happened. These events truly
took place. And I'd have you consider what's
written of Daniel before we look here at chapter 6, what's written
in the previous chapters. It was Daniel that had interpreted
King Nebuchadnezzar's dream. King Nebuchadnezzar had walked
in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon And later it came
true, just as Daniel said. But Nebuchadnezzar walked there
into the palace, and he said, is this not the great Babylon
that I've built for the house of the kingdom by the might of
my power, for the honor of my majesty? And we read that while
the words were still in his mouth, before he even finished the sentence, You know what happened. A voice
from heaven, a voice from heaven said, an old king Nebuchadnezzar,
to thee it is spoken, the kingdom is departed from thee. And for
seven years, for seven years, he was departed from men. He
was out there in the field. He ate grass like the oxen. His
hair grew out like eagle's feathers. and his nails looked like bird's
claws, just as Daniel had said. But at the end of those days,
we read Nebuchadnezzar, he lifted up his eyes to heaven. God revealed
something to him. His understanding returned to
him. And he blessed the Most High
and praised and honored Almighty God. He said, I praised Him that
liveth forever and ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion
in his kingdom from generation to generation. All the inhabitants
of the earth are reputed as nothing, and he doeth according to his
will. The armies of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth, none can stake his hand or say
unto him, what doest thou? God's sovereign. God was revealed
as sovereign to him. And then in chapter five, we
read again of Daniel. Nebuchadnezzar had a son named
Belshazzar, and Daniel had reproved him. He had reproved that king
of his pride and of his idolatry. Look just back a page there at
Daniel 5. Look beginning with verse 18. Daniel said, O thou King, the
Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar, thy father, a kingdom, and majesty,
and glory, and honor. And for the majesty that he gave
him, all the people, nations, languages, trembled and feared
before him. Whom he would, he slew. Whom
he would, he kept alive. And whom he would, he set up.
And whom he would, he put down with his heart. When his heart
was lifted up with pride, and his mind hardened in pride, he
was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from
him. And he was driven from the sons of men, and his heart was
made like the beast, and his dwelling with the wild asses.
They fed him with grass like oxen. His body was wet with the
dew of heaven, till he knew, till he knew that the Most High
God ruled in the kingdom of men. and that he had appointed it
over to whomsoever he will. And thou his son, Obelshazzar. You know, you'd think we would
learn something from our fathers, but we don't, do we? No, not
unless God's pleased to reveal it to us. Thou hast not humbled
thine heart, though thou knewest all this. You saw all this, and
yet you've not humbled your heart, but hast lifted up thyself against
the Lord of heaven, And they have brought thee vessels of
his house before thee, and thou and thy lords and thy wives and
thy concubines have drunk wine in them. And thou hast praised
the gods of silver and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone,
false gods, idols, which see not, nor hear, nor know, and
the God in whose hand thy breath is. Consider that. We think about it, we think about
a lot of things and occasionally, you know, we breathe. Our heart
beats and we breathe and we rarely give that, we rarely even give
that a second thought, do we? Did you see that? He said, the
God in whose hand thy breath is. Every one of us, that breath,
God holds it in his hand. Job said the same thing over
there in Job 12.10. He said, in whose hand is the
soul of every living thing and the breath of all mankind. And it's his to give it. It's
his to take it. In him we live and move and have
our being. God, in whose hand thy breath
is and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified. Daniel tells the king, you didn't
learn a thing. You didn't learn a thing from
your father. And then he interprets that handwriting.
The handwriting that came forth as the finger of man over on
that wall. He said the king's countenance
changed when he did that. His heart was troubled. His loins loosed and his knees
smoked one another. Have you ever been, have you
ever, I can remember, I can remember the first time standing right
here and so thankful that this was between me and you. Barely
could keep my knees from knocking together. And that doesn't change,
that doesn't change much. His knees knocked together. And
here was the writing, mene, mene, tekel, ufarsin. God hath numbered
the kingdom, and he hath finished it. Thou art weighed in the balance,
and found wanting. Well, that's a description of
all of us by nature, isn't it? Remember the old balances they'd
put, this is the weight, that'd be level. We've all been weighed
into balance and found, we've come up short, haven't we? Found
wanting. He said, thy kingdom is divided
and given to the Medes and the Persians. And then that same
night, that very same night, Belshazzar was slain. Well, that brings us here to
chapter six. Let's quickly, I tried to find
just a portion of this to read, but let's read this chapter.
