Faithfulness that Honors God

As we come to Daniel chapter six in our journey through this wonderful book, we come to what is, in many respects a potentially dangerous part of the book here in Daniel chapter six, dangerous, but potentially dangerous for at least a couple of reasons. Well. One reason that is potentially dangerous is it's one of the most well known stories in the entire Bible, Daniel and the Lions Den. And it's always dangerous when we know something so well, because we have a tendency to sort of fill in the blanks. And if we're not careful with those passages of scripture that we know so very well, and if we don't read them and reread them, we assume that we know them. We assume that we understand them, we assume that we put the emphasis on the right salable in every instance because of how familiar we are with the text. There's a second reason that this is a potentially dangerous passage of scripture, and that is because this is absolute rife ground for work's righteousness. It is so tempting and so easy to go to Daniel chapter six and view Daniel merely as a template for us, if you will, for us to go to Daniel chapter six and say, see, this is what Daniel did, Therefore this is what you should do. Because, after all, the Book of Daniel is all about us looking to Daniel to learn how to live, is it not? If you've been here, you should be shaking your head like this right now. No, that is not what the Book of Daniel is all about. That is not why the Book of Daniel exists. That is not the purpose of Daniel chapter six. Daniel chapter six does not exist to raise a bar for us to attempt to jump over in our own strength. There is much more at work in this passage than that. But that is the easy knee jerk reaction. As we look more closely, however, we see in Daniel chapter six, especially in those first fifteen verses that we'll concentrate on today, we don't even get to the lions. Then. Today here we just get the setup to the lions, and then we find out how that came to pass. And in this passage what we'll see is faithfulness that honors God. That's the picture here. It's a picture of faithfulness that honors God. We have come through the first five chapters of this great book and in the first three chapters we see Daniel and his friends in Babylonian captivity. And in the first three chapters we see this juxtaposition of God's people in exile and the great King Nebuchadnezzar, and the God who rules the world, who reminds the great king that he rules the world, and nebecon Nezer, who believes that he is the one who actually rules the world. And we see God through Daniel and Hannonaia, Michael, and Azariah showing nebekan Nezar again and again and again who's in control, until finally, in chapter four, God sends nebekan Nezar into the wilderness to live like a wild animal, eating grass for seven years until he finally bows the knee and confesses the holiness and righteousness and sovereignty of God. And then he's gone unceremoniously, and in chapter five, Belshazar is king. We don't know where nebukad Nezar went, We don't know how he lived the rest of his life. We just see that Belshazar is king. Now at the end of chapter five, Belshazzar's gone deposed by Darius, and now the Babylonians have been deposed. So we've gone from we've gone from one king who was a Babylonian king to another king who was a Babylonian king, and a couple of kings between those kings to now the Meds and the Persians are ruling, and Darius is king. And in the midst of all of this turmoil, there is a name that remains, and that is the name of Daniel, God's servant, Daniel, God's trophy, if you will, in the midst of Babylonian captivity, that reminds you, reminds me, and at this time reminded all of God's people that God is faithful to his people, that God will fulfill his promise, that although his people at times will be chastened for their sin, God does not forsake his people. And so Daniel stands as this picture of faithfulness, the faithfulness of Daniel, which is a picture of the faithfulness of God to preserve his people. Don't miss that this is not about Daniel as much as it is about God, who is faithful to preserve his people even in the midst of exile. In chapter five, Daniel's Babylonian name was used again and again and again Belta Shazzar, Belta Shazer, Belta Shazzer, we heard over and over again. Now the Babylonians are gone and he's called Daniel again. By the way, that is significant. It's a significant point. The Babylonians tried to make him a Babylonian, and they couldn't make him a Babylonian. They changed to tried to change his diet. Eventually did change his diet. That didn't make him a Babylonian. They changed his location, that didn't make him a Babylonian. They changed his language, that didn't make him a Babylonian. They changed his name, that didn't make him a Babylonian. They changed his job and his vocation and his training and his education. None of that made him a Babylonian. Now the Babylonians are gone and Daniel remains, and they don't call him Delta Shazzar. They call him Daniel because he is not a Babylonian. That is part of the