Hello friends and welcome
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to Books of the Book.
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We are studying the book
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of Daniel, and we are in Daniel
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of Chapter 3.
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My name is James Rafferty!
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And I'm Ty Gibson thank
you for joining us for this
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program on the book of Daniel.
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It is one of our favorite
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books in the Bible, James.
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We are just always excited
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to open its pages.
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We have learned so far
that the book of Daniel
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runs on two tracks.
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We have a story line
that is unfolding of Daniel's
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experience as a
captive in Babylon.
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Nebuchadnezzar's experience
as an unbelieving heathen
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king that God is relentlessly
pursuing with His grace
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and love to bring Nebuchadnezzar
to the worship of the
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one and only true God.
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Then we have the prophecies
that unfold as well as the
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story of Daniel and
Nebuchadnezzar unfolds.
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It's incredible because
what we are seeing so far
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is that the prophecies and
relational aspects of Daniel
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interlock, they mesh together
and come together as one.
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Many times when you study
the Bible, or when you study
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prophecy, you are inclined
to separate it from Christian
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experience, relationship,
practical Christianity.
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We don't see that
in the book of Daniel,
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and we won't see it.
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As you move down all the
way through these chapters
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we are going to see time
and time again that they link
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together, or connect together.
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One of the main themes we
are going to find in the book
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of Daniel is this
relationship theme.
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I think we can say with
certainty James not only because
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of what we read in the Bible,
but just observing ourselves
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and people in their religious
experiences, that knowledge
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without an experience
with God is actually dangerous.
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I mean if we know all the
prophecies backwards and forward
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and we can prove what each
point means, and interpret the
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dreams and visions that we
have in the prophetic books of
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the Bible, but we
don't know God in a personal,
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living, relationship.
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If we don't know the Lord
Jesus Christ as personal Savior
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and Lord, but we know all
about the truth, then we are
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lethal in dealing with people.
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That's certainly proves
true in Daniel Chapter 3.
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What you have here is king
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who has been convicted.
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He is moving from one religion
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to another, in a sense.
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This king, Nebuchadnezzar,
has had this incredible
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interpretation delivered to
him of this image he dreamed
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about and couldn't remember.
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Understanding this dream
represents these different
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kingdoms in this earth,
going all the way down to the
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very end of time.
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Down to the time in
which we live and beyond to the
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second coming of Jesus Christ.
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In that knowledge,
Nebuchadnezzar is about to
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deviate just a little bit,
because it is all up here and
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none of it has come down here.
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He has an intellectual
conversion in Chapter 2,
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God through Daniel's
interpretation, God explicitly
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told Nebuchadnezzar, your
dream of this vision represents
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a session of kingdoms,
Babylon is the head of gold.
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Only the head of gold,
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only the head of
gold Nebuchadnezzar.
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Babylon does not continue
on down through history.
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Well immediately, as Chapter
3 opens, we see Nebuchadnezzar
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defying the
vision that God gave.
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In verse 1 Nebuchadnezzar
the king, made an image of gold.
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Not an image as God revealed
it to him, of gold, silver,
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brass, iron, iron mixed with
clay and finally God's kingdom
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rising to consume all
of the kingdoms and be the
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everlasting kingdom.
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No, Nebuchadnezzar wants
his kingdom to be perpetual.
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He wants it to continue on.
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He is acting out his
arrogance, and he is acting out
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his insecurities, his fears.
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That is a really good point
Ty because I believe that God
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has put eternity
in all of our hearts.
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That's what
Ecclesiastics tells us.
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God wants us to live forever,
but it's insecure in the
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sense that we are seeking
to accomplish that goal without
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God, which is impossible.
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Nebuchadnezzar is seeking
to accomplish that goal without
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God so when he does this,
he is defining what God has
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revealed to him.
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Now what we need to recognize
is that one of the reasons
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why Nebuchadnezzar does
this is because he is afraid.
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He is afraid for the
future and he is afraid of his
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kingdom coming to an end
because that means he is going
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to come to an end.
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None of us want come to
an end, we all want a future
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and a hope.
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God is trying to bring
Nebuchadnezzar to the place,
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first of all, where
he realizes without Him,
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that is Nebuchadnezzar
without Me, without God,
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you do not have a
future and a hope.
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Nebuchadnezzar in defying
that revelation, that vision,
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is defying his need for God.
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In Hebrews 2:14,15, we are
told that every human being
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lives their whole life
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time in fear of death.
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It is a great unknown.
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We grow old and our
lives finally expire.
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The Bible is telling us very
clearly that human beings are
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just haunted with this sense
of apprehension about death.
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Fear of this vast unknown,
beyond the grave, people don't
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want to die, Nebuchadnezzar
doesn't want to die.
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He doesn't want his
kingdom to come to an end.
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He wants it to be perpetuated.
