1 Samuel 22, we have this story about Saul who's pursuing after David.
Saul had become jealous of David many years earlier.
It all started when they started singing that song that said that Saul has slain
his thousands but David has slain his ten thousands.
So Saul as the king is starting to feel insecure that David is getting a lot more
popular than he is and then because Saul disobeys the Lord on a few different occasions,
he's told by Samuel the prophet that the kingdom of God is going to be taken from him
and given unto someone else who is better than him.
And of course we know that that's David who is anointed by Samuel the prophet back
at 1 Samuel 16, the spirit of the Lord came upon him and so forth.
And so because of Saul's jealousy, he's been pursuing after David and David keeps
escaping out of his hand.
And in 1 Samuel 22 here, Saul is whining to his troops and whining to the Benjamites
and this is a bad principle of leadership.
It's called sympathy leadership when basically leaders get up and they whine and they want
to get the followers to feel sorry for them and they want people to obey them just
out of sympathy and feeling bad for them.
Obviously leaders should project strength and confidence and those type of attributes,
not this kind of whining sympathy style leadership.
But when we get to chapter 22 verse 11, we get to the part where Saul goes to Nob
because Doeg the Edomite had told him that these people in Nob had helped David.
And it says in verse 11, then the king called, sent to call Ahimelech the priest,
the son of Ahitub and all his father's house, the priests that were in Nob and they came
all of them to the king and Saul said, here now thou son of Ahitub and he answered, here
I am my lord.
And Saul said unto him, why have ye conspired against me thou and the son of Jesse and
that thou has given him bread and a sword and has inquired of God for him that he
should rise up against me to lie in wait as at this day?
And Ahimelech answered the king and said, who is so faithful among all thy servants
this is David, which is the king's son-in-law and goeth with thy bidding and is honorable
in thine house.
Did I then begin to inquire of God for him?
Be it far from me.
Let not the king impute anything unto his servant, nor to all the house of my father.
For thy servant knew nothing of all this less or more and the king said, thou shall
surely die Ahimelech, thou and all thy father's house.
So here Saul is being very unjust because this man Ahimelech, he did help David,
he did feed him and his troops, but he assumed that David was doing the will of Saul the
king.
David was Saul's son-in-law, David had not done anything treasonous, and so Ahimelech
is in the integrity of his heart helping David, but Saul is trying to make it out
as you're a traitor, you know, you are an enemy of the state, and he says you're
going to die and all of your father's house, which is also unbiblical to put the whole
family to death instead of just putting the one man to death who had done wrong.
He hadn't even done wrong.
He had not even committed any kind of treason.
Now the next thing that happens is what I really want to focus in on tonight.
It says in verse 17, and the king said unto the footmen that stood about him, so Saul
is saying unto his troops, turn and slay the priests of the Lord, because their hand
also is with David, and because they knew when he fled and did not show it to me, but
the servants of the king would not put forth their hand to fall upon the priests
of the Lord.
So Saul says to his troops, I want you to kill all the priests of the Lord here,
you know Ahimelech and all his father's house, slay the priests of the Lord.
And it's not true what they're being accused of when he said, you know, they knew that
David fled.
David told them that he was on a mission from the king.
They had no idea that David fled.
They were just doing what anyone in that situation would have done.
And so this is a wicked thing that King Saul wants done when he says to his troops,
you know, basically just kill innocent people.
He says to the troops, kill these innocent people.
And not only are they innocent people, but they're the priests of the Lord.
And Saul is saying, kill these men.
And because that is such a wicked commandment that the king is giving them, because that
would be so ungodly for these troops to just kill these innocent people, they refused
to do so.
They disobey that order.
They say, no, we're not going to fall upon the priests of the Lord.
The end of verse 17.
But look at verse 18.
Look what happens next.
And the king said to Doeg, turn thou and fall upon the priests.
Doeg the Edomite turned and he fell upon the priests and slew on that day four score
and five persons that did where Elin and Ephod and Nob the city of the priests, smody
with the edge of the sword, both men and women.
He's taken it further than what King Saul had even ordered.
I mean King Saul just said, slay the priests.
He's taken it further.
He's slaying the women.
And then it says, children and sucklings and oxen and asses and sheep with the edge
of the sword.
I mean this guy's just on a slaughter fest.
I mean he's just going in there and just killing man, woman, child.
I mean he's killing the animals just, you know, while he's at it.
And one of the sons of Ahimelech, the son of Ahitub named Abiathar escaped and fled after
David.
And Abiathar showed David that Saul had slain the Lord's priests.
And David said unto Abiathar, I knew it that day when Doeg the Edomite was there, that
he would surely tell Saul, I mean it's Doeg the Edomite is just a wicked man.
I have occasioned the death of all the persons of thy father's house.
Abide thou with me, fear not, for he that seeketh my life, seeketh thy life,
but with me, thou shalt be in safeguard.
And tonight I want to preach on this subject, when to disobey, when to disobey.
There are times in our life, there are situations where we need to disobey authority figures
in our life.
Now let me start out by saying this, of course we know that the Bible does teach
that we should obey various authorities in our life.
The Bible does teach of course that children should obey their parents, that wives should
obey their husbands, that servants should obey their masters, that we should obey
the powers that be, and that we should obey governors and magistrates.
The Bible does teach submission to authority, but there is a time when we are to disobey
human authorities and disobey those people that are over us, and I want to talk about
tonight when that is.
You see, the Bible says we ought to obey God rather than man.
And the first principle I want to point out is that whenever an authority figure in
our life is telling us to do something that violates the commands of God, we must
disobey that order.
Even if it's coming from the king himself, even if it's not that we have a king, of
course we don't live in a kingdom, but if we receive an order from any authority
figure in our life that is in violation of scripture that's asking us to commit sin,
we should disobey that order.
Now let me point out something about this story.
This story is a story that I think illustrates something that has happened over and over
again throughout history and will continue to happen.
There are police officers and members of the military who will conscientiously object
to carrying out ungodly orders such as the order to kill innocent people.
Now all throughout history governments have given these kind of orders.
Kill innocent people.
Kill the innocent.
Kill women and children.
Kill innocent people.
There are people in the military and there are people in the police force that when they
are told to do these type of things, they will refuse to follow those orders.
And you know what?
They ought to.
And today every police officer and every member of the military needs to decide that
they are not going to blindly follow orders if they're told to kill American civilians
or to kill any kind of civilians or to do anything that is wicked and ungodly in the
sight of the Lord.
And people today in these institutions are often being trained to just do as they're
told, shut up and do what you're told, don't think about it before you do it.
But Christians need to think about what the Lord wants before what their superiors
are telling them to do.
And this is something that is a conflict that has been going on all throughout history.
We see it here.
Troops being ordered to kill innocent people and they have to decide.
Are we going to obey that order or not?
But the thing I want to point out here is that there's always going to be those
who will follow any order no matter how heinous it is, no matter how bad it is.
