WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.320 All right, we're going to read together from Daniel chapter 1, the whole chapter. 00:00:05.580 --> 00:00:09.359 And Jemima is going to come and read from Daniel 1 for us. 00:00:10.019 --> 00:00:17.300 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem and besieged it. 00:00:18.080 --> 00:00:23.199 And the Lord gave Jehoiakim, king of Judah, into his hand with some of the vessels of the house of God. 00:00:23.839 --> 00:00:29.580 And he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his God, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his God. 00:00:30.300 --> 00:00:38.100 Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both the royal family and of the nobility, 00:00:38.640 --> 00:00:47.079 used without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding, learning, and competent to stand in the king's palace, 00:00:47.320 --> 00:00:50.420 and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans. 00:00:51.159 --> 00:00:55.659 The king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate, and of the wine that he drank. 00:00:55.659 --> 00:01:00.979 They were to be educated for three years, and at the end of that time they were to stand before the king. 00:01:02.019 --> 00:01:07.099 Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah. 00:01:08.079 --> 00:01:10.420 And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names. 00:01:11.140 --> 00:01:19.640 Daniel he called Belshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego. 00:01:19.640 --> 00:01:26.319 But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king's food or with the wine that he drank. 00:01:27.099 --> 00:01:30.719 Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself. 00:01:31.540 --> 00:01:35.460 And God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs. 00:01:35.939 --> 00:01:37.620 And the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, 00:01:37.620 --> 00:01:41.300 I fear my lord the king who assigned your food and drink. 00:01:41.800 --> 00:01:46.160 For why should he see that you are in worse condition than the youths who are of your own age? 00:01:47.000 --> 00:01:49.820 So you would endanger my head with the king. 00:01:50.439 --> 00:01:55.939 Then Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had assigned over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. 00:01:56.500 --> 00:01:58.120 Test your servant for ten days. 00:01:58.680 --> 00:02:01.100 Let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. 00:02:01.099 --> 00:02:06.199 Then let our appearance and the appearance of the youths who eat the king's food be observed by you. 00:02:06.599 --> 00:02:08.919 And deal with your servants according to what you see. 00:02:09.560 --> 00:02:12.900 So he listened to them in this matter and tested them for ten days. 00:02:13.719 --> 00:02:19.959 At the end of the ten days it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths who ate the king's food. 00:02:21.000 --> 00:02:25.479 So the steward took away the food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables. 00:02:25.479 --> 00:02:31.699 As for these four youths, God gave them learning and skill in all literature and wisdom. 00:02:32.419 --> 00:02:35.280 And Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. 00:02:36.060 --> 00:02:39.479 At the end of the time when the king had commanded that they should be brought in, 00:02:39.919 --> 00:02:42.679 the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. 00:02:43.659 --> 00:02:45.219 And the king spoke with them. 00:02:45.359 --> 00:02:50.099 And among all of them none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. 00:02:50.739 --> 00:02:52.299 Therefore they stood before the king. 00:02:52.300 --> 00:02:57.380 And in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, 00:02:57.719 --> 00:03:02.500 he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in his kingdom. 00:03:03.320 --> 00:03:06.320 And Daniel was there until the first year of King Cyrus. 00:03:10.840 --> 00:03:13.420 All right, we're working through the book of Daniel this semester. 00:03:14.080 --> 00:03:17.500 We looked at chapter one last week, mainly the first seven verses. 00:03:17.500 --> 00:03:23.539 Each week I'll try my best to make every sermon in this book as standalone as possible, 00:03:23.539 --> 00:03:27.599 because I know in a church like ours, people are in and out a lot. 00:03:27.840 --> 00:03:31.120 And they're coming at different times, and we have visitors every week. 00:03:31.240 --> 00:03:36.620 And so, but every single week there has to be at least a little bit of a summary of the previous, 00:03:36.800 --> 00:03:42.180 because in Daniel, if you don't know the historical backdrop, it's really hard to understand the book. 00:03:42.180 --> 00:03:48.740 And so, in 605 BC, the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, came to Jerusalem, 00:03:49.400 --> 00:03:51.900 and he attacked it. 00:03:52.040 --> 00:03:57.120 But he did not seek to destroy the people of Israel, God's people, by violence. 00:03:57.300 --> 00:03:57.840 Not really. 00:03:58.640 --> 00:04:03.840 Instead, he wanted to destroy their religion and their culture in Jerusalem, 00:04:04.319 --> 00:04:06.500 not by violence, but by assimilation. 00:04:06.500 --> 00:04:10.699 So he wanted to do annihilation by assimilation or acculturation. 00:04:11.199 --> 00:04:12.960 He wanted to Babylonize them. 00:04:13.379 --> 00:04:16.259 He wanted to build an empire by Babylonizing the world, 00:04:16.360 --> 00:04:19.819 making everybody like him, like this great city of Babylon. 00:04:20.660 --> 00:04:26.439 And so he takes the professional class, the skilled workers, with him into Babylon 00:04:26.439 --> 00:04:30.420 to educate them, to turn them into Babylonians, 00:04:30.519 --> 00:04:33.680 and then build a great city, a better city than he had, 00:04:33.680 --> 00:04:36.980 and then also to send some of them back to Babylonize the rest of the empire. 00:04:37.759 --> 00:04:38.680 So that was his plan. 00:04:39.379 --> 00:04:42.639 And when you read that in the light of the rest of the Bible, 00:04:43.300 --> 00:04:46.560 God's people in exile, God's people were in exile. 00:04:46.680 --> 00:04:49.120 They had been exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon. 00:04:49.579 --> 00:04:53.860 The rest of the Bible says that the city of Babylon is a symbol. 