Today, on the verdict with Pastor John Monroe. It may sometimes seem from our perspective. That the kings and the rulers of this world are in charge, but Daniel reminds us that God, and God alone, is sovereignly in control of all human history. Welcome to the verdict, featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor John Monroe. The book of Daniel begins with Babylon conquering Jerusalem in 605 BC.
And among the Jewish captives taken to Babylon are Daniel and his friends, just teenagers at the time. As we learn more in our new study, we're going to marvel at the sovereignty of God and the courageous faith of these young men.
Now, to continue his introduction of our new study, here's Pastor John Monroe. Last time we began a new series in Daniel and looked at the opening verses of Daniel 1. In 605 BC, the mighty king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon conquered the people of Judah. and Daniel, a young Israelite, is taken captive to far away Babylon.
Now Daniel finds himself far away from home. and he's exposed to the pagan and the idolatrous culture of Babylon. Howard Daniel and his Jewish friends going to survive. Daniel is no ordinary young man. He's strong in his faith in God.
He remembers what he was taught. He does not bow the knee. And when we trust God in difficult and hostile circumstances, God will never, will never fail us. Daniel One And we're going to read The first seven verses and part of verse eight, Daniel one, verse one. In the third year of the reign of Jehiakim, King of Judah.
Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand with some of the vessels of the House of God. And he brought them to the land of Shinar. To the house of his God, Shinar being the land of Babylon, Babylonia. He brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his God, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his God.
Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility. Youths without blemish, of good appearance. And skilful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding, learning, and competent to stand in the king's palace and to teach them. the literature and language of the Chaldeans. The king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate.
and of the wine that he drank. They were to be educated for three years. And at the end of that time, They were to stand before the king. Among these was Daniel. Pananaya Mishael and Azariah of the tribe of Judah.
And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names: Daniel. He called Beltishazzar. Hananiah he called Shadrach. Mishael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego. Verse 8.
But Daniel. resolved. that he would not defile himself with the king's food. or with the wine that he drank.
Now let us think of the first overarching theme of this wonderful book of Daniel, and it is this. that God is in sovereign control of the past and of the present and of the future. Do you believe that? that God is in sovereign control of all things. of the past of the present and of the future.
Now look at verse one. Verse one gives us the viewpoint of secular history. Nebuchadnezzar The king of Babylon comes to Jerusalem and besieges it. But notice verse two. How encouraging.
Here we see the divine perspective. Verse 2. Very important verse. setting the tone And the theme of the whole book of Daniel, and the Lord. Ah, that's it.
The Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his pants. Daniel is reminding us That God is in. charge. To do that, he presents, as we will learn in our series, the great panorama of prophecy from the time of Babylon to the time of the second advent of our Lord Jesus Christ. You say, How can we be so sure?
that his prophecies will be fulfilled.
Well, many of the prophecies of Daniel, as we'll learn, have already historically been fulfilled. With Babylon and the Medes and the Persians and the Greece Empire and the Roman Empire all come and gone. But we know that the prophecies will Be fulfilled. Why? Because God is in sovereign control of the past and of the present and of the future.
Now, if that is true as it is Do you not think it's time? That your life was aligned to the King of Kings. and Lord of Lords. This God who controls the history of the world. This God who controls all of eternity?
This kingdom which will endure forever. Don't you think it's time that you're part of the kingdom of God? Don't you think it's time that you were part of the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ? This kingdom which will never ever be destroyed? If God is sovereign, If God and God alone is in charge, Doesn't it make sense?
Of course it does. to trust is God. With all of your heart. He knows everything that's going to take place in my life today and tomorrow and for however long or however short I live, all is known to Him. He's in charge of my life, He's sovereign, I'm not, therefore I am to trust Him and love Him and serve Him with all of my heart.
Why? Because God is in charge, not John Monroe. Have you learned that lesson? Have you committed truly your life and your ways to King Jesus, who will reign forever? Daniel is telling us.
That there's only one who rules. And as God and God alone, King Jesus rules.
Now that is the first. overarching theme in the book of Daniel. and one that we need to learn. That God is in sovereign control of the past, the present and the future. But here's the second overarching theme, and it is a wonderful one, and it is this: that God takes care of his people.
I love that. God. always takes care. of his people. When you read Daniel one, verse one It seems That disaster has come on the people of God, and in a sense that's true.
It was a disastrous day, a dark, terrible day for Judah. They had sinned. They had ignored the warnings of the prophet, and now judgment had come. God is using the pagan Babylonians to judge his people. And you notice, verse two, what Nebuchadnezzar does, the audacity of him.
He takes the sacred vessels. And brings them into his own pagan temple back in Babylon. What profanity, what sacrilege he seems to be saying to them, Our Babylonian gods are greater than your god. And for a while it seemed that that was true. But gods is in charge.
