Now, beginning in verse number 1, the Bible reads,
In the third year of the reign of King Jehoiakim, king of Judah,
came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem and besieged it.
And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand,
with part of the vessels of the house of God, which he carried into the land
of Shinar to the house of his God, and he brought the vessels
into the treasure house of his God. Now, basically what's
going on here, and as we get into a new book tonight, the book of Daniel, just to give you a little bit
of the background here, the children of Israel, of course, were divided into
two kingdoms at this time. There was the northern kingdom of Israel with the capital city of
Samaria, and there was the southern kingdom of Judah, whose capital city was Jerusalem.
And these two kingdoms were both
wicked and the sign of the Lord most of the time, but the northern kingdom
was very wicked, and they went into captivity first, and the
Assyrians took them captive and took them to another foreign land and
put a bunch of foreign people living in their land. Well, the southern kingdom of Judah
had lasted longer because of men like Hezekiah, because of
men like Josiah being righteous rulers, that kind of
backed God's hand of judgment off a little bit and delayed
the punishment. But finally, this wicked king Jehoiakim rises up
and God is going to punish all the wickedness of the
house of Judah, all the innocent blood that was shed by Manasseh
and other kings, and basically God is judging their
nation by causing the Babylonians to come in and invade.
So here comes the king of the Babylonians
from Shinar, Nebuchadnezzar,
and he besieges Jerusalem, which basically means that he surrounds it with his
troops, no one can bring any supplies in or out, he
besieges it, and he ends up defeating the city, breaking through the walls,
taking Jehoiakim captive, he takes the vessels out of the house
of God and takes them into the house of his false god, but not only
that, he also takes captive thousands of the children of Judah
to bring back to Babylon. Well look at verse number 3, it says
And the king spake unto Ashpenaz the master of his eunuchs, that he should
bring certain of the children of Israel, and of the king's seed, and
of the princes, children in whom was no blemish, but well favored
and skillful in all wisdom and cunning in knowledge and understanding
science, and I don't know, we'll get to that in a moment, but basically they're taking people captive
and the king of Babylon said he especially wanted them to take
these smart young people that were skilled, that were
intelligent, that were good at their schoolwork or whatever, they had
intelligence that they could stand before the king and be an asset to him
and be taught the ways of the Babylonians, be taught the ways of the Chaldeans
and grow up and serve the king of Babylon. Now why
did they go into captivity? Because of their wickedness, because of their ungodliness
and God will always judge a nation that does wickedness. You see
nations can't be judged in the next world, nations don't have a soul, they're judged
in this life. The individual is judged in heaven
or hell, you know basically in heaven if they're saved and Jesus Christ
has already paid their judgment, or in hell if they're an unbeliever
but a nation is judged in this world and every nation that's been
wicked in the sight of God, God is allowed to crumble and be destroyed
and defeated and the United States will be no exception to that. Now we can
delay that judgment though, we can make it to where it doesn't happen in our lifetime
if God's people would stand up, do right, preach the truth
but America will eventually be destroyed because there's no way around
it, it will happen eventually because of all the innocent blood that's been shed and
all the wickedness of the United States of America. But isn't it interesting
and you have to look at the spiritual application here of the story
the king Nebuchadnezzar represents wickedness, I mean he's a
heathen king, he's not saved, later on he's going to get saved
I believe, but in this part of the story he's a very wicked man
he represents a wicked nation, a false god, a totally false
religion, he's coming in and vandalizing the temple of God
vandalizing God's house, stripping down the gold plating
from the walls, taking the vessels and bringing them to the house of his phony false god
and this wicked man says give me
access to the children who are the most talented
the most gifted, the most intelligent so that I can bring them into my
house and brainwash them to think like me and to
serve me and to follow me, this is exactly what the devil
wants to do today in America, same thing
he wants to take the best and the brightest young people
the most talented and to brainwash them with wickedness
so that they won't serve God with their life, that's why you'll notice
that most of the people who are serving God as adults
are not the most talented people, they're not the most intelligent
he said consider your calling brethren, he said there aren't many
wise, not many that are maybe talented or good looking
but God has chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wise and I'll tell you
why that is, because people who are talented of this world usually
get caught up in the cares of this world and they're going to use their talents
somewhere else than to serve God and it's those who are humble that
God can use and often times the ones who are the least talented
maybe the least best looking or the least intelligent
sometimes are humble enough to be used by God and God can use them
but God can't use you if you're not
available to Him, I've seen people who are a talented
speaking ability, I mean they had a talent to speak
they were very eloquent and they had a natural ability to preach
but let me tell you something, if they won't yield their life to God and follow God
and serve God with their life and preach, what good is it?
if the world will use them as a politician or the world's going to use them as
whatever, you know, just because you have some talent
or intelligence or ability, you're going to be the one that Satan is
going to want to tempt to go and learn all of his wisdom
you know, oh you're going to be offered the scholarships
and the opportunities, you know, to go have the great job
and to learn all the education of Chaldean State University
and Babylon State
you know, and they're going to want you, you know, they're going to want you to play sports
professionally maybe, like in the NBA or something
and Miss Church on Sunday or whatever, you know, the devil
often takes the most talented, smartest people
that probably could have done amazing things for God
and gets them tied up in something else
offers them the scholarship, gets them into schooling where they're being brainwashed
and taught everything against this book, now wait a minute
why don't you just ask yourself, what are you going to do with your life?
