Thank you, Sherry and John and
Mac. That hymn was chosen with this
whole story of Daniel in mind. And verse 3 talks about the delight
of before His throne in prayer, kneeling, communing Daniel. I
don't know if you got to read it this week. I recommend that
you do. I hope you did. But Daniel, this
is what caught my attention reading this. Over in the latter part
of the chapter, the Lord said to Daniel, as soon as you purposed
in your heart, I heard you. And the Lord came
and showed him a sight of Christ. I was going to sing that hymn
this morning, Be Thou My Vision, but I thought, no, I'll wait
until next Sunday when we look at Daniel's vision. You're in
for a treat, I hope. The Lord will bless us. I was
going to look at the whole book of Daniel, but I started reading
it. Wednesday night, we're going
to look at him at the lion's den. That we need to, for our
comfort, for Christ's glory. This is all about Christ. and
all about his people who are with him, like Hananiah, Moshe
and Azariah. We're going to look at three
parts of this message today. It will be Daniel as a type of
Christ. And then Wednesday night, Daniel
among lions. And then the last one will be
Daniel the beloved, the blessed man. Modern religion thinks this
book is only a book of prophecy. as they do all the Old Testament.
They think it's just an Old Testament book of laws and morals and prophecies
and so forth. God's people know that they are
they which testify of Christ. To Him give all the prophets
witness. God's people know that. As every
prominent man in Scripture, even some women, are types of Christ,
like Esther. Oh, what a type of Christ she
was. Abigail. But Adam, Noah, Moses, Joshua,
David, none more so of a Joseph, none more so than Daniel. No one in Scripture is more like,
more a type of Christ than Daniel. In fact, the Lord doesn't give
any faults of Daniel. It doesn't show any faults. You know he's a sinner. You know
he was born that way. And my hope and my prayer, though,
is that this will be more than just an interesting study, more
than just, oh, that's good. That's the danger of types. You
go away amazed with the type, and you're not amazed with the
Lord Jesus Christ. And my hope and my prayer, though, is that
the Lord will put His kingdom in us, and us in His kingdom,
and cause us to see the King of kings. All right? The first
thing in this first chapter, and be not alarmed, but I'm going
to go through five chapters. Not every verse. Not even close. But in this first chapter, we'll
see the appearance of Daniel, his character and purpose as
he represents Christ. The appearance, character, the
purpose of the Lord Jesus Christ as seen in Daniel. Now, these
people were in captivity. Look at verses 1 and 2. The Jews,
in the third year of Jehorakim. You remember the story of Jehorakim?
This is significant. Jeremiah, you know, was in captivity
at the same time. Jehorakim's the fellow that kept
cutting the Bible apart, throwing it in the fire, doing away with
Scriptures. So the people, Jehorakim was
a king, they didn't have Scripture. They were in darkness. Why? Idolatry. Sin, like Romans 1. This begins
like Romans 1. God left them. They weren't worshiping
the true God, so God darkened their understanding and left
them in this darkness. But He sent somebody. Daniel
sent him among these captives. He's the deliverer. Daniel's
the deliverer. Nebuchadnezzar represents, well,
he can represent Satan himself. The Lord, in verse 2, gave Jehoram,
king of Judah, into his hand. People were in captivity because
of their idolatry, because of their sin, just like this world,
just like this nation we live in. We live in a captive land.
