[0:00] All right, please have pity on me. I'm tied to the Institute in teaching.
[0:15] ! And I'm only allowed to get out once in a while. No, but I'm just teasing. Yes, I am, and we are, but of course that's why I relish our summertime. The Institute is off.
[0:26] And also, I teach a Sunday, I teach an adult class, which is, I'm teaching Hebrews. This is my third year into teaching it. I'm not repeating myself every year. We're just now into chapter 11.
[0:40] But anyway, somebody's covering for me there, but we've got some things to do, and we're glad for it, and I appreciate it. By the way, while I'm rambling here, turn to Daniel, please. Book of Daniel, chapter 1.
[0:56] And when you get to Daniel, I'm going to ask you at the same time, if you will, hold your place in Daniel. We'll start there, but go back to 2 Chronicles 36, because shortly we'll look at that, and this will cut down on the time of having to go back and forth.
[1:13] So for those of you that have met us before in the past, etc., my wife and I served the Lord for about 20 years as assistant pastor in Redline, Pennsylvania, where your pastor came from when he came here, and he was there for a number of years, many years as well.
[1:34] And then after that, we went to Poland and served there overseas for about 20 years as well, before we came off the field, and already seven years. It seemed like, wow, that time has flown by that we've been off the field for seven years.
[1:48] But the Lord provided, I believe the Bible that says the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. In other words, if God calls a fellow to preach, he doesn't all of a sudden say, all right, I'm done with you.
[2:00] Now, you may move on. Things change. We did. We changed from being an assistant pastor position to a missionary position and now retired from full-time service, but still being able to do something and serve the Lord.
[2:14] So I'm glad for that. I'm thankful for it. I think it's a privilege, and I'm honored to be able to stand before some students and teach and open, or whether it be in the class or whether it be in the Sunday school, and open up the Word of God, just like I am here.
[2:29] I'm privileged to be here. I don't take it for granted whatsoever. If you bore up under me for the first hour, almost an hour, right, wasn't it? Seemed to.
[2:41] But I hope you weren't swimming in the thoughts because it's a lot of material to take in all at one time, and sometimes when you see something new or at least a different perspective, sometimes it takes a little while to sink in.
[2:55] So I know I tried to keep moving and go with it, but I hope you can assimilate it and think about it, and maybe it'll dovetail for you.
[3:06] All right, let's have a word of prayer and ask God's blessing upon what we're going to look at and say today. Our Father, we want to ask you to commune with us and speak, Lord, to us.
[3:17] Lord, use me as a vessel for your honor and glory to get this message, this truth across to these folk today. And Lord, may we listen to it.
[3:27] May we apply it to our lives and in our hearts. And if it's something that does touch base with us, then Lord, I do pray that we would make that application that we need to and listen to you. In Jesus' name we pray.
[3:39] Amen. So in the book of Daniel, we're going to read a couple of verses, make comment, go back to 2 Chronicles for a second, but we're always going to be in the book of Daniel from basically from there on.
[3:56] So when we get into the book of Daniel, we see at the beginning of it, he kind of gives it a little bit of a historical lesson and kind of takes us back, you know, to where we are, gives us the circumstances that, you know, Daniel's in the kind of the context of the book of Daniel.
[4:12] In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, came Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim, king of Judah, into his hand with part of the vessels of the house of God, which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his God.
[4:31] And he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his God. And the king spake unto Ashpenaz, the master of the eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the children of Israel and of the king's seed and of the prince's children, in whom was no blemish, but well favored, skillful in all wisdom, cunning in knowledge and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king's palace, in whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans.
[5:03] And the king appointed them a daily provision of the king's meat, of the wine which he drank, and so nourishing them three years, that at the end thereof they might stand before the king. Now among these were of the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.
[5:19] And so there we have a bit of the context that Daniel is one of those that was taken captive from his homeland to the land of Babylon. And he's one of these.
[5:31] Now it says, use the word children in verse 4, but at the same time, look what it says, skillful in wisdom, cunning in knowledge. So understanding, these aren't just kids. I believe minimum, you're talking about older teenagers, possibly even in their early 20s.
[5:48] I would guess somewhere in that frame. If they're children, maybe they haven't reached the age of 20. 20 was an age of accountability as far as the Jews were concerned.
[5:59] Now flip over to 2 Chronicles. Stay pleased and Daniel will always be there. Look at 2 Chronicles. I just want to give you a background a little bit. There's three different captivities mentioned in this chapter.
[6:12] And when we look at chapter 36 of the book of 2 Chronicles, look with me over at verse 5 and 7.
[6:22] This is exactly where Daniel fits in. 2 Chronicles 36, look at verse 5. So that's his story.
[7:00] That's his story. He's part of the group. And they're taken from Jerusalem, from Judah, and they're taken over to Babylon. They're captives. And they're captives because God is using Nebuchadnezzar, who in other places he calls my servant.
