............... ............... ............... ............... ............... ............... ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. when you become a believer, is in heaven. So while you're a citizen on earth the day you were born, when you are born again, you become a citizen of heaven.
This year, Vice President Harris and President Trump are running for the presidency, but how thankful are we that Jesus is the king of heaven? Do you realize that Jesus saw believers on earth as being primarily part of heaven and not of earth? In John 15, 19, he said, if you were of the world, the world would love his own, but because you are not of this world, but I've chosen you out of the world. And then while praying his high priestly prayer in John 17, listen to what he says to them again and again. He said in John 17, 14, I have given them thy word and the world hath hated them.
Why? Because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. In other words, Jesus sees believers as essentially being of another world. That your primary residency is not of America, though praise God, we are Americans physically, but your spiritual citizenship transcends that so far.
You will not be an American in 100 years from now. I mean, you're gonna be a citizen of heaven if you're saved. In John 17, 16, he goes on and says, they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
He keeps declaring this over and over, saying that you are otherworldly. In fact, when you get saved, you are much more a part of the eternal spiritual realm in heaven than you are of the physical. I mean, even Jesus' own family, when they did not believe in him, they say your brethren are wanting to talk with you, he said, who are my mother and who are my brethren? They did hear the word of God and keep it. He saw the spiritual relationship of a believer as being more connected to him, more real than those who were physical family to him.
And some of you are like that today. You say, you know, I have a physical family, but I'm closer to the church family than I am my own physical family. And I would say, even though my own physical family, I'm extremely close to them, I'm in a lot of ways even closer to you because I'm with you all the time, and you are, in a real sense, my family.
That is not like a projection that's not a reality. That is a greater reality than even the physical realm because you will be my brother and sister in a hundred years from now, but my brothers today won't be physical brothers to me in heaven, they would just be brothers in Christ. And so the author of Hebrews, in speaking of Old Testament saints who looked by faith to the future hope of the Messiah and the eternal life with God, said this in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 13. It says, these all died in faith.
The Old Testament saints died in faith. They were looking forward, not having received the promise, but having seen them afar off and were persuaded of them. And notice what it says, and embrace them and confess that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
They recognized their foreign place on this planet. Verse 14, for they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And verse 16 tells us what that country is. It says, for they desire a better country, that is in heavenly, wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, which is an amazing statement, for he or God hath prepared for them a city. Anybody wanna go to the city of God? That's the heavenly city, the new Jerusalem, which will come down like a bride adorned for their groom.
And what a glory that's going to be. And so God views Christians as citizens of heaven. Ephesians 2 19, Paul talking about the believer's relationship to the saints in heaven says this, now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners. You are not foreigners of heaven's citizens, he's saying, but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God.
You're part of God's own family. This is a real thing that you need to understand, that you, when you become a believer, become a citizen of heaven. So the question I have today is, if we are citizens of heaven, what obligation do I now have as a citizen physically of earth?
I mean, think about it, if our home is in heaven, if our name is in heaven, our hope is in heaven, our father's in heaven, our rewards are in heaven, our loved ones who died are in heaven, our eternity will be in heaven, our citizenship is in heaven, what responsibility do we have as Christians to this earthly domain? Are we to pay taxes? What if the government is corrupt? What if it's a dictatorship instead of a democracy? What if they misappropriate funds? What if the government asked me to do something sinful?
What did Jesus, Paul and Peter teach about Christians who are spiritual citizens of heaven while living as citizens on earth? And these are very important questions as we are in an election year. Anybody love being in an election year? No, we, yeah, he likes politics. So one out of a thousand, right? So yeah, that's what they say to us, you're one out of a thousand, right? But very few people enjoy the temperature of the season because life already carries a certain amount of stress, right?
And when you add the pressure of politics, it doesn't increase joy, and so typically. So today I wanna look at the Christian as a citizen, some very, very important things for us. This is a very practical lesson and message from God's word that has incredible implications for our life here. And so first of all, we see Jesus as a citizen. It's really an amazing thought to think about Jesus as a citizen. And they come to him in verse 24 with a question about taxes. It says in verse 24, and when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money came to Peter and said, that not your master pay tribute.
It is worth reminding us that where we are in context of the text. So Matthew 17, verse one through 13, Jesus ascended the Mount where he was transfigured before Peter, James and John, the inner three. They saw the glory of Christ shine like the sun as he removed the veil of his flesh and showed them the glory of who he was. His clothing became white like lightning flashing.
It was just an amazing scene. They see Elijah and Moses talking with Jesus. They go from the holy mountain down and they then meet a father with a boy who's demon possessed. And so they went from the place of glory now to the reality of the valley.
And you can't live on mountain tops, right? You gotta go down to the valleys of life as a reality. So they went down and they ministered. So they go from the glory of that scene on the mountain to dealing with a demon possessed boy and now the obligation to pay taxes, right? I mean, if you saw the resurrected, or not the resurrected this time, but the glory of Christ revealed, the last thing you wanna talk about is paying taxes. But taxes are in the valley along with the demon possessed boys, right? So this is where they are and this is the reality of life.