00:04:54.540 --> 00:04:55.199 It's a type. 00:04:55.720 --> 00:04:57.620 It stands for something greater than itself. 00:04:58.240 --> 00:05:01.079 And you read about that, especially in the book of Revelation. 00:05:01.079 --> 00:05:08.439 And the symbol that we learn in the Bible is that Babylon is this image of everything in this world 00:05:08.439 --> 00:05:12.800 that stands against God and stands against the great city of God that Christ is building, 00:05:13.560 --> 00:05:18.500 a city that would have been coming out of the Garden of Eden before Adam and Eve ever sinned. 00:05:19.319 --> 00:05:24.699 And Babylon is this sign, this symbol, this image, this city of any culture, any society, 00:05:24.699 --> 00:05:32.699 any people group that makes an idol its center and revolves their life around it rather than the real God. 00:05:32.920 --> 00:05:36.500 And so to have a Babylonian heart, to be Babylonized, 00:05:37.300 --> 00:05:40.959 well, actually it's a condition that we all have that we're born into. 00:05:41.839 --> 00:05:47.439 And it looks something like when you take something in this world, something in our city, something creaturely, 00:05:47.439 --> 00:05:49.519 and you divinize that thing. 00:05:50.300 --> 00:05:54.620 You take anything in this world that God gave us as gifts that are good things and you treat them, 00:05:54.699 --> 00:05:59.360 you turn them into evil things because you make them into little gods and you center your life around them. 00:05:59.420 --> 00:06:06.600 So that could be lust, money, power, classic Babylonian idols of the human heart. 00:06:06.699 --> 00:06:09.139 It could be approval, comfort, achievement. 00:06:09.139 --> 00:06:13.060 It could be alcohol, drugs, or shopping. 00:06:14.500 --> 00:06:18.959 It could be a million things that we take in this life and we revolve our lives around it. 00:06:19.240 --> 00:06:24.479 And we think that it's going to be for us this tower of Babel, the tower of Babylon from Genesis 11, 00:06:24.639 --> 00:06:26.680 that will reach the heavens, that will save us. 00:06:27.899 --> 00:06:30.899 And that means that we all are living in exile. 00:06:31.300 --> 00:06:32.579 Look, exile is just idolatry. 00:06:33.419 --> 00:06:36.399 We've been exiled from the city we were made for, the Garden of Eden. 00:06:36.399 --> 00:06:42.519 And so we're living this life as people struggling with idolatry and therefore in exile. 00:06:43.379 --> 00:06:48.899 And then the Bible comes in the New Testament and says to Christians, if you're a Christian today, 00:06:49.299 --> 00:06:58.339 the Bible in Hebrews and 1 Peter and 1 John 5 says that every single believer in the Lord today is living in exile in Babylon. 00:06:59.079 --> 00:06:59.519 Why? 00:06:59.519 --> 00:07:06.519 Because no matter how great our city is, no matter how much we look at the 17th century in Scotland as the golden age 00:07:06.519 --> 00:07:11.759 where Christianity was at the center of our institutions, there really is no golden age. 00:07:12.979 --> 00:07:18.680 But idolatry is still at the heart of every city until Christ Jesus comes again. 00:07:19.479 --> 00:07:21.079 And so we're all still living in exile. 00:07:21.079 --> 00:07:28.060 And we know today that, of course, our institutions, our culture is very far away from confessing the Lord, 00:07:28.180 --> 00:07:29.039 from believing in the Lord. 00:07:29.099 --> 00:07:35.360 And so we feel that Babylonian reality right now probably more than we have in the last several hundred years here in a place like Edinburgh. 00:07:35.759 --> 00:07:38.680 And so the question of this book is, 00:07:39.159 --> 00:07:45.919 how do we as believers live by faith and wisdom and hope in the midst of our exilic lives? 00:07:46.599 --> 00:07:49.079 And that's exactly the situation Daniel was in in Babylon. 00:07:49.079 --> 00:07:53.240 How does he live with faith and wisdom and hope in Babylon, in the heart of Babylon? 00:07:53.339 --> 00:07:55.779 He's literally working in the king's court. 00:07:56.819 --> 00:07:58.419 How do we how do we live by faith? 00:07:58.519 --> 00:08:00.399 And so Daniel is a wisdom book. 00:08:00.959 --> 00:08:05.180 And it's teaching us how to live by wisdom until Jesus comes again. 00:08:05.680 --> 00:08:15.019 And last week we saw the first principle of wisdom that is in here in chapter one, verse one, verse seven, verse 19. 00:08:15.019 --> 00:08:19.339 The Lord gave, the Lord gave, the Lord gave. 00:08:19.439 --> 00:08:24.000 Meaning it looks a whole lot like God's people lost in the story. 00:08:24.779 --> 00:08:29.039 But then Daniel, the writer, flips it around and says, no, the Lord put you here. 00:08:30.319 --> 00:08:33.439 The Lord gave you to Babylon and gave Babylon to you. 00:08:33.440 --> 00:08:38.720 And so we as much as we lament the state of our culture, just like Daniel lamented the state of exile in Babylon. 00:08:39.760 --> 00:08:46.180 Jeremiah 29 turns and God says through Jeremiah, no, seek the peace of the city before the city. 00:08:47.180 --> 00:08:50.580 Pursue her good, because as you pursue her peace, you will find peace. 00:08:51.380 --> 00:08:54.640 Jeremiah said, exiles in Babylon, pray for Babylon. 00:08:54.639 --> 00:08:59.759 And that means that the first principle we learned last week is that the Lord is in charge. 00:08:59.939 --> 00:09:00.819 He's put us here. 00:09:01.240 --> 00:09:03.580 He's given us to Edinburgh and Edinburgh to us. 00:09:03.939 --> 00:09:04.879 We are the salt and light. 00:09:04.939 --> 00:09:06.379 We are to be the blessing to our city. 00:09:06.819 --> 00:09:10.639 We are to seek the shalom, the true peace of our city and pray for her. 00:09:10.759 --> 00:09:11.840 So we can never sit back. 00:09:11.899 --> 00:09:12.819 We can never separate. 00:09:13.740 --> 00:09:15.059 We've got to be in the world. 00:09:15.340 --> 00:09:16.620 That was the first thing we saw. 00:09:16.960 --> 00:09:18.600 But today, the second. 00:09:19.879 --> 00:09:23.000 The second principle, the rest of chapter one, verses 18 to 21. 00:09:23.000 --> 00:09:26.299 And we're going to see it through three things. 00:09:26.419 --> 00:09:28.059 One, the temptation of the table. 00:09:28.500 --> 00:09:30.200 Secondly, Daniel's resolve. 00:09:30.539 --> 00:09:32.620 And then finally, the great reversal. 00:09:33.100 --> 00:09:36.039 So first, the temptation of the table. 00:09:37.100 --> 00:09:37.299 All right. 