{"id":18416,"date":"2017-11-12T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-11-12T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/daniel-041-the-invisible-war-part-2\/"},"modified":"2017-11-12T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-11-12T06:00:00","slug":"daniel-041-the-invisible-war-part-2","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/daniel-041-the-invisible-war-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Daniel 041 – The Invisible War (Part 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[72],"series_event":[467],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18416","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 041 - The Invisible War (Part 2)","sermon_date":"20171112","sermon_month":"11","sermon_year":"2017","sermon_notes":5146,"sermon_slides":5144,"sermon_mp3":5148,"sermon_id":"1112171013152","series_or_event":467,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":72,"chapter_and_verse":"10:2-11","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nThe Invisible War (Part 2)\n\n11-12-17\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Daniel 10:2-11\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lesson 41\n\nIf we could take our Bibles and open them to the Book of Daniel, chapter 10 and verse 2, seeking to cover, God willing, verses 2-13 this morning.\u00a0 Some of you are laughing, it\u2019ll never happen.\u00a0 The title of our message this morning is The Invisible War, Part 2.\u00a0 We started last time introducing the Book of Daniel.\u00a0 Here are the four major parts of Daniel 10, and actually that fourth part there leads into chapter 11 and 12.\u00a0 [I. The Setting (10:1-3)\u00a0 II. Arrival of the Heavenly Messenger (10:4-9).\u00a0 [III] Explanation of the Heavenly Messenger (10:1\u201311:1). [IV] The Prophecy of the Heavenly Messenger (11:2\u201312:13).]\n\nBut Daniel, chapter 10 and verses 1-3 reveals the setting of the book, as we\u2019ve briefly talked about last time.\u00a0 We have the historical setting, verse 1 and then what was happening in Daniel\u2019s personal life, verses 2-3.\u00a0\u00a0 You recall verse 1, we talked about how Cyrus, of Persia, was in power when Daniel receives the vision, his last vision here at the end of the book.\u00a0 And so all the way through chapters 10-12 that is the empire in place, Media-Persia; Cyrus is the leader at this time.\u00a0 We talked about how also verse 1 indicates that this was the third year of Cyrus, which would make the date about 536 B.C.\n\nDaniel is what we would call a seasoned citizen at this point in his life, probably in his mid-80\u2019s.\u00a0 The nation of Israel had primarily gone back, not all but many had gone back in the first return.\u00a0 God was very clear that the nation would be in captivity for 70 years and then would return from that captivity 70 years later.\u00a0 The first return from Babylon has already taken place.\u00a0 Daniel probably stays behind because of perhaps his age, or perhaps because of how serious he took his role as a member of the government of Persia.\n\nBut we move from the historical setting to the personal setting, verses 2-3.\u00a0 Daniel was personally bothered by something and we start to get a glimpse of that in verses 2-3, and notice what these verses say.\u00a0 [2] \u201cIn those days, I, Daniel, had been mourning for three entire weeks.\u201d\u00a0 That word \u201cmourning\u201d there is very interesting to me because Daniel\u2019s heart was burdened about something.\u00a0 And that often can dictate, it can often determine our own personal walk with the Lord.\u00a0 Do we sense a burden?\u00a0 Do we sense a broken heartedness?\u00a0 Do we\u00a0 sense a mourning over the things that God mourns over?\u00a0 Do our hearts break for the things that break God\u2019s heart?\u00a0 Do you find yourself grieving over the state of Christianity or the plight of the lost or any of these types of subjects.\n\nAs we walk with the Lord we discover that we develop certain burdens for things that break God\u2019s heart.\u00a0 Daniel was in that type of relationship with the Lord.\u00a0 He was burdened to the point where he was mourning for three weeks.\u00a0 He says in verse 3 that \u201cI did not eat any tasty food, nor did meat or wine enter my mouth, nor did I use any ointment at all until the entire three weeks were completed.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Daniel here is doing something that I believe has largely been lost to the modern church.\u00a0 He was not just in prayer but he was in a season of fasting.\u00a0 He was depriving himself of certain physical pleasures, like eating, for a season.\n\nIf you jump down to verse 12 just for a minute, it talks there about how he had been humbling, in the middle of the verse, humbling,\u00a0 you\u2019ll see the word humbling himself before God.\u00a0 [Daniel 10:12, \u201cThen he said to me, \u2018Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this<\/em> and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words.\u2019\u201d]\n\nAs you study the concept of fasting in the Bible it\u2019s interesting that something fasting does, and I don\u2019t recommend you partake of this unless you let your doctor know what you\u2019re thinking about doing, but there is a reality of fasting, depriving oneself of certain pleasures, perhaps food, even for a season.\u00a0 It has an effect on us where it brings us to the end of our physical self.\u00a0 It brings to our awareness of our dependence upon God for physical sustenance.\u00a0 And so when somebody in the Scripture many times is very serious about something they often enter into a season of fasting.\n\nI think most of the time our seasons are of feasting than fasting.\u00a0 When Paul talks about \u201cI buffet my body\u201d many people misunderstand that Paul was not saying I buffet [pronounced: buff fay] my body.\u00a0 [Laughter] We do a lot of buff-faying rather than buffeting sometimes, amen.\n\nBut Daniel here is entering into this season of fasting because his heart was broken about something. \u00a0And he had been praying for a period of about three weeks and he got no answer.\u00a0 Ever felt like that with the Lord?\u00a0 You pray and pray and pray and pray for something and the heavens are like brass.\u00a0 Well, we\u2019re going to discover in this chapter\u00a0 that there\u2019s a reason there was no answer.