Visions- Seven Steps For Our Understanding

To go to arkansas and I you know it's always different staying in a new room and especially when it's a dark room out in the sticks and you know it got up in the middle of the night and I had to feel my way around so like I'm like following the comforter I'm like okay I don't want to break a toe there's the bed post you know and I'm kind of feeling my way through the darkness and next thing I know I'm at a dresser okay all right I'm not at the door that's not where I need to go you know in a lot of ways that's the old testament you see we kind of get a sense of where everything is we there are some things that we understand some things that we don't understand but the new testament turns the light on the new testament is what helps us to understand everything that's happening is everything okay I'm just making sure the new testament is what helps us to see what is going on in the old testament see we know that Christ came we know that he established his kingdom we know that he rules and he reigns right now from heaven Matthew chapter 28 verses 18 through 20 it says and Jesus came and said to them all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me go therefore and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you and behold I am with you always to the end of the age and those aren't just nice words from Jesus those aren't just encouraging words from Jesus those are true words from Jesus it's a great place to say amen Daniel he looks to a heavenly being this might be a an angel or someone I

Don't know just someone that's there and he asks him the truth concerning all of this and he wants to know with certainty what does all this mean and the angel says as we've already established that the four beasts therefore kings we've already been through that but here's the big point that Daniel that the angel points Daniel to that the saints of the most high shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever forever and ever I thought that was a typo in my Bible when I first saw that because it's just a weird phrase because you know typically we think we're forever and ever and ever but it's forever forever it's a guarantee that when we are in Christ that this is our future this is our hope not everything that's going on in our world today we as Christians we do not live for this world we do not exist for this world yes we exist in it yes we do good works that others might see Christ in us that they might hear the Gospel but this is not our home we're pilgrims and we're passing through to a greater place that's the kingdom of God now the third step is the desire for truth because we all want to know truth right I mean I want people to be honest with me right and we don't want to be deceived and Daniel he even says I want to know the truth of all of this since God is the author of all truth we should never fear the truth and here's what we know about the beast it is a representation of a kingdom that has many rulers we know that we don't expect for a giant beast to

Come up out of the mediterranean sea with you know all these horns on its head if it does I'll rethink my position well we believe that these are symbols we can say that has many leaders we could say that has exactly 10 or maybe a little fewer than 10. We don't know but this we can look at this as 10 being symbolic as Scripture talks about 10 being symbolic many places a horn in Scripture is also a representation of strength so we can say that it is a very strong kingdom maybe even a completely strong kingdom opposed to God we can assume that this beast is very similar to or identical to the beast that we find in the book of revelation if you would turn with me over there to the book of revelation chapter 13. It's all the way to the right revelation chapter 13 verses 1-3 the Scripture says this and I saw a beast rising out of the sea that sounds familiar doesn't it with ten horns and seven heads with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads and the beast that I saw was like a leopard his feet were like a bears and its mouth was like a lion's mouth and to it the dragon gave his power and his throne in great authority one of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound but its mortal wound was healed and the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast so this one is has a lot of similarities it also has some differences now it has seven heads we didn't know of that had seven heads ten crowns on its horns that's different there's names on each of those heads remember that this is a symbol of greater truth and there's all sorts of different views

On it be supple and understanding to those who have different views on this topic because none of us know for sure amen one of those heads has what looks like a mortal wound and these are these are significant differences that we just can't overlook this beast in Daniel he was different than the first three beasts but he was also composed of all of those same critters the leopard the bear the lion look at verse 23 and as for the fourth beast this is back in Daniel sorry let's get back there Daniel 7 23 thus he said as for the fourth beast there shall be a fourth kingdom on earth which shall be different from all the other kingdoms or from all the kingdoms and it shall devour the whole earth and trample it down and break it to pieces as for the ten horns out of this kingdom ten kings shall arise and another shall arise after them he shall be different from the former ones and put down three kings see the beast he is violent he is terrible and step four is the difficulty of the horn the difficulty of the horn what I mean is that we know that the beast is rome because of fulfilled prophecy we know that during the time of these kings that Christ would come and we saw that fulfilled hands down we can tie that to them but who is this little horn though I wish I could tell you there's this strong temptation to identify the little horn with like a hitler or a mao zedong or you know your least favorite political person there and I would encourage you as Christians to land where you know in other words we know that he will