And I promise you that in the United States military, there are Doeg the Edomites in that
military.
And I guarantee you that on the police force, there are some Doeg the Edomites who not
only will follow these type of orders to turn on Americans or to kill civilians or
to do all manner of wickedness, there are those who would even enjoy it and even
take it to another level and even take it to an extreme of killing and raping and pillaging.
Now what I think is so interesting about this story is that we see the good troops, they
refuse to follow the order, but they don't stop doing.
And that's always the way it is.
You say, well you know these cops that are just beating and killing innocent people,
it's just a few bad apples.
But you'll notice that whenever they do it, the other cops are just standing there just
allowing it to happen or are troops that will do it and then other troops just kind
of allow it to happen.
They're not participating in it, they're not following those unlawful orders, but they'll
sit back and allow the innocent to be.
Even when I was beaten and tasered by the police several years ago, I was just
a few bad guys, a few bad eggs, but what about the other 12 people that were standing
right there smiling and laughing and going along with it?
What does that tell you?
There's a different level of disobedience to wicked authority.
You know, one level is just to not participate in it, but really what they should have done
is they should have stopped Doeg.
I mean don't you think that this whole army that's following Saul could have stopped
one man, Doeg the Edomite, and saved the lives of all these innocent people in this
town that were slaughtered mercilessly by this man?
They could have stopped it.
And in fact, I'm not going to turn there for the sake of time, but earlier in the book
of 1 Samuel, there's a similar story where Jonathan is going to be unjustly put to death.
Jonathan did nothing wrong.
Jonathan's going to be executed and not only do they not follow the order to execute
Jonathan, they protect him.
The troops actually rallied and delivered Jonathan and these troops should have delivered the
city of Nob out of Doeg the Edomite's hand and should have defended it, why?
Because we ought to obey God rather than men, and the Bibles, and go to Proverbs 24,
let me just show you that this is something that God expects us to do.
This is not just something that it's okay if we just stand back and watch innocent
people be slaughtered and killed.
Look what the Bible says in verse 11 of Proverbs 24, if thou forbear to deliver them
that are drawn unto death and those that are ready to be slain, if thou sayest, Behold,
he knew it not, doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it?
And he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it?
And shall not he render to every man according to his works.
Doesn't that teach right there that God expects us to deliver those who are about
to be killed unjustly?
I mean if we see someone who's about to be murdered, we see people that are about
to be harmed and killed and they're innocent people, doesn't God expect us to step in
and protect them?
To step in and defend the defenseless?
If we're armed and they're not armed, we would step in and defend them and help them?
Look, every member of the military or of the police needs to understand that God expects
them to not only not participate in the harming of innocent people, but also they
should be there to stop their associates and stop the rest of them, the dough eggs
of the Edomites of this world, from hurting innocent people.
Go to Romans chapter 1, Romans chapter 1.
And this is a very relevant topic tonight because we are entering a time in our nation
where our country has become very wicked.
And our government has become run by wicked people.
And even more recently, just in the last year or two, our military has now opened
its doors onto open sodomy.
You know, in the past, sodomites were not allowed in the armed forces and if they were
caught being a sodomite, they'd be cast out of the armed services.
But now, just in the last year or two, our nation has institutionalized sodomy
in the military.
And I know a lot of people that are members of the military and they've contacted me and
told me that they have been forced to take classes on accepting sodomy, accepting homosexuality,
accepting this filth and perversion, and they're being taught how to handle it and
how to deal with it and be tolerant of it.
And so our nation has now opened its arms and said, come on in, queers, you know,
come on in, faggots and lesbians, and join the armed services.
But let me explain to you why that's so dangerous.
Because they are wicked, violent people, that's why.
Look what the Bible, and by the way, John the Baptist when he preached under the military,
you know what he said?
Do violence to no man.
You see, it's one thing to go fight on a battlefield and to fight against soldiers
and to fight against other men that are armed, but when you're just slaughtering civilians,
when you're killing women and children, that's just violence.
That's not a legitimate calling of a soldier.
And there's nothing brave about it, there's nothing valiant or courageous about killing
unarmed civilians and killing women and children.
But we see in Romans 1 a description of what the homosexuals are like.
And it's not like what you saw on TV.
TV today, and the media, have purposely put out a false image of what homosexuality
looks like.
And today it's cute, it's funny, they're just nice people, you know, what's our idiot
president's name, Barry Satoro?
He gets up, Barack Obama gets up and says, you know, it shouldn't matter, what's that
stupid thing he always says about, you know, who you love, you know, shouldn't stop you
from defending the country you love, or you know, whatever, stupidity, you know, it shouldn't
matter who you love.
They don't love anybody, they love Satan, they love Phil.
Let me just prove it to you from the Bible, look, well okay, let's use the Bible in
a second, let's just put aside the Bible.
Go on the Center for Disease Control website, go on the internet and just Google the statistics
that they'll never tell you about in the media, that they'll never tell you about
on the TV, that you'll never read in the newspaper, go Google it, even institutions
that are government institutions, even that are pro-homosexual, will tell you that
40% of them have been with over 500 partners, 40%.
I mean the average homo has 500 some partners, and even studies done by pro-homosexual
groups said there is no such thing as monogamy amongst homos, even the ones that are married
are still having hundreds of just random partners, it is the most filthy, disgusting
lifestyle, when you read about it in the Bible, they're always forcing somebody,
they're always molesting somebody, they're always raping somebody, look, it is vile,
it's filthy, it's disgusting, it's reprobate, but let me show you what the Bible says
today, and I don't care what you say, I don't care what Hollywood says, I don't
care what Madison Avenue says, I'm going to tell you what the Bible says, and look,
this is a Bible-believing Baptist church, welcome, come on in, let's see what the
Bible says, look at Romans chapter 1, it says in verse number 26, for this cause
God gave them up unto vile affections, notice it doesn't say alternative affections,
notice it says he gave them up unto vile affections, for even their women did change
the natural use into that which is against nature, and likewise also the men, leaving
the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another, men with
men, working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of
their error which was meet, and even as they did not like to retain God in their
knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient,
being filled, look, who's being filled?
The homos, the sodomites, it says listen, being filled with all unrighteousness, let
me ask you something, is there any unrighteousness that these homos are not filled with, according
to the scripture, according to the apostle Paul, according to Romans, according to the
New Testament, according to the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, is there any unrighteousness
that they're not filled with?
It says being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness,
full of envy, what's the next word, murder, murder.
