WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.520 I believe he's coming soon. Oh, hallelujah. Let's 00:00:03.520 --> 00:00:05.740 give him another round of applause before we 00:00:05.740 --> 00:00:10.080 see to this morning. Thank you, Jesus. Hallelujah. 00:00:11.880 --> 00:00:17.019 Praise God. You may be seated. What a marvelous, 00:00:17.280 --> 00:00:21.379 wonderful time of worship we've already had today. 00:00:22.480 --> 00:00:24.859 How wonderful it is to be in God's presence. 00:00:24.940 --> 00:00:28.219 I had rather be in the presence of God than any 00:00:28.219 --> 00:00:32.859 other place on this earth. And to feel his goodness 00:00:32.859 --> 00:00:37.240 and his richness and his tenderness, he called 00:00:37.240 --> 00:00:39.420 me out of darkness into his marvelous light. 00:00:39.899 --> 00:00:45.299 And I've been redeemed by his saving grace. Oh, 00:00:45.320 --> 00:00:48.159 listen, we forget what a tremendous honor it 00:00:48.159 --> 00:00:52.880 was when God saved us. And I just feel his presence 00:00:52.880 --> 00:00:56.340 today. I'm so blessed today to be with you at 00:00:56.340 --> 00:00:58.880 Hopewell. What a wonderful church, a beautiful 00:00:58.880 --> 00:01:02.939 church. And it's made more beautiful by the beautiful 00:01:02.939 --> 00:01:06.319 people that are in it. And it's so good for Judy 00:01:06.319 --> 00:01:10.680 and I to be here today. I want to say that I 00:01:10.680 --> 00:01:14.239 have the deepest love and appreciation for the 00:01:14.239 --> 00:01:17.439 great shepherd and pastor of this church. He's 00:01:17.439 --> 00:01:22.099 one of God's finest. One of God's very finest. 00:01:23.420 --> 00:01:26.280 And he's such a dear friend. And I'm honored 00:01:26.280 --> 00:01:29.459 by this invitation to preach the gospel. And 00:01:29.459 --> 00:01:32.260 it's so good also to be with the one and only 00:01:32.260 --> 00:01:35.560 sister I have in the world who attends this church. 00:01:36.000 --> 00:01:41.120 And Becky, I love you. And I thank God for you. 00:01:41.239 --> 00:01:46.519 And for the man that you married, my brother 00:01:46.519 --> 00:01:49.000 -in -law, he's more like a brother. And it's 00:01:49.000 --> 00:01:50.980 so good to be with Ron and Becky today and to 00:01:50.980 --> 00:01:55.719 have my wife Judy here, my better half, maybe 00:01:55.719 --> 00:02:00.299 better three quarters. And I'm so glad she's 00:02:00.299 --> 00:02:04.840 with me today. I really sought the Lord when 00:02:04.840 --> 00:02:07.359 I was invited to preach today. I mean that with 00:02:07.359 --> 00:02:11.500 all my heart. I didn't want to just find some 00:02:11.500 --> 00:02:15.780 sermon in an old sermon book of mine and try 00:02:15.780 --> 00:02:19.599 to resurrect it. I got on my knees and I began 00:02:19.599 --> 00:02:23.900 to ask God, God, speak to my heart. God's got 00:02:23.900 --> 00:02:28.719 this habit of waking me up and speaking to me. 00:02:28.759 --> 00:02:31.879 I wish God would wait until about 10 in the morning. 00:02:33.180 --> 00:02:37.919 But God likes to talk at 4 and 4 .30. And the 00:02:37.919 --> 00:02:40.699 Bible said, he that watches Israel neither slumbers 00:02:40.699 --> 00:02:44.330 nor sleeps. Now, I believe that. Because he wakes 00:02:44.330 --> 00:02:46.150 me up and talks to me. And that's all right. 00:02:46.210 --> 00:02:49.590 He's God. I'm not. So if he wants to speak to 00:02:49.590 --> 00:02:51.949 me early, I'm glad he's just still speaking to 00:02:51.949 --> 00:02:54.909 me. And I want to share with you in the word 00:02:54.909 --> 00:02:59.729 of the Lord today what God has to speak to me. 00:03:00.250 --> 00:03:02.590 I'm going to do something most unusual. I'm going 00:03:02.590 --> 00:03:04.830 to use a sermon illustration here in just a little 00:03:04.830 --> 00:03:08.650 bit. But before I do, I'm preaching for the first 00:03:08.650 --> 00:03:13.139 time ever in my life. Out of my mama's old Bible. 00:03:14.939 --> 00:03:19.020 If you open this Bible up, it says it was printed 00:03:19.020 --> 00:03:24.819 in 1944. My mama's daddy, who was a preacher 00:03:24.819 --> 00:03:27.300 farmer, the reason he was a preacher farmer is 00:03:27.300 --> 00:03:31.659 because he preached because God called him and 00:03:31.659 --> 00:03:34.599 he farmed because God gave him 14 children to 00:03:34.599 --> 00:03:41.110 feed. And money was... Not something easy to 00:03:41.110 --> 00:03:46.729 come by in those days. And grandpa got enough 00:03:46.729 --> 00:03:49.870 pennies together, money together to buy my mama 00:03:49.870 --> 00:03:54.129 this Bible when she graduated from high school 00:03:54.129 --> 00:04:03.090 in 1944. And he gave it to her and mama kept 00:04:03.090 --> 00:04:08.069 it all these years. And my mama was a Bible reader. 00:04:08.639 --> 00:04:12.460 And when she found a verse that she liked, she 00:04:12.460 --> 00:04:16.720 took a red pen and put a little red star beside 00:04:16.720 --> 00:04:20.800 it. I stand before you with a Bible full of red 00:04:20.800 --> 00:04:25.740 stars. And I have to be careful about preaching 00:04:25.740 --> 00:04:27.579 to Mama's Bible because I've never took anything 00:04:27.579 --> 00:04:30.480 out of it. Mama's got five bookmarks in this 00:04:30.480 --> 00:04:34.180 Bible. She's got a picture of Daddy in this Bible. 00:04:34.920 --> 00:04:38.199 She's got a love letter. that daddy wrote her 00:04:38.199 --> 00:04:43.000 on their 63rd wedding anniversary. If you're 00:04:43.000 --> 00:04:46.399 still writing love letters after 63 years, brother, 00:04:46.519 --> 00:04:52.160 you got the real thing. And it's just a wonderful 00:04:52.160 --> 00:04:55.959 Bible, and I wanted to preach out of it because 00:04:55.959 --> 00:05:00.779 I wanted it to be part of the sermon illustration 00:05:00.779 --> 00:05:03.759 I'm going to share with you in just a few moments. 00:05:05.290 --> 00:05:09.329 From God's eternal word. I'm going to do something 00:05:09.329 --> 00:05:13.810 they used to do in early America. In early America, 00:05:13.990 --> 00:05:18.189 often when the minister would read his text, 00:05:18.430 --> 00:05:23.449 he would always read the entire chapter he was 00:05:23.449 --> 00:05:28.230 going to preach out of. I would have hated to 00:05:28.230 --> 00:05:31.329 have been there when the man preached out of 00:05:31.329 --> 00:05:37.519 the 119th Psalm. But they would read the whole 00:05:37.519 --> 00:05:40.980 chapter and sometimes two or three chapters, 00:05:41.079 --> 00:05:44.959 and I'm going to read today the fifth chapter 00:05:44.959 --> 00:05:48.560 of the book of the prophet Daniel because this 00:05:48.560 --> 00:05:53.819 is the story that God's laid upon my heart to 00:05:53.819 --> 00:06:01.439 preach about that America needs to hear. When 00:06:01.439 --> 00:06:08.180 I... I retired back in 2022. Now, somebody said, 00:06:08.300 --> 00:06:10.139 you retired, Brother Griffiths? Well, retire 00:06:10.139 --> 00:06:16.420 means you just get a new set of tires. And when 00:06:16.420 --> 00:06:21.180 I retired, the Lord began to change my ministry 