Go with me now to Daniel chapter
2. Daniel 2, page 1105 in my Bible. I love it when the Lord allows
me to be consumed with a portion of scripture. I get excited about
it. I can't wait to get back into
it. You know, we have these moments
where the Lord, for me anyway, it feels like just especially
blesses a portion of scripture. That's what the Lord has done
for me, at least up to this point with the book of Daniel. And,
um, like I mentioned to you this morning, I had it in my mind
that we would go through this on Wednesday nights. That's,
um, you know, if we went through it, if we were going to go through
it, I just thought that would be our Wednesday night message,
but I just could not be in it today. And I pray that the Lord will
let us. continue with this. I pray the
Lord will let us go all the way through this book. And the book
of Daniel has some wonderful stories and pictures in the first
part of it. And then the last half of it
is, or the last portion of it is prophecy that I don't understand.
So what I sincerely want to do is ask you to be, if you would
like to go through this, be praying about it with me. and ask the
Lord to reveal Christ to us in this. I've reached a point in my ministry
where I'm okay with telling you I have no idea what that stuff
is saying. At first, you gotta pretend like you know it all.
I know what I'm talking about. I don't. If God doesn't reveal
it to me, I have no idea what this is about. But I would love
to go through this and I sincerely do want to ask you, let's be
praying about this. Daniel and these men asked the
Lord to reveal the secrets. Christ is in every word of this.
Let's ask the Lord to reveal this to us and let us go through
this book. One more thing I want to say
about this is I also had it in my mind that we would look at
a full chapter for each message. Chapter one, two Wednesday nights
ago, we looked at the whole chapter and that's what I thought, well,
that's what we'll do. We'll do a whole chapter each time. Tonight
will be our fourth message from chapter two. And because of that,
I now realize that Some of the times we will look at messages
that continue the storyline. And some of the times we will
look at a gospel message out of the storyline. And that's
going to be the case tonight. As I was reading, I saw one line. And I just couldn't get past
that line. And it's not gonna extend the
storyline tonight, but this blessed my heart so much. I just could
not stop thinking about this. And I didn't wanna just mention
it in passing this morning. I wanted to spend a little time
with it. So we're gonna look at it tonight. And it's a very
short line. It's a very simple phrase. but it is the glory of the gospel. If a person could get a hold
of this line, a person would get a hold of the glory of the
gospel. I'll go ahead and tell you what
I've titled the message, and then you'll see why with this
line. I have titled the message, The
Gospel According to Ariok. And here's the reason why. The
line is found in verse 25. Then Ariok brought in Daniel
before the king in haste and said thus unto him, I have found
a man. I have found a man. He ran in
with haste. Ariok was the one who, well,
let me just preach the message. You'll find out all that. I found a man. That's the gospel.
I found a man. That is the message. That's our
message. Sing it over and over again.
Tell it over and over again. There is a man. I found a man." Now, I have recapped
the story enough for you to know what's going on. You know what's
going on, all right? But let me just say this. Nebuchadnezzar
couldn't get any answers to his dream or the interpretation of
it. He had a dream. It troubled him. It disturbed him. He forgot what
the dream was, and he wanted his wise men to tell him what
the dream was, tell him the interpretation. They couldn't do it, so he commanded,
kill them all. Verse 10. Daniel 2, verse 10. The Chaldeans answered before
the king and said, there is not a man upon the earth that can
show the king's matter. What they are saying in that
moment is, your demands are too strict. Your demands are too
strict. With man, what you are requiring
of us is impossible. This is impossible. Who could
possibly fulfill this? The Chaldeans answered before
the king and said, there's not a man upon the earth that can
show the king's matter. Therefore, there is no king,
Lord, nor ruler that asked such things of any magician or astrologer
or Chaldean. What they're saying is this is
not fair. No ruler would do this. No ruler would require this.