picture of the faithfulness that pleases God, or the faithfulness that honors God. Several things that I want us to see as we read through this text. First thing I want you to see is this that this faithfulness that honors God is a blessing to the Kingdom of Man. The faithfulness that honors God is actually a blessing to the Kingdom of Man, not just a blessing to God's people, but it's actually a blessing also to the Kingdom of Man. Look in the first four verses, if you will, it pleased Darius to set over the kingdom one hundred and twenty sat traps to be throughout the whole kingdom, and over them three presidents, of whom Daniel was one, to whom these sat traps should give account, so that the King might suffer no loss. You might want to underline that, so that the King might suffer no loss. Then this Daniel became distinguished above all the other presidents and sat traps, because an excellent spirit was in him, and the King planned to set him over the whole kingdom. Then the presidents and the sad traps sought to find a ground for complaint against Daniel with regard to the kingdom, But they could find no ground for complaint or any fault, because he was faithful and no error or fault was found in him. It's a beautiful picture of faithfulness in Daniel's life. But I want you to notice something about the faithfulness in Daniel's life, because oftentimes, when we think about a faithfulness that honors God, immediately our mind goes to the religious hierarchy. I want to show you a picture of faithfulness that honors God. Well, certainly we're talking about a martyr at the top of the pyramid. Right now, we're not talking about a martyr. Well, if we're not talking about a martyr, then we're definitely talking about a missionary. Right we're not talking about a mission Okay, we're not talking about a martyr or a missionary, then certainly we're talking about a pastor. No, not talking about a pastor. Well, if it's not a martyr, and it's not a missionary, and it's not a pastor, then certainly it's some person who oversees some significant ministry. No, actually it's not. It's none of those things. And yet this faithfulness pleases God. Daniel is not serving in the Temple, and yet his faithfulness pleases God. Daniel's not even serving in Jerusalem people, he's not even in the Promised Land, and yet is a faithfulness that pleases God. Daniel is in exile, serving a king who does not know God, and his faithfulness pleases God. Listen to this from Iain Duged. The first point to observe in this chapter is that Daniel had learned how to live as a pilgrim from the outset of his career in Babylon. Daniel was in his culture, but not of his culture. On the one hand, he didn't withdraw from Babylonian culture as far as he could in order to avoid being stained by it. On the contrary, he had now served the empire in order sorry. On the contrary, he had now served the empire faithfully for almost seventy years. Let that sink in for a minute, folks, For almost seventy years he served the empire. Far from using his age as an excuse to retire, he continued to serve the new administration. Belshazer had been replaced as king by Darius, and a Babylonian empire had been replaced by that of the Means and the Persians, but Daniel kept on serving. In fact, Daniel served the empire so well that he continued to get promoted. He's not in the temple, he's not a priest, he's not a missionary. He's not a pastor. He's an exiled slave, and he honors God with his life and his service, and it is a blessing even to those whom he serves. Oh that that could be said of us, Oh that the mark of Christ on our lives and our walk with God as redeemed individuals bought with a Christ, the precious Blood of Christ, would live our lives in such a manner that even in workplaces that have absolutely nothing to do with gospel ministry, people would look upon our lives and see the faithfulness of our God and our faithfulness to our God overflowing from the faithfulness of our God, and be blessed because there's nobody else that they'd rather tap for a position than us. That's Daniel. That's God's faithfulness. By the way, Daniel is serving this way because he's been told to. He's living this way because he's been instructed to. How do I know that, Oh, I know that because I read Jeremiah. Well, what does Jeremiah have to do with Daniel. Well, if you go to Jeremiah chapter twenty nine, you'll see exactly what I'm talking about. Turn with me, if you will, and look at Jeremiah to the left Isaiah, Jeremiah lamentations, All right, Jeremiah chapter twenty nine. We all know and love Jeremiah twenty nine to eleven. And we know and love it because we rip it kicking and screaming out of its context, and then we bludgeon it to death until it says something that it was never intended to say. But if you look at Jeremiah twenty nine to one, you learn something about Daniel and why he's doing what he's doing. Jeremiah chapter twenty nine, beginning of verse one. These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the Prophet sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders of the exiles and to