Verse by verse teaching - Daniel 5:16-17 "All Knotted Up"

If you take your Bibles, please, and turn to the book of Daniel, chapter 5. Daniel chapter 5. And while you're turning there, I want to encourage everyone to continue to Pass out tracks and share the gospel and remind everyone that we have sticky tracks, wonderful little square tracks like this That you can have QR code and it has a knowimsave. com website on there. And it has will will you spend a few minutes to know how you will spend eternity? Noimsave. com That takes you to a fully illustrated forty-two-page gospel presentation that I wrote. And then down here at the bottom, do you doubt your salvation know I'm saved dot com. And then they can go to that. You can take these, stick them up anywhere you go, bathroom. gas pump wherever and stick them up and so we have those here no charge just take them and take you some back with you And uh speaking of noimesaved. com, I'm not going to embarrass her, but I tell you, what a blessing. I I I got up this morning and uh I received a text message Where is that text message? I got up this morning at 7. 35 a. m. A lady who uh some of y'all know, Jenny Alexander, she's visited here before. She used to be an online member here, but she's from Canada, and she visited the knowimsaved. com website. And she sent me a text message this morning. Seven years ago today, she visited the knowimesaved. com website about her salvation. And she wrote me this morning, seven years ago today, I believed in Jesus. May God bless your ministry. Now she's married to a pastor. And uh serving the Lord. Thank God, God's so good. And I woke up with that and it was so wonderful. Only to come here. To introduce myself to this beautiful couple over here that were visitors this morning. I introduced myself. I walked away. And Brother Shepherd said, Did you meet the young couple over there? I said, Yes, I did. And he said, well, uh, Heather said that she's uh was uh has read your book and y'all corresponded on the website. And I stopped. Heather. Heather. And I look back at her and I heard the picture in my mind. And of course, I don't meet these people. They're online. And I said, was it Heather Church? He said, I don't know. I went back over there. I said, what's your last name They said church. I asked her husband, can I hug your wife? So what a what a blessing to be able to have Heather Church and her Her husband, yes. Thank you, man. So I told her I wasn't going to embarrass her this morning, so enough of that. So we'll move on from that. It's good to have Heather and her her her dear husband here with us uh on vacation and uh they uh decided to slip over to Maybank way and uh I mean because Maybank you gotta you gotta if you come to Texas you have to see Maybank right? I mean it's huge. It's huge So, uh, but it's good to have them with us. So last week we had 84 uh gospel contacts. That means we passed out that many tracks or or witnessed to that many people and just continue to do that. Brings our yearly total to 752. And thank you for those who submit uh those stats for us. Not we're trying to reach stats, but we're trying to encourage one another to continue to share God's word. All right. Daniel chapter 5, God willing, we'll be expounding verses 16 and 17 this morning. Daniel chapter 5 verses 15 and I'm sorry sixteen and seventeen studying through the Bible Books of the Bible, one verse at a time, from the verse one all the way to the very end of the book, whatever book we're studying, so we'll understand every verse in that book. Now we left off with Daniel and Belshazzar, and this is where the handwriting has been written on the wall. Belshazzar and his lords are scared to death, and Belshazzar has called in Daniel, a man of God. to seek his help in deciphering this message. In verse 16, the king tells Daniel, look now in verse 16, and I have heard of thee that thou canst make Interpretations. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your precious word. Thank you, Father, for the blessing this day's already been. Thank you for the wonderful time and the Genesis of Jesus class this morning, and I'm sure they had a great time in Sunday school as well. And thank you, Father, for those who are here today and the wonderful blessings, Father, you've given us I pray that all eyes will be on you this morning, Lord, and may your Holy Spirit open our eyes to discern your truths. And Father, that we'll understand your word deeply. Communicate it clearly and obey it fully in Jesus' precious name. Amen. So he says, I've heard of you, Daniel, that thou canst make interpretations. And to interpret The words on the wall mean to explain the meaning of those words. They see the words, they see the the symbols of the letters, but they they just like a foreign language They can't read them. And I'm sure Brother Shepherd, our associate pastor, I'm sure he's been called numerous times to serve as an interpreter for the Spanish language. for those who don't speak it, as he's been out uh in his