As you make your way to 1 Peter 2, I did a quick count just from where I was sitting. I think I have performed the marriage of seven couples today. and one to come. And I bring it up because when we do weddings, we do pre-marital counseling. And we always talk about, we talk about some good subjects, we talk about some good things, but there's one thing that's unpopular. We talk about submission. We don't like that subject. And here's the deal. Most often in my experience to hear the term submission in a church setting or in a sermon setting, it's wives submit to your husband. That's the thing that most often I've probably heard addressed. And some ladies will admit, yeah, I don't like that subject of submission. But men, we don't like it either. Submission. And children, you probably don't like it either. The word submit, it's almost like it's a bad word for us. But today, we come to this message taken from 1 Peter 2. We'll read verses 13 through 17, and the title of the message is Submit. to governmental authority. We have gotten the identity of Christians in Christ, who we are as resident aliens, as those purchased by the precious blood of our Lord, those redeemed. We've gotten our identity. And then last week, we said it was kind of a transition as we began to speak, move away from identity and speak about the battle raging in the inner man as we abstain fleshly lusts. living holy lives and that inner battle was addressed last week in verses 11 and 12. This week we come to verse 13 and now we are no longer looking internally to an internal battle, but now we're looking externally. How do we as Christians interact? How are we to behave with others, with those other people out there? And when we, When we come to the subject of submission, that may be as a surprise, the world tells us, you should interact with confidence. You should interact as though you are in charge. You should interact with authority. And we come to God's word and we read chapter two, verse 13, submit yourselves. This is the beginning text. of the subject of submission that will carry us through well into chapter three. And today we will only cover verses 13 through 17, covering the topic of submission to governmental authority. Let's read verses 13 through 17. Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution. And then in case you wonder, what does that mean, every human institution? He gives us, he's gonna tell us, whether to a king, your Bible may say emperor, whether to a king as the one in authority or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evil doers and the praise of those who do right. For such is the will of God that by doing right, you may silence the ignorance of foolish men. Act as free men and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bond slaves of God. Honor all people, love the brethren, fear God, honor the king. Heavenly Father, we pray as we come to these verses of scripture Speak to us, we pray that we would truly today in the preaching of your word, hear the voice of Christ. God, we, your people redeemed by Jesus Christ, seek to be sanctified by your word. So God, we pray for conviction of sin. We pray for faith to believe what you have said here. We pray that you would change us by your spirit and your word to be conformed to the image of Christ our Savior. And God, for those who are here who don't know you, through Jesus Christ, we pray for their salvation. We ask these things for the edification of your church, for your glory, amen. We have here this Command, submit. And as we look forward through the text, we can see, submit yourselves, verse 13, and we have this kings and governors who are mentioned, and we can understand that because we're American, right? We're even Texans, we don't have a king. We can understand this to be, submit yourself to whatever governor you are under. And then we look down and we see in verse 18, servants be submissive. And then we look forward and we see in the same way you wives be submissive. We see that this is the beginning of a longer passage of submission, but we need to take these a little slower and take them one at a time and understand how it is that we are to submit. And I will confess that as we speak of submission today in this kind of introductory part of this text, much of what we say may be applied just by plain common sense to these other areas. But we have here this instruction, it is plain, submit yourselves. Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution. So we have first here, the command to submit stated. It would be nice to say, well, how can we understand this in a different way so that we don't have to submit? How can we understand? But I don't know if you've read it or you're still looking. I can't find a way to make it say, what it doesn't say. It's a command. I just have written here plain and clear. It's a plain and clearly stated command to submit ourselves to King's government, whatever that governmental authority that we have is. Let's take a moment just to understand the word submit, to understand what submission is and what the context of submission is. When does submission, come to play. Submission in any arena of life, in any area of life, whether that is servants or