If Your Enemy is Hungry...

I'm Range Pierce, and this is Let the Scriptures Speak. There's a well -known phrase that says, check your premises.

A premise is a basic assumption, belief, or prior conclusion that serves as the foundation for your current reasoning or conclusions, something that one might call a presupposition.

The phrase is essentially an injunction to re -examine your underlying beliefs, especially when your thinking leads to a contradiction, paradox, unexpected failure, surprise, or persistent problem.

In other words, if you find that you are looking for something that isn't there while overlooking what is there, you need to stop and check your premises.

The purpose of this program is to do just that, to challenge various premises that are oftentimes thought of as Christian, and to do so directly from the source that defines the thing itself, that is, the scriptures.

Whether someone believes like a Mormon that men can become gods, or like a provisionist or Arminian promoting libertarian free will, or even a

Reformed man calling for a Christian prince, when we come to the defining source of the

Christian faith, that is, the scriptures, it is only here we are enabled to check our premises.

Matthew chapter 3 verses 7 -10 gives us a preview of what we are finding in Romans chapter 12.

John the Baptist was preaching repentance and baptizing when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for his baptism.

He said to them, You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance, and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves,

We have Abraham for our father, for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham, and the axe is already laid at the root of the trees.

Therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

The Apostle Paul writes with a style that employs lists of items in order to make his point. Whether in Romans chapter 1 or Galatians 5, he drives his point home by not just telling us what, but also telling us why.

And the message of Romans 12 is no exception.

But far too often, the mind of the natural man concludes that the apostolic reasoning process just isn't good enough and decides to turn the

Apostle's point on its head in order to make the message more to his own liking.

Reviewing the last episode, we discussed the significance of Paul's instructions for Christian behavior in Romans 12, 1 -13, and how these things connected to the glory of God that he concluded chapter 11 with, that one produces the other via the renewed mind.

Much like in chapter 7, this presents a problem in need of a solution, what we might call the

Christian conflict, the idea of living by the flesh in mind and practice versus living by the spirit in mind and practice.

This presents a conflict between the flesh and the spiritual man. He explains this more in verse 2.

Worldly thinking leads to worldly practice via the carnal mind, the old man, the way we were before, while spiritual thinking leads to spiritual practice via the renewed mind, the changed man, the spirit -driven man.

You following me here? So how do we measure these things?

This is oftentimes the question at hand. Are we to measure these things? Are we even looking for these things in our own lives?

Well, first of all, we need to ask ourselves some questions as well as those we're listening to.

One of those questions is, what are you hearing? Remember, out of the mouth, or perhaps the keyboard, the heart speaks.

Ask yourself, are your thoughts and values carnal or fleshly, or are your thoughts and values spirit -led?

This is a key point in living the Christian life. If you're still stuck back in that carnal mentality, you need to be taking a look at whether or not you have an inventory that lines up with a changed life, a converted person.

Remember, as we continue this study, the apostle is defining these things for us.

He's telling us as we go along, these are the things that the renewed mind will produce.

So as we do this, take a spiritual inventory. What do you see? What do you hear? What are your priorities?

Are your priorities in keeping with repentance? If not, you need to take a step back and bear proper fruit, just like John the

Baptist warned the religionists of his day to do. Remembering that spiritual thinking leads to spiritual practice, here in verse 2,

Paul explains the purpose and need for a renewed mind when he says, so that you may approve what the will of God is.

The point here is that a renewed mind produces thoughts that are subject to God's thoughts here.

I want to stop my message here a minute and reemphasize that point here. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that.

So this is to be, so that this will happen. So this enables this.

So by the renewing of your mind, so that you may approve what the will of God is, that which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Let's try that. Okay, now, and that results in, or evidences, that which is good and pleasing and perfect.

We talked about that a second ago. Now, Paul expands on this thought in 1 Corinthians 2, verses 12 through 16, and if you'll turn with me there, we can look at that.

But before we do that, I want to kind of, this is a live show, this is my first actual live interactive show where I'm actually engaging, and I have the

YouTube chat up over here, and I have promised the YouTube chat folks that are there, the very few,

I don't get the audience James gets, and I get that, that's part of what, that's part of, that's just the way things are, okay?

