 economy works? How the economy works? We'll first look at some, of course we're not going to go over the entire subject of economics. It's very complicated and there's many details of that subject. However, we're going to look at one overarching philosophy this morning. I'm going to explain to you first the secular philosophy itself and what people have written about it, what people have found out about this idea in the economy. And then we'll look at that in the light of the Bible and what the Bible says about that. So let's get into it this morning. I brought a couple object lessons. I don't think I do enough object lessons actually in the church, but I brought a couple things to explain a theory this morning. So the first thing I'm going to do is explain the secular theory itself. And then like I said, we'll look at the Bible and what the Bible says. So here we have, what is this? This is a computer mouse. This is what most people would think is a very simple device. Everybody probably uses this device every single day of their life. You know, you probably take this device for granted. You think, well, this is, you know, I mean, this is even an older one. It's got a wire on it, right? So you're thinking this is a simple device. You know, it's probably pretty easy to make. Well, what would you say if I told you that there's no single person on the planet that knows how to make this? There's not a single person on planet Earth that knows how to build this, that knows how to put this together, that knows how to make this. You say, wow, how is that possible? Well, let's look at it. First of all, you know, it's got a wire and around that wire is rubber. It's got a rubber insulating jacket around the wire. That rubber is, you know, refined and made from something. You know, it's, there's oil in the rubber. There's oil in the plastic that goes along the case. So you have oil drillers, the oil industries involved in making this piece of equipment right here. But guess what? The oil driller and the person speculating for oil in Western North Dakota or Texas or Saudi Arabia, he has no interest in this mouse. He has no idea how to make this mouse. And nobody is telling him he needs to drill for oil so we can make a computer mouse. You know, what are some other things that we have here? We have a metal USB port. So somebody has to mine. There needs to be a mine that is, you know, mining iron ore probably and refining that metal. So without that mine, the surrounding town that, you know, I grew up in an area that had mines everywhere. And those mines, you know, you have a miner that goes to work every day and he mines some material, in this case iron to make metal. And he goes and he has people that he spends his money with electricians and plumbers and things in his area so they can come and fix his house and fix his car so he can drive to work without those electricians and plumbers and restaurants and all these things that support his life. He couldn't go and mine metal. He couldn't mine this. But he also has no idea how to build this. He has no idea. He could care less about where that metal goes. He is just doing what he's doing in his own self-interest. There's many other parts. There's many other electronics inside this device that are designed by, you know, different companies from all over the world. I myself was in the semiconductor design industry. I actually designed microprocessors for close to 10 years. You say, you designed microprocessors. Wow. I mean, that's amazing. You know how to build a microprocessor? I have no idea how to build a microprocessor. I was a tiny cog in that machine. I was the digital circuit designer for a microprocessor that had many different kinds of circuits inside it. Many were digital. Some were not. Some I had something to do with. Some I didn't. I had nothing to do with the manufacturing process. Nothing to do with the packaging process. Nothing to do with, you know, a lot of the testing that goes into building that actual microprocessor. But the point is, nobody knows how to build a microprocessor. No single person knows how to build a mouse. You say, yeah, but these are really complicated things. You say, these are really complicated things. What about something simple? What about something simple? How about like a standard number two pencil? Surely somebody, some single person knows, no single person on the planet knows how to build this pencil. You say, what? And if you're a YouTube watcher, I would invite you. We'll actually link the video, but there's actually a really great little video on the internet called I Pencil. This is the world we live in. If we weren't surrounded by it every day, if we didn't take it for granted, we'd be dumbstruck by its very intricacy and brilliance. This is an ordinary, familiar wooden pencil. You might think a pencil is simple. Chances are you've been using one since before you could even read or write. But just because it's familiar doesn't mean it's simple. In fact, it's complicated, elaborate, beautiful, elegant. Its very existence is too improbable for any one person to truly comprehend. These are the basic materials that go into a pencil, graphite, cedar, metal, and rubber. But if you had all the elements of a pencil right in front of you, could you make a pencil? It's not as easy as you might think. In fact, no single person on the face of the earth could do it without the help of countless others. And this is the key to understanding the world. A pencil, just like you and me, is the end result of a vast and intricate family tree, a symphony of human activity that spans the globe. Through their work and knowledge, a vast number of people have had a hand in making this simple pencil. Unlike your family tree, this one begins with an actual tree. The most immediate ancestor of the pencil is a cedar tree in the Pacific Northwest. But the loggers who harvest the timber are also its ancestors. And these men don't work alone. They, in turn, are assisted by the people and industries that produce the saws, rope, and countless other tools that they use. These are also the ancestors of our pencil. As is the waitress at a nearby diner who sells the loggers lunch to say nothing of the thousands of people involved in producing