Hey, man, so keep your place there in Luke chapter 22. That's what we're going to be looking at this evening, or this morning, sorry. So of course, a little bit of a context to this morning, just a little bit about myself. I grew up Lutheran and then, of course, I got saved a few years ago and got into a Baptist church and started learning the Bible and studying and growing as a Christian, like many of you, of course. However, one of the things that always kind of was a pet peeve of mine, ever since I was a young man, was when I was, I always had a lot of curiosity even before I was saved about what the Bible said, what was in the Bible, and always had a lot of questions. And one of the pet peeves of mine was when I would ask a question to a pastor who was a Lutheran pastor at that time, or pastors, when they wouldn't give a good answer or any answer at all. So as a pastor, as a pastor of a Bible-believing Baptist church, one of the things that's very important to me is answering questions that people ask of me. So it's interesting because I was mentioning this to a couple of the guys yesterday that, or maybe it was Brother Peter, we were talking about just kind of Russian and Ukrainian and Polish people and just kind of their demeanor on how they don't. I grew up Lutheran, which was a lot of Ukrainian people, a lot of Slavic-type people in these churches. And it's very uncommon for religious things to be even talked about amongst Lutherans in that culture that would never talk about the Bible at church, which is weird now when I look back on it. But one of the things I really appreciate about this church is what do we do? We sit around a lot of times after church, sometimes until late at night and we talk about the Bible and we talk about spiritual things. We talk about soul winning. We talk about all these things. And what are we doing? We're sharpening each other. But a lot of times like really good conversations come up. I mean, I love the thoughts that people, other people reading the Bible come up with. The Bible is an infinite book, meaning you will read a chapter in the Bible and you will think of something that I never thought of before when I read that chapter in the Bible. You're like, you're the pastor, but that's how the Bible works. It's beautiful. That's why a lot of the guys they get nervous when they're doing like a men's preaching night and someone will preach on a topic, like I'll preach on a topic Sunday morning and one of the guys will be like, oh, that's what I was going to do for men's preaching night in five days and they'll freak out about it. But the thing is, you don't have to worry about that because everybody will have a different angle or a different way of thinking. Look, it's all the same doctrine, but it's just the uniqueness of every individual and how the Bible reveals itself to them and with the Holy Spirit and that individual person. It's really a beautiful thing. But all that to say this, I answered the question that I was asked on Wednesday night as I make sure I answer people's questions. But I felt like this one was worthy of a sermon to answer this question and to get into some more detail about this. So before I even give you the question, let's look down at Luke chapter 22. That's all context of where this sermon came from, okay? I know that was kind of a lot, but look down at Luke chapter 22. So this is a long chapter and Luke chapter 22 is detailing what we would know as the Last Supper, which is basically Jesus' last words to the disciples. Then of course, we see the arrest of Jesus. So we're going to look at some things in this chapter and then I'm going to get to the question and detail out the biblical answer. So I hope you have your Bible with you this morning. Look down at Luke chapter 22, look at verse number 36. So what we're seeing here is Jesus having his final Passover meal with the disciples. And he's giving them his final words. And I've said this before, but whenever someone is talking to you and giving you their final words, they're going to speak to you, it's important that you listen. These are the, this isn't going to be small talk from Jesus here. I mean, there wasn't really ever any small talk from Jesus. It was always some deep message. But even if someone is on their death bed or something like this, the final words are many times the most important words. So we're looking at the final words Jesus is giving to the disciples. Look at verse number 36 or even just look at the front of your bulletin. It's the verse of the week. The Bible says, Jesus says, if you have a red letter Bible, these words are read, look down at verse 36. It says then, said he unto them, but 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 if you look back up at verse number 35, you have to understand that there is some context to this verse right here. Look at verse number 35 where he says, and he said unto them, when I sent you without purse and script and shoes, lacked ye anything? And he said, nothing. Keep your place in Luke 22 and turn back to Luke chapter 29. In verse 35, he is referring to what he told them in the past in Luke chapter 9. So turn back to Luke chapter 9 and let's look at this. So what he is saying is, in verse 36, he is giving them different advice than he previously gave them. So look at verse number 1 of Luke chapter 9, because in verse 35 of Luke 22, he's referring to what he told them when he first sent them out. He first sent them out two by two to preach the gospel, and this is the advice he gave them. Look at Luke chapter 9 in verse number 1. Then he called his 12 disciples together and gave them power and authority over all devils and to cure diseases. And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God. That should be underlined in your Bible if you write in