Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome here again to our afternoon service at Calvary Baptist Church of Trihearne. And once again, welcome to those in tune with us via internet and FM signal here in town, 88.7. Please open your hymnals to number 67. 67, how can it be? Number 67. O Saviour, as my eyes behold the wonders of Thy might and told, Thy heavenly glory light the way, Thou vast creation Thou art made. And yet you think our love is weak My heart cries out, how can it be? How can it be? How can it be? That God should love a soul like me As at the cross I humbly bow, And gaze upon thy turned-crowned brow, And view thy precious bleeding form, My cruel will so bruised and torn. Knowing thy suffering was for me In grief I cried, how can it be? How can it be? How can it be? That God should love a soul like me How can it be? Was ever grace so full and free From heights of bliss to depths of woe In loving kindness all days go From sin and shame to rescue me O love divine, how can it be that God should love us all like me. Oh, how can it be? Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful again that we can stop and consider the love of God and how amazing it is that God would send his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, for such a soul like each one of us. What a privilege it is to know the truth and know the love of God, to be born again and to be saved and to rejoice in that fact that we have been saved through thy mercy and grace. We pray this afternoon, if there's someone that's listening that's not saved, that they might come to see their need to be born again today. that they would stop pushing away that gift, that eternal gift that is so important for all of humanity, and that without that they have nothing. I pray that they would want to turn to Thee in repentance and be saved today. We thank Thee for providing us a place to meet, We thank Thee for each one that has come out, and we thank Thee for those that are joining us via live stream. May Thy will be accomplished in each heart and life, and each one would know Thy peace and truth. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. And over to 156. 156, Christ returned. 156. Eat, baby. when the days are waking, when sunlight through darkness and shadow is breaking, that Jesus will come in the fullness of glory to receive from the world His own. O Lord Jesus, how long, how long, ere we shout the glad song, Christ, eternity, hallelujah, hallelujah, amen, hallelujah, amen. It may be that we did at twilight. It may be but chance that the blackness of midnight will burst into light in the blaze of His glory when Jesus receives His own. O Lord Jesus, how long, how long, ere we shout the glad song, Christ returneth! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen! Alleluia! Amen! While hosts rise, Hosanna from heaven descending, ♪ With glorified saints and the angels attending ♪ ♪ With praise on his brow like a hall of glory ♪ ♪ Will Jesus receive his own ♪ ♪ Lord, oh, Jesus, how long, how long, how long, how long ♪ E'er we shout the glad song, Christ returned it Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Amen Hallelujah, Amen O joyful delight, should we go without dying No sickness, no sadness, no dread, and no crying. Caught up through the clouds, with the Lord in so glory, when Jesus receives His own. And over to 205. 205. Once for all. 205. Free from the law, happy condition, Jesus hath bled and there is remission. Cursed by the law and brushed by my foe, Christ hath redeemed us once for all. Once for all, O sinner, receive death. Once for all, Father, believe it. Link to the cross the burden of all. Christ, our treaty, bless once for all. Now are we free, there's no condemnation Jesus provides a perfect salvation Come unto me, O hear His sweet call Come and He save us once for all Once for all, O sinner, receive that once for all Linked to the cross, the burden will fall Christ has redeemed us once for all Children of God, all glorious calling Surely His grace will keep us from falling Passing from death to life at His call Blessed salvation once for all. Once for all, O sinner, receive it. Once for all, O brother, believe it. Take your Bibles and turn to the book of Daniel. Book of Daniel chapter 7. And we're going to be reading there from Daniel chapter 7. Reading there from verse 9, and we'll read to the end of verse 14. We'll stand please for the reading of God's word. Daniel chapter 7, beginning at verse 9, I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool. His throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him. Thousands ministered unto him, and 10,000 times 10,000 stood before him. The judgment was set, and the books were opened. And I beheld then, because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake, I beheld even till the beast was slain and his body destroyed and given to the burning flame. As concerning the rest of the beasts, They had their dominion taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time. I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the son of man came with the clouds of heaven and came to the ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion and glory and a kingdom that all people, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful again that we have thy word. We're thankful again for men like Daniel who were faithful to thee, who could be used of thee, to give us insight into things that are still coming in the future, things that happened in his day, but things also for the future. Thankful that men like Daniel believed in thee and were willing to write down these things, even though there were things here that he did not understand. There are things that we read in these prophetic books that we don't understand. There are some things that we can understand, But there are some things we don't understand. But I'm thankful that we can have the same God and the same faith that Daniel had. We don't have to understand everything, we just need to believe in the true God and know that God, thou, knowest everything. And so we pray that as we look into these verses that we would be like Daniel. Pray for anyone that's listening that's not saved, that they might see that it's not impossible for them to be saved. They too can be saved just as Daniel was saved. They can walk in the fear of God in humility and glorify Thee in their lives, but they need to humble themselves and receive the truth and allow the truth to change them and make new creatures out of them. So may thy will be accomplished here. I pray for boldness and clarity of mind to preach the truth faithfully, that thy will would be accomplished and thy name would be exalted. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. Title of the message this afternoon is God's Power and Authority. God's Power and Authority. And really, God reveals his power and authority all throughout the scripture. But this weekend, or this week, I mean, as this week has gone by, something interesting was revealed to me because our website was down for two days. And I discovered that there are some people who appreciate our site and they missed it when it wasn't up, when it wasn't available. And one of the people has corresponded with me before and stated how they appreciate our ministry. And there are still people who want to know the truth. I know that when people observe our church here, they look at the number of vehicles outside, they look at the number of people inside, and they say, well, that church isn't doing very well. There's not very many people coming. But God has given us an audience of people from many different parts of the world who do appreciate the truth. And one of the sad things that we're seeing the further along we move in time is that there seems to be fewer and fewer people that appreciate the truth. There's a lot of people, the Apostle Paul warned of that in the last days in 2 Timothy chapter four. There's a lot of people who want their ears scratched. They've got an itch behind their ear and they can't quite get it and so they want somebody to scratch it. And the illustration there is used to speak of the spiritual desire of people. They have a philosophy in their mind and they need somebody to agree with their philosophy. It seems there are more people today who have their own idea of who God is and what God says and how it applies They don't want a preacher telling them what the Word of God says. And that's not a good thing. Because God does raise up men, and they will always be men, not women. God does raise up men that he wants to be preachers, pastors, and teachers, who are designed to tell people the truth, to teach people the Word of God, to help people to rightly divide the Word of truth. And as we look at our text, Daniel was a prophet who was used by God to give us things that he did not fully understand. But he needed to write them down in such a way that future generations could study his word, the words that he wrote, and understand the same God that Daniel knew. And as time has progressed, there are things that God has revealed to us from Daniel's writings that Daniel didn't understand, because we're moving along in time. So there are some things that Daniel wrote about that hadn't happened yet in his time, but they have happened now. They're history for us. They were prophetic looking into the future for Daniel, but they're history for us. There are other things that we see in the book of Daniel that were read about today that are still future. They're still future to our time today. But we can tell that they are going to happen because we can look at the prophetic words that Daniel did write that have happened, and they happened exactly the way God said, and we know that God doesn't lie, so we know that he's going to do them the same way that he has done the things in the past. So as we look at this passage, we want to notice, first of all, that there's only one victor. There's only one victor. And as we see in this passage, that one victor is in two persons. The Godhead, the Bible tells us, that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, these three are one. Jesus said in John chapter 10 and verse 30, I and my Father are one. Two people, two persons, one deity. The Jews of Jesus' day, the Jews of our day, they have trouble with that. They cannot accept, they refuse, the majority of them refuse to accept the fact of a tripartite God. And so there are many Jews today that are still lost because they reject Jesus Christ as their Messiah. But we know, and we're gonna see in this passage, the two persons of the Godhead, God the Father and God the Son. So when we look at verse nine, it says there, I beheld, so Daniel is still in his dream, and he's looking and observing in his dream, I beheld till the thrones were cast down. So he's referring back to the previous section that we looked at last time where Daniel was given the vision of the four beasts and he saw them but these four beasts represented four kingdoms and these four kingdoms have four thrones. And then in verse 8 it talks about the horns there. We looked at that in the book of the Revelation as well. And it says that in verse 7 it talks about ten horns. In verse 8 it talks about a little horn. We said that's the Antichrist. And he came up and he took out three of the other horns and he replaced them with himself. And so in verse 9, I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of Days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool, his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire." Now that last phrase should trigger in our minds because we are also studying the book of Ezekiel and this should