Collierville First Baptist Church

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All right, let's begin with a word of prayer.

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Heavenly Father, it's a neat thing to open the Bible

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and to read one of the Old Testament prophets who could speak with clarity and accuracy

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about things that would happen hundreds and hundreds of years in the future.

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I thank you, Heavenly Father, that fulfilled prophecy is one of the greatest ways of confirming the inerrancy of scripture.

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And I thank you, Lord, that we are diving into a text tonight

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where Daniel is going to prophesy about things that would happen hundreds of years in the future.

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We thank you, Father, that you're an omniscient God.

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We thank you that there's nothing you do not know.

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You know what's gonna happen tomorrow. You know what's gonna happen next year, the next decade, the next century. You know exactly when you're going to send the Lord Jesus to get us. And Lord, we praise you for that.

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I just pray that you would open our minds and hearts

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to understand this prophetic passage of scripture that we're gonna look at tonight.

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Lord, it's one of the linchpins of prophecy. So much flows out of this. Just give us ears to hear what the spirit of God would say

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and give us a heart ready to embrace and apply this truth to our lives. We love you. We thank you, Lord Jesus, in Christ's name, amen.

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Okay, so tonight we're gonna dive into the prophetic part of Daniel chapter two, verses 24 to 49.

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You know, accurate predictions about future events that have virtually no probability of occurring by coincidence are spectacular precisely because they seem so supernatural.

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And that's exactly what we're looking at tonight.

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Now, do you remember the lady that would always make predictions about future, especially around the time of presidential elections, Jean Dixon, remember that?

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And everybody used to think she was the best thing since sliced bread.

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But do you realize how few of her predictions ever came true?

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I mean, it was unbelievable.

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People who and all over Nostradamus,

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do you realize how few of his predictions ever came true?

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Can I tell you this?

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In biblical prophecy, 100% of the prophecies come true.

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They are fulfilled to a T.

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You go to the book of Isaiah,

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and Isaiah the prophet 700 years before Christ,

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prophesied about the birth of Christ.

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He prophesied about the cross of Christ in great detail. He prophesied about the resurrection of Christ.

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And it is amazing that he could write 700 years, 700 plus years before Christ came and his prophecy. You can look at them, you can check them out with the New Testament and see they all came true.

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Listen, this book that we open every Wednesday night and every Sunday, and I hope you'll find it, every Sunday and I hope you open it every day of the week,

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is the word of God.

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It is truth without mixture of error.

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And if God knows what's gonna happen 700 years from now, he knows exactly what's gonna happen in your life tomorrow.

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I don't know about you, but that's comforting to me,

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to know that all the craziness and chaos

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that's happening in our world today,

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that there is a God in heaven who is sovereign over everything that happens, who has prophesied exactly what's gonna take place.

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And he has the world in his hands.

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Now tonight, you're gonna be blessed as we get into this prophecy.

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Now, let me give you an advertisement.

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Sunday, I'm beginning a new series of sermons.

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I'm gonna preach verse by verse through Matthew 24 and 25.

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And it's entitled, "Perfect Ending." The series is perfect ending. So you might wanna encourage people to come with you. We're gonna be looking at the coming of Christ. What did Jesus say about his own coming, about the future? What did Jesus say about the future?

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It's gonna be really, really interesting, and especially in light of what's happening in the world today.

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So biblical prophecy is different from all other predictions with incredible detail,

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with forthright clarity and impeccable accuracy.

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The Bible has consistently unveiled the future for centuries.

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Daniel interpreted two sets of dreams,

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one by a pagan ruler in chapter two.

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And then as we get over into chapter seven, he interprets his own dream.

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And thereby, he forecast the entire course of Middle East history for over five centuries.

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And he brought all of his advisors in, his spiritual advisors, the astrologers, the conjurers, all of these folks who were supposed to know exactly what he was doing. And he brought all of his advisors in, his spiritual advisors, the astrologers, the conjurers, all of these folks who were supposed to know exactly how to interpret dreams and to reveal the future. He brings them in and he tells them, look, I want you to tell me not only the interpretation of my dream, but I want you to tell me what I dreamed.

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And those guys got white around the gills real quick.

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Because here's what they said, nobody can do that.

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Nobody can do that.

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But there was one guy in Babylon who had to be a Jewish exile by the name of Daniel.

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Now we learned a lot about Daniel in chapter one. We learned that he was a true man of God,

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a man of integrity, a man who knew God in a deep personal intimate way, a man who walked with God.

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And Daniel was able to get with his three friends, Hananiah, Michelle and Azariah.

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And here's what Daniel did.

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Daniel did not pull his hair out, he didn't fret. You know what those four guys did? They got on their faces before God and they prayed. And they asked the God of heaven to reveal to them the dream of Nebuchadnezzar and the interpretation of his dream.

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Now, I want you to look at verses 19 to 23.

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The Bible says, "And the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a night vision." Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven.

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Daniel said, "Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever

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for wisdom and power belong to him.

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It is he who changes the times and the epics. He removes kings and establishes kings. He gives wisdom to wise men and knowledge to men of understanding. It is he who reveals the profound and hidden things." Stop right there for just a moment.

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You wanna know where prophecy comes from?

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There it is, verse 22. It is he who reveals the profound and hidden things. He knows what is in the darkness and the light dwells with him. That's our God.

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To you, oh God, of my fathers, I give thanks and praise.

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For you have given me wisdom and power.

