Okay, turn with me then to Daniel
and chapter 6. This is the last of the historical
accounts in the book of Daniel. The next 6 chapters, 7 to 12,
are all prophetical things. And we come, yet again, I've
already said these are amongst the best known of all Bible stories,
the ones that we find in the book of Daniel. Very, very well
known. The fiery furnace and the writing
on the wall, and now we come to Daniel in the lion's den.
What better known Bible story is there than that? I don't know
of one. And so you might say, have we got any more to learn?
What more can we learn? I mean, haven't we already learned
the lesson about persecution with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
and the fiery furnace and how God came and rescued them out
of that situation? So isn't it just a repeat of
that story except substitute lion's den for fiery furnace
and there you are. You've got the story so we can
pack up now and all go home. No, it isn't. There's much more
here. The Word of God is rich. You know, one thing I noticed,
I don't read many novels these days, I don't find I have time,
to be honest, but some I do and I enjoy, but one thing I find
is that they always fall foul of this temptation. Why use a
hundred words when a thousand will do perfectly well, you know?
You can say something very concisely, but they spin it out and they
spin it out and they spin it out to try and fill a 500-page
book so that you feel like you've got your money's worth when you
do it. Not so the Word of God. Every word is weighed and precious
and full of meaning. You know, just in a sentence
is a whole account. And so He gives preachers and
He gives His Spirit to expand those things that are so concentrated
in the Word of God. And there's more to learn here.
You see, this book of Daniel is to show us above all the purposes
of God in preserving his elect in a godless society. Now is
that relevant to us? I think it is. It's always relevant
to the people of God. It's especially relevant to us.
The purposes of God in preserving his elect in a godless society,
totally outnumbered. They were always a tiny minority. You know, although the whole
of Judah was captured by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian Empire and
taken away to Babylon, and Jerusalem was left in ruins, And you might
think, well, there were all the people of God, all the Jewish
people, all the descendants of Abraham. No, it was a tiny minority. It was a remnant according to
the election of grace, that the purposes of God according to
election might be established. And it shows us that if God has
purposed to save His people, if God has purposed to choose
a people in Christ from before the foundation of the world and
bring them to glory, He will accomplish His purposes, however
overwhelming the odds appear. I'm reminded, without getting
too distracted, but I'm reminded of that account of Elisha and
his servant. And you know, the servant just
saw the Syrian armies arrayed against them. He could only see
how hopeless were the odds against them. How could they possibly
fight against all of these Syrians? It's up for us, my Lord, he said
to Elisha. It's finished. We're done for.
Let's get the white flag out and just go and be murdered by
them. And Elisha prayed, Lord, show
him, show him that they that are for us are more than those
that are against us. And there was a raid to the eye
of faith, the armies of angels surrounding them and preserving
them. God's purposes, whatever it might be, whether they kill
the body, whatever they do, they cannot kill that soul which Christ
has purchased with his own blood. They cannot do anything to that.
And so here's this tiny minority for 70 years in Jerusalem, 70
years, sorry, in Babylon, away from Jerusalem. They're separated
from all of those daily reminders of the things of God in Jerusalem.
In Jerusalem was that city whose name means peace with God. In
Jerusalem was the temple. In Jerusalem were the sacrifices,
the perfect lambs without blemish or without spot, brought and
sacrificed, and every single bit of it spoke of Christ. It
spoke of how does a man or a woman get right with God? How does
a sinner be just with God on the basis of the doing and the
dying of a substitute who establishes justice and establishes righteousness
in their place? And all of the symbolism of the
temple, its structure, its holy place, the holy of holies, the
altar, the altar of incense, the altar of sacrifice, the burnt
offering, All of those things speak of Christ and of how God
satisfies his justice for his people in the doing and dying
of a substitute. And they were separated from
those daily reminders. They had the books of Moses.
