Who Are You | Holy Holy Holy - Daniel 2 | September 15

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All right, Daniel 2, and this is from the New Living Translation.

One night during the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had such disturbing

dreams that he couldn't sleep.

He called in his magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and astrologers,

and he demanded that they tell him what he had dreamed.

As they stood before the king, he said, I have had a dream that deeply troubles

me, and I must know what it means.

And the astrologers answered the king in Aramaic, Long live the king.

Tell us the dream, and we will tell you what it means.

But the king said to the astrologers, I'm serious about this.

If you don't tell me what my dream was and what it means, you'll be torn limb

from limb, and your houses will be turned into heaps of rubble.

But if you tell me what I dreamed and what the dream means, I'll give you many

wonderful gifts and honors. Just tell me the dream and what it means.

They said again, please, your majesty, tell us the dream and we will tell you what it means.

The king replied, I know what you're doing. You're stalling for time because

you know I'm serious when I say, if you don't tell me the dream, you're doomed.

So if you have conspired to tell me lies, hoping I will change my mind,

but tell me the dream and then I'll know that you can tell me what it means.

The astrologers replied to the king, no one on earth can tell the king his dream,

and no king, however great and powerful, has ever asked such a thing of any

magician, enchanter, or astrologer. The king's demand is impossible.

No one except the gods can tell you your dream, and they do not live here among people.

The king was furious when he

heard this, and he ordered that all the wise men of Babylon be executed.

And because of the king's decree, men were sent to find and kill Daniel and his friends.

When Ariok, the commander of the king's guard, came to kill them,

Daniel handled handle the situation with wisdom and discretion.

He asked Ariok, why is the king issued such a harsh decree?

So Ariok told him all that had happened. Daniel went at once to see the king

and requested more time to tell the king what the dream meant.

Then Daniel went home and told his friends, Hananiah, Mishael,

and Azariah, what had happened.

He urged them to ask the God of heaven to show them his mercy by telling them

the secret so that they would not be executed along with the other wise men of Babylon.

That night, the secret was revealed to Daniel on a vision. And then Daniel praised

the God of heaven. And he said.

Praise the name of God forever and ever, for he has all wisdom and power.

He controls the course of world events. He removes kings and sets up other kings.

He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the scholars.

He reveals deep and mysterious things and knows what lies hidden in darkness,

though he is surrounded by light.

I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors, for you have given me wisdom and strength.

You have told me what we asked of you and revealed to us what the king demanded.

Then Daniel went in to see Ariok, whom the king had ordered to execute the wise men of Babylon.

Daniel said to him, Don't kill the wise men. Take me to the king,

and I will tell him the meaning of his dream.

So Ariok quickly took Daniel to the king and said, I found one of the captives

from Judah who will tell the king the meaning of his dream.

The king said to Daniel, also known as Belteshazzar, Is this true?

Can you tell me what my dream was and what it means?

Daniel replied, there are no wise men, enchanters, magicians,

or fortune tellers who can reveal the king's secret.

But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and he has shown King Nebuchadnezzar

what will happen in the future.

Now I will tell you your dream and the visions you saw as you lay on your bed.

While your majesty was sleeping, you dreamed about coming events.

He who reveals secrets has shown you what is going to happen.

And it is not because I am wiser than anyone else that I I know the secret of

your dream, but because God wants you to understand what was in your heart.

In your vision, your majesty, you saw standing before you a huge shining statue

of a man. It was a frightening sight.

The head of the statue was made of fine gold. Its chest and arms were silver.

Its belly and thighs were bronze.

Its legs were iron and its feet were a combination of iron and baked clay.

As you watched, a rock was cut from a mountain, but not by human hands.

It struck the the feet of iron and clay, smashing them to bits.

The whole statue was crushed into small pieces of iron, clay,

bronze, silver, and gold, and then the wind blew them away without a trace,

like chaff on a threshing floor.

But the rock that knocked the statue down became a great mountain that covered

the whole earth. That was the dream. Now we will tell the king what it means.

Your Majesty, you are the greatest of kings. The God of heaven has given you

sovereignty, power, strength, and honor.

He has made you the ruler over all the inhabited world and has put even the

wild animals and birds under your control.

You are the head of gold. But after your kingdom comes to an end.

Another kingdom inferior to yours will rise to take your place.