\u00a0 It had to do with the spiritual conflict.\u00a0 The answer was on its way but the devil, in the invisible war was doing everything within his power to prevent Daniel from getting the answer to his prayer.\u00a0 More on that later.\n\nDaniel, what was bothering him was the future or the destiny of the nation of Israel.\u00a0 What is the future?\u00a0 Certainly in Daniel\u2019s prior prophecies he had been given glimpses of the future here and there but he wanted a panoramic view.\u00a0 He wanted a vision of what God had in store for the nation of Israel now that it appeared as if most of the prophecies concerning Israel had been fulfilled or were in the process of being fulfilled.\u00a0 The whole level of interest or curiosity revolved around what God said about this seventy years of captivity.\u00a0 Now that season is ending and what is the future beyond that point in time.\u00a0 This is why Daniel is fasting; this is why he is mourning and this is why he is in prayer.\n\nAnd what happens as you move down to verses 4-9 is the arrival\u00a0 of a heavenly messenger.\u00a0 The heavenly messenger is described, verses 4-6, and then as this heavenly messenger is described you get an interesting description of the response, not only of Daniel but also of Daniel\u2019s friends that were with him at this time.\n\nNotice if you will verses 4-6: \u201c<\/strong><\/a>On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, while I was by the bank of the great river, that is, the Tigris, [5] I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, there was a certain man dressed in linen, whose waist was girded with a belt of<\/em> pure gold of Uphaz. [6] His body also was<\/em> like beryl, his face had the appearance of lightning, his eyes were like flaming torches, his arms and feet like the gleam of polished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a tumult.\u201d\n\nFirst of all notice how real this experience was; it happened on a specific date.\u00a0 It says very clearly here \u201cOn the twenty-fourth day of the first month,\u201d if I\u2019m understanding my Jewish calendar correctly this would be during the month of Nisan, it\u2019s during the Passover season and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, if I\u2019m understanding my calendar correctly those Jewish holidays were coming to an end.\u00a0 They commemorate very significant events in the life of Judaism, as we have talked about many times in the past.\u00a0 And yet something else is about to happen.\u00a0 It\u2019s interesting that things in the life of Israel correspond with, correlate with these various feast days.\u00a0 And something very significant is about to happen\u2026 the revelation of a vision of such extensive detail that no other vision in, really the whole Bible perhaps, gives so comprehensively a package, a picture that God has in store for the nation of Israel.\n\nYou\u2019ll notice that Daniel here gives the geographical components.\u00a0 He says I was receiving this vision while I was along the Tigris.\u00a0 [4, \u201cOn the twenty-fourth day of the first month, while I was by the bank of the great river, that is, the Tigris,\u201d] That\u2019s where Babylon stood; that area sometimes is called Mesopotamia, which means between the rivers.\u00a0 In Hebrew it\u2019s called Shinar. It\u2019s the same part of the world I believe where the Garden of Eden once stood; it\u2019s the same part of the world where the tower of Babel once stood.\u00a0 It\u2019s the same are that the children of Israel were taken 350 miles to the east to what today we would call modern day Iraq.\u00a0 It\u2019s between the Euphrates and the Tigris, between the rivers.\u00a0 Daniel is giving us calendar, he\u2019s giving us geography because he wants us to understand that this was not just a token of his imagination; this was a real vision that happened at a real time in history at a real specific geographical locale.\n\nAnd as you look there at verses 4-6 it says the heavenly messenger arrives. It sounds an awful lot like Jesus Christ.\u00a0 In fact, if you were to take this description that\u2019s used here in Daniel 10:4-6 and you were to compare it to the description of the glorified Christ that John saw on the island of Patmos at the end of the first century A.D. and you were to read Revelation 1:13-14 the descriptions there are almost identical.\n\n[Daniel 10:4, \u201cOn the twenty-fourth day of the first month, while I was by the bank of the great river, that is, the Tigris, [5] I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, there was a certain man dressed in linen, whose waist was girded with a belt of<\/em> pure gold of Uphaz. [6] His body also was<\/em> like beryl, his face had the appearance of lightning, his eyes were like flaming torches, his arms and feet like the gleam of polished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a tumult]\n\nRevelation 1:13-14, \u201cand in the middle of the lampstands I saw<\/em> one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His chest with a golden sash. [14] His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire. [15] His feet were<\/em> like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His voice was<\/em> like the sound of many waters.\u201d]\n\nAnd so consequently many, many people believe that this appearance of this so-called angelic being, which may not have been an angel at all, could have been a reference to Jesus Christ Himself.\u00a0 There is an Old Testament reality of something called, sometimes in theology, a Theophany, or a Christophany.\u00a0 What are those?\u00a0 Those are preincarnate appearances of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 These are references to Jesus Christ before His incarnation, what I like to call Jesus before the manger.\n\nIf you\u2019re looking for a very good book that documents many of these I recommend the book by Ron Rhodes, Rhodes is spelled R-h-o-d-e-s, where he documents all of these in the Old Testament.\u00a0 The title it if Christ Before the Manger<\/em>.\u00a0 And there is no doubt in my mind that Christ appeared many times in the Old Testament.\u00a0 One of the occurrences is in Joshua 5:14 where Joshua, entering the Promised Land discovered an angel that was there to meet him and greet him, and it says in Joshua 5:14, \u201c\u2026 And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and bowed down, [and said to him, \u2018What has my lord to say to his servant?