At this time, I'm going to ask you to remain seated, as I'm going to do something that I don't do often. In fact, frankly, I hate doing it this way. I don't like not coming to you with a single biblical text. I was preparing to preach on Exodus chapter 20 on the Fourth Commandment again, because there's no end to things you can say about that. And then this thing took place Friday night or Friday afternoon in France. It's almost a bit of a funeral service, if you think about it. I was amazed on Facebook to see how many people had changed their profile pictures to French flags to show solidarity, whatever that means, to show solidarity with the French that we suffer with you. We hate this thing that has gone on. I'm going to go ahead and I'd like to go to the Lord and pray. And then I'd like to look at a variety of different scriptures this morning and help us figure out how the Christians should be looking at these things that are taking place in our day. Would you bow with me and let's pray? Father in heaven, again, we do thank you for your loving kindness to us. And we thank you for your word, which is not silent concerning these things. But we do confess, Father, we don't like what your word has to say, oftentimes regarding these things. And as a people, not just American, but French and English and Portuguese and throughout this earth, we are so hard-boiled in our pride and our arrogance that we would think we know better than you. We ask your forgiveness for this. And Father, I pray that you would come by your spirit and that you would open our eyes and our ears and our hearts to receive the seed of the gospel, that as these things take place in our world around us, that we would not push them aside and try to forget them because they don't fit with the American narrative of peace and happiness, but because this is reality. And because, Father, this is the great battle that is taking place in our day, and we know, oh Lord, that these things have spiritual roots that are not just ideologies, we ask, Father, that you would bless the preaching of your word, that captives might be set free, that Christians might be strengthened and encouraged, and that with boldness we would leave this place serving you, our risen Savior. Again, we thank you for your loving kindness to us. Now, have your way, I pray, in Jesus' name. Amen. As I said, it is a very sad kind of weekend as we experience another terrorist attack, this time in Paris, France. Of the information we have to this point, there were seven coordinated attacks by ISIS, resulting in a total of 129 people who are dead, and 352 others who are injured. If you followed the news at all, Paris is paralyzed right now. They're on shutdown. Probably a very wise thing. It is reminiscent of the attack on New York. In some ways, I sat watching the news and rechecking the news, going to the internet to say, what's the latest? What's going on here? A certain sense of sobriety. that many other people, I will add, in the world experience on a regular basis, because they're confronted with death like this. There's a certain amount of sobriety, of sadness, and feelings of alarm. What we know is this, is that ISIS does not plan to stop this, and it is only a matter of time before we are hit again in our own soil. I think we can say that. The New York Post reported this as a headline, the Jihadi's master plan to break us. That is, their goal is to strike and crush the infidel West. The attack in Paris was one such step in that direction. So I thought it important that we look at this event in the light of scripture, which is the thing that we are prone not to do. What are you to make of this terrorist attack France is asking, why did this happen? Was it simply bad luck? Was it bad men? Or is there something more going on? I think we need to fundamentally recognize that this terrorist attack, I'm going to say something that is out of line with popular opinion concerning God, that this terrorist attack is from the hand of God. The terrorist attack is from the hand of God. Now, some of you are reeling right now because That is not proper to say things like that, because that doesn't fit our image, our idol, idolatry of God. We like to think of God as safe, kind of like grandpa is safe. Grandpa's always got candy in his pocket. Grandpa's always got hugs for me when I see grandpa. No kid, grandkid, expects ever for grandpa to spank him. That's mom and dad's job. not grandpa's job. And so we look at God this way, and we think this is out of line, and we create a sort of dualistic mindset. God is over here, he's the good cop. The devil's over here, and he's the bad cop. So clearly, this must have been from the devil, and God was standing in heaven, much like on 9-11 and things we heard about that, God was standing in heaven, and he's weeping because bad men are perpetrating evil against good people. All right, this hallmark theology of God. Please don't get your theology from the hallmark station, friends. Recognize that this event is from the hand of God. Our confession of faith rightly states every creature and every action is under the direction of our God. I'll say that again. Every creature and every action are under the direction of our God. What sorts of creatures are under the direction of our God? Horses, and cattle, and cattle sales, and children. Be they good, be they bad. The lightning, the birds of the air, the number of hairs on your head. In