John MacArthur | When Government Crosses the Line | Romans 13:1

if you will open your bible to romans chapter 13 romans chapter 13 is the most formidable new testament chapter summing up the believer's responsibility to the government and i want to say at the very beginning that this is a universal chapter as to its application whatever kind of government whatever era whatever century whatever circumstances the general principles that we see here about our conduct apply and this of course is the supernatural wonder of scripture that 2000 years after it is written it speaks specifically and applicably to the times in which we live let me read the opening seven verses every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities for there is no authority except from god and those which exist are established by god therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of god and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves for rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior but for evil do you want to have no fear of authority do what is good and you will have praise from the same for it is a minister of god to you for good but if you do what is evil be afraid for it does not bear the sword for nothing for it is a minister of god an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil therefore it is necessary to be in subjection not only because of wrath but also for conscience sake for because of this you also pay taxes for rulers or authority are servants of god devoting themselves to this very thing render to all what is do them tax to whom tax is due custom to whom custom fear to whom fear honor to whom honor there's really not a lot that's complex about that or difficult or confusing it identifies government as an institution established by god in all its forms for the punishment of those who do evil and for the protection of those who do good our responsibility is to submit and pay our taxes for some people living in our country that is becoming um a little more difficult a little more challenging for many of us particularly christians we don't like the direction that our government is taking we don't like the moral choices the government is taking legalizing gay marriage abortion stem cell research and a myriad of other things elevating immoral people encroaching on our lives taking away our freedoms these are things that disturb americans and many christian americans and they have generated among many christians an attitude that is rebellious toward government it may not take the form of an outright revolution but it is a heart revolution for sure let me just give you a little bit of a picture of the the government that existed at the time the apostle paul wrote this the time that our lord was on earth slavery flourished there were millions of slaves slavery could be very abusive but even at its best it was owning people that age was not only an age of slavery but it was also an age of absolute rulers after the roman republic had ended caesars came into power caesar was king and although there were reactions to the abuses of that singular unilateral authority that the caesars possessed even to the point that in 44 bc julius caesar himself was murdered in the roman senate that really did not overthrow that absolute rule in fact the murder of julius caesar only accelerated the centralization of power in the roman empire so that it became more centralized the roman senate declared augustus to be pro-consul and tribune of rome for life he was commander in chief of all soldiers he stood above all senators he controlled all civil affairs and he could do exactly what he wanted to do he was even deemed to be a god and to be worshiped all the power of the entire roman empire was vested in one man and if he had not all the power it was because he had delegated it someone else by his own authority in israel or the land of palestine herod was not a dissimilar kind of king he was a king with great power he was a king who at his own whim could behead a prophet with no consequences no temporal civil criminal consequences even a herod before the one who beheaded john herod the great his father had such unilateral power that if he desired he could massacre all male babies under the age of two with absolutely no repercussions this is an amazing amount of power at the same time taxes were heavy and tax collectors were extortionists and thieves and robbers and they were permitted to take as much as they could get as long as they paid the authority what the authority required beyond that they were on their own and there were people like zacchaeus who knew that he had extorted far more than was right and so you remember when he came to faith in jesus christ he returned the money that he had stolen from people four-fold tax collectors were abusers of the people they were surrounded by thugs strong-armed people like the mafia who would beat you up or terrorize your business if you didn't pay them they were essentially in israel the jews who had bought roman tax franchises were the jewish mafia caesar augustus had so much power that he could say the whole world is to be taxed and he could demand that everybody go to his own city and the roles be counted everyone be identified and everyone pay the tax this was a unilateral decision on his part jews by the way under this roman tyranny were an oppressed and underprivileged minority with no voice in roman government they had no voice in this essentially monarchy they paid heavy taxes exorbitant taxes to their roman task masters with absolutely no say no rights to weigh in on any decision you might say that in an environment like that maybe it could be okay not to pay your taxes but jesus washes that thought away very very rapidly in matthew 22 21 when he says this render to caesar the things that are caesar's and to god the things that are god's give god what is due him and give caesar what is do him as unfair unjust as it is as uninvolved as you are in the use of it or the abuse of it pay tax to caesar and he did himself as well as paying his regular taxes in israel and his temple tax to as we are learning an apostate and corrupt temple system jesus did not come to seek social change he did not come to alter the tax code he did not come to address economic issues they were not a concern for him was he aware of them absolutely he had perfect knowledge of absolutely everything there was no abuse no inequity that he was not fully aware of he knew that there was a great need for social