After that kingdom has fallen, yet a third kingdom, represented by bronze,

will rise to rule the world.

Following that kingdom, there will be a fourth one, as strong as iron.

That kingdom will smash and crush all previous empires, just as iron smashes

and crushes everything it strikes.

The feet and toes you saw were a combination of iron and baked clay,

showing that this kingdom will be divided.

Like iron mixed with clay, it will have some of the strength of iron.

But while some parts of it will be as strong as iron, other parts will be weak as clay.

This mixture of iron and clay also shows that these kingdoms will try to strengthen

themselves by forming alliances with each other through intermarriage,

but they will not hold together just as iron and clay do not mix.

During the reigns of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that

will never be destroyed or conquered.

It will crush all these kingdoms into nothingness and it will stand forever.

That is the meaning of the rock cut from the mountain, though not by human hands,

that crushed the pieces of the statue of iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold.

The great God was showing the king what will happen in the future.

The dream is true and its meaning is certain.

Then King Nebuchadnezzar threw himself down before Daniel and worshiped him.

And he commanded his people to offer sacrifices and burn sweet incense before him.

The king said to Daniel, Truly, your God is the greatest of gods,

the Lord over kings, a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal the secret.

Then the king appointed Daniel to a high position and gave him many valuable

gifts. He made Daniel ruler over the whole province of Babylon,

as well as chief over all his wise men.

At Daniel's request, the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to be

in charge of all the affairs of the province of Babylon, while Daniel remained in the king's court.

That's more feedback than we get any sermon. Last week, we began a journey through

the book of Daniel, which will take us up to the end of the year in a way.

If you are good with math, you realize that it won't quite get us all the way there,

but we are going to spend the last several weeks up to Christmas contemplating

an idea that's introduced in Daniel and that Jesus has his most frequent way

of referring to himself in this idea of the Son of Man.

We see that in Daniel. So we're going to be pausing, we're going to be finishing

Daniel and then pausing on the son of man to finish our, out our year book.

Daniel stories about a lot of things, but primarily it is about identity.

And this is especially important given the fact that in exile in Babylon.

That's a place where people normally lose their identities. But what we'll see

is the story of four young men who maintained their identities as God's people.

They fought for them. They also fought for the peace, the rest,

and the welfare of the society around them that was opposed to God.

Because even though this is a story of captivity, this is a story of captivity,

What we actually find is that the truth is that they were not captives.

They were sent into Babylon by the God who is in control of all human history.

They were there to seek the good of the people that they had been sent to.

And yes, that being sent was through captivity, but we've read through the Bible

last week that God had sent them to seek the good of Babylon and the people there.

And so, Daniel firmly believed through this, that there was a God in heaven

who was in control of all human history.

That God was in control of Daniel's story and that God is in control of your

story as well. That God is in control.

And there's this great verse in Hebrews chapter one, which says that the sun

radiates God's own glory and expresses the very character of God,

and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command.

So, to say that Jesus sustains all things by his powerful word is to say that

he is directing creation towards a desired aim,

that Jesus is continually active in his creation, that God is in control.

And that's what we learned about God last week, that God is in control.

And many of us know this to be true.

However, when the troubles of life comes, as we just had read with the kids.

We easily forget this truth.

When the troubles of life come, we're easy, we're quick to forget the truth that God is in control.

That God is the one who causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good.

That God is the one who sends the rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

That God is the one who feeds the birds and watches the sparrows.

That God is the one who is in control of everything. that he's in charge of

everything, even the details of our lives.

And he's not making up this plan as he goes along. He didn't wind up the clock

and then walk away, but he is here and he's involved.

That the most high God, we read this in Daniel chapter five,

the most high God rules over the kingdom of men and sets over it whom he will.

That there is a heavenly architect and there's a heavenly blueprint and that

blueprint involves you.

That God's blueprint involves you. That you are chosen according to the one

who works good through us and yes, works good for us according to his purpose

that you've been chosen.

God's in control. He's in control. He was in control of Daniel's story.

He's also in control of your story. And so Daniel is a book about identity.

Daniel knew who he was. So it's also about, because it's about who you are,

it's also about who God is.

If you know who God is, then you will know who you are and you'll know what

to do. You'll know what your purpose is.

We ended our time together last week by proclaiming out loud the truth of who we are together.

And this is, I hope that this becomes a practice of yours throughout your daily routine.

