Paul, the Priest, Preacher and Pioneer of the Gospel!

Psalm 107:10-16 “¹⁰ Some sat in darkness and the deepest gloom, prisoners suffering in iron chains, ¹¹ for they had rebelled against the words of God and despised the counsel of the Most High. ¹² So he subjected them to bitter labor; they stumbled, and there was no one to help. ¹³ Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress. ¹⁴ He brought them out of darkness and the deepest gloom and broke away their chains. ¹⁵ Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men, ¹⁶ for he breaks down gates of bronze and cuts through bars of iron.” Let’s sing together:

Romans 15:14-22 “¹⁴ I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another. ¹⁵ I have written you quite boldly on some points, as if to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me ¹⁶ to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. ¹⁷ Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God. ¹⁸ I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done– ¹⁹ by the power of signs and miracles, through the power of the Spirit. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ. ²⁰ It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation. ²¹ Rather, as it is written: “Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand.” ²² This is why I have often been hindered from coming to you.”

Let’s pray together:

We have now completed the major doctrinal teachings of the Book of Romans. And what we come to now is an epilogue, where Paul makes 3 comments about the Romans and then 3 comments about his ministry. Then he talks about his future plans, gives some personal greetings, and he closes with a benediction. That’s all that’s left in Romans.

And today we’re going to study Romans 15 verses 14-21 and this passage could be summarized by these three points having to do with the Apostle Paul: 1—Paul the Priest (vs. 16), Paul the Preacher (vss. 17-19) and finally we have Paul the Pioneer (vss. 20-21). Let’s see what we can learn, and what we can apply by studying Paul in these 3 roles.

Now in verse 14 Paul says the following things about the Romans: that they are, 1—full of goodness, 2—filled with all knowledge, and 3—able to admonish one another. Now it would really benefit us to look at these things together this morning.

First, Paul said the Romans were full of goodness. They had high moral character and were living righteously. Shouldn’t this be the aim of every Christian, to have character and conduct that represents Christ? Maybe you’ve heard that Ghandi said, “I like your Christ, I don’t like your Christians.” Well this should never be said of us, our character should be such that people see we’re full of goodness. Jesus said to “let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”

But wait a minute, Paul taught in chapter 3 that all people are sinners and fall short of God’s glory; that we’re born in sin and that we practice unrighteousness. So how did these Romans get to be full of goodness? We’re not born that way. Well this is simply part of the great exchange that happened at the cross, where people who were previously full of evil become full of goodness. Picture for a moment, Jesus Christ dying on the cross. What do you see there? You see that God has taken your sin away from you and put it on His Son, that’s why Jesus is dying. He is taking your place, suffering your punishment, making payment for your sin. Your sin is now nailed to a tree and buried in a tomb. And look what He is giving you in its place: His righteousness. This is the great exchange that happens for all believers at the cross. As a believer you are full of goodness because you are full of Christ.

And the believers in Rome genuinely hated evil and loved righteousness, they were full of goodness, and so they showed by their very lives that they were transformed, that their old lives had gone and the new had come.

Question: if people look at our lives, would they see that we are full of goodness? Have we consciously turned away from sin and burned all our bridges to it, and radically amputated all access to it? Can they see that we’re living in the light, that we’re not in bondage to any habitual sin? That we live in truth, in love, in holiness, in purity? The Romans were not perfect in their lives, but they were full of goodness.

But notice also from verse 14 that the Romans were filled with all knowledge. They clearly had a hunger for the truth, they searched it out, they gave themselves to studying, to learning, to gaining knowledge. Maybe they read what God said in Hosea, that “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” so they said, “that’s not going to be me” and they set out to learn. Oh what a blessing it is to want to learn.

But what Paul means here is not that the Romans had general knowledge and information about their world that they lived in (that they knew mathematics and science and history, etc.), but that they had the full knowledge of the gospel. They were learned in the gospel. They were doctrinally sound. They saw all the Bible as pointing to Christ, because in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. You see? They were filled with Christ.

They were filled with goodness and knowledge, or virtue and truth. They had “a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith”. They knew God, they knew His truth, and, by the power of His Spirit, they were committed to living holy lives.

The third thing Paul says about the Romans in verse 14 is that they are able to admonish, or competent to counsel one another. They were qualified by the first two: they full of goodness and full of knowledge, therefore competent to counsel. Paul is talking about the responsibility that every believer has for encouraging and strengthening other believers.

You know what is so sad? Many people today are convinced that competent counseling can only be done by a person who is trained in the principles of secular psychology—despite the fact that the various schools of psychology are at extreme odds with God’s Word and with each other. But this passage tells us exactly what qualifies us to counsel one another: spiritual maturity; that is, being filled with goodness and truth.

So God has set down for us how counseling is to happen: it is to be Christian counseling Christian. If we have a problem in our lives we are supposed to go to a wise and mature brother and sister in the Lord; not someone trained in worldly wisdom but someone who is mature in Christ, and has character, and especially who loves the gospel. They can counsel us, admonish us, instruct us.

So Paul made these three comments about the Romans, now we’ll see him as priest. He says in Romans 15:16 that he was “a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.” See how Paul compares himself, in preaching the Gospel, to the priest performing his sacred duty—preparing his sacrifice to be offered, arranging it on the altar, adding the oil, so that the sacrifice would be acceptable to God.

See what is being taught here? It is preaching of the gospel that makes people acceptable to God. If you’re here today and you believe this message that I’m giving you from the Bible, that Christ died in your place and rose for your justification, you are acceptable to God.

Now this is such an important point and I want to illustrate it. If you would, look with me in your Bibles to the Book of 2 Kings, chapter 4. This is a story from the history of the nation of Israel. A story about the prophet Elisha. 2 Kings 4:38-41 ³⁸ Elisha returned to Gilgal and there was a famine in that region. While the company of the prophets was meeting with him, he said to his servant, “Put on the large pot and cook some stew for these men.” ³⁹ One of them went out into the fields to gather herbs and found a wild vine. He gathered some of its gourds and filled the fold of his cloak. When he returned, he cut them up into the pot of stew, though no one knew what they were. ⁴⁰ The stew was poured out for the men, but as they began to eat it, they cried out, “O man of God, there is death in the pot!” And they could not eat it. ⁴¹ Elisha said, “Get some flour.” He put it into the pot and said, “Serve it to the people to eat.” And there was nothing harmful in the pot.

Now notice, the stew was not acceptable. There was poison in it, there was death in the pot. It was unacceptable. So what did Elisha do, did he tell the people to start pulling out the poison, just reach in and take out the bad? No, you could never do that, it’s all mixed in together. Instead, Elisha said to put in the flour, the substance. And this flour acted like a sponge, and soaked in all the poison, and left the stew perfectly acceptable. As if this flour took all the poison into itself, and left nothing but pure stew. It took the death to itself and left life for those who ate it.

Now let’s not miss the point. We were all like that stew: born with poisonous sin in our hearts, unacceptable to God. And what did God do? Did He tell us take out all that sin, clean up your life, you better remove lying and lust and greed and selfishness, etc. NO! He sent His Son to die for us, thereby taking all our sin to Himself, and giving us life. Jesus is the substance that makes us acceptable to God.

Now this passage has very practical teaching for us. A family can have sin in it, poison in the pot: father and mother yelling at each other, the kids disobeying, and what needs to be done? Focus on the bad and try to remove it? No, add Christ. Add the substance of the gospel. Fathers add Bible study to your home. Add singing of hymns and worship songs. Bring your family together for prayer. Add Christ and there will be nothing harmful in the pot.

Churches can have sin: gossip, people speaking ill of other people, slandering, backbiting, dissention, division. And what is needed? And what role should the pastor take? Point out everyone’s faults and failures? How about preach the gospel, add the substance of Christ and there will be nothing harmful in the pot.

It is preaching of the gospel that saves people, and sanctifies people, and in the next chapter we’ll see it is preaching of the gospel that stabilizes people (16:25). Do you see how extremely important preaching of the gospel is?

So we’ve seen Paul as the priest, next we see him in the role of preacher. And this is very important: why? Because we’re looking for a preacher for this church. And so I want to give us five features of a faithful preacher. Let’s remember these as we’re looking for a preacher:

First, the preacher should take no credit for himself. Paul says in Romans 15:18 “I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me.” In other words, he was not boasting in what he accomplished, but rather in what Christ accomplished through him. Look for a preacher who has accomplished a lot, but who knows that it was Christ who accomplished all that through him. “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.” We have no right to take any credit for any spiritual effect that we have had. Paul refused to boast in anything, except his weakness. The preacher should take no credit for himself.

The second feature of a faithful preacher is that he emphasizes obedience. See in verse 18 “…leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done.” See the gospel calls people not only to faith in Christ as Savior but to obey Him as Lord. Notice Romans 6:17 “But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted.” A faithful preacher must call people to, and emphasize the need for, obedience to God.

