{"id":18401,"date":"2017-06-18T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-06-18T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/daniel-026-world-governments-on-the-horizon-part-3\/"},"modified":"2017-06-18T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-06-18T05:00:00","slug":"daniel-026-world-governments-on-the-horizon-part-3","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/daniel-026-world-governments-on-the-horizon-part-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Daniel 026: World Governments on the Horizon (Part 3)"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[72],"series_event":[467],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18401","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-daniel","series_event-daniel","sermon_service_type-main-service","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Daniel 026: World Governments on the Horizon (Part 3)","sermon_date":"20170618","sermon_month":"6","sermon_year":"2017","sermon_notes":4747,"sermon_slides":4749,"sermon_mp3":4752,"sermon_id":"618171019301","series_or_event":467,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":72,"chapter_and_verse":"7:26-28","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nWorld Governments on the Horizon, Part 3\n\n6-18-17\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Daniel 7:26-28 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Lesson 26\n\nGood morning everybody; happy Father\u2019s Day.\u00a0 In fact, if you\u2019ve ever had a father in your life raise your hand.\u00a0 [Laughter]\u00a0 Some people didn\u2019t raise their hand, I think there was only one virgin birth, last time I checked.\u00a0 Of course, fatherhood is very important and it\u2019s interesting to me that Paul referred to Timothy as his son in the faith.\u00a0 [1 Timothy 1:2, \u201cTo Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.\u201d] So there\u2019s biological fatherhood, fatherhood in the home and there\u2019s also apparently spiritual fatherhood as we get the privilege of being mentored by people and mentoring others.\u00a0 So we sort of like to open it up and make it a celebration today for all of the above, so thank you for allowing God to use you in that area.\n\nIf we could take our Bibles and open them to the book of Daniel, Daniel 7:26.\u00a0\u00a0 You say, Andy what are you going to give yourself for Father\u2019s Day?\u00a0 Here\u2019s the present I\u2019m going to give myself\u2014I\u2019m going to finish Daniel 7 today.\u00a0\u00a0 [Someone says Amen]\u00a0\u00a0 So therefore I\u2019m skipping my introduction which takes three-quarters of the sermon time anyway.\u00a0 So if you want the introduction just go back into the archives and listen to last week and all the weeks really.\n\nDaniel 7:26.\u00a0 The title of our message this morning is World Governments On the Horizon, Part 3.\u00a0 Daniel, in his mid-60\u2019s was touched by the Spirit of God and he was shown a vision of world events that essentially started from his day and goes all the way to the second coming.\u00a0 And as we have seen part of that vision involves seeing things that probably he didn\u2019t want to see.\u00a0 In fact, we\u2019re told at the conclusion of this chapter, as we\u2019ll get to it today, God willing, that he was troubled by what he saw.\u00a0 And part of his anxiety, part of his emotional fear, irritability, whatever word you want to use to describe this vision that he saw related to the final form of government that would exist on the earth prior to the return of Jesus Christ, which is the empire of the antichrist.\u00a0 Daniel sees that part of the vision in great detail and he actually asks the angel for more interpretation concerning it.\u00a0 And so many, many details have been given, as we have been studying, about this\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 new world order, this world government of the future, this creation of man that will exist on the earth just before the return of Jesus Christ at the end of this seven\u00a0 year tribulation period.\u00a0 This is what Daniel is seeing and this is what is being interpreted for him.\n\nAnd I for one am so thrilled that the vision doesn\u2019t just stop with the empire of the antichrist.\u00a0 It ends with the reign of Jesus Christ on the earth, which is going to be a lot longer (eternity) and a lot better.\u00a0 It will be a reign which doesn\u2019t bring humanity into slavery the way the antichrist\u2019s will but into its full liberation into what God originally intended for the human race prior to the fall in the Garden of Eden.\n\nAnd if you\u2019re traveling through life without this perspective and without this point of view think how difficult life is for such a person.\u00a0 They don\u2019t have the lens of hope for the future; the only thing they can see is their own circumstances which can be good one day and bad the next.\u00a0 They don\u2019t see their struggles that they\u2019re in as lights and momentary, as Paul explains to the Corinthians, but they see them as perpetual and dragging on and on and on and on because they don\u2019t have the light of the Word of God.\u00a0 This is why people get very desperate when things don\u2019t go well.\u00a0 This is why the alcohol abuse rate is what it is, the substance abuse rate is what it is, the suicide rate is what it is.\u00a0 People, to a large extent, run out of hope.\u00a0 And when you become a student of the prophetic Word you realize that life in the here and now, in the nasty now and now, can get very difficult.\u00a0 But at the same time it\u2019s just a moment, it\u2019s just mist as James tells us that appears for a little while and then it\u2019s gone.\u00a0 And you only begin to have that perspective by studying passages like the one that we are in here.\n\nNotice if you will verse 26, what happens after the empire of the antichrist runs its course.\u00a0 Verse 26, it says, \u201cBut the court will sit for judgment,<\/em> and his dominion\u201d that would be the dominion of the antichrist, \u201chis dominion will be taken away, annihilated and destroyed forever.\u201d\u00a0 Evil seems like it\u2019s getting the upper hand; evil seems like it\u2019s getting its way.