Music
Please take your seats and open your green hymnals up to page 264.
Welcome to Shure Foundation Baptist Church, page 264 in your green hymn books.
We'll sing Once for All, page 264.
Music
Page 264 in your green hymn books, Once for All on the first.
Free from the low, happy condition.
Jesus hath bled and there is remission.
Cursed by the low and bruised by the foe.
Grace hath redeemed us once for all.
Once for all, oh sinner receive it.
Once for all, oh brother believe it.
Plank to the cross the burden will fall.
Christ hath redeemed us once for all.
Now are we free there's no condemnation.
Jesus provides a perfect salvation.
Come unto me, oh here is sweet call.
Come and he saves us once for all.
Once for all, oh sinner receive it.
Once for all, oh brother believe it.
Plank to the cross the burden will fall.
Christ hath redeemed us once for all.
On the last, children of God, oh glorious calling.
Surely his grace will keep us from falling.
Passing from death to life at his call.
Blessed salvation once for all.
Once for all, oh sinner receive it.
Once for all, oh brother believe it.
Plank to the cross the burden will fall.
Christ hath redeemed us once for all.
Amen. Great singing.
Brother Joe, can you open us with a word of prayer?
Amen. We're doing favorites tonight.
Favorites, favorites, Green Him books.
Gabe, 226.
We're doing that one tonight.
It's the last one.
You got another one?
I'll come back to you.
Okay, 336?
Okay, 336.
Constantly abiding is 336 on the first.
There's a peace in my heart that the world never gave.
A peace it cannot take away.
Though the trials of life pace around like a cloud,
I've a peace that has come there to stay.
Constantly abiding, Jesus is life.
Constantly abiding, rapture divine.
He never leaves me lonely, whispers of so kind.
I will never leave thee, Jesus is mine.
186.
Jesus loves me.
187.
What?
187.
Okay, 187.
187G loves me on the first.
Jesus loves me, this I know.
For the Bible tells me so.
Little ones to Him belong.
They are weak, but He is strong.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
The Bible tells me so.
Sarah, 205.
He keeps me singing, page 205.
205 on the first.
There's within my heart a melody.
Jesus whispers sweet and low.
Fear not, I am with thee.
Peace be still.
In all life.
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.
Sweetest name I know.
Bells my every longing.
He keeps me singing as I go.
That's always been a tongue twister for me right there.
I don't know why.
Alana?
169 on the second.
Come thou fount.
Page 169 on the second.
Here I raise mine Ebenezer.
Hither by thy help I'm come.
And I know by thy good pleasure.
Safely I'll arrive at home.
Jesus saw me when a stranger.
Wandering from the fold of God.
He to rescue me from danger.
Interpose his precious blood.
Eli.
389 on the first.
Bring them in.
389 on the first.
Hark!
Tis the shepherd's voice I hear.
Out in the desert dark and drear.
Calling the sheep who've gone astray.
Far from the shepherd's fold away.
Bring them in.
Bring them in from the fields of sin.
Bring them in.
Bring the wondering ones to Jesus.
Remy.
150.
Age 150.
My faith has found a resting place.
On the first.
My faith has found a resting place.
Not any vice nor creed.
I trust the ever living one.
This words for me shall plead.
I need no other argument.
I need no other plea.
It is enough that Jesus died.
And that he died for me.
Sherry.
250.
15.
215.
Heaven came down in glory filled my soul.
Made some new heart and it told me.
On the first.
Oh what a wonderful, wonderful day.
A day I will never forget.
After I'd wandered in darkness away.
Jesus my savior I met.
Compassionate friend.
He met the need of my heart.
Shadows dispelling with joy I am telling.
He made all the darkness depart.
Heaven came down in glory filled my soul.
When at the cross the savior made me whole.
My sins were washed away.
And my night was turned to day.
Heaven came down in glory filled my soul.
Good.
144 on the third.
Page 144, a mighty fortress is our God.
The 144 on the third.
And though this world with devils filled.
Should threaten to undo us.
We will not fear for God hath willed.
His truth to triumph through us.
The prince of darkness grim.
We tremble not for him.
His rage we can endure.
For lo his doom is sure.
One little word shall fail him.
Sheila.
47.
Page 47.
Let the sun shine in my heart.
Page 47 on the first.
I remember the time when I first saw you.
When I first knew the savior.
When the sunlight a blessing so flooded my heart.
Oh the sweetness of first love with Jesus so near me.
And I thought so much devotion would never depart.
Let the sun shine again.
Let the flowers bloom again.
Stir the embers of love in my heart.
Holy spirit reprove and embrace me again.
Let the sun shine again in my heart.
Two more.
Two more tonight.
Brother Ramon.
Two sixteen.
Surely give us some mercy.
Page 216 on the second.
He restoreth my soul when I'm weary.
He giveth me strength day by day.
He leads me beside the still waters.
He guards me step up the way.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me.
All the days, all the days of my life.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me.
All the days, all the days of my life.
And I shall dwell in my house of the Lord forever.
And I shall peace at the table spread for me.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me.
All the days, all the days of my life.
CJ.
374.
Send the light.
Page 374.
Send the light on the bird.
There's a call comes ringing o'er the restless waves.
Send the light.
There are souls to rescue.
There are souls to save.
Send the light.
The blessed gospel light.
Let it shine from shore to shore.
Send the light.
The blessed gospel light.
Let it shine forevermore.
Now it's time to have our announcements.
Sure.
Let's take our bulletins and go through some announcements.
If you need a bulletin, just lift up your hand
and we'll have the ushers be happy to bring you one.
On our front cover, we have our verse of the week.
It says, he only is my rock and my salvation.
He is my defense.
I shall not be greatly moved.
Psalm chapter 62, verse 2.
Our service times are 10 30 a.m.
on Sunday morning, Sunday evening, 3 30.
And we are still going through our series pictures
of the Antichrist.
We'll be talking about Nebuchadnezzar tonight.
Thursday Bible study is a new book we're going to be in.
But they're at 6 30.
Our Bible studies are at 6 30 on Thursdays.
And I'll be in a new book.
And it's going to be a surprise.
So you just have to be here to find out what it is.
And we'll both be surprised together.
Anyway, soul wanting times are listed below.
We did have soul wanting today.
And I do believe we had one salvation.
Dr. Drew got one today.
So the area hasn't been a bad area.
I mean, it's not like ultra receptive.
But like I met two saved people when I was out.
And I think some other people met some saved people out there
while we were out there, too.
So that's good that there's some saved people out there.
Definitely different walks of life
and different life situations.
But, you know, if you're saved by believing in Jesus only,
then you're saved, right?
So anyway, so praise God for the one that got saved.
And then the baptisms.
We're really behind on our baptisms.
That's my fault.
But 62 plus.
And then brother Ian baptized one again today.
That's plus one, plus one in Spokane.
So that's a lot.
So anyway, I just write down notes for later.
But anyway, so I can yell at Ryland.
But August 26th or 27th, it's actually just the 27th.
Tacoma, Seattle, soul wanting trip.
And brother Neb is picking a place for us to go.
So we'll have some more details here coming up soon about that.
And then September 29th through October 1st
is going to be the Yakima soul wanting trip.
I may extend that a day.
I might make it Wednesday through Saturday.
I'm still thinking about that.
But for now it's Thursday through Saturday.
