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you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you Bible memory is the second half of Hebrews, chapter 7. We've got the prizes. I Just didn't think to take them out this morning. How many how many people here finished verses? 1 through 14 in the time that was allotted you did the Bible memory radio and real high just want to get a good count 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Feel free is an Ok 8 After service feel free to help yourself to any of the prizes that are on the table in my office. I don't know I'm gonna do it this way, but I Don't feel like dragging them all out here right now and everything else. So if you completed that challenge, there should be eight prizes less Taken off that table after today, so go ahead and and and if you remember to do that after service just just go ahead and grab something off the prize table and We'll be all squared with that upcoming birthdays and anniversaries. So we've got birthday tomorrow Abel's going to be one first birthday big big event for young Abel, so Happy early birthday to Abel and then of course, we've got more birthdays coming up here at the end of the month Down at the bottom of the page, we've got the upcoming event. So the camping trip We have the spots all laid out Leslie finished it last night, but there was I reviewed it this morning and I have a couple of questions to ask her and She's not feeling well. So my family is out sick. I've got all almost all the girls are sick today so I wasn't able to Finalize this I should be I'll finalize it by this afternoon though We have everybody's campsite and cottage numbers and all of that stuff but I got there was just one or two questions that I had after reviewing it, so I didn't want to Finish it because I wanted to I wanted to ensure that everything is correct. I don't have to make any changes after I Print it off. So I should have the printout this afternoon For that and then also brother Denzel was was kind enough to create a schedule so if you wanted to do if you wanted to run an activity during the the the camping trip Then sign up for that so that because I know there's a bunch of people I like doing different things We have you know, there's kids events. There's adult events. There's different things like, you know every year we do different things and Thankfully, we have a lot of people who like to volunteer their time and and will Choose to set it a set time so other people can join and it could be something as simple as just hey We're gonna take a plan taking a hike on This day at this time So anyone that wants to join me can do this. We've had in the past Brother Chad, I know I saw him here this morning somewhere Oh over here. He's hiding behind the pillar I can't see he did he did he did a training for a man on gun assembly and stuff Like he was he was showing all the parts and and disassembling and assembling rifles, so That was a pretty cool event. We have a lot of kids activities. So people Volunteered their times Rogers and my sellers have volunteered their time to create scavenger hunts and just all kinds of different day Activities fun things for the kids to do they have a blast with it. So It's really wide open when it comes to volunteering your time for our camping trip Whatever you want to do, you know, if there's any question about it, just come and talk to me about it But generally speaking, you know, this is you know If you want to make the trip more fun for other people and kind of host some activities Then by all means sign up for that sheet and we'll just have it so that we're not conflicting with other events going on We try to keep things At different days in the way that the camping trip works. It's very wide open We're preaching in the evening, but the rest of the days are just you you essentially do what you want to do Okay, it's supposed to be a time of fellowship and relaxation and you just get to enjoy the time out there every evening We have preaching it'll be roughly in the 6 to 7 p.m. Time frame I don't have that settled exactly yet, but the rest of the days, you know There's a beach there. There's there's Fields there's hiking there's frisbee golf. There's an actual golf course there Now you got to pay for the golf if you want to go golfing You know driving range so lots of different activities already at the park You know people want to bring a volleyball net badminton, you know, the the we usually bring the the corn home You know, whatever all that stuff if you have anything like that and you want to bring it back Hey, it'd be fun to have a tournament. We had a cornhole tournament last year. That was a lot of fun Just go ahead and and sign up and just put some place markers on the schedule That way when the camping trip rolls around we could we could have a printout of all the activities and people can have that and decide if there's things that they want to specifically be a part of So I Appreciate brother Benzel putting that together. It's a little bit late I've been struggling trying to keep ahead with all this stuff time. This pass is really fast. I have no excuse for it But it's it is what it is. So I appreciate all the help you guys make the camp as fun as it's going to be Because I'm just trying to keep things together Just to be able to get there let alone all the other activities and stuff So, thank you for everyone who is who is willing to participate and and host activities and things like that because it really does make The the trip that much more fun for everybody So that is available for sign up So feel free to do that anytime you wish and then we've got our church anniversary Sunday on June 25th and then on July 5th, we're gonna have pastor Anderson out here preaching for us That's a Wednesday night if you want to be able to make it for that would you come on out and join us? I'm sure it'll be a lot of fun and I think that's about it for our announcements So I'm going to turn the service back over to brother Peter and he will lead us in our next song I Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Once again, that was numbers chapter 35 and The Lord spake unto Moses in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho saying Command the children of Israel that they give unto the Levites of the inheritance of their possession cities to dwell in and you shall give also unto the Levite suburbs for the cities round about them and the cities shall they have to dwell in and the suburbs of them shall be for their cattle and for their goods and for all their beasts and the suburbs of the cities which you shall give unto the Levite shall reach from the wall of the city and Outward a thousand cubits round about And you shall measure from without the city on the east side two thousand cubits and on the south side two thousand cubits and on the west side two thousand cubits and on the north side two thousand cubits and The city shall be in the midst this shall be to them the suburbs of the cities And among the cities which she shall give unto the Levites there shall be six cities for refuge Which he shall appoint for the man slayer that he may flee fither and to them you shall add Forty and two cities so all the cities which he shall give to the Levites shall be forty and eight cities them shall you give with their suburbs and the cities which he shall give shall be of the possession of the children of Israel from them that have Many you shall give many but from them that have few You shall give few everyone shall give of his cities unto the Levites according to his inheritance which he inherited and the Lord spake unto Moses saying Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them when you become over Jordan into the land of Canaan Then you shall appoint you cities to be cities of refuge for you that the Slayer may flee fither Which killeth any person at unawares and they shall be unto you cities for refuge from the Avenger that the man slayer died not until he stand before the congregation in judgment and of these cities which he shall give six cities shall ye have for refuge the Ye shall give three cities on this side Jordan and three cities shall ye give in the land of Canaan Which shall be cities of refuge these six cities shall be for a Refuge be a refuge both for the children of Israel and for the stranger and for the sojourner among them That everyone that killeth any person unaware is may flee thither and if he smite him with an instrument of iron So that he died. He is a murderer. The murderer shall surely be put to death and if he smite him with Throwing a stone wherewith he may die and he die He is a murderer the murderer shall surely be put to death Or if he smite him with an hand weapon of wood wherewith he may die and he die He is a murderer. The murderer shall surely be put to death The revenger of blood himself shall slay the murderer when he meeteth him. He shall slay him But if