WEBVTT 00:00:37.040 --> 00:00:39.520 Welcome to the Stone Choir Podcast. 00:00:39.520 --> 00:00:40.720 I am Corey J. 00:00:40.720 --> 00:00:42.160 Mahler. And I'm 00:00:42.160 --> 00:00:44.640 still Wo. 00:00:44.960 --> 00:00:49.840 On today's Stone Choir, we're going to be discussing power and authority. 00:00:49.840 --> 00:00:53.440 Before we get into the subject today, I apologize to everyone who 00:00:53.440 --> 00:00:56.880 listens regularly that we didn't have an episode last week. 00:00:56.880 --> 00:01:00.800 I had some clam chowder the day before we recorded and I 00:01:00.800 --> 00:01:02.960 paid the price for it for the next twenty-four hours. 00:01:02.960 --> 00:01:05.680 So the day we normally record, I was in no condition to 00:01:05.680 --> 00:01:06.480 do anything. 00:01:06.480 --> 00:01:09.680 Felt better the next day, so we had planned to push the 00:01:09.680 --> 00:01:11.200 episode back by one day. 00:01:11.200 --> 00:01:14.480 And then when we tried to record, we were almost ready to 00:01:14.480 --> 00:01:17.520 record the following day and everything broke. 00:01:17.760 --> 00:01:19.360 My internet started dropping. 00:01:19.360 --> 00:01:21.200 We couldn't talk to each other anymore. 00:01:21.200 --> 00:01:24.640 And after fighting it for like 30 45 minutes, we just gave 00:01:24.640 --> 00:01:28.480 up. And so we both updated to Sequoia, the new Mac OS 00:01:28.720 --> 00:01:31.440 10, hoping that it would fix the technology we're using to talk 00:01:31.680 --> 00:01:32.720 to each other and it did. 00:01:32.720 --> 00:01:34.400 So everything's working today. 00:01:34.400 --> 00:01:37.360 So apologies that we didn't have an episode out for you. 00:01:37.360 --> 00:01:39.600 We really we tried as best we could. 00:01:39.600 --> 00:01:42.320 It just was not happening. 00:01:42.640 --> 00:01:45.440 When that happens, a couple people commented on X and it's a 00:01:45.440 --> 00:01:46.080 good plan. 00:01:46.080 --> 00:01:48.080 If we don't put out something, go back and listen to an 00:01:48.080 --> 00:01:49.680 old episode of your Jonesing. 00:01:49.680 --> 00:01:52.480 They're always worth re-listening too. 00:01:52.480 --> 00:01:56.960 Today as we talk about power and authority, a couple key points 00:01:56.960 --> 00:01:59.840 up front just to kind of lay the framework for what we're 00:01:59.840 --> 00:02:01.680 doing today. 00:02:01.680 --> 00:02:05.440 This is not going to be a discussion of linguistics. 00:02:05.440 --> 00:02:09.840 We are not trying to set power against authority in most languages 00:02:09.920 --> 00:02:12.640 and when everything is working correctly. 00:02:12.640 --> 00:02:14.080 They're basically synonyms. 00:02:14.080 --> 00:02:17.680 Power and authority you can pretty much use interchangeably and apart from 00:02:17.680 --> 00:02:21.520 a few variations and shades and connotation, you're probably going to be 00:02:21.520 --> 00:02:24.080 pretty much right, whichever one you pick. 00:02:24.080 --> 00:02:29.680 The reason for today's episode is that we are increasingly faced with 00:02:29.680 --> 00:02:34.080 situations where our institutions are not working correctly. 00:02:34.080 --> 00:02:38.560 They're not working towards the purpose for which they were instituted. 00:02:38.560 --> 00:02:42.800 And so as a result, what we have is men who are 00:02:42.800 --> 00:02:48.720 exercising power under color of law, under authority and they may no 00:02:48.720 --> 00:02:52.880 longer actually have the authority to be exercising that power. 00:02:52.880 --> 00:02:56.240 So today when we're talking about power and authority, we're gonna give 00:02:56.240 --> 00:02:59.360 a number of biblical examples and some examples from the real world. 00:02:59.360 --> 00:03:01.280 Not that the Bible's not the real world, you know what I 00:03:01.280 --> 00:03:04.560 mean. Modern just stuff in your face. 00:03:04.560 --> 00:03:11.680 Specifically because we have to be aware that if circumstances change, men 00:03:11.680 --> 00:03:12.960 have to react. 00:03:13.040 --> 00:03:16.880 We've talked in past episode, a recent episode on target selection about 00:03:16.880 --> 00:03:18.160 the OODA loop. 00:03:18.160 --> 00:03:20.480 Observe, orient, decide, and act. 00:03:20.480 --> 00:03:22.880 You have to observe if circumstances change. 00:03:22.880 --> 00:03:25.360 And if a man who had the authority to do something, he 00:03:25.360 --> 00:03:28.480 was doing everything right, he was a faithful preacher, he was a 00:03:28.480 --> 00:03:31.920 faithful judge, whatever he was doing before. 00:03:31.920 --> 00:03:36.800 If he stops being faithful and exercising the power that accords with 00:03:36.800 --> 00:03:40.720 that authority, he may well have abrogated the authority and no longer 00:03:40.720 --> 00:03:41.120 have it. 00:03:41.600 --> 00:03:44.000 Or he may need to be removed, he may need to be 00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:46.400 corrected. Something's going on. 00:03:46.400 --> 00:03:50.720 And we have to recognize situationally that the guy who was the 00:03:50.720 --> 00:03:54.320 guy yesterday, who was doing everything right, if he starts doing things 00:03:54.320 --> 00:03:56.800 incorrectly, circumstances have changed. 00:03:56.800 --> 00:04:00.480 And so we have to at least be aware that you cannot 00:04:00.480 --> 00:04:04.400 simply designate a man and say, okay, he has the absolute authority 00:04:04.400 --> 00:04:07.520 to do this, and we're never going to question anything that happens. 00:04:07.520 --> 00:04:09.360 When you say it that way, it kind of makes sense. 00:04:09.440 --> 00:04:11.120 Everyone's going to nod along. 00:04:11.120 --> 00:04:14.800 But when you look at the actual circumstances throughout the history and 00:04:14.800 --> 00:04:16.560 the Bible and elsewhere where 00:04:17.440 --> 00:04:20.800 men change their tune where they were doing one thing well and 00:04:20.800 --> 00:04:23.680 they start doing something poorly, somebody's got to come along and say, 00:04:23.760 --> 00:04:26.000 Hey, you're no longer acting under authority. 00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:29.280 This was the premise of the Reformation. 00:04:29.280 --> 00:04:32.720 When Luther began reading the Bible in earnest, he's like, wait a 00:04:32.720 --> 00:04:36.560 minute, I'm reading what God said and I'm seeing what's happening in 00:04:36.560 --> 00:04:39.600 the church and I don't see an overlap. 00:04:39.600 --> 00:04:41.200 I see things that shouldn't be done. 00:04:41.200 --> 00:04:43.680 I see things that are commanded, they're not being done. 00:04:43.840 --> 00:04:46.640 And we see that in this day as well. 00:04:46.640 --> 00:04:50.640 So our goal here is to equip you as a listener not 00:04:50.640 --> 00:04:55.520 to be a rebel against authority, not to look for a license 00:04:55.520 --> 00:04:58.400 to say, I don't have to listen to anything these guys saying. 00:04:58.560 --> 00:05:00.080 I'm just gonna do whatever I want. 00:05:00.080 --> 00:05:01.440 That would be an evil outcome. 00:05:01.440 --> 00:05:02.480 We do not desire that. 00:05:02.480 --> 00:05:04.880 We don't exhort that of anyone. 00:05:04.880 --> 00:05:08.000 But you have to be aware that well something changed. 00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:10.400 I need to do something. 00:05:10.400 --> 00:05:13.440 Now the do something is a matter of wisdom that's frankly beyond 00:05:13.440 --> 00:05:14.960 the scope of this episode. 00:05:14.960 --> 00:05:18.080 All we're gonna try to do today is equip you with the 00:05:18.080 --> 00:05:22.000 cycle in your oodaloop of saying, well, okay, this guy changed. 00:05:22.320 --> 00:05:26.720 In recent episodes, we given the example of Doug Wilson, who in 00:05:26.720 --> 00:05:29.920 years past many of you loved and respected him and made great 00:05:29.920 --> 00:05:31.760 contributions to your faith. 00:05:31.760 --> 00:05:32.720 And that's great. 00:05:32.720 --> 00:05:35.120 And for the sake of argument, can see that absolutely everything that 00:05:35.120 --> 00:05:39.040 he did was under godly authority, don't care. 00:05:39.040 --> 00:05:43.280 The question is, when such a man today is doing things that 00:05:43.280 --> 00:05:46.800 are no longer scriptural, does he still have the authority? 00:05:46.800 --> 00:05:49.600 And then not picking on him, that's true of anyone. 00:05:49.920 --> 00:05:53.520 There are also circumstances where there may be no authority whatsoever. 00:05:53.520 --> 00:05:56.800 In the very first episode of Stone Choir, where we were dealing 00:05:56.800 --> 00:06:01.760 with the fact that the LCMS has girls teaching theology, which is 00:06:01.760 --> 00:06:03.600 de facto wicked. 00:06:03.600 --> 00:06:08.320 Period. There's no such thing as a girl teaching theology faithfully. 00:06:08.320 --> 00:06:11.440 Even if she gets everything right, what she is doing is wicked. 00:06:11.440 --> 00:06:14.880 It's functionally witchcraft for a girl to be teaching theology. 00:06:14.880 --> 00:06:18.080 And so the very first episode that we did in October of 00:06:18.080 --> 00:06:21.200 twenty twenty-two was addressing the fact that this was going on in 00:06:21.200 --> 00:06:26.000 the church, that a girl can never have the authority to do 00:06:26.000 --> 00:06:28.480 that. And at the end, we made the case for why we're 00:06:28.480 --> 00:06:32.320 called Stone Choir, why two guys who don't have any credentials, we 00:06:32.320 --> 00:06:36.000 don't have any call, any vocation to be talking about this stuff. 00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:36.960 Why are we doing it? 00:06:36.960 --> 00:06:40.400 Why is it illicit for us to and for others not to 00:06:40.400 --> 00:06:41.280 do so. 00:06:41.280 --> 00:06:45.760 And we made the case there that when we speak, this is 00:06:45.760 --> 00:06:50.480 a one to many relationship where we don't speak with any authority 00:06:50.480 --> 00:06:51.120 of our own. 00:06:51.120 --> 00:06:53.680 We're saying what is in the Bible, we're saying what is true 00:06:54.080 --> 00:06:55.360 in the world. 00:06:55.360 --> 00:07:00.880 And if something has authority over your conscience, it's not because you're 00:07:00.880 --> 00:07:01.520 answering to us. 00:07:02.000 --> 00:07:03.200 Well that's true. 00:07:03.200 --> 00:07:06.640 This guy said that it's a good argument, but he's absolutely right 00:07:06.720 --> 00:07:07.680 that this is the case. 00:07:07.680 --> 00:07:09.680 This is actually what scripture says. 00:07:09.680 --> 00:07:12.560 This is actually what I see with my own lying eyes. 00:07:12.560 --> 00:07:16.320 Therefore, my conscience is now bound to do whatever that I didn't 00:07:16.240 --> 00:07:17.280 think about before. 00:07:17.280 --> 00:07:20.320 That's not us exercising any authority whatsoever. 00:07:20.320 --> 00:07:24.320 That's us exercising the authority of a Christian man to speak as 00:07:24.320 --> 00:07:28.720 Christians, but it is not authority in terms of dominion over another. 00:07:28.720 --> 00:07:30.080 Nobody answers to us. 00:07:30.080 --> 00:07:31.600 We don't want anybody to answer to us. 00:07:31.920 --> 00:07:35.280 We want men to answer to God and to the truth. 00:07:35.280 --> 00:07:40.240 There are times and places where we find the men who are 00:07:40.240 --> 00:07:43.040 supposed to be doing more than that, who are supposed to be 00:07:43.040 --> 00:07:50.480 acting with direct authority over others, for example, fathers, pastors, political leaders, 00:07:50.480 --> 00:07:54.480 the men who do have the authority to exercise dominion over some 00:07:54.640 --> 00:07:57.520 place in a narrow scope that's authorized. 00:07:57.520 --> 00:08:01.360 If they fail to do that, they're exercising power in a way 00:08:01.360 --> 00:08:02.800 that's ungodly. 00:08:02.800 --> 00:08:05.360 But we have to deal with the question of well, where did 00:08:05.360 --> 00:08:06.560 the authority go? 00:08:06.560 --> 00:08:10.000 As we work through these examples today, just keep in mind that 00:08:10.400 --> 00:08:14.080 we're not encouraging anyone to look for license to rebel. 00:08:14.080 --> 00:08:14.960 That's crucial. 00:08:14.960 --> 00:08:16.320 It's not a good thing. 00:08:16.320 --> 00:08:18.320 It's not a good thing that we have to do this episode 00:08:18.320 --> 00:08:18.800 at all. 00:08:18.800 --> 00:08:23.760 You know, this episode is a teaching tool, thinking tool episode, similar 00:08:23.760 --> 00:08:27.040 to when we talked about the genealogy of ideas, when we talked 00:08:27.040 --> 00:08:30.080 about what problem are you trying to solve, this is another one. 00:08:30.080 --> 00:08:33.440 Is the guy still acting with the authority to do the thing 00:08:33.440 --> 00:08:35.360 where he's exercising this power? 00:08:35.360 --> 00:08:40.160 Because although they are the same synonymously, when when it's correctly done. 00:08:40.160 --> 00:08:44.960 When there's a divergence, the question is has the authority gone away? 00:08:44.960 --> 00:08:48.080 Because if the authority has gone away, that doesn't mean that the 00:08:48.080 --> 00:08:48.960 duty has gone away. 00:08:48.960 --> 00:08:51.840 It means that that office is now vacant. 00:08:51.840 --> 00:08:54.800 It means that we have a man in a position of authority 00:08:54.800 --> 00:08:56.480 who should be doing something. 00:08:56.480 --> 00:08:58.400 He's failing to do it correctly. 00:08:58.400 --> 00:09:00.960 He's doing something incorrectly he shouldn't be doing. 00:09:00.960 --> 00:09:03.520 And all the things that he should be doing that aren't getting 00:09:03.520 --> 00:09:06.160 done, somebody else has to come along and do 'em. 00:09:06.160 --> 00:09:07.600 And it doesn't mean you do it. 00:09:07.600 --> 00:09:08.960 It doesn't mean you overthrow. 00:09:08.960 --> 00:09:10.400 It's just you gotta know. 00:09:10.400 --> 00:09:12.640 And then from there it's a matter of wisdom. 00:09:12.640 --> 00:09:15.680 So we'll give some examples today from scripture and from the world 00:09:15.600 --> 00:09:19.440 world. But the basic premise here is you should be aware when 00:09:19.440 --> 00:09:24.720 you're looking at any situation that what was true yesterday may situationally 00:09:24.720 --> 00:09:26.240 no longer be true today. 00:09:26.240 --> 00:09:30.400 Maybe Doug Wilson or James White or some other favorite teacher that 00:09:30.400 --> 00:09:32.720 you've had in the past that was a very great benefit to 00:09:32.720 --> 00:09:34.080 you in your faith. 00:09:34.080 --> 00:09:36.560 You know, some political leader who did a good job for a 00:09:36.560 --> 00:09:38.800 while and then went off the rails. 00:09:38.800 --> 00:09:40.320 That's a human story. 00:09:40.320 --> 00:09:42.560 Guys do well and then they do poorly. 00:09:42.560 --> 00:09:44.800 We find that all over the place in scripture. 00:09:44.800 --> 00:09:48.880 When they start doing evil, they lose the authority to do the 00:09:48.880 --> 00:09:52.480 thing. And so by the end of this, probably not gonna be 00:09:52.480 --> 00:09:54.880 a long episode, you can laugh when you're looking at the runtime, 00:09:55.120 --> 00:09:57.200 but we're not gonna belabor the point here. 00:09:57.200 --> 00:10:01.280 We just want to make you aware that you need to pay 00:10:01.280 --> 00:10:05.840 attention because if you know we use ourselves frequently as an example, 00:10:05.840 --> 00:10:09.040 if we start saying something that's contrary to scripture, you need to 00:10:09.040 --> 00:10:12.080 walk away and you need to warn others to walk away. 00:10:12.080 --> 00:10:15.200 It's fine to say, well, that guy did some good stuff before. 00:10:15.200 --> 00:10:16.320 He's off the rails now. 00:10:16.320 --> 00:10:17.840 I want nothing more to do with it. 00:10:17.840 --> 00:10:19.760 That is a necessary thing. 00:10:19.760 --> 00:10:23.840 And the problem is that when you have an office, when you 00:10:23.840 --> 00:10:29.600 have a political leader or a religious leader, there's an inherent respect 00:10:29.600 --> 00:10:35.040 that's accorded to the office and a wolf or a saboteur will 00:10:35.040 --> 00:10:38.400 wear that as a skin suit and they will use that respect 00:10:38.480 --> 00:10:41.760 accorded to the office as cover for things that they have no 00:10:41.760 --> 00:10:43.280 authority to do whatsoever. 