I believe he's coming soon. Oh, hallelujah. Let's
give him another round of applause before we
see to this morning. Thank you, Jesus. Hallelujah.
Praise God. You may be seated. What a marvelous,
wonderful time of worship we've already had today.
How wonderful it is to be in God's presence.
I had rather be in the presence of God than any
other place on this earth. And to feel his goodness
and his richness and his tenderness, he called
me out of darkness into his marvelous light.
And I've been redeemed by his saving grace. Oh,
listen, we forget what a tremendous honor it
was when God saved us. And I just feel his presence
today. I'm so blessed today to be with you at
Hopewell. What a wonderful church, a beautiful
church. And it's made more beautiful by the beautiful
people that are in it. And it's so good for Judy
and I to be here today. I want to say that I
have the deepest love and appreciation for the
great shepherd and pastor of this church. He's
one of God's finest. One of God's very finest.
And he's such a dear friend. And I'm honored
by this invitation to preach the gospel. And
it's so good also to be with the one and only
sister I have in the world who attends this church.
And Becky, I love you. And I thank God for you.
And for the man that you married, my brother
-in -law, he's more like a brother. And it's
so good to be with Ron and Becky today and to
have my wife Judy here, my better half, maybe
better three quarters. And I'm so glad she's
with me today. I really sought the Lord when
I was invited to preach today. I mean that with
all my heart. I didn't want to just find some
sermon in an old sermon book of mine and try
to resurrect it. I got on my knees and I began
to ask God, God, speak to my heart. God's got
this habit of waking me up and speaking to me.
I wish God would wait until about 10 in the morning.
But God likes to talk at 4 and 4 .30. And the
Bible said, he that watches Israel neither slumbers
nor sleeps. Now, I believe that. Because he wakes
me up and talks to me. And that's all right.
He's God. I'm not. So if he wants to speak to
me early, I'm glad he's just still speaking to
me. And I want to share with you in the word
of the Lord today what God has to speak to me.
I'm going to do something most unusual. I'm going
to use a sermon illustration here in just a little
bit. But before I do, I'm preaching for the first
time ever in my life. Out of my mama's old Bible.
If you open this Bible up, it says it was printed
in 1944. My mama's daddy, who was a preacher
farmer, the reason he was a preacher farmer is
because he preached because God called him and
he farmed because God gave him 14 children to
feed. And money was... Not something easy to
come by in those days. And grandpa got enough
pennies together, money together to buy my mama
this Bible when she graduated from high school
in 1944. And he gave it to her and mama kept
it all these years. And my mama was a Bible reader.
And when she found a verse that she liked, she
took a red pen and put a little red star beside
it. I stand before you with a Bible full of red
stars. And I have to be careful about preaching
to Mama's Bible because I've never took anything
out of it. Mama's got five bookmarks in this
Bible. She's got a picture of Daddy in this Bible.
She's got a love letter. that daddy wrote her
on their 63rd wedding anniversary. If you're
still writing love letters after 63 years, brother,
you got the real thing. And it's just a wonderful
Bible, and I wanted to preach out of it because
I wanted it to be part of the sermon illustration
I'm going to share with you in just a few moments.
From God's eternal word. I'm going to do something
they used to do in early America. In early America,
often when the minister would read his text,
he would always read the entire chapter he was
going to preach out of. I would have hated to
have been there when the man preached out of
the 119th Psalm. But they would read the whole
chapter and sometimes two or three chapters,
and I'm going to read today the fifth chapter
of the book of the prophet Daniel because this
is the story that God's laid upon my heart to
preach about that America needs to hear. When
I... I retired back in 2022. Now, somebody said,
you retired, Brother Griffiths? Well, retire
means you just get a new set of tires. And when
I retired, the Lord began to change my ministry
and the directory of my ministry. He wanted me
to become more of a writer, and I began to write
more. I'd written three books back in the 90s,
but the Lord began to have me to write. on social
media and then the Lord began to speak to me
in the prophetic and I didn't ask to speak because
people get mad at you when you speak prophetically
and I'm like everybody else I don't like folks
mad at me but I've decided that I had rather
obey God than to obey men And one of the problems
in America today is that we don't have enough
people obeying God. And I want to obey God. And
so I'm going to read this fifth chapter of Daniel,
and we're going to get into the message. And
because my hair is white and my beard is white,
I'm putting these babies on to read. Daniel chapter
5, the story of King Belshazzar. The only place
in the Bible that he's written about. Daniel
chapter 5. Belshazzar the king made a great feast
to a thousand of his lords and drank wine before
the thousand. Belshazzar. Whilst he tasted the
wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver
vessels, which his father Nebuchadnezzar had
taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem,
that the king and his princes and his wives and
his concubines might drink therein. Then they
brought the golden vessels that were taken out
of the temple of the house of God which was at
Jerusalem. And the king and his princes, his
wives and his concubines drank in them. They
drank wine and praised the gods of gold and of
silver and of brass and of iron and of wood and
of stone. In the same hour came forth fingers
of a man's hand. and wrote over against the candlestick
upon the plaster of the wall of the king's palace,
and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote.
