Dual Citizenship
Righteousness Revealed: An Exposition of Romans

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Good morning, church! It’s good to be back with you. I want to thank you, church, for all your prayers,cards, letters and expressions of sympathy and encouragement and comfort to our family and to me, personally, to my wife Robin and to my entire family. My baby brother, Donnie, passed away at 12:24AM early Monday morning. We were there, in a circle holding hands, as he graduated to heaven. It’s been a time of sorrow, but as the word of God says, we sorrow, we grieve, but not as those who have no hope. We have the hope of resurrection. We have the hope of heaven. We appreciate your prayers and we appreciate those of you that have expressed those words of encouragement to us. Many of you have given us financial help for the funeral expenses. We appreciate all of those things. It’s great to be part of a church family that loves one another. We do thank you.

I, also, want to thank two men from our teaching team – Pastor Jonathan Minter and Adam Purvis. They received a call late Friday night, saying that the pastor was not going to be preaching that coming Sunday; he was headed up to be with his brother. They had one day’s notice to show up and preach last Sunday. I’m glad to be part of a church that allows us to also be members of the church; not just leaders, but members. We give thanks to the Lord for all of you.

Having said all of that, we’re going back to the book of Romans again. The last time we were visiting here was last Fall. It’s been our practice, over the last four years, to go verse by verse through the book of Romans. If you’ve been with us on that journey the last four years, you know that it brings us up to chapters 13 through 16. This isthe final part four of our series through the book of Romans. I would like to step back for a brief moment and give you a quick summary of how we got here. If you’d like to catch up with us, you can go on the website and you can watch those sermons. There’s about 30 of them, getting us up to this point. It might take you a couple of weeks to catch up if that’s your desire.

Let me give you a quick summary. First of all, where do we get the title, “Righteousness Revealed?” We find it in Romans 1:16-17 (ESV) 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed …” That’s where our title comes from. It comes from Paul’s thesis statement that now I’m going to talk to you abou; how you can be made right with God through the Good News, which is the gospel of Jesus Christ, that God’s righteousness is revealed to us in the person of Jesus. For eleven chapters, in what many would consider Paul’s “magnus opus.” His greatest work from the Holy Spirit are these sixteen chapters from the book of Romans. Paul spends eleven chapters “unpacking” what the gospel means and how, even though we are all sinners, whether we are Jew or Greek, separated from God, Jesus came and died for our sins and was raised from the grave and lives today. Those who believe in Him and place their faith in Him will be made right, so that we then will be the righteousness of God, because we’ve received His righteousness, God’s righteousness. His righteousness is revealed in Jesus. For eleven chapters, Paul teaches us the doctrine of the gospel and how it impacts the Jew and the Greek.

Then, in chapter 12 , which we studied last Fall, he moves from proposition (all truth) to prescriptive. In other words, he’s not just teaching us doctrine, but he begins to give us direction. That’s where we’re going to be for the rest of this book. We’re now in that prescriptive section, where Paul says, “Now because you have received the Gospel.” This is what it looks like to live out the gospel. This is where we’re at today.

As we get into chapter 13, let me just remind you of chapter 12; I’m going to give you a quick summary. Chapter 12 is the first part of the prescription, which sets up the whole thing. If you remember how chapter 12 begins, Romans 12:1-2 (ESV) 1 “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by therenewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Because we’ve received the Gospel, therefore, we offer our entire lives to the Lord, which is our only reasonable service. We offer him our minds, so that we get a new mind. We are no longer conformed to the way the world thinks, but our minds are transformed. We have a redeemed way of thinking about everything. A renewed mind. In chapter 12, he begins to work that out. He says, now that you have this renewed mind, inverses three through eight of chapter 12, you need to think about yourself differently. Your self-image should be based on who you are in Christ rather than some other competing identity. We live in a world today where there are many competing identities. Paul says, for you believers that have now received the gospel of Jesus Christ, you need to have a new mind, so think about yourselves differently for that. That’s verses three through eight.

