The Portraits and Purpose of Antichrist
Daniel 8:1-27
June 26, 2016

Without a doubt one of the main points of interest
That seems to motivate people to study the book of Daniel
Is the fact that Daniel seems to have much information
Regarding this most curious super villain that we await here on earth.

Commonly he is referred to as The Antichrist

Paul described him like this:
2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 “Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.”

And of course we’ve read (and will again shortly) Revelation 13
And seen the mystery of this beast who comes out of the sea
And who demands worship and seems to go on a killing rampage
Against the people of God.

He is a most curious figure.

He is also a figure that people have tried to identify throughout the ages.
• Some were sure it was Hitler
• Some were sure it was Stalin
• Some were sure it was Kennedy
• Some are certain it is Obama
• I’m sure some are already leaning towards it being Donald Trump

And in most cases when these comparisons are made
It is not always hard to make a compelling argument.

After all John said it like this:
1 John 2:18 “Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour.”

Our history is filled with men and women
Who could be considered “antichrists”.

• They are men and women who have been indifferent to the expectations of God and the worship of His Son.
• They have also been adamant in their persecution of God’s people.
• They are antichrist.

And in some ways these people also form a collective prophesy
Picturing exactly what the final Antichrist will be like.

They are pieces to the larger puzzle.
They reveal him in various ways.
And when you look at them together
A picture of this future leader becomes clearer and clearer.

That is what is provided for us here in the 8th chapter of Daniel.
We get a picture of 3 world rulers who were indeed antichrist,
And thus gain more understanding about the future Antichrist
Who will one day step onto the scene.

But that is not all…

We also here begin to see why God will allow it to happen.
• We begin to see God’s plan in allowing this man and men like him to rise to power throughout the ages.

That’s why we call this chapter
“The Portraits and Purpose of Antichrist”

Now before we get into it too far
There is something you need to understand about what you are reading.
There has now been a very important
And dramatic change in the writing of Daniel.

Daniel 2:4-Daniel 7 was all written in Aramaic.
It was written in the language of the Gentiles
As though Daniel were revealing to the Gentiles
That regardless of who is ruler of the world
God still reigns supreme in the heavens.

IT WAS A MESSAGE FOR THE ENTIRE WORLD THAT OUR GOD IS GOD.

And so we saw Daniel leave for the world to read about
How God humbled Nebuchadnezzar, how God judged Belshazzar,
And how God drew Darius to himself.

That section closed in chapter 7 with Daniel revealing the coming kingdoms and thus making his choice to seek the kingdom that will reign forever.

But in Daniel 8 there is a shift.
The language is no longer Aramaic, it is now Hebrew.

Daniel is writing to God’s people.
These visions and this message is for them.

3 Things
#1 A REMARKABLE VISION
Daniel 8:1-14

It is important that you see the setting of this vision.

(1-2) “In the third year of the reign of Belshazzar the king a vision appeared to me, Daniel, subsequent to the one which appeared to me previously. I looked in the vision, and while I was looking I was in the citadel of Susa, which is in the province of Elam; and I looked in the vision and I myself was beside the Ulai Canal.”

What is remarkable about this vision is that
It occurred in the 3rd year of Belshazzar.

Belshazzar reigned for 14 years in Babylon which means that he is still 11 years away from that handwriting on the wall incident and the night in which his kingdom would fall to the Persians.

So just know that Persia isn’t even a thought yet.

Furthermore in this vision Daniel found himself in “the citadel of Susa, which is in the province of Elam”

Now that certainly does become the capital city in the Persian Empire.
All throughout the book of Esther the major events occur in “Susa”

The unique thing is that before Persia, Susa was nothing.
It was an obscure and remote nothing.

The fact that Daniel named this city
Which would become so prominent is really remarkable,
For it was nothing at the time.

In Susa Daniel received a vision and we can break it down really easy.

He saw
1) A Big Horn (1-4)
2) A Conspicuous Horn (5-8)
3) A Little Horn (9-14)

Now you will see in a moment who they specifically are.
What we will find is that all of these three are in fact antichrist.

But looked at together,
They all 3 give us a picture of The Antichrist who is coming.

It is also important that in looking at these three men
We see the purpose for their coming and why God allowed it.

So Daniel sees these three visions all with horns which represent power and dominion.
1) THE BIG HORN (3-4)

“Then I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, a ram which had two horns was standing in front of the canal. Now the two horns were long, but one was longer than the other, with the longer one coming up last. I saw the ram butting westward, northward, and southward, and no other beasts could stand before him nor was there anyone to rescue from his power, but he did as he pleased and magnified himself.”

We’ll see who this horn is in a moment,
But for now let’s simply focus on what Daniel knew.

He sees a powerful ram and he is “butting westward, northward, and southward and no other beasts could stand before him”

Here we clearly see POWER manifested.
This horn is strong.
This horn is powerful.

And coupled with his power comes a certain amount of arrogance for “he did as he pleased and magnified himself.”

Daniel sees a kingdom which will gain great dominion on the earth.

2) THE CONSPICUOUS HORN (5-8)

Conspicuous means evident or obvious.
You can’t miss it

• This time we have a male goat coming and covering the earth.
• He is obviously moving fast since he doesn’t even touch the ground.
• And he has his sights set on the ram.

And the words we get that really stick out to us about this goat are words like “mighty wrath” or “enraged” or “hurled” or “trampled”

Whereas the first horn was a picture of power,
This horn is a picture of RAGE.

He obviously also has power, but in addition
He has a certain level of rage that has not yet been seen.

He also has a form of arrogance since he also “magnified himself exceedingly”

3) THE SMALL HORN (9-14)

We read that the male goat was broken
And four conspicuous horns took his place.

One of those horns really caught Daniel’s attention
Because it was “a rather small horn” but it was AMBITIOUS.

This horn attacked the south, the east, and the Beautiful Land.
• It obviously had power like the first
• It obviously had rage like the second

But where this horn truly distinguished itself
Is in its level of arrogance.

“It even magnified itself to be equal with the Commander of the host: and it removed the regular sacrifice to Him, and the place of His sanctuary was thrown down.”

We would call this “small horn” a banty rooster.

He has no problem even mocking God
And putting an end to the worship God deserves.

All three of these horns are horrific to say the least.
I can’t imagine that Daniel looked forward to any of them.

One might even ask WHY GOD WOULD ALLOW IT?
(12) “And on account of transgression the host will be given over to the horn along with the regular sacrifice; and it will fling truth to the ground and perform its will and prosper.”

There it is spelled out.
God will allow it because of “transgression”

The sin of His people was so offensive to Him
That He would actually allow the most arrogant of men
To “fling truth to the ground” and stop “the regular sacrifice”

This is discipline from God.

The next question would obviously be HOW LONG?
(13-14) “Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to that particular one who was speaking, ” How long will the vision about the regular sacrifice apply, while the transgression causes horror, so as to allow both the holy place and the host to be trampled?” He said to me, “For 2,300 evenings and mornings; then the holy place will be properly restored.”

We are still referring to the work of this “small horn”
But the question is how long God will allow him to do such a thing?

How long will God let this arrogant horn trample the holy place?

And the answer is “For 2,300 evenings and mornings; then the holy place will be properly restored.”

If you’re doing the math, that is 6 years and 4 months.
God is going to allow this small horn to run rough shod over His people.

That is the remarkable vision of Daniel.
#2 THE IMPORTANT INTERPRETATION
Daniel 8:15-26

Obviously Daniel wants to know what this vision means.
He needs God’s help to understand it.

And instantly God sends an angelic messenger to Daniel to explain it.
God sends His P.R. Angel named Gabriel.

(Gabriel always seems to handle the big pieces of news)
(Michael does the fighting, Gabriel does the announcing)

Here Gabriel brings a message to Daniel
The first piece of information that Gabriel has for Daniel is that “the vision pertains to the time of the end.”

Now at this point (just at the sight of Gabriel) Daniel faints
And falls on his face, but Gabriel picks him up and says again
“Behold, I am going to let you know what will occur at the final period of indignation, for it pertains to the appointed time of the end.”

What you and I learn then is that not only does this vision
Have an immediate fulfillment for Daniel and God’s people,
But it also then has an eschatological fulfillment in the end.

We are seeing both here.
These three horns are also a picture of the coming horn
In the book of the Revelation.

But let’s examine them here.
1) THE BIG HORN (20)
“The ram which you saw with the two horns represents the kings of Media and Persia.”

Now if you go back to verses 3&4
Daniel’s vision becomes even more remarkable.

• We then know that this ram that was butting westward, northward, and southward (because it was the east) would be the Medes and the Persians.

• It is extremely accurate since it was the Persians who arose greater than the Medes which would explain that second horn growing longer than the first.

• We know of this ram’s great power and that was true since Persia boasted a 2 million man army.