00:09:39.039 --> 00:09:41.639 Nebuchadnezzar carted off this professional class. 00:09:42.539 --> 00:09:47.500 And Daniel and his friends, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, these Babylonian names they've been given, 00:09:47.559 --> 00:09:48.759 they were among that class. 00:09:49.220 --> 00:09:52.000 And we learn about them in verse three. 00:09:52.000 --> 00:09:53.679 It says that they were royal. 00:09:53.840 --> 00:09:54.720 They were nobility. 00:09:55.159 --> 00:09:59.519 In verse four, it says they were physically impressive, youths without any blemishes. 00:10:00.100 --> 00:10:01.059 They were good-looking people. 00:10:01.799 --> 00:10:06.620 And then in verse four, it says they were intellectually impressive, smarter, more wise than the average person. 00:10:07.179 --> 00:10:10.299 I think today the kids say that these guys had aura. 00:10:10.600 --> 00:10:11.100 Is that right? 00:10:11.100 --> 00:10:15.940 I'm nearing 40, but I can still say things that are cool, I think. 00:10:17.019 --> 00:10:17.779 They had aura. 00:10:19.779 --> 00:10:28.060 Today, you know, if Nebuchadnezzar was to come to modern Edinburgh, he would not be taking the ministers to Babylon. 00:10:28.059 --> 00:10:32.039 He would be taking the AI, people who understand what AI is. 00:10:32.159 --> 00:10:42.299 And he would be taking medical doctors and CEOs and CFOs and the top people at the university and software engineers and the best of London, the best of Edinburgh, the smartest people. 00:10:42.399 --> 00:10:43.699 That's who he carted off to Babylon. 00:10:43.700 --> 00:10:52.020 And his strategy in verse four and five is that he's going to take these guys for three years and he's going to give them his food from his table. 00:10:52.280 --> 00:10:57.620 And then he's going to immerse them in his language, his literature, his religious text. 00:10:57.900 --> 00:11:00.120 And over three years, Babylonize them, ultimately. 00:11:00.820 --> 00:11:01.480 Full immersion. 00:11:01.480 --> 00:11:14.420 And so in verse eight, verse seven, I should say, last week we saw he gave each of them Babylonian, Akkadian names that were actually names named after the gods of Babylon, like Nabu, the moon god and others. 00:11:14.980 --> 00:11:17.860 And that means that this Babylonization was religious. 00:11:18.080 --> 00:11:20.320 It wasn't just, oh, learn our language, learn our literature. 00:11:20.820 --> 00:11:22.759 He wanted to make them pagans. 00:11:22.860 --> 00:11:24.300 He wanted to make them polytheist. 00:11:24.399 --> 00:11:31.019 He wanted them to bow down at the temple of Marduk, where he had taken the vessels from Jerusalem and placed in the temple of Marduk. 00:11:31.480 --> 00:11:32.340 In this book. 00:11:33.300 --> 00:11:34.639 And so this is a religious issue. 00:11:35.600 --> 00:11:41.180 But then we learn in verse eight, but Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself. 00:11:42.139 --> 00:11:42.700 There it is. 00:11:42.840 --> 00:11:43.759 The main idea of the text. 00:11:44.659 --> 00:11:47.860 Daniel resolved he would not defile himself. 00:11:48.539 --> 00:11:53.200 So the word, it's funny, the word there in Hebrew, the Hebrew text, defile, is the word redeem. 00:11:54.259 --> 00:11:56.120 But it's being used in a negative way here. 00:11:56.120 --> 00:12:01.320 And it's saying something like to redeem something is to purchase it, to buy it. 00:12:02.180 --> 00:12:06.620 And it's saying Daniel set his heart apart that he would not be purchased. 00:12:06.820 --> 00:12:08.820 He would not be bought by Nebuchadnezzar. 00:12:09.360 --> 00:12:17.159 In other words, he's saying he would never let his heart be grasped and bought and purchased by this religion that Nebuchadnezzar was promoting. 00:12:18.039 --> 00:12:19.259 Now, how does he do that? 00:12:19.259 --> 00:12:23.120 Now, here's the fascinating turn in the passage. 00:12:23.279 --> 00:12:30.100 And that's that in order to protect his heart, he decides not to eat from Nebuchadnezzar's food. 00:12:31.240 --> 00:12:32.120 Not all food. 00:12:32.399 --> 00:12:33.679 He says, I will take vegetables. 00:12:33.840 --> 00:12:34.580 I'll take water. 00:12:34.700 --> 00:12:35.299 He and his friends. 00:12:35.299 --> 00:12:39.659 But he says, I will not eat the meat or drink the wine of Nebuchadnezzar's table. 00:12:40.240 --> 00:12:43.719 Now, listen, Daniel learned the literature. 00:12:44.099 --> 00:12:46.399 That includes religious literature of Babylon. 00:12:46.620 --> 00:12:50.059 Daniel served Nebuchadnezzar personally at his court. 00:12:50.620 --> 00:12:53.019 Daniel learned the language of Babylon. 00:12:53.179 --> 00:12:54.740 He was all the way in. 00:12:55.879 --> 00:12:57.000 He was not out at all. 00:12:57.000 --> 00:13:02.539 But the one thing was meat and wine from Nebuchadnezzar's table. 00:13:02.679 --> 00:13:02.940 Why? 00:13:03.860 --> 00:13:05.500 Now, people don't really know. 00:13:05.740 --> 00:13:07.580 The commentators speculate a bit. 00:13:08.320 --> 00:13:14.559 One obvious answer could be that this food was probably sacrificed to false gods, to idols. 00:13:15.080 --> 00:13:18.659 And so he doesn't want to break the Levitical law from the Mosaic law. 00:13:19.000 --> 00:13:20.600 And so he doesn't want to defile himself. 00:13:20.600 --> 00:13:25.940 But look, the vegetables were also very probably dedicated to the pagan gods, too. 00:13:27.000 --> 00:13:34.820 And so I think there's something a bit more going on here in this situation where it's just the meat and the wine that he refuses to drink. 00:13:35.019 --> 00:13:42.139 And I think the answer is in realizing, again, that Babylon in the Bible stands for the symbol across the whole of the Bible. 00:13:42.419 --> 00:13:46.519 When you come to Revelation, it really focuses on this. 00:13:46.519 --> 00:13:51.559 In Revelation 18, listen how much it takes Babylon as the symbol. 00:13:52.419 --> 00:13:52.779 It says, 00:13:52.779 --> 00:14:22.699 You see, 00:14:22.700 --> 00:14:31.000 In other words, in Revelation, eating from the Babylonian table, drinking the wine of Babylon, it stands for something far bigger than just drinking wine from Babylon. 00:14:31.780 --> 00:14:32.660 Something more than that. 00:14:32.780 --> 00:14:45.500 And instead, what's going on here is that in the ancient Near Eastern context, in the first century, we see this in the Gospels, too, that coming to somebody's table is a far more significant event than we see it as. 00:14:45.500 --> 00:14:47.500 So we love to come to each other's tables. 