We're in the book of Daniel.
Again, this hour, if you'd like to turn there. Daniel Chapter 6. And I love the title of this
message is unchangeable purpose. That's exactly what our Lord
has is an unchangeable purpose. As a matter of fact, God is immutable,
which means he changes not in any way, not any any attribute,
not in any not in any way. He's unchangeable and therefore
his purpose is unchangeable. Now there's a twofold picture
in Daniel chapter six. There's the physical salvation
of Daniel, the physical salvation where he goes to the lion's den
and the Lord shuts the lion's mouth and he comes forth. There's
also a spiritual picture of what Christ has done for his elect.
Daniel starts out, as we already know, with Nebuchadnezzar. had
taken them. He had besieged Jerusalem, taken
them captive. So Daniel starts with the besieging.
He endured the besieging of Israel. And now he's in Babylonian captivity,
Chaldean captivity. Nebuchadnezzar was the king for
the first four chapters. And then in chapter five, Belshazzar,
his son, becomes king. And you probably heard this account.
Belshazzar says, go get the vessels, the drinking glasses, the things
that were consecrated unto their God that we brought out of Jerusalem.
Because we're going to drink out of those. We're going to
eat off of those. What was he saying? I'm God.
That's what he was saying. I'm God. Just as his father thought
that he was God. Nebuchadnezzar erected the statue,
as we heard the first hour. So they got the cups and they
had a feast. But because of this arrogance
that he had, and according to the Lord's purpose, before the
foundation of the world, a hand wrote on the wall, and the wording
was you've been weighed in the balance and you've been found
wanting. I've given your kingdom to the
Medes and the Persians. And that night, Belshazzar died
by the hand of the Persians. Now we have a new king in chapter
six and his name is Darius. He's the king of the Persians.
Now, nothing really changed in Babylon other than the population. They brought in the Persian men.
They would have been an establishment of government for the Persians
in that area. Daniel, he's already in captivity. So the only thing
he did was, who are you in captivity to? Babylon? Well, let's mark
that off. Now let's put Persia. That's exactly what happened.
It is amazing to see God's providence in all of this because Daniel
got favor with King Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel had favor for this, the
king that had conquered them. He's a slave. He's in captivity
and he got, he had favor with this king and now a new king.
A new king is there, and do you know what happens with Daniel?
He has favor with that king also. That has to be by mercy and grace,
has to be. By God's providence, he actually
promotes Daniel, Darius does, higher than Nebuchadnezzar does.
Darius sets up 120 princes over the provinces of all of Babylon,
and over those princes, he sets up three presidents. And the
one of those three is Daniel, and Daniel is in charge of the
whole shebang. Daniel's the right-hand man to
the king, if you want to put it that way. Much like Joseph
was the second in Egypt. It's much like that, isn't it?
And so Joseph was sold into slavery into Egypt and the Lord exalts
him into being second. So it's very much like that,
actually. Now we see that Daniel is set in charge. We see that
he's given power. I would imagine there's some
popularity that comes with that also. And with those kinds of
things, there's also unpopularity. People didn't like Daniel being
in charge because he's just a Hebrew and they became jealous and they
became desirous of his position and they wanted him gone. And
they sought occasion against him, but they could find no occasion
against him. Daniel did that, which was good
in the eyes of the king. He honored the king. He honored
Darius. So just for a brief moment, I
want us to understand that the world, the world by nature is
jealous of everybody around them. Everybody wants what they don't
have. Think about buying a new car. As soon as you get the new
car, how long does that newness last? it will eventually no longer
be new to you. And you'll eventually need another
car, whether it be, how many times do you, have we seen people?
I just know very few that buy one car and drive it until they
get like the wheels fall off and they keep it. Normally the
newness wears off and they get a new car. You understand what
I'm saying there. The world's full of jealousy
and covetousness. And as we examine ourself, we'll
find those same characteristics in ourself. We will, because
we're in the flesh. Lord, keep us from those things
though. Don't let us get called up and looking at someone else
and thinking I deserve better than what I have. Lord, keep
us in the dirt where we belong. Lord, keep us knowing that you
are sovereign and you do all things well. Lord, cause us to
strive to love one another, preferring one another over ourself. This
is actually what we're commanded to do in Colossians. He says,
put on therefore as the elect of God, holy and beloved. As the elect of God, you're holy
and beloved. Put on bowels of mercy. Put on
bowels of mercy and kindness towards each other. Humbleness
of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another and forgiving
one another. If any men have a quarrel against
you, even as Christ forgave you, also do ye. And above all these
things, put on charity, love one another. He tells us you
know that you've passed from death unto life because you love
the brethren. And I can honestly say, I love each and every one
of you. That doesn't mean that I have
affirmation that I believe. That just means the Lord's given
me a love for you. That's the only explanation I
can give you. We do this unto him because of the heart that
he's given for us, not for salvation. We don't do this for a work for
salvation. We're not going around saying, well, I'm the most merciful
person you've ever seen. Look at how much love I give
and And what I do for people, I do more than anybody else does.
