I please God to bless us together
this morning as we consider his word. Let's turn to the chapter
we read, that's the 6th chapter in the book of Daniel and we'll
read verse 22. The book of Daniel chapter 6
and reading verse 22. My God hath sent his angel and
hath shut the lion's mouths and that they have not hurt me for
as much as before him innocency was found in me and also before
thee O King have I done no hurt I expect we're all familiar with
this account of Daniel in the lion's den and it is of course
a very remarkable account and how good it is to be able to
retouch an account as this and to realise how God was wonderfully
faithful and delivered Daniel from that situation and indeed
The whole book of Daniel is very instructive and we have a very
similar occasion in the earlier chapters when there were those
three people, those three men Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego
who again would not bow down in that time to the king Nebuchadnezzar
and to worship that false god and of course the result was
that they had been warned that if they didn't obey God they
would be thrown into the burning fiery furnace and so it came
to pass but God was with them and they spoke when they were
accused of not obeying the king they said they were not afraid
to answer the king because they feared God more than the king
and they desired to do what God had commanded and not what the
king commanded And you may know that of course they were wonderfully
delivered, they were cast into that furnace and the fire didn't
have any effect upon them at all. And we also read that Nebuchadnezzar
was so surprised when he looked into that furnace and he said,
I see four men walking and the fourth is like unto the Son of
God. So we have the clear picture
that the Lord was with those three people, and again that
was in the time of Daniel. Now we come on to the situation
with regard to Daniel himself. And we should not think that
the picture that we have initially is surprising. Because the picture
we have initially is that all the people were so unhappy about
Daniel. They were unhappy about how he
had been raised to a position of prominence. and how he did
those things which were right and therefore they planned to
destroy Daniel and they hatched this plan that he would no doubt
continue to worship his God whatever law was passed so they got the
king to agree to pass a law that if anybody asked anything other
than of the king for 30 days he would be cast into the bed
of lions Darius was obviously taken up
and obviously it tickled his fancy, he was a proud man and
he thought well that would be a good idea and therefore he
signed the law, the law was passed and Daniel was aware of what
that was and we read now when Daniel knew that the writing
was signed he went into his house and his windows being open in
his chamber toward Jerusalem He kneeled upon his knees three
times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he did
aforetime. Now this is a wonderful testimony
and a wonderful example of a man of God. Knowing what the likely
outcome was, he didn't discontinue his habit. He didn't say, well
I must now tuck myself away and hide in a corner so that no one
can see me. He continued in this open way,
windows open so that people could look in and see that he was praying
to his God. Now that's a good example, isn't
it, for us today. We may perhaps be sometimes embarrassed
to pray to God. You know, I think of a very simple
situation. No doubt we all go out to restaurants
sometimes, don't we, and have a meal. Well, I wonder whether
we're all very happy to pray, to say grace before our meal
in a restaurant, with other people around us, perhaps our colleagues,
perhaps our friends. Do we try and duck the issue?
Perhaps we don't even say grace. Perhaps we just say a very hasty
word just to ourselves. Well, we're not following the
example of Daniel, are we? See, Daniel here was concerned
to do the will of his God. And he honoured his God, and
God honoured him. You know, sometimes we might
wonder whether people actually are Christians. Because they
are ashamed even to say grace at a mealtime mixing with other
people. Now you know we should realise
that perhaps doing such a thing might be a wonderful occasion. I know of an occasion when a
person was saying grace at one table and there was another table
and someone else was saying grace bowing their head. And that drew
those people together. There was a wonderful link. You
know, it would be a good testimony, isn't it, for us today if we
do actually say grace in an open way and acknowledge that we do
serve the Lord. Well, here was the example then
of Daniel. And we should not read an account
like this and just think, well, that's a nice account. We should
read the account and see how it applies to our lives today. You see, we live in a pretty
dark day, don't we? And it's really because the Christians
are not shining very well. The light's almost gone out. They've hidden it. It's not put
on a candlestick, as it were, so everybody can see it. They
hide the light. It's not a good testimony, is
it? It's not a God-honouring testimony, is it? How can we
expect God to bless when we do not follow the ways of our God? Well, Daniel did this. And of course, that which had
been promised was brought about. Daniel was taken. Now interestingly
the king was pretty upset when he realised what he'd done. Because
he knew what a good man Daniel was. A good man naturally. Beside being a good man spiritually.
