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Voddie Baucham - Revealing the Dream · Voddie Baucham Sermons

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Speaker 1: Well, as we journey through the first half of the
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Speaker 1: book of Daniel, we find ourselves at the end of
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Speaker 1: the second chapter and at perhaps what is the best
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Speaker 1: known scene in all of the book of Daniel. Whenever
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Speaker 1: you talk about the book of Daniel, refer to the
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Speaker 1: book of Daniel, there's probably going to be some reference
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Speaker 1: to the statue here in chapter 2. either the four-part
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Speaker 1: statue in chapter 2 or to the chapter, the statue
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Speaker 1: in chapter 3 that is Nebuchadnezzar's response to this four-part
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Speaker 1: statue in chapter 2. This is a moment really of
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Speaker 1: sort of showdown, if you will. This is a moment
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Speaker 1: where Daniel is exalted for the first time here in
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Speaker 1: the book. There has been this sort of, you know,
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Speaker 1: mini exaltation at the end of the test with the food,
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Speaker 1: and then at the end of their training as students
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Speaker 1: in the school of the Chaldeans, but nothing like what
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Speaker 1: we see here at the end of chapter 2. Chapter
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Speaker 1: 2 is also sort of a foreshadowing of what the
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Speaker 1: second half of the book will bring. And because of that,
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Speaker 1: there are some pitfalls to be avoided here in chapter 2.
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Speaker 1: We'll talk about those momentarily. But remember that we have
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Speaker 1: not yet arrived at the second half of the book.
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Speaker 1: We have not yet arrived at the more prophetic sections.
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Speaker 1: This is sort of a foretaste of what is there.
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Speaker 1: But that's not the point here in chapter 2. The
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Speaker 1: point is the same point that has been made again
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Speaker 1: and again and again as we see this showdown between
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Speaker 1: two competing kingdoms actually it's not even two competing kingdoms
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Speaker 1: it's one dominant kingdom and another kingdom that just doesn't
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Speaker 1: yet know that it's dominated and so if you'll join
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Speaker 1: me in Daniel chapter 2 beginning at verse 31 we'll
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Speaker 1: read the end of this chapter the king has had
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Speaker 1: a dream He has called his men to give him
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Speaker 1: not only the interpretation of the dream, but to recall
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Speaker 1: the dream for him as well. They can't do it.
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Speaker 1: They tell him they can't do it. They tell him
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Speaker 1: that no one can do it, that only the gods
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Speaker 1: can do this. And so the king declares that if
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Speaker 1: they don't do this thing, that according to their own admission,
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Speaker 1: only the gods can do, that he will kill them all.
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Speaker 1: Word comes to Daniel. Daniel goes to Hananiah, Mishael, and
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Speaker 1: Azariah and calls them to pray. Pray that God might
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Speaker 1: be merciful to them and that God might give them
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Speaker 1: the answer. And God does just that. They praise God.
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Speaker 1: Daniel praises God for the answer to his prayer and
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Speaker 1: then testifies before the king. before he even gives the answer.
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Speaker 1: Last week, we saw that sort of pivotal moment in
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Speaker 1: chapter 2, where we saw the underlying theological realities that
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Speaker 1: give hope to God's people in the midst of the
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Speaker 1: chaos within which they were living. This was all before
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Speaker 1: Daniel gave the interpretation. So Daniel comes in before the
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Speaker 1: king who was about to kill them and says, King,
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Speaker 1: I'm going to do the thing that I have to
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Speaker 1: do in order for you not to kill us. But
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Speaker 1: before I do that, I have to testify for a while.
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Speaker 1: And he bears testimony to the goodness and the greatness
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Speaker 1: and the majesty of God. And then he gives the
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Speaker 1: interpretation of the dream, which, by the way, also bears
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Speaker 1: testimony to the goodness and the greatness and the majesty
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Speaker 1: of God. And so now that we've seen those theological underpinnings,
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Speaker 1: we get to Daniel's response. You saw, O king, and behold,
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Speaker 1: a great image. This image, mighty and of excellent brightness,
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Speaker 1: stood before you, and its appearance was frightening. Verse 1.
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Speaker 1: Verse 1. What a beautiful picture. The stone strikes the image.
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Speaker 1: The stone strikes. cut with no human hand. This stone
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Speaker 1: that is hewn, as it were, by the hand of
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Speaker 1: God crushes the image and then grows to a mountain
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Speaker 1: and fills the earth. This was the dream. Now we
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Speaker 1: will tell the king its interpretation. By the way, that's key.
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Speaker 1: This was the dream. Now we will tell the king
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Speaker 1: its interpretation. Our tendency and our temptation is to read
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Speaker 1: more into the dream in Daniel chapter 2 than Daniel
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Speaker 1: gives us. Let me just put a footnote here. When
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Speaker 1: we're talking about prophetic literature, allow the apocalyptic literature to
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Speaker 1: give you the interpretation. Don't go trying to feel your
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Speaker 1: way through and make one up. Amen, somebody?
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Speaker 2: Okay?
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Speaker 1: Okay? So when Daniel says, here's the interpretation of the dream,
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Speaker 1: there's no need for us to try to go beyond
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Speaker 1: the interpretation that he gives right here at this point
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Speaker 1: in time, okay? This was the dream. Now we will
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Speaker 1: tell the king the interpretation. The we there, it's a
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Speaker 1: reference really. You could say that Daniel is referring to
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Speaker 1: himself and God. But I believe it's more appropriate to
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Speaker 1: say that Daniel is referring to himself and his companions here.
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Speaker 1: That makes more sense in light of the way the
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Speaker 1: chapter ends. Because at the end of the chapter, after
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Speaker 1: Daniel is exalted to a high post. he petitions the
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Speaker 1: king to allow Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah to be exalted
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Speaker 1: as well. They were his partners in petitioning God and
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Speaker 1: more than likely his partners in standing to deliver this message.
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Speaker 1: So it's more than likely that that is the we
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Speaker 1: referred to here. You, O king, the king of kings
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Speaker 1: to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom,
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Speaker 1: the power, and the might, and the glory. Do those
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Speaker 1: sound familiar at all? king of kings yours is the
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Speaker 1: kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever
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Speaker 1: does that sound familiar and into whose hand he has
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Speaker 1: given whatever excuse me wherever they dwell the children of
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Speaker 1: man the beast of the field and the birds of
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Speaker 1: the heavens making you rule over them all you are
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Speaker 1: the head of gold Another kingdom inferior to you shall
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Speaker 1: arise after you, and yet a third kingdom of bronze,
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Speaker 1: which shall rule over all the earth. And there shall
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Speaker 1: be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron, because iron breaks
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Speaker 1: to pieces and shatters all things. And like iron that crushes,
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Speaker 1: it shall break and crush all these. And as you saw,
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Speaker 1: the feet and toes, partly of potter's clay, and partly
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Speaker 1: of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom. But some
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Speaker 1: of the firmness, excuse me, but some of the firmness
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Speaker 1: of iron shall be in it. And as the toes
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Speaker 1: of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay,
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Speaker 1: so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly brittle.
