Tonight we're going to begin
looking at this book of Daniel. When Daniel is dealt with, for
the most part, people talk about what a great guy he was. Dare
to be a Daniel. You ever heard that before? Dare
to be a Daniel. Dare to be as courageous as Daniel. Indeed, he was a very courageous
man, but that's all we see in this passage of scripture. We
haven't seen its meaning. Daniel 1 has always been a passage
that made me feel a little uncomfortable when I read where Daniel said,
we're going to have nothing but vegetables and water. And we're
going to give up the king's meat and the king's wine. And we're
going to have nothing but vegetables and water. And I thought, man,
I wouldn't want to do that. And I just wonder whether or
not I can handle that. No meat? But, well. I hope we'll understand this
passage of scripture a little bit more after this message. When Daniel was 15 to 20 years
old, he was a part of a large number of Jews that were carried
from Jerusalem into Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar. And this
was an answer to a prophecy regarding their disobedience. Let me read
a passage from 2 Kings. You might want to turn here.
2 Kings chapter 20. 2 Kings 20 verse 18. And this Verse 17, behold, the days come
that all that is in thine house and that which thy fathers have
laid up in store unto thee this day shall be carried into Babylon. There shall be left, nothing
shall be left, saith the Lord. And of thy sons, this is speaking
of Daniel and his three friends and many others that were brought
in at this time. And of thy sons that shall issue
from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away, and they
shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. Now,
I want you to think about this. He's a teenager. He's brought
out of Jerusalem into Babylon, and he was castrated. Can you
imagine what a horrific event that would be for this young
man? Now back to our text. In the third year, verse one,
of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, came Nebuchadnezzar,
king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem and besieged it. And notice the
language in verse two, and the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah
into his hand with part of the vessels of the house of God,
that which was in the temple, which he carried into the land
of Shinar to the house of his God. And he brought the vessels
into the treasure house of his God. Now there's one reason given
why this happened, the Lord. The Lord. The Lord did this. God, who is
not bound by space or time, is sovereign in space and time.
He controls time. He controls history, past, present,
and future. He's God. And He even causes
some of these vessels of the temple to be carried away and
brought into this heathen God's house, and he's going to use
that. In chapter five, he purposed this, and he's going to use that
to destroy King Belshazzar when he's going to drink wine from
these vessels. He purposed all this to take
place. Aren't you glad the Lord's in
control of everything? There's nothing over which he's not in
absolute, complete, sovereign control. And it was according
to his will, it was because of the disobedience of the children
of Israel. You'll remember God told them this was gonna happen
through their disobedience and they're carried out of their
land into the land of Babylon and they were there 70 years.
And there's no reason to think that Daniel ever got to go back
to Jerusalem. He was there for at least 70
years. He was a teenager when he was
brought there. Now let's go on reading verse
three. And the king spake unto Ashpenaz the minister the master
of his eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the children
of Israel and of the king's seed and of the princes. These were
the royalty of Jerusalem. And these four men were royalty.
They were out of the tribe of Judah. Children, look at verse
four, children in whom was no blemish, but well-favored and
skillful in all wisdom and cutting a knowledge and understanding
science and such as had ability in them to stand in the king's
palace and with whom they might teach the learning and the tongue
of the Chaldeans. Now, the king says, I want the
cream of the crop and I want to educate them and I want to
train them. And I want them to be in my cabinet. I want them to be of my wise
men. I want to benefit from these
men. But I love this description because this is the description
of a believer. Number one, no blemish. That's what the Bible calls justification. I stand before God without blemish
right now. And this is true of every believer,
no blemish. Perfectly righteous in God's
sight, no blemish, no spot, wrinkle, nor any such thing. Now, right
now, this is true of every believer. When God looks at you, he sees
you without blemish. What about my sins? Christ put
them away. They're gone. And before God,
you are without blemish. And then next he says, well favored. Well favored. Beautiful is the
word. They weren't good looking people.
They didn't want ugly people in their government. They weren't
good looking people. Christ. Beauty, holiness, the
beauty of holiness. That's what that's talking about.
Not only am I without spot, I'm beautiful to God. Serve the Lord in the beauty
of holiness, sanctification. And then he says in verse four,
and skillful in all wisdom, discerning what wisdom is. The fear of the
Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Oh, Christ Jesus is my wisdom
before God. And this is true of every believer.
