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All right, we're here in Daniel chapter 5, and we're going to be starting a new series here called A Dissolver of Doubts. This series is going to be at least five sermons, potentially more, but this is kind of just an introductory sermon, and I want you to notice in verse number 12 what the Bible says about dissolving of doubts. It says, For as much as an excellent spirit in knowledge and understanding, interpreting of dreams and showing of hard sentences, and dissolving of doubts were found in the same Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar, now let Daniel be called, and he will show the interpretation. The Bible says in verse 12 that Daniel was a guy who dissolved doubts. Notice verse 16, And I have heard of thee, that thou canst make interpretations and dissolve doubts. Now, if thou canst read the writing, and make known to me the interpretation thereof, thou shalt be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about thy neck, and shalt be the third ruler in the kingdom. What does it mean to be able to dissolve doubts? Well, when you think about someone who has doubts, that's basically having concerns, or worries, you have problems, or you don't have faith that something's going to work itself out. You have doubts about it, okay, and to be able to dissolve doubts is basically when you get rid of those doubts. A good example of this is when we go out soul winning. What are we going to be doing this afternoon? We're going to be dissolving people's doubts about their eternal destiny. That's all we're doing. We're not going there to get in arguments. We're not going there to prove ourselves intelligent. We're just trying to help people that have doubts about whether or not they're going to heaven or hell, show them how they don't have to have any doubts, and that they can know this for sure. That's what we're doing by dissolving doubts. That's kind of the very basic thing as a Christian we need to be able to do, is dissolve people's doubts about their eternal destiny. But honestly, in life, whether you're saved or not, we have a lot of doubts in our lives. We have a lot of things that we have concerns about. We have things that we're not sure about how they're going to work out. We lack faith a lot of times. There's a lot of concerns. There's a lot of doubts. And you want all of us in this room, we need to be people that are able to dissolve doubts. Not just when it comes to soul winning, but when people have other problems in life, we need to be able to help them out. And so I believe this series is something that's very practical for all of us. Whether or not, I mean if you're a parent, obviously you need to be able to help teach your kids and dissolve any doubts they have. But anything in life, we're going to have doubts that come up and we're going to see over these next five weeks, how to dissolve doubts. This is just kind of an introductory sermon. It's going to be a lot shorter than the first sermon this morning, but I want you to notice in Daniel chapter two, go to Daniel two. And so the next three weeks after this sermon, we're going to be going through the different doubts that people have in their lives. And then lastly, the last sermon, we're going to see how can we dissolve doubts. Okay, so this is a series, which means you need to be here for every single service. You're here for the first sermon, make sure you're here the next four Sundays and then you can learn exactly how to dissolve. It'd be very terrible if you're here for the first four weeks and all of a sudden you find out, man, there's all these doubts and then you don't find out how to get rid of those doubts. That'd be pretty bad, right? So you want to be here for all five weeks. Now let me just share with you. The first point is very basic, but that people have doubts and concerns that they need help with. Notice what it says in Daniel two verse one, and in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams wherewith his spirit was troubled and his sleep break from him. Okay. His spirit is troubled and he's not able to sleep. Now when you're young and you're a kid, you know, oftentimes you have nightmares and you're scared and you can't sleep. But honestly, once you start getting older, I mean, your nightmares are going to start to slowly go away, right? When you get older, you don't have those same concerns and doubts. But Nebuchadnezzar is a grown man and he has some real doubts. His sleep breaks from him because he's troubled. He has doubts and concerns in his life. He doesn't know what this dream is about. Notice what it says in Daniel four. Turn to Daniel chapter four. Now I know we say doubting Thomas, maybe we should start saying doubting Nebuchadnezzar because we're seeing that Nebuchadnezzar has a lot of doubts in his life. But in Daniel chapter four, notice what it says in verse four, I, Nebuchadnezzar was at rest in my house and flourishing in my palace. Okay. When it says he's flourishing in his palace, basically his life is great. He's the most powerful man in the world at this time. I mean, when you're the most powerful man in the world, you're the richest man, the most powerful. You basically own the world. You wouldn't think that person would have many doubts or concerns, would you? But actually see in the Bible that he does have doubts. You know, it doesn't really matter how rich you are, how powerful you are. You have doubts and concerns in your life. You could look at Donald Trump or our president, Duterte, look, they have doubts and concerns in their life. They might not mention them publicly, but I promise you they have them because if Nebuchadnezzar had doubts in his life and all of us have doubts sometimes and all of us lack faith sometimes, I promise you that they do as well. Every single person in the world has doubts and concerns and troubles that arise in their life. It says in verse five, I saw a dream which