Okay, you follow along. It pleased Darius, verse one,
it pleased Darius to set over the kingdom 120 princes, which
should be over the whole kingdom. And over these three presidents,
of whom Daniel was first, that the princes might give accounts
unto them, and the king should have no damage. Then this Daniel
was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent
spirit was in him. And the king sought to set him
over the whole realm. And then the presidents and princes
sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom,
but they could not find an occasion or fault for as much as he was
faithful. Neither was there any error or
fault found in him. Even evil men recognized this
of Daniel. Then said these men, we shall
not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it
against him concerning the law of his God. And then the presidents
and the princes assembled together to the king and said thus unto
him, King Darius, live forever. And all the presidents of the
kingdom, the governors, the princes, the counselors, the captains,
they consulted together to establish a royal statute to make a firm
decree that whosoever shall ask a petition of any god or man
for 30 days, save of thee, O king, shall be cast into the den of
lions. Now, King established the decree and signed the writing
that it be not changed according to the law of the Medes and the
Persians, which altereth not. Wherefore, King Darius signed
the writing and the decree. Now, when Daniel knew this, when
Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his
house, and his windows being opened in his chamber toward
Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed
and gave thanks before his God as he did before time. He didn't
do anything different than he did before. And these men assembled,
and they found Daniel praying and making supplication before
his God. And then they came near and spake before the king concerning
the king's decree. And they said, have you not signed
a decree that every man that shall ask a petition of any god
or man within 30 days, save of thee, O king, shall be cast into
the den of the lions? They knew what they were doing
here, didn't they? And the king answered, and they said, this
thing is true according to the law of the Medes and Persians,
which altereth not. And then answered they, and they
said before the king, that Daniel, that Daniel, which is of the
children of the captivity of Judah, he regardeth thee not,
O king, nor the decree that thou hast signed, but maketh his petition
three times a day. And when the king heard these
words, he was sore 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. And then these men assembled
unto the king, and they said unto the king, just in case you
haven't forgotten, king, O king, the law of the Medes and Persians
is that no decree nor statue which the king establishes shall
be changed. Then the king commanded, and
they brought Daniel, and they cast him into the den of lions. And
the king spake and said unto Daniel, thy God, whom thou service
continually, he will deliver thee. And a stone was brought
and laid upon the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with
his own signet, and with the signet of his lord, that the
purpose might not be changed concerning Daniel. And then the
king went to his palace, and he passed the night fasting.
Neither were instruments of music brought before him, and sleep
went from him. And then the king rose very early
in the morning and went in haste into the den of lions, And when
he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice unto
Daniel. And the king spake and said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant
of the living God, is thy God whom thou service continually,
O, able to deliver thee from the lions? And then Daniel said
unto the king, O king, live forever. My God has sent his angel and
has shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me. For as
much as before him, innocency was found in me. And also before
thee, O king, have I done no hurt. Then was the king exceeding
glad for him, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out
of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no matter
of hurt was found upon him, because he believed in his God. And the
king commanded, and they brought those men which had accused Daniel,
and they cast him into the den of lions, them, their children,
their wives, and the lions had the mastery of them, and break
all their bones in pieces, wherever they came to the bottom of the
den. And then King Darius wrote to all the people, nations, and
languages that dwell on all the earth, peace be multiplied unto
you. I make a decree that in every
dominion of my kingdom, men tremble and befear before the God of
Daniel. For he is the living God, and
steadfast forever. And his kingdom, that which shall
not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be even to the end. He
delivereth and rescueth, and he worketh signs and wonders
in heaven and earth, who hath delivered Daniel from the power
of the lions. So this Daniel prospered in the
reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian." Now, men often read this passage
of scripture, and they speak of Daniel's faithfulness. And
truly, Daniel was faithful. Someone wrote a song, they said,
dare to be a Daniel, dare to stand alone. Daniel didn't stand alone, did
he? Daniel was upheld by the power
of God. Daniel, like all believers, was
kept by the power of God. Daniel said that, He said this
to Darius. He said, God has sent his angel
and has shut the lion's mouth. Daniel knew that. Daniel was
aware of that. Daniel didn't stand alone anymore
than Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stood there in that fiery furnace.
