Go ahead, grab a seat. I invite you to open the Bible and turn with me to the book of Romans, chapter 13, verses 6 to 10. That's what we will be looking at together this morning. If you don't have a Bible, we've always got them on the tables in the back and you can go get one. In fact, you can take one with you today, if you don't have a Bible. We also print the verses right there on the handout. If you want to just look there on the handout that's in your bulletin, we have the verses carefully printed there for you. Who's excited to study the Bible this morning? Is anybody here? A few people here are excited to study the Bible.
What if I saw you earlier this week? And you're like, oh, I can't wait for Sunday morning, nine o'clock. What are we studying this week? Oh, we're studying how to pay your taxes. Would you still be excited if you knew that's what we were studying today? Hey, we're going to talk about paying taxes, everybody. Timely too, because the extension day is Tuesday, October 15, right? So, we're going to talk about paying taxes. Really, that's what the sermon is about. Is there anything else? Well, actually, yeah, there's a point too. It's all about obeying God's law; obeying the law does that. Hey, now you're excited, right? Can you imagine if I saw someone from church in the wild? Do you ever see people from church in the wild, in public, like, where you see him somewhere, not church, and you're like, at a restaurant. You're like, wait, you eat food, too. What's going on? How do we both get here? Have you had these moments? I can't wait for the paying taxes sermon this weekend. I don't think anybody's saying that. And I think sometimes, when we know we are being told something to obey, when we're being given a command by God, sometimes we don't really think that all the way through. We think obedience is just good people doing the right thing, when really obedience is God's people having the right heart.
When it comes to commands in Scripture, God always gives his children the why of what he wants us to do? Why does God want you to pay taxes? Why does God want you to obey his law, his commands? That's what I want you to be listening for as we read Romans, chapter 13, verses 6 to 10. And out of respect for God's Word, I invite everybody to stand up for the public reading of Scripture, and I encourage you to give this your full and undivided attention, because this is the Word of God, and this is even God's will for your life. So please follow along as I read Romans 13:6-10.
For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. 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. Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
That's the reading of God's Word. Please go ahead and have your seat. And so, you can see we're picking it up here in verse 6, and we've been flowing from what it's already been saying in Romans 13. And then notice in verse 7, I just want to start with a key word. There's a word that shows up in verse 7 and verse 8, and it's this idea here in English of what is owed. Notice in verse 7, it says you’ve got to pay what is owed. And when you owe taxes, you’ve got to pay those taxes. But then notice how verse 8 continues that thought. It says, oh, no one anything except to love. Okay, so the Greek word, if you do want to take notes, the Greek word here is of Opheile, that's the noun form. That's this idea of something that you owe. So, in my Bible that I've got right here in my English translation, verse 7 and verse 8 are separated and they put a header in there. Some of you have that same thing in your Bible? I just want you to see that there's a clear connection between verse 7 that talks about what is owed, and then verse 8, it has this word in it. In Verse 8, Opheilo, which is the verb form, which is saying to owe somebody something. Okay, so we're supposed to pay taxes that are owed to the governing authorities. That's verses 6 and 7.
And then we don't really want to owe people money. No, the thing we actually owe to people is to love our neighbor as ourselves. So, there's a connection in the way that Paul flows in his thinking. Here he transitions from money that you're going to pay to the governing authorities, to then this idea of owing everyone love as a way to fulfill the law. So even though maybe our English translation separates these verses or puts a header in there, there's a clear flow of thought from verse 7 right in to verse 8. And go back now to verse 6, and you'll see that it begins with a “for”. And so, we have to go back, and we have to remind everybody that last time we were in the book of Romans chapter 13, we were being told to submit to our governing authorities, right? And submission, the idea that I willingly place myself underneath and acknowledge the authority of those that God gives the authority to, and that's the reason I submit. The reason in the Bible I would willingly place myself under somebody's authority is not because I think that person is great or awesome, but because I believe that God is great and awesome, and that all authority has been appointed by God. God is sovereign over our governing authorities, and he appoints the governing authorities for his purpose. Can I get an amen from anybody on that? Okay, that's what we have learned. Okay, so now, because you submit to the governing authorities, it says, “For because of this,” verse six, “you pay taxes.” And this might be the hardest part of submitting to the governing authorities, is giving them real money that you could go on vacation with. And all God's people said, Amen, right? We've felt this. But this is why you have to not just see. It's not like, well, do I agree with what they're going to do with my money, or do I think these particular people are worthy of giving the money to? No, look, it says, “because of this, you also pay taxes for the authorities are ministers of” who everybody? God.
So, this has been a clear theme that, yes, you might have to place yourself underneath these authorities, but these authorities are underneath God, and they are serving God's sovereign purpose. God is the one who's accomplishing his glory and the good of his people, and yes, even evil rulers can still be used by God to accomplish his purpose. And so yeah, you should even be willing to give them money, even pay your taxes because why? Because of them? No, because of God. And they're doing a service to God in having this authority, God is going to use them for his purpose. And so, you give the money, you pay the taxes, because you understand how the authorities are under God. And so that's why you're attending to this very thing. Now verse 7, if you could circle the first word there of verse 7, “pay”. That is an imperative. That is a command. So, verse 7 is saying, “pay”. Sometimes this word is translated “render”. It's now saying, this is something you are being told to do. This isn't a suggestion. This isn't an option. In the Greek language here, this jumps out as an imperative. It is a command of something that you and I are being told to do. We are being told to pay to all what is owed them, that includes taxes, that includes revenue, and then it even gets here to respect and honor.
