Sunday, June 13, 2021 AM

Good morning everyone. Welcome to Sunnyside this morning. Beautiful day to be together, to worship together this morning.

We'll start with a few announcements this morning. Looking ahead, come back for our evening service tonight at 5 .30

here at the church and then Wednesday dinner at 5 .45 here for the whole church and at 6 .30

we'll have Bible study and prayer time for everyone together since TAC is kind of taking a little bit of a break and then coming up next

Sunday, Father's Day on June 20th and then at the end of the month, end of June, we'll have communion in the morning and then truth group that evening for the young adults.

This week's fighter verse comes from 1st Timothy chapter 2 verse 5. For there is one

God and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ.

We still have some Operation Christmas Child needs. You can see those in your bulletin for the month of June. Summer Sunday school session is going to be coming up here at the beginning of July.

So if you got a bulletin this morning, there should be an insert inside where you can pick what session you would like to attend.

This is from ages 7th grade all the way through to adults but there's four classes,

Build on Solid Ground, Reformation Truths, The Book of Job, and the Sunnyside Bible Study Method.

So if you're interested in attending one of those, you can go ahead and mark your choice. Put your name on the bottom and then on your way out you can just put those in the offering plate and we'll gather those for those future classes.

Still need some volunteers for the nursery for the month of July and you can contact Marla Hovarter about that.

And then finally in preparation for something we have this afternoon which is a piano recital at 4 p .m.

Anybody is welcome to attend but Mrs. B has some students that she would like to have them play.

But if you want to come back at 4 p .m. for that recital you are welcome to attend. But to prepare for that we do need a few men to help us move the podium out of the way and bring the piano front and center for that recital.

So after the service if you could help with that we would appreciate it. All right any other announcements before we get started this morning?

Yes sir? No Timothy school today. So if you are in Timothy school we'll take the week off.

Anything else? All right well we are going to prepare our hearts for worship just in prayer and then once we're done with that Jerry Brown will open us in prayer.

Father we thank you for Sundays. A special day when we can come and just fellowship together with your people and hear your word taught and sung.

Just while you breathe with us this morning help us to be attentive and to hear what you have to say to all of us and to each one specifically.

You have a word for each individual just help us to hear that.

We pray for those that are in a medical need especially

Tommy and Diane and others that have medical situations just be with them put your healing hand on them your hand of encouragement.

We just look forward to a special time this morning in your word your perfect word just be with us and help us to soak up everything we can.

Be with Michael encourage him just pray that you'd clear his mind and help him to share with us what you've shared with him.

Thank you again for the Lord Jesus for what he means to all his people.

In Christ's name Amen. If you're able would you stand with me for our call to worship this morning?

Our passage this morning is found in Psalms chapter 67 we'll be reading verses 3 & 4 read with me together.

Let the peoples praise you O God let all the peoples praise you let the nations

I'm glad and sing for joy for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon the earth.

And we're gonna sing just that song may the peoples praise you. There was a handout in the back

I hope you got that. May our eyes every breath pretend the grace that broke into our strife.

With boundless love and deepest joy within must lie.

May the peoples praise you. Let the nations be glad.

All your blessings come let me make praise.

May praise the name of Jesus. All the earth is yours and all will be.

Each harvest is your own. And from your hand we give to you to make

Christ known. May the keys of mercy grow in us for those who have not heard.

May songs of praise build lives of praise to spread your word.

May the peoples praise you.

Let the nations be glad. All your blessings come let me make praise.

May praise the name of Jesus. All the earth is yours and all will be.

Each harvest is your own. And from your hand we give to you to make Christ known. May the peoples praise you.

Let the nations be glad. Let the nations be glad. All your blessings come let me make praise.

May praise the name of Jesus. Holy, holy is the

Lord Almighty. Worthy, worthy is the

Lamb who was slain. Holy, holy is the

Lord Almighty. All creation raise your voice ahead.

May the peoples praise you. Let the nations be glad.

All your blessings come let me make praise.

May praise the name of Jesus. May the peoples praise you.

Let the nations be glad. All your blessings come let me make praise.

May praise the name of Jesus. This morning's scripture reading comes from the book of Amos.

We'll be looking at chapter 3 the whole chapter verses 1 through 15. Amos chapter 3 verse 1.

Hear this word that the Lord has spoken against you, O people of Israel, against the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt.

You only have I known of all the families of the earth. Therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.

Do two walk together unless they have agreed to meet? Does a lion roar in the forest when he has no prey?

Does a young lion cry out from his den if he has taken nothing? Does a bird fall in a snare on the earth when there is no trap for it?

Does a snare spring up from the ground when it has taken nothing? Is a trumpet blown in a city and the people are not afraid?

