Christian submission to all..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. The first letter of Peter. This evening by God's grace we are going to be addressing verses 13 through 15 in chapter 2.

Verses 13 through 15. in chapter 2. But as we always do, at least for this section, we're going to read an extended portion to get the immediate context, especially now that the apostle is moving on to a different thought in this letter. And that is going to be the portion that comes from chapter 2, verse 11. And we are going to be reading all the way through chapter 3, verse 12.

So just in the same way that we read for many months, the section that came from chapter 1, verse 10, all the way through chapter 2, verse 12. Now, this is another thought that the apostle will have in his mind that is connected to what he has explained before. So let's read, beloved brothers and sisters, carefully the word of God with reverent hearts, paying much attention to each one of the words. This is the word of God. Chapter 2, verse 11.

Beloved, I urge you, as sojourners and exiles, to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor supreme or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of the foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.

Honor everyone, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the emperor. Servants, be subjects to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing when mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if when you sin or are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it, you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.

For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you may follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continue entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that we may die to sin and live to righteousness.

By his wounds, you have been healed. For you were strained like sheep, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives. When they see your respectful and pure conduct, do not let your adorning be external, the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold, jewelry, or the clothing you wear. But let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart, with imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious.

For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves by submitting to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord. And you are her children. if you do good, and do not fear anything that is frightening. Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered. Finally, All of you have unity of mind, sympathy, broadly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.

Do not repay evil for evil, or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing for whosoever's desire to love life and see good days. Let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil and do good. Let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are open to their prayer.

But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. Amen. This is the Word of God. And as I said, by God's grace, I hope that we're able to address verses 13 through 15, in which the apostle, as I said, is going to move on to another portion of thought, and he is going to exhort this church in Pontius Galatia, Cappadocia, and Bithynia to be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution whether it be the emperor supreme or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good for this is the will of God that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people amen brothers and sisters now We've, by many, many months, we have been addressing the previous section of scripture in which the apostle was bringing encouragement to all of these churches by presenting the glorious salvation of the gospel of Jesus Christ to these Gentile churches. That even though they were going through persecution and difficulties and tribulations and all of these things, that there was a great salvation that was promised to Gentiles even before the Lord Jesus Christ came.

that concerning this glorious salvation, the prophets of the Old Testament prophesied of the grace that was going to be of the Gentiles, that the Messiah of the people of Israel was praised to God, also the Messiah of the Gentiles, that once were not His people, but now are God's people, that once had not received mercy, but now they have received mercy in the Lord Jesus Christ. And as we move now, beloved brethren, to this section of scripture, this is perhaps the most practical exhortations that we're going to receive from the mouth or from the writings of the apostle Peter. This section that we've read from verse 13 in chapter two, all the way through chapter three, verse 12 is the most practical section of this letter. The Apostle Peter, by the inspiration of the Spirit, is going to point directly to the Christians to perform certain duties in a very specific way. So he's going to call them to act, to obey these instructions that are going to begin by him.

In summary, he's going to call them to an external obedience for the glory of God. And that external obedience is in the way of submission or subjection. Put your eyes in the text and you will see how the apostle is going to break this section of his scripture, which is by God's grace, what we're going to be addressing in the coming weeks and months, I suppose. Verse 13, he calls them, the Christians, to be subject to the government, to human institutions. So he's going to call them to externally obey the government or human institutions.

Verse 18, he says, servant, be subjects of your masters. So not only to the government are Christians to be submitted to, but also they are called or they're supposed to submit themselves to their masters. And then in this, in contemporary vocabulary, will be employers if you want. Then in chapter 3, verse 1, he's going to call wives to submit to their husbands, and specifically to an unbelieving or non-Christian husbands. And he's going to speak to these Christian wives to submit to these men.

There is a deeper spiritual also message in verse 7 that speaks of the way the husbands are to deal with their wives. And when we get there, we will see a mutual submission in the Lord. And then finally, in verse 8 of chapter 3, he's going to speak of the dealings of people within the context of the church, that is, submission to one another within the context of the church. So in this portion of the scripture, beloved brethren, after the apostle has presented the glorious salvation that we have in Jesus Christ, He is going to speak now of the power of that salvation that does not only work within us, but also should work outside of us in the submission that we have to the government, in our dealings or in our submission with our masters or our employers, in our relationship between husbands and wives in light of the gospel, and also our dealings that we have within the context of the church, loving one another. Last time that we came together, beloved Brennan, I say to you that verses 11 and 12 are the preamble.

