You remember in Luke chapter
24 when the Lord walked along the way with those disciples
to Emmaus and they said, oh did not our hearts burn within us
as he spake with us along the way. And they went back to Jerusalem
to tell the disciples and in verse 45 the scripture says,
then opened he their understanding that they might understand the
Scriptures. One other presupposition that
goes along with the first message is that men by nature believe
sin just to be the things they feel guilty of. That's it. And only by the Spirit of God
can we see that man at his very best state is altogether vanity. Only by the Spirit of God can
we have any understanding that our righteousness is as filthy
rags before God. The Lord makes us a sinner, we'll
find ourselves in need of a Savior, won't we? Those things happen
together, don't they? All right, let's stand together.
We're going to sing the hymn on the back of your bulletin.
Tom's going to come. In thy great name, O Lord, we
come to worship at thy feet. O pour thy Holy Spirit down on
all that now shall meet. We come to hear Jehovah speak,
to hear the Savior's voice. Thy face and favor, Lord, we
seek, now make our hearts rejoice. Tell us to pray and praise and
hear and understand thy word, to feel thy blissful presence,
dear, and trust our living Lord. ? This house with grace and glory
fill ? This congregation bless ? Thy great salvation now reveal
? Thy glorious righteousness Please be seated. Good morning. Please turn to
1st John chapter 4. We'll start in verse 6. 1st John chapter 4 verse 6. We are of God. He that knoweth
God heareth us. He that is not of God heareth
not us. Hereby know we the spirit of
truth and the spirit of error. Beloved, let us love one another,
for love is of God. And everyone that loveth is born
of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not
God, for God is love. And this was manifested, the
love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten
son into the world that we might live through him here in his
love. Not that we loved God, but that
he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our
sins. Beloved, if God so loved us,
we ought also to love one another. Let's stop there. Merciful Heavenly Father, Lord,
we pray that you would be pleased to meet with us today Please
cause us to see that your love is manifested in your son Jesus
Christ and. Him going on the cross, dying
for your people and the sins of your people, Lord. Raising
from the dead Lord, we would be raised with him. Pray that
you would be pleased. To reveal yourself to to us,
your people. Thankful Lord that you are love. Pray that you would cause us
to love one another more. but look to you and know that
you are that peace. Thankful Father for your perfect
name in Jesus Christ, your will, I pray that you would be with
us. In your name I pray, amen. We're gonna sing one more congregational
hymn and then Matt Vincent, who's visiting from Todd's Road, Church
in Lexington is going to come do special. But let's all stand
together now and we'll sing hymn number 485. 485. We praise thee, O God, for the
Son of thy love, for Jesus who died and is now gone above. Hallelujah, thine the glory. Hallelujah, amen. Hallelujah, thine the glory. Revive us again. We praise thee, O God, for thy
Spirit of light, who has shown us our Savior and scattered our
night. Hallelujah, thine the glory. Hallelujah, amen. Hallelujah, thine the glory. Revive us again. All glory and praise to the Lamb
that was slain, who has borne all our sins and has cleansed
every stain. Hallelujah, thine the glory. Hallelujah, amen. Hallelujah, thine the glory. Revive us again. Revive us again. Fill each heart with thy love. May each soul be rekindled with
fire from above. Hallelujah, thine the glory. Hallelujah, amen. Hallelujah, thine the glory. Revive us again. Please be seated. Matt. Standing near the cross of Jesus The Lamb of God for sinners slain
is lifted up to God. He died to save His chosen bride. Touched by His death and through
His blood that she is made alive. ? He takes each and every knee
? ? All His glory points for me ? ? His Word pained on the
tree ? ? Taking the sins of His enemy ? ? He took them far away
? ? Not to return, no, to be brought up ? ? Not even on Judgment
Day ? ? Standing near the cross of Jesus
? ? He alone is seen by faith ? ?
