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The Prophetic Unveiling of World Kingdoms: Part 1

Description

These notes are based off of a sermon given at The Mission Church / Sunday 6-30-2024 9:45 Service by Pastor David Menard.

This sermon covers Daniel 2:1-36.

Background of Contemporary Events

  • Rise of AI

    • AI Robots walking among us

  • Wars

    • Russia & Ukraine
    • Hezbolla and Hamas against Israel

  • China against the United States

  • Lack of leadership in the US

    • Presidential debate is out of touch

  • God has the future under control.

  • He is soverign over everything.

  • He raises up nations, and He brings down nations.

Bible Study

  • Babylon is the prevailing world power.

  • 605 BC Daniel is taken captive by Babylon.

  • Babylon is an advanced civilization.

  • Daniel purposes in his heart not to defile himself with the ways of the world and put the Lord in his heart, to live for God.

  • Daniel is put in a 3 year study program under Babylon.

  • Daniel graduates with honors in the study program, by God’s blessing.

  • Now Daniel is promoted to be an advisor for the babylonian king.

  • King Nebuchenezzer has a troubling dream.

    • In verse 4 the book of danile goes from hebrew to arahmaiac (very unusual)
    • Hebrew is the language to the Jews, Arahamaic was the language to the entire world (at that time). This was a message to the entire world!
    • the majority of the old testament was written in hebrew, and now it changes to arahmaic

  • Verse 5-6:

    • "The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, “My decision is firm: if you do not make known the dream to me, and its interpretation, you shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made an ash heap. However, if you tell the dream and its interpretation, you shall receive from me gifts, rewards, and great honor. Therefore tell me the dream and its interpretation.”

  • Carnal Leaders Morivate with Fear, Flattery, Finances

    • Self preseveration: humans will do anything to save their own skin
      • Self preservation is a powerful motivator
    • Finances (due to greed or scarcity)
    • Jesus never used fear, flattery, or finances to motivate anyone
      • Jesus did the opposite…
        • Matthew 8:20 NKJV "And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”
      • Jesus met people where they were and cared for them. He built them up, enabled and empowered people.
    • Fear and Finances may motivate for a season, until something better comes along.

  • King Nebuchadnezzar is unhappy with himself, and also unhappy with everyone around him.

    • Even though he has accomplished world domination, he is still unhappy and unable to sleep. He is deeply troubled in his soul.
    • He lacks a relationship with God.

  • Nebuchadnezzar sees that his spiritual wise men are incappable of interpreting his dream, so he sends a decree to kill them all.

    • God is showing that false religion and false sprituality is worthless.
      • They have the appearance of working when things are going well.
    • He can see there is no substance to his wise men, it is all frivelous, and folly
    • Fake Christianity is equally wothless
      • Many today believe in a fake Jesus, not the Jesus of the Bible, not a Jesus who is Lord of our Life.
        • The bible warns us of these fake Jesus’
      • 1 John 2:18 Antichrist doesnt mean anti- or against Jesus it means instead of Jesus
      • "1 John 2:18 New King James Version
        • Deceptions of the Last Hour
          • “Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.”
      • Faith in the real Jesus is life giving and transforming!
        • Fake Jesus’ can’t save or heal or transform our lives.

  • When you see the real Jesus, your values begin to change and you start living different. Jesus builds people as they walk with him.

    • Jesus provides wisdom, discernment, and growth as He shows you the right path.
    • He is able to save us from our sin and transform our lives

  • 1 Corinthians 6:9-11

    • New King James Version
    • “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.”
    • “Such WERE some of you…”
      • We die to our old identities (through baptism).
      • We die and are ressurected through the Spirit of God.

  • Faith in the real Jesus is Life-Giving & Transforming

  • Couldn’t God Protect Daniel from this hardship?

    • It’s a false question because God protects us from all kinds of things we never even knew were comming our way.
    • But why didn’t God protect Daniel from this
      • Instead of preventing all suffering, God uses hardship to advance and promote His man.
      • Dire dilema was be used to promote Daniel both in his own time and well into the future.

  • James 1:2

    • Profiting from Trials
      • “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”

  • What an authentic Relationship with God Looks like:

    • In faith, Daniel stands firm against fierce opposition and hardship.
      • Instead of worrying and complaining and questioning why God isn’t preventing this.
      • He could have sowed discord among others.
      • He stands firm in faith even before God reveals anything to him.
    • Daniel controls his feelings, speaks with wisdom, and leads well.
      • He goes to his boss and counsels him with wisdom.
    • In fervent prayer, Daniel seeks God for wisdom.
      • He calls his buddies to meet and pray with him.
    • God mercifully provides the solution to Daniel’s problem.
      • God speaks to our heart, and enlightens our understanding, revealing the solution.
    • Daniel praises God with awe, delight, and love.
      • He writes a love song of praise to his God.

Daniel’s Song:

  • Daniel 2:20-23
    • New King James Version

"Daniel answered and said: “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, For wisdom and might are His. And He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise And knowledge to those who have understanding. He reveals deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, And light dwells with Him.

“I thank You and praise You, O God of my fathers; You have given me wisdom and might, And have now made known to me what we asked of You, For You have made known to us the king’s demand.”

  • God is building Daniel’s character under extreme hardship.

    • He is building Daniel in his ability to stand firm under pressure
    • In his ability to lead others in prayer, in the word, in faith.
    • God wants to make Daniel an advisor to kings.
    • He wants to make Daniel a prophet to the nations.
    • He is building him as a man, as a man who knows the true and living God.

  • Daniel has an authentic relation ship to God. And God is going to use Daniel in a prophetic and divine way.