law enforcement career. And uh that's similar to what Daniel is going to be doing. He's going to be interpreting God's language that he wrote this in into the Chaldean language for Belshazzar and explained the meaning of what is written. A few weeks back I explained that to you about the handwriting on the wall, and I told you it'd be like me trying to read a message in Chinese. The words are there. The words are right there in front of me, but I would not know the meaning of them. So God had chosen to let Belshazzar see the message. But not be able to understand it. That happens a lot. Did you know that's a natural occurrence in life? That to once-born people, God's message can be right in front of their eyes. They read it. And the meaning is locked up. Ever happened to y'all? Hey, how about this? How about born-again Christians? You have God's word right in front of your eyes. You're saved. You believe in Jesus as your Savior. And you come across a difficult passage of Scripture The words are right there. You speak English. The Bible's in English. Brother Doug, you've gone through this, haven't you? And the meaning of those words are just locked up, aren't they? Brother Shepherd? All the time, right? All the time. Anybody else? All the time. Why does God do that? Because When he finally unravels the mystery, guess who gets the credit? God does. When he unravels the mystery, guess who becomes the teacher? God does And God lets us know that by binding these mysteries up, Nelda, I just realized you're here this morning. It's so good. I told her when I missed Nilda, I wanted to hug her when she came. Good to see you, Miss Nelda. She just got over her hip replacement. You keep walking now, keep exercising. And when God opens those letters up for us, God shows us he's in charge. And I tell you what's so beautiful about it, when they finally open up, You realize you just sat down in God's schoolhouse. You just had an encounter with God the Holy Spirit. And he loosened and untied those knots. We'll get into that in just a moment, to give you that understanding. What good would tell me something Would you have loved how many of y'all would have loved to have been there? How many of y'all have thought this before? I would have loved to have been there. And to have seen Jesus call Lazarus out of that grave. Have you ever thought about that? Hands are going up everywhere. I would have too. Have y'all thought I would have loved to have been there and seen Jesus walk out of that tomb? But what if every day you woke up You're driving to work. You're going wherever. If you like Rick and Glenda, they don't work anymore. They just they just go and have fun. And you're you're you're just on the road every day and you pass by cemetery and you watch people hop out of the graves You saw that every single day. How many of us would really say, boy, I wish I'd been there to watch Lads? It would have been anything to anybody If coming out of the grave was a natural occurrence of mankind. Then the supernatural would no longer be supernatural, you see? Jesus calling Lazarus out of the grave would mean nothing anymore if Lazarus could come out by himself. And it would mean nothing to us if we could unravel every mystery in God's word. In fact, it'd mean nothing to us if there were no mysteries. We would take God's truth for granted. But because God locks it up and we have to call on him for the key, That makes receiving the key very special because when you get the key and when the truth is unlocked, You know you just had an encounter with God. That happened with me when I became a believer. It happens with me every single time I study God's Word to stand up here and teach you. And over the years, I've learned that God is really good at unraveling mysteries in His Word. And I've gotten to where I get excited about finding difficult passages. Because I say, boy, is it going to be good? Can't wait to hear what this is going to be about. And I'll say, oh Lord, show me what this means, please. Teach me your word. And yet once again, God shows me, you need me. This is my truth. And so God chose to lock this up for Belshazzar. To show us the truth that that the the the the the the spiritual things, the spiritual truths of God are naturally locked to carnal man And God is about to give Daniel the understanding of these words that he might interpret their meaning for Belshazzar. Belshazzar said, I have heard that you can make interpretations, look back in your text, and dissolve doubts. Now, in the Chaldean language, this literally means loosen knots. Dissolve doubts means to loosen not to untie knots. In some of the old Westerns that Tammy and I watch, the good guy sometimes gets his hands tied with a rope. And someone's got to come over there and either cut the rope or they gotta try to loosen those knots. Man, have you ever got something really, really tangled up in knots? Isn't that frustrating? And you gotta sit there and maybe take a little needle or if the if it's small or some little something