In verses nine through 13, Paul wants you to know how to think about the family of God, other believers. You need to love them; you need to have a new mind so that they become brothers and sisters.

In verses 14 through 21, Paul begins to tell us here’s how we are to treat our enemies. We are to love them; we are to treat them like this. That’s chapter 12. It took me longer last Fall to go through chapter 12. That’s a summary of Chapter 12.

Now, here we are in chapter 13, and Paul is going to get really specific about what it looks like to live under a human government. Here’s how you look at yourself, here’s how you look at your brothers and sisters and here’s how you look at those who are your enemies . Now, here’s how you live under a human government. He begins to describe that in chapter 13. Over the next nine weeks, we’re going to be going verse by verse through chapters 13 to 16.

As we begin today, we’ve entitled this particular message, “Dual Citizenship,” because as believers, we have two citizenships. First of all, as believers, we bow our knee to King Jesus; we are members of a heavenly citizenship, a holy citizenship. That’s our primary citizenship. Paul recognizes through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit here that we, also, are citizens of whatever country we are born in and live in. Here, we are citizens of the U.S.A. But, there’s a tension between the two citizenships. Paul begins here, through the Holy Spirit, to help us understand how to resolve that tension and how to live as dual citizens, how to live as members of heaven, but citizens of heaven, but also citizens of the country to which we’ve been called.

In this message, he’s basically answering this question, “How should Christians live as it relates to the government?” I told you we’re in “prescription” now. We have passed proposition (all truth); we’re in prescriptive truth now–here’s what it looks like to live out the gospel as citizens of the U.S.A.

Some years ago I was visiting some missionaries in Amman, Jordan, that came from our church. They were living in Amman, which is the capital city of Jordan. A taxi picked me up at the airport to take me to their house. I began to talk to the taxi driver; he had excellent english. I said to him, “Wow, your English is excellent!” He says to me, “Well, I have dual citizenship.” I asked him, “What do you mean?” He tells me, “Well, I’m a citizen of Jordan. I was born in Jordan, but I moved to the United States some years ago. I actually own a subway franchise in Florida.” I said, “Get out of here !” He says, “Yes, I have dual citizenship. I have a Jordanian passport and a U.S. Passport. I asked him, “Why are you driving a taxi?” He said, “Well, my sons started getting older and they didn’t know how to speak in Arabic. They didn’t really know the family; plus, I was concerned about all the influences in the media in America.” He was concerned, as a Muslim, that his sons would grow up Muslim. So, he was living part of the year in Amman, Jordan, driving a taxi and he had his brother-in-law running his subway when he was not in Florida. He was going back and forth. He told me this. I told him this, “Guess what? I’m a dual citizen, too!” He exclaims, “Really? What’s your dual citizenship?” I told him, “Well, I have a blue passport; it’s a U.S. passport. I have another passport that I wish I could show you. It’s my passport to Heaven. I’m a citizen of Isa al-Masih, Jesus the Messiah. Have you heard of Him?” He says, “Yes, He’s in the Koran.” I said to him, “Yes, I want to talk to you about Him.” We became such good friends that I said, “Can I rent your taxi for the whole two weeks?” He says, “I’m here, if you can afford it.” I said to him, “I’ll figure it out.” And so, he was my driver the whole time I was there. I talked to him about Isa, which is Arabic for Jesus, the whole time I was there because we were friends and had dual citizenship.

There’s a tension between the two, yet Paul gives us, from the guidance of the Holy Spirit, how to live in both. I just want to give you forewarning when I start reading these verses. You’re going to feel two possible tensions right off the bat. The first tension you’re going to feel is you are going to start thinking of exceptions because paul is going to tell us that we are to submit to the government as we submit to the Lord. Yeah, but what about when there’s a Hitler. What about when there’s a Stalin? What what about when the government’s wrong? That’s the first tension you’re going to feel.

