Let's have a word of prayer together. Just pray that God would, by His Spirit, illuminate this Christian, give us understanding. Let's pray. Our loving God and Father, we thank you that we can gather together to fellowship, to encourage each other, and also now to hear from your Word. Lord, I pray that you, by your Spirit, would speak to us, that you'd be the internal preacher upon the hearts of each and every one of us, that you'd take the Word of God and apply it to our lives. May He encourage us and equip us and provoke us unto good works. I pray this for Jesus' sake. Amen. Recently I saw an article on news.com.au if you ever want to see an episode of anti-Christian news reports go to news.com.au and one report they had on the front page was the decline of Christianity in Australia and the rise of unbelief is how they phrased it and they reported from the last census that there are now over 5 million Australians who openly say they have no faith or no religious belief And they went on to compare that to the 1911 census, to the 2011 census, and they said in 1911 it was 1 in 250 Australians that said they had no belief, whereas now it's 1 in 5 Australians. That's 22% of our population that openly say, we don't believe. We have no interest, we have no desire, and it's not real. And they said the biggest age group that has the unbelievers in it was found in the ages of 22 to 24. So there's an interesting statistic there. They said there's unbelief, and they went on to paint this this extremely dark picture basically they were celebrating they had quotes from the atheist society in the secular societies celebrating the decline of Christianity and they tried to make it out that Christianity is dead and dying and that's the news that we constantly get bombarded with Christianity is dead and dying Christianity is going to be no more only a matter of years before it's wiped out yet the confidence we have from the scripture in the gospel of John is that the light shines in the darkness and the darkness does not overcome it and this morning what I want to do is offer a bit of an encouragement from the scripture that shows that we can have gospel confidence in dark days and to do that what I want to do is look at Daniel chapter 2 and so we're going to look at Daniel chapter 2 verse 31 to 35 Daniel 2 31 to 35 now this is something I've been just reading and studying my own personal devotional times so as you're finding that scripture let me just set the context because context is always key to understanding the text as no doubt you're aware the book of Daniel comes in a dark time in Israel's history. King Nebuchadnezzar has attacked the Jewish people, he has taken them captive, he's sacked Jerusalem, the best, the brightest were dragged off to Babylon and they were then put into the king's service. It was a very dark time for the covenant people of God. And then in Daniel chapter 2 we see that King Nebuchadnezzar has a dark time. King Nebuchadnezzar has this dream a dream that troubles him. We probably all have those dreams, we have something that crosses our mind through the night and we wake up feeling rumpled and grumpy in the morning but we can't actually remember what the dream was, we're just in a bad mood for the rest of the day. And that's kind of what happened to King Nebuchadnezzar. He's had this dream, he's had this vision and in the morning he can't remember what it's all about, he's just rumpled, he's grumpy. So what he does is, he brings all his wise men together, the enchanters, the magicians, the sorcerers. He brings them all before him and says, look, I need you to tell me this interpretation. I need you to tell me what the dream is all about. That's fairly straightforward. They could hear the dream, they can give an interpretation, but the king can't remember the dream. So he puts an impossible standard upon his enchanters and says, I want you to tell me the interpretation of the dream, but before you can do that, tell me what the dream was. That's impossible by man's standards. I can't tell you what your dream was, I can't tell the interpretation of the dream, if you tell me your dream I can make something up and who are you to know if I'm right or wrong. But the King here says to prove if you're telling the truth, tell me the dream, tell me what it means, otherwise I'm going to execute you. No pressure to the magicians, no pressure to the sorcerers, tell us what it was, tell us what it means, or you're dead. And of course as we read in Daniel chapter 2, they couldn't do it, the King gets angry, They fail in their quest and the king puts out a decree that they should be executed. But then Daniel the prophet enters on the same. One of the best and brightest who would have been experiencing dark days for his people. Here he is away from the land that God has promised them. Away from where they were to worship God. They're in a foreign city. They're under a foreign power. It was dark days and no doubt the Jewish people were starting to think well maybe God has abandoned us. Maybe things aren't