fact, every single molecule whizzing around the universe at this very moment are all, every single one of them, under the direction of our God. This is a most unpopular thing to say, as I mentioned, because we only want to think of God as being the author of good and the devil as the author of calamity. Now, some of you probably do think that this is wrong of me to say, but friends, what I'm telling you is, in fact, true. God is God, and he is over this terrible event, and he is over Satan, and he is over everything. I want you to turn in your Bibles, if you would, please, to Isaiah chapter 45. And you're going to want to keep your Bibles handy, because we're going to look at a number of scriptures. Isaiah chapter 45, listen to verses 1 through 7. Thus says the Lord to Cyrus, his anointed. Cyrus was the king. whom I have taken by the right hand to subdue nations before him and to loose the loins of kings to open doors before him so that gates will not be shut. I will go before you and make the rough places smooth. I will shatter the doors of bronze and cut through their iron bars. I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden wealth of secret places so that you may know Now listen, so that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who calls you by your name. For the sake of Jacob, my servant in Israel, my chosen one, I have also called you by your name. I have given you a title of honor, though you have not known me. I am the Lord, and there is no other. Besides me, there is no God. I will gird you, though you have not known me, that men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun that there is no one besides me. I am the Lord, there is no other, the one forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity. I am the Lord who does all these." We were saying in Sunday school. that if you listen to what the Bible says, friends, it should terrify you at who God is. We like to put God in our little boxes. You've got to stop that. You've got to stop thinking of God, well, he's just this way, and this is the way I expect him to behave. Newsflash, he's God. God does what God wants to do. He doesn't answer to you. You can fold your arms and you can get miffed with the fact that I'm saying these things, but I wanna tell you, you're like a four-year-old who holds his breath until he gets his way. Don't hit your head as you hit the ground. God does not cater to the creature. That's a fact of scripture that you're going to have to contend with. He's God. He does what he wants. If he did what you wanted, he would no longer be God, and we would live in a crazy universe. But he's God. And again, he is the one forming light and creating darkness, in case you're wondering what that means, causing well-being and creating, finish it, Disaster, calamity, hardship. Do you have room in your theology for a God who creates calamity? You want to make life easy on yourself? Make room in your theology for a God who creates calamity. As Americans, we love it easy. We love it hot and prepared and served up on the table in under two minutes. That's not the God of the Bible. Repent, oh American, repent, and start to think biblically. Turn in your Bibles to Ecclesiastes, please, chapter seven, verses 13 and 14. Consider the work of God, for who is able to straighten what he has bent? It's a rhetorical question. The answer, no one. Who is able to straighten what he has bent? In the day of prosperity, be happy. But in the day of adversity, consider. God has made the one as well as the other, so that man will not discover anything that will be after him. The writer of Ecclesiastes says the same thing that the prophet Isaiah foretold that God is the author of prosperity, and he is also the God of adversity. He brings blessing, and he brings curses. There are many more verses and instances in the Bible that attest to this very truth, namely, that the Lord is a controlled friend of all events. Both the good and the bad come from the hand of God. He was responsible for Israel's blessings of food and water and deliverance, but he also brought to them their curses, the death, the snakes that they were bitten by, the famine, the slavery. He was responsible for Job's blessing, and he was responsible for the loss that Job suffered. He was responsible for the plagues that afflicted Egypt He sent all of these things. And I point this truth out not to cause you to dismay or to kick you when you are down. I point this out so that you can make some sense of what has taken place, that the Lord has not left heaven. His arm is not short. He is not ignorant of the things that are going on in this world this weekend. We hear all the time, Well, my God is love. In fact, I mentioned a couple weeks ago a girl who was trying to do a fundraiser and she came in and she used these very words, well, my God is a God of love. Say, well, the Bible's God is a God of justice as well. How do you deal with this? Is he a God of love? Of course he's a God of love. Is there any greater witness of his loving kindness than the fact that he would give up his son to save his enemy? Who does things like that? I wouldn't sacrifice my son for my enemies. Our God did. Our God sacrificed his son for his enemies. He is a God of love, to be sure. But he is the Almighty. He is the Almighty. He is mysterious. Job chapter 38 verse 2, God cries out, who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge? There are things only God