And the king was very upset. So we read he returned to his
palace, to his house and And he fasted all night. He couldn't
sleep. He was concerned at what he'd
done. It was a terrible thing to do. So he got up very early. He came himself to the lion's
den. He didn't send his servant. No,
it was something he wanted to find out himself. He was really
concerned that Daniel might still be alive. Was there a possibility? Well, there was, you know, a
possibility. And because the king had said
to Daniel, he said now, the king spake and said unto Daniel, thy
God, whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee. He knew
who Daniel served, the living and
true God. and therefore he was able to
speak this word surprisingly really derives as an interesting
case in the word of God and we don't really know whether he
was a true believer or not but nonetheless we do have these
evident points which he directs us to which is good And he said
these words, Thy God, whom thou hast serviced continually, he
will deliver thee. And so when the king then rose
early in the morning, and went in haste unto the den of lions,
and he came, and he cried with a lamentable voice. You can imagine,
couldn't we? He was desperate to know whether
Daniel's God had saved him or not. And he came and cried and
he said, O Daniel, servant of the living God is thy God, whom
thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions. Oh, he must have been now so
concerned. What was he going to hear? Was
he going to hear Daniel? Was he going to hear the word
from Daniel? Or would Daniel be consumed by the lions? when
it was seen that he did have a belief that the Lord would
deliver Daniel. So, what a joyful voice it must
have been to have heard Daniel crying in this way. Oh my God! My God! The relevance here is
so significant, isn't it? Daniel immediately, immediately
gave the glory to God. He didn't say, oh it's alright
King, I'm okay. He said, my God has sent his
angel and has shut the lion's mouth. He immediately gave the
honour and glory to God. And that again is a very important
lesson for us. Because Let's bring it down to
our ordinary lives. Perhaps you children, young people,
you've taken exams at school, and you might come home, your
mum and dad might say, or friends might say, how did you get on
today? What do you say? Well, I got
on alright, I think. Should you not have said, my
God, helped me. My God enabled me to answer the
questions. You see how often and perhaps
you had prayed about it. I hope you had. How easily don't
we forget. And then moving on from the children,
moving on to Those of us who are older, perhaps we've had
a problem, a difficulty, and we've had to face a very hard
situation. It may not have been that hard, but it may have been
a difficulty. And again, we may have been asked,
well, how did you get on? How did it happen? Have we said,
my God appeared? My God helped me? My God was
with me? You know, very sadly, very sadly,
you see, we tend not to home in immediately to our God. And yet, without doubt, it has
been our God who has helped us. How sad it is, isn't it? that
we do not seem to honour and glorify our God as we should.
You see, we must not forget that we have an enemy, the devil,
who doesn't want us to say anything. He doesn't want us to give God
the honour and glory. We need to be very careful, very
watchful in our spiritual life as it's linked in with our natural
life, to come and give God the glory and to realise it is our
God, my God. You see, we all have a life to
live and it would be a great blessing if we are able to come
and humbly say, as Daniel did, my God. And be assured of this, every
one of us will need to be able to confirm that the Lord is my
God. He is not someone else. You know
the Athenians, the men in Athens, in Paul's day, they were worshipping
the unknown God. Paul came across a statute or
a sign which said up to the unknown God. And Paul brought this to the
attention. They were worshipping the unknown
God. The Apostle Paul wasn't worshipping the unknown God.
The Apostle Paul was worshipping the Lord who he knew. Yes, the
Apostle Paul was one who knew his God. My friends it would be a blessing
if you and I know our God and are able to say my God as a wonderful
testimony. Just a few references to The
Church of God, the people of God, who have gone before, who
indeed have been able to testify that the Lord is their God, might
turn to God's servant Moses. God's servant Moses was a servant
of the Lord. And as he came and addressed
Israel, just shortly before he died, he says, Behold I have
taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord, my God, commanded
me that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess
it." There was an authority, wasn't there? The authority came
from this statement. It wasn't Moses' laws. It was the laws that his God
had given him. And that's why he was able to
come with this divine authority and said it before the people
and say in this way, even as the Lord, my God, command thee. He wasn't speaking about the
unknown God. He was speaking about His God,
my God. What a blessing it is if we are
able to come in this way and say, my God, And then moving
on, you may remember the account of Caleb. He was one of the two
spies that came back of the twelve spies that went out to spy up
the land in Kadesh Barnea when Israel had come out of Egypt
and had been travelling in the wilderness for about a year and
Moses through God has sent them to spark the land and the two
of them came back and gave a good report and all the others gave
an evil report. Well, Caleb was one of those
who gave a good report. We read about Caleb, he reminds
Joshua of this and in the 14th of Joshua he says, 40 years old
was I when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh
by Near to inspire the land and I brought him word again as it
was in my heart nevertheless my brethren that went up with
me made the hearts of the people melt but I wholly followed the
Lord my God what a statement what a blessing
to be able to say that isn't it You see, the Lord God was
