Turn this evening in your Bibles
to the book of Daniel. Turn to Daniel chapter six. Daniel chapter six is a record
of something that actually happened a long time ago. It is not a made up story. I
know as children, we're read a lot of stories, fairy tales
about little boys that grow long noses and all kinds of make believe
things. This is not a make believe story. What's recorded here in God's
word actually happened. And most folks know this account
as Daniel and the lion's den. but that's probably poorly named. A better title would be Jesus
Christ Saves Daniel in the Lion's Den. And I'm gonna show you why
I hope. Look at verse one here. We read,
it pleased Darius. Now Darius is the king at this
time over all this land where They had come down and conquered
Israel and Jerusalem and taken all these people back up to where
Darius lived, and he's the king there. And we need to realize
in that day and time, a king was a king. He had absolute sovereign
authority over everything, everybody in the kingdom. When the king
said, jump, you said, how high? When the king said do, you did. If the king said you die, you
die. It pleased King Darius to set
over the kingdom 120 princes, which should be over the whole
kingdom. This guy had so much going on, it took 120 princes
and generals and officials to keep track of it all. This is
big, big business back then. You know, God lets men have some
temporary rule and reign over his creation, but it's only temporary. Where's King Darius now? Where's
the kingdom that he had? It's all gone in it. Anybody
here ever hear of King Darius besides here? No, it's because
God let him for a little while rule over this land and some
of his people. Verse two and over, over these
three presidents of whom Daniel was the first that the princes
might give accounts unto them and the King should have no damage.
God holds all men and women accountable. We need to realize that. We're
responsible for the stuff we do and say. God keeps evil men
in check this way too. He sets over them rulers. And that's why we respect people
in offices and police officers and that kind of thing is because
they only have that authority because God gave it to them.
And because God gave it to them, we ought to show them respect
for that. But this King Darius had so much going on. He has all these princes and
presidents and all of this, but he needs these three presidents.
You know why? Because he realizes if somebody's
not watching his back, these guys, these princes, they're
going to rob him. They're going to steal. They're
going to do unscrupulous, wicked things. Why is that? Because
that's our nature. If God lifts his hand off of
any of us, let's be careful when we look at the fellow who gets
caught doing something, except for the grace of God, we'd be
doing the same thing. So let's be careful in that.
But Darius realizing this sets up all these offices. So nobody's
stealing from him and doing what they shouldn't do. Then look
at verse three. Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents
and princes. because of an excellent spirit
was in him and the king thought to set him over the whole realm.
As time went along, Daniel was so good at what he did. He was
so conscientious and worked so hard that Darius went, Daniel
needs to be in charge of this whole thing. Well, what was there
about Daniel that set him apart? Do you see these two words? I
got them underlined in my Bible. Daniel had an excellent spirit. Where do you get that? The Spirit
of God was in him. One way to tell or recognize,
among many, one way to recognize God's people, do you know what
they all have? An excellent spirit. In varying
degrees, we don't expect a babe to know the things that a little
baby doesn't know the things that young people know or that
grownups know, do we? But all of God's people, they
have this excellent spirit. They're gracious. They're kind. They're truthful. They have integrity. They have a work ethic. They
work hard. Do you know God's people don't need a taskmaster?
They work hard. They'll work hard. They'll be
honest and they'll be truthful. It's called an excellent spirit.
Daniel had it. Why? Because he was a child of
God and God gave him this spirit. And at this point, Daniel's getting
to be pretty old and he's been, had Christ revealed to him for
some time and we ought to grow in grace. That's a scriptural
term. We ought to, this excellent spirit
ought to get more and more excellent as time goes on. I'll tell you,
warn you about something else. Those who do not know our God,
you know what they do? They fuss
and they fight and they lie and they steal and they connive. They're always trying to figure
the angle in the situation. They lust after money. What's
wrong with them? They don't have an excellent
spirit. You see, when Adam fell, All that was gone. There's nothing
excellent in any of us by nature, but the gift of God for his children
in this life is this excellent spirit. Now look at verse four. Then the presidents and princes
sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom. What's wrong? They're jealous
of him. They don't like him being the
boss over them. They can't cheat and steal and take and do. So
they don't like it. These presidents and 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. Wow. You know, envy and jealousy
is pretty common among those who don't like God's people.