No, no, that's not why we do what we do. Why do we do it?
Because the love of God constrains us and restrains us and causes
us to. And we know left to ourselves,
we're going to be covetous. We're going to be jealous. We're
going to be just like these men were against Daniel. But all
the Lord's people are kept by Christ. Now it says Daniel had an excellent
spirit, and I believe that that's what it's speaking of there.
He had a spirit that looked unto the Lord, but he had characteristics
that came with that. He loved, and he was patient,
and he was wise. The Lord gave him wisdom. That's
why he was exalted. See, the Lord gets all the glory
in all of this. We're gonna look back over our life. Those that
are the Lord's are gonna look back and say, surely, goodness and
mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell
in the house of the Lord forever. Daniel had an excellent spirit
in him. The only reason that we could
say that, the only reason we could actually, we cannot stand
here, I cannot stand here in confidence and say, I know beyond
a shadow of a doubt that I am elect of God. I can't do that. But you know what I can say?
I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that whoever Christ died for,
they are perfectly righteous. And I believe that that is all
my hope. And the only reason I love him is because he first
loved me. Now, these men did not love Daniel. They hated
Daniel. They hated Daniel for more than
one reason. They hated his God. They had a totally different
God than he did. They hated his God. So they hated his lifestyle.
They hated everything about him. And men are going to hate. They're
going to hate those that are different. It's all the way back
to the beginning. Think about from the beginning,
Cain hated Abel because God approved Abel and didn't approve Cain.
Cain thought he was good enough. He wasn't good enough for God.
So he said, okay, I'm gonna kill you then. That's exactly what's in
the heart of men today. It hasn't changed. The Lord's people truly love
one another, don't they? The Lord's really given his people
a love for one another. We're gonna have a conference
here in, as you all know, in May, May the 19th. And I'm excited
and I'm anxious. You're going to meet people that
you've never met before and you're going to love them and they're
going to love you. And as soon as you meet each other, you're going
to love each other. Do you know why? Because the love that the Lord
has given in the heart of his people, one for another. It's
his gospel that unites us. These men hated Daniel because
they didn't know who God was and didn't love God. So they devised a plan. Aren't
you glad that man plans, but God purposes? God has never planned
a single thing. Can you rest in that? Everything
that he has determined to do, he's done. He has not tried to
do anything. Boy, I need a God like that,
don't you? A God that is sovereign in all
things. He didn't make a plan of salvation.
He made salvation. He didn't make salvation possible. He successfully redeemed. This
is the God I'm talking about. Men will hear this and realize
it takes all their glory out. They don't have any more popularity
left or power, and so they'll hate, won't they? They'll hate
the gospel. We will. Just like these men
did. So they devise a plan and they
make a law and they say, okay, we're going to get the king to
sign this law into effect because we know how to get Daniel. It's
going to come through and by the law of his God. They went
to the king and they said, okay. King, if this pleases you, sign
this law into effect where for 30 days, no one can pray or ask
anything of anybody or any God except you. Darius being just
like Nebuchadnezzar thought, yeah, I kind of like that. I'll
be the only one people can come to. And so he signs it into law. And I can imagine that what these
men would have mostly thought would have been, we have Daniel
now, we got him. We've got him. We know he's going
to pray and we got him. And I'm sure they rejoiced in
their heart. And that's what the Lord's enemies will do. They'll
rejoice in their heart whenever we falter and fumble on our face.
