Displaying Jesus
Series: DISPLAYING JESUS- a series in DANIEL
Speaker: Steve Jeffrey
Date: 1st November 2026
00:00:00 --> 00:00:02 As I said, we've got a vision as a church.
00:00:02 --> 00:00:11 What we really want to see is to be a church that's compelling our neighbours, our friends, our city, our society,
00:00:12 --> 00:00:15 with the truth and the goodness and the beauty of Jesus Christ.
00:00:15 --> 00:00:23 And we're seeking to do that in a time when Christianity is faced with a kind of a mixture of either apathy or resistance.
00:00:23 --> 00:00:35 So how is it that we could possibly courageously and confidently do that in society where there's a big gap between what we seek to do and what our society wants us to do, if you like?
00:00:36 --> 00:00:50 And so the book of Daniel is where we're turning because what we find in the book of Daniel is that Daniel is really and his mates are in the same boat as where we are, very, very similar circumstances.
00:00:50 --> 00:01:06 And so open up Daniel chapter 1 and 2, St. Paul's app, and we see here in Daniel chapter 1, it gives us the historical context of Daniel.
00:01:07 --> 00:01:13 That's where we need to be straight away, understanding Daniel and the Babylonian exile.
00:01:13 --> 00:01:17 First four verses give a context.
00:01:17 --> 00:01:30 And what the context is, is that Nebuchadnezzar, the great king of Babylon, lay siege to Jerusalem in Judea in 598 BC.
00:01:31 --> 00:01:37 And in early 597 BC, he was victorious.
00:01:37 --> 00:01:40 He didn't destroy the city at that point.
00:01:40 --> 00:01:46 He, in fact, came back 10 years later to finish the job, to destroy the city.
00:01:46 --> 00:02:01 But on this first visit to Jerusalem, in his victory, he took 10 of the leaders of the military, of the government, the arts, the education, the scholars, the wise people,
00:02:01 --> 00:02:14 back from Jerusalem, took them back to Babylon with him and to culturally reprogrammed them so that they served the Babylonian kingdom.
00:02:16 --> 00:02:20 He wanted to Babylonize them, if you like, if that was a term.
00:02:21 --> 00:02:22 You know, you can use it now if you like.
00:02:22 --> 00:02:37 Nebuchadnezzar, his plan was for these 10 of the cultural elites to become intellectually, socially, culturally and spiritually, religiously Babylonian.
00:02:38 --> 00:02:39 That was the plan.
00:02:41 --> 00:02:46 That's the historical and the cultural context of what's happening here in Daniel.
00:02:46 --> 00:02:52 But as we begin this book, it's important for us to understand it also from a biblical perspective
00:02:52 --> 00:03:03 and to understand two key terms in this book and how they function in the book of Daniel.
00:03:04 --> 00:03:08 The first is the term Babylon.
00:03:08 --> 00:03:16 When Babylon is mentioned in the Bible, you might recall, if you're familiar with this,
00:03:16 --> 00:03:31 all the ungodly aspirations of the people who built the tower of Babel in Genesis 11 against God, opposed to God.
00:03:31 --> 00:03:37 You might think of Babylon in the last book of the Bible in Revelation, where it is the preferred term.
00:03:38 --> 00:03:43 For speaking of everything that stands against God and deserving of his judgment.
00:03:45 --> 00:03:47 The second term is exile.
00:03:48 --> 00:03:54 Ever since, again, the beginning of the Bible, Adam and Eve were removed, cast out of God's presence.
00:03:54 --> 00:04:05 In Genesis 3, exiles have been those people who have been driven away from God because of God's judgment on them.
00:04:05 --> 00:04:12 They're banned from them, banished from his presence because they refuse to live with God as their God.
00:04:14 --> 00:04:17 That's the way we would think about Babylon and exile.
00:04:18 --> 00:04:20 And it's okay to think like that because that's true.
00:04:20 --> 00:04:25 But around Daniel's time, there was a prophet named Jeremiah.
00:04:25 --> 00:04:30 And God gave Jeremiah a special vision about the exiles in Babylon.
00:04:31 --> 00:04:35 And it was a different vision about Babylon and exile.
00:04:37 --> 00:04:38 Jeremiah 24.
00:04:38 --> 00:05:04 Now, at the time that Jeremiah is speaking, there's another prophet and his cohorts back in Jerusalem.
