 Amen so Acts chapter 23 so here we have Paul and he's being brought in front of the chief priest here and he has a little bit of a run-in with the chief priest and that's where we really want to get into this evening and explain what happens here. There's a lot of doctrine and things that we can look at in these first few verses so we're going to get five verses in tonight in Acts chapter 23. So of course Paul is having some problems in Jerusalem as you know the Holy Spirit told them that he would and they've got these, he's got these Romans that are you know trying to protect him after they know that he's a Roman citizen but he keeps wanting to go in front of the Jews and the Jewish leaders and just keep making his case and making the case for Christ so he continues to do so and he just keeps getting in more and more trouble. Look down at verse number one of Acts chapter 23 and let's get started this evening and Paul earnestly be holding the council now he's before the leaders here he says men and brethren I've lived in all good conscience before God until this day and the high priest Ananias commanded them that stood by him to smite him on the mouth so basically Paul says in verse number one that you know I've followed my conscience I'm following the law that God has given me in my heart and you know again he just defends this guy and the high priest just says somebody just smack this guy right so they smack they punch him in the face basically verse number three Paul he rebukes the high priest here alright and he said then said Paul unto him God shall smite thee thou whiteed wall for citus thou to judge me after the law and command us me to be smitten contrary to the law so he's saying today he basically rebukes the high priest and says you know God's gonna punch you in the face God's gonna take you down God's gonna attack you because you're not following the law so he just rebukes the high priest right to his face and then they think you know this is so ferocitical right here they think that they've caught him in the law because he rebukes the high priest and they that stood by said revile us thou God's high priest and then verse number five is the is the verse where a lot of I have heard many different you know views of verse number five but I think there's only one view that makes any sense then said Paul I wish not brethren that he was the high priest meaning I knew not for it is written thou shall not speak evil of the ruler of thy people so you know what's going on here I mean basically Paul in verse number three he rebukes the high priest and then they basically quote turn to Exodus chapter 22 that's basically what they're throwing in his face they're throwing Exodus chapter 22 verse number 28 in Paul's face here and saying you know you shouldn't rebuke the high priest you shouldn't revile the high priest that's actually the the word revile that Exodus chapter 28 or extra Exodus chapter 22 and verse number 28 uses if you're there in Exodus chapter 22 verse number 28 here's what the Bible says it says thou shall not revile the gods nor curse the ruler of thy people turn to Psalm chapter 82 turn to Psalm chapter 82 so that's what they're quoting what they're throwing at Paul now when it says the gods here that's what I want to explain to you before we even get back to what's going on with Paul this term the gods is used in this case to talk about the magistrates the judges it's it's the same word that was translated from the Hebrew that's also used in Exodus chapter 22 other places as judge so it's not talking about like gods like false idols things like that look at Psalm chapter 82 if you're there I'll just give you a couple examples of this it says God's standeth in the congregation of the mighty he judges he judges it judges it can't read tonight amongst among the gods again talking about the rulers if we keep reading in Psalm chapter 82 you kind of get a better context how long will you judge unjustly and accept the persons of the wicked so now he's talking about he's basically talking to these rulers in Psalm chapter 82 that they're judging unjustly so these God stands you know Psalm chapter 82 is saying that God stands in the congregation he's there amongst the judges these judges are the gods the lowercase g as they're called here are judging unjustly if you look at verse number six Jesus actually quotes verse number six of Psalm chapter 82 in John 10 34 we won't go there but he says I have said ye are gods and all of you are children of the most high so he's not saying like your gods like you know this isn't Mormonism okay he's saying you know your judges you should be judging justly is what he's saying that's what Jesus that's the same context well why don't you just go ahead and turn there let's just go ahead and and do a third Bible study tonight go ahead and turn to John John chapter 10 Jesus uses this this Psalm chapter 82 to rebuke who to rebuke again rebuke the Pharisees okay so he says to them it's in John chapter 10 of verse 34 Jesus answered them is it not written in your law I said ye are gods he's talking to the Pharisees he's saying you know your judges but he's quoting Psalm chapter 82 because he's saying you're not just you're not according to the law very similar to exactly what Paul is doing in Acts chapter 23 just rebuking the ruler here rebuking the high priest telling them hey whiteed wall God's gonna smite you you know because you're what you're what did he say he's doing you're not doing