00:06:21.180 --> 00:06:23.459 and the directory of my ministry. He wanted me 00:06:23.459 --> 00:06:26.980 to become more of a writer, and I began to write 00:06:26.980 --> 00:06:29.660 more. I'd written three books back in the 90s, 00:06:29.660 --> 00:06:32.980 but the Lord began to have me to write. on social 00:06:32.980 --> 00:06:40.459 media and then the Lord began to speak to me 00:06:40.459 --> 00:06:44.379 in the prophetic and I didn't ask to speak because 00:06:44.379 --> 00:06:46.920 people get mad at you when you speak prophetically 00:06:46.920 --> 00:06:51.220 and I'm like everybody else I don't like folks 00:06:51.220 --> 00:06:56.779 mad at me but I've decided that I had rather 00:06:56.779 --> 00:07:01.660 obey God than to obey men And one of the problems 00:07:01.660 --> 00:07:04.800 in America today is that we don't have enough 00:07:04.800 --> 00:07:13.139 people obeying God. And I want to obey God. And 00:07:13.139 --> 00:07:16.199 so I'm going to read this fifth chapter of Daniel, 00:07:16.300 --> 00:07:19.660 and we're going to get into the message. And 00:07:19.660 --> 00:07:24.560 because my hair is white and my beard is white, 00:07:24.680 --> 00:07:31.660 I'm putting these babies on to read. Daniel chapter 00:07:31.660 --> 00:07:39.160 5, the story of King Belshazzar. The only place 00:07:39.160 --> 00:07:44.040 in the Bible that he's written about. Daniel 00:07:44.040 --> 00:07:49.800 chapter 5. Belshazzar the king made a great feast 00:07:49.800 --> 00:07:55.259 to a thousand of his lords and drank wine before 00:07:55.259 --> 00:08:01.259 the thousand. Belshazzar. Whilst he tasted the 00:08:01.259 --> 00:08:04.800 wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver 00:08:04.800 --> 00:08:09.120 vessels, which his father Nebuchadnezzar had 00:08:09.120 --> 00:08:11.600 taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem, 00:08:11.920 --> 00:08:16.420 that the king and his princes and his wives and 00:08:16.420 --> 00:08:21.100 his concubines might drink therein. Then they 00:08:21.100 --> 00:08:24.019 brought the golden vessels that were taken out 00:08:24.019 --> 00:08:26.779 of the temple of the house of God which was at 00:08:26.779 --> 00:08:30.959 Jerusalem. And the king and his princes, his 00:08:30.959 --> 00:08:35.840 wives and his concubines drank in them. They 00:08:35.840 --> 00:08:40.759 drank wine and praised the gods of gold and of 00:08:40.759 --> 00:08:44.399 silver and of brass and of iron and of wood and 00:08:44.399 --> 00:08:48.539 of stone. In the same hour came forth fingers 00:08:48.539 --> 00:08:53.590 of a man's hand. and wrote over against the candlestick 00:08:53.590 --> 00:08:56.149 upon the plaster of the wall of the king's palace, 00:08:56.210 --> 00:08:58.509 and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. 00:08:59.509 --> 00:09:04.669 Then the king's countenance was changed, and 00:09:04.669 --> 00:09:08.529 his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints 00:09:08.529 --> 00:09:13.750 of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote 00:09:13.750 --> 00:09:17.490 one against another. The king cried aloud to 00:09:17.490 --> 00:09:20.789 bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and 00:09:20.789 --> 00:09:23.730 the soothsayers. And the king spake and said 00:09:23.730 --> 00:09:27.090 to the wise men of Babylon, Whosoever shall read 00:09:27.090 --> 00:09:30.009 this writing and show me the interpretation thereof 00:09:30.009 --> 00:09:33.730 shall be clothed with scarlet and have a chain 00:09:33.730 --> 00:09:36.509 of gold about his neck and shall be the third 00:09:36.509 --> 00:09:40.720 ruler in the kingdom. Then came in all the king's 00:09:40.720 --> 00:09:43.539 wise men, but they could not read the writing 00:09:43.539 --> 00:09:46.519 nor make known to the king the interpretation 00:09:46.519 --> 00:09:51.899 thereof. Then was King Belshazzar greatly troubled, 00:09:52.019 --> 00:09:56.000 and his countenance was changed in him, and his 00:09:56.000 --> 00:10:00.720 lords were astonished. Now the queen, by reason 00:10:00.720 --> 00:10:03.240 of the words of the king and his lords, came 00:10:03.240 --> 00:10:06.019 into the banquet house, and the queen spake and 00:10:06.019 --> 00:10:10.340 said, O king, live forever. Let not thy thoughts 00:10:10.340 --> 00:10:13.220 trouble thee, nor let thy countenance be changed. 00:10:13.340 --> 00:10:17.139 There is a man in thy kingdom, in whom is the 00:10:17.139 --> 00:10:20.259 spirit of the holy gods. And in the days of thy 00:10:20.259 --> 00:10:24.299 father, light and understanding and wisdom, like 00:10:24.299 --> 00:10:27.600 the wisdom of the gods, was found in him, whom 00:10:27.600 --> 00:10:30.220 the king Nebuchadnezzar, thy father, the king, 00:10:30.320 --> 00:10:34.629 I say thy father, made master. of the magicians, 00:10:34.669 --> 00:10:37.409 astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers for as 00:10:37.409 --> 00:10:41.529 much as an excellent spirit and knowledge and 00:10:41.529 --> 00:10:44.710 understanding, interpreting of dreams and showing 00:10:44.710 --> 00:10:48.409 of hard sentences and dissolving of doubts was 00:10:48.409 --> 00:10:52.029 found in the same Daniel, whom the king named 00:10:52.029 --> 00:10:55.450 Belteshazzar. Now let Daniel be called, and he 00:10:55.450 --> 00:10:59.269 will show the interpretation. Then was Daniel 00:10:59.269 --> 00:11:01.850 brought in before the king, and the king spake 00:11:01.850 --> 00:11:05.789 and said unto Daniel, Art thou that Daniel, which 00:11:05.789 --> 00:11:08.269 art of the children of the captivity of Judah, 00:11:08.450 --> 00:11:12.549 whom the king, my father, brought out of Jewry? 00:11:12.929 --> 00:11:15.470 I have even heard of thee, that the spirit of 00:11:15.470 --> 00:11:18.330 the gods is in thee, and that light and understanding 00:11:18.330 --> 00:11:22.490 and excellent wisdom is found in thee. Now the 00:11:22.490 --> 00:11:25.610 wise men, the astrologers, have been brought 00:11:25.610 --> 00:11:28.750 in before me that they should read this writing 00:11:28.750 --> 00:11:32.730 and make known unto me the interpretation thereof. 00:11:32.730 --> 00:11:35.750 But they could not show the interpretation of 00:11:35.750 --> 00:11:39.450 the thing. And I have heard of thee that thou 00:11:39.450 --> 00:11:42.230 canst make interpretations and dissolve doubts. 