the priests, the prophets, and the people who never Kuld Nezar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. Who's that Daniel and the boys. Jeremiah the Prophet wrote them a letter, And here's what we find in the letter. This was after King jack and Iah and the Queen Mother, the eunuchs official Judah Jerusalem, the craftsmen and the metal workers had departed from Jerusalem. Was sent by the hand to be lost of the son of Schaefan and Gemeriah, the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah, king of Judas, sent to Babylon. To Nebuican Mezar, king of Babylon, it said, here's what he says. Thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. That's Daniel, build houses and live in them, plant gardens and eat their produce, Take wives and have sons and daughters. Take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage that they may bear sons and daughters. Multiply there and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. God told Daniel through Jeremiah to seek the welfare of the place where he went into exile. And he did exactly that, and he did it in such an exemplary fashion that, first of all, Darius doesn't kill him. Think about that, folks, Darius walks in, he doesn't know who's who. Darius has taken over the Babylonian empire, but he doesn't kill Daniel. Not only does he not kill Daniel. But so far this is just verse one. We don't know how long this has been. But here's what we know that rather quickly, Darius, who puts one hundred and twenty men over the entire region and then puts three men over those men, and eventually one man over the three men, starts by putting Daniel in the position of the three men who oversee the one twenty, and then, according to the text, makes a decision to make Daniel over the three men who are over the one twenty, who are over the entire kingdom. Why because Daniel was obedient to the word of God and he looked to the best interest even of the country where he was sent into exile. Daniel is serving the kingdom of the Means and the Persians. Why, because God has raised up the kingdom of the Means and the Persians. Daniel is not serving in false piety, nor is he serving in what we would call cultural piety. He wasn't christianizing the culture as we would say today. You're really faithful to God if you're christianizing the culture, if you're making the culture more Christian. It's not what Daniel was doing. Daniel wasn't judaizing the Means and the Persians. He wasn't taking over the politics or the government of the Means and the Persians. Again, that's what we say, if you're a real Christian, then you'll go go into government and you're going to politics, and you'll take it over so you can make everybody live under our rule instead of under someone else's rule. That's not what Daniel was doing. Daniel wasn't feeding the poor. That's not the faithfulness that stood out here in Daniel chapter six. He wasn't feeding the poor. Is it a bad thing? Is any of this stuff bad? No, But that's not what he was doing. Daniel wasn't transforming the system. Daniel wasn't improving the plight of the exiles. There's nothing here about Daniel seeing to it that the Jewish exiles are treated better. Daniel was helping Darius mitigate his losses. That's what it says in verse two. Look again in verse two, and over them three presidents of whom Daniel was one, to whom these sat traps would give account, Why so that the king might suffer no loss. That's Daniel's great job, see to it that Darius, your oppressor, doesn't suffer loss. This is so counterintuitive, isn't it, Completely and utterly counterintuitive. But this is faithfulness that honors God. Folks, don't buy into this picture of the world that says we have to be of the world, not in it. That's backwards. We have to be in the world, but not of it. We have to be in the world. But you know what we've done. What we've done is we've said, well, we'll be in the world, but only after we make the world like us. So our goal of being in the world will be to change the world so that we're no longer uncomfortable in the world. News flash, that's what happens at the end of the age when Christ returns. You don't get that now, Amen, you don't get that now. You get that in the at the end of the age. Right now we're pilgrims. Right now, we're exiles. So what do you do? You find yourself faithful wherever the Lord puts you, that's what you do. And sometimes that may mean just making sure that the king doesn't suffer loss, because that's where God's got you servant. So if God's got you working for Connico Phillips. You don't have to make Conical Phillips a Christian company. We could talk about that for a long time. In order to be faithful to God at Connico Phillips or HP or wherever you happen to work, you know what your faithfulness to God may look like, seeing to it that your employer doesn't suffer loss under your watch. But you've been so conditioned that there are some of you under the side of my voice right now. And you work for a company somewhere, and your job is as simple as seeing to it that your employer suffers no loss. But you desire to serve