Daniel chapter 10. As you're turning there, I'd like to thank Brother Barney for filling in in my absence last week. And I listened to the message and really enjoyed it. Makes you look forward to the rapture, doesn't it? And so that's coming, hopefully, before too long. Daniel chapter 10, though, as we continue our study of the book of Daniel, this is sort of a difficult passage in ways, and yet it's an encouraging passage as we see some things that happen behind the scenes. Follow in your Bibles as we read, beginning in Daniel chapter 10, verse 1. In the third year of Cyrus, king of Persia, a thing was revealed unto Daniel, whose name was called Belteshazzar. And the thing was true, but the time appointed was long. And he understood the thing and had understanding of the vision. In those days, I, Daniel, was mourning three full weeks. I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled. And in the four and twentieth day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river, which is Hadekel, or the Tigris, Then I lifted up mine eyes and looked, and behold, a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with gold of Euphaz, his body also like a burl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like the color of polished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude. And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, for the men that were with me saw not the vision, but a great quaking fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves. Therefore, I was left alone and saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me, and my countenance was turned unto me and to corruption, and I retained no strength. And I heard the voice of the words, and when I heard the voice of the words, then was I in deep sleep and won my face, and my face toward the ground. And behold, a hand touched me. which set me upon my knees and upon the palms of my hands. And he said unto me, O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, I speak unto thee, stand upright, for unto thee I am now come. And when he had spoken the word unto me, I stood trembling. Then he said unto me, Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. But the prince of the king of Persia withstood me one and twenty days. But lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, and remained there with the kings of Persia. Now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days, for yet the vision is for many days. And when he had spoken such words unto me, I set my face toward the ground, and I became dumb. And behold, one like the similitude of the sons of men touched my lips. Then I opened my mouth and spake and said unto him that stood before me, O my Lord, by the vision and the sorrows are turned upon me, and I have retained no strength. For now can the servant of this my Lord talk with this my Lord, for as for me straightway there remaineth no strength in me, neither is there breath left in me. Then there came again and touched me a man, one like the appearance of a man, he strengthened me and said, oh man, great love, fear not, peace be upon thee, and be strong, yea, be strong. And I was strengthened. And said, let my Lord speak, for thou hast strengthened me. Then he, whereupon I come upon thee. And now will I return and fight, and the prince of Persia, and gone forth, lo, the prince of Grecia shall come. And I will show thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth. And there is none that holdeth me in these things, except Michael your prince." Let's pray. Father, thank you for the reading of your word. Lord, I'm sorry I had some trouble reading. My eyes are a little bit out of focus this morning, and so I just pray that you might help through this message. And may your word go forth clearly and with power. And Lord, I just ask that you would use the word to teach us things that we need to learn, that we as Christians might be strong in knowing that there is a battle raging. Sometimes we're not aware of that. But it is raging. And Lord, I pray that we might understand we're on the victor's side, and that we might understand we're in the war. And because of that, Lord, we won't become victims of Satan who tries to do us in. So give enablement to bring the message, and we'll thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. Our world today is falling apart, as you know, and it's full of deception, lying, scheming, selfishness, greed, immorality, all kinds of wickedness, and blasphemy against God. It sometimes seems as if Satan and his demons are winning and Jesus and his followers are losing. We feel like the psalmist in Psalm 73. I want you to turn there with me, because these are interesting words that the Lord gives us. And the psalmist felt that he was sort of on the losing side, even though he was trying his best to be what God wanted him to be. And it says in verse 2, But as for me, my feet were almost gone, my steps had well nigh slipped. For I was envious of the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no bands in their death, but their strength is firm. And they are not in trouble as other men, neither are they plagued like other men. Therefore, pride compassed them about as a chain, violence covereth them as a garment. Their eyes stand out with fatness. They have more than heart could wish. They are corrupt and speak wickedly concerning oppression. They speak loftily. They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth. Therefore His people return hither, and waters of a full cup are wrung out of them. And they say, How doth God know? And is there knowledge in the Most High? Behold, these are ungodly who prosper in the world. They increase in riches. Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain. I have washed my hands in innocency. He's saying this, when I look all around me and see everybody, these wicked people and how they're prospering, seems like they have everything they want. They're prospering. And I've been doing my best to serve God, and it seems like it's all in vain. They seem to be winning, and I seem to be losing. And then he has a change, because he says he went into the sanctuary of the Lord. He went into the sanctuary of God, and he says this, Verse 17, until I went into the sanctuary of God, then I understood their end. Surely Thou did set them in slippery places. Thou castest them down into destruction. How are they brought into desolation as in a moment? They are utterly consumed with terrors. As a dream, when one awaketh, O Lord, when Thou awakest, Thou shalt despise their image. Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins. So foolish was I and ignorant. I was as a beast before thee." He said, God, when I realized how I was feeling, and I was envious of the wicked, how foolish was I. Because it seems like they are prospering, but now I see their end. And their end is they're not going to prosper. In a moment, they're going to be taken out of this world. It reminds us of Luke 16. The rich man fared sumptuously every day, and then he died. And he lifted up his eyes in torment. That is not an envious position to be in. I don't want to be in that position. I thank the Lord that I know Jesus. He's my Savior, and He's going to take care of me. And tough times might come. But I can trust Him through all that. So when you feel discouraged about what you see, it's a good time to be reminded about what you don't see. And that's exactly what Daniel chapter 10 does for us. Let's look at Daniel chapter 10. We'll begin talking about the man, Daniel. The man Daniel, we see it in verses one through four. He was greatly loved by God. Now we found that in chapter nine, verse 23, it says, thou art greatly beloved. In chapter 10 that we just read, verse 11, it says, you are a man greatly beloved. And chapter 10, verse 19, he says, a man greatly beloved. God gets the message across to Daniel that I love you. By the way, the Lord tells us the same thing. He loves us as much as he loves his own son. So he assures us that he loves us. So the man Daniel was loved by God. Why did God love him? Well, he was faithful. He was a man who trusted God in the midst of trials. He'd been faithful through times of persecution. Remember even when he knew he was gonna be cast into the den of lions, he was faithful. And God loves people who do that. But the Bible says because we're in Jesus Christ, the Lord loves us all the time regardless. Even when we fail, He still loves us. And Romans chapter 8 says, nothing can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. So we are like Daniel, we're greatly loved. Also, he was aged. That means he had a lot of age on him. I mean, if he was taken into captivity at 15 years old, at least 70 years have gone past that, so he is 85 to 90 years old, depending on how old he was when he went into captivity. So he's a man up in years. He was also probably a retired man. Now, why do I say that? Because it says in Daniel 1, verse 21, Daniel continued even to the first year of Cyrus, of King Cyrus. He continued into the first year of King Cyrus, continued as what? Continued as being one of the leaders in the government, as being promoted to a place of prominence. And he continued that way through different kings and even to the first year of King Cyrus. But this passage says it's the third year of King Cyrus. Now, I don't know, but maybe Daniel has retired from official service. Maybe he's like some of you. He's retired. But one thing about Daniel was he wasn't retired from serving God. And you can never retire from serving God. You might retire from an occupation, but you shouldn't retire from serving God. Retirement should give you some more time to serve God. How did Daniel use that time? He used it by praying. and he was really concerned about his people. So he was probably retired, but we find also he was mourning. Do you know people who've served the Lord a long time can go through times of mourning and discouragement? Even though you've been a wonderful saint of God and stayed on top of everything and nothing seems to get you down, there are times that you can go