he thrust him of hatred Or hurl at him by laying of weight that he die or an enmity smite him with his hand that he die He that smote him shall surely be put to death For he is a murderer. The revenger of blood shall slay the murderer when he meeteth him But if he thrust him suddenly without enmity or have cast upon him Anything without laying of weight or with any stone wherewith a man may die seeing him not and cast it upon him That he die and was not his enemy neither sought his harm then the congregation shall judge between the slayer and the revenger of blood according to these judgments and the congregation shall deliver the slayer out of the hand of the revenger of blood and the congregation shall restore him to the city of His refuge whither he was fled and he shall abide in it unto the death of the high priest Which was anointed with the holy oil But if the slayer shall at any time come without the border of the city of his refuge Whither he was fled and the revenger of blood find him without the borders of the city of his refuge and the revenger of blood Kill the slayer He shall not be guilty of blood because he should have remained in the city of his refuge until the death of the high priest But after the death of the high priest the slayer shall return into the land of his possession So these things shall be for a statute of judgment unto you throughout your generations in all your dwellings Whoso killeth any person the murderer shall be put to death by the mouth of witnesses But one witness shall not testify against any person to cause him to die Moreover ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer, which is guilty of death, but he shall be surely put to death And you shall take no satisfaction for him that is fled to the city of his refuge That he should come again to dwell in the land until the death of the priest So ye shall not pollute the land where in ye are for blood it Defileth the land and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein But by the blood of him that shed it defile not therefore the land which ye shall inhabit Wherein I dwell for I the Lord dwell among the children of Israel Let's pray brother Brother Maca, can you pray for us, please? All right, so this morning I'm continuing the series I started on Ecclesiastes chapter 3 Ecclesiastes chapter 3 I've already preached a couple sermons on this and and the focus for this morning is Ecclesiastes 3 verse 3 the Bible says a time to kill and a time to heal Of course the rest of verse says a time to break down a time to build up now most of the sermon this morning though I'm gonna deal with not really I'm not gonna dig into a time to heal so much and This is gonna be the case just in general with most of the the studies on Ecclesiastes chapter 3 the the positive aspects I think For the most part without making too broad of a statement should be the default, right? Building up as opposed to tearing down is something that would be like in general you would do you would heal you would build up You would you would do positive things, but there's always a time for the other. There's a time for the opposite There's a time to tear down. There's a time to kill there's a time for the negative aspect of things to be done and you know when we talk about a time to heal is it's it's like You know, there's always a time to heal except when there's a time to kill there's always a time to build up except when there's a time that To tear down so I'm not gonna spend as much time in general even throughout this whole series on the positive aspects as much Unless it warrants a little bit of time to be spent for it as the negative because it's the negative that people Have a problem with in general And it's real interesting because I was talking to my brother about this sermon about just the series that I've been doing and he brought up an incident or an instance of just some You know extended family member had seen some scripture that was you know on like framed or something as a verse part of Ecclesiastes chapter 3 or all of Ecclesiastes chapter 3 and He mentioned that that this person had a problem with with when it said a time to hate and the and we're gonna cover that eventually when we get to that and These are the reasons why we cover that because even people that would be a professing Christian I think she would claim to be a Christian this lady that that said that right They see, you know Even just seeing a Bible verse Can take objection with what the Bible actually says and so a lot of people are ignorant of what the Bible says There's also a lot of people who claim to be believers. They don't really believe the Word of God But that's you know, that's another story. I just I bring this up though because a Lot of people don't know the scripture. So we're gonna look at the scripture gonna teach a scripture we're gonna see these aspects and look at things that Maybe are a little bit difficult these negative aspects. Well, you know what there is a time to kill And you know that this this time to kill isn't just like it's not done away in the New Testament either We're gonna look and see well what what is an appropriate time to kill? When is it justified when there would be something that God would ordain as being an acceptable time? to kill because it's not like every time is a time to kill you can't just go and kill anyone at random and Just be a murderer That's obviously forbidden so but but there is definitely a time to kill and there's a couple of There's a couple of two a few times where it's acceptable to kill and I'm really only gonna be focusing on one primarily we're gonna dig into this the deepest but self-defense would be one area where be acceptable to kill and You Know I didn't want to go too deep on some of these because each one can probably be its own sermon Just just talking about the you know, the biblical support, but just one quick example would be in Luke 22 36 where Jesus Basically instructs his disciples to go and you know If you don't have a sword to sell a garment and buy a sword make sure you have a sword and you know Nowhere in the Bible is the sword just used in vain and it's never taught to have a sword for no reason Romans 13 Even tells us that the other that the the governor doesn't spare the suit on the swords not in vain It's there for a purpose. It's there to cut and to kill. I mean, that's why there's a weapon weapons are made to kill That's the purpose of having them Obviously Jesus wasn't you know, it's because he was leaving them and they were gonna be in some date the world's dangerous You know, there's there's supposed to be harmless as doves in the midst of wolves We know there's wolves out there and there's people out there that want to destroy and their job is to go Forth and preach the gospel and everything. Well, he's saying, you know what keep a keep a sword with you. It's a wise thing to have at their defense also You know just in war in general now, obviously not every war is justified But in in war there's definitely going to be killing the Lord himself Instructed the children of Israel to go to war against some real evil nations and they were justified in their killing of doing that and you know, it's not like in the New Testament because people will make these claims that oh You know that no one should ever Kill for any reason because it's been abolished and we're gonna we're gonna look at a couple of things that people might say about that And say oh please ask these three. That's that's the Old Testament a time to kill Well, there's no longer a time to kill new tisman. It's false. It's false a Real quick example also is in Luke 3 14 When John the Baptist was was preaching and there are a lot of different people coming up to him public and said hey Well, what should I do? And other people say hey, what should I do and then soldiers came up to him and said well You know, what? What should we do and he instructs them and he says is do violence to no man And he says also be content with their wages, but he doesn't tell them to quit the army He doesn't say well you got to stop being a soldier because being a soldier means you're gonna end up killing somebody Now you said the pastor Bruce is to do no violence to anyone yeah, but that word violence has been used today to just maybe mean something that could be Physically harming or whatever people call like the sport of boxing violence people cause those are violence But that's not really what that word means the word violence comes from the word violate And it is doing evil and harm on people but it's it's it's in a way that violates them and when you do that, you know if someone were to Commit like a rape that's violence Someone commits murder. That's violence You're violating someone else by taking their life But two men that that agree to get in a fight and they put on the gloves and they get in a ring And they're voluntarily just just duking it out with each