Does disaster come to a city unless the Lord has done it? For the

Lord God does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants, the prophets. The lion has roared.

Who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken. Who can but prophesy?

Proclaim to the strongholds in Ashdod and to the strongholds in the land of Egypt and say, assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria and see the great tumults within her and the oppressed in her midst.

They do not know how to do right, declares the Lord. Those who store up violence and robbery in their strongholds.

Therefore, thus says the Lord God, an adversary shall surround the land and bring down your defenses from you and your strongholds shall be plundered.

Thus says the Lord, as the shepherd rescues from the mouth of the lion two legs or a piece of an ear, so shall the people of Israel who dwell in Samaria be rescued with the corner of a couch and a part of a bed.

Hear and testify against the house of Jacob, declares the Lord God, the

God of hosts, that on the day I punish Israel for his transgressions, I will punish the altars of Bethel and the horns of the altar shall be cut off and fall to the ground.

I will strike the winter house along with the summer house and the houses of ivory shall perish and the great houses shall come to an end, declares the

Lord. Would you pray with me? Heavenly Father, your word is unfailing, is ever true and will always come to pass.

The words that you declare with your mouth and in your scripture will always come to pass.

Help us to look to your word for wisdom, look to your word for guidance, to trust in your word when our culture says that it's a relic of the past, not to be listened to anymore, that we have ascended far above whatever wisdom primitive man might have gleaned from it.

Father, you are before the beginning. You are after the end.

You are eternal. Your word is eternal. Its truth is eternal. Father, as we gather together, as we worship in the proclaiming of your word, as we listen to the proclaiming of your word, help us to value it above all things.

Father, we thank you for this time together. We pray for our brothers and sisters around the world that are worshiping together, some publicly, some secretly, some being persecuted.

We ask for your grace and your mercy to fall on them now. And we look forward to the day when we can all worship together.

We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Please be seated.

Our next two songs are in our normal blue hymnals. If you would, please turn to page 25.

We'll sing Immortal, Invisible. We'll sing all four verses. And then also page 343, we'll sing verse 1.

Immortal, invisible, God holy, wise.

Invited, accessible, healer of our minds.

Most merciful, most glorious, the ancient of days.

Almighty, victorious, thy great name we praise.

Unresting, untasting, as silent as light.

Nor wanting, nor wasting, thou wast in light.

Thy justice like mountains, thy glory above.

Like clouds, they draw fountains of goodness and love.

To all life thou givest, to all great and small.

In all life thou givest, the true life of all.

We blossom and flourish as leaves on a tree.

And wither and perish, but God changes thee.

Great Father of glory, forefather of light.

Thine angels are dying on the earth's side.

All praise thee, my friend, and all help us to see.

Tis only the springtime of thy time and me.

Be still and know. Be still and know that I am

God. Be still and know that I am

God. Let's sing that again. Be still and know that I am

God. Be still and know that I am

God. Be still and know that I am

God. Let's go to the

Lord together in prayer this morning. Father, I thank you for this day.

You are a good and gracious, generous God, the giver, the saver, and the keeper of life.

I thank you that you have revealed yourself in such a way that we may know you, be right with you, and love you all through your

Son, Jesus Christ. We thank you for sending forth your Holy Spirit, who indwells us, your people, that we are not orphans, but that we may commune with you and dwell with you.

So we thank you, we thank you, and we thank you for your multitudes of grace, mercy, love and kindness, compassion.

We come before you today looking at your word. Give us insight into your word through your

Holy Spirit. Give us understanding of the text. I pray that you would teach us, correct us, rebuke us, instruct us, that in all things

Christ would have the preeminence in our lives, in our church, in our families, and in this world today.

We pray these things for his sake, the one with whom you are well pleased.

Amen. I invite you to open your Bibles to Daniel chapter 2.

Daniel chapter 2, we'll be looking at verses 1 through 13 this morning.

Daniel chapter 2, verses 1 through 13. The title of this next portion of Daniel here in chapter 2, justified by her children.

Justified by her children. If you're wondering who the her is, it's wisdom.

And it comes from a saying of Jesus. And we're talking about wisdom because Daniel is a book full of riddles.

Real life riddles in matters of state craft, where life and death are on the line.

Apocalyptic riddles in the fabric of dreams and visions, which displayed the rise and fall of empires.

Daniel is a book chock full of riddles in which wisdom triumphs over all.

And in fact, the whole riddle of Daniel is beautifully unspun in the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the one who unravels all the riddles of Daniel.

Because wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord and culminates in Christ. Now in chapter 1, we saw the wisdom.