People held captive by Satan at his will, according to it. the will of God because of their
idolatry and their sin. But by decree, look at verse
3 and 4, the king issued a decree to bring certain of the children
of Israel, the king's seed, to bring certain children of the
king's seed in to this captivity, children in whom is no blemish,
well favored, skillful in wisdom and knowledge, understanding
science, ability in them to stand, and great wisdom, honor, and
integrity. In the decree of the king, he
brought in children of the king's seed. Well, by the eternal decree
of God Almighty and His purpose before the world began to have
a kingdom, He brought in, and to populate
this kingdom, He brought in His only begotten Son, firstborn
among many brethren, King of kings, Lord of lords. And all
of his people predestinated to be in his image who we're going
to see. Daniel says, that's fine. Without blemish. Perfect. Able to stand before kings. That's
Christ. That's Christ. The first mention
of any of these children of the king's seed is verse 6. Now among
these children, the king's seed, the children of Judah, Judah,
David's line, Daniel. Who's mentioned first? Who has
the preeminence here? Daniel. And then Hananiah, Amashiel
and Azariah. Daniel is mentioned first because
Christ is the firstborn among many brethren. And here on in
this, are you listening? Here on in this book, if you
don't, I've already lost you. But here on in this book, these
three fellows are mentioned with him all the time. They're with
him all the time. In fact, in chapter 2, verse
18, it says, Daniel and his fellows. Daniel and his fellows. Wherever
you find Daniel, you find his fellows. Daniel is mentioned
first, and his fellows, his friends. They came in because Daniel was
brought in. And all their salvation is in
Daniel. From then on, they are mentioned
with Daniel. Daniel is their wisdom. Daniel
is their righteousness. Daniel is their acceptance before
the King. Daniel is their understanding.
Daniel is everything to them. Daniel reveals everything to
them. Daniel and his fellows. Need I comment on that? Christ
and his fellows. He said, I call you friends.
And remarkably, Stan, he chose three fellows, didn't he? James,
Peter, and John. He took them up on that and showed
them a secret that was hidden from everybody else. Christ and
His fellow. He said, I call you friend. I
don't call you servant, but I call you friend because I make known
the mind of God to you. Daniel's purpose in coming. Now, the name Daniel, you know
what it means. The name Daniel means judge of
God. Not one who judges God, but the judge sent of God. The one who is sent of God to
be the judge. the one with wisdom, the one
with understanding, the one with discernment, the judge of God,
the one whom we go to. Everybody at this time is going
to go to Daniel to understand. Even the king, John, even the
king didn't know anything until Daniel told him. And Christ has
come. That's what the woman at the
well said. When He's come, He'll show us all things. Daniel means the judge of God.
And did not our Lord Jesus Christ say in John chapter 5, the Father
judges no man, but hath committed all judgment to the Son? Anytime you see the little letters
E-L at the end of a name or A-H, that's the name of God. Elohim. A-H is Yah or Yahweh, Jehovah. He bore the name of God, the
Judge of God. And oh, great is the mystery
of Godliness. God was manifest in the flesh
and called His name Immanuel or Daniel, the Judge of God. Daniel's purpose, verse 8, look
at Daniel's purpose. Daniel in verse 8, purposed in
his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the
king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank. And he requested
of the prince of Eunuchs that he might not defile himself.
The king here who represents Satan. gave everyone of his dainties,
the king's dainties, the meat and the wine of this God of the
world, this God of Babylon, this king. He gave of everyone his
dainties. And Scripture says that the lust
of the flesh, the lust of the eyes are of the devil, pride
of life, the dainties, the things of this world. which he uses
to entice the people of the world, to fill them with, which all are full of, lust of
the flesh, lust of the eyes, the things of this world, and
filled with, not the Lord Jesus Christ. said he came to Satan. Satan came to him and found nothing
in him. Had nothing with which to entice
him of his dainties. And Christ came, purposing in
