Not that I did choose thee, Lord,
for, Lord, that could not be. Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Niver. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. I'm going to be speaking this
morning from Daniel chapter 6. It's a very familiar story of
Daniel in the lion's den. And I've entitled this message,
Is Your God Able to Deliver You? Now, Daniel is under the reign
of Darius at this time. He's going through his third
king while he's been in the Babylonian captivity away from Israel. And
we read in chapter 6 of Daniel, it pleased Darius, this king,
to set over the kingdom and 120 princes, which should be over
the whole kingdom. And over these, three presidents
of whom Daniel was first. Now he was the top man in the
kingdom of Darius. And the scripture says that the
princes might give account unto them and the king should have
no damage. Daniel was the top man. Then
this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes because
an excellent spirit was in him and the king thought to send
him over the whole realm. Now, of course, all these other
officials that Darius had put in place are going to be jealous
of Daniel because Daniel is over the whole realm. Verse four. Then the presidents and princes
sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom.
They were eaten up with jealousy. Things were the same then as
they are now. People competing, vying for power and so on. But
they could find none occasion nor fault for as much as he was
faithful. Neither was there any error or
fault found in him. He had a life above reproach
before men. And would to God that you and
I would have a life above reproach before men. Somebody says, is
that possible? Yes, it is. Yes, it is. It was
with Daniel. He was such a faithful man that
they couldn't find any reason to criticize him. Verse 5, Then
said these men, We shall not find any occasion against this
Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his
God. Now they had seen in Daniel a
disdain for the gods of the Medes and Persians. They had seen how
he viewed their gods as idols, and they had watched him in his
window bowed toward Jerusalem three times a day, representing
looking to Christ and praying to the God of Israel. And they
thought, well, we can find something against him in his devotion to
his God. So here's what they did. Verse
six. Then these presidents and princes assembled together to
the king and said unto him, King Darius, live forever. All the
presidents of the kingdom, the governors and the princes, the
counselors, the captains, have consulted together to establish
a royal statute and to make a firm decree that whosoever shall ask
a petition of any god or man for thirty days save of thee,
O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions. Now, they fed
on his vanity. They said, oh, we have such respect
for you that we don't think anyone should ask anything from any
God or man except for you for 30 full days. And if anybody
asks of anything from any God or man, he'll be thrown into
a den of lions unless he asks you. And they knew that Daniel
wouldn't obey. They were setting him up. Verse
8, Now, King established the decree and signed the writing
that it be not changed according to the law of the Medes and Persians,
which alters not. And this is very important. In
their system of law, there were no amendments. You couldn't alter
the law. You couldn't change it. Once
the law was made, it had to be kept. It couldn't be altered.
No loopholes. Verse 9, wherefore King Darius
signed the writing and the decree. He was vain enough to sign a
silly decree like that. Now verse 10, now when Daniel
knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house and his
windows being opened in his own chamber He looked toward Jerusalem,
he kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave
thanks before his God as he did before. Now, Daniel knew about
this law, but he did exactly as he'd done before. Not in ostentation,
nor for a show, but he could not compromise. To fail to do
exactly what he did before would be to compromise. Now, he could have said, well,
I'll pray with the windows closed. You can pray just as easily with
the windows closed as you can if they're open. He could have
said, well, I'll go 30 days without praying. That means I won't be
saved anymore. If I do that, I mean, after all,
I've got a very responsible position here and I can influence this
culture and this society in so many ways with my position. I
can try to infiltrate the principles of the scripture into this culture
as long as I'm here. So it'd be such a shame if I
got thrown into that den of lions and I couldn't do those things
anymore. Understand this. Ours is to obey God and leave
the consequences in His hands. He knew he could not compromise,
so with his windows open, knowing what it would cost him, knowing
that because of this he would be thrown into a den of lions,
he prayed toward Jerusalem every day, praying to God. Now, I read a message by a preacher
from the last century on this passage of scripture, and he
said that Daniel was a real bigot here. A bigot is one who is totally
attached to his particular creed, church, party, belief, and is
intolerant of the opinions of others. And this is how Daniel
was in his devotion to his God, and his disdain for the religion
of the Medes and the Persians. Now this preacher said, then
told the story of where the word bigot comes from. There were
several men in England being knighted, and in order to become
a knight you had to bow down and kiss the cross. And one man
said, I won't do it. They said, you must. And he said,
by God, And by that he meant by God's help and by God's grace,
I will not do it for any reason. And they called him a bigot. Would to God we had more bigots
like that in this day in their devotion to the God of glory. I love to picture Daniel in my
mind kneeling before his window toward Jerusalem, praying and
giving thanks to the living God knowing what it was going to
cost him. He was going to be thrown into a den of lions. Now, verse 11, then these men
assembled and found Daniel praying and making supplication for his
God. They had him set up. They got their desire. Then they
came near and spake before the king concerning the king's decree.
