Sunday Live at Kootenai Community Church

I'm sorry,

I'm sorry, I have to record it.

Okay, so if we did, um,

Because what I have for, what

I remember, according to here, is we do verse one, we do a turnaround, which is what I have dribbled up in the top, which is that C, G, A minor,

G, F, G, C, plays that twice. Then you play it twice. You play that twice, in between verse one and verse two.

And then from verse two, you go straight into the chorus. And you play it twice.

And then you go into verse three. That's what I have here. And then after verse three, you would play the chorus twice again.

That's what I have, but I don't really have a key here that says this is what I have. C, G, A minor,

G, F, G, C. That's just what

I have. And really, whatever you play it, but I won't play it.

All right, let's table this. We've got to get our mics. As soon as the sun goes over, we can come up here and get this nailed down.

Or upstairs would be better. Let's go to, um, mics. Yeah, I have an actual turnaround that I cropped out that was

G, A minor, C, F, C. Check, check.

Check. Dave Lynch. Check, check. We're going to do a quick mic check real fast.

What you're playing works.

It's just not what I'm playing. But I don't have to play. Are you going to do it?

Check, check, check, one, two, three,

Jenny number four. Casey number three. Charlotte number two. Blessed be your name.

In the land that is plentiful. Where streams of abundance flow.

Blessed be your name. Blessed be your name.

When I'm found in a desert place. Though I walk through the wilderness.

Blessed be your name. Every blessing you pour out.

I'll turn back to praise. When the darkness closes in,

Lord. Still I will say. Blessed be the name of the

Lord. Blessed be your name. Blessed be the name of the

Lord. Well, it's like we turned it down, got it right, and then it got lower.

So, yeah, it does need to come up a bit. Hey, Dave. You know,

I'll make noise with it. Funny how it will.

Good morning. Sorry for the late start. I was working really hard at messing up the music this morning.

Poor Josh. Good morning, and welcome to Adult Sunday School at Kootenai Community Church.

We'll be looking again into the book of Daniel. And we should be able to start chapter 4 this morning.

But before we do that, let's open with prayer. Father, this morning it is your word that we look to for illumination and for encouragement, for blessing, and for correction.

Lord, you have said that every part of your scripture is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction.

That we might be made whole and able to live a life that you've given to us, to live in glory, to glorify your son, the

Lord Jesus Christ. We ask for that today. Might we honor you in what we hear and see and say and do.

And, Lord, might we pay attention and hear the Holy Spirit this morning to guide us into better behavior for your son, the

Lord Jesus Christ. This world needs him, and they don't want him, but we know they need him. And so let us be emissaries of him.

We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. So let's do a little bit of refresh, review, since I've been enjoying our foray into 1

John with Dave. But it does kind of break things up, and so it's fun to do review, though, because then you get to remember.

You get to find out if I say the same things twice. Actually, I probably won't. I'll probably say a whole bunch of other stuff.

But last time we were together, which would have been, oh, my,

December 6th. So it was a year ago. That always works.

We looked at the final situation with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego as they survived the furnace.

Not only survived, but thrived, and the Lord delivered them from it. And then

Nebuchadnezzar caused them, it says in verse 30, to prosper in the province of Babylon.

So the tattletale's designs were to destroy the three men, and what ended up happening is they became high officials in the

Babylonian Empire because of their courage, because of their willingness to stand where they might have died.

Remember what the three men said. They said, God may deliver us, but he may not. Now, I'm paraphrasing. But he may not.

But no matter what, we will not bow down. And that is a remarkable thing in the face of death.

And they followed through, and God honored them, and they became great in the kingdom of Babylon.

Now, interestingly enough, as I mentioned last time we were together, this is the last time we hear about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the book of Daniel.

Their story is finished and has provided encouragement to the Jewish captives that there is still courage in Israel.

And there is still those who are willing to stand for the word of God, stand for Jehovah, no matter the cost.

And it would be an encouragement for them to do the same. And it should be an encouragement for us to do the same as well, to stand no matter what.

In this country, there is not the kind of persecution that we see around the world where people are actually deprived of life, liberty, and property, and food.

And here, we're bad -mouthed on Facebook. And now, I know there's others who have had more than that happen to them, but for the most part, that is a test.

It is for us to begin standing for the glory of God and doing it in a manner that will honor

Him. So, as we prepare for this morning, we're going to be looking at Chapter 4. And what

I would like to do is read the whole chapter to start with. And we will, of course, we will get anywhere near through the whole chapter.

If we make five verses, we'll be doing wonderful. But let's look at Daniel, Chapter 4.

A little bit of information about this before we read.

It's going to be interesting to see what many critics have avoided or have shown great disrespect to.

And that is that it's very possible, very possible that a pagan wrote this book, this chapter of the

Bible. An unconverted pagan. Do you think God could manage that? Yeah, there's nothing

God can't do. But at any rate, we'll talk about that as we get to it. Nebuchadnezzar, Verse 1, Chapter 4. I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at ease in my house, flourishing in my palace.

I saw a dream and it made me fearful. And these fantasies as I lay on my bed and the visions of my mind kept alarming me.

So I gave orders to bring into my presence all the wise men of Babylon that they might make known to me the interpretation of the dream.

Then the magicians, the conjurers, the Chaldeans, and the diviners came in and I related the dream to them.

But they could not make its interpretation known to me. Go figure. But finally,

Daniel came in before me, whose name is Belteshazzar, according to the name of my God, and in whom is the spirit of the holy gods.

And I related the dream to him, saying, O Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, since I know that a spirit of the holy gods is in you and no mystery baffles you, tell me the visions of my dream which

I have seen along with its interpretation. Now these were the visions in my mind as I lay on my bed.

I was looking and behold, there was a tree in the midst of the earth and its height was great. The tree grew large and became strong and its height reached to the sky and it was visible to the end of the whole earth.

Its foliage was beautiful and its fruit abundant and in it was food for all. The beasts of the field found shade under it and the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches and all living creatures fed themselves from it.

I was looking in the visions in my mind as I lay on my bed and behold, an angelic watcher, a holy one, descended out of heaven, descended from heaven.

He shouted out and spoke as follows, Chop down the tree and cut off its branches.

Strip off its foliage and scatter its fruit. Let the beasts flee from under it and the birds from its branches.

Yet leave the stump with its roots in the ground but with a band of iron and bronze around it in the new grass of the field and let him be drenched with the dew of heaven and let him share with the beasts in the grass of the earth.

Let his mind be changed from that of a man and let a beast's mind be given to him and let seven periods of time pass over him.

This sentence is by the decree of the angelic watchers and the decision is a command of the holy ones in order that the living may know that the

Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whom he wishes and sets over it the lowliest of men.

This is the dream which I, King Nebuchadnezzar, have seen. Now you, Belteshazzar, tell me its interpretation. Inasmuch as none of the wise men of my kingdom is able to make known to me the interpretation, but you are able, for a spirit of the holy gods is in you.

Then Daniel, whose name is Belteshazzar, was appalled for a while as his thoughts alarmed him.

The king responded and said, Belteshazzar, do not let the dream or its interpretation alarm you. Belteshazzar answered and said,

My lord, if only the dream applied to those who hate you and its interpretation to your adversaries.

The tree that you saw, which became large and grew strong, whose height reached to the sky and was visible to all the earth and whose foliage was beautiful and its fruit abundant and in which was food for all, under which the beasts of the field dwelt and in whose branches the birds of the sky lodged, it is you,

O king, for you have become great and grown strong and your majesty has become great and reached to the sky and your dominion to the end of the earth.

And in that the king saw an angelic watcher, a holy one, descending from heaven and saying, Chop down the tree and destroy it, yet leave the stump with its roots in the ground with a band of iron and bronze around it and the new grass of the field and let him be drenched with the dew of heaven and let him share with the beasts of the field until seven periods of time pass over him.

This is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the Most High, which has come upon my lord the king, that you be driven away from mankind and your dwelling place be with the beasts of the field and you be given grass to eat like cattle and be drenched with the dew of heaven and seven periods of time will pass over you until you recognize that the

Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whomever he wishes.

And in that it was commanded to leave the stump with the roots of the tree, your kingdom will be assured to you after you recognize that it is heaven that rules.

Therefore, O king, may my advice be pleasing to you. Break away now from your sins by doing righteousness and from your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor in case there may be a prolonging of your prosperity.

All this happened to Nebuchadnezzar the king. Twelve months later he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon.

The king reflected and said, Is this not Babylon the great, which I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?

While the word was in the king's mouth, a voice came from heaven saying, King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is declared sovereignty has been removed from you and you will be driven away from mankind and your dwelling place will be with the beasts of the field.

You will be given grass to eat like cattle and seven periods of time will pass over you until you recognize that the

Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and he bestows it on whomever he wishes. Immediately the word concerning Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled and he was driven away from mankind and began eating grass like cattle and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair had grown like eagle's feathers and his nails like bird's claws.

