Two Journeys

Please, if you would, take your Bibles and turn to the book of Romans. We're looking this morning at Romans 5. We're going to be zeroing in on verses 3-5, but we are also looking at the flow of argument spanning verses 1-11, so we can understand what is in there. Now, the Scripture testifies that, someday, there's going to be a wedding banquet of the Lamb. There's going to be an incredible feast. And there's going to be seats at the wedding banquet. Jesus said, "Many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the banquet table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven."

I remember some time ago, I went to the most lavish wedding reception I've ever been to in my life. It was in New York City. The wedding itself had taken place in the United Nations chapel, and one of the most expensive hotels had opened its doors to this family for the wedding reception. And I have come to know, since then, about how much a wedding reception costs, and that must have been in the billions… Maybe millions… But it was very, very lavish. And at each place was a name card. And my name was on one of those cards. I had a place to sit down. And I thought to myself, today, as I prepared this message, how do you know that there is a place card at the wedding banquet of the Lamb for you? How do you know you're going to sit down there? On what grounds is your assurance? What is the basis of your certainty that you're going to be there?

I believe that Scripture gives us three types of assurance, and I think we see all three in the text we're going to look at today. But some would say, and some have said, in church history, that, assurance of salvation, an absolute certainty that you are going to Heaven, an absolute certainty that your sins are forgiven, is impossible. That God does not give it. For example, the Roman Catholic Church, shortly after the Reformation, they convened together on what was known as the Council of Trent. And they said on January 13, 1547, their sixth session on justification... Remember what justification is? The doctrine that, by faith in the blood of Jesus Christ, all of your sins can be forgiven. By faith in Jesus Christ, you can be declared not guilty by the Judge of all the Earth. How precious is that? But they said in their doctrine on justification, chapter nine, it says, and I quote, "No one can know with a certainty of faith, which cannot be subject to error, that he has obtained the grace of God." You can't know for sure, unless God testifies directly to you, by some special thing, like you're a prophet, you cannot know whether you're justified. You'll find out on Judgment Day.

But even some Protestants, afraid that a sure and certain conviction, that all your sins are forgiven, that you will most certainly end up in Heaven at the end of your life, would lead to a sinful life. "Let us sin all the more, so that grace can increase. If I'm secure, I can do anything I want. I can murder, steal. I can treat my family any way that I want. I can do anything I want, any given day, and I'm forgiven." And so, therefore, pastors or leaders have stood up, and said, "Don't think that way. There is no sure and certain hope. You've got to stay with Jesus, day by day. You've got to be holy. You've got to work out your salvation every single day. There's no guarantees. You could be lost. You could be saved today and lost tomorrow, so you got to keep with it. You've got to keep walking with Jesus."

And so they give no assurance of salvation, because they want you to stay with the program. But the Bible doesn't do this. And as a matter of fact, God labors that we would have an assurance of salvation. Jesus said this, "Fear not, little flock, it is the good pleasure of the Father to give you the Kingdom." That's assurance language, isn't it? Fear not little flock, it is God's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom. And the whole book of 1 John, seven times, the Apostle John says, "This is how we know." This is how we know. This is how we know. Over and over. "This is how we know that we are in Him." "This is how we know that we belong to the truth." "This is how we know that He lives in us."

You want to know the grounds of assurance? Read 1 John. There are tests in there, so that you may know that you're a Christian, a genuine Christian. He culminates the whole thing, 1 John 5:11 and following, "And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life. And this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life. He who does not have the Son of God does not have life." Verse 13, "I write these things to you, who believe in the name of the Son of God, in order that you may know that you have eternal life." God intends His children to have a sure and certain assurance of their salvation. And that is Paul's purpose here in Romans 5:1-11. That's what he's getting at.

Now, last time, we looked at Verses 1-2, and we saw already, three of those words of assurance. He talked about having peace with God. He talked about an access into a permanent standing in grace. And he talked about, also, a joy, or an exalting in the hope of the glory of God.

Now, what I'm going to do, is read Verses 1-11, but as I said, we're really going to be zeroing in on Verses 3-5.

"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace, in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character, and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts, by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us. You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely, will anyone die for a righteous man. Though, for a good man, someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through Him? For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life? Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation."

Now, that is the ground of your assurance, the Scripture.

Now, Paul, as he's looking at this, is facing, realistically, some threats to assurance. We've been talking, since we began the study in the Book of Romans, about a Gospel message, which is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes that message. We've talked about how there's nothing in us that can respond to that message, that we are sinners, that we are lost, we are depraved. We do not see God. As it says in Romans 3. "There was no one righteous. No, not one. There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God." And so they wonder, "How can we be saved? How can anyone be saved?" But God and His mercy has given us Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ stood in our place. He took the punishment on His body on the cross. He absorbed the wrath of God, the righteous, just, condemnation for sinners. And He died the death we deserved to die. And He rose from the dead on the third day, to give us that sure and certain hope of our salvation.

Threat #1: Justification is invisible...“It’s all just words...”  

And then, in chapter 4 of Romans, He talked about justification by faith. How are any of us sinners made right, simply by faith? Well, what is the faith like? It's just a believing in the Word of God, a simple trust. And so Paul is coming at us now, in chapter 5, and saying, "Well, how can we be sure we've received it?" You don't get a gold certificate from Heaven. Wouldn't that be great, if an angel came down and said, "Here's your certificate. As long as you have this, you know you have eternal life." Boy, I'll tell you what, wouldn't that be something? But God doesn't do that. Instead, He gives us these words. We read them on the page and we believe them. We trust them, and then we're open to doubts, aren't we? We're open to tremblings and to wonderings, "Have I really been saved?"

Threat #2: Am I a real Christian?

And then there's other threats. There's the threat of the issue of sham faith, a fake Christianity. "How can I know for certain that my faith is real?" I've heard stories about people who came to church for years, and then the temptations came, and they fell away. And it seems like they've lost their salvation. Now, I've heard of doctrine saying, 'Once saved, always saved,' but what about this person? What about this person? What happened over here?" And so we're shaking, were wondering, "Is my faith genuine? Is it real? Will it last? How do I know I'm not a sham Christian? How do I know I'm not fake?" That's a threat.

Threat #3: Suffering in life... “How can God be at peace with me if I’m suffering all these trials?”

And then there's the threat of suffering in life. There are some people sitting around you right now, that are going through unbelievable trials. All you need to do is say, "What are you going through right now? Tell me what's going on in your life," and you'll hear. There are incredible sufferings that we all go through, some more than others. And as we go through tribulations, we go through trials, we go through sufferings, you say, "Now, wait a minute. I thought we had peace with God through our Lord, Jesus Christ? I thought God was all powerful and that He loved me in Christ. Why is this happening to me? Why these trials? What's going on here? It used to be so easy. It used to be so good in my Christian life. I'd pray and God would answer. I'd share the Gospel and somebody would come to Christ. I would love to go to worship, but now, it's different. And I wonder sometimes, 'Have I lost it? Has He lost me? What about these trials? What's going on in my life?' " Suffering in life, a great threat to assurance.

Threat #4: Will I persevere? How can I know for certain I will finish my life believing in Christ?

And then, finally, that question, "Will I persevere? Will I finish? I don't just want to start. I want to finish the race. Will I be one of those ones, who, laying on my death bed, is clinging to Jesus Christ and to Him alone, and saying, 'Praise, God. Yes, I'm going through struggles. I'm facing death, it's true, but I have eternal life in Jesus. I know that when I pass through the veil, I'm going to come into His presence.'" Or are you going to be those that are going to be wondering, are going to be, perhaps, even at some point, repudiating Christ, or even blaspheming, because of some things that happened in your life? How do you know that won't happen to you? Because you're such a good believer? Because you're so strong in your faith, it's not going to happen to you? What is the ground of your assurance? That's the issue of Romans 5:1-11.

The Terrible Threat of Sham Christianity

Now, on the issue of the terrible threat of sham Christianity, this is not something that I, as your pastor, have invented. This is something that the Word of God talks a great deal about. If you look at James 1:22, it says, "Do not merely listen to the Word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." Now, that brings up a topic of self-deception, the fact that you can lie to yourself. You can assure yourself, when God is not assuring you. Deceive yourself, be a listener of the Word, but not a doer. You're deceiving yourself, you're self-deceived. And then Jesus, very, very clearly in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew Chapter 7:21 and following, it says, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father, who is in Heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name, drive out demons, and perform many miracles?' And then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers'" Oh, that that might not be said to anyone in this room. Do you realize how terrifying that is? And if it's true of you, wouldn't you want to know today? Wouldn't you rather know today, when you can still repent and trust in Christ?

What is a sure and certain ground of assurance, not a sandy one, but a solid one, that'll survive Judgment Day? What's the modern version or the Baptist version? Did we not walk the aisle, sign the card, get baptized, go to Sunday school, get involved in a church? Be the chairman of this or that important committee, serve for many years, and then die in the church? Is that a sure and certain ground of salvation? Well, what is? What is a sure and certain ground? I want to give you that. I want you to walk out, knowing that you're saved. I want you to walk out, knowing you're going to go to Heaven when you die, and base it on what God has based it on, not on a sham faith, but on a genuine one.

Now, people have talked to me before about my preaching style. I'm an expository preacher. I just move through passages of the Bible. But, today, I'm going to give you three points in a poem. That's what I'm going to do today. As a matter of fact, if you look at your outline, I haven't even filled it in for you. I haven't done anything. I'm just giving you the three grounds of assurance, because I want this to be utterly clear. Here are your three points: What is the poem? I've rewritten verses to "Jesus Loves Me." We're going to sing it as the closing hymn, based on what I'm preaching today. That's your poem, three points in a poem. I'm not going to do that next week. This is it.

This one time. This week, you're going to get your three points in a poem. What are the grounds of assurance? Assurance number one, assurance reasoned out in the mind. Second level, assurance worked out in the life. Third level, assurance poured out into the heart, by the Holy Spirit. That's it. That's what the Bible offers you, for your assurance of salvation. Let's see if we can understand them.

First, assurance reasoned out in the mind. By the way, did you see that odd cover? You say, "What a strange thing to put on Mother's Day. What in the world does that have to do with Mother's Day?" Actually, it doesn't have anything to do with Mother's Day. It does have to do, however, with the message. My desire is, over the next two weeks, you will understand this diagram, including that odd looking swoosh at the top. We'll talk about the swoosh next week. Come back for the swoosh next week.

Assurance that the Holy Spirit pours out into your heart. We'll talk about that fully next week. But you've got the three levels there: Reasoned out in the mind, worked out in the life, and poured out in the heart. That's an assurance that God is giving us for salvation. You could write right across the top, which I'll probably do for the bulletin next week, "This is how we know." That's just Scripture. That's 1 John. "This is how we know," First John 2:5, First John... Well, seven times, I'm not going to quote them all... "This is how we know." This is how you know: Reasoned out in the mind, worked out in the life, poured out into the heart. That's how you know. First, reasoned out in the mind. What is the basis of this? How does it work? The basis of it is God's unchangeable Word and His awesome promises. When God makes a promise, He never takes it back. He means what He says when He makes you a promise. And you can have an assurance based on the trustworthiness of God to keep His promises. Remember how Abram got saved? How did Abram get saved? On what basis is Abram, that sinner, going to stand before God on Judgment Day? On faith and faith alone. How did that faith get expressed? You remember the story? God took Abram out of the tent and said, "Look up at the stars, all the starry host." He pointed to them and what did He say to him? "So shall your offspring be." That is a promise, isn't it?

What happened next? Abraham believed the promise. What happened next? God justified him. He declared him righteous, based on the fact that he believed the promise of God. That's how you get saved. There's no one in this room that's going to stand before God, acquitted on Judgment Day, on any other basis than that. You simply believe the promise of God, justified by faith and the promise. Now, God has made us better promises, hasn't He? We've got better promises than Abram had, much better. We're not going to a better Heaven. We get the same Heaven. We get the same God, but we get better promises. Like what? Like John 5:24. Write that one down. Absolutely spectacular verse. Jesus Christ said, "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my Word and believes Him who sent me, has eternal life and will not be condemned. He has crossed over from death to life." That's enough to hold onto the rest of your life. "Whoever hears my Word and believes Him who sent me, has eternal life and will not be condemned. He's crossed over from death to life." Can you ever cross back? How do you go back? You don't. You've got eternal life, simply by hearing and believing.

Now, what is the reasoning out? How does that work, reasoned out? What happens is, you accept those promises, and then start to extend them in your life. You start to reason out by faith, and extend it to all areas of doubt and trouble in your life. That's exactly what Paul does here in Romans Five, as we'll see. He's working with us through reason and through logic. Now, the best description of assurance reasoned out the mind I've ever heard, is in the hymn, "Jesus Loves Me." How does the first verse go? "Jesus loves me, this I know." How do you know it? "For the Bible tells me so." That is assurance reasoned out in the mind.

 The Bible is secure. His promises are certain, therefore, I'm going to Heaven. That's how it works. Now, I'm telling you right now, if that's the only assurance you have, you have no assurance. You need the others as well, because the Bible makes these promises indiscriminately. "Many are called, few are chosen," the Scripture says. Anybody can pick up a Bible and read. How do you know it's true of you personally? We'll get to that. But the bottom line assurance is assurance reasoned out in the mind. God gives us a promise and He keeps His promises every time. Paul seeks to reason with us. The best reasoning you're going to see on this, is in verses 9-10 of our section today.

I'm going to preach on this more in a couple weeks, but just look at it right now, in verse 9-10. It says, "Since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through Him? For if when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life?" The 'how much more,' which He says in verses 9-10 is reasoning language. He's arguing from the 'harder to do' to the 'easier to do.' It is harder for God to justify an ungodly sinner and an enemy, than it is for Him to finish saving an adopted child of God. It's harder to start, than to continue and finish. It may not seem that way to you. It didn't feel like anything when you got justified, but it was a huge thing for God, because He's so holy and we were so ungodly.

And so, therefore, he's arguing from the greater to the less. It was hard to get you justified. It's easier to finish the whole way. Reasoning out in the mind is working it out. And he was reasoning it out. He's saying, "Look, if I began this good work in you, I will carry it to completion, until the day of Christ Jesus."

There's other forms of reasoning. I reason with myself all the time. Like eternal life, if you were saved for six years, three months, and two days, and then you fell away, did you receive eternal life? No, you received six years, three months, and two day life. That's not eternal life. Eternal life's eternal, and you receive it, when you trust in Christ. There's all kinds of reasoning you can do with this, and it's all based on the Scriptures, based on the Word of God. Reasoned out in the mind.

Secondly, assurance worked out in the life. Now, I told you there's a whole book dedicated to this, it's 1 John. You want to understand what God does in you when you get justified? Read 1 John. Everyone who gets justified, this is what He does in their lives. And if He hasn't done this in your life, you're not justified. That's how it works. It's an assurance based on things done in your life. He works things out in you. You change. You begin to grow. You begin to be more and more like Jesus Christ. This is what we call the proving ground of justifying faith. Do you know what a proving ground is? You ever heard of the Aberdeen Proving Ground? 73,000 acres in Maryland. Anyone who wants to sell a weapons system to the Army, has to bring it to the proving ground, and prove that it works, show that it works well in various types of testing and circumstances. You bring the weapons system to the proving ground and it's proved out. Well, what is the proving ground of justifying faith? Your life. Your life. What happens in your life.

Now, the Book of James talks about something called a dead faith. It's a faith that produces nothing, a faith that produces no works. Nothing comes of it. The Book of James also talks about a demon faith. It assents to all the right answers. It knows that there's one God and it shudders. There's no love. There's no obedience, no submission. Dead faith doesn't save; demon faith doesn't save. Justifying faith, now, that saves. How do I know that I've received justifying faith? It's proved out in your life. Things happen in your life as a result. Justifying faith always produces fruit. Jesus put it this way in John 15, "I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit. While every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes, so that it will be even more fruitful. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me, and I in him, he will bear much fruit…so proving himself to be my disciple."

Do you see how it works? 'Fruits' is the proof of discipleship. 'Fruit' is the proof of justification. If you are engrafted into the vine, the sap will flow through you and it will bear fruit. No fruit, no justification. That's how it works. And so it's an assurance based on things that happen in your life. Now, what is the fruit? What comes as a result? Well, Jesus told a parable about this. Remember the parable "The Seed and the Soils"? The Kingdom of God is like a man who went out and scattered seed. Some fell on the path and the birds came, and ate it up. Some fell among the rocks, and it grew up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants withered and died, because they had no root. And some seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked the plants, making it unfruitful. Now, there's three categories, and all three end up in what? Unfruitfulness, nothing comes of it.

Action Fruit and Attitude Fruit

And then there's the seed that falls in the good soil, producing what? A crop, a harvest, 100, 60, or 30 times what was sown every time. Justifying faith, every time, bears fruit. And you say, "What is fruit?" John MacArthur divided it into two categories: There is action fruit and there is attitude fruit. Action fruit and attitude fruit. Now, I know we Baptists love evangelism. We tend to think of fruit, as only that you lead somebody to Christ. Well, that is a form of fruit, but it's not the only fruit God has in mind.

What kind of attitude fruit? It has to do with what you love and what you hate, what your character is, what you're attracted to, what you're yearning for. It has to do with the fruit of the Spirit. What kind of person are you? Galatians Five, "Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control," these character attributes, the Holy Spirit works in you. It's a characteristic. It's what kind of person are you? It also has to do with what kinds of things do you rejoice in? What do you enjoy? What do you exalt in? Look at our text. Look at verse 2. What does it say we exalt or rejoice in there? It says, "We exalt or we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God." That's what a Christian rejoices in. That's what they get excited about: "The hope of the glory of God." What about Verse Three? What do we exalt in there? Our sufferings, our tribulations. How does that fit? We'll talk about that in a minute.

And then, in Verse 11, what do we exalt in, or rejoice in? "We exalt in God through our Lord, Jesus Christ." This is attitude fruit, what you rejoice in, what you delight in. You delight in the Word of God. You love to hear about the advance of missions. You're excited when somebody comes to Christ. These are the things that drive you and interest you. These are things you love. And what do you hate? Well, you hate sin. You hate your own sin more than anything. You'd love to see it out of your life, every last part of it gone. That's character. It's who you are.

What about action fruit? Well, it's all the stuff that flows out of that character. Jesus said, "Make a tree good and its fruit will be good. Make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad. A tree is known by its fruit." So what kind of fruit flows from a justified person? Well, many good things, prayers and generosity, opening your heart, and your purse, or wallet, or your home. Serving God in bold ways, evangelizing, using your spiritual gifts. Many good deeds, so many I can't list them here. But God has listed the good deeds that flow out of a justifying faith: Action fruit and attitude fruit.

How does this assurance work? Scripture says I will bear good fruit in my heart and my life, as a result of my faith in Christ. In 1 John and other places, tell me what that fruit is. Step two, I see that fruit in me. I see it happening in me. Praise God, He gets all the glory, but I see it happening in me. As a result, I know I'm a true Christian. I'm not a sham Christian. It's genuine.

 How does God work that into us? That's what Verses 3-5 talks about. Look at it again. The Holy Spirit works these in us through tribulation, sufferings, and trials. "Not only so," verse 3, "But we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character, and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts, by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us."

In verse 2, we have the hope of the glory of God. We start with hope. We then go into the fiery furnace of trial. The trials works in us perseverance, perseverance works in us a proven or tested character, and the tested character becomes a sure and certain ground for a greater hope. You see, it's kind of a spiral. You start with hope and you end up with HOPE. You see how it works? And then you start next with HOPE, and you end up with... I won't do it.

But big hope and it just keeps moving up. And what fuels that whole thing in Romans 5:3-5? It's trials, it's difficulties, it's suffering that produces that. And so we end up rejoicing, saying, "God, give me more." Not because you're a masochist, not because you love to suffer, but because you see that it's the only way that you may grow in your salvation.

Rejoicing Because of Trials

What kind of trial should we rejoice in? Well, James told us, "Consider it pure joy whenever you face trials of many kinds" any kind, many kinds, all kinds of trials, "Because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." Turn that around: Without trials, you will be immature, incomplete, lacking something. But what kind of trials are we talking about? Well, there are trials that are common to all human beings, and then there are trials uniquely fitted to Christians.

What kind of tribulations are common to all people? Physical trials, sickness, cancer, diseases, or a loved one that has those. Everyone faces that, Christian, non-Christian alike. Relational troubles, marital difficulties, parenting woes, ruptured relationships, perhaps at the work, or in the neighborhood, or even with total strangers. These are trials that anyone and everyone faces. Financial difficulties and economic woes, these things everybody faces.

What are trials that only Christians face? I think there are two, in particular, that I'm thinking of. Persecution, because of Christ, and temptation. Now, you could say, "Temptation? Non-Christians face temptation." Well, they face it, but they cave in. There's no suffering there. They don't bear up under temptation, but Christians have to, and so there's a suffering that comes from that. These are the trials that God brings into our lives. And what happens as a result? We grow in character. How are we different from non-Christians when we go through the trials? Well, anybody, Pagan or Christian, anybody can rejoice when things are going well, isn't that true? You just had a baby. The baby's healthy. You're excited, you're thrilled, maybe, perhaps, even thought you were barren for a while, but now, you've got a child. Who can't rejoice at that? Anybody can rejoice in that. Or maybe you just got a promotion at work, or you just moved into your dream home, or you got a vacation coming up. Just good things happening, anybody can rejoice at that. The difference comes when the trials, and the difficulties, and the troubles come into the light. That's the difference.

Now, a non-Christian can rejoice despite the trial. You see? They can somehow, through stoic philosophy, or through a certain way of thinking, or their own religion, or whatever, somehow manage to make their way through that, rejoicing, despite the trial. But a Christian rejoices because of the trial, "Thank you, God, for this trial. I need it. I'm glad for it. I see it working in me perseverance and perseverance proven character. And so, therefore, I'm glad to have it."

What happens when you go through trials? Maybe some of you are going through them right now. What happens to your faith? What happens, so that God sustains and strengthens you? Well, there's two illustrations I'd like to give you. The first comes from our national anthem, "The Star Spangled Banner." Have you ever seen Fort McHenry or heard the story about Fort McHenry? What happened was, on September 13th, 1814, Francis Scott Key was standing on the bridge of a British ship. He'd been temporarily held. It was an envoy, and they were holding him through the night, and he was observing the pounding of Fort McHenry through a naval blockade, and a pounding. And all night long, as the bombs were bursting, and the rockets... He could see that the American flag was still flying over Fort McHenry. And when the dawn came up, and the sun came up... Have you ever pulled apart the first verse of our national... It's a long sentence, a question and another sentence, something like that. It's this long thing, but the whole point is, the flag's still there after all of the pounding, and all the trials, and all the difficulty, and all the rockets, and the bombs. It's still there.

God has raised a banner in your life, and there is nothing that's going to take it down. It doesn't matter how much bombing goes on. It doesn't matter how much Satan attacks. It doesn't matter how much trouble comes in. The flag's still going to fly, because nothing can take it down.

How does it happen though? We're so weak and frail. It seems, at times, like any trial will just knock us over. Well, the second illustration came from the Berlin airlift. Do you remember the Berlin airlift? Some of you maybe do remember from history. After World War II, Eastern and Western Europe were divided. The Allies, and then Soviet Russia. And then in Eastern Germany, there was Berlin, and Berlin itself was divided among the Allies and the communists. The part of Berlin that was controlled by the Allies, at one point, June 24th, 1948, they blockaded and they couldn't get in. The Russians wouldn't let anyone in. And so the Allies decided to airlift supplies in there, and they just started to airlift, and airlift, and airlift, and it went on for about 15 months, the Berlin airlift.

On one day, the day before Easter, April 16th, 1949, there were 14,000 air flights into Berlin, almost 13,000 tons of food and supplies. The Russians gave up. They couldn't squelch the city. They couldn't starve the city. They were eating better inside, than the others were eating outside. They couldn't quench it. And that's what happens to you, when you go through trials. Satan pouring on all…and God sustaining in the back, giving you what you need to survive the trial. The Berlin airlift. He's airlifting you everything you need, so that you can survive that trial. And in the end, you get proven character. You look at me and you say, "I'm real. I'm genuine. I'm not a sham Christian. I'm not like one of those seeds that fell on the rocky soil, and the sun came up, and as soon as it got a little tough, I fell away. I'm still here and I still love Jesus." Proven character.

And then, in the end, Paul says, "That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, and insults, and hardships, and persecutions, and in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." A Christian actually rejoices, because of the trial, not just despite of or during the trial. We're glad for it. Now, how do we go through it? Not like robots. You're like, "Oh, this is wonderful, isn't it? Praise God." No, we're real people. Yeah, we cry. We get our friends over, they cry with us. We hurt, but in the heart, we know God is doing something good. He's sustaining us. Our faith is being tested. And in the end, it's going to prove genuine, and real, and I'm a Christian. And in the end, that hope that you get, it doesn't disappoint. Verse 5, "And hope does not disappoint, because God has poured out His love into our hearts, by the Holy Spirit."

And that is the third and final form of assurance. I told you I wasn't going to touch with it today. There's no way I can do it in just... I want to dedicate a whole sermon to this. And why? Because it's so important. This is the Holy Spirit pouring out the love of God into your hearts directly. Not through a reasoning process of the mind, not through seeing things in your life, but directly into your heart, telling you, "You are a child of God." Romans 8:16, "The Spirit testifies with our spirit, that we are," what? "Children of God." Next time.

And you're saying, "What is the swoosh?" Next time, okay? The Spirit can do things that you would just not believe. And any of you know what I'm talking about, the elevation of the Spirit, the way that He can pour out, so that you just say, "I don't know what happened, but Heaven was open that day. I've never had a day like that, never had one since." Those of you who know what I'm talking about, will you pray with me for the next week, that God would do something mighty in this congregation? What would happen here, if God did that? Unbelievable. We'll talk about it next week. But that's the third form of assurance, poured out into the heart by the Holy Spirit. Next time.

My closing question to you is simply, do you know this love? Have you reasoned out, from the basis of Scripture, that God loves you? That He's made some promises to you, just like Abraham, you believe those promises and you know you're going to see God? That all your sins are forgiven through faith in Jesus Christ, do you know that? Can you say, "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Promises, to me, He's made. On His Word, my trust has stayed." Can you say that?

What about the second? Do you see it in a changed life? Have you seen transformation in your heart? Do you see the battle with sin and do you see yourself succeeding? Not every time, but you hate it. You hate the sin and you want to grow. You see that power in you. Do you see the perseverance through trials? Do you see this? Do you see the changes? Action fruit and attitude fruit, do you see it? "Jesus loves me, this I know, for His power has changed me so. Every day, He transforms me, so that I may glorious be."

And what about the third? We'll talk about it next time, but have you ever felt poured out into your heart, a direct testimony of the Holy Spirit, that you're a child of God? "Jesus loves me, there's no doubt, for the Spirit pours it out. He has testified to me, I shall live eternally." Those three are the solid, firm, biblical basis for assurance. If you don't find yourself in there, it may very well be that you are not a Christian. Wouldn't it be better to know now? Wouldn't it be better to trust Christ now, than to have Him say, "Away from me, I never knew you?"

In a moment, we're going to close with this hymn. We're going to sing it. The words are printed in your bulletin. They're not in the hymnal, not yet. But they're in the bulletin, so just open it up, and read it, and sing along. And if God has moved in your heart, and you want to talk to me about eternal life, if you're not sure that you're justified, you're not sure your sins have been forgiven, come and talk to me. Don't put it off. Come forward and talk to me. A lot of people here, that would be eager to pray with you, and explain to you anything that you need to know. Let's come to Christ. Why don't you close with me in prayer?

Father, we thank you that, you, through the Scripture, have labored with us, that we might have a sure and certain assurance of salvation. Father, that we can reason it out in our minds, based on the promises of Scripture. This kind of how much more language, we can understand it, we can reason it out. And Father, we can see it working out in our lives, as you change us gradually by the Holy Spirit. And we can feel it poured out into our hearts, by the Holy Spirit, whom you have given us. Oh, Lord, I pray for my brother and sisters here, who are already assured in this way, that they would grow in their assurance, and so that they might be able to bear good fruit for you. And Father, for those that have no such assurance, Father, I pray that they would humble themselves, and in a broken-hearted way, come to the cross, and trust in you, Jesus, for their atonement. In Jesus' name, I pray, Amen.

If you would, turn in your Bibles to Romans 5, as we resume after a little break from this book. We've been through four chapters together and then looked at Psalms and Book of Daniel and now we're back to look at some more of Romans. And this morning we're going to be looking at Romans Chapter five verse one and two, rejoicing in the hope of the glory of God.

In the Summer of 1987, I was on a summer mission trip. A number of our students and our members are going to be going on summer outreaches and they're tremendous experiences, but this was one of the greatest experiences I ever had. I was in the country of Pakistan in the northwest frontier province, and I've never seen any terrain as beautiful as that terrain up there, the Karakoram mountains, world class mountains, some of the highest in the world second only to the Himalayas in height. Some of these peaks towering over 20,000 feet covered with snow year round, and we traveled on a road through the Karakoram Pass into the western, far western part of China along what used to be known as the Silk Road, and it was incredible and I'll never forget it. But the glory that I saw in God's creation there, the glory that just took my breath away and I can't describe it. The glory that is in those mountains is nothing compared to the glory of two mountains in Scripture and one inexpressible journey that I want to begin with today. The first is Mount Sinai.

The First Mountain: Sinai

And Moses went up on Mount Sinai and received the Old Covenant from God, but he spent some time up there with God, and in that time that he spent with God, it got to a point in their relationship where Moses just couldn't wait anymore and he said, "Show me your glory," "I can't wait anymore, I want to see Your glory. I want to see You as You really are." And the Lord said, "I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." Those verses will come in later in Romans 9, but God doesn't just give this to anybody that's what He's saying. He said, "All right, I'll show you my glory."

But He said, "‘You cannot see my face, for no one may see Me and live. Then the Lord said, ‘There is a place near Me where you may stand on a rock and when My glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by, then I will remove My hand and you will see My back but My face must not be seen.’" And so he saw a portion, just a portion of the glory of God, and it transformed him so much that when he came off that mountain his face was radiating, there was a brilliance, a brightness, a shining aspect to his face, and the Jews were terrified and he had to put a veil across his face so that they could just be near him and be with him. That's the first mountain.

