Just it's just been wonderful.
I direct your attention this morning to the book of Daniel
chapter 1 Daniel chapter 1 We want to look at some things that's
found here in this wonderful first chapter of Daniel Remember
our folks out there in Oregon. It's 811 out in Oregon right
now, so they're just getting ready to Those men who will be
speaking for me are probably showing up and taking care of
the heat and so forth, the air conditioning. But remember them,
remember us out there. We're on the edge of the world. All right, the Book of Daniel,
Chapter 1. In the third year of the reign
of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, came Nebuchadnezzar, king of
Babylon, unto Jerusalem. and besieged it. Now notice verse
two, and the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand. What a statement of God's sovereignty. With part of the vessels of the
house of God, which he carried into the land of Shinar to the
house of his God. And he brought the vessels into
the treasure house of his God. And the king spake unto Asphenaz,
the master of the eunuchs, and he should bring certain of the
children of Israel and the king's seed of the princes, children
in whom was no blemish, but well favored and skillful in all wisdom
and cunning in knowledge and understanding science, such as
had ability in them to stand in the king's palace in whom
they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans.
And the king appointed them a daily provision of king's meat, and
of wine which he drank, so nourishing them three years, that at the
end thereof they might stand before the king. Now among these
were the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Unto whom the prince of the eunuchs
gave names, for he gave unto Daniel the name of Beltasar,
and unto Hananiah Shadrach, and Meshel, Meshach and Azariah Abednego. You know, when I read this just
the other day, I'd even forgotten that they had other names than
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. That's what we know them by,
but those are the names that were given by the Babylonians,
and most of that was some honor to one of their gods or another.
But Daniel 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, Therefore, he requested of the prince of the eunuchs
that he might not defile himself. Now, God had brought Daniel into
favor and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs. Once again,
the divine intervention by God in his sovereignty upon this
situation, or he purposed it to happen that way. And the prince
of the eunuchs said unto Daniel, I fear my Lord, the King. who
hath appointed your meat and your drink. For why should he
see your phrases worse liking than the children which are of
your sort? Then shall he make me endanger
my head to the king. Then said Daniel to Melzar, who
the prince of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael,
and Azariah, prove thy servants, I beseech thee, 10 days, and
let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink. Then let
our countenance be looked upon before thee, and the countenance
of the children that did eat the portion of the king's meat,
and as thou seest, deal with thy servants. So he consented
to them in this matter, and proved them ten days. And at the end
of the ten days, their countenance appeared fairer and fatter in
flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king's
meat. Thus Melzar took away the portion of their meat and the
wine that they should drink and gave them paltz. As for these
four children, God gave them knowledge and skill and all learning
and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding and all visions and dreams. Now
at the end of the days that the king had said he would bring
them in, then the prince of the eunuchs brought them before Nebuchadnezzar. And the king communed with them,
and among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael,
or Azariah. Therefore stood they before the
king. And in all matters of wisdom and understanding that the king
inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the
magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm. And Daniel
continued even unto the first year of King Cyrus. Now it's
generally thought that Daniel was about 15 to 18 when he was
brought into captivity. And it was 70 years that they
were in captivity. So he's going to be an elderly
man when this captivity is over with. Well, there's so many messages
in this first chapter. We don't have time for them all,
but I would like to look at a couple of words found in this passage
of scripture. that shares with us that Daniel
was concerned about honoring God, and in so doing, he leaves
us an example to the believers, to the church, what it is to
feast on Christ. Here he uses the word, he says,
pulse. We notice that word pulse twice
in there in verse, let me find that. There in verse 16. Thus, Melzar took away the portion
of their meat and the wine that they should drink and gave them
pulse." Now, if you look that word up, it's vegetables. They
requested that they be given vegetables and not all the dainty
meats and all the wine that the rest of the folks were getting.
