Let's pray. Father, do bless our gathering this afternoon. Sustain us and hold us up, Lord, and give us minds that we might be able to fixate our attention upon the subject at hand. We pray, Father, for the acceptance of your word, what it teaches, what it says, so that we might be better prepared to live out our lives in a faith that is scriptural, solidly grounded upon the word of truth. That's our desire, Lord, that we would love you completely and wholly as we are able, as we are equipped to, and that we would certainly give ourselves to you as servants of the living God. In Christ's name we pray, amen. All right, Acts chapter two, I'm gonna read verse 10, 11, and 12, and then we're going to pick up where we left off last Sunday in demonstrating how the New Testament does not contradict these passages, particularly what we're saying about um, Christian authority, uh, civil magistrates, and really related to how we should want and desire nations to be Christianized. So I wanna begin reading at verse 10 of Psalm 2. Now, therefore, O kings, show discernment. Take warning, O judges of the earth. Worship the Lord with reverence and rejoice with trembling. Do homage to the Son that He not become angry and you perish in the way. For His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him. There's a passage over in revelation, the book of Revelation chapter six, and it addresses one of the seals, the six seal that's broken. But I want you to recognize the language that is in this text and you can see it in as it relates to the Psalm that we have read. In verse 12 it says, I looked and he broke the sixth seal and there was a great earthquake and the sun became black as sat cloth made of hair and the whole moon became like blood and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as a fig tree cast its unripe figs When shaken by a great wind, the sky was split apart like a scroll when it rolled up and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders of the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. And they said to the mountains and to the rocks, fall on us and hide us from the presence of him who sits on the throne. and from the wrath of the Lamb for the great day of their wrath has come and who is able to stand. I mean, we see in those words, do we not, the implication, the application of what happens when judgment happens in history. These words are not static. They're not for literary purposes solely. They're for our learning. there so that we might be disciples, so that we might learn who God is, so that we might have an expectation of what God is about. And one of the things I wanna foster in us is that if we take the whole counsel of God's word, we have to take both the whole realm of our existence. Christ is the head of heaven and earth. We are not just spiritual beings, but we're also physical beings. The one is one doesn't reside over the other per se, both matter. Both have an importance. Um, the spiritual affects the physical and the physical does affect the spiritual. Uh, I could get simply give you an application of that in sleep deprivation. You can stay up long enough so that your mind begins playing games with you. You hallucinate, you see, and hear things that are not really there. And so when your body lacks the physical nourishment or the rest that it needs, then you begin having hallucinations, mental hallucinations. The physical is the same in infecting the spiritual or the inner man, if you will. We can be in such pain. We can be in such agony and torture that it affects our mind. We can question God. We can curse God, if you will. Let me give you an example, Job. What did Job's wife tell him to do in his agony? He was in so much pain that his wife recognized it and said, well, then why don't you, what curse God and die? That's how much agony he was in. Okay. And people, and that does happen. And so the physical and spiritual, my point being is that I know there's been a lot made, there's been a lot made over the fact that, well, man is a trichotomy, uh, spirit, soul, body. And I think all of those arguments are not even useful. Man is a Mono being he's one. He is one that has components. He has a spiritual component and a physical component. Man is man. Man is made up of both spirit and flesh. But to dichotomize man and make it, whether it be trichotomy, dichotomy, or whatever the case may be, is, I don't find useful. I don't find, and you're gonna deal with that in counseling. All of this talk about, well, we gotta deal with the spirit. We gotta deal with the soul, that kind of thing. Well, in the Bible, and I'm gonna do this now, you can do this on your own. You can take a concordance, look up the Hebrew word nephesh for soul, and it also means flesh. So the words are interchangeable in both the Greek and the Hebrew, okay? So man is sometimes called a soul. Sometimes he's called a body, a flesh. Either one, it doesn't matter. Both are right. Both are true. All right. The point I'm making in a point that I want to make with you is that the Christian life is more than many people have made it out to be. It's more, it's, it's more glorious. It's maybe even more complicated because it's doesn't just, it's more complicated in this sense. We're not just waiting on heaven. That's easy. That's an easy thing to do, but yet we're to live out our Christian life. Where here, where did sin happen in the world? here in this world, right, this realm. Has it