according to the law you're not acting what justly okay so all that to say this they're throwing Exodus chapter 22 in his face and then it says of course in Exodus 22 28 nor curse the ruler of thy people and I'm gonna kind of get into that a little deeper later but that being said that being said let's go back to Paul's comment turn to Hebrews chapter 4 okay so most people agree that Paul wrote Hebrews and I believe that Paul wrote Hebrews so first of all let me just say this Paul rebukes this man in verse number three he rebukes him and they said you know revile us now not you know revile us now God's high priest and then he's like oh you know I was not some people believe I mean I I think I've read a lot of stupid commentary on this this passage here where people say like oh Paul's apologizing you know he's apologizing because you know he didn't know who Ananias was in all this look there is zero chance that Paul did not know that Ananias was the high priest zero Paul was a Pharisee Paul was an upper-level Pharisee of Pharisees he knew in verse number one exactly who Ananias was so it's not like Paul was like oh you're the high priest no he knew exactly who he was the entire time he knew who he was in verse number three when he rebuked him to his face all right that's the first thing that's like hundred percent that he knew Ananias was the high priest so then you say what is verse number five about well I mean obviously the Holy Spirit wrote the Bible but it's even more evidence that Paul himself penned Hebrews itself Hebrews like the main theme of Hebrews is this look at Hebrews chapter 4 and the main theme of Hebrews probably the top theme of Hebrews is verse number 14 of Hebrews chapter 4 seeing then that we have a great high priest that has passed into the heavens Jesus the Son of God let us hold fast our profession for we have not in high priest which could be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all points tempted which cannot be touched I'm sorry with the feelings of our infirmities saying like look Jesus was tempted with all the temptations that we have he felt all the temptations that you feel he went through all the pain the suffering all that that the saying Jesus was a man as much as he was God okay but he was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin so who's our high priest and who did Paul know that our high priest was Jesus taught Paul himself for three years Paul knew that Jesus Christ was the high priest what he's saying in verse number five is he's just like he's just like you're not the high priest it's what it is basically what he's saying it's a sarcastic rebuke is what it is and look if you you know that's the main point of Hebrews which Paul wrote which Paul would have known all right but the narrative the narrative that Paul let me say this to like I've heard you know people like oh yeah you know this is a I've heard it even thrown out as a Bible contradiction that like oh Paul made a mistake and then one verse later he has to correct his mistake so it's a Bible contradiction look even if Paul did make a mistake and he correct that's not a Bible contradiction it's just Paul's just a man in the Bible that's what you have to understand in the Bible when you're reading stories in the Old Testament a lot of people have a hard time with the Old Testament in this way you read stories in the Old Testament and you're like man that is a messed up story like people are doing some crazy stuff in the old it's just what men did it doesn't mean that God was on board with that and the Bible is usually clear about you know that these people are doing the wrong things judges 19 like the most not so story in the whole Bible and you're just like how in the world is this happening and at the end of judges it tells you every man did that which was right in his own eyes God's not on board with it it's just what men did it's just what men did and document it's documented in the Bible so look even if Paul was apologizing which he's not it was definitely a sarcastic rebuke by Paul for two reasons there's zero chance number one that Paul did not know that Ananias was the high priest and second of all Paul did not respect him in that position he did not see that he was in that position because Jesus is our high priest okay so what about this idea there's still one problem right what about this idea in Exodus chapter 22 about you know don't revive you know don't rebuke a ruler basically is what Exodus chapter 22 let me read it for you again thou shalt not revile the gods nor curse the ruler of thy people what about that all right we still got to go you know after that one what about the idea of rebuking a ruler so that's what we're going to look at this evening we know for sure that this is a sarcastic rebuke because of the two reasons I just gave you but what about rebuking a ruler turn to Romans chapter 13 so we're going to go through Romans chapter 13 the first part here talking about rulers and authorities in our lives in great detail and I'm going to show you that like look remember your first Bible reading rule okay the Bible must be consistent otherwise you're interpreting something wrong so a lot of people not anybody that I know but I mean there's people out there in other churches or whatever that teach Romans 13 means you just have to listen to the government no matter what and look that is not consistent with other authority commands in the Bible all right so we're going to go through that verse