\u2019\u201d]\n\nLet me tell you something about a true angel, an angel that\u2019s not Jesus.\u00a0 I hope we all understand that Jesus was not an angel; Jesus created the angels.\u00a0 A true angel will never receive worship.\u00a0 John, in the Book of Revelation two times tries to worship the angel that gave him the vision; he does it in Revelation 19:10; he does it again in Revelation 22:8-9 and both times the angel said, here\u2019s the paraphrased version, hey buddy, knock it off.\u00a0 You don\u2019t worship me, I\u2019m just a servant.\u00a0 You worship the Lord.\n\n[Revelation 19:10, \u201cThen I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, \u2018Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 Revelation 22:8-9, \u201cI, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed me these things. [9] But he said to me, \u2018\u201cDo not do that. I am a fellow servant of yours and of your brethren the prophets and of those who heed the words of this book. Worship God.\u201d\u2019]\n\nBut in Joshua 5:14 the angel that Joshua bowed down to never rebukes Joshua.\u00a0 That sort of gives me positively that that angel was not just an ordinary angel, it was perhaps what we would call the angel of the Lord, a preincarnate appearance of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 An ordinary angel in his glorified state will never receive worship because Matthew 4:10 says, \u201cThen Jesus said to him, \u2018Go, Satan! For it is written, 'YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY.\u2019\u201d\n\nAnd by the way, that should go for a true servant of God.\u00a0 A true servant of God will never receive the accolades that come his or her way.\u00a0 In fact, those things are sort of embarrassing to him.\u00a0 What he will do is deflect those back to the Lord because if a creature steps into the position of receiving glory that only belongs to God that creature is in a lot of trouble because the Book of Isaiah, chapter 42 and verse 8 God says I will share My glory with no one.\u00a0 [Isaiah 42:8, \u201cI am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, Nor My praise to graven images.\u201d]\n\nBut when an angel (apparently) in the Old Testament, received these bastions of glory and honor I don\u2019t think there it\u2019s an ordinary angel; I think it\u2019s a theophany or a Christophany, I think that\u2019s what Joshua saw in chapter 5.\u00a0 Many would argue that that\u2019s what Daniel is seeing here.\u00a0 So if you want to believe that this representative from heaven is Jesus you have no problems with me.\n\nHowever, I\u2019m a little bit reluctant to ascribe such an interpretation to Daniel 10.\u00a0 The reason it makes me sort of reluctant is because this angel dispatched from heaven had to fight a fallen angel for 21 days.\u00a0 You\u2019ll see a reference to that in Daniel 10:13 which hopefully we\u2019ll be getting to today.\u00a0 [Daniel 10:13, \u201cBut the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia.\u201d]\n\nIt\u2019s very difficult for me to believe that Jesus Christ had to fight a demon for 21 days to break through since Jesus, as God, possesses the omni\u2019s, I\u2019m not talking about a hotel, here I\u2019m talking about omniscience, all knowing, omnipresent, everywhere at the same time, and omnipotence.\u00a0 How could omnipotence fight a demon for 21 days; it seems to me that there wouldn\u2019t be any battle there at all.\u00a0 Yet Daniel 10:13 is describing a battle.\u00a0 So maybe this is Jesus Christ, maybe it isn\u2019t; I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s something worth starting a new church over.\u00a0 But there is an interesting discussion on this here in Daniel 10 that takes place in the commentaries.\n\nI\u2019m more of the mind, if you disagree with me we can still be friends at the end of the day, Amen, that this angel is probably Gabriel.\u00a0 Why would it be Gabriel?\u00a0 Because Gabriel has a special role in the providence of God.\u00a0 He is the angel that comes and discloses new insights.\u00a0 It after all was Gabriel who came to the parents of not just Jesus Christ but also John the Baptist.\u00a0 You\u2019ll find Gabriel\u2019s name mentioned in Luke 1:19 and verse 26, who was revealing what was happening in the wombs of both Mary in the case of Jesus Christ, and also Elizabeth in the case of John the Baptist.\n\n[Luke 1:19, \u201cThe angel answered and said to him, \u2018I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 [26] \u201cNow in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth.\u201d]\n\nOf course it was Gabriel that revealed the ram and the goat vision in Daniel 8, you\u2019ll find Gabriel\u2019s name mentioned in Daniel 8:16 and it was also Gabriel who revealed the prophecy of the 70 weeks; you\u2019ll find a reference to that in Daniel 9:21-22.\u00a0 [Daniel 8:16, \u201cAnd I heard the voice of a man between the banks of Ulai, and he called out and said, \u2018Gabriel, give this man an understanding of the vision.\u201d\u2019\u00a0 It seems like consistency would dictate that this also would be Gabriel, but I am willing to get to heaven and be surprised and discover that it really wasn\u2019t Gabriel, maybe it was Jesus Christ.\u00a0\u00a0 [Daniel 9:21-22, \u201cwhile I was still speaking in prayer, then the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision previously, came to me in my<\/em> extreme weariness about the time of the evening offering. [22] He gave me<\/em> instruction and talked with me and said, \u201cO Daniel, I have now come forth to give you insight with understanding.\u201d]\n\nBut what is very interesting to me is not so much the description of this messenger but the response of not just Daniel but also his friends to this heavenly visitor.\u00a0 Notice the response of Daniel\u2019s friends.\u00a0 Notice, if you will, Daniel 10 and verse 7, \u201cI, Daniel, alone saw the vision, while the men who were with me did not see the vision; nevertheless, a great dread\u201d you should underline those words, \u201ca great dread, \u201ca great dread fell on them, and they ran away to hide themselves.\u201d\n\nIt is interesting that when God reveals Himself in His glory either through a Christophany or a Theophany or through a vision of His glorified state, or even through an angel that is a messenger from God, the reaction of fallen human beings from cover to cover in the pages of God\u2019s Word is dread and fear.