They had some of the other historical books. They had many of the Psalms. But they were separated from
those daily reminders. But what we see here in this
chapter 6 are these things. This is what I want to cover
this morning. there was a spirit in Daniel that is described as
an excellent spirit an excellent spirit that was in him and then
we see the devious attempts of Satan to crush and destroy and
remove that spirit and then we see the weakness of Darius the
king who really liked Daniel but he was such a weak fallible
person and then the triumph of God's purposes so this spirit
that was in Daniel look in verse three You see, Darius, when he
came to the throne, he didn't have the power and the strength
and the unity of kingdom that Nebuchadnezzar had. You see,
he was the silver chest and arms. He wasn't the head of gold that
Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian Empire was. It was weaker. It
was less valuable. It was less powerful. In that
respect, this was such a big empire, how on earth are we going
to manage this? Well, I need to delegate some
authority to some people. So he chose 120 princes who should
be over the whole kingdom, to whom he delegated the management
of the kingdom. And then over those, because
he didn't really trust them, he thought, I need another level
of management in there, between me and them. So he appointed
three presidents. And those three presidents, one
of them was Daniel. And not only was one of them
Daniel, but Daniel was the best. He was the most important. He
was the first. And why was he the first? Because of an excellent
spirit that was in him. In fact, such an excellent spirit
that King Darius had thought to set him over the whole realm.
He thought, I can delegate the rulership, the sovereignty over
the whole kingdom to this man Daniel because there is such
an excellent spirit in him. Such an excellent spirit. Daniel
was the first. What was this excellent spirit?
Now, you know, in the workplace, if somebody's being chosen to
do a particular job, you look at character, you look at capability,
you look at qualifications, you look at all sorts of things,
and some stand out from the crowd amongst others as the obvious
person to do this particular job. But was it that with Daniel? Was it just that he was of a
good character? Was it just that he was a capable man? Was it
just that he was a well-organized, and meticulous manager of things. Was it just that, you know, he
was a good, righteous man who was living a sanctified life
and upright and capable? I would say no. I would say it's
much more than that. This excellent spirit that was
in him is that same spirit that is in all of God's children,
that he gives to all of his people, in varying measures, but he gives
it to all of his people. You see, If anyone have not the
Spirit of Christ, says Paul to the Romans in Romans chapter
8 and verse 9, if anyone have not this Spirit of Christ, he
is none of his, he doesn't belong to him. You cannot be a Christian
without having this Spirit of Christ. There are those who say
you believe Jesus and then sometime later you have a second blessing.
which is the Holy Spirit coming upon you. That's not what the
Word of God says. That's a lie. Don't believe people
who tell you lies. If you can't trust them in one
little thing, how can you trust them in other things? On the
question of the Spirit of God, it says quite clearly that whoever
does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. God gives
His Spirit to His people when He brings them to faith in Christ,
when He brings them to trust and belief in Christ, when He
implants a new man, when that man who is dead in trespasses
and sins as Ephesians 2 verse 1 says when that man is born
again of the Spirit of God and the old flesh continues as long
as this body lives the old flesh with its nature and its sinful
fallen nature continues but inside there is a new manager implanted
by the Spirit of God and that's the new birth unless a man be
born again he cannot see the kingdom of God but if he can
see the kingdom of God it's because he's been born again and God
has given him of his spirit A new nature is put inside. It's that
same nature that is needed to discern the things of the Spirit
of God. For the natural man, in his flesh as he is, cannot
discern them. They're spiritually discerned.
It must be and can only be by the gift of God who gives his
spirit and gives the discerning mind of Christ. This is what
1 Corinthians 2 verses 14 to 16 say about needing that Spirit
of God to understand spiritual things and to have the mind of
Christ and to be born of God. And in John chapter 6, we were
looking near it last Sunday evening where Jesus says in verse 44
that no man can come to Him unless the Father draws him. And He
says in verse 45, He quotes the Old Testament, they will all
be taught of God. They will all be taught of God.
Yes, God gives gifts to His church. He gives pastors, and teachers,
and evangelists, and these gifts of ministry. Yes, he does, and
we're grateful for them. But, his people, they are all
taught of God. You know, I can't stand this
idea. This idea which is really papacy. It's Catholicism. The idea that
you cannot discern for yourself God has said, you will be taught
of God. If you're His child, He'll give you His Spirit. And
you will be taught of God. You don't need a man to intercede
for you. You don't need a priest to stand
in the way for you. You don't need a priest to explain
this, that and the other. Yes, it's quite different from
the teaching gifts that are given to the church. Yes, we're grateful
for those. But don't go bowing and scraping
at the feet of a mere man and putting him in the place of a
priest for you to God, not at all. No, they're taught of God.
