Let's begin this morning by turning to 2 Timothy 3, starting in the first verse. This know also that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God. having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof, from such turn away. We want to discuss this morning a difficult, in some ways, topic, but one that I think is good and necessary at this time. And I want to begin by asking a question, and that is, if the men who wrote scripture were alive today, how would they be living in these times? What would be their perspective on the things that we face? What would be their guiding principles? It would be very useful for us if we could know that, would it not? As we see here in 2 Timothy 3, we live in an age in which there's many professors of religion who want a Christianity that keeps office hours on Sunday. They want a religion that doesn't have any bearing or any truth claims on real life. The word that they hear preached on Sunday morning has little or no bearing on what they do on Monday morning. And they love to have it this way. Going to church, it soothes their conscience. It fills that God-shaped vacuum that we all have. And yet, at the same time, they want to be partakers with devils the rest of the week. They have a dead religion, and it's this kind of dead religion that's alive and well with us today. And one of the lies that goes hand in hand with this dead religion is this myth of neutrality. And this myth of neutrality states that many things in the secular world are just completely neutral. They're neither good nor are they evil. And this myth says that governments are neutral. It says that political parties are neutral. One is not better than another. It says that doctors are neutral. It says medicine is neutral. And in this myth of neutrality, when a government tells you to do something, you're not allowed to sit back and to question whether what they are commanding is good or evil. You're not allowed to ask whether the policies will promote godliness and human flourishing or wickedness and the destruction of humanity. No, this myth of neutrality says, no, the government is made of humans and humans are basically good. In fact, they're evolving, they're getting better all the time. And since the government's neutral and it has nothing but your best interests at heart, then you should just do whatever they say. This myth of neutrality is contrary to scripture. Humans are not basically good and getting better. Rather, the Bible says that humans are basically evil, and it even says that men will wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. In 2 Timothy 3 here, if you skip a few verses down to verse 13, it says, but evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. This myth of neutrality is based on an anti-biblical anthropology. Anthropology is just a big 50 cent word that means the study of mankind. And it's productive of harm, this myth of neutrality, in every aspect of Christian life. Not only is this falsehood based on a wrong understanding of man, but it's based on a wrong understanding of God. God is not the rightful king of the universe in an abstract sense, or in some futuristic sense. He's not the king of the universe in some way that's going to happen far away sometime in the sweet by and by. When Jesus Christ defied death, when he left Joseph of Arimathea's tomb, he commanded his disciples to take the gospel of the kingdom to the ends of the earth. Very familiar, I'm sure, with the words of the Great Commission. But the prelude to Christ's command is often slighted. I would like us to turn to Matthew 28 and take a look for this ourselves. Matthew 28, the very last words of Matthew's Gospel. Let's begin, though, where Jesus begins in verse 18. Matthew 28, 18. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. This word power that he uses here is not the dunamis, the power, raw power that scripture sometimes speaks of. Rather, this Greek word that he's using here that our King James Bibles are translating power is exousia. It means authority. That would be the best translation of that word. In other words, it's not just that Christ has a brute strength of power to conquer a kingdom that isn't legitimately his. Rather, he has the moral authority that comes with rightful ownership. When we put the primary translation of this word exousia into Matthew 28, 18, we read all authority is given to me in heaven and in earth. Now I want to read this verse the way that most professing Christians read and interpret this verse in these days. They interpret it like this. Some mystical, spiritual authority is given unto me in heaven and with Christians in their churches on earth. It's not what this verse says, and I submit to you that it is wrong to think that that's what this verse means. The authority that is given to Christ is not just a spiritual authority. It is all authority that has been granted to him. He is the creator of the world. He is its sustainer. He is its only savior and its only judge. And notice that he says that his authority is on earth. His authority is not just in parts of the earth. His authority is not just for the churches. His authority extends from sea to sea on all the earth. What this means is that anyone on earth who does not bow their knee to the monarchy of Jesus the King is in fundamental rebellion to the law of the land. And there is a divinely