Turning your Bibles back to Daniel
chapter 6. If you don't have your Bibles, you can use your
pastor's commentary. Our outline is in the pastor's
commentary that will help you and I in the flow of our message.
We are continuing in the book of Daniel. And I shared with
you last week, we have come to the 6th chapter of Daniel. And the 6th chapter of Daniel
is a summit. It is a high place. It is a place
where We will begin to look at the
larger prophetic picture that God so eloquently and thoroughly
and sufficiently set forth in the visions of Daniel. But before
we are privileged to do that, we have to understand the message
of the book of Daniel, and we have to understand the methodology
by which God speaks to His people. In our eldest prayer, He said,
Lord, show us Jesus Christ. Show us Jesus Christ. And that
is the goal of the Holy Ghost in the ministry of the word to
show us Jesus. And when he, the spirit of truth
has come, he will take the things of mine and he will show them
unto you. He will not speak of himself,
but he will glorify me. The goal of gospel preaching
and the goal of the exposition of the scriptures is that we
might see Jesus. And the prophets of old and the
prophets of the New Testament all had one objective, and that
was to point men and women to Jesus Christ. When we properly
understand the Bible, we understand that the spirit of prophecy the
testimony of Jesus when we read the Bible therefore with the
aid of the Holy Ghost we should see something of the person and
work of our glorious Savior isn't that true today I want you to
see something else of which we have been contemplating for a
week now and that is Daniel the senior senator of not only the
Babylonian kingdom, but now the Midian kingdom. The Medo-Persian
kingdom will be the period in which Daniel's ministry encompasses
all that God had purposed for him. And last week we looked
at how Daniel was preferred above all of the rulers of media. King Darius looked over Daniel's
resume and saw that Daniel was a man that was highly highly
skilled and impeccable in his service to the king of Babylon
and it was the desire of Darius to make Daniel higher than all
the presidents that he had established over the 120 provinces of Babylon,
Medo-Persia. And that meant that Daniel would
reign supreme over the chieftains of Medo-Persia and over all of
the satraps of the 120 provinces. If you recall, this came into
the mind of Darius in verse three. Then this Daniel was preferred
above the presidents and the princes. Because an excellent
spirit was in him and the king thought to set him over the whole
realm now this is what launched the whole of what we call the
most famous aspect of Daniel's life the Conspiracy of his colleagues
and those who ruled with him obviously were envious of the
very idea that Darius would set Daniel over the whole realm and
But we considered last week Daniel's resume, didn't we? And we understood
that Daniel had every reason to be put where he was because
the text tells us that in Daniel there was an excellent spirit.
And when he was vetted by his colleagues, you guys know what
the word vetted means? Some of you do, some of you may
not. It's a political term which means
to test you and to try you. and to determine your authenticity
and the integrity of your calling. You know, our politicians don't
quite get vetted today. I hope you know that. If they
do, some of them wouldn't meet the qualifications for the office
for which they are aspiring to. But Daniel was vetted. He was
not only vetted by the king who came to find out that Daniel's
service and performance for almost 70 years in Babylon was such,
as the scripture says, caused Daniel to be distinguished above
all the other rulers. And this reminds me as you and
I have been contemplating who Daniel is a great type of. Who
is he a type of? Jesus. The Bible says concerning
Jesus that he did all things well, that he always pleased
the father, that he was perfect in his work. And he even said,
he even said, if you don't believe me for who I am, believe me for
my work sake. Now that's confidence in your
resume, isn't it? When people question whether
or not you are the man for the job, and they don't necessarily
like your personality, or they find some type of ad hominem
against you, and you can say, look at my resume, don't judge
me in terms of my personality, judge me in terms of my works.
Well, saints, listen to me. Jesus' work is a work that stands
above everybody's work in the world. Jesus' work is the only
work that God the Father looks at. And it is his work that we
are seeing here in the book of Daniel as we are looking at the
second phase. I want you to notice again in
your outline point number one, just briefly, let this sink into
your head before we move forward. He distinguished himself. That's
literally the way the Hebrew word rendered preferred and Daniel
was preferred. He was preferred above the rest
of the presidents. Literally it means he distinguished
himself. He stood out above the rest in
terms of his duty and office. And we saw that what Daniel is
serving is as a great type of Jesus Christ in his impeccable
office and duty before his God, Daniel stood out. The second
thing I want you to notice, and I was thinking about this last
week as we were developing this, Darius was minded to make Daniel
to be above the presidents and princes because of an excellent
spirit that was in him. This would have mean that Daniel
would have served, if you see the second point in your outline,
second in command. Meaning Darius would have still
remained above Daniel. But Daniel would have been above
everyone else in the kingdom. Now there's a lesson here as
well as what we call a paradigm. And I want us to get this. For
the people of God, second in command is what God has called
us to be. I want you to think about that
with me for a moment. Every believer walks in authority
in the person and representative of Jesus Christ, do we not? Not
only do we walk in authority in terms of our union with him,
of which is the essence of our message, but we walk in authority
because of the presence of the spirit of God in our life. When
we were unsaved, we were slaves of sin. We were under the bondage
and curse of the law, and we lived according to the tyranny
and dictates of the devil. When God saved us, he brought
us out from that tyranny and bondage, and he set us on high
as princes, didn't he? We are now seated in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus. I hope that's not a theory for
you. I hope that's a reality for you. I hope you understand
that when God said He placed us in Christ, in heavenly places,
what that means is you and I as true believers, born of God,
now we have a dimension of power with God that allows us to live
as children of the King. The Spirit of God abides in us.
Now we walk by faith, whereas we didn't. Now we trust the true
and the living God, whereas we didn't. Now we worship God, whereas
we didn't. Now we can be witnesses of the
true and the living God, whereas we weren't. Isn't that true?