But at the end of that period, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven and my reason returned to me and I blessed the

Most High and praised and honored him who lives forever for his dominion is an everlasting dominion and his kingdom endures from generation to generation and all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing but he does according to his will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of earth and among the inhabitants of earth and no one can ward off his hand or say to him, what hast thou done?

At that time, my reason returned to me and my majesty and splendor were restored to me for the glory of my kingdom and my counselors and my nobles began seeking me out so I was reestablished in my sovereignty and surpassing greatness was added to me.

Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt and honor the king of heaven for all his works are true and his ways are just and he is able to humble those who walk in pride.

It's a long chapter. Actually, it's one of the longest in the book of Daniel and it's the story of God's humbling of the most powerful man alive at the time.

There are certainly many prophetic overtones here just demonstrating that God is sovereign over all of human history and that he will eventually subdue all powers to himself but contrary to critics who claim that this is a myth that was promulgated during the second century

B .C., scholarly investigation clearly supports that this is a true story written either by Nebuchadnezzar himself or more likely by one of his scribes or by Daniel under the direction of the king.

Any one of those three will suffice. God can use, as we know, he can use the rocks to cry out and praise him.

So it was either written by Nebuchadnezzar or by a scribe of his or by Daniel and placed into the scriptures.

The Qumran evidence alone supports this as being a very real chapter in Nebuchadnezzar's life. Now, chapter 4 and 5 are the center of a chiasm.

Remember we talked about what a chiasm is. It's a literary device where something is declared and then it is declared in reverse order.

So the whole book of Daniel is a chiasm. The chapters themselves are often occupied as a chiasm.

So remember it's a literary device in which in the immediate form or in book form a sequence of ideas is presented and then repeated in reverse order.

Walvoord notes it this way in his commentary. He says, structurally, chapter 4 is parallel to chapter 5 and sits at the center of the chiasm formed in the

Aramaic section of the book. Chapters 2 and 7 highlight the certain coming of God's kingdom following the rise of four successive

Gentile powers. Chapters 3 and 6 focus on the need for God's people to remain faithful despite opposition and persecution as they await his kingdom.

Good chapters for us today. And chapters 4 and 5 featuring the kings God identifies as the starting in Daniel 2, verses 37 through 38 and ending,

Daniel chapter 5, verses 30 through 31. It identifies as the starting and the ending king in the first Gentile empire.

They serve as reminders that even Gentile rulers will eventually acknowledge that ultimate power and control over nations rests with the

God of heaven. So the chapter I said is itself is chiastic starting and ending with praise of Jehovah.

Also the chapter where some see Nebuchadnezzar returning to God. This is the chapter where some see him turning to God.

Others like Leopold and Calvin do not come to this conclusion. They conclude that Nebuchadnezzar never became a follower of Jehovah.

It should also be noted that this chapter with Nebuchadnezzar's musings on his greatness and ending with his return to grace after falling in pride precedes the chapter which describes the actual fall of Babylon.

No coincidence. The Septuagint translators date this incident about 18 years into Nebuchadnezzar's reign or about 587

B .C. but it more likely occurred later in his reign because the text references the great building projects that had occurred in verse 30 including many presumed the great hanging gardens of Babylon.

Nebuchadnezzar reigned 43 years from 605 to 562 B .C. So others think that this was later in his reign possibly around 570

B .C. Daniel would have been about 50 years old. So this chapter has been called by conservative scholars a literary gem that not only gives a tremendously uplifting and interesting story about the life of the great king not uplifting necessarily through the middle but towards the end but it also provides insight into the mind of God regarding His sovereignty and thus

His control of human history. It needs to be something that is always in the forefront of our minds and our hearts that God is sovereign.

Nothing escapes His view. Nothing is too hard for Him. Now He will never violate

His character. We know that. But sometimes I think brothers and sisters that we look at the things that are happening and we think it's all over but the shouting.

Well it may be. But the shouting will be hallelujah in heaven because God is in control. Really He's in control.

This is not even a blip on His... if He has a radar screen. That dates me, doesn't it?

I guess today it would be a monitor. Anyway, God is in control and this is something that the

Jews of this time really need to hear again and again and again because they were taken from their homes and brought into captivity.

They were conquered by a Gentile king in battle. And so to them, to those who were not paying attention or who didn't have the faith of others like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, this was evidence to them that their

God wasn't what they thought He was. Romans 8, 28 had not been written back then but it's still true.

Everything that happens in the life of a believer is for his own good. Everything, no matter how difficult it seems.

And so this chapter, this chapter is an excellent one where we see what Nebuchadnezzar never thought could happen to him.

He was the king of the earth, driven into the field to eat grass like a cow. You gotta be kidding me, that's a joke, right?

Finally, so then as we pointed out, the Septuagint, we should know this, the

Septuagint starts chapter 4 differently. If you read the Septuagint, the first three verses of chapter 4 compose the end of chapter 3 and chapter 4 starts with verse 4.

So in the Septuagint, the first verse of chapter 4 is, I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at ease in my house and flourishing in my palace.

That's the first verse in the Septuagint. So it is possible, as I said, that this chapter was written by Nebuchadnezzar and if so, that makes it unique in all of Scripture as being the only portion of the

Bible written by an unconverted Gentile. Regardless of who it was actually penned by,

God saw fit to include it in the canon and so here we have a Gentile king proclamation that is recorded in the pages of Scripture and what a proclamation.

A dream that starts with glory, the middle of it is deposing and humiliation and then it ends in glorifying

God. Again, a chiasm. What a dream. So with that, let's launch into chapter 4, verse 1.

Nebuchadnezzar, the king to all the peoples, nations, and men of every language that live in all the earth, may your peace abound.

Can you imagine that the critics attacked this verse? I think they had a pegboard and they looked at every way they could attack every verse, every which way.

It must just be what they do. Nebuchadnezzar, or his scribe, or Daniel, or whomever wrote this, begins the chapter with a standard greeting of kings of the day.

As mentioned earlier, this chapter begins and even sustains all the way through verse 33 a section that describes in detail the reduction of a king, the greatest king of the time, to the level of beasts in the field.

Nebuchadnezzar explains the situation by virtue of detailing his dream to Daniel through verse 18.

Then Daniel interprets, reluctantly I might add, he still, kind of as an aside, he still was a servant to a king in Babylon who were known for their cruelty.

And so when this dream came to him, to Nebuchadnezzar, and he detailed it to Daniel, and Daniel realized that this was a really bad situation for Nebuchadnezzar.

I can't imagine that the other scribes and astrologers and et cetera, if they knew even an inkling of what this dream was about, they would have backed away and not interpreted it.

But Daniel, because he knew God was sovereign, does interpret it. So, Daniel interprets reluctantly the dream, verses 19 through 33, with the remainder of the chapter from verse 34 through 37, being the restoration of Nebuchadnezzar to his former glory, and then his pontification about the glory of Jehovah.

So there's no doubt that Nebuchadnezzar understood that he did not have rule over the entire planet when he says this.

It's just what those kings did. It was a common statement of potentates that they were the king of all the earth.

It meant that he was the ruler of everything. This is what the critics attacked. Well, he said he was the king of the whole earth and he knew better.

Therefore, it's not scripture. For crying out in the sink. He had conquered all the land around him, all the nations around him.

Many of the kings in ancient history claimed rule over the whole earth, and any objection to the divine authority of this because of Nebuchadnezzar's decree is dismissed when one observes that this was common language of the kings of old.

Walvard, in his commentary, gives some examples. He says this. Examples can be found of the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III and Esharhaddon.

Esharhaddon, if that's how it's pronounced. They issued statements in which they claimed to be, quote, king of all the world.

And Ashurbanipal claimed the title, king of the world, king of Assyria, king of all four rims of the earth. And he lived in the

Middle East. That would be like me saying, I'm king of the world, and I live in Westman. And I'm not even king of Westman.

But, you know, that's different. On the Cyrus cylinder, the king who conquered Babylon said of himself,

I am Cyrus, king of the world, great king, legitimate king, king of Babylon, king of Sumer and Akkad, king of all the four rims of the earth.

This was common language. It was understood. It was expected. And by the way, if you were listening to this king's proclamation, you didn't argue with it.

You're not king of the whole world. We got a furnace for you. The declaration, he says, may your peace abound, was also a typical greeting of kings of that day.

It is an interesting greeting because the Babylonian kings were anything but peacemakers.

They were conquerors of other nations, destroyers of people who differed with them. But he says, anyway, may your peace abound.

They spent most of their entire reigns conquering and enslaving other people groups. This verse is

Lebuchadnezzar's launch into the description. What he really feels is important to begin, important to give to his entire country, what happened to him, the dream that happened to him.

So he says in verse two, it has seemed good to me to declare all the signs and wonders which the

Most High God has done for me. So here's the beginning of the chiasm which Lebuchadnezzar, in which he praises

Jehovah. It was apparent to him at least that it was important for him to let his entire realm know about the things that the

God of heaven had done to him and for him. He again uses the Chaldean word for supreme, which is translated most high or most high.

Most or most high. It is becoming more and more evident to him at this time that God is far above the sad deities that he and his ancestors have worshipped for centuries.

