Alright brethren, let's turn
our Bibles to Daniel chapter 6. Most everyone here has heard
the story of Daniel and the lion's den. Daniel lived in Persia during
the captivity and he was promoted to the highest office in the
land under King Darius. the highest office under King
Darius. And Daniel was faithful to God. By God's grace, he was very faithful. He was faithful to Darius. He had a good spirit in him and
he was innocent in his dealings with men and very faithful to
God. And the reason Daniel would not
be stopped. And this is what they were trying
to do. They were trying to entangle
Daniel. They passed a law that said that he could not pray to
his God. And Daniel wouldn't be stopped
from praying to God. He would not be stopped. Imagine if they passed a law
in this land that if you were caught praying to God, you would
die. That's what COVID really did
is on threat of death. If you go around people, you
could die. And what would happen if God permitted this land to
pass a law that said, if you pray, you'll die. We need God's
grace to work in us to make us like Daniel. But the thing that
made Daniel so faithful to the Lord, to worship the Lord, is
because God by His grace had given Daniel faith in the coming
Messiah. By faith he beheld the Lord as
being his righteousness. You know, every sinner that God's
ever saved has been saved the same way. Saved through faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Him being the righteousness of
His people. There's only one salvation, that's Christ. Only
one righteousness, that's Christ. One acceptance with God, that's
the Lord Jesus. So I want to preach the righteousness
of God from this passage. That's the message of this chapter.
We see a type of Christ in Daniel here. And I'll just go a little
verse by verse. But it pleased God to give His
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, all preeminence. It pleased God to
give Christ all preeminence. Verse 1 says, we see this in
Daniel, it says, It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom a hundred
and twenty princes, which should be over the whole kingdom. And
over these three presidents, of whom, that is of those three
presidents, Daniel was first. He 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 the princes, because an excellent
spirit was in him, and the king thought to set him over the whole
realm. Darius preferred Daniel above
all. He preferred him above all. He
was first, so he set Daniel over the whole realm. The whole realm. God the Father set Christ Jesus,
his son, above all. In eternity, He set Him above
all. Colossians 1 says, He's the head
of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, that in all things He might have the preeminence.
For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell.
And in eternity, God the Father chose to give His Son all preeminence
in all things. He set Him over the whole realm,
over the whole kingdom, over all. over all the universe, over
his church, over his kingdom. Darius made Daniel first. It
said, verse 2, here's why. That the king should have no
damage. That's why God sent his son,
the Lord Jesus, into this world that he might have no damage. He sent his son to honor and
magnify his holy law for God and for his people that God would
have no damage in the salvation of his people. That is, for God
to show mercy to sinners, God must be just. His law must be
honored. That's why He sent His Son. That's
why He sent His Son. That He might show mercy and
be just and no damage be done to God's holy character. The
Lord is well pleased for Christ's righteousness sake. He will magnify
the law and make it honorable, and He has. He has. That was
the prophecy Isaiah spoke in Isaiah 42, 21. Now Christ had
to come forth holy. He had to be holy. Adam was created
upright and Adam sinned. And ever since sin, every sinner
born into this world was unholy and a sinful man. And the Lord,
if he's going to represent his people, he had to be holy. He
had to be perfect in order to represent his people and fulfill
the law for his people. And we see this typified in Daniel,
verse 3, he had an excellent spirit in him. Well, this is
what God said of Christ, the last Adam. Isaiah 42, verse 1,
he said, Behold my servant, whom I uphold, mine elect, and whom
my soul delighteth. I have put my spirit upon him. He shall bring forth judgment
to the Gentiles. He shall. That's why the Lord
set Darius over his kingdom to bring forth judgment. But more
so than that, more preeminently than that, Christ had the Spirit
of God. He came forth, one with the Father,
one with the Spirit, the God-man mediator to set judgment in the