You know, is your biggest goal in life to serve God, to use your talents for God?
or to use your talents for this world and for the Nebuchadnezzars of this world
who would love to recruit you, you know, if you think about it
if you have great music ability, if you have great music ability
are you going to use that music ability to play in a concert hall
and be adored and loved by fans, perhaps
or are you going to use that ability to serve God in the house of God
because I would rather play piano in this room
right here, to this group of people right here, in God's house
the pillar and ground of the truth that Jesus Christ shed his blood for
than on a stage somewhere in front of tens of thousands of people
playing the world's music, I'd rather be playing it right here
but you know what's funny is that I'm not a talented pianist
yes I play piano, and I've worked very hard to be able to be a mediocre pianist
because I don't have a natural ability
to play piano well, I look at someone like my older sister
or her daughter who is my niece, who have natural ability to play piano
I mean they can sit, they practice less than me
and will have three times the results, it's just a fact of life, I mean God gives us
different talents and abilities, and I literally work three times as hard
to achieve what they just seemingly effortlessly do
other people have an ear for music, we were talking just before the service
I was playing any key on the piano and he could tell me, F sharp, B flat
you know, I've been playing music my whole life and cannot name a single note
in that way, you know, some people have talents and abilities
what is going to be the greatest use of that talent and ability
and music is just one example, your speaking ability
if you have a great speaking ability, maybe God could use you to preach
if you have an intelligence to understand
knowledge and cunning and all these different things that he lists here
maybe God could use you to teach the Bible and preach the Bible
anything that could ever be preached or taught, but the world is going to try to
recruit you and get you busy doing everything else
and that's what I think is the application here, he says look
give me your Christian godly young people, I'm going to teach them to be like me
I want to train them to serve me, I don't want to serve
Nebuchadnezzar with my life, I want to serve God with my life
now these people were enslaved so they had no choice
they'd be taken captive, they'd be taken bodily, even to the point
where they were emasculated as men, I mean they were literally
taken of their manhood here, because you notice the guy that was in charge of
Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, what was he called? The prince of the eunuchs
which means that these men were literally
neutered, I mean they literally had been physically mutilated
because of the sins of their wicked nation
they were taken to captivity, but in captivity they're enslaved
they're forced into a heathen institution, their manhood has been taken from them
but they decided they're going to serve God anyway, they said you know what, here we are
our fathers have sinned, our nation
has sinned, but you know what, we are going to serve God, we're going to be used
of God here, now notice out of all the hundreds and thousands
it was really only four young people who stood up to these people
and said we will stay right with God, we will not violate our conscience
let's read the story, it says in verse number
five, or let's finish verse four, we didn't finish that
so nourishing them three years that at the end thereof
they might stand before the king and that's when they're going to walk across the platform with their little
stovepipe hat on their head and their flowing garment and whatever
and it says, now among these were of the children of Judah
Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, unto whom the prince of the
eunuchs gave names, for he gave unto Daniel the name of Belteshazzar
so he's even taken away their name from them, trying to get them to forget
everything they've been taught as God fearing young people, Bible believing
Christians, he says, he gave Daniel the name of Belteshazzar
and to Hananiah of Shadrach and to Mishael of Meshach and
to Azariah of Abednego, but Daniel purposed in his heart
that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's
meat, nor with the wine which he drank, wherefore he requested of the prince
of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself, now is that plural
there or is that singular, one person made a decision to not do it
it's one person, but notice that when he made that decision
three other people stood up and said, we won't either
now we don't know for sure but nothing is said here
of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego making that decision in their heart, it took a
leader there, somebody had to break the ice and this is how it always is
somebody's always got to be the first one to stand up and say no
I've noticed that people tend to go with the crowd
and sometimes one person will stand up and be different and then others will pipe up
I remember one time I was talking with a
group of people at a business that I did business with, it was a
customer of ours and it was just kind of a friendly chit chat among workers
and everybody was just in the conversation
was just kind of a pro-homosexual argument
and saying gay marriage is wonderful and homos are fine
and it was just all going that way, nobody would say anything against it
nobody would stand against it
and finally they turned to me and asked me what I thought about it
and this is just a friendly conversation, somebody asked me what I think I'm going to tell them
and I told them what I thought about it
and you know as soon as I came down against the homos
two or three other people said oh well you know I'm against it too
I'm against it too, I think it's gross, I think it's a sin
I think it's wrong, people who went to whatever church and they felt that in their heart
but nobody would say it until one person said it
and then about three other people piped up and this is how it is, you can't always
wait for other people and follow their lead, if you are in a place
where you're being asked to do something that is sinful
or you're participating in something sinful, you might have to be the Daniel that's the first
one to say no, when the dirty joke is being told
and everybody's laughing, you ought to be the one
to say hey we shouldn't joke like that, you know if you're in a church
group or something, you hear people telling the dirty joke or something