He's with that spot. He's beautiful, clothed in the
holiness of Christ. Christ is his holiness, beautiful
before God, and discerning in wisdom. They understand. I understand
this. I understand the fear of the
Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and I know what fear of the Lord
is. If you're afraid of the Lord, you're afraid to look anywhere
but Christ. That's it right there. And I understand that Christ
is my wisdom before God, and this is every believer. They
have skill or discernment in this thing of wisdom. And it
says, cunning in all knowledge. And that is literally knowing
in all knowledge. And I love thinking about this.
A believer is somebody who knows. He knows. Now listen to me. This book we're looking at, I
know it's the word of God. Somebody says, well, I don't
know that. I do. I do. I know this is the word of God.
I know God is God in control of everything. I know Christ
is all in salvation. I know. I know that all things
work together for good to them that love God, to them who are
called according to his purpose. Believers are people who know. Understanding, next it says,
understanding science. And that same word science is
translated in the 17th verse of this same chapter, knowledge.
There is no relationship with God apart from the knowledge
that the scripture gives us concerning his character, who we are, how
he saved sinners by grace. And look what it says, such as
have the ability in them to stand in the king's palace, that they
might teach them the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans.
Now, every believer has the ability by the gospel to stand before
God, having done all to stand. Now, obviously what Nebuchadnezzar
wanted to do, he wanted to brainwash them. He wanted to indoctrinate
them. He wanted to get them to where he wanted them to be so
they could help out in the government. And the king appointed them a
daily provision of the king's meat and of the wine which he
drank. Hey, I want you to think about
how good this food was, how good this wine, this was king's, this
is what he ate. And he wanted them to be nourished
with this so they could profit and benefit him in his house.
So nourishing them three years that at the end of thereof, they
might stand before the king. Now among these were of the children
of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Now, these men and
their names are a declaration of the gospel. Just these four
names. Daniel means God is judge. If I'm saved, it's because God
judged me, justified me, put away my sin, made me perfectly
righteous in God's eye. God is judge. Hananiah means
God has favored. What that's talking about is
the grace of God. God has judged and he's done so graciously.
And here's how he did it. Look at the third name. my Sheol and that means He who
is who God is. Who's that speaking of? The Lord
Jesus Christ. He who is who God is. Now that is why God's judgment
and justification because of Him. That's why God can favor
and then the name of the last man, Azariah, means God has helped. There's the help of the gospel.
You have God's judgment, you have God's grace, you've got
the Lord Jesus Christ, and through all that, you have God's help. These four men stood before the
king. Verse seven, unto whom the prince
of the eunuchs gave names. And he named them after their
gods. They changed their names. He
couldn't change their faith, but he changed their names. And
these are all names of the gods of the Chaldeans. Verse seven,
unto whom the prince of the eunuchs gave names, for he gave unto
Daniel the name of Belteshazzar, and to Hananiah Shadrach, and
to Myshael, Meshach and to Azariah, Abednego. And I think it's interesting
when I think of these four people, I always call Daniel by his Jewish
name, but the other fellas, I call Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
I call them after the names given to them. But while he changed
their names, he could not change their belief, their faith in
God, their love for him. Verse eight, but Daniel, purposed
in his heart. And this is where people get
that statement, dare to be a Daniel. And we admire him here. Daniel
purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with
the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank.
Therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he
might not defile himself. Now, if he would have eat of
the king's meat and drank the king's wine, you know what he
would have been doing? He would have been eating meat that had
been sacrificed to idols. He would be drinking wine that
had been used in pagan worship, libations offered up. It would
have been eating meat, sacrifice to idols. He would have been
drinking wine poured out as libations to a false god. And that's why
he did not want to defile himself. Now, if you were in Sunday school
two or three weeks ago, I don't remember when it was, turn with
me to Revelation chapter two. Christ says to the church, if
thou retire, I know thy works and charity and service and faith
and thy patience and thy works and the last to be more than
the first. Notwithstanding, I have a few things against thee because
you suffer that woman, Jezebel. They were allowing a woman to
preach. Was her name literally Jezebel? I don't know. Maybe.
But we know who Jezebel was. Jezebel was Ahab's wife, and
she's the one that stirred up Ahab. I mean, she stirred him
up to where he was the most wicked king ever through her influence. Notwithstanding, I have a few
things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel,
which calleth herself a prophetess. to teach and to seduce my servants
to commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. Now, fornication, sexual sin
is wrong under every aspect. It's wrong, it's sin against
God. That's really not what he's talking about. He's talking about
finding some kind of comfort, some kind of assurance outside
of the covenant. outside of the covenant of grace.
