Sunday, January 23, AM

Day to be together to worship together to fellowship together to read God's Word and just to be together today. A few announcements as we get started this morning. Come back tonight for our special time with the Wilcox.

If you haven't had a chance to meet them yet this morning be sure and come back tonight and do that. They're here they've got their brood with them kind of filling up the back part of the sanctuary there so we love them.

They've been a part of Sunnyside for a long time and and we just loved supporting the Wilcox family and even their kids through the year so we'll have a them sharing tonight in our evening service tonight.

And then a cookie fellowship who can say no to that. Right afterwards coming up on Wednesday we'll have our meal at 545 in the fellowship hall and then prayer for the adults and tag for the kids. And then looking ahead to next Sunday the 30th communion in the morning the Lord supper together and then flock groups in the evening so you'll meet with your elder at their home or any place they've designated that they'd like to meet together.

And that's at 530 next Sunday our fighter verse for the week comes from Romans chapter 15 verses 1 and 2. We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the week and not to please ourselves.

Let each of us please his neighbor for his good to build him up. Just a reminder I've said it past couple Sundays contribution reports for 2021 are on the back table so if you haven't gotten those for your tax preparation purposes those are still back there also with the Wilcox in town.

If you would like to have them over to your home or maybe take them out for a meal or coffee. There's a link in the bulletin or in the church email newsletter where you can sign up to do that and be a ministry to them.

Also mentioned our church podcast that's still going along. Think through any kind of questions and you're welcome to submit those to the guys to include in a in the podcast. And then also we're continuing to gather for Christmastime in 2022.

This is a good time to kind of get some cold weather clothing small things that can be put in shoe boxes and as we do that throughout the year we'll have plenty of stuff to be able to send on to Operation Christmas Child for those kids to receive all right any other announcements before we start worship together.

Okay we're gonna have time of prayer to prepare our hearts for worship this morning. And then we'll.

Finish with that. Brian will come up and open us in prayer. Father the joy of.

Gathering with your brothers and sisters in one place. The encouragement we share with each other the burdens we carry together the joys we celebrate together the word we study together the praising of our voices and lifting music to you together.

Father let us not take for granted this blessing. This blessing of brothers and sisters young and old who've chosen to chosen to walk in your ways who've chosen to mature in their knowledge and understanding and wisdom.

So this day Lord would you open our hearts and minds and souls to you. May we receive all you have for us. May we leave rejoicing in the Christ our Savior the Son of God. Amen. Do you stand with me for our call to worship.

Our passage this morning is found in Psalms chapter 73. Will be reading verses 25 and 28. Read with me together. Whom have I in heaven. But you. And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.

My flesh and my heart may fill on. But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For behold those who are far from you shall perish. But you have in to everyone who is unfaithful to you.

But for me it is good to be near God. I have made the Lord God my refuge that I may tell of all your works. So our first song is in our Psalms for worship hymnal page 73 C which is going to be right from the passage.

We just read in Psalm chapter 73 song is yet constantly. I am with me. To Isaiah chapter 14 we'll be reading.

Verses 1 through 11. We'll have compassion on Jacob and again choose Israel and settle them in their own land. Then strangers will join them and attach themselves to the house of Jacob. The peoples will take them along and bring them to their place.

And the house of Israel will possess them as an inheritance in the land of the Lord as male servants and female servants. And they will take their captors captive and will rule over their oppressors. And it will be in the day when the Lord gives you rest from your pain and turmoil and harsh service in which you have been enslaved that you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon and say how the oppressor has ceased and how fury has ceased.

The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked the scepter of rulers which used to strike the peoples in fury which with unceasing strokes which subdued the nations and anger with unrestrained persecution the whole earth is at rest and is quiet.

They break forth into shouts of joy. Even the cypress trees rejoice over you and the cedars of Lebanon saying since you were laid low no tree cutter comes again up against us. Shaol from beneath is excited over you to meet you.

When you come it arouses for you. The spirits of the dead all the leaders of the earth. It raises all the kings of the nations from their thrones. They will all respond and say to you even you have made us made weak as we.

You have become like us. Your pomp and the music of your harps have been brought down to Shaol. Maggots are spread out as your bed beneath you and worms are your covering. Pray with me father. We are in awe of your majestic ways of your mighty ways which we can not wholly comprehend.