\u00a0 Evil seems to be dominating, in fact evil during this time period is so strong that the antichrist, called the little horn is literally described as wearing down the saints.\u00a0 And yet how refreshing it is to note that God has everything under a tight leash.\u00a0 Judgment is coming!\u00a0 Payday someday!\u00a0 If you didn\u2019t have the light of God\u2019s Word and you see injustice around you it\u2019s tempting to think that these people are getting away with something but through the lens of the prophetic Scripture you discover that people aren\u2019t getting away with anything.\u00a0 They\u2019re just self-deceived into thinking they\u2019re getting away with something when in reality they\u2019re not.\n\nIt talks very clearly here in verse 26 about the little horn being destroyed.\u00a0 Daniel, of course, is not the only prophet that brings this to our attention.\u00a0 Paul, the apostle, in 2 Thessalonians 2:8 says, \u201cThen 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.\u201d\u00a0 Revelation 19:20 says, \u201cAnd the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two\u201d that\u2019s the antichrist and his assistant \u201cwere thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone.\u201d \u00a0Daniel 9:27, towards the end of the verse, says, \u201c\u2026even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.\u201d\n\nHow important it is to understand that the antichrist, the epitome of evil itself, the one that causes so much trouble upon the earth, is himself aggressively dealt with by Jesus Christ, not Jesus Christ the Lamb, but Jesus Christ the Lion.\u00a0 The reality of the situation is you\u2019re going to meet Jesus either one of two ways: you\u2019re going to meet Him as\u00a0 your Savior or you\u2019re going to meet Him as your judge.\u00a0 The meeting time or point in time is not something that\u2019s negotiable; the only question is how would you rather meet Him?\u00a0 Would you rather meet Him as\u00a0 your Savior now, bowing your knee to Him, or would you rather meet Him in stiffened pride against Him through violent judgment.\u00a0 The antichrist has decided for the latter and he gets violently and aggressively over-thrown by Jesus Christ at the end of this tribulation period.\n\nI don\u2019t know if you caught this in verse 26; did you see this word \u201cdestroyed forever\u201d?\u00a0 At the very of the verse it says, \u201cannihilated and destroyed forever.\u201d\u00a0 The bottom line is the wrath of God for the unbeliever is something that never ends.\u00a0 Revelation 20:10 says this: \u201cAnd the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet\u201d parenthesis, who had been thrown into the like of fire a thousand years earlier, \u201cwhere the beast and the false prophet are also;\u201d they\u2019re still in there a thousand years later, they didn\u2019t disappear, they didn\u2019t get annihilated, \u201cand they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.\u201d\n\nRevelation 14:11 puts it this way, \u201cAnd the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.\u201d\n\nOne of the things that I find very disturbing today is the number of so-called conservative evangelical scholars becoming soft on the doctrine of eternal retribution.\u00a0 If you want my personal opinion on it, which really doesn\u2019t matter because who cares what I think, I\u2019ve never been comfortable with the idea of eternal retribution.\u00a0 As a young Christian I spent a certain amount of time trying to engage in linguistic gimmicks trying to get the doctrine to disappear.\u00a0 The reality of the situation is you can\u2019t explain the doctrine away any more than you could explain away the Atlantic Ocean, or the Pacific Ocean, or the sun and the moon and the stars.\u00a0 God really never asked my opinion about whether I\u2019m comfortable with it; He\u2019s telling me there\u2019s something to be afraid of.\u00a0 There is an eternal ramification or consequence associated with rejecting Jesus Christ.\n\nOne of the things that you will do if you tamper with the doctrine of eternal retribution is\u00a0 you will throw immediately a wet blanket over evangelism and missions work.\u00a0 The urgency is removed.\u00a0 What\u2019s the incentive to translate the Bible and get it out to people in other dialects?\u00a0 What\u2019s the incentive to invest your life to go to another culture to share Jesus Christ.\u00a0 What\u2019s the incentive to reach out to your friends and your family members and your loved ones and\u00a0 your co-workers if hell is not really hell, if it\u2019s really something bad that can happen to you which really isn\u2019t that bad.\n\nThe reality of the situation is we need to be conversant with the other side of the good news.\u00a0 If a person has never received the good news of Jesus Christ the only thing that awaits in their future is bad news.\u00a0 We talk about being saved all of the time\u2014being saved from what exactly?\u00a0 The eternal ramification and consequences of my sin and sins vented upon me by a Holy God and His wrath for all eternity.\u00a0 That\u2019s why I\u2019m saved; that\u2019s what I\u2019m saved from.\u00a0 This is why we call the gospel the \u201cgood news.\u201d\u00a0 This is why the vision is so open here and transparent concerning the eternal retribution that the antichrist will experience.\n\nEvil will rise; evil will have its day in the sun, evil will have its heyday but the Bible is very clear that it\u2019s short lived. \u00a0And incurring the wrath of a Holy God throughout all eternity is such an awful consequence to experience and it\u2019s so not worth the weight in terms of the scales of balance for a few moments of rebellion and disobedience and unbelief against the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ.\u00a0 How critical it is for a person to answer correctly or to have the right information for what I would say is life\u2019s most important question.\n\nWhat is the most important question, given what I have said, that a person can ever ask in this life?\u00a0 It\u2019s the question asked by the Philippians jailor in Acts 16:30, \u201cSirs, what must I do to be saved.