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Speaker 1: As you saw the iron mixed with soft clay, so
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Speaker 1: they will mix with one another in marriage. But they
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Speaker 1: will not hold together just as iron does not mix
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Speaker 1: with clay. And in the days of those kings, you
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Speaker 1: might want to underline that there because that's very important.
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Speaker 1: It's a very important phrase when it comes to interpreting
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Speaker 1: this passage. In the days of those kings, the God
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Speaker 1: of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never
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Speaker 1: be destroyed again. nor shall the kingdom be left to
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Speaker 1: another people. It shall break in pieces all those kingdoms.
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Speaker 1: You might want to underlie that as well. It shall
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Speaker 1: break in pieces all those kingdoms and bring them to
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Speaker 1: an end, and it shall stand forever, just as you
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Speaker 1: saw that a stone was cut through a mountain by
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Speaker 1: no human hand and that it broke in pieces the iron,
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Speaker 1: the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. A
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Speaker 1: great God has made known to the king what shall
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Speaker 1: be after this. The dream is certain and its interpretation sure.
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Speaker 1: That's significant. The dream is certain and its interpretation sure.
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Speaker 1: Daniel doesn't say this is what might happen if you
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Speaker 1: don't act right. Daniel says the dream is certain and
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Speaker 1: the interpretation sure. Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face
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Speaker 1: and paid homage to Daniel and commanded that an offering,
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Speaker 1: an incense be offered up to him. Just pause for
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Speaker 1: a moment. Imagine this little Hebrew boy, this Hebrew man,
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Speaker 1: late teens, early 20s. He gives this interpretation that he
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Speaker 1: begged God for the night before. All he's looking for
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Speaker 1: is not to die. Now the king bows down to
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Speaker 1: pay homage to him and brings incense to pay homage
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Speaker 1: to him. This is highly inappropriate. However, The same Daniel
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Speaker 1: who petitioned and said, you know what, can we please
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Speaker 1: not eat that food, at this moment knows that it's
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Speaker 1: probably not the right moment to look at the king
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Speaker 1: and say, that's idolatry, stop it. But imagine the turmoil
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Speaker 1: inside David. As on the one hand, he says, I'm
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Speaker 1: so happy we're not going to die. And on the
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Speaker 1: other hand, he has to be saying, Please don't do that.
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Speaker 1: I mean, I'm grateful to God and everything, but please
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Speaker 1: don't do that. But he can't say anything right now.
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Speaker 1: And he doesn't. This is an aside, but it's important.
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Speaker 1: This is especially important, I believe, for those of us
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Speaker 1: who have a tendency to always be on the attack,
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Speaker 1: always ready to respond. always ready to speak, always ready
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Speaker 1: to defend. You know, sometimes, sometimes you need to wait.
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Speaker 1: There's plenty of opportunity for Daniel to deal with what
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Speaker 1: proper worship is and what proper worship is not. And
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Speaker 1: he does that. He deals with that. But not here,
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Speaker 1: not now. The king answered and said to Daniel, truly
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Speaker 1: your God is God of gods and Lord of kings
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Speaker 1: and a revealer of mysteries for you have been able
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Speaker 1: to reveal this mystery. Then the king gave Daniel high
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Speaker 1: honors and many great gifts and made him ruler over
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Speaker 1: the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all
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Speaker 1: the wise men of Babylon. Again, we've said it before,
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Speaker 1: but we have to say it again. Daniel must at
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Speaker 1: this moment. Remember, Daniel knows about Genesis. Daniel knows about
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Speaker 1: the patriarchs. Daniel knows about Joseph. He just interpreted the
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Speaker 1: king's dream, and now the king says, you're in charge
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Speaker 1: over all of Babylon. You know in his mind, he's
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Speaker 1: thinking about Joseph. Daniel made a request of the king,
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Speaker 1: and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the affairs
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Speaker 1: of the province of Babylon. But Daniel remained at the
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Speaker 1: king's court. Amen. The purpose of the vision. That's what
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Speaker 1: we want to know. Why the vision? What does the
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Speaker 1: vision mean? And in order to do that, there's a
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Speaker 1: couple of things we have to look at. One, we
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Speaker 1: look at the vision itself. And as we look at
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Speaker 1: the vision itself, I told you we have to guard
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Speaker 1: ourselves against a tendency. And here's the tendency. The tendency
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Speaker 1: is to over-interpret. Daniel says, I'm going to give you
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Speaker 1: the interpretation. What we have a tendency to do is
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Speaker 1: run ahead to Daniel chapter 7, verses 1 to 14,
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Speaker 1: and Daniel chapter 8, verses 1 to 14, and sort
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Speaker 1: of juxtapose these visions so that we can become more
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Speaker 1: specific about the kingdoms that are mentioned here. That's not
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Speaker 1: what this is about, though. Listen to this from Alan Harmon.
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Speaker 1: This dream is different from the ones in chapter 7
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Speaker 1: and also from his vision in chapter 8, especially as
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Speaker 1: the interpretation of the vision is given in 8, 15
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Speaker 1: to 26. There is no exegetical hint that the three
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Speaker 1: passages are all speaking of the same events. Here in
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Speaker 1: chapter 2, only the head of gold is identified. That's
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Speaker 1: the only one that's identified. That's the only kingdom identified
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Speaker 1: in chapter 2. So guess what? I'm not going to
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Speaker 1: tell you what the other kingdoms are. Because Daniel, who
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Speaker 1: says I'm going to give you the interpretation, knows more
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Speaker 1: about the vision than I do, and he didn't say
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Speaker 1: what the kingdoms were. We don't know. We can speculate.
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Speaker 1: But that speculation could be dangerous. I'll explain why in
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Speaker 1: a moment. He doesn't identify the kingdoms. The first kingdom
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Speaker 1: is identified, and we know that, he says in 37
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Speaker 1: and following. You, O king, the king of kings, to
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Speaker 1: whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power,
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Speaker 1: and the might, and the glory, and into whose hand
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Speaker 1: he has given wherever they dwell, the children of men,
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Speaker 1: or the children of man, rather, the beast of the field,
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Speaker 1: and the birds of the heavens, making you rule over
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Speaker 1: them all. You are the head of gold. You are
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Speaker 1: the head of gold. There's his interpretation. That's what you
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Speaker 1: need to know, king. You are the head of gold.
