If you're new here, my name is Ricky. I'm one of the pastors here at the church and we are finishing our series on the Book of Daniel. So I'd like you to turn in your Bibles, if you would, to Daniel chapter 12, if you are. If you don't have a Bible, you can grab one in the Connect room as our free gift to you, or you can pull out your phone and look for Daniel 12. ESV is the version we will be using today.
And I hope the Book of Daniel has shown you a couple things. One, I hope that the book of Daniel has shown you that every single part of God's Word is edifying and helpful, not just the old familiar parts. If you've been a Christian for a while, there's been a lot of strange and unfamiliar texts we found in the Book of Daniel. And I, like you, have gone to the scriptures at times at the beginning of the week and thought, what in the world is this about? Just like we all do. But I think we've seen that if we spend the time in God's Word aiming to understanding, understanding and asking God for insight, that he will give us help and encouragement that is far more timely than anything else we could imagine. And so I hope that's served you in that way. And second, I hope it's helped you see why we preach books of the Bible section after section or chapter after chapter. We want God to set the agenda for our church and for our lives. I pray often to the Lord as a pastor. Lord, save the church from my good ideas, meaning I have a lot of ideas. I think a lot of them are great. But only these ideas are infallible. And so that's what we're anchoring ourselves to.
So Daniel chapter 12, we're going to be reading just verses one through four. And remember, as we read, this is God's word. At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who is charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered. Everyone whose name shall be found written in the book, and many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake some to everlasting life and some to shame an everlasting contempt. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above. And those who turn many to righteousness like the stars, forever and ever. But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase. This is God's word.
And, Lord, we. Lord, I pray this morning. Lord, you know how inadequate I feel at trying to communicate the weight of. Of this text and these truths. Lord, we can read these in just a few words. But for them to land on our hearts and for us to feel the reality of them, you have got to intervene and open our eyes and open our ears. So, Lord, I just pray. Pray that you would do what I cannot do. Pray that you would do what we cannot do and make this as alive as it truly is in our hearts. In your name we pray. Amen.
Well, every January, your local gym is probably more crowded than it was a couple months ago. Every January, the self help section of bookstores expands as people look for a new year. New you websites multiply with tips on how to plan your meals for the year, your schedule for the year, your career goals for the year. Every year, millions of people buy new planners and calendars looking for that perfect system or perfect calendar to give inspiration to their day and organization to their life. And they are. It's just this is the season we're in. In this year, I was surprised to learn that when it comes to self help books, 45,000 new self help books are unleashed upon the world every year, promising this is the one. This finally is the thing that will give meaning, organization, purpose, joy, happiness, satisfaction, wealth to your life. And then every year another one comes out says that one was wrong. Listen to this one. I was looking up stats for some of the most popular self help podcasts and I found that there was one particular podcast, probably the most prominent self help podcast that up to a half million people listen to every month. That just adds cumulatively and perhaps most frightening, I looked up statistics for how many people consider themselves influencers in the world around us on social media, influencing what we wear and what we eat and how we live and how we do relationships. How many influencers self reclaimed are there? And I found it is 50 million people worldwide consider themselves an influencer. Some of them probably have three followers, but some of them very prominent followings. And each one of them this month is yelling at us. Every book, every podcast episode Every social media post, they all are promising something that if you just listen to us, we will help you live well.
But there's a problem. The problem is this. We never stop to answer the question or ask the question rather. What does it mean to live well? Is it just more of this and more of that or what are we aiming at? What defines a well lived life now?
6 · Contrasts Daniel 12's obscurity in popular culture with its unique authority to define a well-lived life, positioning the biblical text as superior to all competing voices
Perhaps the last place you'd go for yearly planning advice would be the Book of Daniel. The Book of Daniel, especially chapter 12. It does not appear prominently among the self help books in your local bookstore. It is not trending on Twitter x whatever thread talk thing there is now, it's not prominent. And yet Daniel Chapter 12, I believe is one of the best places to go for timely advice on what it means to live a well lived life.
7 · Surveys interpretive options for Daniel 12:1's 'time of trouble' and establishes that Daniel presents repeating patterns of persecution throughout redemptive history, making the text applicable to all eras including the present
Now here's the situation that God's people would find themselves in at the end of the book of Daniel. They have been surveying the future and the Lord has just laid out there will be, as it says in verse one, a time of trouble, a severe time of trouble, a grieving, tumultuous time of persecution and loss and chaos. Now, there are a variety of perspectives as to what verse one is referring to and the rest of Daniel 12 is referring to. Some suggest that it seems like Antiochus Epiphanies in the time before Christ and the great persecution that gave rise to the Maccabean revolt. Others would say no, it's the coming persecution under Nero as he persecutes the Church. Others would say no, this is looking far ahead into the future too, and the final antichrist figure who will persecute God's people before the end. And the, the reality is that, that each of these views have some level of credibility. But one of the things that Daniel has been doing is laying out a, a series of patterns that occur repeatedly throughout history, the history of God's people. So whether it refers to Antiochus Epiphanies or Nero, or some future leader dictator figure, the truth of it is the same that there will be severe times of trouble among God's people and in Jesus would say is that trouble and times of upheaval and chaos will define the whole era between his coming and his return.