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Even now you've made known to me what we requested of you. You've answered our prayer. That's what Daniel is saying to the God of heaven. You've answered our prayer.

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Now let me ask you a question. Do you think God will answer your prayer?

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I'm telling you, if you're a born again believer,

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if you're right with God,

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and if you are filled with the Holy Spirit,

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the God of heaven will answer your prayers.

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You say, "But wait, pastor, I prayed about something and didn't answer." Yes, he did.

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He answered it. He may have said no.

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He may have said, "Wait."

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Or there may be that time you can look back and say that he said, "Yes." He answered the prayer just like you prayed it.

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God answers your prayers.

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Now you know, you've had children, you've got grandchildren.

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There are times when your children or grandchildren come to you and they ask you for things and it's best for them that you say no, right? Well, the God of heaven loves you.

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He loves you.

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And sometimes he says no,

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and it's for your good that he says no.

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So Daniel understood that God had answered their prayer,

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and now he was ready to reveal to Nebuchadnezzar

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not only the interpretation, but also the dream itself.

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Look at verses 24 to 30.

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"Therefore Daniel went into Ariok, whom the king had appointed

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to destroy the wise men of Babylon."

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So here was the executioner.

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And Daniel went to him.

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That's a little bold, isn't it?

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And he spoke to him as follows, "Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon."

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You know how I know Daniel was a man of integrity.

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He didn't just ask Ariok to spare him and his three friends, he asked Ariok to spare the wise men of Babylon.

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"Take me into the king's presence,

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and I will declare the interpretation to the king." Now, you know, Ariok,

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he was putting his neck on the line too when he brought this Jewish exile by the name of Daniel into the presence of Nebuchadnezzar, who was red hot with anger because nobody could tell him the dream or the interpretation. What if Daniel fumbled the ball?

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What if he messed up and did not accurately tell Nebuchadnezzar the dream or the interpretation? Well, Ariok's neck would be on the line too.

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Well, the Bible goes on to say, verse 25, "Then Ariok hurriedly brought Daniel into the king's presence and spoke to him as followers." Now, Ariok had a little pride issue here. I want you to notice what it is. "I have found a man."

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Well, he didn't find him.

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Daniel found Ariok.

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"I have found a man among the exiles from Judah who can make the interpretation known to the king."

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The king said to Daniel, whose name was Belt-Shazar,

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"Are you able to make known to me the dream which I've seen and its interpretation?"

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Daniel answered before the king and said, "As for the mystery about which the king has inquired, neither wise men, conjurers, magicians, nor diviners are able to declare it to the king."

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Nobody can do that, king. However, there is a God in heaven, you ought to underline that.

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You ought to underline that two times.

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There is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries and he is made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will take place in the latter day. Now underline or circle the latter days.

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Very important.

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This was your dream and the visions in your mind while on your bed.

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As for you, king, while on your bed, your thoughts turn to what would take place and underline this or circle in the future.

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In the future.

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And he who reveals mysteries had made known to you what will take place.

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Future tense.

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But as for me, this mystery has not been revealed to me for any wisdom residing in me more than in any other living man.

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You see the humility of Daniel.

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Daniel takes no credit for this at all.

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But as for me, this mystery has not been revealed to me for any wisdom residing in me more than in any other living man. But for the purpose of making the interpretation known to the king and that you may understand the thoughts of your mind.

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Now understand this.

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God revealed the dream of Nebuchadnezzar and the interpretation of the dream to Daniel.

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Now he did that so Daniel could speak into Nebuchadnezzar's life but he did it also so that Daniel could record it in this book of the Bible.

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I'm telling you what we're studying tonight

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is real important from a prophetic standpoint.

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It's foundational.

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But for the purpose of making the interpretation known to the king that you may understand the thoughts of your mind.

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So when Daniel walked into the presence of Nebuchadnezzar his life, the lives of his trusted friends and the lives of all the king's spiritual advisors

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were hanging in the balance. There was a lot on the line here.

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In addition to being able to reveal and interpret the dream, Daniel does another remarkable thing. The thing God man should always do

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and that is give all the credit to God.

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That's what every man of God should do.

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Never take credit yourself, always give God the glory.

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Daniel success come not because he has more wisdom than anyone living. This is all God's doing. This is all God's doing.

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Daniel knew that and he wanted Nebuchadnezzar to know that on the front end.

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And then here we have the dream.

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Verses 31 to 34.

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I wish that we could have been a fly on the wall and seen Nebuchadnezzar's face when Daniel revealed

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the dream in living technicolor to Nebuchadnezzar.

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He said, "You, O king were looking and behold,

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there was a single great statue.

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That statue, which was large and of extraordinary splendor was standing in front of you and its appearance was awesome."

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So there's a statue in this dream.

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Verse 32, "The head of that statue was made of fine gold,

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its breasts in its arms of silver,

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its belly and its thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.

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You continued looking until a stone was cut out without hands and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them."

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So what Nebuchadnezzar saw was a composite.

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It was a statue, it was a composite made up of different materials.

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And notice that the materials got increasingly less valuable as you move toward the feet

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and started out with the head of gold, fine gold,

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then silver, then bronze, then iron,

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then iron and clay.

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What does all this mean?

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What was God trying to say to Nebuchadnezzar and what was he revealing to Daniel about the future?

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So there was a head of gold, chest and arms of silver, stomach and thighs of bronze, legs of iron with feet partly of iron and partly clay.

