Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

Spiritual Foundations Pt.7

Hallelujah! I want to take a minute and just thank everybody that's been helping us there on the house. It's going along great. We have had complaints that the neighborhood's going downhill since the Heglunds are moving in, but we're putting up with all of the flak. A lot of work, a lot of man-hours, these last few days, and so we really do appreciate all of the help. It's been a blessing.

I was just on the phone with Ron this afternoon, and a lot of exciting things continuing to go on in Africa. The Lord's opening door after door. He was invited to so many different speaking engagements based upon a ministry that took place in the last couple of days as he was asked to stay and speak. He did, and he said there was just a real great anointing that was on the meetings. And the brother Bishop Kitonga who kind of heads this counsel of ministers up--these weren't all his own pastors. These are kind of where a lot of the other overseers of ministries get together, so it's a bunch of the bishops that oversee other ministries. The bishops gather together, so this was the bishops' meeting. and Ron was speaking at that. There were about 200 bishops that were there, and all of them have churches that they've started.

Ron said the Lord just really blessed them in the meeting, and Bishop Kitonga had mentioned in front of all of these men at that time that he was just thrilled at how God was knitting the hearts of this ministry with theirs. And one of the things that we needed so desperately was an interpreter, and Ron had asked Bishop Kitonga to pray about that and see who he might recommend and who was available. We didn't want to just get anybody. The Bishop said he would, and following this meeting that Ron preached, Bishop Kitonga got up before all of these other ministries. He said this ministry was looking for some assistance in interpreters, and he said, "God just spoke to me and told me to give them our best interpreter." He's interpreted for the most famous speakers in the world who've come into Kenya, and he said, "I'm going to lend him to them. I want him back, but I'm going to lend him to them until they've at least started 30 or 40 churches." And he said, "This ministry is of God." He said, "I want to be a part of it." And it's exciting.

This young man is one of their top men, anointed and a tremendous preacher and interpreter. He was telling Ron, he said, "I so appreciate what the Bishop's done and those areas, but I've already talked to him and told him that I feel my heart's being knit more with what you all are doing, and" he said, "I just want to see what God has." It's an exciting thing. God opens that door for us, and some thrilling things. We needed that; it's going to be--every time Ron calls it costs us money. We're going to have to take care of this gentleman. He just has a new five-month-old baby, and they said his wife's a tremendous helpmeet and a real--Ron said that this woman is just head and shoulders above so many of the other ladies in the area, so a tremendous thing. They're being made available to us. We do have money in the budget for an interpreter. This is going a little over what that is, so we'll just keep you aware of what to pray and believe for. I believe God will supply the finances for this. This is one of the most crucial needs that we've had that we've been praying about, and we not only got an interpreter, it sounds like we got one of the country's best, praise God! Isn't it exciting to see what the Lord's doing? Things are going too fast over there. It's an interesting thing to watch what the Lord's doing. Of these 200 bishops that were there, every one of them extended invitations for us to come and preach. These are some exciting things.

Ron said he also has some bad news. He said, "There's one other thing that we've run into a hitch." I said, "Yeah, I know. They moved the Kisumu meetings back, and they're not going to start until I leave the country." And he said, "How did you know?" And I said, "Bishop Owiti called me yesterday"--Silas Owiti who oversees these 1,200 churches and is having a large convention there in Kisumu of the how many hundred thousand plus, I don't know what it is. He said because of something with the school system they had to move their meetings. What you see is that all of the people that come in from the churches, they have to stay in the public schools. It's hard to find housing for a hundred thousand people that show up in town and to put them all up in different places. So they use the public schools and other buildings that are available, and there was something in the scheduling. And Ron, he said, "He called you?" And I said, "Yeah, he was up here in Pittsburgh, and so we talked for awhile." Ron said, "It seemed awful strange." He said, "I called his point man for the crusade, and he was always amenable, but this was really interesting." He said he was just so accommodating and so excited and different things. He said, "Now I guess I know what happened. After you talked to Owiti, Owiti had called" him and the point man there, and it was like carte blanche--whatever you want, we can have it. So now we're praying about staying a few more days in Africa.

That really throws us into a stupid scheduling here to do it that way, but it looks like we may do that. I'll fly in sometime I guess Thursday night and we'll--who knows what time zone we'll be in--and we'll head immediately to Carlisle and set up there and do whatever that is that particular night and through that particular weekend. The ministry at Carlisle--there'll be some need again for ministry there, and we'll leave there and come back here for Sunday and leave Sunday night for Indianapolis. I'm tired thinking about it. So that's kind of August 'till Labor Day. We will be moving full speed ahead every day from August 1^st through Labor Day, from Africa to Indianapolis, and so we'll see what happens, praise God! If we die, just kick a little dirt on us and keep going and see what happens from there.

