Daniel chapter 5 for just a moment. Nebuchadnezzar was dead, the
one who brought Daniel and the other young men down to Babylon. His son Belshazzar ruled in his
stead. Chapter 5 verse 1, Belshazzar
the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and
drank wine before the thousands. Belshazzar, while he tasted the
wine, commanded to bring the gold and silver vessels which
his father, Nebuchadnezzar, had taken out of the temple of God,
which was in Jerusalem, that the king and his princes, his
wives, his concubines, might drink from those holy vessels.
While they did that, a man's hand, not an arm or a body, just
a hand, appeared writing on the wall, Mene, Mene tekel ufosin, written
on the wall. And the king's knees smoked together,
trembled, scared everybody. And he sent for all of his astrologers
and wise men and asked them what it meant. Nobody knew. They said,
Daniel can tell you. So they brought Daniel. And verse
25 of Daniel 5, verse 25, where you are now, Daniel 5, Daniel
said, this is the writing that was written, meaning, meaning,
tical, This is the interpretation of
the thing. Meaning, God has numbered your
kingdom and finished it. Tekeo, thou art weighed in the
balances and found wanting. Berez, thy kingdom is divided
and given to the Medes and the Persians. The Medes and the Persians.
That impressed the king. I suppose the hand went away
then. And so the king, in verse 29,
then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with scarlet,
put a chain of gold about his neck, made a proclamation concerning
him, he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. And in that night
was Belshazzar the king of Chaldea enslaved, and Darius, the Median,
of the Medes and Persians took the kingdom being 62 years old. That's where our message begins
now. Darius is the king. Daniel is high up in authority
and well thought out. So let's read chapter 6. You
just have to read it with me and I'm going to make some comments.
It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom 120 princes. which should be over the whole
kingdom, and over these three presidents, of whom Daniel was
first, that the princes might give an account unto them, these
three men, and the king should have no damage. Then this Daniel
was preferred above the presidents and the princes. Darius loved
Daniel, genuinely held him in high esteem. because an excellent
spirit was in him and the king thought to set him over the whole
realm. Then said the presidents and
the princes, those two other fellows in the 120, they sought
to find occasion against Daniel. They were going to smear his
reputation concerning the kingdom. But they could find no occasion
nor fault with Daniel for as much as he was faithful Neither
was there any error found in Daniel. 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. We've got
to get him where his faith, where he believes. We don't believe
like he does, and we'll find it right there. Then these presidents
and princes assembled together to the king, and said thus unto
the king, King Darius, live forever. All the presidents of the kingdom
and the governors and the princes and the counselors and 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, pray to any god or ask anything of any man except of thee, save
of the king, O king. He'll be cast into the den of
lions for 30 days. You sign a law that no one can
ask a petition or offer a prayer to any god or man for 30 days
except you. Now the king established that
decree and signed the writing that it shall not be changed.
It be not changed according to the laws of the Medes and the
Persians which alter it not. But the king, the Medes, and
the Persians, nobody can change it. Therefore, King Darius signed
the writing and the decree. That lifted him up. That pleased
him to know him. Now, when Daniel knew that the
writing was signed, he went into his house and his windows being
opened in his chambers towards Jerusalem. Daniel's a believer. You found that out in chapter
1. He kneeled upon his knees three
times a day and prayed towards Jerusalem. Why towards Jerusalem?
Well, the temple's there. And in the temple there's an
ark, and on the ark there's a mercy seat, and on the mercy seat's
where the blood is that makes atonement for the soul. And that's
the reason he's looked in that direction. He's looking to Christ,
our mercy seat, the blood of the Lamb. And he gave thanks
before his God as he did four times. These men assembled and
found Daniel praying. They were watching for it. They
found him praying, making supplication before his God. Then they came
near and spake before the king concerning the king's law. Has
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 the den of lions? Is that what you've signed? The
king answered and said, The thing is true. According to the law
of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not, cannot be changed.
Then answered they, and said before the king, Daniel, which
is of the children of the captivity of Judah, he regardeth not thee,
O king, he regardeth not the decree, the law, that you have
signed. He is making petitions three times a day. in the king when he heard these
words. Now there's the key to this story. The king heard these
words. He was displeased with himself.
See, he loved Daniel. He held him in the highest esteem.
He was the favorite of the whole kingdom. He was displeased with
himself, and he set his heart on Daniel to deliver him. And
he labored to the going down of the sun all day long. to deliver him. And then these
men assembled unto the king, and said to the king, No, king,
that the law of the Medes and Persians is, no decree or statute
which the king establisheth may be changed. Then the king commanded,
and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions.