\u201d\u00a0 Can you think of a more important question than that?\u00a0 I can\u2019t because how that question is answered; how that information is explained has an eternal consequence and ramification.\u00a0 And of course the answer is so simple.\u00a0 Paul and Silas answering that inquiry, \u201cThey said, \u2018Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 [Acts 16:31]\u00a0 Trusting in what Jesus has done for a person saves a soul.\u00a0 But what if they don\u2019t trust?\u00a0 What if they die in unbelief?\u00a0 As the author of Hebrews says, \u201cIt is indeed a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 [Hebrews 10:31]\u00a0\u00a0 And these are the types of things that we\u2019re seeing here in these verses.\n\nAs we continue on in verse 27 we read these words:\u00a0 \u201c\u2018Then the sovereignty, the dominion and the greatness of all<\/em> the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be<\/em> an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 Notice this first clause here, verse 27, \u201cThen the sovereignty, the dominion and the greatness of all<\/em> the kingdoms under the whole heaven,\u201d I believe that what this is speaking of here is the millennial kingdom, the thousand year reign of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Revelation 11:15 points to this as the high point of the human race and the outworking of God\u2019s purposes.\u00a0 It says, \u201cThe kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.\u201d\n\nI believe that this is the theme of the Book of Revelation.\u00a0 I believe that is the theme of the Book of Daniel.\u00a0 I believe that this is the theme, really of the entire world, that this world that we\u2019re in under Satan\u2019s domain, under Satan\u2019s territory, is living on borrowed time.\u00a0 The reality of the situation is Satan is soon to be dethroned and replaced by the glorious kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.\u00a0 It\u2019s what Nebuchadnezzar saw in Daniel 2 as this stone cut without human hands, destroying the ten toes or the ten region kingdom of the antichrist\u2019s in an instant.\u00a0 And this stone growing and growing and growing until it filled the whole earth.\u00a0 It\u2019s what human history is pointed towards.\u00a0 That\u2019s why Jesus stepped out of eternity into time to pay the penalty for our sins that we could never pay and to rise from the dead, so that we, by simply trusting in what He has done can be a citizen or a member of this coming kingdom.\n\nIf my count is accurate I see this in Daniel 7, it\u2019s kingdom number six.\u00a0 You say well how do you get six kingdoms here?\u00a0 Well, first there was Babylon, as we\u2019ve studied.\u00a0 Babylon would be followed by Medo-Persia, I\u2019ve got the dates for each of those kingdoms, and will come Greece, Greece would be followed by Rome.\u00a0 [Babylon (7:4) 605-539 BC, Media-Persia (7:5) 539-331 BC, Greece (7:6) 331-63 BC, Rome I (7:7a) 63 BC \u2013 70 AD, Rome II (7:7b-8) Tribulation, Kingdom (7:9-14) After 2nd<\/sup> Coming.]\u00a0 Rome, of course, is the empire that crucified our Lord.\u00a0 And then Daniel in his vision begins to see things that go beyond ancient Rome, things that have never happened, things that cannot be correlated with past history.\u00a0 He sees a final empire covering the entire planet, a ten-region, a ten king confederacy reigning, wearing down the saints, and then finally being instantaneously overthrown.\u00a0 He\u2019s seeing the empire of the antichrist, an empire that\u2019s being constructed now, as I speak, sometimes called The New World Order, a one-world system of economics, politics and religion that excludes God, the same type of system that Nimrod was building in Shinar all the way back in Genesis 11 at the tower of Babel that God disrupted.\n\nSome way, somehow in the allowance of God, in the sovereignty of God, in the providence of God, Nimrod\u2019s dream will become a reality; the kingdom that Satan was seeking to build all the way back in Genesis 11 will reach its fulfillment.\u00a0 This is what Daniel is seeing here at the end of that time period. That would be kingdom number five, to be replaced by the kingdom that we\u2019re focused on here, the reigning kingdom of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 In an instant that kingdom that I\u2019ve described as the new world order is overthrown and replaced by Christ\u2019s kingdom.\n\nWell, what\u2019s going to happen during this kingdom of Christ?\u00a0 A lot of things.\u00a0 One of the things that\u2019s going to happen is you, as a resurrected person at the rapture, returning with Jesus Christ at the end of the tribulation period, are going to be ruling and reigning with Jesus Christ under His delegated authority.\u00a0 Revelation 5:10 indicates this when it says, \u201cYou have made them to be a kingdom of priests and to our God and they will reign upon the earth.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s your destiny as a Christian.\n\nHere\u2019s a heavenly program to be sure for seven years following the rapture but that\u2019s not where the bulk of our time is spent; it\u2019s ruling and reigning with Christ on the earth.\u00a0 Not because He needs us but because He wants to use us under delegated authority.\u00a0 And let me tell you something; what is Jesus doing in your life right now?\u00a0 Why are you in the struggle that you\u2019re in?\u00a0 Why are you in the problem that you are in?\u00a0 Why did this job layoff happen?\u00a0 And this relationship dissolve?\u00a0 And this health scare take over?\u00a0 It\u2019s training ground.\u00a0 What the Lord is doing right now in your life, what He\u2019s doing right now in my life is training\u00a0 you and preparing you for the kingdom rule and authority that you will wield in this coming kingdom.\n\nThis is Paul\u2019s frustration with the Corinthians who couldn\u2019t get along with each other.\u00a0 I\u2019m glad that doesn\u2019t happen today in churches.\u00a0 Paul says, \u201cDo you now know that we will judge the angels?\u00a0 How much more the matters of this life\u201d\u201d\u00a0 [1 Corinthians 6:3]\u00a0 Paul reasons from the greater to the lesser as he is trying to navigate the Corinthians through their little problems that they think are so big.