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Yes, and it is interesting
because in verse 15 of
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Hebrews Chapter 2, it says,
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"and God has sent His Son
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"to deliver them who through"
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"fear of death for
all of their lifetime are
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subject to bondage. "
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We think it is freeing, it is
liberating to do what we want,
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to live the way we want to
live and have God out of the
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picture, and God is saying
no you are actually in bondage.
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You are in bondage when
you are leaving Me out of the
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picture because to be totally
taken in and controlled by
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Sin and sinful mess
is to be in bondage.
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Nebuchadnezzar is in bondage,
he is in bondage to his own
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fears in Chapter 3 and
God has come to deliver him
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from those fears.
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Nebuchadnezzar makes this
image because he is afraid.
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The people who are
commanded to worship this image,
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worship the image
because they are afraid.
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They are told by Nebuchadnezzar
that when you hear,
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when you hear the sounds
of the music, you need to bow
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down to worship
or you will be thrown
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into a fiery furnace.
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So the people are afraid,
Nebuchadnezzar is afraid,
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we are afraid.
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It doesn't matter
how many hats we wear,
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how many bumper stickers we
put on our cars and vehicles
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that say "no fear",
the fact of the matter is
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we are scared to death.
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Especially of death, we
are scared to death of death.
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In Romans Chapter 8 the
apostle Paul gives us this
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incredible insight where
he tells us that when we are
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born again, when we
yield our lives over to Christ,
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one of the things that God
achieves in the human heart,
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he's He breaks
that bondage of fear.
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He says there in Chapter 8
of Romans, "you did not receive"
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"the spirit of bondage again
to fear, but you received the"
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"Spirit of adoption
whereby you cry, Abba Father. "
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"The Spirit himself bears
witness with our spirit that"
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"we are the children of God. "
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There is a deliverance from
fear that comes to the human
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Spirit, to the human heart
when we give and yield our lives
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over to Christ, over to God.
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We are free, we are
liberated from that fear.
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And notice that, that
freedom from fear connects us to
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God as our Father.
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There is a direct
connection taking place there.
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Nebuchadnezzar is denying
the One and embracing the other.
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God wants to break his
hold on the one, that is fear,
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so that he can be ushered
into this relationship with God
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as his Father.
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He is going to do
this in a very unique way.
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God is looking for people,
who are so committed to Him,
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that they can
reveal the freedom of fear.
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The freedom from death that
God has promised to give us.
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He has given us as a
gift through Jesus Christ.
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That is what He is
looking for in Daniel Chapter 3.
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When Nebuchadnezzar defies
the dream that God gave to him,
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I think it is important
to note that God doesn't turn
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against Nebuchadnezzar.
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He continues to pursue him
because God is trying to get
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into Nebuchadnezzar's
heart to liberate him from fear.
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He is trying to lead
this king to conversion,
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so God pursues him relentlessly.
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The hound of Heaven, He's on
Nebuchadnezzar's trail and He
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is not letting up.
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Amen and what I really
like about this Chapter.
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This picture that we have here
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it warns all of us, friends,
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how dangerous it can be to be
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half converted.
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To be intellectually converted,
in what ever religious
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belief we have, to be
intellectually converted but
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don't have a heart
experience with God.
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because what
Nebuchadnezzar does here is
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he seeks to enforce his
understanding of religion,
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his understanding of
worship on the multitudes.
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That is what happens with us.
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It doesn't matter that we
are not necessarily a king,
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not necessarily a president,
we are not necessarily in
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power, even if we are a
parent, or a sibling, no matter
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what our station in life,
if we are only half converted
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we will try to take our
religious views and impose them
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upon others.
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This is one of the
principal warnings that we find,
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here in Daniel Chapter 3.
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The exercise of force is
00:10:03.76\00:10:05.52
contrary to the character
00:10:05.56\00:10:07.26
of God, the exercise of
00:10:07.29\00:10:09.22
coercion, to put pressure
00:10:09.25\00:10:11.11
on people to manipulate
them, or pressure them into a
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acceptance of whatever
our views happened to be.
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Even if our views are right
and provable from Scripture.
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We know the
certainty of these things.
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No matter how deeply convicted
we are, we can be absolutely
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certain that when we are
tending toward coercing others
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into subjection to our
views, the Spirit of God is not
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governing those impulses
to control other people.
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Another thing that is really
significant in this Chapter
00:10:41.88\00:10:43.94
is the place of music
Ty, in worship, in force.
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Music is a
powerful in its influence.
00:10:47.85\00:10:50.57
Have you noticed that no
matter where you go in society,
00:10:50.60\00:10:53.41
at lease let's say in the
Western society, I am sure in
00:10:53.44\00:10:56.21
other societies
also, that music is huge.
00:10:56.25\00:10:59.50
Music is a huge
influence and a huge factor.