They're taught those things which are the things of Christ in whom
dwell all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. This is what gave
Daniel that excellent spirit. They're inhabited by God. Jesus
says in John 14, just if you can flick the pages over quickly
enough, John chapter 14 and verse 23 Jesus answered and said unto
him if a man love me he will keep my words and my father will
love him and we Christ and his father will come unto him and
make our abode with him will make our abode God will live
with him and in him inhabited by God that's this excellent
spirit that was in Daniel and carried through life as we read
in the verses that we read right at the very start of the service
in Isaiah chapter 46. This teaching of God, this rebirth
that comes from God, this spirit that comes from God is with his
people. From the moment he brings them
to believe, Harken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant
of the house of Israel, which are born by me from the belly,
which are carried from the womb. And even to your old age I am
he, and even to whorehairs will I carry you. I have made and
I will bear, even I will carry and will deliver you. This is
the positive minute by minute presence and support of the Spirit
of God in the heart of the believing person. It's a spirit which gives
peace with God, which causes the believer to know peace with
God. And how do you know peace with
God? It's on the basis of things that he's taught you. By the
Spirit of God, He's taught you that your peace is established
in the righteousness of Christ. For He is the Lord, our righteousness. He's told you that your peace
is established because no one, not even Satan, can bring a charge
against God's elect. For Christ has died in your place.
For Christ has borne your sin in His own body on the tree.
For He made Him who knew no sin to be made sin for us that we
might be made the righteousness of God in Him. And so therefore,
We rejoice in our spirits for we know that it's Christ's righteousness
and his shed blood that has made our peace with God. And we live
in this spirit of reverential fear. The child of God walks
in the fear of God through his life. Not the fear of law and
of judgment and of loss and of punishment. No, but of the pain
of offending the one who is so precious. For Peter says, for
to you who believe, he, the Lord Jesus Christ, is precious. You know, as you count those
things that you value, as you covet those things that you would
really like, ah, if you know Christ. To you who believe, He
is precious. Daniel had this excellent spirit. He knew the Scriptures. He knew
what Jesus Himself was going to say when He came to earth,
550 or however many years later it was, when He stood and He
told those Pharisees in John chapter 5 and verse 39, is it?
You search the Scriptures, for in them you think that you have
eternal life. And if you think that, you're
quite right, because in the Scriptures is eternal life. You can read
the works of Shakespeare, and you'll get a lot from it, but
you will not get the words of eternal life. But in this book,
you will find the words of eternal life. But he said this to them,
you're missing the point. For these are they which speak
of me. And Daniel knew that. Daniel knew that these Scriptures
spoke of the Christ. You say, well, Christ hadn't
come. How could he possibly know those things then? He knew. He
saw. He saw the promised one. He knew
of the messenger of the covenant who would come. He knew of the
anointed one. He knew of the scepter of Judah
who would come. He knew that there was one coming
who would bruise Satan's, who would crush Satan's head. Even
though he would have his heel bruised, he knew that from the
writings of Moses, one was coming who would stand in his place.
He had seen the pictures of the ark in Noah's day and how that
had been a salvation and he knew God was sending a man. God was
coming as a man who would be God our Savior who would come
as that refuge, as that ark was a picture of that refuge. He
knew all of those things and he knew that the temple worship,
he didn't just go through, I have no idea why we're doing these
things but we better do it otherwise God will strike us dead. We better
do all of these strange things. Does anybody have any idea why
we sacrifice lambs and bulls? I haven't got a clue but we better
do it otherwise we'll be struck dead. And we'd better not go
into there. He knew exactly why they did it. Because it all spoke
of Christ. And it all spoke of how can a
man be just with God? On the basis of the doing and
dying of a substitute. On the basis of the doing and
dying, not just of any substitute, but of one who is God Himself.
For throughout the Scriptures, he'd have read Isaiah. He'd have
had that book with him. The writings of Isaiah. When
he will have seen the one whose glory filled the temple the one
who is called God our Savior I have saved and I have brought
you and all of that he knew that this was speaking of Christ he
knew that everything had been ordained by God for the good
of his people he knew he was in Babylon fulfilling the eternal
purposes of God to deal with his people and bring them to
glory and to save them out of the clutches of Satan to save
them out of the threat and fear of eternal punishment, he knew
that this was all in the eternal purposes of God. He knew when
he came later on into that lion's den, and in verse 22 he was able
to say when the morning came and Darius came, not only was
there a stone rolled over the entrance to the lion's den, but
in the roof of the lion's den it appears that there was a hole
in there where they could let a rope down and pull people in
and out. And Darius shouts down in there, is thy God whom thou
servest continually able to deliver thee from the lions? Then said
Daniel unto the king, O king, live forever. My God hath sent
his angel and hath shut the lions' mouths. Who did he send? He sent
Christ. That was the Lord Jesus Christ,
the messenger of the covenant. He sent Christ into that situation. Just as one like the Son of God
had walked with Shadrach Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace.
