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all right Romans 12 this entire chapter kind of gives us a full mindset of how we ought to be thinking and acting and and things like that and I'm not going to go through this entire chapter but as we read we just read through this whole thing and there's so many things that are mentioned here and those are all characteristics and and traits that we ought to have and what I'm gonna be doing this morning I'm actually gonna be teaching and preaching this sermon that was there was a question brought up to me not on whether or not this was right but just kind of asking someone asked me in church to point them in in a direction because they were trying to explain to other people this this truth or this concept of this idea and how to how to prove it all from scripture and what I'm gonna be dealing with this morning is is self-defense in light of the Bible self-defense and this is a really good topic and I had thought that I had preached like an entire sermon on this before but turns out that I didn't and I think it's important enough it's it's a good it's a really good issue to devote an entire sermon to this subject I brought it up in other Bible studies and stuff in the past but we're going to kind of dive a little bit deeper and look at biblical principles and apply them because here's the thing like a lot of things you know you'll find that not every single question you could have on what's right what's wrong how do we do this it's just going to be explicitly answered in the Bible just you know we have a lot of thou shalt thou shalt nots right so when it comes to things that are just flat out in there it's like okay well that's easy right because it just says it black and white you don't even have to do any thinking about it thou shalt not you know kill or steal or you know all these things like yeah that's that's a no-brainer it's obvious other things though we need to we need to dig a little bit deeper and get a full proper understanding of the law of the spirit that we ought to have of many things so we're gonna when we look at this we're gonna look at two things okay one is we're gonna look at the law because the law is really really important because first of all if anything's going contrary to the law then you know that it's sin and it's not right however the law is not where we want to stop because there's also things that go a little bit beyond the law which is the spirit that we ought to have so the law allows for certain things where it's not a sin but it's even when you're following a law isn't necessarily the best way that you ought to be if that makes sense I'll give you an example an example would be the the exception for for divorce that's given in Scripture that the law allows for a man to divorce his wife for the cause of fornication okay but that's not really what God doesn't really want you to use that exception to the law he wants you to be able to stay together and so you know so the best thing would be you know from the beginning it was not so God made them met you know male and female and for this cause shall man leave his father mother shall cleave unto his wife and they too shall be one flesh so that gives us the the teaching of like hey this is what God really wants now there is this aspect of if you you know if you do this you're not sinning okay God made the exception it's it you'd be just in doing it but that still doesn't follow completely in the best way so it doesn't mean you're again there's a difference between sinning and what can I do to be the absolute kind of be in the right spirit and have the right mindset it's also similar we just went through this with dealing with problems with people in church where you know if you have a problem with someone you need to bring it to the church you know so if your brother defrauds you then you could get judgment within the church and the church will make you know and obviously you deal with them first and then you bring one of your witnesses and then it goes before the church and then there's judgment made but the spirit that's that's being taught there as well as just hey if someone does you wrong why don't you just suffer it right so so those are the two different things where there's a right process and there's kind of a law to it but then there's also the mindset of well what's the best way to be anyways self-defense is going to be something similar okay so we're going to look at the legal aspect of it as far as God's laws concern I'm not worried about our laws I'm talking about the law of the Lord so what would be considered sinful and what's allowed and then also on top of that okay well I know that I wouldn't be sinning but is this still you know what's the best way or the right way to handle the situations and those are kind of the two main aspects we're starting off with a principle here in Romans chapter 12 before we even get into self-defense it's just in verse number 18 the Bible says if it be possible as much as lieth in you live peaceably with all men dearly beloved avenged night well I'll get into that in just a minute so the the first principle is we're not out looking for trouble right and we're talking about self defense being able to defend yourself well if you're walking with a mindset of just wanting to live peaceably anyways you know some people can bring on situations where it still is considered self-defense but you're not really trying to live peaceably as much as you possibly can with all men right because there's a lot of things that can be said that can provoke that can put you in a situation where now I've got to defend myself right and we need to start and that's why I want to go into this just starting off having the right mindset of not even wanting to get into any altercations or get into a situation where you would have to even deal with defending yourself or defending someone else and honestly I've taken and just so you know where we're going a little bit I've taken plenty of self-defense classes okay quite a few some martial arts some gun training I'm a believer in you know being able to defend yourself and carry weapons and things like that but we're gonna get into some of the biblical principles behind that and and why I have that mindset but the best training that you're gonna get especially in self-defense some of the best training that I received went into heavily into the de-escalation and how you talk with people and and being able to completely avoid confrontations to begin with because there's so many situations that can be handled verbally and never have to come to anything physical where someone's going to get harmed and when we keep this mindset of being able to live peaceably with all men that is the goal right so sometimes what this is going to mean is that your pride may get hurt a little bit but in the idea of living peaceably with all men you suffer things you allow things when people will cause names you know throw out words to try to provoke you if you can have the humble and the meek mindset to not allow yourself to get provoked and then start going back and forth and kind of escalate a situation to a point where it's going to get maybe violent or cause you to have to you'll be forced to defend yourself the best thing to do in many situations in almost all situations gonna be to diffuse a situation if someone says something okay right let it be because you want to be why because you want to try to live peaceably with all men as much as is possible you don't need to have conflict who care at the end of day who cares