By the way, is God going to deal with rebellion? Yes, He is.

And He's the supreme authority. And so some people bear the sword. I don't mind to see that policeman packing whatever he packs.

I don't mind the military loading up with guns and missiles. I don't mind at all. Thank God for the American military.

Thank God for the allies that stopped the evil of Adolf Hitler in this world. Or Adolf Hitler would have been a tyrant and he would have brought chaos to the world. But God, who establishes authorities all over the world, used His ministers to crush Hitler.

And here we are. So they bear a sword. And I wouldn't criticize them for bearing a sword.

Now Jesus did not harm anyone, but He never resisted the government's right to do so. He never stopped them from doing their job. Let's look here at the last part of verse 4. It says, For He is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that does evil.

God's ministers execute wrath. God is for the jail system. He's for the prison system.

He's for guns. He's for swords. He's for the military.

And when a policeman shoots someone, he's not a murderer. He's simply responding to His calling as a minister of God. And I've said this over the years.

We need to respect these people. Respect them. And I've told this story before, but I remember the day up here at Neff's and Mount Vernon, coming through the line, there was an old man, had a veteran hat on, probably, I don't know, he was 85, 90 years old.

And I was just moved. Maybe I had been preaching on this, or teaching on it. I was going through the grocery line.

I was moved to go over to the man and just say, thank you for serving in the military. Now I know some of you have a hard time with that. Thank you for being God's minister.

I said that to him. He started to cry. Nobody's ever said that to me.

Just thank you. Now I say this as a Christian. We're going to go on here and it says, they, they, they do this, they.

I don't think it's a place for a Christian to be. But I do think we need to honor and respect them. Our society is falling apart nowadays because of our lack of respect for the police, the military, our rulers.

And we as a church ought not to be conformed to this world. We ought to raise our level of respect for authority. Not follow the course of this world.

And if people violate the laws of the authorities, we need to discipline them. We need to deal with it. And I know like the Catholic church, many times the church tries to hide people from the authorities, but that's not our calling.

Our calling is this, when people do evil, they need to suffer for it. A murderer, a rapist, a thief, they need to face the authorities and face up for their crime. You probably don't know this, but back in 2000, my wife would remember this.

We had a man in the church for two or three years, four years, five years, Ralph Chapman. He was probably 70, 75 years old at the time. I must have been preaching on Sunday.

He'd come up to me and he said, Brother Jerry, I want to make a confession. I said, okay. He said, I murdered a man 50 years ago.

I can take you to the spot where I killed him. Never told anybody. Wow, that's the kind of things that pastors get from me.

You murdered somebody. All right. So Joe Thompson was the other elder.

I said, Joe, what are we doing about this? He seemed to be honest, a confession. I murdered somebody. He said, I'll take you to where I did it.

I said, okay. The next day we drove down south of Newark, south of Heath, on the way down 79 there to Route 70, the interstate. We stopped the car.

He said, right here, there used to be a store here, there used to be this here, and I took this man. We got in a fight and I beat him until he was dead and I drug him. He took me out to where he drug him.

He said, I buried him somewhere out here. So I went to the library and I looked up newspapers back in, they have them on those microfilm things, back in the 1940s. He said, pretty much it was this month, it was this year.

Tried to figure out, is there any newspaper clippings of a missing person? I went through to try to find somebody. Couldn't find anybody. Finally, we went to a lawyer and he confessed this to a lawyer.

I murdered a man. Don't even know his name. So we got in a fight at a bar.

I beat him. Killed him. I drug him out there and buried him.

Lawyer looked into it. Lawyer came back and said, I can find nothing. Nobody could press charge.

Let's keep reading. Verse 5, wherefore you must need to be subject not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. Two reasons why you need to be subject to authority.

Not only to avoid the wrath of that authority, but also to have a clear conscience before God. You know, I'm sure Daniel's in the lion's den and his heart is just rejoicing, I did the right thing. I did the right thing.

Praise God. You know, it's good to have a clear conscience. Verse 6, for this cause pay ye tribute also, for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing.

You know what? We're supposed to pay taxes to support these people. That's what the word tribute means is taxes. By the way, April 15th is coming up.

And taxes are a good thing because they support the authority. I know they waste money and I know they take more than they should, but God doesn't qualify it again here. He says, I want you to pay your taxes.

Support my ministers. God is for taxes. I remember through the years, I remember one person in particular.

It was a part of the church. She was telling me, we shouldn't pay taxes. The Constitution.

The Constitution. And we went around and around on it. I said, we should pay taxes.

The Bible. The Bible. By the way, the Constitution is not a higher power over the Bible.

Amen. So it's God's word. So the police, the standing army, the government, they need our support.

You know, it's interesting. People skip out of paying taxes and they call the police when they have problems. Or they complain about the potholes.

But we need to pay taxes. That's a good thing. Don't try to skip out on your taxes.

Talks about taxes. Now I'm getting down here to... I know I don't have much time, but let's get down here to verse 7. Render therefore to all their dues. Yep, all of them.