00:05:04 --> 00:05:10 And he wasn't one of the ones carted off down to exile by Nebuchadnezzar.
00:05:10 --> 00:05:12 And his name was Hananiah.
00:05:12 --> 00:05:14 And Hananiah is a false prophet.
00:05:14 --> 00:05:22 And basically, the message of Hananiah to the exiles down in Babylon is it's going to be over real soon.
00:05:23 --> 00:05:24 Two years, it'll be over.
00:05:24 --> 00:05:25 It's going to be finished.
00:05:25 --> 00:05:27 God's going to smash the Babylonian empire.
00:05:27 --> 00:05:29 We're going to come back from there.
00:05:29 --> 00:05:32 And we are going to be victorious culturally, spiritually.
00:05:32 --> 00:05:34 We're going to be on top of the world again.
00:05:34 --> 00:05:35 Two years, that's it.
00:05:35 --> 00:05:36 So hang tight.
00:05:36 --> 00:05:38 Don't get involved in Babylon.
00:05:38 --> 00:05:39 Don't touch anything down in Babylon.
00:05:40 --> 00:05:43 Just stay out of the city and pray against the city.
00:05:43 --> 00:05:45 Pray judgment on the city of Babylon.
00:05:45 --> 00:05:57 And Jeremiah hears this and he sends a letter to the exiles in Babylon.
00:05:59 --> 00:06:05 And this letter became the blueprint for Daniel's life in exile.
00:06:06 --> 00:06:10 And at the very least, his three mates, Rackshack and Ben in exile as well.
00:06:11 --> 00:06:12 And here's the blueprint for exile.
00:06:12 --> 00:06:15 Jeremiah 29, verse 4.
00:06:15 --> 00:06:22 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.
00:06:23 --> 00:06:24 Build houses and settle down.
00:06:25 --> 00:06:27 Plant gardens and eat what they produce.
00:06:27 --> 00:06:29 Marry and have sons and daughters.
00:06:29 --> 00:06:33 Find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage so that they too may have sons and daughters.
00:06:33 --> 00:06:34 Increasing number there.
00:06:35 --> 00:06:36 Do not decrease.
00:06:37 --> 00:06:42 Also seek the peace and the prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile.
00:06:42 --> 00:06:45 Pray to the Lord for it.
00:06:47 --> 00:06:50 Because if it prospers, you too will prosper.
00:06:50 --> 00:06:53 Yes, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel says.
00:06:53 --> 00:06:56 Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you.
00:06:56 --> 00:07:04 So even down in exile, there is people listening to Hananiah and saying, no, no, no.
00:07:04 --> 00:07:05 We've got to stay out of the city.
00:07:05 --> 00:07:06 We can't be involved in Babylon.
00:07:07 --> 00:07:09 We cannot defile ourselves.
00:07:09 --> 00:07:11 But notice the blueprint.
00:07:11 --> 00:07:13 The first is that it's God's plan.
00:07:13 --> 00:07:15 The exile was God's plan.
00:07:15 --> 00:07:19 This is a city to which I have carried you.
00:07:21 --> 00:07:28 It is God's plan that you, Judah, have lost your cultural power and influence.
00:07:29 --> 00:07:33 It was God's plan to take you there, to grow you, to renew you.
00:07:34 --> 00:07:40 It was God's plan that his word would come to the center of Babylon.
00:07:40 --> 00:07:47 The second blueprint for the exile is a call to be dual citizens.
00:07:49 --> 00:07:54 On the one hand, Jeremiah says, increasing number there, do not decrease.
00:07:55 --> 00:08:04 What that means, according to biblical commentators, it means don't lose your identity as my people.
00:08:04 --> 00:08:09 Increase, grow as my people.
00:08:09 --> 00:08:11 Do not lose your identity as my people.
00:08:12 --> 00:08:12 Don't assimilate.
00:08:13 --> 00:08:16 Don't just melt in to the culture of Babylon.
00:08:16 --> 00:08:17 Don't just give in.
00:08:18 --> 00:08:19 Don't just become Babylonians.
00:08:19 --> 00:08:20 Know who you are.
00:08:20 --> 00:08:22 Know that you're my people.
00:08:23 --> 00:08:26 And so build my community in Babylon.
00:08:28 --> 00:08:32 And yet, on the other hand, build houses.