issued warrant for their eternal arrest. They stand condemned for their rebellion, and one day they will be judged for that rebellion. I'm belaboring this point in a lengthy introduction because there's many professing Christians who have allowed the implication of the message of Christ's authority to get siloed to what I'm going to call the Christian ghetto. They say it is only a spiritual authority and it is only for Christians and they say that it really only keeps office hours on Sunday. Now, that's not what Christ is saying here. What he's actually saying is that because he is the rightful ruler of this universe, because he is vindicated in the spirit through the rising from the dead, therefore, all authority belongs to him, not just in heaven, but also in earth, in all the earth, among all people that dwell on the earth. And because of that, his authority is greater than the authority of the greatest Lord on earth. For he is Lord of lords. And that means that right now on earth, Jesus has an authority over the US government. He has authority over the president. It's a real authority. It's not a fake, anemic, limp authority. It's not an authority that only keeps office hours on Sunday morning. It's an authority more real, Monday through Friday, than Joe Biden's authority. It's an authority greater than all the citizens of Tulsa, Oklahoma, to all the citizens of Tulsa, Oklahoma, than the authority of Mayor Bynum. That's what this text says here. That's what the Bible, in its toto understanding, says. So if Christ Jesus is indeed risen from the dead, if he is Lord of lords, and if we have bowed the knee, if we have acknowledged the lordship of Christ, then I want to ask this question, how should that affect how we answer the question, how shall we then live? Psalmist asks this question, In Psalm 119, we're very familiar with this. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? Well, that's him asking the same question that Francis Schaeffer asks in the question, how shall we then live? And of course, as you're familiar, the psalmist readily provides the answer. He says, by taking heed thereto according to thy word. In other words, the way by which we can know that we are walking in the purity of God's path is by bringing scripture to bear on our real, actual lives. That's the foundation, as we consider this morning, 12 principles biblically derived upon present matters. In other words, we want to take heed according to our way, according to God's word. This is being done precious little in our wicked and adulterous generation. As we look at some of the passages of scripture this morning, I invite you to ponder how different what we are going to see is from the lies that you hear from the world day after day. If you find that your senses are being jarred as we look at some of these texts, let that demonstrate to you just how far as a people we have drifted from thinking biblically and bringing God's word to bear on our path. Pastor James White said recently, you are spending most of your life exposed to the soul rotting religion of the culture of death. It's very true. I don't think we could escape it if we wanted to. We are in the world. We are not of the world, but we live in the world. We rub shoulders and we consume media and we see these things. And whether we like it or not, most of our waking hours, we are exposed to the soul rotting religion of the culture of death. The only way that we can combat this constant exposure that seeks to break us down is by spending time in the word of God. If we don't do that, we will otherwise succumb to the false thinking of this world. It is all too easy and dangerously easy to get conformed to the image of this world rather than according to Christ. If I can quote another pastor, R. Scott Clark, he says, Christians need to recognize that what most of their neighbors believe is not what Christians believe. I'm gonna say that again. He said this very recently. Christians need to recognize that what most of their neighbors believe is not what Christians believe. Now as we look at scripture this morning, some of the passages that we're going to be looking at, indeed quite a few of them, are going to be coming from the Old Testament. I'm mentioning this from the outset because there's a popular distortion of Christianity alive and well today that seeks to minimize the significance of the Old Testament. This distortion says that the law of Moses only brought curse and death, and we are now freed in Christ. We are now under the law of Christ, and therefore the Old Testament has little or no bearing at all in the life of a New Testament believer. Well, some of that sounds kind of good. Some of it sounds like it's even quoting scripture. But there's some problems with what they do with this. When you go to such people and you make arguments to them from the Old Testament, it means nothing to them. They minimize the Old Testament and they abhor people who have a high view of the law of God as revealed in the Old Testament. And they will tell you, well, unless you can show it to me from the New Testament, I won't listen to you. We've encountered individuals like this. Now, I don't have time this morning to fully refute that argument. It goes deep. It's very clever in how it goes subverting God's word given to us by Moses. But in very brief, I want to say this. First, we