A Word for Those Who Want to Know God — Carter Conlon

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Knowing God and Finding Strength in Him

Daniel chapter 11, verse 32 please. Daniel chapter 11, I've entitled this, A Word for Those Who Want to Know God. Do you want to know God? Do you want to really know God? Daniel chapter 11,. Father, I thank you, God, with all of my heart that you have opened my heart to something.

You have shown me the cornerstone of where a Christian person finds their strength. I thank you, Lord, that through these years you have been my strength and you've taken me far beyond my ability. You've walked with me, you've been faithful, you've never left me standing alone in any battle at any time.

You've been with me, you've been good to me. I believe that you are good and that you are a rewarder of those who diligently seek you. And I pray, Father, that you would give me the ability to convey this.

I have something from your heart and, again, I need your power to convey it clearly. I ask you, Holy Spirit, to animate me. May I just step back behind the cross and disappear, that you may appear. Jesus, speak to your church today.

Do it in the power of the Holy Ghost. Help the people not to see men but to see Christ. God, I thank you, Lord. I thank you that you will bear witness to that which is truth. And I give you the praise and the glory in Jesus' name.

Daniel chapter 11. It's Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, then Daniel. Chapter 11, verse 32. One verse. And such as do wickedly against the covenant, shall he corrupt by flatteries. But the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits.

Daniel’s Choice to Live for God

Now, before we even go into this verse, let's do a bit of history. Daniel is a young man taken into the captivity of Babylon. And in spite of the opportunity that Daniel had, as you and I do for past experience and maybe present difficulty, Daniel chose, in spite of the fact he'd never have children, he'd never again see his family, he'd never again know the pleasure of the religious and community gatherings that had been part of his youth, perhaps, in Jerusalem, in Israel, rather.

But in spite of the difficulties that came into his life, in spite of being separated from everything familiar to him, he made a choice that he was going to live for God. And his life was going to be a life that honored God.

And, beloved, that is the basis of everything I'm about to speak on today. If you're not willing to make that choice, then you will live your life blaming other people. You'll live your life in self-help groups.

You'll live your life examining and reexamining the past to try to find a cause and a reason for your present behavior, especially if it's deficient in the sight of God. But ultimately, it comes down to this.

You and I have to make a choice. We can either live there the rest of our Christian experience or we can do like Daniel and say, No, I'm moving on. I'm going to live a life. I'm going to leave the past behind.

And I'm going to live a life that will bring honor and glory to God. Because of this desire that was in his heart, Daniel was given by God the power to understand mysteries. He became, as the Scripture says, one who could dissolve doubts.

He could see into the future. And God opened his eyes to the point where Daniel could even see to the end of time. Can you imagine? He had a panoramic view. Isaiah had the same panoramic view. Jeremiah, in great measure, had it.

And others throughout the Scripture who had made this decision to live for God. One of the first evidences that you've set your life apart as it is and say, Lord, I'm wanting you to be glorified through me, is that God will open your eyes.

You will see where you are. You'll see clearly where you've come from. And you'll surely understand where you're going. You'll see this world as it actually is. You'll see the beauty of walking with Jesus Christ.

You'll see the amazing grace of God like you've never seen it before. You'll sing like you've never sung in your entire life. Every morning you'll see new mercy. You'll be led by God from strength to strength.

Even by the Spirit of the Lord God that is within you. You'll become an absolute new creation. And God, through your life, will bring honor and glory to his name. Daniel saw, if we went to chapter 12 and verse 4, I'm not going to focus on it, but Daniel saw an increase in travel and knowledge.

Daniel’s Prophecy and the Increase of Knowledge

He said at the second part of verse 4, at the time of the end, many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall be increased. God spoke this. How could he have described the Internet? In Daniel's day, if you wanted to send a message to somebody in another country, you wrote it on a scroll, you gave it to a man on a horse, he took it down to the docks, it ended up on a ship, and the ship may or may not get there.

If it did arrive, it might be six months to a year later. If you went to travel somewhere, conceivably it sometimes might have taken an eighth of your life to get to that particular destination, let alone be used of God when you get there.

