Our text today is Romans chapter three, I'm sorry, Romans chapter 13, verses nine through 14. Romans 13, verses nine through 14. For this, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not covet, And if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. And that knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep, for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent. The day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof. Amen. And that is the word of God. I extended the preaching of the assigned passage two verses because doing so makes sense of the passage. In fact, the entirety of Romans 13 works together to do three important things that we in our society, our American society, desperately need to hear today. Number one, Romans 13 encourages the Christian to live in love and honesty. Love and honesty. Second, it insists that the Christian destroy acts of sin, crime, and the flesh. And third, it empowers law enforcement to be a minister of God here on earth. Romans 13 is why in so many schools you could once get a joint degree in theology and law. My doctorate is in biblical studies. I did not go that route, but I was very interested in many of the schools that provide a joint degree. Theologically, everything we see in verse 9 is known as sin. Legally, however, is also known as crime. The antidote, according to scripture, is to believe in Jesus, to have your sins pardoned, and to go on living a life in love of God and in love of your neighbor as you would love yourself. But both heavenly and in earthly terms, this is a legal procession. I think we forget that. when we muddle Jesus' love down to childish levels that is often taken for granted in our churches today. How full would our churches be today if they recognize the judgment awaiting them and the pardon, the legal pardon available to sinners who repent and believe in Jesus upon their deaths. To live a life of self-control and self-regulation is the result of genuine faith in Jesus Christ. In doing so, you not only have peace within yourself, but peace also within society. Internal peace, family peace, community peace, societal peace, national peace. That's the way it proceeds. But it starts, as it says in verse 14, with the putting on of the Lord Jesus Christ and the putting off of criminality and sin. America now permits gay marriage and the wantonness and lust prohibited in verses 13 and 14. And as America rejects God, there are more works of darkness and the love described in verse 10 has grown cold. And that's what sin does. Jesus says that that would happen. Sin freezes and extinguishes love. No one wants to live in a society like that. Even the most wanton liberal would say, I do not want to live in such a society. A society where God's commands are consistently and brazenly broken without fear. And if they say they do, ask if they would like their own house broken into, their own wives raped, their own family broken asunder. No one wants to live in a society where verse 9 is not followed. No one wants their own wife to cheat on them. God's commands, you see, were not given to kill our joy, but to protect it, to exponentially increase it. For without the cornerstone of Jesus Christ, a peaceful society naturally devolves into criminality. And if you don't believe me, just look at what's going on in the news today. Just three months ago, ABC News put out an article August 3rd entitled, Chicago shootings, at least 19 shot, two fatally, in weekend gun violence across the city, police say. In one weekend. In fact, in 2022, one in every 1,000 Chicago residents was a victim of gun violence. with over 3,500 shootings in 2021. Think about that, 3,500. Or do some quick online research on my once home, the city of Seattle, and you'll find the following. Seattle has seen a significant rise in crime leading to the closure of several retail stores. Here are some of the key closures due to crime increases. The supermarket Fred Meyers. Six stores in Western Washington are all closing due to a steady rise in theft. A permanent retail crime task force is proposed to address the issue in King County. Goodwill. Such a good store attempting to help those who are in need. Goodwill, two locations in Seattle are closing because of break-ins, thefts, and vandalism, threats to employees. Target. Nine stores in four states are closing due to theft and organized retail crime, making it unsafe for workers and shoppers. Bartell Drugs, one of the larger stores, if you ever lived in Seattle, one of the larger pharmacies there, are closing due to crime and business conditions. Why is all this happening? And I could continue to go on and on, whether it's Charlotte or Memphis, Detroit. I want you to listen to Ecclesiastes 8-11. When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, people's hearts are filled with schemes to do evil. Our second president, John Adams, knew this principle very well, although his father expected him to grow up and become a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ and do what I'm doing here today. John, after his 1755 graduation from Harvard, taught school temporarily in Worcester while pondering his permanent vocation. And over the course of the next four years, he wrote that he began to seek prestige, the craving of honor or reputation, a more deference from his fellows. He was determined to, quote, become a great man, seeking the rewards of this present earth rather than what his father desired, that of heaven. And so John decided to become a lawyer instead of a minister. And he wrote to his father that he found among lawyers to have, quote, a noble and gallant achievement, end quote. And when the French and Indian War broke out in 1754, Adams, 19 years old, felt guilty because he was the first in his family to not have military service. And he wrote, quote, I longed more ardently to be a soldier than I ever did to be a lawyer, end quote. John Adams would go on to be elected two terms as vice president under President George Washington and was eventually elected as our country's second president. Depending on which metric you use, he did go on to become a great man on worldly terms. Adams, with his mind, helped Jefferson draft the Declaration of Independence, But it was John Adams who made the following powerful observation. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. Think about that. What Adams understood was the biblical belief that the successful functioning of the Constitution, at least our Constitution, relies on the religious and ethical nature of the people that it governs. Without the love described in verse 10, you'll have the continual breaking of verse 9. Without the religion of Jesus described in verse 14, you'll have the strife, crime, lasciviousness, and rioting of verse 13. Adams knew that only when a people had a healthy fear of God, only then could you have a well-functioning democracy. And our cities are bearing witness to that. The Constitution alone, no matter how well written, cannot secure the stability and prosperity of a nation without the self-regulation of its religious citizens. Out of a fear for God, you will have a functioning democracy. This, by the way, is why democracy often fails when we try to import it into Muslim nations. You must remember, at the time of the American Revolution, 12 of the 13 original colonies were Protestant, with the one exception, Maryland, Mary's land, being Catholic. To be American at the time of John Adams was overwhelmingly to be Christian. Specifically, to be American was to be Protestant. This is historical fact. Men like Adams took for granted the near universal belief that Christian spiritual beliefs bring about a sense of accountability, integrity, and respect for the rule of law that we find in Romans 13. The statement by Adams is a truth claim that the Christian religion provides the foundation for a just and equitable society. When men obey verses 12-13, because of the salvation found in verse 11, then there is a corresponding lessening of the need for massive law enforcement efforts. That's how that goes. When a people love God and fear God and self-regulate their acts of the flesh, less law enforcement is necessary. No other religion makes sense of mankind's sinful heart like Christianity does. Christianity teaches us about the doctrine of original sin. In Romans 5, the Apostle Paul taught us that due to Adam's sin, all of us, his descendants, are now conceived in sin. This proclivity to sin is our natural state. And each of us, left to our own, without the Holy Spirit, would be the criminals of the worst sort. We are a society that, think about this, we don't simply need doors. We need locks. In the book of Ephesians, we are rightly seen by God as, by nature, children of wrath. We are not simply a society which needs laws. We need law enforcement. And then when we read verse four, we see that God knowing mankind's sinful fallen nature, in verse four of chapter 13, he states that we not only need law enforcement, but we need capital punishment. According to the text, in the eyes of God, good law enforcement exists to be his ministers on earth so that our society could reflect God's righteousness and enjoy peace. In fact, every other profession, the only other profession, that is labeled as God's minister other than people like me, the clergy, are rulers, governors, justices, and law enforcement. Listen to verse 4. For he is the minister, the Greek word for servant, God's minister, to you for good. But if you do that which is evil, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the minister, there's that word again, of God. a revenger to execute wrath upon him who does evil. Here we see God teaching capital punishment in the New Testament. Of course, this only reinforces what was already taught in the Old Testament. Listen to Genesis chapter 9, verses 3-6. Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything. So right there, God now permits humans to kill and eat animals. Atheistic evolution cannot explain why we do that if humans are simply another primate. Go on to verse 4. But you must not eat meat that has blood in it. For your blood, I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal, which is why if a pit bull kills and mauls a toddler, law enforcement rightly kills the pit bull because of Genesis. And from each human being too, I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being. Now listen to this, verse 6, Whoever sheds man's blood, by man shall their blood be shed. For in the image of God has God made man. And that is capital punishment. In the eyes of God, that is justice. The commentator Barnes rightly states that the word sword in verse four is an instrument of punishment as well as an emblem of war. Kings and princes were accustomed to wear the sword as an emblem of their authority and the sword often was used for the purpose of beheading or otherwise punishing the guilty with death. The meaning of the apostle is this, that he does not wear this badge of authority as an unmeaningful show, but that it will be used to execute the laws of the land. As this is a sign of the power entrusted to him, he will exercise this authority. People should be therefore influenced by fear to keep the law, even if there were no better motive than merely fear. What is he saying? What he's saying is that capital punishment serves as a powerful deterrent. In a fallen world, when there is little fear of God and less and less Americans are Christian, there is a greater and greater need for law enforcement. You're seeing it in our society today. Per verse 1 of today's chapter, law and order were ordained by God in order to bring about peace, safety, freedom of worship, and human flourishing. But because of mankind's wicked heart, it is the sword, or in modern terms, the glock of law enforcement, or the firing squad or lethal injection, that keeps the wicked in line. Without the enforcement of verse 3, there is no fear in the hearts of evildoers. What you end up with is Chicago and Seattle. Or, just this past Wednesday, what we saw in horror to two National Guardsmen in Washington, DC. They were there to help lower crime. The antidote, according to today's verse 11, is faith in the gospel. For you see, when a person believes in the gospel, he or she is born again and begins to self-regulate to sinful passions of lust, of killing, and stealing. These are all self-regulated. And instead of these sins, as a result of believing in the gospel, man begins to love his neighbor the way that verse 10 commands him to. That is, and Adams knew this, the power of the gospel. Now, what is the gospel? You hear it from this pulpit every time I preach. Number one, there is an eternally holy God who exists. Not three gods, three persons, one God. Equal in essence, different in responsibilities. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. Three persons, not three modes, that's the heresy of modality. Three distinct persons, one God. This is known as the Trinity. He spoke and made everything we see from nothing. He made Adam and Eve. He made them good. He made them in his image. He made them separate from animals. We are not evolved animals. We were made directly by God, from the ground, and we were made in his image. We have souls. Animals do not. And he made them good. But although God made Adam and Eve good, they sinned against God, and as a result of their sin, we all have a sinful nature. This is known as original sin. is a doctrine that is not taught merely by Augustine or Calvin. It is taught in Romans 5, the New Testament, by God. And it explains the world around us. It explains why children, in their most innocent form at the most tender age, learn how to say no at a very young age. No one has to teach them such rebellion. It is in their nature. And as a result of our sin, the Bible says that when we die, there is only heaven or hell, no purgatory. We all deserve hell because of our sins. And that is bad news because God is a God of justice. But the good news is this. I want you to listen to this as we prepare for Christmas. for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Jesus as his Lord, God, and Savior shall not perish but have eternal life. If you believe that Jesus lived a sinless life, died on the cross and paid for your sins as the fully man, fully God, and then resurrected historically on the third day, if you repent of your sins and believe in Jesus as your Lord, God, and Savior, you shall have eternal life. But you must repent and personally believe in him. It does not suffice to be in church today. Being in church doesn't make you a Christian any more than being in a parking lot makes you a car. You must personally believe in Jesus as your Lord, God, and Savior to have that pardon from sin wiped away all your sin. Not guilty on the day of judgment because you believe that Jesus died for you. And the moment you believe you are born again, but you must personally accept and believe in Jesus. And the moment you do, you become a Christian. Hallelujah. That's the gospel. And what verse 14 is teaching us is that that gospel, once genuinely believed upon, changes a man so radically that self-control is one of the fruits that you begin to see. In his sensuality, in his connection with law, in his dynamics with other humans within society, everything changes. And in verse 10, we see that God commands us to love instead of crime. Crime is the result of hatred of neighbor. What we see in verse 11, God gives us the motivation for continuing in love instead of crime. And the motivation is because our salvation is now nearer than when we first believed. Now, what does that mean? It means that each year, as we now go into December, we are drawing closer and closer to seeing the great judge face to face. I mean, if any of you had, and I counsel soldiers, I just got a text yesterday, another DUI over the long weekend. And unfortunately, chaplains interact with soldiers who get into legal trouble. But if any of you get into serious legal trouble, you know how scary it is to go to trial. I've been in courtrooms, court-martials, where parents wail after the verdict is read. Can you imagine You face the God of the universe with sin and there is a prosecutor who is Satan the adversary. He will not give you a plea bargain. And he is accurate. Everything that he says with regard to your sin is true. And he's relentless. but the God of this universe, because Jesus died on the cross and paid for sins and you believed in him as Savior while you were still alive, the God of the universe, the great judge says, not guilty. Case dismissed. Oh, hallelujah. I'm telling you, it's real, it's coming. And most of our society scoff at that precious gift because they don't believe. It'll be too late after you die. I want you to listen to Romans 13 3 because our God is not just the God of love, but he is the ultimate king. He is the ultimate judge. God is the ultimate law enforcer. Romans 13 3, for rulers are not a terror of good works, but to evil. Do you not want to be afraid of power? Then do that which is good, and you will have praise from the ruler. Listen to me. As the Christian approaches death, he or she has no reason to fear. Why? At least a true Christian doesn't. Because through the death of Jesus, through his faith in Christ, my sins are pardoned. And because of the Holy Spirit, I lived a life of righteousness. God is not a terror to good, but to evil. And through faith in Jesus, you are made good. You are not good, but through Jesus, you are good. Amen? And it is through that faith in Jesus, you have peace with God, and you have peace with truth, which enables you to live righteously. Robert Winthrop lived from 1809 through 1894. He served as Speaker of the House of Representatives and also as a Senator. One day in 1849, he gave an address to the Massachusetts Bible Society. What he said in that speech is a fitting conclusion to the sermon I preach today. I want you to listen to Winthrop's words. And I quote, All societies of men must be governed in some way or other. The less they may have of stringent state government, the more they have of individual self-government. The less they rely on public law or physical force, the more they rely on private moral restraint. Men, in a word, must necessarily be controlled. either by a power within them or by a power without, meaning outside of them, either by the word of God or by the strong arm of man, either by the Bible or by the bayonet. Let's pray. Father in heaven, I thank you.