Stuff that's mundane, stuff that's not exciting. Some tax gatherers come asking about paying tribute. What is this tribute? It's the drachman, drachman was the Greek word that meant coin, di or put the prefix di on there.
It's double drachman. So this is a levy tax that was given. It was assigned to every Jew, 20 years old and older. Every Jew was required to pay a double drachman, which was basically two days wages. And it was an annual tax that they would gather. It wasn't publicans gathering this, this was for the Jews. So these were not publicans who they despise. These were like temple tax gatherers. So they would come around. And it was almost like a patriotic duty to pay it.
You know, it's like, this is the house of God. You know, everybody pays this 20 years old or not. And so every Jew that was a male would pay this. And because it was to be paid by the time of Passover, they were sent out a few months before that and they were gathering this. And because the authorities at the time, the religious leaders despised Jesus because he threatened their power.
He opposed their errors. They obviously were coming with a question whether Jesus paid this tax or not because they always wanted to find something to push against him. Now, oftentimes Jesus would stay at Peter's house while in Capernaum. I have some pictures here just to give you an idea. In 2011, I went to Israel. I have all this stuff in my head when I see this.
I don't know if we have those pictures up here ready. But if you went to Capernaum, which the way they pronounce it in Israel is Capernahum, but it's the city. Remember the Old Testament prophet Nahum? The city was named after him. So what's interesting, Jonah never had a city named after him because he went to the wicked Ninevites and they repented.
But Nahum preached judgment upon Israel's enemies and they were destroyed. And they're like, let's name a city after that guy, right? So they named Capernaum after him. So these are uncovered little houses.
You can see that. It's kind of dark in here, but this is like from the days of Christ uncovered stuff. If we go to the next picture, they have found this whole area was, this whole thing was built over top of what they believe, very strongly believed was the home of Peter in Capernaum. They found like symbols, like the fish sign and different things inside the house wall that they believe would assign that to the house of Peter.
Now we have maybe an aerial view of this to give you an idea. So this is the synagogue. Remember when Jesus would be preaching in the synagogue? This synagogue called the white synagogue is built on top of the foundation stones of the same synagogue that Jesus preached in when he was there. This is the Sea of Galilee.
It's 13 miles long, seven miles wide. So you can see Peter, when he was a fisherman with Simon and John and those guys, this is where they were. It wasn't like they had to travel a mile to get to it.
It was right there. Jesus would be preaching. The synagogue was facing Jerusalem. We have another picture perhaps, and this is just the shore. So when it's talking about them bringing the seethed nets or the cast nets to shore with the fish, this is where that is.
You know, that's the setting. You just kind of get an idea, and once things settle down in Israel, I'd like to take our church, whoever would like to do that on a trip to Israel, I think it'd be very insightful. So these debt collectors come to Peter's house, and Jesus would often stay at Peter's home. Matthew 8 talks about when they entered into Peter's house. Jesus healed his mother-in-law, which Peter's mother-in-law, for Peter to have a mother-in-law means he had a what?
He had a wife, which you might wanna let some folks know about that in the Catholic faith, but anyway. They're, I don't know, I should say that, but their question is if Jesus paid taxes, and Peter's response to that was yes. Now, Peter comes in, and it says this. Jesus prevented him.
It really carried better the idea. Jesus, what that word means is he spoke before Peter. Like, Peter comes in. Jesus knows what conversation happened outside. He comes back into his house, and Jesus speaks to Peter and says to Peter, what thank is thou, Simon? Of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute?
Of their own children or strangers? The word custom means indirect taxes placed on your goods, like mercantile taxes. Tribute was taxes levied on the individual, like personal tax, so like as an individual you'd pay. So there's taxes on property goods and personal tax, and Jesus is saying, do the kings levy taxes against their own children or those outside of the king's family?
And Peter answers right in verse 26. He says he takes taxes of strangers. Now, Jesus' question to Peter assumes that Peter had to be thinking when he came back in, why does Jesus pay taxes? I mean, if I saw him in his glorious form on that mountain, if I know that he's the Messiah who I confessed him as in Matthew 16, the father led Peter to recognize Jesus as being the Messiah, why does Jesus pay taxes?
Why does a king pay taxes to anyone, right? I mean, that's got to be what's going on in Peter's mind. That seems to be why Jesus proceeded in talking with him and bringing this up. And what you see here is Jesus wants Peter to have clarity. Peter's not even asking yet for clarity.
He's probably just thinking about it. But Jesus so wants his children to understand truth that he will proceed in bringing us the truth before we even seek it. Isn't that how God works? You understand he wants you to know the truth more than you wanna know it?
He will bring you that reality. And Jesus' response to Peter is this. When Peter says he only takes it of strangers, verse 26, Jesus says, then are the children free?
Then the obligation's removed. In other words, Jesus is saying, I don't need to pay the tax. And even includes Peter in on that. He says, lest we offend them. So he's including Peter with the children.
We have no obligation to pay this tax. In Matthew 12, Jesus boldly declared himself to be greater than the temple itself. In Matthew 12, six, he says that in this place is one greater than the temple. And two verses later in Matthew 12, verse eight, he says, the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath. In Matthew 12, what Jesus is saying is that to his opponents, you say I'm violating the Sabbath rules, I'm the Lord of the Sabbath.