looking that good at all. Yet Daniel has a confidence in God. it really struck me as I read through this that Daniel hears what's going on and he has this confidence and we read of this prayer and this praise that he offers to God saying God is the one who appoints kings God is the one who removes kings he is the one to be blessed because he will reveal the dream and he will reveal the interpretation so Daniel the prophet requests this meeting with the king which would have been a big thing to do there to approach the king without permission meant death that's what we see in the book of Esther Yet Daniel says, I want to meet the king, I want to tell him the dream and the interpretation, God will reveal it. So the king calls Daniel in and here is Daniel, the prophet of God, one of God's elect in a foreign country before this foreign king whom God has used as judgment upon his people. The king that holds Daniel's life in his hand. And Daniel says, God is going to tell me what you've dreamt, what it means and how it's going to apply. Dark days for Daniel, but I contend that what we see here in Daniel chapter 2, indeed the whole book of Daniel is very much similar to our society. We're in dark days, we're almost in a Babylonian captivity if you will, the church is in decline, Christianity seems to be on the back foot, yet into the darkness God begins to move. God has begun to work in King Nebuchadnezzar's life by giving him a dream that would serve as a great encouragement to Daniel and indeed should serve as a great encouragement to us a dream that declares gospel triumph and future hope and if you look at Daniel chapter 2 verse 31 to 35 you'll see that dream you'll see that this vision provides hope you'll see this vision provides confidence and optimism it provided that for Daniel and it should provide it for us so let's read Daniel chapter 2 verse 31 to 35 I'm reading from the ESV, so this is what God's Word says. You saw, O King, and behold, a great image. This image, mighty and of exceeding brightness, stood before you, and its appearance was frightening. The head of this image was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, all together were broken in pieces and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors, and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. And if you drop down to verse 44, And in the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever. I love that passage. I've read that passage many times. I've been studying it in my own personal time. And the reason why I guess I latch onto it and I love it is because here we have this great optimistic view. that the kingdom and the greatness of Christ is something that we can look forward to, that it's a bright future, that the kingdom of Christ will spread, it'll expand, it'll be a kingdom that doesn't fall apart, it'll be a kingdom that doesn't get given over to another religion or another people group, it's a kingdom that will stand forever, that there is a greatness and a bright hope in the fact that Jesus will reign. And Daniel comes to the king and says, let me tell you the dream, let me tell you the interpretation. And the interpretation we know from history talks about the empires of the day, the empires that were present and the empires that were coming. You have the Babylonian Empire, the Persian, the Greek and the Roman Empire. But then Daniel says there's a fifth empire coming. An empire that will be greater than all the rest, the greatest empire the world has ever seen. An empire that will begin small, a small stone. but will then begin to grow and grow until it becomes a mountain that fills the whole earth. And that is the empire of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ comes, these small stones, it starts in the middle of nowhere, in a little nowhere place, a place of no importance in the grand scheme of the world, yet it begins there and it begins to spread and it overcomes nations, it overcomes empires. Any nation that has set itself up against Christ has fallen. I mean, think of the USSR. It set itself up against Christ. It opposed Christ and said Christianity would not be here. Well the USSR is but a memory. It's gone. There should be a clear warning to any empire or nation that sets itself up against Christ. They will fall. Because Christ's kingdom will spread. It will expand. It's great encouragement here for us as we look at the nations, as we look at our own nation, that the nations that set themselves up against Christ will be broken to pieces. I look forward to the day when we hear reports of the church in Mecca where it's currently outlawed to be a Christian in Mecca if you show up as a Christian there you get executed. I'm looking forward to the day we hear of open air meetings being held in Mecca and the gospel spreading there. The text says the kingdom of Christ will fill the whole earth so we must take that confidence. The prophecy and the vision that we have here must come true. This gives us an optimistic outlook. This is The gospel that we hold, the gospel that