[7:16] Now he's a lost Gentile king. And God calls him his servant because he's using him to basically whip and judge his own people because of their disobedience.
[7:31] You already saw that. Jehoiakim did evil in the sight of the Lord. Now slide over down, if you will, to verse 9 and 10. Here we have another king.
[7:42] After Jehoiakim leaves, look at verse 9. Jehoiakim. Now, I'm sorry. Go back to the end of verse 8. And Jehoiakim, his son, reigned in his stead.
[7:54] So Nebuchadnezzar said, all right, we have to have somebody over this. We have to have a Jewish man that the people will follow. And he's going to be his son. He was only eight years old when he began to reign. He reigned three months, ten days in Jerusalem and did that which was what?
[8:08] Evil in the sight of the Lord. And when the year was expired, King Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babylon with the goodly vessels of the house of the Lord. And now he makes somebody else, Zedekiah, his brother, king over Judah and Jerusalem.
[8:25] So we have a second king coming in. And he's disposed and he's taken off, probably others with him as well, into the land of Babylon. Then, if you will, slide down, look at verse 11, the next verse quickly.
[8:39] Zedekiah was one and 20 years old. So he's an older brother. When he began to reign and reigned 11 years in Jerusalem. So he hung on for a little while. But slide down, because of his disobedience again, Nebuchadnezzar comes in, not only takes him captive, kills his sons in front of him as he tries to run away, if you know the story of it.
[9:01] He tries to flee and escape. And he's captured and his sons are killed in front of his face. And then his eyes are put out. I just think that's one of the worst things that could have happened to him.
[9:13] Not only did he witness the slaying of his own offspring, and that was the last thing that he saw on earth. What a tragedy. Now slide down to verse 19. And we see what happens to Jerusalem.
[9:25] And they burnt the house of God, the temple. And break down the wall of Jerusalem and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof.
[9:36] And them that had escaped from the sword carried him away to Babylon, where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia. And that's the final curtain call for Israel.
[9:50] They lost the kingdom. And it went to the Gentiles. So slide back. We're going to come back here in a little bit later at the end of the message. So if you want to put something there, you may or not.
[10:02] But come back to the book of Daniel, please, chapter 1. That's the context that we're in with Daniel being started. And through the time that Daniel's there, for another 11 years or so that he's there.
[10:16] By the way, somebody that comes up at the end of this message is Jeremiah. And Jeremiah is a prophet. And his prophecy, his life as a prophet, his ministry as a prophet, overlaps all three of these kings.
[10:31] He overlaps that very time that we're talking about. So Daniel knows of Jeremiah. It's very interesting. So go with me back to chapter 1 again.
[10:42] We saw that in verse 5, that these fellows that were taken over, you know, taken out, they're captives. They're in the land of Babylon. And Nebuchadnezzar is going to pick out some of them that are, he thinks they're sharp guys.
[10:55] And he's going to use them to be counselors. Why? Well, because they can give him a perspective of other lands that he wouldn't have from his own people. So just the idea.
[11:06] They're counselors, giving him just another perspective. But it's given three years to train in Babylon, learn the language, learn the customs, everything else, traditions, learn their understanding of the sciences and all that.
[11:19] And then at the end of that time, then he'll exalt them, elevate them to another position. But notice, because of what he's offered them, it presents a dilemma for Daniel.
[11:32] And the first thing that I want to say is Daniel made a decision. That's it. Daniel made a decision. So look with me in verse 8. But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with a portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank.
[11:51] Therefore, he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he would not defile himself. He made a decision. I mean, that's kind of a, that's really sticking your neck out there. I mean, here's Daniel.
[12:03] He's a captive. He's in a foreign land. He's at the mercy of his captives. He's at the mercy of them. His life is on the line. And he's going to kind of maybe agitate the situation a little bit.
[12:15] He's going to say, listen, you know, this isn't right. For whatever reason, Daniel said either the meats or foods that were offered to him were not permissible to him under the law.
[12:28] Or there were foods that maybe they were permissible, but they were offered to the false idols. And he just said, hey, listen, my conscience doesn't allow me to do this. I really don't want to do this. I want to, I want to put God first in my life.
[12:42] I want to make a decision for God because this just isn't right. So I believe Daniel made a decision, not because it was going to help him out at all. It wasn't going to help him.
[12:52] In fact, he put himself in a very awkward situation, didn't he? I mean, you don't like what we're giving you? You want to change that to something else? Or what do you want to do?
[13:03] Well, you know the story. He says, well, instead of all these fancy meats and drinks and everything else, how about just some, some pulse, just some, you know, some greens and whatever, and that kind of thing.
[13:13] We'll eat that instead. It's not offered to the idols. It's allowed under the law. And we'll eat that. And I don't know if that's going to work. And if, you know, he tries to, you know, pass it by somebody that's over, you know, head over him.