Far more capable, far more sovereign. But even now, it is my belief at least, that he hasn't come to the conclusion that the rest of these deities are no gods at all.

They are either imaginations or demons. And that Jehovah God is the supreme God of the universe.

So this does not necessarily indicate that Lebuchadnezzar had given up his false gods, but rather he recognized at least from his pagan perspective that the

God of the Hebrews is superior to the gods he has worshipped all his life. That's an unsettling thing when whatever we have as a

God finally is pointed out to us that it's not all that supreme, not all that worthy of following, whether it's security or money or some person, somebody that we have elevated far above where we should have elevated them.

This is what's beginning, I think, to happen to Nebuchadnezzar. When the Lord regenerates a person, when he changes his mind so that he can actually see the truth and trust

Christ, this is what I believe is beginning to happen to Nebuchadnezzar. Any questions or comments about verses 1 and 2?

Verse 3. I... Oops, I jumped to verse 4. Verse 3.

Again, part of the chiasm. How great are his signs, and how mighty are his wonders!

His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to generation.

That sounds like something Ezekiel would say or Jeremiah or John in Revelation.

That's a remarkable statement. Here Nebuchadnezzar continues his exaltation of Jehovah God.

This is not necessarily, as I said, an indication that he has become a convert to Judaism or an exclusive devotee of God.

The words he uses for signs and wonders are the Chaldean words for portent and miracle.

He's talking about miracles, things that happen that don't have... that are outside the natural order of things.

And indeed the things that God had done to and for Nebuchadnezzar were certainly miraculous.

Remember when he jumps up from his seat because he sees four people walking in the furnace? Didn't we throw three people in there?

This was a wonder. This was a sign that he saw. These would have been foremost in his mind. He acknowledges the fact that the kingdom of Jehovah is forever and that he exercises sovereignty over every generation, which means every king, including himself.

A remarkable statement. This would be an incredible statement from the Babylonian king. He is deferring to Jehovah and not his gods.

Not Marduk, not Bel, not Nebo, not all of the Babylonian gods, but a pantheon that they had over every little thing.

So any questions about verse 3? Comments? Yes. So your question,

I want to make sure that... I have to repeat the question. The question is, could it be that because this is actually the first verses of the

Hebrew Bible that he's referring to what just happened to him? It could be, but it's very likely this is years later.

It could be what happened to him in referencing Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. It could be.

I think all of those things were swirling in his mind as memories of the great signs and wonders that God had done.

That would have been foremost among them because that was pretty astounding to throw people into a thousands of degree furnace and have them walk around.

Yeah, there's probably 10 or more years. Or it could be referring to more marvelous things that had happened after that.

Yeah, there's no doubt that Jehovah was making a serious statement in Babylon in the 6th century

B .C. for many reasons. For the Jews, for the Hebrews, for the captives, for Nebuchadnezzar, and guess what?

For us. The scripture is for our instruction. That's one of the things that scripture says. And so all of these things,

God would be doing all of these. I don't know how. He can manage a quadrillion things in a second.

That's probably a small number for him. But so somehow he was managing to create prophecy, create a historical record, depose a king, bring him back up, and do it all in a time frame that would be for the instruction of the

Jews, for our instruction, for the history of the world to understand. To demonstrate and declare his sovereignty.

Because the book of Daniel is primarily about the sovereignty of God. That would be the main theme. The sovereignty of God.

It's something that I think we can never speak too much about. Any other questions? Does that help?

Okay. So, verse 4. I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at, he's still, you know,

I mean he's writing, I, me. Those are the people you got to watch out for.

The I, me people. I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at ease in my house and flourishing in my palace.

Here starts the narrative of the dream that Nebuchadnezzar has in this chapter that Daniel, as I said, interprets very reluctantly.

Coming as it does on the heels of his previous declaration of God's sovereignty and performance of mighty deeds in the first section, first three verses of this chapter, it is clear that Nebuchadnezzar is acknowledging that the ease he had in his house and the flourishing that was occurring is in his kingdom were results of Jehovah's actions in his life and in the kingdom of Babylon.

And here we have one of the items it helps us date, that helps us date, if imperfectly, this period of his life.

Since he was flourishing in his palace, it is clear that the palace was built. I'm a detective.

Look out. This would include the hanging gardens, most likely, which was more of his one, his more ambitious hanging, or building programs, hanging programs, thinking about the way he treats people.

History shows a seven -year period which Nebuchadnezzar was not conducting any military campaigns between 582 and 575

B .C. This may very well, and I'm not going to be dogmatic about this, but this may very well have been the seven -year period that he was insane.

And if so, the dream would have come late, have come sometime in late 583 B .C. or early 582

B .C. So then he says Nebuchadnezzar finishes with, or begins with this. He says, I saw a dream, in verse 5, and it made me fearful.

And these fantasies, as I lay on my bed, and the visions in my mind, kept alarming me. Although Nebuchadnezzar did not necessarily understand the dream he had, nor its importance, he knew that it was negative.

He knew that it was terrifying. He knew that it was bad. It was frightening him. The word fearful, thus the word fearful, comes from a root implying dread, and interestingly enough, this is a

Chaldean word that comes from a root which has the idea of a snake slinking along.

So we've always associated alarm and fear from time immemorial with snakes.

I wonder where that came from. Genesis 1 comes to mind. The second word alarming implies a hastening of trouble and means to terrify.

This was the kind of dream that you will wake up out of screaming in a sweat. It frightens you very bad.

He's had one of these before, you know, years before. This was a nightmare of the first order.

The whole idea here in these compact, carefully chosen words by the

Lord paints a picture of extreme fright and terror. Most likely, as I said, he awoke in a sweat.

He was fearful, he was terrified, and his mind kept, they kept alarming him.

They kept just stunning him, upsetting him. So then in verse 6 he says,

So I gave orders to bring into my presence all the wise men of Babylon that they might make known to me the interpretation of the dream.

So here Nebuchadnezzar does whatever the king had always done. He has something he doesn't understand that he dreamed, so he calls his wise men in to translate it.

The wise men would have come with their dream books and their encyclopedias and all the stuff that they had used before for different dreams for different kings, for the kings, you know, from Nabopolassar and even before, ready to give the king an understanding of what he had dreamed.

So at least it would have been an understanding from their limited perspective and possible conniving minds.

Remember the previous dream when he wouldn't tell them the dream and they wouldn't even consider giving an interpretation.

Probably wise, but make some wise men. At any rate, so he calls in, he follows the same, he does what comes naturally.

He calls the wise men. Well, then the magicians, the conjurers, verse 7, the Chaldeans and the diviners come in, came in, and I related the dream to them, but they could not make its interpretation known to me.

Imagine the sigh of relief the magicians and conjurers and diviners had when the king decided to actually tell them his dream this time.

You know, there might have been, some of them may have been present years before when he brought in the soothsayers to interpret the dream that he refused to tell them.

Others may have heard the story. At any rate, it would have been a fearful thing to come into the presence of the king knowing he was going to ask you to interpret a dream.

What if he didn't tell you the dream again? What if Daniel isn't around to genuinely interpret it and protect us all, prevent the slaughter that was proposed those years ago?

But the king gave them the details of his dream and for whatever reason, they were unable to interpret it. When we see the interpretation

Daniel gives, we may understand some of the reason, maybe some of the diviners kept their mouths shut, but it most likely is that they just didn't know what it meant and they were willing to tell the king that.

We don't know. Maybe at this point in his reign, he had become more tempered and stopped threatening to kill people and rip them to shreds and send their body parts around the kingdom if they didn't give him everything he wanted.

I don't know. But at any rate, at this time, the interpreters, so called, come in, they can't interpret, and the king lets them off the hook immediately.

Can you just imagine? I'm not going to be ripped to shreds. I'm going to be sent home.

That'll be wonderful. We'll do another verse or so and then we'll get to it if there's any questions. Well, actually, let's stop there because we may not make it all the way.

We've got to make it very much farther. Are there any questions about verses 4, 5, 6, and 7?

Okay. So verse 8. But finally, Daniel came in before me.

Daniel came in before me whose name is Belteshazzar according to the name of my God, and in whom is the spirit of the holy gods.

And I related the dream to him. It is unknown why Daniel was not among the group of wise men that were called in and had to be called in separately.

But when he did so, the king called him by both his Babylonian and his

Hebrew name, and does it in such a way that at least evinces to most who read this that he was still an adherent to the false gods of his day.

In whom he says, and whose name is Belteshazzar according to the name of my

God. So he's still an adherent. And by his Hebrew name, which ends, by the way, with the two letters that signify

Jehovah God, E -L. The fact that Nebuchadnezzar acknowledges that Belteshazzar is the name that was fashioned using the name of his

God at least to most who read this indicates that Nebuchadnezzar was still a polytheist.

Daniel was most likely attending to some of the business in the nation because of the high position the king had put him in, and he was not able to come in with the other diviners.

So there is debate now. Again, this is a suspect verse, if you will, to the critics.