that simple midday meal. Across time and space the web grows. Consider the roads, trucks, ships, communication systems, and the people who design, build, and maintain them. All of them are necessary to bring the lumber to the mills and the slat factories that process them. All of them are also the ancestors of the pencil. And even with the work of all these people, so far all we have is a stained wooden slat, a naked half of a wooden body of a pencil. But its family tree is larger and more extensive. The graphite is mined in China and Sri Lanka. At the pencil factory is mixed with clay and heat and other materials before it's extruded, dried, and baked in a kiln. People from different continents, different cultures cooperate to bring these materials together with waxes and kilns and equipment from across the world. These two are the ancestors of the pencil. And the same is true of the eraser. With ingredients from around the world, it's the end result of a similarly complex and exotic branch of the family tree. As is the ferrule, the metal band made from material that is mined, refined, and shipped from all over the world. Each part of the pencil is the result of the collaboration and cooperation of millions of people. Together they form a process that is constantly changing and adapting. A change in the availability or cost of material from one place might make another source more desirable, and the process changes and adapts fluidly. And there is a fact that's still more astounding. The absence of a mastermind, of anyone dictating these countless actions would bring a pencil into being. Each member of this family tree supplies only a small amount of the necessary know-how needed to make a pencil. They do so voluntarily, not because they necessarily want pencils or like pencils, but because by working to create them, they exchange their labor and skills for the wages that let them buy what they want and need. What you're seeing is the market at work. The spontaneous configuration of creative human energies of millions of people with their various skills and talents, organizing voluntarily in response to human necessity and desire, as if led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of the intention. Every second we are alive, we benefit from the products of voluntary, spontaneous cooperation. This is the modern world. It's miraculous, it's intricate, and it gets better every day, so long as people are free to interact with each other. If we can leave the creative energies of humankind uninhibited, there's no limit to what we can accomplish. The idea that we need to explain this morning is that voluntary, voluntary spontaneous human cooperation is what builds this pencil. It's people who are free to interact and listen to this. Free to pursue their own personal interests. You say what? You say they're not, you say somebody didn't order all these people that we must all collaborate together. Nobody stood up, no leader somewhere stood up and said we must all collaborate together to build pencils. No one did that. No one is doing that. It is simply people producing and pursuing, I'm sorry, their own self-interest and this pencil miraculously puts itself together. Because every single transaction that people are free to make with one another, and we'll see that in the Bible, you know, drives the formation of this pencil. So watch that video, I Pencil, if you're watching this on YouTube. But the point is, is what I'm talking about is what a man named Adam Smith wrote about in 1776, called the invisible hand. The invisible hand of economics. So let's talk about what is the invisible hand. This is what we first need to understand. Adam Smith, he was born in 1723 and he died in 1790. He was a Scottish philosopher and an economist. And in 1776, he wrote a book called An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. It's commonly known to most people as just the Wealth of Nations. And this book, well I talked about many different things regarding how economies work and how a free market will work. He observed this phenomenon of the invisible hand. And he wrote this from Adam Smith. This is the secular idea of the invisible hand that we first need to understand. This is from Smith's book. Now if you haven't read the book, it's because it's 900 pages long. Most people haven't read the whole thing. But there's a lot in there. We're going to talk about just one kind of overarching aspect of the book called the invisible hand this morning. From every individual, he says, every individual endeavors as much as he can both to employ his capital in the support of domestic industry. And so to direct that industry that it may produce, that its produce may be of the greatest value. This is the efficiency. He generally indeed, this is the individual, neither intends to promote the public interest nor knows how much he is promoting it. This is talking about how it's just an individual free to pursue his own interests. He is led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention. The man cutting the tree down had no idea that his tree would become a pencil. He had no interest in that. He doesn't need to have an interest in that. By pursuing, or Smith continues, by pursuing his own interest. Don't forget that. That's a key point here. His own interest, he frequently promotes that of the society more effectively than when he really intends to promote it. So what this is saying here, look, this is a secular observation of a real thing is what we're looking at. It's like gravity. It's like gravity. The invisible hand just happens. It exists. It can be tested. Just like gravity. Just like I can drop this pen and test gravity itself. Look, the invisible hand can be measured. It can be scientifically proven. You're just like gravity can. What he is saying here is that people that are free to act in their own self-interest will increase the prosperity of all even though they do not even know that they're doing it. It's a spectacular thing. Every free market transaction sends market signals to direct quite an amazing thing which is to direct how to build a pencil or a computer mouse or whatever. It's a miracle of sorts. Let me give you another example. Consider the following scenario. Consider the