Christ said the good shepherd
gave his life for the sheep. That means he redeemed them.
He bought them. And that means he will have them.
He's gonna find every one of them. You know that one line
in that song that says, is not ninety and nine enough? And I
thought about, well what's enough for the Lord? And I'll tell you
what's enough, all of them. And anything less is not enough.
that he'll have them and he'll preserve them even if they're
in Babylon. Turn to Daniel chapter two. Thank
you, Al. Thank you, Gail, for that song. Daniel chapter two. We're gonna
pick up basically with verse 24 in preaching on this subject,
the kingdom that stands forever. The kingdoms of this world are
all gone, and those that are at present will die, but there
is a kingdom that will stand forever, and that's the kingdom
of Christ, the kingdom of God's dear Son. The book of Colossians
chapter 1 says that when God saves a sinner, that sinner is
translated translated from the kingdom of darkness into the
kingdom of his dear son. And that's a kingdom that will
not be left to others, the scripture says. Nobody will conquer that
kingdom. Nobody will destroy that kingdom.
It's an eternal kingdom. It's a spiritual kingdom. It's
a kingdom built upon righteousness. The very righteousness of God
of which I spoke this morning. It's a kingdom of peace. It's
a kingdom of joy in the Holy Ghost. Because as we look to
Christ, we have peace and joy in Him. And that kingdom is prophesied
here in a negative way and in a positive way. First, in a dream
that God gave King Nebuchadnezzar. We looked at that last week,
how God gave Nebuchadnezzar this dream, and Nebuchadnezzar could
not understand the dream. He couldn't understand what he
had seen in his dream, so he called for his advisors. Verse
2 of chapter 2 says he called for the magicians, and the astrologers,
and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, the brain trust of Babylon. And
he said, now I want you to tell me the interpretation of my dream. And they said, well, O King,
live forever. That was the empty words of man. Christ can bring eternal life.
He said, this is life eternal that they may know thee, the
only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. So any notion
or desire or assurance of living forever, immortality, that man
has is just a pipe dream. Sin brings death, only righteousness
brings life, and you're gonna find that in Christ and in him
alone. Life and immortality is brought to light through the
gospel alone. But these men had no gospel. All they had was a
claim. A claim of doing something they
really could not do. They claimed to do things that
only, as they said by their own words, only a God can do. Nebuchadnezzar
said, interpret my dream for me. First thing they said was,
tell me what your dream is. He said, I'm not going to tell
you. I want you to tell me what the dream is. Now they claim
to be diviners, they claim to have superior knowledge, they
claim to have even divine knowledge, so they shouldn't have any trouble
there, but they didn't know these things. And so they said in verse
10, these Chaldeans, they answered before the king, said, there's
not a man upon earth that can show the king's manner. And they
were right. No man can do this. Man, since
the fall, has been claiming to do and attempting to do what
only God can do. And we see that portrayed most
in the salvation of sinners. Man, by nature, will seek salvation
by his works, by his own good deeds. And the Bible says no
flesh shall be justified in God's sight that way. When the rich
young man came to Christ and questioned him about the issue
of goodness and salvation, he set the young man straight. He
said, if you want to gain eternal life by your law keeping, then
keep it perfectly from your youth up. Keep it perfectly. And the man claimed, he said,
well, I've done that from my youth up. Well, no sinner can
do that at all, at any stage of life. Youth, what? Old age,
what? No sinner can do it. And the
Lord exposed him for what he was. He said, well, let's put
it to the test. You go sell everything you have and give it to the poor
and come follow me. Because that's what God's love
requires. And he went away sorrowful. And
you remember what the disciples said to him? He said, Lord, if
that man's not saved, who can be? And the Lord said, that which
is impossible with man is only possible with God. Only God can
do what that man claimed to do. And that's the way it is with
every self-righteous, works-free-will religion that claims to be saved
in any other way but by the sovereign grace of God. And what a picture
of that. But the king tested them and
they failed the test. They couldn't tell him the dream
nor the interpretation of the dream. And so the king set forth
a decree that they would all, every one of his advisors in
that court would be killed. In fact, he said, you'll be torn
in pieces. You'll be brutally killed. And
because Daniel and his friends, Hananiah and Mishael and Azariah,
whom we know as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, Daniel and his
friends being part of that court, the decree of death was upon