That's authority. I hope you understand that. To
be able to love God and to serve God and to walk with God and
to enjoy His Word and to be able to look to Christ and then be
able to say to people, look to Christ, authority is authority
and in fact the whole of Daniel chapter 6 is all about this look
to Christ look to Christ have those colleagues of Daniel gotten
a message they would have understood that Daniel wasn't the one being
exalted but his God was Then they would have understood that
it was incumbent upon them to seek the God of Daniel that they
might be established like Daniel was. But that wasn't the case
because they too serve as a larger picture of which we will be developing
here in a moment. Second in command. What's so
important about that? Please remember this. You and
I are second in command. That means we always have an
authority over our head. That means we always have an
authority over our head. Now that may not mean anything
to you who are self-governing, autonomous, and free to come
and go in your life as you will without anyone telling you what
to do. That's part of the problem of being an American. The whole
idea of someone having control over your life or influence over
your life and authority over your life is really alien to
the whole framework of our life. Isn't that true? When we become
saved, Ostensibly what we say is Jesus is what? Lord. That means no matter what
authority I am walking in, Christ still reigns over me. Now the
Bible gives us several examples of this and I just want to call
your attention to a couple of them because I want to drive
home a very relevant gospel point. If you and I are going to serve
God acceptably, if you and I are going to be effective in our
service of the true and the living God, we got to know what it means
to walk in our authority But also to be under his authority
We will steal god's glory If we think we are free to do whatever
we want to do because we're children of the king Did you guys get
that we will steal god's We were going through the kings weren't
we? And every king that attempted to steal god's glory god put
down even godly kings even the kings of judah who arrogated
to themselves God's prerogatives, God put them down. And children
of God, God will put you and me down too. If we don't understand
that we are at best second in command, at best we walk in authority,
but we're under authority. Give you an example. Remember
Joseph? You don't have to go there. But in Genesis chapter
40, the Bible tells us that Joseph interpreted the dreams of Pharaoh. And because he interpreted Pharaoh's
dreams, Pharaoh exalted Joseph to the highest office. In Genesis
chapter 40 where Pharaoh said to Joseph, here Joseph, I'm giving
you my ring, I'm giving you my staff, I'm giving you a gold
chain, I'm putting you in a place of authority. You have rule over
everything in the kingdom except my throne. He made it very plain
to Joseph, you get to rule everything but my throne. Do you see the
typology there? Because the language is very
clear. When Pharaoh gave Joseph that authority, Joseph then became
the person to whom everyone must go for blessing. It was the consequence
of Joseph having seen the seven years of blessing and the seven
years of famine. And in the seven years of blessing,
what Joseph did was store up the corn in the providence and
put it away in caves. He said the seven years of famine
are coming and saints listen to me. The seven years of famine
are here. I'm not only talking in the redemptive
spiritual sense, in the which the gospel is not being preached
in power and Christ is not being exalted, but I'm talking about
in a very real sense, you and I are on the brink of experiencing
a very famished period of time. You better get ready for it.
You better get ready for it. And here, listen to me. What
I love about the Word of God is that God is the same yesterday,
today, and forever. Which means He warns His people
before these things come so that they can prepare for the day
of calamity. Are you hearing me? And so the
book of Daniel teaches us about this. Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego, we said before, saw the day when Nebuchadnezzar would
raise up this golden altar 90 feet high. They saw it coming.
Why? Because the Bible says the Lord
does nothing but that He reveals it to His servants, the prophets
first. We have a Bible that tells us about the things that are
present and the things that are coming. And if you open your
eyes and your ears and read your Bibles carefully, listen to me,
we're already in the midst of some trouble right now. And I'll
tell you what you need to do. Listen carefully to this is what
you need to do. You need to hide yourself in real in Christ. Right now, you need to be serious
about making sure of your calling and election. You need to make
sure you know the Lord Jesus. You need to make sure you're
truly born again, that you have been delivered not only from
the bondage of sin, but the bondage of false religion. You need to
make sure you know Christ today. That's the message of the Bible.
God protects his own. And so what we have in our account
also is Daniel being placed in a prominent area of authority
and yet there's authority over his head. And so the Bible tells
us in Luke chapter 7, if you recall that centurion who had
a very sick daughter and he had heard about Jesus' capacity to
heal. And he went to Jesus and he said, Jesus, would it be possible
that you would do something for my daughter? And Jesus said,
sure. Where is she? He said, you don't
have to go to my house. See, because I know that you
have authority. I know that if you just speak
the word, that'll be enough. And I'll tell you why I know,
because I am a man who In authority as well as having authority over
my head. I have authority over my head,
but I'm in authority So I tell this one to do that and I tell
the other one to do that and they do exactly what I say How
much more so you being the Son of God and the Messiah? Lord
just speak and your word will take care of it. You understand
what I'm getting at the man understood his place and And he could also
see that reality in the life of the Lord Jesus. Now, do you
know that when Jesus came and assumed the human nature and
came to accomplish his work of redemption, that he came with
that same position of being in second place? He never ever suggested
or remotely implied that he had authority over his father. It
was always, my father is greater than I. It was always, I came
to do the will of him that sent me. It was always, I came to
do my father's work. It was always that. And the Bible
tells us in Isaiah chapter 49, I want you to see this, go to
Isaiah 49. Remember the point that I'm making,
and I think this is so very important for the children of God is, best
you and I are second in command I don't care where God places
you in his ministry and in his service at best we are second
in command the Bible tells us in Isaiah chapter 49 as it describes
something of the nature and character of our Savior in his work these
words over in verse 7 thus saith the Lord the Redeemer of Israel
and his Holy One Now watch the characteristics of Jesus here
in verse 7 and mark how similar these characteristics are with
our text. To him whom man, what, despises. To him whom the nations, what,
abhor. Saints, is that true today? Is
it true today that men despise the Lord? Is it true today that
nations abhor the gospel? Listen to what it says, however.
to him whom men despise, the nations are poor, a servant of
what? Rulers. Who is that? That's our
Savior. That's Daniel. That's Joseph. That's all of the men that God
had raised up as great models and types of Jesus, who in this
world, while walking in their authority before God and with
Christ, they were servants to this world. That means you and
I are called to be what? Servants in this world. Even
though we have the authority of God, children of God, listen
to me. Your job is to serve. The son of man came not to be
served, but to what? Serve. I hope I drive that home
because you will be blessed in your life when you understand
he saved you for that very purpose. He saved you. And to have that
mindset is wonderful because here is why I say that. Go with
me now back to our text. As we get ready to get into this
drama a little bit more and close out the latter half of Daniel
chapter six. If I have authority over my head, and if the person
who rules over me is sovereign, and if by his grace I'm able
to do what he tells me to do, then no matter what goes down
in my life in terms of trouble and conflict and trials and difficulties,
you know what my heart can say? He's got to take care of it.
Because all I'm doing is what he called me to do. What I'm
getting at is, It's a very comfortable, wonderful place to be second
in command. It's wonderful because you at
least have someone to whom you can put the blame. Once you are
in chief and ultimate authority, all the blame falls on you. And
I'm here to tell you, once again, as we work our way through this
text, be careful to avoid the mentality that you have been
called to be the point man. The point man is always the person
that carries the brunt of everything. Learn the humility of simply
being able to walk in your authority in Christ and to serve from that
capacity in Christ, recognizing that God is over all. All right, the second thing or
the third thing I wanna call your attention to is an adulterous
worship of the king, an adulterous worship of the king. Look over
at verse seven. You guys remember our account,
these maniacal demonic rulers and colleagues of Daniel sought
to establish legislation by which it would accomplish two things.
The first was to have the king flattered by virtue of the whole
nation spending 30 days venerating him. Isn't that flattery? Think about it. Here you are
the head of a business, the head of a company. Everybody comes
in and they say, uh, we're going to call you the king for a moment.
