Good morning again. The revelation of Jesus Christ.
Which God gave unto him. To show unto his servants. Things which must. Shortly come
to pass. And he sent and signified it
by his angel. Unto a servant John. And John goes on to say, I was
in the spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a great
voice as of a trumpet. Lord speaks in a still small
voice, but when that still small voice is heard, it's the only
voice you hear. And it's a great voice, great voice. Our hope this morning is that
the Lord will speak, speak to our hearts, It's the Lord's day. And we've gathered together to
hear what he would say to us. So, Brother Burt, you're gonna
lead us in the hymn on the back of our bulletin. Let's stand
together. I once was a stranger to grace
and to God. I knew not my danger and felt
not my load. Though friends spoke in rapture
of Christ on the tree, Jehovah said he knew men nothing to me. When free grace awoke me by life
from on high, Then legal fear shook me, I trembled to die. No refuge, no safety in self
could I see, Jehovah Sidki knew my Savior must be. My terrors all vanished before
His sweet name. My guilty fears vanished with
boldness I came. to drink at the fountain, life-giving
and free. Jehovah Sidkenu is all thanks
to me. Maybe. You go. Good morning. Our scripture reading
is found in Psalm 143. Psalm 143. This is a Psalm of David. Hear my prayer, O Lord. Give ear to my supplications.
in thy faithfulness answer me and in thy righteousness." Notice
how the basis of his supplication to the Lord is not himself, it's
not his fervent, it's not his dedication or commitment, but
it's in thy faithfulness and in thy righteousness. That's
a sound foundation where we come to the Lord. And enter not into
judgment with thy servant. For in thy sight shall no man
living be justified." Meaning there's no person that's righteous
in the sight of God. So not enter He does not want
to be in the judgment. He wants to be on the Christ,
which is where salvation is found and where there's no judgment
because the Lord Jesus Christ takes our judgment. For the enemy
has persecuted my soul. He has smitten my life down to
the ground. He has made me dwell in darkness
and in those that have been long dead. Therefore, in my spirit,
My spirit is overwhelmed within me and my heart within me is
desolate. This is very similar to what
we heard this morning regarding being poor and needy. He's very poor and needy here.
And what does he do? He remembers. He says, I remember
the days of old. What does he meditate on? Does
he meditate on anything he does? No, he meditates on thy works. I muse on the work of thy hand,
this is what we ought to meditate, is in the Lord Jesus Christ and
his work of salvation. I stretch forth my hands unto
thee, my soul thirsteth after me, as a thirsty lamb, Hear me spittedly, O Lord. My spirit felleth me. Hide not
thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the
pit. Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness
in the morning, and in thee do I trust. Cause me to know thy
way within as you walk. And I lift up my soul unto thee. Deliver me, O Lord, from my enemies. I flee unto thee to hide. And
this is where we always go when the Lord brings tribulation and
troubles in our life. We go to him. We hide in him. Teach me to do thy will, for
thou art my God. Thy spirit is good. Lead me into
the land of uprightness. Quicken me, O Lord, for Thy name's
sake and for Thy righteousness' sake. Bring my soul out of trouble."