affirm the threefold category distinction of the law of Moses. There's the moral, there's the ceremonial, and there's the civil or judicial. We affirm that the moral law did not begin at Sinai, but was indeed present in its entirety in the Garden of Eden. Before Adam fell, he was not alienated from God. And he therefore perfectly knew the will of God without needing to have the law of God written down in written form. But ever since Adam fell, we have been darkened in our understanding. And therefore we need a light to guide us. That's why David says in Psalm 119, thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Adam didn't need that before he fell. He had intimate communion with his maker. But ever since he fell, this is the way that we can know because we are darkened by nature in Adam. Lastly, we affirm that though there is a threefold distinction in the law of Moses, and though the moral law abides while the ceremonial and judicial were done away with in Christ, yet, and this is very important, yet there are timeless, unchanging principles that can and should be derived from the ceremonial and the judicial law. Let's take the year of Jubilee, for instance. We're no longer obligated to have a day of releasing once every 50 years. But in that system, when someone's house was sold to pay a debt, the appraisal of that house was prorated against how many years were left until the next year of Jubilee. There's a principle there that can and should be applied. If someone's gonna lease a house for two years, let's say, it should cost more than if they're gonna lease the house for just one year. It's an application of just weights and measures in the realm of finances that we derived from this judicial law. Yet in this particular leasing example, we might say, well, that's common sense. You didn't need the Bible for that. We just would know that anyway. Someone might say, well, natural revelation alone would be sufficient for that. But I remind you, we live in crazy times where up is down and down is up. We live in a day in which the admiral of the U.S. Public Health Service Commission Corps is a boy who pretends to be a girl and uses a girl's bathroom. So if a communist, which is to say someone from the federal government, were to come to us one day and say, when you lease your house, you're going to earn a fixed amount regardless of the length of the lease, upon what basis would our objection to that be? Our basis would be the word of God. One of the passages that we would go to to make our defense would be the casebook law of the year of Jubilee from Leviticus 25. Now, this relationship that we are still to maintain with the ceremonial and judicial law is not some novel hipster doctrine that came from Phoenix or from Moscow, Idaho. No, no, no. The apostle Paul affirms this, and I want you to see this. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 9. 1 Corinthians chapter 9, starting in verse 7. Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? Or who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? Or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? Say I these things as a man? Is this just natural revelation here? Or, and look at the greater appeal here, or sayeth not the law the same also? He didn't say, oh, that's done away with in Christ, so let's just not, why would I even talk about that? No, no, no. It is written, in the law of Moses, thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Does God take care for oxen? Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written, that he that ploweth should plow in hope, and he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. What are we seeing here in 1 Corinthians 9? We're seeing Paul affirming that this casebook law about not muzzling the ox while it treads the grain has an abiding principle that we must not forget in our day. This command was not written on two tables of stone. It's not a part of the moral law as we would call it. And yet, God gave this command for our sake, he says. And we ignore this at our peril. Well, that's enough for introduction. Some of the passages we're going to be looking at are from the Old Testament. And as I have sought to very briefly demonstrate here, this should carry great weight with us, even if it's from the Old Testament. That's Paul's ultimate appeal here in first Corinthians. So let's turn now to some scriptures. This is going to, we'll look at a scripture, we're gonna be turning to a lot of scriptures this morning, 12. So I'll state the principle, we'll look at the scripture, I might make some brief comments about it, and then we'll continue to the next one. It's gonna be kind of a shotgun fashion to just try to hit us in a lot of ways here. So, first principle that I wanna lay out, a principle biblically derived upon present matters, is this. When a people are under God's judgment, their fears become irrational. Turn with me to Leviticus chapter 26. When the people are under God's judgment, their fears become irrational. We see in Leviticus 26, verse 17, Actually, let's get some context. Let's start in verse 14, then we'll skip down to 17. But if you will not hearken unto me and will not do all these commandments, verse 17, I will set my face against you and you shall be slain before your enemies. They that hate you shall reign over you and you shall flee when none pursue with you. Skip down