himself not to defile himself. Oh, in fact, the Scripture says
he's holy, Harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners. This is
the Holy One of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. His meat, His drink
was to do the will of God. We drink iniquity like the water. of the dainties, don't we? Thanks
be unto God that He sent Christ as our covenant head, our righteous
representative to not partake of these dainties, but to be our holiness, to be
our righteousness. That was His purpose in coming,
to represent His people. Daniel's character, verse 9,
God had brought Daniel into favor and tender love with the Prince
of Eunice. That caught you, didn't it? God
brought Daniel into favor and tender love. Of Christ it was
said. I just read this again this morning
when he was a young man. He grew in wisdom. and says the
Spirit of God was on Him and grace was on Him. Oh, may the
Lord do that for our young men and ladies. But it says our Lord,
when He grew up, He grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with
God and man. In favor with God and man. So
much so that he stood before everyone as a man. Think about
that. Think about that. Can anybody
find any fault in me? Think about that. They found
no fault in me. Even his enemies. The pilot wanted
to find something wrong with him. He could not find one thing
wrong with this man. Oh my! My, my, my. Because his meat
and his drink, and this will carry over into our last message
on Daniel, was a man. Daniel was a man. Daniel was
just a man. But God said, nobody could find
any fault with him. I want to be like that. Why? Well, that's another message. Christ came. He came, and His
meat and His drink was to do the will of God. Verse 12, it
says, And he said, prove me. We'll just eat pulse and water. You remember that message? We
devoted a whole message to that years ago. Give us pulse and
water and prove us. Christ, His meat and His drink,
pulse is the Word of God, water of life. And it says in verse
15, after several days of beholding Him and His fellows, they were
fatter and fairer. than all the children that eat
the king's meal. Our Lord is the fairest of ten
thousand, the bright and morning star, because in Him is no sin. The fairest, fatter, oh my, fat
things and wine on the leaves were his constant diet. I know he was lean of flesh, but oh, he was fat in spirit. The largeness of heart. You remember
that Scripture, don't you, in Psalm 106, that the Lord gave
them their request of things, but He sent leanness to their
souls. Better to be lean of body than
fat of soul. Our Lord was fairer, is fairer
than 10,000. Verse 17, Daniel, God gave them,
these four children, knowledge and skill and all learning and
wisdom. And Daniel had understanding
in all visions and dreams. Daniel, who represents the Lord
Jesus Christ, in whom dwelleth all the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge. None like Daniel, verse 19, it says, The king observed
them, and among them all was found none like Daniel, and nobody
like him. This place has never seen a man
like Daniel. And this world, this earth, has
never seen a man like the Lord Jesus Christ and his fellows. Hananiah, Mashiel, and Azariah.
Now, mind you, and you already know this, but maybe you've forgotten. Their names, their proper names,
were given by God. Hananiah, that's the name of
God. Mashiel, Elohim. Azariah, Jehovah. The Chaldeans gave them names
that had no meaning. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
have no meaning. Useless, vain names. Belteshazzar. You can't find the meaning of
them. But now these fellows are sons of God. No matter what the
world called them, God said, they're my sons. They're my son. None like Daniel and his fellows.
None like Christ, his chosen ones. They were with Daniel.
And it says in verse 19, they were all standing before the
king. Standing before the king, these chosen ones. And in all
matters, verse 20, of wisdom and understanding that the king
required of them, he found them ten times better than all the
magicians and astrologers in all his realm. The only fellows
that he had in his realm were a bunch of phonies. a bunch of
ponies, wizards that peep, Isaiah said. Nebuchadnezzar, chapter 2. We
made it through that in about ten minutes. Chapter 2, we have
the wisdom and knowledge of Christ as seen in Daniel. Nebuchadnezzar,
this heathen king of Babylon, had a dream, verses 1 and 2.