\u00a0 The Book of Isaiah, chapter 6 and verse 5, Isaiah had a vision where he saw the Lord.\u00a0 Wouldn\u2019t that be interesting, to see the Lord.\u00a0 What is Isaiah\u2019s reaction exactly?\u00a0 \u201cThen I said, \u201cWoe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips,\u201d wait a minute, I thought you were the prophet Isaiah; I thought you mouth was holy, I thought your mouth declared the oracles of God; yet even Isaiah and that most important part of prophets anatomy or body, his mouth, itself was unclean in the presence of holiness.\u00a0 Isaiah says, \u201cAnd I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.\u201d\u2019\u00a0 Isaiah trembled, he was undone, he was in great tumult himself just witnessing for a moment the holiness of God.\n\nYou\u2019ll notice that Daniel\u2019s friends, they don\u2019t just sense this fear or this dread that they begin to hide. Doesn\u2019t that remind you of something?\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that what Adam and Eve were doing in the Garden of Eden, Genesis 3:8, after the fall?\u00a0\u00a0 [\u201c[They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day,] and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.\u201d\u00a0 What did John do in the Book of Revelation where he saw the glorified Christ in A.D. 95 on the Island of Patmos.\u00a0 Remember it was this same John whose head leaned against the chest of Christ in the Upper Room 60 years earlier.\u00a0 What does John say?\u00a0 He says, \u201cI fell at His feet like a dead man.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 1:17, \u201cWhen I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, \u2018Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last\u2026.\u2019\u201d]\n\nWhy does this keep happening?\u00a0 Why is it that when fallen human beings come into the presence of either God or His messengers the reaction is always fear?\u00a0 And if you can\u2019t understand this you don\u2019t understand the gospel.\u00a0 The reaction is fear because God and those who execute His judgment are holy. What is the dominant attribute of God?\u00a0 What do the seraphim say around the clock, day and night, twenty-four\/seven in the presence of God?\u00a0 [Isaiah 6:1, \u201cIn the year of King Uzziah's death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple.\u00a0 [2] \u201cSeraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.\u201d [3] \u201cAnd one called out to another and said, \u2018Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.\u2019\u201d]\n\nI\u2019ll tell you what they don\u2019t say; they don\u2019t say love, love, love is God Almighty.\u00a0 They don\u2019t say grace, grace, grace is God Almighty.\u00a0 Now is God loving?\u00a0 Of course He is.\u00a0 Is He gracious?\u00a0 Of course He is.\u00a0 But His overriding attribute is holiness.\u00a0 They say \u201cHoly, Holy, Holy, is THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY.\u201d\u00a0 You know, that\u2019s repeated in the Book of Revelation, chapter 4 and verse 8, it\u2019s talking about the angels in the presence of the Lord, calling out to one another\u00a0 and saying what? \u201c\u2018HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is THE LORD GOD, OF HOSTS, THE WHOLE\u00a0 EARTH IS FULL OF HIS GLORY.\u201d\u00a0 This, of course creates a problem for human beings steeped in original sin because you are now in the presence of a being that has a right to execute judgment.\u00a0 That\u2019s what happens when the holiness of God encounters the depravity of man.\n\nIt\u2019s interesting that Adam and Eve weren\u2019t gripped with fear before sin entered the picture.\u00a0 But once sin entered the picture everything changes; they\u2019re hiding from God.\u00a0 You see, if I come in this morning and I see our security officer out there and I haven\u2019t done anything wrong I\u2019m very comforted by his presence.\u00a0 But if I came in at 85 miles an hour that\u2019s different; I don\u2019t like his presence.\u00a0 His presence bothers me because now I am in the presence of somebody who has the authority to execute judgment on me.\u00a0 And this is the issue with God and man.\u00a0 Man, when he comes into God\u2019s presence doesn\u2019t just say thumbs up, and as the little T-shirt goes that some of the youth wear, \u201cGod\u2019s rad and He\u2019s my dad.\u201d\u00a0 I\u2019m troubled by this; I\u2019m troubled by the fact that we have become so accommodated to the grace of God that in general we\u2019ve lost sight of His holiness.\u00a0 The reaction of fallen people is always fear; it\u2019s always an uncomfortableness, as it should be if we are depraved and He is perfectly upright.\n\nThe right reaction to God is the reaction that Peter gave in Luke 5:8 where Peter saw the Lord perform a tremendous miracle involving the miraculous catch of fish and there in a nanosecond either saw a glimpse of the holiness of God and what does Peter say in Luke 5:8?\u00a0 \u201cDepart from me: for I am a sinful man.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s the reaction that people should have towards God if they understand His holiness.\u00a0 And if we were ever to get a glimpse of His holiness and our sinfulness suddenly the gospel of Jesus Christ makes complete sense because Jesus entered history to be that provision to bridge the gap between the two.\u00a0 He paid the price for our violations of His holiness through His sacrificial death on the cross and I am related to God by grace, by way of faith, and consequently Romans 8:1 says, \u201cTherefore, there is now no\u201d what?\u00a0 \u201ccondemnation\u201d watch this, \u201cfor those that are in Christ Jesus.\u201d\n\nBut woe to the person that\u2019s not \u201cin Christ Jesus.\u201d\u00a0 Woe to the person who has never trusted in the provision of Christ, has never been clothed with the blood of Christ, has never been declared positionally righteous through alien righteousness.\u00a0 What is that?\u00a0 Righteousness coming from the outside; righteousness that we don\u2019t deserve, imputed or transferred righteousness.\u00a0 A person that\u2019s never received that gift, what is the sum total of their life?