The other tension you’re going to feel is because of the flesh; you’re going to have opinions. Here’s what human nature is; we naturally rebel against authority. Parents, can I get a witness? They’re in rebellion against you. That’s called the sin nature; it desires to have its own way. Do you want to know what’s underneath sin? It’s an attitude that says this, “I want to do it my way rather than God’s way .” So, you’re going to feel that tension between the two citizenships. Because we’re believers, because we’ve received Jesus through the gospel, that tension can be resolved because He gives us direction.

The apostle, Paul, is going to give us three reasons why we should submit to the governing authorities. Are you ready? Let’s dig in. We’ll start reading at verse one. Romans 13:1-7 (ESV) 1 “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3 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, 4 for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carriesout God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. 7 Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.” This is God’s word. Amen.

I saw that some of you hesitated when I got to the taxes, but you have to say, “Amen,” to the whole seven verses. We’re looking at three reasons why we should submit to the governing authorities. Here’s the first reason:

1. Because it shows our submission to God’s authority.

I want you to look at the first two verses. Let’s just drill down on those first two verses for a moment. I want you to notice the word, “authority,” or “authorities” in the plural. It is there five times . Notice the statement, “There is no authority except from God.” Did you see that? There’s no authority anywhere except from God. So all authority is derivative, delegated from God.

Now, I know you’re already thinking of exceptions. What about this evil person? What about that evil person? Well, who’s to say that God didn’t allow that person, didn’t place that person for a season. That’s beyond our understanding. But when we can look at it someday, with an eternal perspective, we’ll see that it makes perfect sense why God did it that way. Right now we are in the midst of things. We don’t always understand how things are working, but we can know this.

I don’t know what you’re going through right now. My family has had a hard couple of weeks. I’ve cried my eyes out for the last two weeks and my body is weak right now , but praise God, the Lord’s spirit never gets weak in me. In fact, the weaker I get, the stronger He seems to get. I wouldn’t be able to stand here right now without Him. Here’s what I know – things haven’t worked out the way I would have chosen the last few days, but my God has never “taken a nap.” He’s never stepped off the throne. He’s sovereign. I don’t know what you’re going through, but you can know this. He’s the same yesterday, today and forever. He is sovereign and all authority is delegated authority.

The word, “authority,” is the Greek word that doesn’t necessarily mean dynamic power as much as it means the kind of power of one who is a king or one who is overall. He’s delegated this authority. We recognize as believers that there’s no one in authority that God hasn’t put there.

Remember how, when Jesus was talking to Pilate, and Pilate said, “Don’t you know that I have the power of life and death over you?” Jesus was not really answering his questions. Jesus finally looks up at him and says, “You would have no authority over me unless the father had given you the authority.” This is Jesus agreeing with what Paul is writing here. Even as He faces the cross, he recognizes that they don’t have any real authority. The authority is under His father.

The only reason I’m here right now is because I’m under His authority and so are you. We used to sing a children’s song when I was growing up. Maybe you heard it when you were growing up. The song goes like this– “He could have called 10,000 angels to destroy the world and set Him free. He could have called 10,000 angels, but He died alone for you and me.” He had the authority but He was under the Father’s authority and so was Pillot.

This creates a mystery for us, but the truth of it, underneath it all, is that God is sovereign over all . Christian, do you believe that? Do you affirm that? Some of us right now are thinking, I’m angry at God about this. I’m frustrated with God about that. I didn’t get my way on this. That’s the attitude that comes from the old nature from sin. Instead, we can be at peace in our hearts and recognize, no matter what we’re going through, God is in charge. God is sovereign even when difficulty, perhaps particularly when difficulty, comes.

It says in verse two, “Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.” The word, “resist,” means to “fail to line up under.” Originally, it had the idea of refusal to line up under authority. If you refuse to line up under your teacher at school, your boss at work, the police officer whose blue lights were in your rear view mirror and pulled you over, etc. If you resist, you resist God.

This is what Paul said; those who resist will encourage judgment . He says this in verse two. You’ll bring it on yourself because of your resistance. Your refusal to line up as believers. We recognize the governor and the president. You don’t have to agree with them; I am not saying that you have to agree with them, but it says that you have to submit to their authority. You respect the office, you respect the calling as if it came from God himself.