your Bible. He sent them to do what? To preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. Why heal the sick? Same reason Jesus did the miracles. He would go out there and give that proof that he was God by healing the blind, healing the sick, even raising people from the dead, casting out demons, all these wonderful miracles to prove to the unbelieving world that he was God in the flesh. So he's giving them this same power to prove to the people that the Messiah, the kingdom of God that they are preaching, that they are preaching Jesus Christ. They're preaching the gospel is the truth, that they hold the truth. Okay, it's a proof for the people. And he sent it to them. Look at this in verse 3. This is what he's referring to in verse 35 of Luke 22. He sent it to them. Take nothing for your journey. Neither staves nor script, neither bread, neither money, neither have two coats apiece. So look what he says in verse number 3. He says take nothing for your journey. He sends them out to preach the gospel. He gives them power to do miracles, but he says take nothing with you. And look at the things that he says not to take. He says neither staves. A stave is a weapon.  So don't take any weapons. No script, script is like your checkbook or your wallet with your money in it. Then he says neither bread, neither money, neither have two coats apiece. So he says don't bring extra clothes. Don't bring any money. Don't bring any weapons. He's like just go. He's like the people that you're gonna talk to are gonna take care of you, just go. But then in Luke chapter 22, go back to Luke chapter 22 at this point. Go back to Luke chapter 22. And I want you to look up at verse number one. So you have to ask yourself, what is the difference between what is about to happen when they go out and preach the gospel? So if they go out and preach the gospel a week from chapter 22 or if they go out and preach the gospel in Luke chapter nine, what is the difference between those two times? Why would Jesus give that different advice as he did in verse number 36? And the answer is found in Luke chapter 22 in verse number one and verse number two. Look at the Bible in verse number one of Luke 22. It says, now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover. And the chief priests and scribes sought how they might kill him. But look at this. It says, for they feared the people.  Why? Because the people were enamored with Jesus. The people were flocking to Jesus.  And they're sitting here and they're trying to conspire against Jesus. How can we possibly kill him without upsetting the people? I mean, this is the politicians today.  This is the Pharisees. So they're trying to conspire against Jesus in the same way all of our politicians conspire against us today.  They don't care about what the truth is. So there was really no danger to the disciples. But what is the difference that is about to happen? They're about to succeed in killing Jesus. That's the difference. And once they've killed Jesus, once they have succeeded in that task, everything that Jesus has been preparing the disciples for is going to come to pass. What Jesus is explaining in Luke chapter 22 in verse number 36 is things are about to get very, very dangerous for you. And you need to be prepared for that. This is what Jesus is talking about. Once Jesus was crucified, the fear of the people was over. The figurehead of the Christians was removed at that point. So they thought, Jesus is simply saying to the disciples, be prepared now. And he's clear to point out that this is different from what I told you when I sent you out before.  What he's saying is Christians should be prepared for hard times. This is what Jesus was saying. Let's pray. We're gonna get into more detail on this, but I really wanna explain that the responsibility for the Christian to take care of themselves and their family does not change when things get difficult. As a matter of fact, Jesus warned that they should be prepared, that they should be ready. Now turn to Matthew chapter 24. So you say, what is the question that you're gonna answer? Well, the question that I was asked, the question that I was asked is because Christians are in liberal churches today, churches that don't open the Bible, don't understand who Jesus was, what he was all about.  But the question I was asked was why the sword? Why the sword? So that's the title of the sermon this morning is the sword and the reason Jesus told them to bring a sword. Go to Matthew chapter 24. Go to Matthew chapter 24. Of course, Matthew 24 is Jesus talking about the end times and the things that are gonna come at the time of the end. All right, look at Matthew 24. Look at verse number seven. Jesus is explaining, again, who's he explaining this to? He's explaining it to the disciples. He's explaining what's gonna happen at the time of the end. He says, for nations shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom and there shall be famines and pestilences, earthquakes in diverse places. These are the beginning of sorrows. So Luke or Matthew chapter 24 is basically the clues and milestones guideline of that entire sermon series where Jesus is just talking about all the things that are gonna happen in the end times. Talking about the sorrows that are gonna happen, meaning difficult times in the end times. Then look at verse number nine.   Turn to John chapter 16. You say, why would Jesus tell the disciples this? Why would he tell the disciples this? Because Jesus was constantly telling the disciples to be ready for difficult times, not just in the end times. He was constantly teaching them that difficult times are coming. Look at John chapter 16. He's saying, why would Jesus be constantly just being, giving all this negative advice to the disciples? Why doesn't he just be positive? Why doesn't he just be the Jesus that everybody invents today?  