prying there and you kind of had to work it and boil when it finally, finally starts breaking loose. Oh, you get excited about it and finally you untangle it. That's the concept that we're given here. That's the way Belshazzar felt. I hear you can untie knots. In God's great wisdom, he is bound. He has tied in knots the meaning of spiritual matters. And for some people, he's tied it in knots forever. which we'll get here in just a moment, while loosening the knots and setting the meaning free for others to comprehend After lamenting the rejection of the gospel by the people in his day, I mean when Jesus was here, they rejected the gospel message. They rejected him. Just like Joseph's brethren, man, we I enjoyed teaching that this morning. Joseph's brethren rejected him. And After the people in his day rejected the gospel, listen to what Jesus said in Matthew 11, verse 25. At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent. And has revealed them unto babes. Isn't that something? Oh Father These people that are rejecting me right now, these people that have walked away, these people that have tried to stone me, these people that want nothing to do with me, I thank you that you've hidden this glorious truth of the gospel from their eyes. And I also thank you, Lord, that you revealed it unto babes, unto babes, the wise and prudent. Those are like the evolutionists in our day. They think they're too smart for God. And the babes are those that we might consider to be the less intelligent people. Yet they have enough sense and humility to know there is a God and to accept the salvation He provides. To those too proud to believe in God, God leaves the truth in naught. You see that? To those too proud to believe in God, who reject the light of creation, who reject the knowledge of God, he leaves the greater truths of salvation in knots to them. Yet to those humble enough to acknowledge their need of God, that truth is untied, and then they're set free by it. As the Bible says in 1 Peter chapter 5, 5, God resisteth the proud. And giveth grace to the humble. You see that? So those who too proudly don't think they need God, God leaves it in knots. He resists them. But to the humble that know, man, I'm a sinner in need of a savior, God says, well, let me tell you about that savior. Let me untie these knots for you. And to tie these spiritual knots, God uses spiritual men. How can they believe on him in whom they have not heard? How can they hear without a preacher? Remember when Philip joined to that chariot, and he gets on that chariot, and that eunuch is there reading in Isaiah 53, and Philip said, do you understand what you're reading? He said, how can I except some man should guide me? That was the same as Belshazzar looking at this handwriting and reading it, or trying to And not knowing the message in front of them and having to call Daniel in, Philip was like Daniel. And Philip, God used Philip to untie the knots. And then Philip believed in Christ as his Savior. So there are two important truths that we learn in this chapter so far. And first is this, spiritual truth is naturally bound. And thus it must be supernaturally opened. Spiritual truth is naturally bound. And thus it must be supernaturally opened. If you're here this morning, and if you have come to the conclusion that the Bible is the Word of God, That Jesus is the Son of God, and that He is the only way that you can be accepted by God is the fact that He died as your substitute. went to the grave, overcame death for you, rose again to overcome sin and death in your behalf, and that you can be judged by God Not in the merit of what you have done, but in the merit of what Jesus has done in your place. If you've come to that conclusion, do you know who gave you that understanding? God did. Spiritual truth is naturally bound, has to be supernaturally opened. It's absolutely amazing. And so if you've come that understanding, then guess what? It was the Lord Jesus Christ, the power of his Holy Spirit, who gave you that understanding. Listen to this Spiritual truth is naturally bound, supernaturally opened after Jesus spoke to his disciples. Now this is after Jesus died and was raised from the dead. After he spoke to his disciples in Luke 24, 45, Jesus goes and he is telling them about the Old Testament, showing them how he fulfilled the Old Testament sacrifices. Luke 24, 45 says, then open he their understanding that they might understand the scriptures. If your understanding has been opened to understand the scriptures concerning Jesus, it was Jesus who opened them. You've had a personal encounter with God. Oh my goodness, these people. I can't get over these folks that walk down to the front. Y'all ever watch these videos of these Pentecostal churches? They just say, They start doing all that. Get on the floor. Look like a fish out of water And they got catchers. So when they come and they blow on them or they pump them on the head of his fault, and they got catchers back here ready to catch them. And