Truth That Changes Lives

JP Jones: For some of us, we need to give our lives to Christ. That’s what we need to do. And the Bible says if you will confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

(Intro Song)

Not to us, but to your name be the glory.

Guest (Male): Thank you for joining us on Truth That Changes Lives. Pastor JP Jones is the senior pastor of Crossline Community Church in Laguna Hills, California, and a professor in biblical studies at Biola University. Today on Truth That Changes Lives, Pastor JP will be giving us a message from a series entitled Heroes. Let's listen in as JP gives us part two of Daniel.

JP Jones: You go all the way back to Genesis chapter three, when the serpent appears in the garden with Eve. They’re in perfect fellowship with God, perfect relationship with God. Clear commandment from God: do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That’s it. Other than that, enjoy me, love me, enjoy my commandment, enjoy my creation, steward what I’ve given to you, enjoy each other. Perfect environment.

Serpent comes in and says, “Did God really say that? Did God really say you shouldn’t eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?” Adam’s standing there like a dummy and doesn’t say anything. Eve says, “Well, God said we can’t eat from it or touch it or we’ll die.” God never said don't touch it. So the fact that she gets into this mind game and conversation with Satan shows that she’s already losing the discussion. Note to self: don't ever get into a conversation with Satan. You’ll lose. Just say, “I rebuke you in the name of the Lord.”

She gets into the conversation, she’s already down the road of being deceived, and then it says she starts looking at it and go, “Wow, that’s going to taste really good,” lust of the flesh. “I love the way that appears, it really has a great appearance,” lust of the eyes. “If I eat, it’s going to make me wise,” boastful pride of life. And she ate it, and spiritually that day, they died. Lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, boastful pride of life.

That’s what Satan tried to do with Jesus, only Jesus resisted. Lust of the flesh: turn these stones to bread. Lust of the eyes: I’ll give you all the kingdoms of the earth. Boastful pride of life: jump off the temple and the angels will come gather you and everybody will worship you. Lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, boastful pride of life. John says, do not love the world nor the things in the world. For all that’s in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the boastful pride of life, it’s not from the Father, it’s from the world.

The world is passing away and also its lusts, but the one who does the will of God abides forever. Daniel would not compromise with the world. We need to learn from his example by not allowing ourselves to have pockets of our lives where we love the world via the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the boastful pride of life.

That’s why Jesus said in Matthew chapter six, “No one can serve two masters; for either you will hate the one and love the other, or else you will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not more of value than they?

“Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

You’ve got enough stuff today to be occupied with. Don’t be thinking about tomorrow, next week, next year, 20 years from now. Because Jesus says when you get worried about that stuff, it consumes you because it reveals that your love is for something other than him. It’s the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, or the boastful pride of life, because that’s the stuff that we worry about. It’s the world, and it’s a compromise with the world which will always mess us up, always. So we learn from Daniel not to compromise with the world.

Here’s a second thing we learn from Daniel: Daniel sought the Lord for wisdom and spiritual understanding. That’s the feature that jumps out when you read the book of Daniel: how he was able to interpret dreams, understand revelations, give counsel to kings, understand God speaking to himself. Daniel was a person who had tremendous wisdom, tremendous spiritual understanding, tremendous insight.

And yet the Bible clearly reveals in the book of Daniel that Daniel received that from God. Daniel received that because he sought it from God. It wasn’t that Daniel was a member of Mensa and had a PhD from Harvard, and that’s why he was able to just give these wise insights. No, it was because Daniel sought the Lord and the Holy Spirit revealed wisdom and understanding to him, just like any of us can seek the Lord and God will respond and give us spiritual wisdom and understanding.

Here’s an example of this in Daniel chapter two: the king had a dream and he was perplexed because he didn’t understand the meaning of the dream. And so he got all of his wise astrologers and counselors and said, “I want you to interpret the dream.” They said, “Okay, tell us the dream so we can interpret it.” He says, “No, it’s not going to work that way. You tell me the dream and then you tell me what it means.” They all said, “Who could tell you the dream first and then interpret it for you?” He said, “Well, if you can’t tell me the dream and then interpret it, your heads are going to get chopped off.”

And one of the guys said, “Hey, there’s a guy, Daniel, one of the Jewish exiles, who has the spirit of God in him. God speaks to him and reveals things to him. Maybe he can understand the dream.” So they went and got Daniel. In Daniel chapter two it says, “So Daniel went in and asked the king to give him time, that he might tell the king the interpretation. Then Daniel went to his house and made the decision known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,” we know them as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, “that they might seek mercies from God, the God of heaven, concerning this secret, so that Daniel and his companions might not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.”

Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. So Daniel blessed the God of heaven. Daniel said: “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and might are his. And he changes the times and the seasons; he removes kings and he raises up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. He reveals deep and secret things; he knows what is in the darkness, and light dwells with him. I thank you and praise you, O God of my fathers; you have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what we asked of you, for you have made known to us the king’s demand.”

Therefore Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy all the wise men of Babylon, and he went and said to him, “Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon; take me before the king, and I will tell the king the interpretation.” Then Arioch quickly brought Daniel before the king and said thus to him, “I have found a man of the captives of Judah who will make known to you, the king, the interpretation.”

The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, “Are you able to make known to me the dream which I have seen and its interpretation?” Daniel answered in the presence of the king and said, “The secret which the king has demanded, the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, and the soothsayers cannot declare to the king. But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. Your dream and the visions of your head upon your bed were these.” And then he revealed to him the dream and then he gave him the interpretation.

Over and over and over again in the book of Daniel, Daniel acknowledges that it’s the God of heaven who makes these things known. He appeals to the God of heaven through prayer and fasting and confession, and asks God to give him wisdom and understanding and spiritual discernment. The Bible says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. Repeat that with me: the fear of the Lord is wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

The book of Proverbs says that, that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. Daniel was a man who feared the Lord, and he sought after the Lord. Daniel took to heart what the prophet Jeremiah said in Jeremiah 29: “You shall seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart.” Daniel sought the Lord, and because he sought the Lord, God revealed himself and God revealed wisdom and God revealed spiritual understanding.

God made known to him the plan that he had for his life, for his people, for Nebuchadnezzar, for the ages. That’s why many of the prophecies that are written in the book of Daniel not only apply to Israel and Babylon, but to the coming kingdoms of the earth and to the final stage of human history. Every one of us can experience wisdom and insight from God if we will seek him like Daniel, if we will pray to him like Daniel.

Last week we talked about Elisha and the fact that Elisha prayed for a double portion of God’s Spirit, and I challenged us as a church to take the prayer of Ephesians chapter one and Ephesians chapter three and to pray those for ourselves and for our family and to pray those for our church. In Ephesians one, Paul says that he prayed for the spirit of wisdom and revelation to know God better. The Holy Spirit is the spirit of wisdom and revelation. We have the Holy Spirit if we believe in Jesus; he came into our life the very moment we trusted him. And he will give us wisdom and revelation to know God better if we will seek him and ask him.

In Colossians chapter one, I shared this in one of my prayer devotions this past week that I sent out to you. I was reading in the book of Colossians and that prayer of Colossians one just jumped off the page to me where it says, “I haven’t stopped since the day I heard about it, praying for you and asking that you might be given spiritual wisdom and understanding so that you might know his will, that you might live a life worthy of the Lord, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in your knowledge of God.”

God wants to give us spiritual wisdom and understanding, but he will not give it to us if we just passively plod about our lives thinking that it’s just going to rain down from heaven upon us. It’s not going to come if we think, “I’m going to sleep on the Bible and somehow through osmosis it’ll get into my head.” There’s just a biblical principle: seek and you will find. Seek and you will find. People who have an understanding and an intimacy with God, people who have spiritual wisdom, have that because they’ve sought the Lord.

I go to the gym all the time. I don't go to the gym and see guys, which by the way, let’s just be honest. I’ve got two daughters. When we go to the beach and they see a cute girl in a nice bikini, they talk about the girl. They notice the girl. Look how she’s really cute. Look at her figure. Isn’t that a nice little bathing suit? And guys, we do the same thing. We walk into the gym, we see a buff guy, whether we say it or not, we think, look at that guy. He’s kind of studly. I wonder if I could take him. Anyway, it’s weird. It’s a weird guy thing, I don't know. Now I think, when I was 20, I could take him, but.

If I see a guy in the gym that is obviously physically fit, I don't just assume, man, what great genetics, he just came out of the womb looking like that. I think, that guy works out. That’s what I think. That guy works out. And when I am in relationship with someone who walks with the Lord in spiritual intimacy and lives a spirit-filled life and has biblical wisdom and understanding, I think, that guy seeks the Lord. That guy prays, that guy studies God’s word, that guy is searching for wisdom, and guess what? God gives it to him.

