If you would, brethren, open
your Bibles to Daniel chapter 6. It was brought to my attention a
couple of hours ago that the state and their authority that God gave them out of Romans
13, they said that faith-based groups, or whatever neutered
term they could use for a church, which is what most of them are,
aren't allowed to sing this evening. And that was brought to my attention.
I have one new source that I check. If it ain't on there, I don't
pay attention to it. I ain't got time to scatter the internet
and review all these documents and see what word of mouth is
through fourth sources and all that. I check the state's website
and one other and that makes me look bigger. And so I found
this, it was just updated two days ago, and as I was looking
for it, for the information, I saw the comments of these very
well-learned men, these theologians that have dedicated their lives
to studying these scriptures because in them they think they
have life. I commented a couple of weeks
ago on the full gospel. A lot of people ask me, do you
preach the full gospel? Almost always, they're looking
for one or two aspects, and they don't look for my Redeemer in
it. They don't care about Him. They don't want to hear about
Him, and they'll leave anybody that knows Him. They'll manifest
to us that they were not of us. They didn't know Him. They're
not of that body of Christ. They come for a little while
like that whale in the wilderness, they listen, they comment, what
a great work you're doing, and they leave. And they think they
know God. And it's a shame and it breaks
my heart that they don't. Then people talk about true worship.
What does that consist of? Do we sing to our Lord? We do.
I was singing while I was washing dishes today. Humming along. You all know. I ain't going to
the opera anytime soon. I was humming. We go out to dinner
at a restaurant. I pray to my God. Do I have to
get my jacket ready and stand up and hold hands with a bunch
of people? To be seen with men? I'm praying to my Lord right now.
Don't have to do that. We sang that song, Praise the
Savior, ye who know Him. You can't praise someone if you
don't know Him. You can't pray to Him if you
don't know Him. You can't sing to Him if you
don't know Him. There's a lot of people that
could quote this Bible better than I can. They know all the
old histories of it, the wars, and what king was when and where,
and what they did, and I'll mess it up. But do they know him? Do they know him? I heard a man
say today, we need to be like Daniel. We need to be like Daniel,
ready to go in that lion's den. And my blood boiled over in me,
cuz he's telling people on a national outlet, as many people as can
hear him, something he doesn't know what he's talking about.
And it boiled over in me. Daniel was taken from Jerusalem. Nebuchadnezzar came in and took
over from Babylon. King of Babylon came in, took
over Jerusalem, and he said, I want you to go down there and
you find me some Jews without blemish. Perfect. I want them wise. Find the wisest
ones you can find. I want them to have an understanding
of science. Well, what science was back then?
I don't know, but he wanted them to have an understanding of it,
didn't he? He wanted them to be cunning. Cunning men. Strong. Strong men. Here came Daniel and three others. That eunuch, the prince of the
eunuch, gave them new names. Daniel was Belshazzar. Not Belshazzar. There's a T and
E in there. I messed it up. Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego. That was the four of them. And
I thought, how do we be like Daniel? Am I wise? Who's my wisdom? Am I strong? Who's my strength? Do I have an understanding of
science? Who's the one that created the elements? That doesn't sound like me and
you, does it? Maybe that's somebody else. Then I thought, I'm very
sarcastic in a manner I shouldn't be, I am. That man said, I've
got to be like Daniel. And I thought, are you going
to eat Pulse and drink water? Do we need to be vegetarians?
Is that what we need to be? Lentils? Beans? I'm living off
beans only. Everybody else is eating the
meat of the king, drinking the milk of the king. Him, Daniel,
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they ate the pulse, the lentils,
beans only and water only. And he said, give us ten days,
he told that eunuch, give us ten days and we'll see if our
countenance is any different. And they made it ten days. And
he said, you look exactly the same. You're actually, you look
better than those men that's been eating the king's meat and
you're a little more plump and you got a little better color
to you. You keep eating what you want to eat. Then Daniel
was brought to Nebuchadnezzar the first time to interpret a dream. He said,
I can do that. I'll tell you what the Lord says.