Remember what the king said? He said, we put three men in
there. But, Lord, I see four. One is
like the Son of God. So in light of the gospel, in
light of God's word, let's look at this passage. Just a few points
here this morning in this scripture. And first is this. The king established
a law. The king established a law. Now,
it was a foolish law. But nevertheless, it was a law. Now, God's law. God's law is
not a foolish law, is it? God's law is perfect. That's what the scriptures declare.
In Psalm 119, verse 7, concerning the law of God, it says it's
perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is
sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are
right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment, the commandment
of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. Over in Luke 10, there
was a lawyer that said this, Master, what shall I do? What shall I do to inherit eternal
life? And our Lord replied. He said,
what's written in the law? If you're going to do this on
your own, if this is something you're going to do, what's written
in the law? And he said, love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart, with all thy strength, with all thy mind, and love thy
neighbor as thyself. The law says, this do, this do
and live. I don't know who looked this
up. I read this somewhere that there's 613 commandments in the
Old Testament. Let me ask you, would you keep
the law? I can't remember. We'd do well
to remember 10 of them, wouldn't we? Go back to the garden back
there in Genesis 2. The Lord God commanded the man
saying, of every tree, every tree in the garden, thou mayest
freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,
thou shalt not eat of it. For in the day that thou eatest
thereof, thou shalt surely die. We don't need to be worried about
613 commandments. We can't keep one, can we? It wasn't long there before Eve
took that fruit and gave to her husband and Adam ate. There's a law. There's a law. And to offend in one point, just
one point, is to be guilty of the whole law. Second, the law
cannot be changed. That's what we read here in our
text this morning. Darius' law, it was a foolish
law. But it can't be changed. And even Darius was reminded
that, according to the Medes and Perses, it altereth not.
The law cannot be changed. I was thinking, like, I've seen
people in line at the grocery store with their kids. And they'll
tell them before they get up there where all the candy is,
don't ask for a piece of candy, right? We've probably all done
that. You ask for a piece of candy,
you're going to get it. What happens? Always ask for
a piece of candy, right? And then what happens? Well,
don't ask again. Huh? Three more? God's law is not that way. It
doesn't change based on how we feel. God's law is the law. It altereth not. It changeth
not. God's law is holy and just. He can't sacrifice the law. His
holiness is at stake. His righteousness is at stake. Wherefore the law is holy. His commandments are holy. They're
just and they're good. And God's law requires not just
an outward obedience. We can go along with that, can't
we? Outward obedience. It requires inward obedience. It requires absolute Perfection. We read, whosoever is angry with
his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment.
Have we ever been angry with a brother? How often? Angry with a brother without
a cause. The law cannot be changed. There's no loopholes. There's no shortcuts. You kids,
they have hacks, right? There's no hacks with God's law.
It requires absolute perfection. Cursed is everyone that continues
not in all things written in the book of the law to do them.
So we have the law. We have a law that cannot be
changed. And here's the problem. We've
broken, every one of us, we've broken God's law. Now again,
King Darius's law was a, no one would question the fact that
it was a wicked law, a foolish law. Darius would even admit
to that. This law was a result of his
pride. Those men around him buttered him up a little bit and convinced
him that put him on a pedestal with this law. But Daniel broke
that law. Now rightfully so he broke that
law, but he broke the law. But God's law is to be kept.
In this flesh, we've not kept his law. We're unable to keep
his law. We cannot obey it perfectly.
And that's what it requires, perfection. It must be perfect
to be accepted. And sin, sin is a transgression
of that law. And that's what we are. We're
transgressors. We're sinners, workers of iniquity. Turn over
to Romans chapter 3. Here's a description here, Romans
3. So we begin with verse 10. As it is written, there is none
righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth.
There is none that seeketh after God. They are all going out of
the way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that
doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher.
With their tongues, they've used deceit. The poison of asp is
under their lips. Whose mouth is full of cursing
and bitterness, their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction
and misery are in their ways. The way of peace they've not
known. There's no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know
that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are
under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world
may become guilty. You see that? Guilty. before
Almighty God. Back in Psalm 14, we read something
very similar. It says this, the Lord looked
down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any
that did understand, any that would seek after God. What did
he say? They're all going aside. They
are all together become filthy. There is none that doeth good.