And I'm planning on preaching on one of the nights that we're there.
So maybe I'll preach on a Friday night
or I'm not sure which night for sure.
But I'll be preaching up there.
And then October 28th and 29th is the Blaine soul wanting border crossing event.
So we'll do some soul wanting in Blaine.
And then on the 29th, which is Saturday,
we're going to have a service where we have people from Canada
in our church and our church,
anybody that wants to go up there and travel up there
or anybody that wants to go there from any surrounding areas
more than welcome to attend.
It's not crossing the border.
We call it that.
But it's really the USA owns that land.
And we allow the Canadians to come there at the same time.
So I'll have to bring an eagle with me next time I come.
But no, they just allow Canadians and Americans to be in the same place
without having to go through customs and border patrol and all that kind of stuff.
So anyway, all the rest of this stuff you know.
We sang Happy Birthday.
I'm going to try to get through these quickly so we can get into the sermon.
But that's all I got for announcements.
Let's sing another song.
We'll receive the offer.
All right, let's turn to page 334 in a green inbox.
We're going to sing Make Me a Blessing, page 334.
Page 334, Make Me a Blessing.
Page 334 on the first.
Out in the highways and byways of life
Many are weary and sad
Hairy the sunshine where darkness is ripe
Making the sorrowing glad
Make me a blessing
Out of my life may Jesus shine
Make me a blessing
O Savior, I pray
Make me a blessing
Too soon, more than today
Tell the sweet glory of Christ and his love
Tell of his power to forgive
Others will trust him if only you prove
True every moment to live
Make me a blessing
Out of my life may Jesus shine
Make me a blessing
O Savior, I pray
Make me a blessing
Too soon, more than today
I'll bless
Give as was given to you in your need
Love as the master loved you
Be to the helpless, a helper in need
Unto your mission be true
Make me a blessing
Out of my life may Jesus shine
Make me a blessing
O Savior, I pray
Make me a blessing
Too soon, more than today
Make me a blessing
O Savior, I pray
Make me a blessing
O Savior, I pray
Make me a blessing
O Savior, I pray
Make me a blessing
O Savior, I pray
Make me a blessing
O Savior, I pray
Make me a blessing
O Savior, I pray
Make me a blessing
O Savior, I pray
Make me a blessing
O Savior, I pray
Make me a blessing
Daniel 3
Daniel 3, the Bible reads, Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits.
He set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon.
Nebuchadnezzar the king sent together the princes, the governors, and the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.
Then the princes, the governors, the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, were gathered together into the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up, and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up.
Then an herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages, that at what time you hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbutt, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music, you fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up, and whoso falleth not down and worshipeth, shall the same hour be cast in the midst of a burning fiery furnace.
Therefore at that time, when all the people heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbutt, psaltery, and all kinds of music, all the people, the nations, and the languages, fell down and worshiped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.
Wherefore at that time certain Chaldeans came near and accused the Jews, they spake and said to the king Nebuchadnezzar, O king, live forever, thou, O king, has made a decree that every man that shall hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbutt, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, shall fall down and worship the golden image, and whoso falleth not down and worshipeth that he should be cast in the midst of a burning fiery furnace.
There are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the fairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, have not regarded thee. They serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.
Then Nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Then they brought these men before the king. Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, do not ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up?
Now if ye be ready, that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbutt, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made.
Well, but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast in the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace, and who is that god that shall deliver you out of my hands?
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our god whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.
But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.
Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
Therefore he spake and commanded that they should heat the furnace seven times more than it was wont to be heated.
And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace.
Then these men were bound in their coats, their hosen, and their hats, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.
Therefore, because the king's commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down, bound, into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.
Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was a star knight, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellors,
Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king.
He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.
Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spake, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the Most High God, come forth, and come hither.
Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came forth of the midst of the fire.
And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king's counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their heads singed.
Neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them.
Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel to deliver his servants that trusted in him,
and have changed the king's word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god except their own god.
Therefore I make a decree, that every people, nation, and language, which speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut into pieces,
and their houses shall be made a dunghill, because there is no other god that can deliver after this sort.
Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon.
Brother Robert, will you pray for us?
Amen. Before we start the sermon, though, I want to sing Happy Birthday to Brother Alex.
He wasn't here when we sang earlier, so I just wanted to make sure to sing Happy Birthday.
So your birthday's on Wednesday, right?
Sing Happy Birthday to Brother Alex.
Happy Birthday to you.
Happy Birthday, God bless you.
Happy Birthday to you.
Alright, let's get into the sermon.
The pilot sermon tonight is Pictures of the Antichrist Nebuchadnezzar.
So we're going to cover Nebuchadnezzar.
I've already preached two sermons out of this series, and thus far we've looked at Nimrod, whose beginnings of his kingdom was at Babel.
And then we've looked at Pharaoh, the Pharaoh of Exodus, the one that went against the children of Israel and Moses.
And then now we're going pretty far into the future from there to Nebuchadnezzar in the book of Daniel.
Nebuchadnezzar is mentioned throughout the Bible in various different places.
I'm not going to have time to go through every single mention, so I just wanted to mainly preach out of Daniel chapter 3 tonight, and we'll get some pictures.
And what I've been trying to do is like, obviously every single one is picturing the Antichrist as the one ruler that's to come to be the actual Antichrist.
Again, there's many Antichrists, there's many people in the Bible that picture the Antichrist, but there's only one of the Antichrists, and he is yet to come.
But this man, Nebuchadnezzar, who was the ruler and the head of gold in the statue, the image that he had this dream about, and Daniel reveals to him what the dream means.
And so let's back up to Daniel chapter 2 and we'll look at that.
So point number 1, Nebuchadnezzar pictures the one world ruler to come. Again, all of them do, but he also rules over the city-state of the nation of Babylon.
In the end times, there's going to be an end times Babylon, and it's going to be called the same exact name as this Babylon here.
So the first nation of this image is Babylon, but the end thereof is also, there's going to be a Babylon in the end times.
So now let's look at Daniel chapter 2 verse 36. The Bible says, and so I'm not going to go through the whole thing, but the dream is that he has this dream about this image,
and then there's, you know, all these different aspects of this image, and basically Nebuchadnezzar is going to kill everybody.
That's kind of his policies, this like, kill them all and let God sort them out kind of guy.
And so he's going to kill everybody, and so Daniel's head is on the chopping block, and also the other children of Israel that are his wise counselors.
And basically they, he doesn't necessarily do it to save all the other people, but he's, you know, he does save everybody basically by interpreting this dream.
Now it says in verse 36, this is the dream, and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king.
Thou, O king, art a king of kings. Now notice it doesn't say the king of kings. The king of kings is only one man, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.
But it says, thou art a king of kings. So he's a king that's like more, he's just a greater in glory and splendor and power than most other kings, right?
For the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength and glory.
And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all.
Thou art this head of gold. So he rules basically over the whole known world at this time, and he's, God's saying that wherever men, the children of men dwell,
which would say to me that it's all over the whole face of the earth in reality, but this is how he pictures the Antichrist because the Antichrist is going to at one point rule over all the world.
Now part of his reign will probably be under one kingdom or whatever, and then the time when there's the ten kings that rise up, those ten kings and the days of those ten kings is when the Antichrist is going to be ruling over the whole world for forty-two months.
So, anyway, it says in verse 39, and after these, after thee shall rise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass which shall bear rule over all the earth.