All the glory of the Father ? ? Is seen in Jesus' face ? ? All the world sees just a good
man ? We see the blood of the Son of God covering God's broken
lines. He has satisfaction made He the
substitute for sinners On the cross died to save By His power
and with His blood He opened ? And the book of life ? ? Then
came to Egypt his chosen seed ? ? Of his own eternal life ?
? Standing near the cross of Jesus
? for sinners is open wide. Ye that sinners come to Him,
come to Him for safety. Be a refuge for the guilty, freeing
God's dreadful wrath. Stretch out His form, His mighty
arm, and raise them up to God. Thank you, Matt. When can you
come back? That was a blessing. Will you open your Bibles with
me, please, to Daniel chapter 6? I don't recommend it, but Trisha
and I usually watch a few minutes of news in the morning. I guess
it makes sure World War III hadn't broke out. But this morning,
They had a segment on the news that gave me an illustration
for my introduction that I thought was very appropriate. They had
a rabbi, a pastor, an imam, and a priest commenting on a new
book that Anthony Hopkins had written about how he found God. And I listened to the comments
that these religious, well, what should we call them,
hucksters had to say. And one of them said, everybody
needs to believe in something bigger than themselves. Another
one said, yes, life throws a lot of curve balls and we need some
help from God. Another one said, prayer. gives
peace and solace to life. Not a single one of them mentioned
anything about the forgiveness of sin. Not a single one of them
talked about the salvation of the soul. Not a single one of
them talked about having eternal life. It was all about what God
could do to help you have a better experience in this world. That's
what it was all about. One of them did say, you know,
we're all getting older and we're going to die. And as soon as
he said the word die, he backed up and started apologizing for
talking about death on TV so early in the morning. Now that's the world that you
and I live in. And that's their opinion of God. And so I ask myself and I ask
you, Why are you here this morning? Why are you here? Why am I here? Has God put on my heart a need
to be saved? Or am I just looking to get a better experience in
this world. Do I need my sins forgiven? Do
I need to know, yeah, we are getting older and yes, we are
going to die and I don't apologize for that at all. That's a good thing for the child
of God. Oh, that's a good thing. The hope of knowing that we shall
see him in the fullness of his glory and be made like him. The world thinks that's a negative
subject. It's not. Now, if we're going to have the
hope of eternal life, we're going to have to know the Lord Jesus
Christ. He said in John chapter 17 verse
4, and this is life eternal, that they might know thee the
only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. In another
place, the scripture tells us that in the volume of the book,
it is written of me, for I have come to do thy will, O God. You and I need to know Christ. That's our greatest need. Whatever
other struggles you might be experiencing in this world, that's your greatest need, isn't
it? Now I use that by way of illustration
because I've read several commentaries on Daniel chapter 6. Do you have
your Bibles open to Daniel chapter 6? It's a very familiar story.
It's the story of Daniel being thrown into the lion's den because
he refused to not pray. The decree was sent out by King
Darius, who had been manipulated by his advisors, to write a decree
saying that if anybody asked of any favors of anybody other
than the king for the next 30 days, he'd be thrown into the
lion's den. They were setting up Daniel is
what they were doing. And Daniel, as was his custom,
went into his bedchamber and opened his windows and faced
east. What was east from Babylon? Daniel's
in Babylon. He's an old man now. What was in Jerusalem? What was
east of Babylon? Jerusalem. What was in Jerusalem?
The temple. That temple represented the Lord Jesus Christ. He was
setting his affections on things above where Christ is seated
at the right hand of God. And he was praying. And they
brought it to the king and said uh... you you wrote the decree
there's no option daniel must be thrown into the dry and today
on and he was and god delivered him you remember read the story
now but without exception all the
commentaries i read on daniel chapter six all had to do with
how to be a better christian how to be like daniel Don't be
persuaded by the world and don't bow to false gods and be a person
of prayer and stick to your convictions even if it costs you your life.