00:08:33 --> 00:08:34 Settle down.
00:08:34 --> 00:08:35 Plant gardens.
00:08:35 --> 00:08:36 Eat what they produce.
00:08:36 --> 00:08:37 Marry and have sons and daughters.
00:08:38 --> 00:08:44 Seek the peace and the prosperity of the city, because if it does, you do too.
00:08:45 --> 00:08:51 The word peace here is the Hebrew word shalom.
00:08:51 --> 00:08:56 And it's a word that means complete well-being.
00:08:56 --> 00:08:59 Total well-being.
00:09:01 --> 00:09:02 Multi-dimensional well-being.
00:09:03 --> 00:09:04 And blessing and fulfillment.
00:09:04 --> 00:09:19 In other words, when you seek the peace of the city, you're seeking the spiritual well-being, the physical well-being, the economic well-being, the social well-being, the relational well-being, all of those things of the city.
00:09:19 --> 00:09:31 And so what this call is from Jeremiah, the blueprint is, you are to be dual citizens of both God's kingdom and the kingdom of Babylon.
00:09:31 --> 00:09:38 I don't want you just to love me and hate the city or love the city and ignore me.
00:09:38 --> 00:09:45 And the third blueprint is to pray for the city.
00:09:46 --> 00:09:46 This is God's city.
00:09:47 --> 00:09:49 It's the one I've sent you to for my purpose.
00:09:49 --> 00:09:51 And so pray for it.
00:09:51 --> 00:10:06 In other words, the vision that God has for his people is not just to plant churches and grow churches in society and wave our finger at everything that we disagree with in the society.
00:10:07 --> 00:10:15 He calls his people to put their lives on their line, to serve and to build up society, to make it a great place under God for his glory.
00:10:15 --> 00:10:26 I want to ask you very quickly, if you're a Christian in this room or checking online, do you see that that is in fact your mission?
00:10:27 --> 00:10:35 That it's not just to come to church and to give money to things, to see other people to know Jesus?
00:10:36 --> 00:10:43 Do you see that God has put you in all the circumstances in your vocation, which is what Scott was talking about this morning,
00:10:43 --> 00:10:48 in your vocation, wherever you are, in all the good things you're dealing with in life and all the hard things you're dealing with in life,
00:10:49 --> 00:11:00 that God has put you in that place as a dual citizen for his glory and for the good of others?
00:11:03 --> 00:11:09 Do you see your life as both by vocational?
00:11:13 --> 00:11:14 His kingdom.
00:11:17 --> 00:11:19 The kingdom of man and the kingdom of God.
00:11:21 --> 00:11:25 So let's see how Daniel is a model for this.
00:11:26 --> 00:11:29 Chapter 1, he's living out this blueprint.
00:11:31 --> 00:11:32 He's in the civil service as we see.
00:11:33 --> 00:11:38 And his role is there in verse 27 in the civil service.
00:11:38 --> 00:11:39 Daniel replied,
00:11:39 --> 00:11:56 The wise men, the enchanters, the magicians, the diviners, these are the people who run the empire.
00:11:57 --> 00:11:58 These are the advisors.
00:11:59 --> 00:12:00 These are the people who are in the king's council.
00:12:02 --> 00:12:03 And this is who Daniel is.
00:12:06 --> 00:12:07 Daniel's one of them.
00:12:07 --> 00:12:19 And here's the thing that's going to shock those of us whose vision of God's mission in the world is for Christians to separate themselves from the world.
00:12:19 --> 00:12:20 Here's the shock.
00:12:21 --> 00:12:24 For Daniel to get into the position he has,
00:12:26 --> 00:12:29 he went through a very rigorous training in Babylonian culture.
00:12:29 --> 00:12:37 He has studied enchanting, magic, divining.
00:12:38 --> 00:12:41 And he mastered that material.
00:12:41 --> 00:12:49 And yet he kept his distinctive biblical worldview because in verse 28, he declares,
00:12:50 --> 00:12:55 There is a God in heaven who reveals mystery.
00:12:55 --> 00:12:57 There is a God in heaven who speaks.
00:12:57 --> 00:13:05 He was educated, living and working at the highest levels in that pagan government and culture,
00:13:05 --> 00:13:11 and yet doing it distinctively as a believer in the God of the Bible who speaks,
00:13:12 --> 00:13:14 to whom Nebuchadnezzar does not know.