The Second Mountain: The Transfiguration

The second we studied recently. One day Jesus took with Him Peter, John, and James and led them up a high mountain by themselves and there He was transfigured before them. Now, some have said that Jesus is God Incognito. He laid His glory aside, He didn't look glorious, He looked like just any man, any Jewish man of His time. But for a brief moment in His ministry He took some of His glory back and He showed it to those three, specially chosen to go up that mountain by themselves. And it says in Mark chapter 9 He was transfigured before them, His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. There was a brilliance, a radiant shining aspect to Jesus but it was not His full brilliance. Do you know how we know that? Peter, John, and James survived, that's how we know.

So Jesus just turned the knob up a little bit and showed His radiance, His glory, and they were overwhelmed with terror and they hid themselves. Incredible experience. So those are the two mountains and one of the inexpressible journey. Well it's the apostle Paul and he describes it in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, and there he says, "I know a man in Christ who 14 years ago was caught up to the third heaven, whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know but God knows, and I know that this man, whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know but God knows, was caught up to Paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell." Now that's amazing.

Inexpressible means you can't put it into words. "Things not permitted for a man to tell" means you're not permitted to try. Now, what is that? That's the glory of God. It's paradise. And it's still just a portion. And how do we know it's just a portion? Because he survives. "No man will see My face and live," said God. Do you know that everyone of you who are called by the name of Jesus Chris, you were created to bask in the glory of God for eternity, do you realize that? Do you realize that's what salvation is all about, is taking you from eternal darkness into the eternal presence of God, and He is glorious, and not only that, you can't survive that physically and so He's going to transform you so that you can see Him face to face.

He's going to give you a resurrection body, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. So He's going to give you a new body, He's going to give you a new soul, the whole thing so that you can see His glory. He's going to show it to you. And my purpose today is the same purpose of Romans 5:2, that you may exalt, that you may boast, that you may rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Listen to Chapter 5:1-2 it says, "Therefore since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God." According to the Westminster Shorter Catechism, you were created, the chief end of man is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever. You're created to glorify God and to enjoy Him, and I would say, specifically to enjoy His glory. You were created for that.

Now, it's been a while since we've looked at Romans, but Romans has taken us through a journey to understand where we've been. To refresh your memory, Romans 1:16-17 is a theme verse for the whole book. There Paul says, "I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. First, for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel, righteousness from God is revealed, the righteousness that is from faith to faith just as it is written, the just, or the righteous, will live by faith." So the gospel message is a powerful message that can take you on a journey. It can take you from being under the wrath of God, to being in the very presence of God, blameless and with great joy. What a powerful message is that. And so Paul from Chapter 1:18 through Chapter 3:20, describes the nature of that wrath of God. It describes the nature of the judgment that we were under. Romans 1:18 says, "The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness."

It says in Chapter 2:5 that, "We by nature every day, are storing up wrath against ourselves for the day of God's wrath when His righteous judgement will be revealed." And so we're in a severe problem, all of us, both Jew and Gentile, every single solitary person on the face of the earth, is born apart from God, does not love God. Romans 3 says, "There is no one righteous, no not one. There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God." We're all in danger, and we're under judgment. And then the glorious glowing center of the gospel in chapter 3, propitiation through faith in Jesus Christ. So what does that mean? That Jesus is our atoning sacrifice. He steps in our place, and absorbs the wrath of God, so that we don't have to. He takes away the wrath of God, so that we can have eternal life, so that we can see the glory of God and live, that we can survive judgment day. And He takes His righteousness and gives it to us like an asbestos robe we talked about, so that you can survive the fires, the flames of judgment day, and come through on the other side, and see God face to face.

And then in Romans chapter 4 it talks about faith. We are not justified, not declared righteous, we don't survive judgment day through any good works that we can do. It doesn't matter how much we serve the church. It doesn't matter how many good works we do. We can never use them to pay for sin. As I was saying to somebody recently, you remember those tests that you take and there are extra credit tests or questions? And if you get those, you can compensate for earlier questions you got wrong. There's no extra credit in the Christian life. There's nothing beyond what God intended for you to do. Can you do any better than to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself? Is there any extra credit in the Christian life? And so we can never use good deeds to pay for sin. We need an atoning sacrifice. We need the blood of Jesus Christ, and it's available, but available only to those who trust.

To those who have Romans chapter 4, the faith of Abraham. And what was the faith of Abraham? You remember. This is just a review. God took Abraham out of his tent, and He pointed up to the stars. He said, "Look up at the stars, see them all." And he looked. And then God gave him a promise, "So shall your offspring be." Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. You hear a promise, you hear a message, you believe it, and you're saved just like that. But is it just like that? We can't see justification, can we? We don't get a certificate, do we? We don't get an angelic visitation. How do we know? That's what chapter 5 is about. It's about assurance. It's the way that we can know that we have received justification. And we're going to it over the next few weeks, unfold justification, so that we see what happens in the life of a truly justified person. God wants us to experience His glory. He wants us to be moved from under His wrath, all the way in the presence of His glory. And the gospel message is the only one that can take us there.

Now as we look at chapter five, we see immense treasures awaiting us, justification by faith and total assurance. Now, Paul's intention here is that we would have a complete assurance of our salvation. He wants us to know that we're saved. And we're going to talk more about assurance over the next few weeks. He wants us to know. And this is necessary because we are wrestling, aren't we, all the time with our sin nature? We're struggling with sin. We're struggling with the world, the flesh, and the devil all the time. And there are times, we don't really know where we stand with God. And so Paul wants us to understand. Paul's goal here is to give you assurance, but to do it in such a way that God gets the glory for it. God gets the glory, and you get the joy. That's a good deal, isn't it? God gets the glory, you get the joy. And so we have to understand each of these treasures. And he brings out these treasures one by one, and we talked about them. Jesus said, "Every teacher of the law who's been instructed in the kingdom is like the owner of a storehouse who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old." Come and look at this, and now look at this. And what about that? It's beautiful. And that's what we get in Romans 5.

Now as we unpack these treasures, jewel by jewel, we'll start with the first one. Look what it says. "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith... " Just stop there. "We have been justified through faith." This means by way of review, we have been declared not guilty before the judgement seat of God. Is that valuable to you? Would it be of any value to you on judgement day to stand before him and have the judge bow to you and say, "He or she is not guilty in my sight." Is that valuable to you? How valuable? What could we use? Jesus said, "What does it profit a man to gain the whole world... " And we just know, it's worth more than a whole world to you to know that you can survive judgement day. And it says, "We have been justified by faith." Now, look at the verse says, "We have been justified." It's once for all times and the past. You don't get justified day after day. You don't wake up as a goal, "Today I'm going to be justified with God." You either have it or you don't. You receive it by faith and once you receive it, it can never, never be taken away. Once for all time. We have been justified, and we have been declared righteous simply through faith in Jesus Christ. Not through any achievements of our own. We have as I've said: Christ's asbestos robe of righteous covering us. And we are free from condemnation.

But what's the next part? We've already talked about that, that's fourth chapter. It says, "Since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." What an incredible gift is this? We have peace with God. Now previously, we were at war with God and God was at war with us. Now this might seem shocking to you, but it really is no good news to declare peace with God if there wasn't a conflict before. What's the good news? Suppose this morning, the Durham Herald had "Peace!" on the front page.  Wouldn't you be kind of scratching your head and saying, "What is that? What do you mean peace?" But suppose it were May 1945, and that was on the headline. "Peace, peace in Europe, V-E Day," you'd know exactly what that meant, and you would rejoice, and you'd get on your knees and thank God that Hitler's been crushed and the war in Europe is over. We have peace. And how much more again in August of 1945 when V-J Day occurs? The war is totally over, now, it's done. We have peace. And now it means something, you see? Apart from a conflict, apart from the war, the peace means nothing. But there was a conflict and there was a war.

Look down in Romans 5:9: It says, "Since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved?" From what? From God's wrath. Again, God has an active aggressive wrath against sin. Now there is a teaching that says that we need to feel good about God, but He always loved us. They say He's always loved us, that He has no wrath against sin. They say He has no justice that needs to be addressed. They say that there's no problem on God's side. Do you know what you call that, or what I would call that, as a theologian? I'd call that liberalism. That's the essence of liberalism. The idea that God loves all the time and does not need to be appeased his wrath does not need to be addressed. But it's not biblical Christianity it sure isn't biblical Romans. Look, again, in Verse 9. "Since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through Him?" Now read the next part. Verse 10: "For if when we were, [what?] God's enemies, we were reconciled through the death of his son. How much more having been reconciled shall we say through his life?" We were enemies with God and God was at war with us and we needed freedom we needed peace in our relationship with God. Furthermore Romans 8:7 says: "The sinful mind, the natural mind, is hostile to God." Another word of saying "hostilities," is war. There was a war going on. We were hostile to God.

Ephesians 2:3 says, "Like the rest we were by nature objects of wrath." Now stop and understand what we're saying. Have you ever looked at the sun through a filter? Like maybe it one of those times where there was an eclipse or something like that. You can't look straight at the sun. You learned that when you were three. If you look real hard at the sun you're going to be blinded for a period of time. The longer you look, the longer the blindness. The sun is brilliant and it is bright. Power of fusion churning out energy. Thousands and thousands of years. Who created the sun? God.

Do you know that when Abraham went out from his tent and looked up at those stars, he was seeing 1/40 millionth of the stars in our galaxy? The Milky Way, 1/40 millionth with the naked eye, that's what you can see. Our galaxy is 100 million light years across and 2,000 light years thick, and it's just one of a hundred billion galaxies in the universe. And the galaxies are made up of stars, most of them bigger than our sun, burning, burning, burning with the power of God. And God just scattered those stars, He knows each one of them by name. And this is the God who had an active wrath against us. What a terrifying thing is that. What a terrifying thing is the wrath of God. And how much should we desire to be out from under the wrath of God? And there is a way. And the way is the cross of Jesus Christ. Look what it says: "Since we have now been justified through faith…" What do we have? "We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Peace!  There was a war but it's over. God is at peace with us through Christ.

Now I want to make a clear division here or a distinction between the peace, peace with God and the peace of God. Philippians 4:6-7, says, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God and the peace of God which passes all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Do you know what I'm talking about? "Peace of God"? It means a sense of well being, freedom from anxiety, freedom from fear, a peaceful feeling, a sense that God loves you. Is that valuable? Yes it is. Is that what this is talking about? No, it isn't. This is talking about a status of peace with God. It's a new relationship and it's permanent because it's tied to justification. When you are justified by faith you now have peace with God and nothing can change that. Isn't that wonderful?

Now the two are related in this way. Martin Lloyd-Jones said, "You will never experience the peace of God until you have peace with God." But once you have peace with God, then you can many times in life as you pray and trust Him and obey Him and walk with Him, experience the peace of God in your life, peace with God. And what's the next things? We bring up the next struggle. Look at verse 2, "Through whom," Through whom? Through Jesus Christ. "We have also... " NIV leaves out the "also," I don't know why. Sometimes they just dispense these little words like they're not important. This is another thing. It's another treasure. This word "also." "We have also obtained our access," it says in NIV, "Our introduction by faith into this grace in which we now stand."

Now, we have already received it. It's past tense once for all, just like we have already received justification. We have already received access or better introduction. We've already received it once for all time. Now what is this? Well, in order to understand it, it's hard for us to understand because we're a very kind of egalitarian country, but if you lived in a country where there was an emperor or a monarch, you would understand what it means to be introduced into the presence of a king. Back in the year 1262 in a city in Uzbekistan, a Venetian trader named Marco Polo met up with some representatives of the Kublai Khan. Now the Kublai Khan was Genghis Khan's grandson, and he had set up a new capital city in Peking, what we now call Beijing. He set up a city there. And as the envoys from Kublai Khan talked to Marco Polo, the envoys said, "Kublai Khan would like to meet you. Come with us." And so, Marco Polo traveled that long distance from Uzbekistan all the way to Beijing/Peking, and he was introduced into the presence of the Kublai Khan. That's the same concept we have here.

But suppose Marco Polo had traveled alone and had found out where the palace was, had tried to run into the presence of the Kublai Khan, he's surrounded by 200 trained soldiers, what do you think would have happened to him, if he had tried to venture his way into the presence of the Kublai Khan? He would have been cut down before he even got into one of the antechambers. And how do we think we can just walk into the presence of God without an introduction? We must be introduced to God. And this verse says, "We have received our introduction." Through who? Through Jesus Christ. He has said, "Come and be with My Father." He's introduced us to God. It's what it says. 1 Peter 3:18, "For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God." You see that? He brings you into the presence of God and says, "He's with me, she's with me. You're welcome here." And from then on you have freedom of access. You see? This is past tense once for all an introduction. You have now been introduced to God. From then on you have freedom of access anytime you choose.

Ephesians 2:18 says, "For through Christ, both Jews and Gentiles have access, Jewish and Gentile believers have access to the Father by one Spirit." Ephesians 3:12, "In Christ and through faith in Him, we may approach God with freedom and confidence." You have freedom of access. You can go right into the presence of God, but first, you needed your introduction and you've received it through Jesus Christ. You see how it works. And then Hebrews 4:16, "Because we have a tender and merciful, perfect high priest, Jesus Christ, let us therefore approach the throne of grace that we may receive grace and find mercy to help us in our time of need." Hebrews 10:22, "Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and full assurance of faith." This is repeated access. We can go there any time. Oh, what a privilege. I've already been there several times today, right here. I've come into the presence of God and talked to Him, but only through Jesus Christ, only through Christ.

Well, but what does it say? We have received access or introduction to what? Into this grace in which we stand. Every phrase brings out a treasure. We are now, it says, standing in grace. It's kind of like we've transferred our countryship. We used to be part of an old country and now we're in a new country. We used to be under the law. There's two places that a human being can be, under law or under grace. They're only two. And if you're under law, you're under judgment, wrath and condemnation. If you're under grace, you're under freedom and forgiveness, and redemption, and relationship, reconciliation. There're two choices. And we have Colossians chapter one, "Been rescued from the dominion of darkness and brought over into the kingdom of the Son He loves." And so, we have received access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.

Now what is this standing of grace? The image I've had since I first started thinking about this, is of a hot, soothing shower. Yesterday, I chewed up more of my lawn with a back tiller. And I've used this as an illustration before, so I won't do the same old thing, but I'll tell you this, it got me dirty and hot and needing a shower. And I knew that I would need to stand up and preach in front of you clean and ready, you wouldn't like to see the grunge, so I had to stand under a hot shower. Do you know what I'm talking about? What that feels like when you just need that shower to cleanse you? That's the image I get of standing under grace. It's just pouring on us all the time and we need it. Don't we? If you say no, you don't know yourself and you don't know God. We need it all the time. Our pores, so to speak, keep putting out stuff and we need to be cleansed from it. And the grace is sufficient for it. "Where sin abounds, all the more grace is even more." You can't out sin grace. We're standing under grace all the time. Standing in grace. But the analogy falls apart as most analogies do because that's kind of an external cleansing. Actually, grace gets inside you and transforms you from within.

We stand by the power of God, and He's in us enabling us to stand. On your bulletin, I printed 2 Corinthians 1:21, Look at it. It's a beautiful verse. It says, "Now, it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ." Is that not precious? You say, "How do I know I'll still be standing 20 years from now? How do I know that when I'm a senior citizen, I'm still going to be trusting in Jesus Christ? How do I know that the twists and turns of life are not going to pull me away from Jesus?" Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He's not going to let you go. That's grace. Romans 14:4, "Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master, he stands and falls, and he will stand, for God is able to make him stand." Isn't that beautiful? You're going to stand. You're going to survive. You're going to stand before Him Jude says, "Blameless and with great joy," He's going to do it. That's grace, to cleanse you from without and strengthen you from within. God's grace is working inside you at all times. 1 Corinthians 15:10, Paul says, "By the grace of God I am what I am. And His grace to me was not without effect. No. I worked harder than all of them yet, not I but the grace of God that was in me."

You see, grace makes you energetic. Grace enables you to put sin to death. Grace enables you to hate sin. Grace enables you to worship God. Grace enables you to read the Bible with understanding and to pray. That is the energy of grace. It's not like a warm June day when you're laying on a grassy hill, and the clouds are just floating by and you feel that gentle summer breeze. Have you ever felt that? That's so peaceful and gentle. It is not like that. It's more like the hurricane that took Elijah up to Heaven. It's powerful. It works its power in us, and it takes you to Heaven. That's what grace is, and we are standing in it. It says, "We have received access by faith into this grace in which we stand…" And now we're ready for the final goal and we rejoice, it says, "In the hope of the glory of God." Now, the word rejoice is a little weak. It actually means we exalt over it, we boast in it. I don't know if we're just at a point in our society where the only thing we exalt over or rejoice over is basketball championships.

Now, I've said to people I'm not going to stand up here and talk about earthly things, but what I'm saying is that the kind of thing that makes a fan go nuts and start cheering, it's wrapped up in this word. Or talked about it the next day at the coffee pot, it's boasting. You're talking about something you're exalting in. You're celebrating it. You see? That's what this word means. We exalt in, we boast over, we celebrate the hope of the glory of God. Now, what is hope? Well, hope... There's two types. There's Christian hope and then there's just the regular hope. The regular hope, we use that word all the time. Don't we? I hope it doesn't rain this afternoon, that kind of thing. Or, I hope it does. Some of you hope... If you were God, you're trying to decide 50% prayer for rain, 50% not. And what are you going to do? Both sunshine and rain, gifts from God. Take it all from Him. It's all evidence of His grace to us, but He's God and He decides what He's going to do. But you use that word, "I hope."

Now, I said I wasn't going to talk about worldly things, but I'm a Red Sox fan and so, here I go. There was a Sports Illustrated article about suffering Red Sox fans of which I'm one. And the name of the article was "Hoping for the Best, expecting the worst." That's the best example of worldly hope I've ever heard in my life. You're hoping that this year finally, win a championship. Never going to happen. I have a prophecy on that. Never going to happen. No I don't. Never going to happen. Alright? Hope for it though, that's worldly hope. Do you understand what I'm talking about? Then there's Christian hope. Now what is that? It's tied into the God of Daniel. We've already learned about Him. The God of Daniel who knows the future meticulously, accurately. Daniel 11, all these kings going here and there, and He's told you what's going to happen in the future. And He's going to make it happen, the Sovereign God. And He's told you, "In Christ you're going to Heaven." Now that's Christian hope. And what is it? It's a good thing that you look forward to and have not yet received. But you're waiting for it patiently. It says that in the Book of Romans. It says... Romans chapter 8, it says, where is it? I'm sorry. It says, "Hope that is seen is no hope at all, who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently." So, you don't have it yet, but you're waiting for it.

Now, what is the glory of God? There's two different ways to understand that. I think they're both fair. We're rejoicing in the hope of seeing God's glory. We're going to get to see Him so long. We're going to get to see the brightness. What Moses could not survive seeing, what Peter, James and John saw only part of, what the Apostle Paul saw but couldn't describe and wasn't permitted to describe, we are going to see face to face. Wow. And you have never seen anything in this earth that compares with it. And therefore, for you whether you're young or old, if you're a Christian, the best things are yet to come. Isn't that great? A Christian is essentially a forward looking person. Even if they're lying on their death bed, they're forward looking. I can't wait to see God. I can't wait to see it. I want to be in His Presence. I want to live there forever. Okay, that's one aspect to the hope of the glory of God. The other is, "I want to be transformed by it." There is a glory that happens in us. It's not external to us. It actually changes us. Remember Moses's face shone because he was in the presence of God.

What do you think it's going to be like for you to be fully in the presence of God? It's going to radically transform you into his image, the perfection of God. And we rejoice in that hope. Someday I'm not going to be like this anymore. I'm not going to be like this. I'm not going to be a sinner. I'm not going be corrupt. I'm not going to struggle. My body's not going to fall apart. I'm going to be glorious, just like Jesus is glorious. And I rejoice in that hope. Do you rejoice in the hope of the glory of God? Are you holding on to these things today? Are these your treasures? Every phrase is yours. Take it home. It's yours free of charge through the blood of Jesus Christ. Every phrase is yours, justified by faith, declared not guilty of all your sins. Peace with God, peace with God. He said, "Peace with you." No wrath anymore. No fear of judgement day. And access or introduction into God's presence ultimately.

But introduction into this grace in which He makes us stand. And on top of it all, we rejoice. We keep looking ahead, keep looking forward, we're excited even if we're on a ventilator, laying on our death bed. We're looking forward, we're excited, we're looking ahead. Not looking wishfully back saying, "I've had a good life." Hey if you're a Christian, you've had a good life, but the best things are yet to come. The best is yet to come. Are you rejoicing in the hope of the glory of God? Now if you're an unbeliever, if you've never committed your life to Christ, you can't. You're still under the wrath and curse of God. In a moment you're going to have an opportunity to just bow your head and receive by faith, forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ. If you're a Christian, I want to urge you to exalt in the hope of glory of God in your prayer life. When you get down on your knees, just say, "God thank you for what's yet to come. Thank you for the future that you have bought for me." And then when Satan starts hammering on you, and attacking you, criticizing you, say, "No. I'm justified and I'm going to heaven. And nothing, nothing can stop it."

Join with me on a prayer. Father, how can we give thanks to You sufficiently for what You have given us in these two small, short verses? God, You have declared us not guilty because of the blood of Jesus. He stood in our place and took away the penalty that we deserved. And we didn't do anything. We just received it by faith. Thank You so much for our justification. And thank You, oh Lord, that You are no longer at war with us. Oh what a fearsome thing. And though we felt it not, we couldn't perceive it oh Lord. It was still biblically true, that You were at war with us apart from Christ. But once we came into Christ, You're at peace with us. Oh thank You. And Father, I pray right now for any who have not trusted in You, any who have not repented and yielded to You, oh God, I pray that today would be for them the day of salvation. That they would bow before You. Father, I pray that they would come up to me and say, "I didn't know whether I was saved or not, I want to know Christ." Father, I pray they wouldn't leave this room without making that decision to trust Christ and to follow Him. And Father, for the rest of us, help us, Oh Lord, in our prayers and when attacked by Satan, that we might exalt, or rejoice, or boast in the of hope of the glory of God. It's Your Name, we pray Lord Jesus. Amen.

The Book of Proverbs informs us that God is meticulously in control of everything. In this sermon, Pastor Andy Davis looks at all the ways Proverbs reveals different aspects of God's providence.

Take your Scriptures, if you would, and open to the Gospel of Mark. We're gonna begin our study in Proverbs in another place, like we do every week. So I want to begin in Mark chapter 1. Do you all have sheets? I gave out some sheets so that when we get into Proverbs, you won't have to flip around. I know that some of you have more nimble fingers than others. But I wanted to give you these sheets. I'm not promising this every week, but I had time a little bit this week to give them out to you and... Is anybody missing one? Do you all have one? Okay. Do you all folks have, Barb and blue, you guys have 'em? Alright.

Alright, why don't we begin with prayer? Father, we thank you for the time that we've had tonight to listen to our brother and sisters as they sing about love for you. Father, it is indeed good to be alive, everything that you have given us is a gift. The Scripture says, Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights who does not change like shifting shadows. And we thank you, Lord, that you have given us not only physical life but eternal life in Jesus Christ. And Father, we can look around this beautiful world that you have given us, and we can thank you for it, but it's just a dim reflection of the glory that we will see when we're with you face-to-face in heaven. Father, now as we consider the topic of God's sovereignty in the book of Proverbs, I pray that we would come to rejoice in and to embrace your sovereignty, Father, that we might understand what it means. And that we might gladly bow the knee to you and submit our lives to you in every respect, realizing that everything you will is good. Your ways are perfect, your commands are life-giving, and that we are free, truly free to walk in the path of your commands and to know the eternal life you have for us. Thank you for these things, in Jesus' name, amen.

Look, if you will, in Mark chapter 1. In Mark 1:14 and following, it describes the beginning of Jesus' preaching ministry. And it says there in Mark 1:14, "After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee proclaiming the good news of God." What's another word for good news? The gospel. So he's going around proclaiming the gospel. So we're gonna learn a little something about the gospel. Now, what does it say in verse 15? It says, "The time has come," this is Jesus speaking now, "The time has come, the kingdom of God is near, repent and believe the good news." So what is the good news in Jesus' message? It's the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is the good news.

Now, we might think of the good news as being forgiveness of sin, the fact that Jesus died in our place so that we have eternal life, that he rose from the dead, all of that is good news, it's true. But here in this verse, the good news is the kingdom of God. Now, why is the kingdom of God good news? It's Sunday evening so that's not a rhetorical question. Why is the kingdom of God good news?

Audience response:  "It's available.";  "It's available through Jesus Christ.";  "It's a lot better than this world."

It's a lot better than this world, that's for sure, that's for sure. At the center of the kingdom of God is a king. That makes sense, right? And he is powerful and he's awesome, and he is good, and therefore the message about his rulership, his sovereignty is good news, is it not?

What kind of universe would this be if there were an awesome sovereign potentate who was not good? This would be a terrifying universe, wouldn't it? Or, if there were a force of evil running free in the universe that were unchecked by God's sovereignty, would this not be a terrifying universe to live in? But none of those is the case, and we're gonna find that out in a surprising place, perhaps the book of Proverbs. I want for us as Christians to embrace the sense of God as king, that we are to live lives of repentance and faith in that king, and that obedience to his commands is freedom, joyful freedom. Disobedience leads to slavery. Jesus said, everyone who sins is a what? A slave to sin. But "if the Son makes you free, you'll be free indeed." Free indeed. Does that mean there's no king? Absolutely not. There is a king and nothing, no force in heaven or on earth is going to remove him from his throne. They're just is insufficient power to do that. 

He is powerful, he is sovereign, he is ruling, and we kinda need to deal with that, don't we? It's not gonna change. But it's nothing to deal with in that God is king, because he is good and he is loving and his ways are right. And so we're going to, I think, feel around the perimeters and kind of poke our hands into the extent of his kingship tonight in the book of Proverbs. There's some amazing Proverbs that speak of the sovereignty of God. But before we go there, let's see if we can understand it. If you were to look in Psalm 47, you can turn there in the Bible if you'd like, or you can just read what's printed on the sheet there. Psalm 47:2 says, "How awesome is the LORD Most High, the great King over all the earth!" Isn't that marvelous? God is the great King over all the earth. That's pretty extensive. His reign over all the earth, he is the great King.

And then it says later in verse 7 through 9, "For God is the King of all the earth; sing to him a psalm of praise. God reigns over the nations; God is seated on his holy throne. The nobles of the nations assemble as the people of the God of Abraham, for the kings of the earth belong to God." Isn't that powerful? The kings of the earth belong to God, he is greatly exalted. That's a great statement of God's rulership, of his sovereignty even over the kings of the earth. It is not for nothing that we call Jesus the King of kings and the Lord of lords. He is great and he is sovereign, and he rules. Look at Isaiah 14:26-27. What would a king be if he never issued an order? What would a king be if he never gave a decree or made a law? He wouldn't be ruling, right? Well, God actually gives many decrees, many laws, he has many initiatives, he has many plans, his hand reaches out many times. He's not an inactive king, he's not a lame duck king, let's put it that way. He's moving, he's active, he has plans, he's unfolding that plan, and he's involved. His hand stretches out many, many times.

We'll look at Isaiah 14:26-27, "This is the plan determined for the whole world. This is the hand stretched out over all nations. For the Lord Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him? His hand is stretched out and who can turn it back?" What's the answer to the question? When God's hand stretches out, who has the strength and the power to turn it back? The answer is no one. Were you to assemble all the forces that God created in heaven, on earth, under the earth, they would be insufficient to turn back his hand when it moves. This is the sovereignty of God, and therefore, we could define the sovereignty of God as the active exercise of his supremacy over all creation. The active exercise of his supremacy. He is supreme. He is high and lifted up. In the vision of Isaiah 6, he is high and lifted up far above all of his created beings, you see? And why is God depicted as high and lifted up? I don't really think that spatial reasoning means much, except that it shows a sense of God's supremacy, his sovereignty, his greatness over that which is below him.

And so the earth, he sits enthroned, it says, over the circle of the earth in the book of Isaiah, he's ruling. This is what it says, AW Pink wrote this, "Being infinitely elevated above the highest creature, He is the Most High, He is Lord of heaven and earth. Subject to none, influenced by none, absolutely independent; God does as He pleases, only as He pleases, always as He pleases. None can thwart Him, none can hinder Him." This is the sovereignty of God.

Isaiah 46:9-10, and by the way, if you want a good section of scripture on the greatness and the sovereignty and the power of God, just 10 chapters on that, go to the Isaiah 40s, beginning in chapter 40 and up through 49, that's where it's at. Just chapter after chapter of, "I am God and there is no other. There is no one like me. All the idols, there is nothing. I can predict the future, and they can't... " Just God displaying his supremacy over and over. And mostly talking to Israel that had run after other gods and why somebody would choose a piece of wood and carve it into an idol and bow down and worship it? Half of it, he uses it to make his dinner and the other half he worships. How can this be? This is Isaiah 40 through 49, read those chapters, they're just majestic. Sometime this week, read Isaiah 40 through 49, you'll see what I mean.

But right in the middle of it, Isaiah 46:9-10, he says this, "I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, 'My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.'" Wow! What a God. What a God. "I say, My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please." Is God free to do as he pleases in his universe? Absolutely. He is King and he is free to do as he pleases in his universe, and he does as he pleases, and what he pleases is good. And so Jesus, when he began his preaching ministry, he said, "Rejoice and repent for the kingdom of God is near." So as we look at that, we think to ourselves, "Well, this is a wonderful thing. A mighty God, sovereign over all things," and yet we have to realize this is not a popular doctrine. Why is this not a popular doctrine? What is the problem here?

We like our self-will. We want to say I am and there is no other, I will do as I please. Oh, now, come on, admit it. You like to say, "I am and I like to do what I want," That's another way of saying it. The essence of parenting, which we talked about last week, is to persuade them that there's another will in the universe and that they need to yield and submit. It's hard. Every child comes into the world saying, "I am and there is no other, and I will do all as I please." And so, we've got that essence inside us and it's hard to break from it, isn't it? We want to do what we want to do, and we think that that's freedom, and it isn't. Jesus said it's sin, it's slavery. Freedom is bowing gladly before God, that's freedom.