Preamble is a word, right? Are the preamble before this section that is coming here. In verse 11 it says, Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh which wage war against your soul. And then verse 12 says, keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable so that when they speak evil or against you as evil doers, they may glorify God on the day of visitation. Beloved brethren, beloved brothers and sisters, The apostle is saying that because of the power of the gospel that has worked within us, that empower us to make war against the passions of our flesh to which we were enslaved once outside of Christ.

Now we have the power to keep our conduct externally honorable in front of the spiritually speaking Gentiles and that the behavior, the external behavior of the Christian is to bring glory to God. What a responsibility has been given to Christ's people, that by our external behavior, if it's empowered by the Spirit of God and from the Gospel of Jesus Christ, then our external deeds or our external obedience are means by which glory is given unto the triune God of this universe. This is the same teaching or this is the same verse that we ended last time that we came together in Matthew chapter 5. Remember Matthew chapter 5 verse 13 when the Lord Jesus Christ is speaking to his disciples and saying that they are the light. the salt of the earth, and that if the salt of the earth loses its flavor, then the saltiness of the salt cannot be restored and then is useless.

It is just to be thrown away. That the Christian is the light of the world. And by the way, in another portion of the gospel says that Christ is the light of the world. But then he calls the Christians, the church, the light of the world. And that light is not to be covered, not to be hindered.

like the city on a hill, or the land that is not to be put under a basket. Let your light shine in front of others, that by when they see your good deeds, they may glorify God the Father. The good deeds of the Christians are supposed to be a testimony against the, spiritually speaking, the hidden, the Gentiles, so that glory might be brought to the precious name of the God who saved us. So we're dealing with very important things, beloved brothers and sisters. When the apostle is giving these instructions to a church or to the churches in this letter, he's speaking of very important matters.

Because when he calls these people to subjection to the government, the government that they were supposed to submit to was the government that was persecuting them. This would have happened 30 years after the Lord Jesus Christ was ascended as the emperor that we hear here or the governor that we hear here probably is the means by which persecutions and sufferings and tribulations and sorrows were brought to the people of God. Yet the apostle calls them to be subject, to obey. the emperor, who probably was not only the means by which tribulations and sorrows were brought to them, but he was also wicked and unrighteous. So, dealing with obedience, and especially external obedience, and obedience in relation to the world, beloved brethren, is a very sensitive topic.

It's a very difficult topic that we have to deal with, and we have to get as much light from Scripture because, beloved brethren, We have to deal with the world. I want you to see the dichotomy that the apostle presents in this portion of scripture. See the dichotomy, the dichotomy between identity and the place where these people are located. Because the apostle calls these people Christians, sojourners and exiles. He has said that they have been redeemed by the Word of God, that they have been begotten again according to the abundant grace of God the Father.

But these people are sojourners and exiles. Verse 11. Even the apostle compares them, the true Israel, the chosen race in verse 9, the royal priesthood, the holy nation of God. He compares them with the Gentiles, spiritually speaking. So, beloved brethren, if you are in Christ Jesus, if the Spirit of God has visited you with His power and has transformed your heart from stone into flesh, if your eyes have been opened, and if God has said unto you, peace and grace unto you, and you could hear those things, if you are in Christ, If you had been restored, if you had been alive, then you are a sojourner and you are in exile on this world.

And there's going to be a dichotomy between who you are and the place where you live. When the Lord Jesus Christ was given praises to God in the priestly prayer in John 17, who will speak and teach us something very interesting of this. Speaking of his disciples, he says that his disciples are going to be persecuted just in the same way that he was persecuted, or better, that the disciples are going to be hated just in the same way that Jesus Christ was hated. And the reason why they were going to be hated is because they are not of the world. They are not of this world.

But he says, I do not pray that you take them out of the world. I don't pray, he says to the father, that you take these people out of the world, but rather that you keep them from the evil one. So the Christian is going to live his entire life in a dichotomy of being something but belonging to a different place. We live with the hope of the place that is coming to which we belong. But before glory and before the Lord Jesus Christ comes, we live with this dichotomy of who we are in Christ and the place where we live.