So, this is very interesting. He tells us to pay the taxes, but then he also says we should give respect, and we should give the honor. So, there are multiple thoughts here as to why I would pay the taxes. Okay, it's not only the thing to do, but it's the reason. Why. Why do I give money to the governing authorities? Because there's respect that is owed, there's honor that is owed. In fact, the word here for that's translated respect is the Greek word Phobos from which we get phobia. So, it is actually the word that you should fear to whom fear is owed. Now, when we start talking about fearing, who are we all encouraged to fear? Because the fear is the beginning of knowledge and wisdom. Who are we all called to fear? God. That's what we used to be known as, if you believed in Jesus, if you were a Christian, you used to be known as a God-fearing man, or a God fearing woman, like I understand who God is, that he's holy. I understand who I am. I'm a sinner, and so I have this fear of God, that God would judge me for my sins. And the fear of God actually turns me away from evil. It actually leads me into life. And so that's the idea. That's like, well, who should you be giving fear to? Who should you be giving honor to? And the reason I would give honor to a governing authority is not just because of that authority, but because I fear God as having authority over that authority. And so out of the fear of God, I will pay taxes. Out of the fear of God, I will submit to governing authorities.
If you're taking notes, write down 1 Peter, chapter two, verse 17. We've been looking at 1 Peter 2:13-17 as a parallel passage to Romans 13:1-7. And in 1 Peter 2:17, it says, “Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God, honor the Emperor.” Same words there, you fear God, and that's why you honor the Emperor. At the time that Paul and Peter are writing these letters here, one of the emperors is Nero, the Roman emperor. Are we honoring Nero because we think he's worthy of honor? Are we respecting Nero because we think he's worthy of respect. No, we're honoring him. Why? Because we fear God as the ultimate authority, and Nero is just middle management that God has appointed for a set amount of time for God to accomplish his purpose.
Let's get this down for point number one: “Respect authorities because you fear God.” Respect authorities because you fear God. This is the summary of all we've been learning in Romans 13:1-7. Yes, I acknowledge the authority of these governing officials. Why? Because I see their authority as appointed by God, and because I fear God, I will also honor these earthly authorities, including the command in verses 6 and 7, the practical thing we have to do, or we're being told to do here is you even give them the money. You even pay the tax that is owed to them. Now, when Paul says “pay” as a command, or you could translate it “render,” he is using the same word that Jesus used when Jesus was asked about taxes. So, I really think that, as Paul is going to give us two different commands for us to be thinking about. In Romans 13, he's actually teaching us, not his opinions, not his suggestions, Paul is teaching the saints in Rome. He's teaching them the commands of Jesus himself.
Go to Matthew 22 everybody. Turn with me back to Matthew 22 because Jesus uses the same word that Paul uses in Romans 13. And I’ve got to think Paul's doing that intentionally, because he knows what Jesus said here in Matthew 22, starting in verse 15. So, there was this thing that happened during the time of Jesus Christ, where the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the lawyers, the scribes, the religious leaders of the Jewish people at the time of Jesus, they did not like all the popularity Jesus was getting, and they were against Jesus, and so they started this reality show back in the day called “Stump Jesus.” I don't know if you ever heard of this before, but it was a contest. Out of all the other religious leaders like, who could get Jesus in trouble, who could go get Jesus in a word trap, who could go and make him say something that would turn people away from him and back to them as the religious leader. And so, here, this is Matthew 22, we're towards the last week of Jesus's life. He's in Jerusalem, and they're going to come one question after the other, trying to get Jesus to say something wrong, trying to trick him with a tough question that there's no real good answer to. And see Jesus, he's going to get in trouble with the Roman governing authorities, the Jewish people. He's going to get in trouble with them. Let's trap him. And so, one of the ways they try to trap him, you're on Stump Jesus, is they have a Tax Day edition. Let's ask him about taxes. And so, look at it with me. Matthew 22:15, “Then the Pharisees went and they plotted how to entangle him in his words; we’ve got to trip Jesus up here. He's getting too popular. The people are listening to him, not to us. Let's entangle him in a word trap. And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true, and you teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone's opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances.” Now, did everybody hear what they just said? Because that was a whole lie that they just said. Okay, that was a bunch of flattery. You're so true, Jesus. You don't care about what anyone thinks, Jesus. And look down in verse 18, “Jesus, aware of their…” what does it say there, everybody? Aware of their what? Their mouth. Is there evil intent towards him? So, this is, unfortunately, something that still happens among religious people to this very day, where people just flatter you and tell you, oh, it's so good, or oh, it's so great, when really they're coming and trying to trap you and they don't really agree, that's what they're doing here to Jesus. Like, if they really thought Jesus didn't care about what anyone thinks, then they wouldn't be trying to get him in a word trap to make people think bad about Jesus. So, it doesn't make sense. Jesus knows they have an evil intent here. Jesus sees right through their skin and bones to their souls. He knows what's really going on. And the question they asked in verse 17 tells us, then, what you think.
Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay taxes to Caesar, the Roman Emperor here? Should we pay taxes to the Roman governing authorities? Now, taxes are always a controversial topic. Taxes are always going to get people fired up, but you’ve got to understand the context here on this day in Jerusalem, the Jewish people, they paid taxes; they paid a temple tax. It's talked about in the Law of Moses, but this isn't just your normal tax. This is now the Roman Empire, which is now over the Jewish people, and they're demanding a tax to them. So, this is not just your normal tax question. This is like, hey, the Romans are ruling over us. Should we pay them taxes? Because that would almost feel to the Jewish people like we're betraying our own people to acknowledge the Romans. But if we don't pay taxes to the Romans, they're going to get angry and they're going to come and punish us. So, you see, this is how they think they've got Jesus trapped. If you say we should pay to the Romans, the Jewish people will get angry. If you say we shouldn't pay taxes to the Romans, then the Roman governing authorities will get angry. Either way, people are going to get angry at Jesus. We got them. This is a good one. That's what they're thinking. Look at the wisdom with which Jesus answers this question, verse 18. “But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, why put me to the test? You hypocrites, you actors, you fakes.” He calls them out. “Show me the coin for the tax. And they brought him a denarius. And Jesus said to them, whose likeness and inscription is this? They said, Caesar’s. Then he said to them, therefore, render” or pay “to Caesar, the things that are Caesar's, and to God, the things that are God's.” See, that's just such a beautiful answer, because he's like, yeah, we can give to the governing authority and we can still honor and fear God at the same time. See, he actually gives an answer that will help people not just solve the little word trap problem right then and there, but this is helping people think about taxes for all time. Yes, the reason that we render to Caesar, or whoever the governing authority is, the reason we pay them is because we understand the things that belong to God and authority, power, dominion, they belong to God.
And so, as we worship God, as we obey God, part of that is we acknowledge the authorities that God puts in place, and we pay them even taxes. And so, wow, Jesus answers in a way that acknowledges the authority of the Roman governing officials, but also acknowledges that our first priority is to God in a way that would the Jewish people would agree with. He completely avoids their trap. And when they heard it. Look at verse 22 “when they heard what Jesus said about pay to Caesar, what belongs to Caesar, give to God what belongs to God.” When they heard it, their minds were blown. Does everybody see that? That's my personal translation, right there. They marveled, and they left him and went away. And there's going to be more rounds of Stump Jesus, but, wow, what an answer to the question! We didn't see that one coming. So, see, yes, there's going to come a day where you need to pay taxes. For some of you, that day may be Tuesday, because you filed an extension, right? This is something that happens. We’ve got to pay taxes. Well, why do you pay taxes? And how do you pay taxes? When you're paying taxes, are you thinking, wow, God is awesome, and God has provided for me and my family, and God has this government here in the United States. And so, yeah, I can pay these taxes. I can do it because I see the authority of God over my life. I see that he's put these authorities here. And so, I can be happy to pay taxes. Is that you? Some of you are laughing because it's not you, right? It's not you or anybody you know.
Okay, I'm a church kid. I grew up going to church my whole life, Bible teaching churches constantly. Throughout my entire life, I haven't heard pretty much nothing but complaining about paying taxes. And to be honest, I really don't see how a lot of people that go to church and call themselves Christians act any different about paying taxes than everybody else in our country or everybody else in every country. It's just, you hear people grumble about paying taxes. You hear people complain about paying taxes. You don't think that people are giving this tax because they believe in God, and they have confidence in the sovereignty of God and they fear him. No, you just hear people grumbling like, oh, why do we have to do this? I don't like doing this. Until I came here to Huntington Beach, and I started talking to some people here in Huntington Beach. And, you know, I got to see God save some people here. And God saved people who were not church kids like me, people who grew up maybe outside the law, would be a way to say it, people who are putting the con in congregation, if you know what I mean, like, they've done time. You know what I mean? Maybe they were making their money in ways that they wouldn't want the government to know about, so they weren't paying taxes on. And I've seen God do this amazing thing where he opened their eyes and he removed the blinders, and we showed him Jesus, that Jesus loved them so much that he died in their place, that Jesus rose again on the third day. And now, if they believe in Jesus, they can have a whole new life in Christ. They could be a new creation. The old is gone, the new has come. And I get to know these guys and this church kid like me, and somebody who's done time like them, we become friends, and we become brothers. And then at some point, some of these brothers, they come and look at me, and they're like, hey, I want to ask you something. And it's like, we're looking around, like we're going to talk about something personal. And they're like, hey, how do I start paying taxes? Like, I'd really like to do that now, now that I'm a new creation, now that I'm converted. I've always had this idea, wouldn't it be amazing to be a tax paying citizen? I never thought that was possible. But now in Jesus Christ, I really want to do that. Like, all of a sudden, this idea of being a tax paying citizen became like this beautiful concept that I could be someone who is outside of the law, and now I've been brought in, and now I want to live the way that God has for me to live. And so, I’ve got to ask you, are you a complaining person out there? Why do we have to pay these taxes? Or are you like I'm so thankful that Jesus has saved me, and because I'm converted, paying taxes is one of the things I'm happy to do in my fear of God, in my obedience to him. See, this is something that's actually beautiful to see somebody say, I want to be somebody who's on the up and up. I want to be somebody who's in the light. How do I become a tax paying citizen?
