Sunday, June 27, AM

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Sunnyside Baptist Church Michael Dirrim Pastor of Sunnyside Baptist Church OKC "Justified By Her Children" Pt. 3

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Alright, good morning everyone. Welcome to Sunnyside on this kind of rainy
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Sunday morning, but it's still a beautiful day to worship the Lord together. We'll start today with a few announcements.
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Come back tonight for our evening service at 530. Also tonight after the service is
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Truth Group for the young adults in the fellowship hall. So after that they'll break, have a lesson time, they'll have some food and some fellowship as well.
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And then looking ahead on Wednesday June 30th we'll have dinner here at the church and then 630
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Bible study and prayer meeting for everybody together. Next Sunday is the 4th of July, so be looking forward to that.
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And on the 4th of July we're also starting our summer Sunday school sessions. So hopefully you've signed up for one of the four sessions that are going to be available.
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If you haven't done that yet, there are some sign up slips on the back table. You can pick one of those up, fill them out, and then you can give one of those to Dwight and he'll see that you get on the list for those.
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Yes sir? There's only three, only three sessions. Do we know which one was dropped?
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The what? The basics. Okay, so if you look on that sheet, the one that says basics on it, you can just nix that and choose from the other three.
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And then Sunday July 11th, the week after that, we'll be hosting Jeff and Adriana Howe, missionaries that we support, in the evening.
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They'll be here to share with us then. And then we'll also have an opportunity to celebrate Norm and Loretta. They're going to be moving to Bochita, Oklahoma to be a little bit closer to some family down there.
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But we want to honor them and show our love for them that evening. So there'll be a little reception that we can share in together.
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Our fighter verse for this week comes from Ephesians chapter 6 verses 10 and 11.
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Finally be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
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Operation Christmas Child still has some needs for the month of June for girls, hair bands and barrettes, brushes and combs, and then for boys like some small sports balls or even some baseball caps.
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The sewing ministry has a few needs but they did nix the toilet paper rolls. They don't need those anymore but they still need some bias tape and elastic of any size or color if you can help with that.
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Still needs in the nursery for the month of July. If you can get with Marla Hovarter on that, if you're able to help, we would appreciate that as well.
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And then lastly we do have a baseball game coming up at the end of July, near the end of July.
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The signup has already happened for that but if you can go ahead and pay Patty Hines for the tickets that you've signed up for and if you're not sure how much you owe
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I'm sure she'll be able to help you there. So be ready to do that. Any other announcements before we start this morning?
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Michael. Communion this morning. Yes. Hopefully you've picked up communion stuff at the back on the back table.
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We'll have communion near the end of the service this morning. So no Children's Church. All right well we're gonna open our time this morning with some prayer and then after Dwight will open us all in prayer.
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Father what a blessing it is to be able to call you Father. We thank you and praise you for your watch care over us, your love, your mercy, your grace.
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What a blessing to know you as our Father and your
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Son the Lord Jesus whom you sent to die in our place to give us life.
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We thank you and praise you for your Son the Lord Jesus and for your spirit that indwells us and guides us and directs us and teaches us.
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We thank you. We have so much to be grateful for so we come this morning to offer up to you our thanksgiving, our praise, our worship and what a blessing that we can confess our sins before you and know your forgiveness.
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Help us to focus on Christ to set aside the cares, the worries, the concerns of this world and to focus on your
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Son the Lord Jesus and what he's done for us and what he's doing for us and the plans that he has for our future.
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We have a beautiful inheritance, a beautiful Savior, so help us to worship and give you praise and glory and honor this morning.
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Unite our hearts to worship you in spirit and in truth.
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In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. It's good to have another day to come worship the
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Lord together. In thinking of today, a verse came to mind to share that with you.
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1st Chronicles chapter 16 verse 29. Ascribe to the Lord glory do his name.
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Bring an offering and come before him. Worship the Lord in holy array. Whereas another translation says, worship the
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Lord in the beauty of holiness. Would you stand with me for our call to worship this morning? Our passage this morning is found in Psalms chapter 68.
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We'll be reading verses 1 through 3. Read with me together. God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered, and those who hate him shall flee before him.