00:10:43.280 --> 00:10:46.080 And so to be able to discern that and realize what's going 00:10:46.080 --> 00:10:49.760 on Going on is vital for protecting your life and protecting your 00:10:49.760 --> 00:10:51.760 soul and those of everyone under your 00:10:51.760 --> 00:10:53.280 care. So, 00:10:53.280 --> 00:10:59.280 as well mentioned, we're not drawing a hardline distinction between power and 00:10:59.280 --> 00:11:03.520 authority. There's a lot of overlap here, these are intertwined concepts. 00:11:03.520 --> 00:11:08.160 However, just to start out, to give a basic definition of each, 00:11:08.160 --> 00:11:11.280 to give you an idea of how we're approaching this subject, how 00:11:11.280 --> 00:11:12.960 we're dealing with these matters 00:11:13.920 --> 00:11:18.080 When we speak of power in this context, essentially what we mean 00:11:18.080 --> 00:11:21.920 is the ability or the capacity to do a thing. 00:11:21.920 --> 00:11:24.720 And that is removed from other considerations. 00:11:24.720 --> 00:11:29.600 So you're not bringing moral considerations or ethical considerations or anything else 00:11:29.600 --> 00:11:34.160 into the formula when dealing with power qua power. 00:11:34.160 --> 00:11:37.840 Power is simply that ability to do the thing. 00:11:37.840 --> 00:11:41.680 And so to give perhaps ridiculous example. 00:11:41.680 --> 00:11:44.880 Sitting here right now, I have a pocket knife in my pocket. 00:11:44.880 --> 00:11:46.320 I could take it and stab myself. 00:11:46.320 --> 00:11:48.160 I have the power to do that. 00:11:48.160 --> 00:11:51.680 It would be incredibly unwise, it would be stupid, but I have 00:11:51.680 --> 00:11:53.360 the power to do it. 00:11:53.360 --> 00:11:57.600 So power is not in this context a moral consideration or anything 00:11:57.600 --> 00:11:58.000 like that. 00:11:58.000 --> 00:12:00.960 It is simply can you do the thing in the sense of 00:12:01.200 --> 00:12:04.240 do you have the ability to do the thing? 00:12:04.240 --> 00:12:06.000 Authority, on the other hand, is 00:12:07.120 --> 00:12:09.680 the right to do a thing. 00:12:09.680 --> 00:12:13.040 So do you have the right to do it? 00:12:13.040 --> 00:12:15.120 Are you authorized to do it? 00:12:15.120 --> 00:12:19.600 Because you can speak of authority as an authorization, even in the 00:12:19.600 --> 00:12:23.600 case of, say, an absolute monarch, because his authorization, of course, is 00:12:23.600 --> 00:12:29.760 coming from God, insofar as he is executing his duties faithfully. 00:12:29.760 --> 00:12:31.360 So that's the distinction here. 00:12:31.360 --> 00:12:35.040 Power is simply the ability and authority you can think of it 00:12:35.040 --> 00:12:38.000 as the right to do the thing. 00:12:38.000 --> 00:12:42.080 And the problem that we are addressing fundamentally is when 00:12:42.960 --> 00:12:45.280 the authority is no longer there. 00:12:45.280 --> 00:12:47.920 The power may very well still be there in many cases. 00:12:47.920 --> 00:12:51.600 In some cases, power isn't as much in play. 00:12:51.600 --> 00:12:55.680 So, for instance, when you're speaking of a theologian, the theologian has 00:12:55.680 --> 00:12:56.080 the authority 00:12:57.040 --> 00:12:59.040 to speak on these subjects. 00:12:59.040 --> 00:13:02.400 He doesn't really have any power, per se. 00:13:02.400 --> 00:13:05.680 Because a theologian isn't going to come to your house and choke 00:13:05.680 --> 00:13:08.560 you until you adhere to what he says about God. 00:13:08.560 --> 00:13:09.920 At least he shouldn't be doing that. 00:13:10.320 --> 00:13:12.560 And so it's not a matter of power, it's a matter of 00:13:12.560 --> 00:13:18.640 authority. But in the realm of the political, you're going to have 00:13:18.640 --> 00:13:19.920 both in play. 00:13:19.920 --> 00:13:23.200 Because it may very well be the case that the one who 00:13:23.840 --> 00:13:28.560 had both power and authority no longer has authority, but still very 00:13:28.560 --> 00:13:29.920 much has the power. 00:13:29.920 --> 00:13:33.440 We see that many times in scripture, or we see places where 00:13:33.440 --> 00:13:34.400 power is exercised 00:13:35.280 --> 00:13:36.320 without authority. 00:13:36.320 --> 00:13:38.880 So there was never authority necessarily. 00:13:38.880 --> 00:13:41.840 There was just the power, and it's a wrongful use because it 00:13:41.840 --> 00:13:45.360 is used in the absence of authority. 00:13:45.360 --> 00:13:51.440 And this is seen as we'll mentioned throughout scripture and also in 00:13:51.440 --> 00:13:55.120 our everyday life, because, as I mentioned, the political, we see this 00:13:55.120 --> 00:13:57.760 all the time in the political realm. 00:13:57.760 --> 00:14:00.080 This is the abuse of power. 00:14:00.080 --> 00:14:04.080 It is the wrongful presentation of authority. 00:14:04.080 --> 00:14:07.520 It is seeming to have authority when really it is just that 00:14:07.520 --> 00:14:11.600 raw use of power without the attendant authority. 00:14:11.600 --> 00:14:16.400 And it is that authority that makes the use of power rightful. 00:14:16.400 --> 00:14:20.560 Just because you have the power to do something, does not mean 00:14:20.560 --> 00:14:23.280 that you have the authorization, does not mean that it would be 00:14:23.280 --> 00:14:26.160 rightful for you to do that thing. 00:14:26.400 --> 00:14:31.600 And we could start with Genesis 3, with Adam and Eve. 00:14:31.600 --> 00:14:35.840 In the fall, Adam and Eve had the power to do what 00:14:35.840 --> 00:14:37.600 they did. 00:14:37.600 --> 00:14:38.800 It was not rightful. 00:14:38.800 --> 00:14:42.880 They did not have the authority to do what they did because 00:14:42.880 --> 00:14:47.040 God had specifically told them not to do that thing. 00:14:47.040 --> 00:14:51.120 In addition to that, you see with Adam that he had an 00:14:51.120 --> 00:14:56.160 authority to exercise headship over his wife, and he failed to do 00:14:56.160 --> 00:14:58.240 that. So he had the power to do it. 00:14:58.240 --> 00:14:59.760 He could have spoken up. 00:14:59.760 --> 00:15:02.080 He could have told the snake to be silent. 00:15:02.080 --> 00:15:04.400 He could have told Eve to walk away. 00:15:04.400 --> 00:15:06.560 He had power to do something. 00:15:06.880 --> 00:15:10.880 He had an authority as well, because as the head, as the 00:15:10.880 --> 00:15:15.600 husband, he had authority to exercise over his wife. 00:15:15.600 --> 00:15:17.360 He failed to do that. 00:15:17.360 --> 00:15:20.160 And so you can have authority and fail to exercise it. 00:15:20.160 --> 00:15:22.960 Of course, we see that as well all the time in many 00:15:22.960 --> 00:15:25.920 places. We see it in the church, we see it in the 00:15:25.920 --> 00:15:29.120 state. This is a common problem to humanity, and we see it 00:15:29.120 --> 00:15:31.360 here right at the beginning in the garden. 00:15:31.600 --> 00:15:36.640 And so it's that power, the wrongful exercise of that power, that 00:15:36.640 --> 00:15:40.080 is really the core of what we're discussing. 00:15:40.080 --> 00:15:43.840 Now, in most cases, it's going to be because there's an appearance 00:15:43.840 --> 00:15:48.960 of authority, and that authority is only an appearance, because it's no 00:15:48.960 --> 00:15:52.160 longer there, because the power is being used wrongfully. 00:15:52.160 --> 00:15:55.360 Here in the case of the fall, it's really more a failure 00:15:55.360 --> 00:15:57.280 to exercise the authority. 00:15:57.280 --> 00:16:00.720 And so there's a distinction there, but these are all related to 00:16:00.720 --> 00:16:01.680 each other. 00:16:01.680 --> 00:16:05.920 They're different facets of how these things can be abused, how they 00:16:05.920 --> 00:16:08.320 can be used incorrectly. 00:16:09.440 --> 00:16:16.160 So in human lives and civilization, whatever state of civilization we're in, 00:16:16.160 --> 00:16:17.920 there are going to be institutions. 00:16:17.920 --> 00:16:23.280 And we've talked in the past how institutions are instituted for purposes. 00:16:23.280 --> 00:16:26.960 And And by their nature, institutions are preserved over time. 00:16:26.960 --> 00:16:29.200 They're preserved across generations. 00:16:29.200 --> 00:16:32.480 You don't call something an institution that's been there for five years. 00:16:32.480 --> 00:16:36.720 You call something an institution that's been there for generations when four 00:16:36.720 --> 00:16:40.880 generations of students at a particular college have been going and eating 00:16:40.880 --> 00:16:44.240 or drinking at the same place, that's an institution. 00:16:44.240 --> 00:16:45.680 It's there for a purpose. 00:16:45.680 --> 00:16:48.000 It's something that's time honored. 00:16:48.000 --> 00:16:50.160 And one of the facets of 00:16:51.280 --> 00:16:56.160 the d distinction when there is one between power and authority is 00:16:56.320 --> 00:16:59.520 that part of what we're talking about here is tradition. 00:16:59.520 --> 00:17:04.160 And one of the most common aphorisms when tradition comes up is 00:17:04.160 --> 00:17:09.520 Chesterton's fence, which the premise is basically that somebody finds a fence 00:17:09.520 --> 00:17:12.080 somewhere in the middle of Nowhere, they don't know what it's for, 00:17:12.080 --> 00:17:14.800 and they think, well this fence is useless, I'm gonna tear it 00:17:14.800 --> 00:17:19.120 out. When it turns out a previous generation knew that there was 00:17:19.120 --> 00:17:22.480 something that that fence was necessary to prevent, they put the fence 00:17:22.480 --> 00:17:24.880 there, you come along, you tear out the fence, and then you 00:17:24.880 --> 00:17:28.560 have the problem that a previous generation solved with the thing that 00:17:28.560 --> 00:17:31.840 you're looking at and it doesn't make any sense. 00:17:31.840 --> 00:17:37.440 I think most people misunderstand what Chesterton's fence is about because it 00:17:37.440 --> 00:17:40.560 is not appealing to the inherent authority of the fence. 00:17:41.440 --> 00:17:45.520 What it is doing is warning men who don't know any better. 00:17:45.520 --> 00:17:50.080 When you see something, don't just assume that you can tear it 00:17:50.080 --> 00:17:51.920 out because you don't understand it. 00:17:51.920 --> 00:17:55.440 If it doesn't make sense to you, that is not sufficient warrant 00:17:55.440 --> 00:17:57.120 for you to demolish it. 00:17:57.120 --> 00:18:00.400 Because at some point in the past, there's a genealogy for that 00:18:00.400 --> 00:18:02.480 fence. It was put there for a reason. 00:18:02.480 --> 00:18:04.640 It was there to solve a particular problem. 00:18:04.640 --> 00:18:07.520 Somebody's like, I have a problem to solve this fence is gonna 00:18:07.520 --> 00:18:08.160 solve it. 00:18:08.160 --> 00:18:10.880 And then maybe those reasons are forgotten. 00:18:10.880 --> 00:18:13.840 When the man who doesn't know any better comes along, he's like, 00:18:13.920 --> 00:18:16.400 Oh, this fence is worthless, I'm gonna tear it out. 00:18:16.400 --> 00:18:22.080 The warning is that tradition serves a purpose when men don't know 00:18:22.080 --> 00:18:23.040 any better? 00:18:23.040 --> 00:18:26.240 It doesn't mean that tradition is immutable. 00:18:26.240 --> 00:18:31.440 And so what we see with power and authority is that offices 00:18:31.440 --> 00:18:36.480 and vocations where men have authority when they're acting under authority, those 00:18:36.480 --> 00:18:40.080 are basically always going to be some form of institution. 00:18:40.080 --> 00:18:44.720 Even if it's all the way down to the father level, that's 00:18:44.720 --> 00:18:46.480 not simply a Simply a tradition. 00:18:46.480 --> 00:18:50.080 It's there because in the case of many of these things, God 00:18:50.080 --> 00:18:51.200 instituted them. 00:18:51.200 --> 00:18:53.920 And so this is frankly one of the problems that we have 00:18:53.920 --> 00:18:57.920 today with really a lot of extremely high IQ guys. 00:18:57.920 --> 00:19:01.360 It is very common for some of the smartest guys around to 00:19:01.360 --> 00:19:06.320 be the stupidest when it comes to looking at traditions and things 00:19:06.320 --> 00:19:09.600 that have served man in the past because they think that they 00:19:09.600 --> 00:19:10.480 know better. 00:19:10.480 --> 00:19:13.760 And the problem is that on one hand, they do, but on 00:19:13.760 --> 00:19:15.600 the other hand they don't know God. 00:19:15.600 --> 00:19:18.800 So what I mean by this is that it's very common for 00:19:18.800 --> 00:19:23.440 guys who are very intelligent to get into weird things relationship wise 00:19:23.600 --> 00:19:25.760 where they monogamy is not sufficient. 00:19:25.760 --> 00:19:30.400 They want some other bizarre, ungodly permutation because they know better. 00:19:30.400 --> 00:19:32.000 Because that sounds like fun. 00:19:32.000 --> 00:19:33.520 And they're unbelievers. 00:19:33.520 --> 00:19:35.840 They don't care about God's law. 00:19:35.840 --> 00:19:37.920 And they don't care about what worked in the past because they 00:19:37.920 --> 00:19:40.320 look at and think, oh well, I know better than this. 00:19:40.320 --> 00:19:43.920 The problem with that is that they don't know God, but the 00:19:43.920 --> 00:19:48.640 questioning of the tradition itself is not inherently bad. 00:19:48.640 --> 00:19:50.640 The trick is that for most men, you should just leave it 00:19:50.960 --> 00:19:56.880 alone. Most men need to obey Chesterton's fence, which is actually Chesterton 00:19:56.880 --> 00:20:00.480 putting a fence in place for guys who don't understand what the 00:20:00.480 --> 00:20:01.600 purpose of a thing is. 00:20:01.840 --> 00:20:03.360 The point is not the fence at all. 00:20:03.760 --> 00:20:07.280 The point is that if you don't understand why something is here, 00:20:07.280 --> 00:20:09.680 you shouldn't be changing it. 00:20:09.680 --> 00:20:13.680 One of the blessings and curses of genius is that the status 00:20:13.680 --> 00:20:15.840 quo doesn't have any inherent value. 00:20:15.840 --> 00:20:18.000 That's not to say that it should be torn out. 00:20:18.000 --> 00:20:21.680 It's just you look at something, it's like, well, was there a 00:20:21.680 --> 00:20:23.280 good reason or was there a bad reason? 00:20:23.280 --> 00:20:25.680 And if there's a bad reason for something, then you need to 00:20:25.680 --> 00:20:26.880 do something better. 00:20:26.880 --> 00:20:30.720 But Chesterton applies to most men because they can't reverse engineer from 00:20:31.200 --> 00:20:38.160 the presence of offense what hypothetical threat existed centuries ago, generations ago. 00:20:38.160 --> 00:20:44.080 The problem with just treating tradition as existing for its own sake 00:20:44.160 --> 00:20:48.000 is that I apologize for picking on you guys, but this was 00:20:48.000 --> 00:20:50.320 the problem in the Reformation. 00:20:50.640 --> 00:20:55.840 Roman Catholicism was the Western Christian Church, it was the only Christianity 00:20:55.840 --> 00:20:57.200 in town. 00:20:57.200 --> 00:21:03.120 But there were traditions that accredited that were self-referential that were no 00:21:03.120 --> 00:21:07.200 longer in service to God and were no longer in accord with 00:21:07.200 --> 00:21:11.440 scripture. And so when the reformers came along, it wasn't they were 00:21:11.440 --> 00:21:13.920 rebels that they wanted to burn everything down. 00:21:13.920 --> 00:21:17.520 It's that they looked at the state of the church and they 00:21:17.520 --> 00:21:21.920 looked at scripture and they found that the authority for the power 00:21:21.920 --> 00:21:25.600 that the church was wielding was not found in scripture. 00:21:25.600 --> 00:21:27.360 So we did the episode on the Reformation. 