00:13:14 --> 00:13:19 Now that's not easy.
00:13:21 --> 00:13:22 How does he do that?
00:13:24 --> 00:13:33 There's no books for the Christian lawyers and engineers and plumbers and teachers and accountants and delivery divers and nurses and business analysts.
00:13:33 --> 00:13:40 What the rules are to be Christian in my vocation, in my life.
00:13:40 --> 00:13:42 There's no rules for that.
00:13:42 --> 00:13:42 There's no book for that.
00:13:43 --> 00:13:44 We can just pick up the rules.
00:13:44 --> 00:13:46 Okay, well, I can do this, but I can't do that.
00:13:47 --> 00:13:48 Of course, there's some basic rules.
00:13:48 --> 00:13:52 You've got the Ten Commandments, for instance, and a variety of other things.
00:13:52 --> 00:14:01 But most of the things we face as bivocational citizens living for God's kingdom are not covered by a rule book.
00:14:01 --> 00:14:10 In chapter 1, Daniel and his three mates resolve to refrain themselves.
00:14:10 --> 00:14:15 They will not defile themselves by eating the king's food.
00:14:15 --> 00:14:18 They draw a line in the sand and say, I will not do that.
00:14:21 --> 00:14:23 And they do it very graciously.
00:14:25 --> 00:14:30 And yet these are the same four who allowed their names to be changed.
00:14:30 --> 00:14:35 Daniel means God is my judge.
00:14:36 --> 00:14:40 Belshazzar is my protector.
00:14:42 --> 00:14:47 He won't eat the food, but he adopts that name.
00:14:50 --> 00:14:56 And he's willing to receive instruction in magic and divination and wisdom outside of the Jewish scriptures.
00:14:56 --> 00:15:00 And yet he draws a line at the sand in the food.
00:15:01 --> 00:15:04 And we might want to speculate why.
00:15:04 --> 00:15:09 But nowhere are we told why he didn't eat that food.
00:15:10 --> 00:15:12 We're not told he's because he's a diabetic.
00:15:12 --> 00:15:14 It's not told because he's...
00:15:14 --> 00:15:16 We're not told why at all.
00:15:16 --> 00:15:20 We are left pondering.
00:15:23 --> 00:15:27 What Daniel's showing us here is that there is a matter of conscience.
00:15:28 --> 00:15:32 We need to do the hard work of figuring this stuff out.
00:15:32 --> 00:15:34 Thinking it out, in fact, together.
00:15:35 --> 00:15:38 Thinking through what's distinct about the Christian worldview.
00:15:38 --> 00:15:40 What is the resurrection of Jesus Christ?
00:15:40 --> 00:15:42 The gospel of Jesus Christ?
00:15:42 --> 00:15:43 The themes of my salvation?
00:15:44 --> 00:15:48 The final rest of God and his kingdom?
00:15:49 --> 00:15:51 The future that the Christian has?
00:15:52 --> 00:15:59 How does that shape me and influence the way I love and I serve?
00:16:00 --> 00:16:03 The human kingdoms that God's placed me.
00:16:03 --> 00:16:11 And that brings me to this being worked out.
00:16:12 --> 00:16:18 If you've got the app open, it's called The Goal of Exile.
00:16:18 --> 00:16:24 Ten minutes ago, I think I want to change it to Returning from Exile.
00:16:25 --> 00:16:26 Returning from Exile to Jesus.
00:16:27 --> 00:16:29 This brings us to Daniel 2.
00:16:29 --> 00:16:35 It really consists of a dream that Nebi had of this huge statue.
00:16:36 --> 00:16:39 And Daniel giving him the meaning of the dream.
00:16:40 --> 00:16:43 And Daniel's very clear to Nebi.
00:16:44 --> 00:16:47 This is God's word to you.
00:16:48 --> 00:16:50 I've got a word from God that you need to hear.
00:16:51 --> 00:16:57 And the dream is about the rise of future kingdoms that will come after Babylon.
00:16:57 --> 00:17:02 And it's really easy to actually interpret this historically.
00:17:03 --> 00:17:07 Because we can identify from our perspective who the kingdoms represent.
00:17:07 --> 00:17:11 The kingdom of Babylon eventually gives way to the Medo-Persian Empire.
