We're in Romans, and we're in chapter 13. Fairly long book to work our way through, but we're getting there. And this is an important chapter for us. It's a chapter no one likes. You pay nothing for what I'm going to say. They're my opinions. I don't have to convince you of it, and you can get a refund if you don't like it. I will tend to be indiscriminately offensive about it. It has words for, I think, most Christians reject Romans 13. They don't think they do, but they do, and I'll show you why. But Paul's in the application section. He has spent a lot of time building theology through 11 chapters of this book. And in chapter 12, he said, therefore, in light of everything I've said to you, let's talk about how it changes your life, how you ought to be a living sacrifice. Sacrifices give 100 percent, not 90. There was never a sacrifice on the altar that spoken of in Leviticus that was a 90 percent sacrifice. There's also a never a sacrifice that survived except one, Jesus, right? Now, it survived by resurrection. They died to it. So even Jesus, He tasted death for every man. We're to be now a living sacrifice. We don't need to die as He died because we died by faith in Him. We're sharing that and sharing His resurrection. But Paul says you can now be a living sacrifice. Your manner of worship to God in this time is not to take animals to the altar or to church, it is to give your life wholeheartedly to God. How will you do that? There's a negative and a positive in Romans 12. The negative is don't be conformed to the world. It's a passive verb about being pressed into the mold of the world. The world calls upon us and tells us how to think, it tells us how to dress, what entertainment to listen to, what radio to listen to, all that stuff. And Paul says, don't be conformed, don't be pressed into the mold of the world, but be transformed, which always starts from the inside out. It's a renewing of the mind. You wouldn't need your mind renewed if when you became a Christian, you already knew what you needed to know about God. It's precisely because you come into the relationship with God, knowing virtually nothing, that God says, let's rebuild the whole thing. We're going to start over with a brand new foundation, and we're going to brick and mortar the whole structure of your thinking. We call that a worldview, the renewing of the mind. It's a very unique term that Paul uses, and it's not a term really used elsewhere. And it's really saying more than an overhaul, more than getting a detailed job at the car wash, just making things shine a little better. He wants to radically change how you think. So if your general thinking every time you read something in the scriptures, yeah, I already think that way. you're probably missing a whole lot. We should read the Scripture and find that God frequently is telling us to think in a way that's entirely different than what we're accustomed to. Our perception matters. If you read the end of Hebrews 5, and I won't turn there, but he says that you need to take in the Word of God, not merely the milk, but the meat of the Word of God, that which is proper spiritual food for mature believers, who were able to discern good from evil. That's Hebrews 5. They can discern good from evil because they've had their senses exercise the word that we get the English gymnasium from on the basis of the Word of God. How do you exercise on the basis of the Word of God? You're actually applying it. You're being flooded with information. We're flooded with ideas about Darwinism. We're flooded with ideas about origins. We're flooded with ideas about just telling boys from girls. It used to be a very easy task. It's not anymore. Of course, the genetic code cannot lie. But the fact is, we're flooded with this information. How shall we cut through it? We better have a renewed mind. We're going to be indoctrinated in it, primarily through public schools. And if we're going to see through it, see through God's eyes, we need a renewed mind. And we're not always conscious of our own, uh, uh, like we, we have blind spots. We think, well, no, I wouldn't do that. We have blind spots. If you don't want blind spots, you get in the word of God. So he starts talking about that. And he says, this living sacrifice is going to be, and I'm going to read to, before we get to 13, I just wanted to give this background that we talked about a week ago. Uh, he says in chapter 12, verse three. Through the grace given unto me, he says to every man that's among you not to think of himself more highly than they ought to think. First thing that Paul wants us to make sure of, and this is something repeated throughout the New Testament, Jesus says it, Peter says it, Paul says it, is you need humility. If you're going to have a renewed mind, it's not a puffed up mind. It's easy to start learning the things of God and then become better than everybody and smarter than everybody all of a sudden. All that does is prove that you lack maturity. You can know a whole lot and be immature. Solomon was brilliant in wisdom, but he was a major mess up for much of his life. It is not enough to know if there's not an attitude of humility, then there's a problem. And so he focuses heavily on this humility here. And then he talks about what love looks like, talks about love. He even says in verse 10, be kindly affectioned one to another. That's the word, it's off the word storgos, which