if someone calls you names or someone disrespects you or whatever it doesn't really matter and if you're gonna take it to a next level or stream it's like is it really worth going to blows over is it really worth you know now adding all of this extra hurt and injury and and potential damage over some things that people are saying and and you know you think that out in your mind and think it all the way through to make the decision in advance you know what if this situation comes up I'm just gonna just let it go blow over walk away right that is that's the bet and and so before we even get into the self-defense part that's the spirit that's the mindset that we want to have and the best teachers will also teach you this as well the best martial arts training is gonna tell you you know you're not learning how to fight to go out and be a tough guy and to be a bully and to just see whose butt you could kick and you know like that's not the purpose of it at all and if you know if you have wisdom if you have knowledge on being able to deal with situation and defend yourself and you know techniques that is going to allow you to neutralize threats quickly great but don't let that go to your head either to puff up yourself and to start making you get a proud attitude instead of a meek and humble and lowly attitude so you could maintain this spirit of trying to live peaceably with all men verse number 19 and continues on about here avenging yourselves because this would be another situation where you might feel like well I need to write this wrong and get yourself into a situation that would be an altercation that can that can lead you to oh I'm defending myself right but we need to avoid that as well by was a dearly beloved avenge not yourselves but rather give place unto wrath for his written vengeance is mine I will repay said the Lord therefore if thine enemy hunger feed him if he thirst give him drink for in so doing thou shalt eat coals of fire on his head be not overcome of evil but overcome evil with good this is the spirit and the mindset that we need to be walking by and living by okay this is the great general hey this is how I'm gonna live my life day to day and we're gonna try now there's gonna be times there can be times where even doing as much as you can here isn't enough to prevent you from having to defend yourself because there's evil wicked people out there that that's what they're set on is doing harm or do you know whatever and sometimes having this mindset isn't enough to avoid a confrontation or avoid a situation we have to defend yourself right but this is how we want to as much as we can with the control we have to avoid it altogether and this is what's right I mean this is what the Bible's teaching us to do anyways we follow this you'll find yourself not having those situations so what does the Bible say about defending yourself or others you know the principle here is to seek peace the Bible also talks about not being strikers not being brawlers right and with saying that that's that's someone who's more characterized about someone who's you know they're a fighter right they're they're a brawler this isn't talking about that's not talking about sport of playing games I mean this is talking about people who you know you know who the type is we've all seen them the ones that like just getting into fights with people oftentimes alcohol can fuel this as well if you're in bar type situation was I don't worry about anyone no one should be but there's people who will just kind of that's what they want to do they're brawlers they want to start fights any little thing they'll look for reasons for to get in a fight with people and that's not how we ought to be right and don't put yourself in situations where that type of people are around either that's another way to help you avoid these these situations but self-defense in general I titled the sermon is a real broad subject because there's lots of ways to defend yourself and I'm gonna start off here just by dealing with the most extreme form which would be a lethal self-defense right because if we deal with that situation obviously the things that would be less lethal it's a lot easier to understand where the limits are if we could establish limits on when is it okay to take another life in the act of defending yourself is it okay what does the Bible say about that the rest of it becomes a lot easier to understand and deal with because if I have this much extent if I have the extent to take another person's life in defending myself then you definitely have the right to use less lethal or less than lethal methods of defending yourself right I mean that's so that's why we start with that extreme because it already encompass everything else turn fuel to Exodus chapter 21 Exodus 21 we see a lot of the laws regarding killing of another person and there's multiple situations that are brought up in the scripture and in the scripture does it and I preach entire sermon on the death penalty and in these types of laws and there's a distinguishing between manslaughter and you know first degree murder is the way that we would think of it like premeditated someone's out to kill someone is way different of a crime than something happening by accident maybe there's just an accidental death or a situation where you know a person wasn't trying to kill them something happened they got in a fight or whatever but but they didn't just have it out to kill them but they ended up dying anyways so there's a distinguishing factor there and this would be a situation where if you're defending yourself right someone's attacking you or trying to attack your family and you end up killing that person well you wouldn't be considered a murderer because you weren't you didn't have it out to kill that person you weren't trying to just do harm to that person but they did end up dying right at your hands so it would still be a killing which you know there's there's a such a high value on life that God puts an extremely enormous value on a human life and for very good reason right we we got the story of you know if you remember the story of the man that was possessed with the devil and then Jesus cast out that with the Legion right with all the devil's and Jesus cast him out into the swine and you have all those swine running off down the hill and then dying in the sea and it was worth it and Jesus was willing to make the sacrifice of however much financial you know however much that was worth all those swine's life to whoever the owner was that that man's life was more important his soul was more valuable than all those swine and however much money that was right that's just one example obviously there's there's lots of lots of examples in Scripture just valuing life so we we don't want to take this self lethal self-defense lightly either because it's a big deal I mean it's it's taking someone's life they're gone they're not coming back it's done and it's another situation where you don't we shouldn't be looking for it you don't want it to happen but you know what there are times where even here with the law we're gonna see that if that happens you're not going to be put to death because the the death penalty is a sign for people who kill right for murderers but as we see here look at verse number 12 of Exodus 21 the Bible says he that smiteth a man so that he die shall be surely put to death so if you hit somebody you and you end up killing that person he says you know what you're gonna be put to death but then it goes on to explain and you could read this in context later just