I hope that you teach it to your kids. I hope that you speak it over them.

I hope that we speak it over each other.

And so as way of getting started this morning, why don't we go ahead and stand

together and do this one more time.

Proclaim it out loud. Say it out loud. Who are you? Who do you see?

So this is perspective, just to give everybody perspective, if you didn't hear this.

This is, the perspective of this is as if you were looking in a mirror,

but you can also speak it over each other with the same words.

So I see a child of God.

I see a beautiful creation made in the image of the Almighty.

I see a warrior who stands firm on the truth.

I see a vessel of love, grace, and strength filled with the Holy Spirit. it.

I see a citizen of heaven who is redeemed, chosen, and set apart for God's purpose.

I see a follower of Christ who walks in victory and refuses to bow to fear.

I see a pillar of truth who doesn't take any lies from the enemy.

I see a servant sent into the world to shine his light.

I see a messenger of hope sent to proclaim the good news and live out the love of Jesus.

I see an ambassador bringing peace, justice, and mercy wherever I go.

I see a glorious expression of the King sent to make him known.

Thank you. You guys can be seated.

So Daniel knew God. And so Daniel knew who he was.

He knew his purpose. purpose that even in exile in Babylon, he had great purpose.

The God who had created the universe had given him great purpose,

a future, and a hope that God is in control.

In this chapter, we'll encounter something else Daniel knew about God.

We'll encounter the fact that Daniel knew there was a God in heaven who knows

and makes known that God knows and reveals mysteries, mysteries that there's

a source of knowledge that exists that is out of the reach.

It is inaccessible by the wise and learned of our time through their vast intellects

and through their sincerest of scientific pursuits that God knows all things.

And he at times chooses to reveal those mysteries to us.

So let me go ahead and give everything away this morning. There's not not any

secrets, but I'm just going to tell you what today is going to be about anyway.

And then Daniel chapter two, we see three things.

We see two identities and we see one reality.

We see two identities and one reality. And that's what I want to communicate

to you today. So if you write that down right now, I'm going to tell you what those are.

You write them down. You can just tune out the rest of the sermon.

You can fall asleep and catch up on your sleep if you didn't have much last night.

Two identities and one reality. There's God's identity.

We learned something else about God, another piece about the character of God.

The Bible is a book about God. He's the hero. He's the main character.

We should be learning something about him, right?

And so we've already looked at this one. It's that there's a God in heaven who knows and reveals.

So what does he reveal? That's the reality. What does he reveal?

He reveals to us heaven, in a sense, that there is a transcendent world,

that there is a truth that exists beyond the material.

It is not less real than the material, but it is as real.

And that God reveals to us the spiritual. He reveals to us the kingdom.

He reveals to us the transcendent. He reveals to us the heavenly.

There's a God who knows and reveals the spiritual reality that exists,

and then there's our identity.

Or rather, how the juxtaposition of the character of Daniel and then the characters

of Nebuchadnezzar and his other wise men demonstrate to us how it is that we

should act as the people of God.

And our actions demonstrate our identities. Last week, we talked about how knowing who we are.

If you know who you are, you'll know what to do. The opposite is also true.

What you do reveals who you are. So our actions reveal our identities.

Several weeks ago, Jake mentioned that you can call yourself a runner all you want, right?

But at some point you have to demonstrate it in the way that you live.

You have to buy running shoes. You have to wake and run. You have to,

you have to dedicate at least some portion of your time to running.

If you're going to call yourself a runner, that our actions reveal our identities.

If you just slap a sticker on the back of your car that has some number on it,

that doesn't make you a runner, right?

Unless you zap, unless you put the sticker that says 0.0, then that communicates you're not a runner.

So those are the three things I want to communicate to you.

Two identities and a reality.

So let's revisit those opening verses. This is a bit of a long chapter,

so I'm not going to read nearly as much as I would normally do.

But I do want to just revisit maybe a little bit of a summary of those opening verses for us.

So one fateful night, sleep eluded King Nebuchadnezzar.

He was restless. list. He was unable to rest because of these fearsome visions that he has.

And so he sins, he summons the wise men of his court and with his eyes wide

and voice booming like thunder, he says, I have had a dream,

a dream that has unsettled my soul.

And I must know its meaning for my heart is heavy with fear.

The wise men who have come bowed low their faces to the floor.

And I imagine that one of them is brave enough to speak, but probably still

trembling long live the King.