Uh, if somebody over here is really good at what he does,
it takes real grace, not to look at him and be jealous or worse
yet, try to do something to make him look not as good as he really
is. And unfortunately that's what
God's people will find. There's always going to be people
around us. They want the position and the
respect that God's people have, but they're not interested in
earning it. They like the integrity they
see, but they don't want to do what's
required to achieve it. Nor are they willing to bow to
the authority of those over them. A mark of God's people is that
when some, when we find, we have a boss, we all got bosses. Somebody
we answer to, God's people bow to that. They yield to that. A major goal of the believer
is that others find no fault. They desire to be like Christ.
You know what Pilate said? Those guys brought up, those
Pharisees brought up the Lord Jesus Christ before the court
and they made this accusation and that accusation. When it
was all said and done, what did Pilate say? I don't see any fault
in him. There's no fault in him. Not
at all. People hate that. People hate
that. God can always, in everything
we do, find fault. We know none of us are perfect.
We know that. Because everything we touch gets
contaminated by sin. Ever since Adam, that's what
happened. However, God's people don't behave a certain way so
God will save them, but rather because God in Christ and His
perfect work has saved them. Do we see the difference? God
saves his people and then God gives them this excellent spirit.
Look at verse five. Then said these men, we shall
not find any occasion against this Daniel. There's just nothing
we can find that's wrong with him except, except we find it
against him concerning the law of his God. Daniel pictures Christ here.
There's no fault in him, no fault in him. It's a great compliment
to Daniel and the grace of his God that his only fault in their
eyes, do you know what it was? They said, except concerning
how he worships God. You know what they said about
him? The guy worships God all the time. How's he find time
to run the kingdom? He's always worshiping his God.
Oh, that it would be said about some of us. And you know, it
is said about God's people. That guy, he goes to church more
than anybody I know. He's there on Sunday morning,
Sunday night, Wednesday night. He goes to these conferences.
Oh, that it might be said about us. The only fault we have is
that we worship our God too much. Look at verse six with me. Then
these presidents and princes assembled together to the king
and said unto him, King Darius, live forever. And all the presidents
of the kingdom and the governors and the princes and the counselors
and the captains have 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 30 days, save of asking you, O king, he
shall be cast into the den of lions. Now, O king, establish
the decree and sign the writing Let it not be changed according
to the law of Medes and Persians, which altereth not. Wherefore
King Darius signed the writing and the decree." These fellas,
I'll tell you, they hatched a plot. They meant it for evil and they
were envious and thought to set a trap for Daniel. They appealed
to the vanity of Darius, the king. They tricked him into signing
a decree for evil purposes. But look in chapter 10, what
it says, I mean verse 10, what it says. Wherefore King Darius
signed the writing and the decree in verse 10. 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
down upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks
before his God as he always did aforetime. Daniel knew. Do you see what
that says right there in verse 10? Daniel knew. Daniel knew these fellows envied
him and hated him. He knew they were hatching a
plot. When he heard about the decree that these fellows were
writing out and you think he didn't know what was going on
in the kingdom? But he let him bring it to the King and sign
it. Daniel knew what these men were trying to do. These men
knew the wicked business they were about. But let me tell you
something else. God knew. And we realized that
the whole time this was going on behind secret and closed doors,
God knew. God knew what these men were
about and be assured No one ever said about any evil purpose.
Nobody ever sets about anything evil toward us or Christ, God
and his people that God is not fully aware. He knows, he knows. He knows their plan. He knows
their purpose. He knows their intent from A
to Z and be assured. God has provided the solution. He has it in place long before
these evil men ever hatched their plot. What did Daniel do? He knew what
did he do? Did he sneak around and tell
the King and did he try to set up something to avoid all this?