I love what David said. He said, Although my house be
not so with God, yet hath he made with me an everlasting covenant,
ordered in all things mature. And this is so important. You
know what he said next? He said, This is all my salvation. and all my desire. I don't want
to be viewed in any way outside of this covenant. And that's
what he's talking about, looking for some kind of pleasure, some
kind of security, some kind of confidence outside the covenant.
Yes, fornication is wrong under every aspect. Teach that to your
kids. It's wrong. It's condoned in
this generation. Of course, it's wrong. That being
said, that's not what he's talking about. He's talking about looking
for some kind of aspect of salvation outside of the eternal covenant
of grace. Now, when he's talking about
eating things, sacrifice to idols, you know, if you read the New
Testament, Paul said an idol is nothing. You're not If something's
been sacrificed to idols, you're not any, the better for refusing
it, you're not the worst for eating it. It's nothing, an idol's
nothing. There's only one God. Everything else is idolatry.
And yet the Lord here speaks of this woman saying it's okay
to eat meat sacrificed to idols. Now here's the point. Jezebel
was teaching that you could draw nourishment in idolatry. Any religion that is not the
religion of the gospel, the religion of the Bible, is nothing more
than idolatry. I don't care what you say about
it, it's idolatry. I don't care if you put works
in salvation anywhere, it turns into idolatry. You can't draw any nourishment
from that, but she was saying you could. saying you can eat
things, you can draw nourishment from that which is idolatry. Now, here's what Daniel was doing.
Daniel was saying, I'm not going to defile myself. I'm not going
to defile myself by idolatry, eating this meat that was sacrificed
to idols, drinking this wine that was used in pagan worship. I'm not going to defile myself.
Now, understand this. The Bible is the word of God. It's our only rule of faith and
practice. And if I look at anything outside
of the Bible, what do I do? I defile myself. Christ alone
is everything in my salvation. Everything God looks to me for,
he looks to his son for. I'm seen in him. Christ is all.
And anything other than that, what do I do? I defile myself. Salvation is by the grace of
God. From the beginning to the end,
salvation is of the Lord. And if I listen to anything else,
I'm practicing idolatry, that which is contrary to the scripture,
and I defile myself. Salvation is through faith. The
just shall live by faith. And if I look at anything other
than Christ only, if I find any assurance, any hope that I'm
saved because of something I do, what am I doing? I'm defiling
myself. God's glory is the only motive
that's acceptable in anything. Any other motive, what am I doing?
I'm defiling myself. Now that's where Daniel was coming
from. That's where Daniel's coming from. He didn't want to defile
himself eating the king's meat and the king's wine that was
used in pagan ritual. Back to our text, Daniel chapter
one. Daniel purposed in his heart
that he would not defile himself. I couldn't help but thinking
also of 2 Corinthians 11, 3, where Paul said, I don't want
you to be corrupted from the simplicity that's in Christ. He's everything in salvation.
And to look in any other quarter is to defile yourself. But Daniel
purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with
a portion of the king's meat, nor with a wine which he drink.
Therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he
might not defile himself. Verse nine, now God had brought
Daniel into favor and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs.
Now notice who did this? God did this. God brought Daniel
into favor. You know what, though? I bet
David or Daniel conducted himself in such a way that the prince
just loved him. Now, God didn't control this.
He's the one that caused it. But would do God that you and
I would conduct ourselves around the heathen to where we would
be brought into favor with him because of the way we treat them.
I have no doubt that Daniel treated them in a way that glorified
God and he was brought into favor. Verse 10, and the prince of the
eunuch said unto Daniel, I fear my Lord, the king. I fear Nebuchadnezzar,
the point of your meat and your drink, for why should he see
your faces worse lacking than the children which are of your
sort? Then shall you make me endanger my head to the king.
He's going to see you all get skinny and lose weight through
eating nothing but vegetables and drinking water and not having
anything good to eat. He's going to look at your face.
Why didn't you do what I said? He'll put me to death. That's
a direct disobedience to him. Verse 11, then said Daniel to
Melzar, whom the prince of the eunuchs had said over Daniel,
Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, prove thy servants. I beseech
thee, 10 days. and let them give us pulse. Now,
I've read several things. Most people just say vegetables.
Some say it was lentils. I'm not sure what, but it's not
something that I would want to live on the rest of my life.
