Intro:

Imagine with me the wonderful transformation of the man or woman who finds Jesus for the first time in their life. The weight of life-long guilt and shame is lifted as they believe in Jesus and His promise that He has taken our sins upon himself and paid the price.

Imagine the joy of this new Christian babe as they find new friendships in a church family that loves them and talks of Jesus often. See them rise from the waters of baptism a new man, a new woman, a new boy or girl committed to following the Savior for the rest of their lives.

But this isn’t the end of the journey!

In fact, it may even be said, that embracing the gospel of Jesus Christ and receiving the good news of Righteousness by Faith is in fact the beginning of a journey, a life-long journey of transformation, change, growth, new ideas, new challenges, and yes fresh victories!

And Paul, the prince of the apostles, understood that for every Christian there are two dates BC and AC — Before Christ and After Christ — in other places Paul labels it as the Milk Phase and the Meat Phase… and as we launch into Romans 12 & 13, we are following the apostle Paul over that dividing line into the whole new world called “BEING A CHRISTIAN”

You see before Christ — we were blind (unable to see our lost condition)

Before Christ — we were enslaved to the sin which our flesh craved

Before Christ — we were deluded into believing the lies of the devil — We held man-made traditions, cultural maxims, and our own personal preferences far above any godly principles as the guiding influences of our lives.

And our blind, enslaved, and deluded condition affected all of our relationships in this world…

You know what I mean — a selfish sinner will behave differently towards his wife or towards her husband than someone converted by God’s grace. And it’s not just the relationship in marriage that was affected Before Christ it was all our relationships.

Our relationship with those in authority — the Government

Our relationship with our enemies

Our relationship with immaterial things such as our money and our possessions

In short, our relationship with everything in our world was cast by the mold of our pre-Christ sinful self…. We just related to everything through the glasses which the devil had placed on us… we saw the world, how the enemy wanted us to see it and so we responded to the world how the enemy wanted us to respond.

BUT WHEN, OH BLESSED DAY, WE DISCOVERED CHRIST!!!!

When we cast our helpless souls upon His mighty arms — and pleaded His blood and mercy and grace for the forgiveness of our sins… and received this grace by faith — A Change took Place — The glasses of the enemy were removed, and for the first time, yes my friends for the first time we see everything different!

and we begin to see and experience the Lord changing our relationships

— Our relationship with Him is the first things to change:

[Rom 5:1 NKJV] 1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

and then our relationship with ourselves changes — We give up our selfish will and see ourselves as servants of Christ

[Gal 2:20 KJV] 20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Not only do we see ourselves as servants of Christ, but my brothers and sisters, our own identity changes and we by faith see ourselves as God sees us, as His children:

[Jhn 1:12 NKJV] 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:

and as your own identity transforms, your relationship with others transforms as well…  

And this is the point of Romans 13, where Paul begins to lay out the new life that anyone who is In Christ will walk — He reveals how the gospel changes how we relate to the government and anyone in authority, He then shows how the gospel changes how we relate to money both taxes and our debts, then he turns to the gospels influence in our relationships with our neighbors, and lastly Pauls rounds up Romans 13 revealing how the gospel affects our choice of friends and social activities.

Why does Paul start with our relationship with the government? Perhaps it’s because if we can’t obey the authorities we see, how can we be trusted to obey an Authority we can’t see? But for whatever reason, this is where Paul begins and this where we begin as well:

If you have your bibles, please open with me to Paul’s opening line in Romans 13 — listen in, as he lays out the new gospel view of our government:

[Rom 13:1 NKJV] 1 Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.