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Speaker 1: The rest of it he doesn't really give an interpretation
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Speaker 1: for until he gets to the last kingdom. You are
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Speaker 1: the head of gold. The second and third kingdoms are
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Speaker 1: mentioned only briefly. So Daniel's not really concerned with who
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Speaker 1: the second and third kingdoms are or concerned with the
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Speaker 1: second and third kingdoms much at all. Look at what
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Speaker 1: he says here in verse 39. Another kingdom inferior to
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Speaker 1: you shall arise after you, and yet a third kingdom
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Speaker 1: of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth. That's it.
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Speaker 1: That's all we get about kingdoms number two and number three.
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Speaker 1: That's it. One line. You're kingdom number one. Kingdom number
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Speaker 1: two is going to come, and then kingdom number three
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Speaker 1: is going to come. That's it. That's all we have.
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Speaker 1: We can speculate as to which kingdoms these are. But again,
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Speaker 1: that's not the point. The fourth kingdom is distinguished from these,
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Speaker 1: but again, not identified. Look at verse 40. And there
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Speaker 1: should be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron, because iron
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Speaker 1: breaks to pieces and shatters all things. And like iron
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Speaker 1: that crushes, it shall break and crush all these. And
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Speaker 1: as you saw, the feet and toes, partly of potter's
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Speaker 1: clay and partly of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom,
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Speaker 1: but some of the firmness of iron shall be in it.
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Speaker 1: Just as you saw iron mixed with soft clay, and
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Speaker 1: as the toes of the feet were partly of iron
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Speaker 1: and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly
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Speaker 1: strong and partly brittle. Here's what's interesting. One of the
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Speaker 1: things that we do when you juxtapose this with chapter
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Speaker 1: 7 and chapter 8 is, you know, you go to
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Speaker 1: chapter 7, you look at those 10 horns, for example,
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Speaker 1: and in here you go 10 toes, 10 toes, 10 horns,
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Speaker 1: small problem. 10, he didn't say 10. He just says
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Speaker 1: the toes. He didn't say 10. Yeah, we know feet
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Speaker 1: have five toes each, maybe. But he doesn't say. He
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Speaker 1: doesn't say because that's not the point. So the kingdom
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Speaker 1: should be partly strong and partly brittle. As you saw
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Speaker 1: the iron mixed with soft clay, so they will mix
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Speaker 1: with one another in marriage, but they will not hold
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Speaker 1: together just as iron does not mix with clay. So
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Speaker 1: there are the four kingdoms. The first one, refers to
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Speaker 1: Nebuchadnezzar and his kingdom the second one another inferior kingdom
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Speaker 1: the third one a kingdom that is identified as one
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Speaker 1: that's going to rule all over all the earth so
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Speaker 1: it's going to have a wide reach and the fourth
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Speaker 1: one which is identified by this mixture of strength and
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Speaker 1: weakness a mixture of peoples an intermarriage of peoples that
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Speaker 1: really doesn't work and doesn't hold together well that's the
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Speaker 1: picture that we have now here's where it gets interesting
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Speaker 1: Our automatic assumption is that we're talking about four successive
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Speaker 1: kingdoms that overtake and replace one another, that destroy one another,
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Speaker 1: if you will. but when you get to the fifth
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Speaker 1: kingdom you realize that that is not the case at
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Speaker 1: all look at what happens when we get to the
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Speaker 1: fifth kingdom and we read beginning of verse 44 and
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Speaker 1: in the days of those kings stop in the days
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Speaker 1: of those kings all of them together In the days
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Speaker 1: of all of those kings together. In the days of
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Speaker 1: those kings, the God of heaven will set up a
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Speaker 1: kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom
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Speaker 1: be left to another people. It shall break in pieces
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Speaker 1: the last kingdom standing that has defeated the other kingdoms. No.
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Speaker 1: It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring
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Speaker 1: them to an end. And it shall stand forever, just
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Speaker 1: as you saw that a stone was cut from a
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Speaker 1: mountain by no human hand, and that it broke in
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Speaker 1: pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and
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Speaker 1: the gold. This fifth kingdom destroys all the other kingdoms.
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Speaker 1: A great God has made known to the king what
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Speaker 1: shall be after this. The dream is certain, and the
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Speaker 1: interpretation is sure. So while we have this temptation to
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Speaker 1: interpret this a certain way, there are constraints put on
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Speaker 1: us because of what Daniel himself said. Because a number
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Speaker 1: of things. One, there's constraints put on us because Daniel says,
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Speaker 1: I'm going to give you the interpretation. Daniel says, here's
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Speaker 1: what you need to know about the dream. What does
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Speaker 1: Nebuchadnezzar ask for? He says, tell me what the dream
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Speaker 1: is and tell me what the dream means. What is
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Speaker 1: the significance of the dream? Daniel says, here's the dream.
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Speaker 1: Now let me give you the significance of the dream.
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Speaker 1: So that's the first restraint or constraint upon us as
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Speaker 1: it comes to interpreting this. The second constraint upon us
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Speaker 1: is that though we are tempted to look at this
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Speaker 1: and sort of juxtapose it with the images in chapter
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Speaker 1: 7 and chapter 8, we're not able to do that
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Speaker 1: for a number of reasons, not least of which when
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Speaker 1: we get to chapter 7 and chapter 8, Daniel actually
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Speaker 1: relies on the angel for interpretation. It's not what happens here.
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Speaker 1: It's not what happens here. The other thing that is
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Speaker 1: constraining us is that there's a picture here of four
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Speaker 1: kingdoms that are destroyed simultaneously by the fifth. So while
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Speaker 1: it's awful tempting to go Well, that first kingdom, that's
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Speaker 1: the Babylonians. And that second kingdom, that's the Medo-Persian Empire.
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Speaker 1: And that third kingdom, you know, that's the Greeks. And
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Speaker 1: that fourth kingdom, that's the Romans. It's very tempting. And
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Speaker 1: we may see some of that. Maybe. But not here.
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Speaker 1: Because that's not the point. What is the point? The
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Speaker 1: fifth kingdom. That's the point. The fifth kingdom. The fifth kingdom.
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Speaker 1: The fact that the kingdom of God rules and reigns
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Speaker 1: over all the kingdoms of the earth. That's the point.
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Speaker 1: The point is the sovereignty of God. The point is
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Speaker 1: nations rise up, nations fall down, but regardless of the nation,
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Speaker 1: there is a kingdom that stands above all other kingdoms.
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Speaker 1: It is not the kingdom of men. It is the
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Speaker 1: kingdom of God. Four things about this kingdom are important.