Now, that's kind of a paradox, isn't it? But the bottom line is, that there is a King and we need to submit to him, and he is good. Listen to what Charles Spurgeon said about this topic. "There is no attribute more comforting to His children than that of God's Sovereignty. Under the most adverse circumstances, in the most severe trials, they believe that Sovereignty has ordained their afflictions, that Sovereignty overrules them, and that Sovereignty will sanctify them all. There is nothing for which the children ought more earnestly to contend than the doctrine of their Master over all creation, the Kingship of God over all the works of His own hands, the Throne of God and His right to sit upon that Throne. On the other hand, there is no doctrine more hated by worldlings, no truth of which they have made such a football as the great stupendous, but yet most certain doctrine of the Sovereignty of the infinite Jehovah. Men will allow God to be everywhere except on His throne." Is that not powerful?

"Men will allow God to be everywhere except on His throne. They will allow Him to be in His workshop to fashion worlds and make stars. They will allow Him to be in His almonry to dispense His alms and bestow His bounties. They will allow Him to sustain the earth and bear up the pillars thereof, or light the lamps of heaven, or rule the waves of the ever-moving ocean. But when God ascends His throne, His creatures then gnash their teeth, and we proclaim an enthroned God and His right to do as He wills with His own, to dispose of His creatures as He thinks well, without consulting them in the matter; then it is that we are hissed and execrated. And then it is that men turn a deaf ear to us, for God on His throne is not the God they love. But it is God upon the throne that we love to preach. It is God upon His throne whom we trust." What a great quote, and yet so true.

The very thing that we don't want, the sovereignty of God, and yet it is the sovereignty of God that sweetens the bitterness of the trials we go through in life, is it not? Because sovereignty has overruled them for His own purpose, and when we're through with all of this, he will bring us home. Isn't that wonderful? And so, the sovereignty of God, both loved and hated doctrine. Let's see what Proverbs says about it. There's various topics I've just gone through and I've organized them, not in any particular order, but just pulled them out with headings. The first that I like to bring out is sovereignty over human hearts, minds, wills and actions. Let's go right to the heart of the matter, shall we?

Now, if you look at the Spurgeon quote, he's saying that God can rule over the waves, he can hold up the pillars of the earth, but when he ascends his throne specifically to rule over what? People, that's when we have problems, right? Well, all I'm going to do is just read the verses and you can make of them what you will. God is sovereign over human hearts, minds, wills and actions. First, he's sovereign over our words. Look at Proverbs 16:1, "To man belong the plans of the heart, but from the Lord comes the reply of the tongue." So what is that saying? Well, it's saying, you can make your plans, but the words you speak were ordained by God. That's what it says, and I didn't write this, I'm just telling you what it says. Alright, look at the next one, He's sovereign over our actions. Proverbs 16:9, "In his heart, a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps."

Left foot, right foot, left foot... What should I decide next? Let's take a vote. Should I do the right foot next? Okay, right foot, left foot. The Lord directs his steps. What does that mean? I make my plans, and yet God directs my steps. Proverb 16:9, right after 16:1, so I put the two of them together. We make our plans but God works out what he wants. You see? I was talking to Jason early this week, he said, "So what? Are we robots?" Of course not. All I'm trying to do is understand these verses, and so even the very words that we speak and the steps that we step are under the sovereignty of God. We make plans, but God determines our steps. Proverbs 20:24, "A man's steps are directed by the Lord. How then can anyone understand his own way?" Are you telling me I don't even understand my own life? Yes, that's what the verse says. You don't understand your own life, not fully. Do you know that God knows your life better than you do? He remembers every decision you've ever made, we don't remember those.

You ever notice, "I forgot I did that. I forgot I said that." But you did. But whether you remembered it or not, God also understands the purpose behind it all, he understands why you said what you said and did what you did. And so, you put all these together, God is really involved and active in the decisions we make. I like, as I think about God directing or determining our steps, what it says in Ephesians 2:10, for it says, "We are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance that we should walk in them." Wow! That means every day has a bunch of good works that he's laid out, like it's stepping stones across the river of that day? Absolutely. Step, step, step. Good work, good work, good work, good work. Go to bed. Wake up, good work, good work, good work, good work, good work, go to bed. Until you die. And he's got it worked out, doesn't he? You say yes, "But I have the choice to rebel." That's true. You do. We do it a lot.

We do good work, good work, rebel, repent, good work, good work, good work. You see how that goes? And that's kind of how every day is for us, right? Good work, repent, come back, good work, good work, good work. But God understands all of this and even our sin, even our rebellion ultimately works together for good. "God causes all things to work together for good, for those who love him and are called according to His purpose." Good work, good work, good work. And the point is that we step in them, that we walk in them; he's ordained them. And this is the beauty of it, is that at 10 o'clock in the morning, there's a sovereignly ordained good work for me to do. Somebody at work who needs a message of the gospel, somebody who needs help, we'd study the Good Samaritan this morning. There's going to be an opportunity to be a good Samaritan to somebody in some way. That makes life significant. And God has ruled it all. Ephesians 2:10.

And God is sovereign over a king's heart. Look at Proverbs 21:1, "The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, He directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases." Wow. Now, I've quoted that many times before, I think it helps us to understand the book of Daniel, for example. God is sovereign over Nebuchadnezzar, God is sovereign over Belshazzar, God is sovereign over Cyrus the Great, God is sovereign over Darius the Mede. He's sovereign over any and every king that comes along. He's sovereign over Alexander the Great, Caesar Augustus. One after the other after the other, he's sovereign over all of them.

And this verse says the king's heart. Now, what is the heart? It's not that part of you that pumps blood, we know that. What is the heart? What is he referring to? What does the heart do in the Bible? Seed of emotions, motivation, the reason why you do what you do, reasons, purposes, the will, decisions that you make. All of that is in the heart. And there are verses that talk about each one of those in Psalms and other places. That is in God's hand? What you choose, what you love, what you hate, what you are enticed by and what you're not, the decisions you make, the court, all that is in the hand of the Lord. And specifically for a king, the mighty rulers of the earth, the ones that are making big decisions and big things are happening... Yes, that is in the hand of the Lord. And he directs it like a watercourse, whichever way he chooses.

Now, it's very interesting about that. I know we're at the heart of deep theology here, but I think the point is this: The king has an inclination, he has a drive, a bent, perhaps if he's a wicked man, toward evil, God directs that evil toward a certain channel, and it flows that way, and some wheels get turned that God wants turned. And you say, "How in the world can God use wickedness and evil to accomplish his ends?" Let me ask you a question, in all human history, what is the most wicked thing that human beings have ever done? Crucifying Jesus Christ. Is there anything worse? The Son of God, the only truly innocent man that has ever lived, did nothing but love God with all his heart, soul, mind and strength, and love his neighbor as himself every day of his life, and they killed Him, Son of God. And what came out of that wicked deed? Your salvation.

Now, that should prove that God is fully capable using wicked things to accomplish incredibly good ends, just like Joseph said in reference to his brothers, "You meant my attack here for evil, God meant it... " feel the weight of that, he intended it, he planned it, and he worked it out, God meant it for good. God can use wicked things to accomplish his ends.

Alright, God is sovereign over human hearts, minds, wills and actions. God is also sovereign over enemies. Look at Proverbs 21:30. He's sovereign over his enemies. Proverbs 21:30, "There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord." Wow! You can't concoct something that gets ahead of God and overrules or overturns his purposes. You can't work something out that's going to succeed. This is Psalm 2, folks. Look at Psalm 2, "Why do the nations rage and the people's plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand, and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his anointed one, 'Let us throw off their chains and break their shackles?'" What are they saying there? "Let's rebel, I'm tired of this king who's ruling over us all the time." And the one enthroned in heaven, what does he do? He laughs. He laughs. And at the end of Psalm 2, he gives a warning, "Don't do that. Okay, don't rebel. Kiss the Son. Submit gladly and it will go well with you." That's the message of Psalm 2, and it's the message here.

You can't come up with a plan that will overthrow God's plan. You can't figure something out that will get ahead of God and say, "Oh, no! Salvation, the whole gospel thing, it had a weakness and I never saw it. Satan found my weakness, and the gospel will not advance to the ends of the earth, and the such and such tribe in distant Mongolia will not hear the gospel." It's not going to happen. There is no plan that will succeed against God.

The next one, God is sovereign over seemingly random events. "The lot is cast into the lap, but it's every decision is from the Lord." Again, I didn't write this. Now, we don't use lots anymore, do we? What is the modern equivalent of casting a lot into the lap? Rolling a dice. How many of you have played Monopoly in the last year? Or some game that involved the rolling of dice? Alright. I have. Actually on the computer these days, this computer dice roll program that they've come up with, alright. I don't know how they do the random number generation and all that, there's a whole math theory behind that. Huh? Oh, you know, alright. Anyone interested? Herbert Rivera is the man. Random number generation. It's very hard for humans to come up with random numbers.

Anyway, the point is, you take that dice and you roll it. I was talking to my kids about this verse last night, I said, "Around the world right now, how many dice do you think are being rolled? Right this instant, how many dice?" Some of them are coming up one, some two, three, four, five, and six. And what is this verse telling you about the ones, the twos, the threes, the fours, the fives and the sixes? Every decision is from the Lord.

Now, how in the world... You say, "Why does God care what it comes up?" I don't know, but this is what the verse says. He seems to care whether it comes up a four or three. Now, you say, "Is this a consistent teaching in the Bible?" Yes, it is. You remember Jonah, the story of Jonah, what happened with Jonah? There was a big storm and all that, they bring Jonah out on deck, they're trying to find out who's responsible, and so they cast lots. And where does the lot come up? On Jonah. Well, what do you know! Just by chance, if they've done it a different way, it would had come up on a different guy. No way. "The lot is cast into the lap, but it's every decision is from the Lord."

Now, what is the application of this? There is no such thing as luck. Can we get around that truth right now? Can we kind of gather around and say Christians should not believe in luck? What is luck? It's some random force running through the universe that no one has control over, not even God. Is there anything like that? No, there is nothing like that. Or the modern equivalent of luck is karma, people talk about karma, that is just Buddhism or eastern mysticism coming into American culture. You watch Buddhism, folks, it's making inroads. There's no joke, you watch it, and why? Because it's very comfortable along with the lifestyle we want, it fits well, it mushes in well. And the whole karma thing is this idea of just this kind of that's how it worked out and there's no sovereignty in it, there's no purpose or person in it, there's no king who rules over it. That is a false universe, it doesn't exist and neither does luck. So, "The lot is cast into the lap but it's every decision is from the Lord." He's sovereign over the outcome of battles. "The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the Lord." You can get your horse ready and you should. You should get everything ready to accomplish the thing you want to accomplish, but victory rests with the Lord, not with a horse.

Another verse that talks about this is Psalm 33:12-19, we'll take a minute and read this. It says, "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he chose for his inheritance. From heaven, the Lord looks down and sees all mankind." That's a great statement of supremacy, isn't it? "From heaven, God looks down and sees all mankind, and from his dwelling place, he watches all who live on the earth. He who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do... " Now listen, verse 16, "no king is saved by the size of his army." Wow! "No king is saved by the size of his army. No warrior escapes by his great strength. A horse is a vain hope for deliverance. Despite all its great strength, it cannot save. But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love to deliver them from death."

What is God saying there in Psalm 33? It's not the horse that wins the battle, it's not the size of the army, it's what God wants to do with that, that's what matters. God is sovereign even over those battles. And he's sovereign over wicked people. Proverbs 16:4, "The Lord works out everything for his own ends, even the wicked for a day of disaster." This is a very deep verse, and we don't have time to understand it fully tonight, but I just wanted to read it. "God works out all things for his own ends, even the wicked man for a day of disaster."

Now, what did Jesus say of Judas who betrayed him? It would be better for him if what? He had never been born. Was he born? Who knit him together in his mother's womb? Psalm 139, who knit him together in his mother's womb? God did. So God chose something that was not better for Judas. It's deep, but God knit... I'm just putting verses together and putting concepts together. God knit him together in his mother's womb, and Jesus said of him, it would be better for him if he had never been born. It's deep.

Now, nobody compelled Judas to be a thief, nobody forced him to betray Jesus, those are things he stands responsible for on judgment day, and he will give an account. There was no forcing. None of that, but God knit him together in his mother's womb. And the Lord works out everything for his own ends. And then Proverbs 16:7, I love this, "When a man's ways are pleasing to the Lord, he makes even his enemies live at peace with him." Well, how does he do that? "Excuse me, enemies, will you come and sit down. I've got a friend over here, okay? And his ways are pleasing to me, and I want you to live at peace with him." Are the enemies in a good relationship with God? Absolutely not, not if the man's ways are pleasing to God, most likely the enemies are in rebellion against God. And yet, God makes them be at peace with him, God is sovereign over wicked people, and he can make your enemies live at peace with you. Isn't that a great verse? Say, "God, please make my enemies live in peace with me." There's nothing wrong with asking God for that.

And then Proverbs 20:22 says, "Do not say, I'll pay you back for this wrong. Wait for the Lord and he will deliver you." Let's turn the other cheek. Let God do it. God's much better at it than you are. Let God do it, don't take revenge, but leave room for the wrath of God, it says in Romans. And then God is sovereign to test hearts and to judge our ways. These are just easy to read through. Proverbs 5:21, "For a man's ways are in full view of the Lord and he examines all his paths." Wow! God watches everything you do. He examines your paths. Proverbs 15:3 says, "The eyes of the Lord are everywhere keeping watch on the wicked and the good." 15:11 says, "Death and destruction lie open before the Lord. How much more the hearts of men?" God reads your heart like a book, he knows you completely in and out. 16:2, "All a man's ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the Lord." We all think we're innocent in everything we do. "All my motives were pure." Oh, don't be so sure.

I'm beginning to understand my heart, and I wonder if I've ever had a completely pure motive in my entire life. But God understands my heart, he knows completely. All my ways seem innocent to me, but God weighs my motives. And then 17:3, "The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but the Lord tests the heart." God tests what's in your heart, and he's sovereign to do that, and he's sovereign to give rewards and blessings. Houses and wealth, 19:14, it says, "Houses and wealth are inherited from parents, but a prudent wife is from the Lord." Isn't that beautiful? Praise God. A prudent wife is from the Lord. You get from your parents' houses and wealth, but God gives you the wife. What God has joined together, let man not separate. God is the matchmaker, and he brings that prudent wife into your life. 18:22 says, "He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the Lord." And then 16:3, it says, "Commit to the Lord whatever you do and your plans will succeed." It said earlier, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your paths." This is a sovereign God, to bless all the things you do if you commit your ways to him. And then sovereign to judge sin, 15:25, "The Lord tears down the proud man's house, but he keeps the widow's boundaries intact." Oh, boy! How many houses have been torn down and nobody really knows who is behind it all, but God tears down the proud man's house, but he keeps the widow's boundaries intact. God is active, and he moves through the world bringing judgment when it's needed.

Now, the newspaper doesn't say, "Oh, this was an act of God," or, "That was an act of God." But God is active and he's working. And then Proverbs 22:22-23, it says, "Do not exploit the poor because they are poor, and do not crush the needy in court for the Lord will take up their case and will plunder those who plunder them." God is patient, and he waits for repentance, but for those that desire to attack the poor, they're taking God on, in effect, and God will act on their behalf.

Now, we've been through some deep things, and I've given you these verses so that you can study them on your own, try to understand them. There's one final aspect of God's sovereignty that I wanna talk about, and that is that God is sovereign to hide secrets. He's sovereign to understand this when we don't. And this is what it says, 25:2, "It is the glory of God to conceal a matter. To search out a matter is the glory of kings." So we said we should search out this doctrine and try to understand it, we should search out the roots and the depths of the sovereignty of God and try to understand it, but we'll never be able to understand it fully. And it is the glory of God to conceal things. When we see him face-to-face, 1 Corinthians 13 says we will know fully, even as we have been fully known.

But in the midst of all of this and our yearning for freedom and our thinking, "Oh, what does this mean?" and all that, realize that these verses that we read tonight, these are holy Scripture, this is the teaching of God on the issue of sovereignty. We can rebel or fight against it or we can say, "Praise God! We can understand why Jesus said the kingdom of God is good news. I'm glad that the lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord. I'm glad about that." And why? Because I don't want some random wicked thing running through the universe that he has no control over, that can wipe out me and my family, and for him to say, "It wasn't me. It wasn't me, I had no control, I couldn't stop it. There was nothing I could do." Now, to me, that's even more terrifying. What I want to do is I want to find God in his sovereign activities and gladly worship him for what he's doing. Why don't we close in prayer and ask him to bless our week as we go out, we commit our ways to him.

Father, we thank you for the time we've had tonight to look at these verses, they are deep and they teach a God who is active, and powerful, and almighty, and sovereign. And God, we love you for that. We're grateful, O Lord, that nothing could stop your actions in Christ, that you were going to send Christ into the world, he was gonna live a certain length of time, he was going to die on the cross at Jewish and Roman hands alike, and on the third day, he was going to rise again and nothing could stop that plan. And I'm grateful, O Lord, that the salvation which we know in Christ has advanced, and powerfully and forcefully through the world for 2000 years. And now it's come here to America as it's come to other places of the world. What was at one time distant shores from Palestine, the gospel has come to us and we've heard it and believed it, and we say thank you for it. God, I pray for my brothers and sisters here that each one of us would walk in the steps of the good works that you have laid out ahead of us, that we should walk in them. Help us, O Lord, to be faithful to do those good works you have for us to do. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.

Andy covers what Proverbs has to say about disciplining children, the importance of children learning to submit to authority, and marriage advice. 

By looking a little bit at this whole role, not from the Book of Proverbs, when you get to Proverbs specific teachings, but this one is from 2 Timothy, and we're gonna talk some about the role that Timothy's mother and grandmother had in shaping him. And I think as we look at that, this is not a new concept, but I think it's so important for mothers to realize the evangelistic effect they have on their children, that mothers can evangelize their children, can lead them to Christ. And that seems to be what happened in the life of Paul, in addition to the fact that Paul himself had a role. If you look at 2 Timothy Chapter 1, beginning at Verse 3, it says, "I thank God, whom I serve, as my forefathers did, with a clear conscience as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy." So he's talking about the warmth and the love that he has, Paul does for Timothy. And then in Verse 5, it says, "I have been reminded of your sincere faith." The word literally means in the Greek un-hypocritical. It's a genuine faith, "which first lived in your grandmother, Lois, and in your mother, Eunice, and I am persuaded now lives in you also."

And so, there we have three generations within one family. We've got Lois and we have Eunice. And the way it's lined up in the Greek, it seemed like the grandmother had it first and then the mother had it, and now Timothy got it. Now, we know that Timothy's father was Greek and probably an unbeliever, so this really does speak to the tremendous impact that a single parent, a mother can have in bringing her children to Christ, but this was Lois first grandmother and then Eunice. But even more powerfully, we see it in 2 Timothy Chapter 3. In 2 Timothy 3, it says in Verse 10, "You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life." Now, stop right there, that's something very powerful there. For you parents still with children that you're training, that's the whole shooting match, isn't it? My teaching and my way of life. I mean, you can sum the whole thing up in those two categories. It's what you teach, and it's how you live.

Now, I know we talk a great deal about the second, you know, do as I say not as I do, and so example is everything. Well, example is not everything. Parents are to pass on precepts of faith to their children. They're to pass on specific teachings, specific concepts from Scripture. They are to pass on those Bible stories. They are to read through Scriptures, they are to train them. And so, Timothy... I mean, Paul does that in his ministry with Timothy, that is discipleship. It's a blending together of precepts of Biblical instruction along with a way of life, an instruction from... An example. Sorry. The two married together is the best of all, and that's why he says in 1 Timothy, as a pastor, Timothy is to watch above all things, his life and his doctrine closely. Those are the two things married together. So you see in Verse 10, "You however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings, what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. And yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. In fact, everyone who wants to live a Godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. While evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

Now look at Verse 14. "But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of. Because you know those from whom you learned it." And I'll stop there. He's saying, continue in that body of doctrine, in that teaching, which was committed to you, and why. Because you know the nature of the people who passed it on to you. So again, we see the same thing, the body of doctrines married together with character, with a lifestyle, with an example. Now, of the two you could ask, which is more difficult? I think that they're both difficult, you as a parent are responsible to know the Scriptures. You can't be embarrassed about your knowledge of the Bible. So you have to train yourself so that you know the Bible well enough to pass it on to your children, or your grandchildren. That you are to well... Know the Scriptures well enough to do that, but then you also have to live them out, and who is equal to such a task? Who is equal to living out the Godliness and the example that's put in Scripture?

But he says, "You know those from whom you learned it and how from infancy," Verse 15, "You have known the Scriptures." Infancy, right from the start, Timothy, you were trained in the Bible. Right from the beginning. Now, for me, this and other passages settles it. Parents need to be training their children in the Bible. They need to be training them constantly. We read last time that we studied Proverbs, a number of weeks ago, about Deuteronomy 6. And how the parents were to sharpen the commands into their children, like the wedding stone. Sharpening, sharpening them into their children by repetition. And so, how from infancy you have known the Scriptures. "Well, they don't speak English. How can we teach them the Bible?" At some point they will, what better book to learn English from than the Bible, right? Right from the start.

When I was in Japan and I taught people English from the Scriptures, and that's how they learned. They had no choice. It was a free English class. Other classes charged $100 an hour. I said, "This is free, but we're gonna use the Bible." All right, that's fine. And so we used the Scriptures. What better book to learn English from? But how from infancy, you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise. They're able to make you wise. Now, when we go to Proverbs in a minute, you're gonna see what an issue wisdom and foolishness is. There are wise sons and there are foolish sons. There are wise daughters and there are foolish daughters. And what is it that can transform a fool into a wise person? And by the way, they come to you sweet and cuddly and beautiful and foolish. They don't come wise. It's not like they're wise, and then we train them into foolishness.

The Scripture testifies clearly that foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child. And they have to be trained into wisdom. And what is it that brings them to wisdom? The Scriptures, not your example. Your example is very important, but it's the Scriptures which transforms a foolish heart into a wise heart. And how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which were able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. And so, what I'm exhorting you to do as parents and grandparents and as community members, members of the faith here, is to say parents need to have an evangelistic impact on their kids. They need to lead their kids to faith in Christ, and then you do it with the Scriptures. How from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which were able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for...

And now, these four things I think should characterize your teaching ministry as a parent. Teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. Teaching is just imparting precepts, things that they didn't know before. Rebuking is that word of correction, a sharp word which wakes them up and says, "I'm not living right and I need to stop." Teaching, rebuking, correcting is a gentle adjustment, a course correction, so you need to go differently than you've been going and training in righteousness. All of these things. So that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. So this is what I'm exhorting you parents to do, take the evangelistic and the discipleship life of your children seriously and realize, no, it's not up to the Sunday school teacher. It's not up to the youth department, it's up to you. And we have a role to play that's true, but it's primarily the parents.

Now let's look at Proverbs, and I'd like you to begin. We studied last time in Proverbs Chapter 1, 2, and 3, over and over, there's this language. Listen my son to your father's instruction... You can look there if you want. Chapter 1 Verse 8, “Listen my son to your father's instruction, do not forsake your mother's teaching, there will be a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck.

“We talked about that, how both the father and mother are to instruct and to train their children in righteousness. In Chapter 2 Verse 1-9, as we discussed last time, "My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight, and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure. Then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom and from his mouth comes knowledge and understanding."

Chapter 2 Verse 1-6, and then Chapter 3 Verse 1-6, "My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart, for they will prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity. Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart." And so, what the father is saying here is, take my precepts, take my specific lines of teaching and write them down. Bind them around your heart, and keep them with you, so that you can remember what it is I've taught you to do. And so, Proverbs 1 and 2 and 3, all begin the same way. 3:4 says, "then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight." Now, these are famous verses, Proverbs 3, 5, and 6, but they're set in the context of fatherly exhortation to a son, a family instruction.

It is the father saying to the son or the mother saying to the daughter. It is the parents saying to the children, trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and He will direct your paths. And then in Chapter 6 Verse 20-23, "My son, keep your Father's commands and do not forsake your mother's teaching. Bind them upon your heart forever, fasten them around your neck. When you walk, they will guide you. When you sleep, they will watch over you, when you are awake, they will speak to you, for these commands are a lamp that's teaching us a light and corrections of discipline are a way to life."

Now, the next topic we covered last time was the issue of discipline. Now the first thing that I wanted to say, this can be a controversial topic, people immediately talk about corporal punishment or spankings and all that, but I think the proper way to understand it is in the issue of discipleship. We are the disciples of our children or grandchildren. We are to train them in righteousness, we're to disciple them. There is, I believe, in all the world, no discipling relationship as significant as that of parent and child. We have the maximum impact on our disciples if there are children or grandchildren, but especially parent and child, maximum impact. And so, we are to disciple our children. Now, there are times in discipleship when discipline is needed, and doesn't the Heavenly Father do that for us? And do you all enjoy that, to be disciplined by God?

Well, of course, you don't. It says in the Book of Hebrews, "No discipline is pleasant at the time but painful, later on, however, yields a harvest of righteousness and peace by those who have been trained by it." And so it says in Proverbs 3:11-12, "My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and as a father, a son, he delights in." Proverbs 22:15, as we mentioned, we start from the very beginning. "Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him." Folly is bound up in the heart of a child. Now, we have the idea of a child being basically good until we parents and society pervert them, but it's not that way, not at all. And we should thank God that children don't come out of the womb fully formed as adults, fully able to act on wherever their character is at at that point. We'd be in big trouble.

Thankfully, they're helpless and cute, and they can't do much to live out of their basically selfish framework. And so, we have some time with them, some time to train them in a basic concept in the center, I think of all kind of ethical parenting is this: the preciousness of others, the preciousness of others. Does a little infant have the preciousness of others in mind? Not at all. They have to be trained into the preciousness of others, and it takes years, doesn't it? Some never learn it, some never learn it. But foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child, and the rod of discipline drives it far from. And we talked about how discipline demonstrates love. He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him.

Now we discuss the rod, the rod is physical, it's a literal rod in some cases. But it's also a symbol of a whole discipleship life and a disciplining life. It's more complex than just corporal punishment. It's a whole bunch of causes and effects that parents are setting up all the time. Now, any of you who have children, you know what I'm talking about. How many times do you feel like you need the wisdom of Solomon to judge this or that case? What am I gonna do? How shall I address this situation? Now, you can remember that. Now that you're grandparents, some of you don't need to. You just pray for your children that they'd have the wisdom to know what to do. But the situation has come along, and I know Christy and I look at each other and we don't know what to do. And so, the Book of Hebrews Chapter 12 says, "Our Fathers disciplined us as they thought best, according to their wisdom, but God disciplines us according to his, and it's perfect wisdom."

But there's a whole system, a whole structure of discipleship going on here of causes and effects of what we call the carrot and the stick. Of motivation, something to induce positive behavior and also chastisement for negative behavior. Proverbs 23:13-14 says, "Do not withhold discipline from a child. If you punish him with the rod, he will not die. Punish him with the rod and save his soul from death." Really, the thing that's striking about Proverbs 23:14 is that the training a parent does to a child actually has an eternal consequence on their soul. It has an eternal consequence. We want our children to be with us in heaven, don't we? We want our children to stand with us on judgment day, blameless and full of great joy through faith in Jesus Christ.

And according to this, the discipling we do and the training is a part of that, a very important, Proverbs 23:14. And then 29:15, "The rod of correction imparts wisdom, but a child left to himself disgraces his mother." Interesting. Disgraces his mother. And so, the parents are responsible to train their children. We finished up last week with Proverbs 22:6, "Train up a child according to the way he should go... " So your NIV translation says. "And even when he's old, he will not depart from it." And I suggested to you maybe a more careful translation, a literal translation would be, train up a child according to his way, and when he's old, he will not depart from it. Well, what does that mean? Well, there's a pessimistic way of understanding that, and then there's just a practical way. What is the pessimistic way? Well, what is a child's way? What is THEIR way? What's that?

It's bad or foolish, self-centered. So train a child the way he wants you to, and when he's old, he'll still be living that way. You'll never have changed them. There was never a breaking, there was never a yielding, there was never a sense of create in me O God a pure heart. There was never a brokenness and contrite spirit. It never happened. And these things are required for salvation, are they not? This is the very thing that we bring to God. A broken and contrite spirit O God, you will not despise. And so, that never occurred. And so, train up a child according to HIS way is, let him live the way that he wants to, and when he's old, he will still be living that way, that's the pessimistic approach.

Then there's just the practical approach, Train up a child according to his way, meaning, carefully observing the way he's living. What is he doing? How is he living? And train according to his way, and from that training, he will not depart. Good or bad. But if you train a child according to his way, watching what he's doing, he's going to be staying in that way the rest of his life. In that practical way, what you're saying is that parent-child relationship is incredibly important. 

Have you ever heard the story about the apple in the bottle? I think you've heard that before. The example of the apple in the bottle, a grandfather had an apple inside a clear glass bottle and his grandson looked up and said, "What in the world is that? Well, that's an apple in a bottle. Take a look at it." Takes it down and there's no seam in it, there's no crack. The apple is huge, much larger than the small opening to the bottle. He said, "Grandpa, how in the world did you get to apple inside the bottle?" He said, "Come with me." Takes him out to the orchard and on a special tree, there's a bottle on the branch. It's actually already put on the branch and the sun light is coming through and the apple is growing up inside the bottle. You can't get an apple inside the bottle after it's fully grown, you have to start young. And so, 22:6 is saying, train up a child according to his way, and that's kinda the way he's gonna be living the rest of his life. So that's 22:6.

Now, as I said, some of you have cross-stitched it and put it up there. It's a great verse, I'm not trying to take 22:6 away from you. I'm just saying, don't think that it means that if your teen is going through rebellion, they're going to return back to the way that they were trained originally. That's not what the Verse is saying. It's actually talking about a never departing, not a returning. It says nothing about a returning. It says about a consistent walking in that path, whatever it is. So that's what we talked about last time.