I know men believe that what happens in your life is a direct
result of your wrongdoing and it's punishment from God. And
that's not true. Everything that happens in our
life, certainly it's all our fault, but it's because of the
sin that we are. But what I do doesn't determine
favor with God or wrath from God if I'm in Christ. Do we see
that? So let men and let the devil boast themselves of all
the things that they rejoice in according to what they have
or don't have or do. We rejoice in the Lord. We rejoice
in Christ. We look unto him. Lord calls
us to do that. All of this came to be. This
signet ring was pressed into this law to make it unchangeable. And I mentioned to you before,
I've titled this Unchangeable Purpose. When the king put his
signet down, it could not be undone. It must be kept. And the reason that God allowed
this to happen to Daniel was to show forth and display his
mercy and display his grace in this trial, this trial of Daniel
to show his unchangeable purpose. See, everything is ordered by
God, everything. He is the first cause of all
things. He does all things according
to the counsel of his will. He purposes and it happens. The
Lord is sovereign in all things and in salvation. Now understand
something that up until this time, Daniel had been right in
everything Daniel did. As far as the king was concerned,
he hadn't broken any law. He had no wrongdoing whatsoever.
Everything Daniel had done was right. But then the law came
and Daniel trespassed the law. The law made Daniel guilty because
Daniel trespassed it. The law had to be given in order
for Daniel to have trespassed it. Romans 4 tells us about this
a little bit. It says, because the law worketh
wrath, for where no law is, There is no transgression. Where no
law is, there is no transgression. Well, Daniel did transgress.
He knew the King's words and he prayed anyways. Three times
a day, he would set his face towards Jerusalem and he would
pray for his people. I'm reminded of our Lord's intercessory
prayer for his people. Now that he set his face, he
set his eyes on the cross of Calvary like a flint. Nothing
could stop him from redeeming his people. Daniel counted the
cost. Daniel knew that it was the death
penalty for praying unto God, and he still prayed. Daniel knew
that the law would demand justice, and he prayed anyways. And the
king heard. Princes called him, and they
brought word to the king and says, is this not what your law
says, king? And the king says, yes. Daniel
has transgressed. Daniel has committed trespass
against your law. And it burdened the king. The
king was sorrowful for Daniel's sake. He cared for Daniel. The
relationship he had for Daniel, being his right hand man, he
would have been his advisor, his counselor. He had an excellent
spirit in him. And then he thought, how can
I get out of this? The king thought that. Now you never read where
Daniel was trying to get out of it. You never even read where
Daniel was afraid. I find that pretty amazing, don't you? I'd
have been kicking and screaming the whole way if they were gonna
throw me in the lion's den too, and you would have too. Am I not right?
It's just how we are. We're full of fear. It's just
how we are by nature. We need the Lord's faith to look to him. We need to be made, Lord, cause
me to look to you. So these men bring the word unto
the king, and the king tries to get out of the word that he
had given, his law, but it was unchangeable. Understand something,
if the king doesn't keep his word, the throne means nothing.
What the king signs into law, he doesn't keep it. His word
means nothing. His throne means nothing. So
Daniel was cast into the den of lions. Upon departure, upon Daniel being
tossed into the den of lions, right before that happens, the
king says these words to Daniel, thy God, whom thou service continually,
he will deliver thee. Then they took a stone and they
rolled a stone over the opening of it. It was certain death,
wasn't it? It was sealed up. No way Daniel
could survive that. Not by any human power, any human
ability. So it looked like it was just
the end for Daniel. But let's read Daniel chapter six in verse
18. Then the king went to his palace
and passed the night fasting. Neither were instruments of music
brought before him, and his sleep went from him. Then the king
arose early, very, very early in the morning, and went in haste
unto 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 servest continually, able to deliver you from the
lions? Then said Daniel unto the king,
O king, live forever. My God hath sent his angel, and
hath shut the lion's mouth, that they have not hurt me. For as
much as before him, innocence he was found in me, and also
before thee, O king, have I done no hurt. Then was the king exceedingly
glad for him, 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. Now in religion, men say, you
need to have faith like Daniel. What they mean by that is, is
I need to exercise my faith and allow it to get stronger or cause
it to get stronger. And a lot of men believe coming
to church, and women of course, coming to church is exercising
like going to the gym. You want to gain muscle, you
go to the gym and pump iron. So we come to church and we pump
our spiritual muscles called faith. And it's just not true.