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Speaker 1: Number one, it will never be destroyed. Amen. Hallelujah. Praise
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Speaker 1: the Lord. This kingdom will never be destroyed. The kingdom
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Speaker 1: of God will never be destroyed. Can I just say
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Speaker 1: that to you right now, especially in the midst of
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Speaker 1: all of this election talk? This is the most important
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Speaker 1: election of our lifetimes. If we don't get this one right,
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Speaker 1: the earth is going to stop spinning on its axis
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Speaker 1: and we're going to lose everything. The kingdom of God
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Speaker 1: will not be destroyed. Period. End of discussion. It won't be.
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Speaker 1: It cannot be destroyed. Secondly, it will not be left
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Speaker 1: to another people. Not only will it not be destroyed,
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Speaker 1: it won't be taken over. The kingdom of God will
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Speaker 1: not be taken over. Won't be destroyed, won't be taken over.
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Speaker 1: Won't be destroyed, won't be taken over. So again, all
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Speaker 1: this stuff about, you know, what the church has become and,
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Speaker 1: you know, the church used to be this, now the
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Speaker 1: church is that. No, actually it's not. That's not true.
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Speaker 1: That's not true. I have to guard myself against that,
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Speaker 1: you know. Oh, the church is so weak. The church
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Speaker 1: is so corrupt. The church is so worldly. The church
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Speaker 1: is so, no, actually it's not. That would assume that
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Speaker 1: the kingdom could be taken over and it hasn't been
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Speaker 1: and it will not be. The church is strong. The
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Speaker 1: church is holy. The church is righteous. The church is godly.
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Speaker 1: The church is pristine. Always has been, it always will be. Yeah, well,
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Speaker 1: when I go around the corner and I look at, ah,
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Speaker 1: you got a problem with your definition of the church.
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Speaker 1: Let me see if I can illustrate this for you.
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Speaker 1: Let's say, name any society, and we go in this society,
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Speaker 1: this fictional society, and in this fictional society, we come
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Speaker 1: in on day one. And on day one, there are
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Speaker 1: 100 churches that And they have 50 people each in
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Speaker 1: them in day one. And they are godly, strong churches.
25:59
Speaker 1: There's 100 of them. 50 people each in these 100 churches.
26:04
Speaker 1: Now through time travel, we move forward in time 100
26:08
Speaker 1: years later. And now you look at that same society.
26:11
Speaker 1: And there's not 100 churches, but there's 1,000 churches. Now,
26:13
Speaker 1: 200 of that 1,000 are people maybe 75 to 100
26:25
Speaker 1: people and they're strong and they're godly they're following hard
26:29
Speaker 1: after the lord they're doing what it is that the
26:31
Speaker 1: church is called to do and to be 800 of
26:34
Speaker 1: those churches worldly corrupt carnal man-centered so on and so
26:44
Speaker 1: forth here's the problem you look at that and immediately
26:49
Speaker 1: you go look at what's happened to the church no
26:52
Speaker 1: 800 of that 1,000 that you're looking at, they don't
26:57
Speaker 1: meet the definition of a church. But here's what you
27:00
Speaker 1: just missed. 100 years ago, there were only 100 churches,
27:04
Speaker 1: and there's about 50 people in each of them, and
27:06
Speaker 1: they were doing what churches are supposed to do. Today,
27:08
Speaker 1: there's 200 of them, and there's 75 to 100 in
27:11
Speaker 1: each of them, and they're doing what God calls the
27:13
Speaker 1: church to do. See, because your eyes can only see
27:17
Speaker 1: buildings and people on TV and so on and so forth,
27:24
Speaker 1: It is easy for you and for me to assume
27:27
Speaker 1: that the church has somehow gone astray. That God's kingdom
27:30
Speaker 1: is somehow being weakened. That it's somehow being taken over.
27:35
Speaker 1: That's not true. There's wheat and chaff growing up together.
27:45
Speaker 1: But the wheat is the wheat and the chaff is
27:46
Speaker 1: the chaff. God will separate it. Say of the church
27:54
Speaker 1: what God says of the church. Not left to another people.
28:06
Speaker 1: Breaks the others and brings them to an end. God's
28:11
Speaker 1: kingdom breaks the other kingdoms and brings them to an end.
28:22
Speaker 1: It exists forever never taken over and it breaks all
28:30
Speaker 1: other kingdoms and brings those kingdoms to an end does
28:37
Speaker 1: it look like that no it doesn't look like that
28:40
Speaker 1: by the way Daniel Daniel's not going to get to
28:43
Speaker 1: see this but he gets to see the vision he
28:49
Speaker 1: gets to see God's promise And he believes the God
28:54
Speaker 1: who has promised. And he says, regardless of what I
28:57
Speaker 1: see with my eyes, here's what I know. God's kingdom
29:01
Speaker 1: stands forever. And it is going to break all these
29:04
Speaker 1: other kingdoms. There is injustice in the world. God is
29:08
Speaker 1: going to make that right. There is evil in the world.
29:11
Speaker 1: God is going to make that right. There is sin
29:14
Speaker 1: in the world. God is going to make that right.
29:17
Speaker 1: He's going to deal with it. He's going to crush it.
29:20
Speaker 1: He's going to destroy it. By the way, saints, this
29:23
Speaker 1: is why you don't give up on the doctrine of hell.
29:28
Speaker 1: The doctrine of hell is essential to our understanding of
29:32
Speaker 1: the justice, majesty, righteousness of God. The doctrine of hell
29:40
Speaker 1: says God meets out justice. The doctrine of hell says
29:44
Speaker 1: I don't have to get you back because justice is coming.
29:51
Speaker 1: And it's more severe than anything I could do to you.
29:54
Speaker 1: I'm not worried about that. Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord.
29:57
Speaker 1: I will repay. Here's the other thing that it says.
30:00
Speaker 1: I'm not worried about getting you back because what I
30:02
Speaker 1: deserve and what was placed on Christ and on my
30:06
Speaker 1: behalf is much worse than what it is you deserve
30:11
Speaker 1: for what you did to me. Because you sinned against
30:13
Speaker 1: finite old me. I sinned against God Almighty. And ultimately
30:18
Speaker 1: that's who you sinned against as well. You don't need
30:20
Speaker 1: me to pay you back. That's what the doctrine of
30:23
Speaker 1: hell says. God is righteous. God is just. God will
30:30
Speaker 1: be vindicated. He will break and crush all those other kingdoms.
30:40
Speaker 1: Here's the other thing that this says. There are no
30:44
Speaker 1: righteous kingdoms in this world apart from the kingdom of God. Amen.
30:50
Speaker 2: Amen.
30:52
Speaker 1: God bless America, but she gets the stone too. Amen, somebody.
31:01
Speaker 1: God bless America, but she gets the stone too. She
31:05
Speaker 1: gets crushed and broken by the stone. There will be,
31:09
Speaker 1: the new Jerusalem is not in New York, LA, Houston, Chicago. No, no, no, no, no.