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As smoke is driven away, so shall you drive them away. As wax melts before fire, so the wicked shall perish before God.
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But the righteous shall be glad. They shall exult before God. They shall be jubilant with joy.
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Our first song this morning is on page 268 in our Blue Hymnals. God our
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Father we adore thee. We'll sing all four verses. God our
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Father we adore thee.
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Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Three in one we give thee praise.
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Three in one we give thee praise. Three in one we give thee praise.
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Three in one we give thee praise. Scripture reading this morning we found in Amos chapter 5.
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We'll be reading the first 13 verses. Amos chapter 5 beginning in verse 1.
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This is God's Word. Hear this word which I take up against you, a lamentation,
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O house of Israel. The Virgin of Israel has fallen. She will rise no more. She lies forsaken on her land.
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There is no one to raise her up. For thus says the Lord God, the city that goes out by a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which goes out by a hundred shall have ten left, the house of Israel.
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For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel, seek me and live, but do not seek
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Bethel, nor enter Gilgal, nor pass over to Beersheba. For Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nothing.
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Seek the Lord and live, lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph and devour it, with no one to quench it in Bethel.
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You who turn justice to wormwood and lay righteousness to rest in the earth.
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He made the Pleiades and Orion. He turns the shadow of death into morning and makes the day dark as night.
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He calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the face of the earth. The Lord is his name.
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He rains ruin upon the strong, so that fury comes upon the fortress. They hate the one who rebukes in the gate, and they abhor the one who speaks uprightly.
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Therefore, because you tread down the poor and take grain taxes from him, though you have built houses of hewn stone, yet you shall not dwell in them.
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You have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink wine from them. For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins, afflicting the just and taking bribes, diverting the poor from justice at the gate.
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Therefore, the prudent keep silent at that time, for it is an evil time.
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This is God's Word. Would you pray with me? Father, Lord, we thank you for forgiving us for our sins.
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We thank you for giving us the grace and the mercy to turn to you and to seek you and to live, and may we do that.
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Please sanctify your name in our hearts and our minds, so that we seek you every day, every moment, wherever we're at.
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May we seek you. Thank you for Jesus Christ, and may we live for him by faith in him who loved us and gave himself for us.
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And it's in Christ's name that we pray. Amen. You may be seated.
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Our next two songs will be in our little Black Hymnals, Hymns, Modern and Ancient. If you would, turn to pages 97 and also to page 126.
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We'll sing, Oh Great God, and then we will glorify. I was blind by my sin, had no ears to hear your voice.
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I was blown, your love within, had no taste for heaven.
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Your spirit gave me life, opened up your world as hope and peace.
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Help me now to live a life, we will glorify.
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Can we sing that last stanza just one more time? Everyone stand. Hallelujah to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
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Hallelujah to the
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King of Kings. Hallelujah to the
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Lamb. Hallelujah to the
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Lord. Oh great high heaven.
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I invite you to open your
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Bibles and turn with me to Daniel chapter 2. Daniel chapter 2.
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Continue our look at the wisdom of God in the life of Daniel.
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We'll be reading verses 31 through 49 here in a moment.
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Daniel chapter 2. We'll be reading verses 31 through 49.
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Let's begin with a word of prayer. Father, I thank you for gathering us together today. Lord, I thank you for your provision in this last week.
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You have granted us mercy and grace in our time of need.
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You have shown us your faithful love, your kindnesses.
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We thank you for providing for us in ways we didn't even know how to ask.
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Lord, we thank you for hearing our prayers. We thank you for your love for us through Jesus Christ and your gift of the
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Holy Spirit. And we ask now this morning as we read your word, as we consider its truth, and as we gather together to rejoice in Christ at his table, celebrating his meal, that you would be honored and glorified and that you would nourish us with your spiritual nourishment.
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That you would do your work in our lives. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. So Daniel chapter 2.
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This is the third part of the series justified by her children.
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It is important to remember that God has raised up Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. God has raised up Nebuchadnezzar as his instrument of judgment.
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God is using Nebuchadnezzar and the armies of Babylon to bring judgment. And through this king,
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God is manifesting his faithfulness, his righteousness, and his glory.
