An Uncompromising Life, Complete Edition

An Uncompromising Life, Complete Edition

By John MacArthur

We go, I trust, with a great sense of anticipation to the book of Daniel. I want to read the first nine verses as the setting for our message tonight. Chapter 1: "In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God: 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. And the king spoke unto Ashpenaz 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; youths in whom was no blemish, but well favored and skillful in all wisdom and gifted in knowledge and understanding science and such as had ability in them to stand in the king's palace and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans. And the king appointed them a daily provision of the king's food and of the wine which he drank: so nourishing them three years, that at the end of them they might stand before the king. Now among these were the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah: unto whom the prince of the eunuchs gave names: for he gave unto Daniel the name of Belteshazzar; and to Hananiah, of Shadrach; and to Mishael, of Meshach; and to Azariah, of Abednego. But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's food, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. Now God had brought Daniel into favor and compassion with the prince of the eunuchs."

We'll stop there. That's not the end of the story, that's only the beginning, but for the end you'll have to come back next time.

We live in a day of compromise. In fact, I believe that from the time we begin our life in the world, we pretty well learn the art of compromise. All the way along our life, we go the line of least resistance. We hold a conviction until it gets in the way of our comfort or our ease. We have a standard as long as it doesn't violate something we wish to do. If we can get by with a little less than our best, we'll do it. If we can cheat a little on the divine principles, or even the principles we say we believe, we'll do that too, in many cases if it accomplishes our goals. And that is a very personal approach to life that finds itself a very world perspective on life because all of us as individuals living that way make a whole world of compromise.

Frankly, expedience is the ruling standard of human life. We worship the great god pragmatism. I suppose our motto today could be, “If it works for you; do it.” We are pragmatists more than anything else. And since in our society today we have abandoned any moral standard, we have cut ourselves completely loose from Christian principle, we no longer are concerned for a biblical morality; we could care less about what God has to say, at least for the most part. We are left with only the philosophy of expedience, or pragmatism. Whatever works, whatever accomplishes your goal, whatever gains your end, that's what you do. And so we easily give up our consciences, we easily give up our convictions, we easily let go of our standards, to gain some practical end. And the amazing part of it is that our society seems to have little conscience left, little sense of guilt or remorse at all.

We find out that politicians, who seem to have such high standards, who at the time when they are to be elected, hail from one end of the country these great standards, but when they find themselves in office, are eager to compromise those standards if it gains their ends.

We find the same thing true in business practices. As corporate executives all the way down to people who are salespeople do the same things.

Lawyers, who should be the conscience of any society, will compromise their own consciences if it gains a certain end in many cases.

Leaders in all walks of life, and in all areas of human concourse, will do the same thing, very often. As individuals of all shapes and sizes, we learn to lie and we learn to cheat and we learn to steal and we learn to shade the truth and we learn to do whatever is necessary to get what we want so that compromise becomes a way of life. And when we get into a confrontive situation, sometimes our greatest principles are shoved into the background because we don't want to offend somebody, or we don't want to be obtrusive, or we're afraid to really speak what we believe. Perhaps in the life of a Christian, it's nowhere more obvious than when you stand in the midst of conversation where you know you should speak of Christ, but rather than be thought evil of, or be thought less of, you keep your mouth closed and you are silent about Christ when He should be brought up. That in itself is a compromise. For the salvation of our own ego, for the sake of our own goals, we readily compromise.

And compromising standards and compromising truths has found its way into the church. In fact, we have compromised with the world so repeatedly, we have compromised with the world so often that frankly, folks, I think we don't even understand what the compromises are anymore. Whenever the world comes up with something, we invariably will follow along. If the world wants to have a kind of a hippie movement, we'll have a Jesus-hippie movement. If the world wants to have a rock-music movement, just give us time and we'll have it too. If the world decides to have a Woman's Lib. movement, just wait and we'll have one. We have so long compromised with the world, we have become so engulfed in its materialistic viewpoint, in its economics and its style of life that there is little possibility that we can even understand what an uncompromising life really means. We fight to be separated from the world and yet we are unable to define what that separation means because we've been so brainwashed by the system. We have accepted the world's thought patterns. We have accepted the world's value systems. We have accepted the world's attitudes. In so many cases, we have accepted its economics. We are indulging ourselves. We have accepted its morality. And again, we are indulging ourselves. And even though we know the Bible teaches something, if we feel we want to do it, we go ahead and do it anyway.

Recently we had an occasion to have some people come in for counseling who desired to be married. And we found no biblical justification for their marriage, counseled them that they really had no right to get married, which didn't faze them in the least. They simply went down the street, got married, and showed up here again the next week.

Compromise, an inability to deal with the biblical data as God intends us to deal because we are overwhelmed with our own personal desires. And so we substitute ourselves as the one to be pleased rather than God and we learn well the art of compromise.

We indulge ourselves in the world's priorities. We take stock of the world's entertainment and on and on it goes.

Scripture calls upon us to do just the very opposite. And we could spend a lot of time just studying this from a theological perspective. We could go through the Old Testament and we could study the very call of God to be separate from the world. We could go into the gospels and see what Jesus said. We could go into the epistles and we could study it there. But it doesn't really need to be done, other than to simply say from one end of the Bible to the other the whole approach of God to His people is that we are to live apart from the world. It's just the whole message of God to His people. When God designed the nation Israel, He built right into their very daily living, the way they dressed and the way they ate and the way they conducted themselves in a daily routine. And the calendar for the year, He built in safeguards to...to prevent them from intermingling, as it were, with pagans. He's done the same for all of His people.

We have a standard that really can't be compatible with the world. And yet, how easily do we compromise ... how easily do we abandon our absolutes ... how easily do we allow our character qualities to become faulty as we seek to please ourselves under the pressure of the system in which we live.

It might be well to remind ourselves at the very beginning, that God is the uncompromising God. God never compromises an absolute. God never compromises a principle. God never sets aside a truth for expediency purposes. God always lives according to His Word. In fact, He said, "I have exalted My Word above all My name." In other words, He says, “I Myself, as to My nature, make Myself submissive to My Word.”

We were preaching this morning on the subject of prayer and prayer is important. But I'll tell you something that's more important than prayer and that is the study of the Word. Because if you do not study the Word of God, you will not know how to pray because you will not know what is God's will. The study of the Word is more important than prayer someone told me this morning that an old saint of God said if he had to live his life all over again, he would pray less and study more because it would filter out needless prayers.

The Word is the basis of the integrity of the life of a believer. And God as the Holy One has exalted His Word above all of His name and brings Himself into commitment to that very Word and as His children, we are to do the same.

I want to just share with you one passage from 2 Corinthians chapter 6 before we look at Daniel...and then another one from Hebrews, to give you an insight into this. In 2 Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 17, I think you have a summary of New Testament teaching relative to this kind of separation. It says: "Wherefore come out from among them," them referring to idolatrous people, people connected with Satan, infidels, unrighteous, people in darkness, the unregenerate world, "come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord. And do not touch the unclean and I will receive you and will be a Father unto you and you shall be My sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty."

Now listen, God is the separated, uncompromising One, and He says His people, to truly manifest that they are His people, must also be the separated, uncompromising people.

When we compromise with the world, it has devastating effects in two areas. First of all, it effects our worship, Hebrews chapter 13. When we compromise and accept the standard of the world and set God's standards aside, it destroys our worship. Let me show you this, Hebrews 13, verse 12, a tremendous passage. "Wherefore," Hebrews 13:12 says, "Jesus also that He might set apart," or separate, that's what sanctify means, "that He might separate the people with His own blood," that is to separate them from sin, "suffered outside the gate."

In other words, you remember that in the sacrificial system of Israel, when it was time to slay the lamb for the sins of the people, those sins were symbolically placed upon another animal and that other animal was taken outside the city, outside the gates, separated from the people. And Jesus is simply drawing on the simple idea of separation. When He died, He died separated from the city, outside the walls, outside the concourse of human society. He died separated "In order that He might purchase a separated people." That's the whole point.

Then in 13 it says: "If Christ separated Himself to purchase a separated people, let us then go forth therefore unto Him outside the camp and bear His reproach." In other words, let's then live separated lives. If He died separated to purchase a separated people, then let us live a separated life. "For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come. And when we've done that, by Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually." In other words, you can't even worship unless you are living a separated life. Don't come to God with your praise and with the fruit of your lips saying thanks and with your good deeds and your sharing and your sacrifices unto Him unless you come out of a separated life. That's the whole point. We are called to be separated.

John put it this way, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him."

James put it this way: "Don't you know that friendship with the world is enmity against God?" You cannot be the friend of the world and the friend of God. We are called, then, to a separated life. And if we are not separated it destroys our...our worship.

Secondly, it destroys our service...it destroys our service. We can't serve the Lord. We become useless. In 2 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 20, it says, "In a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but of wood and earth, some to honor and some to dishonor." That's probably true in your house, isn't it? You've got the old stuff, you know, the stuff with the chipped apples on it and the plastic stuff and all the mix and match stuff that everybody in your family gets? And then when somebody important comes over, you pull out the good stuff and all the kids say - You know, how come we never get that? That's typical...we all have that. And we have, you know, the everyday stuff that we eat with, the utensils and then we have the very fine silver that is only for special occasions. Well, so it is with God. In God's treasure house of utensils...skeuos, it's a word meaning any kind of utensil, there are things unto honor and some unto dishonor. Now, if you want to be a utensil that God can use, then purge yourself from these...from what?...false teachers, false teaching, and the false kind of living of their lives. Separate yourself from unholiness, flee youthful lusts, avoid the foolish and unlearned questions that breed strife. In other words, separate yourself from false teaching and false standards and false ways of living or you cannot be a vessel fit for the Master's use.

Now, beloved, what I'm saying is this, God calls us to separation and unless we are living a separated life, we are destroying our worship and we are destroying our service to Him. There must be a purging and a purification in our lives.

A yacht was sitting at anchor one time on the Niagara River. And all of a sudden, because the water was rushing rather rapidly and the wind was blowing and there was a small kind of a little upheaval on the river, the rope holding the boat to the dock broke and it began to drift in the current and it happened that there were people on board the small yacht. They became panic stricken as it went rapidly toward Niagara Falls. Some of them were accusing each other and screaming at each other about the fact that who was to blame and why did you get me on this boat, and on and on it went. They could hear the thundering sound of the falls immediately ahead of them. What was the skipper to do? Well, he was a man of action. And according to the chronicle, he had a piece of dynamite in his boat. He simply embedded it in the hull and lit it and blew a huge hole in the middle of the boat which proceeded immediately to sink the boat. Once the boat was sunk and no longer moving, the people were readily rescued as they clung to it in rather shallow water.

I suppose that's what has to happen in our lives too. Somewhere along the line, as believers, we have to scuttle the ship of compromise. We have to sink the vessel of worldliness or we're going to find ourselves rapidly moving toward a disaster.

That's what God calls us to. That's the standard by which we are to live. And none other than the Lord Jesus Christ is our pattern. In chapter 7 of Hebrews and verse 26, it says, "He was a high priest who was fitting," listen, "because He was holy, He was harmless, He was undefiled," now listen to this, "He was separated from sinners." He is the pattern: holy, harmless, undefiled; separated from sinners. God calls us to such a life. God calls us to such a commitment.

Moses, you know, made that commitment to a separated life. In Hebrews 11:26, it says of Moses: "Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming the reproach of Christ, greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompense of reward. By faith Moses forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king for he endured as seeing One who was invisible." In other words, Moses chose God over Pharaoh. He chose heaven over earth. He chose poverty in God's will over riches out of God's will. He chose the will of God rather than the treasure of Egypt.

Ruth made a commitment like that. "And they lifted up their voice and wept again and Orpha kissed her mother-in-law; but Ruth clave unto her. And she said, Behold, thy sister-in-law has gone back unto her people and unto her gods: return thou after thy sister-in-law." In other words, Ruth clinging is told, “Go back to your former life; go back to the pagan gods." And Ruth said, “Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee, for whither thou goest, I will go and where thou lodgest, I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people, and thy God, my God. Where thou diest, will I die and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me and more also, if aught but death part thee and me. And when she saw that she was steadfastly minded to go with her, then she left speaking unto her."

Ruth said, “I will not return to a former life, I am committed to God and since you represent Him, I am committed to you.”

David made the same commitment. In Psalm 119, David said, "I have sworn and I will perform it, I will keep Thy righteous judgments." In verse 115, he said, "Depart from me, ye evil doers, get away for I will keep the commandments of my God.'"

Moses wouldn't compromise, Ruth wouldn't compromise and neither would David. Barnabas, that lovely man of God who we see in the New Testament, so instrumental in the life of the early church, in Acts 11:23 says of him, "When he came and had seen the grace of God, he was glad and he exhorted them all that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord." Barnabas told the early church to be uncompromising and to cleave to the Lord.

But, there's no better example of the character of an uncompromising spirit than Daniel...so let's look at him. And by the way, Ezekiel who was a contemporary of Daniel must have felt the same way because when Ezekiel wanted to give a list of the great men of righteousness in history, in Ezekiel 14:14 he said they were: Noah, Daniel and Job. And he put Daniel right in the middle even though the other two were long dead...and Daniel was alive. Rarely does a living man receive that kind of honor that usually must await his death. Daniel was a great man, a righteous man. We're going to see why in the first eight verses as we look at it tonight. Beginning in verse 1 and 2 we find the plight...the plight. And we've already looked at these verses so we don't need to spend a lot of time on them, just to briefly read them and make a comment or two.

"In the third year in the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah," Judah was the southern kingdom, "Came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand with part of the vessels of the house of God 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, we spent two lessons, two hours of teaching, at least, on those two verses. I simply want to remind you that the book begins on a very sorrowful note. What we find there is the first of three movements in the Babylonian captivity. The northern kingdom is long gone into captivity and now Judah, the remaining people of Israel, have been unfaithful, disobedient and so their judgment has arrived. Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon who now, for all intents and purposes, rules that whole part of the world, comes against Israel or Judah, besieges it and takes away the captives. So, in this series of three deportations, the first one occurring during the time of Jehoiakim, the captives are taken off to Babylon. And so the book begins with a sorrowful note.

And you can't help but think back how many times God had warned the people. God, I told you, warned them in three ways. Number one He warned them through the prophets, constantly preaching if they didn't repent they'd be judged. Secondly, He warned them by the Assyrians who invaded their country and put tremendous pressure and each time God delivered them, but they got a little taste of what it would be like to be under foreign oppression. But they never heard the prophets and they never learned from the Assyrians.

And finally, God warned them by taking the northern kingdom into captivity. They should have learned when they saw what happened to the north but they didn't learn from any of those things. And so, they continued in their sin and God was patient and merciful and gracious as long as He could be and the same God who said in Genesis 6, "My Spirit shall not always strive with man," stopped striving with Judah and brought judgment and they were taken to captivity.

Now, in the first deportation came Daniel, his friends, and another whole group of young men that are indicated in the passage. We meet them down in verse seven, six and seven, and we'll get to that in just a moment.

But, the whole idea here is to set the scene. Daniel is taken captive. The whole nation hasn't gone into captivity yet because God wants Daniel there to get him set up for when the rest of the people show up. Now verse 2 tells us just an interesting note that when Nebuchadnezzar did this first siege and actually defeated Joya...Jehoiakim, and it might be interesting to add this point, that when he defeated Jehoiakim, he never dethroned him. He had seen that in the past, Jehoiakim had been a willing vassal to Pharaoh in Egypt, so, he figured Jehoiakim was a weak enough person to just leave him there. And that he would be intimidated enough not to do anything. So, he just left Jehoiakim alone, let him kind of sit it out. But in order to prove his power, he stole all of the vessels of value out of the house of God. He literally robbed the temple, took all the things of value. Why? Because if you could steal things from the god, or gods, of a foreign power, you could prove your greatness. If their god couldn't defend them any better than to hang on to the stuff in his own temple, you didn't have to worry about him. So, conquerors that conquered nations invariably gathered all the riches of the temple of the gods of that nation and hauled them back to their own country to affirm their power over false gods...foreign gods.

And so, Nebuchadnezzar gathered all of this up and it says he took it into the house of his god. There are so many names for who his god was that it's almost impossible to know, but it seems as though the main gods are related to the god Bel, which is also related to Baal. He comes...sometimes comes under the name of Merodach, and sometimes under the name of Marduk and it just goes on and on. They could never get their theology straight and they were always scrambling everybody up anyway. Whoever his god was, into the treasure house of his own god, he took the vessels of the temple.

Now, the reason I think this is indicated to us is to show how total the coming doom was going to be. God wasn't even defending Judah anymore. God's own temple could be robbed and God didn't put up a fuss. The defense of Judah was over. God had defended them against the Assyrians; God was no longer defending them at all.

You know, this must have been a hard time for Daniel, too. Even oh, seventy years later, after Daniel's deportation, seventy years later, in the sixth chapter and the tenth verse when Daniel prayed, he faced Jerusalem. Seventy years later, his heart still longed for the city of Jerusalem. You can imagine what must have gone on in his heart at the very time he was taken captive. So, the plight...a captive people in a foreign land.

Now, let's look secondly at the plot...the plot. From the plight to the plot, verses 3 to 7. This is absolutely one of the most fascinating parts of the book and it sets the stage for everything that's going to come to pass in Daniel's life there. Now, I told you a moment ago, and you want to get this, this is historical background, that when Nebuchadnezzar first besieged Jerusalem, right in the middle of his operation, he got word that his father was dying. So, he just left it as far as it had gone and he had to go back to Babylon to take care of the situation in the death of his father. He therefore left Jehoiakim in power. Now mark this. He left him in power. But in order to be sure of his loyalty, in order to be confident that Jehoiakim wouldn't pull off some kind of a rebellion and overthrow whatever minimal force Nebuchadnezzar left, he did a very smart thing. He took hostages. The first deportation, then, was not really a mass deportation of the people of Judah, he was simply taking hostages until he could get back in 597 and do a whole thing on them and finally in 586 and wipe out the whole nation. Verse 3 tells us what he did.

"And the king spoke unto Ashpenaz 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." Now, he wanted hostages and he wanted hostages right out of the royal family...and hostages right out of the princely nobility of the land of Judah. By the way, the word spoke, "And the king spoke," in Hebrew is actually the word commanded. The word Ashpenaz some people feel is a proper name and this is a man named Ashpenaz. Other people feel that this term means a title, referring to somebody who is a master, or somebody who is a leader, or somebody who is an overseer. Whether it is a title or a name is not really important, for our sake we'll just accept the fact that it's a name. It's a lot easier to deal with him in those terms. So, the king commands this person Ashpenaz and it tells us that he is the master of his eunuchs.

Now every king had people who worked for him or served him. In the court of a king there were eunuchs. Basically, a eunuch was a person of whom Isaiah says...it could be said that he was a dry tree. In other words, he had gone through a surgical emasculation to render him a eunuch. Those kinds of people were then placed in the control of harems in specific duties within the royal setting. It also is true, and we want to stress this so that you'll understand it clearly, that because commonly eunuchs served the king, the term eunuch became used for a lot of people who served the king who were not necessarily surgically made into eunuchs. The word then could refer to somebody who had had that physical operation or it could refer to someone who just served the king. In fact, Potiphar is indicated as a eunuch in Egypt and we know that he was married and had a wife because we happen to have an encounter with Joseph and Potiphar's wife, so, in the case of Potiphar, he may have been designated as a eunuch who was not really a eunuch physically. But Isaiah's definition does indicate the physical part of being a eunuch. Now, whether Daniel was actually a eunuch physically or not is difficult to know. It would seem to me, and I think I mentioned this in the past, that it's very likely that the king would render these young men eunuchs when they enter into his service and that might explain in some fashion why Daniel never married, there's never an identification with a family, all his life he finds himself serving the king.

Whatever the case, this man Ashpenaz was the master of the people associated with the king...eunuchs in a physical sense, eunuchs in the sense of service to the king. So, this man then is told...and we want to get straight who he is 'cause we're going to meet him again, this man has an important office. The word master literally equals the word prince. He is to collect these young men. Now, some historians have indicated that there were somewhere between 50 and 75 of them at least. There happens to be, apparently, some data that they can put their finger on to indicate that it was a relatively large group, 50 to 75 maybe, a good guess...young men. Notice, they were the children of Israel, that doesn't mean the northern kingdom because by now those in the north, some of them, had migrated to the south from the ten tribes before the holocaust in the north so that all of Judah really embodied the seed of Israel. So, some of the children of Israel who are of the king's seed and the princes...royal family and nobility. He wanted the best for hostages in order to make sure Jehoiakim didn't do anything he shouldn't do.

Secondly, now watch this, Nebuchadnezzar also wanted to train these young men in his courts, in his palace, to assist him in administering Jewish affairs because already in his mind he had concluded that he would be making Judah a vassal state to Babylon. He was going to capture the world and he was going to have to know how to handle these Jewish people and so he wanted some well-trained Jewish boys that he could literally melt down and reform into Chaldeans but who had a Jewish background so that he could use them in the manipulations he felt would be necessary to administer his rule among the Jews.

Look at verse 4. It says not only were they to be of the king's seed, and that would be the royal family itself, and the princes, that would be the nobility in the court, but they were to be youths...yeladim in Hebrew. And it's very hard to define this word exactly but most commentators agree that they could be no older than 17 years old and probably no younger than 13 or 14. And so, Daniel, at this time, is a teenager. We know that 70 years later he is still ruling. He is still leading in Babylon and so he must have been very young at this time. These are young men then...somewhere between the ages of 13 and 17 or so and it's likely that Daniel maybe was either 14 or 15 years old. No older than that. Hang on to that because that's a fantastic thought. This is just a kid, just a teenager.

Plato spoke of education of the youths in Persia as that which began at 14 and ended at 17. Babylonian customs would probably be very similar. And so, they were looking for a training period to make Chaldeans out of these Jewish boys.

Now, I want you to see what kind of boys they wanted, really interesting. Verse 4, "In whom was no blemish." The word in the Hebrew is muwm and it means a physical blemish. They didn't want anybody who had any physical handicap. They wanted a flawless, physical specimen. It's talking there about the health of the individual. Secondly, notice it says, "well favored." Now that had to do with their face, their good looks. Basically, muwm probably refers to their body and its physical abilities and well-formed having to do particularly with the face, although it could also include the physical form as well. They were looking at the physical characteristics.

This is typical. When Israel went to choose a king, which one did they pick? The tallest and the handsomest guy in the country Saul, and what a loser he was. It's typical. Looks. Get us the best looking, the best shaped, well-formed, virile, handsome, young men...we don't want anybody with a blemish physically or facially. And not only physically, but how else does the world evaluate people? First, their physical features and secondly, their brains. The physical and the mental...that's really all the world has to go on and so that's where they go from there. "Skillful in all wisdom." They have four intellectual qualifications here. First, skillful in all wisdom. That means superior intellectually, highly intelligent, with an ability to make distinctions, ability to make decisions, the ability to apply truth to situations. They wanted guys who were really superior intellectually.

Secondly, under the mental, "Gifted in knowledge." That means superior in education, they had the right data, they had the right learning. The literal Hebrew says - knowers of knowledge...those who had information who were good students, who were well educated. So, they wanted those with education and those who knew how to apply that in terms of making distinctions and decisions.

Thirdly, they wanted those who understood science. And apparently this Hebrew term has the idea of the ability to correlate. First, to know facts...secondly, to apply facts...and thirdly, to correlate facts...to bring lots of things into harmony and make decisions. In fact, that essentially that's what science does, doesn't it? Science draws conclusions from the correlation of data. They had to be able to think in terms of correlation.

Finally, "And who had ability in them to stand in the king's palace." Now this had to do with a third dimension of the things they were looking for. First was physical...no blemish and well-formed; then was mental...skillful in all wisdom, gifted in knowledge and understanding science; and third was social. They had to have the poise and the manner and the social graces to stand in a king's palace and not come off like a klutz. Now, I'm telling you, this...I'd never make it. In the first place, I'd get disqualified in every category. But if I ever did get past the first two, which couldn't happen, I'd never make it in the third one because whenever I get into some very important situation, I always do the wrong thing. I remember when I was in Dallas, Texas, not long ago, and someone called up and said - We want you to have lunch today with such and such a lady, she appreciated your message, she wants to meet you and we're going to be having lunch at the top floor club for the oilmen of Dallas and you're to be the guest of this lady. And I said - Terrific! And Sam Ericsson was with me, I said - Come on, Sam, and you can come too.

And I didn't realize what a big deal...and here I'm bringing Sam along, you know, like it's my party. So, anyway, I was busy during the day and I just threw on a sweater, I had been studying and just threw on a sweater and went out the door, I was just going to have lunch with this nice lady. And we went in this elevator, we kept going higher and higher and I thought maybe we got in the rapture in the middle of the ride. Finally, we got to the top floor and I walked out and I'm telling you, this place was something else. And you just feel funny immediately. You feel conspicuous, like your shoes are bad, and your pants are wrong and you're...there's something really bad, your hair, you know, your ears aren't in the right place, you just...you feel...you feel funny because everybody's staring and...and there was a lot of "Ahem...ahem ...ahem ...Yes sir? Were you looking for someone? Yes, I'm supposed to meet...and I gave the name...and the guy just kind of looked me over. And this dear lady came out and she said - Ohhh, it's nice to meet you. And I...I didn't know what was wrong. Well, I found out that you can't go up that elevator without a coat and tie, and so the man went in the back closet. He said - I think we have a coat you can borrow. And he went in the back closet and got me a 48 short. That's true, I looked at the label. It was up to here...and out to here. And, I mean, I think it had been...it had so much stuff spilled on it, it was incredible. I sat through that whole meal, in the middle of this oilman's thing, with my 48 short coat trying to pretend that I had social grace. Man, was I out of my element...give me MacDonalds...at the best, Carl's, you know? I wouldn't have made it.

When the world looks for people to fill its bill, it looks at their physical, their mental and their social definition...that's it. Because that's all they can understand. They didn't know anything about character. They didn't know anything about spiritual quality. They didn't know anything about virtue. They didn't know anything about morality. They said - Get us the smartest and the best lookin', and the most suave young guys you can find, and we're going to melt them down and remake them into Chaldeans. That was the whole plan. It was a plot, folks, listen, to brainwash these young Jews...it was a brainwashing plot...clear and simple. They were going to do a number on them.

What was their purpose? At the end of verse 4: "That they might teach them the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans." Now, the Chaldeans is a term used interchangeably with Babylonians. Originally the Chaldeans were a separate group, but as the Babylonian Empire grew and the Chaldean astrologies and the Chaldean learning and the Chaldean sciences dominated the Babylonian Empire, the term Chaldean became synonymous to Babylonian. And so, they were going to make them full fledged Babylonians, or Chaldeans. They wanted them to learn the learning of the Chaldeans.

What is the learning? By the way, the tongue, or the language, of the Chaldeans was a very, very powerful and important language in that day...and the Jewish people would not know it and so they would have to learn it but it would give them intercourse around that part of the whole world because the language dominated that part of the world. Beyond that, the learning of the Chaldeans is very interesting. In the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia it tells us that the learning of the Chaldeans comprised the old languages of Babylonian, the two dialects of Sumerian and a certain knowledge of Kassite, which seems to have been allied to the Hittite language. And there were other languages of the immediate neighborhood. In other words, they would literally become linguistic experts.

Further, the Chaldeans had knowledge of astronomy and astrology. They had a sophisticated mathematical system involving a sexagesimal system of numeration. They had a certain amount of natural history. They had a huge store of mythological learning, including legends of the creation and the flood. They had, likewise, a tremendous plurality and plethora of gods, a whole pantheon of deities. They had a tremendous knowledge of agriculture. They were, perhaps, the finest architects in the whole world, as many of the celebrated buildings of Babylon show. You might be interested to know that in the building of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, and in the building of the palaces, they had a sophisticated air-conditioning system at that time which they had developed.

So, these young men were going to be exposed to all of this learning whether it was architectural or agricultural or linguistic or theological or historical, they were going to become erudite Chaldeans. The Chaldeans were also expert in magic, in sorcery, in certain enchantments, in omens and incantations and prayers and hymns and myths and legends and science skills ... they...they were expert in glass making, we know that...and on and on and on. And these young men were going to learn all of that. This was a brainwashing process.