Notice what Peter says about this. He says something very similar to what Paul writes, in 1 Peter 2:13-17 (ESV) 13 “Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, 14 or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. 15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. 16 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. 17 Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.” Inother words, have a good testimony. We’re called as believers not to be troublemakers and rebels, but to be those who stabilize a community and stabilize our nation because we’re to be salt and light and that we recognize that we have a dual citizenship and God has called us to be in this place at this time. The way that we live stabilizes it, brings salt and light to the community that we live in. We’re to be peacemakers in our communities, in our families and in our nation.

Now Paul, if you’d have known about Hitler, you wouldn’t have written this. Let me remind you when Paul wrote this. He wrote it somewhere between 57 to 59 A.D. The emperor during this time is transitioning from the emperor Claudius to the caesar Nero, who was considered one of the worst of all the roman emperors. This is during the season of the Pax Romana, latin for Roman peace . Paul is writing this letter, having never been to Rome, he’s writing it and he actually is expressing, I wish I could go. I want to come. I hope someday that the Lord brings me to you. But I want to write this letter to you. He writes 16 chapters to people he hasn’t met yet, but he’s heard about them. He’s there in Corinth by himself. Timothy and some of his crew, Luke and others kind of got ahead of him there in his journey at that time. Paul is in Corinth and he’s hanging out with Aquila and Priscilla, two Jewish believers in Jesus the Messiah; they are tent makers. The Apostle Paul’s dad must have said to him, I know you want to be a rabbi. I know you want to move to Jerusalem and study under Gamaliel . . Studying under Gamaliel would be like a Jewish Jerusalem Harvard or something like that. Apparently, Paul’s father was well to do because Paul was born a Roman citizen in the city of Tarsus, a seaport city with many languages. Paul’s father sends him there but he needs a “plan B.” His father makes sure that Paul has something to do, so he trains him to be a tentmaker as his “backup plan.”

My father died when I was eight years old. I remember when I was getting ready to go to college, I went and talked to my uncle Clyde, my father’s twin brother. I would go to see him to get advice. He asked me, “What are you going to major in in college, Gary? You should major in business.” My uncle Clyde worked for a bank. I said to him, “I’m thinking God’s calling me to use my musical talent, you know to be an evangelist or something. I think I’m going to major in music.” My uncle Clyde says, “What’s your plan B?” He wanted me to have something to fall back on.

Paul had a “fall back” and so he was using it in the city of Corinth. He meets Aguila and Priscilla. They were in Corinth because the emperor Claudius had kicked all the Jews out of Rome. You can read about the record of this in the book of Acts in chapter 18. The Jews had been persecuted and Claudius had kicked them out of Rome. Paul meets Priscilla and Aquila and he’s working with them every day. He begins to hear about the believers in Rome and he writes this letter, which tells us to obey and submit. Submit to the authorities, the ones who are kicking you out of Rome . The Holy Spirit told him that’s the way christians are to live. We are not to be troublemakers; we are to be stabilizers and peacemakers. We live as free people, but we live under conscience. Paul is teaching them that.

Think about this – the Gospel went from Jerusalem all over the Roman world within only a couple 100 years so that everyone had heard the Gospel and the whole Roman empire turned into the Holy Roman empire. Why was that? It’s because even though the emperor Nero beheaded Paul for his Christian faith and testimony. Here’s Paul writing this and the man, Nero, beheads him. He was beheaded, not crucified because he was a Roman citizen. He was not to be tortured. Peter, on the other hand, also wrote a similar passage (which we just read.) He was crucified because he was not a Roman citizen. When he was to be crucified, early church fathers have reported that he said, “I’m not worthy to be crucified as my Lord, ” and so they crucified him upside down. Both of these men wrote, “Submit to the authorities as unto the Lord.” For the Lord’s sake, submit to these authorities. Don’t say you don’t like the current president or you don’t like the current governor. You must respect them. You must honor their office. You don’t have to agree with them, but you have to honor them. This is the setting that Paul is writing in.