But we have the assurances and the promises that you have given to your people. And we trust in you. We trust in your plan supremely for this. When coming to these texts knowing that we have been given from him been given a receipt of cleanliness and that our debt has been paid that we not may not be covered by maggots but that we are raised with him and the likeness of his resurrection.

We pray now for an even greater grace and mercy that you extend our affections to Christ. Our submission to Christ to be complete and continuing to sanctify our hearts. When you bring this message today we ask that our hearts be prepared to receive it and submit to your word supremely to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

And it's in his name. We pray amen.

Church party been going through a lot of difficulties illnesses storms trials and that's even on top of all of our normal daily sin that we battle with every day. But there's one who is an anchor there's one who is sure and steadfast and that's Jesus Christ.

So sing with me together Christ the sure and steady anchor. And then after that we'll go to page 512. My Savior's love.

Gathering us here today pray for those who can't be here. We love our sisters and our brothers in Christ who are who are sick or unable to come or we feel their distance from us and we pray special blessing upon them.

She would encourage them today that you would hear our prayers with favor and bring healing to those who are sick. Comfort that to those who are sorrowing and bring encouragement to those who are afflicted with doubt or anxiety.

We pray that you look upon us with favor here as we have gathered to bow the knee to our King of Kings and Lord of Lords Jesus Christ and receive his word in our lives. We thank you for this sword your sword the Word of God perfectly true and powerful eternal unchanging.

That by this word through the power of your Holy Spirit you cut right to the heart of the matter in each one of our lives. And you would have us turn to you in submission in humility as you do your work in us washing us with the water of your Word working godliness in our midst.

We ask that you would do so freely and abundantly. Or we asked this morning as we read this text from Daniel chapter 8 that you would give us understanding by the light of Christ and that in beholding his light we would worship you and rejoice in you.

And you would conform us to his image so that as we look at him in this word we will look like him in this world. And we pray for these mercies looking to him with whom you are well pleased. Amen. Invite you to open your Bibles and turn with me to Daniel chapter 8.

Daniel chapter 8. Last week we read verses 1 through 14. This week we'll read verses 15 through 27. Last week we ranged back and forth throughout the entirety of the chapter seeing what was there in the vision the symbols the pictures that Daniel received and then moving forward to see Christ's interpretation of the vision that he provided to Daniel by the angel Gabriel be doing the same today looking at the images in the vision in verses 1 through 14 and then looking ahead to the second half of the chapter to see the interpretation.

We see from this chapter that it's about what unfolds in history that before history unfolds God has already woven his pattern. He reveals some of those upcoming events to Daniel and he does this to strengthen the faith of the Saints.

They're going to go through rough times. But he tells them before it happens and he promises them deliverance. He shows that he's a shepherd and history is his flock. And he moves this Empire around like a shepherd would a ram.

And he moves this Empire around like a shepherd would a goat. God's in control of it. All tyrants will ascend to the throne. They will kill truth in the streets in the name of peace. The God's Word remains unaltered and true.

Devilish men will blaspheme Christ and slander his gospel. But the promises of God will be proven as the patience of the Saints. You'll stand with me in honor of Christ as I read Daniel 8 verses 15 through 27.

So the words of Christ through his spirit to the prophet Daniel. Then it happened when I Daniel had seen the vision and was seeking the meaning that suddenly there stood before me one having the appearance of a man and I heard a man's voice between the banks of the Eli who called and said Gabriel make this man understand the vision.

So he came near where I stood and when he came I was afraid and fell on my face. But he said to me understand son of man at the vision refers to the time of the end. Now as he was speaking with me I was in a deep sleep with my face to the ground.

But he touched me stood me upright and he said look I'm making known to you what will happen in the latter time of the indignation. For at the appointed time the end shall be the ram which you saw having the two horns.

They are the kings of media and Persia. And the male goat is the kingdom of Greece. The large horn that is between its eyes is the first king as for the broken horn in the four that stood up in its place.

For kingdoms shall arise out of that nation but not with its power. And in the latter time of their kingdom when the transgressors have reached their fullness a king shall arise having fierce features who understands sinister schemes.

His power shall be mighty but not by his own power. He shall destroy fearfully and shall prosper and thrive. He shall destroy the mighty and also the holy people through his cunning. He shall cause deceit to prosper under his rule and he shall exalt himself in his heart.

He shall destroy many in their prosperity. He shall even rise against the prince of princes but he shall be broken without human means. And the vision of the evenings and mornings which was told is true.