00:17:11 --> 00:17:15 Who were themselves replaced by the ancient Greek Empire.
00:17:15 --> 00:17:18 Which in turn bent the knee to the Roman Empire.
00:17:18 --> 00:17:19 Historically.
00:17:19 --> 00:17:21 It's real simple to see that.
00:17:21 --> 00:17:33 But we also, and too many of us I think would read this and miss that there's something else about this vision.
00:17:33 --> 00:17:35 This vision is personal.
00:17:38 --> 00:17:40 It's a personal vision for Nebuchadnezzar.
00:17:41 --> 00:17:42 It troubled him.
00:17:43 --> 00:17:44 It's not just a history lesson.
00:17:45 --> 00:17:46 It troubled him.
00:17:46 --> 00:17:47 He's sleepless.
00:17:47 --> 00:17:48 He's not just sleepless.
00:17:48 --> 00:17:49 He's angry.
00:17:50 --> 00:17:51 And he is murderous.
00:17:53 --> 00:17:55 At this point we see the tyrant.
00:17:56 --> 00:18:01 He knows deep down what the dream means.
00:18:02 --> 00:18:04 He knows what the dream means.
00:18:05 --> 00:18:06 For him.
00:18:06 --> 00:18:17 Because this statue in the dream represents the statue of how he wants the world to see him.
00:18:19 --> 00:18:20 How do we know?
00:18:22 --> 00:18:24 Because he's building one in the next chapter.
00:18:27 --> 00:18:28 He's building one.
00:18:28 --> 00:18:37 He wants to see, he wants the world to know that he, in the same way this statue, that he's a towering colossus.
00:18:40 --> 00:18:43 That's his deepest foundation in his life.
00:18:43 --> 00:18:52 And so he builds it in chapter 3.
00:18:52 --> 00:18:55 A dazzling statue to himself.
00:18:55 --> 00:18:58 Not a monument to the Babylonian kingdom.
00:18:58 --> 00:19:01 It was a monument to him, the king of Babylon.
00:19:01 --> 00:19:20 Underneath all of his external power and might, as he was, this king is angry and unsettled because he's deeply insecure in the inside.
00:19:21 --> 00:19:29 His kingdom that he's building is so fragile and this dream reminds him of it.
00:19:31 --> 00:19:33 That he has feet of clay.
00:19:34 --> 00:19:37 His whole foundation in life is fragile.
00:19:39 --> 00:19:45 Everything that he's built for himself will disappear without a trace.
00:19:45 --> 00:19:50 And that's when Daniel mentions the rock that smashes the statue.
00:19:52 --> 00:19:54 Verses 34 and 35.
00:19:55 --> 00:19:59 Notice the stone will crush all of these kingdoms.
00:19:59 --> 00:20:02 The stone will come and hit the feet of clay.
00:20:02 --> 00:20:04 It'll bring the entire statue down.
00:20:05 --> 00:20:08 Not just destroy the last one, but the whole thing down.
00:20:08 --> 00:20:16 The whole thing will come in to be grounded to dust and be blown away in the wind and leave no trace of its existence.
00:20:18 --> 00:20:18 Gone.
00:20:19 --> 00:20:19 A vapour.
00:20:20 --> 00:20:21 Just like that.
00:20:21 --> 00:20:27 And verse 34.
00:20:28 --> 00:20:39 So 44 tells us that this rock that is cut out, not by human hands, is the least valuable substance in the entire dream.
00:20:40 --> 00:20:44 But it's a rock that is so, little stone that will smash this.
00:20:44 --> 00:20:49 It will grow from a little stone and become a mountain that will fill the whole earth.
00:20:51 --> 00:20:54 And 44 tells us that it is the kingdom of God.
00:20:57 --> 00:21:09 Long before Daniel, the image of the stone had been used of God's people to speak of someone who will rise from amongst God's people to save God's people from exile.
00:21:09 --> 00:21:17 Now, Psalm 119 verse 22 says the stone would be rejected, but would nevertheless become the chief cornerstone.
00:21:18 --> 00:21:25 Isaiah 8, 14 and 15 says the stone would become a sanctuary for some and a rock of offence for others.
00:21:25 --> 00:21:31 And it would cause some to stumble and for others for their hearts to be broken.
