Daniel: Chapter 9 — Stanley Wells

Now, I can't go over what we've already talked about, but I'm going to just give a quick run-through and a revision. And our chapter tonight is the book of Daniel. And this is what we're going to talk about here.

Daniel 9 and the Structure of Prophetic History

I'm just going to stick with Daniel chapter 9 tonight. It's the basic chapter, one of the basics, the chapter for prophetic truth. All right. Now... Chart divided into three. We'll learn that. This is the past where I'm pointing to now, right across.

And we have seen that the order of the chapters, even though they're in the chart the way they are in the Bible, as they took place, remember what I told you, chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3, chapter 4, and then chapter 7, chapter 8, chapter 5, chapter 9, chapter 6, 10, 11, and 12.

And somebody says, where did you get that from? Dig in the book and you'll find out. It's lying right in the service. Remember what I told you? The first six chapters in Chaldean language. God wanted those heathen people to know what the future holds for them.

Then from chapter 7 right across to the end, all in Hebrew. As we saw last night, God has a message for his people, the nation of Israel. Now then, down here is the future, the time of the end, all the way across.

So if there's historic facts that have taken place right across here, there are the equivalent prophetically, and these are things that lie ahead. In the time of the end, the great tribulation is what's seen.

And you remember what I told you? This is the present. Daniel didn't know anything about the church age. Knew nothing about the rapture. But that wasn't his focus. His focus, remember, the times of the Gentiles and the nation of Israel and what will happen.

The Seventy Weeks as Weeks of Years

Now, let me just major on this point here tonight. Chapter 9, Prophecy of the 70 Weeks. Now I'm going to read you a verse or two to show you this word here. You see where it says all these different weeks here, they're weeks of years.

Well, it says they're heptads. And people say, I snuck my Bible. Did not. Now you have to look. And you have to do a little digging to get it. Now the word heptad means seven. The weeks that we live through are weeks of seven days.

But these are weeks of seven years. And somebody says, prove it. Well, I'm going to read you a verse to show. And I have done a little digging on it. And I don't know it all yet and never will. But we know a little to help us on this point.

So Daniel is burdened about the future. And we're going to read that now in a minute or two. And he wants to know what's going to happen to the nation of Israel. And we'll get to see why there are 70 weeks of years.

And all that type of thing. So it's divided into three. And the 70 weeks are up there. Multiply it by seven. And you have 490. So he's looking back 490 years. And he's looking forward 490 years. But he doesn't know anything about this age here.

See? And so we're going to show that there's a gap between the 69th years. Which works out at 483 years past. And this 70th week here. And that's the great tribulation. And in between, as I pointed out to you, we're right here.

Now if anybody asks you, we're on the eve of the coming again of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when millions leave the world and go to heaven. Then the nation of Israel will come into play. And nationally God will deal with them.

And through this 70th week. People ask all the time, 70th week? Never heard of it. It's in the Bible. We'll read about it tonight. So I want to first of all show you where this word hektad comes from.

Now those in this audience that are better taught than I am, you know all this. It's just what we call old hat. But we think of those that don't know. So if you have your Bible tonight. The book of Genesis please, chapter 29.

Genesis 29 and the Meaning of “Week”

That's the first scripture we want to read. Now hopefully it'll be clear as we move into the message tonight. Now here is Jacob with Laban. And he's an old deceiver. And he deceived Jacob. And instead of giving him Rachel for his first wife, he gave him Leah.

Now this is where I want to come in here. At the end of the discussion. Verse number 27. Genesis chapter 29. Now here's Jacob talking. Sorry, Laban talking to Jacob. He says in verse 27. Fulfill her week.

And we will give thee this also for the service. Now notice the next statement. Which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years. Now if English means anything. He has already served seven years for his first wife.

And he thought he was getting Rachel. He got Leah. Now he's serving seven other years. Now that word there. That word week. In verse 27. Is heptad. And it means seven. It's just the same word as we have for a dozen.

A dozen sausages. A dozen men. A dozen cities. A dozen whatever. Now this heptad is exactly the same. And somebody says, well how do you know that it's years? Well right here it's the context of years.

And it's exactly the same word as we'll read in Daniel chapter 7. Sorry, chapter 9. So we'll read Daniel chapter 9. Obviously we won't read all the chapter. I'll read pieces of it. So we'll start at verse 1.