Therefore seal up the vision for it refers to many days in the future. And I Daniel fainted and was sick for days afterward I rose and went about the king's business. I was astonished by the vision but no one understood it.

This is the word of the Lord thanks be to God you may be seated. The title of the sermon is on the right side of his story. Play on the common phrase being used in every day to go to seminary was I was working as a coordinator for a after-school program at Presbyterian Day School.

This is one of the elite private schools in Memphis and it's for boys up to sixth grade. And one of the boys was named Frederick Douglass intentionally named that and he was very keen on being on the right side of history.

That year the college football team for USC University of Southern California did very well. And they're running back. Reggie Bush had gotten the Heisman Trophy and little Frederick was covered every day in USC swag.

He was a deeply loyal Trojan fan and as the national championship drew near I began to tease him a little bit how he might his team might stumble against the Texas Longhorns and their standout quarterback Vince Young and he responded with a lot of smack and predicted an embarrassing blowout and yada yada yada.

It turned out to be a great game and the Longhorns won and I didn't think much more about it. But the next time I saw Frederick at school he walked into the classroom with a sheepish grim sporting a brand-new Texas Longhorns hat.

No he didn't lose a bet. I asked him if he had lost a bet and he confessed that he had always liked the Longhorns and he was celebrating their win. Here is a young man cut out for a career in politics.

He wanted to be on the right side of history. He wanted to be seen as rooting for the winning side. As I have a right side of history is determined the winner of a contest the winner of a debate the winner of an election.

The winning of a war. If popular opinion concerning a controversial question sways significantly in one direction and stays that way for half a generation. We have been trained to think that that means the final word has been settled on the matter.

This is what James says being tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine. There's no point in trying to loudly claim agreement with ever-shifting gales of the majority. And the experts. Oh the experts.

The experts repudiate themselves on a 6 to 18 month schedule. You know that healthy that healthy habit of writing down your prayer requests and going back and reviewing them 6 to 18 months later. And God answered my prayer.

And you write that little note beside it. Praise the Lord for answering your prayers keeping track of his goodness. We should do that with the experts. Just write down the things that they say. Give it 6 to 18 months and they'll come back and say something totally different.

That's not the right side of anything. If we keep in mind the beginning of history in the center of history and the end of history will know what the right side of history is. The beginning of history is God creating the world and making man in his own image.

Center of history is the revelation of Jesus Christ as God's image. The finale of history is Christ raising all of the dead to judge them by the parameters of the image of God. So we know what the right side of history is.

It's it's Christ's story. Are we right with God through Christ. That's the right side of history. Are we in submission to the king of kings and the Lord of Lords who reigns at the right hand of the father to all his enemies are made a footstool for his feet.

That would be the right side of history. Are we pursuing the interests of Christ with the full degree of our stewardship whatever that is seeking first the kingdom of God. That would be the right side of history.

And how are we to stay faithful in a pagan culture that opposes Christ. We are to hold to the promises of God because the promises of God are the patience of the Saints. The promises of God are the patience of the Saints.

And God gives promises to Daniel through this vision and through the interpretation of the vision God graciously provides this revelation to Daniel and to his people to hold for generations to come. They would see that God's Word is true.

And we see that God's providence in history is revealed. As we have seen from last time we were together how the nation of Persia ascended in the form of this ram with unequal horns. We saw the the goat that was moving so fast his feet never touch the ground.

And the main horn of that goat being Alexander the Great. We saw Persia ascending and Alexander rising. And now we come to the main point of the prophecy the reason why God wanted his people to have this Antiochus defiling.

When you think about the progress of the history recorded in the scriptures we realize that there are many promises in the Old Testament which name specific places like Jerusalem and Bethlehem Judea and Galilee.

And these promises center on the arrival of Jesus Christ and the establishment of the New Covenant. Very very important. These promises indicate that the people of Israel are going to be still living in these places that they will be in position to receive the New Covenant and direct the nations to Messiah.

But the promises stopped coming with the prophet Malachi in the 400s. So what happens. What happens in those centuries between the end of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New Testament. You know you got like two or three pages between your Old Testament and your New Bible.

What happens in between. The scholars have unfortunately decided to call this period the intertestamental period which doesn't sound very exciting. Lots of exciting things happened. Daniel 8 is one of the prophecies in the Old Testament that tell us some of the things that happened during that time period and how it was that despite the catastrophic transitions and instabilities of world empires God's people remained in God's place under God's rule anticipating the arrival of Messiah and the blessings of the New Covenant.