we proclaim will not fail. Christ will triumph in history and Jesus will have an empire that stretches from shore to shore. I mean I find that encouraging and what I found interesting is that If you look at the old missionary biographies written by William Carey and Judson, all these old guys, they all held this passage as being their missionary mandate. They would look at this and say, well, it says here that Christ's kingdom will fill the whole world. They'd look at a map and say, well, there's a part of the world where Christ's kingdom isn't. So let's go. And they would go, and there'd be a light in the darkness. And what would happen? The church would be established. The gospel would spread. Pagan religions would fall. Empires would crumble. And Jesus would become central. It gave them hope of triumph, and it should give us hope of triumph. It gave Daniel hope. Here he is in captivity, yet he's now interpreting this dream and says, guess what? God's kingdom will not fail. The people of God under Christ will be in this kingdom that will stand forever. It gave him confidence, it gave the missionaries before us confidence, and it must give us confidence. The gospel we proclaim, as we've already said, won't fail. The pure gospel will break the evil empires, the pagan religions, the wickedness of man to pieces. We have a sovereign God who has blessed the preaching of his word. This is the promise we must cling to. We can cling to so many promises of scripture, but how often do we pray this promise and cling to this promise? You know, in the Lord's prayers, thy kingdom come, thy will be done. Well, here we have the description. Here is the kingdom coming. Here is the kingdom spreading. Here is the kingdom that will stand forever and fill the whole earth. I hope that encourages me. It's so easy as an evangelist to be discouraged and depressed. But when that happens, we need to take a walk back into our history and say, well, what's the promises of God here? What's the future hold? Well, it holds that Jesus wins. that his kingdom will go from shore to shore. And what I'd like to do is just finish by reading the words of one of my favorite hymns, the hymn Jesus shall reign by Isaac Watts. And this hymn was the missionary hymn. It's fascinating to read the history of this hymn, especially in the South Pacific, is that when the island nations came to Christ, There was reports of thousands of natives who had come to Jesus and the missionaries all gathering together and this was their hymn. They would all sing this grand hymn saying Jesus is reigning and as they sung that hymn to declare what Jesus was currently doing in their land, we should be able to sing this hymn with expectation that Christ will rule and reign in our nation. that Australia belongs to Christ, that the nations of the world belong to Christ. He is King and those who set themselves up will fast. Let's just meditate upon the words of this hymn and then we'll close with a brief word of prayer. Jesus shall reign where'er the sun does his successive journeys run. His kingdoms stretch from shore to shore till moons shall wax and wane no more. Behold the islands with their kings, And Europe her best tribute brings, From north to south the princes meet, To pay their homage at his feet. Their Persia glorious to behold, Their India shines in eastern gold, And barbarous nations at his word Submit and bow and own their lord. To him shall endless prayer be made, And praises throng to crown his head, his name like sweet perfume shall rise with every morning sacrifice. People and realms of every tongue dwell on his love with sweetest song, and infant voices shall proclaim their early blessings on his name. Blessings abound where'er he reigns, the prisoner leaps to loose his chains, the weary find eternal rest, and all the sons of want are blessed. Where he displays his healing power, death and the curse are known no more in him the tribes of adam boast more blessings than their father lost let every creature rise and bring procure your honors to our king angels descend with songs again and earth repeat the loud amen let's pray our loving god as we read just briefly in your word of the triumph of the gospel may you encourage us and equip us may you give us a confidence that The gospel we proclaim will not be put out. That the gospel will triumph in these dark days and that Jesus shall reign. Lord may we cling to the promises of Daniel 2, of Psalm 72 that talk about the kings of the earth bowing before you. That all nations coming before you to worship. And Lord may you give us a zeal with that knowledge to go out and proclaim the gospel in our community and to the nations of the world. And may we see nations discipled, may we see them come to worship you. and may Christ rule and reign for those lands that currently oppose you and do everything to stop the gospel Lord we pray that you would bring them down that you would open doors for the gospel to spread and that your name be glorified in the midst of those lands we pray these things for Jesus sake Amen