by verse and I'm going to show you what it does say and what it doesn't say all right so remember Bible reading rule if you interpret the Bible in a way that contradicts other part of the Bible other parts of the Bible especially other parts of the Bible you are interpreting it wrong the problem is you not the Bible all right so look what are the other parts that I'm talking about the Bible talks about clear authority structures in the family for example for children and their parents so children are to obey their parents in Ephesians chapter 6 the very first verse it says you know children obey your parents but then it says it always gives this caveat it says in the Lord meaning a parent can't tell their child hey go murder someone or hey do something that is you know against the Bible it says children obey your parents in the Lord okay it's very similar to husbands and wives I mean husbands I mean husbands are to you know be the leaders of their household wives are to submit to their husbands I mean but then it says as unto the Lord when it comes to wives submitting to their husbands turn to Acts chapter 15 acts chapter 15 so look what that means is is that wives should listen to submit to their husbands as long as it is according to the Bible and look a lot of things just aren't detailed in the Bible so as it's not against the Bible this is where I got famous right this is where I got famous and you know everyone's like yeah but yeah just hey go do it like the world's doing it and and call me in 10 years and let me know how that works for you but the Bible says the husband's in charge so that means that according to the Bible and things that don't have anything to do with the Bible you know just how the houses run how the house is organized all those things if it's you know if it's not against what the Bible says the wife is to follow the leadership of her husband it's that simple that's the authority structure that God puts in place and I don't really care if it's popular today if people just freak out over that it's crazy it's crazy all right but look Acts chapter 15 is another example of this where Peter says so imagine if Romans chapter 13 that we're going to read if it said that we must obey the government at every cost everything that they say how could this be true when put when Peter says in Acts chapter 15 that they said we are you remember when they went and they preached they got out of prison and they went just went right back and preached again and Peter says we ought to obey God rather than men how could that be consistent with just this idea that we should just obey the government no matter what kind of wicked command that they give us it would make it's a contradiction but it's not what it says so it's turned to Romans chapter 13 and let's go through this so we're talking about how could Paul have rebuked a ruler here because that's what he did he basically said God's gonna he's God's gonna strike you down is what he told this guy after he had somebody you know hit him in the face but you know what does Romans chapter 13 say that is consistent with other parts of the Bible look at Romans chapter 13 if you let's go through this verse by verse the Bible says in Romans chapter 13 let every soul be subject unto the higher powers for there is no power but of God the powers that be ordained of God so I mean right there we could just really quit reading right there because it's basically saying let every you know what every soul meaning every person be you know be obedient or be subject under the higher powers who's the highest power the highest power I don't care what kind of structure you're talking about whether it be the family whether it be your workplace whether it be the church the highest powers God even government whatever it says there's no power but of God the powers now it says the powers that be are ordained of God alright so that's people will take that and be like okay anybody that's in a leadership position that you know they're they're a godly person that is not what that says okay so it says look there's higher powers we know that God is the highest power that's number one and then it just says the powers that be are ordained of God what that saying is that God has an authority structure and we see that consistently throughout the Bible God has an authority structure for the church God has an authority structure for the family God even has an authority structure for work that's where all the talk of servants and masters comes in you know you have an authority structure pretty much everywhere in your life and it's no different first of all it doesn't even talk about doesn't even point out like government yet at this point all it saying is is God's plan is there it God's plan is for there to be a structure that's all it saying someone to be in charge is what it's talking about if there's no detail on types of government here there's no D doesn't really specifically say yet that it's talking about government at this point if we were a point it's applied just verse number one to government here's what we could take from it we're just apply verse number one to a government here's what we could take God's against anarchy that's what we could take which makes perfect sense because you never see God ruling his nation you know through anarchy you never see just like no one in charge you know you you see you see Moses being God's you know God's messenger you see the judges then you see Kings you always see some