See, faith is a gift of God. Faith comes from God and faith
looks to Christ in all things. So yes, we need to have the faith
like Daniel, but we didn't, it's not his faith. He didn't produce
it, did he? He's kept by God, by the power
of God, by the faith of God, just as you and I are in this
day and time. And whether we realize it or not, we are facing
a den of lions. Every single day we go and we
have the adversary. Satan, the scripture says, walketh
about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. And what
is he roaring? That you're guilty. You're guilty
of the law. You're guilty of the law. That
is true. We are guilty of the law, but not in God's eyes because
Christ has put away our sin. You know what else he says that's
the lie? You can do something to fix it.
You're guilty, but you can do something to fix it. See, that
is the lie from the very beginning, isn't it? We can do nothing to
fix our transgression of God's law. We must have the faith of Christ
and it must be given by him. I love the fact that every single
person that Christ died for will have this confession. No manner
of hurt was found upon him because he believed in his God. And the only way we believe,
and you know this to be true, if the Lord has revealed unto
you that you are the beast that we mentioned the first hour,
the way that he did Nebuchadnezzar, you know, it's true that the
only way we believe, believe, that's the
only way. There's no other way that we'll
believe unless he causes us to. This life is full of so many
distractions, isn't it? So many trials, so many circumstances,
so many things that cause us to turn our eyes away from the
Lord. And the scripture tells us why, that the trial of your
faith being much more precious than gold to perish it, though
it be tried with fire, might be founded to the praise and
honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. See, we've been
made to know that the trial of our faith is precious because
it's God causing us continually saying, believe, believe. And
his faith is revealed in us. He sees it. I mean, you can't
see it, but he sees it. And that's all that truly matters,
isn't it? Because how he sees it is how it really is. We're
made to believe that all things are for our good and for his
glory. You mean being thrown in a lion's
den is good? It is. How? because Daniel's
faith believed God. You believe God, too. You that
are his, you believe him. No matter what you're facing
in life, no matter the distress and despair that you have, you
still cry out, Lord, have mercy upon me, the sinner. I have nothing
to offer you for salvation. Lord, I need you to keep me.
I need you to continually say, believer, I will not believe. Paul said, for our light affliction,
which is but for a moment, worketh far, worketh for us a far more
exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we look not at
the things which are seen, but at the things that are not seen.
For the things which are seen are temporal, the things that
are not seen are eternal." I bet it was hard to look at the unseen
things when Daniel saw the lions, wouldn't you think so? I would
think so. But Daniel's a picture of Christ.
And so as the Lord, as it's described on the cross of Calvary, the
terrors of God can pass him about. There's a definite, that's terrors. I mean, that tells you the agony
that our Savior was in, and that tells you what Daniel was experiencing
also, and what you and I experienced. When we see our sin, when we
see ourself outside of Christ, are we not terrified? Are we
not scared? Lord, don't leave me to myself. Because I know hell will be my
eternal home. That's what makes us say that
these are light afflictions. This lion's den, this desert
that we're in, these are light afflictions. Compared to the
eternal wrath of God, that's a light affliction, isn't it? Faith just looks to Christ and
believes on Him, rests in Him, and thanks be to God. He makes
us know. We know all things work together
for good. To them that love God, to them
that are the called according to his purpose. If we are his, we have the same
faith as Daniel. It'll be revealed when he calls
us. If we haven't been called yet, if we are his, we have the
same faith as Daniel because of who it comes from. We're a lot like the disciples,
aren't we? The Lord said, you believe this? Lord, I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. As soon
as I say I believe, I also see the other part of me that I can't
beat. I can't control. I can't tame. Help my unbelief. Lord, put my
face in the dirt again. Show me I'm a dog. Show me that
I'm your dog. Show me that I'm your dog. And
he takes a bunch of dead dogs and turns us into spotless sheep.
Isn't that glorious? So I've told you some of the
spiritual application here, but for a brief our brief time together.
I want us to look at the spiritual application throughout all of
this. It's not just about believing God and trusting in him and exercising
faith and do better and don't be afraid of anything in life.