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Nebuchadnezzar has no idea what's going on. He's in the dark.
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And so God sends him a vision which so disturbs and disrupts him that he calls
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God's man in front of him. Daniel is brought before the troubled king.
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And while all the other pagan wise men of the marketplace have been playing their games,
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Daniel and his friends have refused to dance to their tunes.
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Rather, they fear the Lord. And so here, at this critical moment in the empire, wisdom is justified by her children as the word of God is proclaimed to this king of men.
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So if you're able to, I invite you to stand with me as I read Daniel chapter 2, verses 31 through 49.
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This is Daniel addressing King Nebuchadnezzar. You, O king, were watching, and behold, a great image.
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This great image, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you, and its form was awesome. This image's head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.
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You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay and broke them in pieces.
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Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together and became like chaff from the summer -threshing floors.
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The wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.
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This is the dream. Now we will tell the interpretation of it before the king. You, O king, are a king of kings, for the
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God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory. And wherever the children of men dwell or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, he has given them into your hands and has made you ruler over them all.
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You are this head of gold. But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours, then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth.
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And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, and as much as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything, and like iron that crushes that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others.
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Whereas you saw the feet and toes partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided.
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Yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay.
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And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile.
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As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men, but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay.
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And in the days of these kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall not be left to other people.
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It shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.
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And as much as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great
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God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure.
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Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face prostrate before Daniel and commanded that they should present an offering and incense to him.
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The king answered Daniel and said, Truly your God is the God of gods, the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, since you could reveal this secret.
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Then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts, and he made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief administrator over all the wise men of Babylon.
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So Daniel petitioned the king, and he sent Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the affairs of the province of Babylon.
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But Daniel sat in the gate of the king. This is the word of the Lord. Praise be to God.
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You may be seated. This passage serves as an excellent reading for the
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Lord's Supper. Daniel chapter 2 verses 31 through 49 envisions the great transition which occurs in the latter days, according to verse 28.
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Daniel tells Nebuchadnezzar this dream is about what will happen in the latter days.
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Verse 28. Christ's kingdom is established through his death and resurrection.
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The bringing about of the new covenant and the continued blessings of Christ to us from the
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Father through the Spirit is exactly what we rejoice in today as we share in this meal.
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So this is a good reading for the Lord's Supper. Remember that Passover recalls
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God's judgment of a pagan empire in the deliverance of his people. He judges
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Egypt and delivers his people. That's what Passover was about. God glorifies his name in salvation through judgment.
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At the last supper, Jesus shows the fulfillment of that moment and of that memorial.
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Mark 14 verses 22 through 25. And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them and said, take, eat.
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This is my body. Then he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it.
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And he said to them, this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many.
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Assuredly, I say to you, I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when
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I drink it new in the kingdom of God. What Christ instituted at the last supper was a pattern for the new feast, which we celebrate today.
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It is one we share with him, and he shares with us, because he's the king and we're in his kingdom.
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That's what Colossians 1 .13 rejoices in, that we have been delivered out of the domain of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of his beloved son.
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Praise be to God. So Daniel proclaims to Nebuchadnezzar this very kingdom, the one which we now enjoy, in which
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Christ is and shall have the preeminence. The glory of Christ's kingdom is the measure by which all other kingdoms are weighed, the standard to which all other kingdoms are accountable.
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And so the wisdom of God alone makes sense of this world. How do we evaluate anything in this world?
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Any sociopolitical system, any structure of power? How do we evaluate anything except by the standard, the king of kings,
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Jesus Christ? Trying to live independently from or in opposition to the sum of all
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God's wisdom in Christ is to embrace folly, darkness, death, and chaos forever.
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So in Daniel 2, we have seen fools in their folly, verses 1 -13, as Nebuchadnezzar in turn trusted, tested, and then turned against the experts.
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Last time we considered the light of the world in verses 14 -30, how God used
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Daniel and the wisdom that spawns from the fear of the Lord to bring light into Nebuchadnezzar's throne room.
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And now we're thinking about verses 31 -45, a wonderful Christmas passage, a child born to us.
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A wonderful Christmas passage here in Daniel 2.