is more of a familial love among brethren. But in verse 10, he also says with brotherly love, that's that Philadelphia phileo love, a strong emotional love. So this whole chapter, this living sacrifice is all within this notion of love. And what's the big motivators right there in the first verse? I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, God changed you. you didn't deserve it he extended mercy you were the one sinking in the quicksand and you could spend like most people a lifetime trying to struggle your way out of the quicksand God pulled you up because you received the gift by faith by the mercies of God now be a living sacrifice so with all that background look how he transitions right at the end of chapter 12 these were the two verses I didn't read last time verse 18 it said to be peaceable with all men as much as is able He basically says, you can't always live at peace with people, but when I look at the situation, God says it better not be your fault. If you have to give up some rights to have peace, and I'm not talking about your Second Amendment getting people upset at me. Within a relationship, you can give up some rights. You know what that right is? The right to tell other people and correct them and pick out every flaw like you're a surgeon. We tend to pick out the flaws that we ourselves have. You don't have to get the last word. See, there's decisions you can make to live peaceably with every person. And then he says, don't avenge yourselves, verse 19. Avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath. Do not avenge yourselves. Make room. He says, give place unto wrath. What's he talking about? We're going to have enemies. Some of them we can live peaceably with, some we can't. Some might be government folks. that hoard their power over us, there's nothing we can do about it. God will level the playing field, and he will do a better job than I can. You do not need to take vengeance. Make room, he's saying, for the wrath of God. Here's how it works. I can be in here wrestling with these guys all the time, or Paul says, why don't you step back? Let God deal with that. Now what he says, he says, avenge not yourselves. Jesus talked about this, it's real simple in the Sermon on the Mount. Turn the other cheek. It's a non-retaliation, not passivism. That's a different thing, but non-retaliation. You don't always have to get the last word. You don't always have to get even. Avenge not yourself, but give place unto wrath. That's God's wrath. For it's written, vengeance is mine. God says, I'm the one in charge of getting them back, and I will. And he's going to talk more about that in chapter 13. I will repay, saith the Lord. God says, I'm going to deal with that. You step back from it. Therefore, thine enemy hunger feed him. I don't like him. Yeah. You know what he never does? He never says you have to like him and he never says you have to respect him. I've got a lot of people that I've gone to know over the years here and there that I just have absolutely no respect for. They do one of the two things I despise. This is my personal thing. I don't like laziness, and I don't like liars. And I won't like you if you are the one. I've known them in the ministry, I've known them at work, I've known them in all kinds of places. People that are lazy, people that are liars. The lying type seems to be a qualification for our vote. But the fact is that I don't like you. And God says, I don't care. He says, if your enemy's hungry, feed him. See, because agape love looks like that. Pride, where he started at the beginning of 12. Pride tells me they don't deserve my love. They don't deserve me feeding them. He said, if they're hungry, feed them. That sure is a complicated verse, isn't it? If they're hungry, feed them. What part are we missing? I know there's not a social gospel. I said that last week. In the sense of this Bible having a core purpose about running soup lines, but this Bible says something repeatedly about doing for those who can't. And then when we get beyond the part we're able to do, God does the rest. Otherwise, you couldn't feed 5,000. He says, if he thirsts, give him a drink. For in so doing, you'll heap coals of fire on his head. He's quoting from the Proverbs. He's taking an ancient Egyptian practice, and I can't fully explain it. It's weird. They would wear a hat device that was like a big metal plate, and they would put burning coals up there. It would sort of burn the top of their head, and when the coals were done burning, you would go knock on your neighbor's door, and you would request to have more coals to put on your head, and your neighbor, showing their love for you, would take the hat from you, and they would take it upon themselves. It was an ancient practice. Solomon was very familiar with the Egyptians. The Song of Solomon is very Much similar to Egyptian love poetry. He knew the culture members first wife. Who was she Jewish girl? Who did he marry first? Right Farrell's daughter, right? He married a different girl. He knew all about him. So he used that illustration But it was the illustration, you know with this coals of fire, so they kind of understand this He says in so doing you'll you'll heap coals of fire on his head. You'll you know, I you can love them in response instead of hate them. Our problems, we want to get even and we get mad quick. One day, driving to this church, we decided to go