In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar
dreamed dreams wherewith his spirit was troubled and his sleep
broke from him. He couldn't sleep as so many
people have trouble doing. Dreaming dreams that troubled
him and his sleep broke from him. Verse 2, the king commanded
all his magicians and astrologers and sorcerers, the Chaldeans
who were supposed to be known for their wisdom, their knowledge,
their understanding and mystery. And He called for all of them
to show Him His dream, and not one of them could tell Him what
His trouble was. Turn to Isaiah 8, which I just
quoted one verse from. Isaiah chapter 8. Man, Scripture
says, that is born of woman, is a few days and full of trouble. His thoughts, man's thoughts,
his dreams, his heart is filled with trouble. Because our God
said there will be no peace for the wicked. Isaiah 8. There will be no peace for the
wicked. Those that forget God. Those that reject Christ. Those
that have Do not like to retain God in their knowledge. Those
that don't worship God, God said, there will be no peace. I will
not give them any peace. And they'll lose sleep. And their thoughts will trouble
them, their dreams, their hearts will fail them, literally. Heart
failure, which is due mostly to stress. Why is that stress
upon them? God's angry. Isaiah 8 verse 19
says, Then when they say unto you, God speaking to His people,
seek unto them that have familiar spirits. People, they're the
only wise men, the only wise counselors, the only ones who
have any wisdom must get it from above. It must be the Spirit
of God. A man, a so-called preacher or
whoever, prophet, apostle, is either led by one spirit or another.
Spirit of God or another spirit. Familiar spirits. Read on. Don't seek unto them that have
familiar spirits, unto wizards that peep. I was listening to some of those
C's fellas, a couple of them. And you know, you've heard them,
you've seen them. You can't believe how familiar
they are with God. I heard one of them say, I know
God. I'll tell them that. You know how many millions of
people follow them? The whole world does until God
puts Daniel Christ in your midst. And Hananiah and Mashiach and
Ezra. Verse 19 says, wizards that peep
and mutter, should not a people seek unto their God? Should not
the dead seek to the living? That's what that's saying. The
living to the dead. Should the living, God's people, turn to
these dead people? Verse 20, to the law and to the
testimony. God's Word. The prophets, the
apostles, the gospel, if they speak not according to this Word,
they don't have any light. They can't give you any light.
They can't give you any counsel. They can't relieve you of any
trouble. They don't even know the trouble. They don't know
the dream. None of these fellows knew what
the dream was. In fact, Nebuchadnezzar said, you tell me what the dream
was, and you tell me the solution to the dream, and I'll know that
you have some wisdom. They said, nobody knows what
you're thinking. In the whole chapter 2, they
all said, we can't know what you're thinking. How can we answer
you if you don't tell us a dream? If you'll tell us a dream, we'll
tell you the answer to it. He said, no, you're just buying
time. He said, you're just buying time,
you're a bunch of fakes. If you can tell me the dream,
Then you can tell me the answer to it. They didn't know the problem
and they didn't know the answer. And what a picture that is. Men don't know the trouble. Why
do we stand up Sunday after Wednesday after Sunday after Wednesday
and talk about the problem? The trouble? Why do we talk about
sin? Why? Because holy, holy, holy. Isaiah 6. This is Isaiah 8. It's after that, isn't it? After. Holy, holy, holy. After chapter
1. The Gospel, John, is later, isn't
it? After all the woe. Because the fear of the Lord's
beginning with. And look at chapter 8, verse
21. It says, they'll pass through this world hardly bested and
hungry. They'll come to pass. They'll
be hungry. They'll fret themselves, curse
their king and their God, and look upward looking for some
help. They'll look to the earth. They can't find anything, just
trouble and darkness and dimness of anguish. They'll be driven
to darkness and drugs and despair and on and on it goes because
they can't find anybody in this world that can give them an answer. But God sent a man named Daniel. He knows
the trouble and He knows the answer. Christ said, you will not come
unto Me that you might have life. No man can come unto Me except
the Father which has sent Me. But I have come that they might
have life. And I have come to show you that
you didn't even know the problem. I've come to show you your problem.
