Text: Daniel 2:1-23, Title: The Dream Giver 1, Date/Place: NRBC, 3/22/09, AM
A. Opening illustration: the sickly man who dreamed about pushing the rock…
B. Background to passage: remember that the theme of the entire book is God’s sovereignty in a foreign land, as the children of Israel have begun their 70 year captivity. And as Daniel and the three others have been catapulted into a pagan government as advisors to the King, God intends to display His glory and control to all those in the royal court. Note: Dan 2:4-7:28 written in Aramaic.
C. Main thought: God uses a dream to reveal that He is the one that raises up and pulls down kings and kingdoms, and He uses Daniel to do it.
A. Does God Speak? (v. 1-2)
1. The text isn’t explicit about these dreams coming from God, but the entire book is about God in control, and this story is all about God giving a message to N through Daniel. What is interesting about this is that God speaks to a pagan king. We would have no problems saying that God speaks to believers, but to a godless dictator—like God speaking to Castro, or Ahmadinejad, or Kim Jong Ill. It is clear though in this text that God does exactly that, but not through a prophet, or scripture, but through a dream. Whatever means He chooses, the simple truth is that God speaks! He is actively involved with His creation and with individuals bringing about His desired ends.
2. Ps 8:4, Deut 5:24, Ex 33:11, 1 Cor 2:14
3. Illustration: share the story about the now 12 year old that had an experience with God at 4 years old that resulted in the conversion of her entire non-Christian family, share a little bit of my testimony about the time that I first trusted Christ completely after the comment in the message about God and me being separated by sin, "It’s amazing!" he replied. "I just can’t see how anybody can make a crib like that for only $46.50."
4. We are not to limit God in how He chooses to interact with man. How do you interpret your dreams? Bad chili for dinner? Sometimes God uses means other than normal to speak to us. So what’s normal? The bible, preaching, books, other people, creation, circumstances, and the inner witness of the Spirit are fairly normal means. But the truth is that we should be amazed that He speaks. If our concept of God is biblical and accurate and our concept of man is equally so, we should be amazed that he has any dealings at all with us. If God is not speaking in your life, we should look for issues to explain that, for the norm is not silence. Could we have sin in our lives to hinder our hearing or His work in us? Could we be distracted by other things? Do we expect or anticipate God speaking? Then we must ask if we are truly born again. I don’t think this truth is explicit, but the parallels work—God spoke to an unconverted man, but he couldn’t understand it; he needed an interpreter. Without the aid of the Interpreter in your heart and mind, you cannot understand spiritual truth, nor what God is saying to you. You need the Spirit. You need to be saved. Do not wait, today is the day of salvation.
B. Control of an Impossible Task (v. 11)
1. We don’t know whether N could not remember his dream, or maybe he just wanted some confirmation that these wise men weren’t just making it up as they go or saying what he wanted to hear. But for whatever reason, he indicated that his mind was made up—tell the dream AND the interpretation or be cut to bits and homes and families reduced to rubble. God had made a bad situation for the wise man worse in that He made N’s decision firm…firmly impossible. He did this to show His power. And the wise men stated it perfectly, “only the gods” could do what you ask.
2. Pro 21:1, Ex 8:19, Matt 19:26, 2 Cor 1:8-10, 12:9-10, Rom 5:3,
3. Illustration: The pastor rose and said, "Friends, we have been counting on our own strength, and apparently that has failed. As this is the day of our Lord’s resurrection, let us just ring the bells, have our services as usual, and leave the matter in His hands. We know only our weakness, and not the power of God to defend us." The council accepted his plan and the church bells rang. The enemy, hearing the sudden peal, concluded that the Austrian army had arrived during the night to defend the town. Before the service ended, the enemy broke camp and left. “There’s nothing like a good crisis to increase my energy and remind me how much I need God.” J. I. Packer writes: “Grace is God drawing sinners closer and closer to him. How does God in grace prosecute this purpose? Not by shielding us from assault by the work, the flesh, and the devil, nor by protecting us from burdensome and frustrating circumstance, not yet by shielding us from troubles created by our own temperament and psychology, but rather by exposing us to all these things, so as to overwhelm us with a sense of our own inadequacy, and to drive us to cling to him more closely. This is the ultimate reason, from our standpoint, why God fills our lives with troubles and perplexities of one sort and another -- it is to ensure that we shall learn to hold him fast. The reason why the Bible spends so much of its time reiterating that God is a strong rock, a firm defense, and a sure refuge and help for the weak is that God spends so much of his time showing us that we are weak, both mentally and morally, and dare not trust ourselves to find or follow the right road.
