A Validated Message

I'm so glad to have you with us today. A wonderful Sunday morning to celebrate Jesus. Amen. Amen. Hallelujah.

I'm so excited about the book of Daniel and studying through it. I'm just learning things and refreshing things in my heart that have kind of been lost since I was a kid. I heard the stories of Daniel and even studying it as a pastor. I'm super excited about that. But I would first of all like to welcome all of our guests here.

My name is Pastor Leon. Thank you for being with us today. And all of you online that are watching today from wherever you are. We're so thankful that you're here with us as well. And if you are here in person, you have a card right there in your bifold.

Also, you have some notes you could pull out, follow along with. And we'd love for you to fill out that card and let us know who you are, connect with us. And we'll give you some more information about our church. And those of you who are online, we also got a connect card online. You can go right to our website to the connect card section, fill out a connect card.

Or you can go to saltchurch.org slash card and we will receive that information. We'd love to hear from you as well. We've got a lot of exciting things coming up soon. Small groups are getting ready to relaunch.

And healthy community is really what's important to us as a church. Amen. And it's not just a Sunday morning thing. It's bigger than that. It's a community.

It's fellowship. It's relationships. It's a family. It's a family that you can be a part of. Amen.

Amen. It kind of feels like family today because we have the tables back in here today. They had an event last night. Couldn't turn it over in time. So we said leave the tables in here.

So hopefully you're feeling very comfortable today as we have this family gathering. So how do you tell the difference between something fake and something real? I remember, and still, the fake sunglasses, what we call the Folklies. Remember the Folklies? Did any of you ever purchase a pair of Folklies?

You thought they were real Oakleys and they ended up not being the real deal? When you look at them, they look a lot alike. When you put them on your face, they kind of feel alike. They might be a little- I remember buying some when I was younger and from a friend of mine, all these are the real deal. I don't know, man.

You put them on your head and they were like pressing your head so hard your headache was happening, you know. I'm like, I'm not sure if these are the real deal. Yeah, they are, man. You should buy them. Only 20 bucks.

I mean, that should kind of lead you not to buy a pair of Oakley's if it's only 20 bucks, brand new. That possibly would be what we would call Foakley's. But they say the only way you can really distinguish between a real pair of Oakley's and a fake pair of Oakley's is there's a little logo, a little, little in carved symbol on the inside. And if you rub it out, if you're able to rub it out, then it's not real because it's really, really, really hard to, to engrave that little symbol into the lens. So if you buy a pair of glasses or you're looking at a pair of glasses and you kind of rub it, rub it really hard, kind of get in there and it fades away, it's probably not the real deal.

And we have that all the time. You know, we got, we got all kinds of things that we're trying to determine what's real. And what's not. You're on the streets of New York City and you're wondering if this Gucci bag is real or not. Right.

And then how do you distinguish between what's real and what's not? How can you distinguish God's kingdom from a fake, a counterfeit kingdom? Well, the book of Daniel, we started last week. We're going to, we're going to dig into that a little bit. The, the idea of this message series is that we are to be shining in Babylon, people who shine in Babylon.

And this comes from chapter 12, verse three, those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens and those who lead many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. So in context, this, this book was written outside the confines of Israel. Most of the book was written in Aramaic, not Hebrew, which was the language of Babylon. And it talks about how we live wisely in a culture where God is not respected. And in some cases, not just you're strange, but you're an enemy to culture.

How do you survive? And not only survive, how do you thrive in a culture, be a witness to a world and lead many to righteousness? How do we do that? Well, ideally Christians do two things when, when they're living in culture and in a hostile culture, they either assimilate, they become like the culture, they look like the culture, they dress like the culture, they act like the culture to the point, you know, that you don't even know the difference between one or the other. They just, they just, they just live in culture and you just become culture.

And then we have those who, who, who separate separate, separate, there's assimilation and then there's separation, separation. You see, the world is evil. It's an evil world. We've got to separate from the world, got to isolate, come out from among them and be ye separated. And we love that, love that idea.

I was in a, for a period of time. And when I was in school, elementary school, my parents put me in a very independent Baptist-type setting, and that was like a big deal, right? I would go to school and I'd have a little hair over my ears, they'd send me home to get a haircut. My dad was a pastor, and they were telling him, you need to get that right, like it was evil to have your hair a certain way or look a certain way. And the girls wore, you know, dresses, and how many of you remember culottes, you know?

