We're studying the book of Daniel, just a review before we go to the second chapter and begin with verse 40. 600 years, about 600 years before Jesus was born, Daniel, about 15 or 16 years old, living in Jerusalem and believing he would be a priest and live and die serving God in the land. But Nebuchadnezzar, whose father was king of Babylon, found as he and his father and other Babylonian rulers begin to research, they found that the people they depended upon for advice and for help in ruling, they found that they had become fat, they had become addicted to luxury, and so the father told Nebuchadnezzar, there's some people across Jordan in Israel and I have studied those people and they have a great mind and they are greatly blessed. Go capture those young people in Israel and bring them here because we're going to train them in the Chaldean way and we'll be able to use them to help us to rule the country because those people we're depending upon are not dependable. And so he made his way. He chose Daniel and his three companions and some other very young Jewish people and took them back to Babylon He did not get to finish getting everyone that he wanted to, especially those who do the dirty work. They're in the, because they couldn't depend upon the people who were citizens to even do the agricultural work needed in order to feed the people. And so he heard his father had died. Nebuchadnezzar. So he took Daniel and some others and went on back to Babylon. Then he came back the second time and took people like Ezekiel. We find that there were three prophets in the Bible who prophesied, that is, wrote the books of the Bible that they bear their name or that they have their name as author. That's Ezekiel. Ezekiel was taken in the second group to Babylon down by the river Chebar. And then we have Daniel. And then in the New Testament, we have John writing the book of Revelation on the Isle of Patmos as he was put a captive there in that area. So we find that the only major prophet that was still living was the one who prophesied that the Jews would be in captivity in Babylon for 70 years, and that was Jeremiah. Jeremiah was the weeping prophet. He did not get to go into captivity. He had to remain with those who were totally non-spiritual in Jerusalem. And finally, at the end of his life, they forced him to go to Egypt. And all indications are he was stoned to death in Egypt by his own people. And so when Daniel arrived in Babylon, You remember the story, the true story. He would not eat the things that the king demanded he eat. And the reason for this, now, if you are a real thinking person and you said the whole Bible, You know that Paul said it's not what Jesus said and Paul, it's not what goes in but what comes out that defiles. And yet there's a great lesson here. Daniel only knew probably the Pentateuchs, the writings of Moses. And Leviticus told them what to eat and what not to eat. Now later on Paul in his writings release them from that demand but at that time they were under the dispensation of law and Daniel obeyed what God had revealed at that time. You and I have a greater responsibility than Daniel had because we have had the total revelation Almighty God by the book of the New Testament. And so the king, Nebuchadnezzar, has a troubling dream. When people are, and I'm using a word in a very limited way, when people are paranoid, and Nebuchadnezzar was, And the reason he was paranoid was because of his advisors could not be trusted. And that's a very, very serious thing for someone ruling a country when they cannot trust the things that their advisors. They don't have good advisors. Everyone who is in a position of leadership needs people around them that can advise them and then take that advice. He had been observing the writings of the one of President Obama's advisors. He said basically that Obama would not take the advice he gave him. So that works two ways. Nebuchadnezzar had a dream. And whether he really had forgotten the dream or not, you really don't know. But he certainly had to put that bunch of people who he had as advisors to a test. So he told them, I want you to tell me the dream I had and I want you to tell me the interpretation of the dream. Well, they were a bunch of crooks. They were a bunch of people who just used their office that they had in order for their own building and their own good. They didn't use it for the good of their country and even of their king. And so he had the dream and they said no one would ever force a bunch of people to tell the dream and the interpretation. So he said, okay, I'm sick of you all. So I'll tell you what, you're going to all be killed. Every one of these advisors, I'm going to have you killed. And of course, Daniel and his three companions that had been named Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego by the Babylonians, They were also advisors. They were in that category. And so they were told, you'll be killed. And so Daniel asked to have a meeting with the king. And he told the king, give me some time and I'll come back and I'll tell you the dream and I'll tell you interpretation. As he goes back to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, the four of them go into a season of prayer and fasting, asking God to give them the dream and the interpretation. God did. Daniel appeared before Nebuchadnezzar. And Nebuchadnezzar was already impressed by him, by the fact that he could see he was real. He was someone he could depend upon. He wasn't spoiled by luxuries. And so he