Look up the murder rates amongst these homos, look up the life expectancy, look, being
a homo shaves 20 years off your life, that's a fact, look up the statistics of
the life expectancy of being a homo shaves 20 years off your life, and yet they go
into the schools and they say, kids, don't smoke kids, you're going to shave years off
your life if you smoke, don't smoke, and look, I'm against smoking, I don't smoke,
I don't want to destroy my health, but let me say this, you know, King James,
he didn't like smoking very much, but anyway, don't smoke, but then they'll tell
you, hey, you might just be born that way, you might just be born a pervert, and
they don't warn them, oh, by the way, your life expectancy is going to go down by
about 20 years, not to mention that you'll spend that life filled with AIDS and
MRSA and syphilis and gonorrhea and everything else, you know, all the different
disorders and diseases that go along with it, but look, isn't that hypocrisy, to sit
there, don't smoke kids, it's bad for you, you know what, being a homo is more
hazardous than all of it put together, and they're constantly killing each other
and beating each other and abusing each other, I mean, it's a disgusting, filthy,
wicked, reprobate lifestyle, and you've just been completely lied to, that it's just,
oh, it's just two men that just love each other, you know what, two men that love
each other, give each other a firm handshake and punch in the shoulder, you know,
and say, hey, let's go play basketball this weekend, you know, let's go, they
don't have this perverted sickness, now, it says that they are full of murder,
I believe it, it says they're full of unrighteousness, I believe it, and because
most preachers won't preach it, nobody even knows what I'm saying, I mean, the stuff I'm saying right now
is unknown even to Baptists, because preachers won't preach on this, they won't talk about it,
they're scared of it, they're scared of their own shadow, but the righteous are as bold as a lion,
look what the Bible says, full of murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whispers, backbiters,
haters of God, despiteful, proud, there's your gay pride,
boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding,
covenant breakers, you know, I guess that'd be like oath breakers,
like the oath to uphold and defend the Constitution,
covenant breakers, without natural affection, watch this, implacable,
unmerciful, now those last two words are the ones that I really want to focus in on,
implacable and unmerciful, what does it mean to be unmerciful?
How about this, some innocent person's crying for mercy, you show none,
isn't that unmerciful? I mean, when you're full of murder,
and when you're unmerciful, and when you're implacable,
I mean, who is implacable if not Doeg the Edomite,
who, when he's done slaughtering the men, moves on to slaughtering the women,
moves on to slaughtering the children, look, he was implacable,
what does it mean to be implacable? It means not satisfied,
just inexorable, implacable, just stopping at nothing,
it reminds me of the sodomites in Genesis 19 where after they were smitten with blindness,
they're still trying to find a lot, you know, they're just implacable,
and so this shows you the type of people now that are being ushered into our military in the United
States, ushered into the armed forces openly, and I've even seen some advertising by our armed
services trying to specifically recruit these people, I'm not kidding, it's out there,
trying to specifically recruit sodomites into the military,
and listen, they will follow orders to slay the innocent,
they will, you know, do whatever violence they're commanded to do, it's a scary thought,
but look at verse 32, it says,
who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death,
not only do the same but have pleasure in them that do them.
Let's go to 2 Samuel 18, let's look at another story, 2 Samuel 18,
because I don't want to spend my whole night just talking about the military and just talking
about the sodomites and just talking about, you know, orders to kill innocent people and
orders to do violent acts, there's more to this issue than that because I don't think anybody
here tonight is in the military or a member of the police force, so, you know, we need
some preaching also that would just apply to us in our daily lives, just when do we
disobey authority in our life, because let's face it, God wants us to obey the authorities
in our life, in general God wants us to obey authority, but we have to balance that
with this idea of when to disobey, when does God want us to disobey authority, when
do we draw the line and not obey, and what we need to understand is that the key
is found in Romans 13 when it tells us, let every soul be subject unto the higher
powers, see there's a chain of command today, God is at the top of that chain, so we
always obey God supremely, if God's telling us one thing and another authority figure's
telling us something different, we go with what God says, but even in our lives there
are chains of command, like for example at your job, you might have an immediate
supervisor, but then there's also who, you know, the general manager, the owner of
the company, and if the owner of the company is telling you, this is what I want
to happen, and then your supervisor says, no, I don't care what he says, we're going
to do it this way, I mean this can happen, and it's like, well okay, who do I obey, well
if you're smart, if you're biblical, you got to obey the higher power, you got to
go with what the top guy says, and there are conflicts like that that will happen,
here's a conflict like that, look at 2 Samuel 18 5, and the king, so this is the highest
authority in Israel, besides God of course, humanly speaking the king commanded Joab
and Abishai and Atai saying, deal gently for my sake with the young man, even with Absalom,
and all the people heard when the king gave all the captains charge concerning Absalom.
Everybody heard this order, didn't they?
The king, the most supreme commander, humanly speaking said, go easy on Absalom.
Look what it says in verse 9, and Absalom met the servants of David, and Absalom
rode upon a mule, and the mule went under the thick bowels of a great oak, and
his head caught hold of the oak, and he was taken up between the heaven and the earth,
and the mule that was under him went away.
So here's a guy, he's got very long hair, Absalom had long flowing hair, and he's
riding on a mule, he goes under a great oak, and his hair gets stuck in a tree.
And he literally is ripped from the back of the mule, and he's hanging from his hair
in the tree.
And it says in verse number 10, a certain man saw it, and told Joab and said, behold
I saw Absalom hanged in an oak, and Joab said unto the man that told him, and behold
thou sawest him, why didst thou not smite him there to the ground?
Is that what the king had said to do?
Smite him to the ground, kill?
No, the king had said, deal gently with him, do not harm him.
I would have given thee ten shekels of silver, and a girdle, I would have rewarded
you if you would have just killed him.
So look what he says, the man said unto Joab, though I should receive a thousand shekels
of silver in mine hand, yet would I not put forth mine hand against the king's son.
For in our hearing the king charged thee and Abishai and Ittai saying, beware that
none touched the young man Absalom, otherwise I should have wrought falsehood against
my own life, for there is no matter hit from the king, and thou thyself would have
set thyself against me.
The man said, Joab, I may not tear you thus with thee, I don't have time for this.
So then he goes and he took three darts it says in verse 14 in his hand, and thrust
them through the heart of Absalom while he was yet alive in the midst of the oak,
and ten young men that bare Joab's armor compassed about and smote Absalom and slew
him.
These are the ten doeg the Edomites that are just ready to just follow any order.
I mean, how many people does it take to kill this guy that's hanging by his hair?
Ten people all just start slaughtering him?
But there are some people who are bloodthirsty, they love violence, they are ungodly people.
And it says in verse 16, and Joab blew the trumpet and the people returned from pursuing
after Israel, for Joab held back the people.
We don't know this man's name in 2 Samuel 18, we don't know what his name was.
But we know this, he was smart, he did what was right, and he saved his own life.
By not obeying a wicked order, why?
Because he was obeying the higher power.
He went with the supreme command.
Go to Romans 13 and let's look at that, exactly how that reads in the New Testament,
Romans 13.
When do we disobey our authorities on this earth?
First of all, we need to disobey authority when they are forcing us to do something
that is against God's word.
We ought to obey God rather than men.
