Lessons From Daniel 6

I've been doing a lot of studying since I've retired, and I study sometimes in depth, and sometimes I just read through. So I was reading through the book of Daniel, and I found an amazing chapter with amazing inspirational lessons that I want to share with you. It's one chapter in God's inspired word that contains examples or lessons of faith, faithfulness, diligence, persecution, holiness, prayer, caring and respect, and being alight.

All of that in one chapter, and I hope to highlight those special lessons and examples for you as we read them. And we may find more topics there. These are the main ones that I want to share with you. So I want to do first of all, in Daniel 6, you can open your Bible to stay with Daniel 6. I'll make some references to other scriptures to try to enhance the sermon, but by scriptural references for Daniel 6, I have printed out, so I don't have to turn to them so quickly or try to get this finished in 45 minutes. So I will finish the sermon on time. So let's go first of all to Daniel 6. If you just listen carefully, I will read it out of the Living Prophecies, which is the Living Bible. There's a New Living Bible. This is not the New Living Bible, but it's not much different. But anyway, this is a Living Translation paraphrase that used to be called. I want to share it with you, how it's put, because it's put in more nice prose writing, so I'll read it to you. Daniel chapter 6, and we'll go through the whole chapter, verses 1 through 28. I'll read it quickly. Then we're going to come back and we'll slow down, and I'll highlight some of those important areas. You listen carefully for them.

Darius just divided the kingdom into 120 provinces, each under a governor. This is when Daniel had been taken captive by the Babylonians, and the Medes and the Persians had taken over from Babylon, put them aside. And so here you have this Darius, who's the Darius the Mede. He has this. Now Darius divided the kingdom into 120 provinces, each under a governor. So he wanted every one of them to be governed. Your Bible would say satraps, S-A-T. A satrap is not a trap for Satan.

A satrap was more of an underling officer. He was an officer that was subject to others. He may have had a high position, but he was always subject to somebody else. Okay, the governors were accountable to three presidents. This is how paraphrase puts it. Three men who were over them. I think New King James calls them governors, calls the other guys satraps. All right. The governors were accountable to three presidents. So Darius was organized. He had three men, overseeing the rest of these 120. Daniel was one of them so that the king could administer the kingdom efficiently. That's pretty nice to be organized, right? That's great to be organized that way.

Daniel soon proved himself more capable than all the other presidents and governors. So the other two guys who were over the third of the kingdom and all the other governors in there in that kingdom, the satraps, he was better than them all, for he had great ability. So God used his ability. You know what? Whatever natural ability you have, where'd you get that? You were born with it, right? And how did you get that? Well, it's a blessing of God.

Low children are the gift of God. They're your heritage. They're a blessing from God. How they come out, some have different abilities. Some of them are stronger in certain areas and certain stronger in certain other areas. Daniel had great ability and the king began to think of placing him over the entire empire as his administrative officer. So no longer would Daniel just be one of three. He would be one under the king, kind of like Joseph was under the Pharaoh.

And he says, administering to the whole kingdom. So these men must have discussed this with the three leaders and with some of the governor and they were all concerned. They didn't want Dan. Why? Because Daniel was faithful. Why? Daniel was diligent. You'll see that in a moment. He would probably check up on them. Oh, we want to be able to invest in foreign investments and have nobody find us. We want to be able to get away with things in this government, as many in the Senate and Congress do, by the way.

All kinds of investments and learn things and take advantage of it. And they're not supposed to, but they do. Okay, so Daniel would find them out. This made the other presidents and governors very jealous. So jealousy enters the picture. And they began searching for some fault in the way Daniel was handling his affairs. Let's start looking. Let's get our beady-eyed like they did with Jesus Christ.

Remember, they watched everything he did. Aha, he healed on the Sabbath, yes. That's okay to heal on the Sabbath. It's okay. You pull your ox out of a ditch. It's okay. Oh, they don't try to find some fault. So you know, nothing worse than fault-finders. You ever work with people that all they do is watch you to try to catch you in a mistake? Awful! So here, Daniel, because he was such a good guy, they were looking for some way to find how he was handling his affairs so they could complain to the king about him.

Let's soil his record. Let's dirty it up a little bit. But they couldn't find anything to criticize. And you had 120 of them, or at least maybe 40 of them, in Daniel's side, and two other guys who worked alongside of him, at least at times at administrative meetings. But they couldn't find anything to criticize. Isn't that amazing? Why? He was faithful and honest and made no mistakes. And I'm sure by no mistakes, no major mistakes.