So of course we know that the second one is the Medes and the Persians, and the third one is the Greek Empire, and it says in the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron, this is the Roman Empire.
Forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things, and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.
And whereas thou saw the feet and toes part of potter's clay and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided, but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.
And as the toes of the feet were part iron and part clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly broken.
Now this part where it's talking about the toes, these toes is a yet to become future, and it'll explain that as I go through the sermon, you'll see where it actually interprets that for us, but these toes come out of the Roman Empire.
They're all kind of birds of the same, they're all birds of the same feather, these different kingdoms. They might have differences in them, but they are part of this world system.
Anyway, it says, and whereas thou saw iron mixed with miry clay, verse 43, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men, but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.
Oh, and here it is right here. And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed. Has that happened yet?
It has not happened yet. Now obviously we are part of the kingdom of God as Bible-believing Christians, but the kingdom has not fully come yet.
The kingdom of heaven will, God will set, the God of heaven set up a kingdom of heaven which shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.
So this has not happened yet. Would you agree with that? You should agree with that because it hasn't happened.
So, verse 45 says, for as much as thou sawest the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it break in pieces, the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great God hath made known it to the king that what shall come to pass hereafter, and the dream is certain in the interpretation thereof sure.
So the reason I read all that to you so that you'd understand that he does picture the one world ruler. God says, you know, Daniel tells him that he's a king of kings, and these other kingdoms that have come along are inferior to him.
Nebuchadnezzar is talked about a lot in the Bible. He's talked about in Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Isaiah alludes to him, many other passages. He's also called Nebuchadrezzar.
I think it's in the book of, I want to say it's in Ezekiel, but anyway, it's spelled differently, but it's the same guy, okay?
So this man will be like Nebuchadnezzar in the fact that he rules over the whole world, and his kingdom shall be in a time that is yet to come.
This ten-toed kingdom that's iron mixed with clay is going to be that ten-toed kingdom where he rules in.
Now he still rules in some way, shape, or form under another nation, but then once he becomes the world ruler, that's going to kind of change everything.
So anyway, let's look at Revelation chapter 16 verse 19. I just want to show you a couple scriptures about the end times Babylon.
So it's just really interesting how it calls this end times Babylon in the New Testament. It talks about it in Revelation chapter 14, and then it talks about it in Revelation chapter 16, verse 19.
It says in the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and great Babylon came in remembrance before God to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
So in the end times there's going to be this whore of Babylon basically, and what this whore has done throughout the ages is going to come to remembrance before God, and there will be a final judgment pronounced upon it.
Now a lot of people say it's just a spiritual kingdom, but is that really true because it's kind of partly spiritual and it's also, you know, I'm not saying spiritual in a good way, it's in a bad spirit, but there's also a nation that it rides, okay, this Babylon spirit rides different nations.
And, you know, some of these nations start out okay, or maybe they have good parts about them, but then they end up turning totally wicked and God ends up destroying them.
Because the devil just wants to use the things of this world and the systems of this world and the governments of this world and the nations of this world and the people of this world for his own agenda, and he just uses and abuses them and gets rid of them.
Now let's look over at Revelation chapter 17 verse 5. So Nebuchadnezzar is the world ruler over Babylon, and again Babylon was a city, it was one of the seven wonders of the world, supposedly the hanging gardens of Babylon, we have no evidence of, you know, we have drawings of it from hundreds or thousands of years later.
But the splendor of Babylon was known in the ancient world as, you know, that had these hanging gardens or whatever, the seventh, one of the seven wonders of the world.
But it was a city, but it also encompassed the whole land of Shinar as part of its, you know, so it's basically, so back then cities would be considered like city states, and so like Jerusalem was the capital of Israel or whatever,
but also, you know, there was all the encompassing parts of Israel to it, but Babylon was a city state but also controlled a lot of area and dominated a lot of area around it, and then of course they ruled the whole world at a certain point in time when Nebuchadnezzar was around.
So Revelation 17, 5 says, and upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.
That doesn't sound very good, does it? The mother of harlots. So, you know, this is the mother of all, to me it is a system of wickedness, and it's called a woman, when I read to you a couple weeks ago,
or it was probably more than a couple weeks ago, and the first sermon I talked to you about in Zechariah where it just has this woman, this woman that's called wickedness, and it's put into an ephah, and these two women with stork-like wings carry this over to the land of Shinar from Assyria,
and, you know, this is what I believe it's talking about, it's this wickedness that goes and attaches itself to these nations, and it says it's the mother of harlots.
So, and harlotry is usually, has to do with like, you know, people whoring and going after other gods and different religions when there's one true God.
And so the children of Israel were always whoring after the gods of the nations around them, and it really angered and upset him, so this is the mother of harlots.
This is the, this is mama, okay? And then also it's mother of the abominations of the earth. So what would, you know, when it says the abomination of Moab, or the abomination of whatever nation it is, it's talking about an idol.
It's like an idol or a statue that they worship and say, this is your god. This is Marduk, or this is whatever, these other different types of abominations.
So in a sense, this is the mother of false religion. This is the mother of abominations of the earth, but it always attaches itself to a power, and so if there's a world power, then that harlotry is going around the whole world.
Now, what do we see today in the world? We have, there's harlotry and abominations all around the earth, isn't there?
And if you were to say today, who is that, who is that one that's like basically, you know, kind of ruling over and dominating everything, it's the United States of America.
So, but I'm not preaching about that, I just kind of wanted to throw this in here and just, you know, God's going to judge this Babylon, but it's more than just a nation, it is a spirit also.
It's a spirit of wickedness, it's a spirit of false religion and harlotry, not just like being a literal whore, it's talking about like the whoredoms of religious things, right?
And it says, and I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus, and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
So, this woman is responsible for martyrdom. So, now obviously you would say that the Pharisees and Sadducees and the Jewish religion right now is an anti-Christ religion,
and they've been drunken with the blood of the saints, but other religions have done it too. Other nations have done it too.
Now let's look at Revelation chapter 18 verse 2. Revelation chapter 18 verse 2. And so Babylon's a big, it's a big chunk of the end of Revelation.
It's mentioned in chapter 14, it's mentioned in chapter 16, it's mentioned, you know, it basically takes up chapter 18, you know, the whole chapter 18 is basically about that.
So, and I'm just going to read a few verses out of chapter 18. It says,
It sounds like a place that we probably don't want to visit, right? So, this place that's, you know, and it is a place because it says that it's a city.
Okay? And cities can be states. Cities can be nations in the Bible. Look at verse 10. It says,
So not only is it this wickedness and this mother of harlots and mother of abominations of the earth, but it's also a city.
It's a nation of some sort. Now look at Revelation 18, 21. It says,
So this is a separate judgment from what the ten kings that rule the whole world with the Antichrist.
Those ten toes represent ten kings and the Antichrist is of the seven kings, but is the eighth king.
So, I don't want to confuse you too much, but that's just kind of what the Bible says about them.
So Babylon is this whore, but it also represents a city that will be in that time during the end times.
So it's not just a city or a nation, but a nation filled with spiritual harlotry, wickedness, Satanism, and abomination.
Let's look at Revelation chapter 19. And people, you know, people differ on their opinions on what they think Babylon is.
I personally believe it's the United States. That's my personal belief. And I know that other people have different beliefs.