other. That's not violence They're not neither one of them's violating anything that the other person, you know, I'm the other person there. It's a sport, right? That's not violent. So he tells them to do violence to no man because let's face it, you know soldiers Throughout all throughout history and that a tendency of doing things That goes beyond just warfare That they do they have been known to rape and pillage and kill innocent civilians and do things that are completely outside the scope of war Don't do that. Don't do violence to people You know you engage in your warfare, but you don't go and do these other things and he says be content with your wages, you know So that's again a small example. We could go a little bit more in depth I didn't want to spend too much time on that today You say pastor rooms if there's a time to kill and why does the Bible say thou shalt not kill and The Ten Commandments and This is I think it's hard to even spend time on some of these things but you hear it you hear it a lot from people who want to Find contradictions in the Bible It's usually people who aren't Christian they hate the Bible and they want to they want to say things and make them feel better About oh, yeah that book so stupid. It says you there's a time to kill but then it says thou shalt not kill So there's a contradiction, isn't it? No, it's not a contradiction because anyone who's even read the entire Bible one time Clearly sees the meaning behind when the Bible says not to kill It's deeper than just taking a life Because there's plenty of instruction to take life in the Bible and In fact, it's it's so easy to see even Jesus and you could turn to keep your place to number 35 turn to Matthew chapter 19 Jesus quotes part of the Ten Commandments in Matthew chapter 19 When in verse 17 someone comes up to him he says that he said unto him why callest thou me good There is none good but one that is God, but if thou wilt enter into life keep the commandment Jesus is answering. So, you know this guy comes in with a good master. What shall I do to inherit eternal life and Jesus respond saying well, why are you calling me good? There's none good But one that's God and he says this but if I will enter into life keep the commandments and guys like okay Keep the commandments which ones I have to keep and Jesus said thou shalt do no murder Thou shalt not commit adultery thou shalt not steal thou shalt not bear false witness So he mentions these things are from the Ten Commandments and he says I shall do no murder Not caring and the Ten Commandments is referring to murder Yes, killing is a more generic term the way that we could use it of like taking a life But the the the meaning behind that in the Ten Commandments is murder, which is absolutely evidenced in numbers 35 Which is why we started reading from that chapter this morning because there is some nuanced Intention matters on one person loses their life and the cause matters, too So if someone loses their life Accidentally at the hands of another man, you can say that person killed them but they didn't necessarily commit murder and The command obviously you shouldn't be just I mean you shouldn't kill people anyways Right if a person even accidentally kills someone that's that's wrong you shouldn't do that, but but you don't face the same consequences By killing someone when it was unintentional. Let's we're gonna start reading there in verse 15 I know we just read the whole chapter boys dig into this real quickly in numbers chapter 35 the Bible says these six Cities shall be a refuge both for the children of Israel and for the stranger and for the sojourner among them That everyone that killeth any person unawares may flee there notice the law applies to everyone here Anyone that's within the nation. It's going to apply to them whether they're a stranger. They don't have to be a citizen They can just be there temporarily They could be a stranger a foreigner they could be one that's born in the land They could be anybody and they have these cities and they have the law established to handle these situations to apply equally to everybody It's not special rights for anybody and it gives an example here of someone That would be able to flee into one of these cities in order to stay safe Verse 16 says and if he smite him with an instrument of iron so that he died He is a murderer the murderer shall be put to death the first instance is someone that he's saying look this is not someone who's just going to Get away with this Because if you pick up an object like an instrument of iron and hit someone with that and then they die You say you know oh, I didn't really want to kill him Well if you pick up an object and kill you like an iron object or something And then you end up killing that person you are a murderer according to the Bible Yeah, and be aware of that be careful you get a fight with someone People Get in fistfights and stuff Don't just bring it to the next level of deciding well now. I'm gonna pick up this object because you know I'm losing the fight or whatever and Then just hit somebody To put them to death You know that that makes you a murderer when you do things like that It's one thing to get in a fight with someone. It's a whole nother thing to just to just kill them now again There's a caveat for If your life is is threatened if that person already has a weapon And they're gonna come at you and kill you and you pick up an object and kill him But that's not what this is referring to this is just talking about someone who? You know there's a conflict and they pick up Something to hit someone else with and then they die Verse 17 says and he smite him with throwing a stone wherewith he may die and he died he is a murderer the murderer shall Surely be put to death You can't take these objects that could very easily be lethal and and You know you know that this could kill somebody and do that if it kills that person you are a murderer You can't just pick up rocks at people you own sometimes you say well But I was just trying to do this or scare them or whatever well look if you if you end up killing someone because that Makes you a murderer This 18 or if he smite him with an hand weapon of wood Wherewith he may die and he died he is a murderer. He was a baseball bat That's what it is. I mean. It's a you know a club a baseball bat someone You get you know get a fight in this well You know I'm just gonna beat this guy, and they die you're a murderer Bibles is the murderer shall surely be put to death now if someone's being put to death that means they're being killed Right so I'm very clearly here the Bible's instructing people to be killed But it's not contrary to the law. This is the law this number number is part of the law This is part of what of just a further Exposition of the law of thou shalt not kill well, this is now detailing. What is it? What does it mean to kill someone was it? What does that mean well you find yourself in one of these situations? Well, then you're a murderer. You're gonna be put to death Verse 19 the revenger of blood himself shall slay the murderer when he meeteth him He shall slay him now. I'm gonna say this here at this point also You know everything is being outlined here is God's perfect law. It was this law. That was given Israel and It was for the nation to have instituted as their laws of the land And these are righteous laws, and I would say would the God we could have these laws in existence for us today Anything that's not just part of the political priesthood Ormances, but the but the laws here about murder about all these other crimes You know these are righteous judgments and a righteous land a righteous people would institute laws like this because God's justice system is correct. It's right so a Time to kill would be a time for the people of land to determine that hey, this is going to be the judgment now There's so much to cover in this. I'm not going to do it. I think it's still in this chapter if I remember correctly About you can't just put people to death though. Just based on hearsay or even like one witness there has to be enough evidence To convict somebody of a crime. It's a capital crime So there were people who would be like the revenger of blood can kill a murderer It says when he meeteth him he shall slay him, but it would still have to be you know everything is done Orderly in the sense that you know person would have to still has to be found guilty you can't just go taking matters into your own hands and There's always an element here of obeying the law and the law of the land being How you would deal with things and God giving authority to Human government to carry out these sentences in fact keep your place here. Let's I just want to cover this real quick I wasn't gonna do it, but let's go to Romans 13 Because it is spelled out You say well passable you said there's a time to kill so I'm gonna go kill someone that I know that's that's