But the Lord spoke to Daniel and said, No, there's going to be in the last days of this earth, there's going to be an increase, an explosive increase in knowledge. And of course, we're living there. Daniel saw our day, a day when you can get on an airplane and travel to Argentina, and in a matter of several hours, you can be there.

A journey that may have taken months in Daniel's time. He saw an increase of distress coming upon the earth in the last days of this planet. You read on in chapter 12. Great difficulty, great distress, and every prophet of God saw this.

In the New Testament, they saw this. Paul saw this. In 2 Timothy chapter 3, he saw society in almost complete upheaval in the last days, in rebellion against God. Perilous times, he called it in 2 Timothy chapter 3.

Days that we are now living in. These are not days that are coming. We're living in these days right now. Peter saw it in 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse 10. Peter saw what appeared to be to him the very atmosphere itself set on fire around the earth.

Now, we know today, beloved, that with the nuclear capability that exists, the very atmosphere could realistically be set on fire through a nuclear exchange. Peter saw it. How could he describe it? How could he know what it is that he was seeing?

Antiochus, Abomination, and the End-Time Ruler

Now, Daniel also saw an event which has already historically happened. The verse that we read was about a foreign ruler named Antiochus IV Epiphanes. He ruled about 150 to 175 years or so before Christ.

He saw this ruler coming into Jerusalem. He saw him attempting to conquer the faith and the true worship of the people of God. This particular man, Antiochus, was a type, Daniel says, of a last in time ruler.

One more ruler is going to rise like this man. And he's a ruler who would be under the obvious influence of Satan himself and attempt to do the very same things that Antiochus did. In Daniel 11 .31, it tells us that he will...

Actually, verse 32, rather, it says,. And such as do wickedly against the covenant, shall he corrupt by flatteries. Now, the word flatteries tells us that he would speak words that would lead those whose hearts were not in honest in their seeking of God into a false form of worship.

Jesus said in the New Testament, in Matthew 24, verse 12,. In the last days, because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. Now, this love is an agape love, and it means the kind of love that takes from the open hand of God and freely gives to a needy world.

This kind of love will be in short supply. This love among God's people that causes those of us who know Christ to go to Christ and say, Lord, you've got to open to me the treasure of your life. You've got to open me the provision that you won for me on Calvary.

Because there's a needy world, and I don't have a sufficient supply to bring to them. But God, I want my life to be laid down for this purpose. I want to be used for the glory and the honor of God. I want to be the hands of Christ as it is to a needy society.

I want to be this basket of living bread to those that are starving for an understanding of the meaning of life on earth as they know it. Jesus said there's going to be an abounding of iniquity. There's going to be a baptism of filth as it is that will so touch this world that even among those that are called by his name, there will be a short supply of this kind of love.

This kind of love that is a giving love. There won't be a short supply of those who are going to get something from God, but there will be a short supply of those who truly know why God has a church on this earth and are willing to allow this life that Christ freely gives to flow through them to a dying and a perishing world around them.

The Lamb of God Versus Self-Indulgence

The Bible tells us, and history tells us, that Antiochus came into the temple in Jerusalem, conquered its defenses, and he sacrificed a pig upon the altar. Now, this is an incredible thing. It is an abomination.

And Daniel seems to infer that this type of abomination is going to be repeated again in the end times. Now, the pig is an animal that typifies greed and self-indulgence. It's in direct opposition to the lamb.

The lamb whose blood typically is represented on this altar is an animal that is given historically and as a type for the needs of others. And this is what the altar of Christ is about. God came to us in the form of a man and gave himself so that you and I might be redeemed from our sin, that we might know we're going to heaven when we die, that we might not be cast into hell or into outer darkness where there's nothing but wailing and gnashing of teeth.

We might escape this incredible distress that is coming on all of those who don't know Christ. God came to us, and John looked at him and said, Behold, the Lamb of God. But you see, Antiochus is the type of a man who is indwelt by Satan, and it's always been Satan's design to take this altar, this altar that welcomes as it is the Lamb upon it, and substitute a pig for the lamb.

