Romans 113
Saturday Evening,
Brian Kocourek
This evening we shall take our text from Romans chapter 13, verses 1-7 where the Apostle Paul speaks to us concerning civil obedience.
ROMANS 13:1, ¶ Let every soul be subject unto the higher
powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained
of God. 2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to
themselves damnation. 3 For rulers
are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid
of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: 4 For he is the minister of
God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of
God, a revenger to [execute] wrath upon him that
doeth evil. 5 Wherefore [ye] must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for
conscience sake. 6 For for
this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God's ministers, attending
continually upon this very thing. 7 ¶ Render
therefore to all their dues: tribute
to whom tribute [is due]; custom to
whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.
Now,
I wish to also use the words of Jesus as well for our text ,
thus ensuring a balance in our thinking concerning what the Apostle Paul is
teaching here.
MARK
Let’s bow our heads in prayer. Dear Father we come to You this evening in the precious name of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, and we have read these Scriptures tonight where Your own Son has told us that we must obey the laws of the land and if those laws call for a tax on the people we must obey them. Therefore, Father we ask that you might help us to gain a better understanding of our duties as Christians to obey the laws of the land and we ask that You might give s the balance when those laws transgress Your Own higher Laws. Help us to know what to do and how to act for we ask it in Jesus Christ’s name.
ONCE MORE 63-1117 9 But I know that
it's they have a law here, a fire marshal's law; just so many, you have to
leave so much aisles, and so forth. And that they cannot help. Because that we
are, as Christians, we've got to do that. For the Bible said, Jesus told us to,
"Give Caesar those things that pertain to Caesar, and then to God those
things that belong to God." So we try to. And if we will not obey Caesar,
it's doubtful that we'd obey God. And as long as--as Caesar's
laws doesn't interfere with God's, we must obey God first. And then
these fire hazards, and so forth, well, they--they know how to take care of
that, and they told us.
The word Render copmes from the Greek Word apodidomi {ap-od-eed'-o-mee) and it means -- to pay -or- to give, to deliver, to pay off, discharge what is due, i.e. a debt, wages, tribute, taxes, produce due, things promised under oath, conjugal duty, to render account, to give back, restore, to requite, recompense in a good or a bad sense
And how did Jesus determine if a man should pay taxes? Very simple. He asked them whose image was on the coin. Then that tells you whose coin it really is. If your name is on it, then it belongs to you. And if Uncle Sam’s name is on it, then it belongs to him. Therefore if you are using a money system, there is no way you can get away from paying taxes.
I have heard the arguments from many sides on this tax issue. You have those who say it is not constitutional, and yet every time the issue is brought before a court it is upheld as being fully compliant with the constitution. Then there are those who would say that our Government is a corrupt one, and there fore they feel they should not have to support it. Such is the issue with abortion, for example. They say, I do not wish for my tax money to go for government programs that go against my conscience. And therefore they hold back on their taxes. And most of the people who oppose Abortion claim to be born again Christians.
Now, I have a problem with their stand, because Jesus never distinguished any difference between a government that is good or one that is bad. The fact is, the money we use is not really ours to begin with. The Nation printed right on it. Therefore that money belongs to the nation. But these are the same people who will lie and cheat on other things too because they feel they were lied to and cheated on, and so they weigh out there own consciences by not what is right and wrong, but what is getting even. You see it everywhere. The riots take place in the inner city, and the people will loot the stores, and then when caught they justify it by saying those store owners were making too much money off of our backs and therefore, what I did was just get back some of what was taken from me. But two wrongs has never made a right yet.
In
The fact is that right is right, and it can not be shaded by what others do to you. That is why Jesus said, if a man steal your outer coat then give him your inner one as well. This is not eye for eye and tooth for tooth. But simply it is right is right and wrong is wrong, and there are no shadows of turning aside.
JAMES
Now,
notice that James tells us here two things concerning God. #1) He says, with
whom is no variableness. That means that God does not vary from one thing to
the next because He is the unchanging God. Mal 3:6 I am God and I change Not.
Hebrews 13:8
Jesus Christ is
the Same Yesterday, today and forever. Then if God changes not, then
His Word can not change, and neither can His Laws, and
neither can then what is right and what is wrong. Right is Right because God
said so, and wrong is wrong because God said so. Your trying to justify a thing
means nothing in the eyes of the judge. Did not Abraham say to God, Shall not the Judge
do what is Right?
Therefore as James points out, With God there are no variations, nor is there anything shady. And this shadow of turning simply means a shadow that is cast by someone moving over another. In other words a moving shadow, or a turning shadow. The Sun casts a shadow in one direction, and the shadow can not bend itself to cover in a direction the Sun does not cast itself upon. And neither is the Word a bending and moving target. He said, MATTHEW 7:13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide [is] the gate, and broad [is] the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14 Because strait [is] the gate, and narrow [is] the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
LUKE 13:24 Strive to enter in at the strait
gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. Why? Because
you can’t put a crooked stick through a strait hole, and neither can someone
crooked enter into the strait gate. ECCLESIASTES
You can’t with all your efforts make straight what God has ordained to be crooked, but the Lord can for with Him all things are possible.