Tribute to whom tribute is due. That's tax, like the IRS, government taxes. Custom to whom custom is due.

That's special levy taxes, like school levies. If you've ever been in a third world country, there's all kinds of booths set up at different places. You go down the road, and what's this booth for? You gotta pay a little bit of money there.

You go a little further down the road, what's this booth for? You gotta pay a little bit more money there. All these customs. By the way, Levi was one of the men that sat at one of these booths.

Customs. And he collected taxes. Remember when Jesus was asked about taxes? Probably the temple tax.

You have to support the temple, so pay taxes. Jesus said to Peter, go fishing. And Peter, the first fish you pull up, open up its mouth, there'll be a coin in there.

Now that's an amazing miracle there. And he did. And there was a coin.

There's two words here I want to talk about in closing. And they're found in verse 7. Let's read it again. Render therefore to all their dues.

Tribute to whom tribute is due. Custom to whom custom. And these two words here.

Fear to whom fear. And honor to whom honor. So there's two attitudes here that are good.

Fear and honor. Now most people think fear is a bad word. But fear is a good word.

Look back to verse number 4. For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid. Here the Lord tells you to be afraid.

You better fear those authorities because they have the power to bring you into the jail cell. They have a power to write you a ticket for $300. You ought to fear them because they have the power to discipline you.

So render fear to those who do fear. Is it true that we ought to fear God? Why do we fear God? Some people try to downplay that. But here's the truth.

Jesus said fear not him who can kill your body, but fear him who can destroy both body and soul in hell. You know why you fear God? Because he has the sword. He has the power to send you to hell forever.

That's honest truth. You ought to fear God. By the fear of the Lord men depart from evil.

The fear of God is a good thing. And if we ought to fear God because he has the big sword and he can cut you down at any time and send you to hell forever to be tormented day and night forever and ever. If God who is the supreme authority can do that then he's also given his ministers the right to carry a sword too.

And you ought to fear the president because he can put you in a prison. You ought to fear the governor. You ought to fear the mayor.

You ought to fear the police. They can write you a fine. They can take out their gun and shoot you.

And you ought to fear your husband. You ought to fear your parents because they can take you into a room and spank you. Amen.

You ought to fear those in authority. Ah, you know, people just disregard. Ah, yeah, yeah.

It's not a good attitude. Render fear to whom fear is due. God's ministers have the power to punish evil.

Therefore, you ought to fear them because God punishes evil. So children, I think it's good as parents for us to teach our children you need to fear mom and dad because there's this thing called a rod. And you can face consequences.

And it's a good thing for that little heart to say, yes, dad, yes, mom, and to fear. And it's a good thing for us to fear, too. Fear God.

You know how you're driving your car and you look in the mirror and you see those lights flashing behind you? That heart goes, oh, there's a fear. And then you're relieved when it just flies by you, you know. But that's a good fear.

I fear doing evil because I know that there's a God in heaven. So God likes to see us saying, oh, God, I fear you. I fear you.

You have the power to send me to hell. I fear you. I know people today try to downplay that whole word.

But it says here we are to fear because of the sword. And we should also say this, I would never want to disobey my authority because I fear them. I fear their rebuke.

I fear their discipline. And I think that's a healthy fear. Children ought to have a fear of their parents.

We ought to have a healthy fear of government and police. Now, I want you to turn. We won't come back here to Romans, but turn to 1 Peter once.

1 Peter 2. Again, verse 17. We're going to keep going down here. Verse 17, it says, Honor all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the King.

Now notice verse 18. Servants, be subject to your masters with all what? Fear. That's the boss.

Two words here. Servants, be subject to your own masters with all fear, and not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. Subject and fear.

Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear. I fear displeasing my master. Boy, wouldn't that be something.

I fear displeasing my boss. And look over at chapter 3. Same two words. In verse number 1. Likewise, ye wise, be in subjection.

There's the word subject. To your own husband that if any obey not the word, they also without the word be won by the conversation of the wise, while they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear. Those are good things.

I'm in subjection to my authority, and I have a fear in my heart. A displeasing my authority. Oh, I know this doesn't go over well in many places.

I'm just reading what it says. And so a fear of authority. You know when there's no fear that disobedience then runs rampant.

First Timothy 5 says this. Elders, those that sin, rebuke before all that others may what? Fear. And that is a good attitude for those under authority to have fear.

Not to be fearful of circumstances. I'm fearful of what might happen tomorrow. I'm fearful that we're going to lose all our money.

I'm fearful that my children are going to go this way. I'm fearful of all the circumstances. There's going to be a tornado.

No, I'm fearing displeasing my authority. Let me ask you some questions. Do you fear God today? Do you fear the king? Do you fear your husband? Whoa, that's interesting, isn't it? Do you fear your parents' children? Do you fear the police? Well, Rolands 13.7 says fear to whom fear is due and honor to whom honor is due.

Now, the word honor is to esteem them highly. Why would you esteem your authorities highly? Because they're God's ministers. So you.