a murderer No It's not for you to take that into your hands. This is a way that should be established And done decently in an order and and God gave the the power to take life Under certain circumstances, but it wasn't just carte blanche for anyone just to take life Romans 13 the Bible says in verse number one let every soul be subject unto the higher powers for there's no power But of God the powers that be ordained of God God's the one who gives power God is all-powerful No one can have power unless God gives them that power now people like to usurp power and try to take it on themselves But that's not a righteous power That's not something that would be acceptable in the eyes of God when someone just takes their own You know tries to use power and you and a power over people To their own benefit or whatever things that would fall outside the bounds God is the one who ordains what the powers are He's the one who provides people to even have a power or have an authority To do things because he has all power and authority So he's the one only that's able to grant that power unto other people verse 2 says whosoever therefore resisted the power resisted the ordinance of God and They that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. Some people don't like the powers that God has given and the authorities that God has given and Will try to resist that but is saying, you know You're resisting you're resisting God basically when you resist is the powers that he sets up Verse 3 then says for rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil Now if there's a ruler that is a terror to good works They're operating outside of their god-given power or authority that God has given them So if you have a ruler that's going to make it illegal to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, for example And there are terror to those good works of people doing good things God hasn't given them that power So people will take Romans 13 and skew this to just say well every every person in power is just of God And you just have to follow everything else. So it's like That was just all of God and if you're anyone fought against him now, you're fighting against God no, that's false Okay, when people are doing things and acting outside of the power that God has given them You know, that's that's not the power that you have to obey We obey God first and foremost and a ruler is supposed to be this is talking about rulers that are not a terror to good works, but to the evil When someone does harm to someone else when someone inflicts harm on other people Well, that's why you have the rulers then to be able to hold them accountable and carry out justice Says wilt thou then not be afraid of the power do that which is good and thou shalt have praise of the same For he is the minister of God to thee for good The ruler is supposed to be a minister of God to you to the people for good To do good things to bring justice to bring judgment But if they'll do that, which is evil be afraid say hey There is someone that God's placed in authority To be able to hold people accountable. So if you're gonna do evil then you ought to be afraid For he beareth not the sword in vain He's been given that power to bear the sword and it's not there for no reason it's not just an empty threat For he is the minister of God a Revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. God has given that power To be able to take away Life at the hands of the minister of God that's supposed to be the one who is who is has the power to take life in a court of law if you will in a Appropriate setting that follows God's law that's gonna find someone guilty and say, okay, they have the power to execute Another person or take another life because God has given them that power, but it's not just wide and broad for everybody to just do as they will and Decide for themselves. Well, I'm just gonna take another person's life because God hasn't given you that power It's instituted through his law and When his laws into should be through the human governing of a people So we're for you must needs to be subject now if you're wrap it off for conscience sake so And then it talks about tribute and custom and that's why you're supposed to be take paying taxes is to be able to support these People who are supposed to be ministers of God and they're supposed to be terrorists to the evil not to the good They're supposed to be there for your good and everything else and that's the power that was ordained by God to do that So when someone is carrying out a death sentence for someone else who's committed a capital crime They're killing that person, but it's justified. That would be a time to kill Let's go back to numbers 35 Another thing that's great about I believe what's great about God's law. See he has a revenger of blood. He has someone you know, if If you have some loved one or someone that was murdered and That person was found guilty of murder then the you know people get their justice you know even personally by being being able to be the one that's gonna Slay the murderer and That in itself is going to provide more closure For the person who's had something taken away from them and and God is giving them that that I Think a greater sense of justice that they're able to to meet out that that judgment against that person and you know, this is God's design and And I believe that helps the person that you know, you know It doesn't help the person is when there is no justice served And when people who are worthy of death Just get to continue on that continues to add more damage to the crime that was already committed And specifically I think about one of the worst crimes is that people who who defile little children and they're get a slap on the wrist or they go on some registry list somewhere and Just allowed to continue out in public instead of just having their head blown off When you do something like that, and then the the people who are defile the children that were victimized and and preyed upon, you know, they have to see this person and it's like It's one of the worst things in the world and then they just get to walk around free and oh you just can't live by a school or something like Are you kidding me? and Then that person gets even more screwed up because if this is what's tolerated if this is just if that's all that happens I mean this is like enough to devastate an entire life, but then it's just like Well, I mean, yeah, you got a few years in jail He went to prison for a few years Like that's it. I mean you got people going to go into prison for For you know weed for marijuana for like having having a plant This drug going away for decades and you've got some child predator going away for a few years. It's it's insane And it really messes with the victim that much more By not having that justice served And it's it's hard enough I believe for people to get beyond that level of abuse But you know, what would definitely help that person is to see that person that was that was committing abuse upon them Receive that the justice that's due unto them And to actually even be involved and just be able to say yeah, you're you know You're gonna be put to death and I'm gonna it's gonna come at my hands again against that That wicked person It's righteous But again, this power has been established through what should be the laws of the land and Unfortunately, these are not the laws of our land and We are not given the power to just decide for ourselves that we're just going to do Whatever we want to people and just basically take the law into our own hands But at this on the same token, you know, and again, it's not an endorsement of going outside the law But I'm also not going to shed a tear for someone who is guilty of some heinous heinous crime that ends up getting killed Because justice isn't being served, you know, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna cry for him Let's keep reading here verse number Verse number 19 the render of blood himself shall slay the murderer when he meet at them He shall slam but if he thrust him of hatred or hurt him by lying of weight that he died or in enmity Smite him with his hand that he died He that smote him shall surely be put to death for he is a murderer The revenger of blood shall slay the murderer when he meet at them So these are all examples of someone, you know, it's really intentional They hate the person they're trying to just you know They're laying weights meaning like they're setting a trap to like ambush this person and jump on and Do all this other stuff if they're if they're really setting things up and setting them up to get this You know, even if it's just setting up to get beating but in end up killing them like look man, you're a murderer You can't do you can't you can't just do that, right? It's not That's that's that's pre meditated is what we would use today and in a legal concept pre meditated murder you're