Hath thou not signed a decree that every man that shall ask
a petition of any god or man within thirty days, save of thee,
O king, shall be cast into a den of lions? The king answered and
said, The thing is true, according to the law of the Medes and Persians,
which alters not. That's the law. Then answered
they. Now remember how the king had
made Daniel the headman in his kingdom. He esteemed Daniel. He respected Daniel. He loved
Daniel. He didn't know things were going
to turn out like this. Then answered they, and said
before the king, That Daniel, which is of the children of the
captivity of Judah, regardeth not thee, O king, nor the decree
that thou hast signed, but maketh his petition three times a day. They rat on Daniel. Then the
king, when he heard these words, was sore displeased with himself,
and set on his heart on Daniel to deliver him. Oh, he had a
dilemma. The law cannot be altered. It
can't be changed. I've signed the decree. Anybody
who asks a petition of any God except for me, he's going to
be thrown into a den of lions. But I love Daniel. I don't want
this to take place. I respect him. I esteem him. What am I going to do? And he
starts looking for loopholes in the law. Then the king, when
he heard these words, was sore displeased with himself, and
he set his heart on Daniel to deliver him, and he labored to
the going down of the sun to deliver him. Then these men assembled
unto the king, and said unto the king, No, O king, that the
law of the Medes and Persians is, that no decree nor statute
which the king establishes may be changed. The law cannot be
changed. It cannot be altered, which pictures
God's holy law. God's holy law. cannot be changed,
it cannot be altered. Now, verse 16, Then the king
commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of
lions. Now the king spake, and said
unto Daniel, he knew Daniel's devotion to his God, and he said,
Thy God, thy God, whom thou servest continually He will deliver thee. And a stone was brought and laid
upon the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own
signet, and with the signet of his Lord's, that the purpose
might not be changed concerning Daniel. Now you think of this.
He was lowered into a den of hungry lions with no defense. Somebody says this is just a
story. Well, it is a story, but it really happened. It really
happened. Daniel was lowered into a den
of hungry lions. Now verse 18. Then the king went
to his palace and passed the night fasting. Oh, he was so
upset over what took place. Neither were instruments of music
brought before him, and his sleep went from him. Then The king
arose very early in the morning, and went in haste unto the den
of lions. And when he came to the den,
he cried with a lamentable voice, and the king spake and said to
Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God whom
thou servest? Able to deliver thee from the
lions Now perhaps he didn't believe what he'd said formerly when
he said by God whom thou service continually will deliver thee
from the den of the lions But Daniel is placed in a humanly
impossible situation He's brought into a den of hungry
lions, and under no scenario could a man survive this except
one scenario, God. God. Now, I want to pause for
a moment. Think of Darius's question to
Daniel, is thy God, whom thou servest, able to deliver thee? And I want to ask myself, and
I want to ask you that question, is your God, that you have a
God, You have a God of some kind. Is your God able to deliver you? Is the God you serve able to
deliver you? Now, Isaiah warned us about praying
unto a God that cannot save. And you know, the view that most
people have of God Is a God really that cannot save, that can't
save unless we let him? He wants to save us, but he can't
unless we do something to enable him to do it. Now, let me tell
you something about that God. That God won't do you any good.
