(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.) Amen, keep your place in 2 Chronicles 20, verse 1, verse 2, verse 3, verse 4, verse Amen. Keep your place in 2 Chronicles 26. We're going to go through this story of this king Uzziah. Garrett and I were talking about this story as we were working in the church yesterday and just talking about the details of this story and this king. And I'm going to show you this morning how this story in 2 Chronicles chapter 26 about King Uzziah is a parable of America, a parable of our country today. Uzziah, first of all, Uzziah has long been one of my favorite kings. And you're like, what? Well, you can't pay attention to the last part of the story. We're going to get to that. But Uzziah was generally a very great king of Judah here. He was a great king of Israel and ruling in Jerusalem. Now, one trend that you'll notice when you're reading through the history of the kings is that generally the better a king is and the better a king is according to doing what's right in the sight of the Lord, the longer he will reign, the longer his reign will be. And the more wicked a king is and the more a king turns against the Lord, the shorter his reign will be. And you'll see that in the northern kingdom of Israel, many kings reign just a few days, you know, and not very long at all. And when kings stop reigning, you know, everybody always says, you know, it would be good to be the king. Everybody wants to be in charge. But one thing you have to understand is it's not necessarily good to be the king if you read the story of the kings because these kings, they don't just stop reigning because they, you know, they've stored up their 401k and they're ready to retire. Usually they stop reigning because they're dead. All right. And some of these kings reign for a year, a day, you know, just a very short period of time because they were just very evil, wicked people. But that was not the case with Uzziah. So I'm going to show you this morning how Uzziah is a parable of what's happening in our country today. So let's look at Uzziah. I like Uzziah, all right, up until a certain verse in the Bible, but then I'll let you know where that is. But look at verse number three. Uzziah starts reigning as a young man in the kingdom of Judah, the lower kingdom of Judah. He's reigning in Jerusalem. And the Bible says 16 years old was Uzziah when he began to reign. And he reigned 52 years in Jerusalem. That's up there with the longest reigning kings in the Bible. Even David and Solomon only reigned 40 years. All right. His mother's name was also Jecaliah of Jerusalem. And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah did. So we have a good king here. The Bible will always start out telling you whether or not this king started out well ruling. And this king Uzziah started out well. He did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all his father Amaziah is, showing the importance again of a father figure in that example in your life. Look at verse five. And he sought in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions. He sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God. And as long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper. Now one of the reasons that Uzziah is one of my favorite kings is because he was very, he was a builder. He built things. He invented things. Even in verse number 10, the Bible says he built towers in the desert and digged many wells, for he had much cattle, both in the wool country and in the plains, husbandmen also, and the vine dressers in the mountains, and in Carmel, for he loved husbandry. So husbandry is like the love of raising animals. You know, and if you've ever been in the business of raising animals, you know that it's very hard work. It's very difficult work. It's very unrewarding at times. You have to love husbandry. You have to love raising animals in order to be in that type of business. So I've always kind of liked Uzziah because of just the type of king that he was. He was very successful. He was a builder. He was not just sitting on his haunches, just, you know, being successful. He was actually furthering the kingdom. He was strengthening the kingdom. God was blessing him. But then look at verse number 15. Even in verse 15, it says, and he made in Jerusalem engines invented by cunning men to be on the towers and upon the bulwarks to shoot arrows and great stones withal, and his name spread far abroad, for he was marvelously helped till he was strong. So he made engines. Here I picture these as like catapults and trebuchets and things that, you know, can hurl, you know, weaponry and hurl stones long distances because what was he doing? He was increasing the strength of the kingdom. He was increasing the strength of the kingdom while he was being blessed by the Lord. He was helped by the Lord, the Bible says in verse 15. But then at the end of the verse, we see something here that is just a reminder for all of us. It says what? It says till he was strong. So God blessed him, blessed him, blessed him. He was doing all these wonderful things. He was just increased with riches, increased with strength, and then he got strong. He was very strong. And then look what happened. Once he got strong, but when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction. This is speaking about pride. His heart was lifted up. He became prideful for he transgressed against the Lord his God and went into the temple of the Lord to burn incense upon the altar of incense. So this is just mini sermon right here. This is the life, this is the cycle that Solomon went through. This is the cycle that Christians will go through today when they are doing the right thing. They will be doing the right thing. They will be serving the Lord. They will be out, you know, doing the first works in their lives. They will be, you know, following what the Bible says, learning what the Bible says, and they'll be out doing what they're supposed to do in their life. And God will pour blessings upon them. God will bless them. And then they will get to this point where they're strong, they're in blessings, and they're like, look at me, look at