made me afraid and the thoughts upon my bed and the visions of my head troubled me. So he has a dream and he's afraid. Now he's the most powerful man in the world and he gets scared. But we're all going to get scared at times from various things that come up. You know, this is something that's going to apply to all of us. If the most powerful man in the world gets afraid, it could happen to any of us. Turn to Daniel five, Daniel five. See in life, a lot of people are worried so much about God providing their needs. God promises to provide our raiment and our food. He promises that, but sometimes we doubt about that. Sometimes we have concerns. Sometimes we lack faith. We worry so much about it, but look, if all of a sudden you had a million dollars just tomorrow, you'd still have doubts and concerns that would come up. That's the truth. And quite honestly, a lot of times people that are rich have more doubts because they're scared to death of losing their money. It doesn't matter whether you're rich or poor, you're still going to have doubts about it. It's like, oh, what if a fire happened and I lost all my money or this happens and I lose it all. Look, whether you're rich or not, you're still going to have doubts. Just because you have a lot of money, just because you're powerful doesn't mean that you won't have doubts in your life. I was told when we bought our house in California that, because the market kind of just plummeted in America, and they talked about how when people weren't buying houses, all the rich people were really, they had all the money in the world, but they were really scared to death. They were spending all of their money, they didn't really have much money, and they were scared to death about losing it. There are people that have more concerns than the average person. Honestly, a lot of times people that have a lot of money, they have more concerns and doubts than people that are just struggling to make it by. Being rich will not fix your problems in life. You're still going to have problems, you're still going to have concerns. In Daniel 5, verse 5, it says, In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over against a candlestick upon the plaster of the wall of the king's palace. And the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. Then the king's countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loons were loosed, and his knees smote one against another. So what it's saying is that his knees are smiting each other. Why are they doing that? He's scared. Right? He's trembling, and his knees are smiting against one another because he's very scared. Why? Well, he just saw a miracle take place, and he has no idea why that's happened. And I'd probably be doing the same thing. I'd be like, you know, why do I see that writing on the wall? That'd be kind of scary, wouldn't it? And he's scared. He has doubts and he has concerns. This is not Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 5, but you see that even another king that rises up, Belshazzar, look, he has doubts and concerns as well. And so people are going to go through trials and fears in their life. All of us. Every single one of us. Now turn to Daniel 1. Daniel 1. And so we see that we are going to have fears and doubts, but what's interesting in Daniel chapter 1 is at the very beginning of the book, if you remember, Daniel proved himself to be better than all the astrologers, all the magicians, and everybody. Notice what it says in Daniel 1, verse 17. All the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm. It says 10 times better. That's not even close. It's not like they're about at the same level. No, Daniel and his friends shattered Meshach and Abednego, they were 10 times better than all the magicians, all the astrologers, all the seuthsayers, all the Chaldeans. They were 10 times better. It's not even close. Now, let me ask you a question. Is Daniel chapter 1 before Daniel chapter 2? It is, isn't it? Is Daniel 1 before Daniel 4 and Daniel 5? So obviously, since this is before, when Nebuchadnezzar has doubts, he's going to go straight to Daniel to get the solution to the problem, right? Actually, that's not what you see. Look at Daniel chapter 2. Now remember, he's just proven himself to be 10 times better. So if you have a problem, doesn't it make logical sense to go to Daniel to help you fix that problem? But that's not what you see. Daniel chapter 2 verse 2, then the king commanded to call the magicians and the astrologers and the sorcerers and the Chaldeans for to show the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king. See, at the end of Daniel 1, he's proven to be better than anyone else. But who are the first people that Nebuchadnezzar talks to when he has problems? He talks to unsaved, ungodly people. Why? Well, the first point is this, that we all have doubts and concerns. But the second thing is this, that people go to the world to get solutions to their problems. They don't go to God's word. They don't go to the Bible. They don't go to what's been proven right over and over and over again. No, they go to their worldly solutions, unsaved people, ungodly people to try to fix the problems. That's what people do. Now it doesn't make logical sense, but that is what we do. We quoted in the first sermon, there is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. And the reality is that oftentimes people have something that seems right to them, and it's what the world offers. They get the solution they want, and it never ends up working out, does it? But here in Nebuchadnezzar, he should go to Daniel. He doesn't go to Daniel though. He goes to the world for his advice, turn to Daniel for it. Now obviously, Nebuchadnezzar is a smart guy, wouldn't we agree on that? I'm sure Nebuchadnezzar was one of the smartest guys in the world at the time. You don't become that powerful. I'm sure he spoke lots of languages, he was a very smart person. I'm sure he knew