kind of structure some kind of authority you know in charge of God's people all right so just because someone is ordained there's a structure that's ordained to be in charge it does not mean that they will be a godly ruler according to God I mean the Bible itself proves that through the history of the Kings especially all right so it's a wrong interpretation to say that okay every ruler anywhere is godly I mean that's that's insanity to to interpret that this way all right so it just says that they have a God ordained role they have a God ordained responsibility look I have a God ordained role here as pastor that doesn't mean that I as a man am guaranteed to be a godly pastor there's plenty of bad pastors out there as a matter of fact there's plenty of pastors that started out good and then went bad look don't worry but I'm just saying like it's just the man is just in the role okay the man is in the ordained role so I'm just a man in an ordained role that God ordained God ordained that there be a man as a pastor of a church and then Christ is the head of that church I just to be that man all right plenty of pastors are are bad from the start or or go bad or whatever okay like I said don't worry everything's fine but the point is it's not talking about the man okay it's talking about the position look at verse number two look at verse number two whosoever therefore resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation here it's saying you know it doesn't say obey every leader no matter what they do or say it says resist the power the ordinance of God it's talking about the ordinance of government it's just these these are people that resist the idea of structure of authority that's what it's talking about here okay and look it's some pretty powerful language it says receive to themselves damnation you know just talking about just the seriousness of you know just rejecting authority in your life and look I've preached whole sermons on this one thing I'm telling you and look it needs to be said in the Bible because there's a lot of people like this there's a lot of people like this that just can't receive and can't follow authority in their life and I'm telling you the Bible uses serious language because it's a serious thing if it was a meteor coming towards the earth it'd be a planet killer in my opinion just having that one problem look you can have some problems that you can keep under control and maybe some sins that you struggle with that you can keep under control that maybe won't necessarily ruin your whole life but this is a big one like if you're just the kind of person that just I just reject all authority in my life I mean you can't ever work for anybody you know you have no relationship with your parents I mean you just like that's why the Bible so serious about children and their parents you know and then again I mean you'll never be able to be in a church I mean you'll never have long friendships I mean it's just it's a disaster okay so that's what the Bible's talking about saying hey you don't be the kind of person that just doesn't accept any authority in your life you know it's a serious thing because it's ordained by God that there be authority in your life even the Bible says that you know for Christians we have pastors and teachers and evangelists I mean you are given these things in your life look not to rule over you but to help you you know these are these are tools that God gives you all right so it's not talking about the person okay it's not even talking about the structure of government or it's just talking about the idea of this right it's basically so far so far this is a treatise treatise against anarchy okay so you get all these people like we should just abolish all the government no that's not I mean that's not what the Bible says that's clearly what Romans 13 is talking about no I mean anarchy would be a disaster anarchy would be especially in this country you know when people don't have any moral structure people don't have a family structure anarchy would be a complete disaster all right so this is a treatise against anarchy to this point look at look at Romans chapter 3 in verse Romans chapter 13 look at verse number 3 I mean Ephesians 4 says if some apostles you know some prophets some evangelists some pastors some teachers for what for the perfecting of the saints it's to help you it's to sharpen you this is why God gives these authority structures is for your benefit is what he's saying all right look at verse number 3 he's saying respect those authorities respect those structures and now he gets into a little kind of detail about you know that the types of rulers that he's looking for in verse number 3 says for ruler he's like saying because this is why you should follow that ordinance for rulers are not a terror to good works but to the evil now he's kind of getting to the specifics about what an actual government you know think about just a monarchy like a king you know a ruler all right just you know look a monarchy wouldn't be a bad thing as long as you had the right king see that's why a monarchy is gonna be a really good thing in the millennial reign because we're gonna have Jesus as the king so monarchy the only reason monarchy is a bad idea is because of the man in the in the in the on the throne that's why it doesn't really work on earth says rulers are not a terror good works but to the evil so these rulers are to be a terror to evil there to come after evil and there to