\u00a0 They are on a collision course with the God of the universe. How could God in His holiness not do anything other than judge such a person?\n\nAnd so it is interesting to me that Daniel, not exactly a garden variety pagan, a pretty spiritual man wouldn\u2019t you agree, Isaiah the same way, John the same way, it is interesting to me that when these men of God actually come into contact with the holiness of God the reaction is always fear and it doesn\u2019t describe itself as just dread, it says \u201cgreat dread fell upon Daniel\u2019s companions.\u201d\u00a0 [Daniel 10:7, \u201cNow I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, while the men who were with me did not see the vision; nevertheless, a great dread fell on them, and they ran away to hide themselves.\u201d]\n\nDaniel himself it seems as if he goes into sort of a trance, if you will.\u00a0 Look at verses 9 and 9, \u201cSo I was left alone and saw this great vision; yet no strength was left in me, for my natural color turned to a deathly pallor, and I retained no strength. [9] But I heard the sound of his words; and as soon as I heard the sound of his words, I fell into\u201d watch this, \u201ca deep sleep\u201d you should underline deep sleep, \u201con my face, with my face to the ground.\u201d\n\nHere Daniel is about ready to receive one of the greatest revelations of God, perhaps in the whole Book of Daniel, and God makes it very clear that I\u2019m coming to you while you\u2019re asleep.\u00a0 Now I started thinking about this this week; do you realize that God does His greatest work when we\u2019re asleep?\u00a0 Think about that for a minute.\u00a0 Genesis 2, how did Adam meet his wife?\n\nGenesis 2:18-22, \u201cThen the LORD God said, \u2018It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.\u2019\u201d \u00a0[21] So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He\u201d that\u2019s God, \u201ctook one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. [22] The LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man.\u201d\u00a0 The whole thing happened while Adam was asleep.\n\nWhat a blow to human works and self-righteousness where we think that our contributions are so important to executing the plan of God.\u00a0 What if Adam had gone out and tried to meet his own need?\u00a0 He would have married the member of the animal kingdom that\u2019s probably closest anatomy wise to a human.\u00a0 You know who he would have married?\u00a0 He would have probably married an orangutan.\u00a0 [Laughter]\u00a0 And that describes a lot of marriages today, doesn\u2019t it?\u00a0 [Laughter]\u00a0 There are an awful lot of single people that see this need in their life and they\u2019re out shaking the bushes, I\u2019ve got to make this happen so they\u2019re n all the dating sights, and this and that and they get married to someone that\u2019s just like an orangutan because they never waited on the Lord.\n\nWhat do you do with those massive needs in your life, whether it be marriage, meeting the right person, having the right career, starting the right business?\u00a0 Here\u2019s exactly what you do?\u00a0 You do to sleep and\u00a0 you let the Lord handle it.\u00a0\u00a0 And that is so contrary to the way we think because we are so works oriented we think that we\u2019ve got to get out there and sort of help God.\u00a0 You know, the Bible is full of people that tried to help God.\u00a0 And I think when it comes to this issue of salvation hell itself is filled with people that are trying to help God.\u00a0 God, let me contribute something, in our flesh, in our fallenness, in our self-righteousness, in our works orientation.\u00a0 That\u2019s how we are by nature and God is saying go to sleep!\u00a0 Commit your plans to the Lord, the Bible says, and your plans will be established.\u00a0 Give it to the Lord.\u00a0 Quit trying to manipulate and orchestrate all of these things that you don\u2019t have the power over to control anyway.\n\nGenesis 15, let\u2019s talk about the Abrahamic Covenant for a minute; the greatest covenant in the history of the universe, the Abrahamic Covenant.\u00a0 How did that covenant come about?\u00a0 Genesis 15:12 says, \u201cNow when the sun was going down, a\u201d what? \u201cdeep sleep\u201d same terminology, \u201cfell upon Abram\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 Genesis 15:18, \u201cOn that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, [saying, \u2018To your descendants I have given this land, From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates:\u2019\u201d]\n\nDaniel is agitated by something, he is bothered by something, he goes to prayer and what does the Lord do to deliver perhaps the greatest revelation the prophet has received up to this point in time? He puts him into a deep sleep.\u00a0 Now if this is not a pattern of God I don\u2019t know what is.\u00a0 To me the application is very simple; we need to learn the discipline of waiting on the Lord.\u00a0 And let me tell you something, I hate\u2026 hate waiting on the Lord.\u00a0 I just hate it because I have to sit down, I have to relax, I have to quit scheming and manipulating and I have to trust the Lord to bring about a result.\u00a0 My flesh hates that and yet that\u2019s what we\u2019re called to do.\u00a0 And the more we try to interfere with it and make it (whatever \u201cit\u201d is) happen the more we mess things up.\n\nYou know, Abraham and Sarah tried to help the Lord.\u00a0 It\u2019s called Genesis 17.\u00a0 Genesis 15 leads to Genesis 17; they had the promise there\u2019s coming one from Sarah\u2019s barren womb who will be the progenitor of the nation of Israel.\u00a0 That individual was Isaac; he\u2019s going to be born, we learn about Genesis 21.\u00a0 But you know what?\u00a0 They just got tired of waiting so they came up with a scheme.\u00a0 Sarah says I want\u00a0 you to go and impregnate your slave woman, Hagar\u2026\u00a0\u00a0 I notice that Abraham doesn\u2019t argue with her too much.\u00a0 He does just that and what comes out of that?\u00a0\u00a0 And by the way, they stand in arrogance there in Genesis 17 and say look Lord what we did for you!\u00a0 What a laugh that must have been in heaven.\u00a0 And what came out of that was the Ishmaelite\u2019s; Ishmael who became as we know biblically the perpetual enemies of the nation of Israel, they are enemies to the nation of Israel even right not to this day as I\u2019m speaking.