So it was Christ who walks with His people. You know, we read
in, is it Isaiah 43, when you go through the fire, I will be
with you. When you walk through that situation,
I will be with you. I will be there. I will uphold
you. I will support you. I've given all of these things
for you. He has an eternal purpose to save His people for His own
glory. Now, of course, Daniel was a
sinner, just as we are. there is none righteous no not
one when Paul quotes that list in Romans chapter 3 verse 10
down to 19 there is none righteous no not one they're all gone out
of the way every single one he doesn't say except Daniel and
except Elisha and except no he doesn't say that he says there
is none righteous no not one because in our flesh and in Daniel's
flesh there is none righteous no not one all have sinned and
fall short of the glory of God and specifically in the context
of Romans 3 when it says all have sinned yes we can extend
it to mean everyone that ever lived but specifically if you
read it in the context it's talking about the elect of God all the
elect of God have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
but all the elect of God are made righteous in the Lord Jesus
Christ but though he was a sinner as we all are in the flesh, though
no doubt His righteousnesses would be judged against the perfect
law of God as filthy rags in the sight of God. You say, how
can you say that? How can you say that? Well, the
angels of God, the pure, holy angels of God, in Isaiah's vision,
in Isaiah 6, they shield their faces and they cry, holy, holy,
holy. They cannot look upon Him. He's
too pure. they cannot look upon him he was a sinner but living
in this world with this excellent spirit of God within he was beyond
corruption that's not to say that the children of God do not
sin that's not to say that the children of God do not fall but
it is to say this a child of God cannot live a contented settled
life in a situation of habitual sin A true child of God cannot
live. I say this at the fear of offending
some, but I don't care because the Word of God says it. A true
child of God cannot live in a settled, contented state of adultery.
A true child of God cannot live in a settled, contented state
of participating in the corruption and bribery of his workplace,
if it goes on. Cannot do it. He cannot do it.
Why? Because he knows that there is a God in heaven who sees everything,
who sees into his heart, who doesn't just see the exterior
that man sees, but sees right into his heart, and he knows
he cannot live in that condition. Why? Is it because of fear, again? Is it because of fear that he
couldn't condone bribery and corruption? You know, why did
he not join in with these 120 princes who were lining their
own pockets at the expense of the people of the nation because
of the position we're in? It's not a new story, is it?
Think of what we read about in the news. in Afghanistan and
other places in the world where corruption is absolutely rife.
You cannot hold a fair election because the whole system is so
corrupt and so susceptible to bribery. And here we are, two
and a half thousand years ago, in exactly the same heart of
man was the situation. But why couldn't Daniel live
in that settled condition? Why couldn't he condone the bribery
and corruption that was all around him? Why couldn't he serve God
and Mammon? Jesus says you cannot serve God
and mammon. Matthew 6 and verse 24, he says
you can't. You'll either go for the one
or the other. You cannot serve both at the
same time. The reason is this. He's seen
God in Christ. He's seen God in all of these
things. No man has seen God and lived. No man can, but in the Lord Jesus
Christ, we can look upon him. For John tells us that he has
made manifest the Spirit of God. He has shown us the Spirit of
God. No man has seen God at any time,
but it's the Son who is in the bosom of the Father. He has declared
Him and revealed Him, and he'd seen God in Christ. And so he
couldn't sell his soul for fleeting riches. He couldn't do that.
He couldn't, as Esau had done, sell his birthright for a mess
of pottage, is what the Scriptures call it. He couldn't walk out
on his guard for the sake of these fleeting, dirty riches. These fleeting fruits of corruption
and sinfulness. He couldn't do it. As Peter tells
us, writing to believing people in 2 Peter chapter 1 and verse
4, he says that the people of God have partaken of the divine
nature. Now you think of the privilege
of that. Mull that over as you go away from here. At the end
of this service, mull that over. Peter is writing to ordinary
believers, you have partaken of the divine nature by this
excellent Spirit that God gives to His people. And having that
Spirit within, what do you seek to do? You seek to bear the fruit
of the Spirit. It comes naturally, but it's
your desire to bear the fruit of the Spirit. Those characteristics
of Christ, of love, of joy, of peace, of self-control, of patience,
of all of those things that speak of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
who is so strong and yet so gentle and meek. And we're constrained
in our behavior. And Daniel was constrained in
his behavior. What? By fear of Darius? No way.