He loves every wicked child molester. He loves every psychotic, serial killer. I mean, they just invent Jesus. That's what's happening today. But why would the real Jesus be giving this type of negative advice to the disciples? Constantly. Look at verse number one of John 16. He says, these things have I spoken unto you. Why? That you should not be offended.  He's like, I would rather you know the truth and be ready for the truth. Then look at verse number two. He says, they shall put you out. Now he's just talking about what's gonna happen to the disciples. He's talking about what's gonna happen to Christians. They shall put you out of the synagogues. Ye the time cometh that whosoever kills you will think that he doeth God's service. Isn't this true? This is the Catholic church murdering Christians. They murdered millions of Christians throughout history. They murdered people for having a Bible. That's right. And they thought they were doing God's service. They're false God. But these people will think they are doing well when they are working for Satan himself. Look at verse number three. These things they will do unto you because they have not known the father nor me.  People will go along with wicked people thinking they are doing the right thing. Jesus saying I'm telling you this so you won't be offended.  When I go through persecution because I'm a Christian not because I'm me or I'm a pastor or because I did something because I'm a Christian. When I go through those things I can be like, yep, this is a proof of the Bible. Jesus said this would happen. I won't be offended. This is the problem with the prosperity gospel. One of the problems. This is the problem with this message that says if you believe in Jesus and you're a Christian and this is, Joel Osteen has a false gospel first of all but this is just the problem with people that say, hey, if you come to church and you give money to church everything's gonna be great for you. If you just give money and come to church and do what I say as the pastor, like God's just gonna give you a brand new car you're gonna live in the nicest house. Everything's gonna go perfect for you. That is not what Jesus said. Jesus said, if you love me, if you follow my commandments look ye shall, all that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. It will happen. I say this to new soul winners all the time. If you are somebody that you just got saved you're getting into church you're growing in your Christian life you're gonna start soul winning be ready for a tax from Satan to happen to you. Why? Because Satan can't take away your salvation. There's nothing he can do to make you not saved once you've trusted in Jesus but you know what he can do? He can ruin you as a Christian. He can make you unfruitful. He can stop you from becoming a soul winner that's gonna go out and lead other people to Christ. He can stop that. He can stop that through sin, through temptation, through all these things. He can ruin you as a person. There's plenty of unprofitable Christians out there folks.  It happens more often that I would want to admit. So Jesus is telling us these things so we won't be offended. This is the problem with the pre-trib rapture. This is the problem with the pre-tribulation rapture thinking that this doctrine that's not found in the Bible that Jesus is just gonna come back and poof we're all just gonna disappear and not go through any trouble. That's not in the Bible anywhere. The Bible says that we will go through tribulation. The great tribulation will be worse than has happened since the beginning of the world to this time, the Bible says. And you're like, how bad will that be? All you have to do is go read a little bit of history. To understand the terrible horrible things that have been done to Christians in the past. And the Bible is saying that the great tribulation of the end times will be worse than all of that.  I'm never gonna suffer any tribulation. Boy, you're really gonna be offended when those time come, when that time comes. You might walk away from your faith. You might be like, hey, I'm not gonna continue this race.  So Jesus is just telling us the truth is what he's doing. Turn to Exodus chapter 22. Because he doesn't want you to quit when things get hard, folks. He doesn't want you to stop when that persecution comes. Because look, I hope that none of us ever see the great tribulation of the end times. I'm not really looking forward to that, but we will see tribulation in our Christian lives. And it could be bad tribulation in our Christian lives without even being the great tribulation, the Bible guarantees tribulation, the Bible guarantees persecution. That's why Jesus is saying this. He's saying be ready for this. Be prepared for this. And don't be offended when it happens. So many people, and this is one of the nice things if there is a nice thing about persecution, this is one of the nice things about it.  It's a proof.  It's a physical proof of the truth of the Bible for you personally. I mean, that's kind of the cool thing about persecution. Look at Exodus chapter 22. Let's get specifically now to the sword. Why the sword? Why the sword? Yes, times are gonna get hard. We should have things, I mean, this isn't a doomsday prepper sermon, but you should have things prepared. You should have some savings. You should have a way to support your family. First Timothy 5.8 doesn't become untrue when things get difficult for you. You still have to provide for your family. You still have to take care of your wife, take care of your kids, all these things even when things get difficult. Why the sword though? Why the sword? And the answer is this, is because the Bible, it doesn't have a specific verse that points it out, but there is a clear biblical philosophy that is for the right of self-defense. The right to defend yourself and your family. Look down at Exodus chapter 22. And this is why he tells them to buy a sword. Look at verse number 22, or I'm sorry, Exodus 22. Look at verse number one. This is clear biblical doctrine here. The Bible says this, 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. This is just talking about biblical punishment for stealing, which by the way is very smart. It doesn't say someone stole your four sheep and locked them up for 30 years.  