affected everything? Yes. Man's sin affected everything. Where, and Jesus has come to redeem man. Where? Here. He's come to set things right. He's come to put things in order. He's come to, if you will, reestablish the glory that existed, we could say, in Adam before the fall. Adam, where he failed, Christ will succeed. So we are really talking about a more full-orbed, comprehensive understanding of the gospel and the world. Paul, I think, intimates this in the book of Romans, because when Paul opens up that book, he says, I want to come to you so that I might preach the gospel to you. Well, now he's talking to Christians, isn't he? And yet he calls this book, this is the gospel. I want to come and explain further to you the gospel. That's what I long to do. That's the first portion of chapter one. And yet, one of the things that Paul deals with in Romans 13 is the civil magistrate. being a part of Paul's understanding of this comprehensive redemptive nature that Christ is not just coming to save a portion of the world. He's not just coming to segregate to himself a small minute area. No, he's coming to redeem the world. Romans 8 talks about the earth being under the curse of sin. and awaiting the redemption of the elect. That even the earth that we know was cursed by man's sin, thorns and thistles are a result and a sign. When you see these thorns and thistles, it's a sign, if you will, of God's judgment. That's what they are. They came about by the curse of the ground so that when man had to toil and labor in the earth, he would experience, he would experience the toil and the ardor, if you will, of dealing with these thorns and thistles to be reminded that sin brought about in the world this curse. And now I want you to think about how good God is to remind us of those things. Now we don't think like that. But yet that's exactly how a Hebrew would have been taught to think. Or even those God's people before the flood. They'd have been taught to think in this way. Where did these thorns, you know, children. Children are masters at asking questions. What's that? What's that? What's that? What's that? Why this? Why that? I mean, it's just constant. But yet, what a blessing that is because we're to have certain answers for them. And we need to know where these thorns and thistles came from. Well, let me tell you where they came from. They came as a result of God cursing the ground because of man's rebellion. It's a testimony. It's a witness. Again, that what God has said in his word is true. And so there are so many things like that, that we often overlook that we often neglect to our own detriment. And I say our own detriment, our own weakness. There are more witnesses around us of God's reality, the reality of who God is, then we are willing to really open our eyes and see. that this world is under the curse of sin and will not be fully restored until the glorification of the elect. And then all things will be set in place and there'll be what? The new heavens and the what? New earth. If the gospel that we commonly hear regularly, it would just be just the new heavens. There'd be no need for an earth. But interestingly enough, we're going to receive renewed bodies. Renewed bodies for what? My guess is for the new earth. All right, the renovation, even though it's in process now, it's not gonna come to fruit. It's not gonna be nothing like it's going to be until the end, but we are in the process of it. Well, we cannot not be in the process of it because it's the fruit and reality of the resurrection and reign of Christ. So there has to be residual effects of that. It's not static, that means it's not sleeping. He's not waiting to be King. He is King. And he, as a King, is acting as a King. He's not waiting to act as a King. He is acting as a King. And nations do fall. Our nation is falling. One of the things that, as I've been meditating on this and spending more time contemplating these things, I know it's gonna sound It's going to really sound strange probably to your ears, but I think one of the greatest sins that can be committed outside of unbelief and hatred for God, but common among men, if you will, in the realm that we live in, is treason. Treason. Why? Well, what makes sins more heinous than others? Who commits them? Who are supposed to be superiors? I mean, what are magistrates supposed to be? They're supposed to be superiors, right? Isaiah talks about being judged by children and women. Now, I don't think that that passage is talking about women leadership. I think he's talking about, he's pulling out characteristics, and I don't think he's talking about even being judged by literal women or children. I think he's talking about characteristics of children, immaturity, and women being of the weaker sex. You're gonna be judged by the weak and the immature. And let's add to that ignorance, corruption, So you've got who's committing the crime. You've got who's the object of the crime. One person is bad enough, but a family's worse. I mean, if you sin against a family, it's worse than sinning against an individual. You sin against a church, it's worse than sinning against a family. But what happens when you sin against a nation? It affects thousands and millions of people. You see, what escalates the sin? Who commits it? Who's the object of that sin? And of course, what that sin is. And why do you think that history has always, nations have always said, what's the penalty for