(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Now in Genesis chapter 4 we have of course the famous story of Cain and Abel and it says in verse number 1 and Adam knew Eve his wife and she conceived and bare Cain and said I've gotten a man from the Lord and she again bare his brother Abel and Abel was a keeper of sheep but Cain was a tiller of the ground now verse number one when the Bible says Adam knew Eve his wife it doesn't just mean that he knew her as in he was acquainted with her basically the meaning is given right there and a lot of people say that the Bible is really hard to understand and especially the King James Bible but really especially in the early part of the Bible when you read the book of Genesis the Bible really defines itself for you so when it says that Adam knew Eve his wife and she conceived you can get the picture of what he means by he knew her because she concedes right after that she's pregnant with a child after he knows her now why is God using the word no because God doesn't go into graphic detail in the Bible about what goes on in the bedroom between a man and a woman that's private between a husband and wife that's not something that should be discussed openly as it is on TV and in Hollywood today where everyone that you know reads magazines that just graphically describe what goes on in the bedroom between a man and woman that's supposed to be private and kept within the bounds of marriage and so God doesn't go into graphic detail in the Bible instead he uses the euphemism of just he knew her okay and that's talking about obviously knowing her carnally knowing her in a way that would produce conception and so it says that he knew his wife and she conceived and bear Cain and said I've gotten a man from the Lord and she again bear his brother Abel and Abel was a keeper of sheep but Cain was a tiller of the ground and in process of time it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord and Abel he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof and the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect so here God has given them instructions if you read Hebrews chapter 11 it's clear that Abel brought the sacrifice of the flock by faith which means that he was given an instruction from God's Word on what he was supposed to bring for an offering to the Lord it was supposed to be a sacrifice of an animal it was supposed to be a lamb that was going to be sacrificed unto the Lord and the blood of that lamb was going to be shed and it was to picture of course Jesus Christ who would come one day the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world now Cain was one who was a farmer he's bringing up fruits and vegetables so instead of bringing the lamb as a sacrifice as God had instructed him to do instead he decides to just bring of his best fruits and vegetables and he basically thinks okay well God's gonna accept this this is the best I have to offer you know this is what I produce and so I'm gonna give this to God he's gonna accept it well when he brings it to God the Bible says the Lord had respect unto Abel and his offering but verse 5 but unto Cain and his offering he had not respect and what's Cain's reaction Cain was very wroth wroth is extremely angry like the word wrath it says Cain was wroth and his countenance fell or his face fell he's angry he's sad he's upset he doesn't understand why God won't accept his offering I mean come on he's giving something to God out of the goodness of his heart it's his best it's what he produced from his job and look what God says to him in verse 6 and the Lord said unto Cain why art thou wroth and why is thy countenance fallen if thou doest well shalt thou not be accepted and so he tells Cain instead of getting mad about it instead of getting all down in the mouth why don't you just do what I told you to do why don't you just obey and then you'll be accepted and of course that's not his reaction it says if thou doest not well sin layeth at the door and unto thee shall be his desire and thou shalt rule over him and Cain talked with Abel's brother and it came to pass when they were in the field that Cain rose up against Abel's brother and slew him so he gets so angry about his offering being rejected he actually kills his brother Abel and we're going to get into that in a moment but the first thing I want to point out is that this is a great go to 2 Peter chapter 2 if you would leave your finger here in Genesis chapter 4 the first thing I want to show you about this is the significance of the two offerings of Cain and Abel see in 2 Peter chapter 2 it says in verse 1 but there were false prophets also among the people so this is talking about preachers who are preaching lies and preaching false doctrine he says there were false prophets also among the people even as there shall be false teachers among you so he's telling us we need to watch out for people who are preaching lies who privilege shall bring in damnable heresies even denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift destruction jump down if you would to where he talks about Cain in verse number let me find my place here if you jump down to verse number good night I lost my place somebody help me out 2 Peter chapter 2 woe unto them oh I'm sorry I'm in the wrong chapter anyway let me explain to you this is what it is 2 Peter chapter 2 and Jude are parallel passages that talk about the exact same thing they go into false teachers creeping in sneaking in go a few pages to the right and we'll find the same thing in the book of Jude just a few pages to the right in your Bible where the Bible talks about those that it says in verse 4 there are certain men crept in unawares and he's talking about these false teachers these false prophets who creep in with false doctrine and look what he says in verse 11 woe unto them for they have gone in the way of Cain so in this discussion about people who are tampering with the doctrines of salvation because he says in verse 3 of Jude he says beloved when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the safe for there are certain men crept in unawares people that are tampering with salvation people that are bringing in heresy people that are preaching false doctrine he says woe unto them they've gone in the way of Cain therefore God is using Cain as an example of a prototype of false prophets or false teachers to come he is a foreshadowing of false prophets and false teachers why is he? well if you look at what the offerings were Abel brought a lamb as a sacrifice what did that represent? the Lord Jesus Christ the lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world what did Cain's offering represent? his own works what he did what he accomplished what he produced no blood shed no animal slain but rather just fruits and vegetables he's doing his best he's working hard he's giving God what he's got and it's rejected this pictures the two viewpoints that people have today about salvation you know you ask us what we believe about salvation and you talk to any Bible believing Christian about what they believe about salvation they'll tell you the Bible is clear that salvation is just by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ that's it the Bible says very clearly that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life the Bible says over and over again but as many as received him to them gave you power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name it says for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast he said it's not by your good works it's not by anything that you earn that you can get into heaven it's a free gift of God paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ that's what Abel's offering symbolized the blood of Jesus the lamb of God Cain's offering symbolized his best what he's doing to earn his way to earn favor with God his good works all throughout the Bible even back in Genesis 4 you see this constant theme contrasting salvation by faith in Christ with salvation by being a good person going to church living a good life all the good works that you can do to try to earn your way into heaven that's contrasted all throughout the Bible here we see it between Cain and Abel later on we'll see the Tower of Babel story where they're trying to build a tower to reach unto heaven again symbolizing people trying to work their way to heaven earn their way to heaven instead of just taking the free gift of salvation the Bible asks the question one time what must I do to be saved and they said believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved now he didn't say go to church and you'll be saved keep the commandments and you'll be saved get baptized and you'll be saved repent of all your sins and you'll be saved live a good life and you'll be saved no he said he didn't say give to the poor and you'll be saved help others you'll be saved no he said believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved that is the difference between Cain's offering and Abel's offering and so that's the primary application that we see here in Genesis chapter 4 it's tied in with false teaching about salvation in the book of Jude in the New Testament but not only that notice verse 5 at the end of verse 4 the Bible says the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering and then in verse 5 it says but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect now how many times have you heard this before we need to respect all religions let's respect all beliefs let's respect all viewpoints but look does God respect all views? did God respect all religions and say