[13:26] And he says, well, listen, let's just do this. What if we do it for 10 days? And if we're, you can judge at the end of that time, after 10 days to see whether, you know, we're better off or worse off.
[13:38] If we're worse off, well, then tough on me. If we're better off, then, hey, maybe you make a decision and then we won't have to go against our conscience. And, you know, there's just a tremendous application here for all of us.
[13:53] All of us make decisions. Every day we're faced with choices. There's just no getting around it. We have no idea that one day, one decision that we make may affect all of our lives.
[14:05] And this message is built upon the fact that Daniel made one decision on one day and it affected the rest of his life. Now, the problem we have with trials and decisions and choices, we don't know which one is going to affect our lives.
[14:24] We don't know when they're going to happen. We just don't know. So we go, we go through our life one day at a time and we just progress through life and we're not expecting.
[14:35] We're not thinking that tomorrow morning when I get up, God's going to present something to me, a trial. And that's going to change my life for good or for worse, depending upon my response to it. But that's what takes place here.
[14:47] Daniel found him. I mean, Daniel, he, you know, back here, he's looking back at the end of verse three. These are children of Israel and of the king's seed and of the princess.
[14:58] This fellow, Daniel, is royalty. I'm not saying he's directly in line with the king, but at least the princess, he's royalty. He's somebody that's distinguished in his own land. And now he's a captive and he's kind of making waves, you know, rocking the boat, so to speaking, as far as kind of a challenge.
[15:16] Maybe as far as, well, this stuff that we're eating, I really don't want to eat it. It's against my conscience, et cetera. And putting his neck out there, like I said already. But we can make good decisions or we can make bad decisions.
[15:31] Wrong decisions can change the course of our whole life. I mean, a fellow that gets going, you know, a teenager, a young adult or whatever the fact is, and he gets going with the wrong crowd and they get out drinking or something in a car wreck and he's maimed or somebody else is hurt or harmed.
[15:46] Happens all the day, all the time, doesn't it? But it's a decision somebody made. Somebody gets involved in drugs one time because their friends, you know, have them come out. Hey, come on over here. Let's do this and all that.
[15:56] You know, you know, oh, I've never, I don't know about that. Yeah, come on. What are you, you know, a wimp or whatever. And they, you know, they kind of challenge the individual and he goes along with it. You don't know what that one decision is going to lead you.
[16:07] May lead you to become, you know, an addict may lead you, you know, end up in jail one day. Same thing goes, you know, with couples and all that, that just, you know, some little freedoms and taking advantage of a freedom and opportunity and passions get away.
[16:25] And all of a sudden there's an unwanted pregnancy and changes the life. How about somebody that says, hey, you know, I deserve to, I deserve happiness too. And then he's having a problem with his wife or she's having a problem with her husband.
[16:37] And all of a sudden somebody at work or a neighbor or whatever or a friend or whatnot catches their eye. And all of a sudden they have a fling and they put their whole marriage potentially on the rocks because one decision, one day.
[16:52] It happens all the time, all over the place. How about today? Nowadays? How about kids growing up nowadays in society that we have going around? They get a little bit of a, of a gender confusion.
[17:04] I mean, that's the emphasis nowadays with people. I don't understand it personally myself, but I, it's out there and we know it's a reality with a certain segment of society.
[17:15] And it's pushed like it's, you know, with 50% of the population, which is absurd. But anyway, the case is some kid, because of the influences that he has in school, the influences that he has looking around at other people and, or he's intimidated or she's intimidated and makes a decision.
[17:31] And all of a sudden they've got puberty blockers or all of a sudden they've got operations, a decision they made on their own without even their parents involved. Oh my goodness. There's a kid that's not old enough to get tattoos.
[17:43] A kid that's not old enough to vote. Kid that's not old enough to buy liquor, smoke or whatever else. And they're allowing him to do this type of thing. Unbelievable. But what is it? A decision.
[17:53] A grandson of ours, William Hearn. He did a documentary on a fellow that's only about two hours from where we are in Idaho. Twin Falls is a city.
[18:05] A fellow that at some point in his life, growing up, decided he was a girl. He made a transition. And then he, later on, he got confused with all that and wanted to back out of it.
[18:18] D transition. And he got saved. And now he's married. But he did, I mean, he ruined so much of his life. His life changed because of a decision that he made.
[18:29] It happens all the time. But at the same time, we can make good decisions, can't we? Obviously. You know, the person you married can be a great decision, change your life for the good.
[18:40] The church you choose to go to can help you and change your life for the good. At the same time, getting out of a good church that you should be in can change. Or getting a job someplace.
[18:51] You say, well, hey, I'm moving over something because it's a good opportunity for me and a good job. But is it a good church? Well, no, I haven't checked on that. Whoa, what do you mean you haven't checked on that? You have a family, young kids.