  • Charles H Spurgeon on Proverbs 30

    • “One mark of a man’s true wisdom is his knowledge of his ignorance. Have you never noticed how the clean heart always mourns its uncleanness, and the wise man always laments his folly? It needs holiness to detect our own unholiness, and it needs wisdom to discover our own folly. When a man talks of his own cleanness, his very lips are foul with pride; and when a man boasts of his wisdom, he proclaims his folly with trumpet sound.”

Transcript

uh we are in a study on the Book of Daniel and uh the series is titled living for God in a pagan World very appropriate Daniel had been taken out of Jerusalem and brought to Babylon was once in the uh place where he was raised in a Christian home and taught the Bible and now he’s taken 900 miles away to Babylon which is a pagan environment and we’ll see Daniel living out his faith in a pagan world and very much applicable to us today as well in this post-christian nation that we are living in uh today the we’ve been in the series for a couple of weeks today the title of the message is the prophetic unveiling of world kingdoms and this is part one of a two-part talk the prophetic unveiling of world kingdoms here’s where we’re going in Daniel chapter 2 Nebuchadnezzar has a dream and this dream will reveal the kingdoms of the Earth from 600 BC all the way until the second Advent of Jesus Christ and so we’ve got an amazing uh prophecy to look into as we jump into this and it’s very much in the narrative form which is unusual it’s a really cool how God did this this story of what happens in Daniel’s life that we’re going to jump into uh we are living in troubling times are we not as we look at this unveiling of world kingdoms we’re looking at the world going well what’s going on in the world I mean all kinds of issues going on uh we know that uh uh the economies are unraveling we have this uncertainty of AI coming into the world uh it’s progressing so rapidly uh what is it going to be like when we have ai robots walking around that are smarter than humans like crazy what the future may hold as we move forward on top of that we look at the world and we see crises on all four corners of the earth Israel is at war with Hamas we’ve got Iran backing Hamas and we have Russia backing Iran we’ve got the United States backing Israel and so that brings conflict between us and Russia just just right there uh we have the Palestinian conundrum uh what do we do there and then we have this mystery of anti-Semitism that is just rising in the world what the heck is going on with that on top of all that we have the war in Ukraine and in the war in Ukraine we see uh uh interesting how Iran is supporting Russia in the war on Ukraine and China is supporting Russia Russia and now we have a new member partnering to now support Russia who’s the newest member of this last week North Korea now coming in to support Russia and we’ve got the United States and and NATO supporting Ukraine and wow it is just tension man nuclear tensions are rising uh we haven’t even talked about China and what’s going on there as they want to invade Taiwan and China uh wanting to become the world Kingdom right uh sending spy balloons into the United States sending scuba diver swimmers into uh uh into Florida there at um what’s the uh Cape canaver thank you uh uh and and like spies everywhere coming from China we found them all uh stealing our secrets and all kinds like what is going on and people are wondering what is the world coming to how will all this turn out then we watch the debate this week and at least we can rest that we have great men at the helm right arguing about golf scores and who’s the heaviest right who who’s the fattest uh great things for a presidential debate we look at all that and we think what’s the world coming to well God has the future under control I want you to know the Book of Daniel if it does anything for us it reminds us that God is Sovereign over everything and may the words of Jesus bring reassurance to our souls Jesus said not a sparrow falls to the ground without your heavenly father knowing it he holds we’re going to learn in in Daniel that he raises up Nations and he brings down Nations and today we’re going to see a powerful display of God’s Sovereign sovereignty over the Affairs of the world we pick up our study in Chapter 2 with Daniel this young intelligent Noble from Jerusalem who was taken captive at only about 15 years of age and he’s taken 900 miles from Jerusalem to Babylon as Babylon has become the world power at this time 605 BC Daniel was taken captive and he leaves his homeland he goes to this Pagan land it would be like taking a teenager and giving him all kinds of power and money and putting them in Las Vegas and turning them loose to be like what potential for disaster right and Daniel in this Pagan immoral Land by the way if you think that Babylon was like a third world country you are grossly mistaken we looked at this in previous weeks the architecture it was an advanced civilization they were advanced in sciences and all these things we looked at all that in the previous weeks but Daniel is taken and he’s brought into Babylon and Daniel instead of being corrupted by Babylon Daniel does something profound he purposed in his heart not to defile himself with the things of the world but to live his life for God and so God is using him and he gets put in this PhD program that the king puts him in he was already well educated he came from a noble family uh the king seems sees potential in him and he puts him in this three-year PhD program in Babylon to be trained in literature and in the sciences and and again uh Babylon very Advanced and there Daniel purposes in his heart to live for God and God he works works hard in his studies and God blesses him and at the end of the three-year term Daniel stands before the king and the King realizes there are none wiser there are none better than this young Daniel God had given him favor before the king and that’s where we left off he’s been promoted now to be in this uh an advisor to the king and here in chapter two we’re going to see God is going to do something very interesting everything seems to be going swimmingly swimmingly Daniel is promoted to be uh an adviser to the king and now in Chapter 2 God is going to give the King Nebuchadnezzar a troubling dream how many of you have ever had a troubling dream before I want you to know you got nothing on Nebuchadnezzar this dream troubled him so badly we’re going to see it affected his his whole life his day-to-day operations uh so Daniel chapter 2 are you there let’s pray as we open our Bibles Jesus we come before you and we thank you Lord that you are The Sovereign king of kings that you have the Whole World in Your Hands and Lord today as we have gathered to Worship You To Praise You Lord we now open your word and we ask that you would speak to us for it’s you that we want to know reveal to us Lord your mind reveal to us Lord Your Heart Lord life is difficult and we need to get our eyes fixed on you to be able to make it and to be able to thrive and so Lord would you bless us to know you deeper to know you better and to be inspired by your Holy Spirit to understand your heart and your mind we ask it in Jesus name and everyone said am amen chapter 2 verse 1 now in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar’s rain uh we look at this and we go well wait a minute how