Back in Daniel chapter 6, you
probably guessed our text. It was the question in verse
20 that this heathen king put to Daniel. Is your God able to deliver you,
Daniel? Are you still there? Are you
alive? Are you among the living? Was
your God able to deliver you? Well, if he's God, he did. Is God able to deliver? If he's
the God of Scripture, he can and he does. Just as he did for
the three young men that were Daniel's companions. We read
of them in chapter 3. Nebuchadnezzar put them in a
furnace of fire. He told them when they refused
to bow to his golden image and worship the one true and living
God, He said, when he brought them before him, before he threw
them in that fiery furnace, in chapter 3, verse 6, or verse
15, he asked, and who is that God that shall deliver you out
of my hands? That was Nebuchadnezzar. And
he surely thought, nobody can. Not your God, not any other God
can deliver you out of my hand. I'm the king. I'm the king. What
I say goes around here. I like their answer, verse 16.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king,
O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this
matter. We're not hasty about this. If
it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us. That's
what Daniel answered, didn't he? He's able to deliver us from
the burning, fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine
hand O King." Yes, yes. Our God is able to deliver his
people all the time. He said in Isaiah chapter 43,
we'll come to our text in a minute, listen to this, what a blessed
portion of God's Word. But now, verse 1, this is God
speaking to his people. But now thus saith the Lord that
created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, fear
not." Fear not. Why not? Why not? Man, there's a lot of things
we encounter in this pilgrimage through this world, this Christ-rejecting,
God-hating world that causes us to fear, makes us tremble,
and yet God says, fear not. Why? For I have redeemed thee. I've redeemed thee. Now, if redemption
is only something that God does making salvation possible, that's
not much grounds not to fear, but redemption means that he
obtained eternal redemption for us. He got the job done. He got the job done, the Lord
Jesus Christ. I have called thee by thy name,
thou art mine. God's people belong to God. They're his by eternal election
when he chose them in Christ. They're his by redemption. He
purchased them with his own precious blood. They'll be his in time
and they'll be his in eternity. You're mine. I bought you. I'm
not going to lose you. When thou passest through the
waters, I will be with thee. Is God able to deliver thee?
Well, it sounds like it. And through the rivers, they
shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the
fire, like the three companions of Daniel did, when thou walkest
through the fire, thou shalt not be burned. What did that
heathen king say? Did we not cast four into the
fiery furnace, or rather three into the fiery furnace? But I
see a fourth, and that fourth one, walking in the midst of
the flame, is like unto the Son of God. When thou walkest through
the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. Yes, is God able to deliver thee
if he's the true God of the Bible? God always. I was talking to
Brother Don the other day. We were discussing some things
and he said, I heard him make this statement years ago when
I first met him concerning preaching the gospel. He said, Larry, the
best way to show that a stick is crooked, that something is
wrong, lay a straight one down next to it. And then the crooked
one will be obvious. It's the same way I understand
with counterfeit money. Those people that are entrusted
with the job, for example, in the FBI, of tracking counterfeit
money, I was told that they never see a counterfeit bill. They're
instructed to study the real McCoy. I mean study everything
about the genuine government-issued currency. And you will know that
so well When a counterfeit one pops up, you'll recognize it.
That's not the real deal. That's not the real deal. And
brothers and sisters in Christ, our God is the real God. He's the real deal. The message
of the book of Daniel is exactly this. God rules. God rules. This is what we're
told. This is what we see. This is
what God himself proves over and over again. Not just in the
book of Daniel, but from Genesis when we read, in the beginning,
God. God. People admire the creation
and never think of the creator. In the beginning, God. Wow. What a great God. This creation, this vast creation,
is simply evidence of a greater creator. Who's greater? The creation
or he who spoke it into existence? Oh my God, how great thou art. In fact, did you know the very
name Daniel means God rules. God rules. God is judge and God
rules. Oh, the sooner, the sooner we
as believers learn that and relearn that, the better off we are. Oh, to be convinced of that more
thoroughly, more practically. Oh, how much peace that would
bring to us. Turn back, if you will, in Daniel,
the chapter four. This heathen king that asked
Meshach and Shadrach and Abednego, what God is there that can deliver
you out of my hands? Not long after that, he's walking
on the balcony of his palace. Here in chapter four, he looks
out and he says, man alive, would you look at great Babylon. Not a nation like this on earth.