00:21:27.360 --> 00:21:28.640 I don't want to pick on you guys. 00:21:28.640 --> 00:21:31.520 Anyone who's a Roman Catholic who's listening, you've got to be a 00:21:31.520 --> 00:21:34.880 Christian or you wouldn't put up with us because we come from 00:21:35.040 --> 00:21:36.960 some very different places. 00:21:36.960 --> 00:21:39.280 But on the other hand, we're on the same page about almost 00:21:39.280 --> 00:21:40.160 everything else. 00:21:40.160 --> 00:21:43.680 So Corey and I disagree in private on the best way to 00:21:43.680 --> 00:21:45.840 approach those situations with you guys. 00:21:45.840 --> 00:21:51.600 But unfortunately, when we're talking about authority and tradition, the Reformation is 00:21:51.600 --> 00:21:55.680 the stinking pile on the middle of the living room floor of 00:21:55.680 --> 00:21:56.880 Western Christianity. 00:21:56.880 --> 00:21:59.680 There's no getting around the fact that there was a point in 00:21:59.680 --> 00:22:04.480 the history of the church where tradition had become its own thing. 00:22:04.640 --> 00:22:09.680 It's literally the argument that Rome has that tradition supersedes because there 00:22:09.840 --> 00:22:10.880 are reasons. 00:22:10.880 --> 00:22:14.080 And the reformers rejected that and said, Well, if scripture says one 00:22:14.080 --> 00:22:17.200 thing, we're gonna go with what God says, and that there wasn't 00:22:17.200 --> 00:22:19.440 progressive revelation. 00:22:19.440 --> 00:22:24.000 So when we're looking at things as matters of tradition, and anytime 00:22:24.000 --> 00:22:28.960 you find authority, you're generally going to find Long-standing tradition, sometimes going 00:22:28.960 --> 00:22:31.120 back many, many thousands of years. 00:22:31.120 --> 00:22:35.280 The very dangerous thing that everyone is facing in those circumstances is 00:22:35.280 --> 00:22:37.760 that there's a circularity of that reason. 00:22:37.760 --> 00:22:40.480 If someone says, I am acting in the stead of 00:22:41.360 --> 00:22:47.520 whatever, going back generations and generations, that's great if it's true, but 00:22:47.520 --> 00:22:50.480 the question become, is it actually true that they are acting in 00:22:50.480 --> 00:22:52.400 the stead and by the command of God. 00:22:52.400 --> 00:22:54.720 Are they doing something in accord with scripture? 00:22:54.720 --> 00:22:56.640 Are they saying what God says? 00:22:56.640 --> 00:23:02.240 Are they living godly lives according to the office that they're exercising 00:23:02.240 --> 00:23:03.440 the power of? 00:23:03.440 --> 00:23:06.000 And if not, everybody has a problem. 00:23:06.880 --> 00:23:10.560 So again, we're not encouraging rebellion at all. 00:23:10.560 --> 00:23:13.120 We're not saying that most men need to wake up every morning 00:23:13.120 --> 00:23:14.400 and question everything. 00:23:14.400 --> 00:23:15.760 That would make you insane. 00:23:15.760 --> 00:23:18.640 You would lose your mind and it'd be unhealthy, you're not going 00:23:18.640 --> 00:23:20.320 to come to good conclusions. 00:23:20.320 --> 00:23:23.360 But when you're looking at traditions, when you're looking at the guy 00:23:23.360 --> 00:23:26.640 who says, I'm the guy, I'm doing the thing, you do have 00:23:26.640 --> 00:23:31.680 to test if the authority is actually bounded by whatever instituted it. 00:23:31.840 --> 00:23:35.520 In the case of governments, there's one sort of argument inside the 00:23:35.520 --> 00:23:40.560 church, there's some different arguments, but there's always an upstream authority for 00:23:40.560 --> 00:23:41.680 any of this. 00:23:41.680 --> 00:23:46.400 And so the distinction between authority and tradition is that 00:23:47.840 --> 00:23:52.480 tradition will self-perpetuate even if it's not authorized. 00:23:52.480 --> 00:23:57.520 And as you know, post Reformation Protestants, we obviously disagree with the 00:23:57.520 --> 00:24:00.640 tradition that it accreted at the time of the Reformation. 00:24:00.640 --> 00:24:03.760 At some point the Roman Catholic Church had just been the Christian 00:24:03.760 --> 00:24:06.960 Church. No one should disagree with that. 00:24:06.960 --> 00:24:11.200 That is the genesis of the transmission of our faith. 00:24:11.200 --> 00:24:18.320 It came through generation after generation of Roman Western Christianity. 00:24:18.560 --> 00:24:23.360 The question is did the accretion of things that were traditions depart 00:24:23.360 --> 00:24:25.120 from what was scriptural. 00:24:25.120 --> 00:24:28.720 So the Reformation came about because it turned out that traditions were 00:24:28.720 --> 00:24:31.280 not acting under the authority of God. 00:24:31.280 --> 00:24:33.040 So it's a huge historical example. 00:24:33.040 --> 00:24:35.920 It's one that divides some of us, at least on some issues. 00:24:35.920 --> 00:24:39.520 I'm very thankful that it doesn't divide us on others because God 00:24:39.520 --> 00:24:40.400 is God. 00:24:40.400 --> 00:24:44.000 God is our God, Scripture is His Word, and so when we 00:24:44.000 --> 00:24:47.920 are in agreement on that, at least we have some substantive agreement, 00:24:47.920 --> 00:24:52.080 even when we disagree about the authority of men like the Pope. 00:24:52.080 --> 00:24:54.480 But that's kind of what we're talking about here. 00:24:54.480 --> 00:24:57.120 It may well be the case that something that was legitimate at 00:24:57.120 --> 00:24:59.680 one point, like as we said in the Reformation episode, there were 00:24:59.680 --> 00:25:00.720 good popes. 00:25:00.720 --> 00:25:03.920 Any honest Protestant should be able to say that there were good 00:25:03.920 --> 00:25:06.720 popes. If they know anything about history, if they actually look at 00:25:06.720 --> 00:25:08.800 some of the men, yes, I yeah. 00:25:08.800 --> 00:25:11.760 Now, I think they were all in the first millennium. 00:25:11.760 --> 00:25:13.600 I think it petered up pretty quickly. 00:25:13.600 --> 00:25:15.600 I think when you look at the state of the church, one 00:25:15.680 --> 00:25:20.480 thousand years ago, when Peter Damien was writing, he saw from inside 00:25:20.480 --> 00:25:22.880 the church, he's one of the doctors of the church, one of 00:25:22.880 --> 00:25:28.160 the most highly esteemed men in Roman Catholicism, was saying things that 00:25:28.160 --> 00:25:31.360 were far more critical than some of the things that Luther said 00:25:31.520 --> 00:25:34.080 in his day when he was seeing, like, this is bad. 00:25:34.080 --> 00:25:38.480 The stuff that's going on with the power of Rome doesn't have 00:25:38.480 --> 00:25:39.600 the authority of scripture. 00:25:39.600 --> 00:25:40.320 It's evil. 00:25:40.320 --> 00:25:43.760 And so a lot of this is about being able to discern, 00:25:43.760 --> 00:25:45.680 is this actually coming from God? 00:25:45.680 --> 00:25:48.480 Whenever we have these discussions and in many of the episodes where 00:25:48.480 --> 00:25:51.600 we talk about doctrine, it's like, where did you get that? 00:25:51.600 --> 00:25:54.400 Where did you get this sin of racism or whatever? 00:25:54.400 --> 00:25:55.760 You didn't get it from the Bible. 00:25:55.760 --> 00:25:56.960 You didn't from God. 00:25:56.960 --> 00:26:00.080 You got it from a century ago or two centuries ago. 00:26:00.080 --> 00:26:02.640 That's not the basis for the Christian faith. 00:26:02.640 --> 00:26:07.120 And so when the power inherent in those attacks that we see 00:26:07.120 --> 00:26:10.880 today, those moral dicta that come down to us. 00:26:10.880 --> 00:26:13.520 If they don't have the authority of scripture, then we're dealing with 00:26:13.520 --> 00:26:15.680 something that is extra Christian. 00:26:15.680 --> 00:26:16.880 That's the trick here. 00:26:16.880 --> 00:26:21.920 It's that circumstances change and when men are acting under color of 00:26:21.920 --> 00:26:25.760 authority, they may well do things that previous generations, when they were 00:26:25.760 --> 00:26:29.760 doing things in a similar vein, they were legitimate because they were 00:26:29.760 --> 00:26:33.120 rooted in the authority of Scripture or they're rooted in the authority 00:26:33.120 --> 00:26:34.720 of their secular office. 00:26:34.720 --> 00:26:39.360 And then later on, men come in and corrupt those things. 00:26:39.360 --> 00:26:42.960 That is when all of us have to be equipped to recognize, 00:26:42.960 --> 00:26:48.320 well, the authority is now abrogated, the authority is no longer present, 00:26:48.320 --> 00:26:50.560 even though the power is still being used. 00:26:50.560 --> 00:26:56.080 And an appeal to tradition is not sufficient warrant to obey whatever's 00:26:56.000 --> 00:26:56.880 going on. 00:26:56.880 --> 00:27:00.000 The truth is that the authority has to be upstream. 00:27:00.080 --> 00:27:03.040 As Corey said, you know, maybe you have the supreme potent day, 00:27:03.040 --> 00:27:05.760 you have the king who answers only to God. 00:27:05.760 --> 00:27:11.280 Maybe you have some church authority where scripture is what provides the 00:27:11.280 --> 00:27:13.760 power in the church. 00:27:13.760 --> 00:27:19.200 Absent that there's no authority whatsoever because it's all flowing downstream. 00:27:19.200 --> 00:27:20.960 There's always a hierarchy here. 00:27:20.960 --> 00:27:22.960 There's always a hierarchy. 00:27:22.960 --> 00:27:26.320 And our place Our place in the hierarchy is gonna tend to 00:27:26.320 --> 00:27:28.240 be near the bottom, but at the same time we have a 00:27:28.240 --> 00:27:31.440 duty to recognize, well, the guy who's above me isn't actually being 00:27:31.440 --> 00:27:33.680 faithful to the authority he's been given. 00:27:33.680 --> 00:27:38.320 And that's when collectively, whatever group you're in under that institution, has 00:27:38.320 --> 00:27:40.000 a very real problem. 00:27:40.560 --> 00:27:45.120 There's an important distinction here and just generally with regard to power 00:27:45.120 --> 00:27:50.640 and authority between the kingdom of the right hand and the kingdom 00:27:50.640 --> 00:27:51.520 of the left hand 00:27:52.720 --> 00:27:55.760 We'll start with the political, the kingdom of the left hand, the 00:27:55.760 --> 00:28:00.240 state. When it comes to the power of those and the authority 00:28:00.240 --> 00:28:05.680 of those in the state, so the prince, the magistrate, whatever term 00:28:05.680 --> 00:28:09.920 you want to use, that power 00:28:10.880 --> 00:28:16.880 is not based simply on scripture, for instance, which is a distinction 00:28:16.880 --> 00:28:21.600 between the left hand and the right hand, that power partly is 00:28:21.600 --> 00:28:26.240 a function of the office, of the place in the hierarchy. 00:28:26.240 --> 00:28:31.760 And so the authority rests on exercising that power rightfully. 00:28:31.760 --> 00:28:35.440 Of course, all authority ultimately flows from God. 00:28:35.440 --> 00:28:39.920 But the power of the prince, or of the magistrate, does not 00:28:39.920 --> 00:28:42.800 disappear when he errs. 00:28:42.800 --> 00:28:46.960 He can make a mistake, he can do something that is wrongful, 00:28:46.960 --> 00:28:50.400 and yet he can still command obedience. 00:28:50.400 --> 00:28:54.880 Now there is a certain point where if he crosses certain lines 00:28:54.960 --> 00:28:58.080 he can no longer command that, of course, that will be for 00:28:58.080 --> 00:29:01.120 a future episode. 00:29:01.120 --> 00:29:07.440 But just because, say, if you're in the military, your commanding officer 00:29:07.760 --> 00:29:11.840 does something that is wrongful, or he makes just a bad decision, 00:29:11.840 --> 00:29:13.520 he makes a bad call. 00:29:13.520 --> 00:29:16.640 His authority is not destroyed by that. 00:29:16.640 --> 00:29:20.000 He still holds his power rightfully. 00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:24.400 He should correct his error, but it does not destroy the authority 00:29:24.800 --> 00:29:26.720 that he has. 00:29:26.720 --> 00:29:30.960 This is distinct from the right-hand kingdom. 00:29:30.960 --> 00:29:33.760 And the way in which it is distinct is that as well 00:29:34.000 --> 00:29:36.720 already mentioned in this episode, and as we've said a number of 00:29:36.720 --> 00:29:43.200 times before, I can bind your conscience because I am speaking the 00:29:43.200 --> 00:29:45.840 words of God after him. 00:29:45.840 --> 00:29:50.480 But I can bind your conscience only in so far as I 00:29:50.480 --> 00:29:53.520 am speaking the words of God after him. 00:29:53.520 --> 00:29:59.360 The authority of a theologian rests entirely on whether or not he 00:29:59.360 --> 00:30:00.640 is correct. 00:30:00.880 --> 00:30:06.720 And so his authority evaporates the second he says something wrong. 00:30:06.720 --> 00:30:10.560 It's not that the things he said previously that were right cease 00:30:10.640 --> 00:30:13.600 to be right, because of course that which is true is true 00:30:13.760 --> 00:30:18.560 regardless. It is that in that moment and with regard to the 00:30:18.560 --> 00:30:23.760 thing on which he has spoken falsely, he cannot bind your conscience. 00:30:23.760 --> 00:30:25.760 He has no authority. 00:30:25.760 --> 00:30:32.480 This is the fundamental difference between Protestants and Rome, or Eastern Orthodox, 00:30:32.480 --> 00:30:35.120 whoever else. 00:30:35.120 --> 00:30:40.480 We do not believe, as Lutherans, as Protestants, that any man anywhere 00:30:40.480 --> 00:30:47.040 in the hierarchy of the church has authority outside of Scripture, outside 00:30:47.040 --> 00:30:51.280 of the Word of God, because that is the absolute ground, the 00:30:51.280 --> 00:30:55.040 sole ground, on which his authority rests. 00:30:55.040 --> 00:30:58.320 Now yes, there's also truth to be found in nature, and so 00:30:58.320 --> 00:31:00.880 you can speak on that as a theologian. 00:31:00.880 --> 00:31:04.000 But again, that is only insofar as what you are saying is 00:31:04.000 --> 00:31:05.520 true is true. 00:31:05.520 --> 00:31:08.880 So your authority rests purely on that. 00:31:08.880 --> 00:31:12.400 It's not because of your office, it's not because of your place 00:31:12.400 --> 00:31:14.080 in the hierarchy. 00:31:14.080 --> 00:31:18.000 It is only because what you are saying is in accord with 00:31:18.000 --> 00:31:19.280 God's truth. 00:31:19.280 --> 00:31:23.840 This is a fundamental difference between those who hold offices and hold 00:31:23.840 --> 00:31:27.440 authority and wield power in the left hand kingdom, in the state, 00:31:27.440 --> 00:31:30.240 in the political, versus those who do so in the right hand 00:31:30.240 --> 00:31:33.040 kingdom in the church. 00:31:33.040 --> 00:31:35.600 This distinction is key. 00:31:35.600 --> 00:31:40.960 It is absolutely necessary that you understand this distinction. 00:31:40.960 --> 00:31:43.600 Because when it comes to the political, there are good There are 00:31:43.600 --> 00:31:47.520 going to be other considerations as to what should be done in 00:31:47.520 --> 00:31:52.560 response to a wicked ruler, partly depending on how wicked he is. 00:31:52.560 --> 00:31:56.560 With regard to those who are higher up in the hierarchy, insofar 00:31:56.560 --> 00:31:58.960 as it exists in your church? 00:31:58.960 --> 00:32:01.200 There are different considerations. 00:32:01.200 --> 00:32:04.480 You don't have to yield to the office, in fact, you have 00:32:04.480 --> 00:32:08.240 to do precisely the opposite, because it is God's truth that is 00:32:08.240 --> 00:32:09.440 on the line. 00:32:09.440 --> 00:32:13.040 With regard to the political, you can bear with error, you can 00:32:13.040 --> 00:32:17.120 let things slide, you can ignore the fact that your king is 00:32:17.120 --> 00:32:19.440 a bit of a nitwit every so often. 00:32:19.440 --> 00:32:20.800 These things happen. 00:32:20.800 --> 00:32:23.840 That is the reality of living in a fallen world, and with 00:32:24.240 --> 00:32:28.400 regard to the left hand kingdom, some of that can be tolerated. 00:32:28.400 --> 00:32:32.400 None of it can be tolerated in the right hand kingdom in 00:32:32.400 --> 00:32:36.720 so far as it goes against God's truth because no false doctrine 00:32:36.720 --> 00:32:38.640 can be tolerated. 00:32:38.640 --> 00:32:42.960 It's not to say that you go to war over absolutely every 00:32:42.960 --> 00:32:46.560 misstatement or every minor error. 