8 · Applies the 'time of trouble' to the present congregation's experience, identifying world news and personal struggles as manifestations of the chaos Daniel 12 addresses
So in the midst of that time, it is right to see that we are in view in verses Daniel 12, verse 1, 2 and 3. So what does Daniel 12 then speak into this moment of upheaval, of chaos? You need to look no further. If I'm ever, if I ever think, you know, this seems like a Quiet period. You just look up world news and you're like, nope, never. It's not a quiet period. We don't often need to look much further than our own lives, our own struggles and trials and relational woes and financial issues, all of that stuff.
9 · States the sermon's main thesis: Daniel 12 defines a well-lived life as one of eternal beauty, cutting through all competing cultural definitions
And so what do we need in times of confusion and chaos? What do we need to live a well lived life? And. And how do we even define what it means to pursue a well lived life? That's what Daniel 12 helps us. It cuts through all of the noise around us and all of the shouting podcasters and influencers and books and says simply this. It charges us this way. Live a life of eternal beauty. Beauty. A well lived life is a life of eternal beauty.
10 · Announces the sermon's two-part structure and the focus on Daniel 12:2-3, setting expectations for a simple, concentrated exposition
Now, we're going to look at this in two sections today and we are going to zero in. As tempting as it is for us to cover all of Daniel chapter 12, I really do believe the Lord wants to impress the reality of verses 2 and 3 specifically on us as we end this book. So we're gonna, we're gonna press in. It's gonna be a simple message.
11 · Introduces the first major point ('live for the line') and reads Daniel 12:2, focusing on the resurrection to everlasting life or everlasting contempt
Verse two, live for the line. Verse two says this. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
12 · Establishes the uniqueness and clarity of Daniel 12:2 within the Old Testament canon as the definitive statement on resurrection and eternal destinies
This is a unique passage in the whole scope of the Old Testament, because this is probably the clearest place in the Old Testament that we find the Lord speaking about resurrection to eternal life or eternal punishment. There are suggestions of it throughout the Old Testament, but this is the crystal clear place God's people would be able to go to.
13 · Identifies the pastoral wisdom of God's timing: the clearest revelation of eternity comes precisely at the moment of greatest chaos, when God's people most need perspective beyond their suffering
Now. Notice something. Notice that this crystal clear view of eternity and eternal life comes at perhaps, perhaps the, the moment of greatest uncertainty and suffering and upheaval and confusion among God's people. And I don't think that's an accident. The Lord chooses this moment of upheaval and chaos to give a clear picture, perhaps the clearest picture in the Old Testament of what awaits his people and really awaits all of humanity.
14 · Contrasts Daniel 12:2's assertion of resurrection with Western materialism, showing how the text is radically countercultural in asserting that the dead are only 'asleep' and will awake
Look at what verse two says. It may not seem radical to you, but it is. Is. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake. This verse cuts against the grain of every philosophy of materialism in our world today. The predominant, I would say American and Western philosophy as it comes to life is that the material world is all that there is, that there is no life beyond this life. You have people hoping for it, thinking about it, speculating it. But. But the way that the Western Culture is oriented, for the most part is to live fast and die young, right? To live like there's no tomorrow, to do relationships like that, to spend money like that, to spend time like that. With the predominant philosophy, if it feels good in this moment right now, let's go. We have no guarantee of tomorrow and we're just going to be that. We're going to cease to exist, so we're going to live that way.
15 · Unpacks the meaning of 'everlasting' in Daniel 12:2, emphasizing that it means literally never-ending existence in one of two directions—not a pleasant sentiment but an infinite reality
Now, you may not see how radical this is, but Daniel 12, verse 2 says that's utterly wrong. In fact, those who are dead are not dead in the final sense of, okay, that's it, that's the end of their existence. They are in verse two, asleep, and they will awake. And what will they wake to? They will awake to each everlasting something. Now, that word everlasting doesn't really carry fully the effect of what's in view here. It doesn't. Everlasting just sounds like a nice, you know, everlasting, everlasting happiness. I wish you, Mike, everlasting happiness. And we're like, okay, great, thanks. No, everlasting literally means never ending or forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever. Right? It just keeps going.