And the Bible teaches not that we are to run away to the top of a mountain and then just to create our own community and be apart from the world. But the Bible calls us to remain in this world to be in the world, but we are not of the world. And more than that, the Bible calls us to relate to this world, relate to the government, relate to our masters, relate to our employers, relate to our unbelieving spouses, relate to the people within the context of the church, relate to the world. So when we are dealing with this type of teachings, we have to be very careful and let scripture interpret scripture, lest we find ourselves taking one of two places, one of complete rebellion against the world and deciding not to be in the world at all and removing ourselves entirely, not relating to the world at all, trying to be holy, if you want, or the other one in which you put yourself in the world so much that you become like the world, and then you've lost the taste. This salt is tasteless.

This light is not shining with the shining glory of Christ, but it's shining with the wicked, shining light of the world. So may the Lord give us light to understand a lot of these things because beloved brethren the first thing that the apostle is going to call us to is to submit to every human institution and he calls us I want you to have present in your mind the dichotomy of God's people as sojourners and exiles in this present evil age living in that dichotomy of who we are in this place that we do not belong to because that's essential to the nature of God's people God's people have been sojourners and exiles even from Old Testament history and now spiritually speaking the new covenant people sojourners and exiles of this world. I don't know if you remember those of you probably who were here may remember I hope that one of the most important things that I said in the previous section of scripture is that the apostle was taking truths of the Old Testament and foreshadowing realities of the new covenant people. And for us to understand submission to the government in this case, I want to continue using the same reasoning and the same thought that the apostle had because he calls us sojourners and exiles. And the people of God under the Old Testament were sojourners and they were exiles.

So let me attempt to see from all covenant teachings the real submission that we ought to have to human authorities because, beloved brethren, verse 13, verse 14, 13, 14, and 15, the apostle is calling us to this. Keep your eyes with me. Keep your mind with me. The apostle is calling us to this. He says, be subject to every human institution for the Lord's sake.

to the emperor, a supreme authority, and also to the governor as the one who has been sent by the emperor. Why? Because their mission is to punish those who do evil and then to praise or to commend those who do good. And then the apostle says in verse 15, that this is the will of God, that by doing good things, You might put to silence the foolish or the ignorant. This is what Apostle is calling us.

Not only Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, those churches, but the church of the Lord Jesus Christ to be subject, to obey, to put under their authority. So let's see, beloved brethren, I want to show you from the Old Testament, this nature of submission to authority. So I'm gonna point you to the time in which the people of God were exiled. Let's go to Jeremiah chapter 29. The time in which after the splitting of the kingdom, Judah was taken captive by Babylon.

Jeremiah chapter 29. You can see here in verses 1. In verse 1 is going to give us a little bit of the historical background of the things that were happening. It says, verse 1, these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah, the prophet, sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders of the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon." So brothers and sisters, the people of God, God's people had been taken in exile to Babylon by this king, Nebuchadnezzar.

But I want you to pay attention to the content of this letter in verse 4. Here, I want you to see the role that God plays in the exile of these people and also in their submission that they were supposed to have to the king, Nebuchadnezzar, or to the emperor, in this case, of Babylon. Verse 4. Thus says the Lord of hosts. the God of Israel to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.

Whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon, he says, Build houses and live in them. Plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters. Take wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage that they may bear sons and daughters. Multiply there and do not decrease.

Now, beloved brethren, keep this in your mind. This is my whole intention with this that we are doing. The people of God had been removed from their land. from Israel or the land of Israel from Judah. They have been taken away from the place where they belong and they have been taken into exile to a foreign land.

So they were sojourners and exiles in this land of Babylon just as the church is an exile and sojourners in the world. what the Lord is going to tell His all covenant people in relation to submission to those who are going to be above them as authorities is very important for us to understand the glorious New Testament revelation of the submission of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ to the powers and the authorities of this world, that if you want, spiritually speaking, this world is Egypt, this world is Babylon, this world is all of those Gentile countries of the Old Testament. Now pay attention in verse 7, he says, but seek the welfare Meditate upon these words. Seek the welfare or the well-being of the city that is Babylon, where I have sent you into exile and pray to the Lord on its behalf. For in its welfare, you will find your welfare."

