 This piece of advice in the Bible is not for us to follow. Thanks Markers. In the Bible, there is an account when the apostles are brought before the leaders in Acts five and they are told not to go out and to spread the word. They do and they're brought in. And then let's pick up in Acts five and I want you to see what this man by the name of Gamal what he says and let's see, is this what we're supposed to do in dealing with people who let's say if they're teaching something bad, something heretical, some false teaching, should we follow his advice in dealing with them? In 533, starting verse 33 says, but when they heard this, meaning the apostles, in 533 says that when they heard this, meaning the people, they were cut to the quick and intended to kill them. That is these leaders, but a Pharisee named Gamal, a teacher of the law respected by the people, stood up in the council and gave orders to put the men outside for a short time. And he said to them, men of Israel, take care of what you propose to do to these men. For some time ago, Thutus rose up claiming to be somebody and a group of about 400 men joined with him, but he was killed and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. After this man, Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of the census and drew away some people after him. He too perished and all those who followed him were scattered. So in the present case, I say to you, stay away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or action is of men, it will be overthrown. But if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them or else you may be even found fighting against God. Question, should we follow his advice whenever we are confronted or we see someone saying something outrageous who has a ministry that is leading people away from the gospel? Should we say something? Should we call them out or should we follow his advice? Well, the truth is this passage gets misused a lot of time, particularly by people who want to defend the wolves. We are not to use this advice for ourselves. This is just given an account. This is not an order. This is not a directive. This is not a prescription by an apostle. It's not a prescription by Jesus or the Bible. Do not follow this advice. Why? Because this is towards the men of God. Oh, by the way, if we read it more, guess what happened? They get taken out and flogged anyway. But this is towards the men of God. However, if we are men and women of God, then what we're saying might actually be called and caused by God. As a matter of fact, it is. The Bible nowhere tells us, as believers, to ignore the wolf. The Bible nowhere tells us to ignore the false teacher, to ignore the false prophet. The Bible never tells us. As a matter of fact, let's look what it does say. Paul himself says this in Ephesians 5, 11. He says, do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them. The different things that people do, the sinful things, especially these heretical teachings, expose them. As a matter of fact, Jude, what does he say? Instead of writing and saying we have this wonderful faith and convening each other and encouraging each other about the faith, what does he say? He says, I found it. Verse three, I felt the necessity to write you, appealing to you to contend earnest. He said, beloved, while I wanted to make every effort to write to you about our salvation, I instead wanted to write you and tell you, make sure that you contend for the faith, to fight for the faith. Why? Because it's bad. As a matter of fact, let's just finish reading what he says. He says, for the faith which was once and for all, handed down to the saints for certain persons have crept in unnoticed those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons. We can stop there. So there's a reason why he tells us to do so. And it's not just Paul in Ephesians. It's not just Jude. And if we think back to Paul again, Paul is at his death bed. Remember, second Timothy, Paul is in prison. He is on his way to die. He knows so. And what does he say? He says to preach the word. How does he say so? All the time in season, out of season, he says, we're gonna have to, you're gonna have to reprove. That is convincing someone that, hey, you're wrong showing them, rebuke when you know that they're wrong, rebuke them publicly, privately, rebuke them. He says, why do so patiently with all long suffering for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine? Again, he's on his way to his end. He knows his time is at hand. Look what he says. One of the last things that he says. Remember, second Timothy is one of the last writers, if not the last writing that Paul actually penned. Be on guard against him yourself. Why? For he vigorously opposed our teaching on his death bed. As he's dying, he didn't say, let's leave them alone. No, he calls out this wolf, this false teacher and tells us, be aware of him. And so it is required. It is a necessity for us to be on guard because people are gonna keep coming in. The male's advice wasn't to false teachers. It was to the men of God. And again, no apostle, no, where else in the Bible does it say to follow his advice? This is just his advice for them. And even then, they still flogged him. And so no, we don't take this out of context and then turn around and apply it to us. That's not how this works. We are then told what to do when faced with these sort of people. And so make sure you do what the apostles have commanded us to do. Is it uncomfortable sometimes? Yes, it is. Does it feel good all the time to do so? No, it doesn't, but it's necessary. It's required to help defend one in the name of Christ but also the people of Christ. Amen.