His God, my God. God in His strength. And He was
able to confirm this glorious testimony, but I wholly followed
the Lord my God. Where do we stand today in reference
to that? And we might just put it in a
spiritual context. It may be that the Lord has enabled
us to go and, as it were, spy on the land, to have a look at
the heavenly land, have a look at that which is before us, the
glorious scene and the people of God, the blessed situation
that they are found in, living in this world, union with Christ,
the blessed life it is, And the Lord may have given us that ability,
as it were, to go and have a little sight, a little view of that. And then, blessed with that view,
what's been our reaction? Has it been like this? I wholly followed the Lord my
God. Cody wasn't ashamed of it, was
he? Oh, and Kaley was honoured by his God. What a blessing it
is to be able to come like this and to be able to confirm, yes,
being able to follow my God, my God. It's a personal relationship
and what a wonderful blessing it is to have a personal relationship
with our God, not something which we've come from, gained from
anybody else. No, it's that favour and blessing
which God has given us. Well then just turning to Ruth,
you may remember the account of Ruth and what a favoured person
she was and how important it is that we have an account of
her. We read in the first chapter
about her situation. Remember, she'd been encouraged
by her mother-in-law, Naomi, to go back to her own people,
the people that she was born with, the people of Mayap. And
her reaction was in this way, Ruth's reaction was, she said,
entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after
thee, for whither thou goest I will go, where thou lodgest,
I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people,
and thy God my God." She'd seen the gracious effect of godliness
in Naomi's life and therefore her desire was in these simple
words and thy God, my God. That's the God she wanted, my
God. Where thou diest will I die,
and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me and more
so if ought but death part me and thee. And when she saw that
she was steadfastly minded to go with her. Oh, what a blessing
it is if God gives us that grace to be steadfastly minded to follow
the Lord, to follow his people, steadfastly minded, and be able
to say, thy God, my God. Oh, what a blessing it is then,
to be found in this way. Just going through these people
that are so relevant really to prove to us that these ancient
people, these people of God, they indeed followed the Lord
God and it was their God. It wasn't an abstract God. It
was their God. Remember the days of Ezra. Remember
Ezra. He came back with the people
from Babylon from captivity. And he come back and there was
a rebuilding of the wall. And he comes and tells us when
the king was gracious to him. He says, Blessed be the Lord
God of our fathers which hath put such a thing as this in the
king's heart, to beautify the house of the Lord which is in
Jerusalem." Remember, the temple had been destroyed and now it
was being rebuilt. And the king had provided the
necessary means to do it. "...and hath extended mercy unto
me before the king and his counsellors, and before all the king's mighty
princes. And I was strengthened as the
hand of the Lord my God was upon me." And I gather together out
of Israel chief men to go up with me." His testimony, you
see, he was able to declare that this God was his God, my God. And my friends, it's so relevant
to us today to be able to testify that you and I worship and follow
my God, the true God, the everlasting God. Isaiah, a man of God, a
prophet of the Lord, The man who was able to also declare,
25th chapter of Isaiah, O LORD, Thou art my God. I will exalt Thee, and I will
praise Thy name, for Thou hast done wonderful things. Thy counsels
of old are faithfulness and true. Does that find an echo in our
hearts today? Do we come and say, O Lord, Thou
art my God. The things that God has done
for us, wonderful things, things in our natural life, things
in our spiritual life. The Lord may have helped us in
things, in our homes, in our works, with our family. And also
if the Lord has shown to us our need of a Saviour, and directed
us to the Lord Jesus Christ as the only one in whom we have
hope of eternal life and there rests our hope till we then come
today and say, O Lord, Thou art my God because of the wonderful
things that have been done Do we come there today? Do we
praise God? Do we see the outcome of Isaiah
once? Oh Lord, oh my God, I will exalt
Thee, I will praise Thy name. What a blessing it is, isn't
it, to have a religion like this. To be blessed with the reality
of it, the evidence of it, In our own hearts, I am able to
say, as Daniel commenced these words, my God, my God. And now just finally referring
to my God, turning to those words of the Apostle Paul when he wrote
to the Philippians. Yes, the Apostle Paul knew his
God. He was able to tell us, he says,
Philippians chapter 4 and verse 19. But my God shall supply all your
need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." So
he puts the crown upon the head of Christ. He points us to the
Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's able to say, my God shall
supply. He was confident of it. He was
sure of it. And may we today also be given
that faith to have that same confidence and that same faith
in our God. Because the Apostle gives the
reason according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. My friends, think of it. Our
God. He is a great almighty God. He
has all things at His command. All natural things. All spiritual
things. According to His riches. We have
a God who is complete in everything. Who is able to do anything and
everything. Do we limit our God? Do we have
a little God? Or do we have a great God? Are
we able to come in this morning and say, yes, He is my God. My God shall supply all your
need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. And so Daniel is able to declare
the first words he says, my God. Oh, let us all remember this.