[19:03] Are you going to have a place for them to go to church? Well, you ought to think about that. That ought to be a priority. So a good church that you go to, the job that you choose for your life, the career that you choose and pursue, moral, ethical decisions that you make on a regular basis, your responses to temptation.
[19:22] All of these can alter and change the course of your life. One decision on one day can change everything. That's what it did here.
[19:34] God uses trials. God uses situations to test us. You say, how come we got trials? God uses it to show us what's in our hearts.
[19:45] Not because he doesn't know what's in our heart, but to show us. For instance, Adam and Eve. You know, back in the garden. When God, you know, called out, Adam, where art thou? I mean, was God playing hide and seek and he didn't really know where he was?
[19:59] You know how kids do. Our kids, we had a basement. They play hide and seek in the basement. And find a littlest place you can get into where nobody could think you could be and you could be there and whatnot.
[20:11] But was Adam hiding on God? Well, he was hiding on God. Did God know where he was? Yeah. So why did God say, why didn't God just get around and say, hi, Adam, I see you.
[20:22] He said, where are you? He gave Adam the opportunity to respond. How about Adam? How about Abraham? Abraham and Isaac. When Abraham tempted Isaac, as the Bible says in Genesis 22, and to offer his son Isaac on the altar as a burnt offering to him, meaning he'd kill him and burn him.
[20:44] But he got the promise, according to Hebrews 11, that he would come back with him and raise him again, just as Jesus rose from the dead. But don't you think when God did that to Abraham and Abraham's ready, Abraham's ready to slay him and God held him back.
[21:01] Why did he do that to Abraham? Because he wasn't sure how Abraham was going to respond. I don't believe that. I believe it was simply so Abraham would know and learn how he would respond to that.
[21:15] Will I do that? Will I lay it all on the altar? Do I really consider God that important in my life? Am I willing to put him first? Am I willing to believe him and willing to trust him?
[21:28] And God said, see, Abraham, it was there all the time. And that's what I believe God does to us. He lets us go through a test or temptation, a trial to show us where we're at.
[21:43] Now, the second thing I want you to look at here is, well, let me back up a second. The Bible has all kinds of things about trying and proving and testing us. Deuteronomy 8.2 says, to prove you, to know what was in thine heart.
[21:58] Not that God would have to know, but that you would know. Psalm 17.3, thou hast proved mine heart, thou hast tried me. Psalm 139.23, search me, O God, and know my heart.
[22:11] Try me and know my thoughts. So it's all through the Bible. God tests us. He tries us. Just like if you go to the gym to work out, you're trying to strengthen yourself.
[22:23] And God uses those trials and testings to strengthen us, to encourage us, to reveal to ourselves what we are and who we are. Now, the second thing is simply this.
[22:35] Because of his response in this testing, here's this meat and drink and all that. Are you going to offer it? Doesn't that bother your conscience? Yes, it does.
[22:46] What are you going to do about it? And I believe through that trial or that testing, God challenged Daniel here. And because of it, and he passed, God blessed him.
[22:57] And God rewarded him. Well, how do we see that? Look with me in verse 15. 1.15. At the end of the 10 days, their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king's meat.
[23:11] I mean, they came out better looking than had they been continually eating the other stuff. And then look at verse 17, how God blessed them. As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom.
[23:26] And Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. God definitely rewarded them. Then look at verse 20. In all matters of wisdom and understanding that the king inquired of them, at the end of these three years, he found them, these four Jewish boys, 10 times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm.
[23:48] So God did bless him. Now, in chapter 2, we see that another trial comes along his way, sort of speaking. And Nebuchadnezzar has seen a vision.
[24:00] He goes to the wise men, the counselors, the Chaldeans, soothsayers, and everything else. He says, hey, show me the dream and tell me the interpretation. Oh, king, hey, nobody's asked this of anybody.
[24:12] We can't just tell us the dream and we'll give the interpretation. Well, he understood what they were doing there, biding time. And so he said, no, if you can't give me the dream and the interpretation, I'm going to kill you off.
[24:24] So when Daniel gets wind of that, come on down to verse 15 of chapter 2. He answered and said to Ariok, the king's captain, why is the decree so hasty from the king?
[24:34] And Ariok made the thing known to Daniel. Daniel went in, desired of the king that he would give him time and that he would show the king the interpretation. Then Daniel went to his house and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah, his companions, that they would desire mercies of God.
[24:51] So they're going to have a prayer meeting to say, hey, listen, we got to pray about this or we're going to, all our heads are gone tomorrow if we don't get an answer to this prayer. We need to beseech God that he'll give us the answer and tell us what Nebuchadnezzar dreamed and what it means.
[25:09] And they did. And look what happened in verse 19. Then was a secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision. And Daniel blessed the God of heaven. I want to simply ask you a question.
[25:21] Do you think that if Daniel back in chapter 1 and verse 8, when he was perplexed about what to do, whether he could defile his conscience and taking part of these foods and all that, or if he'd stand by God, do you think if he would not have listened to God and determined to do what God put on his heart, that God was going to listen to him here and answer his prayer?