I'm sure he may have done a typo on the computer. They didn't have computers back then. But I'm sure he may have made a typo or a wrong word, or put the wrong word in, or wrong agreement, or maybe put a plural where a singular should be, or whatever. So again, but he made no major mistakes, no mistakes that they could find. So they concluded, our only chance is his religion. We can't find any fault in how he's handling his affairs, but we can, or in him as a person, he was faithful, he was honest.

So they decided to go to the king and say, King Darius, live forever. We presidents, governors, and counselors, and deputies have unanimously decided that you should make a law irrevocable under any circumstance that for the next 30 days, anyone who asks a favor of God or man, except from you, your majesty, shall be thrown to the lions. Now this appealed to vanity, you're so great, nobody should dare ask any favors from anybody except you.

Your majesty, verse 8, we request your signature on this law. We want you to put your stamp of approval. Sign it so that it cannot be canceled or changed. It will be a law of the Medes and Persians that cannot be revoked. Once you put your signature on it, nobody can revoke this. Then the men thaw, and then, but so King Darius signed it. Oh, boy, this is great! They're making me feel really good about myself. You have to watch vanity in your life, and you have to watch people that appeal to it. I'm on to that. Okay, 81 years old, I've been in the ministry, well, almost getting close to 60 years I've been ordained, and you know what? I'm on to that.

Flattery, I take it, is cheap. Sincerity, I love. And there are many sincere people, but some people try to flatter to get ahead, and I've been seeing them. I've seen them through the years, whether they're students or whether they're fellow workers, I've seen them. And it's not immune to unchristian people. Some Christians do it, too. They think they can get ahead by that. Don't do it. Be sincere. I always tell people, if I give you a positive statement, for instance, I've done that with restaurants. If I have a really good waitress, I'll say, I just want to tell you something. I've eaten a lot of places, and you're a very good waitress, and I want to thank you for that. And I said, and please don't take this, that I say this to everybody, because I don't.

I believe flattery is cheap and is lying, and if somebody flatters you, they're only lying to you.

I will not lie to you. So if you don't do a good job, you just won't say anything. I don't say anything bad. If you do a good job, I commend you, because I know there aren't so many that do such great jobs as you did. And some of them will say to me, you've made my day. You've made my day. So I'm not flattering them. What do I want from them? Nothing! In fact, I'm giving them something. I'm going to give them a tip, too. So I don't want anything from them. So daryus signed this out of vanity, but though Daniel knew about it, he went home and knelt on, as usual, it is up. So Daniel knew, because it said that it was unanimous, we all have agreed.

So Daniel signed it. He thought, well, this is signed. I'm not asking a favor from the king. I'm asking, I'm talking to God. I'm not asking favor from him. Okay.

But though Daniel knew about it, he went home and knelt on, as usual, in his upstairs bedroom with a window open toward Jerusalem, and prayed three times a day.

Just as he always had. Prayed three times a day, just as he always had.

Giving thanks to his God. Then the men thronged to Daniel's house. Once they had this signed, they came running there to see and found him praying there, asking favors of God. Now, what did these men know about Daniel? That Daniel was a praying man. Daniel was a godly man. They knew they would find him there. And Daniel didn't mind. He said, I've got to go in secret now, because they'll find me if I pray. Opened his windows and prayed. He must have heard him too.

He was praying there, asking favors of his God. What was the asking of God? Well, God to strengthen me, God to help me. Things that the king couldn't do for him, obviously. They rushed back to the king and reminded him about his log. Haven't you signed a decree, they said, that permits no petition to any god or man, except for you? This is verse 12, for 30 days. And anyone disobeying will be thrown to the lions. Yes, the king replied. It's the law of the Medes and the Persians, and it cannot be altered or revoked. Then they told the king. Listen how they describe him. That man, they describe him as that man, that fellow Daniel, one of the Jewish captives. They didn't say, one of our fellow leaders here, that man, one of those Jewish captives, is paying no attention to you or your law. He's asking favors of his God three times a day. So they must have stayed all day to hear. I don't think Daniel prayed three times in a row. So they must have stayed all day to confirm that. Then they go back and they tell him, he's paying no attention to your law. He's asking favors of his God three times a day. Verse 14, hearing this, the king was very angry with Daniel. No! With himself for signing the law. And he determined to save Daniel. Now, I'll go on. I'll explain that as we go through the new King James Version. He spent the rest of the day trying to think of some way to get Daniel out of this predicament. In the evening, the men came again to the king and said, Your Majesty, there's nothing you can do. You signed the law and it cannot be changed. So at last the king gave the order for Daniel's arrest. Verse 16, he's taken to the den of lions. The king said to him, May your God whom you worship continually. Do people know that about us? I don't mean you tell people about it. Do they know by your demeanor that you're a Christian? Do they know by how you live, how you speak, how you walk, how you act, that you're wearing the Christian uniform? Most baseball players wear uniforms that say Braves or they say Dodgers, my favorite team. Dodgers, they say Reds and sometimes when they go on the road, they'll say Los Angeles. You all know where they're from. They go to a restaurant and mess up. After the game is over, they engage in some type of fighter quarrel. They all know that was the Dodgers who messed up.

