Go Your Way 2020-09-20
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Daniel • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 22:58
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· 56 viewsThis message was an overview of Daniel chapters 11 and 12, the final vission and interpretation to Daniel. It ends with a challenge live your life dedicated to God, which is the only "Way" that will lead to Eternal Life.
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Go Your Way
Go Your Way
Those were encouraging words spoken to Daniel by the angel.
We all want to go our own way!
But do you think, life will turn out great if we all
Go our own way?
That is, if every one of us, followed our desires,
would all our actions be good.
What if my desire is to have:
your car,
your cat or
your kids
would you be cool with that?
No, of course not,
We can’t all freely peruse:
our way,
our wants
our desires,
until we have given our heart and lives to Jesus and by the transforming of our minds,
have put away the old man sin and taken on the new life in Christ.
Sometimes that is a daily putting to death the sinful desires of the flesh.
Only when our way is
God’s way!
can the message of the angel,
a messenger of God
apply to us, that message to Go Your Way.
Today we are going to finish the book of Daniel.
We are going to cover some of the important verse in those last two chapters.
But I don’t want to wear you and I out, so I would be reading every verse to you.
I would encourage you to finish reading Daniel on your own, if you have been following along in your own devotions.
Daniel chapter 11 is a long chapter, giving a history lesson. But it’s not a lesson about the past,
It’s a lesson about the future.
Some of the things mentioned are in our past,
others are still to come.
Some of the things mentions, we have a very clear idea who or what is being talked about
and other things not so much. I know there is a murder I want to tell you about later in the message.
In chapter 11 the angel is still speaking. He started speaking in Daniel 10:20 but lets read from verse 18
18 Then this one with human appearance touched me again and strengthened me.
19 He said, “O man of high esteem, do not be afraid. Peace be with you; take courage and be courageous!” Now as soon as he spoke to me, I received strength and said, “May my lord speak, for you have strengthened me.”
So, as you recall from last week
Daniel was weakened by the visions
The angel touched him and strengthened him
and he was ready to stand up and listen to the angels words.
Lord give this congregation the strength, wisdom and desire to hear from your words this morning!
Lets jump to verse 1 in chapter 11 and see what the angel has to say
1 “In the first year of Darius the Mede, I arose to be an encouragement and a protection for him.
So this angels job was to do what?
Encourage
Protect
Who?
This king that God had chosen to be in charge in those days.
It was this angels job to look after Darius, even though he wasn’t one of God’s people, at least not by race.
Have you ever seen the bumper sticker,
Don’t drive faster than your guardian angel can fly
Don’t drive faster than your guardian angel can fly
It’s a cute thought.
Totally ridiculous that one of God’s mighty angels couldn’t keep up with your car but cute.
If God has angel looking over the leaders he has raised up, even foreign leaders.
Do you think He just might have angels watching over you and me,
To protect us
To encourage us
Jesus said
10 “See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven.
If children have guardian angels and
Foreign leader have guardian angels
Then just maybe
You and I do too!
Amen? Amen!
The angel goes on from then and begins telling the history
3 more kings and then a fourth one who will take on Greece
and he goes on from there.
Let’s skip on down to verse 6
6 “After some years they will form an alliance, and the daughter of the king of the South will come to the king of the North to carry out a peaceful arrangement. But she will not retain her position of power, nor will he remain with his power, but she will be given up, along with those who brought her in and the one who sired her as well as he who supported her in those times.
Scholars believe verse 6 & 7 refer to the Seleucid wars between Egypt and Syria. In 252 BC Ptolemy II of Egypt (the South) gave his daughter Berenice in marriage to Antiochus II of Syria (the North) to finalize the treaty between the two lands.
Now Antiochus II already had a wife, to he kicked her out, to officially marry this other women and ratify the treaty.
Antiochus former wife, her name was Laodice, she murdered Berenice.
So Berenice’s brother Ptolemy III, took the throne of Egypt and went to war against Syria.
The description of wars and kings goes on, lets look at verse 21
21 “In his place a despicable person will arise, on whom the honor of kingship has not been conferred, but he will come in a time of tranquility and seize the kingdom by intrigue.
What a guy to be king
Someone whose honor was not worthy of kingship.
Maybe they called him Erik the Usurper, or something like that.
Wars and treaties go on, let’s look at verse 27
27 “As for both kings, their hearts will be intent on evil, and they will speak lies to each other at the same table; but it will not succeed, for the end is still to come at the appointed time.
Lying kings trying to negotiate treaties to their advantage, but the end
their end will still come,
just when God planned it to come.
In verse 29 we again see that this is all God’s timing
29 “At the appointed time he will return and come into the South, but this last time it will not turn out the way it did before.