We saw wisdom as the principal thing. Wisdom is the principal thing, Proverbs says. Therefore, in all your getting, get wisdom and get understanding.

So wisdom is the principal thing for God fearing resistance within a pagan power structure.

We saw that with Daniel and his friends. And he led his friends in a resolve to remain undefiled.

A resolve to remain undefiled. Through their non -conformity to paganism, they remained wise, fearing the

Lord. Those around them didn't think that that was a good idea.

The best way to get along was to go along. And they thought that was wisdom.

And yet, in the end, the wisdom and skill and knowledge and understanding that God gave to Daniel and his friends was reported as 10 times better than all of the other experts in Nebuchadnezzar's realm.

And that contrast at the end of chapter 1 leads directly into the crisis of chapter 2.

So let's read together. If you'll stand with me, I'm going to read from the word of God, the words of Christ by his spirit through his prophet

Daniel. Daniel 2 verses 1 through 13. Now in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign,

Nebuchadnezzar had dreams. And his spirit was so troubled that his sleep left him.

Then the king gave the command to call the magicians, the astrologers, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans to tell the king his dreams.

So they came and stood before the king, and the king said to them, I have had a dream, and my spirit is anxious to know the dream.

Then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in Aramaic, O king, live forever.

Tell your servants the dream, and we will give the interpretation. The king answered and said to the

Chaldeans, My decision is firm. If you do not make known the dream to me and its interpretation, you shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made an ash heap.

However, if you tell the dream and its interpretation, you shall receive from me gifts, rewards, and great honor.

Therefore, tell me the dream and its interpretation. They answered again and said,

Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will give its interpretation. The king answered and said,

I know for certain that you would gain time, because you see that my decision is firm. If you do not make known the dream to me, there is only one decree for you, for you have agreed to speak lying and corrupt words before me until the time has changed.

Therefore, tell me the dream, and I shall know that you can give me its interpretation. The Chaldeans answered the king and said,

There is not a man on earth who can tell the king's matter. Therefore, no king, lord, or ruler has ever asked such things of any magician, astrologer, or Chaldean.

It is a difficult thing that the king requests, and there is no other who can tell it to the king, except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.

For this reason, the king was angry and very furious, and gave the command to destroy all the wise men of Babylon.

So the decree went out, and they began killing the wise men, and they sought Daniel and his companions to kill them.

This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. You may be seated. We have grown accustomed to hearing expressions and phrases like these.

Experts have told us. Experts have proven.

Experts predict. We have become so accustomed to hearing these phrases and reading these phrases that we don't realize what we're engaging with.

When you hear these phrases, Experts have proven.

Experts have told us. Experts predict. You must understand that when this is coming from a so -called secular perspective, which secularism is a myth, doesn't exist, there's always a god being worshipped.

When you hear these phrases, you are receiving priestly unctions and prophetic oracles of a pagan religion.

Do not be deceived. Do not be deceived. Being pagan in origin, these predictions are predictably despairing of life, confident in men, and horribly wrong.

The Boston Globe reported in 1970 that the Ice Age would begin in the year 2000.

I don't remember year 2000. I don't know if it was cold or not. In 1978, it was reported by the

New York Times, there was no end in sight of the 30 -year cooling trend.

In the year 2000, it was reported in the United Kingdom that children will not know what snow is.

In 2008, ABC ran a special in which they were very fearful and confident that Manhattan would be underwater by 2015, if only.

Throughout the 2000s, we were told that the Arctic would be completely ice -free by the experts.

And if you deny this, then you're a science hater, science denier. Truth hater.

The Arctic will be ice -free in 2013. No way. 2014. No way. 2015. No way.

2018. Then they gave up. Sounds like these rapture prediction people sell a new book every ten years because oh, now, now, now it's going to happen.

In 1966, we were told that the oil would be gone in ten years by the experts.

Well, in 1977, the Department of Energy declared that the oil would peak in the 1990s.

And in 1996, it was declared that oil was going to peak in 2020. How much stock are you really putting in the experts?

The experts have proven. The experts predict. The experts tell us.

Joseph Stalin's science advisor, Trofim Lysenko, knew how to work the system.

He was a talented flatterer. But he was, indeed, the leading expert in his field of agriculture.

He was a leading expert. His word was like gospel.

And he believed that plants, just like good communists, could be educated. You laugh now.

But the things the experts say now are equally insane. Plants can be educated.

Peas and wheat can be trained to grow in winter. And also salute, right?

The Soviet Ministry of Agriculture then acted upon Lysenko's bogus theories and managed to ruin crops all over Eurasia and starve as many as 10 million people.

Don't forget that later his ideas influenced agricultural policy in Mao's China.