See, it gets back to the whole idea behind obedience. Why do you do what you do? Do you do things because in your mind, they are the right thing to do? Or do you do things because God has done a work in you, and out of the love that God shown you, out of the grace that God has given you, I want to now live my life in a way that God tells me to live. See if you're just doing things because they're the right thing to do, you might find yourself grumbling. You might find yourself complaining. You might find yourself always trying to live up to a standard that's very hard, and the commands of God will feel very burdensome to you. But if you're doing things out of a heart that's been made new and a heart that knows Jesus loves you, guess what? You will find obeying God to be a delight.
So where are you at? See, it's not just do you pay your taxes, but how does paying taxes reveal your heart, and whether you're just going through the motions of doing the right things, or whether you're doing things because you want to obey Jesus, because Jesus, he loved you and saved you, and now you want to be one of his tax paying citizens. Go with me to 1 John, chapter 5. I need everybody to turn over to 1 John, chapter 5. And I got to ask you a very important and personal question here this morning. When I say this word obedience, when I say that there are commands of Jesus that he wants us to obey, when you hear the word obedience, do you have a negative association with obedience, or do you have a positive association with obedience? What comes to your mind? What feelings do you feel? Hey, everybody today, we're talking about obedience to the Lord Jesus. Are you’re like, oh, this will be a bummer. Oh, I don't really want to hear this. Yes, obedience to the Lord. That's what I've been saved to do. That's what I want to do.
What is your reaction to the idea of obeying Jesus? A lot of people who go to church and call themselves Christians these days have a negative attitude towards obedience. They act like it's burdensome. Why do we have to do this? Why do we? Why do we? Are we obligated to do this? Is that how you think? Because Jesus, when he called you, when he said, “come and follow me, Jesus said, If you come to me, my yoke is easy and my burden is” what everybody? Okay, so some of us maybe don't have a renewed mind when it comes to why we obey Jesus. So, I want to try to be as clear as I can about this. Are we saved by works we do? What's the answer to that, everybody? No, the standard of the law is something that we will never live up to in and of our own strength. Okay, we are saved because of what Jesus did. Jesus humbled himself, and he became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Jesus fulfilled all righteousness. Jesus kept every command, and then the perfect one, the Holy One, the only one who's ever been right with God, based on who he is and what he did, he willingly laid down his life for sinners like us. And if you believe in Jesus, Jesus paid it all. He died for all of your sins. Your sins are forgiven. And what do you receive when you trust in Jesus? You are justified by faith, and you receive his gift of righteousness. And you are given an alien righteousness, a foreign righteousness, a righteousness that is not yours. It's the righteousness of Jesus credited to your account. And because of Jesus, now you have a righteousness that you can learn how to live out. You can learn how to walk in. You don't have to just live the old way where you were trying to do it yourself. Because of Jesus you can now live out the commands. And so, I think a lot of people in this room would say, yeah, I'm not saved by words, but that's like a Pharisee or something. But the way you think about obedience is still very much like a Pharisee, like, why do we have to do all this stuff? No, no, no, we don't have to do this stuff. We get to do this stuff. We're now able to obey. We now have a new heart that God has given us, which was not like our old heart. We now have the Holy Spirit of the Living God living in us. We have a power and an ability that we did not used to have, but because God has done his work in us to make us his people, we can now walk in the ways of God. And the Spirit of God makes us careful to obey his commands. And so that's why it says this, 1 John chapter 5, verse 3. Everybody, look at this verse. 1 John 5:3, “For this is the love of God that we keep his…” what everybody? His commandments. Okay, his commandments. “And his commandments are not…” what does it say? His “commandments are not burdensome.” Okay?
So, this is what I'm wondering about our Church. This is what I'm wondering about you, if I say obedience, what word comes to your mind? Is it legalism, or is it love? Because in the Bible, the word associated with obedience is love, and because I love God, I want to do what God tells me to do. Because look what God has done for me with his Son Jesus. That's the idea the love of God is seen when we want to keep his commands, and his commands, they're not this burdensome thing. And so, if you're acting like, oh, we’ve got to pay taxes, what a burden. That might be revealing more about your heart than you've thought through before, and you need to think about that if all you've ever done is complain about paying taxes. Well, let's have our minds renewed by the Scripture. Why do I pay taxes? Because I fear God, and hasn't God provided all the things that I need? And am I not paying those taxes based on God telling me to do that? And if I'm doing it for God, then it actually becomes something I want to do, because look at what God's done for me, and I love him. See, have you thought that through in your mind? Let me just say it like this, if you have a problem with obedience, you have a problem. Okay, if you have a problem with obedience, I mean, you can kill the messenger. You can get mad at me, like I'm coming up with the idea that we should submit to the governing authorities and pay taxes. I'm just the latest guy saying what God-inspired men to write thousands of years ago. What's been preached all across the world for hundreds of years is the Word of God. So, you can blame the messenger, but this is what God wanted written down. This comes from the holy character of God. This is the perfect Word of God. God is giving us commands that he saves us. We are God's workmanship. We are created in Christ, Jesus for good works that God prepared for us to do. And he's telling us, this is what I want you to do. Go this way. And he's not telling it to bum us out. He's saying, because we'll be blessed, because this is the best possible way to live. This is the way of human flourishing. If you follow the guy who set up the system knows the best way to go, and he's saying, go this way and you will live. That's what he's saying. And if you're like, no, I don't want to do that. I don't want to obey, whose problem is that? You're saying God has a problem, that he's telling you to do that you're saying there's a problem with the Word of God that it tells you to do that. No what you need to realize here today is, if you have a problem with obedience, you have a problem because it's not God's fault that he's perfect, and it's not God's fault that he's showing you the best way you could possibly live your life. Why is there something in your heart where you don't believe what God says and you don't want to do what God tells you to do? No, a problem with obedience is revealing a heart problem, and that's something that some of us really need to think about. When I find myself the scripture says to do it, but I find myself really going against it, what is that revealing about me?