And that's where I've looked at this thing. Man, you know,
could I do this? He made this decision. I'm gonna eat nothing
but pulse. And you look at me, you look
at us four, and see how we fear fair eating nothing but vegetables
and drinking water. You know what I think's amazing?
There's something out right now called the Daniel Diet. They
take this passage of scripture and use it. I guarantee you'll
lose weight if all you eat is vegetables and drink water. I
mean, if that's what you want to do, but good grief, that wouldn't
be very good. And I look at, and if you want to do it, fine.
If you want to be a vegan or vegetarian, go for it, you know,
but I also like where the, the Lord said to Peter, rise, Peter,
kill, and eat. That's talking about meat. So
I don't think I could face a diet without meat. But at any rate,
they did. They did. And people have actually
commercialized this. And they've got the Daniel diet,
and Daniel sides, and all kinds. I think, what a trivial way to
treat the Word of God. That's blasphemous, to take the
Word of God and use it for something like that. This doesn't have
anything to do with, well, you're going to be healthier and better
off by eating this kind of food. As a matter of fact, what you'd
think is you'd starve to death or get emaciated eating nothing
but this. But let's go on reading verse
13. Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee, and
the countenance of the children needed a portion of the king's
meat. And as thou seest deal with our servants. So he consented
to them in this manner and proved them 10 days. And at the end
of 10 days, their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in
flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king's
meat." Now, One would think somebody
would lose weight eating nothing but vegetables and water. But their countenance was fairer
and fatter in the flesh. Now is this talking about A nutritious
diet has nothing to do with it. It's saying that I'm not going
to defile myself with the king's meat. I'm not going to defile
myself with that which is idolatry. That which is contrary to the
gospel. And this is a complete dependence upon the Lord. That's
all it is. They depended on the Lord. They
weren't looking to what kind of food they had. They were completely
dependent upon the Lord. That's what was taking place.
And what happened at the end of the 10 days, their countenances
appeared fairer and fatter in flesh and all the children which
did eat the portion of the king's meat. Thus, Melzar took away
the portion of their meat, the wine that they should drink and
gave them both. So here they are eating vegetables
and drinking water. And I guess they did this for
three years because after three years, they're brought before
king. Look in verse 17, and as for these four children, maybe
they were in their early twenties by now, God gave them knowledge
and skill in all learning and wisdom. And Daniel had understanding
in all visions and dreams. Daniel was an interpreter of
dreams. God would speak through dreams.
Daniel would tell what they meant. And he uses this gift in the
next chapter when he interprets Nebuchadnezzar's dream. But God
equipped them in this way. And verse 19, verse 18, now at
the end of the days that the king had said he should bring
them in, that's three years, then the prince of the eunuchs
brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. Now this Nebuchadnezzar is an
interesting character as you go on reading in the book of
Daniel. As a matter of fact, I didn't realize this, you look
in chapter four, he was used to write scripture. This is how
this man was used. I mean, I think the Lord saved
him. As you go on reading about the history of this man, he learned
the gospel through Daniel and he's actually used to write scripture
in the fourth chapter. But the king, verse 19, the king
communed with him. And among them all was found
none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mosheel, and Azariah. Therefore stood
they before the king. And in all matters of wisdom
and understanding, the king inquired of them, he found them 10 times better. And there's significance
to the number of 10. Why not 20? Why not nine? Why
not 11? 10 in the scriptures is the number of completion,
the 10 commandments, the 10 plagues. You know, there is, I've just
read of this. Pink has got a book on numerology
in the scripture and he brings out how five is the number of
grace. And if you look in the tabernacle,
all those numbers are divisible by five. Six is the number of
man. Adam was created on the sixth
day. And John tells us that the six is the number of a man. And
when he speaks of six, six, six, he's talking about failure, failure,
failure. You don't have to worry. Seven
is the number of perfection. 10 is the number of completion. It's one of those perfect Hebrew
numbers. And he says they were 10 times
better than any of the men from Babylon. And you know what Babylon
is? Babylon represents works religion. Here they were in this
strange place and Babylon represents works religion. And we're strangers
in a strange place and we're living in Babylon. That's where
we're at right now in works religion. That's all around us. You remember
in the Tower of Babel how they tried to build a tower to reach
to God and Babel means confusion. What is more confusing than works
religion? You can't really get an answer
from it. What do you got to do? What do
you need to do? Nothing certain. It's confusing. And what about Revelation chapter
17, where we read of the harlot of Babylon? I don't have any
doubt that that has some reference to the Catholic Church. Sitting
on the seven hills of Rome and all of her children, the man-made
religion, man-made denominations. Here they are in Babylon, but
they're 10 times better than any of the astrologers or magicians
of Babylon. Now, you could just as easily
say they're 10 million times better, and you could keep it
going on exponentially. And you know why? Because Christ
is better. That's why they're better. What's
the difference between them and the Babylonian wise men. There's one difference, the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is the difference and he is
better. Now, one of the things I love
about the book of Hebrews, this is where I want to end up, just
giving you some scripture from Hebrews. One of the key words
in the book of Hebrews is the word better. better. Hebrews 1, 4, Christ is better
than the angels. They can't even compare to him.