And many million more died because the experts have proven.

Also remember that experts have told us that unborn babies are not humans and that murdering them is social justice.

Now, why do we believe the experts? Well, often, often, the words of men touch upon our fear of death and we often give them much more credence than we should.

The end, the end sells. The end sells and sells and sells.

But rather being tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine, either

Christian doctrine or pagan doctrine, we must sail true by faith, by God's wisdom.

I've taken the title for this next multi -part sermon from Matthew 11 verses 16 through 19.

Jesus says, But to what shall I liken this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their companions and saying,

We played the flute for you and you did not dance. You ever wonder where the expression didn't dance to his tune came from?

It came from Jesus. And saying, We played the flute for you and you did not dance. We mourned to you and you did not lament.

He's saying, This generation is like a bunch of children playing games in the marketplace and they say,

Let's play a wedding and they play their tune and like, Why aren't you dancing with us? Let's play funeral. Let's all be sad now.

Why won't you play with us? Why won't you do what we're doing? Jesus says,

John did not come, came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, Oh, he has a demon. The son of man came eating and drinking and they say,

Look, a glutton and a wine -bibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. But wisdom is justified by her children.

Wisdom is not justified by public opinion. Wisdom is not justified by the games that men play.

Wisdom is proven over time through the lives of those who fear God. As we see in Daniel 2,

God exposes the folly of these children in the marketplace. He exposes the folly of the experts who always expect others to dance or lament according to their fancy.

Here's the thought for chapter 2 of Daniel. The wisdom of God alone makes sense of his world.

The wisdom of God alone makes sense of his world.

Man in his wisdom may observe this or that about God's world, but the wisdom of God alone makes sense of his world.

Okay, so chapter 2, verses 1 through 13. We're considering fools in their folly.

Notice verse 1 again. Now in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams and his spirit was so troubled that his sleep left him.

I'm going to clarify a couple of illuminating points here in this first verse.

One is historical, the other grammatical. The historical note is this. Second year of Nebuchadnezzar.

Wait, we just read Daniel chapter 1 and Daniel and his friends completed a three -year education course.

How do they complete a three -year education course when Nebuchadnezzar is now in his second year of reigning and Daniel and his friends are counted among the wise men of Babylon?

How does that math work? Well, Nebuchadnezzar was a family name and the son actually reigned with the father during a two -year transitional period.

Plus, it was common to not count the first year of a reign, calling it his sessional year.

And so only after he had gotten to the first day of the first full year, calendar year, would you start counting.

So anyway, in that math, there's plenty of time for a three -year education of Daniel and his friends to occur before this time frame with Nebuchadnezzar.

Now the grammatical. The very first word in the verse should be some kind of conjunction.

I have the word now. Then would work well. But it's there in the

Hebrew. There's a coordinating conjunction between chapter 1 and chapter 2. Back then, Daniel didn't stop with chapter 1 and then crack his knuckles and then write chapter 2 and then get going.

He's just writing. Inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He's writing through the end of chapter 1 and he's still writing into chapter 2.

So there's a connection here. There is a continuance of thought here.

We're told at the end of chapter 1 that Daniel and his friends are gifted in wisdom tenfold, ten times better than the others.

Well, how's that going to manifest? What is that going to look like? We're going to see that happen in chapter 2.

We're going to see Daniel tenfold in wisdom compared to the rest of the experts in Babylon.

Also, we're told at the end of chapter 1 that Daniel continued to the first year of King Cyrus which means he outlasted all of Babylon and King Darius the

Mede. And we're also going to then consider in chapter 2 and following how continuing, how staying alive for that long in a pagan monarchy was nothing short of miraculous.

The fact that Daniel having as much prestige and authority and focus was able to last from one king to the next within the same monarchy.

Not only that, but also last from the transition from one empire to the next empire. That's the hand of God.

That is the grace of God. So, there is a connection between chapter 1 and chapter 2.

We're still going to see the work of God and the life of Daniel. And we also need to recognize that God is doing something here.

When we read that Nebuchadnezzar had dreams and his spirit was troubled, it wasn't that Nebuchadnezzar had never had a dream before, but he had something happen to him that was unlike anything else that ever happened before and it drove him nuts.

God is at work. God is doing something here. Nebuchadnezzar is sleeping in his royal bed, secure in his royal city, fortified behind legendary wealth, walls, and warriors.

But then dreams lay siege to his mind and all of his sleep flees in terror.

His solace is left in ruins and his confidence has been burnt to the ground.

His spirit was troubled. Exact same word used of Pharaoh in Genesis 41 before Joseph interpreted

Pharaoh's dream. Trouble? What's the trouble? Why is he so troubled?