You know something? It's not unlike what universities and colleges are set to do to young people today. Take away their faith, rob their heritage, reform them with the godless, atheistic, humanistic, socialistic information that so fills their books and the minds of their teachers. Sending your young person today to a college or a university is not always doing them any favor at all...but exposing them to a brainwashing process. Sadly, even the seminaries in our country that once held up the Word of God, who now have abandoned it as the authority, are brainwashing people to believe that human answers tell us that we can't trust God...His Word isn't true. Another brainwashing process.

Moses, you remember, when he was in Egypt, in Acts 7:22 it says: "He was taught in all the wisdom and all the arts of the Egyptians." But you know something? There are some people that you just can't corrupt...you just can't do it. And such people we'll meet in a moment.

The universities and the seminaries of the Chaldeans were going to destroy everything that Daniel and all of his friends knew of God and of the heritage that God had placed among their people. They wanted them to forget God, forget the truth of God, wipe out everything of the past. Believe me, people, this is the effort of modern education. From the time your child goes off to school, except for God-fearing teachers and people who love Christ that intersect with your children, they will get a humanistic, godless, atheistic system of values that is geared by Satan to whitewash God out of the picture and to render those minds brainwashed to serve Satan. That's the plot. The plot thickens in verse 5.

"And the king appointed them a daily provision of the king's dainties, delicacies, meat, food." The word here means delicacies. It isn't just the average stuff. I think the RSV rightly translates it "rich food." So, they were to get a portion of the king's rich food. Now why? Why feed them the king's food? Man, I know I lived in a dorm for awhile...any king that ate that stuff would have abdicated his throne long before. What...what are they feeding them that for? Is that a part of the education? Listen, one of the most basic elements of brainwashing is a sense of obligation, is to make them feel obligated, is to provide for them a provision that is lavish so that their sustenance is dependent on you and you build a dependency for provision, you build a perspective on life where they demand what you're giving them and then you've got them locked in. You know, "How you going to keep them down on the farm after they've seen Paris? Feed them the Chaldean food and just see if they'll ever eat the crummy vegetables and the water they're use to. Seduce them by the appetites and make them feel obligated because of the provision and lift their standard of living up to where you want it to be so they can never go back to that other kind of approach. All part of the brainwashing.

The king himself was a smart man. Nebuchadnezzar was a brilliant man. And he appointed this situation and he gives Ashpenaz a command to feed those people the king's delicacies and give him the wine the king drinks. Now, they drank wine of all kinds, but the king's wine would be the very best wine...the best...for three years, it says, so that at the end of the three years they would stand before the king. They'd come in and say - Oh king, man, are you a good guy! Wow! Look at us, king, we are so healthy...we've been eating all that good stuff for three years, we've had a terrific time. And the term "stand before the king" has reference to serving the king. Did you hear that? Serving the king. To stand before means to serve. We find that over and over again. It says the angels stand before the throne of God doing what? "Waiting a commission to serve." Jeremiah the prophet stood before God waiting to move out in service. He says I want people who will serve me and I know they'll serve me if their obligated to me. I know they'll serve me if they depend on my kind of stuff and my standard of living.

Have you ever had a taste of that kind of stuff? Have you ever just gone somewhere and just lived it up for about two or three days, or maybe one day? Or somebody took you to some restaurant, you know, and it cost you about $50 and you just got a little taste of that and you thought - Boy, you know I could get used to this? I...this is the way I deserve to be treated, see. Well, that's the whole idea of the brainwashing, that's the trap. And apparently, you want to know something? If there were 50 to 75 young men who were taken in, it must have worked with about 71 of them because the only...only ones we meet that didn't fall prey to the brainwashing process are four of them...just four.

Verse 6: "Now among these were of the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah." Notice, among these... that means there were many more...and among them only four...only four. There aren't very many people in the world who resist the world's effort to brainwash. There aren't very many people that won't buy the world's bag, who won't dance to the world's jig, there were only four. And you know what they did? Verse 7: "Unto the prince of the eunuchs gave names: Daniel he gave Belteshazzar; Hananiah, Shadrach; Mishael, Meshach; and Azariah, Abednego."

Now, you know what happened? They changed all their names to Chaldean names. That's another part of the process of brainwashing. You forget your roots. You forget your heritage. You forget your family. You forget your past when you forget who you really are. You just...you don't have any identity anymore. You've just lost your identity. I remember for so many years I was always introduced as Dr. Jack's son...I was nobody. I was just Dr. Jack's son. If there was no Dr. Jack, there would have been no me. That's really true. But I'll never forget one day, somebody said - Oh...they were introducing me to a lady and said, "Oh, this is Dr. Jack's son." She said, "Oh, Dr. Jackson it's so nice to meet you." I was Dr. Jackson, whoever Dr. Jackson is. I wouldn't mind being Dr. Jackson if I were Dr. Jackson. Cutting people off from their heritage is not new and it's common even today.

I was reading this week a book about a Dr. Hong who very interestingly enough was raised in North Korea. This very unique man raised in North Korea...in fact, I met him this last week...watched as his whole family was tortured when North Korea was invaded by the Japanese. They came in; they cut the thumbs off his father. They killed his grandmother. They murdered his brother. In fact, they hung him in their doorway of their house. And one of the things that they did all over North Korea when they first came in was they changed all of the Korean names to Japanese names, to cut them off from all sense of identity. This is part of the brainwashing process and that's what they did.

You might be interested to know something about the names, because I think this is...by the way, I might add that they changed Joseph's name, remember? He was given an Egyptian name when he went to Egypt...I think it was something like Zaphenath-Paneah, or something. And you know, do you know a lady in the Bible by the name of Hadassah? That's the true name of Esther, her name was changed too when she came into another society. That's what they did very commonly.

All right, Daniel means God is judge. Belteshazzar means Baal provides...Bel...Bel provides, or it could be Bel's prince. So, they changed him from Yahweh, God to Baal...wipe out God, see.

Secondly, Hananiah means the Lord is gracious. They changed Hananiah's name to Shadrach. Shadrach is some kind of a derivative from the god Akku, from which we get the word Marduk...it's all so tangled up. But another one of the chief deities of Babylon.

Mishael, by the way, means...and I love this...who is what the Lord is, isn't that great? Who is like the Lord? They changed his name to Meshach, again from Mesha-Akku, which is who is what is Akku is? Akku, by the way, is supposed to be the moon god.

Azariah means the Lord is my helper. They changed it to Abednego, or servant of Nego, or servant of Nebo and Nebo was the son of Baal.

So, in every case, something in all those four names represented God. It says something about the fact that they must have had godly parents which may be why they stood out among the rest because it was only a remnant of believing people in Judah anyway and of all of the young men that were taken, maybe there were only these four who had a godly heritage. They certainly had lovely godly names, but in every case they stole away God from their names and substituted their pagan deities. They were trying to blot out God. They were trying to substitute their own demonic pantheon, all part of the brainwashing.

I see that in our society, boy, I see Satan working to brainwash our young people, to educate them in the things of the world, to draw them off into the allurements of the world, to get them to eat the world's meat and to play the world's games and most of them go.

That brings us to the final thought in verse 8, we're just going to introduce it tonight. From the plight to the plot to the purpose...the purpose. And this changed everything. The key to the uncompromising life, verse 8, just the first part: "But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's food nor with the wine which he drank." Stop right there.

Daniel...listen to this, this guy is fourteen years old. He purposed in his heart, literally, he laid it on his heart. There were three distinctly heathen things that had happened to these young people; heathen wisdom was to be taught to them, heathen names were to be given to them and heathen food was to be fed to them. Now, the first two they accepted. They went on with the heathen training, learning their education and it wasn't all evil, they had many scientific things and many very helpful principles of architecture and science and so forth. They allowed themselves to enter in to their kind of training and sometimes in our society, in our world, we have to go in for the training that our world offers and we have to know how to sort the good from the bad, the true from the false. And so, they did not fight against that educational process.

Secondly, they didn't seem to be bothered by the heathen names they were given...because you could change their names but you couldn't change the fact that their names as they originally were were written in God's book...as His children. You could change their names but you couldn't change their hearts. You could change their names but you couldn't change their souls.

But the third thing is where they drew the line and they said Nope. Daniel said he would not defile himself, and the word defile means to pollute, or to stain with an ugly stain. He says - I will not stain my life, I will not pollute my life with the king's food, nor will I touch his wine. Now, wait a minute. Well, Daniel, what's the big deal? I mean, why would you say no to the food and yes to the education? It would seem like the education would be more powerful than the food. No. I don't think so. I don't think so because it's the eating of the world's delicacies that much more rapidly corrupts us. It's the entering into the world's life style that pollutes us, much more than the world's thinking pattern. And he was willing to acknowledge that there were some good and bad things to be learned and he had what it took to filter those out.

But, there was more than that. It wasn't just a simple logical decision. Let me tell you why he decided the way he did. Listen, there was no strict prohibition, get this, in the Word of God, there was no strict prohibition against taking a heathen name. There was none. Second, there was no strict prohibition against learning what some other people had to teach. There was, however, very strict prohibition about what a Jew could eat and drink, true? Now, listen, this is the point of the whole thing, Daniel drew the line of no compromise in his life on what the Word of God said. Did you get it? What, then, is the character of an uncompromising life? It is a commitment to draw the lines in your life where the Word of God draws them. Do you see? That's where Daniel drew the line.

Now, listen, he couldn't eat the king's food for two major reasons. Number one, it wasn't kosher. They had dietary laws. Jewish food had to be prepared a certain way. The blood had to be drained off a certain way. There were clean and there were unclean animals, right? The Babylonians had no such thing. Do you know that they literally feasted on pork? They thought pig was a delicacy and they ate meats forbidden to a Jew and the cooking preparation was not fitting for a Jew and now you can see something of the purpose of God's dietary laws, can't you? Because in this case it kept some wonderful young men from getting corrupted. That was God's intention for it...to restrict the possibility of intermingling with pagans.

But, there was another reason that Daniel couldn't take of it and that is because the Old Testament again and again said not to tolerate idols, not to tolerate idolatry of any kind, not to have anything to do with an idol worshipping people. And listen to this, the king's food, served at the king's table, was always connected with the gods for we know from Babylonian history that the food they ate was first offered to the gods and the wine they drank was first offered to the gods and all of it was given, as it were, to the gods, symbolically, and then they ate of it. And if Daniel and his friends were to eat of that food they would be eating that which had been offered to gods and they would be literally participating in a pagan feast. They couldn't do it. They took their stand on the Scripture. Where there is a specific, biblical, mandate...you draw the line.

Someone asked me this morning, "Do you take a stand on things?" And I said, "Yes." How do you evaluate? In light of the message tonight, it's easy for you to know. He said, "How do you evaluate what you will take a stand on?" I say to him and I say to you, "Where the Scripture draws the line; I draw the line... right there." If there is a clear word from God, that is the character of an uncompromising life. He would not defile himself, he would not be stained, he would not be polluted by disobeying Scripture.

Now, listen to this. He had every reason to do it...every reason. Just think, first of all, he was a kid. What kind of character do you find in a 14-year-old? Not often that kind. He was just a kid. Not only that, he was away from home, there was nobody around to check. Mom wasn't going to be behind the corner with a coat hanger. Dad wasn't going to be around the barn with a belt. Nobody was going to say - What are you doing, kid? He was on his own. Not only that, the king was the king and the king made a law and he probably learned to obey authorities. Not only that, if he wanted to advance in the kingdom, which every young man might want to if he had that kind of quality, he would have known he had to do what the king said.

Further, if he disobeyed, the king would be very angry and it didn't take long, as you read the book of Daniel, to find out when he got angry, he got real angry and started pitching people in fiery furnaces. And he also might have thought God let us down by bringing us here in the first place, what do we owe to Him? He had every reason to compromise...every reason.

But he didn't. Do you know why? He had character. He had real character. He had real integrity. He would learn the king's language. Yes. He would learn the sciences of the Chaldeans. He would even accept the name, but never the life style. Do you hear it? Never the life style...never the life style. Now, I want you to know it didn't mean he got angry and bitter and callous and had an evil spirit and turned everybody against him. Verse 9 says that the prince of the eunuchs had compassion on him. He felt tender toward Daniel. This guy had convictions that he held with love. What a young man. What a young man. Beloved, I say this to you: the character of an uncompromising life is based upon an absolute obedience to the principles of the Word of God. All I can say, beloved, is when the Bible says something, don't compromise that...and hold your conviction with love. And when you live an uncompromising life, God is going to use you. Man, from here on out, people, God uses Daniel in ways that are just thrilling...thrilling. Ah, be useful to God. Set a standard and live it every day of your life.

I'm going to close with this story. The story is told of a wealthy Englishman who had a collection of rare violins. There was one instrument which was of such quality and such magnificence that the eminent violinist, Fritz Kreisler, desired to have it from this wealthy Englishman but, the owner didn't want to sell it. And one day Kreisler came to see him and...of course, he could play with such virtuosity, perhaps unequalled, that the day he came he begged for the man to at least let him play this marvelous instrument. The request was granted and the great violinist picked up the violin and he played it as only Fritz Kreisler could play it. He forgot himself, says the biographer, he poured his soul into the music and as the master artist played, the Englishman stood as one enchanted and when Kreisler finished, not a word was spoken as he loosened the bow and the strings and placed the instrument in its case with the gentleness of a mother putting a baby in its bed. And the owner then explained - Mr. Kreisler, you can't buy the violin, take the violin...I have no right to keep it...it ought to belong to one who can make such beautiful music with it.

Listen, God can make beautiful music with your life. You'll see how He did with Daniel, but you've got to give Him your life. Give Him your life...and take a position of uncompromising character, to live on the principles of the Word of God. Let's pray together.

Lord, we've had such a great time tonight. We just feel so overwhelmed with the story of Daniel, this wonderful, wonderful story. Lord, I pray for the dear people here, for myself, that You'd mold us into the kind of character that that fourteen-year-old, or fifteen-year-old boy had. Some of us have been around a lot longer than that and are hard pressed to find such character in our own lives. Father, I pray for our young men, teenagers, our young women who are literally bombarded by the garbage of the world, who are tempted to talk the world's language and get the world's education, indulge in the world's life style. God, I pray that You'll raise up in this church young people like Daniel and his friends, who will not be corrupted, who will not be polluted, who will not be stained, who will not be defiled, but will base their character of an uncompromising life on the Word of God. Lord, I'm excited because next week we're going to see the comp...the consequences of an uncompromising life. What happens when you live that way. We've seen it tonight, it's like giving a violin to a virtuoso. You take our lives and You do wondrous things with them. And so, Father, help us to dedicate ourselves afresh to You, for Christ's sake. Amen.

The Consequences of an Uncompromising Life, Part 1

Tonight we have the wonderful privilege of continuing in our study of the book of Daniel. I’m so thrilled at your response I just thank the Lord for the adventure that is ahead of us as we move through this tremendous book of Daniel. Take your Bible, if you will, and let's look together at chapter 1 again and beginning at verse 8. Tonight we're going to look at verses 8 through 21, 8 through 21, a narrative text. I don't know how far we'll get but we'll move along, and see what it is that God has for us in this tremendous, tremendous section, in the opening portion of this prophecy of Daniel.

An eminent naturalist, in one of his textbooks, describes a marine plant which grows from a depth of 150 to 200 feet and floats on the breakers of the western ocean. The stem of this plant, according to the naturalist is less than an inch thick, yet it grows and thrives and holds its own against the fierce smitings and pressures of the breakers that continue to crash against the shore. What is the secret of this seemingly slender and frail plant and what is the key to its marvelous endurance and resistance of the pressures that are brought to bear upon it? It is because, says the naturalist, the slender plant can face the fury of the elements since it is anchored solidly, grasping, as it were, for its very life to the naked rocks that lie at the very bottom of the water.

It is amazing how in our own lives we can endure the crushing blows of the breakers of life if we have a proper anchor. No matter how...how frail we seem, or how slender is the plant, when we have the proper roots and the proper anchor, we can hold ourselves to that ground. If we are to turn that illustration upside down, in a sense, we could say that while the feet of Daniel were in Babylon, his head was definitely in heaven. He really had himself anchored to the things of God. And I believe that the key to the willingness of Daniel to take a stand against the pagan society in which he lived was an unwillingness to compromise the absolutes of God.

Now, one of the things I've believed in since many, many years ago when I first made an affirmation to teach the Word of God, is that where there is a principle of the Word of God you never deviate in terms of your behavior. There are some doubtful things, there are some things in the gray area where we do not have a specific biblical word, but where we know definitely and definitively what the Bible teaches, we take our stand and never compromise. That is where we are anchored and that is precisely what characterized the life of this man Daniel. He would not vacillate when it came to the absolutes of the law and the Word of God. And it anchored him to a rock of confidence that allowed him to endure all of the storms of the Chaldean-Babylonian situation. And by the way, if you weren't here last time, I'll just remind you that the Chaldeans were really bent upon brainwashing Daniel, his three friends and all the rest of the young Jewish boys that they had deported in the first deportation in 606 B.C. They were committed to a brainwashing process. And Daniel and his three friends resisted that.

Now, remember that I told you last time that they selected these young men in that first deportation really as hostages to make sure that Israel didn't over-react to the initial coming of Nebuchadnezzar...when he first came and started to establish his power in the land of Israel, really in the kingdom of Judah, the hostages were taken to kind of assure the fact that Israel wouldn't rebel or revolt.

But, there was more to it than just that. The Babylonians wanted these young men to be groomed for use in the Babylonian court. I'm sure they had in mind that with their Jewish heritage they could assist them in handling Jewish affairs in future years. And you'll remember that they selected these young men on three basic features or characteristics. Number one was their physical beauty and physical form. Number two was their intellectual prowess and ability. And number three, their social graces. They picked those young men who had the greatest physical attributes, mental attributes and social capacities, to use them in the courts of Babylon.

The plot was very simple. They would brainwash them. They would manage to eliminate in their thinking, their homeland, their heritage, their religion, their God, their loyalties, and everything. And you remember they attempted to do that by changing three things. Number one, they wanted to reeducate them, to give them a Chaldean Babylonian education. Number two, they renamed them giving them Babylonian names in an effort to cut them off from the past. Thirdly, they wanted to impose upon them Chaldean life style.

So, it was a matter of reeducation, it was a matter of redefinition of who they were and it was a matter of reorientation to the matter of living according to a Chaldean life style. And if it worked, they would be sufficiently brainwashed.

Now, historians tell us that it is estimated between fifty and seventy-five of these young men were taken out of the court of Judah; these would be royal seed and the sons of the nobles and the princes of Judah. Fifty to seventy-five were taken and we only know of four that drew the line and were uncompromising. So, it is likely that the brainwashing process worked in the majority of these very young men. You’ll remember that I told you also that they probably were around the age of 14 or 15, not usually a time when a young man has the character that it takes to resist a very sophisticated brainwashing operation which has latent within it some tremendous promise for advancement, for fame and fortune in the Babylonian court.

Now, as we shared last time, Daniel and his three friends did not resist the first efforts. They did not resist the educational process. Secondly, they did not resist the changing of their names. But, thirdly, when it came to reorienting the life style by forcing them to eat the king's food, and to indulge in the fare that was the daily fare of the palace, to reorient themselves to that kind of thing, that's where they said no. And the reason is clear and simple. There was no biblical mandate against the education. There was no biblical mandate against the names. But there was a clear biblical mandate against eating Chaldean food. Number one, it was food offered to idols. As was the common custom, all of their feasts were, first of all, offered to gods, their own pagan gods. Secondly, they had very strict dietary laws which would not be adhered to by the Babylonians and therefore while they could do the first two, realizing really what the effort was trying to accomplish and resisting it in the strength of their upbringing and their commitment to God's Word, they could not accept the third because that would have been to deny the absolute statement of the law of God. And the point, beloved, is this, we in our lives must draw the line where God draws the line. And He draws the line of no compromise on the basis of the absolutes of His Word.

Now, you say - Well, what about the first two? It would seem that the education would have been the most threatening. No. Not really...because they were so committed to the Word of God, they would see that education only in light of God's Word...you see. They would interpret it in the light of God's Word. And the second, they could change their names but they sure couldn't change their hearts. They couldn't change their souls. They couldn't change their minds about what they knew to be true. But if they had given in to the third thing and accepted and adapted the Chaldean life style, then they would have denied the Word of God and fallen victim certainly to the educational process. For if they would have compromised the Word of God in their eating they would have easily compromised the Word of God in other areas as well.

And so, we see then that the bottom line in an uncompromising life is the statement of the Word of God. Now, we shared also with you last time that this is a pretty amazing stand for a 14-year-old young man. It says a lot about his character. It says something about his parents. It may say something about the impact on his life of the great revival under Josiah. Somewhere along the line Daniel had a tremendous education. Somewhere along the line he made a commitment to God not to defile himself and even at that early age, he lived that commitment out against incredible odds.

We need to have that same kind of character obviously...that takes an uncompromising stand on the absolutes of the Word of God. And Daniel did it and so did his three friends. And all of the inducements and education and all the encouragements and all the bribes and all the pressures and all the ambitions and all the glories and promises of the king's court couldn't make these four young men compromise what they knew to be the truth. They wouldn't do it. They would learn the king's language. They would study the Chaldean education. There was science and there was mathematics and there were many things that would be helpful. There were some things that were philosophical and theological that they would reject. But there was, in their own hearts, such a commitment to the Word of God and the law of God that all of that education would be filtered, through the truth of God.

And I think we still have this today. I think as Christians, very frequently, when our faith is strong, we hear what the world is saying and we are educated in the world's universities and colleges and so forth but if our faith is strong and our commitment to the Word of God is strong, that education is filtered through the Word of God. And in many cases, it makes us better able to turn the tables and take the Word of God back to them because we can see the weakness in their theories and their theology.

I think of men like Francis Schaeffer who is God's gift, in many ways, to this age. A man who has studied for years and years the philosophies of the world in order that in understanding the philosophies of the world, he might understand how the Word of God speaks to those philosophies and that he might meet them on their own ground with the truth of God. I think of scientists who have, for years, studied the theories of evolution in order that they might be refuted with the text of the Word of God. The philosophies of different cults and false religions have been studied in great detail by godly people who in turn have provided for us resources to counteract and to bring the gospel to people who are trapped in false systems. Daniel and his three friends didn't fear this because they knew they had the grid of the Word of God to which to filter all of this education.

I would warn you at this point not to expose yourself to those kinds of educational opportunities unless you have that grid or you'll find that you're liable to meet a shipwreck of your faith. People say to me - Do you think Christians ought to go to secular universities? The answer to that is I think some Christians ought to go there, not all of them. Some of us, maybe, have to be exposed to that in order to deal with it.

So, they didn't mind the education because they had what it took to deal with the education. And they would even take the Chaldean names; that's not so rare. We live in a society where we're named according to what's current in our society. Names don't mean anything nowadays. That didn't really bother them at all. But they never would adopt the life style. And as I said last time, it's the life style of any society that is the most corrupting, you see. Because once you begin to live the way the society lives, you have abandoned yourself to their philosophy no matter what you've been taught. Life style will always be the most corrupting element of any pagan society.

And so, we see Daniel rejecting at that point. He stops the brainwashing process and will not adapt to their life style. In Proverbs 4:23 it says: "Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life." And what it means is guard your heart because if you ever lose your heart, if you ever give away that basic part of your being that thinks and responds and motivates and makes you act, if you ever abandon that, the issues of life will be corrupted. Guard your heart...and that's what Daniel did.

Now, for our study, I want us to see the consequences of such a commitment. He made the commitment last week, now what are the results. And by the way, they could have all been bad. I mean, you know, Nebuchadnezzar was not the all-time nice guy. And when he came along and said - I want all these young fellows to eat the king's food, I want to obligate them to me, I want them to feel obliged to me. I want them to know that I have supported them and I have given them the very best. I want them to get a taste of the great stuff that we have here in Chaldea. I want them to hunger for these things and forget the stuff of the past. I want them to adapt to the life style. This is part of the process. And to say - No thanks, king...could have been a pretty serious issue. All you have to do is read a little further in the book and you find out that one time when somebody didn't do what the king said, he threw him in a fiery furnace. And another time when somebody didn't do what the king said, he threw him in a den of lions.

So, the results of taking an uncompromising stand sometimes will be bad. There's no question about it. Sometimes there's a great price to pay. Going against a pagan monarch could be very, very dangerous. But Daniel had to do it because it was in his character to do it. And his three friends, those wonderful young men mentioned in verse 6, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, they took their stand and they walked right into that fiery furnace. Daniel took his stand and he walked right into that den of lions. If that's what it has to be, then that's what it has to be. There still would be no compromise.

Now, let's look at the text, beginning in verse 8, and I want you to see a sequence of characteristics. I think this is so exciting...a sequence of characteristics that are true of one that takes an uncompromising stand. When a person determines in his mind to live in an uncompromising way in a pagan society, there is a sequence of characteristics that I see illustrated here and they're not in any particular order, but I just see them manifest. And they are so practical. I'm just going to give them to you kind of in a grocery list, so you can just start writing them down.

Number one, an unashamed boldness...an unashamed boldness. Verse 8, now look at it. "But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's food, nor with the wine which he drank, therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs," that's Ashpenaz whom we met last time, "that he might not defile himself." Now, stop right there.

This is fascinating. Here is an unashamed boldness. Daniel says Ashpenaz, I do not wish to eat the king's food; I do not wish to drink the king's wine because it will defile me. Now, wait a minute, Daniel. That's pretty bold stuff. I mean, couldn't you hem and haw a little bit? I mean, you're telling the king that his food will defile you? I love that kind of boldness, don't you? He doesn't say - You know, king, ever since I was a little fella, I've had to have a special diet. He didn't con the king or the prince of the eunuchs; he didn't wiggle out of it. He didn't say - Well, you know, my body won't adjust to this. He didn't say - I'm very ill and, you know, I just don't feel too well. And I...I just better not, it's such rich food. And you know, Oh, I'm so use to the food in the land where I've lived, I just can't digest this.

He doesn't say that. He could have said that. We might do that. You know, many times when we want to get out of a situation that is really a-spiritual issue, we give a reason other than a spiritual reason to get out of it. We don't want to admit that's it. Somebody says to you - Hey, why don't you come along with us, we're going to do this and we're going to do that? And we don't say - Well, you know, I don't believe that's right, I believe it's sinful to do that and I wouldn't compromise my commitment to Jesus Christ. We say - Well, yeah, it would be real nice but I gotta...I gotta stay home tonight, I gotta do something and I...well, you know. We hem and haw. We don't really establish the fact that there's a spiritual issue here. Oh, I love that...Daniel is fourteen years old, what character. He says - By the way, tell the king I can't have his food, it will defile me. An unashamed boldness goes with an uncompromising life. It's a great thing, courageous.

He could have used a word other than defile. That's a very strong word. Something that is defiled, it says in the Old Testament, is an abomination to the Lord. But the reason he can't eat and drink is because he would be defiled so that's what he said. He would be defiled, number one, because it's meat offered to idols and he wouldn't come near an idol. Secondly, held be defiled because it wasn't prepared according to Jewish dietary law and he would be violating God's laws and that constitutes a defilement.

And you know what I believe? He doesn't say in that verse, but the fact that he said that he might not defile himself implies to me that he must have explained to Ashpenaz why it was a defilement. He must have given him a whole deal on the Old Testament dietary laws. And he must have given him a few choice words about idolatry as well. And just let him know the whole deal...this is where I stand...I don't do that because that's not according to God's law.

Oh, you know something? Isn't it a wonderful thing when somebody in the midst of a very tough situation is not ashamed to speak the truth of a commitment to the Lord's Word? That's ... that's real character, people...real character, real uncompromising character. He wasn't ashamed of his God and he wasn't ashamed of his faith in God even in the midst of a pagan society ... even though he was a prisoner of the king, even though the king had the right to kill him for disobedience and rebellion, it never phased his commitment.

Frankly, for normal people, the Bible says the fear of man brings a...what?...a snare. For most people a fear of man traps us, Not Daniel. But those who have an uncompromising character always seem to have the unashamed boldness.

I thought this such an interesting point that I decided to chase it around a little bit in the Bible. And you know I saw it in Moses. I just love that. I see it in Moses. Moses just walks up to Pharaoh and says - Pharaoh, let my people go. Oh, I like that. Let them go, Pharaoh. And Pharaoh says - Let me show you who's boss. And he calls his magicians and they do tricks and throw their little sticks down and their sticks turn into snakes and Moses throws his little stick down and it turns into a snake and eats their snakes. And he says - Let my people go. He wasn't afraid to stand up for his God. I love it when I see Moses and he...he actually slays an Egyptian who is suppressing a Jew, he wasn't afraid to stand up for God ... and for his people.