The third feature of a faithful preacher is personal integrity. Look at the end of verse 18: “by what I have said and done.” Paul led people to obey Christ through both his words and his life. His life was totally consistent with his message, without hypocrisy or self-righteousness. There should be no difference between the message we proclaim and the life we live. A preacher must have integrity. No hidden sins, nothing that could come out and cast shame on the name of Christ or the church.

The fourth feature of a faithful preacher is God’s approval of his ministry. Look at verse 19: “¹⁹ by the power of signs and miracles, through the power of the Spirit.” God attested to Paul’s ministry. A preacher ought to have conversions; people who have turned from sin and are now following Christ because of his influence. This is God’s hand of approval on him. We ought to be fruit inspectors when pastors come to us—where are the conversions, the baptisms, the real spiritual influence?

The fifth feature of a faithful preacher is a laser-like focus on the gospel. Notice Romans 15:19 (NIV) “¹⁹ …So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ.” The message should never change, no matter where he preaches. Let’s not be as interested in whether or not he is funny, intense, relevant, significant, but let’s ask ourselves one question: does he preach the gospel? I remind you of Paul’s statement in 1 Corinthians 2:2 “For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” This is a laser like focus on the gospel. That’s what preachers are supposed to preach.  

So Paul was not only in the role of priest, and a preacher of the gospel, but also a pioneer. He says in Romans 15:20 “It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation.” And he quotes Isaiah 52:15: that “those who were not told about Him will see, and those who have not heard will understand.”

So Paul was a partner, a priest a preacher and a pioneer. He was someone who didn’t take credit to himself, someone who emphasized obedience, someone who had personal integrity, someone who had God’s approval on his ministry and who focused squarely on the gospel. May we be the same!

Unity of Worship, Through the Gospel

Zechariah 9:9-12 ⁹ “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey. ¹⁰ I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim And the horse from Jerusalem; The battle bow shall be cut off. He shall speak peace to the nations; His dominion shall be ‘from sea to sea, And from the River to the ends of the earth.’ ¹¹ “As for you also, Because of the blood of your covenant, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. ¹² Return to the stronghold, You prisoners of hope. Even today I declare That I will restore double to you. Let’s sing.

Second Scripture reading: Matthew 21:1-9 ¹ Now when they drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, ² saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to Me. ³ And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.” ⁴ All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: ⁵ “Tell the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your King is coming to you, Lowly, and sitting on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.’ “ ⁶ So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them. ⁷ They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them. ⁸ And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. ⁹ Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: “Hosanna to the Son of David! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’ Hosanna in the highest!”

Let’s pray together:  

And now let’s read our passage of study for today, the first 6 verses of Romans 15.

Romans 15:1-6 ¹ We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. ² Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. ³ For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.” ⁴ For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. ⁵ May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, ⁶ so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Well I don’t know about you, but I’ve always wondered, what is the big picture as to what God is doing in the world? What is the big plan, the Master Plan? The Scriptures peel back the curtain to show us what God is doing; to show us God’s eternal plan. It’s a big plan: it includes people from all nations, all languages, all ages, and all walks of life. This plan paints a picture for us of all God’s people, joining hands together, worshipping God in perfect unity.

And this plan reveals the reason why all these people are worshipping: it’s because Jesus Christ died in our place, to take our punishment, and to bring us to God. Revelation 5:9 shows people worshipping Jesus and they say to Him, “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain (notice, he opens the book of life by His death), and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.” This tells us the cross was a purchase transaction, where Jesus came to this earth to buy us for Himself, like someone would go to the store and make a purchase. He is worthy because He died for us, to forgive our sins and to open up eternal life for us, and to bring us to God. And so God’s eternal plan is revealed: unity of worship through the gospel.

Now we can even see this same plan of God in our passage today simply by comparing two verses in Romans 15. Verse 3 and verse 6: Romans 15:3 For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.” This is a direct reference to His death where He was insulted and mocked and crucified to save us. And notice the expected result of Jesus death: Romans 15:6 so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Unity of worship through the gospel!

Think of it like this for a moment: let’s say that you and your family are driving along the road at night and you slow down because up ahead are some train tracks and you look out to your right and you see a train coming, but there seems to be enough time to make it across, so you begin to move forward, but something has gone wrong and your call has stalled right on the tracks. You see the train coming closer now and you’re trying to start the car but it won’t start. You think of jumping out and running but all your family is in the car. It seems that you’re doomed. But then all of a sudden a pickup truck behind you has noticed your predicament and has begun pushing you off the tracks; and he just barely gets you free of the tracks when the train slams into it, and with shock and horror you realize that the driver that just saved your life could not survive that impact. It’s clear that he gave his life in saving you. And what would your response be? Wouldn’t you be grateful, and in your hearts thank God for that driver? Wouldn’t everybody in the family with one heart and one mouth express deep appreciation for him? See that’s God’s design for us today. He saved us from eternal destruction, much worse than a train, and so we are to have unity of worship, through the gospel.

Well then the question comes, how do we cooperate with God’s plan? How do we achieve this unity of worship? Well first I think we can all admit this is no small task. I mean look at all the denominations that were formed based on their own distinctives. A recent search on Wikipedia lists 3800 different Christian denominations. Picture a person who God begins to work in; they will find a strange desire to go to church, because God is drawing them to Himself. But now they’re in quite a quandary. Which church is right? Is it the Baptist, the Lutheran, the Methodist, the Presbyterians or the Church of Christ? What happened to unity? Something’s wrong.

But we can do something about it, and align ourselves with God’s plan. This passage gives us four things that God expects all Christians to do to further His plan:

1.    Love each other (vss. 1-2)

2.    Learn from the Bible (vss. 3-4)

3.    Live in unity (vss. 5-6)

4.    Lift up the Savior (vs. 6)

So we see first of all that we are to love each other. Romans 15:1-2 ¹ We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. ² Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. This tells us that we are to love each other. And so we are to love each other in very specific ways:

·       Bear with each other

·       Build each other up

·       Bless each other

To love someone is to bear with them; this word actually means to carry them. To carry their burdens with love and gentleness. Galatians 6:2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

Now here it is important to remember Palm Sunday, where people spread palm branches on the path and Jesus rode in to Jerusalem on a donkey. Now think about why He chose a donkey to ride on. Wouldn’t a king ride in on a great white stallion? Or a royal chariot with speeding horses? But here Jesus lumbers along on a donkey?

Yes, because a donkey is not only a sign of humility but a donkey is a burden bearer. You’ll remember that a donkey’s nickname is “beast of burden” because they carried the bags and supplies of people as they moved around. What a fitting representation of Jesus’ Himself, Who, one week later, would bear their burden of sin. What love for Him to take this burden off of you and to carry it Himself, all the way to the cross.

Oh don’t you remember what a burden sin was? As an unbeliever we were strapped down with a backpack full of sin like bricks. We were weighed down by it and sank under the weight. And then we heard one of the great benefits of becoming a believer was that Jesus would take our burden from us and carry it for us and dispose of it at the cross. One of our Christian songs says “He took my sins and my sorrows, He made them His very own. He bore the burden to Calv’ry. And suffered and died alone.”

And likewise we are to carry each other’s burdens out of love. The strong are to bear the failings of the weak so that the weak can grow strong. This tells us to consider people, not trample on them, but encourage them, and bear with their weaknesses. We must learn to sympathize with them, be concerned for them, minister strength to them when we can. This is bearing one another’s burdens.

And to love someone is to build them up. Vs. 2: edification. To build up. One of the greatest ways to do this is to give them the good news. Sin tears down but the gospel builds up. Husbands are you in the habit of building up your wife? Do you teach her the gospel? Forgive her when she needs it? Wives, do you build up your husbands to their face and in the presence of others. Parents, are you building up your children? Do we all share the gospel every day with people we meet?

And we build people up by refusing to ever say a bad word about them. James 4:11 Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. And a church that bears with each other’s weaknesses and builds each other up is a worshipping church because love is flowing. This is how we cooperate with God’s eternal plan.

And love blesses other people. It pleases others. “let each of us please his neighbor for his good.” I have to tell you that I have seen this principle being followed over and over in the Fountain of Grace church. The bringing of meals to people who are sick, the ongoing visitations, the numerous helping hands when someone is moving, the love you share when someone is in need. Over and over I see you pleasing your neighbor, blessing your neighbor for their good.

You see a church that loves each other like this is a unified force. A church that bears each other’s burdens and builds each other up and blesses each other is a worshipping church.

And then Paul is going us an example of this kind of love. It’s as if Paul said, “Just look what Jesus did for you.” Notice verse 3: Romans 15:3 For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, “The insults of those who insult You have fallen on Me.” Notice the self-denial of Christ. Christ did not please Himself. He did not consider His own safety or comfort or pleasure; when He came to earth He was born in a manger, had no place to lay his head, lived with the same status as a beggar, refused to be made a king, He washed his disciples’ dirty feet, did not live for His own honor; He emptied himself, and made himself nothing: and all this for our sake, to make us righteous. His whole life was self-denying and it took Him straight to a cross where He denied Himself His very life’s blood for you. Think of this for a moment: He preferred your eternal benefit over His own ease and comfort. He took your curse that You might have His blessing. He pleased His neighbor, not Himself.  

