[MUSIC PLAYING] Welcome to Calvary Albuquerque. We pursue the God
who is passionately pursuing a lost world. We do this with one
another through worship by the word to the world. Will you turn in your
Bibles to Daniel Chapter 6 verses 1 through 17-- Daniel
Chapter 6 verses 1 through 17? We're going to cover
more of the text tonight than just 17 verses,
but we're going to start with those
first 17 for a message that I have titled "Lessons
From a Lion Tamer." You know, I don't
think it would be any stretch of the
imagination to say that we live in a fallen world. Can I get an amen to that,
we live in a fallen world? It's kind of like
a bummer, actually. You know, it seems like
every year the boundaries get pushed further. And the crimes
become more shocking. The headlines become
more depressing. And the moral line becomes
more and more blurred. And all you have to do
is look at the media to see how two things
drive our economy. Two things drive our
world economy-- sex and lust and hatred
and violence. It seems like those two
things drive the economy, drive the world today. I took a look at some
of the top Billboard songs of the past five years. And I found that a
good majority of them had one of those
themes tied into them. Robin Thicke wrote a song
called "Blurred Lines." And it says, "I hate
these blurred lines. I know you want it. I know you want it. I know you want it,
but you're a good girl. The way you grab me, you
must want to get nasty. Go ahead and get at me." Those are the lyrics
for a song that was very popular-- as a matter
of fact, lyrics for a song that somehow ended up on Kidz. Bop You know, can I just say how
stupid that is, Kidz Bop? Like, hey, let's
take terrible songs and change the lyrics a little
bit so they're not as bad and get kids to sing them
so they're like, oh yeah, this is great. Like, what a bad idea. It was not a parent who
decided on that one. Daft Punk's "Get Lucky" says,
"We're all night till the sun. We're up all night to get some. We're up all night for good fun. We're up all night
to get lucky." Miley Cyrus's "We Can't
Stop" says, "Red cups and sweaty bodies
everywhere, hands in the air like we don't care because we
came to have so much fun now. I bet somebody here
might get some now. To my home girls here with
the big butt, shaking it like we at a strip club." Man, this was Hannah
Montana 10 years ago on the Disney Channel,
all sweet and innocent, claiming to be a Christian. Florida Georgia
Line's song "Cruise" says, "Yeah, when I first
saw that bikini top on her, she's popping right out
of the Georgia water. I thought, oh, good Lord,
she had them long, tan legs. I couldn't help myself." And, of course, Bruno
Mars' song "Locked Out of Heaven"-- which, come on, can
we pick a more accurate song? I mean, he really is
locked out of heaven with lyrics like this. He says, "I'm born
again every time you spend the night because your
sex takes me to paradise." The age-old adage
sex sells has never been more true than today. You want to wash your hair and
have millions of women hunt you like an animal? Well, then get Axe Body Spray--
how dirty boys get clean. Want to eat a hamburger? Why not eat the one with
the half-clothed model, which is disgusting by the way. Want to buy a website? Buy it from the company that,
again, has naked models. Time Magazine says, "When the
sexual freedoms of the '70s were challenged by a rising
moral militancy in the '80s," Time noted, "the sexual
revolution has not been rebuffed, merely
absorbed into the culture." I found some interesting
statistics on sex. Adults aged 20 to
59 have an average of five to six sexual partners
during their lifetime. Two out of three college
students have been in or are in a friends-with-benefit
relationship. The average male loses
his virginity at 16. The average female loses
her virginity at 17. So parents, if you
think it's too young to have the sex
talk with your kids, think again because they're
probably already having it with their friends I read one article online
that was titled, "Young Adults Struggle With Morality." And it said, "A nationwide
survey by the Barna Group indicates that
Americans have redefined what it means to do the right
thing in their own lives." The article continued and
said, "Researchers asked adults which, if any of
eight behaviors, they had engaged in
during the past week." And here's the
findings of their poll. 65% admitted to using
profanity in public. 38% had engaged in sex
outside of marriage. 37% had lied. 33% admitted to intentional
exposure to pornography. And 25% had gotten drunk. There's no doubt that we
live in a fallen world. But my question for you is,
when we live in a fallen world, is there any hope
for Christians? When we live in a
fallen world, what sets us apart from the world? When we live in a fallen
world, how do we stand up? Or do we just fall down? Tonight we're going to look at
one of the most famous Bible stories, Daniel in the
Lion's Den-- a child's story so familiar that we could
easily dismiss it and miss the vital truths. In this story, we find parallels
and practical principles for our lives today. We find how a child of
God-- how a Christian, a believer-- should deal with
difficulty and adversity. We find how a believer can
stand up in a fallen world when the pervasive
rules of society tell the Christian to bow
down, when society tells the Christian that they can't be
who God has called them to be, when the society tells the
Christian that they're wrong, that they're bigots for
believing what they believe. You know, it's worth noting that
God didn't deliver Daniel out of the lion's den but
rather he helped him in it. And we kind of covered
this the first week. But often we want to be
delivered or airlifted out of our dilemmas, right? Be honest. If you could have
a choice-- even though you know that you learn
something in the trials-- be honest. If you could be
airlifted out of them, would you take that golden
opportunity, that ticket? I know I would. If I'm being honest,
I'd be like, yeah. I know I can learn
something from this, but it'd be way better to not
have to learn that lesson. You know, we just want to be
delivered from our trials, from our tribulations. But that dilemma, that
trial, that tribulation might be just what we
need to deepen our walk and our dependence on God. And in this story
we also find a man who laid his faith on the line,
a man who believed his God. He stood up in a
world that was fallen. And as we look at his life,
we discover the qualities that can give us that same
strength that Daniel had when he was in the lion's den. And we all have those. That's why I started out and why
I felt that song was so perfect and that God was
just orchestrating this moment because we all
have those lion's dens. We all have those pits
that we find ourselves in, those moments when we don't