Then the king's countenance was changed, and
his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints
of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote
one against another. The king cried aloud to
bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and
the soothsayers. And the king spake and said
to the wise men of Babylon, Whosoever shall read
this writing and show me the interpretation thereof
shall be clothed with scarlet and have a chain
of gold about his neck and shall be the third
ruler in the kingdom. Then came in all the king's
wise men, but they could not read the writing
nor make known to the king the interpretation
thereof. Then was King Belshazzar greatly troubled,
and his countenance was changed in him, and his
lords were astonished. Now the queen, by reason
of the words of the king and his lords, came
into the banquet house, and the queen spake and
said, O king, live forever. Let not thy thoughts
trouble thee, nor let thy countenance be changed.
There is a man in thy kingdom, in whom is the
spirit of the holy gods. And in the days of thy
father, light and understanding and wisdom, like
the wisdom of the gods, was found in him, whom
the king Nebuchadnezzar, thy father, the king,
I say thy father, made master. of the magicians,
astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers for as
much as an excellent spirit and knowledge and
understanding, interpreting of dreams and showing
of hard sentences and dissolving of doubts was
found in the same Daniel, whom the king named
Belteshazzar. Now let Daniel be called, and he
will show the interpretation. Then was Daniel
brought in before the king, and the king spake
and said unto Daniel, Art thou that Daniel, which
art of the children of the captivity of Judah,
whom the king, my father, brought out of Jewry?
I have even heard of thee, that the spirit of
the gods is in thee, and that light and understanding
and excellent wisdom is found in thee. Now the
wise men, the astrologers, have been brought
in before me that they should read this writing
and make known unto me the interpretation thereof.
But they could not show the interpretation of
the thing. And I have heard of thee that thou
canst make interpretations and dissolve doubts.
Now if thou canst read the writing and make known
to me the interpretation thereof, thou shall
be clothed with scarlet. and have a chain of
gold about thy neck, and shall be the third ruler
in the kingdom. Then Daniel answered and said
before the king, Let thy gifts be to thyself,
and give thy rewards to another. Yet I will read
the writing unto the king, and make known to
him the interpretation. O thou king, the most
high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom.
and majesty and glory and honor. And for the
majesty that he gave him, all people, nations,
and languages trembled and feared before him,
whom he would slew and whom he would be kept
alive and whom he would set up and whom he would
put down. But when his heart was lifted up and
his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from
his kingly throne. and they took his glory from
him. And he was driven from the sons of men,
and his heart was made like the beast and the
asses, and they fed him with grass like oxen.
And his body was wet with the dew of heaven,
till he knew that the Most High God ruled in
the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over
it whomsoever he will. And thou, his son, O Belshazzar,
hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest
all this. but is lifted up thyself against the
Lord of heaven. And they have brought the vessels
of his house before thee. And thou and thy lords
and thy wives and thy concubines have drunk wine
in them, and thou hast praised the gods of gold,
of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and stone,
which see not, nor hear, nor know. that the God
in whom's hand thy breath is and whose are all
thy days, hast thou not glorified? Then was the
part of the hand sent from him. And this writing
was written. And this is the writing that was
written. Mine, mine, tekel yifarsin. And this
is the interpretation of the thing. Mine, God
hath numbered thy kingdom and finished it. Tekel,
thou art weighed in the balances and art found
wanting. Peres, thy kingdom is divided and given
to the Medes and Persians. Then commanded Belshazzar.