how great I am. Look at how much knowledge I have of the Bible. Look at how, you know, better I am than everybody else. And then we become lifted up, and then we become lifted up to our own destruction. We don't want to be in that cycle. We don't want to be this person that God has to knock down, that we have to climb back up, God has to knock us down. We just want to get to the top where we're doing what we're supposed to do and stay humble up there at the top where we're in the favor of the Lord, God's blessing us, and God doesn't have to knock us down. So our life doesn't have to look like a sine wave, you know, with God like chastising us, blessing us, chastising us, blessing us. Because look, God is going to knock you down if you get lifted up because he doesn't want you prideful because pride will destroy your Christian life. So he did get lifted up. But let's not be so hard on the guy, all right? He reigned for 52 years. That's a long time. He reigned for 52 years. But then at the end of his reign, he got lifted up. And what did he do? He went into the temple and he burned incense on the altar. Now, this was up to the priests to do. The altar of incense in Exodus chapter 30 was, it was right outside the veil. It was in a holy place. It wasn't inside the Holy of Holies, but it was in a holy place. And the priest, Aaron, in Exodus chapter 30, was commanded to go in there and burn incense in the morning, burn incense in the evening. And it was to be a very specific type of incense. And you remember, you know, the strange fire that was offered to the Lord and God killed those men that did that. So it was a very specific thing for the priest to do. And he got lifted up and he thought he would take upon himself, you know, he's like, I'm holy. He's prideful. His heart was lifted up and he went in and he did the job of the priest. And Azariah the priest and all the other priests, they said, well, he's a good king. Let's just let this go. That's not what they did. All right. This is where the parable of our country comes in and how I'm going to apply that this morning. Look what happened to King Uzziah and how the priests reacted to this very good king that had done these very good things, had strengthened the country, had been, you know, he had been doing right. He had been doing what was right in the sight of the Lord. And he went in and he just went too far. He went too far. This is also why Saul lost the kingdom. By the way, when he went and he did the sacrifice himself, that's how he lost the kingdom. You know, from the beginning, that was the first thing where God said, you're done being king. So God is very serious about these roles of the priests and not having a king come in and do these things. Look at verse number 17. Let's continue the story. And Azariah the priest went in after him and with him four score priests of the Lord that were valiant men. So Azariah sees King Uzziah doing this and he goes and he grabs 80 priests and he goes in to confront the king. And they withstood Uzziah the king and said unto him, it appertainteth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the Lord. That means this is not for you to do. This is not your job. But to the priests, the sons of Aaron that are consecrated to burn incense, go out of the sanctuary for thou has trespassed. Neither shall it be for thine honor from the Lord God. So another thing I want to point out between verse 18 and verse 19 here, you know, we see what happened to Uzziah. We're going to see that in just a few verses, but it's not like he didn't have a chance. The priest came in with 80 priests and said, this is not for you to do. You should not be here. Get out. He had a chance to be corrected here, but he was so lifted up and he was so prideful. Look how he answers the rebuke. Okay. So this is super important because God didn't just judge him right away. God didn't just bring the hammer down on Uzziah as soon as he went in and trespassed into the temple. Look at verse 19. He had a chance for correction. All right. So we need to learn that in our Christian lives as well, is that, you know, there's a chance for correction, but if we have a hard heart towards the correction that God gives us, then, you know, the consequences are going to be even worse that we deal with. All right. Look at verse 19. And Uzziah was raw. So he was rebuked and he got mad. He was rebuked. He knew he was wrong and he got angry at Azariah for rebuking him. And he had a censer in his hand to burn incense. And while he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy rose up in his forehead before the priest in the house of the Lord from beside the incense altar. So at that point, God just strikes him with leprosy right there. At that point, the priest of the Lord, you know, rebukes him, tells him that he's not doing what he's supposed to do. He's not supposed to be there. He's trespassing. He gets mad at the man of God, and then God steps in after that. All right. The super important. We're going to see this pattern, you know, in the sermon this morning as well. But he had a chance to get right is what I'm trying to point out. And Azariah, verse 20, the chief priest and all the priests looked upon him and behold, he was leprous in his forehead. Azariah didn't make him a leper, folks. Azariah didn't strike leprosy upon Uzziah here. Azariah didn't say, God, make him a leper. God stepped in when he would not listen when he got mad and angry at the rebuke from the man of God. And they thrust him out from that because he's a leper. Yea, himself hasted also to go out because the Lord had smitted him. And Uzziah the king was a leper unto the day of his death and dwelt in a several house, being a leper, you know, a separate house with lepers, for he was cut off from the house of the Lord. And Jotham his son was king over the king's house, judging the people of the land. So look, I mean, you can say, wow, that's harsh. But when you say, wow, that's harsh, you know, the reason that we think that it's harsh is because these priests were just holding to the line of what God said was proper and what was not. So Uzziah was this great king, got lifted up, and