I mean, what does that do for me? What does that do for me? It says, no, that person should go out and pay me back. If they stole a sheep, they should pay me back four times. That's, I'd like to see that kind of doctrine installed today. I mean, I don't think you're gonna see a lot of people stealing if they have to go pay back four times or five times what they stole. Oh, they don't have any money. Well, then the Bible says they need to work it off. I mean, I don't know. The Bible doesn't make any sense. The Bible makes perfect sense. What we see in clown world today doesn't make any sense. Now look at verse number two. Speaking of self-defense, if a thief be found breaking up, let's talk about something that breaks into your house and be smitten that he die, there shall be no blood shed for him. Look at verse three and then we'll go back to verse two. If the son be risen upon him and there shall be blood shed for him, there shall be blood shed for him for he should make full restitution. If he have nothing, then he should be sold for his theft. It says if the son be risen upon him, there shall be blood shed for him for he should make full restitution. If he have nothing, then he should be sold for his theft. So in verse number two, in verse number three, we're assuming as a general assumption that the thief is breaking in at night. And what the Bible here is saying is that if he breaks in at night and you kill him, it's fine, no problem.  That he should make, instead he should make restitution. He should pay back what he's doing. This is very similar to laws that we have today. What the Bible here is saying is that it's saying you can use deadly force in defense if somebody is steep, because if somebody breaks into your house at night, do you really know what they're there doing? Do you really know what their intent is? The Bible is saying, basically it's saying if you fear for your life, you have the right to use deadly force. The Bible is saying this. But you're not to stop something from being stolen by using deadly force. Like if you know you see somebody in your parking garage, out in front of the apartment complex or whatever and they're stealing your stereo, the Bible is saying and it's noon, you're not to get out your AK-47 and just like take them down. The Bible is saying no, they should pay you back five times for that theft that they did. It's talking, California law is actually very similar to this. And I'm gonna read you just California law on self-defense. Because California law on self-defense, you're like oh, California law must be terrible. It's actually not really terrible. It's actually pretty good. The Bible says that it doesn't, not the Bible, but California law actually says that all you need to have is a reasonable fear for your life in order to use deadly force in self-defense. So California law matches Exodus chapter number 22. California law says this. It says the force you use must match the level of threatened danger. The danger does not need to have been real as long as your belief was reasonable such as it was at night. You see that? As long as you had reasonable fear for your life, you are okay with using deadly force in self-defense. Again, from California law, you can use deadly force only if you reasonably fear, and it's not even death, by the way. Only if you reasonably fear great bodily injury or death. California is, it gets even better. It says California is a stand your ground state so there is no duty to retreat from a fight. Meaning, if somebody attacks you, you do not have a duty to escape. Because there is laws in other countries and other places where if you get in a fight and if there's any reasonable if a jury can look at anything where you could have gotten away or run away from the fight and you use deadly force, you're going to prison. That is not the law in California. If somebody attacks you and you fear great bodily injury or death, you can use deadly force in response. You do not have to retreat if they attack you. All right, now let's look at some more Bible on this. Turn to Esther chapter eight. So you're not to go out and self-defense is not defense of property.  You know, that is not, look, that is not biblical. As Christians, you shouldn't want to do that anyway. Taking somebody's life is a big deal according to the Bible and it can only be done morally in certain cases where you fear for your life. Somebody's attacking or breaking in at night. Look at verse number 10 of Esther chapter eight. So there's an interesting story in the book of Esther. There was a conspiracy against the Jews, against the Israelites where this man Haman was trying to get all these people to go out and murder the Israelites. Look at verse number 10 of Esther chapter eight. Now this conspiracy was uncovered. Of course, this was the story of Esther, how she went into the king. This is under the Persian empire. Okay, so this isn't a Christian empire here. This is the Persian king and Esther was married to the Persian king and she went in and exposed this conspiracy. It's one of the great brave stories of maybe the bravest story of a woman in the Bible, Esther going in and risking her life to expose this conspiracy to murder all the Israelites. Look at verse number 10. As soon as it's found out, the king listens to Esther and the king goes to protect her people. Look at verse number 10. Says he wrote in the king Asaharis, Asaharis's name and sealed it with the king's ring and sent letters by posts on horseback and riders on mules, camels and young dromedaries. Where in the king granted the Jews which were in every city to gather themselves together. Now look at this. And stand for their life to destroy, to slay and to cause to perish all the power of the people and province that would assault them. You see that?  