00:14:47.500 --> 00:14:49.220 We love to eat together. 00:14:49.399 --> 00:14:50.299 We love to go to lunch. 00:14:50.320 --> 00:14:52.200 Some of you are thinking about the table right now. 00:14:52.740 --> 00:14:54.419 You're thinking, what am I going to eat for lunch? 00:14:54.440 --> 00:14:55.500 When is this going to stop? 00:14:57.059 --> 00:14:58.600 The tables are so important. 00:14:59.159 --> 00:15:00.899 They're far more important than the ancient world. 00:15:00.899 --> 00:15:11.600 And in the ancient world, to come to somebody's table is to really enact publicly a covenant with them and to say, I'm giving my allegiance to you. 00:15:12.180 --> 00:15:21.379 And in the Old Testament, eating the meat, drinking the wine is the real sign, especially drinking the cup, is the sign that you said, I will give myself to you fully. 00:15:21.500 --> 00:15:22.500 It's an act of allegiance. 00:15:23.279 --> 00:15:24.519 It's an act of covenanting. 00:15:25.519 --> 00:15:27.159 And that's what, think about the Gospels. 00:15:27.159 --> 00:15:33.659 That's why people were so shocked in the Gospels when Jesus would eat with tax collectors and prostitutes. 00:15:33.659 --> 00:15:35.719 And then say, are you covenanting? 00:15:35.879 --> 00:15:38.039 Are you pledging allegiance to their lifestyle? 00:15:38.939 --> 00:15:42.500 Going to the table of somebody was so significant in the old world. 00:15:43.039 --> 00:15:44.639 And that's exactly the issue going on here. 00:15:44.659 --> 00:15:47.679 Just think about 1 Corinthians 10, 21. 00:15:48.120 --> 00:15:50.980 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. 00:15:51.600 --> 00:15:55.079 You cannot come to the Lord's table and come to the table of Satan. 00:15:55.500 --> 00:16:00.939 See how it takes the metaphor table to ask, who is your allegiance to? 00:16:01.279 --> 00:16:02.879 Who have you covenanted with? 00:16:02.879 --> 00:16:03.339 Right? 00:16:03.659 --> 00:16:10.779 And so across the Bible, Babylon, the city as a symbol, is the embodiment of Satan's world system. 00:16:12.459 --> 00:16:17.679 Satan's table to put pride and idolatry at the center of the culture, at the center of life. 00:16:18.139 --> 00:16:20.379 And so Daniel knows that this is a symbol. 00:16:20.519 --> 00:16:21.019 It's an image. 00:16:21.159 --> 00:16:25.659 It's a representative of where his heart really is and will ultimately land. 00:16:27.100 --> 00:16:31.519 Let me give you one more little example or hope, I think, here. 00:16:31.519 --> 00:16:35.059 And that's that from the time of Genesis 3. 00:16:35.939 --> 00:16:36.960 You remember Genesis 3? 00:16:37.340 --> 00:16:39.759 The serpent comes to Adam and Eve in the garden. 00:16:39.759 --> 00:16:41.879 This ancient foe. 00:16:41.879 --> 00:16:43.159 This great dragon. 00:16:44.039 --> 00:16:45.039 And what does he do? 00:16:45.100 --> 00:16:47.879 He says, do you want to be like God, knowing good and evil? 00:16:47.879 --> 00:16:52.120 And what is the great sin that he tempts them to commit? 00:16:52.120 --> 00:16:57.700 To be like God, to self-divinize, to put yourself at the center of all reality is to do what? 00:16:57.759 --> 00:16:59.200 It's to take and to eat. 00:16:59.320 --> 00:17:00.139 It's to come to the table. 00:17:00.659 --> 00:17:01.939 It's to come to Satan's table. 00:17:01.940 --> 00:17:10.360 And all throughout the Bible, we've got people like Goliath, these little representations of Satan throughout the Old Testament. 00:17:11.140 --> 00:17:12.900 Goliath, David and Goliath. 00:17:13.380 --> 00:17:22.299 Goliath, this giant, when you read carefully the story, it says that Goliath wore armor as scales, dragon scales, serpent scales. 00:17:22.500 --> 00:17:24.019 It describes his armor in that way. 00:17:24.460 --> 00:17:25.080 He's dragon. 00:17:25.259 --> 00:17:28.259 Pride at the center of the Philistine life. 00:17:28.620 --> 00:17:29.920 He is the representative of Satan. 00:17:29.920 --> 00:17:35.500 You come to the Pharaoh story in Exodus and Pharaoh capturing the people of Israel. 00:17:36.320 --> 00:17:41.180 Ezekiel 29 says that Pharaoh was the great dragon, the great serpent. 00:17:41.720 --> 00:17:42.580 He's a little Satan. 00:17:43.220 --> 00:17:45.840 Nebuchadnezzar, we saw this last week, Hebrews 4. 00:17:46.019 --> 00:17:48.940 He stands up in the midst of Babylon and he says what? 00:17:49.420 --> 00:17:57.279 Look at this wonderful city, this powerful city that I built by the might of my glory, my power, for my namesake. 00:17:57.279 --> 00:18:06.119 And in Isaiah, which prophesies about this story, Isaiah 14, there's this little line about Satan, Lucifer. 00:18:06.319 --> 00:18:11.940 And it says, Lucifer, you fell from heaven because you said, look at the might of my glory. 00:18:12.460 --> 00:18:14.720 I will make myself greater than the most high. 00:18:15.660 --> 00:18:16.440 You see what's going on here? 00:18:17.139 --> 00:18:19.279 Nebuchadnezzar is a representative Satan. 00:18:20.099 --> 00:18:21.940 He's a symbol of utter darkness. 00:18:21.940 --> 00:18:29.320 And when Daniel says, I will not eat the meat, I will not drink the wine, he's saying, I will not come to the table of the serpent. 00:18:30.259 --> 00:18:33.779 In other words, Daniel is a new Adam. 00:18:34.980 --> 00:18:38.160 Here he is again facing the temptation of that ancient serpent. 00:18:38.380 --> 00:18:43.259 But this time he stands up to Satan in a way that Adam never did. 00:18:43.259 --> 00:18:46.759 Now look, we all know how true this story is. 00:18:46.900 --> 00:18:49.960 Okay, let's bring this to our hearts, to what matters for us in 2025. 00:18:50.680 --> 00:18:52.839 We all know how true this story really is. 00:18:53.759 --> 00:19:00.259 We all know that when you have an idol in your life, something that you're centering your life around, 00:19:00.440 --> 00:19:06.379 some Babylonian thing that you think, this will save me, this will give me meaning, satisfaction, hope, and deliverance. 00:19:06.380 --> 00:19:14.660 How much that idol continues over and over again to come and say, take one little bite, one more bite, and I will give you everything. 00:19:15.800 --> 00:19:18.640 Take one more bite of the apple, and I will make you great. 