then he went in and the priests, they just, they would not budge from the word of the Lord is what happened. Look, Uzziah is our country today. Uzziah is our country today. You know, our country is very strong, was stronger. You know, we started out very strong, doing good things, doing the right things. And, you know, the problem is in our country today is that we've gotten lifted up, we've gotten strong, you know, and it's going to be to our destruction just like with King Uzziah. Look, even though he was a good king, he lived the rest of his life as a leper, right? He started out well, reigned well, but ended horribly, all right, ended horribly. And look, I'm sure, I am sure that Uzziah, after this moment, I'm sure he got right with the Lord, but he was still a leper, he was done being the king, he was removed from power, and, you know, that's how he ended. That's how he ended. One huge mistake. But the problem is, the point I want to point out here, is that the priests, the priests, it didn't matter who he was, the priests would not back off the word of the Lord. They would not move an inch from what the Lord said he wanted done in that temple. The difference between the story of Uzziah and the priests, and us, if we compare America to Uzziah today, is that there's no priests today. This is the difference. You know, this is kind of, this is going to be a sermon this morning, kind of directed, we're kind of coming to the end of election season here, thank the Lord for that. We're kind of coming to the end of this, but this is going to be kind of a rebuke to conservatives today. You say, what? Aren't we conservatives? I'm not sure what people would think I am today, to be honest. But this sermon is going to be a rebuke and an explanation to conservatives today, maybe even people that would call themselves Christian conservatives, and kind of explaining to them why all these things have happened. I'll just give you just a few examples this morning, but look, conservatives today, look, first of all, a conservative today would have been considered a liberal 15 years ago. If somebody, if you were to look at a conservative today and put them back 15 years ago, any conservative 15 years ago would have thought a conservative today was illiberal. You say, why? Because they're moving, that's why. Because they're constantly changing, there's no line being held today. There's no line on any issue being held. So people are confused today. Conservatives are upset today, but they've always been upset, but they don't even understand that they are moving, they are being pushed, they are being pushed and they are moving. So the point is, you know, a lot of people, they say, you know, this is crazy, and I've talked to a lot of people that say, I'm going to move out of California. Well, here's the thing, here's the thing, conservative, you better move to like Antarctica or something, because wherever you move, it's going to be the same thing. It's going to be the same things happening, the same problems, because it's the same cause, right? There's no priests today holding the line and forcing Uzziah or this country to hold the line. I'll just give you a few examples of this, but like the first one is this, the first one is the Bible. The first one, and this, the Bible kind of encompasses everything, all right? People, I mean, there has never been a time, I mean, like I've said this before, knowledge of the Bible, belief in the Bible, first of all, is at an all-time low in this country. People that would say that the Bible is the Word of God, all-time low. That just knowledge of the Bible, if you're a soul winner, you know this is true. Knowledge of the Bible is that it also at an all-time low. Of course, why would you want to know what the Bible says if you don't believe it anyway? No one's going to go and look up what the Bible says if they don't believe that it's the Word of God. What would be the point of that? So we can see that those things, those two things go hand in hand. Hosea 4.6 says, you know, for my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. We just end the sermon right there. That's why these things are happening. Because people, you know, people don't know, is there a truth? Is there a truth if, you know, or is everything true? I just had a conversation with a conservative just a few days ago telling me that, you know, that the gospel is really, it's really just whatever someone was taught. It's really just whatever somebody was taught, that's, you know, that's the gospel in their mind and that's going to be good enough to get them to heaven. This same person, and it's totally understandable, but this same person, you know, is disparaging towards soul winning. Saying, why would you go out and, you know, people can't get saved out on the street. People can't get saved at their door. People can't get saved. First of all, if you don't believe that there is truth, of course you would believe that. Of course you would believe that, you know, somebody, because why, they don't even need to change what they believe. Because any belief is okay. Any belief, as long as you sincerely believe it, is enough to get you to heaven. But is that what the Bible says? The Bible actually talks against that. That's why Jesus literally addressed that very thing in Matthew 7 where he says, not everyone, you know, that sayeth Lord, Lord will enter into the kingdom of heaven. Look, not everyone that claims the name of Jesus is going to go to heaven. As a matter of fact, most people are not, Jesus said. So look, people don't, people have just rejected truth today. The first problem is the gospel. The gospel has just been this mishmash. The gospel to people is this mishmash of whatever you think Jesus is to you. That's the gospel. But that is not what the Bible says. Anyone who claims Jesus or God is not automatically going to go to heaven. Turn to Romans chapter 3. Turn to Romans chapter 3. It's interesting because I did have this conversation a few days ago with somebody who was kind of disparaging of soul winning, of disparaging of one true gospel, you know, what the Bible teaches. Just basically disparaging of