00:32:46.560 --> 00:32:48.000 They should all be corrected. 00:32:48.320 --> 00:32:51.120 Absolutely every error should be corrected. 00:32:51.120 --> 00:32:53.520 But you correct them in different ways. 00:32:53.520 --> 00:32:57.520 Again, we're going back to sort of fighting over the colors of 00:32:57.520 --> 00:32:58.640 the parents. 00:32:58.640 --> 00:33:02.560 That is a different matter from getting justification wrong. 00:33:02.560 --> 00:33:05.920 For justification you're willing to go to war, because that is the 00:33:05.920 --> 00:33:07.760 core of the Christian faith. 00:33:07.760 --> 00:33:10.880 If we get that wrong, nothing else matters. 00:33:10.880 --> 00:33:14.000 This is why the Reformation was so important. 00:33:14.000 --> 00:33:17.760 But if it is something minor, because there are doctrines that are 00:33:17.760 --> 00:33:21.120 lesser, there are doctrines that are greater, justification, there are doctrines that 00:33:21.120 --> 00:33:21.920 are lesser. 00:33:21.920 --> 00:33:26.640 If you get something lesser wrong, yes you should attempt to correct 00:33:26.640 --> 00:33:29.680 your brother who is an error, but you don't have to do 00:33:29.680 --> 00:33:32.720 it in the same way that you would go about correcting a 00:33:32.720 --> 00:33:34.000 major error. 00:33:34.000 --> 00:33:37.360 Because the major error endangers souls. 00:33:37.360 --> 00:33:41.600 If you get something that is according core doctrine wrong, you may 00:33:41.600 --> 00:33:43.120 very well go to hell. 00:33:43.120 --> 00:33:46.640 So that matters, that's something over which you have to be willing 00:33:46.640 --> 00:33:47.600 to fight. 00:33:47.600 --> 00:33:51.200 But the minor doctrines you can approach them differently. 00:33:51.200 --> 00:33:56.480 However, you don't tolerate error with regard to the right hand kingdom. 00:33:56.480 --> 00:33:59.760 With regard to the left hand kingdom, it is necessary for the 00:33:59.760 --> 00:34:03.680 sake of peace and tranquility to tolerate some errors. 00:34:03.680 --> 00:34:09.360 This is a fundamental difference that's why I'm repeating myself. 00:34:09.360 --> 00:34:13.840 With regard to the left hand kingdom, a man who wields power 00:34:13.840 --> 00:34:19.920 may very well retain his authority despite being in error, despite acting 00:34:20.800 --> 00:34:24.800 even wickedly, up to a certain point. 00:34:24.800 --> 00:34:28.480 That is not the case for those in the right hand kingdom. 00:34:28.480 --> 00:34:31.760 Because their authority rests on something entirely different. 00:34:31.840 --> 00:34:35.360 It does not rest on their station, it does not rest on 00:34:35.360 --> 00:34:36.960 their place in the hierarchy. 00:34:36.960 --> 00:34:41.040 It rests on whether or not what they are saying is God's 00:34:41.040 --> 00:34:44.240 truth. If they are repeating God's words after him, whether it is 00:34:44.240 --> 00:34:47.840 truth found in creation or truth found in God's Word, they have 00:34:47.840 --> 00:34:52.000 authority, because it is not their authority they are exercising, it is 00:34:52.000 --> 00:34:53.760 God's authority. 00:34:53.760 --> 00:34:57.840 That is different from the prince, who has his own authority, again 00:34:57.840 --> 00:35:03.120 from God, but by virtue of his office he holds that authority, 00:35:03.120 --> 00:35:06.960 and so he can retain it despite being in error. 00:35:06.960 --> 00:35:12.080 The pastor, the priest, the theologian, does not retain his authority when 00:35:12.080 --> 00:35:13.520 he is in error. 00:35:14.320 --> 00:35:18.640 Perhaps the best example in scripture of the left hand kingdom, the 00:35:18.640 --> 00:35:22.800 political, as Cory was describing, is Pontius Pilate. 00:35:22.800 --> 00:35:26.400 In John 19, it is written, So Pilate said to Jesus, you 00:35:26.800 --> 00:35:27.920 will not speak to me? 00:35:27.920 --> 00:35:30.480 Do you not know that I have authority to release you and 00:35:30.480 --> 00:35:32.080 authority to crucify you? 00:35:32.080 --> 00:35:35.360 Jesus answered him, You would have no authority over me at all, 00:35:35.360 --> 00:35:37.760 unless it had been given to you from above. 00:35:37.760 --> 00:35:41.840 Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin. 00:35:41.840 --> 00:35:45.360 So this is exactly the situation that Corey was describing. 00:35:45.360 --> 00:35:48.160 What Pilate did was evil. 00:35:48.160 --> 00:35:49.280 He killed Christ. 00:35:49.280 --> 00:35:50.240 He killed God. 00:35:50.640 --> 00:35:54.320 That's the worst sin that's ever been committed. 00:35:54.320 --> 00:35:55.280 And yet 00:35:56.560 --> 00:36:00.480 Jesus acknowledged in the moment that he had the authority to do 00:36:00.480 --> 00:36:04.000 so. Not that he had the authority to sin, not that he 00:36:04.000 --> 00:36:09.920 had the authority over God, but that Christ, in his humiliation, in 00:36:09.920 --> 00:36:14.480 his state of his human nature, was subject to the law of 00:36:14.480 --> 00:36:20.240 Rome. And therefore, to be executed as a common criminal was according 00:36:20.240 --> 00:36:21.120 to the law. 00:36:21.120 --> 00:36:23.200 Even though it was injustice 00:36:24.080 --> 00:36:27.920 under that system, Pontius Pilate could say yes, he could say no. 00:36:27.920 --> 00:36:29.120 And he erred. 00:36:29.120 --> 00:36:31.360 He chose falsely. 00:36:31.360 --> 00:36:35.440 This is an example where it wasn't that he couldn't do that 00:36:35.520 --> 00:36:37.040 and he was on a frolic. 00:36:37.040 --> 00:36:37.680 He could do it. 00:36:37.680 --> 00:36:40.640 Jesus literally said, You have the authority to do this, but only 00:36:40.640 --> 00:36:42.240 because it was given to you. 00:36:42.240 --> 00:36:44.960 And And Pontius Pilate wasn't Christian at the time. 00:36:44.960 --> 00:36:47.760 It wasn't that God had put a Christian ruler in this place 00:36:47.760 --> 00:36:48.560 to do this. 00:36:48.560 --> 00:36:49.840 Rome was evil. 00:36:49.840 --> 00:36:51.600 Pontius Pilate was a pagan. 00:36:51.600 --> 00:36:54.320 He believed and did bad things. 00:36:54.320 --> 00:36:56.800 Even when he was trying to do good, the fact that he 00:36:56.800 --> 00:36:59.920 was a pagan, that he was an unbeliever meant that his actions 00:37:00.160 --> 00:37:05.760 were inherently not good by virtue of not being to God's glory. 00:37:05.760 --> 00:37:09.040 And nevertheless, Jesus said, You have the authority to do this. 00:37:09.840 --> 00:37:14.160 So the power that was exercised in the crucifixion was in accord 00:37:14.160 --> 00:37:17.120 with the authority that he had temporally. 00:37:17.120 --> 00:37:21.600 And this was continued at the cross itself where He said, Father, 00:37:21.600 --> 00:37:24.560 forgive them, for they know not what they do, of the two 00:37:24.560 --> 00:37:26.560 centurions who were crucifying him. 00:37:26.560 --> 00:37:30.880 The men who actually drove the nails through Jesus' hands and feet. 00:37:30.880 --> 00:37:32.960 Jesus said, Father, forgive them. 00:37:32.960 --> 00:37:36.080 That was intercessory prayer and it was efficacious. 00:37:36.080 --> 00:37:40.560 Those men were forgiven for that sin for Christ's sake. 00:37:40.560 --> 00:37:42.960 Because they were following orders. 00:37:42.960 --> 00:37:44.160 They did not know. 00:37:44.160 --> 00:37:46.880 They didn't get up that morning and say, I want to crucify 00:37:46.880 --> 00:37:49.600 God. They got up that morning, said I'm a century and I 00:37:49.600 --> 00:37:52.880 answer to my I answer up the chain. 00:37:52.880 --> 00:37:54.880 I follow orders, I do what I'm told. 00:37:54.880 --> 00:37:57.680 And on that day, they were on crucifixion duty. 00:37:57.680 --> 00:38:00.000 They were told put this guy up on a cross until he's 00:37:59.920 --> 00:38:02.080 dead. And so that's what they did. 00:38:02.080 --> 00:38:03.040 Was it evil? 00:38:03.040 --> 00:38:06.960 Yes. Was it as evil as the brain crowd that had called 00:38:06.960 --> 00:38:07.920 for his murder? 00:38:07.920 --> 00:38:10.880 No. Not even remotely in the same category. 00:38:10.880 --> 00:38:16.400 We did an entire episode specifically highlighting Doug Wilson, who is contradicting 00:38:16.400 --> 00:38:19.120 scripture when he disagrees with this very thing. 00:38:19.120 --> 00:38:21.520 This is about power and authority. 00:38:21.520 --> 00:38:25.760 The power and authority of Rome to execute Christ. 00:38:25.760 --> 00:38:29.280 was the very reason that the Jews had to turn to them. 00:38:29.280 --> 00:38:34.080 Because the Jews did not have the authority to execute anyone. 00:38:34.080 --> 00:38:37.040 They had the power to murder him, but not the authority. 00:38:37.040 --> 00:38:39.280 And so they did a switch rural where they said, we'll get 00:38:39.280 --> 00:38:44.160 these other guys to assassinate for us and through the coercion and 00:38:44.160 --> 00:38:47.360 the threats and the fact that they were just such a pain, 00:38:47.360 --> 00:38:48.720 Rome conceded. 00:38:48.720 --> 00:38:50.080 Like, okay, whatever. 00:38:50.080 --> 00:38:53.440 Another rabble rouser, one of many. 00:38:53.440 --> 00:38:57.840 This is a case where the authority was legitimate even though Rome 00:38:57.840 --> 00:39:00.640 itself was not a godly government. 00:39:00.800 --> 00:39:03.920 is the situation we'll get into in a future episode where We 00:39:03.920 --> 00:39:05.760 face something very similar today. 00:39:05.760 --> 00:39:08.560 We have a an evil pagan government. 00:39:08.560 --> 00:39:11.680 Nevertheless, it still does not bear the sword for nothing. 00:39:11.680 --> 00:39:16.160 And there are times and places where God uses evil rulers against 00:39:16.160 --> 00:39:18.480 his own people for his purposes. 00:39:19.040 --> 00:39:20.720 That's chastisement. 00:39:20.720 --> 00:39:23.040 That is an ugly place to be. 00:39:23.040 --> 00:39:26.000 It means that a people have lost their way, that they are 00:39:26.000 --> 00:39:29.360 no longer following God, when a nation is subjected like that to 00:39:29.360 --> 00:39:30.480 an evil ruler. 00:39:30.480 --> 00:39:35.440 But the ruler himself is still there acting by the authority of 00:39:35.440 --> 00:39:36.080 God. 00:39:36.800 --> 00:39:37.040 And 00:39:37.040 --> 00:39:41.440 so to give two more examples from scripture that are related examples, 00:39:41.440 --> 00:39:43.280 so we'll treat them together. 00:39:43.280 --> 00:39:48.480 There is Korah's Rebellion, which is Numbers sixteen, and then there is 00:39:48.480 --> 00:39:54.720 the succession of Rhaboam, which is followed by rebellion, and that is 00:39:54.720 --> 00:39:57.280 first Kings twelve. 00:39:57.280 --> 00:40:04.080 With regard to the first, the rebellion of Korah, a number of 00:40:04.080 --> 00:40:08.240 men rose up against Moses, and I recommend you go and read 00:40:08.240 --> 00:40:11.680 this. But a number of men rose up against Moses and basically 00:40:11.680 --> 00:40:15.040 said that he shouldn't be in charge. 00:40:15.040 --> 00:40:16.560 They should be in charge. 00:40:16.560 --> 00:40:21.360 Authority should be devolved more to more men in the congregation, instead 00:40:21.360 --> 00:40:25.920 of residing simply in Moses and Aaron. 00:40:25.920 --> 00:40:30.800 This is not strictly the left hand kingdom or strictly the right 00:40:30.960 --> 00:40:36.240 hand kingdom, because of course Moses at the time exercised authority in 00:40:36.240 --> 00:40:42.320 both. He was both the king of Israel when it was wandering 00:40:42.320 --> 00:40:45.680 through the desert, insofar as anyone could be called the king, he 00:40:45.680 --> 00:40:49.680 was the godly prince, he was the political ruler, but he was 00:40:49.680 --> 00:40:51.920 also the spiritual ruler. 00:40:51.920 --> 00:40:54.000 He was also the leader of the congregation. 00:40:54.000 --> 00:40:56.000 He is the one that taught them the word of God. 00:40:56.000 --> 00:40:59.840 He is the one who spoke face to face with God. 00:40:59.840 --> 00:41:05.040 And so this rebellion is not just with regard to the left 00:41:05.040 --> 00:41:06.720 hand or with regard to the right hand. 00:41:06.720 --> 00:41:08.880 This rebellion is in both. 00:41:08.880 --> 00:41:13.440 They are rejecting the leader that God has placed over them with 00:41:13.440 --> 00:41:19.600 regard to both kingdoms, because they want to usurp the authority of 00:41:19.600 --> 00:41:24.000 Moses in the left hand kingdom, and they want to displace him, 00:41:24.000 --> 00:41:26.320 and in essence what they are saying, and this is one of 00:41:26.320 --> 00:41:29.840 the reasons they are punished so severely, they're saying that God is 00:41:29.840 --> 00:41:33.840 wrong, because they are rejecting what God has done in the right 00:41:33.840 --> 00:41:37.360 hand kingdom with Moses, using Moses to speak to the people. 00:41:37.360 --> 00:41:40.720 So they're rejecting God only Ultimately, that's what they're doing. 00:41:40.720 --> 00:41:44.160 This is the same problem we see many times in Scripture in 00:41:44.160 --> 00:41:45.680 the Old Testament. 00:41:45.680 --> 00:41:48.880 It seems like the Israelites may be rejecting a man in a 00:41:48.880 --> 00:41:51.280 particular instance, but they're not. 00:41:51.280 --> 00:41:52.640 They're rejecting God. 00:41:52.640 --> 00:41:53.840 That's what they're ultimately doing. 00:41:54.640 --> 00:41:59.840 And so this is rebellion against God and rebellion against the rightful 00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:02.880 civil authority. 00:42:02.880 --> 00:42:07.200 There's a slight difference in the case of Rahboam, or perhaps a 00:42:07.200 --> 00:42:08.640 big difference. 00:42:08.640 --> 00:42:15.040 When Rhaboam takes over from his father, of course that's Solomon, he 00:42:15.040 --> 00:42:20.720 takes counsel from both Solomon's advisors and from his own advisors, his 00:42:20.720 --> 00:42:22.960 own advisors being younger. 00:42:22.960 --> 00:42:26.160 And the older advisors, of course, give good counsel. 00:42:26.160 --> 00:42:30.720 They say, You should be less strict with the people, you should 00:42:30.720 --> 00:42:34.720 be less burdensome on the people than your father Solomon in order 00:42:34.720 --> 00:42:40.480 to keep the kingdom together, in order to not drive anyone out 00:42:40.480 --> 00:42:43.520 of the kingdom or to rebellion, which of course is what ultimately 00:42:43.520 --> 00:42:48.560 happens. The young advisers basically tell him Exercise your power. 00:42:48.560 --> 00:42:52.160 Prove to these people that you do what you want to because 00:42:52.160 --> 00:42:54.160 you're the king. 00:42:54.160 --> 00:43:00.560 Now, with regard to power and authority, Rhea Boam somewhat had the 00:43:00.560 --> 00:43:03.520 power because he all ultimately did not have the power to keep 00:43:03.520 --> 00:43:07.280 the kingdom together, of course, this is where Israel splits into the 00:43:07.280 --> 00:43:10.320 Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom. 00:43:10.320 --> 00:43:13.920 But he did have some power, because he was king, and he 00:43:13.920 --> 00:43:15.120 had the authority. 00:43:15.120 --> 00:43:18.240 He in fact had the authority to do what he goes and 00:43:18.240 --> 00:43:23.280 does, listen to his younger foolish advisers, and say that he is 00:43:23.280 --> 00:43:26.960 going to place greater burdens on the people than did his father. 00:43:26.960 --> 00:43:30.240 He absolutely had the authority to do that. 00:43:30.240 --> 00:43:33.520 He didn't have the power to follow through. 00:43:33.520 --> 00:43:36.720 The people, of course, rebel against him, and so here we see 00:43:37.280 --> 00:43:42.160 sort of a third aspect of this, which we've mentioned and referenced 00:43:42.160 --> 00:43:47.760 a number of times, but wisdom is involved, particularly with regard to 00:43:47.760 --> 00:43:50.400 matters in the left hand kingdom. 00:43:50.640 --> 00:43:54.000 Because again, remember in the left hand kingdom, you have to bear 00:43:54.000 --> 00:43:54.880 with error. 