we shouldn't do this or whatever the case may be, fill in the blank with the sin
somebody's got to be the first one and when you lead
others will follow, when you take a stand for God, others will follow
when you say hey I'm going to go soul winning, people will say okay I'll come with you
but when you say I'm not going soul winning then
other people will probably be like me neither, you know it's a herd mentality
and we need leaders today who do not just go with the flow
that aren't just tossed to and fro with the waves of this life, Daniel stood up and just said
you know what, in my heart I've already decided I will not do it
I believe that if Daniel would have been to the point of death he would not have done it because we see that later in his life
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego got on board with him, these three young guys
they followed him as an example and they took
the same stands that he took, so it says in verse number 8
he purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the
portion of the king's meat, there's no compromise there, but then it says
nor with the wine which he drank, therefore he requested
of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself, now does that
sound as sure, requested that he might
but you see here's the thing, Daniel was just trying
to be wise because he had to be respectful to his boss
you don't want to go to work just guns a blazing, preaching that
boss a sermon about how he's wicked and you're telling me to lie
and you're doing all this, that's not your job, you're not the authority figure down there
we need to submit to authority on our job, and that's by the way how you're
going to succeed on the job, and that's what God wants you to do too, that the name of God
and his doctrine be not blasphemed, to be obedient to your masters according to the flesh
children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is right
and sometimes your parents could ask you to do something that's a sin
you shouldn't mouth off to them, you shouldn't yell at them and tell them off, you shouldn't get on the job
and be obnoxious and rude, Daniel was the strongest
man as far as his convictions that you'll find in the Bible, he would not
compromise, he never did compromise in chapter 1 and chapter 2
I mean he did not compromise, but notice he wasn't
just being rude or disrespectful either
he knew he wasn't going to do it, but he didn't approach it that way, he requested
that he might not defile it, you know if that didn't work he would have gotten more firm
obviously because he'd already decided he wasn't going to do it, a little bit of wisdom from the Bible here
how to handle things on the job, you know when your boss tells you to lie, don't do it
don't lie, obey God rather than men
but you don't have to mouth off to them, just do what's right and as much
as possible live at peace with all men, that's what Daniel's practicing here
it says in verse number 9, now God had brought
Daniel into favor and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs
so God looks down and sees Daniel's heart and so God
blesses him by giving him an understanding boss here who's going to
help him out, it says in verse number 10, and the prince of the eunuchs said
unto Daniel, I fear my lord the king, talking about Nebuchadnezzar, who hath appointed
your meat and your drink, for why should he see your faces
worse liking than the children which are of your sort, then shall ye make me
endanger my head to the king, so basically this guy Melzar says, look I want to help you
out here, I don't want to make you do anything that you think is wrong, I don't want you to go against your conscience
but I'm just following the orders that are coming down from above here, and you're going to make
me endanger my head like it's going to come off my body, is what he meant by that
because this guy Nebuchadnezzar didn't play around when it came to
people obeying him, and so he said, I don't know what to do here
because there's going to be a difference if you're not eating this
food that's been prescribed, this meat and wine
you're not going to come out as good and you're going to endanger my head to the king
now why was it that Daniel wouldn't eat these things and drink these things, well first
of all, the wine I believe must have been some kind of an alcoholic
beverage because of the fact that otherwise if it were just grape juice
why wouldn't he have drank this grape juice, I mean there's no
prohibition, the Bible actually encourages you to drink grape juice
to drink wine in the unfermented variety that's just juice
that's actually very good for you, it must have been some kind of an alcoholic beverage
I mean just from the rest of scripture, looking at it in a context, God tells us
look not on the wine when it is red, when it giveth its color
in the cup, when it moveth itself aright, for at the last it biteth like a serpent, stingeth
like an adder, thine eyes shall behold strange women, thy mouth shall utter perverse
things, so he says hey, I'm not going to drink this wine cooler, this Bartles and
James wine cooler, I'm not going to drink this alcoholic beverage, whatever it is, and then the meat
what was the meat, well at this time they were under the meat
restrictions, it could have been an unclean animal, that could have been what it was
because at this time they were only supposed to eat certain animals when they were living under the Mosaic law
but another thing that it could have been, look at Revelation chapter 2
Revelation chapter number 2
the Bible talks about another situation involving meat
you could look up also 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and see
this subject dealt with, but let's go to Revelation 2 where God
very clearly speaks here when it comes to meat that has been
offered in sacrifice unto idols, the Bible says
in verse number 20, he's speaking to the church of Thyatira, he says
notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest
that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess
to teach, and to seduce my servants to commit fornication
and to eat things sacrificed unto idols
so God is listing this as a sin here, he's talking about fornication
he's talking about eating things sacrificed unto idols, a little bit further down
in the same, I'm sorry a little bit further up
in the same chapter in verse number 14, it says, but I have a few things against thee
because thou hast of them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak
to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols
and to commit fornication, so according to 1 Corinthians 8 and 10