Brothers and sisters, Babylon was a hidden nation. Babylon was a wicked nation. They were hidden. They were the Gentiles. They were against the righteousness of God.

Yet God, in His providence and in His mercy, or better, in His decree, He is going to send His people, as we have read. He is the one that sends the people of Israel or Judah into the land of Babylon. He says, whom I have sent. And then the Lord is going to connect. Beloved brethren, keep your mind with me.

The Lord is going to connect the welfare of this place where there are going to be an exile, which is Babylon, with the welfare or the well-being of his people. Not only that, but he's going to call and he's going to require his people to pray for that. to give themselves in prayer for the welfare of the Babylon nation so that they will be in welfare. I don't know if it comes to your mind, but 1st Timothy chapter 2 verse 1, the apostle Paul is giving instructions to the church at Ephesus through Timothy. And then he says the instruction that he gives, which we have covered in a Bible study months ago, the instruction that he gives is pray for all men, make intercession for all men.

Give thanks for all men." And then in verse 2, he speaks of the authorities and the king. Pray for the authority and for the king under the New Testament. Why? So that you may be able to live a peaceful life in all godliness.

Brothers and sisters. God was complete sovereign in the taking of his people from his other land, the land of Israel or Judah, taking them into exile to this land of Babylon. He was completely sovereign over those things to the point that he knew how long they were going to be there in exile. So if you go to verse 10, of the same chapter in Jeremiah, the Lord had not only decreed that his people were going to be in exile, but the Lord had also decreed the duration and the time in which they were going to be in that time of exile. So in verse 10, it says, for thus says the Lord.

Remember that this is the prophecy of Jeremiah. When 70 years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. This caused tears in the eyes of Daniel when he was researching the Scriptures as one of the exiles in Babylon, when he was researching and when he was searching into the Scriptures of Jeremiah. And this, the Lord said, that was 70 years that the people of Israel were going to be in exile in the land of Babylon. He says, verse 11, For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord.

This is a very popular verse. For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord. Plans for welfare or peace and not for evil to give you a future and I hope then you will call upon me and I come and pray and pray to me and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. Beloved brethren, what I want you to see in this story of the exile of the people of God under the old covenant is the complete sovereign hand of God over the whole situation.

God's people were sent into exile because that was the decree of God. God's people were going to be in exile a certain period of time because that was the eternal decree of God. So that even though they were living in this land under the authority of Nebuchadnezzar as the king of this land, even the government of Nebuchadnezzar was under the sovereign reign and decree of God. I don't know if you have become too indifferent and dull to these glorious truths of the sovereignty power of God. But, beloved brethren, that was for the people of Israel as exiles.

That is exactly the same thing for the church as sojourners and exiles in this world. that the exiled and the walking towards glory of the church is under the sovereign control of God. And just as God knew that the people of Israel were going to spend 70 years in the land of Babylon, the Lord knows how long the church of Christ is going to spend in this world until we're taken up to glory to be with the Savior. But now, beloved brethren, The Lord said to Israel that they were to pray for the welfare of the nation, that they were to submit, if you want, in a sense. And what I want to show to you is that even the government of Babylon during the time of exile of the people of Israel was under the sovereign power of God.

And you may remember the story of our beloved Daniel. Daniel was one of the exiles or one of the people that were taken in captivity or in exile to the land of Babylon from Judah into Babylon and then he became a powerful man just as Joseph became the second one in power under Pharaoh also Daniel was powerful and he became a powerful and a mighty man in the land of Babylon. And just as Joseph had the ability given by God to interpret the dreams of Pharaoh, also Daniel had the ability given by God to interpret the dreams of Nebuchadnezzar, who was the ruling power and authority in this Babylon land. You might remember the first dream that comes and is interpreted by Daniel. But in the second dream, I'm not going to narrate the first one.

We will be here too long. But in the second dream, beloved brethren, of that Daniel is going to come and interpret for Pharaoh, he is going to learn a very important lesson. Go to Daniel chapter 4. I want you to see this. Very limited my words to connect this point, but I hope that you can see it.