No, he was going to worship his God as he always did. What did
he do? The same thing we should do when
a trial comes our way. You see what Daniel did? It says
he kneeled upon his knees and he prayed. And the second thing
he did is he gave thanks. He gave thanks. It's a privilege
of God's people to be tried by trouble, but you know, there's
trouble. And then there's real trouble,
real trouble. It's one thing to have a toothache.
It's another to have a brain cancer. We see the difference
in those two things. It's one thing to, to not get
the raise that we thought we were going to get. It's another
thing to get fired. There's trouble. And then there's
real trouble. What does Daniel do when this
is real trouble folks. He knows he's broken the King's
law and he's going in that den of lions. He knows that. What's he do? The same thing
he always does. He prays and gives thanks. Not
out of form or ritual, but out of constant need and desire.
I'll tell you what, if we're in the habit And God gives us
the grace to have this in our lives, to come to worship, to
read the word and to pray. When trouble comes, that's what
we'll do. When real trouble comes, that's
what we'll really do. Look at verse 11. Then these
men assembled and found Daniel praying and making supplication
before his God. Then they came near and spake
before the king concerning the king's degree. Has thou not signed
a decree? Now you asked me, I mean, ask
yourself this. They wrote the decree. They presented
it to the king. They got the king to sign it.
And now they're going a king. You know that decree you sent?
Like he wouldn't remember that? Or he didn't know? That every man that should ask
a petition of any God or man within 30 days, save O thee,
O king, shall be cast into the den of lions. And the king answered
and said, yeah, that's true. The thing is true according to
the law of Medes and Persians that altereth not. Then answered
they and said before the king, And I wish there were a way to
get the tone of what these fellows said next. They said to him,
that Daniel, you see it right there? It's not just, you remember
Daniel? No, no, it's like that Daniel,
the one we're after, that Daniel. I don't know how many Daniels
there were, but it was that Daniel. They thought we got him now.
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." They thought,
we got him. We got him. And these evil men
couldn't wait to spring the trap. They ran to the king thinking,
we got Daniel now. And they were so foolish and
ignorant to think that King Darius, would not realize at some point
exactly the trap they had laid and set for Daniel by deceiving
the king. Let me give you an illustration I
think you young people who are in school can identify with.
You ever play a joke on somebody or had a classmate play a joke
on somebody? Y'all call it pranking somebody
now, don't you? Is that what you call it when
you prank somebody? You set them up with something and then you
switch them and they get embarrassed. And kids be careful with that. It's not usually near as funny
as we think it is. Okay. And let's do to them maybe
what you'd like to have and not do to them the things you'd not
like to have done to us. But we know what we're talking
about here, playing a prank, right? You know, it's one thing
to play one on your brother, isn't it? It's another to play
it on somebody's classmate in school, right? What about pranking
your teacher? Maybe not such a good idea. Or
how about pranking the principal? You might want to think about
that one before you do it. Do you know what these fellas
were doing? They were pranking the king. They were trying to
pull a fast one on the king. They were embarrassing the king.
This is a bad thing. It's a bad thing. And yet men
are so foolish to think there's not a day of reckoning for sin. Do we think we can do the things
we do and God won't hold us accountable? Oh my, that God is so blind that
he does not see the sin and the motive? The king wasn't fooled
here. And God will hold all of us accountable
for sin because he's holy and he's just. And Darius is gonna
hold these men accountable for what they did. Look at verse
14. Then the king, when he heard
these words, was sore displeased with himself. He was upset that
he'd been tricked into doing this and set his heart on Daniel
to deliver him. And he labored till the going
down of the sun to deliver him. And you know what? He couldn't
do it. And folks, I mean, I'm sorry. It doesn't matter how
hard we try, we cannot deliver ourselves from our sin. Can't be done. Not by us. No
matter how hard we work or think we might. Daniel had broken the
law and the price had to be paid and the penalty applied. Like
at verse 15, Then these men assembled unto the king, and said unto
the king, Know, O king, that the law of the Medes and Persians
is, that no decree nor statute which the king established may
be changed. I mean, when are they going to
figure out what they're doing and to who they're doing it? This king, he may have helped
write the rules of the Medes and Persians. He's a sovereign
reigning ruler here. He knows everything going on
in his kingdom. How? He's got Daniel and present
120 princes who just can't wait to come and tell him what's happening.