But I have promised them, here's the plan folks, just so you know, toward the end of the lesson, I will take questions from the chat, the

YouTube chat. They do need to be concise, folks, so that I can read them quickly, answer them, and then discuss them, discuss that from the text, etc.

So I've got various tools here at my disposal, it is a one -man show, but I just wanted to take a minute and point that out as we move forward.

But yes, this is a live show, and so I am paying attention to the YouTube chat slightly right now, just in case something really good comes across that I have to stop and address.

But at the end, hopefully we'll have some good questions, and like I said, I'm willing to go back to the beginning of Romans 11 and discuss 11 and 12, because that's what these programs have been about so far.

So back to the lesson, Paul expands on this thought in 1 Corinthians 2, verses 12 -16, where he says,

Now we have received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the depths graciously given to us by God, of which depths we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the

Spirit, combining spiritual depths with spiritual words. But a natural man does not accept the depths of the

Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually examined.

We're going to come back and take a closer look at verse 14 a little later. But he who is spiritual examines all things, yet he himself is examined by no one.

For who has known the mind of the Lord that he will direct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

So what does this look like in practice? Back to the summary. First, recognize that God is the one distributing the faith.

In other words, he is the renewer of the mind. So he exhorts you to have a renewed mind.

How do you have a renewed mind? The Lord grants you or gives you a renewed mind, sovereignly.

The renewed mind produces humility and sound thinking that is given by God through and by faith.

God's sovereign work in the body gives distinct functions and gifts according to grace.

Gifts like prophecy, service, teaching, exhortation, generosity, leading, and mercy.

These are the things that are in keeping with repentance. These are the things that we are governed by.

And that the renewed mind produces a changed life that actively loves without hypocrisy.

I pounded on this on the last program, the idea that love without hypocrisy is not just a bottomless pit of sloppy agape.

It has a purpose. There is a holiness to it.

It is not a hypocritical thing and it abhors what is evil according to verse 9 here on the screen.

Hating evil while clinging to good, it loves and honors the brethren. Serving, rejoicing, persevering before the

Lord, is devoted to prayer, helps, and is hospitable toward the saints. And that's the review.

So we're 10 minutes in. Picking up in verse 14, the apostle continues now. Verse 14, bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse.

Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep by being of the same mind toward one another, not being haughty in mind but associating with the humble.

Do not be wise in your own mind, never paying back evil for evil to anyone, respecting what is good in the sight of all men.

If possible, so far as it depends on you, being at peace with all men, never taking your own revenge, beloved, instead leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written,

Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink, for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

And that's the text for today. Up to this point, I'm going to check the chat real quick, okay, chat says they're here for me, all right, that's great.

Well, moving forward, up to this point, the apostle has been very clear regarding Christian attitudes and behavior and that the renewed mind produces a changed life that gives tangible evidence of that change.

I'm going to repeat that. The renewed mind gives tangible evidence of the change.

If you're looking in the mirror and you're still seeing the same old man that you were before, it's time for a spiritual inventory.

Let's move forward. Then in verse 14, verse 14, verse 14, we find an astonishing command, to bless those who persecute you, to bless those who persecute you.

Now, there's so many different groups, but one in particular that can come to mind here, you really got to think long and hard about the rhetoric we're hearing and seeing on social media and the videos that are being put out from various circles, whether or not they understand or even care about this command, to bless those who persecute you.

The very thought of this command grates upon fleshly thinking. The very thought of this command grates upon fleshly thinking.

Like fingernails on a chalkboard, folks, this idea is considered so backward, so upside down, it is impossible to understand for the natural man.

So when I hear ridicule of this perspective, when

I hear or see ridicule of this point of view of these things, what

I am reminded of is what I read for you earlier in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, verse 14, but a natural man does not accept the depths of the

Spirit of God. If you don't accept these things, folks, what's the driving force in your thinking?

What's going on in your head? Where are your values? Where are your practices?

Well, the natural man does not accept the depths of the Spirit of God for their foolishness to him.

So when you hear them ridicule these things, this right here is what comes directly to mind, and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually examined.

So the fleshly reaction here should be easy to understand, right? Hear me, a fleshly reaction should be easy to understand and identify when you see it, when you hear it, you should know it right away.

Instead, these verses are seen as weak, cowardly, and compromised.

That's what they say. They mock it. They take memes out, and they mock this mindset.