Go back to Romans 13, because he goes right from this idea of submitting to the governing authorities and paying taxes, and he uses this idea of what you owe. You owe those taxes. You owe that fear and honor, render to Caesar, give to God, and then he goes right into using the O transition, hey, because we don't want you to owe taxes, we don't want you to owe anything to anyone, except to love everyone.
Now, maybe right away, if you hear that idea owing people love, that might rub you the wrong way, right when you hear it, because what have these people done for me that I owe them love? That's not the idea. The idea is, Jesus paid it all, all to him I what? Okay, so, because I have received love, I now pass it on to other people. That's the idea. No, we're not back scratchers. I'm not loving people because they love me. I'm loving people because Jesus has loved me. And so, this is the idea that we're going to be endlessly giving, endlessly passing on the love that we have received, we're going to be giving it to everybody. In fact, it's kind of helping you really think this through. Let's go through the commandments, right? Let's talk about God's law. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not… notice all these, “you shall not” right here, adultery, murder, stealing and coveting. In fact, we could put any other commandment in there. You can summarize that all up into what you shall love your neighbor as yourself. See, the idea is you're going to meet your own needs. You're going to consider your own interests. Can you learn to think this new way of Jesus where you don't just look out for your own interests, but also to the interests of others. And if you really care about your neighbor, if you really consider the other people around you, then you're not going to be looking at their wife or hating them and wanting to kill them, or wanting their stuff or stealing their stuff, because you actually would thank God that your neighbor has those things. And you would care about your neighbor. See, a lot of these “you shall not” commands, we won't even end up doing those things if our heart really has the love of God given to us, poured out in our hearts by His Spirit, and if we're here to pass on that love to other people, that'll keep us away from breaking a lot of these commandments. In fact, look what it says in verse 10, “Love does no wrong.” That's the same word that's been translated evil. Remember how we were repaying no one evil for evil. In fact, don't be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. If your goal is to love other people, to love your neighbor, you're not going to do evil to them if you're giving them the love of God. And so, it says, “Therefore, love is fulfilling of the law.” So, this idea is like, hey, let's we want to be tax paying citizens, and we have all these other people living around us wherever we. Live Well, how should we be towards, well, there's certain things we shouldn't do towards our neighbors. But if we're trying to love our neighbors, not only will we not break these commands, we'll fulfill the whole law by trying to love these people.
So, let's get this down for number two here: “Fulfill the law with love.” Fulfill the law with love. That's the idea, like the way that you're going to treat other people, and not in an evil way, but in a good way. If from the heart, you love those people, and you really consider them as more significant than yourself, and you really care about their life and their soul, that's how you're going to fulfill the law. Now, again, I think Paul is not just sharing his suggestions. I don't think Paul is giving the saints in Rome his personal opinions. Paul is doing what all disciples are commanded to do. We're commanded by Jesus to make disciples and to teach them to observe or to keep all that Christ commanded us. So, when he says this idea of fulfilling the law, that word fulfill, that's the same word Jesus used. So, I think really these two things, we're talking about, paying taxes and obeying the law of God by love, these two concepts, Paul is just saying these things, and he's trying to say them using the same words that Jesus used when Jesus said these things.
Go with me back to Matthew. Let's go all the way back to Matthew, chapter 5. And I want you to see that this idea of fulfilling the law, this was something Jesus preached and Jesus taught, and that's where Paul is getting it from. He's passing on to the believers in Rome the commands of the Lord Jesus. And that's why I want to obey, because I love Jesus, and Jesus died for me, and I've decided it makes sense to me that if Jesus died for me and paid for my sin, I'm no longer going to live for myself, but I'm going to live for Jesus because he died and rose again. Can I get an amen from anybody on that? This is the logic that Romans has taught us. This is the logic that all of these commands flow out of is because Jesus offered himself as a pure and holy sacrifice to pay for my sin, my logical conclusion, my reasonable response is, I’ll give Jesus my whole life, I'll offer my body as a living sacrifice. How could I not lay my life down when that's what Jesus was willing to do for me, and he's the perfect Son of God, and I'm a wretched sinner. I'm ungodly. I was the enemy of God, and the perfect Son of God lays down his life for an enemy of God. Well, how could I not then think I should lay my life down for Jesus?