they think that they've had a supernatural encounter with God. I'll tell you what, I think they've had a supernatural encounter with the devil. That's what I think. If you experience a phenomenon based on a lie, I assure you it was not the Holy Spirit giving you that phenomenon. What we see in Scripture, the personal encounters with God always reveal truth. Always reveal truth. And that truth is found in the person of Jesus Christ all the way back there to the book of Joshua when Jesus came, all the way back to the book of Genesis. When Jacob wrestled with the angel, the man, which was Jesus, he said, I've seen God face to face. Always. The truth Jesus spoke was naturally bound. And thus, when they understood he fulfilled those scriptures and they saw him for who he was and what he did. It was supernaturally opened. They had an encounter with God. Second, God opens understanding through the teaching gifts of spiritual men. So, spiritual truth is naturally bound, it must be supernaturally open. Second, God opens understanding through the teaching gifts of spiritual men. The meaning of the writing on the wall was naturally bound. And only Daniel, the man of God, through the teaching gifts of God, could untie the knot so Belshazzar could understand. Hoping to motivate Daniel, however, to dissolve the doubts for him, Belshazzar told Daniel, look back in your text in Daniel. Daniel 15. Now if thou canst read the writing and make known to me the interpretation thereof. In other words, if you can read the writing and tell me what it means. He said, then I'm going to greatly reward you, and this shall be your reward. Look back in your text. Thou shalt be clothed with scarlet. Take your pen. Underscore the word scarlet in your Bible. Draw your little arrow to the margin of your Bible and write down the word purple. Purple. Now, church, I don't want to pass this opportunity up because anytime I have you put a word for a word in the Bible, there better be a very good reason for it. Okay? And this is a great time for us to learn about Bible translation. Okay? Now, tell me, what has the greatest authority? The hand has come up here on the wall, and the hand has written this message up here for Belshazzar. That's the original writing of God. As God's hand, his original writing. Now let's say that Brother Cliff speaks Swahili. And he wants to make sure that everyone in his nation can read the handwriting on the wall in Swahili language. And he comes here and he he happens to be able to read this message here. And he says, okay, well I'm going to translate that in the Swahili language. He translates it to the Swahili language. When he takes that back to Africa, y'all thought I was going to trip, didn't you? When he takes that back to Africa, And they read that. He says that was the handwriting on the wall. But let's say that one word that he wrote was different than what was on the wall. Who should we go by? Should we go by what Brother Cliff wrote in his translation? Should that become the authority or should we go by what the handwriting on the wall was? Handwriting on the wall. That's a give me, isn't it? In any deviation If all of y'all translate into a different language, if there's any deviation at all, as much As you prayed and labored over the translation of it, and as careful as you were, if there's any deviation at all, We have to go back to the original writing on the wall, right? Because that's the standard. Now it's the same way with our Bible. the original writings of the apostles and the prophets. And those are the writing on the wall, if you will, because the Bible says All scriptures given by inspiration of God that holy men wrote as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. That's the writing on the wall. Okay, got it? And so any deviation from that writing must be deferred back to the original writing. You've got to. And that's why when when a pastor preaches, some pastors don't do this, they don't believe in it, but most do. When a pastor preaches. They better take the translation, no matter how trustworthy that translation is, they better go back to the original language. They better look and see what it means. They then better compare it to everything else and how it's used in the Bible. And then they better teach God's word. Because our allegiance. What if someone says, now, but Brother Cliff's translation, we're going to call it the Clifford translation. And the Clifford translation is greatly, greatly revered in Africa. Don't ever do anything against the Clifford translation. Now Can you see where Brother Cliff, having been revered over the generations as a great man of God and a great Bible translator. Can you see where people could start to revere the translation over the original handwriting of God? Now would that be a sin? It would be. That'd be idolatry It's the same with us and our translations, folks. You better go back to the original handwriting on the wall. And listen carefully to what I'm saying. Because I was raised independent, fundamental, Bible