I wounder what is my appointed time,
and what is yours?
How do you change a wicked person,
into a godless person?
Smooth Words
Flattery
How can I claim that?
Look at verse 32
32 “By smooth words he will turn to godlessness those who act wickedly toward the covenant, but the people who know their God will display strength and take action.
Many people come to church,
are associated with Christ and yet
are not entirely on God’s Path
Sometimes they walk there own path
and if that path is wicked,
watch out, because someday
you could find yourself
not even believing in god any more.
In contrast to the wicked
are the wise, those with insight
33 “Those who have insight among the people will give understanding to the many; yet they will fall by sword and by flame, by captivity and by plunder for many days.
The wise:
Help many people
but still in times of tribulations, trouble can even happen to them.
What kind of trouble:
sword
flames
captivity (slavery)
being plundered.
It can even last many days
but be encouraged, this too shall pass.
trouble will not last forever.
Sometimes the whole reason for these trials in life, are to make us better.
35 “Some of those who have insight will fall, in order to refine, purge and make them pure until the end time; because it is still to come at the appointed time.
For a time, evil will prosper
36 “Then the king will do as he pleases, and he will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will speak monstrous things against the God of gods; and he will prosper until the indignation is finished, for that which is decreed will be done.
One of those kings will make an exceptional narcissist.
37 “He will show no regard for the gods of his fathers or for the desire of women, nor will he show regard for any other god; for he will magnify himself above them all.
This guy:
he ignores the God of his ancestors
he ignores the God or Goddess the women prefer
he ignores all God’s, except himself.
As though he was God and should be worshiped.
The angel, who has been relating all this to Daniel
goes on with 8 more verses of future events
Then in chapter 12 he says
1 “Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued.
We heard about Michael before,
Michael is the Archangel that came and helped this angel, so he could come and bring God’s message to Daniel. Dan 13:13
Michael is also called “Your Prince” in Dan 10:21 but I didn’t notice before that
the word “YOUR” was plural
So the angel Michael is not Daniels angel,
Michael is the angel assigned to the Jews, God’s people.
So now with that in mind, it makes for sense that here the angel says
New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 12
Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people
So now we know there are guardian angels, at least for children, probably for all.
Remember, only 1/3 of the angels fell, 2/3 are on our side.
There are angel sent with messages from God.
There are angels guarding leaders, even foreign leaders like Darius.
And there are leaders of angels over people groups, like the Jews!.
What else can we learn from verse 1 from chapter 12.
After trouble comes a rescue
New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 12
there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued.
Alright, those in the tribulation, will get rescued.
But what kind of rescue is this angel talking about
That means right away doesn’t it?
that means no more suffering right?
let’s read more
2 “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.
Oh,
it says, “many who sleep in the dust”.
you know what that means
the rescue may not be in this life
[pause]
But the rescue is to
New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 12
these to everlasting life
at least for those whose path is God’s path.
Those one some other path.
A path of there own desires
what will they be raised to?
New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 12
but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.
Job knew that some day his redeemer would take a stand on the earth.
25 “As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives,
And at the last He will take His stand on the earth.
The Psalmist had some idea too of life after death
10 For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol;
Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.
Would you like to be a superstar in heaven
Would you like to be a superstar in heaven
Lead others to Christ
Lead others to Christ
3 “Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.
One of the last things the angel said to Daniel was this
10 “Many will be purged, purified and refined, but the wicked will act wickedly; and none of the wicked will understand, but those who have insight will understand.
As the end time draw near, the divide between good and evil
will become more and more clear.
This appears to be happening more and more these days.
And now the verse I keyed into this morning
13 “But as for you, go your way to the end; then you will enter into rest and rise again for your allotted portion at the end of the age.”
The angel says to Daniel
New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 12
go your way to the end; then you will enter into rest and rise again for your allotted portion at the end of the age.”
That brings me back to the discussion we started with
Going your why will only help you
If your way,
Is God’s like
like it was for Daniel
If your way, is some other way
some self-centered
self-focused way then
that promise isn’t for you
you won’t get your allotted portion
or in New Testament terms
you won’t get your mansion then
if you don’t walk with god today.
Let’s Pray
Let’s Pray
Father as you laid out history for Daniel to know and for us to know
We see some great promises
We see some difficult times
And we see your great reward
Yet we also see
great loss and
senseless suffering
for those who haven’t walked with you
TO THE END as Daniel did.
Help us to choose again, today and every day
to make your Way OUR Way
and to choose to Walk with YOU.
If that is the cry of your heart
if you want to want with God
On God’s Path from this Day forward
Please yelp out AMEN now!