Please turn with me in your Bibles to Daniel chapter 11. And we'll be reading verses 40 through 43. And at the time of the end shall the King of the South push at him. And the King of the North shall come against him like a whirlwind with chariots, with horsemen, with many ships. And he shall enter into the countries and shall overflow and pass over. He shall enter also into the glorious land and many countries shall be overthrown. But these shall escape. out of his hand, even Edom and Moab and the children, chief of the children of Ammon. He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries and the land of Egypt shall not escape. but he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver and over all the precious things of Egypt and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps. What we see in these passages of scripture that we've been considering from Daniel chapter 11 and also in Revelation chapter nine is that our God rules and reigns in the nations of this world. He's sovereign, he's king. The nations are collectively moral persons, just like individuals are moral persons and we owe God our obedience because he made us, he created us first and foremost, he's sovereign. And so there is a moral obligation for us as individuals to honor him, to walk in his ways, to keep his commandments. But that's true, not only of us as individuals, because we're moral persons, but there is a moral person as well to nations, collectively. Nations are not to go their own way, to do whatever they please. Nations, God likewise calls to worship him, to follow him, to kiss the sun, Psalm chapter two, verses 10 through 12. Notice to whom this is spoken. Be wise now, therefore, O ye kings. Not just the kings of Israel, but as we'll see, kings of the earth. Be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him. You see, the word of God teaches us that those that do obey him, those nations that follow him will be blessed and that those who refuse to do so will be judged. That's what we've just read. But we also need to understand that God's judgment does not necessarily fall immediately and completely upon a nation or people in destroying them. How many times throughout the Bible do we see that God sends his prophets, sends his word, not only to Israel, that he does for sure, many times, but he even sends his prophets to the Gentile nations like sending Jonah to Nineveh, or like sending Daniel to Babylon, or like sending the apostles into the Roman Empire. And when those nations refused to turn from their idolatry, from their wicked ways, from their persecution, of God's people, judgment eventually did fall upon them, and they were destroyed, or they were incorporated into other nations. The book of Daniel teaches this, as does the book of Revelation. God is indeed long-suffering, and we never want to minimize that. But at the same time, we don't want to So stress that, that we forget that God is holy and God is just, but God is long-suffering. But when that long-suffering becomes an excuse for the wicked to continue in their rebellion against the king of kings, rather than the long-suffering becoming a reason to repent, of that sin and their rebellion against God, God righteously brings his judgment upon that nation and upon that people. Usually, he brings it upon them by other nations, as we see in scripture. And that's what we see happening I believe in the prophecies before us that we are even now considering. Before getting into the text itself, I believe that what I've just said and what we have learned from God's word, this is a clear warning, a clear warning to us as a nation and as a people. Whatever Christian heritage we may have from the past, or whatever the solemn covenant that was made on our behalf by our faithful forefathers in England, Ireland, and Scotland, they cannot save us. They cannot save us if we as a nation will not repent. If we as a nation will not turn in faith to Jesus Christ and submit to him as king. our Christian heritage from the Puritans and the pilgrims, the faithful covenants of our forefathers will not be able to save us. Rather, I would submit our Christian heritage and the solemn covenants of our forefathers only aggravate our sin rather than excusing our sin. Paul says in Romans chapter two, verses four through five, or despises thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance, but after thy hardness, and impenitent heart treasurous up. Unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. So we see here that likewise nations did not heed the long suffering of God. in their idolatry and sin and God brought judgment. We need to be careful whether we're speaking of ourselves as a nation or as a church, as a family, as individuals. If we choose to walk in sin and rebellion against God, we cannot take his long suffering that he does not immediately bring judgment. as excusing our sin, but actually aggravating our sin. This is a moral principle that applies across the board. Nations, churches, families, and individuals. God's judgments and the threat of them really are a mercy to us. If God didn't warn us about judgment, but just poured his wrath upon us, but he does warn us, that's a mercy. That's God showing us his compassion. And Christ calls us to repentance, that we might be blessed and that his mercy and grace might flow in abundance to us. We turn now to our text for this Lord's Day. What I've just said, hopefully from last Lord's Day sermon and this sermon today, you'll be able