31:18
Speaker 1: This is not the promised land. This is not the
31:21
Speaker 1: new Jerusalem. This place is going to get the stone
31:24
Speaker 1: just like everybody else. Love your country. Serve your country.
31:28
Speaker 1: Be grateful to God for your country. Do not worship it.
31:39
Speaker 1: This kingdom will never be destroyed, not left to or
31:43
Speaker 1: taken over by another people, breaks and brings to an
31:46
Speaker 1: end all other kingdoms, and it stands forever. It stands forever.
31:54
Speaker 1: It stands forever. Here's the good news. You don't have
31:59
Speaker 1: to worry about heaven. What do you mean by that? Wait,
32:03
Speaker 1: I get this question sometimes from people, and they'll say
32:06
Speaker 1: something like, well, you know, I mean, if angels fell,
32:11
Speaker 1: then who's to say that when we get to heaven,
32:14
Speaker 1: we won't rebel and we won't fall? Well, God. Amen.
32:23
Speaker 1: That's the beauty of the doctrine of glorification. We will
32:26
Speaker 1: be glorified. We will be changed. There will be no
32:32
Speaker 1: corruptibility there. Nothing corruptible, nothing corrupted, nothing, nothing. It's a
32:41
Speaker 1: kingdom that stands forever. Here's the good news, the even
32:45
Speaker 1: better news. You're a part of it already. Amen. You're
32:54
Speaker 1: a part of it already. Why? Newsflash, the stone that
32:59
Speaker 1: is hewn out but is not hewn out by human
33:02
Speaker 1: hands is Christ himself. And if you are his, you
33:06
Speaker 1: are in him. Again, the main point of this is
33:21
Speaker 1: not for us to go and try to figure out
33:23
Speaker 1: which kingdoms he's talking about here. That's not the main
33:26
Speaker 1: point of this dream and its interpretation. Daniel gives you
33:30
Speaker 1: the main point of this dream and its interpretation. And
33:33
Speaker 1: here it is. Here's the main point. Nebuchadnezzar, you're the
33:37
Speaker 1: man right now. And there will be many other demands.
33:44
Speaker 1: And you and all the rest of them will bow
33:48
Speaker 1: the knee to the man. Because your kingdom will be destroyed.
34:01
Speaker 1: Your kingdom will be left to others. Your kingdom will
34:06
Speaker 1: be broken. And your kingdom will not stand forever. What's
34:14
Speaker 1: the purpose of this interpretation? Because the purpose of this
34:19
Speaker 1: interpretation was not for Nebuchadnezzar, you know, to go and
34:23
Speaker 1: sit down with this and try to figure out which
34:25
Speaker 1: kingdoms are coming and who they are and when they'll
34:28
Speaker 1: be and what year they're coming. That was not the purpose.
34:31
Speaker 1: What was the purpose? Several. One, to humble Nebuchadnezzar. That's
34:36
Speaker 1: purpose number one of the dream and its interpretation, to
34:39
Speaker 1: humble Nebuchadnezzar. How does it humble him? Well, first of all,
34:43
Speaker 1: the frailty of his own mind. He can't remember or
34:46
Speaker 1: interpret his dream. God humbles him By the way, it
34:52
Speaker 1: is the grace of God that humbles powerful men. Because
35:00
Speaker 1: just as children left to their own devices and given
35:04
Speaker 1: everything they want become tyrants who believe that their voice
35:08
Speaker 1: is more important than any other voice and their will
35:11
Speaker 1: is more important than any other will, so too with
35:13
Speaker 1: powerful men who are not humbled by God. God humbles them.
35:20
Speaker 1: And it's the grace of God for those individuals and
35:24
Speaker 1: for those under their authority that they are humbled. And here,
35:28
Speaker 1: Nebuchadnezzar is humbled. The brakes are put on. And that's
35:32
Speaker 1: important because at the beginning of it, where do we start?
35:35
Speaker 1: Look at chapter 1, verse 1. In the... Third year
35:39
Speaker 1: of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar, king
35:41
Speaker 1: of Babylon, came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the
35:44
Speaker 1: Lord gave Jehoiakim, king of Judah, into his hand with
35:47
Speaker 1: some of the vessels of the house of God. And
35:49
Speaker 1: he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the
35:52
Speaker 1: house of his gods, and placed the vessels in the
35:55
Speaker 1: treasury of his God. Ultimately, what Nebuchadnezzar said is, I
35:59
Speaker 1: just defeated the God of the Hebrews. bring their stuff
36:03
Speaker 1: with me, bring it to the house of our gods
36:05
Speaker 1: so that everybody can know that our God is greater
36:09
Speaker 1: than their God and that I'm greater than every king.
36:18
Speaker 1: God puts the brakes on it. God says to Nebuchadnezzar,
36:25
Speaker 1: you're the golden head, but you're not the be-all to end-all.
36:31
Speaker 1: He humbles him. He can't remember the dream or the interpretation.
36:35
Speaker 1: You're all that, right? You defeated the God of the Hebrews. Man,
36:38
Speaker 1: you don't even know your own mind. You can't even
36:41
Speaker 1: interpret your own dreams. Who do you think you are?
36:44
Speaker 1: You're a man. You got to go to sleep every night.
36:49
Speaker 1: How are you going to be as powerful as God?
36:51
Speaker 1: You got to sleep. You got to eat. You get old.
36:55
Speaker 1: You get frail. You get weak. What are you talking about?
37:00
Speaker 1: God humbles him. God humbles all of us. Also through
37:06
Speaker 1: the inferiority of his seers. Isn't this great? God, he
37:12
Speaker 1: goes and he captures these people. He says, you know,
37:14
Speaker 1: bring the good ones, bring the smart ones, and we'll
37:16
Speaker 1: send them to our school and see if maybe they
37:18
Speaker 1: can become Chaldeans. Maybe they can learn something from us
37:22
Speaker 1: if we get the good ones. God humbles him. He
37:26
Speaker 1: doesn't know his own mind, doesn't know his own dreams,
37:28
Speaker 1: doesn't know the interpretation. He goes and gets these people
37:30
Speaker 1: who are supposed to educate these little Hebrews whose God
37:34
Speaker 1: is so weak. What ends up happening? They say, we
37:38
Speaker 1: can't do it. Only God could do this. What ends
37:44
Speaker 1: up happening? One of these Hebrew slaves. stands before the
37:48
Speaker 1: king and says, thus saith the Lord. And the king
37:53
Speaker 1: is on his face in front of this Hebrew slave
37:56
Speaker 1: burning incense. He's humbled. The inferiority of his gods. Again,
38:06
Speaker 1: the dream and its interpretation, his gods can't do. and
38:10
Speaker 1: the end of his kingdom. God says to him, you
38:13
Speaker 1: know what, your kingdom is going to end. In his mind,
38:17
Speaker 1: his reign may end, but not his kingdom. In his mind,
38:22
Speaker 1: we run the whole world. Do you know who we are?