long was Daniel’s PhD program three years are we going back here a year in Chapter 2 no we’re not uh it’s interesting and and we know this from history in Babylonian culture when the king uh came into Power his first year was called a year of Ascension and they did not count that as a year of his Reign it wasn’t until he went through that first year of Ascension that then his Reign counted so when it says here the second year of Nebuchadnezzar it’s actually the third year since he since he besieged Jerusalem and uh it’s after Daniel finishes this PhD program uh Nebuchadnezzar the king had dreams and his Spirit was so troubled that his sleep left him day after day after day his soul was troubled he could not sleep verse two then the king gave the command to call The Magicians the astrologers the sorcerers and the caldan to tell the king his dreams so they came and they stood before the king when we read about magicians and astrologers and Sorcerers uh uh these were the wise men of Babylon magician has a different word mean a different meaning than it than it did back then this wasn’t these weren’t guys doing magic tricks hey King watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat no no no not at all uh a magician was someone who was uh uh in the occult into mystery uh you’ll remember with Pharaoh in Egypt when Moses stood before him and Moses threw his staff down and it became a serpent All The Magicians uh used their sorcery and they did did similar things right and and so we see that these were uh in these Pagan cultures these were men of power uh astrologers were the study uh not just horescope stuff this this is the they determine the orbit of the planets and Babylon figured out and made the first calendar they had a calendar that is accurate to this day and and uh anyway the sorcerers they were the ones who practiced incantations and curses and all these things and these are the ones that the king brings before him they’re his top advisors and they stand before the king verse three and they said excuse me and the King said to them I had a dream and my spirit is anxious to know the dream anxious the Hebrew word deeply troubled I had a dream and I am deeply troubled about this dream verse four then the calans spoke to the king in Aramaic oh King live forever tell your servants the dream and we will give you the interpretation I want you to put a little side note in your Bible on verse four right here because something happens in the original manuscripts of the Book of Daniel The Book of Daniel here in verse four goes from Hebrew to Aramaic and chapter 2 through chapter 7 will be written in Aramaic very unusual uh the majority of the entire Old Testament is written in Hebrew and now this language goes to Aramaic and we’ll talk about why late in the service uh so verse four it goes to Aramaic and they say hey tell us the dream and we’ll give you the interpretation the king answered and said to the calans that’s all his wise men my decision is firm if you do not make known the dream to me and its interpretation you shall be cut in pieces and your houses shall be made an ash Heap not only will I cut you in h in in pieces but I’ll destroy your homes wow however verse six if you tell the dream and its interpretation you shall receive from me gifts rewards and great honor therefore tell me the dream and its interpretation very interesting here isn’t it how we see uh Nebuchadnezzar handling this uh here he’s troubled by this dream and he wants to motivate his crew and so what does he do he threatens their lives and he promises them great wealth and I have seen I have learned you have too carnal leaders motivate other people with fear with flattery and with finances if you have a boss he’s probably or she has probably used these tactics on you hey your numbers are down and there’s cutbacks you better get your numbers up what are they using fear uh or hey if you start performing you’ll get a bonus what are they using finances yeah and uh it’s common it’s how carnal leaders lead and it’s effective for two reasons number one self-preservation humans will do anything to save their own skin self-preservation is a powerful motivator and so leaders use it because it works secondly not only self-preservation that’s why they use fear but they use finances because people are they love money they’re greedy for money and uh finances are a tremendous motivator and so these things work um it’s very interesting to look at though as we think about Jesus Jesus never used fear never used flattery and never used finances to motivate anybody isn’t that interesting Jesus did just the opposite he never offered his followers financial gain as a matter of fact he told them just the opposite he said are you sure you want to follow me because foxes have holes birds have nests but the son of man has no place to lay his head you sure you want to follow me I don’t even have a home I don’t even have a bedroom I don’t even have a pillow you sure you want to follow me very interesting how then did Jesus motivate people to follow him and boy did they no person has ever had so many followers as Jesus Christ followers who were even willing to be martyred instead of deny that he resurrected from the grave how did he build such a following how did he motivate people to follow him if he didn’t use fear flattery in finances well Jesus did something far better he cared about people what a concept he cared about them he loved them he spoke wisdom into their lives he built them up he took them as they were with all their problems with all their hurts with all their habits with all their Hang-Ups and he met them where they were but he didn’t leave them there he gave them Vision to be able to see how to get out of this mess that they were living in how to quit sinning in this way that they were that’s destroying their life and how to walk a new life and he would enable and Empower them to do it he built them up he gave them gifts and he loved them well the reason is Jesus wants more than our outward OB obedience Jesus wants heartfelt obedience he wants our love fear and greed May motivate someone for a season but here’s what we know the moment that a better offer comes along and you’ve been motivating with fear and finances the moment a better offer comes along what happens to that that person bye see you and they never look back and it is one thing to use fear and flattery and finances and business but do you know what happens it also begins to be used in our homes and how sad it is when in a marriage fear and finances would be used how sad in parenting when fear and finances would be used as motivation well I’m going to ground you well I’ll buy you this careful careful and then kids go off to college and they never look back and you don’t see them but a relationship built like Jesus is powerful fear and greed May motivate for a season but when we love others like Jesus did when we build relationships like Jesus did relationships that capture the heart it will produce a bond of Love That is not easily broken and this is true for employees this is true for fathers and daughters I just see a dad patting his daughter on the knee so beautiful uh this is true for marriages and may we be wise look at Nebuchadnezzar’s carnal leadership King Nebuchadnezzar is so troubled by this dream that he lays The Gauntlet down and he says listen you’re going to be cut in half if you don’t tell me these things