20241103_Daniel

[0:00] And for your amazing grace and for the fact that you came among us, you lived among us, and you died on the cross for us. We just thank you for that, Lord.

[0:11] We thank you for what you give us in our life through you. We know we don't deserve it, but we thank you for the gift of salvation. So, Father, we just thank you for this morning, for those who may be sick in our congregation.

[0:26] We lift them up to you this morning. And we just thank you for your word this morning, Father, as we get into your study of Daniel. So, just guide us. We just thank you, and we ask it all in our Lord and Savior's name.

[0:39] Amen. All right. Well, this morning, the last couple weeks, we've been going through all these visions that Daniel had in chapter 7 and chapter 8.

[0:51] Talking about all these kingdoms that were becoming along, which hadn't happened yet. He's just having the vision of what's going to happen, and he's giving it out.

[1:02] And this morning, we're going to be talking about chapter 5. So, if you turn to Daniel chapter 5, we're going to be talking about the handwriting on the wall.

[1:14] And one thing to keep in mind this morning when we start this chapter is to think of... Up.

[1:26] It's not coming through. Good. Okay. Very good. Super Exactly. Sorry. Okay.

[1:40] Let's keep in mind this proverb. Proverbs 16, 18. In mind, while reading this chapter, pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before stumbling.

[1:56] Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before stumbling. And we're going to see that, how that works out in this chapter. All the reasons, chapter 7 and 8, happened while Babylonian Empire was still in power under King Belshazzar.

[2:12] I mean, you would think that we were past that, but we're not. All those visions were done while the Babylonian Empire was still in effect.

[2:24] So, 70 years after the Hebrew children were taken captive and carried off to Babylon, one of the best-known drunken brawls in the history took place.

[2:35] The great empire of Babylon will go down to a humiliating defeat. Now, we talked about the Medes and the Persians.

[2:49] These folks have been growing in military strength. They've been taking countries, and they're hidden towards Babylon. So, in this chapter, it recounts the feast hosted by King Belshazzar, during which a mysterious supernatural event occurs.

[3:08] The chapter highlights the consequences of pride, disrespect towards God, and the importance of knowing his sovereignty.

[3:18] It features the famous handwriting on the wall, and the interpretation by the prophet Daniel, leading to the downfall of Babylon and the rise of Desiris the Mede.

[3:30] Jeremiah had divulged this defeat many years before. He had a knack for bringing sad tidings of no joy, but his foretelling in his books and his writings of future events was always accurate.

[3:49] And we can count on that. Jeremiah 51, 24. Now, this is Jeremiah talking about prophecies.

[4:11] He's talking about the time that Babylon would be destroyed. So, if we would, turn to Daniel chapter 5, verse 1. We'll read, Now, that was many, many years ago that that happened.

[4:46] They were told, probably 50 or 60 years ago, that the king and his princes, his wives, and his compel taglines might drink therein.

[4:58] They're going to take these holy equipment that was on the temple, and they're going to drink from it. Verse 3, Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God, which was at Jerusalem.

[5:12] And the king and his princes, his wives and his concubines drank from them. They drank wine. Praise the gods of gold and of silver, of brass, of wood and stone.

[5:26] They were praising all those foreign gods. Drinking and having a great time. When Nebuchadnezzar died, all the ministers who were at the core of his palace, the people that was leading during his time, were banished and sent away from the throne.

[5:44] And that was common back in that day. When a new king came in, he did away with a lot of the leaders that was there. And I guess it's no different today, is it? Whenever we change presidencies, everything changes.

[5:58] I worked in the government for 30-some years, and every time a new president came on board, we just got bomb-bottled with letters.

[6:09] This is changing, that's changing, all these things. So when a new leader comes in, there's new power. It's me. Do it my way. And that's exactly what happened even clear back then.

[6:22] So it's amazing. So Daniel dropped out of sight for almost a decade and lived in obscurity. Remember back then, Nebuchadnezzar had him lifted up high?

[6:37] And a lot of his friends that came with him, they had good positions. But as he got, as Balthasar came in, all that kind of stuff changed and new people came in.