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Now the thing that's real important in this image and in this dream was the stone that was cut out without hands.

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That stone struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and crushed the whole thing. The whole statue was destroyed in pulverize.

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In fact, he compares it once that stone struck this composite statue, he compared it to the wind blowing the chaff off the threshing floor.

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That's how destroyed everything was. It was pulverized. Look at verse 35.

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Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed all at the same time

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and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found, not a trace of them was found.

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But the stone that struck the statue

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became a great mountain and filled the earth.

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Now this is some kind, he must have had bad McDonald's stuff before he went to bed that night, right?

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I mean, this is a weird dream.

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And to Nebuchadnezzar it was a nightmare.

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But this was a dream with a purpose.

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And God chose one of the most unlikely people on the face of the earth to reveal a prophetic dream to,

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Nebuchadnezzar.

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But God did it for Daniel

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so that Daniel could record it in his prophecy.

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Now, do you believe God still speaks today?

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I believe that.

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Listen, every time you open your Bible and you read your Bible, God is speaking.

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Every time you come and you hear true, I'm true Bible teaching and Bible preaching, you hear God speaking.

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Sometimes God speaks to us through spirit-filled believers who speak truth into our lives.

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The Holy Spirit guides us and impresses upon our lives the direction he wants us to go sometime.

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Let me ask you, are you listening?

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Do you expect the living God to speak to you?

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When you open your Bible and you read your Bible in your devotional life,

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do you really expect God to speak to you? Do you want to give you something? Just say something to you. Now, I'm not talking about audibly. I'm not talking about audibly.

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I'm talking about through the Word of God.

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Let me say this.

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Every time you get up in the morning and you read your Bible or you read it at night before you go to bed or you read it at noon time during your lunch break, you get along the, can I tell you one thing that I would impress upon your heart?

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Don't read your Bible off this thing.

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You say, "Pastor, you are so old-fashioned."

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Now, you know why I'm saying this?

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I saw a clip by Charlie Kirk

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and he was teaching young people, "Don't read your Bible off the phone." And here's his reasoning.

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When you're reading your Bible on your phone,

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you get a text.

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You're gonna look at the text

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or some kind of news things happens and you get a notice of it on your Fox app

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or somebody calls you.

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Here's what he said.

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He said, "Young people, get a real Bible.

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Get a hard copy Bible and read the Bible."

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That would be good advice, not only for young people, but that would be great advice for older people like us.

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Put yourself in a position where you can hear from God. Don't have your quiet time with a TV on.

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If you really wanna hear from God, get along with God in a quiet place and read your Bible and pray.

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I promise you if you do that, God will speak to you. Through the word of God.

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He will give you a word of encouragement.

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He will give you a word of correction.

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He will give you a word of reproof,

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but he'll speak to you.

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All right, let's look at the interpretation.

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I sort of chased a rabbit there, but that's pretty good rabbit, isn't it?

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All right, the interpretation. Look at verses 36 to 38.

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This was the dream Daniel says in Nebuchadnezzar.

[01:26:57;27 - 01:27:00;34]
Now we will tell its interpretation before the king.

[01:27:03;57 - 01:27:06;21]
You, O king, are the king of kings.

[01:27:08;39 - 01:27:10;15]
Now, what did he mean by that?

[01:27:12;06 - 01:27:18;21]
When you read that, you may think, well, Jesus is the king of kings. Yes, absolutely, that's not what he's saying.

[01:27:20;45 - 01:27:26;06]
But at that particular time when Daniel was in captivity in Babylon,

[01:27:28;21 - 01:27:36;26]
let me tell you, Nebuchadnezzar was a big kahuna in the world. (Congregation Murmurs)

[01:27:40;48 - 01:27:51;26]
So he says, "You are the king of kings to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the strength and glory." Now, what does Daniel say to Nebuchadnezzar?

[01:27:53;42 - 01:27:57;45]
He says, don't get too proud now, Nebuchadnezzar.

[01:27:59;42 - 01:28:02;00]
The God of heaven has given you everything you have.

[01:28:03;48 - 01:28:11;26]
The sovereignty of God. Remember one of the key themes in Daniel is the sovereignty of God.

[01:28:12;39 - 01:28:15;49]
Now take your Bible, look back to Daniel chapter one.

[01:28:18;26 - 01:28:22;37]
We just read where Daniel said to him that God's given you everything.

[01:28:24;11 - 01:28:42;15]
Look at verse two of chapter one. The Lord gave Jehoiakim, king of Judah, into his hand along with some of the vessels of the house of God. And he brought them to the land of Shanaar or Babylon to the house of his God. And he brought the vessels into the treasury of his God.

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Now notice in verse two, the Bible says that God gave Jehoiakim, king of Judah, into his hand along with the vessels of the house of God.

[01:28:59;21 - 01:29:00;42]
So God is sovereign.

[01:29:03;12 - 01:29:08;59]
You, O king, are the king of kings to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the strength and the glory.

[01:29:10;06 - 01:29:18;30]
And wherever the sons of men dwell or the beasts of the field or the birds of the sky, he has given them into your hand.

[01:29:20;31 - 01:29:35;51]
Who has given them into his, Nebuchadnezzar's hand? God. And has caused you to rule over them all. You are the head of gold. And don't you, don't you, I could just imagine Nebuchadnezzar.

[01:29:37;31 - 01:29:42;25]
Man, his chest swells, his head swells.