this was going on in the New Testament, this was a struggle that they had about meat
offered in sacrifice unto idols, but even back in the days of Balaam
which is going way back to the early days of the children
of Israel, before they were even in the promised land
Balaam was getting them to do this, and they were being
preached that it was a sin, and Balaam got them to eat meat that was
sacrificed to idols, and so that's probably what it was, if you go back to Daniel chapter 1
that's probably what it was, because we know that Nebuchadnezzar was worshipping
these great idols, he had these great molten images that he had set up
he had that house of false gods where he took all the things from the temple of Jerusalem and reinstalled them
and so it was probably meat that had been offered in sacrifice
unto idols, and some kind of an alcoholic beverage, and they're just saying look
we're not going to do this, we will not do it, so look
what Daniel says, he basically challenges the prince of the eunuchs
he says in verse 12, prove thy servants
I beseech thee, ten days
and let them give us pulse to eat and water to drink
then let our countenances be looked upon before thee
and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the kings meat, and as thou seest
deal with thy servants, so basically they said
we're not going to eat the meat, we're not going to drink the wine, but just give us ten days to prove
to you that we'll be healthier, and they ate pulse, pulse is basically lentils
beans, legumes, those type of things, they ate pulse
lentils, beans, legumes, they didn't have any meat in their diet
and they just drank water instead of drinking wine, and they ended up
coming out better because he said look, look at us after those ten days
and if we look worse than everybody else
then deal with us, he wasn't still going to eat the meat
he was just going to say do what you want, punish us, whatever you want to do
but he wasn't coming at them in that way
basically they had to do some praying here also
because they had to pray, because I believe here that God performed a miracle
you say well maybe it was just healthier what they were eating, that's possible too, maybe just
all those beans and legumes and lentils and peas, those aren't very good for you
I mean that is a healthy diet, and really water is the best drink that you could be drinking
in the Bible that's stated, and I drink a lot of water and I think that's the
healthiest drink that there is, so perhaps
it was just a better diet in the first place, or perhaps God stepped in here and performed
a miracle, but either way God made this work out to where
they actually looked better, it says in verse number
14, so he consented to them in this matter and proved
them ten days, so he tested them for those ten days, that's what the word proved means
to test them out, and at the end of ten days their countenances
or their faces appeared fairer and fatter in flesh
some of you, God's really blessing you, no I'm just kidding, but anyway, fairer and fatter in flesh
than all the children which did eat the portion of the king's meat, thus
Melzar took away the portion of their meat and the wine that they should drink and gave
them pulse, but look the bottom line is here, whatever it was, God
blessed the ones who stood up and did what was right, the ones
who went with the flow and said oh you know what, I know it's a sin
but I'm just going to do it just to fit in with the rest of the kids at school, or I'm just
going to do it just to fit in on the job, I know it's not right, I mean I know technically
it's against the Bible, but it's just a piece of meat right, what's the big deal
I know technically it's a sin, but I'm just going to go with the flow because
I've got to fit in here, I'm in a foreign country, I don't know what's going to happen
and so I better just compromise here just to make it good, but look
God protected and blessed the ones who stood up and would not
compromise more, you're always going to be better off
doing what's right, even if you have to take a stand
that no one else is taking, even if it seems like you're going to get in trouble, these guys
were afraid literally of losing their lives, because
they wouldn't have blinked an eye in Babylon of just killing these guys
because in the next chapter, chapter 2, they're going to be ready to kill
them and at the last moment their lives are going to be spared
when they interpret the dream for Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel chapter 2
and so we're to be obedient unto death the Bible says
He said be thou faithful unto death and I'll give thee a crown of life
I wonder if God is commanding us in Revelation to be
obedient unto death, if Jesus Christ was obedient unto death
if the Bible teaches us to never back down
and never compromise when it comes to our conscience, we have to do what's right
we should never deny Christ, we should never do something
that's against our conscience just because we're being forced to, if it's against the
Bible, I wonder if God expects us to be obedient unto death
I mean can we at least show up to church?
Is it that hard to show up to church if He expects us to be obedient unto death?
I mean is it that hard to pick up your Bible and read it every day?
It's harder, reading your Bible today when it's legal, how are you going to
read it when it's illegal? Going soul winning
today when it's legal and when we're protected by the first amendment to go out and knock doors
and preach the gospel and get the gospel, how are you going to go when it's illegal?
Hey it's legal, we have an open
door, I mean we have the freedom in our country to go out
and knock the doors and preach the gospel, I mean look if I'm a pastor in
2010 in the United States of America, technically I can say
whatever I want from this book and preach it and stand up and shout
it and I'm protected by law, supposedly
and yet how many preachers won't do it?
And if they made preaching
the truth on homosexuality illegal, 99% of preachers wouldn't have to
change a thing because they're not preaching it right when it's
illegal, let alone when it's illegal, we need to wonder
that if we're running toward persecution in this country, we don't know what's coming
there could be persecution coming ahead, there could be trials and tribulations
in our lives as Christians in the United States as our country becomes more wicked
how are you going to be prepared to take the stands that men like
Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego took if you can't even do right
now when it's easy, how are you going to do right when it's hard?