be you know for the good wilt thou then be afraid wilt thou thou wilt thou then not be afraid of the power do that which is good and thou shall have praise of the same so saying you should be afraid a good ruler you should be afraid of if you're bad is basically what they're saying but they'll praise you if you're good so the ruler is is assumed in Romans chapter 13 to be good and to be a terror to evil that I mean that's the point of the ruler basically is what he's saying in Romans chapter 13 so directions for the rulers here are rulers to be for there to be for good and against evil so these passages by the way they're assuming good rulers they're assuming good rulers and we so there's two there's two directions here in verse number three it's like the rulers are to be for good and we are to be on the side of good and then we'll get praise from those same rulers look at verse number four there's even more evidence of this verse number four for he this is the rule let's just picture a king okay for he is the minister of God to thee for good so he is to you know be a servant of God to you for good things okay but if thou do which is that which is evil be afraid for he beareth not the sword in vain for he is the minister of God a revenger to ask execute wrath upon him that doeth evil so again we see this picture of this ruler that not only is he here to punish you know people that are evil he's there to bring wrath upon people that are evil on this earth and you're to be afraid of him if you're evil or you're doing evil wherefore because of this he says you must needs be subject not only for wrath but also for conscience sake again conscience sake there meaning that you know my conscience if I'm following my conscience I'm not going to have any problems with this ruler in Romans chapter 13 and my conscience where did that come from it came from the law of God that he wrote in my heart all right so look it's assuming that this ruler in Romans chapter 13 is ruling according to God's law is what it's assuming here look at verse number six I get into some details here and we talked about some of these details on Sunday morning on hills not to die on he says for this cause pay each tribute also for their God's ministers attending continually upon this very thing and again if Jesus so he's saying just pay the taxes that they want to put on you he's like their God's ministers so if Jesus hadn't addressed this tax thing Christians might have a leg to stand on to say look my tax dollars are are being spent on on murder and my tax dollars are being spent on you know fornication and sinful things and wicked evil things that are hurting people I'm not going to pay those taxes the Christian might have a leg to stand on if it wasn't for Jesus in those two examples we looked at where he said just give it to him it's on Caesar it's basically that's Caesar's problem all right that's not a hill that we're to die on he says render therefore to all their dues tribute to whom tribute is due custom to whom custom is due fear to whom fear we know why we would fear this ruler we would only fear this ruler if we were doing evil honor to whom honor so you know Jesus of course addresses tribute other places but he basically just says just give it to them so the point is the Bible here is saying respect these positions respect these positions but he but Romans chapter 13 is also you know giving some direction to the rulers themselves saying you're before good and against evil all right there's nothing in there that says if there's some evil ruler asking you to commit murder or whatever that you have to do that there's nothing in there that says that it's just saying God has ordained authority in your life God has ordained ordained authority over a nation and look there's some governments it doesn't even talk about the type of government there's some governments that just like by their very design are just unbiblical like communism just by itself it's automatically just like against the Bible so it's obviously not talking about that it's talking about a ruler you know it's a king somebody who's in charge of the people all right so look the structure of authority the leaders to be against evil and you know it's obviously talking about some form of government that at least has the ability to be godly there's a godly person or a godly leader there okay I always think of a monarchy when I think of that verse because it just it's typical you know a president or a monarchy or something like that he would even fit in the United States you know with our Congress our president or you know our three branches of government if they were for good and against evil which they are not all right but back to this idea of rebuking leaders turn to Matthew chapter 14 so it's not there right it's not there saying hey do whatever some wicked person tells you to do it's just talking about God gave a structure God wants there to be structure obey the authorities in your life all right look at Matthew chapter 14 look at verse number one here's a king right here so here's a king Herod the tetrarch he is a ruler over a section of the Roman Empire and look at verse number one at that time Herod the tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus and he said unto his servants this is John the Baptist he has risen from the dead well why is he dead Herod and therefore mighty works do show forth themselves in him for Herod had laid hold on John and bound him and put him in prison for