You get to be a king for a moment. Okay. Everybody says to you,
Oh king, We have determined that for the next 30 days, when everyone
comes in, all we're going to do is praise you. We're going
to exalt you. We're going to lift you up. We're
going to honor you. And no one can honor anyone else
during this time. You know, if you are a megalomaniac,
if you are a narcissist, that would sound good to you. Think
about it for a moment now. Wouldn't you like to be the one
for 30 days with everybody talking about you? But notice how wicked this plot
was. While the decree implied and
inferred an honor and exaltation of the king, it implicitly denied
the honor of Daniel. Do you guys see that? While it
inferred and implied that we will honor the king, it implicitly
denied honoring Daniel. Now, I told you before, when
you read the Old Testament, understand that the Old Testament is the
New Testament concealed, and the New Testament is the Old
Testament revealed. And that when we are reading
the Old Testament, we are looking for that framework, that construct,
that paradigm, that model of New Testament reality, are we
not? Well, let me tell you what the text is teaching us in this
verse. to honor the father and yet not honor the son is to not
honor the father. Did you get that? To suggest
or imply that we can worship God and we can call him father
and we can honor the most high God and yet reject the Lord Jesus
Christ who is his darling son is to dishonor the father. What
these men did Attempting to flatter the king was actually to dishonor
the king. Why am I saying this? I'm saying
this because not only is it a great model of what Jesus said in John
chapter 5 verse 24 and 25 Jesus said the father have committed
all judgment into my hand and that what he said all authority
has been given to me therefore whosoever honored the father
and not honored the son does not honor the father and That's
what Jesus said. Now watch this. Had these men
been noble, had they been wise, they would have been aware that
what the king wanted to do in raising Daniel up to be preeminent
over everyone but himself was the pleasure of the king. It
pleased Darius. It pleased Darius to raise Daniel
up. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
It pleased the Father that in him all the fullness of the Godhead
bodily should dwell. It pleased God to make Jesus
to have the preeminence over all things. It pleased God that
Jesus Christ would be the vehicle by which the whole world would
look in order to get whatever benefits God the Father had.
Am I making some sense? Now, for the people of God, listen
to me now while we go to our next point. God's pleasure is
important to us. Am I making some sense? I don't
get to circumvent what pleases the father in order to get what
I want, even if it's in the name of honoring the father. If the
father has made it very plain and he has that all his pleasure
is wrapped up in his darling son, then my goal is to honor
the father by honoring the son. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
And so we see in this passage of scripture, a great type of
the rulers of Jesus day. And we'll see this more fully
as we develop the point down the way, no way out. The rulers
of Jesus day, they constantly talked about honoring God the
father. And yet they despised his son. They constantly talking
about, we are Abraham's seed. We'd be in bondage to no one.
And yet they rejected the one whom the father said. And so
Jesus said in Matthew chapter 20, when he gave the parable
of the vineyard, how he lifted out to husband men and the owner
of the vineyard decided he wanted to get revenues on his fruit,
he sent his servants and they beat his servants. He sent his
prophets and they beat his prophets and killed some of them. And
finally he says, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to
send my son last of all. That's called eschaton in the
Greek. I'll deal with that when we get
to the prophecies. I'll send my son at the end of
time, in the fullness of time, made of a woman, born under the
law. You know what it says? And surely they will reverence
him. In that parable, God is teaching
that his intention was for the children of Israel when Jesus
came to recognize the glory of God in Christ. But the text said,
when they saw the son, they acknowledged him as the heir. This is the
heir. Come, let us worship him. Is
that what they said? Come, let us kill him. Isn't that what we're dealing
with here? King Darius could do whatever he wanted to. He
was a sovereign. He was a despot. He was a tyrant,
but he was a despot. He could do whatever he wanted
to. He didn't have to seek the advice or the affirmation of
any of the rulers, he could have simply just raised Daniel up.
He was minded to. And what these men were seeking
to do was to circumvent this process. Now, listen to me now,
because this will take us into another aspect of redemptive
truth. They wanted to circumvent the process of Daniel being exalted
by a law, by a law. This is why it's so important
for you to know your Bible, Saints, and it's so important to understand
what we call the continuity of truth. In theology, it's called
the analogy of Scripture or the analogy of faith. And what that
means is from Genesis to Revelation, the same story is being told
over and over and over and over again. The same story is being
told over in a million different ways. In a million different
ways God is warning sinners about the behavior and methodology
of the devil and fallen man against God's sovereignty. And over and
over and over again through the Bible God is showing us in a
million different ways how God in his wisdom and in his might
through the gospel redeems and saves sinners by that one man
Jesus. Am I making some sense? And so
we are still dealing with that model here. I want you to, I
want you to see a spirit of God. Help somebody see it today. If
you don't see Jesus in the scriptures, you haven't gotten the truth.
If you don't see that this book is about our savior, you haven't
gotten the truth. Yes. You and I have troubles.
Yes. You and I have lions dance. I'm
going to talk about that in a moment, but I want you to hear me now.
No man has ever went through what Jesus did. Come and see
all ye that pass by and look and behold how the Lord hath
afflicted me That's lamentation chapter 1 the Spirit of Christ
is speaking He's beckoning men to inquire. Have you ever suffered
like the Son of God suffered? And I'm here to tell you, looking
and seeing the sufferings of Christ is critical. So what we
are dealing with now is the sufferings of Jesus Christ that's about
to occur. Remember, the spirit of prophecy
that was in the prophets of old did two things. They testified
to the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow.
That's the whole compendium of Bible truth. The Old Testament
taught his sufferings and his glory. Look with me at his sufferings
just a little bit, just a little bit. Let's look at his suffering.
So the next point I want to call you to is point number four,
a predetermined counsel, a predetermined counsel. Look at me over at verse
nine. Are you there? I'll start at
verse eight now. Old King established a decree.
Do you see that in verse eight? The rulers have come to the king
and told the king, this is what we want to do. We want to have
a law, a day where you worship for 30 days, no one else. So
establish the decree king and sign the writing that it be not
changed according to the law of the Medes and the purge, which
does not alter. Do you guys see that? Do you
know what they knew that once the king said yes and signed
off on it, it was written in stone that you can't change the
law. that the king, when he, in his
sovereign decree, established a law, you don't change that
law. That law remains that way perpetually until the king dies. And what we learned last week
with regards to this council is that it teaches us something
about the immutability of God, the unchangeableness of God.
Saints, let me ask you a question as we develop this. Does God's
Word change? I don't believe you. I'm looking
at over 300 people. I don't believe you. No, you
guys are a bunch of religious folk. I don't believe you. Please listen to why I say that.