\u00a0 Do you not understand your destiny?\u00a0 Do you not understand your authority?\u00a0 Do you not understand your future?\u00a0 Can\u2019t you work out your minor differences given the fact that you are going to reign under the delegated authority of Jesus Christ on planet earth?\u00a0 \u00a0You\u2019re living, Paul says to the Corinthians, outside of who you are, outside of your calling.\n\nAnd beyond that God is going to be absolutely 100% faithful to the nation of Israel during this thousand year kingdom.\u00a0 In fact, that\u2019s one of its purposes, this kingdom, where God is going to literally physically fulfill everything that He ever promised to the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob beginning with the Abrahamic Covenant, Genesis 15, and flushing it out throughout the Old Testament and New Testament in what\u2019s called the Land Covenant, the Davidic Covenant and the New Covenant.\u00a0 Every iota of that covenant language is true and literal and the thousand year kingdom is this time period when these prophecies that God has never forgotten about, because God can\u2019t lie, will become an absolute 100% reality on planet earth.\u00a0 This is the very thing that Daniel is seeing.\n\nWe continue on in verse 27 and he says the kingdom at that time will be given to who? The saints of the most High.\u00a0 [\u201cThen the sovereignty, the dominion and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him.\u201d Daniel 7:27]\u00a0\u00a0 He wants us to understand that it\u2019s not just His kingdom, it is that, but it\u2019s our as well, by way of ownership, because we are going to be sharing in the rule of Christ as He allows it, under His delegated authority.\u00a0 Luke 19 says one man is given five cities, one man is given ten cities, well, wait a minute, I thought it was all supposed to be fair.\u00a0 Why doesn\u2019t God parcel out everything equally?\u00a0 Become some saints cooperate with Christ, in this training ground called life, and some don\u2019t.\u00a0 Some walk with God through the valleys of life and the difficulties of life and what happens is their faith in God grows through the experience; their character develops.\u00a0 Other people, when they\u2019re put in any type of problem they shut God off, they accuse God of being unloving, and they refuse to grow in the midst of valleys and adversities.\n\nLet me just make you aware of something; it\u2019s a trite expression but it bears repetition: your trials are going to do one of two things to you\u2014they\u2019re going to make you bitter or they\u2019re going to make you better.\u00a0 Why not allow adversity in your life, that you never asked for and you don\u2019t really have a lot of control over anyway, be seen as a tool of the Holy Spirit to mold and shape you in preparation for your future role rather than shutting God off, becoming angry at God, closing God off, becoming prayer-less and not growing through the process?\u00a0 It\u2019s a completely different way of looking at adversities\u2014better or bitter?\u00a0 What\u2019s it doing in\u00a0 your life, these adversities that you\u2019re in, that I\u2019m in, that we\u2019re all in.\u00a0 And Daniel wants us to understand that this kingdom is going to be given, consequently to the saints.\n\nHe goes on here in verse 27 and he begins to talk about the length of the kingdom.\u00a0 \u201cHis kingdom\u201d it says there in verse 27, \u201cwill be\u201d what? \u201can everlasting kingdom,\u201d a kingdom without end.\u00a0 And you say well, wait a minute, is the kingdom a thousand years or does it last forever?\u00a0 And the answer is yes.\u00a0 Yes it lasts for a thousand years but the earth is dissolved at the end of the thousand year kingdom, Revelation 21:1 talks about it; 2 Peter 3:7 talks about it; 2 Peter 3:10 talks about it, the earth is going to be destroyed by fire.\u00a0 The Bible is very clear on this.\u00a0 [Revelation 21:1, \u201cThen I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.\u201d\u00a0 2 Peter 3:7, \u201cBut by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.\u201d\u00a0 2 Peter 3:10, \u201cBut the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.\u201d]\n\nYou say well, Andy, you don\u2019t believe in global warming do you?\u00a0 I believe what the Bible says, that this earth is going to be destroyed by fire.\u00a0 You say well, you don\u2019t believe in the Big Bang Theory do you?\u00a0 Yes I do, I just believe the Big Bang is at the end rather than the beginning.\u00a0 You know, the poor evolutionists who never looks at the Bible has got the whole thing backwards.\u00a0 They think it\u2019s at the beginning and everything is cooling off or whatever it\u2019s doing and the reality of the situation is this earth is going to be destroyed by fire and replaced with the new heavens and new earth, Revelation 21 and 22, and we will reign with Christ for how long?\u00a0 Forever and ever.\u00a0 Daniel is seeing an eternal kingdom that\u2019s on the horizon. And if this kingdom that is coming, that you as a Christian are a citizen of, is true, and it is true, would that not shape or change the way you live now?\u00a0 Why live for the fleeting and passing pleasures of this world when you could be living for something that will last.\n\n2 Corinthians 4:18 puts it this way:\u00a0 \u201cwhile we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.\u201d\u00a0 What are do you looking at?\u00a0 What were you looking at this last week, this weekend, this morning?\u00a0 The stock market, the 401K plan which might be a 201K plan by now, the economy, interest rates, the price of gold, the new house, the new car, the immaculate lawn, whatever it is, is the very thing that\u2019s seen, that we focus on, and yet the Bible says don\u2019t focus on that, it\u2019s a mirage. Everything that glitters is not gold; it\u2019s going to be replaced by something far better.\n\nIt\u2019s like the movie Titanic<\/em>, when the ship is going down there\u2019s a scene there where they\u2019re playing instruments, they\u2019re rearranging the deck chairs, and you look at that and you say how foolish that is, the ship is going down, get yourself off, get other people off.