It's your sin, and there's nothing you can do about it. But I'm
the answer. I'm the way, I'm the truth, and
I'm the life. I'm the way. The wise men of
this world, the so-called, hath not God regrown? 1 Corinthians
1. Hath not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world? Paul called it science, falsely
so called. Because they're studying the
origin of things, and if you don't begin with God, you don't
have a clue. You want to know something about
man, sociology, anthropology? You don't begin with man, you
begin with God. In the beginning, God created. That's where it all starts. The
secret that was revealed unto Daniel is a secret and made known
unto his friends. The secret. Christ said, I thank
Thee, Father, that Thou hast hid these things from the wise
and the prudent and revealed them unto babe. Colossians 2
says, In Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Christ the Word is the discerning, power of the thoughts and intents
of the heart. Christ came by His Word and He
reveals the very thoughts and intents of our heart. What was
the secret? And this is the key to the whole
book of Daniel. The key to the whole book of
Daniel. What was the secret? What was the dream that Nebuchadnezzar
had? Look at verses 2. verse 31 through
33. This is Daniel telling him his
dream. He said, King, this is what you
saw. O King, sawest and behold a great image. And this great
image, his brightness was excellent, stood before thee, and the form
thereof was terrible, and the image's head was of fine gold,
his breast his arms of silver, his belly his thighs of brass,
his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay, his."
It's a man. Some say Nebuchadnezzar made
an image later of himself and put it up. A man. Okay? Daniel says, this dream that
you saw, is of a kingdom, many kingdoms actually, three kingdoms
he spoke of. These kingdoms were made of gold,
seemed beautiful, silver, a beauty. Some of clay, not very strong. Some of iron, very strong, very
lasting. Kingdoms, the kingdoms of this
world, here's the key. Here's the key to the whole book
of Daniel, and this is what Daniel revealed, and the rest of the
book is about. That there are many kingdoms,
kingdoms of men, and that's all men are, is men. And it goes
on to say that the Most High ruleth among the kingdoms of
men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and sets up over them
the basest of men. And the king makes these kingdoms
to last for however long he intends for them to last, to serve his
purpose. But now look at verse 34 and 35. And he said, King,
you saw a stone. It ought to be capitalized. You
saw a stone cut out without hands, and this stone smoked the image.
upon his feet," that is, broke the foundation right out from
under it, and break it into pieces. Verse 35, then, the iron, the
clay, the brass, the silver, the gold, it didn't matter what
these kingdoms were made of, they all fell, broke into pieces. And the last line of verse 35,
the stone that smote As an image became a mountain that filled
the earth. Oh my, look at verse 44. And
here it is, "...in the days of these kings shall the God of
heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed." When Jesus Christ came, what
did He come preaching? What did He reveal? First thing,
Christ came preaching. First thing, repent. For the
kingdom of heaven is at hand. What's that? I'm here. The King of kings is here. The
Lord of lords is here. Wisdom is here. God is here,
Emmanuel. I have a kingdom and I have come
to gather my subjects. I am come that they might have
life. I am come to bring them righteousness. I am come to make
peace by the blood of my cross. I am come to represent them. I am come to be their holy man.
I am come to be their righteousness. I am come to be their wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, to bring them
to stand before the King, to bring them into this kingdom.
I am the King. I have come to find my subjects.
I have a kingdom. You can't see it. You can't even
see me, he said at the time. He stood before Pilate. He stood
before everybody. They didn't know who he was.
But his subjects do, don't they? His fellows do. They know who
he is. He's the king. The key to the
whole book of Daniel. Kingdom. Kingdom come. Didn't he say, pray this, thy
kingdom come in me. Set up thy kingdom in me. Bow
my knee to the king. The kingdom, eternal future kingdom,
present kingdom, presently reigning, kingdom forever, the kingdom
of God's dear Son. That's what Christ came revealing
and preaching Himself in this eternal spiritual kingdom. And
it's said in verse 47 of Daniel, of his great wisdom, verse 47,
the king answered and said unto Daniel, of a truth it is, your
God is God of gods and Lord of kings. Revealer of secrets, nothing
is hidden from you. And he made Daniel, verse 48
and 49, he made Daniel a great man and made him, it says in
verse 48, ruler over it all. Made him ruler over it all. Who can this be speaking of but
the Lord Jesus Christ? I hope you are enjoying that.