believing, King James only. Okay And we still an independent fundamental church here, but Baptist Church here. And I still use my King James only. But listen, we've got we we we do not worship King James, we worship King Jesus. And we've got to go to the original languages and hear, right in your margin purple, because that's what this word means It's not scarlet, it's purple. And let me explain this to you. It's a good learning opportunity, so be patient with me for a moment. Because I know this is a sensitive topic for some folks. And we have not just folks here, but we have folks that listen online. And it's a sensitive topic to them. So I'm trying to help. So please be real careful and patient so you won't be offended because I love God's word. I love God's word more than anything else in this world. And I love you. And I want you to know God's word better. And I believe the King James Translator should have translated this word as purple, not scarlet. Now listen, we love and trust our King James Bible. But if we don't love and trust God's original word more than the translators, we're fools. So our allegiance must be to God's word. Now, the Jews. The Jews who we got the Bible from, they translate this word as purple. Okay, as purple. When the Jewish Publication Society. When they translated their Old Testament, their Hebrew Old Testament, what we call the Old Testament, they call it the Tanakh, but when they translated their Hebrew Old Testament into English, they translated this purple. Okay? And trusted language experts like Brown, Driver, and Briggs, and if you've studied much in lexicons, you would know them. They translated this as purple. Strong translated it scarlet. Oddly enough, the root word that this word's based on, he translated it purple. He's just a man. Every translation except the King James that I've ever consulted translates this as purple. Even the beloved Reina of Aleda, that's the Spanish equivalent of the King James, translates this word. Purple. And the King James only proponents. When I was growing up, it was the Reinu Veleda. Those were the two main translators and And and and and the with this is the the God's preserved word in the Spanish language. And that's what you go by, the reign of Atleta. Isn't that right, Brother Shepherd? It's not that way anymore. Do you know that? It's not that way anymore. Fascinatingly, because I hear someone say, now, Brother Richard. You're tampering with the Word of God. The King James Bible is perfect, doesn't need any updating. Well, let me tell you something. Did you know that for decades now? Even even back in the 90s, I remember this happening. We're the the King James only people here in America. We're trying to get the Spanish-speaking people to update their reign of Elida. They were. They're trying to get it updated and make corrections so it could be closer to the original languages that God spoke to the apostles and prophets. I remember it being in an independent fundamental Baptist church and hearing the pastors and missionaries talk about how it needed to be updated. And today, strict English Speaking, King James only proponents no longer accept the Reign of Aleta. Now they only accept the modern 2010 Reign of Aleta Gomez. Isn't it amazing? The only people Who say you cannot update any translation. It'll be tampering with God's word. The KJV only people said they found errors in the original Reinoveleda. But also in the Reina Velera Gomez, they said, it's better. But they told Mr. Gomez, who tried to update the Reina Valleta, we still finding errors in it. So they worked with Mr. Gomez to correct the remaining errors, which now gives us the modern 2010 Reina Valleta Gomez And the King James only people here are now very pleased with the Reina Valeta Gomez version. So the KJV only people who condemn any modern translation or any correction to their English translation of the Bible for the sake of accuracy are now pushing a modern translation and correction to the Spanish-speaking people for the sake of accuracy. The hypocrisy absolutely astounds me. And we owe it to God to point out the errors as to the way they are. We owe it to God. Spanish-speaking people to point out the errors in your translation, but nobody better dare point out the errors in ours. That really ruffles my feathers. In fact There's a there's a linguist, a KJV only linguist named David Daniels. Anyone ever heard of David Daniels? He's with the uh y'all ever heard of Jack Chick? Y'all ever heard those chick tracks? He's he's he's with the Jack Chick Publications. He's he's a linguist, uh biblical linguist, and they got to make sure when they translate tracts it's gotta be in the the right uh the right translation in a different language if they have it in different language they want to make sure it's it's up to snuff with the Masoretic and the the Texas Receptus texts And David Daniels praises the 2010 Spanish translation, saying it is now on par with the KJV. He says it is now like the KJV, God's word