Now, pig is his self-indulgence. Jesus himself said, Don't take your pearls and cast them before swine. Don't take these adorning truths of God, these things that truly take a person's life and make them beautiful in the sight of God.

Do not cast them before those whose bellies, who are just there to fill their bellies. For they will take these truths and trample them underfoot. Because this is really not the Christ that they're looking for.

This is not why they're at the altar. They're at the altar because they are an indulgent creation. Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 3, says that before this end-time ruler would appear, of whom Antiochus is the type, that a falling away from true faith and worship among those professing to be God's people will already have occurred.

The people will fall away. And this satanically inspired leader will already have quite a substantial following by the time he appears. He will already have a people who are absolutely self-consumed.

Now, Paul bears witness to this. In 2 Timothy, chapter 3, he said there's going to be a form of godliness that has no power of God in it whatsoever. This godliness will have at the core of its approach to God a self-consumption and a self-indulgence.

It will be a godliness, a form of godliness that loves pleasure more than it loves God. It will be a form of godliness that has no natural affection for other humanity, even its own family. Every man, as it is every woman, in this form of godliness will be in it for themselves.

They'll be gathering around the altar. But their gathering around the altar is not to be given to the work of God. Their gathering around the altar is to see what scraps they can find that might better themselves.

Cleansing the Temple and Restoring the Lamp

But Daniel saw something else. He said in the second half of verse 32, well, in the first half he said, those who do wickedly against the covenant, he will corrupt them by flatteries. And I looked it up in the original text, and that's exactly what it means.

He will flatter them. Now, keep in mind, this is a historical fact already, but it is also a type of a reality. This man will come in, he will substitute the lamb for an animal that represents self-consumption, and he will corrupt the people by flattering them, telling them perhaps you are some great one.

You're going to have this marvelous ministry. You're going to touch the whole earth. You're going to be this, you're handsome, you're beautiful, you're gorgeous in the sight of God. You're this, you're that.

Typically, he will just spread a net of flattery over the people. He'll not lead them to Calvary. He'll not lead them to anything of God. He will corrupt them by flattery. But then the scripture says that the people that know their God shall be strong and do exploits.

The people who know their God. Now, in the time of Antiochus, there was a man, a priest of the Hasmonean, a priestly family. His name was Judas Maccabeus. And he rose up against this. He saw this for what it was.

And I'm sure there were several with him. And he rose up against this and he began to resist it. He began to stand against this thing in the house of God that he saw as an abomination. And his resistance began to increase to the point where Antiochus was forced to take his armies home.

And under this ministry of Judas Maccabeus, the temple was cleansed. It had become an abominable place of every unspeakable evil. And Judas Maccabeus went in. And those who followed him. And they cleansed the temple of this evil.

And they relit the lamps of God that had gone out. Oh, folks, you have to understand. There's a type in here. Something that God is trying to speak to this generation. If ever there was a time to cleanse the temple of all of the self-seeking.

Folks, do you realize that this world is spiraling out of control rather quickly? Do you realize that darkness is increasing? Do you realize that you and I are not called of God to gather just around some theology somewhere that makes us richer, more powerful, happier, more healthy?

Do you realize that we're called as Christ was called of God the Father to give our lives a living sacrifice for the purposes of God which is our reasonable service to God? Do you realize that we're not called to just build a fortress around ourselves and gather goods to ourselves?

We're called to receive from the hand of God and take what God gives to us to a perishing world and tell them there is forgiveness and freedom in Christ. There is a life that they can have in God. Prison doors have to open.

Blinded eyes have to see. The wounded in heart must be healed. And to the poor of this world, the greatest treasure of all eternity is open to them. They may never have abundance of this world's goods.

But if you have Christ, you have everything. You have everything that you will ever need. Daniel says, but the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits. Let me break this verse apart for you.

Knowing God Personally and Intimately

The word know in the original text means personally and intimately acquainted with God. Those who really do know Him, not just know about Him or theorize about Him, they know Him. Well, there's a huge difference.

Pastor William gave me an example one day which I think settles it all. It's like going to an apartment building, a high rise here in New York. And let me use Pastor Neal as an example. And you say to one man who's coming out of the building, do you know if Pastor Neal lives here?