Again, it's always based on Him and His righteousness, His faithfulness
towards us. That's what we appeal to. And
die of thy mercy, court of my enemies, and destroy them all,
all of them that afflict my soul. For I am thy servant. Father
God, we come before you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
By his merit alone, by his work of righteousness, and by his
sacrifice, this is the basis where we come to you, Father,
and give you thanks that we have a place. where we could hear
the gospel and we could hear about the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray and we recognize we're
needy and we're poor. Father, we need your Holy Spirit
to show us Christ. We need the Holy Spirit to open
our eyes and uncover our ears father may the pastor be full
of his holy spirit lord and may he preach the gospel clearly
and may we be able to see the lord jesus christ more clearly
and more of his glory father because this is our greatest
need is to see christ in jesus name we pray amen Can we all turn to page 228 of
our Blue Hymnals, number 228. My faith has found a resting
place, and if you could please stand. Number 228. My faith has found a resting
place, not in divide nor creed. I trust the Ever-Living One. His wounds for me shall bleed. I need no other argument. I need no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died
and that He died for me. Enough for me that Jesus saves. This ends my fear and doubt. A sinful soul, I come to Him. He'll never cast me out. I need no other argument. I need no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died
and that He died for me. My heart is leaning on the Word,
the written Word of God. Salvation by my Savior's name,
salvation through His blood. I need no other argument. I need no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died
and that He died for me. My great physician heals the
sick, the lost he came to save. For me his precious blood he
shed, for me his life he gave. I need no other argument, I need
no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died
and that he died for me. You may be seated. We're going to be in Daniel chapter
10 this morning if you'd like to open your Bibles to Daniel
the 10th chapter. Before we begin, Mary and Fiore
went down to spend the last days with their sister, Mercedes,
in Dominican Republic. She's in her last stages of cancer. Mercedes has been here a couple
times over the years. Anyway, that's Zobey's aunt also. So I want us to pray for them. It's time the Lord perhaps will
give Mercedes some understanding and hope in Christ. So let's
pray together. Our merciful Heavenly Father,
know that it is appointed unto man once to die and after that
the judgment. Lord we pray for Mercedes that
she would bring to her heart and understanding what she's
heard enable her in these last days of life here on this earth
to find her hope and her rest in thee. We pray for Fior and
for Mary as they stand by their sister's bedside that you would
give them comforting words to speak to her and that you would
comfort their hearts in the hope that you've given them in Christ.
For it's in his name we ask it. Amen. I've titled this message, Has
God Spoken to Me? There are many false prophets
that will stand in pulpits this morning and they will claim to
have received a word from God. And if you will just believe
and follow them, then you can have that word from God too. I doubt seriously whether they've
heard from the Lord, first of all, And second of all, it doesn't
satisfy my heart to have hearsay testimony. I need to have a first-hand
knowledge. I need for God to speak to me.
Preacher, don't tell me that God's given you a message and
expect me to believe it because you heard it. I need God to speak to me. How do we know? God has spoken
to us. We're not talking about an audible
voice here. No, it's actually a lot, lot
louder than that. It's a convincing word of hope
and truth that you know comes from God. And you rest the hope
of your immortal soul on that word. The Lord said, they shall
be all taught of God. My sheep hear my voice and they
follow after me. Daniel is going to hear from
God in our text this morning. And the things that he experiences
in hearing from God are the same things that every one of God's
children experience when God speaks to them. And so my hope
this morning is that will not settle for hearsay testimony
hearsay testimony is no good in a court of law and it's no
good in God's court. You have to have firsthand knowledge
and the Lord is pleased to give that to his children by his grace
as he gives us ears to hear eyes to see hearts to believe making
us poor and needy stripping us of our that's what he did to
Daniel. Paul put it like this, he said,
when I am weak, then I'm strong. When we were yet without strength,
Christ died for the ungodly. His strength is made perfect
in my weakness. So one of the ways we know that
God has spoken to us is that he stripped us of our righteousness.
He's made us to be little children. He's taken away any hope of salvation
outside of the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
one of the ways we know that he's spoken to us. He spoke to Daniel that way.
And Daniel makes this observation in verse 8. He says, therefore,
I was left alone. I was left alone. When God speaks,
He takes us aside and leaves us with no place else to look
besides Him. We cannot look to our right hand. We cannot look to our left hand.
We cannot look to any other man. We are brought alone in the presence
of God. Now that can happen spiritually
when God speaks. in a group just like this. You
ever listen to a gospel message and you think, you know, I forgot
that there was anyone else in the room. God was speaking directly
to me. That's where Daniel was. And
that's our hope. Every time we come together,
our hope is that the Lord will speak effectually to each heart. cause us all to put aside those
things that would otherwise distract us, all those things that we
concern ourselves with in terms of our relationships with other
men, and we'll be brought into His presence alone. Alone. Something else that's
said about this being alone is the peculiarity of our Lord's
grace. He doesn't speak to everybody.