well Cain just has a different way of worshiping God I mean hey he's worshiping God in his own way according to his talents and abilities the best that he knows how he is skilled at making things grow and he's a farmer and he has fruits and vegetables and great produce and so he's giving God his best his heart's in the right place therefore God's going to understand did God understand? I mean you think and look just in my own mind I look at this story and if you just step back from it it would make sense to say well come on God he's doing his best he's giving you an offering don't look a gift horse in the mouth you know I mean when somebody gives you a gift you don't say this isn't what I wanted but wait a minute when you're God you make the rules you don't just accept whatever somebody just gives you if he's commanded here a certain offering and look there's only one way to heaven the Bible says that Jesus saith on him I am the way the truth and the life not a way not a truth he said I'm the way the truth and the life no man cometh unto the father but by me you've got to go through Jesus Christ and through the blood of Christ not through your own method of I'm worshiping God in my own way or I just have my own religion did God respect it? so let me ask this if God didn't respect it why should I respect it? why should I respect false religion? why should I respect lies I have no respect for lies I respect the truth and it's a bizarre teaching in our society today that says respect lies respect falsehood respect that which is wrong respect sin respect sin why would i respect everything that's better respect what's good i respect what's true i mean expect respect what's right and god did not respect canes opera say well you know he didn't agree with that they still respected now he said i respect it and no respect for for your offering came and uh... of course canes reactions to get angry and you know when you don't respect false religions people get angry their countenance will fall he'll become rock you know when you tell them and it's amazing how people expected to respecting but that oftentimes people don't respect bible believe christianity it seems like respect is kind of a one-way street with with people here tolerance is the word that i guess they use you know when they say to tolerate everything well to be tolerate us they tolerate the bible they tolerate uh... people who who believe it you know it's funny i was on a a white water rafting trip and the guy who was like guiding the trip and and he was the tour guide and he was explaining all these things and he was giving us these uh... these local native american beliefs of their religion and he's telling us how this little boy he ran away from home and he jumped into the river and he turned into a snake and slid away he's telling us these crazy stories and he was telling them as if you know this is a legitimate religion i mean this is you know this is this is uh... you know what they believe it you know i might would you think that that really happened you know i don't know you know i mean it's sounds legit to me you know and he had a lot of respect for what they believed but it's funny the same people you tell them what the bible says ah it's just a book ah it's a garbage ah you're living in the bronze age the stone age you know and they don't respect so here's what i figured out let me just break it down to you how tolerance and respect works in this world if you believe something that's weird and stupid and a lie people were respected if i if i came in and i'm wearing a dress and i'm dressed in drag and i'm and i'm looking like a queer and i you know i'm a transvestite oh you gotta respect that but you know you come in in a suit and tie with a short haircut so you know i'm a bible believe in christ you idiot you ignorant fool you moron tolerance goes basically one direction you know if it's if it's weird and bizarre and and you know the earth was formed on the back of a turtle and there's a rooster and everything you know we need to respect that but when it comes to in the beginning god created the heaven and the earth that is somehow a threat you know why because it's true that's why that's why every other religion is respected and it's allowed and and it's it's uh... it's promoted because it's it's life the devil doesn't care which lie you believe it he doesn't care whether you're a muslim or a mormon or a catholic or he doesn't care if you believe in hinduism or buddhism because it's all going to take you to the same hell and the only one that he doesn't want you to believe is the bible and that's anything else is fine and you say well don't you respect islam why would i respect a religion that was started by a man who was married to a nine year old when he was in his forties can you explain that to me you need to respect the quran mohammed on the right i mean ask ask any muslim i was out knocking doors i asked a muslim i said why did the founder of your religion marry an eleven year old he said no she was nine he corrected me why would i respect that why would i respect mormonism when the founder of mormonism was married to a twelve year old why would i respect that it's perversion it's pedophilia it's garbage and so no i don't respect false religion i don't respect lies i respect one thing the bible that's the truth and everything else is a lie broad is the way that leads to destruction and many there be which go in their eyes because straight is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life and few there be that find it and i do not respect pedophiles i don't respect lies i don't respect false religion i respect everything that is good and true in this world and everything that is perversion and filth i have no respect for and i got news for you neither does god and you only have to get to chapter four where he looks at two religious systems here one that's the one that god founded of offering an animal sacrifice picturing the lamb of god that would take away the sin of the world and one man's effort to do his best his way make his own way to heaven and you see where god's respect lies in one place and one place alone but let's keep reading he said lord senator cain why art thou wrought and why is thy countenance fallen if thou doest well shalt thou not be accepted and if thou doest not well sin lies at the door let me ask you this does it seem to you that god is somehow playing favorites with Abel over Cain that he has somehow chosen Abel and rejected Cain no because when Cain gets mad god gives him another chance god's a gracious and merciful god and says look Cain don't get mad just do what i ask you to do go back and do it right and you'll be accepted everything will be fine his reaction is to not do so but there's a false doctrine out there called calvinism where people teach that god chooses who goes to heaven and who goes to hell and it's all that's not even this early in the bible you see that calvinism is false because you see god putting the responsibility on man saying if you if you do what you're supposed to all except you not just oh i like you better i've chosen you and i've rejected you it's because of their actions it's because one of them believed by faith the bible says in hebrews eleven four by faith Abel offered unto god a more excellent sacrifice than Cain by which he obtained witness that he was righteous god testifying of his gifts and by it he being dead yet speaketh but let's keep on going it says in verse eight and Cain talked with Abel his brother and it came to pass when they were in the field Cain rose up against Abel his brother and slew him now go if you would to first john chapter number three because the bible actually flat out tells us because you say why would he kill Abel because god didn't accept his sacrifice now did Abel do anything to provoke Cain i mean i don't see Abel in the story going to Cain and rubbing it in with him and saying hey you know idiot you didn't get the instruction the first time you don't see Abel doing that at all you don't see Abel even involved it's just Cain disobeys god Cain offers the offering that god rejects he goes out and kills Abel well the bible tells us in first john why Cain killed Abel and it's in first john, let me give me a second to turn there myself it says in first john chapter number three verse number eleven for this is the message that she heard from the beginning that we should love one another verse twelve not as Cain who was of that wicked one and slew his brother and wherefore slew him or why did he slay him wherefore slew him because his own works were evil and his brother's righteous marvel not my brother and if the world hates you so the bible tells us right there that the reason why Cain killed Abel was because his own works were evil and his brother's righteous now there's something about people who are evil people who are doing wrong that makes them hate those who do what's right and despise those who are doing the right thing and so for some reason it just made Cain so angry when he looked over and saw how Abel was accepted by god how Abel had done the right thing you know instead of just following in his footsteps and saying okay I'll do it you know it just made him so mad that he took out his anger on Abel when really who was Cain's problem really with was it with Abel who was it with his problem was with god I mean he has a problem with god it has nothing to do with Abel he has a problem of not agreeing with god so he takes his brother Abel out in the field talks to him and kills him you know how did he kill him I don't know the bible says he shed his blood so