Like, yeah, they're coming back, actually. I didn't think they'd ever come back, and I've started seeing them in a trend. The girls are only allowed to do that. My grandmother, she grew up in a very, very holiness setting, so she never even cut her hair all of her life. She didn't believe it was right to cut your hair, and she would pull it up in a ball, and she was a very sweet woman, loved the Lord.

But boy, when it came to holiness and being separated from the world, it was just, you know, she never wore a pair of pants in her life until she was very, very much older. And I told her, I said, Grandma, what you doing there? You know, you're kind of sinning a little bit, wearing your pants now, right? I'd pick on her about that. Oh, Leon, oh, Leon, Leon, what are you talking about?

People who separate. Separation may be mean for some people. I only work with Christian people in Christian businesses, and I use the shepherd's guy, and I only play in Christian sports leagues and things like that. And interestingly enough, this was a controversy. This was very controversial in Daniel's day.

The exile happened in two different stages. Let me just set this up before we get into Scripture. Exile happened in two different stages. In 597 B.C.

, King Nebuchadnezzar carried off about 10,000 Jews or Israelites, and they took them away, and they were the cream of the crop. They were the people. They were of royalty. They were smart, educated soldiers over armies and things like that. So they took them away, and then 10 years later, they brought the rest of Israel, the rest of Judah back as they went into exile, as Babylon took them into exile.

And during that time, in between, there was this rise of these false prophets. These false prophets would come out all the time. You need to pray against Babylon. You need to call hell against them. They need to be destroyed.

Separate from them. Be ye separated. Be away from them. Don't touch them at all. But the prophet Jeremiah, by contrast, who is a true prophet, by the way, wrote this during the time.

He said, no, God's will is for you not to be separated, but to infiltrate and actually to influence it. And he wrote this. He said, This is what the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, says to all the exiles. Build houses in Babylon and live in them. Plant gardens and eat their produce.

Have sons and daughters. Have sons and daughters. Have sons and daughters. Have sons and daughters. Thank you.

Multiply there. Do not decrease. Seek the well-being of the city to which you have been deported and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for when it thrives, you will thrive." And like Daniel, we live in a hostile environment. But as Peter even talks about, he says we live in a hostile world, but how do we live in a hostile world?

We aren't to huddle ourselves in small groups and sing kumbaya and just wait till God comes back, Jesus comes back, so that we can get out of this crazy sense of a world. But we are to actually live in it, seek its well-being, infiltrate it. Instead of assimilation or separation, it's transformation. Transformation needs to be happening, if you're following your notes. So you are sent to transform the world, not to separate from the world and not to become like the world, but to transform the world.

And we here are maybe in Israel for about an hour, hour and a half on a Sunday morning, but you're flung right back into Babylon because many of us have to work in Babylon. We live in Babylon. And if you look at the book of Acts, you will see that a majority of all the things that took place in Babylon or in that particular situation happened outside the church. Forty miracles in Acts, 39 of them were outside the church. They were in the neighborhoods, the businesses, the hospitals, the jails.

Where are we called to? Where are we called to? We're called to transformation. So let's look at chapter 2. Let's dig in.

And it starts with Nebuchadnezzar having this nightmare of a dream. I mean, he wakes up in cold sweats because he had this dream and he could not get it out of his head. If you're following along, turn to Daniel 2, 1 again. Pull out your Bibles if you've got it. If you've got your notes, pull those out and take notes.

Talk about them in your groups and with your family and dig in a little more outside of just this Sunday morning service. It says, in the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams. His mind was troubled and he could not sleep. So the king summoned the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, the astrologers to tell him what he had dreamed. And when they came in and stood before the king, he said to them, I have had a dream that troubles me and I want to know what it means.

Then the astrologers answered the king, may the king live forever. Tell your servants the dream and we will interpret it. Now, to give you some context of how they interpreted dreams, they had this little interpretive book, like an interpretive key. And they would pull that thing out much like people have today. Maybe, if you know people of the new age, you know.

They got these little books you pull open and like a bird stands for something or a tree stands for something or an animal stands for something. That's what they had. So they look at this little book and then they would try to interpret it much like a horoscope or a fortune cookie. And they were very general things like your patience will one day be rewarded, right? Or don't trust a friend that gossips or whatever that looks like.