uh let’s go on in our story let’s see what develops uh we’re on verse seven uh they that’s the wise men his his court his advisers they answered again and said let the king tell his servants the dream and we will give its interpretation and the King answered and said I know for certain that you would gain time because you see that my decision is firm if you do not make known the dream to me there is only one decree for you what decree is that chopped in pieces yeah for you have agreed to speak lying and corrupt words before me till the time has changed what’s he saying he’s saying you’re trying to buy time you know right now I’m I’m really bothered by this and I’m really demanding right now and you’re trying to buy time thinking that hey in a couple of weeks the king will forget about this dream and everything will be okay and the King says not going to happen that’s how big this impact of this dream made on him he says the last part of verse 9 therefore tell me the dream and I shall know that you can give me its interpretation if not you guys are fakes is what he’s saying verse 10 then the calans that’s his court the wise men his advisers they answered the king and said there is not a man on Earth who can tell the king’s matter therefore no King no Lord no ruler has ever asked such a thing of any of The Magicians or astrologers or the caldan it is a difficult thing the king requests there is what what are they saying right here they’re saying King out of your mind no King has ever asked someone to tell the king what his dream was uh you you’re just and look what they say there is no other who can tell it to the king except the gods whose dwelling is not with flesh may I say to you God is using these Pagan idolatrous Pagan worship ERS to speak a word of Truth to the king only the gods could know and look what he says for this reason the King was angry and very Furious and he gave command to destroy all the wise men of Babylon Nebuchadnezzar was a brilliant man a brilliant leader and he’s fed up with these guys he’s going I think I smell a rat I think you guys are just telling me nonsense all the time so verse 13 so the decree went out and they began killing the wise men and they sought to kill Daniel and his companions uh excuse me they sought Daniel and his companions to kill them wow what a major plot twist in this story King Nebuchadnezzar has a troubling dream and now everyone is in trouble including Daniel Daniel’s life is in trouble Nebuchadnezzar is the most powerful the most wealthy uh the most he’s got everything he’s got a world Kingdom yet his soul is deeply troubled and he cannot sleep he’s miserable and he’s unhappy with everyone around him because he’s unhappy on the inside isn’t that interesting how that works you think Nebuchadnezzar would be really happy he has just obtained World Dominion he has the strongest Nation on the earth at this time his army defeated Pharaoh NE Neco just a few years early in 605 BC uh he defeated Egypt pharoh Niko at um kabish right there on the Euphrates and he accomplished something that even the Egyptians had not been able to do he accomplished World Dominion and with all his power with all his wealth with all his Fame he can’t sleep and he’s miserable if nebie went to a shrink today they would medicate him but I want you to know that is not his problem Nebuchadnezzar does not need proac that is not his problem his problem is his relationship with God he does not have one and God brings all people no matter where they’re at in life no matter if they’re living high on the hog or at the bottom of the barrel he brings us all to this place where we’re like we’re deeply troubled in our soul until we know him so interesting that all the power and money in the world cannot buy peace and contentment in his misery he is killing those closest to him which is often what we do we see that he’s just deeply troubled and so he calls all his philosophers and his spiritualists for help but they’re of no value no help whatsoever when tragedy tragedy strikes they can’t do anything for him and it’s very interesting what God is putting on display here for us is he’s showing us that false religions and false spirituality are all what worthless worthless these bankrupt belief systems they have an appearance of value when things are going well but the moment that tragedy strikes their inadequacy is glaring and here we see that to be the case with the king’s relig ious systems that he’s employed when I was younger uh I worked with a guy who was uh uh really into srf the self-realization fellowship down in in Cardiff down there um his name was Dharma uh and Dharma if you’re listening I haven’t seen you in 30 40 years I’d love to know where longer than that I’d love to no I guess I’m not that old yeah 30 40 years I’d love to know where you are so say hello but anyway Dharma believed in uh self-realization fellowship and he was always talking about being at inner peace and being one with all things and being one with the universe he wore sandals everywhere he went and he would wear linen baggy clothes and kind of just you know you get the get the picture and he was always about hum inner peace and everything was fine until dar Dharma would lose a business deal and when Dharma would lose a business deal he would flip his tacos he would just blow up he would just you know and everyone would wonder hey what about being one with the universe whatever happened to that well it’s all fine until you lose a deal it’s all fine until a problem comes and then we see it is false spirituality that is totally worthless if you’ve ever spent any any time with a Christian Scientist you know that you can see the Folly of their religion Christian Scientists uh they believe that they are little gods and only what they believe is real and so you if you don’t uh you know you can believe it into existence if you will and therefore if you’ve ever seen a Christian Scientist get a cold it’s very entertaining because they’re sick as a dog they got runny nose green stuff coming out they’re coughing they’re sneezing and you ask are you sick and they’ll answer I’m not sick because if they believe they’re sick then they are sick and as long as they believe they’re not sick then they’re fine and it’s comical you’re like dude you’re sneezing you got to run your nose you’re like stay away you’re sick I’m not sick and you see this delusion of their faith and it’s kind of entertaining when you see a Christian Scientist with a cold but it is downright tragic when you see a Christian Scientist with cancer my brother-in-law his mom she got cancer she was a Christian Scientist and her religion she believed no I’m just not going to say I have cancer I don’t have cancer and her religion was totally worthless it left her bankrupt and empty with no skills whatsoever to deal with the reality of her situation it was totally what worthless so sad nebuch Nebuchadnezzar can see that there’s no substance to as wise men there’s no substance to this spirituality they promote it’s totally just it’s all frivolous it’s all Folly and I want you to know something this might sting a little bit fake Christianity is equally worthless it’s of no value many today many today believe in a fake Jesus uh many churches are teaching a fake Jes Jesus it’s not the Jesus of the Bible and believing in Jesus this fake Jesus it’s not a Jesus who’s Lord of our life it’s not a Jesus who instructs Us in the