you know we don't know what kind of a knife or a sword or you know a stone that he bashes head in or whatever he did he somehow killed his own brother and in some kind of a violent act lashing out in anger because god didn't respect him he goes after the one who's doing what's right and he said marble not my brother if the world hates you it's amazing in the new testament the bible has a theme like this throughout the new testament where Jesus is talking about how believers will be persecuted and hated and it's interesting because if you look at who did the most persecuting of christians all the way through the new testament I mean all the way through it's always the jews that are persecuting the christians all the way through and the bible talks about this in galatians when it talks about how Abraham had two sons Isaac and Ishmael and Isaac was the promised son with his legitimate wife Ishmael was the son that he had illegitimately with Hagar outside of wedlock he committed adultery basically and had this child with Hagar and these two children the bible says that Ishmael persecuted Isaac Ishmael hated Isaac so the illegitimate hated the legitimate child and god said that's a picture that's an allegory and god still loved Ishmael and god said that he respected him and that he would make of him a great nation it wasn't that Ishmael uh... was somehow born just uh... hated by god or some god you know had respect for him god cared about him god loved him and so the bible is really clear when you read that story but the bible says that these things are an allegory or symbolic of the fact that as it was then the physical child persecuted the spiritual promised child Isaac and he said even so it is now the physical children of Abraham the jews those who physically descended from Abraham that were alive in Jesus day were persecuting the spiritual children of Abraham because the bible says if you be Christ's then are you Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise and so the jews persecuted the Christians and of course they they had Jesus crucified they shouted crucify him and Pilate flat out said why what evil has he done why do you want to crucify him and they cried out the more crucify him crucify him and they said I'm free from the blood of this just person I mean the Roman governor literally brought out water and washed his hands and said I am free from the blood of this just person he said I do not condone of putting this man to death and they cried out his blood be on us and on our children why would they do that why did they have such hatred for Jesus why did they burn with hatred and scream out and gnash their teeth and say crucify him crucify and then even after Jesus was dead they just went on and persecuted his followers and killed his followers why did they hate them well it's the same reason why Cain slew Abel he said because his own works were evil and his brothers righteous marvel not my brethren if the world hates you I mean the bible is clear that Christians believers are going to be hated by the world why because the evil hate the righteous that's what the bible says over and over again uh... Jesus also said that look if you would at verse number uh... I'm sorry turn to the book of John I don't think I had you turn there go to John fifteen I want to show you this in the book of John go to John chapter number fifteen he says this over and over again in John uh... fourteen fifteen and sixteen when he's kind of given his last major sermon unto his disciples here and he goes through a lot of things with them and he gives them a lot of warnings and so forth but he says in chapter fifteen and verse number eighteen he says that the world first of all he says in verse seventeen he's talking to his disciples he said these things I command you that you love one another if the world hates you you know that it hated me before it hated you if you were of the world the world would love his own but because you're not of the world but I have chosen you out of the world therefore the world hateth you remember the word that I said unto you the servant is not greater than his lord if they have persecuted me they will also persecute you if they have kept my saying they will keep yours also but all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake because they had not because they know not him that sent me if I had not come and spoken unto them they had not had sin but now they have no cloak for their sin he that hateth me hateth my father also if I had not done among them the works which none other man did they had not had sin but now have they both seen and hated both me and my father but this cometh the past that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law they hated me without a cause do you see how he just says over and over again I mean just in that those few verses he said just over and over again they hated me, they hate my father, he's talking about God, he's the son of God he said they hate me, they hate my father, they're going to hate you they hate me because I'm not of the world look at chapter sixteen verse one these things have I spoken unto you that ye should not be offended they shall put you out of the synagogues yea the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God's service and these things will they do unto you because they have not known the father nor me and so on and on again he says over and over again how they they hated him, they're persecuting him and they're going to do the same thing unto them look at the last verse in the chapter verse thirty three it says these things have I spoken unto you that in me ye might have peace in the world ye shall have tribulation but be of good cheer I have overcome the world and so the Bible is real quick, go back to Genesis chapter four Genesis chapter number four and now we'll get back into the story there once we want to see the motivation you know why would he do that because you're reading the story Cain and God are having an exchange there God doesn't respect Cain's little religion and so Cain gets mad and then instead of getting mad at God he takes it out on his brother Abel why because his own works for evenless brothers righteous go if you would to verse number nine this is where God confronts Cain about killing Abel and the Lord said unto Cain where is Abel thy brother and he said I know not am I my brother's keeper so he's lying about it now I don't know you know I'm not his babysitter I don't know where he is and he said what hast thou done the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground and now art thou cursed from the earth which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from my hand when thou tillest the ground it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth so here's his punishment now first of all is he getting the death penalty no he's not receiving the death penalty he's being told that he's going to be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth why because he said that he's going to curse Cain so that when Cain tries to produce crops when he tries to do the farming that he's always done it says that the earth will not henceforth yield unto him her strength he's going to curse Cain so that he will fail at farming to cause him to have to keep moving around instead of being able to just you know settle in plant his crops reap the harvest thrive he's cursing Cain and telling him he's going to be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth look at verse thirteen it says and Cain said to the Lord my punishment is greater than I can bear behold thou hast driven me out to stay from the face of the earth and from thy face shall I be hid and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth and it shall come to pass that everyone that findeth me shall slay me and the Lord said unto him therefore whosoever slayeth Cain vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold and the Lord set a mark upon Cain lest any finding him should kill him so what Cain is saying is that basically because he has killed his brother and you know his parents and his other brothers and sisters are going to find that out then basically somebody's going to kill him and take revenge and retribution on him and so Cain pleads to God and says you know someone's going to kill me for what I've done here and God listens to him and says okay he says therefore whosoever slayeth Cain vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold so God pronounces this curse on anyone who would kill Cain that vengeance will be taken upon them sevenfold and he puts a mark upon Cain lest any finding him should kill him now what does it mean that he put a mark on Cain? I don't know the Bible doesn't really give any kind of a detail about this but it's some kind of a mark that people will know that it's Cain and they'll know not to kill him now you say why would that matter I mean you know are there really that many people on the planet at this time because if you remember the world started out with just Adam and Eve and they had children and they had sons and daughters were multiplied unto them the Bible says and of course they had children and they had to go well the thing is people at this time lived a really long time in the early days of our earth here if you read Genesis 5 for example you don't have to turn there but it lists the age of these people Adam lived to be nine hundred thirty years old and they're having all kinds of children all kinds of sons and daughters so eventually everybody's not necessarily going to know who Cain is and so God feels the need to put this mark upon him lest any finding