And we find out that Daniel put a challenge before the man that
was over him, the charge over him, that give us 10 days. And
if we don't have what you want in the men that were going to
serve the king, then we'll go ahead and do that. So at the
end of 10 days, he looked at him and said, they're fairer
and fatter than the rest. So he continued to give them
pulse or vegetables. You know, Daniel, like those
other three that came with him, were truly pilgrims, believers
in the Messiah, the Christ, that had been uprooted from their
homes, their families, from their friends, but not from their God
because he is omnipresent. Their God went with them. In
fact, their God foresaw them and brought them and comforted
them and blessed them when they came into that captivity. And
it was their God, the God of heaven, the God that we love,
that had instructed them, don't get involved with the dainty
meats and the wine of this place. You request this vegetables,
this pulse. You know, it reminds me much
of what we read, and just quickly turn over to the book of Genesis
in chapter 39. In the book of Genesis chapter
39, we read this about Joseph. Now, people, I understand what
it must have felt like, because I had some brothers that wanted
to sell me. You know, these guys, 11 brothers sold their brother
down into captivity. But notice this in the book of
Genesis chapter 39, verse two, Genesis chapter 39 and verse
two. And we're going to find the same thing with Daniel and
his three friends. It says the Lord was with Joseph
and he was a prosperous man. The Lord was with Joseph and
he was a prosperous man. And he was in the house of his
master of the Egyptian. So wherever the Lord has us,
we're in our prosperity. We don't need the money. We don't need all the other things
when we have the Lord. We have that prosperity. Now,
He gives us so much more here in America. My goodness, we have
so much. I remember going to a classroom
one time when I was seven and I was wearing a coat and a young
boy said, you must be rich. And I said, Do you have a home
to sleep in? Yes. Do you have food to eat?
Yes. Do you have clothes to wear? Yes. We're all rich in America. There's very little poorness
in America. But as we look at this, we find
that Daniel and his three friends were very prosperous down there
in Babylon because the Lord was with them. They proved them for
10 days. They came out looking great after
10 days of eating vegetables instead of the stuff that the
king had brought up. You know, there's a verse of
scripture in the book of Isaiah that I want to direct your attention
to that shares as much about this very thing about the picture
that we read here. in the book of Daniel about Daniel
and his three friends and what they ate and how we look back
and see what other people have desired in the past that recognizes
the fact, gives us the information about them. They do not know
the first thing about their Savior, about Christ. Here in the book
of Isaiah chapter four, we read an interesting verse of scripture.
And you know, when I was growing up, this was all millennial stuff,
but this is just the truth The gospel it tells us here in in
Isaiah chapter 4 and verse Verse 1 it says in that day seven women
shall take hold of one man Saying we will eat our own bread and Wear our own apparel and
Only let us be called by thy name and take to take away our
reproach. Now, isn't that what we find
in our life without Christ, that we don't want his bread and we
don't want his robe of righteousness, but we want to be called a Christian
because that's honorable. And that's what these things
are dictating to us. We find these seven, that's just
a picture, it's a type, it's a shadow of what it is to be
in religion and not claim anything that God has for us. Well, let's
continue on that thought and turn with me to the book of Exodus
chapter 16. In the book of Exodus chapter
16, one more time, we want to look at the children of Israel. We've looked at that a little
bit in the past, The children of Israel are such an example
to us. They're watched over by God,
God cared for them, God brought them out of Egypt, God provided
for them, and here in Exodus chapter 16 and verse 3, we get
to look into their heart. We get to see what they're really
like when even they have Jehovah, they have Elohim, they have the
God of heaven leading and directing in their lives. It tells us in
Exodus chapter 16 and verse 3, and the children of Israel said
unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord
in the land of Egypt when we sat by the flesh pots. When we did eat bread to the
full now, you know, they're rewriting history you go back and find they did
not have bread to the full, and they didn't have much to eat,
they were slaves, and now they're out there in the wilderness,
God has brought them out in a miraculous way, God has brought them across
the Red Sea, God has brought them into this land, and he's
gonna be with them and care for them, and they look around and
say, oh my goodness, We remember back there in Egypt those flesh
pots, and by the way, we got to eat bread to the full. And
their children said, when did we do that? Well, as we follow
this out, turn with me to the book of Numbers. Again, an example
of what we find in the scriptures that God shares with us about
the heart of natural man in respect to what God has provided. They
will not, they are not, and they cannot be satisfied with what
God gives them because their heart is back in Egypt and they're
dreaming about what happened back in Egypt. Numbers chapter
11 verse 4, we read these words, about these same people, Numbers
chapter 11 verse 4, it says, and the mixed multitude that
was among them fell a lusting, and the children of Israel also
wept again and said, who shall give us flesh to eat? We remember
the fish which we did eat in Egypt freely and cucumbers and
melons and leeks and onions and garlics. But now our soul is
dried away. There's nothing at all beside
this manna before our eyes. Oh, again, their dreams go back