And I've done it all. This man is popping some suspenders. He's walking around, he says,
man, great Babylon. Greatest nation on earth. Look
what my hands have created. And God brought him down. God
brought him down. The next picture you have of
that proud rebel, he's out in the field down on all fours,
grazing like an animal. He learned some things. Look
at verse 34 in Daniel chapter 4. Listen to this. This is the
confession of a heathen king. God took him to school. And all
the inhabitants, verse 35, No, verse 34, and at the end of the
days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up my eyes unto heaven, and my
understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the Most High,
there is one higher than I, Nebuchadnezzar learned, and I praised and honored
him that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion,
and his kingdom is from generation to generation, and all the inhabitants
of the earth are reputed as nothing, Listen to this, and he that is
God doeth according to his will in the army of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand or
say unto him what doest thou. I believe I can trust that God.
I believe he's trustworthy. Verse 36, at the same time My
reason returned unto me, and for the glory of my kingdom,
mine honor and brightness returned unto me. God give it, and God
take it away. And my counselors and my Lord
sought unto me, and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent
majesty was added unto me. Now, now, now I, Nebuchadnezzar,
praise and extol and honor the King of Heaven. Not myself, but
the King of Heaven. All whose works are truth and
his ways are judgment and those that walk in pride, he's able
to abase. He's able to bring down. Nebuchadnezzar
learned that. Saul of Tarsus learned that. He's able to bring down. The
book of Daniel is all about God establishing his kingdom in this
world. and the everlasting triumph and
victory, the sure and certain victory of the Son of God. There's
no question about that, brothers and sisters. To know that nothing
happens in God's world apart from God's will. Now that does
and should frighten the unbeliever. I mean, for a child of God, it
brings him great comfort. to know that God rules in the
armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. But
to the rebel, to be told, you're in God's hand. And you don't
want to think about it. And you may stop your ears to
it. But the fact still remains, you're in God's hand. Jesus Christ
is not waiting for you to do something for Him. If you think
that, you're You're believing in the wrong Jesus Christ. No. You're in his hand. That's scriptural.
John 17, the Lord prayed and said, Father, you've given me
power over all flesh. Not just believers, but unbelievers. That I should give eternal life
to as many as you have given me. Hallelujah, the believer
responds. Hallelujah, what a savior. But the rebel, if he wasn't blind,
would tremble and fear. I'm in his hands. I'm in the
hands of that God that I'm rebelling against. My very next breath
depends upon whether he wills me to have it or not. That's
the God that we just read about in Daniel. The God that rules. Our God, David said. We find this sweet, sweet truth
echoed throughout the word of God. David when he was taunted
by the enemies of God? David, when he found himself,
as he often did, in dour circumstances, and on such an occasion as that,
being driven from the throne by his own son? The enemies gathered
around said, ha ha, David, where's your God now? Where's your God
now, David? If he's such a great God, why
are you suffering like this? Where's God at now, David? And
by the grace of God, David said, my God is in the heavens. He
hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. And that's not a problem. for a believer, is it not? No,
rather they rejoiced in it. People, unbelievers, not surprisingly,
have a strange idea about we who know God, our trust in His
sovereignty. When we say God is sovereign,
God rules everywhere all the time. They look at us and think,
well, that's just something you just have to put up with. You
kind of grin and bear it, don't you, John? Oh, no. No, no, no. It's not something
to grin and bear. God's sovereignty, God's rule,
God being God, that's what sovereign means. It just means He's God.
It's not something we just grit our teeth at because we can't
do anything else. No, we rejoice in that. This
is what brings us down at the footstool and worship with a
true heart of gratitude and praise and exclaim, our God is in the
heavens. There's none like him. There's
none like him. Oh my God, how great thou art. Once a person learns that the
Most High ruleth, he would gladly extol. and honor and worship
Him as Nebuchadnezzar did. As a matter of fact, nobody else
really does. If you've never bowed at the
throne of a sovereign God, you've never worshipped. You've never
worshipped. It's His majesty, His person,
His glory. It's who He is that overwhelms
those who bow before Him. God Most High rules the universe. is our God that sustains his
people in the midst of horribly evil times like we're living
in right now. Just as he did for Daniel and
his three companions, God will keep us. We see this throughout
the book of God. Brothers, let me ask you, what's
the alternative? If we deny that God rules, what
do you have left? What determines things? Luck?