feel whole, those moments when we doubt, those moments when
we're unsure of the path that we're on, we're unsure
of the God that we serve, where we question,
where we doubt. We all have those moments. And chances are a
lot of you in here are in one of those
moments right now or you have been in
one recently or you will be in one pretty soon. We all have those moments. We all have those times. But I want to encourage
you, believer. There is hope in those times. There is hope in the trials. There is hope through
the temptations. There is hope for
those of you who are at odds with your spouse. There is hope for
those of you who find your kid straining and
walking away from the Lord. There is hope for those of
you who don't have a job and haven't had one for
the past six months, and you're wondering how
you're going to pay your bills. There is hope for
those of you who have this sin hanging
on your shoulder, and you feel like you can't
get away from it no matter where you go. There is hope for you. And just like that
song says, God is here. He is here. And, Christian, in His
presence we are made whole. In His presence we find that
hope we've been searching for. So let's read Daniel
Chapter 6 verse 1 through 17 and see where
Daniel got his hope. Daniel Chapter 6,
starting in verse 1. If you don't have a
Bible, by the way, there's Bibles underneath
all the chairs. You can pull one out and you
can follow along with us. It's a Bible study. And if you're not
studying the Bible, then it's just kind of
like an inspirational talk. So we've got to study the Bible. It's important to read the word. Daniel Chapter 6
verse 1, "It pleased Darius to set over the
kingdom 170 satraps to be over the whole
kingdom and over these three governors, of whom Daniel was
one, that the satraps might give account to them so that
the king would suffer no loss. Then this Daniel
distinguished himself above the governors and
the satraps because--" I want you to catch this. We're going come back to it. "He distinguished himself
because an excellent spirit was in him." [VIDEO PAUSES] --"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 early days. Then these men assembled and
found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God. And they went before
they king and spoke concerning the king's decree. Have you not signed a
decree that every man who petitions any God or man within
30 days except you, oh King, shall be cast into
the den of lions? And the King answered
and said, the thing is true according to the law
of the Medes and the Persians, which does not alter. So they answered and
said before the king, that Daniel who is one of
the captives from Judah does not show due regard for
you, oh King, for the decree that you have signed but makes
his petition three times a day. And the king, when
he heard these words, was greatly displeased
with himself and set his heart on
Daniel to deliver him. And he labored till the going
down of the sun to deliver him. Then these men approached
the king and said to him, know, oh King, that it
is the law of the Medes and the Persians that no
decree or statue which the King establishes may be changed. So the king gave the command
and they brought Daniel and cast him into the den of the lions. But the king spoke,
saying to Daniel, your God whom you
serve continually, He will deliver you. Then a stone was brought and
laid on the mouth of the den. And the king sealed it
with his own signet ring and with the signet
rings of his lords. Then the purpose concerning
Daniel might not be changed." Let's stop there. As our story begins,
we find Daniel. And we all know the
story of Daniel, and we all know this
story of Daniel. We find Daniel to be one
of the three governors over the entire kingdom. Now Darius, the king, not only
esteemed and prized Daniel as one of his governors--
one of his chief rulers-- but he so valued
this man and saw the integrity of this
man who had boldly spoken God's word
to Nebuchadnezzar and then to Belshazzar
as he told him that he had been
weighed in the divine balances and found lacking. He so esteemed this man who was
a part of two different regimes before him that, with the
conquering of Babylon, Darius the Medo-Persian
forces took control. And Daniel is once again put in
a position of great influence and power. And this is incredible to me. Talk about the legacy of a man,
the legacy of a Jewish captive who outlives and survives
three different regimes and finds himself in a place
of power within each one. Think about how
incredible that is, that while the kings
fell Daniel didn't. While the kings
melted, Daniel made it. Daniel somehow found the key
to rising when others fell. And what was the key? What was it that made him
so special to the king that the king was
about to make him the prime minister of the
entire kingdom, the most powerful man in the kingdom
next to Darius himself? Well, he had something
that we see in Verse 3 that the Bible says was
"an excellent spirit that was in him." This brings up
something important. Daniel lived in such a way
that, through the course of three different empires,
he was consistently promoted. And this thing that set
him apart, this thing that gave him favor before
the Lord and before kings was that he had an
excellent spirit. Why was he promoted to
such great responsibility? Why is he remembered as
a great man of faith? What qualities did he
possess that you and I can learn from and, hopefully, glean
from and become like ourselves? Quite simply, it says
"an excellent spirit." He had an excellent spirit. What is an excellent spirit? Well, we're going
to see tonight I believe that an excellent
spirit is two things. Daniel did two things that
gave him an excellent spirit. Number one, he lived purely. And number two, he
lived purposefully. I believe those two things gave
Daniel an excellent spirit. And those two
things-- if you and I live purely and
live purposefully, then we will have
that same spirit that Daniel had, an
excellent spirit, a spirit that God honors and
a spirit that, when men see, they will honor as well
regardless of whether or not they hold your beliefs. When it says that he had
an excellent spirit-- "an excellent
spirit was in him"-- it literally means that this
spirit predominated his life. It predominated his life. It was so apparent, so visible
that everyone around him saw it. The king saw it and
he elevated him. The satraps, the governors, the
rulers saw it and envied him. And, man, even the lions saw
it and wouldn't touch him. For Daniel, his spiritual life
wasn't just an afterthought. I want you to write that down. For Daniel, his spiritual life
wasn't just an afterthought. It wasn't just something
that he did when he found the time in his busy schedule. It wasn't just something
that he got around to if he didn't have any
sports games to go to or if he got out of
work at the right time or if he had caught