So that's where all of this comes from. That's where the heart of obedience begins. When you've been converted, and now you just you don't want to be someone who keeps living outside the law, you want to be someone who now lives God's way because of what Jesus has done for you. And so, look what Jesus teaches. This is the Sermon on the Mount. This is the most complete sermon we have from the Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew 5, verses 6 and 7. Look at Matthew 5:17, and I need everybody to really think about this. “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to…” what? “Fulfill them.” So that's what Paul's telling us to do, is fulfill the law by love. Well, let's go back to how Jesus fulfilled the law. That's how where our obedience is going to come from, is from Jesus and his track record of perfect righteousness, where he fulfilled all the law. Now, when Jesus says “law” here, when he says “law and prophets,” he's referring to what we often call the Old Testament. That's how we refer to it today. Okay, but Jesus didn't call it the Old Testament. He called it the Hebrew Way. The Jewish people, if you ask them, what are the Scriptures, they would have said, the Scriptures are the law, the prophets. And there was a third category, the Writings, or the Psalms, because that's the first book of the writings. In fact, if you go to Jerusalem, if you're able to go there, and you go to Jerusalem and you say, I'd like to buy a copy of the Bible, or a copy of the Scriptures, you would get a little box, and in the box would be three books. There would be the Torah, the Law of Moses, there would be the Prophets, and then there would be the Writings, starting with the Psalms. They call it the Tanakh, because in Hebrew, it's the Torah, it's the Nevim, and it's the Ketuvim. And so, you put the first sound of all three of those words together, and you get Tanakh. It's three different things. So, Jesus, he always refers to the Scriptures like this. Sometimes he just uses Law to say the whole thing. Sometimes he says Law and Prophets. Sometimes he says Law, Prophets, and Psalms.
But he's saying, I came to fulfill the Word of God. I came to do what God said I was going to do. In fact, it says in the Psalms, “I delight to do your will, Oh, my God,” that's Jesus. Hey, if you think the Old Testament is old news and we don't need it anymore, Jesus wants you to hear today, don't think I came to abolish that. I didn't come to abolish that. I came to fulfill that. In fact, look what Jesus goes on to say in verse 18. “For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, until the end of the world as we know it, not an iota, not a dot…” And these are little markings in the Hebrew language. Not anything will pass from the law until all is accomplished. What Moses wrote in the first five books, what the Prophets wrote, what the Psalmist wrote, that is the Word of God, and the Word of God endures forever. The grass is going to wither, and the flower is going to fade, but after you and I are long gone, the Word of God will be going strong. That's what Jesus is saying here. Don't dis what we call the Old Testament. That's the Word of God, and that Word is eternal. And then he says this, “Therefore, whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
Does everybody hear what Jesus just said? If God has given his people commands, right now we understand, as you go back and read the law of Moses, some of the commands were specific for the nation of Israel at that time, but other commands like “You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal or covet.” There are some commands there taught in the Law. They apply to all people for all times, and if you relax one of those commandments, if you dismiss one of those commandments, if you act like yeah, maybe God said we should do that, but it's not that big of a deal, did you hear what Jesus said? If you relax one of the least of these commandments, one of the ones that you think is not that important. I don't need to pay my taxes. Not that big of a deal. Whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments, and you teach others to do the same, you give a bad example to your children. You will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does these commandments and teaches others to do them, you will be great in the kingdom. Does it seem like Jesus has a positive outlook on obeying God's commands here, everybody? Okay, so we need to make sure that we're hearing what Jesus taught, that, yes, we don't get saved by trying to do good works. We can't live up to the perfect standard of God's law. All of us fall short of God's glory. We need Jesus to save us. But once Jesus has saved us, should we want to obey God's commands by the power that we now have through the resurrection of Jesus Christ? The answer to that is yes, we should be like pro-obedience.
Look what he says in Matthew, chapter 7, verse 12. This is perhaps the most quoted line from Jesus, period. Even people who don't believe that Jesus is the Son of God, they don't believe he died on the cross and rose again for their sin, they'll still quote this line. This is Matthew 7:12. “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them. For this is the Law and the Prophets.” Let me take all those commands where God says you don't do this, or God says do this, let me summarize all the way down to this, if you could really learn how to love people, if you could really learn how to think of others as more significant than yourself, if you could learn how to consider somebody else, to see them, to really see somebody as a soul and to care about that person. So, it's not just about you and what you need or what you want, but you can actually see them, and you can see what they need and what they want. If you can learn to treat other people in the same way that you want to be treated, you'll be fulfilling all the things that the Law and the Prophets spoke about. You'll be obeying so many of the commands of God. If you can just have this heart to love people. That's what he's saying.
Now go over to Matthew 22 because, back in the Stump Jesus chapter here, he gets asked about this. This is one of the questions that come to him. They asked him the tax question, and then the Sadducees came in and they asked him a resurrection question. And the Sadducees, they don't believe in the resurrection. That's why they're so sad, you see; they don't think there's anything after this life, right? And so then becomes now another question, right? And this is in verse 34 when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, our turn. Here we go. They gathered together, team huddle. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” Ha, gotcha? Question stumped him. You can't say one commandment, the greatest commandment in the Law. Ha, this will raise a ruckus. This will start a controversy. We got you. And look what Jesus says. He said to him, verse 37, he quotes Deuteronomy 6:5, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind.” This is the great and first commandment, and the second is like it, “you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” On these two commandments depends on all the Law and the Prophets. I can summarize all that Moses was writing and all that those prophets were explaining. I can summarize it all the way down to this. Do you have a new heart? Has God circumcised your heart? Is the way they would have said it in the Law of Moses, or as the Prophets would have said it, has God taken out your old heart? And has he given you a new heart? Has he given you his spirit? God got so tired of his people never obeying his commands. He said, I'm going to stop giving them the law. Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to do a new thing. I'm just going to write my law on their heart. I'm going to just put my spirit within them, and then my spirit will enable them. He will empower them, and then they will be able to obey. And if God's done this work in your heart, guess what? Your heart can now love God. You can put God first. You can be all in to respond to God. Look what God did for you and Jesus. Now you can go love God, and you can even love your neighbor as yourself. You can either see other people the way you would see yourself, where you really care, you really consider them, you really try to see it from their perspective. See their needs, and you put their needs on the same level of your needs. This is what you're able to do. So, he actually blows the question away. There is actually a way to summarize all the commandments. You can summarize it down to one word, love. That's how we're going to fulfill the law. When you've been given a new heart, when you've been given the Spirit, and the fruit of the Spirit is love, then you can do what God says because you love God. Then you can consider other people and put them first because you love them. And he summarizes it there on these two commandments; all the commands can be summarized into these two commands.