And they clothed Daniel with scarlet and put
a chain of gold about his neck and made a proclamation
concerning him that he should be the third ruler
in the kingdom. And that night was Belshazzar
the king of the Chaldeans slain. And Darius the
Median took the kingdom, being about three score
and two years old. I'm going to preach today,
and I thought of two titles for this sermon.
I thought of the title, Can Men Defy God? The
answer is no. No one can defy God. And then I
thought about a title, God. is in charge? And
the answer is yes. God is in charge. On this
morning, God is in charge. Right now, God is
in charge. At this moment, God is in charge.
Throughout the world, God is in charge. Hallelujah.
And so today I want to share with you right from
the Word of the Lord. If America needs anything
today, we need a revival of the Bible. I said
we need a revival of the Bible. Hallelujah. You
see, there's still power to be found in the Word
of God. The problem today is that we've gotten
away from the principles of the Word, the teachings
of the Word, the instructions of the Word, the
commandments of the Word, the guiding of the
Word, the leading of the Word. We need a revival
of the Bible. Hallelujah. I want to tell you
right now, I want to stand flat -footed and tell
you that I believe the Bible is the Word of God.
I don't believe it just contains the Word of
God. I don't understand all the miracles that
God wrote in bringing it to us, but I do know
this. I believe it is the absolute, unadulterated,
straight out of heaven Word. Word of the living
God. Hallelujah. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.
Well, I want to show you something. I've already
told you about Mama's Bible. It's kind of a big
Bible, great big Bible. You know, the Bible said
that the Word of God is quick and powerful and
sharper than any two -edged sword. If the devil
is afraid of anything, he's afraid of this. It
shakes him. It terrifies him. He almost has a
nervous breakdown when he gets around it. There's
power in the Word of God. Let me tell you something.
I brought a bunch of little different Bibles
with me today. I call this a checkbook Bible
because it looks like a checkbook. You can stick
it right in the coat pocket there, just a checkbook.
I call this one. This little bitty Bible, I call
it my switchblade Bible. I can hide it in my
pocket. Devil don't even know I've got it until
he gets too close and I pull it on him. Back
up, devil. I'll cut you right where you stand.
This is one of dad's old Bibles. My dad had eyes
like an eagle reading. or at a distance. He never
had to wear glasses and lived to be 92 years
old. Daddy bought the tiniest printed Bible.
I need a magnifying glass with my reading glasses
to read it. And Dad's got rotten all over it.
It's old, but I feel good when I touch it. Amen.
Word of the living God. Here's a Bible. That
Tennessee State Council gave me on October the
4th or October the 7th, 2004. It's made out of
real soft leather. It's a beautiful Bible. And
I enjoy carrying this Bible around when I want
people to say that man's got a good looking Bible.
It's a great Bible. Now I'm going to show you
something very special. Very special to my wife.
She takes very good care of this Bible. My father
-in -law was in General George Patton's 3rd Army,
9th Armored Division, World War II. Went all
the way across France into Czechoslovakia, battle
after battle after battle. Before they started
out, they gave each of those soldiers this little
New Testament. On the inside, There is a message
from Franklin Roosevelt, President of the United
States. I'm going to read it to you. It says,
As Commander -in -Chief, I take pleasure in commending
the reading of the Bible to all who serve in
the armed forces of the United States. Throughout
the centuries, men of many faiths and diverse
origins have found in the sacred book words of
wisdom, counsel, and inspiration. It is a fountain
of strength and now, as always, an aid in attaining
the highest aspirations of the human soul. This
little Bible survived bullets and gunpowder and...
Cannon fire and hand grenades and he brought
it back. And my wife has it. There was a time
when America took the Bible very seriously. They
loved it. They appreciated it. They embraced
it. It was a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful
thing. And so when God began to speak to me about
this message that he's laid upon my heart and
about... the need for the truth of God's Word
to be resurrected in this day and time, he directed
me to the very fact that we need a re -appreciation
and a revival of the Word of God. Isaiah said
in Isaiah 40 and 8, the grass withers and the
flower fades, but the Word of our God shall stand
forever. God told Jeremiah, is not my word like
as a fire in Jeremiah 23 and 29. And he said,
it's like the hammer that breaks the rock into
pieces. David said in Psalms 119, 105, thy word
is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.