16 · Appeals to universal human intuition about the afterlife as evidence that Daniel 12:2's assertion is true, even among those who claim to be materialists
This is what this text is asserting and here's the reality. Deep down, we know it is true. In fact, for how materialistic America is, 70%, more than 70% of Americans believe in some kind of afterlife. Meaning you got 70% of people out there going, I just have this sense deep down that there is something. Now why do you think that's there? Because it's the reality, right? Despite the materialism, everybody's saying, this is all there is. This is all there is. This is all there is. Americans are still going, but is it? I feel like there's something. Daniel 12 says yes, because there is something ever everlasting life or everlasting contempt.
17 · Introduces Randy Alcorn's 'dot and line' illustration to visualize the relationship between our brief earthly life and our unending eternity
Author Randy Alcorn has been a huge help to me in thinking about this and the image he uses I've never forgotten. Here's what he says. Quote, I think of our lives in terms of a dot and a line signifying two phases. Our present life on earth is the dot. It begins, it ends, ends. It's brief. However, from the dot a line extends that goes on forever. That line is eternity. Right now he says we're living in the dot, but what are we living for? The short sighted person lives for the dot. The person with perspective lives for the line. So helpful.
18 · Performs an extended physical illustration with a volunteer and a rope to viscerally demonstrate how infinitesimally brief our earthly life is compared to the never-ending line of eternity
Now I want to illustrate this and I am so desperate to try to get this to Sink in for us. I'm going to resort to using something I hate doing, but a prop illustration. I always see fail videos of pastors trying prop illustrations. Like a pastor running on a treadmill, trying to talk about, you know, running the race or something, and he falls off. So I'm just doing this. A lot of trepidation. Just receive this as Ricky is just so desperate to get this to sink in, he's just gonna try anything. So I will need one volunteer, preferably somebody in youth or the college and young professionals group. And I promise it's not gonna be horrible. So I am holding a rope. You're not gonna be tied up, I promise. Anybody, Literally anyone. Ethan. Oh, there you go. Come on, man. Let's give him a round of applause. Okay, so here's what we're gonna do, brother. I'm gonna have you take this, okay? You got this? All right, so here's what's gonna happen. I'm gonna give you a pen, okay? See this pen? All right? You are gonna mark the string with a dot. Okay? All right, you got that? Everybody see that? Hold it up so everybody can see this, man. All right? Everybody see that? Great job. Okay, so this. Keep holding it. This is your life. And that little section he's got right there, it's probably a century. I don't know, maybe a century, right? How many people know the name of their great, great, great grandfather? Like, four of you. Okay, great, Great job. Shame on the rest of you. He was your ancestor. How dare you. Forget him. All right, so I'm just gonna have you start walking. So this is where your life. It ends, and this is where eternity begins. And just go. Just go for it, man. Just go. Just go. Keep walking. You're good. This is jump down. Okay? This is probably, I don't know, up to the time of Christ. Okay, Keep going, keep going. Oh, my gosh. Keep going, keep going, keep going. We're going to get to the end of world history in a second here. I'm sorry. He's going to try to clothesline to you guys. Daniel, if it hurt, if I don't want to just smack your wife. Okay? Just keep going. All right, here we go. This is. Okay, let's look at this. Human history, ladies and gentlemen, your life is a dot on the scope of human history. Right? This is not the end of eternity, though, so I'm going to need you to keep going. Ethan. Keep going. Go. Okay. Yeah, There you go. Just pick a direction. Keep going, buddy. Go, go, go, go. Actually, okay, this is a Real naughty part of eternity. Keep going, keep going, keep going. I don't know what's going on over there. Maybe that's the end times. And keep going. Is he still going? Dylan? Okay, it's still going. Is it turn. Is he outside? Did he go outside? Oh, I see the door. Yeah. Okay, I think we're good. Dylan, you can bring him back. That's fine. Now I'm concerned. Did he. I hope he's not still going. His eternity has begun. He's just sailed off into eternity. Did he come back? Yeah. Let's give him a round of applause. Thank you.
19 · Applies the rope illustration by pressing the congregation to see that everyone will live forever and that this life sets the trajectory for an eternal existence in one of two radically different directions
Okay, now why would I belabor the point with this? Because as Randy Alcorn would say, the short sighted person lives for the dot. The person with perspective lives for the line. And I need that to sink in for us. Daniel 12 needs that to sink in for us. Because here is the reality, friend. Whoever you are, you will live forever. That's the reality. What you can affect is not whether you live forever or not. It is what your eternity looks like. And Daniel 12 helps us see that the what we do in this life, in the dot as it were, sets the trajectory for our eternity. If we could, I would have two people run with strings just in opposite directions. Just run down to Radford, past the Spaghetti bowl, into Las Cruces and beyond right that at or to West Texas, somebody to Dallas. And maybe we'd begin to get the reality of how one eternal our lives are and how to how starkly different the way that we live now affects our eternity.