to, again, see how that relates to what we are talking about here. There are two points that we will consider from our text today. First, we're going to consider the second Islamic invasion against the papal king in Daniel 11, the second part of verse 40, all the way through verse 43. And then secondly, we're going to consider a brief confirmation of the second Islamic invasion that's found in the sixth trumpet judgment in Revelation 9, verses 12 through 21. So it's following a similar pattern as what we did last Lord's Day. Considering the text, then going to Revelation chapter nine, to consider how that speaks to our text in Daniel 11. So the first main point, the second Islamic invasion against the papal king and verses 40 through 43, which we've already read. Let's remember that these Islamic invasions against the papal king are again God's judgments for their idolatry, for their apostasy, for his idolatry, the papal king's idolatry, for his apostasy. We've already noted that apostasy and that idolatry in verses 36 through 39. We spent a number of weeks going through those verses. And the Lord brought the first Islamic invasion against the Papal King, as we saw last Lord's Day, from the Arabian Saracens, the King of the South. Like locusts and scorpions, we read in Revelation chapter 9, they conquered and they afflicted with their corrupt religion. They corrupted and afflicted Arabia, Egypt, the Holy Land, Syria, and even pushed against, again, the papal king in Catholic Spain and Portugal, Catholic Sicily, Catholic Italy, even besieging Rome, until they were halted and were defeated by the Frankish king, Charles Martel, the grandfather of Charlemagne at the Battle of Tours. or Portier in 732, at which time Europe and the papal king were providentially preserved from complete and total Islamic domination. Another act of kindness and forbearance, long suffering to the papal king and to his kingdoms to repent. of their idolatry. This first Islamic invasion, as we learned from Revelation 9 in the fifth trumpet judgment, is spoken of as to the period of its advance and particular growth as reaching 150 years. And then it was relaxed. at the founding of the city of Baghdad in 762. But the papal king and his kingdom in Europe did not repent of their idolatry and the Lord sent then a second Islamic invasion which came from the king of the north this time. After the King of the South, as we learned last time, that is the Arabian Saracens, after it had tormented nations, many nations, and the papal king, a few hundred years passed. The Lord, again, in his long suffering, not bringing immediate judgment, upon the papal king a few hundred years past with different Islamic kingdoms and dynasties fighting for supremacy. And there came then another major insurgency of Islamic power. from this time, not from the South, but from the North, the King of the North, the Turks. They gained control over the previous kingdoms conquered by the King of the South. and moved east from Baghdad, moved east to bring an end to the Christian Byzantine Empire, besieging, capturing the capital Constantinople in 1453. From there, the King of the North, that is the Islamic Turks, moved west and south into Catholic Europe, the papal kingdom, taking control of various territories there, Hungary, Bulgaria, parts of Poland, until their advance was once again, once again, providentially, mercifully halted at the Battle of Vienna in 1683. The Crusades. where we've spoken of the Crusades and previous sermon, but the Crusades wherein the Papal King launched numerous military campaigns to free the Holy Land, allegedly to free the Holy Land from the control of the Islamic Turks were stretched out for hundreds of years from about 1095 to 1303. These many battles likewise depict the King of the North, the Islamic Turks, coming against the Papal King like a whirlwind with huge military and naval forces. that overflow into many countries, even more so than the Arabian Saracens, the King of the South, more so in this particular instance with the King of the North, the Islamic Turks. Overflowing into many countries, overthrowing them, which is what we see in Daniel chapter 11. 40B and 41. And the king of the north shall come against him, that is against the papal king, like a whirlwind with chariots, with horsemen, with many ships, and he shall enter into the countries and shall overflow and pass over. He shall enter also into the glorious land, that would be again the holy land, and many countries shall be overthrown, But these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom and Moab and the chief of the children of Ammon." And this, again, did historically occur. At the Fifth Lateran Council in Rome, 1512 to 1517, the threat of the advancing hordes of Islam, the Islamic Turks, was so great that the papal king declared war against the encroaching Islamic Turks. Notice in verse 41, which we just read, that the king of the north, The Islamic Turks did here conquer the glorious land. They did so in history as well, the Holy Land, which became the battleground, if you will, for much of the Crusades. Interestingly as well from our text, there were spoken of here three kingdoms that were left, that were not conquered, We find in verse 41, Edom, Moab, and Ammon, which were again on the east side of the Jordan River in the more western part of the Arabian desert. And in fact, the Islamic Turks left them alone. They did not exercise that kind of dominion over them. but rather used them and paid them