This is not fair. That's exactly what man says
about God who demands perfection. Do you know what God demands
in order for us to enter into heaven? You know how good we
have to be? Everybody's like, well, you know,
you better do good if you want to go to heaven. You know how
good you have to be? You have to be as good as God himself. If we are not as good as God
himself, you can't come in. Man hears about God's demand
of perfection and the fact that he actually punishes sin against
that perfection. And man says, wait a minute,
that's not fair. Isn't that a common response? That's not fair. Wait a minute,
wait a minute. In Adam all die. That's not fair. You're telling me one strike
and you're out? Is that what the law says? I could turn to place after place
after place and says, if you don't obey every jot and tittle,
you've broken the whole law. You're telling me one strike
and that's it? You're out of heaven? One sin
and boom, I'm a sinner against God. That's not fair. That's
not fair. Wait, what do you mean I was
conceived in sin, in my mother's womb? Before I was ever even
born, I was made to be a sinner. And because of that, I'm worthy
of an eternal condemnation in hell. That's not fair. Verse 10, the Chaldeans answered
before the king and said, there is not a man upon the earth that
can show the king's matter. Therefore, there is no king,
lord, nor ruler that asks such things at any magician or astrologer
or Chaldean. And it is a rare thing that the
king requireth, and there is none other that can show it before
the king except the gods whose dwelling is not with flesh. You
know, many people hear the strict demands of God's holy law and
they say, I don't like that. I'm not bowing to that. No way. I'm not believing that. I'm not
bowing to that. Well, that is irrelevant. That's
irrelevant. There is one God in heaven and
he is a sovereign God and whatever he says is done. Whatever he says is done. And
this is how I want to see Nebuchadnezzar tonight. You know, we saw him
in chapter one as the center that he is. And we see the Lord
dealing with him here in chapter two and as a child of God. But tonight, I want to see him
as a picture of the sovereign king that the Lord made him to
be and allowed him to be. Daniel said, we read it this
morning. Daniel said to him, the Lord has made you to be a
king of kings. He has given you an earthly power
and strength and glory. And whatever Nebuchadnezzar said,
that's what happened. Whatever he said, that's what
happened. And that's how it is with our God. This is how God
is. We don't vote on things with
God. Whatever he says, that's how
it is. Man can try to kick against it.
Man can try to butt against it. Man can try to reason with God. He can try to ignore God all
he wants to. But the demands of God are going
to stand. They're going to stand and his
judgment and his punishment on sin against his demands will
stand. So Nebuchadnezzar gave his demand
and his subject said, that's not fair. Verse 12. For this
cause the king was angry and very furious and commanded to
destroy all the wise men of Babylon. Do you know that the scripture
says God is angry with the wicked every day? Angry. How many scriptures say the anger
of the Lord was kindled? And it's all because of that
right there. Sin against his word. Transgression against the
holy law of his word. The scripture says he hates all
workers of iniquity. It says he will by no means clear
the guilty, not by any means. The scripture says he has a lake
of fire. It says he has a lake of fire
reserved for sinners against him. Period. So verse 10, the Chaldeans answered
before the king and said, there's not a man upon the earth that
can show the king's matter. Therefore, there's no king, lord,
nor ruler that asks such things that any magician or astrologer
or Chaldean. And it is a rare thing that the
king requires. And there is none other that
can show it before the king except the gods whose dwelling is not
with flesh. For this cause, the king was
angry and very furious and commanded to destroy all the wise men of
Babylon. And the decree went forth that
the wise men should be slain, and they sought Daniel and his
fellows to be slain. Then Daniel answered with counsel
and wisdom, to Ariok the captain of the king's guard, which was
gone forth to slay the wise man of Babylon. Now I have a center
reference in my Bible and I have a little number three next to
captain. And it says that Ariok was the
chief marshal. Do you know what a marshal is?
You ever heard of a U.S. marshal? He or she is the law. The one who carries out the law. Nebuchadnezzar is the one that
gave the commandment. And Ariok is the one that enforced
the commandment. The commandment was given. Commandment
was enforced. My center reference goes on to
say he was the chief of the executioners or slaughter men. That's what he was. That was
his job. The throne of Nebuchadnezzar gave the command, destroy them
all. Therefore the law of Arioch set
out to condemn and fulfill the punishment that was owed. Verse
13, the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain
and they sought Daniel and his fellows. Then Daniel answered
with counsel and wisdom to Ariok, the captain of the king's guard,
which was gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon. He answered
and said unto Ariok, the king's captain, why is the decree so
hasty from the king? Then Ariok made the thing known
to Daniel." Now, Daniel is a picture of Christ. And Daniel went and had a conversation
with Ariok. about this decreed condemnation
that had come from the throne. Daniel asked, why this condemnation? Why this condemnation? And Ariok
told Daniel why. He said, it's because the sovereign
throne gave these demands and they couldn't fulfill them. That's
the reason why. Verse 16, then Daniel went in
and desired of the king that he would give him time and that
he would show the king the interpretation. Daniel went before the throne
and said, lay this work on me. That's what
he did. The command went forth, slay
them all. Daniel went in and he said, lay this work on me.
Verse 17, then Daniel went to his house and made the thing
known. And the scripture says, this
thing was not done in a corner. Thank God he made the thing known.