Yes, there's a little humor there, but not a whole lot. I'm worried
about this generation of pluralist relativist. I'm worried that
my peers and my colleagues and the people to whom I minister
the gospel do not really believe in the immutability of God's
Word, in the veracity of God's Word, in the unchangeable nature
of divine truth. I'm worried about that. I'm worried
whether or not in reality you are not going to be like many
who give up on the Bible at some point when the pressure is so
heavy on you. I'm really worried about that.
Can I be honest with you? I'm worried about that. I'm worried
that your service to God is nothing but lip service, that you talk
good, but your heart's not ready to do what Daniel did. I think
we might be singing that song unless our elder cut it out on
me. He kind of does whatever he wants
to when he's up here, which is cool. Dare to be a Daniel, dare
to stand alone. Is it in there? That's the last
one. I don't even know how the song
goes. We'll find out. He asked for it last week. So
I said, I better dig that up. Do you dare to be a Daniel? Do
you dare to stand alone? If you do, it's because you've
been persuaded of the truth. Didn't we say this a couple of
weeks ago? Luther stood before the diet of worms. He knew those
crooked priests had daggers under their clothes. And if he didn't
answer properly, he was a dead man. Here I stand. I can do no
other. God help me. Are you hearing
it now? This is what the church has gone
through for 2000 years. And what Paul said in Philippians
chapter one was, for the unsaved, believers standing for the truth
of God's word is an evidence that they're crazy. It's an evidence
that they're stupid, that they're ignorant, that they're naive.
Nobody stands for the truth of fidelity and marriage in the
year 2008. Nobody stands for the truth of
the distinction between male and female in the year 2008.
Nobody stands for the veracity of Bible truth when it concerns
the person and work of Jesus Christ in the year 2008. Why
are you nitpicking over the doctrine of atonement, over the person
of Christ, over the successful work of his redemption for sinners?
Can't we just all get along? Are you hearing what I'm saying?
This is the flood that has come out of the mouth of the dragon,
according to Revelation chapter 12, seeking to wash away the
seed of God's people and cause them to abandon God's truth.
I'm here to tell you, if you abandon God's truth, you have
no hope for glory. You will be washed away with
the tides of contemporary, which one day is in, the next day is
out, the other day is in, the next day is out, and you're tossed
to and fro by every wind of doctrine. until you're destroyed, until
you're destroyed. And so it's so very important
for you to understand that the Bible is the immutable, unchangeable
verity of God's truth. God's word can be trusted. God's
word is faithful. The Bible says in the book of
Isaiah chapter 34, seek ye, seek ye out of the book of the Lord.
Not one prophecy will ever fail. Now listen to me, only God talks
like that. Only God talks like that. Not one prophecy will ever
fail. So follow this now, Saints. Daniel
is in a situation where the winds have changed. I told you that
happens. You know, you're doing good for
a while and everybody likes you. And then all of a sudden you
come into the office and it's like you've got a plague on you. You know, this is inexplicable.
Tell the truth now. It's inexplicable. You know how
when people turn on you, you don't really know what it was
that started the turn. And then what's even more inexplicable
is this. You can't fix the turn. Every
time you try to fix it, you make it worse. And you're trying to
figure out what must I do to turn the tides back because I
like people liking me. Now we all do. We'll be honest
with that. We all like people like, isn't
that right? We like, come on, you're not the rock of Gibraltar.
Jesus is. We like people liking us. We
love when we come into office and everybody glad to see us.
When they don't like us, when they're not glad to see us, we
want to take sick days off and we want to come in late and we
want to, am I telling the truth? That's because we're weak and
we're men pleasers by nature. Isn't that right? That wasn't
so with Jesus. I'm so very concerned. Do you
know what Daniel said? Daniel said in verse 10, listen
to what it says. Now, when Daniel knew that the
writing was signed, he went into his house. Now, I want you to
understand what's going on here. Remember, this sub point is a
predetermined council, the king's decree. Daniel didn't even argue
with the decree. He didn't debate the decree.
He didn't filibuster. He didn't boycott. He didn't
oppose the decree. Can I tell you what Daniel did?
Daniel honored the king. Will you hear me? He honored
the king. Why? Because Daniel was a great type
of who? Jesus, who honored his father. See, you must know, if
you don't, that the cross work of Jesus Christ, the death of
Christ on Calvary, The sufferings of Jesus was no plan B with God
Almighty. In other words, Jesus was decreed,
He was predetermined, He was predestined before the world
began to be the object of God's wrath. Did you hear what I just
said? That the fall of man didn't take God by surprise, nor was
it an accident. You need to get a hold to your
emotions on that. But the Bible is very clear.
Christ is the lamb slain from before the foundation of the
world. Do you know what that means? Before God created the
world, he made a covenant with his son to make his son to be
a substitute for sinners. Am I making some sense? A substitute
for sin. That means everything that transpired
in this world was according to purpose. So the Bible tells us
in Ephesians 111, God works all things after the counsel of his
what? Own will. Isn't that right? The
believer gets a hold of that, don't we? That means we understand
that all things work together for good to them that what? Listen
to it. Love God. Love God. See, Daniel's loving him some
God right now. What do you mean? He can see
that the God who signed that decree, Darius, only moved his
hand to sign that decree because of the God who sat in glory,
having decreed that Daniel signed that decree. You got it? See, that's to believe the Bible.
That's to believe the Bible. Jesus is standing before Pilate.
He's standing before Caiaphas and they're threatening him.
And Jesus says to Pilate, Pilate, listen, let me tell you, you
can't do nothing to me. If it wasn't given to you by
my father, you couldn't touch me. And as far as letting me
go or holding me, don't you know if I wanted to, I could just
call one legion down here and clean out all of Palestine and
your name would be wiped off the face of the earth. Therefore,
Pilate, this is the elliptical comment, all you're doing is
the will of my father. So Pilate signed the decree. Because that's exactly what Daniel
understood. His God had put him in a situation
where God now must be glorified in Daniel's life. And children
of God, listen to me. Sometimes God puts us in situations
where if we stand obedient to God, God must get the glory.
If he's going to work this situation out, God must do it. God must
work the... because I didn't intentionally
get here. You know, when we sin, we must confess our sin and acknowledge
our rebellion. And God's just and faithful to
forgive us of our sin. Don't blame God for your sin.