him should kill him it says in verse sixteen and Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden and Cain knew his wife what does that mean? of course it's talking about what married people do it says and Cain knew his wife and she conceived and bare Enoch and he builded a city and called the name of the city after the name of his son Enoch and unto Enoch was born I-rad and I-rad begat Mahu-jael and Mahu-jael begat Methuselah and Methuselah begat Lamech and Lamech took unto him two wives now this is the first instance in the Bible of someone having two wives is that what God designed initially? No God made them Adam and Eve go to Matthew chapter nineteen if you would keep your finger in Genesis four but go to Matthew nineteen in Matthew chapter nineteen Jesus refers back to this and it says in that Matthew nineteen three the Pharisees also came unto him tempting him and saying unto him is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? now it's funny because people always think of the Pharisees as being these really strict people you know it's really strict religion and then Jesus came along and he's more like a loose kind of like a long haired hippie pot smoking kind of guy there's this kind of like a little more laid back and he's like dude Pharisees just chill out just love God just love your neighbor but that's not the way the Bible reads in reality the Pharisees were always the ones who were breaking God's laws and finding all these loopholes in God's laws why they didn't have to obey they were not strict they were only strict in certain areas where they could be a hypocrite but then they were very loose in other areas and the Bible is also clear that the problem that Jesus had with the Pharisees that they were hypocrites because they would preach one thing and then live something totally different they would tell people hey it's a sin to do that and then they would go do it themselves okay well that was their problem well here the Pharisees are trying to justify divorcing your wife and marrying someone else so they sound really strict huh these guys are really strict legalistic you know they're trying to get out of the strictness of God's law which teaches you know you're supposed to be married for life so the Pharisees are trying to justify divorcing your wife and marrying someone else and they had been justifying it for a long time they've been teaching people that it was okay to divorce your wife and notice this is it lawful to put away his wife, a man to put away his wife, what does that say? for every cause so basically they're saying you know can you divorce your wife just for any reason just I don't like your face you know just I'm going to divorce you know whatever but you know what that's the world we're living in today people divorce their wife for every cause I'm just not sure that I love her anymore I just feel like I need to just spread my wings a little bit you know I need to go find myself I think I'm just having a midlife crisis you know and that's the type of causes that many people will get a divorce just for no reason or just for a flippant reason or just for a their own caprice or whatever now some people have other reasons to divorce their spouse like you know their spouse is a drunk or a drug addict or committing adultery or looking at porno or you know slap them upside the head or whatever but honestly although those are all wicked and awful things that I don't approve of you know the Bible does not condone divorce period and the Bible says God hates putting away putting away means divorce and God teaches well you know what why don't we just let the Bible speak for itself look down at your Bible and let's see what Jesus says about it it says in Matthew 93 is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause verse 4 Jesus answers and he answered and said unto them have ye not read and that's always the problem when people are in error it's that they haven't read they didn't read the Bible they don't know what they're talking about because they didn't read the Bible so he says to these people who claim to believe the Bible have ye not read that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female and said for this cause shall a man leave father and mother and shall cleave to his wife and they twain or they too shall be one flesh wherefore they are no more twain but one flesh what therefore God hath joined together let not man put asunder period and there are many other places where he deals with this he says look it's not God's original intent God set it up for a man and a wife to get married to become one flesh and never to be parted what God has joined together let not man put asunder period look what he says next they say unto him why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement and to put her away of course their misunderstanding is scripture it says he saith unto them Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives but from the beginning it was not so so what does Jesus hold as the standard from the beginning it was not so that's not what God intended you later were divorcing your wives and so forth and when they're talking about divorce and the mosaic law the only time God ever brings up divorce in the mosaic law the only time that he says that a person can divorce their wife was if they went in they get married right and they go in unto her and it says they find some uncleanness in her okay they go in they find an uncleanness and say that I found her not to be a maid you know because I found unclean and basically at that point they can annul the marriage before it's been consummated at that point they can divorce now I'll prove it to you further in Matthew chapter 1 when Joseph remember Joseph and Mary okay they had gotten married but they had not yet consummated the marriage they had just gotten married and remember the angel appears unto Joseph why? because Joseph found out that his wife that he had just married and hasn't consummated the marriage yet is pregnant when Joseph found out that Mary was pregnant because she was a virgin but he doesn't know that I mean think about it put yourself in Joseph's shoes you know you marry this girl and all of a sudden you find out hey she's pregnant and you haven't been with her yet you have not consummated the marriage well he thinks to himself she's committed fornication she has you know and basically at that point he doesn't want to marry her anymore and the Bible says then Joseph her husband being a just man and not willing to make her a public example was minded to put her away privately so Joseph he was a just man he was a good guy he didn't want to make a big deal out of it or anything he wanted to just quietly divorce her because why? because she was not a virgin and he thought she was and now she's pregnant with somebody else's baby but then of course the angel appears unto Joseph and explains to him how Mary is a virgin but she's going to give birth unto the Lord Jesus Christ and so forth and that right there is the example of that but see how the Pharisees have perverted this to just yeah you can divorce your wife for every cause even after it's been consummated even years later that's never been what the Bible taught you can go back and read it Deuteronomy 22 and Deuteronomy 24 is where this doctrine is laid out very clearly that's what they're quoting from Deuteronomy 22 and Deuteronomy 24 I don't have time to go into it tonight because it's outside the scope of this sermon but then they said unto him you know well why did Moses in verse 8 he said unto them Moses because of the hardness of your heart suffered you or allowed you to put away your wives but from the beginning it was not so and I say unto you look what Jesus Christ says whosoever shall put away his wife except it be for fornication now what is fornication is it is adultery what he said did he say except it be for adultery adultery is when you're married and you basically cheat on your spouse that's adultery fornication is something that you do before you're married fornication is what you do when you're unmarried and you go to bed with someone else the Bible calls that fornication it's a wicked sin you're supposed to stay pure and virgin until you're married but here he says except it be for fornication which is exactly what's laid out in Deuteronomy 22 and 24 and it's brought up in Matthew 1 in regard to Joseph he said except it be for fornication and shall marry another committed adultery so let me read that again and I say unto you whosoever shall put away his wife or divorce his wife except it be for fornication and shall marry another committed adultery and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery says if you marry a divorced woman you're committing adultery period that's what he said the Pharisees didn't like it in fact Jesus' own disciples did not like this preaching so it shouldn't surprise you today that when this is preached even Christians get mad and upset about it because even Jesus' disciples look what they say in verse 10 this is their reaction what they just hear Jesus say you cannot divorce your wife what God has joined together let not man put aside the only exception that he made because the hardness of your heart was a fornication laid out in Deuteronomy 22 and 24 but he says look what his disciples say his disciples say unto him if the case of the man be so with his wife it is not good to marry their reaction is well if I were to be stuck with her for the rest of my life I'm not even going to get married that's what they said so it's funny how people try to twist this it doesn't it seems like