through the McDonald's, and it was one of those ones that has the two lines where you order, but then it goes down to one. And sure enough, I said, that woman just cut in front of me. And I was kind of mad about it. I shouldn't be. You know what happened when I got up in line? She paid for my food. I'm seriously had a heart attack, and I'm saying, Yeah, I'd say, thank you, God, because you're reminding me how easy it is, how easy it is. You get mad about things. And, you know, he says, don't do that. Just show love back. You'll be fine. He says, be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil of good. So with that in mind, there's an evil in the world that people had a big problem with. It's what we get to new stuff in chapter 13, and it's called the government. Right. And it's a weird thing about this government thing, because We read this text through the eyes of being folks in the United States, usually. And I have to wonder about the Christians in China right now, where they're clamping down on the churches. You need to read it like they would read it, because that's how Paul meant it. When he's writing to the Romans, he's writing to a vicious government, a government that is repressive, a government that considers Christians to be atheists, because In their view, emperor worship is required, and everybody worships the emperor first and their god second. It's polytheistic. And here comes along someone like Paul and the other apostles, and they're saying, Christ and him alone. And that gets you in a lot of trouble. And the government's against them. And before long, Paul will have his head chopped off by this government. It's interesting. He will talk about the government wielding the sword in this passage. And it is the sort of execution that will take his life shortly after. And Paul says to the Christians in North Korea and to the Christians in Iran, he says to them, you need to submit to your government. Think about that. He says something more. He says, God put that government in place. We think God put Trump in place and not Obama. And that's a problem. That's not what God's word says. So let's look at it. Let every soul, that's you and me without exception, every soul, every person, be subject unto the higher powers." Now, one might think, well, that could be like angels, but it becomes apparent that's not. There's no power but of God. Now, think about that for a moment. No power but of God. Let's read something real quick from John 19. I want you to see this. I don't usually flip around a lot, but for this text, we need to, and we'll just get as far as we get. John 19. Jesus is talking to a Jewish leader, really a puppet, but I mean a leader over part of the Jewish people. His name is Pilate. It's John 19, verse 7. Listen to what Jesus says. In verse 7 of John 19, the Jews answered and said, we have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the son of God. Jesus was not killed for feeding the 5,000, or for being a good teacher, or a good rabbi, or living a clean life. He was killed because he claimed to be God. That is it. That made him a blasphemer. When Pilate, therefore, heard that saying, he was more afraid. He's afraid of the people. He's what we would call a weasel. He's a politician, like so many, whose method of leadership is to figure out what the latest poll says. whoever they think is the winner, you know, the mass of public opinion, they do it. So, he went in again into the judgment hall, and he saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? Where did you come from? But Jesus gave him no answer. We call that the Fifth Amendment. I'm surprised we criticize people today for not... I'm serious to heart attack. I've heard a lot of Christians, I don't know why some of them weren't guilty, they would talk at trial. He didn't answer. you realize the fifth amendment comes out of the bible that's the reason christians wanted that into the constitution because otherwise you could make confessions but in any event when uh... then saith Pilate unto him speakest thou not unto me knowest thou not that i have power that's his mistake that's his mistake i have power to crucify thee and power to release thee it's interesting in this book at the moment they arrest jesus in the last chapter and the soldiers came he exhaled and they fell down You know, Jesus isn't taken against His will. He is the willing sacrifice. It says we're to be in Romans 12. And so it says, listen to this response. Thou couldst have no power at all against me, except that we're given thee from above. Therefore, he that delivered me unto thee hath a greater sin. He says you have no power except what God gave you from above. That is true of pilot. I voted yesterday at the library and the runoff election between our two mayoral candidates I don't like either one of them Who will put one of them in power and we vote and we ought to as Christians and we ought to vote Christian principles consistently Even if it means our candidates gonna lose miserably I don't want to go vote for the wrong candidate because they're gonna get more votes But I'll tell you at the end of the day God will ordain the candidate that will be in place Donald Trump our next mayor the prior president the one that will succeed Trump all ordained of God, without exception. There will never be a candidate, and God will say, well, God, what am I going to do now? That throws my old, I