the Bible. And yesterday, out soul winning, I ran into a lady at the door. I mean, I don't believe in accidents when it comes to things like this. I ran into a lady yesterday's soul winning that I had gotten saved six months earlier. She literally said, don't you remember me? I talked to you six months. I got saved six months ago, she said. And I was like, oh, yeah, you know, I don't remember everyone's name that I talked to at the door. You know, if you're a soul winner, you're going to talk to a lot of people. You're going to give the gospel to a lot of people. But you know what she said? It was so interesting because, first of all, she was just as saved as she was six months ago. And you know what she said to me? She's like, yeah, you got me saved six months ago. And she's like, you know what? I think about that conversation every day, she said to me. You know why she thinks about that conversation every day? It's not because I'm some compelling person. She thinks about that conversation every day because she has the Holy Spirit inside her telling her about that conversation every day. She was literally sealed by the Holy Spirit. She got a down payment of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is in her telling her, hey, you know, remember that conversation? You should be getting going in your Christian life now. You know, the Holy Spirit is the one reminding her every single day about that conversation. It's not me. It's the words. It was the gospel. So it was interesting that that was just kind of a proof yesterday about that. Look, and if you're a soul winner, that's going to happen to you a lot because, you know, once people are saved, they are sealed, the Bible says. You don't seal them. God does. The Holy Spirit does. Look at Romans 3.20. So, I mean, what if I just claimed Jesus and, you know, I believe Jesus, but I also believe you got to be baptized and I also believe you got to do this or what mixed mash of whatever different gospel that I was taught. Maybe I was taught a gospel as a Catholic or a Protestant or whatever. Look at Romans 3.20. The Bible says, therefore, by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. That's why he said that in Matthew 7 because through the works of the law, nobody is going to be justified. It's like no flesh. Not one person who believes even one work has to be done, even one sacrament needs to be performed is going to go to heaven. Why? Because they're not justified. That's why. They're just not justified through the works of the law. Look at John chapter 14 in verse number 6. Most of you probably have this answer, but the point is, is the first thing, the first thing that has been abandoned is the Bible, is the truth of the gospel. First of all, is the truth of one true gospel. This idea, I mean, refer back to the postmodernism sermon where it's just like everything's true, everything's okay, you know, your truth is just not my truth and but it's just as valid. That is not what Jesus says. There is a truth out there and Jesus says in John 14 6, he says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. There's the bumper sticker right there. Well, we have to read the rest of the verse too. He's like, I am the way, the truth, and the life. He says, no man cometh under the father, but by me. He's the only way, the only truth. So Jesus is also what? What is Jesus? Jesus is the word. Jesus is the word. So if you don't believe the Bible, if you, you know, say you're a Christian, but you don't believe the Bible, that's impossible, first of all, because Jesus, trusting on Jesus, is trusting the word of God. It's the same thing because he is the word and the word is the truth and there's no other way other than the truth. It says no man, no man. So look, the title of the sermon this morning is just holding the line and I'm going to show you just how, like, Christians today, or let's just put it this way, conservatives today, they, you know, conservatives today, even conservative Christians today, whatever that means, they, the reason that they are surprised at the things that they're seeing is because no lines have been held. No lines have been held. All these election issues that are coming up, not a single line has been held and it's just the same thing. They just get pushed further and further and further away from the Lord and then, and then complain the whole way as they're being pushed. No, there's no priests today. That's why I say that this country was lost first from the pulpit. This country was lost first from the pulpit because the man of God stopped speaking the word of God because it became politically incorrect. It became something that people didn't want to hear. But look at throughout the Bible, most of the time the people didn't want to hear the word of God. Most of the time they were upset at the prophet. Most of the time they were mad at the prophet. They were getting upset at the prophet constantly. Turn to Genesis chapter 5. Conservatives today, let me just give you a couple areas, just a couple areas that conservatives are really upset about today and I'm going to tell you, like, why it's, why we got where we are. Turn to Genesis chapter 5 and look at verse number 1. Genesis chapter 5, verse number 1. Conservatives today are really upset over this, what is a man and what is a woman stuff going on. People are all yelling and screaming and like, this is crazy. Look, I believe that it's, it's, it's wicked. It's crazy. But the point is, is like, first of all, the Bible is very clear on this. Look at verse number 1. This is the book of the generations of Adam in the day that God created man. In the likeness of God, he made him, made he him. Male and female, he created them and blessed them and called their name Adam in the day that they were created. So, I mean, the fact that God created man and woman, male and female, like, this isn't, this is maybe simpler than the actual gospel itself. It's a very simple concept in the Bible. We can see it throughout all nature. All the animals are male and female. But conservatives are upset about this today. Look, I'm upset about it too. But the reason that we are where we are today