just take note and read the whole chapter for yourself verse 13 says and if a man lie not in wait so he's not like out to get him but God deliver him into his hand then I will appoint thee a place whether he shall flee so this is that's the manslaughter where he wasn't trying to kill him it wasn't his intention it wasn't his motivation but now he's gonna go in and kind of seek refuge in another area so that that person's family is gonna come after him and kind of start this whole back and forth and have a war over this person who died so and again I went through all that with the death penalty you could read you could go back and find that sermon or just read this chapter for yourself later on flip over to chapter 22 so we see there that you know there isn't a real punishment for manslaughter other than you just kind of got to get out of that situation with the person who was who was killed so when you're if you're in a situation we have to defend yourself your intent is not to kill the person right you're not it's not premeditated you didn't have it out for him in most cases where you're gonna find yourself I don't even know the people whatever I just some someone trying to do you harm there's no punishment on that person's death on their blood even though the value of life is high God still puts this and saying okay well you're not going to be punished for that this this move you know being going into a city of refuge wasn't a punishment it was a way to keep order it's not you're not being imprisoned you're not you know you're not losing liberty and it's it's one of the consequences that goes along with stuff with a with an event that is tragic I mean it shouldn't shouldn't happen people doing that doing bad things unfortunately there's a fallout and that's the best way to deal with it now in Exodus 22 I want it this is a really important passage to look at because I think there may be some people that that viewed that take this a little bit too far and in their application of it but let's read the first three verses Exodus 22 Bible says if a man shall steal an ox or a sheep and kill it or sell it he shall restore five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep so this is talking about a thief right verse 2 says if a thief be found breaking up and be smitten that he died there shall be no blood shed for him so this is a criminal coming in and he's caught trying to steal and he's he's smitten so that he dies the Bible says you know there's no blood shed for him but then verse 3 says if the Sun be risen upon him there shall be blood shed for him for he should make full restitution if you have nothing then he shall be sold for his theft so what this is implying here is that if he's found at night breaking up right and he dies there's gonna be no blood shed for him but if if the Sun be risen upon him there shall be blood shed for him for he should make full restitution now what this is what the situation is talking about is a man stealing an ox or a sheep right so I'm not stealing an animal first of all an ox or a sheep isn't going to be in your dwelling with you and people just don't keep oxen and sheep in their residence where you're staying where you're sleeping and things like that right this is going to be someone coming onto your property and trying to steal and and here's the things we need to understand and we got it we got to think about this and apply the biblical principles because I don't believe that it's just well anyone who breaks into your house in the daytime if you kill them then that you can't do that but if they're coming in at night then you can kill them I don't I don't take I've heard that before I don't believe that that's the proper application of this because this isn't talking about someone breaking in your house so the person who's breaking in your house you don't know why they're there they may be coming to steal but they may be coming to rape they may be coming to murder you know they're coming into the place where you live it's different than someone breaking into your shed right to steal some garden tools or whatever so if you have someone out on your property trying to steal something in the daytime you know you can deal with that situation definitely you're not just gonna gonna just go to killing that person or whatever but someone that's creeping around at night you know you don't always you can't always see what the motivation is and you're saying you know what there's gonna be no bloodshed for that person because they may be coming you know you don't know but it's a lot easier to see these things in the daytime and get it and get an understanding of what a person's actually doing you know and it's also not like saying okay you've got the green light just go out with your gun and start shooting people at night if they're on your property they'd be smitten that he died you know there's not going to be any blood shed for him so we also got understand to one of the what he's saying here is that if the Sun be risen upon verse 3 there should be no bloodshed for him why for he should make full restitution because there's not a death penalty on the crime of stealing right thieves if you're just stealing something they need to restore and repay that is the right judgment for a thief and for stealing but other crimes right if someone's coming to murder or rape those do carry a death penalty sentence and I think any crime that carries a death penalty sentence already you're completely justified in taking that person's life to prevent them from doing whatever it is that they're trying to do if someone's coming to kidnap right or rape or kill there is zero doubt in my mind that if you're defending yourself from those things and you take that person's life there would be no blood shed for that person and I think the reason why it brings up this situation of a thief is that because it adds an element of uncertainty and unknowing that well I mean if you can't see what's going on it's at night there you know you're trying to check out what's going on and you end up killing that person there's still gonna be no blood for them shed for them even if they were just stealing which isn't a capital crime you still get that added you know no punishment or no penalty at all because because of that so there's more to this than just applying it broadly because you got to figure I mean and that like I said an animal is not gonna be in your house right if someone's breaking into your house in the daytime how do you know why they're breaking into your house they may be in there to steal but they may be in there to do other things and I would say this too if someone's got a weapon then there's there it's if someone's breaking into your house with a weapon you can't assume that they're in there to do anything other than to use that weapon against you you have to make that assumption now these are some areas where the Bible doesn't explicitly talk about this I'm going to the areas that that comes as close as possible to a situation like this but we need to take this all in stride with with and look at it carefully and not apply too broadly like in this situation as well just daylight there or darkness and that's it across the board well let's look and see exactly what this is talking about and who this is talking about because this is talking about a person where it gives us the motivation where someone's just coming to steal and we already know that it's a person who's just coming to steal stuff and there's a difference there's there's some thieves that are not violent and they don't