They mock these things. Well, they mock them because their worldview, the way in which they're approaching the quote -unquote

Christian faith, isn't Christian. These guys are posers.

Someone who responds this way is still stuck in his carnal mind. He hasn't been changed.

If he'd been changed, he's wanting to submit to these things. He's wanting to submit his will to the will of God, and Paul is laying out for us what the will of God looks like.

The fleshly response to this command is 180 degrees in opposition to it.

Think on that. It's 180 degrees in opposition to it. So you see these memes, you see pictures where, for instance,

James' face has been all distorted, and they're crying out, Sacralism, Sacralism.

Well, let's dig into that a little bit further as we move along here. Right now, we're in verse 14 still.

Bless those who persecute you. Anticipating their response, though, anticipating a fleshly response,

Paul doubles down and expands by commanding them to bless and do not curse.

He commands them to bless their persecutors. Don't curse them.

I don't see where there's any other alternative left. It's either you're blessing them or you're cursing them.

But he's telling us the spiritual response, the spirit -driven response is to bless them, and he's going to explain this further as we move along.

So bless and do not curse, but the flesh. The flesh wants to lash out and respond exactly with the very cursing that he warns against.

But for Paul, the matter is not up for debate, and he just simply moves on. He ends it right there and moves on and continues to teach those who have the renewed mind.

This is how you are to be. This is how you are to behave. And now we're dealing with the things within the body, the true body.

This is how we're to conduct ourselves. Connecting us together, first of all, he tells us to rejoice with those who are rejoicing.

Well, that's easy. Rejoice with those rejoicing, but then we need to weep with those who are weeping.

We're there, we're joined together. So as wonderful news comes down the pipe, we rejoice with the brethren who have wonderful news.

Sad news that comes along, we weep with them as they go through this time, the time of mourning.

We weep with them. How, though? How is it that we're doing this? How are we rejoicing with them on the one hand and we're weeping with them on the other hand?

By being of the same mind. What kind of mind? A renewed mind.

The renewed mind also, folks, isn't haughty. It isn't arrogant.

It doesn't set itself above others. It's humble. So being of the same mind, not haughty, but wise.

So look at the juxtaposition here that he's laid out for us. On the one hand, there's the haughty.

We're not to be this. On the other hand, there is the wise, wisdom. We are to be this.

We are to be wise. And we are to, in the process, associate with the humble.

So as we're associating with the humble, we're recognizing something else.

We're not, never, retaliating with evil. Never paying back evil, for evil, with, to, anyone.

Are you seeing this? We're never to retaliate with evil. That's just it.

Instead, we are to be respecting of what is good. Respect that which is what is good in the sight of all men.

All kinds of men, okay? Being at peace with all.

So I'm gonna discuss this in just a second. So far as it depends on you, being at peace with all men.

So all of these things, let me get my laser pointer back out. So all of these things that he's listed out here, and the things that came prior to this, come to this culmination, right there.

So far as it depends on you, you are to be at peace with all men.

Then ask yourself, when I listen to what I will call the bigotry that we hear and see online from quote -unquote reformed men, as they try to advocate for a

Christian prince, who's no Christian at all, stood up enforcing

Christian ideas, thoughts, and values upon society, how is that peaceful?

It's not. It's not. So the question at hand now, being at peace with all, how are these things done?

Well, they're done through the renewed mind. I know

I'm just pounding the daylights out of this, but there's so much rhetoric flying around.

We need to understand there are hard lines being drawn in Romans 12.

Hard lines. And if you're not looking to be on which side of the line, whether it's carnal or whether it's spiritual, you're not going to understand the difference between the two and the enormous chasm that stands between them.

We do these things by having the renewed mind, but the natural man can try to fake the spirit all he wants.

But it's only by the spirit that we're enabled and changed. Only by the spirit are we enabled and changed, and that the renewed mind acts this way toward one another, as well as the world around us, because we've been changed or set apart.

That spiritual change is what sets us apart from the rest of the world, whether it's a

Jew, whether it's a Gentile, no matter who. Okay? We've been set apart.

Consider the opposite, though. Let's flip the script around. Consider the opposite in all of these examples.

If we are to be this way, then the opposite is that we are not to be that way.

If we're to be this way, we're not to be that way. He makes this very clear as we walk through it.