And as I said in the outset, what I hope the Lord will do
through this is make somebody in here see there's a kingdom,
and it's unseen, and Christ is right now reigning and ruling
over that kingdom, and He's making up His subject, and you need
to be in that kingdom, and you can't put yourself in that kingdom.
And you need to cry out unto Him. Verse 49, this is what happened.
Daniel requested of the king and he sent Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego. The true names were Hananiah,
Moshe, and Azariah. He sent them over the affairs. In other words, because of Daniel,
they were made kings and priests unto God. Chapters 3 through 5. Chapters
3 through 5. Okay? Breathe easy. I won't let
you go. Oh boy. Man, what have we got to do?
What have we got to do? Where have we got to go? Chapters 3 through 5 talks about
thoughts, religion. Some may say, you talk too much
about false religion. Then do away with half the Bible. Do away with it. Especially the
Old Testament. Do away with the whole Old Testament. Because the whole world, and
even Israel, was steeped in it. Steeped in it. And this was the
problem. John, this is why they were in captivity. Religion wasn't the answer. It
was the problem. It wasn't the answer back then.
It's not the answer now. It's the problem. There's only
one truth, and it's Christ. Anything else is wood, hay, and
stubble. It's going to come down. It doesn't
matter how beautiful. Remember the image was gold?
It looks beautiful. Silver? Costly? Has feet of clay. feet of clay. It's going to come
down. There's a stone which the builders
rejected, which is Christ and His reign and His rule and His
sovereignty, that Christ is all and there is no other way. They
all rejected it. It doesn't matter because God
has set this. It's becoming a high mountain,
a stone you can't get over. Christ said if any man fall on
this stone now, he'll be broken. And he'll be saved. But, Lord,
if this stone falls on you, you'll be ground to powder. It's better
now to fall on the Lord Jesus Christ. Cast yourself upon His
mercy now before He falls on you. But in chapters 3 through
5, read chapter 3, verses 1 and a few other verses with me quickly. Nebuchadnezzar made an image
of gold. He made an image this time. First
was a dream, but now he made an image. He made an image of
gold, very high, very tall. In Nebuchadnezzar, verse 2, the
king gathered together princes, governors, captains, judges,
treasurers, counselors, sheriffs, rulers of the provinces to come
to the dedication of the image of Nebuchadnezzar. And Nebuchadnezzar
the king made this image. In other words, everybody that
was anybody came to the dedication of this great image. Everybody who was anybody in
Babylon, need I tell you that Babylon represents Not just false
religion, but this modern, godless world, like Egypt of old, like
Syria. Modern, civilized Babylon had
all the technology. Babylon was full of counselors
and wisdom. But they were fools. Nobody knew
God. And it was corrupt, full of filth
and wickedness. And he set up this image. You
know what this image was? And everybody got together to
worship this image. You know what this image was?
A man. A man. And people, behind all false
religion is the great God free will. Call it what you may. It may
be in the name of God, Jehovah. It may be in the name of Jesus.
But behind it all is the glorification of man, his will. His choice, His works, His righteousness,
what He does for God, what He does with Jesus, what He lets
God do, who He makes Jesus to be, Lord. This great and everybody that's
anybody, not many wise men, not many mighty, not many noble are
called to Christ, but the whole world goes after this God of
free will. Man, Satan set it up in the garden. Satan set it up, whom Nebuchadnezzar
represents here, set it up in the garden. He said to the woman,
and it's a religion of women, says the great whore. But many
silly women had kept it, mostly. And Satan set it up, this image
of man. He said to the woman, and he's
saying to all mankind from then on, he's saying, you can know,
you have a choice. I know what God said, but He
didn't really mean that. You won't die. You have a choice. You have free will. You have
empowerment. Don't they love that word today?