\u00a0 The mess we make of things when we don\u2019t go to sleep and trust the Lord.\n\nYou\u2019ll notice now as we move into part 3 here, the explanation of the heavenly messenger.\u00a0 What took you so long?\u00a0 I mean, I\u2019ve been at this, I\u2019ve been interceding, I\u2019ve even been fasting for how long?\u00a0 For 21 days, and God has an answer.\u00a0 So what do we think?\u00a0 I guess God doesn\u2019t care.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t pull up to Wendy\u2019s, tell them what my order was, drive up to the window, pay my money and get my immediate meal.\u00a0 That\u2019s America!\u00a0 We have everything fast, quick.\u00a0 I even get frustrated when my WiFi\u2019s not working correctly.\u00a0 Because we want everything now and fast and speedily and that\u2019s what the culture says to us.\n\nThe problem is God doesn\u2019t work that way.\u00a0 God has never worked that way!\u00a0 God is not going to work that way in your life.\u00a0 He is not going to work that way in my life.\u00a0 God doesn\u2019t care about my schedule.\u00a0 Now I may care about it greatly; God doesn\u2019t care.\u00a0 Things will happen on His schedule.\u00a0 In fact, as one person said you want to make God laugh?\u00a0 Show Him your schedule.\u00a0 Show Him your plans.\u00a0 So we\u2019re always asking, Lord, what happened?\u00a0 Why the delay?\u00a0 Well, we discover in this chapter that there was a logical reason for the delay.\u00a0 The delay had to do with a reality called spiritual warfare.\n\nSo we have, verses 10-13 an explanation of the delay and then we have what follows, an explanation of the visit.\u00a0 First the explanation by the heavenly messenger of the delay, then we have the content of his visit, the vision itself which will begin in chapter 11 around verse 2. But before that we have some introductory thoughts on this vision.\u00a0 And even before we get to the introductory thoughts on this vision we have an explanation of what took God so long to answer this prayer request.\n\nNotice, if you will, Daniel 10:10, \u201cThen behold, a hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s interesting; that\u2019s what we would call divine provision.\u00a0 Daniel 10:7-9 problem; Daniel 10:10 provision. You see, for every problem man has God has an answer.\u00a0 Did you know that?\u00a0 The greatest need we have, redemption, because of our depravity and His holiness God has an answer\u2014it\u2019s called Jesus Christ.\n\nEvery problem you\u2019ll ever face in your whole life God already has an answer for.\u00a0 One of my professors, the late J. Dwight Pentecost, wrote a book, I\u2019d recommend this book to you, I love the title, it\u2019s called Man\u2019s Problems, God\u2019s Answers<\/em>.\u00a0 Do you have a problem with anxiety?\u00a0 God has an answer.\u00a0 Do you have a problem with bitterness?\u00a0 God has an answer.\u00a0 Do you have problems in marriage?\u00a0 God has an answer.\u00a0 Do you have self-image problems?\u00a0 God has an answer.\u00a0 On and on we could go; the problem is we don\u2019t take time to wait on God, we don\u2019t take time to investigate the answer.\u00a0 What we end up doing is marrying the orangutan.\n\nWhat we end up doing is creating the Ishmaelites because our nature is so impatient and so works oriented and we think it can\u2019t just be that easy to wait on God.\u00a0 It\u2019s like when your father-in-law buys lunch; what do you want to do?\u00a0 You\u2019re reaching for your wallet, well can I leave the tip?\u00a0 Because we always think we\u2019ve got to contribute something to the work of God.\u00a0 And we\u2019re like that with the Lord, you bought the lunch Lord, I know it says \u201cit is finished,\u201d I know that but let me do something, anything!\u00a0 And pride works so heavily in us where we want to contribute and it requires humility to recognize you can\u2019t fix anything.\u00a0 You know, people look at a pastor like he\u2019s got some kind of answer to every problem in life that people have.\u00a0 Let me tell you something, I don\u2019t even know where my car keys are half the time.\u00a0 How am I going to have an answer for you.\u00a0 The only thing I can do is direct you back to God.\u00a0 God has the answers.\u00a0 It\u2019s just a matter of learning about those answers and waiting upon Him.\n\nSo provision is given.\u00a0 By the way, it\u2019s the same provision that John had on the Island of Patmos in A.D. 95, the same thing happened to John, remember John was fearful, he placed his right hand on me.\u00a0 Verse 11 continues on and it says, \u201cHe said to me, \u2018O Daniel, man of high esteem, understand the words I\u2019m about to tell you and stand upright, for I have now been sent to you.\u2019\u00a0 And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood up trembling.\u201d\u00a0 Notice here that Daniel had a reputation in haven.\u00a0 Do you realize what the Bible teaches about the doctrine of angels?\u00a0 Do you realize that the angels that were created are so innumerable we can\u2019t even put a human count on it?\u00a0 That\u2019s why they\u2019re analogized to what?\u00a0 Stars!\u00a0 With modern day astronomy telescopes what are they telling us?\u00a0 What the Bible said all along, you can\u2019t number the stars, there\u2019s too many of them.\u00a0 The angels are that way.\n\nAnd let me tell you something about these angels.\u00a0 They understand holiness big time!\u00a0 How do they understand holiness?\u00a0 Because that\u2019s what they say in God\u2019s presence around the clock.\u00a0 My father-in-law\u2019s favorite hymn in the hymnal, because he\u2019s a retired dentist, the song is what?\u00a0 Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty<\/em>.\u00a0 They know holiness, these angels.\u00a0 I\u2019ll tell you something else they know; they know creation.\u00a0 They know all about the creative power of God because Job 38:4-7 talks about their applause as God was bringing the heavens and the earth into existence.\u00a0 [Job 38:4-7, \u201cWhere were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?\u00a0 Tell Me,<\/em> if you have understanding,\u00a0 [5] Who set its measurements? Since you know. Or who stretched the line on it?\u00a0 [6] On what were its bases sunk?\u00a0 Or who laid its cornerstone,\u00a0 [7] When the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?