And so, go with me back to Romans and let's just think this through that Jesus fulfilled the law. And Paul is now calling us in Romans 13, verse 10, he's saying, if you really learn how to love other people, you will fulfill the law, something we were unable to do before Jesus, but now, because of Jesus, we can love in a way that would lead us to obey. So, do you think this way? God, give me a heart to love other people, so I will not do evil against them, but I can do good to them. Teach me your way of love. That's what we should be doing. How am I going to do all the commands? Well, if I have a heart-change where I want to love people, that's how I'll fulfill so many of God's commands. Because I won't be doing the evil things to people, and I will consider the good things I could do to them, all because God has given me a heart to love. Do you have this heart? If it's always so hard to consider other people, if it's always so hard to show people God's goodness, if it's hard to forgive, if it's hard to not be bitter and not be angry, if it's hard to overlook an offense and have love that covers a multitude of sins, well, maybe the reason there's a problem with obedience is because you have a problem in your heart, and it's hard for you to treat other people in a good way, because you need God's love on your heart. See, the problem isn't with obedience. The problem is with us.
Go back to Romans 6. I want to remind you of something we learned in Romans, chapter 6, verse 17, we learned this in our 29th sermon from the book of Romans. Today, this is our 73rd sermon from the book of Romans. So, you might have lost this along the way a little bit. All right, so I just want to go back and review, because by the time we're at Romans 13 now, where it's telling you pay your taxes, it's telling you love your neighbor and you'll fulfill the law, here are things you should go and do. Well, the reason we can go and do anything in obedience is because of this here in Romans, chapter 6, verse 17, “But thanks be to God that you, who were once slaves of sin, have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed.” Okay, so let's get let's all take a moment now to thank God because I once was a slave of sin, where all I could think about was me, myself, and I, and what I wanted and what I needed. And I wasn't loving God. I wasn't loving other people. I was in it for myself, and God freed me from being a slave of myself. And look what he did. He made me. I have become obedient from the heart. See, God did a work in me. The reason I can do the work of obedience in my actions is because something has already happened in my heart. Obedience is not good people doing the right thing. Obedience is God's people having the right heart. That's where obedience comes from. You can now obey because God did a work in your heart. And then notice what it says to the standard of teaching to which you were committed. Okay, so we learned two things about this verse that I thought were super helpful. One was when it says thanks there, it's actually the word for grace. So, God has been so good to me to give me this change of heart where I would want to obey him. That's all by grace. Obedience is God's work through me. It's not just me trying to do good works. If you're still trying to do good works, that's what we're not talking about. You mustering up your own strength, we're not talking about you leaving here today and trying harder. We're talking about God giving you the grace, so you are able to do what he's telling you to do. It's a work that God does in Christ Jesus, in your heart. And then it's he who empowers you.
Do you realize that if you are a Christian, you have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places? Do you realize that if you're a Christian, God has given you all the things you need for life and godliness, and here in his Scriptures, you can be fully equipped for every good work based on what God gives you here in this Word. If you are in Christ, you lack absolutely nothing, and you are fully ready and capable to go and live for Jesus today. That's who you are in Jesus. You can obey from the heart because of the power. And then it says, look at this very clearly, “to the standard of teaching, to what you were committed.” It's like as you hear the teaching, that's how your heart gets activated. That's how your heart now, oh, now I know what to do. God's given me the grace in my heart to obey him. And then as I hear his Word, as I receive his commands, his commands are like a lamp to my feet. They're like a light to my path. Oh, you want me to pay taxes? Okay, well, that gives me real clarity on what to do. Oh, you want me to love my neighbor like myself? Okay, now I know what to do. See God, when I hear his Word, and it hits this heart that he's saved, well, now I have, like, all the teaching that is showing me the way. See, we have this bad idea that the commands are like, just these principles, stop doing the bad stuff, do more of the good stuff. That's not how the Bible talks about commands. The Bible is saying, this whole world is full of darkness and the commands, they're your light. They're how you find the way. They're the source of life and joy and blessing, not just to you and to your family. The Bible promises very clearly that everyone who obeys the commands of God you will be what, everybody? Blessed. You will experience life as God intended it, and God will have his hand upon you, and he will lead you where he wants you to go. Why? Because he committed you to his teaching.
