Daniel 6:1-9, Faithful In Babylon

I'm gonna give you a little intro to Daniel chapter 6 verses 1 through 9 guys ready let's pray Heavenly Father Lord every single person within the sound of my voice knows that something has gone terribly wrong in the world in which we live there's so many broken people and broken lives and hurt and disappointment and discouragement Lord in this service as we've worshipped you Lord we've declared that there's no one like you Lord we've declared that we will love you and that we will serve you Lord that we want to follow you Lord we want to be men and women whose lives reflect what it means to know the Lord and love the Lord we want to be people who who don't just simply talk about forgiveness of sin but that we've experienced it on in our lives and we want to extend the invitation of the gospel to anyone and everyone who's willing to listen Lord we want to be men and women who live lives of honesty and integrity and fidelity and Lord we know that in a world that isn't committed to honesty and integrity and fidelity that we will stick out like a sore thumb but Lord we pray that as we open up your word and we begin to see the life of Daniel and the faith of Daniel and the faithfulness of Daniel that we would want to be men and women who live lives full of faith and faithfulness and so Lord we commit this time to you and we pray these things in Jesus name Amen Daniel chapter 6 beginning in verse 1 it pleased Darius to set over the kingdom 120 say traps to be over the whole kingdom and over these three governors of whom Daniel was one that the seat wraps might give account to them so that the king would suffer no loss then this Daniel distinguished himself above the governors and say traps because an excellent spirit was in him and the King gave thought to setting him over the whole realm so the governors and the say traps ought to find some charge against Daniel concerning the kingdom but they could find no charge or fault because he was faithful nor was there any error or fault found in him then these men said we shall not find any charge against this Daniel unless we find it against him concerning the law of his God to these governors and say traps thronged before the king and said thus to him King to rious live forever all the administrators of the kingdom the administrators and state traps the counselors and advisers have consulted together to establish a royal statute and to make a firm decree that whoever petitions any god or man for thirty days except you o King shall be cast into the den of lions now o King established the decree and signed the writing so that it cannot be changed according to the law of the Medes and the Persians which does not alter therefore King Darius signed the written decree we come now to one of the most beloved stories in all of the Bible even with people who have little or no religious upbringing Church Association even people who don't know a whole lot about God or the Bible are somewhat familiar of the story of Daniel in the lion's den the chapter begins with a description of the position of Daniel and verses 1 through 3 and then the plot against Daniel and verses 4 through 9 and then the prayer of Daniel and verses 10 and 11 and then the prosecution of Daniel and verses 12 through 17 and in this chapter Daniel will be the victim of an evil plot but he's also going to be the recipient of supernatural and divine protection in verses 18 through 28 so in this chapter we learn that sometimes prosperity and fidelity and faithfulness can lead to persecution think about it faithfulness to the Lord can sometimes generate hostility towards the saints of God and sometimes it's possible for you to experience painful persecution not because you've done something wrong but because you've done something right when we began the Book of Daniel he was a young man a teenager up rooted plucked from his hometown of Jerusalem dragged some 800 miles into Babylon now he's well into his 80s Daniel has lived most of his life estranged from the place of his birth he lives in Babylon but his heart is in Jerusalem his affections are in Jerusalem he knows that where he is and what he is doing isn't really his permanent home and so it is for the Christian you are a citizen of two worlds you are here but there's some inside of you that knows that you are going to wind up somewhere else it's the New Jerusalem it's the heavenly Jerusalem he lives in Babylon but he longs for home and he's lived most of his life in faith and prayer to the Lord Most High his life of faithfulness and prayer has remained with him in his teens and his 20s and his 30s and his 40s and 50s and 60s and 70s and 80s he's been a man who's been faithful his whole life and this should tell us something right off the bat that age is no protection against testing and temptation those of you in your 20s you might think that you're in some sort of isolated group where you're the only ones who have painful difficulties temptations and tests but it isn't true by the way if you're forty years old can you testify that you too are subject to temptation and test 50 60 70 yes 80 maybe that as you walk into the future there's still trial and there's still test and so Daniels gonna serve as an illustration of faithfulness for all generations and I want you to think about this that even in his 80s he is still faithful and serving the Lord the writer of Hebrews in the Hall of faith in Chapter 11 speaks of Daniel when he writes quote in verse 33 who through faith subdued kingdoms worked righteousness obtained promises stopped the mouths of lions the writer of Hebrews is reflecting on the passage that we're beginning to study at this very moment as a life in an example of faith Daniels life of public service and personal devotion is going to