reform he knew that there was a great need for tax reform he knew that there was a great need for care of the poor and the sick who were believed even by the jews to be under the punishment of god and who were treated with indifference and abused he knew that widows were mistreated orphans were mistreated and yet he never came to bring about a social revolution his appeal was always to the hearts of men it was always to the souls of men not their political freedoms it was not their social justice that he sought he didn't participate in civil rights he wasn't involved in a crusade to abolish slavery he preached the gospel and he knew that all that is just and all that is equitable and all that is good and all that is noble and all that is elevated will come when hearts are changed he was not interested in a new social order he was interested in a new spiritual order and so he didn't come to create a new nation he came to create the church now there have been other people through the history of our world that have been in abusive situations like existed in the roman empire some of them far worse than that there are people living in certain places in the world today who are under highly abusive systems their problems problems of the people in the new testament time the problems of people who are under severe duress in the nations in which they live are much more severe than ours we can complain about the way things are in america but no minority group in america has had their infant children massacred that hasn't happened nobody in washington or in sacramento has made an edict to kill all the baby boys under two while mothers stood around and wept and even those who are struggling with difficulties in life seem to be able to find a tv set the next meal conveniences and transportation we cannot allow the fact that everything isn't the way we would like it to be to cause us to turn our attention away from an appropriate responsibility to government to an inappropriate one and nor can we turn away from the necessary message of the gospel to any other lesser message that relates to politics or social change we are obviously to live godly lives in the world we are obviously to demonstrate righteousness pursue righteousness call for righteousness uphold righteousness we are obviously to speak the revelation of god into the society so that this society can enjoy more of the common grace that god provides when people live according to his laws even non-believing people we're obviously called to do all of that we are the very expression of divine righteousness in the world in the culture but our responsibility specifically to the government is stated here and there are two things be in subjection verse 1 be in subjection that's one the second render what is due pay your taxes verse six submit to the government and pay your taxes so that's what we're going to look at and we're going to kind of work our way through there's a lot to say about this you'd be amazed how this passage leads us all through scripture we'll try to contain ourselves a little bit in the process this is what it means to render to caesar when jesus said that render to caesar the things that are see to caesar's he here is explaining it by the inspiring of the holy spirit in the mind of paul who says here's what that means be in subjection to the governing authorities and pay your taxes this is submission to civil order now just to give you a little bit of background go to 12 1 of romans and let's kind of understand the context the practical part of romans begins in chapter 12 the doctrinal part is the first 11 chapters 12 to 16 is the application that's why the therefore is there based upon the mercies of god i urge you brother by the mercies of god the mercies of god are all of the elements of salvation that are unfolded in the first 11 chapters all those mercies of god that relate to our salvation our our election our justification our sanctification and our glorification based on that present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to god which is your spiritual service of worship so here we are called to living holy lives acceptable to god as a spiritual act of worship and the next verse says don't be conformed to this world be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may know and prove what the will of god is that which is good and acceptable and perfect so here we are told present your body as a living sacrifice to god which means you submit all of your desires and all of your goals and ambitions to those that are his you sacrifice yourself to do his will this is good this is acceptable this is perfect to do the will of god and then starting in verse three there are a number of categories in which the apostle paul speaks about the will of god he talks about the body of christ he talks about the family of god he talks about attitudes toward unbelievers and he ends up chapter 12 by talking about enemies as we live our lives a living sacrifice as we live in the will of god proving what is good and acceptable and perfect it affects all our relationships it affects our relationship to the body of christ it affects outsiders it affects even our enemies and being a living sacrifice doing the will of god which is good and acceptable and perfect is also important as we consider our relationship to the civil authorities and that's where we get into chapter 13 the civil authorities paul is emphasizing a principle here and at the end of chapter 12 as he talks about our enemies it sets this up verse 17 never pay back evil for evil to anyone you don't want to live with vengeance on your mind retaliation respect what is right in the sight of all men if possible so far as it depends on you be at peace with all men never take your own revenge beloved but leave room for the wrath of god for it is written vengeance is mine i will repay says the lord if your enemies hungry feed him if he's thirsty give him a drink for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head you'll bring conviction upon him don't be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good now in the world in which these people were living evil could come in personal forms but evil could also come in governmental forms so it's an easy transition from the fact that we're to bless verse 14 when we're persecuted the and not curse we're to never pay back evil for evil to anyone no matter what society does to us no matter what the authorities do to us we never pay it back with evil as far as