That's a false God. That's an idol. That God can't
save anybody. Is your God able to deliver you
first? Is your God able to deliver you
from a law that cannot be altered? Now, God's holy law cannot be
altered. The soul that sinneth shall surely
die. That's the teaching of scripture.
The soul that sinneth shall surely die. Do you have sin? I do. I've sinned. Now, can my
God deliver me from a law that cannot be altered? The soul that
sins shall surely die. God said, I'll by no means, under
no circumstances, clear the guilty. Can your God deliver you from
a broken law that you've broken that cannot be altered? Now, my God can. My God can deliver me even though
in myself I am a lawbreaker. My God can make it to where I
stand before that law without guilt. My God can make it to
where I stand before the Ten Commandments. I can go into the
very presence of a thrice holy God and He can look me over and
find nothing to condemn me for. That's what the Gospel does.
You see, my law breaking, my sin, God took my sin And only
God can do this. This is very important. Only
God can do this. I remember one time there was a preacher being
interviewed, and he'd been caught in some kind of moral scandal.
And they were asking him about it. And he said, well, I put
that sin under the blood. And I thought, so you have the
authority to do something like that? I can't put my sin under
the blood. Only God can do that. Now, God
has the authority, because He's God, to take my lawbreaking. and place it upon His Son to
where He becomes guilty of it. And to take His perfect obedience,
His perfect righteousness, and place it on me to where His righteousness
is my righteousness. It's what the Bible calls justification. I love to think of that man,
the publican in the temple, beating on his breast, crying, God, be
merciful to me, the sinner. And the Lord says concerning
that man, I tell you, that man went down to his house justified,
not forgiven, although he was, not pardoned, although he was,
not redeemed, although he was, but he went down to his house
justified, without guilt, perfect before God. Now, can your God
deliver you from an offended law? A law that you've broken
where it doesn't know anything of altering. It can't be altered.
The soul that sinneth shall surely die. My God made it to where
I never sinned. I stand perfect before that law,
and that's what the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ does. Now, here's another den of lions. My evil nature. I've talked about
a law that I cannot keep. But what about my evil nature?
Because I have an evil nature. A sinful, evil nature that I
can't live. I can't believe. I can't repent. I can't love. I can't do what
God says to do. John 6, verse 44 says, No man
can come to me except the Father which has sent me drawn. I've
got a totally depraved and evil nature. Now, that being said,
can God deliver me from that sinful nature of mine? Yes, He
can. He does that by giving me a new
nature. That's what happens in the new
birth. I'm given a nature that does believe, that does repent,
that does love God, that does believe the Gospel. Yes, my God
is able to deliver me from my own sinful, evil nature by giving
me a brand new heart that was not there before. Now, here's
a third den of lions. The Lord's given me this new
nature that makes me believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, to
believe that He's my justification before God. But I still have
this sinful, evil nature. It's with me every second. And I'm faced with a thousand
temptations from the world, the flesh, and the devil. Is my God
able to keep me? Jude said, now unto him that's
able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless
before his throne with exceeding joy. Yes, my God is able to deliver
me. Let me bring you to another scene. I'm going to die. Graveyard dead. Dust thou art, to dust thou shalt
return. Can God deliver you from that? Paul said, Behold, I show you
a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we
shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at
the last trump. For the trump shall sound, and
the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For
this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal
must put on immortality. And when this corruptible shall
put on incorruption, and when this mortal shall put on immortality,
then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death
is swallowed in victory. Yes, my God can deliver me from
that and raise me up to be perfectly conformed to the image of Christ.
Now here's another scene. My name is called on judgment
day. How am I going to fare? Can your
God deliver you? Well, listen to this scripture.
If God be for us, who can be against us? What did he mean
by that? We'll go up a couple of verses.
And we know that all things work together for good to them that
love God, to them who are called according to His purpose. For
whom He did foreknow, them He also did predestinate, that they
might to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might
be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate,
them He also called. And whom He called, them He also
justified. and whom He justified, then He
also glorified. Now, what shall we then say to
these things? What shall we say to the fact that He foreknew
us? Talking about every believer.
He called us. He justified us. He glorified
us. He predestined us. What shall we say to these things?