what the derivative of x to the fourth was, if calculus went around back then. He knows how to add two plus three, he's got that figured out, right? He's a pretty smart guy, okay? At least by today's standards, what would be smart? But after, in Daniel chapter two, when the world wasn't able to fix his problem, and Daniel was able to fix his problem, of course he's going to go to Daniel when he has another problem in his life, right? Nope, that's not what happens in Daniel four. Notice what it says in verse six. Therefore may that decree to bring in all the wise men of Babylon before me, that they might make known unto me the interpretation of the dream. Look, Daniel's proven he can interpret the dreams. Why would you not go to Daniel? Because people tend to go to the world to get their advice. Now this is definitely true with the unsaved world, but it's also true with Christians as well. Oftentimes Christians do not want to get the godly advice. Why? They don't like the godly advice. They want the worldly solution. Their flesh tends to just trust in a worldly solution. Why? They don't have enough faith. They have doubts, and so people will go against what the Bible says, and they'll go to get worldly advice. Like, you know, a lot of people worry about their finances, and you know what, they seek worldly advice to try to fix the problem, and it doesn't end up fixing the problem. But they go against what the Bible says, goes against what we talked about this morning about working hard and trusting God to promote you. They don't go to that. They go to the world for advice, and it usually screws up their lives. That was Daniel chapter four. Now turn to Daniel five. Daniel five. Now, obviously, at this point, though, Daniel's proven himself, right? He's proven himself over and over. I'm sure in Daniel five, they're going to go to Daniel first thing when there's a problem, right? It's not what you see in Daniel chapter five. Daniel chapter five, verse seven. The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers, and the king spake and said to the wise men of Babylon, Whosoever shall read this writing and show me the interpretation thereof shall be clothed with scarlet and have a chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom. Later on, we're going to see that Daniel ends up coming later on and telling him what the writing's about, but at first, he goes to the world for his advice. Why? Because people choose to go to the world to try to relieve their doubts. We know that's true with salvation. They try to use what makes sense to them, their worldly philosophy, well, I'll try to repent of all my sins. Well, good luck with that, because you're not going to be able to do that. They don't go with what the Bible says. They go with what makes sense to them, their worldly advice, and they'll get the answers from the Catholics down the road. Look, the Pope's not going to help you with anything in life. He's not going to be able to help relieve your doubts, right? Now turn to 2 Samuel 18, 2 Samuel 18. You know, there's a great example of this I saw on YouTube. We used to have a video on our old Verity Baptist channel where this woman is at a conference. It's like a Calvinist conference, I think. It's at John MacArthur's church, which is a mega church in California. You know, he's one of the most famous Calvinists in the world, and she has real doubts about whether or not she's going to heaven. Like, some of you guys might have seen the video, and I felt bad for the woman. I really felt bad for her because she came behind the podium. It was like a question and answer time, and she was scared and trembling and basically crying and said, you know, because they believe in this doctrine that if you're the elect, you go to heaven. If you're not, then you go to hell. Now all Calvinists will say they're one of the elect. Why? Because they're arrogant. That's the truth. Right? But this woman was scared she wasn't one of the elect. This is actually a woman that you could have gotten saved if you ran into her at the door because she wanted to know the truth. She knew it didn't make sense. She said, you know, how do I know if I'm one of the elect because she says, you know, sometimes I want to do what's right. Sometimes I want to do what's wrong. And she's crying and she's scared. And so John MacArthur gives a really long winded answer and basically his answer boiled down to this. Well, if you love God, then you must be one of the elect. Everybody thinks they love God. Everybody thinks they love God. How is that the answer to the question? Is that what the Bible says? What must they do to be saved? And they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and now shall be saved. And John MacArthur said, well, if you're walking the walk and you're reading the Bible and you love God, you're one of the elect. Okay. Is that the answer that the Bible teaches? No. Is that going to fix the problem? No. Is she going to have confidence now? The rest of her life? No. She's going to be scared to death. She's going to go to hell. Why? Because of the fact any person that's honest with themselves will admit sometimes I want to do what the Bible says and sometimes I choose not to do what the Bible says. Sometimes I choose to obey God's rules and sometimes I choose not to. Anyone who's going to be honest will admit that. That's the advice he gave and you'll unfortunately, she didn't know that the answer is actually out there. I hope this woman got saved. I mean, if I was in that crowd, I don't know what I would have done because what's in the video, part of it's funny because John MacArthur's answer is so stupid and then part of it you feel sad and part of it you feel angry. It's like a combination of these three things. It's like, man, I wish I was there and could have just talked to the woman afterwards and just show her whosoever believeth in me. I mean, it's that simple. She has this doubt. She has this concern and the world gives the wrong advice. They're not able to fix the problem. In 2 Samuel chapter 18, we see this story. And if you remember with David and his life, his son Absalom basically rebels against him. And this is kind of a punishment for him committing adultery on his wife and you see lots of punishments in his life. It's a big sin. You have a big punishment. And you see that Absalom, his son, ends up trying to take the throne and he wants to kill his dad. Notice what it says in 2 Samuel 18 verse 17. And they took Absalom and cast him into a great pit in the wood and laid a very great heap of stones upon him and all Israel fled everyone to his tent. So Absalom is killed. The enemy of David is killed. But you have to remember this is David's son. David loves his son. Now it's his enemy, but he also loves his enemy. He loves his son Absalom. Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself a pillar which is in the king's deal. For he said, I have no son to keep my name in remembrance. And he called the pillar after his own name and it's called unto this day Absalom's place. Then said Ahima as the son of Zadok, let me now run and bear the king tidings how the Lord hath avenged him of his enemies. So you see Ahima as here. And Ahima as he knows what's taken place. He knows Absalom's dead. Everybody knows that. He knows David's son is dead. Now remember David's instructions were do not kill Absalom. Do not harm him. Why? Even though that's his enemy he loves his son. And so David did not want Absalom killed. Now Ahima as knows that Absalom has been killed. And it's said in verse 19 he wants to bring let me now run and bear the king tidings. Now Joab keeps telling him you have no tidings to bear and he's sending somebody else since Cushai. But you know he keeps wanting to bring tidings. Now notice what it says. Now what you need to keep in mind is Ahima as is aware of the fact that Absalom is dead. It's very clear that everybody's aware of that and he wants to bring tidings that David's enemy has been destroyed. Notice what it says in verse 27 and the watchman said me thinketh the running of the foremost is like the running of Ahima as the son of Zadok and the king said this is David talking he is a good man and cometh with good tidings. Now why is it that David says he cometh with good tidings? Because Ahima has always came with good tidings. He never came with bad tidings. Why? Because he's like the Joel Osteen's of this world. It's always the good news, the good news, the good news. He cometh with good tidings. David is sure of it that he's going to come with good tidings and he does come with good tidings. We're going to see that. Notice verse 28 and Ahima has called and said unto the king all is well and he fell down to the earth upon his face before the king and said blessed be the Lord thy God which hath delivered up the man that hath lifted up their hand against my Lord the king. So you see that David says he's a good man and he cometh with good tidings. Why? Even if you're saved like David you still like to hear positive things. Right? Obviously we like hard preaching but honestly there's sometimes hard preaching steps on our toes and sometimes it's tough to take. Every single one of us in this room you're going to hear sermons sometimes that that kind of hits on your sin or the thing that you're guilty of and part of you is going to be kind of upset about it. That's just the way it is. Even myself you know I preach, my goal is to preach the whole Bible. There's certain things that I'm going to preach that I'm going to look at and say man I'm kind of guilty of this okay? But you know the whole Bible needs to be preached and you know obviously we all struggle none of us are perfect. If I only just preach things that you know I was innocent on then I you know look I sin every single day. I could never preach against lying because I do lie sometimes right you know I'm not self righteous I'm not going to lie you know I do lie sometimes I do make mistakes but you know what David he wanted to hear what I said why because he came with good times. We all like to hear good things positive only preaching. Now obviously we need positive preaching but we also need the balance of negative preaching as well because Jesus's first sermon they wanted to throw him off a cliff. Look you don't get thrown off a cliff by telling everybody how great they are. Obviously he's preaching against them and that's why they wanted to kill him right? And so Ahima as he always comes with good tidings and look people will tend to go to the world to get help even as believers. You say well I'm in this room I'm a believer this doesn't apply to me. No our flesh naturally wants to hear what sounds appealing to us. We want what's good. We don't want to hear what's bad or what we need to fix. And so honestly all of us in this room we need to be careful of this because oftentimes we try to fix our problems in life with the world's philosophies and we must trust in what the Bible says. Let's go on with the story in verse 29. And so the first thing we saw is quite simply this that you know we're all going to have doubts and concerns. And the second thing is we tend to go to the world to get the solutions to our problems. But the third thing is this that the world is not able to give real and lasting help 99% of the time. They're not able to give help that's going to fix the problem. Notice what it says in verse 29. And the king said is the young man Absalom safe and Ahima has answered when Joab sent the king's servant and me thy servant I saw a great tumult but I knew not what it was. Now wait a minute Ahima, you are very aware that Absalom was dead. You're a liar. He's lying here. See one thing that you know was kind of a revelation to me in the Bible was you tend to just believe what people say and we do that in our lives as well. But then when you start looking at the Bible and really paying attention closely