00:11:42.429 --> 00:11:45.549 Now if thou canst read the writing and make known 00:11:45.549 --> 00:11:48.730 to me the interpretation thereof, thou shall 00:11:48.730 --> 00:11:51.679 be clothed with scarlet. and have a chain of 00:11:51.679 --> 00:11:54.200 gold about thy neck, and shall be the third ruler 00:11:54.200 --> 00:11:56.500 in the kingdom. Then Daniel answered and said 00:11:56.500 --> 00:11:59.799 before the king, Let thy gifts be to thyself, 00:11:59.860 --> 00:12:05.019 and give thy rewards to another. Yet I will read 00:12:05.019 --> 00:12:09.460 the writing unto the king, and make known to 00:12:09.460 --> 00:12:14.179 him the interpretation. O thou king, the most 00:12:14.179 --> 00:12:17.360 high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom. 00:12:18.169 --> 00:12:21.490 and majesty and glory and honor. And for the 00:12:21.490 --> 00:12:24.490 majesty that he gave him, all people, nations, 00:12:24.509 --> 00:12:27.250 and languages trembled and feared before him, 00:12:27.389 --> 00:12:32.710 whom he would slew and whom he would be kept 00:12:32.710 --> 00:12:35.929 alive and whom he would set up and whom he would 00:12:35.929 --> 00:12:40.769 put down. But when his heart was lifted up and 00:12:40.769 --> 00:12:44.490 his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from 00:12:44.490 --> 00:12:47.769 his kingly throne. and they took his glory from 00:12:47.769 --> 00:12:50.649 him. And he was driven from the sons of men, 00:12:50.750 --> 00:12:53.269 and his heart was made like the beast and the 00:12:53.269 --> 00:12:56.169 asses, and they fed him with grass like oxen. 00:12:56.570 --> 00:12:59.169 And his body was wet with the dew of heaven, 00:12:59.289 --> 00:13:02.230 till he knew that the Most High God ruled in 00:13:02.230 --> 00:13:05.529 the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over 00:13:05.529 --> 00:13:09.429 it whomsoever he will. And thou, his son, O Belshazzar, 00:13:09.509 --> 00:13:13.110 hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest 00:13:13.110 --> 00:13:20.000 all this. but is lifted up thyself against the 00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:23.899 Lord of heaven. And they have brought the vessels 00:13:23.899 --> 00:13:28.200 of his house before thee. And thou and thy lords 00:13:28.200 --> 00:13:31.620 and thy wives and thy concubines have drunk wine 00:13:31.620 --> 00:13:34.360 in them, and thou hast praised the gods of gold, 00:13:34.519 --> 00:13:39.299 of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and stone, 00:13:39.379 --> 00:13:43.539 which see not, nor hear, nor know. that the God 00:13:43.539 --> 00:13:46.519 in whom's hand thy breath is and whose are all 00:13:46.519 --> 00:13:51.240 thy days, hast thou not glorified? Then was the 00:13:51.240 --> 00:13:55.039 part of the hand sent from him. And this writing 00:13:55.039 --> 00:13:57.740 was written. And this is the writing that was 00:13:57.740 --> 00:14:03.399 written. Mine, mine, tekel yifarsin. And this 00:14:03.399 --> 00:14:06.039 is the interpretation of the thing. Mine, God 00:14:06.039 --> 00:14:09.440 hath numbered thy kingdom and finished it. Tekel, 00:14:09.500 --> 00:14:11.460 thou art weighed in the balances and art found 00:14:11.460 --> 00:14:15.320 wanting. Peres, thy kingdom is divided and given 00:14:15.320 --> 00:14:19.360 to the Medes and Persians. Then commanded Belshazzar. 00:14:20.059 --> 00:14:22.720 And they clothed Daniel with scarlet and put 00:14:22.720 --> 00:14:25.340 a chain of gold about his neck and made a proclamation 00:14:25.340 --> 00:14:27.940 concerning him that he should be the third ruler 00:14:27.940 --> 00:14:35.480 in the kingdom. And that night was Belshazzar 00:14:35.480 --> 00:14:39.460 the king of the Chaldeans slain. And Darius the 00:14:39.460 --> 00:14:44.460 Median took the kingdom, being about three score 00:14:44.460 --> 00:14:51.360 and two years old. I'm going to preach today, 00:14:51.500 --> 00:14:53.600 and I thought of two titles for this sermon. 00:14:53.639 --> 00:14:57.240 I thought of the title, Can Men Defy God? The 00:14:57.240 --> 00:15:02.580 answer is no. No one can defy God. And then I 00:15:02.580 --> 00:15:09.059 thought about a title, God. is in charge? And 00:15:09.059 --> 00:15:14.720 the answer is yes. God is in charge. On this 00:15:14.720 --> 00:15:19.799 morning, God is in charge. Right now, God is 00:15:19.799 --> 00:15:23.940 in charge. At this moment, God is in charge. 00:15:24.740 --> 00:15:29.000 Throughout the world, God is in charge. Hallelujah. 00:15:30.139 --> 00:15:33.299 And so today I want to share with you right from 00:15:33.299 --> 00:15:36.919 the Word of the Lord. If America needs anything 00:15:36.919 --> 00:15:42.799 today, we need a revival of the Bible. I said 00:15:42.799 --> 00:15:47.740 we need a revival of the Bible. Hallelujah. You 00:15:47.740 --> 00:15:51.360 see, there's still power to be found in the Word 00:15:51.360 --> 00:15:54.950 of God. The problem today is that we've gotten 00:15:54.950 --> 00:15:58.009 away from the principles of the Word, the teachings 00:15:58.009 --> 00:16:01.470 of the Word, the instructions of the Word, the 00:16:01.470 --> 00:16:04.789 commandments of the Word, the guiding of the 00:16:04.789 --> 00:16:08.620 Word, the leading of the Word. We need a revival 00:16:08.620 --> 00:16:12.759 of the Bible. Hallelujah. I want to tell you 00:16:12.759 --> 00:16:15.700 right now, I want to stand flat -footed and tell 00:16:15.700 --> 00:16:20.740 you that I believe the Bible is the Word of God. 00:16:21.000 --> 00:16:23.419 I don't believe it just contains the Word of 00:16:23.419 --> 00:16:26.279 God. I don't understand all the miracles that 00:16:26.279 --> 00:16:29.259 God wrote in bringing it to us, but I do know 00:16:29.259 --> 00:16:34.100 this. I believe it is the absolute, unadulterated, 00:16:34.139 --> 00:16:36.919 straight out of heaven Word. Word of the living 00:16:36.919 --> 00:16:42.799 God. Hallelujah. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. 00:16:43.120 --> 00:16:48.019 Well, I want to show you something. I've already 00:16:48.019 --> 00:16:54.159 told you about Mama's Bible. It's kind of a big 00:16:54.159 --> 00:16:58.480 Bible, great big Bible. You know, the Bible said 00:16:58.480 --> 00:17:01.000 that the Word of God is quick and powerful and 00:17:01.000 --> 00:17:04.599 sharper than any two -edged sword. If the devil 00:17:04.599 --> 00:17:08.160 is afraid of anything, he's afraid of this. It 00:17:08.160 --> 00:17:11.259 shakes him. It terrifies him. He almost has a 00:17:11.259 --> 00:17:14.359 nervous breakdown when he gets around it. There's 00:17:14.359 --> 00:17:17.500 power in the Word of God. Let me tell you something. 00:17:17.599 --> 00:17:20.099 I brought a bunch of little different Bibles 00:17:20.099 --> 00:17:25.259 with me today. I call this a checkbook Bible 00:17:25.259 --> 00:17:27.920 because it looks like a checkbook. You can stick 00:17:27.920 --> 00:17:32.000 it right in the coat pocket there, just a checkbook. 00:17:32.059 --> 00:17:36.079 I call this one. This little bitty Bible, I call 00:17:36.079 --> 00:17:40.380 it my switchblade Bible. I can hide it in my 00:17:40.380 --> 00:17:43.299 pocket. Devil don't even know I've got it until 00:17:43.299 --> 00:17:45.279 he gets too close and I pull it on him. Back 00:17:45.279 --> 00:17:47.980 up, devil. I'll cut you right where you stand. 00:17:52.859 --> 00:17:59.380 This is one of dad's old Bibles. My dad had eyes 00:17:59.380 --> 00:18:04.140 like an eagle reading. or at a distance. He never 00:18:04.140 --> 00:18:06.240 had to wear glasses and lived to be 92 years 00:18:06.240 --> 00:18:10.599 old. Daddy bought the tiniest printed Bible. 