They brought him into where Nebuchadnezzar was. Catch that. They brought
him to the king. He went into the king's house.
And he said, I'll tell you what the dream means. The Lord's coming. Remember that big old stone you
saw chiseled out of the mountain? that a hand didn't touch it,
and had destroyed it, shattered all the kingdoms, and his kingdom
lives forever." Nebuchadnezzar praised him. He says he worshipped
Daniel. Close. That message he had was
true, but you're worshipping the wrong one. Worshipping the
wrong man. And Nebuchadnezzar says, I'm
going to make you the ruler of the province of Babylon. The
Euphrates and the Tigris meet. Beautiful hanging gardens, lush
area in that desolate land. You're going to be ruler of it.
You're going to be the mayor, the governor of Babylon. Then later on, Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego wouldn't bow to Nebuchadnezzar's gods. They said, pray to these gods.
Whenever that bell goes off, you're going to get down on your
knees and praise him. And they said, we ain't going
to do it. They said, we'll throw you in the fire. Because Nebuchadnezzar
had laid a law down. He made a decree. And so he said,
heat that oven up, that furnace, seven times hotter than you normally
make it. And I want them cast in the fire.
And they went and got the biggest, strongest men of that army. They
grabbed those three men. They bound them, as our master
was bound, in their garments, with their hats on, crowns on
their heads, something was on their head. And they threw them
into those furnaces. And it was so hot, the men that
threw them in were consumed. And Nebuchadnezzar come out of
his chair. He come off of that throne. And
he said, didn't we throw three people in there? And they said,
yes sir, we did. I see four and one of them looks like the Son
of God. And they come out of there. They were loosed. They
were walking around inside the fire. They come out and their
garbage didn't even smell like smoke. After that, Daniel was
brought to Nebuchadnezzar the second time. He said, interpret
this dream. He said, you're going to walk
around on all fours and you're going to eat grass like a cow,
like a beast of the field, and you ain't going to be king no
more. And it come to pass. Nebuchadnezzar was out there
on all fours like a beast. And then his mind returned to
him. The Lord gave him his mind back
and he said, praise be to God. Who can turn him? He is mighty. He is sovereign. He came into Nebuchadnezzar the
second time. Went into his house. Then he comes to Belshazzar.
His son, Nebuchadnezzar's son, had a big drunken feast. They
had war trophies from Jerusalem, from the temple. And he said,
you go get them, and me and the concubines and all the princes,
we're going to have a big drunken party. And a hand started writing
on the wall. Go get Daniel. These wise men
can't figure this out. Get Daniel. Daniel came and told
him everything that was going to happen. He said, your kingdom's
over. The Lord's going to kill you. You're going to die. That's what
that means. Told him everything that those
words on the wall meant. And Belshazzar clothed him in
scarlet, put a gold necklace around his neck, and made him
number three in the kingdom. One of three to rule the kingdom. Then in chapter 6, we come to
Darius. Now, we remember all the types
and all the pictures that are in the Scriptures that we have
of the Lord are imperfect. Christ was the only perfect picture
of God Almighty. But we have these pictures nonetheless.