And God is going to take care. of Daniel. and his three friends. And in the middle of this dark, disastrous day of captivity, In the midst of that pagan culture, God is still at work. Shadrach, Meshach, and the Bednego, that we read about in verse 7, what's going to happen to them?
In Daniel chapter three, they're going to be delivered from the fiery furnace Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Little boy came home from Sunday school and his mum said to him, What did you learn at Sunday school? He said we learned about the three beds and The three beds? She said, yes, make the bed, shake the bed, and in we go. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
Well, they were thrown not under their beds. but into the fiery furnace. And God. delivered them. Daniel himself Is going to be thrown.
into the den of lions.
Now I know you know the story, but just think of it. Can you imagine, because of your faith in Jesus Christ, That someone takes you and throws you into the den of lions. What does Daniel say? God sent his angel and shut the lion's mouth. In the midst of the Babylonian captivity, God is still watching over his people.
Because God always cares. for his people. He's taking care of his own. Yes, in the midst of an evil, idolatrous, pagan and anti Semitic society, God is taking care of them, and God will take care of you and me and our loved ones. Don't panic.
Leaving home for the first time? Going to a new job. going on the secular campus. A loved one into a new situation? Going into surgery?
Something in the future that makes you very, very nervous, relax. Relax, don't worry. God. is in charge. And God always takes care.
of his own people. You see the Babylonian captivity. will come. to an end. Look over to chapter nine.
Daniel nine Many years later After the overthrow of Babylon. Daniel nine, verse one, in the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, by descent of Mede, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans. Nebuchadnezzar is gone. In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books he's reading his Bible The number of years that, according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely seventy years. Seventy years And the years were passing.
And soon the Babylonian captivity would come to an end. I go back to Jeremiah. You're in Daniel. Before Daniel's Ezekiel, before Ezekiel is Lamentation, and then Jeremiah.
So if you're in Daniel, you can find Jeremiah. Just go back a few pages. Jeremiah chapter 29. Let's read. Jeremiah's prophecy.
about this. About the Babylonian captivity. Jeremiah 29. We're going to read verses which, for some of you, are your favorite verses, but I think often. We haven't understood the context.
Jeremiah twenty-nine, verse ten. For thus says the LORD When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you. And I will fulfil to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans for wholeness and not for evil.
to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into Exile. Wonderful.
Prophecies and Daniel As an old man I was reading this. An understanding of these scriptures must have been a tremendous comfort to Daniel and the people of God when they were in captivity. This captivity. was going to come to an end after seventy years. Although it may not have seemed that all the time.
The fact was that God Alone is in charge. and no one can thwart his purposes. and he always takes care. of his people And God is giving his people a future. and a hope.
Because this God who is in charge Is a God who is always true to his promises. Of course he is. He's all powerful and he's all sovereign. He's always true to his purposes, and he will not reject his people. Says Paul.
In the New Testament, 2 Timothy 2.13, if we are faithless, He remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself. Brother, sister, isn't that wonderful to know? that even when we're disobedient, Like the people of Judah. We're not forsaken by God. He may discipline us as he disciplined his ancient people in the Babylonian captivity, but he never forsakes us.
He never goes back on His promises. He will not let us go. We're loved with an everlasting love. And in His great love for you, my dear brother or sister, God has plans for your life. You have a future.
You have a hope. Because God is in charge. And God always lovingly takes care of these people and guides us with a loving ha hand, those of us who are saved by His grace. God never abandons us, He takes care of us. Yes, He may discipline us, but that is always for our good and His glory, because He watches over us and guides us, and we are people of hope, and we have a future because God is sovereign of the past and of the present and Yeah.
You may be in one of the most horrendous situations of your life. At the end of of your tether.
Some of that may be the result of your own sin. Or it may be because of circumstances beyond your control. I don't know. But if you're a child of God, remember this: God will take care of you. God will guide you.
God will spiritually restore you and renew you when you humble yourself. When you turn from your sin, When we do, as Jeremiah 29 tells us, when we seek the Lord with all of our heart. When we trust him and commit our life to him, he will guide us. He has a future for us. We are people of hope.
And if you're not a follower of Jesus Christ, if you're not part of the kingdom of God, I entreat you, I implore you, I plead with you. to get right. with God. to repent of your sin and embrace. the savior.
We've seen, first of all, that God is in sovereign control of the past, the present and future. Secondly, God takes care of his people very quickly. Third, overarching principle here, God honours those who honour him. God honors those who honor Him. 1 Samuel 2.
Do you have your Bible turn there? First Samuel two, the context is Eli His ungodly sons. are involved in sin First Samuel two verse thirty Therefore, the Lord, the God of Israel, declares, I've promised that your house and the house of your fathers should go in and out before me forever. But now the Lord declares, Far be it from me. For those who honour me, I will honour.