38:25
Speaker 1: The world is ours. Our kingdom is only going to grow.
38:29
Speaker 1: And my sons and my sons' sons' sons are going
38:33
Speaker 1: to increase the power and reach of my kingdom. And
38:38
Speaker 1: forever this kingdom is going to reign through my ancestors.
38:41
Speaker 1: That's his thinking. God says, not only is that not true,
38:49
Speaker 1: But an inferior kingdom is going to take over after you.
38:52
Speaker 1: They're not even more powerful than you. They're not smarter.
38:56
Speaker 1: They don't have more horses. They don't have greater technology. No,
39:01
Speaker 1: you're out of here. That's humbling. Your kingdom is not
39:07
Speaker 1: going to expand. It's going to be consumed, subsumed, taken over.
39:18
Speaker 1: So the purpose of this vision and its interpretation is
39:20
Speaker 1: to humble Nebuchadnezzar. It's also to save and preserve Daniel
39:25
Speaker 1: and his friends. Daniel's a slave in chapter 1 verses
39:33
Speaker 1: 3 and 4 he's then a student in chapter 1
39:37
Speaker 1: verses 3 through 19 he is elevated as a seer
39:42
Speaker 1: in chapter 1 verses 117 verses 249 and then he
39:44
Speaker 1: becomes a supervisor in chapter 2 verse 48 He's running stuff.
39:55
Speaker 1: God did that. God did that. God preserved his people.
40:06
Speaker 1: This is also to encourage Israel, the covenant people of God.
40:13
Speaker 1: What does God say here? God says to his covenant people,
40:17
Speaker 1: your failure is not final. Anybody need to know today
40:24
Speaker 1: that that's your God? Your failure is not final. They
40:34
Speaker 1: have seen people wiped out. In fact, they know their
40:38
Speaker 1: own history. They know that God has used them to
40:40
Speaker 1: wipe out other peoples who no longer exist anymore. Now
40:46
Speaker 1: here they are in captivity. What are they thinking? This
40:49
Speaker 1: is the way their world works. They know how their
40:51
Speaker 1: world works. The way their world works is you get
40:55
Speaker 1: defeated and either all of you are killed by the sword,
40:58
Speaker 1: your women are taken away so that, you know, they
41:02
Speaker 1: are taken by the men of this other kingdom, or
41:06
Speaker 1: your people come in and become slaves and you end
41:10
Speaker 1: your time as a people, as slaves to a greater
41:13
Speaker 1: people until you no longer exist. That's the way their
41:16
Speaker 1: world works. What does God say to his people Israel
41:21
Speaker 1: through this dream and its interpretation? He says, your failure
41:24
Speaker 1: is not final. He also says, your oppressor is not sovereign.
41:35
Speaker 1: Your oppressor is not sovereign. He says to them, your
41:42
Speaker 1: God has not forsaken you. though he is chastening you.
41:50
Speaker 1: And he says to them, your hope is not lost.
41:55
Speaker 2: That's what God says to his people through this vision,
41:59
Speaker 2: through this dream. That's what God says to the covenant community.
42:10
Speaker 2: That's who God is to his people. Which means that's
42:14
Speaker 2: who God is to you and to me. By the way,
42:22
Speaker 2: the doctrine that's highlighted here for us as Christians would
42:25
Speaker 2: be the doctrine of eternal security. I heard a statement.
42:35
Speaker 2: We were at the Shepherds Conference a few weeks back
42:38
Speaker 2: and John MacArthur preached the last message. He always preaches
42:43
Speaker 2: the last message at the Shepherds Conference. And he said
42:46
Speaker 2: something that has been ringing in my ears ever since.
42:49
Speaker 2: And by God's grace, I pray I never forget it.
42:54
Speaker 2: Talking about eternal security, John MacArthur said, listen, if you
42:57
Speaker 2: could lose your salvation, you would.
43:05
Speaker 1: Does it get better than that? If you could lose
43:08
Speaker 1: your salvation... You would. How on earth can a person
43:13
Speaker 1: believe that a Christian could lose their salvation, but that
43:16
Speaker 1: they won't do it? Folks, if you could lose your salvation,
43:20
Speaker 1: you would. You know yourself. You know yourself. If it
43:24
Speaker 1: was up to you to keep you, you wouldn't be kept.
43:32
Speaker 1: If God's people could be cast off forever, they would.
43:37
Speaker 1: You know, Jeremiah 32 says, Offering up children to Baal?
43:43
Speaker 1: If they could be cast off forever, they would. They would.
43:49
Speaker 1: But they can't be. Why? Because God is the God
43:55
Speaker 1: of the covenant. He is the covenant keeper. God will
44:02
Speaker 1: keep those who are his. He will chasten those who
44:04
Speaker 1: are his. But God will keep those who are his.
44:08
Speaker 1: God will keep you God will keep you. The fourth
44:16
Speaker 1: purpose of this vision is to exalt God. So he
44:19
Speaker 1: humbles Nebuchadnezzar, he saves and preserves Daniel, he encourages Israel,
44:24
Speaker 1: and it exalts God. First of all, Nebuchadnezzar echoes Daniel's praise.
44:30
Speaker 1: What does Daniel do when the dream is interpreted? Go
44:34
Speaker 1: back with me to chapter 2 and look at verse 20.
44:41
Speaker 1: Daniel answered and said, blessed be the name of God
44:44
Speaker 1: forever and ever to whom belong wisdom and might. He
44:47
Speaker 1: changes times and season. He removes kings and sets up kings.
44:51
Speaker 1: He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those
44:54
Speaker 1: who have understanding. He reveals deep and hidden things. He
44:57
Speaker 1: knows what is in the darkness and the light dwells
45:00
Speaker 1: with him. To you, O God of my fathers, I
45:03
Speaker 1: give thanks and praise for you. have given me wisdom
45:07
Speaker 1: and might and have now made known to me what
45:10
Speaker 1: we ask of you. For you have made known to
45:14
Speaker 1: us the king's matter. Then when he stands before the king,
45:25
Speaker 1: he echoes the same sentiment. And now when he tells
45:30
Speaker 1: the interpretation of the dream, what does the king say?