00:43:54.880 --> 00:43:59.200 There are times where you are going to have serious problems with 00:43:59.200 --> 00:44:03.440 regard to leadership or specific leaders in the left hand kingdom, and 00:44:03.440 --> 00:44:06.640 you bear with them for the sake of peace and tranquility and 00:44:06.640 --> 00:44:12.960 avoiding the bloodshed that would follow from rebellion, quite frankly. 00:44:12.960 --> 00:44:16.960 Here the people decide on a course of rebellion, and of course 00:44:16.960 --> 00:44:22.560 it leads to disaster overall for Israel, to quite a toll in 00:44:22.560 --> 00:44:25.840 lives, bloodshed, treasure. 00:44:25.840 --> 00:44:28.160 It's terrible all around. 00:44:28.160 --> 00:44:31.600 But are the people entirely unwarranted to what they do? 00:44:31.600 --> 00:44:33.840 The answer is no. 00:44:33.840 --> 00:44:38.000 Because Rayoboam goes overboard. 00:44:38.000 --> 00:44:41.920 He takes the power that he has and attempts to pretend he 00:44:41.920 --> 00:44:45.200 has greater power than he does, but he takes the authority that 00:44:45.200 --> 00:44:49.920 he has, on top of that, and takes it to an extreme, 00:44:49.920 --> 00:44:53.680 and abuses it, because he is being a tyrant here. 00:44:53.680 --> 00:44:57.200 The leader is not entitled to be a tyrant, and so depending 00:44:57.200 --> 00:45:01.120 on how far he goes there there's different levels of warrant for 00:45:01.120 --> 00:45:03.520 the people and how they respond, and so the people here again 00:45:03.600 --> 00:45:08.880 are not entirely unwarranted in their response, was what they did rightful, 00:45:08.880 --> 00:45:10.320 probably not. 00:45:10.320 --> 00:45:13.200 They should have borne with the fact that you have a young 00:45:13.200 --> 00:45:17.680 king who is acting foolishly, hopefully he will mature, and some of 00:45:17.680 --> 00:45:19.280 the foolishness will 00:45:20.560 --> 00:45:23.040 essentially fade away as he matures. 00:45:23.040 --> 00:45:26.960 Perhaps he will listen to the older advisors over time. 00:45:26.960 --> 00:45:30.880 Because that would have avoided bloodshed and destruction. 00:45:30.880 --> 00:45:33.440 What the people did was unwise, and that 00:45:34.560 --> 00:45:38.640 lack of wisdom was added to the lack of wisdom that Rayoboam 00:45:38.640 --> 00:45:44.240 displayed in his pursuit, in his course of action, and the outcome 00:45:44.240 --> 00:45:49.040 was worse because of the actions of both Rhaboam and of the 00:45:49.040 --> 00:45:53.600 people. If either party had acted wisely, the outcome would have been 00:45:53.600 --> 00:45:58.240 better. So just because a certain man has the authority to do 00:45:58.240 --> 00:46:02.160 something, even if Rhaboam had the power as well, just because you 00:46:02.160 --> 00:46:05.200 have the authority and even the power does not mean that you 00:46:05.200 --> 00:46:06.640 necessarily should. 00:46:06.640 --> 00:46:10.880 There is a wisdom call, both with regard to the left hand 00:46:10.960 --> 00:46:12.720 kingdom and the right hand kingdom. 00:46:12.720 --> 00:46:17.200 Of course, as mentioned earlier, there's a difference there between how much 00:46:17.440 --> 00:46:20.560 leeway, as it were, with regard to matters of the right hand 00:46:20.720 --> 00:46:25.040 kingdom. Because for instance, worst case scenario happens. 00:46:25.040 --> 00:46:29.120 You are somewhere some men with a gun run in and ask 00:46:29.120 --> 00:46:31.520 if you're a Christian. 00:46:31.520 --> 00:46:33.920 Are you allowed to deny Christ? 00:46:33.920 --> 00:46:36.000 The answer is no. 00:46:36.000 --> 00:46:40.080 And so with regard to matters of the right-hand kingdom, sometimes you 00:46:40.080 --> 00:46:44.080 have to act in a way that would be considered foolish. 00:46:44.080 --> 00:46:48.800 That is not the case with regard to matters of the left-hand 00:46:48.960 --> 00:46:53.840 kingdom. With regard to matters of the left hand kingdom, wisdom plays 00:46:53.840 --> 00:46:56.320 a greater role. 00:46:57.520 --> 00:47:02.560 Another example of the Israelites rebelling against God was when they demanded 00:47:02.560 --> 00:47:04.640 that Samuel tell God to give them a king. 00:47:05.360 --> 00:47:10.960 They were fundamentally rejecting God's headship when God was their direct king 00:47:10.960 --> 00:47:12.240 through the prophet. 00:47:12.240 --> 00:47:14.160 They're like, no, we want to have a king like all the 00:47:14.160 --> 00:47:15.680 other people around us. 00:47:15.680 --> 00:47:19.040 And God told Samley to warn him, you're not gonna like it. 00:47:19.040 --> 00:47:19.840 Here's what he's gonna do. 00:47:19.920 --> 00:47:21.840 Like, no, no, we want a king, we want a king. 00:47:21.840 --> 00:47:23.360 So God gave them a king. 00:47:23.360 --> 00:47:27.440 It was rebellion, but they got what they asked for. 00:47:27.440 --> 00:47:30.320 They got King Saul. 00:47:30.320 --> 00:47:35.360 An important An important part of recognizing that rebellion is is always 00:47:35.680 --> 00:47:38.480 lurking in the shadows with these questions 00:47:39.680 --> 00:47:43.360 is also reflected in the church, both you know in the Reformation 00:47:43.440 --> 00:47:46.400 as in the days of Paul and as in the days we 00:47:46.400 --> 00:47:48.080 face today. 00:47:48.080 --> 00:47:53.280 It was absolutely a legitimate question when Luther nailed the ninety five 00:47:53.280 --> 00:47:56.720 Theses, is this man rebelling against God? 00:47:57.280 --> 00:48:02.480 Is what he's doing by nailing these theses open rebellion? 00:48:02.480 --> 00:48:07.360 And we've discussed in the Reformation episode that he was entirely legitimate 00:48:07.360 --> 00:48:10.160 in taking that act because he was a theologian. 00:48:10.160 --> 00:48:14.560 He was there to debate and discuss these open questions. 00:48:14.560 --> 00:48:17.120 One of the other questions that came up later was canon. 00:48:17.120 --> 00:48:22.240 The canon of scripture was not closed for Rome until Trent. 00:48:22.240 --> 00:48:26.320 So So when Luther had opinions about which books were in the 00:48:26.320 --> 00:48:28.880 Bible, it was the same debate that had been going on for 00:48:28.960 --> 00:48:30.480 1500 years. 00:48:30.480 --> 00:48:35.600 And it was legitimate for him to be asking those questions, even 00:48:35.600 --> 00:48:38.560 if it might not be legitimate for another man. 00:48:38.560 --> 00:48:43.280 So it is valid to question is this man rebelling by asking 00:48:43.280 --> 00:48:44.160 these questions? 00:48:44.160 --> 00:48:45.440 Some guys just are. 00:48:45.440 --> 00:48:51.520 Some guys either temperamentally or intellectually or spiritually, they're just looking for 00:48:51.520 --> 00:48:53.920 trouble. And the problem is that 00:48:55.120 --> 00:48:59.680 if you don't know enough and if you're not faithful, you may 00:48:59.680 --> 00:49:01.520 not be able to tell the difference. 00:49:01.520 --> 00:49:04.080 If somebody like Luther stands up and says, Well I think this 00:49:04.080 --> 00:49:09.120 is a croc, how can most men discern whether he's just being 00:49:09.120 --> 00:49:13.600 an upstart or he's being a theologian asking the correct questions? 00:49:13.600 --> 00:49:15.120 It's hard. 00:49:15.120 --> 00:49:17.680 It's impossible for some men. 00:49:17.680 --> 00:49:18.000 But 00:49:19.280 --> 00:49:22.880 the crucial thing that you should at least keep in mind is 00:49:22.880 --> 00:49:26.160 that it is not necessarily inherently evil for a man to ask 00:49:26.160 --> 00:49:27.120 those questions. 00:49:27.120 --> 00:49:29.440 There's a time and a place where those questions have to be 00:49:29.440 --> 00:49:35.040 asked. And in the particular case where institutions that are claiming to 00:49:35.040 --> 00:49:38.720 be acting with the authority of God, and that are certainly acting 00:49:38.720 --> 00:49:45.040 with power over men, if in the church example, that authority is 00:49:45.040 --> 00:49:49.440 being exercised contrary to Scripture, well it's no authority at all. 00:49:49.440 --> 00:49:52.560 And therefore the question of rebellion is a moot. 00:49:52.560 --> 00:49:57.040 A man cannot rebel against God by obeying God. 00:49:57.040 --> 00:49:59.840 This is something that Corey and I have dealt with for years 00:49:59.840 --> 00:50:03.920 now. In direct response to Stone Choir, the Missouri Synod put out 00:50:03.920 --> 00:50:07.680 a press release, signed by every pastor in the Synod, that damned 00:50:07.680 --> 00:50:12.880 scripture, said that these things that are scriptural are evil, and they 00:50:12.880 --> 00:50:15.680 condemn them in the name of Christ. 00:50:15.680 --> 00:50:19.280 That was acting with authority by their own claims. 00:50:19.280 --> 00:50:21.760 It was certainly acting with power. 00:50:21.760 --> 00:50:24.960 But the question is, is acting with godly authority? 00:50:24.960 --> 00:50:26.160 Absolutely not. 00:50:26.160 --> 00:50:31.280 What is being done by any man who condemns scripture is facially 00:50:31.280 --> 00:50:34.400 satanic. It can only possibly be satanic. 00:50:34.400 --> 00:50:37.040 A house cannot be divided against itself. 00:50:37.040 --> 00:50:39.680 God doesn't disagree with God. 00:50:39.680 --> 00:50:43.680 And Reddit atheists love to have all the gotchas and scriptural like, 00:50:43.680 --> 00:50:46.400 well it says this here and it says that there so it 00:50:46.400 --> 00:50:47.680 doesn't make any sense. 00:50:47.680 --> 00:50:50.560 No, it makes perfect sense if you have faith and you're not 00:50:50.560 --> 00:50:52.000 being a jerk. 00:50:52.000 --> 00:50:54.800 But these are sometimes hard questions. 00:50:54.800 --> 00:50:56.480 It's okay for there to be hard questions. 00:50:56.640 --> 00:50:57.200 You know what? 00:50:57.200 --> 00:50:59.440 God left us with some hard questions. 00:50:59.440 --> 00:51:01.680 There's stuff that's not obvious. 00:51:01.680 --> 00:51:05.280 We did the the recent episode on the end times. 00:51:05.280 --> 00:51:08.080 There's stuff that God just leaves completely up in the air. 00:51:08.080 --> 00:51:11.600 He gives us signs and then doesn't explain them and just leaves 00:51:11.600 --> 00:51:12.240 us hanging. 00:51:12.240 --> 00:51:13.760 Like look out. 00:51:14.800 --> 00:51:17.520 that's how God does things sometimes. 00:51:17.520 --> 00:51:20.320 So when we're placed in a position where we have to say, 00:51:20.320 --> 00:51:24.560 Well, what's going on, it can either be coming from a spirit 00:51:24.560 --> 00:51:26.320 of rebellion and 00:51:27.280 --> 00:51:33.040 despising authority, godly authority, or it can be an attempt to obey 00:51:33.040 --> 00:51:39.600 God. Even if it's misguided, the impulse should still not be quashed. 00:51:39.600 --> 00:51:43.360 And I think that a lot of these older guys in the 00:51:43.360 --> 00:51:49.120 church who have had power and authority in past generations are seeing 00:51:49.120 --> 00:51:52.480 a lot of young men coming into the church looking for answers. 00:51:52.480 --> 00:51:55.520 And maybe they're looking for answers to the wrong questions. 00:51:55.520 --> 00:51:56.560 That happens. 00:51:56.560 --> 00:51:58.000 Paul dealt with that. 00:51:58.000 --> 00:51:59.200 Everyone deals with that. 00:51:59.200 --> 00:52:01.680 You talk to a guy and you realize that the thing that 00:52:01.680 --> 00:52:05.280 he's worried about isn't actually the thing he should be worried about. 00:52:05.280 --> 00:52:10.320 You know, if you're coaching somebody about fitness or diet or anything, 00:52:10.320 --> 00:52:13.120 the thing that you think is the most important thing when you're 00:52:13.040 --> 00:52:15.680 not an expert, when you don't know much, may not be the 00:52:15.680 --> 00:52:17.680 thing you should be worried about at all. 00:52:17.680 --> 00:52:20.400 And so part of being a good teacher, a faithful teacher is 00:52:20.400 --> 00:52:24.160 saying, look, I understand why you're asking that question. 00:52:24.160 --> 00:52:27.600 Let me refocus you over here, because there's actually another set of 00:52:27.600 --> 00:52:30.880 related questions that are much more important than the one that you're 00:52:30.880 --> 00:52:32.080 worried about. 00:52:32.080 --> 00:52:36.000 Now, the problem that these old guys have in the church is 00:52:36.000 --> 00:52:38.400 that a lot of the questions that the young guys are asking 00:52:38.400 --> 00:52:39.760 aren't misplaced. 00:52:39.760 --> 00:52:41.920 They're not completely wrong. 00:52:41.920 --> 00:52:45.280 Even if bits and pieces of them should be phrased differently or 00:52:45.360 --> 00:52:50.320 whatever. But the fundamental questions of how do I live a godly 00:52:50.320 --> 00:52:53.440 life, including how do I get a wife, how do I have 00:52:53.440 --> 00:52:57.760 a home, all these things that every civilization needs generationally. 00:52:57.760 --> 00:53:00.960 Young men are asking those questions and these old guys are saying, 00:53:00.960 --> 00:53:02.240 well that's not the gospel. 00:53:02.240 --> 00:53:02.880 Shut up. 00:53:02.880 --> 00:53:05.040 Why are you worried about this worldly stuff? 00:53:05.040 --> 00:53:06.880 You should be worried about heavenly things. 00:53:06.880 --> 00:53:11.040 When you're talking to a twenty-year-old guy who's trying to be abstinent, 00:53:11.040 --> 00:53:14.720 who's trying to be faithful to God, who's trying to do all 00:53:14.720 --> 00:53:17.440 the things that he should do, and these old guys are like, 00:53:17.440 --> 00:53:19.440 Oh, just worry about Jesus, don't worry about the rest. 00:53:19.440 --> 00:53:20.560 That's Satanic. 00:53:20.800 --> 00:53:22.640 That's not what God says. 00:53:22.640 --> 00:53:26.080 God says that these are things that are blessings from God. 00:53:26.080 --> 00:53:30.160 And just looking at history, we would not be here if every 00:53:30.160 --> 00:53:33.200 one of our parents in the past had not given birth to 00:53:33.200 --> 00:53:35.840 us, generation after generation. 00:53:35.840 --> 00:53:40.240 So for the current generation to be told, don't worry about reproducing 00:53:40.400 --> 00:53:42.080 is it's satanic. 00:53:42.080 --> 00:53:44.320 I was going to call it deranged, but it's not. 00:53:44.320 --> 00:53:45.440 It's not woke. 00:53:45.440 --> 00:53:46.080 It's not crazy. 00:53:46.080 --> 00:53:48.800 It's not lib-tarded, it's actively evil. 00:53:48.800 --> 00:53:52.720 Because if you have one generation that doesn't occur, that's the end 00:53:52.720 --> 00:53:54.080 of humanity. 00:53:54.080 --> 00:53:56.160 This is propagation. 00:53:56.160 --> 00:53:59.680 Every species propagates from one generation to the next. 00:53:59.680 --> 00:54:04.960 And young men who are concerned about that are not despising God. 00:54:04.960 --> 00:54:07.600 And so these old guys like, well, that's not the gospel. 00:54:07.600 --> 00:54:10.240 They're actively attacking God's things. 00:54:10.240 --> 00:54:12.080 And that's when this stuff comes up. 00:54:12.080 --> 00:54:16.000 That's when the question of authority and power and questions 00:54:17.440 --> 00:54:19.360 has to be confronted. 00:54:19.360 --> 00:54:22.000 And for young guys who are listening and for young guys who 00:54:22.000 --> 00:54:25.920 are are lost and confused, the best The best thing that we 00:54:25.920 --> 00:54:30.240 can try to encourage is that there are faithful teachers and in 00:54:30.240 --> 00:54:33.920 some cases we're gonna have to raise some of them up ourselves. 00:54:33.920 --> 00:54:37.840 But the fact that some guy who used to be the guy 00:54:38.000 --> 00:54:42.480 that's now getting stuff wrong shouldn't be a cause for you to 00:54:42.480 --> 00:54:43.920 be demoralized. 00:54:43.920 --> 00:54:46.480 If you go to a man in the church and he doesn't 00:54:46.400 --> 00:54:50.800 have the answers you're looking for, as I said, there may be 00:54:50.800 --> 00:54:52.720 cases where there are the wrong questions, but these are not the 00:54:53.120 --> 00:54:54.240 wrong questions. 00:54:54.240 --> 00:54:56.240 These are vital questions. 00:54:56.240 --> 00:54:58.400 And it's not that any guy is saying, well, if I don't 00:54:58.320 --> 00:54:59.840 have a wife, I can't be saved. 