In the second dream, beloved brethren, you might remember the second dream that Nebuchadnezzar had, which is this big tree with all of this might and power. And then an angel of the Lord will come and destroy that tree. And then he calls Daniel to interpret that dream. And the interpretation of that dream was going to be that the reign or the kingdom that Nebuchadnezzar had was going to be removed and taken from him. But when Daniel is given the explanation of this dream, he's going to teach us something very important, beloved brethren.

He is going to teach us something very important of the authority and the power that the hidden, that the spiritually speaking Gentiles have. Verse 24 in chapter 4, this is the interpretation that Daniel is going to give to Pharaoh over this second dream. This is the interpretation. O king, speaking to Nebuchadnezzar, it is a decree of the most high which has come upon my lord the king that you shall be driven from among men and your dwelling shall be with the beast of the field you shall be made to eat grass like an ox and you shall be wet with the dew of heaven and seven periods of time shall pass over you now pay attention to this verse seven periods of time shall pass over you now it says till you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he wills." Beloved brethren, the God of Israel The King of Israel, the Lord of the Israelites, was saying that even the kingdoms of the hidden, the kingdoms of the Gentiles, were given by the Most High.

That He is the One that rules. But now pay attention to verse 26. It goes even deeper. And as it was commanded to leave the stamp of the roots of the tree, speaking of the dream, Your kingdom, Nebuchadnezzar, your kingdom shall be confirmed for you from the time that you know that heavens rule. The reason why Nebuchadnezzar was going to spend these seven periods of time not as a human but as a beast.

It was because he was not recognizing the power and the mighty and the authority of the God of the universe who was the one that was ruling over all the kingdoms. You see these men become probably the most powerful men on the earth. and he was beholding the power and the might and the wealth of his kingdom and he was filled with pride and the Lord was going to give him a lesson and that lesson is that even the kingdoms and the authority that is given to the hidden and to the Gentiles it is by the sovereign and mighty hand of the God of Israel. So then after those seven periods of time, when by the prophecy it is restored, that Nebuchadnezzar is restored, he's going to make a profession or a confession of these things that is also going to teach us in verse 34. Pay attention to verse 34, chapter 4.

This is at the end of those seven periods, in the end of that period of time which Nebuchadnezzar was in the wilderness, if you want. Verse 34, at the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven. and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever." Brothers and sisters, this is a hidden, wicked, gentile king recognizing the authority of the God of Israel. Then he says, for his, God's, dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation.

All the inhabitants of the earth I have counted as nothing. And he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand or say to him, what have you done? This is Nebuchadnezzar. Then he continues. At the same time, my reason returned because he had become like a beast And at the same time, my reason returned to me.

And for the glory of my kingdom, he acknowledges that it's his kingdom. My majesty and his splendor returned to me. My counselors and my Lord sought me and was established in my kingdom. And still more greatness was added to me. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and honor the King of heaven, for all his works are right, and his ways are just, and those who walk in pride he's able to humble.

Beloved brethren, it doesn't matter what the government is. It doesn't matter if it's the Australian government, or if it's the Colombian government, or the Venezuelan government, or whatever government. It doesn't matter the type of kingdom God is sovereign over all of them. He is the one that rules over every single kingdom that is established upon the earth. He rules everything.

And this is exactly the teaching of the New Testament. Because that what the Apostle Peter says, that we are to be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, to the emperor, and also to the governor, because they are to punish those who do evil, and they are to encourage and to praise those who do good, and that that is the will of God. This is exactly the same thing that the Apostle Paul is going to teach us in Romans 13. So actually, the reason why we did all of this is just to take it to Romans 13. Go to Romans 13 because now I want to add the other concept of the righteousness of God as it is administered through the kingdoms of this world.

Romans 13, go to Romans 13. The Apostle Paul is going to speak under the inspiration of the same spirit. Praise God, the spirit of God, not the spirit of the world. He is going to give to his church the word speaking or giving us light about this admission that we are to have now. Verse 13, I want you to see, I want you to see the similar concepts and the similar language that the Apostle is using here, the Apostle Paul comparing with the Apostle Peter and how we are to understand both revelations.