told him the dream, said, you saw an image. You saw an image made of the head of gold, that's you. You're the greatest leader that the world will ever know. You're the head of gold. And he went on down to the body and he got four. We found Babylon. What empire would come next? The, which one? The Medes and the Persians, and mainly the Persians. And so he, they came in, Cyrus of course was impressed with Daniel and allowed some of the Jews to go back home to Israel and finally gave permission to rebuild the temple. The Persian Empire did like all the others, it fell apart. And the Greeks took over, led by Alexander the Great. Now, I hope what I'm going to say now doesn't offend you because it's really the weapon that Alexander used to conquer the world that had been once ruled by Babylon and by the Medes and the Persians. And he used a fleshly desire that God put in men and women in order to have an increase in the population of the world, sex. And so when he sent his soldiers into the Medo-Persian Empire, his soldiers mixed sexually so that the children that would be born would have the Greek philosophy of life and not the Persian philosophy of life. Alexander died at about 32 or 33 years old and his empire was divided among his four main generals. The ones who were the most powerful were the Ptolemies and the ones who ruled Egypt, the general, And they named one of the cities after Alexander, Alexandria, Egypt. This is where they had such a large library there in the city there of Alexandria. And it was, the Jews were doing so well there. And so they decided we need to bring 70 rabbis actually 71, just they always wanted to have one extra, to come down to Alexandria and translate the Old Testament from Hebrew to Greek. And they named it the Septuagint because of the word 70. Daniel had told him about the different kingdoms, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and the final one being the Roman Empire. And we're going to start tonight in verse 40 about the empire of Rome. And it'll be Daniel 2, 40. And he says to the king, and the fourth kingdom, this would be Rome, shall be strong as iron. For as much as iron breaks in pieces and subdues all things, and as iron that breaks all those shall it break in pieces and bruise. It was a very powerful kingdom, the king of Rome, the fourth one. And therefore thou sawest the feet and toes. Now Rome, was ended up being the two legs. You had the Western part of the empire, the Eastern part of the empire, and then it ended up in the fact that it got down to the toes, and that's us. We are the toes of the image that Daniel saw. Whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part potter's clay, and part iron. The kingdom, and that's what we're talking about right now, the things that are happening right now, and the kingdom shall be divided, and there shall be in it the strength of iron, and as much as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. And as the toes, and that's us, that's the time we're living in. And as the toes of the feet were part iron and part clay, so the kingdom, when it reaches down to the toes, so the kingdom shall be part strong and partly broken. That better describes the United States of America right now. We have some strength left. And you're it. And people like you. Did you know that most churches don't have church on Wednesday night anymore? Because the people are not interested in the Word of God. But you are, you wouldn't be here. Thank God you're here. I thank God for every one of you. Bless you. Now, what's going to happen to us and to those who make up the toes made of iron and clay? Verse 44. And in the days of these kings, the ones who do not cleave one to another, right now there's a great division. China wants to rule, Russia wants to rule, the Egypt, rather Europe is broken up and there's going to have to be a leader come up into Europe to unite it and to get it back, whip it back in shape. And I see in some of the young people in Europe, I see them strength, being strengthened. One of my friends, I'll not name him, spent about a month in England hunting and doing all kinds of things over there. And he told me about how that many of the young people in England and in Europe are beginning to want to have some strong leadership in Europe. Verse 44, and in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven, he's still, he's waiting. He's just saying, okay, mankind, I'll give you enough rope to hang yourself. But I'm giving you rope right now. And that's what's happening to the people of this world. God is, some people wonder why God hasn't stepped in. He will. And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed. And the kingdom shall, now notice this, and the kingdom that, that's why we know that the church is not the kingdom. It's taught by a lot of denominations, it's not. which shall never be destroyed and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces, that is the kingdom that God's gonna establish, and consume all these kingdoms, these weak kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. That's why Jesus said, you know what, I'm gonna quote, Seek ye first. Now, if I offend you, I don't mean to. There's not one person that we can look to to become the leader of this country. And the political parties are so split and so divided And think of the billions of dollars it takes just for them to advertise, to get in office. Who do you think they're obligated to? You and me? No. For as much as thou sawest, and here's what is important, in as