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There's a rock uncut by human hands, hewn from a mountain and hurled at a statue, first crushing and then growing.
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That's not your normal Christmas story or Christmas carol. Some of the carols do sing of it.
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Joy to the world. But we are not reading here in Daniel 2 anything that is in contradiction to Isaiah 9.
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Isaiah 9, 6, and 7, the famous Christmas passage, is the exact same thing we're reading about here in Daniel 2.
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For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulder.
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And his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
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Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end.
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Upon the throne of David and over his kingdom to order it and establish it with judgment and justice.
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From that time forward, even forever, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.
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The child is given to us, his government is established. Of it there will be no end.
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How will this happen? God will do it. The hopes of men, we must understand the hopes of men cannot be carried by Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, Alexander, or Caesar, or any other head of state.
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Not by them, nor by their kingdoms. Their strength cannot bear the hopes of men.
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But Christ is our hope. The child born unto us is the stone cast for us.
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And heaven sings, and the earth quakes, and angels rejoice, and kings tremble when
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Christ comes. Isn't this the story of Christmas, of Advent?
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First of all, let's consider the images in the dream in verses 31 through 35. What do we see here?
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Remember, this is Daniel telling Nebuchadnezzar what is in his mind. Nobody else could reveal this to Daniel except the
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Lord. Conflict.
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Conflict. This vision shows conflict between the idol and the stone.
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Between the idol and the stone. The idol is rich and mighty.
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Notice precious metals fused together with warring metals. The idol is top -heavy and unstable.
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Apparently strong, but actually weak. And one stone, uncut by human hands.
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Cut, yes, but not by human hands. Was flung, not into the head, not into the chest, not into the waist, not even into the knees.
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But upon the feet. The stone was flung upon the feet, and it crushes the feet.
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And as the whole statue begins to collapse and fall upon the stone, it is broken apart.
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And then the stone becomes the all -encompassing landmark of the earth.
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That's the image. That's the images of the dream. That's the images of the dream. Now the interpretation of the dream.
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Daniel says this is the dream, now we will tell the interpretation of it before the king. And as we do, let's adhere to God's own interpretation of his vision.
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What does he have to say about it? First of all, there is a statue of man's kingdoms, and then there is a stone of God's kingdom.
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That's the conflict. There is a statue of men's kingdoms, and then there is a stone of God's kingdom.
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How does this work out? Well, Daniel says to Nebuchadnezzar, You, O king, are a king of kings, meaning he's an emperor.
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He's a king, and there are many kingdoms that are under his sovereign rule. And so he is a king over many other kings.
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So he's an emperor. You are a king of kings. Now why is Nebuchadnezzar so powerful?
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Well, Daniel tells him. For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory.
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And wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, he has given them into your hand, and he has made you ruler over them all.
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You are this head of gold. But after you shall rise, another kingdom inferior to yours.
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You see how the king and the kingdom are interchangeable? You are this head of gold.
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You are a king, but after you shall come another kingdom. The king and the kingdom interchangeable.
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But after you shall rise, another kingdom inferior to yours. Then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth.
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And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, and as much as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything.
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And like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others. You think this is the strongest kingdom out of the bunch, don't we?
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In some sense it appears to be better than the rest. But notice, whereas you saw the feet and toes partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided, yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay.
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And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile.
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Appearance of strength, reality is fragile. As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men, but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay.
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Now Daniel explains what's going on here. The statue, the idol of man.
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He says these are kings and their kingdoms. These are emperors and their empires. And he says to Nebuchadnezzar, you would have no power over the promised land and over Jerusalem unless it had been granted to you from heaven.
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And the same is true of not only Nebuchadnezzar but also Cyrus. He would have no power over Jerusalem and the promised land unless it had been granted to him from heaven.
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Same with Alexander. Same with Caesar. See, this is not a pagan story.
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This is a story of God. God in control of history. God doing as he pleases with the empires of the earth.
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This is not a pagan story. It is a story of God and his sovereignly shepherding history.
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Now it is not speculation to identify these four parts of the statue with the kingdoms of Babylon, the
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Medes and Persians, Macedonia or Greece, and Rome. Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome.
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We've already been told in verses 28 through 30 that this vision is about the future, what will be.