\u00a0 And yet I would submit to you that most of our lives are spent like those people playing the musical instruments and rearranging the deck chairs as the ship is sinking because we are so invested in things that really aren\u2019t going to matter when it burns.\u00a0 The reality of the situation, folks, is there\u2019s only two things that\u2019s going to make it from this life into the next: the first is the Word of God, the prophet Isaiah tells us that \u201cThe grass withers, the flower fades, yet the Word of God stands forever.\u201d\u00a0 [Isaiah 40:8]\n\nWhat kind of relationship do you have with this Book?\u00a0 I mean, is this a Book that sits on your coffee table and is a nice household ornament, a decoration, something you use to hold down your office papers?\u00a0 Or is this Book something that feeds your soul on a daily basis?\u00a0 Is this Book something that you give honor to and acquiescence to one time a week or are\u00a0 you, as Jesus taught, living by the Word of God.\u00a0 \u201cMan shall not live by bread alone,\u201d Jesus says, \u201cbut by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.\u201d\u00a0 [Matthew 4:4]\n\nHow important is the Bible to you relative to the sports page, The Drudge Report, that one hurts because I like The Drudge Report, the internet, social media, casual conversation, bestselling authors.\u00a0 I mean, how important is this book relative to those things?\u00a0 And then beyond this book the only thing that\u2019s going to last is the souls of people.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because the Book of Ecclesiastes tells us that God has set eternity into the hearts of men.\u00a0 [Ecclesiastes 3:11, \u201cHe has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.\u201d]\u00a0 People may not matter to us, people to a large extent can be an irritation to us but people matter to God.\u00a0 The guy that\u2019s living under a bridge that hasn\u2019t shaved or bathed in two or three months, with alcohol all over his breath matters to God.\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t matter to society, he doesn\u2019t matter to most of Christianity, but he matters to God because God has set eternity into the heart of that individual that bears God\u2019s image.\n\nThese kids, we saw them on the video, coming in here Monday through Friday, which was sort of a great tribulation in and of itself, [laughter] these kids matter to God.\u00a0 That\u2019s why we can get down on the carpet, get down on the floor, play games with them, sing songs at their level, get them engaged, because kids matter, people matter, the unborn matter, the elderly matter, the rich and powerful matter, those that are poor and live in anonymity matter.\u00a0 And how are you invested into those two things?\n\nYou know, today everybody is talking about safe investments.\u00a0 I only know of two: the Word of God and the souls of people, because this life is but for a mist of a vapor and then it quickly disappears and as Daniel is seeing in this vision is to be replaced by a new kingdom that will last forever, which is just on the horizon.\u00a0 Are you familiar with the great missionary, Jim Elliot, a graduate of Wheaton College, a man who you can see the age of his death [1927-1956], I don\u2019t even think he made it to age 30, risked his own life to travel to Ecuador to try to reach out with the gospel to the Aucas Indians.\u00a0\u00a0 And we look at the life of Jim Elliot and we look at perhaps what he could have been in life, what he could have done if he didn\u2019t devote himself so exclusively to the cause of missions, and we kind of look at that and say what a waste;\u00a0 I mean, he was martyred, if you know the story, by the very people that he was trying to reach with the gospel of Jesus Christ.\n\nAnd many times we ask ourselves as we expend ourselves in eternal things, does it really matter?\u00a0 Does dedicating a week taking off from work, as we heard, to volunteer for vacation Bible school, does that really matter?\u00a0 In 1949, October 28th<\/sup>, probably about seven, six years prior to his martyrdom Jim Elliot, in his journal, made the following entry; it\u2019s a famous statement,\u00a0 you\u2019ve probably heard it before; many people believe that he was paraphrasing a great English non-conformist preacher named Phillip Henry who lived somewhere between 1631-1696 but this is what Elliot said in his own phraseology: \u201cHe is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.\u201d\n\nHave you ever thought about that?\u00a0 Let me read that again, \u201cHe is no fool\u201d because the world system with its focus on temporal things thinks we\u2019re foolish to invest ourselves the way we do in the Word of God and in people.\u00a0\u00a0 You could be doing something else, you could be getting ahead, but Elliot says, \u201cHe is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.\u201d\u00a0 You know, as I get older in the Lord I go back to the Bible first but I go back to statements like this that remind me of what my priorities really ought to be.\u00a0 How foolish it is to become a pastor, a preacher, a teacher of the Word of God, to invest yourself in seminary training and education, don\u2019t you know what you could have done by now?\u00a0 Don\u2019t you know what you could have been?\u00a0 Don\u2019t you know what you could have accomplished?\u00a0\u00a0 And yet to hold onto this life as if it\u2019s going to last forever, according to Elliot\u2019s statement, is foolishness.\n\nThe reality of the situation is we can\u2019t keep anything; I can\u2019t keep my gold, I can\u2019t keep my bank account, I can\u2019t keep my money, I can\u2019t even keep my house or the new car I just bought that I get so upset when it\u2019s scratched.\u00a0 I can\u2019t keep that because it\u2019s all going to burn, all of it is incinerated.\u00a0 So you know what folks, I can\u2019t even keep my health; diet and exercise, what does that do (I\u2019m in favor of that by the way, you couldn\u2019t tell by looking at me) but what does that really do?\u00a0 That postpones the inevitable, that\u2019s all that does.