Daniel sought the Lord in prayer and meditation and reflection, asked God for spiritual wisdom. Are you facing some kind of issue in your life where you need spiritual wisdom? Ask God for it. Are you making some decision in your family about your kids or your finances or your marriage? Are you asking God? Are you on your knees? Are you saying, “God, give us the wisdom we need? We don't know what to do, but you do; show it to us.” God gives wisdom and spiritual understanding to those who fear him and seek him.

Daniel was a man who sought the Lord and humbled himself before God, and God heard his prayers. If we were on a path to find wisdom and understanding and I came up on my path and it diverged in one of two directions and there’s two doors. One door said, “Human intelligence and effort,” and the other door said, “God’s revelation.” And I went through this door of human intelligence and effort. It doesn’t matter how hard I travel, work, run, jog, I’m not going to find spiritual wisdom and understanding.

On the other hand, if I go through the door that says “God’s revelation,” just because I go through the door doesn’t mean I’m going to get it either. Wisdom and revelation is only found through this door, but I still have to go through it and search for it just as hard as I was going through the other door. God gives spiritual wisdom, God gives understanding, but we have to seek for it, we have to search after it, we have to fear the Lord because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

Daniel was a guy who feared the Lord, sought after spiritual wisdom and understanding, and God gave it to him. And he was able to bless his people and bless the nation he lived in and help advance God’s kingdom because of it. One last thing: Daniel regularly spent time in Bible study and prayer. Daniel chapter nine says this: “In the first year of Darius son of Ahasuerus, a Mede by descent, who was made ruler over the Babylonian kingdom—in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last 70 years. So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition and in fasting and in sackcloth and in ashes.” And the rest of Daniel nine records the actual prayer that he prayed in there.

So here’s what’s going on: Daniel was having a quiet time. He was studying God’s word. He’s reading the book of Jeremiah. And you can find it; it’s in Jeremiah chapter 29. And he was doing so because in the previous chapter of Daniel, Daniel eight, he’d had a vision about what was going to go on in Babylon and in Israel and in the surrounding nations, and it concerned him. It gave him a sense of angst about what’s happening, and how do I fit into it, and what’s going to play out.

And so he sought the Lord and he’s studying God’s word. All of a sudden, he’s reading in Jeremiah 29. Oh my gosh! Because in Jeremiah 29, it talks about how Israel was going to be taken captive and they were going to be in Babylon 70 years. Daniel’s an old guy now, and he’s starting to go, wow, how long have I been here? Let me count. 67, 68, 69. I’ve been here 69 years. This passage just said it’s a 70-year captivity and then we get to go back to the land.

He discovered an insight from his study of the word of God which prompted him to pray the prayer that he prays in Daniel nine. Every person here is facing something in your life, in our lives, where if we would look at the word of God, we would find the answer to what it is. And then if we would pray, then God would pour out the power of his Holy Spirit to prepare us to step into what he wants to do. Every person.

For some of us, we need to give our lives to Christ. That’s what we need to do. And the Bible says if you will confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. We went to the Harvest Crusade, there was about 100 of us with kids and everybody, and we had a great time. There was great worship, Greg Laurie gave a great message. Afterwards, my son and I went down onto the field, and Greg Laurie gave a response of prayer for those who want to receive Christ.

And then he said, “If you’re here and you’re making a decision, then turn around to someone who has one of the blue tags, they’re counselors, and they can talk to you further and pray with you.” I’m standing there with my son. There’s three people standing in front of us. He says “Amen.” They immediately turn around, they look at us, and the woman in the middle said, “I’ve been going to church for about three or four months, but I’ve never been saved. So I came here tonight to get saved. Can you help me?”

I had the Bible there, I opened it up, Romans 10:9 and 10. “Would you read that for me?” She read it: “If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved.” I said, “What does God’s word say about how you can know you’re saved?” She goes, “I need to confess Jesus as Lord and believe that he was raised from the dead.” “Do you?” “Yes.” “Would you?” “Yes.” “Well, let’s pray right now.” Boom.

My son was there, we prayed with them. He went around and he started praying with somebody else, I went on and talked to somebody else. You see, there’s a word of God for you, what you need, just as there was a word for Daniel, what he needed. He needed to hear the word of Jeremiah 29, and because he was studying it, he found it. And his response was to pray. Daniel was a man who studied the word and prayed, and it changed his life.

And this is just a spiritual habit and discipline that is biblical. It’s tried and true. It has changed the lives of people for thousands of years. It continues to change people’s lives today. It is the bar none most important spiritual habit of my life. And I’ve shared with you many, many times. As a very young Christian, just a couple of weeks old in the Lord, having asked Jesus into my heart, my brother bought me a Bible. He gave it to me and he said, “Read this every day; it’ll change your life.” And I’ve been doing that for 36 years.

