The Plowman

Learning the Truth the Hard Way [ 41:28 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (74)

Daniel #04: an exposition of Daniel 4:1-37. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, February 10, 2013.

Intro:

I was laying in my hospital bed the day after surgery.  The doctor came in and explained what he had done the day before.  “You know it took Dr. Fell 4 hours to chisel through your skull.”  Really?  He ended the explanation with, “We did not cover the hole with a plate, we stuffed it with fat and then closed.”  I said, “So, you are telling me I’m thick-skulled and fat-headed?”   He said, “Exactly.”  The funny thing was I had teachers who had been telling me that for years!  Some of us are slow leaners.  I don’t mean we have learning disabilities that make it difficult for us to learn, I mean we are stubborn and often have to learn our lessons the hard way.  More than once my dad would shake his head and say, “You’d think you would have learned your lesson last time but I guess you prefer to learn the hard way.”  Of course I’m not alone in the “hard way club” our membership is quite large.  I will have to admit the lessons learned the hard way are lessons not easily forgotten.  In fact when the lesson is learned the response is generally – “I’m not going to do that again!” There is one member of our club who really stands out.  In fact if the Hard Way Club ever builds a museum he ought to have his own wing.  He was the most powerful man on earth.  Nations trembled before him.  His word was law.  His glory was unsurpassed.  He had been told that his power and glory was a gift from the God of Heaven and Earth.  By grace he had been given world dominion.  He was also told that his glory and power would fade.  Another would take his place.  He had been rocked by a troubling dream.  He had seen a demonstration of power well beyond his own…yet he had not learned his lesson but he was about to.  Boy, did he ever learn it the hard way.  His story is recorded for us in Daniel chapter 4 and hopefully you can learn from his experience and not have to travel that same road.

Text: Daniel 4:1-37

• He had some profound religious experiences.
• God got his attention through that dream of the statue.
• But the experience soon worn off and there was no change.
• That was evidenced by his building of the image of gold in defiance of God’s message.

He demanded that all the people bow and worship at the foot of his image on the penalty of death.  When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused he was enraged.  He again threatened them with death in the fiery furnace.  He arrogantly boasted, “Who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?”  He got his answer!  Three men, bound, were cast into the fire but as he looked into the furnace there were 4 men unbound and dancing and the 4^th appeared the be a son of the gods!  He called for them to come out.  Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego come out on harmed with not even the smell of smoke upon them.  The king declared the greatness of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego’s god but there was still no change.

But note the beginning of chapter 4.

4:1-3 – now there is a change.

• “…the signs and wonders that the Most High God has done for me” (2).
• “…His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His dominion endures from generation to generation” (3).
• Look at 4:37 – “…Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, for all His works are right and His ways are just; and those who walk in pride He is able to humble.”

What brought about this change?

The key is in the last phrase – “…and those who walk in pride He is able to humble.”

As we explore what happened to the king we will see that…

Thesis: King Nebuchadnezzar’s experience vividly demonstrates the wonderful truth that God in love and kindness humbles the proud so that they can glory is God’s sovereign mercy and grace.

The chapter open’s with the king’s testimony of God’s sovereign work.  A testimony to all peoples, nations, and languages (the same group order to bow before the image of gold in 3:4).  As we work through this chapter I want to point out 4 things along the way.

1. God, in love and kindness, disrupts the comfortable heart of the sinful.  (4:4-18)
2. God, in grace, warns of the wages of sin.  (4:19-27)
3. God, in righteousness, judges the proud and arrogant.  (4:28-33)
4. God, in mercy, restores the repentant.  (4:34-37)

Faith in the Midst of the Fire [ 39:31 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (92)

Daniel #03: an exposition of Daniel 3:1-30. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, February 3, 2013.

Intro:

Life is a series of choices.  We make choices everyday.  Some of them are obviously more impactful and meaningful than others but we make hundreds of choices every day.  Coco Puffs or oatmeal?  Coat or light jacket?  Give it my all or loaf?  Marry him or wait for someone great?  Choices.  While there are consequences to every choice some are more serious than others.  Of course the most important decision you will ever make is choosing whether you will trust Christ alone for salvation or if you will stand on your own before God.  It is that choice I want us to think about for a while this morning.  Too often we think of that choice as a “one time decision.”  While I admit there must be that decisive moment when you stop trusting in yourself, turn from your sin and trust Christ – that is not the end of the matter.  That decision leads then to other decisions.  That choice affects other choices.  Jesus said, “If you want to follow me you must take up your cross daily and follow Me.”  To belong to Christ is to daily chose to follow Him.  To chose His will over your will.  To obey His commands and to yield to His purposes rather than follow your own agenda.  According to James, the half-brother of our Lord, workless faith is a dead faith.  The life of faith is a life of obedience, a life of doing the will of God.  It is not an easy life and it demands remarkable courage as our text this morning powerful demonstrates.  Our text this morning is found in the 3^rd chapter of the book of Daniel.