they understood what he said because if this is making all these exceptions then they would have just been like okay well you know this is my partner for now they said well if that's how it is because they've been listening to the Pharisees telling them you can get a divorce they said man if it's like that I mean if you have to be with your wife really till you mean you actually meant that till death do us part I thought that was just tradition or something that you say that they say well if that's the case it's good not to marry look what Jesus says but he said to them all men cannot receive this saying you know I mean okay some people just can't handle this kind of preaching that's Jesus' response he doesn't back down and say well you know we can talk about it when you know we'll see how it goes with your wife we'll talk maybe I'll make an exception he just says well all men cannot receive this saying save they to whom it is given so go back to Genesis chapter four it's the same thing with polygamy the Bible never one time condones a polygamy never one time does God say it's okay to have two wives or three wives in fact he very clearly said in Deuteronomy thou shalt that he shall not multiply wives thou shalt not multiply wives no multiple wives period he only ever talks about there is a man and a woman and they no he said they twain shall be one flesh they too shall be one flesh there's no mention anywhere in the Bible where God allows people to have multiple wives now you say wait a minute Pastor Anderson there are people in the Bible who have multiple wives but that doesn't make it right there are people who lied in the Bible there are people who killed there are people who stole there are people who committed adultery there are people who cheated that doesn't matter the Bible is about human beings who did a lot of bad stuff and the people in the Bible who had multiple wives were committing sin when they had multiple wives because the Bible is only ever taught in this whole book cover to cover every single time it teaches one wife is what you're supposed to have and notice do you think it's a coincidence that the first person the first person in the Bible to have two wives was a descendant of Abel and Seth and the righteous godly side of the family the wicked side of the family Cain who was of the wicked one and slew his brother his descendants are the first ones in the Bible who start this practice of having two wives, of having more than one wife now I don't understand why anybody would want to have two wives in the first place you know I mean now here's the thing on the surface on the surface it sounds like a good idea but see here's the thing this is how sin always is it looks good you know but then it's not all that it's cracked up to be because think about it, what are you, experienced? No I'm just kidding, but anyway, just kidding but anyway sin, it's like that, if you don't think it through it's like, I can't have two wives now here's what's funny our society rejects polygamy and they should reject it, it's wicked, it should not be accepted by our society it's good that our society doesn't but you know our society will accept you going to bed with a different person every week and every month and they think that's fine but oh, oh, oh somebody has two wives now look, it's bad, it's sin, it's wrong, this descendant of Cain is doing it you know and by the way there are places in the world where people still have two wives it's called Islam I mean the Muslim world they're allowed to have up to four wives and I've even met people in the United States who you know were Muslims and they said well if my husband took on a second wife that'd be fine just as long as he still takes care of me or whatever you know and that's pretty bizarre, it's pretty warped but you know what, it's just as warped when you're going to bed with a different person every month and every week and every year and you say oh I'd never have two wives but I'll have a different you know woman every day of the week what is the difference? it's not God's plan God's plan is for you to be joined under that one person and so today we just give it a different name and it's just called college you know where you just you know just one after the other after the other so basically instead of having them concurrently you're having them consecutively multiple wives you know and obviously it's not a wife but you get my drift you know what I'm saying the thing is this is a sin, it's wrong but you know on the surface it's like yeah you know twice the enjoyment you know two wives but wait a minute two women living in your house they're probably going to hate each other think about this the Bible says it's better to dwell in the corner of the house top than in a wide broad house with an angry woman that's what the Bible says in the book of Proverbs he said it's better to have a dinner of herbs and quiet therewith than a stalled ox and hatred therewith he said you know the contentions of a wife are a continual dropping that's like the Chinese torture where they drip on your forehead he's saying it's torture and notice when men in the Bible have multiple wives their wives always hated each other, they're always fighting each other look at Sarah and Hagar fighting each other, hate each other look at the what's that guy's name that has the two wives tip of my tongue, Samuel's parents, Elkanah and Hannah and he had two wives and they hated each other and every time she refers to the other wives she calls her my adversary my enemy I mean why would you want to have two women living in your house that hate each other okay it's not God's plan and you know anybody who tries this you know and having multiple wives you know they're going to get punished, God's not even going to have to punish them just it's just going to be a punishment okay and so just be content with one wife is enough all things in moderation for crying out loud and so just be happy with the wife that you've got you know and and you know it's such a better marriage and it's always better when you do things God's way when you keep yourself pure and you get married and you stay with one person committed that person for life, grow old together that's God's way, that's going to be better than the world's method but this guy he's got two wives first guy in the Bible to have two wives the name of the one was Ada and the name of the other Zilla so he's got all the wives from A to Z covered I guess but he's got two wives and Ada Barrett Jabal he was the father of such as dwell in tents and of such that cows, this is talking about the descendants of Cain and the descendants of Lamech and these you know what his children went into uh... you know Jabal it talks about he was the father of such as dwell in tents and of such as have cattle head of a nomadic shepherding existence and his brother's name was Jubal he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organs they were musically inclined it says in Zilla she also bared two balkane an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron and the sister of two balkane was Naamah so I was just giving a little bit of background a little bit of a genealogy of these uh... people that he uh... look at verse twenty three it says in Lamech seven to his wives Ada and Zilla hear my voice ye wives of Lamech hearken unto my speech for I've slain a man to my wounding and a young man to my hurt so what did he do what's he tell on his wives he comes home to his wives and says honey honey I've got to tell you something I killed somebody today isn't that what he's saying he's saying I've slain a man to my wounding and a young man to my hurt now what does he mean by that to my wounding and to my hurt you know there's some question about what this means some would think and you know I've looked at this over and over trying to figure out what did he mean by that one thing that I've heard and one thing that could be true is that he means that he did it in self-defense you know that's what some people interpret this as they did it in self-defense is that really what it's literally saying though when he says I've slain a man to my wounding and a young man to my hurt he's almost saying you know I feel really bad about it that's the way it sounds to me like I killed somebody and I feel really bad about it it hurts me that I've done this I don't know what that means exactly you know I don't claim to know everything or have all the answers about what the Bible says if I did I'd be God if I knew everything because the Bible is very deep I'm not a hundred percent sure what he meant by that there's a couple possible interpretations if you have a better interpretation you know see me after the service and let me know but basically he killed somebody bottom line and he feels justified in killing someone that's why some think that it was he means in self-defense you know he was wounded by someone and so he killed them or whatever but look what he says in verse twenty four this shows that he felt justified in killing someone else it says if Cain shall be avenged sevenfold because remember that's what God said about Cain hundreds of years later this has been passed down and lamech knows about how you know they're not supposed to kill Cain and whoever kills Cain will be avenged sevenfold he says well you know if Cain shall be avenged sevenfold truly lamech seventy and sevenfold you know because I mean Cain just killed his brother in cold blood so I didn't do anything that bad so I'm going to be avenged seventy and sevenfold you say what's the significance well in the next two verses the Bible talks a