\u00a0 Maybe that\u2019ll give you another five, ten years, if you\u2019re lucky.\u00a0 You can\u2019t even keep your own health.\u00a0 You can\u2019t keep your looks.\u00a0 You can\u2019t keep your treasure. Have you looked in the mirror lately?\u00a0 I just got my hair cut yesterday and I looked down at the ground after she\u2019d cut my hair and I saw this gray hair on the ground.\u00a0 And you say well, you\u2019re lucky, at least you have hair to cut.\u00a0 But honestly, when I see a bunch of gray hair on the ground my instinct is well, that obviously isn\u2019t my hair, that obviously belongs to the person that was in here before getting their hair cut.\u00a0 It\u2019s a shocking thing to break out your high school yearbook and compare it to your modern driver\u2019s license picture.\n\nYou\u2019re dying, I\u2019m dying; your health is ebbing away, you can\u2019t keep your health, you can\u2019t keep your body, you can\u2019t keep your looks, you can\u2019t keep your money, you can\u2019t keep anything.\u00a0 So why not take the moment of time that you have and invest it into something that you can keep, that will survive the fire?\u00a0 The Word of God and the souls of people.\u00a0 \u201cHe is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.\u201d\n\nYou know, when I was younger my parents would take me to a restaurant and it was a fairly upscale sort of restaurant and what the fellow would do there, one of the workers, he would take a giant block of ice and he would chisel something out of the block of ice and he could chisel an Easter egg basket if it was Easter, something related to Christmas, like a Christmas tree if it was Christmas time.\u00a0 And it was interesting to watch this man work because if your table was close enough you could see this man laboring and perspiring.\u00a0 I mean, this guy was working and even as a child I remember the frustration that I felt watching this man labor and watching this man work because I knew what was going to happen, the sun, the heat as the days progressed, as the afternoon came into full bloom was going to take everything this man was laboring for and was going to melt it down to nothing and all his perspiration was of no avail.\n\nThat is what this life is like; we\u2019re just like that man chiseling out of that block of ice.\u00a0 We may be creating something that in our eyes is beautiful, maybe it\u2019s beautiful to other people, but the reality of the situation is regardless of how hard we work and how much effort is spent building or creating whatever it is we\u2019re creating, the sun, s-u-n is right there giving the heat that\u2019s destroying everything we\u2019re laboring for.\u00a0 And we\u2019re just like that man with the block of ice as we invest our time, effort and energy into things that, beloved, are just not going to make it, nor do they matter.\u00a0 That\u2019s why I go back over and over again to this statement by Jim Elliot.\n\nSo what then is coming as a result?\u00a0 \u201c\u2026and all dominions will serve and obey Him.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 You\u2019ll notice the word \u201ceverlasting\u201d and then what it begins to talk about is the universal submission and obedience to Jesus Christ.\u00a0 How long is the empire of the antichrist going to last?\u00a0 We saw last week that it\u2019s going to last a time, times and a half time which as we explained last time is really three and a half\u00a0 years.\u00a0 All of the efforts of the devil to bring back the tower of Babel in a reincarnated state, all of the effort that the devil has spent in human history to rebuild a one-world government that was disrupted by God on the plains of Shinar, all of the thousands of years of human history that Satan has been moving the chess pieces around to get this one-world government in place, you mean the whole thing is going to last just three and a half years?\u00a0 What a rip-off!\n\nCompare that to the word \u201cforever,\u201d His judgment is forever. Compare that to the word \u201ceverlasting,\u201d the kingdom of Jesus Christ is everlasting.\u00a0 Why live for the devil and his kingdom when they get a heyday of three and a half years?\u00a0 Why not live for something that transcends what we see?\u00a0 Why not start living for the things that are unseen that last forever involving when Jesus Christ rules and reigns the universal service and submission to Jesus Christ?\u00a0 This is Zechariah 14:16-18; it\u2019s a description of people in the millennial reign of Jesus Christ who will hate Christ\u2019s guts.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because some people that enter the millennial reign of Christ will be survivors of the tribulation period who will enter in their mortal bodies.\u00a0 They will pass through what is called the sheep and the goat judgment as described in Matthew 25:31-46, and they will enter the kingdom in their mortal bodies and they will have children to repopulate the earth.\u00a0 And their children will have children, and their children will have children, and what just got passed down through the bloodline?\u00a0 The sin nature.\n\nNot you, as a member of Christ\u2019s church because you\u2019re resurrected at the beginning of the tribulation period before the tribulation even starts; you\u2019re returning with Jesus Christ seven years later to rule and reign in your resurrected body without even the desire for sin.\u00a0 Won\u2019t that be nice!\n\nBut not so others, and there will arise a generation of people that will not want to travel to Jerusalem on the Feast of Booths to worship the King.\u00a0 And Jesus says okay,\u00a0 you want to play that way, then you\u2019re not going to get any moisture for your crops.\u00a0 And there are people that will hate Christ\u2019s guts because of the existence of the sin nature itself, yet even they will be in full submission, grudgingly, full compliance to Jesus Christ.\u00a0 This is what is being described here, this universal service and submission, some voluntarily, some involuntarily.\n\nYou know, there\u2019s a Scripture, there\u2019s a prophecy in the book of Philippians and it says, \u201cevery tongue will confess Jesus Christ is Lord.