\u201d]\n\nI\u2019ll tell you something else they know about; they know all about judgment.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because they watched Lucifer lose his position in heaven and a third of them following Lucifer.\u00a0 And did you know this?\u00a0 That the plan of salvation is not open to the fallen angels.\u00a0 They know all about judgment, they know all about holiness, they know all about the creative power of God.\u00a0 Let me tell you something they don\u2019t know much about.\u00a0 Grace.\u00a0 Why is it that when Moses constructed the tabernacle he was told over the mercy seat, where the sacrifice was to be administered on the day of atonement that there were to be inscribed there cherubim, angels watching.\n\nWhy is it that almost everywhere you go in the New Testament, whether it\u2019s the end of 1 Peter chapter 1 or Ephesians chapter 3 around verse 10, many other passages I could give, why are the angels always watching?\u00a0 Because they\u2019re learning something.\u00a0 What are they learning?\u00a0 They\u2019re learning about an attribute of God that they are not familiar with. What would that attribute be?\u00a0 That God is a God of grace.\u00a0 How are they learning about grace?\u00a0\u00a0 By watching God deal with an underserving sinful humanity.\u00a0 That blows their mind.\u00a0 God is using the present age of grace to fill out gaps in angelic understanding regarding the doctrine of God and the theology of God, because angels, as created beings, are not omniscient, they have to study and learn just like anybody else.\n\nSo what I\u2019m trying to get at is this: heaven itself is always watching, watching this sermon, watching how we interact with each other, watching how we treat each other because they are learning in the process of the manifold grace of God.\u00a0 Everywhere you go, everything you do heaven itself, and I don\u2019t know how many angels there are, countless, I know a third fell, but two-thirds is still a pretty big number, they\u2019re watching everything you do. \u00a0So what does that mean?\u00a0 That means\u00a0 you have a reputation in heaven.\u00a0 Did you know that?\u00a0 Now that\u2019s a scary thing or it could be a good thing.\u00a0 This is why every private sin is a public scandal in heaven. So we understand that?\n\nAnd this angel speaks to Daniel and calls him a man of high esteem.\u00a0 Jesus doesn\u2019t do it here in verses 11, He does it in verse 19 and if your memory is good, I know it\u2019s been a while since we were in Daniel 9, He does the same thing back in Daniel 9:23.\u00a0 Daniel had a stellar reputation in heaven.\u00a0 Do you know why?\u00a0 It\u2019s very simple, because Daniel honored the things God honors.\u00a0 Daniel respected the things God respects.\u00a0 And such a person in heaven, which is constantly watching, is held in the highest esteem.\u00a0 Not that Daniel was sinless and lawless and perfect but he had a general respect for the things of God.\u00a0 Now you go\u00a0 through the Book of Kings, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, why do we call them the books of 1 and 2 Kings?\u00a0 Because the books contain a lot of Kings.\u00a0 And you go through the northern kingdom, I think there was about 19 kings and the southern kingdom, 20 kings, only 8 good, and it says this over and over again, this king was good, this king was bad, this king was good, this king was bad.\u00a0 It keeps saying that over and over again.\n\nAnd at some point you have to ask yourself why are some kings good and some are bad?\u00a0\u00a0 Is it one is a Republican and the other is a Democrat?\u00a0 Is it that one kept inflation under control and the other one didn\u2019t?\u00a0 The answer is very simple.\u00a0 A good king always respected what God respected.\u00a0 An evil king was the opposite.\u00a0 Do you want to build your reputation in heaven?\u00a0 Then you develop a heart which honors the things that God honors.\u00a0 You value the things that God values.\u00a0 That\u2019s who Daniel was, who he is called here a \u201cman of high esteem.\u201d\n\nIt says there in verse 11, of high esteem, understand\u201d what \u201cI am about to tell you.\u201d\u00a0 Did you know that God has not given us a book to confuse us.\u00a0 That God wants us to have understanding.\u00a0 Remember Daniel 8:16, \u201c\u2018Gabriel, give this man an understanding of the vision.\u201d\u2019\u00a0 2 Peter 3:18 says, \u201cbut grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Colossians 1:9 says, \u201cthat you may be filled with the\u201d what? \u201cknowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.\u201d\n\nI don\u2019t know what your view of God is.\u00a0 Is Jesus a university professor that just babbles on and on and makes no sense?\u00a0 Or is He the God of communication who wants\u00a0 you to understand His Word and what He is doing.\u00a0 You know, Jesus, in the Upper Room Discourse says that\u2019s the difference between a friend of God and a slave.\u00a0 The slave (you can find this in John 15) doesn\u2019t even know what the master is doing.\u00a0 But the friend of God is granted understanding of what God is doing.\u00a0 [John 15:145, \u201cYou are My friends if you do what I command you. [15] No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.\u201d]\n\nBeloved, as you grow in your relationship with the Lord what you\u2019re going to naturally discover is God is going to take corridors of your understanding and start to expand them.\u00a0 And I\u2019ll tell you something, it bothers me that so many in the body of Christ, I\u2019ve even heard people at Sugar Land Bible Church say you know, I\u2019m not going to go to that study over there because I\u2019ve heard all that.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been at this for a long time and I learn something from God all the time; every sermon that I study for I learn something.\u00a0 Every person I listen to I learn something.\u00a0 It\u2019s a scary thing when a Christian thinks that they have somehow arrived because what that shows me is they\u2019re not really walking with God in intimacy.\u00a0 If they\u2019re walking with God in intimacy do you know what\u2019s happening to them?\u00a0 They\u2019re seeing more and more and more and more and more\u2026 are you still, as we end 2018 still stuck on the same old truths that you learned in 2017 where there\u2019s no further growth?