Verse by verse teaching - Daniel 4:6-9 "Testing the Teaching"

Daniel chapter 4. If you're here for the first time this morning, then we have a Genesis to Jesus class that we just started. next door in the Sunday School Annex. And in that class I teach beginning with how we got our Bible. And then we walk step by step from Genesis all the way through the Old Testament, the New Testament, putting the pieces of the Bible puzzle together and making the Bible make sense and making it easy to understand. And so we I think we had our fifth lesson this morning. It's our fourth or fifth lesson this morning. And next week we'll start on the creation of man. Now look here now. The title of the message this morning is Testing the Teaching. Testing the Teaching. There are all kinds of teachers in our world today, all kinds of experts, all kinds of religious gurus. All kinds of authorities that will tell you this is the way, my way is the way right now, Mohammedism. also known as Islam, Muslim religion, is getting much traction in the United States. And that's where a man named Muhammad said, Hi, I've got a secret. God has revealed a revelation to me, and everyone needs to follow what I say. And if not, then we'll kill you. So, and that's really, really taken off. The Catholic Church The Mormon Church. Mormon Church has gained a lot of ground since the 90s here in the United States. Started back with some really popular television commercials. Remember those commercials when they started coming up, brother? And before everyone viewed them as a cult, now they viewed them as Christians. And there's all kinds of religious teaching, and we need to be able to test. The teaching, to test it. In Daniel chapter 4, verse 5, this is where we left off last week. King Nebuchadnezzar, who was the ruler of the Babylonian world empire a few hundred years before the time of Christ. When Christ came, the Roman Empire was ruling the world. But at this time, it's the Babylonian Empire, and they had a worldwide dominion. And King Nebuchadnezzar said in verse 5, I saw a dream which made me afraid, and the thoughts upon my bed and the visions of my head troubled me. And we saw in that message that here's a man with world power. Probably the wealthiest, definitely the most powerful man on earth at this time. And it didn't take something but a dream to trouble his head. Because he knew that God was giving him, whoever God was, whatever what God was, he knew God was giving him some very important information, and it unsettled him. And as we get into verse 6, which is where we're going to start our exposition this morning, we're going to break that down into four categories. The first, if you're taking notes, is a whole bunch of wise men. A whole bunch of wise men. The second Is a whole lot of nothing, a whole lot of nothing The third is a holy inquiry, a holy inquiry. And the fourth, praise God, is a hopeful assurance. A hopeful assurance. We'll start with a whole bunch of wise men. Look with me now at Daniel 4, verse 6. Therefore, made I decree. to bring in all the wise men of Babylon before me, that they might make known unto me the interpretation of the dream. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your precious word. And I pray you'll fill me with your Holy Spirit today. I pray all eyes will be on you and on your scriptures today. And teach us your word, we pray. Give us the understanding of it, and may we glorify your name and be edified through it. In Jesus' wonderful name we pray. Amen. So Nebuchadnezzar had this terrible dream. Horrific dream puzzled his mind. And so he says in verse 6, Therefore, or because of this dream, made I a decree That is, I issued a decree to bring in all the wise men of Babylon before me. That's a whole bunch of wise men. And that's the thing. The wise men of Babylon, he didn't just call on one. He called them all in. And you know what? He did the same thing in the first dream that he had. This is the second dream. If you've been with us since we started in Daniel chapter 1 and have been going through the book of Daniel with us, you know this is the second dream he had. And this is the second time he's called in all the wise men, but he's calling in all the wise men, a whole bunch of wise men. I couldn't help but remind myself. When I studied this, of what it was like when I first started seeking truth as a lost person, as a lost young man. And I remember telling God, whatever God was, I remember telling him, God, I know there's a God. But I'm not sure what the truth is. I don't care if it's the Muslim religion. I don't care if it's the Mormon religion, Jehovah's Witness. I don't care if it' Adelie I don't care what religion it is. I don't care if it's Buddhist or Hindu. I just want to know the truth. And so I began to search and study every religion I could get my hands on. It was a good experience for me. I wouldn't suggest it to you, but it's a good experience for me. It wasn't fun at the time, though. It was very miserable. Well, you know what I did when I started studying all those religions? I was calling in all the wise men of Babylon. That's what I was doing. Calling them all in. I started studying every one of them, and this is where he was in life. He calls all these wise men in. Somebody. Give me the interpretation of this dream. Look with me in verse 