up on his Zs. His spiritual life was
something that predominated everything else in his life. As he lived purely, it gave
him an excellent spirit. You know, when we hear today
that someone is spiritual, what do we think of? We think, oh man. That person's really out
of touch with reality. You know, they're just
so spiritual that they're no good here. All they're doing is thinking
about spiritual things. And they're just a little weird. Anytime you get
around them, they just like look around like they're
seeing angels or something. And it becomes something
that's almost a negative in our day and age,
someone who's living with their head in the cloud. Not only is this
completely unscriptural, it is unspiritual
to think that way. To be filled with
the spirit means to be controlled by the Spirit. You know, it's the same word,
being filled with the Spirit. It's the same word
that the Greeks spoke of when wind would fill a sail. See, the boat couldn't move
without the wind in the sails. A boat without wind is
pretty much useless. A Christian without the Holy
Spirit is pretty much useless. If you're a Christian
who has said a prayer and accepted God into
your life and yet you're not Spirit filled,
you're just like a boat sitting in the middle of
the ocean with no wind to fill its sails,
nowhere to go nothing to achieve, nothing to
accomplish-- just a lost vessel. The Christian, in
order to accomplish all that God wants them to do and to
be, must be a spiritual person. So a question for you, are
you a spiritual person? Well, no. I mean, I go to church
once or twice a week. I read my Bible
when I have time. But I wouldn't consider
myself a spiritual person. I'd consider myself
a religious person. And be careful because
we, as believers, are called to be spiritual people. That doesn't mean
we're weird or kooky or we walk around with like
little ghost-hunting devices trying to find where
the spirits are. It simply means that
we are spirit-filled, spirit-controlled
believers who are allowing the excellent spirit to
predominate our lives, to infiltrate every
area of our life. 2 Timothy 1:7 says it like this. "But God has not given
us the spirit of fear but of power, love, and a sound,
well-balanced, disciplined mind." So you want to know what
that excellent spirit is? Love, sound, well-balanced,
disciplined mind controlled by the
scriptures, judging our life by the scriptures-- not living
an undisciplined life doing whatever we want,
going wherever we want but living a
disciplined life that's rooted in sound, well-balanced
scripture, a spirit of love, and yet a spirit that's God
breathed and filled with power. You know, I want to add
this because we look at that and say, Daniel, you know, it
was just different back then. It was just different. You didn't have MTV, Daniel. You didn't have,
you know, movies that you could go to that had
all kinds of terrible things in them. You didn't have such easy
access to alcohol and to drugs. You didn't have
Las Vegas, Daniel. It was easier for you. Oh, it was not
easier for Daniel. Daniel did all of this in
the most ungodly environment that you could ever imagine. What kind of environment was
this that Daniel lived in? Well, it was the lap of luxury. Daniel literally had
access to everything the king had access to--
concubines, alcohol, food, whatever he wanted. He had access to
riches, to anything that he could possibly desire. Think, like Joseph, he
had been given rulership over a large
portion of the land, a place of rampant idolatry,
a place of incredible cruelty. The Babylonians were known for
the cruelty with which they would destroy their
enemies, a place of rampant sexual immorality
far more widespread than even our own day and age. Yet in spite of
all of this, Daniel remained a righteous man. Not only did he remain,
but he flourished. He grew. He expanded his spiritual life. You know, sometimes we think
that the only place that we can flourish spiritually,
the only place that we can grow in our walk with God
is in the midst of Christians. And so parents have
this idea that, man, if I want my kid to love
God, I have to send them to a Christian school. If I want to be a
strong Christian, I have to work in a
Christian workplace. If I want to be
a good Christian, I can't have any secular friends
because they'll pollute me. It's like, if you get too close
to them, it's like leprosy. They just get on you. And that'll make
me a bad person. Now, although it can be true
at times for certain people that they need to
segregate themselves and they know their
own inclinations, they know who they
are, and they know that, if they get
around certain things, is going to cause them to fall. Although that can
be true at times, it's not always the case. Often the most
unfavorable circumstances can be the most favorable
ground for spiritual growth, the most favorable ground
for becoming more like Jesus. In an environment where
believers surround you, it's easy to go into
spiritual cruise control. It's easy to sit back and relax. Have you guys heard
of Tesla's autopilot? If you're keeping up on the
news, you should know about it. Well, Tesla created
the car of the future. It doesn't need gas, and
it drives you around. Literally, this auto pilot
has sensors all around it so that, unlike
cruise control, you can turn auto pilot
on in the freeway and you don't have
to touch the steering wheel, the brake, or the gas. You can sit back, and
the car drives itself. It sounds fantastic until
you're watching Harry Potter and a car pulls out in
front of you and you die. That's literally what happened. This guy was
driving on autopilot and he was watching Harry
Potter on the highway going 65 miles per hour when a tractor
pulled out in front of him. His car veered off to the side
of the road and he hit a pole, and he was killed instantly. Man, Christians can
do the same thing. They can get into
this place in life where they turn on autopilot
and they think, man, you know, I'm around all these
other Christians. I'm in a safe environment. Everything's OK, autopilot. And they just
cruise on autopilot like that guy watching
Harry Potter in the Tesla. And then, when Satan
brings something that they weren't
expecting and it veers out in the middle of the road, they
don't know how to handle it. They don't know what to
do, and they veer off the side of the road. And Satan uses that as an
opportunity to scrape them off the pavement. But when a Christian
finds himself in a secular
environment, it often forces us to go one of two ways. It often forces us to dig
our heels in the ground-- to make a decision,
make a determination, live our lives purposefully. Remember, live your life purely. Number two, live your
life purposefully. When we hit a
crossroads where we have to choose which
way we're going to go, we have to make
that determination. We have to purpose in