And here they are going, okay, you remember now. How foolish
are they? Oh, oh my. Do men not think or
realize that when God Almighty who sees and hears and knows
everything. That we can do something and
go, ooh, that's probably not good, I'll hide that one. I'll
pretend that never happened. No, God keeps a record and he
knows everything. And the worst thing we can do
is act like we can do something about it. Do we really think
God is fooled? If we go, well, I'm going to start going,
I'm going to turn over a new leaf. I'm going to start going
to church. I'm going to get religion. That
doesn't mean a thing. God's not fooled by that. He
knows the intent of the heart. Unless we get an excellent spirit,
nothing's ever going to change. God called these men Pharisees. Beware those who want the law
applied to others because they think they've kept the law themselves.
These poor fellows, they didn't mind going, that Daniel, because
they thought of themselves as us good guys. And it was exactly opposite that. And the ruler knew it. God knows
what's in the heart for everybody he knows. He knows who loves
him, who wants the glory to be his, as opposed to those who
don't. Beware those who want the law
applied to others because they think they've kept the law themselves.
God calls them workers of iniquity. And Daniel may have, taken or broken the law of Darius,
but these men were interested in humiliating him. You know
what they wanted? They wanted his throne. And that's
what men want today. If they could, they'd take God
off his throne and we'd put ourselves there. Not really. Is it that bad? How bad was it
back here? It's the same thing. Oh my. Look at verse 16. Then the King
commanded, and they brought Daniel and cast him into the den of
lions. Now the King spake and said unto Daniel, Daniel, thy
God, whom thou service continually, he will deliver thee. Now this
is interesting. This is very interesting. Darius
admits here that he can't help Daniel, that only Daniel's God
can. You say, how'd that come about? What made Darius say this about
Daniel and his God? I've thought about this for days.
Apparently, the reason Darius said that is that Daniel had
been telling Darius something about his God. He's sovereign. He's righteous. He's holy. He's able to save. He'd been
telling him all these things. Oh, that God, the spirit would
enable us, that he would open a door for us to tell somebody
about the God we worship and serve, that they might see and
believe on Christ. This is evidence, I think, that
Darius, Daniel had been preaching to Darius, not preachy preachy,
not, you know, you need to listen to me. No, he'd just been talking
about his God, how glorious he is, how good he was to him. He'd
been brought up out of captivity, and here he was, the first president
in a kingdom. How did that happen? Daniel said,
my God did that. My God did that because he's
able to do all things. He's good. And he's holy. You
get the Darius here says, I only hope you got Daniel and your
God's going to have to save you. And you see verse 17 or 16. Then the King commanded, 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. If you're going to be delivered,
it's going to be him. And a stone was brought and laid
upon the mouth of the den and the King sealed it with his signet,
with a signet of his Lord's that the purpose might not be changed
concerning Daniel. From what I could read and find
out this pit, this, this den for the lions was a hole they
dug in the ground. And it was a pretty big hole
and it had, uh, it was, had to be deep or else those lions were
going to climb out of there. And it had to be 15, 20 feet
deep, I would think. And I understand they kept seven
to 10 lions in there all the time. You know why they kept
them in there? They were the back then they
didn't, they didn't, uh, have the police go out and catch somebody.
And then, uh, everybody got lawyers and they started making accusations
and defending themselves and all this. No. When somebody did
something, they thought was wrong. They brought them to the King.
You know what the King said? Not guilty, guilty. And if he said guilty. They didn't
say, well, you're going to spend six months in jail or 10 years
at hard labor. No, no. You know what they did?
There's only one punishment. Throw him in with the lions.