6. Therefore made I decree to bring in all the wise men of Babylon before me, that they might make known unto me the interpretation of the dream. Now, if you'll remember, there's something very different the second time around that Nebuchadnezzar is doing compared to the first time around when he had that first dream. Maybe you've recognized what it is. Maybe you haven't recognized it yet. There's something very different. Look back with me, if you would, in Daniel 2, Daniel chapter 2. Just flip back there a couple of chapters, Daniel chapter 2, and look with me if you would. Beginning in verse 2. And what we're doing in Daniel 2, we're going to go back and remind ourselves what happened during his first dream that he had. Daniel 2:2. Then the king commanded to call the magicians and the astrologers and the sorcerers and the Chaldeans, that means all the wise men of Babylon. for to show the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king. 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. So they said, oh, King, no problem. Tell us the dream. Tell us what you dreamt. And then we will tell you the interpretation of that dream. We'll tell you what it means. Verse 5. Then the king answered and said to the Chaldeans, The thing is gone from me. If ye will not make known unto me the dream with the interpretation thereof, ye shall be cut in pieces and your houses shall be made a dunghill. Remember that part? So there were two requirements the first time around. When he called in all these wise men, he says, Here's what we're going to do: I'm not telling you what I dreamed. You have to tell me what I dreamed. And then, when you tell me what I dreamed, when I know that, yep, that's what I dreamed, all right, then I'll listen to your interpretation. But if you can't tell me what I dream dreamed at first, I'm not going to listen to any interpretation you have. You see, Nebuchadnezzar figured. He knew that there was some God above him that gave him that dream. It wasn't like any other dream. I have silly dreams. I have really silly I dream crazy dreams almost every night. Last night I dreamt that my dog has been dead for years, came back to life and I was feeding her figs. Now that's a crazy dream. You remember Princess Mama? Hey, I was feeding Princess Figs, that big old dog. But this wasn't that kind of dream. This is where Nebuchadnezzar knew, man, there's something to this, and I need to know what it is. And so he figured, if a God above me gave me that dream in my heart, And if that God really speaks through these people, then that God, if He can put that dream in my heart, He can put it in that person's heart. And then he can tell me the dream, and then I can trust that, yes, God's speaking through him, and now I can believe the interpretation. The problem is, you know what all those wise men did? They said, nobody can do that. Nobody can do that. He said, okay, well, we'll just kill every one of you. And if you'll remember how the story went, as they're going to go about killing all the wise men of Babylon, there's Daniel, one of the godly Jewish captives that was taken captive by Babylon. And Daniel said, Hey, whoa, what are you killing everybody for? They told him what happened. He said, Give me some time. And so he and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, the other godly friends, they then pray to God, God, spare our lives. Let us know what the king dreamed, or let me know, let Daniel know what the king dreamed, so he can tell the king the interpretation. And so God let Daniel see the dream that Nebuchadnezzar had dreamed. And then Daniel went and told the king. And then the king said, Oh, how wonderful. The spirit of the gods is in you, Daniel. So he spared the lives of all the wise men. You remember, it was a dream of this big, tall. Image of this person with a head of gold and then had shoulders of silver and and and And then you had abs of brass, and then legs of iron, and feet of iron and clay. And Nebuchadnezzar was represented as the head of gold. But remember what happened? That image fell down. Because a stone cut out of the mountain without hands came and smashed that image on the feet. Remember, that was a picture of Jesus coming. He's the stone. Comes out of the mountain, that's the kingdom of God, smashes the image on the feet, that's the end of time, the end of that image, and then scatters all of those kingdoms. And then that stone becomes a mountain itself. In other words, the mountain he came from becomes the mountain on earth. In other words, God's kingdom comes and his will is done in earth as it is in heaven. And we learned that in that first dream. And without going back and reteaching that, here's what happened. Remember what happened? Nebuchadnezzar became so proud. that he then had a great statue, a great image erected similar to what was in his dream, and he made it all of gold. Since he was the head of gold, he committed everyone to bow down to it and worship it. Nebuchadnezzar, he just didn't learn the lesson in that first dream. And so now God's going to give him the second dream. And this second dream is going to have a whole lot to do with what the first dream was talking about. Nebuchadnezzar just didn't learn the lesson, so God's failed him, and He's going to send them back through class. But this second time