Let's turn to Hebrews and see what happens tonight. We've been seeing some interesting things that the Lord's spoken to us from our study on the spiritual foundation of faith. "But without faith it is impossible to please him; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him" (Hebrews 11:6). Our faith is the victory, the Scripture says. So this foundation that we have to build of faith: "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen"--that power and that force that is the representation of the will of God.

Faith is a force, and there's a lot of debate about this. There's the faith camp that believes that it's exclusively a force. And then I heard one of the teachers here just the other day, one of the fellows locally here that I listen to, that was talking about faith is not a force; faith is an attitude, and it's trust and reliance on God. And it is. But it's also a force, and the force is the representation or the expression of the will of God or the purpose of God. Faith originates by the heart and the will of God. Faith comes from the spoken Word of the heart of God. "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God" or a rhema of the Lord.

We talked about that hearing, you remember in the past, we've taught many times. The hearing is not reading and just listening to tapes or the Bible being played or even going in and hearing preaching that creates some excitement in us. Faith has to be a fresh, purposeful expression of the heart of God and the will of God. You can hear the same Scriptures over and over again and you say, "That's the Word of God. That's the more sure word of prophecy." And you agree with it, and you say, "Yes, amen." But we all know when faith begins to arise in our heart and all of a sudden that grace of God that causes faith to manifest and for us to be empowered and emboldened and established and consistent in the midst of trials. We all know the difference, and we know when it comes. And we all know the evidence of it, but so many people don't know the source: and the source is the sovereign will of God.

Now, when we say sovereign, most people seem to think God's holding out and whenever He feels like it maybe He'll throw you a crumb or a bone every once in a while. No. The Scripture makes it very clear, doesn't it, as [Pastor] Chuck [LaRock] was teaching on the gifts of the Spirit. And I don't know if he used this passage or not, but in the aspect of Corinthians it says we don't serve dumb idols. That doesn't mean a stupid idol; we're not talking about "dumb" there. We're talking about dumb: not being able to speak. Our God speaks. Amen? Are you listening? Do you have hearts to hear? Lord, give us ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches. How often do you come into God's presence to hear instead of to speak? Faith comes by hearing, and we said that that word in the Greek means an audience with God.

"...he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder..." What does He reward us with, do you think? Filet mignon? New car? What's He reward us with? "...he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." What do you think He rewards us with? His Word! God talks to us. We come to Him believing that He is and that He is a rewarder; He will express His intentions to us. It creates in us an expectation, a trust, a reliance. That's what faith is: that what God has promised He's able to perform; not one word of all of His good promises is ever going to fail; it's sure to a thousand generations, the Scripture says. How much time do you spend just getting into His presence and saying, "Lord, just tell me what You're up to. I'm ready. I want to hear. Here am I, Lord. Your eyes are searching to and fro. You're looking for somebody that you can show Yourself mighty in their behalf. Here am I. Speak."

You see, what we need to understand tonight, beloved, is this: God's more ready to speak than we are to hear. "I'm just waiting to hear from God." He's talking all the time. Nothing wrong at all with the transmitter (Pastor held up his Bible). The Word is alive and powerful, ready to manifest the purpose and the heart of God every time you open this book. How prepared are we to hear? That's what the issue is all about. And we get caught up with worldly cares that we've talked about and self-reliance that we've hammered on session after session, how that's got to die. We contrasted, you remember, the three Hebrew children and how they said, "We're not going to get caught up with the king's dainties. We want to do it God's way. We're not going to be defiled with this food that's been offered to idols. Let us stay pure and God can use us. If you'll let us purify our hearts and our minds, God will speak to us, and you'll see some great things done." So it's very important that we understand that aspect of faith.

We've talked about the Ken Copeland thing--people say, "Faith is a force." And to them it is an absolutely impersonal force. It's just something that is innate within man that when man fuels this fire somehow with the Word of God that faith then comes as a result of the written Word, not the sovereign expression of the living Word. And they're incorrect. It does not come that way. God is the object of our faith, and He's the source of our faith. He is the author and the finisher of our faith. In other words, it begins and ends in God, as we've shared before. His Word does not return void, but it accomplishes that whereunto He sent it.