God's in control and these things are true partly, but the message
is look to Christ. Don't look to yourself. Look
to Christ because you can't face the lions den. It represents
the pits of hell that our Lord endured for his people. He represented
that he's the only one that could go there and the lions had to
close their mouth because he was perfect. And all those who
were in him, the lions have to close their mouth too. The gospel
is very clear in this chapter. Notice verse 17 with me, chapter
six, verse 17. When a stone was brought and
laid upon the mouth of the den and the king sealed it with his
own signet, that's the same signet he used to sign this law into
effect. and with the signet of his lords that the purpose might
not be changed concerning Daniel. That's what I've titled the message,
Unchangeable Purpose. Daniel is seen very clearly as
the center substitute. He's seen as a type in a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ as the center substitute. He's seen
as perfect and upright, never breaking the king's law. Christ
never broke God's law. Did you know that? He kept it
perfectly. scripture tells us in the fullness
of time has come God sent forth his son made of a woman made
under the law see Christ had to become a man God had to become
a man and be born under the law to redeem us that were under
the law he was not under the law in glory he was He was a
spiritual being. The law was given to the flesh,
wasn't it? To show us that we can't live
up, we can't attain to God's holiness. It is a mirror that
shows us our reflection is putrid. We're full of putrefying sores
from the top of our head to the bottom of our feet. We're ugly,
we're wretched, we're vile. We need a substitute. That's
what the law does. And God became a man in the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ, born under the law, born of a virgin
under the law to redeem them that were under the law. This was all done because of
a covenant that was made, because the Father and the Son entered
a covenant, the Holy Spirit too. This was by their signet. See,
it was an unchangeable, unchangeable purpose, unchangeable covenant.
It's called the covenant of grace. It was fashioned before the foundation
of the world. That's where the Lord has seen
us, is in Christ always, from the foundation of the world.
Christ is the Lamb slain. Christ knew full well, just as
Daniel did, what the requirement would be. He knew what the requirement
would be. Christ knew the requirement would
be death to redeem his people. Daniel knew that the requirement
for his transgression would be death. This is the picture here. See, Christ is God. He knew the penalty. He's the
one that wrote the law. He knew the penalty. He knew
the wages of sin is death. He knew the law's demands. He
chose to become a man. He chose to reconcile his people
back to God. He chose to redeem his elect. Christ chose to drink the cup
of damnation dry. He chose to become guilty before
the law, drinking your sin into himself, his people, drinking
his people's sin into himself, becoming sin for his people,
becoming guilty. before the law. See, if Christ
would not have been guilty, the law would not have killed him.
If Christ had not become guilty, he could have never died because
the wages of sin is death. Do we see that? Christ had to
become the sinner substitute. He had to bear our sin in his
body in order for the father to execute his son, in order
for justice to be satisfied, in order for the wrath of God
to be poured out. The Lord would not have The Lord would not have
poured his wrath out unjustly upon his son if Christ had not
become sin. But he really took our sin and
he really gave us his righteousness. That's our hope, isn't it? That's
our only hope. This is the picture here of Daniel. Bearing our sin. Becoming guilty. And death rearing its ugly head
up. Death rearing its ugly head up, having a claim. having a
claim saying you have to die now. The law's demands are death,
death for the transgression of the law. That's the requirement
of God. That's the requirement. We see death saying I have him
now, just like these princes thinking that they had Daniel. We got him now. He's transgressed
the law. I want to be very clear on something. Christ is the sinless lamb of
God who became sin. He was not a sinner. He became
what we are and that is our sin. He was buried, but he was perfect
and he was undefiled and he was separate from sinners. We see
that just as you drink something, it goes into you. That's how
he, became sin for his people. God saw our sin upon him, our
sin, but he was precious. He was perfect. He was undefiled. There's a lot of controversy
over that subject, but it's very clear. He who knew no sin became
sin. That's what it says. That's what
it means, isn't it? Who'd he do that for? For us,
for his people, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. Turn with me to Romans chapter
3. As the sin entered into him,
you can imagine all the lions, if you will, roaring against
the King of glory. See, the law must be satisfied. The law opened its mouth and
said justice must be executed against him. This was all because
of his unchangeable purpose. We see that in Romans chapter
3. in verse 24, being justified freely by his grace. If anybody
ever asks you what you believe, tell them Romans chapter three,
verse 24, being justified freely by his grace. That is as simple
as it can be. We're not justified by anything
we've done, but it's freely by his grace through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation,
one that brings us back in union to God through the faith in his
blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that
are passed through the forbearance of God. To declare, I say at
this time, his righteousness, that he might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? Nobody's going to be able to
boast in themselves of what the Lord has done. He's just and
the justifier. He's the one that did it all.
