Ancient Of Days

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So, Lord, we thank you this morning.

Thank you that this is true.

That the battle has already been fought.

You've already won.

You are the ancient of days sitting on your throne, no matter what's going on around us, the chaos that might be happening in our world.

You're in control and you're calm and you're good, God.

So, Lord, this morning, as I come, would the people didn't come to hear me preach, God.

They came to hear you.

They want to hear from you, Lord.

So, Lord, would you would you speak through me this morning?

And where people need encourage, would you encourage them?

Where they need challenge, would you challenge them, God?

Come and speak to your people, Lord.

In your name I pray.

Amen.

All right, thanks, guys.

You may be seated.

We're gonna be in Daniel chapter seven.

If you want to go ahead and turn there, you can get your app out or open up your Bible.

Daniel chapter seven is where we're gonna be.

I think all you need to know about me before I begin to preach is it's kind of what Neil said.

I love Jesus.

I love the Bible.

I love digging into it and getting to study it.

And uh I hope that we uh I hope we we get some good stuff here this morning.

So you guys haven't been in the book of Daniel for a couple months, right?

Like it was the end of November, was the last time you're in the book.

And so um, what I'm gonna do here at the beginning, you know, when you watch a TV show and it's like the third in the in a in a series, and so at the beginning, they'll show like a one-minute clip of everything that happened before.

I'm gonna try to do a little one-minute clip of what happened before, and then we'll kind of get up to speed, and then I'll I'll start here in chapter seven.

So the beginning of the book of Daniel, Daniel is sent into exile, and he's in exile under the empire of Babylon, right?

And the reason the people of Israel got sent into exile is because they were worshiping idols.

God kept coming to them and saying, guys, you can't keep worshiping idols.

If you worship idols, it's gonna destroy you, you will die, it will not work.

And they said to God, they said, God, we don't care.

We love worshiping idols, they make us happy, and we're gonna keep doing it.

We don't care what you say.

Over and over and over again, God came and warned them.

Over and over again, they disobeyed, and eventually God had had enough, and they get sent into exile.

Now we hear that and we're like, well, we don't have this problem anymore because we don't have idols of wood and stone and gold.

But um, John Piper he defines idol worship this way.

He says it's the thing loved or the person loved more than God, wanted more than God, desired more than God, treasured more than God, enjoyed more than God.

If we look at it that way, I think there's a lot of things that probably can easily become idols in our life.

And usually it comes from pleasure, comfort, control, and power.

Those are kind of the sources of those idols, and it kind of goes out from there.

And so when you start to think that way, well, you know, often you read scripture and you read and you're like, what's wrong with the Israelites?

What's wrong with this guy?

I can't believe he's doing this, he's so sinful.

They were so so dumb.

But if you read the Bible that way, you're not gonna get a lot out of it.

If you read the Bible and you start to look and you're like, actually, what's going on with the Israelites?

I do the exact same thing.

What they struggle with, that's what I struggle with.

I need Jesus just as much as they do.

If you start to read the Bible that way, the Bible's gonna start to come alive to you, right?

And so that's how we want to look at scripture this morning.

And so God said to them, He said, I'm gonna send you into exile, and if you don't want me as king, then I'm gonna give you over to your desires.

In Neil's first sermon in this book, he said this.

You should have taken notes on this, because this was good.

He says, When you refuse to listen to God, he gives you the leaders you don't want.

And that's what's happened to Israel.

They've refused to listen, and God has given them the leaders that they don't want.

This has happened in our country right now, too.

Like we've like to some degree we've refused to listen to God, and now we've been given leaders that really kind of aren't the type of leaders that we want.

When these when these politicians are running for office, you know, they'll promise us so many things.

They'll say, if you elect me, I'll fix everything, everything will be all better.

And we're like, oh, he really will.

And we elect them, and then they don't do everything they said they were going to do, and then we're super disappointed.

And the reason we're disappointed is because it's become a little bit of an idol in our life, and we really thought that this would make us happy and this would finally fix things.

And a politician doesn't have the power to give that life-sustaining source of life kind of power that we really need in our lives.

So when you have a friend who's just stuck in their sin, and I don't mean they just sin one time, I mean they're just stuck in it.

It's starting to affect all the relationships around them negatively.

They're they're basically addicted to whatever that sin is now.

And when you become addicted to something, addicts, they're they're liars.

Addicts, they're they're always liars.

And so they're now starting to lie about things to continue their addiction and to sustain it.

When that happens in America, where do we usually send those people?

We send them to rehab, right?

And rehab is the kind of place where you send them and they've lost complete control and power over their lives at this point.

So they have somebody telling them when to go to bed, when to get up, they have somebody that's telling them what to eat, and then they have these sessions during the day where they're really trying to re-brainwash them from bad thinking into good thinking and get them out of the situation that they're in.

And so I think if if you thought about the ex-wile of Israel as God's rehab for the people of Israel, I think that would help you to understand it.

God sent the people of Israel into rehab.

And so Daniel and Meshach and Shadrach and Abednego, those guys, that's where they're sent.

They're sent to Babylon and they are in rehab.

They don't have control over their lives anymore.

The king of Babylon is now running them and controlling their lives.