Now, do your unbelieving friends and neighbors know about this? They sure do.

They know full well what a Christian looks like, how a Christian acts, and how a

Christian talks. They know. So the question at hand then is, what's your testimony look like?

What are you putting forward to your neighbors in the way of a testimony and in the way of a witness?

Because guess what? You know what's at stake in all of this? The credibility of the gospel.

If these changes are not part of your life, what good is the gospel?

It's empty. It's hollow. There's nothing there. They know the difference between a spiritual man and a carnal man.

They can see it. And that's the thing, though. The man who behaves this way, the man who behaves this way, the man who behaves this way, there's something different about them.

And the idea here is that is your testimony to intrigue them and to draw them in to listen to you because you're not a hypocrite.

You're somebody who's actually living the life, and they can see it, and they can hear it in you, in everything you do.

And they know there's something different about you than what they have and who they are.

So this goes to the difference between that which is carnal and that which is spiritual attitude.

The other thing is they're going to look for whether or not they see someone who is self -righteous.

Do you look at these things in your own life and think that they make you better than your neighbor, your unbelieving neighbor?

It doesn't. When it comes right down to it, the only difference between you and him is that you've been graced, you've been mercied, and you've been changed.

That's what's going on here. See it and ultimately understand that the end game here is that you are to be at peace with all men.

And the apostle continues here in verse 19, never take revenge, beloved. Remember that command in verse 14 where we were just looking right up there at the top?

All right. Bless those who persecute you. Well, if you're blessing those who persecute you, you're never taking revenge.

Instead, leave room for the wrath of God. So this is really important that you understand this.

You need to leave room for the wrath of God in your life. And what that tells us is that God is active.

God's paying attention. God's taking notes. God's involved here.

So leave room for the wrath of God. Why? Well, it's written, vengeance is mine,

I will repay, says the Lord. But for the Christian nationalists, they don't seem to understand this.

They seem to think that this is something they've got to do. Instead, they seek to take matters into their own hands.

I don't see a trust in God here with them. I don't see an understanding of God's hand sovereignly acting within time, right now, right here, at this moment.

Instead, they want to take matters into their own hands through the means of government and that by force.

So we don't like the way the world is behaving around us. Do you think I do? I don't. Of course,

I don't. But you see, I see a different solution than you do, Mr. Christian nationalist.

And I recognize that the solution that you're offering up is not the Christian message, it's a carnal one.

You're trying to take us back to that time where, you know, men who are putting on the robes of holiness and prancing around as the example and everybody needs to like you and everybody needs to bow down to you and everybody needs to behave in this particular way.

And all they are, folks, is whitewashed tombs. How is it we haven't learned this lesson?

How is it we haven't seen this? Instead, Paul here has invoked something that is straight out of the middle of God's law.

You realize that? Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord, comes out of Deuteronomy 32, verse 35, the song of Moses.

Let's take a look at it. Verse 35, vengeance is mine and retribution.

In due time, their foot will stumble for the day of their disaster is near and the impending things are hastening upon them.

For Yahweh will render justice to his people and will have compassion on his slaves when he sees that their strength is gone and there is none remaining bond or free.

And he will say, where are their gods? The rock in which they sought refuge?

Who ate the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their drink offering? Let them rise up and help you, let them be your hiding place.

See now that I, I am he and there is no

God besides me. It is I who put to death and give life. I have wounded and it is

I who heal and there is no one who can deliver from my hand. Now, I want to take a quick look at this part of this text here because there's some things here we need to pay attention to, one of which is verse 39.

The first part, well, verse 39 is going to be the focal part of it, but the first part of it, see now that I, I am he.

Now, consider this idea that there's only one true God. This is what he's saying.

But Mormons, this is a great verse to take a Mormon to. Yahweh says he is the only

God there is. There's no God besides him. You see in it?

Only one true God, okay? But then we see down here, after this, it is

I who put to death and give life. Hmm, wonder what this has to say about, you know, sovereignty over his creation and libertarian free will.

He's the one doing, putting to death. He's the one that gives us life. And you hear the Arminians and you hear the provisionists, they make all kinds of philosophical excuses or philosophical, put us into conundrums.

But ultimately, when it comes right down to it, what they're wrestling with isn't us or our rhetoric.

It is the rhetoric of Scripture. It is the rhetoric of God. God explains with clarity here.