You have empowerment. Our religion will give you empowerment. The truth will show you where
the power is. show you where the wisdom is
in Christ. It will show you have no power
at all. That's what the truth does. It
breaks you and brings you down to show you have no power at
all. You have no wisdom at all. You have no righteousness at
all. You don't have a choice. All you choose is evil. A man died in the garden, worshiping
the image of himself. They've been worshiping it ever
since, and that's what false religion is doing today. They
only consult to cast Him down from His excellency and raise
up the free will of man. I'm not exaggerating this. Read
it. Oh, but three men. Look at this
in chapter 3. Three men. Daniel. God. gave them names, sons of
God, three men, Hananiah, Mashiach, and Azariah said, we won't bow. Let the whole world go after
them. This king in verse 15 said, be
ready now, and everybody, we're having a countywide meeting.
All the religions will get together, different faiths. Everybody of
different faiths is getting together to worship. You can't do that. There's one Lord. There's one
faith. There's one God. There's one
Father of His people. One baptism. One hope, if you
call it. One way. One truth. One life.
There's not many faiths. Billy Graham said there was other
ways. You heard it with your own ears. You heard it with your own ears
right here, didn't you? He said that. Him and Robert
Shuler. Yes, people, that's what he said.
You heard it, didn't you? Who are you going to believe,
Christ or him? Christ said it would be so close. He would deceive
either the very elect, but he can't. The elect of God,
no, they can see through it. This is will worship. This is
man worship. This is making more of man than
it is God. We can't do this. And Shadrach
and Meshach and Abednego, they said, now when it gets ready,
you join with us. And they said in verse 16, oh,
don't you love this story? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
Hananiah, Mashiach, and Azariah answered the king and said, oh,
Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.
We don't have to give it a second thought. We don't even have to
pause. We're not going to do it. Verse
17, if God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the fiery
furnace, he'll deliver us out of the king. But if he doesn't,
we ain't bowing. We're not bowing. We will not worship and serve
thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.
These are the true people of God, the true circumcised that
worship God in spirit, from the heart, by the Holy Spirit of
God, taking the things of Christ and rejoicing Christ Jesus. They don't rejoice in their church.
They don't rejoice in their works. They don't rejoice in what kind
of goodness, good man they've become. They rejoice in Christ. And they have no confidence. No confidence. They don't use
fleshly props. Because their worship is in spirit. You know, Spurgeon once said
that the term bigot originated with these martyrs whom they
would tell that people would threaten them, false religion
would threaten them to not preach the truth, not believe the truth,
to recant. and join with us, and they would say, by God, we
won't do it. Meaning, by God, by the grace
of God, by the mercy of God, we will not bow. By God, we won't
do it. And man has so abused that and
corrupted that. But Spurgeon said that's where
the term bigot came from. He's a bigot. Well, if that's
what it means, that's what I am. I'm not going to join with them.
And they threw them in the furnace. Okay? And our Lord said, you're
going to be hated. Not might be. If you stand for
the truth, our Lord said, you will be hated. He said, they
hated Me. How could anybody hate the Lord Jesus Christ? How? They threw these three fellas
in. They were fine fellas. None fine
or none fair. How could they hate these fellas?
Truth. Christ said, you don't hate me for feeding
your poor because I'm God and you don't like that. And they threw these three fellas
in the furnace. And Nebuchadnezzar came to the
furnace, you remember, and he said in verse 24, he and his
counselors, they all looked in the furnace, and they said, didn't
we throw three fellows in that fire? They said, true, O king. And he said, look, verse 25,
I see four. Threw them in with their coats
on. Threw them in with their shoes on. Threw them in with
their hats on in a hurry. And the king came and said, I
see four. Loose! Walking in the midst of
the fire. They had no heart. Who is this poor fellow? And
they said, it looks like the Son of God. Do you know that in chapter 3,
Daniel's name is not mentioned? Chapter 3, it's like he disappeared. And then the story of these three
fellows were there. Where was Daniel? The king had set him on the throne.