There was worshiping of angels going on. Christ is better than
the angels. And then we read in Hebrews 7,
7, where Christ is Melchizedek. And when Melchizedek blessed
Abraham, remember in Genesis chapter 14? Melchizedek brought
him bread and wine, and that's how I know it's the Lord Jesus
Christ. He brought bread and wine, prefiguring the Lord's
table. He wasn't bringing a sacrifice. He's bringing that which was
finished. But I love the way the scripture says, without contradiction,
the less is blessed of the better. Don't you know that's true concerning
you? The less is blessed of the better. In Hebrew 719, we read,
the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better
hope. Christ Himself is that better
hope. Oh, what a hope He is. It's a
certain hope. It's a sure hope. He's a sure
hope. If Christ died for you, you can't be anything but perfect,
accepted in God's sight, justified on Judgment Day, spend eternity
worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't that a better hope than
works? Oh, Christ is better. And then we read in Hebrews 7
verse 22, by so much was Jesus made a surety of a better covenant. Now I want you to think of him
being surety. Is this better? He took complete responsibility
for your salvation before time began. Is that better? Nothing gets
any better than that. He's the surety of a better covenant. It's better than works in any
way to have salvation completely dependent upon what he does.
You don't even enter the picture. It's all him and has nothing
to do with anything you do. Oh, that's better. Somebody doesn't
like that. You're crazy. You're crazy. If you don't like that, you've
got problems. This is better. Hebrews 8.6, he says he's the
mediator of a better covenant established upon better promises.
Now, which is better? I promise you'll be saved if
you, fill in the blank, or I promise you'll be saved if Christ does
it all. Which one's better? That's a
no brainer. I wouldn't dare want to Hebrews
9.23 says the heavenly things are purged with better sacrifices
than these. What's better, the blood of Christ
or the blood of a cow or a goat or a sheep? Why they can't do
anything to put away sins, but the blood of Christ actually
puts away sins. Can you see why the children
Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were 10 times better
off than the... Christ is better, that's why.
Listen to this scripture, Hebrews 10, 34, you have a better and
more enduring substance. Hebrews 11, 16, they desire a
better country, that is a heavenly Hebrews 11, 35, we read of a
better resurrection. And here's my favorite, Hebrews
12, 24, the blood of Christ that speaks better things than that
of Abel. Remember when God said, your brother's blood cries to
me from the ground. What was the cry? Vengeance. Pay him back. Put him to death. Deal with his sin. What does
the blood of Christ cry? Forgive him. justify him, cause
him to be accepted, cause him to be holy and without blemish
and without spot. Oh, the blood of Christ speaks
better things than that of Abel. Now, beloved, these four men
were 10 times better, speaking of completely better than these
other Wise men, why? Because Christ is better. I hope when I go to bed tonight,
I can lay my head on my pillow with this thought, Christ is
better. And Daniel, verse 21, continued
even into the first year of King Cyrus. And you'll remember Cyrus
is the one who let him go back to Jerusalem. And so Daniel,
I want you to think about this man. He's brought in there as
a teenager, made a eunuch, lived there all of his days, and never
got to go back to Jerusalem. Seems like a rough life, doesn't
it? But yet he is called You're greatly beloved of God. You can read that in the ninth
chapter. Greatly beloved of God. And everything that took place,
took place because the Lord did it. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name that you would give us the grace
to purpose just like Daniel did in our hearts, not to defile
ourselves with the king's meat, this world's meat, this world's
religion. Lord, teach us what it is to
look to thy son only. Lord, we know that's the only
way we can be clean in your sight as if he's all. And if we look
anywhere else, Lord, all we do is defile ourselves. And we ask
that you would deliver us from that and that you would give
us the grace to look to thy son only and refuse the idolatry
of this world. Bless this message for Christ's
sake. In his name we pray. Amen. Matt, could you come lead
us in closing in?