00:18:11.240 --> 00:18:14.440 I need a magnifying glass with my reading glasses 00:18:14.440 --> 00:18:19.119 to read it. And Dad's got rotten all over it. 00:18:19.119 --> 00:18:24.380 It's old, but I feel good when I touch it. Amen. 00:18:24.500 --> 00:18:31.609 Word of the living God. Here's a Bible. That 00:18:31.609 --> 00:18:34.130 Tennessee State Council gave me on October the 00:18:34.130 --> 00:18:38.569 4th or October the 7th, 2004. It's made out of 00:18:38.569 --> 00:18:43.630 real soft leather. It's a beautiful Bible. And 00:18:43.630 --> 00:18:48.329 I enjoy carrying this Bible around when I want 00:18:48.329 --> 00:18:51.750 people to say that man's got a good looking Bible. 00:18:54.950 --> 00:18:58.930 It's a great Bible. Now I'm going to show you 00:18:58.930 --> 00:19:02.190 something very special. Very special to my wife. 00:19:02.269 --> 00:19:06.690 She takes very good care of this Bible. My father 00:19:06.690 --> 00:19:10.930 -in -law was in General George Patton's 3rd Army, 00:19:11.130 --> 00:19:15.430 9th Armored Division, World War II. Went all 00:19:15.430 --> 00:19:18.329 the way across France into Czechoslovakia, battle 00:19:18.329 --> 00:19:21.890 after battle after battle. Before they started 00:19:21.890 --> 00:19:25.349 out, they gave each of those soldiers this little 00:19:25.349 --> 00:19:30.539 New Testament. On the inside, There is a message 00:19:30.539 --> 00:19:38.160 from Franklin Roosevelt, President of the United 00:19:38.160 --> 00:19:42.640 States. I'm going to read it to you. It says, 00:19:42.859 --> 00:19:46.900 As Commander -in -Chief, I take pleasure in commending 00:19:46.900 --> 00:19:50.160 the reading of the Bible to all who serve in 00:19:50.160 --> 00:19:53.799 the armed forces of the United States. Throughout 00:19:53.799 --> 00:19:56.859 the centuries, men of many faiths and diverse 00:19:56.859 --> 00:20:00.920 origins have found in the sacred book words of 00:20:00.920 --> 00:20:05.380 wisdom, counsel, and inspiration. It is a fountain 00:20:05.380 --> 00:20:11.140 of strength and now, as always, an aid in attaining 00:20:11.140 --> 00:20:16.660 the highest aspirations of the human soul. This 00:20:16.660 --> 00:20:22.039 little Bible survived bullets and gunpowder and... 00:20:22.359 --> 00:20:25.799 Cannon fire and hand grenades and he brought 00:20:25.799 --> 00:20:30.319 it back. And my wife has it. There was a time 00:20:30.319 --> 00:20:35.279 when America took the Bible very seriously. They 00:20:35.279 --> 00:20:38.259 loved it. They appreciated it. They embraced 00:20:38.259 --> 00:20:41.519 it. It was a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful 00:20:41.519 --> 00:20:46.400 thing. And so when God began to speak to me about 00:20:46.400 --> 00:20:49.960 this message that he's laid upon my heart and 00:20:49.960 --> 00:20:54.380 about... the need for the truth of God's Word 00:20:54.380 --> 00:20:58.359 to be resurrected in this day and time, he directed 00:20:58.359 --> 00:21:03.319 me to the very fact that we need a re -appreciation 00:21:03.319 --> 00:21:07.720 and a revival of the Word of God. Isaiah said 00:21:07.720 --> 00:21:10.559 in Isaiah 40 and 8, the grass withers and the 00:21:10.559 --> 00:21:13.920 flower fades, but the Word of our God shall stand 00:21:13.920 --> 00:21:18.119 forever. God told Jeremiah, is not my word like 00:21:18.119 --> 00:21:22.559 as a fire in Jeremiah 23 and 29. And he said, 00:21:22.579 --> 00:21:25.180 it's like the hammer that breaks the rock into 00:21:25.180 --> 00:21:30.700 pieces. David said in Psalms 119, 105, thy word 00:21:30.700 --> 00:21:34.539 is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. 00:21:34.819 --> 00:21:38.079 David said, I will hide thy word in my heart 00:21:38.079 --> 00:21:43.180 that I might not sin against God. The apostle 00:21:43.180 --> 00:21:47.680 Peter said, said in 2 Peter 1, 21, he said, For 00:21:47.680 --> 00:21:50.579 the prophecy came not in old time by the will 00:21:50.579 --> 00:21:54.400 of men, but holy men of God spake as they were 00:21:54.400 --> 00:21:58.839 moved on by the Holy Ghost. The apostle Paul 00:21:58.839 --> 00:22:04.359 said in Romans 10 and 17, he said, So faith cometh 00:22:04.359 --> 00:22:10.759 by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Hallelujah. 00:22:11.720 --> 00:22:15.559 The Bible said in Revelation 1 and 7 concerning 00:22:15.559 --> 00:22:19.119 John the Revelator, he said concerning him, it 00:22:19.119 --> 00:22:24.799 said, who bore record of the Word of God. And 00:22:24.799 --> 00:22:29.279 Jesus said in Matthew 24 and 25, heaven and earth 00:22:29.279 --> 00:22:34.630 shall pass away, but my Word shall not. pass 00:22:34.630 --> 00:22:38.789 away. We need a revival of the Bible. I said 00:22:38.789 --> 00:22:42.250 we need a revival of the Bible. There's nothing, 00:22:42.390 --> 00:22:47.250 nothing that can replace the Word of the living 00:22:47.250 --> 00:22:53.109 God. I was in China a number of years ago and 00:22:53.109 --> 00:22:58.410 actually went into Red China where we were smuggling 00:22:58.410 --> 00:23:01.829 Bibles. And we got in trouble, and we got escorted 00:23:01.829 --> 00:23:07.009 out of the country with Chinese communist soldiers 00:23:07.009 --> 00:23:10.390 with machine guns held on us who took us to the 00:23:10.390 --> 00:23:12.529 border, put us on a train, stayed on the train 00:23:12.529 --> 00:23:14.930 until we got to the other border. But I'll never 00:23:14.930 --> 00:23:17.630 forget talking to some of those underground Chinese 00:23:17.630 --> 00:23:24.150 pastors. what they had underwent. And I talked 00:23:24.150 --> 00:23:28.190 to a man who had been in jail for 28 years for 00:23:28.190 --> 00:23:32.069 preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. And he 00:23:32.069 --> 00:23:34.650 said the word of the Lord was precious to him. 00:23:34.869 --> 00:23:38.490 And he said, memorize as much of the Bible as 00:23:38.490 --> 00:23:40.410 you can. He said, if they ever take the Bible, 00:23:40.460 --> 00:23:43.440 away from you. What you've got in your heart, 00:23:43.500 --> 00:23:47.480 they can never take away. They can't steal it 00:23:47.480 --> 00:23:50.259 away. They can't block it from your mind because 00:23:50.259 --> 00:23:52.839 when you need it, the Holy Ghost will bring it 00:23:52.839 --> 00:23:55.819 to your remembrance. So memorize the Word of 00:23:55.819 --> 00:24:00.440 the living God. I'll never forget a night when 00:24:00.440 --> 00:24:05.299 I preached in a theater in Moscow, Russia back 00:24:05.299 --> 00:24:07.359 in the 90s right after they had opened it up. 00:24:07.400 --> 00:24:10.890 The iron curtain had fell. And I remember after 00:24:10.890 --> 00:24:13.009 service, and we had a great service that night. 