And the king spake and said to Daniel, Daniel, thy God, whom
thou servest continually, he'll deliver thee. I can't, he can't. I like that statement, don't
you? Now God will deliver this. And a stone was brought laid
upon the mouth of the dean, and the king sealed it with his own
signet, with the signet of his Lord's, that the purpose might
not be changed concerning Daniel. And the king went to his palace.
and passed the night fasting. Neither were instruments of music
brought before him, and his sleep went from him. He didn't sleep
a wink. He wanted to deliver Daniel. He loved him, but he
couldn't do it. He couldn't violate his law, which cannot be changed.
And 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 unto Daniel. The king spake and
said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God,
whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from these
lions? Then said Daniel unto the king,
O king, live forever. My God hath sent his angel, and
shut the lion's mouth, and they have not hurt me. For as much
as before him innocency was found in me, and also before thee,
O king, have I done no hurt. Then was the king exceeding glad
for him, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of
the den. So Daniel was taken up out of
the den, and no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he
believed in his God. And the king commanded, and they
brought those men which had accused Daniel, and cast them into the
den of the lions, them and their children, their wives, and the
lions. had the mastery of them, break their bones in pieces before
they ever hit the bottom of the dam. And why do you suppose so
much scripture is given to this story? There's a lot of scripture
there given to this. It's a popular story. I don't
suppose there's anybody in this nation that's passed ten years
of age that doesn't know this story. But very few know why
it's here, and very few know the purpose of God which it serves,
and that is to reveal the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's what this story is all about, like any of the Old Testament.
Now I know several things can be taught here. Number one, the
faithfulness and courage of Daniel. Daniel purposed in his heart.
And he was a servant of God, true servant of God that would
not compromise the truth even if it cost him his life. That's
one of the first things I see here. Like the apostles said
to the people who put him in prison, we can't help but preach
and teach those things we've seen in earth. And whether it
be wise for us to submit to you or obey our God, you judge. Daniel
obeyed his God. The second thing I see here that
should be taught from this scripture is a true believer can occupy
a place of leadership. A true believer can occupy a
place of authority, prominence, and leadership and not compromise
his principles. That's exactly right. I hear
people say, well, you can't get in politics and stay honest.
If you're honest when you went in, you will. Those trials will
just reveal what you are. The reason you compromise is
you never were honest. If you're an honest man, stay
honest. A servant of God in any place you put him will act like
a servant of God. That's what I see here. Daniel
just was true to his principles. They were ingrained in him. He
was true to them. Thirdly, I see something else
here. That our God, you know this king said, your God can
deliver you, and my friend, he can. He can. He can deliver his people out
of the most difficult, awesome circumstances. Our Lord said,
Abraham, is anything too hard for God? Is anything too hard for God?
He's able to deliver them. He can deliver us and his people
out of the most difficult trials and troubles and circumstances.
But if he doesn't, he's still God. You know, they put the Hebrew
children, they changed their names, Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego, threw them in the fire furnace. And the king, before
he did, he said, you think God's able to deliver you? Well, they
said whether he does or not, he's still God. He may deliver
us, he may not, but he's still God. But here's the thing I see.
concerning this scripture is Christ and his sacrifice in our
behalf. But see, that's the story of
all the scriptures. Our Lord said to the Pharisees,
search the scriptures. In them you think you have life.
They are they which testify of me. And our Lord Jesus Christ,
teaching his disciples, he began back here at Moses and came all
the way through the prophets to Daniel And he says he began
at Moses and all the prophets and expounded to his disciples
all the scriptures concerning himself. This is about Christ. It's about Christ. To him give
all the prophets witness. But now remember this. Remember
that no type and no parable and no earthly example, no illustration
found in the Bible or found anywhere else can accurately picture the
personal work of Christ. There's no type and no picture
that can accurately reveal Christ. An earthly story, a parable is
an earthly story with a heavenly meaning, an analogy. But it's
imperfect because it's earthly. Take, for example, the Old Testament
priest. You know that these sons of Abram
were types of Christ. You know that, I know that. But
they're not perfect types. There are more things about them
you could call an anti-type. For example, there were many
of them, he's one. Their priesthood was temporary,
his is eternal. Their sacrifices were many, he's
one of them. Their sacrifices were animal
blood, his was his own blood. They ministered on earth, he
ministers in heaven. Their work was totally ineffectual.