Whoa. God has you in this place. Forget your person.

You're in his place. And I need to honor. Parents, do you love it when your children honor you? Beautiful thing.

Honor. Then why don't we honor our authorities? You know, we ought to honor our authorities like we want our children to honor us. And so when I come before the President of the United States, I don't come in my painting clothes.

I come dressed to honor him. I come and I approach him respectfully. And I realize there's a lot of disrespect toward authority today.

Parents being a father, being called an old man, not good. Police being called pigs, not good. People speaking evil of the President of the United States.

Now, I agree that you can say I don't agree. I respectfully disagree with Mr. Biden's position. But he's God's minister to our nation and we need to honor him.

And so fear and honor. To honor someone is to esteem them highly. Many of you were brought up in church and you were taught to respect the minister.

You know, the minister. Respect the minister. But these also are God's ministers.

I'm almost done. Let me share with you one more thing here. I've talked with some of you about this.

Look at 1 Peter 3, verses 5 and 6. This honor is sometimes associated with how you talk to an individual. Verse 5 of chapter 3, For after this manner in the old time the holy women also who trusted in God adorned themselves being in subjection unto their own husbands, even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, whose daughters you are as long as you do well and are not afraid with any amazement. You know that word is, Lord is a respectful word.

And you don't have to use the word Lord per se, but you're giving someone a title of respect. Sarah said to Abraham, Lord. It's not a capital L, it's a small l. It's like a servant saying master to his boss.

It's just elevating them. Honor is to esteem or to push someone up. Give them a high place.

And here in the Bible, Sarah gave Abraham a high place by giving him a title that was respectful. Now, some of you have grown up where you've heard the word sir a lot. I was at a restaurant just this week, meditating upon this, and the waitress came and she kept saying to me, sir, what would you like? Sir, do you have plenty of that to drink? Sir, this, sir, that.

And it is a respectful thing. I just cringe when I go to the gas station up here and I pay my money for the gas and the older lady says, thanks, honey. Sweetheart.

You know, she's probably 60. She's calling me sweetheart. It doesn't make me feel good.

It'd be much better to say thank you, sir. Something's good about that. And here's something else.

I just want to throw this out. I don't have any problems with it. But children calling older men by their first name.

There's something that's not right. I'll take little Josh over here coming up and saying, hi, Jerry. Dennis Stevens.

Some of you remember Dennis Stevens. Probably late 80s. Godly man.

He used to come here for many years. Can you imagine a little four or five-year-old, hi, Dennis. I just cringe when I hear that.

Dennis. No, no, no, no, no. He's Mr. Stevens, sir.

He is an aged man, and you need to esteem him. And I taught my children as they grew up, when you talk to the brothers here, they're always Mr. This or Mr. That. I just feel kind of funny.

It doesn't bother me, but when a little five-year-old comes up, hi, Jerry. There's just something not right. There ought to be some sort of separation.

You're in a different position. You're an aged man with a hoary head. You're a minister.

I need to give you a title of respect. And I'm not here wanting those things. I'm not asking for that, but I'm just trying to teach us what God would desire.

Now, I didn't mention here as we went through this church authority, and the reason why I didn't mention it is because it's a little different than the authorities that we face. You know, when the Bible talks about a husband and a wife, parents and children, government, and our responsibility, it uses a word in the Greek that means you say jump, I say how high. When it talks about church life, it's a different word.

And I want one verse to have you look at Mark 10. Mark 10 in verse 42, and I'll finish here. Jesus talks about this very thing to his disciples.

And we'll jump in here in the middle in Mark 10, verse 42. But Jesus called them to him and saith unto them, you know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles, those authorities, exercise lordship over them, and their great ones exercise authority upon them. But so shall it not be among you.

But whosoever will be great among you shall be your minister, and whosoever of you will be a chief shall be servant of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. And I know that some of these things apply, but church is different.

And yes, there should be respect. The Bible says honor all men. Fear the king.

So thinking about authority and how to respond to authority, I just want to remind us again, our authorities are going to get worse and worse. And if you watch too many videos or get too many snaps and all these things that people get, you're going to hear Biden bad mouth. You're going to hear the government bad mouth.

And if you're not careful, you're going to let it conform you, and you're going to start bad mouthing the government and the president. But it's not the will of God. So as you think about the authorities in your life, think about how God wants you to treat them, to honor them and to fear.

The Bible uses the word reverence, the insubjection. If you take that word, subjection, honor, reverence, fear, those are the attitudes we should have. Oh, you love to see it in children.

Yes, mother. Yes, ma'am. Whatever you want, ma'am.

I just want to please you, mother. Some of you mothers just fall over with a heart attack like, wow. But then what about our response to our authorities? We're adults.

We should certainly have it down pretty good. We can teach our children how to do it. We can see, wow, mom, dad, you have respect for your authorities.

I can see, and I can do it too. So maybe the Lord can use these words this morning to raise our standard a bit with regards to the authority and our response to it. All right, let's pray.

Thank you for your attention. We'll pray. Brother John, you can come.