We all wear Christian uniforms. People know when we mess up, too.

It's not wrong to mess up. Just don't mess up too much or continually in the same mess up.

That's what we have to stop.

He told him, may your God be able to deliver whom you worship continually deliver you. And they threw him in.

For some of our young people, I wonder how they would feel if they were thrown in to a bunch of lions. If you went to a zoo, you see those lions and tigers roaring behind those cages. Would you like to be thrown in there with them and be their next meal? I don't think so.

I don't think so. To be thrown into a den of lions is not something any of us would relish. And it wasn't just one lion. There was lots of lions.

So, a stone was brought, placed over, they threw him in, placed over the mouth of the den. And the king sealed it with his own signet ring and that of his government that no one could rescue Daniel from the lions. And nobody could come back and take him out.

Then the king returned to his palace and thought, boy, that's really great. I got rid of one of these guys that didn't like me.

It wasn't true to me. No, it didn't. King returned to his palace and went to bed without dinner.

He wouldn't eat. He refused his usual entertainment and didn't sleep all night. Tossed and turned.

Very early the next morning, he hurried out to the lions there.

And he called out in anguish, Oh Daniel, servant of the living God, was your God whom you worship continually able to deliver you from the lions?

Now, what would I respond if I had just been delivered? Yes! Yes! God save me! Yes, here I am! I'm okay! Whoa! Whoopee! That's what Daniel said. Notice what Daniel said, because there was a respect between Daniel and his boss. His boss cared for him. Notice what Daniel says. First thing he heard, then he heard a voice, Your Majesty live forever.

It was Daniel.

First thing Daniel does is offer him respect and honor. Your Majesty, he called him. This is the guy that was responsible for you being thrown into this place.

Your Majesty live forever. I love that.

It was Daniel. He said, My God has sent his angel, and he said to shut the lions' mouths, so they could not touch me.

For I am innocent before God, nor, sir, have I wronged you, because what I have asked of God is not something that you could give me. Daniel didn't have a problem with going to the king about things the king could do for him. He didn't have any problem. But he wasn't going to the king for godliness, for righteousness, for strength, for power, for faith.

So he said, God has saved me, sent his angel, for I am innocent before God, nor, sir, have I wronged you. The king was beside himself with joy, and ordered that Daniel be lifted from the dead, Daniel spent his time in the den.

Bring him out.

And not a scratch was found on him. He didn't even have a scratch.

I used to have some cats. We lived on a farm.

They were wild. You know, not wild cats. Some of them were. I've tried to get them before they would turn wild. If you hold them in your lap, you tame them. They're tame. But if you don't, and we had about 13 at one time, all running around outside of our house. We didn't keep them in the house.

But my cat, the ones that loved me, if I was petting them, they wanted me to keep on petting them or stroking them.

They would grab my hand, my fingers. They would never put their claws into them, grab them with their paws. And if I started to pull away, the claws would come out just a little bit.

But they weren't going to scratch me. They weren't going to claw me.

But big lions don't do that, I think. Okay, so anyway, they didn't have a scratch on it because he believed in his God.

Verse 24. Then the king issued a command to bring the men who had accused Daniel, and throw them into the den with their children and wives.

The main agitators, the main plotters, the main schemers. And notice what the lions did when they saw them. They leaped upon them and tore them apart before they could even get to the bottom of the den.

They were so ravenous, and so they jumped on and took them down.

Verses 25 and 26. Afterward, King Darius wrote this message addressed to everyone in his kingdom.

He said, Greetings! This is to the whole kingdom that he oversaw. 120 provinces.

I decree that everyone shall tremble and fear before the God of Daniel in every part of my kingdom. For his God is the living and unchanging God whose kingdom shall never be destroyed, whose power shall never end.

He delivers his people, preserving them from harm. He does great miracles in heaven and earth, and it is he who delivered Daniel from the power of the lions. What a testimony! Verses 28. What happened to Daniel? So Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.

So that's the living translation. Let's take time to go through this in and abbreviated and I'll do it in New King James Version so that you may see it and we'll slow down. We'll highlight those special areas. Start off with...