Now, I’ve got a long way to go in my growth, I’ve got a lot of issues, but I would say that the single most powerful influence on my personal Christianity, my relationship with Jesus—not talking about being a pastor, but it’s true being a pastor, but first and foremost me as a Christian, me as a follower of Jesus—the most important habit in my life is spending daily time studying the word of God and praying. I fill up journals just with what I read and study and pray.

This was just yesterday in spending time with the Lord. I read through Isaiah chapter 24, I read Psalm 139, I read Deuteronomy 18, I read Mark chapter 11, I read John chapter 10. And I just was writing down, “Lord, you are the maker of heaven and earth. You’re the Lord of all the earth. You’re my God, you’re my Savior. You’re the king and you have all authority. You have a kingdom plan and you rule over history and you have a plan for me and my life and for me and my family and for me and my church. You are the righteous and holy one.” And I just went on. This is just my prayers from my study of God’s word.

Daniel was a man of spiritual integrity because he wouldn’t compromise with the world, because he sought God for spiritual wisdom and understanding, and he spent regular time in Bible study and prayer. And we need to learn from Daniel’s life. If we will follow that example, God will change our lives, change our families, and change our church.

Guest (Male): What a great message for all of us today. Pastor JP provides us with great insight. That is why we'd like to make it available to you on CD. Just get in touch and mention today's date. We'll send it your way for just $5. Or if you'd like to support this ministry, you can write us at Truth That Changes Lives, 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California 92653. Or give us a call at 949-916-0250. That's 949-916-0250.

For your gift of $25 or more, we will send you a signed copy of JP's new book, Facing Goliath. Please join us every Sunday at 9:00 or 11:00 AM at Crossline Church in Laguna Hills. The address is 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California 92653. Or check us out on the web at crosslinechurch.com. We're going to get to the address and phone number again in a moment, but before we do that, Pastor JP, do you have any insight from today's message?

JP Jones: Thanks, Greg. We’re in a series talking about heroes. We’re looking at men and women who were used by God in the Hebrew Scriptures in their generation to make a difference for God, to advance God’s kingdom. And we’re seeing that they were not heroes because of some extraordinary ability or gift that they had; they were heroes because they were real people, but real people who surrendered their whole lives to God.

God isn’t looking for superstars; he’s looking for people who are available, people who are humble, people who are seeking him and willing to serve him with their whole hearts. God’s looking for people like you and people like me who will love him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and who will be available to be used by him in our world, in our culture, to stand up for Christ.

Daniel was a person who stood up for God in the midst of a pagan culture. He’d been taken from his home country and been transferred to Babylon, and yet he stood out as someone who made a definite difference because of his faith in God and because of the wisdom and knowledge that God gave to him. Daniel understood this biblical principle: the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

Daniel’s life was characterized by integrity, by obedience, and by the fear of the Lord. Daniel was a person who served God and made a stand for God and spoke boldly about God. Daniel had developed disciplined habits of seeking God in the word and praying to God and being strengthened by God’s grace through time in the word and through time in prayer.

In fact, in Daniel chapter nine, we have this great prayer of Daniel that comes as a result of his personal time in the Scriptures. That’s an example for every one of us. If we want to be people of integrity, people who fear the Lord, people who make a difference for God, we need to have the source of strength that Daniel had, and that’s time alone with God.

When we carve out time to spend with God in prayer and we carve out time to spend with God in his word, he speaks to us, he strengthens us, he transforms our character, he makes us people who fear the Lord who have wisdom and knowledge and who are strong and bold for his kingdom purposes. We can be people who make a difference when we are people who have a transformed character because we spend time alone with God. If you want to be that kind of person, would you be willing to make that kind of commitment in your own spiritual life? Let’s pray together.

God, I pray that you would make us people like Daniel who serve you in our culture, who represent you, who boldly make an impact for you because we’re strong in the Lord with strong character that comes from spending time alone in prayer and the study of your word. Make that a priority in our lives so that we’re marked out by your word for your purposes. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Guest (Male): We want to help you in your relationship with Christ. Please get in touch with us at Truth That Changes Lives, 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California 92653. Or call us at 949-916-0250. On the internet, you will find us at crosslinechurch.com. We hope to see you at one of our services every Sunday at our new campus in Laguna Hills. For more information and directions, please go to crosslinechurch.com. Please join us next time on Truth That Changes Lives.

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The cross before, the world behind, no turning back, we raise the banner high. It’s not for me, it’s all for you.