have all my hope in your word,
your written word and your living word. And we don't separate the
two, do we? All right, let's stand together. Brother Tom's gonna come lead
us in number 44 in the spiral hymn book, number 44. Precious Savior, friend of sinners,
we as such to Thee draw near. Let Thy Spirit dwell within us
with that love that casts out fear. Matchless Savior, let us
know Thee, as the Lord our righteousness. Cause our hearts to cleave unto
Thee, come and with Thy presence bless. Open now thy precious
treasure, let thy word here freely flow. Give to us a gracious measure,
tis thyself we long to know. Come and claim us as thy portion. Let us find our rest in thee. Leave us not to empty notions. We would find our hope in thee. Please be seated. For a call to worship, would
you turn to Proverbs 15. Proverbs 15. As I told Brother Greg in the
break, there is only one way in understanding indeed the Proverbs
is to see the Lord Jesus Christ first and preeminent. That's
the only way. There's no other way. We're just
going to read the first 15 verses. A soft or a gentle answer turneth
away wrath. but grievous words stir up anger. The tongue of the wise, you the
knowledge are right, but the mouth of fools pours out foolishness. The eyes of the Lord are in every
place, beholding the evil and the good. My prayer for me and
for you is that when the Lord does behold, there's only one
good place to be found. That's in the Lord Jesus Christ,
most especially in that day. A wholesome tongue is a tree
of life, but perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit. A
fool despises his father's instruction, but he that regardeth reproof
is prudent. In the house of the righteous
is much treasure. That is why the Lord has gathered
us this morning. This is the house of righteousness.
Treasures and earthen vessels. But in the revenues of the wicked
is trouble. The lips of the wise disperse
knowledge, but the heart of the foolish doeth not so. The sacrifice of the wicked is
an abomination of the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is
his delight. In all the scripture, nothing
gets God's eye more than somebody putting their hand to that sacrifice.
And we all done it, didn't we? Walking down that aisle, praying
that prayer. But the prayer of the upright is his delight. The
Lord Jesus Christ, the righteous one, whoever liveth to intercede
for us, that's where his delight is. The way of the wicked is
an abomination unto the Lord. But he loveth him that followeth
after righteousness. Correction is grievous unto him
that forsaketh the way, and he that hateth reproof shall die. Verse 11. Hell and destruction
are before the Lord. How much more then the hearts
of the children of men? The Lord is pleased, brethren,
to gather us like he is this morning. The gospel, this ain't
church attendance. This is about life and death.
Prayers for me to be saved, for you to be saved, my children,
my children's children to be saved. A scorner loveth not one
that reproveth him, neither will he go unto the wise. A merry heart maketh a cheerful
countenance, but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.
The heart of him that hath understanding seeketh knowledge, but the mouth
of fools feedeth on foolishness. And verse 15, all the days that
he afflicted are evil, but he that is of a merry heart hath
a continual feast. And the one that does that heart,
it is Christ, the way of escape through the trial. And that's
the difference. Let's pray. Lord, we come to you again this
morning by the precious shed blood and righteousness of thy
dear son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, we dare not come into thy
presence other than through him. Lord, thanking you again this
morning that how it pleased you to draw us to thyself here to
where we would hear your word and the truth of your word and
the promises of your word and the power of your word. So we're
dependent upon your Holy Spirit now, Lord, to enable us to do
so this morning. We desire to worship you. We
desire to lift up the one who is worthy of everything. We ask, Lord, that you would
look to him now as you deal with us Bless our hearts, speak peace
again. Lord, remind us again how it
is that you love us and that we are your children. Forgive
us, Lord, of our unbelief, our sins, and everything that would
distract us now this morning. And oh, how we pray you will
bless the message you've given our brother now, that we would
see Jesus, Lord, lifted, exalted, and pray by that you would draw
your people to yourself. For we ask it in the name of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Let's all stand together. We'll
sing the hymn that's on the back of your bulletin. O Thou who in Jordan didst bow
Thy meek head, And whelmed in our sorrow, didst sink to the
dead, Then rose from the darkness to glory above, And claimed for
Thy chosen ? The kingdom of love ? Thy footsteps we follow ? To
bow in the tide ? And are buried with thee ? In the death thou
hast died Then wake in thy likeness to walk in the way That brightens
and brightens to shadowless day O Jesus, our Savior, O Jesus,
our Lord, by the life of Thy passion, the grace of Thy Word,
accept us, redeem us, dwell ever within, to keep by Thy Spirit
our spirit ? Spirits from sin ? ? Till crowned with thy glory
? ? And waving the palm ? ? Our garments all white ? ? From the
blood of the lamb ? ? We join the bright millions of saints
gone before ? to bless thee and wonder and praise evermore. Please be seated. We have special
music today by our visitors from Crossville, Houston, and Seth. Guide me and keep me Show me
Thy way Keep me coming This I pray ? Be my hope ? My strength, my
stay ? Guide me and keep me ? Lord, show me thy way ? There's only
one way ? Lord, only through you ? I had no hope Nothing I
could do. But it was me, Lord, that you
foreknew. Guide me and keep me, Lord, show
me thy way. on my shoulders a heavy lord
the price to lift him you could afford you let it die just as
you foretold guide me and keep me lord show me By Your Word,
guide me through I don't need to hear anything new Be my comfort,
show only You Guide me and keep me, Lord show me Thy way. I still say they look like Florida
boys to me. What do y'all think? Thank you guys. That was a blessing.