wanted this guy to win, but y'all overruled me when you voted. God's never going to say that. He doesn't. He didn't do it with him. You know, it's even in this book of Romans, and we're in Romans 13. Slide back to Romans 9 and look at Romans 9.17. This is, again, a different context, but just look at what he says in 917. For the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose, that is, God's glory, have I raised thee up? He didn't create Pharaoh. I mean, he did, but that's not his point. He says, you specifically, Pharaoh's a title, it's the king of Egypt. He says, you specifically I put in power, and I can take you out. He said that, and I won't turn to Daniel, but you'll remember a fellow there named Nebuchadnezzar. I don't think we have him on our... Oh, we do. Well, you know, this is for Nebuchadnezzar's grandson that we have on the wall, who was a big fool. Nebuchadnezzar was not a big fool. And God says in Jeremiah, I raised up Nebuchadnezzar. He's my servant to do my will. You say, what'd he do? He brought judgment on the southern kingdom, on the nation of Judah. He destroyed the temple. God can do that. God can also rebuild the temple as He does in Zechariah. Nebuchadnezzar is out there looking at his garden and thinking about how awesome he is, and he's sort of got a shirt on that says, I love me, right? And everyone says, oh, King, live forever. You're so awesome. He says, I built this and I built this. He's looking at his castle. And by all accounts, His palace was an architectural marvel in Babylon. He had the hanging gardens and all these things. He says it one more time, it's all me, all me, all me. God says, I'm going to let you eat grass for seven years, like a cow. Now, I'm going to supernaturally protect you from being assassinated by a would-be successor, but you're going to eat grass for seven years until it dawns on you that none of it was you. It was all me. that raise you up. Now, he's not completely passive. He's just not sitting around doing nothing. Nebuchadnezzar went into battle. God raised him up and put him there, and God calls him His servant. So just get hold of that. You say, but Nebuchadnezzar wasn't a Republican. Nebuchadnezzar wasn't even in the United States. How can that be? Because that dictator of Korea that I've got no use for, and in the supreme uh... you know guy and in iran i've got no use for that matter god says i've ordained his government those christians under those repressive regimes and in us in our government which may become quite a repressive in in a very short amount of time uh... violence always is persecution always begins by marginalizing people in particular speech always and we're seeing that on a dramatic uh... You know, it's here. We're seeing that. But maybe it'll come. And God will still say, I've ordained it. And if they exceed their authority, vengeance is mine. He already said that. Vengeance is mine. He'll deal with it. So this is hard for us because what Paul has said here, he says there's no power but of God. So nothing about what you think their political platform is, whether you agree or disagree, it's of God. And the powers that be are ordained of God. That is just as clear as it can be. If it were not that way, God would not be sovereign. In a world that has little gods over little countries, and you've got the god over the river, and the god over the sea, and the god over frogs, and all this nonsense, you've got a god that says, I raise nations, and I take them out. Isn't that what he did in Romans 9 with Pharaoh? Just took his army out, flooded them in the Red Sea. And he's going to raise a final king that Revelation 19 calls the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. So it's all going to come together. The universe is going to unfold exactly how God wants it in exactly his timing. While we're here, God uses human government primarily to create an environment where righteousness could flourish. Otherwise, our justice system's not perfect, but otherwise we're going to have people dueling in the streets, people fighting, people taking vengeance for themselves. He says in verse two, whosoever therefore, that's us, we're the whosoever, resisteth the power, read God's ordained human government, whoever resists it, resists the ordinance of God, make no mistake about it. When you resist the ordinance of human government, human law, you are sinning. Now, human government does not have the right to exceed their authority. They cannot order us to do that which God has said we cannot do. They cannot require us to not do that which God said we must do. When, you know, when human government says you can get an abortion, we don't have a right to go and blow up the abortion clinics. When human government says you must get an abortion, we're going to sterilize you, we not only have a right, we have an obligation not only to say no, do what we have to do. So, you see that it play out in Acts 4 and 5. You see good examples. You see John and Peter there, you know, preaching, and they're told, you don't preach Jesus again. Now, they could have been told a lot of things that they would have said, yes, sir, but when they said, you don't preach Jesus again, now you've gone too far. Now you've exceeded the authority delegated to you, and you're telling us to do that which God, you know, telling us not to do that which God said we must do, and so we're going to do it anyway. We'll