He's telling them when to get up, he's telling them what to eat.

And they're and really what the king of Babylon is trying to do, he's trying to brainwash them.

You know, they were God followers, and he's trying to turn them into the Babylonian god's followers.

Like Daniel's name means God is my judge.

And in the first chapter, the king of Babylon changes his name to Belshazzar.

Belshazzar means Bel protects life.

Bel is a Babylonian god, it means this Babylonian God protects life.

And so even they changed all their names, and then they're trying to brainwash them and make them think differently.

They have them eating other food.

And so Daniel in verse 1.8, he makes a decision.

He says, I resolved that I would not defile myself with the king's food or the wine that he drank.

Daniel made a decision that even in exile, even in rehab, he was going to be faithful to Jesus.

And the reason he made that decision is because he knew that the Babylonian king was not ultimately his authority.

He knew he had a higher authority, the king of all kings, and that was the king that he had to pay allegiance to, even if it meant the Babylonian king would get upset about it.

And so throughout the book, that's kind of the tension that happens.

We have Daniel trying to live faithful in exile and rehab, and we have the times where it kind of ends up rubbing up against the kings, and he he faces some trouble for it.

And Daniel is just an incredibly faithful guy.

So that's that's kind of what's happening in the book.

So if you could now go to chapter seven, and I'm gonna read one through eight.

One through eight, I'm gonna go through rather quickly, and then we're gonna camp out on nine through fourteen.

To me, nine through fourteen is one of the key passages in the whole book, and it's something that we really need to understand well.

Okay?

So uh let me read, and you guys can follow along.

Seven, one through eight.

In the first year of Belshazzar of Babylon, Daniel saw a dream and visions of his head as he lay in bed.

And then he wrote down the dream, and he told the sum of the matter.

Daniel declared, I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea.

And four great beasts came up out of the sea, different from one another.

The first was like a lion and had eagle's wings.

Then as I looked, its wings were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man, and the mind of a man was given to it.

And behold, another beast, the second one, like a bear, it was raised up on the side.

It had three ribs in its mouth, between its teeth, and it was told, Arise, devour much flesh.

After this I looked, and behold, another like a leopard, with four wings of a bird on its back, and the beast had four heads, and dominion was given to it.

After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, terrifying, dreadful, exceedingly strong, it had great iron teeth, and it devoured and broke in pieces, and it stamped what was left with its feet.

It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.

I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before which the first three horns were plucked up by the roots.

And behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things.

All right, that's God's word for us this morning.

A few things to say before we get into the text.

One thing that Neil has mentioned as he's going through this book is it's not in chronological order.

And this is one of those chapters where that's happening.

If you remember back to chapter six, Daniel prays and he gets thrown in the lion's den.

When that happened, that was under a Persian king.

The Persian Empire was ruling.

In chapter seven, in the beginning here, if you look, who's the king?

Belshazzar, the king of Babylon.

He's now under, he's under a Babylonian king.

Persia defeated Babylon.

So this is before that chapter six.

So chapter seven, if you're going chronologically, should be before it.

Okay?

One other thing to note here, this this king Belshazzar, he only reigned for two years, and he was the last king of Babylon.

So this is a kingdom that's about to come to an end very soon.

All right.

Um, this uh so the first thing to realize here, if you look at verse 2, Daniel declared, I saw in my vision by night, behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up from the great sea.

So these four winds of heaven are stirring up, and then these four beasts come out of these four winds.

So the first thing to see in this passage is something that you really have seen all throughout the book.

God is in control of world history.

Like this is something that started in heaven.

Do you see that?

The four winds of heaven.

This started in heaven, these four beasts, these terrible beasts, that that's something that God, God is in control over world history, and He He's making the events happen, right?

Now, this vision that Daniel gets is the same as the vision back in chapter two that King Nebuchadnezzar got.

Um, now that vision was different.

That was a statue that he saw, but this one, there's animals.

Um, I mean, there's an eagle and a bear, and so think about it.

Today we have this too.

In America, what what is our symbol as a nation?

It's an eagle, right?

And in Russia, what's their symbol as a nation?

It's a bear.

So we we have the same kind of thing.

And that and so that's what's going on here.

So you have this eagle, and the eagle it represents Babylon.

And in the other chapter, it was a statue, and that, and I think it was silver or gold, and that represented Babylon.

And then you have the bear with the ribs in its mouth, and that's representing the Persian Empire.

Okay, and then we have the leopard with the wings, and that's kind of representing how fast Alexander the Great conquered the world.

That is the Greek Empire.

And then we get to this fourth, terrifying, you know, this exceedingly strong beast, and and that is the Roman Empire.

All right?

Now, if you're reading that last part, and you know there's ten horns, and the horns come up, and something happens, and three of the first horns are plucked up by the roots, and you're like, I don't know what's going on with that.

That's confusing to me.

You're in good company because Daniel, I think in verse 18 or 17 or 18, he says the same thing.

He's like, God, I didn't understand that part about the horns.

Can you explain it to me a little bit more?

I'm not gonna get to that today.

Neil's gonna explain that to you next week, but um, yeah, that's a little bit confusing.