following scenario. We have to put our thinking caps on now. A weather event destroys a huge crop of wheat in Russia. Since the supply of wheat is compromised, wheat prices rise across the globe. The first effect is for consumers to react to the higher prices by cutting back their wheat purchases. When things get more expensive, we buy less of those things which helps to conserve the remaining supply for only those who value it most highly. Price fixing is always bad. Always. Utstensibly, those who rely on wheat for survival in businesses that need it for other products can continue to, you know, this is the people that value it the most highly. There is also an important secondary effect. Wheat farmers in the United States, unaffected, can now sell their wheat at a higher profit. After all, their inputs were unchanged. Wanting to capture more profits, existing farmers increase production. Maybe they also take wheat that they had stored in storehouses, as the Bible would call it, and put it into the market to gain those higher profits. Again, they're acting on their individual self-interest. Wanting to capture more profits, existing farmers increase production. The supply of wheat increases again to meet global demand. Over time, the price falls back down. The potential millions or billions of actors in this hypothetical situation, they don't need to speak to each other. They don't need to like each other. They don't even need to know each other or even be at peace with each other. Together, their actions help to move this invisible hand of the market to fix a worldwide problem. That is the invisible hand. All the people need is the freedom to act in their own self-interest. And they're able to magically fix a problem that is worldwide. Even though that's not what they were trying to do. That's what happens. This is why, by the way, the things that I've been telling you as far as how everything is tied together with all of the different actors acting in their their own self-interest. This is why, you know, you say, why is this relevant? This is why there is no such thing as an essential or non-essential business. It's a fake premise that was brought up to us a year and a half ago. You cannot, you cannot have a government that pays people to stay home and expect this to still work. You cannot pay businesses to not produce because it's not about the money. It's about the connections. It's about the production efficiency itself. All that internet interaction is necessary to not break this chain that creates the pencil. Last week 1.5 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits. That number remains historically high despite the fact that many states and businesses are reopening across the country. This unemployment number continues to be seriously high. The labor market is incurring massive damage week after week and the locus of those layoffs has spread from small businesses into corporate America. Now Yelp is publishing some worrying data here that shows a 23 percent increase since mid-July and the number of businesses on Yelp that have permanently closed according to the company. Permanent enclosures reaching 97,966 plus 98,000 here representing about 60 percent of closed businesses that won't be reopening and that number could rise here the longer some of these restrictions remain in place. What's the proof? We shut down certain businesses and called them non-essential and we didn't shut down certain businesses and called them essential. Well look at all the empty shelves today. There's your proof. There's a lot of missing pencils today. If you say why why do I go to Home Depot and I see all these shelves empty for this product or this product or there's certain foods that aren't available this is why because there is no non-essential business. The pandemic is changing the way we live in America. One long-term effect we've seen is shortages. Supply chain issues and lockdowns are a leading cause in factories halting production. Our Laura Margolis takes us to a well-known chain in east Texas business to show us how the delays and lack of production affect both and the reasons behind the problem in this K-E-T-K special reports. It's hard to find anything these days. School supplies for your students, groceries for your family, and even pet supplies for your furry friends. I've seen sticky notes everywhere. I've you know called this person when this gets so yeah there is a a little list you might say. Everywhere you look there's a shortage of something. Restaurants are dealing with a nationwide shortage. A lot of people can't find some of their favorite items. Labor and product shortages. The example the example we can pull from last year was restaurants. Restaurants were deemed non-essential. So you had the non-essential restaurants and then you had you know all sorts of other you know businesses that were deemed essential. Well guess what there's this lack of demand for food now which hurts the food producers, the growers, the ranchers, the dairymen. They're all hurt. They're all hurt. All their businesses were hurt and they may have scaled back their production, scaled back their herds, scaled back their farms. Maybe they had to sell land. Maybe they had to take on debt but look just like the lumberjack needs the diner to help him become more efficient. Look he shouldn't spend his time making food for himself. He should be spending his time cutting down trees. That is an efficient machine. There is no non-essential business. It's an oxymoron actually and if you you adopt that it breaks the invisible hand. It stops the invisible hand from working. So let's go back to the idea of the invisible hand before we let's finish this up and then we'll look at what the bible says. Back to the invisible hand. First of all it's a paradox. It's a paradox to believe, to understand that that some individual pursuing his own individual self-interest could benefit the overall society. That's a bit of a paradox but that's exactly how it works. That's exactly how it works and it's been proven. But that's why the fact that it's a paradox is why so many people get this wrong today. This idea. But the key again is people free to pursue their own self- interest and then that unleashes creative energies to benefit society as a whole. That's how the invisible hand works. But as with all secular observations without considering God, without considering his word, without considering the bible, we will not have a complete understanding of the invisible hand. So you say like you know such an amazing thing. Such an amazing thing must be in the bible. Well it is. Let's look together. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 28. It's a long chapter in the bible. But in Deuteronomy chapter 28 we see the story of a nation. We see the story of a nation. I mean the beginning part of the chapter is talking about the blessings of the nation. Of what could happen in the nation. Or maybe you could even say the wealth of the nation. In the first part of Deuteronomy chapter 28 that Brother Ryan just read for us. And then the other part of the chapter is the opposite. Is the opposite of the blessings of the nation. So the first half, look at verse number four. The first half is this. The first half what we're seeing is the invisible hand itself. In Deuteronomy chapter 28. Look he's talking to, he's talking, he's saying the word thy, thine. He's talking to individuals and their productivity here. Look what he says in verse number four. Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body. You know if I say to you blessed should be the fruit of thy body. I'm saying that your labor will be blessed. I'm saying that the labor that you do will be productive. Whatever that labor is. And the fruit of thy ground. Now he's talking about farmers and producers. And the fruit of thy cattle. And the increase of thy kind and the flocks of thy sheep. So here we're seeing, here we're seeing a productive people in verse number four. And we're seeing a division of labor here which is a whole nother study in itself. But we're seeing a division of labor. People doing different things and they're being productive in those things. Look at verse number five. Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store. Now we're talking about markets in verse number five. I told you the Bible talks about everything. Look at verse number six. Blessed shall thou be when thou comest in. Blessed shall thou be when thou goest out. Now you know what you're talking about? You're talking about a productive people who are interacting with each other. Who are going to each other. I mean he's saying blessed. He's saying you're going to be productive when you go in and go out. What are you doing? You're going out and you're doing business with people. You're being productive and hey I'm productive and hey I'm productive and you sell me a shirt and I sell you a spear and because I don't know how to make a shirt and you don't know how to make a spear. This is what we're seeing in the Bible in Deuteronomy chapter 28. We're seeing a productive people. We're seeing commerce. We're seeing commerce. People traveling to and fro freely interacting with one another freely. Look at verse number seven and guess what will happen when you have a productive people. When you have a nation that becomes wealthy. When you have a nation that becomes wealthy and you have the wealth of the nation. Look what you have in verse number seven. The law shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before that face. They shall come out against thee one way and flee before thee seven ways. It's like a productive people is going to be a strong people. A productive people is actually it's actually not really I didn't really say that right. A productive people will be a strong nation. You see how the productive individual creates a strong group. You see that? Look it's no different than with our our ministry here. Imagine if we had a soul winning ministry we'd go out and we'd share the gospel with people and we were just a bunch of weaklings and the first person we went to the door they're just like well I don't believe that and I think that you know you should be a Mormon and you're just like oh I don't know should I be a Mormon? No if you're a strong productive people you will be a productive group. You will benefit the group. Look as a strong soul winning ministry we will go out with the gospel. We will go out with the gospel on an individual basis. We will be strong individuals and guess what? We'll benefit the whole community. We'll benefit the whole city. We'll benefit whatever part of the world that we go to. All because we're strong individuals. That's what we're seeing in the Bible here. We're seeing the invisible hand in the Bible right here. Look at verse number eight. And the Lord shall command the blessing upon the in thy storehouses and in all that thou set thine hand unto. So he gives some examples about farming and production and and raising cattle but he says look every this is the division of labor right here. He says in everything that you do in every individual the plumber the electrician the engineer the the analyst the accountant whatever in everything that you do you will be productive and everything that you set your hand unto. The labor of all kinds will be blessed. He shall bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. A productive people is a wealthy nation right there. Look at verse number 11. And the Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods in the fruit of thy body in the fruit of thy cattle in the fruit of thy ground in which the Lord swear unto thy fathers to give thee. The Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure. The heaven to give rain unto the land in his season and to bless all the work of thine hand. And thou shall lend unto many nations and thou shall not borrow. This is right here in verse number 12. He is talking about the prosperity of the individual and how it will benefit the entire nation. Exactly what Adam Smith observed in the wealth of nations with the invisible hand. The individual pursuing his own self-interest will benefit the nation. That's exactly what we're seeing here. In verse number 12 it's the Lord shall open up unto thee his good treasure. This is the invisible hand. Guess what folks? Guess what we see in the Bible. The invisible hand is God's hand. That's what the invisible hand is in the Bible. Now this is where of course now you now you're saying okay now it's