And I say to you this morning that this Daniel does not represent
me and you. He represents the Lord Jesus
Christ. In every story of the Bible, God's not giving us a rule book for Christian living
in the sense that these are the rules and regulations that you
have to get along better in this world. That's the way the world
thinks. That's the way the religious world thinks. They all think
that way. This book is about salvation.
It's about the Lord Jesus Christ because outside of Him there
is no salvation. No other name has been given among men whereby
we must be saved. It's all about Him. Not unto
us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name. It's about Christ. You need Christ. I need Christ.
And it saddens my heart that good men can write pages and
pages of commentary on this chapter of scripture and not see the
Lord Jesus Christ. He's so clearly displayed in
this story. Daniel's name translated means
God is my judge. God is my judge. Now what man
wants to go before God based on their own righteousness and
say God is my judge? I'll stand in the presence of
God. I'll let him judge me. He'll find me worthy. The good
things I've done outweighs the bad things I've done. No. Our Daniel, the Lord Jesus Christ,
is the only one who could stand in the presence of a holy God
and with confidence say, God is my judge. He has watched me
and he has seen me fulfill all the requirements of his holy
law. He's seen the travail of my soul and he's satisfied with
the sacrifice that I've made of myself on Calvary's cross.
God is my judge. And the only hope that a child
of God has is to see themselves in him. We have acceptance in
the beloved and outside of Christ. All the judgment of God can speak
nothing but condemnation. That's all the judgment of God
can speak to us unless we'd be found in him, not having our
own righteousness, which is of the law, but that righteousness,
which is by the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Darius, this Persian king, Darius,
by the way, Darius is a title. It's kind of like Pharaoh or
Caesar. There's three Darius's spoken
of in the scriptures and this is the first one. And Darius
translated means Lord. It means Lord. And this story
of Darius and Daniel is a picture of the father and his son. It's
a picture of our salvation. Darius represents God the father. Daniel represents the Lord Jesus
Christ. And unless we look for the story
of the gospel in every page of scripture, all we're going to
do, all we're going to do is increase our knowledge or give
us some false hope I have eight things that we see
in this chapter about the Lord Jesus Christ. We see the preeminence
of Christ, the perfection of Christ, the enemies of Christ,
the petitions of Christ, the decrees concerning Christ, the
Father's love for Christ, the deliverance of Christ, and the
reward of Christ. All of those things are in this
in this short chapter of scripture. I've titled this message Christ
in Daniel chapter 6. It's about Him. And if the Lord's pleased to
give us faith in Christ, we'll have the hope of knowing
that He is our perfection and He is our reward. He told Abraham,
I am thine exceeding great reward. Looking for a reward? Christ
is your reward. And God give us faith to see
Him in this story. The first thing we see in the
first three verses of Daniel chapter 6 is the preeminence,
yes, the preeminence of the Lord Jesus Christ. It pleased Darius. It pleased God 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 account unto them and the king should have
no damage." The purpose of these presidents
was to protect the honor and the glory and the power of the
king. That's the purpose of the Lord
Jesus Christ and God has given him preeminence. Then this Daniel
was preferred above the presidents and princes because an excellent
spirit was in him. The spirit of the Lord is upon
me for he hath anointed me to preach the gospel. You know that
Christ means the anointed one. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
only one who's been anointed with the Spirit of God in the
fullness of his power. And that's how he came. That's
how he came. He was conceived of the Spirit
of God. He was anointed with the Spirit
of God. The power of God was upon him and the Father. The father ordained it to be
so. An excellent spirit was in him and the king thought to set
him over the whole realm. Turn with me if you like to Colossians
chapter one. Colossians chapter one. The preeminence of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The king set Daniel over the
presidents and over the princes Daniel was in charge of the kingdom
of Persia. In Colossians 1, verse 17, and
he is before all things and by him all things consist. In the beginning was the Word
and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He is the eternal
Word of God. He's the one who spoke the first
day of creation. Spoke all things into creation,
holds all things together. He is the head of the body, the
church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things He might have preeminence. God has given Him
preeminence over all things, for it pleased the Father. Now
what we just read, it pleased Darius to set Daniel over his
kingdom for it pleased the father that in him should all fullness
dwell and having made peace through the blood of his cross by him
to reconcile all things to himself by him I say whether they be
things in earth or things in the heaven and you that were
sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works,
yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through
death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in his sight. Now that's what the Lord Jesus
Christ accomplished on Calvary's cross. When he ascended back
into glory, he took with him the names of those for whom he
lived and died and presented them unblameable, unreprovable,
perfect before God. God gave him the preeminence
to do that. That God should suffer no loss,
no loss. not suffer a loss in his glory,
not suffer a loss in his purpose. What was his purpose? To save
a people. And he never suffered a loss.