our hearts who we are, who we're going to become, to
either blend into the woodwork and do our best not to rock
the boat or to take a stand and be counted as a Christian. Look at Verse 4 through
5 of Daniel Chapter 6. "So the governors
and satraps sought 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." It says they sought to
find a charge against him. They wanted to target him. They wanted to trap him. His enemies scrutinized
him looking for a weakness, looking for some scandal,
some hypocrisy, something that they could say to the king. Hey King, Daniels
stealing money from you. Hey King, Daniel's
doing this tricky thing underneath the table, and you've
got to keep your eye on him. Hey King, Daniel's showed up
to work five minutes late, and he's done it for like
three weeks in a row. I mean, I know he's a Christian
and all but that's just wrong. They were motivated
by envy and jealousy. And they wanted to destroy him. James tells us in James
3:16, "Wherever you find jealousy and rivalry, you
find disharmony and all kinds of evil." You know, I want
to point out Darius didn't promote Daniel
because of his belief alone. He wasn't like, oh
hey, Daniel, you believe in something
different than I believe? Awesome, I'm going to elevate
you to be really powerful. No, what happened
is his belief-- Daniel's belief-- caused him
to act a certain way, which caused Darius to look
at his life and say, I want guys like you on my team. As a nonbeliever, he
saw how Daniel's belief made him work harder, made
him become more trustworthy and act as a man of integrity. Daniel didn't rely
on his beliefs to get promoted but,
because of his beliefs, he worked so hard
that he was promoted. Church, the world doesn't
need lazy Christians. Realize that your work
ethic reflects your faith. And if you are living purely,
if you are living righteously you're going to be the
best worker at your job. You're going to be a worker
such that the boss will look at your life
and say, man, what's different about your life? Why are you always on time? Why do you always
do the best work? Why do you always work so
hard and do it with such joy? Why do all the customers
always like you and love their interaction with you? And there's a good chance
that all the other coworkers will look at you with
envy and jealousy and say, why is he so good? Why does he always
show up on time? Why does he always get
his work done before me and with such excellence? Your belief in
God-- living purely will give you an
excellent spirit that the world, regardless
of whether or not their beliefs match yours or
not, will look at your life and say, there's something
different about him. He's better. He works harder. She works harder. They're more kind. They're more forgiving. What's different about them? Romans 12:11 says
"Never be lazy, but work hard and serve
the Lord enthusiastically." Maybe that's the part of
the message that some of us needed to hear tonight. I know there's times
in my life when I need to hear that message. I know there's times in my life
when I need to be reminded, hey Nate, although you're
tired, although you're worn out you're serving
the most high God. You're serving the
most high King. And all the work that you do,
whether you feel like it does or not, it reflects
the God that you serve. Realize that-- whether
it's at a church or not, whether it's in a
Christian workplace or not-- your work life
represents your spiritual life. And so, if you tell all
your friends at work that you're a Christian but
you always show up late, you get bad reviews, you
don't work your hardest-- realize that that's a reflection
of your spiritual life and your relationship with God. Look at Verse 6. "So these governors and satraps
thronged before the king and said to him, oh King
Darius, live forever." It says that they
thronged to him. This word means that
they assembled so quickly that the king didn't have
time to think it out. They were there. And they immediately-- the
first thing they say, they flatter him. "Oh King
Darius, live forever." Man, you want to know
how to charm your boss? That's the way to do. It's not the right way to do
it, but just butter him up. And then ask him
whatever they want. It's like when my kids come
to me and say, hey, Dad? Yeah? I love you so much. [SIGHING DRAMATICALLY]
Can I have fruit snacks? They know the way to get to me. They know exactly how to
get what they want simply by charming me and
buttering me up. And it doesn't make
it any less cute. It's still awesome. I still love my kids
when they do that. But they've figured out
how to get what they want. And that's what the satraps do. And the King clearly
admires Daniel, so they have to throw
up a smokescreen. They have to appeal to his
pride to pull this off. In Verse 7 they say,
all the governors of the kingdom, the
administrators and the satraps, the councilors
and the advisors-- we've all consulted together
with one notable exception. Daniel wasn't at
that meeting, was he? Now, all the
governers-- well, there was only three and one
of them wasn't there. So you already started
off on the wrong foot. This was a lie. Well, the King ends up passing
a law forbidding prayer to any God but him,
no prayer allowed by the order of the government. You know, it's been said
that a nation cuts itself off at the knees when such
a decree is passed. When the nation starts to
illegalize faith in Christ, starts to mandate things
that are unspiritual, starts to mandate that
people don't do things that are spiritual,
the government cuts itself off at the knees. You know, it's so heartbreaking
to see that our government is on a path in that
same direction-- mandating sin, calling
what is wrong right, legalizing sin,
telling the world that they need to accept
sin otherwise they're wrong and they could be held
accountable and be put in jail. When the government starts
to pull Christianity, starts to pull faith in Christ
out of its system and replace it with a pervasive
world-minded government, the nation cuts itself
off at the knees. And here we see this lead
us to a second quality in Daniel's life that
was at the foundation of his excellent spirit. And that is that he
was a man of prayer and this really relates
to what we said before. He was a man of purpose. Daniel had long ago
purposed in his heart who he was going to be. He had long ago decided, when
he first got brought to Babylon, this is who I am and nobody--
king, satrap, no one-- is going to change who I am. He purposed in his heart. He decided he was going
to live purely before God. And he purposed in
his heart who he was and that nothing was
going to change that. And here we see this
in his prayer life. He was a man of prayer. Nothing stands out more
clearly than this fact. Look at Verse 10. It says, "He knelt
down on his knees and prayed and gave thanks
before his God, as was his custom since early days." You know, it's ironic that the