treason? Death. Because what's the result of treachery and treason in a nation? National death. Okay, now these aren't accidents. This is not me making this stuff up. This is history. Because those men were held to account. And that's why you had the death penalty is the highest penalty in the land. It's reserved for the greatest crime in the land. Now that's not the only death penalty case, is it? There's more, there are others. Obviously the taking of a life. The difference in that is one that takes a life immediately and one that just kills over time. Poverty kills over time. when you impoverish the nation, when you make it difficult for people to make a living, when you make it difficult for people to buy groceries, to be able to get to work, when you make it difficult for people to be able to put clothes on their back in the wintertime. You kill people, it just takes longer. When people can't afford medicine, when people can't afford to go to the doctor, you're killing them. And it's just a matter of time before, you know, before that particular individual dies. This is why it's such a heinous thing. This is not, again, I know I repeated, it's not a small thing. We just don't think about it in the right light. Well, let's pick up where we left off because what I'm telling you or what I'm, I'm coming along beside Mr. Burks and supporting what he is saying as he teaches that the New Testament does not conflict with this at all. In fact, you can pick out various texts of scripture that not just don't conflict with it, but support it. that are in support of it. Once you see it in its biblical context, the light of the whole scripture. I think we went all the way through to the end of Matthew, the resurrection, the exaltation of Christ, saying all the authority had been given to him in heaven and on earth. Well, let's go to the book of Acts. Acts chapter one and verse three. He says, into these, he also presented himself. He's talking about the apostles after his suffering by many convincing proofs appearing to them over a period of 40 days, speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God. So verse three tells us that Jesus met with the apostles many times. Many times. If you go to the end of the gospel of John, you will find that he met with them many times on the first day of the week, the Lord's day. And here Luke tells us that he met with them many, and he gave them what? Many convincing proofs appearing to them over 40 days and speaking of the things concerning what? The kingdom of God, the kingdom of God. Now, that's what he was teaching them. You've got Matthew, all things, all authority in heaven and earth have been given to me. Go therefore into all the nations, baptizing them, teaching them to what? Obey all that I commanded you to obey. We talk about the apostolic authority, Jesus giving the apostles authority in his name to teach and govern over the church. that they were to teach Christians what to believe. Now listen to verse four, it says, gathering them together, he commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the father had promised, which he said, you heard of from me, for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. And when they had come together, they were asking him, Lord, is it at this time you are restoring the kingdom of Israel? Notice that's an interesting question, isn't it? I mean, it's just out of nowhere. And he said to them in verse seven, it is not for you to know times or epochs, which the father has fixed by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy spirit has come upon you. And you shall be my witnesses, both in Jerusalem and all of Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest parts of the earth. Now, a couple of things, a couple of things here. They ask an interesting question, just out of the blue. I don't think it's out of the blue. It looks to us to be out of the blue. But there's, it's reasonable to think that this question is being spurred by the things that they had, what? Heard from Jesus. that he was coming into his kingdom, that he was going to be sitting at the head of the kingdom of God, and that the kingdom of God would be established. I mean, that absolutely makes sense. And notice, Christ did not deny them an answer. He just said, it's not for you to know now. And notice what he goes on to say. in verse seven, which I think is important. And he said to them, it's not for you to know times or epochs, which my father has fixed by his own authority. And look at verse eight, even now this witness, right? The power of the Holy Spirit coming upon them so that they may witness the things concerning Christ, what? To the remotest parts of the earth, demonstrating that Jesus's intention was that the whole earth was his. And that he had authority, he was claiming it. You're gonna go, you're gonna be empowered, you're gonna go preach the gospel, I'm gonna send you even to the remotest parts of the earth. It's under my dominion. Let me find if I can put it in here on my notes. So We find this interesting question. We find that Jesus doesn't rebuke them. He doesn't correct them. He just basically tells them, no, you're going to be empowered. And then you're going to go and you're going to witness to the, to the remotest parts of the earth. Now let's go to Pentecost. Let's go to the pouring out of the spirit. Now the pouring out of the spirit, that's in chapter two. We're gonna look at verse 14 and following. In