OPEN YOUR BIBLES TO Daniel 2 & Numbers 22
1. God has a lot of ways to get someone’s attention.
a. Have you noticed that? Maybe personally experienced it?
b. I mean to REALLY get his FULL & UNDIVIDED attention.
WALKING through an ARID DESERT: there it was, a little BUSH, all lit up with FIRE... And it began to TALK! God got Moses’ Attention.
THE PROPHETS of BAAL received a stunning message from God on Mt. Carmel as fire came down from heaven!
SAUL OF TARSUS is headed toward Damascus ready to destroy as many Christians as he can… but there was that BRIGHT LIGHT that introduced him to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself!
WHO CAN FORGET BALAAM as on his way to betraying God
• Let’s look at Numbers 22
• The King of Moab was afraid of Israel, in v2 notice.
• So the king calls for Balaam, a prophet of Israel to curse the Egyptians and fight on his behalf… But God told Him NO!
• The king of Moab won’t take it… he sends more men and more money and pleads for Balaam to come…
• This time God tells him to go, but as he goes, his heart is lifted up with greed… and thus we begin at v22.
I WONDER IF THE DONKEY SOUNDED LIKE:
• Well WILBUR… or WELL BALAAM…
• YES IT’S TRUE: God has ways of getting man’s attention…
NOTE: Sometimes it’s a hospital room that grabs our attention.
• An unforeseen sickness, a surprise visit, a few zeros on a bank statement, a wayward child, loneliness, fears, anxieties, stress!
• They are attention grabbers for sure!
AND OTHER times it’s the clear teaching of God’s Word, illuminated by His Holy Spirit. We cry out with the Psalmist:
Psalm 25.5 Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; On You I wait all the day.
• And God Answers us through His Spirit…
John 16.13 "However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.
NOW THE BIBLE SAYS…
Hebrews 1:1-2 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;
THIS MORNING… in the chapter before us, we find God speaking to a HEATHEN KING, getting his attention through a radical dream.
• Which is really encouraging to us.
• God is wanting to speak to ANYONE who will listen.
2 Peter 3.9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
I OFTEN THINK OF THIS PASSAGE when I’m praying for leaders, and rulers, and authorities. Remember back in our study in Titus?
Titus 2.1-4 But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine: 2 that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience; 3 the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things-- 4 that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children,
• I wonder if, in answer to our prayers, God sends a dream to trouble them, to stir them, to cause them to cry out.
• Then God sends a ‘Daniel’ into their lives to clear it up and point them in the right direction!
I. (2:1-13) TROUBLING DREAMS.
1. (1-3) A bad night.
a. Nebuchadnezzar, the king of the world had a bad night.
b. The dreams in his head troubled him.
NOW THE DREAMS are in the plural and he had them in the 2nd year… so this could be a series of dreams in one night.
• Or it could be that he had the same dream over & over & over again. And finally they got to him! He couldn’t take it anymore.
c. SO: Next to the word troubled, you can write, “disturbed, pushed down or beaten persistently”.
d. These dreams caused him some deep emotional disruptions.
e. He was unsettled. They stirred him up, and down, and all around inside. Notice in v3, it caused him great anxiety!
NOTE: These were no ordinary dreams. They were from God Himself. God was speaking to him and now he wants to know!
2. (4-5) Tell me the dream.
a. Nebuchadnezzar was a tyrant, out of control, mad man.
b. And in his rage & anger & independence, it makes sense that God would want to get his attention.
c. It’s an area that completely destroys lives.
d. A glimpse of this as he says in v5, v12, v19, 3:13, 3:19
SO GOD GETS THIS ANGRY MAN’S ATTENTION… and he calls for those that he trusts… look at the list again.
• Magicians & Astrologers & Sorcerers & Wise men of Chaldea
• The Magicians were sacred scribes, highly educated & the elite.
• The Astrolgers were whisperers of secret mysteries.
• Sorcerers were the ancient witch doctors of the day.