20 · Unpacks the two eternal destinations in Daniel 12:2—everlasting LIFE (as it was meant to be in Eden and will be in the New Jerusalem) versus eternal shame and contempt
Notice the language here. Some will awake to everlasting life. Now that word life I feel like should be in capital L, capital I, capital F, capital E. The life, life like we saw in the Garden of Eden, life that awaits for us in the heavenly New Jerusalem. Life as it was meant to be lived. And it will start and never stop. That's what's held out in this direction. Or some to shame and everlasting contempt.
21 · Establishes from Daniel 12:1 that what determines eternal trajectory is not works but whether one is among God's people—defined as those who trust the Lord as King and surrender to him
Now, the book of Daniel has helped us understand what sets this trajectory. What sets this trajectory is actually not just how many good deeds you do or how many prayers you say. No, what sets the trajectory is in verse one. But at that time your people shall be delivered. Everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. What sets your eternal trajectory is whether you are among those who are God's people. That is what sets your trajectory. And what makes you one of God's people, as we have seen is suggested through Daniel, is not primarily your ethnicity, not primarily your people. Group or your political group or your nationality. What sets that is whether you believe in the Lord, believe in the Lord, the King of Heaven, trust him and follow him. Whether you, like Nebuchadnezzar say, I'm going to stop being king of my own life and I'm going to allow the Lord to be the king of my life and I'm going to trust him for salvation.
22 · Identifies Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of Daniel 7's Son of Man, making one's relationship to Jesus the determining factor for which eternal line one is on, and warns that profession must align with life
And then we see much more clearly in the person of Jesus Christ, how he fulfills that the person of Jesus Christ and your relationship to him, the Son of man in Daniel 7 determines whether you are one of God's people. So do you want to know whether you're one of God's people? Some people ask me, how do I know if I'm a Christian? Then my first question is always, well, what's your relationship to Jesus, the Son of man, the King of Kings? How do you relate to him? Is he interesting? Is he annoying? Is he your Savior and Lord? What you tell me then determines which line you're on. And does your life line up with that belief? Because it's one thing to be like, yeah, yeah sure, he's my Savior and Lord, that's great. But you live like you're on the other line. And the Scriptures would say then I don't think he's your Savior and Lord.
23 · Evangelistic appeal to non-Christians, contrasting the culture's dot-focused advice with Daniel's invitation to become one of God's people by trusting Jesus as Savior and Lord
So this guys, this is, this is the most important thing you could ever hear if you are not a Christian. Look, you can go online this afternoon and find thousands and thousands of words of advice, thousands of influencers telling you how to live, thousands of self help books to tell you what to do. But all of them, let me venture to say, all of them, or nearly all will just be about the DOT. How to maximize your life for the next 50 or so years and say nothing about your eternal life. These words from Daniel should land on you. Then the Lord through Daniel is inviting you. Won't you come be one of my people? And how do you come to be one of his people? You, you admit that you're a sinner like God's people in Daniel. You admit that you, you sinned against God and your sins separate you from God. But that the Son of man in Daniel 7 is sent to bring you close again by paying for your sins through his work on the cross and bringing you into his people. If you will claim him as Savior and Lord, that your relationship to him determines whether your trajectories eternal life or eternal contempt.
24 · Anticipates the objection 'How do I know I can trust Jesus?' and answers with the resurrection of Jesus as firstfruits, guaranteeing the resurrection of his people and validating Daniel 12's promise
Friend, maybe you're wondering and maybe you're like, well, well, how do I Know that. That I can trust the Lord. How do I know that Jesus really is the Savior and Lord that I've been looking for? Well, we have one advantage Daniel12 does not have with its original hearers. And we have the example of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Because First Corinthians 15 pictures the resurrection of Jesus Christ in that language as the first fruit of the life to come. Meaning Jesus is, in a sense, the first stalk to come out of the ground. Now, if you're into farming or you're into agriculture, you know, the first stock to come out of the ground doesn't mean, oh, okay, that's it, we got a stock. That's it. No, it means it's the first fruits of the. Of what is going to come out of the ground eventually. Right? That is who Jesus is. All. For all of those who would follow him, Jesus died, was asleep, and then rose to new life. And that is a picture of what will happen to all those who follow him and all of his people. By dying and rising to new life, Jesus brought all of his people with him. They all died to their old way of life. They will all be raised to newness of life. And though we experience some measure of it spiritually, oh, friends, on that day when we experience everlasting life in its fullness, we will see that the resurrected Jesus was just a foretaste of the resurrection of his people. That's where this is all going.