But Nebuchadnezzar sensed that this was just a bunch of baloney, okay? So instead of telling them to dream, he tells them, I want you to tell me the dream. I want you to tell me the dream and then interpret that dream. I want to know that this is really the gods or a god or the god. I want to know that you are validated.

I want to know that this is the real deal. And then the astrologers answered the king in verse 10. There is no one on earth who can do what the king asks. No king, however great or mighty, has ever asked such a thing of a magician or enchanter or astrologer. What the king asks is too difficult.

No one can reveal it to the king except the gods and they don't live among humans. And then in verse 12 it says, this made the king so angry and furious that he ordered the execution of all the wise men of Babylon. So the decree was issued to put the wise men to death. And the problem was Daniel and his friends were a part of this because they were of those wise men. So Daniel, he returns to his house and shoot down the verse 17.

It says, then Daniel returned to the house and explained the matter to his friends, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in case you're wondering. And in verse 18 he says, he urged them to plead the mercy for mercy from God, from the God of heaven concerning this mystery. So that he and his friends might not be executed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. And during the night the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision. Then Daniel praised the God of heaven and he said, praise be to the name of God forever and ever.

Wisdom and power are his. He changed times and seasons. He disposes kings and raises up others. Amen. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.

He reveals deep and hidden things. He knows what lies in darkness and the light dwells in him. So God gave Daniel this dream. And just to paraphrase, moving on, for time reasons, he goes to the person who was in charge of the execution and says, I have an interpretation for the dream and I know the dream. Can you take me to the king?

So he gathers him up, takes him to the king. And then in verse 26 it says, And then there's the king. In reply to Daniel, whose name was Belshazzar, by the way, in case you forgot who that was, the Bible reminds us over and over again, are you able to tell me the dream I had and its interpretation? And then Daniel answered the king, no wise man, no medium, no magician, no diviner, is able to make known to the king the mysteries he asks about. Wow, I bet this stirred up Nebuchadnezzar just for a minute.

Oh no, we've got this going on again. But he says this point right here in verse 28, but there is a God in heaven. But there is a God in heaven who reveals the mysteries. The point I want to make is there is a God in heaven. There is a God in heaven, because that's really the question, right?

When all human strategies fail, there is a God in heaven. When you've tried absolutely everything humanly possible to fix a situation, but there is a God in heaven. Wouldn't that change all of our problems if we just looked and said, there is a God in heaven? I mean, you've tried to work on that relationship. You've tried everything you possibly could to fix it and heal it, but there is a God in heaven.

Your kid turned out so, going down the wrong path, you've done everything to put them on the right path, and maybe there's just no hope anymore, or you've just kind of given up, and you just don't know what to do, but there is a God in heaven that you can pray to. You've tried to overcome that addiction, that pornography addiction, that drug addiction, that bad habit that you just can't get rid of that keeps bringing you down, but there is a God in heaven who can heal you of that. Maybe death and disease seem so total because of all the things that have happened in recent years. Maybe you've lost somebody, and you just feel like, oh, well, I'll die anyway. What am I even living for?

Disease and death, they just seem so total. But let me tell you, there is a God in heaven. There is a God in heaven who conquers death and conquers disease. Maybe you're just disappointed with politics. Boy, politics is heavy this year.

But newsflash, nobody's going to save this country except Jesus Christ. Jesus is our salvation. No Democrat or no Republican is our salvation, and there is a God in heaven. And speaking of disappointment, let's just talk about you for a minute. Maybe you're disappointed in yourself because no one has lied to themselves more than you have.

No one has let themselves down more than you have. No one's broken promises more than you have to yourself. And maybe you don't even know if you want to go forward anymore. And there is even a future. Let me tell you, there is a God in heaven who has a future and a plan for your lives.

So do you believe that? Wouldn't that change everything if we just believe that statement that there is a God in heaven? I need to read the Bible in heaven. There is a God in heaven. Daniel continues, and he begins to tell the king what his dream was in the following chapters.

And I'm just going to paraphrase this dream, and we're going to come back to it in a minute and interpret it, okay? So, he tells King Nebuchadnezzar, I saw a giant statue. There's this big giant statue, and they're going to flash up an image. I believe they've got an image up there. This big giant statue.