God. So you're trying to figure out how you can get out of the business world and into the quote unquote ministry so that you can really serve the Lord. News flash, Faithfulness that honors God is a blessing to the Kingdom of Man. It's a blessing to the Kingdom of Man. Faithfulness where you are hear me, mother who sits there every day changing diapers, cleaning up vomit, spanking children again and again and again for the same stuff. Amen, somebody, I know that sometimes you sit there with the rod in your hand, going, really, there's gotta be more than this, and there is. There is more than that. You know, what's more than that the next spanking. You're being faithful where God has placed you, because God is faithful and God grantch you faithfulness. There are others of you who sit there and your circumstance is not exactly what you would want your circumstance to be, and you just believe that you could do and be so much more if God would just put you in that right position. Maybe if He puts you on that pyramid. Martyr, missionary, pastor Christian worker. Daniel Chapter six screams to us, God is the God of the whole world. Amen. And men are made in his image. And because men are made in His image, you do good to God when you do good to men, and it's enough. It's enough. Secondly, faithfulness that honors God is the fruit of true religion. It's the fruit of true religion. Verse five. Then the men said, we shall not find any grind for complaint against Daniel unless we find it in connection with the law of his God. Notice in verse four. In verse four, they're trying to find some way to get King Darius not to elevate this slave exiled jew to the highest position of honor in the kingdom of the Meds and the Persians. He didn't look like us, he didn't smell like us, he didn't eat like us, he didn't talk like us. He's not one of us. Do not put him in this high position. Guys, we got to figure out how to get Daniel out of this high position. That's great. Let's go find something that he did wrong, because he's not one of us. Certainly, if he's not one of us, he's doing something wrong. What did you find in your investigation? He's doing everything the king asked him to do. We cannot find anything in his job description that he's not doing and excelling at. How are we going to get to this guy? I know how we get to him. We must put the law of God against the law of the Meats and the Persians. That's the only way to get to Daniel. Forced him to choose between the law of his God and the law of the Meats and the Persians. That's it. Of course, do you realize what kind of statement that is. Daniel is obedient to the law of God. Daniel is obedient to the law of God, and he was known for his obedience to the law of God. They knew this about him. It was so well known about him that when these individuals decided to try to drive a wedge between him and Darius, they knew the one place where they could go to drive that wedge. They knew the one place that they had to go to drive that wedge. Daniel is not going to forsake the king, even though the king is not his king. But more importantly than that, Daniel's not going to forsake the law of his God. In fact, that's the only thing that can cause him to forsake the king whom God has called him to serve. That is submission to authority. He is going to submit to authority, even though he doesn't like the authority and the authority is not worthy of his submission. He's going to submit to his authority because it's the authority that God has placed over his life, no matter what, Ah unless that authority forbids what God commands, or commands what God forbids, because his submission is actually a byproduct of his submission to God. Listen to this from Psalm one nineteen, had beautiful Palm about the Law of God Versus beginning a verse nine. Young man, keep his way pure by guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart, I seek you. Let me not wander from your commandments. I have stored up your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Bless you, oh Lord. Teach me your statutes. With my lips. I declare all the rules of your mouth in the way of your testimonies. I delight as much as in all riches. I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes. I will not forget your word. Deal bountifully with your servant that I may live, and keep your word open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law. I am a sojourner on the earth. And beautiful, I am a sojourner on the earth. There's Daniel, I'm a sojourner on the earth. Hide not your commandments from me. My soul is consumed with longing for your rules at all times. And rebuke the insolent, accursed ones who wander from your commandments. And then listen to this take away from me scorn and contempt. For I have kept your testimonies, even though princes sit plotting against me. Your servant will meditate on your statutes. Your testimonies are my delight. They are my counselors, even though princes plot against me. It's your word that satisfies me. It's your law that satisfies me. Louks, the law is a perfect reflection of God's holiness, and