David said, I will hide thy word in my heart
that I might not sin against God. The apostle
Peter said, said in 2 Peter 1, 21, he said, For
the prophecy came not in old time by the will
of men, but holy men of God spake as they were
moved on by the Holy Ghost. The apostle Paul
said in Romans 10 and 17, he said, So faith cometh
by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Hallelujah.
The Bible said in Revelation 1 and 7 concerning
John the Revelator, he said concerning him, it
said, who bore record of the Word of God. And
Jesus said in Matthew 24 and 25, heaven and earth
shall pass away, but my Word shall not. pass
away. We need a revival of the Bible. I said
we need a revival of the Bible. There's nothing,
nothing that can replace the Word of the living
God. I was in China a number of years ago and
actually went into Red China where we were smuggling
Bibles. And we got in trouble, and we got escorted
out of the country with Chinese communist soldiers
with machine guns held on us who took us to the
border, put us on a train, stayed on the train
until we got to the other border. But I'll never
forget talking to some of those underground Chinese
pastors. what they had underwent. And I talked
to a man who had been in jail for 28 years for
preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. And he
said the word of the Lord was precious to him.
And he said, memorize as much of the Bible as
you can. He said, if they ever take the Bible,
away from you. What you've got in your heart,
they can never take away. They can't steal it
away. They can't block it from your mind because
when you need it, the Holy Ghost will bring it
to your remembrance. So memorize the Word of
the living God. I'll never forget a night when
I preached in a theater in Moscow, Russia back
in the 90s right after they had opened it up.
The iron curtain had fell. And I remember after
service, and we had a great service that night.
The place was packed and the altar was full and
God had just moved in a mighty way. And I remember
after the service that night, one of the translators
came up and got me and said, Reverend, he said,
there's an old lady that wants to speak to you
in the back. And so I went back there and there
was an elderly lady and she was clothed in a
heavy but very ragged coat. And she was holding
this rather large Russian Bible. And she told
her story through the translator. She said that
during the days of Stalin, she said her husband
was a Pentecostal preacher in Russia, preaching
in the underground. And she said one night, Stalin's
soldiers. His secret police came to their house,
and she said she had two little children. They
came in the house, and she said in the kitchen,
they held a pistol to her husband's head and
demanded that he give them his Bible, and they
would let him go. He said, I cannot give you
my Bible, for it is the most precious treasure
we have. These are her words. And in front of
her and her two little children, they blowed
his brains out, killed him in the kitchen, all
over the fact that he would not surrender his
Bible. She said, then they turned on me to see
if I would give them the Bible. And she said,
they beat me until I was almost unconscious.
But she said, I never surrendered the Bible.
And then, with tears running down her old wrinkled
face, she reached out and handed me this big
old Russian Bible. And she smiled, and she was
almost toothless. And she said, this is the Bible
they wanted, and this is the Bible they never
got, and I still have it. And she just embraced
it like it was, the most precious thing that
she could ever imagine happening. And I thought
to myself, what has happened to us and our nation,
our country, that the Word of God is not as precious
to us as it should be? You know what I'm praying
for and what I've prayed for in this service?
I pray, God, if nothing else happens in this
service today, I want everybody under the sound
of my voice to get a brand new love for the Word
of God. I want the Word of God to become rich
to you and wonderful to you and beautiful to
you and precious to you. And I want you to have
a revival of reading the Word of God and memorizing
the Word of God and embracing the Word of God
and quoting. the Word of God, there's power to
be found in the Word of the living God. Hallelujah.
And so it is from God's eternal Word that I read
this story to you today, the story of King Belshazzar,
who was the son of Nebuchadnezzar, who had conquered
all of the known world. There's something about
King Belshazzar. He is the portrait of many.
In America today, the first thing I notice about
Belshazzar is this. He felt he was beyond the
reach of God. The concept of God was to him archaic.