He'd seen greater kings than Darius come and go. No, he wasn't
constrained by that. He was constrained by what constrains
us if we're in Christ. The love of Christ, says Paul
to the Corinthians. 2 Corinthians 5, 14. It's the
love of Christ that constrains us. Do you know what occurred
to me preparing this? Yes, he's got this excellent
spirit, but do you know one of the greatest blessings, even
if there's two or three of us, even if there's just two or three,
what a blessing it is to be amongst those in whom there is the excellent
spirit that was in Daniel. Isn't that the sweetest of things?
It really is. You know, you think about I mean,
I've got work colleagues that I, you know, you have to spend
time with them, and you do jobs with them, and some of them are
really very, very pleasant people to be around. Some of them are
really very, you know, there's some that are maybe not so pleasant,
but there are some who are really pleasant people to be around,
but there's not this excellent spirit. And what a joy it is. You know when you visit with
believing friends who you haven't seen for a while? Maybe they
visit this country, or you go and visit there, And you might
not have seen each other for a year. And there might be three
and a half, four thousand miles of geography between us. But
that excellent spirit just knits together. What a blessing it
is. This excellent spirit that is
in the people of God. What trustworthiness there is.
You know, don't rely on me as a man in my flesh, but in the
things of Christ. In the things of Christ. We trust
each other. We know that we're committed
to each other. We know that however far apart we are, there's this
spirit of trust because of this excellent spirit. We're to be
a people who are to the praise of the glory of the grace of
God, and that's such a thing. And it was that that was in Daniel,
by the grace of God, this excellent spirit that was in him. And it
was that that brought him into conflict with those around him,
because Satan's schemes are always to destroy that spirit. I know
I refer to it often, but it's worth bearing in mind. There
are some key landmarks in Scripture. Revelation chapter 12, in just
a few verses, there's a potted history of the purposes of God
in saving a people. There's a woman who is the church,
symbolism. And from the woman comes a male
child, which is the Christ, to save his people. And the dragon
is there, and the dragon waits that when the male child is born,
he should devour it. And the dragon seeks to destroy
all of those children of the woman. So, picturing destruction
of the church and of faith and of Christ, this is the purposes
of Satan. It's there, quite clear, so we
shouldn't be surprised when it happens. And here, Daniel was
subject to exactly that persecution from these other presidents and
these 120 princes who were all tied up with corruption. You
see, Daniel was the best servant ever for Darius. Darius the king,
weaker than Nebuchadnezzar and those that followed him, couldn't
manage it all. But Daniel, in Daniel he saw
this excellent spirit. What a servant! He placed him in such a position
of authority and of power in the kingdom. But do you know,
because of this excellent spirit to Daniel, God would always come
first. There was never, ever, you know,
if there was tension between his allegiance to Darius, which
was as total as it could be, or his allegiance to God, he
couldn't serve both. If there was a tension, there
was no question that it would be his allegiance to the eternal
God. He wouldn't just follow a king,
he would follow the king of kings. And so, they thought, well, let's
trap him. This is Satan's scheme. Let's
trap him. How are we going to find a weakness? Let's go with Darius' weakness.
So what did they do? They hatched a plot. And how
did they hatch it? They said, we have to catch Daniel
out and get him to do something because he must serve his God
that will put him at odds with Darius. So they worked on the
susceptibility of Darius to flattery. And they said to Darius, wouldn't
it be a good uniting thing in our kingdom? Don't you think
this kingdom, you know, you've taken over now and it's a big,
vast kingdom and the one thing we need is unity. So we need
something that symbolizes the fact that everybody must obey
you, Darius. Don't you think that's a good
idea? Yes, of course it's a good idea. Well, why not let's have
it that people should only acknowledge you as the head of the kingdom.