Daniel’s Prayer and Jeremiah’s Prophecy

And here's the scripture to show us that chapter 9 of Daniel is before chapter 6. Right. Verse 1. In the first year of Darius, the son of Asheswerus, of the seed of the Medes. We're in that Mede-Persian Empire.

Which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans. In the first year of his reign, I Daniel understood by books the number of the years whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet that he should accomplish 70 years in the desolations of Jerusalem.

Now right there tells you we're talking about years. Now let me read the scripture. Because people are asking me all the time, where do you get this from? I don't see that. Look at Jeremiah chapter 29.

And this is just one of them. There's several others. Here's what he's reading. And he's in the land of Babylon. This is Daniel reading Jeremiah. He likely has a scroll. Now I'll just read the pertinent verses.

See verse number 10, Jeremiah chapter 29. He's talking about the nation. For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

Then shall you call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me and find me, and ye shall search for me with all your heart. Now we learn a very simple thought.

Back to Daniel chapter 9. This man read his Bible. We'll pick up on that in a minute. All right. Notice as we go down some of these verses, the pronouns. This man's using we, us, our. And watch how he handles divine persons.

Just so you won't forget what we're talking about. See if your Bible's open there. Look at verse number 19 of this chapter. To think of the awe and the majesty that's in the man's heart on how he handles divine persons.

Listen to him praying. Verse 19. O Lord, hear, O Lord. Forgive, O Lord. Hearken, and do. Defer not for thine own sake, O my God. For thy city and thy people are called by thy name. Now you'd have to come to the conclusion that this man knows how to address God.

Now let's read just a verse or two here. Notice, please, verse number three. I set my face unto the Lord God to seek my prayer and supplications with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. And I prayed unto the Lord my God and made my confession and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him and to them that keep his commandments.

Now he comes. We have sinned and have committed iniquity and have done wickedly and have rebelled even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments. Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants, the prophets, which speak in thy name to our kings and our princes and our fathers and to all the people of the land.

O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces as at this day. Notice verse eight. O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face to our kings, to our princes, to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee.

To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him. Neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God to walk in his laws and so on. Notice the end there of verse number 11.

Because we have sinned against him. Come down now quickly to a little further. You see verse number 15. And now, O Lord our God, that has brought thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and have gotten thee renowned.

As at this day we have sinned, we have done wickedly. O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee. Let thy anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city, Jerusalem, thy holy mountain and so on.

See verse 17. Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant and his supplication and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate for the Lord's sake. And he's pleading with them.

And I'll read you verse 19 again. O Lord, hear O Lord, forgive O Lord, hearken and do. Defear not for thine own sake. O my God, for thy city and thy people are called by thy name. Now what happened? Good question.

Listen to this. Come down now please to verse number 21. Whilst I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision, chapter 8, at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation.

He informed me, talked with me and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. At the beginning of thy supplications, the commandment came forth, and I am come to show thee where thou art greatly beloved.

Therefore understand the matter and consider the vision. Right. Seventy weeks. Now the chart is based on the Bible. The Bible is not based on the chart. Here it is. Seventy weeks. And Mr. Newbery tells you, there are seventy weeks of years are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city.

And all of these next statements are all future. Now let me just go a little further for sake of time. See verse 25. Now here, please notice, these verses are the basic verses of prophetic and divine revelation for the future of the nation of Israel.

Gabriel’s Prophecy of the Sixty-Nine and Seventieth Weeks

So Gabriel now to Daniel. Know therefore, verse 25, and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore, to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah, the Prince, that's the Lord Jesus Christ, shall be seven weeks, seven weeks of years.

And three score and two weeks, sixty-two weeks of years. The street shall be built again, and the wall in troubleless times. And after three score and two weeks, shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself.

Now I'm suggesting, maybe somebody here doesn't believe this, but I'm going to suggest to you. See this next bit here now? Now here's a break. And the word end. The people of the Prince. Now the Prince is not the Lord Jesus.

Just get that. Do you know who he is? There he's there, look. See him? He's the little horn of Daniel, chapter 7, Revelation 13, the first beast. He's the man of sin. People say, he's the Antichrist. Absolutely.