king signs a decree saying, hey, anyone who prays to any God
but me is going to be killed. And what does it say? As soon as Daniel heard
this, what did he do? He prayed. The lion roared, and
Daniel roared louder. Daniel roared louder. He said, look, I've decided
who I'm going to be. I decided it long ago. I decided what my
faith in Christ was going to cause
me to do, the path it was going to lead me down. And there is nobody that
can get me to stray away from my relationship with God. It says "as this was his
custom since early days." Daniel had a habit of
prayer from the time that he was a young man
till now in his 80s. That's round about how
old he was at this time. So we think of like a
young Daniel, right? All the pictures that you
always see in kid's storybooks have like a 20-something
Daniel hanging out with lions. We're talking about an old
dude-- close to his 80s, somewhere in his 80s--
always taking time to pray. It was a repeated
habit in his lifestyle since when he was young. Daniel didn't complain. He didn't feel
sorry for himself. He continued to live
as he always had. And here we see that Daniel
was not only a man of prayer, he was a man of purpose. You know, earlier
in Chapter 1 we read how the king brought Daniel
and his friends into his court and tested their
loyalty to their God by offering them some
of Babylon's delicacies. Now, this was the first
crucial test for Daniel. We talked about
this a bit last week because these delicacies
were first dedicated to some pagan God in sacrifice. So to share in such food was
an act of worship to the God that it was offered to. This was a test allowed by
God to try their commitment. Remember what we said
last week, a stand in the seemingly small
area can prepare us for a far more difficult
test in the future. We saw this with Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego. And now we see this with Daniel. The little decisions
you make now determine your resolve to
make bigger decisions later. If Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego failed here, they would have never made
it to the fiery furnace. If Daniel would
have failed here, he never would have made
it to the lion's den. Daniel 1:8 says that Daniel
"purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself
with the portion of the king's table." And it was this purpose made
as a young man that gave Daniel the strength and resolve
that he needed on this day as an old man. Because he stood strong
at the beginning, he was strong and victorious
throughout his entire life. You know, I hear people
today say all the time, well, I"ll live for God
when I'm older. Right now I'm young. Right now I want
to live my life. I want to experience things. I know that sex is
wrong, but I'm young and I want to have
more sexual partners. I know drugs are wrong,
but I just want to try it. I know that this lifestyle
is wrong, but I'm a young. And when I'm older, then
I'll start walking with God. What makes you think that
you'll all of a sudden start making the right
decisions when you're creating a pattern in your
life of making the wrong ones? When you create a pattern in
your life of constantly making the wrong decisions, what makes
you think that one day you're going to wake up
and say, all right, I'm ready to make
the right decisions? Well, you've made a
pattern in your life. And it's hard to break a habit. It's hard to break up a pattern. It can be done, but it
requires way, way, way more work than just doing the right
thing from the beginning. And all you'll do
is put yourself into a pattern where
you inoculate yourself to the truth, where you harden
yourself to conviction, where each time you hear
the altar call, each time you hear the message,
you get a little harder. And you say, next
time, next time. Or you hear the truth
and, at first, you know that what you're
doing is wrong. But over time you just
start to accept it. And like the world
system of today, you just start to say, well who
is God that He can judge me? Who is God that He can
tell me how to live? 1 John 5:10 says, "He who
believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself. He who does not believe
God has made him a liar because he has not
believed the record that God has given His son." And how does this happen? It's not an overnight process. It takes time. It takes a continued lifestyle,
a continued choice and action, by continued exposure
to the truth of God and a refusal to obey
and respond to it. You know it's true, you
accept it intellectually, and yet you don't respond. You become hardened by the very
truth that used to soften you, the very truth that maybe at
one time you even accepted. Maybe at one time you even
went down and said a prayer to accept Christ. But you became so accustomed
to making the wrong decisions, to defiling yourself with
the king's delicacies, to bowing down before
idols, to refusing to pray. You made the wrong
decisions, and now you find yourself at
a place where you come to church still because
it's what you've always done. It's another one of the
habits you've created. But you come to church. And after that habit's
done, you go back to your habit of your lifestyle
of doing the wrong thing and hearing the right thing. You inoculate yourself. Without purpose and
direction in your life, you throw it all away. Drifting in and out of
relationships with people, drifting in and out
from church to church, drifting in and out of
jobs, drifting in and out of your major in college-- you
go from one thing to the next. You just drift. You never make decisions. You never have
purpose in your life. You never have
directions in your life. You're just always trying
to discover who you are. You know, that's like the
most millennial thing to say. I'm just trying to
figure out who I am. Let me tell you who you are. If you're a Christian,
you are bought and secured by the blood of Jesus Christ. You're a child of
the most high King. [APPLAUSE] You have a purpose. You have a direction. And that direction and
purpose is to follow God. It is to glorify God
and make Him known. That is who you are. You don't need to
discover who you are. God's told you who you are. The question is, are you
going to accept who you are? Are you going to be
empowered by who you are? Are you going to live the life
that God wants you to live? Ephesians 2:2 addresses
this lifestyle when it says, "You who were dead in
transgression and sins in which you used to live
when you followed"-- the word followed
literally means meandered-- "the ways of this world and
of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is
now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived
among them at one time, gratifying the cravings
of our sinful nature and following its
desires and thoughts like the rest who were, by
nature, objects of wrath." A guy named Robert D.