way that we should walk and the Integrity that we should it’s a fake Jesus and uh well we should not be surprised that this is prevalent in the church today for the Bible warned us of this very thing the Bible warned us of these fake jesuses that would be in the world even in the early church 1 John Chapter 2 here’s a verse that uh talks about let me he you read this in a unified voice little children it is the last hour and as you have heard the Antichrist is coming let’s pause there he’s saying listen you’ve heard you know that in the last days the Antichrist Capal singular the Antichrist is coming what’s that well if you’re new to the Bible the Bible tells us there’s a world leader coming onto the scene he will unite all the world religions together and he will be be called the Antichrist in the Bible the the world won’t see him that way Antichrist by the way doesn’t mean against Jesus it means instead of Jesus big difference it’s a different Jesus he will actually come on and say he’s the Messiah you know Islam has a messiah right uh uh it’s a different Jesus and he says listen you know the Bible teaches that in the last days the Antichrist is coming but now let’s read what he says but even now many antichrists have come many fake little uh jesuses are being made and being propagated and and may we be careful right may we be careful uh their Jesus is not the Jesus of the Bible and he cannot transform a life he cannot save false religions and spirituality are totally worthless and so is a fake Jesus but I want you to know something faith in the real Jesus is lifegiving and transforming I so love watching Jesus do this it is the very reason I’m a pastor because I love seeing other people discover who the real Jesus is and start walking in his ways and watching their life transform young or old I’ve seen young women come into the church and they start seeing who the real Jesus is and their values change and Jesus builds them and they start growing with wisdom wisdom and discernment and they’re just start living different and man it’s so awesome to watch and young men same thing I I just love watching god build people and young or old you start walking with Jesus and he will give you wisdom he’ll give you discernment he’ll give you understanding he’ll instruct you in his path he’ll show you things that are that you’re doing in your life that you don’t even know you were stumbling on and he will re reveal them to them with his light you will see them clearly and he will show you the right path and you will grow exponentially and he will build you this is what he does and I never Tire of watching him do it Jesus is able to save us from our sin to transform Our Lives look what Paul would say about this in 1 Corinthians chapter 6 uh a great verse uh let’s read this together unified voice do you not know that the unrighteous will not in inherit the kingdom of God do not be deceived neither fornicators nor idolators no adulterers no homosexuals nor sodomites nor thieves nor Covetous nor drunkards nor revilers no extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God and such were some of you uh such were all of you such were all of us every sexual sin is mentioned there I guarantee you you’re one of those you were one of those right uh nor thieves you ever stole anything I have nor Covetous you ever been you ever covet anything I have nor drunkards you ever been drunk I haven’t actually but that doesn’t make that doesn’t make me righteous uh nor revilers nor that you won’t inherit the kingdom and such were some of you but Jesus changed you he transformed you there is a teaching happening in the church now even here in North County in some large churches in North County that are starting to say no no no no no you can be a homosexual and still be a Christian you just can’t participate in in homosexual sex but you can still be a homosexual well can I remind you what does verse 11 say and such what were some of you not such are some of you I want you to know that is a damnable Doctrine and that is a different Jesus you don’t keep your ident identity as an adulterer you don’t keep keep your identity as a thief you don’t keep your identity as a homosexual and say this is who I am and I believe in Jesus sorry it doesn’t work that way you die to that old person and that is why we do baptism baptism is a picture of that that adulterer dying of that Thief dying of that whatever sin that branded you you that drunker dying and the good news is is when we baptize you we don’t just leave you underwater but what happens you get resurrected it’s a picture of going into the grave and resurrecting to New Life by the spirit of God and so there’s a thing out there right now being propagated in churches even in North County side b Christianity bogus different Jesus such were some of you not such are some of you look at the rest of the verse but you were washed you were Sanctified you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of God all by his power he gives us new life because faith in the real Jesus is lifegiving and trans transforming and I love watching him do it in me and in you nothing better nothing better Nebuchadnezzar had enough of these charlatans he was a brilliant King and he had seen the charade one too many times and he says no more of this fake religious stuff man you tell me the dream tell me this TR Ling dream and no one could and Nebuchadnezzar makes a decree kill the WIS men and now Daniel’s life is in big trouble Daniel’s life is on the chopping block and it begs the question couldn’t God have protected Daniel from this hardship why didn’t God protect Daniel from this hardship and I want you to know that question is a strawman argument it’s a straw man question it is assuming that God didn’t protect Daniel from a million things whenever you go through something difficult and if you ask yourself the question why didn’t God protect me in this or you ask God God why didn’t you protect me in this do you not know there were a million things that God protected you from there were a million things that you never even knew about that God protected you from so it is a straw man question to say why didn’t God protect me from this God protects you from all kinds of things that you never even knew was going to come your way I am quite sure when you stand before God he will show you uh what your your uh Guardian Angel has done and saved your life a gajillion times over that you knew nothing about right uh uh I’m sure my guardian angel will be smashed and bruised and pretzel and like hey dude you gave me a hard time man uh so uh it’s a wrong it’s a it’s a false question but let’s run with it anyway um why didn’t God protect Daniel from this well instead of preventing all suffering in a Christian Life God uses hardship to advance and to promote his man he does save us from a lot of hardship but he uses some hardship to advance and to promote his man and by man I mean human men and women uh this is what God does uh Daniel’s life is is in great danger Daniel’s life is in grave danger you could say but we will see God use this dire Dilemma to produce something in Daniel’s life that will promote him into a powerful position of influence to the king and to the entire nation not only today in Daniel’s life but for decades to come you see God is a we’re always worried about being happy right now God is often working things way into our future that we’re not even