chapter two, what makes this so important is that this pouring out of the spirit was a sign of something. That is, when the spirit was poured out, what was going to be the sign that the spirit was poured out? Speaking in tongues. You don't see the Spirit, but you see the results of the Spirit. You know the Spirit's being poured out because they begin speaking in tongues, but what was that tongue, what were the tongues a sign of? It was a sign that Jesus had taken his place at the right hand of the Father. And that's what they would, that's what they would know by it. Okay. Now, let's see here. I can read this whole thing, but we find, and now it's interesting because I think it's important to note that I believe primarily the apostles spoke in tongues. Not all the people in the upper room. And why? Why do I think that? I think that because the tongue speaking was a way for the apostles to be identified as the ones with authority in the church. And remember throughout the book of Acts, they were able to pass on the Holy Spirit. Now we can't do that today. The apostles were uniquely gifted and to benefit the birthing, if you will, of the Christian church in the first century. They were uniquely gifted and authorized to speak for God that we don't do today. They could say, thus saith the Lord. No minister today can say that rightly except when they read scripture. They could speak for Christ. They could speak on doctrinal matters. They could speak. They had authority over all the churches, not just a single church. They possessed a very unique authority that no one else after them possessed. And so they were uniquely set apart through the empowering of the spirit so that the people would be able to identify these men have been empowered by God. They're speaking in a language they don't know. And they could speak in other languages they didn't know. When we go back and we get to Corinthians, you're gonna see that Paul identifies tongues as a language. I think it's 1 Corinthians 14. Paul says, and just so you know, I would rather speak five intelligent words that you know than many words you don't know. And Paul said, I speak in tongues more than any of you. So Paul could speak in all of these languages that he wasn't educated in. It was the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit had uniquely gifted Paul to speak in other languages. And that's what's happening here. If you look at the text of Scripture, it says in verse 14, and Peter, taking his stand with the 11, raised his voice. Now remember, they'd be in charge with being drunk. Okay, you see right there in verse 11, we hear them in our own tongue speaking of mighty deeds of God. And they continued in amazements, in great perplexity, saying to one another, what does this mean? But others were mocking and saying, these men are full of sweet wine. But Peter, taking a stand with the 11, raised his voice and declared to them, men of Judea, And all you who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give heed to my words for these men are not drunk as you suppose for it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel and it shall be in the last days. God says that I will pour forth my spirit on all mankind and your sons and your daughters will prophesy and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams even on my bond slaves, both men and women, I will in those days pour forth my spirit and they shall prophesy and I will grant wonders in the sky above and signs on the earth beneath, blood and fire and vapor and smoke and the sun will be turned to darkness and the moon into blood before the great and glorious day of the Lord shall come and it will be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. That's the purpose. Verse 21 tells us, what's the whole purpose of these things? For the salvation of God's elect. The pouring out of the Spirit, the equipping of the apostles, the demonstration, notice of daughters prophesying, young men seeing vision, all of these that would be the result of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit that happened throughout the book of Acts was for the purpose of what? The salvation of God's elect. He says, men of Israel, listen to these words, Jesus, the Nazarene, the man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs, which God performed through him in your midst, just as you yourselves know this man delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put him to death. But God raised him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it's impossible for him to be held in its power. For David says of him, I saw the Lord always in my presence, for he is at my right hand, so that I will not be shaken. Therefore, my heart was glad and my tongue exalted. Moreover, my flesh also will live in hope, because you will not abandon my soul to Hades, nor allow your Holy One to undergo decay. For you have made known to me the way of life and you will make me full of gladness with your presence." Now, again, notice what he said. Now, Peter is gonna give an inspired interpretation of these words. Brethren, I may confidently say that you regarding the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried and his tomb is with us today. So who is this prophecy speaking of? Peter's gonna go on and tell us. Well, it's speaking of Jesus. Jesus is the son of David. Jesus is the David prophesied and ultimately covenant made with that is going to continue on