00:24:13.049 --> 00:24:16.089 The place was packed and the altar was full and 00:24:16.089 --> 00:24:19.349 God had just moved in a mighty way. And I remember 00:24:19.349 --> 00:24:23.230 after the service that night, one of the translators 00:24:23.230 --> 00:24:26.069 came up and got me and said, Reverend, he said, 00:24:26.109 --> 00:24:28.470 there's an old lady that wants to speak to you 00:24:28.470 --> 00:24:31.349 in the back. And so I went back there and there 00:24:31.349 --> 00:24:35.069 was an elderly lady and she was clothed in a 00:24:35.069 --> 00:24:38.900 heavy but very ragged coat. And she was holding 00:24:38.900 --> 00:24:44.380 this rather large Russian Bible. And she told 00:24:44.380 --> 00:24:48.059 her story through the translator. She said that 00:24:48.059 --> 00:24:52.940 during the days of Stalin, she said her husband 00:24:52.940 --> 00:24:57.019 was a Pentecostal preacher in Russia, preaching 00:24:57.019 --> 00:25:02.700 in the underground. And she said one night, Stalin's 00:25:02.700 --> 00:25:06.579 soldiers. His secret police came to their house, 00:25:06.660 --> 00:25:10.579 and she said she had two little children. They 00:25:10.579 --> 00:25:13.299 came in the house, and she said in the kitchen, 00:25:13.400 --> 00:25:16.759 they held a pistol to her husband's head and 00:25:16.759 --> 00:25:22.960 demanded that he give them his Bible, and they 00:25:22.960 --> 00:25:26.440 would let him go. He said, I cannot give you 00:25:26.440 --> 00:25:29.519 my Bible, for it is the most precious treasure 00:25:29.519 --> 00:25:33.140 we have. These are her words. And in front of 00:25:33.140 --> 00:25:37.319 her and her two little children, they blowed 00:25:37.319 --> 00:25:40.539 his brains out, killed him in the kitchen, all 00:25:40.539 --> 00:25:42.859 over the fact that he would not surrender his 00:25:42.859 --> 00:25:47.119 Bible. She said, then they turned on me to see 00:25:47.119 --> 00:25:51.920 if I would give them the Bible. And she said, 00:25:51.920 --> 00:25:54.920 they beat me until I was almost unconscious. 00:25:55.900 --> 00:25:59.599 But she said, I never surrendered the Bible. 00:26:00.880 --> 00:26:05.680 And then, with tears running down her old wrinkled 00:26:05.680 --> 00:26:11.240 face, she reached out and handed me this big 00:26:11.240 --> 00:26:16.240 old Russian Bible. And she smiled, and she was 00:26:16.240 --> 00:26:20.039 almost toothless. And she said, this is the Bible 00:26:20.039 --> 00:26:23.480 they wanted, and this is the Bible they never 00:26:23.480 --> 00:26:29.059 got, and I still have it. And she just embraced 00:26:29.059 --> 00:26:33.089 it like it was, the most precious thing that 00:26:33.089 --> 00:26:36.230 she could ever imagine happening. And I thought 00:26:36.230 --> 00:26:39.950 to myself, what has happened to us and our nation, 00:26:39.970 --> 00:26:43.670 our country, that the Word of God is not as precious 00:26:43.670 --> 00:26:47.069 to us as it should be? You know what I'm praying 00:26:47.069 --> 00:26:49.009 for and what I've prayed for in this service? 00:26:49.710 --> 00:26:52.450 I pray, God, if nothing else happens in this 00:26:52.450 --> 00:26:55.890 service today, I want everybody under the sound 00:26:55.890 --> 00:26:58.950 of my voice to get a brand new love for the Word 00:26:58.950 --> 00:27:02.009 of God. I want the Word of God to become rich 00:27:02.009 --> 00:27:06.170 to you and wonderful to you and beautiful to 00:27:06.170 --> 00:27:10.130 you and precious to you. And I want you to have 00:27:10.130 --> 00:27:14.630 a revival of reading the Word of God and memorizing 00:27:14.630 --> 00:27:18.049 the Word of God and embracing the Word of God 00:27:18.049 --> 00:27:22.500 and quoting. the Word of God, there's power to 00:27:22.500 --> 00:27:26.819 be found in the Word of the living God. Hallelujah. 00:27:27.759 --> 00:27:32.140 And so it is from God's eternal Word that I read 00:27:32.140 --> 00:27:36.160 this story to you today, the story of King Belshazzar, 00:27:36.279 --> 00:27:40.180 who was the son of Nebuchadnezzar, who had conquered 00:27:40.180 --> 00:27:43.380 all of the known world. There's something about 00:27:43.380 --> 00:27:47.880 King Belshazzar. He is the portrait of many. 00:27:48.490 --> 00:27:52.509 In America today, the first thing I notice about 00:27:52.509 --> 00:27:59.630 Belshazzar is this. He felt he was beyond the 00:27:59.630 --> 00:28:09.809 reach of God. The concept of God was to him archaic. 00:28:11.269 --> 00:28:14.670 We live in a nation where the concept of God 00:28:14.670 --> 00:28:18.859 has become archaic to many people. they care 00:28:18.859 --> 00:28:23.420 about is their wealth, their comfort, the power 00:28:23.420 --> 00:28:25.460 that we have as a nation. And they say that's 00:28:25.460 --> 00:28:31.519 all we need. We're protected. We're secure. We're 00:28:31.519 --> 00:28:36.160 surrounded. Nothing can hurt us. Nothing can 00:28:36.160 --> 00:28:41.720 touch us. And so we really don't need a closeness 00:28:41.720 --> 00:28:51.839 with God. God can't touch us. Nebuchadnezzar 00:28:51.839 --> 00:28:55.700 saw himself as the king of the mightiest nation 00:28:55.700 --> 00:29:01.599 on earth. Behind walls that were so thick that 00:29:01.599 --> 00:29:07.799 multiple rows of chariots could drive side by 00:29:07.799 --> 00:29:14.220 side. A nation so wealthy and rich that it had 00:29:14.220 --> 00:29:16.480 become one of the great wonders of the ancient 00:29:16.480 --> 00:29:21.359 world. And so he felt like he was out of the 00:29:21.359 --> 00:29:23.440 reach of God. But I'm here to tell you nobody's 00:29:23.440 --> 00:29:26.779 out of the reach of God. Nobody on this earth 00:29:26.779 --> 00:29:29.819 is out of the reach of God. David even said in 00:29:29.819 --> 00:29:32.519 one place, if I were to descend into hell, he 00:29:32.519 --> 00:29:34.559 said even there your Holy Spirit would find me. 00:29:35.339 --> 00:29:37.319 He said if I were to take the wings of the morning 00:29:37.319 --> 00:29:40.240 and dwell in the uttermost part of the sea, you'd 00:29:40.240 --> 00:29:45.119 find me there. Nobody. is out of the reach of 00:29:45.119 --> 00:29:49.140 God. No wall will hide you from God. No door 00:29:49.140 --> 00:29:53.460 can close you off from God. No country you can 00:29:53.460 --> 00:29:58.039 go to will secure you from God. No one is out 00:29:58.039 --> 00:30:00.759 of the reach of God. Not only that, but Belshazzar 00:30:00.759 --> 00:30:09.259 felt that he was beyond the eyes of God. He had 00:30:09.259 --> 00:30:14.230 this I'll do as I please attitude. He said, pleasure 00:30:14.230 --> 00:30:19.869 is my goal. I want to be entertained. I want 00:30:19.869 --> 00:30:25.049 the ultimate in entertainment. I want to do as 00:30:25.049 --> 00:30:29.490 I please. You know what? That is the stench that's 00:30:29.490 --> 00:30:34.950 in America today. We lust for the joys of the 00:30:34.950 --> 00:30:43.140 gridiron and the courtyard and the fields. And 00:30:43.140 --> 00:30:47.339 to be entertained. And we go after more entertainment 00:30:47.339 --> 00:30:50.059 to replace the entertainment we're already bored 00:30:50.059 --> 00:30:54.299 with. We say, leave me alone. I want to live 00:30:54.299 --> 00:30:58.819 in anonymity. People think no one will see what 00:30:58.819 --> 00:31:02.759 they're doing behind their closed doors. They 00:31:02.759 --> 00:31:08.720 lock themselves in seclusion and they freeze 00:31:08.720 --> 00:31:12.660 behind their screens. and they think no one will 00:31:12.660 --> 00:31:16.200 see them, certainly not the eyes of a just and 00:31:16.200 --> 00:31:19.819 holy God. God can't see me here. I'm hidden. 