The head was made of gold, the chest and arms were silver, and the belly was bronze, and the legs were iron. And the ten toes of the feet were made of a mixture of iron and clay. And while you were admiring this statue, King, as you were looking at this statue, a rock came down from heaven and hit the statue and broke the statue at the feet, and it became crumbling, crumbling down into nothing. And then the winds carried that statue away. And then Daniel began to interpret the dream.

But before I get into that important part, I want to make this second point here. God often validates supernaturally in Babylon. God validates our message supernaturally in Babylon. God often validates supernaturally what we believe. When we share the Gospel, when we speak of Jesus, He often validates supernaturally.

Look at Jesus in Mark 2. He talks to the lame man, and He says, your sins are forgiven. Your sins are forgiven. And the Pharisees were like, sins are forgiven? What are you talking about?

You don't have the power to forgive sins. After all, anybody can forgive sins. I can forgive your sin. You can forgive my sin, this and that. We can say that.

But what's powerful about Jesus is the proof that He said this, the proof that I have the power to forgive sin is that I can make this lame man walk. I have the power to make a lame man walk. Then it proves that I have the power of God to forgive sin. And of course, we have the resurrection, which trumps everything, right? Anybody who raised himself from the dead, I want to believe, right?

He has the power to forgive sin. We have that in Jesus. And then it continued with the apostles. The writer of Hebrews says that God validated the writers of the New Testament through signs and wonders. Hebrews 2, 3, and 4 says the gospel was declared to us at first by the Lord Jesus, and then it was attested to us by those who heard Him, the apostles.

God bearing witness with them through signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit. So it was verified. The apostles were verified. Their message and their writings were verified through signs and wonders. And what did Paul say himself?

My speech and my preaching were not persuasive words of wisdom, but it was a demonstration of the power of the Spirit, so that your faith might be not based on just human understanding, that it would be based on just human understanding, but it would be based on just human understanding, On God's power. And then among believers as well it's validated. In fact, 1 Corinthians 14 talks about if an unbeliever comes into a small group or into a church situation and they begin to prophesy and share that supernaturally what's going on with that person, it says the secrets of the heart will be refilled and as a result he or she will fall face down and worship God proclaiming God is really among us because there's no way anybody could have known that about me. There's no way anybody could have heard anything about those things that are deep down in my heart. But this is real.

God validates even through his church. He validates through answered prayers. In fact, it's pointed in Elijah, in the scripture in Elijah, where Elijah is talking about whether the prophets of Baal has a true God or if Elijah's God, Yahweh is the true God. And Elijah says, let's do something here. We'll get together and we'll pray.

And if your God is real, he will listen to you. But if my God is real, let's see who... So the prophets of Baal begin to pray, pray for their God on this altar on this mountain called Mount Carmel. They pray and they pray and they pray and they pray and they pray and nothing happens. And then here's what happens.

Elijah prays and the God of heaven shows up and burns the altar and all the water. And he said in 1 Kings 18, you call upon the name of God and I will call upon the name of my God and the God who answers. He is God. He is God. And he validates through our prayers, through answered prayers.

He also validates through spirit-fueled changes in our lives. It's our lives and our hearts because we are made new creations. Old things have passed away. A new heart has been placed in us. No religious resolution does that.

You can try every religion and every rule in the world. It does not work. You have a genuine love for God and you no longer desire the former things of this world. And you live for the desire of God rather than the desire of the world. Religion can't produce that.

Only God can produce that and it's proof. And if that hasn't happened to you, if there's not real spirit-fueled changes in your life, you have to ask yourself, do I have a relationship with God? Do I have a really true God relationship? And through supernatural outpourings of power, is He doing that through you? Outpourings of power coming through you and out of you when you're ministering.

Nothing in Scripture says these things have ceased. We have theologians that say they have ceased. There's nothing in Scripture that says these things are available today. The point is, God intends to make you shine bright in Babylon. He wants you to shine bright like the Son of God in this culture.

Distinguish the truth of His message from the counterfeits all around you by supernatural outpourings of power. Are you experiencing that? Are you asking for that? Are you looking for opportunities for that to happen? As a church, in general, we need to be better at that.