Let that sobering statement sink in just now… and realize that when Paul wrote this statement, he was living under a dictatorship and perhaps the most wicked emperor to have ever assumed power in Rome — NERO Claudius Caesar…  

When Paul wrote Romans, during his brief stay in the city of Corinth, Nero had already been reigning as emperor for three years. Nero would have been 1/3 the age of Paul — Nero was 20 and Paul was 60. Paul had every reason to not encourage people to accept Nero’s rule

#1 — Nero was young, inexperienced, 1/3 the age of Paul

#2 — Nero wasn’t a Christian — far from it, Nero was an enemy of Christians #3 — historians generally describe his reign as tyrannical, extravagant, and filled with debauchery. He was so corrupt! he murdered his own mother, and historians are baffled because there was no reason or advantage he gained from his action. Nero dressed himself up as a bride and married freedman was part of a group known as the “filthy herd” #4 — Nero became more and more tyrannical the older he got — and is the only emperor known to have committed suicide while in office.

#5 — and of course he is known for blaming Christians for having burned Rome to make room for his palace expansion — and then blamed Christians for the whole incident putting them to death.

#6 — Eusebius even said that Paul was beheaded at the order of the Roman emperor Nero or one of his subordinates.

It seems so unfair, so unjust, to say “be subject to the governing authorities” when this is the governmental leaders you have in office… But Paul didn’t invent this idea — in fact the idea that God is the one who place people in positions of authority and that we should respect and serve with integrity under any and every administration is an idea that traces back to Old Testament times.

Daniel, who lived under the rule of Nebuchadnezzar — the one who burned his city, took him as a slave to Babylon, castrated him and his three friends, ordered in a rage that his three friends be thrown into a fiery furnace… Under this Nebuchadnezzar’s government, the prophet Daniel had this to say about God & Kings:

[Dan 2:21 NKJV] 21 And He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise And knowledge to those who have understanding.

Wasn’t this the whole purpose of the dream given to Nebuchadnezzar? To reveal that God decides the king and kingdom that will rule. Now we read and preach and teach the dream of Daniel 2 as evidence that the Bible can be trusted because it accurately foretells the future, but an even greater message than that is that God doesn’t just know the future, He controls the future, He moves the future!

Daniel repeats this message to king Nebuchadnezzar in a second dream that he has — in Daniel 4, Nebuchadnezzar dreams about a tree that is spread out over the earth and is cut down and a band is placed about the stump for seven years. Daniel is called to interpret and he tells Nebuchadnezzar that the dream is a revelation that he will lose his kingdom and his mind for seven years and then the kingdom will be restored to him — but notice what Daniel adds as the critical message, the whole reason for the dream in the first place:

[Dan 4:32 NKJV] 32 And they shall drive you from men, and your dwelling [shall be] with the beasts of the field. They shall make you eat grass like oxen; and seven times shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever

He chooses.”

[Dan 4:17 NKJV] 17 ‘This decision [is] by the decree of the watchers, And the sentence by the word of the holy ones, In order that the living may know That the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, Gives it to whomever He will, And sets over it the lowest of men.’

Now someone may say — but that was just Paul & Daniel, they were mistaken… Let’s turn now to the wisest king to have lived, King Solomon, and see what wisdom has to say about this in the Proverbs:

[Pro 8:15-16 NKJV] 15 By me kings reign, And rulers decree justice. 16 By me princes rule, and nobles, All the judges of the earth.

Yes Solomon is talking about wisdom in this chapter, but all wisdom comes from God — and it is He who gives the wisdom which elevates one king or prince or ruler or leader, and demotes another king or prince or ruler or leader. The Wisdom of Solomon agrees with Daniel and Paul, and the greatest king of ancient Israel also agrees in the Psalms:

[Psa 75:6-7 NKJV] 6 For exaltation [comes] neither from the east Nor from the west nor from the south. 7 But God [is] the Judge: He puts down one, And exalts another.

and this is why the Apostle John rightly labels Jesus, the son of God and the highest authority of them all. He says:

[Rev 19:16 NKJV] 16 And He has on [His] robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF

KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

because Jesus is the true king over all kings, the true president over all presidents, the true leader over every other ruler or leader — He has power to set them up, and He has power to take them down, and when we accept the next president to sit in the oval office and say “Amen Lord, and so let it be” — we are declaring that Jesus is King of Presidents, and that by His authority someone has been raised or allowed to be raised into such a position for a time.