Text: Daniel 3:1-30

• Daniel and his friends have been exiled to Babylon.
• They have been trained in Babylonian philosophy, science and culture.
• They have been groomed for service in the court of the king.
• They have distinguished themselves through uncompromising faith.

In chapter 2 Daniel is given insight from God to interpret the king’s troubling dream.  God had a message for Nebuchadnezzar and the world.  The kingdoms of this world come and go (according to God’s desire) but God’s kingdom abides forever.  Nebuchadnezzar was told his kingdom was great and glorious (head of gold).  He was a king of kings thanks to God’s gracious gift.  But his kingdom, like of of man’s kingdoms, would be replaced by another.  Apparently Nebuchadnezzar didn’t like that message as his building project suggests.

This text serves to remind us that…

Thesis: The life of faith takes God at His word and willingly submits to His sovereign purpose.

There are 3 things I want to point out as we make our way through this chapter.

1. The way of the world often stands in conflict with and in defiance of the way of our God.  (3:1-7)
2. When faced with such a conflict you must exercise courageous faith.  (3:8-18)
3. God sovereignly demonstrates His faithfulness in the midst of the conflict.  (3:19-30)

Bad Dream: Powerful Truths [ 45:54 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (149)

Daniel #02: an exposition of Daniel 2:1-49. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, January 27, 2013.

Intro:

Are you a dreamer?  I don’t mean a visionary or trailblazing pioneer.  I mean do you dream at night?  Do you ever have one those disturbing dreams?  The one where you are do to graduate and realize that you have one class you’ve not gone to all semester?  Panic sets in.  “Maybe the teacher will cut you some slack.”  “Maybe you can pass the final exam.”  I’ve had that one more than once and I always wake up in a panic.  The worst is my reoccurring dream of getting up to preach and realizing I’m in my underwear!  You don’t have to be a prophet to figure that one out.  I feel inadequate for the job, plain and simple.  He was the most powerful man on earth.  His lust for power had driven him to greater and greater heights.  His armies covered the earth like a plague.  Nation after nation fell before his superior might.  At the height of his power he had a dream.  A dream that terrified him.  A dream that stripped away his mask of invisibility and revealed him to be petty and insecure.  He called in the wise men, the magicians and the astrologers and demanded an interpretation of his dream.  Either they would tell him the dream and its interpretation or they would all die.  He did eventually get his interpretation.  But it came as some good news mixed with bad news.  He learned some things he wished he hadn’t and he was told some things he didn’t want to hear.  The whole experience has been recorded for us and proves to be enlightening for all.  Our text this morning is found in the second chapter of Daniel.

Text: Daniel 2:1-49

• Daniel and his three friends were among the first exiles taken from Jerusalem to Babylon.
• They were taken because they were of the best and brightest of the land.
• They were being groomed for service in the Babylonian court.
• Daniel and his friends distinguished themselves through their uncompromising faith.
• That story is told in the first chapter of Daniel.
• Chapter 2 is still early in the captivity.
• Daniel is still in his teens and is rising in power when the dream occurs.
• Once again Daniel’s faithfulness to God will propel him to greater heights.
• There is one technical note in this text I need to call to your attention.  Look at verse 4.  We read, “…the Chaldeans said to the king in Aramaic…”
• Daniel 2:4-7:28 is written in Aramaic.
• For the most part the Old Testament is written in Hebrew and the New Testament in Greek.
• There are passages however that are in Aramaic, this being the largest.
• Aramaic was the “universal” language at that time.
• Daniel 2-7 tell of God’s dealings with the Babylonians and succeeding kingdoms.
• Thus it is written for the widest possible audience!
• Written in the language of the people so that the people would understand.

The dominant note throughout the book is the sovereignty of God.  God is in control of all things.  History is moving toward a predetermined end.  The prophecies contain in this chapter are so accurate, liberal scholars insist it had to have been written much later.  After the fact as an explanation for what happened not before as a prophecy of what would come to pass!

One of the great things about this passage is that God reveals his sovereign purpose not through visions given to holy men but through a dream given to a pagan ruler bent on world domination, convinced of his own invincibility.  As we work our way through this chapter we will discover that…

Thesis: Nebuchadnezzer’s troubling dream proves to be enlightening for the ungodly, the righteous and the kingdoms of this world.