Let us not forget it, to point to the Lord in our lives, direct
people to our God, my God. Sure we hope, you know, we come
to die, we come to pass out of time, we want to then have our
God to be my God, who will then receive us into glory. It won't then be a case, will
it, of being disassociated. It will then be a time when we
shall so need to be able to say, Oh my God, receive my spirit. Receive me unto thyself. It won't be a time then for ignoring
God, will it? My friends, it's not a time to
ignore God today. We live, don't we, in a dark
day for the most part because I feel sure our religion is limited. It seems to be contracted almost
to times when we gather together for worship. There doesn't seem
to be very much extension, does there? And you see quite clearly,
Daniel had a very exalted job to do. He was the chief. It didn't
hinder his prayer life, did it? It didn't hinder the testimony
that he was able to give. His God was his God. Perhaps we have other gods in
our lives. But may we have one God, the
true God. May we therefore be able to come,
like Daniel was, and say, oh my God, has sent his angel, and has shut the lions' mouths,
so they have not hurt me. The angel of the Lord was sent.
Daniel was confident of that. His God had sent the angel. And the lion's mouths had been
shut. Now just let me think of this
in a spiritual sense also. We may have fears about what
people may say, what people may think of us. You may feel perhaps that it
might be as Daniel was faithful to his God we might be thrown
to the lions and we're fearful of that what people say about
us what people may want to do to us Daniel's God shut the lions mouths
my friends today you will prove that God sends his angels and
shuts people's mouths. So we are not able to say perhaps
what they were going to say, what perhaps you might have feared
they were going to say. The Lord is able still to do
these things today. We might fear men. Fear of man
brings a snare. Don't fear man, fear God. be only concerned to honour and
glorify the Lord God. So we see here, this was Daniel's
concern, my God has sent his angel and has shut the lion's
mouth and it will be a glorious occasion, won't it? When you
are over to come and see, my God has sent his angel And they shut
the lion's mouths. People haven't been able to do
what I fear they might. Now I've been preserved. God
has appeared. God has stood by me. Again going back to Paul
and the Philippians. I can do all things through Christ
that strengthens me. And you shouldn't forget that
when the Apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians, it was at Philippi
that he had that great difficulty and that great trial and that
whipping and put in a prison and beaten. And he sang praises
at midnight to his God. Oh, it was a good church to write
to along those lines, wasn't it? My God has sent his angel. And they shut the lion's mouth
that they have not hurt me. And let's pause for a moment
and just go on to what occurred after. The king was 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 man
of hurt would stand upon him because he believed in his God. Because he believed in his God.
All his trust was in his God. All his hope was in his God.
He wasn't looking elsewhere and he was believing in his God. Oh, you and I might have living
faith today to simply believe in our God that He is able to
do for us far more exceedingly abundantly than we could ask
or even think. We worship today the same God
that Daniel did. Our God hasn't grown old. Our
God is the same yesterday and today and forever. Oh, may we
have living faith today to come casting all our care upon our
God. Our God. Oh, my God. He knows all about us. He knows
the situation we're faced with. He knows the temptations, the
trials, the oppositions, the evil heart of unbelief that we
have. The Lord knows all about it. The Lord about to come to
him, trusting in the Lord. Daniel trusted in the Lord. Daniel's God delivered him from
the lion's den. Are we trusting in the Lord? When I say that, I mean this. Are we trusting in that the Lord
Jesus Christ died upon that cross at Calvary to take away our sins? Is that where our trust is today?
and I'll be able to come humbly and say, oh my God, my trust
is in Thee. My trust is in that finished
work. There is all my hope for time
and eternity. Oh, blessed place it is to be
able to come and observe what Daniel experienced and to be
able to come in our little lives in the day and age in which we
live, realising we worship the same God, who today is able to
do great things for us, so that we may know that He's put our
feet upon a rock, He's established our goings, and He's put a new
song in our heart, even praise unto our God. Oh, let us remember
the account of Daniel, Let us remember his gracious example
and let us each be concerned to be able to say at every opportunity,
my God.