{"id":18437,"date":"2018-05-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-05-13T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/daniel-062-the-only-promise-keeper\/"},"modified":"2018-05-13T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-05-13T05:00:00","slug":"daniel-062-the-only-promise-keeper","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/daniel-062-the-only-promise-keeper\/","title":{"rendered":"Daniel 062 – The Only Promise Keeper"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[72],"series_event":[467],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18437","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 062 - The Only Promise Keeper","sermon_date":"20180513","sermon_month":"5","sermon_year":"2018","sermon_notes":5759,"sermon_slides":5765,"sermon_mp3":5767,"sermon_id":"513181031581","series_or_event":467,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":72,"chapter_and_verse":"12:13","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nThe Only Promise Keeper\n\n5-13-18\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Daniel 12:13\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lesson 62\n\nLet\u2019s take our Bibles and open them to the Book of Daniel, chapter 12, looking today at verses 13.\u00a0 The title of our message this morning is The Only Promise Keeper.\u00a0 And this really is a historic Sunday; first of all we might actually finish the Book of Daniel today.\u00a0 [Laughter]\u00a0 Secondly it is Mother\u2019s Day; are mothers important?\u00a0 I\u2019ll prove it to you. Raise your hand if\u00a0 you\u2019ve ever in your life had a mother.\u00a0 Look at that, every hand is\u00a0 up.\u00a0 And then number three and I\u2019ll make reference to this a little bit later, the nation of Israel, as of tomorrow, May 14th<\/sup>, the modern state of Israel will have now been in existence for exactly seventy years.\u00a0 [clapping]\u00a0 And that\u2019s why I had to dress up for the occasion, this is my Israel tie.\u00a0 I recognize it probably doesn\u2019t go well with the rest of my suit but my wife was not here today to dress me and color coordinate me; my wife and daughter are flying home from Florida, having attended a wedding yesterday in the family.\u00a0 So please pray for them as they make their journey back; we\u2019ll be reunited this evening so I\u2019ll have to quit going to McDonalds every night for my daily bread.\n\nHere we are in the Book of Daniel; we\u2019ve been talking about the final vision, chapters 10-12, how Daniel, having received these things in the sixth century, this final vision, he is an old man by worldly standards, having served the Lord faithfully these many, many years.\u00a0 And it\u2019s in chapters 11 and 12 that he receives what I think is probably his greatest revelation from God.\u00a0 There was great warfare that accompanied that revelation but he did receive a vision beginning in chapter 11 stretching all the way through the end of the book.\u00a0 It\u2019s amazing the things that he had seen, empires that would come and go, many of which are past from our vantage point in the 21st<\/sup> century.\u00a0 But he also sees things that are\u00a0 yet future; he sees the antichrist coming, he sees the tribulation and the millennial kingdom coming in chapter 12.\u00a0 He\u2019s given us, verses 1-4 a great description of the end times.\n\nAnd then finally, as we have been talking about the last several Sundays the Book of Daniel ends with sort of a round of questions and answers.\u00a0 One angel asks another angel when is going to be the outcome of these things?\u00a0 And in that process an angel explains the duration of Israel\u2019s distress; it really kicks into high gear in the second half of the tribulation period but it\u2019s a time period where God is using those circumstances to bring Israel to faith in her Messiah.\n\nAnd then Daniel asked a question, he wants to know what is going to be the outcome of these things and he asks the question in verse 8 and in verses 9-13 he is told to sort of not worry about every\u00adthing, a distant generation will come and go to and fro and understand these things.\u00a0 A great contrast has been drawn between the wicked and the righteous in terms of their attitude towards Bible prophecy\u00a0 in the last days.\u00a0 And Daniel has even received information about additional days related to the preparation of the millennial temple, verse 11, and the preparation for the millennial kingdom.\u00a0 It has been disclosed to him a missing or an interesting seventy-five day interval where God is sort of taking care of business after Christ returns to the earth at the end of the tribulation period in preparation for the millennial temple and the thousand year kingdom which will follow.\u00a0 Last time we were together I tried to explain to you at least seven things that will be happening during that mysterious forty-five day, seventy-five day total interval and we got into the minutia of that last time.\n\nAnd now we come to the very end of the Book of Daniel where one more thing is given here; one more piece of information and this one has more to do with Daniel as an individual.\u00a0 Information is given as we conclude the book related to Daniel\u2019s predicted inheritance.\u00a0 Notice what verse 13 says; \u201cBut as for you, go your way to the end; then you will enter into rest and rise again for your allotted portion at the end of the age.\u201d\u00a0 You say well how are you going to turn this verse into a whole sermon.\u00a0 Well those of you that ask that probably don\u2019t know me that well I\u2019m trying to prevent it from becoming a series.\n\nBut you\u2019ll notice the beginning of the verse there, it says, \u201cBut as for you,\u201d and I love the personal touch that the Lord gives to Daniel at the very end here.\u00a0 Yes, Daniel, the prophecy\u2019s you have received largely concern the nation, the nation of Israel\u2019s future but I want you to understand something Daniel, that I am not just concerned about the nation generically, I\u2019m concerned about you as a person.\u00a0 I\u2019m concerned about you specifically!\n\nAnd I think sometimes as we study the Lord and what He\u2019s done for the human race we have a tendency to sort of depersonalize things.\u00a0 We say things like Jesus died for the world, which He did, but there\u2019s more to it than that.\u00a0 When Jesus died on that cross two thousand\u00a0 years ago He was thinking specifically of you as an individual, thinking specifically of you as a human being.\u00a0 Does not the Bible say that the very hairs on our head are numbered?