00:19:19.880 --> 00:19:24.980 Give into that lust one more time, and you will have pleasures forevermore. 00:19:25.840 --> 00:19:28.400 Come back to that thing over and over and over again. 00:19:29.160 --> 00:19:29.980 And just think about it. 00:19:30.160 --> 00:19:32.520 Look, it's enshrined in all of our literature. 00:19:32.519 --> 00:19:35.059 Here's a picture, Snow White. 00:19:36.420 --> 00:19:37.599 What happened in Snow White? 00:19:37.819 --> 00:19:42.519 The witch came to Snow White and gave her the most beautiful apple, and she said, 00:19:42.960 --> 00:19:47.000 if you just take one bite, it will give you every beauty, every romance. 00:19:47.339 --> 00:19:48.240 You will be great forever. 00:19:48.799 --> 00:19:53.799 And of course, as soon as she takes a bite, she enters into the death of a sleeping death. 00:19:54.379 --> 00:19:58.240 You think about not only Snow White, Hansel and Gretel. 00:19:58.359 --> 00:19:59.740 It's probably a story you haven't read in a while. 00:19:59.740 --> 00:20:05.000 How? Hansel and Gretel, when the witch allures Hansel and Gretel, the young children. 00:20:05.120 --> 00:20:05.299 How? 00:20:05.599 --> 00:20:11.859 By building a gingerbread house and saying, you can come and eat from this, but there's death on the inside. 00:20:12.019 --> 00:20:13.519 On the inside, as soon as they get there. 00:20:14.720 --> 00:20:20.339 Every single idol promises you something shiny on the outside, and it says, keep taking a bite, keep taking a bite. 00:20:20.599 --> 00:20:21.940 That's the Babylonian temptation. 00:20:22.500 --> 00:20:24.039 That's the table of Nebuchadnezzar. 00:20:24.140 --> 00:20:25.140 That's the table of Babylon. 00:20:25.140 --> 00:20:31.780 And there's a tragic pattern involved in this, and that's that idols promise you everything. 00:20:32.200 --> 00:20:36.680 They demand everything from you because they say, keep coming for more. 00:20:37.420 --> 00:20:39.700 And then they never give what they promise. 00:20:39.860 --> 00:20:40.880 They never actually deliver. 00:20:41.920 --> 00:20:42.920 Let me give you an example. 00:20:43.080 --> 00:20:44.440 You know this. 00:20:44.480 --> 00:20:45.000 This is simple. 00:20:45.480 --> 00:20:52.860 But careerism, thinking that it is your success in this city that will save you, that will give you fulfillment. 00:20:52.859 --> 00:20:56.179 Careerism promises fulfillment, but what happens? 00:20:56.259 --> 00:20:57.199 It demands your family. 00:20:59.099 --> 00:21:01.939 You know, careerism promises that it will make you great, but what does it do? 00:21:01.979 --> 00:21:03.099 It takes your family from you. 00:21:04.759 --> 00:21:08.159 Romance says you'll finally be fulfilled if you can get that person. 00:21:09.019 --> 00:21:14.139 But it requires that you change who you are, change your identity, mask who you really are. 00:21:14.539 --> 00:21:16.479 Idols always promise something shiny on the outside. 00:21:16.579 --> 00:21:17.179 They never deliver. 00:21:17.519 --> 00:21:19.559 They never give you the thing that you're really looking for. 00:21:19.559 --> 00:21:24.839 My favorite is the Chronicles of Narnia when the white witch comes to Edmund. 00:21:25.639 --> 00:21:29.879 And remember, and she says, oh, Edmund, I will give you all the Turkish delight. 00:21:30.659 --> 00:21:32.519 You come eat at my table. 00:21:32.960 --> 00:21:34.799 I will give you Turkish delight to the end of your days. 00:21:34.980 --> 00:21:37.879 But all you have to do is give away your siblings. 00:21:38.039 --> 00:21:39.019 Become Judas to them. 00:21:39.919 --> 00:21:42.480 Just one more compromise, and you can have everything. 00:21:42.819 --> 00:21:43.500 You can be great. 00:21:43.500 --> 00:21:47.640 Every single idol, this is what Babylon is. 00:21:47.720 --> 00:21:56.759 Every single idol wears the same beautiful mask, whispering the same ancient lie, just one more bite, one more compromise, one more time, and then you can save yourself. 00:21:56.980 --> 00:21:58.079 Then you can get out of this. 00:21:58.079 --> 00:22:10.119 And the table that promises to make you like God is the table that pulls you away from God bit by bit every single day until you find yourself to be totally lost. 00:22:12.500 --> 00:22:20.559 Now, that's why, secondly, briefly, we need what the new Adam Daniel here has, and that's, what do we learn? 00:22:20.939 --> 00:22:21.339 Resolve. 00:22:21.579 --> 00:22:24.859 He says, but Adam resolved that he would not defile himself. 00:22:24.859 --> 00:22:31.899 So, how do you live in our city in a time of idolatry and struggling with the idols in your heart as a believer in the Lord? 00:22:32.699 --> 00:22:37.939 And we learn here, remember last week, the first principle, the Lord put you here. 00:22:38.779 --> 00:22:39.619 Don't separate. 00:22:40.240 --> 00:22:41.939 The Lord gave you to the city. 00:22:42.779 --> 00:22:45.299 You are his instrument in this place. 00:22:45.479 --> 00:22:46.579 Seek the peace of Edinburgh. 00:22:47.099 --> 00:22:47.779 Pray for her. 00:22:48.079 --> 00:22:48.799 Don't separate. 00:22:49.319 --> 00:22:50.240 Be in the world. 00:22:50.240 --> 00:22:59.099 But now, today, the second principle of wisdom, and that's that when Daniel went all the way into the world, he said, I resolve. 00:22:59.579 --> 00:23:00.660 I will not defile myself. 00:23:00.940 --> 00:23:02.960 You have to go into the world, but you can never be of it. 00:23:03.720 --> 00:23:04.980 You've got to set your heart apart. 00:23:05.759 --> 00:23:08.920 Never separate, but also protect your heart so that you never assimilate. 00:23:08.920 --> 00:23:21.100 But then here, we learn very specifically what that means, and that means that Daniel's resolve, his resolutions, was to starve his idols to death. 00:23:22.160 --> 00:23:32.039 In other words, the second principle of wisdom of how to live in a Babylonian city, in a Babylonian time, struggling, wrestling with the Babylonian ism that's still down in the bottom of our hearts, 00:23:32.039 --> 00:23:39.299 is Daniel is calling us to say, you've got to be willing to fast from your idols, to starve from your idols. 00:23:39.440 --> 00:23:42.139 And that means actually knowing the idols you struggle with. 00:23:42.200 --> 00:23:43.920 Do you know the idols you struggle with? 00:23:44.319 --> 00:23:48.819 Do you know the little gods that are always pulling you back to chase after over and over again? 