bring him to a place where he's going to participate in a legitimate act of disobedience against the government he's going to pray even when the government outlaws public prayer and how does he begin his day he prays we know that from verse 10 which we're going to look at a little bit later but I do want to just give you a sneak peek now when Daniel knew that the riding was signed he went home and in the Upper Room with his windows open toward Jerusalem he knelt down on his knees three times that day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as was his custom since his early days it wasn't unusual it was usual in the morning Daniel prayed in at noon he prayed in the afternoon he prayed prayer for Daniel wasn't simply a religious exercise it was a daily devotion it was a commitment and admission of dependence prayer didn't exist in the outskirts of his worship but it constituted the essential element of dependence upon the true and the Living God and we have every reason to believe that Daniel prayed privately and that he prayed publicly and that he prayed fervently and he prayed constantly no wonder Daniel is called greatly beloved in Chapter 9 verse 23 in chapter 10 verse 11 and then again in verse 19 faithfulness can bring great reward but it can also bring trial and testing and persecution just asked job just ask Joseph just ask Daniel because if you're wondering if there is as an untested faith you would be wrong there is no such thing all faith will be tested it will be tested the Bible says the just will live by faith in Hebrews 10:38 true biblical faith includes both substance that's assurance evidence that's proof faith is the inner conviction that what God says and does can be trusted it was dr. J Oswald Sanders who said quote faith enables the believing soul to treat the future as present the invisible as seen by faith we see what others cannot see and invite God's holy spirit to strengthen us to remain faithful to the Lord so that we can be faithful to each other to our husbands to our wives to our children to our grandchildren to our future the future that God describes in the Bible and so the passage begins with a description of Daniels authority look again in verse 1 it pleased Darius to set over the kingdom 120 say traps to be over the whole kingdom from chapter 5 remember the writing on the wall Babylon hasn't ceased to exist but is transitioned into a new kingdom where Darius has been named head with political power and authority and so the Lord elevates Daniel to a position of great power great Authority the king this new king recognizes in Doris well the new King Darius recognizes in Daniel the character qualities that are going to be necessary to administer the new regime now the Medes and the Persians are now firmly in control over Babylon they have firm control over the north they have firm control over the south they have firm control over the penance called the Levant which stretches from Turkey all the way to the mouth of Egypt so the provinces are divided into a hundred and twenty administrative districts that are governed by local leaders who are called se traps the title roughly translates to what you and I would call a local president or a local ruler or King and for this reason each of the provinces are called a Satrapi or say trap e and it says and over these three governors of whom Daniel was one that the SE traps might give account to them so that the king would suffer no loss now in this hierarchy de rious appoints three governors it would appear that Daniel is one of the governors then there's another governor and a third governor if our understanding of the political processes of those days are correct it stands to reason it makes probably good sense that Daniel is going to administer and be accountable for about 40 of these regions another governor is going to be accountable for another 40 regions than the other governor is going to be accountable for for 40 regions now let me put it even more plainly the governors are tasked with the administrative stewardship so that the king will suffer no loss what's the chief characteristic of the administrative ruler what's the seminal trait that the administrative ruler needs it's found in first Corinthians chapter 4 verse 2 where Paul says moreover it is required in stewards that they be found faithful in other words Daniel and these two other people and the hundred and twenty say traps are tasked with making sure that everything is run with honesty integrity and fidelity so it's Daniels task to root out corruption to make sure that the appropriate funds make their way to the Kings Treasury we might think of this as Daniel draining the swamp now I want you to think about what's going on in the text then this Daniel verse 3 distinguishes himself above the governor's and say traps because he has an excellent spirit in him and the king gave thought to setting him over the whole realm in other words Daniel acts with such complete honesty integrity fidelity and commitment that like Joseph his long long relative from long ago in Egypt this king is thinking about that no one no one acts with more honesty integrity and fidelity than Daniel so now remember Daniels old now here's when you know you're all it's when you look in the mirror and you look exactly like your mom and dad at that point you realize you've caught you cross the threshold in spite of his age because of God's favor and blessing Daniel distinguishes himself above all of his peers and so the new king recognizes in Daniel what the text calls an excellent spirit well what does that mean some scholars have suggested that it's a reference to the Babylonians belief that the deities the supernatural forces worked through Daniel in other words that he didn't just have native intelligence that