We live in a nation where the concept of God
has become archaic to many people. they care
about is their wealth, their comfort, the power
that we have as a nation. And they say that's
all we need. We're protected. We're secure. We're
surrounded. Nothing can hurt us. Nothing can
touch us. And so we really don't need a closeness
with God. God can't touch us. Nebuchadnezzar
saw himself as the king of the mightiest nation
on earth. Behind walls that were so thick that
multiple rows of chariots could drive side by
side. A nation so wealthy and rich that it had
become one of the great wonders of the ancient
world. And so he felt like he was out of the
reach of God. But I'm here to tell you nobody's
out of the reach of God. Nobody on this earth
is out of the reach of God. David even said in
one place, if I were to descend into hell, he
said even there your Holy Spirit would find me.
He said if I were to take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost part of the sea, you'd
find me there. Nobody. is out of the reach of
God. No wall will hide you from God. No door
can close you off from God. No country you can
go to will secure you from God. No one is out
of the reach of God. Not only that, but Belshazzar
felt that he was beyond the eyes of God. He had
this I'll do as I please attitude. He said, pleasure
is my goal. I want to be entertained. I want
the ultimate in entertainment. I want to do as
I please. You know what? That is the stench that's
in America today. We lust for the joys of the
gridiron and the courtyard and the fields. And
to be entertained. And we go after more entertainment
to replace the entertainment we're already bored
with. We say, leave me alone. I want to live
in anonymity. People think no one will see what
they're doing behind their closed doors. They
lock themselves in seclusion and they freeze
behind their screens. and they think no one will
see them, certainly not the eyes of a just and
holy God. God can't see me here. I'm hidden.
But you know what the Bible said? The Bible said
the eyes of the Lord run to and fro in the earth,
beholding the good and the evil. You know something?
There's a lot of people in America would hate
my guts for what I'm preaching right now. But
I feel a call from God to preach this. I feel
the spirit of warning upon me. I feel the spirit
of the prophet upon me. I feel the spirit of
urgency upon me. I feel the spirit of the broken
heart upon me, the spirit of trembling upon me.
Oh, God, help us to see that you see us. We're
not hid from you. We're not cloaked from you.
We're not invisible creatures that you cannot
see. God, you see us. Belshazzar thought that
he could not be seen by a just and a holy God.
Belshazzar felt like he was beyond the judgment
of God. So the Bible said he took the holy vessels.
Now let me tell you something about these vessels
that Belshazzar and his... and his wives and
his concubines and all of his partners and pleasure
drank wine out of and praised idol gods in their
drunken stupor. Let me tell you something about
these vessels. They were made of gold and silver.
They were taken from the temple of God which
was in Jerusalem. Let me tell you about these
vessels. When Solomon dedicated the temple, Solomon
had appointed 38 ,000 Levites to be involved
in the building of that temple. The Bible tells
us that there were 24 ,000 of them, or 36 ,000,
not 38, but 36 ,000. There were 24 ,000 that
were involved in the construction. They were
laborers. large group of 6 ,000 that were officers
and judges. There were two more groups. One was
made up of security people, and then there was
a group of 4 ,000 that while the temple was being
built, 4 ,000 Levites did nothing but praise
the Lord. The Bible said they praised the Lord
at the dawning of the sun. And they would praise
the Lord throughout the day until the sun began
to set in the west. And that was a temple built
on praise. It was a temple built on holiness
for the Levites were considered holy under the
Lord. And when they got ready to dedicate the
temple and those vessels were in that temple
at the dedication, the Bible said the Shekinah
glory. It was so thick that the priest couldn't
even go inside. Now, folks, listen to me. What
if all of us lined up to come in this morning?
We couldn't get in here. Woo! Man, I don't know
where that come from. We couldn't get in here
because the glory of the Lord was so thick in
this place. That we couldn't even walk in and
I had to look over and say, Cliff, I'll go in
as soon as the glory lets up a little bit. It's
too thick for me and you to go in there right
now. What if the glory was that thick? My God,
that's how thick it was that day. They dedicated
the temple of God in Jerusalem. So thick. The
priest couldn't even go in. Oh, hallelujah, hallelujah,
hallelujah. And that's the vessels that were
in that temple that day. And now you've got this
carnal, full of the devil, got a devil in him
big as a rhinoceros, and he's drinking wine.
and praising idol gods out of those same vessels.