Where's boasting then? It's excluded, isn't it? By what law? The law
of works? Nay, but the law of faith. Therefore,
we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of
the law. Is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also of
the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, seeing
it as one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith and
the uncircumcision through faith. Do we then make void the law
through faith? God forbid. We establish the law. See what
Christ Jesus did was he didn't break the law. He didn't just
sweep the law underneath a rug, so to speak. He fulfilled the
law for his people, and all those who were in him fulfilled the
law in him as well. This is why we must look to Christ
for our salvation. There is no fulfillment of the
law outside of him. They that are in the flesh cannot
please God, but he kept the law perfectly, didn't he? And he
tells us why he did it, to be just and the justifier. He did it freely, and it's all
by grace. He tells us that all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. So it must be of grace then,
because works with sin, that's all we can do is produce sinful
works. It's for all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God. All have broken God's law, and there's not one thing we
can do to fix it. So you know what the law demands? The lion's den, the lion's den. For every person that has ever
sinned, the law demands death. And our only hope is that whenever
Christ Jesus went into the lion's den, went into the dark abyss
of God's wrath, and God poured out his eternal wrath upon his
son, I was in him, in the lion's den with him. When that stone
was rolled over the front and there was no escape, and he didn't
escape, he endured the wrath of God, absorbing it for his
people. that I was in there with him, in him, in Christ. So that
when the stone was reared back away and the Lord ascended upon
high, he was resurrected. When the Lord ascended upon high
and led captivity captive, I was one of those that were in captivity.
And he hath presented us unto his father as perfectly righteous. This is what the picture is here.
See, the king's word had to be kept. King's word had to be kept. And the law demanded death, didn't
it? The law demands death for trespass, and everyone is guilty
before the law of God. I do rejoice in this thought. God trusted, the father trusted
the son first. You and I trust the son now,
but the father trusted the son first, but the son trusted the
father. The only thing that Christ had to go on was the word of
God. When God said, I will resurrect you. See, the father had to resurrect
the son, understand that. That's all that he had to go
on. And he went into the lions then with full assurance that
his father would resurrect him. Do you have full assurance that
Christ Jesus put away the sin of his people? Yes. Yes, I believe
that Christ Jesus put away the sin of his people. And I believe
that one of these days we are going to be resurrected and it's
going to be revealed. The glory of Christ is going
to be revealed in us and we're going to be changed and we're
going to look just like him. That is our hope, isn't it? Christ Jesus had nothing but
the King's word to go on. What did the King tell Daniel?
Your God, whom you continually serve, is able to deliver you.
He'll deliver you. That's the same that the Lord
Jesus heard, isn't it? I will deliver you. That's what
the father did for his son. We see on the cross of Calvary. The only way that you and I could
never be forsaken is if the son was forsaken. See, Christ Jesus,
this thing of the lion's den, we can't fathom the terrors of
actually being thrown into a lion's den. I've seen maybe a lion's
den at a zoo or something like that, but this was ravenous beasts
that they wouldn't feed. They would make them starve in
order for them to be very aggressive, very hungry. And can you imagine
our adversary, the devil, wanting to get a piece of the Lord Jesus
Christ? Certainly. He hated God. He hates everything
about God. What about the flesh of all those
people around? The flesh is enmity against God. They hated Christ
too. It was all these lions roaring. And then you had the law of God
demanding death. Injustice had to be satisfied.
And all of it met on the person of Jesus Christ because of the
sin that I am and you are being pressed into him. And so God
pressed his precious blood out of his son, didn't he? For the
remission of our sins. Christ Jesus shed his blood in
that dark abyss for his people. And now the lions are shut up
for his people. That's our hope, isn't it? On
the cross of Calvary, the Lord said, my God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me? Turn with me there to Psalm 22.
Now this is, David speaking, but this is prophetical
of the Lord on the cross of Calvary. We know that because it's the
exact same words as Christ when he's on the cross. Psalm 22. My God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me? Now this question was not, the
Lord Jesus knew all things. He knew why. This is to show
you and I that he was forsaken of his father. This was to reveal
to you and I, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why
aren't there so far from helping me and from the words of my roaring? Oh my God, I cry in the day time,
but thou hearest not. In the night season, and I'm
not silent, but thou art holy, O thou that inhabits the praise
of Israel. Our fathers trusted in thee,
they trusted, and thou didst deliver them. They cried unto
thee and were delivered. They trusted in thee and were
confounded. But I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men, and
despise of the people. All they that see me laugh me
to scorn. They shoot out the lip. That's the lion's roaring,
isn't it? They shoot out the lip. They shake the head, saying,
he trusteth on the Lord that he would deliver him. Let him
deliver him, seeing he delighted in him. Why are thou so far from
me? This is Christ on the cross.