a Bible believing Christian things are making more sense. The invisible hand is God's hand. Of course you know many people you know speculate on Adam Smith's religious views. I don't really think he had any. He wasn't really a religious person in most of the things that I read. But look if you don't have the Bible you miss things. You miss things. But look this what I've explained to you and what Deuteronomy chapter 28 is showing you is how the economy works. That's how the economy works. Now let's talk about destroying the visible hand. Let's talk about how the economy stops working and this invisible hand which we now know is God's hand how it stops working. So Adam Smith's observations about the hand are correct. They're correct. They were correct observations. He also observed what would stop it. So let's look at his observations on what would stop the invisible hand from working and then we'll look at the Bible what the Bible says. The intervention look intervention to stop free interaction is what Adam Smith observed will cause the invisible hand to stop working. That's what Adam Smith it's all about the free interaction and the ability to be free and pursue those interests and to go to and fro freely. On government intervention he said this. Adam Smith believed that government should limit its activities to administer justice enforce private property rights and defend the nation against aggression. Agree. Boy have we gone beyond that today. Any more than this disturbs the force of the free market which is the invisible hand. This is what Adam Smith observes in his book. While the land while the hand the actions of the individual the is the action of the individual the invisible hand is driven by the action to the invisible the individual the action of the government itself for the good of the many this is the paradox this is the paradox it's really about the individual acting in his own self interest that will benefit the many but people think and the government thinks that if they come in to intervene for the many they end up hurting the individual is what actually happens but they come in and they they that's why every single liberal policy especially liberal economic policies have the exact opposite effect because of this paradox right here. They end up hurting the very people that they try to help I mean a perfect example of this the most simple one I could think of was minimum wage laws. I mean any kind of price fixing destroys the hand itself look it destroys low I mean it literally destroys jobs it destroys low skilled jobs and then it raises prices on cheap low quality items look here's the thing it hurts the very low income people it claims to help because guess what rich people don't care if a hamburger price doubles rich people could care less if a hamburger is now ten dollars instead of five but it's the poorest in the society that suffer from that type of policy so this is why liberal economic policies have the opposite intended effect so look while smith's observation on government interference is correct he misses the root cause back to the Bible let's look at Deuteronomy chapter 28 can we see this interference in Deuteronomy chapter 28 yes we can go to Deuteronomy chapter 28 and look at verse 48 look what the Bible says in verse 48 Deuteronomy chapter 28 and verse 48 so once again it's all about the invisible hand which is God's hand that we see working in Deuteronomy chapter 28 is all about the individual being able to freely interact in his own self-interest and as soon as a government comes in and stops that free interaction the invisible hand stops working look at Deuteronomy chapter 28 verse 48 so Adam smith he he he blamed it on the government he basically said yes it's the government that is doing this which is not untrue but he missed the root cause and we get the root cause from the Bible look at verse 48 therefore shall thou serve thine enemies which the Lord shall send against thee in hunger in thirst and in nakedness and in want of all things and here's the key part right here he shall put a yoke of iron upon thine neck until he had destroyed thee look it's talking about an invasion here in this particular case but it also speaks of going into bondage which guess what is the opposite of freedom it talks about a yoke being upon you which is chains which is fetters it's the opposite of being look if you have a yoke upon you you cannot go to and fro freely you cannot have commerce it's the opposite of being able to make your own individual decisions go to Proverbs chapter 28 Proverbs chapter 28 the Bible talks about this a lot Proverbs chapter 28 so we're seeing here it is it's the same thing it's somebody putting a yoke upon you someone interfering with your freedom to be able to go in and interact freely as you would like to do someone's business being shut down and deemed non-essential or whatever any kind of interference that stops that freedom the Bible talks about it in Deuteronomy 28 48 a yoke is upon your neck but why but why look at Proverbs chapter 28 and verse number two the Bible says this it says for the transgression transgression of the land many are the princes thereof but a man of understanding and knowledge the state thereof shall be prolonged the Bible here is saying look it says for the transgression of the land many are the princes thereof you know what that means that means the more the land transgresses against the Lord the more people that will rule over you the more people that will be putting yokes of iron on your neck you will not be free and the root cause for the transgression of the land that's what Adam Smith missed because he didn't have the Bible Deuteronomy chapter 28 look at verse number 10 look at verse number nine look at verse number nine and look God gave us plenty of warning here in Deuteronomy chapter 28 look at verse number nine the Lord shall establish the holy people unto himself as he has sworn unto thee if thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God and walk in his ways look the in God's hand working in a nation that Adam Smith observed as the invisible hand which depends on freedom it's conditional the Bible says so while secular analysts say that the hand cannot work without free interaction they're