And the final thing I wanna say about discipline is that those who are being disciplined should not lose heart or be discouraged. It says In 15:5, Proverbs 15:5, "a fool spurns his father's discipline, but whoever heeds correction shows prudence." 15:5, a fool spurns his father's discipline, but whoever heeds correction shows prudence.

And then again, seven Verses later, 15:12, "a mocker resents correction, he will not consult the wise." So, a child should not resent the correction, a child should submit to the correction, should be glad about the correction. Glad to have a father and a mother who will train the child, the son or daughter. So that's the whole approach to disciplining.

Now, the Book of Proverbs also gives us a listing of certain problems that parents are gonna face with their children and how they handle them. Probably the central problem that parents face is the issue of disobedience or rebellion. You need to tell a child to do something and they don't do it. You tell a child not to do something, and they do it. How can that be? Now, Bill Cosby says it's insanity or brain damage. That's his approach.

He thinks it's brain damage. You say, Don't touch that thing, you turn away, turn back and they've touched it. And he thinks it's brain damage. Well, I'm not so sure it's brain damage, but I think that there's definitely a character issue. I think our hearts are bent toward rebellion. Look at Proverbs 24:21-22. The real issue on disobedience is not parent-child, it's child-God, that's the real issue. It's the relationship between the child and God. So 24:21-22 says, "Fear the Lord and the king, my son, and do not join with the rebellious. For those two will send sudden destruction upon them, and who knows what calamities they can bring."

Now, so what the father is saying to his son here is fear authority structures, and there's two of them in this Verse. You've got God, the ultimate authority and then the king, kind of governmental authorities. And so parents are to train their children to submit to authority, because if they don't, there's going to be consequences down the road. Consequences with the government in this case, king, and ultimately, consequences with God himself. Fear the Lord and the king, my son and do not join with the rebellious, for those two will send sudden destruction upon them, and who knows what calamities they can bring. Now, where does disobedience lead? Well, it can lead to heartbreak for parents. 

Look at 10:1, Proverbs 10:1. "A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish son grief to his mother." In other words, if you have a wise son you can rejoice in that relationship. Father will rejoice in that relationship, a foolish son brings grief to his mother, there's sadness in the relationship. I think one of the biggest mistakes that parents make is trying to be too friendly with their kids too soon. Do you know what I'm talking about? They wanna be pals with them right off? And I think it's good to be friends with your children, but I'm kind of playing for the 60% of their life rather than the first 40%. I'm kind of hoping for the last two thirds, not that we don't have a loving... Actually, we do have a very loving relationship, but we are specifically trying to be mom and dad right now, not buddy. And so one of the most important things that a mom and dad can do is train the children to submit to authority. And so they want to have a good relationship, and if you wanna have a good relationship, then train up a wise son or daughter. And they'll bring joy to you the rest of their lives.

Look at 15:20. "A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish man despises his mother." Now, it's kind of interesting, it starts out in 10:1 a foolish son brings grief to his mother, but by the time we're at 15:20, the foolish man is despising his mother, so we see a degeneration here in the book of Proverbs, look at 19:26. 19:26 says, "He who robs his father and drives out his mother is a son who brings shame and disgrace." Boy, it's getting worse. At first, we had just the foolish son, then we have a foolish man despising his mother, then we have somebody who's robbing his father and driving out his mother, bringing shame and disgrace. Now 28:24. 28:24 says, "He who robs his father or mother and says it's not wrong, he is a partner to him who destroys." So now he's robbing his parents and has no conscience about it. He's got absolutely no conviction that it's wrong. His heart is dead and then the final in the sequence is 20:20, Proverbs 20:20. "If a man curses his father or mother, his lamp will be snuffed out in pitch darkness." That's the final end.

A man who curses his father or mother. And why is that? Because father and mother represents authority to that child. That's why the Ten Commandments says honour your father and mother, that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth. And so there's a degeneration in here, and it all begins with disobedience, with rebellion at the start. The ultimate end is groaning. Chapter 5:11 and following says, "At the end of your life you will groan and when your flesh and body are spent, you will say how I hated discipline, how my heart spurned correction. I would not obey my teachers or listen to my instructors. I have come to the brink of utter ruin in the midst of the whole assembly."

So that's the dark path. It's the path of disobedience and it starts young, doesn't it? Starts right from the beginning. And so parents are to train their children in obedience, and the ultimate standard here, I think is in the Lord's Prayer, Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

That's a high standard, isn't it? So in our household, your children need to obey here in this household, the way that the angels do in heaven. And you know what our slogan is on that. How do the angels obey in heaven? All the way, right away and with a happy spirit. All the way, right away and with a happy spirit. And so in our household, if any child fails on one of those three points, it's disobedience, that's simple. If they obey all the way right away, but they grumble, moan, and complain about it, it's disobedience. If they say, "Sure, dad, I'll do that," and then three hours later, guess what? It's not done. It's disobedience. Jesus even told a story about that. Remember about the son who said, "Sure, I'll go out and work in the field," and he never went, never went. So thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Obey like the angels do, all the way, right away with a happy spirit.

Another problem that parents face these days is that of disrespect. "Yes, mother. Argh!" this kind of thing, it grieves my heart and I can do the imitations and all that, but I don't want to...I don't wanna play it out, you've seen it before, and it should grieve you too. This is not acceptable. This is not a proper way for a child to respond to a parent. The rolling eyes, the sigh, all that kind of thing. It's disrespect, it's really a form of rebellion. It says In 30:11 and following, "There are those who curse their fathers and do not bless their mothers. There are those who are pure in their own eyes and yet not cleansed of their filth. There are those whose eyes are ever so haughty, whose glances are so disdainful." Have you ever seen that look? The haughty eyes, the disdainful glance, the rolling look? You know what I'm saying? The rebel sigh, it's in one of our hymns. "Alright, I'll do it," like that. And then 30:17 is even tougher. Now, I didn't write this. I don't want you to think I wrote this, okay. I didn't stick this in your Bible. It's here though. 30:17, "The eye that mocks a father, that scorns obedience to a mother will be pecked out by the ravens of the valley and eaten by vultures." Why did you have to read that? Well, first of all, it's in the Bible, so it's worth reading. But I think what it's talking about here is the eye, the rolling eye, the scorn... It really is showing an attitude of the heart, and the heart attitude is one of rebellion against God.

So actually, I use that verse to say, "Okay, that's the big bad Bible Verse, I'm your dad and I love you, and I'm just going to discipline the look. I'm not gonna be doing any pecking out or any vulture thing right now, I'm just going to discipline you okay, before we get the big bad Bible on you, okay, who's gonna come in and do even worse, okay, let's not have the rolling eye. We're not gonna have that kind of look in our family. We're gonna say yes, dad and do it right away." That's all.

Another problem that children face is complaining. Of course, you all have conquered that, I'm sure. So I'm not really talking to any of you. I'm sure none of you have complained in years about any of the circumstances that face you because you know that it says in Philippians 2:14, "Do everything without complaining or arguing." So complaining is right out of all you mature people. But for those of you that are still training those that are complaining realise that it's a big problem. It's a big issue. One of the things that I heard recently from a pastor that really stuck with me. And I think there's so much theological truth to it, and it's profound. Whenever he was greeted by somebody and somebody asked how are you doing? Or how is it going for you? His answer is always the same, Better than I deserve.

Stop and think about that. Better than I deserve. Is there a theological truth behind that? Yeah, all of us are sinners and we deserve the wrath of God for our sin. Instead we get grace and from his fullness, one blessing after another. Isn't that what God's given us? One grace after another. "Yes, but I deserve it," but no, you don't. One blessing after another. And so when we're feeding cold cereal to our children, you know the ready to eat. I'm not talking cold oatmeal, I'm talking about pouring cereal, that stuff is expensive. Have you priced... It's over $3 a box. And I've actually heard from time to time complaints about cold cereal, which I've eaten most of my life, and I like it. What do you like? Corn Flakes, Do you eat cold cereal? No? Never? You guys? Fruit Loops. See, not only is it good for you, it tastes good. How can we ever get sick of the things that God gives us, but yet there's complaining. So listen, it shows a heart attitude, Better than I deserve. God is giving me nutritious food, it tastes good to me, and even if it is the same thing, 40 years in a row. That's in the desert... Remember, manna and all that, even if it's the same thing 40 years in a row, it's still grace from God, isn't it? And so we're weeding out complaining.

Another is the issue of setting a bad example. Siblings are to set a good example for their children. Look at 10:17, "He who heeds discipline shows the way to life, but whoever ignores correction leads others astray." So a big brother or a big sister can lead another astray by how they act. But a wise brother, wise sister will say, Hey I have a responsibility to the family and the responsibility to set a good example. I wanna set a good example. I don't wanna be foolish, I don't wanna spurn correction. I want to yield to correction and I don't wanna lead others astray. 

Well, these other topics, I think we're gonna cover. I think there's a couple other things that I think are worth discussing within this context, we're gonna talk about sexual purity another time. But it's remarkable how the issue of marital purity is taught within the context of father and mother instruction to a son. At least three times in the Book of Proverbs, the father and mother are instructing the son to watch out for a certain type of woman. And since the Book of Proverbs, interestingly enough, is written, mom and dad to son and not to daughter, it just seems to be just the structure of the book, but we also can extend it out to daughters, there's certain kind of young men that you need to watch out for and be careful about. Okay, and so there's instruction about that, we're gonna read through it, but if you wanna just look at the reference, Chapter 7 Verse 1-27, and also Chapter 6 Verse 20-35.

We'll talk about purity at another topic, we're gonna give a whole topic to it, but it also extends even to what people wear. Even what young ladies wear. If you look at Proverbs 11:22, Proverbs 11:22, interesting Proverb. It says, "Like a gold ring in a pig snout is a beautiful woman who shows no discretion." A very interesting Proverb. And I think Proverbs is spicy. I'm telling you what... You read something that's like, Whoa, it doesn't leave a bland impact on you, a gold ring in a pig snout? What's the point? It's still a pig, even though there's a gold ring there. And what is it saying, the saying is what is truly important is the character of the individual. And the outer dress is not so important, except in that it can lead others astray.

And so I think it's up to, especially parents to be with their younger daughters and say, "Listen, dress with modesty, with decency, don't lead your brothers in Christ astray. But dress with modesty. Don't be like a gold ring in a pig snout, beautiful dress, showing out physically what it is you have to offer, but there's nothing in the soul, in the spirit, but rather be... " As it says in 1 Peter 3, "Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes, instead it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is a great worth in God's sight."

The final word of advice tonight, 23:22-25, it says, "Listen to your father who gave you life and do not despise your mother when she is old. Buy the truth and do not sell it." Isn't that something? Did any of your parents ever give you advice in the stock market? Okay, what you want to do is you want to buy and not sell. Alright, hold on to it. If it's good stock in the end, it's going to pay incredible dividends.

Well, in effect, this father's saying, That's what truth is all about, buy it and don't sell. Don't ever give up that stock. Buy the truth and don't sell it. Get wisdom, discipline and understanding. The father of a righteous man has great joy, he who has a wise son delights in him. May your father and mother be glad, may she who gave you birth, rejoice.

Won't you close with me in prayer. Father, we thank you for the wisdom that comes from contemplating your word. We thank you for the spicy truths found in the Book of Proverbs. We thank you that they wake us up and help us to see things that we might have missed. Father, I pray that you would help every father and mother who's listening to me today who's still training their children, that they might raise them in righteousness. That they might lead them to Christ. I pray for any that are grandparents that are praying earnestly for their grandchildren, that they pray wisdom for their children as they raise their grandchildren. Father, I pray for this church, First Baptist Church, as a community of faith, that we may be conducive to parents raising Godly children. Father, I pray that we might raise a generation of those who fear you, who love you and who will obey you. And all the more who will stand before you on that final day, blameless and with great joy through faith in Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, Amen.

Those words were from Revelation chapter 21, you can read them when you get home. Every one of them true. Jesus Christ has defeated death, and His kingdom will live forever and ever. And He holds out for all of us who are alive today an invitation to be part of that kingdom, that we might have eternal life in His name. Now, in the Book of Daniel, as we've been studying it, we've seen a number of other kingdoms and we've seen them rise and we've seen them fall. There was a day when mighty King Nebuchadnezzar walked on the top of the roof of his palace and looked out and said, "Is this not the great Babylon that I have created for the glory and splendor of my majesty?" And so it was. But mighty Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom is gone. He died, he was put in a grave, and his kingdom has sunk into the dust of antiquity. Babylon is no more. After him, there was Cyrus the Great. And there was a time when his armies held sway all over that part of the world. Everything his eyes saw, it conquered and people trembled at his word. But Cyrus the Great is dead, his body is in the grave, and his kingdom, the mighty Persian Empire, has sunk also into the dust of antiquity and is no more.

And after him arose Alexander the Great, king of the Greeks. Greatest military conqueror in history perhaps. And there was a time that he strolled the Earth with a majesty and a power that no one had ever seen before, and no one has seen since perhaps. His armies were never defeated in the field and his empire swelled to a size unheard of up to that time. But Alexander the Great is dead and his kingdom also has sunk into the dust of antiquity. And after him arose another, Caesar Augustus. And under Caesar Augustus' wise leadership and under the power of the Roman legions, the Roman Empire reached a height and a scope and a magnitude that had never been seen before and hasn't been seen since, the greatest human empire in the history of the world. But Caesar Augustus is dead, his body is in the grave, and the Roman Empire has sunk back into the dust of antiquity. And after Caesar Augustus and actually in the days of Caesar Augustus, came another and his name was Jesus Christ. And Jesus walked on the earth for 33 years, ministered for a brief time, was servant to everyone that came up to Him with a need, humble, lowly, never left His home area, did miracles, and mighty things, but was rejected by His own people, and He died just like the other four empire builders, He died.

But that was the beginning and not the end of His empire. With Jesus' death on the cross, and with His resurrection victory, His empire began, not ended. And it has been growing now for 2,000 years, and it circles the Earth. There's not a place on this Earth that people do not know His name and worship Him as God. And Jesus Christ is building an eternal kingdom and it will never, never sink into the dust of antiquity. And because of His resurrection victory, and because of the power that He has over death, He invites all of you to join His kingdom today. To know that power that is above every other power, the power that He gives us over death. Jesus Christ is the eternal death conqueror, and we need it, don't we? As a matter of fact, the resurrection that Jesus Christ gives is humanity's only hope, there is no other. Because death stands over each one of our little empires too, doesn't it? Each one of the people sitting in this room is building a little kingdom, a little house, a little empire, through your deeds, through your efforts, through your relationships; and death stands over every one of you, just like over me, mocking what we do.

Death mocks all of our accomplishments, and death mocks all of our relationships and if we have not the empty tomb of Jesus Christ, we have nothing. We have nothing. But we do have the empty tomb of Jesus Christ, and therefore, we have everything. Jesus Christ is the death conqueror. Humanity, the human race, if it's wise, asks one central question and Job put it into words for us, Job 14:14. "If a man dies, will he live again?" That's a question, isn't it? "If a man dies, will he live again?" Does Scripture answer that question? Yes, it does. The answer is yes. If a man dies, he will live again. Job himself gave us the answer later in Job 19:25-27, he said, "I know that my redeemer lives and that in the end, He will stand upon the Earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh will I see God. I, with my own eyes and not another, how my heart burns within me." That's what Job said. Jesus put it into these words. "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live even though he dies, and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?" Said Jesus to Mary. Do you believe this? Jesus the Good Shepherd said that "The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life, only to take it up again…I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it back up again." Just like a cloak. He could lay down His life and like a cloak, take it back up again. Only man in history with total power over death, that's Jesus Christ. And as we've already quoted in John 14, this victory that He has won, which we celebrate today and not just today, but every Sunday, that's why we worship on Sunday, it's resurrection day every week and I celebrate it every day, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He said, "Because I live, you also will live."

No other conquerors, no other conqueror has ever been so generous with the spoils of his victory as Jesus Christ, He gives it to us, because I live, you also will live. Now, you may wonder, why are we preaching on Daniel chapter 12? What does that have to do with the empty tomb of Jesus Christ? May I say to you, everything. Isn't the providence of God wonderful that we just happen to be in Daniel 12 on Easter Sunday? Because Daniel 12, which testifies to a glorious resurrection is the culmination of the whole vision of the Book of Daniel. It really ties everything together and really you can't understand all that Daniel has been saying and what's been going on. You can't understand it, unless you understand resurrection.

Look at verse 2 and 3, just so you know, we're in the right place. We're going to read through the whole chapter in a minute, but look at verse 2 and 3. It says, "Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the Earth will awake." What is that? Look down at the page. Some of you like to just listen to me, I'm not as good... If I don't read it, I don't get as much out of it. Look at the page, we have provided Bibles for those of you who don't have them, reach forward and bring them out, open up to Daniel and look at Daniel 12:2-3. It's printed on the page. "Multitudes of those who sleep in the dust will awake." and this is in the Old Testament. A clear testimony to resurrection. Multitudes of those who sleep in the dust will awake, some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens and those who lead many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. These words culminate the whole vision and promise of the Book of Daniel, of a kingdom that is being built, that will never end. What good is a kingdom in which the subjects can't enjoy it? And if we are mortal, if death still hangs over us like a cloud, how can we enjoy this eternal kingdom? But Jesus has given Himself that we might have eternal life.

Let's read the whole chapter, and then try to understand it in this context, beginning at verse 1 of chapter 12.

"At that time, Michael the great prince who protects your people will arise. There will be a time of distress, such has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people, everyone whose name is found written in the book, will be delivered. Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the Earth will awake, some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens and those who lead many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. But you, Daniel, close up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end. Many will go here and there to increase knowledge. Then I, Daniel, looked and there before me stood two others. One on this bank of the river and one on the opposite bank. And one of them said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, how long will it be before these astonishing things are fulfilled? The man clothed in linen who was above the waters of the river lifted his right hand and his left hand toward the heaven and I heard him swear by Him who lives forever saying it will be for a time, times, and half a time. When the power of the holy people has been finally broken, all these things will be completed. I heard, but I did not understand. So I asked, 'My Lord, what will the outcome of all this be?' He replied, 'Go your way, Daniel, because the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end. Many will be purified and made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand. From the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination that causes desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. Blessed is the one who waits for and reaches the end of the 1,335 days. As for you, go your way till the end. You will rest, and then at the end of the days, you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance.'"

Now, the context of chapter 12 is chapters 1-11. And you can't understand chapter 12 without the first 11 chapters, and I don't think you can understand the first 11 chapters without this final promise of resurrection. But what have we been seeing, what themes have been interweaving in the first 11 chapters? Well, we see a constant struggle between a Heavenly kingdom and a series of Earthly empires, don't we? We see a struggle between one empire after another and this eternal kingdom that God is building.

In Daniel chapter 2, we saw Nebuchadnezzar's dream, remember, a statue with a head of gold and chest and arms of silver and a belly and thighs of bronze, and legs of iron, and feet, partly iron, partly clay. And then we saw a stone cut out but not by human hands flying in and striking that statue and destroying it. And then the stone itself becoming larger and larger and larger until it filled the whole earth. Nebuchadnezzar couldn't understand the dream, but Daniel interpreted it.

Daniel 2:44, I believe, sums up the whole book. In one verse, it sums up the whole book, Daniel 2:44. In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms, and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain but not by human hands, a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces. An eternal kingdom set up by God, not by human hands which is growing and building and filling the whole earth. But not in a vacuum, in the times of those kings, in direct controversy with those kings, in contradiction to the leading of those kings, in an immense power struggle against the kings of the Earth, that kingdom advances. And so Nebuchadnezzar himself embodies a tyrant, who wants to fight against that kingdom.

In chapter 3, he sets up an image of gold that everybody is supposed to worship, and the Jews won't do it. God's holy servants will not bow down to that statue, they're not part of that worldly kingdom. And so they refused to bow down and Nebuchadnezzar playing the role of the tyrant says, "If you don't bow down, I'm going to throw you in the fiery furnace." And they are thrown in the fiery furnace, but God delivers them, God steps in and delivers them. His power is far greater than any earthly potentate, any greater... Any tyrant at all.

Daniel chapter 4, God humbles Nebuchadnezzar, and as I believe brings him into the kingdom. Praise God for Nebuchadnezzar, that he was wise enough. He humbles him, He changes his mind into that of an animal, and then he learns this simple lesson. Daniel 4:34-35: "His [God's] dominion is an eternal dominion. His kingdom endures from generation to generation, all the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as He pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back His hand or say to Him, What are you doing? And those who walk in pride, He is able to humble." Simple lesson. God's kingdom lasts forever. But human kingdoms will sink back down into the dust from which they came.

Daniel 5, Nebuchadnezzar's grandson, Belshazzar refuses to learn this lesson, he drinks a toast to the gods of wood and iron and stone and that very night, his soul is required from him, and that very night, Babylon falls and is no more. Daniel chapter 6, the next king comes along, and foolishly, makes a law that everyone should only pray to him. Do you see the contest all the time? Human kingdoms, God's kingdom, the struggle back and forth, they just won't learn because human kings want to be worshipped, they want to be God. And so, even Darius, no one can pray to any god except to me. So goes the rule. Well, Daniel refuses to do it and is thrown into the lions' den, suffering. And yet God reaches down with His power and rescues him out of that tribulation.

And then in Daniel chapter 7, the central vision of the book, the vision of the son of man, the antichrist, one of those Greek kings and then ultimately the final antichrist, wages war against the kingdom of God, an open war declared, and God intervenes supernaturally, the Son of Man comes with power and great glory, on the clouds of heaven with the armies of Heaven, and He comes and interferes and ends that final Gentile reign. And so it says in Daniel 7:14, "The Son of Man was given authority and glory, and sovereign power. All peoples, nations and men of every language worshipped Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away and His kingdom is one that will never be destroyed." The Son of Man's kingdom will never be destroyed, this is Jesus Christ. And He comes right in the middle of this Gentile kingdom that's attacking the people of God. You see the struggle from one kingdom, and the other back and forth the human kingdoms, like a relay race, they fight against God and God always triumphs and His kingdom keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger until the end.

Daniel chapter 8 speaks about Alexander the Great and this man Antiochus Epiphanes, who opposed him, the same thing. Fighting against God.

Daniel chapter 9, a vision of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The cross of Jesus Christ, which makes it possible for us to enter eternal life, all of us are sinners, every last one of us has done evil things in God's sight, and we cannot enter the kingdom except that we be cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ, the blood that was shed on the cross, and that very thing is prophesied in Daniel chapter 9. A cleansing and atoning for sin.

In Daniel 10 and 11, we have the final visions of kingdoms, fighting one another, wrestling and struggling for supremacy, not realizing that the real Kingdom is the kingdom of God and that these little squabbles don't mean a thing. They wrestle over things that are going to disappear on that final day.

And so we come to chapter 12, we've seen an irresistible advance of the kingdom of Jesus Christ. He's building His kingdom. It's spreading from nation to nation and human empires and human emperors, kings, can either be wise or foolish. In the words of Psalm 2, you can either take your stand against the Lord and against His anointed one and fight against Him and be destroyed. Or at the end of Psalm 2 you can be wise and kiss the Son, embrace Him and worship Him.

Nebuchadnezzar, I believe, was wise, he learned, but others do not, and so we have that final arrogant human king, the antichrist, who seeks to dominate the whole world by his power. At the end of chapter 11, he's discussed and he attacks the people of God. That's what they always do. The persecution rains down, the attack comes, and it's a powerful attack, and in the midst of that comes the second coming of Jesus Christ, the final showdown. And so, we have in this focus, in this chapter, we have a focus on God's people and I think specifically on the Jews. The ultimate fate of Daniel's people. Now, we remember that Daniel in chapter 6, knelt down and prayed toward Jerusalem. He just prayed toward Jerusalem three times a day, he's praying for the Holy City, and he's praying for the Jewish people. That they would return to God, that they would repent of their sins. Daniel 9 gave a vision of 70 weeks before that whole process would be finished, and at the end of the world at last, the Jews would return to God and that they would understand that God is triune. He's Father, Son and Spirit, and that Jesus the Son of Man really is the Son of God, and that they will embrace him nationally and that they will kiss Him and recognize Him as their Messiah.

Well, how do you know this? Well, it says so in the Scripture. It says so in Romans 11:25-27. It says, "I do not want you to be ignorant to this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited." It's printed in your bulletin. "Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, and so all Israel will be saved, as it is written, 'The deliverer will come from Zion, he will turn godlessness away from Jacob and this is my covenant with them, when I take away their sins.'" In no way can the Jewish people be said to have their sins taken away until they turn to Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, and recognized that He is their Messiah. And they will, so says Romans 11. But just because the nation as a whole turns to Christ and embraces Him, does not mean that individual Jews will not reject and be lost, as has been happening for 2000 years.

And so we have an eternal destiny laid out in Daniel chapter 12, both nationally and individually.

Antichrist Attacks (vs. 1, 5-7, 11-12)

Look at verse 1, the antichrist's attack, described very plainly there, "At that time... " At what time? Well the time of the antichrist. "Michael, the great prince who protects your people," your people is the Jews, "will arise, there will be a time of distress as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then, but at that time, your people," that is the Jews, "everyone whose name is found written in the book will be delivered."

So here comes the final attack the greatest attack. And you know, it just brings goosebumps to me. At that time, a time yet in the future of the antichrist, there will be an attack on the Jewish people, such has never been seen up to that point. Have you ever read what the Jews went through in World War II? Have you ever heard about Kristallnacht, the night that the Nazis began an open attack on the Jews in Germany, shattering glass and looting from Jewish stores? And from that time on, the Jews lived in terror of the sound of hobnail boots on cobblestones in the middle of the night, taking loved ones or whole families out of tenement dwellings, setting up a whole system of carnage that can barely be described.

And it's saying that the time yet in the future, will so dwarf that suffering as that you can't even compare them such has never been seen, up to that time. That is the nature of the attack of antichrist. But the theme of Daniel is that every time antichrist, the spirit of antichrist, attacks God's people, what does God do? He reaches in and rescues, He reaches in and delivers, just like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego or Daniel in the lions' den.

Heaven Defends and Conquers (vs. 1)

God will not permit it for long. He's going to reach in and He's going to rescue. And so He defends. He defends and conquers, and He does that in three ways, the sovereign decree, He lays out specifically how long this attack is going to go. The duration of the oppression is carefully measured out. Not a day too long or too short.

Look at Verses 5-7. "Then I Daniel looked, and there before me stood two others." That's two other angels, "One on this bank of the river and one on the opposite bank, and one of them said to the man clothed in linen who was above the waters of the river, 'How long will it be before these astonishing things are fulfilled?' The man clothed in linen who was above the waters of the river lifted his right hand and his left hand toward heaven and I heard him swear by Him who lives forever saying 'it will be for a time, times and half a time, when the power of the holy people has finally been broken, all these things will be completed.'" And then look down at verses 11 and 12, "From the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination that causes desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days."

Now, was that precise? 1,290 days. And then it says in verse 12, mysteriously I think, "Blessed is the one who waits for and reaches the end of the 1,335 days." And so this attack on the Jews by the antichrist is defended or protected... The Jews are protected in the middle of it by a sovereign decree, it's not going to last any longer than a certain amount. 1,290 days and then it will end or a time times and half a time, approximately three and a half years.

Now, what is this 1,335 days? I'm asking because I don't know, maybe one of you can tell me. I've looked, I've searched, I've looked through the commentaries, I'm not quite sure what that is compared to 1,290 days except 45 more days, some say that that's the time that Jesus will take to set up His Earthly kingdom. I'm not so sure and I'm not sure that anybody knows, but I do know this, either way, the thing has been measured out carefully. And it will not go one day beyond what God intends. And so He protects His people by being in charge of how long the tribulation will last.

And then we also see the spiritual defense, look again at Verse 1, "At that time, Michael, the great prince who protects your people will arise." Now, who is this Michael? Well, he's an archangel, he's a ruler angel, he's a commander angel, he is in charge of the armies of heaven and he is fighting in the spiritual realms. Remember we talked about in chapter 10. There's an invisible spiritual realm and warfare going on, and so, Michael, who defends the Jews is at war during that time. There's spiritual warfare going on. And he arises to protect the Jews and fight for them spiritually. And we also see the Savior's descent. Now, where do you see that in Daniel chapter 12? Well, actually I don't, but I couldn't miss the chance to tell you about it. And I know it's in Daniel chapter 7, the second coming of Christ, into the middle of this time of suffering, Jesus Christ returns, bodily, physically, just as He rose from the dead body bodily and physically, so will He also return bodily and physically.

Revelation 19:11 and following, it says, "I saw heaven open and there before me was a white horse whose rider is called faithful and true. With justice He judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire and on His head are many crowns. He has a name written on Him that no one knows but He, Himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and His name is the Word of God. This is Jesus Christ. And it says the armies of heaven were following Him riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of His mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations." That's the second coming of Christ, and it's going to be breathtaking. The amazing thing is you won't need any faith to see it, you needed faith to see the first coming, but you don't need any faith to see the second coming. The righteous and the unrighteous alike will see it. And it will end history. He will also end the reign of the antichrist.

Look at Daniel 11:45. It says the antichrist, it says he will come to his end, with no one to help him. So Jesus Christ returns, and ends the antichrist's reign, the antichrist who is the sum total, the summing up of all these human kingdoms, all this rebellion against God and against His kingdom, embodied in this one man, and Jesus Christ Himself will destroy him, it says, with the breath of his mouth. 2 Thessalonians 2:8, "Jesus will overthrow him with the breath of his mouth, and with the splendor of his coming." You can't handle Me. You can't handle the glory and all I need to do is say it's finished and it's over.

The General Resurrection (vs. 2)

And at that time, there will be a general resurrection. Look at verse 2 and 3, multitudes of those who sleep in the dust of death will awake, some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Sleeping in the dust. Many of you have loved ones who are sleeping in the dust.

Do you remember your tears when you committed them to the Earth? Do you remember the sorrow? Have you felt the sadness, a separation? You know what I mean when I talk about death mocking all human relationships? Life is fragile, isn't it? But the promise of God is unbreakable, multitudes of those who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake and they will awake either to everlasting life or to everlasting shame and contempt. Everybody will come out and Jesus said this too, didn't He? In John 5:28-29, Jesus said, "Do not be amazed at this... " This is printed in your bulletin as well. The important ones I print in there, so you don't have to look them up. Jesus said, "Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear His voice and come out" And come out. What does that mean? They'll be alive again. They'll come out.