But secondly, we should disobey our authority when a higher authority or that person's authority
is in conflict with what they're telling us to do.
I mean there's a chain of command today, in a business there's a chain of command.
There's the CEO, then there are other regional managers, and then there could be a general
manager, a supervisor, and then there's the guy on the ground, the worker.
Then the military, there's a chain of command.
The president's the commander in chief, and then you've got the generals, and then you've
got lieutenants, and then you go down to sergeants, and then you go down to just
the private at the bottom, just the bottom rung guy.
And they know that if they receive conflicting orders, they're supposed to go, is that right?
They go with the higher authority.
They do not just say, well my immediate commander's telling me to do this, look, they go with
the higher power.
And it's like that in all, not just in the military, not just in business, in the home.
There's the father, then there's the mother, then there's the children, but God is above
all.
In the church, you know, Jesus Christ and the word of God is the supreme authority.
Then the pastor, okay?
Not to say that well the pastor said it, let's just do it, but is it biblical?
Christ is the head of the church.
Now the pastor does have authority, but he's under Christ's authority.
And we need to go first and foremost with this.
This is the authority.
This is the top right here, Jesus Christ, the word of God, his words, his teaching,
and his mandate is what we must follow.
Look at Romans 13 one, let every soul be subject unto the higher powers, for there
is no power but of God, the powers that be ordained of God.
Whosoever therefore resisted the power, resisted the ordinance of God, and they that resist
shall receive themselves damnation.
The rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil.
Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power?
Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same.
For he is the minister of God to thee for good.
But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid.
For he beareth not the sword in vain, for he is the minister of God, a revenger
to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.
Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience' sake.
So this scripture is teaching us that in general, most of the time, rulers, authority figures,
whether it's our parents, whether it's our boss at work, or whether it's even human
government, they're usually there for our good.
And usually obeying them is going to be the right thing to do.
Usually most of their commands are commands that jive with scripture, or at least don't
contradict scripture, and are there to help us live a quiet and peaceable life in all
godliness and honesty.
I have rules for my children that are outside the scope of the Bible.
I have my own rules in my house.
My wife has other rules for the children.
And these rules are for their benefit, they're for our benefit, they're for everybody's
benefit, they don't contradict scripture, and the Bible says, look child, if you're
constantly afraid of the power, meaning you're just constantly in fear that mom and dad
are going to cloud up and rain on you, he says you need to just start doing what's
right.
Instead of complaining about the authority, and complaining about it, they're just coming
down on me all the time, they're always coming down so hard on me.
Look, do that which is good, and thou should have praise of the same.
Now are there times when authority goes wrong, and when parents could tell their children
to do wrong?
Yes, but most of the time that's not the case.
Most of the time, if we would just be honest, there is not a conflict between what we're
being told to do by human authority and what we're being told to do by God's authority,
but when there is a conflict we go with God's authority.
Now, for example, let's look at human government.
I mean human government has laws against stealing, laws against murder.
These laws are good laws that protect us and protect the innocent, and these laws are
there to protect us from the evil doer, and the Bible even says here, in verse 3,
for rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil, wilt thou then not be afraid
of the power?
Do that which is good, and thou should have praise of the same.
For he is the minister of God, but if thou do that which is evil, be afraid.
For he beareth not the sword in vain.
For he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.
So what is God's purpose for government?
To execute wrath upon people that do evil, to punish the evil doer.
Now that is what government often does, but often government goes outside their bounds,
like in a totalitarian system where government wants to dictate things in your personal
life.
For example, if you lived in the Soviet Union and they're telling you this is what
your job is going to be, you're like, wait a minute, can't I be a marine biologist
if I want to, you know, grow up and do whatever the job?
No, this is your job, this is what you're going to do.
That's an abuse of government.
When they start taking away your freedom and telling you this is where you're going
to live, this is the job you're going to have, this is what you can eat and drink,
you know, and they start just dictating every part of your life.
That's outside their scope, but sometimes even government can become a terror to good
works.
For example, in communist countries, what about where they're rounding up Christians
in a communist country and putting them in concentration camps?
That's never happened, right?
Yes, it has happened.
In the Soviet Union, Christians were rounded up, also not just Christians, but just anybody
who is just not in line with the ideology of communism, which is a wicked ideology.
All the Russian Orthodox church and them, they were all rounded up, many of them were
tortured and killed.
That was a government that was a terror to good works.
That's not a government that anybody should support or obey or think, you know, well,
they're doing God's will, they're the minister of God, Joseph Stalin's the minister
of God.
No, wrong.
Not when you're rounding up Christians and killing them.
Not when you're murdering and torturing innocent people just because they disagree politically.
That is not of God.
Now, a lot of people will teach a false doctrine that says, well, when Romans 13 was
written, they'll say this, Christians were being executed by the Roman government and
Paul is saying they're not a terror to good works.
Now, first of all, would that make any sense?
If Paul is living under a government that's murdering and killing Christians and burning
Christians at the stake and throwing Christians at lions, would Paul say, you know, obey
the government because rulers are not a terror to good works?
That wouldn't really make any sense, would it?
Paul wrote that when Nero was on the throne and he was murdering and massacring Christians
and he still said, he still said to be subject to the government and love the government
and obey the government and, you know, even when they, we need to love and respect
them even when they're massacring Christians.
Now, I guess according to these people, when the Antichrist comes, we're going to
love and respect him and pray for him every day that God will bless him every day
because he's in authority.
I mean, that's what they're saying.
It's what they're teaching.
But think about this, my friend.
I can prove to you right now that that is a lie about Nero being on the throne,
killing Christians when this was written.
I'll prove it to you.
Because the book of Romans, if you look at the book of Romans in chapter 16, if
you want to flip over there, let's just prove all things.
Let's just see what the Bible actually teaches.
And I didn't have this in my notes.
This is just off the cuff, so I'm trying to find the verse I'm looking for.
If somebody knows where it is, help me out in Romans 16, where he talks about how he's
going to Spain.
I know he says it in chapter 1.
Somebody find it for me in chapter 16.
But I'll read for you in chapter number 1, or does he not talk about it in chapter
1?
No, he doesn't.
Somebody help me out here.
Does anybody want to earn a special prize tonight?
No, I'm just kidding.
Is it in?
It's not in chapter...
Is it 15?
Oh, good.
Okay, thank you.
1524.
Look at chapter 1524.
It says, Whensoever I take my journey into Spain, I will come to you, for I trust
to see you in my journey, and to be brought on my way thitherward by you, if first
I be somewhat filled with your company.
Paul here is talking about how he wants to take this journey to Spain.
Missionary journey.
And he says, When I go to Spain, I want to make a pit stop in Rome.
Now flip back to chapter 1.
And in chapter 1, he makes it clear that he has not yet been to Rome.
In chapter 15, he's saying, When I take my journey into Spain, I want to stop off
in Rome.
Why?
Because then, he's saying, I haven't been there.