them too. And that's the way it was in
that day. And the king set forth that decree. He said, that's
gone out from me and I can't take it back. So what did Daniel
do? Well, Daniel did the only thing
a sinner can do. He cast himself upon the mercy
of God. Look at verse 17. Then Daniel
went to his house, and he made the thing known to Hananiah,
Mishael, and Azariah, his companions. He told them what's going to
happen. And verse 18, that they would. The reason Daniel told
him that is so that he and his companions would desire mercies
of the God of heaven concerning this secret. Lord, have mercy
on me. That's the only recourse that
a sinner has. Did you know that? Don't claim
to be something you're not, like these spiritual false prophets,
so-called spiritual advisors. Don't come bragging about who
you are, where you come from, what you've done, what you've
experienced. Just cast yourself at the mercy
of the true and living God, the God of heaven. Daniel and his
friends, they knew God couldn't be contained in physical buildings
and statues and idle playthings. They knew he's the God of heaven,
the God of the universe, the sovereign God. And they sought
his mercies, his tender mercies concerning this secret, this
dream that the king had. Verse 18, that Daniel and his
fellows should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. Lord have mercy. And look at
verse 19. Then was the secret revealed
unto Daniel in a night vision. God answered his prayer. Because
you know God always answers the prayer of a sinner begging for
mercy. And that's certainly true in
salvation. It was true in Daniel in this particular instance,
but it's true in salvation. I tell you, any sinner who comes
to the true and living God, seeking for mercy at the mercy seat in
Christ, by His blood and righteousness alone shall receive mercy." And
I'll tell you why. That sinner is the workmanship
of God. That mercy beggar is the workmanship
of God. And God doesn't turn away what
He does. He'll turn away what man does, what man works, what
man conjures up. But He will not turn away His
own workmanship. And that's what a sinner who
seeks mercy in Christ is. He's the workmanship of God.
Made so by the power of the Holy Spirit in Christ. Convicted of
sin. That broken and that contrite
heart. That's the work of God. That's
not the work of man. I can't break your heart and
you can't break mine. I know preachers think they can.
They think they can by organ music and long drawn out invitations. But that's not going to break
a sinner's heart. It might break your spirit. It might break you
down and say, well, I'm gonna go up just to get him to shut
up. I've seen that happen. Haven't you? That won't break
the heart. That won't make the heart contrite
and repentant. That's the work of God in Christ. So this secret was revealed to
Daniel in a night vision. Some say that means a dream,
but I don't know. It's a night vision. Zechariah
had night visions. Why did God reveal them to him
at night? I don't know. Maybe I'll find out when I study
Zechariah. I don't know, but that's pertinent,
isn't it? He says, then Daniel blessed
the God of heaven. Now listen to Daniel's prayer,
verse 20. Daniel answered and he said, blessed be the name
of God forever and ever. For wisdom and might are his.
I don't have any wisdom. This is God's wisdom. And he
changeth the times and the seasons. God's in control of providence,
even summer, winter, fall, and spring. He removeth kings. The reason Nebuchadnezzar's on
that throne is because God put him there. He setteth up kings. He giveth wisdom unto the wise
and knowledge to them that know understanding. What a prayer
of worship this is. This is like a psalm, isn't it?
He says in verse 22, God revealeth the deep and secret things. I'll
tell you what, when God reveals to his people how he can be just
and justify the ungodly, there's nothing deeper, more secret than
that, isn't there? When he reveals Christ to us.
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, or power, and hast made known
unto me now what we desired of thee, for thou hast now made
known unto us the king's matter." Now the king there, he's talking
about his Nebuchadnezzar, but when I see that, When I see the
king's matter, I think about the gospel. The gospel. That's the king's matter. The
king of kings matter, isn't it? We're sinners in need of mercy. We're sinners in need of forgiveness. We're sinners in need of righteousness. We're sinners in need of life.
We're dead. And how that all comes about
is not really our matter because God doesn't put it in our hands.
If he put it in our hands, it would be our matter. But it's
the king's matter. It's Christ's matter. He's the
one who worked it all out by his obedience unto death on the
cross as the substitute and representative of his people. Well now listen
here as Daniel reveals the dream to the king. Verse 24. It says, Therefore Daniel went
in unto Ariok, whom the king had ordained to destroy the wise
men of Babylon. And he went and said thus unto
him, Destroy not the wise men of Babylon, bring me in before
the king, and I will show unto the king the interpretation.