He's the one who puts to death. He's the one who gives life. He's the one who wounds and he is the one who heals.

And there is no one who can deliver out of his hand, okay? And next, the apostle invokes

Proverbs 25, 21. Consider this seriously.

We're not to take our own revenge. We're to bless those who curse us or persecute us, all right?

Instead, if your enemy... Now, there is an acknowledgment here that we have enemies, number one. Seeing that,

I mean, flat out, straight up acknowledgment that we do have enemies. So, if your enemy is hungry, feed him.

Oh, invite him into your home, sit him down at your table, and feed him a brick sandwich so it can break his teeth.

Oh, no, that's not what the apostle has in mind, is it? And that's certainly not the text, but we'll come back to that in a second.

And if he is thirsty, give him a drink. For in so doing, you will heap burning coals on his head.

Now, just in case you get the idea that Paul is just speaking as Paul, and Paul is just, you know, rattling these things off,

I want you to recognize something. Paul is quoting from Proverbs 25, verses 21 through 22.

Oh, wait a minute. This is out of the Old Testament? The Old Testament tells us to do this?

Don't believe me? Let's take a look. Proverbs 25, verses 21 through 22.

If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat. And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.

For you will heap burning coals on his head. Is this not wisdom literature we're looking at?

Oh, yeah, I guess it is. But here's the part that Paul leaves out, and it really does pound the last nail in.

And Yahweh will repay you. Do this, and Yahweh will repay you.

Oh, heap burning coals on his head. How, by feeding him a brick sandwich?

No. Give him food. Give him drink. Aid and comfort is the command here for the

Christian in dealing with his enemy, okay? So the end result of this, here's the punchline, do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Think on it. Think on this. This is the Christian response. And this is the

Christian solution. And the Christian result is not to be overcome by evil, but to overcome the evil with good.

But a Christian Prince, folks, is no solution at all. It's not here.

It's completely missing from this text. Now you may say, Rich, you haven't gotten to Romans 13 yet.

We're going to get to Romans 13 in the next episode. We'll dig into that. We're going to look in, and by the way, before I forget, we're going to look at the concept of sphere sovereignty.

Now if you Google, or AI, sphere sovereignty, you're going to get all kinds of graphs, every kind of graph under the sun, whether it's political, whether it's spiritual, all kinds of different ways of looking at sphere sovereignty.

But we're going to break this down and Romans 13 down in light of the sphere sovereignty that existed when

Paul wrote it. See, that's the thing. A lot of the philosophy types, the conundrum arguers, they want to look at Romans 13 and they go, well, this means this for us, and that means that for us, and that means that for us.

But when we go back to the context of the political atmosphere within which

Paul wrote it, and we actually look at that construction and recognize that it was that governmental system that first imprisoned

Paul, let him out, re -imprisoned him, and then finally executed him.

But let's not get too sidetracked here. So here's the punchline. Don't overcome evil by evil, but overcome evil with good.

That is the Christian response. Anything else, folks, anything diametrically opposed to it, just take the

Christian label off because it's not Christian. It isn't. There's just nothing there.

We'll take a look at Romans 13 later. So now here's the portion, we're half an hour into the show, about 34 minutes now.

Here's the portion where now I've got to get brave, and I'm going to look over, and let's do this.

So it's just me on the screen now with my little bug down there, all right?

And we're going to go to YouTube chat questions. This is my first live show, kind of braving into this.

This is a lot harder than you think it is, certainly, than it looks. So let's see what YouTube chat has given us here.

So looking at this, like I said, I'm accepting questions.

They need to be concise so that I can read them and discuss them. One comment here from Kevin Milner, the

Christian nationalists seem to think that the Crusades were our example and not the Apostle Paul. This is a really good point.

We need to recognize that when we get to wanting to flex our muscle of masculinity and stir our testosterone up, then

Christian nationalism, the Crusades, and all the other things, the guys going online with their cosplay of armor and their cross on the chest, etc.,

and their big sword in their hand as they sit in their mom's basement, I think, that's my opinion, but take it for what it's worth, they tend to flex that muscle.

But my point all along has been, it is not in keeping with Romans 12. Now this does give me a thought,

I see a lot of,

Stephen Aker says, I see a lot of Crusader attitude in the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Church, yeah? Yeah, but you see, the distinction there is these particular groups aren't solo -scriptural groups.