marriage or children to parents, whatever that is, submission never comes to play where there is agreement. Where there's full agreement, no submission takes place. Submission only comes to play where there is disagreement. And today we have this command, submit. So disagreement is assumed here. We have this command, submit, to kings and governors, and the preacher has now applied this to whatever governmental authority, whatever governmental structure we're under. But some of us, man, I just don't like the governmental structure. I just don't like it. Maybe you just don't like it right now, or maybe you just don't like it at all. I just don't. And really, I mean, have you looked at our current governmental structure? Would God command us to submit where we say, this governmental leader is evil. This governmental leader is a sinful man who does not Obey God. Would God command us to submit in such a governmental structure as this in which we live? Well, surely Peter would understand as he's writing with Nero as the emperor. What we know about Nero is he would make what we live under look like Christmas vacation. What we understand when Peter gives this command here through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he knew what it was to be at odds or to have a difference of opinion with the king, with the emperor. And as I've thought about this, this is Peter. You remember Peter, right? Peter was a zealot before he came to Christ. Peter was a, what would we call that? Maybe the closest thing we could come to is maybe a terrorist. An anti-government, an anti-government wacko. That's where he's coming from. That's his background. And perhaps somebody's thinking maybe terrorist is too strong a word. Perhaps it is, but he was an anti-government guy before he came to Christ. And now he is saying, submit yourselves to governmental authority. We might know here as Peter writes, he gives us a social hierarchy as he addresses the topic. He begins here with government. He begins here with kings and those in authority and governors under them. And then he works through, he works down the hierarchy, as you will, through slaves and through wives and husbands. So we work through that. And that is different from the way that Paul, the apostle Paul, addresses the topic, because Paul does address the topic, but he works through it in a different structure. Let's turn, if you will, to Romans chapter 13, and we're going to hear Paul's instruction, and this is not a different instruction. It's the same instruction, but we have more nuance. We have a different writer, a different author, a different human author here. So Romans chapter 13 is considered a parallel passage with our texts today. And we'll read verses one through four of Romans 13. Here, by the Holy Spirit, Paul says, every person is to be in subjection. Now, that's the same word, right? Submit to be in subjection. Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God. Now, I'm gonna pause there and say, that's where Paul starts. And it's not that Peter disagrees, Peter just starts in a different place, but we're going to see in Peter's writing that he appeals to the same thing, all authority is from God. So submitting, when we submit to governmental authorities, when we submit in our employment, when we submit in our marriages, when we submit as children in the home, the first submitting is submitting to God. who has established all authority and placed you in the particular place where you are in that authoritative structure. Back to this, every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities for there is no authority except from God and those which exist are established by God. Last week, several people mentioned that text of Scripture was convicted. As a preacher preparing last week, that text of Scripture was convicted. And this week, this text of Scripture is convicted. I'm not coming at this as a guy who easily submits. Ask my wife about my personality. That's just not natural. And coming to read, whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God it's convicted. And they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good. and you will have praise from the same. Praise from authority. Verse four, for it is a minister, for it is a minister of God. Have you thought about that? Governmental authority is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid, for it does not bear the sword for nothing. For it is a minister of God and an avenger who will bring wrath upon the one who practices evil. This text from Paul gives us a whole lot more here to look at. And we have things, the man who wears a badge and carries a gun. I mean, it says here he doesn't carry the sword. Well, in our day, that would be the man who wears a badge and carries a gun. Doesn't do so for no reason. And this is a God? establish God-ordained authority. Just because some people have said, Christians should never participate in worldly, earthly government. Some would say we should never vote, we should certainly never hold office, we should never be involved in the legal system, we should never be police officers or soldiers, Scripture does not give us that. What we have here is active participation in this world. Now