Now, notice this. What did Rome provide? There’s these evil dictators, but Rome provided Roman roads, Roman law and a common language. It created a regular stable. You could send a letter from Corinth and it would go to Rome because you could travel on the Roman roads. In fact, I’ve been there. I’ve visited Greece and I’ve visited Turkey. You can find Roman roads everywhere you go. I don’t know what’s wrong with our roads that we build here. It seems like they run down. 2000 years later, you can still walk on Roman roads. They were builders. God provided an environment with His sovereignty so that the Gospel went all over the Roman world.

Will you recognize that when you relate and the way you relate to to the authorities, the governing authorities, the mayor, the police officer, the governor, the senator, the sheriff, the president, the police officer, the governor or the dogcatcher,you recognize that they are under the authority of God in your life as a christian and as a dual citizen. Because we’re Americans, we have the right to vote. So if you don’t agree with their policies, vote them out and vote somebody else in, but, respect the office, honor the office, you owe them that according to the word of God. Amen.

Be careful how you talk about things on social media and other places. One of the things that’s so difficult today is, as we’re approaching the first week of November, you can’t watch tv without seeing all these terrible ads trying to destroy the opponent’s character. As believers, let us be careful that we’re not people who tear down but we build up and when we communicate our beliefs, how can we do it in a way that respects those that oppose us.

Here’s the second reason:

2. Because it honors them as God’s servants. First of all, it honors, it shows submission to God’s authority. Secondly, it honors those in authority over us as God’s servants. We are in verses three through five. If you look at verses three through five, you’ll see that they’re referred to twice as God’s servants. It’s in there twice.

A police officer is God’s servant. Verse 3 says, “For rulers arenot 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.” In other words, they’re supposed to strike fear in you so you don’t break the law. God put them there to be a terror. Those “blue lights” are supposed to make your heart beat faster. This rhetorical question is asked, “Would you have no fear of the one who was in authority?”

Would you like to not be afraid of the one in authority? I would. I’d rather not be afraid. Then, do what is good; don’t break the law. Pay your taxes; obey the speed limit. That one challenges me, like a lot of preachers, I know I’ve got a heavy foot. “Do what is good and you will receive his approval. But if you do wrong, be afraid if you break the law for he does not bear the sword in vain.” What does that mean? The sword is an emblem of judgment . God has delegated to the government the right to mete out judgment and the sword is an implement of execution and war. The government has been given the delegated authority of God up to the penalty of death. In other words, the police officer doesn’t bear the gun in vain, nor does he bear the ticket book in vain. The president, as the commander in chief of our country, does not bear that authority in vain. He can make a phone call to a general and say, “Send them.” It’s been delegated to him.

I have told you we’re in the prescriptive section now. Paul is explaining to us how Christians live as dual citizens. “He is the servant of God, an avenger.” He’s not only a servant; he’s an avenger. In other words, he’s been delegated the authority to be a soldier, a police officer, a judge, etc. to be in the government to do those things and carry out God’s wrath, which is God’s judgment on the wrongdoer. This is for us to understand, as believers.

All you had to do was just watch the news or maybe even see what was going on in the summer of 2020 when anarchy broke out in all the cities around the United States and the cities were burning, regardless of people’s personal opinions and their political opinions. Anarchy is the opposite of God’s will for our lives. He’s a God of order, not of disorder.

Paul told the Corinthians that God gives us human government to limit sin because sin goes amok and we always move towards anarchy and rebellion when we are left to ourselves. “He does not bear the sword in vain.” He repeats it in verse five, “Therefore one must be in subjection.” One must submit to these servants of God.

I don’t know if we have any police officers in the house. We had several in the house at the first service. I’m trying to make eye contact if I see any here now. Police officers are to think they are servants of God. We’re to pray for you in that way. Look what Timothy says about praying for God’s servants, 1 Timothy 2:1-3 (ESV) 1 “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. 3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior.” That’s the way we are to live. We’re peacemakers, not troublemakers.

Now, when you look in the rear view mirror as you’re going down the highway and you see those blue lights, what’s the first thing that you do? Some of us hit the brake. The first thing I do is look down at the speedometer. My eyes go down and then I start praying like crazy, hoping he’s after that guy who passed me a minute ago.