around, he calls all the wise men back again and he says, I want you to give me the interpretation of the dream. Do you see what's different? He didn't say, I want you to tell me what I dreamed, and now give me the interpretation. He's not doing that. Nebuchadnezzar tested them the first time. But now he's just saying, just give me the interpretation. Has Nebuchadnezzar became lax in testing spiritual truth? The answer is no. Nebuchadnezzar has not become lax in testing spiritual truth. In fact, we'll find out shortly that Nebuchadnezzar is testing. The stories, the preaching, the teaching of these wise men of Babylon. But he brings them in, he says, Okay, here's the dream. Now, give me the interpretation. Look here. We go from a whole bunch of wise men. We now go to our second division, which is a whole lot of nothing. Look down in verse 7. Then came in the magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers, and I told the dream before them. Now he didn't do that the first time. He said, You tell me the dream. But now Nebuchadnezzar says, I told them the dream, but they did not make known unto me the interpretation thereof. Why did Nebuchadnezzar show them and tell them this dream? Look back in Daniel 2, verse 4. Daniel 2, verse 4. Remember, it says this is there in the first 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 first time he wouldn't tell them the dream. And they couldn't tell him the dream or the interpretation. This time, he says, You know what I'm going to do? They told me the first time, if I told them the dream, they could give me the interpretation. Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to test them. I'm going to bring all these religions in: the Chaldeans, the soothsayers. I'm going to bring in the magicians and the astrologers, all the big religions and religious philosophy of the day. I'm going to bring them in before me, and I'm going to tell them that dream. Just like they requested the first time. I'm going to do it different this time. And so he tells in the dream. And if you see here in verse 7, it says, I told the dream before them, but they did not make known unto me the interpretation thereof. We had a whole bunch of wise men. At the end of the day, it was a whole lot of nothing. It was a whole lot of nothing. Man, when I studied all the religions of the world that I could get my hand on, and I couldn't study all of them, there's so many. You can invent a religion today, and new religions get invented all the time. But there's one thing I noticed when I got through studying all these religions. They basically all said the same thing. Whether it was the Eastern religions of Hinduism and Buddhism, whether it was the Muslim religion, whether it was Judaism, whether it was some offshoot of Christianity. They all said the same thing. Do the best you can, live the best you can, and maybe, hopefully, you'll make it. That's basically what every religion told me. Islam has ten pillars. Follow these ten pillars the best you can. Make a trip to Mecca once in your life. In other words, follow our rules. We've got a set of rules. Follow these rules the best you can, and maybe, hopefully, one day you'll make it. Catholic religion. Follow our rules, go to the Mass, pray to Mary, do good, keep doing good. And maybe one day you won't have to be in purgatory so long. Had a man write me yesterday from Hungary. And he said, I would appreciate your detailed response to the question, the matter of purgatory. And I did. I gave him a detailed response on the matter of purgatory. It's not in the Bible. Well, is there really anything else I need to say? It's that simple. Look, I've read it from cover to cover. I'm telling you, it's not in there. They made it up. It's a whole bunch of nothing, you see. But maybe you won't have to be there quite so long. But if you pray to us and you give enough offerings, maybe we can get you out of purgatory a little quicker. You won't have to suffer quite so long, then maybe we can finally get you into heaven. Eastern religions. Live good enough, do good enough, and then maybe when you die you'll come back as a better species. Maybe you'll come back as a cow instead of a grasshopper. Or a snake, maybe you'll come back as a monkey and you'll relive your life again and learn your lessons, then you'll die, then you'll come back as some other creature. And then, after many, many cycles of living and doing and trying the best that you can, hopefully, maybe one day you can break the cycle of reincarnation and just enter the Whatever, nirvana. I mean, my goodness. But you see how it's all the same thing? Follow our rules. We'll give you a set of rules to keep. Follow the rules, do the best you can as long as you can, and then maybe, hopefully, one day you'll make it. And so I called in all the wise men of Babylon before me. And they end up giving me a whole bunch of nothing. Because I, one thing I told God when I said, I don't care what the truth is, I just want to know it. The reason was, I did not want to roll the dice on where I was going to spend eternity, and I figured that God could show me the truth. So, in a way that I would know with confidence, what's the point in living without confidence? If I have a religion and I have a God that I can walk Through life and not have confidence of where I am, but