Why? Because that man who could say, God is my judge, had the
preeminence given to him by the Father. The second thing we see
in this story is the perfection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look
at verse 4. Then the presidents and the princes
sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom,
but they could find none occasion nor fault for as much as he was
faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him. Then said these men, we shall
not find any occasion against Daniel, except we find it against
him concerning the law of God. And what were they saying? If
we're going to come up with a charge against Daniel, it's going to
have to be that he was faithful to keep the law of God. That was his charge. The perfection of the Lord Jesus
Christ is seen in his faithfulness. If we believe not, yet he remaineth
faithful, for he cannot deny himself. Salvation is not based
on your faith. It's based on his. And all those
that he died for are in him. It's his faithfulness that he
presents before the Father. He's the one who's holy. He's
the one who's harmless. He's the one who's undefiled.
He's the one who's separate from sinners, and he's the one that's
higher than the heavens. No charge could be made against
him. He is going and has kept the law of God. He is the end
of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. You
and I have never been able to keep one of God's laws one time.
Never. Not to the standard of perfection
that God requires. You say, well, I haven't murdered
anybody. The Lord dealt with the Pharisees on that issue,
didn't he? Man looks at the outward appearance,
God's looking at the heart. And what does God say? I see
that every imagination of the heart is only evil and that continually.
And your father's told you that you shall not commit murder,
but I say unto you, in your heart against your brother, you've
already committed murder against him. Now based on God's standard of
righteousness, how are you doing? How are you doing? See, we don't
want to be judged by the law of God. These enemies of Daniel
said, if we're going to find a charge against him, He's faithful
to the king, he's faithful to his promises. We're gonna have
to find a charge against him where he has kept God's law. We read in the first hour what
the Lord said in John chapter eight, when he asked his enemies, which of you convinces me of
sin? Now, I don't want to stand up
here and say that. Anybody else want to stand up here and say
that? No. Which of you convinced me of
sin? Only the Lord Jesus Christ could do that. Oh, the perfection
of Christ. That's what this story is about.
It's to tell us about who He is. That God gave Him preeminence. And that He kept the law of God
perfectly. with all of his heart and all
of his mind and all of his soul all of the time. Now that's what
God requires for righteousness. That's what God requires for
perfection. And that's what Daniel did here. And it was Daniel's
keeping of the law that brought a charge against him. What was the Lord Jesus Christ
accused of? What was he accused of? He was
accused of claiming to be exactly who he was. And they brought a charge against
him of blasphemy. How can you, being a man, make
yourself out to be God? He said enough with his own lips.