The Sabbath and the temple were made for me. They serve me, I don't serve them. So here Jesus is under no obligation to pay taxes legally.
He was free, so why does he pay them? And that's what verse 27 brings us to. He says, notwithstanding, lest we should what? Offend them, lest we should scandalize though. It's a word like we don't want to scandalize or offend them. We don't wanna be a stumbling block to them. He says, and what he does here is he concludes that I have no physical obligation to this, but I have a moral obligation to this.
I have a spiritual obligation. He did not want to be an offense, a stumbling block to them. And so he had a right to exercise freedom from that responsibility, but those sent to collect taxes did not understand that. They did not comprehend that reality in Jesus, so he submits his life to their weakness.
He forfeits his freedom in order to keep them from being offended at him. Now Jesus, was he afraid to offend people? I mean, he would say some things that would flat out just burn you, right? I mean, just read Matthew 23. Or you read Matthew 23 and it is scathing.
Back in chapter 16, he said to Peter, get behind me, Satan. I mean, he wasn't afraid to just put it to you when he needed to. But in those situations, he would confront people's pride, false teaching, and sin. But when it came to his own personal freedoms, he would rather give up his freedom to avoid offense. And why would he do that?
Why would he do that? Well, he set an example for us, because if I hold onto my freedom at the expense of offending others, who am I serving, myself or them? And in your life, if there is something you have a right to, but if it would offend someone by exercising that freedom, what should you do?
Should you serve your own desires, or should you serve them? It is one thing to offend people with the gospel, because the gospel's offensive, and it's necessary to share with people that, hey, we are sinners, we would die and be separated from God in a real hell, that without Christ, we cannot be saved, that we must repent of our sins, turn to Christ, confess him as our Lord and Savior. That is a reality, that is an eternal truth that will be offensive, but it must be shared. But it's entirely different to offend your neighbor, coworker, or family by partaking in some freedom in life that you feel you have. One sign of a spiritually mature person is they don't fight for gray areas in life. If you ever find yourself debating with somebody because you feel you have a right to do something, you've just shown your immaturity.
That was kind of heavy, wasn't it? But think about it, if I'm debating with somebody, well, I have the right to do something that they are offended by, I'm just telling them how much more that I feel I have a right to do it, and I'm seeking to serve myself at their expense of being offended. I'm loving myself more than them, does that make sense? You may, before God, have a right to do it, but your right does not allow you to violate the second command, which is to love others as who? As ourselves. So don't fight for gray areas. They don't fight, mature people don't fight to hold on what they feel is a freedom if it offends other people. And you know, that's what Romans 14 is all about, those who understand their freedoms. You know, in Romans 14, you know when you talk about gray areas, it's always a very offensive thing for people, you know why? Because not everybody feels gray areas are gray areas. And I'm gonna name a couple just in the Bible, and it will offend, I'm sure, somebody, and some people will be like, it's not a big deal. Because in the area of gray areas, some people say, no, that's black, that's sinful.
Others say, oh, that's a white thing, you know, you're allowed to do that. And so they put these things on the other end of the spectrum. But in Romans 14, there were three areas that Paul had to deal with that were extremely offensive to the Jew and Gentile believers as they were coming together. One was holy days that were being observed, drinking wine, and eating meat offered to idols.
They were three areas of offense, and they were having to work through that. Now, eating meat offered to idols, what happened was they would offer meat to an, they would offer a sacrifice to an idol and pagan sacrifices, then they would go and they would sell that many times in the common market on the street, and it would be a discounted price because it would be available. And so mature believers are like, well, that idol's nothing, 1 Corinthians 8, Paul talks about it, he says, you could, you know, get a good deal on that. I mean, you can go out and the idol is nothing, there is only one God, and you know, you can buy that meat, there's nothing wrong with that. Other people are like, oh, yeah, that was offered to those pagan idols. And if you eat that meat, it's like you're worshiping that pagan God.
So who's right? Well, the mature believer's right, there is no other God but the true God, and you can buy that meat and eat that. But what happens when it offends somebody who believes like you're worshiping a god, a false god, when you're eating that meat, what should you do? And according to Paul, you forfeit your right. He talked about certain holy days, he says, one man seems one day above another. Now, he's not talking about Saturday over Sunday there in Romans 14, what he's talking about when you compare Colossians and Galatians is certain holy days that they were holding to, certain feast days, festival days, special days in the year. And so some people are saying, oh, we still have to observe some of these holy days. Well, if you feel you need to set that day aside in honor of God, then so do it and honor God. But if you feel like, hey, you know, we're under the New Testament, we're under grace, not under the law, and those things are just a shadow of good things to come, then you have the freedom of that as well. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind, that's what he says.