is because conservatives totally gave in on unnatural perversion 20 years ago. There was no line that was held. If you're old enough to remember, you know, look, there's natural, there's a man marrying a woman and that's natural. All else is abomination. This is not hard. This is not hard doctrine. Conservatives gave up on this 20 years ago. Did you know, did you know, this was the whole argument of gay marriage way back in 2000 or maybe even earlier than that. But did you know that 55 to 60% of Republicans or conservatives today are for gay marriage, whatever that means. See, they should have never acknowledged the choice. They should have never acknowledged the question because there is no such thing. It's like offering someone, what do you prefer? Do you like green elephants or do you like purple elephants? Like, gay marriage doesn't exist. Marriage is defined in Genesis chapter 2 as a man and a woman becoming one flesh. You know, there is no other marriage. There is nothing else. But now you have over, you know, over 55% of conservatives that are for, you know, this abominable thing. They basically, you have 55, look at it this way, you have 55% of conservatives today have walked away from God's biblical definition of marriage. Think about that. Think about that. And now they're wondering, like, why is this new perversion coming? Why all this unnaturalness that's coming? We don't agree with this. But what did you expect to happen when you hold no line? There was no priests that were just saying, no, we hold the line there. Now, I mean, it just, it just, it seems like every week it gets worse and people are just complaining about it more and more. Look, it's going to get worse because there's no line anymore. It's just going to get, I can't even imagine what it's going to be like in 20 years from today. I mean, now we're talking about kids going through, you know, mutilating surgeries and these horrible things. Here's another thing. Here's another thing you're going to realize when I start bringing up these election topics. You're going to realize that the people that suffer first are always the children. The people that suffer first are always the most innocent in society. I don't care if you're talking about abortion. This one's the same. Who suffers? The children. Always. But conservatives supported it. Conservatives walked away from the line. This is the line. This never would have happened if, you know, conservatives would have stuck to the Bible, stuck to what God said. We wouldn't be where we are today. But America is Uzziah and there's no priests. So Uzziah is just, he's off the rails. He's doing whatever he wants to do. There's no one to put him back on the rails. And the children always suffer. How about this one? Turn to Proverbs chapter 5. How about this one? Here's another one where the line is just, there is no line anymore. And you say, well, there's no line anymore. It's just going to get worse and worse and worse. Look at Proverbs chapter 5. Go to Proverbs chapter 5. How about this entitlement mentality that's going on with Uzziah in America today? You know, this entitlement mentality that, you know, I expect everything from everybody. Everyone needs to just give me and take care of me and give me all their things. But look what the Bible says. Look at verse 15 of Proverbs chapter 5. The Bible says, drink waters out of thine own cistern and running waters out of thine own well. Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad and rivers of waters in the streets. Let them be only thine own and not a stranger's with thee. The Bible is saying here, hey, you know, work hard and get your own property, is what the Bible is saying. Don't expect anything from anyone. If I wanted to, look, if I wanted to destroy someone, like I really hated them, and I wanted to just destroy them, and I wanted to destroy their family, and I wanted to destroy the next generations of their family, you know what I'd do? You know what I'd do? I'd give them everything for free, and I'd tell them that they never had to, I would teach them that, I would teach them that everyone owes them something, and then just give them everything that he ever needed for free. And you would destroy him and generations that came after him. Look at 2 Thessalonians chapter 3, I'll just read for you. Verse number 10 says, for even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. Can you imagine? Where's the conservative pushing that today? Conservatives are all like, oh, the entitlement mentality. Well, where's the conservative saying we should go back to the Bible lines? Where's the Republican proposing that, you know, if you don't work, you shouldn't eat? Where's that guy running for office? There's a homeless problem fixed right there. You know how many, you know, 25-year-olds I see standing out on the street with two arms and two legs that could easily go to work somewhere when there's literally millions of open jobs in this country, even in tough economic times? They don't want to work. They shouldn't eat. Where's the Republican? Where's the politician proposing this Bible line? Doesn't exist. It doesn't exist today. So they're all like, oh, I'm so upset. I'm moving. Where are you going to move to? Here's another one. Here's another one. Everyone's upset. Everyone's upset over the public school system today. Everyone is upset. You've seen all these videos online and on the news of these, you know, these brave parents going to the school board meetings. They're heroes. These brave parents standing in the school board meetings and speaking out against the perversion and books that are being, you know, pushed on kids in the libraries. It's been going on for 30 years, as long as I've been alive. The system that's raising my children is evil, they're saying. But wait a minute. What's the Bible line? Turn to Proverbs chapter 22. Where's the line? This one isn't new. This one isn't new and never will be, by the way. Back, I don't know, 20 years ago, it was no child left behind. Remember that? Then it was the Common Core, Common Core teaching that came in. Then there was, you know, the critical race theory recently that