1. When confronted with God’s sovereignty the ungodly show their true colors.  (2:1-13)
2. Times of crisis and severe testing serve to reveal the true character of godliness.  (2:14-30)
3. Through it all God declares the glory of His eternal kingdom.  (2:31-49)

Conclusion:

The message is clear.  The rise and fall of nations and empires is not primarily to be understood militarily, financially or politically but morally and spiritually.  The destruction of these kingdoms is not an accident of history but is the work of God’s judgment against those who turned from His laws and have forsaken His Word.

The message was for king Nebuchadnezzer, the kingdoms of this world, the people of God and all others – “God is in charge.  He is sovereign over all things and His purposes will be fulfilled in all the earth.”

Singing the Lord's Song in a Foreign Land [ 45:02 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (180)

Daniel #01: an exposition of Daniel 1:1-21. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, January 20, 2013.

Intro:

Do you ever find it difficult to live out your faith?  Are you ever faced with choosing between being faithful to the will of God or obeying your employer?  Have you ever had to worry that being faithful to the Scripture might cost you a friendship?  Has your faith ever created problems within your family?  The life of faith is not an easy life.  Living out the commands of our God in a culture that is increasingly hostile to Him is difficult to say the least.  True you’ve not had to resist to the point of death or anywhere near that yet.  But your life of faith can cost you greatly. How do we remain faithful in faithless days?  How do we pursue godliness in godless times?  He was a young man in his mid to late teens when he was taken from his safe/secure environment and placed in a hostile land, forced into the service of a godless king, schooled in pagan thinking and yet for seven decades he stood as a shining example of faith and godliness.  His name was Daniel and he has much to teach us.

This morning we begin a study of the book of Daniel.  To open the book of Daniel is to enter a strange new world.  We find ourselves in Babylon six centuries before the birth of Christ.  We read the words of a man who knew God intimately and to whom God revealed His secrets.  The story begins in 605 B.C. and ends around 537 B.C.  Thus his life spans the entire Babylonian captivity.  The book is divided into 2 parts.  Chapters 1-6 are biographical telling of the exploits of Daniel and his three friends.  While chapters 7-12 record visions and their interpretation.  There is one other important background note.  We, westerners, think linear.  We think of time and history in terms of a beginning a middle and an end.  We think in terms of sequence.  This happened and then that happened and it ended with this.  But people from the east think in terms of cycles.  Thus their histories often tell the same story from multiple angles or perspectives.  That’s important because Daniel focuses on one grand theme but comes back to it again and again from different perspectives and that is important to note for our understanding of the book.  With that in mind let’s look at Daniel chapter 1.

Text: Daniel 1:1-21

Verses 1 and 2 set the context for us.  Our story opens with two succinct statements about the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzer, king of Babylon.  I say there are two statement because it is described in two ways.

1:1 = from the view of secular history.

1:2 = the same event informed by biblical theology.

Nebuchadnezzer sieged Jerusalem and God gave them into his hand.  Which is the truth?  The Babylonians took the city or God gave the city over?  Yes!  Nebuchadnezzer in his lust for power and land conquered the world and thus he served God’s sovereign purpose.  The immediate result of the siege of Jerusalem was that God was robbed of His possessions and blasphemies were committed against His name.  Vessels of gold were taken from the temple of God in Jerusalem and placed in the temple of idols in Babylon.  The Babylonian gods were praised for the defeat of Israel’s God.  The best and brightest of Israel were spirited away.  It was a dark, tragic day for God’s people.  Now doubt the cries went up throughout Judah, “Where was God when the Babylonians came?”  “Has He forgotten His promise?  Has He abandon us in the hour of our greatest need?”

Yet the biblical writer knew better.  This is the work of God.  The work of His hand.

The book of Daniel is a grand and glorious statement of the sovereignty of God and His grand purpose the establishment of His kingdom.  The book is an encouragement to the people of God throughout the ages that regardless of how things look or feel God is in control and He is working all things for our good and His glory.

Daniel and his three friends, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were taken and forced into the service of the godless king.  Now they become our teachers and chapter one gives us our first lesson.

Thesis: Faithfulness in the face of a godless culture demands an uncompromising faith.

Psalm 137 is about life in Babylon during the captivity.  The Psalmist gives us a glimpse of the spiritual decline of those days:

1 By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion.

2 On the willows there we hung up our lyres (harps).

3 For there our captors required of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion!

4How shall we sing the LORD‘s song in a foreign land?

The answer to that penetrating questions is found in a life of uncompromising faith.  I want to point out to you, from our text, three things about uncompromising faith.

1. Uncompromising faith demands vigilant awareness of the daily threats to faith.  (1:3-7)
2. Uncompromising faith demands determined obedience even in mundane and everyday things.  (1:8-16)
3. Uncompromising faith enjoys God’s gracious favor.  (1:17-21)