He's got to take each one aside to speak to them. And that's
what he said to Daniel. And Daniel said, I saw, I saw
this great vision. That's how we know the Lord has
spoken to us. Lord, I've seen. What did the
Lord say to Nicodemus? Unless you're born again, you
cannot see the kingdom of God. Oh, I see it. I see that the
Lord Jesus Christ is seated upon His throne. I see that He reigns
sovereign over all the affairs of men. I see that He's accomplished
His work of redemption for His people. I see that all the hope
of my righteousness is in Him and in Him alone. I see that
the only hope of having my sin put away is for the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ to cover them. in the side of a holy God. Oh, I do see that. God's spoken
to me. All by myself, alone, I see the
vision. And there remaineth no strength
in me. No strength. No ability. God has made me to become as
a little child. I can't make any contribution
to my salvation. I'm completely dependent upon
Him. And those things that I thought were lovely, that's what the
word comeliness means. It means appearance or strength
or ability. Those things that I thought were
comely, oh, He has turned them in me, not in anyone else. Other people may say good things
about me. Other people may see good things in me, but when I
look at myself, all my comeliness is turned in me into corruption. And now I know that in me, that
is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. We join our voices when
God speaks with Job. When the Lord finally spoke to
Job through the preacher Elihu, what was the first thing out
of Job's mouth? Behold. Behold, I see something I never
saw before. Behold, I am vile. When Isaiah saw the Lord high
and lifted up, seated upon his throne, and the seraphim hovering
over him and crying, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts,
what was the first thing out of Isaiah's mouth? Woe is me,
I'm undone. My comeliness has turned in me
into corruption. I've got no righteousness, I've
got no claim. My eyes have seen the king, I'm
a dead man. When Peter saw the Lord walking
upon the shore after the resurrection and jumped into the water and
swam to him, he fell at his feet and he said, depart from me,
I'm a sinful man. I don't have any right to be
in your presence. My comeliness has turned in me into corruption.
It happens every time. Every time. Has the Lord spoken that to you?
That's what we know. He's spoken. He's left me with
no place else to go except the Lord Jesus Christ. Now go with
me to the first verse of this chapter. In the third year of
Cyrus, king of Persia, a thing was revealed unto Daniel. What is this thing that was revealed
unto Daniel? What did the angel say about
that holy thing that was in the womb of Mary? That was the only
word that could be used to describe the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's what's going to be revealed. And when God speaks, He reveals
Christ. And our comeliness is not turned
into corruption until we see Him. So, have I seen something
of the Lord Jesus Christ? What does He say about Him? This
thing was revealed unto Daniel, whose name was Belshazzar. And that word Belshazzar means
out of Babylon. And that's where we are, isn't
it? God has to take us out of Babylon to speak to us. Our hope
every time we come together is that God will speak. The Lord
will speak by His word because we live otherwise, we're in Babylon,
aren't we? It's hard to hear the voice of
God in Babylon, isn't it? He's got to take us out of Babylon
All the voices that we hear in Babylon are actually contrary
to the voice of God, aren't they? Everything you hear in Babylon
is going to be just the opposite that God says. My ways are not
your ways. My thoughts are not your thoughts.
As the heavens are high above the earth, so are my ways above
your ways. And the thing was true. And one
of the things I know when God speaks, I know it's the truth.
It's not like, well, you know, I'd think about that. Back in religion, he used to
listen to a preacher on the radio, and he concluded every one of
his little sermonettes with, now you think about that. You
remember those guys? Now you think about that. When
I hear the truth, I don't have to think about it. I don't have
to think about it. I don't want to sit there and
negotiate whether it's true or not true. It's just true. The Spirit of God confirms it
immediately to my heart. That's the truth. I can rest
all my hope on that. I know it's true. And no lie
is of the truth. So either it's true or it's not
true. There's no such thing as half-truths when it comes to
God speaking. He doesn't speak half-truths,
does he? He speaks the truth. And God's people, when they hear
His voice, they just come to that conclusion. I don't want
to think about that. I know that's the truth. The whole truth and
nothing but the truth. So help me God. God has helped
me to that conclusion. But the time appointed was great. That word long is the word great.
This testimony is a great testimony. It's the greatest testimony of
all because it's a revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
what the vision is. When God has spoken, He's revealed
to me something of His Son. Now, I know we look through a
glass dimly now, darkly. We just catch, and we're going
to see that in this testimony that Daniel has, but we catch
glimpses of him, don't we? And we long for that day when
the sun rises, and it's not just a sunbeam peeping over the horizon,
but the fullness of his glory is basking That's our hope. And he gives us little bits of
his person now. Kind of like appetizers, isn't
it? Just a taste. If you've tasted
that he's good, that's what the scripture says, then you come
back for more, don't you? And he understood the thing and
had understanding of the vision. I've got some understanding.