They were a force to be reckoned with.
2) THE CONSPICUOUS HORN (21)
“The shaggy goat represents the kingdom of Greece, and the large horn that is between his eyes is the first king.”

And again we look back at verses 5-8 and are amazed.

Daniel said that this goat, which we now know was Greece moved fast,
Without touching the ground.

We saw him, with great anger,
Attack the ram and throw him down and trample him.

• Persia had greatly afflicted Greece, and when Alexander the Great unified the Greek tribes he went on a vengeance mission to make them pay.

• He moved fast traveling with only 35,000 soldiers, but his force was lethal none the less.

• Obviously Alexander magnified himself since you don’t just give yourself the title “The Great” unless you are pretty fond of yourself.

• But as soon as Alexander the Great was mighty he was broken. He died of malaria at the age of 32.

Isn’t it interesting that Daniel spelled out all of this information
Before Alexander the Great was even born!

3) THE SMALL HORN (22-26)

We find then that after Alexander the Great died
His kingdom would be split 4 ways.

His kingdom was divided amongst his four generals.
• Ptolemy (south)
• Cassander (east)
• Lysimachus (west)
• Seleucus (north)

(you’ll see the kings of the north and the south again in Daniel)

But after a few years out of the Seleucids a new ruler would arise.

According to verse 23 it would be “In the latter period of their rule, when the transgressors have run their course, a king will arise, insolent and skilled in intrigue.”

This ruler would be a man named Antiochus Epiphanes
His arrogance is seen in the fact that
Epiphanes means “The Illustrious One”
We learn about him:
(24-25) “His power will be mighty, but not by his own power, And he will destroy to an extraordinary degree And prosper and perform his will; He will destroy mighty men and the holy people. “And through his shrewdness He will cause deceit to succeed by his influence; And he will magnify himself in his heart, And he will destroy many while they are at ease. He will even oppose the Prince of princes, But he will be broken without human agency.”

So we learn that this man will come to rule with great power
And he will take special attention to destroying the holy people.
He is a deceiver and a manipulator who uses influence to gain his way

He will destroy the holy people “while they are at ease.”
“He will even oppose the Prince of princes”

There is going to be a level of his arrogance that is really unimaginable.

And Antiochus Epiphanes did all these things.
He invaded Israel, killed over 40,000 Jews and sacrificed a pig on the altar
Thus desecrating the holy place and attacking God’s people.

It is BECAUSE God’s people were “at ease”
Meaning they were complacent and unconcerned about the things of God.

Their transgression was mighty, their sin was arrogant,
And therefore God allowed them to be persecuted.

I don’t want to take the time to go all through it,
But the book of Malachi does a great job of spelling this out.

• It would be Cyrus of Persia who would command that the temple be rebuilt and
through Ezra and Nehemiah Jerusalem would once again be inhabited.

• But by the time we get to Malachi we see that the same old sins of
complacency and false religion had emerged.

Sins like people and priest disregarding the sacrificial standard
Malachi 1:8 “But when you present the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you present the lame and sick, is it not evil? Why not offer it to your governor? Would he be pleased with you? Or would he receive you kindly?” says the LORD of hosts.”

Sins like the priest disregarding the word of God.
Malachi 2:7-8 “For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and men should seek instruction from his mouth; for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts. “But as for you, you have turned aside from the way; you have caused many to stumble by the instruction; you have corrupted the covenant of Levi,” says the LORD of hosts.”

Sins like the people continually disregarding the covenant of marriage.
Malachi 2:16 “For I hate divorce,” says the LORD, the God of Israel, “and him who covers his garment with wrong,” says the LORD of hosts. “So take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously.”

Sins like failing to tithe
Malachi 3:8-9 “Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. “You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you!”

The people grew complacent and just no longer revered the Lord,
So God promised to raise up this Antiochus Epiphanes to humble them.
And he most certainly did.

Daniel then said however that this man would “be broken without human agency.”

He would die, but not at the hands of another.
And this certainly happened as he died of a bowel disease.

It is clear that God would use this man to purify Israel.

Now Gabriel also takes special care to
Note the timeline that was given to Daniel.

The vision stated that this would occur for 2,300 evenings.

Gabriel says here:
(26) “The vision of the evenings and mornings Which has been told is true; But keep the vision secret, For it pertains to many days in the future.”

Gabriel takes special care
To make sure that Daniel recognizes the timeline.
And this is really amazing.

• The terrorizing of God’s people by Antiochus began on September 6, 171 BC.
• Independence was one by Israel from Greece on December 25, 165 BC which is why they celebrate Hanukah

Gabriel spelled out exactly the length that this oppression would last.
This man would rise, punish Israel, and then fall at God’s appointed time.

It was in the future when Daniel saw it, but it was fulfilled with absolute precision.
#3 THE CONSEQUENT EFFECT
Daniel 8:27

“Then I, Daniel, was exhausted and sick for days. Then I got up again and carried on the king’s business; but I was astounded at the vision, and there was none to explain it.”

First Daniel was “sick for days”

It is just like we read about Habakkuk last week when he learned of the coming Chaldean invasion.

Habakkuk 3:16 “I heard and my inward parts trembled, At the sound my lips quivered. Decay enters my bones, And in my place I tremble. Because I must wait quietly for the day of distress, For the people to arise who will invade us.”

Just like that Daniel was sick.

We see this same thing in the book of the Revelation when John is given a scroll to read.

Revelation 10:10 “I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it, and in my mouth it was sweet as honey; and when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter.”

The thought of what Daniel saw taking place made him sick.

But it didn’t stop at sickness, from there Daniel went into SHOCK
“I was astounded at the vision, and there was none to explain it.”

Daniel was just in a state of shock.

“none to explain it” doesn’t mean no one could explain the vision,
Gabriel had already done that.

It means no one around Daniel understood
Why he was in such a state of shock.

• No one else had seen the vision
• No one else was aware of what was coming
• So no one else understand why Daniel was in such shock

Now next week we’ll move into chapter 9 and you’ll see two more responses by Daniel.

SEEKING & SUPPLICATION

In Daniel 9 we find Daniel on his face in repentance
And intercession for the nation of Israel.

That is only fitting seeing as that Daniel understood why
This time of tribulation was coming.

It was coming because of transgression.

When Paul wrote of the coming Antichrist to the Thessalonians he told them why he was coming.

2 Thessalonians 2:8-12 “Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.”

God allows him to come for the purpose of judgment and purification.

In Revelation 13 when we read about the rise of this man, John says this:
Revelation 13:7-10 “It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him. All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain. If anyone has an ear, let him hear. If anyone is destined for captivity, to captivity he goes; if anyone kills with the sword, with the sword he must be killed. Here is the perseverance and the faith of the saints.”

That last phrase is so critical: “Here is the perseverance and the faith of the saints.”

The whole purpose of his rise
Is for the purpose of revealing who is true from who is false.

God will use him to purify His people.

But make no mistake, the realization of this truth is horrific.
And the knowledge of that truth not only made Daniel sick, it also made him pray.

We could go back to that passage in Revelation.
Revelation 10:10-11 “I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it, and in my mouth it was sweet as honey; and when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter. And they said to me, “You must prophesy again concerning many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.”

The call is simple that we should “prophesy again”.

This passage also does a tremendous job of revealing to us
The dangers of sin and the great lengths to which God will go to remove it

All of a sudden it would make some wish that perhaps
They had listened a little closer to men like Isaiah, or Jeremiah, or Ezekiel.

In fact (and I love this) look at Daniel 9.
Daniel 9:1-2 “In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of Median descent, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans — in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the years which was revealed as the word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.”

Obviously chapter 9 occurs many years after chapter 8
So I’m not trying to make an immediate correlation here.

But it is obvious that through all of this exile
Daniel understood that the answer to the problem would be found
In listening to what God had said which was previously ignored.

Daniel was reading the book of Jeremiah.

• Daniel learned here that sin is serious and cleansing from sin is painful.
• He learned what great lengths God will go to in order to purify His people.
• He learned a message which he recorded in Hebrew for the understanding of his people when they would find themselves in the midst of this difficulty.

For us these serve as the portraits and the purpose of the Antichrist.
• He will be a man of great power
• He will be a man of terrible rage
• He will be a man of unbelievable arrogance

And yet God will allow him to strike down His people for a time
In order that He might purify them.

If you take nothing from this chapter,
Learn the importance of purification
And the great lengths to which God will go to achieve it.

The Dead Church
Revelation 3:1-6
June 26, 2016

One of my favorite passages in the Bible is found in Ephesians chapter 2.

This is a tremendous chapter because it so clearly explains to us
• The work that God has been doing in our lives
• Why God has done that work
• And what He expects in response.

The passage begins by revealing to us the former state of every believer
And subsequently the present state of every lost person.

And you can really sum that state up in one word: DEATH

Ephesians 2:1-3 “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.”