earth for his people. He shall not fail. He shall not
fail, Isaiah said, till he has set judgment in the earth, and
the isles shall wait for his word. Isaiah 11.2. Let's look
there at that. Isaiah 11.2. Isaiah 11. He said, Well, let's read verse 1. There
shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch
shall grow out of his roots. This is Christ. The Spirit of
the Lord shall rest upon him. He has an excellent spirit, the
spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. It shall
make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord, and
he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, nor reprove
after the hearing of his ears. But with righteousness shall
he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the
earth. And he shall smite the earth with the rot of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. And
righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness
the girdle of his reign." This is what we see typified as we
look at Daniel. We see Daniel as a picture of
our Lord Jesus. Our Lord Jesus, Daniel was upright
as far as men go. and had a good character, our
Lord Jesus Christ was perfect. He had to be perfect. God's not
settling for the best you can do. That won't do it. It's got
to be perfect. It's got to be absolutely perfect. The only one is Christ His Son. The only one. And this is why
our Lord Jesus said when He came back from the grave and He came
to His disciples, He said, all power is given to me in heaven
and on earth. The Lord set him over all. He has all preeminence. Now because
it pleased God to give Christ all preeminence, because it pleased
Him to honor His Son and magnify His Son, and because Christ is
holy and without sin, He is despised and rejected of men. He is despised
and rejected of unregenerate sinners. Daniel 6 verse 4 says,
Then the presidents and princes sought to find occasion against
Daniel concerning the kingdom. Now why would they do this? Why
would these men do this? Why did they seek occasion against
Daniel concerning the kingdom? These men wanted the glory that
Daniel had. They wanted the glory that belonged
to Daniel and no other man. No other man can have this glory,
and they wanted it. They wanted it for themselves.
They wanted to find reason to accuse Daniel and take him out
of the office God put him in. That's what they wanted to do.
That's what the Pharisees wanted to do to Christ. That's what
men want to do today, to Christ. That's where man says, we will
not have this man reign over us. We will not have this man
reign over us. That's what the Pharisees said
toward Christ. That's what men are saying today.
The Scripture says, you ever noticed in Isaiah 53, it doesn't
say He was despised and rejected of men, it said He is. He is
despised and rejected of men, even today. But they couldn't
find fault with Christ. They could find no fault with
Christ. Try as they may, they could find no fault with our
Redeemer. We see this pictured in Daniel, verse 4. But they
could find no occasion nor fault. For as much as he was faithful,
neither was there any error or fault found in him. Christ walked this earth entirely
without sin. Without sin. No fault could be
found in him. No fault could be found in Him.
He was faithful to God. He was faithful to His people.
There was no error, no fault found in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Why is that necessary? For such a high priest became
us who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made
higher than the heavens. Why was that becoming us? Because
if He's going to be the perfect righteous, holy, substitute,
he's got to be different from you and me. He's got to be different
from those he saves. He's got to be perfect. And he
is. He's holy. Sinners like to compare
themselves to one another because there's always somebody you can
find that's a worse sinner than you. That makes men feel good. That makes self-righteous men
feel real good about themselves because they've got somebody
that's worse than them. If you want to compare yourself
to somebody, compare yourself to Christ. He's the judge, and
we fail. We've been weighed in the balance.
If we think we can come to God by anything in us, then we've
come up wanting. We cannot do so. He hath appointed
a day in which he'll judge the world in righteousness by that
man whom he hath ordained, whereof he's given assurance to all men
in that he hath raised him from the dead. Christ is the one who
will judge the world. He is the righteousness all sinners
must have. Either we're going to bow and
believe Christ and be found in his righteousness, or we have
to meet God attempting to compete against Christ in his righteousness.