Some people think it's like Israel or Jerusalem. But Jerusalem is going to be ruled and reigned by the Lord Jesus Christ
for all, you know, that's where he's going to rule from. So if it's destroyed and the smoke of their torment is lasting forever,
it's kind of hard to rule in a place that's totally destroyed like that. So I don't believe that it's Israel.
I don't believe it's Jerusalem. But they are definitely wicked. It says they're like Sodom and Egypt.
So, Babylon is, you know, Sodom and Egypt is bad enough to say that that's what Jerusalem is, but it doesn't say Babylon, does it?
Now, Revelation 19 says,
And again they say,
And then what happens right after this? The Lord Jesus Christ comes with all the saints with him. He destroys the antichrist.
He destroys the false prophet. He throws the, casts him into the lake of fire alive. And then he kills their whole army.
So Babylon is a separate thing from this event. This event takes place after, in Revelation 19, the event of Christ coming back,
you know, and his slaying them with the sword of his mouth. That is not Babylon. Babylon's already been destroyed at this point, right?
16, 17, 18, 19 is where they're like rejoicing over the fact that Babylon's destroyed. But then there's, you know, this other judgment that happens.
This is the judgment of the ten kings and the judgment of the antichrist and the false prophet. See, the ten kings hate the whore.
They hate that spiritual, you know, and God puts it in their heart to hate that whore and to destroy Babylon to fulfill his will.
So that destruction of Babylon, you know, a lot of people think it could be, you know, like a nuclear war where all these nukes are being blasted upon,
you know, whatever, you know, whatever that Babylon city is, which again I believe is the United States.
But then there's still the rest of the world going on and these kings are coming to Jerusalem, we've read through this,
where they come to Jerusalem to try to fight Jesus himself, which is a really stupid mistake on their part, a really stupid move.
But it's like, I think that it's almost like kamikaze, you know, airplane fighters. Like they would come and just like fly into aircraft carriers and stuff in World War II and they call them kamikaze.
It's like maybe they just realized they're going to get smoked anyway, so we might as well just like do what we can. Or maybe the devil deceives them and, you know, they have all this power that they've been given.
And they've been just massacring everybody, bringing more people under the mark, you know, just totally dominating the world while God's destroying it through his wrath, by the way.
And then they're just like, let's just go for Jerusalem one last time and it's like, they get destroyed, right?
So I know that was a really long first point, but point number two might not be, it'll be shorter.
Alright, so point number two tonight, I just wanted to explain that a little bit, you know, and some people have just differing opinions on who Babylon is and some of the main details.
But, you know, we've got to always go by what the Bible says. We might not know all the answers, but, you know, there's some pretty clear statements being made here.
It's not just a spiritual spirit that is all around the world necessarily, but it's a spirit that attaches itself to other nations.
Number two, Nebuchadnezzar pictures how Antichrist will set up an image.
So this is new territory. I don't want to just keep saying the same things in every sermon, but these different people represent different parts of the Antichrist.
In case you haven't noticed that, there's different parts that they fulfill or that they picture of the Antichrist.
Let's turn back into our text to Daniel chapter number three. Let's look at verse number one. The Bible says,
And Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold.
So remember, I just showed you chapter two where he says, you're the image of gold.
And so he's all happy, he promotes Daniel. Daniel's like, okay, coup, I'll take my gold chain, I'm going to go hang out or whatever.
And then, you know, he promotes Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego too at the same time.
And so these Christian people, you know, are within the government now. They work for the government.
And they, you know, their boss is Nebuchadnezzar, the king.
So, but what's the king do with all, you know, after saying that, you know, don't speak bad about the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, don't speak about the God of Daniel.
And what's he do? Well, he says, well, you know, I'm just going to set up an image.
So, he's told he's the image of gold, and so he's like, well, I'm just going to make an image of gold.
Isn't that what the Antichrist does though too?
You know, Paul's prophet makes the image of gold, but it doesn't matter, he still sets it up.
Look what it says, Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold whose height was three score cubits, and the breadth thereof, six cubits.
He set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon.
So, just some quick things here, I notice it doesn't say 666 or three score, you know, it doesn't say, it doesn't add up to 666, but it's still similar, isn't it?
It's still similar language, so again, this stuff is a picture, it's not a picture perfect thing of the Antichrist, but it's just interesting how it's three score cubits,
you know, six cubits, he set it up, right, in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon.
Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the princes, the governors, and the captains, and the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces,
to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.
So it's like an old IFB church meeting, where they're having all the police officers, and military, and the Jews, and everybody comes and they all worship the flag or whatever.
But anyway, Daniel 3.3 says, then the princes, the governors, the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces,
were gathered together onto the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.
So he calls them together, they come, and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up.
And so, you know, in the end times there's going to be this 666, this mark in the hand or the forehead that you have to have in order to work, or to buy, or to sell.
And to me this picture is like that reprobate army that the Antichrist is going to set up, because you're not going to be able to be a sheriff, or a counselor, or a treasurer,
or a governor, or anything in that government unless you take that mark in your hand or your forehead.
And in this case it's your bowing down to the image that he sets up. We'll see that here in a minute, but let's look at Matthew 24 verse 15.
So how is it like the image that's set up in the end times? Well, and it says that Nebuchadnezzar had set up.
Alright, so in Matthew 24 verse 15 it says,
When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place.
Whoso readeth, let him understand. That's talking about anybody that just read that right now, God wants you to understand this.
Now let's look at Mark chapter 13 verse 14. So it doesn't say that it was set up, but we'll see where it does say that in other scriptures.
Matthew chapter 13 verse 14. Jesus is telling us that when this abomination of desolation happens, this is when an image is put, it's set up into the temple.
And it's not just a regular image, this image is caused to be brought to be alive somehow.
And it's able to kill people, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's look at Mark 13 verse 14, it says,
But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, let him that readeth understand it.
Then let them that be in Judea flee to the mountains. So this is something that Jesus mentioned multiple times.
Now let's go to Daniel chapter 11 where the Bible actually talks about this abomination of desolation.
So Daniel chapter 11 verse 31, the Bible says,
And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.
So they're going to place it there. In Matthew 24, 15 it says stand in the holy place. In Mark 13, 14 it says standing where it ought not.
And then you have in Daniel 11, 31 where it says they shall place it there. All these are different ways of saying they set this thing up.
Just like Nebuchadnezzar set it up, right? Look at Daniel chapter 12 verse 11. Just turn your Bible one page over or maybe it's on the same place where you're at.
Daniel chapter 12 verse 11 says,
And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate, what's it say there? Set up, doesn't it?
Shall be 1290 days. So how is this image, you know, a picture that we're reading in Daniel chapter 3, it's a picture of this image that's going to be set up.
And where is it going to be set up? In the temple, okay? And so, you know, this word set up is the same language that it talks about where Nebuchadnezzar set up this image
in this golden, you know, the image that he basically saw in his dream or whatever.
Now look at one more verse over here in Revelation chapter 13. Go ahead and turn to Revelation 13 verse 14.
This is how the image is different. So again, we're looking at pictures of the Bible, things that are, you know, similar to things that are going to happen in the future.
God's trying to teach us in these things. So, but there's only going to be one image like this. This is a unique image.
It says in Revelation 13, 14, it says,
And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast,
saying to them that dwell on the earth that they should make an image to the beast which had the wound by a sword and did live.