the law is good. We don't like the law, But listen to what Paul says about the law in Romans Chapter seven, Verses seven and twelve. What then shall we say that the law is sinned by no means? Yet, if it had not been for the law, I will not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said you shall not covet verse twelve. So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. It is holy and righteous and good. Yeah, but didn't Jesus come to free us from the law. No, Jesus came to free us to the law. Amen. He came to free us to the law, the law that was crushing us, the law that showed us our guilt. Jesus came in order to fulfill the law, in order that he might impute his righteousness to us, that we might be completely and utterly righteous before the law. And then, out of our delight and our gratitude, we were obedient to the law Hebrews four fourteen to sixteen. Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God. Let us hold fast our confession, for we do not have a high priest who us unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who is in every respect, who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us, then, with confidence, draw near to the throne of Grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Hoax's Followers of Christ, we delight in the law of the Lord, first and foremost because we've been freed from its terror, And secondly because we have been transformed because of Christ finished work, to where we are able to delight in the righteousness of God that is depicted in the Law of God. Well, what about all those ceremonial laws. Yes, we delight in the ceremonial laws, well do we keep them? No, they've been kept, and we celebrate the fact that Christ himself is the fulfillment of every one of them. There's a second piece here, not just his adherence to the law, but his dependence upon God in prayer. Look at verse ten. In verse ten, they've gone with a document before the king, and basically the document says that no request or worship is to be offered to anyone else for the next thirty days, and the king signs it. When Daniel knew the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in the upper chamber opened toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he had done previously. Daniel finds out that there's a decree that would forbid him to pray for thirty days, and when he finds out about it, he goes to pray in front of an open window facing Jerusalem. Several things we see here. First of all, we see Daniel's practice of prayer, that he prayed three times a day. Listen to Psalm fifty five seventeen evening and morning and at noon, I utter my complaint and moan, and he hears my voice. There's not a command in the scripture that we pray three times a day. Mohammad actually picked up on this, this idea of Daniel and his prayer three times a day, and Mohammad has instituted in Islam the religion that he invented a prayer five times a day. Mohammad, however, changes the focus from praying toward Jerusalem to praying toward Mecca. Although today Muslims, in their desire to destroy the Jews, have announced that Jerusalem is their capital. But that's a stolen practice, not a legitimate one, and it demonstrates a complete ignorance as to what Daniel was doing. And why why did he pray toward Jerusalem? Well, he prayed toward Jerusalem because he had been told to pray toward Jerusalem. How do I know that? Well, I know that because I read Chronicles. Listen to this and Second Chronicles, chapter six, beginning at verse thirty six. Turn there if you will, Second Chronicles, chapter six, beginning at verse thirty six. Because again, if all we do is we look here and Daniel's sort of this template for us, then you know so far we come up with. You know, you gotta pray three times a day, and when you pray, you got to face toward Jerusalem. What's that about? Second Chronicles, Chapter six, beginning in verse thirty six. This is Solomon speaking to the Lord as he consecrates the temple that he has built. If they sin against you, for there is no one who does not sin, and you are angry with them, and give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away captive to a land far or near. You catch that Solomon's dedicating the temple. This is at the height of the empire. He's dedicating the temple that is unlike anything anyone has ever seen in the world. It was said of Solomon's temple that foreign dignitaries, when they would come over the horizon and get their first glimpse of the temple, would stop and dismount to stand and stare at the beauty and majesty and glory of Solomon's temple. And on the day it's dedicated, Solomon says, you know, if these people who are strong right now are disobedient, and if as a result of their disobedience, you give them over to an enemy, and they're carried away far or near. Yet, if they turn their heart in the land to which they have been carried captive and repent and plead with you and the land of their captivity, saying we have sinned and have acted perversely and wickedly. If they repent with all their mind and with all their heart in the land of their