00:23:49.480 --> 00:23:59.220 And I think one way to say this is a passage ultimately about spiritual formation and how much consumption matters in the way we're formed. 00:23:59.220 --> 00:24:07.319 Look, John, the apostle, puts it so simple in 1 John 5, little children, keep yourself from idols. 00:24:08.460 --> 00:24:09.819 There's the summary of the passage. 00:24:10.920 --> 00:24:17.220 1 Peter 2, 11-12, dear friends, I urge you as exiles, abstain from your sinful desires. 00:24:17.779 --> 00:24:19.660 There's the passage in brief in the New Testament. 00:24:19.660 --> 00:24:26.100 And what we're reading about here is that we who are spiritually believers in Christ, 00:24:26.640 --> 00:24:30.000 we are at the same time being formed in all sorts of ways. 00:24:31.380 --> 00:24:36.080 In other words, our formation as human beings is a product of our consumption. 00:24:38.080 --> 00:24:45.860 You can't expect to be a person with deep resolve that is able to fight the next lust today 00:24:45.859 --> 00:24:49.119 if you didn't fight that lust yesterday. 00:24:50.459 --> 00:24:53.279 Spiritual formation requires resolve. 00:24:53.959 --> 00:24:55.039 It requires time. 00:24:55.199 --> 00:24:56.199 It requires commitment. 00:24:56.719 --> 00:24:59.459 It requires giving yourself away to something far bigger. 00:25:00.399 --> 00:25:03.319 You say, Lord, why don't you just take away these little gods in my life? 00:25:03.379 --> 00:25:05.519 Why don't you just take away these things that I struggle with? 00:25:05.919 --> 00:25:10.459 And the answer is that the Lord keeps them in our lives because he gave us to Babylon. 00:25:10.460 --> 00:25:13.860 Fighting is part of the spiritual journey. 00:25:14.059 --> 00:25:16.079 Fighting is the very thing that will change you. 00:25:16.799 --> 00:25:20.759 And so the difference today in making a choice that is 1% better, 00:25:21.539 --> 00:25:26.180 1% better in fighting your idol will be every difference for tomorrow. 00:25:27.340 --> 00:25:33.360 When you say no to that temptation and that thing that keeps drawing you back over and over again today, 00:25:33.660 --> 00:25:38.200 you don't yet know the victories that you're going to reach in the future from that. 00:25:38.200 --> 00:25:44.819 But when you let yourself, without resolve, you let yourself give in to that thing that keeps drawing you back today, 00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:50.319 you do not yet know the defeats that you will find yourself in in the future. 00:25:50.519 --> 00:25:57.200 And so we all know from the headlines of church life how many times we're sort of surprised by people 00:25:57.940 --> 00:26:02.759 who we thought we listened to on podcasts that preach and things, and they fall big time, right? 00:26:03.380 --> 00:26:04.360 Well, how does it happen? 00:26:04.359 --> 00:26:11.819 It's because without resolve unto spiritual formation, our consumption 1% worse every day 00:26:11.819 --> 00:26:15.139 will land us eventually in a place where we have totally fallen. 00:26:16.299 --> 00:26:17.559 And we'll say, how did this happen? 00:26:17.979 --> 00:26:21.379 And the way it happened is we did not live our spiritual lives with resolve, 00:26:21.979 --> 00:26:23.459 with resolve like Daniel does here. 00:26:23.460 --> 00:26:31.200 Charles Marsh in his biography of Bonhoeffer, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian and pastor, 00:26:32.539 --> 00:26:41.100 he talks about how the German church in the 1930s capitulated to Hitler, to the Third Reich, in so many ways. 00:26:41.559 --> 00:26:45.539 But there was a group within the German church that broke away from the state church. 00:26:45.779 --> 00:26:47.360 They were called the Confessing Church, 00:26:47.359 --> 00:26:52.799 and they had resolved that they would not capitulate to Hitler and his ethics and all that he was doing. 00:26:53.899 --> 00:27:01.899 And so this Confessing Church went to this very tiny little remote town in Germany called Finkenwalde, 00:27:02.399 --> 00:27:05.459 and they founded, say that again, Finkenwalde, no. 00:27:05.719 --> 00:27:11.319 They found this little seminary, and Bonhoeffer was chosen to be the leader of the seminary. 00:27:11.319 --> 00:27:14.460 And this was, I mean, it was tiny. 00:27:14.659 --> 00:27:15.240 It was cold. 00:27:15.379 --> 00:27:15.899 It was remote. 00:27:16.019 --> 00:27:16.679 It was snowy. 00:27:17.099 --> 00:27:21.159 Nobody, everybody was struggling in early Nazi Germany. 00:27:21.500 --> 00:27:27.220 And one of Bonhoeffer's friends, Wilhelm Niesel, he knew Bonhoeffer very well, 00:27:27.319 --> 00:27:28.899 and he came alongside Bonhoeffer. 00:27:29.039 --> 00:27:29.779 He was concerned. 00:27:29.919 --> 00:27:33.700 He said, when I look at what you're doing at the seminary in Finkenwalde, 00:27:33.859 --> 00:27:36.139 I feel like it is far too intense. 00:27:36.140 --> 00:27:42.920 And so Bonhoeffer had everybody there studying so much in the Bible so often, 00:27:43.080 --> 00:27:48.280 praying through long seasons of prayer, hours and hours of prayer, work and prayer, 00:27:48.500 --> 00:27:49.920 sort of a monastic regimen. 00:27:51.280 --> 00:27:58.320 And Niesel came and said, this to me looks like spiritualism. 00:27:58.560 --> 00:27:59.720 It looks like pietism. 00:28:00.020 --> 00:28:02.620 And it's far too intense, and everybody's complaining. 00:28:02.619 --> 00:28:07.659 And they're coming to me to say, you know, Dietrich, he's pushing us too hard. 00:28:08.279 --> 00:28:14.679 And so one day, Bonhoeffer took Niesel on a rowing expedition for a few hours in the early morning, 00:28:14.879 --> 00:28:16.159 and they went down a river. 00:28:16.639 --> 00:28:19.699 And after a few hours of rowing, they came to an embankment, 00:28:19.779 --> 00:28:22.039 and he took Niesel on top of this embankment. 00:28:22.379 --> 00:28:25.459 And there they were, standing over this great field. 00:28:25.919 --> 00:28:31.719 And what was there but the Third Reich Army training with such vigor, with such force. 00:28:31.720 --> 00:28:37.900 And Bonhoeffer said, Wilhelm, I'll just paraphrase what Marsh says. 00:28:37.980 --> 00:28:44.100 He says, what we're doing at Finkenwalde has to be stronger than what Hitler's doing out here. 00:28:44.880 --> 00:28:51.200 He says, this, our hearts have to be stronger than that if we're going to resist. 