There is debate as to whether or not the second noun, gods, is singular or plural. There is a great deal of evidence that indicates that it is singular, and based upon this, many commentators have decided that this is a tribute to the fact that Nebuchadnezzar here was or was becoming a believer in Jehovah.

In any event, he realizes that Daniel is different from all of his other prognosticators.

So it is possible, as some commentators have surmised, that since Nebuchadnezzar recognized the dream having consequences for he and his kingdom, he went to his other soothsayers first, hoping they would give him some sort of interpretation.

When they could not even do it, he summoned Daniel because he knew that this is most likely where he would get his answers.

But he also knew that Daniel was the kind of guy who would tell him the truth no matter how much it was negative, no matter how much it might hurt.

He may not have wanted to really know what his dream was. He knew it was significant, but, and these are all surmisings, by the way, you can't hang your hat on some of the things

I'm saying. This is just, you know, sanctified imagination, if you will. So we're going to end with verse 9.

Yes. So you're wondering if maybe

Nebuchadnezzar was hoping they would give him some, ah, he wanted a helpful interpretation, a nice interpretation.

He didn't tell them, he did tell them a dream, so maybe this time he would get a better interpretation. Yeah. Well, it could very well be.

The first dream ended up having him not be the king for a long time. He ended up with his kingdom ending.

So then in verse 9 he says this, O Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, since I know that a spirit of the holy gods is in you and no mystery baffles you, tell me the visions of my dream which

I have seen along with its interpretation. So he was expecting Daniel, and Daniel could do this, to revisit and rehash the dream, talk about it, and Daniel does that, we'll see that he does that when we get into the meat of the dream, and then tell him the interpretation so that each little bit, each little vignette in the dream,

Daniel would have to, what he was asking him to do essentially was repeat it and then tell him what it meant, and repeat this section and then tell him what it meant, and then tell me this section and then tell me what it meant, and I'm probably out of the camera,

I probably shouldn't do that. I get carried away. So he's asking

Daniel to interpret the dream. Some have concluded by the way, some, who do you think?

Some have concluded that the word, actually it was the good guys, that the word magicians could be translated scholars, that is in the pool of words that this

Chaldean word has in it, it's in the Chaldean thesaurus if you will, to give the actual intent of Nebuchadnezzar's statement,

Daniel is not a magician in the Babylonian sense, but rather he is a genuine worker of miraculous actions which would have seemed magic to the pagans of Nebuchadnezzar's time, to those who looked on.

He understood things that no one else understood and he was able to give clear interpretation when needed that no one else could manage, and then the things happened.

So this guy was a magician to those who looked on in the pagan society.

Daniel was thoroughly familiar with Babylonian history and their astrology and their religion and therefore

Nebuchadnezzar knew that even if the other diviners could not answer his question about the dream, he had confidence both from those things what

Daniel knew and from the fact that what he was saying earlier about Daniel's God was true, that Daniel could give him the interpretation.

Now as we read through the entire chapter, I cheated, you all know what the interpretation is so you don't come next time wondering, you know, like the next installment of a sitcom, or not sitcom, well yeah, maybe that was a

Freudian slip. He calls on Daniel to give him the interpretation that he needs, that he knows

Daniel can provide. And in this interpretation we're going to see, again, sweep of history, small sweep of history, some of the things that Jehovah wants to teach, the nation of Israel at the time, again, that he is sovereign, that he is in control, that nothing is outside his ability.

They're going to see the king that conquered their entire nation, eating grass like a cow.

Insane. There might have been a few smirks of delight among the Hebrews at that time, the seven year period.

Ha, ha, ha, ha. Don't want to laugh too loud, his second in command might throw you in the furnace, but it would have just been so satisfying.

That's not what God was after. He wasn't after their mirth and their smirking.

What he was after was devotion, realizing that even this king who destroyed the armies of Jerusalem, and I don't do very good snapping, but imagine someone who just like that is eating grass and no longer king.

Now, there's going to be a lot of speculation. There is a lot of speculation about what happened in those seven years while Nebuchadnezzar was not king, and we may talk about some of that as we go through this.

There's a great deal of exposition done on this section of the book of Daniel as well.

A lot of critics who think that it points out that it's not a genuine scripture, but most often, better than anything else, it actually cements the fact that this is a genuine book, work of Jehovah God included in the canon of scripture that details an actual history that happened and that has portent for, portent is maybe not a good word, but ramifications for our day as well.

So, any questions before we close? So, let's pray.

Father, we thank You that You have included this incredible book in Your Word, that it is exciting and mesmerizing and confusing sometimes, but that You have included it because You want to demonstrate for the most part that You are sovereign over our lives, and so we bow our knees and acknowledge

Your sovereignty in our lives. We thank You, Lord, that nothing escapes Your notice, that even the difficult times we are in are but a blip on the screen of time to You, but that You care for everyone in this time that is

Your child and that You will work things out in their lives to the good for Your glory.

We look forward to that and thank You for it in Jesus' name. Amen. Yeah. He's the night guy, but he steals other people.

Yeah. They're both falling. Let's stop. Good morning and Happy New Year.

Welcome to the first Sunday of 21. And welcome to Kootenai Church. If you're out in the foyer, would you come inside and join us?

And please stand as we sing Blessed Be Your Name. Blessed, Blessed be

Your name In the land that is plentiful Where streams of abundance flow

Blessed be Your name Blessed be

Your name When I'm found in the desert plains Or walking through the wilderness

Blessed be Your name Every blessing

You pour out I'll turn back to praise When the darkness closes in more

Still I will say Blessed be the name of the

Lord Blessed be Your name Blessed be the name of the

Lord Blessed be Your glorious name Blessed be

Your name When the sun's shining down on me When the world's all as it should be

Blessed be Your name Blessed be

Your name On the road marked with suffering But with faith in the offering

Blessed be Your name Every blessing

You pour out I'll turn back to praise

When the darkness closes in more Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord Blessed be Your name

Blessed be the name of the Lord Blessed be

Your glorious name You give and take away

You give and take away My heart will choose to stay

Lord, blessed be Your name You give and take away

You give and take away My heart will choose to stay

Lord, blessed be Your name Every blessing

You pour out I'll turn back to praise When the darkness closes in more

Still I will say Blessed be the name of the

Lord Blessed be Your name Blessed be the name of the

Lord Blessed be Your glorious name Blessed be

Your name In a land that is plentiful Where streams of abundance flow

Blessed be Your name Amen. Take this time and greet each other this morning.

Well, good morning everyone.

Welcome this morning. If you enjoyed taking a moment to fellowship with those around you, might I draw your attention to the fellowship dinners which are starting up again here in the next couple of weeks.

And the sign -up sheet for that is on the table outside in the foyer. And we need to get signed up for that if you plan on participating so that we can get the groups assigned.

And the rest of the announcements are in your bulletin that you need to be concerned with. So please turn your Bibles to the book of Hebrews, to chapter 9.

Hebrews chapter 9. And though this is not the passage that we're going to be looking at this morning, it is germane and does address some of the issues that we are going to be looking at later on in chapter 10.

Hebrews chapter 9. And we'll begin reading at verse 19. We're going to read through the end of chapter 10, verse 4.

Hebrews chapter 9, beginning at verse 19. For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses to all the people, according to the law, he took the blood of the calves and the goats with water and scarlet wool and hyssop and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying,

This is the blood of the covenant which God commanded you. And in the same way he sprinkled both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry with the blood.

And according to the law, one may almost say all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

Therefore it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be cleansed with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.

Nor was it that he would offer himself often as the high priest enters the holy place year by year with blood that is not his own.

Otherwise he would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world, but now once at the consummation of the ages he has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, so Christ also having been offered once to bear the sins of many will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin to those who eagerly await him.

For the law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year make perfect those who draw near.

Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered because the worshippers having once been cleansed would no longer have had consciousness of sins?

But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

Will you stand with me as we pray? Bow our heads.

Our Father, what the high priest of the Old Testament could never do, what the law could not provide, what animal sacrifices could never pay for, you in giving your

Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, have accomplished. We thank you that our salvation, the certainty of it, the fullness of it, and the future finality of it do not hang in the balance with you, but you are a

God who has appointed the ends as well as the means to that end. And we thank you that all things rest under your sovereign control and because that is true, we can rest with certainty in the finished work of the

Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you that the blood of bulls and goats could never take away sin, but that Christ in His sacrifice has.

And as we gather here together to worship you today and to praise you for this full and rich salvation, we pray that you would fill our hearts with joy and love and energy to serve you and grace to obey you in all things.

May you be honored through our worship, through our praise, through the meditation of our hearts, through the preaching of your word, and through our remembrance of the sacrifice of Christ today, we pray in His name.

Amen. The psalmist says in Psalm 13, 5 and 6, But I have trusted in your lovingkindness.

My heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because He has dealt bountiful with me.