Crucify him. Crucify him. He kept the law
of God. The perfection of the Lord Jesus
Christ You and I have no righteousness. We have no righteousness. One
of the, as I mentioned earlier, one of the presuppositions that
men bring to the gospel that enables, that causes them not
to be able to hear the gospel is when they conceive of sin
as just those things that they feel guilty of. God, the scripture
says God has written his law in all men's hearts and all men
know that there is a God. And the consequence of that is
that everybody experiences a guilty conscience when they do something
wrong. Everybody does. You don't have to be a believer
to feel guilty about doing something wrong. You see, experiencing guilt over
bad behavior is not the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Everybody
does that. The conviction of the Holy Spirit
is when you come to realize that the best thing you've ever done,
the best prayer you've ever prayed, the most selfless act you've
ever done towards someone else, God says, is iniquity. Lord,
I have no righteousness. I have no goodness. I have nothing
to bring to God to persuade Him. or to win his favor. I am completely
dependent upon the one and the only one who is perfect in his
sight. We see the preeminence of the
Lord Jesus Christ. We see the perfection of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And now we learn something about
the enemies of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse six. Then
these presidents and princes assembled together. Now on the
margin of my Bible it says they came together tumultuously. They were so angry at Daniel.
They gathered together and they were so jealous of him. They
gathered together in a heated argument. What are we going to
do? If we allow this man to remain, we'll both lose our place and
our nation. They hated me without a cause. crucify him, crucify him. All the presidents of the kingdom
and governors and princes and counselors and captains have
consulted together to establish a royal statute and to make firm
decree that whosoever shall ask a petition of any man, of any
God or man for 30 days, save of thee, O King, he shall be
cast into the den of lions. Now, O King, establish the decree
and sign the writing that is not charged I'm sorry, that it
is not changed according to the law of the Medes and the Persians,
which altereth not. Now here's a decree put out by
the king that cannot be altered, even by the king. What a picture
of the covenant of decrees that we see given by God. God can't change it. Yeah, I
said that. He cannot. If God ever changes,
we're in trouble. You sons of Jacob, I change not. That's the only reason you're
not consumed. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. We have an
immutable God. Look what he says. Wherefore
King Darius signed the writing and the decree. The scripture says that Pilate
and Herod became friends on the day that the Lord Jesus Christ
was sentenced to death. And then it goes on to say, and
before that day they were enemies. I mentioned those four religious
leaders this morning on TV. I guarantee you, you put those
four men, the priest, the pastor, the imam, and the rabbi in this
room. And they will gain forces. They
will find some common ground between them. Whether it be free
will, whether it be good works, they're going to find some common
ground and this message and all those who believe it are going
to become their enemy. The Sadducees and the Pharisees
were bitter enemies. They were political enemies.
They were religious enemies. They hated each other. What happened
on the day of the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ? They joined hands. They had a
common enemy. Here these princes came together The clearest example of this
is when Pilate was trying to allow the Lord to not die, however
you want to say that, and what did the Jews say? The Jews hated
the Romans. They hated their occupation.
They hated their control. They hated their authority. What
did the religious leaders say to Pilate? We have no king but
Caesar. Let his blood be on our hands
and on our children. Men by nature hate God. They're at enmity with him. They
hate the gospel. They hate Christ. They'll put
on a facade of humility and religiosity. You present them with the truth
of who the Lord Jesus Christ is, who God is, who they are,
and how it is God's pleased to save sinners, and they will do
exactly what these princes did. They'll come together tumultuously
to bring charges against Daniel. Verse 10, we see the preeminence
of Christ, the perfection of Christ, the enemies of Christ. Nothing's changed, has it? Nothing's
changed. Verse 10 through 13, Now when
Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his
house and his windows being opened in his chamber towards Jerusalem,
he kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave
thanks before his God as he did aforetime. Then these men assembled
and found Daniel praying and making supplication before God.
Then they came near and spake before the king concerning the
king's decree. Hath thou 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 lions? And the king answered and said,
the thing is true, according to the law of the Medes and the
Persians, which altereth not. Then answered they, and said
before the king, that Daniel, which is of the children of the
captivity of Judah, regardeth not thee, O king, nor the decree
which thou hast signed, but maketh his petitions three times a day."