Chapter 13, verse 1. Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. You see, right? The same language, same wording that the apostle Peter, for there is no authority except from God. And those that exist have been instituted by God.

Those two lines is what I try to prove to you from Jeremiah and from Daniel, that all authorities have been established by God. But now verse two is where things become a little bit more complex. Now, therefore, Therefore, whoever resists the authorities, resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment." Beloved brothers and sisters, when it comes to the obedience that the Christian should have to the government that has been instituted by God, there's a dilemma. What is the extent to which the Christian who is in Christ is to submit to a government if that government is wicked or unrighteous, or it is away from the law of God?

There is a dilemma. But I think the proposal is going to give us light here. It says in verse 3, pay attention to that word, for, for a causality, a consequence, or as a result, for, Rulers, that is the person or the people who are governing authorities, are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. The apostle is going to introduce here now the dichotomy between good and bad. Or if you want, he's going to introduce the dichotomy between righteousness and unrighteousness.

For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval." Verse 4, For he that is the governing authority, or the ruler, is God's servant. It is God's deacon.

In the Greek, deacon, the same word that is used for the servants of the church, here is used for the ruler authorities. It's God's servant. It's God's deacon. for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain.

For he, the ruler or the governing authority, is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out, beloved brethren, please pay attention to this, for he carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Beloved brothers and sisters, governing authorities, or the government, if you want, as a whole, is a servant of God. And as servants of God, they're administrators, if you want, of the righteousness of God, to the point that Paul says here that they carry out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Now, beloved brethren, that means that the righteousness of God is the means by which we define the extent to what we submit to the government. The Bible never calls us to submit entirely and openly, completely and blindly to a government because the same pull that is saying here that we are to submit to the governing authorities.

The same poll here that it is saying that the authorities or the servants of God, the ruling powers, he committed or he did civil disobedience in a number of times. Go to Acts 9, please. Go to Acts chapter 9. And I want to show you this and then make my point from there. Go to Acts chapter 9.

And then you might remember they filled with the Spirit, Paul, who was sent to Damascus. And after his conversion, he went into the synagogues to open up his mouth and speak of this Jesus Christ, who was the Savior of the world. And in chapter 9, verse 19, it says, chapter 9 verse 19 for some days he was with the disciples at damascus verse 20 and immediately he proclaimed jesus in the synagogue saying he is the son of god verse 21 and all who heard him were amazed and said is not this the man who made havoc in jerusalem of those who call upon this name and has he not come here for this purpose to bring them bound before the chief priest now verse 22 but Saul increased all the more in strength and confounded the Jews who lived at Damascus or in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ. The newly converted Paul was preaching this Jesus Christ whom he was persecuting not long before that. And now the city is not in chaos because of the preaching of the apostle Paul.

There's verse 23. When many days had passed, the Jews plotted to kill him, to kill Paul, but their plot became none to solve. They were watching the gates day and night in order to kill him. So the Jews wanted to kill the apostle Paul, verse 25, but his disciples took him by night and led him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket. The Jews wanted to kill him and then hidden in a basket.

the Apostle Paul was released down the wall of the city. The same Apostle is going to give us more light of what happened, what took place here in Acts chapter 9, in 2 Corinthians chapter 10. Go to 2 Corinthians chapter 10. 2 Corinthians chapter 10. Remember that this is the Apostle that said that we are to submit to all governing authorities.

You remember that this is the apostle that says to Timothy in 1 Timothy chapter 2 that we are to pray for all governing authorities and for kings, that we are to obey them, that whatever they say that we are to submit as Christians. He's going to give us more light in 2 Corinthians 11 verse 32. Speaking of the same event at Damascus, Now, remember that in Acts it says that the Jews tried or planned to kill him. Now in verse 32 it says, at Damascus, the governor under King Aretas, or Etas, or whatever that name is pronounced, was guarding the city of Damascus in order to seize me. He was the governor and he was the king together with the Jews that probably were after Paul to seize him.

But, I was let down in a basket through a window in the world and escaped his hands." We have the rebellious pope disobeying the endeavors of the king and of the governor. Why, beloved brethren? because every kingdom of this earth has been established by God Himself as the Most High who rules over everything, and the standard by which the Most High of this universe rules is the standard of His law. And everything that goes against His law becomes unrighteousness by nature, and that which is unrighteousness cannot be imposed to the Christian.