through mourning. Now we wonder what Daniel was mourning about. And I don't know for sure. It doesn't tell us. But he could be mourning about the fact that he was in Babylon after all these years. He's still in Babylon. He didn't go back with the captives under the first year of Cyrus who went back to Israel. He didn't go back probably because official duties, maybe because of his age. He was mourning probably because he wasn't there. Now what time of year was it? It was the first month. What happened on the 14th day of the first month? The Passover. Seven days after that, the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And now it tells it's in the 24th day. So he's already missed Passover again. He's missed the Feast of Unleavened Bread again. And he's probably a little bit down because of that. But maybe if that's not it, maybe it's because that he was discouraged because of the response of the people. You see, as our brother Cyrus said, all of God's people, the Jews, can go back and you can rebuild your temple. Well, we read in Ezra 2, verse 64, that only 42,360 people went back. Now, the Israelites had been in Babylon for 70 years. And as they populated in Babylon for 70 years, surely there were a whole lot more. Some estimate there might have been a million Jews, and only 42,360 of them went back. I imagine that troubled Daniel. I mean, you have the opportunity to go back to your homeland. You have an opportunity to go back and rebuild the temple, and you're going to be helped with that by the king and all his help. Why don't you go back?" But they got settled down in Babylon. They probably had homes there. They may have had jobs there. Their kids had grown up there. They don't want to uproot and go back to Israel. It's not that important to them anymore. And Daniel was probably mourning because of that. And maybe he was mourning because of the fact, as it seems to insinuate later, and that is that he didn't understand all that was ahead for the children of Israel. God had told him some things, but he didn't understand it all, and he was troubled about it, what his people were going to go through. But anyway, he was troubled, he was mourning, but in the time of mourning, he knew what to do, and that is he prayed. You know, a lot of times we go through troubles, and we're really upset, and we're really discouraged, and we say something like, oh, finally, I just had to pray. Finally, just had to pray. should have prayed to the very beginning of it. And that's what Daniel did. He prayed while he was mourning. He was praying to the Lord. And the Bible says he fasted and he prayed. He did probably fast completely and gave up everything, but the pleasant things he didn't take, the wine he did not drink, and he probably was down to just vegetables and water and maybe just bread and water. He gave up some things. Fasting is not all the time giving up everything of your food, but it's giving up certain things. But that showed his seriousness about this. And he says, I'm going to do this for three weeks, and I'm just going to plead to God. And so Daniel was praying. He was a man of God. But then we go from the man Daniel to the Son of God. And we see that beginning in verse Verse four, and in the four and 20th day of the first month, I was by the side of the great river, which is a deckle, which is Tigris. Then I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, a certain man clothed in linen whose loins were girded with fine gold of Euphrates. So Daniel saw a vision. Tells us in verse 7 that it was a vision. And so what happened was Daniel found it true what God said later in James chapter 4 verse 8. Draw nigh to God and He'll draw nigh to you. Sometimes we don't understand enough about Jesus because we don't draw close to Jesus. But Daniel did. For three weeks, he prayed and he agonized before the Lord, and he sincerely sought the Lord, and lo and behold, he sees the Lord. He was a prophet, and God allowed him to see the Lord, and I believe it was the Lord. We'll show that in a minute, but let's look at some of the details about who he saw. He says it was a certain man. Now, because of the description, I believe it wasn't just a man. It wasn't, I don't believe it was just an angel. Now some commentators say it was an angel, probably Gabriel. But it seems like this is Jesus, the pre-incarnate Christ. Now pre-incarnate means before his incarnation. Incarnation means in the flesh. And so, I know in Bible study, on Wednesday night, one time I described it, incarnation, you know, chili con carne, what is that? That's chili with meat. And so, Jesus was in the flesh, in the meat. He was in the flesh, but this is before he became in the flesh. He was pre-incarnate, and I believe this is the pre-incarnate Christ talking to, appearing to Daniel. Let's notice some things about him. He was clothed in linen down to the feet. The Bible says he had his loins go about with fine gold. His body was like burl. I looked that up and couldn't get a real hold of what burl actually means or what color it