Will you open your Bibles with me to Daniel chapter 2. Daniel
chapter 2. I've titled this message, The
Kings Matter. the king's matter. What is the
king's matter? Not King Nebuchadnezzar, who's
made reference to here in Daniel 2, but the king of all kings
and the Lord of all lords. I want to know what his matter
is. What's he about? What's his concern? What is he
doing? What is he doing? And I have
four points from this chapter in Daniel to answer that question.
The King's matter, first and foremost, is all about his kingdom
and its subjects. Now, that's the King's matter.
It's all about his kingdom and the subjects of that kingdom,
which is his church. The second point is that in the
King's matter, it would be to expose the lies of false prophets. You can't have the truth without
exposing the lie. And that certainly is done here
in this text. Thirdly, in the king's matter,
he possesses all wisdom and all power. He possesses all wisdom and all
power. If you or I had the power of
God, we would be tempted to change pretty much everything, wouldn't
we? We would. We'd probably tweak most everything,
wouldn't we? If we had the wisdom of God,
we'd change nothing. Our God possesses all wisdom
and all power. He's in control of all things. And fourthly, the kings matter. is to give understanding to his
people to give understanding to his people so let's see if
we can we can see those in this text one at a time notice with
me in verse 40 well I tell you what let's let's go to verse
23 first I thank Thee and praise Thee, O Thou God of my father,
who has given me wisdom and might, and has made known unto me now
what we desire of Thee, for Thou hast now made known unto us the
King's matter. That's my prayer this morning,
is that the Lord will make known unto us the King's matter. And one thing that's clear in
this prophecy, and we're not going to read the whole chapter,
it's pretty long, but you remember that King Nebuchadnezzar, king
of Babylon, had a dream. And when he woke up, it was like
often the dreams that we all have. He knew that it was significant
and he was troubled by it, but he couldn't remember the details
of it. And so he went to his sorcerers and to the Chaldeans
and to all the prophets of Babylon and said to them, you need to
tell me what my dream was and you need to tell me what the
interpretation of my dream is. And the sorcerer said to him,
no man on earth can do that. Only the gods can do that. And
the gods do not reside with flesh. Well, they didn't know the one
true God, did they? For our God does reside with
flesh. He resided in the flesh that
was in the likeness of sinful men, yet was holy and undefiled
and without sin when Christ was made flesh and dwelt among us. Our God dwells with flesh. And even to this day, our God
resides in the hearts of his people and reveals to them the
secrets of the king's matter. So the false prophets were unable
to interpret this dream or even tell the king what the dream
was, and so the king, with all power, issued a decree that all
the prophets of Babylon would be put to death, every one of
them. Well, Daniel and Michiel, they
were prophets in Babylon as well, as we saw from chapter one last
Sunday. And the children of Israel were
to be put to death with the false prophets. And Daniel said, let
me go to God and ask the Lord to reveal to me the secret of
the dream and I'll tell the king." And sure enough, the Lord revealed
to Daniel what the dream was and Daniel went to the king and
told him the dream and told him the interpretation of the dream.