So, God speaks and it causes within you and I an awareness, first of all (an illumination, an awareness) and then it creates in us an expectation (a hope, a trust) and then it creates in us an obedience of where we step out and God then confirms His Word with signs following. And we've made fun of the expression that Kenneth Copeland had: "Object;" I don't know "object"--talking about God being the object of our faith. You better know "object"! Your faith better not be in your faith! It better be in a "person"! Your faith better not be in a book, because this book is no ordinary book! God and His Word, what? Are one. You see, it's not "alive" if we don't recognize God in it as the source.

"He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." So it's not impersonal. When we go to the Word of God, it's the living Word, it's the relationship with Jesus, it's the awareness that God's wanting to get something done in our lives. So it creates an expectation in our lives every time we open this book up: "God's going to talk to me." Every time you pray: "God's wanting to talk to me. I just need to get quiet! I need to get rid of all of this noise of the cares of the world, the fears and the anxieties! I've got to get all of this anxiousness out of me! I can't be anxious for anything, but I've got to come in prayer and supplication and thanksgiving that my requests might be made known unto God. And then the peace of His awareness that passes all understanding will keep my heart and my mind through Christ Jesus, and now I'm at rest and God's spoken and I have a course. I know what I'm going to do. I know what God's going to do in me, and I'm convinced of that."

As the three Hebrew children that we've been talking about--we haven't got those guys in the furnace yet--we were talking about their preparation and how God caused them to be ten times wiser than all of the others. And it's interesting--not only ten times wiser than all of the magi, the Chaldeans, but if you read the story very closely, you're going to find out that a lot of the captives that came out of Israel continued to eat the king's dainties. Everybody didn't fast. Everybody didn't separate themselves. "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; I will receive you" (2 Corinthians 6:17).

There were a lot of them. Now remember who these people were. When you read the book of Daniel you'll find out that those that were separated were of Israel that were without blemish; they were the best. They were the best looking--you know, like most of us here; that's why God chose us. They were the smartest--need I say more? And as you read the story you see that these were the elite; these were the best. And the king, then, because of the captivity, he would do this and take the best out so that they couldn't build any type of retaliatory strength in the nation that was just defeated. So they took the best out, and then they were going to teach them the language--they're going to give them a three-year language class and culture and sciences so that they (the best of this nation) could now contribute into Babylon.

Now of all of those that were taken, the story tells us here that there were only four that were moving in this vein who believed God and were ten times wiser, not just than the magi, but than the rest of their own contemporaries who defiled themselves with the king's dainties. We're a pretty small group, those who are willing to pay this kind of a price--the remnant of God. As you look around the world and you go into the different countries and you look for these people, they're there to be found. Of every nation, kindred, tongue, and tribe--they're out there. They have all different kinds of skin tones and denominational titles, but they're the church. They're the Body of Christ. They're a peculiar people who show forth the praises of Him who has called them out of darkness into His marvelous light.

How different are we from the world? How free are we from the wisdom of the world, their methodology, our trust--as we've been trying to cause this to die in every session we've taught--our reliance on our own abilities and the arm of the flesh? And here's some people that were willing to pay a price.

Turn over to Daniel; let's see if we can get these guys in the fire. The point that I want to share tonight is this, beloved: you'll never know if you've got faith until you get in the fire. "Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your [say it] faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing." How many of you'd like to know if you've got religion or faith? You're going to find out in the furnace. You're going to find out en route to the furnace. You're going to find out when the coronets blast and those around you bow their knees and a thousand fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand--Christians, and they bow; Christians and they yield. Who are we? How can we hope to stand when everybody else is going down?

As I've been listening to a lot of the teachings that I try to listen to during the day--I try to catch different teachers. Jeremiah (he was a bullfrog; he was hoarse last week)--I listen to David Jeremiah; he's a good teacher. And Adrian Rogers--I enjoy his teaching. I always try to catch a little bit of Focus (or "out of"--whichever it happens to be that particular day). You can never tell; sometimes it's dead-on. There's some great ministry there, and the next thing you know they're (Pastor tilted his head). You think, "Is this the same group?" And it's some good ministry. And as I've been listening and trying to hear through a number of the things that these ministries are bringing forth, it's very clear the hour that we're in. And you've got some well-meaning people like Kennedy that come on with, "We're going to win America back to Jesus." And I thought, "We were never there! How are you going to get them back?"

So you look at the day that we're living in--the times. You hear the voices, many voices--renowned men, wise, intelligent--and you see them falling. Some--and I won't mention any names--that it's just tragic to watch the great whore engulf men that once were spirit-filled and could hear that voice that we were talking about so clearly, who are now blinded with power and position. And you think, "How can we stay free?" When iniquity begins to abound and the love of many begin to wax cold, how can we stay fervent for the pure Word of God? Sound doctrine is our greatest treasure. What's going to keep us in this hour? The Scripture tells us very clearly in Daniel that we must--verse 8 of the first chapter--purpose in our heart not to defile ourselves.