[6:47] So Daniel was still around, but he wasn't invited on the list to this party. Balthasar sat on his throne above the thousand nobles and assorted female companions and led them in drinking toast to their pagan gods.

[7:06] This was an act beneath the dignity of most kings of that day. Balthasar threw aside all restraints and just did exactly as he just pleased.

[7:18] Proverbs 34, 31, 4 says, It is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes to say, where is strong drink? Least they drink and forget the law and pervert the justice due to any that is affected.

[7:32] So if you've got somebody up high and they are prone to drink or whatever, you know, it affects their lives.

[7:43] It affects their decisions. It affects all the people that surround them. And this proverb, the proverbs are written to give knowledge to things that happen.

[7:54] And it's great that we have all these proverbs that we can go back to. So Balthasar also indulged in the worst sacrilege, and he sent for the golden and silver goblets and commanded that they be filled with wine for all to drink in open defiance of those holy vessels.

[8:13] And he taught the Hebrew God with this act of desecration. And he taught the Hebrew God with this act of desecration.

[8:48] And he taught the Hebrew God with this large with the defense of this Babylon. It's throwing a party. Maybe he feels there's no defense against, no defending against the advanced Persians. Or he was confident because of Babylon's impressive defensive and vast supplies.

[9:03] Babylon was well protected. Remember we talked before about all the, how this city was so great and it was built. Just some of the things, the calculations of the dimensions.

[9:15] The outer walls were 17 miles. The walls were 22 feet thick and 90 feet high. The outer walls had all God tars above 100 feet.

[9:29] The city gates were made of broads. A system of inner and outer walls and moats made the city very secure. So he might have been just up there drinking and having a good time saying, who in the world is going to get in this place?

[9:42] It's not possible. Well, maybe it is. So now the handwriting on the wall. What's that all about? Belshazzar being irrelevant and mocking God has punished, pushed God to the point he has had enough.

[9:58] So Daniel 5 verse 5. In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand and wrote over against a candlestick upon the covering of the wall of the king's palace.

[10:12] And the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. Then the king's countenance was changed and his thoughts troubled him. So the joints of his loins were loosened and his knees smote one another against one another.

[10:29] The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers and the Chaldeans and the soothsayers. And the king spoke and said to the wise men of Babylon, Whosoever shall read these writings and show me the interpretation thereof shall be clothed with scarlet and have a chain of gold about his neck.

[10:50] And shall be the third ruler in the kingdom. Then came in all the king's wise men. But they could not read the writing. More than they known the king the interpretations thereof.

[11:04] Then was King Belshazzar greatly troubled and his countenance was changed in him. And his lords were baffled. I think we read about that before too, didn't we?

[11:18] Back in one of the other chapters. Nebuchadnezzar had a dream. Come in and tell me what it's all about, you guys. You're so smart. Well, these are different people, but the same thing's happening all over again.

[11:32] And he brought in his leaders. I had this dream. I don't know what it means. Tell me what it means. So the laughter and the merriment are hushed as a hand begins to write on the wall.

[11:45] God can and sometimes does communicate to man in unexpected and even shocking ways. Here a hand mysteriously appeared and wrote on a wall.

[11:56] I guess that would be kind of frightening wouldn't you? You're sitting in this big hall. Everybody's having a great time. And then all of a sudden this hand just starts writing on the wall. Wow.

[12:07] Daniel's vision describes how, shows us that Belshazzar was terrified. His Kyrgyz party was so shallow that it turned from merriment.

[12:22] Now it turned to terrified. In a very short moment, as soon as that hand started writing. The king calls for someone to interpret the words, but none is able.

[12:35] He's the second in the kingdom. And he's telling these guys, if somebody can interpret this for me, you will be the second in the thing. So he was willing to make somebody the second most powerful in the kingdom.

[12:50] If they could just interpret this dream for him. But, Daniel was summoned. None of them could do it.

[13:01] The highest ruler in the kingdom, but they couldn't do it. And so now we turn to chapter 5, verse 10. Now the queen, by reason of the words of the king and his lords, came into the banquet house.

[13:17] And the queen spoke and said, O king, live forever. Let not thy thoughts trouble thee, and not thy countenance be changed. Evidently, she was not in this hall at this time.

[13:29] It doesn't appear. And probably somebody ran out and said, hey, the king's really distressed. He's having problems. Do you know anything about it? And can you help us out?

[13:39] And the queen said, yeah, there is a man in thy kingdom. And she comes in. Now she's talking to the king. There is a man in thy kingdom who is the spirit of the holy gods.

[13:50] And in the days of thy father, light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods was found in him. Who the king Nebuchadnezzar, thy father, the king thy father, made him master of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and the soothsayers.

[14:08] Verse 12. For as much as an excellent spirit and knowledge and understanding, interpreting of dreams, and showing hard sentences and dissolving the doubts, were found in the same Daniel.

[14:20] Whom the king named Balthazar. Now let Daniel be called, and he will show this interpretation. When these wise men were called to explain writing on the wall, they couldn't do it.

[14:36] The noise and the confusion in the bank of the hall was heard by the queen mother, and evidently she goes up, and that's what she gives these verses to the king. She gave his name, listed his gifts, abilities, and just enough of his present past to inform Balthazar of the honorary place Daniel held in Nebuchadnezzar's reign.

[14:58] So Daniel is summoned before the king to interpret these words. Now remember, he's been present, but he hasn't been up front in this reign of leaders.

[15:15] He's just been kind of set aside. So, but now, after the queen goes in and tells the king, so Daniel is summoned before the king to interpret these words. It does not seem so hard to figure out.

[15:28] It may have been that God deliberately put a veil over the minds of those men so Daniel could be called. So, it wasn't a, this was something that those men couldn't figure out, but it just didn't because I think God changed this.

[15:43] Daniel is now an old man between 60 and 70, but God still has a work for his servant to perform. Remember, he was 12 when he was taken from his land to Jerusalem and Babylon, but now he has another role to play.

[15:59] Daniel interprets the handwriting now in verse 13. Then was Daniel brought before the king, and the king spoke and said unto Daniel, Art thou that Daniel, which art of the children of the captivity of Judah, whom thy king father brought out of Jewry.

[16:17] I have even heard of thee that the Spirit of God is in thee, and that the light and the understanding and the excellent wisdom is found in thee. And now the wise men, the astrologers, have been brought in before me.

[16:30] They should read this writing and make known unto me the interpretation thereof. Thou shalt be clothed with scarlet and have a chain of gold about thy neck, and they shalt be the third ruler in the kingdom.

[16:59] Then Daniel answered and said before the king, let thy gifts be to thyself and give thy rewards to another. Yet thou will read the writing unto you.

[17:15] The king, and make known to him the interpretation of this writing. So the first thing he says, it seems like he's being mean, but he's not.

[17:25] He's not. He's very mad at what this king is doing. He's desecrating the temple things of his God.

[17:37] So to reuse the king's gifts even before performing the required service is clearly an insult. But Daniel is an old man. He really doesn't care. He despises Balthasar for desecrating the golden goblet from Yahweh's house.

[17:55] And he knows that the next day, from his vision that he's already gotten and reward has been given, will be meaningless. Because he's not going to be there the next day.

[18:07] He also knows that very soon the great kingdom of the Babylon would be lost, and Balthasar himself would be dead. Verse 18.

[18:18] O thou king, the most high God, gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom, and majesty and glory and honor. We're going back to Nebuchadnezzar. And for the majesty that he gave him, all peoples, nations, and languages trembled before him.

[18:36] But when his heart was lifted up and his mind hardened in pride, he was disposed from his kingly throne. And they took his glory from him. Verse 21.

[18:47] And he was driven from the sons of men. And his heart was made like the beast, and his dwelling was with the wild asses. They fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till he knew that the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men, that he had pointed over it whomsoever he will.

[19:08] Yet you, son Balthasar, have not humbled your heart. Even though you knew all this before, but you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven, and they have brought the vessels from his house before you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines, have been drinking wine from them.

[19:31] And he will have praised the gods of silver and gold and bronze. Balthasar had exceeded the limits of authority over Israel, which he had the right to do.

[19:48] I mean, these were captives. But when he was messing with God and those vessels, that was another thing. The Israelites were indeed his subjects, but he had no right to blaspheme their God.

[20:02] Daniel reads Balthasar's doom. He had not taken warning by the judges upon his father, Nebuchadnezzar. He had to have known about that.

[20:13] That's history. But what happened to his, well, it's really his grandfather, and he had insulted God. Daniel was so harsh because Balthasar should have known better, even if he was not raised in a godly home.

[20:27] Romans 1 reminds us that all men know God through what? Creation. Balthasar should have known him even though God's dealings with and through Daniel.

[20:41] We are all responsible to honor God according to what revelation we have. The stark warning delivered by Daniel in this passage highlights the grave consequences of disregarding God's authority.

[20:56] Balthasar's action, particularly his sacrilegious feasts using sacred vessels, shows his rebellion against the Most High. So he is going to be judged.

[21:07] We see the king's failure to recognize God's sovereignty and the inevitable consequences of such ignorance. Balthasar had witnessed this fall of others of similar sins but chose to repeat history, demonstrating how human pride can blind individuals to the truth.

[21:27] And again, as things changed, they haven't, have they? It just seems like this world just keeps going on and gone and we keep making the same mistakes over and over and over.

[21:44] So, he knew the consequences, he knew what happened, but he just ignored it. This reflects the universal theme throughout the Bible. So, those who exalt themselves will eventually be humbled.

[21:57] And indeed, these verses serve as a sobering reminder of the necessity to honor God and remain vigilant against the perils of pride and irrelevance.

[22:09] We have to keep that in mind. Daniel 5, 24. Then was the part of the hand set forth from him, and this writing was written.

[22:21] Now, we've got to remember, this is just like somebody back on the back wall right now writing something as I'm speaking. And as this writing is being written, this is what it says.

[22:34] And who knows what all those things mean, if you're just reading them, right?

[22:50] It's amazing. It should be observed that each word stands for a short sentence. Many signifies numeration, tekel, weighing, and per se, division.

[23:05] Now, Daniel 5, 26. This is the interpretation of the thing many. God hath numbered thy kingdom and finished it. To emphasize the second time, when they said it both times, it is finished.

[23:21] 27. 27. Tekal. Thou art weighed in the balances and art found wanting. You do not measure up.

[23:38] All right. So, many, many, God hath numbered thy kingdom and finished it. Belshazzar, you have had it. It's over. Telke, you have weighed in the balances and you don't measure up.

[23:52] You, Parson, thy kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and the Persians. It's divided.

[24:04] Belshazzar, you have been weighed and you don't measure up. It is finished. Your kingdom is divided and given to the Persians. God gave Nebuchadnezzar. If you remember back to chapter, I guess it was chapter 4, when Nebuchadnezzar was going through this and he'd gotten to visions and Daniel told him about it.

[24:27] And he just kept going on. And he walked around for how long? God gave him a year to repent and to change his mind. Then all of a sudden, God said, okay, I've had enough.

[24:41] You're going to go out with the cattle. And that's what he did to him. So, he gave him a year. How long did they give Belshazzar? Just a few hours before the judgment is carried out.

[24:56] Verse 29. Daniel 530.

[25:27] And Desiris the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old. In other words, 62 years old. While they were sitting in this huge banquet hall, their enemy of Babylon, where, of course, the Euphrates River flowed underneath, or flowed through Babylon.

[25:51] So, what did these Median Persians do? One way you could get into this city, we're talking these big fortified walls. You're talking about these big gates and everything.

[26:02] And it's hard for an enemy to get in. These people figured it out. They dried up the river. From the outside, they walked under the walls.

[26:15] And that they came in. And during this party, nobody knew about it. And they had the opportunity to then come in and take the city of Babylon.

[26:26] Babylon. So, it was a very... Now, you're not going to see that in the word. It just tells you that they came in and they destroyed Babylon. And they killed the king.

[26:37] But that's... From going through and searching things out, that's what I came up with anyway. So, they dried up it and they walked on the dry ground and completely surprised the Babylonians. They were defeated before sunrise.

[26:50] It was a very short battle. And Desiris, the next year in prayer of the combination of the Medes and the Persians, took the kingdom, being about 62 years old. Daniel moves right on from his Babylonian palace over to the palace of the Medes and the Persians.

[27:07] He continues to be a high government official even in the next empire. Now, we come into chapter 6 and we're going to be dealing primarily with this next kingdom.

[27:19] And this is the kingdom of the Medes and the Persians. It's this kingdom that will give the Jews permission to go back. So, again, we're talking about pretty much to the end of the 70-year period.

[27:33] That these Jews have been in captivity. So, this is pretty close to that. It's this kingdom that will give the Jews permission to go back. But it will not be under Desiris.

[27:43] It will be under Cyrus. By the time Cyrus becomes the king, Daniel will be up in his 80s and up around his 90s. And Daniel will leave the scene.

[27:55] Although it seems like we read about more and more government scandals. Did we read about that today? I don't remember reading it, no. I don't believe we know half the truth of the now-day Balthasar who party in our state and national capitals.

[28:13] It's happening. That party is happening. It may not be like what we just read. But we have some bad things going on in our national capitals and all over the place.

[28:26] So, we look at the wonderful achievement of Americans and say, look at this great Babylon in which we live. This prophetic handwriting was an application, I believe, to our time.

[28:37] The Bible says in Titus, or 2 Timothy 3.1. But know this, that in the last days, grievous times shall come.

[28:48] For man shall be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, haughty, railers, disobedient to parents, unthinking, unholy, without natural affection, infleckable, slanderous, without self-control, fierce, no lovers of good, traitors, headstrong, puffed up, lovers of pleasure, pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding a firm form of godliness, but having denied a par thereof for these who turn away.

[29:25] That's the state we're in today. If you read through those verses right there, you can see what's going on in America today. And that's what was going on back then.

[29:38] God took care of it then. God has a plan. And it's going to happen again. So, we're going to know that in the end times. So, any questions on chapter 5?

[29:50] About this handwriting on the wall? How God dealt with this king? And now a new empire is coming in. And this empire is going to be different. It's going to be bigger, more powerful.

[30:03] Any questions about chapter 5 before we go to chapter 6? Okay. Daniel and the lion's den. Chapter 6.

[30:15] The story of Daniel and the lion's den is captured to imagination of believers for thousands of years. This is the second time in Daniel that we see this kind of an account. Jews being sentenced to death for practicing what?

[30:29] What were these people doing? Just worshiping the God that they've had. That was the only thing that they got that there was problems with.

[30:42] The Hebrew children were condemned to the fiery furnace. And now in chapter 6, we're going to see Daniel will be thrown in the lion's den. Both stories concern court conflict.

[30:54] That is, colleagues are jealous that Jews have been promoted to higher positions in government. And the Jews' faithfulness to God is also a reason for them to get out of the way.

[31:09] For this is a reason that at the time certain Chaldeans came forward and brought charges against the Jews. And later in this chapter, we'll see the same thing. We saw that back in chapter 2.

[31:20] Now we're seeing it in chapter 6. The Neo-Babylonian Empire fell to the Medes and Persians in October 539. It is now a few years later.

[31:32] The government of the now Persian providence of Babylon is under Darius the Mede. Daniel 6.1 It pleasured Darius to appoint 120 satraps over the kingdom to oversee the whole kingdom.

[31:49] And over them three commissioners, of whom Daniel was one, so that the three satraps would be accountable to them and that the king would not suffer loss.

[32:00] Then Daniel began distinguishing himself among the commissioners and the satraps because he possessed an extraordinary spirit and the king intended to appoint him over the entire kingdom.

[32:13] Wow. That's pretty good for a captive that he even had this type of thing going on. Then the commissioners and the satraps began trying to find ground for acquisition against Daniel regarding government affairs.

[32:34] But they could find no ground of accusation or evidence of corruption because he was trustworthy and no negligence or corruption was to be found in him.

[32:46] Verse 5. Then these men said, we will not find many ground of accusation. I'm having trouble with that word. Against this Daniel unless we find it against him regarding the law of God.

[33:02] They see that this man is a good man. He's doing everything that he should be doing running this government. They can't find anything wrong with him. Wow.

[33:13] Then these commissioners and satraps came to an agreement to the king and spoke to him as follows. Verse 6. King desires live forever. All the commissioners of the kingdom, the perfects and the satraps, the counselors and the governors have consulted together that the king should establish a statute and therefore enforce an injunction that anyone who offers a prayer to any god or person beside you, O king, for 30 days shall be thrown into the lion's den.

[33:48] Now satrap is an old Persian word, was a ruler over a proportion of the kingdom. Daniel and the advanced state, he has been pointed to a high position in the new Persian government over the province of Babylon.

[34:03] Daniel and his other colleagues were made sure, were to make sure that none of the satraps would corrupt or make themselves rich at the government expenses. It seems like they set this big thing up at government of people who run the government.

[34:19] And they set up three who would kind of oversee all the stuff that was going on. And what were they to do? They were to see that those other guys were not doing something to disturb the government, to make themselves rich, and all those kind of things.

[34:37] So with high position, his high position was amazing. And again, it's the miracle of God working for a captive from Israel to become one of the leading people in the nation of Babylon.

[34:51] Well, really, it's not the nation of Babylon right now. It's the Persians, the needs in the Persians. So he has become that. Now that we are seeing, what are we seeing governmentally?

[35:05] Well, Nebuchadnezzar didn't report to anybody, did he? He was the king. And that was it. Whatever he said went.

[35:16] He did not have a cabinet. If he needed help, he called the astrologers and so forth. But he had no political organization to which he reported.

[35:26] He was king. He was a ruler over all. By the time we get to the next empire, the Medes and the Persians, you remember back in chapter 2 where these things are described, then we come to the Medes and the Persians.

[35:41] It's down to two. Two kings came in, or two leaders, the Medes and the Persians. They were gathered. They came in. They militaryed together. They came in.

[35:52] They conquered all these countries together. And now they're coming in. They're taking over the Babylonian empire. But even the two heads of the Persian government have these 120 princes to whom they would report, and then the three presidents, which Daniel was one of those.

[36:09] So what have you got? Well, you've got the beginning of a republic, don't you? It's no longer a dictator. Now you're getting towards every public because you're dividing the government, giving offices out.

[36:23] These people are making recommendations to the king now who's in charge, and that's the way this new government is going to be run. It's no longer an absolute monarch. King Desirius is impressed with him because of his great spirit, talking of Daniel.

[36:41] Daniel, who has been wise and exceptional under Nebuchadnezzar, shines brightly now under the Persian rule. When his rivals hear that his king is planning to put him in charge like he did, they search for grounds on which to discredit him but cannot find any.

[37:00] Daniel's record is spotless. He conducted the king's affairs in a proper and honest manner. Gosh, what are you going to do with a guy like this?

[37:11] Sometimes today a candidate or a nominee for political office is set under this kind of scrutiny, but imagine scrutinizing a public servant in an office for some 50 years.

[37:28] They did that back, all the way back to chapter 2, all the way through. Daniel was beginning high position, and these guys said, guys, we just can't have it.

[37:39] We've got to do something. So for 50 years and find nothing wrong, there was no fraudulent expense accounts, no intern scandals, no questionable business deals, no gifts from lobbyists, no acquisitions from his staff.

[38:00] There were no skeletons in Daniel's closet. His enemies examined his life and found nothing to attack, so they had to make something up. Verse 4, the satanic power, Daniel to the, wait a minute, what did I say?

[38:20] The satanic power was again trying to take and pin Daniel to the wall regarding his worship of the true God. They are setting him up. This is a total conspiracy to trap Daniel.

[38:34] And the main reason was their jealousy, because he was a good Jew. What was their number one reason? He's a Jew. That's what the Gentile world can't handle.

[38:44] A Jew in our Gentile, our Gentile empire with this kind of power. It just ate at them like cancer. So Daniel's commitment to God in preserving his precepts was the utmost importance to him before he took this public stand regarding the king's rule and degrees.

[39:03] Daniel resolved in his own heart that whatever he had been taught had been truth, and that he was convicted to remain faithful to God. Inner convictions resulted in outer appearance.

[39:17] He didn't change. Even all these people in office wanted him to change. He didn't change. It's amazing.

[39:28] Luke 6, 45, The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the shadow of his heart his mouth speaks.

[39:45] Guys, Tuesday we're going to be voting. And what have we been hearing for the last year, really?

[39:56] But if you get down to the last two months, we've been hearing all this stuff going on between all these people. This guy cannot be a good ruler, leader.

[40:07] Look at all the things. He's a crook. He's done all this. You look over on this side. She's done all this. She can't be a good ruler. All this stuff is being going on. And everybody's trying to find something to pin this other person to the wall.

[40:23] If I can pin her to the wall, Trump says, I'm going to be elected. And, of course, she's doing the exact same thing to him. So, we see this kind of stuff going on today, don't we?

[40:37] Daniel was trustworthy and honest and neither corrupt nor negligent. Daniel's convictions of the heart became the commitment of his life. Inner conviction always results in outward commitment and obedience.

[40:50] And we can be sure of that. If you know God, you read his word, what's he want you to do?

[41:02] He wants us to be imitators of what he says in his word. And if we do that, it's going to be hard to pin us down. It's going to be very hard.

[41:14] And if it comes to that, and there's some people who want you pinned down, they're going to do exactly what these guys did. And they're going to do something to bring it before.

[41:27] Okay, because Daniel's faith and his trust in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Japheth, blessed him with all his wisdom and understanding and his integrity, yet the world cannot stand it.

[41:37] They just can't handle a man of integrity, especially if that man is a Jew. Today's political system is no different, yet someone make a stand of their faith, and what will they be attacked?

[41:52] Or will they be attacked like Daniel? And I think we see that today. If you have a man of faith, and he stands up and he starts talking, people's going to come against him.

[42:05] They're going to come against him hard. So I think we're very fortunate. We're not in his district, but we have a young man that's coming to our church, Jim Jordan.

[42:18] He goes into Congress. He's there every day. He fights through all this stuff. And he seems to show that he has this love of God in him.

[42:29] And sometimes it goes against him when he's in different situations. So we're just thankful that we can, we know a man who does those kind of things in Congress, and there's other guys in Congress also.

[42:42] It's just the numbers get outweighed, seems like, with the others that's coming along. So, Daniel 6, 8.

[42:52] Now, King, O, establish this junction. They've asked him to put this order into effect that anybody prays. Now, O King, establish the injunction and sign this document, so it would not be changed according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, which may not be revoked.

[43:10] Thereupon, King desires to sign the document that this is the injunction. Now, when Daniel learned that the document was signed, he entered his house, what did he do?

[43:24] Same thing he did back in Chapter 3. What did he tell these guys to do? All this stuff is coming against us, guys. Hey, the first thing we do, we go to the house and we pray.

[43:36] So, he entered the house and his roof chamber and had open windows toward Jerusalem, and he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and offering praise before God, just as he had been doing previously.

[43:53] These men, then these men came by agreement and found Daniel offering a prayer and imploring favor before his God. So, what did he do? The king signed the document.

[44:04] So, what does Daniel do? He says, there's going to be a problem. I'm going to go home and I'm going to pray. And that's exactly what he did. So, what's happened now?

[44:15] The trap has been set. Verse 12, 6-12. Then he approached and spoke before the king about the king's injunction. Did you not sign an injunction that any person who offers a prayer to God or person besides you, O king, for thirty days is to be thrown into the lion's den?

[44:38] The king replied, the statement is true. According to the law, the Medes and the Purgeants, which may not be revoked. Then they responded and spoke before the king.

[44:49] Daniel, he is one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, O king, or to the injunctions which you sign, but keeps offering his prayer three times a day.

[45:02] 14. Then, as soon as the king heard this statement, he was deeply distressed and set his mind on rescuing Daniel. And until Sunday, he kept exerting himself to save him.

[45:14] He was saying, okay, I got this information, guys. But you know what? He knew Daniel. He must have known what was going on. And he got set up is what happened.

[45:28] So, now that he's done this, he's trying to think of ways to get out of it, legally get out of it. But he's not having any luck. Then these men came by agreement to the king and said to him, Recognize, O king, that the law, the Medes and the Purgeants, that no injunction or statute which the king establishes may be changed.

[45:49] You know, that's something we read all the way through the Old Testament. What happens to make that happen? The segment ring. The king has this segment ring, and when he makes a judgment or he makes a statement, it's written down, and he puts that stamp on it.

[46:06] And there's no way that you can change that. Even he can't change it. And there's some other, well, I forget what it was now. There's some place in the scripture where it did get changed.

[46:18] And I can't remember the exact situation now. It was one of the ladies in the scriptures did this. Esther. I believe it was Esther. Esther, yeah. Other things. It didn't exactly get changed.

[46:30] He just made another injunction that they could defend themselves. Okay. Overwrote that one, right? Gave them a different option.

[46:42] Yeah. Yeah. But it can't be changed. And that's good in Ephesians chapter 1. I think it's verse 13 where it says, You are sealed.

[46:56] And that's what that's referencing to. When I accept Jesus Christ into my life, I've been sealed with his blood of Christ, of his spirit.

[47:09] And just like that king, when he put his signet ring on there, that's exactly what happens when we accept Jesus Christ into our life. That thing has been put on us.

[47:21] It cannot be changed. It cannot be changed. It will not be changed. It will not be changed. I may change. But my position does not change. And man, a lot of people do not realize that.

[47:35] And that's a shame. Because that scripture is one of the primary verses to memorize. You have been sealed in Christ.

[47:47] Nothing can change that. And people today live in complete guilt because of what they've done in the past or maybe what they did yesterday.

[48:01] And they say, I have to, I got to go before God. I got to confess that I'm not a sinner and all this stuff. And there's nothing wrong with that.

[48:11] If you've done something wrong, yeah, go. Get it corrected. That doesn't change your position with God. A lot of people say, Well, I got to go and be baptized over again today.

[48:24] Well, okay, you're going to get wet. That's about the only thing that's going to happen, right? You are sealed. You're sealed with the Spirit. And there's nothing that's going to change that.

[48:36] And when you read these things in the Old Testament, it brings, it just highlights some of the things you see in the New Testament. That this authority that these people had made that there was no change that could happen.

[48:50] And the same thing goes when God says, Accept Jesus Christ into your life. And you are sealed at that point. And that's, that verse is just an amazing verse.

[49:09] Okay. So the king is trying to find a way to get Daniel out of this. He didn't have any luck. Go to verse 16.

[49:22] Daniel 16. He didn't have any luck. Then the king gave orders. Then Daniel was brought in and thrown in to the lion's den. The king said to Daniel, Your God, whom you continually serve, will himself rescue you, won't he?

[49:38] And the stone was brought in and placed over the mouth of the den. And it was sealed with his own signet ring or with the signet ring of his nobles so that nothing would be changed regarding Daniel.

[49:51] Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting and no entertainment was brought to him and his sleep fled from him. Wow, this is the king.

[50:02] And he put this man in to death and he didn't want to. And he said, Man, my night was a terrible night. You know what? Daniel was in the lion's den and he was praying and he was walking with the lions and nothing was happening.

[50:23] And when they opened up that gate the next day, that's the first thing. When the king got up, he rushed to the lion's den. Oh, I just went overboard, didn't I?

[50:34] Wow. Okay. Time changed. Time changed, yeah. That's what happened. Well, we can finish this up next week. But it's interesting what happens there at the end and we'll get into chapter nine.

[50:47] Chapter nine is a great chapter. We're going to be talking, number one, about prayer. Daniel knew that his people had failed God and he's going to have this great prayer before his heavenly father before we get down to the timing of the end times.

[51:08] And all that's going to be in chapter nine. So, we'll see you next week. First week. Okay. Okay. Thank you.klik, cool.яд面, Jake, quarter,