And that's why he says, in verse number 11, For I long to see you, that I may impart
unto you some spiritual gift to the end you may be established.
Verse 13, Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come
unto you, but was let thitherto, let means hindered, but was let thitherto, that I
might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles.
I am deader both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise and to the unwise.
So as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.
He's saying, I want to have some fruit amongst you like I've had among other Gentiles.
I want to go to Rome.
I want to take a trip to Spain and I want to stop in Rome and I want to go soul winning
in Rome.
I want to preach to the churches in Rome.
I want to do this because I haven't done it before.
I mean, it's clear reading it that it's going to be his first time showing up in Rome.
You say, why is that significant?
Because we read in the book of Acts about the apostle Paul going to Rome.
Now think for a moment.
Was the book of Romans written before that story in the book of Acts where Paul goes
to Rome or after that story in the book of Acts where Paul goes to Rome?
It was written before he went to Rome.
And when we read the book of Acts, not your history book, not your commentary, not
your Bible encyclopedia, when we read the book of Acts, God's word, we will find that
the Romans were not persecuting Christians at all during that time.
Now look, did they persecute them later?
The Bible never talks about it.
I'm sure that it probably happened because of course history tells us it happened.
But when I base what I believe on the Bible, I don't take into account a secular source
because often those things can be inaccurate.
Now usually there's some truth in everything and I'm sure that there were Christians who
were martyred and persecuted.
I don't really doubt that but I don't think it's really relevant to Bible preaching because
it's not found in the Bible.
But what we do know for a fact today is that at the time that the book of Romans was
written, Christians were not being persecuted by the Roman Empire at all.
That is a biblical fact.
You know we can debate about when the persecution of Christians started, to what level that
persecution was, how it all played out, what role Nero and other Caesars played,
but that's not biblical teaching.
I will tell you for a fact that when the book of Romans was written, the Roman
Empire was not only not persecuting Christians, I mean they were not persecuting Christians
at that time period, but they were actually protecting Christians from persecution.
That's what the Bible teaches because if you read the book of Acts, Paul is being
persecuted by who?
The Jews, not the Roman Empire.
I mean look, did the Romans, were the Romans on a hair trigger to just crucify Jesus?
The Jews had to beg him and cajole him and practically force him to do it.
And what was Pilate doing?
The Bible says he tried to deliver Jesus out of their hand.
That's what it says.
He tried to deliver Jesus out of the Jews' hands.
And in the book of Acts, the Jews want to kill Paul, the Romans sent 200 soldiers
to protect Paul.
In the book of Acts, the Romans, and by the way, this is after the book of Romans has
been written, proving that the persecution of Christians had not yet begun by the Roman
Empire.
It doesn't even seem like it's close to beginning.
The Bible says that the Apostle Paul was protected by 200 Roman soldiers from the
Jews that are trying to kill him.
Does that sound like the Romans were persecuting Christians and killing them and burning them?
This is such a lie.
And when it's being brought before them, and when you see Paul being brought before Roman
officials and other government officials, anybody who reads the book of Acts, no one's
ever going to come to the conclusion, oh man, the Romans are really persecuting Christians.
It's not in the Bible, folks.
And so, you know, you could make a case and say, well, you know, Revelation 17,
you know, at that time seems to indicate, and that's all prophetic future stuff, of
course, written way later, that okay, maybe by the time Revelation was written, you
could make a case that perhaps at that time, Romans had started persecuting Christians.
But I'm not even saying it might be this way.
I'm telling you for a fact that when the book of Romans was written, the Roman
Empire was not persecuting Christians.
That's just a fraud.
It just simply isn't true.
And the Bible proves it by reading the book of Acts.
And so in Romans 13, we see a teaching that says, obey the powers that be, obey authority,
obey human government, but be subject unto the higher power.
Don't obey them when they conflict with what God says.
And when they're a terror to good works, they're no longer a legitimate government.
You know, when they're murdering Christians and so forth.
You know, when the Antichrist is in power, I hope that you're not going to keep on thinking
that we should just always obey government no matter what.
I mean, is that when you're going to draw the line, finally?
You say, well, God puts all leaders in authority.
Well, the Bible says the dragon gave him his power and his seat and great authority.
So there you go.
But let's go to one more place.
Let's go to Daniel chapter 1, and let's put this into practical teaching in our lives.
We want to obey the higher powers.
By the way, all the modern versions, they get rid of that phrase, higher powers, and
it just changes it to just obey the government, obey the government, instead of saying obey
the higher powers.
Because in our nation, for example, the highest power is the Constitution.
Obviously God's the highest power, but I mean, humanly speaking in our government,
the Constitution is the supreme law of the land.
And that's why the Supreme Court has ruled that any law that is repugnant to the US
Constitution is null and void.
Listen to me, the Supreme Court has ruled that Americans do not have to obey laws that
are unconstitutional.
Did you know that?
If a law is unconstitutional, Americans do not have to obey it.
That's what the Supreme Court says.
So there are Christians out there that are just these rabid, neo-con, just pro-government,
apple pie eating, flag waving, just, oh, I love the government, I love America.
And look, you know, oh Bush, or whatever, Obama.
But wait a minute, hold on now, the Bible teaches obeying the higher power, but even
if we're to put the Bible aside, and just look at our own government, our own
government is telling us that we don't have to obey laws that are against the Constitution.
The Supreme Court has said any law that is repugnant to the US Constitution is null
and void.
Meaning that if a local town, for example, made a law, like let's say the city of
Tempe were to make a law that says no soul winning.
You cannot knock doors with the Gospel.
Okay, obviously, biblically we know we ought to obey God rather than man.
So we're going to go soul winning anyway.
But even the Bible aside, that law is null and void because of the fact that the US
Constitution says that the Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment
of religion or, and I'm messing it up, I have the Bible memorized better than the
Constitution, but it says or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.
So the government cannot make a law that forbids us from exercising our religion.
And part of exercising our religion is preaching the Gospel to every creature.
It's going daily in the temple and in every house.
It's disciplining our children.
It's doing all manner.
It's preaching the Bible.
I mean, if they made a law that said, hey, don't preach this part of the Bible, even
our own government will tell us we don't have to obey that law.
And there are local governments that sometimes enact laws that are over the top and they're
struck down.
They're struck down.
They say this law is not legitimate.
And so we need to understand that the higher powers is not only a biblical concept but
it's a concept in our government, humanly speaking, that the Constitution is the supreme
law and that anything that violates that, we don't have to obey laws that violate
our religion.
We don't have to, you know, I mean the government makes some law that says, you know, you
have to buy birth control and abortion for all your employees.
You know what that's doing?
That's violating people's religion.
They don't have to obey.
And biblically they have every right not to obey and just civilly they have every
right not to obey.
Now look, one day our government may turn into a total dictatorship someday, but we're
not quite there yet.