It's just a dream. The word trouble in the Hebrew is often used to communicate getting pushed around, being impelled or disturbed.

What happens here in Daniel 2 verse 1? God kicks in the front door of Nebuchadnezzar's mind.

He ruffs him up and slaps him around and leaves him fearfully gasping for breath on the floor.

Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar had a similar experience. Suddenly, suddenly this world's current ruler, suddenly he knows he's not safe.

Suddenly he realizes he's not in charge of everything. It's like someone wrestled with him all night long and he wakes wanting to know his name.

God has got a hold of Nebuchadnezzar. He's going to do something with him. What God does here is create opportunity to humble men and magnify his name.

Particularly, this Nebuchadnezzar remember who had taken from the

Lord's temple, stolen the holy vessels, and took them like trophies to his treasure house of his own

God and put them there to say, ha, I defeated the God of Israel. Well, the

God of Israel has come knocking and you're in trouble. When God shakes up world leaders, he's humbling them.

He's humbling them and showing, no, no, you don't have it all planned.

No, no, you don't have it all together. You don't get to do what you want.

It's always disturbing when God goes idle toppling. And it's a moment like that when we have to wonder, how anchored are we to Christ?

How anchored are we? Where is our security? God shakes him up and he is showing that he is

Lord over empires and emperors. Now, in verses 2 through 4, we have a scene of trusting the experts.

Verses 2 through 4, so the king gave the command to call the magicians, the astrologers, the sorcerers and the

Chaldeans to tell the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king and the king said to them, I have had a dream and my spirit is anxious to know the dream.

Then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in Aramaic, O king, live forever. Tell your servants the dream and we will give.

The interpretation. Nebuchadnezzar wastes no time in calling for the experts.

There is a crisis in the state. The chief mind is in disarray. The experts must come and they must solve the problem.

And who does Nebuchadnezzar turn to? Magicians, astrologers, sorcerers,

Chaldeans. Of course, a Chaldean was a Babylonian but this word

Chaldean means a Chaldean of Chaldeans. The arbiter of all things invented in Chaldea.

And these were the chief men and they spoke for all the others as we'll see in the text. So these are all the leading men.

They are the best experts that the empire has to offer. And they were accustomed to interpreting not only dreams but visions and oracles and omens.

They said that they could read the stars and contact the dead. They could receive special hidden information that nobody else had access to.

I've got handouts on the back table underneath the map if you're interested. In July, we're going to be going through a series about pagan wordcraft.

And we're going to be talking about some of these lists in the Bible that we have. Prohibitions against magicians and astrologers and sorcerers and things like that.

And we sometimes look at those lists and we say, yeah, they had that problem back then, didn't they? So anyway, we're going to talk about, beginning in July, Lord willing, on Sunday nights, we're going to talk about how those things are still live and engaging our world today and how they are still sins and we need to identify them and repent of them.

Okay, moving on. Here are the experts. There are two parts to experts.

First, is there special access to information that only they can collate and understand?

Well, that's true. I'm an expert in the field of whatever. I have special access to information that only

I can collate and understand. Second, is there unique ability, therefore, to solve all the problems that they discover?

This is not so much the case. Now, this works really, really well when the predicted disaster, which was not going to happen, is solved by the prescribed solution, which was only a placebo.

And they get paid and their client feels secure. Now, these were probably not all,

I don't think they were all cynical con men, but I think there are many true believers in witchcraft, sorcery, and demonology for sure.

But in any case, they sought to understand the most important, most complex issues of the day without fearing the

Lord, the maker of all things. That we're going to understand all things without fearing the maker of all things.

And since the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge, you might say that when it comes to truth, these fools didn't know where to start.

Yes, they collated some facts. Yes, they could do algebra. Yes, they could prescribe medicinal plants for certain ailments, but they couldn't give an account for any of it.

They couldn't make sense of it. But what do they say to the king? Oh, king, live forever.

That's what we're here for. That's what the experts were there for. They were there to ensure the stability, the health, and the power of the state.

Yes, Nebuchadnezzar, your father, Nebuchadnezzar is dead. Long live Nebuchadnezzar. Oh, king, live forever.

Oh, state, there's no end to our empire. That's what we're here for.

The experts are there to ensure the longevity, indeed, the eternality of the state.

With these kinds of experts, they say, with us around, no worries. No worries.

But they did know they had to keep the king happy. But when they say, oh, king, live forever, he just had a dream where it was obvious he was not going to live forever.

He saw the dream. He had some inkling of what it might mean, but he was scared and confused and wanted to know what this dream was about.

He needed somebody to tell him. And it was clear that he wasn't going to live forever. Neither would his empire.