[01:29:44;25 - 01:29:49;08]
I'm the head of gold. (Congregation Laughing)

[01:29:51;12 - 01:30:03;36]
But God has a way of humbling people. Boy, we get over into chapter four, we're gonna see how God humbled Nebuchadnezzar

[01:30:04;45 - 01:30:06;07]
for like seven years.

[01:30:07;51 - 01:30:14;37]
Seven years, he turned Nebuchadnezzar into some kind of animal-like thing.

[01:30:16;19 - 01:30:19;41]
He lost his mind for seven years.

[01:30:22;24 - 01:30:25;56]
And then when God restored him,

[01:30:27;08 - 01:30:31;49]
he put him right back into the kingship again.

[01:30:38;23 - 01:30:40;08]
Now the Babylonian Empire,

[01:30:42;40 - 01:30:43;42]
that's the head of gold,

[01:30:44;49 - 01:30:49;56]
the Babylonian Empire was a divine gift from the sovereign God.

[01:30:51;48 - 01:30:58;22]
However, Nebuchadnezzar would be followed by succession of weak and incompetent rulers.

[01:31:00;16 - 01:31:04;39]
The Babylonian Empire would only last a mere 66 years

[01:31:06;02 - 01:31:10;13]
from 605 BC to 539 BC.

[01:31:16;33 - 01:31:27;14]
Look at verse 39. "After you, there will arise another kingdom inferior to you, "then a third kingdom of bronze, "which will rule over all the earth."

[01:31:29;24 - 01:31:31;34]
Now the Medo-Persian Empire,

[01:31:33;12 - 01:31:38;00]
in verse 32 of chapter two, look at it. Chapter two, verse 32.

[01:31:39;00 - 01:31:44;02]
"The head of that statue was made of fine gold, "its breast and its arms of silver.

[01:31:45;39 - 01:31:48;35]
"That's the Medo-Persian Empire."

[01:31:52;53 - 01:31:59;58]
Now history is plain. It just nails this to a T.

[01:32:01;18 - 01:32:07;19]
That this empire was led by Cyrus the Great, the Medo-Persian Empire.

[01:32:09;19 - 01:32:18;44]
The two arms conceivably represents the two parts or divisions of the empire, the Medes and the Persians.

[01:32:21;42 - 01:32:27;25]
Now the Medo-Persian Empire continued for approximately 208 years,

[01:32:28;49 - 01:32:32;17]
from 539 BC to 331 BC.

[01:32:34;51 - 01:32:41;37]
Now I've got a little statement here. "Through the portrayal of each subsequent empire

[01:32:42;48 - 01:32:45;02]
"as inferior to its predecessor,

[01:32:46;35 - 01:32:54;20]
"Daniel seems to have been suggesting "that the sinfulness of the world will continue to increase "until the culmination of history."

[01:32:57;13 - 01:33:00;34]
Now if you were, and I know you're not,

[01:33:01;49 - 01:33:03;33]
but if you were an evolutionist

[01:33:05;02 - 01:33:09;19]
and you bought into Darwin's theory that everything's gonna get better and better and better,

[01:33:11;35 - 01:33:14;19]
boy you would have a real hard time with this.

[01:33:17;44 - 01:33:19;48]
Let me tell you, things are not gonna get better.

[01:33:26;29 - 01:33:28;31]
Things are getting progressively worse.

[01:33:30;14 - 01:33:32;58]
And that's exactly what the Bible prophesies.

[01:33:34;10 - 01:33:40;27]
Don't let that surprise you. I mean, face it, we are seeing things today

[01:33:42;15 - 01:33:43;21]
we've never seen before.

[01:33:46;58 - 01:33:50;56]
We live in an assassination culture in America.

[01:33:54;07 - 01:33:58;45]
There's one today where an assassin

[01:34:01;34 - 01:34:04;27]
shot into an ICE detention center.

[01:34:11;20 - 01:34:15;06]
And on a bullet, these guys are writing on bullets,

[01:34:16;28 - 01:34:18;19]
on the casings of their bullets,

[01:34:21;14 - 01:34:22;26]
that he hated ICE.

[01:34:29;34 - 01:34:31;48]
I tell you, you know a culture's in trouble

[01:34:34;45 - 01:34:39;02]
when you can't dialogue and disagree about something

[01:34:40;10 - 01:34:42;08]
without putting your life in danger.

[01:34:50;25 - 01:34:53;12]
The empire of Greece was the next empire.

[01:34:56;57 - 01:35:04;18]
Chapter two, verse 32 again, the head of that statue was made a fine gold, its breasts and arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze.

[01:35:09;32 - 01:35:11;56]
Now this kingdom, the kingdom of Greece

[01:35:13;46 - 01:35:14;45]
would rule the world.

[01:35:16;57 - 01:35:20;19]
Now the leader of this kingdom was Alexander the Great.

[01:35:23;13 - 01:35:27;40]
Alexander the Great died at the age of 33.

[01:35:31;23 - 01:35:33;40]
They found him at the end of his life

[01:35:34;49 - 01:35:39;20]
in his tent crying like a baby because they had no more worlds to conquer.

[01:35:42;20 - 01:35:44;51]
His kingdom extended all the way into India.

[01:35:48;22 - 01:35:53;34]
His kingdom would last for, the kingdom of Greece would last for 185 years

[01:35:55;07 - 01:35:58;44]
from 331 BC to 146 BC.