So therefore we should not just think that, well, we just have to obey every local law
and every police officer who tells us to do anything, even if it violates the Constitution.
Even if it violates scripture, to just think, just do what you're told.
No.
Do what God said.
Do what the Constitution says.
Let's take a stand for our freedom.
And you know, you might not think freedom matters that much, but it does matter when
you can't go soul winning.
And when you're being rounded up and put in a boxcar for the FEMA camp, you know, when
you're being rounded up with machine guns, all of a sudden freedom starts mattering.
When they're telling you it's illegal for you to spank your child, when they're
telling you you must allow homosexuals to come to church, then all of a sudden freedom
starts mattering.
So we should just have an attitude that says, let's stand for freedom, let's not abuse
the freedom of others, and obviously we should spend most of our time fighting the spiritual
battle and not get too caught up in the politics of this world, because God's kingdom is not
of this world.
We should spend most of our time on spiritual things.
But when people do ask us our political opinion, if we are going to get active at
all in any kind of a political arena, we need to always fight for freedom and stand
for freedom.
And the Bible teaches principles of freedom.
And we need to never come down on this totalitarian government side, whether it's
right wing or left wing.
Should never side with big government and a government that's totalitarian in nature.
But look at Daniel chapter 1.
Let's look at this more from our personal lives.
Because probably the situation that we're going to run into more than anything with this
is within business, marriage, and our parents.
Those are pretty much the three scenarios that we're going to deal with the most.
Parents telling children to do something ungodly.
Or a husband telling his wife to do something ungodly.
Or a boss at work telling an employee to do something ungodly.
How do we handle that?
I mean, what do we do when we're faced with this conflict?
First of all, this conflict doesn't usually happen all the time.
But sometimes it does happen.
And we need to know how to deal with it.
Look at Daniel 1.
Here's a great example of how to deal with it.
It says, but Daniel, verse 8, purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself
with the portion of the king's mean.
Now let me ask this.
Is he maybe going to defile himself?
He says no way.
He makes a decision in his heart, he purposed in his heart, I will not defile myself.
Is he being commanded by his leaders, he's being commanded by the king and by the king's
lieutenant, they're saying, eat meat, sacrifice unto idols, drink wine.
And he purposed in his heart, I'm not going to do it.
I will not do it.
But look what he says in the latter half of the verse.
Nor with the wine which he drank, therefore he what?
Requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.
Now let me ask this.
In Daniel's heart, was it a might?
I might not defile myself.
Was it, well I'm going to ask, I'm going to request not to defile myself.
Was that what it was in his heart?
No in his heart, he purposed that he would not do it.
But when he went to his boss, when he went to his authority figure, it was requesting
that he might not defile himself, showing that he did not go in there guns a-blazin'.
I don't care what you say, I'm going to obey God and not you.
He didn't do that.
And if we're smart, neither should we.
We should be respectful, kind, and humble.
We should take a stand, we should not back down, but we should do it in a kind and loving
and humble way.
Look at the next verse.
So tip number one for disobeying authority when you have to.
Number one, don't be rude and abrasive and go in there guns a-blazin'.
You be respectful and humble.
Point number two, look at verse nine.
Now God had brought Daniel into favor and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs.
Point number two is that we should have a good rapport with our leaders in the first
place, and if we have a good rapport with them, they're going to be more willing to
work with us on things like this.
See if you're the worst employee on your job, and then you're going to them saying,
hey I need these days off for church, and hey it's against my conscience to do this
and do that, you're more likely to be told, just shut up and do what you're told.
Because you're a bad employee, because you have a bad rapport with the boss.
But if you have a very good rapport with the boss, if the boss loves you and you've
been a great employee and you tell them, look I want to go to church on this night,
look I need to abstain from this particular activity because it's against my conscience,
they will work with you on it.
That's the second point right there.
And also God can help with that.
The Bible says God had brought Daniel into tender love with the prince of the eunuchs,
but not only that, Daniel was such a good student and such a good worker that he was
loved and respected by his authority.
That's going to go a long way folks.
And by the way, a wife for example, let's say a wife is told by her husband to do
something ungodly.
Look, do you have a tender loving relationship with your husband, that's going to go a long
way toward getting your husband to work with you on your conscience.
Children, if you're good, obedient, godly children, you're helpful around the house,
you're respectful to your parents, you're doing what you're supposed to do, look they're
not going to cloud up and rain on you as much when you want to do something for
God that they don't approve of or that they don't like or when you abstain.
And you say, well when would parents ever tell their children to do something ungodly
or when would a husband ever tell his wife to do something ungodly?
It happens.
Let me just give you, let's just give you some examples and let's give some examples
from business.
Your boss at work asks you to lie.
I mean that's never happened, right?
Happens all the time.
Your boss at work tells you to charge money for parts that were never even installed.
I mean this stuff happens all the time.
Charge them, look, I've seen it so much in business.
I mean literally when I was in the fire alarm business, I'd go out to jobs and another
company had been out there before me and this company had literally billed them for
replacing the panel, replacing all kinds of parts and I went out there and I said
these parts are 20 years old, they've replaced nothing.
I mean talk about brazen.
Can you imagine a company billing the customer, oh yeah we did $5,000 worth of work, we
replaced all this stuff.
I took pictures of it, it's dirty, it has cobwebs on it, I said this has not been replaced
and they're like they billed us.
No they did nothing because nobody's checking the work and this happens all, I mean that
didn't happen once my friend, all the time.
I was constantly photographing stuff, no it hasn't been replaced and then they confront
the customer, oh whoops we thought we replaced that.
Whoops we thought we did $5,000 worth of work out there.
Happens all the time.
That means somebody is telling somebody hey just write this down that we did this, hey
or they're supposed to, there was a situation in LA, I worked with a lot of elevator
technicians where I would coordinate with them, I was talking to this elevator guy
that I'd done a lot of testing with and he told me that it was just in the news
how someone had been killed by an elevator that went awry, somebody had been killed
by this elevator that malfunctioned.
And his company had just been out there to inspect this elevator and test it and the
boss had told the elevator technician you need to inspect this elevator and the technician
said that particular elevator it's impossible to do the inspection I need to do without
two guys, it takes two guys, you got to be here and there and the guy said just
do a drive by.
Basically saying show up, say you inspected it, sign off on it and call it good and don't
test anything but just write it up as if you did all the testing.
And then somebody died and then it was like you guys were out there a week ago and
tested this and it worked?
But it turned out that they had not been, and they were caught, caught having deceived
and dissembled and then it was a big deal and heads were rolling in that company
and people were in big, big trouble when something like that happens, when somebody
dies from something like that, an accident like that.
So what I'm saying is a boss could tell you to lie, you know what, parents could
tell their children to lie.
Here's an example, tell them we're not home, right, out soul winning or what about
this, what about this one, say you're 12.