And then drinking wine. Listen, I know there are some people who feel like they have a right to drink certain things and other people who feel like it's dead wrong. And I understand that, you know, for some people, it's terrible, you know? And the thing is, if you feel you have a certain freedom in that area, I would say this, there are some things that are always wrong and some things that are not always wrong. If you were on a stranded island with another individual that was married and you were married, but you weren't married to that person, would it be always wrong for you to sleep with that individual? It would be wrong, right, if you were the only two people on an island. But if you were on an island and the only thing you had to survive on was some wine or liquor or whatever, would it be wrong to drink that? No, it's not morally wrong to keep yourself alive, right? Some things are always wrong, other things are not always wrong, and I believe there is freedom in that area. Now, for myself, I have chosen to not have any type of alcoholic things in my life.
Now, my wife, on the other hand, also does not have anything like that in her life, so. But Romans 14, listen to what he says in verse 20 through 21. He said, for meat destroys not the work of God. All things indeed are pure. Jesus said it's not what enters into the mouth that defiles. Is that what he said? So what enters into your mouth?
Anything you eat or drink. Y'all with me? We can't, here's the problem, when people start adding to the Bible regulations, it's no different than what the Pharisees did. You think you're protecting people, but ultimately, you're adding to scripture, and we can't do that. So he says all things are pure, but it is evil for that man who eateth with what?
Offense. I'm not gonna ask you to raise your hand, but if I ask you to raise your hand, there's a lot of people who say, I wouldn't care if the pastor had a cup of wine, they're over a meal. And then there's other people in the church who say, that would be so offensive to me, preacher, if you did that. And so for me, I'm like, it's not a big deal.
I like peach tea, man, I don't need anything else. But look at verse 21. Look, this is the biblical mandate. It is good neither to eat flesh nor to drink wine nor anything whereby thy brother stumbleth or is offended or is made weak.
Is that the biblical mandate? Did he say it's always wrong to drink wine? He doesn't say that.
But he says it's offensive to people. So in your life, if you chose to use certain freedoms in life, whatever that freedom may be, if it is an offense to people around you, mature Christians don't fight for that, they're willing to give that up. That's why he goes on in 1 Corinthians 10 31, he says, whether you eat or drink, whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
So just understand that reality. Now Jesus is teaching in this passage that Christian testimonies are connected to how they live as citizens. Christians are free, but sometimes we relinquish certain freedoms we have, so our testimony is not damaged. Now at the end of this, in verse 27, Jesus gives Peter a very cool assignment. He says, Peter, I want you to go down to the shore, and I showed you where his house was to the shore, right? He says, I want you to cast in a hook. So it's not a seath net or a cast net, it's a fishing line with a hook on it. He doesn't even say you have to bait the thing.
He says, throw it out there. The first fish you pull out is gonna have a stator, it's a Greek word that means a silver coin that was basically equivalent to two drachma, or four drachma, the four denarii. So bring out that fish, and inside of its mouth it's gonna have a coin.
And then take that coin, which is exactly worth four days wages, and give that coin to pay taxes for me and you. I mean, to ask a fisherman to go fishing for the will of God. I mean, this is, for any fisherman, this is a pretty cool thing, isn't it? You're like, you know what, I'm gonna go fishing today, I'm gonna have some success. And you throw that out there. I imagine Peter like pulled it in, he's like, oh, it's there, you know, and threw out the other one.
Y'all with me? He's like, there's gotta be another one out there. I mean, I just made four days wages right there on that cast. I bet he threw it out again, he's like, where'd all the fish go? You imagine some buddies down there, you just pulled that out of that fish's mouth, yeah! Oh, you don't know what kind of bait to use, do you? Just a bare hook.
Everybody went bare hook fishing after that, right? So, but anyway, what I think is fascinating is it doesn't say Peter had that extra money just laying around. Jesus provided his needs.
He knows what your needs are and he takes care of you. You honor the Lord, he'll honor you. So we see how Jesus lived as a citizen. He, as the God of heaven, submitted himself to even the taxation of earth. So how do believers, what is our responsibility as citizens to the government? Are Christians obligated to pay taxes and what if you have a totalitarian system and an unjust rule? Or what if the system gets corrupt?
What if taxes are used for wrong purposes? What if, is there ever a time to rebel against government? And so I just wanna answer some of these questions.
These are very, very important questions in the days we live. If you would turn with me over to Romans 13 and we'll navigate some scripture there, Romans 13. Romans 13, Christians, first of all, are to be in subjection to governing authorities over them. Romans 13, one says this. Let every soul be subject unto the, it could be translated as governing authorities, here it's higher powers. For there is no power but of God, the powers that be are ordained of God. So he says, let every soul be subject. The word subject is hupotasso, it's a military term, meaning you're ranking under others.
You're coming under a commanding officer in the military phraseology of it. And what he's saying is you subject yourself to the authority of those over you. Now, who does he say this applies to in verse one? He says, let every soul be subject.
Now, 1 Peter 2, Peter also deals with this subject. In 1 Peter 2 verse 13, he says, submit yourself to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake. And he says here, whether it be to the king as supreme or unto governors as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of them that do well.
So it's the same phrase, he says, submit yourself, hupotasso, rank yourself under them. And what do we submit to? He says, to every ordinance of man. Literally, the word there means human creation, every office of governing authority that has been placed over you.