Would God be for us? Who can be against us? He that
spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all. How shall
He not? What could possibly prevent Him
from freely giving us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? God justified it. Who is He that
can condemn? When I'm made to stand before
God in judgment, who is He that can condemn? Come on, bring it
on. Who can condemn me? It's Christ that died. That's the only answer I have
to have. It's Christ that died. That's enough. That makes me
just before God. That makes me accepted by God.
Yea, rather that's risen again, who's even at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Now, Darius gives a lamentable
cry. Is thy God able to deliver thee
from the lions? And then he hears from that den,
then said Daniel unto the king, O king, Live forever. My God has sent His angel and
has shut the lion's mouths. And that angel is the Lord Jesus
Christ. Just as the Lord Jesus Christ was with Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego in the fiery furnace, He was with Daniel in the lion's
den. And He shut the mouths of the
lions that they'd not hurt Me for as much as before Him, before
God, Innocency, purity, spotlessness was found in me. Now how is that? What in the
world? Daniel says he stopped the mouth of those lions because
innocency, purity, no guilt was found in me. Now if you go on
reading In Daniel chapter 9, and read Daniel's prayer, he
makes such confession of sin. He says, we've sinned, we've
done iniquity. He talks about the wickedness
of himself. He said, when I saw thee, my
comeliness turned to corruption. I'm a sinful man in and of myself. He believed, and yet he says
to Darius, innocence he was found in me. Well, how could that be?
Now, here's what the gospel does. The gospel makes it. to where
I'm innocent, not guilty. The blood of Christ removes my
sin to where I have no sin. Scripture says he was manifested
to take away our sins, and in him is no sin. Now, that's innocence,
isn't it? He has no sin. Everybody in him
has no sin. And Daniel says, Innocency is
found in me. And that is true of every believer
because of the blood of Christ. And he said, O king, to thee
I have done no hurt. Verse 23. Then was the king exceeding
glad for him and commanded that they should take Daniel up out
of the den. So Daniel was taken out of the den and no manner
of hurt was found upon him because he believed his God. You know,
when Daniel was lowered into that den, he didn't know for
sure whether the Lord would deliver him. But he knew that if he wanted
to, he would. If it was his will, he would.
But he believed his God, and he was going to leave all the
consequences in God's hands. He was going to pray, no matter
what, with the windows open. He believed his God. He knew
the Lord would take care of him. And so when they lowered him
down, he was believing his God, whether he was eaten by the lions
or not. And the Lord Jesus Christ shut the lion's mouth. Verse
24. And the king commanded, and they
brought those men which had accused Daniel, and they cast them into
the den of lions, with their children, with their wives, and
the lions had the master of them, and break all their bones in
pieces wherever they came at the bottom of the den. And this
is what happens to the man without Christ. Then King Darius, after
he had witnessed all this, wrote unto all people, nations, and
languages that dwell on all the earth, Peace be multiplied unto
you. I make a decree that in every
dominion of my kingdom men tremble in fear before the God of Daniel,
for he is the living God. All other gods are false gods. And He is steadfast forever. Only He is stable. He is eternal. He is immutable. He cannot change. And His kingdom, that which shall
not be destroyed. And His dominion, His sovereignty,
shall be even unto the end. He delivereth and rescueth. He
worketh signs and wonders in heaven and earth, who hath delivered
Daniel from the power of the lions. Oh, what a glorious God
He is. Is your God able to deliver you
from a law that can't be altered? From a sinful nature that can't
do good? There's none that doeth good,
no not one. Is your God able to deliver you
and preserve you? Is your God able to make you
perfect on judgment day? Is your God able to raise you
from the dead? believes of the God Daniel, believe
yes, He is able to deliver. May the Lord enable each one
of us to look to Daniel's God, the living God, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now we have this message on cassette
tape, on DVD and CD. If you call the church, write
or email, we'll send you a copy. This is Todd Nyberg, praying
that God will be pleased to make Himself known to you. That's
our prayer. Amen. To request a copy of the sermon
you have just heard, send your request to messages at toddsroadgracechurch.com
or you may write or call the church at the information provided
on the screen. be.