came in. Guess what? Common Core. Everyone complained about that. Everyone went to school board meetings about that. It's still there. It happened. And it's in 46 out of 50 states. I mean, it's still there. Now it's just the trans, perversion stuff that's coming in. And look, the perversion was always there. It's just getting worse now with all this new unnaturalness that's being pushed on everybody. I mean, the crazy stuff that's coming in. But look, it's always been there. And conservative Christians, I use that term loosely, are like, how is this happening today? It's because they walked off the line of who's responsible for raising their children. That's why. Because the Bible is very clear about who is supposed to raise your children. Look at Proverbs 22, verse 6. Proverbs 22, 6 says, train up a child in the way he should go. And when he's old, he will not depart from it. Look, if you train him in wicked, unnatural ways, he's going to become a wicked, unnatural person. He will not depart from that either. In Ephesians 6, 4, the Bible says, and ye fathers. Oh, there it is, pinpointing who he's talking to. Ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. The fathers are supposed to be bringing up their children. The father is the leader of the family. The father and the mother, it's your job to bring up the children. So you're saying, I've walked off my responsibility. I've walked away from the line of my biblical responsibility, and I'm upset that the people that are doing the job that God wants me to do are wicked and evil. It's not going to work. It's going to keep getting worse. That's why there's no success there. That's why that's not, I don't care how many people you put in school board meetings. I don't care how much you push against this stuff. They're doing your job. Just do the job. The line, the biblical line, is the parents are supposed to be training their children. The parents are supposed to be bringing up their children in the Lord. So, I mean, that's why, like, the whole, like, argument of all day, it all went bad when they took prayer out of the schools in the 70s and 80s. Well, like, I don't want the, I don't want any government program teaching my kids the Bible. So, that argument itself, it's like the gay marriage argument. It's the wrong question. Should the government teach your children the Bible or not the Bible? How about the government doesn't teach my children anything? How about that? Because that's what the Bible says, right? Because they're always going to do wicked things. Look, the public school disaster, it's an eye roll. It's an eye roll for us. I get it. It's an eye roll for us. But you have to understand, like, who's making this decision at this point to put their kids into this system? At least, you know, we still have some right to remove ourselves from it. You know, I mean, this is part of separation that we preach on, that I preach on over and over and over again. So, again, the line is not what the public school teaches. But who should be teaching your children? And Christians have backed off that line. Conservatives have backed off that line. And what are we looking at? What's our trend? Who suffers? The children. Who suffers when people walk off the biblical line? The kids suffer. The children suffer first. How about this one? Turn to Ecclesiastes chapter 8. Here's another one. We're just going through some election issues that I've been, like, hearing, you know, news articles about and things like this. Everyone's saying the election is about these things. But, look, how about this one? Look at Ecclesiastes chapter 8. And I'm just answering this question to conservatives on how things went haywire. They're like, how did it get so bad? And, look, I blame conservatives because conservatives aren't conservative. Christians aren't Christian. You know, Christians aren't following and standing on the line of the Bible. Look at Ecclesiastes chapter 8. How about this idea of just, like, not punishing crime? How about this one? This is a big election issue. Look at Ecclesiastes 8. I mean, the Bible has, the Bible doesn't just have the gospel, folks. The Bible has literally every single answer that you could ever want answered in your life. Everything that's going wrong, just, it's in the, it's in the pages of the Bible. God gave it to you. Look at Ecclesiastes chapter 8. Look at verse number 11. Let's, let's see if this is hard to understand. Because sentenced against an evil, because sentenced against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them that to do evil. Let me read that again. Because sentenced against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. You know what that's saying? Let me just, let me just translate that for you. This isn't, this isn't rocket surgery, conservatives. If you don't punish crime, you will get more crime. I mean, I just read a news article last week, it was all over the news, about some school shooter from, I don't know, several years ago. First of all, does it say, it says speedily. It says speedily. There's some kid that went and shot like 17 people in a school, and it was just this huge debate on whether or not to give them the death sentence, to give them capital punishment. And by the way, they didn't. If somebody that goes in and like literally just like shoots like 17 innocent children is, is not up for capital punishment, like the country just doesn't believe it anymore. The country's walked away from that. I mean, it's, it's crazy. I mean, speedily, that means like get a rope. That's what speedily is about. Instead, you know, there's this overcrowding in, in prison, so we'll just let them all out, like the opposite. You know, in California, it's stealing. Stealing. Like, I mean, this is the most obvious one that we can all see, like every single week. You see this somehow every single week. Like, whether it's somebody stealing something off your porch, whether it's somebody you see stealing from a store. Why is it? Because there's no consequences, that's why. Ecclesiastes 811 is saying, when there's no consequences, you're going to get more of it. Man, I'm a genius. The Bible says this. If