to verse 36. And upon them that are left alive, of you, I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies and the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them and they shall flee as fleeing from a sword and they shall fall when none pursuers, they shall fall one upon another as it were before a sword when none pursuers and you shall have no power to stand up before your enemies. Let's go over to Deuteronomy chapter 32 as well. See this principle. It echoes throughout scripture multiple times. Deuteronomy 32, starting in verse 28. Deuteronomy 32, 28. For they are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them. Oh, that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end. How could one chase a thousand and two put 10,000 to flight except the rock had sold them and the Lord had shut them up. Let's go to Isaiah chapter 30. Isaiah chapter 30 verse 17. Again, he's speaking of a judgment context here. I know a lot of these passages we're looking at, we're going to be jumping into context, but if you deeply delve into it and you exegete it out, I think that you'll find that it holds the weight that I'm resting on it. Deuteronomy, Isaiah 30 verse 17, 1000 shall flee at the rebuke of one and the rebuke of five. Shall you flee till you be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, as an ensign on a hill. So that's the first principle. When people are under God's judgment, their fears become irrational. Second, fear of death makes people lifelong slaves. And this is the hallmark of the devil's children. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter two. Hebrews chapter two, verse 14. And look at what is being said here, especially as we get into verse 15. For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their time subject to bondage. Fear of death makes people lifelong slaves, This is the hallmark of the devil's children. It even says here that the devil has the power of death. Those outside of Christ are under his power and it terrifies them and they gladly become slaves. If it is the promise of one more day or one more month of life, they're under his dominion. Third principle, The whole world lies in the power of the evil one, and this diseases and biases all their earthly occupations and sciences. Turn with me to 1 John 5. 1 John 5, verse 19. And we know that we are of God and the whole world lieth in wickedness. Well, without chasing down all of the Greek this morning, a faithful translation of this, you could render this, the whole world is under the control of the evil one. Again, as I said earlier, in the same way that Christianity doesn't just keep office hours at church on Sunday, in the same way that Christ's authority is not just with his church and in the mystical out there somewhere, but it is all of the earth, in that same way, when we come to something like this and it says that the whole world lies in wickedness, lying in the power and the control of the evil one, as I say, you can render this, That does not just mean that they reject Christ crucified as that specific factoid. That means that they are under the power of the evil one. And that permeates all of life in the same way that the Lordship of Christ permeates all of life. When you reject the Lordship of Christ, that rejection and the darkness that results from that permeates all of life. We're familiar with Psalm 111 verse 10, where he says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. A good understanding have all they that do his commandments. Now, if you reject the fear of the Lord and you lack the beginning of wisdom, will that have any bearing on the rest of life? Will that mess things up down the road? It's kind of like if you're buttoning your shirt and if you get the first button wrong, is the rest of the shirt going to be buttoned correctly? Proverbs 1.7, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. That's first base. but fools despise wisdom and instruction. And I submit to you again, it's not just talking about a bloody cross. The heart of the gospel of Christ crucified is indeed central to the Christian message. But this despising of wisdom and instruction, as we are seeing in these crazy days, goes to all of life. So we'll move on from that principle to the fourth one. Fourth principle, biblically derived upon present matters. I'm going to say this one carefully. Never, aside from corporal punishment, is a civil authority allowed to require a bodily imposition upon another, but only voluntarily. It's a long sentence, I'll say it again. Never, aside from corporal punishment, is a civil authority allowed to require a bodily imposition upon another, but only voluntarily. Exodus chapter 21. Exodus chapter 21 verse 2. Thou by an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve, and the seventh year he shall go out free for nothing. If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself. If he were married, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master have given him a wife, she have born him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her masters, and he shall go out by himself. If the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife and my children, I will not go out free. Notice who's making that decision there. It's the servant plainly indicating consent. Then his master shall bring him unto the judges. He shall also bring him