45:33
Speaker 1: Verse 47. Verse 47. The king answered and said to Daniel,
45:40
Speaker 1: truly your God is God of gods and Lord of
45:46
Speaker 1: kings and a revealer of mysteries. For you have been
45:50
Speaker 1: able to reveal this mystery. By the way, that's a
45:54
Speaker 1: summation of the praise that Daniel offers to God and
45:59
Speaker 1: the testimony that he bore before the king. The king
46:03
Speaker 1: echoes that testimony. God is exalted. but be careful. Nebuchadnezzar
46:11
Speaker 1: is awed and humbled, but not saved. Nebuchadnezzar is awed
46:19
Speaker 1: and humbled, but not saved. He's not converted. Nebuchadnezzar is,
46:24
Speaker 1: he's awed. He is, he is, I mean, literally, you know,
46:28
Speaker 1: we use that word awesome. This moment is awesome. Nebuchadnezzar
46:34
Speaker 1: knows that he can't figure out this dream. These men
46:37
Speaker 1: who he counts on for all of his spiritual advice,
46:39
Speaker 1: they can't figure out this dream. Daniel says, give us
46:42
Speaker 1: time so that God can tell me the dream. Daniel
46:45
Speaker 1: comes before him and God does just that. This man
46:49
Speaker 1: is awestruck by the power of God as displayed through
46:54
Speaker 1: this mighty work, but he is not saved. But you
47:02
Speaker 1: know as well as I do that there are many
47:04
Speaker 1: who would give him the right hand of fellowship based
47:06
Speaker 1: solely on that testimony from his mouth. Can you not
47:12
Speaker 1: see it at the revival service? The hand of God
47:15
Speaker 1: moves powerfully at the revival service. And at the end
47:19
Speaker 1: of the revival service, after the hand of God has
47:21
Speaker 1: moved powerfully, a man stands up with tears streaming down
47:25
Speaker 1: his face. He runs down the aisle and comes to
47:28
Speaker 1: the altar. He looks up to the preacher and he says,
47:33
Speaker 1: truly your God is the God of gods and Lord
47:36
Speaker 1: of kings and revealer of mysteries. How many of you
47:41
Speaker 1: know at the revival meeting, He'd be given the right
47:44
Speaker 1: hand of fellowship. Not only that, but the next night
47:47
Speaker 1: they'd have him up on stage telling his testimony. Small problem.
47:54
Speaker 1: In chapter 3, he builds a statue made of all gold,
48:01
Speaker 1: basically saying, I'm not going away. Is this not what
48:12
Speaker 1: Jesus teaches us in the parable of the soils? There
48:15
Speaker 1: are people who hear the word of God and appear
48:19
Speaker 1: to spring up. But we do not judge based on
48:25
Speaker 1: how people respond in a powerful moment. We judge based
48:30
Speaker 1: on the fruit of repentance that we see or don't
48:34
Speaker 1: see in their lives. He makes a profession here. but
48:41
Speaker 1: he is not saved. And there are perhaps some of you,
48:46
Speaker 1: under the sound of my voice, who are in the
48:48
Speaker 1: exact same boat. There was a moment in your life
48:53
Speaker 1: where you were grief-stricken. where you were terrified, you didn't
48:57
Speaker 1: know what to do, and all of a sudden God
49:00
Speaker 1: brought somebody into your life who spoke truth and spoke
49:04
Speaker 1: life in the midst of your situation. And in that
49:07
Speaker 1: emotional moment, you cried out to God because of what
49:11
Speaker 1: you experienced in that emotional moment. And you may have
49:14
Speaker 1: walked forward at a church service with tears streaming down
49:17
Speaker 1: your face and said something like, truly, this God is God. Truly,
49:24
Speaker 1: he's the Lord of Lords. And somebody said, you need
49:27
Speaker 1: to write this date in your Bible. Because on this date,
49:30
Speaker 1: when you said those words, you entered into the kingdom,
49:33
Speaker 1: your name was written in the Lamb's book of life,
49:35
Speaker 1: and then you left and went and started building statues
49:37
Speaker 1: to yourself. And you've been in turmoil ever since. Does
49:53
Speaker 1: anybody know what I'm talking about? Has anybody been there?
49:59
Speaker 1: I've been there. I'm ashamed to say I've been that evangelist.
50:05
Speaker 1: It breaks my heart. It breaks my heart to think
50:09
Speaker 1: of the number of lost people who heard my voice
50:12
Speaker 1: say to them, you're saved. You're saved. Because they walked
50:17
Speaker 1: down an aisle and said some words. Oh, that I
50:27
Speaker 1: could get to every one of them. But I can't.
50:31
Speaker 1: But I can get to you. And I can say
50:38
Speaker 1: to you, if that's you, repent. Turn from your idols.
50:47
Speaker 1: the statues and monuments that you've built to yourself. Turn
50:52
Speaker 1: to the rock hewn without human hands that crushes every kingdom,
50:58
Speaker 1: including your own. Bow the knee to him before he
51:02
Speaker 1: breaks you. Place your faith in Jesus Christ. He is
51:13
Speaker 1: your only hope. be redeemed by him or be destroyed
51:18
Speaker 1: by him. Those are your only choices. He's a kind
51:24
Speaker 1: and merciful Savior and a righteous, unwavering judge. Bow the
51:33
Speaker 1: knee to the Savior or be crushed under the weight
51:39
Speaker 1: of your own sin before the judge. Finally, we see
51:46
Speaker 1: the reward. Daniel receives praise. Verse 46, King Nebuchadnezzar fell
52:00
Speaker 1: on his face, paid homage to Daniel, and commanded that
52:03
Speaker 1: an offering, an incense be offered up to him. Not
52:08
Speaker 1: only does he receive praise, he receives possessions. 48a, Then
52:13
Speaker 1: the king gave Daniel honors and great gifts. He gave
52:15
Speaker 1: him honors and gifts. He gave him stuff, not just stuff,
52:21
Speaker 1: but the king gave him stuff. I mean, I'm sure
52:29
Speaker 1: every one of us has received stuff from people before.
52:33
Speaker 1: This is not stuff from people. This is stuff from
52:37
Speaker 1: the king. And trust me, when the king gave this
52:43
Speaker 1: stuff to Daniel, the king didn't look around and say,
52:45
Speaker 1: let me see, what do I not need anymore? What
52:49
Speaker 1: do I not like anymore? No, in the midst of
52:51
Speaker 1: this turmoil, he was in such turmoil, he was about
52:54
Speaker 1: to kill all of the Chaldeans. After this is over,
52:58
Speaker 1: he doesn't look around for things that he doesn't like
53:00
Speaker 1: anymore to give to Daniel. He gives him stuff the
53:03
Speaker 1: king likes. Stuff the king cherishes. He gives good stuff.
53:13
Speaker 1: Daniel has praise. He has possessions. He has power. He
53:15
Speaker 1: made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon. That's power.
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Speaker 1: By the way, does this sound familiar? Again, our minds
53:29
Speaker 1: run back to Genesis 41. Praise from the king, possessions, power.