It's not a perfect picture. Some might try to pick it apart
and argue it, but it's a picture of our Lord. There in Luke 24, verse 44, our
Master says, "...all things must be fulfilled in the law, and
in the prophets, and in the Psalms concerning Me." This is about
our Master. It's about our Lord. Let's read
through it first. Daniel 6, verse 1. It pleased
Darius to set over the kingdom and 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. Then this Daniel,
was preferred above the presidents and princes because an excellent
spirit was in him, and the king thought to set him over the whole
realm." He was going to make him rule everything, number two
in command. Then the presidents and princes sought to find an
occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom, 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. I have error and I have fault
found in me." You don't have to dig deep to find it. 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. We can't get him. Let's go after his God. Then these presidents and princes
assembled together to the king and said thus unto him, King
Darius, live forever. All the presidents of the kingdom
and governors and the princes, 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 thirty days, save of thee, O king, he shall be cast
into the den of lions." It said, for thirty days, no one can petition
a god or another man unless it's you. They can only ask you for
thirty days. Now, O king, establish the decree
and sign the writing that it may not be changed according
to the law of the Medes and Persians which altereth not. Wherefore
King Darius signed the writing and the decree." In those days,
whenever a king gave a decree according to the Medes and the
Persians, it could not be taken back. It must be fulfilled. Quickly here, Darius is an imperfect
example of God the Father. There's a few ways that he's
not. Darius was persuaded by men to make this decree, to make
this law. Who counseled our father? Who
has been his counselor? Who can turn him? He gave his
holy law from the heavens. And he said, to be in my presence,
this is it. And he gave us, throughout times, gave us our moral law.
He gave us the ceremonial law, the Levitical law, all of it. It's perfect. It's good, as Paul
said in Romans 7. He said, I delight in thy law.
Job told us that. He said, oh, I delight in thy
statutes. David told us 17 times at least in the Psalms. I delight
in thy law. I delight in thy statutes. Oh,
the commandments of thy lips are precious. Our God gave us a law. And once it was signed before
the foundation of the earth, it cannot be overturned. I wish I could pound that into
people's heads and scream from my belly button. The Lord gives
the law a decree. It can't be overturned. That's
a good example of Darius here. Even him, a poor man, just as
mannish as I am, he gave a decree as a king and he knew it couldn't
be overturned. It can't be. Our holy God says He gives us
law. It can't be overturned and the
offender must die. And we're setting the stage here
for the gospel that we stand on. There's a holy law. You have to keep it perfectly.
You can't go against it. It can't change. It does not
bend. and the offender must die. There's
going to be blood. That's another thing I wish I
could pound into people's heads. For the sin that every one of
us born of Adam have committed, somebody's going to die. It's either going to be me dying
for my sins or Christ dying for my sins. That's it. Like we saw
the other night, Cain and Abel, one of two men, first Adam and
second Adam, Cain, Reprobate, Abel, God's chosen elect son
that Christ died for before the foundation of the world. It's
going to be one or two. I'm getting ahead of myself here
on the text, but Darius labored. He tried to find a way to save
his friend, Daniel. He paced the floor. He couldn't
sleep. He said, don't bring music to
me. I don't want to do nothing. How can I find a way to keep
Daniel from dying? And this unbendable, unchangeable
decree that I have. He was powerless to defend his
friend, to redeem him. That's how he's not like our
Heavenly Father. Our Heavenly Father labored before time was. And He said to show His justice
and His holiness In His perfect law, He said, this is my law. It must be kept. It cannot be
bent. But I'm a God of mercy. How's
that going to happen? And so a movable object and an
irresistible force. God's holy law that cannot change. And His loving mercy to a people.
How can He be just? and be God and be holy and perfect
and justify us. How can He show mercy to us?
There's got to be a mediator. The man crossed Jesus. He had
to come and be our substitute, live for us, go to that cross
And people hang, men saying foolish things about this word of what
they think. They have no idea. They think
there's life in it. They're standing behind a cross with a man on
it that they feel sorry for. Cross was beaten 40 times. They said his image, his mother
didn't recognize him. The most marred man ever walked
the face of this earth. If you, if you had a picture
that could depict that, you would not want that hanging in your
living room. violent, bloody, vulgar. He had
to suffer that for us because of God's unchangeable decree. Now I know the way Darius was
not like this. Darius didn't foresee this problem
coming. He was oblivious. Our Lord was not oblivious. He
knew ahead of time. Christ wasn't the Lamb slain
halfway through time. before the foundation of time.