Daniel went to his house and made the thing known to Hananiah,
Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, his friends. Our Lord said in
John 15, what my father has told me, I have told you, and I've
done that because you are my friends. Verse 17, Daniel went to his
house and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,
his companions, that they would desire mercies of the God of
heaven concerning this secret. that Daniel and his fellow should
not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. He said, you pray with me. I
think about when our Lord was in the garden of Gethsemane just
before his hour of the cross, and he said to Peter, James,
and John, Daniel here is with Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Our Lord was with Peter, James,
and John, and he said, pray with me. He went about a stone's cast
away, fell down and he prayed, as it were, he sweat great drops
of blood and he prayed, Father, it's not my will, but thine be
done. If mercy for our people through
my suffering is your will, then thy will be done. And the will of the father was
done and mercy for God's people was accomplished. God saw all
of his chosen transgressors in Christ. And he slew them. The throne, the command went
forth, slay them all. And he slew them all. And I want
to emphasize that. He slew all of them, God's chosen
people who were sinners against Him. It was a number no man can
number, but He slew them all. They were all slain in Christ
because God saw all of them in Christ. That's what He saw. Head to the cross. Take Him to
the cross. Why? I see my sinful people in
him. God saw all of them in Christ. And now because of that, God
only sees one man. I'm gonna repeat that. God saw all of us in Christ and
his command was, slay them. And he did, all of them. And now because of that, God
only sees one man. One righteous man. Because God
saw all of his people in Christ, he now only sees Christ in his
people. If you are a wretched, miserable
sinner, that ought to be good news to you. He now only sees
Christ in his people. Verse 19 says, then was the secret
revealed unto Daniel in a night vision. Christ, Daniel being
a picture of Christ, he endured the darkness. the darkness of
sin, the darkness of death. He fulfilled all righteousness,
all the demands of the throne. He redeemed his people. Verse
19 goes on to say, then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. Our Lord said to his father in
John 17, I have glorified thee on the earth. I finished the
work you gave me to do. Verse 20, Daniel answered and
said, blessed be the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom
and might are his, and he changeth the times and the seasons. He
removeth kings and setteth up kings. He giveth wisdom unto
the wise and knowledge to them that know understanding. He revealeth
the deep and secret things. He knoweth what is in the darkness,
and the light dwelleth with him. I thank thee and praise thee,
O thou God of my fathers, who hast given me wisdom and might,
and hast made known unto me now what we desired thee. For thou
hast now made known unto us the king's matter. Tis done, the
great transaction's done. I am my Lord's, and he is mine. Now, this isn't in my notes,
but I'm gonna give you a little side note, okay? I have been
so excited to tell you this. This has blessed me so much,
and I can't bless it to you. So ask the Lord to open your
eyes and your heart to this. This is such a blessing, such
a blessing. All right, verse 24. Therefore,
Daniel went in unto Ariok, whom the king had ordained to destroy
the wise men of Babylon. All right, here's our picture.
Christ went to the law. Christ went to the law. Verse
24 goes on to say, he went and said thus unto him, destroy not
the wise men of Babylon, all those sinful people, Bring me
in before the king, and I will show unto the king the interpretation."
He said, destroy them not, bring me in, I will show it. Our Lord said, if you seek me,
you let them go. All right, verse 25, then Ariok. brought in Daniel before the
king in haste, and said thus unto him, I have found a man. I found a man. Now just picture
this, okay, here's the picture. Picture the law, the law coming
before the judgment throne of God, crying, I found one man. You sent me out. The judgment
throne sent me out. And I found one man. One man who has actually fulfilled
every commandment you've given. Well, where did this man come
from? Verse 25 goes on to say, he came out of the captives of
Judah. He was numbered with the transgressors.
He was taken from prison. He's the one who brought judgment
to the Gentiles. He's the Messiah who came to
make known all things. Yes, the law says, I found a
man. I found a man. One man worthy. All right, now picture continues. Picture this. Because all of
God's people were seen in Christ. All right, let me repeat that
one more time. All of God's people, when God looked at His Son, when
God the Father looked at Jesus Christ, He saw God's people in
Him. And because all of God's people
were seen in Christ, and it was not good, and God punished them
and dealt with them and killed them, they died. In Him, the holy God and His
holy law now only see, they only see Christ in God's people. And every time that a child of
God is brought before the law, The law lays hold of that child
and runs that child to the throne crying, I found a man. I found a man. Speaking of Christ,
not him, not her, Christ. I only see Christ right here.
The law says, I found one. When one of God's children come
to the law, when they're brought to the law, the law says, I have
found one who has fulfilled every commandment you have ever given. What beautiful redemption and
acceptance there is in Jesus Christ. Thank God for Jesus Christ. Thank God he revealed to us the
man. Behold the man. Come see a man. Philip found Nathaniel and he
said, we found him. We found the man. John said, behold the Lamb of
God, which taketh away the sin of his people in the world. and brought every single one
of his people back to God in himself. Thank God for Jesus
Christ. That's the glory of the gospel.
That is our message, that is our hope, that the throne of
God, the law of God, and the people of God can all collectively
say, I found a man. I found a man, my satisfier,
my fulfiller, my redeemer, my savior, Jesus Christ. Thank God
for the man. Thank God for the man. All right.