we can in verse 18 we seek to be at peace with all men we leave vengeance to god we serve our enemies and so we are not overcome by evil but we overcome evil with good the principle's clear there when it relates to the government no matter what they do in persecuting us and that's exactly what it said as i read it to you in verse 14 we don't retaliate there's no place for personal vengeance the believer is to be a peacemaker and we'll see a little more of this as we go now this then is the good and acceptable and perfect will of god in paul's day this was a very critical issue the jews were notoriously zealous of their identity they they've always been that way and i think god hardwired them that way so that they would preserve their people to the ultimate purposes of god at the end of the age and because they were so zealous for themselves and their own identity and their own national independence their own religion they rebelled constantly against the romans now you remember the romans had extended their power across the mediterranean and engulfed that part of the world in the great roman empire in fact the roman empire was somewhat benign once they took over a nation they were beneficent benign in dealing with that nation they gave independence to those nations let them maintain their own language their own customs their own religion and the jews enjoyed frankly exceptional privileges privileges much much greater than in past historical conquerings by other conquerors the romans let them have their own religion imperial roman law safeguarded the worship of the jews they could keep their sabbath laws they could keep their food laws they could maintain the prohibition against idols they had a prohibition against idols and there were a couple of times they made it known that they didn't want any idols they had to do with pilate coming into town with his troops and an image of caesar that was horrendous to the jews they saw it as an idol they backed pilate down the romans backed down the romans wanted to acquiesce to their resistance to any such images even though caesar's picture still remained on their coins the romans were not allowed to bring images of caesar inside the walls of jerusalem the romans allowed the jews to uphold the death penalty for trespassing gentiles who came in to the inner courts of the temple so they gave the jews amazing freedoms in spite of this the jews hated the romans they hated the roman occupation they hated the roman domination and they always questioned its legitimacy in fact they basically flatly denied what was reality john 8 33 they said we've never been in bondage to anyone are you kidding you're under roman dominance even as you speak and the jews fought back you remember the name barabbas what crime did barabbas commit barabbas was a murderer under what circumstances did he murder somebody according to mark 15 7 he murdered someone in an insurrection this is a a terrorist act against rome by barabbas this is an example of the kind of behavior that was common among the jews as they resisted the roman presence and the roman power even though it gave them so much freedom in acts chapter 5 we are introduced to a man named thudus who rose up claiming to be somebody and a group of about 400 men joined with him so here's a somebody who thinks he's a somebody anyway who gets 400 men to strike a blow against the roman occupiers but he was killed and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing after this man comes another one judas of galilee rose up in the days of the census and drew away some people after him he too perished and all those who followed him were scattered there are a couple of unsuccessful insurrections and apparently barabbas was a part of another such unsuccessful insurrection now from the jews standpoint they were basing this attitude on deuteronomy 17 15 which says you shall surely set him king over you whom the lord your god shall choose one from among your brethren shall you set king over you you may not set a foreigner over you who is not your brother deuteronomy 17 15 well that was true for the theocracy the theocracy was long gone god was no longer the king the true king the true ruler in israel israel was a nation at this time at bible times under divine judgment and the very presence of the romans was part of that divine judgment in the theocracy the way the theocracy was supposed to be they would have the king which god appointed but boy that did not last very long god allowed them to have saul god allowed them to have david god allowed them to have solomon and from there it became a disaster after disaster after disaster so that in the northern kingdom there wasn't even one good god honoring king and it declined from there but there were still zealots who camped on deuteronomy 17 thought they were still the theocratic kingdom and so they believed there was no king but that one appointed by god and no tax could be paid to a king who had not been appointed by god so some of them became terrorists they were called zakaria they carried daggers they went around stabbing romans starting insurrections their aim was to make civil government impossible disrupting civil government middle eastern terrorism isn't new it isn't new because of their tendency toward murder insurrection assassination they were known as dagger bearers fanatical nationalists sworn to terrorism they were ready to rise to rebellion at the slightest indication that the messiah had arrived and that's what they wanted jesus to do lead the revolution this attitude as i said led to terrorism against rome and uh finally the romans put it down 70 a.d they not only put it down they throw the temple to the ground after that they went through israel and they massacred people in 985 towns bloodletting to stop this madness of revolting against a benign and basically beneficent government and yet here and there in local governments there was certain tolerance the apostle paul was accused by some jews of propagating an illegal religion and the pro-consul of aka this in acts 18 the pro-consul of ikea named galio paid little attention to their accusation is his notion well it's just a sect of the jews and the jews so far here haven't been a problem it was good that they felt that way in in certain places because it essentially gave paul protection for the next 10 years of his ministry so while on the one hand the jews were banned from rome outside rome various places where paul traveled there was freedom the animosity