thinking about he’s building us and God is building Daniel right now that’s why the Bible would teach us James 1:12 to count it all joy when you fall into various trials keep the faith when you fall into trials knowing that the testing of your faith will produce patience and let patience have its perfect work that you might be listen to these words that you might be perfect and complete lacking nothing now the Bible is not saying that you will become perfect as and never sin it’s saying that you will be you will be fully equipped for everything that you need to go through in life that is what God is doing God uses hardship to build us up Ariel is now going to come to Daniel Daniel’s boss is going to come to him and say Daniel I have to kill you the King has ordered your execution and I want to ask you how will Daniel handle this how would you handle this what would you say what would you do how would you behave if you heard the King has ordered your execution would you say God I can’t believe you did this what’s going what how would you handle it would you protest what would you look what Daniel does verse 14 his boss comes to him and says Daniel sorry we got to kill you uh verse 14 then with counsel and wisdom Circle those words with counsel and wisdom Daniel answered arok his boss the captain of the Guard who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon Babylon he answered and said to arok the king’s Captain his boss why is the decree from the king so urgent he begins to counsel him then arok made the decision known to Daniel So Daniel went in and asked the king to give him more time that he might tell the king the interpretation did you catch that he counsels arok and then he says let me go before before the king he stands before the king and what does he say King I’d like a little more time because you’ve asked all your gods of Babylon and they couldn’t do anything but there is a true and living God he’s the creator of the universe and I know him and I would like to pray to him and then I will stand and I will give you the interpretation of this dream wow that’s pretty powerful man uh pretty powerful verse 17 then Daniel went to his house and he made the decision known to haniah mishel and Azariah these are his companions that they might seek the mercies from God Of Heaven concerning this secret So Daniel and his companions might not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon what a Daniel do he called a prayer meeting with his buddies right he says guys listen I stood before the king I told him uh we need time to seek God guys it’s time to do what pray verse 19 then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision and Daniel blessed the god of Heaven the true and living God who saved his life and now Daniel writes a song Daniel writes a poem you’ll notice this is a ented indented differently uh because it’s Hebrew poetry it’s a song that Daniel wrote It’s a Love Song song look what he writes Daniel answered and said blessed be the name of God forever and ever I wish I had the melody it’ be fun to sing it for wisdom and might are his he’s saying God is worthy of Our Praise uh God is the one who grants us with wisdom and power look what he says verse 21 he changes the times and the seasons he removes Kings and he raises up Kings this is going to be a theme in Daniel God is Sovereign over all the kingdoms of the world including the king who wants to kill me right now interesting he gives wisdom to the wise and he gives knowledge to those who have understanding what’s that he gives wisdom to the wise who seek God and he gives knowledge to those who know enough to come to God he gives them more wisdom and he gives them more understanding verse 22 he reveal feels deep and secret things he knows what is in the Darkness and Light dwells with him here’s what Daniel is saying nothing is hidden from God God always knows what the most evil PE people are doing and God always knows how to deal with it nothing is out of his grasp verse 23 I thank you and I praise you oh god of my fathers for you have given me wisdom and might you’ve given me wisdom and power God thank you so much for enlightening me you have made known to me what we asked for you have made known to us the king’s demand therefore Daniel went to arok his boss whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon and he went in and said thus to him stop your knife right just stop right now do not destroy the wise men of Babylon take me before The King and I will tell the king the interpretation here we see what an authentic relationship with God looks like in faith Daniel stands firm against tremendous Fierce opposition and hardship and he stands firm in that spot all the world is capitulating not standing for truth not standing for what’s right not Daniel Dan stands firm in his faith for what he knows is right even in the most fierce opposition and hardship it would have been so easy for Daniel to complain right here it would be so easy for Daniel to say where is God in all this I purposed in my heart to live with him and now my life is in danger what good is my faith in God be real easy to do it’d be really easy for Daniel to swow Discord among his Brethren to say look at this King what a bad leader what a jerk he is I can’t believe that King he’s horrible and just so Discord be easy to do it’d be easy to doubt God’s goodness to him he doesn’t do any of those things instead he stands firm in faith in a true and living God who is good and he goes before the king amidst impossible odds he stands before the king and says I believe in the true and living God and he will give me the interpretation and he does it before the king excuse me before God has revealed anything to him he stands firm in faith may we be the same way this is what a genuine relationship with God looks like secondly you’ll notice this Daniel controls his feelings and speaks with wisdom and he leads well even in the most adverse and difficult situation he goes to his boss and he counsels him with wisdom that’s great leadership arok slow down buddy slow down I’m going to spend some time in prayer on this let me go before the king uh great leadership third thirdly he goes into fervent prayer and he seeks God for wisdom and notice what he does not only does Daniel pray but what else does he do he calls all his buddies to pray with them he says guys let’s meet when was the last time you called somebody and said hey let’s pray together let’s meet together do we value prayer that way this is what a genuine relationship an authentic relationship with God looks like he prays fourthly god mercifully provides the solution to Daniel’s problem he reveals the dream to Daniel and he mercifully uh reveals the solution to the problem I love it when God does this we have something that’s complex we don’t know how to go and God speaks to our heart something and enlightens our eyes enl lightens our understanding and now we know how to deal with that TR troubled situation beautiful this is what a genuine relationship with God looks like it’s amazing to watch and this is what God does and as a result of this Daniel Praises god with awe and Delight he comes to church ready with a sing praises to his God he writes a Lover’s poem he writes a love song of praise to his God his heart is overwhelmed with both the goodness and The Sovereign power of God not only did God save Daniel’s life but God saved the lives of