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We're told that it will be about what follows Daniel's and Nebuchadnezzar's current discussion.
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After this, we read. And we also read in verses 28 through 30 that it is about the latter days which are described elsewhere throughout the
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Bible as the days of Messiah, the incarnation of God the
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Son, who inaugurated the new covenant by his blood and concluded the old covenant by his reign.
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What we do today is we celebrate that reality in our meal. We don't offer the
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Lord's Supper on one table and then offer the Passover meal on another.
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Why not? Because the old covenant is gone. Jesus put it away.
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He's brought the new covenant. And what we do in our meal today is a clear sign of our
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Savior and Sovereign that he has brought in the new and the old has passed away.
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We trust in Christ. What we find is that from Nebuchadnezzar to Messiah, there are four empires in focus.
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Why is Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome in focus?
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I mean, there's no word from the Lord about the other contemporary empires in the Far East, the great conflict which spawned the building of the
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Great Wall of China during the same time period. Why isn't God talking about those empires? The focus is on where the war was hottest.
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What war? The Genesis 315 war. The war between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent.
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Where that conflict was brightest. Where that war was hottest. So the focus is given.
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Time and again we see the world empires and the leaders of these pagan empires trying to kill off the Jews and destroy the
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Jews and even Pharaoh throwing the male children into the Nile River as he wore the serpent on his head.
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Trying to kill the seed. Babylon, with a head of gold, obliterated
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Jerusalem and went beyond God's mandate in its rage against Messiah's people.
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And they were judged for that according to Jeremiah 50 and 51. The Medes and Persians united together, two arms into one silver chest.
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Medes and Persians into one silver chest. Did they not also try to murder all the
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Jews by the wrath of Haman and the jealousy of the nations? And they were judged for that.
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The brazen Macedonian, Alexander the Great, blazed for a short time conquering the world.
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After his death, the Greek Empire split into two thighs, the Ptolemies and the Seleucids, who fought over, ravaged, and profaned the promised land,
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Jerusalem and her people. And they were judged for that. Rome came as iron, an empire of crushing might, which bound together its disparate clay people with bonds of iron.
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And there was strength in Rome, but also great fragility. Its transition from a republican to an empire demonstrated this.
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Consider, consider that the rock that was cut, not by human hands, the rock hewn from the mountain, not cut by human hands, crashes into the feet of this statue.
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We're walking through a timeline of history. Where does the stone hit?
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Where does the true image of God collide with the idol of men? In the imperial phase of Rome, consider ten emperors for ten toes, because those who are often at each other's throats, trying to kill each other, not adhering together, and yet still there's this strength of iron.
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Consider ten emperors for ten toes. Julius, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula.
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Oh, I thought I knew. Caligula, Claudius, Nero.
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I get Claudius, I get Nero and Caligula mixed up, because they're both super insane. Julius, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Galba, Otho, Vitalius, Vespasian.
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These are the first ten Roman emperors, according to the Roman historians. Tacitus, Suetonius, the other pagan historians.
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These are the very first ten Roman emperors. Now, there's definitely strength displayed here, but there was a lot of weakness and instability.
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Christ was born during the reign of Augustus. He died and rose under the reign of Tiberius. He brought the old covenant to an end during the convulsions of the last five of those ten.
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And Rome was judged during that time, nearly collapsed entirely, due to Nero's insane violence pursued against Christ and his people.
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One empire after another. Notice the key phrase that Daniel gives to Nebuchadnezzar.
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He brings it home to him, but after you. You see, the other wise men said what to Nebuchadnezzar?
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Oh, king, live forever! Daniel comes in and says, well, after you, that's the wisdom of the
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Lord. That's the wisdom of God. You're not going to live forever, king. There's going to be an end to you, and even an end to your empire.
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But of the empire of Christ, of the kingdom of God, there shall be no end. He says to Nebuchadnezzar, but after you, because his kingship, his kingdom is not going to last.
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It has been said that of kings and kingdoms, of presidents and dictators, of democracies and tyrannies and monarchies, that they all come and go, and that they enter the landfill of history.
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But in fact, they are compacted into the footstool of Christ.