came from angry jews and pockets of gentiles this attitude really was a pervasive attitude even the people who didn't engage in the terrorism were somewhat delighted that the terrorists did what they did people are saved in the land of israel people are saved in jewish synagogues as paul goes out and preaches the gospel people are saved in rome to whom this letter is written they need to understand that this is not acceptable behavior not acceptable and this is not just paul's opinion i want you to hear from peter first peter chapter 2 first peter chapter 2 verse 12 keep your behavior excellent among the pagans the gentiles so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers they may because of your good deeds as they observe them glorify god in the day of visitation peter's writing to believers scattered in gentile areas they're going to be slandered as evil doers and you need to change that attitude by overwhelming them with your good deeds to borrow from what we read in romans 12 you overcome evil with good how do you do that verse 13 submit yourselves for the lord's sake to every human institution whether to a king as the one in authority in an absolute monarchy or to any other form of government such as governors as sent by the king into regions for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right that's an exact parallel of what we read in romans 13 isn't it these are authorities who have as their primary agenda the punishment of evil doers and the protection of those who do right for such as the will of god that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men act as free men do not use your freedom as a covering for evil but use it as slaves of god honor all people love the brotherhood fear god and what what's the last one honor the king honor the king and if you're a slave verse 18 servants slaves be submissive to your masters with all respect not only those who are good and gentle but also to those who are unreasonable wow submit even to a master that's unreasonable even to a king that's unreasonable even to a governor that's unreasonable for this finds favor if for the sake of conscience toward god a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly amazing there is something to be gained for the gospel even when you suffer unjustly in silence for the sake of keeping a pure conscience before god you want um to be an influence for peace we read that in romans 13. you want to do right and thus silence the ignorance of foolish men do right as that society and as every man knows because right is written in the heart you want to honor all people love the brotherhood fear god and honor the king so peter and paul agree on this as we would expect we have a serious responsibility to live out our justification by grace through faith our self-sacrificing lives should be models of submission to government authority no matter whether that government authority is what we want it to be or not this is a biblical pattern for all people now let's go back to romans 13. as we look at this initial responsibility we'll just take the first one we're going to look at the taxes in a little bit but the first responsibility is to be subject to the higher powers the powerful governing authorities that is the standard let every person be subject to the governing authorities the governing powers every literally in in the original every soul every soul be subject it's imperative which means it's a command it's the verb potasso which is a familiar new testament verb huvo means under jupitasso essentially a military word which means to line up under a commander speaks of soldiers lining up under the one who commands them get in line underneath the powers that govern the governing authorities the existing civil government without limitation here without qualification without caveat the greek is the authorities which are over you those supreme ruling authorities verse three refers to them with the word rulers rulers text makes no distinction between good ones bad ones moral ones immoral ones fair ones unfair ones and here we're not so much talking about persons we are to honor the person the king and we'll see more about that we're talking about governing authorities institutions that exist whether they are monarchies with all their elements or democracies with all their elements the obedience of christians to the laws and the rulers and the authorities of the system in which they live even though they are persecuted is a matter of obedience to god and a clear conscience before the lord for us this is a sometimes hard pill to swallow because we have in the past had a nation where certain christian principles dominated certain christian principles dominated i just read that the first of the 50 states hawaii has outlawed prayer prayer that was offered before the gathering of the senate of hawaii no longer can be prayed because from time to time someone mentions jesus christ and so they're the first of the 50 states to ban prayer does that concern me greatly no because token prayers mean nothing but it is an evidence of the fact that there is a massive effort to get god out of everything unless it's some other god than the god and father of our lord jesus christ the god of holy scripture that's what makes us struggle doesn't it because we have a history of acknowledging god but we're way down the path in a post-christian america how do we respond listen to first timothy 2 1 first of all i urge that in treaties and prayers petitions and thanksgivings be made on behalf of all men for kings and for all who are in authority did you get that in treaties prayers petitions and what was the last one thanksgiving be made on behalf of all men for kings and all who are on authority so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity this is a far cry from a revolution right this is a far cry from terrorism this is christianity this is how real christians behave in a society they say what about all these problems of christians and catholics protestant christians and catholics fighting in northern ireland what about serbia kosovo and bosnia christians and muslims those aren't real christians those aren't real christians false christians devastate the name of true christians this is how true christians act they don't kill people they don't start revolutions they pray for the kings the ultimate dictators they pray for all who are in authority and our prayer is that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity because this is good and