to the door or unto the doorpost and his master shall bore his ear through with an all and he shall serve him forever. It's in sharp contrast to this that we see that the hallmark of a kingdom of darkness is to require this sort of thing without consent. We won't turn there at this time, but you're familiar with Revelation 13. You have this beastly image and you have to be worshiping the beast. You have to have his mark. And if you don't, then you can't buy or sell. Now, what I'm going to say as a result of this is that a government that mandates pharmakia is an anti-Christian government. You will not find those kinds of examples and precepts in the law of God. Now, I want to ask a question this morning. Is it right for a government to kill you if you refuse their pharmakia? Because when you say that you cannot buy or sell in an economy unless you have their mandate, they are saying, we have the right to kill you if you don't go along with this. This is happening right now. In Austria, no buying or selling without a paper that acquired through pharmakia. Lithuania, same deal. There's people that they're not sure if they're going to survive the winter because they're buying from the backs of pickup trucks and dark black markets with cash that they're running out of. Is that the hallmark of a just government or an unjust government? And this gets back to the question of the myth of neutrality. Everything that we as individuals do is a moral action. It is either good or it is evil. It is either doing the will of God or it is doing the will of the devil. And a government is made up of individuals. So a government's not neutral either. What a government does is either legislating God's law or they're legislating law that is not of God. There is no third option. There is no neutral, vague, well, we can't weigh in on that. The scripture has nothing to say about that kind of an idea. It doesn't exist. You're not thinking biblically if you have that third category. Well, let's take the fifth principle biblically derived. Quarantining is only for the demonstrably sick. Come with me to Leviticus chapter 13. Leviticus chapter 13. Start in verse one. The Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, saying, When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh a rising, a scab, or bright spot, and it be in the skin of his flesh, like the plague of leprosy, then he shall be brought unto Aaron the priest, or unto one of his sons the priests. And the priest shall look on the plague in the skin of the flesh, and when the hair in the plague is turned white, and the plague in the sight be deeper than the skin of his flesh, it is a plague of leprosy. And the priest shall look on him and pronounce him unclean. If the bright spot be white in the skin of his flesh, and in sight be not deeper than the skin, and the hair thereof be not turned white, then the priest shall shut him up, that hath the plague, seven days. Notice that. If he is demonstrably sick, there's a seven-day quarantine that's given to him, biblically. In other words, we will not find in scripture anywhere a concept of an entire nation of healthy people quarantining themselves. It is only for those who are verifiably sick. And by verifiably or demonstrably sick, here's what I mean. They have to show symptoms. This idea of having no symptoms but still being sick somehow, it's foreign to scripture. If you're asymptomatic, there is no scriptural basis for you to be shut outside the camp. Brothers and sisters, there are real life implications to these things. We have people who would be here this morning if their facility was not quarantining for people who are not demonstrably sick. Now that being said, if you were to come into contact with someone who is actually sick or you were to come into sickness in various forms, there is a case to be made for being cautious for a finite, limited amount of time. I want to see that here so that no one thinks that we're just going crazy here. Leviticus 14 verse 43, a few pages over. Leviticus 14, 43, and if the plague come again and break out in the house, this is now talking about a plague that occurs in a house context, as you can see. After that, he hath taken away the stones, and after he has scraped the house, and after it is plastered, then the priest shall come and look, and behold, if the plague be spread in the house, it is a fretting leprosy in the house, it is unclean. He shall break down the house, the stones of it, and the timber thereof, and all the mortar of the house, and he shall carry them forth out of the city into an unclean place. Moreover, he that goeth into the house all the while that it is shut up shall be unclean until even." Well, as you're familiar with, we could take many passages in which there's an uncleanness in the law here that would result in being unclean until even. So if you come into contact with someone, we can make a biblical case. If you know them to be sick, there's a case to be made for being careful for a short period of time. Don't want to deny that. But in general principle terms here, quarantining, especially this kind of extended quarantining here, it's only biblically for the demonstrably sick. Sixth principle, biblically derived, failure to fence in an ox who is known to be dangerous is punishable with death. Turn with me to the book of Exodus, chapter 21. Exodus chapter 