Then Ariok brought in Daniel before the king in haste, and
said thus unto him, I have found a man of the captives of Judah
that will make known unto the king the interpretation." And
I know as you're reading that, you think about our Savior, don't
you? Daniel as a type of Christ here,
as a spiritual symbol of Christ. Daniel interceding for sinners
here. He says, I found a man among
the captives of Judah. Christ intercedes for His people. He's among the captives of His
people because He came in our name and in our nature, made
like unto us, yet without sin, and brought Himself under the
wrath. He Himself became captive under
the law. He made captivity captive. And he brought himself under
the wrath of the law to redeem us from the curse of the law,
to make an end of sin and finish transgression. And so we see
that great truth of substitution illustrated here in Daniel as
he intercedes for the people. Verse 26, the king answered and
said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, that was his Chaldean
name, Aren't thou able to make known unto me the dream which
I have seen and the interpretation thereof? Now there's the key,
are you able to do it? Now these astrologers and magicians
and Chaldeans and sorcerers, they weren't able to do it and
they said no man can do it. So the king asked a good question,
are you able? And again we see another illustration
there of Christ who is able to save to the uttermost them that
come unto the Father by Him. Daniel said, I know whom I have
believed and I'm persuaded that he is able. You see, our salvation
is wrapped up in the ability of Christ, not our own abilities.
Their salvation from the king's decree here was wrapped up in
Daniel's ability. Are you able? But look at verse
27, it says, Daniel answered in the presence of the king and
said, the secret which the king hath demanded cannot the wise
men, the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers show unto the
king. False preachers cannot tell you the gospel. No more
than these false magic magicians could tell the king his dream.
No, they can't do it. And he says in verse 28, but
there is a God in heaven. Now, this is amazing to me. See,
here's where Daniel's mind goes. Now, remember what the question
was. Are you able, Daniel? Why didn't Daniel just say, well,
yeah, I'm able? He didn't say it that way. He
said, they can't. Verse 28, he didn't even say,
but I can. He said, no, but there is a God
in heaven that revealeth secrets. They can't, but God can. and
maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days."
Now, the latter days refers to the days leading up to the time
of the Messiah. That's what he's talking about.
He said, "...thy dream and the visions of thy head upon thy
bed are these." Now listen to verse 29. He says, "...as for
thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed, what
should come to pass hereafter, and he that revealeth secrets
maketh known to thee what shall come to pass." So he's telling
you future things, Nebuchadnezzar. God has revealed to me that your
dream involves the future. But as for me, this secret is
not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living. What Daniel's saying is, in myself
I'm no more able to tell you this dream than these false preachers.
He says, but for their sakes that shall make known the interpretation
to the king and that thou mightest know the thoughts of thy heart.
God's going to reveal this dream to you, the thoughts of your
heart. He said, it's not for any wisdom I have, it's God's
wisdom. That's what he's saying. You
see, that's the great thing about this whole thing is that Daniel
gives glory to God. There's a God in heaven that
reveals secrets. And he makes a distinction here
between the wisdom of men, the wisdom of Babylon, and the wisdom
of Almighty God. And that's why the natural man
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he
know them. They're spiritually discerned. These are the things
of God. When we learn from the Spirit
of God who Christ is and how Christ Himself is both the wisdom
and the power of God, as set forth in 1 Corinthians 1, that's
an amazing discovery. That's something that every man
doesn't know. That's something that only God reveals. That's
a wisdom we don't have by nature and cannot find. This is the
wisdom of God. Look at verse 31, he says, Thou,
O King, sawest, and behold, a great image. Now here's Nebuchadnezzar's
dream. He says, You saw a great image. And this great image,
whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee, and the form
thereof was terrible. That word terrible there, you
know, you can interpret as being terror in that sense, but what
he's talking about, this is an amazing thing to look at. This
would strike fear in the hearts of men. And he says in verse
32, this image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his
arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs
were of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. Now this
is where we get the expression feet of clay. So that was Nebuchadnezzar's
vision. Now it doesn't stop there. Look
at verse 34. He says, He says, Thou sawest till that a stone
was cut out without hands. That is, without human hands.