So Paul is simply echoing a truth found all through Scripture, both Old and New Testament, a truth that has been held by all of God’s people from David, to Daniel in the Old Testament, to Paul, and John in the New — Jesus is the true King, and all authority is from Him.

But it’s not just presidents, listen again to what Paul said:

[Rom 13:1 NKJV] 1 Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.

Now the word “authority” in the KJV says “powers” — This is not just presidential powers, but anyone who holds an office with judicial power. The power to make and execute laws!  

Can those in office abuse their powers and enact laws which as Christians we can not abide under? Absolutely!

Daniel 3 — Hannaniah, Mishael, and Azariah stand together on the plain of Dura against the law of the king that they should bow to the golden statue — They risked their lives in defiance of the kings law, for they could not go against the law of God “Thou shalt have no other gods before me, thou shalt not bow down to them nor worship them”

Daniel 6 — Darius makes a law prohibiting anyone to worship any god except the king for 30 days. This was not a law mandating that you worship the king, but simply that you refrain from worshipping any other god for 30 days… Put your religious commitments aside for 30 days — don’t worship God for 30 days… But Daniel’s commit to the king of Persia was superseded by His commitment to the king of kings who rules over all of creation. And once again Daniel did this at the threat of death.

Acts 4 — Peter and John are commanded to hold stop evangelism.

[Act 4:18 NKJV] 18 So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.

Notice that they are not being forbidden to practice their religion privately, they are not being told to stop gathering together for Church. They are simply being told — don’t preach the gospel! Don’t go and tell others publicly about Jesus… If you just stop sharing Jesus with people, we won’t trouble you… But Peter and John had been given a higher command by one who rules over those who ruled over the church:

[Mar 16:15-16 NKJV] 15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.

Satan has always sought to work through those in positions of power to oppress God’s people, and was trying to work through the local authorities during the time of Peter and John to stop the spread of God’s work…  

[Eph 6:12 NKJV] 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual [hosts] of wickedness in the heavenly [places].

So here is the balance that Christians must walk — Submit to authorities without compromising our obligation, commitment, and submission to God as the higher authority.

What was Peter and John’s response?

[Act 4:19-20 NKJV] 19 But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. 20 “For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.”

“David’s power had been given him by God, but to be exercised only in harmony with the divine law. When he commanded that which was contrary to God’s law, it became sin to obey. “The powers that be are ordained of God” (Romans 13:1), but we are not to obey them contrary to God’s law. The apostle Paul, writing to the Corinthians, sets forth the principle by which we should be governed. He says, “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.” 1 Corinthians 11:1.” — PP 719.3

“When the laws of earthly rulers are brought into opposition to the laws of the Supreme Ruler of the universe, then those who are God’s loyal subjects will be true to Him.” — 5T 713.

There is a balance that a Christian must have:

#1 — We must recognize the laws of the land and obey them as far as they do not conflict with God’s requirements for His people. God’s law, God’s authority, God’s claim over us is higher than any earthly ruler.

#2 — We must not use our religion as a cloak to disobey the laws of the land to suit our own convenience.  

For Paul gives this striking warning for anyone who would willfully rebel against authorities, rulers, and yes Presidents:

[Rom 13:2 NKJV] 2 Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.

We should listen and obey those who rule over us, because to disobey would result in Judgment. Well, whose judgment will we receive? Is Paul talking about God’s Judgment or man’s judgment?

Both — Those who disobey the laws of the land will be subject to the penalties of the land, and if they disobeyed those laws for selfish interests then they will be subject to God’s penalties as well. For Paul says:

[Rom 13:4 NKJV] 4 For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to [execute] wrath on him who practices evil.

In other words — God has allowed and setup kings and kingdoms to be a hedge against abuse… The government is a restraining power and help in many ways to move people towards righteousness and justice.

Think about this — has God said we should not steal or murder? — Yes… and whether the governor is democrat or republican, whether the president is democrat or republican they hold up that law, they execute that law.

Paul recognizes these benefits and say:

[Rom 13:3 NKJV] 3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same.