I see it with David. A couple of times the Psalms record things that give us this insight into David's heart. Psalm 40, I love this, verse 9...well, verse 8: "I delight to do Thy will, O my God. Yea, Thy law is within my heart." Now, anytime a person has the law of God in their heart and they want to do the law, that's the uncompromising spirit, that's just like Daniel. David says - I know your law, and I'm committed to doing it. "So, I have preached righteousness in the congregation. Lo, I have not restrained my lips, O Lord, Thou knowest." I never pulled a punch. I never held back a word of righteous truth. "I have not," he says in verse 10, "hidden Thy righteousness within my heart. I have declared Thy faithfulness. I have declared Thy salvation. I have not concealed Thy loving kindness. I have not concealed Thy truth from the great congregation." He says - God, I am committed to it and I have unashamedly, boldly preached it. O, God, give us people like this.

Later on in Psalm 71, in verse 15: "My mouth shall show forth Thy righteousness and Thy salvation all the day." All day long, he says, my mouth will show forth Thy righteousness and salvation. Unashamed boldness.

Daniel's friends had it. Look over at the third chapter of Daniel. It's just really great. Verse 13: "Nebuchadnezzar was so furious and filled with rage that he brings in Hananiah, Azariah and Mishael, renamed Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. And he brought them in and he said unto them: "Is it true, O Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego, do not ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up?" Have you failed to do what I told you to do? "Now if you be ready that at that time that you hear the sound of the...and then he names the whole orchestra that blew when it was time to worship the gods. "If you don't fall down, I'll cast you in the midst of a burning fiery furnace. And who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?" He has a rather weak view of God.

"Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego answered and said," I love this, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we're not careful to answer thee in this manner. It's no big deal to respond to you. "If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we'll not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up." It doesn't matter what happens, we won't worship your image. Oh, what boldness...what upright character is manifest in those three young boys.

We see it again in the New Testament so many times this same kind of unashamed boldness that comes with an uncompromising heart. I'm thinking of a verse here, yes, Mark 8:38, our Lord says: "Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of Me and of My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels." Wow! That's pretty strong stuff, isn't it?

In 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 16, it says: "If any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed." You know, when you suffer for a Christian, you know, when you take a lot of abuse and people talk down to you and people hassle you, it's easy to just kind of be ashamed to be a Christian and you just clam up. As I've said, some Christians are like the Arctic River, frozen over at the mouth. They just don't say anything. They just don't let it be known because of shame. But Peter says - Let none of you suffering as a Christian be ashamed.

I love to see Paul at the end of the book of Acts. As he paraded through a bunch of puppet rulers (Felix, Festus, Agrippa) and every time, without hesitation, boldly, unashamedly he preaches Jesus Christ. He writes to Timothy and he says - Timothy, Timothy, God has not given us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power and of love and of a sound mind. And, Timothy, do not be ashamed of me, the prisoner of Christ, and do not be ashamed of the gospel.

A beautiful verse is recorded in Psalm 119:46. It says this: "I will speak of Thy testimonies also before kings and will not be ashamed." Isn't that great? I will speak Thy testimonies also before kings and will not be ashamed. There shouldn't be anybody in this world to intimidate you out of your message...nobody.

Daniel had the character that stands fearlessly and boldly and unashamedly before kings and speaks what is the truth...an undaunted spirit of complete commitment to God that rendered him amazingly honest. Isn't that great—being valiant for the truth?

Ezekiel calls it setting your face like flint. And flint, of course, was very hard, being resolute, non-compromising. In fact, in 1 Chronicles 12:8 the same virtue is called setting your face like a lion. Not too many things intimidate a lion.

In Philippians chapter 1 verse 27, 1 just love this, "Only let your conduct be as it becometh the gospel of Christ that whether I come and see you or be absent, I may hear of your affairs that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel." Now, listen to this one, "And in nothing terrified by your adversaries." Isn't that great? In nothing terrified by your adversaries. Boldly willing to stand and speak.

I found an interesting illustration in an old book. This is out of a sermon by D. L. Moody and I'm going to read it to you.

"There's a story of a young man that came up with a little handful of men to attack a king who had a great army of 3,000 men. The young man had only 500 and the king sent a messenger to the young man saying, that he need not fear to surrender for he would treat him mercifully. The young man called up one of his soldiers and said, take this dagger and drive it to your heart. And the soldier took the dagger and drove it to his heart. And calling up another, he said to him, leap into yonder chasm. And the man leaped into the chasm. The young man then said to the messenger, now go back and tell your king I've got 500 more like these. We will die, but we will never surrender. And tell your king another thing, that I will have him chained with my dog inside half an hour. And when the king heard that, he didn't dare to meet them and his army fled before them like chaff before the wind and within 24 hours, he had the king chained with his dog."

I trust D.L. Moody, but I don't know how true that story is. I'm certainly not going to despair of the man who isn't around, but it illustrates the point. There's a level of commitment involved. Uncompromising character has a holy, fearless courage that knows no shame in bearing the name of Jesus Christ. And so, in a way, you can measure whether you have that uncompromising stand, whether you're living that uncompromising life if you find that unashamed boldness.

I tell you, once in your own mind, like Daniel, you purpose in your heart that where God's Word draws an absolute line, you will draw an absolute line and unashamedly and boldly you will stand there and you will speak His testimonies before kings, you're going to find that boldness a reality in your life. And you know what? Those are the kind of people God really uses.

I have a friend, and some of you may have met him, Rick Wilder. He lives up in San Francisco and he feels God's called him to confront sinners. And that's the place to do it. He has a church there. He has that church and he...he just takes his people out and they just go right down the street and he just goes right up to the homosexuals and tells them they need Jesus Christ. And he starts on the street corner and he just preaches Jesus Christ to the top of his voice. He gets drug addicts...addicts, former homosexuals, the most dissolute people you can imagine, the outcasts of society, those harlots and everything else and he's started a little church and he's got a church of the biggest pile of has-beens you ever saw. And he says trying to mold them into some semblance of a body is just a difficult task. He told me, he said - You know, I'd like to take a vacation, I'd like to take a day off, but if I leave these people one day without hanging on the edge of them, they'll fall back into their old way. So, he says, I can't leave town for a day. And he spends all day, all week long, ministering to these people. He has an uncompromising spirit that issues in an unashamed boldness.

Let me give you a second point. I believe an uncompromising life will result in an uncommon standard...not only an unashamed boldness but an uncommon standard. You know, people who have an uncompromising life just don't do it the way everybody else does. Have you ever noticed that? There is a pastor in Aberdeen, Scotland by the name of Willy Still. Some call him the Martyn Lloyd-Jones of Scotland. And I was reading a little book that Eric Leaver gave me the other day written by him called THE WORK OF THE PASTOR. And he said basically...this is his phrase: "The people God uses the most are the odd-bods." He said, "So, you shouldn't be surprised if you run into some odd bods. In fact, everybody I've ever known specially used of God was an odd bod." Now, I hear him. He's saying - For people who have this kind of uncompromising life, there will inevitably be an uncommon standard. They won't do it the way everybody else does it. They will set their standard a cut above the masses...even a cut above the Christians. They just don't live on that normal plane. They set standards that always exceed the norm.

I remember when I was a little kid, just in high school, I got to reading some...some people who are great at prayer and I just couldn't believe the commitment they made to that. And I read a couple of missionary biographies and these people were just...they didn't live the Christian life the way anybody I knew did. And there were lots of people, you know, who went by the book but it seemed as if these people just went up to another level.

Well, look at the end of verse 8 again. He says that I don't want any portion of the king's food; I don't want any of the wine which the king drinks. Now, go down to verse 12. He says in fact, I'll go a step further, "Just give us vegetables and water." Now, wait a minute. You don't have to eat the wine of the king and you don't have to eat the food of the king, but you could certainly eat some other food and you could certainly drink some proper kind of wine. But, Daniel says - Look, I want to go to an uncommon standard, not any wine at all. He was a teetotaler...total abstinence, drinking only water and not any kind of meat, just what they call pulse, some kind of beans and seeds. That's it.

Well, you say - Daniel, this is not really necessary. But, people who make the kind of commitment he made always want to live at the highest plane. They seem to choose a standard above everybody else. Their ministries are a cut above the rest. They have a higher level of commitment. They have a more faithful prayer life. They're just a little bit more committed to a deep study of the Word of God. And I can illustrate this principle by just dealing with the issue of wine, for example, here. Now, why does Daniel say - I don't...I'm not going to drink any wine at all? And by the way, he sustains this commitment all the way through this thing. Why does he do that? It isn't...it isn't required of him. In fact, the Old Testament talks about yayin which is a word for wine as a very common part of Jewish society. We went into that, I believe, as you know, it was a mixed wine so that it was diluted and it was proper to drink it. In fact, drink offerings were used in the sacrificial system. There was even a supply of wine kept in the temple. Isaiah 24 talked about wine drinking being associated with singing and having a joyful time. Isaiah 55, wine is actually a symbol of salvation.

So, in the Old Testament, it wasn't that wine in itself, a properly mixed wine in itself was wrong or evil. Well, why does he choose this standard? Well, that's just the way it is with those kind of commitments. Let me give you an illustration. Go back to Leviticus chapter 10 for a minute...Leviticus chapter 10 and verse 8. "And the Lord spake unto Aaron." Now, Aaron isn't just like everybody. Aaron is the high priest and Aaron's people would be the priestly people. And so the Lord speaks to Aaron and through Aaron to all those who would be involved in the priesthood and He says, in effect - If you are to be a priest, do not drink wine, nor strong drink, neither yayin or shekar, thou nor thy sons with thee when you go into the tabernacle of the congregation lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations and that you may put difference between holy and unholy, between unclean and clean. And that you may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord has spoken unto them by the hand of Moses.

In other words, don't touch it because if you ever touched it, you might find yourself falling prey to its temptation and then you would lose the ability to properly distinguish between holy and unholy and to rightly teach the people. You're in too precarious a position to fool with it.

In Numbers chapter 6, look with me for a moment. Numbers chapter 6, "The Lord spoke unto Moses saying, Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them, when either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite," which means, by the way, to be separated, not to be from Nazareth, that's a different word. "But when you take a vow of separation, to separate unto the Lord, you will separate yourself from wine and strong drink and no vinegar of wine, no vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat any moist grapes or any dried grapes all the days of his separation shall he eat nothing made of the vinetree from the kernel even to the husk."

Now listen, it wasn't required that everybody live this way. But somebody who wanted to set their life in a unique way as separated unto God set an uncommon standard...do you see? It was a matter of your choice. But when it was established that you wanted to live on the very highest plain, and when you took that occasion to do so, you set an uncommon standard.

Look with me for a moment at the 31st chapter of Proverbs, the final chapter...and you find a similar thing. In verse 4 of Proverbs 31, "It is not," now listen to this, "It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes strong drink." And by the way, Daniel well may have come from a royal family and then been taught this tremendous biblical principle and that is part and parcel of the reason he never would touch the wine. It may have been that he had already made this commitment as a part of the royal family. But it is not for kings, it is not for princes, lest they drink and forget the law and pervert the justice of any of the afflicted. Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish. When somebody is in the last throws and the agonies of death, sedate them with it...but don't give it to people who must make decisions on a spiritual level. There is an uncommon standard for the greatest spiritual responsibility.

First Timothy chapter 5 takes us into the New Testament thought on this. And I think it's interesting to hear the Apostle Paul say to Timothy, "Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for your stomach's sake." Why do you think he said that? "Drink no longer water? I'll tell you why I believe he said it, because Timothy never drank anything but water. The fact that Paul has to instruct him to take a little wine and tell him not to just drink water indicates to me that Timothy did not customarily drink wine. That wasn't something that was necessarily an overt command to him; that was a choice he made...an uncommon standard.

I believe in Luke chapter 1, it says of John the Baptist, "He shall drink neither wine nor strong drink." It tells us that an elder in 1 Timothy is not to be given to wine. It says it in Titus he's not to be given to wine. The point is this, people, those who choose the highest and the best, those who desire to live at the most uncompromising level of commitment, seek an uncommon standard. And Daniel, for certain, wanted to be distinguished from the gluttons and the drunkards of Babylon, that there would be no confusion and so he not only says I will not drink the king's wine, he says - I will not drink any wine at all, only water...only water. And I think in this day, I know in my own life, that's a choice that I've made. It doesn't make me more spiritual, it's just that I feel that that's one place where I can set an uncommon standard for myself...that I might not be drawn into a compromising position, that I might avoid all appearance of evil.

So, Daniel, though the king commanded it, didn't drink. How much easier it should be for us when there's no such command upon us and no necessity either.

Great men, you know, and I'm sure that Daniel knew God's laws on this; great men have fallen to the power of drink. You have only to look further in the book of Daniel to see Belshazzar losing the Babylonian Empire in the midst of a...of a drunken stupor. You've only to study history to realize that at the age of 33, Alexander the Great lost the world empire because he was already a full-fledged drunkard. When the iron duke of England, called the Duke of Wellington, was marching his army across the Iberian Peninsula, word was brought to his headquarters that ahead of him was a vast store of Spanish wine that his troops could enjoy. He stopped his army on the spot. He sent some of his men ahead. And he said - Blow it to bits. And they blew the winery to pieces and then he marched his army on.

It is said that the reason Napoleon Bonaparte lost the battle at Waterloo to the victorious Duke of Wellington was because the night before Marshal Ney tarried too long over his favorite glass of wine and the next morning his head was clouded, his mind unsteady and he made bad decisions.

When France fell in World War II against Hitler, Marshal Petain said, quote: "France was defeated because its army was drunk." end quote.

And the Vichy government of 1940 said the reason for the collapse for the moral fiber of the French army was due to alcohol, plain and simple.

It's never done anybody any favors. Daniel had an uncommon standard. A really uncompromising life will not play on the edge of what is right, it will choose the highest and the noblest and the best.

Let me give you one more. An uncompromising life is characterized by an unashamed boldness, an uncommon standard and thirdly, an earthly protection...an unearthly protection. This is great...verse 9: "Now God," I love those two words, did you get that? "Now God," you know as well as I do, get this, that when anybody establishes a standard like Daniel did, God will be on his side, right? So, it's only a matter of time until we read - "Now God." It didn't take long. "Daniel purposed in his heart," in verse 8, and God moved in verse 9. Beloved, if you don't get anything else, get this: that God responds to this kind of commitment. "God had brought Daniel into favor and compassion with the prince of the eunuchs." Amazing.

Now, you know...let me just talk about this for a minute, it's axiomatic, I think, that even if people disagree with your convictions, they admire you for sticking up to them, right? I mean, everybody loves somebody with character. You know, you're so sick of...of wishy-washy, pusillanimous little puny people who vacillate about everything...who flow like flotsam and jetsam with the tide, like water-soaked sticks washing back and forth under a pier. You get so tired of people who are spineless. It is axiomatic, that when you meet somebody with convictions, you respect that person, especially if their convictions are strong, moral, conscientious convictions.

Integrity, I think, is a valued thing. We put a premium on integrity. But that's not the issue here. It wasn't Daniel's integrity that swayed Ashpenaz, the prince of the eunuchs. Now, you say, maybe it was just that Daniel was such a nice guy. Well, I think he was. I think Daniel had a gracious and loving personality. I think that comes out further on in this section as we see some more things about him, the way he talks is such a loving, there's such a gentleness about him, such a lack of pushiness. He's just a beautiful kind of character that naturally goes with a godly man. We would expect to find it. But I don't even think it was even his amazing personality. So I don't think it was the human value placed on integrity and so forth, I don't think it was the pleasing personality of the man. I think the reason things went so well is this: "Now God brought Daniel into favor and compassion." Sovereign act of God.

This is so important, folks, God is controlling everything. God had a plan for Daniel. God had a purpose for Daniel. And God wanted Daniel to be a witness in Babylon. I believe Daniel is the key, in one sense, to a great part of the panorama of the Christmas story. I question whether ever would be wise men coming from the east if there never was a Daniel. I mean, God had a long-range plan for this guy. Behind the scenes of the return at the end of the 70 years, as the people go back to their land, behind the scenes is the character and the ministry of Daniel whom I believe brought it to pass as the agent of God. Amazing man. God had a plan and God...now watch this...just moved into the heart of that guy and He just pushed in there—favor and compassion—and He said in His sovereignty Ashpenaz, you will love Daniel. And he did...and he did. And I don't guess he knew why he did...but he did. It's tremendous. And you know, even Nebuchadnezzar, who was brilliant, who was powerful, couldn't do anything to sway or change the plan of God. God put it into that man's heart to be kind to Daniel.

Now listen to me. You live an uncompromising life and you will enjoy an unearthly protection. People say - Oh, well, if I stick my neck out...people sometimes say that to me...don't you...you...you say things, you know, you just speak what you think and you say what the Bible says...don't you worry of what will happen? Well, I might worry about it for a minute, but it passes very rapidly. Because I'm saying - Look, God, this is Your Word, You got me into this, now get me out of it. And I believe that until the time comes when God says it's time for you to be finished, MacArthur, I believe I enjoy an unearthly protection. That's just the way it is. I think God protects those who make a commitment to Him.

Now, what's important about this is...now listen to me...usually we...we compromise because we're afraid we'll get into trouble...when the fact is if we didn't compromise God would be our protection in the midst of trouble but as soon as you compromise, you forfeit that unearthly protection and you're on your own. And then one compromise leads to...what?...another compromise and another one and then you're really stuck because if you ever tell the truth, they know you've been a phony all along. Uncompromising...that's Daniel and God protected him.

In 1 Kings 8 and verse 50, it says: "And forgive Thy people who have sinned against Thee and all their transgressions in which they have transgressed against Thee and give them compassion before them who carried them captive that they may have compassion upon them." Here are people saying - God, give them compassion...and God will do it...God will do it.

People say - You know, if we were living in a society that was oppressive and if we were...people were coming down on us and shooting us for our faith and so forth and so on...would we still speak the truth? Listen, if we didn't speak the truth and compromised, we would be on our own. If we spoke the truth no matter what happened, then God is our unearthly protector. And if God says you live, there isn't a king in the world that could take your life, right? Not one. Boy, that's terrific. I mean, you have nothing to fear. You say - Well, if I really say what I think...if I really stand for the truth, I'll lose my job. So, compromise and lose God's resource...does that make sense? Who do you want on your team, your boss or God? There isn't a boss in the world who could move you until God allows it.

Psalm 106:46, I...I just have to share this with you, because I think it sums up the whole idea. Listen, this is great. It's talking here about how God cares for His people. This is so good. "He made them," this is talking about His people Israel, "He made them also to be pitied of all those that carried them captives." Now listen to me. This isn't just Ashpenaz, God made the whole pile of Chaldeans and Babylonians compassionate toward His people. Do you realize that God can not only sway a king, God can sway an entire society? Why? Because, verse 45 says He is a covenant keeping God and He made a covenant with His people. And, beloved, we have a covenant with our God in Christ, don't we? If we live an uncompromising life, God will take care of us.

I always think of David. David is so great, but he sure did some klutsy things and one of the dumbest things he ever did was when he was up in the Philistines' country and he went into the palace. And, of course, here he was, an archenemy of the Philistines and he's in the palace and he becomes fearful. Instead of saying I am David who is the king of the people of God. I am David who speaks for Jehovah. I will not falter to give His testimonies.

Instead of confronting that pagan situation, he gets afraid. So, you know what he does? He pretends he's nuts. That's right. That's exactly what he did. He pretended he was crazy. And the first thing he did, he started slobbering in his beard. The Bible says...he drooled all over his beard. Now the beard in the orient was a sign of your dignity. To slobber in your beard was...was a...was very, very undignified. I think it's still...it still leaves a lot to be desired. But anyway, it was a very undignified behavior. You know what he did? He started slobbering in his beard and he acted like a madman and it says he kept running his hands up and down the gates...like he was crazy. And you say to yourself - David? The sweet singer of Israel? Who wrote all the Scriptures? David whose hands were covered with blood because of all the victories he had won. David the great man of God? David that handsome musician who had every heart of every woman in the land? David that majestic figure? David going around slobbering and doing this? And you know what the king says? Look, we've got enough nuts in this court, get rid of that guy. That's what he said. And they shipped him out of there and he goes - Ohh...ohh...my plan worked. And then he crawls in a cave out in the middle of nowhere and he pens a psalm and the psalm, in effect, says - God, I was really a fool, wasn't I? I compromised. And for all history God recorded that stupidity so everybody would know it. Instead of believing that You were my deliverer and if I had lived in an uncompromising way, unashamedly bold, before those people, if I had lived at an uncommon standard I would have had an unearthly protection. And those Philistines couldn't have laid a hand on me anymore than Goliath with his great big Philistine sword could do anything against my little handful of rocks. Oh, how soon David forgot. An unearthly protection is promised to the one who doesn't compromise.

There's a great word, you have to hear it, Proverbs 16:7, just listen. "When a man's ways please the Lord," listen to this, "he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him." end quote. Is that great? When a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. So, what is the point in life then? Please the Lord. Live with an unashamed boldness. Live at an uncommon standard and gain an unearthly protection. Boy, it's exciting to have that sense of being invincible.

Beloved, can I say this to you? The hearts of all men are in the hands of God. You see it? They're in the hands of God the hearts of all men. Not some men, the hearts of all men. And all you have to do is please God and He'll control their hearts. So, Daniel's life portrays what God will do for a person who is faithfully obedient to Him.

By the way, look back at verse 9 for a moment. The word favor is the word for tender love, compassion, so forth, really means unfailing love. He had...he had a virtuous kind of unfailing love as well as a gut-level, just an affection. It was both a true kind of love and one that knew emotion. This guy really loved Daniel. Oh, what a setup this is for Daniel. You...you know something? If you want to get somewhere in God's Kingdom, you don't have to play politics, just don't compromise, let God put you there. If God wants to life you up in a society, or lift you up in a church, or lift you up in a ministry, or lift you up in some kind of situation, live an uncompromising life and let God work on the hearts of people who will draw you to that place ... don't seek it on your own. God takes special care of His faithful, uncompromising people. I think of little Moses. What does Moses know? All he knows is he's floating down the Nile River. He doesn't know from what. Next thing he knows, he's living in Pharaoh's palace.

They say - How did he get there? He just got picked up and stuck there. And you know what? Even his own mother was there to nurse him. Who master-minded that? God did. We don't need to use politics, self-effort. When we don't compromise, we have an unearthly protection. Let's bow together in prayer.

Father, what great truths we've learned tonight. An uncompromising life...oh, the blessedness of an uncompromising life...with an unashamed boldness that calls on us to live at an uncommon standard, that allows us to depend totally on an unearthly protection. And that's only the beginning, Lord. There are at least five other things in this chapter. How majestic and marvelous and thrilling to know that blessedness from You is given to the one who lives by Your standards. Thank You, Father, for what You've taught us tonight. Make us an uncompromising people with the same kind of love, the same kind of gentleness, the same kind of tenderness that we saw in Daniel. The same kind of gentleness and tenderness we see in Jesus, but never compromising on what we know is the absolute truth of Your Word. Help us not to live the way other people live. Help us to choose a cut above. Help us never to be ashamed. To echo with the Apostle Paul, "I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation." May we never be ashamed so that when we see You face to face You will never be ashamed of us. Thank You, Lord, for calling us to this life and promising us Your protection when we live it, for the glory of Christ we pray. Amen.

The Consequences of an Uncompromising Life, Part 2

I had an interesting experience this week when I saw a copy of the latest edition of Psychology Today, which is a magazine dealing with the professional area of psychology. And there was an article in that magazine about fast talking. Now, I remember when I first came to Grace Church, the people used to get on me a little bit about talking so fast...not too many people say much about that. I don't know whether I've slowed down or whether you've just sped up in your listening, one of the two has happened. But I used to hear - You're talking way too fast, you're talking way too fast. And I used to say to people - I have a lot of things that I need to say and I figure that I can't talk as fast as you can think, so I'm behind to begin with. And if I'm going to catch up with you, I've got to talk real fast or you'll get bored. And I just used to say that off the cuff, some of you may remember me saying that when you told me I talked too fast and...sort of a backhanded compliment to say I'm trying to speed up to catch up with your brain. But in the latest issue of Psychology Today, they have done some tests that literally prove that up to a certain point, the faster you talk the greater the interest and the higher the retention. So, with that we'll go on.

But I was really amazed to find that out. I'd always believed that and now they've tested and found out...in fact, you may be seeing that thirty-minute television programs, according to this article, will be done in fifteen minutes, they'll just speed it up and you'll lose nothing. And commercials, they say, now with a hundred thousand dollars per thirty seconds, they can now use a fifteen second one and they can double their income. It's amazing but when you cover a lot of ground rapidly, people stay interested and they retain the information. And so, I just really was excited about that. Now I have some support for the way I talk ... and that was kind of exciting.

Well, let's rapidly go through Daniel chapter 1 and hope you retain it. Daniel chapter 1...and we have been looking, beginning in our last study, at verses 8 to 21...Daniel 1:8 to 21. I'm going to read it to you to set the scene for our study tonight.

"But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's food, nor with the wine which he drank. Therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. Now God had brought Daniel into favor and compassion with the prince of the eunuchs and the prince of the eunuchs said unto Daniel, I fear my lord, the king, who hath appointed your food and your drink, for why should he see your faces worse looking than the youths who are of your age? Then shall ye make me endanger my head with the king. Then said Daniel to Melzar, whom the prince of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, Test thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days and let them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then let our countenances looked upon before thee and the countenance of the youths that eat of the portion of the king's food and as thou seest, deal with thy servants. So, he consented to them in this matter and tested them ten days. And at the end of the ten days, their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the youths who did eat the portion of the king's food. Thus Melzar took away the portion of their food, and the wine that they should drink, and gave them vegetables. As for these four youths, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. Now, at the end of the days that the king had said he should bring them in," that would be three years, "then the prince of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. And the king conversed with them and among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: therefore stood they before the king. And in all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm. And Daniel continued even unto the first year of king Cyrus."

Have you ever heard it said - Every man has his price? I'm sure you have. Your price is the point at which you sell out your claimed conviction, the point at which you abandon your moral standard for some personal gain.

Does every man have his price? Will everyone of us sell out at some point or another? Do all of us have moral standards that are only valid insofar as they accommodate our desires? Or, do we then when we have a greater desire, set it aside for the sake of those standards which we say we believe?

Martin Luther stood before the Diet of Worms. They demanded that he recant or lose his life. But he would not deny Christ.

Latimer and Ridley stood before the stakes where they were to be burned to death for their faith in Christ, and their executioners demanded that they deny the Lord Jesus Christ. They refused and were consumed in the flames.

People like that have no price. They can't be bought. There's no point at which they sell out. I mentioned to you some weeks ago that I had the occasion to meet a Dr. Hong who is the principal of the largest Christian school in the world of some 6,000 students in Seoul Korea. Dr. Hong told us that he had occasion when he was a boy to watch the Japanese infiltrate North Korea where he lived and they came to his house because his father was a leader in the church and they demanded that his father deny Jesus Christ or they would cut off his thumbs and they began with the first thumb and he wouldn't deny Christ and they cut off the second thumb and he still wouldn't deny Christ. Some people don't have a price. They don't sell out. There is no compromise no matter what the cost.

But, on the other hand, we often hear of people all the time who boast their moral standards, who extol their righteous character, who want to announce their great set of convictions, yet for expedient's sake, they sell out. They abandon those convictions when for some reason or another they feel themselves better suited to that.

Compromise is very subtle. Listen, people say they believe the Bible, but they stay in churches where the Bible isn't taught.

People claim convictions about sin and punishment until that sin is committed by their own children.

People say they must speak out about dishonesty and corruption until it refers to their boss and might cause the loss of their job.

People have high moral standards until their lusts are released from the bondage of a holy conscience by an unholy relationship and then they rationalize their compromise.

People are honest until just a little dishonesty will save them a lot of money.

People know something to be definitely wrong but for the sake of making peace, they cover up the truth.

People will do an act directly violating their claimed conviction if they are asked by someone they admire, someone they fear or someone from whom they seek a favor.

People won't say what ought to be said because they feel they might lose face.

And so go the compromises.

Adam compromised God's law, followed his wife's sin and lost paradise.

Abraham comprised the truth, lied about Sarah, and nearly lost his wife.