I do. It's a mystery that's been revealed. In those days, I, Daniel, was
mourning three full weeks. And when God speaks, he sets
the heart to prayer. Now, here's a good lesson for
all of us to learn. You know, I can tell you that
a preacher spends a lot of time preparing before he comes here
on Sunday or Wednesday. Isn't that right, Robert? A lot
of time. He has to. He has to. But you know the preparation
is just important for you. I want to encourage you. Spend
some time preparing your heart to hear from God before you come
and sit down here. When the Lord speaks, He always
sets the heart to prayer first. Lord, I'm poor. I'm needy. I need a word from God. I need
to hear from you, Lord. Please speak to me. Give me ears
to hear. And I ate no pleasant bread,
neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint
myself at all. All three whole weeks were fulfilled. When God speaks, it's the most
important thing in your life. Everything else is secondary. Food, raiment, people, everything
else is secondary to God speaking. What did the Lord say about us
being like the Gentiles and spending all of our time worrying about
what we're going to eat and what we're going to drink and what
we're going to live and what we're going to do about this bill and
that bill? What did He say? The Gentiles seek after these
things, but you seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness
and all these other things that be added unto you. Your Heavenly
Father knows what you have need of. So the Lord tells us to seek
first the kingdom of God. Make that the priority. Lord,
that's what I need more than anything else. I need for you
to speak to me. It's not that I need a better
job or this or that. I need for you to speak. If God
speaks, all is well. All is well. Daniel, for three
weeks, puts aside all those earthly things and seeks the Lord in
prayer. And in the four-and-twentieth
day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river,
which is Hedakel, then I looked up, I lifted up mine eyes. God speaks. He's going to have
to enable us to look away from all these earthly things. It's
hard to hear God speak when you're When you're focused on everything
else that's worldly, isn't it? It really is. The Lord turns our heads, causes
us to look up. Like that blind man, he took
and he put his hands on his face and turned him up and said, look,
look up, look up. The scripture says, and he saw
things clearly. Oh, child of God, seek the Lord
in prayer. and ask him to speak, ask him
to speak and look up, look aside from all those, you know, we
get so, we get so concerned with the hand of God that we forget
to look at the face of God. Isn't that true? You know, we
want God's hand. We want God's hand to intervene
here and intervene there and do this and do that. And what
did, what did, what's the scripture say? Oh Lord, let thy face shine
upon us. cause thy face to shine. Here it is. What's Daniel see? Here's what you and I are going
to see. God speaks, here's what we're going to see. I lifted up my eyes and looked
and behold a certain man. Oh we have a man We have a man,
the man Jesus Christ, who is the Christ, one mediator between
God and man. He's the only one that is able
to touch sinful men. And he's going to do that here.
He's going to reach down, he's going to touch Daniel. Now Daniel's
already said, I'm corrupt. What do we see the Lord Jesus
Christ doing? We see him putting his hands on lepers, don't we?
Every bad leper had to go around saying unclean, unclean and keep
a long distance from anyone else. But if you touch the leper, you're
going to be spiritually unclean and you're going to run the risk
of being physically unclean. You may catch what he's got.
And so lepers, but the Lord would go and put his hand on the leper.
You know, he's still doing that. He's still doing that. He's still
putting his hand on lepers. That woman with an issue of blood,
when she told the Lord everything, she had to confess to him that
she was unclean and that she had not followed the law in declaring
herself to be unclean and had touched the hem of his garment. The Lord wasn't defiled by touching
her, was he? He's the only one that can touch
sinful men and not be defiled. and the only one that can touch
a holy God and not be destroyed. He's the only mediator between
God and man, a certain man, a certain man. He's described here. And
the same description is given to us in Revelation chapter 1.