was. Some said blue, some said like topaz, some said it was like transparent. We're not real sure. But his body was like burl. His face as the appearance of lightning, so very bright, the appearance of lightning, his face. I mean, when you saw him, It got your attention. His face was the appearance of lightning. His eyes were as a lamp of fire. And then it says, His arms and feet like polished brass. So His arms and His feet, brass. Brass sometimes speaks in the Bible of judgment. And so this is the judge. If this is Jesus, we know that He's the judge, because the Bible tells us that. And so then it says, His voice is the voice of a multitude. So it was the voice of a whole bunch of people talking, very loud, very noticeable, his voice as the voice of a multitude. Now, others with him saw this vision, but they didn't see the vision. They knew something was happening. They quaked with fear. And because of that, they ran, they trembled, and they ran, get out of this. But the prophet Daniel actually saw the vision. It reminds us of Paul. You remember when he was a Saul, and he was on the road to arrest people, and the Lord struck him down, and those with him didn't see what he saw, but he saw it. He saw the Lord. He says, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. And so this is the one he sees, his voice as the voice of a multitude. The Bible says Daniel's commonness was turned into corruption. and he retained no strength. He became very weak. He fell in a deep sleep onto the ground. His face toward the ground, just fell on his face toward the ground, like he was sound asleep. It's had such effect upon him. You know, sometimes people say, when I see Jesus, we're just gonna have a great conversation. I'm not so sure that's gonna work exactly that way. When we see Jesus, we'll probably just fall on our face. We say, when I see Jesus, I'm gonna ask Him about this. When you get to heaven, those questions you had won't mean anything. It'll be worth it all when we see Jesus. The sufferings this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. So when we see Jesus, we will be humbled just like Daniel was humbled. It says, a certain man said unto him, this certain man that's talking to him, which I believe was Jesus, said unto him, verse 12, fear not. Now, to me, that just reminds me of another occurrence in the Bible when someone saw Jesus, and we know it was Jesus, and that was John, the apostle. And we find in the book of Revelation, if you want to turn there to Revelation 1, beginning in verse 13, and notice the similarities of what we see that Daniel saw. In Revelation 1, verse 13, he was clothed in a garment down to his feet. The one Daniel saw was clothed in linen. He was girt about the chest with a golden girdle. The one Daniel saw was girt about with a golden girdle. His head and his hair were white like wool, white as snow. Daniel's vision does not give that detail, but John's did. His eyes as a flame of fire. Sounds just like Daniel's vision, doesn't it? Feet likened to brass burned in a furnace. What did it say? His arms and his feet were of brass. This is Jesus. His voice like the sound of many waters. Have any of you ever been to Niagara Falls? My wife and I went there years ago. I'll tell you, just to be there at Niagara Falls and hear that noise of those many waters. It's really something. I think that's just something like when Jesus speaks. It's so commanding. And he says, the sound of many waters. His countenance as the sun shining in his strength. In Daniels, it says, his face like lightning. And here, his countenance, his face as a sun shining in his strength. When John saw him, what did he do? He fell at his feet as dead. When Daniel saw him, what did he do? He lost all strength. He fell on his face, and he couldn't even speak. Sounds like John. Sounds like Jesus. When John saw him, he fell at his feet, and so did Daniel. And he said to John, Fear not. What did that being say to Daniel? Fear not. You know, Jesus, the sight of Jesus might be fearful, and His greatness might humble us, but the Lord says we don't have any reason to fear. Because He's not just God, He's our Savior. He's not just the judge, He took our judgment. He loves us, and there's no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. And so this is a great comparison, I believe, between who Daniel saw and who John saw. And so my conclusion is, who Daniel saw and is talking to is the pre-incarnate Christ. He's the Son of God. Now, it reminds me of something that I've mentioned just a little bit, and that is the closer you get to Jesus, the less you feel about yourself, the less proud you are of yourself. What did Daniel say? He says, I became corrupted when I saw Jesus. Remember what Isaiah said? I saw the Lord high and lifted up. His train filled the temple. And he said, woe is me. And when you get close to Jesus, there won't be any pride. If you find a person who claims to really love Jesus and really, really close to Jesus, and you watch them and they're very proudful, you can know this, it's