Turn to Psalm number 60, as this will be our scripture reading. As I mentioned, I'm breaking for this morning message from my consideration of the Gospel of John, and you will understand why in a moment. Psalm number 60. Hear now this portion from God's written word. O God, Thou hast cast us off, Thou hast scattered us, Thou hast been displeased, O turn Thyself to us again. Thou hast made the earth to tremble, Thou hast broken it, heal the breaches thereof, for it shaketh. Thou hast showed Thy people hard things, Thou hast made us to drink the wine of astonishment, Thou hast given a banner to them that fear Thee, that it may be displayed because of the truth. that thy beloved may be delivered, save with thy right hand and hear me. God hath spoken in his holiness. I will rejoice. I will divide Shechem and meet out the Valley of Sukkah. Gilead is mine and Manasseh is mine. Ephraim also is the strength of mine head. Judah is my lawgiver. Moab is my washpot. Over Edom will I cast out my shoe. Philistia, triumph thou because of me. Who will bring me into the strong city? Who will lead me into Edom? Wilt not thou, O God, which hast cast us off, and thou, O God, which didst not go out with our armies, give us help from trouble? For vain is the help of man. Through God we shall do valiantly, for it is he that shall tread down our enemies. The psalmist in the psalm that I just read declares this in verse 3. Thou hast showed thy people hard things. Thou hast made us to drink the wine of astonishment. I've broken from my regular exposition through John because, let us be honest, not necessarily limiting it to God's people, but this nation. confronted a very, very, very hard thing on Friday. And it would not surprise me that many were astonished. And so because I could not get that reality out of my mind, and actually as I was going to my clients on Friday night, And listening to a radio announcer talk about it, he said one particular thing, and I'm going to make reference to it later in the message that I just said I've got to break from my regular exposition. Because let us be honest, I think that one of the greatest challenges, one of the greatest responsibilities, one of the greatest blessings for anyone who names the name of Christ, is to bring every thought into the obedience of Christ. Now, there are times when this is easy, and there are other times when this is a real challenge. Especially when we are surrounded by and inundated by comments and ideas that show that men are not doing this. Because who has not heard about the sinful and heinous events of Friday morning in Newtown, Connecticut, at the Sandy Hook Elementary School? Now, some might say, how? How can you worship God in a world in which such events take place? How can you believe in God when events such as this take place? Because if you confess Christ, you are to bring every thought into obedience to Christ. And He has given clear teaching as to how anyone who confesses Him is to do this, even asking His Father to bring it about in their lives, John 17, 17, sanctify If we are to have holy and righteous thinking concerning this heinous, sinful event, or any event, it can only come about through the Lord personally applying the truth of His words, who are thinking words and actions. I'm going to attempt to do that this morning, in light of that said, thou hast showed thy people hard things." I'm going to attempt to do this this morning in light of this hard thing that took place in Newtown, Connecticut, by trying to address seven different questions that either have been asked, will be asked, or should be asked, when confronted by such a heinous and sinful act of violence. And in answering these questions in the way I do, I am not denying how overwhelmingly hard that event must have been and continue to be for those directly impacted. Because I ask you, who can even begin to comprehend the anguish of mind of those parents hearing of what was taking place in that elementary school, then waiting, then waiting and seeing their child. Oh, the joy. And they're not seeing their child. Who can even begin to comprehend the reality of that? But I ask you, dear brethren, if the God we profess to worship in this place cannot guide us, teach us, challenge us, correct us, comfort us through and by His Word at times such as these? What is the point, dear brethren? If He is just as overwhelmed and unable to comprehend or deal with such events like we show ourselves to be, then why worship Him? But He is worthy. He is worthy. He is worthy to be worshipped and bowed down to in every and in all situations. When Job lost all his physical possessions and his children, he bowed down and worshipped. When David was chastised by his God and the child he prayed for died, he rose up and he worshipped. He is worthy to be worshipped at all times and in all circumstances. So what is the first of the seven different questions that either have been asked, will be asked, or should be asked when confronted by such a heinous and sinful act of violence? Because, dear brethren, I would be a fool to say this is the last time in this world that is rejecting the one we worship in this place. First question, where was God? It would not surprise me that many have put this question on their lips, even asking other people who profess to worship God, where was God? On Friday morning, in Newtown, Connecticut. Where is God when death takes place, even the death of children? Or from a human perspective, when there is a time not usually as tragic and as heinous, except in the case of an assassination where the flags of a country are symbolically lowered to half-mast as they have been done in this country at the While Isaiah, dear brethren, is given a glance of where God is when a high-ranking official, even a king, died. And where is that in Isaiah chapter number 6? Isaiah chapter number 6. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphim, each one had six wings, with two He covered His face with, and with two He covered His feet, and with two He did fly. And one cried unto another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory. Notice, the worship of God does not stop when death occurs. He is worthy to receive wisdom and honor and glory and worship constantly. But not only where was God namely being unceasingly worshiped, but what does God declare about himself through Jeremiah, his prophet in Jeremiah chapter number 23, verses 23 and 24. Jeremiah 23, verses 23 and 24, am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him, saith the Lord? Do not I fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord? The God who is unceasingly worshipped is aware of every event taking place on this earth, even the events that transpired on Friday morning in Connecticut. And how did David apply this truth? Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is too high. I cannot attain unto it. David applied this truth personally. Where can I go from your presence? Where can I flee from your intimate, personal knowledge of every one of my thoughts, words, and deeds? Had the man who perpetrated this heinous act actively and personally believed of every one of his thoughts, every one of his words, every one of his deeds, not only last Friday, but every day of his twenty years of his life? How different, dear brethren, would the events of Friday been for those he killed and himself? How different would the events of Friday have been? Because, dear brethren, it is the absence of a living moment by moment, conscious awareness of the living, true, and only God that results in men sinning as heinously as that man did on Friday. Yet this country and world has embraced atheism as a viable and legitimate way of thinking, and yet, when men act out this truth, Men express shock and alarm. God's not allowed in the door of the public schools, but Darwin is! And what does Darwin say? There is no God. It's all blind evolutionary chance. Well, blind evolutionary chance. is reaping some bitter fruits in the public schools of America. What kept Joseph back from the sin that was tearing him in the face of Pontiphar's wives? How can I do this wicked thing and sin against God? Oh, that sinner man really face where God is. And how different would this world be? Where is God? He is sitting on His throne, being incessantly worshipped, and He is aware of every one of your thoughts. every one of your words, every one of your deeds, even as He is aware of mine, and every man, woman, boy, and girl on the face of the earth. Second question, how can you believe in the absolute sovereignty of God over all things, when things such as this happen? There are many reasons, dear brethren, because not to does not solve any problems. Denying the sovereignty of God over all things does not solve any problems or lead to any true peace of mind or hope in the face of them, for did Job not go through some horrific personal But what brought him back to a place of peace and rest, realizing truth about God, who would ordain these things in his life? But are you saying that God knew what was going to take place in Newtown, Connecticut, before it took place? Yes. He decreed it. Who raised up Noah? to warn a pre-Flood world that was given over to violence. God raised him up, and for a hundred years he preached righteousness, and yet at the end of a hundred years of preaching righteousness, how many went into that ark? Eight people! Eight people went into that ark! How many of the same age and younger were among those outside? Now could the Lord have stopped the events of Friday? I'm not trying to commit a logical error here, dear people. Could the Lord have stopped the events of last Friday? Yes and no. Yes, if it had been His decree to prevent this man from ever reaching the door of that school, God could have prevented him from doing so in innumerable ways if He had decreed to. But the fact that God did not stop him meant that it was not His decree to prevent it. He meant it to happen even though it was a display of the evil men can inflict upon others. Even children. Because God repeatedly shows in His Word, the Bible, that He is aware of what sinful men are going to do even before they do them. Just one example of so many I could choose from. But one example, 2 Kings chapter number 8. Many people don't like reading through the historical Old Testament books because of all the names. But, oh, there's some powerful truth in these books. Second Kings, chapter number eight, starting to read at verse number seven. What does the Lord's prophet reveal? Elisha. Second Kings, chapter eight, starting to read at verse seven. And Elisha came to Damascus and Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria, was sick. And it was told him, saying, the man of God has come thither. And the king said unto Haziel, Take a present in thine hand, and go meet the man of God, and inquire of the Lord of him, saying, Shall I recover of this disease? So Haziel went to meet him, and took a present with him, even of every good thing of Damascus, for he caviled his burden, and came and stood before him, and said, Thy son, Ben-Hadad king of Syria, hath sent me to thee, saying, Shall I recover of this disease? And Elisha said unto him, Go, saying unto him, Thou mayest certainly recover, howbeit The Lord hath showed me that he shall surely die. And he settled his countenance steadfastly until he was ashamed, and the man of God wept. And