Nebuchadnezzar’s entire cabinet including these Wicked Sorcerers just amazing and in this we see the man that God uses and by man I mean human we see the person that God uses Daniel is a man of prayer Daniel is a man of disciplined character he is not letting his emotions control his life Daniel is a man full of God’s word and you say how do you know that well in that little song that we just read I spent quite a bit of time of on that song this week and there are at least 18 references in that song that were directly quoted from the Old Testament 18 different references I wish I had time to go into them with you Daniel knew his Bible Daniel knew God’s word Daniel was a man of character uh this is the man God uses and this is what a real relationship with God looks like and do you see what God is doing here God is inviting Daniel to participate in this work that God is doing in the kingdom and that’s what God does for you and I let me ask you why did Nebuchadnezzar have this dream in the first place everything was going fine why did Nebuchadnezzar have this troubling dream why God gave it to him and you say well why did God give it to him here’s why God loves Nebuchadnezzar and Nebuchadnezzar is off track and going to hell God wants to save him so God gives him a troubling dream to get him on a new course secondly God wants to reveal his sovereignty to all the world he’s going to reveal four kingdoms five coming kingdoms World kingdoms that will uh be a prophetic Revelation to the world of what is coming and you say well why would Nebuchadnezzar want to kill everyone if this is God’s plan here’s why because Nebuchadnezzar is a stinking Sinner and this is how Sinners behave and it’s not out of God’s grasp and you say well uh why didn’t God just give the dream to Daniel and to Nebuchadnezzar at the same time and at pretty at some point you got to say you got to quit asking why and let God be God right here’s why because God has said as the heavens are higher than the earth so is are my ways and my understanding higher than your understanding at some point we have to trust God even when we don’t understand what’s going on in the world what’s going on in our life why is this happening this way trust that God is at work and doing good things and that’s what Daniel did and this is what a genuine authentic relationship with God looks like God is building Daniel in a myriad of ways one of the ways God is building Daniel is building his character under extreme hardship which will be necessary to be the leader that God is trying to build Daniel to be he’s going to have to be able to handle tremendous hardship with great character God is building Daniel in his ability to stand firm under pressure when everybody else is capitulating God is building Daniel and his ability to lead others in prayer pray and in the word and in faith and on and on and on I could go about how God is building Daniel God wants to make Daniel an advisor to Kings and an advisor to kingdoms and he is going to be for decades to come God wants to make Daniel a prophet to the Nations and God is building Daniel as a man and as a man who has a deep and abiding relation relationship with a true and living God this is what God is doing in Daniel’s life and I want you to know this is the same thing God is doing in your life this is what he wants to do with us Daniel has an authentic relationship with God and now God is going to use Daniel’s life in a huge way we’re going to see Daniel here will interpret the dream and the pro it will reveal the prophetic unveiling of world kingdoms uh let’s jump in verse 25 where where we left off then aroch quickly brought Daniel before the king and said this to the king I have found a man of the captains of Judah who will make known to the king the interpretation you are welcome King what’s arok doing right there he’s boasting trying to take credit for himself and can I just ask isn’t it ugly let’s not do that isn’t boasting ugly verse 26 and the King answered and said to Daniel whose name was Bel chazar are you able to make known to me the dream which I have seen and its interpretation and Daniel answered in the presence of the king and said the secret which the King has demanded the wise men the astrologers the Magi the susers they cannot declare it to the king what’s he saying King no man can declare this dream to you it’s not humanly possible verse 28 but there is a God in heaven the true and living God who reveals secrets and he that true and living God has made known to the King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days you might want to underline that right there the dream is about what will be in the latter days this dream by the way will cover human history from 600 BC all the way through 2024 all the way through the second coming of Jesus Christ that’s how powerful this dream is and look at verse 29 Daniel’s going to now start telling him this dream as for you oh King thoughts you might want to circle the word thoughts thoughts came to your mind when you were on your bed about what would come to pass after this the king just wanted to know the what the dream was Daniel is telling the king the thoughts he had when he was on his bed before he went to sleep that night wow you see the King was wondering what would come to pass after this after this after what well Nebuchadnezzar was now the leader of the world and he’s wondering what comes next I conquered the whole world what now what’s next and he was depressed just like Alexander the Great committed suicide after he conquered the whole world CU he had nothing else to conquer not committed societ but got drunk and died uh uh well Nebuchadnezzar is having the same thoughts and Daniel says hey I God knows what you were thinking about that night and he who reveals Secrets has made known to you what will be but as for me this secret has not been revealed to me because I have more wisdom than anyone living but for your sakes who make excuse me but for our sakes who make make known the interpretation to the king and that you may know the thoughts of your heart do you understand what Daniel says here Daniel says listen King it’s not because I’m great or because I’m wise no man can do this God revealed the secrets of your dream for two reasons number one to save the lives of everybody in your cabinet and number two he cares because he cares about you King he wants to tell you the secrets that were on your heart he wants to talk talk to you about what’s troubling your soul God is going to show Nebuchadnezzar a greater Kingdom the kingdom of God and uh he’s trying to save Nebuchadnezzar uh so interesting uh how this happens here uh how different Daniel’s character must have seemed to King Nebuchadnezzar every official in his court has been jocking for position with self-promotion and boasting trying to impress the king oh King I have found a man and everything they do day after day year after year is all about self-promotion and boasting and now here comes a young man the only one who has a solution to the king’s problem the only one with any real wisdom and he is totally selfless totally humble he’s Meek and he is not doing anything for personal gain and King Nebuchadnezzar must have been refreshingly shocked I was studying in proverbs 30 this week and I read a quote from Spurgeon that I thought was really appropo for this uh look what Spurgeon says a quote from him let me hear you read this unified voice