This stone that was cut out was not of human origin. And this
stone that was cut out without hands, which smote the image
upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and break them to pieces. And then was the iron, the clay,
the brass, the silver, and the gold broken to pieces together,
and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors,
and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them,
and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain
and filled with the whole earth." I would dare say that most of
you have a pretty good idea of what all that means without going
anywhere else but this scripture. Because you know the scripture.
The Bible says the secret of the Lord is with them that fear
Him, that worship Him, and follow Him, and serve Him, and trust
Him. And He will show them His covenant. What is this stone
cut without hands, without human origin? What is this great image
that Nebuchadnezzar saw? Well, this great image that Nebuchadnezzar
saw represents human kings and human empires. That's what he's
talking about. And what he's teaching in this
is one of the most vital lessons that a sinner here on God's green
earth can ever learn. And that's this. Human kings
and human empires, even the best of them, let alone the worst
of them, even the best of them, cannot save mankind. They cannot do it. They cannot
save the world. They cannot remove sin. They cannot make us righteous. They cannot conquer death. They
cannot bring forth perfection. They're destined to fall. That's what he's showing. And
the only hope that a sinner has is a stone cut without hands. And you think about that. You
know, all through the Old Covenant and in the New Testament, God's
preachers, God's prophets told the Jews that the Old Covenant
could not bring perfection. You know, man in there, in trying
to conquer and build empires, you know what man essentially
is trying to do there? He's trying to do what only God
can do. He's trying to bring forth a
perfect world. I guarantee you, just about every dictator When
they first started out, they probably felt like they had a
godly motive, a religious motive, to make things better. Things
aren't the way that I think they should be. I'm going to make
them better. Let's head toward utopia. Let's head toward perfection. Nebuchadnezzar, all the dictators
of the world, even Adolf Hitler, he had a religious motive. He
felt like God was on his side. To conquer this world and let's
make it a better world. I know how to run it better than
him. Trying to do what only God can do. Lifting themselves up,
you see. He won't do it. As great as your
empire is, Nebuchadnezzar, as great as you think it is, as
great as you think you can make it or it ever will be, you may
be headed for utopia too, but it's gonna fall. And there's
only one hope. a stone cut without hands. You see, this is the way of God. And this stone cut without hands
became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. Now look at
verse 36, we'll come back to this. Now he says, this is a
dream, this is the dream And we will tell the interpretation
therefore before the king. This is what Daniel's telling
his friends. This is what we're going to say.
So verse 37, thou king art the king, art a king of kings. For
the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power and strength
and glory. Now did you hear what that just
said? This Nebuchadnezzar, this evil idolatrous king, who gave
him his kingdom? God did. That's what Daniel said. That's what the book says. God
gave you what you've got. Verse 38, And wheresoever the
children of men dwell, the beast of the field, and the fowls of
the heaven, hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee
ruler over them all, thou art this head of gold. That's the
Babylonian Empire. Verse 39, he says, And after
After thee shall rise another kingdom inferior to thee, and
another third kingdom of wrath, which shall bear rule over all
the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, for
as much as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things, and
as iron that breaketh all these shall it break in pieces and
bruise. And where is thou sawest the feet and toes part of potter's
clay and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided, But there shall
be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest
the iron mixed with miry clay, and as the toes of the feet were
part of iron and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly
strong and partly broken. And whereas thou sawest iron
mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed
of men, But they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron
is not mixed with clay. You can't keep clay and iron
together. And he says in verse 44, And
in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom,
which shall never be destroyed. And the kingdom shall not be
left to other people. Nobody else is going to get this
kingdom. But it shall break in pieces and consume all these
kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. Forasmuch as thou sawest
that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and
that it break in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver,
and the gold, the great God hath made known to the king what shall
come to pass hereafter, and the dream is certain, and the interpretation
thereof sure." These different metals represent these world
empires, known by their involvement in God's punishment of Judah.
and their role in the accomplishment of God's purpose to bring in
Christ, the Messiah. The gold, he says, that's you,
King Nebuchadnezzar, that's the Babylonian Empire. That's the
first empire that the Lord used to bring Judah into captivity.
The silver is represented by the next empire. That was the
Medes and the Persians. They conquered the Babylonians.