Sarah compromised God's Word, sent Abraham to Hagar who bore Ishmael and lost peace in the Middle East.

Esau compromised for a meal with Jacob and lost his birthright.

Saul compromised the divine word, kept the animals and lost the royal seed.

Aaron compromised his convictions about idolatry and he and the people lost the privilege of the Promised Land.

Samson compromised righteous devotion as a Nazarite with Delilah and lost his strength, his eyes and his life.

Israel compromised the commands of the Lord, lived in sin and when fighting the Philistines, lost the ark of God.

David compromised the moral and divine standard of God, adulterated Bathsheba, murdered Uriah and lost his child.

Solomon compromised convictions, married foreign wives and lost the United Kingdom.

Ahab compromised, married Jezebel and lost his throne.

Israel compromised the law of God with sin and idolatry and lost their homeland.

Peter compromised his conviction about Christ, denied Him and lost his joy. Later on, he compromised the truth of the one church for acceptance with the Judaizers and he lost his liberty.

Ananias and Sapphira compromised their word about giving, lied to the Holy Spirit and lost their lives.

Judas compromised his supposed love for Christ for 30 pieces of silver and lost his eternal soul.

Compromise...sad word. But, there are some people who don't compromise. There are some people who have no price, you can't buy them.

Moses before Pharaoh...David, several times in his life...Paul before Festus, Felix, and Agrippa...and Daniel before Nebuchadnezzar. Verse 8 of Daniel 1: "But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's food, nor with the wine which he drank. Therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself."

And frankly, beloved, there's no better illustration of an undefiled, uncompromising man in the Bible than Daniel. Now, we're studying Daniel, for over 70 years he lived in this foreign land of Babylon, amidst the pagan Chaldeans and for those 70 years he never compromised his convictions. He couldn't be bought. There was no price. From the time that we pick up the story here, he's fourteen years of age until he is in his eighties, he does not compromise. He will not compromise.

And we have seen that when the Babylonians and the Chaldeans brought these young men in in the first deportation in 606 B.C., the first phase of the Babylonian captivity, when they brought these young men in, they were all of the noble house of the ruling class of Israel, or Judah, they were, some of them, from the very royal seed itself, they picked off, some historians estimate, between 50 and 75 of the prime young men, princely young men and they brought them in to brainwash them and to turn them into Chaldeans who, with a Jewish background, could help them rule in the process of leading Jewish affairs. They were going to take over the world, they were going to turn Judah into a chattel state and they wanted some young men who knew the Jewish situation who could be Babylonian rulers for them amidst the Jewish people and over them even while they were in captivity.

So, they wanted these young men brainwashed and first they decided to change their names to cut them off from their heritage. And then they, of course, removed them from their country so that they wouldn't have any roots or connections there. They then wanted them to be educated and learned in all the Chaldean information. They wanted them to be attacked from every angle with Chaldean identification. And the final thing was to brainwash them by feeding them the food of the king so that their life style would become adapted to that of the palace of the pagans in Babylon. And that, of course, is where Daniel drew the line. Why? The Old Testament didn't say anything about taking a foreign name and the Old Testament didn't say anything about learning information from foreign teachers, but the Old Testament said - Don't eat food offered to idols and don't eat food that isn't properly prepared according to God's dietary laws for His people. And the bottom line for Daniel was the Word of God. And when eating the king's food violated the Word of God, because all of the food that was offered in the palace was, at one point, offered before the gods, Daniel couldn't do it and that's where he drew the line. He drew the line at the Word of God. This is true conviction. This is the character that is so admirable in Daniel. At a young age, he and his three friends, out of all of the 50 or 75 young men, and we don't know how many, but we only know four who took a stand. And later on when all of them appeared before the king, down in verse 18 and following, there were only four that the king noticed as different. The rest of them in this three year education had bought the bag, had eaten the king's meat, had adapted the life style, had become Chaldean and in so doing they had lost that unique place that God would have given had they been obedient to His law. And so, Daniel is a tremendous illustration of conviction, especially in a young man.

You know, our...our country once had that. I was reading this week, and I found something very interesting. There is in West Point a prayer known as "The Cadet Prayer." It is repeated every Sunday in chapel services by the cadets at West Point. I don't know if you ever heard it, but this is what it says:

"Make us choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong and never to be contented with half truth when whole truth can be one. Endow us with courage that is borne of loyalty to all that is noble and worthy that scorns to compromise with vice and injustice and knows no fear when right and truth are in jeopardy. Amen."

A great prayer. An uncompromising prayer. We once knew in our own country the meaning of an uncompromising life. Even Aesop in his fables knew the price of compromise. Aesop speaks in one of his fables about the time when the beasts and the fowls were engaged in war. The bat tried to belong to both parties, says Aesop. And when the birds were victorious, the bat would wing around telling them he was a bird. And when the beasts won a fight, he would walk around among them assuring everyone that he was a beast. But soon his hypocrisy was discovered and he was rejected by both the beasts and the birds and consequently he had to hide himself all day long and could only appear at night. Compromise...

Daniel wouldn't compromise, neither would Mishael, Azariah or Hananiah. And what were the results of their uncompromising life? Let's go back and look at them. And we said there were some...some things that come out as characteristics and consequences of an uncompromising life. I'm just going to mention the ones we talked about last time and then we'll go on to the rest of them.

First of all, when you live a life that doesn't compromise, that doesn't fall prey to the life style of the world, that doesn't sell out at any price, you will find, number one, an unashamed boldness ... an unashamed boldness. In verse 8: "Daniel said to the prince of the eunuchs, Tell the king I can't eat his food it will defile me." And I told you last time there would have been a lot of other things he could have said that would have been easier. He didn't have to be so blatant about the fact that the king's food would defile him, but one of the characteristics of an uncompromising strong stand where someone has convictions is that that individual has an unashamed boldness to speak the truth. He could have hemmed and hawed about the fact that he wasn't use to the king's diet, or he was so use to Jewish food that it wasn't agreeing with his stomach and he was going to have an upset stomach and he could have wormed his way out of it, but no, there was a tremendous confrontation about the fact that it violated God's law and it would be a defilement to Him. And we find that he had this unashamed boldness. When they came to him later and said - You're not allowed to pray -he went to his window, threw the window wide open and prayed like he always did, just as boldly as ever because that's the character of uncompromising spirit.

Secondly, we saw last time that an uncompromising life not only has an unashamed boldness, but secondly, an uncommon standard ... an uncommon standard. It says, "He did not eat the king's food, nor the wine which the king drank." In verse 12: "He ate only vegetables and water," which means he didn't eat any meat from any source and he didn't drink any wine from any source. Now, that wasn't required, that was an uncommon standard, that was a cut above. And you remember last time, I told you, that in the Old Testament when it came to the priests and it came to those who wanted to take the deepest vow of consecration, and when you come into the New Testament and you look at John the Baptist, the greatest man that ever lived up until his time, and then you look not only at John the Baptist but at the elders of the church, you find that in all of these high places, there is a statement that they are not to be given to wine. Those who are given high spiritual responsibility have an uncommon standard. He chose to live on another level. And we suggest to you that an uncompromising life doesn't play on the edge of the best, it chooses the highest and the noblest standard of all, no matter what the price.

For months Eric Liddel trained as a track athlete for the purpose of winning the 100 meter race in the Olympics of 1924. Sports writers all over the country predicted that Liddel would win the 100 meters. And then he learned that the 100 meter race in 1924 in the Olympics was scheduled for Sunday. This posed a problem. Eric believed that he could not honor God by running in the contest on the Lord's day. His fans were stunned by his refusal. Some who had praised him began to call him a fool and the press laughed at Eric Liddel because he wouldn't run on Sunday.

Suddenly, a runner dropped out of the 400 meter race and they had no alternate to take his place and it was scheduled for a week day. Eric offered to fill the slot even though this is four times as long as the race he had trained to run. When he ran the race, Eric Liddel won the race. In 1924, he ran 47.8 seconds. Incredible time. And he was a winner.

God gave him his gold medal. God honored his non-compromising spirit. Later, Eric Liddel went to China as a missionary and in 1945 he died there in a war camp...ever as uncompromising as he had been before.

It just seems, to me, that people who really make a difference in the world, set a standard that is a cut above everybody else. It isn't the required thing. It's just that extra noble step that sets them apart.

So, an uncompromising life issues in an unashamed boldness and an uncommon standard, and thirdly, we shared last time that it results in an unearthly protection...an unearthly protection. I believe God unusally protects those who are uncompromising. Verse 9: "God brought Daniel into favor and compassion with the prince of the eunuchs." That's amazing. God brought Daniel into favor and compassion with the prince of the eunuchs. Daniel didn't have to play politics to gain that, did he?...we learned last week. Daniel was given that by God who controls the heart of every living being. And if God wants them to be kind to you, then He'll take care of it. You don't have to compromise to gain your ends. You don't have to compromise to gain the goals you think you must attain. To do so is to eliminate divine protection, but to be uncompromising is to invite the protection of God Himself. I'd rather stand bold-face to the king and condemn his sin and have God on my side than wiggle out of it and have the king on my side and God against me, wouldn't you? Because God can control the heart of the king.

Let me read you just a portion of Scripture from 1 Samuel chapter 2 verse 22. "Now Eli was very old," Eli, the high Priest, "and heard all that his sons did unto Israel and how they lay with the women who assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation." They were horrible sons. "And he said unto them, Why do you do such things? I hear of your evil dealings by all this people." It's not good for you to do this and it's not a good report I hear. You make the Lord's people transgress. If one man sin against another, the judge shall judge him, but if a man sin against the Lord, who shall mediate for him? Notwithstanding they hearken not unto the voice of their father because the Lord would slay them."

In other words, God...get this...actually held them in a constant state of rebellion in order to bring them to judgment. They had gone so far there was no possibility to repent. God literally controlled their rebellion.

And verse 30: "The Lord God of Israel said, I said indeed that thy house and the house of thy father should walk before me forever; but now the Lord saith, Be it far from Me, for them who honor Me, I will honor. And they who despise Me shall be lightly despised."

God says - Look, you may be the high priest and you may have all of the promises of that priesthood, but I will set those at naught if you dishonor Me. If you honor Me, I'll honor you. If you despise Me, I'll despise you.

The point is this: the way we live either brings God into our defense or sets God against us. And when we are obedient to God and live an uncompromising life, God honors us. God is our defender. It's tremendous, tremendous truth, people. And I hope, if you weren't here last week, you'll get the material on that and study it through. I think about Joseph so often. Joseph and Daniel are almost like parallels. Here was Joseph, sold, as it were, into slavery by his evil brothers. And what happens to him? He winds up as a prime minister of Egypt. Both Joseph and Daniel were in a foreign kingdom. Both of them came to the rank of prime minister. Both of them came there through the protection of God. Both of them possessed extraordinary prophetic powers which served to elevate them to high places. Both of them were able to confound all the pretenders and the phonies in those kingdoms. In spite of all of the Satanic charlatans swarming around the courts of Egypt and Babylon, these two men, because of an uncompromising life, were protected by God and they were given places of high prominence.

A person who lives an uncompromising life will be elevated by God. Somebody said that politics is the art of compromise. I think that's true. I've often heard people say, and maybe I've said it myself more often than I thought about it, that no one can ever reach a high place in politics today without at least compromising somewhere along the line. And I think basically what should be said is people who are in high places in politics have usually gotten there by compromising. But if God wanted you there and you didn't compromise, Held put you there. And if you did compromise, then you're there on your own. So, compromise only takes you out of the place of protection.

Verse 10: "And the prince of the eunuchs said unto Daniel, I fear my lord the king who hath appointed your food and your drink, for why should he see your faces worse looking than the youths who are of your age? Then shall you make me endanger my head with the king."

In essence, the prince of the eunuchs, Ashpenaz, says - Daniel, I like you a lot. You're a terrific guy. And I'm fond of the other three friends of yours, but I'll tell you, Daniel, I'm afraid of the king. If I don't feed you the king's food, you know what will happen? You'll come out at the end of this three years and you'll be peaked and pale and washed-out and...and weak, and the king will look at him and say - What's the deal here? And it will cost me my head...capital punishment.

So, behind the scene lurks the phantom of Nebuchadnezzar, you see. I think it's interesting that Ashpenaz at least takes the time to give Daniel the reason, which shows me that he really did have compassion. He wasn't just barking out orders without any substance he gives him a reason. He tells him his thinking. As much as he likes Daniel and has compassion, he will not lose his head over this. So, things immediately went into neutral. Daniel got turned down on his refusal to eat the king's food.

Now, listen, Daniel doesn't get rebellious, he doesn't get testy, he doesn't get angry, he doesn't get mouthy, he's firm, he's gracious but he's very persistent...very, very persistent. He hasn't given up. He's under divine protection and he's looking for another way.

Now, let me sum up those first three points. I want you to get them. When you live an uncompromising life, number one, you have an unashamed boldness. Number two, you set an uncommon standard. And number three, you enjoy an unearthly protection.

I thought I might illustrate those three, just to sum them up, from a portion of a book that I have read and I hope you've read. I've commented on it before it was in print and it is in print now. It's called A Distant Grief. It's the story of Kefa Sempangi, that marvelous pastor of the church in Uganda—the church which was so terribly brutalized by Idi Amin before he was removed from leadership. And here is just an excerpt from the book.

This was a particular Easter Sunday when the Christians had been persecuted and terrible things were happening as Amin's Nubian killers were moving out to do everything they could to disrupt Christianity. This is what the writer Kefa says:

"Despite the growing shadow of Idi Amin, Easter morning, 1973, began as a most joyous occasion for the redeemed church. The sun had just risen and the sky was empty of clouds when the first people began arriving at the compound where we worshiped. They came from almost every tribe, from the Baganda, the Besoga, the Banyankole, the Acholi and the Langi, the Bagweri, and the Bagisu.  They came from as far away as Masaka, a town 80 miles southwest of Kampala. There were old men with walking sticks and young women with babies on their backs. There were small children with flowers in their arms. There were doctors and lawyers, businessmen and farmers, cotton growers and government workers, only a few traveled by car or taxi. Most came on foot or rode bicycles. Others crowded into lorries so lopsided they seemed ready to collapse at any moment. By nine o'clock, over 7,000 people were gathered. It was the largest crowd ever to attend Sunday service at the redeemed church. When there were no more places in the compound, people climbed trees or sat on the roofs of the lorries. A few large groups set up in nearby yards with their own amplifying systems and hundreds stood in the streets. Before the service, the elders and I met in the vestry, an empty house by the compound, to pray. We felt deeply the hunger in the hearts of the people who had gathered for worship. We knew their desire to hear the Word of God and prayed that their lives would be transformed by its power. As we poured our hearts out to the Father in agonizing intercession, desperate scenes from the previous week flashed again in my mind.     I saw a face burned beyond recognition and a woman huddled in a corner weeping. I saw a crowd of soldiers standing in the park cheering. And I heard the sound of boot crunching against bone. I remembered the arrogance of the mercenaries and the dreamlike deadness of my heart. And once again the triumph of evil overwhelmed me. I felt a deep fear. I myself had fallen, how could I hope to strengthen others on this Easter? Who was I to feed God's children in this most desperate hour? What words could I speak? My brothers and sisters needed courage to stand firm in the growing terror. They needed strength to sustain them in suffering. They didn't need my sermon, they didn't need my thoughts on the resurrection. My father had been right. In such times, men do not need words, he had said, they need power."

"I took my Bible and went to preach that Easter morning with new courage. My message was the suffering of Jesus Christ. I spoke of His triumph over evil and His victory over death. I spoke of the power of His resurrection. And behind me were the elders, sitting on a bench and praying. In front of me, thousands of unfamiliar faces. There were believers in need of encouragement and unbelievers in need of salvation. At 12:30 the sun was pouring hot on our heads and I tried to close the service." That's three and a half hours later.

"The people refused to leave. We have not come for a church service, someone shouted, we have come to hear the Word of God. Go rest yourself and then come back and preach again. The crowd clapped and shouted their approval. I went to the vestry for a brief rest and returned in the mid-afternoon. Hardly a person had moved. I preached for three more hours. And this time when I finished, no one objected. The sun was going down and everyone knew the hour had come to close the meeting. It was not safe to travel after dark. We didn't know whether we'd ever see each other again, or when God might call us home, but we went out in peace because we had seen with our eyes the salvation of the Lord. And with a loud 'Amen' from the people and a final chorus from the choir, the Easter service ended and I turned to the elders and we embraced praising God. It seemed as if days instead of hours had passed since we had met for prayer. I was exhausted but there was joy in my heart. God had answered our prayers. He had broken bread and fed His people. I had to push my way through the crowd and when I finally arrived at the house, I was exhausted and too tired to notice the men behind me until they had closed the door. There were five of them. They stood between me and the door, pointing their rifles at my face. Their own faces were scared with the distinctive tribal cuttings of the Kakwa tribe and they were dressed casually in flowered shirts and bell-bottom pants and wore sunglasses. Although 1 had never seen any of them before, I recognized them immediately, they were the Secret Police of the State Research Bureau, Amin's Nubian assassins. For a long moment no one said anything and then the tallest man, obviously the leader, spoke, 'We're going to kill you,' he said. 'If you have something to say, say it before you die.'

"He spoke quietly but his face was twisted with hatred.

I could only stare at him. For a sickening moment I felt the full weight of his rage. We had never met before but his deepest desire was to tear me to pieces. My mouth felt heavy and my limbs began to shake and everything left my control. 'They'll not need to kill me,' I thought to myself. 'I'm just going to fall over. I'm going to fall over dead and I'll never see my family again.'

"I thought of Penina, home alone with Damali. What would happen to them when I was gone? From far away I heard a voice. And I was astonished to realize it was my own. 'I do not need to plead my own cause,' I heard myself say. 'I am a dead man already. My life is dead and hidden in Christ. It is your lives that are in danger. You are dead in your sins. I will pray to God that after you've killed me, He will spare you from eternal destruction.'

"The tall one took a step toward me and then stopped. In an instant his face was changed, his hatred had turned to curiosity. He lowered his gun and motioned to the others to do the same. And they stared at him in amazement but they took their guns away from my face. And then the tall one spoke again. 'Will you pray for us now?' he asked.

"I thought my ears were playing a trick. I looked at him and then at the others. My mind was completely paralyzed. The tall one repeated his question more loudly and I could see that he was becoming impatient. 'Yes, I will pray for you,' I answered.

"My voice sounded bolder even to myself. 'I will pray to the Father in heaven, please bow your heads and close your eyes.'

"The tall one motioned to the others again and together the five of them lowered their heads. I bowed my own head but I kept my eyes open.

"The Nubian's request seemed to me a strange trick. 'Any minute,' I thought to myself, 'my life will end. I do not want to die with my eyes closed.'

"'Father in heaven,' I prayed, 'You who have forgiven men in the past, forgive these men also. Do not let them perish in their sins but bring them unto Yourself.'

"It was a simple prayer, prayed in deep fear, but God looked beyond my fears and when I lifted my head, the men standing in front of me were not the same men who had followed me into the vestry. Something had changed in their faces. It was the tall one who spoke first. His voice was bold but there was no contempt in his words. 'You have helped us,' he said, 'and we will help you. We will speak to the rest of our company and they will leave you alone. Do not fear for your life. It is in our hands and you will be protected.'

"I was too astonished to reply. The tall one only motioned for the others to leave. He himself stepped to the doorway and then he turned to speak one last time.

"'I saw widows and orphans in your congregation,' he said. 'I saw them singing and giving praise. Why are they happy when death is so near?'

"It was still difficult to speak but I answered him. 'Because they are loved by God. Because He has given them life and will give life to those they love because they died in Him.'

"His question seemed strange to me but he did not stay to explain. He only shook his head in perplexity and walked out the door. I stared at the open door of the vestry for several moments and then sat down on a nearby straw mat. My knees were no longer strong and I could feel my whole body tremble. I couldn't think clearly. Less than ten minutes before, I had considered myself a dead man. And even though I was surrounded by 7,000 people, there was no human being to whom I could appeal. I couldn't ask Kiwanuka to use his connections. I couldn't ask the elders to pray. I could not appeal to the mercy of the Nubian killers. My mouth had frozen and I had no clever words to speak. But in that moment with death so near, it was not my sermon that gave me courage, nor an idea from Scripture, it was Jesus Christ the living Lord."

I'll stop there. Listen, you live a confrontive, God-honoring, uncompromising life, I don't care what you face, you'll have an unashamed boldness. You'll set an uncommon standard. And God will give you an unearthly protection. Amen? He's done it in the past. He's doing it in the present.

That's not all. There's more. Number four...an uncompromising life results in an unhindered persistence...an unhindered persistence. I just love this. Now things were in neutral, as I said. Ashpenaz said - Daniel, I can't honor your request, the king will chop off my head.

Well, Daniel, in his wonderful way; gently, without rebellion, without being cantankerous or pushy, just found another alternative. Verse 11: "Then said Daniel to Melzar." Now Melzar may be a proper name. However, in the Hebrew it has a definite article with it translated "the"..."He said to the Melzar," which indicates that rather than a proper name, it is probably a word to be translated steward. Now, Ashpenaz was the prince of the eunuchs. He was over all of these young men in the courts. And he appointed certain stewards to guard certain given ones. And apparently this guy, the Melzar, was given to guard these men. And here is this unhindered persistence of Daniel. If he can't get an answer that he wants from Ashpenaz, he goes to a lower court...which is interesting. He goes to a guy who would have no personal fear of the king because he wasn't really related to the king. His boss was Ashpenaz. And apparently Ashpenaz was a nice enough guy that he wouldn't chop off his head, so Daniel goes to the next guy.

"Whom the prince of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah." This is an undaunted spirit. Now listen, I want to point out something here. An uncompromising spirit never gives up. I want to show you a distinction. There are some people who say - Well, you know, I know what was really right to do, but I tried to do it and it just didn't work out and this is the only alternative I had. Well, you know, I...I wanted to do what was right, but ooh there...I was over there with those folks and...and they were doing that and it was really all that I could do...I just had to go along.

No. An uncompromising spirit will never be rebuffed from principle when the first door is closed.

I really got the biggest kick out of an article I read this week of a lady who went to the police and asked to be put in jail. And so, they locked her in jail. And they locked her in jail for a period extending past her wedding date. And they wanted to know why and she said this. "I am going to marry a man I shouldn't marry. But every time I see the guy, he's irresistible, so just lock me up till after the wedding."

Now that's persistence. She wouldn't compromise even though she had to put herself in jail...to restrict her feeling. Some of you gals would do well to take some leads from that dear lady.

But you know what some people do? They...some people will...superficially exhaust a few resources, then they'll turn to the evil thing and say - Well, I gave it my best try, it just didn't work out.

No.   An uncompromising character never gives up, never gives up, never gives up...never gives in. You know, the Apostle Paul, on the way to Jerusalem, he keeps going to Jerusalem and every once in awhile somebody comes along and says - Paul, you know what's going to happen to you when you get to Jerusalem...you're going to get in a lot of trouble. And the prophet Agabus comes by and says - Paul, let me have your belt, Takes his belt and ties his hands up. He says - Paul, that's what's going to happen to you when you get to Jerusalem. And as he goes along, he finally says in Acts 20: "Everywhere in every city, people keep telling me I'm going to get in trouble when I get to Jerusalem, but none of these things ... what?... move me, because I don't count my life dear to myself, I just want to finish the ministry Christ has given me." When the option closed over here, he went over here. When it closed here, he went over here. He was not looking for an out. He was truly an uncompromising man.

And Daniel was that way. Just because the door was shut at Ashpenaz, he wasn't done. He had an unhindered persistence. People, true character will do that. It just keeps punching and punching and punching until it finally finds the hole...because it will not compromise. And the steward, apparently, was less threatened by the king and so he wasn't at all unwilling to grant this.

Now, what have we learned? Uncompromising character issues in an unashamed boldness, an uncommon standard, an unearthly protection and an unhindered persistence. Now here's the key: five, an unblemished faith...an unblemished faith. This is great. An unblemished faith. You know? Daniel really believed that God would make this possible. Where did he get that confidence? You know what I believe? I believe, as a basic spiritual principle, sin, listen now, sin brings doubt—purity brings confidence. When a person is living a holy life, I think there's almost a sense of invincibility about   that life. You just believe God will deliver. And so, Daniel had an unblemished faith, a sense of being invincible. You can operate in any trial, you can stand in any trouble or vicissitude, you can be in the midst of any danger and when your heart is pure, you know there is nothing to fear...for if God be for us, Romans 8, who shall stand against us? Right?

Isaiah 43:2, I love this, "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee. And through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned. Neither shall the flame kindle thee...why?...for I will be with thee."

When a heart is pure and a life is pure, there is an invincibility that results in this kind of unblemished faith. He really was confident. And so, he said - I'm willing to risk my neck. Verse 12: "Test your servants," he says to the Melzar...test us. "I beseech you for ten days, let them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink. And then let our countenances be looked upon before thee and the countenance of the youths that eat of the portion of the king's food, and as thou seest, deal with thy servants." You say - You know, this is a high-risk operation. If Daniel is really serious about this, he's putting his neck on the line. That's right...but as I said, there is a tremendous confident faith that comes to an uncompromising spirit. When you really believe, you can charge into the very pit of hell with a sense of confidence that God is going to honor your faith.

Daniel was a man of faith. It sprang from a pure heart. Even though he had been through a terrible disaster, even though some, no doubt, had felt that God had abandoned Judah, many questioned, like the prophet Habakkuk, Daniel believed God would stand true to his pure heart. And so, he said - Just give us vegetables. By the way, the word vegetables is zeroa, transliterated z-a-r-a, and it means to sow, s-o-w, in the ground. It...it is basically vegetarian food, common food, seeds, vegetables, plants, that kind of thing. It's not so much that there's virtue in a vegetarian diet as it is the food of the poor, who could not afford the meat or the delicacies. "I will eat nothing but the food of the poor, the common food. You feed them the king's food and let's see who looks the best."

Now, let's face it, folks, listen...ten days of vegetables, as over against ten days of the king's food, wouldn't prove anything, physiologically...it isn't going to make that big of a difference. Daniel was banking on divine intervention, and I personally believe, and this is just MacArthur talking in the white spaces, all right, but I personally believe God gave him this revelation. I think God gave him this test. And I think God said - I'll honor this. I think he got this from the Lord...because of his tremendous confidence in it and because of the way the Lord responded to it...unblemished faith. He was willing to risk his neck. He says - I'll walk out on the end of a plank...I'll take my stand that God will honor my uncompromising spirit. If I don't eat defiled food, if I eat that which is pure, I believe God will honor me. That's an unblemished faith. Do you really believe that? Do you believe that if you live an absolutely uncompromising life, no matter who gets angry at you for taking such a firm stand, no matter who gets upset at you because you will not compromise, no matter how many people are offended for your lack of love-quote-, if you take your stand, God will honor it. Do you believe that? Do you believe that if you take your stand against sin and evil, God will fill your life with joy and happiness? Do you believe if you take your stand with honesty, God will fill your life with all those things you need for sustenance and support?

Well, if you really believe it then you won't compromise. You'll take God at His word. So, an unblemished faith...that unblemished faith threw them into point 6, an unusual test, an unusual test. "So Melzar consented to them in this matter and tested them for ten days." Now, let me tell you something, all commitment is tested...James 1, the trial of your faith. All of our faith is to be tested. It's only proven when it's tested. We can say - I want to live an uncompromising life...and you be ready to believe that God will test it...He'll test it. You say - Boy, I'm going to stand...We do that a lot, you know, we say - Boy, if I had my way, I'd tell him so, I'd tell him right to the face. And you know what usually happens? Pretty soon you see him face to face and you go - Ha-na-na-ba-na-ba, see. And you never get it out. And all that courage, you know, that backyard courage never seems to get out of the house.

But, Daniel said here I'm willing to stake my faith on God's Word. And immediately came the test. All commitment is tested. And so he tested them for ten days. Verse 15, this is great: "At the end of the ten days, their countenance appeared fairer and fatter in flesh," and fatter there doesn't mean fat with fatty stuff, you know, like big jowls or something, fat was the sign of health, vigor, a shining face, as it were. "They looked better than all the rest of the youths who ate the portion of the king's food." Now, folks, I just have to tell you, this is the divine intervention of God. In ten days, the physiology isn't going to take that great an effect, I don't know, it may have had some effect, I don't know what they were feeding the people who ate the king's food. But I believe this is God's intervention. And verse 16: "At the end of the ten days...what happened?...Melzar took away the portion of their food and the wine they should drink and gave them vegetables for the rest of the three years." You don't have to prove anything to him. In fact, if I read the story right, it may be that Melzar ate the king's food for the next three years. I don't know how else he pulled it off. It was a fair exchange for him; he could care less about the vegetables and the water. It was a good deal.