even for protection as it related to those who were making pilgrimages to Mecca. And so those particular kingdoms that are found in the Bible, Edom, Moab, and Ammon, actually historically did find that they were not under that kind of dominion, under the control of the Islamic Turks, that all of these other lands were under that strict control and domination by the Islamic Turks. In verses 42 through 43, Daniel 11, We read, and he shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries and the land of Egypt shall not escape, but he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver and over all the precious things of Egypt and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps. And again, this prophecy made by the angel Gabriel to Daniel was indeed realized. The Islamic Turks extended their power to conquer Northern Africa, Egypt, Libya, and made inroads into Ethiopia as well. Thus, again, historical fulfillment we see in Daniel chapter 11 verses 40 through 43 as it relates to the second invasion upon the papal king and extending the Islamic Turks, extending their power, their authority, and was one of the largest, vast, most vast empires at that period of time, the Ottoman Turks. We'll stop there. in Daniel chapter 11, this Lord's Day, and we'll continue, God willing, to see the rest of Daniel 11 and into Daniel 12 in the next week, or the next Lord's Day or so. God willing, but what I want to do in the remainder of the sermon is what I did similarly last Lord's Day, is to have you turn with me in your Bibles to Revelation chapter 9. We saw how the Fifth, Trumpet Judgment was connected with the invasion of the Arabian Saracens, the King of the South. This, I think, again, is a connection between the King of the North in Daniel 1140 and connects it with the Sixth Trumpet Judgment. The fifth trumpet judgment is called the first woe, and the sixth trumpet judgment is called the second woe. So we're going to consider the focus on the second woe, the sixth trumpet judgment. In the fifth trumpet judgment, again, time in which the Arabian Saracens, the King of the South, exercised their greatest degree of power and authority lasted for 150 years, as we saw in Daniel chapter Chapter nine, five months, five prophetic months, which is 150 prophetic days and a day for a year. that principle 150 years. And we've mentioned many times that that is the way in which years are accounted according to Daniel chapter nine and a few other places as well in the Old Testament. and so we use that same reckoning that that was the period of time and that does fit in well as already noted in 762 that then the Islamic capital of Baghdad was established and that became a period in which though there was again wars amongst the Muslims themselves and fighting for control of dynasties and kingdoms, it was basically an end of extending to other territories the Islamic flag. So now we want to consider the sixth trumpet judgment. So look with me, Revelation 9, and we'll begin reading at verse 12 through 21. One woe is passed. Behold, there comes two woes more hereafter. And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar, which is before God, saying to the sixth angel, which had the trumpet, loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour and a day and a month and a year for to slay the third part of men. And the number of the army of the horsemen were 200,000, and I heard the number of them. And thus I saw the horses in the vision and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire and of jacinth and brimstone, and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions, and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire and by the smoke and by the brimstone which issued out of their mouths. For their powers in their mouth and in their tails, for their tails were like unto serpents and had heads with them, they do hurt. And the rest of the men, which were not killed by these plagues, yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils and idols of gold and silver and brass and stone and of wood, which neither can see nor hear nor walk. Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts. The sixth trumpet judgment, the second woe, sounds in Revelation 9, verses 12 through 14. And we hear most likely what is Christ's voice as king thundering forth from the midst of the four horns of the golden altar of incense. And let us note once again some of the highlights that connect this prophecy with what we have already noted concerning the Islamic invasion of the Turks in Daniel chapter 11. the king of the north, the connection between these two portions of scripture, which again, we ought not to be surprised at all, because God has given to us, I think, these prophetic books of Daniel, Ezekiel, and Revelation, and other portions, obviously, of God's word, but those three books that, for the most part, are devoted to prophetic revelation, in order to understand one another and to be able to confirm of the truth of one by going to the text of the other. Do these passages match up? Is there a connection between these passages? And I hope that you will see as I've come to acknowledge as well that there is a connection between what we have already seen in Daniel 11 and what we see here in Revelation 9 concerning the sixth trumpet judgment. So the second Islamic invasion, as we've already noted from Daniel 11, here we see has, again, a particular location. that's associated with it from which, again, the invasion, it crosses over the