there was something almost supernatural about Daniels ability to faithfully do things right others say that the phrase in context more likely means that God was a that Daniel was a man of steadfast character full of wisdom full of integrity full of faithfulness so you'll remember for those of you who've been following along in our study in the Book of Daniel at the beginning of the book of Daniel he and his friends are described in chapter 1 verse 17 having learning and skill in all literature and wisdom and Daniel had understanding of visions and dreams and later in chapter 5 verse 12 we read he has an excellent spirit knowledge understanding to interpret dreams solve riddles solve problems these were all things found in Daniel and so the king is so impressed with Daniel's skill that the king considers placing Daniel in the position of prime minister so imagine there's King to rious and then there's Daniel almost certainly it would mean they would have appoint a new governor so that they would have intact the three governors and then the hundred and twenty se traps or say traps or the provinces so sometimes God will exalt his servants through the powerful favor of leaders sometimes God will use people to advance the ministry that God has given to you last night joel rosenberg was here and he was talking about meeting with the Egyptian Prime Minister and a few just almost about 18 months ago before the I guess it was during one of the first times bright before Passover Joel and a group of of leaders are meeting with the with the president of Egypt and then he goes back to Israel and he's happy celebrating Passover with us with his neighbor and and he's he's saying you know I remember that there was a person who met with a former chief servant of Egypt named Moses and he when he talked to him he said let my people go and then there's Joel and he sent saying to the prime minister of Egypt let my people come back let my people return put put us in a situation where people can act and work with dignity and with respect now this is interesting to me because God will sometimes put people and of authority and influence almost unbelievably what is that is this heavenly music to confirm what I'm saying and so think about what's gonna happen right now there's a plot against Daniels integrity think about it in verse four so the governors and say traps ought to find some charge against Daniel concerning the kingdom but they could find no charge or fault because he was faithful nor was there any error or fault found in him now the favor of God and the King in the Ministry of Daniel apparently makes his peers resent him there seems to be some sort of envy and jealousy and widespread difficulty imagine what's happening with the gut with the other governors and with these authorities they're basically saying what's going on Daniel is making it very difficult for us to lie and cheat and steal if we can't lie cheat and steal and enrich ourselves and our friends who's gonna want to get involved in politics we laugh don't win because we understand that our political servants are supposed to be servants of the people if we believe what the Bible says about government and most of us don't but if we were to believe what the Bible says about government the purpose of government is to promote righteousness and to restrict wickedness that might come as a shock to you it certainly comes as as a shock to some of our elected officials it's to promote righteousness it's to restrict wickedness and it would seem that this plot because Daniel's integrity causes them to launch what looks like a full-scale investigation into the background the character and the conduct of Daniel the Bible gives repeated warnings for those who indulge in jealousy and envy Jesus said that the source of these corrosive emotions lie in the human heart Jesus said in mark chapter 7 verse 20 what comes out of a person's heart is what defiles him it is from within out of the heart comes evil thoughts coveting wickedness deceit envy slander pride foolishness the Bible says it's out of the abundance of the heart that the mount speaks and these rulers these governors these authorities are trying to find some fault with Daniel to get rid of Daniel why I think you know the answer Daniel is salt and light he's making it not more difficulty he's he's making it if he is making it difficult for them to promote wickedness there was a men in all grief Frederick Emil who wrote quote jealousy is a terrible thing it resembles love only it is precisely Love's contrary instead of wishing for the welfare of the object love it desires the dependence of that object upon itself and its own triumph love is the forgetfulness of self jealousy is the most passionate form of egotism the glorification of a despotic exacting and vain ego which can neither forget nor subordinate itself the contrast is perfect in other words these governors see traps are jealous of Daniel I think not just because of the excellency of his character but I think that there's another reason it's because he's our Jew it's because he's a Jew jealousy is a kind of jaundice of the soul but they can't have him anymore they have to find a way to get rid of him the presence of Daniel makes it more and more difficult to rob steal cheat you know what you might be in a position where your presence in the circumstance that you find yourself in is going to make it more and more difficult for people to lie and cheat and steal because you want to do what's right because you want to honor God and obey Him they launched an FBI investigation full Babylonian investigation and what does this full investigation yield look what the text says but they could find no charge or fault why couldn't they because he was faithful well certainly there's something wrong