But he's the man of sin. He's the one that's involved in the future. Now listen to what happens next. See, we're at the end of verse number 26. And the people of the Prince shall come, shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.

We're in Jewish ground, it's Jerusalem in the temple. And the end thereof shall be with a flood. And unto the end of the wars, desolations are determined. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week.

The he is the man of sin. And the confirm indicates the covenant's already set up. And all he's doing is confirming it. Now notice what happens next. And in the midst of the week, that's the 70th week, the tribulation.

He shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease. And for the overspreading of abominations, he shall make a desolate. Now 2 Thessalonians 2 comes in there. Even until the consummation. And that determined shall be poured upon the desolate or the desolator.

And that's that man, the man of sin. Now that'll have to do for reading tonight. And before we go any further, if you're confused, talk to me at the end of this meeting. I want to be as simple as I possibly can.

Daniel’s Reading of Scripture Leads to Prayer

Maybe the chart can help us. All right. Here's Daniel. I take it he's alone. He's reading the Bible. I read it to you, Jeremiah chapter 29. And he finds out that on the throne, there's a change in the monarchy.

We have moved now from Babylon to Medo-Persian. The 70 years have come and gone. I pointed out to you that the book of Daniel from chapter 1 to chapter 12 is approximately 73 years. The man has lived 70 years in Babylon.

He's reading the Bible and he recognizes, hey, there's a change in the government. Something's happening here. We better get down to business. And he gets concerned as he reads the Bible. And he realizes, man, this is mighty.

The 70 years are up. It's time that the people were back to the place of the name, to the city and the sanctuary, and to build things again for God. Now, reading the Bible drives him to pray. And so we read part of his prayer tonight.

Now, have you got the message? Circumstances lead us to read the Bible. And reading the Bible lead us to pray as God's people. And so, folk are telling us all kinds of things are going to happen. I talked to believers here recently and they say, you know what?

The world is going to end in a very short time. These people in the Middle East are going to blow up Israel and the whole thing's over. Now, the Bible doesn't teach that. Whenever we see circumstances that are adverse in the global picture tonight, what do we do?

Well, we read the Bible. People like to go to Google and the computer and get that service engine to tell them all kinds of things. I would suggest tonight, you got a concern in your heart, read the Bible.

And if you continue to read the Bible with a burden in your heart, I want to tell you that it will bring us to pray. That's exactly what happened to Daniel. Here's a suggestion of this chapter. There are three simple divisions lying on the surface.

Let me point them out to you. As Daniel kneels to pray, you see in verses one and two, he gets an insight. He learns about God's plan. That's studying the Holy Scripture. It's very simple. See the next section, verses three through 19, it's intercession.

He's praying to God for mercy. The supplication of the prophet. That's why we sung tonight 317 in the Believer's Hymnbook. Have we trials and temptations? Yeah. Is there trouble anywhere? Absolutely. We should never be discouraged.

Take it to the Lord in prayer. Sometimes that's the last thing we'll do. We'll get on the internet. We'll get on the phone. We'll do our cell phone. Whatever. But let us learn tonight simple basic things of Christian living.

Circumstances drive us to read the Bible. Reading the Bible drive us to pray. And people say, I've got no answers yet. Well, listen to this passage. When the man is praying and he's confessing his sin, he gets answers.

You see, at the end of the chapter, and that's what we're going to deal with tonight. And we won't deal with every verse, but from verse 20 to verse 27, there's instruction. Discovering God's prophetic program.

The Seventy-Year Cycles Behind the Prophecy

Now, let me use Daniel as an example. And I'll summarize it. Daniel is really saying, now, Lord, the 70 years are up in captivity. And God has said it's time for his people to get back to the place of the name.

What's going to happen to the nation of Israel? I already pointed out that he's likely around 90 years of age. 73 years in the book. Around a youth of 17, 90 years of age. Now, he wants to know what's going to happen.

Now, God is kind. And God still hears the cries of his people. And he says, now, listen. There are three big days ahead for the nation of Israel. And it all surrounds 70 by 7. 490 years. Now, let me pause a minute.

I'm trying to anticipate what you're thinking in your mind. I was thinking about it today. Somebody's going to turn around and say, well, why was it not 90 years? Why was it not 40 years, 70 years? How come?

Now, here's the background. When the nation of Israel came to the land of Egypt, God told them that your life will surround cycles of 7. As far as the agriculture world is concerned, every 7 years, there's one year, the 7th year.

