-Sung Psalm- 38-----Sermon outline-----1- Settings for the Trials of Jesus - Peter -vv. 53-54-----2- Silence of the Lamb - Confession of the Christ -vv. 55-65-----3- The Crumbling Rock - Repentance Unto Life -vv. 66-72-

Does God ever get tired- In one sense, no. He is Almighty - and therefore he never grows weary - he never runs out of energy. But in other sense - in a more colloquial sense - yes- God gets tired of people who speak falsehoods about him.----Yes, God is patient - but his patience has limits-----If you persist in slandering God for your whole life - then his patience will finally run out.----In verse 17, Malachi says it this way. You have wearied the LORD with your words...

-Sung Psalm- 115-----Last time we saw that we need faith - and we need patient endurance. Here's that same word -patient endurance- again. As you hear about the rule of the beast - as you hear about the suffering that he inflicts on the saints - you are called to endure patiently. You are called to believe in Jesus------I know - sometimes it looks a whole lot more like tribulation and endurance - and not very much like -kingdom------When do the good times start, Lord- Are you at this time going to restore the Kingdom to Israel- -Acts 1-6-8-----But Jesus says, -it is not for you to know times and seasons, that the Father has fixed by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you...-----And ever since Pentecost, the power of the Kingdom has gone forth in the apostolic witness.----And that power is made known to you today- Because Jesus is Lord. No, we do not yet see everything under his feet. Bt we see Jesus - we see him by faith - sitting at the right hand of God, crowned with glory and honor - because he suffered - he endured - he tasted death for everyone-

Our culture tries to teach us that sex is all about my own fulfillment and happiness. Now it is true that fulfillment and happiness are quite common results of sexual union. But that's not what sex is for.----We often get in trouble when we confuse goals and results. If my goal is to be happy, then I am likely to do all sorts of things to obtain happiness that will have the effect of making me miserable- But if my goal is to love God and neighbor, then I am likely to do all sorts of things to love God and neighbor that will have the effect of making me happy.----Why- Because we were created to love God and neighbor. When we love God and neighbor, ew are living the sort of lives that we were designed to live. ----Malachi calls us to guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.

-Sung Psalm- 44-----In Revelation 13 we will hear about two beasts - one from the sea - and the other from the land.-----The depiction of the two beasts in chapter 13 is based in part on Job 40-41, which is the only OT description of two Satanic beasts opposing God...One is a land beast to be slain by God with a sword. The other is a sea dragon who conducts a war waged by his mouth...----The Job text alludes to a primordial defeat of the dragon by God -40-32 LXX-, but also implies a yet future battle -40-19-. which is necessitated by the sea beast's continued attitude of defiance...-Jewish- tradition held that on the fifth day of creation God created Leviathan to be in the sea and Behemoth to dwell on land. These two beasts were symbolic of the powers of evil and were to be destroyed at the final judgment.- -Beale, 682-----While we have largely forgotten about this- previous generations did not.----Indeed, back in the 17th century, an English philosopher wrote a book about this. Thomas Hobbes wrote his famous -Leviathan- about the Beast that rose from the sea - a political power that none could resist. Indeed, when you look carefully at how John describes his Leviathan in Rev. 13, Hobbes is eerily accurate-----And as we face the Beast - as we face the Leviathan of our own day - we need patient endurance - we need faith-----We need to remember that God is the one who governs all things...

God loves you. He is a loving Father who cares for his children--- --But that is not the end of the story.----Sometimes we can talk about God's love in a very flimsy way- -God loves you just the way you are------In one sense, that's the truest statement ever- God loves you - in spite of all your failings and flaws. But if you say -God loves you just the way you are- - so therefore you don't need to change...well, now, that is a lie straight from the pit of hell-----God's love is a love that changes us - that transforms us - that makes us more like him. And so if God has loved us - but we have not loved him...then we have a problem.

-Sung Psalm- 113-----Daniel speaks of how the beast will -make war with the saints and prevail over them- until the Ancient of Days comes and judgment will be given for the saints of the Most High - until the time comes when the saints possess the kingdom. For Daniel, as for most of the prophets, there is no clear distinction between the first coming of Christ and the second.----When Messiah comes, he will make everything right- And that's true--- --The New Testament makes it clear that Christ has already made things right in defeating the power of sin and death in his death and resurrection. But the NT is equally clear that we do not yet see all things under his feet...

There are six disputations in Malachi. Each disputation begins with an assertion from the LORD, the expected challenge from the accused --But you say...--, and the LORD's answer - through his prophet - vindicating God's actions and warning of his judgment against those who oppose him.----The book opens with a declaration of God's love for his people - and ends with a promise of blessing for those who fear him - and judgment for those who oppose him. The 2nd and 5th disputations focus on worship. And the central disputations -the 3rd and 4th- focus on the moral and ethical lapses of the people. But the first one concerns Edom...

-Sung Psalm- 2-----Back in chapter 6, verse 10, the souls under the altar cried out - -O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on earth-- When will God make things right-----Now, here at the end of chapter 11, God himself is going to arise- Back in Joshua 6, Israel marched around Jericho with seven trumpets before the ark. And when the seven trumpets sounded - the people gave a great shout - and the walls of Jericho came crashing down.----The final Judgment came upon Jericho that day- Indeed, the utter destruction of Jericho on that day was a picture of God's final judgment.----But just as there were seven trumpets at Jericho - so also there are seven trumpets that signal the coming of the final judgment for all the earth-

There is a way in which Zechariah 14 functions something like the Acts 1 of the NT. Haggai and Zechariah have encouraged the rebuilding of the temple. Their preaching might well have prompted the sort of question that the disciples asked Jesus- -Are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel------And Zechariah's answer is a brutal- -Sort of...-