Here's Pastor Alan Wright with today's blessing, a biblical faith-filled vision for your life. I bless your heart's longing. to be drawn to the tree of life. Never to the tree of knowledge of good and evil, the wicked Do to be tree. That promises, if you do more, if you will grasp at the one forbidden tree, if you will perform, then your eyes will be opened and you will be like God.
Instead, I bless you to hunger for the tree of life. the be-to-do tree, the grace of God tree. That assures You already are like God, made in His image. That lives loved, lives by gift, is empowered by the very life of Christ. May you feast to day.
upon the tree of life and savour The grace of God. Pastor, author, and Bible teacher Alan Wright. Trevor Emmelman just won the Masters a few weeks earlier, but as he was coming off, it was just the right time. I call it the right time. I pulled off my 2008 Masters hat and said, Congratulations on your Masters victory, and I handed my hat.
Trevor Emmelman signed the bill of my 2008 Masters hat.
So the 2008 Masters champion has autographed my 2008 Masters hat. That's pretty cool. I don't wear this hat. And as a matter of fact, I'm not going to leave it lying around here because when you might come try to steal it, so it's that hat is holy unto me. That's Pastor Alan Wright.
Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt. Excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series called Daniel, as presented at Renolda Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month to Allen Wright Ministries.
As you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you today's special offer. Contact us at pastorallen.org or call 877-544-4860. That's 877-544-4860. More on that later in the program. But now, let's get started with today's teaching.
Here is Alan Wright. I ever tell you about the old preacher who's trying to make a point about holiness. And uh he got three jars out and he had a little Tray of worms, said he. Took the first jar, he lit a cigarette, he dropped it down into the jar, and the jar filled up with smoke. And he took out a worm and held up.
He said, Is this worm alive or dead? And everybody said, It's alive. And he dropped it down into the jar and put the lid on. And a few moments later, he pulled it out and he said, Is this worm alive or dead? And they said, It's dead.
And then he took the second jar and he Dumped some whiskey down into the jar, and he took one of the worms. He said, Is this worm alive or dead? And they said, It's alive. He dropped it down into the jar. Put the cap back on.
A few moments later, he pulled out the limp worm and he said, Is it alive or dead? They said, It's dead. And then He really got to meddling. He took some Chocolate syrup and dumped it in the third one. And he took the live worm, he dropped it bound, and he pulled the dead worm out and said, Look, and everybody said, It's dead.
And the preacher said, Now, church, he said, what do you learn from this lesson? And some witty old lady in the back said, Well, I guess if you smoke and drink whiskey and eat a lot of chocolate, you won't have worms. You ready for some good news today? Holiness is not something that you do. For God.
Holiness is something that God has done for you. Hebrews 10. says we have been made Holy When you accept Christ You are Here's Holy Vessel. Forever. Daniel chapter 5.
Well We've seen a number of the stories in Daniel and his three friends' lives. After they were exiled out of Jerusalem, deported to Babylon under King Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar, who ultimately sacked Jerusalem and destroyed the temple in 587 BC. Daniel and his friends had come a little earlier than that, and we have seen that they were in a foreign land, and yet God's favor was upon Daniel. He was a favored foreigner.
Now we come to an interesting story. Where there's a new ruler in power named Belshazzar. This is now some fifty years after the sack of Jerusalem. And Belshazzar in Daniel chapter five is going to encounter. Um the prophetic Writing on the wall, a text that we'll be looking at next week.
But my fascination today is with these opening verses that tell a story of an unholy Feast. and my center of attention are on these holy vessels that are used by the pagan king. Daniel chapter 5, verse 1, King Belshazzar made a great feast for a thousand of his lords, and drank wine in front of the thousand. Belshazzar, when he tasted the wine which A better translation would probably say, once he had really imbibed, this is probably Belshazzar is now really being intoxicated. When he tasted the wine, he commanded that the vessels of gold and of silver that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem be brought, that the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them.
Then they brought in the golden vessels that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem. And the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines, drank from them. They drank wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood. and stone. These golden vessels, this These golden cups that they are drinking from.
They are not New They are at least as old. as the era of Solomon. And some of these golden cups, these vessels they were drinking from. May have been as old is Moses. When they built the tabernacle, the Lord gave instructions on how to.
Set up the tabernacle according to specific design and measurements. And all of this is a foreshadowing of the ultimate reality which is in Jesus Christ. Who Himself said, Destroy this temple, I'll raise it in three days, referring to his own body that would then be resurrected. And ultimately, we, the church, are the temple of the Holy Spirit. But in order to demonstrate the nature of worship and holiness and access to God in an immediate and intimate way, the tabernacle was designed.
And there were various vessels that were to be used only in service of worship in the tabernacle.
Now perhaps some of these very goblets and artifacts, including the ancient Ark of the Covenant, all of this endures until David's day. And David has brought them into Jerusalem, and then it's Solomon that builds this glorious temple. And 1 Kings chapter 8 describes the celebration. All the men of Israel assembled to King Solomon at the feast. In the seventh month.