And he concludes with this verse in chapter 2 of Daniel, verse
45. The last phrase in verse 45, the dream is certain and the interpretation
thereof sure. Now if the Lord has convinced
us that his word is true then we'll not call into question
the interpretation of this dream. I want to begin by making this
point. The King's matter is all about
his kingdom and the subjects of his kingdom. For those who entertain the conspiracy
theory of a one world government, I want you to know from the authority
of God's word that that is never ever going to happen. It's never
going to happen. Do you remember the dream? Nebuchadnezzar
envisioned this great figure, and the figure had a head of
gold, and it had arms of silver, and it had a belly of brass,
and it had legs of iron, and the feet were mingled with clay
and iron. And then a stone was cut out
of the mountain without the hands of men, and the stone came and
crushed the entire figure, and the stone grew into a great everlasting
kingdom. Now we know who that stone was.
The stone that was cut out of the mountain without the hands
of men was the rock of ages. That was the rock on which we
hope for all of our salvation. It was the Lord Jesus Christ
himself. The kingdom of God crushed all the other kingdoms. And then
the Lord, and then Daniel interprets those different parts of the
figure. And he says, oh, King Nebuchadnezzar,
you are the head of gold. You rule the world, but it's not gonna be for long.
The Medes and the Persians are gonna come in, and they're both
spoken of in the book of Daniel, and they're gonna overthrow the
Babylonians, and those are the arms of silver. And then after
that, Alexander the Great and the Greek empire will overthrow
the Medes and the Persians. We know these things happen just
like they were prophesied they would happen. And the whole purpose
of this, the whole purpose of each one of these kingdoms was
for the protection of the kingdom of God and for the subjects of
that kingdom. What was the purpose of Nebuchadnezzar?
What was the purpose of the Babylonian empire? To take the children
of Israel into captivity, to show us, as we saw last week,
the lot that the Lord has ordained for us in this world, living
among the Babylonians. What was the purpose of the Medes
and the Persians? Well, they were the ones under Darius and
Cyrus that released the children of Israel to go back to Jerusalem. What was the purpose of the Greek
Empire? It was to spread the Greek language
all over the world and to provide a language that the New Testament
could be written in that would reveal the gospel of God's free
grace to His people. And then what happened after
the Greek Empire fell? The Romans took over, didn't
they? And the Roman Empire divided between Constantinople and Rome
representing the two iron legs of this great figure. And then
what happened to the Roman Empire? The Roman Empire's purpose was
to provide transportation for the gospel to be carried throughout
all the world and for the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ. God
raised up, God raises up kings and puts down kings and raises
up nations and puts down nations all for the purpose of establishing
His kingdom and for saving his people. It's all about the church. It's all about Christ and his
people. What happened to the Roman Empire?
Well, it morphed into the Roman Holy Empire, didn't it? The Holy
Roman Empire. And that is mingled today in
every nation. In every nation. And so the feet are mixed with
clay and iron, the scripture says, and the two shall not mix,
some strong and some weak. And what do we have today? We
have strong nations and weak nations all over the world, don't
we? And there will be rumors of wars and wars until the end
of time when that rock comes and crushes all the nations and
establishes that eternal kingdom of God. The king's matter is
all about his kingdom. It's all about his kingdom and
about the subjects of that kingdom. The purpose for this world, the
purpose for nations is the salvation of God's people. It's the only
purpose. Let me show you that. Turn with
me to Isaiah chapter 40. Isaiah chapter 40. Look at verse 15 of Isaiah chapter
40. Behold, the nations are as a
drop of a bucket and are counted as the small dust of the balance. Behold, He taketh up the aisles
as a very little thing And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor
the beast thereof sufficient for a burnt offering." Now that's
what God says about the nations. They are as a drop in the bucket
to me. They are as a speck of dust on
the balance scale to me. They're of no eternal significance
whatsoever to me. It's all about my kingdom. It's
all about that rock that was cut out without the hands of
man. And one day, one day, all these kingdoms of the world.
You see, there's never been all those four kingdoms that I mentioned,
the Babylonians, the Medes, and the Persians, the Greeks, and
the Romans. Those are the only kingdoms that have had a worldwide
reign. in the history of mankind. And
when the Roman Empire fell, we, you and I, have been living the
last 1700 years in the feet mingled with clay and iron. There's never going to be another
worldwide kingdom. Men have tried. Men have tried, haven't they?