So this was Daniel's awareness. Others around are eating, these that came out in the captives, and Daniel's not condemning them for that. He's just saying, "I won't defile myself. I want to be something special for God." The Scripture says in verse 9, "Now God had brought Daniel into favour and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs." Aren't you glad for divine favor? Aren't you glad that God can open the hearts of individuals, and as His servants we can know that supernaturally they'll care for us and embrace our endeavors? You thought it was your glowing personality, didn't you? Shine on; it's not that bright. God has given us that favor! Do you recognize Him for everything that you've received today in your life? Do you understand that when people embrace you and encourage you and promote you that it's God that's working in your life? It's not you.

So Daniel was given the favor, and verse 15 says that those that were receiving of all of the dainties of the king were very likely rejoicing, saying, "Well, praise God. The Lord--we've come into captivity, but look! God's blessing us in the midst of the captivity. Isn't God good? Praise God!" They're eating filet mignon offered to idols, but Daniel purposed not to defile himself. The Scripture says, verse 16, "Thus Melzar took away the portion of their meat, and the wine that they should drink; and gave them pulse. As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams."

I want you to see the distinction between the three brothers of Daniel, and Daniel. We're not all the same. We're not all going to receive the same revelation. We're not all going to receive the same placing by the Spirit of God, and we're not all going to receive the same working of the Spirit in our lives, though we've all received the same measure of faith. So don't try to be somebody you're not. Don't try to become some great spiritual giant based upon what somebody else has accomplished: "They pray eight hours a day, so if I'm going to be anything, I need to pray eight hours a day." Or, "They have this particular method of study or preaching or whatever else it is, and so I want to emulate that in my life." It doesn't work that way. The Scripture says that God gives the gifts severally as what? He wills. He places us in the Body as it what? Pleases Him. Okay? Make yourself available, and let God bless you according to His purposes.

Now look. The three young men were skillful in all learning and wisdom. That's pretty good stuff. God was supernaturally giving them understanding and preparing them to be a success in the world--though we're not of it--to preserve His people and to guide the people of God that are now in captivity. Why are they in Babylon? Do you all remember? There was a preacher that was preaching trying to keep them out of Babylon. What was his name? Anybody remember? Jeremiah.

You all remember the preaching of Jeremiah? What was it Jeremiah was trying to get them to do? He was trying to clean up the priesthood wasn't he? He said, "The problem we got here is we've got a bunch of defiled priests and a bunch of perverted folks. They want to have their ears tickled and they love to have it so, and they love the false doctrine." And Jeremiah said, "I purposed not to say anything else to them, but I couldn't help it. The Word of God's a fire in my bones!" And he preached a word of repentance because of the idolatry because they were whoring themselves with the wisdom of the world and defiling themselves; and God said He was going to bring them into captivity, and the consequence was now this Babylonian bondage. We can't get into this tonight, but the prophet also prophesied and said and in that, after 70 years, I'm going to deliver you.

And so here they are now in the bondage, and some of them were adapting. Let me ask you something. Are you adapting to worldliness? Are you adapting to the bondage of fear and anxiety and everything else that's pulling all the rest of the Body down? Or are you adorning yourself in the armor of God and preparing to set out against? Knowing that our devil, our adversary the devil, as a roaring lion is going about seeking whom he may devour: those that are isolated, those that are trusting in their own strength. Resist the devil! How? The Scripture tells us: humble yourself. There is no resisting of the devil without humbling ourselves. We talked about that need of that humility on Sunday.

So this is a humbling of ourselves. Self says, "Hey, man. Filet mignon! Education fully paid, man! Full scholarship, room and board. Man, they're teaching us science, psychology, sociology--P.E., lunch [those were my favorites]. This is pretty good, man." There were four that wouldn't bow their knee, and God began to give them skill in learning and wisdom--supernatural ability to comprehend. Man, I've needed that! But look at Daniel. "And Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams" (verse 17). This is a man that could see into the spirit realm. We can't all do it. We're all called to follow Him that's invisible, we're walking by faith and not by sight, but there's those among us that God speaks to face to face. And Daniel was one of those men. And we're not going to be like Daniel, but we can learn the principles of how God dealt with these great examples of faith and to be followers of those who through faith and patience are inheriting the promises.