not wrong but they miss the root cause they miss the root cause look it needs freedom that's true but the reason we lose freedom is because we transgress against the laws of the Lord the Bible shows us here that freedom will go away because of the people in that nation turning from the Lord that's the true root cause that we need to understand as Christians look even the founders of the country knew this to a degree even the men who gave us this great country that it used to be knew this John Adams has a famous quote from 1798 don't miss this he says this he says we have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion he says avarice that means unchecked greed avarice ambition revenge or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our constitution as a whale goes through a net our constitution is designed only only for a moral and religious people it is wholly inadequate for any other as we throw off the Bible in our society we need a government to control us we need the many princes the many princes will fill the gap and Adam Smith actually addressed this in a secular way in the wealth of nations and I don't want to get too off on on a tangent here but he basically said yes the government needs to help help steer the interests of the people no no that's where he's wrong the Bible needs to help steer the interests of the people and when you have a people that are steered and have their interests and their their desires and and their wants and their needs and and they are focused on the Bible then they will be free and then they will not need an overreaching government to come in and and then God's hand will work in the economy so the government is the effect it's not the cause remember I love cause and effect remember eighth grade the government is the effect the cause is an immoral and and unreligious people that is the cause of people they'd abandon the Bible many are the princes there of turn back to Proverbs chapter 28 Proverbs chapter 28 this is what we're seeing today folks this is exactly what we're seeing today look these wicked leaders are a result of a nation turning from the Lord these stupid leaders Donald Trump does pose an extra strength to this the it's not hypothetical the president was in uh in i in Ohio I guess a couple days ago at a at a rally I don't want to misquote him and he said at the rally and I wrote this down he said that he said that we're in we're we're virtually turn the corner and stop your boast about never being seen that what you you can do anything you're we hold these truths to be self-evident all men and women created by go you know the you know the thing so you say what are we to do what are we to do you're just going to like tell me like you know that how this works and that it's all being broken today and then you're just going to like tell me to just go have a nice sunday no i'm going to tell you how we should respond as well what are we to do how is the christian to respond look at 20 proverbs chapter 28 in verse number two for the trans or look at the front of your bulletin for the transgression of the land many of the princes thereof but let's look at the second half now but a man of understanding and knowledge the state thereof shall be prolonged so here's the thing how do we act as christians how do we how do we see this happening and how do we not how do we act how do we respond as christians the first thing is this we need to have understanding and knowledge we need to understand why things are happening we should understand these things folks we should understand why these things are happening that's the whole point of this sermon is you understand you can look around you and you can understand as it looked as a bible-believing christian we have the answers here that's a serious advantage everybody else is like ah why why is all this happening ah trump you know and they're all just trying they're grabbing its straws at anything we know why it's happening because we have the bible god has given us a serious advantage as bible-believing christians we understand it's the whole point of this sermon scream it from the housetops tell everybody why it's happening turn to second Corinthians chapter five second Corinthians chapter five tell it look we go out and we preach the gospel that's great but we should tell people this stuff too we should tell people you know what because you know what there's a lot of good people out there there's a lot of good people out there who maybe they don't understand the gospel they don't know anything about the bible and they're just like they hate what's going on today guess what we have the answer we have i bet you they would love to have the answer so they wouldn't be so confused and you know what to drive them to the gospel as well look at second Corinthians chapter five verse number 11 look what the bible says knowing therefore the terror of the lord we persuade men but we are made manifest unto god and i trust are made manifest in your consciousness look with our understanding and with our knowledge of what we know we should persuade men with that because we know what's happening we know why it's happening and we know what's going to happen if it continues this way so we should be out there we should be we should be persuading men look many americans don't like what's happening today but they have no idea why it's happening they're focused in the wrong direction look they're missing the root cause that's why they're missing the root cause of the problem turn to hosea chapter four in general we should have knowledge that's my first point on how we should respond we should have knowledge of what is happening look at hosea chapter four and look at verse number six we should have this knowledge look at hosea chapter four look folks it's all about it's all about it's not just it's not just knowing the bible it's knowing what's happening around you what's happening in the world how these things in the world work and then looking at those things through the lens of the bible that's what makes that's what gives you so much knowledge and understanding is what we're talking about today look at hosea four six this is my people he's saying my people he's saying this is us this is us god's people