And the man says, yes, there's every evidence he lives here. His name is on the roll. The commissioner has some things to say about him. We don't call them commissioners here. What do we call them? Security guard.

Let's put it that way. If we were to take out a forensic kit, there's probably evidences, maybe a few hairs along the way that have fallen out as he's headed to his apartment, things like this. That's not a slight on that.

And that's the way many, many people know Christ. Just evidence, opening the Bible and always just examining evidence. But then there's another man that comes out. You ask a second man, do you know Pastor Neal Rhodes lives here?

He said, oh, yes, I've just been at his house. Would you like me to introduce him to you? I know him personally. I've just left his apartment. We've been talking and communing together. And this is the difference.

They that know their God, those who have communed with him, those who know him personally, they know him, he knows them. They're walking together with him in one accord. Shall be strong. And the word means to become courageous, to be valiant, to be conquerors and do exploits.

And exploits is a word used in Scripture to describe what God does through his creative ability. Now, this is incredible. It means those who are, this is my translation, those who are personally and intimately acquainted with God shall become courageous, they shall be made valiant, they shall be made more than conquerors through what God does in them through his creative ability.

They will be made more than they are. They will be given what they could never possess. God, in Christ, through the Holy Spirit, by the power of his promises that he himself makes a reality, will cause these people to rise up in the midst of all obscurity and they will fight one more time for the honor and glory of God.

Hearing God’s Voice and Trusting His Promise

Now, to know God, arguably, is to have the ability to hear his voice. Jesus said in John 10, 27, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. They hear my voice. Now, if you're listening to the voice of God, you're hearing what Jeremiah said.

Even though the people for a season were in captivity, God spoke through Jeremiah to the people. He said, I know the thoughts that I think towards you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to bring you or to give you an expected end.

Or in other words, God says, I know, in spite of where you are now, in spite of what you're going through, in spite of your struggle or your captivity, I'm thinking something about you. Oh, you know that today.

Do you know that? God is thinking, you're here today, you're thinking, oh God, I'm caught. I can't seem to tell the truth. And somebody else says, oh God, I'm caught in immorality. Oh God, I'm caught in bitterness, and I can't seem to get out.

Oh God, you must be very angry with me. Now God says, I know you're captivated. This was written to the people who were in Babylon. But I'm thinking something about you. You want to be free, and I want you to be free.

And I'm thinking thoughts, that if you can begin to understand what it is I'm thinking, I'm going to take you through to the end, which both you and I long for. God says, you're not only longing for it, I am longing for it.

I'm longing to bring you into the freedom that you truly long for. I'm longing to bring you into the strength that you've always wanted. Now, where is this place that God desires us to be? It's to be a partaker in full measure of an already settled victory.

To be brought into something that's already done. Paul says in Romans 8 .27, we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. God says, if you're hearing what I'm thinking, you're beginning to see something that I already know.

You're beginning to see that I've already conquered the power of evil. I've already conquered the devil himself. I've already overthrown all of the captivities of this world. I rose from the dead by the power of the Spirit of God.

I sit at the right hand of all authority and all power, and I fill a people who are called my church. I'm the head, they're my body. I'm already on the victory side. I've already conquered. So if you are in Christ and Christ is in you, you are already more than a conqueror.

You are more than a conqueror because you know the outcome of the battle before you even get into the fight. Hallelujah! This is one contest whose end score is not in doubt. The victory is already won.

If I'm in Christ, I'm already more than a conqueror. Yes, I have to go through battles. Yes, I have to go through floods. Yes, I have to go through fire. Yes, I have to go through the scorn and derision of a godless society who hates the things of God.

But I am already on the victory side in Christ. You see, Daniel saw the end from the beginning just like Paul did. He saw it. Because his desire was to live in a manner that would glorify God. And this alone opened his eyes to see what others around him were blind to.

I'm going to promise you something. If you can say at the end of this service today, that my desire, I can say my desire is to live in a manner that will glorify God, your eyes are going to open to something.