trigger in our minds. This is a similar view that Daniel is given to what Ezekiel saw. Remember he's talking about wheels and a wheel within a wheel and here Daniel is talking about the Ancient of Days who is on a throne and his wheels as burning fire. So again, we're talking about the fact that God, and this is talking about God the Father, and how do we know that? Well, in verse 13, it tells us there, I saw in the night visions and behold, one like the Son of Man. And how do we know that the Son of Man is not the same one as the Ancient of Days? Because it says in verse 13, it says, and came to the Ancient of Days. So we're talking about two persons who have the same power. We're talking about God the Father and God the Son. And that's important to be able to distinguish that because again when we look at verse 9, And we look at the description there of the Ancient of Days, you notice there that the description given of him is very similar to what we have in Revelation Chapter 1 where John sees Jesus Christ in his glorified state. Very similar. But again, that should not be a problem for those of us that are saved because the Bible tells us God the Father and God the Son are one. So lost people, they're going to look at this and they're going to be all confused and dismissive and argumentative, but not Christians. Christians submit themselves to the word of God. And so God is telling us things here about the future. He's talking about the Ancient of Days here. It says that the thrones were cast down and the Ancient of Days did sit. So we know that the former empires, including the Antichrist, all of that is going to be destroyed, and the question is when? So before we get to that, let's just look a little bit more at this description that's given of the Ancient of Days. You notice again that he's sitting. When somebody sits, it's talking about a work that is completed. That's why you sit down. You're done. If you're standing, you're still going to do something more. But when you're sitting down, you've finished your job, now you're sitting down, now you're just gonna make sure that everything continues on the way you have established it. And that's what happened when God created the world. He worked for six days and rested on the seventh. His work was complete. And so here, he's sitting. All of the empires of the world are done and now he's sitting. And I believe that what we have here is in reference to Matthew chapter 25 where we have the division of the sheep and the goats. And at that point we have the separation that takes place prior to the entering into the millennium. Who enters into the millennium? The sheep. Where do the goats go? They're cast out. What happens here as we read this, it talks about where the ungodly go. So again, if we go back to our description here in verse 9, we're talking here, he's sitting, whose garment was white as snow. Again, that's talking about purity. There's no sin in God the Father or God the Son. So it's talking about white as snow. And then it's talking about hair of his head, like the pure wool. Again, talking about purity, but also talking about wisdom. If we go in the Bible and see if I have that reference, I think I have it right here. Proverbs chapter 16, verse 31, the hoary head is a crown of glory if it be found in the way of righteousness. The hoary head is talking about the, like wool. Wool is generally white. There can be black sheep, yes, but generally it's used in white. And the hoary talking about white hair. When a person gets to the place where they have gray hair and white hair, it's supposed to be an indication that they have some wisdom. But you notice again from Proverbs 16, 31, the hoary head is a crown of glory. Then we have that little word if. if it be found in the way of righteousness. So just because somebody gets gray hair doesn't mean they're wise. You have to be someone who is being taught and walking in the way of righteousness before you can have true wisdom. And that's important to understand that. There's a lot of white-haired people today that are just as dumb as two-year-old children. They get piercings. They color their hair all kinds of weird colors. They dress and tattoo themselves up and all kinds of stuff. They're fools. They reject God. But they've got white hair. So it takes more than just having white hair. Depends on what you have learned, what you subjected yourself to in the years that brought you up to where you have that white hair. But here we have this ancient of days who has his head like the pure wool, his throne is like a fiery flame, that again is a reference to the holiness of God, and also his capacity as a judge. And his wheels as burning fire. That's talking about the fact that God the Father is everywhere present. Wheels move you around quickly. God the Father is everywhere present at the same time. If someone is calling out to God in Cebu, and someone is calling out to God in Windsor, Ontario, and someone else is calling out to God from Thompson, Manitoba, and someone else is calling out to God from Miami, Florida, God can hear them all at the same time and he can deal with all of them at the same time. plus many more. It doesn't matter where a person is, no one is out of God's reach, and any child of God, wherever they are, is also within God's reach and God is able to help them right on time. His wheels are burning fire. Nothing interfering, nothing in the way, doesn't get stuck in the mud, because they're burning fire. They're holy wheels. They're able to move. Nothing can stop them. You see, if you're rolling a vehicle along and there's a log in the way, what happens? If the log is big enough, your vehicle stops. But if you have a burning wheel, what does it do? It burns through the log. Nothing's going to get in the way. Nothing's going to stand in the way of that burning log, that