this kingdom of God. And so because he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants on his throne, he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of Christ. and that he was neither abandoned to Hades nor did his flesh suffer decay. Meaning that if the New Testament, if these Hebrews had understood the Old Testament, they would have known that Jesus was gonna be raised on the third day. They would have known it. And they would have known it by the prophecy given to David. said, then God raised him up to which we were all witnesses. Therefore, having been exalted to the right hand of God and having received from the father, the promise of the Holy spirit, he has poured forth this, that is these tongues, which you both see in here. The tongues was a physical sign that Jesus had taken his seat at the right hand of God and fulfilling the promise that God made to David that his son, his seed would sit upon his throne forever. Now look, David's not a churchman per se, is he? He's a member of the church, but he's a king. At the very outset of the book of Acts, what's being highlighted about Jesus, this is authority, he's king. He's of the lineage of David, royalty. And he possesses the power of royalty. And how is Jesus gonna use that power? Jesus is gonna use that power in the restoration of the world through the gospel that is being preached through his ordained ministers. And even the ministers that he will set up as we will see of civil magistrates, because we are learning that they too are what? Ministers of God for good. Well, he doesn't stop there because he quotes a very important Psalm. Psalm 110, look at verse 34. For it is not David who ascended into heaven, Now I think here he's addressing some of the myths, Jewish legends, if you will, that believe that God was going to raise David from the dead and establish a kingdom. But that wasn't the case. The case was that Jesus was the seed that would be established as the head of the kingdom. And he says, David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. Therefore, let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you can crucify. Lord is a title. Messiah, Christ, Messiah is an office. Christ is not Jesus' last name. His name is Jesus, Yeshua, like Joshua, meaning savior. His Office is that of Messiah, the anointed one of God, sent, a messenger, sent. He's the one prophesied. He's the one sent to do what? Recover the earth. Restore the earth, recover a people for God's own namesake. Lord is the king of royalty. I mean, Lord is, again, a title of royalty, lordship, headship, supreme headship. In a kingdom, there's nothing over a Lord. He's the highest. He's first. And this is Jesus. And I don't want us to get confused here. He's not mixing the two. We're not looking for the state to be the church or the church to be the state, but Jesus holds superiority And he holds the ultimate office as Messiah, and he holds the ultimate title as Lord. He's over both realms. For the glory of God and the good of the people. And I don't know why that is so hard for some Christians to accept. Because it's like this. God made it. It's his and he's reclaiming it all. He's not saying, I'll tell you what, I'm gonna take a few of these people and I'm just gonna give the world to Satan. Now that's what some Christians believe, but that's false. And there's not one scripture to back that up. Satan is called the God of this world, cosmos. But what does that mean? What does that designation mean? Meaning He's the God of this, the philosophy of the world, the philosophy that we talked about this morning. All of the philosophy of men, the wisdom of men, all of the teaching and systems and instruction of men that take man and lead him to the attempt to lead him to some form of goodness or greatness apart from God is of this world. Because that's what Satan is all about. You don't need God. That's his original temptation. Did God really say, you don't need him? That's always been the temptation. That's the same thing that he did with Christ. You know what, just reveal who you are. I'll show you the kingdoms of the earth. Bow down, you'll get all of this. It's always about getting something apart from God. The peace, I mean, I could go, I mean, you talk about sermons galore. You could talk about, look at all the things that men clamor after. And their attempt is to do it what? Apart from God. All of this physical activity, exercise, all of this eating healthy, I'm for it, I'm not opposed to it at all. But I'm opposed to it without God. Anything that you do for your own health and well-being, where's God in it? I mean, from the very asking of His blessing upon it. I mean, what is it to have your own strength and to live a long life, living more years, rebelling against God, not a good thing. You're only accumulating and assembling, you're only accumulating more sin for yourself. The longer you live, the more you're responsible for. Period. Let us turn to Acts 5. Acts five is the story, the narrative of Ananias and Sapphira. And this is interesting because what Thomas Burks brings out in this text is this is the demonstration of supreme authority that only the state could carry out. The church, if you will, does not have authority to take life. And yet we see life being taken in the text. Verse one, but a man named Ananias with his wife Sapphira sold a piece of property and kept back some of the price for himself with his wife's full knowledge