00:31:20.859 --> 00:31:23.900 But you know what the Bible said? The Bible said 00:31:23.900 --> 00:31:26.299 the eyes of the Lord run to and fro in the earth, 00:31:26.359 --> 00:31:31.299 beholding the good and the evil. You know something? 00:31:31.400 --> 00:31:33.559 There's a lot of people in America would hate 00:31:33.559 --> 00:31:39.400 my guts for what I'm preaching right now. But 00:31:39.400 --> 00:31:43.400 I feel a call from God to preach this. I feel 00:31:43.400 --> 00:31:45.859 the spirit of warning upon me. I feel the spirit 00:31:45.859 --> 00:31:48.880 of the prophet upon me. I feel the spirit of 00:31:48.880 --> 00:31:52.220 urgency upon me. I feel the spirit of the broken 00:31:52.220 --> 00:31:55.079 heart upon me, the spirit of trembling upon me. 00:31:55.539 --> 00:31:58.779 Oh, God, help us to see that you see us. We're 00:31:58.779 --> 00:32:01.839 not hid from you. We're not cloaked from you. 00:32:01.940 --> 00:32:05.960 We're not invisible creatures that you cannot 00:32:05.960 --> 00:32:12.920 see. God, you see us. Belshazzar thought that 00:32:12.920 --> 00:32:15.440 he could not be seen by a just and a holy God. 00:32:16.680 --> 00:32:20.660 Belshazzar felt like he was beyond the judgment 00:32:20.660 --> 00:32:29.059 of God. So the Bible said he took the holy vessels. 00:32:29.279 --> 00:32:31.539 Now let me tell you something about these vessels 00:32:31.539 --> 00:32:39.049 that Belshazzar and his... and his wives and 00:32:39.049 --> 00:32:45.309 his concubines and all of his partners and pleasure 00:32:45.309 --> 00:32:49.869 drank wine out of and praised idol gods in their 00:32:49.869 --> 00:32:53.609 drunken stupor. Let me tell you something about 00:32:53.609 --> 00:32:56.430 these vessels. They were made of gold and silver. 00:32:58.029 --> 00:33:00.470 They were taken from the temple of God which 00:33:00.470 --> 00:33:03.970 was in Jerusalem. Let me tell you about these 00:33:03.970 --> 00:33:09.619 vessels. When Solomon dedicated the temple, Solomon 00:33:09.619 --> 00:33:14.900 had appointed 38 ,000 Levites to be involved 00:33:14.900 --> 00:33:19.400 in the building of that temple. The Bible tells 00:33:19.400 --> 00:33:24.220 us that there were 24 ,000 of them, or 36 ,000, 00:33:24.220 --> 00:33:29.220 not 38, but 36 ,000. There were 24 ,000 that 00:33:29.220 --> 00:33:31.119 were involved in the construction. They were 00:33:31.119 --> 00:33:40.519 laborers. large group of 6 ,000 that were officers 00:33:40.519 --> 00:33:46.839 and judges. There were two more groups. One was 00:33:46.839 --> 00:33:50.759 made up of security people, and then there was 00:33:50.759 --> 00:33:54.559 a group of 4 ,000 that while the temple was being 00:33:54.559 --> 00:33:57.480 built, 4 ,000 Levites did nothing but praise 00:33:57.480 --> 00:34:01.619 the Lord. The Bible said they praised the Lord 00:34:01.619 --> 00:34:07.799 at the dawning of the sun. And they would praise 00:34:07.799 --> 00:34:11.460 the Lord throughout the day until the sun began 00:34:11.460 --> 00:34:15.519 to set in the west. And that was a temple built 00:34:15.519 --> 00:34:18.880 on praise. It was a temple built on holiness 00:34:18.880 --> 00:34:22.119 for the Levites were considered holy under the 00:34:22.119 --> 00:34:27.139 Lord. And when they got ready to dedicate the 00:34:27.139 --> 00:34:29.940 temple and those vessels were in that temple 00:34:29.940 --> 00:34:34.539 at the dedication, the Bible said the Shekinah 00:34:34.539 --> 00:34:42.099 glory. It was so thick that the priest couldn't 00:34:42.099 --> 00:34:47.659 even go inside. Now, folks, listen to me. What 00:34:47.659 --> 00:34:51.739 if all of us lined up to come in this morning? 00:34:52.960 --> 00:34:57.059 We couldn't get in here. Woo! Man, I don't know 00:34:57.059 --> 00:35:00.940 where that come from. We couldn't get in here 00:35:00.940 --> 00:35:04.920 because the glory of the Lord was so thick in 00:35:04.920 --> 00:35:09.030 this place. That we couldn't even walk in and 00:35:09.030 --> 00:35:12.530 I had to look over and say, Cliff, I'll go in 00:35:12.530 --> 00:35:15.789 as soon as the glory lets up a little bit. It's 00:35:15.789 --> 00:35:17.989 too thick for me and you to go in there right 00:35:17.989 --> 00:35:24.369 now. What if the glory was that thick? My God, 00:35:24.630 --> 00:35:29.610 that's how thick it was that day. They dedicated 00:35:29.610 --> 00:35:37.829 the temple of God in Jerusalem. So thick. The 00:35:37.829 --> 00:35:43.309 priest couldn't even go in. Oh, hallelujah, hallelujah, 00:35:43.329 --> 00:35:47.349 hallelujah. And that's the vessels that were 00:35:47.349 --> 00:35:53.489 in that temple that day. And now you've got this 00:35:53.489 --> 00:35:59.969 carnal, full of the devil, got a devil in him 00:35:59.969 --> 00:36:05.309 big as a rhinoceros, and he's drinking wine. 00:36:05.710 --> 00:36:09.309 and praising idol gods out of those same vessels. 00:36:11.550 --> 00:36:16.949 The Bible said praising gods of gold and silver, 00:36:17.030 --> 00:36:23.190 iron and stone, which have no voice, neither 00:36:23.190 --> 00:36:29.369 can hear. Man, just soon take him a good case 00:36:29.369 --> 00:36:32.329 knife and go out here and... chop him a branch 00:36:32.329 --> 00:36:34.510 off a tree and carve him out a little god. Did 00:36:34.510 --> 00:36:37.610 you know Isaiah said that one time? Isaiah the 00:36:37.610 --> 00:36:41.389 prophet said that. He said the fool goes out 00:36:41.389 --> 00:36:43.670 here and cuts himself a branch off and whittles 00:36:43.670 --> 00:36:48.690 him out a god. Worships his little whittled god. 00:36:51.730 --> 00:36:54.230 I can strike a match and burn his little old 00:36:54.230 --> 00:37:05.280 god up. Here's old Belshazzar. worshiping gods 00:37:05.280 --> 00:37:11.519 that have no voice, can't do anything. And he's 00:37:11.519 --> 00:37:13.960 praising them. He's not just worshiping them. 00:37:13.960 --> 00:37:19.880 He's praising them and laughing. But you know 00:37:19.880 --> 00:37:24.400 what? I love the Bible. Oh, wow, I love the Bible. 00:37:25.239 --> 00:37:27.679 Man, I'm enjoying preaching this morning. I'm 00:37:27.679 --> 00:37:32.730 feeling good all over. The Bible. said while 00:37:32.730 --> 00:37:37.230 he done it in the same hour there stretched forth 00:37:37.230 --> 00:37:41.570 fingers of a man's hand and wrote over in the 00:37:41.570 --> 00:37:44.570 plaster on the wall of the king's palace and 00:37:44.570 --> 00:37:49.690 the Bible said the king saw the part of the hand 00:37:49.690 --> 00:37:55.030 that wrote. And then the Bible said then were 00:37:55.030 --> 00:37:57.690 the joints of his loins loose. What happened 00:37:57.690 --> 00:38:00.409 brother Griffiths? God jerked his hip bones out 00:38:00.409 --> 00:38:04.050 of place. The Bible said his knees got to knocking 00:38:04.050 --> 00:38:11.090 against each other. He was terrified. We ought 00:38:11.090 --> 00:38:14.690 to be terrified of a living God. That's right. 