You see, The Lord accomplished his purpose through those four
kingdoms. And now he's finished with worldwide
kingdoms. And now the whole earth is mingled
with iron and clay, some weak and some strong. And one day,
the kingdom of God will be made manifest to all men. 1 day every knee shall bow and
every tongue shall confess that Jesus is the Christ. He's Lord
to the glory of God the Father. It's all about His kingdom. Not
unto us, Psalm 115 verse 1, not unto us O Lord, it's not about
us. It's not about this world, it's about His church. It's about
His church, isn't it? It's about Christ and the salvation
of His people. When everything is said and done,
it's the only thing that's going to matter. That's the King's matter. Who's made you to differ? Look at verse 30 in our text. But as for me, this secret is
not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any other
living. God didn't reveal this secret
to me. The world doesn't know that it's
about Christ and His church. The world thinks it's about power,
nations, or poverty, or finances, or they don't know. They don't know. And Daniel said,
God didn't reveal this to me because I'm special. He revealed
it to me in order for me to be able to tell you, King, what
the truth is. This is the King's matter. The
King's matter, the long and the short of it, is his kingdom and
the subjects of his kingdom, the salvation of his people.
Everything else is of no eternal consequence. None. Secondly, look at verse 2 in
our text. Then the king commanded to call
the magicians, the astrologers, the sorcerer, and the Chaldeans,
and to show the king his dreams. So they came and stood before
the king. And the king said unto them, I have dreamed a dream,
and my spirit was troubled to know my dream. Then spake the
Chaldeans to the king in Syriac, O king, live forever. Tell thy
servants the dreams, and we will show the interpretation. And
the king answered and said to the Chaldeans, the thing is gone
from me. If you will not make known unto me the dream with
the interpretation thereof, you shall be cut in pieces, and with
the houses you shall be made a dunghill. But if you show me
the dream and the interpretation thereof, you shall receive of
me gifts and rewards and great honor. Therefore, show me the
dream and the interpretation thereof." And they answered again
and said, let the king tell the servants the dream, and we will
show the interpretation thereof. And the king answered and said,
I know of certainty that you would gain the time because you
see the thing is gone from me. You're just buying yourself time.
The king knew they were all a bunch of liars. The king knew that
if he told them the dream, they'd make up some interpretation of
the dream. In the king's matter, in the
king's matter, there's a lot of lies being told, a lot of
them. Turn to me to Jeremiah chapter
14. The false prophets don't know anything
about the king's matter. They don't know that the king,
everything the king does is because of Christ and for Christ. They
don't know that. Look at Jeremiah chapter 14 at
verse 14. And the Lord said unto me, the
prophets prophesy lies in my names. I sent them not, neither
have I commanded them, neither spake I unto them. They prophesy
unto you a false vision and divination and a thing of naught and the
deceit of their heart. Try the spirits to see whether
they be of God. See if they speak the truth according
to the word of God. See if they talk about the Lord
Jesus Christ. See if they send you back to
law in order to earn favor with God. Or see whether they tell
you the truth. about the Lord Jesus Christ who
he is, who he is. He's the Christ, he's the anointed
one, he's the one came in the full power of the Spirit of God
in order to accomplish the purpose for which God sent him. What
purpose did God send him? You shall call his name Jesus
for he shall save his people from their sins. That's what
he came to do and he did exactly that. and when he bowed his mighty
head on Calvary's cross and cried, it is finished. Everything that
God requires of you and me was accomplished by Christ. Now that's
the truth. The Lord Jesus Christ said of
himself, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man can come
to the Father but by me. He's all our righteousness before
God. And the only hope of having our sins put away is to have
them covered by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We can't
do anything about that. Oh, but he did. He did. They prophesy lies, don't they? The Lord said they would. They
lie on God. They tell you, God loves everybody. They tell you God wants to save
everybody. They tell you God's done everything He can do and
now His hands are tied. And He's in the heavens wringing
His hands and begging and hoping and pleading that men will let
Him have His way in their life. They lie on God. That is not
God. That's a figment of men's imagination
and those are soothsayers and Chaldeans and false prophets
that say such things and they all deserve to die. And unless
God has mercy upon them, they will. Turn with me to 1 Timothy chapter
four, please. 1 Timothy chapter four. The Lord has sent men a strong
delusion that they should believe a lie, God has sent liars into
the world. Yes, the Lord said it is necessary
for you that there be heresies among you in order that those
which are approved of God might be made manifest. You see, there's
no discerning the truth without the error. And so the Lord has
sent... The King's matter is to discern
the truth. The King's matter is to show
by these false prophets the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at 1 Timothy chapter four
at verse one. Now the Spirit speaketh expressly. There's no controversy about