So, Neil, you can enjoy that next week.

Um, so so that is that, those first eight verses.

We are making great time so far, right?

We got through eight verses already.

We're doing good.

So let's go to verse nine.

I'll read nine through twelve, and this is where we're gonna camp out this morning.

As I looked, thrones were placed, and the ancient of days took his seat.

His clothing was as white as so snow, and the hair of his head was like pure wool.

His throne was fiery flames, its wheels were burning fire, a stream of fire issued and came out from before him, and a thousand thousand served him, ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him, the court sat in judgment, and the books were opened.

I looked then because of the sound of the great words that the horn was speaking.

And as I looked, the beast was killed, and its body destroyed, and given over to be burned with fire.

As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time.

So Daniel here, he's trying to, he's really trying to describe something that's indescribable.

He's taken into the throne room of heaven in this dream, and he's trying to describe what the throne room of heaven is like.

So this would be a little bit like, you know, if you went to the beach or the Grand Canyon, like before COVID happened, and you came and you forgot to take your iPhone with you, so you got zero pictures of it, and you come back and you're trying to describe the Grand Canyon or the beach to somebody who's never seen the Grand Canyon or the beach before.

You're trying to describe something that's so majestically beautiful and wonderful that words fail you when you do that.

Right?

And so you eventually you describe it as best you can, but eventually you get to the point where you're just like, I guess you had to be there.

And I think if Daniel was here, he'd be like, you know, you kind of had to be there.

But Daniel does a pretty good job of explaining what he ends up seeing in this vision.

So let's kind of begin to work through it here.

Um, the first thing he sees is this ancient of days took his seat.

Now, if you think what was going on back in the last chapter, the the craziness that was happening, remember the kind of words that were being used?

It said that the one beast devoured much flesh.

It said that they devoured and broken pieces.

They were terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong.

So it was complete chaos the last chapter.

Things were getting destroyed.

And now look at this chapter.

We're in the throne room of God.

There's no chaos anymore.

There's order, there's calm.

And the king of kings, God himself, the ancient of days, is sitting on his throne.

Ancient of Days, that's something it's talking about how God's outside of time.

Like he existed for all time before, he exists now, and he will exist for all time.

God, God is he's outside of time and will exist forever.

And he comes in in the midst of all this craziness and he takes his seat.

So in your world, when your world gets crazy and chaotic, what do you do?

Here's what I do.

I enjoy playing basketball.

I'm not that good at it, but I enjoy playing it.

And and so when I'm playing, something that happens sometimes is you know, you're dribbling and I'll dribble off my foot, or somebody will steal it from me.

When that happens, my my natural reaction is I want to do something to fix it.

And so I will dive, I'll full-on Superman dive after the ball.

And that usually doesn't actually help that much because usually I foul the person that stole it from me or I hurt myself.

I mean, I've gotten hurt during this before.

Um, and it just doesn't go that well.

This isn't just something I do in basketball, though.

In my life, when my life starts to spin out of control or things start to go the way that I don't want them to go, I kind of grit my teeth and I just try harder and I'm like, I'm gonna find a way to fix this.

I can get this done.

And when I do that, the results usually aren't that great.

Anybody else do that?

Like you your life starts to get out of control, and you're like, I'm gonna fix this, I just try harder, I can make it work.

And it just doesn't go that well, right?

It's because it's not what we're supposed to do.

We're supposed to go to God first, and we're supposed to trust that the king, the ancient of days, is sitting on the throne and that he is actually in control of the situation and we can trust him.

Are you actually doing that?

You know, some of you, you um, you might not be here this morning.

You might be listening online, and and it you might have good reasons for that.

Like you might be immunosuppressed, and it might be wise that you are not here.

And so you're trying to protect yourself and protect your family, and that's good.

We we encourage that, and we're happy that you tuned in.

But but something that you still have to wrestle with in your heart is you can do everything that you can to protect yourself, but you still can't fully protect yourself, right?

Like you can't.

The only one who can fully protect you and your family, the only being that you can put your trust and your hope in is God Himself, right?

Or politically, right now, our nation is kind of spinning out of control politically.

And you might be very worried about that.

You might have had some sleepless nights because of it.

Are you trying to fix that yourself?

Are you like me, you're just diving after balls and trying to fix it yourself?

Or are you just like, you know what, God, I gotta let this go.

I'm trusting that you're the ancient of days and you're sitting on the throne and you're in control.

Maybe because of COVID, um, you've started you've decided to homeschool your kids.

And that went good at first, but now you're starting to pull your hair out, and you're like, I don't know if I can do this anymore.

This is a dreadful, terrifying situation for me.

That's that is my dreadful and terrifying situation.

And maybe you are at a point now where you've been trying to fix it yourself, and you just need to trust the ancient of days is sitting on his throne, and you need to engage with him and say, God, all right, I'm gonna calm down.

What do you need me to do?

The Ancient of Days is on his throne, and we can trust him.

Um this is talking about here is God's moral purity.

So think about this.

God has never made a wrong decision, he has never sinned in his life.

Every decision he has ever made has been the right decision.

It's always been full of love and grace and truth and justice.

Every decision he's ever made, he's never messed up.