And all the elders of Israel came, and priests took up the ark. And they brought up the ark of the Lord, the tent of meeting, and all The holy vessels that were in the tent, the priests and the Levites brought them up. You see these vessels appearing throughout Scripture. These are the sacred. uh vessels that are to be used only in service of the Lord.
And so it's interesting in 587, when King Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian army lay final siege to Jerusalem. That in the opening verses of Daniel, these vessels are mentioned. The third year of the reign of Jehoiakim the king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And verse 2 says, The Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand with some of the vessels of the house of God.
So there continues to be this highlighting of these vessels, and the text says he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his God, Nebuchadnezzar's God, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his God.
So these golden goblets are considered like trophies of war. And it is supposed to be emblematic that, hey, look, our pagan gods, our gods are more powerful than the God of Israel because we have just taken their very holy things out of their temple and we've put it in our own treasury. And it's in the middle of this drunken. Um feast that Belshazzar Decides that he's going to get those vessels bring them out and and drink wine to their further drunkenness as they toast the gods of of Babylon. That's what's going on.
So it's a uh Uh it's a very vivid, vivid Uh scene.
Now, to speak of this holy vessel, it raises the first and most important question, and that is: what is holiness? What does it what does it mean? And I find that this may be one of the most confusing and misunderstood notions in all of biblical faith. Because people tend to think that what holiness means is something that you do, or some way that you act, or some way that you appear. But it is not.
Holiness doesn't mean wearing a long face. In fact, joy is more holy. Really? than despondency. Yeah.
Holiness doesn't mean that you're gaunt and fasting often and carrying a big Bible or wearing a certain style of clothes or wearing your hair in a certain way or not wearing jewelry or wearing jewelry. Holiness is not determined by what you do, it's not determined by what you don't do. But holiness means literally to be set apart. And you don't set yourself apart. Setting apart is something that happens to you.
This is absolutely foundational.
Okay. to all of gospel faith, to understand What Hebrews 10 says when it says, we have been made holy. Because most people get it exactly backwards, and they're trying to become holy. but we have already been set apart.
So, the definition of holiness is to be set apart as something that is special, and to be. in service Of God. You might think of it in terms of just anything special that you have, that you've set apart. I don't collect many things. I do have a little bit of a collection of coffee mugs.
If we're on a trip somewhere and I'm going to bring home a souvenir, I gravitate towards a coffee mug, and I like a big one, not a little dainty thing. I want something that can put some real Java in it, and I like a big coffee mug. And so I've got coffee mugs from Disney World, and I got a coffee mug from our big trip to Chicago last. Summer, I've got well, took my son Bennett to go visit Carolina, and we went to the student store, and I brought home a UNC coffee mug. Went to visit Duke also, didn't have time to get a mug there.
And um But anyway, I've got these mugs. And I I like in the morning to get up and go down and depend on my mood of that day to choose a mug and put in my coffee and sit there and it makes me feel good. I remember.
So those mugs are special mugs. They're kind of set apart from the other mugs. Maybe another example. I do collect golf balls that have logos on it from golf courses that I've played.
Now, I don't bring home a logo ball from every course that I've played. It needs to be a special course. But if it's a special golf course, Which usually meant I spent a lot of money to play there. If it's special, then I'll bring a logo golf. My rule of thumb is: I've got to have played that course, except for I have two exceptions to that.
I do have a logo ball from the Masters, from Augusta National, where I of course never played, and I have one from Pebble Beach, which I haven't played either. Pebble Beach and Augusta Nashville are holy enough unto themselves.
So I just count that as okay. But the rest of them, it's because I played that course, like a few years ago when we had our great trip out west, and Bennett and I had this great privilege. We played the famous Torrey Pines U.S. Open site in La Jolla. And I got a golf ball sitting at home on this little golf ball shelf thing I have, and it's got the logo there.
Now, I don't take that golf ball from Torrey Pines and go play golf with it because not because I would be concerned about losing a golf ball. Far be it from me. I might scratch it up with my powerful swing speed. But no, actually, I don't want to go hit that ball in a lake or hit it into the woods. I'm going to use my Prov1 X outs and the used golf balls that I use for that.
This ball says here, it's set apart. Better example. I have a lot of golf caps.
Now, the reason I have golf caps is because they get sweaty and old, and eventually they got to get some others. Also, Well, sometimes I forget to take a hat with me to go play, and I have to buy one at the thing, so I usually get the cheapest one I can. But I do have some special ones that have come from the masters and people that have brought me back hats, several over the years.
Well, in 2008, So, those master's hats, they're a little special. I do wear them. You know, but not as much as other has. But in 2008. A friend brought me back a hat from the Masters, and that year, a South African by the name of Trevor Emmelman won the Masters.
It was sort of an unexpected victory. And so I had my 2000 hat, and a few weeks later, I was down at Quail Hollow in Charlotte at a practice round of the golf tournament there. And coming off, and I decided that day I was going to wear my 2008 Masters hat. And I was there at one of the greens, and there was a big crowd following Trevor Emmelman because he just won the Masters a few weeks earlier. But as he was coming off, it was just the right time, I called it the right time.
I pulled off my 2008 Masters hat and said, Congratulations on your Masters victory, and I handed my hat. Trevor Emmelman signed the bill of my 2008 Masters hat.