And all the ground is left fallow. You don't have a crop. And I'll make sure that you don't starve because you'll get enough in the 6th year as you'll do for the 7th. Exactly the same as the manna. Same idea.

Gathering on the 6th day what would do the 7th. Now, as you trace the history through the judges, through the prophets, and the priesthood, and the kings, you find this out. These people disobeyed God.

Here's the bottom line. God says to them, you better leave that 7th year alone. And they're saying, not at all. We're not going to do that. Why should we do that? We're going to do what we think. All right, says God.

You've done it for 70 cycles of 7, 490 years. And for every year that you disobeyed me, I want to tell you, the land will have rest. I'll make sure of it. And you will be in a foreign land for 70 years.

That's where the whole 70 years and the 70 weeks and all the rest of it comes in. The whole thing is built on 7s. Can you see the picture? God wins every time. If we say no, we're not going to obey what God says.

But God says, sooner or later, I will have the last say. Now, 70 years have come and gone. The land has been now, no crop in it for 70 years. Amazing. See? God looked after that nation. Now it's time to go back.

The Three Prophetic Milestones

So that brings us to the chart. Let me just go over it quickly with you. He's saying, now, Daniel, there's three big days ahead for the nation of Israel. This is the basics of all prophetic divine revelation for the Bible and for days ahead.

Now, it hasn't happened when Daniel's talking, but we'll see in a minute. Now, you see, he's talking here about these heptads I'm telling you about. And he says, the first big day in the history of the nation from when you are sitting here listening to Gabriel will be when the commandment goes out to build Jerusalem on the sanctuary on the wall in troubleless times.

That's what we read 49 years ahead. Now, that was fulfilled in Nehemiah chapter 1 and chapter 2 and then the chapters that succeeded. Now, that's the first big day. That's what God said. 62 by 7 after that.

434 years. Messiah will be cut off. That's where we started on Sunday morning. The cross. Now, dear Brennan, let me suggest to you, the dates in the Bible are not inspired. I understand that. But Mr. Newberry's dates are brought from a man called Mr. Usher, who was an expert in dates.

And they mightn't be a hundred percent right, but they're pretty close. And if you check out the dates, you'll find out. And Sir Robert Anderson in The Coming Prince, you'll likely have it in your library.

And it's a very involved book. And it's not easy to decipher. But I'll give you his bottom line. He says, when the Lord Jesus Christ will be cut off, right there. Those 434 years forward from the commandment was given to build the wall and the city in troubleless times.

He says that by his reckoning. Now, it's not inspired. But by his reckoning, the very week that the Lord was crucified on the hill outside Jerusalem city walls. Fulfillment of Zechariah 9 and 9. I didn't read it.

I'll quote it to you. Behold, your king cometh lowly, riding upon the colt, the foal of an ass. For example, Luke chapter 19, John chapter 11 and so on. He moves into the city. And that's the passion week.

And right there, he's cut off. So that's an outstanding day that Daniel is learning. All right. To put the point across, we call it the clock of prophecy. And so, after the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus.

Because the nation nationally crucified the Lord and the Sanhedrin are responsible. The clock of prophecy, as far as they're concerned, stops. And so, there's a gap here. 483 years from Daniel's talking onward to the last seven years.

The 70th week of prophecy. There's a big gap. And that's what I pointed out to you all the way across here. And he didn't know anything about this gap. And as the church shows, a dateless parenthesis.

The Church Age and the Body of Christ

That's where we are. And so, the nation of Israel has been set aside. You can't read the Bible without learning that. And God has a different entity for the age of grace. Gathering from the nations of earth of people that will one day fill heaven.

And the gospel of the grace of God goes forward. And Jew and Gentile individuals brought unto one new man. Ephesians 2 and all the passages. A testimony to the Lord's name. And the local assembly is a local expression of the mystical body of Christ.

Now, young believers ask me, mystical body? What does that mean? Well, just take this date. October 13th, 2010. Can we see all the believers that are on globe tonight, planet earth, globally? It's pretty obvious we can't.

Every soul saved by the grace of God that's living tonight, washed in the blood. Whatever their background, whatever they know and they don't know. Culture, faith, color, religion, whatever. Every one of them saved by the grace of God.