my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge you know we could just not know anything and just be destroyed so here's the thing we should know the root cause and you know guess what we shouldn't just go along with the masses otherwise you know we end up just repeating stupid communist taglines that that's you know like i'm essential oh you've got three christians standing around in a group and you know talking about you know how they just got everything shut down and i'm essential and i'm essential and then other two i'm not i'm not what in the world we shouldn't be going along with this stuff it's garbage we know where it comes from and we should be educated and we should understand and have this knowledge look that's not going to persuade anybody like maybe you should be essential brother that's not going to persuade anybody normal good normal good people if they see us just going along with that stuff think about this normal good people will think we're part of the problem that's what they'll think and they'll be like oh you know these christians are no different these christians aren't you know these christians are no different when it comes to all this stuff happening we need to recognize that it's a philosophy of the enemy at least don't repeat it especially don't adopt it understand it have knowledge and here's the second thing turn to ax chapter five here's the second way we respond and this is historic no one can argue this look at ax chapter five ax chapter five every good christian throughout history and we've got this documented like you wouldn't believe that every christian has done this every good christian ax chapter five look at verse number 28 the christian must still act morally is point number two turn to ax chapter five look at verse 28 saying now this is uh the disciples you know they were told not to preach it's like stop preaching stop going in the temple stop preaching we're gonna lock you up we're gonna kill you look at verse number 28 the jews are saying saying didn't we not straightly command you that you should not teach in this name and behold you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine and intend to bring this man's blood upon us then Peter and the other apostles answered and other apostles answered and said we ought to obey god rather than men look when it when god's hand goes away and we start seeing this happen when we start seeing this happen as we're seeing it happen today in response for ourselves personally for our families for our church for our neighbors we still have an obligation to act morally and not participate in the wickedness to obey god and not men look this is romans 13 in action right here in action ax chapter five turn back to deuteronomy chapter 28 this is in deuteronomy chapter 28 too look at verse number 21 and verse number 22 look the nation the nation that is not hearken to the lord is going to do wicked things and we'll see that in deuteronomy chapter 28 as well the nation that is not hearken to the lord that is as transgressed the lord is going to do wicked things it's not just the government the people are going to go along with it the people are going to go along with it look at verse number 21 the lord shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee until we have consumed thee from off the land whether thou goest to possess it the lord shall smite thee with a consumption with a fever and within inflammation with extreme burning with the sword and with blasting with mildew they shall pursue thee and tell thou perish bad times look at verse 45 moreover these curses shall come upon thee and shall pursue thee and overtake thee till thou be destroyed because thou harkest not unto the voice of the lord thy god here we go again to keep his commandments root cause and his statue and his statutes with he commanded thee and they shall be upon thee for a sign and for a wonder and upon thy seed forever it's an example but look at verse 47 because thou service not the lord thy god with joyfulness and with gladness of heart for the abundance of all things on an individual level folks even when this starts happening in the nation we need to remain right we need to continue to serve the lord thy god with joyfulness and with gladness of heart look we need to not go down this path that these individuals went down look at verse 53 i mean it gets worse look at what these people start doing verse 53 and thou shall eat the fruit of thine own body the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters these people were eating their children these people were murdering their children for their selfish desires look this happened in the bible this prophecy came true when a nation was under siege people started literally eating their children so that the man that is tender among you and very delicate his eyes shall be evil toward his brother and toward the wife of his bosom and toward the remnant of his children which he shall eat people were doing evil against their brothers against their children against their spouses they commit evil against themselves these people look the individual christian folks when this starts happening is still responsible for the moral situations that they find themselves in i mean the medical mandates is a perfect example from last week it's a perfect example look if somebody comes and tells me to do something immoral i am still responsible for doing the right thing even though i can see i see the root cause i know what the root cause is we've turned away from the lord i get it but i'm still going to be faced with moral situations personally that i have a responsibility to act in the right way according to what the bible tells me it's the same thing it's the same thing with anything it's the same thing with the essential non-essential garbage property being stolen government overreach turn to matthew chapter 10 people turning in other people look i'm still responsible for acting in a moral way where all these things start to happen i mean think about all the people turning in their neighbors and their brothers and their sisters over the last year is ridiculous look at matthew chapter 10 and verse 21 jesus knew this matthew chapter 10 look at verse 21 and the brother shall deliver up the brother