25 · Transitions to the second major point by summarizing the first (live for the line) and announcing the second (live for the bright)
So, friends, Daniel 12 pleads with us. Live for the line and second plea it makes to us is live for the bright.
26 · Reads Daniel 12:3 and contrasts the book's previous violent imagery with this final image of stars—a moment of beauty after all the terror
Look at verse three. It says, and those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above. And those who turn many to righteousness like the stars, forever and ever. Now, after all of these images, in the book of Daniel, we've seen images of warfare and conflict and raging beasts and roaring monsters and the throne of heaven on fire and a chariot slaughtering God's enemies. Even all these crazy, intense images. And finally, at the very end of Daniel, you get this image not of terror or conflict, but of stark and surprising beauty. It's like the book of Daniel breathes for a second and he says, look up to the sky.
27 · Uses a personal memory of seeing a truly dark sky at Fort Davis observatory to help the congregation visualize the beauty of the stars Daniel 12:3 promises
Have you ever had the opportunity to look up at a truly dark sky? The problem with living in a place like El Paso or near a major city is that there's so much light pollution that it obscures the solar stars that are out there. So if you've ever gone, like, out into New Mexico, out into West Texas, you. You find, oh, my goodness, There's a galaxy up there, right? There's another galaxy right there. There's. I can see with my naked eye, there's the Milky Way. We live inside a gal. I remember as a kid going to Fort Davis, to the observatory there, where they have the clearest skies around and just going, we live in a galaxy. There's a galaxy. Look at that. It's a. It's a. It's. And I could see it. It's just right. You see the stars shining.
28 · Interprets Daniel 12:3 to mean that the wise and righteous will become as beautiful as stars in eternity, and their godly acts will only grow more beautiful forever
That, friend, is what becomes of those who are wise in choosing to follow the Lord and who turn many to righteousness. That beauty it holds out in the. Imagine this in the midst of the chaos, in the midst of the conflict of God's people. In Daniel 12, he lifts their eyes up to the stars and says, that is your eternal destiny. That the ways in which you live, that are wise and righteous and good and whole, the ways in which you pursue the life of God, that he holds out those ways will not end with your life. They will only become bigger and brighter and more beautiful in eternity.
29 · States the warning dimension of Daniel 12:2-3: many of the temporary things we invest in now will pass away and be worthless in eternity
You see these opposite trajectories. Sowing to life yields a beautiful eternal life. Sowing to what is shameful leads to an eternity of shame and contempt. This is a stark, almost warning and encouragement at the same time. Now, first, it's a warning because there may be many ways in which we live for things that are not eternal, that are transient, that are temporary. I mean, how many of our concerns and worries and anxieties are all about just that little dot we're living in now? And how many are about that eternal life? Well, this is a. This is a sobering picture that many of the things we invest our lives into in the end will pass away along with the world behind us.
30 · Tells a personal story about his son trading his stars for fake 'dad bucks' to illustrate how we can waste our lives pursuing things that will be worthless in eternity
In our Alcantar household, we have a currency we've moved off of US Currency. I know some people have moved to gold or to Bitcoin or whatever. We have moved to a new currency we call dad Bucks. Dad Bucks. These are. I have brought as an example, some dad Bucks for you. It's very easy to get hold of. You can get at the dollar store and for chores and acts of valor in the household, killing bugs and things like that, you. You will accrue dad Bucks. And the good thing about dad Bucks is there's kind of a strange price fluctuation. Currency, you know, we gotta check the markets, but you can turn in your dad Bucks for real toys and video games and things like that. So you accrue the dad bucks and our 5 year old doesn't understand all about currency, but he understood a few things. He understood, dad bucks are valuable. So one day he, he came home absolutely elated. He was just like, dad, dad, just wait till I show you what I got at school today. And I was like, wow, okay. And he told me how in his classroom the teacher will give like points or stars or whatever, and then you can pick a prize kind of at the end of the semester. And so he, he went into the, and he ignored the spinning tops, the bouncy balls, the wobbly straws, and he found a bunch of dollar store currency. Okay, now see, you can see the problem. And so he takes the currency out of his backpack and goes, I feel so terrible about this. He takes the currency out of his backpack and goes, dad, how much do I have? And I realized horribly, it looks exactly the same as the current. Now this is a weakness of the currency inflation. It's just deadly. You flood the market with too many, you know, and. Poor guy, I just remember the look on his face dropping as I helped him understand those are not valid dad bucks. And then him saying, essentially, I wasted all of my stars on this. Just horrible. Never want to experience that with a five year old life lesson.