Because you have a government that continues to place other governing bodies, many of which would be nice if they came in and got rid of a lot of those things. But we are to submit to those establishments. And in verse 13 and 14, he says, whether it be to the king as supreme or unto governors. What's interesting about that is here the Bible recognizes the legitimacy of a totalitarian system.
It recognizes the legitimacy of a one man ruler system. God allows dictatorships on earth, you know that? He raised up Nebuchadnezzar, is that true?
He allows this. This would especially be difficult for Paul and Peter in their day. You know why? Because Nero was reigning and he was a deranged tyrant who burned Rome and blamed it on the Christians. I mean, he lit his garden up at night with Christians and waxed, plastered with wax and he would hang them up and set them on fire to light up his dinner parties. And he says, submit yourself to them.
Isn't that amazing? I mean, and how do you even write this if you're Paul knowing this is the case? They're writing this to people who are living in that situation. If you think you're frustrated with America's leadership, you don't have Nero over you. Christians are not to be rebellious citizens. We are not to be that. We're to be submissive citizens. We should really be the best citizens on the planet.
I think we should be the best employees, we should be the best citizens, we should be the best people in schools. During the Reformation, there was something called the Peasant War. Anybody familiar with the Peasant War 1525? The Peasant War.
And during the Reformation, the beginnings of that, there was hundreds of thousands of farmers and peasants that got stirred up against the government for both economic as well as religious reasons and they rebelled against the system and between 100 and 300,000 of them were slaughtered. Jesus said, if you live by the sword, you will what? Die by the sword.
And so that's not the process. Even when Peter took out the sword to defend Jesus, one of the most noble things you could do, right? I mean, if you're gonna defend somebody that's innocent, who's being unjustly taken, that's the case and Jesus says, put your sword up.
Do you think God needs us to battle that for him? So Christians are to be in subjection to governing authorities. Now, secondly, why be in subjection, verse one through five? Subjection is necessary.
Let me give you multiple reasons for this. Subjection is necessary because of who sets the powers up. Romans 13, it says in verse number one, that every soul be subject to the higher powers for there is no power or authority, but of God. The powers that be, and it says this, are ordained, the word literally can be translated as well as appointed, ordained or appointed by God. Do you realize that the authority is ordained by God? Now, I'll confess, it's hard for me to believe that Biden got 81 million votes.
I will confess it and that's just my own opinion, just on Josh, okay? It's hard for me to believe that he had the most votes ever in the history of the United States. It's really hard for me to believe that. But you know who ordained him?
It wasn't the American citizens. Is that right? Does that mean I don't vote? No, you vote.
No, you go out and you vote and you stand for the truth and you do all those things. I believe God works sovereignly in salvation, but we still share the gospel. I believe God works and he's sovereign over things, but we still, it doesn't mean we just, oh, I fall into fatalism and I just don't do anything. No, that's a sinful attitude to God's sovereignty. That is a sinful response to God being in control.
What it should be is that, praise God, he's in control. So, subjection's necessary because God's the one who sets up the rulers. Israel sought to battle and fight against Nebuchadnezzar, right? When Nebuchadnezzar took them captive, burned the temple, you think they wanted to submit? They kept rebelling until Nebuchadnezzar came and destroyed the temple. But God's like, I'm gonna give him 70 years and then I'm gonna bring judgment on Babylon.
He can use evil sources at times. And we're gonna look more at that in just a moment, but subjection is necessary since God sets up rulers. In Romans 13, two, it says, whosoever therefore resist the power or the authority to resist the ordinance of God, and they that resist shall receive to themselves. It uses the word damnation here.
It's the Greek crimna from crino, which means judge. It simply means you will receive a judicial sentence against yourself. You will bring judgment on yourself, not damnation of hell.
That's why I don't like that word so much here. It's really best the idea of you're bringing judgment on yourself. And it's not God judgment on you, it's man's judgment against you.
You're gonna bring judgment from where you're rebelling. And we know that's the case because you get down to verse three and four and that's what he's talking about. Now, subjection is necessary because God sets up rulers.
It's also necessary because of the purpose of authorities are good and not evil. Romans 13, notice verse three and four. I didn't even preface any of this, but I could have said earlier on that this is gonna be one of those sermons that you may not enjoy, but we need to hear, right? You're like, I'd rather you preach something like God judged the sinful things or this and that. But when we have to submit to those things, it's like, so now subjection is necessary because of the purpose of authorities. Romans 13, three, look what he says here. Rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Will thou then be afraid of the authority or the power? Do that which is good and thou should have praise of the same. What he's saying here is this. These authorities that God has given to us, these earthly governing authorities, God instituted government, the church, and the family.
And I think it's worth noting is this. God set up four different restraints to depravity, four restraints. The first is conscience. So when we are Romans 2, 14, and 15, right? We were made an image of God, Genesis 1, 26, and seven, and his law is written on our heart, Romans 2, 14, and 15. We recognize certain things are wrong, but as you begin to sin and rebel against God, you can fear your conscience.