Remove three world leaders he will take their places we know that this person they will speak against God he will persecute Christians he will try to change times and seasons he will have a temporary victory over Christians I believe that this little horn belongs to the latter days the andy he is the antichrist but remember also that the spirit of the antichrist has been in our world since you know like the church has existed everywhere that the kingdom of God is opposed that is where the spirit of the antichrist is if we look in first John chapter 2 verse 18 it says this children it is the last hour and as you have heard that antichrist is coming so now many antichrists have come therefore we know that it is the last hour we know that there's going to be opposition wherever the kingdom of God is opposed that's where we know that satan is at work and so we remind ourselves that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against rulers and principalities and powers over the darkness of this world you see our enemies are not people that we disagree with those are the people that need the Gospel they need Jesus Christ amen and it's incumbent upon believers to willfully prayerfully sacrificially and humbly share the truth of the Gospel with people that desperately need to hear it 2000 years ago John said it is the last hour in other words it's the latter days it's been the last days and it will remain the last days until Christ returns here's what Peter said about the last

Days and let's see if you can identify some of these things this is a longer passage this is second Peter chapter three verses one through ten I would encourage you to give this some thought and study it says Peter writes this is now the second letter that I am writing to you beloved in both of them I'm stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandments of the Lord and Savior through your apostles knowing this first of all that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing following their own sinful desires they will say where is the promise of his coming for ever since the fathers fell asleep all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation for they deliberately overlooked this fact that the heavens existed long ago the earth was formed out of water through water by the word of God and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished but by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly but do not overlook this one fact beloved that with the Lord one day it says a thousand years a thousand years is one day the Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness but is patient toward you not wishing that any should perish but that all should reach repentance but the day of the Lord will come like a thief and then the heavens will pass away with a roar

And the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed the fifth step that we see here in this passage is the decision of the court look at with look at verse 26 with me it says but the court shall sit in judgment in his dominion that's the antichrist or the little horn his dominion shall be taken away to be consumed and destroyed to the end see we already know how everything shakes out we already know what the end is Jesus wins amen period he has established his kingdom and it is a kingdom of hope it is a kingdom of peace it is a Gospel of victory Christ died for sinners like you and me and we can be saved from the wrath to come by coming to God through Christ and by turning from sin in revelation chapter 19 verses one and two we get a glimpse of this wonderful celebration of this judgment on the leaders of the world after I heard this heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven crying out hallelujah salvation and glory and power belong to our God for his judgments are true and just for he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality and has avenged on her the blood of his servants once more they cried out hallelujah the smoke of her goes up forever and ever that's the decision of the court that's the end of the kingdoms of earth step six is the deliverance of the kingdom the deliverance of the kingdom the kingdom as I've said here is already here yet not fully here

What is verse 27 says it says that the kingdom the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the most high we talked about this in our sunday night study last week you know how we know that Christ rules right now but why don't we see it actually here on earth that was a question that the first century believers were asking this is already and not yet this is a future hope and yet it's also something Christians partake in right now and you know how you partake in the kingdom it's by fellowship with one another it's by sharing a meal with a believer it's by visiting a shut-in it's by sharing the Gospel with someone that's lost it's by spending time in prayer with family member or a friend or privately you see as we put our hands to the plow when we do the work of ministry the kingdom of God does what the kingdom of God does and you know the Lord is the one that gives the growth amen it's not up to us to you know save people but it is up to us to sow the seeds of the Gospel every time you love a neighbor the kingdom of God grows every time you lead a child to Christ the kingdom of God grows every time that I believe personally that Christians push pro-Biblical values in politics the kingdom of God grows the reason why I believe that some people say you can't legislate morality but that's exactly what the law does legislates morality but satan's not okay with that the spirit of the antichrist is in the