So this image that they set up, we're going to see later on here as I go back to these scriptures,
but when I go back to Revelation, if you want to put your bookmark there, we'll come back to it.
But we're jumping all around here anyway. So Revelation 13, 14 says that, you know, there's going to be an image set up for the beast.
This is the Antichrist, and that, you know, it's basically to celebrate the fact that he had a wound by a sword and did live.
So the Antichrist dying and rising again, trying to be like Jesus or whatever.
So number three tonight, I want to look at Daniel, go back to Daniel chapter 3,
but point number three is Nebuchadnezzar's story in Daniel pictures how anyone that will not take the mark of the beast or worship him will be killed.
So it's not enough that they're just setting up this image which is blasphemy enough,
but then there's going to be this great tribulation that Jesus talked about.
He said, after this image is set up, this is the halfway point of the final seven years.
In that time after that, there's going to be a great tribulation like was never seen in the whole world nor ever will be seen.
Okay? So that is what's going to happen when the beast image is set up.
It's going to have a lot of things that are hard to explain for us because we really haven't seen anything quite like this.
We see robots that can do all these things now.
And so maybe it's some kind of a robot that seems to be alive or they're going to say it's alive or maybe it really will be alive.
You know, they're going to be able to do signs and wonders that they've never been able to do before in the end time.
So what Moses' nemesis did, they could only go so far with it.
But in the end times, it seems like their deception might be able to be ramped up a little bit and one of those things is making this image that seems alive.
But anyway, Daniel 3.4 says,
Shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.
So if you won't worship this image, you were killed. You were put to death. You were thrown into a fiery furnace.
Look at verse 7.
Therefore at that time when all the people heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sack-foot, psaltery and all kinds of music,
all the people, the nations, the languages, and the languages fell down and worshipped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.
So what does that remind you of? That should remind you of the fact that a bunch of people of all nations of the world are going to take this mark.
And they're going to worship the image. They're going to worship the beast. They're going to worship the dragon that gives power unto all these things.
Now let's turn back to Revelation 13. If you kept your place there, good job, but otherwise you're going to have to turn.
You can keep your place in Daniel because we will be coming back to Daniel chapter 3.
I'll be like Pastor Mendez and he'll have ribbons and bookmarks in every single part of the Bible here.
That's not a slight against him. He does a great job at that, but I just forget.
So anyway, Revelation 13 verse 15, the Bible says,
And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak,
and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
That's a lot of power, isn't it? This image that's set up, you know, he had power to give life to it.
So it has life, apparently. And the image of the beast should both speak, so that it's able to talk,
and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. Isn't that like what's going on in our story in Daniel chapter 3?
Anybody that will not worship the image of the beast is what's going to happen to them. They're going to be killed.
But this is going to be that image on steroids because this image, you know, can talk, it's alive,
it knows when people are worshiping them or not. That's kind of scary.
And it says,
And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand or in their foreheads,
and that no man might buy or sell save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Here's wisdom! Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is six hundred, three score and six.
So there's a similarity, you know, not the exact same number. I get that.
But there are pictures that will come later on that will actually match that number. But it is similar.
So, anyway, so this image is a different image. You know, God always rebukes people for worshipping them, making their own God, basically.
They carve it out themselves, they paint it, they put all the stuff on it, and then they put it, they set it up somewhere.
They might even nail it down so it won't fall over, and then they bow down and worship it.
But this image, they're going to be like, well this image is different. This image is worthy of worship or whatever, and it's like somebody else is going to give literal life and all this other stuff towards it.
So, now turn forward in your Bible to Revelation 14 verse 9. Revelation 14 verse 9.
Now there's a huge punishment from God. You know, someone that bows down to an idol in the Old Testament and then gets it right,
they're not necessarily a reprobate. It is the road of reprobation. There's no doubt about that.
But this specific image, or these marks that God is talking about, if you receive those marks, there is no salvation for you at that point.
You've crossed over to becoming an instantaneous reprobate.
And I know that there's people out there that teach that that's not true, that you still could be saved because there's no, you know, they just like to twist scripture, but let's look what the Bible says.
Verse number 9.
And he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.
So no, it's not eternal separation from God like all these people want to say. It's eternal punishment in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.
Quit saying that unbiblical garbage. It's not true. But then they'll say, well, you can because the only thing that's unforgivable is blasphemy against the Holy Ghost.
But I would say if you're going to, you know, you've obviously crossed the line. God considers it blasphemy of the Holy Ghost. It's unforgivable.
Okay, so now it says in verse 11,
666. We don't know what that name is necessarily, but we'll know at some point.
Okay, but, you know, not having rest day or night means you're in hell and you're going to be in hell for all eternity and the smoke of your torment is going to ascend up forever and ever.
So, there's a lot of bad things associated with this. Now, in the Nebuchadnezzar story, anybody that wouldn't bow down to worship, just the golden image he made was put to death.
But see, people could see everybody that wouldn't bow down. And so, let's move on to point number four here.
He could see everybody that would, you know, they could see who didn't bow and who did. But this image, this is going to be a lot more sophisticated.
And so apparently it's going to know whether you're doing it or not. And anybody that doesn't take the mark is going to be chased and hunted down.
Okay, so you're going to be on the amber alert, the Christian alert. There's going to be the silver alert, the amber alert, and then the Christian alert.
Don't think that that isn't part of it, folks. It is. There's a system that's being put into place to where they're going to be able to track us wherever we go, whatever we do, whatever we do online, whatever social media post we have.
But you know, God can still hide us. Number four tonight, his story, Nebuchadnezzar's story, pictures the persecution of the Christians that are unwilling to bow down to the beast or to the image.
Okay, so it's a picture of what's going to happen in the future where you're literally going to be hunted down for not taking this mark.
So it's a picture of those that are unwilling to bow, and what were they, they're unwilling to bow down in this situation. Why?
Because what, you know, because it's wrong. Because they're willing to suffer persecution. They're willing to put their lives on the line because they're not going to bow down to an image.
And so, nowadays, and I'll just give you a little, you know, just a little application here. Today, in the places we work, in the social media world, just in your families and in general, you know, this agenda of just the satanic agenda is going around and basically saying,
Well, if you don't agree with us on all this, then you're canceled. If you don't want to bow down to the sodomites and kiss their big toe or whatever, then you're canceled.
You're fired. You're kicked out of whatever you're doing. You're fired from your job. You know, we have to agree with them or we're out. We're outcasted.
And so, we shouldn't have to bow down to any agenda. You know, we have, we have religious freedom in this country. We have, you know, we have the freedom of religion. We have the freedom of speech.
You know, and beyond that, more importantly than that, we have God's Word that says that we don't have to bow down to that stuff.
You know what? He's going to protect us. And even if he doesn't, you know, oh, well, sometimes you got to give up things and lose things in this life for the cause of Christ.
You know what? They're willing to give up their lives in order to not bow down and be a bunch of suckers and be a bunch of compromisers to this agenda or apologize.
I mean, he even gives, if you were following along in the reading, he even gives them a second chance. He's like, are you sure you guys don't, you know, are you sure you guys don't want to do this? You know, and then there's like, no, but we'll, we'll read on.
Okay. Daniel chapter three, let's look at Daniel chapter three. This kind of stuff gets me fired up because, hey, this, this is, this is how politics even work today.