Some years ago, I was coming home from Virginia; it was about two o’clock in the morning. I was going through Knightdale, back in the days when 264 wasn’t complete with the bypass and you had to go through down. You had to go through Knightdale to get back to Wilson. I think it was going around 45. It might have been a 35; I can’t really remember. But it wasn’t what I was going and there wasn’t a car on the road. It was late and I was coming in. I was moving. I saw those blue lights and I thought, Oh boy, he’s got me now. This was years ago and I had just become a pastor and I was so proud that I put a clergy sticker on the bumper. I don’t have a clergy sticker on my bumper now. I have an Eastgate church sticker on the back; that’s just as bad. We need to be careful about what kind of witness we are when we have stickers on our bumper. He pulls me over and I roll the window down. He says to me, “How are you doing, reverend?” I said, “Sir, I was speeding.” He says, “Why are you coming through so fast?” I said, “I’m in a hurry to get home. I’ve been up in Virginia.” He takes my license and registration and goes back and sits in his car. I’m sitting there thinking, Lord I don’t need this right now. But I remember Romans 13. The police officer comes back up and hands me my license and registration back. He pats me on the shoulder and says, “Slow down and be careful. I’ll let you off with a warning.” I said, “Thank you, officer.” The thing I’ve learned is you don’t always get off because I’ve also had to pay some tickets, not recently, but I have. If you treat the person with respect and honor, it raises the possibility of mercy. If you disrespect, that’s another motivation.

Here’s the third reason:

3. Because of our transformed, God-given conscience.

The first reason is because they are under God’s authority and we submit to them as unto the Lord. The second is because they are God’s servants. He’s delegated them to do the good work to order up our society so that our societies are orderly and not chaotic. And then finally , because of our transformed, God-given conscience.

Romans 12:2 (ESV) Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. You have a new conscience. Everyone is born with a conscience which has a sense of right and wrong, but you have a redeemed one now as a believer. You don’t just obey because it’ll get you in trouble if you don’t. That’s one reason to obey; that’s a reason, but here’s the big reason: It’s because your mind is now wanting to do the will of God and so you submit to the authorities because it’s God’s will for your life. There are exceptions when you will not submit to the governing authorities, but it has to be guided by the redeemed conscience. It can’t be because you didn’t like something. It has to be really prayed over, very carefully considered, because as you look at this passage, you don’t really see exception clauses. But, if we look at the larger scripture, which is what we always want to do, and we study a passage and think, Ok, here’s what it says here, but how does the rest of the bible inform this so that we have a balanced understanding? It’s important to look at it.

I want you to notice that Paul switches from calling them “servants of God.” In verse six, he calls them “ministers of God.” The word, “servant” is ( ) which is where we get the word, “deacon.” So, police officers are deacons of God and they are ministers of God. You’re a minister. I’m a minister. They are ministers of God. You’re not only to obey them to avoid God’s judgment wrath, but also for the sake of your redeemed conscience.

Then, Paul throws in that stuff that we really have to pray over, “For this reason you have to pay your taxes…” By the way, that’s how you support God’s ministers. You pay your taxes, you pay revenue, which is another way of paying customs. If you left the country and came back with valuable goods, you’d have to pay a custom tax; there’s a custom that you have to pay. You owe respect and you owe honor to those who have offices higher than your boss, your teacher, the governor, the police office or whoever God has put in authority. You owe them these things and they attend to the things they’ve been called to attend to.

How do I know when, if ever, I should not submit to authority? Let’s look at the larger context of the bible. I know you’ve been wanting me to get here the whole time I’ve been preaching. What about the exceptions? I told you that we would have that tension, but be careful because it’s rare when you’re called upon to do otherwise. First of all, make sure the moral compass is clear, which is the conscience.