[25:47] As the Bible says, I trow not. I don't think so. But I think because Daniel listened to God back in chapter 1, when we get to Daniel chapter 2 and he's praying to God to answer, and it's life-threatening, then God listens to Daniel.
[26:08] Sometimes we think about, well, how come God's not answering my prayer? Well, did you listen to God back here when you made a decision? If you did, God's going to listen to you.
[26:22] But if you didn't, it's kind of hard to ask God to listen to me when I have a tremendous need or whatever the case is. God's not, you know, our answering boy whatsoever.
[26:34] And by the way, you know, our decisions affect other people because his decision to do right affected the other three boys as well. No doubt about it. Now, the third thing I want to say is this.
[26:46] We're in chapter 2 as well. Daniel's one decision set a pattern in his life. It set a pattern in his life. With this dream that Nebuchadnezzar had, it gave Daniel an opportunity to just have the ear of the king, to be able to help the king out totally.
[27:13] And look what it says here. Look down at verse, oh, look at verse 47. Chapter 2, verse 47. So Daniel interprets the dream. He gives him the dream.
[27:24] He interprets the dream. It's this big image, the head of gold, then silver and brass, etc. And the picture of successive kingdoms. But Babylon is the first one.
[27:35] And look at Nebuchadnezzar's response in verse 47. The king answered unto Daniel and said, Of a truth it is that your God is a God of gods, a Lord of kings, and a reveal of secrets, seeing thou couldst reveal this secret.
[27:50] Your God, not my God, your God is a God, a God of gods. So your God, Daniel, he's a tremendous guy. He's tremendous.
[28:01] But he's one of many. But based upon that, because he gave him the interpretation in the dream, he did bless him greatly in verse 48 and 49. Now go secondly over to chapter 4.
[28:13] Here's another time that Daniel has an opportunity. Nebuchadnezzar has another dream. This time it's a dream where he gets a vision of this big tree, etc. And the tree is cut down and all that.
[28:26] And his heart is turned to that of an animal. And Daniel says, Hey, king, I'll give you the interpretation. of that thing. But it's not good news for you. It's good for your enemies, but not for you. And what God has shown you is you're that tree.
[28:40] And you, you know, you're all over and you're encompassing all the Gentile realm, etc. All the nations here. But God's going to take it from you and drive you and give you the mind and heart of an animal.
[28:54] And drive you away from man. And he says, king, you need to repent. You need to get right. And that thing happens. And look what happens. Look over at verse 34.
[29:04] So that occurs to Nebuchadnezzar. And he is, because of pride, lifted up. He loses his mind. He goes, runs out like an animal.
[29:15] And he spends probably the use of the word seven. Probably seven years that he's like that. But in verse 34, At the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes unto heaven. Mine understanding returned unto me.
[29:28] And I blessed the Most High. I praised and honored him that liveth forever, whose kingdom, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion. His kingdom is from generation to generation. And then slide over with me to verse 37.
[29:42] In the last verse of chapter 4. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the king of heaven. Not your God is a God of gods.
[29:56] But now Nebuchadnezzar has made him his own. And he's the exalted above all the other gods. I believe that's a picture of Nebuchadnezzar getting saved.
[30:08] And by the way, we won't have time for it. But in chapter 4, it starts out. Nebuchadnezzar is the author of chapter 4. It said, you know, Nebuchadnezzar is telling his testimony of what happened.
[30:20] If you go back later and read the first couple of verses of chapter 4. Nebuchadnezzar, I believe, gets saved. Now slide over to chapter 6. What I said was Daniel's one decision set a pattern for his life.
[30:34] He now has influence in the king. The very king that took him captive. He has influence with and even, you might even say over. Now, not only that, two different times.
[30:47] Now we see that when Babylon has been put out of the way. And Mediapersia comes in. And we see that at the end of chapter 5. Now there's a new king, Darius.
[30:59] Well, what's Darius' response? Well, look at verse, when he wants to seek, look at verse 3. When he wants to find people to be head over his kingdom.
[31:09] He says, then this Daniel, chapter 6, verse 3. Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes. Because an excellent spirit was in him. And the king thought to set him over the whole realm.
[31:23] This is Daniel. The Jewish fella started out, Jewish teenager maybe. He's got influence with kings. You never know how one decision can affect your life.
[31:37] And what doors God may open for you. Because of that one decision you make in your life. I'm not saying we're going to have influence with kings. But we may very well have influence with people we would never have had influence on.
[31:52] If we didn't do right. Do right and make the right decision and do the right choice. Look with me at the end of chapter 6. Look at verse 25 and 26. This, of course, is the...
[32:03] Where Daniel is thrown into the den of lions. And Darius has a real concern for him. But look at the end of it. When Daniel comes out alive. They throw the other people in there that accused him.