00:54:59.840 --> 00:55:01.360 Nobody thinks that way. 00:55:01.360 --> 00:55:03.440 But if you don't have a wife, you're alone. 00:55:03.440 --> 00:55:07.120 That's a hardship for many men, for almost every man. 00:55:07.120 --> 00:55:09.600 It's not the way we were made to be. 00:55:09.600 --> 00:55:12.240 And so for a young man to be concerned about that is 00:55:12.240 --> 00:55:15.840 godly. Even if he doesn't know God, he's still oriented towards the 00:55:15.840 --> 00:55:18.080 way God has created us. 00:55:18.080 --> 00:55:23.600 And a faithful teacher recognizes that and doesn't try to crush it. 00:55:23.600 --> 00:55:28.240 We see many men who are pretenders in the church who call 00:55:28.240 --> 00:55:29.840 themselves pastors. 00:55:29.840 --> 00:55:34.160 The reason I started calling these guys clerics is that it doesn't 00:55:34.080 --> 00:55:35.280 beg the question. 00:55:35.280 --> 00:55:38.640 If you call somebody a pastor, there's an inherent assumption that, well, 00:55:38.640 --> 00:55:39.920 that guy has the authority. 00:55:39.920 --> 00:55:43.120 He's acting in the stead and by the command of Jesus Christ. 00:55:43.120 --> 00:55:44.240 Should be the case. 00:55:44.240 --> 00:55:48.480 Just like power and authority should be lockstep together. 00:55:48.480 --> 00:55:52.720 The man who is the cleric should always be the pastor, but 00:55:52.720 --> 00:55:54.080 it's not the case anymore. 00:55:54.080 --> 00:55:57.360 There are many men who are in pulpits who are not Christian 00:55:57.360 --> 00:56:00.800 at all, who are actively wicked, and there are many more who 00:56:00.800 --> 00:56:04.560 may be Christian, but they're so foolish that if they had any 00:56:04.560 --> 00:56:07.280 idea the harm they were doing to souls by being there, they 00:56:07.280 --> 00:56:08.240 would step down immediately. 00:56:08.240 --> 00:56:10.080 They would say, I am not a pastor. 00:56:10.080 --> 00:56:12.160 I am not fit for this office. 00:56:12.160 --> 00:56:12.960 Because you know what? 00:56:12.960 --> 00:56:15.680 The fitness for the office is defined in scripture. 00:56:15.680 --> 00:56:19.600 There are multiple epistles talking about what pastors can and must do. 00:56:19.600 --> 00:56:21.280 That's the definition of a pastor. 00:56:21.280 --> 00:56:25.280 The man who doesn't meet that definition isn't a pastor, even if 00:56:25.280 --> 00:56:28.480 he's in the pulpit, even if he wears the outfit, even if 00:56:28.480 --> 00:56:33.120 he uses the title, so I call them clerics now to distinguish 00:56:33.200 --> 00:56:34.880 because it's just a neutral term. 00:56:34.880 --> 00:56:37.680 It's kind of an archaic term, but it's accurate. 00:56:37.680 --> 00:56:40.720 It just doesn't beg the question of this guy is legitimate. 00:56:40.720 --> 00:56:46.240 Because when you have guys like Hans Feeney actively attacking young guys, 00:56:46.240 --> 00:56:50.080 mocking them for wanting a wife and not understanding how to get 00:56:50.080 --> 00:56:51.520 from here to there. 00:56:51.520 --> 00:56:52.640 It's wicked. 00:56:52.640 --> 00:56:54.400 It drives men from the church. 00:56:54.400 --> 00:56:56.240 And so one of the things that Cory and I try to 00:56:56.240 --> 00:56:59.440 do is to encourage young guys especially, 'Cause much of this is 00:56:59.440 --> 00:57:01.360 about the next generation. 00:57:01.520 --> 00:57:04.560 We're gonna fade away at some point, and you guys are gonna 00:57:04.560 --> 00:57:08.240 be stuck with whatever mess there is, and you're gonna have to 00:57:08.240 --> 00:57:11.840 work through these things in some cases without any support. 00:57:11.840 --> 00:57:16.000 So a lot of these discussions are around how do I navigate 00:57:16.000 --> 00:57:20.400 this? And as we talked about in the Generations episode, particularly when 00:57:20.400 --> 00:57:26.880 we were discussing boomers, the boomers have abdicated their authority as the 00:57:26.880 --> 00:57:30.960 senior generation, as those who should have the wisdom and the leadership. 00:57:30.960 --> 00:57:34.640 They've fundamentally as a group said, we got ours, you know, no 00:57:34.640 --> 00:57:36.560 inheritance for you, no whatever. 00:57:36.560 --> 00:57:37.600 You're on your own. 00:57:37.600 --> 00:57:40.880 You know, obey Jesus and have fun. 00:57:40.880 --> 00:57:43.120 That's not helping anybody. 00:57:43.120 --> 00:57:43.680 And so 00:57:45.680 --> 00:57:49.040 when we look to people in those positions and realize that they're 00:57:49.040 --> 00:57:54.240 not acting in accordance with what the office holds, we have to 00:57:54.240 --> 00:57:56.560 conclude that they're not acting with authority. 00:57:56.560 --> 00:58:00.160 And therefore, someone else has to act with that authority. 00:58:00.160 --> 00:58:03.520 And in some cases, whether politically or in the church, those people 00:58:03.520 --> 00:58:06.240 have to be raised up by a Christians themselves. 00:58:06.240 --> 00:58:09.600 And so the only way to get from here to there is 00:58:09.600 --> 00:58:12.800 by realizing that you can have usurpers in the house. 00:58:12.800 --> 00:58:15.680 And the usurper may be somebody who was legitimate ten years ago 00:58:15.760 --> 00:58:18.240 or five years ago or six months ago. 00:58:18.240 --> 00:58:21.040 Maybe they did really good work and then one day they just 00:58:21.040 --> 00:58:23.360 flip and they start doing damage. 00:58:23.360 --> 00:58:26.320 And as Corey said, if someone is a theologian, if someone is 00:58:26.320 --> 00:58:30.160 speaking for God, they can only ever say what God says or 00:58:30.160 --> 00:58:32.720 their Or they're illegitimate. 00:58:32.720 --> 00:58:39.600 Later on, of course, we see another example of this wrongful exercise 00:58:39.600 --> 00:58:43.120 of authority, which is to say an exercise of authority that does 00:58:43.120 --> 00:58:48.560 not exist, with the same two individuals that Wo just mentioned, Saul 00:58:48.560 --> 00:58:49.600 and Samuel. 00:58:49.600 --> 00:58:52.720 Of course in this case we see Saul wrongly pretending to the 00:58:52.720 --> 00:58:58.480 authority of Samuel, because Saul goes and sacrifices, he waited for a 00:58:58.480 --> 00:59:03.120 period of time for Samuel to appear, Samuel did not, and so 00:59:03.120 --> 00:59:05.280 he worried the people would desert him. 00:59:05.280 --> 00:59:08.240 These are the excuses, of course, that Saul gives, and so he 00:59:08.240 --> 00:59:12.160 forced himself, as he said, and made the sacrifice. 00:59:12.160 --> 00:59:14.560 This was not for him to do. 00:59:14.560 --> 00:59:19.440 The sacrifices were for the prophet, for the priest, they were restricted 00:59:19.440 --> 00:59:20.560 to them. 00:59:20.560 --> 00:59:24.480 And so Saul, being the king, of course, has the power to 00:59:24.480 --> 00:59:24.960 do this. 00:59:24.960 --> 00:59:27.520 The people are not going to stop him. 00:59:27.520 --> 00:59:32.480 And he also has the appearance of authority as the king. 00:59:32.480 --> 00:59:34.720 But he did not have the authority. 00:59:34.880 --> 00:59:41.680 And so this wrongful exercise of authority, this pretending to an authority 00:59:41.680 --> 00:59:47.840 that was not his, would ultimately result in him losing the kingship. 00:59:47.840 --> 00:59:51.040 He loses the monarchy of Israel. 00:59:51.040 --> 00:59:58.480 His line is destroyed because he exercises authority wrongfully. 00:59:58.480 --> 01:00:04.480 This, of course, involves both kingdoms because in ancient Israel you kind 01:00:04.480 --> 01:00:07.200 of have an overlap between the two in the way that we 01:00:07.200 --> 01:00:10.160 do not have today and in a way that would not be 01:00:10.160 --> 01:00:14.000 desirable. This is one of the problems that Protestants have with Rome 01:00:14.080 --> 01:00:18.880 in fact because Rome blends the two kingdoms together in a way 01:00:18.880 --> 01:00:20.560 that is destructive. 01:00:20.560 --> 01:00:25.520 The church should not be seeking to usurp the authority of the 01:00:25.520 --> 01:00:29.040 prince, of the magistrate, of the king, and the king also should 01:00:29.040 --> 01:00:33.360 not be seeking to usurp the authority of the church. 01:00:33.360 --> 01:00:39.040 However, it is worth mentioning that the king does have some authority 01:00:39.040 --> 01:00:44.000 over the church, and at least any of the confessional Protestants are 01:00:44.000 --> 01:00:46.320 going to agree with this, because 01:00:47.760 --> 01:00:53.280 the magistrate, the godly prince, is responsible to God to see that 01:00:53.280 --> 01:00:57.280 within his lands the faith is taught rightly. 01:00:57.280 --> 01:01:00.000 He will answer to God for that, because he has been given 01:01:00.000 --> 01:01:04.400 a position of authority, a position of headship, over these people. 01:01:04.400 --> 01:01:07.920 He is, in a sense of the term, a pastor for his 01:01:07.920 --> 01:01:11.040 people, because pastor, of course, just means shepherd. 01:01:11.040 --> 01:01:13.520 That's all the word means. 01:01:13.520 --> 01:01:16.320 So he will answer to God for what he does or does 01:01:16.320 --> 01:01:16.880 not do. 01:01:16.880 --> 01:01:19.920 He will answer to God for whether or not Or not he 01:01:19.920 --> 01:01:24.240 has right teaching or permits false teaching in his lands, and so 01:01:24.240 --> 01:01:28.480 there is a certain degree of authority that the godly prince may 01:01:28.480 --> 01:01:30.960 exercise over the church. 01:01:30.960 --> 01:01:33.280 The church does not exercise any authority 01:01:34.160 --> 01:01:36.000 over the godly prince. 01:01:36.000 --> 01:01:39.200 The Church does not have authority over the state. 01:01:39.200 --> 01:01:44.080 Now, pastors and theologians can of course offer advice, they can serve 01:01:44.080 --> 01:01:48.560 as advisors to to the state, but they do not wield authority 01:01:48.560 --> 01:01:49.760 over the state. 01:01:49.760 --> 01:01:53.680 These are separate spheres, not in the sense of a wall of 01:01:53.680 --> 01:01:59.440 separation that is so commonly abused in the American, particularly the American 01:01:59.440 --> 01:02:03.680 context, but in the sense that these are the left and the 01:02:03.680 --> 01:02:07.680 right hands of Christ, and they have separate tasks, they have separate 01:02:07.680 --> 01:02:13.040 duties. There is not a total control of the one by the 01:02:13.040 --> 01:02:16.720 other. And so I'm not saying the state has total control over 01:02:16.720 --> 01:02:17.680 the church. 01:02:17.680 --> 01:02:22.160 I am saying because of the office given to the prince by 01:02:22.160 --> 01:02:26.720 God, because of the authority that has been vested in that man, 01:02:26.720 --> 01:02:30.560 he has certain duties with regard to those who have been entrusted 01:02:30.560 --> 01:02:31.840 to his care. 01:02:31.840 --> 01:02:35.680 And one of those is ensuring they are taught the faith rightly. 01:02:35.680 --> 01:02:39.920 We used to think about this in a more useful fashion in 01:02:39.920 --> 01:02:41.600 centuries past. 01:02:41.600 --> 01:02:45.600 One of the titles for a godly prince was the father of 01:02:45.600 --> 01:02:46.960 the nation. 01:02:46.960 --> 01:02:51.520 The reason for that is because he holds the position with regard 01:02:51.520 --> 01:02:55.680 to the nation that a father holds with regard to his household. 01:02:55.680 --> 01:02:58.800 And many of the same duties attend that, just on a much 01:02:58.800 --> 01:03:03.600 grander scale, at least if you're king of, say, a large nation. 01:03:03.600 --> 01:03:07.600 And so it is incumbent on the father, on the father of 01:03:07.600 --> 01:03:12.160 the house, to see that those under him, his wife, his children, 01:03:12.160 --> 01:03:15.520 his servants, are rightly instructed in the faith. 01:03:15.680 --> 01:03:19.840 Likewise it is incumbent on the Father of the nation to see 01:03:19.840 --> 01:03:23.040 that all of the people under him, which is the entirety of 01:03:23.040 --> 01:03:26.880 the nation, to see they are instructed rightly in the faith. 01:03:26.880 --> 01:03:31.600 And so there is again some authority that the godly prince has 01:03:31.680 --> 01:03:34.480 that he wields over the church. 01:03:34.480 --> 01:03:38.800 It does not go the other way, because the pastor has no 01:03:38.800 --> 01:03:42.160 duty with regard to the nation writ large. 01:03:42.160 --> 01:03:47.520 The pastor has been given authority, has been given a position with 01:03:47.520 --> 01:03:52.160 regard to his congregation, with regard to his parish and his parishioners. 01:03:52.160 --> 01:03:56.720 So he doesn't have that grander duty to the whole nation. 01:03:56.720 --> 01:03:58.000 The prince does. 01:03:58.000 --> 01:04:00.080 The same thing is true of the theologian. 01:04:00.080 --> 01:04:03.600 The theologian has been given certain duties because God has given him 01:04:03.600 --> 01:04:08.480 certain abilities, and he is to exercise those to execute those faithfully, 01:04:08.480 --> 01:04:11.760 but they are not the same as what the godly prince has 01:04:11.760 --> 01:04:14.160 with regard to the entire nation. 01:04:14.320 --> 01:04:18.320 That is why you see that interaction where the left hand kingdom 01:04:18.320 --> 01:04:22.000 has some authority over the right, The right does not have authority 01:04:22.000 --> 01:04:23.920 over the left hand kingdom. 01:04:23.920 --> 01:04:27.440 Except, of course, at the highest level, but then it's not authority 01:04:27.440 --> 01:04:30.880 of one kingdom over the other, because again, these are both the 01:04:30.880 --> 01:04:32.000 hands of Christ. 01:04:32.000 --> 01:04:34.240 It is the kingdom of the right hand of Christ and the 01:04:34.240 --> 01:04:38.160 kingdom of the left hand of Christ. 01:04:38.160 --> 01:04:44.480 Here we see in the instance of Saul and Samuel, Saul wrongly 01:04:44.480 --> 01:04:49.200 exercising that authority, because he exceeds what he is permitted to do. 01:04:49.200 --> 01:04:54.160 He's not seeing that the faith is taught rightly in his lands. 01:04:54.160 --> 01:04:59.280 He is usurping for himself the authority that God has given to 01:04:59.280 --> 01:05:03.280 Samuel, that God has given to prophets and priests, he is taking 01:05:03.280 --> 01:05:06.720 that unto himself and exercising it wrongfully. 01:05:06.720 --> 01:05:09.680 It is possible for a king to do that. 01:05:09.680 --> 01:05:13.760 If a king declared himself the heaven the head of the church, 01:05:13.760 --> 01:05:18.160 and said that he alone had the absolute right to declare doctrine, 01:05:18.160 --> 01:05:20.800 to say this is right and that is wrong, we believe this, 01:05:20.800 --> 01:05:24.880 we don't believe that, to start creating new confessions or removing things 01:05:24.880 --> 01:05:26.240 from the confessions. 01:05:26.240 --> 01:05:29.840 And if he does this contrary to the word of God, he 01:05:29.840 --> 01:05:34.480 has usurped authority that is not his with regard to the right 01:05:34.640 --> 01:05:35.680 hand kingdom. 01:05:35.680 --> 01:05:38.800 It is possible for a prince to do that. 01:05:38.800 --> 01:05:42.640 That doesn't happen very often these days, but it has happened in 01:05:42.640 --> 01:05:44.480 the past. 01:05:44.480 --> 01:05:48.320 Generally speaking, and we're not intending to beat up on Rome, but 01:05:48.320 --> 01:05:51.840 it just happens to be the example that is most applicable here 01:05:52.000 --> 01:05:56.400 and still modernly, of course, because Rome still exists. 01:05:56.400 --> 01:06:02.800 We usually see the opposite happen with regard to large church organizations. 01:06:02.800 --> 01:06:06.080 So for instance, Rome, the Pope will say that he has or 01:06:06.480 --> 01:06:10.320 more often in the past, he doesn't have as much power today, 01:06:10.320 --> 01:06:13.840 but in the past he has claimed that he has authority over 01:06:14.160 --> 01:06:19.040 princes, that he can install or remove kings. 01:06:19.040 --> 01:06:21.040 That is a usurpation. 