I mean it's easy to do right now
and if you can't do it now, you dead sure won't be able to do it when it's hard to do what's right
and so you've got to ask yourself, where is the strength
going to come from unless you're exercising yourself now
in doing what's right and so these guys were blessed
by God because they took the stand, they did what was right, they didn't compromise
and they ended up for three years and I'm sure
their meal wasn't as tasty, a bowl of bean soup every day and lentil soup is not
probably as tasty as a t-bone steak, right? I love lentil soup
but I don't know about every day for the next three years with no meat in it
and I like to drink a fruity drink besides a glass of water
I like to drink a glass of juice and a glass of milk
but these guys, they did what was right and God blessed them and
he kept them healthy even though they weren't getting what they could have
gotten from the meat and from the juice and so forth but he says in verse number 17
ask for these four children, now does this say
four men? four old men? four what?
children, are you listening children?
these children stood up and did what was right
and don't use your youth as an excuse today for why
you can't serve God or that when you grow up you're going to serve God, when you grow up
you'll do this, when you grow up you'll read the Bible, when you grow up you'll... you better start developing the habits now
and by the way
it would not be an unheard of thing for someone's children to be
taken captive in the United Socialist
States of America because there are people's children who are taken captive
I mean it does happen
and you know what, if my children were ever taken captive, I hope that they would be like
a Daniel and a Shadrach and a Meshach and a Abednego that would stand up
and do what was right no matter where they were
and so the Bible is clear here that children need to have
a backbone today in 2010, young people today need
to get their convictions now settled at age
8, at age 10, at age 12 what they believe
and they'll stand for it someday, let me tell you something, when I was a little child
I had some strong convictions when I was a little child
I remember when I was just a little boy, 6, 7, 8 years old
I had a Bible that was given to me by my parents and it was the King James Bible
but it was the Scofield reference Bible which is a piece of garbage
but all the notes in there are heresy and wicked
but you know I had the King James Bible, that was my Bible that was given to me as a small child
and I had that Bible and my parents had the same
exact Bible as me, they gave me one of their old tattered Bibles
and theirs was really nice and pristine and you know my mom's was red
my dad's was I believe black and then
mine was navy blue was my dad's old Bible
and I got that Bible and I remember I noticed in the back of my parents Bible
they had all these verses listed about different subjects
they had eternal security of the believer and they had a whole bunch of verses on
they had a whole bunch of verses about heaven, they had a whole bunch of verses about hell
they had verses that condemned drinking alcohol, they had verses
that proved the deity of Christ, they had verses about you know whatever
they just had a whole, I mean it was filled up with information because if anyone ever
challenged them on these things or asked a question about these things, they wanted to be able to pull out
their Bible and show them how to, and I remember I did the same thing
and I didn't want to copy the whole list, so I looked at that list and decided
which of these are the most important to me and I was just a little
child, I mean 6, 7, 8 years old and I wrote
on a list of which ones were the most important to me and I had that list
in the back of my Bible and I would talk to friends about those subjects
and pull out my Bible and show them that drinking was wrong
you know because they had drinking going on in their house and everything and I'd show their parents
that drinking was wrong and they didn't like that very much and they didn't want me to come over anymore but I would show
their parents that drinking was wrong, I remember I literally just got in contact
with an old friend of mine that I'd been friends with from
when I was in 4th grade and they said this is the one thing I remember
about you, you were always talking about how bad
Calvinism was and you were debating us that Calvinism was false when I was
9, I'm not kidding I was literally 9 and they
were arguing with me and they were 9 and I was telling them that Calvinism
is false, Jesus Christ died for everybody and I was
showing them the verses and I got them from my parents back in the Bible and I stood up
to them and said that it was false and
I'm not lifting up myself because I'd never won anybody to Christ until
I was 17 years old so I wasn't super Christian, I mean I was growing
up and nobody taught me soul winning and I didn't know how to win people to Christ and
I'd never got anybody saved until I was 17 years old and I was a worldly teenager
but you know I was a worldly teenager who hated Calvinism
you know and I was a worldly teenager who believed that drinking was wrong
and I was a worldly teenager who knew that hell was an eternal real place and I had all
the scriptures to prove it, look children listen to me
I'm preaching to the children right now, you ought to have your own walk
with God, you ought to have your own belief and faith from the Bible
and not just lean on your parents and not just lean on Pastor Anderson
and not just lean on Faithful Word Baptist Church, you don't know what's coming in your life
stand tall now, decide what you believe now
and know why you believe it and learn the Bible and memorize it and
love it and stand for it because you may not always have somebody to lean
upon and I'm sure Daniel probably thought he was going to live with his mom and dad
for the rest of his life and I mean until he got married but at least grow up
with them and get married and he had it all planned out but
boom, one day to the next, he's taken captive, he doesn't see his mom
he doesn't see his dad, he doesn't have his church, he doesn't have his pastor, he didn't have anything
except what was in his heart
God's Word, you think they let him bring a Bible with them? They didn't even
let him keep his name, they changed his name from Daniel to Belteshazzar
they gave him a new name, they tried to brainwash him with a
whole new education system, whole new belief system, you think that he was carrying around a Bible
with him? I don't believe he was, they're not
going to let him read the Bible, they're not letting him even eat what he wants
but you know what, you better get the Bible in your heart, you better get these hymns
in your heart, you better know who you are and what you believe, your parents could