Hesael said, Why weepeth my Lord? And he answered, Because I know the evil that thou wilt do unto the children of Israel. Their strongholds wilt thou set on fire, and their young men wilt thou slay with the sword, and wilt dash their children, and rip up their women with child. Who is revealing this to him? God is. And Hazel said, But what, is thy servant a dog, that he should do this great thing? And Elisha answered, The Lord hath showed me that thou wilt be king over Syria. So he departed from Elisha, and came to his master, who said to him, What said Elisha to thee? And he answered, He told me that thou should surely recover. See, the disease isn't going to kill him. And verse 15, And it came to pass in the world, that he took a thick cloth, and dipped it in water, and spread it on his face, so that he died. And Hazel reigned in his stead. God revealed this to Elisha. Oh, Haziel, he's going to get better. But he knows he's going to die because he knows exactly what Haziel is going to do. Not only to Hadad, but to the people of Israel, to the women, to the children of Israel. What an interesting thing. It would be like Elisha's of God. How many leaders should take the advice of a bishop? But dear brethren, God decreed an even greater evil. an even greater evil carried out by sinful men than even the sinful act of one man in Connecticut. Have you ever heard of the crucifixion? Have you ever heard of the crucifixion of Christ? That is the ultimate evil act of man. Men killed a perfect man. Men desired to even kill God if they could have, because He's the God-man. He's the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. As Matthew Henry said, I think it was Matthew Henry said, they committed homicide, regicide, and deicide. They wanted to kill the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, and the only perfect man who ever walked on the earth. Such was what the evil of man desired. But what does Peter preach twice? In the book of Acts? Twice? What does he declare? Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2 verses 22 and 23, ye men of Israel, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, the man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know, him being delivered by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. The ultimate evil act. And he mentions it again. Chapter 4, verses 23 to 28, and being let go, they went to their own company and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. And when they had heard that, they lifted up their voices to God with one accord and said, Lord. And the word there, Lord, is the word we get the word despot from. He's the only despot, the only holy despot. Lord, thou art God, which has made heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them, who by the mouth of thy servant David hath said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ, for of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed both Erich and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done." There was wickedness in the crucifixion of Christ, but there was amazing holiness and righteousness and mercy and grace and love being displayed by Almighty God as well. The greatest evil of Acts. of men bringing about the greatest good, even the salvation of sinners. Dear brethren, that's why if you leave the truth of the cross and what it is teaching us about mankind and other current events, even the event in Connecticut, then you will not be able to understand it correctly. Look at the evil that was committed in Connecticut. Yes, look at the evil that was committed on the cross. And out of that greatest evil act of mankind, God brought about the salvation of the world. What did Paul write to the church in Corinth? That when he was among them, he wanted to know nothing among them but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Because unless you look at this world through the crucifixion of Christ, you will never be able to look at it correctly. And yet, how many of the so-called experts who are being called upon and are heard on the television and on the radio stations will attempt to address the events of last Friday, but will not mention the cross of Christ? And what that cross is showing us about God and man. Third question. Why did it have to happen at this time of year? It's the holiday season. Why did it have to happen at this time of year? How many of those children will not be able to sit on the lap of someone in all the malls? Why any parent would want a child to sit on the lap of that lie is beyond me. Because, dear brethren, the Santa Claus idol cannot enable a person to face But the death of children younger than those maliciously cut down in Connecticut, dear brethren, are forever associated with the coming of Christ into this world, are they not? Although there was a passage of time between when He was born and when the Magi arrived, What is associated with the coming of the Christ child into this world? Matthew 2 verse 16, Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wrath, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men. How can children die at this time of year? How many children died due to this wicked king's desire to try and kill the very Son of God? This was the sinful act of a wicked king and wicked men under him. Because, dear brethren, King Herod didn't go around doing the killing. Oh, how different it would be if men followed the Prince of Peace and the kings of this world who say, go to war and kill your fellow man. But notice he wasn't stopped and he wasn't persecuted. Yet, what does it say about this Herod? Verse 19, But when Herod was dead, Herod, like the shooter in Connecticut, took his own life into the presence of God with