What do we see about the Lord Jesus Christ in this? The faithful
petitions of Christ. The faithful petitions of Christ. The effectual, fervent prayer
of a righteous man availeth much. When the Lord Jesus Christ cried
from Calvary's cross, Father, forgive them, for they know not
what they do. He wasn't just speaking about
those Roman soldiers who didn't realize they were crucifying
the Son of God. He was talking about every one
of his children. You and I have no clue. as to how serious our
sin really is against the Holy God. But here's our hope. Father, forgive them. They don't
know what they're doing. They don't know what they're
doing. In John chapter 17, Father, I pray for them. Keep them. Them which thou hast given unto
me. I pray not for the world, but
for them that thou hast given out of the world. Thine they
were. What made a difference between
Peter and Judas? They both did the same thing
that fateful night, didn't they? They both denied the Lord Jesus
Christ. What made the difference? Judas was a son of perdition. Judas was never one of God's
elect. And he went out and hanged himself,
didn't he? What made the Peter did the same thing? Peter, in
some regards, Peter cursed to save his own skin. I don't know
him. And the cock crowed just at the
time the Lord was coming out into the praetorium after having
been flogged and he set his eyes on Peter. Oh, not eyes of condemnation,
not eyes of judgment, not eyes of disappointment, but eyes of
mercy, eyes of love, eyes that said to Peter, Peter, remember
what I told you? I've prayed for you. That's what
makes the difference. I prayed for you. And when you
converted, teach the brethren, use this experience of grace
and forgiveness and love to teach the brethren about my grace.
Oh, Daniel, you read on in the book of Daniel. We don't have
time this morning. You'll read some of the prayers that Daniel
prayed by way of intercession for the sins of the children
of Israel. They're coming to the end of their captivity in
Babylon, and they're about to be brought back to Jerusalem.
And Daniel is praying for the deliverance of Israel. Oh, what hope we have, brethren.
the petitions of the Lord Jesus Christ before our Father. You
want to stand before God based on the sincerity and the fervency
and the consistency of your prayer life? No. No, we do pray. Oh, we do. But
His prayers, His prayers are what we trust in, don't we? John chapter 11, when the Lord
was at Lazarus' tomb, you remember with Mary and Martha? And the
Lord said, Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast heard me. I know,
now here's the next thing the Lord said, I know that Thou always
hears me, hear me. But for the sake of these people
standing here, I said unto Thee, the Lord Jesus Christ's prayers
are always answered. Always. And they're always answered
in an affirmative. You say, well, aren't God's people's
prayers answered? Yeah. Yeah, but more times than not,
our prayers are answered with a no, aren't they? The father's
never said no to his son. Not one single time. As he always
had praised perfect prayers in accordance with the will of God. My little children, I write unto
you that you sin not, but if any man sin, we have an advocate
with the father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. We have a
savior seated at the right hand of the majesty on high, whoever
lives to make intercession for us. This is about Christ. This is his petition for his
church. And that final prayer that he prayed from the, from
the cross, it is finished. Oh yeah, that's a declaration
to let us know that the work of redemption is accomplished.