Let's sing this morning, Jesus, your mercy. Jesus, your mercy is all my pain

Brought to me the best of my works Pierced your hands and your feet

Jesus, your mercy is all my pain Jesus, your mercy is all my grace

Goodness I claim, the grounds of my hope It's still what

I need, my mercy is all mine

The King who bore my sin Took my place when

I stood condemned Oh, how good you've always been to me

I will sing of your mercy Mercy is all

I rest From tears waving down at heaven's crest

Comfort I cling to in life and in death

Jesus, your mercy is all my rest Praise the

King who bore my sin Took my place when

I stood condemned Oh, how good you've always been to me

I will sing of your mercy Jesus, your mercy is all my joy

Forever I'll lift my heart and my voice To sing of a treasure no power can destroy

Jesus, your mercy is all my joy

Praise the King who bore my sin Took my place when

I stood condemned Oh, how good you've always been to me

I will sing Praise the King who bore my sin

Took my place when I stood condemned Oh, how good you've always been to me

I will sing of your mercy Come, gaze upon your

Saviour Behold your great heart drawn near His cross has spoken

Endless stores of grace

The heart of Jesus Is cleansed from every stain

Oh, how love for us

So livid and true

Is finished in His name

Oh, how deep, how wide How vast the love of Jesus Oh, how sure, how sweet, how strong Oh, how vast is love for us

Can't separate us Can't help but we have this strong assurance

In Christ we've been brought near And in His strength, no labor

His promise is our goal His love has led us

His love will lead us home Oh, how deep, how wide, how long

Vast the love of Jesus Oh, how sure, how sweet, how strong Oh, how vast is love for us

Oh, how deep, how wide How vast the love of Jesus Oh, how sure, how sweet, how strong Oh, how vast is love for us

I once was lost in darkest night Yet thought I knew the way

The sin that promised joy and light Had led me to a place reserved for me

Now, Lord, I would be Yours alone And live so all might see

The strength to follow Your commands Could never come from me

Oh, Father, use my ransomed life In any way

You choose And let my song forever Roast in Jesus Christ Hallelu Jesus is my life

Hallelu All I have's

Christ Hallelu Jesus is my life

Hallelu Jesus Christ Hallelu Jesus is my life

In Philippians chapter 2, verses 8 -11 it reads Being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

For this reason also God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is

Lord, to glory of God the Father. Turn thy eyes upon Jesus Look full in His wonderful face

The things of earth will grow strangely

Eyes to the air, justice and mercy embrace

There the Son of God gave His life for us

And our measureless debt was erased

Jesus, to you we lift our eyes

Jesus, our glory and our pride Our Savior ever true

O Jesus, we turn our eyes to you

Turn thy eyes to the morning

And see Christ the Lion awakes

God fear His life in our midst

Jesus, to you we lift our eyes Jesus, our glory and our pride

Our Savior ever true O Jesus, we turn our eyes to you

Turn thy eyes to the head

Our King will return for His own

Every knee, every tongue will shout

All glory to Jesus alone

Jesus, to you we lift our eyes

Jesus, our glory and our pride Behold you, our

Savior ever true O Jesus, we turn our eyes to you

O Jesus, to you we lift our eyes

Jesus, our glory and our pride

Our Savior ever true O Jesus, we turn our eyes to you

We turn our eyes to you You may be seated.

And now you will need your Bibles opened to the 10th chapter of Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 10.

And we're going to read together beginning at verse 11 and we'll read through the end of verse 18. Hebrews 10.

Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices which can never take away sins.

But he, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time onward until his enemies be made a footstool for his feet.

For by one offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.

And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us for after saying, this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the

Lord, I will put my laws upon their heart and on their mind I will write them. He then says, and their sins and their lawless deeds

I will remember no more. Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin.

Let's pray together before we begin. Our Father, may our meditation upon your word and our study of it produce fruit in our hearts and in our minds and in our lives both now and for all of eternity.

We pray that you would open our eyes and our hearts to behold in your word wonderful things and that you would sanctify us by the truth and conform us to the image of Christ in whose name we pray.

Amen. We've spent the last several months working through this middle section in the book of Hebrews and we now come to this concluding paragraph which is verses 11 through 18 where the author is bringing together all of the themes that he has been discussing for the last three and a half chapters.

And we have consistently seen that the purpose of the author is to compare all of the features of the Old Covenant with the

New and even the Old Covenant with the New. And in every turn and at every time that he describes something from the

Old Covenant and then brings us a new covenant or New Testament parallel, we see that the

New has always been better than the Old. Every time Christ or what he has provided has been superior.

Consistently we have seen that. So now I want to ask you a question that I would like you to reflect upon for just a moment even if it's just for these few moments here at the beginning of the message.

And here is the question. Is there any way in which any feature of the

Old Covenant is superior to the New Covenant? Is there any way in which any feature of the

Old Covenant is superior to the New Covenant? Now we all know what it is like to get something new that replaces something old.

Don't we? A new phone, a new computer, a new car, a new appliance, a new tool, a new software update, a new operating system.

But typically when we get something that is new that replaces something old even if we have been expecting it and anticipating it and looking forward to it, typically when we compare the new thing with the old thing, there are all of the new features that we really like but then there are a whole bunch of the old features that we really like that are no longer there in the new version.

You ever notice that? Everybody has had that happen, right? With a phone, with a computer, with an appliance.

You get something new and you think, I was really looking forward to that new thing. Really looking forward to it. All of the new features, the new bells, the new whistles, all of the new flashy stuff.

It's faster, it's better, it's shinier, it's nicer, it's more expensive. Nicier, nicier is not a word. It's nicer, it's more expensive.

You compare the new thing with the old thing that you replaced and then you always look at the new thing and think, all of these things are great.

Those new features, those good features are the very reason why I upgraded from the old thing.

But then there is always some noodle head in the development and design department somewhere who decides that he is going to take that old feature that you really like, that you thought was perfect and never needed to be changed and he was going to update it or upgrade it, right?

Somebody somewhere decided to take the power button on my phone off of the top and put it on the side.

Now I am forever taking screenshots of everything that I'm not interested in taking screenshots with. And I think, who was the noodle head who came up with that idea?

Everything else about it was great but that feature, I would like to go back to that. In the new covenant, we are given a new priest in a new priesthood.

Is there any way in which the old priest with the old priesthood was superior, better, more effective than Jesus?

Is there anything about that old covenant that was just any feature of that? I mean, we have obviously upgraded and we are thankful on the whole for the upgrades but is there any feature of the old covenant that is just a little bit better than something that we have been provided in the new?

We have a new priest in a new priesthood. How about the sacrifices? A different sacrifice, only one sacrifice as opposed to many sacrifices.

But when we compare and we look at the animal sacrifices of the Old Testament, there were so many of them, so many different kinds of them for so many different functions.

There were personal sacrifices and public sacrifices and private individual sacrifices and corporate sacrifices and planned sacrifices and unplanned sacrifices, spontaneous sacrifices, foreseeable sacrifices, bloody sacrifices, unbloody sacrifices, food sacrifices and wine sacrifices, all kinds of sacrifices.

We have all that from the Old Testament. When you look at all those animal sacrifices, is there anything about those sacrifices of the

Old Testament, the old covenant, that when you compare it to the sacrifice of Jesus you would say at least this feature was a little bit better, more effective, more it was superior to that which we are provided in the new?

That's the question. Is there any way, any feature of the

Old Testament, of the old covenant that is superior to what we have been given in Jesus Christ? I wish

I could stop right there and have you go home and think about that for the rest of this week and to examine your own theology and your own thinking regarding the sacrifice of Christ and say is there anything that is a downgrade?

Obviously we get all the upgrades, one sacrifice as opposed to many, a priest that never dies as opposed to a priesthood with perpetual priests, an intercessor who knows how to perfectly intercede for us as opposed to those sometimes pious but sometimes wicked

Old Testament priests that didn't necessarily know how to intercede for us. We've received all of these upgrades. But is there something, is there anything, is there one little form or feature of that that was just a little bit better than what we have?

That question is germane to the text that we're looking at today in Hebrews 10, verse 14. This is the concluding paragraph, verses 11 through 18, and we looked at 11, 12, and 13 last week.

And so we come to verse 14 which really is the central statement of this concluding paragraph and it is not just the central statement of this concluding paragraph here in Hebrews chapter 10.

It is actually the conclusion to the argument that he has been making for three and a half chapters. And we come in verse 14 to probably one of the most memorable, the most quotable, the most glorious and concise statements on the efficacy and power of the sacrifice of Christ that we find anywhere in the book of Hebrews.

I would venture to say probably anywhere in the New Testament. This is the most glorious statement that we could ever be presented with and it is right here at the middle of this concluding chapter.

Chapter 10, verse 14, What a sentence.

By one offering, he, that is Christ, has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.

That is a glorious statement and this sentence really brings together a number of themes that we've been looking at for the last three and a half chapters and it is,

I think, the gem of this entire middle section of the book of Hebrews. For by one offering, Christ has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.

In that one sentence, in that one statement, we have a description of the effect of the sacrifice of Christ, the effect of his atonement, the effect of his sacrifice.

With that statement, he has perfected for all time, that is the effect of his death.