The life without Christ is saturated in Spiritual death.

That makes sense since John said about Jesus:
John 1:4 “In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.”

If life is found in Jesus, then it only stands to reason that
Those without Jesus are those without life.

Of course you know we are not talking about physical life,
We are talking about spiritual life.

Thanks to our father Adam, we are conceived in iniquity (Romans 5)
And we enter this world spiritually dead.

What does that mean?
Dead means “doesn’t recognize or respond to stimulus”

A physically dead person no longer responds to physical things.
Things like noise, or cold, or pain, or heat, or smell no longer effect that person.
They are physically dead and they neither detect nor respond to physical things.

Paul says that is what we all were in a spiritual sense.
We neither detected nor responded to spiritual things.
• We didn’t comprehend God
• We didn’t comprehend God’s will
• We didn’t recognize Him at work
• We didn’t respond to what He was doing around us

We were spiritually dead.
And our spiritual death was MADE EVIDENT
Not only by the things we FAILED TO PERCEIVE,
But also by the things that we FAITHFULLY PURSUED.

Paul says that spiritually dead people do not respond to God.
• Instead we “walked according to the course of this world”
• He says “we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh”
• He says we were “indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind”

Spiritually dead people only live for physical gratification.
They certainly can’t live for spiritual gratification since they are dead spiritually,
So they spend their lives living for physical gratification.

That would be all well and good were it not for one problem.
Living your life for the gratification of the flesh
Will only cause you to earn the wrath of God.

That’s why Paul says that when we were living that way
We “were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.”

All we ever did was what the flesh wanted
And all that ever did was anger Holy God.

THAT IS WHERE WE WERE.
AND THAT IS WHEN GOD WENT TO WORK.
He pulled a Lazarus in our lives. He called us out of death.

Ephesians 2:4-7 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

Despite our offense to God,
He took us when we were dead and made us alive.
We call that grace and mercy.

• Then He raised us up out of the sinful lifestyle that once defined us
• And ultimately made us people of favor who receive His kindness as
opposed to children of wrath who receive His judgment.

WE CALL THAT SALVATION.

Psalms 40:1-3 “I waited patiently for the LORD; And He inclined to me and heard my cry. He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; Many will see and fear And will trust in the LORD.”

Salvation is when we move literally
From spiritual death to spiritual life.
And that is really the clearest indicator of salvation that there is.
Are you dead or alive?

I always find it interesting when people tell me,
“I know I’m saved, but I don’t really know when it happened.”

Look, it’s not gradual, it doesn’t come in increments.
In an instant a person is saved, God’s Holy Spirit moves in
And that person moves from darkness to light, from death to life.

That is the miraculous work of God in a life.

But Paul also tells us WHAT GOD EXPECTS from us
Now that He has made us alive.

Ephesians 2:8-10 “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

We are not saved as a result of our works.
• That is to say that you can’t do enough to warrant salvation.
• We are saved as result of God’s amazing grace.

We aren’t saved by works but we are saved FOR works.
It’s part of that sanctification we talked about last week.

God graciously saves us and then expects that
Our lives will be characterized by the types of “works”
That are pleasing to Him.

This is salvation and it is the expectation of the church body.

Any church then (or follower) who does not have works that indicate spiritual life cannot actually be considered alive.
(If I asked you how you know you are alive, you wouldn’t show me your birth certificate, you’d let me feel your pulse, etc.)

A church without the evidences of life is dead.

I tell you that because THIS MORNING we see “THE DEAD CHURCH”

Because we just looked at Ephesians 2 you know what is meant when Jesus says someone is “dead”.
• It means they are lost
• It means they are not indwelt by God’s Holy Spirit
• It means they do not have spiritual life

And therefore it means that they are
Incapable of doing the things that please God.
• We are not talking about an old church
• We are not talking about a poor church
• We are not talking about a small church
• We are talking about a dead church

In reality, a dead church may be huge.
• It may be wealthy
• It may be state of the art
• It may be cutting edge
• It may be extremely active and busy

But that isn’t what makes a church alive by Jesus’ standard.

A church is only alive when
It is filled with people who have yielded their lives to Christ,
Been indwelt by the Holy Spirit,
And thus are able to do the deeds that are pleasing to God.

That is a living church.
That is not what Sardis was; let’s look at them this morning.

#1 THE CHURCH
Revelation 3:1a
“To the angel of the church in Sardis write:”

It has always been important to understand the city and the setting as we examine a church, and that is even more important as we examine the church at Sardis.

There is an amazing correlation
Between this town and the church that was there.

Sardis was a tourist city, and it was so because of its rich history.

• Sardis itself was thought to be impenetrable (3 sides of the city rested on a cliff, the only entrance was a narrow pass)
• Yet Cyrus of Persia conquered it by staging a mock attack in the front and scaling the walls in the back which were not even guarded.

Sardis would later be rebuilt, but would be a city that lived of its past reputation.
• Gold and silver coins were first minted in Sardis
• Sardis was the first to learn to dye wool
• They also had a temple to the same false god as Ephesus (The Ephesians called her Artemas, the people of Sardis called her Cybele)
• It was also a town that contained a system of natural hot springs which people believed the gods gave life to the dead

It was a town compared to a museum
They were no longer great but they managed to survive
By living off of the memory of their past greatness.

That is ironic since the church in Sardis was doing the exact same thing.
The Church
#2 THEIR LORD
Revelation 3:1b
“He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, says this,”

Again the specific way in which Jesus identifies Himself is so important.

We are familiar with what is meant by “the seven Spirits of God”,
For we encountered that analogy back in the first chapter of the book.

It is a reference to the Holy Spirit in His fullness.
Isaiah 11:2 “The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.”

We also learn in chapter 1 that “the seven stars” are the messengers to the churches.

So Jesus presents Himself to the church at Sardis as
The One who has the Holy Spirit and their messengers

Why is this significant?
Later in verse 3 of the rebuke Jesus will say, “So remember what you have received and heard…”

This is a reference to the Holy Spirit and the gospel.
(what they received and what they heard…what Christ has)

The greatest gifts Christ has ever given to His church are His Spirit and His Word (and the two work together)

John 16:7-15 “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. “And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged. “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. “He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. “All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.”

There is no substitute in the church for God’s Spirit or God’s Word.
And these are linked since it is the Spirit
Who guides us into our understanding of God’s word.

This is where the church finds here very life and power and effectiveness.

John 6:63 “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.”

In reality it is these realities that distinguish the church
From every other organization on the face of the earth.

• Any club or group may be organized,
• Any group may have bylaws
• Any group may engage in social work
• Any group may proclaim a message
• Any group may build a structure for meeting

But the church is absolutely exclusive in two areas.
We have the Spirit of God and we have the word of God.
These are what set us apart,
These are what give us life,
These are what make us effective for the kingdom.

If a church has everything but not those things,
It is in fact a dead church.

Jesus reminds the church of Sardis of this
In the way He introduces Himself to the church.

The Church, Their Lord
#3 THEIR EVALUATION
Revelation 3:1c
“I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.”

What a sobering evaluation from the Lord.
• There is nothing that the Lord brags about.
• There is nothing He congratulates them for.
• He goes straight to the critique and it is as harsh as it could be.

You think you are alive, but you are dead.

I remember a story of some men digging a ditch to work on a water main.
There in the ditch they found a snake, and one man quickly cut off its head.

Of course the snake continued to crawl and coil and even strike.

A debate arouse as to whether or not the snake was dead or alive.
Some insisted it was alive since it continued to move.
Others insisted it was dead since it had no head.

Finally one of the men came forward with the verdict.
He said, “That snake is dead, but he doesn’t know it”

That was the church at Sardis.
They were dead, but they didn’t know it.

They had “a name that [they were] alive”

What does that mean?
It means that externally they looked great.
• Their budget was sound
• Their attendance was good
• Their facilities were top notch
• Their workers were busy

If all you did was look at that church from the outside,
You’d think they were a good church. They looked alive.

But you know why that is a problem:
1 Samuel 16:7 “But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

God has never been one to look only at the external.
God always looks at the heart.
God has always been more inclined to check a person’s pulse
Than to just look at how they are dressed.

Jesus did the same, listen to Him explain to the Pharisees what their problem was:
Matthew 23:25-28 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. “You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. “So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”

God said of Israel:
Isaiah 29:13 “Then the Lord said, “Because this people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote,”

And Jesus said that is precisely what He saw when He came:
Matthew 15:3-9 “And He answered and said to them, “Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? “For God said, ‘HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER,’ and, ‘HE WHO SPEAKS EVIL OF FATHER OR MOTHER IS TO BE PUT TO DEATH.’ “But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever I have that would help you has been given to God,” he is not to honor his father or his mother.’ And by this you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition. “You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you: ‘THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME. ‘BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.'”