It's also given to us in Jeremiah. This is a description. This is
symbolic language describing to us the attributes and character
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what do we see the first
thing about this certain man? He was clothed in linen. Now two things about linen in
the scriptures. The most often reference to linen
is all the curtains that are in the tabernacle and they're
bleached white linen except for that one linen curtain that separated
the holies of holies from the from the tabernacle and that
linen was blue on the top, a picture, we know that that linen, all
this linen is a picture of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ,
all this bleached white linen that hung in the, is a picture
of his righteousness, his holiness, his perfection before God. And
that one linen that separated the holies of holies was blue
on the top, representing His deity. It was red on the bottom,
representing His humanity. And where the knitting of the
blue and the red came together, what do you get when you put
blue and red together? Purple. What's purple a picture of? Royalty.
And now here we have the Son of God who became man and shed
His precious blood in order that we might have a King to reign
over us in the Kingdom of God. And that veil was rent, that
linen was rent from top to bottom when the Lord Jesus Christ bowed
His head on Calvary's cross and declared, it is finished. That
linen was His body, perfect in God, made a man. with the fullness
of royalty to reign over his church and over his people. And
his body was rent from top to bottom. And God says now, remember
in the Old Testament, the priest, every time the high priest went
in, when the high priest went in the holies of holies, they
had to tie a rope around his ankle and put bells around his,
in case he wasn't prepared properly to enter into the presence of
God, God might kill him in there. And if God didn't, they heard
the bell stop ringing, they just had to pull his corpse out. And
the priests were stationed on the day of atonement when the
high priest went in to make that sacrifice on the mercy seat and
put that blood there when God said, here, I will meet with
you. And the priest would stand out and say, stay away, don't
come near. And the veil was rent and what's
God saying to me and you? The Spirit and the Bride say,
Come, this is the linen? This man, this certain man was
dressed in linen? God saying to Eubony, the body
of the Lord Jesus Christ who bore all the sins of all of God's
people was rent by the justice of God. And now access into the
holies of holies, the throne of grace. Come boldly, come with
confidence. We have a high priest and that's
the other place linen is mentioned. All the clothing of Aaron was
made of linen. And when they took the precious
ointment and poured it on the head of Aaron and the scripture
says this oil ran down his beard and dripped onto his linen garment
and dripped off of his garment onto the ground. That's a picture
of the anointing of the Spirit of God on our priest. We have
a high priest who intercedes for us. A priest that stands
before God on our behalf. Here's that certain man. This
is what this language is about. It's to point us back, what does
this linen mean? It means the perfection of the
Lord Jesus Christ, the body of the Lord Jesus Christ, the priesthood
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the anointing of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And when the scripture says that the woman who had the issue of
blood touched the hem of his garment, what was she getting?
A drop, just a drop of the anointing of the oil on her high priest
came to her. What a picture. You see, when
God speaks, We see the Lord Jesus Christ as our priest and as our
tabernacle who laid down his life for our sins and whoever
lives to make intercession on our behalf. Bleached white linen. What a savior. Has God spoken
and revealed to you? something of the glory of Christ. In that regard, we have a high
priest who he is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the son of
God. For we have not a high priest
which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities,
but was in all ways tempted as we are yet without sin. Without sin, Daniel saw a certain
man dressed in linen. When God speaks to me and you,
yes, we're going to see ourselves. We're going to see our comeliness
turn in us into corruption. But that's only going to happen
because we're going to stop comparing ourselves to ourselves. We're
going to stop comparing ourselves to other men. We're going to
see him in his righteousness and come to that conclusion about
ourselves. Now, notice the second thing
that Daniel sees about the Lord Jesus Christ. I lifted up my
eyes, verse 5, and looked, and behold, a certain man clothed
in linen, whose loins were girded with the gold of Uphaz. Now what
do loins represent in the scripture? Well, the first mention of loins
is found in Genesis chapter 35 verse 11 when God, when the Lord
Jesus Christ met Jacob. You remember Jacob is fleeing
from Esau. He's at the river Jabbok. He's
divided up all of his family in his herds in fear that, well,
if Esau kills half of them, at least we'll have the other half
who'll survive. And he wrestles with God all night long. And
the Lord Jesus Christ changes his name that night from Jacob
to Israel. And here's what the Lord Jesus
said to Israel that night. Kings shall come out of thy loins. Kings shall come out of thy loins. Now he was speaking of the Lord
Jesus Christ who was going to be born of the tribe of Israel. But the point here is that the
Lord Jesus Christ whose loins are girded with pure gold are
not like our loins. What do we bring forth out of
our loins? Corruption. Corruption. Anyone who's brought forth children
knows that their children are just a reflection of themselves.