and bringing a portion of it. He laid it at the apostle's feet. And Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy spirit? and to keep back some of the price of the land. While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your own control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to God. And as he heard these words, Ananias fell down and breathed his last, and great fear came over all who heard of it. The young men got up and covered him up, and after carrying him out, he buried him. The same thing happens to his wife. And I think Burks makes a good point here. We are not intermingling the church and state. We don't believe that that is proper or biblical. However, Christ can act in both realms. Can he not? Of course he can. What did we read this morning about those who abused the Lord's Supper? Did the apostles, were the apostles authorized to take people that abused the Lord's Supper out and execute them? What a terrible thing, I would hate to have that responsibility. I wouldn't want that responsibility. But God does, God moves in these actions because he's what? He is the superior over both realms and he carries out civil punishment. And the civil punishment carried out here is the death penalty. Now it had a religious result. It had a religious result. Look at verse 12. Let's see. The result was that The people were in awe. I'm trying to find the verse there. Oh, verse 11. And great fear came over the whole church and over all who heard of these things. So I don't think it was just a church in Jerusalem. The testimony spread through the whole church, through the whole congregations, and all of the congregations were moved to act in holy fear and reverence. That the God that they are worshiping and the God who saved them is also the God who holds the keys to, well, as Jesus said in the book of Revelation, to death. That's the very first chapter of the book of Revelation. What are the keys in Jesus's hands in the chapter one of Revelation? Keys of life and death. He holds them in his hand. It means he uses them to unlock life and to lock up life, right? And in this case, he used it to lock up life and bring death. because he can do that. Now we also have learned throughout our lesson set, right? He also judges magistrates with severe judgment, severe judgment. Was it for God didn't have it in my notes. He didn't have it in his, but what chapter is it for Herod? Oh, it's chapter 12. Look at chapter 12. And here again, what is Jesus doing? Jesus is exercising the keys of life and death. I said in verse 20, now he was very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. And with one accord, they came to him having won over Blastus, the King's Chamberlain. And they were asking for peace because their country was fed by the King's country. on an appointed day, Herod, having put on his royal apparel, took his seat at the rostrum and began delivering an address. And the people kept crying out, the voice of a God and not of man. And immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give glory to God and he was eaten by worms and died. But the word of the Lord continued to grow and to be multiplied. Now, if I remember my education on this passage of scripture and the commentary reading that I've done on it is meaning that it was both a very close death. It wasn't long drawn out, but it was one that was immediately recognized as the hand of God. He suffered greatly in his death for taking to himself the name of God. Now this is a magistrate. It's not in the Christian. This is the magistrates. And see, we look around us and we think we're so, we don't know what's going on around us. One thing, because we're not very politically minded. We've been taught quite the opposite. None of this matters. None of this stuff out here matters. Well, this matters. Here is a civil magistrate that has been struck by God, eaten by worms, and died in such a way that The people knew why he was struck dead. And what happened, verse 24, and the word of the Lord continued to grow and to be multiplied. You know, and it may be the reason the word of God has stagnated in our land is because we just don't see the God's hand in anything. We just don't see God's power working in the world, do we? We don't see God's power working in the nation. We don't see God's power. Really, the connection we make, by and large, primarily is, well, what he's doing in my heart. And that's important. I'm not begrudging that idea. We want him to work in us. But that's not the only place he's working. He's working in every situation. And listen, brothers and sisters, what we're experiencing in this national judgment is because the church is so compromised. It's necessary to awaken the bride from such a deep compromise and lethargy that this is how you get everybody's attention. Your pocketbook will get your attention. When people can't tithe, and churches close, and churches are left vacant with for sale signs on them all across the land, That has happened historically in this land. The Civil War, it happened. It happened 20, 30 years before the Civil War. I'll give you a prime example of it. And this will be where we stop and we'll take some questions. The Civil War was not fought over slavery, though slavery was always a tense topic in the church, always. The topic of slavery was tense all the way back in the 1815s, primarily through a pastor by the last name of Barnes, who was a Presbyterian minister