burning wheel. So the picture here is of this God, the true God, that Daniel sees in this vision as he's being encouraged. Remember, Daniel is in captivity. He is a faithful man of God, but there are many Jews in captivity at his time who were not faithful. They didn't believe in God. And Daniel is being rewarded here by being given these visions, this dream, to help to encourage him to continue on the path that he's on, to remain steadfast. So in verse 10, the second point we have is the activities accompanying this throne. Verse 10, it says, a fiery stream issued and came forth from before him. So this throne that God is sitting on, now Daniel is seeing a fiery stream issued and came forth from before him. So again, this fiery stream is talking about the holiness and the judgment of God. And it tells us there, thousands, thousands ministered unto him and 10,000 times 10,000 stood before him. So we're talking here about the thousands and thousands that are ministering to him, talking about the angelic beings. There's an unlimited number, we cannot number the amount of good angels that there are. Now there are one third of the angels fell when Satan fell. But there's still a large number of angels that are serving God. They're ministering unto him. You see, and what we have here is a reminder, as Daniel is seeing this, he has a reminder, we have a reminder, that when we are saved, we're saved to serve God. We're not saved to please ourselves. We're not even saved to please others. We're saved to serve God. So when someone says to me, for instance, as a pastor and said, I don't agree with what you're teaching there. I don't agree with that. I don't think you should do that. You should do it this way. Well, if it's biblical, I need to consider it. But if it's just somebody that wants to come and tell me to do something that tickles their ears more, I'm not a servant of that person. I'm not here to bow before them and to do their bidding. I'm here to do God's bidding. And if that person doesn't like that, well, they have an option. They can leave if that's what they want to do. They lose out when they do that, but they can do that. They can say, I'm not interested in that. That's their choice. But my responsibility is to serve God. So is yours if you're saved, to serve God. And that's the problem we're seeing today in most churches is that most pastors have forgotten that. They've never learned that, I should say. They've never learned that they're supposed to serve God. They got into it for the wrong reason. They got into it because they've got a title. They want to be called pastor, they want to be called reverend, they want to have a PhD, they want to be called doctor, and those kinds of things. They like the prestige that comes with the position. but they don't want to serve God. Because if they did, they would teach the whole counsel of God. They would actually help their people to grow stronger in the Lord. But most churches today, the people are very anemic. They're not very well taught. And so they can't stand. And they can't make wise decisions. They don't have much discernment because they're not well taught. And the teaching needs to come from the Word of God. You don't have to be an eloquent speaker to be a good teacher. You just need to be teaching the Word of God. That's why Paul told Timothy, preach the Word of God. That's what we're told to do, preach the Word of God. Now, some people, they misunderstand that and they say, well, yeah, and my wife was reminding me of that, I think it was yesterday. But some people, and people have said that of me before, if you would just read the Bible to them, you know, just read the Bible. Don't make any commentary, just read the Bible. They'd be satisfied with that. And that's good. We do need to read the Bible. But the Bible talks about preaching. And preaching involves making application of what we read in the Bible. And we see that in the Old Testament. with Jonah who went to Nineveh to preach the message that God gave him. We see that in the life of Moses. We see that in the life even of David. And all over the place, we see in the New Testament, we talked about that Stephen was a preacher of God. Noah, the Bible says, was a preacher of righteousness. And so preaching is making application that is in agreement with what the Word of God says. So it's not just a matter of mechanically reading the Bible and leaving it at that. It's a matter of making application. And that's where the issue comes in. You see, there's a lot of people that talk about reading their Bible. And they can even do it with a cigarette hanging out of their mouth and a bottle of beer beside them and the rock music playing softly behind them, but they're reading their Bible. Now it's true, the Bible is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing and dividing a son to a soul and spirit, and the joints in the marrow is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. So God's word is powerful. It will do its work. But you see, when you have all these distractions, you're not allowing the word of God to do its work. It's hitting you like a hammer, but you're blunting the blow of the hammer with your cigarette, which is a drug, with your alcohol, which is a drug, and with your rock music, which is a drug. So you're not getting the benefit of the power of the word of God. You're accountable for it. And so that's why God raises up men to be those mouthpieces for him, to preach the truth in season and out of season to glorify God with what is said and what is done. So here in this passage the activity that's going on around this throne, it tells again, thousand thousands ministered unto him. And ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. And, or sorry, the judgment was set and the books were opened. And when I look at that, again we go to