Sinners begat sinners. Isn't that true? And the testimony
of that is the thing that aggravates us most about our children is
when they mirror our bad behavior. We can put up with things that
they do that we don't do, but when they start doing the things
we do, that's when we get the most aggravated with them, isn't
it? That's all we can bring forth out of our loins. Remember in Genesis chapter 1
when the scripture speaks of the seed and the animals bringing
after their own kind. For the seed was in them. That statement is mentioned several
times in Genesis chapter 1. That tree produced the same tree
after its kind for its seed was in it. That animal produced the
same animal after its kind for its seed was in it. And you and
I produce after our kind because our seed is in us. Now, what
does the Scripture say about the Lord Jesus Christ? His loins
were a pure gold. In other words, what He reproduces
is not corrupt. It's not corrupt. It's perfect.
It's perfect. You see, what's born of the Spirit
is spirit. The Spirit giveth life. What's
born of the flesh is flesh. The flesh profiteth nothing.
That's all we can bring forth out of our loins. But when you're
born of the Spirit, you're born of the loins of the Lord Jesus
Christ and that new man, that new man is perfect. He's perfect,
sinless, pure gold. That's the point here. That's
the imagery. As He is, so are we in this world. We have a perfect righteousness
in the Lord Jesus Christ because He can't bring forth corruption
like me and you. All He can bring forth is pure
gold. His loins are of pure gold. Look at the third thing that's
said about the Lord. Has God spoken? You see the linen of Christ? You see the loins of Christ?
Do you have some understanding? Daniel got some understanding
when he saw this certain man. Because God was speaking. And
when God speaks, He doesn't leave us confused about these things. He speaks the truth. And we say,
oh yes, if I'm going to have a righteousness before God, I'm
going to have to be born of the Spirit. I'm going to have to
be born from the loins of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse
6. His body also was like the barrel. Now, barrel is a crystal that
comes in a variety of colors. Emerald is a barrel. That's green
and And aquamarine is beryl. That's aquamarine. And yellow and red and blue. Beryl comes in lots of different
colors. And when the foundations of the church are mentioned in
Revelation, one of the foundations is beryl. It's a semi-precious
stone of a variety of colors. What does it speak to? It says
His body What is the body of the Lord Jesus Christ? It's His
church, isn't it? It's His church. All different,
but of the same body. One body. One body answering
to one head. And also we see in this body
of the Lord Jesus Christ is where He bore His church in His body. He bore his sins. We were in
Christ when he went to Calvary's cross. Turn with me to Hebrews
chapter 10. When God speaks, he's going to reveal
Christ. These are the things that we're
gonna understand about who he is and about what he's done for
us. Hebrews chapter 10 and verse
4, for it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats
should take away sin. All those bodies that were sacrificed
in the Old Testament, they didn't take away sin. They were pointing
to the one body who would sanctify forever them that are saved. Look what he says. Verse 5, wherefore, when he cometh
into the world, he sayeth, sacrifice and offerings, thou wouldest
not, but a body thou hast prepared me. The Lord Jesus Christ was
born of a woman, born under the law. He had to have a human body,
the body of a man that he might represent us before God and bear
our sins in his body and die as a man on Calvary's cross.
And Daniel now sees his body as Beryl. In burnt offerings and sacrifice
of sins, thou hast no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come to do
thy will, O God, for in the volume of the book it is written of
me. So the Lord Jesus Christ in his body, he fulfills all
the requirements of the law in his body. He obeys God perfectly
in his body. And he suffers in his body, dying
unto death, obeying God right up to the time of death in his
body. For what purpose? For what purpose? Above, when he said, verse 8,
sacrifice and offerings and burnt offerings and offerings for sin
thou wouldest not, neither hadst thou pleasure therein which are
offered by the law. God wasn't pleased with those
things as a putting away of sin. Then said he, a second time,
he's going to quote this passage, a second time, lo, I come to
do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first that
he may establish the second. All those Old Testament sacrifices
came to an end. They came to an end. One of the things that Daniel
prophesied over and over and over again is the end of the
sacrifice. And it happened. It happened
in 70 A.D. when that temple was destroyed.