captivity to which they are carried captive, and pray toward their land which you gave to their father, the city that you have chosen, and the house that I have built for your name, Then here from heaven your dwelling place, their prayer and their pleas, and maintain their cause, and forgive your people who have sinned against you. Why is Daniel praying toward the city of Jerusalem, Because King Solomon, at the dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem, said, if this ever happens to us, we must repent, we must pray, and we must pray toward this city to symbolize our dependence on God, to symbolize our worship of Almighty God, to symbolize the importance of His presence in this place. Listen to me. Daniel has been in captivity for seventy years. He is a man in his mid eighties, and he's still goes every day to pray, facing the city that he has told to pray toward, and pleading that God will forgive his people, pleading that God will bring them back into the land. Daniel does not go into his chamber and say, Oh, my God, how grateful I am that, even though I am a captive, you have made me powerful. How grateful I am that, even though I've lost Jerusalem as my home, this place is now my home. How grateful I am that Nebukan Neezer trusts me and I have much authority in this kingdom. How grateful I am that I have all No, that's not his prayer. How do I know that's not his prayer, because he's praying towards Jerusalem. His prayer is I don't care how much Darius trusts me. I don't care how much authority Darius gives me. I want to go home. How much more For those of us who look for a city whose builder and maker is God, there is a temple that makes Solomon's temple pale in comparison. It's the temple Jesus talked about when he said tear down this temple, and in three days I'll build it up again. Here's the beauty of it. Not only do we not have to long for a temple in a particular place, but your body. It's the temple of the Holy Spirit. God dwells in you. What a glorious truth. Daniel's in captivity and he's looking toward a piece of land that his eyes can't even see anymore. That he's never going to get back to it. All he has is yearning that will never be satisfied. From a temporal perspective, Christianity has no capital. Christianity believes in no Holy land. Let me say that again. Christianity believes in no Holy land. Christianity believes in no holy land. Israel may be the land of the Bible, but it is not the Holy Land. There's no such thing for a Christian. There is no place that we look to and describe those kinds of qualities. We don't need to go to a place to find where the spirit of God dwells. The spirit of God dwells in us. Finally, faithfulness that honors God often results in persecution. But wait a minute, I thought you said it blesses the Kingdom of man. It does it blesses the kingdom of Man, but men hate God. We see this in verses four through nine, eleven through thirteen, and fifteen. Look at verses four and five. Then the high officials and the sat traps sought to find a ground for complaint against Daniel with regard to the kingdom. But they could find no ground for complaint or any fault, because he was faithful and no error or fault was found in him. Then the men said, we shall not find any ground for complaint against Daniel unless we find it in connection with the law of his God. Just stop for a minute and think about how irrational this is. We hate this man. Darius has already made him one of the three leaders over the whole Cole Kingdom. He's about to make him number one. We got to get rid of him. Great find something that he has done against the kingdom that we love, We can't. So wait a minute. He is a blessing to the kingdom that we love, and we want to get rid of him. That's completely and utterly irrational. Darius says, he's not one of us, but he makes sure that I suffer no loss. I trust him. I don't care what skin color he is. I don't care what language he speaks. I don't care what kind of food he eats. I don't care what God he prays to. These men completely and utterly irrational. I don't care how good he is to our people. I want him gone. Men's hatred of God is not rational at all. Look at the atheists. It's amazing how much hatred men can muster up toward to God in whom they do not believe. There is no God, and I hate him Verses six through nine. Then these high officials and sat traps came by agreement to the king and said to him, O, King Darius, live forever. All the high officials of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the counselors, and the governors are agreed that the king should establish And by the way, they just lied. The only way that could be true is if Daniel had agreed, but he hadn't. So not only are they irrational, but they're liars. They're irrational, and they're liars. They're willing to do and say anything in order. Listen, here's their goal, because they can't all be in the position that is in they don't care. They just want to make sure he's not in that position because of who and what he represents. Folks, you just need to know that this is what faithfulness from