pass away, children, what if your parents get in a car
accident or injury, I mean look, stranger things have happened
or what if your parents become liberal and
take you to the fun center, you know Calvary Baptist
worship fun center and take you out of this church
have you learned enough here that's going to
keep you a zealous, red hot, soul winning Christian for the rest of your
life or are you just going to become like everybody else and be watered down and compromised
and do everything that you're not supposed to do, I mean stop and
think about this children, listen to what I'm saying now, these were children
and they became great men of God
because of the fact that they stood for God while they were children
and so it should be a lesson to all of us and I hope my children are listening carefully
to what I'm preaching right now because those are the children that are the most important to me
obviously is their dad, I hope they're listening to what I'm saying right now and getting this
but it says in verse 17, as for these four children
God gave them knowledge and skill
in all learning and wisdom and Daniel had understanding
in all visions and dreams, now let me ask you, who wants to be smart
put up your hand if you want to be a smart person, you'd like to be an intelligent person
who thinks it's business, just stay dumb, stay dumb
ignorance is bliss, what I don't know can't hurt me
and much wisdom is much grief, he's an increase in knowledge, increase in sorrow
just I know enough, I mean look
let me tell you how you're going to get smart, the Bible says the fear of the Lord
is the beginning of wisdom but fools despise wisdom and instruction
knowledge and understanding, whatever it is, I mix it up, he said it so many times
and under changed those words so many different ways, he said this though
the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and then later he said the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge
and then a third time he said the fear of the Lord is the beginning of understanding
this is why the atheist has no understanding
he has no real knowledge, he has no wisdom
and if you ask him, he knows everything
you know, you talk to these atheists, they're the most cocky, pompous
arrogant people I've ever met and they know everything and they talk down to us
and they think Jesus Christ is the tooth fairy and we believe in the tooth fairy
and we're dumb and we're flat, we believe that the earth is flat
and all this stuff, you know what, but when we talk to them, we feel like they're dumb
you know what I mean, what they believe makes no sense
what they believe is not, I was just giving the gospel to an atheist recently
and he said, oh, you know, he just said, oh, well, the whole idea of Satan
you know, is ridiculous, you know, I think it's ridiculous that
anybody wouldn't believe in Satan, looking at the way the world is
and the way things operate, you know, I think it's ridiculous to say that there
is no God, that's why the Bible says the fool has said in his heart there is no God, but if you
ask these people, they know everything, but let me tell you something, God is the
source of knowledge and wisdom and I understand, Daniel, Shadrach
Meshach and Abednego, if you jump down to verse 20
it says in all matters of wisdom and understanding that the
king inquired of them, he found them ten times
better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his
realm, he looked at God's people, these young people
who loved God, stood for God and got their wisdom
from God because it says in verse 17, God gave them knowledge
and God is the one that gave them skill in all learning and wisdom, it was
ten times more intelligent than what the world had to offer
but I guess it's different today, right? The smarter
you are is where you go to the heathen and the world and they'll educate you
then you're smart, when you have the DD and
the BA and the BS after your name and in your head, you know, and
you have the AA and the PhD and
the ABCDEFG and the MICKYMOUSC
after your name, you know, now you're intelligent, now
you have understanding and knowledge, no my friend
go ahead and go down there, get your knowledge and your piece
of paper, you can hang it on the wall, but you know what, that's not going to give you knowledge
that piece of paper doesn't give you knowledge, I met so many people
I met people who had a degree, a four year degree in nutrition
and it's like, follow me to McDonald's, you know, follow me to Burger King
drink Diet Coke with me
you know, it's like
I asked somebody who had a four year degree in nutrition, I was like, tell me something about nutrition
he's like, I don't know, it's true
you know, just because you went to college and get your
degree doesn't mean that you know anything, it means that
you paid your money, you sat in the class, you got your political
social brainwashing session, you got exposed to the porno
and whatever garbage they showed you, they showed me porno when I was there
I don't know what they showed you, but they showed me porno in class and called it higher learning
it's more like you have to be high to think it's learning, you know, wherever
they're teaching you, and look, you say, well I don't like you preaching
did I ask what people liked, I don't remember
sitting around the Rick Warren questionnaire trying to figure out what people want to hear
it's true, knowledge comes from God
it doesn't come from that school
it comes from God, you know how you learn things, you read books
you read the Bible predominantly, you're filled with the Holy Spirit
you do what's right, and God will give you wisdom
and you'll do ten times better with the wisdom from this book
than with the piece of paper that comes from Devil State University, Tempe, Arizona
it's true, hey look, I've made tons of money
in my life, and I didn't get it from a
college degree, because I don't have a college degree
but you know what, I made a ton of money because I sought first the kingdom of God
and His righteousness, and God took care of me and provided my needs
because I worked by the sweat on my face
oh you're against education, no I'm for education, that's why I'm against the godless
public school system, because it's the furthest thing
from education, in fact I was thinking about this, who's been driving around
and seeing all these campaign signs everywhere, all over, see millions of
campaign signs, and I keep seeing this one for superintendent of public schools
you know, and have you ever gone to the polling booth and you don't know what to vote
for superintendent of public schools, you ever got there and you're like
my kids aren't in public school, I'm never gonna put my kids
in public school, like, do I really care who's the superintendent
of public school, and then you read their statement
and it's all garbage, every single candidate, so I decided I'm gonna do