They're not bound by Scripture. They in a lot of ways can approach things however they want, and historically, as they appeal back to their own history, it was sacral.

It was church and state wedded together, and so the state carried out the desires of the church, and the church carried out the desires of the state.

They were wed together, but I don't see that anywhere in the New Testament. I see completely the opposite, and so I do want to mention something here.

We talk about blessing those who persecute us. A common thought that is put forward by the

Christian nationals, and I have to tell you, I've seen this in Reformed circles a lot, and that is the idea of invoking an imprecatory prayer.

In the Old Testament, especially in the Psalms, you will see David, as well as others, invoking prayers that God would conquer their enemies, using terms, phrases like that he would break their teeth or worse.

I don't—I've always said it this way. Having an imprecatory prayer that God would bind your enemies, that God would bind those who would do harm to you, that would harm your family in the middle of the night, for instance, that God would be your protector, your great protector, that's all well and good.

But how far we go with that prayer, that God would kill such as one, that God would take the life of your enemy, that God would crush them, those kind of things, the imprecatory prayer must be tempered by Romans 12.

I'm not saying that Romans 12 throws it out. I'm saying it must be tempered by it.

So as you're thinking these thoughts, ask yourself, are they in keeping with all the different things that we just went through?

So consider that along the way here. Let's see what else. Here's your question. Is it OK to pray—OK.

So here we have the ultimate modern -day imprecatory prayer, folks. Aug Make Fire Good, he's one of our regulars in the

Dividing Line channel, question, is it OK to pray for space lasers to destroy our enemies or other government intervention to protect

Christians? Why not?

Right? Yeah. OK. So Heritant Thinker wants me to keep the verses on the screen here.

I'm not sure what verses you have in mind here. I can go back to the last set of them here, verses 19 and following here.

Let's see here. The statement about binding the church and government into their hierarchy is so incredibly relevant to bind the two takes from both.

That's a really good point, and I can't even pronounce your handle, so I would if I could.

The government is God's servant. So it is to punish evil according to what God calls evil. It is to protect the good as God defines it as good.

It is our job to remind them of that. Now, I don't dispute that. It is our job to understand and remind the government of that which is moral, of that which is right and holy, that it not be overcome by evil but be good.

So when we get into the next teaching, this is important to understand.

The government has a role that is to be righteous. God will hold these leaders accountable.

I believe that. But at the same time, I think it's a mistake to look at your own government and see it under a

Christian banner, under a religious banner, when it's secular as all get -out. Even at its brightest point, it's still a secular organization.

And so this is where the Christian voice needs to be screaming from the rooftops, whether it's end abortion now, whether it's fill in the blank.

But that doesn't put the church in a place where it throws on the armor of the state and picks up weapons of warfare in order to go out and violently and militantly lift up the cause.

The weapon of warfare for the Christian is the gospel. The weapon of warfare for the

Christian is the gospel. We are not looking to slay our fellow men.

We are looking for God to convert them, to give them that renewed mind that we've been talking about here.

So that's really important as well. Let's see here. Steve Aker says,

Scripture is the food that renews the mind. I'm all for more of these programs, Rachel. Thank you.

And I very much appreciate that. So it's my plan to continue on to do this, and I'm hoping as I get more comfortable doing these live and being able to interact with you guys on the screen,

I'm very much interested in continuing to do that. Because I have to tell you that for me, especially the first few shows, going from an environment where you're teaching in front of a

Sunday school class with 50 to 70 people in it, and I can look people in the eye as I look around the room, and they ask me questions, we're interacting, to an environment where I'm literally sitting here in front of computer screens.

I mean, I've got 10 screens broken down over here, and I've got four others over here, and then

I've got a camera right there, and I'm looking at you through that. It's a very different feel.

And one of the things that I was doing before the program was praying, Lord, give me that perspective where I'm back in that room where I feel that I'm speaking with real people.

And that's one of the reasons why I wanted to bring the YouTube chat into the scenario here where I feel like I'm communicating in a live manner, in real time.

And so we're just hoping to continue on with this, and I'm hoping to get better and better as I do so.

All right, well, I think at this point in time, here we're 43 minutes into the lesson.