ISAIAH 40:1 ¶ Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. 2 Speak ye
comfortably to
I
have met too many men in this message who are so willing to pull a deal on a
brother and all for what? A few dollars? Those
brothers are no better of than those Muslims who would kill you for $10 and
think nothing of it. In fact we find that same thing here in
David
said, PSALMS 5:8 Lead me, O LORD, in
thy righteousness because of mine enemies; make thy way straight before my
face. yashar
{yaw-shar'} to
be right, be straight, be level or on the level, be upright, be just, be
lawful, be smooth, to be
straightforward, be upright, to make
right, make smooth, make straight
Brother
Branham said, GOD
KEEPS HIS WORD 57-0115 E-16 The
one thing that ought to be straight and running straight is the church of the
living God. That's right.
Then
you have those that say our government has broken its own laws by using the Federal
Reserve board to print money, and therefore we do not have to pay into such a
system because it is unconstitutional. But again in examining our currency, it
says right on each note, “Federal
Reserve Note”. Now, if you don’t like that then don’t accept the currency.
Or accept the currency only for whatever country it is that you do like. But as
long as you are accepting the Federal
Reserve Note, then you are obligated to abide by the rules set up by the Federal Reserve Bank in cooperation
with the government of he
And then there are those that will quote Jesus saying, “render to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s”, and these are churches that try to justify their ministers not paying taxes on what they receive from the tithe of the people by saying, we don't have a Caesar, so how can we render to Caesar. But these are the people Jesus said would strain on a gnat and yet swallow a camel. They will try to twist the words of Jesus to fit their own desires, and yet they will just about swallow anything as ridiculous as the Son of God being eternally existent with the Father, and calling it eternal son-ship. The very word son means he has a beginning.
The Word said he is the only begotten, and if He has been begotten then there was a time when he was not. It says he is in the FORM of God and says He is the exact Image of the Father, and yet these same people will tell you when the Word of God says the Son was in the form of God, that means He “is” God. No wonder it was a Baptist President that said it all depends on what the word “is” means. Yes, they choke on a gnat but swallow a camel. How can you swallow the trinity doctrine. Brother Branham said it is of the devil, and tomorrow morning Lord Willing we will show you where that comes from. But for now, let’s get back to our subject here in Romans 13.
Notice
in Romans 13 the Apostle Paul said,¶ Render
therefore to all
that’s A double
L. their dues: tribute to whom tribute [is due]; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.
Notice render back to them what is due to them. In other words, you’ve got to pay your depts..
Then Paul lists what those depts. are.
Because if you have no value for the right things, then how can you ever value anything? And we se that problem in this country today. People having no respect for authority of any sort. No wonder this nation is heading for chaos and anarchy. When the
QA HEBREWS PART 3 57-1006 331-768 What is it? Our nation has come so little
until they've even taken the jobs away from the men, and put women out here in
these places, till ninety percent of them, nearly, are prostitutes. And talk
about man being gone, sure, it's because they got women out there in their
jobs. And they got so lowdown till they put women as peace officers on the
street. That's a disgrace to any nation. Yes, sir. What are you going to do
about it? "What
do you do about it, Brother Branham?" I have to respect it; I'm an American
citizen. I do what the big boss says do.
If a family ever loses its respect for the family (the children lose the
respect to the parents), that family's tore to pieces. If a
church ever loses respect of its pastor, why that church is gone. And if
a nation ever loses their respect of the Supreme Court and its decisions, that
nation is gone to pieces. That's exactly right. We've got to respect those
things, because they're the big boss. See? But it isn't right in the beginning.
Absolutely.
PRESUMING 62-0610M
E-55 Here
not long ago they got some issues. Each one pulled off to himself with little
issues, presuming that's what they ought to have done. That's what they ought not have done. Stay together, all of you. Don't take your
issues out like that. Bring it in here and pray it out. You can have your issue and still love your brother, all right. But
when you lose respect and fellowship with your brother, your issue's killed
you. Right.
And that is what has become so wrong in the Message. We disagree, and get upset. But we should be able to bitterly disagree and still love our brothers through it. You don’t stop loving your children or your spouse just because you come to a disagreement with them, do you? Far be it a man who calls himself a husband or a woman that calls herself a wife and then gets angry because they have a disagreement with each other over some insignificant little issue. Then why do we see so much separation among those that call themselves the Bride of Christ just because one might disagree with the next on an issue that doesn’t even concern salvation. That shouldn’t be so, and yet it is so. But that is only because people don’t know how to respect and honor one another, the way God wants them to, and they don’t know how to honor God by honoring each other.
Let’s pray.