knows. There are things that he decrees that we don't understand, incomprehensible to us. Daniel would say that he was the one. God is the one who knows what is in the darkness. He is the one who makes decrees that we can't and you won't ever be able to wrap your mind around. The world is not falling apart, as some of you may be tempted to think, but God has decreed that some pretty awful things will come about. God has decreed that this event take place for a good reason, albeit a reason that he alone knows. And he has created it in order for good for his people. You would be in serious error not to recognize this as being from and coming through the hands of God. Mentally, friends, you will not be able to live in this world apart from the doctrine of the sovereignty of God. And I will say, I will say this, many of your lives are falling apart because you still have too small a view of God. Because you live in a fallen world, and your theology does not allow you to serve a God who brings calamity. Do you remember the fisherman and the boat? You remember that one? Jesus says, let's go across the lake. Climb into the boat. And they climb into the boat. And they sail out into the sea. And Jesus goes down into the boat to take a nap. And while he's taking a nap, the wind starts to kick up. And the waves, as you know, shallow lakes, big waves, the waves start to kick up. The disciples are scared to death, miles from shore, in the middle of the sea. And they're scared to death for their lives. And they cry out, don't you care about us? Don't you know that we're about to die? Jesus rubs his eyes. You have little faith. Do you really think I brought you out here to kill you? I have brought you into a place of hardship to be sure. And friends, what problems do you have in your life? You have cancer? I'm not belittling it. I'm really not. You have heart conditions? Problems with bones, with teeth? Problems with your memory fading? Problems with children, problems with finance. What? These are out of God's control? Not even remotely. You understand? He has decreed your problems. He's decreed, not by bare permission. He has decreed, I want Matt to struggle with this now. I want Tammy to struggle with this. I want Ken and Tammy to have this problem right now. I want Andrea to struggle with teeth. This is by my design. This is by my hand and through my hand that I have decreed these things to come into your life at this time. And you say, I don't like it. And God says, that's okay. It's just hard. It's not bad. It's just hard. And so the disciples, Jesus said to them, get into the boat. Now, wind, do your thing. And waves, do your thing. Why? Because I'm gonna show these disciples who I am. And what does he say to the wind and the waves? Peace, be still. And the wind has to obey. and the waves have to obey. Remember John 11, the story of Lazarus? Jesus, you must come quick because our brother's really sick and he's gonna die. Jesus says, okay. We should just wait around a little while to make sure he's really dead. Why? And I'm convinced that in John chapter 11, it's because up to that point, they just thought Jesus was a miracle worker. But he lets Lazarus die so that they have to see the power and glory of God, and that he is able not merely to heal sick people. He is able to raise the dead. He demonstrates again and again that hardship comes so that we will glorify him, so that we will know him. Your trials and your hardships are not done, my friends, by bare permission. But hear me now, but by loving decree by an almighty, sovereign, heavenly father who loves his child so much that he disciplines them by bringing these difficult things into their lives. You have to admit that this is what the scriptures teach. There is nothing coming into your life that isn't by the hand of God. And you need to reflect upon this. You need to reflect upon these facts. Think about why, perhaps, this tragedy was allowed to happen, or why God brought it to bear upon the people in France. Why did the Lord grant that these men should be able to act out on the hatred in their hearts? Again, the scriptures teach us that tragedy comes to us for one of two reasons. Because God is going to try us, or because God is removing his grace from us. And we need to reflect upon this. I take you to Job chapter 1, please, as we read verses 1 through 12. Listen to this. There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless, upright, fearing God, and turning away from evil. Seven sons and three daughters were born to him. His possessions also were 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camel, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and very many servants. And that man was the greatest of all the men of the east. His sons used to go out and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day. And they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. When the days of feasting had completed their cycle, Job would send and consecrate them, rising up early in the morning and offering burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, perhaps my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts. Thus Job did continually. Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. The Lord said to Satan, from where do you come? Then Satan answered the Lord and said, from roaming about on the earth and walking around on it. The Lord said to Satan, have you considered my servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil. Then Satan answered the Lord. Does Job fear God for nothing? Have you not made a hedge about him and his house, and all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But put forth your hand now, and touch all that he has. He will surely curse you to your face.' Then the Lord said to Satan, Behold, all that he has is in your power. Only do not put forth your hand on him. So Satan departed from the presence of the Lord." You know the story. Satan did touch everything. And eventually, round two, Satan would then afflict Job with boils. Even his wife is saying, Job, you fool. Why don't you just curse God and die? So great was his suffering. You know how the story goes. Job didn't know these things. Job didn't know what was going on. He's a righteous man, not a perfect man, but a man who's pious, a man who fears God so much so that just in case any of my children have sinned in their feasting and they've cursed God on their hearts, I'm going to go offer sacrifices for them just to cover our bases. He doesn't know about the conversation between God and Satan. And God says, go. And you can touch Job's life in as far as this, but don't lay a hand on him. And Job loses everything. And he's blessed with some very wonderful friends who take the thorns and drive them deeper into his flesh. Job's friends say, surely you have done something wrong to deserve all of this. But he had not. And at the end of the story, Job's friends were rebuked, and Job was vindicated, and God blessed him with twice as much than what he had at the beginning. My friends, God is God. God tries us, and he allows us times of trial to test us, like gold in Zechariah 13.9. He puts the heat up under us to see what's going to come out. When we turn up the heat, Deal Moody made a comment once that what a man is in his darkest hour is really what he is at his best. What kind of person do you become during your trials, during your cooking? You think yourself a good Christian until you go through a trial, then you go, hmm, maybe I'm really not so holy yet. Maybe I'm still a far piece off from the Lord. Psalm 11 says, his eyes behold, his eyelids test the sons of men. The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked. And the one who loves violence his soul hates. The upright will behold his face. You see, my friends, the Lord sends trials. And he looks and sees and exposes our hearts. He did this with Job, as we just read. He did this with Abraham. As we also read, he did this with Israel in the wilderness. Let's see what they do when I let them run a few days in the wilderness without water. Let's see what they do when they have years of, what is this stuff anyways to eat? The manna. We're sick and tired of manna. I want some bacon. No, they wouldn't have said bacon. They would have said meat. Give us some fowl or something. Friends, why do we think that God has not changed? Why do we think so often that God does not work in this way? Why do you think that somehow your life or the lives of the French are somehow outside of the control and the sight of God? You take the attitude that God is distant, that he is removed from his creation? He's not. In fact, if you would plug your ears and stop listening to these evolutionists, start recognizing that God's fingerprints are on everything in this world around us. You can't escape it. You can't escape it. You know why you can predict when your cows are going to have calves? Because God designed them to have calves at the same time every year, or at the same interval every year. That's why when my daughter says, Daddy, I'm going to have a baby, I can say, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, June, right? Because we always have babies at the same time. Why is that? It's because evolution is a farce. I'm telling you, friends, it's a farce, a big, fat farce. This universe was designed by God. And that's why airplane pilots know how to raise an airplane off a runway and they can land it. Because gravity is a law that God has written into this universe. And it's not changing. This is our Father's world. You see this. And so our God, his fingerprints are everywhere and you need to see in your life fingerprints and the beauty and the grandeur and the sovereignty of God over all events in your life. So reflect upon Job. You don't know what's going on in the spiritual realm, what conversation that God has had. You don't know what the Lord might be doing through the trials and the tribulations that you are experiencing or have experienced. But I think it's fair to say as well that you need to reflect upon Israel. Sometimes disaster and pain come upon a person or a nation for a reason. And for a reason, you can pretty much say, hmm, I think we're in trouble. I think we're in trouble. I hesitate to bring this one up because it can be very painful to us. When you are inflicted with pain, you should always reflect upon whether or not you deserve it. That guy just punched me in the nose. Hmm. Maybe I deserved that. Turn in your Bibles, please, to Psalm chapter 80. It's a Psalm of Asaph. to be sung by Israel. Listen to the words of this song, this song that they sung. O give ear, shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock, you who are enthroned above the cherubim, shine forth. That means bring your blessing to us. Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, stir up your power and come to save us. O God, restore us and cause your face to shine upon us, and we will be saved. Lord God of hosts, how long will you be angry with the prayer of your people? You have fed them with the bread of tears. You have made them to drink tears in large measure. You make us an object of contention to our neighbors, and our enemies laugh among themselves. God of hosts, restore us and cause your face to shine upon us. and we will be saved. You removed a vine from Egypt. He's recounting the history now of Israel. You removed a vine from Egypt. You drove out the nations and planted it. You cleared the ground before it, and it took deep root and filled the land. The mountains were covered with its shadow, and the cedars of God with its bows. It was sending out its branches to the sea, and its shoots to the river. Why have you broken down its hedges, so that all who pass that way pick its fruit? A boar from the forest eats it away. And whatever moves in the field feeds on it. O God of hosts, turn again now. We beseech you. Look down from heaven and sea and take care of this vine, even the shoot which your right hand has planted, and on the sun whom you have strengthened for yourself. It is burned with fire. It is cut down. They perish at the rebuke of your countenance. Let your hand be upon the man of your right hand. Upon the Son of Man, whom you made strong for yourself, then we shall not turn back from you. Revive us, and we will call upon your name. O Lord God of hosts, restore us. Cause your face to shine upon us, and we will be saved. Again, over in Psalm 81, verses 11 through 14. So Asaph, who has written both of these Psalms, speaks and attributes the pain and the persecution that they are suffering from foreign enemies to the Lord's removing His grace from them. Cause thy face to shine on us and we will be saved. The reason we're not saved, the reason we are suffering right now, is that you've removed your favor from us and now you're giving us what we've deserved. The Lord has said, now, I'm saving you out of Egypt. I am your God. You are my people. Obey my commands. I put you here. You will inhabit the land of Canaan. I will make you great. And that's what it says. Under Solomon, it was as broad as it ever was. They had riches so filthy rich, were they, that the rocks, that silver was as common as rocks in Israel. And if you've ever been to Israel, like here, there are a lot of rocks over there. Filthy rich. The vine had grown in every direction, and it was protected on all sides by this wall. And the psalmist says, it was like a garden. And you planted it, and you nurtured it, and it grew. And because we didn't obey you. You broke the wall down. You removed your grace. A professor in seminary once told us, when you see burglar bars going up on windows, it means God's hands, God's hand is being removed from a nation of people. Think about it. We've never been more secure in the history of this nation, in the history of the world. And notice how insecure we are. Friends, I am pro-gun. I am pro-Second Amendment. I think it's a wonderful thing to protect your family. I think it's a wonderful thing to protect your neighbors. I think it's a wonderful thing to defend ourselves from a heavy-handed government. No amount of guns are going to be able to deliver you when God is not for you. You hear me? It wasn't that Israel didn't have spears and swords, or that they couldn't sling a rock. It's that they displeased the Lord because they made light of His holiness. Because they did not fear His commands. Because they made lip service to the Lord. But with their hearts, they didn't love the Lord. They made a mockery of the things of God. Do you think the Almighty doesn't see that when we come to church and we stick stars on charts and we do our Bible quiet times, but our hearts are far away from him? Do you don't think he sees that? You don't think he sees hypocrisy? Of course he does. Of course he does. So what about France and what about the USA? Will the Lord bless us? Both of these countries have had the gospel light shone upon them so brightly. The land of the Huguenots, the land of the Puritan pride, right? We've had the gospel. And what do we systematically do, even in the church? It's too much Bible, too much praying, not enough feel-good music. Gonna make me dance. This is the kind of thing we want in churches. And we're turning our backs on the Lord. But what's worse, even in churches where the Bible's read, do the people hear? Do you go home and say, ooh, I better reexamine my life and life without what was just preached. Do I hear the word? Do I imbibe the word? Is the word transforming me or my being? churchite, going through motions. France, the USA, will the Lord bless us? My friends, could it be that we've turned our backs on the Lord? And the Lord who called these nations into existence, who once had the gospel light shine so brightly in them, now have embraced godlessness. I don't mean just godless morals, but we've embraced everything that is antithetical to who God is, including we have cast off God. We have said, in effect, I don't want God. I don't want God telling me what to do. I don't want his church telling me what I should do or not do. I don't want anyone telling me what to do. I'm an independent kind of thinker. I am spiritual, but not religious, as we hear. How many abortions are we in this country? I didn't look up the stats on France. We have forsaken his laws. We have idolized our sports, our