preserved in the Spanish language In other words, congratulations, Spanish-speaking people. As of 2010, you now have what we had back in 1600. That's what he's saying. Although that 1600's been revised, revised, revised many times too. And they failed to mention that. In fact, he says it matches the the the Masoretic and the Texas Receptus text, which our King James version was translated from. He says it matches it 100%. That's a very big endorsement. It's a very big statement to make. Well, guess what? The 2010 Renovaleda Gomez translation translate this word as purple. Guess what? The old reign of Aleda, before they ever updated it, translates the word As purple. Say purple in Spanish, Brother Shepherd. Oh, well, it's Pura Puda in in uh in the reign of Aleda. Uh Putapuda. Purple purple now somebody's wrong Because if I say that my King James translation is right in it being scarlet. And I say that the Spanish language is right in being purple. That's like going up and down the elevator at the same time. Something's wrong. Somebody somewhere made an error in the color. Not in the original language Not in God's word, but in the translation of man. And this is why we must always give allegiance to the original word over the translation. No matter what translation it is. Scarlet is red, not purple. It's red, not purple. Isaiah chapter 1, verse 18. Isaiah chapter 1, verse 18. Come now and let us reason together, saith the Lord, though your sins be as what? Say it with me. Scarlet. They shall be white as snow. Now he's going to describe scarlet. Though they be, say with me, red like crimson, they shall be as wool. The Hebrew word translated scarlet here. It means crimson. That's why he goes on to define it. Scarlet is red like crimson. If you were to look up that uh Hebrew word, translated scarlet there. you will see the definition of crimson. So so what is the importance of the color? It's because like numbers in the Bible, colors also have significance. Colors also have significance. And the color purple signifies royalty. Royalty. You see, Belshazzar is not offering to dress Daniel up when Belshazzar says you'll be clothed in purple. He's not offering to dress Daniel up. He's offering to raise Daniel up to a position of royal power in the kingdom. Speaking of Jesus, in Mark chapter 15, verses 17 and 18, the Bible says, you got it up there, and they clothed him with, set with me, purple. And platted a crown, you see the crown of thorns, and put it about his head, and began to salute him, saying, Hail what? King of the Jews. Purple signifies royalty. That's why when Jesus came, they said, we're going to mock him. Get us a purple robe. Like a king would wear, get us a crown, but not one of gold. We'll make it out of thorns, and we'll start worshiping him as king. Purple. This is why this word is important here in the book of Daniel, or else we will miss the meaning of God's original handwriting on the wall. Metaphorically speaking, speaking of his original words here in Daniel, purple, crown, king, Belshazzar is trying to motivate Daniel. By rewarding him with great power in the kingdom, you shall be clothed with purple. And the temptation of kingdom authority. is an age-old tactic of the devil. Speaking of Jesus in Luke chapter 4, verse 5 and 6, the Bible says, and the devil take them up into a high mountain. showed him showed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this power Will I give thee and the glory of them? So we're looking at kingdoms. He's saying, he's saying, Jesus, I'm going to give you two things. All these kings I'll give you their power, I'll give you their glory, because that is delivered unto me and to whomsoever I will give it, is what the devil told Jesus. So when Satan told Jesus he would give him the power of those kingdoms, he was essentially saying, Thou shalt be clothed in purple. Make sense? And that is why the soldiers mocked Jesus by clothing him in purple and called him king before they crucified him. But notice the devil didn't just say he would give Jesus the power of those kingdoms. He said he would give Jesus the glory of those kingdoms. In other words, You'll be clothed with purple. That's the power. Look back in your text now in Daniel. And have a chain of gold about thy neck. That's the glory. See how it all goes together? That's the glory. the status, wealth of the kingdom that he would rule in under Belshazzar's authority, Satan wanted Jesus to rule under his authority, as illegitimate as it was. Belshazzar says, You'll be clothed in purple, have a chain of gold about your neck, look back in the text, and shalt be the third ruler in the kingdom shall be the third ruler in the kingdom. So showing that Daniel would be second only to the king and queen or future heir of the throne. And that's a lot to offer a man right there. That's a lot. But Daniel wasn't motivated by any reward. that he may receive from man. Daniel was motivated by one thing, pleasing his God. serving his God. Daniel knew that Babylon was already a