thinking about this stuff in advance you're trying to you hate this person trying to kill him and That is what constitutes a murderer verse 22 says but if he thrust him suddenly without enmity They weren't enmity and enemies. He didn't have this hatred towards them, but he ends up for whatever reason, you know Thrusting him away or have cast upon him anything without laying of weight. It wasn't planned. So, you know the stuff just happens Says all with any stone wherewith a man may die Seeing him not in cast it upon him that he died and was not his enemy Neither sought his harm Then the congregation shall judge between the slayer and the revenger of blood according to these judgments, so he's saying You know accidents happen. It's all someone's you know, someone's working. So we're gonna be doing construction work Someone could be moving stones moving rocks, you know, you're on the job operating the forklift operating crane, whatever You know things happen and you end up killing someone and they're going look these guys weren't enemies It's not like he had it out for him because that's another thing people might try to do is stage some accident and it's some Accident that's like yeah, but he hated this guy. You know, like he wanted nothing to do with that guy You know Which again? Okay, just a little piece of advice a little piece of wisdom Be careful Be careful in in every aspect especially when you're dealing with things Where you could potentially take someone's life or if you carry a firearm or something? Be very careful, especially these days, you know if you end up getting Someone Ends up dying and Even if you didn't mean it, but it's like it turns out to be some sodomite or something You'd be like well you you know you intended for that to happen because you hated that person Just be careful. Don't ever use You know careful with the force that you use and deadly force and things like that, you know Obviously only do things justified you already know that but just be you know have a hypersensitivity to to Any level of having having like a lethal force available to you because it can turn around on you quickly and Part of the judgment here is is looking at the people and saying oh when something happens here were these people enemies? What was going on? What's the whole story behind this as they as they investigate to see if some guy says look this was an accident You know he died They'll go around and start asking people like hey did these people know each other. What was the deal here were the enemies and If it's found out that yeah, I was just totally an accident then they're gonna Not convict that person of murder look at verse 25 and the congregation shall deliver the Slayer The Slayer is someone who kills you see he was a person who actually took the life Out of the hand of the revenger of blood and the congregation shall restore him To the city of his refuge whether he was fled and he shall abide in it unto the death of the high priest Which was anointed with the holy oil? so There still is a consequence even for the person who kills accidentally They have to then move and reside in that city of refuge basically, they have to leave where they were and go and stay at this other place for an extended time and part of that has to do with I think sympathy for the The victim for the person who still ended up losing their life for the family so you don't have to constantly be Confronted with this person who was ultimately responsible for that your loved one ending life even if it was accidental they're still responsible for it and saying look you just you need to stay over there and And you know okay, you're not being put to death you're not a murderer, but you got to pick up and move buddy You know these these people don't shouldn't have to be confronted and deal with you on a regular basis since they lost a loved one and Then it says but verse 26 if the slayer shall at any time come without the border of the city of his refuge Whether he was fled and the revenger of blood find him without the borders of the city of his refuge and the revenger of blood Killed a slayer. He shall not be guilty of blood Basically, it's your own fault for leaving If that revenger of blood that person who would have been the person if they were murderer to kill them The person who's close to the one who lost his life if you're just if you're disregarding The the law here saying you got to stay in that city, and he just ends up well I'm just gonna go out anyways and that guy meets him. He's like look if they you know You get you get what's coming to you if the guy if the guy ends up killing them Then he's not gonna be guilty of murder Now it doesn't mean that the revenger of blood will always kill that person if he runs into him or something they might not want To they might just see like I was an exit, but the point is the laws is saying you better stay there Because that person won't be guilty of murder if they end up killing you Because they shouldn't have to come into contact with you essentially and of course there's a time period on this too The person's not banished forever It's after the death of the high priest verse 28 says this Because he should have remained in the city of his refuge until the death of the high priest But after the death of the high priest the slayer shall return into the land of his possession So after the high priest dies He's able to go back and and live normally after that and then after that also the revenger blood has no standing to then go and and kill that person and try to seek out any type of revenge because Everything was done according to the law and this is this is the way that God's law was set up So these things shall be a statute of judgment unto you throughout your generations and all your dwellings Whoso killeth any person the murderer shall be put to death by the mouth of witnesses and notice They're the usage of the word kill and murderer Being used in this instance synonymously Whoso killeth a person the murderer shall be put to death and That's the the intention of the of the Ten Commandments there of not to kill But it's only the murderer that is put to death By the mouth of witnesses. It's not the one who is a slayer. That's the accidental killing and You know a person who kills in taking another life Is the murderer that's the killer that is the murderer that is the murderer that is the murderer that is the murderer in taking another life, you know, when it's a justified reason, is also not a murderer, obviously. It says here, it's, they should be put to death by the mouth of witnesses, but one witness shall not testify against any person to cause him to die. So, someone can't lose their life if only one person has any facts about it or knows anything about it, or saw it, because then you could, it's too easy for one person to lie. Verse 31, moreover, you shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer. And would to God we could have this in place, too, that, you know, taking no satisfaction means they can't pay any money. You can't take any other payment, any, anything else to settle this debt that he owes of having to lose his life. You know, you think about a rich person, guess how rich people just get away with murder. It's just like, oh, well, I'll pay you millions of dollars if I don't get the death penalty. Like, no, you can't, you can't take any other satisfaction. It has to be life for life. It says don't take any satisfaction for the life of a murderer, which is guilty of death, but he shall be surely put to death. And, and I wish our government can operate under these, you know, when murderers go to trial, not giving these plea deals and everything else, and going, oh, well, we'll give you life, or we'll give you all these other sentences. Man, someone's going to be found guilty of murder, then just put him to death. We shouldn't have all this other nonsense. And, and taking other satisfaction in everything else, you know, what's right is right, and what's right is that a murderer ought to be put to death. Verse 32, and you shall take no satisfaction for him that has fled to the city of his refuge, that he should come again to dwell in the land until the death of the priest. And it goes the same thing for even the person who accidentally kills someone. Look, you can't buy your way out of that. You can't just make other deals to come back home and stuff. He says, no, you have to just stay there. That's the way it is. That's the law. Don't change God's law in regard to these punishments and the way that God is dealing with these things and is instituting for these things to be dealt with. He says just leave it as is. Don't allow for anything else to be done. The Bible says to turn to Leviticus chapter 20. So we see here some clear instances of murder being put forth and murder being a reason to kill, it's a time to kill when you find a murderer that's guilty, then that person needs to be