The Bible said praising gods of gold and silver,
iron and stone, which have no voice, neither
can hear. Man, just soon take him a good case
knife and go out here and... chop him a branch
off a tree and carve him out a little god. Did
you know Isaiah said that one time? Isaiah the
prophet said that. He said the fool goes out
here and cuts himself a branch off and whittles
him out a god. Worships his little whittled god.
I can strike a match and burn his little old
god up. Here's old Belshazzar. worshiping gods
that have no voice, can't do anything. And he's
praising them. He's not just worshiping them.
He's praising them and laughing. But you know
what? I love the Bible. Oh, wow, I love the Bible.
Man, I'm enjoying preaching this morning. I'm
feeling good all over. The Bible. said while
he done it in the same hour there stretched forth
fingers of a man's hand and wrote over in the
plaster on the wall of the king's palace and
the Bible said the king saw the part of the hand
that wrote. And then the Bible said then were
the joints of his loins loose. What happened
brother Griffiths? God jerked his hip bones out
of place. The Bible said his knees got to knocking
against each other. He was terrified. We ought
to be terrified of a living God. That's right.
I'm telling you, God is real. God's alive. He
wants us to serve him. He wants us to love him.
He wants to love us. He wants to bless us. He
wants us to be lifted up. But I'm telling you,
there's coming a day when the terror of the Lord
is going to fill this universe. Old Nebuchadnezzar,
or Belshazzar, I could preach a sermon on his
daddy too, but I'm going to stay on the boy right
now. Nebuchadnezzar, or Belshazzar. The Bible
said he called for the wise men, the astrologers,
the soothsayers, the Chaldeans, everybody that
he thought was intelligent to come and try to
interpret what was written upon the wall. The
Bible said they all came in and none of them
could interpret it. The Bible said the queen
came in and actually in the Hebrew it's indication
it's not the queen he was married to but rather
it was the queen mother. who came in, the old
lady. And she said, in the days of your father,
there was a holiness preacher. I love holiness
preachers. God spoke to him. He understood dreams
and visions, and he gave. clarity to doubt. And
I think he's still living. And if you can find
him, I guarantee you he can tell you what's up
on that wall. Hallelujah. You know something?
The world may not like those of us that have
this old time religion, but I'm telling you right
now, they need us. I said they need us. Hallelujah.
The Scripture said they went and found Daniel.
You know what I like to think? Now, this is just
me. This isn't written in the Bible. This is
just me, but this is my sermon, and I'm preaching
it. I think Daniel came in and immediately recognized
his father's handwriting. That's what I think.
And Daniel preaches Nebuchadnezzar's sermon.
He tells him about his father. Your father once
thought he was some big something. And God turned
him out in the field like a wild beast. And he
ate grass and the dew of heaven rested on his
back until he acknowledged the God of heaven.
And you knew that, Belshazzar. You knew. what
was right and what was wrong, but you still did
what you've done. He said, now God's got a message,
a message for you. You see, God wrote out the
judgment of Belshazzar. The Bible tells us that
if we, hallelujah, if we love God, if we're close
to God, If we listen to God, we'll know what
God is saying. He knew what God was saying. And
so he read it. The words the Bible gives us,
The meaning is this. God has numbered your kingdom
and finished it. In our plain language, we would
say, Belshazzar, to tell you're weighed in the
balances and found wanting, you don't measure
up. God's put you on the scales. You don't measure
up. You're weighed, weighed, weighed. God owns
the scales. God determines the balances. God
knows what's right and wrong, and you don't measure
up. Do you know one of the great problems in
America today is that many Americans have created
their own standard of what's right and wrong
instead of what the Bible says is right and wrong.
And they measure themselves by their own measuring
stick. God is the one that determines right and
wrong. And then Daniel said, your kingdom is
divided and given to the Medes and Persians.
Everything you thought you had is going to be
taken away from you. What was Belshazzar's end?
According to the historians, that night, The
river that ran underneath the wall that surrounded
Babylon that Belshazzar felt so secure behind,
that river was diverted. And on dry ground, the
armies of Medea and Persia sent their massive
armies into the city of Babylon. I doubt if Belshazzar
knew anything. Until a Median spirit plunged
in his belly and he breathed his last breath.
Lost in the judgment of God. But what about Daniel?