One of the most difficult challenges that they faced during this time was the profane tyranny of one named Antiochus Epiphanes. And such was the power and the prosperity of this evil Emperor that those who lived during his time might have thought.

And we know that they thought that doing things his way meant being on the right side of history doing things the Greek way doing things the Hellenistic way that was the future the way of the Jews of all the the way of sacrifices and feasts and cleansings and and observations of all of the Sabbath and circumcision.

That's that's the old way. Obviously Antiochus Epiphanes has changed everything his is the way of the future. We want to be on the right side of history. But the Word of God and Daniel 8 puts this episode of this one tyrant's rule into its proper perspective.

It was only for a season. It was one in a series of preparations that God was making for the arrival of his son. So I want us to look in chapter 8 of Daniel and see what is said about the power and the prosperity and the purpose of Antiochus Epiphanes.

We look at verses 8 through 10 to see the power of this tyrant. As we read about the fracturing and replacement of horns. I want us to hold on to that metaphor because it's a very helpful picture that teaches the Saints about the actual strength of rulers and the duration of their tyrannies.

Emperors and despots. They are like the antlers of a deer which fall off in their season if they're not first broken off as they butt heads with other deer. That's about how strong the empires of man are.

Is there a fierceness to horns you bet. But there's also fragility. Daniel 8 verses 8 through 10. Therefore the male goat which Christ through Gabriel tells Daniel later that the male goat is Greece. Okay the male goat grew very great but when he became strong the large horn was broken.

The first king that sped that good all over the ancient world that was Alexander the Great. The large horn was broken and in place of it for notable ones came up toward the four winds of heaven. And out of one of them came a little horn which grew exceedingly great toward the south toward the east and toward the glorious land.

And it grew up to the host of heaven. And it cast some of the host and some of the stars to the ground and trampled them. So the goat is the Empire of Greece. That's what Gabriel says to Daniel in chapter 2.

It was envisioned as a bronze metal waist and thighs on a four-part idol to the state. In chapter 7 it was envisioned as a four-winged four-headed leopard. Now we see it as a goat with one prominent horn between its eyes which broke the horns of its enemy the Medo-Persian Empire.

And this prophecy accurately portrays Alexander the Great's thorough defeat of the Empire. But then also shows his great horn suddenly broken off in the wake of victory and replaced by four other horns.

Exactly what happened in history. Alexander the Great died very young soon after concluding his massive military campaign which entirely broke the hegemony of Medo-Persia. Then four of Alexander's generals divided up his new empire Antigonus, Cassander, Seleucus and Ptolemy.

Four different generals divided up his empire. Four horns out of the one horn. Their regions of control spread throughout the known world to the four winds. And then consider Christ's official interpretation of Daniel's vision as rendered by Gabriel verse 22.

As for the broken horn and the four that stood up in its place four kingdoms shall arise out of that nation but not with its power. So we see that the dissemination of power proved just as unstable as the consolidation had been.

What do we learn. We learn again that kings and kingdoms are fragile with one exception. There's only one king that will never lose his throne. There's only one kingdom that will never be shaken. And the scripture tells us who that king is and what kingdom that is every other kingdom and king in the scriptures you will see they are all shown as fragile temporary and though they make great boasts they can't back it up.

Through many political intrigues and military maneuvers these four different regions of control were consolidated into just two the Seleucid dynasties in Asia Minor and the Ptolemaic Empire based out of Egypt.

Why would we even care. The relevance of the struggle is Jerusalem. The relevance of the struggle is Judea. You see the land of Israel was the only land route between both warring factions the Seleucids coming down from the north and campaigning down into the south to attack the Ptolemaic Empire in the in Egypt and then them falling back and retreating and then the Ptolemies getting their armies together and then going up north through the through that same area and attacking the Seleucids so back and forth back and forth.

And here are the Jews in Jerusalem in Judea subject to many threats and a great deal of violence. How do you stay faithful in the midst of all of this controversy and all of this this world instability.

And while there was always a remnant of faithful believers by the grace of God often unfaithful men perversely preyed upon the people of God and they broke God's covenant with a high hand. And during such a time near the end of the Greek Dominion a king from the Seleucid line by the name of Antiochus Epiphanes rose to power Daniel 8 23.

Through the beginning of 24 and in the latter time of their kingdom when the transgressors have reached their fullness a king shall arise having fierce features who understands sinister schemes his power shall be mighty but not by his own power.