killed. This was instituted even all the way back in Genesis. Genesis chapter 9 verse 5 says, And surely your blood of your lives will I require. At the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man. At the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. Whoso shedeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God made he man. That's where God instituted the death penalty after the flood. And he says, that's it from here on out. If someone sheds man's blood, if someone is a murderer, then their blood is going to be shed. That's going to be brought back on their own head. And number 35 goes into a lot more detail about that. Leviticus 20 though goes through a lot of other capital crimes, things that people can do that would justify a time to kill. And really, as a whole in Leviticus chapter 20, it also explains why God instructed the children of Israel to go and to kill all the inhabitants of Canaan land, of the promised land that he was giving unto the Jews, was given unto Israel. He was giving them that land, not only was he keeping his promise, but he was also bringing judgment against an extremely wicked people. And as we read through Leviticus 20, it goes through all these different things that people can do that's worthy of the death penalty according to God's judgment. At the end it says that, and this is what all the inhabitants of the land have done, that they're guilty of all these things. And as we read, you're going to see some pretty weird stuff being put forward in the law of things that are capital crimes, but the people were okay with it, the people were doing that, they were all just giving over to this stuff, and that's the reason too why, you know, what they were doing was so bad. When God sent in Israel to defeat the people, because a lot of people have a hard time with this too, was the wiping out of the people completely. Not just men of war, but it was the men, women, children, they all were killed. And look, this is something that even a lot of Christians shy away from and they won't talk about, but look, you need to talk about it. You can't just look the other way and pretend like that's not in the Bible. Or try to judge God and say, oh God's somehow evil, God's bad, God's wicked because of him commanding to do these things. No, it was judgment against a nation that was extremely wicked. Just as much as flooding the earth was a judgment against a bunch of wicked people, just as much as raining fire and brimstone down an entire city, that everybody in it died, man, woman, boy, girl, everybody was burning fire because God's judgment came upon an extremely wicked people. God's judgment also came on the Canaanites because of their extreme wickedness. And as we read through this, just keep that in mind that it's for these causes that ultimately they all were wiped out. And I hope you're never ashamed of the Bible or would take offense at the Bible. Because it is the Word of God and we understand who God is and you can't change who God is, whether you like him or not. I love the Lord, but this is reality, this is who God is and people want to make up their own God and their own image or whatever. And try to condemn the Lord, but it's because they don't understand the gravity and seriousness. They just read one thing about women or children being put to death and they think that they're somehow more righteous or they understand judgment better than God does. But let's start reading in Leviticus chapter 20 because there's more than one time, it's more than just murder that allows for a time to kill, for a time for people to be put to death. Exodus 22 18 says, Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. So there's one example, but Leviticus 20 and so reading verse number 7 the Bible says, Sanctify yourselves therefore and be ye holy for I am the Lord your God and you shall keep my statutes and do them. I am the Lord which sanctify you. For everyone that curseth his father or his mother shall be surely put to death. He hath cursed his father or his mother, his blood shall be upon him. Now we start off right off the bat here with people going, whoa, what do you mean? But when you live in a society and culture where this is just becoming more standard for children to be so disrespectful and abrasive towards their parents that they'd actually curse them. Now look, this isn't a child that's saying what someone might call a curse word, like a four letter word. That's not what's being referred to here. But putting a curse on their own father or mother is an extremely wicked thing. Your mother and your father are raising you, providing for you, feeding you as a child to then go and put a curse. A curse is opposite of a blessing. Everyone should know what a blessing is, right? You're praying for good things upon people. That's a blessing. A cursing is you're praying for evil things on a person. I guess probably the most easy one to identify would be telling someone to go to hell. Like that's a curse. I hope you die and rot in hell. That's not a blessing. That's a curse. And the Bible says that everyone that curses his father or his mother shall be surely put to death. Is God the righteous judge? Because I believe so. And I see no reason why this shouldn't be the law of the land today. Verse 10, let's see the next thing. And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbor's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. There's another one. Hey, adultery ought to be punishable by death. That's what the Bible says. Just because it's commonplace today doesn't mean it shouldn't be the law. Verse 11, and the man that lieth with his father's wife hath uncovered his father's nakedness, both of them shall surely be put to death, their blood shall be upon them. Amen. Amen. But see, we're living in such a weirdo society that these are going to be the things that you're going to be seeing happening and being put out there as being, oh, you need to accept this and this and this and this and this. Hey, when you start with the love is love garbage, all of these things that are abominable and worthy of death, the world's just going to say, well, hey, it's love. I love my stepmom, I love my mom, whatever, however you can apply that either way, your father's wife. That's perverse. Put to death. Verse 12, and if a man lie with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall surely be put to death. They have wrought confusion, their blood shall be upon them. If a man also lie with mankind as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination, they shall surely be put to death, their blood shall be upon them. This is a homo, this is a sodomite. And this is what the media and other people, they want to pull this out because we preach against this, because it's being crammed down our throats like everywhere you turn. Oh, I can't, this hate goes through, he wants them all to be put to death. Look, I do, because I want God's laws to be instituted. And then you have people who say, oh, we're worried about the person that curses the Father. Yes, I believe that too, because I believe all the word of God. I'm not just picking out one, oh, you just don't like them, you don't like, it drives me nuts here. You don't like people who are different than you. That has nothing to do with it. I don't like perverts. You know, everyone we're reading about here when it comes to these sins of lying with someone are all perverts. A father-in-law with his daughter-in-law, look, you're a pervert. A son with his mother, you know, or stepmother or whatever, you're perverted. He does a bunch of perverts. Man lying with man, you're a pervert. It's not that I don't like people who are different from me, but Michael's a little bit different from me, I love him. But if he's a little bit different, even if the world's a little bit different than me, look, I like these guys, they're all different than me. Brother Carter looks different than I do, but I love that guy. It's not that I hate people who are different from me. And there's a lot of women in here that are different than me because they're women and not men. And I don't hate them for being different from me either. My wife's very different from me. And I love her more than anyone in the world. And we're very different, especially for those of you that know us. It's not that I don't like people who are different than you. No. I just want to see God's law put in place and that perverts would be put to death. When they're guilty of any one of these crimes, because it is a crime, wouldn't you care what people do in the bedroom? Well, you know what? God cares what people do in the bedroom. And God instituted a law that says these people that do these things should be put to death. Well, that should be the law then. If God said it should be the law, it should be the law. And you know the reason why is because when people are this depraved and do this manner of evil and