not where I'm going. What good is that religion? What good is a religion if I can go to my deathbed and not know where I'm going after that? A whole bunch of wise men to me became a whole bunch of nothing. That's exactly what it was for Nebuchadnezzar. They struck out the second time. They just made stuff up. Well, we can tell you the interpretation. You know what? These were a bunch of clowns. They had religious garb on. They got paid good salaries for doing their religious duties. But when they were tested, when they were put to the test, They had nothing of value to give. I was thinking about the Catholic Church. When I was studying this particular part of the scripture, a whole lot of nothing. They couldn't give him the interpretation. In other words, they couldn't give him the answers he was looking for. And the religions I studied couldn't give me the answers I was looking for. Not until I found the gospel of Jesus Christ. Then I got my answer. But I couldn't help but think of the Catholic Church when I was studying this. You know why? Because just last week. Now, the Catholic Church says they've been the church since the very beginning, and the Apostle Peter was the first Pope. And that they've just been Pope, Pope, Pope, Pope ever since Peter. That's what they teach. And just last week, the new Pope had to finally make a declaration. He had to clear up some confusion because the church has been teaching the doctrine that Mary. Is a co-redeemer with Jesus Christ. Y'all ever heard that doctrine before? Brother Shepard has. Brother Carlos, you have? They have it in Latin, but I don't speak Latin, so I'm just going to have it in English. All right, co-redeemer. They also teach that Mary is co-mediator. They've been teaching that for years and years. Pope John Paul II referred to her as the co- Redeemer, co-mediator. Isn't that wonderful? Mary, co-redeemer. Man. And so finally, the new Pope came out and said, Okay, she's a co-mediator. But she's not a co-redeemer. So quit calling her co-redeemer because if we keep calling her co-redeemer And we don't have to keep explaining ourselves, saying she's not really a co-redeemer. She didn't really help redeem. But see, the church used to teach she did help redeem. You know how they taught that Mary helped redeem? They used to teach. that as Jesus was suffering for our sins on the cross, Mary was suffering too. She was suffering watching him suffer. And through her sufferings, watching him suffer, she helped redeem us too. Now, what a mess that is. Now, do you see what that does? If you have two Redeemers. Then you don't have any Redeemer that can completely redeem. You have part Redeemer and part Redeemer. And now your devotion, your faith is caught up between all of them. So he finally came out and said, okay. Mary does not redeem. Quit calling her co-redeemer, but keep calling her co-mediator. She can still mediate between us and God. She's still an interceder for us in the Catholic website Catholicanswers dot org It says, why pray to Mary? I'm reading verbatim. Because Jesus has given us his blessed mother as our great spiritual mother. Isn't that something? Jesus has given His blessed mother as our great spiritual mother. And then they actually gave a scripture for that in Revelation 12, 17. And you know what that's talking about? is talking about when the woman gives birth to the man-child, and then all the nations come against that woman. In Revelation. Folks, that's not the Virgin Mary. All the nations didn't come against the Virgin Mary. They came against Israel. They came against the Jewish people. And then it says, If you go on, because they just take that one little scripture, hoping someone will go down and just read this one little thing about the woman giving birth to a woman, or to a child. If you go down just a little bit further, it says, And wings were given to that woman so she could fly away into the wilderness and get refuge. Mary never grew wings. No one ever came after her. She didn't have to fly into the wilderness. It's all talking about the end times. That's why it's the Revelation. If that happened during that time, it would have been in the Gospels, not in the prophetic book or the Revelation. And that's when Israel will be able to find safety for a time during the Great Tribulation. But he says, it says, why pray to Mary? Because Jesus has given us His Blessed Mother as our great spiritual mother, a heavenly advocate who intercedes for us. We have to test the teachers, and that's what Nebuchadnezzar was doing. The Bible says in 1 Timothy chapter 2, verse 5 Timothy chapter 2 verse The Bible says, for there is one God and one mediator between God and man. And I'm probably getting them all messed up because I don't have my notes. So don't worry about it. It may not be there. There is one God and one, not two Not co-mediators, one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. We don't have a co-mediator. You know what? There's no co-redeemer. There's no co-redeemer. You see, if the Catholics would simply test the teaching Then they would find out that there are a whole bunch of wise men from Rome all the way down were a whole bunch of nothing. Isaiah chapter 44, verse 6. That should be in the notes, actually. Isaiah chapter 44, verse 6. There we go. Thus saith the Lord, the King of Israel. Y'all