Jews have never made a blood sacrifice since. By the witch will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest standeth daily
ministering and offering offerings often times the same sacrifice,
which can never take away sin. But this man, this is the certain
man that Daniel saw, but this man, after he offered one sacrifice
for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God. He sat down. From henceforth
expecting till his enemies be made his footstools for by one
offering. He hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified by one offering. There's his body. There's that
barrel. So Daniel sees him dressed in
linen. He sees his body as barrel. Go back with me to Daniel chapter
10. He sees his loins girded with fine gold and his face His
face as the appearance of lightning. How many times we've watched
here in the lightning capital of the world a lightning storm? I love lightning storms as long
as they don't get too close. Watching one hit a tree just
a few feet from me scared me to death. But how many times
we've watched a lightning storm and we've said, wow, did you
see that? Do you see that? It didn't last
long, but what I saw was pretty amazing. His face is that way
today. His face is like lightning. We
see it and it's awesome. It's amazing. We see the glory of God in the
face of the Lord Jesus Christ, but it's like lightning. There
for a moment is He. You want to set your affections
on it and all of a sudden other things. And the Lord sends another
bolt of lightning. The Lord sends more lightning.
And in these storms of life there's going to be flashes of lightning
where we're going to see the face of the Lord Jesus Christ
until one day the storms are going to end and the sun's going
to rise and we're going to see the fullness of His glory. Right
now, He's just giving us glimpses. His face was as the appearance of lightning
and His eyes, His eyes were like lamps of fire. First mention of the eyes of
God in the Scriptures is found in Genesis chapter 6. when God
says, and Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Oh, how compassionate his eyes
are. Now, one day his eyes will be
like flames of fire and his tongue will be like a flaming sword,
but when God looks at his children right now, you know what he has
toward us? Nothing but compassion. I will
have mercy upon whom I will have mercy and compassion upon whom
I will have compassion. God doesn't look at his children
with disgust or with anger. I think about when the Lord looked
at Peter after having been scourged I mean, he was a bloody mess.
He had a crown placed on. He had a stick for a staff. He
had a robe put around. He was a bloody mess. And he
came out into the praetorium. You remember Peter was standing
over there warming himself by the fire. And the scripture says
that the Lord looked at Peter and Peter went out and wept bitterly. Did you look at Peter with that
look? Peter, I told you you were going to do this. I'm so disappointed
in you. Well, did you look at Peter angrily?
Did you look at Peter disappointed? Oh, no. He looks at Peter the
same way he looks at me and you. He understands that we're made
of dust. And he has compassion toward us. And that compassion
and that love. Next time you're tempted to sin. Think about this. Before you
do it, it's already forgiven. The strength of sin is the law. You see, the accusations of Satan
are given by the law. He accuses the brethren with
the law. The law says, thou shalt not. And all the law does is
inspire some, because we're so wretched, the law just causes
us to want to do it more. It causes us to want to do it
more. The one thing that will take temptation out of sin is
the love of Christ. All of a sudden, you just realize,
You know, when I contemplate the idea that He's already shed
His blood for that, He's already forgiven me of what I'm thinking
about, He's already paid the full ransom price to put away
all my sins once and for all by the sacrifice of Himself,
now all of a sudden I don't want to do it. It's the love of Christ that
constraineth us. See, the law says don't do that.
And the more the more you see, the more you hear, don't do it.
The more you just want to do it in. His eyes. Where is fire piercing
through to my heart? And showing me his great love
and compassion for me. And it was that that restrained
me. Listen to what Peter said in
1 Peter chapter 3. And Peter knew something about
the eyes of the Lord. We've already told that story.