So let's find out what makes these guys tick and how God blessed them. The first thing we know is that they began to fast and separate themselves to their God and not defile themselves. So therefore in verse 20, "And in all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king enquired of them, he found them [say it with me] ten times better..." Don't you love that? Better than who? Better than the rest of the captives, the best of the best, those that were without blemish. These were the elite to start with. I wonder what they're thinking right now. You know, I'm not as impressed here with what the king might be thinking; I'm wondering what their contemporaries are thinking. They're sitting there going, "Hey, Shadrach! You ain't that sharp! We were in kindergarten together. You flunked sleep." And all of the sudden they're ten times better. How did these guys rise above their contemporaries? How are we going to rise above our contemporaries? By eating pulse--by humbling ourselves, by not thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought to think. You're not that sharp; everything you have you've received of God. So it's very important for us to understand that principle.

Now, this is kind of interesting as the time goes on and we find the dream of Nebuchadnezzar and the interpreters of dreams--this is a pretty good racket. You tell them a dream; they give you an interpretation. The king threw them a curve here, didn't he? They said, "Okay, King, tell us the dream; we got an interpretation for you." They'll always make it good. "Oh, King, you're going to destroy your enemies, you're going to excel, you're going to abound in all of the wealth that the world has to offer. That's what this dream is all about, King." They said, "Tell us; we'll twist it somehow to make it good for you and us." The king says, "I can't remember it. I tell you what. You tell me what the dream was." They said, "Nobody can do that. Hey, that's not fair; it doesn't work that way. You're supposed to tell us the dream; we'll interpret it. I mean, we're pretty good--we can do sheaves bowing and sun and moon and those kind of things, so just give us the dream." And he says, "I can't remember. I tell you what. You tell me the dream, and if you don't, I'm going to kill you."

Now there's some motivation. Here they are, but it doesn't matter how motivated you are, how successful you are--and these guys were smart. You've got to understand: these were the scientists, these were the elite of their day--the magi, the wise men. These were the intellectual elites of their day; these weren't chicken bone soothsayers. And what I'm wanting you to understand is this: you're going to come to the place where all of your skills aren't going to be sufficient and your life's on the line. He said, "I want them all killed." Well, as you read the story, you see that encompassed these four young men who had not defiled themselves. And Daniel came up--I'll just paraphrase it--and he said, "Hey, what's the hurry? What's this decree all about? You're going to snuff us today? What happened?" "I'll tell you what happened, man. The king had a dream, couldn't remember it, you guys couldn't come up with an answer--you're out of here." Daniel says, "I didn't hear about it. Why would you slay us?" He said, "I'll tell you what. I'll give you a shot."

Verse 17, "Then Daniel went [chapter 2] to his house, and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions." Well how come? He's the dude that has understanding in all visions and dreams. I want you to understand something, beloved. There's safety in a multitude of counsel. There's power in corporate prayer (where two or three are gathered). We need one another's prayer support. We need to be aware of where we are in this warfare that we might intercede and understand what's at stake. And so he told them upright. He said, "Here's what we're facing guys. And if we don't get it, we're going to die." That'll motivate you. "Oh, Lord, speak to Daniel! Come on Daniel. Have you got it yet?" "Just pray." "How about now?" "Just pray guys; you're bothering me."

Look what it says. "That they would desire [what?] mercies of the God..." Now I want you to see something here. This isn't a given that Daniel can just walk up and say, "Okay, now, I have understanding in all dreams and visions"--the great Carnac. That's for all of you old Johnny Carson watchers. It doesn't happen that way. "It's not something that I can do at my own discretion, the gifts of the Spirit. I can't work miracles at my own discretion. We need to seek God for His mercy right now. We're in need, or we're going to die." They've already exhausted the natural source.

"Then was the secret revealed [verse 19] unto Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his: And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding." To him that has shall more be given. "You know, it just seems like God just keeps blessing all the same people. When am I going to get mine?"

I shared with you the story about Kathryn Kuhlman that time. We were in a meeting with her. Interesting--she was an interesting, weird lady. I've never quite seen manifestations like those that I saw in some of her meetings. It was very interesting, unique, some of the things that took place. But for the purpose of this point, the Lord spoke to one of the preachers sitting on the platform. She used to have the preachers--we'd all sit on the platform. I remember I got to sit right next to her and could reach out--I was helping Dino on the piano periodically, you know. So we were right there and involved in all of this thing up on the platform--the preachers were up there. I thought it was kind of interesting. Some of the preachers that were there were denominational guys like Presbyterians and some of the Baptist guys. It was a citywide type campaign. They weren't spirit-filled, and so they were very skeptical anyway.