\u201d\u00a0 [Philippians 2:11, \u201cand that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.\u201d]\u00a0 Have you ever wondered about that?\u00a0 I mean, not everybody on planet earth is saved, how can \u201cevery tongue\u201d confess Jesus Christ is Lord?\u00a0 Because some do it voluntarily, others in the eons of hell itself do it under the judgment of God and the wrath of God, grudgingly and involuntarily.\u00a0 But the fact of the matter is, whether it\u2019s by free will or whether by coercion \u201cevery tongue\u201d will confess Jesus Christ as Lord.\n\nThis is what\u2019s happening in the millennial kingdom.\u00a0 And if Jesus is reigning over the whole earth during this time how can we trust Him not to abuse His authority?\u00a0 Well, there\u2019s an answer to that, He\u2019s the only human being that has ever been born into this world without the existence of a sin nature: graft, greed, corruption, are not even a temptation for Him.\u00a0 This is why man in his governmental experiments always fails because no matter what kind of government you get the government is still run by human beings that have a sin nature.\u00a0 And eventually the power goes to their head and it will be abused.\u00a0 Not so in the millennial kingdom.\u00a0 Perfect submission and service to Jesus Christ governed by a man without a sin nature and to be honest with you folks, that\u2019s the only new world order I want to be a part of.\u00a0 That\u2019s the only new world order that\u2019s going to work.\u00a0 And this is what God is showing humanity through these things.\u00a0 It\u2019s a system of government identical to what was established in the Garden of Eden where God the Father governed over a man, the first Adam, and he governed the world on God\u2019s behalf.\u00a0 Adam did this with his wife Eve, Genesis 1:26-28 indicates that they, plural, had authority.\n\n[Genesis 1:26-28, \u201cThen God said, \u2018Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.\u2019 \u00a0[27] God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. [28] God blessed them; and God said to them, \u2018Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.\u201d\u2019]\n\nThe whole system is going to be brought back to life; this in essence is what was lost with the fall of man. God the Father is going to govern, not the first Adam, the last Adam.\u00a0 Who would the last Adam be?\u00a0 Jesus.\u00a0 And He will govern creation for a thousand years; it\u2019s the only system of government that will ever work.\u00a0 And by the way, who is the Eve that\u2019s with Christ, using this analogy, governing with Him.\u00a0 That would be you, wouldn\u2019t it, as the what of Christ?\u00a0 The bride of Christ, the church of Christ.\u00a0 The whole structure is brought back to life; it\u2019s how God intended the world to be. Satan has no influence during this time period as he is bound for a thousand years.\u00a0 God deals very directly with rebellion during this time period; God allows it to go on for a thousand years before this earth is dissolved and replaced by a new earth to show humanity once and for all the only government you can trust, the only government that will work is the government that I Myself, God the Father through God the Son, will establish.\n\nDo we think about this when we make choices?\u00a0 As you were making choices last week were you thinking about this?\u00a0 As you make choices this week are we thinking about this?\u00a0 Prophecy matters; your view on these things dictates, controls, influences, to a very large extent the choices that we make on a daily basis.\n\nVerse 28, we might make it, I didn\u2019t say we will, I said we might.\u00a0 At this point the revelation ended. \u00a0\u201cAs for me, Daniel, my thoughts were greatly alarming me and my face grew pale, but I kept the matter to myself.\u201d\u00a0 Daniel, as best I can tell, is traumatized by what he sees.\u00a0 His trauma, if you go back to verse 15, is apparent because he says, \u201cAs for me, Daniel, my spirit was distressed within me, and the visions in my mind kept alarming me.\u201d\u00a0 Why is Daniel troubled by what he sees?\u00a0 Because he sees the kingdom that\u2019s on the horizon but he also sees the suffering of his people, the nation of Israel, prior to the establishment of the kingdom.\u00a0 He sees that in verse 19, he sees that in verse 21, he sees it in verse 25 as the little horn is wearing down the saints.\n\nAnd who is Daniel exactly?\u00a0 He is a man that has a heart for the people of God.\u00a0 Even though these things wouldn\u2019t happen until long after Daniel left the scene Daniel is so in solidarity with his own people that he\u2019s traumatized by the future that\u2019s coming.\u00a0 Are you like that with God\u2019s people?\u00a0 When other people suffer do you suffer?\u00a0 When other people are elated or joyful are you joyful?\u00a0 The Bible says we ought to be that way with fellow Christians because we\u2019re part of the what?\u00a0 Body of Christ.\u00a0 1 Corinthians 12:26 says, \u201cif one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it,\u201d because we\u2019re part of the same body.\n\nA lot of times I cut my fingernails a little too short and I start to get my index finger an ingrown fingernail and you look at that and you say man, that\u2019s just a little thing; what is that, 1% of my whole body.\u00a0 But when that finger is hurting my whole body is miserable.\u00a0 I mean, this little thing here affects every part of my body; it affects my emotions, it affects my sleep, it affects my emotional state, you mean this little thing here?\u00a0 And that is because this finger is part of a larger body; you damage one part of the body it affects everything else.\u00a0 That is what God has put us in here in the body of Christ.\u00a0 That\u2019s what should have been our response as Richard was reading the prayer list; we ought to have been in pain for people, hurting for people, sympathy for people, empathy for people, praying for people because we\u2019re all connected by way of the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 And when somebody is promoted, when somebody is exalted, when God decides to use somebody I should not become jealous or envious, I should rejoice because we\u2019re all part of the same body.