to death look that's not supposed to be you that does that jesus is saying these things are going to happen but hey don't you do it and the father the child and the children shall rise up against their parents and cause them to be put to death we have to not be part of any of this so the christian has an obligation to his or her conscience to resist this when this starts happening look this is why so many christians have been killed throughout history folks because when the tyrants came in it was always the christian saying we're going to obey god not you dead that's how it worked let me give you one example from the martyr's mirror in the sixth century benjamin this is a christian that's responding to uh i mean think of the martyr's mirror by the way all these guys had to do i mean they were against many of them were against infant baptism that the church was bringing in all they had to do was stand in front of a judge and say yeah infant baptism is fine i shouldn't have said that would that take away their salvation if they did that no they just no they're just like we won't comply have a nice day that's what they did and then they were killed horribly because they wouldn't say something because they just stood up and they resisted look at uh this quote from on the martyr's mirror in the sixth century benjamin asked the king this is a king telling him to stop preaching he says stop preaching benjamin asked the king what punishment beloved king does he deserve who deserts and renounces thee and thy government and submits himself to and serves another lord he's like what would you do to somebody if they renounced you and they decided to serve another king is what benjamin says the king answered such a man deserves punishment on body and property yay the severest penalty of death benjamin again asked again saying what punishment does the man deserve who forsakes god the creator of all things in order to exalt one of his servants as god and to give a creature the worship due to god alone these words so incensed the king that i can't read you the rest of the story in church benjamin didn't make it through this but he just said he just said he literally just said i don't recognize your authority he's like my authority is god he said he basically said in in in a clever and philosophical way i obey god rather than man and your man do your worst so look folks adam smith's invisible hand is created through freedom we get that it's the product it's the product of freedom and what god's blessings and god's curses are much more complicated than we think because it's really it's really the invisible hand that adam smith observed in the wealth of nations it's the mechanics of god's blessings on a nation you know am i explaining that well enough it's how it works it's how god blesses a nation it's the gears and the cogs of how that blessing works and as a nation turns away from that that that machine breaks down that machine stops working as we leave god's words so we'll lose our freedom and look it's important to also know let me just this just came to me just now but it's also important to know how this machine works and how the gears and everything there's many gears and many cogs and many parts of the machine so we can have a spectrum of what portion what where we're at in this decline does that make sense the more you understand how this machine works and how it breaks down the more you will be able to look throughout history and kind of get an idea of where we're at understanding knowledge folks but look as we leave god's word then then you know you're going to start to see people fall for the lives of socialism communism essentially the devil's religion and the machine of the invisible hand which is god's hand will start breaking and that's the complete picture of deuteronomy chapter 28 as a nation follows god it's free the mechanic the the mechanism at that point of the invisible hand the blessings of god on a nation is working well as men turn from god the government steps in they get more and more oppressive that freedom declines the machine starts to break that's that's the cycle that you need to understand this morning it stops the machine and then those blessings they become curses and that's what you see happening in deuteronomy chapter 28 it's a spectrum it's a spectrum i think of california i i'm amazed at this state we're the most wicked in the state in the union we're leading the charge as far as leaving god and it but you know what california shows you california shows you the long suffering of the lord is what it shows you i mean somehow this economy is still going somehow this machine is yeah and we see we see bumps we see empty shelves we see but look these are the signs that we need to pay attention to but we see it's still working it's the patience of god that's what i see i'm like man somehow i still have a job through all this that's the patience of god right there however we just need to understand that as as we keep turning from the lord you know it's going to get worse we're going to start to see things get worse and worse unless we turn back to the lord then maybe the machine starts working a little bit again but it's a spectrum pay attention but also don't forget the second point that as we people turn from the lord as the nation as the state turns from the lord christians must still remain faithful to the bible throughout all the troubles that come roman's 13 always applies we must obey god over man through mandates immoral orders christians must object this is why we have been killed for centuries folks this is why so smith was correct in his observation but he needed to be a student of the bible as well he was missing that piece when we understand the world and the bible that's the whole point of this series whether we're talking about scientific things whether we're talking about engineering things we're talking about economic things you know it it's it shows us the way the bible shines on our surroundings and the things that are happening and look it's really to prepare you for what's coming you will know more as you know what's happening in the world as you know what you're seeing around you and as you know the bible you will know more folks that's how the economy works