She turned around to all of us and she said, "All you preachers stand up." So we all stand up. She said, "Just raise your hands and praise the Lord." So all of us spirit-filled guys were praising the Lord. The others were going (looking inhibited), and she looked and she said, "Wouldn't you like to be free?" And she just held her hands up like this, and everybody fell under the power of the Spirit, from me down. They're all piled up on top of each other. I'm looking--you've got Baptists and Presbyterians, and they're all piled up--just a big dog pile. It was really cool. And to see them get up, and they're kind of shaking themselves off, like, "What?" And she turned around and had this little grin on her face again; and she just went (Pastor lifted his arm), and they go down again. It was just a visitation to these men to show that what was going to follow wasn't being feigned. These were men that had no desire to be laying in a heap in front of all of their congregation and constituents.

It was a very, very interesting thing. And the one thing that she was almost driven by, if you've every read her life story or seen anything, was the fact that she would some day go to represent God, and He wouldn't show up. And it tormented her. And I think it was because she didn't really understand, doctrinally, the Lord like she could have possibly. But I think some of us need to have that same fear. How many of us are just confident to go do it whether God shows up or not? I'm not interested in being involved in anything that God's not building. If God doesn't build the house, the labor's in vain. And Daniel had that spirit, but it's not something you can just conjure up. If it were, Kathryn wouldn't have been tormented by this. It's the very thing that caused me to back off of the miracle rallies years ago.

And as we understand the power of God and the presence of God and that He's the one, verse 22, that "revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him." We understand it's not in us, that it's in Him, and we must diligently seek Him for Him to be the rewarder, Hebrews says. Daniel continues his worship and says in verse 23, "I thank thee, and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers, who hast given me wisdom and might, and hast made known unto me now what we desired of thee: for thou hast now made known unto us the king's matter." And he goes and he ministers the interpretation, and the king just is blown away and understands that there is, verse 28, "a God in heaven that revealeth secrets."

Do you know what I've noticed? I've noticed that people that move in words of knowledge and discerning of spirits and stuff--or think they do--it's amazing to me how many of them think that this gift is to be there "so that I can know what you're up to." You know, the God that reveals secrets--can I share something with you tonight? He wants to reveal the secrets of your heart to you. How can we know our own hearts? We're deceitful and desperately wicked! It's grace, it's by faith, that you go to God and say, "Lord, show me what I am! I can't see myself without your grace and your mercy."

So Daniel boasts in the God who's not dumb; He's there to reveal His light, as verse 22 said, out of darkness. So he boasts in that greatness of God. And he talks about the things that were to come and the kingdoms that would rise and fall and the great stone that was cut out without hands that would destroy the kingdoms of the nations; and the Kingdom of God would be lifted up, and the Messiah would reign forever. And of His kingdom there shall be no end, the prophet tells us. So Daniel's foreseeing this and telling of all of the great events that are going to take place. And "thou, O King...art this head of gold." So we see the rise and the power and the opulence of the Babylonian Empire and then the inferior kingdom that came under the Medes and the Persians and the reign of Cyrus. Alexander the Great comes on the scene, and the kingdom's then divided to his four generals; and we see the details of the Daniel vision in the book of Revelation. And then, of course, the great Roman Empire and the iron and clay that are mingled.

"And in the days of these kings..." verse 44 says in the 2^nd chapter, "And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed..." It's the church, praise God. A kingdom that shall never be destroyed. "The gates of hell shall not prevail" against my church (Matthew 16:18). We're talking about the foundation of faith. We're talking about knowing who we represent and what we're doing here--that we're opposing the kingdoms of this world. The whole book of Daniel, we shared with you, is God dealing with the nations and showing His preeminence. And how many Christians today are trying to save the nations and trust in the nations and purify the nations. And God already said: I'm bringing them all down. So He reveals the vision to the king, and the king's just absolutely blown away and boasts in the greatness of God.

Verse 47, "The king answered unto Daniel, and said, Of a truth it is, that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldest reveal this secret. Then the king made Daniel a great man, and gave him many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon..." Praise God! Look at the fruit of being faithful to God. He's in a place of preeminence and power, and now no harm can come to them! Hmm! I wonder how fickle the kings of the nations are. The dude's praising God! "We got a Christian king!" "We got a Christian--whatever." I want to tell you something: the devil, the demons believe and tremble.

Just because somebody can recognize the greatness of God and even proclaim it, doesn't mean their bowing their knees or their hearts to serve Him. Just put a little pressure on. Just let some of the wisdom of the world come and say, "King, you're so great and others around--they're not recognizing you. And I think there are people that you can't really trust in your midst, so you need to just kind of raise your worth here a little bit." The king, of course, like all carnal people, moved by flattery. "Yeah, I think you probably got a good idea there." The image is made, and Daniel in all of his prominence and Daniel in all of his power couldn't stop what's going to happen to his three brothers.