the blood of children on their hands. Yet how many in positions of power and authority are in the same position today? Why did it have to happen at this time of year? Because it happened, dear brethren, when Christ came into this world. Children younger than ten were maliciously cut down by the order of a king. Fourth question, what would Jesus have done and said to those immediately affected? What would Jesus have done and said to those immediately affected? Dear brethren, you study the Gospels and you will find that whenever our beloved Lord was confronted with someone who was personally dealing with the loss of a loved one, He responded with compassion and He responded with power. He's under the judgment of God because I read even this morning that they're planning to go to Connecticut to picket the school with their placards! Can you even see our beloved Lord doing that on a blasphemy of the highest measure? He touched the widow of Maine's son's coffin and raised him from the dead. of death. And then he said, I am the resurrection and the life. Do you believe in me? Yet he died, yet shall he live. Do you believe this? And he shall be empowered over death by doing what? By raising Lazarus from the dead. That's how Jesus responds to those dealing with the sobering reality of the loss of a close there to himself, and he declared that he was the resurrection and the life, and then displayed the truth of it by raising Lazarus from the dead. Yet how many of those who have been directly affected by this heinous event will not be unashamedly pointed to the compassionate and powerful Lord Jesus Christ by the so-called grief counselors? Come to me, all you who are burdened and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. How many will hear of the compassionate Savior as they grieve the loss of their children and wives and family? But fifth, what would Jesus say to those discussing this event as you hear on the television, as all the so-called experts suffocate and spout things that have no biblical support. What would Jesus say to those discussing this event who are not directly affected? Well, He was challenged with that, was He not, dear brethren, in Luke chapter 13? There were present at that season some that told him of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices, and Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galileans were worst sinners above all the Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell ye nay, but except ye repent, ye shall likewise perish." They confront Jesus with this heinous act? These people are in the midst of worship, like we're hopefully doing here this morning, and the men under Pilate's command break in, and as they're even worshiping, they're struck down. And what does Jesus say? Any words? From the rest of the Galilee? No, but unless you repent, you will likewise perish. God can righteously take anyone out of time into eternity in any way He righteously decrees, even using the falling of a tower, or the malicious and hate-filled heart of those following the orders of a wicked leader, or their own wicked hearts. Dear brethren, guard your hearts. Guard your hearts. Guard your hearts, for out of it are the issues of life and death. Don't let the sun go down while you are angry. Don't think a little act of mental sin is a minor thing. If you think it's not possible that you could be guilty of heinous sin, that you're not guarding your thoughts, your words, and your actions, you do not know the heart the way the Lord does. Did David, the man after God's own heart, think that a little act of mental adultery... Oh, there's Bathsheba, and she's bathing herself, and she's attractive. Did David think that a little act of mental adultery would lead to the physical act, and then trying to cover up his sin would lead to him killing Bathsheba's husband, Uriah, through the instrumentality of the Amorites? Sin is all downhill! If God doesn't stop you, you don't know where that sin is going to end up. You see, men talk about evil. Men talk about evil. Evil came to Connecticut. Men talk about evil. But they do not want to face the source of that evil. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. The fact that we do not see more of these things is not a sign, dear brethren, of the mythical goodness of man, but of the restraining hand of God upon the natural hearts of man. But you should not be surprised that these things are being seen with even greater frequency, as even the President himself acknowledged, for when the truth of the Word the public schools, even in the one in Connecticut, when men do not want to face the truth of the human heart and have it taught publicly, the last thing that you should be surprised at are that the very things that the Bible warns about increase. For as a man sows, that shall he also reap. A society says, we don't want you gone! Then you've got to accept the reality of living without me. means in your culture. Because, dear brethren, all the pills and all the psychology of all the psychologists in the world cannot chain or restrain the fallen human heart. The only thing that will change the human heart is true heaven-sent revival. The only hope, dear brethren, for the United States of America is the gospel-preaching church. the Lord Jesus Christ. Because a society cannot reject the teaching of the Prince of Peace and expect to prosper and know peace. Sixth question. What does this event say to a culture, a country, and a world almost universally given itself over to endorsing and condoning violence from the womb to the battlefield, even by those who dare name the name of the Prince of Peace. Now, I do not believe that what I'm about to say is something that