31 · Applies the dad bucks story to warn that many earthly achievements (dream home, career, degrees) will be worthless in eternity—only what is wise and righteous will shine
And I think Daniel 12 might function similarly for some of us because many of the things that we are so proud of that we cash in our time and our money and our energy for, and we hold them up and we're like, look at this. On that last day, we'll pass away along with the life behind us, and be found worthless in the scope of eternity. This is a sobering thing. It says not everything will shine in eternity. The things that are wise, the things that are righteous, the things that are of the Lord will shine and become more beautiful. But the rest of it will pass away. And how many of us will arrive at eternity with the great triumphs of our life? Our dream home, our dream vacation, our dream career, our vocation, our degree, our achievement, our, you know, perfect kid, whatever it is. And at the end of the day we are like, yes, this is it. Only to discover it doesn't count for eternity.
32 · States the encouragement dimension: acts of wisdom and righteousness done unto the Lord, though they may seem dim now, will become the most beautiful and valuable things in eternity
But there's also an encouragement, not just a discouragement, but an encouragement that when we invest in what is wise, and that's a word loaded with scriptural meaning, the wise means starting from and stemming from the fear of the Lord, the reality of who God is, and reverence for God. Those things done unto the Lord and done unto righteousness and unto godliness, those things that may seem dim in this life will actually become the most beautiful and valuable things that we wonder at for all eternity.
33 · Tells a personal story about his son's childhood ornament to illustrate how small acts that seem insignificant now will only become more beautiful and valuable over time—an analogy for eternity
Anson brought something else home from school one year in 20, 21, four years ago. So he would have been like one, one and a half something. And he brought this home. Okay, now this is, you know, from his class. And it's a picture of him. He's not even smiling. His hair is a mess. He's playing in a sandbox. And the extent of his decorations is that he took his pen and just drew a circle around the frame and then, for some inexplicable reason, drew a smile on his own face in what I can only describe as mildly terrifying and joker esque. And he probably, upon bringing it home, thought, that's lame. Well, you can have this, dad. But it has hung on our Christmas tree every year since he made it. And you know what the great thing about little ornaments like this from your kids, they actually just get better every year, because every year you pull them out and you compare them to the little baby photo, and you're like, oh, look at you. And he's just like, ah, stop it. You know, and. And. And I plan on keeping this and that. You know, when he gets his first girlfriend, I will be like, I gotta show you something. Look at this over here. Look at this guy. This is a guy you're dating right here at his wedding. It's great slideshows. It's gonna be endlessly valuable. The joker that you are marrying is right here. But do you see what I'm saying? That this thing, although seeming small at the moment, becomes more and more beautiful as it goes.
34 · Applies the ornament story: every act of righteousness and every godly character quality will only grow more glorious and beautiful in eternity
So it will be, brothers and sisters, with every act of righteousness, every time we choose to follow Jesus, every time we choose to pursue what is good and noble and right that honors our Heavenly Father, Every one of those actions and character qualities, and every one of those lives will shine and only get glorious and glorious, or more beautiful and more magnificent in the perspective of eternity. So there will be so much of our life we leave behind, but those few beautiful things will shine on forever.
35 · Reads Galatians 5's list of fleshly works and contrasts how attractive or trivial they seem in this life with how ugly and shameful they will be seen in eternity
So the question Daniel 12 asks us is, is what are you investing your life in now? The. The reality is this. You find places like Galatians 5 that list what is ugly in the world, what is shameful in the world. But let's just be honest, at the time, in the world, it doesn't seem that bad. He says the works of the flesh are evident. Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, Fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies and things like these. And I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. The problem is that so many of these things, we're like, okay, well, I don't see why it's that big of a deal, right? When it comes to immorality and impurity and sensuality, right? Adulterous affairs or hookup culture is seen as steamy or spicy or exciting in movies and TV shows, or when it comes to enmity and strife and jealousy, we just say, oh, that's what we love watching on reality tv. And it's what we emulate in our own lives. It's kind of like, ah, it's crazy, it's funny, whatever. Or even things like, like envy and drunkenness, right? Giving yourself over to alcoholism or drug use, it seem as a joke. It seems as funny. It seemed as the I hope they serve beer in hell kind of culture. But the reality is those things that are actually shameful, those things that are actually contemptible, we will see them as ugly and shameful as they are from the perspective of eternity right now, it's hard to see them for what they are. But we will one day. And there will be parts of our lives. We go, oh, Lord, if only I could hide it.