It's like somebody fights a lot and they can train and they get their hands numb because they bust up the nerves. So people bust up the nervous system. Basically, your conscience is to your soul what your nervous system is to your body, in other words. So once they violate that, the second restraint is the family. The family is to restrain the sins. That's why you discipline your children.
That's why you have those kinds of disciplines. But what happens when conscience is defiled and the family breaks down? The next restraint is the church. That's why church discipline is a reality.
We hold each other accountable, is that right? A loving church will confront other people and say, hey, man, don't get involved in it, don't do it. And they confront people in church discipline, those things are realities.
But what happens when the church falls? The only thing left is the governing system employing a police force of some kind. It's the last line of defense, there's nothing left. So what's happened in the last few years in America is they've assaulted the police force. Well, police are brutalizing, and I know that can happen at times, but it's not by and large the whole of it. I mean, right? I mean, you believe that. It's not everyone, you know? Who wants to be the police officer standing in front of thousands of people, cussing at them, throwing at them, spitting at them, and they have to stand there and then just some crazy stuff sometimes. Now, again, I understand sometimes that they can wrong people and that can happen, and that can be, I think there's a lot more accountability that has gone on in the last few years with that, but they are by and large the joy and blessing of having such a system. And he says God brings them to that place for good.
But I can tell you, if you annihilate your, I could get into some stuff right now. You know, the same group that was like pushing against we don't need all these police. It was interesting last week when they had thousands of police officers down in Chicago. Anyway, Romans 13, verse four, it says, for he is the minister of God to thee for good. And you know, there's only two people called ministers of God, pastors and police officers.
You understand that? He's a minister of God to thee for good, but if thou do that which is evil, be afraid for he beareth not the sword in vain, for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. He's bearing the sword of judgment on those who God would have him bring judgment upon. Now does the Bible teach capital punishment?
You know, the answer to that is yes. Genesis 9, six says, whoever sheds man's blood by man shall his blood be shed for in the image of God made he man. And the reason the punishment is so severe is because man is created in the image of God. And when you assault man, you are assaulting the image of God. That's why if somebody was attacking someone else, should you protect that person and defend them? And the answer is yes.
Physically if needed, yes. Why? Because you're not just simply defending a person, you're defending the image of God that's being assaulted. Does that make sense? Now the Bible says thou shall not kill, Pastor Josh, and doesn't that mean that if you put somebody to death, you're killing them? Well, Exodus 20, verse 13 says thou shall not kill. I love the King James Bible, I love the King James Bible, so don't get offended me on this, but the better translation is thou shall not murder.
There's two Hebrew words, fruneo, or I should say Hebrew words are raksak and mut. And the word here is not the one that means so much kill as the idea of murdering someone. It should be translated as thou shall not murder, in my opinion, which is how the New King James translates it. It has created some problems because of that translation, but it literally means don't have premeditated, thou shall not premeditate murder. Don't kill somebody.
And I could break down the word study there a little bit, but for time's sake, I won't. And some people say, well, you know, what help would that bring with capital punishment? Well, Dr. Isaac Ehrlich, an economic theorist, presented his views on capital punishment from the years 1933 to 1969, and he showed that every execution of a murderer could have saved as many as seven or eight lives because people base their decisions on the repercussions or consequences of their actions. So rather than the death penalty denying man's dignity, they actually upholds it, and most of the time, people that are against the death penalty are for abortion.
Is that crazy? I gotta go on. 1 Peter 2.14 says that governing authorities will punish evildoers, and therefore the praise of them that do well, they will punish evildoers. I mean, if we did not have those in authority that could restrain evil and promote, and our society is just like the stronger survive. I don't wanna base how safe we are on how good people are. I wanna base it on a system that will deter them by consequence, right?
And so they also, bless the law keeper, they do good for you that do well. Now also, number four, subjection is, and people say, well, what if they don't always do things right? Obviously, there are failings inside of government, but there's also failings inside of church and your homes.
Right? There's no perfect system, right? Because we're all made up of fallen people.
But we are so thankful for that. Number four, subjection is necessary to maintain a good testimony before others. In verse five, look what he says. Romans 13.5, wherefore he must needs be subject not only for wrath, because judgment could come upon you, but also for your conscience' sake. This ties back to what Jesus taught in Matthew 17. But a fifth reason is subjection requires the paying of taxes to support governing systems. Look what he says in verse six, and you'll love this part. For for this cause, pay ye tribute or land tax also.
Yes, there's a verse in the Bible to pay property tax. That's awesome. Isn't that exciting? Isn't that exciting this morning? There's probably one hand in here that would raise.
I'm not gonna point out who that one hand might be. Verse seven, he says, but look what he says. He says, for they are God's ministers attending continually upon this very thing. You need to pay to take care of a governing system. Render therefore to all their dues. Tribute to whom tribute. Tribute is land tax to whom land tax due. Custom, that's merchandise tax to whom merchandise is taxes due. Fear to whom fear, that's reverence and an honor or respect to who honors do. You know, taxes are to be given to a governing system.