So the 2008 Masters champion has autographed my 2008 Masters' hat. That's pretty cool. I don't wear this hat. And as a matter of fact, I'm not going to leave it lying around here because when you might come try to steal it, so it's going to hide over there. That hat is holy unto me.
It's set apart from the other hats. Beloved? When you accept Christ, What has happened is that in blood he is autographed his signature over your life. And you belong to him. And you are set apart unto him.
And that's why You're holy. Most people that I know in the Christian world get this exactly backwards. They tend to look at themselves as sinners. that are trying to become holy. This is not the way the New Testament speaks about believers.
When Paul writes to Christians, he calls them the holy ones. When you see the word saint, It means the holy ones, the same root of that word that is used in Hebrews 10, verse 10 to say, we have been made holy. Over and over, you'll see throughout the scriptures the reassurance that who we are is we are holy people.
So much so that Paul said in Ephesians 1 that we were really predestined. This was our destiny ahead of time, that we should be holy and blameless in Christ. Holy and blameless. This has absolutely nothing to do with any of your own merit. If it was by our own merit, we would be blamed.
in front of God. for all of our wrongdoing. But when you accept Christ, what happens is that you're not only forgiven. But you are repositioned. And you are set apart unto God, as was always your destiny from the time that Adam and Eve were placed in the garden.
And nothing can ever change that. What this means, beloved, is that it is a far better thing in the morning to get up and when you look at yourself in the mirror, instead of looking and saying, Well, boy, I'm a miserable sinner and a wretch, and think about all the things that you've done wrong. It is far better to look at yourself for who you really are and say, I am holy. I find that Christians will have such a difficult time ever announcing this basic biblical truth over their life: that I'm a holy one of the Most High God. But I'll tell you, if you would start Envisioning and confessing this over your life as the reality of who you really are, this would be your roadmap to victory.
Because the way in which we begin living lives that are more victorious does not come by any of our effort to please God, but having been found accepted and acceptable through Jesus Christ, we recognize that we are holy and we are far too special to be abused by the Belshazzar spirit of the world. You see, don't try to fight against your sin temptations, not out of your flesh and not out of an aspiration to be holy, but instead approach the spiritual battle from your posture of your current holiness.
So you'll have men, you'll have a far, far more victorious life. And guarding your eyes from those things you should not be looking at, and you know it, and I know it, we all know it, we feel bad, and yet. We tend to say, I ought to be more holy. What happens for those who gain victory if they start realizing, I have been, my mind, my eyes, I have been set apart unto the Lord? That there's something that begins to happen, you go, I'm too holy for that.
I'm too special for that. That is not my design. You see? You see, my body is holy unto my wife. Her body is holy unto me.
What it means is we are set apart unto one another. Young women, your body is set apart unto the Lord and to your future husband. See, we try to fight our temptations out of this fleshly notion, and then we come and we hear churches proclaim, oh, you're such a sinner and you need to try to be more holy, when the fact of the matter is that the gospel is far more glorious than that. The gospel has announced something that is absolutely finished in the Lord Jesus Christ. You cannot change the fact that you have been set apart unto God.
When the prodigal son is in a faraway land, he is still holy unto his father. That's why, when he comes back, his father won't even listen to his speech about being a slave because he's always been a son. He was just living contrary to his holiness. You might live contrary to your holiness, but you are holy. You're a holy people.
A royal priesthood. and you're gods forever. Helen Wright. In today's teaching, on the Golden Cup. Maybe you're like many Christians in America today.
You're stunned by how fast a nation's culture has turned away from God. The values of our country have changed. Suddenly, most people don't go to church or have a biblical worldview. It can make you feel like an alien in your own culture. There's a lot to learn from Daniel when he was exiled to the pagan land of Babylon.
Through our special offer this month, you can learn to live under the favor of God in an alien culture the way Daniel did. When you give before the end of the month, we'll send you Pastor Alan's audio series, Daniel, a Favored Foreigner. You may feel like a stranger in this world, but as God showed favor to Daniel in his foreign land, God's grace is upon you as well. Your donation will not only help you navigate through these troubling times, but it will also help someone else. Thanks for your partnership with Alan Wright Ministries.
We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Allen Wright Ministries. Call us at eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty. or come to our website, pastorallen.org. Holy, meaning set apart, is what the golden cup was in the book of Daniel and described in today's teaching. the use of the golden cups was like a slap in the face to the temple, discounting their beliefs as ordinary, right?
Well, it was of the uh utmost sacrilege when uh this pagan king in the midst of this truly kind of Drunken festival. Tells his servants to go and get the holy vessels of Israel that had been stolen. from the temple when Nebuchadnezzar had sacked Jerusalem. And they're going to drink out of those cups and toast their own pagan gods. It was such a sacrilege.
To any Jew, it would have just been an absolute horror. for the misuse. But what this points to is that which is holy means that which is set apart to God. It is only to be used for God. And ultimately, what this points to is that we have been made holy in Christ, and we're set apart.
Unto God. Today's good news message is a listener-supported production of Alan Wright Ministries.