little bit about Adam's other descendants Seth and calling upon the name of the Lord in chapter five the Bible just gives a genealogy that's all that's there is just a genealogy so what I want you to see is that at the beginning of chapter four we have Cain killing Abel does he receive the death penalty no he receives a penalty of being a fugitive in a vagabond then we get to the end of the chapter someone else commits murder are they put to death are they punished no he feels totally justified and said hey nobody take revenge here because you know just like Cain I did the same thing and I'm even more justified than he is well when you get to chapter six because remember we'll skip over chapter five for now just because chapter five is a genealogy we'll go back and cover that next week but when we get to chapter six that's really the next story in the in the face here and look what the Bible says in verse eleven of chapter six this is where God's going to destroy the earth with a flood because the whole earth has become wicked and vile in the sight of God only Noah is the only righteous man left on the earth so he's going to destroy the whole earth with a flood of course Noah's going to build the ark and so forth but look what it says in verse eleven the earth also was corrupt before God and the earth was filled with what? violence and look at the next verse and God looked upon the earth and behold it was corrupt for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth and God said unto Noah the end of all flesh has come before me for the earth is filled with violence through them and behold I will destroy them with the earth make thee an ark and he tells them you know make the ark there's going to be a flood and it's going to rain all this stuff so think about the progression beginning of chapter four Cain kills Abel not punished severely end of the chapter another man kills somebody says well hey I'm justified doing it next thing you know the Bible says the earth is filled with violence so you see how it multiplied it started out just a couple murders now the whole earth is filled with violence now God sends the flood he destroys mankind Noah and his family are on the ark, eight people are on the ark, Noah and his wife, their three sons and their three wives go to Genesis nine this is when Noah gets off the ark in Genesis chapter nine and look what God says in Genesis chapter nine verse number six this is right when Noah is getting off the ark after the flood he says whoso shedeth man's blood by man shall his blood be shed for in the image of God made he man so here's where God institutes the death penalty for the first time he says whoso shedeth man's blood by man so this is something that man is going to take care of someone else will kill them he says whoso shedeth man's blood by man shall his blood be shed for in the image of God made he man so notice one guy kills his brother another guy kills later looking back to Cain and saying it's okay I'm not going to be punished by capital punishment and then next thing you know the whole earth is filled with violence so then God destroys the whole earth and the first thing he does when they get off the ark is institutes a new rule and says you know what this did not work the first time that other punishment no it doesn't work so he said whoso shedeth man's blood by man shall his blood be shed for in the image of God made he man so the Bible is really clear the death penalty is biblical now a lot of people will say oh the death penalty is not biblical and how can you be a Christian and you're for the death penalty well there it is it was invented by God and think about this why did God institute the death penalty was it just because he just wanted to just he just doesn't want to give people another chance he just wants them dead he instituted it for man for his own good because was it his initial plan to have a death penalty on this earth was that his original plan his original plan did not involve that but because man is a sinner not because God's way was imperfect or wrong but because man is sinful he said look if we don't have a death penalty on murder the whole earth is going to become filled with violence again that's what happened the first time why wouldn't it happen the second time so God put this in place he put this in place in order to prevent man from slaughtering one another he put this in place as a deterrent to murder someone else now this is where human government comes into play there isn't really any mention of human government in the Bible up to this point really when you get to this point and when you get into chapter 9, 10, and 11 of Genesis you see human government beginning to be instituted and nations being instituted now the original purpose of government go to Romans 13 I'm almost done tonight but I just want to quickly explain this Romans 13 gives us the purpose of human government because human government was instituted by God God instituted the family at the beginning of Genesis he instituted nations and human government after the flood and he instituted the local church in the New Testament those are God's three main institutions in this world in Romans 13 it says in verse number 1, let every soul be subject unto the higher powers for there is no power but of God the powers that be are ordained of God so what the Bible is telling us here is that anyone who has power or authority in this world derives that power and authority from God because have you ever asked yourself these questions? I don't know if you're really a philosopher but have you ever asked the question why do governments have the right to tell their people what to do? I mean, haven't you thought along those lines? why do I have to obey this law or that law? why should I obey my parents? or why do I obey the boss at work? why do I have to obey what the Bible says? or why do I have to obey what God says? why do I have to obey what the government tells me? the Bible is telling us here that the government derives its power from God okay now let me explain that because don't get carried away. He doesn't give the government unlimited power that's what they think and that's what most Christians think the Declaration of Independence which is the founding document of our country says that governments derive their power from the just consent of the governed now that's ridiculous because does every single person in the United States consent to being ruled over by the government of the United States? that doesn't make sense that sounds great Thomas Jefferson but it's never been true it's not true it's a theory called you know just government is government that's by the consent of the governed and they'll say well this is the consent of the majority but wait a minute where does the Bible say government derives its power from? not from the consent of the governed from God it's not that I have the right to tell my children what to do because they consent yes dad you may tell me to brush my teeth and not eat ice cream for breakfast and not play ball in the freeway I consent to have you make rules for me dad because I know it's what's best for me okay so it's not consensual it's just derived power from God because think about it let's say there were no God there is no God okay well how can I really tell my children you have to obey me? why? well the belt so that's another theory you know we're getting into really deep philosophy tonight and Chris Brown is not even here so he likes to talk about it but anyway then there's the theory that says well government is just ruled by force it's just all by force children have to obey their parents like you said because of the belt you know because force is what's making them obey and governments rule by force others say no governments rule by the consent of the governed well the Bible actually is saying neither the Bible is saying that the power that be derived their power from God the only reason that children have to obey their parents according to the Bible is because God said children obey your parents and the Lord for this is right and the only reason why I'm supposed to obey the boss at work or why I'm supposed to obey the government within the scope that God has given the government authority is that they derive their power from God because the powers that be are ordained of God and then it says in verse two let's read it together and I'll explain it to you whosoever therefore resisted the power resisted the ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive themselves damnation not talking about going to hell there just talking about condemnation or damnation that's another word for condemnation 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 isn't that kind of like what God told Cain in Genesis four verse four 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 to do with evil wherefore ye must needs be subject not only for wrath but also for conscience sake so he's saying it's not only for wrath not only because you're afraid of the belt so to speak not only because you're afraid of the punishment but also for conscience sake because God is telling you to obey for this cause pay ye tribute also for there God's ministers attending continually upon this very thing now what is all that to say God has given authority to certain institutions upon this earth God has given parents authority over their children the authority that parents have over their children is absolute okay now the only thing that overrides the authority that parents have over their children is God's laws for example if my parents were not you know and obviously when you're not