He may follow the Bible, he may not. Well, we're gonna keep reading and then we're gonna shine the light of the Bible on it. Both the little ones and women. So everyone had the right to defend themselves. But then look at this. And to take spoil of them for a prey. So king Asaharis goes further than the Bible here. He says, hey, anybody that comes at you to assault you, you can defend yourself with deadly force and then he can take all their stuff. That's what he says. You can basically, if you see some thief, this would be like if some thief broke into my house, not only could I use deadly force against that thief, but then I could just take everything he owns at that point. I mean, that's a little further than what the Bible does in Exodus chapter 22. And look at, now go to Esther chapter nine. What did they actually do? What did God's people actually do in response to this? This is interesting. Look at verse number five. Verse number five, so they did defend themselves. Verse five of Esther nine says, Thus the Jews smote all their enemies with the stroke of the sword and slaughter and destruction and what they did, they did what they would unto those that hated them. So yes, they did defend themselves. Look at verse number six. Actually skip down to verse number 10. The 10 sons of Haman. So these were the kind of the conspirators here. The 10 sons of Haman, the sons of Hamedetha and the enemy of the Jews slew they, but look at this. But on the spoil laid they not their hand. So the Jews actually did what was biblical.  Take all their stuff, take their houses, take their land, take everything. What the Jews did is they just defended themselves. They defended themselves, they killed those that were trying to kill them and then they did not take their stuff because that's biblical. Look at verse number 16. Again, but the other Jews that were in the king's provinces gathered themselves together and again, what? Stood for their lives. You know what that means? They defended themselves and had rest from their enemies and slew of their foes 70 and 5,000. There was a lot of people coming to kill them. But they laid not their hands on the prey. They didn't steal from them. So they took King Asaharis's advice and they kind of filtered it through the Bible. They filtered it through the Bible and they did what was biblical. They just defended themselves. They didn't kill everyone and they didn't take the spoil. They just hurt the literal people that tried to hurt them. And this matches perfectly the biblical doctrine of self-defense that we see in Exodus chapter 22. Here's what it comes down to, folks. Here's what it comes down to. Self-defense and the defense of your family is a biblical concept. It is okay. It is biblical. And now, I mean, that is what Jesus was saying when he said, buy a sword.  He literally says, later on in the chapter in Luke chapter 22, that you come with me with swords and staves as you're coming after a thief. Remember Paul when he says, I've been in perils of robbers?  Turn to Matthew chapter 26. Turn to Matthew chapter 26. You say, okay, let's pray. No, there's more. I want you to understand, let's get even more in depth on this idea of self-defense and the Christian. So now you see that it's okay for a Christian to defend themselves and their family. This is why Jesus said, take a sword. Look at Matthew 26, look at verse number 50. I want you to understand what Jesus says to Peter when he's arrested. We also see this command. This is the beauty of the gospels by the way. We read Luke chapter 22 and we see that there was a certain disciple that smote off the ear of one of the Romans. But we don't really know who it was. We don't know what else Jesus says. But in Matthew 26, we get more detail. We get more detail from Matthew. Look at verse number 50. It says, Jesus said on him, friend, this is Judas, wherefore art thou come and 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 the servant of the high priest and smote off his ear. We know from other gospels that that was Peter. He cuts off the ear of the servant of the high priest. 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." You have what, isn't this contradictory information here? He's telling Peter, like, I mean, should you have a sword and use it or should you not? What is it, Jesus? There's two things that we need to see on why Jesus said this to Peter. The first one is this. First of all, look at verse 53. Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my father and he shall presently give me more than 12 legions of angels? But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled that thus it must be? So there's two things that he's telling Peter. The first thing that he's telling Peter, or actually the second thing he tells Peter, is kind of the biggest thing, is he says, I must do this. He's like, Peter, please don't stop me from dying for the sins of the world. I'm glad Peter didn't stop him. Please don't stop me from doing what I came here to do. He came here to die for the sins of whosoever put their trust on him, anybody.  He had to die on the cross.  