They form the body of Christ. Ephesians 1, Colossians 1. Now, we can't see that. Nobody else can. But the Lord can. So, what are these folk anyway? Well, we're going to see locally and the local expression is in a New Testament assembly.

Now, all of this truth, Daniel, knew nothing about it. Have you got the message tonight to show where we stand? Daniel, the first big day for the nation of Israel that you need to know about is when the wall and the city of Jerusalem will be built in troubleless times.

Nehemiah 1 and 2. The next big day nationally is the day when the Lord Jesus Christ will be crucified on the cross. The four gospels tell us, Matthew 27, Mark 15, Luke 23, John 19. They all dovetail and tell us how the Lord Jesus Christ was cut off, crucified, slain, buried, and rose again.

The Resumption of Prophecy and the Great Tribulation

All right. Daniel, there's another big day coming. And that big day is when the clock of prophecy will commence again for the nation of Israel. To get the point across, people say to me, I don't see a clock.

I'm talking about a prophetic clock. Well, it's a term. It's a figure of speech to get across the truth. And so here it is. The Lord Jesus Christ comes, say, this week. Well, he might. The clock of prophecy for the nation of Israel will commence.

And nobody knows in the Bible when Daniel's 70th week, the great tribulation will commence. But when it does commence, it will last seven years. And we believe that if the Lord Jesus Christ comes in our generation, say, the floodgates of evil will open.

And there will be nothing to hold it back. The salt of the earth is gone. The light of the world has gone to heaven. The hinderer of evil, 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, goes with the church, the Holy Spirit of God, in the form that he's in the world tonight.

And nobody will stop it. And then grace will turn to judgment. Now, it would seem that very, very shortly after the Lord comes, the great tribulation will commence. And these three supermen that we have talked about, let me remind you about them again.

The false prophet, the religious man, people ask, is he a Jew? Absolutely. The Daniel passage shows us beyond a shadow of a doubt. And he will go as the great leader of apostate Israel that will turn away from God.

He could be living in the world tonight. The political man is the man of sin. Now, they're all anti-Christ, I understand that. But 2 Thessalonians 2 is the man of sin. And he will do the political arena.

And he's on the west side of the land of Israel. And he will merge. And then, as I pointed out to you, the king of the fierce countenance, the little horn of Daniel 8, will appear. The world sees tonight what's happening in the Islamic world.

2 .2 billion people growing faster than any other people in the world tonight. And they think they're going to take over. Now, those three people, those three individuals, will be on the world arena at that time.

Now, back to Daniel. Gabriel says to him, Daniel, you know what? Whenever that prince that I've told you about in the passage, he's the man of sin. And he confirms the covenant with apostate Israel. And if you don't know what apostate means, apostate is people that turn away from life that they were given.

And they will never be saved. Who are they? We don't know. God alone knows. And this political man that has been put this way will say to the religious man, Israel, you've been battered and you've been trodden down for centuries.

And the people in the world hate you. And they're fighting against you. Our day sees it. You know what that man told us there? The president of Iran there in the United Nations there just a few weeks ago in New York.

Some of the things he said was ridiculous. You see, they have an arrogant spirit. That's the king of the fierce countenance. Now, back to these other two men. The political man will likely say to the false prophet, look, I'm going to protect your flanks.

Nobody else is going to come in near you. You've had enough. And then the covenant is confirmed. I take it it's already made before this is confirmed. When we come to the middle of the week, look at the chart here.

See where it says three and a half years, 1260 days, all months of 30 days. And they're all the same thing. And time and times and half a time, same thing. They all go to the same idea. And we'll look at some of those other things tomorrow night in the will of the Lord.

Now, things will go well for the first three and a half years. And that brings us to Revelation chapter 12. When there's war in the heavenlies, and the old devil that we can't see will be cast down from the heavenlies, the atmospheric heavens, with his evil emissaries.

And he will be headquartered on earth. And he will enter into these men I'm talking to you about. And there will be a dreadful time in the middle of the week. And conditions globally will be such that the political man, the man of sin says, I can't protect you anymore.

And the whole thing will blow up. And the great tribulation in its fierce sense will commence. And it will last for three and a half years. The last half of that. Now, I won't go into Revelation tonight, but there's tremendous scriptures involved here.