it. This is the Spirit of God who's speaking to you and to
me that in the latter times, when the Bible speaks of the
latter times, it's speaking of all that period of time between
the first and second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, the feet
mingled with iron and clay. We've been in the latter times
for 2,000 years and here they are. And in the latter times,
the Lord says, Some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to
seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy,
having their conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to
marry, telling you what you can eat and what you can't eat, touch
not, taste not, handle not. If you want to have favor with
God, you've got to keep these rules and regulations, obey these
laws. And men believe it. Men believe
it. They love having works. A works gospel is the pleasure
of the unbeliever. He rejoices in his works. He
takes comfort in his works. Isaiah chapter 63 verse 8 says,
Surely they are my people, children that will not lie. They won't
believe the lie. This is the king's matter. The
king has sent false prophets and he sent his prophets. And
those who have no interest in the king's matter can't tell
the difference. They can't tell the difference. Jeremiah chapter 33 verse 12,
I will send them shepherds which shall cause the sheep to lie
down. How do I know if a man is speaking
for God? Oh, his words give comfort to
my heart. The truth of what he's saying
causes me to lie down in green pastures I now have a shepherd
that I shall not be in want for anything. He provides all my
righteousness. He provides all my sustenance.
Everything I need I find in that one that he's talking about.
1918-1919, there was a a flu pandemic in the world. It's called the Spanish flu. More people died than died in
all of World War I and World War II put together. And we were in the midst of a
war at the time. We were in World War I. And Woodrow
Wilson, our president, didn't want people to be distracted
from the war efforts. And so he did everything he could
to try to cover up the problem of this pandemic in the world.
And by covering up, we actually made it worse. And one of his
advisors said this, truth and falsehood are arbitrary terms. The force of an idea lies in
its inspirational value. It matters not whether it's true
or false. Truth and falsehood are arbitrary
terms. The force of an idea lies in
how it makes me feel. Does that not describe religion
today? The force of a message is all
about how it makes me feel. It's not whether it's true or
false. It's not whether it's consistent
with the revealed truth of God's word. It's all about how it makes
me feel. The relevance of truth or falsehood
matter not. Show us the dream and we'll show
you the interpretation. No. If you're a true prophet, you're
going to tell me everything. Leave nothing out. You know what
Paul said to the elders in Ephesus in Acts chapter 20? He said,
your blood is not on my hands. I gave you the full counsel of
God. I told you the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the
truth. So help me God. The soothsayers, the Chaldeans,
they're all a bunch of liars. This isn't a matter of emphasis.
This isn't a matter of, well, you know, they've got some truths.
No, they don't. If they speak not according to
the law and the testimony, it is because there is no light
in them. See, you either have the light
of the gospel or you don't. there's no in-between there's
no it's not a matter of degrees it's not a matter of the emphasis whether not the Kings matter
the Kings matter Christ is the Kings matter and his church a lot of false prophets gone into
the world thirdly I want you to see that
the Kings matter not only has to do with his kingdom and its
subjects, Christ and his church, and that the king has sent false
prophets into the world who are not able to tell you the truth
in order to show the difference between that which is true and
that which is a lie. The king's matter is full of
wisdom and full of power. Look at verse 20. Daniel chapter
two. Blessed, well it begins with
Daniel answered and said, blessed be the name of God forever and
ever for wisdom and might are his. He's all wise and he's all powerful. The wisdom of God to save sinners
without compromising his justice and the power of God to accomplish
it. Oh, the wisdom of God to choose
according to his own will and purpose before time ever began
of people and place them in Christ and love them with an everlasting
love and the power to do it. What do people say? Well, that's
not fair. That's not fair. Isn't God obligated to give everybody
a chance? No, God's of all power and all
wisdom and whatever He wills to do is right. And whatever
He deems to be wise, He's got the power to execute it. And
so he executed the covenant of grace. That's what David was
talking about when David said, although my house be not so with
God, yet here's my hope. He has made with me an everlasting
covenant. And that covenant is ordered
in all things. And it's sure, this is all my
salvation and all my desire, though he make it not to grow. God is God. He was wise enough. Well, he possesses all wisdom,
doesn't he? Infinitely wise and infinitely
powerful to carry out his purpose, not only in election, but in
redemption. to provide a sinner substitute,
one who in and of himself is without sin, pure and perfect
and harmless and holy and undefiled and separate from sinners. And
then to impute to them, to charge to him, to place in his body
upon that tree all of the sins of all of God's elect and exercise
his divine justice in order to satisfy his holiness by putting
his own son to death. Oh, what infinite wisdom and
what infinite power. This is the king's business.