He says, Tell us your dream, Almighty One, and then we'll unveil its meaning.

But the king's eyes narrowed and his voice became hard like iron.

No, he said, you will not deceive me with your empty words.

If you are truly as wise as you claim, you will tell me both the dream and its meaning.

Fail and I will see your limbs torn from your bodies and your homes reduced

to nothing but ash and ruin.

But succeed and I will bestow upon you treasures beyond imagine,

gold, honors, all that your heart desires.

Now tell me the dream and its meaning.

So the wise men are probably becoming even more fearful at this time, looking at one another.

Perhaps some of the blood is drained from their faces even, right?

So again, they plead, please your majesty, reveal to us your dream.

And only then will we tell you what it means.

But Nebuchadnezzar seeing through their tricks grew even more furious.

I know your schemes, he roared.

You're buying time, hoping I will change my mind, but I will not.

If you do not tell me what I dream, you are doomed. Speak now and I will know

that your interpretation is true.

So even more fear falls upon them, but still maybe one is brave enough to talk,

but maybe not louder than a whisper.

Oh, great king, no man on earth can do what you ask.

No one, no matter how great, has ever asked such a thing of magicians,

enchanters, or astrologers.

Your demand is impossible.

Only the gods could reveal such a mystery and they do not walk among us mortals.

So the silence that followed, load sat heavy. The wise men continued to tremble

for they knew the wrath of their king and they knew it was a thing to be feared.

What would become of them now that all of their wisdom had failed them?

That question is not in the Bible, but it seems appropriate that what a powerful

admission these so-called wise men finally make when pushed,

when all of their wisdom and all of their discernment had finally failed them.

What a powerful admission they make.

Sure, they could interpret dreams, but no one can reveal the thoughts and intentions

of our hearts, the dreams that we alone hold within us.

Nobody can do that. Daniel himself says so. He repeats the same words.

He says the same thing when he finally gains an audience as a king,

as these wise men tell him.

Daniel replied in verse 27, there are no wise men, enchanters,

magicians, or fortune tellers who can reveal the king's secret.

No man can do it. In all of their wisdom, it is impossible with man.

And the Bible tells us that there are quite a few things that are impossible for man.

In Hebrews chapter 11, verse six, it tells us that without faith,

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

it is impossible for man to please God.

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John

all tell us that salvation is an impossibility left up to man himself.

That for man, salvation is impossible.

But then there's this great phrase that appears in the Bible quite often,

if you pay attention, and it might be a little different from translation to translation.

The phrase is, but God, but God being rich in mercy because of the great love

with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses,

made us alive together with Christ.

And by grace, you have been saved.

But God, but God, with all things, with God, all things are possible.

Changed lives are possible. Victory in hard circumstances is possible.

Overcoming sin is possible. Eternal salvation is possible.

For nothing will be impossible with God, it says in Luke.

And if that doesn't deserve an amen, even amongst our less than charismatic

church, I don't know what does.

For nothing will be impossible with God. Daniel replied, there are no wise men,

enchanters, magicians, or fortune tellers who can reveal the king's secret.

But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets. And he has shown King Nebuchadnezzar

what will happen in the future.

No man can do it. It isn't possible, but there is a God in heaven who knows and reveals mysteries.

And then Nebuchadnezzar is confronted with the reality of God and he can't help

but to fall on his face in worship when encountering this, this true God, the real God.

And he even says, Truly your God is the greatest of gods, the Lord over kings,

a revealer of mysteries for you have been able to reveal this secret.

All treasures of wisdom and things to be known are hidden inside of the hands.

We just sang that truth this morning.

God knows all. And in his time, in his time, he will reveal all.

That's not a promise that we will know everything now, but in his time, he will reveal all to us.

And we can trust all that he has revealed thus far. There is a God in heaven

who knows and makes known.

We actually, we actually learned quite a few things about God and his character

in this particular chapter beyond what we just talked about?

Because if you'll pay attention, there's a false belief that persists in all

of the knowledge of the wise men of Babylon.

And even today, in the impeccable reasoning of our modern sophistication,

we like to think we're better because we're more advanced or whatever.

In all of our impeccable reasoning, in all of the knowledge of the wise men

of Babylon, there is a false belief that persists that if you are going to believe

that a God exists, if God or gods do exist, then surely they don't live here with us.