He knew ahead of time. We see there in verse 8, O king,
establish the decree and sign the writing that it be not changed
according to the law of the Medes and Persians which altereth not. It doesn't change. Wherefore,
king Darius, sign the writing and decree. Now when Daniel knew
that the writing was signed, Daniel knew that writing was
signed. He knew a piece of paper come out of the government office.
He was the head president of the three that was over the 120
princes. I think he knew. Scriptures tell
us he knew. What did Daniel do? He got on
Twitter. He got on Fox News and so everybody
could see him. And he said, I'm still going
to pray to my God. Riding with sign, 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. They didn't have a temple to
go to. That was tore down when Nebuchadnezzar come to town.
They split it up, didn't they? He went into his house. Let's turn over to Matthew chapter
6. Matthew chapter 6 verse 5. Thou shalt not be as the hypocrites
are, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the
corners of the streets that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you that they
have their reward. That's what they want? They want
to be seen? They got it. But thou, when thou prayest,
enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray
to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in
secret inwardly, spiritually, inside our hearts at new birth,
shall reward thee openly." Many people read that and they say,
well, if I pray in my closet and they go move some clothes
out of the way, they shut their door. The Lord is going to reward
me openly. I'll get a new Mercedes Benz.
I'll have some type of tangible reward in this earth. We pray
to the Father if we know Him. If He's made Himself known to
us, if Christ has been revealed in our hearts through His elective
work of grace, we pray to Him because we know Him. As John
told us, we know the Father. We're made sons of God. And our
reward openly. That day will come when the trumpet
will sound. Christ is going to come to this
earth and every knee will bow and every tongue confess that
He's Lord. It will be the end of our days. And for eternity, He'll reward
His faithful servants openly. Not that I'm faithful. Not that
any child of God is faithful. Christ is faithful. That's the
new man in us. That's who's put in us. Do we
have to do that out loud? Look over in John chapter 11. There's a lot of examples. I'll
just cut to the chase of where Christ was showing us. John chapter 11, verse 41. This is whenever Lazarus had died. Christ waited. He said, you need
to come. He's sick. He said, I'll be there
when it's time. And he came days later, and Martha
told him, said, Lord, he's died. If you were here, he wouldn't
have perished. He said, we'll see him again at the resurrection.
He said, Martha, I am the resurrection. Verse 41, And they took away
the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus
lifted up His eyes and said, Father, I thank Thee that Thou
hast heard me. He hadn't said anything. I'm thankful that Thou hast heard
me, and I knew that Thou hearest me always. But because of the
people which stand by, that they may believe that thou hast sent
me." He only said it out loud so His prayer could preach to
us, prove who He was, the God-man that came to this earth for sinners,
that Lamb. He said, the Father hears me
always. Alright, I have to hurry back
to Daniel chapter 6. It says in verse 10, Now when
Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his
house, went into his closet. He didn't flaunt it. And his
windows being opened 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. 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 decree. Hast thou not signed a decree
that every man that shall ask a petition of any god or man
within thirty days save of thee, unless we ask of you, O king,
shall be cast into the den of lions? The king answered and
said, The thing is true according to the law of Medes and Persians,
which altereth not. My decree went forth, it can't
be altered. Then answered they, and said before the king, that
Daniel, that Daniel, not Daniel, that Daniel, which is of the
children of the captivity of Judah, regardeth not thee, O
king, nor the decree thou hast signed, but maketh his petition
three times a day. Then the king, when he had 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, Know, O king, that the law of
the Medes and Persians is that no decree nor statute which the
king established may be changed." What are we going to do? This
earthly picture of the father that was able to make a decree.
He can't save his friends. Our Master can, can he? The Lord
delivered our Christ from the grave, raised Him again. Look here at verse 16. Then the
king commanded that they brought Daniel and cast him into the
den of lions. Now the king spake and said unto
Daniel, Thy God, whom thou servest, Continually. We saw it in Job
1 the other day. Job is a picture of Christ brought
sacrifices for his children continually. Thy God whom thou service continually,
He will deliver thee. There's going to be deliverance. Did Daniel complain? Did he throw a fit? Did he ask
for a lawyer? I want my legal representation.
I get a phone call. Matthew 27. I'll read it real
quick. Matthew 27, 11. And Jesus stood
before the governor, and the governor asked Him, saying, Are
thou the King of the Jews? And Jesus said unto him, Thou
sayest, You said it. And when he was accused of the
chief priests and elders, he answered nothing. Then Pilate
said unto him, Hearest thou not how many things they witnessed
against thee? And he answered him to never
a word, insomuch that the governor marveled greatly. There's an
innocent man about to be put to death. The charge of his elect
laid on him. Did he fight back? Did he have
a word for a lawyer? Did he ask, can we stay this
off for about 10 days? Can I get a stay of execution?
He answered him, not a word. The thing he came to do, fulfill
for his father, must needs take place. He must drink of that
cup for his people. Back in Daniel 6.17, And a stone
was brought and laid upon the mouth of the den, and the king
sealed it with his own signet, with the signet of his Lord's,
that the purpose might not be changed concerning Daniel. 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. And the king rose very early
in the morning and went in haste unto the den of lions. And when
he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice unto
Daniel. And the king spake and said,
Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom
thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions? Then said Daniel unto the king,
O king, live forever. This is the one that signed the
law to unjustly put this man in the lion's den. They rolled
the stone there. He sealed it with his ring. He
said, I'm king, I am just. And he come out of that tomb
when the stone was rolled away and said, O king, live us forever. The people that Christ died for
one day will be made like them. It'll happen. It was decreed
before the foundation of the world. God said, that's my people. I'm going to put them in you.
My only son. You're going to suffer for them.
God's going to turn his back on God. and be cursed, made a curse,
bleed, die for that people. He went into that den, that tomb,
went on that cross for what I did. And for whatever one of his children
did. And he paid it. He paid it all. Did he come out
complaining? I was thinking that the other
day. The Lord has angels around us.
govern His providence. Do you know He keeps those angels
from sinning? I don't know how. I can't explain
it. Could you imagine? I was thinking if there's an
angel that people depict in movies and it's nonsense, but if there's
one watching over me and I say, I've got to watch this one. Look
how unworthy he is. This is the one you're going
to send your son to die for? He's horrible. They would turn
on me, wouldn't they? He keeps them too. But our master
came out of that tomb and he said, O King, live forever. And
verse 22, My God hath sent his angel and hath shut the lion's
mouth that they have not hurt me for as much as before him
innocency was found in me. And also before thee, O King,
have I done no hurt. Then was the king exceeding glad
for him, and commended 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." We're
required to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. We're required
to honor the God that rules heaven and earth in all things and have
no gods before Him. Because there is no gods. Look
to Him for all things. And we're to love our neighbor
as ourself. That's what we're supposed to
do. We have a brother that loves this Lord. He doesn't have the
ability to speak What if we have to pray out loud
at the restaurant? What if we have to sing? He can't. Like I said before,
it's a decision that men and women have to make for some poor,
pitiable God that wants to do something. If I made that decision
for that God and then something hit me in the head, now what? What about my confession of faith?
What if I couldn't go to confession and confess my sins before I
die. Man understands his frailty. We understand what sin is. We
have to see a redeemer. We have to look for one. I pray
that we can, I can be like Daniel. I pray I can look to the God
that's able to save and will deliver me. Because He will.
And if you're His, He'll deliver you. And if you haven't looked
to Him, Look to Him. The lions are coming. Satan said
he's like a lion going about seeking who he can devour. You're
either going to have that, one of two. You're either going to
have that lion seeking whom he can devour or you're going to
have the lion of the tribe of Judah. Seek Him while He may
be found. Come to Him. He will deliver
you. Amen.