\u00a0 \u00a0[Luke 12:7, \u201c\"Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.\u201d]\n\nThis speaks of the detail that an all-powerful God has for each individual of the human race.\u00a0 And I believe this, that if you were the only\u00a0 person on planet earth then the death of Jesus Christ would have occurred just the same because He cares about the world generically but He also cares about you specifically.\u00a0 I mean, think about this\u2014the God of this whole universe wants a personal relationship with little old me, little old you.\u00a0 If you called the White House today I doubt they would take your call, I doubt they\u2019d take my call, but the Lord wants to take our call any place any time, because He loves us as individuals.\n\nI\u2019m reminded of Luke 19:5 where Jesus is in the height of His public ministry and there are great throngs gathering around to see Him there in Jericho.\u00a0 And there\u2019s this little man who\u2019s so short that he had to get up on a tree to get a glimpse of Jesus.\u00a0 [Luke 19:4-5, \u201cSo he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree in order to see Him, for He was about to pass through that way.\u201d]\u00a0 This man was named Zacchaeus,\u00a0 Zacchaeus was someone that was despised by the masses, he was a tax collector which meant he was a thief, he was a known thief and he was a traitor.\u00a0 And it says there in Luke 19:5, \u201cWhen Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, \u2018Zacchaeus,\u201d see, He\u2019s addressing him as a person, \u201churry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.\u2019\u201d\n\nThink about that!\u00a0 Jesus Christ, God in human flesh, looks up into this tree, sees this despised man, someone on the outskirts of society, and says to him I\u2019m coming to your house today.\u00a0 Think of the personal touch that goes into that.\u00a0 Think of the love that Jesus has for that particular individual, that particular man, someone that had been pushed aside by Israeli society.\u00a0 And that\u2019s who Jesus is; He is the God, just not of the masses, He is the God of you as an individual; He knows exactly what your needs are.\u00a0 He knows exactly what your concerns are.\u00a0 He knows exactly what is burdening\u00a0 you and He wants to intervene in our lives in a personal way in time of need.\n\nYou know, as you study the world\u2019s religions I can\u2019t think of a replication of deity that does that kind of thing and yet that\u2019s who God is.\u00a0 This is who this man, Jesus Christ, is.\u00a0 So God here tells Daniel, \u201cBut as for you,\u201d in other words, I\u2019m not just concerned about the nation and its future and its millennium and its temple and the tribulation period, I\u2019m concerned about you as a person and I want to reveal to you in the final verse of this great book that we call The Book of Daniel some specific information about you, Daniel, because of my love for you as a person.\n\nHe says this in Daniel 12:13, \u201cBut as for you, go your way to the end;\u201d he is told here that he has completed his task, he\u2019s done his job, he has faithfully served the Lord for at least four Gentile administrations, four in Babylon, four in Persia, as he was taken out of his comfort zone as a mere teenager and he\u2019s still in that place of deportation as the book closes.\u00a0 And God simply says to him\u00a0 \u201cgo\u00a0 your way to the end,\u201d you\u2019ve completed your task,\u00a0 you\u2019ve done your job.\u00a0 You\u2019ve even been faithful to do exactly what I\u2019ve called you to do; until the bitter end you have faithfully recorded the words of this prophecy, now the job of understanding it, that\u2019s not for you Daniel.\u00a0 That\u2019s for a distant generation.\n\nDaniel, as we have studied, wanted to understand but he was told two times in this chapter, \u201cBut as for you Daniel, conceal the words and seal up the book until the time of the end.\u201d\u00a0 [Daniel 12:9] \u201cMany will go back and forth and knowledge will increase\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 [Daniel 12:4] \u00a0\u201cGo your way Daniel for these words are concealed and sealed up until the time of the end.\u201d\u00a0 [Daniel 12:9]\u00a0 And we have unpacked from that the doctrine of progressive illumination, how God has designed His prophetic Word to get clearer and clearer as humanity marches closer and closer to the time period of these things.\u00a0 Daniel, you\u2019re living in the sixth century, you\u2019re living in the wrong generation, you weren\u2019t called to grasp it and understand it and comprehend it in its totality.\u00a0 You want to under\u00adstand it but that\u2019s not\u00a0 your calling.\u00a0 You\u2019ve done your job,\u00a0 you\u2019ve finished your task, you\u2019ve completed\u00a0 your race, you\u2019ve recorded the revelation and now go your way.\n\nAnd what a joy it is to get to the end of your life and understand that you have finished the reason for which\u00a0 you were created.\u00a0 You know, so many people, they get to the end of their life and there\u2019s so much regret, I wish I had done this or I wish I had done that.\u00a0 And you\u2019ll notice this in the Bible with key figures that God strategically uses, with key figures that closely walk with God, you\u2019ll notice that as they get to the end of their life there\u2019s this place of contentment.\u00a0 They may not understand it all but they have fulfilled the purpose of their design.\n\nThe Book of Acts, chapter 13 and verse 36 of David, the great king of the nation of Israel, it says this: \u201cFor David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep, [and was laid among his fathers and underwent decay;]\u201d sleep is a euphemism for death and David went into that time of death with the contentment that he had become what God had called him to become.\u00a0 When you study the life of David it wasn\u2019t a perfect journey at all but there was this sort of satisfaction that he had completed the task, he had finished the race.\n\nThis is what the Apostle Paul says at the end of his life in his final letter, called 2 Timothy, in the very last chapter Paul says in 2 Timothy 4:7, \u201cI have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith;\u201d Paul understood very well that he was not saved by his works but he also understood very well that as long as there was life in his body and breath in his lungs that God wanted to use him for some strategic purpose and he got there to the very end of his life, when he said my life is being \u201cpoured out as a drink offering,\u201d he got to the very end of his life and he could look back on a life well spent, a life of productivity, a life of fruitfulness, a life of contentment.