36 · Reads Galatians 5's fruit of the Spirit and identifies this as what Daniel 12 means by wise and righteous living—the qualities that will shine in eternity
But similarly, there will be things in our lives that shine more beautifully. Galatians 5 says, the fruit of the Spirit is, or you could say in the language of Daniel 12, the wise pursue or the righteous pursue. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control. Against such things there is no law. And all those who belong to Jesus Christ have crucified the flesh with its power, passions and desires.
37 · Applies the fruit of the Spirit to concrete situations (resisting lust, patient parenting, faithful work) that receive no earthly applause but will be beautiful in eternity because the Lord sees
Look, the character qualities of the wise person, the righteous person, the person pursuing the fruit of the spirit and honoring Christ. They will do things that nobody in the world is going to be applauding. Like, I don't know, the last time I saw a stadium full of people going, wow, look at the self control this brother has, right? It's usually the people that get attention are the people lacking self control, right? And we're like, wow, I exercise self control. I said no to lust. I turned a conversation with a flirtatious co worker away and no one clapped, right? But the Lord sees and that act will be beautiful for eternity. Or similarly, the parent that you're like, okay, kindness, goodness, patience. Most of the moments of parenting that require those things are private moments, right? Which is you and your child or Your family and you are just like, how could you? Why would you do what happened? You know? And in that moment when you choose patience or you have to correct, but you do it with kindness, nobody sees it. Nobody gets on the COVID of Time magazine for that. This parent was kind in their correction. Isn't that wonderful? And America's like, wow, amazing. No, nobody's doing that. Nobody's clapping. But it will be more and more beautiful through the lens of eternity or perhaps even, you know, you're working a difficult job and it's a struggle to show up on time, and your boss choose you out unfairly and your co workers are annoying, and you choose love, joy and peace and faithfulness and just showing up and getting the job done. And you choose to be gentle to people that are frustrating to you. And you probably listen. You might get promoted, but probably not, right? Probably you're not the employee of the year because half of what you see, nobody sees. This is what Daniel 12 says, but the Lord sees. And that act of wisdom, righteousness and godliness will be beautiful in eternity.
38 · Summarizes the sermon's charge in one sentence: live a life of eternal beauty
So that's the charge. The charge is live a life of eternal beauty.
39 · Tells the story of visiting Evelyn Wilkins, a longtime church member nearing death, and reading Daniel 12:3 to her—illustrating how a faithful life that receives no worldly applause will shine brightly in eternity
Let me give you one illustration of this as we begin to wrap these things up. Recently had the opportunity, opportunity to go to Evelyn Wilkins house. If you don't know Evelyn, she's been a member at the church for really for decades. She, she's in a position now where she's very fragile physically. Her body is shutting down. And it does seem she is on her way to meet Jesus. And so I, as I went, I just struggled with what, what do I share with her? You know, what, what could encourage what, you know, what could I say that would be meaningful? And so I brought. I happened to have been in Daniel, so I brought Daniel chapter 12 with me. And if you don't know Evelyn's life story, she and her husband came to the church in its early days and were very much servants and pillars in the church here early. And then at about midlife, she lost her husband. And so for about half her life, she followed Jesus as a widow. She had four sons. She would. She told me lots of stories of her failures and joking about. I didn't know what I was doing. But I believe she tried to be faithful with her son. Sons. And one of her sons was a. Well, was a longtime worship leader here at Cross of Grace. His name is Danny until the Lord called him home. She encouraged him through that. And one of her other sons, Tom, served many years here as a pastor and still Serves as a pastor at a sister church in Tucson, and she has grandkids and others. And one of the things that I felt as I looked at Evelyn was how beautiful a godly life is when in the eyes of the world no one would take notice, no one would applaud. But in eternity, it echoes in beauty and godliness. And so I just, I read Daniel 12:3. Those who are wise shall shine like the, the brightness of the sky above, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars, forever and ever. And I just try to encourage it. Evan, Evelyn, this is you. You'd be the first to admit this is not. You didn't live perfectly, but I believe you live faithfully and there is a beauty in your life that is a holy thing. And I cannot wait until in eternity I can applaud the private moments of wisdom, wisdom and righteousness and peace and joy and love that I've never got the opportunity to see, but will shine brightly in eternity. Then of course, she's, you know, humbled. She's like, I don't know, I hope so. I did my best, you know, and, and that, that's the encouragement of this text for the people of God that find themselves in the midst of confusion and loss and frustration and hurt and suffering and just getting up again and again year after year through difficult times.