wickedness, this isn't the only thing they're doing. It's like a cancer. Verse 14, and if a man take a wife and her mother, it is wickedness they shall be burnt with fire, both he and they, that there be no wickedness among you. And I could just imagine these are probably going to be like the newest TV shows out there. Because I really just love putting the most perverted people on the screen and in front of you to see like, oh, look at this family and look at their alternative lifestyle. And it'll be some reality show. And it's just wickedness. And it would be gear. I'm saying this, there probably already exists, I don't even know. But if it doesn't, it's soon to come. And the whole point would be to desensitize Christians especially, into just normalizing it and getting entertainment from it. Ah ha ha, it's so funny. No, it's not so funny. God doesn't think it's funny. God's not laughing at that. God's not laughing at the homos that are on the TV screen for your entertainment. It's disgusting. He says they ought to be put to death. Verse 15, and if a man lie with a beast, he shall surely be put to death, and he shall slay the beast. I mean, that's just so wrong. Look, it's not the animal's fault. Look, you just got to kill that thing too. That's abhorrent. That's vile. Put that beast out of its misery. And if a woman approach unto any beast and lie down there too, thou shalt kill the woman and the beast, they shall surely be put to death, their blood shall be upon them. It talks about more people being cut off, and you could argue whether or not that's talking about being put to death or not, but then verse 27, the Bible says, And a man also a woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death. They shall stone them with stones, their blood shall be upon them. There's a lot of deal with things that are absolutely very clearly saying it's a death penalty. All of these events would justify a time to kill. Now turn, if you would, to John chapter 8. The last few minutes I want to just handle some of the opposition, you might say, or people that want to tell you that these stories or whatever, these verses of the Bible will tell you that there's no longer a time to kill. Look, God doesn't change. God says, I am the Lord, I change not. Are Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today and forever? Okay? Jesus is the Word, by the way. Jesus is the Word. So you're looking at the Word of God. Jesus embodies the Bible. John chapter 8, we have the story of the woman taken in adultery. And this is the story that many people want to turn to and be like, see, look, Jesus didn't, since Jesus didn't put this woman to death, then he must have changed the law or something. That's not what happens here. And if we read it, let's just see what the Bible actually says, and we'll see what it doesn't say, and that you can't just use this passage to say, well, there should be no more death penalty anymore. It's ridiculous. Of course there should be a death penalty. And this is the thing that even Baptists have a hard time with, even fundamental Baptists that want to pick and choose what parts of the law ought to be in effect and what shouldn't. I mean, you talk to the fundamental Baptists, oh, man, these guys talk about being put to death, this guy's crazy. No, you're crazy. You've got the problem. I don't have the problem. I'm being consistent with the way the Bible says it. I'm being consistent with the Word of God. You're going to say, oh, yeah, murderers put him to death. Oh, yeah, pedophiles put him to death. Oh, yeah, other people put him to death. Why do you believe that? If you believe in a death penalty at all, why would you pick and choose certain crimes that would be put to death and certain crimes not to? You can't justify it biblically, because if you're going to say, well, murderers should be put to death because of the Bible, well, I'm going to say, well, sodomites should be put to death because of the Bible. How in the world do you get sodomites should not be put to death because of the Bible? If that's what you're going to use as your authority of who should be put to death and who should not, well, let's be consistent with it. And I am consistent because I do believe all of those things that were referenced there that we just read in Leviticus 20, all of those should carry a death sentence, all of them. That was the law that God deemed to be good and righteous, and that hasn't changed. People who look at this story, look at this story real quick in John 8. Verse number 3, we'll start reading, the Bible says, And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, they say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stoned, but what sayest thou? Now, you know right from the onset, they're not asking him because they really genuinely, sincerely want to know what they should do with this woman. They say, look, we know what Moses already said to do with this woman, and we read the law about the adulterer and the adulteress, surely we'll be put to death, right? So what are they trying to do? Well, they're trying to catch Jesus in his words. They're trying to get him to say something contrary. And that's what it says there in verse number 6. This they said, tempting him, testing him, that they might have to accuse him. And what they're doing is they're bringing forth a question that he can't answer properly one way or the other. If he says, yes, put her to death, well, the Jews, the chief priests and the Jews and the leadership of the Jews were not allowed to put people to death under Roman government. And this is clear when you keep reading the Bible later on when they're trying to get Jesus executed. They said it themselves. Well, look, we can't put him to death. That's why they brought him to the Romans to begin with. Because they needed them to say, yeah, you can crucify him. Otherwise they would have done it, but they knew they couldn't do it. So if Jesus says, put her to death, then they're going to say, ah, hey, hey, Romans, look at Jesus. He's saying that she should be, he's trying to usurp your authority and get him in trouble and get him arrested and get him put to death for treason or whatever, right? That's what they're trying to do. But then if he says, no, don't put her to death, they'll say, oh, but God's word says to put her to death. So they're trying to put him in a lose-lose situation because they're trying to trap him. But the way he answers is very wise. And when you understand what the Bible says, that they're tempting him and they're trying to accuse him, that should help you with the rest of the story. But Jesus stooped out with his finger well on the ground as though he had done that. So his first response is to not say anything. When people come with foolish questions and trying to goad you into an answer and trying to get you to say things that, you know, to just cause a problem with you, just don't respond. You don't have to answer them. And that was his tactic. He says, you know, I'm just not even going to answer you. Verse 7, so when they continued asking him, so he says, keep on badgering about this. He lifted up himself and said unto them, he that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. Now, just his answer right here, it's really deep, there's a lot of wisdom to this. There's a lot of teaching, there's a lot of learning to gain from this passage. But did he say, don't put her to death? No. He did not say, don't put her to death. So, if he's not saying that, I mean, just explicitly, how can you say that this is your support, this is my biblical reasoning of why we should no longer have the death penalty? Because Jesus said, let him first cast a stone at her. If anything, he's confirming the death penalty. Now, he does it wisely, though, because he's applying it back to them, saying, okay, well, if you're without sin, then why don't you go ahead and do it? He's pointing out their own hypocrisy. They're trying to get him put to death for no reason by bringing this woman who would be guilty of being put to death, and they're the hypocrites. They're in no place to condemn this woman because they're guilty of greater sins, of trying to put the Son of God to death. So, he's turning it around on them and answering wisely in a way that they also can't catch him in his words, because you could say, well, he's not contradicting the law of Moses. He's saying, let them first cast a stone, but he's also saying, yeah, but only those of you without sin. Well, who's that? Nobody. Right? So, he's able to wisely answer this where they can't trap him. And this is what, you know, it wasn't his time yet to die. And on top of that, when we keep reading it, we'll see this, too, you know, Jesus' ministry was not to come in and judge people for their sins. He came to pay for people's sins. He came to be the sacrifice. His job was not to come in and be the judge of this world. He says, I'm not the