[01:36:02;32 - 01:36:12;26]
Now here is Daniel having received this wisdom from God, this interpretation from God.

[01:36:14;27 - 01:36:18;35]
And he's prophesying about things that would take place hundreds of years in the future.

[01:36:21;15 - 01:36:31;40]
You know what amazes me? I'm amazed at the number of people that anytime the word prophecy comes up, they break out into hives.

[01:36:35;27 - 01:36:37;14]
They break out into hives.

[01:36:38;46 - 01:36:40;14]
It scares them.

[01:36:42;43 - 01:36:48;07]
They don't wanna study revelation because of the judgment of revelation.

[01:36:50;24 - 01:36:51;21]
It scares them.

[01:36:53;30 - 01:36:54;43]
Now let me ask you a question.

[01:36:55;44 - 01:36:57;07]
Maybe I'm dumb.

[01:36:59;56 - 01:37:02;05]
I sort of wanna know what's gonna happen to future.

[01:37:04;04 - 01:37:04;16]
Right?

[01:37:05;38 - 01:37:09;16]
I don't wanna walk into the future blindfolded.

[01:37:12;04 - 01:37:13;35]
I wanna know what's gonna happen

[01:37:14;44 - 01:37:16;51]
because if I know what's gonna happen,

[01:37:17;51 - 01:37:22;16]
it will impact my actions and my attitude.

[01:37:27;19 - 01:37:30;12]
Listen, we exist to glorify God.

[01:37:34;05 - 01:37:37;01]
Our number one goal every day should be to please the Lord.

[01:37:38;56 - 01:37:48;23]
And he's told us what's gonna happen so we can please him and so we can glorify him. So why would we not wanna study prophecy?

[01:37:52;08 - 01:37:52;58]
I'm gonna tell you what.

[01:37:55;39 - 01:37:59;37]
We get out of chapter three, chapter four and chapter five

[01:38:01;09 - 01:38:07;43]
and chapter six, we get into seven through 12. We're gonna be in prophecy every week.

[01:38:10;05 - 01:38:11;52]
I'm telling you, it's some neat stuff.

[01:38:15;01 - 01:38:19;10]
And it was all recorded and written down

[01:38:20;11 - 01:38:24;14]
approximately 600 years before Jesus was born.

[01:38:27;55 - 01:38:31;15]
Well, how do we know if it's true? Well, just look at history.

[01:38:33;06 - 01:38:36;47]
Let me ask you a question. If you were to study the history books,

[01:38:39;10 - 01:38:44;56]
would you agree that the history books would say there was an empire Babylon

[01:38:46;04 - 01:38:47;51]
and the key ruler was Nebuchadnezzar?

[01:38:50;45 - 01:38:54;08]
Do you think the history books would say there was a Medo-Persian empire?

[01:38:56;03 - 01:39:26;23]
Now, some liberal scholars tried to divide that in two, said there was a Median empire and there was a Persian empire, separate, but that's not what history shows. History showed it was a Medo-Persian empire. And then Greek, every history book knows about Alexander the Great and the Grecian empire.

[01:39:30;39 - 01:39:36;15]
But next came the legs of iron.

[01:39:38;00 - 01:39:46;04]
Look at verse 33, chapter two, verse 33. Its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.

[01:39:49;36 - 01:39:50;47]
Now look at verse 40.

[01:39:54;22 - 01:39:57;27]
Then Daniel said to Nebuchadnezzar, there's gonna be a fourth kingdom.

[01:40:00;59 - 01:40:03;10]
It'll be as strong as iron.

[01:40:05;16 - 01:40:13;39]
In as much as iron crushes, shatters all things, so like iron that breaks in pieces, it will crush and break all these in pieces.

[01:40:17;17 - 01:40:18;47]
Well, this is the Roman empire.

[01:40:20;58 - 01:40:26;48]
This is the empire that was in power when Jesus was born

[01:40:28;42 - 01:40:34;59]
and when Jesus was crucified. (Congregation Laughing)

[01:40:37;00 - 01:40:43;10]
Rome became a world power when they won the battle of Carthage. It's a historical fact.

[01:40:45;40 - 01:40:47;58]
The Roman legions were fierce warriors.

[01:40:51;18 - 01:40:58;51]
I think that's why God revealed Rome by the two legs of iron.

[01:41:01;45 - 01:41:09;59]
The Roman empire had a Western division centered in Roman and Eastern division centered in Constantinople or modern day Istanbul.

[01:41:12;22 - 01:41:17;45]
This empire was not replaced by another great world empire, just crumble from the inside.

[01:41:21;25 - 01:41:25;44]
So now here's what Daniel said to Nebuchadnezzar, here's what Daniel's saying to us tonight.

[01:41:27;39 - 01:41:29;10]
You could trust God's word.

[01:41:31;52 - 01:41:40;07]
God said there's gonna be four major world empires and there was and has been four major world empires.

[01:41:43;23 - 01:41:46;04]
Now Hitler wanted to have his own world empire, right?

[01:41:47;32 - 01:41:51;18]
He wanted to have a world empire and to rule for a thousand years.

[01:41:54;57 - 01:41:56;36]
God put a stop to that, didn't he?

[01:42:01;12 - 01:42:08;06]
Well, what about Russia? Will they be a world empire? No, no, they will not.

[01:42:10;43 - 01:42:16;39]
There's not gonna be another great empire until Christ comes, the stone.