And so what happens? God      honored their uncompromising spirits. They had won the battle. They avoided the life style that the Chaldeans wanted to impose upon them. I'm reminded of the words of Tennyson, in Sir Galahad where he writes a tribute to the righteous knight who found the Holy Grail in these words: "My good blade carves the casks of men, my tough lance thrusteth sure, my strength is as the strength of ten because my heart is pure."

Well, he had a little bit of a spiritual insight in that. Strength comes from purity in the heart. So, they passed the unusual test.

Now listen, an uncompromising stand on the Word of God leads to an unashamed boldness, an uncommon standard, an unearthly protection, an unhindered persistence, an unblemished faith, an unusual test...are you ready for this?...an unmeasurable blessing...an unmeasurable blessing. And we're just going to see this quickly. Verse 17: "As for these four youths, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams."

Where did this come from? "As for these four youths...watch it... God...what?...gave them." God blessed their uncompromising hearts. God poured out blessing. It's a tremendous thing, people, to realize this, but here brings together the two wonderful truths of God's sovereign blessing and man's total commitment. God blessed sovereignly when they were totally committed to live an uncompromising life. From their viewpoint, the whole thing depended on their own commitment...from God's viewpoint, the whole thing was entirely in His hands. You can't have one without the other. And God gave them...and it just sums up various words...knowledge and skill in learning and wisdom. God gave them all they needed to know for the knowledge and the wisdom that could be applied as they lived in that society. Babylon was the center of knowledge, advanced science, libraries of great, great scope, great scholars lived there, in fact, they were leading the world in those things. God gave them knowledge of that. God gave them knowledge truly of the application of the divine Word of God to the situation. God gave them wisdom and beyond that, to one of the four, and here's where we separate this one out, Daniel, it says, had understanding in all visions and dreams. Here was a guy who could read visions and dreams. Visions are when you're awake and dreams are when you're asleep, and both were a means of revelation from God. Here was a man with a gift of a seer or a prophet. Daniel had a revelatory gift. Daniel was to be the very vehicle of God's divine revelation. And this verse is the setup for the rest of the prophecy of Daniel. He is to be the one to receive God's Word.

And so, God blessed them... immeasurably in knowledge and learning and wisdom. Further, verse 18: "At the end of the days that the king had said they should bring them in," that would be three years of training, "then the prince of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar and the king conversed with them." And the "them" embodies all these young men that had been deported in 606. The second group hasn't even come yet, till 597. The final group till 586. So, these young men have been groomed in the meantime and Nebuchadnezzar converses with them, this is the oral exam, see. This is the final test to see how well they had done. They are personally examined by the king and his assistants. "And among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah." Isn't that great? Those four were summa cum laude. They graduated at the top of the class and they had never defiled themselves, they had never compromised one whit.

You can live in this world an uncompromising life. Do you know that? You can live an uncompromising life in this world that is so pure and so righteous and so right and so full of character that even the world itself has to acknowledge your character and the quality of your life.

The verdict...the end of verse 19: "Therefore stood they before the king." What does that mean? To stand before the king? I pointed it out a couple of weeks ago, it means to serve the king. The angels stand before the Lord. In the Old Testament, we have those who stood before the king, those who stood...the idea of waiting to take the king's message and deliver it, waiting to do the king's bidding, waiting in obedience to his command. And so, it said: "These four stood before the king." The king's personal four young men. Imagine, at the age of 17 or 18, being in the royal court, standing along side the king, in a foreign nation, a nation with which you would never compromise a conviction and yet God lifted you up to that very place. Later on, Daniel, without ever compromising, rules in that area as prime minister for 70 years. It can be done, people. Let God lift you up...you live an uncompromising life.

Just how gifted were these young men by God? Verse 20 says: "In all matters," I love that, "In all matters of wisdom and understanding," all of them, "that the king inquired, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm." Now that's something, isn't it? Now they had something going for them...God.

You know, it's amazing, but you as a Christian, who have the revelation of God and the indwelling Spirit, are ten times smarter than the smartest person in this country who doesn't know God...ten times you're infinitely smarter because you know the truth, the real truth. Oh, they were blessed in every matter of wisdom and understanding, ten times beyond anybody else.

Listen, beloved, let God lift you up. Let another man come to you, force you to compromise, threaten your life and you stand true to the Word of God. You stand bold face-to-face, you preach what you believe and don't let anybody intimidate you...don't let anybody make you back down...don't let anybody cause you to water down what   you know to be the absolute, inviolable truth of God...you hold those convictions, hold them with love, hold them with the same gentleness and the same graciousness and the same warmth that Daniel did, but never compromising and God will honor your character and lift you to a place of blessing that will set you head and shoulders above those who are esteemed as the best in your nation and your realm. That's the message.

What a great word...unmeasurable blessing. Can I add an eighth, a final, an unlimited influence. Oh, this is great. Verse 21: "And Daniel continued even unto the first year of king Cyrus." Seventy years...seventy years...and you know something? When I see Ezra chapter 1 and all the people going back to Jerusalem, you know who's behind that? Daniel. When I see the wise men coming from the east, I have to see lurking in the shadows...Daniel. God gave him influence...influence that led, I believe, to the decree of Cyrus to send the people back to their land. Influence that led to the rebuilding of the wall with Nehemiah. Influence that led to the reestablishing of the nation Israel. Influence that led the wise men to come to crown the King who was born in Bethlehem. He is behind the scenes of the history of the Messiah as well as the Messiah's people. He has an unlimited influence, for he it is who brings homage to the King who is the King of kings and Lord of lords, who reigns forever. Daniel has unlimited influence because Daniel has penned in his prophecy the history of the world till the reign of Christ...unlimited influence.

Listen, the blessedness of an uncompromising life: an unashamed boldness that calls us to an uncommon standard that depends on an unearthly protection as we set forth an unblemished faith, we face the unusual tests with an unhindered persistence and we find in response that God brings an unmeasurable blessing, an unlimited influence.

When all is said and done, beloved, the best we can say to you is this - Don't compromise and let God take your life and do with it as He pleases and it may it be ten times greater than the life of anyone in this world. Let's pray.

Thank You, Father, for the freedom we've enjoyed tonight, to gather in this Place and study Your Word, the freedom we've enjoyed in our hearts as our hearts have opened wide to receive it. Confirm in our hearts this is Your truth and may we live it, Father. Make us loving and gentle as our Lord was, and meek and caring and sympathetic but oh so firm when it comes to the matter of conviction that in a gentle way, we are absolutely uncompromising, that we may know Your great blessing and the hand of power in our lives that can turn men from darkness to light. So we pray for Your glory in Christ's name. Amen.

Uncompromising Faith in the Fiery Furnace, Part 1

Father, we thank You that we can come to You in the times of life that are difficult for us and we thank You for Your great grace to sustain us in the time of our need. We do pray for Rodney and his family in the loss of their grandfather that You would especially be near to them and they would even discern in this the meaning of life and eternity, the significance of Christ and His resurrection, that they might come to know that eternal life that comes only through faith in Him. We thank You for Rodney and we pray that You will bless him even in this time as well. And, Lord, as we come together to look at Your Word tonight, we pray with open hearts and open minds we might be taught of Your Spirit and that we might not be listening to a human voice but that we might hear You speak for Your praise and glory we pray, Amen.

We're looking at Daniel chapter 3 tonight and it's going to take us a couple of times to get through this tremendous chapter, an exciting chapter with much truth and many principles to deal with. And I trust that the Spirit of God will in a very special way make known to you the truths that are here as we go along. It reiterates some of the principles that we talked about in chapter 1, particularly, and I think you'll see that as we go along.

In chapter 1 of Daniel we saw a very severe stress situation which Daniel and his three friends were able to meet with their great faith in God and we likewise see the same thing happening in chapter 3. Tonight we want to begin to look at the chapter and we'll see how far we get along as we go.

I read the other day about a man who being a very religious man decided that he would purchase a statue of Jesus Christ for his home. And so he purchased this statue of Christ, he brought it home and he set it on the coffee table in the living room. His wife was somewhat distressed, not feeling it went exactly with the decor that was there, removed it to the den. Later on the husband moved it again to another area of the house which finally prompted the two-year-old to say, "Can't you decide what to do with God?" Very profound question.

There are a lot of people in the world who can't decide what to do with God, What are we going to do with God? - is the question, really, of chapter 3 of Daniel. Some people don't know where to put God and some people do and tonight we're going to find out about one man who did not know where to put God and three men who did. And it sets for us a rather constant theme throughout Scripture and throughout human history, the conflict between those who give God a rightful place and those who refuse to do that.

Now, let me give you an introduction of some length so that you'll really have a running start and then the passage will just unfold for you. Man is incurably religious. Man, generally, man is basically is religious. That's very obvious as you go around the world, you find that all peoples and all races and ethnic groups have some substance of religion. Man is an incurably religious creature. He inevitably bows at some shrine. It is either the worship of the true God or some false substitution, but man is incurably religious.

Romans chapter 1 tells us this because Romans 1 says that when man knew God he glorified Him not as God. And turning his back on the true God, he began to worship the creature more than the creator. And he made gods out of wood and stone and he began to worship man and beasts and creeping things. In other words, what Romans 1 is telling us from verse 18 to about verse 23 is that man is incurably religious and if he turns his back on the true God he will not go into a vacuum he will create other gods out of snakes and birds and beasts and men. And he will worship the creature if he does not worship the creator.

Now, whenever man does this and whenever man invents or concocts or prescribes or defines his own god, he makes him into the kind of god he wants him to be. And there's an interesting cycle, he usually becomes like his god. And so here is man making the god that he wants to exist and then becoming like that god that he himself has manufactured. The Old Testament tells us much about man's religious nature and how he does this. It is characteristic of man to create a god like himself and then become more and more like that god. This way he accommodates his sinfulness. You see, the difficulty with worshiping the true God is you have to face the reality of your inadequacy and your sinfulness. So if you reject that you invent a god who is a lot like you and it's a lot easier to live with that kind of a god.

In Ps 115 we get a little bit of an insight into how man does this. It says: "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us but unto

Thine name give glory for Thy mercy and for Thy truth's sake."

The psalm begins with a statement that God is to be glorified.

"Wherefore should the nations say, Where is now their god? But our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths but they speak not, eyes have they but they see not, they have ears but they hear not, noses have they but they smell not, they have hands but they handle not, feet have they but they walk not, neither speak they through their throat, they who make them are like unto them so is everyone who trusteth in them." You see? They make them and they're like them. Men invent gods of their own making. The Bible says "God created man in His own image." But man creates gods in his own image...the ultimate rebellion...man inventing his own gods.

Now, there is then a constant conflict in the world and that constant conflict is between the worship of the true God and the worship of the false gods made out of the imagination and the mind of man. And deities made by man always express the sinfulness of man, always. Now I don't have time to go into this, sometime we should do a study on idolatry and really get in it in detail, but just to give you an illustration, whenever men invent gods those gods mirror the deficiencies and the sins of men. For example, in reading the Old Testament you come repeatedly across a god known as Baal...B-a-a-1. Now Baal is not really a proper name it is a word that simply means "lord" and there were many Baals...many lords...many pagan gods. And as you study the Baals of ancient history, you find that they inevitably carried out the sinfulness of men in their character.

For example, just one illustration, it was believed of the Canaanites and the people around Israel that Baal was the force behind sexual power in the man and the woman. Baal was the power behind the sexual part of human nature. And so therefore any sexual act became a performance of the power of Baal. All sex relations then according to those who worshiped Baal became sacred acts because they then became demonstrations of this great force of the god Baal.

Now, the temples of Baal were then occupied by priestesses who were known as sacred prostitutes. The Hebrew in Hosea 4:14 even calls them by the root word of "holy women." They actually were considered to be holy women because Baal was believed to be active in the sexual act itself and so worship then became a sexual act with a temple prostitute. To have intercourse, then, with a temple prostitute was to be united in Dower with Baal, a very consummate act of worship.

Now, that is the way man invents his gods, to accommodate his own vile sinfulness. Inevitably, people, now get this, when men invent gods, those gods will lead men into immorality because they will be gods that reflect the sinfulness of the men who invented them. That is exactly why in Romans chapter 1 you have the fact that when they knew not God, or when they knew God they glorified Him not as God, they changed the glory of God into an image, they made their own idols and immediately in verse 24 you read this: "Wherefore God also let them go into uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts to dishonor their own bodies between themselves."

In other words, you have the rejection of the true God in verse 21, you have the establishment of the false gods in verse 22 and 23, and you have the consequent immorality in verse 24. And it goes all the way down to verse 32. It talks about God giving them up to vile affections. It talks about homosexuality. It talks about a burning in lust one toward another. It talks about, unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, envy, murder, strife, deceit, maligning, whispers, backbiters, haters of God, insolent, proud boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful and so forth. And all of those are simply representations of the kind of worship that man himself builds. And when man does that it says that he not only does them but has pleasure in them that do them.

Idolatry is always an abandonment to an immoral standard. Idolatry in the Old Testament even goes under the name of a whoring, it says Israel went a whoring, it says Israel committed adultery because that kind of prostitution was so integral to idolatry.

Now, idolatry then is the corruption of true worship. And from the very beginning man has always set up his false gods and the running conflict has gone on through all of human history, the conflict between the worship of the true God and the worship of false gods. In fact, let me say something that's kind of a basic statement you ought to remember. Idolatry is the most basic issue about which God is concerned. Did you get that? Idolatry is the most basic issue in terms of the life of man in which God is concerned.

You say, "How do you know that? How do you know He's more concerned about that than other things?" Because it says so in Exodus chapter 20, that is the first of the Ten Commandments that the Lord gave and it relates to idolatry. Exodus 20, listen to verse 3 and 4: "Thou shalt," here's the first commandment, "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth, thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them for I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children under the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me and showing mercy to thousands of them that love Me and keep My commandments."

All right, there you have the first and the second commandment. The first one - have no other gods before Me. The second one - make no graven image. The primary issue then in the Ten Commandments, the beginning of it all is the affirmation that there is to be no god substituted for the true God. That is God's basic concern in His dealing with man. And Romans 1 charts the course for us, traces the appalling shipwreck that results when God is thrown overboard. When you abandon God and you turn God loose and you let God go and you turn your back, then you invent your own gods because man is incurably religious and in inventing his own gods he makes gods like himself, he becomes more like them and damns his own soul in the process.

Now, Exodus chapter 20 says thou art to have no gods before Me. Isaiah tells us again and again in chapter 43 and around that area that there is none other but the true God. In Deuteronomy the Lord our God is one Lord. The Bible explicitly says there are no other gods but the true God. The Bible crushes literally all idols whether they are idols of stone, idols of wood, idols of metal or idols of the mind or idols of the heart, or idols of the emotions, whether they are tangible or intangible, whether they are external or internal, all idols are crushed in the statement of God "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me, thou shalt not make unto thyself any graven image." And yet, though this is the first and primary commandment of the Scriptures it is a looming reality in all of human history, man inevitably continues this flight into idolatry.

Leslie Flynn states it so well, he says, quote: "Like the flow of a river which cannot be stopped but which can be diverted, the yearning of man's soul for an object of worship can easily turn from the true God to another god," end quote.

So, the Scripture over and over and over and over forbids idolatry...forbids it. Now let me give you a sample of what the Scripture teaches so you'll understand a little bit of what Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael, the three Hebrews that you know as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednbgo—their Babylonian names—so that you'll understand why they stood the way they stood. They knew that idolatry was unacceptable to God. They knew that they could not please God and bow down to the image of gold erected in chapter 3. And why did they know that? Because the Word of God was so very explicit. And though they didn't have the whole revelation of God as we do, they had enough of it to know.

Let me run by you some of the things that the Scripture says about idolatry and it's going to come pretty quick, just listen. I'm not even going to give you the Scriptures; I just want you to get it kind of like a machine gun. Idolatry consists, and here are a list of' things that I found in the Scripture, idolatry consists of: bowing down to images, worshiping images, sacrificing to images, worshiping other gods, swearing by other gods, walking after other gods, speaking in the name of other gods, looking to other gods, serving other gods, fearing other gods, sacrificing to other gods, worshiping the true God by an image, worshiping angels, worshiping the hosts of heaven, worshiping devils, worshiping dead men, setting up idols in the heart, covetousness, sensuality...because all of these things change the glory of God into an image. In the Bible idolatry is described in these terms. It is an abomination to God, in Deuteronomy 7:25; it is hateful to God, in Deuteronomy 16:22; it is vain and foolish, Psalm 115; it is bloody, Ezekiel 23; it is abominable, I Peter 4; it is unprofitable, Judges 10:14; it is irrational, Romans chapter 1; it is defiling, Ezekiel 20 and verse 7. You kind of get the picture that it's not good, don't you?

Another thought, idolatry results in men doing the following: idolatry makes men forget God, go astray from God, pollute the name of God, defile the sanctuary of God, estrange themselves from God, forsake God, hate God and provoke God. And the Bible says that idolatry will be punished with a judicial death, a dreadful judgment which ends in death, banishment, exclusion from heaven and eternal torment.

Now, that's pretty serious stuff. God has said an awful lot about idolatry. And because of its seriousness you can reduce the warnings in the Bible down to three simple statements, when it comes to idolatry you are to do three things, number one is to flee, 1 Corinthians 10:14, flee idols ... flee from idols. Number two is to avoid idols, 1 Corinthians 10:19 and 20, have no fellowship at all with the table of demons.. To flee, to avoid, the third one is to stay away from them, 1 John 5:21, "My little children, keep yourselves from idols." What does the Bible say? Flee, avoid and stay away, and they all basically mean the same thing. Idols have no place. And it's a very, very serious matter to God, the matter of idolatry.

You say, "Well, you know, we don't have any idols, I mean, we don't...this is a very sophisticated twentieth century." Yes, we do and I'm sure you're aware that we have idols. The presence of idolatry is great even in our sophisticated society. Even in a society that is supposed to be Christian with biblical backgrounds and the presence of churches and the name of Christ and God and all that Christian influence can bring to bear on our society, we still are a society literally filled with idols. Because, as I said, idolatry may be external in some societies, but in other societies it is internal. There are millions of people in our society who would never ever think of bowing their knee to a stone thing. You know, that would just seem ridiculous to them, or bowing down to some wood, or bowing down to some metal. But they spend all their life bowing down to some empty, useless god established in their own mind or in their own heart. And an idol, frankly folks, is anything you put before God. It can be your car, it could be your hobby, your house, your wife or anybody else or any other item...your bankbook. A few years ago Christianity Today asked a panel of Christian scholars this question: What are the most prevalent gods of our time? Those mentioned included many things, the anti-Christian welfare state, scientism, communism, political democracy, nationalism, conservatism, social adjustment, behaviorism, secularism, humanism, naturalism, and the cult of progress. More personal idols were listed by Dr. Andrew Blackwood, professor emeritus of Princeton, he said: "America has these following gods: self, money, pleasure, sex, romance, amusements, sports, education." And he added, "We need a return to the first commandment in the light of the cross."

Now, if I were to take the twentieth century idols and boil them back down a little bit, you might get them in a list like this. First of all, we worship the god of possessions, don't we? Possessions usurp the place of God. Do you spend more time thinking about possessions than you do about God? Do you spend more of your energy, more of your resources on possessions than you do on God? It's a good indication that you've got a problem in that area. "The principle god of our times," says Dr. W. Stanford Reid of McGill University, "is our standard of living. We are so concerned with material possessions that we have forgotten they are a gift of God," end quote.

That's kind of what we were saying this morning. So one of the twentieth century idols is possessions. Another one is plenty...plenty...love of money. Colossians 3 says: "Covetousness is idolatry." When you covet it you worship it. Another one is pride. And covetousness, by the way, or plenty, I think about the rich man and the bigger barns don't you? I'll just build bigger barns and bigger barns and store all my crop and the Lord says, You fool tonight your soul will be required of you and you can't make it living on eat, drink and be merry. So, possessions and plenty. And then pride. I guess the main god of our society is the love of self and we could say people are a god in our society. Some people idolize a child. They literally worship their child. It becomes perverse, the attitude they have. Some people worship a mate. Others worship a lover. Some worship a friend.

In contrast to that, don't you love to see Hannah who all for so long had prayed and just begged God to give her a son and God gave her a son and then she didn't worship the child so that the child stood before God, she gave the child to the Lord and walked away and said - That's the way it ought to be because that's the best place for the child.

And I think about Abraham who waited and waited and waited until he was 100 years old to have a son and then God said - I want that son and I want him on an altar and I want him dead. And Abraham said - All right, God, I love that son, I don't worship that son above You and if You say slay him, I'll slay him.

But we make gods out of people. We make gods out of pride. We make gods out of plenty. We make gods out of possessions. And I'm not saying you shouldn't love people, and I'm not saying you shouldn't be committed to your family, your children and your wife. Kind of an interesting story, Charles Spurgeon just before he got married, and I can't even imagine what it must have been like to be married to him...but, before he got married he had picked up his fiancée to take her to a place where he was going to preach. And they were separated in the jostling in the crowd and they were kind of lost. And thousands of people were pushing in to hear him preach. And so he sort of pushed his way up to the platform and after the meeting was over he couldn't find her anywhere, so he just went over to her house. And he found her there and she was pouting. And she said, "Charles, you left me in that crowd all alone and you weren't even concerned where I was." This is what he replied: "I'm sorry, but perhaps what happened was providential. I didn't intend to be impolite but whenever I see a crowd like that waiting for me to preach, I'm overwhelmed with a sense of responsibility, I forgot about you. Now, let's get one thing straight, it will have to be the rule of our marriage that the command of my Master comes first; you shall have the second place. Are you willing as my wife to take a second place while I give the first place to Christ?"

Well, wonderfully she was willing and became a faithful wife. I understand something of that. In the anticipation of the pulpit, the excitement of your heart, the mind begins to function and a lot of things just don't enter in to your thinking. He loved his wife, he loved her to the death; he never made a god out of her. His God was the true God.

We might also say that pleasure is a god in our society. Oh my, is that ever a god. Entertainment, oh do we worship the God of entertainment, it's incredible. You know, every time I go to one of those places where you ride something, you know, Magic Mountain, Disneyland, or Knotts Berry Farm, or I don't know what all, I just...my theology goes wild in those places. I just...I look around and so many things bother me, you know, it's a fantasy world and people don't even live the reality of life, they're off on some fantasy, you know. And I think they're just paying all this money for a minute and a half of "Woooooo" and that's the way they live life. I mean, you know that's it. It's the whole thing. You go up to the top and zound! down the deal and...that's it and you're down at the bottom and you come out of the deal and there's your wife and your four kids standing there just like they were when you got on. Go get in the same crummy car and go to the same house and have the same ole hassle and the same job and...you can't wait until you get back and get up there again and do it all over again. In fact, I know people who'd like to have that in their back yard, live for the thrill...live for the thrill...the sensual, the feeling. We're lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.

And I would also add that one of the gods of our society is projects...have you noticed that? Not only possessions, plenty, pride, people, pleasure, but projects. The PTA, the Little League, world peace, politics, hobbies, religious programs, Kiwanis, Rotary, you name it...projects.

And then there's prominence. Some people live to get in Who's Who, what's what and why's why and where's where. They want a chief seat in the banquet. They want to be on the social registrar, they love to see their name in the paper. They cut out every clipping that you can imagine. They want to be the chairman. And all of these gods end up in the trash heap of an empty, burned out life.

Man is incurably religious, he will worship something...believe me. A parable tells about an idol-burning ceremony in the backyard of a church. Every person had torn from his heart his dearest possession...ambition, his dearest achievement. And they all took it and put it on a heap and they said - We're going to burn all our idols. Some people put their long hair there. Some people put their new Ph.D. there. Some people put their favorite antique there. Some put their not-yet-purchased but coveted mink coat there. But nobody could find a match, how inconvenient. And the parable says that all agreed that failure to burn them didn't mean they weren't willing to give them up. Slowly the group drifted back to their homes with one or two backward glances.

Well, one lady didn't sleep well that night. And at last convinced herself that what she had given up was no idol at all. And early the next morning she sneaked back to the pile, hoping not to be seen, and when she got there she found her idol lonely and forlorn, the only one still left. Oh, how we cling to our idols.

You know, I'll just take it a step further. In the Scripture it's not only wrong to worship something other than God but it's wrong to worship God through the wrong method. You remember Saul when he was told by God not to take anything but to kill the king and all of the army and take absolutely nothing. Came back with all those sheep and all of those animals and when Samuel came to him and said - What's going on? And I hear the bleating of the sheep, you weren't supposed to take anything. And he says, - I've taken them all to worship God. And Samuel says to him - The throne is removed from your family, God wants you to worship Him the way He says to worship Him, not the way you choose to worship Him.

Idolatry is worshiping the wrong god and worshiping the right God in the wrong way. And I think we have to be careful about that. I think idolatry is also worshiping symbols that may stand for God. Now we've all-been aware of what is known as the iconoclastic controversy from the word eikon in Greek which means "image." Throughout the history of the church, the church was in its early manifestation of Romanism wanting to put everything in statues and the Roman Church still does that. And the statues were everywhere and there was always a controversy and the going back and forth. The Eastern Orthodox Church finally smashed all the images because they felt it was idolatry. And you still have crucifixes and other images and saints and so forth that represent a certain kind of idolatry. And you say, "Well, we don't really worship the idols it's just that the representation is there." Yes, but the transition is so subtle...so subtle.

Let me show you an illustration. Look in your Bible at Numbers chapter 21...Numbers chapter 21. I told you this was a long introduction. In fact, I'll save the sermon till next time. Numbers 21 verse 6, you remember how the Lord sent the fiery serpents among the people? They bit the people and many people of Israel died. This was when they were with Moses. And the people were being disobedient to God. The Lord sent fiery serpents, they bit, therefore the people came to Moses and said - We have sinned for we have spoken against the Lord and against thee. Pray unto the Lord that He take away the serpents from us.

And Moses stood in their behalf. He prayed and the Lord answered somewhere between verses 7 and 8 and said: Make a serpent; set it on a pole, it shall come to pass everyone that is bitten when he looks up shall live.

Now, watch what happened. The children of Israel had sinned. God says there's going to be a punishment. Snakes are going to bite you. If you look at the pole you'll be healed.

Now, I believe the pole was symbol of God's power. There was no power in the pole. The power was with God. To look at the pole was simply an identification of their faith. And I want you to see what happened. Go over to 2 Kings, chapter 18, along comes Hezekiah, later in the history of Israel, and in Judah we find that Hezekiah reigns as king and he brings about a great revival. And one of the things he does in the revival is in verse 4 and I want you to see it. "He removed the high places." Now watch this. "And broke the images and cut down the idols." Now stop right there. He wiped out idolatry but notice the next one: "And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it and he called it Nehushtan," which means "the little brass thing." He treated it with disdain get rid of that little brass thing that they were all worshiping. In other words, something started out as a symbol and it became an idol. And that is always a danger of an icon, that man will twist the symbol into an idol. So, whether you're talking about worshiping a false god or worshiping the true God in a wrong way, or worshiping God to a wrong image, it is all forbidden in Scripture.

Now, having understood that, that idolatry is forbidden, look with me at Daniel 3 and let's see what unfolds. Remember now that these young men were well educated in Hebrew doctrine and theology and they knew exactly how God felt about idols.

Now, let's come to the text. We find in the opening of the text five major points but I'm just going to start at the first one. First we find the ceremony...the ceremony in verses 1 to 3, let's look at it. "Nebuchadnezzar the king," by the way, he's the king of the Babylonian Empire which is a marvelous incredible empire stretching over the known world of the Middle East and we don't really know even how far, and it had the inherent power to have stretched around the world could it have extended itself. Nebuchadnezzar was the greatest monarch on the face of the earth. "And he made an image of gold," now watch this, "whose height was three score cubits and the breadth of it six cubits and he set it up in the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon."