So he had to do it. So he's saying, Peter, stop. I have to do this. That's the first thing. The second thing is this. He gives him advice in general. He gives him advice in general. Look at verse 52 again. He says, all day that take the sword shall perish with the sword. So he tells Peter, I have to do this. And then he says, if you choose to go this way, even when I'm gone, he's giving him general advice.   Look folks, there's plenty of evil out there. Is there not? There's plenty of wicked people out there. They're not being punished. There's plenty of evil leaders, evil people, wicked rulers, our government not punishing these things. Turn to Romans chapter 12. There's plenty of opportunity for the sword if you wanna look at it that way. Turn to Romans chapter 12. Look at verse number 19. He is talking to Peter saying, if you choose to do this, you will die that way. You will be killed by the sword. Look at Romans 12 and verse number 19 to understand this more perfectly. Look at verse number 19 of Romans chapter 12. I want everyone to get there and look at these words. The Bible says this. It says, dearly beloved, beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath, for it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord. This is talking about somebody who had, I mean, just an example.  And look, I've met people like this out of Soleney, where they had a relative murdered.  And then the government said, okay, go to prison for 12 years and get out in four. And people could get in the flesh. Even Christians could say, oh, I need to take the law into my own hands here. I need to take the law into my own hands and I need to punish this person. Does the person need to be punished? Does justice say that that person should be punished? Yes. Justice says, the Bible says that person should be punished. But the Bible is saying is that God will do it. God is saying, don't waste your Christian life by getting killed by the sword, by getting thrown into prison. By, it makes no sense when you think about it.  This is, this is hell. You say, oh, well, it seems like bad people get away with so many good things or so many bad things. Yes, that's true.    It's all about getting the best bang for your buck for your life.  God is saying in many other places in the Bible he assures us that he will do this. Jesus's vice to Peter is saying, live that way. Don't trust that I'll have vengeance. You will die that way. And guess what? When you're dead, you will save no one on this earth. When you're dead, you will preach the gospel to no one. When you're dead, you will raise no one. When you're in prison, you will, you will raise zero generations of Christians when you're in prison.  It's a waste of your life. But there's no value in letting some thief kill you on the other side of this.  That's difference. That's biblical. Now let me ask you this.  Let me ask you this. Is it true that there's no value in a Christian being killed? Blanket statement? Turn to Hebrews chapter 11. Here's some more to think about. Is there value for someone who has martyred for their Christian faith? Is there value there? Is there a possible scenario where the death of a Christian could be a benefit for the kingdom of heaven? You see, because it's all about your life, my life, is all about what we do to benefit the kingdom of heaven. That's it. You wonder, why am I here? Why am I, what's the meaning of life? It is to benefit the kingdom of heaven if you're saved. It is that you would, God's will for your life, I mean, here's the answer folks, here's why people will read books, write books, study this for 90 years and then die still not knowing the answer. What is the purpose of, what's the meaning of life? The meaning of life to God, God's goal for your life is that you would get saved.  That's the meaning of life. Right, that's it. Not going out and avenging evil, because God's gonna do that, God's like, what in the world are you doing?  I mean, what? It's like, it doesn't make any sense. It's like, I need you to go out there and profit the kingdom of heaven, that's what I need you to do. So the question is, is there any scenario where a Christian being killed is profitable for the kingdom of heaven? Look at Hebrews chapter 11. The answer is yes, I'm sorry to break that to you this morning, but the answer is yes. Look at Hebrews chapter 11, look at verse number 32. The Bible says, and what shall I say more? What shall I more say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and of Barak and of Samson and of Jephtha and of David and Samuel and the prophets who threw faith? Look, there's two groups of people here, okay? Here's the group that everybody would want to be part of right here, the people that had the great victories. He said who threw faith, subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, Daniel and the lion's dead, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong. This is Gideon, this is Gideon where he takes this guy with this great army, he's like that's too many people, get rid of some. And he keeps getting rid of people, getting rid of people, getting rid of people. He's like, I only have 300 people here. He's like, that's good. I want you to fight the whole army with 300 people. This is the original 300 story, all right? The real one. And Gideon goes into battle with 300 people. Why would God do that? Because God wanted man's weakness to show his strength. You see? God never uses the super smart and the super strong. He uses fishermen. He uses regular people, why? Because that shows his strength. Not some, if Gideon were to win in with 10,000 men, you know what people could look back in history and say, yeah, well he had 10,000 warriors. Of course he won. He had 300 guys, pictures. But he had the courage and the faith to go into that battle. And he wrought that great victory, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed, valiant in fight, heroes, turned to flight armies of the aliens. Look, these are great victories. If people look at the life they wanna have as a Christian, they wanna be these people here. The one, they defeated the army. They were heroes. Everybody's like, look at you, look at that. But now look at verse 35.  