[01:42:23;51 - 01:42:27;37]
So are you sure about that pastor? As sure as I am of the word of God.

[01:42:30;34 - 01:42:41;57]
Notice there were five terms utilized in this verse, verse 40 that emphasize the power of the Roman empire.

[01:42:44;18 - 01:42:50;58]
Notice crushes, shatters, breaks in pieces, crush and break.

[01:42:55;48 - 01:43:03;10]
See, I bought a book by John Lennox, titled Against the Flow,

[01:43:05;10 - 01:43:08;06]
and it's a verse by verse study of Daniel.

[01:43:09;33 - 01:43:12;39]
I wanna show you something he said, if I can find it.

[01:43:21;41 - 01:43:25;18]
(Pages Rustling) Well, you might know I can't find it.

[01:43:28;11 - 01:43:30;31]
But here's what Lennox said.

[01:43:32;46 - 01:43:35;37]
He said these descriptions of these empires

[01:43:38;17 - 01:43:49;35]
are not just about timing and stuff like that. These descriptions reveal the character and the nature of those empires.

[01:43:51;39 - 01:44:01;55]
(Pages Rustling) Now, what we've studied tonight, these various four empires and their metaphors that explain them,

[01:44:03;23 - 01:44:06;27]
we're gonna revisit that later on in Daniel.

[01:44:08;39 - 01:44:14;11]
It's like adding layers to prophetic truth.

[01:44:15;38 - 01:44:18;19]
And it'll become clearer for you later on.

[01:44:21;42 - 01:44:25;38]
(Pages Rustling) All right.

[01:44:27;33 - 01:44:40;13]
Rome ruled the nations with an iron hand and like a huge iron club shattered all who resisted its will.

[01:44:43;32 - 01:44:48;47]
The Roman empire dominated the world from the defeat of Carthage in 146 BC

[01:44:50;50 - 01:45:00;52]
to the division of the East and West empires in AD 395, approximately 500 years, a 500 year empire.

[01:45:02;36 - 01:45:12;29]
The last Roman emperor ruled in the West until AD 476, that's Rome, and the Eastern division Constantinople

[01:45:14;44 - 01:45:21;48]
or Istanbul, the Eastern division of the empire continued until about AD 1453.

[01:45:27;19 - 01:45:29;34]
Now, look at verses 41 to 43.

[01:45:31;30 - 01:45:36;49]
"In that you saw the feet and toes, partly of potters, clay, and partly of iron,

[01:45:38;04 - 01:45:39;52]
it will be a divided kingdom."

[01:45:41;49 - 01:45:44;41]
Now, here's why I want you to understand about this statue.

[01:45:46;06 - 01:45:48;15]
It's a picture of instability.

[01:45:51;41 - 01:45:52;24]
Instability.

[01:45:55;34 - 01:45:59;13]
If you look at this picture of this statue,

[01:46:01;28 - 01:46:02;22]
it's top heavy.

[01:46:05;23 - 01:46:05;53]
Don't fall.

[01:46:07;49 - 01:46:09;05]
Especially when you look at the feet.

[01:46:11;05 - 01:46:16;47]
"In that you saw the feet and toes, partly of potters, clay, and partly of iron." Let me ask you a question.

[01:46:19;00 - 01:46:22;11]
Does iron and clay adhere to each other?

[01:46:23;59 - 01:46:26;18]
No, I do not.

[01:46:27;50 - 01:46:29;12]
It's very brittle.

[01:46:32;16 - 01:46:48;41]
In that you see the feet and toes, partly of potters, clay, partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom, but it will have in it the toughness of iron as much as you saw the iron mixed with common clay. As the toes of the feet, how many toes were there?

[01:46:49;55 - 01:46:50;07]
10.

[01:46:51;33 - 01:46:54;33]
That's gonna become very important in our future study.

[01:46:56;25 - 01:47:04;34]
As the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of pottery, so some of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be brittle.

[01:47:09;35 - 01:47:21;33]
"And in that you saw the iron mixed with common clay, they will combine with one another in the seed of men, but they will not adhere to one another, even as iron does not combine with pottery."

[01:47:24;44 - 01:47:27;29]
So what is the Lord revealing to us?

[01:47:29;01 - 01:47:31;12]
He's revealing to us not only

[01:47:32;48 - 01:47:34;59]
that these empires will exist,

[01:47:37;31 - 01:47:44;49]
not only looking back historically, revealing to us how long they lasted,

[01:47:46;14 - 01:47:50;27]
but he's revealing to us the character and nature of those empires.

[01:47:52;08 - 01:48:06;38]
The empire that began as iron regressed to a state of clay mixed with iron.

[01:48:10;49 - 01:48:14;42]
This speaks of progressive weakness and deterioration. Can I tell you this?

[01:48:19;00 - 01:48:22;56]
This weakness and deterioration that you see in this statue

[01:48:24;44 - 01:48:26;54]
mirrors what's happening in the world today.

[01:48:30;00 - 01:48:31;29]
Things are going downhill.

[01:48:46;03 - 01:48:54;54]
Though Rome succeeded in conquering a lot of territory, a lot of cities, a lot of nations,

[01:48:58;06 - 01:49:01;42]
they could never unite the people to form a united empire.

[01:49:03;10 - 01:49:05;12]
They couldn't do it.

[01:49:07;17 - 01:49:10;25]
But don't miss the picture of God granted to Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel.