Better open my sermon. I had my notes out here and my extra notes. Okay. Let's begin with Daniel 6, verses 1 and 2. It pleased Daniel to be sent over the kingdom. Please Darius to be sent over the kingdom. 120 satraps. That's called governors in this New King James or this new translation. To be over the whole kingdom. So that was they were responsible for managing it. And over these three were three governors or this calls them three presidents. Of whom Daniel was one. Daniel was one out of three. So God blessed him. Daniel was one of the top three under them. Why? He was faithful.

We read that. We'll see that in a moment. Daniel was faithful.

And these...

They might give account to them so that the king would suffer no loss. So they wanted to make sure the money was coming in to the king as it ought. That his possessions were treated properly. He wanted to make sure. So obviously that would not make Daniel very popular among those who wanted to be cheating.

But he was one of the top three. And why was he one of the top three? He was faithful.

Daniel was faithful.

He looked at, looked to the king and they tried to find something that he had wrong. He was faithful. And I like 1 Corinthians 4.2. You could write it down as the scripture. 1 Corinthians 4.2 says that stewards ought to be faithful.

It is required in stewards. What was a steward, the one who had charge under you, one of the slaves in your home, who had charge over all of your household, all of your expenditures, all of the purchases, all those... It's required of them to be faithful. We are to be stewards of God.

Whatever your realm is in the church, whatever your responsibility is in the church, we're to be responsible in all that God has given us. 1 Corinthians 4.2. Next, let's read verse 3.

Verse 3.

Then this Daniel distinguished himself above all the governors and satraps, all these underlings, because an excellent spirit was in him. Now, how did Daniel get that excellent spirit?

Where do you think that came from? Well, it came from God naturally, but it also came from God spiritually.

What is the fruit of the Holy Spirit? Love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, kindness, meekness. Against such, there is no law.

He was a fine person. He was an example of what humans can be with God in their lives.

So Daniel distinguished himself because he had an excellent spirit in him, and the king gave thought to setting him over the whole realm.

So he said, this guy is way above these others. I need to give him a position by himself, and he's faithful to me.

So verses 4 and 5, now we see persecution beginning to rear its ugly head.

Verses 4 and 5. First, jealousy. So the governors in Saitreps sought to find some charge against Daniel concerning the kingdom, but they could not find no charge or fault because he was faithful.

When you do, you know, there are certain people, and I'm sure there are plenty in this church, there are certain people, you know, if you ask them to do something, it's going to be done.

You just know it. You say, would you take care of this? Yes, sir, I'll take care of it. And they do it, they'll come, it's done, sir. You know, there are certain people, are you faithful? Are you faithful in everything you do? At work, are you faithful? In church, are you faithful? To your friends, are you faithful?

I mean, you have to not want me to be your friend if I become your friend, and I mean close friend. You have to say, I don't want you to be my friend anymore. I will listen to you, and I won't be your friend. But unless you tell me you'd want me to be your friend, I'm not dropping you. I'll be faithful to you.

I have had plenty of reasons to leave God's church. I've had people do a lot of dirt to me throughout the years. I've been 50 years in the ministry. I've been an administration at Pasadena. I've been an administration in Big Sandy, Texas. I was the CEO for Canada for a period of time. I've had lots of people gunning for me. If I wanted to leave the church because somebody bothered me, somebody accused me, somebody hurt me, something personal, I wouldn't do it. Why? Because I wanted to be faithful for you, and I wanted to be faithful to God.

Faithfulness is something we all need to really ask God to help us maintain that faithfulness.

But they had jealousy. Notice. So they plotted that charge. They find some charge they couldn't because he was faithful. Nor was there any error or fault in him. He did things right. You know, it doesn't mean you're perfect. But if you do things right, people are going to be happy with you. Oh, a little offensive thing here, a little thing there that you did. That's no big deal. It's not some major sin. You made some mistake. So what? But it's not any big thing that people will find fault with you. It's a human error, not a human sin.

So these men said we couldn't find it. Verse 5. Then these men said, We shall not find any charge against Daniel, unless we find it against him concerning the law of his God, the way he practices, the way he lives. That's how we'll find it.

We'll corrupt him. We'll find some way that we can accuse him because his religion is very important to him. We'll find something. We'll find some slip-up, and we'll get him in trouble because his religion is very important to him. Verse 6. So these governors, so that's verses 4 and 5. And of course, Jesus Christ was persecuted. Remember, they always watched him to see if he would heal this person on the Sabbath. They watched him, and when they came to accuse Christ even to put him to death, Pilate found no fault in him. Remember, they brought charges. Pilate examined him. Pilate said, I find no fault in him. Remember Paul? They tried to accuse Paul in the book of Acts, tried to bring him down, and the governor said, this man could have been released. He's nothing here.