a write in this year, I'm gonna do a write in candidate for superintendent of public schools
Satan, that's what I'm gonna put down, and in fact
I wanna make a sign, I wanna make a sign that says
re-elect Satan as superintendent of
public schools, experience you can trust
and then I'm gonna write him in
you say well what if he gets elected, then nothing's gonna change
you know, and I'm sorry, it's true
this statement
was not endorsed by Satan, it was not paid for by Satan's campaign to get re-elected
for a campaign, you know the little disclaimer
this, you know, you're not gonna hear Satan say I'm Satan and I approve
this message, you know what I mean, if it's coming from
faith-forward Baptist church, you know what I mean, so anyway, so I tell you that
but anyway, and look, am I saying that you're wicked
and godless if you go to any schooling or if you go to any
that's not what I'm saying, but you know what I am saying, you know, if you think
that that's where your knowledge is gonna come from, and if you think
I'm gonna go there to make more money, I just believe that I'm gonna make more money
just seeking first the kingdom of God all the time in everything I do
and I'm not saying that all training and all schooling is wrong
you know, I'm not saying that it's wrong to get vocational training and
but I am saying it's wrong to sit in some religion class
with some weird burnout hippie teaching you and blaspheming
Jesus Christ, you know that that's who teaches the religion class
it's some weird burned out hippie with like a Satan symbol and a Buddha
and a peace symbol and all this stuff, you know, and he's up there teaching you
religion and anthropology and you came from a monkey
and all this, it's paganism, it's garbage, it's filth
I sat in cultural geography class and they showed me naked women
on the video screen, they showed, we're learning about Japan
right, so they just have to show us girls in their twenties taking a bath in Japan
because we're learning about Japan
so we're gonna look at naked people in Japan, now, you know, that's not the first thing
I think of when I think of Japan, I think of like karate or
chopsticks, sushi, you know, but no, that's not what we learned about
we didn't learn any karate at all, you know, that would have been cool
no, we saw nudity, and I'm sorry, but you know what
it's true, I'm just telling you the truth, and you know, I'm not telling you what to do
do what you want to do, I'm just telling you the truth, but he says, as for these four children
God gave them knowledge and skill and all learning and wisdom, and Daniel had
understanding of all visions and dreams
verse 18, now at the end of the days that the king had said he should
bring them in, then the prince of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar
and the king communed with them, so he's not just communing with the
four here, he's communing with the whole group, the whole graduating class
if you will, from this, and you say, wait a minute, I know kids who went to public
school and they turned out right, so do I, I'll name four of them, Daniel
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, they went, I mean, they pretty much
they're in a public school here, I mean, they're being educated by the world, they're being educated by
God, not even, and did they turn out right?
But what about all the rest of them, did they turn out right?
No, because whenever they were bowing down to the golden image, there were only
you know, those three guys, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego standing up
it was only Daniel who was standing up to them, it was only those four that you read about standing up
to them, and look, I graduated from public school
okay, I'm not saying that if you're in public school
or that if you go to college, and I went to five years of college
okay, you know, because I switched my
focus because I went to, I was going for a math degree, then I switched to a Bible college
and so forth, so basically that's why I went for five years of credits, I completed
five years of college credits, and here I am, I mean
I still have some brain in my head left
but imagine what I could have had if I hadn't been
you know what I mean, imagine how fundamental I would have been, imagine how I would have preached
if they hadn't have gotten to me, but the thing that I'm saying is
yeah, you can turn out right, but you know, you can feed your kid
out of a garbage can, and they might be healthy, it's true
you can dig in the garbage can behind, you know
dig behind Whole Foods or something, you know, and then get organic food out of the trash
but if you dig out of the trash and feed your child
you know what, they might turn out healthy, but you know what, they're probably going to get sick
they're probably going to get diseased, don't you think, if they're eating out of a trash can
but some people will turn out okay, I mean, some people have done it and it worked
but is that how you gauge what you do with your children?
well, I, you know, some people have dropped their kid on their
on its head and it was fine, but that doesn't mean
you should drop your kid on their head, and so yes, I know that
some kids turn out right, and I pray to God, if you're in public school
or if you're in the university or if you're in college, I pray to God that you will be a
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, I pray to God you'll be a Daniel, and I'm not saying you can't
be a Daniel, but you know what, I don't want to be a Daniel
because I don't even want to be there, I don't even want to be made
a eunuch in the first place, and taken somewhere where I'm enslaved
and taken somewhere and brainwashed with the world, I'd rather be like
Josiah or one of these other guys who had freedom and did what was right, okay
but anyway, I just wanted to say that, but God gave them knowledge
God is the source of all knowledge and wisdom, let me hurry up for the sake of time
but he said they stood before the king, the king communed with them, the whole
group, the whole graduating class, and among them, all was found
none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, so were there any other
kids that were following the same program of righteous living? He said no
there weren't any others, he said there were these four in the whole group and no one
else was like them, you're always going to be in the minority when you're doing
what's right aren't you, when you're serving God, and he said and in all matters
of wisdom and understanding that the king inquired of them, he found them ten times
better than all the magicians and astrologers that were
in all his realm, and Daniel continued even under the first year of king Cyrus
just quickly let me say this in closing, he says here the magicians
and astrologers, is that something that we should be involved in?