01:06:21.040 --> 01:06:25.280 The right hand kingdom is not permitted to seize that authority from 01:06:25.280 --> 01:06:27.920 the left hand kingdom and exercise it. 01:06:27.920 --> 01:06:30.640 That's one of the objections we have to what has been done 01:06:30.640 --> 01:06:32.480 in Rome. 01:06:32.480 --> 01:06:35.840 So with regard to the Right Hand Kingdom and the Left Hand 01:06:35.840 --> 01:06:40.800 Kingdom, this is not again, there is no wall of separation between 01:06:40.800 --> 01:06:44.960 the two, but they are distinct And they are separate to a 01:06:44.960 --> 01:06:46.320 certain degree. 01:06:46.320 --> 01:06:50.560 Not in that they aren't related, because of course they are related. 01:06:50.560 --> 01:06:56.880 In an ideal situation, every single man, woman and child, would be 01:06:56.960 --> 01:07:00.640 Would be in church on Sunday, would be Christian, we would have 01:07:00.640 --> 01:07:04.960 a Christian nation, and the king himself would be a Christian. 01:07:04.960 --> 01:07:08.240 You wouldn't have any conflict there, you'd obviously have great deal of 01:07:08.240 --> 01:07:12.960 overlap, because every single minister would be a Christian, and so on 01:07:12.960 --> 01:07:16.080 Sundays and the rest of the week, of course, he would be 01:07:16.080 --> 01:07:18.000 involved in the right hand kingdom. 01:07:18.000 --> 01:07:21.360 But he would be ruling, he would have authority in the left 01:07:21.520 --> 01:07:22.880 hand kingdom. 01:07:22.880 --> 01:07:25.280 That's the ideal situation. 01:07:25.280 --> 01:07:26.960 We of course don't have that today. 01:07:26.960 --> 01:07:29.600 That's why we are dealing with this issue. 01:07:29.600 --> 01:07:32.240 It's why wisdom comes up. 01:07:32.240 --> 01:07:36.800 Because how far can a king go in his wickedness before something 01:07:36.800 --> 01:07:39.200 must be done about it by Christian men. 01:07:39.200 --> 01:07:41.680 There is a line, in fact there are a number of different 01:07:41.680 --> 01:07:45.520 lines justifying different courses of action. 01:07:45.520 --> 01:07:47.920 We're not going to get into that today because not the point 01:07:47.920 --> 01:07:49.680 of this episode. 01:07:49.680 --> 01:07:52.400 But the point that I am making is that there are wisdom 01:07:52.400 --> 01:07:57.520 calls in this, and that each kingdom has been granted a certain 01:07:57.520 --> 01:08:01.200 kind of authority that has a certain scope. 01:08:01.200 --> 01:08:05.600 The men in whom that authority has been vested can exceed that 01:08:05.600 --> 01:08:10.960 scope. And when they do, just because they hold an office, just 01:08:10.960 --> 01:08:14.640 because they hold forth as if they had that authority, does not 01:08:14.640 --> 01:08:17.200 mean they necessarily do. 01:08:17.200 --> 01:08:22.560 The men who saw Saul take up and start sacrificing should have 01:08:22.560 --> 01:08:25.840 stopped him, because what he was doing was wicked. 01:08:25.840 --> 01:08:29.920 What he was doing was contrary to God's word, contrary to God's 01:08:29.920 --> 01:08:35.040 commands. He had exceeded his authority because he as king did not 01:08:35.040 --> 01:08:38.640 have that authority with regard to the right hand kingdom to offer 01:08:38.640 --> 01:08:43.360 sacrifice because God had not given it to him. 01:08:43.360 --> 01:08:46.880 Usurping authority is always wrongful. 01:08:46.880 --> 01:08:51.280 That is what we see in so many cases in these matters 01:08:51.280 --> 01:08:55.200 and related we see women usurping the authority of men in many 01:08:55.200 --> 01:08:59.360 places. Woe mentioned that with regard to women pretending to be teachers 01:08:59.360 --> 01:09:00.160 in the church. 01:09:00.160 --> 01:09:02.960 That is a usurpation, that is wrongful. 01:09:02.960 --> 01:09:07.360 We see that with regard to women involving themselves in politics. 01:09:07.360 --> 01:09:10.720 That's something in which only a handful of men should ever be 01:09:10.720 --> 01:09:13.520 involved, not even all men, but certainly no women. 01:09:13.520 --> 01:09:15.440 That's a usurpation. 01:09:15.440 --> 01:09:20.560 We see that with regard to certain pastors, certain clerics, saying that 01:09:20.800 --> 01:09:25.040 well, the state must, or you must, with regard to politics you 01:09:25.040 --> 01:09:28.640 have to, or trying to limit the things that are permissible for 01:09:28.640 --> 01:09:32.320 the godly prince or for men involved in politics, and saying, well, 01:09:32.240 --> 01:09:33.680 that's not a gospel issue. 01:09:33.680 --> 01:09:36.480 They are usurping an office that is not theirs. 01:09:36.480 --> 01:09:38.720 They are usurping authority that is not theirs. 01:09:38.720 --> 01:09:40.240 They should not be listened to. 01:09:40.240 --> 01:09:42.080 What they are doing is wicked and sinful. 01:09:42.080 --> 01:09:44.640 They should be ignored at the very least. 01:09:44.960 --> 01:09:49.280 We see this everywhere in our society, because we have essentially abandoned 01:09:49.280 --> 01:09:52.320 right hierarchy, which is what so much of this rests on and 01:09:52.320 --> 01:09:54.000 why it is so important. 01:09:54.000 --> 01:09:57.120 There has to be a hierarchy, that is the way God has 01:09:57.120 --> 01:09:58.560 designed things. 01:09:58.560 --> 01:10:02.400 When you do not have that hierarchy, all you have is usurpation 01:10:02.640 --> 01:10:06.480 everywhere in your nation and you wind up with chaos, every man 01:10:06.480 --> 01:10:11.120 doing what is right in his own eyes, as Scripture puts it. 01:10:11.120 --> 01:10:14.400 And that is what we want to avoid. 01:10:14.400 --> 01:10:19.680 However, there is the problem on the other side, because this is 01:10:19.920 --> 01:10:22.800 another one of those instances where you can fall off either side 01:10:22.800 --> 01:10:26.400 of the horse You can fall off the left hand side by 01:10:26.400 --> 01:10:30.000 saying, no gods, no masters, or you can fall off the right 01:10:30.160 --> 01:10:33.280 hand side by saying, Well, the man above me and the hierarchy 01:10:33.280 --> 01:10:35.600 said it, so it must be right. 01:10:35.920 --> 01:10:39.440 You have to exercise wisdom in these matters. 01:10:39.440 --> 01:10:43.840 Just because it is an order from your superior, does not mean 01:10:43.840 --> 01:10:45.360 it is rightful. 01:10:45.360 --> 01:10:47.920 He may have exceeded his authority. 01:10:47.920 --> 01:10:51.920 This isn't to say that you have to be neurotic and analyze 01:10:51.920 --> 01:10:56.720 everything down to the fundaments at all times. 01:10:56.720 --> 01:10:58.800 But it does mean you have to keep your head on your 01:10:58.800 --> 01:11:03.680 shoulders. And as a Christian, you have to watch and be careful 01:11:03.680 --> 01:11:06.400 with regard particularly to teachers. 01:11:06.400 --> 01:11:10.000 Because a teacher who has been faithful in the past can very 01:11:10.000 --> 01:11:11.520 well go off the rails. 01:11:11.520 --> 01:11:13.520 He can start to lie in God's name. 01:11:13.520 --> 01:11:14.640 He can deceive you. 01:11:14.640 --> 01:11:16.080 That is a possibility. 01:11:16.400 --> 01:11:20.000 We have seen it in the past, we see it happening today. 01:11:20.000 --> 01:11:24.000 As a Christian man it is incumbent on you to watch for 01:11:24.000 --> 01:11:27.600 that, because you have others who are entrusted to your care. 01:11:27.600 --> 01:11:30.240 If you're a father, you have children, if you're a husband, you 01:11:30.240 --> 01:11:31.440 have a wife. 01:11:31.440 --> 01:11:35.360 If you have neither of those, you probably still have family members, 01:11:35.360 --> 01:11:39.520 for whom you are to some degree responsible, particularly if you're the 01:11:39.520 --> 01:11:42.320 sort of man who listens to theology podcasts. 01:11:42.960 --> 01:11:46.560 So it is incumbent on you to make sure the teachers to 01:11:46.560 --> 01:11:52.000 whom you are listening are exercising rightful authority, which is to say 01:11:52.000 --> 01:11:55.680 that they are speaking the words of God after him, not spinning 01:11:55.680 --> 01:11:58.880 new thoughts out of their own minds that are contrary to what 01:11:58.880 --> 01:12:01.840 God has said. 01:12:02.240 --> 01:12:02.400 So 01:12:02.560 --> 01:12:07.520 having raised the issue of power and authority, we have begged the 01:12:07.520 --> 01:12:10.880 question that you have the authority to do what we're saying to 01:12:10.880 --> 01:12:15.520 do. So I'll give you a couple examples from the world. 01:12:15.520 --> 01:12:18.480 Everyone listening has been on an elevator. 01:12:18.480 --> 01:12:22.720 On that elevator there was an emergency stop button, bright red button, 01:12:22.720 --> 01:12:24.800 it's legally required to be there. 01:12:24.800 --> 01:12:28.240 Anyone can press it at any time to stop the elevator in 01:12:28.240 --> 01:12:30.080 its tracks. 01:12:30.080 --> 01:12:32.800 You probably never pressed it, 'cause there's probably never been an emergency 01:12:32.800 --> 01:12:34.640 where you would need to. 01:12:34.640 --> 01:12:38.000 But you have the authority to press that button in the event 01:12:38.000 --> 01:12:39.440 of an emergency. 01:12:39.440 --> 01:12:42.320 You don't have the authority, incidentally, to press it just because you 01:12:42.320 --> 01:12:43.120 feel like it. 01:12:43.120 --> 01:12:44.160 You're going to break things. 01:12:44.160 --> 01:12:45.920 You're going to get in trouble if you do that. 01:12:45.920 --> 01:12:49.760 But if there's an emergency, that is there because you may be 01:12:49.760 --> 01:12:53.200 the only one who knows that an emergency is occurring. 01:12:53.200 --> 01:12:58.800 Whoever owns the building, whoever's on station, you know, maintaining things isn't 01:12:58.800 --> 01:13:02.560 gonna know inside the elevator where you know about an emergency emerging, 01:13:02.560 --> 01:13:04.000 whatever it is. 01:13:04.000 --> 01:13:06.720 So the button is there because you have the authority to hit 01:13:06.720 --> 01:13:10.080 it. Same is true if you've ever been on a subway. 01:13:10.080 --> 01:13:12.640 Those cars all have an emergency stop 01:13:13.760 --> 01:13:14.960 a chain. 01:13:14.960 --> 01:13:18.160 And there are signs on it says don't pull this, but there 01:13:18.160 --> 01:13:22.560 are situations where if if someone's life is immediately in danger, if 01:13:22.560 --> 01:13:26.400 that train keeps moving, where it is incumbent upon a rider to 01:13:26.400 --> 01:13:30.400 pull that and to it immediately yanks the emergency brakes. 01:13:30.400 --> 01:13:32.560 It doesn't light up anything for the conductor. 01:13:32.560 --> 01:13:37.360 It's hooked directly to these massive compressor brakes that stop the thing 01:13:37.360 --> 01:13:38.800 in its tracks. 01:13:38.800 --> 01:13:42.640 And And everyone on the subway has the authority in the event 01:13:42.640 --> 01:13:47.120 of those circumstances to pull that chain, to pull that rope. 01:13:48.560 --> 01:13:51.120 That's what we're talking about here. 01:13:51.120 --> 01:13:55.040 You may not be equipped to do anything other than pull the 01:13:55.040 --> 01:13:57.360 alarm. You know, fire alarm's the same thing. 01:13:57.360 --> 01:14:00.800 Every building of a certain size is gonna have fire alarm enunciators. 01:14:00.880 --> 01:14:02.160 Gonna have that handle. 01:14:02.160 --> 01:14:03.680 You pull it if there's a fire. 01:14:03.680 --> 01:14:04.960 And it's illegal to pull it. 01:14:04.960 --> 01:14:07.120 If there's not a fire, you'll get in trouble. 01:14:07.120 --> 01:14:09.760 So see that's the authority distinction here. 01:14:09.760 --> 01:14:14.080 If there's actually a problem and you identify it, you have an 01:14:14.080 --> 01:14:18.560 obligation morally to do that because the alternative of not doing something 01:14:18.560 --> 01:14:20.320 is a worse outcome for somebody. 01:14:20.320 --> 01:14:22.480 Maybe you, maybe somebody else. 01:14:22.480 --> 01:14:27.520 So the fact in the civil society, every man has the authority 01:14:27.520 --> 01:14:32.080 to pull these levers or these alarms to stop everything and to 01:14:32.080 --> 01:14:37.520 create an awareness of an emergency that already exists is a demonstration 01:14:37.520 --> 01:14:40.320 that we are all expected to some point to just have these 01:14:40.320 --> 01:14:41.840 basic abilities. 01:14:41.840 --> 01:14:43.520 And maybe that's the end of it. 01:14:43.520 --> 01:14:46.320 Maybe all you can do is press the emergency stop and wait 01:14:46.320 --> 01:14:47.040 for help. 01:14:47.040 --> 01:14:48.240 That's fine. 01:14:48.240 --> 01:14:51.760 If that is the extent of your power, your authority has been 01:14:51.760 --> 01:14:55.680 appropriately fulfilled when you press the button, when you pull the lever, 01:14:55.680 --> 01:14:57.760 when you pull the rope. 01:14:57.760 --> 01:15:00.480 But you have an obligation as a man to do it when 01:15:00.480 --> 01:15:01.920 you see an emergency. 01:15:01.920 --> 01:15:03.760 That's what we're talking about here. 01:15:03.760 --> 01:15:08.720 There will be emergencies in government, there'll be emergencies in organizations where 01:15:08.720 --> 01:15:11.600 you work There will be emergencies in churches. 01:15:11.600 --> 01:15:12.720 They should be rare. 01:15:12.720 --> 01:15:15.760 Like an emergency shouldn't be a normal situation. 01:15:15.760 --> 01:15:19.360 And part of the reason for doing this episode fundamentally is that 01:15:19.600 --> 01:15:23.040 these emergencies are now becoming widespread. 01:15:23.040 --> 01:15:27.680 And so we have to get men to understand you're gonna face 01:15:27.680 --> 01:15:30.800 a circumstance where the thing that was true a year ago isn't 01:15:30.800 --> 01:15:31.520 true now. 01:15:31.520 --> 01:15:35.200 And so your behavior that was appropriate a year ago, may not 01:15:35.200 --> 01:15:36.560 be appropriate anymore. 01:15:36.560 --> 01:15:38.640 Maybe you have to take emergency measures. 01:15:38.640 --> 01:15:41.200 And maybe it's as simple as talking to another guy and saying, 01:15:41.200 --> 01:15:45.360 Hey, yeah, our pastor said something last week, and right afterwards we 01:15:45.360 --> 01:15:49.360 spoke the Nicene Creed or the Apostles Creed in his sermon, I 01:15:49.360 --> 01:15:50.880 think contradicted that. 01:15:50.880 --> 01:15:52.240 There might be a problem here. 01:15:52.240 --> 01:15:54.400 I'm not sure I'm not the expert. 01:15:54.400 --> 01:15:55.840 Can we talk about this? 01:15:55.840 --> 01:15:57.840 Can we understand what's going on here? 01:15:57.840 --> 01:15:59.040 Maybe that's all you're doing. 01:15:59.040 --> 01:16:01.280 Maybe that's all you have the ability to do, but you have 01:16:01.280 --> 01:16:02.640 the authority to do that. 01:16:02.640 --> 01:16:03.600 I heard something. 01:16:03.600 --> 01:16:05.360 I believe it's not correct. 01:16:05.360 --> 01:16:08.240 I believe that there was usurpation by whatever degree. 01:16:08.240 --> 01:16:09.840 Something needs to be done. 01:16:09.840 --> 01:16:13.280 Now, obviously that's not going directly to we have to throw this 01:16:13.280 --> 01:16:14.720 guy out, he's a wolf. 01:16:14.720 --> 01:16:15.920 That shouldn't be desirable. 01:16:15.920 --> 01:16:17.520 You shouldn't assume that. 01:16:17.520 --> 01:16:21.920 But if you hear your pastor contradict the creeds, if he denies 01:16:21.920 --> 01:16:25.280 the resurrection of the dead, if he denies his creator, that is 01:16:25.280 --> 01:16:26.640 an emergency. 01:16:26.640 --> 01:16:29.760 That is a spiritual emergency for everyone listening. 01:16:29.760 --> 01:16:31.760 Because you may be the only one in the room that actually 01:16:31.760 --> 01:16:33.040 realizes what happened. 01:16:33.040 --> 01:16:35.040 And everyone else is just going to go along with it. 01:16:35.040 --> 01:16:36.720 Why? Because he's the guy. 01:16:36.720 --> 01:16:37.920 He's wearing the outfit. 01:16:37.920 --> 01:16:38.960 He has the title. 