Now, Nebuchadnezzar makes this huge image. Now what's interesting about it is that it is an idolatrous act. And it seems very strange in the light of chapter 2 verse 47, look back at that. You remember in chapter 2 that Daniel had told this tremendous dream to Nebuchadnezzar? He had this dream about an image, it had a gold head and it had brass and then it had silver and then it had iron and clay mixed and he told him the meaning of those things and how all the world empires would come to pass and how they would be destroyed by a stone cut out without hands in the final phase of their ten confederate kings, and he goes through all this marvelous interpretation of the dream. And Nebuchadnezzar knows that Daniel is telling him things that his own seers and magicians and Chaldeans didn't know. And so in response, in verse 47, Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face, verse 46, worshiped Daniel and so forth and then in 47 he said: "Of a truth it is that your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer of secrets seeing that thou couldest reveal this secret."

Now, that's a pretty great statement. Your God is the God of gods. Your God is the ultimate deity. Your God is the revealer of secrets, the Lord of kings. That was in verse 47. Two verses later he's building an idol to himself. Fickle...fickle Nebuchadnezzar. Even the demonstration of the power of God couldn't override his unbelievable ego...incredible, the man is an egomaniac. In fact, I believe when Daniel started telling him that dream he said - The top is a head of gold and thou art that head of gold - right there Nebuchadnezzar tuned out and thought - I'm the gold...everything else is inferior to me. And so he built a whole image of gold, just extended it all the way down. "Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold." I take it that this was in a human form. It was made of gold, but believe me, it is so huge, three...you know what a cubit is? A cubit was measured from the elbow to the end of the hand, it's approximately 18 inches, so 90...let's see, 60 cubits would be 90 feet high, that's...that's really high. I guess a telephone pole is about 60 feet high, so it would be half again as high as that. And it was six cubits wide which really isn't very wide, that's nine feet wide...which means it was a great big long skinny thing. That would make it a ten-to-one proportion and most human beings are four-to-one or five-to-one...real skinny people are six-to-one and some are three-to-one, but anyway...I've seen some two-to-one, come to think of it, but normally...normally it's about a ten—this kind of an image is a ten-to-one ratio which means it either was this...this long thin thing, or that it was a high, high pedestal in which a normal five-to-one ratio man might have stood on, but it's a 90 foot high image.

Now, I don't believe that it was absolutely solid gold; that would have been utterly prohibitive in terms of economics as well as a horrendous problem to construct and to move around. It is common in those times to find information to the effect that when they wanted to build such an image they would build it out of wood and then they would cover it with a substance and they would overlay it with heavy gold. And it seems to me that that is the best way to perceive this image. In fact, this was rather common. If you make a footnote of Isaiah chapter 40 and Isaiah chapter 41, you will note a couple of places in those two chapters where such an overlaid wooden image of gold is indicated. So that may be the more common way for them to do it.

Now, the cost would still be utterly incredible. Just beyond your belief the amount of money involved in that. Mining gold in those days and getting gold was so difficult that it was just incredibly valuable. By the way, the 60 cubits and the six cubits is kind of an interesting indication to us because the Babylonians had what is known as a sexagesimal system. We have a decimal system based on tens, right? They had a system based on sixes and this is a very important footnote because it is an indicator of the authenticity of Daniel as truly representative of the Babylonian times. The higher critics want to shove it up nearly to the time of Christ to get it passed the prophecies that it predicts because they don't want the Bible to make predictions, otherwise it's a divine book. But because it uses what is known as this sexagesimal system rather than a decimal system, it's indicative of the Babylonian times.

Now, it's also fascinating to me, and this is another little footnote, that it is 60 cubits by 6 and I see two sixes there. The first king made an image of himself in sixes and if you read Revelation 13 you will find that the last ruler of the times of the Gentiles, Nebuchadnezzar was the first, the last monarch of the times of the Gentiles will also set up an image of himself. It tells us that in Revelation chapter 13, it says in verses 14 and 15: "He will make an image and the people will bow to the image and the number will be...what?...six, six, six." It's as if it starts out with two sixes and ends up with three. Six is the number of man. Man tries—six, six, six, six, six, but he never hits seven, that's the number of perfection, that's reserved for God. And Nebuchadnezzar is like a preliminary picture of the antichrist.

Now, you'll notice in verse 1 that it says he set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. Now the plain of Dura, as far as we know, was just in the province of Babvlon, just near the city itself, maybe six miles southeast of Babylon. And by the way, this is fascinating, a French archaeologist, I can't think if I can pronounce his name, I think it's Oppert, something like that, was doing some digs down southeast of Babylon a few miles and he came across, in his diggings, an absolutely huge brick foundation that must have held some  gigantic statue or obelisk. And as they began to do a little more study on the plain of Dura, it is the conviction of this French archaeologist, Oppert, that that is in fact the base of Nebuchadnezzar's image still remaining underneath the soil of the centuries that have covered it over. The image being long gone. Why? It was made of gold, folks. The next group that came in made sure that it didn't just hang around until it blew away.

The plain of Dura is a flat area where it would be visible. Sticking up in the plain of Dura, can you imagine the sun in the Babylonian area would be so bright that that thing would sparkle and shine in an incredible display of grandeur.

Now, what is Nebuchadnezzar doing? We need to at least talk about that for a minute before we finish. And we'll just cover this first point. What is he trying to do? What is he trying to prove? What's his point here? Well, I believe he had some reasons for this. He was a smart man. He was one of the world's greatest architects, he was one of the world's greatest statesmen, he was one of the world's greatest soldiers and strategists. This is not the village idiot; this is a very intelligent man. What's he doing? Well, what he's doing is pulling together his nation in an act of unity, that's the first thing. He wanted to unify his nation. You unify your nation around a common objective; he wanted the whole pile of them to bow down to him. By the way, the Caesars did exactly the same thing, didn't they? They tried to get the whole Empire to worship them as a unifying factor. Not only that, he wanted the allegiance of his leaders. He wanted all of his leaders to bow down to him. He wanted to make sure they were loyal and faithful to him. He wanted a single religion because he was afraid that a split of religion because religion is so deep in the heart of man that if they split over religions in the Empire they would fracture the empire.

But, there was something even beyond that. I think politically he wanted the unity of the empire. I think just in terms of his own personal needs he wanted the worship and allegiance of his leaders. I think religiously he wanted one religion to hold the people together but beyond all of that the guy had an incredible ego and he just sought self-glory and he saw himself as the head of gold and he just lost control of himself and decided to go whole hog and make himself an image so that the whole world would worship him. He's little different than Herod in Acts 12. Herod gave a great speech, put on his fancy robe and stood up, you know, in Acts 12 down there at Caesarea and he gave a great speech and the people said - Oh, it is the voice of a god and not a man. And he just loved it, you know, and just ate it up. And the Bible says immediately he was eaten by worms and died, because he gave not God the glory.

Well, Nebuchadnezzar didn't get eaten by worms, his due comes in chapter 4—we'll see that later. But he sought the glory. And the whole thing then poses a conflict for us throughout this chapter between worshiping the true God and worshiping this self-centered, humanistic egomaniac.

Now, I want you to see this choice clearly in mind because this is the choice everybody makes. You either worship God or false gods. Even as a Christian, listen, we can be lured to the worship of false gods, can't we? We really can. That's what this chapter calls for. Like the little five-year-old who said, "Where you going to put God, Daddy?" The question comes to us - Where are we going to put God?

Well, let's see the rest of the ceremony, very quickly, in verses 2 and 3, they both say essentially the same thing. "Then Nebuchadnezzar the king," it's really kind of funny, I'll show you why, "Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together," and here we go, "the princes," and the word literally means "the governors." And I think it goes into descending rank here. The satraps were the top governors of the provinces in the Babylonian Empire, all right? The satraps.

And then you have the governors and the captains. As best we can know they were sort of secondary rulers in the divisions. You might say the governors were in the states and then the subdivisions were the counties which were ruled by the governors and the captains. And then there are the judges and by-the way, there were chief arbitrators and there were provincial judges throughout the Babylonian Empire. Then there are the treasurers and they are the masters of the treasury. And then there are the counselors and they were the lawyers who made up the cabinets and the senates and whatever. And then there were the sheriffs and they were just exactly what we think, they were minor judicial people who carried out justice.

So, you have all of these people and then finally says: "And all the rulers of the provinces," he'd got everybody who was anybody in there to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. Now, he wants everybody's allegiance, he wants to get the whole pile of them there and so they all show up.

And then look what it says in verse 3, this is really interesting: "Then the princes, the governors, the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs and all the rulers of the provinces were gathered together under the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up." Now why does it repeat all of that? You know, when the Greeks came along and they were writing a Greek version known as the Septuagint, they just left out verse 3 because they said - It's ridiculous to repeat the whole thing. I mean, it just says in verse 2 - the princes, the governors, the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs were all called. And then in verse 3 it says the princes, the governors, the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs all came. Can't you say that a little shorter? Can't you just say everybody that was called came?

Well, I think it's very subtle. I think it's very subtle. The repetition of verse 3 is a subtle almost humorous insight into the lack of personal integrity by all the leaders of the whole Empire. And it reiterates that they were all big shots but none of them had the courage to say no. They all came. They all came. Walked in there, spinelessly followed the lead of Nebuchadnezzar, all the great ones. You see, it's tongue and cheek is what it is. All the big shots, all the great ones came and they all had to be humiliated and they all stood, it says at the end of verse 3, before the image Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

There they all are. All the great princes, governors, captains, like a bunch of rubber ducks, already to quack the same way, no integrity, no character, no nothing. They responded as they were told. If Nebuchadnezzar says we all worship the idol, we all worship the idol, guys, we've got to keep our jobs.

But, it wasn't so with some others. We're going to find out who they were and why they did what they did and what happened next week. Let's pray together.

While your heads are bowed for just a moment, let me just share a thought with you or two. It's an exciting chapter; we've just begun to see it. Oh, next week it's so exciting. But this is the time tonight as we begin for us to examine our hearts. What do you worship? When I say to you - is there an idol in your life? What do you think of? What immediately comes to mind? That's probably it. What have you placed before God? Where have you put God? If you're not a Christian you have all kinds of idols and you are living a life that is denying the glory of God. Won't you come to Jesus Christ and make Him the Savior, confess Him as Lord? Then there are many of you Christians who have Christ as Lord of your life and yet you find yourself diverted so often like that unstoppable river and you find yourself going in the wrong direction toward idols of this world. This would be a great time to open your heart and confess to the Lord that you have some idols. Talked about a lot of them, didn't we? In just some general categories. Have you examined your heart? What about possessions or plenty or pride or people, pleasure, projects, prominence? Is it education, prestige, sex, money? What is it? Hobby, sports, entertainment? Anything? Oh Christ, and Christ alone is to be King.

Father, speak to all our hearts tonight. And may we set aside the gods of this world, the emptiness, the deities that cannot respond and only steal us away from the virtue of your true and pure and eternal love for us. May we set aside the idols and worship You. No matter what Nebuchadnezzars there are in our lives, who in their dominion and sovereignty cry to us to bow, may we never bow. May we not bow with the rest of the elite and the erudite and the educated and the proud of the earth but may we, like those three young Hebrew boys, take our stand where it ought to be before almighty God and unflinchingly stand true and never bow the knee to an idol. Give us the kind of character that we see manifest in these three young boys. We who name the name of Christ and possess the power of the indwelling Spirit, we who have all the resources that they have and perhaps even more to stand true, help us not to compromise, not only not to eat the king's meat and drink the king's wine, but not to worship the king's gods. Help us to stand true, uncompromisingly to take our place in adoring and glorifying You. We'll thank You in Christ's name, Amen.

Uncompromising Faith in the Fiery Furnace, Part 2

Prior to the Super Bowl football game, I read a rather interesting story about Ronald Reagan in the L.A. Times. He was about to leave a press conference in New Hampshire and someone fired a question at him: "Who do you like in the Super Bowl?" Without hesitation, the former governor of California and now the presidential hopeful said: "The Rams." Then a light apparently went on in his brain and he paused and said: "Wait a minute, I'm not running for governor of California anymore, may the best team win."

It's amazing how fickle our loyalties are, isn't it? Dependent upon certain external pressures, we get swayed so very easily by the circumstances and who we want to influence. This is just a part of life for most people. And I hope as we study Daniel chapter 3 tonight we can do what we've done so many times already in the book of Daniel and that is we can learn to draw a line and call that line conviction and determine in our minds and our hearts that we'll never descend below that line.

That isn't easy to do. Let me give you a simple way to look at it. Our decisions, our attitudes and our behaviors are determined by one of two things: external pressure, or internal principle. Let me say it again. Our attitudes, our decisions and our behaviors are determined by one of two things: external pressure or internal principle. And the battle is going on all the time in our lives between these two conflicting items. And we're very good at self-justification so a lot of times when we succumb to external pressure we define it as internal principle. But basically we have to come down to that bottom line. Do we do what we do, say what we say and act the way we act because we have convictions about it or because we feel the pressure coming from the outside? And are our convictions somewhat altered by whatever pressures are brought to bear upon us? There are times when I'm in a situation where if I say what I believe I'll alienate a lot of people and I face that same bottom line. Do I say what I believe based on internal principle or do I succumb to the external pressure and let them hear what they'd rather hear?

When you are working in a business situation and you have the opportunity to make hay, shall we say, to do very well by yourself and close a big deal by simply compromising a little bit, maybe telling a small lie, cheating in a small way, violating a rule that seems to you rather insignificant, do you succumb to that kind of external pressure or do you act completely and totally on the basis of what you know to be proper internal principle? Because that's really the key issue as we live and move in this world. And frankly, the world if it ever needed it needs now men and women who function on internal principle. I don't know about you but whether you're talking about politics or anything else, you get a little weary of people who succumb to external pressures and wind up ever saying what you want them to say.

Now, as we approach the third chapter of Daniel, we're going to meet three young men who functioned on internal principle and they didn't really care what the external pressure was. And as followers of Jesus Christ, I think we have a lot to learn from these three young men. I want you to put yourself in this situation tonight, I want you to see yourself here, I'm not so concerned that you see Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego is that you see you here. And that you see how you would respond in a similar situation. I've been filtering that through my own mind now for several weeks and I really want to put myself in the sermon and I want you to put yourself in the sermon because that is the only thing that's going to make it meaningful for you. It doesn't really matter that these three Hebrew young men did what they did. It doesn't really matter to us today unless there is something here that we have gained personally in the way we confront the world. Do we put God first? Do we put His Word first? Do we do what we do based entirely upon internal principle or do we vacillate and compromise and act on external pressure?

Studdart Kennedy, who was an Anglican minister and a pastor at Worster in England, also was a chaplain in World War I and he has written some very, very beautiful poems that have always been favorites of mine. But Studdart Kennedy as well as a poet was a pastor and a chaplain. And as a chaplain he had to go to the war and he had to leave his family. He had a little son and he wrote a letter to his little son from the trenches of France where he was in the midst of very serious warfare. This is what he said. Obviously the letter was through his wife for his son couldn't read.

"The first prayer I want my son to learn to say for me is not - God, keep Daddy safe. The first prayer I want my son to learn is - God, make Daddy brave and if he has hard things to do, make him strong to do them. Life and death don't matter, my son, right and wrong do. Daddy dead is Daddy still. But Daddy dishonored before God is something too awful for words. I suppose you'd like to put in a bit about safety too and Mother would. Well, put it in afterwards, always afterwards for it doesn't matter nearly as much."

Well, Studdart Kennedy was right. Daddy dead is Daddy still. But Daddy compromised is something awful. And that's the uncompromising integrity that God calls for and that's precisely what we see in the lives of these three men who were able to face external pressure that was literally unbelievable but make decisions based absolutely and only on internal principle received through the divine revelation that they were taught. And I say again, and I'm not just talking about the world of politics or the world of government or the world of business, I'm telling you that the church of Jesus Christ needs men to whom external pressure brings no fear. And that just isn't true in all cases.

One poet wrote it this way: "I saw the martyr at the stake, the flames could not his courage shake, nor death his soul appall. I asked him whence his strength was given, he looked triumphantly to heaven and answered, Christ is all." That is the heart of the three young Hebrews and I trust that God will give you that same heart as you learn tonight from this marvelous passage.

Now, the story unfolds with eight key features and as Jerry said last time, we did number one and I told him I was going to try to do number two through eight tonight and they were skeptical, but we'll see. The flow of the text is a narrative text and it flows from the ceremony to the command to the conspiracy to the coercion to the courage, the consequences, the companion and the commendation. And curiously I would just add this footnote. Daniel isn't here in this passage. And I think that is abundantly important to us. We all know of the great character and virtue of Daniel as indicated in the first chapter and the second. We've all seen this tremendous strength of character that Daniel had in his uncompromising stand against the king's meat and the king's wine and the king's activities. And I think we kind of felt that Hananiah, Azariah and Mishael, otherwise known as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in their Babylonian names, sort of slid along on Daniel's coattails and so just so that we'll know that wasn't the case, the Lord conveniently removes Daniel. And he's not even around when all of the things are going on in chapter three which is amazing in itself because this is such a massive event in the kingdom of Babylon, it must have been that Daniel was out of the country on some very important business as prime minister or whatever rank he had at this particular time. But he's not here and these three young men stand alone, but they stand courageously.

First of all the ceremony, look back at verses 1 to 3, we've already discussed them but just to remind you. "Nebuchadnezzar the king," he's the king of Babylon where these young men, Hebrew young men have been taken captive along with all that was left of the nation of Judah, "And Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold whose height was threescore cubits and the breadth of it six cubits," that's 90 feet high and nine feet wide, "he set it up in the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. And then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the princes, the governors, the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs and all the rulers of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. And then the princes, the governors, the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs and all the rulers of the provinces were gathered together unto the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up."

Now, what you have here is Nebuchadnezzar making a...an image, a massive statue to himself, identifying himself, if you will, as a god and demanding that all of the highest ranking people in the Babylonian Empire fall down and worship him. And as I told you before, the gold that represented Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel's vision of the four world empires captivated his thinking, no doubt, and so he decided to make a massive statue all of gold to his own glory. And it sort of symbolizes the monarch and his empire embodied into one great reality and he wanted everyone to bow down and worship him. Nebuchadnezzar was simply doing what all men tend to do who don't know God, that is they worship themselves. They invent gods of their own thinking to fit their own mind and their own attitude.

And having established this great idol and demanded that everybody worship it, this brought these three Hebrew young men into a very chilling decision. Because they knew the Law: of God regarding idolatry and they knew what it was to set up graven images and how heinous it was to the mind of God, they knew that it was unacceptable and they knew they faced the reality of making a decision.

Now, you'll notice that all the nobles had little character because in verse 2 it says he called them all and then in verse 3 it lists them all over again, almost in a sarcastic way and says they all stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. In other words, typically, all of these leading politicians and all of the hierarchy of Babylon was willing to do whatever it took to get the approval of Nebuchadnezzar. They would compromise all of their convictions, whatever other deities they may or may not have worshiped, they would set all of that aside to do what was ever necessary for them to gain favor with this man and to take themselves out of a position of being punished or even being killed because they failed to do it. And so all the great ones stand there in their typical compromising fashion and it reiterates them all in verse 3, I think, in order to sort of humiliate them in almost a satirical way as their lack of character is made manifest.

Now, we move from the ceremony to the command in verse 4. "Then an herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O people, nations and languages." Now let me just give a footnote there. Peoples, nations and languages is just a common form of address to speak of a conglomerate of people. It is used again in the same chapter in verse 7, it is used again, I think it's over in verse 29, yes, people, nation and languages. It's used in chapter 4, peoples, nations and languages, in verse 1. It's used again, I think it's in chapter 6. It's just a way of sort of a common way of addressing any conglomerate assembly of people. And so he calls together all of this conglomerate and he gives them a command. And what is it? It's in verse 5: "That at that time," and that means at that precise moment, he wants absolute submission in absolute precision at a very exacting moment, "At that moment that you hear the sound of the horn, the Dine, the lyre, the sackbut, the psaltery, the dulcimer and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up."

Now, apparently this guy had a royal orchestra with all of this stuff playing together some no doubt sensual music to try to draw everybody's attention to the image and cause them to bow down. It is kind of interesting to note, I'll say this for Clayton's benefit, that you have both wind and string instruments here. There is the horn and there is the pipe and that means a flute. And then, by the way the horn had a lower sound and the flute had a higher sound. And then you have a lyre...l-y-r-e...which is a harp and this was a smaller harp with high sounds. And then there is the sackbut which is very difficult to ascertain. In fact, frankly we haven't got the faintest idea of what that is. Sorry about that. Then there is a psaltery, I mean there's a lot of speculation but it's useless, there's a psaltery and that is a harp with a sounding board. A lyre was a high sounding harp and a psaltery was a low sounding harp. And then there was a dulcimer, and believe it or not that's basically a bagpipe. And then all kinds of music with all these instruments was the cue. When the music started everybody was instantly to fall down and worship the image.

Now frankly, people, this guy's really got an incredible ego. He's got the whole nation gathered together, all of the leading dignitaries, he's called out the royal orchestra, they're all ready to go and when they hit their cue, everybody is supposed to bow down to his massive image. I might just add that music has always been a part of sensuality and has always been connected with the worship of idols. And like every other good thing that God has given us, Satan has surely used music to provoke...to promote his evil system, hasn't he? Never has he done a better job of it than our current day today.

All right, then the consequences come in verse 6: "And whoever falleth not down and worshipeth shall the same hour be cast int o the midst of a burning fiery furnace." Now, I don't know what it could be except a burning fiery furnace if it was a fiery furnace, so we assume that the burning is set there for the intensification so you'll understand that it's a superlative approach that he makes. Anybody who refuses to bow down constitutes a treasonous act and will be thrown into the fiery furnace. If you're standing in opposition to the greatness of Nebuchadnezzar, that's all for you.

Well, most people respond to external circumstances and external pressure. They conform to whatever is required of them rather than internal principle. So verse 7 says: "Therefore at that time, that precise moment, when all the people heard the sound of the horn, the pipe, the lyre, the sackbut, the psaltery and all kinds of music, all the people, the nations and the languages," there they are again, "fell down and worshiped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up." Now you what to meet a pile of non-faking, intimidated people, that's them. Typical approach to life, you do whatever you need to do to get whatever you need to get...living on the lowest level, compromising internal principle based on external pressure. Men invariably bow to the system; they bow to the powers that be. They do whatever they have to do. Afraid to lose their position and so they compromise.

But, it doesn't tell us but we know that in the white spaces here something else was going on. Everybody was down except three guys and boy, would they ever stick out. They didn't go down. And so we move to the ceremony to the command to the conspiracy in verse 8...the conspiracy. Now watch this.

"Wherefore at that time, certain Chaldeans came near and accused the Jews." Now I told you when we first started to study this book that there were probably as many as 75, at least, young men who were taken from the court of Judah to the court of Babylon to be trained to work in that court in the matter of Jewish affairs. But out of all of the 75, and that's just a kind of an educated guess, it could have been more or a few less, but out of all of these young men that were taken into captivity who were the sons of the royalty of Judah, only four of them ever are presented as uncompromising ... Daniel and his three friends. And so we assume that the rest of them just hit the deck with everybody else. They were going to buy the bag, accommodate themselves, they were moving up in the system and they weren't about to give themselves problems and so they just followed along. But apparently, from the indication of verse 8, there were these three that did not. And may I hasten to add that they were probably about 20 years of age, they were very young. Tremendous conviction for men so young.

Now, I want you to notice in verse 8 a very important word, well, two words really. First of all, "Chaldeans." The Chaldeans had been kind of the mainstay of Babylonian culture and hierarchy. But when these three young men had shown such great character and when Daniel had been able to interpret Nebuchadnezzar's dream, both Daniel and his three friends, remember got elevated to very high places, and it's very likely that they were even set above the Chaldeans. Look back in chapter 2 verse 49, Daniel requested of the king and he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the affairs of the province of Babylon and Daniel sat in the gate of the king. Daniel was given a place of, I think at this point we could call it the prime minister of Babylon, and the other three were placed in the leadership of the affairs of Babylon, as the province of Babylon. So they had been elevated. And the Chaldeans resented this, they were angry about this. And so it says they accused the Jews. That's a very interesting word.  It means literally to "eat the pieces of." Okay? It is used to eat the pieces of flesh that are torn off a body as a rapacious animal would strip the flesh and the tissue off a body and consume it. The Chaldeans came in a malicious way to slander almost in a cannibalistic way, to strip the flesh off, to literally devour to pieces these Jews. So it's not a...it's not a legal term. It's not talking about some of the law...something of a law court accusation but rather a malicious hating desire to tear their flesh. And like cannibals they came after these three Jews.

And the Chaldeans, of course, also we have to remember, were energized by Satan for they were the basically the priests of the god known as Bel Merodach who was the main god...Bel being a similar to the form we know as Baal, and so they saw their chance energized by Satan through their own false religious system to tear into these young Hebrews.

Hypocritically they spoke to the king as if they were defending him; they accused the Jews as if to aid the king in finding out if everybody had obeyed. In verse 9: "They spoke and said to the king, Nebuchadnezzar, O king, live forever." Gave him all that flowery jazz that kings like to hear. "We're really here, king, just to assure you of our commitment." They were envious of the high positions of these Jewish boys and they wanted to do all they could to change that but they came on hypocritically. Verse 10: "Thou, O king, hast made a decree." And they go through the whole deal. "That every man that shall hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, sackbut, psaltery and dulcimer and all kinds of music shall fall down and worship the golden image and whoever falleth not down and worshipeth that he should be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace." And they got it pretty accurate, that's pretty well verbatim what the king said. They reiterated the standard and then they revealed the real issue in verse 12.

"There are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon," and that's what stuck in their craw...chapter 2 verse 49, that is what really aggravated them that these captive Hebrews would be given such a high ranking place. "Those certain Jews, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, these men, O king, have not regarded thee, they serve not thy gods nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up." Slaves, imported hostages, foreigners, and you've made rulers out of them and they rule over us. That's what really eats at them. And you get a little bit of the insight of the appalling sin of envy. God says, for example, in Proverbs 14 verse 30: "A sound heart is the life of the flesh but envy the rottenness of the bones." J. Allen Blair writes, "Envy in the believer is as rotting bones in the sense that spiritual power and usefulness are curtailed." This was the case in the life of Saul. He had been a great king, anointed of God to be the Lord's witness, but because of the sin of envy, Saul's life degenerated into utter uselessness. Saul heard people singing, "Saul had slain his thousands and David his ten-thousands." This was only a song but it awakened in his heart the wicked passion of envy. The Song of Solomon 8:6 says: "Jealousy is cruel as the grave." Jealousy and envy is like an acid, it literally corrodes the soul--it destroys the beauty of the soul like a grave destroys the beauty of the body. And they were being consumed by the sin of envy. And so they bring this to the king.

Now, notice that they accuse them of three things, verse 12. One, in the middle of the verse, "...O king, have not...these men have not regarded thee." First of all they haven't regarded you. They haven't given attention to you. They haven't responded to you. They haven't given you your due.

That's not true. They had faithfully fulfilled unwritten Scripture in Matthew 22:21 where our Lord said: "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's." They had unquestionably fulfilled their responsibility to the king insofar as it didn't violate their responsibility to God. They were good citizens. They had responded to the king. Go back to chapter 1 you find out that they had given the king his due.

The second two accusations were true, verse 12: "They serve not thy gods," that was true, "and they don't worship the image which you set up." Now what's amazing, here is this, these three young men knew the price of disobedience. And you have to ask yourself--how could anybody put principle so high that they would literally stand there while the entire mass of people went down, they would stand there resolute, ready to walk into a burning fiery furnace? Now that's character, people. That's functioning on internal principle, not external pressure. Now you just think about the pressure, you think about it. Nebuchadnezzar was their friend. Nebuchadnezzar was their benefactor. Their destiny was in his hands. Resisting Nebuchadnezzar would be utterly useless, they have no other resource. Future advancement in their careers in Babylon were absolutely dependent upon their allegiance. They could have said to themselves, an idol is nothing anyway, so why do we worry about it? We'll just kneel down with everybody else only we'll pray to the true God. They could have said - Everybody's doing it. If we're going to reach people we've got to be Dart of them. They could have said, "Well, you know, the fire tends to be fatal and if we're dead we're not real useful to God and we're in such a strategic place if we get burned up it's just going to mess up the whole plan."

And they also could have thought, "Well, if we don't bow down, we're going to play into the hands of these jealous Chaldeans." And they may have thought for a moment that death wasn't in their contract.