There's no such critter. Fate? I mean, when the bottom
falls out, so to speak? When this world is tossing me
like a ship upon the sea, do I get the paper and look at my
horoscope for the day to find comfort? Away with such witchcraft. No, no, no. We commit our souls
into the hands of our great God. And that's where we find rest.
That's where we find peace. Providence is nothing but the
unfolding of God's purpose, bringing to pass what he purposed to do. He worketh signs and wonders,
verse 27 again. Darius said he worketh signs
and wonders in heaven and in earth. He causes, as you read
the book of Daniel and others, You find that God worketh signs
and wonders. He calls us pagan kings to dream
dreams, as he did in the case of Joseph and Daniel, and uses
pagan witch doctors to fetch his prophet to the king. My,
my soul, what a great God. He uses a fiery furnace to establish
his servants in the place where he is pleased to put them. None
can stay his hand. None can resist his will. And
he uses a den of lions to exalt his servant. How about that? It's just like David said, isn't
it? He prepares a table before me right in the presence of my
enemies. They can gnash their teeth, they
can cuss and stomp and not like it, but there's nothing they
can do about it. Nothing they can do. I remember
hearing Brother Bruce Crabtree preach. It may have been here,
but he said, you know, the devil must be a frustrated being because
despite all that he does, God even uses him to accomplish his
will. Oh, that must be frustrating
to the devil, and I'm sure it is. We read in Romans 8 and 28,
You know this by heart, don't you? We know that all things,
not just one thing, that's not what the promise says, not just
one thing, not just one terrible incident in your life, but God
uses, we know that all things work together, not isolated,
but together. The pain, the joy, the mountaintop
experience, the valley, all things work together for God. For good, rather, to them that
love God, to them who are thee called, according to his purpose. William Cowper, who knew something
about darkness and depression, he wrote this. God works, or
moves, rather, in a mysterious way. His wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps in the
sea, and he just rides up on the storm. Ye fearful saints,
fresh courage take. The clouds ye so much dread are
big with mercy and shall break in blessings on your head. Judge
not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust him for his grace.
Behind the frowning providence he hides a smiling face. Blind unbelief is sure to err
and scan his work in vain. God is his own interpreter and
he will make it plain. Daniel's message is a message
of hope and encouragement and consolation. The wickedness ever
increases. Just as Paul told Timothy that
it would. Timothy, in the latter days,
last days, there shall be perilous times. Why? Because men shall
wax worse and worse. This world is not getting better. If you think it is, you're blind. It's getting worse all the time. I used to use the expression,
well, now I've seen it all. Then something the next day I
see on the news, I say, well, I guess I haven't. I guess I
haven't. But our God, nonetheless, is
on the throne. Our Savior is always triumphant. And as Paul said, we are more
than conquerors. Think about that. Not just conquerors,
but more than conquerors through him that loved us. The kingdom
of God can't be destroyed. His church shall prevail. The
gates of hell, Matthew 16, we read it last Sunday. The gates
of hell shall not prevail, triumph over his church. First Corinthians
chapter 15, verse 57 and 58. But thanks be to God which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. No doubt about
it. I wish I lived like I believe
that. I wish I acted and reacted to
things like I believe that. Therefore, my beloved brethren,
therefore, therefore, because God rules, God's always victorious,
therefore, with that as your foundation, my beloved brethren,
be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the
Lord for as much as you know Oh, God, help me believe this.
For as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in
the Lord, it can't be. It can't be. Verse John, chapter
4. Beloved, verse 1. Beloved, believe not every spirit,
but try the spirits, whether they are of God, because many
false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the
Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesseth
that Jesus is the Christ, that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh
is of God. And every spirit that confesseth
not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God. And
this is that spirit of antichrist, against Christ. Wherefore ye
have heard that it should come, and even now, even now, John
said, already is in the world. Ye are of God, little children,
and have overcome them because greater is he that is in you.