put you in jail. Fine, put us in jail. What happened after they put them in jail? It's hard to keep them in jail. They put Peter in jail, people got saved in jail. We have things called prison epistles that got written from jail. That stuff's not going to slow down Christianity. If anything, it's going to speed it up. It's going to expand our borders. in that way. So, whoever resists the power of God is sinning, and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. And that's from the government. That is, you'll receive some punishment. I have found that when I go past the speed limit, which I've always considered suggestions, sometimes I receive damnation, which is a ticket. Thankfully, in the last ten years, I've only, I think I've gotten maybe two, but I was getting two or three a year. Not all for speeding, though, I will say that, and I'm not showing off. I'm just telling you, did I deserve it? I'll tell you this, with one exception, I never told a police officer, I didn't have it coming to me. If he said I was going 50 and I was going 50 and it was a 40, then I ought to have gotten pulled over and I ought to pay the tickets, how it is. The last time I got a speed ticket for going 40 and a 40, and I thought better not to plead with him and waited until I got in front of the judge so they could say, are you guilty? Yeah, I went 40 and a 40. I was going 50 and a 40, but the ticket said 40 and a 40. What can you do? They didn't make me pay. But I'm just telling you, and we have more serious crimes in this country, right? People steal money. People kill other people. All kinds of terrible things happen. And the justicism isn't perfect. We've seen cases of people convicted of terrible crimes that the DNA evidence has later shown couldn't possibly have been guilty. It's not perfect. But it is the only system we have. It is the best system we have. It's probably better than most countries. And if someone does a serious crime, I think they ought to be put in jail. And that's what God's saying. He's using human government to try to maintain some order so that righteousness can flourish. He says, rulers are not a terror to good work. So that's a maxim. If you'll keep your nose clean, as we say in the country, if you're generally doing what the government requires you to do, you're not a troublemaker, rulers are usually not going to be a terror to you, the government, but to the evil. It's the lawbreakers that are usually in trouble. And this is a problem if law, you know, being a Christian becomes breaking the law. Now we've got a problem. That's why Chinese people in China, have home churches. They are breaking the law. People in Vietnam and North Korea, a lot of places, are breaking the law to have church. And that's right that they should do that, because that's what God has said. I want to listen to God first and government second. But here, just as a maxim, If we'll do right, we'll be okay. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have the praise of the same." Even the pagan government may say, this is a good citizen, they've done nothing wrong. For he is the minister, this is the government, is the minister of God. Ouch. See, this is real simple, because a lot of people don't like submission. I don't want, you know, a wife shouldn't submit to a husband, I'm not going to submit to the pastor, I'm not going to submit to the government. When God delegates authority and you disobey the delegated authority, you're disobeying God. It's real simple. It's just like if I tell one of my older kids, can you go tell one of the younger ones, clean the room? They say, well, I'm not going to clean my room because you ain't the boss of me. Yeah, but where did the order come from? This isn't complicated. The order came from God, right? The order comes from God. And I say, well, but this mayor or this president or this senator, he's not God. So I ain't going to do it. We're missing the point. If thou do that which is evil, be afraid, for he beareth not the sword in vain." I would argue, this is no doubt talking about capital punishment and punitive measures in general. Other places I won't turn to, Deuteronomy 28, God implemented the death penalty as part of the law. After the flood, as sort of a new dispensation seems to start, Noah is told that God will require the life of one who murders. The Ten Commandments prohibit murder. They do not prohibit the death penalty. God has unquestionably delegated the ability of a government to do a death penalty. A separate issue, as Christians we should all be concerned with, a death penalty ought to be done in a just way. A person that's accused of a capital crime ought to have a lawyer, and in my opinion, a good one. This country doesn't usually do that, unless you've got money. If you've got money, you'll get a good lawyer, okay? But we should all be concerned about that. And I think sometimes people confuse the two. Does God permit a death penalty? It's more than that. He's ordained that it's so. As Christians, if we're going to be in support of the death penalty because we think it's there in God's Word, is that the end of the question? Not really. Deuteronomy says, justice thou shalt do. God talks about justice all the time. You shouldn't have a much higher probability of getting a capital death penalty because you're poor. I'm just offering that for food for thought. We need to be careful about being so black