But when God moves you into a situation providentially, which is a consequence
of his sovereign decree, and you know you're there by the
will of God, you must know that God's going to do two things
in that situation. He's going to get glory to himself,
and he's going to continue to conform you to the image of his
son. Are you hearing me? I think my young brother Michael
Geary was asking me about the phrase that Paul uses in the
book of Colossians that he might fill up the sufferings of Christ
in his body and I was sharing with him what that simply meant
is that God has called you and I to be sons of God and the spirit
of adoption by which we cry Abba Father is in order for us to
be able to endure suffering for Christ's sake for as he suffered
so must we suffer. The man or the woman that wants
to abandon suffering is abandoning the spirit of adoption. Can I
tell you, every child whom the Lord loves, he what? Everyone
he brought into the world of the Bible has gone through difficulties. Why? Because they were made to
be partakers of Christ. To know then that you are elect,
that you are called of God is to be able to reconcile all of
this craziness that's going on in your life because God is determined
to shut you up to Christ and Christ alone. Don't abandon that. Folks, there are things that
went down in your life when you were a child. You still trying
to figure that out. I understand that. But be careful
not to listen to the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in
the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scornful. Let
God, who made you and the world, and who is the Father of all
spirits, tell you how it went down. And I'm here to tell you,
you'll get comfort when God tells you. The wicked will tell you
it's somebody else's fault. The Bible will tell you the truth. Daniel understood that he was
delivered because it was the purpose of God. That he was delivered
up because it was the predetermined counsel of God. He was delivered
up, listen to me, because this was not a plan B. It wasn't a
plan B for Daniel, it wasn't a plan B for Joseph, it wasn't
a plan B for Job, it wasn't a plan B for Adam, it wasn't a plan
B for Jesus. This is the purpose of God and
it was an eternal decree. And the premise upon it was this,
that Daniel would now become subject to a law that would make
it that Daniel sinned against the king. Are you hearing me? All right, this calls our attention
to the title of our message. I know that might've sound strange
to you to read the title of your message, but I want you to get
this. made him sin. Are you hearing me? He made him sin. The apostle Paul was able to
reconcile this as God took him out into the wilderness of Arabia. And for 14 years, he was able
to begin to unravel the mysteries of the kingdom of God. In his
reading of the Old Testament, he began to see how that all
the prophecies pointed to Christ. Paul said in 2nd Corinthians
chapter 5 verse 20 and 21 that God who hath reconciled all things
unto himself by Jesus Christ hath made him sin for us that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him do you understand
the profundity of that I want to help you please understand
this You and I are sinned by nature. Pastor, weren't you supposed
to put an N-E-R on the front of that? No. We're sinned by
nature. Our nature is sinful. We're born
and conceived in sin. We think evil thoughts. We come
out of the womb speaking lies. We go astray from the womb opposing
God. No one is naturally born in love
with the true and the living God. We all fell in Adam, and
as a consequence of falling in Adam, all have what? Sin. And come short of the glory of
God. You and I are sin. We don't just do sin, we are
sin. And every thought that we think
that's contrary to God's word is sin. And every action that
we engage in while not acknowledging God for that action is sin. And
every deed we do, even seeking or surmising that we're doing
it for the glory of God, is coupled with sin. You and I, by nature,
are sin. But the Bible says he made him
sin. Some of your Bible said to be
sin. That's not in the original language.
The literal Greek construction is this. He made him sin. Not to commit sin, but to be
the object of sin and therefore the object of sin's wrath. The
Bible says the Lord laid on him the iniquity of all of us all
who believe the gospel. Are you hearing me? That means
that Jesus found himself odds with God's law. Am I making some
sense? The Son of God found himself
at variance with God's holy law. This is exactly what happened
to Daniel. Daniel was doing fine. He didn't do anything wrong.
The whole of his resume was he was sinless. He was innocent. We can find no fault in him.
And you know what the Bible says in Isaiah chapter 53 verse 11?
Because there was no guile in him, God caused him to be stricken
for the transgression of his people. Because there was no
guile in him. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
What I'm getting at is the mystery of the gospel is what we call
the doctrine of imputation, the doctrine of substitution, and
the doctrine of suretyship. Please understand what I'm saying.
The Bible means nothing without this word substitution. It's
one thing for Christ to live a perfect life. But if he didn't
do it for me, what good was it? It's one thing for him to die
a horribly wretched death under the wrath of God. But if he didn't
do it for me, what good was it? Are you hearing what I'm saying?
The operative words are for us. It's called substitution. It's called suretyship. I'm going
to expand that. It's called imputation. What Paul is saying is there
was a transaction that went on in glory prior to the world beginning
where the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost in that great
triune council said we will have a people for ourselves. They
will go astray and fall into sin. I must punish them because
I'm holy. Who will be their substitute? And the second person said, father,
I will go and be their substitute, which from that point on, all
of the responsibility of every one of God's people was taken
off of them and placed on Jesus. So that when Jesus came into
the world, would you hear me? He was burying my sin. soon as
he took on a human nature he was bearing my sin he didn't
need a body he was God Almighty why did he have a body for me
did you hear what I just said and thus he was circumcised on
the eighth day only sinners are circumcised why would Christ
be circumcised when he was perfect because he was a substitute for
sinners he had to be circumcised because God had laid on him the
iniquity of us all is the Burden getting lighter for you now.
Are you hearing me? Is the burden getting lighter
for you now? Jesus Christ the substitute of sinners was always
our substitute and this is the mystery for which Daniel himself
now is moving on in obedience without even remotely Arguing
or contradicting what's going on? All right. Here's the next
point that I want to call you to in our outlines is amazing
looking towards Jerusalem Look at verse 10. Now when Daniel
knew that the writing was signed and he went into the house and
his window being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he
kneeled upon his knees and three times a day prayed and gave thanks
before his God as he always did. Didn't we talk about that last
week? As he always did. Can I tell you something? We
worship when it's raining and we worship when the sun is shining.
We worship when it's cold and we worship when it's hot. We
worship in season and out of season. We worship because we
must worship. We don't worship based on circumstances
and events. We worship based on relationship. We worship because God made us
to worship. We worship because we are compelled
to worship. And when Daniel is worshiping
three times a day, Daniel is only doing what his great-great-great
grandfather taught them all to do. Who was he? David. David
was a sweet psalmist who wrote the Psalms and in the Psalms,
it says, I will worship you in the morning at noontime and in
the evening. And so David's sons did just
what David did. This was not some type of hyper
piety. This was merely what was operating
in the life of a man who not only knew God, will you hear
me, but appreciated where God had taken him. Daniel appreciated
where God had taken him. Remember I told you Babylon had
came in, destroyed Jerusalem and Judah because of the wickedness
of Daniel's parents, brought Daniel and the whole of Israel
into captivity to Babylon, and rather than destroy Daniel, God
protected Daniel in Babylon. God preserved Daniel in Babylon. God exalted Daniel in Babylon.
God raised Daniel up in Babylon. Daniel is thankful every day
of his life. Daniel is living large in Babylon. But Daniel understands his living
large, and I mean living large, in Babylon was the mercy and
providence and purpose of God. See, when you know God, you know
that God puts you where God puts you. And you never neglect to
give him glory for, am I making some sense? You never neglect
to give him glory for it. So all Daniel is doing is what
Daniel did every day. Go into his house, which was
designed specifically by Daniel. Remember, Daniel was living large.