\n\n[2 Timothy 4:6, \u201cFor I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.\u201d]\n\nAnd let me just tell you something, not everybody can say that.\u00a0 In fact, the Bible warns us of Christians that are believers but are unfruitful in their lives.\u00a0 I\u2019m often asked the question, if a person is saved by faith alone and their salvation is 100% guaranteed then why not just go back into sin?\u00a0 And the answer is if you do that\u00a0 you forfeit things that are valuable, that may not necessarily relate to heaven or hell.\u00a0\u00a0 You have to spend so much of your life looking backwards sin regret, and how the Bible warns us that this can be a reality even for the Christian.\u00a0 Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:15, \u201cIf any man\u2019s work is burned up he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet as through fire.\u201d\u00a0 You can get to the end of your life and have a place in heaven but really no reward because you\u2019ve invested so much of your life in the wrong things.\n\nI\u2019m reminded of one statement by a famous Dallas businessman; he said I\u2019ve spent my whole life climbing the ladder of success only to find that the ladder was leaning against the wrong wall.\u00a0 What a tragedy that is and yet Daniel didn\u2019t have those regrets because of his close walk with the Lord.\u00a0 1 John 2:28 says, \u201cNow little children, abide in Him so that when He appears we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him at His coming.\u201d\u00a0 There\u2019s the prospect of believers, Christians in heaven, saved, blood bought people, sort of shrinking back, self-imposed guilt and yet the Bible is telling us that this is avoidable.\u00a0 2 John 8 says, \u201cWatch yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward.\u201d\u00a0 Revelation 3:11, Jesus says, \u201cI am coming quickly, hold fast to that which you have so no one can take your crown.\u201d\u00a0 These are not salvation passages; these are reward passages.\n\nAnd not everybody can look back on their life with the type of satisfaction that Daniel is able to look back with on his life.\u00a0 Have you read recently the closing words of Mark Twain in his auto\u00adbiography?\u00a0 He writes these words, it\u2019s astonishing the things that he says just prior to his death.\u00a0 He says, \u201cA myriad of men are born; they labor and sweat and struggle for bread; they squabble and scold and fight; they scramble for little mean advantages over each other. Age creeps upon them and infirmities follow; shames and humiliations bring down their prides and their vanities. Those they love are taken from them, and the joy of life is turned to aching grief. The burden of pain, care, and misery grows heavier year by year. At length ambition is dead, pride is dead, vanity is dead; longing for release is in their place. It comes at last-the only un-poisoned gift earth ever had for them-and they vanish from a world where they were of no consequence; where they achieved nothing, where they were a mistake and a failure and a foolishness; where they left no sign that they have existed--a world that will lament them a day and forget them forever.\u201d\u00a0 [Mark Twain, Autobiography<\/em>, 2:37]\n\nThat\u2019s the humanistic understanding of life as you get to the very end.\u00a0 How different it is for the Christian.\u00a0 How different it is for the believer that walks in faithfulness to God throughout their life, living not a sinless life but a life that sins less.\u00a0 How different these words are from Mark Twain than the Apostle Paul, \u201cI have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, and I have kept the faith.\u201d\u00a0 [2 Timothy 4:7]\u00a0 Daniel, you have done what I asked you to do; your final task was recording the vision and you\u2019ve done\u00a0 your job, and now Daniel, it\u2019s time for you to move on into the next life.\n\nAnd as we continue on in verse 13 the verse then begins to talk about the next life for Daniel.\u00a0 \u201cBut as for you, go your way to the end;\u201d and notice what it says, \u201cthen you will enter into rest and rise again\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s interesting that Daniel had had a prophecy about the future resurrection. Do you remember all the way back in verse 2 Daniel wrote these words: \u201cMany of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.\u201d\u00a0 [Daniel 12:1]\n\nAnd here we are at the very end of Daniel\u2019s life and God makes a personal note to him that that great resurrection which you have prophesied about, which is probably the greatest passage we have on resurrection, perhaps in the whole Old Testament, that you Daniel are going to be a participant in that great resurrection.\u00a0 You\u2019ll be resurrected and you will take your seat in the coming millennial kingdom.\n\nAnd one of the things, as I was studying this that jumped out to me is it says, \u201cthen you will<\/u> enter into rest and rise again.\u201d\u00a0 [Daniel 12:13, \u201cBut as for you, go your way to the end; then you will enter into rest and rise again for your allotted portion at the end of the age.\u201d]\u00a0 God doesn\u2019t say to Daniel, well, \u00a0\u00a0I hope you make it, you\u2019ve served me well, thank you but you know what I\u2019m going to do at the end, I\u2019m going to take your good deeds and your bad deeds and I\u2019m going to weigh the two and I hope the scales sort of tilt your direction because if not you\u2019re not going to receive your inheritance or your rewards.\u00a0 And\u00a0 yet that\u2019s how so many people live.\n\nYou talk to modern day Muslims and you get into a theological conversation with them about the final judgment and that\u2019s the way they think; there\u2019s this great scales of justice at the end and hopefully the good is going to outweigh the bad and maybe I\u2019ll get in.\u00a0 And so many, many people, even in certain sectors of Roman Catholicism have this view.\u00a0 Even in certain sectors of Protestant Christianity they have this view and they really don\u2019t know if they\u2019re going to make it of if they\u2019re not because, after all, if it depends on the scales of justice at the end how do you know if you\u2019ve done enough?\u00a0 I mean, what exactly is the standard.