00:38:15.889 --> 00:38:18.789 I'm telling you, God is real. God's alive. He 00:38:18.789 --> 00:38:20.949 wants us to serve him. He wants us to love him. 00:38:21.030 --> 00:38:23.530 He wants to love us. He wants to bless us. He 00:38:23.530 --> 00:38:27.170 wants us to be lifted up. But I'm telling you, 00:38:27.190 --> 00:38:29.389 there's coming a day when the terror of the Lord 00:38:29.389 --> 00:38:36.969 is going to fill this universe. Old Nebuchadnezzar, 00:38:36.969 --> 00:38:41.110 or Belshazzar, I could preach a sermon on his 00:38:41.110 --> 00:38:43.789 daddy too, but I'm going to stay on the boy right 00:38:43.789 --> 00:38:52.750 now. Nebuchadnezzar, or Belshazzar. The Bible 00:38:52.750 --> 00:38:55.230 said he called for the wise men, the astrologers, 00:38:55.269 --> 00:38:57.409 the soothsayers, the Chaldeans, everybody that 00:38:57.409 --> 00:39:02.449 he thought was intelligent to come and try to 00:39:02.449 --> 00:39:06.489 interpret what was written upon the wall. The 00:39:06.489 --> 00:39:08.909 Bible said they all came in and none of them 00:39:08.909 --> 00:39:13.989 could interpret it. The Bible said the queen 00:39:13.989 --> 00:39:17.550 came in and actually in the Hebrew it's indication 00:39:17.550 --> 00:39:20.090 it's not the queen he was married to but rather 00:39:20.090 --> 00:39:23.239 it was the queen mother. who came in, the old 00:39:23.239 --> 00:39:29.300 lady. And she said, in the days of your father, 00:39:29.460 --> 00:39:39.380 there was a holiness preacher. I love holiness 00:39:39.380 --> 00:39:47.420 preachers. God spoke to him. He understood dreams 00:39:47.420 --> 00:39:55.519 and visions, and he gave. clarity to doubt. And 00:39:55.519 --> 00:39:58.500 I think he's still living. And if you can find 00:39:58.500 --> 00:40:03.260 him, I guarantee you he can tell you what's up 00:40:03.260 --> 00:40:08.940 on that wall. Hallelujah. You know something? 00:40:09.940 --> 00:40:14.539 The world may not like those of us that have 00:40:14.539 --> 00:40:16.820 this old time religion, but I'm telling you right 00:40:16.820 --> 00:40:22.570 now, they need us. I said they need us. Hallelujah. 00:40:25.289 --> 00:40:27.829 The Scripture said they went and found Daniel. 00:40:29.010 --> 00:40:31.329 You know what I like to think? Now, this is just 00:40:31.329 --> 00:40:33.550 me. This isn't written in the Bible. This is 00:40:33.550 --> 00:40:35.730 just me, but this is my sermon, and I'm preaching 00:40:35.730 --> 00:40:43.250 it. I think Daniel came in and immediately recognized 00:40:43.250 --> 00:40:49.929 his father's handwriting. That's what I think. 00:40:51.550 --> 00:40:56.849 And Daniel preaches Nebuchadnezzar's sermon. 00:40:56.869 --> 00:41:00.010 He tells him about his father. Your father once 00:41:00.010 --> 00:41:04.289 thought he was some big something. And God turned 00:41:04.289 --> 00:41:07.230 him out in the field like a wild beast. And he 00:41:07.230 --> 00:41:09.309 ate grass and the dew of heaven rested on his 00:41:09.309 --> 00:41:11.250 back until he acknowledged the God of heaven. 00:41:11.829 --> 00:41:15.059 And you knew that, Belshazzar. You knew. what 00:41:15.059 --> 00:41:17.820 was right and what was wrong, but you still did 00:41:17.820 --> 00:41:21.619 what you've done. He said, now God's got a message, 00:41:21.719 --> 00:41:28.119 a message for you. You see, God wrote out the 00:41:28.119 --> 00:41:34.139 judgment of Belshazzar. The Bible tells us that 00:41:34.139 --> 00:41:43.079 if we, hallelujah, if we love God, if we're close 00:41:43.079 --> 00:41:48.519 to God, If we listen to God, we'll know what 00:41:48.519 --> 00:41:54.579 God is saying. He knew what God was saying. And 00:41:54.579 --> 00:41:57.940 so he read it. The words the Bible gives us, 00:41:58.119 --> 00:42:07.760 The meaning is this. God has numbered your kingdom 00:42:07.760 --> 00:42:12.860 and finished it. In our plain language, we would 00:42:12.860 --> 00:42:19.519 say, Belshazzar, to tell you're weighed in the 00:42:19.519 --> 00:42:23.300 balances and found wanting, you don't measure 00:42:23.300 --> 00:42:28.719 up. God's put you on the scales. You don't measure 00:42:28.719 --> 00:42:37.480 up. You're weighed, weighed, weighed. God owns 00:42:37.480 --> 00:42:43.030 the scales. God determines the balances. God 00:42:43.030 --> 00:42:47.530 knows what's right and wrong, and you don't measure 00:42:47.530 --> 00:42:52.690 up. Do you know one of the great problems in 00:42:52.690 --> 00:42:56.849 America today is that many Americans have created 00:42:56.849 --> 00:43:02.610 their own standard of what's right and wrong 00:43:02.610 --> 00:43:06.469 instead of what the Bible says is right and wrong. 00:43:07.409 --> 00:43:11.750 And they measure themselves by their own measuring 00:43:11.750 --> 00:43:16.780 stick. God is the one that determines right and 00:43:16.780 --> 00:43:21.480 wrong. And then Daniel said, your kingdom is 00:43:21.480 --> 00:43:23.539 divided and given to the Medes and Persians. 00:43:24.760 --> 00:43:29.460 Everything you thought you had is going to be 00:43:29.460 --> 00:43:35.139 taken away from you. What was Belshazzar's end? 00:43:35.960 --> 00:43:41.150 According to the historians, that night, The 00:43:41.150 --> 00:43:45.909 river that ran underneath the wall that surrounded 00:43:45.909 --> 00:43:49.469 Babylon that Belshazzar felt so secure behind, 00:43:49.809 --> 00:43:56.670 that river was diverted. And on dry ground, the 00:43:56.670 --> 00:44:01.050 armies of Medea and Persia sent their massive 00:44:01.050 --> 00:44:06.289 armies into the city of Babylon. I doubt if Belshazzar 00:44:06.289 --> 00:44:10.170 knew anything. Until a Median spirit plunged 00:44:10.170 --> 00:44:12.150 in his belly and he breathed his last breath. 00:44:14.010 --> 00:44:19.409 Lost in the judgment of God. But what about Daniel? 00:44:20.230 --> 00:44:23.929 And I conclude by telling you God is going to 00:44:23.929 --> 00:44:28.469 have a people. God had Daniel. God will always 00:44:28.469 --> 00:44:33.510 have a people. God's got us. God's got people 00:44:33.510 --> 00:44:37.010 around this world. God will have his people. 00:44:37.760 --> 00:44:41.139 God will speak through his people. God spoke 00:44:41.139 --> 00:44:46.400 through Daniel. God will speak through us. Oh, 00:44:46.400 --> 00:44:49.860 hallelujah. God will take care of his people. 