And those who despise me shall be lightly. esteemed. Principle God honours those who honour him. And Daniel and these three teenagers, as we'll see next week, are wonderful examples of young men. Who, in a very difficult situation, honor God because they know that God is in charge.
They put God first in their lives. not their own feelings, not their own experiences, not blaming the past, not bitterness, but they put God first in their lives. They honor God, they put their trust in God, and they know that God will use them for His glory. and God honours the faithfulness. these teenage boys.
They do three years at the University of Babylon and are the top students. The top of the class. Why? Because God honors those who honor Him. They put God first in their life.
They recognize that God is in charge. And those who trust God receive His wisdom and power. Look at verse seventeen of Daniel one. As for those four youths, says Daniel and his three friends, God gave them notice it's God who gives them learning and skill in all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. Verse twenty, and in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all his kingdom.
And Daniel was there. until the first year of king. Cyprus. In other words, Nebuchadnezzar disappears. dies, is gone, Babylon collapses, Daniel continues.
to be there. Why? Because Daniel honours. Got it. Will you honor God?
in difficult circumstances. Shadrach, Mishach and Abednego in the difficult circumstances of chapter three If you don't bow down, you'll be thrown into a fiery furnace. They say, okay, throw us into the furnace. We're trusting God. Threatened with being burned alive in a furnace, they honor God and they survive, and they're promoted by King Nebuchadnezzar at the end of the chapter.
Daniel himself is never a victim of his circumstances, he never compromises, he never takes the easy way out in the Face of threats of death, he honors God, and God honors Daniel, and Daniel becomes a ruler in Babylon. And then media. Pergo. Are you putting God first in your life? Are you honoring God?
You're living by the standards of the world, by what's popular, or do you stand for what is right? God always honors those who honour Him. Always, as Jesus said, seek first. The kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all of these things will be added to you. Keep Christ first.
In your life, first in your agenda, first in your relationships, first in your family, first in your business, first in the church, and he will bless you. He will honor you. Oh, we're not living in Babylon. But the spirit of Babylon is all around us, isn't it? We have our false gods here in the United States of money, success, pleasure, sport.
Babylon has a defiance of God, people turning from the laws of God and putting themselves at the center of their life. Have you ever had a more selfish society than ours? How are we to live as the people of God? A young man, perhaps Daniel's age, says, Is it possible to live for God in such a world? Remember Psalm 137?
By the rivers of Babylon, we sat down and wept. when we remember Zion. The people are in captivity. They're sitting down by the wonderful rivers of Babylon, the Tigris and the Euphrates, and they're weeping when they remember what happened in Zion and Jerusalem. And they say, How can we sing the Lord's songs?
in a strange land, and you ask, is it possible? To sing the Lord's songs in a strange land, Daniel is saying absolutely yes, of course it's possible, of course it's possible to live for God here in the United States, of course it's possible to shine for Christ in a secular campus, of course it's possible for a young man to shine for Christ in an ungodly home, an ungodly office. Whatever he is, of course it is. Why? Because God is always in control.
of our past, our present and our future.
Sovereignly in control over the nation, sovereign over every circumstance of life.
Sovereignly directing and guiding us. Therefore, submit to him, submit to his plans. which are plans for your future. and plans of hope. And God will take care of you.
He will take care of you through every day or all the way. He will take care of you. His faithfulness endures to all generations, and therefore honour him. The hand of God shapes our destiny. And as you trust Him, as you love Him with all of your heart.
As you don't compromise your principles, as you don't compromise your commitment to Jesus Christ, He will honor you and He will bless you. Therefore, trust the sovereign God in all circumstances. Because God Is in charge. He will guide you with his sovereign hand. He will lovingly care over every circumstance of your life.
He will honour and bless you now and in the future, and never, ever, ever forget. that gods And God alone. was in charge. This is the verdict, featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor John Monroe. There's still more to hear when John returns in just a moment, so stay with us.
From matters of truth and identity, to the subjects of love and grace, our world seems more confused than ever. but to find truth and certainty about who we are and find peace, we must turn our attention away from the world and look to the Word of God. To help you do that, John wrote a booklet titled Eternal Security, Finding Certainty in a Chaotic World. Through this special resource, John shares his personal testimony, along with a careful examination of Scripture, to offer us clarity on matters of eternity. Get your copy today by visiting our website at theverdict.org.
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Now, here's Pastor John Monroe.
Well, what's your verdict? Do you find it difficult to live for Jesus Christ in your situation? Do you feel the pressures of the unbelieving world around you trying to squeeze you into its molt? Remember these outstanding principles: God is in control. God always takes care of his people.
God honors those who honor Him. Allow these outstanding principles to be an anchor to your soul. and an encouragement to your heart. Don't forget to tune in next time as we'll learn more about Daniel taking a stand for God. Thanks for joining us today on The Verdict.
I'm Michelle Davies. Today's program with Pastor John Monroe was produced and sponsored by Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