Yes, good idea. Yes, that's a good idea. So we'll
have a law that people for the next 30 days, let's get this
established and then they live in they'll live in the spirit
of it thereafter. So for 30 days make a law that
anybody who doesn't bow before you and ask a request of you
that they will be cast into the den of lions and they knew all
the time and they said all the presidents of the kingdom and
the governors and the princes have established this in verse
7 but of course it didn't include Daniel because they hadn't included
him in their plottings and in their murderous intents and Darius
being susceptible to flattery being susceptible to these things,
he signed the writing and the decree, verse 9. He did it. There
it was. And there was a strange legal
quirk of the Medes and the Persians. It's, again, it's one of those
things that's fallen into our everyday knowledge. You know,
the law of the Medes and the Persians, which cannot be changed,
because the law was, once the king had made a law, it could
not be changed. It was unchangeable. Absolutely. And he'd signed this, and it
was impossible for him to change it. He hadn't thought it through.
He hadn't thought through the consequences on his beloved Daniel. And he bitterly, bitterly regretted
it. You'll see that later on when
we get down to verse 14. When he knew that they caught
Daniel out because of this law he'd signed, he was so displeased
with himself and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him. He
must have thought, what an idiot I've been, what a fool I've been
to sign such a law, the end of which is going to be that my
most trusted servant is going to be destroyed in a lion's den.
You see, his law was unchangeable, the law of the Medes and the
Persians, just as God's law is unchangeable. Even Darius couldn't
repeal his own law, even for the sake of his beloved Daniel.
Does that remind you of something? The God of heaven, the God of
heaven whose holy just and righteous law he could not repeal in one
iota for the sake of his beloved son but his beloved son standing
in the place of his people and bearing the sin of his people
in that moment had to, had to bear the consequences of the
unchangeable law of God God does not forgive by sweeping under
the carpet God forgives by paying the price through a substitute
that's the difference between the gospel that is preached by
so many, by so many compromised churches and the true gospel
of Scripture. God cannot change His law. It
is established and He cannot change it. So what did Daniel
do in response? We've only got a few minutes
left. In response, did he run off and plead before Darius?
Did you not see what they've done? Can't we find a way? You
know, you hear about it in in the negotiations about strikes
and other things in our politics in these days. You just know
that there's just endless wheeling and dealing behind the scenes
to try and cook up a compromise that will sound like everybody's
agreeing with one another. You would have thought that maybe
Daniel would have rushed off to Darius to try and find a form
of words that could get round this law. Surely there's a way,
you know, get this government minister or that working on the
case and surely we can find a form of words. No. He sought the mind
of God. I'm sure he battled it out in
prayer long before he went into the lion's den. I'm sure in Daniel's
spirit he went through the lion's den long before he was actually
put into the lion's den. And it's exactly the same as
when he was a young man of 14 or 15 that we saw in chapter
1. He's now about 80 years old. The majority of the 70 years
of captivity is gone. But do you know, do you remember
those words about Daniel, the 14 or 15 year old boy? when they
wanted him to eat the king's food and drink the king's wine.
What did Daniel do? He purposed in his heart. He
purposed in his heart. Because this excellent spirit
that's in him at 80 years old was in him when he was 14 or
15 years old. He purposed in his heart that
he wouldn't defile himself with idolatrous things. And so he
purposed in his heart here that he would be true to his God.
With the strength of God. with God's strength, but not
in his own strength. He had a basis of hope. The lions
were, well, we've all got to go somehow, haven't we? He must
have thought, what's going to take him? Could be a disease,
could be an accident. Who knows in the purposes of
God? But he's in the purposes of God. And so whether it be
lions and a violent death, how can he possibly compromise his
eternal soul? And his place in Christ, how
can he do that? And so he remains true. His hope is in Christ. His hope is built on nothing
less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. And having that hope, he's confident. It doesn't matter what the lions
do. It doesn't matter what they do to kill the body. They can't
touch his spirit. And so he did as he always did,
as I've called the title of this message, as he did aforetime. It's there at the end of verse
10. He went to his room. He knew that they plotted this.
He knew they were going to catch him out. And so what did he do?
He did what he did every day. He did what was his habit every
day. He went to his room, and he opened
his windows towards Jerusalem, and he prayed three times a day,
and he worshipped God, and he gave thanks before his God as
he did aforetime. Exactly this. He didn't pray
ten times a day. He didn't go into a mad frantic panic. He
did what he always did. He prayed three times a day as
he did aforetime. It wasn't a show. It wasn't an
ostentatious show. He just did as he always did.