Christ in you, the hope of glory. And greater is he that is in
you. That's what being a Christian
is. It's Christ in you. It's not you in the church, it's
Christ in you. It's not you in the water, it's
Christ in you. It's not Christ at the altar
and you making the decision, it's Christ in you, the hope
of glory, which is the only hope There is. The dilemma, we made
mention of it briefly in the reading of Daniel 6, the dilemma
for this king, Darius, was how can I honor my law, my own law,
and not punish Daniel? He admired Daniel. He trusted
Daniel. That's why he made him his right-hand
man, why God did it. And then when he was tricked
into this, making this decree concerning prayer to any other
God, he thought, how can I honor my law, my own law, and not punish
Daniel? He thought about it all night
long, all day long. Couldn't come up with an answer.
Therefore, Daniel was cast into the lion's den. We read in the scripture this
question. Hardly anybody ever thinks about
it, except God's people. But how can a man be just with
God? That's the same dilemma, in a
sense, that Darius faced concerning Daniel. How can a man be just
with God? When God justifies a man, does
he set aside his law Because God said it's still on the books,
this book, the soul that sinneth, it shall die. There's no doubt
about that. God says that he will in no wise
clear the guilty or pass by a wink at iniquity. It's not going to
happen. It never has happened. Huh? Ask those in Noah's day. All those which were the majority,
the majority's always right, really? They were drowning. Ask
them, is God Almighty just? Does He mean what He says? Does
He mean what He says when He will judge the guilty? Ask those
in Sodom and Gomorrah. What does that teach us? God
Almighty is a just and holy God. The death of Christ is the prime
example of that. People say, well, Jesus died
because God loved us. What made his death necessary?
You ever think about that? I mean, if my salvation, if God
forgiving this sinner is simply a matter of love, couldn't he
have done that without the death of Christ? Why was Christ's death
necessary? Because God is holy. How can
a man be just with God? The only way that God can maintain
his absolute justice in punishing sin and yet justify his people
is by the substitutionary death, sacrifice of his own dear son
in their room instead. And that being the case, John,
he says like he said to that mob in John 18, if it's me you
seek, here I am. Take me, but my sheep are going
free. Glory to his name. You can't
have me and them too. That's substitution. And Jesus
Christ, by his death, enables God to be just. He executes his law. upon the
head of our glorious substitute, and his people must go free.
This is what he told his disciples in Matthew 20, verse 28. Even
as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister
and to give his life a ransom for many. Who did he offer himself to?
To God. He paid the ransom to God. He must satisfy not you, but
God. Hebrews 9 verse 14. How much
more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit
offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience
from dead works to serve the living God? That being so, brothers
and sisters in Christ, what else will God not do for his people? This is Paul's argument in Romans
8. If God be for us, in a way that
he mentions in the previous verses, beginning at verse 28, in a way
of foreknowing, predestinating, calling, glorifying, if God be
for us in all those ways, who can be against us? For us, by
giving us his Son, He spared not his own son. This is Paul's
grand argument. This is the final hitting of
the nail by the hammer right square up on the head and drives
it in deep. If God be for us, who can be
against us? He spared not his own son. What else would He withhold?
He's already given us His best. Will He not do all things for
us? He that spared not His own Son
but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him, with
Him, with Christ, also freely give us all things? And the answer
is He won't. He won't. All that follows that
question that Paul asked in Romans 8 verse 32, all that follows
In answer to that question, in every instance, the reason is
because we're with Him. What will God not give us with
Him? And Paul says, well, if we're
with Him, I'm convinced. I'm convinced. God help me be
convinced too. Help me to honor you by believing
that what you promised you're able also to perform. Paul said,
I'm convinced that nothing Nothing. Not my trials, not my sins, not my little faith, not my mistrust
of my God. Nothing can separate us from
the love of God. Why? Because it's in Christ Jesus. Oh, blessed, blessed promise.
Had our Lord that gave Himself a ransom for His people, had
He not emerged from the tomb that glorious morning, all of
our hopes, all of our salvation would still be lying dead with
Him. That's exactly right. That's
exactly right. We see Him rise from the grave,
we rise with Him. He was the representative of
His people. We were one when He lived that
life of obedience. He did it as our substitute.
When He went to the cross, He died as the substitute of His
people. When He ascended, He represented us. When He went
to heaven, He was representing us. And Paul says, now we are
seated in heavenly places with Christ. He represents us, my
soul. You're well represented, are
you not? Because I live, Christ said,
ye shall live also. The same life, the same life. I'm he that was dead, but behold,
I'm alive forevermore. That's why, whosoever liveth
and believeth in me, he said, shall never die. The life in
Christ is the life he gives to all his believers, all his people
rather. All is redeemed, therefore it
can never end. Unless His ends, and that's impossible. Faith will not fail while God
sustains it. You're not strong enough to fall
away from Christ, child of God. You're just not that powerful.