And others were tortured, not accepting deliverance. You know what, they were offered deliverance, but they were tortured to death. That's the martyr's story right there. If there's anything, if you read the history of the Christian martyrs, as these people are tortured, deny Christ, deny Christ. And they're tortured in the worst possible ways I wouldn't even mention here. And they profess Christ to the end. They profess Christ through the flames, through the knives, through the hot pokers, whatever it was. They profess Christ all the way to the end, not accepting deliverance, not accepting that quick death by just denying Christ. Look, if they denied Christ when they're being tortured, they would not lose their salvation. But that's why God says, I will give you the words to say. The Holy Spirit will come upon you. Look, it's a worrisome thing, you could worry about that. If we were in persecution times, where things like this were happening to Christians, all of us would be worried about that. All of us would be worried, my goodness, if I was put through that type of pain, would I say whatever was needed to say to spare myself the pain? But God promises us He will give us the words to say. He will tell us what to say. And you see that through the witness of these martyrs that went through these things and professed Christ all the way to their final breath. Others had trial of cruel mockings, they were embarrassed, scourging, whipped, yay, moreover, bonds of imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, they were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheep's clothings, sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented. You see, folks, there's two groups of people here. Some wrought great victories in their life, and some, because they were Christians, suffered greatly their whole life and died horribly. Christians have completely different fates in this life. I'd say in 2023 America, we're living pretty good as Christians. Compared to how Christians have lived throughout history. But the point is that the second group of people, they did not win in this life. Their life, their physical life on this earth was ended early, it was ended in pain, it was ended in suffering. Their entire life was suffering because of Christ. You say, what's the value there? What's the value there? Shouldn't they have defended themselves? Shouldn't they have said, you know, shouldn't they have said, let's rise up and let's fight the power? But is there value in it? Well, let's just keep reading. Turn over one chapter to Hebrews chapter 12. Is there value in people that did not win in this life? Is there value to the martyrs? People that died for Christ. Look at verse number one of Hebrews chapter 12. It says, wherefore, seeing we are also encompassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses. The Bible here is saying, you know, through these people that had courage to go and win these victories, yes. But it's saying, because of all these people that suffered for Christ, because of this, he's saying, let us lay aside every weight. And the sin with thus so easily beset us and run with patience the race that is set before us. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame and set down at the right hand of the throne of God. It's saying, if those people could endure that victory or death and they still ran the race, they kept doing what they were supposed to do, can you not set sin aside? Can you not take your life of relative ease in 2023 America and serve the Lord with your life? Can you not take two or three hours of every single week and go preach the gospel to somebody who otherwise is gonna spend an eternity in hell?  This is why these witnesses are so important because you look back at them. And you know, we're inspired by other people. We're inspired by other people, even in your everyday life, maybe you look at somebody that does something great and you're like, hey, that guy can do it, I can do it. Maybe that happens to you at work in your life during the week. It's the ultimate inspiration. People can look at Jesus and be like, well, he was God. These were normal men. These were normal men just like you. They were normal men that were not the smartest men. They were normal men that were not the toughest men. They were normal men that followed Christ all the way to the end. I mean, can you sacrifice pleasure in this life for the eternity of others? When these people were such a great, others did it. It's an example. So look, there is great value. There is great value in people who have been killed for Christ. Great value. Why do you think God lets it happen? It is to inspire great works for what? For the kingdom of heaven in future generations. Look, even to unbelievers, did you know this? Even to unbelievers, it's an inspiration. You know that Christianity is different in the sense that when you look back at all the false religions, you look at Joseph Smith, or you look at even Muhammad, these are a warlord who, what did he gain by inventing his own religion? Money, power, lands, wives, multiplied all these things unto themselves. Ask yourself this, what did the disciples gain by when Jesus was gone preaching Jesus Christ? What did they gain? The answer is nothing. They lost everything. They lost everything. And you know what, they needed to lose everything because just a logical unbeliever can look back at the disciples, can look back at how every single one of the 12 disciples except one was killed in some horrible way.  