Well, God had sent the dream. God had given Nebuchadnezzar power. God had made Babylon his ascendant instrument of judgment for that time period.

And God had created this world that these experts studied and tried to manipulate. But in that room, notice there was not a single

God -fearing man among them. And so what we have here is the scene of absolute, even comical futility.

Consider what we're left with when we do not fear God. Consider what we're left with when we don't fear

God. If we don't have His Word, if we're not being led by His Spirit, we have nothing that we can trust.

We have no idea. If we don't trust the Scripture, if we have no idea of its content, if we are prayerless, if we are pointless in our lives, if we are cut off from God, what is there?

It's the chaos of Babel. Isaiah 8 verses 19 -20 says,

And when they say to you, Seek those who are mediums and wizards who whisper and mutter.

Should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living?

To the law and to the testimony, if they do not speak according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them.

Consider what we're left with when we don't fear the Lord and go to His Word. Left with nothing. Godless experts.

Well, He was accustomed to trusting the experts, but now we see in Nebuchadnezzar, something has changed in Him.

Perhaps the force of the dream. Perhaps the fact that He the dream scared

Him to death and here are His experts placating Him. Oh, King, live forever.

He's thinking, these guys don't know what's going on. Perhaps it was

His interview with Daniel and His friends, wherein these four young Hebrew lads having refused

His food for three years and came out untainted from His three year re -education camp.

These four young Jewish lads who were ten fold better in wisdom and skill and understanding and knowledge compared to all of the experts of His realm.

Maybe that destabilized His trust in His experts.

Now He tests them to see if their claims are really true.

Verse 5, the king answered and said to the Chaldeans, My decision is firm. If you do not make known the dream to me and its interpretation, you shall be cut in pieces and your houses will be made of ash sheep.

However, if you tell the dream and its interpretation, you shall receive from me gifts, rewards, and great honor.

Therefore, tell me the dream and its interpretation. They answered again and said, Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will give its interpretation.

The king answered and said, I know for certain that you will gain time because you see that my decision is firm. If you do not make known the dream to me, there is only one decree for you, for you have agreed to speak lying and corrupt words before me until the time has changed.

Therefore, tell me the dream, and I shall know that you can give me its interpretation. Nebuchadnezzar is not happy with his board of directors.

You can tell there's some tension in the room. Didn't you get the memo? He's saying.

Look at verse 2. Tell me my dreams. Tell me my dreams.

Not just interpret my dreams. Tell me my dreams. That's what I ordered you here for. He's obviously one that believes that with a proper motivation, his team will achieve whatever benchmarks he sets for them.

He says, Fail to tell me my dream and interpret it, and I'll have you butchered and your houses burnt.

But tell me the dream and interpret it, and you'll get promoted with a bonus. He's motivating his team.

But these experts are not accustomed to having to go gather their own straw to make their bricks.

And so, they stupidly repeat their original request. You tell us the dream, and then we'll tell you the interpretation.

That's how it works. So, in verse 5 and in verse 8, Nebuchadnezzar is firm.

He challenges his experts, and he accuses them. He says, You're stalling. You're stalling.

If you expect me to believe your interpretation of dreams, you better prove it by telling to me the dream itself.

And if you can't, you're a bunch of con artists. You're trying to scam me. God is busting up the ruling power.

God is bringing confusion and chaos. Notice he's breaking down the communication, and he's breaking up the cohesion again in Babel.

And we laugh at our incoherent chief executive, but this is

God's judgment when he makes fools foolish. He also humbled our previous chief executive, didn't he?

God humbles the proud, doesn't he? He resists the proud. And he makes very foolish those who are fools.

Now, I see an opportunity here. I hope you see the opportunity as well. In the ensuing loss of faith in the experts, we have a

God -created, God -given opportunity for a turning to his wisdom, a turning to his word, shaking loose the faith in the experts.

Who can we believe? Who can we trust? Turn back to the Lord. Repentance.

The wisdom of God alone makes sense of his world. Look at Babylon. What a horrible place. A place of fear and helplessness and brutality.

A truly pagan place. These diviners must produce interpretation for the king, if not outright revelation.

They've just got to make it up. And should they fail in that, they know their patronage and their lives will fail as well.

So they have a very strong motive to simply develop and disseminate whatever will keep them wealthy, healthy, and alive.

And Ebuchadnezzar begins to suspect that there is some falsehood and some deviousness at work in his experts.

Some phoniness. And this destabilization of trust makes for an opportunity.

Now, Ebuchadnezzar, because he's young, and he's full of unreasonableness, and he's angry, he's demanding something that is absolutely impossible.

I mean, the experts are right when they tell him, no man alive can do this for you. You know, this is impossible. You're asking too much.