watching this? And his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts. Now, this is one of the most fascinating verses in all the Bible. Watch. We all know that the Lord here Now I'm going to look back here in the King James Version. That's what I thought. I'm not you you that should be all capital L's there. All capital font, L-O-R-D, should be all caps. Y'all got that all caps in your Bible? Yeah, I'm not sure why that is not all caps there, but that's that should be all caps. Jehovah. Jehovah. I'm going to pull that up in my Hebrew dictionary right in front of me. Let me pull this up here real quick. It's going to be fun. This is nice not having to go by your notes. You just get out here and do whatever we need to do. Isaiah 44, verse 6. Bring my dictionary up here. Jehovah. Jehovah. Look at the next, the other word, Jehovah. Now, Jehovah is Jehovah. Jehovah is the great I am. Yahweh, the self-existing God. So if you have a King James Bible in front of you, this would be all caps L-O-R-D, which signifies it's the word Jehovah. And whether it's all caps or not, it's still Jehovah. Thus saith Jehovah, the king of Israel. Watch this now. And his Redeemer. Who is the Redeemer? Jehovah of hosts. Isn't that neat? God is the great I am. He's the Jehovah. He's the self-existing God. God's Redeemer. Is also Jehovah, the great I am, the self-existing God. God is the Redeemer of mankind. But God has a Redeemer. Why? Because God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. God the Son is just as much Jehovah as God the Father is. And his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts, what does the Lord of hosts say? What does the Redeemer say? I am the first and I am the last. Beside me, there is no God. So God, the king of Israel, says. And God's Redeemer says, both of them say, I am the first, not we are the first. Isn't that beautiful? I am the first, and I am the last, and beside me. There is no God. So, how many Redeemers are there? There's one. Who is that Redeemer? It's God. And there's no other Redeemer, no other God, no other king beside Jehovah God. And for them to just now, after all these years, come up with the concept that, okay, there's only one Redeemer, but there's two mediators, they still can't get it right. Jesus said, Jesus Christ said in Revelation 22, verse 13, he said, I am Alpha. And Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. That is Jesus in Revelation, who is Jehovah in Isaiah. And so, after getting a whole bunch of wise men, telling them the dream, and then receiving a whole bunch of nothing. He then decided that he would make a holy inquiry. A holy inquiry. If you look now in Daniel chapter 4, verse 8, Daniel chapter 4, verse 8, but At the last Daniel came in before me. Now remember, Daniel is the one who gave him both the dream and the interpretation the first time. Daniel came in before me, whose name was Beltashazzar. But look what he's calling. Daniel, when he was captured, the king changed his name from Daniel to Beltashazzar according to the God he worshipped at the time. But notice what Nebuchadnezzar sang in his letter. He didn't say at the last Beltashazzar came in before me. He said, At the last Daniel came in before me, whose name was Beltashazzar, according to the name of my God. And in whom is the Spirit, that is Daniel, in whom is the Spirit of the holy gods, and before him I told The dream. He just told the dream to Daniel. Whether or not Nebuchadnezzar understood Much about God at this time, I do not know. Based on him saying, In whom is the Spirit of the Holy Gods, there's a debate on whether or not he's referring to one God or two there. Same word is translated. As God and other places. But the main thing is this. He knew that the Spirit of God was in Daniel. He knew it. And whatever ignorance he had, because I believe Nebuchadnezzar was still very confused at this time, and whatever ignorance he had is about to be wiped away. He said, Daniel came in last, and he had the spirit of the holy gods in him. And so, look what he says here. In verse 9, and this gives us here a hopeful assurance, a hopeful assurance. He made a holy inquiry. After calling in the wise men and giving them all their chance to tell me the truth, I then went back and made a holy inquiry. I called in Daniel at the last. I called in the one who I knew had interpreted the dream before me the first time. I knew I could count on Daniel and his God. That's a hopeful assurance. Verse 9. He says, O Beltashazzzar, master of the magicians, this is what he called him then: because I know that the Spirit of the Holy Gods is in thee, you see that I know. that the Spirit of the Holy Gods is in thee, and no secret troubleth thee. Tell me the visions of my dream. That I have seen and the interpretation thereof. Now, he is not asking him to tell him both the dream and the interpretation. He's asking him to explain the dream to him through giving him the interpretation. You'll see that in verse 10. If you look down. With me in Daniel. It's not going to be probable, it may not be on the slide there, but if you'll look with me in Daniel. Let me go there myself. Chapter 4. Look with me now in verse 10. He says, thus were the visions of mine head in my bed, and I saw and behold, and then he starts telling the dream. So he's not asking him to tell