the book of the Revelation, chapter 20, and we see in verse, I believe it's verse 11, where it talks about the books being opened. It talks about all the lost from the time of Cain on to the last lost person are going to stand at the great white throne judgment and the books are going to be opened. But this is not that time because this is the Ancient of Days. This is not the Son of Man. Verse 12, okay, And so, this is the Ancient of Days, so when is this taking place then? Well, that's where, in my mind, it seems to me this fits with Matthew chapter 25, where we have the judgment that takes place at the end of the tribulation, as the millennium is beginning, and we have the judgment of the goats and the sheep. And so it tells us here the books are gonna be opened. And then when we continue reading in verse 11, it says, and I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake. I beheld even till the beast was slain. See, who's the horn here? Well, we already said, and we'll see further yet, the horn here is the Antichrist. And what does the Antichrist do? He speaks, he has lots to say. He thinks he's very smart. In fact, he declares himself to be God. And so he's gonna try to outdo God. So it says here, and it says, I beheld them because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake. I beheld even till the beast was slain. That's talking about the horn again. And his body destroyed and given to the burning flame. Well, what does the Bible tell us about the end of the Antichrist? He doesn't go into hell and await the great white throne judgment. At the end of the tribulation, the Bible says that he is cast straight into the lake of fire. And that's exactly what it says here. He's destroyed, his body is destroyed, and he's given to the burning fire. He's done. He's gonna feel, he's not without feeling, but he's no longer on this earth. He's no longer there to cause problems for humanity. So his time is over. And then the third point that we have is the judgment of the rest of the beast. If you go in verse 12, as concerning the rest of the beast, they had their dominion taken away. Okay, so let's go back to verse 9. I beheld till the thrones were cast down. So the Babylonian Empire, the the Medo-Persian Empire and the Greek Empire, they're still around, but as it tells us in verse 12, their dominion was taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time. So they're still around, but they can't govern. And when we look at the millennium, everybody that enters the millennium is saved. But there are children born during the time of the millennium. What kind of philosophy do they have at that time? The same thing that children have now. Every child is born a lost sinner. Every child is born with a deceitful, desperately wicked heart. And so the ideas that lost children have, they don't get them from the Bible. They get them from their sin nature. That's why they need to be subjected to the truth so that they can be changed, so that they can repent toward God and be saved through the blood of Jesus Christ. So their lives are prolonged, these other beasts, their lives are prolonged, but they cannot influence, they cannot have, or sorry, they don't have the power, they don't have the dominion. They don't have the power that they once had. Their power is taken away. So during the millennium, Jesus Christ is ruling. He has the power. And anybody that disagrees with him, the Bible says that Jesus Christ is going to rule with a rod of iron. So anybody that disagrees with Jesus Christ during the millennium, too bad. You don't like it? Too bad. This is the law and that's all there is to it. There's not going to be 500 options out there and you can choose this and choose that and whatever. No, it's going to be one law during the millennium. A thousand year reign. One law. God's law. enforced by Jesus Christ. So those who want to be like in our world today, they want to do their own thing, they're going to be subdued. They don't have the liberty that people have today to be rebels openly as they are now. They can't do that in the millennium. There will be many rebels, but they're not given that opportunity because Jesus Christ is going to rule, and the world is going to see how things should be and how things could be, and it just shows you the hard-heartedness of man that so many people are going to see how nice, how good things could be, but in their hearts, they're rebels, and they can't wait till Satan is loosed again at the end of the millennium, and then they're going to join him and try to overthrow Jesus Christ. It's not going to work, but that's how foolish people are. So it tells us here in verse 13, And I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought him near before him. and there was given him dominion and glory and a kingdom that all people let's talk about the millennium the kingdom all people nations and languages should serve him his dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed so at the end of the millennium jesus christ is still alive satan is cast into the lake of fire jesus christ rule goes on beyond the millennium. After he is seated on the great white throne, and after he judges the lost, the Bible says there's going to be a new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Who's in the new heavens and the new earth? There's no sun there. Why not? Because the son of God is there. We don't need the Son. You see, He's still gonna be there. He's still gonna be dominant. And everybody is going to follow Him. Not because we're forced to. Those that are in heaven are there because they're saved. 2 Corinthians 5, 17 tells us that when we're saved, we become new creatures in Christ. So we are fundamentally changed when we are saved. We are made ready for our heavenly home. Philippians chapter 3, I believe it's verse 21. 