Are you understanding what it means to be a dead church yet?
Many people think a dead church is an inactive church or a church filled with old people or a church that can barely pay the bills.

NOT SO!!!
A dead church is one that is merely going through the motions externally but one that has not spiritual life to back it up.

There was a Chinese missionary who came to the United States for education and training. Upon going home to China, the members of his church asked him what was the most impressive thing he saw regarding the American church?

His answer was: “All the many things they can accomplish without God.”

Friends even non-believers can organize and accomplish great things,
But they cannot accomplish spiritual things
Because there is no spiritual life within them.

That was Sardis
They were a church filled with the walking dead; spiritual zombies; busy Frankensteins.
Dead but they looked alive

John MacArthur wrote:
“What are the danger signs of a dying church? A church is in danger when it is content to rest on its past laurels, when it is more concerned with liturgical forms than spiritual reality, when it focuses on curing social ills rather than changing people’s hearts through preaching the life-giving gospel of Jesus Christ, when it is more concerned with material than with spiritual things, when it is more concerned with what men think than what God said, when it is more enamored with doctrinal creeds and systems of theology than with the word of God Himself. No matter what its attendance, no matter how impressive its buildings, no matter what its status in the community, such a church, having denied the only source of spiritual life, is dead.”
(MacArthur, John; The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: Revelation 1-11 [Moody Press, Chicago Ill. 1999] pg. 111-112)

That is what Jesus told Sardis.
• I know you meet, I know you’re busy,
• I know you have a state of the art facility,
• I know you have an orchestra a gym and a charter bus.
• I know you have all sorts of groups, committees, and ministries.
• I know you have 3 services a week,
• But I’m looking at your heart and you are dead.

Another telling indication about this church was the lack of Satanic attack.
2 Timothy 3:12 “Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”

And we’ve seen it in the other churches so far.
• Ephesus had false teachers trying to infiltrate the church.
• Smyrna had a synagogue of Satan who blasphemed them.
• Pergamum suffered the death of Antipas in Satan’s home town.
• Thyatira was being attacked by the influence of Jezebel

But Sardis has no Satanic attack of record.
Why would Satan attack a dead church?

These were people content to go through the motions
Without actually having a relationship with Jesus.
Satan is fine with churches like that, he will leave them alone.

SARDIS WAS DEAD.
To make sure you understand exactly what that means.
THE CHURCH AT SARDIS WAS FILLED WITH LOST PEOPLE.

• Religious people to be certain,
• But people who did not have a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ
• And thus had never received the Holy Spirit who gives life.

And this is such a real and relevant problem.
• I was a member of a church for 11 years in that very condition.
• I was a counselor at a youth camp in that very condition.
• I went on mission trips in that very condition

It is easy in America to go through the motions of church activity
Without having a real relationship with Christ…people do it all the time.
The church at Sardis did.

The Church, Their Lord, Their Evaluation
#4 THEIR SOLUTION
Revelation 3:2-4

In these three verses we find that Jesus addresses two groups of people.
• In verses 2 & 3 He addresses the dead who are by far the majority.
• In verse 4 He addresses the living (who are a small remnant)

Look at what He says to the dead
(and incidentally only Jesus could ever speak to the dead)

(2-3) “Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God. ‘So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you.”

Jesus clearly seeks to shake them out of their spiritual lethargy.
“Wake up” Recognize your pitiful spiritual condition.

We have already learned that those who are dead
Do not recognize nor respond to the things of God.

But there are those moments when, by His grace,
God does enable the dead to hear His call.
(Lazarus was granted the ability to hear from inside the tomb)

This is how God calls the dead into life.
But at that moment, the dead must respond to the call.

It is what the writer of Hebrews said:
Hebrews 3:7-9 “Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, “TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME, AS IN THE DAY OF TRIAL IN THE WILDERNESS, WHERE YOUR FATHERS TRIED Me BY TESTING Me, AND SAW MY WORKS FOR FORTY YEARS.”

If God grants you the ability to hear His call, do not reject it!

Jesus tells Sardis to “Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God.”

What does that mean?
Are there a certain number of deeds a person has to do to be pleasing to God?

NO. Remember what we read earlier in Ephesians 2?
Ephesians 2:8-10 “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

God saves us “for good works” that He expects us to walk in.
It is the spiritual fruit that God is looking for.

Remember the famous passage about the vine and the branches?
John 15:1-2 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.”

Sardis was a fruitless branch.
• They had the structure in place
• They had the system in place
(and even those things were about to die)

But despite their structure and their system
They had still failed to produce fruit or the “deeds” that God expected.
They were void of the “deeds” that indicated life.

They needed to hear the gospel, trust in Christ, be filled with His Spirit,
And thus be able to do the “deeds” that God expected.

This problem is better illustrated in the Old Testament.
TURN TO: ISAIAH 5:1-7
• The vineyard had every opportunity
• The vineyard looked alive
• But the vineyard never produced fruit, it was dead

So it was with Sardis.
They had the structure (which was about to die,)
But they still had no fruit or deeds that God expected.

It was time to “Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain”
Jesus said, “So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it and repent.”

The Holy Spirit had been given,
The gospel had been proclaimed,
But Sardis had thus far failed to take advantage of either.

• It was time for them to listen to the call of the Spirit.
• It was time for them to respond to the gospel.
• It was time for them to repent of their sin
• It was time for them to trust in Christ and tap into the vine.

WHAT A TRUTH!
It is so easy to be involved in a church without truly knowing Jesus,
And yet that is so dangerous!

I can’t help but think of passages like this one:
Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’”

Those are the people who faithfully attended and were super involved,
But who did not have a relationship with Jesus.

Make no mistake: CHURCH INVOLVEMENT IS NOT THE ANSWER.
• You must hear the call of the Holy Spirit,
• You must respond to the truth of the gospel,
• You must repent of your sin,
• You must place your faith in Christ.

Anything else is just going through the motions and it will not work.

In fact Jesus said:
“Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you.”

The implication there is judgment.
Jesus many times compares His coming to judge to that of a thief.

The idea being that He will come when you least expect it
And the repercussions will be severe.

RELIGION IS NOT ENOUGH – YOU MUST TRUST IN JESUS!
That is Jesus word to the dead.

Then comes HIS WORD TO THE LIVING:
(4) “But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy.”

“garments” are always a representation of character in the Bible.
• There are some in Sardis (a small remnant) who are indeed righteous.
• They have been cleansed by Christ.
• They have been clothed in His righteousness.

They are not just religious, they actually know Jesus.
And Jesus says “they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy.”

Not worthy because of what they have done,
But worthy because through their relationship with Christ,
He has made them worthy.

The people in this church needed Jesus!

We learn that regardless of what the sign says,
It is only the presence of Christ and His Holy Spirit
That makes a church spiritually alive and pleasing to God.

#5 THEIR EXAMPLE
Revelation 3:5-6

Again we are talking to those who can hear what God is saying.
It could be those who are alive, and it could be those who are dead, but who have graciously been granted the ability to hear for just a moment.

“He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.”

Overcome what?
It is the willingness to be content in religion,
But to never pursue the relationship with Christ.

If you want me to cut it deep, it is PRIDE
• Pride will allow you to be very committed to religion, after all religion can give you a lot of accolades.

But it is impossible to come to Jesus in pride.
Jesus crushes pride. He emphasizes that there is nothing in a person worth saving and they must scrap it all and be born again.

The reason people will be religious, but will not come to Jesus
Is because they have too much pride.

They are not poor in spirit, they do not mourn over their sin,
They simply try to compensate for their sin with religious involvement,
If you will overcome pride
You “will thus be clothed in white garments”
That means you will be forgiven and you will be declared righteous
According to the righteousness of Christ.

And with that comes a great promise:
“and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.”

It’s amazing the number of people who read that verse and ask, “So can a believer lose his salvation? Doesn’t it imply that Jesus might erase someone’s name?”

Read the verse!
He said if you repent and humble yourself and trust Him that “will not” do that.
This is a verse of security.

Why even say that?
Because religion may offer a lot,
But one thing religion has never been able to offer is security.

In legalistic religion security only lasts as long as faithfulness does.
You mess up one time and you’re out. There is no security in religion.

Jesus says, if you’ll get past religion and humble yourself and trust in Me,
• I will make you righteous, (“white garments”)
• I’ll also make you secure (“not erase your name”)
• And I’ll do something for you that religion never could.

I’ll introduce you to My Father.
“I will confess his name before my Father and before His angels”
I’ll take you behind the veil.

WHAT A BLESSED TRUTH!
• Dead people have no righteousness
• Dead people have no security
• Dead people have no access to the Father

Paul taught us that (Ephesians 2)
They chased the lust of the flesh and were children of wrath.

But Jesus takes all those who humble themselves and trust in Him
And makes them righteous, secure, and children of God.

Sardis needed to hear this!
(The American church needs to hear this!)