[01:49:12;00 - 01:49:17;46]
It's a sweeping picture of Gentile world powers.

[01:49:24;48 - 01:49:26;36]
Gentile power will not last forever.

[01:49:28;06 - 01:49:29;55]
Let me read you something Lennox said.

[01:49:45;36 - 01:49:50;30]
Oh yeah, here it is.

[01:49:54;28 - 01:49:56;04]
In his Olivet Discourse,

[01:49:57;08 - 01:49:59;47]
which we'll be studying now beginning Sunday,

[01:50:02;27 - 01:50:14;32]
in his Olivet Discourse, Jesus subsequently explains in detail the implications of the parable that he's referring to. He taught his disciples that Jerusalem would be destroyed.

[01:50:16;51 - 01:50:19;20]
An event that occurred in AD 70,

[01:50:21;58 - 01:50:25;23]
when the Romans sacked Jerusalem with massive violence.

[01:50:27;42 - 01:50:32;31]
He further predicted of the nation of Israel in Luke 21 verse 24.

[01:50:34;06 - 01:50:45;19]
They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all the nations and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

[01:50:47;13 - 01:51:01;14]
Let me tell you, in prophetic language, Jerusalem is a center. You watch what's happening in Jerusalem and Israel and I'll give you a clue of what's happening prophetically in the world.

[01:51:07;36 - 01:51:11;24]
Jesus said in Jerusalem, be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles.

[01:51:12;29 - 01:51:17;41]
These are four Gentile empires that we've looked at tonight.

[01:51:20;00 - 01:51:25;16]
Until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. When will the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled?

[01:51:27;14 - 01:51:28;38]
When Jesus comes again.

[01:51:33;36 - 01:51:41;51]
Lennox said it is clear from this that the times of the Gentile, the time of Gentile world domination would come to an end.

[01:51:43;45 - 01:51:46;21]
Its end would be connected with the return of Christ.

[01:51:48;04 - 01:51:50;37]
In Luke 21, 25 to 28,

[01:51:52;52 - 01:52:06;24]
Jesus said, and there will be signs in sun and moon and stars and on the earth distress of nations and perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people feigning with fear, with foreboding of what is coming on the world.

[01:52:08;10 - 01:52:10;39]
For the powers of the heavens will be shaken

[01:52:12;14 - 01:52:16;49]
and then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

[01:52:17;58 - 01:52:24;01]
Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your head because your redemption is drawing near.

[01:52:28;57 - 01:52:40;00]
putting all the above information together, it seems reasonable to conclude that it gives us a visual timeline

[01:52:41;22 - 01:52:43;08]
of the times of the Gentiles.

[01:52:44;58 - 01:52:49;21]
Right up to the moment when Christ the stone returns to set up his kingdom.

[01:52:51;08 - 01:52:58;45]
Daniel and the Lord Jesus are surely referring to something still future to our time that will occur at Christ's second coming.

[01:53:02;58 - 01:53:05;49]
All right, let's look at the stone, page seven,

[01:53:06;49 - 01:53:08;25]
the stone, boy, I love this part.

[01:53:11;18 - 01:53:15;15]
I may have to get back some of that time I've been given to you the last few weeks.

[01:53:17;17 - 01:53:20;05]
Verse 44 and 45, look at it.

[01:53:21;13 - 01:53:23;01]
In the days of those Kings,

[01:53:24;58 - 01:53:27;18]
the God of heaven will set up a kingdom

[01:53:29;06 - 01:53:30;57]
which will never be destroyed.

[01:53:32;36 - 01:53:35;26]
And that kingdom will not be left for another people.

[01:53:37;05 - 01:53:41;48]
It will crush and put to an end all these kingdoms.

[01:53:44;45 - 01:53:49;56]
Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome,

[01:53:53;11 - 01:53:56;01]
but it will itself endure forever.

[01:53:57;40 - 01:54:15;38]
In as much as you saw that a stone was cut out of a mountain without hands and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and gold, the great God has made known to the King what will take place in the future. So the dream is true and its interpretation is trustworthy.

[01:54:20;33 - 01:54:27;47]
Now several features of the stone I want to talk about. Number one, who or what is this stone?

[01:54:29;53 - 01:54:32;50]
Well, this stone is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ.

[01:54:35;39 - 01:54:38;27]
Jesus said in Matthew 21, verse 42,

[01:54:39;43 - 01:54:41;25]
did you never read in the scriptures

[01:54:43;10 - 01:54:45;46]
the stone which the builders rejected,

[01:54:47;13 - 01:54:54;00]
this became the chief cornerstone. This came about from the Lord and it is marvelous in her eyes.

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Jesus is the stone that's been cut out without hands.

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That means it's supernatural.

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Nobody cut that stone out of a mountain.

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The sovereign God is going to install his son King of Kings and Lord of Lords on this earth for a thousand years.

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You read about the millennial kingdom in Revelation chapter 20.

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Number two, what does a stone do?

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It crushes all Gentile world powers.

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The Bible says in Revelation 11.15, then the seventh angel sounded and there were loud voices in heaven saying the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ and he will reign forever and ever.

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You think we got something to look forward to as believers?

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Man, don't get discouraged and depressed

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by this world that's in a stage of deterioration.

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Keep your eyes on Jesus.

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Love him with all your heart. Dig into the word of God, pray, serve him with everything you can, share the gospel with as many people as you can.