should be discussed with any grieving parent, family member or friend directly dealing with this event unless they broach the subject with someone personally. So we are to weep with those who weep. And I've already addressed how Jesus personally interacted with those immediately and personally affected by the death of those close to them. But the Lord. through his infallibly inspired prophets, has not left himself without testimony to his holy thoughts regarding man's heinous and sinful actions against others. Something clearly seen in the prophet Amos. where the Lord indicates how a variety of heinous and sinful acts on the part of sinful men from all countries lead to His holy indignation and displeasure. For eight times in Amos 1 and 2, the word because is found. After reason, why he will not curtail his punishment, he is about to righteously mete out upon the nations. And seven of those eight reasons, after these seven times that the word because is used, is because of the mistreatment of their fellow man in some way. But when the country, this country, and even the world expresses shock and horror and even indignation that such a thing should happen in a school in Connecticut, yet are not equally shocked at an even greater ongoing assault on children, God, dear brethren, is not impressed. But should any creature made in the image of a living and true God express shock and horror at the killing not only of adults, but of parents and children no older than ten? Yes. Should a school be a sanctuary where a child can learn safely? Yes. But should there not be? Is there not another place that should also be a sanctuary? That should also be a sanctuary? Where children, even younger than those maliciously cut down by this sinful man, learn that they are not just in a place of learning, but in a place of sanctuary and a place of protection? Yes, there is! And it's got a name. It's called the womb. But this place of safety and sanctuary created by God for that child has had unbridled and legally protected violence enacted against it unceasingly with the full legal protection of this country and dare I say almost universally in this wicked world. And God can righteously judge the nation and world by showing us the heinousness of it. And the truth of this, I think, was unknowingly captured by a radio announcer on a program heard as I was going to my shift on Friday night. He introduced the fact that some are going to try to use this heinous event, and they already have, to demand more gun control. But men bent on sinning are not going to be deterred by any legislation. But he said no. We should be thinking about the babies. What about the babies? And I said as I'm driving, right, right, right, what about the babies? Not only the 20 in Connecticut, what about the over 40 million since Roe vs. Wade legally killed in this country? I am sure none of us would want to see the horrific classroom scene in Connecticut. But let someone try to capture the number of children killed in the womb by putting up crosses to represent them in some public place and an injunction is taken out against them so they can't do it. Let someone say that the dismembered limbs of those killed by the abortion of our Because if there is one thing the truth of the Incarnation should teach, anyone willing to listen to its truth, is that God the Son took sinless humanity into union with His eternal deity from the moment of the Christ child's conception in the womb of Mary the Virgin. But just try and wrap your mind around this impossibility. If the fullness of time had come in the plan of God in the year 2012, and Mary changed her mind after saying she would be the handmaiden of the Lord, after thinking about all that it entailed, she could have obtained a full, legal, and protected abortion of the Christ child, even up to the ninth month of pregnancy in this anti-Christian United States of America! Then add to it, dear brethren, the callous indifference of this country to its indiscriminate and ongoing drone missile attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan, where children as young and younger than those struck down so maliciously have been and are being killed. How many professing Christians would not take part in a similar event if one was planned for all the children in Iraq and Pakistan and Afghanistan who have been taken out due to this government's never-ending war on terror. The President expressed shock and horror and even grief at what happened in Connecticut. Why is he not expressing that same shock and horror under His command are doing to the children of the same age and even younger in the countries that He is unleashing His drones against. Why this weeping for the children in Connecticut and not a tear shed for the children in Afghanistan and Pakistan? There's a word for that. Jesus uses it more than anyone else in the Scriptures. You know what that word is? Hypocrisy. Finally, my seventh and final question. What do these events say to those who confess Christ? Simply, I end where I began. If you confess Christ, Make sure you are bringing every thought into obedience to Him. If you are not, You will never be able to face this event or any event correctly. Is what you are thinking in accordance with what a Christian should think? Or does it reflect thinking that displays still being dead in sin and in ongoing rebellion against Him? Does your thinking honor Him and benefit you? Or does it dishonor Him and prevent you from knowing peace and safety even in the face of such events? May He help us to have our thoughts so molded by what He teaches, that we honor Him when we are confronted by such a heinous and sinful event, even at this time of year. Let us pray.