Do not fool yourself, religious involvement will not cut it.
You must be made alive by the work of Christ
And the regeneration of His Holy Spirit.

Jesus said:
John 11:25-26 “Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”

Jesus is referring to spiritual life, which even death cannot take away.

The question is: “Do you believe this?”
What will you do with Jesus?

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

Choosing  Your Kingdom

Daniel 7:1-28

June 19, 2016

 

(No  notes available for this sermon)

The Church that Provoked Jesus
Revelation 2:18-29
June 19, 2016

I truly hope that the study of these churches
Has proven as valuable to you as it has to me.

Even now studying through them for the fourth time, I am amazed at how relevant and convicting the messages given to these churches continues to be.

And this morning is no different.
The message to the church at Thyatira
Is so RELEVANT and so TIMELY and so NEEDED.

But for this church I find it important to do a little THEOLOGICAL WORK
Before we get into the study of the church.

You are going to clearly see that
No church has angered Jesus like the church at Thyatira.
This is the church that gets to see the fire in His eyes.

• Jesus was heart-broken over Ephesus
• He was filled with pride regarding Smyrna
• He was concerned about Pergamum
BUT HE IS TICKED WITH THE CHURCH AT THYATIRA

Aside from the specifics that Jesus mentions
I THINK IT IMPORTANT THAT YOU UNDERSTAND WHY.

Understanding the issue at Thyatira
Requires that you understand what it means to be saved.

I want to begin by reading:
Romans 6:15-23 “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death. But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Without diving into the background too much, it is enough that you are aware that there was a group of people called the ANTINOMIANS
Who basically believed that grace was a license to sin.
Paul annihilates that notion here.
And reminds the Romans as to what salvation actually is.

Salvation is when God moves a sinner enslaved to sin
To the position of a son who is set free from sin
And enslaved to righteousness.

The best ever living illustration of this is found in John 11 when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead.

Sinners are dead in sin
Jesus calls them out
And the expectation is that those to whom Jesus grants life will choose that life and not seek to return to the death that once held them captive.

The great imagery is found in the statement Jesus makes
Just after Lazarus steps out of the tomb.

John 11:44 “The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

That is a picture of salvation.
When we are lost we are literally slaves of sin.
• Now because sinners also crave sin, it doesn’t always feel like slavery, but that’s precisely what it is.

• It is a lifestyle of gratifying the flesh that leads to judgment, and sinners don’t realize that they are enslaved until it is too late.

The grace of God is that which opens our eyes to the danger
And then grants us deliverance through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ
And the filling of God’s Holy Spirit.

This is what Paul was referring to in Romans 6.
You were set free from your slavery to sin, why in the world would you return to it?

AND IF WE HAD TIME we could continue on by walking through
Romans 7 and 8 where Paul describes the bondage he was in
And how Jesus finally set him free and made him alive.

• Paul describes how Jesus came and made Himself our sin offering so that we
might be set free.

• He then describes how God sent His Holy Spirit to dwell in us so that we would
no longer crave the evil things of this world and be lured back into slavery.

AND WHAT IS IMPORTANT FOR YOU TO UNDERSTAND IS THAT
ALL OF THIS COMES WITH AN EXPECTATION FROM GOD.

Romans 8:12-14 “So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh — for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”

In short, God didn’t send His Son to die for you
And then send His Spirit to dwell in you
So that you could continue to live like you lived
Before you were saved.

That would be like Lazarus immediately putting the grave clothes back on
And walking back into the tomb.

Those who see the salvation of Jesus as a freedom to sin
Have totally missed the point.
The salvation of Jesus is a freedom to live righteously.

HOWEVER…
It is important that you know that living righteous is NOT AUTOMATIC.
There is war; there is a battle.

Galatians 5:16-24 “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”

The war is between your flesh (which is your old sinful nature)
And God’s Spirit who has moved in to guide your life.

The two do not agree with one another.
• The flesh loves sin, the Spirit loves righteousness
• The flesh loves self, the Spirit loves others
• The flesh loves comfort, the Spirit loves sacrifice

The call to the believer is to yield to the Spirit and kill the flesh.

Galatians 5:16 “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.”

Colossians 3:5-6 “Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience,”

Romans 13:12-14 “The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.”

That is really the call of the believer.
It is called SANCTIFICATION

It is the process of becoming on the outside
What Jesus has already made us on the inside.

And this is God’s will for the believer.
1 Thessalonians 4:3 “For this is the will of God, your sanctification…”

In fact the night before Jesus died, this is what He prayed for believers:
John 17:15-19 “I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. “As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. “For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.”

Jesus died to save you from sin,
His prayer for you is that you now live free from sin.

BUT THAT IS NOT ALL…
We also know that there is a TEMPTER.

All the tempter does is offer the flesh what the flesh wants.
Obviously you should never listen to the tempter,
He will only make the battle that much more difficult.

So, as a church you would think that the goal would be
To come together and encourage one another
In our common battle against sin.

You would think that we would:
• Confront our sinning brothers
• Encourage one another with the truth
• Bear one another’s burdens
• Expose temptation and the work of the enemy
• And basically do whatever we can to help our brother not stumble

That’s what a church ought to look like isn’t it?
That’s what a church ought to be doing isn’t it?

Well with that backdrop, I think you’re ready to see
Why the church at Thyatira was making Jesus so mad.

5 things this morning.

#1 THE CHURCH
Revelation 2:18a
“And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write:”

Thyatira was different than the three previous cities we looked at.
• Ephesus and Smyrna were port cities with implied immorality.
• Smyrna and Pergamum were Roman loyalist cities with extensive Emperor worship.
• All three of those cities were major religious centers for false religion

That really wasn’t Thyatira at all.

That’s not to say there wasn’t idolatry or immorality, there was.
It’s just that those things aren’t what the city was known for.

Thyatira was a working man’s town.
The fabric industry was big there as was the dying of fabrics.

You may remember the lady Lydia whom Paul led to the Lord outside of Philippi.
Acts 16:14 “A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.”

Thyatira was a working man’s town and neither persecution, nor pagan worship, nor emperor worship were terrible threats there.

The issue at Thyatira was what is known as the “TRADE GUILDS”

If you wanted to keep a job or run a business you had to be a member of a guild. (similar to a modern day labor union)

The problem was that
• Each guild had its own symbolic patron deity in whose honor feasts were held.
• At those feasts sacrifices were made to idols, and the meat was eaten.
• Things like drunkenness and immorality ensued.

I really think the best analogy to what went on in Thyatira
Is what we would call being a “Good Ole Boy”

The pressure then came for Christians to participate in all of these feasts and immorality if they were to maintain a job or a livelihood.

It was a battle against WORLDLINESS.

The Church
#2 THEIR LORD
Revelation 2:18b
“The Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet are like burnished bronze, says this:”

Again we get a unique revelation of our Lord to the church in Thyatira.

And quite frankly, this one might be the Most Terrifying.
Here Jesus reveals Himself as THE JUDGE

All of the titles and analogies used here indicate
The One with ultimate authority, insight, and judgment.

John 5:22-23 “For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.”

And that is precisely what the “eyes like a flame of fire” indicate.
He sees all and He is angry.

The “feet…like burnished bronze” indicate
His dispensing of judgment on the guilty.

Jesus will spell all this out a little clearer later in the letter.
(2:23) “And I will kill her children with pestilence, and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.”

I see and I judge.
Obviously there isn’t much comfort coming here
From the revelation of Jesus to the church in Thyatira.

The Church, Their Lord
#3 THEIR EVALUATION
Revelation 2:19-23

Instead of separating what they do well from what they do wrong,
I opted to look at them together, namely because I am not convinced that the commendation given here is a full-hearted one.

“I know your deeds, and your love and faith and service and perseverance, and that your deeds of late are greater than at first.”

But if you’ll notice He doesn’t give any specifics as to what those “deeds” where.
• He told Ephesus about their testing false teachers…
• He told Smyrna about how rich they were…
• He told Pergamum about their faithfulness in the days of Antipas…

But He gives no specifics for Thyatira.
It really reads more like Jesus just being courteous
Before He gets to the real issue.

“You have done this well and this well and this well, and you have shown improvement…BUT…”
Thyatira is a church, and they aren’t all bad,
But it is obvious that their failure
Greatly out shadows their successes.

It is a reminder that none of us are just trying to do the bare minimums.

Luke 17:7-10 “Which of you, having a slave plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come immediately and sit down to eat’? “But will he not say to him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat, and properly clothe yourself and serve me while I eat and drink; and afterward you may eat and drink’? “He does not thank the slave because he did the things which were commanded, does he? “So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done.'”

If you employ a person to mow the grass and then pay them for mowing the grass, you really shouldn’t have to give them a plaque and throw an awards ceremony.

And that is true with the followers of Jesus.
Things like “good deeds” “love” “faith” “service” and “perseverance”
Are really just kind of expected, not necessarily rewardable.