You need to remember this now. He wasn't petty. He had his house
specially made. It was radically different than
the Babylonian homes. I'm conjecturing, but I just
want you to get this. His house was different and his
house was positioned in a way that when the windows were open,
he could look towards Jerusalem. Do you know why he did that?
Because his worship wasn't private. His worship wasn't secret. Why
would he worship God in private and secret when God has exalted
him publicly and openly? Why would he deny God his glory
and his right when God has set him second in command in three
kingdoms? Babylon, Media, and Persia. Am
I making some sense? So it causes me to think briefly
about the folks in the White House. I can't figure one in
the White House right now. I'm talking presidents, I'm talking
senators, I'm talking congressmen. I'm trying to figure one whose
love for the gospel and the glory of God and the honor of Christ
so stands out that every time we think about him or her, all
we can think about is Jesus. Are you hearing me? Are you hearing
me? And it ain't because God can't
keep them in their office. We know that because of the Bible.
So Daniel is worshiping his God vitally, consistently, and publicly. Can we talk about the significance
of looking toward Jerusalem for a minute? See, Daniel is doing
what every true believer does. Worship God according to the
revelation of Jesus Christ. represented in the temple. Are
you hearing me? Watch this now. I told you that
Babylon is a foreshadow of the end time in which the gospel
would go into every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue. That was sort
of a precursor, a trial run. Am I making some sense? God scattered
his people in all of Babylon. Okay, you're in Babylon now.
You're in Europe. You're in Asia. You're in China.
You're all over the map. You're living with Gentiles.
How will you serve God among the Gentiles? See what I'm getting
at? Will you, now that you're in Babylon, or Rome, or Greece,
do like the Grecians, and the Romans, and the Babylonians?
Will you change your garments? Will you abandon your God? Will
you worship like they worship, because you're in Babylon, Greece,
Rome? Are you hearing what I'm saying?
In other words, Daniel was authentically born of God. As a consequence,
the only person he would worship is the Lord Jesus Christ. When
he looked to Jerusalem, you know what he saw? He saw a temple.
He saw a temple. The temple is in Jerusalem. That
temple points to who? Christ. Destroy this temple and
I'll raise it up in three days. When he looks to Jerusalem and
he sees a temple, guess what else he sees? He sees a sacrifice. He sees the whole burnt offering,
doesn't he? The whole burnt offering taught Daniel that while he was
800 miles away in Babylon, he was still a sinner and still
needed the blood. For without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission of sin. I don't care how far you get
from God on planet earth, you still need a savior. All the
way in Babylon, Daniel could look into the tabernacle, the
temple, and he could not only see the burnt altar, he could
also see the labor for washing. And what came to his mind by
the Holy Ghost was, I need to be sanctified. You do too. Outside
of Christ, we're unclean. Did you know that? Jesus is our
sanctification. Is he not? Daniel looks to Jerusalem
and is reminded that God has washed him clean in the blood
of the lamb. Now unto God be thanks who hath
washed us from our sins in his own blood. Daniel saw that. And Daniel also remembered as
he looked to the temple, He remembered the altar of incense as that
incense went up. The job of the high priest was
to light it every day and to keep the incense burning. The
incense represented the mediatorial work of our great high priest
on the behalf of sinners. Do you know you can't get to
God apart from Christ? Do you know you need a mediator,
whoever lives to make intercession for you? Do you know you need
a God praying for you when you sleep? I told you this before,
you sin in your sleep too. Pastor, I never thought about
that. Yeah, you better think about that. You sin in your sleep
too. I'm not talking about the conscious
sin. I'm talking about the subconscious. Your sleep is sin. Your dreams
are sin. You need a high priest who can
offer himself continually in your behalf and know that God
always accepts him. I told you our Savior is not
a Maytag man. And nobody walking on this earth
that knows Christ without sin. And so he ever liveth to make
intercession for us. Am I making some sense? Daniel
saw that. And then Daniel not only saw
that, Daniel saw the table of showbread. Remember that? He
saw that bread which the priest eat. That bread is Jesus Christ. And then he saw the menorah,
the seven golden candlesticks, and he's reminded there's only
one light in the world. That's my Savior, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Christ is the light of the world. Everything else is
darkness. And then finally he said, I remember
the Holy of Holies. Never been in there, but I've
been told that in the Holy of Holies was an ark about two feet
wide and four feet long and about three feet deep. And in that
ark was the testimony of God. It was God's testimony against
man. And it was God's testimony for
the Lord Jesus. Do you guys remember that? The
first thing that was placed in that ark was the manna. A golden
pot of manna. God said to Moses, take that
manna and put it in the ark. Why? Because the children of
Israel tried to start a business with the manna. Remember that?
God told them, eat it six days. On the seventh day, I'll take
care of you. Don't gather more than you should. I'll take care
of you daily. We walk with the Lord by faith
every day. You don't store up faith. You
need faith every moment of your life. And then when you go to
try to stir it up, it'll breed worms because the just shall
live by faith. We walk by faith. We die in faith. And faith is the substance of
things hoped for. The evidence of things what?
Not seen. And so we live by hope. That
means every day we rise up, we say to the Lord, new mercies
I find. Great is your faithfulness. Keep
me today, Lord. Feed me today, Lord. Strengthen
me today. Am I telling the truth? That's
what Daniel understood about the bread. In that ark of the
covenant also was the rod that budded, Aaron's rod. Remember
that? The rod that budded pointed to the rebellion of the children
of Israel over God's authority. Aaron was God's high priest.
They said, you know what? We want to start a democracy.
God kills everybody that wants to start a democracy when God
has chosen his high priest. So the rod budded because God
had chosen Aaron, but he had rejected the people. That's why
the ark is called the ark of God's testimony. It's a testimony
against man and for Jesus. Because the rod pointed to the
one rod, which is Jesus Christ. Do you remember the other thing
that was in the ark? The law of God. Remember, that
was the first great sin that Israel committed when they, at
the bottom of the hill, Mount Horeb, was worshiping the golden
calf. We call that Babylonian worship
today. That's what goes on in most of our churches. pagan worship
of the flesh, attributing to God carnal blessings. Moses is
in the mount, way up at the top, worshiping the true and the living
God in spirit and in truth. The folks down at the bottom
of the hill are worshiping an idol, dancing around it, committing
idolatry and fornication. What had they done? They had
changed the glory of God and made it like unto corruptible
men and four-footed beasts. And I'm here to tell you that's
what goes on in our churches today. It's called Babylonian
worship. To worship God in spirit and
in truth is to worship God in a renewed, regenerated heart
according to the revelation of God in Christ. That's how you
worship God. Saul Daniel worshiped God. He
said, Christ is my propitiation. Did he say that? Christ is my
propitiation. What does that mean? There's
only one place that the sinner can go to find mercy, and that's
between the cherubim. Between the cherubim there was
blood put on the altar by the high priest pointing to the blood
of Christ by which all our sins were put away. The net effect
of what I'm saying is this, Daniel Believed the gospel. Are you
hearing what I'm saying? All right, but he's about to
suffer for it He's about to suffer for it. Watch this go with me
now Watch this having understood that he looks towards Jerusalem
and looking towards Jerusalem He sees nothing but Christ and
he understands what it means to walk by faith and live according
to the gospel way My next point is no way out. I We saw this
over in verse six, the decree was signed. Look with me at verse
14. Are you there? Then the king, when he heard
these words, remember Daniel's colleagues came back and said,
Oh king, we got him. We got him now. Worshipping his
God, contrary to your law. We got him now. We got witnesses.