living with your parents once you've gotten up in years and gotten married and moved out now you're your own boss obviously you're not a child anymore but when you're a child at home with your parents if your parents tell you to sin if they tell you to lie you don't have to obey that because God's laws supersede your parents laws and the Bible says we ought to obey God rather than men and the Bible says in the first verse right there in Romans 13 let every soul be seven of the higher powers so if I have two authority figures and they conflict on what they're telling me to do I go with the higher power so if God's telling me to tell the truth and my parents are telling me to lie I'm going to tell the truth because that's the higher power but the authority that a parent has over their child is absolute except it's governed by God's laws meaning that I can tell my children what time they get up what they're going to eat I mean look I can tell my children what they're going to eat for breakfast I mean that's a pretty serious authority isn't it when I'm dictating what they're going to eat for breakfast lunch and dinner when they're going to get up when they're going to go to bed so do my children have a lot of freedom? of course not because they don't just you know whatever they want as an adult they're going to be able to do whatever they want they're going to have freedom but as a child children don't have freedom children are brought up with authority that's a very strong authority of parents let's look at God's other institution the local church in the Bible the Bible talks about the pastor being an authority at the local church but here's the thing does the pastor have the same authority over the church that a parent has over their children? of course not because the only scope of the pastor's authority just has to do with the church he runs the church but he doesn't run your home he doesn't run your life he doesn't run your business do you understand what I'm saying? he runs the church he has authority at the church but when I walk out that door I don't have any authority over you I can't come to your house and tell you what to do I don't have that kind of authority now again if the pastor preaches something to you or tells you to do something involved with church that's against God who do you obey the pastor or God? God you obey the higher power let's go to your boss at work does your boss at work have absolute authority over you telling you what to eat for lunch? telling you what to do outside of work? does he tell you hey when you're outside work you're going to follow my rules? he only has authority within the scope of work when it comes to work he's in charge when it comes to stuff that doesn't pertain to work he doesn't have authority he can tell you how to dress on the job right? I mean most jobs will tell you a dress code or you gotta type in your shirt or you gotta do this but can he really tell you hey on the weekends when I see you around town that shirt better be tucked in wouldn't you say that would be an abusive boss? that's not within the scope of his authority or a pastor who comes to your house and tells you you know hey you need to change this and change this you know I want to see that gone it's completely outside the scope of the authority does anybody not understand what I just explained? it's pretty simple right? isn't it kind of common sense? like you know the boss is only ruling in regard to work stuff and the pastor is only in charge of the church but he's not in charge of stuff that's outside of church or or what we do outside of church and we don't have the same relationship with the pastor as we would with like a dad when we were a kid or the boss at work really simple right? but here's what's funny when it comes to the government though people will give the government the exact same authority that a parent has over their child and here's what Christians will teach about human government they'll agree with everything I just said but when it comes to the government here's what they'll say no matter what the government tells you to do you have to do it as long as it doesn't contradict the bible who's ever heard that before? oh yeah they'll say you know if the government tells you that as long as it doesn't contradict the bible you have to do it now isn't that what I just explained is a parent's authority? that's like a parent's authority right? I mean hey anything a parent tells their child to do they have to do it but wait a minute did God give that much authority to basically make whatever rules they want about our life whatever rules they want if they tell I mean what if the government started telling us what to eat? would we have to do it? because we got to obey the bible and God said you ordained the government but hold on what if the government starts dictating every facet of your life is that within the scope of what God designed government for? no and I'll prove it to you God designed government according to Romans 13 for the punishment of evildoers and that's what it says over and over again it says in verse 3 for rulers are not a terror to good works but to the evil look at verse 4 but he is the minister of God and he for good but if thou do that which is evil be afraid for he beareth not the sword in vain and then look what is the definition of government to God a revenger at the end of verse 4 to execute wrath upon him that doeth what? evil so how many times have we seen that? 1, 2, 3 times and look what he says in verse 6 for this cause pay ye tribute also what's tribute what's another word for that? taxes he said this is why you pay taxes also for they are God's ministers attending continually upon this very thing upon what very thing? upon what very thing are they attending continually? the punishment of evildoers bearing the sword to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil he said that's why you pay taxes because they attend continually or all the time or non-stop on that one thing now let me ask you something is that the only thing that our government does today? now you say now a lot of people misunderstand this let me make this very clear the word evil does not mean sin it does not mean sin it is not the government's job to punish sin now let me give you a really good reason because every single person is a sinner and every single person probably sins every day because the bible even says the thought of foolishness is sin no one is perfect everyone commits sin everyone is a sinner and so if it was the government's job to punish sin we'd all be punished we'd all be arrested we'd all have a criminal record we'd all be going to jail does that make any sense? no but that's why he didn't say sin he said evil and a lot of people don't understand the word evil if you look every time the word evil is used in the bible it means harming someone else that's what evil means the bible even says that God it says in the minor prophets is there an evil in the city and the Lord has not done it? God doesn't sin the bible says God can't sin but does God do evil? has God ever harmed anyone? of course God has harmed people therefore God has done evil but has God sinned? no so in our modern vernacular in 2012 when we say evil we just mean like it's really bad it's really dark and sinful that's not what the word evil means biblically the word evil means harming someone else so therefore it is the government's job to punish those who harm other people not to dictate every facet of our life not to be a surrogate parent not to be our nanny and our mother no it's to punish evil doers and if our government only did that we'd have a very small government if that's all they did now does it say that it's their job to prevent crime? does it say that it's their job to help the poor? no we should help the poor churches should help the poor christians should help the poor everybody should love their neighbor as themselves and help the poor but does the bible say that's why you pay tribute to help the poor that's why you pay tribute in order to give education to all that's why you pay tribute so that you might have people telling you how fast to drive or what to eat or drink and I'll tell you right now there are a lot of things that are sins but they should be legal for example people are always uh... getting upset about this christians get overzealous about the government and they think the government should be like god and look the bible is real clear in the old testament what laws the government should punish it talks about murder that was what we saw in genesis nine but later on in exodus leviticus numbers and Deuteronomy god expands it he says murder he says rapists people who steal people who uh... commit adultery why because when you commit adultery you're you're infringing on someone else's rights you know when you when you uh... uh... commit adultery with my wife you've infringed upon my rights okay if I commit adultery that's infringing upon my wife's rights okay when we made an oath to one to another that's an act of violating me and my uh... my property and you say oh yeah the bible says that the wife belongs to her husband and the husband belongs to his wife it's a it's a mutual thing it's not that I own my wife she owns me we own each other we are to keep each other only unto each other and if somebody violates that that is evil according to the bible if somebody commits rape that's evil if somebody steals because if people you try to tell people your your political philosophy and they'll call you an anarchist oh you believe in anarchy no but if you had the bible's government it would look