4. Don’t be discouraged with things go from bad to worse. God is simply setting Himself up for greater glory upon deliverance. Remember this is God’s highest goal and our greatest need and good—to see and savor and be satisfied with God. And so situation after situation in our lives will continually call our attention to our dependence on His sufficiency. And that is good, painful possibly, but in our best interests. When these situations come, don’t forget His call to learn not to trust in your own wisdom, resources, and power, but in God alone. You are in a good place when your eyes have been opened to the fact that you can’t do it on your own. So repent from overestimating your own abilities and underestimating your need for Him and His grace. Rejoice in your tribulations, that God may show Himself mighty in your life and display His sufficiency to others.
C. Prayer Meeting (v. 17-18)
1. Only way I can figure that he wouldn’t give time to the other wise men, but granted it to Daniel was the amount was different. Maybe N was up at midnight demanding answers, and Daniel said, give me till the morning before you cut us to pieces. Pretty bold request. First thing that popped into Daniel’s mind was to get the boiler room going (that’s what Spurgeon called the intercessory prayer room at his church). They were told to seek mercy from God that might spare their lives. They realized that if God did reveal these things, it would be because of His mercy. Imagine how they must have prayed on their “last night.”
2. Est 4:16, Joel 1:14, 2:12-14, Gen 43:14,
3. Illustration: give thanks for the prayer response that many of you took with the prayer request that was sent out regarding a visit that I was making, people like Bob and Pat English, Fred Osgood, Don Pirkle,
4. What is our gut reaction to crisis? Despair? Phone calls? Trust and seek mercy? Note also that there is nothing wrong with seeking prayer needs that have direct impact on your own life. But also remember every good gift is an expression of His mercy—not getting what we deserve. Do not become entangled in the web of entitlement. God does not have to deliver. Do you know people that you would go to in crisis because they know how to pray? Are you close enough to others in this church that you would share your deepest needs with them in a crisis? Interesting how most requests are health related. Are you one of those people? Most of us don’t consider ourselves one of those people, but your prayer life can be developed to where you are. Don’t let your mind lie to you and say that, “you are not good at prayer” or “it’s not your thing or gift.” Study, read, and most importantly engage in hands on training. Ask God to help you.
D. Worship Upon Deliverance (v. 19-23)
1. I thought about preaching these four verses as a whole sermon in themselves, but I don’t want to drag this chapter. God reveals to Daniel that night, right on time, the mystery that would preserve their lives, and that would be a witness to the king. And his first response is not to run to his friends or the king, but to bow in humble adoration of the One who granted such wisdom. So he worships God for 6-7 things, some about His character or abilities, then he praises God for His deliverance in that particular situation with a very God-centered benediction. Note the depth of theology in his prayer. He begins “hallowed be thy Name” just as Jesus instructed.
2. Ps 25:14, Amos 3:7, 1 Cor 2:10,
3. Illustration: “The test of our spirituality does not lie only in the fervency of our prayers in times of crisis, but in the wholeheartedness of our worship when God acts in grace.” –Sinclair Ferguson.
4. Many times our normal response is to rejoice, but then just return to life as usual. Our initial desperation doesn’t lead to proportional praise of the Provider. Does this prayer sound like our prayers? Does this worship sound like our worship? Do we have times of worship like this that are separate from church services? My fear is that we have so compartmentalized worship to Sundays that we forget to engage in personal private times of worship. And it is in these times that our hearts are truly satisfied, encouraged, and that our growth in Christ excels. If you want to improve your worship and your reaction, read stuff that centers on the person of God. Read Knowledge of the Holy (Tozer), Knowing God (Packer), The Incomparable Christ (Stott), Pierced for Our Transgressions (Dever), The Pleasures of God (Piper). Knowledge of God will translate to knowing God and knowing God will translate to loving God. Purposefully renew your mind unto these truths regularly and ask the Spirit to bring them to your mind all during the week. Begin your worship here on Sundays by meditating on God’s deliverance of your life this week.
A. Closing illustration: some story about God demonstrating his sovereignty in every situation
B. Recap
C. Invitation to commitment
Additional Notes
• Is Christ Exalted, Magnified, Honored, and Glorified?