I've wanted to kind of keep these somewhat short. Og Make Fire Good clarifies this question, stems from a desire for someone to intervene in Nigeria.

I get that. I get that, and again, I think it's important that when you have an abusive government, you want

God to intervene, and sometimes that means using the military of another government.

I get that, but that doesn't make that government Christian any more than when we look at the

Old Testament and we see how God used the nations around it to bring Israel to its knees and bring it into, as it was conquered and was occupied.

We see these things. So I see the point.

I see the question. But these are lines we need to be really, really careful of and have our eyes wide open.

And at the same time, if we're going to be New Testament believers, we need to follow the

New Testament model that is laid out for us. So I'll go from there.

Well, as I go along here, I think as we do these programs and I interact with the chat, we'll get more live interest than we have today, but I hope this has been a blessing.

I do want to flip down for the next slide as we're coming into Romans 13, and I was talking before about this, that first verse, every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities.

There is no authority except from God, and those which exist have been appointed by God.

We need to understand that the apostles living under a government that is persecuting, heavy -handed, there's no velvet glove, it's an iron -fisted government that he lived under that would eventually take his life.

But as we look at, for instance, the book of Acts, and all the evil deeds that God used to bring

Paul to Rome, and then all the things that happened with Paul in Rome, it's important that we understand that.

So okay, one last question and then we're going to wrap up here.

Alton asks, should we consider those in Christian nationalism, our brothers and sisters, in the faith?

Why or why not? This is an amazing question, and this is really what I was trying to go after here. If I encounter someone who is claiming the name of Christ to be there, and yet I see a fleshly life,

I see them advocating fleshly things and wanting carnal solutions to spiritual problems,

I'm going to do with them exactly what John the Baptist did with the

Pharisees and the Sadducees. I can't look in their hearts.

I can't know if they are going through a time of spiritual rebellion that the

Spirit of God will eventually bring down. I know in my early walk that happened with me, and God got my attention the hard way.

So I can't know what the Lord's doing. I'm not the

Holy Spirit, and I'm not the one who is engaged or able to check the faith.

I can check my own faith by the standards that we've seen here in this text, in Romans 12, and I continually do it, and that's why

I thought it was important to share these things with you. So the only thing that I can do is rebuke them for their false doctrine, because that's what they're advocating is a false doctrine.

Is that a damnable thing? I don't know. I don't think it is, but at the very least it's a false doctrine, and they need someone to tell them to stop it and start looking at this text and start bearing fruit in keeping with repentance, because what they advocate for, there's no repentance.

It's keep the law under the iron fist of the government, enforcing it.

The problem with that is it puts us right back square in the very premise and attitude that John rebuked when those men came to him, because that's how they conducted themselves.

That's how they did things. It was all legalism, legalism, legalism. Well, you know what? I'm going to try to witness to these people, and I'm going to show them the truth, and they can sit there and say, oh, you're punching right, or you're being mean, or you're being this, or you're being that.

Fine. The natural man doesn't accept the things of God, so where are you?

What does that do for you? Because I'm going to show you the things of God as spelled out quite plainly in the passages that we've looked at here.

I think we're going to wrap up right there, but recognize something.

If I'm going to, let me expand on that previous thought just a little bit longer here, and then we're going to go ahead and wrap up.

If I'm going to look at them as believers, what does that do for me? Well, we're back to love without hypocrisy, and abhor evil.

What they're advocating for goes directly against the gospel narrative, and so we need to be calling them to repentance, and we need to be preaching the gospel to them.

If they're in our churches, we need to be bringing them under discipline if they refuse to repent of this, and if that means eventually putting them out, yes,

I believe that that has to happen. Because on the one hand, if they're just simply posing, we can't have them leading.

We can't have them proselytizing. On the other hand, if they are going through a season of sinful thinking, we need to preach the truth to them, tell them the truth, because the scriptures are valuable for teaching, for reproof, for training in righteousness.

With that, okay, we're going to go ahead and wrap it up right there.

We're at 15 minutes in the program. I thank you. I thank the chat over here.

You've been so gracious with me this morning. No hecklers. Hecklers drive me crazy.

They really do. I just think it's so disrespectful. It's not something that I go to other channels and do, and I don't understand how anyone has time to do it themselves.

So with that, I thank you. Blessings to all of you. See you next month on the next show.