So people can accuse a lot, and again, you might ask yourself when you come down to this plot, when a person is Hagios, verses 6 to 9, which Daniel was, what is Hagios holy?

When you're set apart by God, not by yourself, you're set apart by God through the Holy Spirit to be a special person. You didn't make yourself a special person. You may not even feel like a special person, but out of the billions of people on this earth, how many Christians, biblically speaking, are there? Not very many alive now.

That makes you special. That makes you special. No, you didn't make yourself special. God made you special. And when I talk about somebody being holy and righteous and good, the word is Hagios. It means holy. The whole section on it by Barclay talks about William Barclay, his famous Scottish scholar. He said the temple was holy because it was different. Sabbath was holy because it was different. It wasn't the sixth day of the week or the eighth day of the week. It was the seventh day of the week, which God said wasn't different from the commandment, but it was different from the world. We have to be different. No, don't shave your head and leave a little piece there like Hare Krishna does so that his God can take him up into heaven by grabbing his tuft of hair that's left. No, it's not what you wanted. You don't want to make yourself different. God made you different when he gave you the precious gift of the Holy Spirit after forgiving you. He made you different, and you need to embrace that difference and hold on to it with all your might. So going on in this chapter in verse verses 6 to 9, governors, they went and they said, King lived forever, and all the kings, they brought this document for him to sign. There's a decree that anybody who petitions anything that's verse 7, he shall be cast into the den of lions. Now, O King, establish this decree and sign the writing so that it cannot be changed. And so verse 9, therefore, King Darius signed the written decree. So here the plot begins, right? We could get Darius to rule out any prayer because we know the way Daniel is. He's a prayerful man. He's probably praised all the time, which they knew he did. Let's set up a trap for him, and so they did.

And of course, Proverbs 29 and verse 5, we read this, a man who flatters his neighbor spreads the net for his feet. What were they doing for the king? They flattered him. And what did the king feel afterwards? Lots of pain when he had to put to death his most faithful servant, or at least consign him to death. So let's go on. So what do they do? Verse 10. Now Daniel, when Daniel knew the writing was signed, he went home. Daniel wasn't going to ask the king, wasn't going to ask anything of God that he could ask for the king. No! So Daniel at home, notice what it says, he went home, and in his upper room with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom in early days. We learn about prayer. We learn about prayer. They knew that Daniel would be praying. Jesus Christ did not say in the Lord's Prayer message, and it isn't his prayer. It isn't the prayer to pray. It's a how to pray, not words to pray. Okay? How to pray. Start with God. You talk about his kingdom. You talk about forgiveness. It's not about, He didn't tell you the words. In fact, he condemns that. If you use many of the hypocrites, think they'll be heard because they're much speaking. And also, don't use repetition. I've got to memorize this prayer now. I've got to write this down so I can remember it, so I can write it, so I can say, wait a minute. Are you speaking from the heart or from the notebook? And I don't mind notebooks if that's what you want to use. That's your heart written down. That's fine. But it should be from the heart, not from the memory bank. Not from the memory bank. Oh, let's see, which prayer can I bring up this time?

I'm going to show you how phony some of these things are. We talked about confession.

When they go to confession, Catholics are supposed to confess what they did, that whole, anything that they did wrong. And you know what their counsel is? So when you go to confession, you should go regularly. So if you go to confession and you didn't do anything wrong, repeat something you said the last two weeks ago or three weeks ago. Well, if they already were resolved of that sin by the priest, why do they have to repeat it again?

Ritual, ceremony, over heart, over heart. When I first came into the—was converted, I thought I had to pray 30 minutes or actually an hour a day. The young person I couldn't spend on my knees that long. And in this little janitor's closet, which was our prayer closet in this little dorm that we lived in and converted home in Pasadena, I would kneel down in there and add a chair with your Bible and pray. And I would pray. If all I was worth, think of every single thing I could pray for every minister and only about 28 or 30 of them at that time. I could pray for them everywhere in the world and pray for everybody I knew had a problem and everybody I knew that needed and every minister and every leader. 20 minutes. Now I could stretch out my prayer if I spoke very slowly. It would have elapsed the time and I would have felt good about myself, but I wouldn't have been sincere. Now the Bible doesn't say pray for an hour. The Bible said when the hour of prayer came, when the time came, not the hour to pray, the hour for prayer, not the long, such a stop clock. Does God have you pray by the stop clock? When my kids came, wanted to come to me and ask me something, I just say, just a minute, you set my clock. Okay, go. Now, you're not the open hour. I'm not listening to you.

Your children talk to you and you listen to them. God wants you to, He wants your heart. He wants your sincerity. He doesn't want how many words you speak or how long you speak it.