And we also have there a statement as to the extent of his death to those who are sanctified.

The effect of his sacrifice and the extent of his sacrifice. We're just going to look at both of those this morning here in verse 14.

Let's look first at the effect of his sacrifice. You'll notice that verse 14 repeats something that he said up in verse 12.

In fact, he repeats something that he has been saying almost since the beginning of this discussion back in chapter 7 regarding the priesthood of Jesus.

That Jesus' sacrifice is only a one -time sacrifice as opposed to a multiple -time sacrifice.

Verse 12 he said, but he having offered one sacrifice for sins. And I would just remind you, we're not going to go over that again, because we've done it so many times since chapter 7.

But I would just remind you that this is the one glaring beauty of the sacrifice of Christ to an

Old Testament Jew, or what should have been. They should have seen the one -time sacrifice of Christ as being that.

That is the quality that makes it so glorious, that he didn't have to offer a sacrifice after sacrifice after sacrifice.

He didn't have to come back from heaven and offer yet another sacrifice. That one, once -for -all sacrifice was sufficient to do everything it was intended to do, and it does it perfectly, it does it fully, and it does it finally, and it does it forever.

It perfects those for whom it is made. And that one -time sacrifice should have stood out to the

Jews as being so much different than everything they were familiar with. All they were familiar with was the multitudes of sacrifices, the thousands of animals that were offered, the thousands of offerings that were given.

And along comes Jesus and does all of that which the Old Testament sacrifices could not do, he does in one offering.

And the offering that is described in verse 14, just in case you missed it, is not an animal offering, it's not a drink offering, it's not a grain offering, it's not a financial offering.

The offering that is being described here is the offering of himself. For by one offering, for one sacrifice for sins, has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.

Now I want you to notice that word perfected. This is an interesting word, it's frequently used in the book of Hebrews. We've seen it a number of times.

I've described in the past what it is that it means, but this whole theme of being perfected kind of comes to a head right here in chapter 10, verse 14.

So it's important for us to give some consideration to what the author means when he says that we have been perfected. There's a range of meaning for this word, and I don't want you to think of it in terms of its moral quality, because the

Greek word translated perfected does not necessarily describe the moral quality of that which is perfected.

The word means, and one other thing I should mention, the book of Hebrews uses the word in a slightly different way in some contexts as opposed to others.

In other words, it's not like there's just one meaning to this word, and the author uses it consistently throughout. There are multiple meanings to this word, and the author varies the nuances of what he means by perfected.

By using the same word, he employs different meanings. That way, as you look at how he uses it throughout the book, you kind of say, oh,

I see what he's doing here, and kind of in another way, there's another aspect of this word that is true of this group over here, okay?

So there's multiple ways in which it is used. Here's the meaning of that word perfected. It means to bring to completion, to accomplish fully, to reach the goal, to complete or to be finished, to make fit or to make full.

Kind of has somewhat of the idea of maturity, bringing something to its appointed goal or its appointed end.

That is the word. So it can describe something that is completed or accomplished, right? I mowed my lawn.

I perfected it. Now, my lawn might not be perfect. It might not look like the ball diamond at the local baseball park, but I have completed it in the sense that I brought it to completion and I have perfected that task.

You could also use the word to describe filling out the number of something. So if you say we were going on a seven -day trip and we got to the end of it, we could say that we had completed our seven days or we had fulfilled the seven days of our journey.

And it's used that way in Scripture, of the days being completed or the days being perfected, simply meaning that that which was allotted for this task, they had gone all the way through it and completed it or brought it to fulfillment, the end of that accomplished task.

Does that make sense? That's how the word is used. So it's not necessarily a moral word. When we think of perfection, sometimes we are thinking in terms of its moral quality, that something is perfect, meaning that it is without flaw.

That's not necessarily true. It just means that it's completed or accomplished. Sometimes we think of, we just say, some of you think that you're perfect or you act as if you're perfect or sometimes you think you're perfect.

And what we mean by that, by perfection, is a moral quality, an ethical quality. It's not necessarily moral or ethical qualities with this word.

It simply means that which is brought to be finished or brought to completion. Now it is used of Jesus.

This is not to say that Jesus is not morally perfect. He is. But when it's used of Jesus in the book of Hebrews, the author is not necessarily describing

Jesus' moral qualities, though those are part of what it means for Jesus to be perfected. So it's used of Jesus in three different ways in the book of Hebrews when it is translated perfected or made perfect, and it simply means to make fit or to complete for a task or to fulfill for a task.

So here are the ways that the author uses this of Jesus. He speaks of Jesus being perfected. Hebrews 2, verse 10,

Now it was a long time ago we were back in Hebrews 2, but there we saw that when the author speaks of Christ being perfected through sufferings, it doesn't mean that he became morally perfect as if he wasn't before that, but simply that through his sufferings he became fit.

He became full or accomplished. He was brought to a state of completion for something.

It was fit for the author of our salvation to make Christ fit through his sufferings.

Back in chapter 2, we saw that what he has in mind is making him able to sympathize with us in our weaknesses.

Because of his sufferings, he is more fit to intercede for us as our high priest. It's used of Jesus in Hebrews 5, verse 9.

The author says this, And having been made perfect, he became to all those who obey him the source of eternal salvation.

Jesus had been made perfect. Was he not morally pure or not morally perfect before that?

Before his suffering, before his life here in righteousness on this earth, he was not fit in the sense of necessary completion, having accomplished all that he needed to do to provide for us what the

Father sent him to provide. But through his suffering and through his life of obedience to the Father, he became fit to do something.

That's the idea. Hebrews 7, verse 28 uses the word of Jesus, For the law appoints men as high priests who are weak, but the word of the oath which came after the law appoints a son made perfect forever.

There is a sense in which Jesus was made fit for a task. His suffering on this earth, all of the humiliation of 30 years lived in this world, and seeing the affliction of men, and sympathizing with people, and being maligned and blasphemed and hated by those around him, all of that experience, everything he experienced by taking human flesh and coming all the way up to the garden of Gethsemane and giving his life for the salvation of his people, all of those experiences fitted him.

They made him fit or able to do something. And what does the author have in mind there? Again, it's not the moral quality of Jesus.

He is describing Jesus' fitness for the task of being our high priest, interceding for us, atoning for our sin, paying the price, dying on a cross, and saving his people.

That's the idea. But then it's also used of us. And interestingly, except here in Hebrews 10, verse 14, when it is used of us prior to this, the emphasis is not on our being perfected, but on our inability to be perfected by other things.

So when it is used of us, the worshiper, because up until now the predominant theme has been upon that which cannot perfect us, when it is used of us in the book of Hebrews, that is his people, the emphasis is not on us being made fit for something, but the emphasis is on the salvific flavor of this word.

The idea that we have been prepared, made fit for God, for eternity with God. We have been reconciled to him.

Salvifically, we have been given everything that we need for life and godliness. He accomplishes the task that he came to do in the lives of his people.

That he saves us, he sanctifies us, and he secures us everlastingly. That's what the idea of perfection means when it is applied to us.

A completed salvation, a justification obtained, a forgiveness granted and fulfilled. We're made fit for heaven, fit for worship, fit to be in God's presence.

Completed and made fit in our relationship with God. We're brought near to God and reconciled to God. And I'm going to give you an example of how the author uses this idea of being brought near to God and equates that with us being made perfect.

So when it describes us as worshipers or as his people, and it talks about us being perfected, it doesn't, again, it's not describing our moral qualities.

It is describing a standing that we have with God that we have been brought to, a completed standing, a salvation that has been made full and complete and accomplished for us.

That's the idea. So here's how it's used of us. It's used first of a priesthood that is unable to perfect us.

Hebrews chapter 7 verse 11. Now, if perfection was through the Levitical priesthood for on the basis of it the people received the law, what further need was there for another priest to arise according to the order of Melchizedek and not be designated according to the order of Aaron?

Do you hear the reference to it? Hebrews 7, 11. If perfection was through the Levitical priesthood, then there would have been no need for God to promise another priesthood which was to come.

And back in chapter 7, we were looking at Psalm 110 where the Lord swore, you are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

And the author is making the point if that first priesthood, Aaron's priesthood, was able to perfect the worshipers who approached

God through that priesthood, there would have been no need for God to promise yet another coming priesthood. The fact that God promised another coming priesthood, one fulfilled by Jesus, is evidence that that first priesthood could not perfect the worshipers.

Because if that first priesthood was able to perfect the worshipers, bring them near to God, reconcile them to Him, then there would have been no need for Jesus to be a priest after the order of Melchizedek.

The law was unable to perfect us. Hebrews 7, 19. For the law made nothing perfect.

And on the other hand, there is the bringing in of a better hope through which we draw near to God. Notice the contrast there. The old hope, the law, which made nothing perfect.

The new hope by which we draw near to God. It is being drawn near to God, being reconciled to Him, brought into a relationship with Him that makes us fit, whole, complete, and perfected in that sense.

It doesn't mean that we're living perfect lives. It means in terms of our standing before God, there is nothing between He and us that keeps us from having fellowship with Him.