53:35
Speaker 1: He also gives him position. Chief prefect. Chief prefect. over
53:40
Speaker 1: all the wise men. How ironic is that? Find me
53:47
Speaker 1: some Hebrew boys that we can bring in, you know,
53:50
Speaker 1: maybe they can apprentice under our wise men. Maybe we
53:52
Speaker 1: can get some use out of them. You know, their
53:55
Speaker 1: God is inferior to our God. Of course, their educational
53:58
Speaker 1: system is inferior to our educational system, but bring them in.
54:01
Speaker 1: There may be some good ones. Make sure you get
54:02
Speaker 1: the cream of the crop though, you know, because I'm
54:04
Speaker 1: sure those are the only ones that we can even
54:05
Speaker 1: do anything with. Maybe they can be junior magi. In fact,
54:09
Speaker 1: when he calls in the Chaldeans for his dream, he
54:13
Speaker 1: didn't even call Daniel and his friends. Daniel and his
54:15
Speaker 1: friends don't even know what's going on until the death
54:18
Speaker 1: sentence comes out. And it's only then that Daniel finds
54:22
Speaker 1: out about the death sentence, which means that when the
54:24
Speaker 1: king was in crisis, he didn't even think about him.
54:30
Speaker 1: Now he's ruler over the whole province of Babylon. That's
54:36
Speaker 1: just good. He's got praise, possessions. He's got power, position.
54:46
Speaker 1: And yet, he's still a slave. Which means none of
54:59
Speaker 1: it really matters. Do you know what Daniel has been given?
55:06
Speaker 1: Daniel has been given the symbols of the head of gold,
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Speaker 1: that's going to be crushed by the rock. Woe to
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Speaker 1: Daniel if he begins to identify himself with the praise, position,
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Speaker 1: and power of Babylon when the whole purpose of the
55:30
Speaker 1: dream was to say, all of this will be crushed today.
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Speaker 1: It is utterly meaningless, and you belong to a superior kingdom.
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Speaker 1: Don't you ever forget it. Saints, don't you dare make
55:46
Speaker 1: it your goal in life to have the praise and
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Speaker 1: possessions and power and position of Babylon. If they give
55:55
Speaker 1: it to you, don't give it back. Amen? Amen? You
56:01
Speaker 1: thank God for it and you move on and you
56:04
Speaker 1: remind yourself every time you look at it, you go,
56:06
Speaker 1: that's beautiful. It's going to burn. I'm going to enjoy
56:09
Speaker 1: it while God gave it to me, but it's going
56:11
Speaker 1: to burn. It's hard to do that though, isn't it?
56:24
Speaker 1: Unless God humbles you. In chapter 5, Belshazzar throws a party.
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Speaker 1: He invites tons of people. There's handwriting on the wall.
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Speaker 1: This is the next ruler. Belshazzar wants someone to interpret
56:51
Speaker 1: the handwriting on the wall, and he sends for the
56:55
Speaker 1: eunuchs and the Chaldeans and all the folks to interpret
56:58
Speaker 1: the handwriting on the wall. Listen to this in chapter 5,
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Speaker 1: verses 10 through 12. But none of the guys could
57:07
Speaker 1: do it. Surprise, surprise. The queen, because of the words
57:12
Speaker 1: of the king and his lords, came into the banqueting hall.
57:16
Speaker 1: And the queen declared, O king, live forever. Let not
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Speaker 1: your thoughts alarm you or your color change. There is
57:24
Speaker 1: a man in your kingdom in whom is the spirit
57:27
Speaker 1: of the holy gods. In the days of your father,
57:30
Speaker 1: light and understanding and wisdom like the wisdom of the
57:33
Speaker 1: gods were found in him. And King Nebuchadnezzar, your father,
57:37
Speaker 1: your father the king, made him chief of the magicians, enchanters, Chaldeans,
57:41
Speaker 1: So what's the point? Here's the point. At the end
57:43
Speaker 1: of chapter 2, Daniel is big biscuits. By chapter 5,
57:46
Speaker 1: he's forgotten again. The queen has to come in and say, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey,
58:16
Speaker 1: wait a minute. I remember this guy. He's not even
58:24
Speaker 1: on Belshazzar's radar. So please don't run off at the
58:30
Speaker 1: end of chapter 2 as though the point of chapter
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Speaker 1: 2 is, if you hang in there, you'll get all
58:38
Speaker 1: the stuff. That's not the point of chapter 2. The
58:42
Speaker 1: point of chapter 2 is God is God. He's sovereign
58:46
Speaker 1: over the affairs of men. He rises up kingdoms. He
58:49
Speaker 1: puts down kingdoms. And ultimately, he will crush and destroy
58:53
Speaker 1: them all. And there is a rock that will remain forever.
58:58
Speaker 1: Christ himself is the King of kings and Lord of lords.
59:03
Speaker 1: Everything else will be crushed by the rock. Enjoy what
59:07
Speaker 1: you have, but remember you are still alive. a pilgrim
59:13
Speaker 1: who is wandering your way through this city, looking for
59:18
Speaker 1: a city whose builder and maker is God. That's who
59:23
Speaker 1: we are. That's who we are. And if you forget it,
59:29
Speaker 1: God will be gracious to you as his child, and
59:33
Speaker 1: he'll humble you. And remember when it happens that it
59:39
Speaker 1: is the grace of God. This is not our home.
59:45
Speaker 1: This is not as good as it gets. Our hope
59:53
Speaker 1: is that stone hewn out of the rock, not by
59:56
Speaker 1: human hands. Our hope is that kingdom that will never end,
1:00:04
Speaker 1: that will not be taken over, that will break and
1:00:08
Speaker 1: crush all of the other kingdoms. That's our hope. So
1:00:17
Speaker 1: let this mind be in you, which was also in
1:00:18
Speaker 1: Christ Jesus, who, although he existed in the form of God,
1:00:23
Speaker 1: did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped.
1:00:26
Speaker 1: But instead, what did he do? He humbled himself and
1:00:29
Speaker 1: took on the form of a servant. And being in
1:00:31
Speaker 1: the likeness of a servant, he became humble even to
1:00:34
Speaker 1: the point of death. Death on the cross. That's all right.
1:00:41
Speaker 1: Because as a result of that humiliation. Humiliation. God has
1:00:45
Speaker 1: highly exalted him and given him a name that is
1:00:48
Speaker 1: above every name. That at the name of Jesus, every
1:00:52
Speaker 1: knee shall bow in heaven and on earth and under
1:00:55
Speaker 1: the earth. And every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ
1:00:59
Speaker 1: is Lord to the glory of God the Father. He
1:01:04
Speaker 1: is our king. And he reigns forever. Bow to him.
1:01:13
Speaker 1: and to Him alone, because there is hope in none other.
1:01:19
Speaker 1: Let's pray.