We need to be better at putting ourselves in situations where the power of God works through us. He's still ready to do that with us today. Are we ready for Him to do that? Are we looking for opportunities for Him to work through us, to validate the message of the Kingdom of God through Jesus Christ? In the remainder of our message, we will deal with the dream, the interpretation of the dream, and really hold on here because this is very, very significant, the overarching thought of Babylon.

So if we go back to the statue and if the team wants to pop that back on the screen here, Nebuchadnezzar sees this gigantic statue and there's different metals in this statue at different levels. The first part of the statue is the head of gold. Scripture tells us in verse 38 that it represents the Babylonian Empire. That was Nebuchadnezzar's empire, the most powerful, first superpower in the world, and it was impressive. It was impressive.

It was minor than anything the world had ever seen up until that time. Impressive by even standards today. Nebuchadnezzar, for example, built a wall in Babylon that was 56 miles, and some parts were 80 feet wide, 300 feet high. Powerful, powerful empire. And his empire, historians say, was laden with gold.

In fact, one historian, Herodotus, said he was a contemporary historian in that time, visited Babylon, and wrote that never in his life had he seen such an abundance of gold. It was on the buildings, it was on the signs, and Nebuchadnezzar's throne was made of solid gold. So it represented gold. It represented Babylon. A powerful, powerful, powerful, and 70 years later, they would be destroyed.

Because after that, we have the chest and arms made of silver. This represents the Meadow Persian Empire, which conquered Babylon. We'll actually see that happen in Daniel 5. So you see a switch from one king to another king. We've got Daniel's in the lion's den.

It's under the Persian Empire. It's under King Darius. Here, we see two parts. We see the chest and arms. The chest and arms.

So there's two different things going on here, representing two kingdoms. The media kingdom from the north and the Persian from the east who came together and united to conquer Babylon in 539 B.C. And next we have the belly and thighs made of bronze, and we venture out a little bit here because we don't have a clear indication whether this is true or not, but we can, but most scholars believe that this represents Greece. Greece was a superpower that conquered the Meadow Persian around 2020 BC.

It was led by Alexander the Great, one of the greatest conquerors the world has ever seen. Interestingly enough, Alexander's armies pioneered bronze. So we see bronze here at this level, bronze weaponry. Greek soldiers wore bronze helmets, chariots were made of bronze, shields and even swords were made of bronze. So bronze was was pioneered by the Greek Empire.

And then we have the legs of iron. The legs of iron represent Rome, which likely represented Rome because they conquered Greece. They conquered Greece. And why iron? Iron was considered the strongest of all metals.

Maybe not the most precious of metals, but definitely the strongest of metals. And this was supposed to prophesy something about Rome's strength. Because what we know about Rome, they had such military strength, they were able to last for centuries and centuries and centuries. One of the longest lasting empires that ever, ever was around. In fact, if we look at Babylon, Babylon was 70 years.

Meta-Persian Empire was was 200 years. The Greek Empire was 200 years. And Rome in the West lasted 500 years. In the East lasted 1500 years. A powerful, powerful, powerful kingdom.

And then finally, we had the feet of a mixture of iron and clay. The Roman Empire would eventually shatter into different kingdoms and nations. Sort of like what we see today. The Roman Empire no longer controls most of the world. But we have different kingdoms.

We have different states. We have different things set up. And these ten kingdoms are mentioned in Revelation as a part of a future event. We don't know what those future kingdoms look like. We don't know who those kingdoms are.

The Bible doesn't really give us a lot of detail in Revelation. But what we do, we just trust that God doesn't give us all the details. Let's just take what we have in front of us. Don't try to don't try to prophecy pundit anything about the end times. Don't you know, we got a lot of people that do that.

And that's OK for giggles and and enjoying the Bible. But ultimately, we don't know. But we do know that Revelation, there's an end time coming. And this is what that's speaking to. And I'll talk a little bit more about that in the weeks to come.

Then this interesting thing happened in the dream. This is probably the most important part. It is the most important part of the dream. If you're following along in verse 34, it says, While you were watching, king, a rock was cut out. But not by human hands.

It was struck. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. Then the iron and the clay and the bronze. The bonds and the silver and the gold were all broken to pieces and became like chaff in the threshing floor of the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace.

But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth. And skipping down to verse 44. And in the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed. Nor will it be left to another people. It will be crushed.