like anarchy to a lot of people because they're so used to the government doing a bunch of stuff that the government has no business doing so if they saw biblical government they'd say it's anarchy because the government wouldn't be building all their roads and building all the schools and and feeding the poor and doing all this stuff but you know what god's way is right and their way is wrong because a very limited government that only does one thing punishes evil doers because look the problem with anarchy is that you'll end up like you ended up before the flood where everybody's killing each other that's why you have to have government because you have to have government to protect the weak because you say well we can all just protect ourselves let's all carry guns and protect ourselves hey I'm all for that but here's the thing though some little old lady she might not be able to fight off the intruder or maybe what happens when there's twenty intruders and they converge on grandma's house there has to be government there to punish people who would do such a thing and to fight back against that that's what government was instituted to do and nothing else and so I and look call me what you want whatever that's where the government has authority in my life I do not believe that I have a moral obligation to obey the government in any area unless they're doing the thing that god set them up to do I don't believe that I morally have to obey them in any other area now here's the thing you say well Pastor Ashley you obey them in a lot of other areas I do obey them in a lot of other areas but it's like Jesus said Jesus was confronted by one of his disciples asking him hey do we pay taxes or what? because the taxman came around the IRS came around and whatever and he asked him do we pay taxes or not and Jesus said well Peter you know who do the kings of the earth take custom and tribute from their own children or strangers and Peter said of strangers Jesus said then are the children free he said if we're free we shouldn't have to pay taxes but he said nevertheless lest we offend them he said you know take this coin and give it to them and that will be for me and you to pay our taxes so Jesus paid his taxes did he not? and he said you know render unto Caesar the things that be Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's but did Jesus say hey we have a moral obligation to obey these people because they are our parents they love us it's the fatherland it's our motherland it's our homeland no he said we're going to pay it just because look and here's the thing you say Pastor Ashley do you pay taxes? I pay all my taxes I always have and I've crossed every T I've dotted every I when I drive down the road I try to go close to the speed limit most of the time you say why? Is it a sin? Is it a sin to disobey the government? Is it a sin to not do it? No it's because I don't want to go to jail it's not for conscience sake it's because I don't want to spend my life being a tax protester I don't want to go to jail for something I want to be for preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ not because I'm fighting against taxation and look I'm against it I'm against big government I'm against taxation I'm against the nanny state and I only believe the government should only do what the Bible says the government should do and the only laws every law that our government should have is in this book there should be no law except what's in this book and some things in this book shouldn't even be a law because they're not evil like the Bible clearly states that drinking alcohol is a sin I'll stand on that the Bible says over and over again he warns of alcohol and he says that when you drink alcohol your eyes will will behold strange women and your mouth will utter perverse things but there's no place in the Bible where alcohol was ever made illegal God when he ran the children of Israel and he ran that nation and it was a theocracy so-called alcohol was legal but is it right to drink it? No because God doesn't just put everybody in a white padded room to make sure that they don't sin God gives freedom and I believe that drugs should be legal legalize all drugs I'm not going to take them my children aren't going to take them why don't people grow up and take responsibility for themselves instead of expecting the government to protect you from yourself I mean if the government is supposed to protect us from roving gangs with machine guns okay punish the evil doer but you don't have to protect me from myself if I want to eat what I want to eat and you don't think it's healthy or you know if people want to smoke pot and people want to drink and be drunken and what's the difference between drinking alcohol and smoking pot anyway? Now that you're not sober the Bible said to be sober and when you're drinking you're not sober when you're smoking pot you're not sober but you know what go ahead and let them drink and take drugs it's none of my business I don't care what they do but no the government wants to run our life and they want to control every facet they make drugs illegal because it's just you know I don't want to get into all the corruption behind that it's just like prohibition part two that's all the drug war is and the government and people say oh you know so and so thanks you know prostitution should be legal here I got news for you prostitution was legal in the Bible it's a sin it's wicked it's fornication it's disgusting it's unclean God says not to do it but guess what it was legal guess what it was legal to have two wives in the Bible you don't see in the Bible anywhere where somebody's getting thrown in jail or punished by the government for having two wives but is having two wives a sin? Absolutely and so people get confused between God and the government all of God's laws should not be enforced by the government everybody got that? God says don't lie it's not like oh you lied you're under arrest the Bible says you know that that's not what government is there for and so so just I'm closing with this one point okay all of God's laws should not be enforced by the government does God say no to alcohol yes does God say no to drugs yes does God say no to a lot of other things yes but should they all be enforced by the government no only the things that he laid out murder rape incest and yes homosexuality is listed as one of the things that should be put to death by government because they harm others because every time they're missing the Bible they're raping somebody they're molesting somebody and so he mentions evildoers only he lays them out murder stealing rape adultery and it's not that many laws he lays out all those laws conversely so all of God's laws are not enforced by the government and get this all of the government's laws are not God's laws just because the government said something that doesn't mean that we as Christians have to do it I mean if the government tells me to paint my house blue it's my house I'm going to paint it whatever color I want and look if they come to my door with a machine gun and say paint it blue they're probably going to paint it blue but is it because I morally have an obligation to do that no and when the government tries to tell me how to raise my kids and the government tries to tell me what to preach and the government wants to tell me how to drive my car and how to dress and how to look and how to act look that's none of their business I don't need them to do that and I'm under no moral obligation to do that when they make all these little laws and rules and people complain about God's rules it's a book I can hold in my hand this is like one law of our government our government has so many laws it would fill this whole church building and so the government's way out of control it's outside the scope of what God wanted it to do let me just read the last two verses of our chapter Genesis chapter four God instituted human government in Genesis nine when Noah got off the ark in order to punish the evil doer punish murderers why? because he didn't want the whole earth to be filled with violence that's why he says at the end in verse twenty-five and Adam knew his wife again and she bare a son and called his name Seth for God said she had appointed me another seed instead of Abel whom Cain slew and to Seth to him also there was born a son and he called his name Eos then began men to call upon the name of the Lord I'm going to talk more about that next week just for sake of time but that's how about getting saved the Bible says that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved how then shall they call on him whom they have not believed the Bible just says you just call out to God by faith that's how you get saved all the way back to Genesis four they got saved the same way as we do now let's prioritize that word of prayer Father thank you so much for your word dear God and for this great chapter in your word help us not to be like Cain where when somebody points out that we're wrong we get all mad and upset help us when we are pointed out that we're wrong help us to just receive that correction and to do the right thing and just you know nobody's perfect we all make mistakes God so when we realize that we've made a mistake help us to change and get it right and not to just get all mad about it and thank you for the clarity of your word in regard to government there's a lot of confusion today about politics and government help us to get a biblical viewpoint of our world and of our government and in Jesus' name we pray, amen alright let's go ahead and sing one more song before we go