God and faithfulness to God produces in those who do not know and love God. The king should establish an ordinance and enforce an injunction that whoever makes petition to any God or man for thirty days except to you, O King, shall be cast into the den of lions. Now, O King, establish the injunction and sign the document so that it can be so that it cannot be changed, according to the law of the Meeds and the Persians, which cannot be revoked. Therefore, King Darius signed the Doctor and the injunction. Listen three times in these fifteen verses we read the law of the Means and the Persians. Four times. In these fifteen verses we read either cannot be changed or cannot be revoked. How do you get Daniel. You get Daniel by pitting the law of the Means and the Persians against the law of God. But how do you get Darius. You get Darius by pitting his wishes against the law of the Means and the Persians. You see the Babylonians had a supreme law, but their supreme law was the king. The means and the Persians have a supreme law. Their supreme law is the decree. Not even the king is more powerful than and the decree versus eleven and the first part of twelve. And then these men came by agreement and found Daniel making petition and plea before his God, because they knew exactly where to find him. Then they came near and said before the King concerning the injunction. Watch this, Watch what they do, O King, did you not sign an injunction that anyone who makes petition to any God or man within thirty days, except you, O King, shall be cast into the den of the lions. They don't come to him and say, hey, King, guess what we saw. They come to him, and they first say, King, remember the law that you made that cannot be changed verse thirteen. Then they answered and said, before the King, Daniel who is one of the exiles from Judah, Not Daniel, who is one one of the three leaders of the kingdom. Here's why they hate him. Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, O King. Or the injunction you have signed, but makes his petition three times a day. This pattern is repeated earlier and Daniel chapter three. In Daniel chapter three, there is the statue, and there is the call to bow down and worship the statue. And Daniel chapter three, it's Hannahaia Michel and Azariah. And Daniel chapter three it's Nebeka Nazer here, it's Darius and Daniel chapter three, it's fire here, it's lions. But it's the same pattern. And Daniel chapter three it's will you worship a false God? And Daniel chapter six it will you not worship the true God? But it's the same pattern and the question is the same. And Daniel chapter three will you risk your life to be faithful to God? And Daniel chapter six, will you risk your life to be faithful to God? That's a terrible question to ask a follower of God. Will you risk your life to be faithful to God? News flash, faithfulness to God is my life. I have no life apart from faithfulness to God, because my faithfulness to God is only a reflection of God's faithfulness to me. So what you're asking me, essentially is this, will you transfer your trust from God, who is your life to me? And the answer to that question is always no. This is a pattern that we see in the Old Testament, but not just in the Old Testament. It's a pattern that we see in the New Testament and beyond. Listen to Jesus Matthew Chapter ten, Chapter five, Verses ten through twelve. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you, and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on account of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. We see that also in John fifteen. If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. But because you are not of the world. But I chose you out of the world. Therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, a servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. That's the great irony and this whole concept of cultural transformation, that ultimately what we desire is to make the world not the world. Ultimately we believe that apart from the second coming of Christ, we can turn in this world into a place that loves and celebrates us. And worse than that, until that happens, we owe the world nothing. Run from the world, spit on the world, flee from the world. It's the opposite of what Jesus tells us. Be in the world but not of the world, which is the formula for persecution by the world. Paul two Timothy, Chapter three, verses ten to thirteen. You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions, and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and Lystra, what persecutions I endured, Yet from them all the Lord rescued me. Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. Peter and one Peter two. For this is a gracious thing when mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure, But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure. This is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued and trusting himself to Him who just just justly. That's who we are, I said, beyond, because this didn't just happen in the Old Testament, didn't just happen in the New Testament. It has happened continuously throughout the history of the Church. Listen to this from Ignacious of Antioch. Ignacious was martyred around a D. One hundred, ironically by being thrown to the lions when he found out that that was his sentence. Here's what he wrote to the brothers in Rome. I am his wheat ground fine by the lion's teeth, to be made purest bread for Christ. Better still, you should incite the creatures to become a separachal for me. Let them not leave the smallest scrap of my flesh, so that I need not be a burden to anyone. After I fall asleep, when there is no trace of my body left for the world to see, then I shall truly be Jesus Christ's disciple. This is not our home. We are exiles here. Granted, God has been gracious to us, especially in this part of the world, But all over this world today our brothers and sisters are persecuted, are killed. All over the world today there are brothers and sisters of ours who are not able to worship in the open like we are able to worship in the open, and unlike Daniel. And we'll see on next week who's saved from death in the lines. Den Ignatius and others like him are not. They die at the hand of those who hate our God. And they do not die because the Church doesn't work hard enough at making people like us. They die because it's who we are in Christ. Listen to this from Shawn Michael Lucas. The power of God is not displayed ultimately in his ability to rescue and deliver. Rather, the power of God is displayed in his ability to take evil and transform it for his good and for his own purpose. And we believe this because our God is the one who raised the crucified Jesus from the day and transforming the unimaginable evil of the crucifixion into the inconceivable glory of the resurrection. That's who we are. That's what we learn from Daniel chapter six. That's what we learn about being exiles. And sometimes we don't learn this lesson well because of our history and our heritage as Americans. And praise God for this absolute blip on the historical screen where Christians have been in majorities and where Christians have seen their culture and ideals flourish. But that's not the rest of the world. That's not the rest of the history of the Church. That's not reality, and it's not what we ought to be used to. We do not belong here. This is not as good as it gets. We are not seeing terrible things in our culture because we vote the wrong way. We're seeing terrible things in our culture because men love darkness rather than light. We are not seeing terrible things in our culture because the church is not being the church. The Church is always the church. And one of the problems is there's a lot out there that passes for the church that is not. But think before you say stuff like that. Or if the church was just what the church was supposed to be, we wouldn't experience bad legal decisions or persecutions. What Bible do you read? What church history do you study? That is absolutely ridiculous. And there are many of us who hold out hope for America, the city on the Hill, by the way, that's what Jesus said about the Church, not America. And we hold our hope that if the church would just vote right, breed right, live right, then we can usher in this wonderful kingdom called America and be of the world and not in the world. God help you if that's what you're holding on to. That is not our lot. We belong to the one whom this world crucified. We belong to the one whom this world hates. We belong to the one who exposes this world's sin, and as a direct result of it, they want to kill not only him, but all those who belong to him. But we belong to the one who overcame the world, and we belong to the one who says, if we overcome, there is waiting for us a crown of life. You can have the crowns of this world. Just give me Jesus. You can have the kingdoms of this world. Give me the Kingdom of God. You can have communities that look all nice and pretty and are dressed up. But you give me Christ in the midst of the worst circumstance, Because then I know that when my eyes are closed for the last time, I have not had my best life now, but my best life is yet to come. See faithfulness that honors God, it does bless the kingdom of Man. It does, it really does, and it is it's rooted in true religion. But ultimately, ultimately it's the very cause for which they persecute us, because if they loved the one whose faithfulness produces our faithfulness, then they would come to him in repentance and faith. But they don't. They don't love him, and our desires should not be well. They don't love him, So let's outnumber them and outvote them, so that at least they have to live by our rules. Our desires should be they don't love him, Oh that we might make him known to them, Oh that we might bring his truth to them. Oh that they might be confronted with the awe and glory and majesty of Christ, so that, if not converted, they might at least be honest about who it is that they're rejected. That's what we see in Daniel chapter six. This is not all about getting out of the lions, then, because most of us don't escape, let's pray