shopping, instead of the Lord's Day. We have made unholy alliances with countries that are godless. We are materialistic. We take advantage of our neighbors in distress. We call that which is evil, good. We call that which is good, and what God calls good, we call an abomination. Now, tell me, why wouldn't God withdraw His hand of grace from a people who have so blatantly said, we want nothing to do with you? Friends, you're saying, well, we're sitting in church. We're not part of the people. I'm afraid, friends, you are. And I am. It's the attitudes towards the things of the Lord. It's the attitude that we come at the things of the Lord. Wink and nod. Wink and nod at sin. Somebody said something that just hit me pretty strong when these videos came out about what was going on in the abortion clinics. I was really aghast. And they said, shouldn't we have been really aghast that it was even happening at all. And I thought, they're right. We've become so calloused. It's a woman's choice. No, it's not. It's not. It's a baby. It's a life. It's a human being. They're the most silent among us, who should be defended more than the silent, the one who has no voice. You see, we remain silent. In the name of being polite, in the name of being nice, we have bowed the knee to Baal. The church has. I expect dogs to bark. What should the people of God be doing? Should we remain silent at a time as this? Or should we be in our daily conversation saying, no friend, that's not right. You might lose some friends because of it. But think of it this way. You may introduce somebody to Jesus Christ who has felt their weight of sin and flees from the wrath to come in Jesus Christ. We need to reflect. We need to remember. God causes all of these things, good and bad, to come from his hand. He causes all things, says the scripture, to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. So you really can't tell what the Lord is doing, can you? He may bring hardship into your life, but like a master artisan, He takes all these extraneous, haphazard, apparently haphazard things, and He brings them together into a beautiful whole in your life. But you won't see that in full until that day when you're standing before Him in glory. You'll see it then. But God is working. He's on the move in this world. And what took place in France, though a terrible tragedy and a tremendous hardship, and our hearts should break for them, and we should pray for them, yet God is working even there to bring about the good for his people, those whom he has set his love upon before the foundation of the world. So last, what ought you to do in light of these attacks? What ought you to do? How ought you to respond in light of the trials? You ought to seize these opportunities to respond with faith in Jesus Christ and obedience to him. You ought to seize the opportunity to respond in faith to Jesus Christ and obedience to him. My friends, these are important times, and I want to, again, challenge you. As Christians, again, you've got to walk. You live in both worlds. You are a citizen of the kingdom of heaven. You are a citizen of the United States. No Christian should bury his head in the sand and say, I don't know what's going on out there. Shame on you. You need to know what's going on in the world around you, because that's your mission field. Need I remind you? When I looked at Facebook and I saw all of the profile pictures colored with the red, white, and blue, I thought, I have, I don't know how many alleged friends on Facebook, but I have all these people And the majority have turned their profile pictures red, white, and blue, the colors of the French flag. And I go, they're hurting. They're scared. And the New York Post is saying, it ain't over yet, friends. It's coming. And that's the message that the world is getting. That's the message that the American citizen is getting. And you and I all both know, all know, that reading between the lines, there is a lot of things going on. And I wouldn't be surprised for a second that we're not even getting a skosh of what's really going on. There are just too many weird things, airplanes and trains. How many times have you heard trains jumping tracks? We keep hearing of these trains jumping tracks and exploding. Weird things. I'm not convinced it's all accidental. Needless to say, and I'm not up here to try to make you paranoid, but there are things going on. Do you realize our neighbors are scared to death? And why shouldn't they be? They bought a house and they moved to Wyoming so that they could get away from the crazy world around them. And guess what? They can't get away fast enough. And it's here. And should they die, and should a bomb go off, should a gas pump blow up at a car near them, most likely they will die and go to hell. Can you feel some pity for them? Can you think long enough about their situation and their place in life where you would cry for them, that you would risk your reputation as a neighbor to think that they would die and be separated from God for all eternity, suffering the torments of hell? You can't slough this stuff off. We live in this world, and God has purposely not taken you home yet that you might be his witness to this world of Jesus Christ. And it is self-centered, it is selfish, it is self-consuming to say, my world is all about me, and it's me, me, me, me, and my happiness. Get over it. And it's time to start following your Savior and walk in