\n\nAnd how different it is with what the Bible reveals when God says to Daniel, \u201cyou will enter into rest and you will rise again,\u201d it\u2019s not a matter of might, it\u2019s not a matter of probability, it\u2019s a matter of a done deal.\u00a0 And that is what the Bible offers not just to Daniel but to every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.\u00a0 People say well, Daniel lived an exemplary life, of course he made it but I haven\u2019t lived an exemplary life, I\u2019m not really sure if I\u2019m going to make it in or not.\u00a0 And the error of our thinking is we think we get in based on what we did anyway.\u00a0 What did Jesus say to the thief on the cross?\u00a0 I had a chance to preach on that yesterday in the memorial service. Luke 23:43, this was a man that was dying on the cross, apparently because he had committed a capital crime.\u00a0 At the very end of his life he reaches out by way of faith to Christ. What did Jesus say to him?\u00a0 Well, you know, there\u2019s going to be these scales and I hope the good is going to outweigh the bad\u2026 it doesn\u2019t say that at all!\u00a0 He said to him, \u201cTruly, I say to you today you shall be with Me in Paradise.\u201d\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t say might, He says \u201cshall\u201d just like God says to Daniel here, \u201cyou will enter into rest and you will rise again.\u201d\n\nThis is a promise that is not just given to the great saints of the Bible; it\u2019s given to you as well.\u00a0 It\u2019s just a matter of accepting it by way of faith.\u00a0 Jesus, in John 5:24, a very famous verse on the assurance of salvation, it\u2019s a verse I quote quite frequently.\u00a0 Jesus said, \u201cTruly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has\u201d present tense, \u201ceternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life,\u201d\u00a0 \u201cpassed out of\u201d perfect tense, it\u2019s something in the past that\u2019s already happened.\u00a0 You\u2019re not passing out of death unto life, you have \u201cpassed out of death unto life\u201d at the point of faith alone in Christ alone and you, present tense, have <\/strong>the gift of eternal life.\u00a0 It\u2019s yours!\u00a0 And if you are going to go through your life with ambiguities about your salvation, question marks and doubts, then let me just say this: you\u2019re living beneath your privileges.\u00a0 The privileges are here and you\u2019ve chosen to live down here somewhere.\n\nOn the authority of the Word of God one need not live this way.\u00a0 You say well, how can you be so sure?\u00a0 And where is this doctrine of the assurance of salvation taught?\u00a0 Well, it\u2019s taught all over the Bible.\u00a0 John 5:24.\u00a0 Dallas Seminary, when it was started was based on the doctrine of the assurance of salvation, not just the belief in eternal security but the belief that you know you have eternal security.\u00a0 \u201cWe believe it is the privilege, not only of some, but of all<\/u> by the Spirit, through faith, who are born in Christ as revealed in the Scriptures, should be assured of their salvation\u2026\u201d when?\u00a0 At the end of their life, see if the good outweighs the bad?\u00a0 NO, \u201c should be assured of their salvation from the very day<\/u> they take Him\u201d that\u2019s Jesus, to be their Savior and that this assurance is not<\/u> founded upon any fancied discovery of their own worthiness<\/u> or fitness, but wholly upon the testimony of God in His written Word.<\/u> \u00a0[DTS Doctrinal Statement Article XI\u2014Assurance]\u00a0 It is an objective, written fact.\n\nNow if it was based on what I do, I have a lot of ambiguities and doubts, but not so the Christian who understands the grace of God.\u00a0 Does anybody recall the final words of Christ; in fact it\u2019s a<\/u> word translated as words, before He died.\u00a0 It\u2019s in John 19:30.\u00a0 It says, \u201cTherefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said,\u201d and you can finish the quote, \u201cIt is finished! And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit,\u201d which is death.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t say you know, I\u2019ve done about 95% of what I can do for you folks,\u00a0 you\u2019d better pull yourself up by your own bootstraps.\u00a0 He said \u201cIt is finished!\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s a translation from the Greek verb tetelestai<\/em>, also in the perfect tense meaning it\u2019s already happened, it\u2019s a onetime action in the past with ongoing results. It\u2019s an accounting term; it\u2019s a term that\u2019s been found all over the Greco-Roman world in terms of archeology related to a stamp that was placed on bills when they were marked paid.\u00a0 The term literally means paid in full.\n\nAnd because it\u2019s all about Jesus and what He has done doesn\u2019t that take the pressure off me?\u00a0\u00a0 If I\u2019m thinking that somehow I\u2019m responsible for my salvation, believe me, I would go to my grave with a lot of anxiety and fear and that\u2019s where a lot of people are.\u00a0 But the Book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus has come into the world to remove from us the fear of death.\u00a0 Why isn\u2019t everybody afraid to die?\u00a0 The way I\u2019m understanding my Bible is death is a promotion. \u00a0What\u2019s the fear?\u00a0 It\u2019s a bad doctrine of salvation that enslaves the masses where they believe that the onus for their salvation is somehow based on what they do.\u00a0 And then the question is have I done enough?\u00a0 But when you understand the concept of paid in full you understand that your salvation was never procured in the first place by you.\u00a0 You received a gift is all you did.\u00a0 And the God that justifies you\u2026 watch this, is the God that sustains you and the God that will keep you, even as you move off into death.\u00a0 What a different perspective this is as we look at this doctrine of the assurance of salvation.\n\nAnd how disconcerting it is to find major teachers within evangelical Christianity denying the doctrine of the assurance of salvation.\u00a0 John Piper, I can\u2019t say how many young people follow this man and hang on his every word.\u00a0 He\u2019s on record as saying \u201cno Christian can be sure that he is a true believer, hence there is an ongoing need to be dedicated to the Lord and to deny ourselves so that we might make it.\u201d\u00a0 [John Piper and Pastoral Staff, TULIP: What We Believe about the Five Points of Calvinism: Position Paper of the Pastoral Staff (Desiring God Ministries, 1997), 25, cited in Dave Hunt, What Love is This?