00:21:31 --> 00:21:53 Daniel was the last one to speak of this stone until an itinerant preacher arrives in Israel, appears in Israel, Israel under the grip of Roman rule, announcing that the kingdom of God is at hand.
00:21:53 --> 00:22:07 And Jesus went as far to identify himself as the wise man who doesn't bring a message and interpret a message from God, but that he is in fact the message of God.
00:22:07 --> 00:22:11 He is the word of God because he is God.
00:22:13 --> 00:22:22 And that God's plan was for him to be exiled from the presence of God, take on human flesh and to come into his world to reveal God.
00:22:22 --> 00:22:29 But the religious leaders of his time rejected him, rejected Jesus and his teaching.
00:22:29 --> 00:22:39 And when they do, Jesus tells them a parable in Luke chapter 20 that predicts that he will die at their hands.
00:22:40 --> 00:22:49 And at the end of the parable, Jesus gathers up all of these Old Testament references to the stone and says,
00:22:49 --> 00:22:53 I am the stone.
00:22:59 --> 00:23:03 Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces.
00:23:04 --> 00:23:08 And when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.
00:23:08 --> 00:23:20 So either come to the stone and allow him to break you or the stone will break you in the end.
00:23:22 --> 00:23:27 And what Jesus is doing here is he's connecting his death to the stone that comes from heaven.
00:23:27 --> 00:23:34 He is the one cut out, not by human hands, which brings all of human kingdoms and ushers in his eternal kingdom,
00:23:34 --> 00:23:36 God's eternal kingdom.
00:23:37 --> 00:23:50 The only one worthy of the statue, the only one worthy of all glory and honour dies on a Roman cross as a social outcast criminal to the eyes of the world,
00:23:50 --> 00:23:53 valueless, weak, powerless.
00:23:53 --> 00:24:04 And yet he's the one who held the stars in space, but he surrendered them in humility to Roman nails.
00:24:04 --> 00:24:08 The God who created the whole universe took the place of a servant.
00:24:08 --> 00:24:13 The one who has all honour and worthy and power laid aside,
00:24:13 --> 00:24:24 came into his world as an exile from his father as a servant to die on a cross as a substitute
00:24:24 --> 00:24:30 for the sin of all of humanity because we have pushed him out of our lives
00:24:30 --> 00:24:37 and we have spent our entire lives building our kingdoms, our honour, our glory.
00:24:37 --> 00:24:47 The glorious one took on a feat of clay so that we with feet of clay might share his glory, such as his mercy.
00:24:50 --> 00:24:53 And what we read as you go on in the rest of the New Testament,
00:24:54 --> 00:25:02 his kingdom expanded not through geopolitical rule and war and brutality, but spiritual rule.
00:25:02 --> 00:25:09 It's a rule that pulls people out from their heart allegiances, pursuing life for their own glory
00:25:09 --> 00:25:14 and building their own fragile kingdoms that will be brought down in the end
00:25:14 --> 00:25:20 to have a brand new identity in Jesus Christ and building his kingdom.
00:25:21 --> 00:25:25 It's a kingdom that started with a handful of followers.
00:25:25 --> 00:25:35 By the end of the book of Acts, he has even subjects, followers in Rome.
00:25:36 --> 00:25:45 And centuries later, the Roman Empire itself, Rome's own emperor, worshipped the living stone, the Lord Jesus.
00:25:46 --> 00:25:52 It was a kingdom that outlasted the Roman Empire and it still continues to grow
00:25:52 --> 00:26:00 and spread throughout the whole earth today where Jesus has more adherents and followers than any other religion.
00:26:01 --> 00:26:07 And he is today continuing to build his church, to build his people, his kingdom,
00:26:08 --> 00:26:19 as the gospel of the Lord Jesus, the good news of Jesus, is proclaimed through lives that are adorned by the character of Jesus,
00:26:19 --> 00:26:21 character of humility.
00:26:22 --> 00:26:28 And this is his promise to everyone who comes to him, the living stone, from 1 Peter.
00:26:29 --> 00:26:34 All who put their trust in him will never be put to shame.
00:26:37 --> 00:26:43 As opposed to those who build their own kingdom and will face the shame of their kingdom being crushed by him.
00:26:43 --> 00:26:51 So this dream here that Nebi had was a call for humility.
00:26:52 --> 00:26:55 Call for him to change his concept of God.