we are not citizens of this world, we are citizens of heaven, but we have active participation here, and how can you, and I'm gonna head it back to First Peter, how can we read either of these texts from Romans or from First Peter and say that we are to be secluded, isolated, withdrawn. How do you submit? How do we understand these things if not to be active participants? And can I just pause here and say, I've pointed out that some may not like the governmental structure that we live under, but my opinion is that it's a great governmental structure that we live under. The place where we can, actively participate in government, where we can protest when we disagree. And this is not prohibiting lawful speaking of our opinions like we can do in the United States of America. This is not prohibiting this. But ultimately, when it comes down to it, submit yourselves. It's very plain. This text from 1 Peter and the text from Romans must have been in view when the framers of our confession wrote chapter 24. If you would like to follow, if you have your black copy, it's chapter 24, I don't know what page it is, but if you don't have your confession with you in your hymnal, on page number, not hymn number, but page number 683, Page 683, you'll find chapter 24 of our confession. And our confession, chapter 24, is titled, Of the Civil Magistrate. Of the civil magistrate. So we're speaking of governmental authority. And our confession speaks to it. And the text cited is Romans 13, 1-4. Here's where our confession says, God, the Supreme Lord and King of all the world, has ordained civil magistrates to be under him over the people for his own glory and the public good. And to this end, he has armed them with power of the sword for defense and encouragement of them that do good and for the punishment of evildoers. You read this and you say, well, they had Romans 13 in mind, but it seems that they also had in mind this text from 1 Peter. This is a plain command. And this is as the command is stated. I also, while we're there in your confession, I wanna read paragraph three. Civil magistrates being set up by God for the ends aforesaid, because we stated the ends of the purpose of government in paragraph one, subjection in all lawful things commanded by them ought to be yielded by us in the Lord. Not only for wrath, but for conscience's sake. Are y'all ready for me to confess sin? This morning, when we got in the car to come here, I had to get help. But I had to say, hey, can you help me put my seatbelts on? And it's not for wrath. I'm not afraid of getting a ticket. But for conscience sake, I need to obey. the governmental authority. That's something I haven't been doing. That's something that I am convicted that needs to change. Continuing in our confession, and we ought to make supplication and prayers for the king or the president, the congressman, the senators, the police officers, the DA, the governor, our state government, our city government, our local folks, we ought to pray for them that are in authority, that under them we might live a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. The friend was in the confession and read the text. This is plain, and this is clearly stated, and we've got to keep moving. The next point that I have here is here. The command to submit, first stated, now the command to submit, limited. The command to submit, limited. There is a limitation. Maybe someone here has thought, really? Submit to all governmental mandates, all governmental laws. Submit to everything. Somebody's thinking, remember Pilgrim's Progress? John Bunyan. John Bunyan wrote the Pilgrim of Progress from a prison cell, serving a 12-year sentence, for what? Civil disobedience. He was told, don't preach. He was, because of the situation of that day, he was told he couldn't preach in the church, so they went outside, obeying the civil magistrate. And then he was told he couldn't preach in the city, so they went out into the forest, obeying the civil magistrate. And then he was told he can't preach at all, and that's when he said, I'll go to prison. And there, all he had to do, all he had to do to be released from this 12-year sentence was to say, okay, I won't do it, I won't preach. That's all he had to do, and he refused. He said something, and I'll paraphrase, If I'm released today, I'll preach tomorrow. John Bunyan. Some of us, we don't have to think, I mean, to some of us, John Bunyan's not the first thing that came to mind. It was that pastor in California, or that pastor in Canada, or that pastor that not so long ago we heard of in different places disobeying the civil magistrate, disobeying the governmental authority and going to jail. And let me just say this because that's been such a hot topic, right? Is it right, is it wrong? I am not here to make a judgment on every individual case. I don't think we can do that. I don't know the detailed circumstances of every pastor that went to jail. I don't know that. I can't make a judgment as to whether that was right or wrong. But we think of those things and we think, at some point, that's right. At some point, civil disobedience is right under God. Isn't there a limit here? Peter is writing. Peter, we remember Peter. Peter