want to have violence and they don't carry weapons and they just want to steal things and and they try to do when people aren't around and they're not carrying guns and not carrying weapons that's a different thief than the person who's going to come in and pull an armed robbery and threaten life and everything else those are two different types of people and both exist so the person who's just trying to steal which again obviously it's all wrong but a person who's just trying to steal you know like the Bible says someone who's hungry and they're stealing to get some food it's not the same as someone else who commits a different crime so all of this needs to be considered and thought about and honestly there's just some common sense and we're gonna see some common sense later I've got that in my notes where there's an element of things that are just understood because a lot of them are just so basic that I think that's one of the reasons why they're not really brought up a whole lot in scriptures because some things are just pretty common like that like like doth not even nature itself teach you that if a man have a long hair it's a shame unto him like like isn't that just obvious and that's just and you know the Bible itself literally just says that where it's like hey that should be obvious to you and I think a situation where someone's gonna come at you with a gun or you know threaten you or your family's life it should be pretty obvious that yes you can do that but we're gonna get even further in scripture just and just I'm gonna show you where God is allowing and okay with these situations the law itself even says hey there's gonna be no bloodshed for him there's a person's life dying you know ending at the hands of someone you know who were there they're breaking through and stealing and the Bible said you know what nope no punishment for it you know what that means it's not a transgression it's completely justified in God's eyes for that to happen so there are instances at the very least whether you're not you agree with my whole analysis of Exodus 22 you have to admit that there are instances where killing another person in defense in some manner of defense here defending property or defending life is allowed according to God's law that is that goes without a doubt now we're also going to look at an example turn you over to 1st Samuel chapter 18 I want to just point this out because I think King David's a pretty good example in general on how to live and how to deal with situations right where he applies the spirit but then also being a godly man kind of what just looking at his actions out we don't get our primary doctrine just from people's actions in Scripture if you don't know whether or not those actions right because sometimes good people do bad things right you can't just say oh well this person had multiple wives so multiple wives okay no you take the clear teaching and then we can look at this and again it's not that that day you know even though David is listed as a man after God's own heart doesn't mean everything that David did was right but there are many areas where we can look at examples and we can see principles playing out that is right and that in that people do get blessed for and when you see people getting blessed for their heart and their attitude then you can deduce that well what they did was right first Samuel chapter 18 look at verse number 10 the Bible reads and it came to pass on tomorrow that the evil spirit from God came upon Saul and he prophesied in the midst of the house and David played with his hand as at other times and there was a javelin in Saul's hand and Saul cast the javelin for he said I will smite David even to the wall with it and David avoided out of his presence twice so here's a situation where David needs to look use himself defense because Saul's trying to kill him with it with a weapon with a javelin but what did David do he avoids him he just gets himself out of that situation does he avoid the javelin and then come at him and and and try to kill Saul because he tried to kill him no he had an opportunity to get away and he gets away and I think this is a really good example of how we ought to be peaceably minded that even if someone were to come to you in a situation if you have an opportunity to get away take the opportunity to get away and and eliminate the threat just by physical distance that's the best way to deal with threats so that you don't have to do now that's not always an option sometimes you may be your family with you or something else and there's a threat coming you can't just leave because you've got to worry about other people that you're protecting right so I'm not talking about every situation but there's also it could be a situation where you're by yourself there's someone that's gonna approach you maybe want to rob you maybe an armed robbery whatever and you have an opportunity to get out of there get out of there right it's just it's the it's the it's the right way to be peaceably minded and to get away because at the end of the day the best thing is just that you know no one has to be hurt would be would be ideal then Saul ends up chasing David right and we know we know the story you read the Bible and instead of David killing him he completely just continues to try to avoid the conflict altogether and there's obviously other things at play here Saul's God's anointed there's all these other stuff but at the same time David's just using this trying to live peaceably and just he you know he confronts him a couple times and look what have I done you know I'm not sinning against you leave me alone and he has the heart and the attitude of being meek and humble and not taking things personally and not just you know going to get vengeance on himself where it'd be very easy for a man to do that saying oh you think you're gonna kill me I'm gonna kill you know and having that type of an attitude David left it in God's hands which is the right thing to do in a situation like that avoid it as much as you can now I think if push came to shove David would still end up ultimately defending himself if he absolutely had to and was just in that situation but he does his best to completely avoid it and just let God deal let God deal with it and notice this to turn it to chapter 21 right because this is as David is now fleeing he understands Saul has it out for him he's conspiring to kill him you know he hears from Jonathan that yeah you know my dad's trying to kill you so he decides to leave and he flees and he flees pretty fast right so he got some of his men together and they end up running and then he goes to a himalek which is the priests and he's looking for provision for his soldiers but then look at verse number eight it says and David said unto a himalek and is there not here under thine hand spear or sword for I have neither brought my sword nor my weapons with me because the king's business required haste and the priest said the sword of Goliath the Philistine whom thou slewest in the Valley of Elah behold it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod if thou wilt take that take it for there is no other save that here and David said there is none like that give it me so even though he's avoiding conflict he still makes sure he has a weapon he's still like I need a sword I need like I didn't even get a chance to grab my weapons you got something here here you go Goliath's sword you have it he's like yep I'll take that and he takes that with him he makes sure that he has a weapon and I'm sorry Goliath's sword isn't