He wasn't attempting to hide what he usually did. It was what
they knew he usually did, and it was what they knew was the
way that they'd catch him out. It wasn't that he was praying
on a street corner for show, because Jesus said to the Pharisees,
don't be like the Pharisees, for they love to stand on a street
corner so that people will see them praying. I'll just say in
passing, you know we're thankful for our food when we go out to
eat and if you want to say thank you for your food when we go
out to eat that's absolutely fine but let's let's not have
formal sitting in a restaurant with the head of the table quietening
the whole restaurant while he gives thanks that's standing
on a street corner don't do that don't do that you don't do anything
for the honor of God by doing that it wasn't for show it was
to show that he didn't do anything different to what he always did
he opened his windows to Jerusalem if God would take him by lions
so be it it was all in the purposes of God but seeing Christ and
the salvation that's in him and knowing he was an object of God's
grace by the spirit that was in him he could leave all to
his God to order and provide what's this about opening the
windows to Jerusalem is this not just a bit idolatrous I mean
why did he do that was it because it was kind of superstitious
and Old Testament days and he didn't really know what did I
say earlier Jerusalem was symbolical of the gospel, of peace with
God, of sovereign grace, of particular redemption of a people for his
glory, and he remained true to it. Where was the basis of all
of his hope for eternity? It was in the gospel of God's
grace. Where was that gospel symbolized? It was in Jerusalem.
So when he prayed, and he worshipped, and he thanked his God, he opened
his windows towards Jerusalem. The gospel was at the core of
all of his worship and all of his service for God and so just
as he'd always done, as a foretime, he did in the full knowledge
that they would see him and report him for him. How do we worship? How do we worship? We only ever
worship on the basis of that gospel of grace, of that sovereign
grace, of that particular redemption, of God saving a people in Christ
and doing all that's necessary and him being sovereign, and
him calling, and him making his people his own. Jesus said in
Matthew chapter 10 verse 32, whoever therefore shall confess
me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is
in heaven. And God honored this faithfulness
of Daniel in doing as he'd done aforetime, as he'd always done,
in worshiping him in the right way, in staying true to the gospel
that was his hope for eternity, in looking unto Jesus, I'm sure,
exactly the same, the author and finisher of his faith, and
that motivated him to act in the way that he did. God preserved,
as you know, you know the story so well, God sent his angel and
shut the lion's mouths. God did that. God preserved Daniel. He preserved his body as a demonstration. In this case, he might not have
done, he might have taken him to glory. And Daniel was completely
confident in that. Daniel didn't know his body was
going to be saved. Daniel didn't know that the angel
of God, the messenger of the covenant, the Messiah was going
to come and shut the mouths of the lions so that they wouldn't
devour him. Daniel didn't know that. He left it all in the hands
of God. But so that God would prove that
he has the power to save the soul alive, he preserved Daniel's
body as a testament. Just as in the New Testament
miracles, you know, Lazarus, the friend of Jesus, whose sisters
were Martha and Mary, he died, and he'd been in the grave four
days, and he was decaying. But to show, Jesus said, that
he has the power, that he is the resurrection and the life,
he raised Lazarus from the dead to show that he has the power
to raise the soul to eternal life. And what he says about
life is true. and those who plotted Daniel's
downfall the scripture in no way condones the brutal treatment
of them in verse 24 not only them but their wives and their
children were cast into the den of lions and there was a well
it says the lions had the mastery over them and break all their
bones in pieces before they even fell to the bottom of the den
the scriptures don't condone it but the very fate that they
had plotted for Daniel became their own fate And how that reminds
me that at the cross, Satan and his powers of darkness were convinced
that they had triumphed, that the dragon had devoured the child
of the woman, that he'd destroyed this one who would be the salvation
of his people. But in that very moment, as Colossians
tells us, Christ made a show of them openly and disarmed them
completely so that there is therefore now no condemnation to those
who are in Christ Jesus. And so God's servant was vindicated,
he was preserved, he was used for God's purposes, it tells
us, in the remainder of Darius's reign, and then when Cyrus the
Persian took over in his place. And he continued until the end
of the captivity. And so we should be encouraged,
we should be encouraged to stay true to the gospel of grace,
the gospel of particular redemption. Whatever the pressures, whatever
the psychological pressures, to compromise and to conform
to other things just for the sake of feeling better about
it. No, we stay true to our God as
Daniel did. Amen. Well, we don't do this in our
own strength.