is writing here that we should submit to governmental authority. But I remember in Acts 4, Peter and John were arrested for preaching in the name of Jesus. And the authorities said, no longer teach and preach in that name. And they said in Acts 4, 19, whether it is right to obey you rather than God, you decide. Now that's not as straightforward as what happened when they were reconfronted. We told you not to preach and teach in this name. And in Acts 5, Peter said, we must obey God rather than men. We must. So there's a command that is stated, and it is very clear, it is very plain, obey governing authorities, but then there is a command limited here, because what we read in the text is submit yourselves for the Lord's sake. Remember, as Paul pointed out to us in Romans 3, God is the ultimate authority. Children, when you submit to your parents, you're submitting to your parents. But ultimately, you're submitting to God by submitting to your parents. Wives, when you submit to your husband, you're submitting to your husband. But ultimately, you're submitting to God. He is the ultimate authority. All authority comes from him. And there is a time and there is a place that we should disobey the king. Remember Daniel. When the king outlawed prayer, no prayer, and Daniel, who was close with the king, disobeyed and suffered, and suffered the consequences. In these examples that I've given, John Bunyan disobeyed the civil authority and then gladly went to jail, gladly went to prison. Daniel disobeyed and was thrown in the lion's den. Peter and John disobeyed and were beaten. They suffered the consequences. Christians, when the time comes to disobey civil authority and consequences follow, we take those consequences. When do we disobey them? Here we read, Submit yourself for the Lord's sake. Elsewhere, when we read about submission, we read submit in the Lord. Children, obey your parents in the Lord. Wife, submit in the Lord. We read about this consciousness that God is the ultimate authority as we submit. So when governing authorities require of us things we don't like, we submit. But when governing authorities require of us what God forbids, we disobey. And when governing authorities forbid what God requires, we disobey. As respectfully expecting consequences, but there is a limit. I don't wanna spend a long time on this because we might have a tendency, okay, I might have a tendency, maybe some of you are like me, to want to use this as a loophole to get out of anything that we wanna get out of. But the command is clearly stated and then there is a limit. And then we have in the text, verse 15, the motivations for the command to submit, the motivations for the command to submit. I don't know how many times as a pastor I've heard people ask, How do I know the will of God? How do I know God's will? How do I know what God has for me? And God's will, when we talk about God's will in theological circles, we talk about it in two different ways. We use words like decretive and preceptive. But let me use some different words. We talk about God's secret, hidden will and God's revealed will. And Deuteronomy 29, 29 tells us about God's secret will. The secret things belong to the Lord. Christians, we don't even go looking for that, right? God's secret will, it's secret. Why would we go searching for that? But so many of us, we don't want God's revealed will. That's written down here, that's written in these pages. We don't want that. So then we head off on a trek looking for God's secret will. But we are to obey God's revealed will. And what is spoken up here in verse 15 when we read, for this submission to governing authorities, for this is the will of God. This is not God's secret will. If it was secret, Peter let the cat out of the bag right here. This is God's revealed will. This is God's precept for us. You want to know God's will? And that's a motivation for us to obey this command to submit to governing authorities because it is God's will. But we also see that in submitting we will silence the ignorance of foolish men. That there's a testimony involved here. When God's people submit to governmental authority, There is a testimony, and can I just say this? There is a testimony when we disobey because it is asking us to violate God's law, but there is a testimony every day when we submit ourselves to governmental authority. We have these motivations given us here. Then we have The command stated, the command limited in the command motivations. Then we have the command expounded. Verse 16, act as free men. Act as free men. Now, here's the deal, guys. We can't come to this and read this statement and just lift it out of the context and just act as free men and then make that mean whatever I want it to mean. Free here cannot mean do whatever I want to do without regards to anything or anyone else. It cannot mean that. Because it's right here saying submit to governmental authorities. And submission comes only when there's a difference of opinion, only when there's disagreement. I'm to submit and then I'm to act as free. So freedom here must be understood in two important contexts. Freedom here is understood in the context of submission, and then we have, okay, act as free men, do