There's nothing between us. We have been brought near. We have been reconciled. We have been justified. We've been made perfect through the death of His Son.

The law could not provide that. The law provided for the priests and for the sacrifices and regulated all of those things.

But earlier in the book of Hebrews, it says the law is useless and weak. Why was it useless and weak? Because it could not perfect us.

And even all of our attempts to obey the law only demonstrated that we not only cannot be perfected by the law, but the law is unable, completely, completely unable to change the heart of a worshiper, to sanctify us, to justify us, or to bring us near to God.

So the law cannot perfect us. But that being brought near is the goal that is accomplished by Christ when

He brings us near, and in that sense, He perfects us. Third, we saw that the sacrifices are unable to perfect us. Hebrews 9, verse 9,

Both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience. Hebrews 10, 1,

The law, since it's only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near.

The law cannot perfect us, and the sacrifices cannot perfect us, because the sacrifices cannot atone for sin.

They're animal sacrifices and not human sacrifices. They're not righteous sacrifices. They're not willing sacrifices.

They're not of infinite value and worth. They were only pictures and types and shadows, and not the very substance of those things.

And because that was what characterized the Old Testament animal sacrifices, those sacrifices could never take away sins.

And those sacrifices offered year after year, it is impossible for them to take away or to put away sin.

That's what the author says in chapter 10, verse 4. It's impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin. Sacrifices could not do it.

Chapter 10, verse 11, The same sacrifices can never take away sins. So you notice the argument of the author so far through the book of Hebrews?

This has been a lot of bad news, hasn't it? The law cannot perfect you.

The priesthood, which was established by the law, cannot perfect you. The sacrifices, which the priests made, the priests who were established by the law, cannot perfect you.

The law cannot perfect you. The priests cannot perfect you. And the sacrifices cannot perfect you.

That should bring you to the point of despair. If I can't be perfected, if I can't be made perfect by any of those things, all the sacrifices

I could muster, all the priests that have ever lived, and all the law that God gave me, if those things cannot perfect me, then what hope do

I have? For by one offering, He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.

That's the hope. He has been building up to this for three and a half chapters. The law can't do it, the priests can't do it, the sacrifices can't do it.

Are you at the point of despair? Good news. By one offering, He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.

It's important to notice that the word perfected is in the past tense. At least it appears in the past tense here in our

English translation. It's actually the perfect tense in the Greek, and this is an important verb tense, and I usually don't go on about verb tenses unless there is an important theological point that is made by the way that the author uses or tenses a certain verb.

This is in the perfect tense. The perfect tense describes a completed action that happened in the past but results in a continual present -day state of being or a state that exists in the present.

That's the idea behind the perfect. And it's not the past action which is so much in view, as in that is the focus of this, but using the perfect tense, the author is emphasizing a present reality that exists because of a completed past action.

So that that past action, accomplished, completed, has ramifications and effects and brings into place a state of being which is currently in the present.

That's the tense of this verb. This perfection is described as a present state of being which you and I enjoy, and it is accomplished by a past action.

Now whose action is this? What is the action that perfects us? Is it your faith? Is it your obedience?

Is it your perseverance? Is it your mortification of sin? What is that past action which has perfected us?

For by one offering, he has perfected those who are sanctified. So the past event that currently has a present state of reality for you and I is something that was done and accomplished on the cross, that past completed action that has brought into being a state of being that exists today, a reality that is today.

So that my current state of perfection, and listen, I have been perfected.

I will say that only because I spent the last 20 minutes explaining to you that we are not talking about a moral condition.

We're not talking about ethical behavior. We're not talking about a perfection of lifestyle or a perfection of mortification of sin.

But I have been perfected. I have good news for you. If you're in Jesus Christ, you have been perfected as well.

And you stand today perfected because of what happened 2 ,000 years ago.

Now this is important. You stand perfected, not because of anything that you have done, not because of anything that you can do, not because of anything that you will do, but because of what somebody else did 2 ,000 years ago.

At that moment, on the cross, in bearing our sin, Jesus Christ did something.

He perfected us. That event perfected us, not our faith.

You and I do not make our perfection a reality, the perfection that is described here in this text. You and I do not make our perfection a reality by our belief or by our faith or by our response to the good news.

You were not perfected when you believed. You were perfected when He died for you. You were not perfected when you exercised faith and repentance.

You were perfected when Christ died in your stead. That perfection was achieved back then and it currently has a state of being, a state of reality, that is true of you in the present, not because of anything that happened in your lifetime, but because of something that happened before you were ever born, roughly 2 ,000 years before you were ever born.

This is magnificently glorious good news that on the cross,

He perfected those who are sanctified. That is the effect of His salvation. I do not make

His sacrifice for me effective by my faith and belief. I believe and have faith because His sacrifice was effective for me.

There is a world of difference between those two statements. I do not believe, sorry,

I do not make His sacrifice effective for me by my belief. I believe because He perfected me 2 ,000 years ago when

He bore my sin on the cross. That is when I was made perfect. When He bore your sin on the cross, that is when you were made perfect.

That is a past reality that has present day implications. The past events secured those present realities and those present blessings so that we can say that the faith of God's elect was secured on the cross.

Our faith is the result of what happened 2 ,000 years ago. Our faith does not actuate what happened 2 ,000 years ago.

Our faith doesn't make it real for us. Our faith is because that happened. Because He perfected all those for whom

He died, you and I are made perfect today. You and I are perfect today. Notice the tense.

By one offering, that offering, on the cross, He perfected. That is the past event.

The offering on the cross perfected us at that time. He perfected for all time.

This perfection is an objective reality. It is not something that is determined by the subject. That means that if I am aware of it or not, it still happened.

Before I ever trusted Christ for salvation when I was roughly 15, 16 years old, before that event ever happened,

I was perfected roughly 2 ,000 years before that by an event that happened 2 ,000 years ago when

I wasn't even aware of it. When I was 14 before I trusted Christ, when I was 12 before I trusted

Christ, when I was 6 before I trusted Christ, even at that time I had already been perfected by the work done back then.

A work that has present state of being truths regarding me. Does that make sense? So that it's not something that I do and it's not something that I actuate by responding to it.

It is an objective thing that exists outside of me even if I'm not aware of it. And even today, having been perfected 2 ,000 years ago, even today driving down the street and the guy pulls out in front of me and I respond like somebody who has not been perfected at all, ever.

Even when I respond in that moment in an imperfect way morally, but also in an imperfect way as if I had not been perfected by Christ's death on the cross.

It's still true of me. At that moment, it's still true of me. It was true of me when

I was 6. This will be true of me when I'm 60. Why is that?

Because by His offering He perfected us. Not by my faith that we perfect ourselves. It's not by our response to that that we are perfected.

We respond in the way that God has decreed and determined because He did something 2 ,000 years ago that has present day implications for you and I.

We are perfected through His offering on the cross. You say, I don't feel perfected.

Well, the reality of this doesn't depend upon your feelings. In fact, your feelings have nothing to do with the reality of this.

You may at times, when you draw near to God, feel as if you have been made perfect by the offering of Christ on the cross.

That's true. You might feel that at times. There are other times when you're not going to feel it. Your feeling doesn't affect the reality of this.

Doesn't affect the permanency of it. Doesn't affect the power of it, the efficacy of it. Nothing. Your feelings have no bearing upon this reality at all.

Except that sometimes you may feel as if this is genuinely true of you. Other times you may not even be aware that this is genuinely true of you.

In fact, it might be the case that before some of you even walked in here today, you had never even thought of these things in these terms. They're nonetheless true of you, even this morning.

Before you even became aware that you had been perfected on the cross 2 ,000 years ago. It is His offering that makes it so.

It is His work that makes it so. We have been made perfect. Eternal salvation has been accomplished for us and granted to us and applied to us because we were perfected in Him 2 ,000 years ago.

That is the effect of His sacrifice. You experience His gifts. Yes. Yes. But He is the one who secured those gifts.

He secured them. You experience them. He secured them in the past. You experience them in the present.

Now, for how long is this true of you, this perfection? Verse 14, for by one offering He has perfected for all time.

You say, that sounds familiar. Sounds like we talked about that phrase for all time sometime recently. We did just seven days ago back in verse 12.

Look at it. But He having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time sat down at the right hand of God. And I said last week that that phrase, that verse means, that word means forever, enduring, going on, continuing in that state.

It meant that in verse 12 and it means that here in verse 14. For by one offering He has perfected for all time forever those who are sanctified.

This is the length of this perfection. This goes on forever, for all of time and for all of eternity.

This is used of His sacrifice in verse 12 or of His sitting down at the right hand of the Father in verse 12 and it is used here of that act of perfecting us in Him.

So when do the effects of His sacrifice wear out for you? When do they wear out? Are you going to sin yourself out of that state of perfection?

Did you believe yourself into that state of perfection? If you didn't believe yourself into that state of perfection, you're not going to sin your way out of that state of perfection.