The Pretribulation Rapture and Revelation 3:10

Now, I'm watching Giordano. And he hears all about this. And he's absolutely convinced. Now, we call it pre-written history. And the first two and the 69 years by seven have come and gone, fulfilled to the letter.

Daniel realizes there's a prophetic day coming right across the chart, the time of the end, the tribulation. Now, maybe I should say this because some people are teaching us funny things these days. I heard individuals not too long ago in assembly fellowship.

You get that? Telling us that the church will go through the tribulation. Now, the Bible doesn't teach that. The Bible teaches that we will be remote from earth when the great tribulation takes place.

We will be home in heaven. Scripture. Well, one of the scriptures that's playing is Revelation 3 and verse number 10. He's saying, because you have kept the word of my mouth, has had a little strength and has not denied my name, I will keep you from the great.

That's the sense. The great hour of temptation that will come upon the world to try them that dwell on the earth. And people right away ask, Canada, USA, will they be involved in prophecy? Did I mention in the Bible?

I doubt it. If you can find it, well, I'll be happy to listen. But we have to admit, and I've told you before, I like the land of the stars and stripes. And if it was possible, I would like to live here, but they won't let us boys in.

Now, you know what's happening? The big picture, the U .S. is losing ground. And somebody says, how do you know? Well, if the statisticians are right, this country, along with Canada, they're floating in red ink.

Since your president has been in the chair, the last time I saw it there on the Internet, 3 .4 trillion dollars. If you don't know what a trillion is, it's 12 zeros. Can you think of this country or any other one paying that back?

We're losing ground. And as I've indicated to you, things are going toward the European side of things. Now, I know they have all kinds of problems too. But you see, coming events are casting their shadows.

And the focus will be over in Europe, Western Europe. And obviously, Canada and the U .S. and this great continent will be involved through the financial picture. Because all of these currencies are all tied up together, as you all know.

Daniel’s Example for Christian Living

So much for that. I have only a few minutes. Somebody says, my head is reeling, I can't take any more in. You've told me enough. Can I just finish on this note? What have we learned from all this? Well, I want to tell you right now, here's a very simple thing.

Daniel knew how to address divine persons. He had an awe and a fear in his heart, reverential fear for the God of heaven, that he knew how to address them. Here's another thing. You see, whenever we approach God, it's scriptural to confess our own sin.

And the trait of a spiritual person, brother or sister, silently or audibly, they associate themselves with the sins of our nation and of our generation. We're not guilty of that. Ezra, nine. Nehemiah, nine.

Daniel, nine. It's exactly the same mode. All these things. Daniel says, the man I pointed out to you, there's no blemish on him. He wasn't guilty of these sins, but he associated himself with them. We have to learn that.

Here's another one. There's a universal principle in this book. Whatever a person sows, they'll reap. See this man here, Nebuchadnezzar, we have pointed out. He thought he would rule the world. Tramped everybody into the ground.

But one day he's cut down and the stump is left. And for seven long years, he's reaping what he sowed. Right across the chart, haven't they developed the others? Universal law, Galatians 6 and 7. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

My dad told me over 50 years ago, whenever I was a young fellow, he says, now listen, son. In the early part of your life, you're sowing. And in the later part of your life, you'll be reaping. And if you sow to the Spirit, you'll reap.

The Spirit will lay. I'm making it simple. If you sow to the flesh, the evil principle within, you'll reap horror and corruption and difficulty. So the young folk here tonight, you're sowing. Older folk tonight, all of us, are likely reaping.

It's all kinds of things. I'll give you a simple example before we go. I did certain things to my dad that are now forgiven. And I never thought a thing about it. But you see, whenever I have two sons and they became teenagers, they did to me exactly what I did to my dad.

Maybe anybody here tonight could equate with that. So flowers and flowers will blossom around you wherever you go. So weeds and of weeds reap a harvest. You'll reap whatsoever you sow. That lesson is right across the whole spectrum.

God is a God still who answers prayer. Thank God. Don't forget to read the Bible. Don't forget to pray. That's why we sung that song tonight. So true men of God associate themselves with the condition.

Closing Prayer and Trust in God’s Purposes

It's nine o 'clock. We have to stop. All kinds of other things we could say, but I hope you've got the message tonight. Thank you very much. Let us pray. With subdued spirits, we just commit our ways to thee as we part tonight.