Judgment Day and The Eternal State (vs. 3)

Everyone that will hear whose voice? Jesus' voice. He's going to speak and like Lazarus, we're all going to get up and out of that grave, and we're going to come to Judgment Day. What does He say? They will come out. "Those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned." And so we come to Judgment Day. Hebrews 9:27, "It is appointed for men to die once and then to face judgment." Daniel 7:10, "The court was seated and the books were opened." Revelation 20, "Then I saw a great white throne and Him who was seated on it, Earth and sky fled from His presence and there was no place for them, and I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened." Well, what's in those books? I've told you many times, the record of everything you've ever said and done, it's all there. God's an accurate historian. Keeps a record of it all.

You may not care about history, but God cares a lot about history. He cares a lot about what you say and what you do, and everything you've ever said or done is recorded in those books, but praise God, there's another book, isn't there? Another book was open it says in Revelation, which is the Book of Life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the book. Now look at verse 1 of our text today, Daniel 12:1, "But at that time, your people, everyone whose name is found written in the book, will be delivered." You see that? Do you see the consistency of Scripture? It's the same message.

Two books, two kinds of books. We've got the books of all the records of all our sin, O that we may not be judged by that. And then another book, The Book of Life, and if our name is written in that book of life, we will be delivered, Jew and Gentile alike, delivered by being written in the Book of Life. Revelation 20:12, "Another book was opened, which is the Book of Life," and anyone who trusts in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, their name will be written in indelible ink in the Lamb's Book of Life. And what are we raised to? Well, some to everlasting life and others to shame and everlasting contempt. Look at verse 3, "Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens and those who lead many to righteousness like the stars forever." Some day, if you love Jesus Christ, and you know Him, you are going to shine like the stars. You're gonna shine with a brightness and a glory that can't be described. Jesus said it. He said, that you will shine like the stars in the heavens, and it says it here, in Daniel 12:3. But others will be raised to everlasting contempt and judged eternally.

Listen to Revelation 20:15, "If anyone's name was not found written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." Now, this is hell and it's a reality. And Jesus came to die on this cross to suffer in our place that we might not have to suffer the condemnation and everlasting shame and contempt of hell, that He would pay our death penalty in our place. And at that time on that Judgment Day, earthly power, prestige, honors and accomplishments will mean nothing. At that time, the size of your earthly conquest and your earthly empire and your earthly kingdom will mean nothing. At that time, the only thing that will save is simple faith in Jesus Christ alone.

The Sealed Prophecy

Well then comes a command to seal this prophecy. Verse 4, "But you, Daniel, close up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end. Many will go here and there to increase knowledge. " And then in verses 8 and 9, "I heard, but I did not understand, so I asked, 'My Lord, what will the outcome of all this be?' He replied, 'Go your way, Daniel, because the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end.'" There's a mystery about the future, it is God's glorious king of the universe to conceal some things and hide them from us. He's not told us everything, just told us what we need to know. Some of those things are held back, and you know something, He hasn't told the angels either. Notice how one of the angels, one of the shining ones standing there by the river says, "How long until all these marvelous things are completed?" They didn't know either. Well, one of the angels knew more than the other, he said, Well, it'll be for... He raised his hands and said, For a time, times, and half a time.

So some of the angels know more than others, they're all waiting, they're looking in trying to figure out what's going to happen. God hasn't told it all yet. But as time goes on, we know more, we see more prophecies fulfilled. And if we are righteous, if we are righteous, and if we know, we will understand more. Look what it says, verse 10, "Many will be purified made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand." If you are righteous through faith in Jesus Christ, you accept the words of Scripture as what they really are, the words of God. And so, as these things start to unfold in history, you'll say, It was prophesied. It's here in the book. I understand what's happening.

But those who do not love God, they will not read the Scriptures and it's not important. Well, Daniel himself made an inquiry, in verse 8 and 9, he said, "I heard, but I did not understand. So I asked, 'My Lord, what will the outcome of all this be?' And he said, 'Go your way, Daniel. Because the words are closed up and they are sealed until the time of the end.'" So, Daniel didn't know it all, he sealed up the scroll and now we're opening it up and we're reading it and we understand more than Daniel. Don't we? Is that because we're wiser than Daniel? No, just because history's moved on from that point, and we can look back at the four empires and we can look back at what Jesus has done, and at 2000 years of kingdom building by Jesus Christ. We understand what's happening and we see it coming to its glorious end.

The final issue is Daniel's inheritance and yours. Look how the book ends, verse 13, "As for you, go your way till the end, you will rest and then at the end of the days, you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance." Inheritance. Your allotted inheritance, the amount measured out for you. This is that Jewish language. Remember when they entered into the promised land, each tribe had its amount as cast by lot and then a division within that? There was an inheritance of the promised land. Daniel, you have a share in the eternal kingdom. What better thing could there be? Daniel that righteous one, Daniel chapter 1, who resolved not to defile himself with the world's things. Who is a man of prayer, praying 21 days, fasting and seeking God, a man of courage, a man of integrity, a man who loved God. Daniel, don't worry about it, go your way. And you will sleep, you will die, Daniel. You will go into the grave, and then I will raise you up to your eternal inheritance.

Now, what is that inheritance? Well, let me read some Scripture, Matthew 24:34: "Then the King will say to the sheep on His right, 'Come you who are blessed by my Father. Take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.'" The sheep, Jesus' followers, Jew and Gentile, get the same inheritance. And you know what they get? They get the Kingdom, the Kingdom we've been talking about now for 12 chapters, the Eternal Kingdom of Jesus Christ. That's the inheritance that Daniel gets. Colossians 1:12-14, "Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints." Are you qualified? Have you been qualified to get your inheritance through faith in Jesus Christ? Are you qualified? Giving thanks for the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light, for He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness, the empire of darkness, and brought us into the empire of the Son He loves.

The inheritance is the kingdom, and it's an everlasting inheritance. No one can take it from you. Daniel had it. The angel told him so, do you have it? Do you know for sure that you have a share in that kingdom? Nothing else matters. Nothing else matters, except that you have a share in the eternal inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light, the kingdom of Jesus Christ. I'm going to close now with a prayer, and I'm going to ask that you consider your status with God, and if you don't know for certain that you have a share in the eternal inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light, will you come and talk to me today? Don't worry what your neighbors think, who cares, they're not going to be standing with you on Judgment Day. You'll have to stand alone. Come forward and talk to me, that you may know and receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Today, we celebrate the conquest of Jesus over death. May He be Lord over your death and give you eternal life. Won't you close with me in prayer?

Andy Davis preaches a verse-by-verse expository sermon on Daniel 11:1-45. The main subject of the sermon is the faithfulness of the remnant of Israel.

The age we live in is an age which is characterized in many respects, by an insatiable thirst for knowledge. The other day I was driving by the prison down here and there was a Channel 17 news truck there. Have you see those news trucks with the big kind of boom that goes, I don't know how they work but there's an antenna and cords and wires, and there was a woman coming out with a microphone, they were getting ready for some kind of on-the-spot news. I remember when I was growing up news was just somebody sitting behind the desk reading and now it's just any time anything goes on, we want to be there and see it, isn't it true? And that's the whole basis of CNN. If there's anything going on anywhere in the world, whether it's a house fire or a major war or anything in between, CNN will bring it to you or local news will bring it to you and you will know about it, because you need to know, and that's why you tune in. And so we have an insatiable thirst for knowledge, we see that with the internet, you can tie in instantly to databases all around the world. You can know anything you need to know. The whole issue is you never have quite enough time to do all the research and the thought and you never realize that you just spent six and a half hours scanning through and surfing the internet. But that's what we're willing to trade six hours just so we can know some things we didn't know before.

A question I want to ask this morning is knowledge a good thing? Is knowledge a good thing? Well Spurgeon dealt with this issue and he said, "Well, let me ask you, is air a good thing? Yes, you can't live without it but noxious or poisonous air can kill you. Is food a good thing? Yes, you can't live without it but the decaying meat that they removed from the market yesterday would kill you. Is water a good thing? Yes, water sustains our physical existence but poisoned water from an old well can kill you. And so it is with knowledge, knowledge is essential to our lives, even to our eternal life. But there is a kind of knowledge which like stagnant or poisoned water can kill the soul." Spurgeon said this, "The tree of the knowledge of good and evil stood in paradise when paradise was good," Mark that, "But it ruined paradise" Mark that too. So there is a kind of knowledge that is dangerous. And so what kind of knowledge should we crave? Well, I would recommend that we crave the very knowledge, we sang about earlier, knowing God, knowing God and knowing Jesus Christ. JI Packer in a book by that title, Knowing God, said this, "What were we made for? To know God. What aim should we set ourselves in life? To know God. What is the eternal life that Jesus gives? Knowledge of God."

John 17:3, "Now this is eternal life, that they may know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." And what is the best thing in life, bringing more joy, more delight and contentment than anything else? Knowledge of God. Jeremiah 9, this is what the Lord says, "Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts, boast about this, that he understands and knows me." Packer continues, he says, "What of all the states God ever sees man and gives him the most pleasure it is knowledge of himself." Hosea 6:6, "I desire knowledge of God more than burnt offerings." it is knowledge of God that brings delight to God when he sees that in us. Now, in our passage today, if you were to look at verse 32, Daniel 11:32, there's a group of people there right in the middle of this prophecy that are characterized this way. It says the people who know their God shall be strong and do great things. There's different translations to that verse, but I think that's the best one. The people who know their God shall be strong and do great things, the people who know their God.

The Context of the People

Now they lived in the context, the people referred to here in Daniel 11 were a specific group of Jews who lived a certain time. And we'll find out about that as we go on this morning. Their context was that Gentile kingdoms, Greek kings, were fighting back and forth over the promised land. Jewish people were suffering greatly under an anti-Christ figure, Antiochus Epiphanes. We'll learn more about him. And there were some Jewish heroes who defended their old covenant religion, even at the cost of their lives. They were willing to stand up and be counted for the Lord, they were willing, courageously to take on this man Antiochus and to lay down their lives. And who were they? They were people who knew their God, those were the ones who were strong and courageous, those were the ones who stood up and did great things. The people who knew their God, that's their context.

What is our context? Well, the American Church is characterized in many respects by strange ideas about God. And by a weakness, an inability to act or be courageous to stand firm for God in a culture which is questioning him, defying him and mocking him. There is weakness in the church. We don't stand firm, and we don't do great things. And that's because I think you root it back to a lack of knowledge of God. Jesus said to the Sadducees, "You're in error because you don't know the Scriptures or the power of God." We don't know God the way we should.

And there are strange theories abounding about God, his nature, his purposes, his intentions. How can we be sure that we're breathing pure air not noxious air? How can we be sure we're eating healthy meat not rancid meat? How can we be sure we're drinking pure water not water from the bottom of an abandoned well? Well, we know it through scripture and through Jesus Christ. Scripture alone gives us true knowledge of God and it can only be rightly interpreted through faith in Jesus Christ.

Now, we've been looking through the book of Daniel at a God who reveals himself there. That is the God I want to... I want you to know, that is the God I want to preach, that is the God worth living for and worth knowing for. He is sovereign over world empires. He is mighty to rule over all of human history, he works through the events, great events and small events of human history to bring about his purpose and what is his purpose? It is an eternal kingdom, a kingdom which will never end into which he invites people from every tribe and language and people and nation. It is a kingdom of the everlasting life, through Jesus Christ. We're going to talk about that next week. Resurrection. Those who rise and shine like the sun for all eternity, Daniel 12.

But there's a kingdom that he's building and he's demonstrating his perfect knowledge and his sovereign power even in the pages of the book of Daniel. That God, the God of the book of Daniel, the God of Daniel, the one he prayed to and worshipped, that God is well worth knowing, he's worth fighting for, he's worth even dying for.

But that God, the God of the book of Daniel is a God that Satan will fight against every step of the way and he's going to fight against the book of Daniel and he's going to fight against specific detailed prophecies in Daniel, he's going to lie about it and say that the events in chapter 11 are too detailed, too specific, the prophecy is too clear they must have been written after the fact. It's been said from the very time that people started thinking about the book of Daniel right up until our present day. And so Satan is going to attack this idea of a sovereign all-knowing, all-powerful God because he hates that being. It's the very one he rebelled against at the start.

And so we have some strange ideas about God floating out around there. There's a professor, very winsome likeable person named Greg Boyd. I've mentioned him before but I want to warn you, an under-shepherd, a good under-shepherd has to warn sheep about false teaching. And he's written a very popular book called The God of the Possible. The basic idea of the book is that God cannot specifically know the future, it's impossible for him to know. And why is that? Because human beings have absolute free will. Any decision they make, any idea that they have, anything they choose to do, they can do. And so, because their decisions are completely free God cannot possibly know them ahead of time. He is rather the God of the possible, whose sovereignty and power is so great that he can handle whatever we decide and still work around us to accomplish his ends. Does that sound like the God of the book of Daniel to you? But that's what's being taught.

Now in the chapter we're looking at here from verse 1-35 alone there are 135 specific, detailed prophecies about a period of history that most of us have never come close to studying, 135 specific prophecies. Let me ask you a question, do you think we're going to go through all 135 this morning? I'm sure some of you have lunch reservations at Bojangles' and you're not going to be able to stay. [laughter] So no, we're not going through all 135 specific prophecies. In one sense, it's a pity because you're not going to get the full power of the book of Daniel 11, unless you lay down verses 1-35 alongside a secular history of that age and see how many places they connect right on down the line. It's astonishing, I've been astonished. And I'd like to communicate my astonishment to you, but I don't have much time. So, I would urge you to study it for yourselves. But there's specific prophecies in here, and it totally rejects the idea of Greg Boyd's God, a God who cannot know in detail the future.

Now let's get our context here. Remember last week, the angel Gabriel appeared to Daniel after 21 days of fasting Daniel had... Didn't take any choice meats but my guess is that he just ate bread and water for 21 days, he was an old man in his 80s, and he was praying and God sent the angel to give him a revelation.

And so chapter 10, 11 and 12 are all that same time. It's the same revelation, the third year of Cyrus the Great, it's the end of Daniel's life. And so chapter 11 is a series of wars and all kinds of things that go on over the promised land, predictions of details. And then in chapter 12, the end of the matter, resurrection and eternal life, even for God's people. So it's all one kind of revelation. We talked about it, the beginning of it, last week and now we're going to look more specifically at it. Now if you would look at chapter 10 verse 14, he gives basically the topic of these revelations. Chapter 10 verse 14, the angel said to Daniel, "Now, I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future for the vision concerns a time yet to come." So the focus or the center of the prophecies are the Jewish people, the promised land, the city of Jerusalem, that's the center of what we're going to look at in chapter 11, 12. But we as Gentiles, we are grafted into a Jewish tree, it says in Romans 11. And so these things are also our things as well. And so we should be intensely interested in what is talked about here in chapter 11, chapter 12.

The Rule of Persia

Now in chapter 11, we got a focus on the holy land, that literal chunk of land that was promised to Abraham the promised land, and what's going to happen in a future time. Remember, future to Daniel. He lived about 550 so were talking several hundred maybe even 250 to 300 years after Daniel, predictions and prophecies about what happen. Now the chapter itself breaks into five major sections, the first section talks about the kings of Persia, that's verse 2, the second section, verse 3-4 talks about the king of Greece. We know who that is, Alexander the Great. And then the next section is about Egypt and Syria, up through verse 20, Egypt and Syria. The fighting between Greek kingdoms that goes on back and forth there.

The next section about this one Greek king Antiochus Epiphanes, who plays out in history the role of anti-Christ. He's not the anti-Christ, but he acts like him in history and so he gives a little dress rehearsal for the final anti-Christ who's described in the fifth section of this chapter. The final anti-Christ, the final Gentile ruler, who will be ruling when Jesus Christ returns on that white horse to end history. So that's the whole chapter. It's all laid out before you and he's spreading out history centered around Jerusalem and the promised land. Now look a little more carefully. We do not have time to read the whole chapter, as you can tell it's the lengthiest chapter in the book of Daniel but we're going to take little snapshots so that we have an understanding of what's here.

Look at verse 2, for example. This is the section on Persia it says, "Now then I will tell you the truth," he's speaking, the angel is speaking to Daniel, "Three more kings will appear in Persia." That's three more after Cyrus the Great, "And then a fourth who will be far richer than all the others and when he has gained power by his wealth he will stir up everyone against the kingdom of Greece." So you can count off four kings from Cyrus the Great, and that one was Xerxes I. Xerxes gathered together a huge army. He was wealthier than any other king that had preceded him in the Persian Empire, and he threw it in a war against Greece. That really precipitated Alexander the Great coming back in reprisal afterwards. So this is all a matter of history, but this was written 250 years before it ever happened. So the fourth king after Cyrus the Great is going to be wealthy and he's going to gather together this army and he's going to fight against Greece.

Greece: Alexander the Great (vs. 3-4)

Now verses 3 and 4 talks about the next king, doesn't say he's Greek here but we know from history and from the earlier prophecies in Daniel that this is Alexander the Great, it can be no other. Look at verse 3, "Then a mighty king will appear who will rule with great power and do as he pleases. After he has appeared his empire will be broken up and parceled out toward the four winds of heaven. It will not go to his descendants, nor will it have the power he exercised because his empire will be uprooted and given to others." This is definitely Alexander the Great. He died at age 32 or 33, the height of his power, in a drunken feast in Babylon he died and he had no ancestor ready to take over the kingdom and so it was divided among his four top generals.

The Struggle of Greek Kings: South (Egypt/Ptolemies) vs. North (Syria/Seleucids) (vs. 5-20)

Now two of those generals were Ptolemy, spelled P-T-O-L-E-M-Y, in Egypt and Seleucus in Babylonia. Now I've given you a little map there in your bulletin. It's really kind of hard to follow chapter 11 without seeing the map. The Ptolemies were Greek rulers of Egypt. Remember that Alexander the Great conquered Egypt. And he built a city there in his name, remember what it's called? Still there to this day, Alexandria. So, they conquered down in Egypt and the Greeks were ruling down in that part of the world, including the promised land where the Jews lived.

In the northern section around the Tigris and Euphrates, the Fertile Crescent and Babylonia, that whole center section went to a general named Seleucus. So we have the Seleucids, the northern kingdom, and we have the Ptolemies, the southern Greek kingdom, we have the Syrians versus the Egyptians, do you see it? The northern kingdom's that kind of gray area, the southern, the cross-hatched area. Can you read it? You can see what's going on. These are the kings of the North and the kings of the South. And you won't understand Daniel 11 unless you see this map and understand what's going on. The kings of the North and the kings of the South were fighting each other, and they were both Greeks, they were all Greeks. And this shouldn't surprise us because this is the way Greece was. Greece was made up with a bunch of city-states Sparta and Athens and Macedonia that used to fight against each other. And so now they've just kind of exported it to the rest of the world. This is what they did. And so, there's this internal struggle going on. And they're warring and they're fighting over stuff.

We read this beautiful... I mean we sang this beautiful song, knowing you Jesus, it says,

"All I once held dear, built my life upon all this world reveres and wars to own, wars to own, all I once thought gain I have counted loss, spent and worthless now compared to this, knowing you Jesus, knowing you."

Well that's what these Seleucids and Ptolemies were fighting over stuff, power, materials, gold and silver and authority and fertile land, and all this kind of stuff. They're fighting over it, and that's been human history, hasn't it? That's what's been going on since the beginning of sin with Cain and Abel. And so there's this struggle, this fight going on, the kings of the North and the kings of the South, and they're warring over who's going to have the upper hand. Now in these verses we have amazing detail, verses 5-20. We can't go through it all, but you would derive tremendous benefit from looking at it. For example, a daughter given in marriage later assassinated, it's predicted and you can read about it either in the Bible 250 years ahead of time or you can read about it in history afterwards, but it's all right there.

And then we've got this regular pattern of the kings of the North basically triumphing over the kings of the South. The reason was the kings of the North had a greater power base. They had that Fertile Crescent in Babylonia, all that area up there. So they had economic wealth and therefore they always seemed to have the upper hand. One of the kings, Antiochus III, not Antiochus IV Epiphanes, but Antiochus III was the most successful military general. Initially he lost a battle that's predicted in here too but then in the end he gained the upper hand and just conquered that whole area. He was the most powerful militarily of this era, but then he got a little ambitious, he over-reached himself and he lost his kingdom. And why is that? Because as he reached too far west, he bumped into a new power that was rising in the West, who is it? Who started to rise and take over where the Greeks had taken over? It was Rome. This is right around the time that Rome starts to ascend in power. Look at verses 18 and 19, it's all predicted in there. It says, "He will turn his attention to the coastlands, and will take many of them but a commander... " is all it says, A general "will put an end to his insolence and will turn his insolence back upon him." verse 19, "After this he will turn back toward the fortresses of his own country but he will stumble and fall to be seen no more." Antiochus III the Great. And he's trimmed off by the Romans at this point.

The Little Antichrist: Antiochus IV Ephiphanes (vs. 21-35)

Now, verses 21-35, this is a focal point, Antiochus IV Epiphanes. Now, who is Antiochus? He is the little horn of Daniel 8, he is the imitation anti-Christ. And so he's going to do things in his life, he's going to do things in the promised land that mimic what will happen later at the end of the world. He's acting it out in drama, Antiochus IV Epiphanes and we can read about it. We already saw him in Daniel 8:9-12 and chapter 8 again, 23-25, he's the little horn that grows up on the shaggy goat in that vision in Daniel 8. And what do we learn about it at that time. Well first, it would happen at the latter part of the Greek reign. In other words, once Antiochus is done pretty much the Romans take over. There's a little history after that but it's not long after that the Romans are in charge. And so it's at the latter part of the Greek reign and this man Antiochus IV is going to wage war on the Jews. There's going to be a time of religious persecution, the sacrifices will be stopped, many of the Jews will be slaughtered, and he, Antiochus IV, will be destroyed but not by human power. He will not be assassinated or poisoned, he will not die in battle, he's going to die in a remarkable way by the hand of God I think.

Now, if you look at more detail in verse 21-28, we see the rise and early success of Antiochus IV. Look at verse 21. It says, "He will be succeeded by a contemptible person." the contemptible person is Antiochus IV. "Contemptible person who has not been given the honor of royalty. He will invade the kingdom when its people feel secure and he will seize it through intrigue." This is Antiochus' modus operandi, this is what he does. He's not a powerful military conqueror, he's more of a supreme politician. He's able to divide people by making alliances and by intrigue and by making plots, that's what he does. And so just when the kingdom feels secure he's able to worm his way in there and take power and take control. Now we see some military successes in verses 22-24. It says, that an overwhelming army will be swept away before him. Both it and a prince of the covenant will be destroyed. Verse 23, "After coming to an agreement with him, He will act deceitfully." I mean that's just the way he does it, he makes an agreement and then he breaks it when it's convenient for him to do it, that's Antiochus. "After coming to an agreement with him he will act deceitfully and with only a few people he will rise to power." Verse 24, "When the richest provinces feel secure he will invade them. And will achieve what neither his fathers nor his forefathers did. He will distribute plunder, loot and wealth among his followers. He will plot the overthrow of fortresses but only for a time."

So that's when he's doing well. He's ascending up, he's reaching the height of power and he's doing it militarily, but even more he's doing it through knowledge of politics. Divide and conquer, tricking people, working it through that way. His biggest successes of all are described in verses 25-28, it says, "With a large army he will stir up his strength and courage against the king of the South. The king of the South will wage war with a large and very powerful army but he will not be able to stand because of the plots devised against him. Those who eat from the king's provisions will try to destroy him. His army will be swept away and many will fall in battle." Verse 27 is remarkable, "The two kings," now who is this? The king of the North and the king of the South, we've got the Syrian-Egyptian king... I mean Syrian-Greek king coming down, that's Antiochus IV and then we've got the Ptolemian king and they're sitting at one table. Verse 27.

The two of them are going to sit at one table and are going to try to work it out. "The two kings with their hearts bent on evil will sit at the same table and lie to each other but to no avail because an end will still come at the appointed time." So you got these two kings sitting a table and they're going to lie to each other. This was written 300 years before it happened. You know what I wonder? I wonder what God was thinking when the table was being built? When the Carpenter was building the table that they were going to sit at. It'd been predicted 300 years beforehand, all this. He didn't know what it was, it was just a table he's building, he built 30 that month. It's just another table. But it's the one that these two kings are going to sit at opposite sides of and lie to each other. And you're telling me God doesn't know the future. I mean, details about the future, the God of the possible. No, God knows everything before it happens in detail. Look at verse 27 again, the two kings are going to sit at opposite sides of the table and they're going to lie to each other but to no avail. And why to no avail? "Because an end will still come at the appointed time." Who's appointed time? God's appointed time. They can lie to each other all they want, they can make their schemes and plans. When God says it's over, it's over and not until.

This is the God of the book of Daniel. It's consistent, isn't it? Consistent picture of God who rules over great kings like Nebuchadnezzar and Alexander the Great and minor kings like this one, or these two. Verse 28, "The king of the North will return to his own country with great wealth but his heart will be set against the holy covenant. He will take action against it and then return to his own country." We're going to talk about that. He's going to attack the holy covenant. But then in verse 29 and 30 we see something new, "At the appointed time," Circle that. "At the appointed time he will invade the South again." at who's appointed time? At God's appointed time. Do you see the picture again and again? God rules over these things. At the appointed time he will invade the south again. But this time the outcome will be different from what it was before.

Now look at this, it's remarkable. Verse 30, "Ships of Kittim," is what it literally says in Hebrew, NIV translates it, "Ships of the western coastlands will oppose him and he will lose heart then he will turn back." What is this? Well, he invades Egypt and he's doing well, he's kind of taking over the king of the South again and then out of nowhere come these ships and some troops land. It's a Roman commander. And Rome has had just about enough of this guy and they intervene.

It was a man, a commander named Popilius Lenas, and he comes down from Thessalonica with some ships. It's all a matter of history. You can read it. Daniel saw it 300 years ahead of time. And so the ships land and this commander comes and confronts Antiochus IV Epiphanes and he said, "You've got to go back to your home territory and stay there. You've got to go back to your home area and stay there." And Antiochus looked at him and with his little wheels turning, you know how he is, wheels turning, planning what he can do, he says to the Roman, "Well, I need to think about it." and he said, "Alright." so the Roman drew a sword and he drew a circle around Antiochus IV on the ground, he said, "You think about it as long as you want but you must decide before you leave that circle." Well, there's a threat there, isn't there? You decide now what you're going to do and if you decide to rebel we'll know it right now, we'll cut you down before you make it out of the circle. He forced the decision on him, he drew that circle around him and forced the decision and said, "You decide now." And if you want to take us on we're ready. Well, he lost heart and went back with his tail between his legs.

Antiochus’ Persecution of the Jews (vs. 30-35)

Well, a prideful guy like this isn't going to take that standing up and so he's going to go back and he's going to kick the dog at home, and that's what bullies do. He's going to go home and he's going to kick the dog, he's going to take it out on people who are defenseless, he's going to take it out on the Jews. He's angry, he's enraged and he's going to turn and he's going to vent his fury, verse 30, on the holy covenant. He's going to pour out his rage. Now he hated the holy covenant, why? Because he loved Greek culture and Greek religion, he loved the Greek gods, especially Zeus or Jupiter and he wanted all the people in his conquered land to follow his religion. The Jews would never do it, they had this temple and they had all these sacrifices, they had the old covenant, the whole thing that God had commanded them to do. And he is going to fight against them.

But he is going to do it his way. He's going to... Look at verse 30, "He will return and show favor to those who forsake the holy covenant." Do you see that? He's going to bribe some Jews and he's going to give them positions of authority, he's going to give them honor, titles, money if they'll turn their back on the holy covenant and sadly some of them do. He's going to divide politically, that's the... What he did. That's his approach. But he's also got armed forces and in verse 31, "His armed forces will rise to desecrate the temple fortress and will abolish the daily sacrifice. Then they will set up the abomination that causes desolation." It is at this point in history, December 168 BC, that Antiochus defiled the Holy of Holies. He set up a statue to Jupiter. We've talked about this before. And he sacrificed pigs in the Holy of Holies and used pigs' blood to defile the sanctuary and to kind of take it over for Greek religion.

Any of you who know anything about Greek temples know that there are also temple prostitutes, and he defiled it further in that manner. It was a horrendous scene, total defilement. The temple therefore became not a center of prayer for all nations and of holy sacrifices and worship, but a center of wickedness and sin and sadly some faithless Jews corrupted and... Were corrupted and defiled by the temptation in verse 32 it says, "With flattery he will corrupt those who have violated the covenant."

The Jews Who Knew God Resisted

But some Jews stood fast. And why? Because they knew their God, because they knew their God. You will not stand firm if you don't know your God. As long as culture, the surrounding culture is amenable to Christianity and times are easy and things are friendly, you can have a fake faith and make it through but not during times of persecution, you will not stand if you don't stand by faith. They knew their God, and they were willing to lay down their lives. Terrible persecutions came on, verse 33-35, "Those who are wise will instruct many though for a time they will fall by the sword or be burned or captured or plundered. And when they fall they will receive a little help and many who are not sincere will join them. Some of the wise will stumble so that they may be refined, purified and made spotless until the time of the end for it still comes at the appointed time." At the appointed time.

What is this talking about? The Maccabean revolt. There was a priest named Mattathias and he had five sons, the Maccabean family. They raised a banner of revolt and they started to fight against Antiochus IV. They were willing to risk their lives. One of them in one fight, Antiochus had elephants in his army, he got up under the elephant and stabbed it with a sword right up to the heart of the elephant. What do you think the elephant did after it was stabbed to the heart? Fell to the ground and crushed the man who did it. The courageous actions of these Maccabeans, the willingness they had to lay down their life for the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And they won many victories. And they were able to cleanse the temple. And so, the Jews celebrate Hannukah every year, the Feast of the cleansing and the dedication of the temple when it was taken back from Antiochus IV. But what happened to Antiochus IV Epiphanes, well he died. In 164 BC in fulfillment of the prophecy of Daniel 8:25, "He will be destroyed," it says, "But not by human power." He went down to a village near the temple of Elymais to plunder it and he was suddenly struck down by an illness. Said he would die but not by human hands. Struck down with an illness, he had severe abdominal pains that never left him coupled with intestinal worms and a terrible stench.