Whoever becomes president, whether we agree with their policies or not, we can all agree that God can bring a blessing to His people through them, and God does! The Bible says that God can turn the heart of a king like he turns a river of water:

[Pro 21:1 NKJV] 1 The king’s heart [is] in the hand of the LORD, [Like] the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes.

Has God ever changed the policies of rulers and kings?

[Dan 10:13 NKJV] 13 “But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia.

Think about this — The king of Persia had made up his mind and was under the influence of a satanic demon who had such a hold on him that for 21 days the angels of battled and could not prevail, until Michael the prince of angels (a reference to Jesus Christ King of Kings) came and overturned the battle in the mind of the king — and HIS policy was influenced and changed in favor of God’s people…

“I am bidden to call upon the churches to awake out of sleep. We must contend with invisible, supernatural foes. We are to put on the whole armor of God, that we may be prepared for the battles we have daily to fight. I call upon those who have received light and knowledge to pray most earnestly, and to come up “to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty.” Who are these mighty foes? They are the powers who, in the days of Daniel, hindered the heavenly messengers from convincing the king of Persia of the work he was to do.” — Reflecting Christ, 201.3

“This was a time of wonderful opportunity for the Jews. The highest agencies of heaven were working on the hearts of kings, and it was for the people of God to labor with the utmost activity to carry out the decree of Cyrus.” — Prophets and Kings, 572.

“We have before us in the Word of God instances of heavenly agencies working on the minds of kings and rulers, while at the same time satanic agencies were also at work on their minds. No human eloquence, in strongly set forth human opinions, can change the working of satanic agencies. Satan seeks continually to block the way, so that the truth shall be bound about by human devising; and those who have light and knowledge are in the greatest danger unless they constantly consecrate themselves to God, humiliating self, and realizing the peril of the times. Heavenly beings are appointed to answer the prayers of those who are working unselfishly for the interests of the cause of God. The very highest angels in the heavenly courts are appointed to work out the prayers which ascend to God for the advancement of the cause of God. Each angel has his particular post of duty, which he is not permitted to leave for any other place. If he should leave, the powers of darkness would gain an advantage…. Day by day the conflict between good and evil is going on. Why is it that those who have had many opportunities and advantages do not realize the intensity of this work? They should be intelligent in regard to this. God is the Ruler. By His supreme power He holds in check and controls earthly potentates. Through His agencies He does the work which was ordained before the foundation of the world. As a people we do not understand as we should the great conflict going on between invisible agencies, the controversy between loyal and disloyal angels. Evil angels are constantly at work, planning their line of attack, controlling as commanders, kings, and rulers, the disloyal human forces…. I call upon the ministers of Christ to press home upon the understanding of all who come within the reach of their voice, the truth of the ministration of angels.” — Lift Him Up, 370.

This is why the Bible calls upon Christians to not criticize leaders, but to earnestly pray for them — Pray for the next President of the United States — Pray for the policies they hold… Pray that God would over rule all things… It doesn’t matter so much whether a democrat or a republican gets in as much as it matters that whoever gets in is placed there by God and influenced by God through the prayers of His people.

[1Ti 2:1-4 NKJV] 1 Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, [and] giving of thanks be made for all men, 2 for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. 3 For this [is] good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

[Jer 29:7 NKJV] 7 And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the LORD for it; for in its peace you will have peace.

The last way in which we should respond to the next President of the United States as a Christian is to determine in our heart that rather than tear a person down publicly, or even in our hearts — we will show their position and their personhood honor just as we would want others who see us in our positions to show us respect and honor.

[Ecc 10:20 NKJV] 20 Do not curse the king, even in your thought; Do not curse the rich, even in your bedroom; For a bird of the air may carry your voice, And a bird in flight may tell the matter.

[1Pe 2:17 NKJV] 17 Honor all [people]. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king. Appeal:

So the question to you this morning is, in four weeks time, no matter who is elected are you committed to responding to this election as a Christian?  

On election day, and on inauguration day, you will look into the eyes of your new president and will you say to the Lord “Amen Lord, and Let it Be”.