No, I mean this is what the heathen, worldly, ungodly people were doing in contrast
to the four righteous young children here that are listed here, we shouldn't
be into astrology, you shouldn't be checking your zodiac
and the Leo and the Taurus and the Pisces and
you know, what's your sign and all this young guys, you know, you shouldn't be
even looking at that stuff, and I wouldn't even play with that stuff because it's
of the devil, and I wouldn't play around with it, you know, it starts out when you get a Milton Bradley game
that's called Ouija board, you know, and they sell it in the game section
to children, but it really is satanic, I mean you're really trying to deal with
unclean spirits and everything like that, and we ought to stay away from the occult
God condemns astrology in the Bible
he condemns witchcraft, sorcery, magic, and I'm not talking about
pulling a rabbit out of your hat and sawing someone in half and all that, I'm talking about
real magic, I'm not talking about a magic show where, you know, look
I can take my thumb off my hand and everything like that, I'm talking about
these kind of chanting of spells and witchcraft
and today it's being pushed upon our children at all levels
Harry Potter at this age, then they get them on Chronicles of Narnia, then they get them
on Twilight, you know, then they get them into, you know, whatever
and they basically are just pumping us full of occultism and witchcraft
and Satanism and sorcery, we ought to stay away from it
it's not what God's people are involved in, it says in verse 21, and Daniel continued even under the first
year of King Cyrus, say why is that significant? Because that's 70 years
70 years from when he was taken captive
unto the first year of Cyrus, 70 years, that's a long time
he lived a long and righteous
godly life, he stayed consistent, and it all started because when he was
young, when he was a child, he started to take stance
don't think children that you're just going to grow up one day and all of a sudden
when you turn 18, some magical switch is going to go off, all of a sudden you're ready
to govern your own life, you're ready to provide for a wife and children
you're ready to make your own decisions and be your own man, you know
I hope you are ready when you're 18, I'm not trying to hold you back
hey, when you're 18 and you're ready to live that life, that's what I hope
will be the case, but today we've got literally 22 year olds
23 year olds, 25 year olds, 27 year olds who are
juvenile and childlike, because there's no magical event that happens when you turn to your
18th birthday, you need to, if you want to be a man when you're 18
if you want to be a man when you're 19, when you're 20, you better
start working toward that now as a child, start developing your manhood
start strengthening your principles, start getting your own walk with God, not
his mom is saying read the bible, why don't you just pick up the bible and read it yourself
you know, without somebody having to tell you, why don't you get on your knees and pray
to God Almighty yourself, you know, why don't you take
it upon yourself to do what's right or to give the gospel to your friend on the playground
why couldn't you, my grandpa got saved because
a 5 year old boy on his street walked up to him, I said 5 years old
5, a 5 year old walked up to my grandpa
and quoted him the Romans wrote, and he didn't get
saved right there on the spot, but the seed was planted and that
Sunday, he said I'm going to that church because I'm impressed
that a 5 year old came up to me and quoted all this scripture, he went down there
he ended up getting saved less than a week after that 5 year old
quoted him those scriptures, and God
can use a 5 year old, and you 5 year olds that are here today, 7 year olds
8 year olds, listen up
because God wants to use you and he can't use you
unless you grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
and it's got to start at some time, he said who shall he
teach doctrine, who will he teach knowledge, he said them that are weaned
from the breasts, he said, he'll teach them line upon line
precept upon precept, here a little, there a little, he said he'll
start with the baby that is just finished being nursed by its mother
in the book of Isaiah, he said that's who God wants to start
forming and fashioning into the leader and the preacher and the man
of God and the woman of God and the woman soul winner of the next generation
he wants to start at that age, that's what the Bible says
children, he said suffer the little children to come unto me if such
is the kingdom of God, and children today
need to take heed to this message and we as parents need to get our
children and teach them to have a walk with God, let's bow our heads
and have a word of prayer, Father thank you so much for the story of Daniel chapter 1 that we
studied, I'm excited and looking forward to the next 11 weeks in the book of Daniel
looking at these 12 phenomenal chapters from your word
God please help us to be a Daniel and a Shadrach
and a Meshach and a Bendigo in situations where we need to stand up and be a Daniel
God help us not to put our children in a situation where they have to be a Daniel
or a Shadrach, God help us
to do what's right, to stand up, to not compromise and to realize
that if we really want to be smart, if we really want to be intelligent
and wise and knowledgeable, we're going to get it from the Bible
because it's going to come from you first and the world
second and probably not even at all in most cases
but God just please help us to not let these things just go in there and out the other
help us to learn this chapter, in Jesus' name we pray, Amen.