It doesn't matter to what level you arrive in the natural. It won't be sufficient in the hour we're coming into. I don't care how many kings you have backing you, how many attorneys you have backing you; I don't care how much money you have backing you. I want to tell you something: to be a friend of this world is to be the enemy of God. And God resists the proud, but He gives grace to the humble.

Now we find in Daniel's life and in Joseph's life and others that promotion is not bad. God allows us, God will sovereignly place His people, at times, in positions of prominence and power in the secular realm. Nothing wrong with that if God put you there, and it's usually for a purpose. Sometimes it's to help people out that are of the family of God. Use your power, use your prominence, and help some folks out. Sometimes it's to be an example where in the midst of everybody it all is put on the line and you're about to lose it unless you bow your knee. I'd encourage you to periodically, if the Lord leads you to, just pray for Ashcroft--not that God would give him wisdom in how to deal with the abortion--just pray for the dude, man, that he'll be able to stand. Amen? He's not going to save this nation.

So the Scripture makes it very clear to us here that he was made great in power and wealth, and "Then Daniel requested of the king, and he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, over the affairs of the province of Babylon: but Daniel sat in the gate of the king." It doesn't get a whole lot better than that. These pulse eaters are moving on. They're moving up with the Jeffersons--deluxe apartment in the sky. It doesn't last forever. "Nebuchadnezzar..."--I can't do that. I just remembered a story about the name Nebuchadnezzar that's a scream--don't have time for that right now. Remind me.

"Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura..." (Daniel 3:1). The governors went out and said when the sound of the coronets sounds and the trumpets then everyone bows. But there was a problem. Verse 8 says that some of the Chaldeans recognized that the Jews weren't real big on this--some of them, the pulse eaters. You know, a lot of them didn't have trouble. "We know this is just a statue; this isn't a god. We're not worshipping this man; we know that the Lord our God is one. We're just trying to save our necks. It's wisdom--blend in." Secret agent man--undercover Christian--save our hides. That's where a lot of them were.

"But we got a problem, King. You made a decree that everyone would bow," verse 10, "but there's some dudes that aren't bowing." "...they serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. Then Nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego." I want you to understand something, beloved. These people may be amenable, things may go well for periods of time--don't forget who the god of this world's system is and the rage and the fury that can come up in a moment! You better make sure that you're not putting your trust in men. "You will bow, or you're going in the furnace."

I want to end with this for tonight. Look at verse 15, "...and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?" I'll tell you who that God is; it's the one that interpreted your dream, that said you're coming down. That's who the God is. "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter." We're not anxious, and we're not going to try to convince you.

Now, beloved, this word "careful"--this is the one thing I want you to see right here. Here's how real faith operates, and we're going to end with this for tonight. "We are not careful..." In other words, what he's saying here is this: "We're not even going to try to convince you. Your mind's made up." How many of us try to justify our actions, try to defend God, try to somehow think that we're going to cause them to understand spiritual principles when they're only spiritually discerned and the carnal mind cannot receive them? These men were wise enough to say, "We're not even going to bother answering you. We're not going to try to defend our case, and we're not going to try to convince you. You've got your mind made up. You just need to know one thing, King," verse 17, "If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thy hand, O king."

Now you see, a lot of people limit that to being a statement of faith that, "We're guaranteed; we know we're coming out of the furnace." They didn't say that. You have to read this carefully to understand that. "If it be..."--God is able. "And if He doesn't, if we go into the furnace, we're delivered out of your hand. Sin doesn't have any power over us. I want you to understand something. We're out of here in 70 years. You need to be aware of something: momentarily I'll be changed when the trumpet sounds. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. 'Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.' We're going out. God's going to deliver us. You can't keep us back."

What's being said to us here, beloved? We can't lose! The promises of God are yea and Amen--He'll either heal us or we'll die in faith. Victory. That's faith. Do you have all the hope on the temporal thing? Has you're faith's failed if you don't come out of the furnace? What happened? We started this whole thing off by reading Hebrews 11; what happened? They died in faith not having received the promise, Hebrews 11 tells us. "Yeah, but that's not real faith. Real faith receives the promise." That's not what the Word of God says. Real faith calls things that are not as though they were. Real faith realizes that God goes beyond our own temporal, personal circumstances. Real faith has confidence in the sovereignty of God and in the purpose of God for each one of us. And real faith doesn't just say, "Well, qué será será. You know, if God wants to deliver us, He will." He will! And He is able! But there's one sure thing in all of this: we will not bow our knee!