oftentimes you're seeing people lying about things. We want to assume they're telling the truth. When people tell me stuff personally I assume they're telling me the truth. I think it generally you know you want to assume. You know you believe in all things the Bible says in reality though oftentimes you're hearing lies. Why? Because people lie all the time. And here he is lying. He is well aware of the fact that Absalom is dead. Why doesn't he say that? Because he just wanted to tell David good tidings. Why? Because it makes him look good. He could get a promotion. He could get more money. He likes to say the positive things. It's the same thing with the preachers of the world today. The preachers of the world they just do positive only preaching. That's not what you see in the Bible. There's yes there's a positive you need the negative as well. And this positive only preaching it makes us feel good. It makes us feel spiritual. Doesn't fix the problem. Yeah right. And see honestly you know preaching like this look we're not going to be a mega church. That's the reality. We will never be a mega church. You say why? Because of the fact I preach both positive and negative. And too much negative is going to cause people to say I don't want this church. That's the reality. Because if you only preach positive things you know what you could end up having a mega church. It could very well happen. We could just water down the preaching and just try to reach people. And you know what our church would grow very quickly. But you know we'd be filled full of a people a bunch of people that really don't love God and don't really love God's Word and the preaching of God's Word. I believe that in this Bible reading challenge we're going to have basically 90% of the church complete this. I believe that. We're going to have a large percentage just like we have a large percentage of this church goes so many every week there's gonna be a large percentage of people that finish that Bible reading challenge. But you know if we filled this place full of a bunch of people that don't love the Lord we wouldn't have a large percentage of people that go so wouldn't. We wouldn't have a large percentage of people that finish the Bible reading challenge. Ahimaaz is a liar. He knew very well what happened to Absalom but he only wanted to preach the good news. Now I think Joab was kind of aware of this because he basically has to beg Joab to bring the news. And Joab keeps telling him you don't have the news you know and he's sending somebody else. And I think he was very aware of what Ahimaaz was. But Ahimaaz comes and he outruns Gushai and he presents positive only preaching. But notice what it says in verse 30. Does this fix the problem for David? And the king said unto him turn aside and stand here. And he turned aside and stood still. Basically what David's saying is you know what that doesn't help me with my problem. Now he still thinks that Ahimaaz is a good guy. He assumes he's telling the truth but David's not aware. You know if David could read this story now he'd be like oh wow he lied to me. But he's not aware of that. But he's actually lying to him. He knows very well what happened to Absalom. The advice, the solution Ahimaaz gave, the answer, it didn't fix the problem. Because David is still wondering what happened to my son Absalom. Turn back to Daniel 2. So you see that this is exactly like the John MacArthur situation we talked about. Why? Because of the fact none of us have repented of all of our sins. We still sin. I'm not perfect, you're not perfect. None of us are. And so when you give this sort of well repent of your sins sort of gospel it caused people to wonder you know well I think I repented but I still choose to do what's wrong sometimes. There's still times I don't feel like reading about, there's still times I don't feel like I love God so maybe I'm not one of the elects. See the world's advice it does not fix the problems that people have. The answers to our problems are in this book. Unfortunately our flesh, even to save people, tends to go to the world's advice and the world's philosophies rather than just trusting what the Bible says. But you know the world is not going to give you answers that are going to fix your problems in life. In Daniel chapter 2 it says in verse 3, And the king said unto them, I have dreamed a dream, and my spirit was troubled to know the dream. Then spake the Chaldeans to the king in Syriac, O king, live forever, tell thy servants the dream and we will show the interpretation. The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, The thing is gone for me. If you will not make known unto me the dream with the interpretation thereof, he shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made a dung hill. But if ye show the dream and the interpretation thereof, ye shall receive me gifts and rewards in great honor. Therefore show me the dream and the interpretation thereof. So Nebuchadnezzar says either tell me the dream and what it's about and you'll get rewards or otherwise I'm going to kill you. Now I think Nebuchadnezzar is getting angry a little bit too quickly but I do believe that he's a very smart guy because he knows that they're just phonies. He's saying look if I tell you the dream you can just make whatever up and pretend like you know the interpretation. He's like but if you can tell me what the dream was I'm going to understand and believe and know that you can understand the interpretation as well. In verse 7 they answered again and said, Let the king tell his servants the dream and we will show the interpretation of it. The king answered and said, I know of certainty that you would gain the time because ye see the thing is gone for me. But if you will not make known unto me the dream, there's but one decree for you. For ye have prepared lying and corrupt words to speak before me till the time be changed. Therefore tell me the dream and I shall know