And I conclude by telling you God is going to
have a people. God had Daniel. God will always
have a people. God's got us. God's got people
around this world. God will have his people.
God will speak through his people. God spoke
through Daniel. God will speak through us. Oh,
hallelujah. God will take care of his people.
God took care of Daniel. In fact, the next king
that came in found such great, great pleasure
in Daniel that he made him one of the leaders
and the rulers of the kingdom. And when evil
men and seducers that wax worse and worse would
find fault and lay a trap for Daniel, and Daniel
would find himself in a lion's den, God would
send his angel down into the den and lock the
lion's jaws, and Daniel was always taken care
of. One thing I want to say to you in concluding
this message, and it's very, very important,
and it's this. When you come down to the end
of the life of the prophet Daniel, you get to
Daniel chapter 12. And God spoke to me early
this morning about these verses. I had not even
included them in the sermon. And God spoke to
me because God wanted me to speak to you. In
Daniel chapter 12, Daniel is having this conversation
with God about the end time. And God tells Daniel
to go his way. And then God uses a most unusual
phrase in a conversation with Daniel. God says,
go your way. And then God says, until the time
of the end. But he's not talking about Daniel's
end. The language does not express that he's
talking about Daniel's end. He's talking about
the end of time as we know it. The end of humanity.
And he says two things that are, and it's two
of the greatest signs of the end time in the
Bible you seldom ever hear him preached about.
We preach about Matthew chapter 24, Luke 21,
Mark 13, 1 Thessalonians 4, 1 Corinthians 15,
the book of Revelation, the book of Jude. Isaiah,
all the chapters in the 60s, and the latter part
of the book of Zechariah, there's prophetical
chapters throughout the Bible that are so powerful.
And yet, here's two phrases that God gives Daniel
about the time of the end that are so crystal
clear about the time that you and I are living
in right now. He said, at the time of the end,
many... Would run to and fro. I looked up the
Hebrew words that the English language interprets
here. Many shall run to and fro. The word many
means literally abundant numbers like millions
and millions and millions. In Daniel's time,
there were not that many people alive on the
earth. And when you got outside the Middle East,
when you got outside of... the Middle Eastern
nations, you got into the tribal sections of
humanity, and there's some that do not even believe
there was anybody in North America at that time,
and the earth was sparsely populated. But today,
there's billions of people, over 8 billion people
on this planet. And he said, many. In fact, it
indicates an almost innumerable host of people,
and he said they would run to and fro, which
seems to indicate unlimited travel and the unlimited
ability to communicate at the time of the end.
And then he said, to back this up, the very next
phrase, knowledge shall increase. Let me tell
you something. From the time of Christ until
the year 1900, it is said the accumulated knowledge
of mankind doubled one time in 1900 years. And
then from 1900 until shortly after World War
I, it would double again. What took 1900 years
would happen in just a little over 20 years.
Then it would double again before World War II.
Then it began to increase. And when you read
about it, when you do the research on it, every
ten years, every five years, now they say that
knowledge is doubling as rapidly in some cases
as every year and a half. Nanotechnology that
we cannot even begin to fathom. I read about
it and I say, David, what? Did you just read?
David responds and says, I have no idea. I mean,
we're living in a world that is just rapidly,
rapidly changing. God told an old Hebrew prophet
in a captive land many years ago that at the
time of the end, many would run to and fro and
knowledge would increase. I'm not one of these
guys that tries to find Scripture verses to match
everything. I'm just one of those guys that reads
the Bible and believes it. I believe it's a true,
true book from God. I believe God's Word's true.
I believe it's everlasting. It'll stand when
everything else falls and is crushed. Hallelujah.
Folks, I feel good in my soul today. I know God
can see me. I can't run from God. I know that
I can't hide from God. I know I'm not beyond
the reach of God. I know God loves me and God
cares about me. And I know God's Word is absolutely
true, absolutely real. Mama, this old book you
started reading years and years and years ago
is true. Absolutely true. And it'll last forever.
Ever and ever and ever and ever. If you love
the Lord, I want you to stand to your feet all
over this building. If you love the Lord, I want
you to stand to your feet right now. I want you
to lift your hands toward heaven and begin to
praise him right now. I want you to praise him
all over this building. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.