He says no man can pluck you out of my hand. You're not strong
enough to fall away from Christ why it is his purpose to hold
you and resolve that you should be with him in glory. I remember
once when my My son, still young, children, all three young, still
at home. One got a little upset with me
one day and I saw him. He was packing something. I said,
what are you doing? He said, I'm leaving home. He's about to head out. I said,
where are you going, buddy? He said, I don't know, but I'm
going somewhere. I said, son, you're not going anywhere. You're
not going anywhere. Oh, brothers and sisters in Christ,
the great shepherd of the sheep says, you're not going anywhere.
You can't, and only those who have experienced His grace understand
this. You can't out sin, my love. You can't go too far that my
hand won't reach out and bring you by. The prodigal might go in a far
country and live a life of debauchery as far from the Father's house
as he could possibly get, but my grace is going to fetch him
home. My grace is going to fetch him home. Is that not so? Is
that not so? Is God able to deliver? Oh, he
surely is. Listen to this, Isaiah 46. Remember
the former things of old? For I am God and there is none
else. I am God and there is none like me. declaring the end from
the beginning and from ancient times the things that are not
yet done, saying, I like this. My counsel shall stand, God says,
and I will do all my pleasure. Is God able? And being fully
persuaded that what he had promised, he was able to perform. God's promise to keep us Keep
us in this life. The Lord Jesus Christ has promised
never to leave us, never to forsake us. Is He able to do that? He's
promised that one day all those that the Father gave Him are
going to be with Him where He is. Is He able to make good on
that? He's able to do all that he promised, Ephesians 3. Now
unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we
ask or think according to the power that worketh in us. Listen
to this, Philippians 3. Speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ,
who shall change our vile body? Paul cried out as a believer. Oh, wretched man that I am. Who's
going to deliver me? Now, a mere professor doesn't
know anything about that, about taking up a cross, about denying
self, about a battle, about a struggle. That doesn't fit in in this easy
believism, this so-called Christianity of the day. But for the child
of God, he knows something about it. He cries with Paul, who's
going to deliver me from the body of this death? It's like
a corpse strapped on my back. And no matter what I do, no matter
how hard I try, it's always there. It's there to such a degree that
everything I do, every thought I have, every prayer I pray,
every message I preach, it's mixed with sin. When will I be
rid of this death? And he answered the question,
didn't he? I thank God through the Lord Jesus Christ. He shall
change our vile body that it might be fashioned like unto
his own glorious body according to the working whereby he is
able to subdue all things unto himself. What a Savior. What a Savior. 2 Corinthians
9. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you that
you always having all sufficiency in all things may abound to every
good work. Paul is setting in prison. He
didn't know nothing about this Christianity without a cross
either. He sets in prison. He knows this is the last time. He knows shortly that he'll be
taken out and beheaded. And he writes to his beloved
Timothy to encourage him. Timothy, don't you be ashamed.
Don't you let what's happening to me deter you. Don't you be
ashamed of that glorious gospel that
God has committed to our trust. Don't be ashamed of it. Don't
be ashamed of it. He says, Timothy, it's for this
cause that I suffer these things. Nevertheless, I'm not ashamed. For I know whom I have believed,
and I'm persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've
committed unto him against that day. Yes, our God is able. He's
able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him,
seeing he ever liveth, to make intercession for them. Jude,
rather, verse 24. Listen to this. Now unto him
that is able to keep you from falling. That takes a miracle. That takes
some power. That takes some wisdom, some
grace. That takes a great God and Savior,
and that's exactly what we have. Unto him that is able to keep
you from falling, and to present you, listen, faultless. Now how about that, Billy Cobb?