gonna be useful he didn't get it to slice bread with and he wasn't getting a sword to go hunting with either they had bows at that time bows would be a lot more effective at hunting game when you're on the run then a sword okay it's been done the people who go hunting know this right if you hit who's been bow hunting before I know I know there's some hands back there been bow hunting it's not easy to get in proximity of a beast even to use a bow and a bow is a range weapon I mean you've got distance you can cover distance with that weapon to kill an animal and trying to sneak up on an animal to be able to even use a bow is not easy can you imagine trying to get close enough to use a sword we're gonna kill this deer with a sword like yeah good luck I think you're gonna go hungry before you're able to use your sword I mean unless they have wild boar out there maybe you could get one and and provoke them into charging you and you could kill it with a sword or something but yeah it's not gonna be your your your weapon of choice for hunting it's not what he got it for it's for defense right and I apply that today you know guns yeah they're great for hunting but that's not the only purpose of having a gun you use them for defense just like people here would use a sword flip over to Psalm 18 we went over this a little bit in our Bible study in Psalms but it's good in the context here in the light of what we're preaching here to understand this as well because this is also David speaking on David got this sword he's running from Saul he's not trying to have a confrontation but he still needs a weapon to be able to defend himself and this is righteous and you know what the priest gives it to him the priest doesn't say no David you know you shouldn't have any weapons because it's not right and it's not godly to have a weapon because you wouldn't want to accidentally kill somebody with it when you're slicing bread or going out hunting you know no weapons no he gives it to him he's here he provides him with the food and he gives them the sword here you go it's completely reasonable to give him a sword give him a weapon Psalm 18 look at verse number 30 Bob reads as for God his way is perfect the Word of Lord has tried he is a buckler to all those that trust in him again the mindset of understand we see this all throughout Psalms God is our defense God is our shield that's who we're trusting in first and foremost our self-defense is really should be trust in God's defense that's top that's number one but it doesn't just stop there there's still things that we can do you know Bible says that that the horse is prepared for the day of battle but safety is of the Lord so you still have the horse prepared you still do things you still walk around you know doing what you can do but at the end of the day your faith is in God and as we're gonna see continuing through this this passage we start in verse 30 hey God is the defense God's a buckler but let's keep reading here verse 31 for who is God save the Lord or who is a rock save our God it is God that girdeth me with strength and maketh my way perfect he maketh my feet like hinds feet and seteth me upon my high places verse 34 he teaches my hands to war so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms he's saying God's the one who made me fast God's the one who made me strong and God's the one who allowed me to get this knowledge and understanding of how to use these weapons for the purpose that a weapon is made for I mean God did that if God didn't want you ever ever to have to take another life I mean he sent people into the Promised Land and you know so obviously there's there's situations where it is okay to take another person's life and here we're focusing on just the self-defense aspect verse number 35 thou has also given me the shield of thy salvation and thy right hand hath holded me up and thy gentleness hath made me great thou hast enlarged my steps under me that my feet did not slip I have pursued mine enemies and overtaken them neither did I turn again till they were consumed I have wounded them that they were not able to rise they're fallen under my feet for thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies that I might destroy them that hate me they cried but there was none to save them even unto the Lord but he answered them not then did I beat them small as the dust before the wind I did cast them out as the dirt in the streets thou has delivered me from the strivings of the people and thou hast made me the head of the heathen a people whom I have not known shall serve me and obviously that last verse there is prophetic of Jesus Christ still but we have these people rising up against David to do him harm and God giving him the strength to defeat those enemies and the people that hate him and are coming against him and and making war with him and God is providing him the strength to kill those people and to defend himself now here's a big question turn to Matthew chapter 5 because this is where probably the biggest opposition to what I'm teaching this morning would come from is well what about turning the other cheek right and look it's important it needs to be dealt with but it's also important to get more than just one verse in the Bible to get a doctrine and to understand a bigger concept and it is important I mean being able to take someone else's life is it's not something to just be flippant about and when we're understanding what is the right thing to do you can't undo someone's you know taking another life so we need to be real serious in our study over this it's not just a flippant study it's something that we need to consider everything that the scripture has to offer and obviously there's some meaning behind what Jesus is teaching and saying in Matthew chapter 5 and we're going to look at that and see how does this correlate how does this work with the rest so far with what we've seen in Scripture that's what we've seen as well as the the more verses that we're going to turn to how does it all fit because I'll tell you what there's not a contradiction in Scripture you can't have one verse saying one thing here another one saying that there and it's just and it's just a total contradiction otherwise it's not the Word of God and there is no contradiction you just have to understand how it all works together Matthew chapter 5 verse 38 the Bible says and in Matthew 5 this is the portion of Scripture where Jesus saying well you've heard this but I'm telling you this you've heard this but I'm telling you this and in general what he's doing is he's kind of applying what's already known and making it even even more applicable right so when he's taught here this is also the passage where he brings up well you've heard you know about basically about adultery but I tell you if a woman you know if a man looks at a woman lust after he's committed adultery with her already in his heart like that you know he's kind of taking things even further verse number 38 here says you have heard that been said an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth and we're gonna go and turn it to Leviticus 24 just a minute because that's where this is coming from that he's bringing up but I say unto you that you resist not evil but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek turn to him the other also and if any man will sue thee at the law and take away thy coat let him have thy cloak also so how does this fit with everything else that we've seen to this point and does this mean that if someone approaches you with a gun or with a