not true what they told you. Because when you get close to Jesus, you become humble. You are not proud. How could you be proud when you're standing in the presence of a holy God? And so we learned that from Daniel and his experience with this being, which I believe is Christ. Now, we go on to the next part of the passage and we see something taking place. You remember I said sometimes we don't understand what's going on behind the scenes, but Daniel helps us to understand that. And when Daniel was praying, some things were happening behind the scenes. And what was happening was spiritual conflict, which Daniel could not see. and which we cannot see. If we saw things today as God sees it, maybe there would be some evil angels outside. Maybe there's some came through the door and just watching. I don't know. But I know this, the devil doesn't want anybody here to be saved. He wants you to go to hell. And he doesn't want you to be saved. So he or his demons, one, they're interested in you and they don't want you to be saved. And also they don't want you to be successful as a Christian. And so the devil's forces are active today, but they were active back then. Let's look at it. Daniel was told to get up and get ready to hear what was said to him. And first of all, he got up on his hands, and remember, he fell on his face. Then he got up on his hands and knees, and the Lord touched him and says, now, straighten up, stand on your feet. And he stood on his feet, and he was very weak. He was trembling. He stood on his feet, and the Lord said, I'm gonna tell you about some things that are gonna happen in the years to come. In verses, chapter 11 and chapter 12, we'll find out about that. But here we see that Daniel was told not to fear, that his prayer had been heard. You remember he was fasted and prayed for 21 days, and God says this, your prayer was heard on day one. That's encouraging. Because sometimes you've prayed for things for a long time, years and years maybe. And it's like you're just trying to get the Lord to hear. I guarantee you, he heard you the first time you prayed. He heard you. And delay is not always bad. Delay is God's, it means God's doing something. You see, when you ask for something for your life, you'd have to understand that when God intervenes and does something for you, it's gonna involve a whole lot of other people. And so God's working with this one and that one and this one and that one, and he's working with a plan that he has, and God knows what's best, and he can delay your answer sometimes, but it's always for a purpose. And so God tells Daniel, Jesus tells Daniel, look, I heard you the first day. And from the first day, I was sent for the answer. But when I began to come for the answer, I faced conflict. And that was the prince of Persia met me. Look at verse 13. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me 21 and 20 days. That's how long he'd been praying. And lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, and I remained there with the kings of Persia. Now, we have two men in our church named Michael. I don't think they were named after Michael. At least they're not angels. Now, maybe their parent did name them after Michael the angel. That would be an honor. But I love Michael, Michael. I call him Michael Mike. But they're not angels. But here's one who is. Michael the angel. Now, before we get to Michael the angel, let's talk about the Prince of Persia. Now, who was the Prince of Persia? I believe that it was one of the fallen angels. Remember we talked about a couple Sundays ago? The fallen angels that follow the devil, they fell with him from heaven when he sinned, and they follow him, and they do his command, and he has regiment, he has them divided up into certain areas, and he has chief ones doing chief things, and some of them are assigned to nations. I believe they're evil angels or angel assigned to Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, all those countries and the United States of America. The devil wants to destroy us. And so behind the scenes, there is spiritual conflict. And when we as Christians pray, we're asking the Lord to stop those evil forces. and to bring them under control and don't let them do what they want to do, and that is to destroy this country that has been used of the Lord so much to take the gospel around the world. And so Satan's opposed to our country, and there are probably evil angels helping him. But I thank the Lord that he also has some good angels who are helping. But here we find Christ, I believe, coming to answer this prayer, And this prince of Persia steps in the way. He seems to be there to stop what God's doing. Maybe he's there with a real interest in the children of Israel because he hates the children of Israel because it's through them that the Son of God's going to come and be the Savior of the world. That hasn't happened yet at this time, but they know something's coming. And so they're fighting the children of Israel. They know these are God's people. And when God decides He's