no nor was there any error or fault found in him no charge no fault no error because he was faithful now we know that nobody's perfect nobody's perfect but it's interesting to me that in the Bible there's only a couple of characters who are spoken of with that kind of kimete complete fidelity Joseph in the Old Testament is one of them as he serves in the political role as prime minister of Egypt and here Daniel what an amazing testimony Daniel is faithful now again remember he's a can you imagine they go all the way back to his teenage years let's go back and investigate when Daniel was in high school he must have done something in high school because everyone in high school does something stupid in high school I was voted most likely to go to hell I'm here to tell you I will never ever be approved for the Supreme Court ever what's interesting though is I've undergone two FBI investigation background checks did you know that I've been investigated by the FBI twice thoroughly completely when I was getting my credentials for the FBI they said do you want to add anything after our thorough and complete investigation into your past and I said well I need to tell you a little bit about my dad and they said we know about your dad I've told you about my dad on his income tax returns under occupation he would write legitimate businessman and that's a red flag to the bureau Daniel is faithful constant present in the New Testament Jesus says in mark chapter 9 verse 50 salt is good but if it loses its saltiness how can you make it salty again have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another in other words this is Jesus's way we're to be found faithful Jesus is using salt as an illustration to describe three qualities that he wants desperately in his people we are to remember God's faithfulness just as salt was used in the sacrificial system it was to recall the Covenant that God had made with his people in Leviticus chapter 2 verse 13 we are to be faithful and we are to be flavorful we flavor the world just as salt changes the taste of meat in Matthew chapter 5 verse 13 so delays decomposition we live in a world that is rotting and corrupting and it's spiraling down and so you have been placed in the positions that you've been placed to and arrest the process of decomposition to be light and love when we lose the desire to salt the earth with the love of God and the message of Jesus and the gospel of Christ we become useless to our Savior one of the most despicable despicable things that was done in this recent process of an abdominal the Supreme Court justice his Ten year-old daughter just simply made the statement I am going to pray for the lady who has brought these accusations against my father and she was vilified a ten-year-old was vilified in the press vilified and made to seem small and small-minded as if someone even a ten-year-old in the most innocent way could practice what the Bible preaches to love your neighbor to love your enemy to pray for those who hate you to pray for those who despitefully use you in the moment that you begin to do that to love the people who hate you to care about the people who torment you and to remind them that in this broken world there is such a thing as grace and mercy and forgiveness you can expect opposition when we lose the desire to salt the earth when we lose the desire to describe the love of God when we lose the desire to abandon the message of Jesus we become useless to our Savior look it's okay for you to be a Christian just keep your mouth shut it's okay for you to be a Christian just don't act like a Christian it's okay for you to be a Christian but God help us if you should have a Bible if you should bring it to school or if you should bring it to your place of work that you should open it and read it I'm not saying bring your Bible and open it and read it and not do your job do you think Daniel ever came to a place because of his commitment and faithfulness to God that anyone could accuse him of not doing his job nothing could be further from the truth and so we don't begin to understand something what does it mean to be faithful what does it mean to be a faithful servant to the Lord Jesus Paul told the Corinthians be ye followers of me even as I also am of Christ in 1st Corinthians 11 verse 1 Paul said you know what I want you to honor and obey and follow Jesus well how do I do that he's he makes this outrageous suggestion do what I do it takes a lot of guts for anyone to say that for a person to say that and say do what I do well what does that mean love him honor him serve him believe him trust him were to be lovers of the truth Paul told the Corinthians in second Corinthians 11:10 the truth of Christ is in me what was the theme of Paul's preaching the unsearchable riches of Jesus Ephesians 3:8 Paul was motivated by the love of Jesus in 2nd Corinthians 5:14 he says it's Jesus who constrains me and to please Jesus was his ambition Galatians chapter 1 verse 10 Paul said we present Christ and him crucified Daniel wanted to love his Lord even in captivity and even in a system a political system and a religious system that was utterly corrupt in verse 5 it says then these men said we shall find no charge against this Daniel unless we find it against him concerning the law of his God in this statement we find another source of the babylonians jealousy and envy and resentment we shall not find any charge against this Daniel unless we find it against him concerning his God he's a Jew he's a Jewish captive he's a Jew who keeps kosher chapter 1 he's a Jew who has been noted by holiness he's a Jew who doesn't adopt syncretism well can't we just combine all of our beliefs together and come up with some sort of mutual agreed-upon way of thinking about things rather than Daniel