Antiochus Epiphanes was not into the direct line of kingship for the Seleucid Empire. He was given the throne as a steward until they were ready to bring forward the real king. Antiochus didn't like his temporary position and so he developed schemes to take control of the throne for himself.

He's much like the little horn of the fourth kingdom Nero in that this usurper in the third kingdom also acted insane and he took actions which made no sense to anyone else. We see that the power of this little horn did not come from himself.

His installation and his success depended on another power. He only prospered for God's purposes. Look at verses 9 and 10. And out of one of them out of one of those four horns that replaced Alexander the Great out of one of those four horns came a little horn right.

So Antiochus Epiphanes came from the Seleucid Empire which grew exceedingly great toward the south and toward the east and toward the glorious land. Daniel's name or Gabriel's name for the promised land and it grew up to the host of heaven.

And it cast down some of the host and some of the stars to the ground and trampled them. Well Antiochus Epiphanes reigned from 175 to 163 BC and he waged war against the Ptolemaic Empire down in Egypt and necessarily brought him into conflict against Judea and Jerusalem the glorious land.

He killed tens of thousands of Jews and he overthrew many systems of authority. So whether we read the stars of heaven as a reference to the children of Abraham Genesis 15 or we read the stars of heaven as a metaphor for governing authorities given to us in Genesis 1.

Either way it's clear that Antiochus Epiphanes had a great deal of power. He killed a lot of Jews. We read about that in history and he overthrew the standing systems of government and nobody could oppose him.

Nobody could stop him. He did whatever he wanted to. He prospered verses 11 and 12. He even exalted himself as high as the prince of the host and by him the daily sacrifices were taken away. In the place of his sanctuary was cast down because of transgression.

An army was given over to the horn to oppose the daily sacrifices and it cast truth to the ground. He did all this and prospered. Antiochus Epiphany was able to prey upon the divisions within the Jewish authority structures at this time as you may imagine as is so common in the human experience in Judea and in Jerusalem there was a conservative faction and then there was a liberal faction.

Conservative faction said let's be more like the Old Testament let's live according to the Torah let's keep covenant faithfully. And the liberal faction said no no the way of the future is the Hellenized culture the Greek culture.

Let's let's go more of that way and see if we can't bring together a synthesis between Jewish ways of living and Greek ways of living. The current high priest was a conservative but Antiochus Epiphanes had been killing Jews and was ready to go down and destroy Jerusalem.

And there was a man who came up to him and said look I have some ties to the priesthood and I'm willing to do things your way. And here's a bunch of money for you to make me high priest. Well that worked for about you know half a minute till somebody else said oh it's a really great idea.

And he paid even more money to Antiochus Epiphanes and killed the other dude. Then they also killed the legitimate high priest as well. And then they began to Hellenize Judea and Jerusalem. What did that look like.

Well they built a gymnasium in view of the temple so that when you were at the temple grounds you could look over and see the gymnasium. A very it's a hallmark of Hellenistic culture. What would happen there.

Well at the gymnasium the men would all disrobe and exercise in the nude in view of the temple. Wonder how that went over. Circumcision was also outlawed. Circumcision was outlawed. A fortress was built in close relationship to the temple to enforce the whims and desires of Antiochus Epiphanes.

Pigs were offered in the temple to the God Zeus. Anybody who had a complaint was canceled got destroyed killed. And ultimately in his desecration of the temple and in Antiochus Epiphanes in his systematic eradication of every shadow of Christ that he could find he opposed Christ himself the prince of the host the prince of princes.

Now how does that turn out for anybody in the scripture who decides to go up against Christ. How does that turn out. It never ever turns out. Well in Daniel 8 verse 24 halfway through the verse we read.

He shall destroy fearfully. This is Antiochus Epiphanes. He should destroy fearfully and shall prosper and thrive. He shall destroy the mighty and also the holy people through his cunning. He shall cause deceit to prosper under his rule.

Remember he threw truth to the ground. So throwing truth to the ground means he causes deceit to prosper. And he shall exalt himself in his heart. He shall destroy many in their prosperity. He shall even rise against the prince of princes.

So he is opposing Christ the king of kings the Lord of lords the prince of princes. He is opposing him. He cast truth to the ground so that he could rule in deceit. And he installed false teachers as religious leaders in Jerusalem who would give him legitimacy to his pagan reforms.