Euphrates. Baghdad, again, what is about modern Baghdad and Baghdad then, it's about 40 or 50 miles or so from the Euphrates River and going east, you're going to cross over that. And so basically, that which was restrained until this particular time is now unrestrained and there is a leashing forth by way of God's power, by way of what he permits to happen, that these Islamic Turks began to move across the Euphrates. They go east. They go south. They go, once they're in the east, they go further east into Europe. They go south into Europe. They, again, began to spread at that particular time. But notice, again, the location I think is very, very telling, the Euphrates River. That's where the torrent of Islamic hordes emanates from. There's, as it were, an overflowing of of the river, where, again, in chapter 16 of Revelation, there's a drying up of the river Euphrates. And again, we'll look at that. But if the overflowing of the river and allowing the Islamic hordes to pass on is, speaking of invasion, then the drying up of the river would tend to indicate again that the powers at some time in the future, the powers of those Islamic nations will be dried up as well. And so again, we In the Bible studies, if not in the sermons, in the Bible studies, we will be able to eventually get to that portion of God's word in Revelation chapter 16. So this seems to fix our sights upon the civil capital of Islam, namely Baghdad. And there was, again, at a particular period of time, that is spoken of here, the Seljuk Turks that began to overrun and conquered more and more territory in the Greek Byzantine Empire, Persia, the Holy Land, Egypt, Northern Africa, and made inroads even into the kingdoms of the Papal King in Eastern Europe. knocking, as we mentioned before, knocking at the door of Western Europe until its decisive defeat at the Battle of Vienna in 1683. Even during the Reformation, one will hear correspondence between the papal king and the reformers. appealing to the reformers. This is not a time to be un-united, but to be united. not to be disunited, but to be brought together because of the imminent danger from the king of the north, the Islamic Turks that are seeking to invade Europe. This was a very, very real threat to Europe and to the papal king and had again God in his providence not granted victory at the Battle of Vienna, the world would look quite different than it does now. There's once again, just as there was in the Fifth Trumpet Judgment, a time indicator. So there's a time indicator here in the Sixth Trumpet Judgment as well. And we see that in verses five Chapter 9, verses 5 and 10. But here we see that temporal indicator mentioned for us In verse 15, that these four angels were loosed which were prepared for an hour and a day and a month and a year for to slay the third part of men. So again, how are we to interpret this temporal indicator? Well, using, again, the same method of interpretation, the day-year principle, that we would understand a year, which is 360 days, according to, again, the Hebrew calendar. 360 days, or 360 years. One month being 30 days, or 30 years. One day being one year. and one hour being a 24th of a day, that would be equivalent to 15 days out of a year, that we come up with the figure time of 391 years and 15 days that are spoken of here. Nearly a 400-year time span for the advancing and conquering of the King of the North or the Islamic Turks. Not that there wasn't anything that happened after this period of time at all, but it seems to focus particularly on a key battle that occurred in 1453, I would submit to you, and that is the battle that overcame Constantinople. So that would mean that 1453 is basically the the time when the 391 years ends, then that would take us back to approximately 1062, as when about that time that the invasions really began to mount by way of out of Baghdad, crossing the Euphrates, beginning to extend their power And so we'll talk more about that battle in just a moment, but that's the time. It seems that would be the time that we're talking about, from 1062 to approximately 1453, that period of time. Next, we notice here in verse 16 that there's a number associated with the Islamic army. This is most likely not to be understood literally, 200,000,000 or 200 million. people in this army, but the word for thousand there is literally, in Greek, means myriads. That's not the same thing as the word thousand. It, again, is used in other portions of God's word, like in Luke 12.1, to simply mean a large host. a mighty host, a multitude. Luke 12.1 says, in the meantime, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people. That's, again, the same word, myriads of people. In so much that they trod one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples, first of all, beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Likewise, that same word, myriads, is used in Hebrews 12 2 and doesn't again refer to literally a thousand but it myriads here again is interpreted to mean a large innumerable multitude. Hebrews 12 22 says but ye are come unto mount zion and unto the city of the living god the heavenly jerusalem and to innumerable company of angels. So many, large group. There is actually a word 4,000 that is used say in Revelation 20 verse 4, they shall reign with him a thousand years. So there is a word 4,000 that could have been used in Revelation 9-16, if that was the import of that to specifically say 200,000 thousands, but that probably is not the case. This simply