That's why the early Christians will say it is necessary that we obey God and not men. It's better that we listen to God and not men. Because when the government requires or imposes unrighteousness that goes against a righteous God, then we are not to submit to governing authorities. Now, beloved brethren, this is very important. the righteousness of God.

It is administered, or it is better, it is meant to be administered by the governing authorities that he has established on this world. And the righteousness of God, as it is meant to be displayed by these kingdoms of men, has to correspond to the law of God. So then if something contrary to the law of God, it is required of those who are in Christ, then we are to say, are we going to obey men or are we going to obey God? Here, the apostle was performing the act of highest righteousness. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes, he says.

And he's not ashamed of that gospel. He says, for in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. When the gospel proclamation is given to men, then the righteousness of God is proclaimed and revealed unto the hidden and to the people. And this is the most righteous event that can take place. Now, the Jews and the king and the governor were trying to stop Paul from performing the proclamation of the gospel, then disobedience is accepted in the eyes of the Lord.

Now, beloved brethren, all of my efforts to prove or just to do all of that is because when Paul or when Peter is calling us to set me to every human authority, he says, for the Lord's sake, it's for God's glory that we are to obey governing authorities and God's glory can only be given unto him through and by his righteous standard. Beloved brethren, the gospel has accomplished or has given to Christ all authority in heaven and on earth and therefore He is the one that rules over everything, not only in a future kingdom that is to come, but Christ is already ruling on the world. And he's ruling through the mighty power of his church, by the power of the Holy Spirit. He is the ultimate King to whom we have to submit. And he is the one to whom we have to please.

And he is the one in the light of whom we have to walk. And as long as the kingdom of men submits to the righteousness of God, then we are to obey now. This is a very important thing, beloved brethren, because we live in times in which people call evil that which is good. And that which is good, they call evil. And that which is bitter, they call sweet.

And that which is sweet, they call bitter. The prophets say, my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Or my people perish for lack of knowledge. Beloved brothers and sisters, if we do not know, and actually this is the big burden that I had in my heart, like all my sermon can be forgotten, but just remember this. If we do not know the righteous standard of God, then when we are placed in situations in which we have to discern that which is righteous and that which is unrighteous from the commandments of men, we may see ourselves confused.

Because the devil is not going to try to put in your mind something that is completely opposite against to that which is good. Sometimes the devil is going to place before you something that seems to be righteous, but it's not. So the more that the people of God know the righteous law and the standard of God, the more that we are going to be able to walk in paths of righteousness, and the more that we are going to understand how we are to relate to the government. It is not only about knowing the righteous standard of God and His law, but it's also making that righteous standard work within us. operate within us, within our souls, brothers and sisters.

We live in times in which people call destruction of life as something good. We live in times in which people have redefined the glorious covenant of marriage. We live in times in which people are literally calling that which is evil, good. If the church of Jesus Christ does not stand firm on the word of God, then we're going to be ourselves debating within us, the church, that which is clearly portrayed and explained on Scripture, beloved brethren, is already happening. It is already happening.

So we are to fill our hearts with the righteous standard of God, so that not only with an external commandment, but with the power of the living word in our hearts, We might be able to say no when we are to say no, even if that is going to cost us our lives. Beloved brothers and sisters, as Peter progresses in this letter, he's going to speak of Christ being an example of suffering and giving his life. And we are to do the same. The things that we see in TV are not far to happen to us in which we're going to have to give an answer for the hope that it is within us. And if Jesus Christ has not been set apart clearly by the living word of God as our Lord and savior, then how are we going to give a defense?

Then how are we going to stand firm and say, I prefer to obey God before obeying you take my life. Beloved brethren. May the Lord give us the grace that we need, so just as the Psalmist, we may treasure up his word within our heart, that we might not sin, not against men, but against him. That the righteous standard of God might be dwelling in us so richly, that we might be able to be like the people of Psalm 149, that they had the two-edged sword, that they might execute judgment upon the hidden. That is, that the Word of God in the saints of God is proclaimed in such a way that we have the ability to call righteousness that which God has called righteousness and unrighteousness that which God has called unrighteousness.

Amen.