It says in Acts 24:16 (ESV) “So I always take pains to have a clear conscience toward both God and man.” Really pray about things; really count the cost because if you go against the governing authorities, there may be a cost. There’s a ticket to be paid; a fine to be paid. Be aware of that and remember how, when Jesus was asked this question by the Pharisees who wanted to entrap him and make him unpopular with his followers, they said, “Do you think it’s right to pay Caesar taxes? Do you think it’s right to pay Roman taxes?” There’s no way that He can win that one. If He says “no,” then they’ll turn Him into the Romans. If He says, “yes,” then He loses the people that are listening to Him. So it’s a “no win” scenario question. The Pharisees learned, just don’t even ask Him any questions. He always confounds us. Jesus said, “Okay, who has a Roman coin?” Someone gives Him one and He says, “Who’s inscription and whose image is this?” They answer, “Caesar. Jesus says, Matthew 22:21 (ESV) “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” See, that’s a good principle. There’s a time when our dual citizenship creates a pressure that causes us to have to go against Caesar. It’s rare, because He’s put Caesar over us, but there is a time when we have to render under God.

Here’s a good quote, “A Christian should be a good citizen until being a good citizen means being a bad Christian.” – Pastor Skip Heitzig. Now, by the way, stop complaining. If you don’t vote, stop complaining. I tell people if you don’t help row the ship, stop telling people how to direct the ship. Vote; you’re a dual citizen. But, whenever the government commands you to do something that’s contrary to your conscience, your redeemed conscience. pray about it and ask the Lord what you should do.

There are many examples in the bible where people of God were fully submitting to the authorities until the authorities went too far. Consider the Hebrew exiles, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego who were commanded to bow down to the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar had placed. They were governing authorities under him and were great at it. They were well known as being great governors of their areas, but they’re enemies sought to entrap them and gave Nebuchadnezzar the idea and they didn’t bow. He said, if you don’t bow down, I’m gonna throw you in the fiery furnace.” Do you remember this? They said, “O, King Nebuchadnezzar, whether you throw us in the fiery furnace or not and whether God delivers us or not, we will not bow down to a false idol, for we are followers of God alone.” So King Nebuchadnezzar told the soldiers to double the heat of the fire . They throw them in there. The soldiers who threw them in there were consumed by the fire because it was so hot. Then, the king looked in there and they were walking around and then he noticed there was a fourth man walking with them. He said, “He looked like the son of God.” The three boys came out of there; they walked out and there was not even a smell of smoke on their clothes. They had come under Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylonian rule. They did everything he said, but they would not bow down to a false God. They drew the line there and they were ready to go to their death, but God rescued them.

Think of Daniel who was also under that time period. Later, King Darius, the Mede, overthrew the Babylonians and they were all jealous of Daniel because Daniel was the number two leader in the whole Persian empire at that time, under the Medes and the Persians. They got jealous of him. They said, “O, Darius, you’re so great, why don’t you send out a rule, a law that says, you can’t pray to any other God except tp King Darius for the next 30 days.” They were thinking that this will get Daniel. Sure enough, as soon as the proclamation went out, Daniel went back to his house, he threw open the window towards Jerusalem three times a day and kept praying to God. They catch him and turn him in. Darius said, “Oh no, not you Daniel. I’ve got to throw you in the Lion’s den.” That was part of the proclamation–whoever doesn’t obey, gets thrown in the lion’s den, so Daniel is thrown in the lion’s den. As King Darius puts him in he says, “I pray that your God will rescue you, Daniel.” King Darius prayed all night and couldn’t sleep all night because he loved Daniel. He’d been tricked into this. The next morning, they opened up the lion’s den and there sits Daniel. I remember one song when I was growing up, that talked about Daniel sitting there directing the chorus and those lions were clapping with their big brown paws. The lions didn’t touch him. He brought Daniel up and said, “Your God has rescued you because your God is God.” King Darius was so angry that he grabbed those officials that came up with the bright idea and he threw them in the lion’s den. And it turns out those lions were hungry after waiting.