I wanna make a side note here. As a church, we are very faithful with the funds that come in here. But I've had people through the years around the Christian circle say, what if that church gives money to something that I'm not a super big fan of? Well, God says, you're just paying taxes even to governments that are corrupt. How much more should we be faithful to give to the house of God who propagates the gospel?
Okay, I just thought I'd share that with you. So Rome gathered several taxes from people and Rome was an imperfect system, but he says, pay taxes to them because they offered the Pax Romana. Roman peace and during those times, there's a lot of wars, but when Rome took over a lot of those regions, they brought relative peace, they built roads. And do you know the benefit of them building roads allowed the gospel to be propagated through that highway system all over the world? God can use a lot of these systems and he says, to pay taxes. Even we know in Matthew 22, Jesus says, when they said, should we pay taxes? He says, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar and unto God the things that are God's. In other words, the coin has the image of Caesar, give the Caesar the coin and your body reflects the image of God and give your life to God.
That's the teaching of that Matthew 22, 17 through 21. When's the last time that you pay taxes and realize you're honoring God by paying taxes? When's the last time you pay tax and say, you know what, I'm honoring God by paying this tax?
Because you are. Whether you eat or drink, you're doing it for the glory of God and the Bible teaches that we're to pay that and it's honoring to God to do so. So don't try to always get out of taxes because you're not just getting out of the government taxes, you're getting out of honoring God with what he calls us to pay. What if I can't pay my taxes? Well, just ask Jesus to provide for you like Peter was provided for. God will provide for you when you honor him, he'll honor you, he'll take care of you as you are faithful with what he's entrusted to you.
Now what if, you're gonna go out and fish in this afternoon, right? Now what if the government is corrupt? What if the government is corrupt? I don't have time to navigate all the corruption, but do you understand how corrupt the Sanhedrin was?
That's how you pronounce it, Sanhedrin. We say Sanhedrin a lot of times, but the 70, that was their legislative branch in Israel. They were so corrupt, they condemned Jesus to death. They were extremely corrupt. Pontius Pilate, was he corrupt? Pontius Pilate was extremely corrupt. One incident that the Jewish historian Josephus records about him was how Pilate needed some, needed to get water into Jerusalem by building an aqueduct system, so he goes into the temple and raids the Jewish temple.
Totally corrupt. And then when the Jews began to protest this, he had soldiers hidden throughout the crowd who just rose up and started killing some of the Jews. This is what really Jesus would seem to be referring to in Luke 13 one when he says, there were present at that season, some that told him of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. I mean, Pilate was extremely unjust. And do you know what Jesus said when he stood before Pilate in John 19? John 19, verse 10, then saith Pilate unto Jesus, or unto him, speakest thou not unto me? Knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee and have power to release thee? Look what Jesus said. Jesus answered, thou could have no power at all against me.
Read it with me, church. Except it were given thee from where? It wasn't men that appointed you. My father appointed you.
What implications does that have for us today? Told you this isn't a message that we're like, yes, I love that. But you're a citizen of heaven, friend. You're on foreign soil. And on earth, let me just say this, we lose on earth. I like to win, I don't like to lose. But on earth, earth is not where our victory is.
Our victory is eternal, it's spiritual, it's heavenly. Well, if we don't Christianize the whole nation, if we don't set up our, and we don't do all these things, I can tell you, if you watch Jesus, you'd be like, he lost, right? I mean, his disciples bailed out on him. Judas betrays him. Jesus is crucified.
It's like loss, loss, and more loss. But he won. But he won. Because the third day comes, right? And then you read through early church history and Christians were crucified and martyred and beaten and just the ravishing of Christianity.
But they won. And so on earth, you have to realize this is not where our kingdom is. This is the sand, there is the eternal glory in heaven. And unless you understand the world through the eyes of scripture, you will become a very disingenuous citizen. You become a bitter, resentful, hateful American Christian. And no one will wanna know about your Jesus because they can't stand your politics.
And your attitude about it. And your frustration and your bitterness as though there is no sovereign God. They'll think that you must have a little God that doesn't raise up anybody, right?
We'll sound like the Israelites in the Old Testament against Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar. And I'm preaching to myself and you along the way, but we need to hear this, don't we? Because I've been so frustrated at times with our leadership and I have to remind myself, God establishes the leadership. He brings judgment on a people by giving them leaders that will be suppressive to them.
There's no one financially better off probably outside of certain politicians now than they were a few years ago. But I can tell you, God's the one who raises up and brings down. So what if I get treated unfairly by a governing authority? They persecute me, 1 Peter 2.17. He says, honor all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king. And then he says in verse 19, this is thank worthy if a man for conscience toward God endured grief, suffering wrongfully.
What if the government treats you wrong and you're wronged? He says, well, if you endure that wrongfully, he's like, verse 20, 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. For even here unto were you called because Christ also suffered for us, leaving an example that you should follow in his stuff.
You think you're treated worse than Jesus was? He was beaten by the governments of his day, and yet he did, it says in verse 22, who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he didn't revile again. When he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself to him that judges righteously. It looked like Jesus lost on earth, but he sits on the right hand of the throne of God. God can sow triumph over the evils that God even used the wickedness of Pontius Pilate to bring to pass his own will.