and white. It's unquestionable that the Bible says death penalty. a fact that years ago I did some pro bono work with one of the courts of appeal, federal courts of appeal, asked us to take habeas petitions. That's when prisoners say our rights have been, you know, broken and they need a lawyer. And they asked us to take these cases. I mean, out of 150 or so cases the firm took, we won at least 95 percent of them. This was a fairly conservative court saying, I think those prisoners did have some rights that were taken. So be careful about being just so black and white that it's that simple. These issues, social issues like that, are much more complicated. As Christians, let's be leading the charge that says, let's do what's honest. Let's do what's right. Let's have a death penalty, yes. There's people that need killing. I mean, they're bad. People kill little children and stuff. At the same time, our system ought not to be corrupt, because I don't want someone who didn't do it go into jail or get into death penalty. Just think about that. But understand that the notion that God doesn't permit a death penalty is biblically absurd, because it's right here, and it's in Genesis 9, and it's in Deuteronomy 21. and it's in other places. So they bear the sword and they don't do it in vain for he, the human government, is the minister of God. They're doing God's work. Who else was a minister of God? Nebuchadnezzar, right? Killed a lot of people. God can do that. A revenger to execute wrath upon him that does evil. Wherefore you must be subject not only for wrath but also for conscience sake. Don't just be subject to government because when you do get caught speeding they can give you a fat ticket be subject to government because you ought to have a clean conscience before God. And God expects us to do the little things, and he would say to me, get your foot off the gas pedal. But the big things, too, right? Like when you file the taxes and you don't really have a home business, but the tax preparer says, if you'll say you have a home business, you can take money off for that computer each year. So you make a decision in that moment. It's just you, the tax preparer, and God sitting in the room, just the three of you. and you make a decision, right? So it matters. And for this cause, pay ye, and I'm going to read the real word, pay your taxes. Says Tribune, right? Pay your taxes. Like, our taxes are too high. Yeah, you ought to visit Rome for a while. We haven't even gotten close. Now, we've got some people who want to be president right now that want to do what Rome did, but the fact is, at the moment, we're not even close to what they were paying, because they not only had to pay the Roman government, they had to pay the extra layer that the publicans, right, as we call them in the Gospels, people that become apostles, like Matthew, they're publicans, they collect tolls and taxes, and they add on their paycheck, and you think, well, I've got an eye on that new bath boat, And that I want a new truck to pull it. Wife wants to get the kitchen redone. I'm going to make the taxes higher. That's what happened. You don't like it? I'll have some of these soldiers come get you. Just think about that. This is the government he's talking into and he says, pay your taxes. But Paul, but nothing. For they are God's ministers attending continually upon this very thing. God's going to have a tax day too. He's going to have an April 15th where he deals with these people. Not our problem. Render, therefore, to all their dues, tribute to whom tribute, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, and honor to whom honor. One thing I would add, and I won't go and read it, is from 1 Timothy 2. He says to pray for your leaders. He says here, honor to whom honor. And I'll keep this as simple as I can. My perception is that when our candidate wins, we love to pray for him, and we love to pray for him publicly. And when the other candidate wins, who we despise, and we think they're ungodly, we don't like to pray for them. We may not. And we don't like to pray for them publicly. The Bible calls that hypocrisy. That's what it is, and it's a sin. You're either going to pray for all of them, even, you know, Trump may or may not win next time. If you don't like Trump, then you should be praying for him, right? Even if you don't like him. But if you love him, you think he's the best ever, either the next, you know, there's going to be a president after him, whether it's this next term or the one after. Eventually, it's going to swing the other way. It's just a fact. I've been long enough around to figure out that you don't get a Ronald Reagan every year, and you're going to have a different one. And are you going to pray for them fervently and publicly? Really? That will determine whether you were a hypocrite all along. It's so critical for us. God says, step out of the political milieu that's just sort of become to identify evangelicals as meaning, essentially, you know, conservative politically, step out of that and say, God, you ordained this government. I don't have all the answers why. I can scratch my head as to why this person or that person's in office. I know you ordained it. I know you said to pray for the leaders. And I know you said to show honor to whom honor is. So how I use my words on Facebook when I'm posting those wicked things about the candidates I don't like and God