<\/em>, 379.]\n\nHow different that statement is in comparison to what God just told Daniel here in Daniel 12:11.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t say you might enter into your rest, and rise again, He says you will.\u00a0 [Daniel 12:11, \u201cFrom the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days.\u201d]\u00a0 The plan of salvation is not, Daniel, based on what you do; it\u2019s based on what I have done for you.\u00a0 Let me tell you something, you start shifting the onus onto yourself you move into a works related doctrine and you will never know if you\u2019re saved.\u00a0 I mean, you will go right to your grave in fear, not knowing if you\u2019re going to make it or not and how Jesus has come into the world to remove the fear of death from us.\u00a0 \u00a0We spend so much time living beneath our privileges and\u00a0 yet that need not be so when we accept the written and objective facts of the Bible.\n\nI\u2019m indebted to Middletown Bible Church for this little cartoon.\u00a0 It\u2019s sort of sums up what I\u2019m trying to communicate here.\u00a0 It talks about an impassable chasm between two worlds.\u00a0 One world is the world of man\u2019s wisdom and the other mountain\u00a0 is the world of divine wisdom.\u00a0 Man says \u201csalvation is by attainment.\u201d\u00a0 God says no, \u201csalvation is by atonement.\u201d\u00a0 Man says \u201csalvation is based upon human merit.\u201d\u00a0 God says no, \u201csalvation is based upon divine mercy.\u2019\u00a0\u00a0 Man says \u201cwhat you need is a new start,\u201d and what God says is no, \u201cwhat you need is a new heart.\u201d\u00a0 Man lives with the model of \u201cdo.\u201d\u00a0 Christianity comes at us through the motto of \u201cDone.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Man says develop yourself in your character.\u00a0 God says no, envelop yourself with Christ and His character.\u00a0 \u00a0[From the Middletown Bible Church Website]\n\nAs you look at these two mountains and the chasm between the two, because one comes from man, one comes from God, where do you spend the most of your mental time?\u00a0 Trafficking in the world of religion and works and doubt or resting firmly on the promises of our Lord Jesus Christ. Daniel, \u201cgo your way to the end; \u201d \u00a0not you might but \u201cyou will enter your rest and rise again\u201d and then notice this next clause, \u201cfor your allotted portion\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 [Daniel 12:13]\u00a0 This is not talking about entrance into the kingdom, this is talking about a reward once you enter the kingdom.\n\nYou see all Christians will be in heaven but not all Christians will be equally rewarded once they enter heaven.\u00a0 \u00a0Daniel had already had this insight earlier in the chapter, Daniel 12:3, \u201cThose who have\u00a0insight will\u00a0shine brightly like the brightness of the\u00a0expanse of heaven, and those who\u00a0lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.\u201d\u00a0 He pictures some as throughout the eons of time radiating light in its full glory. He talks about some that \u201cwill shine bright, like the brightness of the expanse of heaven,\u201d \u201clike the stars forever and ever.\u201d\u00a0 But he also is very clear back in verse 3 that not all believers will shine that way.\u00a0\u00a0 Only those who have insight, only those who will lead the many to righteousness in the events of the tribulation period and we have explained from that verse, I believe it was Easter Sunday we explained this doctrine of rewards and why there is a reality of a future reward.\u00a0 All Christians get into heaven but not all Christians are equally rewarded once they\u2019re in heaven.\n\nAnd how Daniel, because of the course of his life, not being a perfect person but being faithful to the Lord, from the moment the book opens at age 16 right up until his 80\u2019s and his 90\u2019s as he\u2019s received this final revelation from God, as he\u2019s recorded them, as he\u2019s faithfully served the Lord no matter where he was.\u00a0 Under Persia he served the Lord, under Babylon he served the Lord, he served the Lord through four Gentile administrations and God says I\u2019ve kept a record of that Daniel.\n\nThe record is not so much to determine your entrance into the kingdom, that\u2019s by grace, but the record that I\u2019ve kept is there to determine your degree of reward as you enter the kingdom, and Daniel, I can assure you that you are going to receive your allotted portion.\u00a0 You\u2019re going to receive your reward.\u00a0 You\u2019re going to not only participate in the final resurrection but you\u2019ll receive your allotted reward and beyond that you have the gratitude, the satisfaction of looking back over a life well spent, again, not a perfect life but a life where the Lord used Daniel strategically.\n\nThis \u201callotted portion\u201d [Daniel 12:13] may have a reference to Ezekiel 47, remember that Daniel was a prophet in the exile and in the exile in Babylon, about 300 miles or so to the east of Jerusalem, that\u2019s where he spent the majority of his life, from his teenage\u00a0 years onward.\u00a0 In that area of the exile there was another prophet that God raised up called Ezekiel.\u00a0 And you sort of have to study the books of Ezekiel and Daniel in harmony with each other.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure if the prophets knew each other personally.\u00a0 We do have some references in Ezekiel 14, Ezekiel 28 where Ezekiel was aware of Daniel; maybe he knew him personally, maybe he knew of him by way of reputation, we\u2019re not sure.\u00a0 But his contemporary, Ezekiel, in chapter 47, as Ezekiel is concluding his book, goes into great detail about the land portions amongst the tribes in the millennial kingdom.\u00a0 And I have a feeling that this is the kind of thing that God may be referring to when He talks about Daniel\u2019s \u201callotted portion.\u201d\u00a0 Not just his entrance but his reward and his authority when he enters the kingdom.\n\nJesus, in Matthew 19:28 says this: \u201c[And Jesus said to them,] \u201cTruly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.\u201d\u00a0 There are those who have believed in Me and are going to be granted entrance on the basis of grace but then there are those that have actually followed Me.\u00a0 There are those that have been My disciples.\u00a0 There are those that have been with me through thick and thin and God keeps a record of that and mentions it as part of their authority in the millennial kingdom.