Herodias' sake his brother Philip's wife for John said unto him it is not lawful for thee to have her John the Baptist rebuked Herod that's what got him killed John the Baptist saw this king this ruler and he went up to him and he went and he just rebuked him to his face and said it is not lawful for you to be doing what you're doing and then that is why Herod you know eventually had him put to death or Herodias you know Herod actually did it but what was he doing he was rebuking him he was preaching against him is what he was doing so he said well what about an environment where you're not you know so I mean that's kind of what Paul is doing he's just kind of rebuking the high priest he's preaching against him to his face the same thing John the Baptist did because he was doing a wicked thing he was doing an evil thing and they were wrong right they were not rulers for the good against evil and what were they doing they were obeying the higher powers is what they're doing which is what the word of God that's what they're doing is very simple it's very consistent in the Bible okay so look you think about it this way though what about an environment what about an environment where you aren't allowed to preach against the rulers I mean there's a lot of environments like that even today where you just can't say certain things against the rulers I mean thank thank God not in this country yet not yet you know we're getting close but not yet anyway but look this actually cost this was the environment that John was in it literally cost John the Baptist his life to preach against Herod in this way he got thrown in prison eventually he got killed but the point is it's man's job especially the man of God's job to preach the truth no matter the environment so it's not like oh the government wants to do this we can't preach now what in the world that is not anywhere in the Bible okay so an immoral command given to a Christian he or she has no obligation to follow is what I'm trying to get you to understand okay and of course as Americans we think well you know what about you know what about an environment where you can't say what you want and Americans always think because you know we're revolutionaries at heart right because we're Americans Americans always think like well if it gets so bad in this country what about you know where we can't preach the truth and all these things you know what about the revolutionary that's what the the Americans will think you know even politicians today them talk about national divorce and all these types of things you're starting to hear about but here's what you have to understand as a Christian Americans tend to think of revolutions like they're a little skewed on revolutions because we basically are beneficiaries of a unique revolution all right but you have to understand that if we if I gauge a revolution how would I gauge a revolution I would gauge a revolution whether it was good or whether it was bad to whether or not we come out of that revolution and I'm able to preach truth more freely or not I mean that's basically my measuring stick about a revolution the American Revolution was unique in the sense that you know it did increase you know the ability to be able to preach the truth you know freely all right but there's a lot of revolutions that are bad as a matter of fact the majority of revolutions I would say are bad I mean think about like the Bolshevik Revolution you know you think about like when you know the Soviet Union was formed and the Bolsheviks you know kicked out the czars in you know the early 1900s and we had we we at the Soviet Union that killed a hundred million people or whatever it was I mean that's not a good revolution you know that revolution caused all the religious people and all the you know all the smart people to all be killed you know they rounded them all up and they killed them all because in that system of government the you know the state is God so they can't have somebody else preaching God they can't have somebody else preaching a higher power so they have to get rid of all that so look a lot of revolutions I mean the French Revolution I mean this one's debatable but the French Revolution it was basically like mob just take you know one mob took over and murdered all the other people and then another mob took over and murdered everybody I mean it was just like murdering mobs and you can debate you know whether or not what came out of that was better or worse for the kingdom of God on earth I guess that's that's a debate that can be had but the point is not every revolution and and many revolutions are not the American Revolution where and as a matter of fact you can credit the baptists for the American Revolution producing what it did because when they were forming the government after the the American Revolution they were actually going to fund Protestant denominations out of the government of the United States that was formed after the American Revolution was one they were gonna they were Patrick Henry and others were actually going to you know pick you know a few Protestant denominations and be like these are gonna be the state denomination so when you pay your taxes you can choose which church that part of your taxes will go to and the baptists were like you know no you know we're not gonna and finally you know James Madison went and visited with the baptists at the at the behest of George Washington and they went and talked they're not baptist George Washington