not use your freedom for covering people, but use it as bond slaves to God, bond slaves of God. The other context here is we are to act as free men in the context of being slaves to God. Maybe you thought free meant that we're not slaves, but let me tell you something that the Bible teaches very clearly. Everybody's a slave. Everyone, every man, woman, and child, everyone is a slave. You're either slaves to sin and Satan and self, or you're a slave to God and righteousness. We're slaves, that's who we are. So we are to understand this freedom, not as I'll do whatever I wanna do, but this freedom is in the context of submitting to governmental authorities because I am the bond slave of God. Freedom is understood because we are in Christ. It's freedom in Him that we understand this. And again, let me point out, as I said earlier, this cannot be taken that we live in isolation and withdrawal that we live disconnected from the world. We cannot understand it in this way. And we cannot use our freedom in Christ as a covering for evil. The text says, don't cry freedom as a justification or as a grounds to sin. Christians, as we understand freedom, the freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, It is helpful again to look to our confession to chapter 21. Chapter 21 is entitled of Christian Liberty or Christian Freedom and the Liberty of Conscience. And paragraph one, I'll just read the first little section of paragraph one here. And in our confession, when we come to a chapter, the first paragraph gives us the basic doctrine layout for us. Paragraph one of chapter 21, The liberty which Christ has purchased for believers under the gospel consists in, hey, we're fixing to get this full definition of what our freedom in Christ is. It consists in their freedom from the guilt of sin, freedom from the condemning wrath of God, the rigor and curse of the law, and in their being delivered from this present evil world freedom from bondage to Satan and dominion over sin, from the evil of afflictions, the fear and sting of death, the victory of the grave, and everlasting damnation, as also in their free access to God and their yielding obedience unto Him. not out of slavish fear, but of childlike love and willing mind. Look at this freedom, Christians. Do you see all, this is benefits that we have because we are free in Christ. We have all of this wrapped up. We are free because we are slaves of God through Jesus Christ. And this is how we are to understand when we read, act as free men. Unbeliever, you here without Christ this morning, you don't have these benefits that are laid out here for those who are in Christ Jesus. You are not free. You are a slave. We are slaves to God and righteousness, but you are still in your sin, a slave to sin. And your only hope for freedom, because that's truly what we desire, is all these benefits of freedom in Christ. Your only hope to enjoy these benefits of freedom is that you would come to Christ Jesus by faith for forgiveness of sin and salvation. That is your only hope. The text closes with verse 17. I think this kind of is a summary statement of these few verses that follow. Honor all people, love the brethren, fear God, honor the king. Four quick statements, rapid fire statements, and we might think, well, they're all evenly, waited here but let's let's just consider that we have honor all people that's first and then last honor the king and then in the middle we have love the brethren and fear god so so we recognize here this juxtaposition between honor respect and For all people, respect. Respect all people in their place. Respect all people according to their place in society. I mean, honor all people, but honor the king, and we honor the king in a different way. He has a different place in society, and we honor him in a different way. And the man who wears the badge and carries the gun, we honor him in a different way. And we honor our governor. We honor our mayor. We honor these people in their various places in society. We honor them in a different way, but it's all respect and honor. But when it comes to the church of God. That's where respect is not enough. Love the brother. Honor all people, honor the king, love the brother. and fear God. We respect everyone, but our deepest loyalties, our deepest heart is for God and His people. And in this way, Christians, we live and our lives testimonies to the world that we are recipients of the grace of God, covenant members of His kingdom. God, we thank You for Your Word. Convicting as it is, we pray, Lord, that You would not allow us, Your people, to escape the conviction of Your Spirit by Your Word. I would pray that you would. You would bring us to. Repentance for our sin. God, for those who are here. Who are not free? Because they are in bondage to sin. The appeal that I make to them is to repent and believe in Jesus. But God, the appeal that we make to you is that you would grant to them repentance. and faith that you would grant to them regeneration, taking out the dead heart of stone and putting in a heart of flesh, taking out the enmity and putting in a love for the fear of a godly, respectful fear. God, we pray that you apply these things to our hearts in Christ's name. you.