The king's business is his wisdom. The king's business is his power.
And then to send his spirit, to send his spirit to make those
whom he chose and those for whom Christ died to make them willing
in the day of his power to open the eyes of their understanding
and cause them to believe to make them to have faith oh what
power what wisdom they never would have come had he not done
that and then to keep them from falling to to to ordain all the
providential circumstances of their lives in order to keep
them looking to Christ? And to bring them faultless before
the throne of God? What wisdom? What power? This is the King's matter? To take them unto Himself. A
place for which he has prepared for us. You believe in God, believe
also in me. For in my Father's house are
many mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go, I go and prepare a place for you. And if I go
and prepare a place, I will come again and receive you unto myself.
That where I am there you may be also. Everything necessary
for the preparation of sinners in glory. was accomplished when
the Lord Jesus Christ sat back down on his rightful throne. And he ever lives, the scripture
says, he is alive now making intercession for us. It's all
about Christ and his church. Nebuchadnezzar, drop in the bucket, The Medes and the Persians, I
used them to get the children of Israel back to Israel. But
as soon as I was finished with them, they're finished. They're
finished. The Greeks, oh, their kingdom
was very short. Was Alexander 31 years old when
he died in battle? Very short. But I used them for
the purpose of my people. The Romans, yeah, I raised them
up. And now clay mingled with iron
until the rock cut without a hand smashes. The scripture says that
like the chaff of the wind, it shall all be blown away. And
my kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. And I've sent false
prophets into the world, and many will be deceived by them.
My people, my people will hear the truth about the king's matter.
They'll hear the truth about my wisdom and about my power. Look at verse 21 in our text.
And he chargeth, I'm sorry, he changes the times and the seasons.
He removed the kings and set up kings. He giveth wisdom to
the wise and knowledge to them that know understanding. Our God raises up nations, our
God raises up all for his own purpose. It's all about Christ and the salvation of his people. And finally, it is the King's
matter to give understanding to his people. This is the king's
matter. Has he enabled you to understand,
to believe? Believers understand more about the gospel and about
the lord jesus christ then they understand about themselves truth is you don't understand
yourself very well do you how many times we think and say
and do things that we thought we don't understand our circumstances
we don't understand our motives I learned a long time ago not
to look too closely at my motives because they're always mixed.
We just don't have a very good understanding of ourselves, do
we? Oh, let the world talk about knowing themselves. Let the world
talk about self-esteem. I want to know Him. And I want
to esteem Christ. And one thing I know about Him
is that He changes not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed." I know more about Him than I know about myself.