Maybe you're a fast speaker. You get through it faster. Maybe you're a quick thinker, fast speaker. Okay, so Daniel went there, kneeled three times a day, and he prayed as his custom was, as it had as his custom was since early days. That's the end of verse 10. Verse 11, then these men assembled and found Daniel praying, making supplication before his God. Now, Daniel prayed to God because Jesus Christ, not that he heard Jesus Christ say it, but a supplemental scripture if you want to write it in there. Matthew 6 verses 5 to 7. Jesus Christ said three times in Matthew 6 and verse 5, when you pray. Chapter 6, but you, when you pray. Verse 7, and when you pray. Don't use vain repetitions. When Jesus didn't say, oh, by the way, if you pray, do it this way. If you pray, do it that way. If means, I might or I might not. But when means I'm doing it. Jesus expects his disciples to pray, right? He expects us all to pray. Daniel chapter 6 verses 11 to 13. We see the accusations toward David because of his religion and their jealousy and how they identified him as one of the Jewish servants. Notice, and this is verse 11. Then these men assembled and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God. Then they went to the king and spoke concerning the king's decree and said, have you not said that everyone who makes a petition of any God within 30 days except for you, king, shall be cast in the den of lions? King answered and said, well, the thing is true according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which does not alter. Yes. Is somebody doing this? They're making me, belittling me? Verse 13. So they answered and said before the king, that Daniel, who's one of the captives from Judah, let's really dirty his image. He's a captive and he's Jewish. That's good enough reason to get rid of this guy. So he already takes the king trying to by mentioning this. He does not show regard for you, king, for the decree that you have signed, but that he petitions his God three times a day. So again, there's accusation. Who's the accuser of the brethren? Revelation 1210. Satan the devil's the accuser of the brethren. And I find it's interesting. Proverbs 16 verse 27. Proverbs 16 verse 27, I'll read it to you. An ungodly man digs up evil. Who goes around looking for evil? Who goes around looking to report on somebody? Who goes back and digs up evil? Evil man. Just keep that in mind. Rotten men, ungodly men, and is on his lips like a burning fire, and he's got to go run and do something about it. So again, what does he say here? We need to, as a person, be careful. And he also talks about in Proverbs 29, 27, the ungodly despised the righteous. So if you want to be ungodly, Proverbs 29, 27, if you want to be ungodly, despise people that you think are better than you. That's what an ungodly person does.

All right, verses 14 to 18. This is 14 to 18. We read this. And the king, when he heard these words and was greatly displeased, not with Daniel, not with finding out somebody despised his order, was greatly displeased with whom? Himself, and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him. He labored till the going down of the sun to deliver him. So you imagine he's meeting with all these lawyers to find out if there's a way around this. How do I get him out of here? Is there some legal maneuver I could do to cancel this law? Can I write a presidential, what do they call them, a direct executive order?

No, you can't do that. It's a law that you approved already. The law of the Medes and Medes and the Persians cannot be changed. What can I do? So he labored. And then these men approached the king and said to him, oh, king, we know that it is the law that Medes and the Persians. That decree cannot be changed, which the king established. It cannot be changed. Verse 16, the king gave the command and they brought Daniel and cast him into the den of lions. But the king spoke, saying to Daniel, this king is trying to save Daniel. He didn't have to. Daniel is just a servant of his, right? So we can mistreat people that are underlings, can we? Not according to scripture. Not according to scripture. Colossians 4 verse 1 tells us, masters are to treat their servants fairly. I often tell congregations, I can't command respect from you. I can command fear. Oh, I can make you fear me. You did that? You're out of here. You're out of church. Give me 300 push-ups. I can't command respect. I can only command fear. You can't make people respect you by an order, by a decree. You can't make your children respect you by an order, by a decree.

But by how you are. How you are as a Christian comes from God's Holy Spirit being in us.

It's not you. I mean, you have to do something. You have to be willing to do it. You have to choose to do it. But it comes from God, gives you strength, and gives you help. So notice what he says.

So he gave the command. He spoke, your God, whom you serve continually will deliver you.

It'll deliver you. Why? Because I care. I'll be praying and thinking about it. Notice where they eat it after that. Stone was brought. It was sealed at the top so that nobody could get him out of there. Verse 18. Verse 18. Caring is shown by this king. So now the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting. And no musicians were brought before him. He usually had music to soothe them so he could go to sleep. I guess bedtime music. Lullabies, maybe. Anyway, they brought him before him. None of them were brought before him. And also his sleep went from him. He couldn't sleep all night long. Why would he do that? That's just an expendable person. This is not just an underling. He's just a captive that's come here. That's how he felt.