going to bless the children of Israel by having Cyrus send them away, they're really upset about that. They don't want any more to go, and they want to do everything they can in Jerusalem to stop it. You remember it took, I think, about seven months to clear all the debris up when they got there in the book of Ezra. And then they started building, and then the enemies came in, and they had to stop building. Maybe Daniel, in the position he had been in, and knew all these reports, maybe he knew about that. Maybe that's one reason he was mourning. But he knew that something was happening, and the devils know that, the angels know, the evil angels know that. They know they've stopped the work in Jerusalem. And they're going to do all they can to keep God from doing something, so they actually fight against the pre-incarnate Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. Spiritual conflict in the heavenlies that we can't see. Now, we might ask, is it reasonable? And I read some commentators who said this. Surely, God would not let an evil angel stop him. Well, let me ask you something. If he did, it would only be by his permission. Because let me remind you something. The devil and his evil angels have been fighting against God since Satan, Lucifer, fell from heaven. It's been a long time. And they're still fighting against God. Could God just destroy them? Sure he could. but he lets it go on, he controls it, he intervenes, but he lets them fight against him. You know, the devil doesn't give up, he's not intimidated. It was the devil himself, Satan himself, who attacked Jesus when he was tempted in the wilderness. And he tried his best to get Jesus to fail, but he didn't. And so he was against, it was the devil himself that put in the mind of Judas to betray Jesus. It was the devil in himself that was behind the Roman soldiers and those that turned against Jesus and said, crucify him. And God let it happen. God let him be put to death, but God had a purpose. God had a plan. So when we see that one of the forces of Satan attacking Jesus It shouldn't surprise us because he's been doing that all along. But God can stop it anytime he wants to. And God has a purpose, and God has a plan, and you can take comfort in that. After Christ spoke to Daniel, he said that he would return to fight against the prince of Persia again. In other words, the prince of Persia didn't give up. Let me remind you something, the devil doesn't give up when he loses a battle with you. He sets up to attack you another time, another place, and he never gives up. So he says, I'm going to go back and fight with the king of Persia. And then he said this, and the prince of Greece that evil angel that's over Greece, that's gonna be the next kingdom after Persia, they're coming too to fight against me. And Persia's against the Jews, and Greece is against the Jews, and they're all trying to do something towards God's plan with the Jewish people. And God says, I'm gonna go back and fight with them. But then he says in verse 13, I mentioned a while ago, Lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, and I remained there with the kings of Persia. So in those 21 days, while he was fighting this battle with the prince of Persia, Michael, the good angel, the archangel, came to help him. The Bible says of Micah that he was one of the chief of the princes, verse 13. In chapter 12, verse 1, it calls him the great prince that standeth for the children of thy people, and thy people is Israel. So Michael is the prince, the good angel that's assigned to Israel. And he's the one that's protecting Israel. So anytime there's a spiritual conflict going on and Israel's involved, you can make sure of this, Michael's there fighting for Israel. Michael the angel. So God allows angels to help him. Michael, and they allowed some angels to restrict him for a while, and allowed angels to help him. Jesus didn't have to have Michael's help. But let me remind you something. He doesn't have to have your help either, or mine. I'm reminded in the Bible, in the New Testament, where Jesus was tempted of the devil. And what does it say after that? Angels came and ministered unto him. when he was in Gethsemane and he was saying, Father, if it were possible, let this cup pass from me. And he sweat as it were great drops of blood. The Bible says, then appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. And so Jesus allows angels to minister to him. He doesn't need our help, but he plans it so that we can help him. What a privilege. What a privilege as a child of God to be able to be used of God in His service. He could do it Himself, but He says, I want you to be blessed. And so He uses Michael, and He uses us. You see, there's a spiritual conflict today as well as there was back then. It's still going on. If you look in Ephesians chapter 6, the Lord tells us about that. He says in verse 12, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Therefore, we need the spiritual armor, which God tells us in the following verses. That is, we need the girdle