00:28:51.940 --> 00:28:52.980 Now, here's what Bonhoeffer knew. 00:28:53.620 --> 00:28:59.259 Babylon does not just offer, Nebuchadnezzar was not just offering Daniel a meal. 00:28:59.259 --> 00:29:02.019 It was offering him a formation program. 00:29:03.039 --> 00:29:04.420 A formation program. 00:29:04.920 --> 00:29:08.700 Three years of consumption designed to turn his heart away from the Lord. 00:29:09.819 --> 00:29:18.519 And what Bonhoeffer knew so well is that casual, coasting Christianity will not be strong enough 00:29:18.519 --> 00:29:24.359 to save you from the formation program that's at the heart of a city like ours, 00:29:24.460 --> 00:29:26.000 that's at the heart of this culture. 00:29:26.000 --> 00:29:29.119 Casual Christianity is not strong enough. 00:29:30.960 --> 00:29:32.339 Just coasting is not strong enough. 00:29:32.420 --> 00:29:36.099 You have to, true spirituality needs resolve. 00:29:37.680 --> 00:29:39.019 Every decision matters. 00:29:39.240 --> 00:29:40.420 Every 1% matters. 00:29:41.519 --> 00:29:42.579 And I've got to move on and finish. 00:29:42.759 --> 00:29:44.279 If you think about the fruit of Finkenwalde, 00:29:45.059 --> 00:29:47.279 boy, Hitler is long gone. 00:29:47.440 --> 00:29:50.000 The program of the Third Reich demolished. 00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:56.619 But today, it was at Finkenwalde that Bonhoeffer wrote The Cost of Discipleship, 00:29:56.680 --> 00:30:01.279 or Life Together, these very famous books about the Christian life that millions of people today 00:30:01.279 --> 00:30:03.359 are reading and learning from and growing from. 00:30:04.400 --> 00:30:05.319 Bonhoeffer was right. 00:30:06.700 --> 00:30:08.579 And God won out, like we saw last week. 00:30:08.579 --> 00:30:09.180 He always will. 00:30:10.140 --> 00:30:12.279 This is an invitation today to spiritual resolve. 00:30:13.240 --> 00:30:15.440 Friends, our culture is not just tempting us with idols. 00:30:15.440 --> 00:30:17.220 It's running a formation program. 00:30:18.500 --> 00:30:22.460 And every day through what you consume, what you read, what you buy, what you dream about, 00:30:22.680 --> 00:30:25.759 what you want, what you desire, you're being formed. 00:30:25.860 --> 00:30:26.480 Are you aware? 00:30:27.360 --> 00:30:28.920 Do we have spiritual resolve? 00:30:29.660 --> 00:30:31.880 To be in the world? 00:30:32.840 --> 00:30:35.320 Because God has sent you to seek the peace of the city. 00:30:36.120 --> 00:30:37.940 But not let your heart be captured. 00:30:38.820 --> 00:30:39.440 I've got to finish. 00:30:40.180 --> 00:30:41.320 How do you get this resolve? 00:30:41.680 --> 00:30:42.600 The great reversal. 00:30:42.599 --> 00:30:46.219 Daniel did something so difficult in this passage. 00:30:46.339 --> 00:30:49.039 Verse 12, he only ate vegetables and water. 00:30:49.599 --> 00:30:53.679 For me, that'd be very hard to do when there's meat on the table, only vegetables, only water. 00:30:55.019 --> 00:31:01.079 And then after 10 days, verse 15, the eunuch evaluated and said, 00:31:01.599 --> 00:31:05.119 these guys are fuller, fatter, stronger than the others. 00:31:05.759 --> 00:31:10.559 Now, verse 17 and 18, additionally, they go before Nebuchadnezzar, 00:31:10.559 --> 00:31:12.799 and they had greater wisdom as well. 00:31:13.759 --> 00:31:16.500 Now, this is not about body composition. 00:31:17.679 --> 00:31:22.679 Listen, it's just a simple fact that if you eat vegetables for 10 days and drink water for 10 days, 00:31:23.000 --> 00:31:24.799 and eat meat and drink wine for 10 days, 00:31:24.899 --> 00:31:28.299 you will not be fuller and fatter on the vegetables and the water, okay? 00:31:28.659 --> 00:31:31.240 No matter what you believe about diets or think about diets, 00:31:31.559 --> 00:31:36.539 we at least know that, that meat and wine will make you bigger than vegetables and water. 00:31:36.539 --> 00:31:37.980 Yet, they were bigger. 00:31:38.240 --> 00:31:39.059 What's going on here? 00:31:39.259 --> 00:31:40.019 This is miraculous. 00:31:41.059 --> 00:31:42.139 This is a great reversal. 00:31:42.460 --> 00:31:44.779 This is a vindication that's taking place. 00:31:45.319 --> 00:31:49.460 And it's a physical vindication that points to a spiritual vindication. 00:31:50.059 --> 00:31:57.460 That their bodies are physically vindicated because the Lord is vindicating their choice. 00:31:57.460 --> 00:32:02.759 He's saying that real wisdom is the resolve to commit to the fear of the Lord, 00:32:03.360 --> 00:32:05.640 not to eat from the table of Satan. 00:32:06.420 --> 00:32:07.779 And so, they have wisdom. 00:32:08.220 --> 00:32:09.220 They have strength. 00:32:09.779 --> 00:32:12.500 But it's all, the body's pointing ultimately here to the heart. 00:32:13.340 --> 00:32:14.720 And, you know, what does it look like here? 00:32:14.779 --> 00:32:16.980 It looks like, it looks like for them losing, 00:32:17.259 --> 00:32:19.620 boy, it feels like, it would feel like losing to me to be, 00:32:20.059 --> 00:32:22.400 have meat and other things on the table every day and say, 00:32:22.400 --> 00:32:24.820 but I've just resolved to eat the vegetables and drink the water. 00:32:25.160 --> 00:32:27.660 It feels like a hard choice. 00:32:27.759 --> 00:32:28.700 It is a hard choice. 00:32:29.280 --> 00:32:33.720 It feels like they have to go down in order to come up. 00:32:34.019 --> 00:32:38.300 It feels like they have to choose loss and to give their lives away 00:32:38.300 --> 00:32:41.880 instead of choosing the comforts in front of them in order to gain the world. 00:32:42.420 --> 00:32:43.860 And that's exactly what it is. 00:32:44.460 --> 00:32:48.759 And in the Gospels, you have to lose your life if you want to find it. 00:32:48.759 --> 00:32:54.039 You have to lose the little things that you're chasing for salvation if you want salvation. 00:32:54.759 --> 00:32:56.019 You have to give your life away. 00:32:58.059 --> 00:33:01.700 Friends, every one of us in this room today, as we close, can say, 00:33:02.779 --> 00:33:05.240 I have eaten from the table of Nebuchadnezzar. 00:33:06.200 --> 00:33:09.920 You know, I know that there are idols in my life, in my heart, in our hearts. 00:33:10.700 --> 00:33:14.879 And you might come today in a deep web of idolatry, 00:33:15.779 --> 00:33:17.339 a deep web of addiction. 00:33:18.759 --> 00:33:20.440 You might come from all sorts of places where you think, 00:33:20.559 --> 00:33:22.940 I don't know that I can have, I don't have the resolve. 