when a man talks of his own CLE cleanness his very lips are foul with pride and when a man boasts of his own wisdom he proclaims with a trumpet sound that he is indeed a fool when we tell everybody how amazing we are Spurgeon says you are proclaiming with a trumpet what a fool you are and when we think we’re actually a good person we are simply revealing how foul we really are let’s go on rest of the verse I mean rest of the quote read with me have you ever noticed how the wise man always laments his folly and how the clean heart always Mourns its uncleanliness uh what’s he saying it’s not the Sinners of the world you go to a drug addict and they’ll say I’m a good person you go to a whatever uh and they’ll think they’re amazing you go to someone who walks with God and they’ll say I’m a sinner man I’m a sinner and here’s what Spurgeon says about that we need Holiness to detect our unholiness and we need wisdom to discover how foolish we really are that is why we need God in our life otherwise we will think we are something when we’re not and that’s called delusion and we need God in our life verse 31 you or King were watching in this dream and behold a great image this great image whose listen to these adjectives whose Splendor was excellent stood before you and its form was awesome Nebuchadnezzar has this dream Daniel’s starting to explain this dream to him and he says it was just magnificent it was Splendid it was like incredible and we’re going to learn in just a minute what the what he what the vision he actually had was but it I wonder what it looked like this Splendid magnificent well it looks something like this we’re going to learn uh this is an idea of what Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream look it was Splendid it was awesome verse 32 the image head was of fine gold and its chest and arms were of silver and its belly and thighs were of bronze and its legs were of iron and its feet were partly iron and partly of clay uh here is what’s happening God is revealing to Nebuchadnezzar the kingdoms of the world and let’s break it down just a little bit the head which is fine gold was the Babylonian Kingdom that Nebuchadnezzar was the king of Nebuchadnezzar uh well excuse me the Neo Babylonian Empire conquered Assyria in 622 excuse me 612 BC uh then his father Nebuchadnezzar died and Nebuchadnezzar became king and he besieged Jerusalem in 605 BC and he’s now the leader of the world that is this image the head of fine gold that’s the Babylonian Kingdom the next Kingdom after the Babylonian kingdom is listed its chest and arms were of silver do you know what kingdom was after the Babylonian Kingdom the MEO Persian Empire you can remember it because there’s two arms the mes and the Persians they came in and they conquered the Babylonian Kingdom in 539 BC if you’re a history buff you know this Cyrus the Great entered in Babylonian to Babylon without even a battle he snuck in because you know why because Babylon had gotten so powerful so wealthy that the king and all the cabinet was in a drunken stuper and a party when King Cyrus entered in that happened in 539 BC Cyrus the Great uh that’s the chest and arms of silver its belly and thighs of bronze were the Grecian Empire of Alexander the Great that conquered the MEO Persian Empire in 334 BC how incredible uh verse 33 its legs of iron that’s the Roman Empire that conquered the Grecian Empire in 146 BC and went all the way to 4768 the Roman Empire these four World kingdoms uh that have existed and now look at this its feet partly of iron and partly of clay that is the fifth world Empire that has not come into fruition yet it is the revived Roman Empire by the way how many kingdoms have transpired so far four uh this vision would be inaccurate if there were more than four World kingdoms there hasn’t been a world Empire since the Babylonian excuse me since the Roman Empire and the next World Empire will be the revived Roman Empire uh fascinating fascinating and look what happens verse 34 King you watch this was your dream and you watched while a stone was cut without hands do you know who that is that is Jesus that is a Biblical prophecy given of Jesus in another place a stone cut without hands which struck the image where did it strike the image on its feet of iron and clay that will be this it’ll strike this this Kingdom that hasn’t come into fruition yet that’s when Jesus will come back on this fifth world Kingdom and will break them into pieces and the iron excuse me then the iron the clay the bronze the silver the gold they were all crushed together and they became like what chaff just chaff if you don’t know what chaff is chaff is the what sep you know on the wheat when you grow wheat you throw it up in the air the wheat falls to the ground the chaff is just the the rubble that blows away it’s worthless he says these kingdoms are like chaff on the summer threshing floors the wind carried them away so that no Trace was of them was found and the stone that was cut without hands that stone struck the image and became a great mountain and filled the whole earth this is the Messianic Kingdom Jesus’s Kingdom that’s going to fill the whole earth uh in verse 36 this is the dream and now we will tell the interpretation of it before the king and to get the interpretation you got to come back next Sunday we will look at the interpretation of this dream next Sunday but wow how powerful man how powerful uh nowhere else in the Bible except Daniel chapter 7 is a more comprehensive picture given of world history this prophecy covers from 600 BC the Babylonian Kingdom it covers the Babylonian Kingdom the MEO Persian Kingdom The Grecian Empire the Roman Empire and the revived Roman Empire that’s coming under the leadership of the Antichrist and then the ultimate Kingdom the Messianic Kingdom that will Jesus will come and judge the entire world and we’ll look at the interpretation of that next week be a great study to read ahead on I want you to know four of these kingdoms have been fulfilled exact L as Daniel is going to teach us next week it’s come to pass the Fulfillment is confirmed by history and it is 100% accurate and if these four kingdoms happened exactly as they said you would be very wise to put all your money in the bank on this fifth Kingdom that’s coming exactly as God said Daniel’s prophecy reveals that God is Sovereign over all things and I told you in verse four that God switched from Hebrew to Aramaic and now you know why do you know why you should know why Hebrew is the language to the Jews Aramaic was the language to the entire world at that time this message is not just for the Jewish people it is for all the kings in the world all the people of the world all the kingdoms of the world and so from chapter 2 to chapter 7 we’re going to be looking at stuff that has a message of God to the entire world not just to the Jewish people and for that he speaks their language how incredible as we leave may we hold on to this God is Sovereign over all the kings and all the kingdoms of the world and those who come to him and worship him as Lord he builds their life with wisdom discernment and light so they may know how to walk if you are here today and you have not made Jesus Christ your lord if you have believed in a different Jesus just as God is calling Nebuchadnezzar this lost man in these chapters so God is calling us to him right now don’t leave today without giving your life to Jesus