So, when I read the Bible as a as someone who believes in Jesus, and it tells me pay my taxes, that just made so many financial decisions for me right there. When it tells me love my neighbor as myself, it reminds me to get my eyeballs off of me and how I'm feeling and what I think needs to happen, and start looking at all the other people around you and start caring about them. See, God's Word, it shows me the way he wants me to live. It actually even gives me, through the Spirit working through the Word, it gives me the ability to go obey what God wants me to do. Go with me to Psalm 119. This is what the Underground is doing at their retreat. This is what they've been studying all weekend. It's the longest chapter in the Bible, and it's all about the Bible. It's an acrostic. It takes every letter of the Hebrew alphabet, 22 letters, and it gives you eight lines from each of the 22 letters, 22 times 8. That's 176 verses in this one chapter. And the whole chapter is a celebration of God's Word, God's Law. It uses things like commandments, precepts, statutes, testimonies, ways. It's using all these different words to try to tell you whatever God says, that's the gold, that's the light, that's what you want. If God tells you to do it, I guarantee you it's going to be the best way to go. It's going to be the blessed way to go. Listen to what God says, because in the commands of God, you will find life, and that's how we're supposed to think about God's Law. Like, yeah, tell me what it is. Tell me what the commands are, because I want to experience blessing. I want the maximum way of living. So, teach me God's ways. And let me just give you one example in Psalm 119, verse 97. We'll just read this one section here of these eight lines, starting with the Hebrew letter mem, but look at the attitude this person has about the Law. Like this guy, if you told this guy, well, yeah, the sermon is about paying taxes, the sermons about fulfilling the law, this guy, he'd be like, yes, I can't wait for that sermon. You won't believe what they're talking about down here at Compass, they're saying you’ve got to pay taxes. Man, get on down here, bro. Listen to this guy. Psalm 119:97, “Oh, how I love your law. It is my meditation all the day, your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me.” I have more understanding than all my teachers. For your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, for I keep your precepts, I hold back my feet from every evil way in order to keep your word. I do not turn aside from your rules, “for you have taught me how sweet are your words to my taste sweeter than honey to my mouth. Through your precepts, I get understanding, therefore I hate every false way. This guy is like you won't believe how awesome it is to read God's Law, to know God's Word, to hear God's commandments. I know more than my enemies. I can outsmart them. I know more than my teachers. They're telling me stuff, and I know better than them. There are people who've lived longer than me and had more life experience than me, and I actually know even better than them how to live, because God told me so. I love God's Law. I think about it all day long. I can't stop thinking about what God tells me, because in that I find life, and it keeps me from all the evil ways, from all the false ways, and it keeps me on the beautiful path that God has laid before my feet. So that's somebody when they hear, let's go obey God, they have a positive connotation, and they think, yeah, I want to love God with all my heart. I want to love my neighbor as myself. Pay taxes, okay, I care about my neighbor. Okay. What is it? Teach me the way, because I want to obey God. That's the kind of heart that we need to have. And here's the reason I want to obey. It's not because I want to be a goody two shoes, it's not because of self-righteousness. I want people to look at me. No, the thing is, I want to follow Jesus Christ. I'm not living for myself anymore. I believe it's worth it to follow Jesus, and so when Jesus commands me to go away, that's just how I'm following him. How could I not follow Jesus to the cross, even if I suffer, even if I die? How could I not follow Jesus there? Because Jesus already was there for me. And so, I'm following Jesus. And it's not like a chore to follow Jesus. It's not like a bummer I have to follow Jesus. Following Jesus is, by far and away, the best thing I will ever do in my life. And if there's one thing I want anybody else to know about me, if there's one way my life could impact them or they could remember me, I hope the thing that it comes down to is that guy, he was following Jesus. See, and you can't follow Jesus unless you want to obey what he says. You can't follow Jesus unless you're willing to be obedient, even to the point of death, even death on a cross, because that's what Jesus did for me. And so, how could I not follow Jesus? How could I not obey him when he already paved the way, he already paid it all, all to him I owe. Let's pray.
Father, we come before you, and we just need your help with this, Father. This is not how we're thinking, not how we're thinking in America, not even how we're thinking in church. Oh, great. A sermon of obedience. Sign me up for a certain sermon about commands. What does God want me to do? Father, we need to confess that we do sometimes, or some of us, maybe all the time, we have a negative view of obedience, like, why do we have to do these things rather than seeing that because you've given us a new heart, because you've put your spirit within us, we get to do these things. We are now able to do these things. And so, Father, will you please renew our minds? Will you please use your Word? I pray for the people who have to pay taxes on Tuesday, that this could be the first time they pay taxes with a smile on their face and a song in their heart, like I'm doing. I know I'm doing what God wants me to do, that I'm not doing it for the governing authorities, I'm doing it because I fear God. Father, I pray that next time we're thinking a bad thought about our neighbor who's doing something that bothers us, somebody around us, I pray that we would stop and we would be able to see that person, that we'd be able to love that person, that we'd be able to think about how we were against you, and all the sin that we were doing in our lives, and yet Jesus loved us, and Jesus died for us. And because Jesus paid it all for us, all to him we owe. And because Jesus loved us, we can pass that love on to our neighbor. And so, Father, will you please teach us the way of obedience? Let us be a church of people that can say, oh, we love the Law because the Law the Word of God; it shows us the way to follow Jesus. And what a joy it is to follow Jesus. What an honor it is to bear the name of Jesus. God, I pray that every single person in this room could say here today that I've denied myself. I'm not living for myself anymore, and I'll even take up my cross, even if I suffer, even if I die. I don't care, because I'd rather lose my life and have Jesus than to try to hold on to my life right here, right now. So, Father, let us be people who obey because we love the Lord Jesus, and we think he's worth it, and we're so thankful that he saved us. Let it be a joy for us to follow Jesus. We pray this in his name.