No, not one. And we might like Darius. We
read there that Darius labored. He labored to the going down
of the sun. He tried to think of every way
imaginable how he might save Daniel. And we could do the same, looking
for a way of deliverance. And men do that. Men try to find
ways in which they can deliver themselves. by their works, by
their deeds, by their so-called righteous acts. But there is no righteousness
apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no escaping the consequence
of sin by all of our labors. No escaping the condemnation
of a holy law by our deeds. It's just not going to happen.
God must and he will carry out the sentence of judgment against
sin. The soul that sinned, it shall
surely die. Fourth, we read this in our text,
thy God, he will deliver. It doesn't say he'll attempt
to deliver, he'll try to deliver, he wants to deliver, if you'll
do this or that. No, it says he will. He will
deliver. He will deliver. Daniel 6, verse
16, thy God, whom thou service continually, he will deliver
thee. Darius couldn't find a way to
deliver. The law, it can't deliver. It can only pronounce me guilty.
By the deeds of the law, there shall be no flesh justified in
his sight. Man can't deliver. Our best efforts,
our best attempt at righteousness is filthy rags in the sight of
Almighty God. But listen, Almighty God honored
His law. He satisfied His justice. Listen,
He's the just and the justifier of sinners. We read, being justified
freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation, to be a
sin offering, that sin that has to be paid, and the Lord Jesus
Christ stood in our place. He bore the penalty of our sin. God has set forth him to be a
propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness. the very righteousness of God,
for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance
of God, to declare at this time his righteousness, that he might
be just and justifier of him which believeth in the Lord Jesus
Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ came into
this world made of a woman, made under the law to redeem us, to
redeem his people, to redeem those who are under the law,
and by his perfect obedience to the law, and by his sacrifice. That righteousness, which was
his, he imputes to his people. We're made. We're made something. He was made something he wasn't.
He was made to be sin. We're made something that we
could never be. Made righteous. Not by outward
deeds, but made righteous by God himself, by the work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Daniel said this, God sent his
angel. Who did? God did. God sent his
angel. He shut the lion's mouth. And
there's no hurt in me. Innocency. Innocency was found
in me. There's only one way there's
innocency found in anyone. And that's through the Lord Jesus
Christ. God delivered us. Going down into that just as
he did Daniel, going down into that den of lions for us. What's that passage? Deliver
him, deliver him from going down to the pit. I found a ransom. He took our place. He was, again,
he was made sin, made sin for us. He knew no sin. He was made
sin that we might be made the very righteousness of God in
him. We sing that hymn, Jesus paid
it all. All the dead I owe. Sin had left
the crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. So
Daniel, Daniel was taken up out of the den. And look how he was
found. No manner, no manner of hurt
was found upon him because he believed God. Daniel was delivered. You know, back in that day, can
you imagine that ever be the ending of that story? When folks
said Daniel's going down, King's going to put him down in that
den of lions, those lions probably hadn't been fed for months. There's
no hope for Daniel, is there? There is if God's his savior. And that's true for us. The only
hope we have is in him. Oh, wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me? Who shall deliver me from the
body of this dead? I thank God through Jesus Christ
my Lord. He, he is able to deliver. And let me just say this in closing. I was just thinking about this
this morning. You know, these men, they meant
this for evil. Those governors and presidents,
they meant this for evil. They wanted rid of Daniel. That
was what was in their heart. They had no desire for him to
be delivered. They wanted him rid of, out of
the way. And they purposed to do this.
Just like Joseph's brethren, they wanted rid of him. Remember
that? But Joseph said this. Joseph
said to his brethren, he said, you meant this for evil, but
God meant it. God meant it for good. Just like
Haman. Remember Haman wanted, he hated
Mordecai. And he built those gallows so
high that everybody around could see him. And it was his purpose
to hang him on those gallows. just like at Calvary. All those
that were there, they had one desire, and that was to kill
the Lord Jesus Christ, to destroy him, to put him out of business. But what do we read? Him. Him
being delivered by the determinant counsel and foreknowledge of
God. You've taken him by wicked hands, crucified and slain. But
in doing that, they accomplished God's purpose. So no matter,
I don't know a lot, but I know this, no matter what the circumstance,
no matter what it might be and what it might appear to be, God's
going to accomplish his purpose. God's going to save his people. Daniel 6, he delivereth and he
rescueth and he worketh with signs and wonders in heaven and
in earth. and hath delivered Daniel from
the power of the lies. He'll do the same. He's done
the same for his people. He is able. He is able. He will deliver his people. All
right. God bless his word.