Remember what Paul told the Corinthians?
1 Corinthians 3:11-15 “For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.”

Paul is there speaking of genuine believers who are saved and who will go to heaven, but they will do so without reward because they only did the bare minimum.

That is Thyatira.
They did the bare minimums and Jesus recognized it.
The problem is their failures that are greatly over shadowing it.

So Jesus gets to the problem…
(20) “But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.”

Here we have another reference to an Old Testament villain.
• Pergamum had some who held to the teaching of Balaam,
• Thyatira has a woman like Jezebel.

It’s rather unlikely that this is her name,
But from Jesus’ perspective it might as well be the same woman.

Do you remember Jezebel?
• You will remember that after Solomon, his son Rehoboam became king,
• But he was foolish and the kingdom was split
• Israel fell into idolatry almost immediately with one bad king after another.
• But the worst king to ever sit on the throne of Israel was clearly Ahab.

Let me show you why:
1 Kings 16:29-33 “Now Ahab the son of Omri became king over Israel in the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years. Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD more than all who were before him. It came about, as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he married Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went to serve Baal and worshiped him. So he erected an altar for Baal in the house of Baal which he built in Samaria. Ahab also made the Asherah. Thus Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel than all the kings of Israel who were before him.”

Ahab married the daughter of a pagan king
And she spread a terrible influence throughout the land.

She introduced baal worship and all sorts of pagan practices.
• In 1 Kings 18:4 she is given credit for killing nearly all the prophets of God.
• In 1 Kings 19:1-2 she places a bounty on the head of Elijah.
• In 1 Kings 21 she is responsible for killing Naboth simply because her
husband wanted his vineyard.

Her life is summed up:
1 Kings 21:25 “Surely there was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do evil in the sight of the LORD, because Jezebel his wife incited him.”

• And ultimately God issued a prophetic death in which she would die and be
eaten by dogs…and it happened.

Jezebel is easily seen as the most wicked woman of the Old Testament.
She incited more rebellion and idolatry in Israel than any other person.

Whoever this woman in Thyatira was; Jesus compared her to Jezebel.

Jesus explained her like this:
She “calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads my bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.”

She was a self-proclaimed spokesperson for God.
(Take a lesson here and recognize that not everyone who claims to hear from God and speak for God actually does.)

Thanks to the charismatic movement
There is a new rise of self-proclaimed prophets hitting the air waves
And I shouldn’t have to tell you how dangerous this is.

We believe God spoke in Scripture, we are not looking for new revelation.
Jeremiah 23:28-32 “The prophet who has a dream may relate his dream, but let him who has My word speak My word in truth. What does straw have in common with grain?” declares the LORD. “Is not My word like fire?” declares the LORD, “and like a hammer which shatters a rock? “Therefore behold, I am against the prophets,” declares the LORD, “who steal My words from each other. “Behold, I am against the prophets,” declares the LORD, “who use their tongues and declare, ‘The Lord declares.’ “Behold, I am against those who have prophesied false dreams,” declares the LORD, “and related them and led My people astray by their falsehoods and reckless boasting; yet I did not send them or command them, nor do they furnish this people the slightest benefit,” declares the LORD.”

Just understand that true prophets proclaim the word of God.
We know that to be the Bible.

Jezebel was a self-proclaimed prophet
Who spoke from her own imagination.
And her preaching was having a devastating effect
On the believers in Thyatira.

“she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray to that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.”

We don’t know specifically what she taught,
But we do know what her teaching produced and it wasn’t holiness.

• Maybe she told believers it was ok to participate in the guilds.
• Maybe she told them it was ok to participate in the immorality to keep their job.
• Maybe she convinced them that God wanted them to be happy and wealthy and a little immorality doesn’t hurt.

Look the prosperity gospel gives us all that junk today.
Seeking to convince selfish people that
God actually wants them to get everything they can from the world.

When Jesus told us NOT to store up treasure here.
And Paul told us to fix our eyes on things above, not on earthly things.

And John told us:
1 John 2:15-17 “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.”

And James told us:
James 4:4 “You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

We are never called to get all we can out of this life.
We are called to sacrifice this life for the next.

It is clear, that Jezebel was teaching just the opposite.

Her teaching was absolutely undoing
The very purpose for why we were saved.

• God sent His Son to die in our stead that we might be free from sin.
• God sent His Spirit to dwell in our hearts that we might have victory
over the flesh.
• Jesus’ desire is to present His bride holy and blameless and without
spot or wrinkle or any such thing.
• AND JEZEBEL WAS UNDERMINING IT ALL.

Worldliness is the exact opposite of Christ expects from His church
And that is precisely what the church at Thyatira was falling into.

What did Jesus think about her teaching?
(21-23) “I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality. ‘Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds. ‘And I will kill her children with pestilence, and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.”

Jesus had obviously already confronted her and told her to stop,
The problem is that she said, “No”.
She didn’t want to, she loved her sin and the benefits of it.

So Jesus said, I’m about to punish her.
• And everyone who is buying what she is selling is about to go “into great tribulation”
• And all the little preachers who are follower her lead (“her children”) I’m about to “kill” them “with pestilence”)

And by doing so I’m going to send a message
To every church around that
“I am he who searches the minds and hearts;
and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.”

Jesus said that He’s about to clean house
And make an example out of Jezebel and her followers.

That is severe to say the least!
I told you Jesus is passionate about the purity of His church.

SO WHAT IS THE PROBLEM IN THYATIRA?

Look back at the first part of verse 20.
“I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel…”
• Here is a woman that Jesus has so much disdain for that He is not about to leave her untouched.
• He’s already warned her and He’s about to eradicate her,
• But He is most upset with the church at Thyatira because they weren’t doing anything about her.

They TOLERATED her.

“tolerate” is the same word used of Ephesus back in verse 4
When Jesus told them they had “left” their first love.

The church in Thyatira just left her alone.
• They allowed her to preach
• They allowed her to teach
• They allowed her to spread her message of worldliness and depravity
• They never corrected her
• They never rebuked her
• They never challenged her

AND JESUS WAS FURIOUS!
Thyatira was weak.

Paul told Timothy:
1 Timothy 1:18-20 “This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you fight the good fight, keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan, so that they will be taught not to blaspheme.”

Paul told Titus:
Titus 1:10-11 “For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain.”

Someone had to stand up against this heresy and no one would
So now Jesus was on His way to bring judgment to that church.

Believe me when I tell you that
He does not allow this stuff to spread unchecked.
Jesus was angry.

The Church, Their Lord, Their Evaluation
#4 THEIR COMMAND
Revelation 2:24-25

This is actually one of the saddest commands
Given to any of the churches.

Jesus looks at those who do not agree with Jezebel.
(They haven’t rebuked her or silenced her, but they don’t agree with her)

Jesus here calls her theology “the deep things of Satan”
• Satan is a liar and the father of lies
• Satan is a deceiver and a manipulator and a slanderer

But at his core Satan is filled with selfishness and ambition.
It was his selfishness that led him to be removed from heaven
And his temptations are filled with this same selfish ambition

He loves to whisper in your ear
How you are being cheated or mistreated or that you deserve better.
Prosperity gospel preachers even train people to think that it is actually God who is telling you those things instead of Satan.

It is dangerous stuff.
While not everyone in Thyatira believed it, no one did anything about it.

So what is the command from Jesus?
NOTHING

“I place no other burden on you. Nevertheless what you have, hold fast until I come.”
• It was too late for action.
• It was too late to deal with it.
• They were about to have a lot of funerals in Thyatira because no one would stand up.

And now Jesus wasn’t even asking them to anymore.
Just sit there until I come deal with it.
Can you hear the disappointment?

It is the fulfillment of Isaiah 63
Isaiah 63:1-6 “Who is this who comes from Edom, With garments of glowing colors from Bozrah, This One who is majestic in His apparel, Marching in the greatness of His strength? “It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.” Why is Your apparel red, And Your garments like the one who treads in the wine press? “I have trodden the wine trough alone, And from the peoples there was no man with Me. I also trod them in My anger And trampled them in My wrath; And their lifeblood is sprinkled on My garments, And I stained all My raiment. “For the day of vengeance was in My heart, And My year of redemption has come. “I looked, and there was no one to help, And I was astonished and there was no one to uphold; So My own arm brought salvation to Me, And My wrath upheld Me. “I trod down the peoples in My anger And made them drunk in My wrath, And I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.”

Ezekiel 22:30-31 “I searched for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one. “Thus I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; their way I have brought upon their heads,” declares the Lord GOD.”

That was Thyatira.
The church that loved the world, tolerated heresy,
And was told to just sit back and do nothing
Until Jesus came and destroyed the sinners.
I don’t think Thyatira is an example we would want to follow.
#5 THEIR EXAMPLE
Revelation 2:26-29

Here we have it again, the call to all the churches.