\u00a0\u00a0 No further development?\u00a0\u00a0 You, all of us, need to really take our spiritual temperature.\n\nGod sent a messenger to Daniel to expand his understanding and why is Daniel such a receptive vessel?\u00a0 Because he wanted understanding.\u00a0 That\u2019s why he\u2019s praying.\u00a0 Let me ask\u00a0 you a question: do you want understanding?\u00a0 Do you want more or is this just sort of a ritual that we go through on Sunday morning when we\u2019re looking at our watch saying when is this going to be over.\u00a0 Don\u2019t you realize I have lunch plans.\u00a0 It is astonishing to me the impatience people have with hearing from God.\u00a0 I heard of one pastor and I don\u2019t know if I should repeat this story for fear someone will do this to me.\u00a0 I was at a conference recently and this pastor in the eyes of some congregant or parishioner was going on too long.\u00a0 Do you know what the guy did?\u00a0 He held up his car keys; honest to God story.\u00a0 Now don\u2019t do that here, please.\u00a0 He held up his car keys, in other words, the message is I\u2019ve got somewhere to go.\n\nThe reality of the situation is people have a very short attention span for the things of God and the church marketers know that.\u00a0 I\u2019ve heard churches advertise this way: half an hour in and out. It reminds me of Burger King basically.\u00a0 We don\u2019t go beyond this point, we\u2019ll stop for the football game, \u2026 football game, I know this is Texas and I can get myself lynched for saying stuff like this, seriously?\u00a0 Football game?\u00a0 Basketball game?\u00a0 Baseball game?\u00a0 We\u2019re talking about the eternal Word of God here.\u00a0 We\u2019re talking about heaven and hell and spiritual conflict and spiritual warfare and all of these grandiose topics and you\u2019re looking at your watch saying gosh, I\u2019ve got lunch plans and I\u2019ve got a football game.\n\nBeloved, if that\u2019s your attitude Sugar Land Bible Church is not for you, there\u2019s probably about 4,000 churches in the Houston area alone that would cater to exactly what you want.\u00a0 May we never lose our appetite for the things of God.\u00a0 When I get opportunities to sign some of the books that I\u2019ve written I put this Scripture in it every time.\u00a0 It\u2019s 1 Peter 2:2, which says, \u201cLike newborn babes long for the pure milk of the word, so that you may grow thereby in respect to salvation.\u201d\u00a0 When I run into a Christian that says I\u2019ve heard that, I\u2019ve learned that, I know that, do you know what I say in my heart? \u00a0I hope I never get like\u00a0 you!\u00a0 I hope I am always yearning for more so that I may \u201cgrow thereby.\u201d\u00a0 There\u2019s so much that can be said there even in 1 Peter 2:2, which I won\u2019t do.\n\nBut Daniel is granted understanding because you know what?\u00a0 I\u2019ll tell you something about Daniel\u2026 and by the way, you\u2019re never too old for this.\u00a0 Daniel wanted understanding.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know what happens to people as they get older, the curiosity and the things of God seem to dissipate.\u00a0 That wasn\u2019t Daniel at all.\u00a0 He\u2019s in his mid 80\u2019s and he\u2019s still as hungry as he was when he was but a teenager.\u00a0 Daniel 12:8 says, \u201cAs for me I heard but could not understand; so I said, \u2018My lord, what will be the outcome of these events?\u2019\u201d\u00a0 I want to understand Daniel says.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why Daniel was honored here.\n\nAnd consequently he is told to stand up.\u00a0 Why is he told to stand up?\u00a0 Because the provision has been made, stand up, bask in the provision of God.\u00a0 Stand up, put on the full armor of God.\u00a0 Take your resources that God has given you.\u00a0 You don\u2019t have to fear God, stand before God.\u00a0 And of course that\u2019s our plea to you at Sugar Land Bible Church.\u00a0 People come and they hear messages like this, they could be afraid of God.\u00a0 The reality is fear in the life of the Christian of God has no place.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because we stand up before God not on our own resources; if you\u2019re standing before God on your own resources you should be afraid.\u00a0 But if you stand before God through the resources that He has allocated\u00a0 then there is no room for fear.\n\nHave \u00a0you received the resources of God?\u00a0 Have you received the simple gospel message that Jesus, through His sacrificial death on the cross, through His resurrection from the dead has bridged the unfathomable chasm between divine holiness and human sinfulness.\u00a0 Everything that needs to be done to bridge that gap has been done, nothing to contribute.\u00a0 Jesus says \u201cIt is finished!\u201d\u00a0 We just receive it as a gift.\u00a0 Well, how do you receive a gift from God?\u00a0 Only one way.\u00a0 By faith!\u00a0 Because the Book of Hebrews, chapter11 and verse 6 says \u201cwithout\u201d what? \u201cfaith\u201d it is what? difficult\u2026 NO, it doesn\u2019t say that, \u201cimpossible to please God.\u201d\u00a0 As the gospel today has been proclaimed in this church, perhaps people listening via media, our exhortation to you is to trust in this provision which has been made and stand up under those resources just as Daniel was instructed to stand\u00a0 up.\n\nWell, I made it through verse 11, didn\u2019t quite get to verses 12 and 13 but that\u2019s all right because when we reconvene next time, verses 12 and 13, perhaps more than any other place I can think of in the whole Bible pulls back the curtain and pulls back the veil and gives you a glimpse into the reality of spiritual warfare and the angelic conflict that you can\u2019t find anywhere else in the Bible, spare perhaps just a few other pages.\u00a0 So that\u2019s the direction we\u2019re going next Lord\u2019s day.\u00a0 Shall we pray.\u00a0 Father, we are grateful for this Book and Daniel and what he went through and the role model he represents.\u00a0 And we\u2019re so thankful for Your provision for us.\u00a0 I pray that\u00a0 you\u2019ll help us to walk out these truths this week as we walk in intimacy with You.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory. We ask these things in Jesus\u2019 name, 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