him the dream. He says, Tell me what this dream means. Give me the interpretation of it. And then he says, Then he tells him the dream. He starts telling Daniel the dream. And so he has this hopeful assurance because he knows that Daniel is going to be able to tell him this interpretation, so he gives him the dream. and does not require him to give the interpretation. Why does Nebuchadnezzar have this hopeful assurance? Why does he know? Because he didn't tell that to the wise men that came in. He just said, Here's the dream, tell them the interpretation. Whole bunch of nothing. Daniel comes in. He says, Daniel, I know the Spirit of the Holy Gods is in you. Here's my dream. What's the interpretation? It's because of past experience. Because of the past fear that Nebuchadnezzar had, because of the past tribulation that he and Daniel both went through. Nebuchadnezzar knew that Daniel had God's Spirit in him, and he would be able to tell him the interpretation. Daniel knew because of his past tribulation, his past experience. Of being threatened with dying because they couldn't give the interpretation, Daniel knew that God would also give him the interpretation. In Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter 5, verse 3-4. Romans chapter 5, verse 3-4, the Bible says, and not only so, but we glory in tribulations. You know, we don't ever think about glorying in tribulation, do we? We think about tribulation being something very difficult, which it is, very painful, which they are. But we don't think about them being glorious. But you know what? For the child of God, tribulations are glorious. I've told you all before, I've learned the most, it seems like, when I've hurt the most. In my worst pain, my worst sorrow, the worst tribulations I've gone through, that's when God has seemed to teach me the most. And you know what? In all those tribulations I've gone through in my past, I have learned this: God is faithful. God is faithful. He may not remove the problem, but he will be faithful, and his grace will be sufficient for you. And in all the tribulations I've gone through in the past, I'm telling you, God hadn't fixed all of them. But God sure has done a lot of fixing on me because of them. Does that make sense? And that's what God does. Daniel, because of the tribulation he went through, God built up Daniel's faith in him because of that tribulation. It caused him to suffer. And because of his suffering, it caused him to trust in God. And because he trusted in God, he watched God come through for him, and he had the experience. That God's grace would be sufficient for him in that time of need. And so Romans 5, verse 3 through 4 says, Not only so, but we glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation works patience. Patience means suffering. And suffering experience and experience hope hope Nebuchadnezzar called him in because he had a hopeful assurance. He knew the first time when he was afraid, and he suffered through his fear. That God, through Daniel, gave him the interpretation and calmed that fear and answered his questions. And now, because of that first. Time in tribulation, Nebuchadnezzar now can call Daniel in with the hopeful assurance that God is going to do the same thing for him this time that he did last time. And Daniel had the hopeful assurance that when Nebuchadnezzar called him in, that God was going to do the same thing through him this time that he did through him last time, and he would give him the interpretation of that dream. King David. When King David came before Goliath, King David came in to stand before Goliath. He said, I'll fight the Goliath. And King Saul said, David, you're just a boy. This man is a giant. He's been a warrior from his youth. I mean, you have no experience with it. You know what King David said? He said, I was out in the field tending my sheep. A bear came along. The Spirit of God came on me, and I killed that bear. He said, There was another time a lion came along. The Spirit of God came on me, and I killed that Now, I want to tell you something. If I ran into a bear, that would be tribulation. If I came face to face with a lion, that also would be tribulation. But because of David's tribulation, he then had patience, which was fear and anxiety and everything, all the stress that went through running into that big wild animal, and then that patience worked to experience whatever he slew. That animal, and through slaying that animal by the Spirit of God, it worked hope. And so now he's standing before a much bigger giant, a much bigger opponent. In the patience, tribulation worked patience, the patience worked experience, and he stands before Goliath in hope. And he told King Saul, the God that slew the bear and that slew the lion is going to slay this beast of a man right here, too. That's what he's going to do. He had a hopeful assurance. And I tell you what, thank God for us, we do too. The Bible says, here's a kingdom of truth for you this morning as we begin to close. Here's a kingdom of truth. For a child of God, tribulation is never pleasant, but it is always profitable. You remember that the next tribulation you're in, or if you're in a tribulation right now, you remember that you put your confidence in God. God will never let you down. He may not answer your prayer as you tell him because