40 · Proclaims the core pastoral encouragement: every moment of godliness done unto the Lord will never be wasted and will shine in eternity, while failures are covered by Jesus' blood and will not follow us
At times it is an encouragement. Brothers and sisters, people of God, anything you do unto the Lord will never be wasted and will shine brightly in eternity. That moment of self control, that moment of love, that moment of peace, that moment of patience, that moment of serving someone difficult to serve, that moment of giving your money away, the moment of giving your life to eternal things. Those moments of Lord, I do not know what to do, but I'm committing to follow you. Lord, I do not know what to do, but my eyes are on you. Those moments, brothers and sisters, are what define a life well lived. Even if they never receive the applause of the world around us, they receive the applause laws of God's people and God himself forever. And on that day, you will not regret a single one of them. There'll be no moment. You showed self control that you wish in eternity. Man, I wish I hadn't done that. There'll be no moment that you chose to love an enemy that you wish I hadn't done that. Now you will say, oh man, I wish I could done more. And here's, here's the beauty that, that in the end the failures of our life will pass away covered by the blood of Jesus and the Beautiful will remain. So don't fear that your failures are going to follow you into eternity. Rejoice that the Lord died for them, covers them, and seek to. To live as many moments as you can that their might be more brightness and beauty in eternity.
41 · Reads Daniel 12:13's charge to Daniel ('go your way till the end') and applies it as a charge to keep doing godly things faithfully until the end, even without earthly applause
That was so much more I could say here, but I just want to end with the final verse in the book of Daniel. Look at Daniel 12, 13, if you would. This is the way the Lord ends. And this is, I think, the way he would call us to end. He says to Daniel, but go your way till the end. Meaning just, people of God, just keep doing what you're doing. In some ways it's easy to look for, like, okay, great. To really live through Jesus, I need to make a radical change and move to the middle of nowhere. Maybe you do. I don't know. But what I do know is this. You're meant to do the things of godliness over and over until the end. That's your life trajectory. And it may never lead to the applause of people around you, but it will lead to the applause of your heavenly Father.
42 · Unpacks the word 'rest' in Daniel 12:13 as a sigh, describing the eternal rest where all the frustrations of this life finally cease
Go your way and then hear this, and you shall rest. The. The. The. The Greek. I mean the. The Hebrew word there literally is. Is like a sigh. It is a. You will arrive in eternity. And all the frustrations and longings and. And hurts and wounds of the past life, you will arrive at eternity and then finally go. And that rest will never leave you. And that rest, you will live forever.
43 · Concludes by reading Daniel 12:13's promise that each of God's people has a reserved place in eternity, a place Jesus has prepared as a gift, and charges the congregation to keep doing what will matter in that place forever
And you shall stand in your allotted place at the end of days. This is true for Daniel, but it is also true for every single one of the people of God. That. Friend, brother, sister, you have a place with the Lord in eternity. It is marked with your name. It is not as though, have you ever arrived. I was recently at a conference and all I had to do was read like a scripture. But they gave me one of those little placards that said my name reserved. And I loved it so much, I brought it back and I just. I put it in different places during staff meetings. And I'll just say, sorry, that's. That's reserved for me. As you can see, my name is there. Brothers and sisters, there is a reserved seat for every single one of the people of God in the heavenly city. A place he has prepared for you forever. And it is just waiting for you. And you didn't earn it. And you can't achieve it on your own, but Jesus, as a gift, has given it to you. And so, friend, the call then is this. Keep doing what will matter when you sit in that seat at the end of time, keep doing what you. What you will see made more beautiful when you stand with the Lord Jesus Christ. Keep doing what will shine out year over year over year and a thousand forever is after. Amen.
44 · Closing prayer asking God to help the congregation release what is temporary and grip more tightly to what is eternal, praying for wisdom to discern the difference and faithfulness to the end
Would you stand? And we'll end with a prayer. Oh, heavenly Father, Lord, I do, I do pray for two things as we close. Lord, I pray first for those areas in our lives at the beginning of this year that maybe we have a grip on. Lord, I just have this image in my mind of us gripping things in our life that holding tightly to them, fighting for them with everything that we have that in the end will be dust and air. And Lord, I pray that at the beginning of this year you would help us with the power of the Spirit to open our hand and to release those things. Lord, so much of this life matters only for the dot and not for the line. And I pray that you'd help us. Give us wisdom to know the difference. And Lord, I also pray not just that we'd release some things, but that there would be other things in our life that we grip even more tightly, that we would say, yes, it's not in vain. Yes, it's not a waste. Yes, it matters. And I pray that we would cling even more tightly to them and go our way with faith faithfulness until the very end. And I pray that you would do that work as we sing. Amen.