And He's the judge. He's the judge. Christ's holiness
exposes every sinner as a sinner. Everybody. When we really know
Him and see Him, that's when we'll shut our mouths and stop
boasting because His holiness, His righteousness exposes us
as sinners. That's why men hated Him. Christ
said this. He said, if I had not come and
spoken unto them, they had not had sin. But now they have no
cloak for their sin. He tore away all the religious
masks of those that appeared to men to be righteous by the
law. He took that away because he was really righteous as he
walked this earth. And he is the righteousness God
will receive and the only righteousness. And men despise that. They won't
bow to Christ. will not bow to Christ. That's
what was going on with these men. Daniel was God's servant. God put him there. God put him
where he was. God gave him the heart to serve
God. And these men wanted Daniel taken down. But that's a beautiful
picture, brethren, of what it was with our Savior. Our Lord
said that. Our Lord said that. If they persecuted
me, they will persecute you. You're not going to be without
fault. You're just not. Try to be. We ought to be. We
should try our best to be. But we're not going to be without
fault. We're not. If the men want to find something
in you, they haven't been a politician in 50 years, they haven't been
able to find something wrong with them. Well, the same is
true of us. If men really want to go digging,
they can find something. Who's our righteousness? Who's
perfect? Who's the one we stand before God? in, accepted, and
God will receive us. Christ alone. Christ alone. The reason it was a necessity
that God sent forth His Son is because God's holy law cannot
be altered. God's holy law must be honored. Now look at this. These men hated
Daniel and they persuaded King Darius to pass a law that they
could use against Darius. That was their goal. Now listen
to this in verse 6. Then these presidents and princes
assembled, oh let me read that, 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. That's what they
wanted. You let Satan and his ambassadors
try to find some sentence against you before the law, before God,
and it's an impossibility if you believe Christ. If you rest
in Christ, it's an impossibility. Then these presidents and princes
assembled together to the king. And they said this unto him,
King Darius live forever. These men didn't love Darius
either. They didn't love him either. If they could get Daniel
off the throne, then they'd start fighting one another and do the
same thing against one another. And if they got up to Daniel's
plate, they'd try to do the same thing to Darius. Dog eat dog. These men didn't. They'd just
come there talking talking nonsense. Darius lived forever. And all
the presidents of the kingdom, the governors and the princes,
the counselors and the captains have consulted together. That
was a lie. They didn't consult Daniel. He
didn't know anything about this. That was a lie. They consulted
together to establish a royal statute and to make a firm decree
that whosoever shall ask a petition of any god or man for thirty
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 it be not changed according to the
law of the Medes and the Persians which altereth not. Now, this
flattered Darius. They wanted to sign a law, and
everybody was on board with this, they said, they wanted to sign
a law so that nobody would worship anybody but him. Nobody worship
anybody but him. And this law, you notice here,
the law of the Medes and Persians, it altereth not, cannot be changed. This is a picture of God's law.
It cannot be changed. He said, wherefore King Darius
signed the writing and the decree. Now, when Daniel knew that the
writing was signed, he went into his house and his windows being
opened in his chamber toward Jerusalem. You know, this is
a good example. Our Lord said don't do anything
to be seen of men, but if men try to tell you you can't worship
God and you can't pray to God, Daniel left the windows open. He kneeled upon his knees three
times a day, and he prayed, and he gave thanks before his God
as he did aforetime. Then they came near, and they
spake concerning the king's decree, Hast thou not signed a decree
that every man that shall ask a petition of any God or any
man within thirty days, save of thee, O king, shall be cast
into the den of lions? The king answered and said, The
thing is true, according to the law of the Medes and 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 that thou
hast signed, but maketh his petition three times a day. Then the king,
when he heard these words, was sore displeased with himself. And he set his heart on Daniel
to deliver him. And he labored to the going down
of the sun to deliver him. You know, this is a heathen king
that doesn't know God. And he won't have compassion
on Daniel. Aren't we who know him and know
how he's had compassion on us? He labored to the going down
of the sun to figure out a way, how can I have compassion on
him? Then these men assembled unto the king, and they said
to the king, Know, O king, that the law of the Medes and Persians
is, that no decree nor statute which the king establisheth may
be changed. Now brethren, the law of God
cannot be changed. The law of God cannot be changed.
It altereth not. It altereth not. The law of the
Medes and Persians, it can be changed. They acted like it couldn't,
but God has changed it. He done away with their law completely,
but God's law can't be changed. God's law can't be altered at
all. God says toward God, the first
table of the law, he says God alone must be worshipped with
not the slightest deviation. He said, thou shalt have no other
gods before me, no graven image, no likeness. God must have all
our devotion without any deviation. We can't put anybody else above
God. We can't put anybody above God. Nobody. Because He's a jealous
God. Thou shalt not take the Lord's
name in vain. The Lord will not hold him guiltless
that taketh his name in vain. Not in the heart. Not in a false
profession. That's what a false profession
is, taking his name in vain. Not in a joke. Not in any way. Not even thinking it. Not in
any way. Thou should observe the Sabbath
day perfectly, no deviation, no work, not for servants, not
for animals, all must be given rest. And toward man, God's law
says, honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be
long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Never
any dishonor whatsoever to mother and father, never any thought
in the heart that's less than honoring to father and mother.