Now, last couple things, and I gotta wrap this up. Is there ever a time to rebel against the governing authorities, and the answer is yes. You rebel against the government when the government rebels against Jesus in the word of God. When they call you to do things that are against the word of God, you obey God rather than man. This is Acts 4, 17 through 20. They commanded them no longer to preach in the name of Jesus, and Paul and John, they said whether it be right in the sight of God to listen to you more than God, I'll let you be the judge, but we can only do the things that we've seen and heard. They end up imprisoning them in chapter number five, and an angel from God broke them out of jail and says go preach some more.
What happens when the angel breaks you out of jail, right? And so we are to obey God rather than man. Why, because God establishes government, but government, when it goes against God, you obey the higher authority. You obey the highest authority. Daniel three, we see Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego rebelling against the decree of Nebuchadnezzarite. They're throwing the fiery furnace. Now let me close out with the key to submission to earthly governing authorities, and it's in 1 Peter 2, 13.
This will be helpful. 1 Peter 2, 13, he says this. Submit yourself to every ordinance of man.
Read the next four words with me. For the Lord's sake, whether it be to the king of supreme, and he goes into this, you need to know this. Horizontal submission. Horizontal submission only works when your vertical motive is right. And this is every relationship we have. God must be at the center.
He has to be the why. Obedience to man's laws and systems only work when you do it for the Lord's sake. If you try to be a good citizen based on how good the government is, you will fail. The Lord must be your motivation and reward. In 1 Peter 2, he talks about the importance of being in submission to your boss. In chapter three, submission to marriage. Chapter five of 1 Peter, submission to one another.
If you try to be a good employee based on how good your boss treats you, you will fail, and how good they are. If you try to be submissive to your spouse and their needs because of how good your spouse is and how well they maintain their goodness, you will fail. If you try to have right relationships with believers based on their behavior, you will fail. The reason Christians, listen to me, this is the most important part of the sermon. The reason Christians fail to live up to God's calling for them to submit in these areas of life is because they base them on the behaviors of men instead of the behavior of Christ. They base their submission and right spirit on man instead of God.
They build their response on horizontal relationships instead of vertical relationships. We become, in effect, idolaters who serve our own desires instead of the Lord's. We play the part of the hypocrite who said, I love you, God, and rebel against his commands. We say we serve the Lord, but we often serve our own desires. Jesus has to be our motive, goal, and reward. You submit to government, why?
For the Lord's sake, why would you do that? Because I love Jesus. Well, you know what the government, yeah, but I love Jesus. You submit to your boss for Christ's sake.
I know they're not perfect. I know they do things, but I'm gonna be submissive. Now, if they go against the will of God and ask me to do that, then I'm gonna rebel against that. I'm not gonna post LGBTQ transgenderism and on my desk, I'm not gonna be pro that stuff and promote things the Bible is not for, but I will be submissive in areas that don't conflict with the word of God. You submit to your spouse for Christ's sake. You submit to other believers for Christ's sake. Students, you submit to your teacher and the campus rules and the school rules for Christ's sake. You don't go in there like a rebellious kid or you're serving your own interests.
I don't know why we have to wear these stupid things or I don't know why we have to do this stuff. You think Jesus is honored by that attitude? He has to be our motive.
John 14, 15, Jesus said, if you love me, you'll keep my commandments. I know this is a convicting message because we're in a year in America where we have politics going on like crazy and it's so annoying, isn't it? You don't wanna see any more ads. If you wanna have a better week, just turn off politics, right? Now, what are we to do? What does, what are we to do? 1 Timothy 2, listen to what he says. I exhort you therefore that first of all, supplication, prayer, intercession, giving of thanks be made for all men. Be thankful and be in prayer.
Who do we pray for first? For kings and for all that are in authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life. As much as lies in us, live peaceably in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God, our Savior, who will have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of truth.
I can tell you, friends, you're gonna be tested on this. As a citizen of heaven, you're a citizen of heaven, but you're living on earth and you're gonna be tested with other people that can pull you into, and you need to reflect an attitude that understands God is sovereign. He's on the throne. He raises up, he brings down, he is king. And I live not in obedience to man. For man's sake, I live in obedience to God and I will honor men for God's sake. Everything is vertical for us.
We live as vertical beings. God becomes the motive. That's why we should be the best citizens in the country.
That's why we should be the best workers, the best students, whatever you are in your place in life. And Jesus said this, and when you do that, when you put God on the throne, because I can tell you, when you're frustrated, angry, that lets us know we're on the throne because control equals anxiety and anger in life. But when you put Christ on the throne, you know what he said the day before he died?
The day that the greatest governmental injustice ever happened on the planet was against Jesus. The day before that happened, he said, let not your heart be troubled. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, not as the world gives give unto you.
Let not your heart be troubled. That's what he offers people who allow him to sit on the throne. Is that the life we want, amen? So when people see us, they're like, how can you live like that? It's because I know who's living in me and I know who really sits on the throne. We may look like we're losing, but I can tell you, friends, we win. Because he won. He lives and we will live. And so let's all stand this morning. We'll be right back.