00:44:50.460 --> 00:44:55.619 God took care of Daniel. In fact, the next king 00:44:55.619 --> 00:45:01.199 that came in found such great, great pleasure 00:45:01.199 --> 00:45:04.659 in Daniel that he made him one of the leaders 00:45:04.659 --> 00:45:08.000 and the rulers of the kingdom. And when evil 00:45:08.000 --> 00:45:12.500 men and seducers that wax worse and worse would 00:45:12.500 --> 00:45:16.139 find fault and lay a trap for Daniel, and Daniel 00:45:16.139 --> 00:45:21.380 would find himself in a lion's den, God would 00:45:21.380 --> 00:45:25.159 send his angel down into the den and lock the 00:45:25.159 --> 00:45:30.739 lion's jaws, and Daniel was always taken care 00:45:30.739 --> 00:45:34.980 of. One thing I want to say to you in concluding 00:45:34.980 --> 00:45:37.059 this message, and it's very, very important, 00:45:37.219 --> 00:45:42.599 and it's this. When you come down to the end 00:45:42.599 --> 00:45:47.920 of the life of the prophet Daniel, you get to 00:45:47.920 --> 00:45:53.840 Daniel chapter 12. And God spoke to me early 00:45:53.840 --> 00:45:56.239 this morning about these verses. I had not even 00:45:56.239 --> 00:45:59.699 included them in the sermon. And God spoke to 00:45:59.699 --> 00:46:03.500 me because God wanted me to speak to you. In 00:46:03.500 --> 00:46:09.099 Daniel chapter 12, Daniel is having this conversation 00:46:09.099 --> 00:46:16.920 with God about the end time. And God tells Daniel 00:46:16.920 --> 00:46:22.599 to go his way. And then God uses a most unusual 00:46:22.599 --> 00:46:28.579 phrase in a conversation with Daniel. God says, 00:46:28.800 --> 00:46:34.519 go your way. And then God says, until the time 00:46:34.519 --> 00:46:39.960 of the end. But he's not talking about Daniel's 00:46:39.960 --> 00:46:42.239 end. The language does not express that he's 00:46:42.239 --> 00:46:45.320 talking about Daniel's end. He's talking about 00:46:45.320 --> 00:46:49.699 the end of time as we know it. The end of humanity. 00:46:51.559 --> 00:46:54.260 And he says two things that are, and it's two 00:46:54.260 --> 00:46:56.480 of the greatest signs of the end time in the 00:46:56.480 --> 00:46:58.480 Bible you seldom ever hear him preached about. 00:46:58.960 --> 00:47:02.179 We preach about Matthew chapter 24, Luke 21, 00:47:02.400 --> 00:47:09.800 Mark 13, 1 Thessalonians 4, 1 Corinthians 15, 00:47:10.119 --> 00:47:16.820 the book of Revelation, the book of Jude. Isaiah, 00:47:16.820 --> 00:47:20.420 all the chapters in the 60s, and the latter part 00:47:20.420 --> 00:47:22.219 of the book of Zechariah, there's prophetical 00:47:22.219 --> 00:47:25.739 chapters throughout the Bible that are so powerful. 00:47:26.679 --> 00:47:30.960 And yet, here's two phrases that God gives Daniel 00:47:30.960 --> 00:47:34.539 about the time of the end that are so crystal 00:47:34.539 --> 00:47:37.440 clear about the time that you and I are living 00:47:37.440 --> 00:47:40.940 in right now. He said, at the time of the end, 00:47:41.059 --> 00:47:46.150 many... Would run to and fro. I looked up the 00:47:46.150 --> 00:47:50.909 Hebrew words that the English language interprets 00:47:50.909 --> 00:47:55.230 here. Many shall run to and fro. The word many 00:47:55.230 --> 00:48:01.869 means literally abundant numbers like millions 00:48:01.869 --> 00:48:05.349 and millions and millions. In Daniel's time, 00:48:05.510 --> 00:48:08.170 there were not that many people alive on the 00:48:08.170 --> 00:48:11.090 earth. And when you got outside the Middle East, 00:48:11.190 --> 00:48:14.949 when you got outside of... the Middle Eastern 00:48:14.949 --> 00:48:18.829 nations, you got into the tribal sections of 00:48:18.829 --> 00:48:22.150 humanity, and there's some that do not even believe 00:48:22.150 --> 00:48:24.389 there was anybody in North America at that time, 00:48:24.449 --> 00:48:29.230 and the earth was sparsely populated. But today, 00:48:29.409 --> 00:48:33.769 there's billions of people, over 8 billion people 00:48:33.769 --> 00:48:40.909 on this planet. And he said, many. In fact, it 00:48:40.909 --> 00:48:45.190 indicates an almost innumerable host of people, 00:48:45.269 --> 00:48:48.250 and he said they would run to and fro, which 00:48:48.250 --> 00:48:57.409 seems to indicate unlimited travel and the unlimited 00:48:57.409 --> 00:49:02.829 ability to communicate at the time of the end. 00:49:03.869 --> 00:49:07.849 And then he said, to back this up, the very next 00:49:07.849 --> 00:49:12.380 phrase, knowledge shall increase. Let me tell 00:49:12.380 --> 00:49:15.320 you something. From the time of Christ until 00:49:15.320 --> 00:49:18.519 the year 1900, it is said the accumulated knowledge 00:49:18.519 --> 00:49:26.739 of mankind doubled one time in 1900 years. And 00:49:26.739 --> 00:49:30.079 then from 1900 until shortly after World War 00:49:30.079 --> 00:49:34.280 I, it would double again. What took 1900 years 00:49:34.280 --> 00:49:38.579 would happen in just a little over 20 years. 00:49:41.159 --> 00:49:43.480 Then it would double again before World War II. 00:49:45.039 --> 00:49:49.639 Then it began to increase. And when you read 00:49:49.639 --> 00:49:52.719 about it, when you do the research on it, every 00:49:52.719 --> 00:49:56.739 ten years, every five years, now they say that 00:49:56.739 --> 00:50:01.039 knowledge is doubling as rapidly in some cases 00:50:01.039 --> 00:50:04.820 as every year and a half. Nanotechnology that 00:50:04.820 --> 00:50:07.400 we cannot even begin to fathom. I read about 00:50:07.400 --> 00:50:10.969 it and I say, David, what? Did you just read? 00:50:12.010 --> 00:50:16.289 David responds and says, I have no idea. I mean, 00:50:16.329 --> 00:50:21.190 we're living in a world that is just rapidly, 00:50:21.449 --> 00:50:26.329 rapidly changing. God told an old Hebrew prophet 00:50:26.329 --> 00:50:31.489 in a captive land many years ago that at the 00:50:31.489 --> 00:50:34.190 time of the end, many would run to and fro and 00:50:34.190 --> 00:50:39.420 knowledge would increase. I'm not one of these 00:50:39.420 --> 00:50:42.659 guys that tries to find Scripture verses to match 00:50:42.659 --> 00:50:46.860 everything. I'm just one of those guys that reads 00:50:46.860 --> 00:50:50.940 the Bible and believes it. I believe it's a true, 00:50:51.139 --> 00:50:55.519 true book from God. I believe God's Word's true. 00:50:55.599 --> 00:50:58.940 I believe it's everlasting. It'll stand when 00:50:58.940 --> 00:51:02.320 everything else falls and is crushed. Hallelujah. 00:51:03.320 --> 00:51:08.710 Folks, I feel good in my soul today. I know God 00:51:08.710 --> 00:51:13.570 can see me. I can't run from God. I know that 00:51:13.570 --> 00:51:16.789 I can't hide from God. I know I'm not beyond 00:51:16.789 --> 00:51:20.409 the reach of God. I know God loves me and God 00:51:20.409 --> 00:51:23.570 cares about me. And I know God's Word is absolutely 00:51:23.570 --> 00:51:27.449 true, absolutely real. Mama, this old book you 00:51:27.449 --> 00:51:29.710 started reading years and years and years ago 00:51:29.710 --> 00:51:35.630 is true. Absolutely true. And it'll last forever. 00:51:36.799 --> 00:51:39.519 Ever and ever and ever and ever. If you love 00:51:39.519 --> 00:51:41.539 the Lord, I want you to stand to your feet all 00:51:41.539 --> 00:51:43.559 over this building. If you love the Lord, I want 00:51:43.559 --> 00:51:47.840 you to stand to your feet right now. I want you 00:51:47.840 --> 00:51:49.719 to lift your hands toward heaven and begin to 00:51:49.719 --> 00:51:52.820 praise him right now. I want you to praise him 00:51:52.820 --> 00:51:57.659 all over this building. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.