It's not something you can get from study. Study is a good thing, but you can't get it from study. There's nothing more blind than a religious scholar whose desire is not to glorify God through his life.

You want to find confusion, find a religious scholar who doesn't really want to live for God. Go to 1 Samuel, please, chapter 17, if you will. I'm going to close with this scripture. And it's the story of David, something that most here are very, very familiar with.

David, Goliath, and the Battle for God’s Glory

We're talking now again about the people who know their God shall be strong and do exploits. We're talking about desiring to live in a manner that would glorify God. We're talking about having our eyes open to see something that the self-consumed can't see.

It's impossible that they can see it because the desire is truly not to bring glory to God. In 1 Samuel, chapter 17. Now, David had this heart and his eyes were about to be open to a decided victory. In 1 Samuel 17, verse 26.

Now, you have to understand that the men of Israel and Saul, you know the story, are standing on a mountainside. There's a giant named Goliath of the Philistine army coming out into the valley every day, challenging the very honor of God.

All of the men of war of that time, and Saul included, are trembling. Some are running and hiding. They're looking at their armor. They realize that what they're carrying and the skills that they possess are insufficient for this battle.

There's not a man among them that has the strength to fight this giant that is threatening the very honor of God. And folks, we're not short of giants in our society today that are threatening the honor of God.

Now, David, in verse 26, he spoke to the men that stood by him saying, What shall be done to the man that kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? And who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?

Now, what shall be done? He asked the soldiers. This is a key question. Now, follow me in this. What shall be done for the man who takes away this reproach? How will he be rewarded? Now, the soldiers, it says in verse 27, answered him after this manner.

Now, the manner they answer him after is found in verse 25. It says in the latter half of the verse, The man who kills him, the king will enrich him with great riches and will give him his daughter and make his father's house free in Israel.

And so here are the soldiers who have no courage to fight. David is just a young boy. He comes into the camp and said, What shall be done to the man? That was a very pivotal question. I'd never fully seen it this way.

Now, David is not looking for what they're looking for. They're gathered around a wrong altar. And because they're gathered around the wrong altar, they have no power to fight against this giant and his armies that are coming against the testimony of God in the nation.

In verse 25, they answer him and they tell him, Well, if you defeat this giant, you're going to have great riches, wealth. The king will give you his daughter. You'll have power. You'll be part of the influential in society.

And his house will be made free in Israel. You'll have status. And so here are these soldiers gathered around an altar as it is of wealth, power and status. And they have no power. They have no courage.

Their eyes are blinded. Every man is looking around and saying, I would love to be rich. That's why they were there. I'd love to be part of the king's family. I'd love to have influence among people in the nation.

I'd love to be able to say to this man, go. And he'd have to go on to this one. Do this. And he'd have to do it. I'd love for my family to be lifted out of obscurity and brought into status. And folks, I think about where so many people who profess to be Christians are gathered today.

What altar are they gathered around? What kind of flatteries are corrupting their devotion to God? What are they being told? What is the reward of the battle? What is the reward of the fight that we're called to fight?

Wealth, power and status. And it leaves the church powerless against our enemies who come in at every corner and push Christ out of the schools and Christ out of the courts and Christ out of the marketplace and Christ out of the minds of an entire generation of young people.

While so many are gathered around this altar. And they have no power. And I'll tell you why they have no power. Because deep in their gut there's no desire to stand for the glory of God. And quite often to stand for the glory of God means to share in the sufferings of Christ and share in the reproach of Christ.

And not be popular among a godless generation. What shall be done? Now the enemy comes to David in verse 28 and begins to accuse him through his brothers. He said, why did you come down here? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness?

I know your pride, verse 28, in the naughtiness of your heart. You see the enemy accuses him of pride. Who do you think you are? And that's exactly how the devil keeps a lot of you in your seat. Comes to you and says, who do you think you are?

You don't have the weaponry of these soldiers. You don't have the training of those that have gone on before you throughout church history. You don't even have the integrity. You've never been to Bible school.

You've not had any of this or you've not had any of that. Who do you think you are? Who do you think you are to believe that God could actually use you and raise you up? Then he comes to him again through his brother and says, with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness?