Present you faultless before the throne of God. Who else but
Christ could do that? To the only wise God, our Savior,
be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen. Daniel's God is our God,
too, and he changes not. He changes not. People's concept
of God, I hear him talking, it reminds me of someone looking
through the wrong end of a telescope. You know, you look through the
big end, and everything looks small. You're holding it backwards
and you look and just everything looks tiny. And even smaller
than you. That's folks' concept of their
God. They're just looking through
the wrong end of the telescope. But if God in his mercy ever
reaches down and reveals Christ to you, it's like he takes the
telescope out of your hands and he turns it around. And then
you look. You look, and your cry will be
something like this, O the debt of the riches both of the wisdom
and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways
past finding out, who had known the mind of the Lord, who had
been his counselor, who had first given to him and it shall be
recompensed unto him again. For of him, O look child of God,
through the telescope of God's Word and you'll cry of Him and
through Him and back to Him are all things to whom be glory forever
and ever. Yes, God is able to deliver. Let me bring this to a close
just by reading a few verses. Job chapter 33 verse 24. You're familiar with this. Then
he, that is God, is gracious unto him and saith, deliver him
from going down to the pit. I found a ransom. Christ said,
I've given my life a ransom to many. And when he did, God said
concerning that ransom that his son gave, that's enough. That's
enough. I'm satisfied. And he proved
his everlasting satisfaction with that offering. With that
atonement, when he raised his son from the dead and set him
at his own right hand, he said, now every knee is going to bow
to him. Every tongue is going to confess
to my son that he is Lord to the glory of God the Father. With such a Redeemer, with such
a ransom, with such satisfaction, standing upon such a solid foundation,
let us do as the hymn writer said, arise my soul arise, shake
off your guilty fears, the bleeding sacrifice in my behalf appears,
before the throne my surety stands, my name is written on his hands. I now am reconciled. God's pardoning
voice I hear. He owns me as his child. I can
no longer fear. With confidence I now draw nigh.
And Abba, Father, Abba, cry." And the redeemed sinners are
not going to sneak in the back door of heaven. You ever hear
that nonsense? Well, you know, some people are
going to stand before God and they're going to be weeping because
they just didn't live like they should have done and they're
going to lose some rewards and they're going to weep. I heard
a very popular so-called prophecy expert say this very thing. They'll
weep for a thousand years during the millennium and then God's
going to say, okay, you've cried long enough and wipe away their
tears. Second-class citizens. They're going to be in the slum
of heaven. There are no slums. God's children are not going
to sneak through the back door of heaven, but they're going
to march John triumphantly. You know why? Because they're
led there by the captain of their salvation. They're going to be
waving the palm leaf of victory. They're going to be all crying
at the same time, worthy is the lamb that was slain. You know
why? They have a right to be there. Did you hear that? God's children have a right to
be in glory. Is that so? Well, listen to this.
Galatians 1 verses 12 through 14. Giving thanks unto the Father
which had made us meet. That word means giving us the
right. We're fit. We deserve to be there. To be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in light who had delivered us from the power of
darkness and have translated us into the kingdom of his dear
Son in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness
of sins. In the body of his flesh, through
death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in his sight. Bold shall I stand in that great
day, for who ought to my charge shall lay, while through Christ's
blood absolved I am from sin's tremendous guilt and blame. This is what that king said when
Daniel was delivered from the mouth of the lion. He said, I'll
make a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble in
fear before the God of Daniel for he is the living God and
steadfast forever and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed
and his dominion shall be even until the end. He delivereth
and rescueth and he worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in
earth who had delivered Daniel from the power of the lion. And the last verse says, Daniel
was exalted. He prospered. He prospered. Again, Paul, in that cell, that
dungeon in Rome, some of his last words. At my first answer,
he said, no man stood with me. But all men forsook me. Nobody
wanted to be identified with Paul. I pray God that it might
not be laid to their charge. All men pursue me. Timothy, would
you hurry? Try to get here before winter.
Must have been cold in that dungeon. The great apostle Paul, where's all his friends? And
surely the hundreds and hundreds said God used the apostle to
preach the gospel to. Those that believe that gospel
were saved? Where are they? Where are they?
What a sad, sad picture. There he sits, Timothy, would
you hurry? And when you come, Timothy, bring my cloak. It's
cold. It's cold here. When I first
went before Nero, he said, Timothy, no man stood with me. There's
one or two, but most forsook me and fled. But notwithstanding,
the Lord stood with me. and strengthened me, that by
me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles
might hear. And I was delivered out of the
mouth of the lion." The only thing stronger than that roaring
lion, the devil, is the lion of the tribe of Judah. He had
prevailed, Revelation 5. And Paul said, and the Lord shall
deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his
heavenly kingdom, to whom be glory forever and forever. Amen. Amen. Let it be so. God bless you.