It was just pictures. Here's effectual. So the priesthood
is an excellent type of Christ, but there are a lot of ways in
which it doesn't picture. And this is a good picture of
our Lord's redemptive work, but there are a lot of areas we can't
apply it. So don't try to cause some earthly story. But in this
story, Duras represents God Almighty. Right there you've got a problem,
but nevertheless he does. God's king, Darius was king.
He was a sovereign king too, Darius was. Our God is almighty
and Darius is a poor type, but he represents God almighty here. In this story, Daniel represents
us. I might say too, Daniel was compared
to men perfect in all his ways, and we're not. But nevertheless,
he represents God's elect. All right, let's look at that.
First of all, Darius was persuaded by these jealous men to make
a law to honor himself. He made a law to honor himself.
God has made laws to honor himself. That's right. God's laws are
laws Darius' law proceeded out of a pride and a haughtiness. God's law proceeds out of holiness
and truth and justice, and his laws honor him. And these men
persuaded this old proud king to make a law honoring himself.
Well, God made laws to honor himself. Secondly, Darius' law
was foolish. It served no good cause. No,
that's right, except to feed his ego. It serves no good. But God's laws are perfect. God's laws are holy, and God's
law is not only the foundation of his kingdom, but it's the
foundation of everything decent and holy and good. His laws are. His laws are good. They talk about posting them
Ten Commandments and all in different places, not just the Ten Commandments,
but all of God's laws ought to be posted, ought to be written
here, because they're perfect. These laws are perfect for nations,
for people, for families. These laws are perfect. Let me
read you a scripture. The law of the Lord is perfect,
converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is
sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are
right. They rejoice the high. The commandments of the Lord
are pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever. And the judgments of the Lord
are true and righteous altogether. All right, King Darius was king,
sovereign. In his kingdom, only the king
can make laws. In God's kingdom, only the king
can make laws. God says, my law, my commandments. Christ said, this is my commandment,
that you love one another. And once that law is made by
the king, Darius' kingdom couldn't be changed. Look at verse 15.
The men assembled unto the king and said to the king, No, O king,
the law of the Medes and Persians is, no decree or statute which
the king establishes may be changed. Let me tell you something. God's
laws can't be changed. The law of the Lord is unchanging.
He said, I'm the Lord, I change not. We're in Numbers 23. Let me just
turn over and read you this. Listen, Numbers 23 verse 19.
Numbers 23. Verse 19, God is not a man that
he should lie, neither the son of man that he should repent
or change. Hath he not said, hath he said
and shall he not do it? Hath he spoken, shall he not
make it good? God's laws are unchangeable, unchangeable. I am the Lord, I change not. All right, now, we've looked
at the King Darius. Now let's look at Daniel. Daniel
broke the king's law. It wasn't a good law, but nevertheless,
he broke it. It wasn't a law that he should
have kept, but he broke it. He broke it in Darius' case. He's a subject in Darius' kingdom,
and he's broken the king's law. And in this respect, his condemnation
was just in the eyes of these men. Just because he'd broken
the law. And that's true of us. We've
broken God's law. I do want you to turn to Romans
3. Here's our resume. Romans chapter 3. Here's our
resume. Romans chapter 3. In verse 9,
talking about the Jew. Paul said, are we better than
they? Better than the Gentiles? No. And know why, as we have
proved before, both Jew and Gentile, they all understand. They've
all broken God's law. It's written, there's none righteous,
no, not one. There's none that understands it. There's none
that seeketh after God. They're all gone out of the way.
Yet to gather to become unprofitable, there's none that doeth good,
no, not one. Here's a king made of law, and
here's a man he loves who's broken his law. is a king, sovereign,
almighty, eternal God of heaven and earth, who has made a law.
And yet there's an elect people whom he's given to Christ, whom
he loves. He says, with an everlasting
love. I've drawn you with an everlasting love. I've loved
you with an everlasting love. The loving kindness of a drawing,
he loves them. He loves his people. But they've
broken his law. This king here, look at verse
14. Then the king, when he heard
these words that Daniel had sinned, Daniel had broken his law, he's
displeased with himself. God's not displeased with himself,
he's displeased with us. And he set his heart to deliver
Daniel, and God set his heart to deliver us. And the king labored till the
going down of the sun, couldn't do it. And all that night, he
didn't sleep a wink. Why? Well, he can't set Daniel
free and still abide by his law. His kingdom is gone. And nobody
is going to pay attention to him after that if he sets Daniel
free and sets aside the law on behalf of this person because
he loves him. Justice comes before love and righteousness. The king
was powerless to deliver, powerless. He had to be just, but he wanted
to be a justifier, but he couldn't do it. Couldn't do it. And that's the question before
God. Turn to Job chapter 25. Job chapter
25. I'm talking about the people
God loves. Christ said, I love my sheep. I know them. I love
them. I call them by name. My Father gave them to me. But
they've sinned. A guilty, God can't clear the
guilty. Scripture says God will by no
means clear the guilty. Can't do it and be God. That's
the reason Job asked this question. He and his friends again and
again, Job 25 verse 4, how then can man be justified with God?