And how you treat other people who come back to you. You have total congregations. I can't command you to respect me. I hope by how I treat you, I will win that respect.

Not by commanding it. Not by making you fear me when I walk by. I used to be a man of college, and I won't say who. You walk for the students, the typical student, who walked by and they'd say, Hi, Mr. Sontago. Well, if I treat you tough and hard, you'll learn how to love God's people. Is that true? Or will I do the same thing to you? Now, I wasn't treated that way.

Herbert Armstrong never treated me that way, and I knew him well. He did our wedding. He knew us in Pasadena. He'd always say hi to Gary and Barbie. He always said hi as soon as he saw us.

He never treated me that way with meanness. You treat people with meanness, and you expect they're going to be loving people? No way! They'll be fearful people. And what will they do to others? Well, this is an example I saw, Seth. I'll do the same thing to others.

Didn't work for me, but maybe it'll work on them. It's terrible. Absolutely. So he said, your God will deliver you. And they rolled the stone. The king went through his palace fasted. Also, the sleep went from him because he respected Daniel. Verses 19 to 20, Daniel's reputation is shown. Then the king arose very early in the morning and went in haste to the den of lions. And when he came to the den, he cried out with a lamenting voice to Daniel. The king spoke and said, saying to Daniel, Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?

Yes, he was, because he was faithful. I have a companion scripture here, Proverbs 16 and verse 7. Proverbs 16 and verse 7 is a beautiful verse, because it tells us, when a man's ways please the Lord, he even makes his enemies to be at peace with him. When a man's ways please the Lord.

Daniel was faithful. Daniel was respectful, and he pleased the king. And what did he say in verse 21? We spoke about that before. Daniel said to the king, oh, king, live forever! My God sent his angel and shut the lions above. So again, we see Daniel as respect for the king.

And 1 Peter 2 17 tells us to honor the king. Honor those who are in leadership positions. Honor them. Give honor to the office if you can't give honor to the person.

Some cases you might not be able to give honor to the person. That person may be awful, but he occupies an office, and God says all kingdoms, all leadership, comes from him.

All power and leadership. Romans 13? It all comes from God. God allows it.

What's going on? So Daniel said, live forever. My God sent his angel, verse 22, and shut the lions' mouths so that they did not hurt me because I was innocent before him. And also, oh, king, I've done no harm wrong before you. Then the king was exceedingly glad. Now, the king's response. So David had respect for the king. 1 Peter 2 17 is a good companion scripture. But the king's response was amazing. Verses 23 and 24.

Verses 23 and 24. Then the king was exceedingly glad and commanded that they should bring down because he fulfilled the law. The man who disobeyed and was thrown into the lions' den. Didn't see how long he had to stay in there. He was thrown in. Of course, he would have been immediately killed as we see others were. He was exceedingly glad. The Daniel should be brought out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den and no injury was found on him because he believed in his God, the faithfulness, the faith of Daniel. See, sometimes we believe in God. If I asked to be anointed to be healed. I'm not healed yet. I asked to be anointed for my knee. And it's better. It's a lot better. But it wasn't immediate. It isn't immediate. What do I know?

God can do it.

It's up to God. He'll be gracious to whom he will be gracious. He will do what he want me merciful to whom he will be merciful. I can't tell God when to do it. But I know God can do it. Faith. Remember Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? That if you don't bow down when the music strikes up, you'll be thrown into the fiery furnace.

And they brought them before. Didn't we strictly warn you? You're good guys. I like you in my kingdom. I like your service and all that. But if you don't bow down, they said, okay, we don't have to consult. We know that our God is able to deliver us from this fiery furnace. But if he doesn't, we want you to know we would never bow down to any idol anyway.

We believe in him. That's faith. Knowing God can do it when he does it is up to him. We hope he does it right away. Every time. You know, if God healed you, every time you were anointed, every time. I carry a pack of anointed cloths with me. Like I say, God's going to die. Cloth, I'll be alive again. Then when it's starting to run out, I ask for more. More anointed cloths, because the minister might not be able to get to me in time.

I'm dying! I'm going to die momentarily. I'm okay again. You could live forever as long as your cloths didn't run out. That's what God's plan is not to keep us alive in the flesh.

I hope we all live good, long lives. My dad lived till 97. I don't think I'm going to make that, but I hope. I try to maintain positive attitude, try to eat right, try to get sufficient exercise with my knees, allows me to do so now. But I try to eat right, think right, live right, do right.

With God's guidance and help and leadership in my life.

So again, I know he can do it. So the king said, take him out, because he believed in his God, verses 24 and 25. And then we find, verses 25 to 27, what the king did. King gave command and brought those men who had accused Daniel. And by the way, Deuteronomy 19 verses 18 and 19 is a good scripture. If somebody brings an accusation, this was my theme to the students at Big Sandy when I became dean of students. If you see your brother or sister doing something wrong, amiss, and you want to come before me and bring it, my recommendation is that life is something really serious. I'm going to burn down the whole field house. That's something to bring to somebody else. But if this person didn't make something, I think he drank too much tonight. I know you need a little tipsy. Tell him about it. Ask him. See if he... I don't need to know anything about that. If he's sorry, I don't need to know anything about that. But if you bring an accusation against somebody that's not true, and I probe and find out it's not true, guess who gets the punishment that you wanted me to invoke on that other person? You do. Deuteronomy 19 verses 18 and 19. So learn from that. That's not what you do. You don't want to accuse. Proverbs 26, 27 tells us, if you dig a pit, you will fall into it yourself. You dig a pit to trap somebody else, cause them to stumble, you're going to fall in, and guess what these men did? So he says, if King said, get these men who had accused Daniel, cast him into the den of lions with their children. Let's see if their God or their trust or whatever will deliver them. And their wives and the lions overpowered them and broke all their bones in pieces before they ever came to the bottom of the den.

Jumped on them, leaped on them. So God paid them back, didn't He? He wants us to glorify Him. But notice verse 25 through 27. This is the part that is shining of our light. Daniel's light shone brightly. Then King Darius wrote, to all peoples, nations, and languages that dwell on the earth, peace be multiplied to you. I make a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom men must tremble and fear before God. No, before the God of Daniel. Daniel brought glory to God.

Every day that we live, Matthew 5 verses 14 to 16 tell us, you are the light of the world. Don't let your lights be put under a bushel. And that doesn't mean you carry a flashlight with you and shine it in people's faces or a floodlight. Look at me! Hey, look at me! I'm really good! When you go back to me, bear with me. Look. No, we don't do that. But as you live life, you make a difference. I don't know if you realize it. What difference you make.

You are different. You tell the truth. You are diligent. You follow through. You're faithful. And anything you do, that is a big difference. You're responsible. That's a big difference. Now, each one of us is responsible in our own way. But be responsible. Realize everybody's watching you and wanting you one day to help lead them into the kingdom of God.

When you're a spirit being, you'll be able to appear. I often thought when I was first learning about the truth, I read, Why Were You Born? booklet. It says, you're going to be in the family of God. God wants you to be his child in his kingdom. And I thought, here my dad and mom don't believe this way. One day, they're going to be able to say, That's my son. And one day, I'm going to be able to help them.

One day, I'm going to be able to lead them. What about all the people you know in this life now, who never followed this way, but like you as a person? If they make it through all the troubles that are coming at the end time, will they look to you to lead them to God? Because your light will shine. You say, What good does it do? They don't like me except me anyway. Oh, yes, they do. They knew. They didn't like Daniel. What did they know of Daniel? He was faithful, and he served his God.

He was faithful in all that he did.

Big talk story for all of us, but we can do it. So he says, He is the living God before the God of Daniel. He is the living God. Steadfast forever, and his kingdom is one which shall never be destroyed, and his kingdom shall endure to the end. He delivers, this is verse 27, he delivers and rescues, and he works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth, who has delivered Daniel from the power of the lions. That's who it is. It's Daniel's God. Worship him. Then he gave a proclamation to bring glory to God and his kingdom, through all of his kingdom. Conclusion. In conclusion, verse 28. So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.

No, he wasn't put in jail. No, he wasn't thrown in any more lions' dens. He prospered. God blessed him afterwards. And Ecclesiastes 12 and 13 says, in the end, in the end, the end result is what's going to count. Ephesians 3 verses 20 and 21. I will read this as I conclude this sermon in one more scripture. Ephesians 3 verses 20 and 21. Now to him who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all. God doesn't just do what we ask. He doesn't just do all that we ask. He does exceedingly, abundantly above all that we ask. God is able to make favor come to our way, that we ask or think according to the power that works in us, to him be glory in the church by Jesus Christ to all generations. Ephesians 3 verses 20 and 21. So in conclusion, Paul wrote in Corinthians that all these things happened in the Old Testament. All these things happened to Israel, to the peoples of Israel. Why? For a reason. For us. 1 Corinthians 10 verse 11. They're lessons for us and how God rescued Daniel because of his belief, his faithfulness, his diligence, God's gracious mercy, and God can do the same for you and me.

I hope that we've learned some very interesting, inspiring lessons from God's Holy Word, the Bible, Daniel chapter 6.

Sorry for taking you a few minutes over time.