00:26:56 --> 00:26:59 And we see there is some change in this.
00:26:59 --> 00:27:04 When Daniel says in verse 47, he says to Daniel in verse 47,
00:27:04 --> 00:27:07 surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings.
00:27:07 --> 00:27:21 For the first time ever, Daniel's God shared the stage in Babylon and even in Nebi's own inner life with all the deities of Babylon.
00:27:22 --> 00:27:31 Now, he wasn't quite there yet because the verse before, he decides instead of hearing the need to acknowledge the God and the king of kings,
00:27:31 --> 00:27:35 he instead bows prostrate in front of Daniel and wants to offer him sacrifices instead.
00:27:35 --> 00:27:38 He's not quite there yet, but he's on the journey, right?
00:27:38 --> 00:27:40 He's on the journey, which is fantastic.
00:27:44 --> 00:27:53 What he had not yet believed was that there was one preeminent, all-powerful lawgiver to whom everyone was accountable, including him.
00:27:56 --> 00:27:58 And maybe that's where you're up to.
00:28:00 --> 00:28:01 Maybe that's where you're up to.
00:28:01 --> 00:28:10 Maybe you are still exploring and you've been exploring this and you are questioning this and this might be news for you and you need to take an extra step.
00:28:10 --> 00:28:21 Can I say you've got an opportunity right now, straight after this service in 25 minutes, out there in the building, we're going to be doing Christianity Explored.
00:28:21 --> 00:28:27 We have got nine people already signed up wanting to explore this more.
00:28:28 --> 00:28:30 And I would invite you to join them.
00:28:30 --> 00:28:31 You're not going to be alone.
00:28:31 --> 00:28:35 Invite you to join them in Christianity Explored this morning.
00:28:35 --> 00:28:36 Don't miss that opportunity.
00:28:36 --> 00:28:49 This dream told Nebuchadnezzar that there is one supreme God who was sovereign and judge and to whom all was responsible in life.
00:28:49 --> 00:29:04 And that Jesus, what we see is that Jesus is that God and that he calls all people to surrender themselves to his humble, gracious rule, to be part of his kingdom that will never end.
00:29:04 --> 00:29:08 A kingdom that is a kingdom where there is no more pain, no more tears, no more joy.
00:29:08 --> 00:29:09 That's the goal.
00:29:09 --> 00:29:10 That's the end.
00:29:10 --> 00:29:30 When he fully, finally comes and his kingdom is established in all of the earth and every other kingdom is gone, his kingdom is one where every bit of sickness and disease and sin and brokenness and destruction and everything that is evil is removed and we exist with him in eternal bliss.
00:29:33 --> 00:29:36 So maybe you've done the journey of Christianity Explored.
00:29:36 --> 00:29:39 You've been looking at it, but you've not made that choice.
00:29:42 --> 00:29:43 And today's the choice.
00:29:43 --> 00:29:49 You've come to realize for the first time that Jesus is glorious and you do have feet of clay.
00:29:50 --> 00:29:54 Maybe something's going on in the inside of your inner life pushing you to that point.
00:29:54 --> 00:29:59 You've just realized that you've been building your own kingdom and it needs to stop and it needs to stop today.
00:29:59 --> 00:30:07 Jesus is the king of kings.
00:30:08 --> 00:30:11 He's the Lord of lords and his kingdom will never end.
00:30:12 --> 00:30:15 If that is you, you've answered yes to any of that.
00:30:15 --> 00:30:20 You need to make the decision to say yes to Jesus.
00:30:21 --> 00:30:25 And let me tell you, I want to encourage you, don't lose that opportunity.
00:30:25 --> 00:30:26 Don't move that.
00:30:27 --> 00:30:35 Up here to my left is going to be some people sitting at the very end of this service and they want to talk to you.
00:30:35 --> 00:30:40 They want to journey with you to say yes to Jesus this morning.
00:30:42 --> 00:30:46 So for you, Christian, you're both vocational.
00:30:46 --> 00:30:51 How does God's kingdom shape what you do day by day and the way you think where God's placed you?
00:30:52 --> 00:30:57 You might be on the journey of discovering like Nebuchadnezzar, Christianity Explored.
00:30:58 --> 00:30:59 Now, don't lose that opportunity.
00:30:59 --> 00:31:03 Or today's the day to say yes.