All those kingdoms will be crushed. They will be brought to an end. But God's kingdom will always endure. God's kingdom. So we see here the interpretation of this very clearly is this is the kingdom of God.

The text directly speaks to this rock as the kingdom of God. And when Jesus showed up on the scene in Matthew 21, 41, He said that rock that fell from heaven was a picture of Him. He said I am the cornerstone. I am the rock. I am the one that came from heaven.

And think about it for a minute. What is a rock? Well, it says first of all that this stone was made without human hands. It came about with no human agency. Did you know the stones in the temple that were made in the temple were made without human hands?

They actually represented something. It was a picture of Jesus. Because Jesus was like the stone was not made of human hands. He was born of a virgin Mary. Second, the rock is the least valuable substance in the dream.

But granite is much less valuable than gold, silver, bronze, or iron. Yet the rock came with the power of God. It fell from heaven and shattered into dust. All those expensive metals. This represents how Jesus would not come with all the bling and all the kingship and all that power.

But He was born. He was born poor. He never owned a home. He didn't raise an army. He wasn't a head of gold.

Yet He came with the death defying power of God. Hallelujah. And third in this dream, the rock started small, but eventually grew gigantic. Kind of like a big mountain that filled the whole earth. That's the same thing Jesus said in Matthew 13.

Like a seed, it will start out small, but it will grow to the largest of things. His kingdom would start out small. It would be very small. In fact, there would be just 100 people in a room waiting for the power of God to follow Him. That's all He left.

He didn't leave an army. He didn't leave anything like Nebuchadnezzar or Alexander or Muhammad. He left just a few people. And that power of God would fall on that place and they would go out and it became the greatest religious movement on the face of the earth. In fact, let me just.

Let me just. Give you some statistics of what's going on in the world. The place the gospel is growing the fastest is in Africa, in Asia, and Latin America. Did you know that? It's growing faster than anywhere else.

Did you know that two-thirds of all self-identifying Christians today live in Latin America, Africa, and Asia? Did you know that? And by 2025, experts say that it will probably be nearly 80% of the entire Christian population in the world. Get this, today there are more practicing Christians in Africa than all of European countries combined. That more Christians will attend church in Kenya this weekend than in all of Canada.

That Uganda has more Anglican Christians than Great Britain, Canada, and the United States combined. And interestingly enough, Anglican literally means English. Isn't that crazy? Ghana has more Presbyterians than Scotland where Presbyterianism began. And we talk about the villagers in Africa who never heard the gospel.

Statistically, you're more likely to run into a born-again Christian in a village in Africa than you are in Montreal. Praise God for that. Brazil is now sending out more overseas missionaries than any other than Britain or Canada. And don't even get me started on Asia. In 1970, there were no legal functioning churches in the nation.

They couldn't. It was under a communist rule. But it is estimated that today, the number of practicing Christians in China exceeds that of the United States. And experts predict by 2050, China will be a majority Christian country. Praise God.

When that happens, when Christians go out and live in Babylon, see what happens? When they infiltrate Babylon, it doesn't matter if you're oppressed. It doesn't matter if you're hated. God's kingdom will prosper. It starts out as a seed.

And people say Christianity is a Western thing. That Americans shouldn't oppose their values or their religion. But that's ridiculous. Christianity is not a Western thing. It's never been a Western thing.

And if anything, it was an Eastern thing that came to the West for a little while. Now it's moving all across the world. It's the greatest movement that's ever been in history. It's not a Western thing. It's bigger than us.

And that leads us to the substance of our core message to Babylon. What we are here to witness to, to testify to, is God sent a rock to earth. His name is Jesus, who would destroy every false kingdom, who would destroy every evil empire, whether those are large geopolitical kingdoms of the world or independent little kingdoms of our heart. He's going to take over. He's going to destroy them all.

He's going to come back. He's going to have justice. That's what the message of Daniel is. But that's the choice. I can do that to feel the pain Or have you decreed before them.

But that's the choice before we ask them. at least, if you will have a place right before we go After we aspect one thing of the need. I put in front of you today. The irony is, that's not really why Jesus came. Yes, Jesus is coming back to judge the world, but He came first to save.