21. By the way, if anyone's interested in getting these references and these bullet points, I would be happy to get that with you. Exodus 21, start in verse 28. If an ox gore a man or a woman that they died, then the ox shall be surely stoned and his flesh shall not be eaten, but the owner of the ox shall be quit. But if the ox were want to push with his horn in time past, and it hath been testified to his owner, and he hath not kept him in, but that he hath killed a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned, and his owner also shall be put to death." Notice in verse 30 that there is going to be an allowance made for that sentence of death to be commuted to a fine, depending on the scenario, based on a jury system. But we see here that failure to fence in an ox known to be dangerous is punishable with death. Now, there's a couple of wrong ways to approach this passage. And I want to look at those and give you one. It would be wrong to say, well, the ox didn't hurt me when I walked through his field. And because it didn't hurt me, then I think the ox is fine. I think that we should just leave him alone. This would be a wrong way of looking at this because it would be elevating your experience and turning a blind eye to the death of an innocent man or woman. It would be selfish and unjust to do that. I think that we can see that in this example here. What about a second wrongful way of approaching this passage? You say, well, okay, okay, okay, I know that this ox gored a man, but look at all the good things that this ox and his master have done. Look at all the people that the ox didn't gore. And besides, the ox has plowed a lot of fields in the past. He and his master, they put food on the table. Let's go easy on them. See, that would be wrong because it doesn't matter how much good that ox may or may not have done in the past. This ox can't redeem himself. If he's killed a man, he dies. And if his owner was complicit, the owner dies too. Let's read verse 29 again, because there's something else I want to bring out in this particular passage. If the ox were once to push with his horn in time past, and it hath been testified to his owner, and he hath not kept him in, but that he hath killed a man or woman, the ox shall be stoned, and his owner also shall be put to death. In recent weeks, we have had people in Congress testify of a deadly ox to its owner. This ox is killing tens of thousands of people by the most conservative of estimates, and it is goring and mutilating the lives of millions more. This ox is so deadly, if you're under 30 years old, In some studies, it's older than that. You are statistically more likely to die of this ox than this thing they call COVID. Let me just give you one example. Michael Anthony Granata died on November 1st in the year of God 2021 at the age of 56. If you're interested, I encourage you to look up his obituary. His name's Michael Anthony Granata, lives in California. This ox killed him. There were nurses who would lose their jobs if they said this, but they begged him to get the word out that this ox killed him. Everyone in the hospital who was being censored knew that this is what killed him. And on his obituary, his widow says he wanted to be very clear that this ox is what killed him. This ox is so deadly it's been partially banned in Taiwan. This ox is so deadly that people who encounter this ox in the UK are twice as likely to die in total numbers than people who have not encountered this ox. I want you to think about that. We're talking total deaths here. You can play with all kinds of numbers, but total number of deaths of all things is an objective number. It is what it is. Twice as likely to die if you encounter this ox across the board. And even though this has been testified to the owner of the ox, The owner has refused to shut up the ox, but rather continues to force it upon the people. Biblically, there is blood guiltiness on the owner of this ox. Biblically, the owner is worthy of death. Brothers and sisters, it is high time that we brought the word of God to bear on how we think about government policies and mandates. If you're not willing to do that, I want to submit to you that you have not bowed your knee to the lordship of Christ in all areas. Now notice what we are not saying. We are not saying that if you have encountered this ox that you need to repent. I'm not saying that. There's personal decisions that have to be made here. I recognize that. What I am saying is that the owner of this ox is culpable and guilty and knows it. There's a day coming when Dr. Fauci and his henchmen will stand before the judgment seat of God, and like the leaders of the Third Reich in Nazi Germany, at the Nuremberg trials, they will give an account for their bloody, murderous ways. Biblical principle number seven. I know we need to hurry here. Adding to the commands of God is great wickedness. Adding to the commands of God is great wickedness. Deuteronomy chapter four. Let's turn there. Deuteronomy chapter four. Start reading in the very first verse. Now, therefore, hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments which I teach you for to do them, that ye may live and go in and possess the land which the Lord your God, Lord God of your fathers, giveth you. Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you. You see these, these professing Christians that run around, they have these masks on. It says, love your neighbor. You see these so-called Christians who are pastors, prominent one in Texas, saying that to love your neighbor properly, you must get this experimental shot. Brothers and sisters, loving your neighbor must be biblically defined. Loving your neighbor is the second great commandment. If you don't love your neighbor, the truth of God is not in you. Loving your neighbor is not optional. And so if you put that on equal ground, loving your neighbor with, and therefore put a mask on, and therefore get this shot, you have added to the word of God. And I remind you that in the Bible it says that if you add to the word of God, God will add to you the plagues that are written in this book. Eighth principle biblically derived. The Christian is commanded to test all things rather than to blindly trust the so-called experts. 1 Thessalonians chapter five. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 21. Very short here. Prove all things. Hold fast that which is good. Now you'll recall that the Bereans, it says, were no more noble than those in Thessalonica. Paul's exhorting these in Thessalonica to prove all things. If the Bereans searched diligently whether the things Paul told them were true, we see that in Acts 17.11, how much more should we be searching our pagan leaders who have a proven track record of lies and deceit? A Christian's default position, biblically, is to distrust ungodly leaders and ungodly science. That is not rebellion. That is submission and obedience to the Lordship of Christ. Biblical principle number nine, the Christian is not to render to Caesar the things that are God's. Turn with me to Luke chapter 20. I'm sure we're familiar with this one. Luke chapter 20, starting in verse 21. They asked him, saying, Master, we know that thou sayest and teachest rightly, neither acceptest thou the person of any, but teachest the way of God truly. Is it lawful for us to give tribute unto Caesar or no? But he perceived their craftiness and said unto them, why tempt ye me? Show me a penny. Whose image and superscription hath it? They answered and said, Caesar's. And he said unto them, render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar's, and unto God the things which be God's. Your body, your face, your image, that belongs to God. It does not belong to Caesar. And Caesar does not have rights forcibly modifying it. He does not have the authority to tell you to cover your face. And he certainly has no right telling you that you must alter your DNA or mRNA. We are made in the image of God. This coin here, the way that you can know whether you're supposed to render something to Caesar or God, whose image is it? The reason that this coin is Caesar's, it's got his image on it. He made it, he issued it, he guarantees it. It's his. Render it to him, Jesus says. But we, who are made in the image of God, Caesar does not own us. 10th principle, biblically derived as Christians. We are to speak truth one to another. Ephesians chapter four. Ephesians chapter four, verse 25. Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor. For we are members, one of another. I want to flesh this out with some real-life examples. Gibraltar, south of Spain, has a 100% vaccination rate, so-called. And yet they've canceled Christmas. They've canceled all the public gatherings this Christmas. They're all masked up. Why? COVID's through the roof in Gibraltar. So is this thing safe and effective? Oh, they didn't get their third booster shot, that's it, right? Well, that third booster shot's literally the second thing repeated, right? Right. Give another example. I mentioned Rachel Levine earlier. Calling him a her, you're not speaking truth to one another. Rachel Levine is a man. He was born a man, he will die a man, he will stand before the judgment seat of God as a man. This whole, we're gonna extend pronoun hospitality as loving Christians, uh-uh. Speak truth one to another. Eleventh principle, truth is viewed as a national security threat in the eyes of a God-hating nation. Truth is viewed as a national security threat in the eyes of a God-hating nation. Jeremiah chapter 28 and verse four. Jeremiah 28 verse four. Sorry, Jeremiah 38, verse four. Again, we're jumping into context here for lack of time. Therefore, the princess said unto the king, we beseech thee, let this man, speaking of Jeremiah, be put to death. For thus he weakened at the hands of the men of the war that remain in the city and the hands of all the people in speaking such words unto them. For this man seeketh not the welfare of this people, but the hurt. Oh, see this, this prophet Jeremiah, he's trying to hurt Christians, not just Christians, he's trying to hurt the whole nation. We need to get rid of him. He's a security threat. He's a traitor. Yeah. All right, 12th and last. Scripture prophesies of a day in which men enrich themselves by deceiving the nations with so-called medicine that results in death. I'm going to say that again. Scripture prophesies of a day in which men enrich themselves by deceiving the nations with so-called medicine that results in death. Revelation chapter 18. Verse 23, The light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee, and the voice of the bridegroom and the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee. For thy merchants were the great men