[32:16] And they're all tore up by the lions. But look at verse 25. Then King Darius. Now Darius and Cyrus are the two kings. The head of the media Persian Empire.
[32:27] Darius the side of the media. And then Cyrus the side of the Persians. So they're the next kings in line. After Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian kingdom. Verse 25 again.
[32:38] Then King Darius wrote unto all people. Nations and languages that dwell in all the earth. And the peace be multiplied unto you. I make a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom.
[32:50] Men tremble in fear before the God of Daniel. Why? For he is the living God. And steadfast forever in his kingdom.
[33:02] That which shall not be destroyed. His dominion shall be even unto the end. You think. You think. What if Daniel's a man that's in the kingdom of Russia?
[33:13] Do you think he could have that kind of influence with Putin? Or you've put him anywhere. On this face of the. That's what we're talking about. We're talking about a world leader.
[33:24] And Daniel has influence with him. And that world leader. Instead of. Putting the praise and the glory and worship towards false gods. Is putting it to the God of heaven.
[33:37] Daniel's God. What a tremendous opportunity. Influence. That Daniel had. Now. The rest of the book of Daniel. Is dealing with prophetic material.
[33:48] Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten. Into eleven. And twelve. Prophetic material. Where God reveals. To the. Through Daniel. To the Jews. About the antichrist.
[34:00] The things that are going to occur here. During the tribulation period. And the. The result of that being. That there's going to be a kingdom established. Forever. And I.
[34:10] In my opinion. Daniel's written. To give hope to the Jewish people. Hey. It's going to get. Tough sometime. It's going to. We're going to go through a lot of problems. Such as we are with Babylon. Media Persia.
[34:22] Greece. Rome. But we're going to come out. We're going to come out. On the right side. We're going to come out. On the victory end. Look at chapter 10. Chapter 10.
[34:34] It talks about Cyrus. The third. The third year of Cyrus. King of Persia. A thing was revealed unto Daniel. Now. You had the Babylonian empire.
[34:46] With Nebuchadnezzar. Successive. Kings. After Nebuchadnezzar. Decease. Belteshazzar. It's called his son. But in all likelihood. His grandson.
[34:57] On the throne. When he's deposed. And Media Persia takes over. Darius. And Cyrus. Are the two sides. Of that new kingdom. Darius.
[35:07] Has already been won over. To Daniel. And Cyrus. We're going to see something about him. In just a little bit. But Daniel is here already. All the way until the third year.
[35:17] Of Cyrus. Now. The point I want to make here. Is this is a long time span. We're looking at. From I think. 606. B.C.
[35:28] To about 534. B.C. About 72 years. So when Daniel's taken captive. Until the time.
[35:39] When Nebuchadnezzar. I'm sorry. The time when Darius and Cyrus. First come in. Their first year. About 70 years. And now we might be. Two years later. You say.
[35:49] What's that number. Numerology. Have to do with anything. Well it's very interesting. Because. Jeremiah prophesied. In fact. Let's look there for a sec. Real quick. Jeremiah chapter 25.
[36:01] Jeremiah 25. Jeremiah prophesied. Something about. A captivity. I'm in Jeremiah 25. And I want to read two verses.
[36:13] Verse 11. This whole land. Shall be a desolation. And an astonishment. And these nations.
[36:23] Shall serve the king. Of Babylon. Seventy. Years. And verse 12. And it shall come to pass. When 70 years are accomplished. That I will punish.
[36:36] The king of Babylon. And that nation. Saith the Lord. For their iniquity. And the land of the Chaldeans. Will I make it. A perpetual desolation. I want you to turn to 2nd Chronicles.
[36:47] Once again. 2nd Chronicles. chapter 36. My point in regarding.
[36:59] Daniel. When he was taken captive. As a. Teenager. Or a young adult. 17 to 22 ish. In my estimation.
[37:10] And he's there. In the land. For upwards. To 72 years. Placing him. To be at least. 90 or 92. Whatever years old.
[37:21] An old man. He's seen a lot. But at the beginning. I'm not going to ask you. To turn back. To the book of Daniel. But in Daniel.
[37:32] Chapter 9. Daniel makes reference. To what we just read. In Jeremiah. In Daniel. Chapter 9. He says this. And in the first year. Of his reign.
[37:42] Darius. So after Babylon. Has been deposed. And the media Persian Empire. Comes in. He says. In the first year. Of his reign. I Daniel. Understood. By the. By books.
[37:52] The number. Of the years. Whereof the word of the Lord. Came to Jeremiah. The prophet. That he would accomplish. 70 years. In the desolations.
[38:03] Of Jerusalem. So Daniel gets. Maybe he doesn't understand it. As a kid. Maybe he doesn't understand it. As a young man. Maybe he doesn't understand it. As he's maturing.
[38:13] As an older man. But by the time. Of Darius. Comes into play. 70 years. After his captivity. He's reading Daniel.