I mean, you start thinking about that, and you're like, I can't even, I can't even relate to that because that's not my life.

I mess up all the time.

I was trying to think about this, and it made me think of my son, uh, my son Noah.

He's our youngest.

And right now he has a habit that it's driving me nuts at this point.

He's probably 50 or 100 times come and told me this at this point.

I will hear him screaming, and I'll say, Noah, why are you screaming?

And he'll say, Daddy, I'm screaming because my older brother, he made me scream.

And I'll say, Noah, that's not possible.

He can't make you scream.

You're not having an out-of-body experience here.

You're choosing to scream.

Your brother can't make you scream.

I've told him that probably 50 or 100 times, and he still does not get it.

He still thinks it's his brother that is making him scream.

And I thought about it and I was like, you know, I get frustrated sometimes.

I don't do the best with that situation.

I started out doing pretty good with it, but I'm frustrated with it now.

And I just thought, you know, if that was God in that situation, he would respond perfectly every time.

He'd be full of grace and love and kind and just wonderful to my son each and every time.

That's who God is.

God is morally completely perfect and pure and good, right?

So the next thing here it says the hair of his head is like pure wool.

The hair of his head is like pure wool.

So, you know, we think about somebody having white hair and being older, and in America that's kind of frowned upon.

Like age is like a problem in America.

But in the Bible, age is something that's honored, it's respected, and it's something like that, it's like a it's seen as like a source of wisdom.

Like if you look at Proverbs 16, 31, it says, gray hair is a crown of glory, it is gained in a righteous life.

So, what this is talking about is it's it's seeing God as like he's the source of all wisdom, right?

Now, if you're Daniel, and Daniel's older at this point, but um, do you think maybe during Daniel's life, there were some times in his life where he just wanted an older, wiser guy to walk alongside him?

Like he really wanted a mentor and somebody, all the hard things he was going to through, if he would have just had a guy to talk to, to say, you know, this is what's happening.

Can you give me some advice?

But in the text, we don't see anywhere where Daniel had that kind of guy in his life.

I don't, I just don't think it existed for him.

Like he didn't have the ability, like we have, to get online and find like a you know, gospel-centered biblical coach, look it up and pay him a hundred a month, and he'll talk to me on Zoom.

That that wasn't the case for Daniel.

He couldn't do that.

And so God is saying, like, I'm the source of wisdom, Daniel.

And we know that Daniel, Daniel had a holy habit, right?

Like his holy habit was three times a day he would pray.

And this is God saying to Daniel, Daniel, when you chose to pray those three times a day, I was your mentor.

You were connecting with the source of all wisdom.

And I was pouring that wisdom out to you, and that's how you've been able to live the life that you've been able to live, man.

I'm your source of wisdom.

So for us, um, a healthy follower of Jesus, like most healthy followers of Jesus, they have this mentor figure.

Like a lot of you, you probably long for that.

You want somebody older or just older in the faith, it's a man or a woman that could walk alongside you in your life.

A lot of you have a desire for that.

And if you have that desire, I encourage you, seek that out.

Find someone like that.

That's a good, godly desire.

But at the same time, you can't, if and when you find this person, just be somebody that's like, feed me, I want more, I need more bread, feed me, feed me.

You can't, you know, uh birds, you know, birds will have this nest and they'll have all their little babies in the nest, and the mommy bird will go away and get food, and the little birds will be there, feed me, and the mommy feeds them.

And that's how the birds survive for their first, like, I don't know, how many, like a month or two, and then after a month or two, the mommy bird stops bringing food at some point and kicks them out of the nest, and they've got to start to feed themselves.

And if they don't feed themselves, they die, right?

And so, with your mentor, like your mentor needs to be the kind of person that they're just not feeding you all the time.

They're not teaching you, they're not giving you a fish, they're teaching you how to fish.

So here's what I'm saying: like to make it more personal for you.

You guys can't just depend on Neil's preaching each and every Sunday.

That can't be your only food every week.

Neil's a great preacher.

I listen to your podcast as a man can preach.

And you'll grow if you listen to his preaching.

But you've got to learn to study scripture and begin to pray and seek God on your own.

If you're a new believer and you're still in this infant stage, that's great.

You probably should still be in the infant stage.

But if you're somebody who's been following Jesus for 20 years and you're still just always, feed me, I want more food, and you have no uh ability within yourself to actually seek the Lord on your own and find stuff in scripture on your own, that that's not good.

It's time for you to grow up.

Keep reading here.

It says his throne was fiery flames, its wheels were burning fire.

A stream of fire issued and came out from before him.

So in scripture, when you see fire, fire is representative of God's judgment.

This is God saying he's gonna bring judgment on these nations that have wronged him and wronged Daniel as well.

And so Daniel's looking at this, and you think of Daniel's life.

So much messed up stuff has happened to Daniel in his life.

And God says, You know, Daniel, I've seen what's happened, I've seen what the Babylonians are.

Did to you.

I know what the Persians did to you, Daniel.

And I just want you to know I'm not okay with it.

And it's gonna get judged, Daniel.

I'm gonna deal with them, and I'm not just gonna deal with them, I'm gonna deal with the nations that come after them that rebel against me as well.