in Virginia, who had excommunicated, or in some sense, barred a slave owner from coming to the Lord's table. And so the slave owner took him to Presbytery, took him to the church court, and basically said he didn't have the authority to bar me from the table. And the presbytery sided with the landowner, the slave owner, and told the minister, Mr. Barnes, that he had to serve that man, that family, communion. And Mr. Barnes did not heed the command of presbytery and refused to serve that family communion. And he was defrocked. He was stripped of his ministerial credentials. Okay. Now move up into the 1830s. Churches are beginning to talk about these things because Christians are talking about, listen, they would still be slavery in this land if it wasn't for Christians. Now you've heard me say this, but it's provable. This is a provable, the world would be consumed with slavery and human trafficking if it were not for Christians. Now, that being said, When ministers and sessions began to speak out about these things, particularly in the South, church members would complain to the presbytery. And many ministers lost their credentials because of preaching anti-slavery sermons. Churches folded. whole denomination shut down. There was, there was a denomination in the whole denomination. You could not join that a church within that denomination. If you were a slave owner, they, they viewed it as such a heinous sin in God's sight that you couldn't be a Christian in their view. You couldn't be a Christian and own slaves and the whole denomination folded. Why? Because the Southerners quit going to church there, by and large. Again, I'm not anti-Southern in this matter. I'm just telling you the way it is. We lost denominations, we lost ministers over that topic, over a 50-year span before the Civil War even happened. This was cultural arguments, ecclesiastical arguments going back and forth. So there was a hotbed. This stuff didn't happen just at the Civil War. This stuff had been talked about for decades. Here's the problem that the South made. Here's the problem the Southern church made. Here's their fatal flaw. Primarily Dabney. Robert Dabney, he wrote a book. He wrote a book defending Southern slavery scripturally. Now here's the problem with that, that had never been done before, ever. That is men had accepted slavery on behalf of cultural reasons. What happens when nations go to war with other nations? They take prisoners. Now that's as old as war. So there never had been, up until that book, a defense of American chattel slavery scripturally. And he made plenty of exegetical mistakes in that book. So much so, Other denominations around the world, Ireland being one, were writing to Southern church going, please give this up. This testimony is awful, and you have so many qualities and so many gifts, and you're such a light to the world, because there were many great theologians in the South. I mean, Dabney was one, James Henry Thornwell, Benjamin Palmer, just to name a few. So the church was writing and saying, please repent of this, but they wouldn't do it. And that's when the book was written, A Biblical Defense Against Slavery. And basically this book is an exposition of the 10 commandments against slavery. And it's impressive. But it shows you how slavery, I use that book in principle when I've preached against abortion, where how slavery breaks every one of the 10 commandments. And because it breaks every one of the 10 commandments, it's what heinous to break one commandment is bad to break. All of them is really, really bad. So what's the point that I'm making here? The point is, God had to judge the whole nation. Not just because of poor exegesis, no. But when men entrench themselves in such sin, that can't be remedied any other way. We're the only nation in the world that's ever gone to war and spilt blood over freeing slaves. So in all of this talk, all of this talk, BLM, this terrorist organization, everybody wants to make it black and white, there would still be slavery today if it was not for white Christians in this world, particularly Protestants. They have no leg to stand on. And if they knew history, could not get away with that. And if our people knew history, couldn't get away with that. Point being, brothers and sisters, God is over the realm of the political and religious to bring about his results. We see it. God is at work. He's at work today. and we see it going on around us. The question is, will we be faithful to see it? Acknowledge it, praise God for it, turn to Christ. What's the answer? Live by faith. The righteous will live by faith. Turning to Jesus. Exercise your own sins, get rid of them, draw near to Christ, be a helpmate to your people, be a helper to your people, be a friend, be a loyal wife, a loyal husband, be a loyal sister, be a loyal brother, be a loyal, I mean, whatever your place, be loyal, be biblical, be godly, be righteous, be just, be biblical. And don't, don't, don't, Take on the party spirit. As so many are guilty of. As I said, I love the South. I'm a southerner. I believe in many things are being restored. But not replicated. But it can never happen apart from Jesus. Jesus must be the source, the hub, the power, the object of all that we do. And if he doesn't sign off on it, it's not worth doing. He's the ultimate head. And there's nothing wrong with us holding ourselves and every other person accountable to the head. Amen. Let's take some in some