incorporating the best of Judaism with the best of Babylon he separates himself from what's worst about Babylon and even what's best about Babylon he's a man who's separate he's holy so Daniel is a faithful Jew who honors the Lord and Daniel has proved faithful to the Lord and to the king and so the wicked men hatch a plot we're not going to find any charge against this Daniel unless we find it concerning the law of his God what does that mean here's what it means how can we use Daniels faith as a tool to get rid of him what does he believe what are his deeply held convictions Daniel prays every day in the morning and at noon and at night Daniel even though he is perhaps one of the most powerful man in an expansive Empire takes the time to pray in the morning and pray at noon and pray at night what are his deeply held convictions apparently he's a person who prays and apparently he prays to his God and apparently he prays as a means of petition hey I have a great idea what if we make it illegal to pray thirty years ago if you would have said to me do you think it's a good idea to criminalize homosexuality I would have said of course not it's I don't want homosexuals to go to jail but if you would have said to me what if we don't criminalize homosexuality but we make this criminal I believe that homosexual behavior is wrong do you think it's okay if we make that belief criminal what if we criminalize the belief that wrong is right and right is wrong what if we make it a crime that what the Bible says about the human condition what if we make it a crime to suggest that the gospel is the way to repair that condition what if we make it a crime to live out your deeply held beliefs and the way you live your life what if we make it a crime what if we can find a way to criminalize Daniels faith weed I got an idea not only will we make it a crime to pray we'll make it a capital punishment that if you pray in the way that Daniel is praying you could be put to death so what's obvious about the text Daniel is known as a Jew he is known to believe in the God most high he has honored the God most high in chapter 1 and chapter 2 and chapter 3 in chapter 4 and chapter 5 he has a long history of honoring God Daniel's faith and faithfulness are known to his pagan peers I want you to understand that to think about that for just a second there's nothing secret or private about Daniels faith his peers the people who are subordinate to him they are all aware of Daniel's faith like Paul the Apostle he is an open book read of all people one of the real dangers that we have is to refuse to demonstrate our faith in the public square or at work because you might be thinking well what if I come out as a Christian are they gonna hold me to a higher standard yes you mean if I tell people that I really love God and want to honor him people take me up on it yeah the moment that you declare that you're a Christian there are people who will expect you to act like one and be disappointed when you don't in verse 6 it says so these governors and say traps thrown before the king and they said to him King Darius live forever all the governors the kingdom the administrators the say traps the counselors the advisers have consulted together to establish a royal statute and to make a firm decree that whoever petitions any God or man for 30 days except you O king shall be cast into the lamp den of lions now I want you to think about what's going on in the text they don't make a permanent injunction that you can never pray forever and ever amen they just make it a temporary order so that Daniel will only have to compromise this faith for one day two days three days four days oh by the way if we can get Daniel to compromise for 30 times in a row then we can laugh at him we can laugh at him we can put them in the position of a compromised category when they say Oh King live forever in England when a king is crowned or the Queen is crowned they'll say god save the king God saved the Queen and so this is an idiomatic expression in that culture which was deference to the powers that be the governor's the administrators the say traps the councilors the advisers have all come up with a bipartisan and unanimous consensus can you imagine they're going to the king Oh King live forever all of the Republicans all of the Democrats even the independence everyone has come together everyone on the left and everyone on the right everyone has joined together and we have united together in a bipartisan unanimous consensus to establish a royal statue at a firm decree that whoever petitions any god or man for 30 days except you O king well they'll be cast into a den of lions now you guys are going well what's the purpose of this law imagine Durai says hey tell me about this law what is it that that would cause you to write this up and bring it to my attention why King it's it's to demonstrate that all subjects in this great Kingdom are loyal to its king it's a law that's intended to provide the opportunity for every citizen to demonstrate their love and loyalty to the king it's to show how wise and merciful and generous you are I want you to think about this King every person in the kingdom imagine for 30 days every person every where they unite together in a singular display of unity calling on their King declaring their love promoting his wisdom and generosity acknowledging that really most of the very good thing comes from him we're gonna prayer pray a united prayer a united prayer to you we look to you as one people for our one king we're going to trust your wisdom to decide exactly what it is that we need and if someone decides that they aren't going to demonstrate this unconditional loyalty to our king and his kingdom let's kill him what do you say what's the problem what's the problem with