It's like, you didn't, you don't like Biden? Well, you must like Trump then. And it's like, how about if I just don't like them both? Is that okay?
I do think it's funny when Trump mocks people, but you know, he's, he's part of the system. He was bowing down to the wailing wall too, just like all the other ones do. He was doing this.
Isn't that like bowing down to a statue? I mean, they think that that's part of the old temple or something. So what are they, what's he doing? Worshipping a building or something? Or, you know, putting his little, rolling up his little paper and putting it in the slot or whatever?
So, look at, look at Daniel chapter three verse eight. It says, Wherefore at the time certain Chaldeans came near and accused the Jews, they spake and said to the king Nebuchadnezzar, O king, live forever.
Thou, O king, hast made a decree that every man that shall hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music shall fall down and worship the golden image.
And whoso falleth not down and worshipeth, that he should be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.
I mean, that's a pretty harsh penalty. Hey, you don't believe in my God? You don't want to believe in what I set up? Death. But that's what it's going to be like in the future, too.
And, and right now, it's not necessarily literal death, but it might be the death of your prosperity. It might be the death, you know, and look, if you compromise and you apologize and you take that second chance, then you're a sellout.
You're afraid of doing what's right, and you know what, sometimes people won't come to a church like this because they're afraid of what might happen if they come to this church.
And you shouldn't be afraid. You know, maybe God's got something better for you around the corner.
It says, whoso falleth not down and worshipeth, that he should be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. There are certain Jews, so what are they doing?
They're accusing the people that they know are not bowing down, right? There are certain Jews who now has set over the affairs of the province of Babylon. They work for the government.
Gadrak, Meshach, and Abednego, these men, O king, have not regarded thee. They serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou has set up.
You know, and applying this to just modern day times, if you don't bow down and serve whatever sodomite that they want you to bow down and serve,
or they don't, you know, all these other woke stuff that's going on in the workplaces where they're all putting up Black Lives Matters all over the stuff just so they won't get their businesses destroyed.
But guess what? They're still going to destroy your business. But that's another way of bowing down. I'm going to put this up just so my business doesn't get destroyed.
Isn't that what's going on? It's a show of force. And look, I'm never going to bow to that agenda, and I never will. I don't care what they say. I don't care what they do.
I'm not bowing down to your idol. So it says the Nebuchadnezzar and his rage and fury commanded to bring Gadrak, Meshach, and Abednego, then these brought these men before the king.
So they get accused of not bowing down. They don't worship that God. They worship the Lord Jesus Christ. They worship God, you know, the one and true God, and they're not going to do it.
So whatever, I mean, God's protecting them this far. And maybe they've had a rough time. They had to walk all the way to Babylon in chains.
You know, they've been taught all their language. They've been taught the science. They've been taught all this stuff.
They've had to eat, you know, they tried to force them to eat food that they weren't supposed to eat. They've gone through a lot of stuff, but God's been with them all the way.
You know, they didn't have to eat that other food, because they made a stand, and they just asked, hey, you know, can I just not eat this food? And they're like, yeah, sure.
You know, let's prove it. God did a miracle. You know, if you're on a fully vegetarian diet, you're going to lose some weight.
They were fuller and fatter in face than the other people. So apparently that was a popular thing, to be fuller and fatter in face.
But anyway, I would have been popular back then. But anyway, so what's going on here is that Nebuchadnezzar's furious.
He finds out that some of the people that work for him aren't really, you know, going along with the program.
And so he's in a rage. He's in a fury. And you know what? We've seen in the past, you know, like in Jeremiah, where he's in a rage, and he just kills all the king's sons,
pokes his eyes out and takes them back to Babylon. You know, because he didn't surrender like he was supposed to.
Now, look at verse 14. Nebuchadnezzar spoke, or excuse me, spake and said unto them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego?
Do not ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden image that I have set up?
Now if ye be ready, that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sacrament, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music,
ye fall down and worship the image which I have made well. So here's their second chance.
But if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace, and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?
And this is kind of like, you know, a really stupid thing for him to say. But you know, he's already seen the power of the one true God.
He's a really complicated character, you know, he can really make some reason and sense, but then all of a sudden he's just like, ah! You know, he just gets all mad, right?
So he's a male, that's for sure. But Shadrach and Meshach and Abednego, I believe, also picture those that refuse the mark, obviously.
That's a picture of Christians saying, nope, not going to take your mark, I don't care what you say, I don't care if I get fired from my job,
I don't care if I'm an outcast of society, I don't care if my family hates me and wants to turn me in and have me killed, because that's another thing that happens in the end times.
I don't care what you do to me, because you know what, I'm going to trust in God, I'm going to fear Him only.
And they also, I believe, picture people, you know, the few that be saved. There's only three of them, isn't there?
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, Daniel's not around, I don't know where Daniel's at at this point, but there's only a few that are saved from this situation.
And obviously only a few that would stand up, you know. Today, in 2022, we have hardly anybody that wants to stand up to the bullies of this world, to the sodomite agenda, to the woke agenda,
to the weirdo liberal freak balls that are teaching people in schools that, you know, whatever pronoun you were told that you want to be or whatever.
I'm a goldfish, you know, bring me a fish tank or whatever. This is a crazy thing that we're going through right now,
where literal pedophiles can be allowed to dance in front of children and put money in their waistband like they're at a strip club where they serve alcohol.
They allow kids to come into a library that's a public space and they read children a bedtime story or whatever.
Or whatever kind of story it is and the person's got dragons hanging off their face and they look like the world's biggest freak show ever.
Why are they doing that? Because they want to infiltrate our children. They want to infest themselves into our children's minds and make them think that that's normal.
But you know what? If I went to a park, a public park, took off all my clothes and just ran around, what do you think they'd do?
They would throw me in jail faster than you can say fag. They would throw me in prison, wouldn't they?
But yet they can do that. Brother Gary was telling me about some guy that was like wearing a dress in front of some supermarket or something where he shops at.
And the guy's like flipping up his dress with nothing else on underneath. But the store's not doing anything about it, but the police aren't doing anything about it.
He's like goes in and complains, oh yeah, we know who that guy is. So that means he does it all the time.
He just allows this freak to come around your store. The cops need to be called, but guess what? A lot of times the cops won't even do anything because they're afraid.
I'll tell you what, we need to stop being afraid and start standing up. Instead of bowing down to this wicked agenda, we need to stand up and not be afraid.
You know what? God protected Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and you know what? He'll protect you too.
And they kind of give it back to them here.
So, but let me move on here. Let's look at Matthew chapter 7. Sorry, I kind of went off on a rabbit hole there for a second.
But you know, I'm just tired of it. I'm tired of living in a world where everything is upside down and topsy turvy.
Why can't people just be normal and you allow us to be normal?
You know, when people see us walk into church here, they probably don't think you look like a bunch of freaks.
But you know, maybe they do. Because maybe their hair is dyed a certain color and they look like they fell into a tackle box with all this stuff all over their face.
And they're wearing a bunch of satanic clothing.
I saw a guy today and he just walked, you know, I see these sweatshirts a lot and it's like basically the Baphomet goat head on the front of somebody's sweatshirt.
And bones like, I don't know, some white bones on the side of their black sweatshirt.
It's like people are just openly serving Satan right now, but we can't believe what we want or what the Bible actually says.