It was the Medes and the Persians, specifically King Cyrus, who
allowed them to go back into Jerusalem and rebuild the city
and rebuild the temple. The next one, a brass, that's
the Greek Empire, the Greek and Macedonian under Alexander the
Great, which conquered that region for a time, but then was broken
up. And then the last one, as you
well know, is the Roman Empire. that became divided. That's the
iron mixed with clay. That's the foundation of all
the empires represented here, and the stone that was cut without
hands is going to strike at the feet, going to strike at the
foundation, and they're all going to fall down and go boom. That's basically what he's saying.
They're all going to fall down. All these empires of man will
fall. But this stone that is made and
cut out of the mountain without hands, without human hands, without
the aid of man, without the power of man, without the goodness
of That represents the kingdom of God, the kingdom of the God
of heaven, the kingdom that He'll set up which shall never be destroyed,
which shall never be conquered, never be left to other people,
but it shall break in pieces and consume all these other kingdoms,
all the kingdoms of the world, and it will stand forever. That's the kingdom of Christ. That describes Christ's spiritual
kingdom established upon the righteousness that he worked
out upon the cross, cut without hands, without human origin,
without human help. The whole world, the kings of
the earth, Stan read it in Psalm 2, the kings of the earth all
stood up in opposition to God and His Christ and His people.
And this is a spiritual kingdom, it's not an earthly kingdom.
Now get your mind off of... John in chapter 18 and verse
36 recorded where Christ himself, the king of kings, stood before
Pilate and he said, my kingdom is not of this world. It's a kingdom of peace. It's
a kingdom of righteousness. It starts small and it grows
to encompass the whole earth because God has a people out
of every tribe kindred tongue and nation. Look over at Hebrews
chapter 12 with me. Here's a good description of
this kingdom. Look at Hebrews 12 and he's talking
about how we who are saved by the grace of God and brought
into this kingdom, how we didn't come to Mount Sinai under the law, but we came to
Mount Zion, the church of the living God." Verse 22, you're
coming to Mount Zion under the city of the living God, the heavenly
Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general
assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven,
and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men
made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant,
and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than
that of Abel. You see that? And he says in
verse 28, look down there, "...wherefore, we receiving a kingdom which
cannot be moved, let us have grace whereby we may serve God
acceptably with reverence and godly fear, for our God is a
consuming fire." What is the establishment of this kingdom?
The establishment of this kingdom is the Lord Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. It's the accomplishment and the
finishing of all that God sent him to do in the salvation and
the redemption of his people. Daniel speaks of it in Daniel
chapter 9 when he talks about Messiah coming to make an end
of sin and finish the transgression, to fulfill all righteousness,
to seal up the vision and the prophecy. When the Lord Jesus
Christ came upon his public ministry was said how the kingdom of heaven
is coming, how the kingdom of heaven is at hand, that how he
came to establish firmly that kingdom. It was his church. He
said, I'll build my church upon this rock. And he's the stone
which is cut out of the mountain without hands. That's a common... Look back at Isaiah 28. That's
a common reference to Christ, the Messiah. This stone cut out
of the mountain without hands. He was not of human origin. He's
the divine, holy Son of God. Look at verse 16 of Isaiah 28.
This is a prophecy of Christ. We read one of them in Psalm
118 when I opened the service. That was prophesied about a thousand
years before Christ. This one here, Isaiah 28, look
at verse 16, about 700 years before Christ. It says, Therefore
thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation,
a stone, A tried stone, tested. Our Lord was tested throughout
His life. Tested. He was, listen, He was
tempted of Satan and He won. He was even tested in the Garden
of Gethsemane under the infirmities of the flesh, the sorrows and
the pains of the flesh because of our sins imputed to Him. And
He was tested on the cross. And he passed the test. He's
a tried stone. He's a precious cornerstone.
He's a sure foundation. He that believeth shall not make
haste. Look over at 1 Peter chapter
2. And we could go to so many scriptures
here, but we don't have time to go to all of them. But this
stone is Christ. This is the kingdom of Christ.
