Romans: Gospel Living The Transforming Power of the Gospel Part 4

God is sovereign over those who are in positions of government authority. And he uses them, as imperfect as they are, to accomplish his will. Last week, we saw how the Apostle Paul shifted his writing style dramatically when he got to the second part of chapter 12. [00:39:16]

Our dedication of ourselves to the Lord doesn't consist of something that takes place in some ethereal sphere that floats above what's going on in our everyday lives. We're to live out our commitment to God in every aspect of our lives, including how we relate to the government. [00:41:01]

Commands having to do with many different aspects of the Christian life. But here in chapter 13, he slows down once again and he focuses deeply on one area of life that every believer must wrestle with. Our relationship to the government. [00:39:42]

If you think about it, there are very good reasons why Paul chose to write this in this particular letter of his. Let's remind ourselves, who is Paul writing to here? That's not rhetorical. Answer, who is Paul writing to here? [00:41:25]

Does obeying secular governmental authorities entail conforming to the world? If so, then we shouldn't obey those authorities because we're commanded not to conform to the world. What we find in this passage is that those who are over us in governmental authority aren't in those positions apart from God [00:42:16]

What we find out in today's passage is that though God is the one who will execute his vengeance on unrepentant sinners in the last day, he has also ordained civil government as an institution to carry out his judgment in the present age. [00:43:44]

All throughout the Bible, we see that God providentially rules over everything. Specifically, the rise and fall of political rulers. For example, in Daniel 4:17, Daniel tells King Nebuchadnezzar, "The Most High rules the kingdom of men [00:46:10]

In the same way, when we reject authority without just cause, we disrupt God's order and we invite consequences either from the state or from God directly. Let's read verses three and four again. [00:47:49]

There are occasions where rulers are a terror to those who do good. Verse four says that the governing authorities are servants of God, carrying out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Well, as we've seen, sometimes governing authorities carry out wrath, all right, but not God's wrath, and they carry it [00:54:46]

To be subject to someone is to recognize one's subordinate place in a hierarchy established by God. It's to acknowledge that certain institutions or people have been placed over us and have the right to our respect. [00:56:24]

But Paul would never think that a wife must always do what her husband demanded. For instance, if her husband wanted her to do something in the bedroom with other people involved, that's clearly immoral and she should refuse to do that. In a similar way, we believers can be [00:58:32]

And we should as much as possible do what the government says as long as the government is not asking us to do something contrary to the teaching of scripture. [00:59:17]

Paul and Jesus don't give us that out. At the time of Jesus ministry, the Jews were under the authority of the Roman Empire. And one of the things that was funded by the government at that time was the gladiatorial games. If you know anything about Roman history, you know these games demonstrated very little regard for human life. [01:04:26]

We should think of it as an opportunity to demonstrate that our trust is in God's sovereignty, even over how the government uses the money we give it. [01:05:25]

Those who have positions of civil authority ultimately have those positions because God has sovereignly ordained that to be the case. Romans 13:1 says there is no authority except those from God. Those that exist have been instituted by God. We may not [01:12:20]