20. Philippians 3 verse 20. For our conversation is in heaven from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, born-again Christians, lost people, I can understand lost people who come to church for a while and then they say, no, I'm not interested, I don't like what you're talking about, I'm not coming. I can understand that. I can't understand that from people who claim to be saved. Because if a person claims to be saved, yes, we need to grow. There's no doubt about that. We need to be changed. But the Bible tells us that the saved person has the Spirit of God indwelling them. So when a saved person disagrees with the Word of God and says, I'm not coming to church anymore, because I don't agree with what you're saying, I'm talking about a pastor that's telling the truth. I'm not talking about a compromised church. I'm talking about a church that's seeking to glorify God. And the person says, I'm not coming anymore. I don't agree with what you're saying. That is an indicator that person is a fraud. Now, if he does that for one week, and through the chastening of God, he repents and gets right with God. But if he continues, that's his future path. That's an indicator that person's not saved. They were just a fraud. They were just going along and putting on a good show for a while, but it didn't last. And that's very typical. An actor can only act for so long. And then the facts come out. So, when we look at our text again here, it says that the Son of Man, one like the Son of Man, came with the clouds of heaven and came to the Ancient of Days and they brought Him near before Him. And there was given him dominion and glory and a kingdom. Jesus Christ is going to come back in the clouds at the end of the tribulation. He's going to set his feet on the ground. He's going to overthrow the Antichrist, cast him into the lake of fire, and the false prophet, and bind Satan and cast him into the bottomless pit for a thousand years. And he is going to be given a kingdom, the millennium. That's his time to rule, and he will rule. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away in his kingdom, that which shall not be destroyed. So even though at the end of the millennium, Satan is going to be loosed, he's going to gather a massive army behind him, but they're going to be destroyed by the sword that comes out of the mouth of God, out of Jesus Christ. That's the word of God. So he's not going to last. It's not going to be for his benefit. It's going to be his downfall. It's going to be his end. And so Daniel here is given this picture of the future. He's looking beyond his time. And as we go on, we see that Daniel has trouble understanding what he's being shown. And that's okay, he's human. But he doesn't reject it, that's the difference. He's having trouble with it, but he doesn't reject it. And that can be our lot to do. Today as well, I mean. It can be our lot as well. There may be things, and the Bible says, if you go to 2 Peter chapter three, the Bible clearly tells us that there are things that we're not going to understand. That doesn't mean we should be lazy. and not try to understand the word of God, but it tells us there that we need to be careful when we come to difficult passages. So we look in verse 16 of 2 Peter chapter 3 and it says, as also in all his epistles, talking about Paul, verse 15, speaking in them of these things in which are some things hard to be understood. which they that are unlearned and unstable rest as they do also the other scriptures to their own destruction. The word rest there, you notice there is W-R-E-S-T. It's not R-E-S-T. The word rest, R-E-S-T, as we see in Genesis chapter one, that God rested on the seventh day. That's talking about he's done, he sits down, he's done. This word rest, W-R-S-T, is talking about wrestling, twisting things out of their natural place. Different word. So we need to be careful again that we understand things. So there are many people today who take the word of God and take liberty with the word of God and they twist it to make it say what they want it to say. rather than letting the scriptures tell us what we need to believe. The Word of God is a living book, and I need to explain that because there are people who believe the Word of God is a living book, and by that, they mean it's always changing. That's not what I mean. See, when we look at ourselves as people, we're living people, and we're changing. I was once a young boy like Jeremy. I was once a young boy like Jethro. I was once a younger man like Ronnie. But now I'm an older man. I'm changing. And until the day that I die, I'm going to be changing. But that's not what we're talking about when we talk about the Bible being a living book. Because that's what the New Evangelical and the emerging church people, that's what they believe. It's a living book, it's changing, it has to change with the times. But what we mean when we talk about the Bible being a living book, we're talking about the fact that the Bible is relevant for every generation. It's always applicable to every generation. It speaks to every generation. It's not a dead book that has had its day. Now we need to move on. There are books that I have in my library that I bought when I was a younger man. that really they have no relevance anymore. Some of them I've burned already because they were written in former times by men. They're not the Bible. They're written by men. And some of the things that they said, they've already happened. So they don't have any relevance to today. They're done. That's why for me, I'm careful in what books I buy because you can spend a lot of money on books. And so you gotta be careful that you're spending that money on books that can actually help you. Now give attendance to reading, the Bible says that. But what's the main thing we should be reading? The Bible. studying the