the request the first thing is it's not true is it have all the governors been consulted together as Daniel been included or excluded from the discussion he's been excluded if you said excluded you got it right why has Daniel been excluded from the conversation because Daniel will bring his attention to the king that this isn't a good idea Daniel is left out of the discussions because if Daniels been included he would never agree to such a foolish law Daniel would have warned the king that the only true and living God can answer certain prayers and petitions that there's only one God in heaven that officials have kept this piece of legislation secret from Daniel because this law is going to result in some unintended consequences that are going to make people of faith and people committed to righteousness have to compromise their faith or ignore their faith remember ancient Kings were treated like gods with unlimited resources and the power of life and death durian flattered and thrilled that all his people would unite in a single act of unconditional loyalty can you imagine if someone came to Donald Trump and said every single senator every single legislator every single governor every single mayor in the United States of America every single official everywhere from Maine to California from Minnesota to Louisiana from Florida to Arizona everyone everyone everyone everyone wants you to pass a law that says let's just love Donald Trump for 30 days in a row and Donald Trump goes this sounds like a great idea but then people start to talk to him and go does this sound normal to you this isn't the only example by the way of bad advice or evil counsel that's ever been given in the scripture there's lots of examples of bad advice and evil counsel do you remember the opening book of Genesis where we have Eve and Adam in a garden and there is a tree and there's beautiful fruit and there is counsel given to Eve hey look at that fruit doesn't it look delicious hey by the way if you eat that fruit you'll be wise you'll understand things and you'll discover things that you never knew before the Bible makes it clear that prayer alone belongs to God in second chronicles it says if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways then I will hear from heaven and I will forgive their sin and I will heal their land forgiveness of sin and healing for the land isn't going to come through political processes the only way that you're going to experience hope in your heart and forgiveness in your heart and grace in your heart and mercy in your heart is to acknowledge that it is the God of heaven who's able to provide that jesus said quote in Matthew 6:5 and when you pray you won't be like the hypocrites for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets that they might be seen by men assuredly I say to you they have their reward as Jesus condemning public prayer no he's not condemning public prayer he's condemning hypocritical prayer I'm gonna show everybody how spiritual I am by praying in public but it has no meaning unless you really mean it it says in verse 8 now o King established the decree signed the writing so that it cannot be changed according to the law of the Medes and the Persians which does not alter therefore look what it says King Darius signed the written decree now the Medes and the Persians customs were different from the Babylonians remember as we've been studying the Book of Daniel we saw this vision of the statue with the head of gold and the chest of silver the Empire has changed from Babylon to Mito Persia what's the difference in the medo-persian system once an edict is signed into law it can't be undone even by the king in the Babylonian system under Nebuchadnezzar what he said when if he said you live you live if he said you die you die if he said you have great wealth and and whatever you get to have it if he says take it away it's taken away in the medo-persian system once an edict is signed into law it can't be undone even by the king so the leaders emphasized that the ordinance is unchanging and we see the same thing in Esther chapter 1 verse 19 where there's this royal order written among the laws of the Medes and the Persians which may not be repealed so we have a saying in our own culture and society that certain things once it's done we use the term written in stone for better for worse when a person is appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States that person is in that position in perpetuity the only way a Supreme Court justice can be removed from office is through an impeachment process that requires criminal charges and evidence of criminal criminal charges the king signs the document now let's think about what's happened just for a moment the leaders appeal to the Kings pride and vanity the government officials manipulate the King and assigning an order that's going to become a permanent injunction that's going to put Daniel and anyone who believes like Daniel in jeopardy the government officials know that Daniel won't compromise his commitment to the Lord they know that he is going to pray and remember I keep telling you the season is a tease he's not this young spry chicken he's more like beef jerky at this point he's not gonna be all that appetizing for the earth for the Lions but in order to survive God Himself is going to have to intervene the government officials have signed the order there's a collective sigh of relief the powers that be are fairly certain that they're rid of Daniel corrupt politicians and ever conspire together to ruin and destroy one man's reputation just so that they could continue to do evil would they this is fiction right this could never happen in real life people wouldn't lie and cheat and steal and just so they could stay in power that could