judge. There's one that judgeth you, and now he's going to come back, and he's going to roll and reign with a rod of iron, and he will be the judge. He will be the ruler, but the first time he came, that was not the purpose. Jesus Himself said, for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. He came to bring forgiveness of sins. He came to bring the pardon. He came to bring the mercy and to pay the ultimate price. He was not coming. It was not His ministry. It was not His job to come and start dictating who needs to be put to death and who should not. That wasn't His role. That wasn't His job, which is also why He didn't just say to do that, and it says in verse number 8, and again, He stooped down and rolled on the ground, and they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last, and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had lifted up Himself and saw none but the woman, He said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? So now He's able to still stand in judgment, but there's no witnesses left to testify against her, but she was still there, so He was like, Well, hey, where are your accusers? Well, even by the law, He's not going to convict her and put her to death when there's no one there to testify against her, two or three witnesses to be able to put her to death. She said, No man, Lord, and Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more. He's not debating whether or not she was in sin. He knows she was, but He came and He brought mercy, but that doesn't mean that there should be no death penalty. When you look at the context and the story as a whole, this does not just say, Yep, the death penalty is no good anymore. Last place we'll look at Luke 9. And I'm going to use this passage of Luke 9 just to kind of illustrate what I was saying at the very beginning. You know, we need to hear, and the world needs to hear, the hard preaching on these sins that are worthy of death, and we need to stand strong and say, Look, these things are that bad. They're that abominable. They're that reprehensible. The just sentence would be a death penalty for all of these different crimes, but still, the time to kill is the exception, not the rule, right? We should be of a spirit that's one where we're not seeking to kill. We're not seeking to do harm and to do evil. We're trying to bring good. We're trying to bring the Gospel, love, care, compassion. All of those good attributes are what characterizes us and our ministry and what we're trying to do. But we'll still stand on the truth and recognize, but you know what? Sometimes there is a time to kill. Sometimes there is a time to hate. Sometimes there is a time to break down. Sometimes there needs to be something destructive that happens when you're dealing with wickedness, when you're dealing with sinfulness. It needs to come down. But just so we keep our focus here, Luke 9, verse 51, the Bible reads, And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, and sent messengers before his face, and they went and entered into a verge of the Samaritans to make ready for him. This is Jesus' disciples, and he's ready now to face his death. He's ready to go to Jerusalem, so he's saying, okay, we're going to start heading that way now, and he's going to find a place where they could lodge, where they could stay as he's going to be traveling on. So he goes to this village of the Samaritans and says in verse 53, and they did not receive him because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem. They're like, oh, well, I mean, you're not staying here. You're just passing through just to go to Jerusalem? On the Samaritan's perspective, they're just like, pfft, no, we don't want you staying here with us. You're not welcome here. And when his disciples, James and John, saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them even as Elias did? So they're like, well, oh, okay. You're not going to receive us? Well, what do you think, Jesus, should we just call fire down from heaven and just kill these people because they're not receiving us into their home? They're like, Elijah did that. Now, look, Elijah's story was a little bit different. These guys are coming into a city being a guest, like there's just visitors coming into another place on these other people where they're asking to just be received, hey, can you lodge me, whatever. Elijah was like on the mountain minding his own business, and the king's just sending all these troops, this whole garrison, like a hundred troops coming to come and take him and bring him to the king. It's a slightly different situation. I think there's a little bit more threat to Elijah where he's got all these soldiers showing up to just bring him to the king, and he calls fire down from heaven, and those men die, as opposed to traveling and people just not being hospitable, not being nice and friendly to you. That's not when you need to call down fire and brimstone. Look, I love preaching on the fire and brimstone. We need to hear it. It needs to be part of our consciousness. We need to know who God is. We need to have that proper view and balance that God is, yes, He's loving and kind and merciful, but He's also hellfire damnation and hates wickedness and evildoers, and we need to have the proper balance of all of it. But don't get so hyped up on the hellfire damnation that you end up with the wrong spirit of just wanting death and doom on everyone that's contrary to you, right? We're trying to bring salvation to a lost world. Now, there's a line when people cross this, it's like, look, they ought to be put to death. That's just, that's right, that's a time to kill, but just because someone doesn't like you or they don't want to hear your message or they call you names or whatever, that's not the time to just wish these people dead or something like that or to want to call fire down from heaven. And that's where Jesus rebukes His own disciples here. Verse 55 says, But He turned and rebuked them and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of Man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And they went to another village. So they go, So let's go somewhere else. If they're not gonna receive us, we'll go somewhere else. And this is, you know, this is how we have to operate. Is there a time to kill? Absolutely there's a time to kill. It's not our job to execute judgment on evildoers. That power was given to those in authority to do that in a government to carry out that sentencing. It's not the responsibility of every single individual to do that. It would be a good thing to promote the passing of righteous laws where God's word, God's law could be instituted and we could have righteous laws. That would be good. There's nothing wrong with that either. That's not a bad spirit to want to have justice in a proper justice system. But we don't want to go beyond the measure of what the Bible's saying. Hey, these people are, you know, worthy of a capital crime. They're guilty of a capital crime and worthy of a death penalty. And then just go beyond that to just anyone who crosses you. Well, they ought to be put to death too. That's going too far and that's not the white spirit. We go forward with the spirit and the heart to save, with the spirit and the heart to help, to bring goodness, but not at the expense of there's still a line that can be crossed that would be worthy of a time to kill. Let's bow our heads, have a word of prayer. Dear Lord, we love you. Thank you so much for the instruction we get from your word. I pray that you please bless everyone today. I pray that you please help those who are not well quickly and Lord bless the soul winning today and to Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Alright, we're going to sing one last song before we're dismissed. Brother Peter, please lead us. Song 224. There shall be showers of blessing. Song 224. So let's sing those first. There shall be showers of blessing. This is the promise of love. There shall be seasons refreshing sent from the Savior above. Showers of blessing. Showers of blessing we need. Mercy draws down the storm falling on toward the showers we plead. There shall be showers of blessing precious reviving again over the hills and the valleys. Sound above the winds of rain. Showers of blessing. Showers of blessing we need. Mercy draws down the storm falling on toward the showers we plead. There shall be showers of blessing sent them upon us, O Lord. Grant to us now a refreshing coming down under thy word. Showers of blessing. Showers of blessing we need. Mercy draws down the storm falling on toward the showers we plead. There shall be showers of blessing O that someday they might fall. Now as to God we're confessing. Now as to Jesus we call. Showers of blessing. Showers of blessing we need. Mercy draws down the storm falling on toward the showers we plead. Amen. Church, great singing. Thank you so much for coming, you guys. God bless you.