And he died with vain petitions to the God of Israel on his lips to spare his life, he died praying to the God of Israel. Can you believe that? And he died. And in his death, it leaves some verses in chapter 11 unfulfilled, doesn't it?

The Final Antichrist (vs. 36-45)

From verse 36 on is not fulfilled in the life of Antiochus and therefore it's referring to the anti-Christ, the future. You want to know what's going to happen? Read verses 36-45, because there is nothing in history that lines up with these verses. Verse 36, "The king will do as he pleases. He will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will say unheard of things against the God of gods. He will be successful until the time of wrath is completed for what has been determined must take place." determined by who? Well determined by God at the right time. You see, God is sovereign even over the final anti-Christ. And when his time is over then Christ will come. Verse 37 is not true of Antiochus it says, "He will show no regard for the gods of his fathers or for the one desired by women nor will he regard any god but will exalt himself above them all." That's not true of Antiochus, he revered the god of his fathers. Jupiter and all the Greek pantheon of gods, he revered them. This one will not. He will reject all gods, anything that is called God and set himself up to be god in their place. This is none other than the man of sin in 2 Thessalonians 2. This is the anti-Christ.

He's going to honor them, verse 38, "with a god of fortresses; a god unknown to his fathers he will honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and costly gifts. He will attack the mightiest fortresses with the help of a foreign god and will greatly honor those who acknowledge him. He will make them rulers over many people and will distribute the land at a price." So we see this end time king rising up to power and he's going to dominate and he's going to be successful. And he's going to win militarily. He's going to win battles one after the other. Verses 40-45 talk about it, and remarkably, if you take that map I gave you and look, he's going to be running along the same coastlands up and down along the same area that the kings of the North and the kings of the South fought it out so long ago. It's the same area. It's going to be re-enacted at the end of the world. He's an end time king ruling powerfully over the nations, and he's going to succeed until his appointed end, days measured out by God himself. He's going to establish a false religion, exalting himself and glorifying himself above every god and in the end he will be defeated by Jesus Christ himself at the second coming.

Now, chapter 11 of Daniel is filled with incredible prophecies. We've only lightly touched on them. 135 specific prophecies, every one of them fulfilled except those which refer to the anti-Christ, the final ruler. And all of it, not only known meticulously ahead of time by God but determined, decreed and appointed by God. These are the words used again and again. Do you know this God? Is this the God you know? Is this the God you worship? A God with this kind of sovereign knowledge and power and control, even over minor kings and kingdoms. Do you know this God. JI Packer said, "The people who know their God have great energy for God, the people who know their God have great boldness for God, the people who know their God have great contentment in God, fearing nothing." The people who know their God, verse 32, shall be strong and do great things.

How Can We Know God?

Well, the question is how? How can we know this God? How do we know him? Well, we know him by scripture. You know him better now than before we started reading the book of Daniel. Just by reading scripture to know that God knew all this ahead of time, that's how you know. I printed out in your bulletin Acts 17:26. And Acts 17:26 explains very plainly what was going on here. This is a sermon that the Apostle Paul preached to the Greeks in Athens. And it says, "From one man he made every nation of men that they should inhabit the whole earth and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live." He determined the time set for them and the exact places where they should live. Where do you live? United States lives between the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. State of North Carolina has its boundaries to the North, Virginia, to the south, South Carolina. Who drew those lines? What does Acts 17:26 tell you? He determined the time set for them and the exact places where they should live. Do you know this God? A God who's this powerful, who knows this much. Is this the God you know?

Sovereign. The lines on the map move from generation to generation but all of them under his sovereign hand. Kings of the North fight the kings of the South and all of it under his sovereign hand. Is this the God you know? Verse 27, "The two kings with their hearts bent on evil will sit at the same table and lie to each other but to no avail because an end will come still at the appointed time." Is this the God you know? Verse 29, "At the appointed time he'll invade the South again." And even the anti-Christ's days are measured out. Verse 36, "He will be successful until the time of wrath is completed, for what has been determined must take place." Sovereign knowledge and control and power, supernatural prophecies meticulously weighed out. How in the world can Greg Boyd thesis be true that God has no knowledge of the future and the book of Daniel still be Scripture, it's impossible. But more than anything, do you know God's salvation plan? Because that's the core of what's going on here. You might say, who cares about kings of the North and kings of the South. Well, I think you ought to care, God cares.

But even more realize what is the big picture of the Book of Daniel. A kingdom which will never end. Not like these earthly kingdoms but the kingdom of Jesus Christ, a kingdom in which death itself has been conquered. We'll talk about that next week. A kingdom of his son, Jesus Christ, a kingdom for the Jew first but also for the Gentile, a kingdom centered in Jerusalem and the promises and the prophecies made to Abraham. And so how can we know this God? We know him through the king himself, Jesus Christ. Jesus came to reveal God. It says in John 1, "No one has ever seen God at any time but the only begotten God, the Son of God has made him known." By knowing Jesus Christ, you can have eternal life. Jesus came and this week we celebrate his atoning sacrifice on the cross. You can't just make up your mind to know this God you have to have your sin problem dealt with and that's fully paid for through the blood of Jesus Christ.

Do you know him today? Have you come to faith in Christ? Have you ever given your life to Jesus Christ? Do you know for certain that your sins are paid for? Have you ever yielded to him? It could be that you don't know for certain that your sins are forgiven. That you don't know for sure whether Jesus died for you or not. Can I urge you not to leave this sanctuary before you're certain that you have made a commitment to Jesus Christ. Popilius Lenas the Roman commander drew a circle around Antiochus IV and said you can think about as long as you want but don't leave that circle without making up your mind what you want to do. Well, I think God draws a circle around us today, and do you know what he calls it? He calls it today, that's what he calls it and he says, "If today you hear his voice don't harden your hearts." he also says, "In the time of my favor I heard you and in the day of salvation I helped you." I tell you now is the time of God's favor. Now, today is the day of salvation. Do you feel the circle drawn around you? Don't leave before you've made up your mind. Won't you close with me in prayer?

Learn all that the book of Proverbs has to say about wise parenting. 

I thought it would be thing to mesh that together with Disciple Now, and the… Book of Proverbs has a great deal of wisdom about parenting, And parenting is a challenging thing to do. Amen? Some of you know what I'm talking about. Some of you are on the other side of being parented, so you know what a challenge that is as well. But I think there's just some good things that we can learn, and I wanna zero in on this idea of discipleship in particular. We talk about disciple now for the youth. And the discipleship command is one that's been given us by our Lord Jesus Christ, is it not? In the great commission, Jesus commanded us to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that he has commanded us.

We are, as parents, called to disciple our children, we're called to lead them to faith in Christ, and then to train them up in that faith and to present them to the world as mature disciples of Jesus Christ. There is no impact that any discipler or church or a pastor could ever have that comes close to comparing to the impact of a father and mother on the life of a young person, who grows to maturity. And it is part of God's plan that Christians raise their children in this way. A great number of the great heroes of church history were brought to faith at an early age by godly parents, trained very thoroughly in the Christian life, and then sent off to do great things for God.

And so I praise God for each of these youth that have given testimonies tonight. Now, who knows what God has in store for them? And for those that were not raised, I have not been raised in a godly home, God can step in at any time and bring them to personal faith in Christ and do great things through them as well. God's grace is that way. But all I'm saying is that God wants Christians to raise their children, to train them up. And what I'd like to do is to show... Before we get into the Proverbs tonight, to show the kind of background of a Jewish mother and father and how they were committed to train their children in the Covenant, the teaching of the Covenant, and this is in Deuteronomy Chapter 6. So take a minute there before we get into whatever Chapter of Proverbs you chose, to look at Deuteronomy Chapter 6.

Now understand, Deuteronomy, the word means second law giving. It's the second time that the law was given. Remember that the law was given and then the Jews were to enter the Promised Land. But they did not, they refuse to enter, they did not believe God, and God said, "Very well, no one of this generation will enter the Promised Land, but their children will." Except of course, Joshua and Caleb, who were the two spies that brought a favorable report and said, "We can do it through the power and strength of the Lord." But the other 10 did not feel that way. And the Jewish people as a whole rebelled and wanted to go back to Egypt, as you remember. Well, they wandered in the desert for 40 years, and then the time came for them to enter the Promised Land. And so this was the second time that the law was given.

This was the covenant that God had given Israel. Basically, this was the rules of the road. I'm about to give you the Promised Land, this is the way it needs to be. And I frequently think, and I've mentioned this illustration before, of a parent of youth giving the youth the keys to the car, say, "Alright, this is the car and you can use it, but these are the rules about the use of the car, and you break these rules you don't get to use the car again." You know what I'm talking about, it's a covenant, it's an agreement. And so it was with the Promised Land. "This is the way it needs to be. You must obey my commandment if you are going to stay in the Promised Land." Now realize, God intended that they stay in the Promised Land indefinitely for a long time, and therefore, it was key that parents pass on the teaching of the covenant to their children. That they pass on the laws and the rules that God had given them.

And so in Deuteronomy 6, there's a process in which that Moses gives them for this. Deuteronomy 6:1, it says, "These are the commands and the decrees and laws that the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. So that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God, as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you. And so that you may enjoy long life. Hear, O Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you, and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey. Just as the Lord, the God of your fathers promised you." Now, a couple of phrases I wanna bring out of this, it says that the Lord is giving this commandment, this covenant to them, to their children and to their grandchildren, to future generations, and that they would demonstrate the love they had for God by obeying his commands.

Now, you may think this is an old covenant idea, but it is not. Jesus said, "If you love me, you will obey my commands." "This is love for God, that we keep His commands," it says in 1 John. There's no change in God on this matter whatsoever. We cannot say that we love him and disobey his commands. So we demonstrate our love for God by obeying the commands and decrees that God has given. And it says in Verse 2, "so that you may enjoy long life." So if you obey the commands, you will enjoy long life. And then it says "that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers promised you."

Now, the reason I zero in on these phrases is that we see the exact same thing in Ephesians 6, don't turn there, but just listen. It says fathers in Ephesians 6:4, "Fathers, do not exasperate your children, don't frustrate them. Instead, bring them up in the training and nurture of the Lord." There is to be a training and a nurturing, and to the children, it says, "Children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is right. Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with a promise, so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth." You see the parallel here? It's the exact same thing.

And so here in the New Testament, in Ephesians 6, just as in the Old Testament, Deuteronomy 6, we have the same idea. You want your children to enjoy life, have a long life, teach them the commandments of God. Teach them to obey God, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. And then continue in Deuteronomy, it says, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them," Verse 7, "impress them on your children, talk about them when you sit at home, and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates."

And then in Verse 20, skip down to the bottom of the page, it says, "In the future, when your son asks you, What is the meaning of the stipulations, decrees, and laws the Lord our God has commanded you," Verse 21, "Tell him, We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand." It goes on from there. So the idea here is that the children are going to ask, What does this mean? And you are to impress them, Verse 7, impress these commandments on the hearts of your children. Now, the word impress is a very interesting word. In every other context in Hebrew, this word means sharpen, it's the kind of thing you would do to an axe or to a farming tool. You would sharpen it. And you know how you sharpen things with a whetstone, for example, you would rub it in a certain way until everything that didn't need to be there had been honed off and it was sharpened to an edge. When you are using a whetstone, the key is repetition, isn't it? You're just sharpening and sharpening and sharpening. You don't just rub once, you have to rub again and again, and that's the word used here in Deuteronomy 6:7. Sharpen these commands into your children. Repetition. Repetition.

And it says so, when they sit down and when they rise, when they go in, when they go out, they should be up in the walls. You should talk about them at dinner, it should be just infused in your life. Now, I'm now looking at my life, I don't do that the way I should, it's not the dinner conversation the way it should be. It's not what we talk about when we come together at the end of a busy day. It's not the way it should be. And we try and we're continuing to work on it, but I just think we can constantly do better on this issue of sharpening the commands of God into our children, repetition. But the point I'm giving you is that God intended that this be the way it is with Jewish parents. And then parallel over in the new covenant with us as well, Christian parents.

The thing I worry about as a pastor is that we sometimes... I think we drop the ball because each is expecting the other to do it. You know the Church is expecting the parents to be training their children and evangelizing them and praying with them, reading the Bible and all that. The parents say, "Well, that's why we bring them to Sunday school, that's for you to do to them." And each side is kinda dropping it, I think the church has its responsibility, absolutely. We're here tonight talking about it, aren't we? And we should. But it's primarily the responsibility of the parents. The parents therefore must be trained and prepared, and that's my goal tonight. So that we can have a heightened expectation.

Now, some of you are done with your direct parenting, but then you've got grandkids and spending time with them, right Mac? Spending some time today. Worn out, he said. They have limitless energy, but we have a responsibility on generation after generation. As long as we're here, we're gonna be involved in this. And even if our grandchildren are all grown, we still can have an influence on other young couples, for example, that are just beginning their training. So important.

There's something Chelsea shared that was so wonderful. The desire to be friends, that we be friends with our children, our children with the parents, I think that's a goal. The problem is, parents start out that way, they wanna be friendly at first, and frankly, that's not really appropriate. There's an awful lot of training that needs to go on before you finally reach the full friend stage, and that's our goal, and I'd rather have a lifetime of friendship with my children, because they've been brought up and trained and prepared than some special moments early on, and then it becomes more and more, not just because the children aren't being trained properly. So this is something that we need to look at. We desire definitely, ultimately, as Chelsea said so beautifully, to be friends one with another in the Lord.

Now, as we look at discipleship, turn into the Book of Proverbs, what we're gonna see is we're gonna see a positive and a negative side to it, aren't we? We're gonna see the positive side of disciple making and training. This is gonna go in terms of nurture and instruction and training. This kind of thing of sharpening the instructions, and so we have repeated in the Book of Proverbs this idea of, "My son, listen to the instruction of your parents. My son, listen to what your mother and father are saying to you." Over and over, it's repeated this idea of instruction. That's the positive side. What's the negative side? Well, there's discipline isn't there? What we call the rod of reproof, and we don't wanna just focus on the issue of corporal punishment, which is there, and I think a valid thing to discuss, but just the ongoing negative side of training that has to go on right until the children are grown fully, that there's going to be issues that you have to continue to deal with right on until they're fully trained. 

There's the positive side of loving and nurturing and training, and the negative side of dealing with discipline issues, and both of them are there, aren't they? And they're both established in the Book of Proverbs. And interesting, if you look at the word discipline, which we tend to think of negatively, we tend to think of as a hard thing, and it isn't pleasant. Hebrews 12 says it isn't pleasant, okay? But afterward, it yields a peaceful harvest of righteousness, those who've been trained by it. But notice the close relationship in English between the word discipline and the word what? Disciple. There's a real close... And so the goal in all of this is the disciple making of the child, that they're being made to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.

Alright, well, what are we talking about in terms of the positive side of the instruction? Look at Chapter 1, Verse 8 and 9. It says there, "Listen, my son, to your father's instruction, and do not forsake your mother's teaching. They will be a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck." So this is right after the intro to the book, we immediately after the praise of wisdom and the whole purpose of the Book of Proverbs, why the Book of Proverbs is written. And we have the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, etcetera, we immediately go into the context of the home, do you see that? Right after the intro, we go right into the home, just like the Billy Graham quote, it's lived out in the home, but it's also this idea of Deuteronomy 6, that's the forum of the training. That's where the majority of the training is gonna go on in the home.

And so, listen my son, to your father's instruction and do not forsake your mother's teaching. So both father and mother are to be involved in the training of the young ones. This is an incredibly important thing for a man and a woman to do. As I said, there is no disciple making that even comes close to that in terms of daily impact, wouldn't you say? Wouldn't you agree? And we have day after day impact on the lives of these folks. Whereas, if you're meeting with a young man, or if you're a woman meeting with a young woman to mentor or to disciple, how much time do you really have during the week? You have a little time to read some... Maybe you're reading a book or read through some Scripture, you can pray together, but the impact is small compared to the impact of a parent on a child, both father and mother.

Look over at Chapter 2, beginning at Verse 1, it says, "My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you. Turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you search for it as for silver, and look for it as for hidden treasure. Then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom and from his mouth comes knowledge and understanding. He holds victory in store for the upright. He is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones." So again, this idea of, my son, taking a father or a mother and a word of instruction. And as this word of instruction comes, this son is to accept the words and store up the commands. You see? Store it up. 

So just as the parents are responsible to sharpen those commands into the children, what are the children responsible to do? To store them up, to soak them in, to absorb them, to meditate on them as though they're important. These are valuable things. And these are gonna protect my life from harm. So both father and mother involved in this. And I think it's fascinating, especially the mother's role here. Look, if you will, to the very end of the book, Proverbs 31, and believe it or not, I'm actually not at this point going through the Proverbs 31 woman. Which is probably one of the most famous parts of Proverbs, but actually the very beginning of Proverbs 31, and it's really a fascinating thing.

Proverbs 31, Verse 1, "The sayings of King Lemuel." Have you ever heard of King Lemuel? [chuckle] I don't know who King Lemuel... I really don't know who he is, just like I don't know who Jabez is who prays that famous prayer, he's just in the middle of a genealogy and here, we have King Lemuel in the middle of Proverbs. Now, I know that the majority of Proverbs were Solomon's, but here's some teaching here from King Lemuel. And I think it wouldn't be a stretch to connect this also with the Proverbs 31 woman, that it's King Lemuel that's given us this idea of the Proverbs 31 woman. So, well, who is King Lemuel? I don't know, but he had a mother. And what a mother she was. Look what it says, "The sayings of King Lemuel, an oracle, or teachings that his mother taught him. So now he's gotten in, comes to colon in the NIV, and now, there's a series of teachings that his mother had given him.

"O my son, O son of my womb, O son of my vows, do not spend your strength on women, your vigor on those who ruin kings. It is not for kings, O Lemuel, not for kings to drink wine, not for rulers to crave beer lest they drink and forget what the law decrees and deprive all the oppressed of their rights. Give beer to those who are perishing and wine to those who are in anguish. Let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more." Verse 8, "Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves. For the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly. Defend the rights of the poor and needy." So there's this whole training going into the life of a king. He's going to be a great man. He's in charge of a nation, and he's supposed to watch out for women, and that's a big issue earlier in the Book of Proverbs, which in this case, it says, "those who ruin kings." And then it speaks of beer, becoming drunk, this kind of drunkenness. And then a desire for social justice, a desire to care for the poor and needy. These are all coming from his mother.

And then to just go right on into the teaching on the wife of noble character, to think of it differently, perhaps that it was Lemuel's mother that said, "Look for this kind of a woman. This is the kind of woman you want." And then he goes on, "A wife of noble character, who can find?" And it goes on to the Proverbs 31 woman. Coming I think as you just read it naturally from Lemuel's mother.

And so this instruction goes from father and mother, down to the son and the daughter, the child. And so it's important for the young ones to listen to their parents and to pay attention. Go back to Chapter 3, "My son, do not forget my teaching but keep the commands in your heart for they will prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity." In other words, you won't die early. You won't die young, you'll be protected. God will sovereignly watch over you, and he'll give you a good life. It says in 1 Peter, "Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech. He must turn from evil and do good. He must seek peace and pursue it." Why? For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are attentive to their prayers, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. So you wanna live a long life? Fruitful life? Then obey these commands I'm giving you. This is sharpening, you see? The exhorting, the father and mother training the child. Okay?

Let love, in Verse 3, 3:3 it says, "Let love and faithfulness never leave you, bind them around your neck, write them on the tablets of your heart." This is just pattern after Deuteronomy language, isn't it? Write it on the door frames, put it up on the wall. You should have these things in front of you, memorize them, have them in front of you, then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight."

So this is the positive side of training, you see it? The laying down of precepts, the teaching of the word of God, and all I can ask you is those of you who still have children at home. Are you doing this? Are you sharpening the commands of God into the hearts and lives of your children? Are you having a daily time in the Scriptures in which you're explaining and working through Scripture? It is your responsibility, fathers, and especially, I think, to lead the family in this regard. That you be the priest, as I've mentioned before, of the family. This is a heavy responsibility, but it's important one. And mothers have a consistent role in training the children. Constantly instructing and training. In many cases, they have far more clock hours during the week than the father has with the children. So a tremendous positive instruction that parents are to give their children.

But then there's the negative side, isn't there? It's not all roses and joy. There's some thorns there, isn't there? And why is that? Well, because, bless their hearts, they're just little sinners. They just really are. And we shouldn't be shocked 'cause we're little sinners too. Actually, we're kinda big sinners, we've been trained, we know what we're doing, we're expert sinners.We just kind of hide it better, but we're all depraved, we're sinful. That's why we need a Savior. Amen? We need a Savior, and so do these children, they need a Savior too. And probably one of the most important things you can train your children is that they need a Savior. And so, if you forsake training your children, forsake the negative side, they will not understand just how much they need a Savior. They will not cry out against their sin and realize how much they're struggling with certain things.

Sin will be no big deal. Well, it is a big deal, very big deal. And the training, the so-called rod of reproof, which is both a literal thing, I believe. Whatever the government says about all that we must understand what... The Scripture too. There's a direct teaching, it's not just one Verse, many Verses on this, in terms of corporal punishment. But also a symbolic side as well, that it stands for just that negative side of disciple making that we need to be involved in.

Well, let's talk about it. It's all based on the Lord's discipline. Look at Proverbs 3:11-12, it says there, "My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline, and do not resent his rebuke because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in." So, our discipline is actually a dim reflection of God's discipline, right? And we've talked about that before with our children. We've been in situations where we're really not sure exactly what the truth is and what the reality is, and we can say, Listen, ultimately, we're going to commit this to God, alright? Now, you can be forthcoming with us and we will do the discipline. Or we will commit it to God and let Him do it, and God has ways. He runs this universe and he's in charge of things. We're limited in what we can do, and it's predictable what we do. Alright? I would suggest you take us at this point, okay? Because God will do it because He loves you. He's going to discipline.

It's a pattern on that. Take a minute and look at Hebrews 12, which quotes this very thing. In Hebrews 12, very, very important passage on the discipline of the Lord. It says in Hebrews 12:4, "In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons. My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you. Because the Lord disciplines those he loves and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son." 12:7 says, "Endure hardship as discipline. God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined and everyone undergoes discipline, then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the father of our spirits and live?" Now, Verse 10, very interesting, "our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best." Isn't that true?

Oh, I'll tell you something, we just come to these discipline situation and we just say, "I don't know what to do, I'm gonna discipline you as I think best, I don't know if this is going to do any change. Our goal is to bring you to repentance, that's our only goal here, just to bring you to repentance." But God disciplines us in a much higher and more perfect way, doesn't he? He just has the whole universe at his disposal for discipline, right? We have the rod of reproof and some other things. But God's got the whole shoot match available to him. That's kind of scary in a way. I mean, He's sovereign over over... Look at Jonah, what did he use to discipline Jonah? He's got a big whale and a tiny little worm, he's got wind, the whole thing is available to God. And He uses it to discipline us. Praise God.

But it says, "our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best, but God disciplines us for our good that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful." Is that not true? Oh, it hurts. It does hurt. And it's meant to hurt, as a matter of fact. If it doesn't hurt, it's not discipline the way we mean it here. It's something else. It's meant to hurt. And why? So that we could be trained out of it. God designed pain into the body as a gift, alright, so that we might know when there's trouble; there's trouble in our foot or in our hand or whatever, so that we can address it and deal with it. And so also God designed pain in our lives so that we might repent from sin and turn away from it and stop doing it. And so, no discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

Parents are always looking at the later on, aren't we? Later on, it's gonna yield a harvest. Right now, boy, it's tough, okay? We're going through it. But we are not going to fail in this matter. As Samuel said, "Far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you." Well, I think parents should say, "Far be it that I should sin against the Lord by failing to train you." I've got to do it. I've got to do it no matter how painful it seems.

Alright, so it's based on the Lord's discipline and it starts with the rod of reproof. Look at Proverbs 22:15. It is very clear we're not gonna finish this tonight, but that's all right. God willing, we'll look at it again next time. Proverbs 22:15, it says, "Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him."

Now, I know this flies in the face of the noble savage view of children, namely that they're kind of good until corrupted. I call it the noble savage 'cause that was the same thing, the idea about the people who weren't in view of Western society did not need missionaries to go and ruin them, they were fine the way they were. Well, that's not true at all. They were depraved and need of a Savior, and so also with children, they're not noble savages, they actually need a Savior, and they are born in original sin. When we get back to Romans and look at Romans Chapter 5, we will see how biblical this is. They are not born righteous, they're born with a bent toward evil, and as soon as they understand right from wrong, they will do wrong. Not every single time, just like we don't do it every single time, but they will. Folly, that's called foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child. The rod of discipline drives it from him.

So, early in the child's life, there's this kind of physical training. 13:24, if you look at 13:24, says that this actually demonstrates love. I think parents desire to be friends with their children and think that they're being loving to them by turning a blind eye or deaf ear to certain patterns and traits, they are not doing them any favors, it's going to end up destroying their lives if not dealt with properly. 13:24 says, "He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him." Careful to discipline, there's a care to it and a wisdom to it. Again, the goal is the training of a child, the discipling of the child, you see? It's the working of wisdom in the child.

And then 23:13-14, it says, "Do not withhold discipline from a child. If you punish him with the rod, he will not die. Punish him with the rod and save his soul from death." It's kind of like evangelistic discipline here. The ultimate goal is their salvation. How do you save a soul from death? Well, by repenting and trusting in Christ, right? But the thing is, you're not searching for a Savior until you know you need one, and it's these difficult times that show I'm a sinner, I need a Savior, and they're just sweet times of prayer and of, "Daddy or mommy, I just can't stop doing this thing. How do I stop?" And it makes a spiritual beggar out of you, doesn't it? You start crying out against yourself and saying, "Oh, What a wretched man I am." Isn't that a saving cry? Who will save me from this body of death? And you begin looking for a Savior. But if you don't go into those difficult times, they're not gonna be asking that question. You must save their soul from death.

And then 29:15, it says, "The rod of correction imparts wisdom, but a child left to himself disgraces his mother." Oh, is that your child? Ooh. [chuckle] "I've never seen him before." It's like Peter, "I don't know him. I had never seen him before. I don't know." "But they're looking off a lot like you." You know? Arrange a separate ride home, like you've never seen them before. Yes, a child who's not trained well disgraces his mother and his father. And so, this is the kind of training that must go on.

Now, like I said, the rod, I believe, is both a literal and a symbolic thing here. I think you grow up out of certain types of training into certain other types of training. God doesn't literally would, vernacular tan our posterior or whatever, that doesn't literally occur with us, but we get discipline other ways, don't we? God has ways, okay? We care about a lot of things, don't we? Care about our financial life, care about our professional life, care about our families, care about our material possessions, we care about our personal health. So God has avenues for this discipline. So what I'm saying is that the rod ends up being a symbol of all kinds of negative training that needs to be done.

Now, there's one last verse that I want to deal with since we're here, and that's 22:6, and then we'll stop here and then we'll pick it up next time, God willing. 22:6, and I hate to do this, but I need to do this, alright? Have you ever heard of Proverbs 22:6, "Train up a child in the way he should go. And even when he's old, he will not depart from it." Oh, what a blessed promise. Oh, I wish that your house were built on a solid foundation. But I wanna move you off a foundation of sand and get you on to a solid foundation, okay? How do you understand this verse? Well, I've heard parents have wandering teens and youth use it to say, "Well, you know, train up a child and when they're old they won't depart from it, they'll come back. They'll come back to the Lord." Well, first of all, just a straight reading from the text will show you that that's not what this is talking about. It's talking about a way that begins early in life and they never depart from it ever, they stay in that way their whole life, whatever way we're talking about here.

So there is no departing and then they'll come back at all in view, in 26, you see it? But now, let me tell you what the Hebrew literally says. It says, Train up a child according to his own way and when he's old, he will not depart from it. Now, according to the attitude of Proverbs about a child, what do you think Proverbs thinks about a child's own way? Not good, right? So basically, let me give you a kind of a vernacular translation. Give the little child what he wants and he'll be wanting it his whole life. You see what I'm saying? Give the little child everything he or she wants and they'll be wanting it and demanding it their whole life.

Oh, no, Proverbs 22:6, it's up on a wall, I have it embroidered, I spent hours on that. Well, it's a great proverb, just understand it properly, you know? It's totally the other way than what you thought. Basic idea is, don't train a child the way he wants you to. Train a child the way God wants him to. Don't train a child according to his way, train a child according to God's way. And what is the way that God wants that child trained? Positively and negatively. Right commands given, and then when they mess up, then the discipline appropriate to the felony or whatever it is. That's what we're talking about here.

There is nothing in the Hebrew about way he should go. Nothing at all. It says, out dark, according to his way. That's all it says. And what I'm saying is, don't train a child according to his way. Proverbs is using somewhat of a sarcastic approach here, at which it does sometimes, like "Go ahead, train up a child according to his way, and even when he's old, he won't be departing from it," that's the approach taken here. The advice is really the opposite, don't train a child according to his way, rather train a child according to God's way. Alright? And what does that involve? Positive training and precepts, negative training and discipline. Well, I've got more to say on this, but we'll look at it more next time. Why don't we close in prayer?

Father, I thank you for the time we've had to look tonight at the Book of Proverbs, and we thank you for the wisdom therein. Father, we take responsibility, all of us, whether we have small or growing children in our homes or not, that perhaps we need to pray for young parents or perhaps we need to mentor or train, get involved in some way. But if we do have still have children growing in our homes or grandchildren that we can directly impact, Father, I pray, give us wisdom to do both the positive and the negative side of disciple making. Lord, you have called us as a church to do this, and I pray that we'd be faithful to it. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

This morning, we're going to continue our series in Daniel by looking at Daniel Chapter 10. And one of the delights of just preaching through a book is you come to chapters that ordinarily you probably wouldn't preach on. But in Daniel Chapter 10, there's some amazing things. The closer you study, the more you see, and I think it's going to be well worth our time. The story is told of a Persian King, who lived a long time ago, who wished to honor a man, who had saved his life. He clothed him in one of his royal robes and had him sit on his best Royal horse, adorned with the Royal Crest on the horse's head and he was led through the streets of the city with one of the noble Princes of the King, holding the bridle of the horse and walking before him proclaiming "This is what is done for the man the King delights to honor."