Have you made that commitment? Have you made that commitment? You see, that commitment was made back here. Turn back a couple pages back to chapter 1. That commitment was made right here: and they purposed not to defile themselves. I want to tell you something. The only thing that's going to keep you from bowing your knee before the fiery furnace, the only thing that's going to keep you from bowing your knee, is some pulse eating. You're going to have to prepare yourself and diligently seek Him and fast and pray and discipline. But you've got to understand one thing, King--and we're going to end with this for this evening--"we will not serve thy gods [we didn't eat their food, and we're not going to bow our knee], nor worship the golden image..."

Stoke the fire, seven times hotter. Get the strongest men. How strong of a guy do you need to throw somebody in a pit? See, it's a show of power: get the strongest men to cast them in. This is a pit. The furnace--you've got to understand, all this is, is a big pit that they're going to throw them off into. Seven times hotter, Hulk Hogan's got the guy, and they throw them in the pit. The guys throwing them in die--too hot. The king looks off in the hole and says, verse 24, "Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?" All the little "yes" men said, "True, O king. He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose [we threw in three bound and I see four loose], walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God."

I want to tell you something, beloved. He gives His angels charge over us lest we dash our foot against a stone. The angels of the Lord encamp round about those that trust in Him. This angel that delivered--I don't necessarily hold to the fact that this was a theophany. Nebuchadnezzar wouldn't have known the Son of God if He ran over him in a fiery chariot. It could be a theophany. I think it's probably the same angel that delivered Daniel--the messenger of God. They're referred to as sons of God in a number of different scriptural passages--the angels. It doesn't make any difference. You can believe whichever one of those you like. The fact is, God was present, they were no longer bound, the fire, verse 27, had no power over them. "...nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them. Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach..." You know, he's pretty good at this isn't he? Sounds like the little girl that had the demon, "These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation" (Acts 16:17). Something ain't right here. You get all worked up every time you see a miracle, but there's something not right about your life. You can say the right things, but something's not right about your life. So he begins to run his mouth about the greatness of God again. What he's saying is true. "Blessed be the God...who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king's word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God."

I want to tell you something as we close tonight. You know all those people that you're out there trying to convince to believe in God and that Jesus is the way the truth and the life and that no one comes to the Father but by Him? They already know that; they just choose not to serve Him. The Bible says in Romans they're without excuse--the knowledge of God's in every one of us. They just choose not to bow their knee. You want to really have some testimony? All their doing is they're just putting enough pressure on you. They're saying the right words, they're trying to con you, they're trying to approach you through religion, they're trying to approach you through secular morality, they're trying to seduce you with different things--cares of the world. I want to tell you something. They're just seeing what your price is. Is your testimony tonight that you won't bow? Have you purposed in your heart not to defile yourself? That's the foundation.

Father, we thank You for the Word of God, and we ask that as we prepare ourselves in Your wisdom and in Your power--that You would order our steps accordingly and give us that confidence that what You've promised You will perform and that that we've committed unto You, You will keep against that day. For faithful is He who promised who will do it, praise God! We thank You for that in Jesus' name. Amen.

Let's stand before the Lord tonight. As Gary plays for us and we take a moment here in the presence of the Lord, just be prayerful of this hour that we're in. We delight in the deliverance, but beloved, the deliverance was the consequence of the preparation of their hearts that they wouldn't defile themselves. The faith that delivered them and caused them to stand was not a "quote faith": give me a verse for fiery furnaces. It was a faith that caused them to live with the pulse and to understand that they wouldn't defile themselves with the wisdom of the world and that their understanding was ten times better in what God was doing in their own hearts as they were revealed so that when the trials came, they were prepared. They were faithful in the small things, and God made them a ruler in the great ones.

Let's sing it together and worship Him. "Here we are..." Oh, let's worship Him as we sing it one more time. The trial is the proving of your faith. Just stand. Don't faint. Don't be afraid. It's for your good, praise God. Oh, Hallelujah! Just worship Him tonight. Thank Him for His presence in your life. Thank Him for the angels that have been given charge over us. Thank Him for the assurance that He's a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him; that your faith is the victory; that if God's for you, nobody can be against you. We do thank You, Lord, for the Word that's alive in us tonight. We all want the great victories of deliverance from the fiery furnace. Let us have the great victory of humbling ourselves to eat pulse that we might be prepared for the battles that are at hand. Father, we ask You for that wisdom in Jesus' name. Amen.

Before you go, turn to somebody next to you and say, "Eat some pulse." Amen. Go in peace; God's love go with you.

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