See, God doesn’t always rescue because we know this–Paul was beheaded by Nero and Peter was crucified by Nero. Sometimes it doesn’t go the way we hope, but we have to decide as Peter told the Sanhedrin, who told him to stop preaching in that name of Jesus. He answers like this in Acts 5:28-29 (ESV) But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.” There is a time, but it has to be a time when what you’re being commanded to do by the law or by the government is clearly going against your redeemed conscience of obeying God. I’m thankful that, as Americans, that rarely ever happens. However, as we read in the book of Revelation, as the last days approach and as we see what I believe, a decline in the Judeo Christian foundations of our country, there may come a day in our lifetime when we’ll have to count the cost and decide how to live out Romans, chapter 13, verses one through seven. But for now, be warned that those are exceptions. They’re rare and they must be prayed over and carefully considered.

We are dual citizens of King Jesus, first of all, but also as U.S. citizens. There’s a tension between the two, but the Holy Spirit guides us so we know how to live in this world.

Some years ago, my brother Donnie became a police officer. He was a police officer for twenty years. He was the leader of his S.W.A.T. team in Bristol, Virginia. He served two years in the Middle East, where he called it “the sandbox.” He was a contractor for the government; he spent a year in Iraq training police officers. He thought that’s why he went there, but he ended up being a “door kicker” and got to see a lot of action. He came home and then went back as security with the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan. My brother was a hero. He was a minister of God. He’s with the Lord now, but I remember the first year as a police officer, they put him in the projects. He was a rookie. One night when I was in Bristol, he said, “Come ride a shift with me.” So, I rode the third shift with him . There’s a lot of stuff that happens during the third shift that you wouldn’t realize. There’s a lot of activity at night in the projects. At the beginning of the shift I told him, “You know the bible says that you’re a minister of God, you’re the minister of justice and I’m the minister of grace. He had this ring from where he graduated from the police academy and I have a ring here with a cross on it. We bumped rings like we were superheroes– let’s go get ‘em. We were out driving around and we stopped at a corner with a large contingent of what looked like troublemakers. I don’t know, it’s hard to say, but they were on the corner. It looked like they might have been selling some stuff. Donnie says to me, “Stay in the car.” I said, “Yes sir.” He gets out and walks up to this group; there’s about five or six guys there and he starts talking to them. They’re all looking at him and then he points at me and gives me a little smile and then looks back at them with a stern face and they all look at me. Every one of them looked at me and then they all dispersed; they disappeared. He came back to the car and I asked him,”What did you tell him about me? You had them all looking at me. What’d you tell them?” He said to me, “I told him you were D. E. A., the undercover guy. He’s here checking out stuff. He’s taking your pictures right now so he can run you down.” They all disappeared. So, I was the minister of grace for about the first three or four hours, but by the time we finished that shift, there were two ministers of justice. We saw a lot of stuff . I told Donnie, “Okay, I see your side of it now.” I hope you see God’s side of it now. I offered that little story in memory of you Donnie and offer this prayer for all of you that are servants of God regardless of how you serve.

Let’s pray, Lord, we first of all, pray for that person who came in far from God today. You came in on a thread, but you’re ready to bow the knee to King Jesus. You want to be a citizen of heaven. How do you get that citizenship? You ask for it. The bible says, “You have not because you ask not.” So, let’s ask right now. You can do it in prayer, pray with me. “Dear Lord Jesus, I’m a sinner, but I believe You died on the cross for my sin, You paid the price and you were raised from the grave and that You live today . Come and live in me, living in me by your Holy Spirit. Forgive me of my sins and make me a child of God. I want to follow you as my King and as my Master, Lord and Savior. I give you my life today.” If you’re praying that prayer, believing, He’ll make you a child of God, adopt you into the family, give you eternal life and give you a purpose. Others are here and you know the Lord. You believe in the Lord, but there’s something going on in your life today and you’re questioning where you are with God. You’re hurting. You’re angry about this; it didn’t go the way you wanted it to go. Wherever you are right now, by faith, pray, “I don’t understand it, Lord, but I submit to Your authority because You’re God and I’m not. You know what’s best for me and You’re a good God. I bow my knee afresh to you in Jesus’ name. Amen .”