01:16:38.960 --> 01:16:42.080 He's been a great guy for years, everybody loves him. 01:16:42.080 --> 01:16:44.240 Who's gonna question that? 01:16:44.240 --> 01:16:49.040 The problem is that if the authority of Scripture, if the authority 01:16:49.040 --> 01:16:52.000 of the office in the left hand kingdom is not Is not 01:16:52.000 --> 01:16:54.960 consistent with the actions, the authority is gone. 01:16:54.960 --> 01:16:59.200 And then that authority to do something devolves to us at the 01:16:59.200 --> 01:17:02.880 bottom, to cry out as stones who have no other vocation except 01:17:02.880 --> 01:17:05.040 to say, hey, this isn't right. 01:17:05.040 --> 01:17:08.640 What's going on is not in accord with what we should be 01:17:08.640 --> 01:17:11.280 doing. What are we going to do about it collectively? 01:17:11.280 --> 01:17:13.920 Because this guy in the office is not doing what needs to 01:17:13.920 --> 01:17:15.360 be done. 01:17:15.760 --> 01:17:18.640 Some of you may have noticed that essentially what we have been 01:17:18.640 --> 01:17:19.920 discussing in this episode 01:17:21.040 --> 01:17:22.400 is sin. 01:17:22.400 --> 01:17:24.400 Because what is sin? 01:17:24.400 --> 01:17:28.640 Sin is the power to do something where you do not have 01:17:28.640 --> 01:17:32.480 the authority, and we're doing it is wrongful. 01:17:32.480 --> 01:17:38.640 Which essentially is what doing something with power and no authority is. 01:17:38.640 --> 01:17:41.440 Eve had the power to take the apple. 01:17:41.440 --> 01:17:43.760 She didn't have the authority. 01:17:43.760 --> 01:17:46.880 David had the power to take Bathsheba. 01:17:46.880 --> 01:17:50.480 He did not have the authority to do so. 01:17:50.480 --> 01:17:55.200 We encounter this everywhere in our lives, we encounter this constantly. 01:17:55.440 --> 01:18:01.360 The temptation to exercise authority over something or in some way, because 01:18:01.680 --> 01:18:04.640 we have the power to do it, but we don't have the 01:18:04.640 --> 01:18:08.560 rightful authority. 01:18:08.560 --> 01:18:12.480 This is part of the Christian life, resisting this. 01:18:12.480 --> 01:18:14.480 This is temptation. 01:18:14.480 --> 01:18:17.760 You are going to have the power to do many things that 01:18:17.760 --> 01:18:22.160 you should not do because you lack the authority to do them. 01:18:22.160 --> 01:18:26.160 David in Bathsheba is perhaps one of the best examples, most straightforward 01:18:26.160 --> 01:18:29.120 examples of this in scripture, so I recommend you go and read 01:18:29.120 --> 01:18:33.280 that. That's Second Samuel eleven. 01:18:33.280 --> 01:18:36.800 Just because you have the power to do does not mean you 01:18:36.800 --> 01:18:42.080 have the authority to do. 01:18:42.080 --> 01:18:44.560 This is again a matter of wisdom. 01:18:44.560 --> 01:18:49.040 You have to make the call, in many cases, whether or not 01:18:49.200 --> 01:18:53.360 this exceeds the scope of your authority, whether or not you have 01:18:53.360 --> 01:18:56.560 a duty to take a particular action, whether or not you have 01:18:56.560 --> 01:19:00.720 a duty to refrain from taking a particular action. 01:19:00.720 --> 01:19:03.520 Of course, there are going to be some situations as well where 01:19:03.520 --> 01:19:07.520 you may very well have authority and you lack the power. 01:19:07.520 --> 01:19:10.960 That's not something for which one can fault you. 01:19:10.960 --> 01:19:15.840 So if you are someone who has the necessary wisdom, the skills, 01:19:15.840 --> 01:19:18.640 the attributes to do something that needs to be done, but you 01:19:18.640 --> 01:19:21.280 have no power, no way to go about doing it. 01:19:21.280 --> 01:19:24.720 We're not saying that you're sinning because you can't, if you physically 01:19:24.720 --> 01:19:26.000 can't do the thing. 01:19:26.000 --> 01:19:28.080 That's a different matter. 01:19:28.080 --> 01:19:31.360 But But if you have the power to do something, and you 01:19:31.360 --> 01:19:34.960 have the authority, and you fail to do it, despite the fact 01:19:34.960 --> 01:19:37.840 that it is your duty, that is sin. 01:19:37.840 --> 01:19:40.720 The inverse of that, which is what we've been mostly discussing in 01:19:40.720 --> 01:19:44.160 this episode, is where you have the power but you lack the 01:19:44.160 --> 01:19:48.560 authority. That is also sin. 01:19:48.560 --> 01:19:53.680 And again at risk of ad nauseum, these are matters of wisdom. 01:19:53.680 --> 01:19:57.200 Christian men will need to know when and and where to make 01:19:57.200 --> 01:19:59.280 the call and how to do it as well. 01:19:59.280 --> 01:20:02.800 As Wo just mentioned, with regard to matters in the right hand 01:20:02.960 --> 01:20:06.000 kingdom, there's going to be a right way and a wrong way, 01:20:06.000 --> 01:20:09.360 a better way and a worse way to approach problems. 01:20:09.360 --> 01:20:12.560 With regard to the right hand kingdom they have to be approached. 01:20:12.560 --> 01:20:14.080 You don't get to ignore them. 01:20:14.080 --> 01:20:16.080 You don't get to let them slide. 01:20:16.080 --> 01:20:19.200 Because in the right hand kingdom we're dealing with matters that belong 01:20:19.200 --> 01:20:19.280 to 01:20:20.160 --> 01:20:23.760 God. Directly. 01:20:23.760 --> 01:20:26.880 With regard to the left hand kingdom, of course everything still belongs 01:20:26.880 --> 01:20:29.200 to God, but it's in an indirect fashion. 01:20:29.200 --> 01:20:29.760 It's different. 01:20:29.760 --> 01:20:33.280 We can bear with error in a way that we cannot in 01:20:33.280 --> 01:20:35.760 the right hand kingdom. 01:20:35.760 --> 01:20:40.960 We do not get to ignore sin because it's convenient, because it's 01:20:40.960 --> 01:20:43.600 easy, because it avoids conflict. 01:20:43.600 --> 01:20:46.320 Sin has to be addressed, whether it is in our lives or 01:20:46.640 --> 01:20:49.440 in the lives of our brothers, if we are in a position 01:20:49.760 --> 01:20:51.360 to correct a brother. 01:20:51.360 --> 01:20:54.240 You're supposed to do that in love, of course, but if you 01:20:54.240 --> 01:20:57.920 are in a position to correct a brother who is wrongfully exercising 01:20:57.920 --> 01:21:03.200 authority and you fail to do that, now you're sinning as well. 01:21:03.200 --> 01:21:08.160 Of course, it's not just the act that is sinful, it is 01:21:08.160 --> 01:21:13.440 important and it's worth mentioning the desire to exercise that power wrongfully 01:21:13.600 --> 01:21:14.960 is sin as well. 01:21:14.960 --> 01:21:16.240 That's concupiscence. 01:21:16.240 --> 01:21:18.240 The desire to sin is sin itself. 01:21:18.240 --> 01:21:21.440 But the act is sin, and the act is worse. 01:21:21.440 --> 01:21:24.640 Because of course, it is bad to lust after a woman. 01:21:24.720 --> 01:21:27.360 It is worse to commit adultery. 01:21:27.360 --> 01:21:30.640 I'm not ignoring and I'm not revising the words of Christ when 01:21:30.640 --> 01:21:34.240 he says you've committed adultery, because he says you've committed adultery in 01:21:34.240 --> 01:21:35.360 your heart. 01:21:35.360 --> 01:21:40.480 He's pointing out that the intent, the concupiscence, that desire to sin, 01:21:40.480 --> 01:21:42.480 is itself sinful. 01:21:42.480 --> 01:21:47.200 There's a difference between the external temptation and the internal temptation. 01:21:47.200 --> 01:21:50.800 Seeing the object with which you could commit a sin sin is 01:21:50.800 --> 01:21:55.280 external temptation, desiring it is internal temptation. 01:21:55.280 --> 01:21:59.360 It is the desiring it, it is the desiring to sin, to 01:21:59.360 --> 01:22:03.920 exercise that power in a way that is wrongful, that is itself 01:22:04.240 --> 01:22:08.480 sin. Seeing a temptation is not sinful. 01:22:08.480 --> 01:22:12.160 Being tempted externally is not sinful. 01:22:12.160 --> 01:22:17.120 Being tempted internally, desiring to sin is sin. 01:22:17.440 --> 01:22:20.160 And so, as a Christian, we have to make this call. 01:22:20.160 --> 01:22:24.000 We have to recognize there is a difference between the ability to 01:22:24.000 --> 01:22:28.080 do the thing and the authority to do the thing. 01:22:28.080 --> 01:22:32.160 This is going to be very relevant in coming years, with regard 01:22:32.160 --> 01:22:35.280 to both the right hand kingdom and the left hand kingdom. 01:22:35.280 --> 01:22:37.920 We will, of course, do an episode on the latter at some 01:22:37.920 --> 01:22:41.760 point in the hopefully not too distant future. 01:22:41.760 --> 01:22:44.320 These are very real and very live issues. 01:22:44.320 --> 01:22:47.120 Of course, with regard to sin, it will always be a live 01:22:47.120 --> 01:22:50.320 issue in this life, because we live in a fallen world and 01:22:50.320 --> 01:22:52.160 we ourselves are fallen. 01:22:52.160 --> 01:22:54.960 We will not be perfected until the next life. 01:22:54.960 --> 01:22:58.320 So sin will always be there, the temptations will always be there, 01:22:58.320 --> 01:23:00.400 including the internal ones. 01:23:00.400 --> 01:23:05.040 Yes, through the process of sanctification some of that is tamped down, 01:23:05.040 --> 01:23:09.040 it is removed over time, but that work is not completed in 01:23:09.040 --> 01:23:14.240 this life, so we have to continue to contend with this. 01:23:14.240 --> 01:23:20.160 But with regard to matters of the left-hand kingdom, we as Christian 01:23:20.160 --> 01:23:21.680 men have to look at the wickedness 01:23:22.800 --> 01:23:27.360 of our state, of our leaders, of the current state of the 01:23:27.360 --> 01:23:31.120 world, and recognize there are red lines. 01:23:31.120 --> 01:23:36.240 There are levels of wickedness, there are There are kinds and types, 01:23:36.240 --> 01:23:41.120 degrees of evil, in which the left hand kingdom and the authorities 01:23:41.120 --> 01:23:47.200 that wield power, not necessarily authority, even if we call them authorities, 01:23:47.200 --> 01:23:51.280 which is again begging the question, but who wield power, who are 01:23:51.280 --> 01:23:54.800 doing so wrongfully, and perhaps to such a degree that it is 01:23:54.800 --> 01:23:58.960 incumbent on Christian men to do something about that. 01:23:59.200 --> 01:24:01.920 Again Again, it will be a matter of wisdom. 01:24:01.920 --> 01:24:05.680 These are not necessarily easy calls and they are fraught. 01:24:05.680 --> 01:24:10.400 There are risks to inaction and there are risks to action. 01:24:10.400 --> 01:24:13.360 But just because there is a risk does not mean that we 01:24:13.360 --> 01:24:18.080 are absolved of doing something, of making a decision. 01:24:18.080 --> 01:24:21.600 That is part of what it means to be a man. 01:24:21.600 --> 01:24:24.720 Part of what it means to be a man is making the 01:24:24.720 --> 01:24:27.920 decision, when and where necessary. 01:24:27.920 --> 01:24:33.040 Not ignoring it because it's difficult, not avoiding it because it's unpleasant. 01:24:33.040 --> 01:24:36.800 But making the decision because it is necessary and someone has to 01:24:36.800 --> 01:24:37.600 do it. 01:24:37.600 --> 01:24:40.560 If you are the father of a household it falls to you 01:24:40.800 --> 01:24:44.320 because you have had a wife and children entrusted to your care 01:24:44.320 --> 01:24:45.440 by God. 01:24:45.440 --> 01:24:48.400 If you have been placed into a position of authority in any 01:24:48.400 --> 01:24:53.360 organization, whether it is a company or it is a state, whatever 01:24:53.360 --> 01:24:58.080 it happens to be, you have been given power and authority by 01:24:58.080 --> 01:25:01.040 God, and you will be made to answer for what you have 01:25:01.040 --> 01:25:04.000 done with it or what you have failed to do with it. 01:25:06.320 --> 01:25:09.840 The Christian life is not necessarily an easy one. 01:25:09.840 --> 01:25:13.200 It would be much easier to go through life ignoring these things 01:25:13.360 --> 01:25:15.600 and just sailing along happily. 01:25:15.600 --> 01:25:22.000 It's not necessarily better, but it is easier Is easier. 01:25:22.000 --> 01:25:25.280 But the way is straight and narrow. 01:25:25.280 --> 01:25:28.800 It is not the broad, easy path that leads ever downward. 01:25:28.800 --> 01:25:31.440 That is not the Christian life. 01:25:31.440 --> 01:25:34.720 We have to be prepared for these questions with regard to both 01:25:34.720 --> 01:25:38.000 the right hand kingdom and the left hand kingdom, and there will 01:25:38.000 --> 01:25:40.880 be a great many of them in the coming years. 01:25:40.880 --> 01:25:45.040 Part of that is recognizing how to approach these issues and part 01:25:45.040 --> 01:25:49.280 of it is reading scripture, staying in God's Word. 01:25:49.280 --> 01:25:53.600 We made reference to many sections of Scripture in this episode because 01:25:53.600 --> 01:25:55.920 this problem is all over Scripture. 01:25:56.560 --> 01:26:00.400 It is throughout the Old Testament, and despite the fact we didn't 01:26:00.320 --> 01:26:03.760 use many examples from the New Testament, it is throughout the New 01:26:03.760 --> 01:26:06.080 Testament as well. 01:26:06.080 --> 01:26:08.720 This is part of life. 01:26:08.960 --> 01:26:14.240 On this earth, on this fallen earth, you have to know what 01:26:14.240 --> 01:26:21.520 authority is, when authority is rightly exercised, when it is wrongly exercised, 01:26:21.520 --> 01:26:28.240 and most importantly, the twofold problem of when authority is exceeded and 01:26:28.240 --> 01:26:32.400 what to do, and when a man who once had authority no 01:26:32.400 --> 01:26:37.120 longer has that authority, even if he still has the appearance. 01:26:37.120 --> 01:26:40.800 With regard to the right hand kingdom, that may very well be 01:26:40.800 --> 01:26:43.200 a matter of your eternal soul. 01:26:43.200 --> 01:26:47.040 With regard to the left hand kingdom it's not unimportant, but it's 01:26:47.040 --> 01:26:50.880 certainly not eternally important in the same way as the right hand 01:26:50.960 --> 01:26:56.640 kingdom. The destruction of a nation, or the collapse of a country, 01:26:56.640 --> 01:27:00.080 is certainly an immensely important problem, and it is something about which 01:27:00.080 --> 01:27:04.080 Christian men should concern themselves, and those clerics who think that that's 01:27:04.000 --> 01:27:06.880 not a gospel issue and so we should ignore it should learn 01:27:06.880 --> 01:27:09.680 to hold their sinful tongues. 01:27:09.680 --> 01:27:13.920 At the very least, they should learn to hold their sinful tongues. 01:27:13.920 --> 01:27:17.200 We as Christian men have to do our duty. 01:27:17.600 --> 01:27:22.160 That is the fundamental bedrock principle here. 01:27:22.160 --> 01:27:25.680 When it comes to power and authority, it's simply a matter of 01:27:25.840 --> 01:27:30.240 do you have the ability to execute the duty, and do you 01:27:30.240 --> 01:27:31.520 have the authority? 01:27:31.520 --> 01:27:35.360 If you have both of those, do your duty. 01:27:35.360 --> 01:27:39.200 Because that is what you are called to do as a Christian 01:27:39.200 --> 01:27:40.880 man in this life. 01:27:40.880 --> 01:27:45.200 Not everything is a gospel issue, because the law is still God's 01:27:45.200 --> 01:27:48.080 law. God still makes demands of us. 01:27:48.080 --> 01:27:52.560 God has placed us in families, in tribes, in nations, God has 01:27:52.560 --> 01:27:56.800 given us abilities and attributes, he has placed us where we are, 01:27:56.800 --> 01:27:59.440 and He expects things from us. 01:27:59.440 --> 01:28:04.080 The Christian life is not just singing hymns on Sundays. 01:28:04.080 --> 01:28:05.120 That's an important part. 01:28:05.120 --> 01:28:08.320 Do not forsake the gathering together of the saints. 01:28:08.320 --> 01:28:11.360 But there is more to the Christian life than that, and it 01:28:11.360 --> 01:28:16.400 is lived out day by day, decision by decision, making these sorts 01:28:16.400 --> 01:28:17.840 of assessments. 01:28:17.840 --> 01:28:20.080 Do I have the power to do this? 01:28:20.080 --> 01:28:22.480 Do I have the authority to do this? 01:28:22.480 --> 01:28:25.840 Would it be wise to do this? 01:28:25.840 --> 01:28:30.080 There is no way to avoid these sorts of assessments, because it 01:28:30.080 --> 01:28:34.240 is the reality of the world in which we live, and Christian 01:28:34.240 --> 01:28:44.400 men will rise to the task.