SERMON NOTES

Subject: Captivity?

Speaker: Dr. A. Burge Troxel

Date: October 8, 2006

Scripture: Daniel 1:1-6

Introduction:

Why Did God Allow Israel to be defeated and taken captive into Babylon? Why did God allow His people to be defeated and taken captive into Babylon?

I. Because God used defeat and captivity to discipline His People in the OT

A. God promised blessing in the land for obedience to the Law

Deuteronomy 28:1

“If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth.”

Deuteronomy 28:7

“The LORD will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven.”

B. God promised defeat, captivity and dispersal for disobedience to the Law

Deuteronomy 28:15

“However, if you do not obey the LORD your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:”

Deuteronomy 28:25

“The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will come at them from one direction but flee from them in seven, and you will become a thing of horror to all the kingdoms on earth.”

Deuteronomy 28:36

“The LORD will drive you and the king you set over you to a nation unknown to you or your fathers. There you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone.”

Deuteronomy 28:49

“The LORD will bring a nation against you from far away, from the ends of the earth, like an eagle swooping down, a nation whose language you will not understand,”

Deuteronomy 28:63-64

63 . . . You will be uprooted from the land you are entering to possess. 64Then the LORD will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods—gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known.”

Habakkuk 1:2

“How long, O LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, ‘Violence!’ but you do not save?”

Habakkuk 1:6

“I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwelling places not their own.”

Daniel 1:1

“In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.”

Daniel 1:2

“And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the articles from the temple of God. These he carried off to the temple of his god in Babylonia and put in the treasure house of his god.”

Daniel 1:3-4

3Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring in some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility— 4young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians.

Daniel 1:6

“Among these were some from Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah.”

II. How does God deal with disobedient Christians today?

A. Israel was an example for us to follow individually

1 Corinthians 10:1,6

1 “For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea.”

\\ 6 “Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did.”

B. God disciplines us like a Father

Hebrews 12:4

“In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.”

Hebrews 12:5

“And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,”

Hebrews 12:6

“because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.”

Hebrews 12:7

“Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?”

Hebrews 12:8

“If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.”

Hebrews 12:9

“Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live!”

Hebrews 12:10

“Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness.”

C. This corrective activity is designed to produce less sin in the future

Hebrews 12:11

“No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”

Conclusion:

Why learn that God’s ways are the best ways the hard way?

Daniel 2 Captivity Notes