• The wise men were the priests were ran the entire false religious system that ruled the day in Babylon.
• TOGETHER, these were who were trusted in that society to give spiritual answers and spiritual direction!
IT SOUNDS A LOT LIKE TODAY…
• There is a rise in OCCULTISM & WITCHCRAFT & BLACK MAGIC.
• Neo-paganism rules today. The cult of self! Dabbling in darkness.
• TV SHOWS, MOVIES, BOOKS, MAGAZINES pressing in on the world at large, and creeping into the church.
NOTE: OUR WORLD IS SO SPIRITUALLY THIRSTY!
• People are wondering what their dreams mean. They are wanting to know what the truth really is.
• So they turn on the TV and ask men to talk to dead relatives.
• They turn to the morning newspaper for their HOROSCOPE.
They did an experiment sending the same horoscope to 100 different people but they said it was for you specifically and almost everybody wrote back thanking them for the accuracy. There is this natural tendency to fall into auto suggestion and you start working out ways to fulfill the prediction.
• BUT GUYS… we have the answer to their questions! It’s Jesus! They are longing for Jesus. They need Jesus. He’s THE way!
John 7:37-39 - On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. 38 "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." 39 But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
3. (6-9) Tell me now!!!
a. So the KING CAN’T SLEEP and he calls for the WISE GUYS.
• But they aren’t that wise after all are they? They can’t help!
• YOU tell us the dream and we can help you out!
• And it’s like the lies of this world… they don’t know and they can’t help. Lord you’re my help. You’re my sufficiency. You’re my strength. You’re my hope. You’re my all in all!
SALVATION: Psalm 38:22
Psalm 38.22 Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation!
HELP: Psalm 40:17
Psalm 40.17 But I am poor and needy; Yet the LORD thinks upon me. You are my help and my deliverer; Do not delay, O my God.
SUFFICIENCY: 2 Corinthians 3:5
2 Cor. 3.5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God,
STRENGTH: Psalm 19:14
Psalm 19.14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer.
HOPE: Psalm 71:5
Psalm 71.5 For You are my hope, O Lord GOD; You are my trust from my youth.
4. (11-13) King you’re asking too much.
a. The book of Daniel is about GOD! Yes it’s a book of prophecy and yes it’s a book of purity… But God is on center stage!
b. God is in charge. He rules over all!
c. And these pagan priests & wise men admit it!
d. They won’t even offer an answer or try because they know deep down they don’t have any clue what’s going on!
e. Their ‘gods’ let them down! It’s all a sham for them.
f. YET it’s all a SET UP for God. A set up you think?
YES… these dreams coming to King Nebuchadnezzar were given so that it might be a DIVINE SET-UP For Daniel to arrive.
• REALLY for God to perform a great miracle through him.
Have you ever had God just set things up for you? You come to a place and you just sense you’re at the right PLACE, at the right TIME and have all the right ANSWERS?
• You look at it all and say, WOW, this is from the Lord!
• I love it. Our arrival to Aurora, and getting involved in this fellowship… it was all a DIVINE SET-UP from the Lord.
• So often you guys will share stories with me and we just leave concluding that God is in it and it’s all His doing! Awesome!
HERE, the plan of God was to set up a situation that everybody would know could only be carried out by God… Let’s read on.
THE TROUBLING DREAM leads to the…
II. (2:14-23) TRUE REVELATION
1. (14-16) Death is coming.
a. The order of death was flowing through the kingdom.
b. Nebuchadnezzar was not joking around.
c. Notice, the time for Daniel’s death was near as he meets Arioch, the captain. (literally ‘chief executioner’)
d. Now with Daniel facing death, what does he do?
e. We see at least 4 things… that will help us in a crisis too!
#1 – v14 - He Remains Calm. He doesn’t get flustered.
Proverbs 24.19 Do not fret because of evildoers, Nor be envious of the wicked;
• He answers the captain with great wisdom & clarity.
• He doesn’t freak out, OH, I’m Dead, I’m out of here. RUN!