But he was saying to the Father, Father, I have finished the work
which thou hast sent me to do, and now I commend myself into
thy hands. We see the preeminence of Christ,
the perfection of Christ, the enemies of Christ, the petitions
of Christ. And in verse 14, we see the decrees
concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this decree that the king
had signed, yes, in this story he was deceived and did it under
duress. The decree that God the Father
signed in the covenant of grace with his son before the world
ever began was done on purpose and for a purpose. And it could
not be changed. It could not be changed. Look
at verse 14. Then the King, when he heard
these words, was sore displeased with himself and set his heart
on Daniel to deliver him, and he labored till the going down
of the sun to deliver him. Then these men assembled unto
the King and said unto the King, no, O King, that the law of the
Medes and the Persians is that no decree nor statue which the
King establishes may be changed. Then the king commanded, and
they brought Daniel and cast him into the den of lions. Now
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's, that the purpose
might not be changed concerning Daniel. What did the Lord Jesus Christ
pray in the garden? Father, if there be any way this
cup can pass from me, let it be nevertheless not my will,
but thy will be done. What was he talking about? He
was talking about the bitter dregs of God's wrath poured out
on him on Calvary's cross because of the sin that he was going
to bear in his body upon that tree. Is there any other way
to save these people? Is there any other way for God
to be just without compromising His holiness, His immutability,
His righteousness, His justice, and save these sinners? Is there
any other way? Don't you know if there was any
other way, God would have come up with another way? But there
was no other way. There was no other way. This
king is grieved over his decree. He can't change his decree. It's
been set. Is there any way to save centers
without compromising? The law of God. Without compromising
the righteousness of God, without compromising the justice of God,
no. No. It's the only way. God must
make Him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Him. We must have a substitute. We
must have a surety. We must have a Savior who is
in Himself perfectly righteous and able to bear the guilt of
the sins of God's people before a holy God. And that's exactly
what the Lord Jesus Christ did. The king stayed up all night
trying to figure out, is there any other way? the decree of God concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ. I want you to notice verses 18
through 20. We often talk about the love of the Father towards
us worldlings. That's really what John 3.16
means. That God so loved the world,
those outside of Israel, those people of the world. The world
is never used to identify each and every individual person of
the world. God was talking to Nicodemus, the Lord was talking
to Nicodemus in John chapter 3 and he was saying to Nicodemus,
Nicodemus this gospel is for those folks out there in the
world too. It's for those Gentiles. God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten son and what love he has for us. I've
loved you with an everlasting love. We talk about the love
of Christ for us and what comfort and hope we have in knowing that
he loved his people. He loves his bride. He laid down
his life for his friends. Greater love hath no man than
this. And we're greatly comforted in
thinking about God's love for us, aren't we? But I admit to
you that I fail to think as often as I ought about the Father's
love for the Son. And I know I'm talking about
something here. I have no idea what I'm talking
about. How can we enter in to what the Father felt when He gave his son." We said, well, doesn't the Bible
say that it pleased the Lord to bruise him? That word pleased
doesn't mean that he delighted in it and that he took pleasure
in it. It means that he was pleased
to do what he had purpose to do. Everything God does, he does
according to his pleasure. He does it according to his purpose. It doesn't mean that he enjoyed
it or liked it, it means that he was pleased because it's what
he purposed to do. Oh, how grieved. We know something
about the grief that the Lord Jesus Christ experienced. When
the sky was blackened, and for the first time in all eternity,
the Son of God was cut off from His Father. The Father forsook
Him, and He cried in agony from Calvary's cross, My God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me?" What was happening between God the
Father and God the Son in that time? I don't know. But we have
a little illustration of it here, don't we? Look at 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
rose very early in the morning and went in haste unto the den
of lions." We just get little pictures of
the truths that are infinitely deep. in the gospel, don't we? Here this king stayed up all
night. You've had sleepless nights, but he stayed up all night. Didn't
want any music, didn't want any food, didn't want any... He was
grieving over Daniel having to be put in that lion's den in
order to fulfill the decree that he had signed. We see something
of the love of the father towards his son. And then in verse 21 through
23, then said Daniel unto the king, oh king, I'm sorry, verse
20. 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 able to deliver thee from the
lions? Then Daniel said unto the King, O King, live forever.