Surely if God exists, then he's far away and he doesn't concern himself with our affairs.

There's this false belief that exists all throughout our current,

even modern culture that deism says that God created the universe and then abandoned it.

Pantheism, belief in many gods,

believes that there's no, creation has no story or purpose unto itself.

It just exists as part of the gods.

And of course, atheism says no.

Not surprisingly, the philosophy that dismisses the existence of God will in

turn also dismiss the existence of a divine plan.

But Christianity says yes. Yes, there is a God.

And yes, this God is personally and powerfully involved in his creation.

God is personally and powerfully involved in his creation.

We learned this in this chapter, chapter Daniel, chapter two.

A friend of mine gave me a book a few weeks back, maybe a month or two by Max

Licato called Anxious for Nothing.

And I've been slowly reading through it, mainly because I know he'll ask me about it occasionally.

But I find it interesting that in the latest reading that I did,

Licato is correcting the the same misunderstanding in us, the same misplaced

belief, this thing that we adopt,

that we, we believe that there is an absent God in the functional way that we

live. He's correcting the same issue.

He writes in the ultimate declaration

of communion, God called himself Emmanuel, which means God with us.

He became flesh. He became sin. He defeated the grave. He is still with us in

the form of his spirit who he comforts, teaches, and convicts.

Do not assume God is watching from a distance.

Avoid the quicksand that bears the marker God has left you.

Do not indulge this lie. If you do, your problem will be amplified by a sense of loneliness.

It is one thing to face a challenge, but to face it all alone.

Isolation creates a downward cycle of fret. Choose instead to be the person

who clutches is the presence of God with both hands.

The Lord is with me. I will need not be afraid. What can man do to me?

This is the God that Daniel knew, the God who was there.

And because of that, because of God's admission of who God is,

we can see some very distinctive differences between Daniel's character and

the characters of Nebuchadnezzar and the other wise men of his core.

There's quite a few differences, actually.

We can start with the wise men. The the wise men were afraid,

they were terrified, they're trembling.

Please, your majesty, no man on earth can do what you ask.

No one, no matter how great, has ever asked such a thing of magicians,

enchanters, or astrologers. Your demand is impossible.

They begged him. They were afraid.

And in their fear, they struggled. They struggled to hold on to faith in the

gods that they had created, the gods of their own making.

And we all build gods for ourselves.

We all build these false gods for ourselves. People of the world place their lives on them.

These are the gods that we fabricate in our lives to gain some semblance of control.

But you can't stand on them when the foundations of your world are shaken.

So these wise men trembled. They were afraid. Yet Daniel is calm.

He says that he responded in wisdom and discernment, right?

Daniel is calm. When Ariok, the commander of the king's guard,

shows up to kill Daniel and his friends, Daniel reasons with him in wisdom.

Daniel wasn't among the wise men that were first called to reveal the king's dream.

He wasn't there. In fact, Daniel didn't even know what was happening until the

men showed up to execute them.

It's a little funny detail in the story. And yet, even though that's true,

that he knew nothing about it until they showed up to kill him,

we don't see frantic begging.

We don't see chaos.

We see Daniel respond in peace.

That Daniel quickly sought an audience with the king.

And he reasoned and he asked for more time, believing firmly in the God who

knows and who is there with him, the God who shows up.

Daniel believed in the God who knew and would show up.

And so the character of Nebuchadnezzar is presented as a very unreasonable character, right?

Demanding what cannot be given, using throwing around his power,

his authority, his position, his wealth to get what his heart desires.

And so he is impatient to those who are loyal to him.

He shows nothing but mistrust, deception, and suspicion.

So Nebuchadnezzar is not really, he's not really there to exist in a way for

us to see ourselves in him.

He exists as a character for us to see the amplification of our characters.

Not our sinful character, right?

It's not that we are to look at him and go, oh yeah, I see all the ways that

I'm just like him, but he is the amplification of all human sin. in.

And Daniel, Daniel's character is there concerned with those who would even

be considered his enemies.

Daniel shows concern for the society, the wise men who would be considered to be his enemies.

We read in Jeremiah 29 last week that God had ordained Daniel's presence in

Babylon to work for the peace and the prosperity, the rest and welfare of the people.

He tells them to pray for them. He tells them to love them.

This is a letter from Jeremiah, from the word of the Lord to the exiles.