He even chose to receive insults rather than compliments. Who would choose that? He chose to have the insults that were directed at God fall on Him. At the cross we see a crowd of God-haters; they hate God’s Law and God’s righteousness. They were pounding nails into God’s flesh, jabbing a sword into God’s heart. Jesus willingly took these insults, nails and sword, choosing not to please Himself but rather God and you.

And likewise, we are not to live self-pleasing lives, but rather please one another. 1 Corinthians 10:24 Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others. Philippians 2:4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. That’s how God will have a unified church, a worshipping church where we all live to please others. And so believers are to constantly think, who can I please today? How could I bless them for their good? What burden can I carry, how can I show love to someone?

Secondly, we are not only to love each other, but we are to learn from the Scriptures. Romans 15:4 For whatever things were written before were written for our learning.” Certainly we are to learn from all Scriptures, but what he is referring to here is the Old Testament. Paul just quoted from Psalm 69, and showed how it pointed forward to Christ and the cross. And we are to learn from them, that’s why they were written. Men here today, are you learning from the Scriptures? Do you set aside time each day to study them, to gain knowledge, to go deep into them? Ladies, do you learn from the Scriptures?  2 Timothy 3:16-17 ¹⁶ All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, ¹⁷ so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.  

According to verse 4, we learn patience from the Scriptures and we receive comfort and hope. We learn about the lives of Daniel and David, and Joseph and Job, and we see they learned patience and perseverance, they just continued on through all their hardships and they were rewarded with comfort and hope. And we’re led by their example to press on in faith, to not turn back or turn aside to sin but persevere.

And if we persevere God will comfort us. 2 Corinthians 1:4 tells us that God “comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” God is a God of comfort and the Scriptures are real comfort food.

And the Scriptures give us hope. Maybe you remember life before you were a Christian and you had no lasting hope. We were without God and without hope. All hope for the unbeliever dies with them, there is no hope beyond the grave. We might have searched the world over but we would not have found any lasting hope. There is none whatsoever. Without Christ our world is dark and dismal. Depression and despondency characterize our world today. The only place you can find real hope is in the Word of God. To become a believer is to become a prisoner of hope. Hope is one of the first things we experience when we become born again. 1 Peter 1:3 “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” Notice our living hope is based on a living Savior. Only if Jesus died could we lose our hope. And God gives us this hope through the Bible. If you’re depressed or discouraged the Scriptures are the answer. Get in to them and see that God calls you up above the darkness into the sun of hope.

I remember one time here in the Cleveland area it had been a long, dark winter, and the spring rains were lasting forever. Rain, rain rain. And one morning we went to the airport and took off and climbed out and about 18,000 feet we broke out into the clear and the sun was shining bright. And my co-pilot said, “we’d like to report an unidentified orange ball in the Eastern sky.” Everybody laughed. We hadn’t seen it for so long. Here we were living like gophers down here when it was all bright above. And God calls us in the Scriptures to come up into the sunshine of hope. It tells us that on the cross Christ entered the darkness for you Colossians 1:13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves. But some Christians still live as if they have not been rescued from darkness because they are not studying the Scriptures.

A church that loves each other and learns from the Scriptures is a unified church and a worshipping church.

And that brings us to point three, that we are to live in unity. Romans 15:5 “May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus.”

Think of these amazing words, “a spirit of unity among yourselves.” We should not have our little pet teachings, or our little thing that everybody knows us for. We ought to all be like-minded around the good news of Jesus Christ. Paul’s praying for their unity. He’s just following in Jesus footsteps who prayed in John 17:11 “Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name–the name you gave me–so that they may be one as we are one” and in verse 23, “may they be brought to complete unity.”  

J. Vernon McGee talks about growing up in a small town in West Texas and as a boy he was walking along the road and there’s a Baptist church on this corner, a Lutheran church on that corner and a Methodist church across it on the other corner. And he paused because they were all 3 singing. The Baptists were singing “will I have any stars in my crown” and the Lutheran’s were singing “no not one, no not one” while the Baptists were singing, “oh that will be glory for me, glory for me.” I’m quite sure that’s just a story, but the point is that they all should have been singing the doxology “Praise God from whom all blessings flow.” Philippians 1:27 Whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel. If we ever content with anybody it needs to be only for the gospel! 1 Peter 3:8 Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble.

Finally, we are to lift up the Savior. That just means that we are to glorify the Lord. To lift Him up in praise. Romans 15:6 that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Well if God lifted up His Son for us, shouldn’t we lift up our praise to Him? If you’ve ever wanted to know the main thing that God wants of you, it is to praise Him. If you’ve ever wanted to know where God lives, Psalm 22:3 says God lives in the praises of His people. If you’ve ever wanted to know how to suffer, how to face hardship and trials, like Job who lost all his children in one day and it says, “then he fell to the ground and worshipped” and said, “blessed be the name of the Lord.” If you’ve ever wanted to know what you’ll be doing throughout all eternity, it will be to praise the One Who gave His Son for you to bring you out of the darkness of unbelief into the Light of faith.

1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.    

God has a master plan of the universe. He sent His Son to die and rise again, that we might love each other, learn from the Word, live in unity and lift up the Savior. That we might all have unity of worship through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let’s pray.

Spurgeon’s Sermon on Unbelief

0003 – The Sin of Unbelief

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New Park Street Chapel, Southwark

1/14/1855

 

“And that lord answered the man of God, and said, Now, behold, if the Lord should make windows in heaven, might such a thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes but shalt not eat thereof”—2 Kings 7:19.

ONE WISE man may deliver a whole city; one good man may be the means of safety to a thousand others. The holy ones are “the salt of the earth,” the means of the preservation of the wicked. Without the godly as a conserve, the race would be utterly destroyed. In the city of Samaria there was one righteous man—Elisha, the servant of the Lord. Piety was altogether extinct in the court. The king was a sinner of the blackest dye, his iniquity was glaring and infamous. Jehoram walked in the ways of his father Ahab, and made unto himself false gods. The people of Samaria were fallen like their monarch: they had gone astray from Jehovah; they had forsaken the God of Israel; they remembered not the watchword of Jacob, “The Lord thy God is one God;” and in wicked idolatry they bowed before the idols of the heathens, and therefore the Lord of Hosts suffered their enemies to oppress them until the curse of Ebal was fulfilled in the streets of Samaria, for “the tender and delicate woman who would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness,” had an evil eye to her own children, and devoured her offspring by reason of fierce hunger (Deut 28:56-58). In this awful extremity the one holy man was the medium of salvation. The one grain of salt preserved the entire city; the one warrior for God was the means of the deliverance of the whole beleaguered multitude. For Elisha’s sake the Lord sent the promise that the next day, food which could not be obtained at any price, should be had at the cheapest possible rate—at the very gates of Samaria. We may picture the joy of the multitude when first the seer uttered this prediction. They knew him to be a prophet of the Lord; he had divine credentials; all his past prophecies had been fulfilled. They knew that he was a man sent of God, and uttering Jehovah’s message. Surely the monarch’s eyes would glisten with delight, and the emaciated multitude would leap for joy at the prospects of so speedy a release from famine. “To-morrow,” would they shout, “to-morrow our hunger shall be over, and we shall feast to the full.”

However, the lord on whom the king leaned expressed his disbelief. We hear not that any of the common people, the plebeians, ever did so; but an aristocrat did it. Strange it is, that God has seldom chosen the great men of this world. High places and faith in Christ do seldom well agree. This great man said, “Impossible!” and, with an insult to the prophet, he added, “If the Lord should make windows in heaven, might such a thing be.” His sin lay in the fact, that after repeated seals of Elisha’s ministry, he yet disbelieved the assurances uttered by the prophet on God’s behalf. He had, doubtless, seen the marvelous defeat of Moab; he had been startled at tidings of the resurrection of the Shunamite’s son; he knew that Elisha had revealed Benhadad’s secrets and smitten his marauding hosts with blindness; he had seen the bands of Syria decoyed into the heart of Samaria; and he probably knew the story of the widow, whose oil filled all the vessels, and redeemed her sons; at all events the cure of Naaman was common conversation at court; and yet, in the face of all this accumulated evidence, in the teeth of all these credentials of the prophet’s mission, he yet doubted, and insultingly told him that heaven must become an open casement, ere the promise could be performed. Whereupon God pronounced his doom by the mouth of the man who had just now proclaimed the promise: “thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.” And providence—which always fulfills prophecy, just as the paper takes the stamp of the type—destroyed the man. Trodden down in the streets of Samaria, he perished at its gates, beholding the plenty, but tasting not of it. Perhaps his carriage was haughty, and insulting to the people; or he tried to restrain their eager rush; or, as we would say, it might have been by mere accident that he was crushed to death; so that he saw the prophecy fulfilled, but never lived to enjoy it. In his case, seeing was believing, but it was not enjoying.

I shall this morning invite your attention to two things—the man’s sin and his punishment. Perhaps I shall say but little of this man, since I have detailed the circumstances, but I shall discourse upon the sin of unbelief and the punishment thereof.