means that the Islamic Turks had an army that was vast, was innumerable. And the historical records bear that out, certainly, that they had an immense size. of both naval and military troops. And that was brought against Constantinople, where there are historical records that say there were above 300,000 that were involved in that particular attack upon Constantinople. And again, we'll come back to Constantinople in just a moment. But notice in verse 17, just as we saw in the first woe or the fifth trumpet judgment, colors are mentioned. And here we see that there is, it speaks of the color of their breastplates and their uniform being fire, which would probably be scarlet, red, speaks of it as being adjacent, but or another interpretation is hyacinth, which is blue, and brimstone, which is yellow, the sulfur yellow. That would be in their apparel, in their uniforms, their banners, those colors of red, blue, and yellow. And that again, historically, those were the colors of the Turks that they embraced as the colors of their banners, of the uniforms, et cetera. Next in verse 17, It says out of the mouth of horses, something very peculiar is said. Out of the mouth of horses came fire, smoke, and brimstone. Though gunpowder was invented much earlier by the Chinese, It was used here in this particular instance against Constantinople in a way that had not been used prior. It was used to bring down the mighty walls of Constantinople. Those walls, double walls, famous walls of Theodosius. had withstood attacks, many, many, many attacks for a thousand years, and those walls had stood. No one was able to bring down those walls or make a breach in those walls until 1453, in which again, cannons were reared and used at that particular time, and to a degree that they had not ever been used. There were hand kinds of cannons that were used, but the cannons that were devised and used in this particular instance were very unique. In fact, One of the cannons, the largest one ever constructed, was built at that time for this battle. It was 24 feet long, this cannon, 24 feet long, two and a half feet in diameter, and could shoot a cannonball weighing 1,200 pounds a distance of one mile. That cannon was raised against and there were smaller cannons that were lined up by the Turks as well against Constantinople at that time. But though there had been many attacks against the Theodosian walls of Constantinople before that time, At this particular time, within 55 days, the walls fell, breaches in the double walls of Constantinople fell, and the Greek Byzantine Empire was conquered. Much of it had already been conquered by the Turks. but it was the capital of Constantinople because of the walls that had withstood that destruction. And here it says in verse 18 that a third of men were killed as a result of this Sixth Trumpet Judgment. You see, the Christian world at that time was divided into three parts, thirds, Europe, Asia, In Northern Africa, the Greek Christian Empire, which was one third, was politically killed and destroyed at that time, at the time that Constantinople fell in 1453. The rest of the Christian world, we read in Romans 9, verses 20 through 21, which would, again, the rest of the Christian world would be the papal kingdom, primarily, and his kingdom in Europe did not repent of their idolatry, did not repent of their worship It speaks of worshiping devils or daemonion. You see, the pagans, and I don't think that's talking about they did not worship or repent of worshiping demons. So devils here, daemonion, has a different meaning in various places of scripture than talking about demons. The pagans used this word daimonion, and so do other places in the scripture, used the word to refer to lesser gods, lesser gods that interceded with the greater gods. And that, again, is carried over for us in scripture. For example, in Deuteronomy 32, verse 17, speaking Speaking of the Israelites and how they fell into various points of idolatry, it says that they, verse 17, Deuteronomy 32, 17 says, they sacrificed unto devils in the Greek Septuagint, Daimonion. Not to God, does it mean demons? What it goes on to say, to gods. That's who they sacrificed to, to daemonion, to gods, whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not. Likewise, in 1 Corinthians 10, 20, The Apostle Paul says, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils. Were they consciously, were they intending to sacrifice to demons? Or did they sacrifice to lesser gods? Did they have this view that was prevalent in the pagan world of there being intercessory types of gods that they could pray to and appease and sacrifice to? Is that what is referred to here in 1 Corinthians 10.20? Well, I would suggest it's very similar to what is said in Deuteronomy 32.17, that the devils there, referred to by Paul, are not demons, but are, again, they sacrifice to these lesser gods. that were intercessory gods. And how does that apply to the papal king? Well, as we've already noted in past sermons, that the papal king certainly has instituted worship to departed spirits, to patron and intercessory saints. Then it goes on to speak of worship of idols, or we would say images. It goes on to say that they did not repent of murders, the murders of unjust wars that were brought against pre-Protestants and brought against Protestants. They did not repent of sorceries. Sorceries has to do with praying to the dead. And again, that is what happens when they pray to their patron saints, when they pray to