of truth. We need the breastplate of righteousness. We need our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, whereby we can quench the fiery darts of the wicked one, the helmet of salvation, knowing that we're saved, being assured of that, the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. We need the Word of God to fight the devil. And so the Lord says, we need the word. And then in Ephesians 6, he says this, praying always, praying always. Yes, Satan has chief angels who are over nations, but he has other angels who are trying to afflict us. The Bible says in 1 Peter 5, verse 8, be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, is a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. I guarantee you, I don't care who you are, if you know Jesus, the devil wants to destroy your life. Just a couple weeks ago, I mentioned Adam and Eve. I'm going to mention this to the young people when I speak on Thursday night because I think it's such an important thing to remember. The Bible says Jesus made everything in six little days. On the sixth day, when he got through, he said, it's very good. And then we find in the consummation, when he finishes all up, it's going to be very, very good. He says, I make all things new. But how did that get messed up from very good to really bad like it is today, and finally end up very good? Because a woman named Eve, and also Adam, listened to the devil. What did he say? He said, very good's not good enough. You need a little evil mixed in to really enjoy life. You need a little evil mixed in. God knows you'll know good and evil. You need a little bit of evil to really enjoy your life, and that's the lie he's told young people and adults for years. You need a little evil to really enjoy yourself. No, you don't. The lie that's been told for many years is that young people have to sow their wild oats. No, they don't. And if you're smart, as a young person will determine, I am not going to sow wild oats, because what happens when you sow wild oats? You reap. You reap what you sow. It's much better as a young person to say, I will not. I won't follow the devil. He's a liar. He's a deceiver. He deceived Eve and messed this whole world up, and I'm not going to let him deceive me. so that we need to do that. So the Lord says, be sober. Your adversary, the devil, is a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour. You remember Simon, Simon Peter? Jesus said, Simon, Satan hath desired you that he might sift you as wheat. I prayed for you that your faith fail not. Peter's performance failed. He denied the Lord, but his faith didn't fail. Jesus prayed that it wouldn't. And it was proven by the fact that when he looked and saw Jesus look at him, he wept bitterly and went out. He was so upset with himself that he had denied his Lord. But Satan has desired you that he may sift you as wheat. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 4, verse 4, the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not the gospel, lest the light of the glorious gospel would come unto them. So he's not only against Christian, he's against unsaved people. If you're not saved, I guarantee you the devil doesn't want you to be. So you have a friend who loves you so much he died for you, Jesus Christ. Then you have an enemy called the devil and he hates you and he wants you to go to hell like he's going to. And you have a choice to make. And the Lord says what he will do is blind your eyes so that you will not believe the glorious gospel. It's glorious. It'll give you life abundant. I followed a vehicle yesterday. And on the back of that vehicle, it says, life is short, live it. I wondered, what do they mean? Now, if they had in context, you know, I'm a Christian, I'm gonna live for Jesus, that'd be fine. But most of the time when people say that, they say, I'm gonna get everything I can out of life, I'm gonna enjoy all the pleasures there are, because I only have one to live. Yeah, you only have one to live. But after that follows another life, which is for eternity, and it'll be either in heaven or in hell. Much better to follow Jesus. Mark chapter four. Bible tells about the sower who went forth to sow. And what's it say? He sowed the seed and some of it fell on the wayside where a path was and people had been trodden the path and it was hard. And what happened? The devil came and snatched that word, that seed, out of their heart. Why? He doesn't want them to be saved. So if you hear the word of God and you go home and all these other distractions and you think, oh, I'm not gonna listen to that anymore, that's the devil not wanting you to be saved because he wants you to be lost forever. Yes, he's against Christians, he's against unsaved people. So let's close by saying this. Since Satan is out to destroy you, what do you think he's gonna do? Let me give you some suggestions what he might do. He'll make you too tired to go to church. Maybe you worked too hard on Saturday or maybe you stayed up too late and Sunday's your only day to rest and so I think