that he can show me the interpretation thereof. See King Nebuchadnezzar is a very smart guy. He's well aware of this but unfortunately when it comes to us having problems in our life no matter how smart you are we tend to go with worldly wisdom over godly wisdom. He's aware of the fact they're about to lie to him. He's like if I tell you the dream you're just going to make something up. He's a smart guy but unfortunately no matter how smart you are and sometimes when you're smarter even more so you go to worldly wisdom to fix the problems in life. It says in verse number 10, the Chaldeans answered before the king and said there is not a man upon the earth that can show the kings matter. Therefore there is no king, lord nor ruler that asks such things that any magician or astrologer or Chaldean. And it is a rare thing that the king requireth and there is none other that can show up before the king except the gods whose dwelling is not with the flesh. They have no clue what the dream is. Now they're perfectly willing to make something up which Nebuchadnezzar is aware of. It's the same thing with these positive only preachers in the world. They're perfectly willing to just say whatever makes you happy. Say oh that dream Nebuchadnezzar you're going to become twice as rich tomorrow. They would love to just make something up like that. They'd love to just lie but you know what that's not going to fix the problem. And honestly oftentimes the solutions to our problem are kind of tough. Because oftentimes we're guilty of things and you know a friend loveth at all times and sometimes you have to say things that will hurt people's feelings. That's the truth. Especially if you're preaching. You have to actually preach the whole Bible. And you know what honestly when you preach sermons there's going to be a mix of reproving and rebuking. There's going to be a mix of exhorting as well. Obviously we don't just you know preach hard against people and say you know you're lousy scum or whatever. But you know there is going to be part of that where you show people hey you need to fix your problems. That's the reality. It says in verse 12 for this cause the king was angry and very furious and commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. And the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain and they sought Daniel and his fellows to be slain. The king is very angry with them. My question Nebuchadnezzar is why don't you just go back to Daniel to prove himself ten times better than anyone else. Why doesn't he do that? Because people tend to go to the world to get their answers and the world doesn't actually give lasting help. Turn to Daniel 4. Daniel 4. And in Daniel chapter 4 let's look at verse number 7 the Bible reads. Then came in the magicians the astrologers the cowdians and soothsayers and I told the dream before them but they did not make known unto me the interpretation thereof. Same thing in Daniel chapter 4. Now Nebuchadnezzar you should have learned your lesson. Look you already tested them in Daniel 2 and they didn't know the answers. You proved that they were phonies that they were willing to lie about it. Daniel proved himself right over and over again but once again you go back to the same magicians the same astrologers the same cowdians and the same soothsayers that aren't able to give the answers to your problems. Turn to Daniel 5. Daniel 5. I mean it's kind of like in I'm sure it's the same in the Philippines as it is in America I know in America they go to the same republican democrat system the same politicians that are going to fix all the problems but the politicians have been lying to us for a hundred years. You think that's going to change during the next election? They're just preparing lying words so they can get elected it's obvious that's what they're doing and then people get so psyched and excited about look they're just going to lie to you that's the reality they're not going to tell the truth why because if I ran for president I wouldn't get elected. Why? That's the truth. People want what's positive and look politicians if they want to get elected they're not just going to say what the truth is they're going to prepare lying words why so they can get elected. Daniel 5 let's notice what it says in verse 8 then came in all the king's wise men but they could not read the writing nor make known to the king the interpretation thereof then was king Belshazzar greatly troubled and his countenance was changed in him and his words were astounding. So now suddenly Belshazzar and he has a similar situation he has these troubles he doesn't know what the writing is about and the soothsayers, kaudians, astrologers, you know all of them they don't know what the answer is why because the world is not actually able to give lasting actual help that will fix your problems now turn back to Daniel chapter 2. Now one thing that I don't think people are aware of when they first get saved is how deep the Bible actually is yes this book gives us the answers the answer about how to get to heaven but look it's a pretty thick book the answer about how to get to heaven is really not that thick now we talk about it all the time because we go so anyway but you know there's answers to everything in this book and the world not only doesn't have the answers for salvation they don't have the answers to any of our problems how to be a good parent what's the world going to tell you never spank your kids love love love didn't we talk about that in the first sermon is that the answer according to the Bible no it's not now here's the thing as a father obviously you don't want to spank your child you love your child you don't have to deal with it because it takes time but look we're going to be good parents we need to go with what the Bible says yeah now Daniel chapter 2 let's look at the last point here so we saw here that people have problems in their lives that they need fixed people tend to go