We went up there and watched him. Remember his windows were
open. They could hear him. Are you
hearing me? Look at verse 14. Then the king,
when he heard these words, was sore displeased with himself.
Do you see that? You know what amazes me about
that? Daniel was able to find favor with these wicked kings,
didn't he? They loved them some Daniel, didn't they? What a secret. The king was sore displeased
with himself and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him. Now
watch this saints, and he labored till the going down of the sun
to deliver Daniel, but his labor was in vain. Why? Because there was no way out
for Daniel. See, this here is also a very salient gospel truth.
A very salient gospel truth. The gospel is not only the power
of God, but it's the wisdom of God. The assertion then that
folks can be saved any other way than by the death, burial,
and resurrection of the God-man Jesus Christ is to assert that
God has no wisdom. It's to assume that there are
other wise ways by which we can get to glory. It's to assume
that while God did the best he could, certainly there must,
you heard this before, certainly there must be other ways to God.
In fact, this sentiment prevails so predominantly in the life
of this generation that it's foolish for you to say Christ
is the only way. Am I making some sense? Now tell
the truth now. It's all right for you to confess
your sins in here. Tell the truth. Don't you feel a little funny
when you say Jesus is the only way? Don't come on now telling
you because you know, somebody might just pull a bat out and
hit you upside your head Why because the conditions have changed?
Because the conditions have changed I'm trying to drive home a point.
There's nothing different about what Daniel is going through
than what we're going through The conditions have changed and
that's why Paul said in Romans chapter 1 verse 17. I am not
ashamed of the gospel Saints, that's what we're toiling with.
Are we ashamed of the gospel? Because you're going to suffer
for it. The king looked for a way out. He couldn't find any way
out. You know why? Because there was no way out. Now launch yourself
now 500 years to Gethsemane. And our Lord Jesus Christ is
in the garden of Gethsemane, Luke 22 around verse 43. And
he cries out, Father, if there be any other way, And the heavens
didn't say a thing. Do you know why? Because they
knew. And the Son of God knew too.
He only wrote that for you and me. Because his disciples were only
a stone's throw away and they heard him. And it was for us,
for our infirmity, so that we won't compromise the gospel.
The Bible says in 1 John chapter 5, around verse 12, He that believeth
God hath the witness in himself. He that does not believe God
hath made him a liar. This is serious stuff. See, if
you deny the gospel, you make God a liar. So your friends and
colleagues who say there's another way, they have boldly told God
you're lying. You're lying. Are you hearing
me? I know this makes it a little
bit scary, but saints, this is the way that it is. Daniel said,
God's true. Let every man be a liar. God's
true. Let every man be alive. There was no way out for Daniel
because Daniel was serving as a great type of Jesus. And as
a great type of Jesus, Daniel now must bear the infirmity of
his people. Saints, what is it that caused
Daniel to do this and to do it so regally, so calmly? What caused Daniel to go forward
in this public obedience of worship? You know, some of us would have
just kept the windows cracked a little bit. Am I telling the
truth? Don't lie. And rather than our
prayers be, Lord, I thank you, I praise you, I exalt you for
your mercy and your grace. Lord, I thank you, I praise you.
Looking over their heads. Weak, sinful people we are. Isn't that true? Weak, sinful
people. Aren't you glad that there was a man who came alone
and set his face like a flint and for the love of his father
and the love of his people, boldly declared the glory of God? Am
I making some sense? Boldly declared the glory of
God see we've got to see Christ in the scriptures And so Daniel
does this for two reasons the glory of his father. Here's the
second one the good of his people I'm gonna make this more plain
in The ninth chapter when you and I find Daniel praying for
the whole of Israel, but you'll see this at the end of the chapter
Daniel knew that if he would move immediately and If he would
move immediately in obedience to God, that the whole brunt
of this judgment would lay on him and it would defer his people. He knew this. He knew that if
he would go head on and do, now listen to me now, what all the
other faithful Jews were doing. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
He knew that if he would do it, he knew that it was really ultimately
calculated at him. And our Savior knew that really
the animus and the enmity and the venom and the antipathy and
the hostility and the rage and the vitriol of ungodly men, while
it is poured out on us, ultimately is against Him. And so Daniel,
in love for his people, went on ahead and made sure that the
larger portion of this issue got poured upon him. This issue
was made to be Daniel's issue by Daniel. How do you know, pastor? Look at your text. That's why
I love the Bible. Look at what it says over in verse 17. Are
you there? I'm going to start at verse 16 and 17 so I can develop
this portion. Then the king commanded and they
brought Daniel and cast him into the den of lions. Now the king
spake and said unto Daniel, your God, whom you serve continually,
he will deliver you. I'll talk about that in a moment.
And a stone was brought and laid upon the mouth of the den and
the king sealed it. Doesn't that remind you of Calvary?
They crucified our Savior. They stuck him in a borrowed
tomb and they sealed that tomb with a stone. Do you see the
typology? The Holy Ghost knows what he's
doing. Now listen to this. Now listen to the last statement.
It was signed with his own signet, that is Darius, and with the
signet of his Lord. Now watch this. That the purpose
might not be changed. concerning Jesus. Got it? This whole issue got
poured upon Daniel. It wasn't even about Daniel's
people anymore. It was all about Daniel. It was all about Daniel. And Daniel wanted it that way.
Remember when they came and got Jesus, didn't I tell you about
this last week, John chapter 19? Whom do you seek, Jesus said. They said, we seek Jesus. They
fell down backwards, right? They had just met God. But until
you're born again, you get back up seeking to destroy God. They
came a second time, God let them take him. But he said, if you're
gonna take me, you gotta let these go. That's the doctrine
of substitution. That's the doctrine of suretyship.
That means in the doctrine of suretyship, one person takes
full responsibility for all of your obligations. Am I making
some sense? That's what's going on here with Daniel. This whole
matter got transferred to Daniel. Daniel knows now that if he is
put to death, that judgment will be through, the people will be
able to live ostensibly in a fairly harmonious level with the Medes
and the Persians. Are you hearing me? Because all
these rulers did was write up this law against Daniel. Now your Bible tells you in John
chapter 19, you don't have to go, that's John 18. Pilate is
trying to get Jesus off. I find no fault in this man.