00:33:23.920 --> 00:33:26.619 And it would be a huge mistake to come to the end of this passage 00:33:26.619 --> 00:33:30.579 and think that your salvation depends upon your resolve. 00:33:32.200 --> 00:33:33.319 It would be a huge mistake. 00:33:33.500 --> 00:33:34.680 And what do we see here? 00:33:34.819 --> 00:33:38.079 Remember in the garden, in the Garden of Eden, 00:33:38.079 --> 00:33:41.579 the serpent said to the first Adam, 00:33:41.879 --> 00:33:45.939 come to my table, take and eat, and I will give you everything. 00:33:46.079 --> 00:33:46.759 And it broke the world. 00:33:49.079 --> 00:33:52.259 Daniel entered into the garden city of Babylon, 00:33:52.259 --> 00:33:55.480 and this second serpent said to him, 00:33:56.140 --> 00:33:58.059 come and eat at my table, and I will give you everything. 00:33:58.599 --> 00:34:00.359 But Daniel didn't do it. 00:34:00.740 --> 00:34:01.740 He was better than Adam. 00:34:02.160 --> 00:34:05.440 But look, we know that Daniel had idols. 00:34:06.920 --> 00:34:07.920 You see, what's going on here? 00:34:08.000 --> 00:34:11.159 Daniel is pointing you to a true and better Daniel. 00:34:11.159 --> 00:34:14.679 And you remember in Matthew chapter 4, 00:34:14.879 --> 00:34:17.199 Jesus Christ stood before that ancient foe, 00:34:17.279 --> 00:34:18.539 that serpent, in the wilderness. 00:34:19.339 --> 00:34:20.319 And what did that serpent do? 00:34:20.420 --> 00:34:22.159 It said, come, the serpent said to Jesus, 00:34:22.559 --> 00:34:24.420 you come and you eat from my table. 00:34:25.179 --> 00:34:26.859 You come and take the bread from my table, 00:34:27.000 --> 00:34:28.219 and I will give you the whole world. 00:34:28.319 --> 00:34:28.980 I will make you great. 00:34:29.059 --> 00:34:31.000 He gave Jesus the Babylonian temptation 00:34:31.000 --> 00:34:33.019 that's at the core of our hearts. 00:34:33.299 --> 00:34:35.059 And Jesus did not eat. 00:34:35.139 --> 00:34:35.940 He fasted. 00:34:35.940 --> 00:34:40.380 And in such a great reversal, 00:34:41.099 --> 00:34:44.079 even though he deserved everything, 00:34:44.500 --> 00:34:45.880 he chose to get nothing. 00:34:47.880 --> 00:34:49.079 Can you say today, 00:34:49.559 --> 00:34:51.599 Jesus Christ went down into the heart of Babylon, 00:34:51.760 --> 00:34:53.440 that Babylonian death at the cross, 00:34:53.599 --> 00:34:54.920 because of my idol? 00:34:56.179 --> 00:34:57.000 That's the question. 00:34:57.139 --> 00:34:57.900 Can you say that today, 00:34:57.980 --> 00:35:00.860 that Jesus Christ entered a death he did not deserve 00:35:00.860 --> 00:35:02.320 because of my idolatry? 00:35:03.460 --> 00:35:04.800 And if you can say that today, 00:35:04.800 --> 00:35:05.920 you know, you can say, 00:35:06.140 --> 00:35:08.519 it's not resolve that's going to save me. 00:35:08.600 --> 00:35:09.080 It's him. 00:35:09.140 --> 00:35:10.100 He already did. 00:35:10.440 --> 00:35:12.360 And now I have to resolve. 00:35:12.780 --> 00:35:14.980 Now, because of that, I have to resolve. 00:35:15.840 --> 00:35:16.740 Think about vindication. 00:35:17.039 --> 00:35:19.180 First Timothy 3.16 says, 00:35:19.560 --> 00:35:21.360 the mystery of godliness is this. 00:35:22.539 --> 00:35:23.560 Christ became flesh. 00:35:24.340 --> 00:35:27.300 He died, but he was vindicated by the Spirit. 00:35:27.680 --> 00:35:29.980 He went down, but at the resurrection, 00:35:30.300 --> 00:35:31.260 he was vindicated. 00:35:32.300 --> 00:35:32.900 He went up. 00:35:32.900 --> 00:35:35.400 You got to lose your life to save it, 00:35:35.460 --> 00:35:37.320 but you only do that by participating 00:35:37.320 --> 00:35:39.320 in his vindication, 00:35:39.480 --> 00:35:40.220 in his resurrection, 00:35:40.599 --> 00:35:41.480 in his going down, 00:35:41.539 --> 00:35:42.160 in his rising. 00:35:42.880 --> 00:35:43.980 That's the only way it works. 00:35:45.039 --> 00:35:46.800 Look, for those of you in this room today 00:35:46.800 --> 00:35:48.079 who are willing to say, 00:35:48.300 --> 00:35:51.220 I know I have eaten too many times 00:35:51.220 --> 00:35:52.380 from Nebuchadnezzar's table, 00:35:53.680 --> 00:35:56.039 I want to finish with the words 00:35:56.039 --> 00:35:57.720 of 2 Corinthians 5.17. 00:35:57.719 --> 00:36:01.119 When you are in Christ, 00:36:01.679 --> 00:36:03.319 you are a new creation. 00:36:04.299 --> 00:36:05.539 Your idolatry has been defeated. 00:36:07.019 --> 00:36:07.359 So, 00:36:08.119 --> 00:36:10.839 go into the heart of the city. 00:36:11.919 --> 00:36:12.699 Be in it, 00:36:13.179 --> 00:36:13.879 but not of it. 00:36:14.219 --> 00:36:15.219 Live your life with resolve. 00:36:16.459 --> 00:36:17.099 Let us pray. 00:36:17.199 --> 00:36:17.379 Father, 00:36:18.379 --> 00:36:20.079 we struggle 00:36:20.079 --> 00:36:21.679 with resolve. 00:36:21.939 --> 00:36:22.959 We're so weak. 00:36:22.960 --> 00:36:23.280 So, 00:36:23.440 --> 00:36:24.579 we pray today, 00:36:24.740 --> 00:36:24.900 Lord, 00:36:24.980 --> 00:36:26.220 that you would teach us afresh 00:36:26.220 --> 00:36:28.059 that 1% principle, 00:36:28.179 --> 00:36:29.539 what it means to be more committed, 00:36:29.639 --> 00:36:30.500 to be more formed 00:36:30.500 --> 00:36:33.539 by choosing your table, 00:36:33.639 --> 00:36:34.599 the table of Jesus, 00:36:35.220 --> 00:36:37.900 rather than the table of Nebuchadnezzar. 00:36:38.059 --> 00:36:38.280 And so, 00:36:38.820 --> 00:36:39.260 Lord, 00:36:39.340 --> 00:36:39.980 I do pray today 00:36:39.980 --> 00:36:41.079 for some folks in this room 00:36:41.079 --> 00:36:41.720 who may be, 00:36:41.900 --> 00:36:42.659 for the first time, 00:36:43.099 --> 00:36:43.500 thinking, 00:36:44.059 --> 00:36:45.240 have I been vindicated 00:36:45.240 --> 00:36:46.240 in Christ? 00:36:46.360 --> 00:36:47.780 Have I been forgiven 00:36:47.780 --> 00:36:49.099 for my idolatries? 00:36:50.079 --> 00:36:50.900 And I do ask, 00:36:51.079 --> 00:36:51.179 Lord, 00:36:51.219 --> 00:36:52.659 that you would meet now 00:36:52.659 --> 00:36:53.679 with those folks 00:36:53.679 --> 00:36:54.339 as we sing 00:36:54.339 --> 00:36:55.679 and then strengthen the faith 00:36:55.679 --> 00:36:56.440 of your people here 00:36:56.440 --> 00:36:57.539 as we go forth 00:36:57.539 --> 00:36:58.679 into the heart of our city. 00:36:58.960 --> 00:37:00.079 We pray this in Jesus' name. 00:37:00.519 --> 00:37:00.759 Amen.