Not even the slightest. Not in the slightest. This is
what the Lord meant when he said that Christ will not judge after
the seeing of the eye and the hearing of the ears. He's looking
on the heart. He's looking on the heart. Thou
shall not kill. No unjust anger in the heart.
Never. Not toward anybody. not any time,
at any period, from any second in our life. Thou shalt not commit
adultery, our Lord said, not even in the heart, to look upon
a woman with lust in her heart to commit adultery, the Lord
said. Thou shalt not steal, not even think about it. No time
for the boss, every second from the time walk in to the time
walk out needs to be full, complete devotion to the boss, not stealing
time. not stealing of anything whatsoever
in any way. Thou shalt not bear false witness
against thy neighbor, no lie of any kind, any time." God said,
we're liars. That's what he called us. No
lie, any time. Thou shalt not covet. Never hear
of how much the church gave to brethren and say, well, why'd
we do that? No covetousness. Not anything
a man has, not anything God's not given us. We've got to be
perfectly content with what God's given. Now God declares, I don't even
have to say this to you that know Him, God declares we are
all transgressors. We have all sinned, we have all
worked iniquity. We did so in Adam. God gave this
law to show us the transgression we committed in Adam. That's
how we became guilty. That's how we died. That's how
death passed upon us. Sin and death passed upon us
because we sinned in Adam. And we've sinned in ourselves.
We've broken His law in ourselves. Look over at Romans 3. I want
to show you this. Romans 3 verse 10. As it is written, there is none
righteous, no not one. Now that means exactly what I
just said. There's none that's kept God's
law. The only way to be righteous is to have perfectly kept God's
law with no deviation. No deviation. There's none righteous,
no not one. There's none that understandeth.
There's none that seeketh after God. They're all gone out of
the way. They're together become unprofitable.
There's none that doeth good, no not one. And here's the I
don't know, I guess you call it the paradox, but anybody who
attempts to come to God thinking they will be accepted of God
by their obedience to the law, in that attempt they are breaking
every one of those commandments. Because they're worshipping this
idol of their hand, they're stealing the glory that belongs to Christ,
they're committing adultery against Christ, playing the harlot against
Him who is the husband of His people. God's law is spiritual. God's
law requires inward perfection as well as outward perfection. We know that the law is spiritual,
Paul said, but I am carnal, sold under sin. Now look back there
again at Romans 3. Why did God give it then? Why
did God give the law? He gave it for two reasons. Romans
3 verse 19. We know that what thing soever
the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law. That's
who the law speaks to, to them that are under the law. And here's why. That every mouth
may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified
in its sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But
here's another reason the law was given. The righteousness
of God without the law is manifested being witnessed by the law and
the prophets. Even the righteousness of God
which is by the faithfulness, the doing and dying of Jesus
Christ. This is the righteousness that
is unto all and upon all them that believe. And there's no
difference. We all have to be saved this
way because we have all sinned and come short of the glory of
God. We have to be justified freely by God's grace through
faith in His Son. Now that's why God gave the law.
If you believe on Christ and rest in Christ and trust Christ,
you're not under the law, you're under grace. You're robed in
the righteousness of Christ and God says what His Son did, that's
what you've done. Perfect. But if you're trying
to come to God in any way dependent upon your keeping the law, you're
under the law and the law says you are guilty. Guilty. Now that's the end of it. That's
it. Well how do you know that? That's why God sent his son. That's why he sent his son. Darius'
dilemma was how could he save one he loved? How could he save
Daniel? and be merciful to Daniel and
still be just. And he paced the floor all night
long and he could not figure out how to do it. He couldn't
figure out how to do it. And you and I can't figure out
how to do it. But God knew how to do it. God
is holy, and He must pour out justice on every sinner, and
He shall. God must pour out justice on
every sinner, and He shall, including those He has mercy on. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. He keeps mercy for thousands, He forgives iniquity and transgression
and sin, and He will by no means clear the guilty. How can we
be recipients of mercy and recipients of unyielding justice? There's
only one way. There's only one way. Darius
couldn't do it, we can't do it, but God's our wisdom and He sent
forth Christ Jesus, the power of God. This is the power of
God to be merciful to His people and be just. Christ is the wisdom
of God to be merciful to His people and yet honor His law
and be just. The one way God can remain just
and justifies guilty people is by God Himself sending His Son
who laid down His life on a God's justice in place of His people. That's the one way. He says here
in verse 10, Daniel 6.10, he says, Now when Daniel knew that
the writing was signed, he went to his house, and his windows
being opened in the chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his
knees three times a day, and he prayed and gave thanks before
his God as he did aforetime. Now I want you to get this. Daniel
knew what the law stated. And Daniel knew when he went
in that house and he opened up that window for all to see, prayed
to God three times a day, he knew he was going to be guilty.