his footsteps who left the comforts and glory of heaven to enter into this world that he might suffer and die for the likes of you and me. He calls us to this very same thing. We live in this world to represent our Savior in this world to lead the lost sheep of Israel back to their master, back to the master shepherd. We are not to be isolated. We are not to be isolated. After something like this happens, we are forced to act. And we must, my friends, and will do one of two things. We will either run towards the Lord or we will run away further from the Lord and be more entrenched in our sin and self-righteousness. If we run towards the Lord, you must come to him in truth. I want to encourage you with this. Isaiah 58, if you would turn there, please. We all know what it is when you are raising children and your one child smacks or slugs another kid. And you grab him by the shoulders and you say, say you're sorry. And he goes, sorry. And you go, I love the sincerity, the warmth of that confession there. You realize that's what we do to the Lord. When we say, okay, I'm busted. Okay, the preacher said, I need to say I'm sorry, sorry. Would you please consider your lives? Listen to Isaiah 58. Cry loudly. Do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet and declare to my people their transgression and to the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek me day by day and delight to know my ways as a nation that has done righteousness and has not forsaken the ordinance of their God. They ask me for just decisions. They delight in the nearness of God. Why have we tasted fasted and you do not see? Why have we humbled ourselves and you do not notice? Behold, on the day of your fast you find your desire and drive hard all your workers. Behold, you fast for contention and strife and to strike with a wicked fist. You do not fast like you do today to make your voice heard on high. Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to humble himself? Is it for bowing one's head like a reed, or for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed? Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to the Lord? Is this not the fast which I choose to loosen the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry, and to bring the homeless poor into the house when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? You see, they fasted and they prayed, but why doesn't the Lord hear us? I said, sorry. Because the Lord sees, my friends. These calamities go on. Will you turn to the Lord? And will, in brokenness, you turn to the Lord and say, God, forgive me? Forgive me for my apathy. Forgive me for hiding myself from my own flesh that was suffering. Forgive me, Father, for when I cried out to you, I had one hand lifted in prayer and the other hand around the neck of my neighbor, demanding of him something. I cried to you for mercy, but I demonstrated no mercy to those around me. You see, the Lord sees that. He sees the hypocrisy. Why wouldn't the Lord hear the prayers of thousands of people in his church? Why is it seen? We pray, and we have national days of prayer, and we do all of these things. Lord, why don't you hear? Maybe it's because your confession, your praying, and your fasting is a sham. And you thought that you could treat me like a slot machine and pull my lever, and I was going to give you the goodies. Sorry, friends, I don't work that way. I will hear the prayers of the broken and the contrite, of those who in humility come to me and make no demands. I will take pity on the brokenhearted. That's who I will hear. We need to respond to the Lord. We need to respond to this tragedy, not in hardening our hearts towards the Lord, not in bitterness towards the foreigner, but in a deep soul searching. My friends, 129 people were killed. 352 were injured between restaurants and concert halls and the stadium. Death will come to all should the Lord tarry. As the scripture says in Hebrews 9, it is appointed for men to die once And after this comes judgment. Let me ask you, first of all, are you prepared to die? All those people, they went out Friday night, they walked past the table, they picked up their keys, they picked up their wallet, they checked their pockets to make sure they had tickets for that concert. They had ice cream in their freezers, thinking after that expensive dinner at that French restaurant, They're going to come home and they're going to eat ice cream. There are ice cream tubs that are untouched today. There are keys strewn across the streets of France, wallets that are in lockers in some police station that'll never be picked up again by these people because they were killed in an instant in a flash by a terrorist, by a bomb, by a gun. They were killed. Friday night. 