prayers are not dictating to God how to handle things. He may not fix your problem, but he'll fix you in your problem. For a child of God, tribulation is never pleasant, but it is always necessary. So here's the thing. I'm going to answer a question that you may have been having lingering in your mind since the beginning of the message. I told you all in the beginning when he called those wise men in. And when he told those wise men the dream, I told y'all he was testing the wise men. Now, he first tested the wise men by telling them to tell him the dream. But when he brought these wise men in the second time, he didn't ask them to tell them the dream. He just gave them the interpretation. He said, Now you give him, I'm sorry, he just gave them the dream. Now he said, Now you give him the interpretation. And I told y'all he was still testing the wise man. How is he testing the wise men? Well, in the first dream, the first time around, Nebuchadnezzar tested the wise men by the dream. Tell me the dream. The second time around, he tested them by Daniel. He tested them by Daniel. The first time around, he tested them by the dream. The second time around, he tested them by Daniel. He knew, he said, I know that the Spirit of the Holy Gods is in you, and you will tell me the truth to this. You will tell me the interpretation of it. So the first time he tested without the experience, not having gone through this before, the first time he tested them by having them tell the dream. This time he gives in the dream. He's going to let see if they'll tell him an interpretation. And if they come up Let's say I'm going to test Brother Reese back there. Let's say Brother Reese says, I'm a wise man. You tell me the dream. Brother Richard, I'll give you an interpretation thereof. The Spirit of God is in me. And I knew that Brother Shepard was a real prophet. And how he I knew that through past experience. I said, Okay, here's a dream, Brother Reese. Now you tell me the interpretation. Now, let's say he gives me some off-the-wall interpretation he comes up with. I'm now going to bring in the prophet at the last. I'm going to say, here's a dream. Give me the interpretation. If this does not match up with this, what I know through tried and tested experience through God, I'm now going to reject the first. I'm not going to know he's false. I'm going to know this is true. Does that make sense? The first time he tested the prophets by the dream. The second time he tested them by Daniel. Which was an experience that he had, a verified experience with God. And listen, we do the same thing today. We have, through God's written word, verifiable experience. We have the history of the creation of the world in the book of Genesis. We have the history of the The Exodus. We have the history of God giving the law, appearing in person on Mount Sinai before his people. We have the history of the miracles that were wrought by God and by his prophets, and their prophecies were documented and verified. through the miracles that they performed, and through the fulfillment of those prophecies which came to pass. God told us back then, here's how you know someone's spoken in my name. If they give you a prophecy. And that prophecy doesn't come to pass, they're a false prophet. If they give you a prophecy, that prophecy does come to pass, then it was me speaking through them. We have those prophecies recorded for us in God's Word. And then we come to Jesus. Jesus then comes down. He then tells us God's truth. He then performs miracles. He then proves and verifies that God was speaking through him, working through him, that in fact, he himself is God, the great I am, because after he died on the cross, he went to the tomb and then he overcame death. Because God's the only one who can give life. He then rose up to heaven. He then gave His Spirit to His apostles Who then performed the same miracles that he did as they were teaching the truth throughout the book of the New Testament into the book of the Revelation. You see now? In the Bible, we have a Daniel. You see how that works? In the Bible, we have a Daniel. And now, all we have to do is say, let's listen to all you prophets. Let's listen to all you wise men. Let's hear what all you teachers have to say. And let them say their peace. And after they said their peace, you take God's written, tried, true, holy word and test them according to the scriptures. And I'll tell you what, the scriptures will ring true every single time. Test the teachers. If I ever say something up here that disagrees with God's word, you say, Richard, you're a whole bunch of nothing. But I'll tell you what, by the grace of God, I'll stand here each and every Sunday, and we'll go verse by verse by verse by verse, and we will expound the word of God. We will not add to it, and by the grace of God, we'll not take away. Father, we thank you so much for your precious word. I thank you, Father God, that we have a tried and true revelation of God. We can be confident that we can make a holy inquiry into the truth and we can have a hopeful assurance of receiving it. By looking at your word, thank you, Father, for giving us light that we may walk by. And we ask these things in Jesus' name now that you'll be with these precious people and go with them. And bring us back safely, Father, next week. Amen.