Bible, getting to know the Bible better. And yes, there are other things that I read as well, but my emphasis is on the Bible, reading the Bible. So I can know it better to be able to teach it to other people and to be able to live it in my own life the way that I need to. That's what's most important to be able to understand the Bible and to be able to help other people also to understand the Bible. That's a lifelong process. The Bible is such a rich and deep mine that it's impossible for us to mine the depths of it no matter how long we live. Daniel here was a wise man. He knew the God of the Bible. He had some understanding. He was given the ability to interpret dreams. But he was still needing to learn. And so do we today. We need to continue to learn and let God's word teach us. It is a ever-present-day book. always applicable. We need to apply it properly, understand what is talking about the nation of Israel, what is talking about Gentiles, and what is talking about all people, Gentile and Jew, or Jew and Gentile. And in what time frame is it speaking? And as you notice in the Bible, there are places that we're studying in our Sunday school where it talks about the years that a king lived, and it compares them to another king as to the time frame, but it doesn't give us a date. It doesn't say in 500 BC or 450 BC or 750 BC. It doesn't give us those dates. Some of those dates we can put in there because we have men like James Usher, who was a very studious historian, and he was able to calculate the dates out, and so we know some of the dates. But sometimes we don't know the dates. But we can look at things and we can see what happened and how it has been fulfilled as we look at the prophecy and as we look at history and we can figure things out that way. As we look at this passage, Daniel here is continuing to get some understanding in regard to the dream that he was given by God, a dream that was important for him, a dream that was beyond his time, this part of it, and a dream that he needed to be able to write down for future generations, Jews and Gentiles. And so we can be encouraged today that as we look at our world and we see the trouble that our world is in, doesn't matter which country you look at, there's trouble. And when you look at the major nations of the world, they are continually sharpening their swords. They're developing new weapons all the time. They're getting aggressive in regard to taking over other people's lands. wanting more because they're looking for energy. That's one of the things that they're after. They're also looking for raw materials, not because they're concerned about helping humanity, but as the world, for instance, right now is going to electric vehicles to a certain degree, One of the things that they need for that is lithium. Well, lithium apparently is not that well, there's not that much of it in the world, and so the big world powers are hungry to lay hold of the lithium mines so they can make money off it. It's not about helping people, it's about making money. Greed is what motivates just about everything that's being done today. Greed. money in my pocket not to help you but just to make me richer that's the main goal of world governments today that's what our prime minister is all about the corruption that he has been involved in and still is is all about enriching himself fifty four million dollars to make a useless app that never did work properly And they're trying to figure out where did that money come from? Where did it go? Who got it? And we probably never will find out because politics is such a dirty business that they don't just speak plain English. They beat around the bush because it seems that everybody that's in politics has some dirt on them. And so everybody beats around the bush and they never come to the conclusion. But when it comes to the Bible, we have a book that is truthful. And every one of us can look in the mirror of God's word. And we can also be challenged from other godly people in regard to what does God's word say and how am I living? And when we take the word of God as our authority, it will divide asunder the soul and spirit and the joints and marrow. It will show what's really going on. And it will help us to be able to make the right choices, to make the necessary corrections so that we can walk with God the way that we ought to. And as Daniel saw this vision, he saw the end of things. And the end of things is good. The in-between is not always good. But the fact that Jesus Christ is gonna have dominion and he's gonna rule, that would be encouraging to Daniel, and that should be encouraging to every born-again Christian today. So again, if you're listening and you're not saved, that's the place to start. Get saved, turn to God, trust in him for your salvation, and then begin to follow him and learn of him as he wants you to. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we're thankful again that we have Thine. We're thankful again for Daniel's faithfulness to Thee. Thankful for these words that we could study and that we know that there's more coming, more trouble coming, but there's also a blessing awaiting those who are saved. And what a blessing that is to know the true God and to know that there's a home in heaven for us where we will no longer face the troubles of this world and we will never be tempted to sin once we're in heaven. What a blessing that will be. So even now we can draw an eye to Thee and we know that there's an escape way that Thou hast made for every one of Thy children so that we do not have to sin. And when we sin, it's because we refuse to take that escape way. So may thy will be accomplished in each one that's listening today, that each one would want to know thy peace and blessing and want to serve thee faithfully. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.