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And that's how we're supposed to view history. Through the wisdom of God. That's what makes sense of everything that has happened and is still happening and yet to come, is to see it through the wisdom of God fulfilled in Christ.
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Consider the stone of God's kingdom in verses 44 and 45. And in the days of these kings, the
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God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed. In the days of these kings, the
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God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall not be left to other people.
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It shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. And as much as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces, the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold, the great
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God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation sure.
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So Daniel is explaining this. The statue is the kingdoms of men. But in the vision, notice that the stone crashes into the feet of the image, and it crushes the feet, and then the statue falls.
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The statue falls, and then it breaks apart upon the stone that has crushed the feet.
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And when does that happen? Daniel has already said, it happens in the latter days. We know from other passages, those are the days of Messiah.
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It happens in the days of these kings, Daniel says. So we know it happens within this timeline.
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We see actually where it hits. Which kingdom does Christ come in? He comes in during the time of Rome. Jesus knew that, and he plainly said so.
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After telling the parable of the vineyard, you remember the one about the tenants, who were watching over the vineyard, and the vineyard owner went away, and the tenants of the vineyard were supposed to produce, and give to the owner what was due to him.
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But they refused. And no matter what servant that the owner sent to them, they would beat, or they would kick out, or they would call names, or they would even kill.
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And Jesus said these are like the prophets of old, who have come to Israel, recalcitrant, rebellious
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Israel. And then finally the owner of the vineyard says, I know, I'll send my son. They'll have to respect my son.
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But when the son arrives, the owners of the vineyard, the tenants of the vineyard, say ah, here's the heir.
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Let's kill him, and then we will possess the vineyard for ourselves. They do kill the son, and they cast his body outside of the vineyard.
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And Jesus asks the audience, now what will the owner of that vineyard do?
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And they answer him and say, he will go and he will kill those tenants, and he will give the vineyard to others, who will produce the fruit of it.
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Well this is a parable, prophesying the end of the old covenant, through the destruction of Jerusalem, because they had killed
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Christ, and the beginning of the new covenant, that he brings through his own death.
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And then, after explaining all of this, in both Matthew and Luke, Jesus then splices together, two passages,
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Psalm 118 verse 22, and the images from Daniel 2, 34 and 35.
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Here's what he says, Luke 20 verses 17 and 18. And he looked at them and said, what then is this which is written?
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The stone, this is from Psalms 118 verse 22, the stone which the builders rejected, has become the head of the corner.
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Christ was rejected by the builders, they didn't want him, they murdered him on the cross, but he has become the head of the corner, he is the cornerstone of the church, he is the chief stone.
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Verse 18, now comes the imagery from Daniel, whoever shall fall on that stone shall be broken, remember the empires, falling upon the stone and being broken, but on whomever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder, crush, like the powder that flies away, in the wind of the summer threshing.
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So indeed we see, Christ is this stone, and he comes at this time, and Jesus says of himself,
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I'm the stone, I'm the stone, that was spoken of in Psalm 118,
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I'm the stone, spoken of in Daniel 2, and in fact we see in Daniel's vision, that the authority and power of Christ is such, that he is said to have personally judged and destroyed, even those empires, which raged against him, even prior to his incarnation.
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The word is eternal, the word has ever been eternal with God, God the son did not come into existence, through the incarnation, he has always been, and he was not idle, but he was active, the nations after all are his inheritance, the ends of the earth are his possession, and Christ breaks them with a rod of iron, he dashes them to pieces like a potter's vessel,
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Psalm 2. In this we are beholding the glorious advance, of Shiloh as promised in Genesis 49, concerning the latter days,
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Ezekiel 21 verse 27, overthrown, overthrown, I will make it overthrown, it shall be no longer until he comes, whose right it is, that's
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Shiloh, and I will give it to him, and so we take refuge in him, and we eat at his table.