sword that well here you're gonna cut off my you know this arm cut off this arm to or cut you know like like where do you draw the line on this right is this just saying that that we just because we says that you resist not evil does this just mean that no matter what anybody ever does that you always just give up your life well one that wouldn't be consistent with everything else that we just saw it just isn't consistent with the rest of Scripture now there is meaning to this absolutely there is meaning to this but this is in a context of what he's talking about here and a lot of this context has to do back to the principles and the spirit in the heart that we ought to have towards these things when he brought up an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth that's talking about the punishment on the person who does you wrong okay this is this is literally what he's referring to Leviticus 24 19 says and if a man caused a blemish in his neighbor as he hath done so shall it be done to him so this would be you get in a fight with someone right your neighbor whatever and they they hurt they injure you well the law was saying that okay well if you injure someone then you're gonna have that done to you right and it's a law that makes sense and there's nothing wrong about the law so Jesus just talking bad about the law here or saying the law is no good he's not saying that what he's talking about is your attitude then towards someone who transgresses against you that's what he's talking about just exactly like the scripture teaches about if someone you know defrauds you in the church you have a right to have that settled and judged in the church just like a person has the right if someone smites you and they cause you damage to your eye or to your hand or what you know you have a right according to the law to have that punishment given out on that person we you know it according to the law but what he's teaching here is to show mercy and forgiveness against having that penalty or that punishment meted out whereas if a man caused a blemishes neighbor as he had done so shall be done him breach for breach eye for eye tooth for tooth as he hath caused a blemish in a man so shall be done to him again someone's done you wrong and it ended up in in an injury or whatever this is all this I do not believe that this breach for breach eye for eye tooth for tooth is talking about someone who's attempting murder on you right I mean it's not that's not the point of this aspect of the law this portion of scripture that Jesus is bringing up it's talking about how do you rectify and how do you get justice for things that were done wrong to you if someone I mean if someone caused you to they ended up causing you to lose sight in an eye right I mean you get in a fight with someone and they beat you up and then and all of a sudden I meant you caused my eye to perish well according to the law that's how you you you balance the justice is okay well I mean that that was extreme you shouldn't have done that now you've you've got to lose that eye but what Jesus is teaching is just saying you know what allow just just allow it right don't go after them don't you don't have to worry about getting them in trouble and getting you know it wouldn't be wrong or a sin to have them punished for what they did because it would be righteous according to the law but he's trying to teach a spirit and an attitude that just allows you to show mercy and forgiveness that's what he's doing here this is different this is not a situation of somebody attempting to take your life or threatening to kill you where you're turning the other cheek to let them kill you that is not what's being taught here okay that's a different situation turn if you would to Luke 22 and here's you know this is gonna I've in my mind just proves it beyond a shadow of a doubt because Jesus is the one teaching in Matthew chapter 5 to turn the other cheek well we're gonna see what Jesus also said after what he said in Matthew chapter 5 to his disciples in Luke 22 Luke 22 we're gonna start reading in verse number 35 where the Bible reads and he said unto them when I sent you without purse and scrip and shoes lacked ye anything and they said nothing and if you remember earlier in his ministry he's saying you know what don't take two coats you know you're just gonna go out you're gonna preach a gospel you only a money you don't need anything just you know when you go up to a city find out who in it is worthy and you're gonna stay there and you're gonna do this work and you don't need anything you're gonna be taken care of right and he was teaching them you know obviously lessons but when he was with them he's saying you know what you don't need anything you just go out and do this now Jesus is about to be crucified he's about to be arrested and taken from them and everything else and he's saying you know what when I did that before you didn't lack anything did you but now look we say the verse 36 he says then said he ended them but now so is he changing something a little bit he is you know before you didn't need anything at all you didn't even need any money just go out and just do what I'm telling you do you do it by faith you'll be taken care of and he taught them that he taught them to live by faith but now things are changing now he's gonna be leaving them now they're gonna be left you know as we're on their own of course they're gonna have the Holy Ghost the you know the Holy Ghost come the comforter and it's gonna help them it's not that Jesus is just leaving them completely but in the world he was leaving them physically he was in the world with them he also when Jesus was physically in the world you know as he said unto the Father you know all that you've given unto me that he's kept right so Jesus as the Good Shepherd was watching out for his disciples too and I think physically like he was making sure that they were cared for and not harmed when he was with them on earth and now he's saying you know what now I'm gonna be leaving but now he says now he that hath a purse let him take it and likewise his script and he that hath no sword let him sell his garment and buy one so now he's bringing up a sword why is he telling someone and and the importance on this is also can't be understated as well because if you do he says if you don't have a sword sell your garment so that you could have a sword putting an emphasis on making sure you got a sword to the extent of you know a garment is very precious especially you know in these days you didn't have all the Chinese factories and the textile plants you know just pumping out all this cheap cotton made you know whatever materials so that everyone's got all these wardrobes it's a lot more valuable when you have the hand stitch clothing and you have these garments and oftentimes you'll see people who were poor that didn't they only had like one garment and you can see that when it's talking about being sureties for debt and things like that where it's like they're giving their only piece of clothing for that is a valuable thing and even the the rewards that with with name in the Syrian he's gonna give them you know this change of garments it was something he brought gold silver and change of garments right it's like you got these precious metals and then having these garments was also something that was highly valuable as gold and silver was so what Jesus is saying here he's saying let him sell his garment in order to buy a sword which also can give you the value of garments I mean if you could I can't sell my shirt to