My God hath sent his angel and has shut the lion's mouths that
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 exceedingly 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 manner of hurt was found upon him because he
believed in his God. God the Father was pleased with
the Lord Jesus Christ because innocency was found in him. He could not allow his Holy One
to see corruption. God saw the travail of his soul
and God was satisfied. And God was the only one that
could remove that stone. You remember the Pharisees went
to Pilate and said, his disciples are going to come steal the body
and claim that he raised from the dead. And Pilate said, Here's
the seal, and here's the soldiers. Make it as sure as you can. And what happened on that resurrection
morning? Those soldiers couldn't make
it sure. The seal was broken, the stone was rolled away. The Lord Jesus Christ came out
victoriously, and the soldiers ran for their lives. And they
ended up paying off the soldiers to keep that hush money, didn't
they? They paid off the soldiers. Don't
tell anybody what you saw. God brought the Lord Jesus Christ
out of the grave because he was pleased. The resurrection of
the Lord Jesus Christ is not just a historical event. Oh,
it is. It is a historical event. But
people think that because they believe in the historicity of
the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, that
makes them Christians. The resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ is a message from God the Father. I've seen the
travail of His soul. I'm satisfied with Him. He's
pleased me. He's accomplished what I say
Him to do. I shut the mouth of the lions. They could not kill
Him. I brought Him forth. The resurrection
of Christ is God's testimony to His church. That's why the
Lord said, a wicked and perverse generation seeketh after a sign.
No sign is going to be given unto you except for the sign
of Jonah, who spent three days and three nights in the belly
of the whale. That's the sign. That's the positive proof that
God gives to us to say that God's satisfied. He's satisfied. The only question you have to
ask is, am I satisfied? with the same one that God's
satisfied with? Or am I trying to add to or take something away
from what He's done? You see, that's faith. Faith
is being satisfied with the one that God's satisfied with. God
raised Him from the dead. And finally, not only do we see
the preeminence, the perfection, the enemies, the petitions, the
decrees, how much the Father loved Christ, the deliverance
of Christ, But we see something of the reward of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Look at the last few verses,
verse 24. And the king commanded that they
brought these men, which had accused Daniel, and they cast
them into the den of lions, them and their children and their
wives. And the lions had mastery over them and broke all their
bones in pieces, or even they came to the bottom of the den. My brethren and my friends, there
can be no salvation without judgment. You can't have one without the
other. Just read Revelation chapter 19. When God cast the great whore
of Babylon into the fiery pit and He and all the saints in
glory Sing hallelujah, hallelujah. There's no hope of salvation
apart from the judgment of God. And those who accused him are
the ones who suffer his judgment and his wrath. He delivered Verse 27, he delivereth and rescueth,
I'm sorry, verse 25. Then King Darius wrote
unto the people nations and language that dwell in all the earth.
Peace be multiplied unto you. I make a decree that every dominion
of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel
for he is the living God and steadfast forever. His kingdom
which shall not be destroyed and his dominion shall even unto
the end, shall be even unto the end. He delivereth and rescueth. He worketh signs and wonders
in heaven and in earth. who had delivered Daniel from
the power of the lions, so this Daniel prospered and reigned
in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus of Persia.
The Lord Jesus Christ's reward is not just the judgment of his
enemies, but his reward is his own prosperity and the declaration
of his grace and mercy in all the kingdoms of the world. And
when this gospel goes out unto all the world, then the end shall
come. This gospel is being heralded
right now, isn't it? It's being declared right here,
right now. The reward of the Lord Jesus
Christ is His bride. And our reward is Him. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful for this experience
that you gave to our brother Daniel. But most importantly,
Lord, we thank you that you've shown us once again what thy
dear Son, our loving, faithful Savior, has done to redeem us
from the wrath that is to come. Lord, how we pray that You would
give faith to our hearts to rest our hope in Him. We ask it in
His name. Amen. Number 32 in the spiral
hymnal. Let's stand together. you All children of wrath, in bondage
and sin We helplessly lay, condemned and unclean God's law in its
infinite justice and wrath Demanded we suffer an eternal death But
long before time had ever begun, One stood in our place, God's
glorious Son. He offered Himself to go live
among men, And give His own life to atone for our sin. The great substitute, behold
he has come. The price has been paid, the
work is all done. Christ took on himself the great
load of our sin. He poured out his blood and he
put away sin. God's justice and law are now
satisfied, and all who believe have been justified. Through faith in the blood of
the Lamb, we are free from sin's condemnation, eternally free. th th th