Now this of course is from Esther. And it was Mordecai who was honored in this way but it got me to thinking, it got me to thinking about who the King delights to honor. In doing that, there's a two-fold strategy. One of them is a reward for the man who had saved the King's life, but the other is a motivation for everyone standing by the road watching as that person is led by, isn't it? Doesn't that create inside you a desire to be one of those honored and esteemed by the King? I would think so. In a kingdom, the esteem of the King is more precious than gold, more costly than Rubies. In a kingdom, the esteem of the King is more valuable than the praise of any other citizen. In a kingdom, the esteem of the King promises good things for the future. Position, wealth and honor and other ways. The esteem of the King means everything. Brothers and sisters in Christ, you live in a kingdom. The kingdom of God.

And therefore the esteem of the King should mean more to you than anything in this world. Are you living now, day by day for the esteem of your King? Does His esteem of you mean more to you than anything else? More to you than the esteem of the world? More to you even than your own self-esteem? What the King thinks about you is more important than anything else?

Our world has many ways to show its esteem, doesn't it? Perhaps a Nobel Prize winner, makes it on the cover of Time magazine. Skilled athlete holds high the Champions Trophy and photographers gather around and take pictures, who knows what, periodical or what newspaper that photo is going to be in. Famous actor is interviewed on The Today Show about his recent movie. Maybe a politician, chosen by millions to be the head of his state. An author listed for 20 weeks on the New York Times Best-Seller list. There's lots of ways that the world just pours it's esteem down on those it seeks to honor. Perhaps a mother is chosen to be Parent Of The Year by the PTA or the student chosen to be Student of the Year by the school. Even a bumper sticker saying "My student is a high honor student at such and such Elementary School." That's ways that the world shows its esteem. There's nothing wrong with all of these things. A good name is more precious than rubies, it's valuable, but all I want you to do is lift your eyes above the esteem of the world to the esteem of your King. The esteem of God Himself. Christians should not therefore ultimately be living for this kind of esteem but rather for what God thinks about you. And in order to do that, you have to have a spiritual view of the world, don't you?

You have to have a sense that there's an invisible spiritual realm around us at all times that there's a King in that invisible world and that what He thinks, matters. And the beauty about Daniel 10 is that both of these issues, the esteem of the King and the surrounding spiritual world, are paramount. They're both very clear. We're going to see in this chapter, as we look at it, a glimpse into the invisible spiritual realm that you won't find anywhere else in the Scripture. Of a spiritual struggle going on in the heavenly realms, and of hierarchies of angels and demons that wrestle it out all the time. The only way we would know about these things is if the scripture tells us, and thankfully scripture has told us. Today, I want to set before you the esteem of the King, and as a part of that or larger than that, the invisible spiritual world in which that King lives.

Now what we're going to do is we're going to go through the chapter briefly and I'm just going to give you an overview and then we're going to spend time talking about this issue of the spiritual world, the invisible spiritual world that surrounds us at all times, and then we're going to zero in on what kind of person is esteemed by God. I'm going to bring out certain principles from Scripture, so that you can measure yourself against them, and see in reference to the esteem of the King, are you esteemed by the King? Now the context here is laid out in verses 1-3. Look with me, if you will.

It says in the third year of Cyrus, King of Persia, a revelation was given to Daniel who was called Belteshazzar, its message was true and it concerned a great war, the understanding of the message came to him in a vision. Verse 2. "At that time I Daniel mourned for three weeks, I ate no choice food. No meat or wine touched my lips and I used no lotions at all until the three weeks were over." So it's a third-year of Cyrus, King of Persia. We've understood the sequence of empires from the Book of Daniel, first with the Babylonian Empire with King Nebuchadnezzar, and it's ruled for about 70 years and at the end of that time, Medo-Persia came in, Darius the Mede, the local King, I believe over Babylon, but Cyrus the Great, the great King over the Medo-Persian Empire. This is pretty much the end of Daniel's life, in the Book of Daniel. This is the extent that we have, we don't know that he goes much beyond this third year of Cyrus.

So Daniel's an old man at this point, maybe in his 80s perhaps even his 90s, we don't really know. And yet here he is so active, spiritually, kneeling, praying fervently, fasting and seeking the presence of God, the face of God. I think this sets a challenge before all of us to understand that we never retire from spiritual service, do we? Right to the very end of our lives we are to be faithful, active in the service of God and that's what Daniel was. It says again, look at it, Verse 2. "At that time I Daniel mourned for three weeks, I ate no choice food, no meat or wine touched my lips and I used no lotions at all until the three weeks were over." This is a kind of a limited fast. He wasn't completely fasting for the three weeks but rather held himself back from luxury items. So that he might concentrate fully on the issues at hand. Now, what were those issues? What caused him to fast in this way? What caused him to dedicate himself in prayer? Well, it was a vision that he had. And that vision I believe, extends right to the end of the book. It's a vision in Chapter 11 of armies traveling over the surface of the Promised Land, an incredible detailed chapter we're going to get into next week God willing, of the trampling of the Promised land. Armies going one side to the other. And then on to the very end of time, the end of history, the general resurrection of the dead in chapter 12 and the final judgment.

All of these visions given to Daniel at the end of his life, God wasn't through with Daniel yet, He still had work for him to do, and so He gave him this vision. And it began in verse 4-9, with a vision of a man. Now, we believe that this was an angelic figure. Look with me at verse 4. "On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was standing on the bank of the great river, the Tigris, I looked up, and there before me was a man dressed in linen with a belt of the finest gold around his waist, his body was like crystallite, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze and his voice like the sound of a multitude." So he has a vision of a man but it really is an angel, it's got to be an angelic being. He used the word "man", for Gabriel earlier, the man standing by the Euphrates river, when he had the vision of Alexander the Great, you remember from Chapter 8.

So this is definitely an angelic figure, he's an angel. Some commentators believe this may be a pre-incarnate vision of Christ but I don't think so because as you read through, it seems that this is the same one who's speaking to Daniel and who later on in the chapter expresses his need for help as he wrestled with the Prince of Persia. Now, Jesus doesn't need any help, does He? He's the Son of God, but angels might need some help. And so I think that this is an angelic figure. Now, as Daniel is looking at this vision, he's got some men with him, there's an entourage with him, and verse 70 describes what happened. "I Daniel was the only one who saw the vision. The men with me did not see it, but such terror overwhelmed them, that they fled and hid themselves. So I was left alone gazing at this great vision, I had no strength left and my face turned deathly-pale and I was helpless. Then I heard him speaking and as I listened to him, I fell into a deep sleep, my face to the ground."

So here's Daniel with an entourage of men and they are overwhelmed with terror but they can't see anything. Now how can that be? There's just a spiritual presence there, and they can feel it concerning the terror in their minds, but they can't see anything. And this is very much similar to what happened with Saul of Tarsus, you remember? On the road to Damascus, he fell to the ground and he had a vision of the resurrected Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, in full glory, but the men with him couldn't see anything and they couldn't understand the words that were being spoken. This was a selective revelation to Saul of Tarsus, and so also a selective revelation here to Daniel. So the men are running and hiding. Let me tell you something, God has ways of making us afraid. And this is just an angel, this is just an angel. But these were men around Daniel and they're running and looking for a place to hide. Daniel himself overwhelmed by the vision, he's weakened, he's on his face on the ground before this angelic being.

And so the theme of weakness and strengthening becomes major in the rest of the chapter. Look at verse 10-19. "A hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees. And he said, 'Daniel, you who are highly esteemed consider carefully the words I'm about to speak to you and stand up for I've now been sent to you.' And when He said this to me, I stood up trembling. And then, he continued 'Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard. And I have come in response to them. But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me 21 days. Then Michael, one of the chief Princes came to help me because I was detained there with the king of Persia. Now, I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future, for the vision concerns a time yet to come.' While he was saying this to me, I bowed with my face toward the ground and was speechless, then one who looked like a man touched my lips and I opened my mouth and began to speak. I said to the one standing before me 'I am overcome with anguish because of this vision my Lord. And I am helpless. How can I your servant talk with you, my Lord, my strength is gone and I can hardly breathe.' Again the one who looked like a man touched me and gave me strength. 'Do not be afraid O man, highly esteemed' he said. 'Peace, be strong now, be strong.' And while he spoke to me, I was strengthened and said, 'Speak my Lord, since you have given me strength.'"

So we see the weakness of Daniel physically, he's overwhelmed physically. He can't get off the ground, he's on his face, actually like in a deep sleep and he's speechless and he's weakened, his human frailty cannot stand the sight of this angelic being. How can we see the face of God and live? Think about that. This is just an angel, not even a ruler angel mind you, just an angel. How can we see the face of God and live? Remember what God said to Moses? "No one can see My face and live," flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. Daniel in his human frailty, could not have stood seeing a full vision, even of the angelic glory, but this was a glorious vision, wasn't it? The brilliance and the brightness shining and Daniel was overwhelmed.

And what was the purpose of this visitation? Look in verse 20. Why did the angel come? He says, "So he said 'Do you know why I've come to you? Soon I will return to fight against the Prince of Persia, and when I go, the Prince of Greece will come. But first, I will tell you what is written in the book of truth. No one supports me against them except Michael, your Prince. And in the first year of Darius the Mede, I took my stand to support and protect him.'" The point of this whole mission is to give Daniel, of course, the vision of the glory of this angelic being, to show the power and the strength, and also to give an insight into spiritual warfare and struggle, but all the more that he might have insight into the future of his own people.

There was a vision given to him about his own people. Look at verse 14, we've already read it but look at it again. "Now, I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future. For the vision concerns a time yet to come." So there's a vision about the future of Israel. And it's not in this chapter, we'll get to it over the next number of weeks. Chapter 11 and 12. But it's a vision about the future of Israel. And he's come to give him this vision, but he did it in glory, didn't he? He did it with a shining radiance and quite a display, he was making an impression on Daniel. And there was warfare in the heavens and there will be warfare on the Earth. That's the message, all of chapter 11, one battle after another, in the promised land, and chapter 12 concluding with the tribulations of the people of God, right up to the end of the world.

So that's an overview of chapter 10. It's a vision of an angel who came to give Daniel a message. A vision of the future, we'll look at the vision over the next several weeks.

But what's left here is a sense of the impression of the surrounding spiritual world, in which we live. A glimpse into that spiritual world. Now, all of us sitting in here feel on our bodies at this present time about 15 pounds per square inch of air. Do you feel it? No? Well, you're used to it, aren't you? But when you get in an airplane and you take off and you start ascending 10,000 feet, 20,000 feet, 30,000 feet, do you feel something then? Well, sometimes. The cabin pressure is stabilizing and your ears start to pop, why? Because you're used to a certain pressure, and when you get up higher and there's not as much pressure around it, you feel it. And you say "Why in the world are you talk... And why would you think we'd be interested in this?" Well, this is what you survive in all the time, this is the air that surrounds you, and Jesus Himself, likened the spiritual world, to wind didn't he? He said in John 3. "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born by the spirit." Now, you might not think much about the power of air, but it's very powerful.

Do you remember the Hurricane Andrew down in Florida, a number of years ago, looked like a nuclear bomb had hit certain parts of Florida? Trees flattened, buildings destroyed. The one thing that I remember about that was a school bus upside down on a two-story building, on the second story of a building. A school bus. Now, I've never thought of school buses being very aerodynamic. They don't fly very well. But this wind just came and picked this bus up and turned it upside down and set it down on top of the building, 25 feet in the air. That's power, and that's the way it is with the spiritual realm around us, incredible power and we don't feel it, we don't know it's there, unless there's certain changes that God permits, then we'll start to feel it. But we have around us right now angelic beings. Did you know that?

And we also have around us demonic beings. Did you know that? And the Bible wants us to know about them. The Bible wants us to be aware of the spiritual realm around us. There was a time when Elisha, the prophet was going to be captured by a Gentile King and he sent his army to capture him, you know the story. And Elisha is there with his servant and the servant gets up in the morning and comes out and he sees the army of the Arameans, and he's terrified and he calls the prophet, the prophet comes out and the servant is terrified and thinks they're going to be hauled off to Aramea. Elisha just looks and he's totally as ease. Don't worry about them at all. But how can you be so cool? What's going on? We're surrounded by an army.

Well, there's more on our side than there are on their side. We're going to win this battle. What are you talking about? And then, what did Elisha do? He prayed. "O Lord, open his eyes." Will you join with me right now in prayer. Heavenly Father, I pray that you would open our eyes to the spiritual realm, that we might see what you want us to see, that we might realize what there is around us and that we might act accordingly. I pray in Jesus' name, amen. O Lord open his eyes, and then the Lord did open the servant's eyes and he looked and saw the hills, full of horses and chariots of fire around Elisha. They were there all along, but Elisha couldn't see them. They were in the spiritual realm.

Well, what is this spiritual realm? What does the Scripture teach us about the spiritual realm? First of all, the Scripture teaches us that it was here first, it was here before all this stuff that we're so accustomed to, the physical world. How do we know that? Well Hebrews 11:3 tells us, "By faith, we understand that the universe was formed at God's word so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible." There was a time when none of this stuff was here and God spoke a spiritual word, because God is Spirit, He spoke and everything that is around us, all the stuff, the wood you're sitting on and the walls and the glass and the clothes and the people and all of that were created. There was a time they didn't exist, but the spiritual world has always existed. It was here first. And it will be here last, it will be here last. When all of this stuff is gone, the spiritual world will still be here. 2 Corinthians 4:18 says "We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, for what is seen is temporary. But what is unseen is eternal." You are living physically in a temporary world. But the eternal world, the spiritual world is eternal. And that spiritual world can only be perceived by faith. If you don't have faith, you won't see it. If God doesn't reveal it to you through His Word, you won't perceive it. Hebrews 11:1 says "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things what not seen." You can't see the spiritual realm except by faith, and that spiritual realm is full of spiritual beings, not just God but spiritual beings. There are good spiritual beings, and there are evil spiritual beings. They weren't created evil, but they have become evil. Good spiritual being Cherubim, Seraphim living creatures in the Book of Revelation, so strange they defy description. When you read about those living creatures do you feel a little weird? What are they? Well, God created them. There are things up there, you don't know about. And God made them. And so also, there are evil spiritual beings around us at all times. Satan and rulers, and authorities, and powers in the heavenly realms it says, they're all there. And then finally, the spiritual world is the home of God, Himself.

John 4:24, Jesus said "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." There's a spiritual realm, and that's where His throne is. You want to be esteemed by God, you have to believe that He's there. And that He rules and that He approves or disapproves of everything, everything either meets with His approval or disapproval. The key is the surrounding spiritual realm and God is there. Along with that comes the sense of spiritual warfare. It's not just that there is a spiritual world, but the spiritual world is at conflict with itself. There's a war going on. Look at verse 12 and 13, in our chapter here. "Then he continued. 'Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them.'"

Never think that a delay in an answer to prayer means God hasn't heard your prayer, He heard it as soon as you uttered it, as soon as the prayer went up, God heard it. Okay, but then He sent, He dispatched an angel with a message for him and that angel took 21 days to get there. Now, think about yourself, would you have lasted the 21 days, waiting and waiting for God to answer? Daniel was a man of faith. He kept praying and praying, until he got his answer. But look what it says in verse 13, very interesting. "The Prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me 21 days." Now, who in the world is this? The Prince of the Persian kingdom. Well, it could be just a human king, but do you really think so? You've already seen the vision of the angel, he's terrified. And every time an angel appears in scripture what do they need to say? "Fear not", right? Every time. You remember the Roman centurion, the Roman centurions, the Roman guards around Jesus' tomb and the angel comes down from heaven. His appearance is like lightning, he rolls back the stone. We're going to talk about that in a couple of weeks. Resurrection day.

And then the angel's, his appearance is like lightning, his clothes as white as snow, just like this one. And what are those mighty Roman soldiers doing at that moment? Trembling with fear and on the ground like dead men. These world-conquering Roman soldiers, they can't handle even the appearance. He didn't even say anything mean to them. He just appeared, and moved the stone, He didn't even say anything to them, they're dealt with, they're paralyzed on the ground. Do you think any human Prince could restrain this angel 21 days? No way. Well, who's got that much power? Well, maybe an evil angel does. And there's a wrestling going on in the spiritual realm, and for 21 days they wrestled and he needed help, didn't he? And he needed help from Michael, and Michael comes and helps him. And the two of them overcome. And finally, this angel can come to Daniel. And then he says in verse 20, look at it with me. "Soon I will return to fight against the prince of Persia."

It's kind of like he's on furlough from the battle, World War I, he's been given a three-day pass to Paris and now he's going to go back to the front lines and begin to fight again. And that's what it is, a little furlough from the spiritual warfare to come and give a message to Daniel and then he's going to go back and fight the prince of Persia again. And this fight goes on and on and on. The angel Gabriel appeared to Daniel and the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary 500 years later. They never die. And so they're struggling and they're fighting generation after generation the struggle goes on.

"Soon, I will return to fight against the prince of Persia, and when I go the prince of Greece will come." Who is this? Well, another perhaps demonic being in charge of the Greek Empire that soon to come. But first I must tell you what is written in the book of truth. No one supports them, supports me against them except Michael, your priest, your Prince. And then verse 1, Chapter 11, it says, "And in the first year of Darius the Mede, I took my stand to support and protect him." So there's a warfare going on in the Heavenly realms. This is reflected in Revelation 12:7-9, this is the original pre-historic battle Revelation 12:7-9, "And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was not strong enough and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down, that ancient serpent called the devil or Satan, who leads the whole world astray, he was hurled to the Earth and his angels with him."

So there's a warfare going on, and there's mighty warrior angels in heaven. Have you ever been to one of those Christian book stores with the little books and smelly things? You know what I'm talking about? Little smelly, frilly pink things with lace and things like that. And there are may be about 20 books in the back, if you look hard you can find them. And in the back, you go to the back and you'll see angels there, like Precious Moments angels. I'm not trying to put any... You may like Precious Moments angels and there may be beings like that in the spiritual realms, but this is not a sissy angel, okay? This is a warrior angel, alright? A warrior angel, this is not a Precious Moments angel. This is a warrior angel and he's there to fight. I could say more about artistic angels at this point, but I won't. I'm just going to move on, alright? Just going to move on. You do research on angels and see if they line up. That's up to you what you want to do.

But this is a powerful warrior angel and he's there with body like crystallite, it's like crystal, and his face like lightning, and his eyes like flaming torches, and his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice sounding like a multitude. What an angel. What a powerful being. And he is stood off for 21 days by a counterpart. Does that scare you? Whoa, what is going on in the heavenly realms? What is going on? And then, there are these ruler angels, of which this angel is not one, apparently. Michael is called one of the chief princes. Verse 13, "Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help." We've got the term archangel, and the Greek Archon means ruler. Ruler angel. So we've got this archangel coming to help. And the two of them together can overcome this demonic being, whoever it is. There are mighty demonic powers and forces in the heavenly realms.

Ephesians 6:10 and following says, "Finally be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." Well, there it is. Scripture is consistent about this. And there are rulers and there are authorities and there are powers. There's a hierarchy, I believe, on both sides. I think Satan has a kingdom the way that God has a kingdom, but nowhere near as powerful. We're not one of these good-evil struggle things, not at all. Satan's a created being and God can pull the plug on him any time he chooses, just hasn't chosen yet. But Jesus Himself spoke of His kingdom, remember? He says in Matthew 12:26, "If Satan drives out Satan, how then can his, kingdom stand?" Colossians 1:13 says, "We have been rescued from the dominion of darkness." So there's a kingdom and there's an order and structure to that kingdom.

Now, this text brings up the idea of territorial spirits. I don't want to get into that very much. The idea is that demons are assigned certain places in geography, et cetera, like the Prince of Persia, Prince of Greece and all that. I find some of that a little overly speculative. All I know is what I'm reading here, but there's a whole vocabulary and even a whole prayer strategy now, in reference to territorial spirits. I would advise you to be careful about some of those things. Pray as the scripture instructs. But Ephesians 6 says we must put on our spiritual armor because there's spiritual warfare going on around us.

Now, what are our weapons? Well, we've got defensive weapons, the whole armor of God. You can read about that in Ephesians 6. We've got offensive weapons. And what are they? Well, there are two. We have the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. And we have all prayer. Pray in the spirit with all, at all occasions with all kinds of prayers and petitions. Those are our offensive weapons. And Daniel is on his face, taking advantage of his prayer weapon.

And the beauty of it is, that we, all of us, are involved in that struggle, are we not? We are all of us in the warfare. We were rescued from the dominion of darkness and brought into the kingdom of the Son He loves. And then, what does He do? He trains us, prepares us and send us back to the evil kingdom to rescue people out of that kingdom. "I tell you that you are Peter,  and on this rock, I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not overcome it." We're going to go over those gates with our spiritual armor and we're going to rescue the perishing. That's a whole struggle here. We have a spiritual struggle and is Satan going to give up his kingdom easily? Don't you believe it. That's the struggle, the spiritual warfare.

Now, let me ask you a question. Just imagine with me for a minute. We talked about 15 psi on your skin and the feeling you have as you go up 10,000, 20,000, 30,000 feet in a 747. Well, let's talk about some spiritual fluctuation. Suppose just for a minute that God decided to remove from you, for 24 hours, every single demonic influence. Everyone. There would be no attacks on your body, no temptations, no pulls on you in any way, no satanic accusations or insinuations, nothing gets through that day. Nothing. How would you feel? Would it be like heaven on earth? You'd never had a day like that. But you don't know it, because you've never experienced it.

Alright let's turn it around. Let's say, God withdraws all His angelic protection and Satan can just have his way with you for 24 hours. Well, we saw that in the Book of Job, what happened there. He had almost nothing left, ravages at that point. Ravages on his possessions, ravages on his family, ravages on his body. That's what Satan would do to you and his kingdom, if God permitted it. This is the reality of the spiritual realm, and it's here and it's real, and if you don't believe it, you don't have faith. Faith teaches us about these things.

Now, in the middle of that is a being, God, who created it all, and He either approves or disapproves of everything in that realm. And it is He who either esteems or does not esteem you and the things you do. You see how it fits? And it is said of Daniel, three times, that he is a man highly esteemed. Daniel 9:23, last week, we saw it, "As soon as you began to pray, an answer was given, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed." Daniel 10:11, "He said, Daniel, you who are highly esteemed, consider carefully the words I'm about to speak to you and stand up for I have now been sent to you." Daniel 10:19, "Do not be afraid. Oh man, highly esteemed, he said." The Hebrew word implies preciousness. He is precious and desirable to God.

Highly esteemed. Now, when I hear the word esteem what do you think of these days? Self-esteem. Isn't that the first thing that pops in your mind? Where did that come from? Concern over self-esteem? Well, I don't know, but I think it may have come from Abraham Maslow. Abraham Maslow was a psychiatrist who came up with a whole hierarchy of values from the physical, all the way up to the highest what he called Self-Actualization. He wrote about all this stuff and said basically, the healthiest person is totally integrated as a self and self-actualized. All the answers are in one self. Esteem, just a step below that. I think that the educational system in the US bought into this, and they said, "Therefore we want to churn out a series of students that have above all else self-esteem." Can I show you something higher? God esteem is higher. It's more important what God thinks about you, even than what you think about yourself. Now, you can say "Well how do we know what God esteems and what He does not?" Well He told us in scripture. It says in Ephesians 5:10 that we should find out what pleases the Lord. It says in Micah 6:8, "He has shown you O man, what is good. And what does the Lord requires of you?"

He has told us. We just need to read the scripture. If you guess at it, you'll get it wrong, but if you read the scripture, you'll find out. And I've listed out 10 things here in scripture in which God says, "I honor these things, these are the things I esteem."

Number one: Honor God exalting Him above all else, 1 Samuel 2:30. "Those who honor me, I will honor," He says "But those who despise me will be disdained."

Also, God esteems those who tremble at His word. Isaiah 66:2. "This is the one I esteem. He was humble and contrite and who trembles at My word."

Along with that being humble and contrite are those number three, who are broken-hearted over sin, leading to humility. Psalm 51:17 says, "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart you will not despise O God."

Number four, God esteems those who love Him, trust Him, and call on Him in a day of trouble. Even for salvation. Psalm 91:14 and following, "'because he loves me,' says the Lord, 'I will rescue him. I will protect him for he acknowledges my name, he will call upon me and I will answer him, I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him, and I will honor him, I will satisfy him with long life, and with salvation.'" "I will honor him."

Number five, knowledge of God, to know God. "Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom," it says in Jeremiah 9, "Or the strong man, boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts, boast about this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on the earth for in these I delight." God delights in knowledge about Himself, in us. He also delights in obedience, heartfelt obedience, 1 Samuel 15:22, "Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord?" You want God to esteem you, then obey what He says. Do the things that He's commanded you to do.

Number seven, God esteems those who have compassion on the poor. James 1:27, "Religion that our God and Father accepts as pure and faultless is this, to look after orphans and widows in their distress." God also esteems those who keep themselves from being polluted by the world, James 1:27 says. Pure in heart, not polluted by worldly things.

And number nine, God esteems those who do good works persistently by faith, not for salvation, we've learned that, but just as an outflow of a righteous life, Romans 2:7 and 10, "To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, He will give eternal life. There will be glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good." God will honor that person.

And number ten, just this one alone, John 12:26, Jesus said this, "My father will honor the one who serves me." Ah, didn't that bring goosebumps? My father will honor the one who serves me.

Now, let's not get a big head here folks. We're not going to get honored because we're so wonderful. It's just the mercy and the grace of God. But these are 10 things. Do these things line up with your life? Read them. And then go back to Daniel and see how each one of them, each one of them are found in Daniel's life. I'm not going to go through them right now but look through and you'll find evidence of each of these 10 things in Daniel's life. This is the man, and this is the woman that God highly esteems. Well, what should we say in response to this?

Number one. I want you to understand that there is a spiritual world around us, at all times. You can't be naive about this anymore. I've told you, very plainly and it's in the Scriptures, it's here, it's real. And we have responsibilities to protect ourselves and our families. To put on our spiritual armor, to pray in the Spirit, to be aware of what Satan is doing, to be aware, not unaware of his schemes it says. 1 Peter 5:8-9 says, "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy, your enemy, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith because you know that your brothers through out the world are undergoing the same kinds of struggles." I love to talk to Christians who say, and I believe it's true, all of us, we have a personal Savior in Jesus, don't we? We have a personal Savior. You also have a personal enemy. Don't underestimate him, don't underestimate him, be ready for him. Read Ephesians 6. Read it this afternoon and put on the full armor of God, be ready.

And secondly, live for God's praise, live for the esteem of God, go over these 10 things that I've shown you that God has told us he esteems in us, and then don't say "Well I'm going to go out and try to do it on my own." Jesus said, "Apart from me, you can do what?" Nothing. Be a spiritual beggar and take each one and say "God work this in me, work this in me each one O God", pray over it. Take the list and pray. I've given you the scripture references, go home, pray over these 10 things. And don't do it for a day or a week or a month, do it until you see them in you and do it all the more. This is what God esteems, and this is what He will be seeing and looking for in you on Judgment Day.

The final word here is this, there is no human being, no one, who can stand before God on his or her own merits. It doesn't matter how much you see these 10 things in your life, understand you have no hope on Judgment Day, if you're not clothed with the king's robe. Remember how we began? "This is the one I esteem..." And he puts his own robe on the guy and rides him through the city. So it is with justification. By faith in Christ alone, you will be saved. And so who is the one that God truly esteems? One person, Jesus Christ, that's who he esteems. At His baptism and on the Mount of Transfiguration, both, a voice came from heaven saying, "This is my Son whom I love, with Him I am well pleased." If you find yourself in Christ on judgment day, you will be well pleasing to God too. Come to Christ today if you don't know him, give yourself to Him. You can't stand before God on your own, but you can stand in Christ righteousness. Won't you join with me in prayer?

When I was a student at MIT, I worked in the carpentry shop. And there were many carpenters there of various skill levels, but the best ones were from Europe. They had come over... This one man, in particular, was an Italian man. And he used to, after making a day's worth of shelves for offices and doors and all that kind of boring thing, which I'm sure was no challenge to his amazing skill, then after hours he would use the equipment to build furniture for relatives or to sell. And he was especially good at inlaying wood... You know, two different shades of wood putting it in there. And the way he would work, it was amazing. I used to love just watching what he would do with the chisels. It was all handmade things. And he would just carve and just fit each piece of wood in, then just buff it until there was... It just felt like silk. It was amazing to watch the meticulous approach that he took to his work. And what that means is he was attentive to detail. He was meticulous. He was careful. But he's nothing compared to our God. Amen.

Meticulous as Creator

Our God is a meticulous God. That means he gives careful attention to detail. And as I come to our passage today, Daniel 9:20-27, I see more evidence of that meticulous nature of God. Our God is meticulous. He is carefully attentive to detail. It's woven into the creation around us. He was meticulous as a creator. Do you realize that the atomic nucleus is exactly balanced? The proton just a little bit more massive than the neutron, or else life itself would be impossible. The solar system. If the earth were just 1% closer to the sun, or 1% further away, life would be impossible on this planet. Meticulously arranged. God is a meticulous creator.

Meticulous as Provider

He's also meticulous as a provider. He's created trillions of life-forms on this earth and feeds them every day. Now some of you are good at administration, but I can't imagine that kind of provision, every day providing for those things that he's made. It says in Psalm 145, "The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time. You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing." From the little plankton, all the way up to the huge whale that eats the plankton, it's all been meticulously arranged. Our God is a meticulous provider.

Meticulous as Protector

He's also meticulous as protector of his people. He's a meticulous Good Shepherd. He leaves the 99 on the hills and goes to look for the one that wandered off. Most of us would be satisfied with 99%. That's not a bad grade. Our God is not that way. And so, it says, in John chapter 6, "This is the will of him who sent me that I shall lose none of all he has given me, but shall raise them up at the last day." Aren't you glad that he's meticulously watching over you and doesn't let you just wander off? "Oh, well. My statistics are pretty good. I've still got most of them." But he goes and leaves those that are still there and goes and gets you and brings you back. He's a meticulous protector.