Since it's something that happened by somebody. Try that again. Since it is something that is accomplished by the work of somebody else before you and I were ever born, then there is no possibility that you and I can be abandoned from that state of perfection or that we can be reversed out of that state of perfection.

How long does that perfection last? What does the text say in verse 14? He has perfected for all time.

For all time. When does His sacrifice lose its power? When does

His sacrifice lose its ability to save? When does His work run out? When does this eternal salvation that He has secured run dry?

Never. He has perfected for all time. Are you and I only perfected until we sin?

Are you and I only made perfect if we endure? Are you and I only made perfect if we mortify sin?

If we walk in perfection? If we're perfectly obedient? Are you and I only perfected until we backslide?

Are we perfected until we lose our salvation? How long are we perfected for? You're perfected forever. What He did on the cross has a present day, present moment reality.

You are perfected by His work on the cross. You are brought to completion. Your salvation has been fully and completely accomplished and that state, that thing which

He did back then will endure forever. That is true of all of those for whom

He has died. That is the power of His sacrifice. It does not need my assistance.

He does not need my faith. He does not need my endurance. His sacrifice does not need my perseverance to ensure its effectiveness.

His sacrifice is effective and powerful and guarantees my perseverance and my endurance.

And just in case you're thinking, well Jim, are you saying then that you can just sin and sin and sin and you don't have to worry about it, that you can fall away, blaspheme

God, turn your back on Him and you're still saved? No, I'm not saying that at all. I'm saying that His sacrifice is powerful enough that for those for whom

He has made it, He has perfected them forever because those are the ones who are sanctified.

Those are the ones who are sanctified. Not that we can sin and do it with impunity or that we cannot persevere and not maintain faith, that we cannot walk with Him, that we can abandon

Him and apostatize and yet we're still saved. That is not what I'm teaching and that is not what Scripture teaches. But I am saying that that sacrifice which was powerful enough to save us and to save us fully and infallibly is also powerful enough to keep us everlastingly.

So that we will be the ones who are sanctified forever. It's those who are sanctified, not those who continue in sin.

And if you continue in sin and walk in an unsanctified state and yet you say, well I heard

Jim say that Christ sanctified me on the cross. No. This perfection, this sanctification that is here is for those who walk in sanctification, for those whom

He has set apart, for those who are His. Those are the ones who are saved by this. Those are the ones who are perfected.

That sacrifice powerful enough to save you is powerful enough to secure you so that you will not walk away.

You will not abandon Him. Even the preservation in our state of grace rests upon the power of that sacrifice which perfected us 2 ,000 years ago.

If salvation is not permanent, in fact I'm just going to read you. This is what one author writes.

If salvation is not permanent then eternal life is not eternal and neither is eternal perfection. If you can lose your salvation then the offering of Christ perfected nobody forever.

If the author believed that his readers could fall from the state of grace and blessing either by their own doing or something else, then he could never say that the death of Christ perfected them forever.

Only if the death of Christ has secured finally, fully, and forever all the blessings of salvation can the author say that we have been perfected forever by that one sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Now the author who wrote those words was me and that was just my way of saying listen to what I'm just about to read you that I wrote earlier this week.

That's a true story. If I just said I'm going to read you what I wrote you would have thought oh this is not going to be any more profound than anything else he said.

But when I tell you hey as one author writes and I keep it anonymous you listen to it and you think that sounded really good, didn't you? You got to the end of that and you thought that sounded really good.

Now I point this out because in the context and I'm emphasizing here the security of our salvation.

I do this because in the context here in Hebrews chapter 10 we are about to get into the warning passage beginning in verse 26.

Remember the warning passages in Hebrews? Where it talks about falling away the possibility you can lose your salvation.

These are the passages that everybody who believes you can lose your salvation, they go to these five warning passages in the book of Hebrews and they camp there and they say hey it looks to me like you can lose your salvation.

They go through the warning passages. What have we just read here in Hebrews 10 verse 14? Before we even get to the warning passage we have to stop for a moment and say here in verse 14 is an absolute perfectly clear ironclad declaration that what was accomplished on your behalf by Jesus Christ at the cross endures forever.

Let that ring in your mind before we get into the warning passage. Because as with all the other warning passages they are sandwiched between these ironclad declarations of our security in the faith.

We saw that back in chapter 6 with the last warning passage we looked at. There was that passage in chapter 6 and before that passage and after that passage the author is absolutely clear that we cannot lose our salvation because it rests upon God's nature and character and not upon our response to these things or our ability to obey in these things.

It rests upon His nature and His character. That's in the context of all of those warning passages. So I stop here to emphasize this so that you and I not miss that.

Now we do not have time to go on to the second part of this which is the extent of His sacrifice. So I'm not even going to pretend to you that I have a landing for this message at this point because I'm just stopping in the middle now.

So we're just going to drop the plane out of the sky onto the tarmac. That's it. We will pick that up next week.

Oh except I would leave you with this. Now you have an opportunity to go home and think for a week about that question I asked you at the beginning.

Is there any feature, anything from the Old Covenant which is better than what we have been provided in the

New Covenant? Now the answer to that, well no

I'm not going to give you the answer. That's my conclusion. That's the effect of His sacrifice.

For by that one offering He has perfected forever those who are sanctified.

His people. It completed work. And as we observe the Lord's Supper that is indeed what we celebrate with communion.

We're not reflecting upon a potential sacrifice, a potential atonement, a potential payment. We're not talking about a ransom that could have been made or something that depends upon us and how we respond to it.

We're talking about and celebrating what Christ has done in His sacrifice on the cross.

A past and completed event that has present day implications, ramifications, things that are true in a present state.

That if you're in Jesus Christ you have been perfected. Your salvation has been accomplished.

And it is so eternally. Forever. There is nothing that can alter that.

Because your belief doesn't get you in it. Your momentary sin, your momentary feelings don't get you out of that either.

His salvation, His atonement is a completed work. A perfect and completed work. And that's what we reflect upon.

Now if you are not a believer in Jesus Christ and you have never trusted Christ for salvation, I would ask you to not partake of the communion elements as they're passed out to you this morning.

Scripture warns against that. That you actually eat and drink judgment to yourself. Or if you are a believer and you are harboring sin in your heart that you're clinging to and not repenting of, don't eat and drink this.

You're eating and drinking judgment to yourself. That's the warning that Scripture gives. For all of us here we have an opportunity before we partake of communion to bow our heads and to confess our sin to the

Lord and then we can partake with a clean conscience. So let's bow our heads together and then after a couple of moments I will lead us in prayer and ask the ushers to come forward and help serve the elements.

Let's pray. Our Father, it is only by your great mercy that we are able to come before you.

You have given us free and full access to your throne of grace because of what Christ has done. And so we come with boldness, we come with humility, we come with thanksgiving before you and affection and adoration to thank you for the great work of salvation which was purchased for us by Jesus Christ.

We thank you that his atonement is sufficient to cover all our sin. We confess to you our iniquity, we confess to you our wrongdoing.

We are aware of sin in our lives and things that we do which are imperfect. Ways that we sin against you and against others and we even know that there are things in our lives which we are not aware of that are also sin before you, things that you make us aware of from time to time.

Lord, we just confess all of that to you and confess our iniquity and thank you for the forgiveness that we have in Jesus Christ.

Thank you that no matter what the weight of our sin is, that we have a sacrifice, that we have a payment and an atonement that has accomplished what you have intended it to accomplish, that is the salvation of your people.

Thank you for calling us to yourself by your grace and for that continual work of sanctification which you do.

We praise you for these things and confess these things to you in the name of Christ, our great Lord and our

Savior. Amen. Will the ushers come forward and help serve the elements? Alright, let's pray again before we begin.

Father, you are so merciful to us and again we thank you for the precious blood of Christ. Thank you for his precious body which was broken for us.

Thank you for this atonement, this sacrifice which has accomplished all that it was intended to accomplish and has forever saved those who are yours.

You are worthy of our praise, our honor and our glory and we pray that as we reflect upon these things and trust in you that you would sanctify us by your grace and draw us near again to yourself.

We pray in Christ's name. Amen. On the night that he was betrayed, our

Lord took the bread and when he had broke it, he said, take, eat. This is my body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me.

In the same manner, after supper, he took the cup and said, this is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.

Let's pray. Lord, we just want to thank you so much that you did perfect us as believers and it was a one -time offering.

We thank you so much that we can remember that this morning as we go about our week, this next week, that we could remember that, that there's nothing we can do to perfect it, that you've done it all.

Thank you so much for that. Thank you so much for this time that we can remember that this morning.

In Jesus' name. Amen. Please stand.

My Jesus, I love thee. I know how worthy all the follies of sin

I resign. My gracious Redeemer, my

Savior art thou. If ever

I like Jesus did

I love thee because thou hast first love in me and purchased my pardon on Calvary's tree.

I love thee for wearing the thorns on thy brow.

Jesus is the love thee in life,

I will love thee in death, and praise thee as long as thou lendest me breath, and say when the death do lies cold on my brow.

If ever I love thee, my

Jesus is now. Have a great week.