In other words, you have no history of accomplishment. What army have you led? What great victories have you won? Who do you think you are to even believe that you could enter into this fight? You have a few little things that you've done.

You've ushered well in the church somewhere. You've sat on some committee. You've taught Sunday school. But who do you think you are? And then Goliath himself in verse 42, when he would not be deterred, says that he disdained him for his buddy youth.

And in verse 43 he said, am I a dog that you come to chase me with sticks or staves or a stick? And he cursed David by his gods. So the enemy accuses him of pride. He accuses him of having no history of victory, significant victory.

And he accuses him of having insufficient strength and weaponry. And those are the very things that keep very many of God's people in their seats. Keep them from the mission field. Keep them from becoming what God would have them to be.

They buy the lie. What shall be done? What shall be done? That's the most significant question David asked. He wasn't looking for the response they gave him. He pushed that one aside. And still in his heart, what shall be done?

What shall be done? Oh, God, what shall be done to the man, to the woman who takes away this reproach from Israel? What shall be done to the one who comes and has the courage to fight these giants? What shall be done to those who have nothing more than a smooth stone of God's truth and a heart filled with passion for the glory of God?

What shall be done? Now let me tell you what God does. In verse 45, He does the same thing He did for Daniel. The same thing He did for Isaiah. The same thing He did for Jeremiah. The same thing He did for Micah.

The same thing He did for Paul. He opens his eyes and shows him the end from the beginning. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Then David said to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword and with a spear and with a shield, but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel whom thou hast defied.

Now here's where his question is answered. What shall be done? Listen to me today. God is going to do something for those who will rise up and say, Lord, glorify your name through me in this last time.

Here's what shall be done. He begins to prophesy. He's not speaking out of bravado. His mind now, his heart, his spirit is now open to the Holy Spirit of Almighty God. God now pushes away the veil of accusation, pushes away all the struggles with inferiority and infirmity, pushes away all that obscures what is really going on here and begins to speak to his heart from heaven itself.

And says, this day, this day, now David is speaking from heaven. Now, like Deborah and Barak, he's fighting from heaven. He has an open vision now. And he says, this day will the Lord deliver thee into my hand and I will smite thee.

It's no longer David speaking now. You have to understand. It is the Holy Ghost has come upon him. God is working now in unison with this young man. I will take your head from you and I will give the carcasses of the host of the Philistines this day to the fowls of the air and the wild beasts of the earth that all the earth may know there is a God in Israel.

And all this assembly... Now, David is looking behind him at all his trembling brothers and all the trembling soldiers and the trembling king and the trembling Israelites who had no courage to fight because their focus was wrong.

All this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with the sword and spear for the battle is the Lord's and He will give you into our hands. Hallelujah! David sees that the battle is already won before he even goes into the fight.

Do you see it? Do you see it? Do you see it? Who can stand against the church of the living God? Tell me! Tell me! What argument, what false reasoning, what devil of hell, what satanically inspired theology can stand against the church of the living God?

When God who created the universe rises up to speak, who can stand against Him? He stands against His enemies and wins simply because He is an instrument in the hand of God and desires that God alone be glorified.

That's really the issue, that God alone be glorified. The question we ask ourselves today is will you be, in our generation, will you be among those who are corrupted by religious flattery? And there is an abundance of religious flattery available today.

Will you be brought to this altar of consumption on yourself? Will you be made into nothing while being given the promises that you're going to become everything? Or will you stand like Judas Maccabeus did and those who followed him and say, God, light the lamp of your testimony again in this generation.

The lamp has almost gone out, but God, light it again through me. That's the cry of my heart. I've said it before, I feel in my spirit I've got about 15 years left to preach. But every one of those years, by God's grace, is going to count for Him.

Don't clap. It's going to count for Him. I want to see souls by the hundreds of thousands released from the grip of darkness and brought into the life and light of Christ. And I want it to be done for the glory of God.

Becoming a Light in This Generation

There is a call going out of the Holy Spirit now to this generation. I believe that's the reason why so many young people all over the country now seem to be coming into the house of God. Where there's truth, they're coming in and they're looking for God.