It's sad. So, Matthew chapter 7 verse 13 says,
A lot of people are going to bow down and serve whatever they're serving for their life, the things that they want to believe in, the religion they want to believe in.
Because my grandparents were that, my parents were that, so I'm going to be that too.
I mean, we run into these people out soul winning sometimes, don't we?
They're like, well I'm Catholic because, you know, my whole family is Catholic or whatever.
Well, you know what, that's not going to be the correct answer when you're making an account for yourself in front of God on judgment day.
It says,
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, three guys.
I mean, that's a connection in my opinion.
You know, that out of all the people, a few people are the only ones that stand up and are going to get thrown in the fire, nobody else was.
So it lists all these different people that came, all the government officials.
It's kind of like how we're living in this world today.
All the government officials are bowing down to their idols, serving their Lord and Savior, the dark Lord Satan.
And they have the run of the place, and there might be a few people in government that are actually decent people or maybe saved or whatever.
But most of it's being run by the devil, just like this here is what's going on.
Number five is my last point.
Those that do exploits will be safe.
Those that fear the beast and compromise will be destroyed.
So let's look back at Daniel chapter 3.
Let's look back at Daniel chapter 3.
You might already be there, but I think I told you to put a ribbon or something there.
Maybe not.
Anyway, Daniel chapter 3, verse 16, the Bible says,
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king,
O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.
If it be so, our God, whom we serve, is able to deliver us from the burning, fiery furnace.
And He will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.
You see, they're not careful. They don't care, basically.
When the Bible says be careful for nothing, it's talking about don't be concerned about everything all the time.
He says we're not careful to answer thee in this matter.
Whether you like it or not, like it or lump it, we're not going to bow down and worship.
We're not careful to answer thee in this matter if it be so, the God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning, fiery furnace.
So they believe that God's going to spare them. Why?
Because they didn't compromise.
You know, maybe there was people that were saved that bowed down.
It says these Jews, there was more than just Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, and Daniel.
So there's obviously other people that were taken there to Babylon.
There's genealogies about them, people that were taken there.
But these are the only guys that didn't bow down.
So, you know, obviously they were spared by Nebuchadnezzar.
They didn't have to go into the fiery furnace.
But in the end times, it's going to be the opposite of that.
God's going to be smoking those people that did bow down, right?
So the Babylon will be different.
It's going to be, you know, obviously for a time, the Antichrist is going to be able to smoke some Christians.
But in the end, all those people that took the mark of the beast, all those people that worshiped the dragon,
all those people that worshiped the false prophet and bowed down to that thing and took the mark and all that stuff,
what's going to happen to them?
They're going to be put into a burning fiery furnace for all eternity where the smoke will never quit ascending.
So what they meant to happen to Christians is actually going to happen to them for all eternity, right?
So it says, verse 18,
But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.
Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury in the form of his visage which changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
And this is what people do.
You know, they get along with you until they realize what you really believe.
And then they're like, what?
You don't want to celebrate Halloween?
You know, or whatever.
You don't love everybody?
You don't let homos in your church?
You know, you go knocking on doors?
What?
And people just freak out when they finally realize that you're not going to compromise on anything in the Bible.
You know what? God's going to reward you when you fail to compromise.
You know, when you don't compromise, God's going to reward you for those things.
And it says,
His visions would change against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
Therefore he spake in command that they should heat the furnace seven times more than it want to be heated.
So he's overheating it.
He's like, well, let's burn them into crispy critters immediately, you know.
He wants them to be burned worse than anybody's ever been burned before, apparently.
And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to cast them into the burning fiery furnace.
And these men were bound in their coats, their hosen, and their hats, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.
Therefore, because the king's commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
So, you know, they're going up to throw them in this furnace, and they're just like, ah, they just die.
Because it's so hot. Have you ever been around something that's super hot, and you're just like, ooh, you just have to get away from it?
Well, as soon as they walked up to it, they just died, dropped dead.
And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down, bound, into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.
Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished, and he rose up in haste, and spake and said unto his counselors,
Did not we cast three men bound to the midst of the fire?
They answered and said unto the king, True, O king.
He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt.
And the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. And you know why it was like the Son of God? Because it was the Son of God.
It was a pre-incarnate Christ appearance here, and He is going to be with us just like He was with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in any trial that we're ever in.
He promised to never leave us or forsake us. He's going to be with us to the end.
And even if nobody else can see Him like He allowed Nebuchadnezzar to see, and He said it's like the Son of God in your King James Bible.
It's not the sons of the gods like these perverted NIV Bibles and stuff say.
But then it says, Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spake and said,
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the Most High God, come forth and come hither.
Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came forth of the midst of the fire.
And the princes, governors, and captains, and the kings and counselors being gathered together saw these men,
upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an ear of their head singed,
neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them.
And you all know if you just go to a campfire, you're going to smell like a campfire when you walk away from it.
There was no smell on their clothes. There was no hair singed on them.
Everything was back the way it should have been. The fire did not touch them.
Then Nebuchadnezzar spake and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
who has sent his angel and delivered his servants that trusted in him and have changed the king's word
and yielded their bodies that they might not serve nor worship any god except their own god.
So Nebuchadnezzar here is on the right track, but he still does some stupid stuff in the next chapter that he pays for dearly.
Therefore, I make a decree, and you know what? The Antichrist isn't going to be like this.
He's a full-blown, reprobate, God-hater. He's going to just want to kill. He's not going to be like,
Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do that. Sorry if I chopped your head off.
Or, try to chop your head off. He's not going to be like that.
It says, Therefore I make a decree that every people, nation, and language which speak anything amiss
against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be cut in pieces.
So he's going to chop them up, and their houses shall be made of dung-hill,
because there is no other god that can deliver after this sort. Amen.
You know what? God is able to deliver us out of all of our trials and situations that we get into.
Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon.
So they get promoted even further, higher up.
But you know, that's not going to happen in the end times, okay?
You have to take the mark. You're not just going to be able to slip through the cracks in the end times.
In the times of the Mark of the Beast, you're either all in or you're dead, basically.
I'm just going to have you turn to, let's see, Daniel 11 32.
Actually, go ahead and turn to Revelation. I'll be done real quickly here.
Revelation, chapter 14, verse 12, it says, I'm just going to start reading because I'm running out of time here.
Here is the patience of the saints. Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.
And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth.
Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors and their works do follow them.
See, even if you do get killed in the time of the tribulation, you know, the Bible says that you're blessed.
If you die in the Lord, if you die serving God in some way, shape, or form, you know, you're going to rest from your labors, number one.
Which sounds like a good thing. And then your works are going to follow you there.
Everything that you did for the kingdom of God in these hard times are going to, you know, in whatever time period you live in.
I'll just say that. Any stand you take for the Lord that's a right stand, he's going to bless you.
Daniel 11 32, I got one, two, three more places to turn. Alright, we'll do it quick.
Daniel 11 32 says, And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt, talking about the anti-Christ, by flatteries.
But the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits.
We will still be working, in all this time, God's people are still going to be working and still doing what's right and true in the eyes of God.
There will be some. It's going to be few, but there will be some.
And it says, And they that understand among the people shall instruct many, yet they shall follow by the sword and by flame, by captivity and by spoil many days.
So, there is hard times ahead during this time, but not everybody's going to be killed because the Bible says they that are alive and remain shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air.
Daniel 12, turn to Daniel 12, and then I'll have one more place after that.