you don't punish evil, you get more evil. You know what this means? You can just apply this to anything today. You can apply it to all the wickedness that you see everywhere today. You know what this means? This means that this society, I mean, aside from, you know, confusing, conservatives being confused, what this means today is our society is going to continue to get more and more violent. That's what this means. More and more innocent people who are innocent, children, who is hurt the most by violent crime? Weak, innocent people, older people, children, society's going to get more and more and more violent as this continues to go on. And it's funny because the same people that are trying to make society more violent are also trying to take away your right to defend yourself from violence. So don't miss that. Don't miss that correlation. But the point is this, the Bible has the answer to all this. The problem is conservatives have just walked off all these lines. I just touched on just a couple things this morning. But look, so what to do? What to do? Turn to Zechariah chapter 8. Zechariah chapter 8. What do we do? I mean, there's just a few examples. I could just go on and on and on and on. But go to Zechariah chapter 8. Look at verse 16. Zechariah chapter 8 and verse number 16. This is what we do. Since we are still on the line, this is what we do. Zechariah chapter 8. Look at verse number 16. The Bible says, these are the things that ye shall do. You're like, it's a mess. It's a mess and it keeps getting worse. What do I do? What do I do? Look what it says. It says, speak ye every man the truth to his neighbor. Execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates. Look, be judgmental. You know what judgmental means? It says, execute judgment. You know what that means? It means being able to recognize good and evil. That's what that means. Everyone's like, don't judge. It's like, what are you talking about? Don't judge. You know, if you say don't judge, that means, you know, be a zombie that just has no opinion about anything. The Bible is saying, no, read the Bible. Find out where the lines are because the Bible is just full of these lines. Here's the lines on everything. Hold those lines. But it says, speak ye, because look, all these things that we talked about, they don't affect me. Hopefully they don't affect you. But it says, speak the truth everyone to his neighbor. Because why? It's the neighbor. It's your conservative Republican neighbor who's confused. He's like, how is this happening? Speak the truth to him, to her. That's what the Bible is saying. Look, and here's the thing. Coming up Tuesday, I vote. I vote. You know, voting, whether or not you vote, it's kind of a, it's kind of a, I put it in the Romans 14 category. It's kind of a standard. I mean, there's, there's, there's some good Bible to justify not voting. I get that. And if there's a, you know, I have some friends and, and there's just biblical Christians out there, they're just like, I'm not going to vote. But I do vote. I'm not mad at anybody that doesn't. I feel like, I feel like, you know, we should speak as much truth as we possibly can in every possible way that we can. I look at things like Moses. Moses, he went into Pharaoh until he couldn't go into Pharaoh anymore. He went, he spoke truth to Pharaoh until Pharaoh said, if you come back again, I'm going to kill you. And then guess what? Here's another thing that America needs to realize. As soon as Pharaoh stopped listening to the man of God, who stepped in? God stepped in. As soon as Uzziah quit listening to the man of God, who stepped in? God stepped in. Jeremiah. Turn to Jeremiah chapter 36. Turn to Jeremiah chapter 36. Jeremiah, he, he got locked up where he couldn't speak anymore. And so he sends in Baruch to speak for him. But I mean, I guess that's why I, you know, I'm just trying to, you know, it's a, I guess voting is kind of a pragmatic way to just, you know, and I'm not telling you I would vote for, for everybody that runs for office, but I'm, you know, I do what I can. I'll vote where I can. Look at verse 5 of Jeremiah chapter 36. And Jeremiah commanded Baruch saying, I am shut up. I cannot go into the house of the Lord. Therefore go thou and read in the role which thou has written from my mouth, the words of the Lord and the ears of the people in the Lord's house upon the fasting day. Now shall read them in the ears of all Judah that come out of their cities. So he's just saying like, he's just saying like, look, just, I can't, I'm in jail. They won't listen to me. You go in. And guess what? As soon as they really stopped listening to Jeremiah, he was all locked up, God stepped in. They got judged by Babylon. They got overthrown and taken into captivity. So look, I mean, whatever way I can get my truth out, get the truth of the Bible out, this is why, you know, this is why we're on YouTube. I mean, YouTube's bad. I shouldn't say that. I'm gonna get kicked off YouTube. We're eventually gonna get kicked off YouTube. It's just a reality that's gonna happen. YouTube is not a great thing or it's not a great company. It's not, you know, it's run by, you know, it's, there's a lot of wicked things about YouTube, but it's a way to get the truth out. It's a way to get the truth out. That's why, you know, to me, free speech and this right that we still maybe sort of have partially today is super important. Why? So we can get the truth out to our neighbor. That's why free speech, I mean, whenever I see things going on in the country about free speech, I pay very close attention because guess what? We must have this today as Christians. All I need as a Christian, as a Bible-believing Christian, all I need is the right to speak the truth. That's all I need. Why? Because the gospel is the best idea. In a free market of ideas, the gospel wins every time. I mean, how many times, how many times have we, we and friends like us send out thousands of soul winners every single week? Friends of ours, churches that are friends of ours, literally thousands of people go out soul winning every single week around this globe. You know how many come back as Mormons? None. You