That's who I am.

I am just.

This is part of my nature and my character.

I will deal with them, Daniel.

And you know, I think just like these nations, they thought they were getting away with stuff and they thought God didn't notice what was going on.

I think we're often the same way.

I think we think that God doesn't know what's going on in our lives.

You know, we think He, you know, tax season's coming up.

And there's this tendency during tax season to be like, man, especially a year like this year where probably a lot of us had some financial distress, to just be like, you know what, let's just that extra money that we got, let's just not put that in there and let's just keep it and let's not pay tax on that.

You know that and but God sees that.

What you watch on TV, God's there with you.

He knows what you're watching on TV.

What you're when when you're on your phone and you're surfing and you're surfing the internet, like he knows what you're looking at.

When you're having phone conversation, you're emailing people, he he knows and he sees all that.

There's nothing that gets past him.

He's the ancient of days sitting on the throne, he sees it all.

But we think we can get away with it, right?

And in America, we there's a truth about God that we really love.

We love that God is gracious and loving and kind.

We love that and we celebrate that, and that's good, but that's not all that God is.

God is also what this passage says.

He is also just, and it and eventually his anger and wrath will be poured out on people that have rebelled against him.

And so this passage, it kind of cuts both ways for us.

So one way that it cuts is kind of, we feel kind of good about it.

Like everybody that's wronged you in your life, like uh, you know, probably some of you have been abused, some of you have probably been bullied at school, you've probably been the the the butt of people's jokes.

Uh we've all had people sin against us, and it and it hurts when that happens.

And and God wants you to know that He sees that, He sees your pain, He knows what you've been through, and He takes it very seriously.

He takes people sinning against you incredibly seriously.

He takes it so seriously that what Scripture says is the wages of sin is death.

Like the people that did that stuff to you, God says they deserve to die for their sin.

He's not He's not joking around with what they did to you.

And I think in a way that that should kind of encourage us that God's eventually gonna make things right and He's gonna deal with what was done to you, right?

But this also it cuts both ways.

Like Scripture also says that all have sinned.

This is Romans 3.20C 3.

It says, all have sinned and fallen short of God's glory.

This means that for each of us as well, we've all sinned, and we deserve to die as well.

And that's a hard truth to hear.

It means that, like, you know, we're not just people that messed up a little bit and we just, you know, we can fix it and make it better.

You know, if we get a good coach, a life coach, they'll help us and things will be fine then.

That's not what's going on here.

In Ephesians, it says that we are dead in our sin and we need to be made alive in Christ.

Like you're dead in your sins.

There's nothing you can do about it.

You need to be made alive in Christ.

This is not the message that we're hearing in our American culture, though.

In our American culture, they're telling us how great we are, you're terrific, you did great on the test.

I mean, my kids' school up in Pennsylvania, it didn't even give them grades in elementary school.

They just get, I don't know what it was.

Um, and and and and sports, like when my kids, my kids play sports, and they could lose 10-0 and they still get a trophy.

And so everybody just thinks they're awesome and they're great.

And in one sense you are, but in another sense, you you're not.

This isn't truth.

We all have sinned.

I think where this kind of comes home for me is with my kids.

You know, with my kids, I don't have to train them to sin.

I don't have to go to my son and be like, okay, son, you're you were born perfect and born so good, so let me show you how to sin.

Here's this other two-year-old boy.

I'm gonna steal his toy from him.

I steal it from him, the kid starts crying.

That's how it's done, son.

That's how you sin, okay?

Or I don't I don't go to the kitchen and I'm like, okay, son, I want to show you how to just freak out when your mom gives you food and not like it.

So eat a bite, then spit it out, throw it everywhere, and say, I hate the food and I don't like you either, mommy.

That's how you sin, son.

That's what you do.

None of us do that, right?

Like that's not what you have to do.

If you're a parent, you realize that as cute as your kids might be, they're wretched little sinners.

They're born with sin in their hearts.

I mean, it's just true.

And that's what we got to deal with as parents, and we're trying to point them to Jesus, right?

And this is all of us too.

We all deserve to die.

But God.

This is why Jesus came, right?

This is why the whole cross thing happened.

Jesus came and he died the death that we should have died.

And that death on that cross means life for us.

It means that he paid the penalty that we could never pay, and we can be forgiven.

If we put our hope and our trust in Jesus, we can be forgiven.

We can be made righteous and free.

When he rose again, that means the penalty was paid in full and you can be forgiven.

You can be made righteous and you can be free from the sin in your life.

That is the good news of the gospel.

But that's not good news to you if you don't understand that you deserve to die.

You'll be like, well, why do you even go to the cross?

That was crazy.

But if you understand you deserve to die, it's great news for you.

It means life for you, it means forgiveness for you, right?

So here's my question for us.

Have you ever thought about this?

Have you ever thought about what your sin actually deserves?

Have you ever thought that you're a sinner?

And have you ever experienced his grace?

Has he actually poured out his grace to you?

And can you sit here and say, Yes, I'm forgiven.

I'm free from my sin.

I'm walking with Jesus.

Something that I think is very important we think about.

A thousand thousand served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.