never happen right no one would destroy a good and decent man's life to protect their ability to engage in wicked and corrupt behavior it could never happen until it does Daniel is a picture of public and personal integrity he loves the Lord he's honest in his stewardship he's faithful and what's been entrusted to him in psalm 119 we see another picture of honest living quote blessed are those who walk blameless it says in verse 1 blessed are those who seek him with their whole heart who do no wrong in verses 2 & 3 the psalmist acknowledges the Lord God he says you have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently in verse 4 the psalmist hopes in his heart oh oh that I my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes then I shall not be put to shame having my eyes fixed on all of your commands Vincente verses five and six only a handful of people in the Bible receive God's pronouncement of blamelessness Joe consider my servant Joseph in the book of Genesis Daniel in every chapter we're not perfect but in order to be blameless it doesn't mean sinless blameless means I don't always do everything exactly right but I want to I want to honor God I want to obey God I want to embrace what the Bible says about what it means to responsibly love and serve and obey Jesus imagine Daniel hears the words of Jesus whispered from the future blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake rejoice and be exceedingly glad for great is your reward in heaven for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you let me ask you a question have you ever been falsely accused have you ever been rightly accused have you ever considered has it ever occurred to you that your life is a stewardship that's been entrusted to you by the true in the Living God so that you could honor him and love him if you've never considered that I just want you to consider it right now I want you to think about who you are and who God's called you to be and what it is that God has entrusted you with and the future that God's about to give you you already know what it says in verse 10 you already know that Daniel knew about the writing knew about the law he goes home and he continues to do what he's always done in the morning at noon and at night he doesn't petition the king he doesn't file for readdress he quietly comfortably and publicly decides that he's going to honor God in spite of the decree he knows what the decree is going to lead to he knows that once he's done praying that day he's going to go to a lion's den if you ever make the decision to do what's right and embrace the consequences of what's right it might seem overwhelming but I guarantee you this the moment that you decide to honor God in the circumstance that you find yourself in he's gonna be with you and he's gonna support you in that decision we're gonna have communion right now I didn't have a chance to tell you about communion but at our church we have what's called an open communion that means it's open to anyone who knows and loves Jesus if you're a believer by all means take communion communion is really it's an act of love and loyalty it's it's it's our way of saying I believe that Jesus is the Lord I believe that he loves me and that he died for me on the cross and and that he's my Savior maybe you've never come to the place in your life and maybe that's not something that you really believe let me just ask you a couple of simple quick questions do you know the ear center would you love to have your sins forgiven do you believe that jesus loves you and that he died on the cross for your sins that he rose from the dead that he's alive then why wouldn't you why wouldn't you accept him why wouldn't you submit to him why wouldn't you say to him Lord I want you to be my Lord and if the answer is because he might call me to a higher expectation I'm afraid I know that I was the scariest thing to me about being a Christian was I knew that I couldn't be a Christian in my own strength because I'm a wicked person in order for me to be different God's gonna have to change me well guess what in order for you to be different God's gonna have to change you here's my testimony if you love him and believe him if you want forgiveness of your sins if you desire for him to change you he will let me pray we're gonna have communion Heavenly Father Lord we know that Jesus on the night that he was betrayed he took bread and he broke it and he gave it to his disciples and he said take this and eat it all of you this is my body which will be broken for you again he gave thanks and praise he took the cup and he said this is the cup of My Blood the blood of the new and the everlasting covenant which will be shed for the forgiveness of sin do this in memory of me brain in order to be ingested has to be crushed and the grape trampled upon it makes perfect sense now Lord that Jesus would suffer that Jesus would die and that a perfect person more perfect than Jobe more perfect than Joseph more perfect than Daniel if there was anyone who always did what was right and did what was right every single time if he can come into this world and be killed it makes perfect sense that we're going to suffer and that our faith is going to be tested but Lord and taking this bread and drinking this cup we don't want to just philosophically or intellectually renew our commitment to you but with hearts full of joy tell you that we want to follow you into the future that you have for each one of us in Jesus name Amen you can partake

Channel: Calvary South Denver

Views: 1,839

Rating: 4.8400002 out of 5

Keywords: Calvary Chapel, Gino Geraci, Christianity, Bible Study, Book of Daniel, Daniel and the Lion's Den

Id: LnBSOry3my4

Length: 60min 16sec (3616 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 09 2018