You know you're going somewhere, the child's 13 and it's like if you're 12 and under
it's free, right, or it's half price, it's like just say you're 12, just say you're
10, you're 8 years old, you understand?
I mean should a child who's told say you're 8, I mean should they do that, no.
So that's an example of being told to lie.
You know a husband could tell a wife to lie, a husband could tell a wife to steal, whatever,
I mean whatever the case may be.
Also there are some husbands, believe it or not, that are perverted and could actually
tell their wife to do something like commit adultery or look at pornography.
I mean obviously to the normal man that sounds, why would any man want his wife to
commit adultery or to look at pornography?
I mean that's so warped but it's out there and you know if a husband says to a wife
look at pornography or no we've not broken the record, Mercy, she rang the bell, if
a husband were to say to his wife look at pornography or commit adultery or be involved
in weird things that involve a third party.
And look I'm not trying to be graphic or weird, I'm just telling you it's out there.
Obviously we ought to obey God rather than men, or how about this, here's a really
common one, what about a husband who says to his wife you can't go to church.
Now does the Bible command us to go to church?
I believe that a wife should go to church anyway, even if the husband says don't go
to church.
Or how about this, the husband says don't get baptized.
Well I've got to obey my husband, well we've got to obey God rather than men.
What about the parent who says to the child, you can't get baptized.
These are things that happen and these are difficult situations but that's why we
need to be in tender love with our authority figure and at least please them in other
areas and at least be a good child or a good employee or a good wife so that when
these things happen we can have a little more rapport and a little more leeway with
the authority figures in our life and say look I'm not willing to violate my conscience
here.
Now obviously there are some things that are better but it doesn't mean that we're
commanded by God to do them.
For example I believe that God's perfect will is that wives be a housekeeper or homemaker
and not be out in the workforce.
But if a husband makes his wife go to work then she has to go to work.
Because it's not a sin for a woman to go to work.
You can't really say in the Bible it's a sin for a woman to work.
I mean there are some women who have to work because nobody is supporting them.
Maybe if their husband leaves them or if they're just single they find themselves
in that situation.
I mean there are some women who have to go to work and they go to work.
There's nothing in the Bible that says it's a sin for a woman to go to work.
But if we know what the Bible teaches and the Bible teaches that the husband should
provide and that if any man provide not for his own and we see those types of Scriptures
and if we know that God wants women to be discreet, chaste, and keepers at home
and good and obedient to their own husband then obviously if we know to do good and do
it not it's sin, we as husbands should lead and say I'm going to provide, you're going
to be a keeper at home, that's God's will, but at the same time you can't really, in
my opinion, and maybe this is a gray area, you may have a different opinion,
my opinion is that it's not a sin for a woman to get a job but that it's God's
will that they be at home if the husband will lead in that way and he should.
So I blame the husband for that.
But what I'm saying is there are certain things that your husband might say, you know,
for example, you can't go to every church function under the sun.
You might have to compromise with that and say okay.
But when it comes to him just saying you can't go to church at all, well, now you're
violating the Bible when you don't go to church at all.
See how these can be kind of, you know, difficult situations where you're looking, okay,
you know, if your husband says well you can go to church on these days but not on these
days, you know, you might need to work with him on that.
But if he just tells you you can't go to Faithful Word Baptist Church, you're going
to, you know, the Catholic Church, I think that's a situation where you disobey your
husband and go to church.
You know, and if he's telling you, hey, you know, commit adultery, no, you need
to do what's right in the sight of God.
Or if he's telling you lie for me, cover for me, steal for me, you know, you got
to ask yourself, what does God want me to do in this situation?
And these can be tough situations, but I think if we look at Daniel 1, we can see that there's
a way to handle this conflict and I think it's very rare, I think it's very rare that
children have to just totally defy their parents or that wives have to just totally
defy their husband or that workers have to just defy their boss.
I think usually the Daniel 1 method will work the vast majority of the time.
If you're working hard, if you're being a good worker, and you're kind about it,
you know, usually you can get away with a lot if you're a good worker.
I've been on jobs where I refuse to do things, you know, I remember, good night,
the boss that I had right before I started my own fire alarm business, he was constantly
trying to get me to work on church days, constantly.
And it was like I told him going into the job, I can't work, you know, there are 168
hours in the week, I can work all these times except Sunday morning, Sunday night,
and Wednesday night, and I told him that going into the job, and I never wavered
on that, I never budged on that, but even just years, years later, hey, I need
you to work on this Sunday, or hey, I need you to work on Wednesday night.
I don't do that, you know, I'm just over and over, and I told him, I said,
look, I'll work all night, I'll work, you know, crazy hours, I'll do what you want,
but I said, these particular times, I'm not going to work.
And you know what, he worked with me on that all the way to the end,
I never lost my job, and I always refused to do it.
And then other times, you know, he wanted me to go to a job one time,
and it was in like a bar, and it was, you know, it was in the evening time,
he wants me to go to a bar, he just gave me the address, I didn't know what it was,
I pull up at the job, and it's a bar, and it's filled with, you know,
and I'd never even been to a bar, and it's all filled with people,
they're drinking and partying and everything, and I just called my boss and I said,
you know what, I said, you know, I don't want to go work in that bar,
I said, I don't feel comfortable going to a place like that, it's just, you know,
and you know what, you know what I was able to work out was that I was able to go in
and do the job at a time when the bar was not open, and I was able to go in through the back door,
and just go to the electrical room, and do the work, and just, you know,
didn't have to be exposed to that atmosphere, and the partying, and all the, you know,
scantily clad women, and just the whole, you know, the whole bar thing,
I just didn't want to be there.
And my boss was very kind and understanding about it,
because he knew that I was willing to go the extra mile over here
to make up for the fact that I wasn't doing what he wanted over here.
You know, yeah, I'm not working on Sundays and Wednesdays,
but I was willing to really do extra over here to make up for it.
And I think wives could do the same thing, you know, really go above and beyond,
you know, with cooking or whatever, and you know, do something really good,
make your husband really happy, and then he's going to be, you're going to have favor in his sight.
Children that are really good children do what they're supposed to do,
can really score points with mom and dad, and then they're going to find favor
when they need to conscientiously object to this, that, or the other.
I'm telling you, this is the right way.
Instead of just being defiant and rebellious, I'm going to obey God rather than you!
We need to instead try to work with people if we can, and please everybody if we can.
If we can, go above and beyond.
I mean, look, if you do extra chores for your parents, it's going to be so shocking.
Go to church, whatever, you know?
And look, how many wives are really going above and beyond to really serve and please their husband?
You know, if you went the extra mile and did some extra things to make his life easier
and to be a blessing to him, you're going to get a lot of leeway with him
when you need something in return.
Same thing, when you're showing up early and staying late and working your fingers to the bone,
and you ask them, hey, I need your help with this, they're going to work with you on that,
more often than not.
But let's get one more point from Daniel 1 here.