This is the kingdom that stands forever. It's not like human
kingdoms. It's not like human thrones and
human empires and human judges. This is a kingdom of God. Look
at chapter 2 of 1 Peter. He starts out in verse 1, he's
saying, "...wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile,
and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, as newborn
babes desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow
thereby." if so be that you've tasted that the Lord is gracious
to whom coming as unto a living stone this stone is a living
stone not a dead stone disallowed indeed of men he was despised
and rejected of men he came unto his own and his own received
him not but chosen of God he's God's elect you see one who is
our Savior had to be appointed of God And it says, And precious
ye also as lively stone, living stones, are built up a spiritual
house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices
acceptable unto God by Jesus Christ, wherefore also it is
contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion. Referring back
to Isaiah 28 that we just read, a chief cornerstone, elect, precious,
And he that believeth on him shall not be confounded, and
unto you therefore which believe he is precious. But unto them
which be disobedient the stone which the builders disallowed,
the same is made the head of the corner. and a stone of stumbling,
and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word,
being disobedient." You see, to stumble at his word is to
stumble at him. He says, "...at the word, being
disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed." Go back to Daniel 2. Think about how he gave Nebuchadnezzar
that dream. And this is Christ and the kingdom
he establishes forever that conquers all kingdoms. That living, tried
foundation stone, the rock of our salvation, the rock of judgment. As we said, man's kingdoms and
empires will fall. They're built upon sin. All of
man's empires and all of man's kingdoms are essentially built
upon sin. But Christ's kingdom is built
upon righteousness. Think about it, Genesis 49, 10,
he spoke of the scepter that shall not depart from Judah,
nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come. And unto
him shall the gathering of the people be, not unto Nebuchadnezzar,
not unto the Caesars of Rome, not even unto the popes of Rome,
but unto Christ. He says unto the Son, Thy throne,
O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is
the scepter of Thy kingdom. In the book of Revelation chapter
11 and verse 15 it speaks of the kingdoms of this world are
become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ and He shall
reign forever and ever. They belong to Him. They're going
to fall. His kingdom will last forever.
And all who are chosen of God, redeemed by the blood of Christ,
and regenerated by the Holy Spirit, enter this kingdom. Christ said
you must be born again or you can't see or enter this kingdom.
Let me just read these last verses. Listen to Nebuchadnezzar's response.
Verse 46. It says, Then the king, Nebuchadnezzar,
fell upon his face and worshiped Daniel. Now, obviously, he didn't
see the significance of what Daniel had said, but that's what
he did. He worshipped Daniel and commanded
that... and that's the way of man, naturally.
Whatever God does, we attribute it to man, unless God shows us
different. And he says, he commanded that
they should offer an oblation and sweet odors unto him. Now,
oblation is an offering, and it's an offering that should
be made only to one who is God. And verse 47, the king answered
unto Daniel and said of a truth, it is that your God is a God
of gods and a Lord of kings and a revealer of secrets, seeing
thou couldest reveal this secret. Now he gave God some recognition
here. That's another way of man, you
see. Man knows that he has to give God some recognition. You
remember the Pharisee and the publican in Luke 18? Remember
the first three words that came out of the Pharisee's mouth?
We talk about that Pharisee and how he was boasting, and he was.
But you remember the first three words that came out of his mouth?
Anybody know what they were? What'd he say? I what? Thank God. So he's no different
than Nebuchadnezzar, you know. He's really worshiping himself.
I thank God that I'm not like other men, that I fast twice,
I do this, do that. But he gave God some credit.
And that's what man does in his salvation. He wants to give God
some credit, but he's not going to give him all the credit. That's
right. That's what works freewillism
does. It gives God some credit. Oh,
God helped me to do it, you know. You know, it's like the man said
about election. God votes for you, Satan votes
against you, but you cast the deciding vote. He'll attest that
God voted for you. Give him a little credit. That's
what Nebuchadnezzar is doing. He doesn't know the Lord here.
And he says in verse 48, Then the kings made Daniel a great
man and gave him many great gifts and made him ruler over the whole
province of Babylon. He was like Joseph in Egypt who
was second only to Pharaoh. Daniel was made second only to
Nebuchadnezzar in this area. and chief of the governors over
all the wise men of Babylon." Now, you know what God's doing
here? He's preserving his people. And it says, "...then Daniel
requested of the king that he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
over the affairs of the province of Babylon. And Daniel sat in
the gate of the king." That means he was a judge in this matter. That's a prominent position in
the court of a heathen king. But God gave it to him and worked
his providence towards his establishment of his eternal kingdom, that
kingdom that stands forever.