\n\nDon\u2019t think that God doesn\u2019t see what is happening to us.\u00a0 You may be in some remote obscure place and you believe that\u2019s where God has called you, whether it\u2019s a job, a vocation, a relationship, a family situation, I don\u2019t know what it is, it\u2019s different for many, many different people.\u00a0 And you may feel as if you\u2019re serving the Lord and you\u2019re being faithful to the Lord and yet He doesn\u2019t seem to notice.\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t seem to care.\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t seem concerned.\u00a0 I can assure you based on biblical authority that God knows exactly what\u2019s going on.\u00a0 And not only will you be granted entrance into heaven on the basis of grace but\u00a0 you will be rewarded beyond what you could have wildly imagined in the next life.\u00a0 This is the nature of God.\n\n1 Peter 1:3-4 says this, \u201cBlessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,\u00a0 [4] to obtain<\/em> an inheritance which is<\/em> imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you.\u00a0 [5] who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.\u201d\u00a0 You\u2019re already on a fast track to glory; in fact, your glory is so secure, because it\u2019s based on grace, that it\u2019s considered from God\u2019s perspective as a done deal.\u00a0 Nothing can diminish it!\u00a0 Nothing can take it away!\u00a0 And isn\u2019t it a wonderful thing to live your life with that expectation.\u00a0 And you say to yourself, since all of these promises have been given to me what else can I do but offer my body unto God as a consecrated instrument for His purposes.\n\nIsn\u2019t it, as Paul says in Romans 12:1-2, isn\u2019t that the reasonable thing to do.\u00a0 [Romans 12:1-2, \u201cTherefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is<\/em> your spiritual service of worship. [2] And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.\u201d]\n\nWe don\u2019t serve the Lord because we\u2019re trying to stack up a bunch of good works, maybe I\u2019ll make it, maybe I won\u2019t.\u00a0 We serve the Lord because we just can\u2019t believe what He\u2019s done for us. We can\u2019t believe that the grace that has been lavished upon us as the Book of John, at the beginning, says, \u201cGrace upon grace.\u201d\u00a0 [John 1:16, \u201cFor of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.\u201d]\n\nAnd\u00a0 you just say Lord, I don\u2019t know what to do.\u00a0 And the Lord says well, here\u2019s what you can do: you don\u2019t need to pay Me back, you can\u2019t pay Me back.\u00a0 You don\u2019t need to earn your salvation, you can\u2019t earn it, but here\u2019s what you can do:\u00a0 you can offer your body to Me as a living sacrifice and let Me execute My will in your life and let Me use you for eternal purposes, and let Me give you the privilege, as you look back on your life as a life well spent.\u00a0 Daniel, you\u2019re going to rise, you\u2019re going to receive your allotted portion.\u00a0 Not only will you enter on the basis of grace but you will be fully rewarded.\n\nAnd when are all of these things going to occur?\u00a0 Well, the final words in the verse are \u201cat the end of the age.\u201d\u00a0 [Daniel 12:13, \u201cBut as for you, go your way to the end; then you will enter into rest and rise again for your allotted portion at the end of the age.\u201d]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What \u201cend of the age\u201d is he talking about.\u00a0 He is talking about what Daniel has faithfully recorded, how the nation of Israel beginning in the time of Daniel will continue to go through great adversity.\u00a0 And they will continue to go through that great adversity in the empire of Babylon, in the empire of Persia, and then into the empire of Greece, sweeping through the intertestamental period.\u00a0 They will continue to go through great adversity during the time of the antichrist, during the time of the tribulation period. All of these things have been faithfully recorded by Daniel as they have been revealed to Daniel but there\u2019s coming an end of the whole matter where that stone cut without hands, the kingdom of God will shatter the empire of the antichrist and that kingdom will grow and grow until it fills the whole earth.\n\nIf there\u2019s one thing I know about God I know this much: He\u2019s a promise keeper!\u00a0 In fact, God is the only promise keeper who is 100% faithful to what He says, that I can think of.\u00a0 Remember the movement Promise Keepers, where all these people, all these men were trying to make their promises to God.\u00a0 That\u2019s not the point of the Bible; I\u2019m not trying to denigrate the people involved in that ministry, I know many, many people were touched by that ministry, but the point of the Bible is not what we do for God, it\u2019s what God has done for us.\u00a0 The point of the Bible is not how we reach up to God and somehow pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps.\n\nThe story of the Bible is what God has done for man and you just come to a realization of it and \u00a0you begin to serve the Lord with such a pure motive because you\u2019re not trying to work for your salvation, pay God back, but you\u2019re serving Him out of worship and out of gratitude and if you\u2019re coming to that realization as we\u2019ve been studying the Book of Daniel you\u2019ll watch your life take off in God.\u00a0 You\u2019ll watch your life take corners and routes that you never thought possible.\u00a0 You\u2019ll watch God use your life as an instrument for eternal purposes.\u00a0 Can\u00a0 you think of a better deal than that?\u00a0 Not only being saved by grace but having our lives strategically used by God because we\u2019re serving Him, not out of fear that He\u2019s going to rip the carpet out from under\u00a0 us. Not out of fear that somehow maybe I haven\u2019t done enough good to outweigh the bad but out of a response of grace, a reasonable response.\n\nAnd that\u2019s what Daniel\u2019s life was about; he would enter that kingdom into that reward at the end of the age when that stone cut without human hands would shatter the empire of the antichrist.\u00a0 Daniel, all the way back in chapter 2 wrote these words: \u201cAnd the days of those kings\u201d that would be the kings of the antichrist, \u201cthe God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed,\n\nand that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever.\u201d\n\nThrough all of Israel\u2019s hardness, all of Israel\u2019s rejection of God, all of Israel\u2019s stubbornness that we read about in the pages of God\u2019s Word, all of Israel\u2019s trials, some way, somehow that tiny nation is going to make it to\u00a0 the very end, in faith.\u00a0 God is actually going to use these trials to awaken Israel to her need for Christ.\u00a0 They\u2019ll make it all the way to the end and some way, somehow, through that tiny nation God is going to bring His worldwide kingdom to the earth.\u00a0 Talk about a work of grace, what exactly is grace?\u00a0 It\u2019s unmerited favor.\u00a0 You want a study of what grace is like?\u00a0 Look at God\u2019s dealings with the nation of Israel.\u00a0 A nation that was sending their own children into a fire prior to the Babylonian deportation, to satisfy a god named Molech, a nation that rejected their own King in the first advent of Christ and yet a nation that\u2019s a promised nation, a covenanted nation.\n\nSomehow God is not going to forget the promises He has made to that nation and He will fulfill them.\u00a0 It obviously is not a work of man.\u00a0 Look at Israel\u2019s track record; look at her performance.\u00a0 It\u2019s a work of grace.\n\nAnd one of the things that we have seen in our own lifetime, beginning 1948, May 14th<\/sup>,\u00a0 70 years as tomorrow is the miraculous regathering of the nation of Israel. Sociologists tell us it\u2019s a sociological miracle that this has happened, when a people group is displaced from their homeland and they were displaced about two thousand years ago, thanks to the Romans, in A.D. 70, the sociologists all tell us that when a nation is removed from their homeland and they move into worldwide dispersion, as Israel has done, they just sort of assimilate into the surrounding culture.\u00a0 They lose their cultural ethnicity, they lose their language, they lose their cultural identity.\n\nI mean, look at all of the groups that are mentioned in the Bible that we don\u2019t even have any record of any more.\u00a0 Look at the Amalekites, the Girgashites, the Jebusites, I like to joke, the out-of-sights, the mosquito bites, the termites, the electric lights, all the \u201cites.\u201d\u00a0 I mean, what happened to them?\u00a0 Well what happened to them is what happens to many people groups. You\u2019re outside of your land for a few generations and you assimilate into the host culture and you lose your cultural identity.\u00a0 Don\u2019t you think it\u2019s a little odd, more than odd, may I say miraculous that the nation of Israel has been pushed out of their land for two thousand\u00a0 years and they go right back into the same land with the same religion and the same language intact.\u00a0 How could that happen?\u00a0 It never happened for the Amalekites and the Girgashites and the termites and all the other \u201cites.\u201d\u00a0 Because God is a promise keeper.\u00a0 See that?\u00a0 The regathering of the Jews into their homeland beginning May 14:1948, what we call the modern State of Israel, and we\u2019re celebrating tomorrow her seventieth birthday in that land, is miraculous!\n\nYou say I wish God would perform miracles today?\u00a0 You kidding me?\u00a0 When you look at the Middle East and you see the Jerusalem Post written in Hebrew, you see a functioning Sanhedrin, a functioning\u00a0 Knesset, the fact that Latin is a dead language and Hebrew is a live language, you look at the movement of the Jews to rebuild their temple and offer animal sacrifices there.\u00a0 You look at the President of the United States moving our embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.\u00a0 You\u2019re looking at miracles all over.\n\nI understand that they\u2019re not in faith.\u00a0 I get that.\u00a0 But here\u2019s the reality of the situation.\u00a0 Was there ever a point in your life when you weren\u2019t in faith?\u00a0 I mean, didn\u2019t God extend grace to you?\u00a0 Why can\u2019t He do that for His elect nation and His chosen nation.\u00a0 And you see, I think a lot of our prophecy teachers have gotten a little bit misguided in what they\u2019re emphasizing concerning the modern state of Israel.\u00a0 Most of the teaching that you get on this, and it\u2019s teaching that I do myself and I support it, the teaching goes something like this:\u00a0 The end times are kicking into high gear, the second coming is right around the corner, the rapture can\u2019t be far away.\u00a0 I believe that, I will teach that until there\u2019s no more breath in my lungs.\n\nBut you see, that\u2019s just part of the equation.\u00a0 The idea that God is getting ready to wrap up the ages is just a portion of what the regathering of the Jews into their homeland communicates.\u00a0 The lesson that hardly ever gets taught through this sociological miracle is the faithfulness of God.\u00a0 How could God, to a nation that rejected His own Son, how could God keep His promises to them?\u00a0 How could a God that looked at a nation taking their own children and putting them into a fire to satisfy a god named Molech, how could God have any mercy or grace or faithfulness to these people?\u00a0 And the answer God is the only promise keeper.\u00a0 God made a promise.\n\nAnd you say well, how does that relate to my life?\u00a0\u00a0 I want some application.\u00a0 Well, here\u2019s the application\u2026 you ready?\u00a0 If this is God\u2019s nature and He\u2019s going to keep His promises to Israel why would we have the slightest doubt that He\u2019s not also going to keep His promises to who?\u00a0 To us!\u00a0 You don\u2019t have to go through your life fearful, is God going to renege on the deal; the regathering of the Jews in unbelief, which is a sociological miracle, is evidence of the faithfulness of God.\u00a0 I do not understand these Christian denominations that are upset about this.\u00a0 I do not understand name line denominations engaged in economic boycotts against the nation of Israel. I do not understand this movement that\u2019s taking place all over our college campuses called BDS, Boycott, Divest and Sanctions.\u00a0 It\u2019s a mindset that is so far removed from the way I think.\u00a0 I don\u2019t look at the nation of Israel in anger or frustration; I see in it absolute joy because it\u2019s a testimony, is it not, to the grace of God, the character of God.\u00a0 If God can keep His promises to an imperfect nation who else is He going to keep His promises to?\u00a0 He\u2019s going to keep His promises to me; He\u2019s going to keep His promises to you because that\u2019s God\u2019s nature.\n\n2 Timothy 2:13 sums this up so well; \u201cIf we are faithless, He remains\u201d what? \u201cfaithful, for He cannot deny Himself.