We are asked to overcome and if we will Jesus says that “To Him I will give authority over the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces, as I also have received authority from My Father; and I will give him the morning star.”

Jesus is obviously promising authority to rule the world.
• What else could “authority over the nations” mean?

Jesus is promising intimacy with Himself
• Since He is “the morning star.”

SO WHAT IS HE SAYING?
• The call today is to overcome worldliness and it’s damning influence.
• It is the call to stand against the heresy of false doctrines that promote worldliness and turn grace into a license to sin.
• It is the call to forsake this life for the sake of the next.

And if you will Jesus will let you rule the next.
If you’ll forsake this world Jesus will give you the next one.
If you’ll forsake yourself Jesus will give you Himself.

BUT YOU CANNOT EXPECT
To spend your life chasing the world and the lusts that it offers
And expect that Jesus is going to allow you to have both.

Do you want tribulation?
Do you want judgment?
Then just keep seeking the world.

Keep gathering around you that multitude of teachers
Who will tell you what your itching ears want to hear.

But if you want glory in the next life…
If you want Jesus…

Then it’s time to turn your back on the flesh
And turn your back on the world and run whole-heartedly for Jesus.

1 John 2:15-17 “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.”

This, after all, is what Jesus intended for the church to be.
And when the church forgets that point, Jesus is furious,
And He promises to judge His church accordingly.

For The Glory of God
Daniel 6:1-28
June 12, 2016

I think we are all settling in with an understanding now
Of what the book of Daniel is really about.
It is a book devoted to the glory of God.

• Written during one of the darkest times in Israel’s history (the 70 year exile);
• A time when various world powers came in and out of control,
• God continues to leave no doubt regarding who is really in control.

It is God who sets up rulers and it is God who brings them down.

And the objective of all that God has done, is doing, and will do
Is to the end that He and He alone will receive the glory.

That has been clearly seen thus far in the book of Daniel as we’ve seen God teach very dramatic lessons to two of the world’s leaders.

NEBUCHADNEZZAR
• First God warned Nebuchadnezzar with a dream.
• Then God reminded Nebuchadnezzar with an appearance in the furnace.
• Then God convinced Nebuchadnezzar with 7 years of insanity.

BELSHAZZAR.
• God actually wrote his judgment on the wall and over through him that very
night.
• And by the end of chapter 5 Babylon was an afterthought.

This nation that invaded Israel, burned the temple, and deported God’s chosen people was now nothing more than a chapter in a history book.
God raised them up, and God tore them down.

So it is not a surprise to us in the least that God is at work
To display His glory and demonstrated His sovereign control.

THE QUESTION FOR TONIGHT IS:
What is my role in all of this?

This is one of those important balances to understand
Any time we discuss the sovereignty of God.

Those who reject a theology where God is in complete sovereign control of all things generally do so by arguing, “Then I guess we just sit back and do nothing.”

• “Why evangelize if God has His elect already?”
• Or “Why pray if God has already decided what He’s going to do?”
• Or “Why vote if God already picked His candidate?”
And I’ll be the first to admit there is an obvious mystery here.
I don’t understand how God’s sovereignty works with my responsibility.

There is a mystery to me how God can allow me to do and choose and request and decide, and yet still perfectly accomplish His will.
I don’t fully grasp it.

But it does pose a good question.
WHAT IS MY ROLE IN ALL OF THIS?

In particular we are talking about when we find ourselves
IN A LESS THAN FAVORABLE SITUATION.

LIKE DANIEL
He was a prisoner in a foreign land, living under a corrupt government.
So what is Daniel’s role in glorifying God in the midst of that situation?

I ask that question because
I believe the story tonight to be a tremendous example of precisely that.
More than that, I believe the story tonight
To be a story that is told (and expected) throughout Scripture.

Tonight is an example of how God used Daniel to glorify Himself.
• For Nebuchadnezzar God used insanity.
• For Belshazzar God used judgment.
• For Darius, God will use Daniel.

And to set the stage for the story
There are a couple of texts that I would read.

1 Peter 2:11-17 “Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation. Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right. For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men. Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of God. Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king.”

Like Daniel, Peter lived during the reign of an unfavorable world ruler.
• For Peter it was Nero.

And yet Peter understood that God was sovereign over all things,
And all that God was asking from him was submission.

Peter knew he needed to have
• Excellent Behavior.
• Respect for Authority
• Love For God’s People
• Trust in God.
And Peter knew that if he would maintain such an attitude
That God would use him to glorify Himself.

Later Peter wrote:
1 Peter 4:15-16 “Make sure that none of you suffers as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer, or a troublesome meddler; but if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this name.”

There Peter demonstrated the flip side of his previous argument.
• On one hand we glorify God through our respect and submission.
• On the other hand we glorify Him by refraining from things that He forbids.

Both indicate the reality that
Living according to God’s standard brings glory to Him.

This is implied in the often quoted statement from Jesus:
Matthew 5:16 “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

In short, the way we live our lives matters.
God is sovereign and He is working to bring glory to Himself,
And it is apparent that He can and will use us to do that.

Tonight I want you to see an example.
And for that we study the familiar story typically referred to as “Daniel in the Lion’s Den”

There are four main divisions in the text tonight.
#1 THE DILEMMA
Daniel 6:1-5

Now the dilemma here is not yet Daniel’s dilemma,
It is the dilemma of those who hate Daniel.

Here we find that under a new regime
There is a new style of government in control.

This style is different from that of Babylon.

• Whereas Nebuchadnezzar clearly had free reign and ultimate authority, it is obvious that Darius has more limitations.

• You will see that Darius certainly has some control, but that he is also at times bound by certain protocols and stipulations.

• But the first way his government is different is that it is clear that he has more of a delegation type system of governing.

• Under Darius would be 3 commissioners (Daniel was one)
• Under the commissioners would be 120 satraps who would be in charge of the kingdom.

All of this was done so that “the king might not suffer loss.”

Their entire duty was to protect the king and his kingdom.

And I point that out because it is apparent that Daniel was really good at it
(3) “Then this Daniel began distinguishing himself among the commissioners and satraps because he possessed an extraordinary spirit, and the king planned to appoint him over the entire kingdom.”

Yes Daniel had “an extraordinary spirit” but trust me Darius didn’t like him because he could tell that Daniel was a devout man of faith.

Darius liked Daniel because Daniel served the interest of Darius well.

It hearkens back to that passage in Colossians:
Colossians 3:22-24 “Slaves, in all things obey those who are your masters on earth, not with external service, as those who merely please men, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.”

• Daniel just did his job to the best of his ability.
• He obviously greatly benefitted the king’s own agenda.
• And so Darius wanted to promote Daniel.

And that was the dilemma.
It wasn’t a dilemma for Daniel,
But it was a Dilemma for those who wanted Daniel’s job.

(4-5) “Then the commissioners and satraps began trying to find a ground of accusation against Daniel in regard to government affairs; but they could find no ground of accusation or evidence of corruption, inasmuch as he was faithful, and no negligence or corruption was to be found in him. Then these men said, “We will not find any ground of accusation against this Daniel unless we find it against him with regard to the law of his God.”

These men went after Daniel.
They were looking for two main things.
Any evidence of corruption or any evidence of negligence.

• Was there anything Daniel did that he shouldn’t have done?
• Was there anything Daniel didn’t do that he should have done?

And they couldn’t find anything on him anywhere.

And again this is not referring to Daniel’s religious faithfulness,
This is referring to Daniel’s work for the king.

Daniel did his job well and these men could find nothing.
They had a dilemma.
They knew there was only 1 reason that Daniel would defy the king
And put himself in a situation worthy of punishment;
That was “with regard to the law of his God.”

In addition to Daniel being the hardest worker among them,
They also knew that Daniel was a man of impeccable love for God.
And this would be the only chance they would have.

NOW, STOP THERE FOR A MOMENT.

I know we talk about mission trips and witnessing opportunities and things like that.

And I’m certain that many of you have thought about
Your work place as a mission field.

If you want a good example of what that looks like, here it is:

Daniel’s co-workers knew three things about Daniel.
1) You can’t corrupt him (no corruption)
2) You can’t outwork him (no negligence)
3) He loves God

If you are looking for a good workplace testimony,
That is a great place to start.

So there is the dilemma.
#2 THE DECISION
Daniel 6:6-18

We call it the decision,
But in reality there are several decisions made in this section.

• There is the decision of the conspirators
• There is the decision of Darius
• There is the decision of Daniel

The DECISION OF THE CONSPIRATORS is to devise a plot that would get Daniel in hot water.

(6-8) “Then these commissioners and satraps came by agreement to the king and spoke to him as follows: “King Darius, live forever! “All the commissioners of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the high officials and the governors have consulted together that the king should establish a statute and enforce an injunction that anyone who makes a petition to any god or man besides you, O king, for thirty days, shall be cast into the lions’ den. “Now, O king, establish the injunction and sign the document so that it may not be changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which may not be revoked.”