[38:24] And he finds out. You as a nation. Are going to be. In the land of Babylon. For 70 years. And he says. That's me. That's my life. That's how long.
[38:34] I've been here. God wants to bring this. To fruition. The 70 years. Of captivity. Are over. Or coming to an end. And God.
[38:47] And God. Has allowed him. To be in the position. Where he has the ear. Of the king. Darius. And now look at. 2nd Chronicles. Chapter 36. Start with me.
[38:58] In verse 20. This is. Where we last read. And them that had escaped. From the sword. Carried he away to Babylon. Where they were servants. To him and his sons. Until the reign of the kingdom.
[39:09] Of Persia. To fulfill. The word of the Lord. By the mouth. Of Jeremiah. Until the land. Had enjoyed her Sabbath. For as long.
[39:20] As she lay desolate. She kept Sabbath. To fulfill. Three score. And ten years. For 490 years. Every seventh year.
[39:31] They did. They were supposed to keep. A Sabbath year. A sabbatical year. Let the land rest. Just like the seventh day. Of every week. Rest. They didn't do it. They didn't do it.
[39:42] 70 different times. 490 years. God says. Because you didn't do it. That long. I'm taking you. Out of the land. For that same amount of time. You should have let the land rest.
[39:53] 70 years. And that's what it's. Talking about here. So now look at verse 22. Now. In the first year of Cyrus. The king of Persia. That the word of the Lord.
[40:04] Spoken. By the mouth of Jeremiah. Might be accomplished. The Lord. Stirred up the spirit of Cyrus. King of Persia. That he made a proclamation.
[40:15] Throughout all his kingdom. And put it also in writing. Saying. Thus. Sayeth Cyrus. King of Persia. All the kingdoms of the earth. Hath the Lord God of heaven. Given me.
[40:26] And he has charged. He. The Lord. Has charged me. To build him a house. In Jerusalem. Which is in Judah. Who is there among you.
[40:38] Among. You. Of all his people. The Lord. His God. Be with him. And let him go up. Now look at Ezra. We see the same thing in Ezra. Look at verse one. Now in the first year.
[40:49] Cyrus. King of Persia. With the word of the Lord. By the mouth of Jeremiah. Might be fulfilled. The Lord. Stirred up. The spirit. Of Cyrus. King of Persia. That he made the proclamation.
[41:00] Etc. My question is simply this. How come? Where'd that come from? How come Cyrus. All of a sudden.
[41:11] Got stirred up. In the first year. Of his reign. I submit to you. This morning. Daniel.
[41:24] Daniel. Daniel. Daniel is the reason. Daniel had input. In Nebuchadnezzar's life. And turned Nebuchadnezzar. From a heathen.
[41:36] False God. Worshiping king. To one that acknowledged. The God. He had influence. On Darius. From the get go.
[41:47] To where Darius. When Daniel was. Again. Placed in a situation. Where he had to determine. Do I. Do I. Not pray to God. Because. You know. They've made this proclamation.
[41:59] That you can't pray to anybody. But the king. No. I'm going to pray to God. Because that's the right thing to do. And Daniel prayed to God. And they made the accusation. Of the king. And the king. Because he couldn't alter.
[42:09] The word that he had. Already spoken. Tossed him into the. I shouldn't say tossed him. But he. Delicately placed him. Into the ten of lions. And. He was so concerned.
[42:20] About Daniel. And so moved. And respected Daniel. That he had a. A fitful night of sleep. He didn't even sleep. Didn't have any music. He couldn't help but thinking. What was going on. With Daniel.
[42:30] And right away. When. Verse morning. Oh Daniel. Is your God able? Oh yeah. Don't worry about it king. But thanks for waking me up. I kind of overslept. Didn't I? These lions made for some nice comforters.
[42:43] And now. He's got. I believe. Just as much. Cyrus is here. And he says. Cyrus. Here's the deal. My people were. Taken captive by Babylon.
[42:56] Because that was. God's judgment on us. And that was prophesied. For 70 years. But now. God used you. And Darius. To whip.
[43:07] Babylon. Just like it said. In Jeremiah 25. 11 and 12. And this is what God wants to do now. He wants us to go back.
[43:19] He wants us to rebuild the walls. He wants us to rebuild the temple. And God. And king. God can use you. To do that. We don't see Daniel mentioned here.
[43:30] In 2nd Chronicles. But I believe. We see Daniel. All over it. Say. What's your point brother? My point is this. Daniel made one decision.
[43:43] On one day. And it affected his whole life. The pattern of his whole life. From then on. We come up with decisions. All the time. That we have to make.
[43:54] I don't know that. Our decision is going to be. So monumental. But there have been people. In history. Besides Daniel. That have made monumental decisions. That have affected. Hundreds. Thousands.
[44:04] Thousands. Millions of people. For good or for bad. But you've made decisions. In the past. You've. Maybe come down. In an altar. And you've.