I know He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. I know that
He's God. I know that He's all-powerful
and all-wise, that He's established His kingdom, that He's in control
of all the circumstances of my little puny life as well as the
circumstances of nations. I know that he can only do that,
which is right. And I know that everything he does is good. Good. And I know that in the end it's
all going to be about his glory. We know more about him than we
know about ourselves, don't we? And we know ourselves better
than we know anything else, don't we? We do. You know yourself. All this I
said about not knowing yourself. Well, you know yourself better
than you know anybody else, don't you? But oh, how much better we know
him. The king gives understanding. The king's matter is to give
wisdom and understanding. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter
1. I don't know what I'm going to
do. I don't know what I'm going to feel tomorrow. I don't know
what I'm going to think. But I know what he's going to
do. And I know what he's done. And I know how he's going to
feel. And I know what he's going to think. He's going to have
nothing in his heart but compassion for his children. He's going to have nothing in
his heart but pride for his son. And every thought that he's going
to have for us is going to be thought for peace and not for
evil. You see, we know what he's going to think. We know what
he's thinking. We know more about him than we
know about ourselves. That's understanding. Let's understand,
the child of God's got more understanding of God than they've got of anything
or anybody else, including themselves. Ephesians chapter one. Where'd
we get this understanding? The Lord gave it to us. He taught us, didn't he? He teaches
us by his word. You see, we believe everything
he says about himself. And he never changes. He's not
like us. Ephesians chapter 1, in whom
we have redemption. I believe that. The only way
that we can be redeemed, the only way that we can be purchased
is not by my works of righteousness but by the shed blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ in whom we have redemption through the blood.
The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished its purpose when
it was shed on Calvary's cross. Matter of fact, it accomplished
its purpose when it was shed in the covenant of grace where
he's called the lamb that was slain before the foundation of
the world. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ is effectual. in whom we have redemption through
His blood. The forgiveness of sins according
to the riches of His grace. The forgiveness of sin is not
based on how sorry I am for my sin. The forgiveness of sin is
not based on how hard I try not to sin. Instead, it's not based
on anything I do. The forgiveness of sin is based
on the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. You can't do anything to earn
it. And you can't do anything to lose it. Now, some will hear someone talk
like that and will say, well, just live like hell. That's the conclusion you came
to and you haven't heard from him. wherein he hath abounded toward
us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the
mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he
had purposed in himself. Has he made known unto you the
mystery of his will? It's the king's matter. That's
what Daniel said. Lord, I praise thee for thou
hast made known unto me the mystery of the king's matter. We have an understanding. Yes, we grow in grace, more and more dependent upon
God's grace than ever before, and the more we grow in grace,
the more we'll need Him. And in the knowledge of the Lord
Jesus Christ, I have not yet apprehended, Paul said, that
which has apprehended me, but there's one thing I do, forgetting
those things which are behind, I press towards the mark for
the prize of the high goal that I might know Him, know Him. I want to know Him better. I
know Him right now better than I know anybody else, including
myself. Look at verse 15 in that same
chapter. Wherefore, I also after I heard
of your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and love unto all the
saints. There's the evidence of faith. Believing on the Lord Jesus Christ
and loving God's people. Oh, we do. We do. Cease not to give thanks for
you, making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our
Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the
spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, that
the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may
know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of
the glory of his inheritance in the saints. Has he opened
the eyes of your understanding? Oh, what we understand of him
is but... What word can I use? It's such a small part. We're going to be knowing him
better and better for all eternity, aren't we? But that doesn't change the fact
that what we do know about him right now, we know more about
him than we know about ourselves. The dream is certain and the
interpretation thereof sure. The only kingdom that matters
is his kingdom. The only truth that matters is that which is revealed in
His Word, not by the false prophets, but by those prophets sent of
God to declare the truth about Christ. The King's matter is all about
His wisdom and His power, and the King's matter is to give
understanding to his people. Might God be pleased to exercise his matter in each
of our hearts. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father,
we're thankful for your mercy, your grace, your power, your
wisdom. Oh Lord, how we pray that your spirit now would Do the King's business. Do your business in our hearts.
We ask it in Christ's name. Number 186, let's stand together
number 186. The Church's one foundation is
Jesus Christ, her Lord. She is His new creation by water
and the Word. From heaven he came and sought
her to be his holy bride. With his own blood he bought
her, and for her life he died. Elect from every nation, yet
one o'er all the earth, Her charter of salvation One Lord, one faith,
one birth One holy name she blesses Partakes one holy food And to
one hope she presses With every grace endued Mid toil and tribulation
and tumult of her war, she waits the consummation of peace forevermore. Till with a vision glorious,
her longing eyes are blessed, ? And the great church victorious
? Shall be the church at rest ? Yet she on earth hath union
? With God the three in one ? And mystic sweet communion ? With
those whose rest is won O happy ones and holy, Lord, give us
grace that we, like them, the meek and lowly, on high may dwell
with Thee.