The lies and corruption here are obvious.
“all the commissioners”? (I can think of 1 who didn’t consent)

These men were lying and dirty from the get go.
It was a scheme purely for the purpose of condemning Daniel.

Isn’t it impressive however that Daniel had such a reputation
That people knew all it would take to condemn him
Was a law that said you couldn’t pray?

We live in a day where we constantly implore Christians to pray more.
I don’t even know if such a law would affect many believers,
But it did Daniel.

So they devise a plot to get the king to sign an injunction
That no one prays to anyone but him for 30 days.
What a notion!

Well, I guess we see what type of man DARIUS was BECAUSE WE SEE HIS DECISION next.

(9) “Therefore King Darius signed the document, that is, the injunction.”

What type of person so sets himself up in the seat of God that he would actually sign a bill that no one could pray to anyone but him?
• Darius obviously has problems.
• His pride is off the charts.

Nevertheless, his decision is final, his decision is law,
And his decision cannot be revoked.

So let’s look at DANIEL’S DECISION.

(10) “Now when Daniel knew that the document was signed, he entered his house (now in his roof chamber he had windows open toward Jerusalem); and he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God, as he had been doing previously.”

Isn’t that quite a statement?
“Now when Daniel knew…he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day…as he had been doing previously.”

Windows open, right on schedule, Daniel didn’t change a thing.
Daniel wasn’t looking for trouble,
But he also wasn’t looking to hide who he was.

Sometimes the most extreme difficulties
Give opportunities for the most noticeable testimonies.

Daniel could certainly pray with his windows closed
(Jesus even mentioned not praying in front of men)
But Daniel was simply praying has he always had.

Something in him knew that this was not about praying,
But it was about being faithful no matter the cost.

Daniel prayed publicly because in this hour of testing
It was important to him that the rest of the world know
That he still prayed to God.

It is a tremendous decision by Daniel.

Martin Luther wrote:
“If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved; and to be steady on all the battlefield besides, is more flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.”
(sited in: MacArthur, John; The Truth War, Fighting for Certainty in an Age of Deception; [Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, TN; 2007] pg. 26)

Daniel is fighting the battle on the battlefield before him.

• He is not being disrespectful
• He is not seeking to start a revolt
• But he is remaining faithful to God

And that is all these men were waiting for.
(READ 11-18)

• So Daniel is caught
• Daniel is condemned
• Daniel is thrown into the lion’s den

It is true that the king regretted it.
• After all Daniel had greatly benefitted the king.
• The king wanted Daniel alive to continue to serve,
• But this king was bound by law and there was nothing he could do.

(Make a note to be careful when listening to flattery. These other commissioners flattered the king, and now they owned him)

So he gave the orders to have Daniel thrown into the den of lions.

He did so with this one word of encouragement for Daniel, “Your God whom you constantly serve will Himself deliver you.”

This isn’t a declaration of faith by Darius,
But it is a recognition that God is Daniel’s only hope.

(I guess even Darius now realizes that praying to him won’t help)

So do you see how the stage has been set?
Through Daniel’s obedience to work hard and pray faithfully, God now has the most powerful man in the world watching to see what He can do.

God has used Daniel’s simple and humble submission
To set the stage to glorify Himself.

And as we read, the king had all night to contemplate this.

(18) “Then the king went off to his palace and spent the night fasting, and no entertainment was brought before him; and his sleep fled from him.”

The Dilemma, The Decision
#3 THE DELIVERANCE
Daniel 6:19-24

• It is clear that the king was watching for the sun to peak over the horizon.
• He had spent the night wondering if Daniel’s God could in fact deliver this man whom the king valued so greatly.

The king ran to the tomb and yelled in, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you constantly serve, been able to deliver you from the lions?”

It’s clear that Darius is confused.
He knows God to be “the living God” but doesn’t know if He is “able to deliver”.

He’s about to find out.

(21-22) “Then Daniel spoke to the king, “O king, live forever! “My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths and they have not harmed me, inasmuch as I was found innocent before Him; and also toward you, O king, I have committed no crime.”

Apparently God is able.

It is one of the greatest deliverances in the entire Bible.
• And yes, we know that God doesn’t always do this.
• Many genuine believers were fed to the lions under Nero in the New Testament.

But it is a tremendous reminder here
That God can accomplish anything He desires
When it fits His purposes.

That includes rescuing His children
From the flame or from the mouth of the lion.
God is able!

The king certainly rejoiced and then gave orders
For Daniel’s accusers to receive the fate they planned for Daniel
And we see what the lions were really capable of.

So God delivered Daniel.
#4 THE DECLARATION
Daniel 6:25-28

And there we have it once again.
• God’s sovereignty has been put on display and yet another foreign ruler is declaring that God alone is in control.

• And now Darius understands the pure insanity of declaring that men should pray to him.

Darius couldn’t rescue Daniel from the lions, only God could do that.
All men should pray only to Daniel’s God.

“For He is the living God and enduring forever, and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed, and His dominion will be forever.”

This chapter began with Darius being an arrogant man
Only interested in who could best protect his reign.
Darius ends by being a worshiper of the living God.

HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN?
God used a humble and submissive servant.

Think about it. This story isn’t even like some of the other great ones.
• Daniel didn’t fight any giant.
• Daniel didn’t build an ark.
• Daniel didn’t go to battle against a foreign army.

What did Daniel do?
• He worked hard for the king
• He prayed faithfully to God
• He let God use his life for whatever purpose best glorified Him.

There is not a person in this room who can’t have that testimony.

Matthew 5:16 “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

1 Peter 2:11-17 “Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation. Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right. For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men. Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of God. Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king.”

That is the type of testimony God has called for throughout Scripture.

But if I can show you one more, I’d show you that this was also the exact type of testimony that Jesus gave as He sought to glorify God.

• In the upper room the Bible says that Jesus gave the sop to Judas who took it. The Bible says that Satan entered him and Jesus told Judas to go do what had set out to do.

• Once Judas left and the entire process had been set in motion, here is what Jesus said:

John 13:31-32 “Therefore when he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him; if God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and will glorify Him immediately.”

• Jesus knew that His decision to submit to God’s plan would in fact bring glory to God.

Want to see the parallels?

1) DANIEL WAS INNOCENT
They could find no grounds by which to accuse him.

JESUS WAS ALSO INNOCENT
He had never sinned, nor was there any deceit found in His mouth.

2) DANIEL WAS ACCUSED BY FALSE WITNESSES
They said all the commissioners were in agreement when they clearly were not.

JESUS WAS ALSO FALSELY ACCUSED
False witnesses were produced many times to condemn Jesus as He stood before Caiaphas.

3) DANIEL WAS TRIED IN A CORRUPT COURT
It wasn’t the judge who ran the show (Darius) it was the conspirators who ran the show.

JESUS WAS TRIED IN A CORRUPT COURT
Many illegal procedures occurred during His trial that should not have been allowed and it was the accusers who won the day, not the actual judge.

4) DANIEL WAS CONDEMNED BY A WEAK RULER
It may have been true that a Persian injunction could not be overturned, but that doesn’t mean Darius couldn’t save Daniel.

Darius just couldn’t save Daniel and save Darius at the same time.

JESUS WAS ALSO CONDEMNED BY A WEAK RULER
Pilate could have saved Jesus. Pilate just couldn’t save Jesus and save Pilate so he decided to let Jesus die.

5) DANIEL’S JUDGE MADE A HALF-HEARTED DECLARATION AS DANIEL WAS LED AWAY.

It is quite humorous to hear Darius declare how God would protect Daniel.

JESUS’ JUDGE ALSO MADE A HALF-HEARTED DECLARATION.
We actually see Pilate nailing a sign above Jesus’ head that He is king of the Jews.

6) GOD DELIVERED DANIEL FROM DEATH
God shut the mouths of the lions.

GOD DELIVERED JESUS FROM DEATH

7) THE LIFE OF DANIEL MEANT DEATH FOR HIS ACCUSERS

THE LIFE OF JESUS ALSO MEANS DEATH FOR HIS ACCUSERS

8) DANIEL’S HUMBLE SUBMISSION LED TO THE GLORY OF GOD.

JESUS’ HUMBLE SUBMISSION ALSO LED TO THE GLORY OF GOD.

The point is that Daniel’s blueprint for glorifying God
Is not a unique one.

• Daniel did it.
• Peter commanded it.
• Jesus did it.

It is what is expected from us in a backward world.
Submit yourself to God.

Do the things He requires with all your heart
And trust that He will use these things to bring glory to Himself.

He has done it time and time again…

1 Peter 4:15-16 “Make sure that none of you suffers as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer, or a troublesome meddler; but if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this name.”