And he knew he was going to be thrown in that lion's den. Our Lord Jesus Christ came forth
knowing that when he bore the sin of his people before this
whole world with the windows open for all to see, before God
who he loved, he would be justly due the wrath of God in a place
of his people, that he would bear that before his people.
And he did it. That's the love he has for God
and for his people. That's the righteousness God's
law requires. If you really loved your brother
when they sinned, rather than trying to kill them, you'd say,
kill me, kill me, let them go free. That's what he did. When
the soldiers came to get him, he said, take me and let these
go free. That's what we'd do. That's what
we'd do. Till then we can't boast about
any goodness in us, any righteousness in us, anything whereby we can
be accepted of God because of something we've done. And we
ought not boast about our love. He hath made Him sin for us who
knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God
in Him. God help us enter into that.
This is the righteous love of the law that God requires. His
Son, His innocent Son, the one the law could say nothing unto,
willingly was made sin in place of His people. in order that
he might make his people the righteousness of God in him.
Do you see this? I don't know the word for it.
Do you see how that's the fulfillment of the law? The fulfillment of
the law is perfect love to God and perfect love to your brethren.
That's it. That is the one act in which
a man ever did it. That's Christ. That's what it
means when he's the Lord our righteousness. He's the only
one who ever loved like that. The only one. All we like sheep
have gone astray, we've turned everyone to his own way, and
the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. And Darius delivered Daniel into
the den of lions. He wouldn't spare him. He couldn't
spare him. Now, he couldn't find a way to
spare him, and he delivered him there. But here's the thing.
God sent his son forth to shut the lion's mouth. to satisfy
justice, to take all power away from the devil, to make His people
righteous. And when God found sin on His
Son, He poured out justice on Him.
That's what the rice did, throwing Daniel in that den of lions.
Verse 16, Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and
they cast him into the den of lions. Now the king spake and
said to Daniel, Whom thou service continually, He will deliver
thee. That was God the Father's promise
to His Son, right there. The God whom you serve continually,
He will deliver you. And here's the faithfulness of
Christ. He went to the cross, willingly
cut off from the God who made that promise to Him, because
He believed that promise. That's perfect faith, isn't it?
That's perfect faith, isn't it? And a stone was brought and laid
upon the mouth of the den. We saw that stone this morning.
It has to be rolled away. This is how Christ rolls it away
right here. 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. And brethren, this is
what Paul said. He said, when God He found sin
on his son. He spared him not, but delivered
him up for all his people. Now don't misunderstand me. Our Lord Jesus never sinned.
The Lord laid on him the sin of his people. He made him sin
for his people. And he had to satisfy justice.
This thing he was doing was to satisfy justice. It's not just
to condemn the innocent, and it's not just to justify the
guilty. God will do neither. God sent
His Son to declare He saved in a manner perfectly just and perfectly
righteous. That don't line up with the doctrine
I've always been taught. Throw away the doctrine you've
always been taught, because this is the truth. On the cross, God separated Himself
from our substitute in the darkness, just like Darius left Daniel
in the den of lions and went back into the dead of night and
separated Himself from Daniel. That's what God did on the cross
in three hours of darkness with His Son, our substitute. But here's the good news, brethren.
The Lord Jesus Christ satisfied justice and declared God just. He satisfied justice and he declared
God just. God proved it by raising him
from the dead. Look at verse 19. Then the king
arose 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. He didn't think he was going
to hear Daniel. He cried with a lamentable voice. He was weeping. Not so God the Father. And the
king spake, and he said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living
God, is thy God, whom thou service continually, able to deliver
thee from the lions? Don't you know that was a wake?