saying, didn't I tell you I would judge every idle word Every idle word, especially the ones on Facebook about the candidate you didn't vote for, the conspiracy theory. You've done no research to see if any of it's true, but you're going to go on there and say, well, this person killed so-and-so and did this and did that. Okay. Honor to whom honor. I can deal with people's ideas, but how I say what I say publicly, social media, any other context becomes especially critical. And I think it tells a lot about us when we talk about those we disagree with, politics or any other issue, theology, whatever it is. And I just take this to mind. I hope this is the part I was telling you earlier. I'll try to be equally offensive, but this is hard for us. And I hear a lot of folks who have come to the idea that when you have someone you believe is ungodly, maybe they're in political office, you have the right to say whatever you want, however you want to say it. And Paul says, honor to whom honor. That's because God put them in that office, not because they deserve anything. I hope that makes sense. Owe no man anything. He's going to move to back to, you know, all this issue from 12 through this has been about loving people. And he says don't owe any man anything but to love one another. But I will say this. He's not saying you can't borrow money. He's saying pay back the debt. There's a difference. Well, I thought under the United States federal law, I could rack up a bunch of debts, sign a bunch of loans, we call them IOUs or promissory notes, promise to pay back my student loans, my credit cards, and a host of other things, and then I could run into bankruptcy court and say, I don't want to pay them back. It only costs $1,200 to do it, and you can get rid of every debt except your student loan. You can't get rid of that yet, but they're trying to change that. That's why that's one of the big political issues right now. because they tricked me into taking all that money and using it for school, right? At 8% interest. So I won't pay it back. I'll go to bankruptcy court, and I won't pay back the credit cards for the computers and the TVs and all that stuff I bought that I couldn't afford. And the law says I can do it. The problem is, God's law says you can't. God's law says something in it about making your yeas, your ayes, and your nays. When you sign the dotted line that says I'm going to pay you back, if it is possible within your means, and I know sometimes things happen. I've known people who, yeah, they owe a house note, and they had a stroke, and they can't get out of a chair. If you're able to pay that note back, and you said, yes, I will, you ought to. Even if the law says you can weasel out of it. He says, don't owe any man anything. I'm just saying, I'm just strong words, and I'm open for everybody disagreeing with me. I know the Bible says I should mean what I say. My word, if you use old language, should be my bond. There shouldn't have to be a written contract for me to keep it. And I'm just saying. So what's the answer for us about debt? Don't get too much of it. It's really that. When you get a bunch of debt to acquire things you couldn't otherwise purchase, you have a lifestyle that says to God, your provision for the moment for me is insufficient. And you see, it's a heart and spiritual problem. that gets us overloaded to get debt with the begin with, and the bankruptcy isn't a good way out. The good way out is something like, and you can listen to, you know, Financial Peace University by Dave Ramsey or something like that, just some good practical tips on how you get out of the problem and don't dig the hole any deeper. Enough said about that. He that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. Jesus said that. He was asked, well, what's the most important commandment, right? And he says, you need to love God and love others. That's the most important commandment. The law is the holiness of God. If I want to fulfill the holiness of God in a very practical way, it will come out from loving other people. He's talked about that the entirety of chapter 12, and even here in chapter 13, he's saying, love your government. That's what he's talking about. So, for this, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not kill. These are like the Big Ten, right? From Exodus chapter 20, this is the Big Ten. Thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness. Thou shalt not eat meatless burgers. We put a lot of things under this, but the Big Ten, right? And we should. The only of the Big Ten not repeated in the New Testament is the keeping of the Sabbath. Thou shalt not covet. Yeah, this is important. And if there be any other commandment, he knows there's other commandments, but to an audience that has a lot of Jewish people, they're thinking even beyond the Big Ten. But he says this, It's briefly comprehended. If you really want to get down to the essence of the law, it comes right out of Leviticus 19, verse 18, and it's what he's saying here. He says, it's comprehended briefly in this, I shall love thy neighbors thyself. So simple. Hard to execute, easy to understand. Love work is no will to his neighbor, therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. And we're going to pause there because the next verse gets into the rapture and some things like that that I want to put off. Any questions, comments, thoughts before we close?