Abrahams said this. "Some men die by shrapnel. Some go down in flames. But most men perish inch by
inch playing little games." And that's so true of so
many in the church today. They go down inch by inch,
playing a game with God. It's a game you're
going to lose if you do. Purpose is vital. It's an anchor in the
storm, a base in the battle, a finish line in the race. Purpose sets our course
and keeps us on it. When Barnabas came
to any Antioch, he exhorted the believers there
that, with purpose of heart, they should continue
with the Lord. Paul said to Timothy, "You
have fully known my purpose. My determined purpose
is to know Him." Prayer was as important
to Daniel's soul as food was to his body. Again, he was a man in which
his spirit predominated his lifestyle. He had an excellent spirit,
a spirit that could not be hidden even if he wanted to. It was just who he was. Do you have an excellent spirit? Is your faith, your belief,
your love for Jesus Christ who you are and can't be hidden
no matter what you try to do? It's just who you are? It's evident, it's visible? It can't be hidden? No doubt, when Daniel
bowed before the Lord and prayed on his knees, he
received the fearless courage that he needed to stand
up to the satraps. Look, if you kneel before God,
you can stand before any man. You can stand before
any man, anything the world has to bring
your way, anything you have to face in the world. If you have first,
before you have come to that encounter, been
on your knees before God, then you can stand before man. It could have been-- amen. [APPLAUSE] I want you to
think that it could have been a really big
temptation for Daniel to just shut the door. That's all he had to
do, just shut the door and shut the windows. The privacy of his
own home, the satraps aren't going to be coming
knocking down the door. They're probably just waiting
to see what he always does, pray with the door open
and the windows open. He could have just shut the
door, closed the shades. He could have just prayed
silently to God with his eyes open, looking around, making
sure no one was watching. But he knew in his heart
that would be a compromise. His sense of purpose
would not allow him to do that which he
knew was wrong in his heart. He could have reasoned
and said, well, the law said just 30 days. And I'm all prayed up, man. I've been praying three times
a day for the past 70 years. I'm good for 30 days. I'll just hold out for 30 days. God will understand. I'll just sit there. You don't have to kneel or
close your eyes to talk to God. You can just sit there
and do it silently. I'll just pray in my heart. Look, we're going to
face similar challenges, though not always so dramatic. When you're with your
family in a restaurant, do you pray before you eat? I know it sounds so silly and
so simple, but people notice. How do I know they notice? Because I've had people
come to me and say, thank you for praying
publicly in the restaurant. That means a lot. When you pray publicly,
people notice. When you're at a family
gathering like Thanksgiving and you have non-believing
family who is there and you know they're hostile
towards your faith in God, do you open up the meal
with a word of prayer? Don't deny Him. Do you realize that
sometimes to not confess Him when the occasion
arises is to deny Him? When someone says, hey, why
do you live the way you do? Where do you get
your value system? Why are you so
happy all the time? What's your response
to questions like that? Well, it's just because
I was brought up well. My parents raised me right. Or I just am, it's just my way. It's just who I am. You can choose to
live differently. We all have our
own path in life. It doesn't matter. You choose your way,
I'll choose mine. Daniel didn't
change a thing when he was attacked for his
faith, and nor should we. Persecution should not
drive us from the Lord, but it should draw us
closer to the Lord. Persecution should not
drive us from the Lord, but it should draw
us to the Lord. It should draw us to
search the scripture that we might have answers to
those skeptics that bombard us with doubts and questions. When the lions of
life roared, Daniel wasn't scared because he
had heard the lions roar, and he roared a lot louder. When the lions reared
their teeth and roared, it didn't shut him up. He just roared louder. Let me ask you a question. What would it take
to shut you up? How loud do the
lions have to roar to stop you in your tracks? My dad discussed this concept
in his book Defying Normal. He said, what would it take
to persuade you to fall away from following God? What would it take to convince
you to stop trusting Jesus? The death of a child,
would that do it for you? A lingering disease, the
loss of a job, disappointment or betrayal from your
friends, the hypocrisy of the church or
other believers? Church, don't let the
roars of the world scare you away from
following the true lion, the Lion of the tribe of Judah. There is strength in the pack. And although it's scary hearing
the roars of the other packs, don't let them trick
you into straying away. Stick with Mufasa. [LAUGHTER] He is the biggest,
baddest one of the pack. And as long as
you're with Mufasa, the hyenas can't
do anything to you. You know, people attack
us as Christians. They call us
Bible-thumping bigots. Because we believe that God
created men for women and women for men, we're homophobic
and intolerant. Because we believe the
words of Jesus when He said, "I am the way, the truth, and
the life and no one"-- no one-- "comes to the Father but through
me," we're narrow minded. Because we believe that
the Bible is the inspired word of God, we are
simple-minded fools for believing fairy tales. What do we do when these
things are said about us? Keep on doing what we're doing. Don't stop and don't
waste time trying to argue that, no, that's not who I am. Do what Daniel did. Instead of trying
to argue with them, just do what you've been doing. Just keep doing it. Just keep following. Just keep praying. Just keep pursuing. Just live purely and
live with purpose. God will deal with
them, you don't have to. Keep on doing what you're doing. Keep on praying. Keep on preaching. Keep on living the
Christian life. In my dad's book, he says, "It