Daniel 12 verse 2 says, And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
This is talking about when Jesus comes back in the rapture.
It says, And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever.
Your good works do follow you, and you will shine. You know, there's that great song, that great hymn, I would like to sing that at some point again in the future.
You know, we shall shine as the stars forever, right?
And so the great things that we do, the stands that we make and the stands that we take in this life, look, you know, we're in this generation together.
Whether it's good or whether it's evil, but you know what, we can choose to do good and have our lives be blessed and have a clear conscience before God when we make these stands.
You know what, it might cost us something. To take a stand sometimes, it's going to cost you something.
And you know, Shadrach and Meshach and Abednego were protected by God, but that's not always the case.
There are people that are going to be martyred. There have been people that have been martyred in the past, and it's not because they were necessarily bad.
But I think that some people that aren't doing what's right, the Bible actually says, you know, Jesus said, you know, you were to watch.
You're supposed to watch, and you know, you better keep watching and find out what's going on.
But people that bury their head in the sand, they quit church, they quit caring about the things of God, those are going to be the people that are going to have a hard time.
And I'd rather die knowing that I was doing that which was right and true and making a stand and not compromising than die in some bar singing the piano man or whatever and drunk, and then the Lord returns.
Now what an embarrassment. What an embarrassment to ourselves and to the Lord.
So let's turn to Isaiah 46. I'm going to wrap up here. A little bit of application here.
I just think that we should keep it in our minds and not to forget that Jesus was in that fire too with them.
And He protected them. He was helping those young men as they were enduring, you know, obviously the fire didn't hurt them, but the persecution that they faced before was real.
The threat of death is scary. You know, it was probably a very scary moment for them in their lives, but He protected them from the flame, from the smoke.
He even protected their clothes. You know, back then you couldn't just go to Walmart and get some new ones.
You know, so God protected even their clothes, but it just shows a total, you know, prevention from Nebuchadnezzar getting any kind of glory.
And who got the glory for that? The Son of God that was in the fire with them. The God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego is the one that got the credit for everything that was done there.
You know what? Isaiah 46 is a great verse, and you know, we sing some hymns. I wasn't joking about the poem earlier. I got a poem. It's going to be quick.
But Isaiah 46, verse 3. Look at what it says.
See, once we become one of God's children, He takes care of us. Right?
And it says, and even to your old age I am He. And even to whore hairs will I carry you. Whore hairs is not the other kind of whore we were talking about earlier.
It just means that your hair is like white or silver or whatever. The silver alert people. Anyway, what does He say here?
To whore hairs will I carry you. I have made and I will bear. Even I will carry and will deliver you.
You know, that's a promise from God there. It's a great promise. You know what stinks sometimes when you're carrying a heavy load?
Have you ever had to carry a heavy load for a long period of time? Like, you that have children, you know, in your hands all the time.
You're like, you're always having to switch arms and stuff. And I got grandkids now and I'm having to switch arms every once in a while.
And you carry that load, but you know what? God's got you. He doesn't have to change arms. His arm remains the same. The same strength.
And He's promised to carry us, to bear us, and to deliver us. So we sing that hymn, yield not the temptation.
You know, it says in the refrain, it says, ask the Savior to help you, comfort, strengthen and keep you. He is willing to aid you. He will carry you through.
That's a biblical song. And obviously you can apply that with Isaiah. Now, I know that this, some people don't like this poem, but I do like it.
And I've probably already read it before in church a long time ago, but I like the Footprints in the Sand poem.
Because, you know, when you go through hard times, you want to know that God's there for you. Right? And sometimes people go through hard times and are like,
where's God in all this? Where is He? And, you know, maybe they got this from Isaiah chapter 46, so I don't know where they got it from,
but I like this poem. I'm just going to read it to you and then we'll close in prayer.
One night I dreamed a dream as I was walking along the beach with my Lord across the dark sky flash scenes from my life.
For each scene I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand, one belonging to me and one to my Lord.
After the last scene of my life flashed before me, I looked back at the footprints in the sand.
I noticed that at many times along the path of my life, especially at the very lowest and saddest times, there was only one set of footprints.
This really troubled me, so I asked the Lord about it.
Lord, you said once I decided to follow you, you'd walk with me all the way.
But I noticed that during the saddest and most troublesome times of my life, there was only one set of footprints.
I don't understand why. When I needed you the most, you would leave me.
He whispered, my precious child, I love you and I'll never leave you, never ever during your trials and testings.
When you saw only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.
And so that poem, you know, I mean obviously it's not maybe the most biblical poem ever or whatever.
But what is biblical is that in our worst times, in our hardest trials, in our biggest afflictions and persecutions, and even just our saddest times,
God is always going to be there for you. He's never going to leave you nor forsake you.
And you know what? We do have hard times coming. Why do I preach about this stuff?
You know why I preach about this stuff? Because I want us to be prepared to go through it.
Because there's some people that probably, you know, like, yeah, they're like, yeah, amen, yeah.
And then when it actually starts happening to them, they're like, oh no, what's happening? I'm losing my job.
I'm, you know, the government's coming after me for this or that.
It's like, you know, we've got to be prepared for this to happen because the Bible tells it over and over again in different books.
And then in the last book of the Bible, it's telling us exactly what's going to happen.
And there's going to be some hard times. It's going to be worse than what, whatever you think it is, it's going to be worse.
It's a time of trouble that we'll never understand until we're actually going through it, if we're the generation that goes through it, mind you.
But we are going to go through trouble. We're going to go through trials. We're going to go through tribulation.
And just, I just want you to just take this thought as a positive part of the sermon, that yeah, all these bad things are coming, but you know what?
Jesus is in the fire with us. Jesus is there carrying us through these hard times.
And, you know, we might not be able to see Him. We probably won't be able to see Him.
But you know what? The Bible says He's going to be there. I trust in that just as much as I trust in my salvation.
I trust in eternal security. I trust the fact that every time I go through some kind of a hard time in my life, that God's going to be there with me and He's carrying me through.
Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank You, Lord, so much for this wonderful day and for the salvation that we had and, Lord, for the multiple baptisms that have been happening in our church.
I pray, Lord, that You would just continue to bless our church, Lord, help everybody get home safely.
And I pray that Your words, Lord, would sink down in our ears and down in our hearts, and we would think about these things as we go about our week.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Amen. Let's turn to page 226. Sing our last song.
I've found a friend. Page 226.
Page 226. I've found a friend. Sing it out on the first.
I've found a friend. Oh, such a friend. He loved me ere I knew him.
He drew me with the cords of love and thus he bound me to him.
And round my heart still closely twined those ties which not can sever.
For I am his and he is mine forever and forever.
I've found a friend. Oh, such a friend. He bled. He died to save me and not alone the gift of life but his own self he gave me.
Not that I have my own. I call. I hold it for the giver.
My heart, my strength, my life, my all are his and his forever.
I've found a friend. Oh, such a friend. All power to him is given to guard me on my onward course and bring me safe to heaven.
The eternal glories gleam afar to nerve my fate and ever.
So now to watch, to work, to war and then to rest forever.
I've found a friend. Oh, such a friend. So kind and true and tender.
So wise a counselor and guide, so mighty a defender.
From him who loves me now, so well what power my soul can sever.
Shall life or death or earth or hell? No, I am his forever.
Amen. Great singing and thank you for coming to our services.