I. And first, the SIN.

His sin was unbelief. He doubted the promise of God. In this particular case unbelief took the form of a doubt of the divine veracity, or a mistrust of God’s power. Either he doubted whether God really meant what he said, or whether it was within the range of possibility that God should fulfill his promise. Unbelief hath more phases than the moon, and more colors than the chameleon. Common people say of the devil, that he is seen sometimes in one shape, and sometimes in another. I am sure this is true of Satan’s first-born child—unbelief, for its forms are legion. At one time I see unbelief dressed out as an angel of light. It calls itself humility, and it saith, “I would not be presumptuous; I dare not think that God would pardon me; I am too great a sinner.” We call that humility, and thank God that our friend is in so good a condition. I do not thank God for any such delusion. It is the devil dressed as an angel of light; it is unbelief after all. At other times we detect unbelief in the shape of a doubt of God’s immutability: “The Lord has loved me, but perhaps he will cast me off to-morrow. He helped me yesterday, and under the shadows of his wings I trust; but perhaps I shall receive no help in the next affliction. He may have cast me off; he may be unmindful of his covenant, and forget to be gracious.” Sometimes this infidelity is embodied in a doubt of God’s power. We see every day new straits, we are involved in a net of difficulties, and we think “surely the Lord cannot deliver us.” We strive to get rid of our burden, and finding that we cannot do it, we think God’s arm is as short as ours, and his power as little as human might. A fearful form of unbelief is that doubt which keeps men from coming to Christ; which leads the sinner to distrust the ability of Christ to save him, to doubt the willingness of Jesus to accept so great a transgressor. But the most hideous of all is the traitor, in its true colors, blaspheming God, and madly denying his existence. Infidelity, deism, and atheism, are the ripe fruits of this pernicious tree; they are the most terrific eruptions of the volcano of unbelief. Unbelief hath become of full stature, when quitting the mask and laying aside disguise, it profanely stalks the earth, uttering the rebellious cry, “No God,” striving in vain to shake the throne of the divinity, by lifting up its arm against Jehovah, and in its arrogance would

“Snatch from his hand the balance and the rod,

Re-judge his justice—be the god of God.”

Then truly unbelief has come to its full perfection, and then you see what it really is, for the least unbelief is of the same nature as the greatest.

I am astonished, and I am sure you will be, when I tell you that there are some strange people in the world who do not believe that unbelief is a sin. Strange people I must call them, because they are sound in their faith in every other respect; only, to make the articles of their creed consistent, as they imagine, they deny that unbelief is sinful. I remember a young man going into a circle of friends and ministers, who were disputing whether it was a sin in men that they did not believe the gospel. Whilst they were discussing it, he said, “Gentlemen am I in the presence of Christians? Are you believers in the Bible, or are you not?” They said, “We are Christians of course.” “Then,” said he, “does not the Scripture say, ‘of sin, because they believed not on me?’ And is it not the damning sin of sinners, that they do not believe on Christ?” I could not have thought that persons should be so fool-hardy as to venture to assert that, “it is no sin for a sinner not to believe on Christ.” I thought that, however far they might wish to push their sentiments, they would not tell a lie to uphold the truth, and, in my opinion this is what such men are really doing. Truth is a strong tower and never requires to be buttressed with error. God’s Word will stand against all man’s devices. I would never invent a sophism to prove that it is no sin on the part of the ungodly not to believe, for I am sure it is, when I am taught in the Scriptures that, “This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light,” and when I read, “He that believeth not is condemned already, because he believeth not on the Son of God,” I affirm, and the Word declares it, unbelief is a sin. Surely with rational and unprejudiced persons, it cannot require any reasoning to prove it. Is it not a sin for a creature to doubt the word of its Maker? Is it not a crime and an insult to the Divinity, for me, an atom, a particle of dust, to dare to deny his words? Is it not the very summit of arrogance and extremity of pride for a son of Adam to say, even in his heart, “God I doubt thy grace; God I doubt thy love; God I doubt thy power?” Oh! sirs believe me, could ye roll all sins into one mass,—could you take murder, and blasphemy, and lust, adultery, and fornication, and everything that is vile and unite them all into one vast globe of black corruption, they would not equal even then the sin of unbelief. This is the monarch sin, the quintessence of guilt; the mixture of the venom of all crimes; the dregs of the wine of Gomorrah; it is the A1 sin, the master-piece of Satan, the chief work of the devil.

I shall attempt this morning, for a little while, to shew the extremely evil nature of the sin of unbelief.

1. And first the sin of unbelief will appear to be extremely heinous when we remember that it is the parent of every other iniquity. There is no crime which unbelief will not beget. I think that the fall of man is very much owing to it. It was in this point that the devil tempted Eve. He said to her, “Yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” He whispered and insinuated a doubt, “Yea, hath God said so?” as much as to say, “Are you quite sure he said so?” It was by means of unbelief—that thin part of the wedge—that the other sin entered; curiosity and the rest followed; she touched the fruit, and destruction came into this world. Since that time, unbelief has been the prolific parent of all guilt. An unbeliever is capable of the vilest crime that ever was committed. Unbelief, sirs! why it hardened the heart of Pharaoh—it gave license to the tongue of blaspheming Rabshaket—yea, it became a deicide, and murdered Jesus. Unbelief!—it has sharpened the knife of the suicide! it has mixed many a cup of poison; thousands it has brought to the halter; and many to a shameful grave, who have murdered themselves and rushed with bloody hands before their Creator’s tribunal, because of unbelief. Give me an unbeliever—let me know that he doubts God’s word—let me know that he distrusts his promise and his threatening; and with that for a premise, I will conclude that the man shall, by-and-bye unless there is amazing restraining power exerted upon him, be guilty of the foulest and blackest crimes. Ah! this is a Beelzebub sin; like Beelzebub, it is the leader of all evil spirits. It is said of Jeroboam that he sinned and made Israel to sin; and it may be said of unbelief that it not only sins itself, but makes others sin; it is the egg of all crime, the seed of every offence; in fact everything that is evil and vile lies couched in that one word—unbelief.

And let me say here, that unbelief in the Christian is of the self-same nature as unbelief in the sinner. It is not the same in its final issue, for it will be pardoned in the Christian; yea it is pardoned: it was laid upon the scapegoat’s head of old: it was blotted out and atoned for; but it is of the same sinful nature. In fact, if there can be one sin more heinous than the unbelief of a sinner, it is the unbelief of a saint. For a saint to doubt God’s word—for a saint to distrust God after innumerable instances of his love, after ten thousand proofs of his mercy, exceeds everything. In a saint, moreover, unbelief is the root of other sins. When I am perfect in faith, I shall be perfect in everything else; I should always fulfill the precept if I always believed the promise. But it is because my faith is weak, that I sin. Put me in trouble, and if I can fold my arms and say, “Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord will provide,” you will not find me using wrong means to escape from it. But let me be in temporal distress and difficulty; if I distrust God, what then? Perhaps I shall steal, or do a dishonest act to get out of the hands of my creditors; or if kept from such a transgression, I may plunge into excess to drown my anxieties. Once take away faith, the reins are broken; and who can ride an unbroken steed without rein or bridle? Like the chariot of the sun, with Phaeton for its driver, such should we be without faith. Unbelief is the mother of vice; it is the parent of sin; and, therefore, I say it is a pestilent evil—a master sin.

2. But secondly; unbelief not only begets, but fosters sin. How is it that men can keep their sin under the thunders of the Sinai preacher? How is it that, when Boanerges stands in the pulpit, and, by the grace of God, cries aloud, “Cursed is every man that keepeth not all the commands of the law,”—how is it that when the sinner hears the tremendous threatenings of God’s justice, still he is hardened, and walks on in his evil ways? I will tell you; it is because unbelief of that threatening prevents it from having any effect upon him. When our sappers and miners go to work around Sebastopol, they could not work in front of the walls, if they had not something to keep off the shots; so they raise earthworks, behind which they can do what they please. So with the ungodly man. The devil gives him unbelief; he thus puts up an earthwork, and finds refuge behind it. Ah! sinners, when once the Holy Ghost knocks down your unbelief—when once he brings home the truth in demonstration and in power, how the law will work upon your soul. If man did but believe that the law is holy, that the commandments are holy, just, and good, how he would be shaken over hell’s mouth; there would be no sitting and sleeping in God’s house; no careless hearers; no going away and straightway forgetting what manner of men ye are. Oh! once get rid of unbelief, how would ever ball from the batteries of the law fall upon the sinner, and the slain of the Lord would be many. Again, how is it that men can hear the wooing of the cross of Calvary, and yet come not to Christ? How is it that when we preach about the sufferings of Jesus, and close up by saying, “yet there is room,”—how is it that when we dwell upon his cross and passion, men are not broken in their hearts? It is said,

“Law and terrors do but harden,

All the while they work alone:

But a sense of blood-bought pardon

Will dissolve a heart of stone.”