Meticulous as Judge

He's also a meticulous judge, is he not? Well, what did we learn from Daniel, chapter 7? The court was seated and the books were opened. And what's in the books? Well, Jesus told us that you'll have to give an account for every careless word you have spoken. So the books are full of a meticulous account of everything you have ever said or done. And so, we need a meticulous salvation, don't we? Every sin atoned for, every transgression covered. He's a meticulous judge.

Meticulous as Prophet

He's also a meticulous prophet, Careful attention to detail. I don't have time to go into all the detail and the prophecy from the tiny little town where Jesus would be born, Micah 5:2, Bethlehem, up to the exact way that Jesus would die. "They have pierced my hands and my feet," Psalm 22. And the fact that there'd be a little pot of wine vinegar at the foot of the cross for him to taste, Psalm 69 verse 21. And the fact that Judas would betray him with 30 pieces of silver, Zechariah 11. Meticulous detail.

Well, does that kind of meticulous detail extend to the actual time of Jesus' first arrival on earth? The beginning of his ministry. Could it be that God laid out in prophetic perspective exactly when Jesus would come to redeem Israel? Could it be that this passage that we're going to study this morning is what Peter meant when he said in 1 Peter 1:10 and following, "Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care trying to find out the time... " Stop right there. "The time and the circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glory that would follow." The time? Is that actually in there? Can we figure out when Jesus was to come? Is it in the Old Testament? I, actually, don't think it can be found anywhere else but the passage I'm preaching on today.

I believe that God did predict the coming of Jesus Christ, down to the time. And that's what we're going to focus on today. Our God is a meticulous God. And my goal, today, is that you understand the beauty of this passage, that you may see, not so much the exact working out of the decrees and the timeline and the history. That's interesting. But that you may know what kind of salvation has covered you completely. What kind of salvation it is that's going to bring you all the way into the presence of God. You can't see him in the face now. You wouldn't survive. But God has big plans for you, and he's got it all worked out. And if you trust in Jesus Christ, this meticulous, this careful God will bring you all the way right into his presence. So that's what I want you to see in this. But there's some details along the way. And this passage has crushed me with all there is to say.

I don't have time to go into all the details, so some of the things that I've learned in this passage we're going to be discussing tonight. Alright, we're going to take a break from our study in Proverbs and I'm going to take some of the details and move it over. It'd be well worth your time to come tonight and listen to that. But today, I want to focus on the four major aspects of this prophecy. There are four of them. Number one is the specific details about what Jesus Christ would accomplish when he came. There's a six-fold unfolding of what Jesus would accomplish. Number two is the prediction about when Jesus would come. The 70 weeks, at the end of the 69 weeks, we'll try to figure that out. Number three, a specific prediction about the destruction of Jerusalem after it was rebuilt after Daniel's time, that Jerusalem would be destroyed again. And then number four a prediction, I believe, about the anti-Christ in the final seven years of history in this world. And so that's quite a challenge to lay out before us in half an hour, isn't it? So I'm going to take off my watch and I'm going to lay it down here, I'm not going to look at it again. But I'm going to put it down here, and then we're going to do what we can with this passage.

Why don't you read along with me in Daniel 9:20-27.

"While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and making my request to the Lord my God for his holy hill, while I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice. He instructed me and said to me, 'Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding. As soon as you began to pray, an answer was given, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed. Therefore consider the message and understand the vision. Seventy sevens [or weeks] are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy. Know and understand this. From the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the anointed one, the ruler, comes, there will be seven sevens [or weeks] and sixty-two sevens. It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. After the sixty-two sevens, the anointed one will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood. War will continue until the end and desolations have been decreed. He will confirm a covenant with many for one seven, or week. In the middle of the week, he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of the temple, he will set up an abomination that causes desolation until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.'"

Now, as we come to this passage, I have to be honest with you that the experts disagree about this passage. People are all over the map and why? Because this is an extraordinary passage. There's all kinds of things, and wherever God gets extraordinary in his word, Satan brings people to bring division and distress and trouble so that we're not really sure what it's saying. And that's true here as well. But there's just different ways to approach this. And therefore, some of what I'm going to say is more certain than other things. I am absolutely certain that verse 24 is talking about Jesus Christ and the atoning sacrifice is a sacrifice that he offered and the full accomplishment of the end of sin. There's no doubt in my mind about that at all. I am a little less certain about the sixty-nine weeks and the decree, but I'm fairly certain about that.

I'm a little more certain about the same level, about the destruction of Jerusalem, and about the anti-Christ a little less. That's how it works. But I'd like to explain to you, we don't have time to give all the varying details and the different approaches, so we're just going to kind of go with mine today. And this evening, I'll talk about some of the other views and the other ways to look at this passage. Fair enough? Unless you want to stay 'til 2:00 or 3:00, we could do it all right now, but... Well, alright, but we'll do it this way.

Alright, let's start with the context, verses 20-23. The context is Daniel's prayer. Remember last week that we looked at Daniel's prayer, verses 1-19, and Daniel came before God because there was a specific thing that happened. Daniel unrolled the scroll of Jeremiah and read in there a specific prophecy that the desolation of Jerusalem would last for seventy years, and at the end of that seventy years, God would restore the people to the promised land and Jerusalem would be rebuilt.

And so as he read that and counted off the time that he'd been in there, Daniel, now an old man in his 80s, maybe even later, fell to praying. He said, "God has made it clear what he's going to do," and rather than just sit back, as some of us would say, "Well, God, you're going to do what you're going to do anyway, what do you need me for?" Not at all. He was motivated to pray. The very certainty of the scripture motivated him to pray. And so he got down on his knees and said, "God, do the very thing that you promised to do. Bring the people back, restore Jerusalem." And in the middle of all that, he couldn't help but confess his own sinfulness and the sinfulness of his people that had brought on that desolation.

Jeremiah the prophet had warned about it. He said the people of God were breaking the commandments of God. They were breaking the covenant and therefore, God was going to bring the covenant punishments on them, the desolation of Jerusalem. And so if you were to see Lamentations 1, 1 and 3, it says Jeremiah... Just envision him sitting looking out, perhaps on the Mount of Olives looking down over the city. A smoldering heap of ruins, the walls destroyed, the temple destroyed, it's all ruined. And this is what he says. "How desolate lies the city once so full of people. After affliction and harsh labor, Judah has gone into exile." So the desolation of Jerusalem, the emptiness of it. This was to be God's holy, set apart city, and now it's desolate, a smoldering ruin. And how it must have brought grief to the weeping prophet, the prophet Jeremiah.

And it brought grief to Daniel many years later as well, and so he fell to praying, and he was confessing sin and just fasting and seeking God and asking that he might please fulfill the promise that he'd made and bring the Jews back to the promised land. And so he's praying. In verse 20 he says, "While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and making my request to the Lord my God for his holy hill," that's Mount Zion, that's Jerusalem, he's praying for his people, and he's praying for Jerusalem, and you need to keep that in mind. I don't think you'll interpret this passage properly if you don't keep that in mind. He's praying for his people and for Jerusalem.

Verse 21, "While I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man [he calls him a man, but we know he's an angel] I had seen in the earlier vision came to me," it says either "in swift flight" or "in the time of extreme weariness," difficult Hebrew, "About the time of the evening sacrifice." So Gabriel is dispatched, he's sent from heaven. You know Gabriel. We meet him in Luke chapter 1. Gabriel is the one who stood in the altar of incense, and announced to Zechariah that his wife, Elizabeth, would have a son in her old age, John the Baptist. And then later on at that time, he went to Mary, the Virgin Mary, and announced to Mary that she would have a son, though she was a virgin and she would be carrying the very son of God. And so, Gabriel is an angel to whom it has been committed these important messages.

The word angel, by the way, in the Greek, angelos means messenger. And so, they're given these messages and so Gabriel is coming. Now, I don't like that translation in swift flight. It imagines that he's flying down, the Hebrew won't bear that, I think. It really looks more like a sense of weariness. So it could be that Daniel was in extreme weariness after all his prayer. So at just the right time, when he's just about worn out, Gabriel appears. Don't stop praying too soon, keep praying, keep praying until God answers and that's what he does, he just, he lingers, he waits in his prayer, and he keeps praying. And then, Gabriel shows up.

Now, the last time that you were praying, did you have an angel come and give you the answer? [chuckle] What would that be like? And so he's startled by the appearance and he's already seen Gabriel. It's not the first time we've met him, we met him back in the Alexander the Great chapter, he was the one that gave the information about Alexander. And so, here's Gabriel again, to give an even more astounding answer and this what he says in verse 22, "He instructed me and said to me, 'Daniel, I have now come to give you insights and understanding. As soon as you began to pray an answer was given.'" Isn't that interesting. Right away the answer is given, you just haven't heard it yet. And God held it back until the right time.

Now, in chapter 10, we're going to see something of a spiritual struggle and some warfare in the heavenly realms over that. We're going to talk about that. But right now the answer had been given right away, and now I'm here, alright. And he says, "An answer was given for which I have come to tell you," and then he says, "For you are highly esteemed." Now, I'm going to preach more fully on that next week, because he says it again in chapter 10 and there's too much this week, to go into this, but I would like to set in front of you a yearning, a hunger and a thirst that this be the thing you live for that you be highly esteemed by God. That God look at your life work and say, "Well done, good and faithful servant." That God be pleased with you, that that be the goal of your life that you be highly esteemed.

We'll talk about this more, but this is extraordinary. That God would say this about a human being, you are highly esteemed. And therefore he says, "Consider the message and understand the vision." To summarize the context, Daniel is praying to God intensely about the fate of his people, the Jews, and Jerusalem. Remember how he used to get down on his knees three times a day, he used to open the shutters and face where? Where would he face? Jerusalem, he's facing Jerusalem and so his mind is focused on his people and the holy city. And so the answer's going to come regarding that.

Now, in verse 24, we get into the seventy weeks. Now, in verse 24, we have the six-fold purpose of the seventy weeks. There's a reason for the seventy weeks and what are they. It says in verse 24, "Seventy sevens" or weeks we can just stop right there and say that the Hebrew literally says sevens, but that's the common word for week or weeks, okay. And almost every conservative commentator agrees that this is talking about seven-year periods, just like Jacob served a seven-year period for Rachel. Got Leah at the end of that and then had to do it again, for Rachel, the one he loves. So there's a stretch of seven weeks or seven years and then seven years, so I believe we're talking about years here.

"Seventy sevens [of years, therefore a total 490 years] are decreed for your people and your Holy City." And here he lists these things. First of all, notice they're decreed for your people and your Holy City, we're focused on what? Jerusalem and the Jews, that's the zeroing in of this, okay. You want to know what's going to happen to Jerusalem, Daniel, you want to know what's going to happen to your people. I'm going to answer you. Seventy weeks are decreed for six things, look at what it says. Three of them are negative, and three positive. 1) "To finish transgression," 2) "To put an end of sin," and 3) "To atone for wickedness."

So this is a full covering, a full provision for the sins of the Jews. If you read Daniel's prayer, 1-19, it's just... He almost can't get through a verse without mentioning his sinfulness and that of his people. He's just overwhelmed with a sense of wickedness before God and this is the way it is, the holier you are, the more you walk with God, the more you'll feel this to be true of yourself. Don't expect the opposite. You're going to feel yourself to be broken before God and sinful, because that's just how holy God is. It's when you're far from God that you don't feel that. And so if today you don't feel your sense of sinfulness before God, even if forgiven through Christ, even if forgiven, completely covered, still a sense like Daniel did of unworthiness to be in the presence of God, then you're far from God. You must repent and come close to him, because God is holy, God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all, and so he's confessing sin, and so, this is glorious good news. We're going to have a full provision for all sin. Read these things like they're promises for you.

I know you're not Jewish, most of you anyway, and that you're not concerned or intensely wondering what's going to happen to Jerusalem the way Daniel was. But this reads for you as well, because there is one atoning sacrifice for all the world, not more than one, but only one, Jesus Christ. And this is what it says, "To finish transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for wickedness." Now, the Jews tend to think of their sacrificial system, they did back then, the sacrificial system as the way that sin could be atoned for. With the temple having been destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, how could sin be atoned for? This was a problem. And remember what Daniel just said a moment ago, he said that Gabriel came to him, when? At the time of the evening sacrifice.

Well, is there an evening sacrifice in the exile? No, there's no temple. But he remembers, he remembers the morning sacrifice, the evening sacrifice. He's still on that timetable, that sense of the sacrificial system. And it had been given by God. God invented it as a picture for the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world, Jesus Christ. And so what he's saying here is that there's going to be a full provision for sin. Daniel, you are so concerned about your sin? Good, well, you should be. Because that's the problem. That's why the city is desolate. Well, seventy weeks are decreed to finish it all. To finish sin, to finish transgression, make an end of sin and make an atonement for iniquity. The blood of bulls and goats could never take away human sin. You know that, don't you? What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

And so there's a full complete provision atoning for sin, and then he says to bring in everlasting righteousness. Oh, everlasting righteousness, not temporary righteousness. And to my conservative pre millennial friends, not thousand-year righteousness, but everlasting righteousness. This is not the millennial kingdom. This is eternal righteousness before God, and nothing can be done for that but the blood of Jesus Christ, the cleansing. What does it say in Romans 1:16-17, "I am not ashamed of the Gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. First for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the Gospel, a righteousness from God has been revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last. Just as it is written, the righteous will live by faith."

Are you clothed in that righteousness, the Gospel righteousness of Jesus Christ? It is not yours, it's a robe that Jesus offers to you. Put it on by faith. Everlasting righteousness. And then it says to seal up vision and prophecy. All vision and all prophecy centers on the person of Jesus Christ, doesn't it? He's the center of it all, it all revolves around Jesus. It says in the Book of Revelation that the spirit of prophecy is a testimony about Christ. And so it's all zeroed in on Jesus, and so there's going to be a fulfillment of all vision and prophecy. It's all going to be fulfilled. Do you remember when Jesus went to Nazareth and preached and they read a passage from Isaiah and he said, "Today in your hearing, this scripture is," what? "Fulfilled." To seal it up.

And so Jesus came to fulfill and to seal up vision and prophecy, and then finally to anoint the most holy. The Hebrew says a most holy thing or perhaps even the Holy of Holies. To anoint the Holy of Holies. Now, this could be several things. It could be, if it's A, most holy thing, it could be the anointing of Jesus Christ, because when Jesus preached in Nazareth, he said, from Isaiah, "The Spirit of the Lord is on me because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor." So he is the Anointed One, he's the Messiah. But I don't think that's what this means. Neither do I think it's referring to the Millennial Temple, the anointing of a Holy of Holies in the Millennial Temple. I don't know why we need a temple. The Book of Hebrews ends that. There's now a spiritual temple, and therefore, I think it's probably the spiritual, heavenly Holy of Holies.

It's a big theme in the Book of Hebrews. Do you realize the temple itself was a pattern of a heavenly one? It was an imitation of a heavenly one, and therefore when it was finished, we don't need it anymore. And so therefore, in Hebrews 9:11-12, it says, "When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle," or temple. He went into a spiritual, heavenly temple "that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation. He did not enter by means of the blood of bulls and goats, but he entered the most holy place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption." So what happened is, when they built the tabernacle, got it all ready, they had to anoint it, didn't they? With, not oil, but with blood for sacrifice.

Jesus went and anointed the heavenly tabernacle with what? With his own blood, once for all that we might have eternal redemption. Yeah, verse 24, that's a sermon in itself, isn't it? We haven't even gotten to the seventy weeks, but that's what Jesus came to accomplish. Okay, but when, when would it be? Now we get to the sparkly stuff. I actually this... Well, I just preached the spiritual center of it. You don't need anything more than this, because this is full provision for your sins as well. If you're a sinner, you're going to find your salvation in verse 24 of Daniel 9. It's right here. There's no other salvation, there's no other name under heaven given a man by which we must be saved. You will give him the name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins. Hebrews 9:24 tells us that.

Okay, you want to know what's the date? Alright, I want to know, it's in here, okay. And it says, "Know and understand this. From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One... " As far as I can tell this is the only place in the Old Testament that the word Messiah is used, Anointed One, of Christ. It speaks of Cyrus as God's Anointed One in a different way, but this is the Messiah now, this is the Christ. Okay, "From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes there will be seven sevens and sixty-two sevens. It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble." So God decrees, now, it's interesting, he says 70 weeks have been decreed, verse 24.

The Hebrew literally says, "seventy weeks have been divided out for you." That's the literal translation. So he's going to parcel out these 70 weeks. And that comes important because it comes 7, 62, and 1, doesn't it? No matter what you do with it, you're dealing with 7, 62, and then 1. At the end of the 69 weeks, the Messiah's cut off, and then we've got this one last week. It's divided out in a certain way. So first, from the time of the decree, we'll talk about that in a minute, until the Anointed One, the Messiah, comes, there will be 7 weeks and 62. 7 plus 62 equals 69. Alright, so we got 69 weeks. But why does he divide 7 and 62? Well, realize, the decree, which I believe, and we'll talk about this more this evening if you're interested.

The decree that best fits this is Artaxerxes the First's decree in 457 BC. There are other options, and we'll talk about that this evening if you're willing. But this one's the best one. Now, he measures out the seven weeks and then the sixty-two from that degree. Now, what is prophesied? Look across verse 25 and 26, and we can just kind of gather together all the things that the prophecy says are going to happen. There will be a decree to rebuild and restore Jerusalem, number one. Number two, Jerusalem will be rebuilt with its streets and its walls and a moat or a trench of some sort. 69 weeks after that decree, the Anointed One, the ruler, will come. That's Jesus. That ruler will be... I mean, sorry, the Anointed One, will be cut off, I think that means killed, doesn't that make sense? Cut off, but not for himself, for any transgression of his own.

Or it could read, Hebrew-wise it could read that he will have nothing, cut off and have nothing, none of the glory or honor, perhaps, that he deserves. And then there will be another ruler who will come, and the people of that ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary again. Rubble again. And then, during the time when the temple is destroyed, war will come like a flood until the measured out desolations have been completed. That's verse 25 and 26. We haven't even gotten to verse 27 yet, alright? That's a huge bunch of prophecy right there, isn't it? Well, let's see, did history fulfill the prophecy, did it work out?

Well, we don't know exactly how long the rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem took. But it says here seven weeks of years, so that would be 49 years. And so, from the issuing of the decree, which was 457 to about 408 BC, Jerusalem was rebuilt. Now, only God knows when he thinks, "There, it's done." But we knew that was during the time of Nehemiah, remember? And it says it will be rebuilt during time of trouble. Do you remember what was in Nehemiah's hands? One in each hand, what did he have? He had a sword in one hand and what did he have in the other hand? Trowel to do the building. Why the sword in the one hand? It was a time of trouble. And so he rebuilt it. Fulfilled. Alright, from 408 BC on, we've got these 62 weeks.

Now, you all have your bulletins there, don't you? I've given you a little chart. Someone once said, "If you can't chart it, don't believe it," especially when it comes to eschatology. Well, I don't think that's true, but I think it's helpful for you to look at the timeline now here. We've got 457 BC to 408 BC, and then we've got sixty-two weeks left. 62 times 7 is 434, is it? So we've got 434 years from 408 BC, and that brings us to 27 AD. Now, if you're doing the calculation you wonder how do we end up with the extra year, you subtract it out as it should have gone to 26? The reason is there's no zero year from BC to AD. We skip over zero. So on a numerical line, there'd be a zero there, but on the timeline, there's no zero year.

So we go from 1 BC to 1 AD. And so we end up with 27 AD. Did anything happen in 27 AD? Well, yeah, Jesus came. He began his ministry that year. How do we know that? Well, we don't know it for sure. Realize these kind of dates and chronologies aren't in the Bible. We kind of have to look outside of them. But we know that Jesus was born when Herod the Great was king. Herod the Great died in 4 BC. It says from Luke chapter 3 that Jesus was about 30 years old when he began his ministry. That puts us at 27 AD. You see what I'm saying? Right at that time. And then this has been corroborated by other ways, so that's a good estimation. Be amazed. The time is right there. And you say, "Now, listen. You worked backwards. You went and tried to find some decree and see if you could make it work and all that kind of thing."

Well, yes, we did work backwards, and frankly, I think it was given for that purpose. If you were to read 1 Peter 1 again, it says there it was revealed to them that "they were not serving themselves, but you," future generations who look backward. We couldn't have looked ahead and predicted it, but we can look backward and see it. There were only three decrees, and we can choose one of them, and guess what? One of them works out perfectly. Be amazed. Our God is a meticulous God who knows the end from the beginning. And he has testified to you through faith in Christ that you're going to Heaven. Praise God, if you have faith in Christ.

Alright, so, now we have an interruption in the seventy weeks, verse 26 and 27. Remember it said in verse 24, seventy weeks are divided out for your people. So we've got the seven weeks and the sixty-two. Any of you can figure out that 7 plus 62 doesn't equal 70, it equals 69. But we have from verse 24 that it's going to take a full seventy weeks to finish the transgression of the people of God and to restore Jerusalem completely. And so therefore we have an interruption, don't we? It says after the sixty-ninth week, doesn't say when, but after the sixty-ninth week, the Messiah will be cut off and we'll have nothing.

We don't know how far after, but I think it was three years after. Three years after, he was cut off, he died. Why stop at 69? Well, this is the so-called parentheses or gap, and I think it's right because there's got to be a gap anyway. There's already a gap between when Jesus dies and when Jerusalem is destroyed. But I think that gap has extended out now 2000 years. This is what Jesus called the times of the Gentiles, when the Gentiles are trampling the city of Jerusalem one after the other. And when Gentile people like you and me are getting saved, to believe in a Jewish God, believe in Jewish scriptures, are reading Jewish prophets like Daniel and claiming the name of a son of David, Jesus Christ, as our Savior. We are the Gentiles who are getting grafted into a Jewish tree. Romans 11, this is the times of the Gentile. So there's this extending period out between the 69th and the 70th week.

And it's a time of desolation for the people of God, the Jews. It's a time of emptiness. Remember what we said when Jeremiah looked out over the city, Lamentations 1:1, he said, "How desolate lies the city, once so full of people." Daniel, you know, you're praying and praying for your city and your people that it wouldn't be desolate anymore, but you know something? Even if the city gets rebuilt, it will be desolate if they don't understand who I am.

And so there are two desolations, I believe, in this passage. The first is the desolation spiritually of the Jews when they rejected Jesus Christ as their Messiah, when they cut him off from the people, when they killed him. That's the first desolation. Jesus weeps over Jerusalem, Luke 19:41 following, and he says, "Because you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you," this is your time of desolation. And Jesus said so beautifully... We're going to talk about this more tonight. He's in the temple and he's teaching in the temple, and the scribes and the Pharisees are standing there opposing him and hating him. They've seen all his miracles, but they don't understand that the spirit of God has anointed him to do this, and so they reject him, and Jesus issues seven woes on them. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees. Woe to you, woe to you, woe to you," seven times.

Do you think the number's an accident? It's a seven-fold woe in the house of Israel. And then he finishes up with this. He says, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who killed the prophets and stoned those sent to you, how often I've longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would not. Look, your house is left to you desolate." It brings hairs in the back of my neck. "Your house is left desolate, for I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." And what's the next thing that Jesus did? He walked out of the temple, never to return.

And just at that moment, the disciples came up to him and they said, "Master, what incredible stones. What a beautiful building. Isn't this incredible?" Oh, bad timing. Bad timing. I mean, did they not understand? No, they did not understand what the desolation of that house meant. And Jesus looked and he said, "You see all these things? Not one stone here will be left on another. Every one will be thrown down." Well, that's prophesied right here in Daniel, isn't it? The sanctuary is going to be destroyed. Look what it says. It says in verse 26, "The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and... " The what? "The sanctuary." The temple." It's been predicted. Jesus knew Daniel.

Jesus inspired Daniel to write this, and so he said, "I tell you the truth, not one stone will be left on another. Every one will be thrown down." Well, they're obviously very distressed about this. They really figured the temple was going to have a big part in Jesus' kingdom and so they didn't understand, and so they come to him on the Mount of Olives, and they said, "Tell us when will this happen and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?" And then we get the great Olivet Discourse. We'll talk more tonight. There isn't time. But in the middle of it, Jesus refers to the abomination of desolation, doesn't he? This is the second desolation now in this passage.

Not only is there a spiritual desolation of rejecting Jesus, there's a physical desolation of what's going to happen to Jerusalem, and this is what he says. Luke 21, we write this down. It's not in your outlook, I mean your pamphlet, but this is what it says. Luke 21:20-24, "When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near." Wow, the consistency of Scripture. Desolation number two, armies surrounding Jerusalem. Well, what armies surrounded Jerusalem? Well, 70 AD, the Romans came. The emperor Vespasian had about enough of these Jews. I mean, just enough is enough with the zealots and all that, enough is enough. And so, he sent four legions plus some other auxiliaries, about 80,000 men, and they surrounded Jerusalem, and Jerusalem's tough to take. It's a hard city to conquer.

But he surrounds them, and after a holdout and after a fight, finally the city is destroyed. And according to Josephus, approximately 1.1 million Jews perished during the Roman siege of Jerusalem. Now, think about that: 1.1 million by sword, famine, and plague. That's a ton of dead people. And Jesus speaking to the Christians said, "When you see the abomination of desolation, spoken through the prophet Daniel,  "So when you see standing in the holy place `the abomination that causes desolation,' spoken of through the prophet Daniel--let the reader understand-- then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains."

Pray that it may... The flight may not take place on the Sabbath. Pray that you may not be pregnant or nursing at the time. "Run, run, run," he says, because it's a time of slaughter. And so, they did run. The Christians actually escaped to a place called Pella and they sat out the siege of Jerusalem there and they were spared because they believed Jesus' words. The Jews stayed and they were wiped out, and the temple was destroyed, physical desolation, physical desolation, and the times of the Gentiles openly was revealed.

The Romans trampled Jerusalem until 637 AD. And what happened in 637 AD? The Muslims took over and they trampled Jerusalem. About 50 years after the Muslims took over, they built a shrine there, a place where Abraham was said to have sacrificed Isaac. Probably it's true. It's called the Dome of the Rock. Have you ever seen it? It's still there right on the Temple site, and it goes right on today. The Gentiles continue to trample. You say, "Well, the Muslims had it until World War I, the Ottoman Empire, right? Then the British took over. The British had it until the end of World War II. And then, who did they give it to?" Well, the Jews kind of. But remember a man is not a Jew if he's only one outwardly nor a circumcision really out and physical. A man is a Jew if he's one inwardly, so it's kind of a secular state over there, isn't it?

Okay, but we'll give it the Jews there, but are they in charge of Jerusalem? Do you remember what Colin Powell said about this on March 7, 2001? Talk about relevant. He said it's the policy of the Bush administration to regard Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. How did that go over among the League of Arab nations? There was a hue and cry. Do you remember that? Do you read the newspaper? Alright. I mean, it was huge. Absolutely, they rejected that. Why? Because that's a Muslim holy site. They don't want the Jews in charge of Jerusalem. And so, no, it's still not free. Jerusalem's not been redeemed. It's not free. It's still the time of the Gentiles. They don't have control. Alright. Well, we brought you up to the sixty-nine weeks.

What about that final seventieth week? Look down at verse 27. "He will confirm a covenant with many for one week. In the middle of the week, he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation until the end that is decreed is poured out on him." Now, who are we talking about here? Well, the ruler who is to come, in verse 26. He's going to put an end to sacrifice. Now, some commentators, conservative ones, who love the Lord, say this was fulfilled when the Romans destroyed the temple. But I don't think so. Because the 70 weeks are... The purpose of the entire 70 weeks, as stated back in verse 24, to put an end to transgression for the people of God, the Jews, and for Jerusalem. Has that happened? No. The Jews have not as a nation turned to their Messiah. Will they? Yes. Romans 11 says, "Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the gentiles has come in. Then all Israel will be saved. As it is written, 'The deliverer will come from Zion. He will turn godlessness from Jacob. And this is the covenant I will make with them when I take away their sins.'" That has not been fulfilled yet. Paul looked on it as yet future. The seventy weeks have not been completed. So we're waiting for a seven-year period, and we believe, we call this the tribulation time when this man of sin, according to 2 Thessalonians 2:4, will "set himself up in God's temple proclaiming himself to be God," he'll put an end to sacrifice and offering, and he will defile it by accepting worship. As a human being accepting worship as God.

And that'll go on for a while, three and a half years, exactly. Verse 27, "Until the end that is decreed has been poured out on him." And what is that? Nothing other than the second coming of Jesus Christ.

2 Thessalonians 2:8 tells us, "The lawless one," that's the antichrist, "will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth." And how perfect is that? He created heaven and earth with the breath of his mouth. And then he'll just say, "Your time is over. You're finished." And it's over, just like that. It's done. And then Jesus Christ returns.

Well, obviously, there's lots of details we have not covered. There's lots of things, but do you see the scope and the grandeur of this passage? Do you see in verse 24 the total and complete... The author of Hebrews calls it the "great salvation" that God has provided for our sins? Do you see in verses 25 and 26?

Secondly, the time of the coming of Jesus laid out beautifully? Remarkably. Do you see, also, in those verses, the destruction of Jerusalem, even after it had been rebuilt a second time. And then do you see, finally, the final seven-year period, in which the antichrist will come and follow in the footsteps of Antiochus Epiphanes and the Romans, the abomination of desolation, all of it is there.

Well, so what? What does this do? What does this do for me? Does this help me to be a better father, a better husband, or a better wife, a better worker? Well, one thing's for sure. God has carefully figured this thing out, hasn't he? He's looked over this whole thing. And he's laid out much of it, not all of it, but much of it in his word. You can rely on the promises that God has made, because he is a meticulously careful God. And if you find your salvation in a God like this, he will never let you go. You will most certainly be saved. He will leave that 99 on the hills. As often as you wander, he will bring you back if you truly trust in him.

But now, can I urge you, don't wander? What caused the desolation of Jerusalem, but rejection of God? Rejection of his ways. Sin. Sin brings desolation, sin brings desolation. And for those who have never been redeemed through faith in Christ, it brings the ultimate desolation: Eternity in hell apart from God. May you not find that desolation, but rather, may you understand what Jesus said in John 10:10, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly." Why don't you close with me in prayer?