It says in verse 10,
And the prince of the eunuch said unto Daniel,
I fear my lord the king who hath appointed your meat in your drink.
For why should he see your face as worse liking than the children which are of your sort?
Then shall ye make me endanger my head to the king.
So what's he saying?
He says to his immediate supervisor,
I don't want to eat this meat sacrificed unto idols and I don't want to drink wine.
And the supervisor loves Daniel because he's been such a good student and such a good worker.
But the supervisor says to Daniel,
you know, there's nothing I can really do because he said,
I'm taking orders from the king.
The king has commanded that you eat this stuff and drink this stuff.
And he says, I'm afraid that if you don't eat this, you know, red meat and drink,
you know, that you're not going to gain as much weight,
you're not going to be as strong and healthy,
and then the king's going to look at you and you're all skinny,
you're looking like these skinny vegans,
and it's like, you know vegans, sometimes they are emaciated, I'm sorry.
Sometimes, you know, people that are vegan are not a very good advertisement for veganism
because sometimes they're just so emaciated, you're like,
you know, I'm not interested in being that skinny, okay?
And he's like, you know, I don't want him to just look at you and say,
what kind of a vegan diet do you have these guys on?
And they say to him, you know, I mean, he's got a point, right?
Because he goes, why do they look like this?
Oh, well, you know, they didn't want to eat the meat.
It's like, good night.
They didn't get enough protein.
So look what Daniel says in verse 11.
Then said Daniel to Melzar, whom the prince of the eunuchs had said over Daniel,
Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,
prove thy servants I beseech thee ten days,
and let them give us pulse to eat.
What's pulse?
Pulse is like beans and lentils, which, you know,
not quite as high in protein as meat,
but if you're looking for a plant-based protein source,
you know, beans are going to be one of the plants that has the most protein.
And so they said, give us pulse to eat and water to drink,
then let our countenances be looked upon before thee,
and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the king's meat,
and as thou seest, deal with thy servants
so he consented them in this matter and proved them ten days,
and at the end of ten days,
their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh
than all the children that should eat the portion of the king's meat.
So these guys, yes, they're going to go
and abstain from the meat sacrificed unto idols,
but notice, they said test us for ten days,
and I guarantee you that during that ten days,
they made sure to eat as much pulse as they could.
I mean, they ate a lot of beans.
They ate a lot of lentils.
They ate a lot of split peas.
They didn't just say, well, we're not going to eat that,
and then, you know, eat a few, and follow.
I mean, they're like, yeah, let's eat these beans, you know, let's eat lentils.
I mean, they were wolfing it down,
and they're eating five meals a day.
You know they were, because they're saying, you know,
we want to make the boss happy.
We want to please him.
We want him to work with us here.
And you know what they were able to do?
They were able to get the work done that they needed to get done
without compromising their beliefs.
But see, some people, sometimes they just want to use their beliefs
just as an excuse not to get work done.
You know what I mean?
They want to use their beliefs just as an excuse to be lazy.
Like, I heard about a situation of a guy who, you know,
he told his company, I can't work on Sunday.
I got to be in church.
I can't work on Sunday.
And they said, well, you know, you can work really, really late on Saturday then.
You can work a double shift on Saturday,
and then you can go to church on Sunday.
It's like, oh, well, I'm going to be too tired.
See what I mean, though?
You know, if you want the boss to work with you and give you that Sunday off,
and he says, okay, work double shift on Saturday,
that might be just what you have to do.
And you know what, maybe it's time for you to just man up
and work hard and push yourself a little bit
and get some strength and some backbone,
and then your boss, I mean, look, why would the boss care
whether you do the same work and you double up Saturday
and take Sunday off and go to church,
but when it just becomes, well, I want Saturday and Sunday off?
It's like, come on, dude.
You're just using church as an excuse to just not do your work.
That's not what Daniel's doing.
He's saying, look, I'm going to do my best to get the job done
on beans and lentils, but, you know,
I'm not going to sin and eat meat sacrificed to idols.
It's not that meat is wrong.
It was meat offered and sacrificed unto idols that's wrong.
It's drinking an alcoholic beverage that's wrong.
And he's saying, I'm going to get it done without violating my conscience.
Look, boss, I'm going to get the work done.
My boss one time, he's like, you've got to be here for three days.
He said there's too much work for you to do in two days
because I had to fly to Chicago and get a bunch of work done.
He said there's too much for two days.
He said you've got to stay through Wednesday.
And I'm like, no, I can't do that because I'm a pastor.
I've got to be back. I need to preach and everything.
Because he's like, well, just go to church in Illinois.
And look, if you're not a pastor, that works.
I mean, if you're not a pastor
and let's say you've got to be out of town for a couple of weeks,
just go to church in that area.
And I used to visit all kinds of churches when my company would have me travel.
But, you know, as a pastor, I needed to be here.
I couldn't just go to church in Illinois.
That would have been fine if I was a layman,
but I need to put my pastoring as a high priority.
And I told him, I said, look, let me just do some math with you.
I said if I go out there Monday and I work all day Monday
and all night Monday and don't sleep at all
and all day Tuesday, eventually I'm going to have to go to sleep, right?
So how much can I really do?
Because I said if I go out there for three days,
I'm going to work all day Monday and sleep Monday night.
Then I'm going to work all day Tuesday and sleep Tuesday night.
And then I'm going to work all day Wednesday and sleep Wednesday night.
I said that's what I would do. That's what you want me to do.
I said you want me to go out there and work for three days and sleep for three nights, right?
But I'm going to do the same amount of work by working all night Monday night.
And I'm going to work all day Monday, all night Monday night.
I said that's all that I can even humanly do anyway.
And he said, okay, but just get it all done.
And I went out there and I worked all day Monday.
I worked all night Monday night. I worked all day Tuesday night.
And at the end of Tuesday night I was so tired.
I got on the airplane to fly back.
I sat down in my seat, buckled the seat belt, and the next thing I know,
sir, the plane's empty, sir.
You know, you're in Phoenix.
I'm like, whoa, where am I?
You know, it wasn't fun.
And usually it's not that extreme.
That's one extreme scenario that I'm bringing up.
Usually it's not that extreme.
I'm just saying that's kind of the mentality that we should try to have of just,
hey, let's do more over on this side to balance out what we're refusing to do over here
because of the Bible.
Instead of just using the Bible as a way to just get out of working long hours.
And you know what?
Sometimes as a man in 2014 you have to work really hard.
And sometimes the difference between people who make ends meet and people who don't
and people who are willing to work all night sometimes.
I mean, who here has had to work all night before?
I mean, you know, all kinds of hands go up.
I mean, who here has had to work, you know, you don't have to raise your hand,
but who here has had to work 80, 90 hours, 100 hours?
I mean, we've been there.
I know Scott's been there because I've made him do it
because he worked for me for a little while.
You know, sometimes that's life as a man.
And so we need to obey God, but let's try to obey our human authorities also.