get a gun today right or even a sword I get that value isn't the same as it was back then but then you can see that obviously if you sold your garment you'd have enough money to buy a sword so that's what he's instructing them to do they didn't know you really need to have this and go with your you go with your money go what you tell them go prepared go prepared I told you before you didn't have to have anything you could just go and do it and and and everything was fine and everything worked out for you but now I'm gonna be leaving and now I want you to be able to just just take preparation bring your your your pocketbook with you bring some money and have a sword and that's how I'm gonna have a sword to again it's not to slice bread with you get a butter knife for that you don't need you don't need a sword to do that job and then he says for I say unto you that this that is written must yet be accomplished in me and he was reckoned among the transgressors for the things concerning me have an end so that's why he's telling them because he's gonna be crucified that's why now they need to have a sword because he's gonna be put to death verse 38 and they said Lord behold here are two swords and he said unto them it's enough great you got two swords good it's all you need you know you have you don't have to have a whole arsenal he's not saying stock up and just have every form of weapon and then you'll be okay and able to defend yourself now he didn't say you can't have a bunch of swords we just said choose enough right nothing wrong with having a few extra but but it's not necessary right there's a need you're saying okay that all you need is to be able to have you know one or two swords great it's enough but that's out of the mouth of Jesus so why would he instruct his disciples to carry a sword if in every situation the right thing to do is just to allow all manner of evil to just happen unto you and not resist and not do anything it wouldn't make any sense at all totally contradictory allow all manner of evil no matter the situation to happen unto you if someone's just gonna come to you and kill you just go here you go go ahead you could slice my throat wide open I'll help you out here what do we need a sword for oh you could just stay there I got a sword I'll just I'll just do it myself just so you could be extra nice and kind that's not why okay because what Jesus was teaching in Matthew chapter 5 was for specific circumstances it is referring to a portion of the law where judgment is being passed on someone who had done you wrong and it wasn't because they were trying to kill you and it wasn't anything like that it was just an altercation with someone that might have gotten a little bit out of hand a fight that look those things happen and you know these days you never even know with fights because people are just crazy and carry all these weapons around with them and stuff but it wasn't that abnormal for people to get into just fights when they would have a conflict with someone not saying that's the right way or the best way to deal with things but like even in our country there used to be a day where you like you could get in fights with people and not have a threat of like losing your life right there wasn't the mindset of like oh if I get in a fight with someone I'm just gonna be killed right and unfortunately today just because there's been so much sin and and things have just gotten so much worse now if someone's gonna fight you like someone you don't know is gonna fight like like there's a very good chance that they may just kill you or try to kill you it's sad and unfortunate things weren't always that way but you know you got to deal with the situation as it stands and you know this is also the reason why God made judges of the law to be able to make the proper application according to what the law says and be able to apply and say yep no obviously we have these situations where someone you know someone's dies as a result of someone defending themselves and there's no judgment penalty made so if someone's coming against you and you're just defending your life or defending your family and their life is taken it is what it is there's gonna be no judgment or punishment against those people turn if you would to Matthew 26 so this is Luke 22 we saw where Jesus instructed them to take a sword Matthew 26 is the parallel passage with Luke 22 so it's it's at the same time frame because he instructed them to take a sword right before the Garden of Gethsemane where he's arrested now then in in the the way that things are happening in Luke 22 okay Matthew 26 now we're gonna see him get arrested and I the reason I'm going here is because I also want to say I just want to bring up this one verse that other people might try to use to say that no no it's still not right to take someone else's life because it you know whatever and and we're gonna look at this real quickly verse number 50 in Matthew 26 Bob reads and Jesus said unto him friend wherefore art thou come he's talking to Judas then came they and laid hands on Jesus and took him and behold one of them which were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword and struck a servant of the high priest and smote off his ear we know that that was Peter from another gospel where he slices off his ear Peter Peter was carrying a sword with Jesus because Jesus already told him hey make sure you got a sword so hey Peter it made sure he had a sword and it's understandable if you just think about that you know if you were there with Jesus whatever why you'd want to do I mean you're trying to protect Jesus okay well we're gonna fight then and make sure that they're not gonna come and just take him cuz anyway Jesus didn't do anything wrong now Jesus tells him no right why why does he tell him no don't because there's so many reasons why but but it wasn't you know it this was his time this is what he came to do he knew the prophecy had to be fulfilled he knew he had to go to die he knew he's going to the cross so this wasn't why he was telling him to bring the sword it wasn't just for that moment because he even tells them it's not he says in verse 52 then then Jesus said unto him put up again thy sword into his place for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword and this is a phrase to that people were gonna want to use they all see look if you if you just carry your sword you're just gonna die by the sword and that's just the way it is there's a teaching going on here absolutely and he said this for a good reason and you know we kind of will commonly use a phrase you know you live by the sword you die by the sword and and there's truth to that I mean if you're always just just pulling out your weapon and getting into fights it's going to come back on you one day too okay that's that's just a kind of reaping what you sow to the way that the world works this wasn't the right time either for Peter to be pulling out the sword and slicing off people's ears this was not the threat of Jesus losing his life he was going to be arrested and brought before a council so I also don't think it's right if you know just to start pulling out your weapons against the cops like if they're gonna arrest you and just be like no I didn't do anything wrong I'm gonna you know like you're not taking me there's things that are being done here it was it wasn't appropriate for Peter to just pull out the sword as Jesus said you know he was ready to fight his heart was in the right place but he wasn't doing it right if he was doing it right then Jesus wouldn't