[44:15] Prayed. And you've repented. Of something. And turned from something. To get right with God. And it changed your life. Or. You heard messages. And you didn't. And you resisted God.
[44:25] And it affected. Your life. For a time. Until you would repent. You've made decisions. You've gone through trials. You've.
[44:36] Surrendered to something. Some people have surrendered. To the mission field. Surrendered to the pastorate. At some point in their life. It changes their life. I think of myself. Years ago.
[44:47] I gave my testimony. The last time I was here. Back in the spring. You know. The hippie wannabe. Lost. Lost a goose. On my way to hell. And. But I was confronted. By the gospel.
[44:58] In a book. On Bible prophecy. And I got saved. Trusted Christ. As my savior. God saved my soul. That one decision. And one day. Changed the direction. Of my entire life.
[45:08] But because of that. My girlfriend. At the time. Also got saved. Later that year. And later. Became my wife. We had three children. All three of them.
[45:18] Got saved. Have gotten saved. They have spouses. That are saved. They have children. Our grandchildren. Fourteen of them. That have. At this point. Made a profession of faith. In Jesus Christ. Not only that.
[45:30] When I went. After I got saved. That first. A couple of months. A good friend of mine. That I'd been partying with. And everything else. He came over to my house. Because he saw a change in my life. And he ended up leaving.
[45:40] And praying. To get saved. Right outside my folks house. He went to Bible school. He got married. His wife. His kids.
[45:51] Saved. Grandkids. Saved. A brother and his sister. That listened. My sister got saved. I went to Bible school. My brother came down to visit us. He got saved. Sure. Kids are saved.
[46:02] His kids are saved. How did all that happen? Because. Going back. One time. One day. One person. Was confronted. With a decision.
[46:12] Amen. What am I going to do? I need to put my life in order. I can't do it. I make a mess of it. But you can. And God saved my soul.
[46:23] And from then on. My life changed. And that life. Had an influence. Bless God. On other people. Your life. Changes. You're saved already.
[46:34] You've had influence. On other people. But there may be decisions. You need to make. Or you're about to make. Or you're going to make. In the future. That are going to affect. Your relationship. With other people. Your effect.
[46:45] On other people. The direction. Your life takes. Let's pray. Our Father. I want to thank you. For your mercy. And your goodness to us. I want to thank you. Lord. For all your care.
[46:55] Over us. Lord. We're not worthy. Of anything. That you do. In our lives. We're just grateful. For anything. That you do. Do in our lives. God. I do ask and pray. That you'll help us.
[47:06] Help us. Lord. We're always confronted. With decisions. And choices. There's always trials. There's always temptations. There's always circumstances. Before. Situations.
[47:16] We find ourselves in. And we have. We're forced to. Make a choice. Help us Lord. To have the understanding. Like Daniel did. And it may seem. Inconsequential. At the moment.
[47:28] And yet. It may have. Tremendous. Tremendous. Repercussions. In time. I pray. Father. For this congregation. Unknowing. What they're going to go through.
[47:38] Or what challenges. They're going to face. Lord. You help them. Make the right decisions. And that you will bless. Those decisions. If they are the right decisions. And Lord. If they make wrong decisions.
[47:49] You'll reprove them for it. Correct them. And help them to turn around. Repent. And get right. And do the right thing. We love you. Help us to live for you. Until you come for us. In Jesus name. Amen.
[48:00] Amen. Well now it's your time to respond. To what you heard. Some have already come forward. To talk things over with the Lord.
[48:12] And you didn't get a history lesson this morning. That's not what that was about. It was a charge for you to take thought. To your decisions. And your choices. I bet you somebody in this place today.
[48:24] Has made a bad choice in their life. And it's affecting them. In some way. Today. And it's going to keep affecting you. Until you. Come to grips with it.
[48:35] And face it. And get it right with God. And I don't know who you are. Or what it is. But. It's just going to keep getting worse. And in your mind you say. Well I can't fix it now.
[48:45] It's too late. But you're. Underestimating the Lord. Because he can fix messes. If you'll give it to him. And lay it at his feet. And surrender it to him.
[48:58] And let. Today's choice. Be one that will start a new era in your life. Where something can get forgiven. And. You can move on. Maybe God's challenging somebody else in here.
[49:10] To surrender something to him. To take a step for him. Maybe it's just something as. Small or as big as witnessing to your parents. Or to. Your grandparents.
[49:22] Or to somebody in your. Family that's unsaved. And on their way to hell. And you may need to surrender that God. I'm going to talk to him. And I'm going to tell him.
[49:33] And I'm going to pray. And seek an open door. Maybe today would be a good day. To make the decision. That I'm going to witness. And who knows what God could do with something like that.
[49:50] So I'm praying. I give you the time to spend. There in your pew. Or here at the altar. And just talk things over with the Lord. Don't let this pass by. Play.
[50:00] Thank you.