Methinks the tale of Calvary is enough to break a rock. Rocks did rend when they saw Jesus die. Methinks the tragedy of Golgotha is enough to make a flint gush with tears, and to make the most hardened wretch weep out his eyes in drops of penitential love; but yet we tell it you, and repeat it oft, but who weeps over it? Who cares about it? Sirs, ye sit as unconcerned as if it did not signify to you. Oh! behold and see all ye that pass by. Is it nothing to you that Jesus should die? Ye seem to say “It is nothing.” What is the reason? Because there is unbelief between you and the cross. If there were not that thick veil between you and the Saviour’s eyes, his looks of love would melt you. But unbelief is the sin which keeps the power of the gospel from working in the sinner: and it is not till the Holy Ghost strikes that unbelief out—it is not till the Holy Spirit rends away that infidelity and takes it altogether down, that we can find the sinner coming to put his trust in Jesus.

3. But there is a third point. Unbelief disables a man for the performance of any good work. “Whatsoever is not of faith is sin,” is a great truth in more senses than one. “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” You shall never hear me say a word against morality; you shall never hear me say that honesty is not a good thing, or that sobriety is not a good thing; on the contrary, I would say they are commendable things; but I will tell you what I will say afterwards—I will tell you that they are just like the cowries of Hindostan; they may pass current among the Indians, but they will not do in England; these virtues may be current here below, but not above. If you have not something better than your own goodness, you will never get to heaven. Some of the Indian tribes use little strips of cloth instead of money, and I would not find fault with them if I lived there; but when I come to England, strips of cloth will not suffice. So honesty, sobriety, and such things, may be very good amongst men—and the more you have of them the better. I exhort you, whatsoever things are lovely and pure, and of good report, have them—but they will not do up there. All these things put together, without faith, do not please God. Virtues without faith are whitewashed sins. Obedience without faith, if it is possible, is a gilded disobedience. Not to believe, nullifies everything. It is the fly in the ointment; it is the poison in the pot. Without faith, with all the virtues of purity, with all the benevolence of philanthropy, with all the kindness of disinterested sympathy, with all the talents of genius, with all the bravery of patriotism, and with all the decision of principle—“without faith it is impossible to please God.” Do you not see then, how bad unbelief is, because it prevents men from performing good works. Yea, even in Christians themselves, unbelief disables them. Let me just tell you a tale—a story of Christ’s life. A certain man had an afflicted son, possessed with an evil spirit. Jesus was up in Mount Tabor, transfigured; so the father brought his son to the disciples. What did the disciples do? They said, “Oh, we will cast him out.” They put their hands upon him, and they tried to do it; but they whispered among themselves and said, “We are afraid we shall not be able.” By-and-by the diseased man began to froth at the mouth; he foamed and scratched the earth, clasping it in his paroxysms. The demoniac spirit within him was alive. The devil was still there. In vain their repeated exorcism, the evil spirit remained like a lion in his den, nor could their efforts dislodge him. “Go!” said they; but he went not. “Away to the pit!” they cried; but he remained immoveable. The lips of unbelief cannot affright the Evil One, who might well have said, “Faith I know, Jesus I know, but who are ye? ye have no faith.” If they had faith, as a grain of mustard seed, they might have cast the devil out; but their faith was gone, and therefore they could do nothing. Look at poor Peter’s case, too. While he had faith, Peter walked on the waves of the sea. That was a splendid walk; I almost envy him treading upon the billows. Why, if Peter’s faith had continued, he might have walked across the Atlantic to America. But presently there came a billow behind him, and he said, “That will sweep me away;” and then another before, and he cried out, “That will overwhelm me;” and he thought—how could I be so presumptuous as to be walking on the top of these waves? Down goes Peter. Faith was Peter’s life-buoy; faith was Peter’s charm—it kept him up; but unbelief sent him down. Do you know that you and I, all our lifetime, will have to walk on the water? A Christian’s life is always walking on water—mine is—and every wave would swallow and devour him, but faith makes him stand. The moment you cease to believe, that moment distress comes in, and down you go. Oh! wherefore dost thou doubt, then?

Faith fosters every virtue; unbelief murders every one. Thousands of prayers have been strangled in their infancy by unbelief. Unbelief has been guilty of infanticide; it has murdered many an infant petition; many a song of praise that would have swelled the chorus of the skies, has been stifled by an unbelieving murmur; many a noble enterprise conceived in the heart has been blighted ere it could come forth, by unbelief. Many a man would have been a missionary; would have stood and preached his Master’s gospel boldly; but he had unbelief. Once make a giant unbelieving, and he becomes a dwarf. Faith is the Samsonian lock of the Christian; cut it off, and you may put out his eyes—and he can do nothing.

4. Our next remark is— unbelief has been severely punished. Turn you to the Scriptures! I see a world all fair and beautiful; its mountains laughing in the sun, and the fields rejoicing in the golden light. I see maidens dancing, and young men singing. How fair the vision! But lo! a grave and reverend sire lifts up his hand, and cries, “A flood is coming to deluge the earth: the fountains of the great deep will be broken up, and all things will be covered. See yonder ark! One hundred and twenty years have I toiled with these my hands to build it; flee there, and you are safe.” “Aha! old man; away with your empty predictions! Aha! let us be happy while we may! when the flood comes, then we will build an ark; but there is no flood coming; tell that to fools; we believe no such things.” See the unbelievers pursue their merry dance. Hark! Unbeliever. Dost thou not hear that rumbling noise? Earth’s bowels have begun to move, her rocky ribs are strained by dire convulsions from within; lo! they break with the enormous strain, and forth from between them torrents rush unknown since God concealed them in the bosom of our world. Heaven is split in sunder! it rains. Not drops, but clouds descend. A cataract, like that of old Niagara, rolls from heaven with mighty noise. Both firmaments, both deeps—the deep below and deep above—do clasp their hands. Now unbelievers, where are you now! There is your last remnant. A man—his wife clasping him round the waist—stands on the last summit that is above the water. See him there? The water is up to his loins even now. Hear his last shriek! He is floating—he is drowned. And as Noah looks from the ark he sees nothing. Nothing! It is a void profound. “Sea monsters whelp and stable in the palaces of kings.” All is overthrown, covered, drowned. What hath done it? What brought the flood upon the earth? Unbelief. By faith Noah escaped from the flood. By unbelief the rest were drowned.

And, oh! do you not know that unbelief kept Moses and Aaron out of Canaan? They honored not God; they struck the rock when they ought to have spoken to it. They disbelieved: and therefore the punishment came upon them, that they should not inherit that good land, for which they had toiled and labored.

Let me take you where Moses and Aaron dwelt—to the vast and howling wilderness. We will walk about it for a time; sons of the weary foot, we will become like the wandering Bedouins, we will tread the desert for a while. There lies a carcass whitened in the sun; there another, and there another. What means these bleached bones? What are these bodies—there a man, and there a woman? What are all these? How came these corpses here? Surely some grand encampment must have been here cut off in a single night by a blast, or by bloodshed. Ah; no, no. Those bones are the bones of Israel; those skeletons are the old tribes of Jacob. They could not enter because of unbelief. They trusted not in God. Spies said they could not conquer the land. Unbelief was the cause of their death. It was not the Anakims that destroyed Israel; it was not the howling wilderness which devoured them; it was not the Jordan which proved a barrier to Canaan; neither Hivite or Jebusite slew them; it was unbelief alone which kept them out of Canaan. What a doom to be pronounced on Israel, after forty years of journeying: they could not enter because of unbelief!

Not to multiply instances, recollect Zechariah. He doubted, and the angel struck him dumb. His mouth was closed because of unbelief. But oh! if you would have the worst picture of the effects of unbelief—if you would see how God has punished it, I must take you to the siege of Jerusalem, that worst massacre which time has ever seen; when the Romans razed the walls to the ground, and put the whole of the inhabitants to the sword, or sold them as slaves in the market-place. Have you never read of the destruction of Jerusalem, by Titus? Did you never turn to the tragedy of Masada, when the Jews stabbed each other rather than fall into the hands of the Romans? Do you not know, that to this day the Jew walks through the earth a wanderer, without a home and without a land? He is cut off, as a branch is cut from a vine; and why? Because of unbelief. Each time ye see a Jew with a sad and somber countenance—each time ye mark him like a denizen of another land, treading as an exile in this our country—each time ye see him, pause and say, “Ah! it was unbelief which caused thee to murder Christ, and now it has driven thee to be a wanderer; and faith alone—faith in the crucified Nazarene—can fetch thee back to thy country, and restore it to its ancient grandeur.” Unbelief, you see, has the Cain-mark upon its forehead. God hates it; God has dealt hard blows upon it: and God will ultimately crush it. Unbelief dishonors God. Every other crime touches God’s territory; but unbelief aims a blow at his divinity, impeaches his veracity, denies his goodness, blasphemes his attributes, maligns his character; therefore, God of all things, hates first and chiefly, unbelief, wherever it is.