to what it was they thought it was like back in Egypt. There
was nothing there but solitary work. They made brick and they
made brick without having the straw provided for them. They
made things for the Pharaoh. They were slaves to the Pharaoh
and their food supply was very, very limited. But when they get
out here in the desert and God is providing for them, they look
back and say, ''Oh, I wish I had all that stuff again.'' Just
a normal religious activity, a normal religious heart about
what has been going on beforehand. But our soul is dried up and
there's nothing besides this manna. Turn with me to the book
of Numbers chapter 21 and we find another description of their
description of this manna. Numbers chapter 21. Think about
Daniel. Daniel said, all we want is some
vegetable. We don't want the rest of that
stuff. We want those vegetables. Now he's just sharing, I want
the simple things. I want the simple things. I don't
want to get complicated with all that other stuff. That stuff,
you know, I'm sure if you've gone into a Chinese restaurant,
you've eaten food offered to an idol. But do you know that
doesn't bother me at all? Still tastes pretty good. I don't
have any thought about that idol. He's just one of that big fat
golden boy there. He's just a thing. But here in Babylon, it touched
Daniel and his four friends. We will not eat this stuff. We want the simple thing. We want the, well, we call it
today, the simplicity which is in Christ. That's what we want. Nothing added, just the simplicity
which is in Christ. So here in the book of Numbers
chapter 21 and verse 5, we read this. Numbers chapter 21 and
verse 5, and the people spake against God. Can you imagine
that? Yes. Did it every day. I will not
have this man rule over me. And these people spake against
God and against Moses. Wherefore have ye brought us
up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread,
neither is there any water. And they're lying through their
teeth. God has given them bread. And they say though, and our
soul loatheth this light bread. We hate this manna. You know,
when we look at manna, we find out it had every vitamin, every
nutrient, everything that was essential to keep their bodies
going for 40 years. They didn't have to take vitamins.
They didn't have to check the label to see what was in it.
They didn't have anything in that manner that they couldn't
pronounce the name of. This is the bread of heaven.
This has come down to us from God. We'll go out and pick it
up and we'll make some bread out of it. And it tasted like
oil, sweet oil. You know, they just couldn't
handle that because we find out in our very own nature when people
start preaching us Christ in our lost condition, is that all
you're going to preach? What else do you want? Well,
I want law, and I want how to raise my family, and I want how
to do good, and I want this. You know what? All that comes
under the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to his people. He
takes care of every one of those essential needs in the gospel
of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. So we have this manna. This manna
had everything that was absolutely necessary. And now let's jump
over to the New Testament, if you would, to the book of John.
And here we read that Jesus brings up the subject of the manna.
You know, there's a lot said in the New Testament about this
manna. In the book of John chapter six, John chapter six, we read
these words that the Lord Jesus Christ brings up. You know, there
is, there is a number 666. If you look at John 666, John
666, you'll find many of his disciples followed him no more.
That's what it's about. Leaving the gospel because you
never had it to begin with. But here in John, John chapter
6 and verse 49, let's read this verse of scripture. John chapter
6 and verse 49, the word of the Lord shares this and it says,
our fathers did eat manna in the wilderness. Excuse me, your fathers did eat
manna in the wilderness. They brought up this manna. And
he said, your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are
dead. There was nothing miraculous
about that in preserving life eternally. God never provided
that in manna. Those people ate manna, ate manna
all their life and still died. You know that's what God did.
He did not provide in this symbol anything that would help us for
eternal life. The same he does in the communion
service. There's not a thing in that that
provides eternal life. The symbol is not eternal life,
the reality is eternal life, and so he is going to go on here
in this passage of scripture. Turn with me back to the verse
one of this sixth chapter and it says, After these things Jesus
went over the Sea of Galilee, the Sea of Tiberias, and a great
multitude followed him. He's going to illustrate another
point about food. You know, there's 5,000 men plus
women and children, I'm assuming that are following Jesus. And
he brings up this thing in verse five, when Jesus then lifted
up his eyes and saw a great company come upon him, he said to Philip,
when shall we buy bread that these may eat? Now the wonderful
versus the next one. For he himself knew what he would
do. There's never been a time that he has not known what he
would do. He's always known what he would
do. But he brings this up to Philip, and Philip says, 200
days of labor. The money from 200 days of labor
would not provide enough food for these people. And so the
Lord Jesus says, cause them to sit down, there's five loaves
and two fishes, and he multiplies those five loaves and two fishes
into a great host that there's 12 baskets full left over. Now
I'm convinced that those people were like me last night, they
overate. They stuffed themselves because
they didn't know when they'd get another meal. They were full
as a tick, as my mother would say. And after it was all said
and done, they collected 12 baskets full of fragments that were left
over. Now, these were not fragments that spilled out onto the ground.