have said anything to him he obviously told him to carry a sword for a purpose but this wasn't that purpose it wasn't for this instance where Jesus is being arrested and we could take this and apply it as it will but you still can't get around the fact that Jesus is telling McCarey sword with them just because this wasn't the instance doesn't mean that there's well then there must be no instance where you use it and he just told McCarey sword just so that he could you know be more physically fit because carrying a sword is heavy and you know whatever like there's some stupid reason to carry a sword verse 53 thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my father and he shall presently give me more than 12 legions of angels so he's also explained to Peter like look you don't have to defend me I get I get I've got you know a father in heaven that's going to like I could ask him and I could have 12 legions of angels right don't don't worry about me but how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled that thus it must be in that same hour said Jesus in multitudes are you come out as against a thief with swords and staves for to take me I sat daily with you teaching in the temple and you laid no hold on me and one other thing I just want to point out here too is that he's likening his arrest with a thief but we notice he says a thief being taken with swords and staves so people treating a thief as being a dangerous person which is also a reason why there's no blood shed for the thief who's breaking up in the night now obviously if you can control the situation and handle it in the daytime whatever you kind of see what's going on that the right thing to do is to is to just handle it and not you know just take their life but a thief is obviously he's I mean this is just general knowledge that when you're coming to apprehend a thief you're gonna have some weapons that help you apprehend that thief now just as here they didn't just use the swords and staves on him they did but they had him ready in order to arrest him and the same thing would be done with a thief too and I just just as we were talking about thieves earlier you know that that they can be very dangerous people right also thieves if people are stealing for need they could be very desperate too and desperate people end up doing desperate things so you need to be aware of that as well and that's another reason why it's so you know again it would fall into a category of being acceptable according to the law to you know if you had to defend yourself because a thief is trying to harm you then and to do whatever then it it it is what it is now Luke 12 the last place you're gonna be turn look at Luke 12 because ultimately I think it's just common sense that you wouldn't allow bad things to happen to you especially if you knew they were going to happen if you know someone's gonna do something bad to you it's common sense that you're just gonna try to do something to stop it and this is stated in Luke 12 and Matthew 24 where Luke 12 39 it says and this know that if the Goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come he would have watched and not have suffered his house to be broken through be therefore ready also for the son of man cometh at an hour when you think not so he's using the common sense understanding that if you knew someone's gonna break in your house you'd make sure that they didn't right everybody knows that and he's using that truth to talk about the coming of the Son of Man so you could be ready for it but the teaching here is that there's nothing wrong and it's common sense that if you knew there's a threat and if you know you would do what you can to be prepared to stop the threat to stop you know to protect yourself and to keep yourself safe and to keep your good safe and to not have to have those problems so if you knew that someone can come to you and and harm you be prepared be ready for it be able to defend yourself there's nothing wrong with that and if you knew someone was gonna cut you know like do take the proper steps and precautions to make sure that you are not you're gonna allow not allow that to happen it's common sense and lastly you know parents are responsible for the safety of their children so a lot of this we're talking about we're thinking about like one person maybe someone coming to you individually and we talk about you know the right attitude is just to get away be able to avoid the situation altogether but when it comes to the safety of your children that job of protecting them and nurturing them and raising them is given to the parents and if someone's coming into your household parents you know you need to be able to keep your family safe you need to be able to keep your wife safe and keep your children safe and if that means that someone who's breaking in your house ends up losing their life there's nothing wrong with that now we don't want we're not going out to actively you know people come into your house is different than you going out and trying to kill someone and if you can deal with the situation without having to become lethal that would be the best way to go but that's not always the case there is a time for a sword there is a time to kill there is a time for these situations it's just understanding them appropriately and it's perfectly reasonable and common sense to use whatever force is necessary to be able to protect the lives of yourself and your family because and think about this you know people want to say oh but you know you need to be pacifist because life is important well if it comes down to your life or their life someone's gonna die I mean if someone's gonna kill you what are you saying then like that my life isn't important then or my child's life isn't important no of course it is how about the person who's trying to take the life their life would be the one that should end then the one who's not doing harm or evil to anyone else if one of the lives has to be taken the aggressor is gonna be the one who's gonna go there is should be no qualms about using lethal defense when people are going to come at you and do something where it's gonna it's gonna you know you could possibly lose your life with nothing wrong with that scripture and then of course every other means of defense if you can do it great if you could if you could incapacitate people without killing them awesome even better and that's why I think it's great when people take you know martial arts you know BJJ whatever different things where you can learn how to deal with situations and deal with threats and you don't end up killing them that's ideal that's great if you could learn those those techniques even better and it also allows you to be able to defend yourself defend your family better when you know those things but there's nothing wrong in defending yourself in taking another life it's it's the only consistent way that you can you can keep you'll have all the scripture make sense that we looked at this morning that's why our heads have a word of prayer do Heavenly Father Lord we thank you so much for giving us the wisdom given in your word I pray that you would please just help us to be able to make appropriate applications so that we can just do what's right we don't want to be an error Lord and and we want to be able to follow according to the spirit what what we ought to be doing the best possible way and Lord I pray that that the sermon would help people here and help others who might end up hearing it later Lord to just know the truth about this doctor in Jesus name we pray amen