How can he be clean as born of a woman? Even the moon, it shineth
not. The stars aren't pure in God's
sight. God's holy. How much less man that's a worm
than the Son of Man that's a worm. Verse 14 and 15 of this text,
Daniel 6, intrigues me. Verse 15, these men assembled
to the king and said, No king, the law of the Medes and Persians,
that no decree or statute which the king established can be changed.
You can't set Daniel free. Don't care what you think about
him, you can't do it. And still be king. But the next
verse. Then the king commanded, and
they brought Daniel, put him in the lion's den, and the king
spake and said to Daniel, your God can deliver you. Our Lord
said, it's impossible with men, but it's possible with God. Your
God can deliver you. Oh, don't you love that phrase?
Your God can deliver you. I can't. And a God of righteousness
and holiness can't deliver you. But a God of grace and mercy
in Christ can. Let me paraphrase a little bit.
I'm talking about God's elect now. I'm talking about those
whom Jacob had a love and Esau had a hate. I'm talking about
those he gave to Christ before this world began in a blessed
everlasting covenant of grace. But they failed, they sinned,
they sinned against God. Now listen, I'll take you back,
I'll take you back for the foundations of the world, back before time
ever was. And the triune God speaks, Father,
Son, Holy Spirit. And the triune God said, let's
make man. in our own image, and let them
have dominion over all the earth. Let us have a kingdom of eternal
righteousness, holiness, and happiness. Let's have a kingdom. The triune God said. Well, here's
holiness. God's holy, and here's holiness
speaks. And His holiness says, will not
continue in holiness. The man you create will not continue
in uprightness, but like Lucifer and the angels, man too will
be lifted up with pride and man will fall into sin and disgrace. That's just a fact. But God's
justice speaks and God's justice says, and when he does, When
man sins, when man falls, and like holiness says, there'll
be none good, none righteous, none that seek God, at their
best state there'll be altogether vanity. And when they fall, I
must arrest them, every one of them, charge them with treason,
and execute them. Got to do it. Shall not the judge
of the earth do right? The love of God speaks, the mercy
of God. God is love. God is holy, God
is just, God is love. And love speaks, mercy speaks. Cannot a way be found whereby
men can be redeemed? Cannot a way be found that sinners
can be restored? cannot a way be found that men
can be given a divine nature that will not fall, a divine
nature like to thine own. Holiness, righteousness cannot
a way be found, a way of redemption established whereby there can
be a kingdom of sons of God and daughters of God conformed to
the image of God's only made like him, whose goings forth
have been from of old." Wisdom speaks. Christ is the wisdom of God.
He's the power of God. And wisdom speaks and says there
is a way, but only one way. If a man, if there can be found
a man, with the nature of God and the nature of a man, of flesh
and blood, God to satisfy, man to suffer. If there can be found
a man who can go to earth and yet never leave the bosom of
the Father, if there can be found a man who is holy, harmless and
undefiled, separate from sinners and yet numbered with them, the
transgressors. as if they and he are one. If
there can be found a man who can be tempted in all points
by heaven, earth, and hell, and yet walk the earth without sin. If there can be found a man who
can take upon him the full scope of God's holy love and obey it
in jot and tittle, and take on him the full force of God's wrath
and not complain. If they can be found a man who
can die and still live, a man who can lay in the tomb and walk
out under his own power, a man who can ascend to heaven
in the form of glorified man and sit down at God's right hand
as their intercessor and representative and say to God the Father, I'm
here on behalf of all you gave to me and all for whom I die
and I will that they be with me for I am." And the Lord Jesus said, I'll
be surety for him and for them and for all thy people and I
will perform all that is required of them. and put away their transgressions
and bring them home to thee. And my friend, if you
know and have met and seen and fallen in love with this glorious
Redeemer, then you can sing with me this last song, I'm free from
the law. O happy condition, Jesus has
died, and there's remission. I was cursed by that law, and
dead by that fall, but Christ has redeemed me once for all. Thy God shall deliver thee, and
thy God will. He's my God. He's your God. You know the Lord
can, He will. Let's sing that song, Marks number
205. 205, free from the law. God's law. Old Daniel came out
of that lion's den, he's free from that law that had put him
there. We're just as free.