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I want you to consider how different this kingdom is, to the other four, the kingdom that comes, the kingdom that God sets up, the kingdom of the stone, how different is this, than the other kingdoms, other than Babylon, and Persia, and Greece, and Rome, notice that this kingdom, the kingdom of God, that the stone does not proceed, from the statue itself, do you see that, it's not a part of the statue, it comes in from the outside, notice that the stone, does not add to the statue, it undoes the statue, and replaces the statue, notice that the stone, is not succeeded by some other stone, it is not eliminated, it remains forever, notice also this stone, is not cut or fashioned by a human hand, the idol of course was, every idol was fashioned by human hands, who would make the eyes, human hands, who would make the mouth, human hands, who would make the arms, and the legs, and the toes, human hands, but who crafted the stone, hurled into the idol of men, no human hand, no human hand, for God the son, by the power of the
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Holy Spirit, is made incarnate, by the will of the
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Father, it was not by human hands, born of the Virgin Mary, notice, also in the book of Daniel, we hear this about no human hand, again, in Daniel chapter 8 verse 25, it says that no human hand killed,
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Alexander the Great, and it was true, he did not die from assassination, or enemy, but a strange sickness that overtook him, and it was no human hand, remember, it was not a human hand, that wrote the sentence of judgment, upon the wall, condemning
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Belshazzar, mene mene tekel ufarsin, and there's no human hand here, in the conquering, and judging, the righteous, comprehensive, and everlasting kingdom, that is set up, no human hand does this, how is it set up, how is this kingdom set up,
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Daniel says it in verse 44, he says, and in the days of these kings, notice, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom, who does it?
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God does it, not men, God does it, what do you think
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John the Baptist, and Jesus, got the interchangeable phrases, for their preaching, kingdom of God, kingdom of heaven, gospel of the kingdom, those phrases that you read again, and again, and again, in the gospels,
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Daniel 2 44, the God of heaven, sets up a kingdom, makes sense then to speak, and preach about, the kingdom of God, and the kingdom of heaven, and the good news of the kingdom, because it is from heaven, because Christ is at the right hand of God, and ruling from heaven, his kingdom is everything, that the kingdoms of men are not,
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Christ's kingdom is indestructible, his kingdom is final, his kingdom is overwhelming, his kingdom is supernatural, and yes it is transcendent, but it is also imminent, thy kingdom come, how?
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Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven, that's how
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Christ's kingdom advances, and prospers, and strengthens, as the will of God, declared, and rejoiced in, and ordained from heaven, is done through his spirit's work, in us here on the earth, this is the way that God's kingdom comes, it does not come with swords, and missiles, not with politics, and policy, and policing, not with brick and mortar, but as all those things, and everything else, as those very earthly things, are brought into submission, to Jesus Christ, and refashioned according to his specifications, his kingdom comes, we've been talking about the new covenant, and the kingdom of God, what's the relationship?
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Well the relationship is the key word, the new covenant that Jesus establishes, by his blood, by his death and resurrection, that's like the wedding, we are in new relationship with God, different than it was, different than it was with national
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Israel, this is a new covenant, we're in a special relationship with God, that's like a wedding, but what's the kingdom of God?
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That's marriage, now we live differently, now things are different, and we live that out, it's like the relationship between resurrection and new life, raised to walk in newness of life in Christ, but then the resurrection is preceded by, is followed by a new life, so the new covenant is like the wedding, and the kingdom of God is like the marriage, now that we're living in this relationship, what does that look like personally, externally, and so on, as Christ is head of the church, head of the state, head of the family, and so on, now this kingdom is set up in the latter days, the days of Messiah's incarnation, which marks a time of transition from old to new, from shadow into substance, here's the good news, there's a move from the kingdom of God, expressed in national
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Israel, to the kingdom of God expressed in Christ, meaning no longer would there be an exile of Israel into all the nations, but a coming home of all the nations into Christ, no longer would there be an exile of Israel out into the nations, but a coming home of all nations, including
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Israel into Christ, who is the seed of the woman, who is the second Adam, and yeah, nation states still exist today, and even some of them in Eastern Europe and in Africa are actually saying, we're a
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Christian nation, well praise be to God, but the conquering of Christ is done by his life transforming gospel, this is not so personalized and privatized that nobody notices, we are to be the salt of the earth, the light of the world, a city set on a hill, political systems and tyrants and entire societies are undone, and subjected before the gospel of his kingdom, any system, any system of power that stands against Christ will fail, whether communists or the