5. And now to close this point—for I have been already too long—let me remark that you will observe the heinous nature of unbelief in this—that it is the damning sin. There is one sin for which Christ never died; it is the sin against the Holy Ghost. There is one other sin for which Christ never made atonement. Mention every crime in the calendar of evil, and I will show you persons who have found forgiveness for it. But ask me whether the man who died in unbelief can be saved, and I reply there is no atonement for that man. There is an atonement made for the unbelief of a Christian, because it is temporary; but the final unbelief—the unbelief with which men die—never was atoned for. You may turn over this whole Book, and you will find that there is no atonement for the man who died in unbelief; there is no mercy for him. Had he been guilty of every other sin, if he had but believed, he would have been pardoned; but this is the damning exception—he had no faith. Devils seize him! O fiends of the pit, drag him downward to his doom! He is faithless and unbelieving, and such are the tenants for whom hell was built. It is their portion, their prison, they are the chief prisoners, the fetters are marked with their names, and for ever shall they know that, “he that believeth not shall be damned.”

II. This brings us now to conclude with the PUNISHMENT.

“Thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.” Listen unbelievers! ye have heard this morning your sin; now listen to your doom: “Ye shall see it with your eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.” It is so often with God’s own saints. When they are unbelieving, they see the mercy with their eyes, but do not eat it. Now, here is corn in this land of Egypt; but there are some of God’s saints who come here on the Sabbath, and say, “I do not know whether the Lord will be with me or not.” Some of them say, “Well, the gospel is preached, but I do not know whether it will be successful.” They are always doubting and fearing. Listen to them when they get out of the chapel. “Well, did you get a good meal this morning?” “Nothing for me.” Of course not. Ye could see it with your eyes, but did not eat it, because you had no faith. If you had come up with faith, you would have had a morsel. I have found Christians, who have grown so very critical, that if the whole portion of the meat they are to have, in due season, is not cut up exactly into square pieces, and put upon some choice dish of porcelain, they cannot eat it. Then they ought to go without; and they will have to go without, until they are brought to their appetites. They will have some affliction, which will act like quinine upon them: they will be made to eat by means of bitters in their mouths; they will be put in prison for a day or two until their appetite returns, and then they will be glad to eat the most ordinary food, off the most common platter, or no platter at all. But the real reason why God’s people do not feed under a gospel ministry, is, because they have not faith. If you believed, if you did but hear one promise, that would be enough; if you only heard one good thing from the pulpit here would be food for your soul, for it is not the quantity we hear, but the quantity we believe, that does us good—it is that which we receive into our hearts with true and lively faith, that is our profit.

But, let me apply this chiefly to the unconverted. They often see great works of God done with their eyes, but they do not eat thereof. A crowd of people have come here this morning to see with their eyes, but I doubt whether all of them eat. Men cannot eat with their eyes, for if they could, most would be well fed. And, spiritually, persons cannot feed simply with their ears, nor simply with looking at the preacher; and so we find the majority of our congregations come just to see; “Ah, let us hear what this babbler would say, this reed shaken in the wind.” But they have no faith; they come, and they see, and see, and see, and never eat. There is some one in the front there, who gets converted; and some one down below, who is called by sovereign grace; some poor sinner is weeping under a sense of his blood-guiltiness; another is crying for mercy to God: and another is saying, “Have mercy upon me, a sinner.” A great work is going on in this chapel, but some of you do not know anything about it; you have no work going on in your hearts, and why? Because ye think it is impossible; ye think God is not at work. He has not promised to work for you who do not honor him. Unbelief makes you sit here in times of revival and of the outpouring of God’s grace, unmoved, uncalled, unsaved.

But, sirs, the worst fulfillment of this doom is to come! Good Whitefield used sometimes to lift up both his hands and shout, as I wish I could shout, but my voice fails me. “The wrath to come! the wrath to come!” It is not the wrath now you have to fear, but the wrath to come; and there shall be a doom to come, when “ye shall see it with your eyes, but shall not eat thereof.” Methinks I see the last great day. The last hour of time has struck. I heard the bell toll its death knell—time was, eternity is ushered in; the sea is boiling; the waves are lit up with supernatural splendour. I see a rainbow—a flying cloud, and on it there is a throne, and on that throne sits one like unto the Son of Man. I know him. In his hand he holds a pair of balances; just before him the books,—the book of life, the book of death, the book of remembrance. I see his splendour, and I rejoice at it; I behold his pompous appearance, and I smile with gladness that he is come to be “admired of all his saints.” But there stands a throng of miserable wretches, crouching in horror to conceal themselves, and yet looking, for their eyes must look on him whom they have pierced; but when they look they cry, “Hide me from the face.” What face? “Rocks, hide me from the face.” What face? “The face of Jesus, the man who died, but now is come to judgment.” But ye cannot be hidden from his face; ye must see it with your eyes: but ye will not sit on the right hand, dressed in robes of grandeur; and when the triumphal procession of Jesus in the clouds shall come, ye shall not march in it; ye shall see it, but ye shall not be there. Oh! methinks I see it now, the mighty Saviour in his chariot, riding on the rainbow to heaven. See how his mighty coursers make the sky rattle while he drives them up heaven’s hill. A train girt in white follow behind him, and at his chariot wheels he drags the devil, death, and hell. Hark, how they clap their hands. Hark, how they shout. “Thou hast ascended up on high; thou hast led captivity captive.” Hark, how they chant the solemn lay, “Hallelujah, the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.” See the splendour of their appearance; mark the crown upon their brows; see their snow-white garments; mark the rapture of their countenances; hear how their song swells up to heaven while the Eternal joins therein, saying, “I will rejoice over them with joy, I will rejoice over them with singing, for I have betrothed thee unto me in everlasting lovingkindness.” But where are you all the while? Ye can see them up there, but where are you? Looking at it with your eyes, but you cannot eat thereof. The marriage banquet is spread; the good old wines of eternity are broached; they sit down to the feast of the king; but there are you, miserable, and famishing, and ye cannot eat thereof. Oh! how ye wring your hands. Might ye but have one morsel from the table—might ye but be dogs beneath the table. You shall be a dog in hell, but not a dog in heaven.

But to conclude. Methinks I see thee in some place in hell, tied to a rock, the vulture of remorse gnawing thy heart; and up there is Lazarus in Abraham’s bosom. You lift up your eyes and you see who it is. “That is the poor man who lay on my dunghill, and the dogs licked his sores; there he is in heaven, while I am cast down. Lazarus—yes, it is Lazarus; and I who was rich in the world of time am here in hell. Father Abraham, send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, to cool my tongue.” But no! it cannot be; it cannot be. And whilst you lie there, if there be one thing in hell worse than another, it will be seeing the saints in heaven. Oh, to think of seeing my mother in heaven while I am cast out! Oh, sinner, only think, to see thy brother in heaven—he who was rocked in the selfsame cradle, and played beneath the same roof—tree—yet thou art cast out. And, husband, there is thy wife in heaven, and thou art amongst the damned. And seest thou, father! thy child is before the throne; and thou! accursed of God and accursed of man, art in hell. Oh, the hell of hells will be to see our friends in heaven, and ourselves lost. I beseech you, my hearers, by the death of Christ—by his agony and bloody sweat—by his cross and passion—by all that is holy—by all that is sacred in heaven and earth—by all that is solemn in time or eternity—by all that is horrible in hell, or glorious in heaven—by that awful thought, “for ever,”—I beseech you lay these things to heart, and remember that if you are damned, it will be unbelief that damns you. If you are lost, it will be because ye believed not on Christ; and if you perish, this shall be the bitterest drop of gall—that ye did not trust in the Saviour.

Spurgeon’s Collected Sermons (Met. Tabern. Pul.) – – Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit.

Today’s Sermon Love Fulfills the Law

First Scripture Reading: 1 Praise the LORD. Praise, O servants of the LORD, praise the name of the LORD. 2 Let the name of the LORD be praised, both now and forevermore. 3 From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the LORD is to be praised. 4 The LORD is exalted over all the nations, his glory above the heavens. 5 Who is like the LORD our God, the One who sits enthroned on high, 6 who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth? 7 He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; 8 he seats them with princes, with the princes of their people. 9 He settles the barren woman in her home as a happy mother of children. Praise the LORD. Psalm 113:1-9 (NIV)

Second Scripture reading: ¹ If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. ⁴ Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, ⁵ does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, ⁶ does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; ⁷ bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. ⁸ Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part; ¹⁰ but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. ¹¹ When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. ¹² For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. ¹³ But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 (NASB)

Let’s Pray:

We’ve come now to the second half of Romans chapter 13; the first half tells us of our duty to submit to the authorities, and this section tells us of our duty to our neighbor.

Now one of the characteristics of a believer in Jesus is that we have a real desire to fulfill our duties; to obey the Lord. Before we were saved we didn’t think twice about what God required of us, we didn’t care that we were breaking His laws, and we didn’t want Him telling us what to do. But in salvation a man’s heart is changed, his desires and interests are changed, and He really wants to obey and please the Lord.