doesn't take a lot of people to change a culture. It just takes the right people." Church, I challenge us. Let's be the right people. As we said last week,
just a few people can affect the moral climate
around them-- people who don't let the heat
melt them, people who are determined
to make it, people who view their interruptions
as opportunities. Verse 10, look at it with me. It says, "He knelt down on
his knees three times that day and prayed and gave thanks." What could he possibly
give thanks for? 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says, "In
everything give thanks for this is the will of God and
Christ Jesus for you." What's the will of God for you? To give thanks. Philippians 4:6 says,
"Be anxious for nothing. But in everything, by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be
made known to God." Be anxious for what? But in everything do what? Why did Daniel give thanks? Because he was supposed to. Here's the point. When Daniel faced the
heat of the persecution, instead of giving God attitude,
he gave God his gratitude. Come on, somebody. That's good. [LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE] When Daniel experienced
the heat of persecution, he didn't give God attitude. God, why would you
let this happen? I've been faithful. I've been righteous. He didn't give God attitude,
he gave God his gratitude. He said, thank you,
Lord, for being with me. Thank you, Lord, for
strengthening me. Thank you, Lord, for
promising to never leave me or forsake me. Thank you, Lord, for
bringing this my way. Instead of fearing the
trial, he gave thanks for it. Instead of melting
in the heat, he determined that
he would make it. Instead of complaining to
God about the interruption, he gave thanks to God
for the opportunity. I shared a message last
year called "All to You." And I said that life is
full of interruptions. Life's full of interruptions. Just like Daniel,
something comes your way. Someone tells you
what you should do or what you shouldn't do, an
interruption to your plan. But remember I said
our interruptions are His opportunities. When Elijah was confronted
with the prophets of Baal, it was an interruption. But to God it was
an opportunity. When Moses led the people to
a dead end at the Red Sea, it was an interruption. But to God it was
an opportunity. When Jesus Christ was taken
captive, beaten, and crucified, it was an interruption
to the disciples. But to God it was
an opportunity. Your interruptions are
God's opportunities. Your objections are
God's qualification. So it's time to stop
doubting the interruptions and start trusting
the opportunities. It's time to stop
giving God attitude and give Him a little gratitude. [APPLAUSE] Stop looking at your
problems through the lens of interruption. Start looking at your
problems through the lens of opportunities so that you
can say, like Joseph, "What you meant for evil against
me, God meant for good." Let's look at how God
turned this interruption into an opportunity. Look at verse 11 through 18
as we wind down to a close. "Then these men assembled and
found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God. And they went before the King
and spoke concerning the king's decree, have you
not signed a decree that every man who petitions
any God or man within 30 days except you, oh King, shall be
cast into the den of lions? And the King answered,
the thing you say is true according to the law
of the Medes and the Persians, which does not alter. And so they answered and
said before the king, that Daniel who is one of
the captives from Judah does not show regard
to you, oh King, or for the decree
which you have signed. But he makes his petition
three times a day." Daniel's still praying, King. He doesn't like you. "And the king, when he heard
these words"-- what does it say? Was he greatly
displeased with Daniel? No, he was greatly
displeased with himself. "And he set his heart on
Daniel to deliver him. And he labored till the
going down of the sun to deliver him,"
trying to find a way. There's some way out of this! I've got to figure it out. And then these men
approached the king and said to him, "Know,
oh King, that this is the law of the
Medes and the Persians that no decree or statute
which the King establishes may be changed. And so the King
gave the command, and they brought Daniel and cast
him into the den of the lions. But the King spoke,
saying to Daniel, your God whom you serve
continually will deliver you. Then a stone was brought and
laid on the mouth of the den. And the King sealed it
with his own signet ring and the signets of his lords. And the purpose concerning
Daniel might not be changed." Verse 18, "Now the
king went to his palace and spent the night fasting. And no musicians were
brought before him. Also, his sleep went from him." Hey, do you think, if he really
believed what he told Daniel, he would have had a
tough time sleeping? No. He says, hey Daniel,
you're going to be OK! God's going to take care of you. And then he went home
and said, oh my gosh. My best governor's dead. He's Meow Mix. The lions are chomping on him. It says in that
passage "and the king, when he heard these words,
was greatly displeased." Look, it's easy to look at
this and say, here's the king. Can't he just free Daniel? See, the pagans had laws
that their king was a God and, thus, his decision
was irrevocable even by the king himself because
it was the decree of a God, and you couldn't go
against the gods. It appeared that all was lost,
that Daniel was going to spend his last night on earth. But God was at work. God was doing something. An angel of the Lord was
there to deliver him. The king spent a sleepless
night despite the comforts of his palace. Meanwhile, Daniel slept like a
baby cuddling some kitty cats. Check it out. It's much better to even
be in a lion's den with God than to be anywhere
else without him. When the king came to
the mouth of the den in the early morning,
he found out the secret to Daniel's deliverance. Look at Verse 20 with me. Verse 18 through 19, he comes
to the mouth of the pit. He opens the pit. He cries out to Daniel. Daniel responds in Verse 20. "And when he came to
the den, he cried out with a lamenting
voice to Daniel. The king spoke saying
to Daniel, Daniel! Servant of the living
God, has your God whom you serve continually