Wake, dear Daniel. Then said Daniel to the king,
O king, live forever. I went to rise. Oh, don't you
know he was thankful. He loved Daniel. O king, live
forever. Daniel's alive. My God hath sent
His angel, and hath shut the lion's mouths, that they have
not hurt me. For as much as before him innocence
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. And so Daniel was
taken up out of the den, and no matter of hurt was found upon
him, because he believed in his God. God our Father is exceedingly
glad with what His Son accomplished for Him and His people, justifying
God, declaring God just and the justifier of His people. And
God commanded the Lord Jesus to be raised from the dead, just
like Darius commanded Daniel to be raised up. He commanded
Christ to be raised up because Christ has satisfied justice. He delivered Him from the grave
and He declared by that that He justified His people. He satisfied
the law. That's what the Scripture said.
He was delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification. And now God calls His people.
to behold His Son, to look to His Son, to look to the cross
and see what His Son has accomplished, how He has satisfied and honored
and magnified God's holy law for His people so that God is
just to be merciful to His people because you died in Christ on
the cross. The only just thing to do. Oh, is to be merciful. That's
justice. Justice is your friend, believer,
because it's the just thing for God to do, to be merciful, because
you died at Calvary in Christ. And I tell you, that's the only
just thing for us to do, for one another, is be merciful. Anything else is throwing a stumbling
block in front of your brethren. We have to be merciful. We have
to be merciful. Why can this be so? How is this
so? How was this accomplished? Verse
22, My God has sent His angel and has shut the lion's mouths,
that they have and shall not hurt you. For as much as before
Him, innocency was found in Christ Himself, He put away the sin
of His people and God says to you, believe on Christ. Now innocence
He's found in you. He did no hurt and God says of
His people, you've done what He did. You did no hurt. Innocent. Absolutely, perfectly, thoroughly
innocent. Daniel was as far as men are
concerned. Christ has made His people so
as far as God is concerned. But all who reject Christ, all
who refuse to bow to Christ, all who refuse mercy are going
to meet God outside of the substitute, and they will be delivered to
justice. Verse 24, the king commanded, and they brought those men which
had accused Daniel, and they cast him into the den of lions,
them and their children and their wives. And the lions had the
mastery of them, and break all their bones and pieces wherever
they came at the bottom of the den. That's what justice demands.
That's what justice demands. The accuser of the brethren,
that's what he'll receive. Satan's been cast down and our
Lord will tread him under your feet shortly, brethren. That's
what he deserves. And our Lord promises his people,
because Christ bore that for you. You're innocent. Can you just think about God? Holy God. He doesn't judge after
the hearing of the ear, the seeing of the eye. Holy God. He's created
a new man in His people, by His Spirit, and robed us in the righteousness
of His dear Son through faith in Him, and God says, you are
innocent. That's what it means to be justified.
There is no record of sin and will never be a record of sin. That's what it means. Justified. Justified. Then Darius wrote unto all people,
nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth and said, Peace
be multiplied unto you. I make a decree that in every
dominion of my kingdom men tremble in fear before the God of Daniel
for he is the living God. steadfast forever, and his kingdom,
that which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be even
unto the end. He delivereth, he rescueth, he
worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who hath
delivered Daniel from the power of the lions. And so this Daniel
prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus the
Persian. And he's still prospering. Daniel's still prospering right
now at God's right hand. That's right. Our Lord Jesus
Christ has prospered and he's making his people prosper. And
Daniel, the man, he's still prospering in God's presence right now.
Brethren, this is the Lord we're remembering. What he's accomplished
in totally, thoroughly saving us, redeeming us in a way that's
entirely righteous before God. You know what that makes you
want to do? That makes you want to do as Daniel did. to believe
on Him and worship Him. And if mother and father tells
me I have to turn from Him, son and daughter, husband or wife,
anybody tries to accuse me, put me down, tell me I can't worship
this God, Keep worshiping and the only
way you do that is by the Spirit of God keeping you. You don't
have the strength to do it. I don't either. The only way
we'll keep doing that is by the Spirit of God. If you don't believe
that, God might be merciful to show you that it's by His strength
alone. When we're weak and we have no
strength, that's when we say it's by His strength alone. Believe on Him. Trust Him. Love
one another. Forgive one another. God says,
I've had compassion on my people. I delight in it. And we should
too. Let's remember Him, brethren.