\n\nI think that\u2019s the sort of attitude and spirit that Daniel exemplifies as he sees the suffering of the nation of Israel down through the ages, even though it won\u2019t directly affect Daniel.\u00a0 If anybody suffers, Daniel, I suffer.\u00a0 If you suffer I suffer because I am a Jew.\u00a0 That\u2019s why Daniel, at the end of chapter 8, verse 7 will be similarly traumatized by a brand new vision of suffering that we will begin to talk about next time.\u00a0 And I am so grateful that the chapter ends this way for this simple reason: to Daniel prophecy was more than academic thought.\u00a0 It was more to him than a system of theology.\u00a0 It was more to him than a chart.\u00a0 It was more to him than a journal article.\u00a0 It was more to him than something that he had to prove correct.\n\nNow am I in favor of charts?\u00a0 Am I in favor of defending a correct interpretation of prophecy?\u00a0 Am I in favor of journal articles?\u00a0 You probably can\u2019t find someone more in favor of those things than myself.\u00a0 But if that\u2019s all it is you just missed the Spirit of God; it\u2019s more than a system or a theology or a polemic or a defense.\u00a0 It is designed not to just touch the intellect, which is important, but to touch the heart.\u00a0 It ought to have such an impact on us that it should control the decisions and the choices that I make in the nasty now and now.\u00a0 That\u2019s why I love how this ends here.\n\nThis is the point of prophecy.\u00a0 2 Peter 3:11 says this, \u201cSince all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,\u201d this knowledge of the future should change your life now, Peter says.\u00a0 1 John 3:2-2 says, \u201cBeloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. [3] And everyone who has this hope fixed<\/em> on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.\u201d\n\nTitus 2:13 says, \u201clooking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus.\u201d \u00a0You\u2019ll notice how the revelation of Jesus Christ is called \u201cthe blessed\u201d what? \u201chope.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s what gives you optimism in this life, endurance, encouragement.\u00a0 And one of the things that I fear in a Bible-centered academic doctrinally oriented church like ours, I fear that at times our studies of the Word of God go no deeper than the intellect itself.\u00a0 I\u2019m in favor of the intellect because you can\u2019t reach the heart without reaching the mind.\u00a0 But at some point knowledge has to translate into wisdom or else knowledge has no value to it.\u00a0 Knowledge is just the acquisition of information; wisdom is where it starts to shape decisions and choices that we\u2019re making right now.\u00a0 May God help us to understand this.\u00a0 May God help us not to become so cerebral with Bible prophecy that we miss the point of why the Spirit of God gave it.\u00a0 May God rescue us from that!\u00a0 Daniel wasn\u2019t just touching the mind here; it\u2019s very obvious that he was touched in the heart, the historical setting, the vision, the interpretation of the vision, the personal impact on Daniel.\n\nIf you\u2019re here today and you don\u2019t know Christ personally I\u2019ve got something to tell you.\u00a0 The high point of your existence, assuming you\u2019re even here to experience will be the empire of the antichrist.\u00a0 This world is as good as it gets for you.\u00a0 And if you\u2019re here today and you know Christ personally I\u2019ve got something else to tell you.\u00a0 As bad as this life can be, this is as bad as it gets for you.\u00a0 The only issue is what side of the ledger to you want to be on, and what puts\u00a0 you on one side of the ledger or the other is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ which is entered into, not as a result of human performance, not as a result of human works, but faith alone in Christ alone\u2026 end of story!\u00a0 Jesus stepped out of eternity into time, He lived a life in our place that we could never live.\u00a0 He died for our sins and paid a penalty that we could never pay.\u00a0 He vindicated who He was through His bodily resurrection from the dead.\u00a0 He left the earth and His final words on the cross were \u201cIt is finished!\u201d\u00a0 Nothing else to add.\n\nSo what do we do?\u00a0 Nothing other than receive what He has done as a gift, by faith.\u00a0 Have you done that?\u00a0 It\u2019s something you can do right now even as I\u2019m speaking, in the privacy of your own heart and mind as the Spirit of God places you under conviction.\u00a0 It\u2019s life\u2019s most important question.\u00a0 It\u2019s life\u2019s most important decision.\u00a0 Faith is another way of saying reliance, confidence, dependence upon.\u00a0 As the Spirit convicts you the best you know how, without raising a hand, walking an aisle, joining a church, giving money, respond in the privacy of\u00a0 your own heart by way of trust in what Jesus has done.\u00a0 If it\u2019s something that you\u2019ve already done then on the authority of the Word of God you\u2019ve just altered your eternal destiny.\u00a0 If it\u2019s something you\u2019re doing right now on the authority of the Word of God you\u2019ve altered your eternal destiny.\u00a0 If it\u2019s something you need more information on why would you leave today without getting some clarification, because there isn\u2019t a more important decision to make.\u00a0 The Bible is very clear today is the day of salvation.\u00a0 If you need more information I\u2019m available after the service to talk.\u00a0 Shall we pray.\n\nFather, we\u2019re grateful for Daniel 7, we\u2019re grateful for the field of Bible prophecy\u00a0 and what it does for us in terms of our perspective.\u00a0 Make us people, Lord, of an eternal heavenly perspective this week as we walk with You and live for Your priorities.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be careful to give You all the praise and the glory.\u00a0 We ask these things in Jesus name.\u00a0 And God\u2019s people said\u2026 Amen.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t