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So where does a stone strike? This is interesting. Where does a stone strike?

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Well, the Bible says in verse 34 that it strikes the statue on its feet of iron and clay

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where the 10 toes are.

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Our Lord will establish his kingdom during the last days revived Roman empire.

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That's the 10 toes.

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You know, it's interesting.

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When, is Angela Merkel still the leader of Germany or is there another one?

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Anyway, she said a few years ago about the European Union.

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She said there are strong nations with strong economies and there are weak nations with weak economies in the European Union

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and the strong nations have to take care of the weak nations. That's the brittle, it's brittle.

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You get down to the feet of the toe, it's brittle.

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So this final empire will consist of 10 kingdoms or nations ruling jointly at the time of Christ's return.

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John the apostle also spoke of this eschatological

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the 10 kingdom Confederacy in Revelation 13.1.

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Now here's the final question. Why does a stone strike?

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Why does a stone cut out without hands? Why does it strike this colossal statue?

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Because God's kingdom will be set up.

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David's rightful king will assume the throne and he will rule the world for a thousand years.

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His will be a kingdom. Is that not, let me ask you a question.

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You say, pastor, you're taking liberties here. No, I'm not taking liberty because I'm telling you the covenant with David was that he would have someone on the throne forever.

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I can tell you David's not alive,

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but Jesus is.

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And Jesus is from the tribe of Judah.

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And listen, the kingdom of God will fill the earth and it will endure forever. Aren't you glad of that?

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Please put a smile on your face.

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Look at Daniel chapter seven verse 13, 14. We'll get to that later, but I just wanted to share it with you.

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Daniel said, I kept looking in the night visions

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and behold with the clouds of heaven, one like a son of man was coming. And he came up to the ancient of days and was presented before. So you got Jesus, the son of God coming to God the father, the ancient of days, verse 14. And to him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom

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that all the people's nations and men of every language might serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away. And his kingdom is one which will not be destroyed.

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Look at verses 46 to 49.

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This is the king's response

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to what he just witnessed through Daniel revealing both the dream and the interpretation.

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Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face and did homage to Daniel

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and gave orders to present to him an offering and a fragrant incense.

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Verse 47, the king answered Daniel and said, surely you're God. Look at this, this is a pagan king.

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A pagan king who worshiped multiple gods.

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A polytheist. Surely your God is a God of gods

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and a Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries. Since you've been able to reveal this mystery,

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then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts and he made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon

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and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon.

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And Daniel made a request of the king and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. That's the Babylonian names for Daniel's three friends. Made a request to the king and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego over the administration of the province of Babylon while Daniel was at the king's court. So evidently Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego served out in the province somewhere, maybe in other locales in Babylon.

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But Daniel stayed at the king's court. He wasn't gonna let Daniel get too far away.

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Daniel was too valuable to him.

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Shadrach's response) Let me read to you what Lennox said about the response of Nebuchadnezzar.

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Nebuchadnezzar was facing precisely that. God had found him.

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Of that there was no doubt. It also dawned on him that there were people in his realm like Daniel, people he had thought were way below him in status and power, who nevertheless knew about this other world.

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They had contact with it and enjoyed a wisdom and authority beyond anything that Nebuchadnezzar or his highly paid advisors knew. His spontaneous reaction was to fall down and worship Daniel.

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(Coughing)

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He said, "This section of Daniel has punctured the view

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that this world is all there is.

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Daniel and now Nebuchadnezzar claim that there is a God who reveals secrets

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and the secret that was revealed can be checked from our vantage point in history."

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Daniel predicted there would be four consecutive empires.

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And I'm telling you, he nailed it.

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He nailed it.

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Nostradamus and Gene Dixon and all these other pseudo

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soothsayers only could wish and dream that they could be 100% accurate like Daniel.

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The Bible says in a back at 214

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that a day is coming when the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

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Don't you look forward to that day.

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The good news, you and I can be a part of that kingdom right now, the spiritual kingdom right now.

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I trust that everybody within the sound of my voice, I trust that you have repented of your sin and placed your faith in Jesus as your Savior and your Lord. If you're gonna be sure about something, you make sure you're sure about that.

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And live every single day of your life under the lordship of Christ.

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The Bible says in Romans 14.9

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that Jesus is Lord both of the dead and of the living. He's Lord, boss, master.

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Live under his lordship.

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I promise you this, at the end of every day when you live under his lordship, you'll never regret one minute of living under his lordship. Hey, thank you for being here today.

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And this is gonna be good now, I'm telling you. And Sunday, beginning Sunday,

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you call people, you invite people, you tell them we're gonna look at two chapters in the Bible where Jesus tells us about the end of the world, the perfect ending.

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Let's pray. Let's pray, Father.

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I am so thankful that you chose Daniel to be a prophet.

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And you gave him the assignment of writing the book of Daniel.

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Thank you, Father, that you reveal the secret

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of Nebuchadnezzar's dream and the interpretation of that dream to Daniel.

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We're so thankful that he recorded that.

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Lord, we praise you that your prophetic truth is real.

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It's accurate.

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Thank you that you've given us a Bible

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that is truth without mixture of error.

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And I pray we would cherish it, we read it,

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and we would let it read us.

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Lord, we love you.

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Lord Jesus, we look forward to the time

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when the glory of the Lord covers the earth like the water covers the sea.

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We love you, in Jesus' name, amen. Thank you.