to the world to get their solutions the world is not able to solve it but then we see that the Bible and God's Word is the last resort to people that they turn to in Daniel chapter 2 starting at verse number 14 the Bible reads then Daniel answered with counsel and wisdom to Arioch the captain of the king's guard which was gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon he answered and said Arioch the king's captain why is the decree so hasty from the king then Arioch made the thing known to Daniel then Daniel went in and desired of the king that he would give him time that he would show the king the interpretation you know in our lives you know we all have friends and family and we want to try to help people out with their problems and some of our friends and family maybe they're safe and some aren't safe but you know what you'll probably notice in your life is that oftentimes your family even though they know you know the Bible and you know you're probably a better person than the other they'll still go to the other family members to get help on their marriage they won't ask you for what the Bible says they'll still go to the worldly philosophy you're their last resort and when their marriage is miserable for years it's awful all of a sudden last resort then they turn to you it's like oh wow I didn't know the Bible had the answer for that but honestly God's Word is always the last resort to people they don't like to turn to God's Word they like to try to figure it out on their own and their own fleshly and worldly wisdom notice in Daniel chapter 2 starting at verse number 26 the king answered and said to Daniel whose name was Belteshazzar art thou able to make known unto me the dream which I have seen in the interpretation thereof now I love Daniel's response because not only does he give the answer to the problem but he also kind of makes a dig at all these false prophets notice what it says in verse 27 Daniel answered in the presence of the king and said the secret which the king hath demanded cannot the wise men the astrologers the magicians the suits the soothsayers show on to the king but there is a God in heaven that reveals secrets and making known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days thy dream and the visions of thy head upon thy bed are these now Daniel is not bringing glory to himself by saying he has the solutions he basically takes a dig at all these false prophets but then he says you know what God has the answer so Daniel's not saying hey I have the answer because Nebuchadnezzar says do you have the answer but Daniel's very clear God has the answer now Daniel does have the answer but it's because it came from God what Daniel's trying to show is it doesn't matter who you are you know if you love God you you can read the Bible you can know what the solution is right just problems in life Daniel's giving credit to God he's not giving credit to himself but I love the fact that he takes a dig at you know the Pope along the way I love the fact that he just you know kind of kicks I and C along the way right that's pretty nice turn to Daniel 4 Daniel 4 we're safe see the same thing in Daniel 4 and 5 these other stories we've looked at here today it says in Daniel chapter 4 starting verse 8 but at the last Daniel came in before me whose name was Belteshazzar according to the name of my God and in whom is the spirit of the holy gods and before him I told the dream saying oh Belteshazzar master of the magicians because I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in thee and no secret trouble with thee tell me the visions of my dream that I have seen in the interpretation thereof now you can tell from what Nebuchadnezzar is saying is he doesn't understand salvation he says the holy gods the master of the magicians you know he doesn't understand what salvation is at this point now Nebuchadnezzar does get saved here you see that at the end of the chapter but at this point he's not a saved person what's interesting though is you can tell Daniel does not dislike Nebuchadnezzar if you notice his response in Daniel 4 verses Daniel 5 he doesn't like Belteshazzar because if you read that we don't have time to go into it but when he gives a response to Belteshazzar in Daniel 5 he just basically says you're done buddy you can tell he doesn't like him at all but in Daniel 4 you can see that he actually does like Nebuchadnezzar why well obviously if Nebuchadnezzar was a reprobate he wouldn't have liked Nebuchadnezzar right he's obviously thinks that Nebuchadnezzar is savable and he does get the job done he does get him saved he apparently seems to think Belteshazzar is unsavable which you know by all indications it looks like he was a pretty wicked person but you can see that in Daniel chapter 4 he doesn't want to give the bad news to Nebuchadnezzar but you know sometimes you have to give the bad news look you know I'm gonna preach sermons that honestly I don't want to preach sometimes why because I want to just preach positive only I mean in our room what do we love we love soul winning we love the King James Bible you know obviously we hate the liberal agenda I could just preach sermons on those things because in this crowd we would all love that but unfortunately sometimes I have to preach other sermons as well why because all of us have problems in life all of us have troubles all of us have doubts and you what I need to preach both the good and the bad if I'm gonna do a good job preaching now turn to Daniel 5 Daniel 5 now let me say this that you know I'm sure most people probably aware of this but obviously when it comes to my job here obviously you know I have many things I do obviously I preach the sermon you know I kind of organize things for the most part obviously I run things by Pastor Mendez as well there's a big decision to be made stuff like that obviously you know so many things like that let me say this that you know what if you have problems