• No he’s confidently steadfast with an answer…
• THERE’S SOMETHING to be said about confidence and calmness is a tight & tough situation. It gives God room to work!
Proverbs 15.1 A soft answer turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger.
Said the Robin to the Sparrow, "I should really like to know
Why these anxious human beings, Rush about and hurry so."
Said the Sparrow to the Robin, "Friend, I think that it must be
That they have no Heavenly Father, Such as cares for you and me."
#2 – v16 - He Exercised Faith. He put his faith on the line.
• He went in to ask for time so that he might interpret the dream.
• He actually persuades the executioner to wait a little.
• What was Daniel thinking here? He didn’t have the answer.
• But really, what did he have to lose? If he failed, and God didn’t give him the answer, he would die anyway.
• But we see here this man of GREAT FAITH… not in trusting God for a blessing, or in trusting god for a 100-fold return!
• He trusted God with his very life, his breath, his being!
• With great confidence, he seeks the LORD!!!!!
2. (17-19) He calls a prayer meeting.
He Remains Calm. He Exercises Faith.
#3 – v17 – He Prays! He to his friends and sought the Lord!
• This is awesome! It moved Daniel and his friends to pray.
• Notice, he didn’t run in first and say, ‘I have the answer’ and then under his breath demand God give it to him.
• C’mon God, you have to come through or I’m a dead man!
• Daniel didn’t rush in with presumption. Perhaps God wanted them to die for their faith? Perhaps he wanted to deliver them?
• So they prayed… deciding to be faithful unto death!
NOTE: There are many times when we’re faced with a PERHAPS.
• For example, when the Onesimus the runaway slave was going to return to Philemon, Paul writes:
Philemon 1:15-16 For perhaps he departed for a while for this purpose, that you might receive him forever, 16 no longer as a slave but more than a slave--a beloved brother, especially to me but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.
a. PERHAPS this is why he ran away… to get saved!
APP: We can hang that word on some of the most difficult things we’re facing…
• PERHAPS God’s working something far greater out in our lives?
• PERHAPS there’s something to learn, something to glean, something to give away!
• Onesimus left for Rome a slave… but would return a brother.
• Philemon lost a servant but would soon gain an eternal friend.
AND THIS MORNING… Perhaps God is allowing the difficult decision. Perhaps your marriage struggles for a while are in God’s plan.
Perhaps your that LAYOFF is being used to build you.
Perhaps your SINGLENESS is all a part of who God wants you to be.
Perhaps… it opens a door of faith & trust in Jesus who has promised to NEVER LEAVE YOU OR FORSAKE YOU!
So backed into a corner, into a tight place Daniel…
• Remains Calm, Exercises Faith, & Prays! Keys for us too!
• Is that your response? Is that how you act in times as these, in times of trials & obstacles? May the Lord helps us!
• FINALLY, notice what Daniel does… he PRAISES GOD.
2. (20-23) Blessed be the name of God forever!
a. After God reveals the secret dreams, he doesn’t take credit for it himself, but cries out in worship & praise!
b. And not only did he praise him, but he offered up a song of thanksgiving for the great things God had done!
FROM A CALM, to a CONFIDENCE, to FAITH, to PRAYER, TO PRAISE.
• Look ahead at v24 as we leave…
• SO Daniel went to Arioch & said, take me before the king!
Prov 16.7 When a man’s ways please the LORD, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.
TOO OFTEN we have it backward: let’s try to please the king, let’s do what we can to make people happy… and we miss it completely.
Do you know that God specializes in miracles & impossibilities?
• You might be in a jam right now, just so you can learn this truth firsthand! So that you might cry out to Him.
• Maybe you think things are OK right now, but there will be a time, perhaps even soon, where you will have to learn.
• Where you’ll cry out to hear the voice of God and sense His comfort and encouragement.
Some of you have never trusted this way before… ever.
• You’re struggling with issues in life and yet you have no savior.