There were lots of things that could have come to bear upon them as pressures but in spite of all of this they were resolute and absolutely uncompromising. It's amazing the situation they were in to take such a firm stand. Stephen Gerard...the unbelieving millionaire of Philadelphia, years past, told his clerks one Saturday that they had to come the next day and unload a shipment which had just arrived. Well, the next day was Sunday. One young man stepped up to the desk and said nervously, "Mr. Gerard, I can't work on Sunday." "Well, sir," replied the employer, "if you can't do as I wish we can separate."

"I know that, sir," said the young man. "And I know too I have a widowed mother to care for but I cannot work on Sunday."

"Very well," said Mr. Gerard, "go to the cashier's desk and he'll settle with you."

For three long weeks the biographer says the young man tramped the streets looking for work and one day a bank president asked Gerard to name a suitable person for cashier of a new bank about to be started. After reflecting a moment, Gerard named the young man he had just fired.

"But I thought you said you fired him," said the bank president.

"I did," retorted Gerard, "because he wouldn't work on Sunday and I tell you, the man that will lose his job on account of principle is the man with whom you can trust your money."

You know, you have to kind of ask yourself the question if you're in Nebuchadnezzar's situation, why bother about three guys, right? You've got everybody else down, what's the sweat? But have you ever noticed egomania can't stand one person that doesn't conform? One person is all it takes to make them literally livid, let alone three. And so Nebuchadnezzar was never satisfied with everybody but three. Megalomaniacs are never satisfied with anything less than everybody period.

And so, the conspiracy. From the conspiracy we go to the fourth feature in this narrative, the coercion. And by coercion here we find Nebuchadnezzar confronting the three and trying to coerce them into a response that is more fitting. But we find them to be unshakeable. Notice, we'll read 13 to 15, follow along. "Then Nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury," now that shows you what kind of a guy he was. He is...those words are strong words. He is a raving maniac because these three Hebrews won't bow down. You'd have to figure to yourself, you know, "All these thousands are down, I'm not going to worry about those three, I've got a pretty good majority going."

But not if you're a man like Nebuchadnezzar. He is in an absolute fury and he commands to be brought to him Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and then they brought these men before the king. "And Nebuchadnezzar spoke and said unto them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, do not ye serve my gods nor worship the golden image which I have set up?" Notice he dropped the first accusation that they made in verse 12 that he doesn't regard...they don't regard the king because he knew that wasn't true. So he just dropped that first one. But he said, "Is it true that you don't worship and serve my gods and you won't bow down to the golden image?"

And then he goes through this whole routine again. "Now, if you be ready that at that time you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, sackbut, psaltery, dulci..." he must have memorized this speech, "and all kinds of music, fall down and worship the image which I have made, but if you worship not you shall be cast in the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace." And then he adds this stupid statement: "And who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?" Boy, he's really getting carried away. Who is that God that will deliver you out of my hands? He's got a short memory, this guy. Has he forgotten the same God that was able to reveal dreams and visions? What a maniac. "Is it true," he says...." Is this really true," verse 14, "that you won't do this?" And in his favor, I guess, he is a somewhat just man, he at least gives them a chance to speak for themselves before he throws them into the fiery furnace based on the accusation of the Chaldeans. I'm sure he knew that they were a little upset about what was going on politically anyway. And his pomp makes him furious and he is white-hot at this particular point and he goes to the point of actually putting himself against God and pitting his power against the power of God, who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?

O the folly and the stupidity of that kind of pride. When you pit yourself against the eternal God you have met your match and he meets his match in this chapter and in succeeding ones as we shall see. Had he forgotten that Daniel's God was greater than all the gods of Babylon, including his own gods who couldn't answer his dreams and help him in any way, shape or form? It seems as though the idolatrous fool in the midst of his egomania had forgotten that.

We go then from the ceremony to the command to the conspiracy to the coercion and finally the courage, verse 16. And this is the climax, it's just fabulous. "Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego answered and said to the king," now, we're right there, folks, what are they going to say? "O Nebuchadnezzar," they don't give him all that long-live-the-king stuff, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we're not careful to answer thee in this matter." I love that. Well, what does that mean? Well, basically we just don't have anything to say. It isn't arrogant; there just was nothing to say. They were simply admitting their guilt. "We have nothing to say to you by way of a denial and we have nothing to say to you by way of an explanation cause explanations won't mean a thing and so we just are not concerned about giving you an answer at all. We're standing and that's the way we'll remain."

They had faithfully served Nebuchadnezzar as far as they could. This was going too far. And then comes the sublime statement, in fact, maybe the most sublime statement any mortal ever makes in the whole of the Bible, maybe the greatest affirmation of true faith anywhere in holy Scripture. Verse 17 and 18: "If it be so, our God whom we serve..." and that's pretty direct, "is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king, one way or another, but if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up," end of speech...period, paragraph.

No rationalization, no dialogue, no well, what would you like us to do--could we bend down half way? None of that. We don't have any defense, they say. We don't have any answer. We don't have any out. We have absolutely nothing to say except our God whom we serve is greater than you. And He'll deliver us out of your burning, fiery furnace and even if He doesn't we still aren't going to bow down. O what a sublime statement. What faith these young men had. What courage! We all agree with that and it's easy here in this comfortable place, they were standing on the edge of the fiery furnace. Their testimony was unflinching and unwavering. And their faith held true in the worst moment.

Beloved, I submit to you that this is because they were absolutely committed to internal principle. They had been taught the Word of God and they knew that they were to respond in a certain manner based upon the truth of God and they would not compromise that no matter what the external pressures were. What virtue...and it wasn't dependent on whether or not they got their miracle, they would accept God's will even if it meant death rather than be idolatrous. O I'm telling you, if there's anything we can give this world it's this kind of a spirit. It's an uncompromising, unflinching integrity that says - I will stand true to my God if it costs me my life. And we bow, don't we, all the time to the 20th century idols to gain whatever we want to gain among the people of this world? They knew the blindness of that heathen king. They knew their lengthy explanations were useless. They simply commit themselves to God. And like Job in Job 13:15 they said: "Though He slay me yet will I trust Him." They knew that what happened to their bodies was not the issue but that their soul had to be riveted on the truth of God. This is for us, people, an uncompromising life that will not bow to any idol no matter what the cost, the idol of popularity, the idol of comfort, the idol of fame, the idol of respectability in the world, none of those idols can make us bow. There is no compromise for one who stands like this. God is just as good when He doesn't heal as He is when He does. God is just as loving when He doesn't provide all that we think we need as when He does. God is just as gracious when He says no as He is when He says yes. God is God and God is to be uncompromisingly worshiped and what He does is His business. You might sum it up by saying: In God's case, death is as good as life. Right? Paul said it, "For to me to live is Christ and to die is...what?...gain." Death never put any fear in his heart. Death never forced him to compromise. He put his head one day on a block and an axehead flashed in the sun and severed it from his body and he never flinched and compromised.

Listen, the Lord calls us to that. In Exodus 20...32:26, the question was asked: Who is on the Lord's side? In Matthew 10: "Whosoever shall confess Me before men, him will I confess before My Father whose in heaven." In Mark 8:38, "Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous generation, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed." In other words, there is a call for an uncompromising commitment to confess the reality of God and stand true. And the world comes to us over and over again to call us to its idols. We want to be popular. We want to be famous. We want to be liked. We want to make money. We want to get a promotion. We want to get good grades. We want to win somebody over. And so we compromise and render ourselves useless and our testimony negative.

Naaman, 2 Kings 5, was cleansed of his leprosy and he stood before Elisha and this is what he said: "There shall be no god in my heart but Jehovah." Now that's good. Naaman says from here on out there shall be no god in my heart but Jehovah. "But in this I pray your forgiveness," he says to Elisha, "that when the king goes forth to the house of Rimmon to worship there and he leaneth on my hand and I bow down before the god Rimmon, in this way thy servant be pardoned." Now, Naaman was so concerned that he not compromise himself that he said - Look, in my heart there's nobody but Jehovah, but when the king needs help, to get his frame down and I have to be leaned on to get him down there you please forgive me because it is not an act of worship to that god. And Elisha sent him on his way in peace.

Is our faith so real that there's no price to make us bow down? Martin Luther in loneliness on his way to face the inevitable hour of excommunication at what is known as "The Diet of Worms," to appear before King Charles V and the Roman prelate, and all of the princes assembled, said this and it's a great word: quote, Martin Luther, "My cause shall be commended to the Lord for He lives and reigns who preserve the three children in the furnace of the Babvlonian king. If He is unwilling to preserve me, my life is a small thing compared with Christ. Expect anything of me except flight or recantation. I will not flee much less recant, so may the Lord Jesus strengthen me," end quote.

He took his cue from those three Hebrews. He didn't say, "Deliver me," he said, "If God wants to take my life; it is a small thing." So with these great men of God and others, we stand before the presence of the pressure of the world to bow to its idols unflinching and unwavering. And someone has written: "The dearest idol I have known, what e'er that idol be, help me to tear it from its throne and worship only Thee." No wonder in 1 John 5:21 John closes his marvelous epistle with the words: "Keep yourselves from idols."

So, we see the ceremony, the command, the conspiracy, the coercion and the courage. And now the consequences and we'll just look at this very rapidly, verse 19. Well, after that little deal, Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury. In verse 13 it says he had rage and fury, now he's full of it. "And the form of his visage was changed." You know what that means? That means he screwed up his face, he was so mad that he began to wrinkle up his face and make faces at them. This is a grown man...stupid, he is so thwarted in his egomaniacal effort to have everybody worship him, he's just literally enraged and he starts making faces at them. "And he spoke," and now he does a stupid thing, "he commands that they heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated."

Now you say, "Boy, he wants that thing to really burn." Yeah, but that's dumb. If you wanted to really torture somebody you turn the heat down and prolong it. Heat it up seven times hotter just means it will be less trauma. He doesn't even know what he's doing. He's lost control of himself. Here we are in the court full of spineless flatterers and men pleasers and we see these three young men confounding and confusing and turning Nebuchadnezzar into some kind of an idiot. And so he says heat it seven times hotter than it should be.

Verse 20: "He commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and cast them into the burning fiery furnace." As far as we know this, trying to reconstruct this, it was probably a pit in the ground that had a some kind of opening down low and at the top there was an open hole and they were thrown in the open hole though the fire was stoked and fed from below. And Nebuchadnezzar could have some kind of a balcony that he could look down through that opening in the top to see what was going on. And so the fire is hotter and hotter and hotter and he calls on the strong men, that is the best soldiers, probably his own personal bodyguard, to tie them up and then cast them into the burning fiery furnace.

"And then these men were bound in their coats, their stockings, their turbans and their other garments and cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace." Now what's interesting about this is the coats and the garments and the turbans and the stockings indicates that they were dressed to kill. I mean, they were all dressed up in the festivic...fes...they were all dressed up in fancy clothes. Win a few, lose a few, right? Trying to make an adverb out of something that's not an adverb. But anyway, they were dressed up fancy for the big occasion. And they were all...and the king was so furious he never altered that at all.

They were all dressed up and I think the kind of a hint here from the Holy Spirit that they had really come to do what was right as those who responded to the king. They were not rebellious.' They were properly attired for such a great event. They just couldn't follow through in disobedience to their God and so they were wrapped up in a great big hurry, their clothes weren't even changed; they just wrapped them up and threw them in the midst of the fiery furnace. As I said, likely from a hole in the top.

Now, immediately they knew God was not going to save them from the fire. That became abundantly clear as they were on their way in. Plan B, if you can't get saved from the fire, you hope to get saved in the fire. And that's what happened. So, they knew they were not going to be able to escape the experience but they were trusting God to suffer through the experience to His glory. Maybe they were remembering the comforting words of Isaiah 43:2: "When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned neither shall the flame kindle upon thee." That would have been a comfort to them, wouldn't it?

Well, the soldiers didn't have it so well. Verse 22: "Therefore because the king's commandment was urgent," he was completely out of control, "and the furnace exceedingly hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego." The soldiers that threw them in all burned to death. Here they were on the outside burned to death and the others were on the inside having a great time. They died in the fire. Verse 23: "And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, fell down," and that's why we believe there was a hole at the top and they were cast down, "bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace."

Now,  if you didn't know this whole story I could just say, "Come back next week and find out what happened." But we'll move on. We move from the consequences to the companion in verse 24. "Then Nebuchadnezzar, the king, was astounded and rose up in a hurry and spoke and said unto his counselors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king. He answered and said, Lo, I see four men, not bound but loose, walking around in the midst of the fire and they have no hurt. And the form of the fourth is like a son of the gods."

Now you think Nebuchadnezzar was shook when this started, he is really shook now. He is seated at a comfortable distance, able to see through this hole at what's going on. He looks in there and many things astound him. First he sees four not three. Then he sees that they are not bound but they're loose. They're not lying down, they're walking around. They're not burning up and roasting, they're completely unhurt. The fourth one looks like a son of the gods and they weren't looking for the exit they were just patiently waiting and enjoying each other's company.

What about the phrase "a son of the gods," who is that? Nebuchadnezzar was a pagan. He wouldn't have known the Son of God if he had seen Him. He wouldn't have understood a pre-incarnate Christophany or appearance of Christ such as we find in Genesis 18. 1 believe that what Nebuchadnezzar had in his mind with that statement is simply an angelic being ... because over in verse 28 of this same chapter, he uses the word "angel." It seems to me that Nebuchadnezzar recognized a supernatural spiritual being that he would equate with an angel. Now some would like to believe it was Christ, and it may well have been. Others believe it was an angel, and frankly, folks, there's no way to be certain about it at all. We know Christ did appear at certain times in the Old Testament but whether it was Christ in a special appearance prior to His incarnation in earth, or whether it was an angel is really not the issue. The point is I believe that God sent that angel into that fiery furnace to explain to those three guys what was going on and they were walking around and he was telling them I'm sent from God to preserve you in the midst of this fire, you're not going to be burned, we'll just enjoy our fellowship until the next scene in the drama.

I believe they knew they weren't burning and God sent His angel to care for them. When the Bible says that the Lord says in Hebrews 13:5 "I will never leave you or forsake you," I think God means that. And I think God sends those who are His angels to care for us in the midst of dire circumstances.

Years before Elijah had been similarly honored by having God's angels sent personally to serve him food at a time he was terribly discouraged. You can read it in 1 Kings 19. How wonderful to know it is...it is to know that we go through no experiences where God is not there in divine companionship and the hotter the fire the sweeter the fellowship. You know, I can tell you, folks, in my own experience, that whenever I get into a situation where I decide to take a stand for something and it's the unpopular thing to do and you start getting flack, you have this tremendous sense of divine companionship. It's what Peter talked about when he talked about the fact that when we go through persecution, the spirit of grace and glory rests on us. We had...I had this overwhelming sense of the presence of God strengthening. And here they were in the fiery furnace in divine companionship.

So, the ceremony, the command, the conspiracy, the coercion, the courage, the consequence, the companionship and lastly, believe it or not, the commendation...the commendation. And this is very simple to see, verse 26: "Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace and spoke and said, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, you servants of the Most High God." How did he know that? Well, it was obvious he had met his match. "Come forth, come here." I love this. "Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came forth from the midst of the fire." You've got to believe Nebuchadnezzar was rubbing his eyes all this time.

And here we go again. "And the princes, the governors, the captains, the king's counselors being gathered together saw these men upon whose body the fire had no power nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them."

Now, they did an investigation. When I was in college one time, I needed to buy a sport coat and I didn't have any money. My mother always sent me cookies not money. But...so I needed a sport coat and a store burned down in the town where our college was and so I decided to go to the Fire Sale. I'll never forget that coat. The smell of it lingers with me even now. I wore that coat for about three years in college and it never stopped smelling. In fact, when people would come around me they would just sniff automatically. If you've ever had...if you've ever been through a fire you know the smell of smoke that gets into clothes just doesn't ever get out. And so they gave them this, you know, full investigation and there's not a hair singed and their garments aren't even changed in terms of being burned at all and there's not even the smell of fire on them.

"Then Nebuchadnezzar spoke and said," now watch this, "Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego." You say, "Ah, the coversion of Nebuchadnezzar." Wrong. In verse 26 he says: "The Most High God," he is not abandoning his polytheism, he's just sticking this God on the top of the pile, that's all. He is not saying, "The one true God," he is just saying, "You got to be the supreme one," that's all. He is maintaining his traditional polytheism, many gods. And here when he says: "Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego," he is simply acknowledging what theologians call "henotheism." And that is the belief that certain people and certain nations have their own gods. And in a henotheistic way he has room in his polytheism for the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and he is willing to say at this point that this is the Most High God of all the gods...that's a far cry from saying He's the only God, isn't it?.

"Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego who has sent His angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him and hath changed the king's word and yielded their bodies that they might not serve nor worship any god except their own God." He says - I just have to bless the God of these people who wouldn't compromise and wouldn't worship any other god. And I love this statement, verse 28: "They yielded their...what?...their bodies." What verse does that sound like? Romans 12:1, "Present your bodies a...what?...a living sacrifice and be not conformed to this world." That's exactly what they did. You want an illustration of Romans 12:1 and 2, here it is...they yielded their bodies. And he says, "Blessed be the God who can get that kind of allegiance out of His people."

Listen, we can set the world on its ear. We can turn the pagan world around in a tizzy, literally, by living an uncompromising life so that in their...even in their unbelief they will have to say that ours is the Most High God. Even in their unbelief they will have to say - Blessed be the God of those folks. Any God who can draw that kind of allegiance must be some God.

And then the commendation, verse 29: "Therefore I make a decree that every people, nation and language who speak anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego shall be cut in pieces and their houses shall be made a refuse heap," and that was the ultimate desecration, to take a person's house and make it a dung pile, a sewage place, "because there is no other god that can deliver after this sort. And then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the province of Babylon." And when you already rule and you get promoted, that's some promotion.

If you think the Chaldeans were unhappy at the beginning in chapter 3 you can imagine what it was like at the end in chapter 3. He says anybody who speaks a word against their God is going to be cut in pieces and their houses will be made a refuse heap. Nebuchadnezzar isn't dumb. He's determined that he's going to be nice to this God because if ever he wanted anything he wants this God on his side.

One of the coaches in the National Football League was asked why he always had a Christian minister on the sideline. He said, "Do you believe in God?" He said, "Well, I'm not really sure but in case there's one I want Him on my side." That's Nebuchadnezzar. He wanted Him on his side.

Now, let me close just quickly. You and I will probably never face a fiery furnace, right? Probably never will. But you're going to face trials by fire, believe me, and so am I. And they're going to come from several sources. First of all, Satan afflicts us. He afflicted Jesus and tempted Him. "He goes around," says Peter, "as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour." He is the accuser of the brethren. He wants to plant evil thoughts. Paul himself said he received a messenger from Satan sent to buffet him. Satan is going to afflict us through the avenue of the flesh.

Secondly, the world is going to torment us. The world is going to try to lure us. The world is going to try to persecute US. The world is going to try to force us to compromise.

And, believe it or not, God will even bring trials into our life, testing our faith, right? In Hebrews chapter 12 it talks about how God afflicts us with chastening.

So, we're going to have the trials. Some from Satan, some from the world and some that God allows but in all of this the end result is that we may be refined and that we may stand courageous and uncompromising. The hymn writer says: "When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie, My grace all sufficient shall be thy supply, the flame shall not hurt thee, I only design thy drawest to consume and thy gold to refine," you see. Let's pray.

Father, I'm remembering that when a warrior went to battle in medieval times, the first thing he had to do was kneel and bend his sword over his knee to see if it would break. He needed to know that it would hold up in the heat of the battle. And, Lord, we are Your swords in many ways and there are times when You bend us over Your knee to see if we'll break. And if we don't break, then You use us to win mighty victories. May we trust in Your great delivering power, may we allow the tensions and tests and trials that come our way to be those things which refine us like gold. And may we not compromise and forfeit the blessedness that is ours when we stand true. And may we know that through it all there will be standing at our side one like a son of the gods, a divine companion to strengthen us in the midst of battle. Make us an uncompromising people that like these young men we may stand firm that the world may say, "Blessed is the God of this person who could call from them such yieldedness." May that be our testimony, for Christ's sake, Amen.

Daniel in the Lions' Den

We're looking at Daniel chapter 6 tonight. What a wonderful and exciting adventure it is to go through this chapter. I'm often torn as I approach these narrative chapters, about the possibility of splitting them down and covering them over a period of time, and yet the story is so wonderful as a whole that I find myself pressed to deal with all of it and so we sort of run our way through these great narrative sections of the book of Daniel. This is the last of those...this sixth chapter ends the historical narrative portion and from seven on, we get into some deep and exciting prophetic truth. We'll be touching on that beginning next Lord's day.

We're looking at Daniel chapter 6, the famous chapter in which we find Daniel in and out of the lion's den. Just as an introduction, let me make a couple of comments relative to what we'll learn in the text. Nations are born, they live and they die. They rise and they fall with great regularity. In fact, as you study history, you are more and more impressed with the fact that nations rapidly pass from off the scene. We look back to the Empires of the Hittites, the Egyptians, the Assyrians and finally the Babylonians where we find Daniel first taking the role of prime minister.

They were followed by the Persians and the Medes and the Greeks and the Romans. All of them came and all of them went.

On our own continents, in the Western Hemisphere, we find tales told of the great Mayan, the great Inca, the great Aztec civilizations, but little or no trace remains except for some archaeological artifacts. They have come and they have gone.

In more modern times, some of you have lived through the greatness of the days of England. You remember the greatness of France. You remember when Italy was a major power in the world and threatened even to dominate Europe under the leadership of Mussolini. We remember Germany. Hitler, who with his Aryan philosophy, thought he could conquer the world. We have seen the rise of Japan as a military power. China seems to have had its day. Russia seems to be having its day now. And America may be on the wane.

Nations rise, nations fall...they come and go. But the Bible tells us in Acts 17 that the times of the nations are bounded by the sovereignty of God. And what happens to the nations is all in the predetermined plan of God for history. Now what is especially thrilling is that the coming and the going of nations has very little to do with the ongoing of the people of God. There couldn't be imagined a more cataclysmic than just happened in chapter 5 of Daniel...Babylon has fallen. At the height of its glory, supposedly, the head of gold, the greatest Empire that humanity had ever known,the Medes and the Persians entered the city and without firing a shot, as it were, the whole Empire fell. But what is amazing about it is that it had little or no impact on what God did with His people for Daniel rides through the ebb and the flow of nations. And as we come to chapter 6, we enter the second in the great four empire scene in the image of Daniel chapter 2, the Medo-Persian Empire, the breast and the arms of silver. And as we look at that Empire, we don't see Daniel in absentia, but we see Daniel right at the heart of the matter. He was a prime minister of Babylon and he will equally be the prime minister of Medo-Persia.

And it excites me to think about that. Because I see today, across America--and even around the world, a preoccupation among many Christian peoples with the preservation of certain nations, even our own. And in a strange way, they are tempting to equalize America with the church, or America with the plan of God and that just isn't the way it is. Nations come and go and God's work goes on. And no nation is really significant when set against the backdrop of eternity and God's plan.

For example, in Isaiah chapter 40 and verse 15, it says: "Behold the nations are like a drop of a bucket and are counted as the small dust of the balance." A very interesting statement. Nations are like one drop that spills out of a bucket. The only word I can think of is inconsequential. They are like the dust on the balance...which is not a factor in the weighing at all. When God sets about to weigh out the history of humanity, the nations are not the issue. And when God pours out the floods of the flow of His redemptive plan, one drop is inconsequential. The nations are drops, they are dust.

Backing up in Isaiah 40 to verses 7 and 8, he compares the nations to grass that withers and dies and fades away. We think back to Nimrod and Sennacherib and Nebuchadnezzar and Cyrus and Artaxerxes and Alexander and the Caesars, the Pharaohs, Napoleon, Churchill, Mussolini, Hitler, Mao, Khrushchev and into our modern time...and the leaders and the nations come and go and God's work goes on.

In chapter 4 of Daniel and verse 17, you'll remember that great word: "This matter is by the decree of the watchers and the demand by the word of the holy ones; to the intent that the living may know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men and gives it to whomsoever He will." God rules in history. And nations may come and nations may go...even our own. But God's redemptive plan as unfolded through His people will go on according to schedule. The people of God go through the rise and the fall of nations... they transcend. That's a great hope for us. And we see that in Daniel. Babylon is fallen. The head of gold is crushed. The times of the Gentiles is moved into phase two, but Daniel is right where God wants him and God is unencumbered by the decisions of men.

When you think about the fact that Babylon has fallen, it's really amazing. Nebuchadnezzar, of course, had a habit of putting his name on every brick that he put into the buildings of Babylon. In fact, one writer says that we have literally found uncounted thousands of bricks with Nebuchadnezzar's name on them...trying to build a lasting empire. One brick, which is now in the British Museum, has the image and the name of Nebuchadnezzar and a dog's footprint over both of them.

So it is with the world, but God's people and God's plan transcends all that. So we see Daniel surviving...and in chapter 6 we find him in the midst of the Medo-Persian Empire.

Now, I want some key words to take us through this text. We're going to begin at the beginning of chapter 6, it's a narrative text, we don't need to spend a lot of time on each section, we want to get to the climax and then draw some practical implications. But we're going to use some key words just to help us keep our place as we go.

The first one is promotion...promotion. And that deals with verses 1 to 3. "It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom," this is the Medo-Persian kingdom, "an hundred and twenty princes who should be, over the whole kingdom. And over these, three presidents," and by the way, that's the only place in the Bible that word president is ever used in the Hebrew, or the Aramaic rather, and it appears to be a word that means chief. He set over these hundred and twenty satraps, or territorial leaders, three chiefs to whom they reported. "Of whom Daniel was first in order that the princes might give accounts unto them and the king should have no damage. Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes because an excellent spirit was in him and the king thought to set him over the whole realm."

Now, there we find the promotion. Notice, first of all, that we meet Darius. Now, Darius is a very elusive person because we have no extra-biblical data in existence to tell us anything about Darius. We just really don't know who he is. We find nobody at that particular point in history who is named Darius. There doesn't seem to be a place in the genealogical record of the kings of that time for a man named Darius.

Now, some scholars feel that Darius is another name for a...a king by the name of Gubaru...Gubaru...who was not really a king but was really someone appointed under Cyrus as kind of a ruler of the...of the territory of Babylon. Cyrus being the great monarch of the whole Empire of Medo-Persia appointed this Gubaru as the one to rule in Babylon. And some say that this word Darius is just another name for Gubaru.

But an explanation that I prefer is that Darius is just another name for Cyrus...just another name for Cyrus. I feel that that's perhaps the best explanation of all. Why? Because the word Darius is a title...it is a title. It's kind of like Pharaoh, or king, or Caesar. It's a title. We find the word Darius, for example, used on inscriptions in archaeology for at least five different Persian rulers. They're all called Darius. So it seems best to see this as a title, as a title of honor, a title of significance. And so, we could assume then that it is just a title given to Cyrus. And if you look at verse 28 at the end of chapter 6, you might get some little help on that. It says: "So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius," and, of course, in the Aramaic it could read - "even in the reign of Cyrus the Persian." And there are some commentators who favor that rendering, rather than...and the reign of Cyrus," making them parallel, using 11...even in the reign of Cyrus."

Now, if you back up into chapter 6, you find that Darius sets over the kingdom 120 princes and it seems to me that if he were doing that he would have to be bigger than some localized ruler in Babylon. And if he was going to establish three chiefs over the whole kingdom, held have to be somebody pretty important. I believe he is seen then as the...the Medo-Persian monarch Cyrus just by another official title. The very fact that he had to set up 120 princes would indicate that he had to have a broader dimension of rule than just Babylon itself, just the city-state of Babylon.

So, we meet, then, this man Cyrus, perhaps best seen behind the name Darius. He is a capable man. He is an intelligent man. He is an effective man in terms of organization and structure. He's a powerful man. He's a man without commitment to God, that is the God of Israel but to his own gods, and yet he is man who does indicate some great interest in the God of Daniel and that increases as we get through this sixth chapter.

Now, notice that it says that when he appointed the 120 and the three presidents, verse 2 says: "Daniel was first." It is possible to see the word first as just the word one, just as a cardinal letter, Daniel was one. Or, we could see it as the word first and meaning that he was the first one chosen or he was the first in rank. It really doesn't matter, what does matter is in verse 3 that "Daniel was preferred above everybody else." And the word "preferred" in the Aramaic, is a participle which means he was distinguishing himself constantly over the others. He was, without question, the finest statesman in the entire Medo-Persian Empire as he had been the finest statesman in the Babylonian Empire as he perhaps is the finest statesman who ever walked on the face of the earth.

You'll notice that in verse 3 it says that, "...in him was an excellent spirit." That's really talking about his attitude. And, of course, attitude pervades everything we do. This is a commendable thing, a right attitude. But Daniel had more than that going for him. He had experience. I mean, he had lived through the last regime as the prime minister. He had wisdom, wisdom like nobody else had. He had a sense of history. He had apparently dramatic leadership ability, if what he was able to do in the lives of the three young Men earlier in the book is any indication of the model that he set. He had administrative ability and was given responsibility on a wide and far-reaching basis. And beyond all of that, he had the ability to interpret dreams and visions and give everybody an idea of what was coming in the future and that's invaluable to a monarch. What a man.

God put him right where He wanted him. God allowed Darius to recognize the capability of Daniel and to put him in a very strategic place, a place of influence.

You know, what's interesting is in the first year of Cyrus, or the first year of Darius, he gave a decree that the Jews could go back to Judah. The decree of Cyrus, the seventy years of Babylonian captivity was up and Cyrus gave that decree that he go back...rather that the Jews go back. And I really believe that Daniel was the one who was the great influence on him to that extent. I think it was because of the power of the life of Daniel, because of the wisdom of the man, because of the influence of the man, that even in the first year of Cyrus' rule, around 538 or 537 B.C.; he made the decree to let the people go. And that occurred before the lion's den incident, in the very first year of Cyrus.

So, we see again Daniel. But this time, rather than looking at him as a young man, as we have been in the past, we see him as a very old man. In fact, mark this, in chapter 6, Daniel is pushing hard at 90 years of age...90 years of age, and he's still God's man. He's still God's choice. And he was still the choice of the king to be the prime minister. You know, the...the power of a virtuous life extends into old age.

Dr. Criswell at Dallas First Baptist tells of Robert G. Lee who was a great preacher in the south and Robert G. Lee on his 84th birthday, which was in 1970, November 11, was asked this question, "Are you going to keep on preaching, Dr. Lee?" This is what he replied: "When there are so many unsaved people around, when there are sorrowing hearts to be comforted, when so many young people are throwing away their life in folly's court and carnal pleasure's mart, when there are so many evils against which protest must be made, when so many old people are lonely on the sunset trail, when in 1910, at my ordination, I was married to preaching until death do us part, why should I not in the 85th year of my life keep on preaching?" Dr. Lee added some fortifying statistics, by the way, that ought to bless and encourage any of you who are pushing 90 or 80. This is what he said: "Newman Darlan, a scholar of accepted standing, made an analysis of the lives and achievements of 400 foremost characters of history. The analysis showed that nearly 80% of the world's greatest figures closed active lives between 58 and 80. Twenty-five percent continued beyond 70, twenty-two and a half percent beyond 80, and six percent beyond 90. Consider what has been done by men beyond 80. When 83, Gladstone, for the fourth time, became Prime Minister of Great Britain. Michelangelo, at 89, executed his Last Judgment, perhaps the most famous single picture in the world. John Wesley preached with almost undiminished eloquence at 88...closing at that remarkable age, the most remarkable career of his time, having traveled a quarter of a million miles in an age that knew neither electricity nor steam, and he had delivered, someone estimated, 4,000 sermons and written volumes and volumes of books. Edison was inventing at 90. Wright, at 90, was considered a creative architect. Shaw was writing plays at 90. Grandma Moses was painting at 80. J.C. Penny, the great Christian, was working strenuously at his desk at 95."

And we say - Oh, I'm 55, I've got to get out. And we forfeit the richness of age...the richness of age.

Daniel was pushing 90 and he was God's man. And God put him right where He wanted him and the politics of Medo-Persia had little to do to withstand it.

Second word, the first is promotion; the second is plot, verses 4 to 9. Whenever a man is lifted up by the Lord to a place of prominence, he falls into certain difficulty. There's always a price to pay. There's no exaltation and there's no success and there's no prominence that's not paid for by a certain amount of slavery. The man who succeeds is a man who works...the man who slaves, who labors. He is chained. If he is a musician, he is fastened to his piano. If he is an artist, he is fastened to his canvas. If he is a preacher, he is fastened to his books and his prayers. If he is an author, it is his manuscript. If he is a poet, it is his lyric. If he is a physician, it is his patients and his books. If he is a theologian, it is his study. Anybody and everybody who excels is a prisoner. And so, there's a price to pay. He slaves at his assignment; he pours his life into it.

But, there's another price to pay for being in a position of blessing by God. And that is the fact that whenever you get into that position, you will find yourself dogged and hounded and followed by envy. It's just the way it is. We find it in Philippians chapter 1, don't we, where Paul was a prisoner and some were adding affliction to his bonds by saying evil things about his ministry. They wanted to make him feel worse than he did being a prisoner. They were preaching Christ contentiously as a negative ministry against Paul. It's amazing how when God lifts up somebody, other people's hearts burn in rage and jealousy and bitterness, even when that individual has done them no injury and absolutely no harm. How could anybody hate Daniel? How could anybody despise such a man?

I'll ask you a tougher question. How could anybody crucify Jesus Christ? But they did.

In London, a contemporary with young Charles Spurgeon was an older preacher who had been in the city for a generation. He'd spent years laboring faithfully in his ministry. And along came Charles Haddon Spurgeon, this fiery, winsome, young, dynamic individual who arrived at London when he was about 20 years of age. And rather immediately, I mean, not even in a year or two or three, but immediately when he hit the scene, he had such an impact that people just flooded to hear Spurgeon preach. He was like a star that appeared in the sky, just flashing. And the older minister said that when the throngs began to crowd around the young man, envy and jealousy began to enter my heart and it ate me up...it ate me up. There he was, a famous preacher in London, but the throngs were listening to Spurgeon. And the older pastor said he got on his knees and cried out before God and he told the Lord all about it. And then he said the Lord began to put in his heart praise and intercession and pleading for the young man, Spurgeon. He said, quote: "The day came, after I prayed and took it to God, when upon every victory Spurgeon won, I felt as though I had done it myself." God gave him victory.

But, it doesn't always happen. Let's see the opposite of that as we look at verse 4: "Then the presidents and princes sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom, but they couldn't find...they could find no occasion nor fault, for as much as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him." Daniel had no Watergates. He had no skeletons in his closet. There was no way to indict this man.

Now, when a man is 90 years old and he gets all of the people in political office around him, digging around to try to find something and they come up zero, that's an honorable man...great integrity, great honesty, great purity, great nobility. They found no fault...shchath...which means to corrupt, there's no corruption, no error...shaluw...which means to neglect. In other words, the corruption is the sin of commission and the error is the sin of omission. They couldn't find anything he did that he shouldn't have done and anything that he didn't do that he should have done. What a virtuous man. They couldn't find anything.

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, people, I wish we had time to just preach on that verse. When they can't find anything against you but the fact that you are absolutely sold out to your God, then you are fulfilling the fact of the New Testament principle of suffering for righteousness sake. The only thing they said we'll ever get him on is that he is totally committed to his God. What a commendation. They couldn't find anything else. If there was anything, they would have found it and they couldn't.

Verse 6: "Then these presidents and princes assembled together to the king and thus they said unto him, King Darius, live forever." Typical amenities...every time you'd come in there you got to say that. Daniel even says that in the lion's den, that's pushing the point a little bit, but anyway...verse 7: "All the presidents of the kingdom, the governors, the princes, the counselors and the captains have consulted together." Now, that's just pure intimidation because it's a lot of hogwash. There was a group of them that made a plot...not all of them agreed, but just stacking up all of those individuals, just intimidated, and they all consulted, they said, "...to establish a royal statute and make a firm decree that whosoever shall ask a petition of any god or man for thirty days, except of thee, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions." You've heard of queen for a day? This is king for thirty days. We want you to be God for thirty days. Now, when you can be elected to be God, you've got bad theology. And when you're only God for thirty days, it's even worse theology.

Here they come in, we have consulted all the governors and the princes and the presidents and the counselors and the captains and everybody has agreed we ought to make a law. You're so wonderful, you are worthy of thirty days of being God. And we're just going...we're going to give you that privilege. And we just want to make a rule here, that whoever shall ask a petition of any god or man for thirty days, unless it's you, shall be cast into the den of lions.

It's interesting here that if you look back at verse 6, there's a verb there - assembled together. It's a very interesting verb in the Aramaic, it means they...they came hastily and tumultuously, it's kind of, like a rabble, I mean, they were kind of a...a tumultuous group, they were stirring and...and milling as they came in, a very strong verb and it does indicate a large group of them who had pulled off this plot. But not everybody agreed because Daniel was the leader and he didn't agree. I'm sure he wasn't even consulted.

So, they all come in and pull off their lie when they said all the presidents--that's not true. There was one of them who didn't agree, who didn't even know, perhaps. We want to make a statute and a firm...a firm decree. And by the way, the double use of that, a royal statute and a firm decree shows you how binding and strong they wanted it to be, that nobody but nobody can worship or make a petition of anybody but you for thirty days. By the way, in those days, of course, there religion had established deities that were like men. Their deities were as fallible as men were. In other words, they made their image of God from their own image. And so, their gods were fallible. And so, to...to say that a man could be a God to us is absolutely ludicrous, because God is holy and righteous and perfect and has none of the imperfections of humanity. But for them it wasn't a problem. In fact, if we study history carefully, we'll find that the Egyptians believed that the Pharaohs were gods. That the Romans believed that the Caesars were gods. The Ptolemies were believed to be gods. There are indications that the Seleucids claimed the role of deity. Even the Herods...you'll remember in Acts 12, took the place of gods. So that, it was not uncommon for monarchs to do this.

Well, Darius was flattered. I mean, when you get the whole body politic coming in and wanting to do that for you, boy, that's pretty tough to resist. And so, he wasn't thinking, he was swept away in the emotion of the whole deal. Verse 8: "Now, O king, establish the decree and sign the writing that it be not changed according to the law of the Medes and Persians which altereth it not."

Now, we don't know a whole lot about the law of the Medes and Persians except we do know that once you made the law, you couldn't violate it. That was built into their system. And most studies indicate that the reason they did that was to prevent whimsical laws...that once a law was made, it was binding. And so, they were rather careful about those laws. But when these guys came along and hit this king at the point of his vulnerability, his ego, he responded. Verse 9: "He signed the writing and the decree." Now there was a law. You make a petition of any god but this god, and you go to the lion's den.

So, we see the promotion and the plot. There's a third word...perseverance, verse 10, perseverance. Now the word got back to Daniel and I want you to know what he did. "Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house. And his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he did previously."

I like that. "Then these men assembled and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God." You know what it...what I see here is perseverance, they made a law and Daniel went back to his room and did what he did everyday. The pattern established originally by David apparently...in Psalm 55: "Morning, noon and night, fell on his knees to pray." And, of course, they...in those days there was very frequently on the top of a house a kind of a little upper room, we see them even in the New Testament time, a place of retreat and they didn't have glass windows. What they did was put a lattice work over the windows and they would let them be open and the warmth of the area of Babylon, which is a very hot place, and the breeze could blow through and cool them. And so he would go up there and through the lattice work he would be visible and he would face toward Jerusalem because that's where the longing of his heart was, the people of God and the city of God which symbolized God to him. And he would pray, no doubt, for the peace of Jerusalem, the restoration of the city and whatever else was in his heart, the confession of sin and anything else and he did it just the way he always did it...perseverance.

In other words, men may make their laws but when the laws intersect and violate the rules that God lays down, we don't worry about those laws. And we come to that point in Acts, don't we, where Peter says we ought to obey God rather than men.

Now, you say - Well, couldn't have Daniel been a little discreet, couldn't he just close the window and pray the same way?

Yes.

Couldn't he have just cooled it for thirty days and talked to the Lord standing up and walking around and it wouldn't have been as visible?

Yes. But any compromise at all would have been read as self­-serving and it wasn't in his character to do that. When they burned Polycarp, for example, at the stake in Smyrna in A.D. 155, he had been a Christian for 86 years. Before they lit the fire, they called on Polycarp and they said - Deny the Lord and save your life. In quiet ass urance and with steady voice, this is what he said: "Eighty-six years have I served Him, He's never done me any harm, why should I forsake Him now?" And Polycarp, that disciple of John, with praises on his lips and a quiet commitment to the Lord, looked down at the flames and accepted them as God's will.

I think about Simon Peter. Simon Peter was in prison, the next day he was supposed to be executed and an angel came to deliver him and had to wake him up cause he was sound asleep. Amazing. It's like that song, "He never sleeps, He never slumbers." I remember the guy who was on the bottom of a ship and he was fearful and finally he read that and looked up to the Lord and said: "As long as You're going to stay awake, there's no sense both of us losing sleep, I think I'll get some."

And so, perseverance...what a truly virtuous and godly man. And then there's another key word that takes us through the text and that's the word prosecution, verse 12, and now the plot thickens. "Then they came near and spoke before the king concerning the king's decree." They had spied out Daniel, they saw what he did, I'm sure that they went in the morning and they saw that deal right away, maybe they saw it at the noontime, that's probably more likely, they...they came in and got the decree going in the morning, they went there to Daniel's place at noon to watch him do it. They just saw the one time and they ran back to the king and they spoke concerning the decree. "Hast thou not-signed a decree that every man that shall ask a petition of any god or man within 30 days except of thee, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions?" Now they put the monkey on the king's back. "The king answered and said, The thing is true according to the law of the Medes and Persians which altereth not."

That's right. "Then answered they and said before the king, That Daniel who is of the children of the captivity of Judah," and they forever are throwing that at Daniel. That foreigner. That prisoner. That captive. Not even of the right stock, "He regardeth not thee, O king." Was that true? That wasn't true, was it? Daniel was a loyal and faithful servant as long it never caused him to violate his principles. He regarded the king in the way a king should be regarded, as our Lord said, He rendered to Caesar what was Caesar's. And he says: "He doesn't regard the decree that you have signed but makes his petition three times a day."

Now, I know they didn't hang around a whole day to see it all three times. They just saw one and that was the assumption that he was doing and it was a correct assumption. And so, they confront the king. He started out as king for a month...god for a month, and wound up as a fool in one day. What a fool...what a stupid thing to do...unthinking. And you know who he was angry at? He's a wise man...himself. He was angry at himself.

Verse 14: "Then the king when he heard these words was very much displeased with himself." You know, at least the guy had the honesty to put the blame where it belonged; it was his own ego that entrapped him. The allurements are always going to be there, but we don't fall to them unless our own ego gets involved. And I like this, "He set his heart on Daniel to deliver him, and he labored till the going down of the sun to deliver him."

Let's assume the thing was signed in the morning. They hustled out to see what Daniel would do at noon. Daniel was there praying. They ran back and told the king and now he had all after­ noon because execution, according to their custom, was to come before nightfall. And so, he had all afternoon. And he exhausted every legal means possible. He went every way. That's the implication of verse 14, "He set his heart on Daniel to deliver him and he labored till the going down of the sun." Now I don't know what he did but maybe he tried to find a loophole in the law or maybe he tried to find something in past Medo-Persian law that could undo this thing. But technically there was no way out. And you know what I love about this? Daniel never says a word. Daniel never takes up his own cause. Daniel never defends himself. Like Christ, he is dumb before his shearers and opens not his mouth. You see, he...he had such confidence in God through all these years that he would just commit himself to God. There was no defense, right? There was no de...what could he say except - That's right, I was praying and I'll just keep on praying. There was nothing to say.

So, the promotion, the plot, the perseverance, the prosecution, and another key word comes in verse 16 and that's the word penalty. Verse 15 says: "Then these men assembled unto the king and said unto the king, Know, O king, that the law of the Medes and the Persians is that no decree nor statute which the king establisheth may be changed." You are stuck with it. "Then the king commanded and they brought Daniel and cast him into the den of lions."

Now these are real lions, folks, real lions--lions that were purposely starved to be used as executioners. And I don't know how many there were in there but there wasn't just a couple...I've seen pictures where there's two or three lions. No, I don't know how many, but there must have been an awful lot of lions because when you get to the end of the chapter and everything starts coming down on the heads of the people who made the plot, they throw all of them in there and they throw all their families in together and they get eaten up before they hit the ground. A lot of lions in there. One commentator said - Well, there were only a few and Daniel found a corner and hid. No, no, no...it was a big place, right? And he found a corner and he hid in the straw or whatever. No. Lots of lions. And they were lions like you think of lions.

And so, "A stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den." It's most likely a cave in the side of a hill and on the lower place where the entrance was, they would have a stone to cover it. And then on the top of the hill there was a hole with a grate over it. The...the reason we believe that is the word den is literally the word gob in Aramaic which is related to the Hebrew word guwb which means pit. And so, it was a pit. That's basically the idea...guwb in Hebrew means to dig. And so here you have a sort of an underground pit with a side entrance where they could sort of through that natural cave entrance bring the lions in and out or do whatever they needed to do to feed them and...and then this top entrance where the whole deal could be viewed as the people who were to be executed were executed.

And by the way, there has been some interesting study done in terms of archaeology, they've discovered some of these lions pits that were used by monarchs as places of execution. Keil, the very famous commentator on the Old Testament, describes one, it says: "It consisted of a large square cavern under the earth, having a partition wall in the middle of it which is furnished with a door which the keeper can open and close from above. By throwing in the food, he entices the lions from one chamber into the other and then having shut the door, they enter the vacant space for the purpose of cleaning it. The cavern is open above, its mouth being surrounded by a wall of a yard and a half high over which one can look down into the den." Now this might be what it was like...a great big area in a hillside.

Now you'll notice that it says in verse 16, "The king spoke and said to Daniel, Thy God whom thou servest continually, He will...what?... deliver thee." Now where did he get that idea? Listen, you know enough about Daniel if you've been with us in this study, to know that if Daniel had been hanging around for a year, at least by now, and perhaps two, that Darius had heard message after message after message about God. And you will also know that the history of what Daniel had seen God do in the past would be known to him and that's perhaps one of the reasons he appointed him to the place he did. It would seem apparent to me that Daniel would be one who would make manifest what he believed. He had already been involved in miracles. He had already been involved in giving advice about the release of the Jews to go home. And so I'm sure the message was very clear about the power of Daniel's God who had delivered him. I'm sure this man knew well the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; they had been delivered from the fiery furnace. And so he knew that this God could do it and this is great because this shows that Daniel's evangelistic effort is having some result.

"So, the stone was brought, it was sealed with the signet of the king and the signet of his lords"...neither one could break that seal. "The purpose might not be changed concerning Daniel."

Now all of this leads to another key word...preservation...verse 18. "Then the king went to his palace." You know, the Holy Spirit is so subtle about things. You'd think that you'd want to go right to the lion's den, right? I mean, if...if I was watching a film, for example, and the film came to the climax where they took Daniel and they threw him into the lion's den, and then they cut to the king's palace, I'd go - Hoho...you know...I don't want to see the king's palace...take me back to the lion's den...I want to see what's going on in the lion's den. Cut...to the palace. Never says anything about the lion's den...nothing.

"And the king passed the night fasting." Who cares? Right? What happened in the lion's den? "The king passed the night fasting, and neither were instruments of music," one text says, actually the Aramaic word is diversions, it could be music, women, dancers, whatever they used to divert the king, but he didn't want any of that...no music, no dancers, no food, no nothing. "His sleep went from him." And he just paced around. "And he arose very early and went in haste." By the way, the very early in the morning means literally at the brightness of the dawning, as soon as the sun was visible, he was gone. "And he went in haste," and most commentators feel he was probably around 62 or 63 years old, so he was hustling for his age. Hustled down to the den of lions, at the crack of dawn to try to see what's going on. Now this indicates that he had some faith, doesn't it, in the God of Daniel.

Verse 20: "And when he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice," a sad sorrowing voice, a voice of anguish, a voice of anxiety, "and he cried unto Daniel," you know, hoping for the best but perhaps believing the worst. "Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God." Now where do you think he learned that? Where do you think he learned that statement...servant of the living God? I'll tell you where he learned it, from Daniel. Daniel had given him many lessons. "Servant of the living God, is thy God whom thou servest continually able to deliver thee from the lions?" Frankly, it's a little late for that question? Is He? Now we're at the crux of the matter, aren't we? Was God able?

Well, verse 21: "Then said Daniel unto the king, O king, live forever." Got to have those amenities in there when you talk to a king, just can't say - I'm fine - you have to say - O king, live forever. Then verse 22: "My God hath sent His angel and hath shut the lions mouths." And by the way, that's got to be extended to mean that He sort of took care of their paws too, because they could have ripped him to shreds. God sent an angel. Now angels are powerful. One angel took care of 185,000 Assyrians and slew them all by himself. So one angel would be plenty. "My God sent His angel and he shut the lions' mouths and they have not hurt me for as much as before Him innocence was found in me." That's not proud, that's true."And also, O king, before you I've done no hurt either." Just to get the record straight...isn't it interesting, he defends himself only after he has given God the opportunity to put him through the test? He will put his life in God's hands in a lion's den. It's as if he was saying - Now, God, I don't understand why I'm going to that lion's den, but maybe You have a reason...maybe You know something in my life that isn't right and this is part of it. And only after God delivered him could he say I haven't done anything, I'm innocent. How do you know you're innocent? Because God had a perfect chance to chasten me and didn't do it. He waits for God to evaluate that.

Well, verse 23 says: "Then was the king exceedingly glad for him and he commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den." Now that's again an indication that it was a pit, probably dropped some ropes and that nearly 90-year-old guy grabbed on to the ropes and up he came. "He was taken out of the den and no manner of hurt was found upon him because he believed in his God."

Daniel's writing the sixth chapter and Daniel is saying it was a vindication of his great faith in God. He believed God and God honored his faith.

Now you want to know something? It doesn't always happen that way, does it? Isaiah believed God too but he got sawn in half. Paul believed God too and he laid his head on a block and an axe head flashed in the sun and severed it from his body. Peter believed in God and he got crucified upside down. Believing in God doesn't mean that the lions aren't going to eat you; there have been martyrs throughout all the history of God's dealing with men that have believed God and they've died. The issue is that we accept God's will. If it is to live, it is to live. If it is to die, it is to die. But in either case, we're never defeated. In fact, if Daniel had been eaten by lions, he would have been in the presence of God, right? Which would have been better than looking up at Darius and saying O king, live forever. He couldn't lose. We never lose. If he had been torn to shreds, that angel that came would have carried him into the presence of the Lord in Abraham's bosom.

Now all, of this is followed by another key word, the word punishment, verse 24: "And the king commanded, and they brought the men that had accused Daniel," the portion of the satraps, the princes, the presidents that had accused him. "And they cast them in the den of lions, them, their children and their wives. And the lions had the mastery of them and broke all their bones in pieces before they came to the bottom of the den." Amazing. There must have been a tremendous amount of lions. And people say - Well, you know, Daniel didn't get eaten because the lions weren't hungry. They were hungry. They were hungry enough to eat this huge group of people. Some have even suggested that Daniel didn't get eaten because the lions were old. And they were like Clarence, you know...the cross-eyed lion. It's amazing what liberal commentators try to do to the Bible, but the point of this text here is to show you they weren't old and toothless, they weren't filled up, they were hungry and they were so ferocious they shredded those people before they ever hit the ground. God did a miracle. A horrifying scene, the picture of retribution and vengeance of God.

By the way, it's a very interesting glimpse of pagan law.' The law of the Medes and the Persians said: "On account of the guilt of one, all his kindred must perish." That was the law of the Medes and Persians. And so they did.

We see the promotion, the plot, perseverance, prosecution, penalty, preservation, punishment...two more key words, proclamation.­ Verse 25: "Then kind Darius wrote unto all people, nations and languages," you remember, that little trilogy is used many times in the book of Daniel which just encompasses all the people in the realm, "And he wrote all that dwell in the earth," at least the earth as he perceived it, "peace be multiplied to you. I make a decree, That in every dominion of my kingdom, men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel." Isn't that great? One man...and he literally effects the entire empire. Now the whole Medo-Persian Empire is fallen under the decree to tremble and fear before the God of Daniel. It doesn't take a lot of people; it just takes the right kind. "For He is the living God and steadfast forever, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed and His dominion shall be even unto the end." He sounds like the Psalmist...and he's a pagan king.

Boy, God has put on some convincing demonstrations in this book, hasn't He? Nations come and go, and whether they be Babylonian or Medo-Persian, when God puts His men in the right place, His message gets through.

"He delivereth," verse 27, "and rescueth and He worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the lions."

Let me ask you a simple question? Who gets the glory in the chapter? Daniel? Not Daniel...not Daniel for a minute. Daniel was just there, that's all. God got the glory. I believe that if you see one thread through the book of Daniel, it is not the exaltation of Daniel; it is the majesty of God who stands against the nations of the world and upholds His sovereignty.

Finally, the prosperity. "So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, even in the reign of Cyrus the Persian." He prospered.

Now I want you to listen to me. As I close, I want to sum up very rapidly, in just a couple of minutes, listen. As we look at this chapter, what do we see about Daniel? Do you remember when we studied chapter 1 and 2? We took all of the characteristics of the virtue of Daniel as a young man and we cataloged them and we studied them...and we saw what makes a virtuous, godly man. Well, here we are, twenty...well, no, sixty, seventy years later, what do we see in him again? What are the elements of character that we could translate to ourselves? What makes a man able to affect a nation? What makes a man or a woman have an impact that is as far reaching as an Empire? What is it in Daniel?

Let me suggest some things. I'm going to run them down, just listen to them, think them through.

First of all, this man transcended history. He was great and he was useful to God because he transcended history. He got his feet out of the muck of human issues. He sought the kingdom of God.

Secondly, he lived a consistent life from start to finish. He was virtuous when he was young and so he was virtuous when he was old. And I, really believe that there's no way to measure with a human measure, the power of a virtuous life of that many years. The tragedy is that most of us find our virtue coming and going through those years...not Daniel.

What are the lessons we learn about a man of God?

He transcends history.

He lives a consistent life from youth to old age and this makes for great usefulness in his old age.

Thirdly, he utterly fulfills his calling. In other words, he lives in the absolute center of God's will. His only desire is that God's will be fulfilled.

Fourth, he has a right attitude. They kept saying about him he has an excellent spirit...he has an excellent spirit.

Fifth, he will be envied and he will be hated by the world around him, but he will never be bittered by it.

Sixth, he is condemned but if he is condemned, he is condemned for his righteousness for there's no other flaw, he is as an elder of the church should be...what?...blameless.

Seventh, he is known for his virtue and integrity even by his enemies.

Eighth, he is a faithful citizen. He is subject to human laws until they would cause him to violate the laws of God.

Nine, he is willing to face any consequence within the framework of God's will and leave the outcome to God.

Ten, he will serve faithfully no matter what it costs him personally.

Eleven, he never defends himself. He leaves that to God.

Twelve, he strengthens the faith of others giving them hope in God. Didn't you see this in the king? I mean, the king was even believing because of the great faith of Daniel.

Thirteen, he is delivered from all harm and he is preserved for every purpose within the will of God.

Fourteen, he is a vehicle for God's glory. I wish we could just preach on that. We...we as Christians are to be, above all things, a vehicle for God's glory.

Fifteen, he will be avenged by God. He will be avenged by God. His enemies will be dealt with by God, he doesn't have to deal with them himself.

And finally, he is exalted by those around him as well as by the One above him.

Principles manifest in this chapter that show the virtuous life of a man of God. I hope this has been practical for you, that God will apply this to your heart as He will to mine. Let's pray.

Thank You, our Lord, for the tremendous thrill of seeing your power manifest. We feel like we could reach out and touch Daniel. We feel like we could look right in that pit and see those lions--it's so vivid to us. And we know You're the same God, unchanging from that very hour, who meets us at the point of our greatest need. You're the God who wants to use us to transcend the ebb and flow of history. You're the God who has called us to live the life that Daniel lived in this day from youth to old age. O God, may it be that You'll raise up even in this congregation and around the world, men and women of honesty, integrity and virtue whose lives are given over to You totally...who suffer but know no bitterness because they've committed themselves to the keeping of the faithful creator. Lord, make us this kind of person. Make me this kind of person by Your great grace. Shape me so that my life is consistent, that I may know the blessedness of a useful old age should Jesus tarry and You grant that to me. I pray the same for all these beloved ones gathered here, in Christ's name. Amen.

By John MacArthur