We’ve seen that God is holy and righteous and that He hates sin and cannot even look on it, and that when we were living in sin and unbelief we were under His wrath. “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.” John 3:36 (NIV) But then we came to understand that Jesus took our sin on Himself, and in doing so God’s anger was redirected away from us and onto His Son, who bore the punishment of our sin. And God gives us faith to turn away from sin and believe that good news, to trust in it fully and in doing so we are saved. Saved from sin’s penalty and sin’s power. “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Romans 8:1 (NASB)  

And those who are saved long to do God’s will. We realize that doing God’s will is the evidence of being saved. Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father.” Matthew 7:21 (NASB) He also said, “”For whoever does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother.” Mark 3:35 (NASB) And so doing the will of God confirms that we are in the family of God. Jesus said, “”For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” John 6:38 (NASB) And when we become Christians we want to know “what is the will of God, that I might do it?” And we study God’s Word so that we might know God’s will, and then we depend on God’s Spirit to enable us to do God’s will.

Not that we ever obey perfectly; in Romans 7 Paul says, “For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.” Romans 7:15 (NASB) Every Christian struggles against sin, and falls often, but notice that Paul said, “what I would like to do”. Paul would like to obey God, and all believers would like to obey God and so we study God’s Word to find God’s will.

For the believer God’s Word is beautiful and powerful and majestic and life-changing. When we become Christians we are like a newborn baby, we begin to eagerly crave the pure milk of the Word. Like David we say, ¹⁵ I will meditate on Your precepts And regard Your ways. ¹⁶ I shall delight in Your statutes; I shall not forget Your word. Psalm 119:15-16 (NASB). “My soul is crushed with longing After Your ordinances at all times.” Psalm 119:20 (NASB) and “The law of Your mouth is better to me Than thousands of gold and silver pieces.” Psalm 119:72 (NASB) This was a man who craved God’s Word and desired to obey it.

And so Christians come to God’s Word and say “In light of what He has done for us, how can we live to obey and please Him. How can we fulfill God’s requirements?”

And we come to our passage of study today and we see one word repeated over and over, and that one word tells us exactly how to fulfill the requirements. Let’s see that Word as we read the passage: ⁸ Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. ⁹ For this, “YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, YOU SHALL NOT MURDER, YOU SHALL NOT STEAL, YOU SHALL NOT COVET,” and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.” ¹⁰ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. Romans 13:8-10 (NASB)  

Love fulfills the Law, so that the word “love” is the short spelling of the word “righteousness.” So let’s just notice the two main points of this passage:

1.    Owe nothing to anyone—verse 8

2.    Owe love to everyone—verses 8-10.

So let’s look at these two points together. First, we’re told to “owe nothing to anyone” so that if we love people we will make sure we pay them what we owe them or die trying. This is a characteristic of righteous people. Psalm 37:21 says, “The wicked borrows and does not pay back, But the righteous is gracious and gives” even as Jesus was gracious and gave His life for us. “Pay him his wages each day before sunset, because he is poor and is counting on it. Otherwise he may cry to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty of sin.” Deuteronomy 24:15 (NIV)  “Woe to him who builds his house without righteousness And his upper rooms without justice, Who uses his neighbor’s services without pay And does not give him his wages, Jeremiah 22:13 (NASB) We are to owe nothing to anyone.

Think of what the understanding of this passage would teach us:

A.    To work hard. To not be lazy. Adam had to cultivate the garden “by the sweat of his brow”, working 6 days out of 7. In this day and age millions of people are out of work, not due to them being lazy but due to the economy. And they are trying to find work so that they can pay their debts. But we’re taught to work hard so we can owe no man anything.

B.    To not go into debt. And to be radical in paying it off. Jesus gave His life to pay off your debt of sin, so that anyone who believes is debt free. You owe nothing to God for your sins, we should owe nothing to man either. Therefore we don’t go in to debt and we pay off whatever debt we have.

C.   To be frugal and economical. We should live humbly, and do away with things we don’t need. We don’t ever want to be in a position of owing somebody something that we can’t pay.

D.   To help our children. We should raise up our children teaching them the value of hard work, and saving money and avoiding debt.

First principle here today: we are to owe no man anything.

Second principle: we owe love to everyone. Love is an ongoing debt we must pay to all people, and the wonderful thing is the more we pay it the richer we get. So we have an ongoing debt to love one another. I invite you to turn with me to 1 John 4, and let’s notice that passage together:

⁷ Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. ⁸ The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. ⁹ By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. ¹⁰ In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. ¹¹ Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 1 John 4:7-11 (NASB)

The Instruction: “let us love one another”—verse 7
The Definition: “God is love”—verse 8
The Manifestation: “God sent His only begotten Son…to be the atoning sacrifice…that we might live through Him”—verses 9 and 10
The Origination: “not that we loved God, but that He loved us”—verse 10 “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
The Motivation: “if God so loved us…”—verse 11
The Instruction: “we also ought to love one another”—verse 11

Short summary: God is love. He showed it by giving His Son to die that we might live. So let’s love one another. After all, that is how the world knows that we are Christians. ³⁴ “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. ³⁵ “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35 (NASB)

Well then what does it mean to love someone? Well first it means to do no harm. vs. 10: “Love does no harm to its neighbor.” It says about the Noble wife in Proverbs 31: ¹¹ Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. ¹² She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life. Proverbs 31:11-12 (NIV)

And under this heading of “Love does no harm” Paul reminds us of the commands of God, given in Exodus chapter 20. And he says in verse 9 The commandments, “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Romans 13:9 (NIV)

If we loved our neighbor as ourself, and we understood that love does no harm, we would not commit adultery, for adultery harms both people, their spouses, their families, their churches and everybody who knows them.

We’re not to commit adultery in our actions, but neither are we to commit adultery in our thoughts: Jesus said in Matthew 5:²⁷ “You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY’; ²⁸ but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Matthew 5:27-28 (NASB) Under the new covenant we are not to commit adultery with our actions or even with a look. This prohibits pornography and all forms of impurity. Peter describes people who have ¹⁴eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin. 2 Peter 2:13-15 (NASB) Love does no harm to its neighbor in action or in thought.

If we are to do no harm to our neighbor we certainly wouldn’t commit murder. Now most people agree that we should not murder, but how about committing anger? Again Jesus says ²¹ “You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ ²² “But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court. Matthew 5:21-22 (NASB) So that unrighteous anger is the seed of murder.

Some people say “well I’d never murder somebody” and then they go on to say “but did you hear what John did? He…” and they slander someone, in essence murdering their reputation. Some of us have been horribly humbled by this, and we’ve had to learn not to slander the hard way. We’ve learned by experience the truth of Psalm 101:5: “Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him I will destroy; No one who has a haughty look and an arrogant heart will I endure.” Psalm 101:5 (NASB) No Christian should ever talk behind someone’s back in any way.

Think of this for a moment: Jesus’ hands were tied to a post, and the Roman soldiers beat His back mercilessly. And if you look in Roman history the reason they beat the back is because they didn’t have to see His face. It’s easier to hurt someone when you’re behind their back. Remember that next time you hear slander, or are tempted to slander. Remember that “He who spreads slander is a fool.” Proverbs 10:18

And then Romans 13:9 says “Do not steal” because that does harm to the one we take from. And “Do not covet” because that the seed of stealing. In other words, “Love does no harm to anybody.”

And so we end with verse 10: “Love is the fulfillment of the Law” as if to say “all that the law requires is that we love others.” But the reality is that no human being is able to keep the Law perfectly. We fail and fall short. So for our final thought today let’s compare two verses of Scripture. Compare Romans 13:10 “Love is the fulfillment of the Law” with John 15:13: “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down His life for His friends” and here’s what we come up with. Jesus fulfilled the Law for all believers when He died on the cross. If you repent, that is turn away from your sin, and put your faith in what Jesus did, then God looks at you as having lived perfectly, as having kept the Law in the Person of Christ.

So for just a moment consider the cross. Look at Jesus as they place the cross on His shoulders, and He struggles up to the top of Mt. Calvary. There He is laid out on the cross and His hands and feet are pierced, and then He is raised up on that cross. Look at Him hanging there. Know what that is? That is perfect love fulfilling the Law for all of God’s elect. The Law is now competed, fulfilled and finished.

²⁸ Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” ²⁹ A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. ³⁰ When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. John 19:28-30 (NIV)

Love is the fulfillment of the Law and greater love has no man than this, that He lay down His life for His friends.  

Today’s Sermon: Submit to Governing Authorities

First Scripture Reading: ¹ It pleased Darius to appoint 120 satraps to rule throughout the kingdom, ² with three administrators over them, one of whom was Daniel. The satraps were made accountable to them so that the king might not suffer loss. ³ Now Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom. ⁴ At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent. Daniel 6:1-4 (NIV)

Second Scripture Reading: ¹ Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. ² Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. ³ For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. ⁴ For he is God’s servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. ⁵ Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. ⁶ This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. ⁷ Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor. Romans 13:1-7 (NIV)

Let’s pray:

We’ve come now to Romans chapter 13. And as a reminder, the first eleven chapters of Romans explain how we become saved—by being justified by God’s grace through faith. Romans 3 says it this way: “²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” Romans 3:22-24 We sin, He redeems, we are justified and saved.