Isn't that what we've been hearing? I find no fault in this man.
I've examined him. I can't find any fault. Why do
you want to kill him? I find no fault in this man.
I'm going to send him home. I'm going to give him a few stripes
and send him home. You know what the ruler said in John chapter
18, John 19, they said this, We have a law. And by our law,
this man must be crucified. Amazing. They use their Bible
to condemn Jesus. But do you know, saints, that
they did what they did by their wicked wills according to the
predetermined counsel and foreknowledge of God? It was God's will that
they in their hostile will Now that's what we call free will.
Free will oppose the true and the living God. Are you hearing
what I'm saying? And they use the law of God to
do it. Why? Because God made Jesus sin for
us. He knew no sin. In him was no
sin at all. He was never convinced of sin.
He did no sin. But he became the sin offering. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him to make his soul an offering for sin. Are you hearing me? Daniel has been cast into the
lion's den. Our outline says a long night,
a long night. We'll make some application here
and I'll close. It's a long night. Read your Bibles reverently. First of all, every word is true,
but they are rich, rich with reality. Follow me for a moment. They
took our brother Daniel and they threw him in a lion's den. The
death by lion's dens was just as common as were burning furnaces
in those days. The Babylonians, the Medo-Persians,
the Romans, all of them were beasts. They took great pleasure
in the destruction of people's lives. Mark now, we are not talking
about our children's story tale. Daniel was taken and thrown into
a pit. which means he tumbled down or
walked down or fell down several feet, yards. In fact, it was
yards. Lions can jump a little bit,
you know that. He was cast into a pit and then they made sure
Daniel couldn't climb out by some miraculous possibility and
closed it over with a stone. And Daniel was in that pit all
night long. Now, think about it. Have you
ever been in a pit? Have you ever been in trouble?
Have you ever found yourself confined in the midst of constant
opposition? The Bible allows for this thinking
because it talks about being among lions constantly. Daniel
is in a pit, ladies and gentlemen. All night long now you think
about this with me can you do that you're in the pit okay you
made it down we don't know how wide this pit is but it's wide
enough for Daniel to be over here and the lions to be over
there now the lions haven't touched
him yet but Daniel is in prayer I guarantee
you that he had never Listen to me Daniel was in prayer if
our Lord Sweated great drops of blood at the anticipation
of Calvary's tree and he was the God man. I guarantee you
Daniel was in prayer all night long in the corner looking at
lions looking at him Am I making some sense This is
a long night for our brother. And you know what he's marveling
at? The grace of God in his life every second. See, that's a long night. because
you're sitting there, you know you're there, you're not there
because of anything you did, you're there because you love
God, you're there because you love God's people, you're there
because you chose to suffer for righteousness sake, and you're
wondering, when is it going to happen? Are you hearing me? Now, we know that lions will
not eat their prey until they're hungry. And they are so confident that
they can roam around their prey almost in full negligence. Because as soon as they sense
fear, are you trying to escape, it's over with. That's when they
launch because they are voracious. They are animals of vengeance. They are animals that attack
their prey. They are prey animals. And so as soon as you go to run,
that's when everything in them just lunges after you. Daniel
was there all night long. Are you hearing me? Daniel is amazed at the grace
of God. Now the Bible tells us that Daniel
was delivered, isn't that right? The king came to the tomb in
the morning, to the cave in the morning, and he said, Daniel,
did your God deliver you? By the morning time, Daniel was
pretty confident. I don't know if he stood up,
if I don't know if he stayed down, but I know he said, he says,
uh, King, the Lord has closed the mouth of the lion. He has
closed the mouth. And here's the reason why he
did it King. Cause God had found no fault with me. Did you get
that? God hath found no fault with
me. Now I'm here to tell you Daniel
said that with every ounce of purity in him. He knew that the
only reason those lions didn't launch and tear him apart was
because God had saw him innocent, not in himself, but in his substitute,
in his Redeemer, in Jesus Christ. Am I making some sense? God has
saw Daniel in Christ and because he saw Daniel in Christ, he must
now deliver Daniel. Listen to me. All through the
scriptures, God's saints found deliverance. Joseph found deliverance
from the pit. Why didn't his brothers kill
Joseph? They wanted to. Because Joseph was righteous
before God in the person of his representative, Jesus. Why didn't
Jonah get destroyed by that whale when he jumped overboard? because
Jonah was righteous before the eyes of his God in Christ. Am
I making some sense? And so Jonah experienced what we call deliverance. Paul said in 2 Timothy chapter
4, at my first defense, when I stood before Caesar to have
to give an account for this gospel, having turned the world upside
down by the message of Jesus Christ. Now, Caesar was a lion,
folks. He says, my first account, nobody
stood with me. But the Lord stood with me, and
the Lord closed the mouth of the lions, and he has delivered
me. Are you hearing me? Daniel was
delivered because Daniel was not the Christ. The Christ could not be delivered. Psalm 22 says, my God, my God,
why have you forsaken me? Psalm 22 says, I am in the midst
of the bulls of Bashan. Dogs have encompassed me about.
The mouth of the lions have gaped against me. Will you hear me? The reason why you and I are
delivered is because Jesus couldn't be delivered. He had to bear
the wrath of God for our sins. Isn't that good news? So Darius lets Daniel out because
Daniel's only a type, not the reality. I'm going to show you
one more thing. Look at the latter portion of
your text over in verse 24. I thought this was humorous,
but it's also a prophetic truth. And the king commanded, and they
brought those men which had accused Daniel. Got it? You better not
accuse Jesus. This is a foreshadow first and
foremost of the religious legalist in Jesus day who condemned Jesus
for being the son of God saying we have a law and by our law
he should be crucified. These are the Jews. Now listen
to it. And they cast them who had accused
Daniel into the lion's den. Them, their children and their
wives. Why? The doctrine of surety ship
and representation is here too. If Daniel was delivered, all
those that were with Daniel was delivered. And the folks who
condemned Daniel are now being cast into the very lion's den,
them and everybody they represent. Are you hearing me? In Adam,
we all were. Now watch this. and the lions
had the mastery of them and break all their bones and pieces even
before they came to the bottom of the den. Oh, they were hungry. Yeah, they were hungry. They were hungry for sinners.
The wages of sin is death. The law works wrath. God will
punish iniquity, the soul that sinned, it shall die. As soon
as you and I come even close to the wrath of God, it will
swallow you up, believe you me. There's nothing in you by nature
that constitutes a closing of the mouth of the lion or the
satisfying and resting of God's justice. His sword is drawn against
our sin, yours and mine and everybody, and it will swiftly destroy us
unless we find a hiding place in Jesus Christ. Are you hearing
me? Amen. All right, let's stand
and sing our last hymn.