acceptable in the sight of god our savior you know when i think about america and what what i would want for this nation i would want this nation to live in peace wouldn't you it's really disturbing isn't it it's horribly disturbing we have more people in prison than any nation in the world and we have the highest crime rates in the world prisons doesn't fix anything they have horrible things going on in our streets all the time i don't want that i want a tranquil and quiet life with all godliness and dignity i wish this country was full of peace i wish this country could experience the common grace that god can provide and we want to be an influence for that we don't want to be part of the problem we definitely want to be part of the solution we do that with the gospel and godly living titus chapter 3 essentially the same idea remind them to be subject to rulers titus you tell those people in crete to be subject to rulers to authorities to to be obedient to be ready for every good deed to malign no one to be peaceable gentle showing every consideration for all men verse 8. this is a trustworthy statement concerning these things i want to speak confidently so that those who have believed god will be careful to engage in good deeds these things are good and profitable for men you know i really do think the lord knows that our influence in the world is greatest when we live a quiet peaceable life a life of godliness a life of prayer on behalf of our leaders and our authorities and the very duly constituted bodies that rule over us i think it speaks volumes when our preoccupations are that the grace of god may come down save them transform them and use them to bring peace to the land this is a principle without reference to exception peter gives us no exceptions paul gives us no exceptions in titus timothy or in romans but i want you to know there is a legitimate exception to obedience to the government there is a time when we are allowed not to obey the government go to acts 4. acts 4 verse 13 these are the powers that be in jerusalem they observed the confidence of peter and john and understood they were uneducated and untrained men they hadn't gone to rabbinical school they were amazed and what they knew without all the schooling they began to recognize them as having been with jesus seeing the men who had been healed standing with them they had nothing to say in reply but when they had ordered them to leave the council they began to confer with one another saying what shall we do with these men for the fact that a noteworthy miracle has taken place through them is apparent to all who live in jerusalem we can't deny it but so that it will not spread any further among the people let us warn them to speak no longer to any man in this name okay that's the law that's the law from the powers that be you cannot speak anymore in the name of jesus when they had some of them they commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of jesus now here's a dilemma folks right you're supposed to be subject to the powers to be you're supposed to um to be obedient to the authority that is over you and now the authority that is over you is telling you you cannot speak in the name of jesus verse 8 verse 19 peter and john answered and said to them whether it is right in the sight of god to give heed to you rather than to god you be the judge for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard here is where the authority of the government ends when the government forbids you to do what god commands you to do you do what god commands you to do when the government tells you to do what god has not allowed you to do that's where you stop you don't do that because you have direct revelation against that sin when the government mandates what god forbids we obey god and accept the consequences except the consequent we don't get guns and shoot the government authorities we don't get baseball bats when they show up and beat them in the head we refuse to disobey god we do what god has commanded us to do and we accept the consequences that's exactly what we are called to do go to the fifth chapter of acts for a minute they brought them uh before the council verse 27 the high priest comes in now he's trying to shut them up they're preaching christ they haven't stopped the high priest says to them in verse 28 of acts 5 we gave you strict orders not to continue teaching in this name and yet you have filled jerusalem with your teaching and intend to bring this man's blood on us not only did they fill jerusalem with the teaching but they blamed the jews for the murder of jesus here's peter's and the apostles answer verse 29 we must obey god what rather than men the god of our fathers raised up jesus whom you had put to death by hanging him on a cross in case you didn't fully understand what we were saying that's what we were saying he raised him up he's the one whom god exalted to his right hand as a prince and a savior and grant repentance to israel and forgiveness of sin start evangelizing these guys we're a witness of these and so is the holy spirit whom god has given to those who obey him and when they heard it they were cut to the quick and intended to kill them yeah you you may come to a point where you have to disobey the government when the government tells you to do what god forbids you to do or mandates that you stop doing what god commands you to do i remember talking to one of the members of the russian underground church george evans years ago and he said there are so many abuses in russia so many abuses toward our people under communism horrible abuses life is so very very hard but he said this if any christian is ever to suffer imprisonment or punishment it will never be for anything other than the sake of jesus christ in all other matters we obey the government there's no such thing by the way folks is a christian country and there's no such thing as a christian government well there will be a christian government in the millennium with christ ruling but we have our command and it's an unequivocal command well go back to romans 13 for a moment and um that's that's the basic command and i think you understand it after this command in in verse 1 every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities paul gives seven reasons why we are to obey that command don't get nervous that's next sunday night

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Length: 44min 43sec (2683 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 07 2020