This salvation affects every relationship in the believer’s life. First, is the effect on our relationship to God. In chapter 12 we are told, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God–this is your spiritual act of worship.” Romans 12:1 God gave His Son as a sacrifice for us, now our response is to give our bodies as living sacrifices to Him. Next salvation effects our relationship with our brothers and sisters in Christ (12:3-16) and with non-Christians, including even our enemies (vv. 17-21).

As we come to chapter 13 Paul focuses on our relationship to human governments. And He gives us a command in verse 1: “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.” Romans 13:1 (NIV)

Command: “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities.” Sometimes it helps to look at each word to help focus it in our minds: “Everyone”—all people without exception, every human being. “Must”—is required to. “Submit himself”—place himself under. Military term meaning to “willingly arrange ourselves under a commanding officer,” in this case, the governing authorities, human governments. This is taught all through the Bible.

“Remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient.” Titus 3:1 “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution.” 1 Peter 2:13

So we have the command, and now God is going to give us the causes or the reasons why we are to submit to government. Why should we submit to authority? He lists five causes, and we’re going to look at those today.

Causes: The first one is in verse 1: “there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.”

#1: All authority comes from God. This means that when we submit to our government, we are submitting to our God, and if we disobey the laws we are disobeying the Lord.

But this is even broader than just the government isn’t it. All authority is established by God. This means children are to obey their parents, wives submit to husbands, churches submit to our elders, employees submit to our bosses, society submits to local police officers and sheriffs and judges, and we as a country submit to the leadership of our president. Why? Because “the authorities that exist have been established by God.”

I’d like to conduct us just briefly through the Scriptures and see what they say about God establishing all authority.

Exodus 22:28: ²⁸ “Do not blaspheme God or curse the ruler of your people.”
Proverbs 8:15-16.“¹⁵ By me kings reign and rulers make laws that are just; ¹⁶ by me princes govern, and all nobles who rule on earth.”
1 Samuel 2:8 “⁸ He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honor.”
Luke 1:52: “⁵² He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble”.
John 19:11: ¹¹ Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.”
Romans 9:17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”
Revelation 1:5 “⁵Jesus Christ…the ruler of the kings of the earth.”

Now let’s notice the second cause in verse 2: “²Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.”

#2: Avoid Judgment. God judges people who rebel, and He does so through the agency of human government. Possibly we remember Ruby Ridge, or Waco Texas, where those who rebelled against the government brought judgment on themselves, on their families, and on all who were with them. The second motivation for obeying the government is to avoid judgment.

Next, listen to what somebody wrote in a freedom forum online: “The government, like at no other time in history, is entirely against the individual and today can entirely remove our freedoms. We have more to fear from the government than from any terrorist organization.” Really? Should we really fear the government? Look at verse 3:

^“3 For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you.”

#3: Alleviate fear. Psychologists have a label for people who have excessive fear, they call it paranoia. But the Bible tells us that we can be free from paranoia through metanoia—the biblical word for repentance.

Now understand that Paul wrote these words during the reign of Nero, one of the most corrupt magistrates ever to live. And Paul says we only have to be afraid only if we do wrong. Third motivation for obedience is to alleviate fear.

Now here is a reason why we submit to the government. Notice what the government is called in vs. 4: “⁴ For he is God’s servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.”

#4: Acknowledge the government as God’s servant. In other words God put the sword into the hands of the government, and when they punish wrongdoers they are serving God.

Now the fifth reason is mentioned in vs. 5: “⁵ Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience.”

#5: Appease our conscience. Not much is said or taught about the conscience anymore; thousands of years ago Solomon said that the conscience is “the Lamp of the Lord, searching all the inmost parts” (Proverbs 20:27). The conscience is God’s light, showing all that we do and showing our guilt. Reminding us of sin.

Illustration: Herod. After Herod beheaded John the Baptist, Jesus came preaching and doing miracles. Some said He was the Great Prophet to come, others said He was Elijah, but Herod said, “He is John the Baptist, whom I beheaded, risen from the dead.”

We can try to silence our conscience, we can try to erase the memories, we can try to drink them away or drown out the sound of conscience through media (sports, Internet, movies), or by trying to work off our guilt by doing good deeds, but we discover that conscience has the last word, the final say.

The real way to find freedom from a nagging conscience is to come to the cross, where we see Jesus taking our punishment on Himself, being condemned in our place, and shedding His blood to cover over our sins and make an atonement with God for us. The punishment that brings us peace was upon Him. And in the shedding of His blood we find forgiveness and the cleansing of our conscience. ¹⁴ How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!” Hebrews 9:14 (NIV)   

Be still my soul and know this peace
The merits of your great high priest
Have bought your liberty
Rely then on His precious blood
Don’t fear your banishment from God
Since Jesus sets you free

But after we come to the cross we must learn how to live differently, by obeying God, by submitting to the authorities, striving to keep our conscience clear. Paul said, “¹⁶ So I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man.”  Acts 24:16

Conscience is also why we pay taxes. Look at verse 6: “⁶ This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing.” Jesus said, “Give to Caesar what is Caesars.” Christians are to pay taxes and according to vs. 7 we are to give to everyone what we owe. And we’ll talk about this next week.

So let’s review the 5 reasons why we submit to all authority.

1.    All Authority comes from God.

2.    Avoid judgment

3.    Alleviate fear

4.    Acknowledge government is God’s servant

5.    Appease conscience

But about now is when all kinds of questions start coming: what if the government is corrupt? Didn’t Peter and the apostles say in Acts 5:29, “we must obey God rather than man”? And some people today use that verse as a reason not to pay taxes. So how does this all fit together? It’s really pretty simple; if the government’s commands go against God’s commands then we must obey God rather than man. Worship and witness are the two reasons why we might not submit to the government.

Case Studies:

#1 Jon Kitna: the Quarterback for the Cincinnati Bengals (2001-2006) was fined $5,000 for wearing a baseball cap with a cross on it during a news conference. NFL rules prohibit players from wearing non-NFL apparel at news conferences. Kitna was a Christian and he paid the fine without protest. He said, “That’s what happens when you don’t follow the rules. I won’t wear it anymore. The Bible says submit to the authorities placed over you. The authorities say that’s the rule.”

#2 Israelites: Jeremiah chapter 29. You know one of the most evil governments of all was Babylon, modern day Iraq. They were just plain wicked, and they carried off the Israelites and took them captive to Babylon. But notice what God said to Jeremiah:

^“7 Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” They were not to rebel and overthrow this wicked government, they were to submit to it, and seek peace for it, and pray for its prosperity. Yes, Christians are to submit to a corrupt government as long as they do not require us to break God’s law to follow theirs.

#3 Jesus Christ. Jesus submitted Himself fully to the eternal covenant made in the godhead. But He also submitted to a corrupt government, and to criminal soldiers, and finally to the cross of Calvary. As we read through Matthew 27 remember something. Everything we read about, Jesus is willingly submitting to. He had previously knocked over 500 soldiers with 3 words: “I am He”, He could do it again. He who could walk on water could trample His enemies.

“²⁷ Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. ²⁸ They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, ²⁹ and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. ³⁰ They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. ³¹ After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.” Matthew 27:27-31 (NIV)

Jesus submitted to this travesty of justice, though He had done nothing wrong. And why? Love! Love for His Father and His glory! Love for us and our souls. So He took on our sin, purchased our forgiveness, removed God’s wrath from all the elect, made us right with the Father, and secured our eternal life. He submitted to all the governing authorities.

And in closing, I want to leave us with one thought to consider.

Contrast of Conversion. See before conversion we were our own authority; we may have submitted to the government, but we did not submit to God, to Jesus as Lord. We did our own thing, lived by our own rules. “I did it my way.” “We all like sheep have gone astray, each one of us has turned to his own way” (Isaiah 53:6). And we don’t like to think about submitting to God, being a subject of His kingdom, and having to obey His law. Why that would be bondage. Before conversion we say what the people in Jesus’ parable said, “We do not want this man to reign over us.” Luke 19:14 We like to live free and do what we want to do when we want to do it.

But what we don’t realize is that we’re already under authority. We are submitting to the evil one, in the kingdom of darkness, under the laws of sin and death. And it’s conversion that takes us out of that authority and puts into God’s kingdom. How does that happen?

We hear the gospel, that the God Who made us gave His Son to redeem us, and that we who have been rebelling can be forgiven, and justified and made right with God, and escape His wrath, and receive His grace, and find acceptance with Him. All it takes is for us to humble ourselves and turn from our wicked ways and put our faith in Jesus. “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14 (NIV)  

Then we come in to His kingdom through the forgiveness of our sins and we discover something: that before we had freedom to sin, now we have freedom from sin. The authority we have come under has pardoned us and set us free, and adopted us into His family, and sent His Spirit to live in us, and given us an inheritance.

What a contrast of conversion. Paul was sent to the Gentiles…

“¹⁸ to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance” (Acts 26:18).

¹³ For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Colossians 1:13-14 (NIV)

Let’s pray.