The court sat in judgment and the books were opened.

You know, Daniel, he's reading this passage, and I just gotta imagine that Daniel had a rather lonely life.

I mean, as far as we know in this book, he had Shadrach, Meshach, and Abedigo a few chapters ago.

They were the only ones, and that golden idol was made, and the king said everybody's gotta worship the idol, they were the only ones that didn't bow down and worship the idol, and we have no other evidence that there was anyone else who did not bow down and worship the idol.

So Daniel's got Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and other than that, I don't know that anybody else is really being faithful to Jesus in this time period.

And when you're faithful to Jesus, there's a there's a loneliness that comes with faithfulness.

There's a loneliness that can come with faithfulness.

People can ostracize you and kind of push you away and be like, they're really weird, and it can get lonely.

And I think particularly in this season right now, with COVID-19 going on, and we're everybody's kind of separated, we're not able to get together as much.

I think a lot of us are feeling lonely.

I know Joel or Neil just preached a sermon about community and how much we need it.

And I think we've seen how much we need it.

And I think when Daniel read this, I think he'd be like, I'm not alone.

Like there are thousands upon thousands of people before the throne worshiping and serving God.

I mean, this is Daniel, this is hyperbolic language.

This is him saying, like, you know, it's like a hundred thousand football stadiums just packed to the gills with people.

Like he doesn't have words to describe how many people that he has seen.

And when we feel alone, this is a spiritual truth that we need to remember.

We are not alone.

There are there are hundreds and millions of people before the throne of God worshiping him and praying for us and cheering for us.

We are we're not alone.

I I was feeling kind of alone uh a few weeks ago.

I was working at I'm working at Costco and I was just feeling like, man, I'm I feel like I'm the only believer here.

I've been sharing my faith some.

I've been trying to invite people to church, and I just feel like I'm not getting any traction.

And so within the next week, I met three people at work who all go to the exact same church as me.

And as I talked to them, I found out they were actually doing exactly what I was doing.

They were sharing with people at work too their stories.

They were inviting them to church.

I felt so incredibly encouraged.

This one guy, he's Fitz, and he's he's the forklift driver.

And I'm talking to him, and he said, you know, there's these people they work over in the aisle, these two, these two young people from Idaho.

And he said, I was talking to them and they didn't know what they were gonna do on Sunday.

I said, Hey, why don't you come to church?

I invite them to church.

And they said to me, He says, He says, Brent, was that okay that I did that?

So they've kind of taken like I'm a pastor, they found out I'm a pastor, so I'm kind of the leader of the crew now.

And so I was like, Yes, that's good that you did that.

I invited them a couple weeks ago, but you got to understand they used to be Mormons.

It's probably gonna take a little bit.

Let's just keep inviting them, let's keep praying for them.

And I've had conversations with all three of these people, and it's so cool.

We're like a team now, you know, and we're we're on a mission together and we're trying to reach people and bring light to a dark place.

And it's uh I'm so encouraged by it.

So uh this week, could you just pray a real simple prayer for me?

Could you just say, God, would you show me, if you're feeling lonely in particular, could you say, God, would you show me who's with me?

Who else is on this path trying to follow you and being faithful to you in this season and at this time?

And and and one thing that will help you is if you're bold in your faith, you'll actually find out who's with you a little bit quicker.

I read a book once, and in the book it said, you know, in the summer, if you're on your back porch and it's it's not screened in, there's no screen, and you turn your light on on the back porch in the evening, what happens?

All the bugs flock to the light, and the mice and the rats, they run away, right?

And that's what happens.

If you in your workplace or at your school, if you share your faith, the people that are interested in Jesus and are hungry, they'll be attracted to you, and the people that aren't will will kind of flee.

And so I encourage you, be bold at work, share your faith.

Verse 11.

I looked then because of the sound of the great words, the horn was speaking, and as I looked, the beast was killed, his body destroyed, and it was given over to be burned with fire, and the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time.

If you're suffering right now, your suffering's not gonna last forever.

There's an end point with it.

And then, secondly, people that walk in rebellion to God and mock him by the way they live their lives their whole life, there will eventually come a day of judgment for them.

That's gonna happen.

Verses 13 and 14.

I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the ancient of days and was presented before him, and to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him.

His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.

This is talking about Jesus here.

This is a prophecy of Jesus.

You know, in the New Testament, if you'd read the four Gospels, the phrase that you hear Jesus use about himself the most is he calls himself the Son of Man.

And when he says that, that is him declaring his divinity.

One spot that he does this in Mark chapter 14, this is right about the time that he's about to get crucified.

Mark 14 · chapter mention

And Jesus said, Mark 14, verse 62, Jesus said, I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven.

Mark 14:62

Almost the exact same language as Daniel.

I mean, he's basically quoting this passage.

And when he does that, the high priest knows exactly what Jesus is doing.

Look what the high priest says.

The high priest tore his garments and said, What farther witnesses do we need?

You have heard blasphemy.

What is your decision?

And they all condemned him as deserving death.

The high priest knew exactly what Jesus was saying.

He knew Jesus was saying, I'm the Son of God, and he wasn't happy about it.

So this passage, this is this is proclaiming proclaiming Jesus divinity.