This is what this represents here. The Lord Jesus saying,
why are thou so far from me? We know why, don't we? Because
he was bearing the sin of his people. He said, they trust in
you. You know who that is? That's
the elect of God. We trust in the Lord because
he gives us the faith to trust in him. But he says, I am a worm. Because I'm bearing the sin,
because I've become the maggot that they are. And that's the
condescension that we can enter into. Understand that's what
that word worm means is a maggot. It's not a good maggot, like
a, like a knot crawler. I like to fish sometimes and
knot crawlers are not too bad if you're going fishing. It's
not a good worm. It's a useless worm. It's a maggot.
And that's what the Lord's saying. I'm a worm. I'm not even a man,
I'm a worm. I've become this sin for my people
so that the lions of hell and the inhabitants of earth cannot,
and the law cannot say anything against my people anymore because
I've completely and utterly put away their sin by my own blood. It's the only way we could have
a shelter from the storm. It's the only way we can have
a city of refuge. It's the only way that we can have a place
nigh unto the father is by what Christ Jesus did. But he had nowhere to hide, did
he? He had nowhere to hide. He was completely exposed bearing
our sin so that you and I will never be exposed until his glory
is revealed. That's what it will be exposed,
isn't it? His glory will be revealed. All who were in him upon his
death were set free. And that is unchangeable. Every
single person that Christ died for has been redeemed back to
the father. And that is unchangeable. Everything that God has ever
done, everything that he has ever done is unchangeable. Everything
that he's ever doing, it's already finished. It's already finished.
It's unchangeable. Everyone that Christ died for
is seated in the heavenlies right now. And that is unchangeable. And whenever we enter into death,
and we talked about death a little bit, I think Wednesday, when
the time comes for you to die, and you're His, and He's given
you faith to look to Him. When that time comes, there will
be no lions roaring against you. There will be no false accusations.
There will only be the law that says perfectly righteous, because
we'll be found in Christ and His righteousness. Justice will
nod in approval because of what Christ Jesus has done. Think
about that. The justice of God is satisfied
for His people. It's all because of our Daniel
being thrown in the lion's den. And as he says here in verse
eight, God delights in Christ. God delights in this man. You remember Lamentations, we
looked at that book, and I told us at the beginning that literally
means sorrowful, crying out, and passionately sorrowful is
what lamenting means. And he says that that's how he
approached. As he was crying out, it was
in a lamentation. Are you okay, Daniel? Has your
God that you continually serve able to deliver you? Yes, yes,
the father delivered his son. Christ Jesus delivered his people,
and he is still seated on his throne today. And everyone that
was in him when he died, when he went to the lion's den, has
been placed in him as perfectly righteous forever. And you know
the good news of that? It is unchangeable. It cannot
be changed. It cannot be altered. The law
will never demand second punishment. Justice will never demand to
be satisfied again. It was satisfied once and for
all. And they rolled that stone away.
This is what it all revealed. Christ was successful because
he came forth. See, if Christ had not been successful,
he would have not been resurrected. But Christ was resurrected for
his people, successful. The blood accomplished salvation.
God successfully shut the lion's mouth by his own life, his own
death, his own burial, and his own resurrection for his people.
God is pleased to look at his people and pleased to look upon
Christ and pardon his people because they've been redeemed. Daniel chapter six, verse 23.
I'm going to read it to us. We heard it for the sake of time.
No manner of hurt was found upon him because he believed in his
God. No manner of hurt will be found
upon you, child of God, because you believe that Christ Jesus
was sufficient in putting away your sin because he's given you
the faith to believe that no matter of hurt is upon those
who are in Christ. Because if you were in Christ,
you are in Christ, and you always will be in Christ. You know why?
Because of his unchangeable purpose in the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ. No matter what, no matter what, his purpose cannot, cannot,
cannot be changed. Rest in Christ. Father, thank you for the rest
that you've given us in the person of Christ. Thank you for going
to the lion's den for your people, enduring the wrath of God and
bringing them forth perfectly righteous. Lord, help our unbelief and cause
us to look to him. In Christ's name, amen.