And we can say, well, yeah, Ebuchadnezzar's kind of flying off the handle, kind of going overboard here, isn't he? Well, in one sense, yes, but in another sense, no.

Because his experts, for so long, have been promoting themselves and wanting him to depend on them as the sources of Revelation.

And so he puts it to the test. And they can't pass that test. Experts will always fail the test when they make themselves the whole of Revelation.

Our hope is not in pagan experts. And as God exposes their folly and futility, so should we.

High Priest Fauci is a little irritated. Apparently some people have begun to question his integrity, as we have been mocking his consistency.

But this last week, in an interview, I'm not making this up, he defended himself by declaring that he was the way, the truth, and the science.

Attacks against me are attacks against science, against the truth, is what he said.

He has declared himself the way, the truth, and the science, and all men who oppose him hate life.

Hmm. Spirit of Antichrist. Recognize it.

Well, the king turns on the experts in verses 10 -13. The Chaldeans entered the king and said, There is not a man on earth who can tell the king's matter.

Therefore, no king, lord, or ruler has ever asked such things of any magician, astrologer, or Chaldean.

It is a difficult thing that the king requests, and there is no other who can tell it to the king, except the gods whose dwelling is not with flesh.

For this reason, the king was angry and very furious, and gave the command to destroy all the wise men of Babylon.

So the decree went out, and they began killing the wise men, and they sought

Daniel and his companions to kill them. I'm sorry to leave you on a cliffhanger, but you can read ahead.

Notice that the experts themselves confess the failure of their expertise. Yet, notice how confident they are in themselves, that they unequivocally declare that there is no one else who can deliver on the king's demand.

If they can't tell him his dream, then no one can. They are the sum of all knowledge.

They're all that there is. No man can help you if we can't. See how confident they are in themselves?

And they know that his request belongs to the realm of the gods, and they know that no god dwells with flesh.

That's the truth. That's the science, and you cannot deny it. And they were wrong, wrong, wrong.

The experts were wrong. There was a man who could help. And the dream was from the one true god, not from the gods.

And this was the god who walked with flesh in Eden. Who communed with the patriarchs.

Who made his presence known in the tabernacle and the temple, revealing his name there to a people he chose to commune with.

But all that is outside the scope of their expertise. They don't know any of that.

It doesn't come into the realm of their consideration, therefore. They are fools in their folly, and so is

Nebuchadnezzar forever having trusted them. Better to run to a bear robbed of her cubs than walk in on this scene.

He orders the execution of the whole lot. Now Daniel and his friends are under the gun.

But all this was of the Lord. He was able to make the wrath of man work out for his own praise.

He's shaping this matter. He's shaping this matter to show the futility of the wisdom of man, and to bring out in a most public manner his infinite superiority over all things.

Now there's nothing wrong with a skilled scholar aiding a leader. I got a tough question.

Can you help me get some information on this? Oh, yeah. Good idea. But totalizing worldview claims moving from,

I'm going to help provide some information that I studied and gathered some data that can be helpful to you, sir. Moving from that to a totalizing worldview claim, and therefore, since we have this information, this is now the morality and the truth of life.

Moving, making that maneuver, making that maneuver makes such counsel folly, and this maneuver to go into totalizing worldview claims inevitably appears amongst the experts when the fear of God is absent.

When the fear of God is absent from the scholars, absent from the experts, absent from those who are skilled in their work, and so they stand before kings.

When the fear of God is absent from them, then these totalizing worldview claims come in.

And now, because we're the experts, here is your current morality, here is your current version of truth, here is the current worldview that you must now live according.

When the fear of God is absent from the halls and hearts of the state, this is what we get.

Where did the idea show up? How did the idea ever come about that it would be a good idea to keep all

God -fearing, Bible -believing, Jesus -serving Christians out of the state?

I don't think that came from the Bible. I think that came from the devil. The Bible tells us again and again and again that there is no one better qualified to serve at any level as a civil magistrate than those who fear the

Lord. Christians, Christians, people who fear the

Lord, the state belongs to Jesus. The government is upon His shoulders.

Fear the Lord and serve in whatever capacity God gives you. If you have a calling to go do that, do that for the

Lord. Fear the Lord. As we see in this example here in the state, there are very few

God -fearing men. Definitely not in the room, you know, in the situation room. There was no God -fearing men in the situation room.

It's about to be, praise God, Daniel and his friends, about to be brought in. About to be brought in to the situation room.

Praise the Lord. But at this moment, there are no God -fearing men in the room. And it's chaos.

It's bad. People are getting killed who have no idea why they're being killed.

This is chaos when the God -fearing men aren't in the room. The wisdom of God alone makes sense of this world.