I'll just stay in. Satan's behind that. He'll make you too saddled with debt so that you'll not be able to give to the Lord. He's good at doing that. He'll make you so busy making money and having fun that you forget that you have a master, and that's Jesus. You're not the master. You're not to control your life. You're not to decide what you do and how you spend your money and all that. You have a master, and that's Jesus. As a Christian, He's our master. You can watch TV and follow people on Facebook so that you don't have time to read the Word of God because after watching TV and following people on Facebook, the Word of God doesn't really seem that interesting. Let me remind you of something. What people put on Facebook is usually the best things they want you to see about their life. And many times they're telling a lie. They're making you to believe they have it so good if you only knew the truth. He'll make you so concerned about how you look to others that you'll forget about the fact that God looks at you and wants you to look right to Him. And oh, how subtle He is in doing that, making us so absorbed with ourselves that we're concentrating on us and not on Him. He'll make you involved in gossip and criticizing, murmuring, so that you forget that the Bible says you're to love one another. and forgive one another. He'll make you absorb with bitterness an unforgiving spirit and not let you remember that the Lord says, if you don't forgive others, I won't forgive you. Satan will make you proud that you are the salt of the earth. You know, I'm the best. I'm the salt of the earth, the light of the world. But make you forget to ever go out and shake your salt shaker. So someone scatters on other people. God makes us a soul of the earth to have an effect on the earth, not just to make us feel good. He'll make us stand for morality. You know, we're the ones who are standing for morality. And in the background, secretly, we're involved in pornography. I heard just the other day, I was in Georgia, and I heard about a preacher, well-respected. I've known about him for years and years and years. In retirement, found out immorality. Oh, it's so sad. I hope that never happens to me. I remember too many of those people that's happened to and how it's ruined and wrecked their life, and the immorality is not worth it. Not worth it. Failure to control your thoughts. The devil will make you not control your thoughts. Just let, you know, think about anything you want to. Not realizing that what you think is what you are. So many ways the devil's out to get us. But we must realize the battle is raging. And if you don't know there's a battle, you won't be aware of the enemy. And if you don't know there's a battle, you might very well be a victim of the war. because Satan's out to devour you. But let's close with this thought, and we find it in verse 21. And that is, there's the victory of truth. You know, it's a great verse. I hadn't noticed it for a long time, but it says this. But I will show thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth. I'll show you things that are coming, I'll show you things that are noted in the scripture of truth. The word scripture there could be interpreted or translated writings of truth or recordings of truth. God says, I have recorded this. I know how it's gonna turn out. I'm gonna give you details how it's gonna turn out. It's the truth. Let's not forget, while the devil's selling us lies, God always tells us the truth. And it's the truth. that God says what's coming is so much better than anything you've ever experienced here if you know Christ as your Savior. God's telling you that the devil is a liar. You can't trust him. He lies from the beginning, and he's the father of lives. Don't trust him. Trust the Lord. He tells you the truth. God's truth says that those who do not trust Jesus Christ as their Savior will spend eternity in hell and the lake of fire. But those who trust Jesus as their Savior will be with Him forever in a wonderful place called heaven, and then the new heaven, and the new earth, and the new Jerusalem, all the wonderful things that He's prepared for us. Believe Him. It's the truth. The Bible tells us the enemy will lose. Let's believe Him. He will lose. Make sure you're on the Lord's side. Let's be like Daniel. a man of faith, a man of truth, a man of godliness, who got close to the Lord, and the result was the Lord got close to him. And he saw the truth about what was going on around him, and he believed the Lord. Let's believe the Lord. Let's pray. Father, thank you today for allowing us to see the truth in Daniel chapter 10. Lord, I pray that we might understand we're on the winning side. And if there's someone here that's been timid about boldly stepping out and serving Jesus, I pray that they'll have a new boldness today to serve the one who is the victor and to reject the one who is the loser. If there's somebody here today who's not saved, may today be the day of faith for them, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.