These are fragments that could have been eaten if they needed
it. You know what? All of that food didn't change
one mind towards Christ. That bread that he multiplied
did not change one heart towards Christ. That fishes that he multiplied
did not change one heart towards Christ. There was nothing here. And the manna that came down
from heaven, not one heart was changed towards Christ. In fact,
we find the contrary of that. We loathe this stuff. We're sick
and tired of this stuff. We don't want it anymore. And it was the perfect food.
They didn't have to worry about scurvy. They didn't have to worry
about their teeth falling out. They didn't worry about diseases
because God took care of that in the food that he gave them.
Well, as we follow this down, we find that the Lord gets more
serious as this chapter goes on. But before we go there, would
you turn with me to the book of Isaiah chapter 55, Isaiah
chapter 55. In Isaiah chapter 55, we have
this wonderful statement made by the prophet Isaiah as he was
the instrument in God's hand to write this truths of the Old
Testament. I'm so amazed as I read through
the New Testament that this is all the New Testament saints
had was the Old Testament. Genesis to Malachi. It was put
together and that's all they preached from. If you want to
hear the Apostle Paul, that's what he preached from. If you
want to hear Peter, that's what he preached from. If you want
to hear Jesus Christ preach, that's what he preached from.
He preached from the Old Testament because the Old Testament tells
us of Christ. That's what he said to his disciples. They were all confused. We mentioned
that the other night. They were confused about the
establishment of a kingdom. And he wanted them to know beyond
a shadow of a doubt that the Old Testament scriptures declared
his atoning power and atoning work that he is going to perform
on the cross. And the gospel was going to be
tied up in that. Well, here in the book of Isaiah
chapter 55, We read these words, Isaiah chapter 55 verses 1 and
2, the scriptures share this and say, Ho everyone that thirsteth,
come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye buy
and eat, yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without
price. Wherefore do you spend money
for that which is not bread? Now, he had given them that manna
and he gave them all that bread, those fishes on that day, but
not one scintilla, not one atom of that contributed to their
spiritual well-being or to their eternal life. He prevented that. He would not
go along with that. They may have said that. We have
religion today saying, all you have to do is do this, take this,
take this, and you have eternal life. You know, there's nothing
in the Bible about that. Jesus Christ, in fact, was so
contrary to that. It is not in the natural food,
even if I specially design it and give it to you, or if I multiply
it for you, there is absolutely no benefit in this for spiritual
life. This will do us while we live,
but you shall die. He told all those folks about
eating manna. You did eat manna in the wilderness.
Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and they died.
What a serious consequence. They had their whole religious
system blown up in their face, and then they would tape it back
together. Wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which satisfies not? Hearken diligently
unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight
itself in fatness. Blessed are those who do hunger
and thirst after righteousness, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. As we follow this, To a lost
soul, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior, is monotonous eating. You know, I love asparagus. I
love fresh asparagus. But towards the end of the season,
I like to cut the ends off because you know you put that in your
mouth, you just can't chew it up. It's like straw in your mouth. It's like having a willow limb
in your mouth. But you cut that off, and you
know, religiously speaking, we're satisfied with chewing on that
straw. We never want the good part. We, by nature, are given over
to not desiring the good part. We're desiring the bad part. We don't have any other nature
to choose anything else. We find that the Lord Jesus shares
with us that the saint, he will, is all my salvation. When Jesus
Christ shares with us as he did with David, he's all my salvation
and he's all my hope, not in any of this other stuff. All
right, join me back in the book of John chapter six, if you would,
for a few short readings before we close. In John chapter six
and verse 35, we read these words. John chapter 6 and verse 35,
the scriptures come out so plain as the Lord Jesus shares with
us. He said, Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life.