Notice how these experts, how these pagan experts are in despair.

Well, that's because paganism is despair. Despair is the essence of pagan religion. Why? Because paganism can give no sure word from the outside.

Notice that these men of magic words had no word to offer. These students of the stars had no light of God's revelation.

These who communed with spirits did not have the spirit of the

Lord. These Chaldeans were without God in the world.

They despaired. Why? Because the gods, they said, did not dwell with men.

Paganism by its own admission fails because it denies the Incarnation.

It denies the Incarnation. It is anti -Christ. That's why there's despair.

But with Christ, there is every reason to hope. In the beginning was the

Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was

God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

In Him was life, and the life was the light of men, and the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

Verse 9, that meaning Christ, that was the true light which gives light, listen, gives light to every man coming into the world.

Or in other words, this was the true light which coming into the world gives light to every man.

He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him, but He's the light of every man.

And then verse 14, who is this Word, who is this light? Verse 14, and the

Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Greek word is tabernacled among us.

It was encamped with us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the

Father, full of grace and truth. Paganism is in despair.

There's no sure word from the outside. It's all confusion. But look at the hope of Christ.

He is the light of all men. It is in His light that we see light, and everything that can be known in this world is known because Jesus Christ is the light of the world.

You take a bright beam of white light, and you shine it at a prism.

The light then breaks into all of its colors, and there's no accounting for any of the colors amongst any of the other colors, but they'd all come from that white light.

If you remove the white light, all the colors go away. You have to have the white light going through the prism to have all the colors.

Jesus is the light. He is the light, and through the revelation of God has given us in the word incarnate and His word of Scripture, we are given the prism by which we can understand everything else and give an account for everything.

Why is algebra algebra? Why are ethics ethics? Why is history history?

Why is art art? All the different colors of the light, all the colors coming out of the prism, all have their source in one light.

Jesus Christ, God incarnate, God in human flesh.

He is the light of the world. Everything has its understanding. We can only make sense of it. We can only find its origin in the maker of all things,

Jesus Christ. So we don't have to be fools in our folly.

We don't have to be fools in our folly. We can be children of a heavenly Father in Christ.

We can be followers of the way, the truth, and the life who is Jesus Christ. And everything can be made sense of in this world that God has made through the wisdom of God which culminates in Jesus Christ.

More on being the light of the world next time. Let's pray.

Father, I thank you so much for the time we've had in your word. Thank you for this scene of Babel and Babylon of confusion and chaos.

Lord, let us not be like that. Let not our hearts be like that. Let not our church or our families be like that.

Help us to fear you. Bring us into submission to you. Bring us into rejoicing in Jesus Christ that we would fear you and be filled with joy and hope and we would not despair as the pagans do.

Thank you for the toppling of idols and the humbling of the powers that be and the destabilization of faith in totalizing experts so that we may proclaim the glories of Christ.

Lord, I pray that you would bring many, many sons to glory through the work that you do.

We pray these things for Christ's sake. Amen. Would you stand with me for our song of benediction?

Before we sing, I wanted to read a verse. This is in Psalms 108.

I will give thanks to thee, O Lord, among the peoples, and I will sing praise to thee among the nations for thy loving kindness is great above the heavens and thy truth reaches to the skies.

Be exalted, O God, above the heavens and thy glory above all the earth, that thy beloved may be delivered, saved with thy right hand, and answer me.

This is the verse I wanted to share. Our song of benediction is I know that my

Redeemer lives. Glory, hallelujah. This is an old song, but a new song at least to me.

So let's sing together to the Lord. I know that my

Redeemer lives. Glory, hallelujah.

What comfort this sweet sentence gives. Glory, hallelujah.

Shelton, Brigham, we're gaining ground. Glory, hallelujah!

The dead's alive and the lost is found. Glory, hallelujah!

He lives, he lives, who once was dead. Glory, hallelujah!

He lives, my everlasting bread.

Glory, hallelujah! Shelton, Brigham, we're gaining ground.

Glory, hallelujah! The dead's alive and the lost is found.

Glory, hallelujah! He lives to bless me with his love.

Glory, hallelujah! He lives to plead for me above.

Glory, hallelujah! Shelton, Brigham, we're gaining ground.

Glory, hallelujah! The dead's alive and the lost is found.

Glory, hallelujah! He lives, all glory to his name.

Glory, hallelujah! He lives, my

Jesus, still the same. Glory, hallelujah!

Shelton, Brigham, we're gaining ground. Glory, hallelujah!

The dead's alive and the lost is found. Glory, hallelujah!

May the love of the Father and the grace of the Son and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all.

We are dismissed. May the love of the