For what? So they could lose their businesses, lose their families, lose their money, lose everything they own, and just be in affliction their entire life and tell that their life has ended in this horribly painful way? The only explanation through their witness is that they were telling the truth. They were ordinary men that witnessed something extraordinary. It is the only explanation. You know what? That's a powerful witness to unbelievers. Two people that are wondering, is this Jesus real? Is this Jesus, was he really God? Was he really, what was he here for? It is a powerful witness that Jesus was God. He came here to die for the world and he did it. So look, when it comes to that great tribulation or just tribulation in general folks, everyone has their own choice in that time. Everyone is gonna have to decide for themselves. Every Christian is gonna have to decide for themselves. Even in the Bible, Jesus says flee at that time, into the caves, into the mountains. Look, everyone at that time will make their own choice. Just think about, what if soul winning becomes illegal and there's the death penalty for going soul winning? Think about that. Look, at that point, everyone's gonna have to make their own decision at that point.  Everyone's circumstances will probably be different.  Maybe there's children that need their dad around or whatever it is.  That's why when COVID came through, look, I made the decision very early on that this is a nothing burger to me. That was my decision. But from the very beginning, I said, look, you make your own decision. I will be here every Sunday and every Wednesday night. And I will be here preaching. And if God's gonna kill me by COVID, I guess he just doesn't want me to be the leader of this church. That's fine. I'm okay with that. But I told everybody, you make your own decision though. You make your own decision. Come if you want, I'll be here. It's your choice. So what do we learn? What do we learn by answering this one question? Let's go back to self-defense. I know I kind of went off there. Self-defense is an obligation in the Bible. It is a part of 1 Timothy 5-8. It is a part of providing for your own. I want to point out one last thing. A one last thing. The other question that was asked, I'll just answer it verbally here, is why turn in the garment? Well, if you read Luke chapter nine, you had two coats. So it's assumed, so it must have been a normal thing to always have two coats. You got one, you can sell one and get a sword. And then later they're like, oh, we have two swords. He's like, you only need one. You got two coats, zero sword. Sell a coat, get a sword. One coat, one sword. That's what you need. That's the answer to that question. But back to self-defense. Here's the last thing. Just looking at self-defense, now I'm gonna talk to the guys here. I'm gonna talk to the leaders of families here. Just because things get hard doesn't mean that you shouldn't have to provide for your family in those times. Just because things get difficult, the Bible says that there's gonna be a time when the Antichrist says you can't buy or sell.  So you need to prepare yourself financially. You need to prepare yourself. You know, you should save. Get out of debt, save. The Bible is very clear about that. That will help you support your family in times of need. The Bible is saying that there's gonna be a time when you can't buy or sell. You should probably have more than five seconds of food in your house. I mean, if we wanna just get right down to the things that you are responsible to provide, being good times, it doesn't say, he that provides for his own when times are awesome. He that provided not for his own in bad times or good times, it's just like you have to provide for your own or you're worse than an infidel. So you have to be prepared to provide for your own. But look at this. Notice when he said, take us, get a sword. He's talking to the disciples. The disciples are what? They're fishermen. They're tax collectors. What are they? They're doctors. They're just, they're regular people.  He said, get a sword. You know what he assumed? He assumed everybody knew how to use a sword. And this is a super valuable point right here. And it's an unwritten inference into what Jesus said. There's an assumption that they knew how to defend themselves and their family. And the most valuable thing, here's my doomsday prepper talk right here. The most valuable thing you as a man can have to help support your families in good times and bad times are skills. Are knowing things. Knowing how to do things. Say, well, I don't have a lot of money, but you know how to do stuff, that will always have value. You should know how to defend yourself and your family to a degree. But just to answer the question folks, it was a message in Luke chapter 22. It was a message of preparedness. It was a message to be prepared.  Be ready. Times are gonna get tough, Jesus said.   He told Peter that he was gonna be murdered. James was killed by the sword. That's detailed in the book of Acts. John, I mean, John wasn't killed, but he was exiled. Secular history says John was boiled in oil, but God protected him. And then he was exiled to Patmos. Which, look, it's not in the Bible, but it makes sense that, I mean, they tried to kill him at least. They tried to kill John. So these are examples to us, but it doesn't mean they were gonna let themselves get robbed when they're walking from city to city. You see? It doesn't mean that they're not gonna defend their families against thieves that try to break in and bad people and all this. They were just to be prepared. So they could push what? They could push the kingdom of heaven on earth effectively. So that's why the sword. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.