00:10:59.54\00:11:02.73
You can find people doing,
under the influence of music,
00:11:02.76\00:11:06.68
what they wouldn't
do if the music stopped.
00:11:06.72\00:11:09.78
Try it out yourself some time.
00:11:09.81\00:11:11.07
You find in grocery stores,
you find in department stores,
00:11:11.11\00:11:15.29
you find in the community,
the workplace, where every you
00:11:15.33\00:11:19.48
find music, music, music.
00:11:19.51\00:11:20.93
We were recently building
a home and we had contractors
00:11:20.97\00:11:23.85
they were coming to do
sheet rock, and do the plumbing,
00:11:23.88\00:11:27.72
and I'm telling you what,
you had to make sure and lay
00:11:27.76\00:11:31.15
down the law about music
because if not you would have
00:11:31.19\00:11:34.58
one guy upstairs blasting
maybe some rock 'n roll.
00:11:34.61\00:11:37.94
Another guy downstairs blasting
some other types of music.
00:11:37.97\00:11:40.92
Another guy over here in a
corner blasting, you had 3 or 4
00:11:40.95\00:11:43.86
different types of music.
00:11:43.89\00:11:45.16
What they are doing is working,
in a sense they are trying
00:11:45.20\00:11:48.54
to get their minds off the
fact that they are laboring.
00:11:48.58\00:11:52.35
Their minds are totally
submerged in this music and
00:11:52.38\00:11:56.12
it is taking them
into another world.
00:11:56.15\00:11:57.17
In Daniel Chapter 3 James,
00:11:57.21\00:11:59.55
this is the
storyline that unfolds.
00:11:59.58\00:12:02.66
Nebuchadnezzar imposing
force, using coercion to enforce
00:12:02.70\00:12:08.59
his religious convictions.
00:12:08.63\00:12:10.92
Nebuchadnezzar tells the
multitudes of his kingdom,
00:12:10.95\00:12:14.62
when you hear the
music bow down and worship.
00:12:14.66\00:12:16.42
If you do not bow down and
worship you will be killed.
00:12:16.45\00:12:19.08
You will be executed, so
that is the backdrop that is
00:12:19.12\00:12:21.71
happening in here.
00:12:21.75\00:12:22.95
As you have pointed out,
Nebuchadnezzar is being governed
00:12:22.99\00:12:25.94
by fear, the multitudes
are being governed by fear,
00:12:25.97\00:12:28.88
but there it emerges
a group of people here.
00:12:28.92\00:12:32.01
A small little
nucleus, just three guys.
00:12:32.05\00:12:35.07
These three guys, Meshach,
Shadrach, and Abednego emerge
00:12:35.10\00:12:39.66
in this story and it becomes
evident very quickly here
00:12:39.70\00:12:44.22
that they are
not governed by fear.
00:12:44.26\00:12:46.43
In fact they face it squarely
and they move forward with
00:12:46.47\00:12:50.48
their convictions,
obviously convictions that are
00:12:50.51\00:12:54.04
diametrically opposed to
what the king is imposing.
00:12:54.08\00:12:57.97
Convictions that are not
to be manipulated or coerced.
00:12:58.01\00:13:01.86
We could call
these guys a remnant.
00:13:01.90\00:13:03.59
The principal of
remnant is found in the
00:13:03.62\00:13:06.02
book of Revelation
another prophetic book.
00:13:06.05\00:13:08.38
We can call these guys a
remnant because the word means
00:13:08.42\00:13:11.15
the remainder,
those that remain.
00:13:11.19\00:13:13.00
These were the ones who
remained standing when everyone
00:13:13.03\00:13:17.19
else bow down, they remained.
00:13:17.23\00:13:18.93
They remained standing, but
more than that, they remained
00:13:18.96\00:13:22.56
faithful to God, that was the
main point of their standing.
00:13:22.60\00:13:26.16
They weren't standing to
be obstinate, or stubborn,
00:13:26.20\00:13:28.44
to directly oppose
the king or his laws.
00:13:28.48\00:13:31.86
They were not seeking to
draw attention to themselves.
00:13:31.89\00:13:34.53
To be different or for people
to look to them and go woo!
00:13:34.57\00:13:37.23
They were remaining because
they were wanting to remain
00:13:37.26\00:13:40.57
faithful to God and so they
stood when everyone else bowed.
00:13:40.61\00:13:43.89
They didn't come under
the influence of music,
00:13:43.92\00:13:45.49
the influence of amusement,
the influence that the world
00:13:45.52\00:13:48.97
sought to bring upon them,
but they stood and remained
00:13:49.00\00:13:52.52
faithful to God by
refusing to worship another God
00:13:52.55\00:13:56.03
but the true God.
00:13:56.07\00:13:57.39
When we come back, don't go
away, we are going to find out
00:13:57.43\00:14:00.33
exactly what happened
with these 3 young men.
00:14:00.36\00:14:03.20