been able to deliver you from the lions?" "Has your God whom you
serve continually"-- again, look at his life
and excellent spirit. He lived pure. He lived purposefully. He served God continually. Many of us serve God
sporadically at best. We serve God when we have
a problem or a crisis. But Daniel served
his God continually-- in times of affliction
and adversity as well as in times of
prosperity and plenty, in times of persecution as
well as in times of peace, in times of sickness
and helplessness as well as in times of health,
in times of pain and poverty as well as times of
success and blessing. Daniel viewed his relationship
with God like wedding vows. Meanwhile, many of us are lucky
if we treat our wedding vows like wedding vows. Daniel honored God. He didn't stray from God. And how did God honor that? Look at Verse 22. Verse 22, Daniel
gives the response to Darius of what happened. And he says, "My God--" I love
it. "My God sent His angel and shut the lions' mouths." Man, when the lion roars
sometimes we've just got to say, shut your mouth. When the lion rears its teeth,
we've just got to look at God and say, God, can you
shut that lion's mouth? Can you keep that lion quiet? Can you deliver me
from this situation? God used this blatant
attack from the enemy to show His glory. Satan thought he had
finally silenced Daniel, but he forgot who
Daniel spoke for. Satan thought the lions
would rip him apart, but he forgot who
controlled the lions. Satan reared his ugly teeth. But he was quickly
reminded that, although he is a lion seeking whom he may
devour, God is a lion tamer, and He carries a
really big whip. And God cracked that
whip and said, Satan, you shut your mouth. He shut those lions' mouths. Daniel was not kept
from the lion's den, but he was kept
in the lion's den. Look, Church. Jesus didn't promise that He
would keep us from trials. But He did promise that He would
never leave us or forsake us in trials. God didn't promise you that
bad things wouldn't happen. All He said is that I'm going to
be there with you when they do. And if our trials look
anything like Daniel's, that's pretty comforting. He gave Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego a guided tour of
the fiery furnace. He gave Peter two
get-out-of-jail-free cards. And here he gives Daniel a
night that Siegfried and Roy could only dream of. I want you to look at Verse
24 as we come to a close. It's a fascinating passage. "And the King gave the command. And they brought those men
who had accused Daniel, and they cast them
into the den of lions-- them, their children,
and their wives." Keep in mind this was the king. It wasn't Daniel who did this. "And the lions overpowered
them and broke all their bones in pieces before they ever
came to the bottom of the den. Then King Darius wrote to all
peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth,
peace be multiplied to you. I make a decree that, in
every dominion of my kingdom, men must tremble and fear
before the God of Daniel for He is the living God. And steadfast
forever His kingdom is the one which shall
not be destroyed. And His dominion shall
endure to the end. He delivers and rescues, and
He works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth
who has delivered Daniel from the power of the lions." Man, that's gospel. Come on, somebody. [APPLAUSE] That was a good message. I needed to hear that. Notice how those who laid
their trap for Daniel fell into it themselves. Psalm 76:10 says, "Surely the
wrath of man shall praise you." Don't you love it when God turns
the devil's plans onto himself? The devil thought he was
really sneaky finding a way to get Daniel killed. But God ended up using
it to cause Darius to believe in the
one true God and send a decree to his entire kingdom. Hey, people, you'd
better believe in God because He's the one true God. Satan wanted to shut
Daniel up, but all he did was give Daniel a
microphone and a megaphone. The devil thought he got
Paul to stop preaching by putting him in prison, but
all he did was put Paul in Rome where God wanted him
so the gospel could spread to the world. Good job, Satan. The devil thought he finally won
when Jesus died on the cross. But he forgot that God holds
the keys to life and death. And all he did was
seal his own faith. Are you in a lion's
den right now? Do you feel like Satan's put you
there-- a family or workplace hostile to the gospel? You feel misunderstood,
misrepresented. Christian, take heart. Stand firm. Remember, Satan is like a lion
seeking whom he may devour. But God is a lion tamer. So when the lion roars,
Daniel went into his room and he roared louder. When the lions of
your life roar, I encourage you, roar louder. As we close, we
remind ourselves that, if we want to be
like Daniel-- if we want to have an
excellent spirit, a spirit that people notice--
we need to live purely and we need to
live purposefully. Amen. Lord, we thank
you for your word. We thank you that it
does not return void. We thank you that
you have an answer for everything in life, Lord. And even when we feel like we're
in a pit surrounded by lions, you've got an answer for that. And, God. I pray for each person
here in this room, Lord, who's going through
their own set of trials, their own set of temptations,
their own set of difficulties, some people who feel like
they're in the pit of life. Lord, I pray that
you would help them to have an excellent spirit. Lord, help them to live purely
help them to live purposefully. And Lord, I pray that,
as they do that, Lord, that you will honor them-- that
not just you will honor them, Lord, but those around
them will honor them as they have that
excellent spirit, Lord, that they'll get job promotions,
that they'll get encouragement, that they'll have
strong relationships with their spouse,
with their kids. Lord, give them an
excellent spirit. Help them to make a difference. Help them to take a
stand like Daniel did. Lord, help us to learn these
"Lessons From a Lion Tamer." In Jesus' name we pray, amen. What binds us
together is devotion to worshipping our Heavenly
Father, dedication to studying His word, and determination
to proclaim our eternal hope in Jesus Christ. For more teachings from Calvary
Albuquerque and Skip Heitzig, visit calvaryabq.org.