conquered kingdom. You know what? Do you know we're really living in a conquered kingdom right now? Before Jesus died on the cross, he said, now is the judgment of this world. Now shall the prince of this world be cast out. Prince of this world hadn't been cast out yet, experientially, but the Prince of this world has been cast out legally When Jesus died and rose again. He conquered this fallen kingdom. We're just waiting on its collapse. Make sense? Legally, it has happened through the death and resurrection. Experientially, experientially, excuse me, it will happen at the revelation of Jesus Christ. So Daniel knew this, and that's why he set his affection on a kingdom that was not on its way down, but he set his affection on a kingdom that's on its way up. Why walk in the power of Belshazzar's fallen kingdom when he could walk in the power of Christ's eternal kingdom? Now listen to what God the Spirit said about God the Son in Psalm 45, verse 6. I'm going to have to hurry to get all this out. This is what God the Holy Spirit said about God the Son in Psalm 45, verse 6. Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. Now this is what this is what is being said to Jesus in the Psalms. Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of thy kingdom is a right scepter. A scepter is like that staff they hold in their hand. Now the devil tempted Jesus by offering him the power of the world kingdoms of that day. But why would Jesus want to rule in the devil's failing kingdoms when Jesus can rule His own kingdom forever and ever is a no-brainer. That's why he turns it down. Now speaking of the Father's words to the Son. Listen to what the Bible says in Hebrews 1. 8. But unto the Son he saith, Now he's going to quote the psalm we just read. Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom. Isn't that amazing? God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, his kingdom's forever. Belshazzar was offering to Daniel the only thing this world can offer us: advancement in a kingdom that's going down. Vainglory. Rank above our fallen earthly peers. But God offers us what this world cannot offer. advancement in an eternal kingdom that's on the rise. A true eternal weight of glory, as the Bible puts it, that excels all others. and to be seated forever on the throne with Jesus Christ. Pleasing our God should be the only motivation, and the grace he offers should be the only reward that we set our affection on. That's how it was for Daniel. Belshazzar offered Daniel the rewards of Babylon, verse 17 now, Daniel in Daniel. Then Daniel answered and said before the king, let thy gifts be to thyself and give thy rewards to another. I love that. Daniel didn't treasure earthly power, fame, fortune. He said, King, let somebody else enjoy your gifts and rewards or just keep them yourself. I don't need them But look what he said, yet will I read the writing unto the king, and make known to him the interpretation. Now take your pen and underscore the words, let thy gifts be to thyself. Let thy gifts be to thyself. And I'll underscore the words, yet I will. That's a whole message in and of itself. Let thy gifts be to thyself. Yet I will. This should be the heart of every servant of God. You keep the gifts, I'll still render the service. You watch these you watch these people on television. And it and and I mean it doesn't take long and they're gonna they're gonna go right into money Somehow you you give me money, you're gonna be sowing a seed, and now you're gonna get money back, but give us money, and and uh or like Peter Popoff, we're gonna send you some some miracle oil or whatever the the the the the scam is. This should be the heart of every servant of God. You keep the gifts, I'll still render the service. Why? If our service to God ever becomes an exchange. between service and reward from man, then suddenly all the joy of ministry is gone. And suddenly all the eternal rewards of ministry are forever lost. Can't be that way. And there's been so many people. That have gotten their eyes on the rewards of man. You've got to enter any type of ministry, any type of service you do, whether it's cutting the grass. Whether it's pastoring, whether it's evangelism, you've got to enter the ministry with this in mind. You keep the gifts, I'll render the service. I I told y'all before, I've been here uh uh thirteen years now. And when I came here, the church asked me, how much will you need to come here? And I said, well, whatever you can afford. And I said, I already determined in my heart if they said, well, we don't. Our budget's poor. We don't have enough. I already determined my heart. I said, that's okay. I'll come. I said that's what you can afford. Nothing. No problem. I'll come. Now the reason I didn't say I'll do it for free is because it's biblical The Bible instructs to uh to uh uh take care of the pastor that the this the servant, the laborer's worthy of his hire. So I don't want to lead anyone to do anything unbiblically. At the same time, my heart has to be biblical