129 people stood before God saying, I was going to go to church. I was going to be baptized. I was going to do these things. Really? And God says, no. I don't know you. Depart from me. 129 people caught unaware and now are dead. Funny thing about France, Lander's just like it, Riverton's just like it. There are restaurants, there are concerts, there are things that go on. We have open borders. But even if it wasn't a terrorist, even if it was, it could be a crazy gunman who's just upset. Two blocks away, a murder-suicide took place on Fourth Street just a couple weeks ago. A woman killed her son and then killed herself two blocks from this church. Are you ready to die? Are you ready to die? Are you right with God? The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 7, the mind of the wise is in the house of mourning while the mind of fools is in the house of pleasure. Friends, death and judgment comes to us all. The wise man asks himself, am I ready today to stand before God if I were to die and I had to give an account of my life, my words, my deeds, my thoughts, am I ready? Dear friends, how could you ever be made ready? You're not good. I am not good. You're not even better than most. You're not. Your sin stinks to high heaven. It is an offense to a holy God. And you know that. You should know that. He certainly knows that. And you will have to pay the price. Or you will look to another, which is the gospel, which is the good news, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. Don't fall into this designer spirituality where That's okay for you, but that's not my God. Oh, yes, it is your God. That is your God, and you will give an account. You need to step away from your pride and turn from it, and you need to look square upon the person and work of Jesus Christ and place your trust in him alone. or you have no hope apart from him. He came and did the very thing you can't do. I say this, I think, every other sermon or every sermon, I say these same things with the hopes that some of you who are trusting in your religiosity today will finally wake up and hear the gospel and hear me say, you can't do it. Hell is busting open with good people. Only righteous people enter into heaven. You will never see a good person in heaven. You will only see a righteous person in heaven. My children were sharing about the adventures in Odyssey. It struck me in kind of a funny way. They talked about this good kid and this bad kid. And the bad kid did all these bad things on life, smoking cigarettes in the bathroom, and looking at things he shouldn't be looking at, doing all these things, and he died. And surprise, surprise, he went to hell. The good kid, however, went to church, and he read his Bible, and he obeyed his mom and dad. And when he died, he went to hell, too, because good isn't good enough for God. You must be righteous. And no amount of works that we do can merit the favor of God. For a man to be washed and ready to stand before God, he must lose himself, fall on his knees, and cry out, Jesus, be merciful to me, the sinner. I have no hope, no trust in myself. I make no boast in the things that I have done or haven't done, because where I left Left to my own design, I would blaspheme you and I have blasphemed you. I would throw the bird in your face and I would say, get out of here. I want nothing to do with you. That's what we would do. And that's what we have done. And God sees it and knows it and says, but I love you. And I have given my son so you might be set free from your sin. Look to me and be saved. And friends, I don't know, I get concerned for some of you. I'm actually concerned for all of you, but some of you, I'm concerned that you're trusting in religiosity and being better than the 95%, but you're still not more holy than God. Terrors like they've gone on should make us go, boy, there's a day of death coming. If not in a terrorist blast, it'll be a disease, it'll be something. Am I ready to die and stand before God? Apart from Christ, you are not ready. And you need to get ready for not a one of us is guaranteed that we will walk out of this building today alive. If you are the Lord's, now's a good time to examine yourself. Am I demonstrating the fruit of the Spirit? Is there a pulse running through my veins for the things of the Lord? Am I growing in love? Am I growing in kindness? Am I repenting of sin? Do I hate the things that the Lord hates? Is there a lively and vital faith, or is there just a dead faith? Terrors like we saw the other night should make us go Okay, it's time for self-examination. Let me examine myself and see if I really am the Lord's. Point being, death is knocking and the Lord has called and has provided this opportunity of escape. Today is the day of salvation. All who look to Jesus Christ will never be disappointed. Friends, if you don't know Jesus Christ, I would urge you to talk to somebody, myself, one of the elders, or anyone else in this congregation you know knows Jesus Christ, and say, help me, friend. How should I look to the Lord? But cry out to the Lord. There is no magic formula. Cry out to him. Admit you're a sinner, confess it and own it, and flee to Jesus. before the grave calls, and the lid shuts tight on your casket, and you stand before the Lord in judgment. Let us pray. We thank you, Lord, for this day, and again for your loving kindness. I pray, Lord, that you would help us all. We are easily deceived, and we buy into our own alleged goodness, which is such a farce, Compared to you, there is none righteous, no, not one. For all of us have fallen short of your glory, and our righteousness are as filthy rags. Who can stand before the Lord of hosts and boast that we are good? We have no other hope, no other righteousness but Jesus Christ. I pray, Lord, that you would be with those who sit in darkness today. I pray, O Spirit, that you would work in hearts and that people would be greatly unnerved and without rest until they find their rest in your Son and the salvation that he has secured for your people. Bless now this word. May it stir in work and hearts and minds. I do pray this all in Jesus' name. Amen.