know how many come back as Catholics? Zero. It's never happened. Why? Because the gospel wins. Because in a market of free ideas, the word of God trumps everything. Because it's the only word that has what? It's the only word that has power. It's the only word, everything else is just, it's just garbage. It's just something that a man wrote down. The gospel wins. The Bible wins in all these areas. It works. It explains. It protects. That's why we're okay and our kids are okay through all of this mess. But as long as we have the ability to speak the truth. You know, Elon Musk, thank goodness he's off of Mars and he's kind of fighting the free speech fight again. We'll see how well he does there. But hey, good on him. Good on him if he pushes for more free speech in this country. Is he saved? No. Can he do good? Yes, he can. I hope he gets saved one day. I've said, I've said that before talking about Elon Musk. But hey, kudos to him for fighting that fight. You know, off of Mars something that's totally worthless and never going to happen and on to free speech. Hey, maybe you can make a difference for good in this world. Good for him. But as soon as we are silenced, folks, it's not us that will suffer. Okay, as soon as we are silenced and we can no longer preach the gospel, it's not my kids that are going to suffer. It's not my kids' kids that are going to suffer because we're still going to teach them and raise them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord as we stand on that line. But guess who suffers? Just like Jeremiah or Zechariah 30, what did we just read? Just like we read in Zechariah, it's going to be our neighbor that suffers. You know, I'm not worried about going to heaven. I'm not worried personally about having the wrong gospel. But it will be my neighbor that suffers. If I can no longer go out and preach the gospel to my neighbor, it will be him that suffers. I'm not worried about what a man and what a woman is. I'm never going to be confused about that. But it's my neighbor that in 20 years is going to completely not know what those two things are. I can't imagine what it will be like in 20 years. I'm not worried about the public school system. Zero. Zero concern. I'm concerned about my neighbor who has his children in the public school system. I'm concerned about, you know, not being able to tell the truth about what's happening there and why it's happening there. That's what I'm concerned about. I'm not worried about being destroyed or having my children destroyed through the welfare state and the welfare system here and just this idea that we need to just put everything off and blame everyone else for all of our problems. I'm not worried about that in my family because I'm going to raise my kids up the way the Bible says that they should be raised up. I'm worried about my neighbor. I'm worried about my neighbor who's being taught these things and putting his kids in a place where they're teaching him these things. I'm not worried too much about taxes. I'm like, don't worry about that at all. You know, it just, I'm holding the line. We're holding the line. But it's all about concern for our neighbor and ultimately, you know, our country. Our country. So we shouldn't be selfish. I mean, we shouldn't be selfish Christians. We should be Christians that are willing to speak the truth. And look, the fact is there's just not enough of us. There's not enough of us who are out there speaking the truth. Turn to Jeremiah chapter 4. Turn to Jeremiah chapter 4. We'll end here. But look, this is why we lose. You say, why does it always keep getting worse and worse and worse? It's because Satan puts constant pressure. He's got constant pressure on this country, on the leaders of this country. He's just putting constant pressure. And as Christians or conservatives back off of lines of the Bible, there becomes no line and there's no one to stop them in their tracks. Just like Uzziah. Uzziah was stopped right in his tracks. Those priests, 81 priests walked in there and said, no, you're not doing this. And they stopped him in his tracks. God had to step in and took care of the problem. But Christians today, they have no idea that there even is a line anymore. Conservatives today have no idea that there is a line anymore. Look at Jeremiah chapter 4. Look at verse number 22. Jeremiah chapter 4 verse 22. It says, for my people is foolish. They have not known me. They are sawdust children. They have none understanding. They are wise to do evil, but to do good. They what? They have no knowledge. They don't know. This is the conservative today. When he looks at what's happening today and he says, that's messed up. What's going on there? This is the conservative, but he has no idea why. But he has no idea how when he supported gay marriage and then he sees that kids are being, pushed into surgery to transition and mutilate them. We need to lock some people up. And they're just like, how did this happen? It happened because of you. It happened because you, conservative, have no knowledge. And when the Bible says no knowledge, it means no knowledge of the word of God. That's how it happened. That's how it happened. They say there's going to be a red wave on Tuesday. And you know what the sad thing is? If there is a red wave, maybe there will be, maybe there won't be. If there is a red wave, it'll be because the economy's bad. Because that's what people, that's what conservatives and that's what people care about. That's a common political saying. It's the economy, stupid. If the economy was great right now, there wouldn't be any wave. Because conservatives are holding nothing. They're holding no line. They're retreating faster. Just the fact that conservatives will say, we need to move out of California. Why, coward? Conservatives are cowards today. They're fools who have no knowledge of anything. They support evil and wonder why they get more evil. And then they're cowards and they say, oh, look what we've done. We've wrecked everything. Let's run away. It literally makes me sick to see it. But that is why. Because they just don't know. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.