Throw him in with the lions. And you know what they did for
those lions? They kept them right on the edge of starving to death. In case there weren't enough
criminals or people caught doing what they shouldn't for a period
of time, it said they might throw a sheep in there just to keep
the lions alive. But the rest of the time, the
lions just ate the criminals. Just ate those that broke the
King's law. Do we understand from this book,
God has a pit? God has a pit. And there's gonna
come a day when every one of us, everyone who's ever lived,
has got to go stand in front of the judge, the king. And he's gonna say one or two
things. He's gonna say, guilty. Throw him in the pit. Or he's
gonna say, enter in. I don't see a blemish
on you anywhere. How could they say that? How
could that happen? We all know we're guilty, don't we? How many
evil thoughts have we had since we got in this room? Much less
today or this week. What happened to those? The Lord
Jesus Christ already take them in a pit. When they crucified
him at Calvary, you know what they were doing? They were preparing
him for the pit. And when he died, what'd they
do? They took this pit, this hole in the cave. They put him
in there and they rolled a stone over it. Do you see that's the
same thing Daniel's done here. He went into this pit, they rolled
the stone. Everybody except King Darius
thought, well, when we take that stone away, there ain't gonna
be no more Daniel. He's gonna be cat food. 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. What can we do when a brother
or sister in Christ is in trouble? What can we do? Talking real trouble. Perhaps
we could and should do what this King did. You know, we could
postpone what is pretty much a constant concern about what
we eat and drink. How much does your life go around
about that like mine? What's for breakfast? What's
for lunch? What's for dinner? What are we
having? King Darius was so concerned
for Daniel, he didn't eat. What could we do? We might actually
turn off the TV or the computer for a little while and think
about that brother or sister. King Darius had no music played
that night. The only thing in his mind was
delivering Daniel, his beloved Daniel. We could sit in a chair
or lay in our bed with the lights out and beg our God to have mercy
on our dear sister or brother in Christ, who's in real trouble. Darius laid up all night long
thinking about Daniel. Well, perhaps we too might get
a similar result as did Darius here. Look at verse 19. Then the king arose very early
in the morning and went in haste unto the den of lions. And when
he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice to Daniel."
You know what a lamentable voice is, if you look that up? Here's
what he was doing. He didn't come in there whistling
and thinking, yippee-ki-yay, Daniel. No, he came in there
going, Daniel? Daniel? Are you down there, Daniel? Are you still alive? Anybody you know ever been sick
nigh unto death? I tell you what you'll do, you'll
cry with a lamentable voice. You'll beg God for mercy. Think about some of our dear
brethren now whose loved ones are sick unto death. Maybe we
need to cry with a lamentable voice. He cried with a lamentable
voice unto Daniel and the King spake and said to Daniel, O Daniel,
servant of the living God. He said, is thy God whom thou
service continually able to deliver thee from the lions? He said,
you've been telling me about this King, about this God who's
able to deliver. You've been telling me about
him. Is he really able? Is he really
able Daniel? If he is Daniel, you'll answer
me. Verse 21, then said Daniel unto the king, O king, live forever. He said, the eternal God has
delivered me from the mouths of the lion. Look what Daniel said. Daniel said, my God. has sent his angels and has shut
the lion's mouths that they have not hurt me for as much as before
him, innocency was found in me. And also before the old King,
have I done no hurt? You know, I really didn't do
anything to harm you. Okay. God is my witness. Who sent his angel? Daniel said,
my God. He said, who shut the lion's
mouth? My God. Why didn't they hurt
me? My God. How was innocency found in me?