He's reigning, he's ruling, he's praying. Are you with me? Where is Christ? You know, somebody,
when my brother was killed in Vietnam, and God killed him,
the Vietnamese didn't do it. God did it. His days were determined. The number of his months were
set. He could not pass them. He took them at 21 years. Somebody
said his life was cut short. No, it was not. No, it was not. It was exactly the days God determined
before the world began. And so are yours. That's the
God of the Bible. And there's only peace in a God
like that. There's only comfort in a God
like that. Why are you shouting? Because
it needs to be shouted. Let the whole world hear it.
God's not God. He's a bystander in the affairs
of men. Who needs a God like that? People dying left and right,
and he can't do anything. Well, I don't need Him. And you
don't either. But we need a God who has all
things in His sovereign hands. A Jesus not standing outside
our heart's door, seated on the throne, reigning and ruling. Ordering all things, and sure,
waiting, expecting, till his enemy be made his footstool.
And everything fulfilled his divine purpose, which he purposed
in himself before the world began. That's Jesus Christ. Has it all
under His sovereign control. And everybody that dies, He took
them according to His wisdom and purpose. That ain't right.
Doesn't matter if you think it is or not. It is. Because that's
who He is. And God's people say, Amen. That's my God. That's my Christ. That's my hope. That's my peace. I can go to bed at night, not
worry about this, not worry about that. Why? He's raining. They
threw Chedrek, Hanani, Asherah, Masiel, and Azariah. You try
it. Mackie did a good job. They threw
those fellows in that furnace. Well, where was God? It's raining. He said, put them in there. And
lo and behold, when they got in there, Roberta, He got in
there with them. And it doesn't matter what you
go through. Catherine, He said, I'm ever present. I'm with you. Though they go through the fire,
it won't burn them. It won't consume them. I'm with
them because I'm See, this story is not about
three men's faith. It's about Jesus Christ. He's
unseen. He's unheard of here. Oh, He's
there. He's there, all right. You look
in the furnace, that's where He is. Three men came out and
one man stayed in. My chapter 4, Nebuchadnezzar
tells his story. Melanie, you and I have talked
about this. We believe Nebuchadnezzar was
a saved man, don't we? He represents the most vile,
freewill, worshiping Armenian false preacher. My dad was a
false preacher, people. He was a false preacher. Successful. Pastor of the largest Southern
Baptist Church in eastern Kentucky. A thousand members. Didn't know
God. Preaching a false gospel. But
God sent a prophet, an evangelist named Rolf Marner, and cut his
feet out from under him. One word slew him. Purpose! He began to know God. Split that
church. Brought that gold and silver
and iron. Brought her down. And 40 people
left. Nebuchadnezzar tells his story
in chapter 4, and I wanted to read so many things to you, oh
my, about God working His will and the armies of heaven and
the inhabitants of the earth. There's just not enough time
to do that. But Nebuchadnezzar's story was
that salvation is by the grace and mercy of God, that free will
is a myth. Nebuchadnezzar thought he was
a self-made man. Oh my, he became a beast. God
brought him down to be a beast and to show him, you are nothing.
And that psalm says, oh, that men may know themselves to be
but just men. And God reigns. In chapter 5,
another king and another image. Another fellow, Belteshazzar. Another king, same image. Same
image. It goes on and on forever. Which brings us to chapter 6.
We're going to look at Wednesday night. The key to this book of Daniel
is the key to every book in the Bible. Christ. He has the keys. The key to this book of Daniel
is that man is in darkness and dead and trespassing and sin. Man can't choose God. He's dead.
Man's in captivity to the God of this world. And his only hope
is that God will send Christ to him like Daniel and reveal
unto him the secret, the will, the purpose of God which He purposed
in Himself before the foundation of the world to gather together
in one, even in Christ, in a kingdom set up for eternity
wherein Christ is the King. Oh, may God put you and put me
in that kingdom to the praise of the glory of His grace. Alright,
John, if you'll come and lead us in a closing hymn. Number 50. Number 50. Just sing a few verses, whatever
you choose.