And we know that Daniel read this letter to pray for them, to love them.

And we see here in this chapter that Daniel took this to heart,

that he, in answering the king's requests, he spared not only his life and the

lives of his friends, but he also spared the lives of all the other wise men.

These same men that years later and during the age of another empire would probably

be the same men who schemed and plotted for Daniel to be thrown into the lion's

den. It's probably the same guys.

And I believe if Daniel, if the Lord had revealed this detail to Daniel,

I still believe he would have acted in righteousness because how we act reveals

who we are, how we act reveals who we are, what you do and say in this life

reveals whose you you are.

So do your actions match your identity? We're supposed to be different.

In becoming more like Jesus, we will be less like the world in all the ways that matter to God.

So we don't just wake up and think about ourselves.

Daniel could have done that. He could have just woke up and saved his own butt.

But we don't just wake up and think about ourselves.

Romans 15 says, we who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings

of the weak and not to please ourselves.

Let each of us please his neighbor for his good to build him up.

For for Christ did not please himself.

And we skip down a verse. Now may the God of endurance and encouragement grant

you to live in such harmony with one another in accord with Christ Jesus,

that together you may with one voice glorify the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you for the glory of God.

It's all for the glory of God. It's all for his glory. It can't be about us.

It can't be about you. It's all for his glory.

And that shows up an interesting dynamic in this story.

Daniel at all times points to God. He says, what you have asked is impossible

for man, but there is a God in heaven, that there is a God who is in control.

There is a God who reveals mysteries, that God answered me when I sought him.

There is a God in heaven who is near to his people. It's for the glory of God.

God, Daniel at all times points to God in this story.

So Daniel reveals Nebuchadnezzar's dream. He interprets it and reveals it just as God had shown him.

Daniel says in verse 37, your majesty, you are the greatest of king, the God of heaven.

The God of heaven has given you sovereignty, power, strength, and honor.

He has made you the ruler over all the inhabited world and has put even the

wild animals and birds under your control.

So in this dream, he says, you are the head of gold that you've seen.

You are the head of gold. Daniel points to God at all times.

Nebuchadnezzar hears the interpretation of the dream and he responds by in the

very next chapter, building a golden statue of himself, 90 feet tall and nine feet wide.

And then he sends messengers all throughout the kingdom, tells them to come

to the dedication of this statue.

And he commands them to bow down and worship himself in all his golden statuesqueness.

Daniel points to God, Nebuchadnezzar lifts up himself.

Our lives will only ever say two things about us. One of two things.

Our lives will either say that we're in it for ourselves.

We're here for, you know, looking out for number one, that we are glory thieves,

or they will say, I'm here for God's glory.

It's all for him. I'm here. I'm I'm in it for the glory of God.

It's all for God. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.

Our lives will only ever say one of two things about us.

Your actions reveal who you are and who you belong to.

And we shouldn't do things like the rest of the world. We shouldn't be like the rest of the world.

We're not of the world, not seeking our own good, not sharing our opinions. There's no life there.

That's what humans do. That's not what we should do. I use my lips to lift up his name and not my own.

We are those who are not of the world, but whose identity is in Christ.

We read in 1 Corinthians many months ago now, but Paul wrote,

you are jealous of one another and quarrel with each other.

Doesn't that prove you are controlled by your sinful nature?

Aren't you living like people of the world?

What if we were different? What if we stopped acting like we were just merely human?

What if we stopped being limited? What if we stopped being limited by what we

could see by the material, by the natural.

What if we actually lived like we were filled with the Holy Spirit?

Wouldn't that be interesting?

What if we were different? The transcendent is here. The kingdom of God is here.

Heaven is here. Eternity doesn't start at some undetermined point in the future. Eternity is now.

Isn't it about time that we started living like it?

That isn't it time we started living like we actually believe this.

Nebuchadnezzar's dream is revealed. The story is not really about the contents

of the dream, by the way, even though that's what seems to get the most attention.

The story is not really about what the dream is about. Still,

the dream does reveal to us the future of what will happen for the next 500

years as Babylon gives way to Medo-Persia, which gives way to Greece,

which gives way to Rome, ultimately pointing us to the supremacy of the kingdom

of heaven, God's kingdom, and leading us up to Jesus, right?

The rock that crushes the rest of the kingdoms, Zion, the holy city,

the mountain that descends, rising above all others, and then God's glory filling the whole world.