much, King Nebuchadnezzar, as thou sawest that the stone that was cut out of the mountain without hands, that it wasn't made by man, the kingdom of God is not going to be made by you and me. We have the church of the living God and the church has a purpose. We're in the minority. And I tell you, I was shocked when I began to try to teach a Sunday school class when I was in the Air Force. I was given a Sunday school class over in the adult area of the base. And when I began to teach the basic teachings of the Bible, they had me fired. And you know what? I've told some of you this before. I got put on Sunday night. leading the singing. We had an old Southern Baptist chaplain by the name of Colonel Blasingame. And he said, Matthews, I want you to come in and take over the service and do everything until it's time for me to preach. And I'll stay at the back and shake the latecomer's hands. We baptized, we say we, people nearly every Sunday afternoon in the Mediterranean Sea. I have movies of all of those baptisms. I showed them, I was, when I came back and became a civilian again, I was asked to show them at a rotary club. And there happened to be some preachers there that believe in sprinkling, not immersion. And when they saw all those immersions, One of them came up to me and said, I see you're pushing the way the Baptist baptize. No, it's the way the Bible says to baptize. I enjoyed it. If you're never questioned, if you never have anybody come after you, you're not doing anything. Thank God when somebody gets after you. You see what you're made out of. For as much as I saweth that the stone was cut out without hands, that it break in pieces, the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver and the gold. Remember, the stone started at the bottom and made its way up. And that's the way it'll be when the kingdom, the millennial kingdom comes in. The great God hath made known to the king King Nebuchadnezzar, what shall come to pass hereafter? And the dream is certain and the interpretation is sure. Then King Nebuchadnezzar, this is the king of the greatest empire that has ever existed, the empire of gold. And King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face and worshiped Daniel. and commanded that they should offer an oblation and sweet odors to him. He was to be showered with gifts, verse 47. And the king answered unto Daniel and said, and he's gonna, in the future when we're studying this book, he's gonna wish he didn't say what he says right now. Because you better mean it when you say this. This is not something you just say and you don't mean. The king answered unto Daniel and said of a truth that your God is God of gods and Lord of kings and reveal a secret, seeing thou couldest reveal this secret. Then the king made Daniel a great man. And he's just 20, about 20 years old. And gave him many great gifts. And made him ruler over the whole providence of Babylon. And chief of the governors over all the wise men. All these pacts that couldn't interpret the king's dream. All these people would become so full of luxury, he put Daniel over them and Daniel began to crack the whip. And then Daniel requested, he had those three friends who had helped him. And Daniel requested of the king that he set Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego over the affairs of the providence of Babylon. But Daniel sat in the gate or sat on the throne of the king. He ruled Babylon. Now, this is not the end of the story because Nebuchadnezzar has not really been converted. He just is so thrilled to find out the answer to his dream and get rid of all these advisors that were worthless. And when we get to chapter three, God willing, next Wednesday night, we'll find that Nebuchadnezzar There's a thing, you're not going to find Daniel in chapter 3. I guess the king had sent him somewhere on a mission because he was not there. And King Nebuchadnezzar, the one who's just made all this flowery speech to Daniel about his God, he makes an image. And the size of this image is huge. He says everyone has to come and bow down to this image. And Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego would not bow down to this image. And if you were to read the 11th chapter of Hebrews, he just barely mentions, Paul barely mentions them being saved out of the fiery furnace because that's where they were put. But who was in the furnace with them? Jesus. Who's going to be with you? Jesus. And you are going to be blessed, not because of who's been preaching tonight, but what's being preached. You're going to be blessed. Will you claim that blessing tonight? I have a blessing coming to me because I have honored the word of God and worship the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords. I stand to sing. Amen. Let's offer up just as I am. Just as I am without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me. And that Thou bidst me come to Thee, O Lamb of God, I come. Would you think, God, as I read this scripture as our benediction, will you thank God that you are not like this and this church is not like this? I'm going to read from the book of Micah, M-I-C-A-H, the seventh chapter, and here is how he shows how most of the people in Israel were in his day. For I'm as when they have gathered the summer fruit, as the grape gleaners of the vintage. There is no cluster to eat, and my soul desires first ripe fruit. That's what you got tonight. First, first, but you gotta have it on the vine. And you make that possible. Father, thank you, in Jesus' name, amen.