World and he will do whatever it takes to distract you he will do whatever it takes to declaw you to de-escalate your passion for Christ I would rather have a thousand peters who is just like ignorance on fire right than to have a billion judases the judgment's already been made God has written it down and it's true but it's also bothersome though look at step number seven step seven the disruption of rest the disruption of rest Daniel says here is the end of the matter that means that's the end the end the big end but in the meantime we have to remember that there is a future time from where we're at right now where believers will suffer tremendous persecution the worst kind of persecution that has ever been seen on this planet I remember thinking please don't let it be me please don't let it be me don't let it happen in my lifetime and someone I can't remember who is someone they said so you're kind of like hezekiah right as long as it's not during your lifetime and you know that bothered me because I had that was kind of my one hope don't let it happen in my lifetime then I think about my children and there's many children in our service here today and we thank the Lord for children kids I'm glad that you're here amen we love you guys what we want to do is we want to prepare you to follow Christ with your whole heart

With your whole mind because if it doesn't happen in our lifetime you know it might happen in yours we want to prepare kids to live for the Gospel regardless of the time their season that they're in for kids for our grandkids but instead of having human anxiety God he calls his people to think in spiritual terms to share the Gospel with their kids to ask our kids good deep spiritual questions they can handle it they're tough enough I think that's going to do it for us today so we've gone through a lot of stuff a lot of stuff to think about so head hand heart I want you to know that Christ that a Christian's hope is not in any kingdom of this world see we got a we got a heavenly hope our hope is in Jesus and it's not just the place of heaven okay as I said last week we're not going to be happy swinging on pearly gates of gold or pearly gates and walking streets of gold like that's not going to thrill us for eternity but you know what will it's Jesus because he's worth it why hasn't he returned yet why hasn't he established his visible kingdom here on earth the Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some counselors y'all remember this in ii Peter we were red but he is patient toward you not wishing that any should perish but that all should reach repentance that's why Christ delays is because of his compassion for our friends and our neighbors that don't know him yet Christ wants us to share the Gospel he wants us to send missionaries out

From our midst he wants us to go on mission trips to share the Gospel and there's some who still need to hear it and I want you to read revelation 20 through 22 this week just spend some time looking at the end because it's an encouraging time it's encouraging to see that the Gospel that we that we believe the Lord that we worship wins and he has already declared victory we have a Savior who is involved in our world guiding us leading us exactly where he wants us to go and heart I want you to believe that Jesus is Lord and that he will return to reign on earth soon amen [Music] so God we do thank you for this day that you've given to us we ask that you would help us Lord as we've just had to wrestle a lot with the topic that was very big and very heavy these are difficult things that we should give our thoughts over to so help us with both the old and the new testaments to seek out what your word says that we might be ready when you return to receive us help us to remain faithful until the end especially as me personally as a father as a husband as a pastor Lord help us all to walk in faithfulness we love you Lord in Jesus name amen let's stand and let's worship the Lord together [Music] my hope is built on nothing less than

Jesus blood and righteousness dare not trust the sweetest frame but holy lean on Jesus on Christ the solid rock I stand all of the ground is sinking sand all other ground is sinking said when darkness veils his lovely face I rest on his unchanging grace in every high and stormy gale my anger holds within the veil on Christ the solid rock I stand all over the ground is sinking sand all other ground is his oath is covered and his blood support me in the oven flood when all around my soul gives way he then is all my hope and stay on Christ the solid rock I stand all over the ground is sinking sand all other ground is sinking sand when he shall come with trumpet sound oh may I then in him be found dressed in his righteousness alone foddles to stand before the throne on Christ the solid rock I stand all of the ground is sinking sand all other ground is sinking sand one more time just our voices on Christ the solid rock I stand on the ground [Music] morning church my name is spencer by the way if you don't know me you need to grab me after church or sometime to make sure I have met you as thinking of Thessalonians you know we as we go through Daniel there's a lot of bad stuff going on isn't there a lot of evil kings a lot of a lot of destruction but in Thessalonians it says for God hath not appointed us to wrath but to obtain salvation by our Lord

Jesus Christ who died for us that whether we wake or sleep we should live together with him wherefore comforts yourselves together that means all of us we should all be comforting each other in order to do that we need to know each other if there's somebody within arm's length of you that you don't know today after church introduce yourself and start being a comfort let's pray our God and father we know you are the great salvation we know you have sent to us who believe a comforter the Holy Spirit to help us Lord but we are also here to help others we know a lot of people hurt in many different ways and may we be a help to them in our life today and through this week we just pray this in Christ's name amen so my great here this so now [Music] you know [Music] business yes here thank you