He that cometh to me will never hunger, and he that believeth
on me shall never thirst. And you know, he created quite
a stir over this. How can he be bread to be eaten? You know, it went shoof. Unless
the Lord gives us a new heart, it just goes shoosh. And when
he gives us a new heart, he says, oh my goodness, he's talking
about spiritual things. He's talking about spiritual
life. He's talking about everlasting
life. He's talking about life from God. He's talking about
the everlasting God. He's talking about the everlasting
hope. He's talking about the everlasting
covenant of grace. So he says, I am the bread of
life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. But
I said unto you that ye shall have seen me, and believe not.
All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from
heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent
me, and this is the Father's will which sent me, that of all
which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but I should raise
it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that
sent me, that everyone that seeth the Son and believeth on him
may have everlasting life, and I'll raise him up in the last
days. And the Jews murmured, then murmured at him, because
he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven. And then
they say, we know you. You're Mary's and Joseph's son.
We know your father, we know your brethren. How is it that
he saith he came down from heaven? Jesus therefore answered and
said unto him, murmur not among yourselves. No man can come to
me except the Father which saith, Sit me, draw him, and I'll raise
him up in the last days. You know the Lord's going to
get down to one of the most detestable the most detestable part of his
ministry on this earth it is absolutely the most detestable
to a unbeliever and we find out it is the most delightful to
a believer it's most detestable you know he brought the subject
up except you eat my flesh and drink my blood You have no part
in this." And those people just went, what in the world is he
talking about? How in the world could he bring
that subject up of eating his flesh and drinking his blood?
I am the bread of life, he said. Jesus said unto them, verily,
verily, I say unto you, except John 6, 53. Would you look at
that verse with me? And then we notice here in this
verse of scripture, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man
and drink his blood. What does it say? You have no life in you. except you eat his flesh and
drink his blood. And then we have the religious
come along and say, well, we better fix that. So every Sunday
they pass it out. They go through a magic formula
and create blood and flesh to pass out to their people. And
you know what? Everywhere else is about the
same. He's not talking about communion. In that sense, he's
talking about having a personal, vital relationship with the Son
of God. And unless we have that, we do
not have life. We are not alive. We are dead
in trespasses and sin. Verse 54, whoso eateth my flesh
and drinketh my blood hath eternal life. He said, you have no life,
but if you do, if you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you
have eternal life. You know, this is the most serious
thing that God brought up about the gospel. This is getting down
to where the rubber meets the road. This is what Daniel was
telling us over there. I'm going to take the simplicity. I will not take this. And we
read about the children of Israel. Oh, give me those fish and those
leeks and those melons from back in Egypt and I'll be satisfied.
I do not like this manna, which is a picture and a type and a
shadow of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when he comes to us personally,
we will reject him, reject him and reject him. But he does something
for us. There must be this vital partaking
of him by faith. It must happen or we will not
have eternal life. We must feast on him or we do
not have life. And if we do, we have eternal
life. The Lord Jesus Christ made it
so simple, but it's so difficult because it's so repulsive. You
know, to the natural man, the gospel is repulsive. We want
the leeks and the onions. We want the meat from the king's
table. We don't want the simplicity.
We don't want the monotony. We only want that which is attractive
to the flesh. And by the grace of God, he takes
that out of us and causes us to vitally partake of Him by
faith. And this is performed by the
Holy Spirit in the new birth. When we are born again, we find
out, that was the most delightful feast I've ever had in my life. I can desire Him. You know, what
does a believer want? Christ. I want to feast on Christ. I want to hear about Him. I don't
need that other stuff because when I have Him, I have every
nutrient, I have every mineral, and I have everything that God
wants me to have in Christ Jesus, and He will fulfill every need
that I have. But I must, as Jesus said, you
must eat His flesh and drink His blood, and that is only done
spiritually, vitally, in the new birth This is performed by
the Holy Spirit. What we wanted all our life long
was dainties from the king, but Christ becomes our meal and we
cry, give me Christ lest I die. He is everything to the believer. We find out we have partaken
of his flesh and of his blood. We are recipients of the effectiveness
of his blood. And we are saved by the effectiveness
of his flesh on the cross. We have been found in a dry,
thirsty land. And though we may have desired
all kinds of other things, he said, this is it. Christ or nothing. And then he makes his feast on
Christ. And you know, in the in run,
when the inspectors come out, that chief of the eunuchs come
out and says, my goodness, you're fair and fatter than all the
rest. Isn't that what he says about
the church? You're fair and fatter than all the rest because you
feasted on Christ.