their intercessory saints. It is a form of sorcery, praying to the dead. They did not repent of fornication. Fornication, again, by way of sexual immorality permeated the priesthood, even Catholics at that time, said the corruption by way of fornication within the church among the priesthood, the popes, the monks, the nuns was so prevalent. And so they did not repent of that either. In fact, in Revelation 11, eight, Rome is called Sodom, spiritual Sodom. They did not repent of thefts. Likewise, we see in this portion of God's word. What are the thefts? Well, the stealing from the poor by way of indulgences in order to purchase forgiveness of sin for oneself and for one's dead relatives. They did not repent of all of these sins. After all that the papal king had witnessed by way of Christ's judgment upon the Eastern Christian kingdom, Constantinople, by way of all that the papacy, the papal king had witnessed by way of the invasions of the Arabian Saracens and by way of the Islamic Turks, into his own kingdom, into Western Europe, it did not faze the papal king in turning him and his kingdom away from his and their idolatry and corruption in the truth and in morals. They repented not. They repented not. And God will bring in the vile judgments then final judgments upon the papal kingdom. These judgments should have brought the papal king, should have brought the papal kingdom to repentance, but it did not. In fact, it only hardened him and his kingdom in their sin and idolatry and rebellion against the Lord. What can we say by way of application from these passages that we've considered this Lord's Day? You know what is worse than falling into some sin, whether it be a hidden sin that no one else knows about or whether it be a more public sin, whether it be the sin of pride The sin of idolatry and making our will supreme over God's will, or whether it be a public sin like fornication or blasphemy. What's worse than that? Well, what's worse than that is not repenting, is not repenting of that sin. but rather continuing to live in that sin, in the knowledge that God condemns it. It's continuing to live in that sin, though there is abundant testimony in God's holy word that God judges those who continue to live in unrepentant sin. It's ignoring What's worse is ignoring the conviction of the Holy Spirit that pricks our conscience when we fall into sin. You see, that is a greater aggravation of the original sin that we committed, whether that original sin is great or small. And we need, again, to recognize that even the little foxes spoil the vine. That if we allow the little foxes to continue to run rampant in our vineyard, they will destroy the fruit of that vineyard. That's why we cannot make those distinctions. Well, it's not such a big sin. It's just a little sin that I'm going to continue to practice. The Lord says no. to do so is to aggravate that sin. To continue in that sin is to aggravate the original sin. To not be repentant is to aggravate that sin. But a second application is this. Do you know what is better? Do you know what is better than even the repentance and sorrow and grief that we have, the pain in our hearts in confessing our sin unto the Lord and to others that we have sinned against, you know what is even better than that? That's the beginning. And though that can be painful, but what is better than that is this, the lifting of the burden. of the guilt of sin, the lifting of the burden that attacked our conscience while we were living in that sin, and we knew it was wrong. We knew we were violating God's law, but we did not repent of it. To have that burden lifted is one of the greatest blessings that God can give unto us. To know that our Father loves us and He forgives us when we repent of our sin and turn unto him. What is greater, what is an immense blessing that flows from our repentance is the joy that we have within our heart. There is a skip to our walk. There is a joy that begins to overflow when we turn from our sin unto Jesus. There is a peace that overwhelms us. Everything is okay now. Everything is fine. My conscience is not as the hound of heaven bearing down upon me, but by God's grace, that conscience has been purified by the Lord. It's the comfort that comes from knowing that we are forgiven. that overwhelms us because of God's overflowing mercy and grace and love in Jesus Christ that is showered upon us who do sincerely repent of our sin. And the goal, the end of all of that is this, the restoration of communion with Jesus Christ. We're not at a distance from one another, but we are near. We are close. We are enjoying one another. We don't have to avoid him. We want to run to him now, whereas we were avoiding him while living in that sin. And now we run to him and enjoy him and he throws his arms around us and we throw our arms around him. And that's the blessing that flows from repentance, when we humbly lower ourselves. Yes, it may mean some pain. We may have to be humiliated, as it were, lower ourselves, certainly before God, but with others when we repent. But dear ones, the blessing that flows from that, no one, Nothing else can match that blessing that flows from that. That's why Jesus says, in Matthew 5, 4, in the Beatitudes, blessed are those who mourn. That is, mourn over and repent of their sin, for they shall be comforted. You want to know comfort? Don't live in sin. Repent. Flee to your blessed Savior. And you will know the comfort and the joy that only Jesus can give now and for all eternity. Amen.