of the earth, for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints and of all that were slain upon the earth. translated sorceries here in verse 23. In the Greek, it's pharmakia. You can translate this, it's the use of medicine, drugs, or spells. So what it's saying here is that these great merchants of the earth, big pharma, you could call them, they are enriching themselves by a medicine-based deceit. And in parallel to that, in conjunction with that, the people of God are put to death. And there's non-Christians who are slain here too. You see that in verse 24. all those slain upon the earth. I submit to you, regardless of what eschatological understanding you want to bring to this verse, that we need to take this as a warning to us. If you have no category for a medicine-based deceiving of the nations, if you laugh that off as some kind of far-fetched conspiracy theory that could never happen, you're not thinking biblically. So brothers and sisters, just to summarize here, I want to go through this list one more time, look at them in review. Number one, when people are under God's judgment, their fears become irrational. Two, fear of death makes people lifelong slaves, and this is the hallmark of the devil's children. Three, the whole world lies in the power of the evil one, and this diseases and biases all their earthly occupations and sciences. Four, never, aside from corporal punishment, is a civil authority allowed to require a bodily imposition upon another, but only voluntarily. Fifth, quarantining is only for the demonstrably sick. Six, failure to fence in an ox who is known to be dangerous is punishable with death. Seven, adding to the commandments of God is great wickedness. 8. The Christian is commanded to test all things, rather than to blindly trust the so-called experts. 9. The Christian is not to render to Caesar the things that are God's. 10. As Christians, we are to speak the truth to one another. 11. Truth is viewed as a national security threat in the eyes of a God-hating nation. 12. Scripture prophesies of a day in which men enrich themselves by deceiving the nations with so-called medicine that results in death. I meant to mention this between the 10th and the 11th point, but if we're to speak truth to one to another, and if the world views the truth as a national security threat, when you pair those two understandings together, what happens? That means as we're having normal church life together, as we're speaking the truth one to another, a God-hating government is going to view what we do as a national security threat, simply for thinking biblically. The Bible introduces that concept to us and says that we should expect that. So I asked this question. In the beginning, I said, well, how would the biblical writers be viewing present things? I'm gonna ask this question, does it seem as we've looked at these scriptures that the scripture would be in step and the writers of scripture, would they be in step with this great reset? Would they be in step with Fauciism? Or would they be standing in clear condemnation of it? Brothers and sisters, we need desperately to be united in these days. United not at the expense of truth, but united through and by means of the truth. I'm saying that him, A mighty fortress is our God. I want to read the third verse again. Though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us, we will not fear, for God hath willed his truth to triumph through us. The prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him. His rage? we can endure. For lo, his doom is sure. One little word shall fell him." May God unite us in his truth. I want to say this. Will you pray for me? Pray with me for your brothers and sisters who aren't going along with this? I don't want to be anyone's conscience. If you want to go play with this ox, you can do it. I might not recommend doing it, but if you want to, you're not in sin. But will you pray with us for those whose jobs are on the line, for those who maybe can't get jobs because they're not participating in this? And if there's anything here that has been said that you think is going amiss, will you pray that we will come together and we will understand, one with another, what we are dealing with in these days? It's not a time for corporate prayer, but let me close us with a brief one here now. Lord, we thank you for your word. We thank you that it is a light unto our feet and a lamp unto our path. Lord, we pray that you would take the dross of what has been said here and scatter it away, but that which has been said according to your word would stick with us. Lord, we pray that you would challenge us, that you would convict us, that you would show us how to walk in your truth, that we would think biblically, that we would apply scripture to our real and actual lives. Lord, I pray for those who do not want to go along with this mandate, whose jobs are threatened. Lord, as a church, I pray that we would weep with them, that we would pray with them, that we would recognize the seriousness of this for them, that we would be united in the truth, that we would speak truth one to another, that it would be in love and not in anger. Lord, help us to love each other as Christ has loved us. Lord, help us to do all things for your glory and help us to glorify you as we worship you this day. We thank you for that. In Jesus name. Amen.