too. You keep the gifts, I'll run the service. I don't do this for any type of money. It can't ever become our our heart can ever become like that. And so when people write me for help on the know I'm saved. com website. They have doubts about their salvation. Do you know what those doubts are? Remember Belshazzar said, I heard you can dissolve doubts In other words, I could change, instead of, instead of on on my my website, instead of do you doubt your salvation, I could say, do you have are uh is your knowledge of salvation tied in knots? Do you need help untying those knots? It's the same thing. I heard you can dissolve doubts. And so When people come into the know I'm saved website, they're coming in like Belshazzar and they're asking for to to have the knots loosened up. And I've watched God loosen lots of knots over the years. And I get amazed and I have great joy every time I see him doing it. And I never solicit a gift from the people that I help. And a lot of times, back before I had books. It was all audio and a lot of time on the phone, a lot of time in emails. And now that I have books, they can take that and read at their own pace, and it's been a great help to them. And if I ever recommend to someone who writes in, if I say, now have you read my book knowing I'm saved? Or if they have something that Leaving Egypt takes care of, I say, have you read my book, Leaving Egypt? And if they say no offer to mail them one as a gift. And we've mailed a bunch out as gifts, haven't we, Sugar? We've mailed a bunch out as gifts. Because and many of them accept that A lot of them don't have the money to purchase it. Had a young man the other day say, I'm a broke college student, and I'll sure take one. I said, you got it. And we mailed it off to him Now somebody has to pay for those books. They don't print on their own. But I don't want my ministry to be driven by desire for earthly reward. Here's a kingdom of truth for you this morning. If you're writing down in your notes, if your ministry to God is driven by your desire for earthly reward, then earthly reward shall be the only reward you have. I'll say it again. If your ministry to God is driven by your desire for earthly reward, then earthly reward shall be the only reward you have. Matthew chapter 6, verse 1 and 2, Jesus said, Take heed that ye do not your alms before men to be seen of them, otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore, when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. In other words, the glory of men is the only reward they get. Daniel said, you keep the gifts, yet I'll still render the service. Occasionally, someone receives help and they ask how they can donate to help others as well. There's a lady years ago, years ago is one of the most wonderful experiences I've ever had. I always try to beat those bells, but today I just couldn't do it. And I'm on my way back home from work and we're talking on the phone. She wrote in for help on the website. And we're just going through the gospel slowly, step by step explaining what Jesus has done. We start at the beginning. And started working through the Bible up to what Christ has done. And right in the middle of my explanation, she interrupted me She said, oh, praise God. Praise God. Praise God. I understand. I understand. I understand. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Brother Doug, I hadn't finished talking yet. We covered enough truth that the gospel was explained. I hadn't finished talking yet, but God had. Do you know what that was? I'm over there talking. And while I'm talking, God's over there. Unravel the knots. And when those knots came free, ever since then I don't even know how to get a hold of this lady. I've tried emailing her before to offer her things. But if I'd write it, I had no books written at that time. I've tried to email her and say, hey, can I send you some books? Can I do I don't even know how to get a hold of this lady. Every month, she sends $20 a month electronically. $20 a month, every month. Since that day, years ago. Now that's God's way of helping keep that website on the air. I joyfully accept Those gifts of God's way of financing financing the ministry. But let me tell you something. If I ever start seeking gifts for loosening knots, then I will lose the joy of serving Jesus Christ. And I will lose my rewards as well. I love Daniel's heart. You keep the gifts. I'll render the service. And I love God's work of loosening knots supernaturally. in the mind of man where it's naturally bound. Father, we thank you so much for your precious word. God, what a powerful message you have in the scriptures. Lord, that when we understand your word, life and truth open up to us. Thank you, Father, for teaching us these verses in Daniel this morning. Thank you for opening the minds of those who are here to hear. And we pray, dear Lord, you'll continue to as we continue our way through this precious book. Thank you for saving our souls. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.