in your life please come to me I want to try to help you out that's my job and you know what I don't know everybody in this room but you know there might be people in this room that maybe had a checkered past and you might have obviously we know that there's certain sins that could get you kicked out of church but it you know certain sins not if you struggle one time like let's say for example used to drink a lot let's talk let's say you slip up one time look I'm not gonna kick you out of church if you slipped up one time I'm gonna try to help you out why because you see in the book of Revelation that God's very long suffering to kick out a woman who was seducing her service to commit fornication that's pretty bad and God's long suffering before he kicks her out obviously you know there's times and that takes place but look if you have doubts and struggles and things that you need help with if you're a guy please come to me if you're a woman here you can come to me or come to my wife we want to help you out because what happens sometimes is people are embarrassed about problems they have and those problems could get fixed with the answers from the Word of God but they're embarrassed or worried to come to the person preaching please come to me I want to help you that is my job I want you to trust me obviously it takes time to build up trust but I hope that you would trust me enough to come to me if you have problems and I want to help you out because obviously I don't have all the answers but obviously it's my job to try to know the answers Bible and if I don't have the answer immediately I'll study I'll figure it out or I'll talk to someone wiser than me that will give me the answer I want to help you out so please if you have problems don't go to the world for advice right now obviously there's other people in this room that are godly people that love the Lord they could give you the answers to some of your questions but if you have something that you just don't know what the answers I hope you will feel comfortable to come to me and I want to try to help you out now let's look at Daniel chapter 5 verse 10 now the queen by reason of the words of the king and his Lords came into the banquet house and the Queen Queen spake it said okay live forever let not thy thoughts trouble thee nor let thy countenance be changed there is a man in thy kingdom and whom is the spirit of the holy gods and in the days of thy father light and understanding and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods was found in him once again this is someone who's unsaved she's talking about the wisdom of the gods thinking that there's this plurality of gods whom the king Nebuchadnezzar thy father the king I say thy father made master of the magicians astrologers cowdions and soothsayers for as much as an excellent spirit and knowledge and understanding interpreting of dreams and showing apart sentences and dissolving of doubts were found in the same Daniel whom the king named Belteshazzar now let Daniel be called and he will show the interpretation all the sudden the Queen remembers that Daniel is able to do this she she didn't just remember Daniel's the last resort I mean Daniel's proven himself in Daniel one and Daniel two Daniel three four I mean him and his friends they prove themselves to have the answers but we're always gonna be the last resort that's the way it is and so this is just an introductory sermon let me just share with you the four points again first thing is this that you know what we're gonna have doubts in life all of us are gonna have doubts and people tend to go to the world to get their advice and the world's not able to give the advice and when that fails what do they do well then they come to the Bible where they come to church to try to get them figured out one one thing you'll notice is this a lot of people will start coming to church when they're in trouble that's one thing Pastor Menes has taught me one thing he's always mentioned me when people go through troubles in their life oftentimes they'll stumble in a church hoping the church can fix the problem now the sad thing is often people leave church when they're in trouble that happens as well you know they're in church and then they have problems and they choose to just leave church unfortunately I've seen that happen many times but oftentimes you know we go soul winning and we talk to someone and let's say they get saved they talked about some of the problems in their life that's actually someone who's a good candidate to start coming to the church because of the fact they're looking for something to fix their problems because they use the world's advice in the world's failed them so when we go so when we run into those people let's make an effort to try to bring those people to church now this is just an introductory sermon but I just encourage you to be here the next four weeks because in the next three weeks we're gonna look at various doubts that we have in our lives one sermon can be kind of focused on just unbelievers and the doubts they have then we're gonna see the doubts that you know us as Christians typically have then doubts you have in a family in terms of raising kids or being a good husband being a good wife and things like that and in the last sermon of it we're gonna see what's the solution because the solution is always God's Word we're gonna see exactly what the Bible says let's close in word prayer dear Heavenly Father thanks for allowing us to be here in your house today and just need to see what your word teaches God we ask you to just continue to bless this church and I ask you to help us as we're getting everything ready to move into the new building God and ask you to help us today God help us to dissolve people's doubts out solely help our churches participate and get many people say help us just to get rid of people's doubts and show them that salvation is by faith alone we pray this in Jesus name Amen