It came first, not to judge, but to die on a cross. It came that we would have a rock to build our lives upon. That we could grow and we would not be crushed under the kingdoms of this world. But if we won't do that, then that rock will crush us. So that leaves us with a choice today.

Do you see what the dream is telling us here? That Jesus is going to crush all kingdoms. Look here. Look at Daniel 2.35.

Let me just repeat this. They became like chaff from the summer threshing floors. The wind carried them away and not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the entire earth. You know what that means?

God will have His way. God will not be mocked by Satan and the kingdoms of this world. God's rock will crush. Jesus Christ will crush every kingdom. So you're left with a choice.

Receive Jesus or be crushed by the rock. Saved by the rock or crushed by the rock. It doesn't give us any other choice. 2,500 years ago, a Persian king dreamed a dream that tells us about this Jesus today. That gives us a warning but a hope as well.

A hope of a God who loved people so much that is holding back His wrath, is holding back His judgment so that anyone can know Him and anyone can be saved. So you can either lean into it or resist it. You can either run from it or accept it. Because here's what the great Charles Spurgeon says. My wife kind of hit on it a little bit at the beginning of the service.

He wrote this sermon and he compared the gospel to a locomotive and us to gnats. And I'm just going to quote him here as we land this plane. He said, He who would place himself in front of a fast-moving railway car will be crushed and would be no more foolish than you who are opposing the gospel. You can't oppose the gospel is what he's saying here. Who are you to attempt to stand against it?

You will be crushed. But let me tell you, when the railway car runs over you, the wheel will not be raised even an inch by your size. For what are you? The National Park is at the vedas Beaulieu and the Ville. Thank you.

A teeny gnat, a creeping worm, which that will will crush to less than nothing and not leave you even a name as having ever been an opponent to the gospel. Let everyone in the world know assuredly that the gospel will win its way, whatever they may do. And then he goes on to say, Poor creatures, their efforts to oppose the gospel are not even worthy of our notice. And we need not fear that they can stop the truth, because they are like a gnat who thinks he can quench the sun. Go teeny insect and do it if you can.

You will only burn your wings and die. Likewise, there may be a fly who thinks he can drink the ocean dry. Drink the ocean if you can, oh fly. More likely, you will sink in it. Or it will drink you.

That's the message of this drink. But I'm reminding you, though the gospel, though the kingdom of God will crush this world, and every evil thing will be wiped away, every evil thing will be crushed. Every evil thing will be chafed in the wind. It will be blown away. We have a savior who's here today.

I got a gospel for you. Good news for you that Jesus came to this earth to save you from your sinful ways. That the things you have done that have separated you from God, Jesus made it right. Amen. You can be assured today.

You can be assured today. But the choice is yours. A life of meaning, purpose, built upon a rock, or a temporary kingdom that will be crushed in power. Father, I thank you for this message, God. I thank you for this timely narrative and prophecy that you've given us, Lord, to remind us of how powerful you are, God.

That you're not a hippie Jesus of just peace and love. But you are a God with power. And you own this world. You've just leased it out for a little while. But you will come back.

And you will take hold of this world. And you will correct every wrongdoing. And today you give us an opportunity to believe in your son. And if there's anyone under the sound of my voice today, with all heads bowed and all eyes closed, as I pray, and as the believers are praying today, if there's anybody here today, the choice is yours. Will you receive Jesus as your savior?

Or will you go your own way and be crushed with the rest of the kingdoms of this world? Okay? Okay. Thank you. Thank you.

Because God gives us no other choice. The good news is, He's given us an opportunity and a way out. It isn't sin, see here's the thing about sin. It's not that you sin and you're bad because you're sinning. Sin has always been here.

From the very beginning, sin entered the world. And we were born sinners. We'd already made that choice from the very beginning. But Jesus loved us so much. God loved us so much that He gave His Son so that we could be rescued from our sinful ways.

Because we can't get out of them on our own. We can't do good enough to make it right with God. So that's why He gave us Jesus. See, that's the good news. So if you'll believe Jesus today and confess your sin to Him, He will make you a new creation.

Will you pray that with me? Lord, I believe that you are the Son of God. That you resurrected from the dead. And that you died on the cross when I sinned. Come into my heart.

Come into my life. Make me a new creation. Thank you, Lord, for saving me from the judgment that is to come. Thank you, Lord. In the name of Jesus.

Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you.