Peter knew something about looking into the eyes of the Lord in
his time of shame and seeing compassion. And Peter wrote this,
for the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous and his ears
are open to their prayers." You remember when Philip went
and found his friend Nathanael and brought Nathanael and said,
Nathanael, we found the Messiah and he's from Galilee and Nathanael
said, what good can come out of Nazareth? And Philip said,
come and see. And Nathanael comes to the Lord
And the Lord looks at Nathanael and says, an Israelite indeed
in whom there is no guile. And Nathanael said, how do you
know me? And the Lord said, when thou was under the fig tree,
I saw you. I saw you. The eyes of the Lord. They watch over his children. Second Chronicles chapter 16
verse 9, for the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout
the whole earth to show himself strong in the behalf of them
whose heart is perfect towards him. Well, how do I know my heart's
perfect towards him? Because I've been born of the Spirit.
I've been born of a golden loin. I've got a new nature that's
perfect before God, because I'm looking to Christ for all the
hope of my salvation. And His eyes are watching over
me. They're eyes of love and eyes
of compassion, eyes of care. And His feet, His feet are like
the color of burnished, that's the word polished there, it's
burnished, it's brass that's been through the fire. His feet
and His arms. What are the arms of the Lord?
They represent His shoulders. And that government shall be
upon His shoulders. And all of our sins shall be
upon His shoulders. And He says, Come unto Me, all
you that labor and are heavy burdened. Take upon Me My yoke. My yoke is easy. My burden is
light. I've already been crushed by
the burden of your sin. I've already paid for it. My
shoulder's been burnt. with the fiery wrath of God's
judgment on Calvary's cross. My feet have gone through the
fire of God's wrath for you. And here's what Daniel sees,
and he gets some understanding. He gets some understanding. And his voice, the voice of his words, like
the voice of a multitude. You ever been in a big crowd
and they're all chanting the same thing? You can't hear anything but the
chant. It's all you can hear. Maybe you've been to a sporting
event and that's just the voice of a multitude. You get in an
arena and they just are all, oh, it's deafening, isn't it? When God speaks, He speaks to
the heart, and He takes you aside all by yourself. And it really
is a still, small voice, but it's so loud that it drowns out
all other sounds, so that all I can hear now is the voice of
God. I don't know if God's spoken
to me. My comeliness was turned in me into corruption. I Daniel alone saw the vision,
for the men that were with me saw not the vision, but a great
quaking fell upon them, so they fled to hide themselves." Now
there's how you know if God's spoken to you. You remember when
God spoke to Saul of Tarsus and the men that were with him, they
heard the voice but they saw no man is what the scripture
says. And they were afraid. And you remember when Elisha
saw the flaming chariots surrounding the army of Assyria and said
to his servant, don't worry, those that are with us are more
than they were with them. And then Elisha said, Lord, open
his eyes that he might see. You see, when you hear the voice
of a man or when you hear the voice of the law, you do like
these men did. You run from God. You do like
our father Adam did. You hide yourself from God. But when you hear the voice of
God, and you see that one who's dressed in linen, you see that
one whose loins are of fine gold, you see that one whose arms and
feet are burnished in the fire, you see that one whose eyes are
as flames of fire, you run to him. And you say, Lord, my comeliness
has turned in me into corruption. I'm completely dependent upon
you. That's how you know. If you've heard God speak. Has he spoken? Has he spoken
to you? If he has. You just rejoice. And you want to and you want
to give testimony of that, don't you? When God speaks for the
first time, you want everybody in the world to know, I've heard
from God and He's spoken to my heart and He's told me that that
certain man did everything that I needed in order to stand in
the presence of God. You testify of that, don't you? That's why the scripture speaks
of believing and being baptized. That's how we know we've heard
from God. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful
for this revelation of Christ. And Lord, we pray that you would
do for us what you've done for Daniel. Place your hand upon
us and show us, Lord, of your glory and of our own corruption. We
ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Number 225, let's stand
together. I heard the voice of Jesus say,
come unto me and rest. Lay down, thou weary one, lay
down thy head upon my breast. I came to Jesus as I was, weary
and worn and sad. I found in Him a resting place,
and He has made me glad. I heard the voice of Jesus say,
behold, I freely give. The living water, thirsty one,
stoop down and drink and live. I came to Jesus and I drank of
that life-giving stream. My thirst was quenched, my soul
revived, and now I live in Him. I heard the voice of Jesus say,
I am this dark world's light. Look unto me, thy morn shall
rise, and all the day be bright. I looked to Jesus and I found
in Him my star, my sun. And in that life of life I'll
walk till traveling days are done. th th