He had proven he was willing to kill anybody who opposed him. But his real goal was to eliminate the faith of the Jews to eradicate the promises of God concerning his son. That's a terrible threat to the Jews isn't it.

It's a terrible threat to Messiah's arrival. I mean how can Messiah be born in Bethlehem and save his people from their sins. If 150 years prior the entirety of the Jews in Jerusalem were utterly Hellenized in their unique culture and exclusive faith dissolved in some pagan synthesis where there was no more Judaism on the land.

This is a threat. This is the serpent trying to trying to eat the seed of the woman. This is the same old story. Didn't God deliver his people from that very same threat in Egypt. Didn't God deliver his people from that very same threat in the land of Canaan and in Babylon.

Continually throughout the story of the scriptures God intervenes. He does not allow his word to fail or his promises concerning his son to disappear. So what about this prophesied threat. Well God again would deliver his people and preserve his name.

Verse 25 ends this way. But he shall be broken without human means. This little horn would be broken without human means. He lifted himself up against Christ. But he would be broken not by a human contest.

You know horn hitting horn. That wouldn't be how Antiochus Epiphanes would go down. He would rot from the inside and fall off. History records that Antiochus Epiphanes died of a fit of melancholy. I have no idea what.

I don't know what that is. But that's what history says. He died of a fit of melancholy. He died without human means. At the end he was a shattered man. A little horn broken without human means. God is the one who ended him.

So God promises the future Saints through Daniel the prophet that this great threat to their faith is bloody profane tyrant. He would come to an end. Even though he would it would look like he had changed everything and and the future was was forever different.

And that nothing would ever be the same even though he slaughtered truth in the streets and then had a parade in the name of peace. And aren't we familiar with that scenario. He could not escape truth.

God's Word prevails even in the face of those who try to rule by deceit. God had declared all of this long before and had promised Antiochus his defeat. So question now is why. What is the purpose of Antiochus Epiphanes.

Why. Why would this all happen. God is sovereignly shepherding and herding ram and goat. Horns get broken horns grow up. But God's in charge of the whole thing. He's the shepherd of history. He's hurting it all into the fold of his glory.

Daniel and the Saints would probably wonder why would God bring such a blow against Jerusalem and against the holy people. And why would God. Why would God bring about a tyrant like Antiochus Epiphanes to desecrate the temple and outlaw circumcision and attempt to destroy the Jews.

Well there's reasons given in the text verse 12. Because of transgression an army was given over to the horn to oppose the daily sacrifices. You hear that because of transgression. Verse 23 Daniel 8 into the latter time of their kingdom when the transgressors have reached their fullness a king so the rise.

So there's the reasons. The descendants of Ezra Nehemiah Zerubbabel and Joshua the the fourth and fifth generations beyond Haggai Zechariah and Malachi they're still living under the Old Covenant. And maybe the 150s.

But they're still living under the Old Covenant. They were still subject to the covenant blessings and curses that God had declared in Deuteronomy 28. And they had begun to crave pagan tastes. They began to crave the tastes of the world.

They valued Hellenism more than the covenant of the Lord. And their transgressions mounted and mounted until God brought judgment in this form. He gave them exactly what they wanted. He gave it to them.

You want Hellenism. You want Greek culture. You want paganism. Here you go. They wanted to be ruled in the manner of the other nations and God gave them exactly what they wanted. These are not newfangled transgressions.

These are old-fashioned transgressions. And as God had done to his people in the wilderness so again he does it here. He gives them what they wanted till it comes out of their noses. We are to be careful that we do not mistake the judgment of God for a series of unfortunate events.

We begin to secularize our faith to the point where we don't think God is involved or that he even cares or that he's doing anything. So yes Christ is King but we think of him as a bench warmer instead of being the one around everything revolving.

It is the judgment of God when truth is slain in the streets when it is trodden by a parade of peace peace when there is no peace. It is the judgment of God that I should not see and ears not hear. It is the judgment of God that where once light shown only darkness remains.

And in the midst of these kinds of losses we should remember that all was not lost because lies never outlast the truth. The promises of God are the patience of the Saints. But will we believe the promises of God.

Or are we too sophisticated for that. Perhaps we've outgrown the promises of God. Maybe we're like you know maybe we're you know uppity young children or uppity teenagers who don't respect their parents and they don't really care much for the promises of their parents anymore.

And they do not live accordingly. Not like perhaps little children who hang on that promise and ask about it again and again and again and again. We're just too sophisticated to live by the promises of God anymore.