It's proclaiming this new kingdom that he's gonna inaugurate.

It says that he's gonna have dominion over it.

That just means he's gonna have ruling or controlling power.

It also says that that he's gonna have glory.

Glory is a word that is like this this uh Christian word that we're like, yeah, it's cool, but I don't really even know what it means.

Glory kind of means like uh weight, like there's there's a heaviness or a weightiness, and it's almost like an attractional weight.

Like when I was in college, I went to the winter uh formal, the winter dance.

And when I went to this winter dance, I there was a girl that I liked.

I had interested in her, I wanted to date her.

And um I did not go with her to the dance.

I went with somebody else.

And so I'm I'm at this dance, and the entire evening, you know, I could be dancing with somebody else, but I was aware of where she was, and I was kind of aware of how she was perceiving me or while I was eating, I knew where she was, I knew what she was doing.

It didn't matter where she was in was in the room, I was always kind of aware of her presence and what made how she might be perceiving me.

And the reason that I was doing that is because I'd kind of given her weight or like glory in my life.

Like that was that's what was happening there.

And so when you think glory, I want you to kind of think about that.

And and and so I think when we're talking about God and glory, when we give glory to God, it means that we give more and more weight to him in our lives.

And it means we start to care more what he thinks of us than what the world thinks of us.

We care more what he thinks of us than what the world thinks of us.

So that's God having glory.

The next thing it says, he's part of a kingdom, he's the king, he's the ruler of all, he has authority over all.

Next thing.

It says, all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him.

All peoples, nations, and languages should serve him.

And you see the same kind of thing in Revelation where it's talking about the end times that all peoples, nations, and languages are gonna be serving him.

It's gone, it's going to happen.

So that means that like you could be Brazilian, you could be Argentinian, you could be from Africa, you could be from one of the European nations, you could be Mexican, American, Canadian, whatever language, whatever people group you are, there's gonna be people from your people group in heaven who chose to worship and follow Jesus.

That that is going to happen.

And that that's that's that's a wonderful thing.

So when I was in Taiwan, Taiwan's, it's it's a rather diverse place.

You know, I mean, I was I was in the minority, and and there's all these Taiwanese people, and I low, I love the diversity of Taiwan.

And after we're in Taiwan, we moved to America and we moved to a small town in Pennsylvania.

And in that small town, it was predominantly white.

And I missed the diversity that I used to experience in Taiwan.

Now, during my first year home, I got to go to a pastor's conference, and at this pastor's conference, there was a group uh worship team from Miami there.

And so they led like two songs in English, and then like their third song, they said, We're gonna sing in Spanish this time.

I was like, Okay, cool.

And they start to sing, and as they start to sing, I just start weeping.

I'm like, why am I crying right now?

I don't know.

And so I said, God, why am I crying, please?

And and God just kind of showed me you're crying because you you love the diversity.

This is this is an all-peoples thing.

This is what heaven's gonna be like, Brent.

There's gonna be all peoples, all languages, all worshiping before my throne.

And it's gonna be it's gonna be a lot like this.

It's gonna be wonderful and glorious.

And so what I was pulling out of that is I just love the internationality of that, and the the heavenly internationality is what I was loving in that moment.

And that's what that's what heaven's gonna be like.

That's what God's kingdom's like.

It's for all peoples.

Continue to read here.

It says, His dominion is an everlasting dominion, it will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that shall not be destroyed.

So these other kingdoms um we have the kingdom of Persia, the kingdom of Babylon, these were all kingdoms that are any of them still around?

Is Rome still around?

They're all gone, right?

Like they they haven't lasted forever, they haven't stood the test of time.

Our kingdom, our empire, America.

I I love being an American guys.

I love that I'm American.

I I enjoy that.

I'm I'm in no way against America, but the truth is it's not gonna last forever.

At some point, this empire will end.

And that shouldn't actually bother you that much because it's not the main empire that you're a part of.

The main kingdom that you're a part of is God's kingdom, and his kingdom is everlasting, it will not pass away, it will not be destroyed.

So, you know, I told you that this chapter came before chapter six.

So Daniel had this happen to him in chapter seven.

He got this vision before he got sent to the lion's den in Persia.

This was already in his heart.

And I just imagine as Daniel's walking down to that lion's den, and he knows very well that he there's a very good chance he's about to die.

I just think that there was like a there was a peace in his heart, and there's probably a confidence that he carried as he went down to the lion's den, and he was like, it doesn't matter what they do to me, because I'm part of a kingdom that it will never pass away.

It's never gonna be destroyed.

And so if I die, it's just gonna help advance the kingdom.

If I get to live, it's gonna help advance the kingdom because my God's kingdom is a completely unstoppable force and it will continue no matter what happens.

And so what I want to ask you today is do you get this?

Do we do you have this in your heart that you're part of an everlasting kingdom that will not pass away?

And if you do, shouldn't you kind of like carry yourself with a little bit of confidence?

You know, I know Neil a week ago he he spoke on fear, and that's something that's come up a lot with the COVID-19 thing.

I mean, man, we wanted we wanted 2020 to be gone and done.