My God. Why is there no sin found in
us? Our God, Jesus Christ. I've done
no hurt or harm to my King. How's that? My God kept me from
it. My God. God the Father sent God
the Son to shut the mouths of those lions. And he'll send his
spirit to shut the mouths of our accusers. Our sin cannot
hurt or harm us in the day we stand there. It, when Christ says there's no fault
in this one, nobody else is going to say a word. We're therefore
innocent before the Holy God and come in the name of our King,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who is perfect. Daniel went into the
lion's den guilty, but came out having the consequences of sin
satisfied. You noticed that the law said,
whoever does this, ask a petition of anybody for 30 days beside
the King, they'd be cast into the lion's den. He was, but he
came back out. Jesus Christ went in the pit
and paid the price and then he came out. And that's evidence
that he satisfied the law. Daniel went into the lion's den
guilty, came out with the consequences of sin satisfied. That angel,
you know who that was. In the Old Testament, oftentimes
an angel is spoken of when in fact it's a pre-incarnate Lord
Jesus Christ. And he sent angels on errands
at times But I'm pretty sure the one who went in the pit with
Daniel, that angel was the Lord Jesus Christ. And it says that he was glad,
exceedingly glad. The King was glad. He was exceedingly
glad. God, the father is glad, exceedingly
glad and satisfied with what the Lord Jesus Christ did. And it says, notice this in verse
23, this phrase, then when the king, then was the king exceedingly
glad for Daniel and commanded that he 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. Now to Daniel, now let's get
this straight. Did Daniel, when he found out he was going in
the pit, he said, I better believe on God now. Did he, when he actually
went in there, was that when he first went, oh, I believe,
I believe God can help me now. No, no, it's by faith. I don't
know if you noticed in the great list of faith in Hebrews that
brother Jared read. about Moses and all, did you
see in verse, I think it's 33, it said, and the mouths of the
lions were shut. This is an act of faith. The
mouths weren't shut because Daniel believed, okay? God made, gave
Daniel that faith long before he ever knew there was a pit.
But when he went in the pit, that faith was revealed. And
when God sends us real trouble, and for His, that excellent spirit
will bubble up and we'll believe. We'll believe what Daniel did,
that God's able to deliver him. I wish there were a way to make
this real for the children. I just wish there were a way.
I won't try the best I know how, Daniel is brought to the pit. The cover's removed, and they
throw him in. It doesn't say they lowered him
on a rope, does it? They threw him in, which, if
it's 15 feet, I mean, if you threw one of us off the roof
here, when we hit the ground, we're going down. And he hit
the ground down there. What do you think the first thing
he saw was? He looks over here and here is
this hulking 900 pound male lion. And he looks over here and here's
two female lions that haven't eaten in I don't know how long.
Can we understand if he thinks I'm a goner? I'm done for. But then, listen to what he saw. He sees this and he sees this
and suddenly he realizes there's not something, there's someone
between him and the lions. Now just who do you suppose that
is? It's gotta be the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's come down to deliver Daniel
from the lions. And he's in there all night long. And the Lord Jesus Christ stands
there, and this big old male lion, he goes to lick his lips. He can't get his mouth open.
What's keeping it shut? The Lord Jesus Christ is. And
these two females are over here. They don't open their mouth.
They don't bare their fangs. What's wrong with them? This
man, the man Christ Jesus, has got their jaws locked. They can
do no harm or hurt of any consequence to Daniel. Did you notice when
they brought him out, these fellas all went, looked at Daniel, and
you know how lions, you ever see them, they grab the back
of the neck with their claw, and they claw it? Daniel didn't
have a scratch on him. And one day, one day, It's just
like, you remember Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego got thrown
in the fiery furnace? And when they came out, they
said, they're not burnt at all. They don't even smell like smoke.
What happened? The fourth man in the furnace,
the Lord Jesus Christ, took it all, took it all. Well, let me
finish up quickly. Look at verse, and did these
evil men get away with what they did? Look at verse 24. And the
king commanded, and they brought these men which had accused Daniel,
and they cast them into the den of lions. And their children,
and wives, and the lions had the mystery of them, and break
their bones in pieces, and never they came at the bottom of the
den. And here's the conclusion of the matter. Verse 25, then
King Darius wrote unto all people, nations and languages that dwell
in all the earth, peace be multiplied unto you. I make a new decree
that in every dominion of my kingdom, men tremble in fear
before who? Not before me, but the God of
Daniel. For he is the living God, the
steadfast forever and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed
in his dominion shall be even unto the end. He delivereth and
rescueth, and worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth.
Who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the lions? So this
Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, in the reign of Cyrus
the Persian. When it's all over, Christ is
going to be glorified, and God's people are going to be rescued,
delivered from their sin, and will rest in the Lord Jesus Christ. May our God enable us to do what
Daniel did, pray and give thanks. All right, daddy, let's have
a closing hymn.