The supremacy of Jesus as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

There's some good stuff in the dream, but the The story is not really about the dream.

If we combine though, this vision with the visions will come later in like chapter

nine, the revelations in this book are shockingly accurate.

So much so that this is the number one protest. This is the number one complaint by secular scholars.

So they, they discredit Daniel and they actually say that Daniel has to have

been written much later in the second century after everything happened because

he gets too much stuff, right?

They don't believe in a God who knows all things.

So Daniel must have been written much later, but there is a mystery.

There's a mystery that exists beyond what we can see and perceive with our natural

senses, a heavenly reality that exists right now.

That is not less than what we can actually experience in the material world.

It is as real. And, and I, I must admit, I'm going to confess that I am too

often blind to it. I too quickly dismiss it. There's a story.

There's a story I heard this past week or the week before.

Essentially, there was a group of guys going around. I think it was with students,

but they were on the street, so it could just be somewhere else.

And they were essentially doing some evangelism, street evangelism,

whatever, mostly asking to pray for people.

They were talking with one young man and their question for him was,

what is it that if it happened, you would believe? What is it that if it happened,

you would give your life to Jesus?

And the young man thought for a minute and he said, if my mom called and apologized

and they said, do you mind if we pray for that? And so they, they prayed for him.

And as soon as they stopped praying, his phone rang and it was his mom.

He picked up the phone. And the first thing she said was, baby, I'm sorry.

He hung up the phone, fell to his knees and gave his life to Jesus.

Then he called her back and he said, sorry, I just gave my life to Jesus.

She said, honey, I met Jesus four days ago and I gave my life to him.

Isn't that an amazing story?

Amen. So why is it? I immediately think that can't be real.

That's exaggerated or made up. You can't believe everything on the internet.

Why do I immediately think that doesn't happen?

That's not my experience.

Why does that where I go? There is a transcendent in spiritual reality that exists.

It's not a delusion just because we can't see it. It's not less real just because

we can't perceive it with our natural senses.

Daniel believed in the God of heaven who reveals heavenly realities. Do you? Will you?

Daniel believed in the God who was there with him, who would answer him,

who would provide wisdom, who would reveal mysteries.

The God who was there with his people.

In Daniel, we read, praise this God of heaven. There's a song in the middle of this chapter.

He said, praise the name of God forever and ever, for he has all wisdom and

power. He controls the course of world events.

He removes kings and sets up other kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the scholars.

He reveals deep and mysterious things and knows what lies hidden in darkness.

Though he is surrounded by light, I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors,

for you have given me wisdom and strength.

You have told me what we asked of you and revealed to us what the king demanded.

Do you know this God? If you can answer the question, who is God?

Then and only then will you be able to answer the question, who are you?

If you know who God is, you will know who you are and you will know what to do.

So last week, we ended our time together by reminding ourselves of who we are,

by renewing our thoughts and minds with this beautiful truth.

This week, I want us to partake in another exercise. This time,

giving all the glory to God, as Daniel did.

It's all about Him. I don't want to steal from His glory. I want my life,

my actions, my speech to all go to glorifying God. It's all for Him.

So there's these visions that appear throughout the Bible. The prophet Isaiah,

he enters into the spirit and he's shown a picture of the throne room of heaven,

right? And there's these fantastical creatures there.

And what he hears is them saying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord almighty.

The whole earth is full of his glory.

And this same vision is seen by John in Revelation chapter four.

So he reveals to us even more. He reveals to us that all these creatures do

all day long, all they ever do day and night is they never stop saying,

holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty who was and is and is to come.

And whenever these angels shout this, there's 24 elders who fall down on their faces.

They cast their crowns before the throne saying, you are worthy our Lord and

God to receive glory and honor and power for you created all things in by your

will, they were created and have their being.

So here's what I want us to do. I just want us for a minute,

a few minutes to take some time and repeat essentially that verse over and over again.

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty. The earth is full of his glory.

So why don't you go ahead and stand again with me?

Let's just say that together.

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. The earth is full of His glory.

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.

The earth is full of His glory. Again, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.

The earth is full of His glory.

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. The earth is full of His glory.

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.

One more time. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.

The earth is full. Sing that with me.

Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty.

Music.

Early in the morning, our song shall rise to thee.

Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty.

Music.

God, you are in three persons, blessed Trinity.

Music.