I wanted COVID-19 to be done, I wanted the political stuff to be done, I wanted 2021 to be a completely new year.

I wanted that.

That has not been what's happened so far.

And it's not, I don't think things are gonna really change anytime soon.

But if this is true, if God's kingdom is everlasting, it's never gonna end, the ancient of days is sitting on his throne.

Does it really matter?

Because we're part of a greater kingdom.

Um you know, Satan brought everything he had against Jesus at the cross, right?

Like he brought all the all the hordes of hell came against Jesus, and in the end, Jesus won, guys.

Like we know that because of the cross.

Jesus has already won, the battle is completed, and we're living in that now.

Is that actually reflected in your life at all?

Like when like why are we scared to share our faith at work or at school?

There's no reason for us to be scared.

We're part of a greater kingdom.

Why, when you're at the restaurant and you start talking about Jesus at your table, are you worried that the people next to you might hear you talking about that?

Shouldn't you want them to hear you talking about that?

I mean, then there's a chance maybe they'll come to Jesus too.

Here's kind of a question that'll kind of bring this home for you.

If you had a dream like Daniel, and in your dream, it was like America's gonna end next year.

Or maybe, maybe that doesn't even, maybe you're not that worried about that.

Maybe for you it's like you're gonna get cancer or a loved one's gonna get cancer.

Whatever it is for you that's like super scary, what's that do to you and your relationship with Jesus?

Are you like, man, that's not what I signed up for?

I just wanted you to bless me and make my life easier and happier, God.

I am out of here.

See ya, peace.

Or do you just start you start to ask why?

Are you like, God, why why why is America gonna end?

Why did I get can't?

Like, help help me understand.

Because if you do that, that's actually okay.

Like Daniel, that's what he's gonna do.

This whole this whole vision alarms him, and he's gonna say, God, why is this happening?

Help me understand.

David in the Psalms, all through there, he asks why.

Like terrible stuff happens to David, and he's like, God, why?

What's happening?

It's okay to ask why.

But at the end of your questioning, at the end of your asking, where is your heart toward God?

At the end of your asking, are you like, God, it it doesn't really matter the answer.

It doesn't matter if you even give me an answer.

I already know what I'm gonna do.

I'm committed to you.

You're worth it, Jesus.

It doesn't matter what happens, you are worth it, Lord.

Here's the main idea of this passage, guys.

There's four kings that they're gonna rise up.

And really throughout history, there's gonna be kings that rise up and empires that rise up, and and those empires are gonna come against God's kingdom sometimes, and they're gonna oppress us, and all that's gonna happen over and over.

It's just this repeated cycle.

But the key part of this passage, and the thing that you must remember, is the ancient of days is sitting on his throne during all of this, and he is in control.

There's no moment in this where you know an angel comes up to God and is like, Hey, have you heard what happened to Brent?

No, I haven't.

Well, terrible things are happening.

Oh my goodness, this that that never happens.

Like, if an angel did that, he'd be like, I know exactly what's happening with him.

I I'm in control of it.

I know what's going on, and I I this is this is all according to my will.

It's an everlasting kingdom.

It's never gonna end, and that is what we are a part of.

And I think because of that, we should walk in great confidence.

Uh let me pray, and there's gonna be some questions that come up here on the screen.

I just want to give you a couple minutes to think through this a little bit.

Lord Jesus, I thank you.

Thank you that that's true, that you are the ancient of days, and you're just you're sitting on your throne right now.

You're not all the things that were so worked up about God, you are not worked up.

You're up there and you're calm, and you are in control of the situation, and you're good and loving and just and kind, and we can trust you with it, God.

There's nobody that we would rather have in charge of the situation than you, Jesus.

And I pray, Lord, as that reality becomes more and more real to us, that we would be a people that walk in the confidence of who we are in you, that we're part of a greater kingdom, Lord.

Thank you, Jesus.

Amen.

So, to close the service, there's gonna be there's a short video that we want to show you guys.

It's gonna show some events happening in the next few weeks here at Grand Parkway.

So if you could just pay attention here to this video.

Um Thank you for joining us today.

Here's a few things we want you to know.

Today is a community group Sunday, which means our people will be gathered in homes around our city to discuss today's sermon and pray together.

DNOW is happening February 19th through the 20th.

Students will meet for a weekend of worship and discipleship here on our campus.

Ignite is a morning of prayer and praise on January 23rd for all families.

We'll worship together and spend time learning ways to pray for our nation, church, family, and neighbors.

For each of these events, you can register or find out more information at grandparkway.org slash events.

If you're new, we would love to know that you're here.

Please find one of our pastors at the front of the stage at the conclusion of our service.

Okay, would you all stand with me?

I want to pray a blessing over you all.

All right, let's close our eyes and pray.

Lord Jesus, we thank you that you are you are that ancient of day sitting on that throne, God.

And as believers, that should give us great peace and great confidence in our hearts.

And so I pray in that peace and in that confidence and in that power that you have bestowed upon us, Lord, may we go out to our schools, to our neighborhoods, to our workplaces, and may we walk in confidence and boldness in you, Lord.

Give us that peace, Lord.

We thank you, Jesus.

It's in your name we pray.

Amen.