\u201d\u00a0 If God were to renege on Israel\u2019s deal because of their unfaithfulness He would deny Himself because He is the one that made the initial promises to them in the Abrahamic Covenant.\u00a0 Do you see that?\u00a0 And if God was to somehow take\u00a0 your promises, which are so glorious, your inheritance, the fact that you are in a double grip of grace, you\u2019re not only in Christ\u2019s hands, John 10,\u00a0 you\u2019re in the Father\u2019s hands.\u00a0 That\u2019s a double grip of grace and nothing can take you out.\u00a0 I mean, if God can be faithful to this nation I can trust Him on John 10, can\u2019t I?\u00a0 Or any other promise that He has made to me?\n\nAnd it\u2019s possible people could be here today and have never entered into a relationship with this God who has revealed Himself in this way.\u00a0 The only thing I can say to you is quote the words of Harry Ironside, a great preacher from a prior era.\u00a0 He said this: \u201cThe gospel is not good advice to be obeyed; the gospel is good news to be believed!\u201d\u00a0 We\u2019re not here offering another self-help class, another way to make the flesh try harder to improve itself.\u00a0 I mean, you can get all of that anywhere you want it, that\u2019s not what this church is, that\u2019s not God\u2019s calling on the church.\u00a0 It\u2019s to announce the glorious grace of God which is not good advice to be obeyed, it\u2019s good news to be believed.\u00a0\u00a0 And as you trust in the simple promise of Christ concerning what He\u2019s done for us, many of the verses we\u2019ve already quoted concerning His death, concerning His burial, concerning His bodily resurrection, concerning the fact that He said \u201cIt is finished!\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 If you trust in that and that alone that\u2019s what makes you a Christian.\u00a0 And that executes the marvelous glory into your future where God makes you subsequent promises on trusting Him for salvation which cannot be eradicated nor erased.\n\nThat\u2019s why our exhortation to you here at Sugar Land Bible Church is to trust in this gospel which is not good advice to be obeyed, it\u2019s good news to be believed. And consequently that takes us, believe it or not, to the bitter end, the very end of the Book of Daniel.\u00a0\u00a0 You all remember what the Book of Daniel is about?\u00a0 We covered this about 61 lessons ago.\u00a0 It\u2019s about the times of the Gentiles, how those are revealed prophetically and how Israel is to live for God in the midst of unfavorable circumstances.\u00a0 The purpose of the book you might remember is to encourage Judah by emphasizing the sovereignty of God during the Babylonian captivity and to teach Judah how to live while outside their land.\u00a0\u00a0 Would you say that Daniel has accomplished his purpose?\u00a0 Remember the topics I said you get exposed to: prophecy, eschatology, confidence that the Bible is God\u2019s Word, knowledge of the intertestamental period, angelology, the doctrine of angels, spiritual warfare, living for God in a pagan society, God\u2019s sovereignty over empires.\u00a0 Would you say those subjects have been adequately covered?\n\nSo what are you ready for now?\u00a0 Ready for your final exam\u2026 you guys are laughing.\u00a0 I\u2019m holding in my hand a one page paper, make sure your name is on it please, there are two sides, front and back, you\u2019ll find it on the name tag table on the way out.\u00a0 This is the test that I give as the midterm when I was teaching over at the College of Biblical Studies.\u00a0 It\u2019s not a hard test, there\u2019s two matching sections, matching a concept with an idea and you turn it over and\u00a0 you\u2019re matching a concept with a chapter in the Book of Daniel.\u00a0 So I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a terribly difficult test, it\u2019s just sort of to kind of jog your memory a little bit so that you can think back on the Book of Daniel.\u00a0 It\u2019s just a tool.\u00a0 And if you score under 75% then your membership at this church will be revoked\u2026 [Laughter]\u00a0 NO, I\u2019m just joking. It\u2019s just a fun thing for you to do.\u00a0 And you say well, when do we get the answers?\u00a0 I can\u2019t preach a sermon series on the answers but I can do a little dirty trick to you.\u00a0 You ready for this:\u00a0 To get the answers\u00a0 you\u2019ve got to come to Sunday School because I\u2019m going to be giving the answers to this test at the beginning of Sunday School, not next week, that\u2019s our congregational meeting, but the week that follows. So take this and enjoy this and see how you do as you think back on the Book of Daniel.\n\nAnd some of you have been asking well, what are you going to teach next?\u00a0 And I usually say well it\u2019s in the Bible whatever it is.\u00a0 But I\u2019ve been praying about it and I think it\u2019s time for our congregation to try to tackle the Book of Revelation.\u00a0 So we\u2019re going to be moving through the Book of Revelation.\u00a0 [clapping]\u00a0 Daniel being the basement, the Book of Revelation sort of being the ceiling.\u00a0 And some of you are saying my goodness, you\u2019re never going to finish.\u00a0 [Laughter]\u00a0 I mean, you took three years in the Gospel of John, how long are you going to take to go through the Book of Revelation?\n\nWell, let me offer you a word of comfort.\u00a0 The Book of Revelation has less than half the number\u00a0\u00a0 of verses in it that are found in John.\u00a0 You can\u2019t just look at 22 chapters, you\u2019ve got to look at the verses and there\u2019s only 404 verses, 278 are illusions to the Old Testament so I think we can get through the Book of Revelation a lot faster than we got through the Book of John.\u00a0 I\u2019m actually, and you may laugh at this, going to try to make an effort to pick up the pace a little bit (if that\u2019s possible).\u00a0 So beginning next Sunday we\u2019ll be introducing the Book of Revelation to you and moving through that.\n\nShall we pray.\u00a0 Father, we\u2019re grateful for\u00a0 Your Word, grateful for Your truth, grateful for the things that You have taught us in the Book of Daniel.\u00a0 Thank You for this majestic prophetic material.\u00a0 Help these things to become real to our lives as we walk with You this week. We\u2019ll be careful to give You all the praise and the glory.\u00a0 We ask these things in Jesus\u2019 name, and God\u2019s people said\u2026\u00a0 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