James Madison weren't baptist but they went and talked to the baptist they're like hey for once in history it's the baptist getting killed the whole time 30 for 2,000 years the baptist are getting killed for once in history James Madison says hey we'll let you have a seat at the table we'll let you be one of these denominations look we're not Protestants we've never been Protestants and we're not protesting the Catholic Church we were never part of it people think you go look at Wikipedia and they say that baptists are Protestant they're not baptists are what John the Baptist was and they existed all the way from John the Baptist they just didn't go to the stupid council that created the heretical Catholic Church in 300 AD they just didn't go to that they didn't participate in it that's why they were hunted that's why they were hunted for hundreds of years so they're finally given a seat at this table and they say no we don't have any part of the government no we want free will to preach look baptists were getting arrested did you know this baptists are getting arrested for preaching before in the United States in the colonies baptists were arrested a lot in the colonies before the Revolutionary War they're like hey we want to be able to preach the truth we believe that the gospel can stand on its own and we don't need some state sponsored denomination that's where the First Amendment came from James Madison went back and he sold this idea he sold this idea to Thomas Jefferson and all sorts of other people that got on board and and you know not that those people were Christians but it was the Baptist idea that planted the the seed and it's why we have First Amendment today so you know we can thank our Baptist forefathers for that you know a lot of people don't know that story but today if there is a revolution today it's like what's gonna come out of that where are the good guys you know everyone's talking you know a couple politicians always talk about we need a national divorce like divorce to what you know what is there a godly group out there somewhere it's like no you know whatever just let me preach the truth let us preach the truth let us have some freedom we can just keep preaching the truth and that's all we need all right so just that just when you ever think about revolution just remember that most revolutions you know they produce some wicked things all right just remember that so I don't even know where I was going with this but anyway for us the mission is always the same just remember that okay the mission is always the same it's just a question it's just a question of how dangerous it will be and with John you know to rebuke a ruler was as dangerous as it gets it cut his head off right so back to Romans Romans 13 basically has two points that I wanted to make it's basically preaching it's basically teaching against anarchy okay it's basically teaching against anarchy and that the purpose of that ordination is for good to punish evil okay that's the the statement of that's the that's the lesson of Romans 13 but in the very first verse it puts that same caveat that it puts in for children and parents it puts that same caveat that it puts in for husbands and wives the higher powers always apply so it's absolutely consistent God is always the highest power so yeah it's wrong and and rulers like governors and presidents that support murder and child abuse and all these things that are just being openly supported today they need to be rebuked and you know what you know what they need to hear that God is going to smite thee and look it's that's what's going to happen God's going to smite them because these things don't go they won't go unpunished because no matter what kind of messed up system we put together down here God's the highest power and he has all the power and he will punish the evil we know that for sure all right so people just need to proper understand look Romans 13 should be read by our leaders today is who Romans 13 should be read by hey you're supposed to be for the good you're supposed to be for good against evil that's who needs to read Romans 13 you know not not the people right Romans 13 is for the rulers I mean of course the art in this country the people get the rulers that they deserve but the point is it's as much for the rulers as it is for the people right of course all this wisdom only comes from the Bible which nobody knows so here we are right so Paul rebuked the high priest then he followed it up with sarcasm and another rebuke basically what he did and you can see you can see that they knew that from their coming reaction to him to that we're going to look at next week and here's another thing just more evidence show me show me an example of Paul trying to avoid trouble in the book of Acts I mean show me an example where Paul I mean where Paul is just like oh man I'm sorry about that give me a break I mean talk about going against his character he doesn't care about trouble I mean he said twice before he went to Jerusalem I don't care I know it's going to be bad and all God himself is telling Paul you're going to get in trouble there they're going to bind you they're going to tie you up they're going to you know you're going to be arrested there all this and Paul's like I don't care about myself I don't care about myself Paul has no nature to try and avoid trouble so yeah he rebuked him and he followed it up with another rebuke let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer