Thank you Hannah. Alright, let's go back to the Gospel of Daniel. Daniel's Gospel, chapter 1. Read verses 12 and 13 again with
me. Daniel speaking to this ruler
of the eunuchs and says, Prove thy servants, I beseech thee,
ten days. Let them give us pulse to eat
and water to drink, and let our countenances be looked upon before
thee in the countenance of the children that eat of the portion
of the king's meat. And as thou seest, deal with
thy servants. There's so much meat in this
chapter to chew on, but there's really too much to take
in, and we're just going to hit on the high points, hopefully.
My hope for this message is that we're going to see who and what
it is that sustains us, that we live on. We live by faith
in and upon the Lord Jesus Christ, and that faith comes from His
Word. That's what this is all about. Now, you and I know that these
Old Testament stories are not stories of Jewish history. But as our Lord said, these are
they which testify of me. To Him give all the prophets
witness. And I hope we'll see Him clearly. That's why this was written,
is to show us the Lord Jesus Christ. When I see these, Brother
John read the account of Daniel in the lion's den tonight. Daniel
chapter 6. I was just thrilled. Weren't you thrilled reading
along with him? And I wasn't thinking about Daniel
at all. Were you? Were you thinking about
Daniel as he read that? I was thinking of Christ through
and through and how all of that pertained to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Well, look at verse 1. Now, Jerusalem was besieged by
this King Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon. All through the Scriptures, Israel
is spoken of all through the Old Testament. They were God's
chosen people, or outwardly, anyway. And Jerusalem was the
city of David. City of God. That's the capital
of Israel. City of God. All of that represents
the church. The church. Jerusalem. City of
God. And Revelation says, John said,
I saw a new Jerusalem coming down, prepared as a bride for
the groom. Babylon all through Scriptures. Like Egypt. Egypt is spoken of
often in the Old Testament. That represents the world. The
world. Babylon. Egypt. The world. Nebuchadnezzar
here represents the God of this world. Satan. Okay? Now, I know God's people, they
live in a captive, sinful world. Verse 1 says, Jerusalem was besieged
by the king of Babylon. Didn't our Lord say, in the world
you shall have tribulation? The God of this world holds captive
all the natural born sons of Adam. All of them. That's what
Paul wrote in 1 Timothy that He holds them captive at His
will. And God's people who are the
called, the chosen, and the faithful, which by the way, we will probably
look at Sunday morning. That's Revelation 17. Who is
that with Christ? They're the called, the chosen,
and the faithful. These three men. Well, God's
people who are the called, the chosen, and the faithful are
in this world, but they're not of it. Look at verse 3. King spake unto this master of
eunuchs that he should bring certain of the children of Israel,
of the king's seed. The king's seed. Certain children. Peter wrote, ye are a chosen
generation. These men were chosen. Ye are
a royal priesthood. Listen, a holy nation, a peculiar
people. These men, we're going to see,
were very peculiar. They refused to take part in
what everybody else did. They looked, well, let's go on. I'll read to you. A peculiar
people, and here's why. that you should show forth the
praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his
marvelous light." And these men, these four men are going to,
by their testimony, are going to show forth the praises of
their God. Because Daniel's God is God. And so is Hananiah and Azariah
and Mashiach. Their God is God. These certain
children, a remnant, though outwardly they looked common and ordinary. Look at verse 4. They were children
in whom was no blemish, well favored, and skillful in wisdom,
cunning in knowledge, and science, and ability to stand in the king's
palace. Do you know that's what the Scripture
says about God's people? It says that they are faultless
before His presence because Christ is able to present them without
blame before His presence, without blemish. And favored, they are
highly favored by God. They have found grace in His
eye. They are wise because Christ
is their wisdom. They are noble. They're the royal
priesthood, as we said. They're teachable, it says. These
men were able to learn. And they knew the ways of the
Chaldean. They learned the language and
all that. And God's people, they know the ways of this world.
And they know what's foolishness. But these men and God's people
are not born that way. They're born again. They're born
from above. They're regenerated. They're
made new creatures. in Christ Jesus. And God's people,
Christ's disciples, like these men, live in a world of sin and
are tempted by the things of this world. Look at verse 5. The king appointed them a daily
provision of the king's meat of the wine which he drank to
nourish them for three years. And he said that all these men
that came from Israel were to eat the king's meat and the king's
wine, drink his wine. Now apparently, all but these
men, all but a chosen few, ate the king's meat and drank his
wine. The leader said to Daniel, why
should you look sadder than the children that are of your sort?
They're doing this, they're eating this, they're drinking this,
and you do it too. So apparently, everyone but these
chosen few were eating the king's meat and drinking his wine. Alright, are you with me? I said there's a lot of meat
to chew on. I'm trying to simplify this. We're going to get to the heart and soul of it.
But this is all proper. Scripture says they are not all
Israel that are of Israel. Neither is he a Jew which is
one outwardly, in dress and talk and so forth, but one inwardly. whose circumcision is not made
with hands, but of the heart by God Himself. They are not
Christ's disciples who say so, but who Christ makes to be so. Most, and we talked about this
Sunday morning, most of Christian religion today looks just like
the world, doesn't it? They're doing things just like
the world. Why is that? Because it is of
the world. Paul one time said, avoid the
appearance of evil. He's talking about religion.
If it has the appearance of a rock show, but yet it calls itself
gospel, if it looks like and sounds like rock and roll, that's
what it is. If it looks and sounds like a
flea market, that's what it is. If it looks and sounds blasphemous,
that's what it is. And we read in those letters
to the churches in Revelation that this is the seat of Satan,
it's called. Babylon is spoken of. We're in the middle of it. That's
what he told the church at Laodicea, that you're sitting in the middle
of the seat of Satan, the synagogue of Satan. He said, but you have
held my name. And this cannot be warned against
too much. It can't. The Scriptures are
full of it. The whole book of Revelation
is about Babylon falling. Are you with me? And our Lord said, come out from
among them, be you separate. And that's why they wrote that
letter to the Gentiles and said, don't take part in their idolatry.
Don't do it. You've got a testimony. And this
is one way that you can hold up that testimony in the midst
of this, our Lord called it, an idolatrous generation. Light
can't have fellowship with darkness. We don't serve the same God.
These men were cast into a furnace. Because of what they believe. And our Lord said, you will be
too. But, fear not. There's somebody in that furnace
with you. Well, the king's meat. What is
the king's meat and drink? The God of this world. What does
he tempt the world with? You know. The lust of the flesh,
the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. Meat is dead things,
isn't it? Meat is something dead. It's
not alive. It's dead. It's dead flesh. That which is flesh is flesh.
And we're tempted with it. We're not above being tempted
by it, not above falling to it. But the things that this world
feeds upon, the things that this world lusts for, the things that
the world thinks they live on, they live for and have to have
to sustain them, that's not us. We need food and rain, yes, and
the Lord said He provided that. All else is stuff. But the thing which the world goes after are dead things, and
they're deadening, spiritually deadening things. They really
are. Lust of the flesh, pride of life,
lust of the eye. And the heady wine of this world,
the wine of this world, riches, fame, if there's anything men
want more than money, it's fame. Right? Wine is a mocker, Scripture
says. It'll make you think you're bigger
and better than you really are. The things of this world, its
popularity, the approval of, friendship of. Our Lord said
the friendship of this world is what? What? Inmated with God. So it's a mocker. And so the king said, You eat
this meat and you drink this wine." But Daniel said, I won't
do it. I won't do it. Daniel here represents
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why this book was written.
Brother John, that's why this book is in God's Word. Daniel
represents the Lord Jesus Christ. That's who he testifies of. Thank
God the Lord Jesus Christ was tempted in all points like as
we are, yet without sin. The first thing he did as a man,
a thirty-year-old man, was face the tempter, the God of this
world, didn't he? He faced him and he tempted him
in all points as we are, lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes,
and pride of life, and he refused it. Thank God. You may be overcome, but be of
good cheer. I have overcome the world." And
thank God, and we use this world as not abusing it, but sometimes
we do, don't we? Sometimes we fall to it. But thank God, like Noah. Noah
found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Thank God, because later
on he was found drunk. Thank God he found grace. Lot
lingered and lusted, living in Sodom, but thank God he was one
of God's chosen, because the Lord laid hold of him and pulled
him out, or he wouldn't have come out. And that's our Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now let's look at this man, God's
man and his men, Daniel and these men. Verse 6, Among these were
of the children of Judah. Among all Israel. Okay? Here were these chosen few of
Judah. Ring a bell? That's David's seed. That's of whom Christ came. The
seed. The tribe. The lion of the tribe
of Judah came from David's. And the children of Judah. Now there was Daniel. and an
eye at Mashiel and Azariah. Daniel, Daniel, who wrote this
book, of whom this book was written. Daniel, he's the chief. Throughout this book he's called
the chief. He's the fairest of them all. Daniel, verse 17, look
down there, it says, Daniel had understanding of all visions
and dreams. could reveal things. Daniel was
the one to whom and through whom God spoke. Daniel was the wisest
of the wise, the fairest among ten thousand. Daniel was the
man whom they tried to find fault with and could not. Daniel was
the one to whom even Nebuchadnezzar later on bowed his knee to a
man. Daniel represents the Lord Jesus
Christ, truly the fairest of ten thousand, the only one to
whom and through whom God Almighty speaks, wisdom itself, a man
in whom was no fault and the one to whom every knee will bow
and every tongue confess that he is Lord. Daniel, the name
means judge of God. Any time you see an old Hebrew
name with EL on the end of it, that's Elohim. That's God's name,
El. Any name with EL on it is God's
name, El. Every one of these fellows are
called by the name of God. Starting with Daniel, the judge
of God. Not that Daniel is God's judge,
but he represents the Lord Jesus Christ to whom all judgment is
given all authority and all power in heaven and earth. That's who
Daniel represents. Judge all power in whom are hid
all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. The Lord Jesus Christ.
Revealer, discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. The
Lord Jesus Christ of whom the prophet Daniel speaks. Daniel is such a type all through
this book. He was favored early on. The
people in Babylon favored Daniel early on. It was said of the
Lord Jesus Christ over in Luke when he was growing up, it says
he grew in favor with God and men. Everybody liked him for
a while. He was hated. Remember by the
rulers. You read it tonight. He was hated. The Lord Jesus
Christ. Later, despised and rejected.
Daniel was thrown to the lions, wasn't he? Tried to find fault
and said, you can't find any fault unless you find it in the
law of his God. You won't find it there. He was thrown to the lions. And
in Psalm 22, the Lord Jesus Christ speaks of those lions twice on
Calvary's tree. They roar at me like lions. They
gape on me like lions. Deliver my soul from the lion,
Christ said at Calvary. Psalm 22. My God, my God. The
Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Well, Daniel came out alive,
didn't he? He should have died in that lion's
den. But I'd better get off this because
I want to preach that later. But Daniel also outlived Nebuchadnezzar
and three other kings. He lived all the way up to Cyrus,
to when Cyrus sent men to a fellow named Zerubbabel to rebuild Jerusalem. Daniel outlived a bunch of them.
And Jesus Christ, of His reign, there's no end. No end. He's from everlasting to everlasting. Judge of God. Here's Daniel's men. He had three
friends. These were his fellows, his friends. Chapter 2, verse 18 says, Daniel
and his fellows. These fellows were always with
him. They were his friends. Why? Because he made known to
them everything that God told him. Does that sound familiar? The Lord Jesus Christ said to
the likes of Peter, James, and John, and you, Tammy, I call you friends, He said,
because everything that the Father hath revealed unto me, I have
made known unto you. Intimate companion. Daniel's
constant companions were always with him and he told them everything. And that's what our Lord said.
You're my friends, and I'll tell you all things." Verses 6 and
7. Daniel's friends' names were Ananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Incidentally, see little A-H
on the end of that name? That's Jehovah. Whenever you
see that, Jennifer, whenever you see A-H, that's Jehovah. That's Yah. All three of these
fellows are named after God. called by His name. Isn't that
what the Scripture says about all His people? Right there is
the Son of God. Right there, the Son of God.
Right there, Christian. Disciples at Rocky Mount are
called Christians. Disciples, Son of God. Hananiah
means Jehovah has favored. Hannah means favored. Hananiah,
Jehovah has favored. Mashiel means, who is God? In
other words, if you'd ask Him, He'd tell you. Mashiel. Azariah means, Jehovah has helped
me. These friends of Daniel, they
were named by God, helped by God, favored by God, and they
were the friends of this man of God, Daniel. Verse 19 says,
there was none like them. None like Hananiah, Mashiach,
and Azariah and Daniel. None like them. We'll see why
in a minute. They were the salt of the earth. But like Daniel,
they were later on, they were hated and abused and cast into
that furnace. But they didn't die either, did
they? They didn't even have a hair since. But anyway, let's look
at the meat and the drink of God's men, alright? This is the
heart of what we're looking at. That which God's people thrive
on and live upon. Verse 8, Daniel purposed in his
heart he would not defile himself with a portion of the king's
meat or with the wine which he drank. Our Lord Jesus Christ,
Scripture says, holy, harmless, separate from sinners, undefiled. He did not live on, did not love
the things of this world. They had no appeal to him whatsoever. None whatsoever. Quite often
they would have to beg him to even eat something. And he would
say things like this, I have meat to eat that you know not
of. Eat something, Lord. I am. And the meat I'm eating won't
go out in the draft. And it really is satisfying.
What you ate last night, you've completely forgotten. But the
meat I give you, he said, will go down in your bones and in
your soul. And what I give you to drink
later on, it will come out like a well spring just when you need
it. But our Lord was not tempted
by these, did not live for or love these things. He did not
partake of Adam's sin. He is sinless. The Lord Jesus
Christ did not partake of Adam's sin. He was not of Adam's seed. He's the woman's seed. He's the
sinless One, the virgin-born Son of the Most High God. But
He did not. Daniel, it says, purposed not
to defile Himself. And our Lord Jesus Christ was
undefiled. In verses 11-13, Daniel said
to this prince that sat over him and the three, Let me prove to you. Let me prove
to you. You just give us pulse to eat
and water to drink. Everybody else will eat this
meat and drink this wine. I've got your attention now.
Everybody else may be eating this meat and drinking this wine,
but the king of this, you just give me and my friends, pulse
and water. And after a little while, you
compare us and you see if we don't look better than them.
Judge for yourself. Okay? What is this pulse? Well, you know, we really don't
know what it is. We really don't. It's only used
three times. Only one other person ate it. You want to know who
it was? David and his men. Parched Pulse. Maker, where old Mrs. Pibbysheff was. Maker, that fella,
brought David some lentils and beans and parched Pulse to eat. That's fitting. Anyway, this
Pulse, I do know this. It does mean seed. You just give us a meal of seed,
and we'll live on that. And water. Seeds and water. Like, you know, seeds. It doesn't
say, God is so wise. God is wisdom. But he does not
say it's a certain seed or a certain fruit or whatever it is, like
he didn't say what the fruit in the garden was, Margaret.
Why? That's on purpose. Because people would think it's
cursed. If he said this is a coriander seed, people would make something
holy out of it, Margaret. They'd think it's magical. No. It's not it at all. It's what
it represents. Daniel said, you just give us
pulse and water and we'll fare well. We'll do well. Our Lord
said, man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word which
proceedeth from the mouth of God. What is the Word of God
called? Peter said it's incorruptible.
Come on. Seed. This book has many words
in it, doesn't it? Thousands. Seeds. Like a watermelon. And in every
seed, there's a watermelon. Right? And every oat, that's
a seed, every oat ends of stalk, is bread. And you put it all
together in a bowl, and what you've got is a meal on oats. You live on it. They were eating. And so do we, the Word of God. The Word of God. And it's not
just reading the Bible. More specifically, a lot of people
read the Bible, don't they? But what we feed on is the Word
in the Word. Christ, as we said, every seed,
every word pertains to and points us to the Lord Jesus Christ.
He said, my body is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
We feed on. Unless we see Christ in the Scripture,
our faith won't be gendered. Faith won't be built up. Faith
won't grow. Faith cometh by hearing, hearing
by the Word of God. Faith in what? Christ. See, the
more we see of Christ in here, the more we believe Him and are
sure that He is the Christ. See, God has come and given us
an understanding that we might know Him that is true. How does
He give us understanding? The Word. The Word. And every word and
every line, every jot and tittle, every seed, and many of them,
make up the seed which is God's Word. And there's life, there's
health, there's substance and sustenance. Man doesn't live
by bread alone. In fact, we're all going to die.
But Christ said, He that eateth my body and drinketh my flesh
shall never die. And not only that, you'll have
life more abundant. You'll get fat. You'll be fair
and fat like these men. This is a fatness you all want.
Fatness of soul, not leanness. Look at the countenances. Let's
look at the countenance. And the water, what is the water?
Well, the Word also, but it's the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of
God. So we can't just receive without
the Spirit of God to bless the Word of God. It'll be of no profit
to us. No benefit. Right? So, we feed upon, we live upon
The Word as it speaks of Christ. Look at their countenance. Verse
15, it says, At the end of ten days their countenances appeared
fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which ate the
portion of the king's milk. Fairer and fatter. The old saying
is, you are what you eat. Well, that's so true. It's certainly
true in this story. Those who feed on and live on
this world, they look like it and walk with it. Those who listen
to, hang on, live on, live and die upon the words, the wisdom,
everything in this world, look like it, fools like it, all along we go. and leanness, blind. If people depend upon this world
and look to this world, they're blind to the truth. Ignorant,
deaf. If you listen to the world, you'll
be deaf to the Word of God. If you listen to the Word of
God, you'll turn a deaf ear to the world. It can't be both.
Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? Hath He
not? Don't you see it daily, Brother
Sam, how God is making this world? Every year, supposedly, man is
getting more and more evolving. He's getting lower and lower.
Fool! Well, you feed, though, on the
Word which is Christ. You feed on the Word of God which
speaks of Christ. You look to Him. You look at
Him. You listen to Him. You listen
to Him. Don't listen to the Word. You'll have clear eyes. Paul
said this, he said, we don't look at the things which are
seen. Paul said, we don't look at the things that are seen.
Barbara, if you take a little child and you hold up before
him a $500 bill and a little shiny dime, which one will that
child take? We don't look at the things that
are seen. The things that are seen, our Lord said, are temporal. But the things that are not seen
are eternal. The people here were going to
make a home in Babylon, all these other people, but no, God, we
have here no continuing city. God's going to bring them out.
Going to bring them out. Well, at the end of ten or twelve,
ten days, it says that these men, they were fairer and fatter. They were good to look at and
they were fat. They were fat. Listen to this psalm. Listen
to this psalm. This applies so well. And I'll close in a moment. Psalm 106. You know all the psalms
104, 5, 6, 7. It talks about Israel, you know,
sinning against God and God's wonderful works to them, how
they got down and they cried and God saved them. They got
down. Listen to it. It said, They lusted exceedingly
in the wilderness, and they tempted God. in the desert. And He gave them their request. He gave them what they asked
for, but sent leanness in their soul. If people want this world, God
will give it to them. You give your life for it, you'll
get it. But what do you have? You lose your soul. But if God
in mercy and grace shows you Christ, unsearchable riches that
are Christ, shows you Christ who is exceedingly to be desired,
more than fine honey and more than gold, oh, He'll give you
largeness of heart, a fat heart. We feast, as Isaiah said, on
fat things and wine on the leaves. Well refined. The countenances
of God's people. Truly. You literally look at
the countenances of God's people. And you'll find them fairer than
the sons of men. Honestly. You'll find them to
be kinder. Gentler, more merciful, gracious. When they saw the disciples,
they took note that they'd been with the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Because they looked like Him.
They sounded like Him. If you're around Him very long,
you'll sound like Him, you'll look like Him. If He's in you,
He'll come out. You may not see it. You look
in the mirror and all you see is you. But others do. They say, cried, merciful, gracious.
God's people are peaceable and easy to be entreated. You know how it is. You're dealing
with the people of this world. I dealt with a fellow the other
day, and I was trying my best to be kind and sweet to him,
but he was just mean. And I was apologizing and this
and that and the other, but God's people aren't that way. They're
easy to be entreated. They're peacemaker. They're tender, they're
loving, they're compassionate. Their countenances are fairer.
They're joyful. The ruler said to Daniel, verse
10, what if you eat this pulse and you look sadder? He said, I don't want you coming
in before the king downcast and sad and all that. He won't believe
I've been feeding you well. Daniel said, oh, we won't look
sad here. You know, God's people like their Lord are men and women
of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Yeah, but we sorrow as
those who have no hope. We don't sorrow as those who
have no hope. We've got some people in here
Well, the Parks and the Sonicas are getting ready to go on a
trip together, aren't you? You looking forward to that?
Huh? All four of them just smile big.
You're looking forward to being with your family, aren't you?
You're going to have a big time, aren't you? Were you able to
pay attention to this message tonight? It's just flesh. I know. Been there. You look
forward to going on a vacation. You look forward to being with
your family. You look forward to these things that you look
forward to. This isn't going to last long. We don't have long for this earth.
Why art thou downcast, O my soul? Hope thou in God. Even David,
after he'd lost everything he owned and everyone he owned,
his wives, his children, all his earthly possessions, and
he cried until he couldn't cry anymore. You remember that at
Ziklag? Finally, he said, He encouraged himself in his God. And you know what it says? David
recovered all. We have a city whose builder
and maker is God. We look forward to a bright future. We shouldn't be sad. Why are
you downcast? Why are you so sad? Our Lord. Daniel represents the Lord here.
Daniel said, I won't be sad. Don't see me moping around like
I don't believe God. That doesn't bring glory to our God. It doesn't. We say we believe
God is sovereign and everything that happens to us is from Him
and on purpose and then be downcast and all troubled by it all the
time. That brings reproach on our God. But to bear up It's one thing
to sorrow in private, but before men, a witness is a testimony. As God enables us, joyful. If we're not joyful, there can
only be one reason, we're not feeding on pulse. We're not feeding on pulse, because
this will make us joyful. You'll rejoice in the Lord. The
more you see your God reigning, the more you eat and feast on
the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, you'll see, He's on the throne.
I'm in His hands. All things are working together
for my good. Why should I be sad about good? Right? Now look down in closing
at verse 20. It says in the end, verse 19,
Among them all like Daniel, Hananiah, Mashiach, and Azariah. You remember
those names. Don't call them Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
Cut it out. You hear me? You know what those
names mean? They were given to them by, they
were Chaldean's names. They were given by this eunuch
to them. You know what they mean? Nothing. Honestly, they have no meaning.
They just say, let's give them a name. And the world may call
you what they want to. That means nothing. You hear me? Hananiah, Mashiach,
and Azariah. Remember that. Daniel is not
Belteshazzar. He's Daniel, the judge of God. These three. God is called, now are we the
sons of God. It does not yet appear what we
shall be. Verse 20 says, in all matters
of wisdom and understanding that the king required of them, he
found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers
in all his realm. Ten times better. Wiser, fairer,
fatter, smarter, kinder, gentler. Doesn't that describe those people?
Of whom the world is not worth. Because the foolishness of God
is wiser than men. You can't live on pulse. You can't live on a bowl of beans.
You watch me. The foolishness of God is wiser
than men. The weakness of God is stronger
than men. You see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise
men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called,
but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world Confound
the wise and the weak things of the world God hath chosen.
The weak things of the world to confound the things which
are mighty and the base things of the world God hath chosen.
Things which are despised hath God chosen. Yea, things that
are not, to bring to naught the things that are, that no flesh
should glory in his presence. But of him are you in Christ. who of God is made of blood. Can you quote the rest of it?
Wisdom. Righteousness. This is Pulse.
You ought to feel your pulse beating. Wisdom. Righteousness. Sanctification. And Redemption. That according as it is written,
he that gloryeth in the glory of the Lord. And feed on him. Feed on his Word. Just give us
Pulse. Let them have king's meat, live
on dead things, dead works, dead religion, dead flesh, the wine
that makes them think they're something when they're not. Give
us pulse and water and you see how we turn out by the Spirit
of God, by the power of God. Okay, stand with me. Our Lord, thank You so much. That was so good. I'm glad.