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Canadian Royal Mounties, the Roman and Christian hating your emperor
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Julian was at war, and one of Julian's followers was making fun of a Christian in Antioch, and he was asking him, well what is the carpenter's son up to these days, what is the carpenter's son doing, making fun of Jesus, and the
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Christian replied, the maker of this world whom you call the carpenter's son, is employed in making a coffin for the emperor, a few days later news came to Antioch of Julian's death,
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Dale Ralph Davis writes, this is where Daniel two leaves us, Jesus has a coffin for every empire and emperor, the only true security is in the kingdom of the carpenter's son, and this is where Thanksgiving is important, we ought to be thankful, so often we're frightened, so often we're discouraged, so often we're reeling, so often we are full of anxiety and worry, and nothing that looks exactly like faith, this kingdom of Christ is unshakable,
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Hebrews 12, 28 -29, therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace by which we may serve
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God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear, for our God is a consuming fire, praise
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God, this kingdom is unshakable, a child born for us, praise
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God, may we see it clearly, not like Nebuchadnezzar, who saw men like trees walking, verses 46 -49, in these verses we hear that Daniel and his friends in the providence of God are promoted to high office, you see, wisdom is justified by her children, the qualities of the fear of the
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Lord are like precious metals and valuable stones, and they adorn the crown of a truly glorious king and a kingdom, but the king in this passage is still confused, there's a really interesting passage in Mark 8, where Jesus is healing someone, and I think it helps us understand
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Nebuchadnezzar's condition here at the end of Daniel 2, Mark 8, 22 -25, Jesus came to Bethsaida, and they brought a blind man to him and begged him to touch him, so he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town, and when he had spit on his eyes and put his hands on him, he asked him if he saw anything, and he looked up and said,
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I see men like trees walking, then he put his hands on his eyes again, and made him look up, and he was restored and saw everyone clearly, this is kind of like Nebuchadnezzar in this passage, having been confronted with the light of the world,
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Nebuchadnezzar begins to see for the first time, but he could not yet see everything clearly, he will at the end of Daniel chapter 4, so stick around for that, but notice what happens in the text, verses 46 -49, then king
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Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face, prostrate before Daniel, and commanded that they should present an offering, an incense to him, the king answered
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Daniel and said, truly your God is the God of gods, the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, since you could reveal the secret, then the king promoted
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Daniel, gave him many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, chief administrator over all the wise men of Babylon, also
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Daniel petitioned the king, and he set up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego over the affairs of the province of Babylon, but Daniel sat in the gate of the king, so Nebuchadnezzar goes from blindness to sight, but his vision is not yet clear, what did he see, he knew there was a difference between Daniel and the others, the other wise men, he knew that, he knew that Daniel's God was above all powers and authorities, he figured that out, he knew that Daniel's God revealed secrets, that he unraveled the riddles, and then he also knew that the servant of this
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God, should be in a place of authority, so he saw those things, but what did he not see, he thought
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Daniel should be worshipped, he's still in the habit of worshipping men, exalting men, isn't he, he thought that the gods, was still a live category, he thought
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God's will, could be countermanded, this is going to be chapter 3, he didn't like that part about after you, so he builds a statue that's entirely of gold, so he tries to change the dream, the outcome of the dream, and even though he thought
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Daniel's God was very impressive, Nebuchadnezzar thought Nebuchadnezzar was very impressive too, which is what we find in chapter 4, pride makes all of our sight blurry, so now we come to the
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Lord's Supper, and I pray that none of you here, see men as trees walking,
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Jesus is the Christ, he is the son of the living God, he has been revealed from heaven, as our only savior, and high sovereign, and we sup together with him today, declaring that we have taken refuge in him by faith, we have sworn allegiance to him, in our baptism, and now we share in his covenant blessings, proclaiming his death, until he comes, let's pray, father
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I thank you for the time you've given us in your word today, it is encouragement to see how you shepherd all of history, and Christ is victorious in his kingdom, a mountain that fills the entirety of the earth, and will never ever be shaken, help us to trust you and to believe, in what you have revealed in your word, and as we sup together today with Christ, may you be honored and glorified in our communion, and we pray these things in Jesus name, amen.