PM Daniel 1:8

[0:00] Do the scriptures, do the Bible in the Old Testament, Daniel chapter 1, page 891 in your pew Bibles, page 891, Daniel chapter 1.

[0:15] ! And I'll read this entire chapter, 21 verses. Daniel chapter 1. Hear the word of God.

[0:25] In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim, king of Judah, into his hand with some of the vessels of the house of God.

[0:42] And he brought them to the land of Shina, to the house of his God, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his God. Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, the chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding, learning, and competent to stand in the king's palace and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans.

[1:17] The king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate and of the wine that he drank. They were to be educated for three years and at the end of that time they were to stand before the king.

[1:33] Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah. And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names. Daniel, he called Balthasar, Hananiah, he called Shadrach, Mishael, he called Meshach, and Azariah, he called Abednego.

[1:52] But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king's food or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself.

[2:04] And God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs. And the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, I fear my lord the king, who assigned your food and your drink.

[2:17] For why should he see that you were in worse condition than the youths who are of your own age? So you would endanger my head with the king.

[2:28] Then Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had assigned over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, Test your servants ten days.

[2:39] Let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then let our appearance and the appearance of the youths who eat the king's food be observed by you and deal with your servants according to what you see.

[2:52] So he listened to them in this matter and tested them for ten days. At the end of ten days it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths who ate the king's food.

[3:07] So the steward took away their food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables. As for these four youths, God gave them learning and skill in all literature and wisdom and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.

[3:24] At the end of the time when the king had commanded that they should be brought in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. And the king spoke with them and among all of them, none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.

[3:42] Therefore they stood before the king. And in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all his kingdom.

[3:59] And Daniel was there until the first year of King Cyrus. Our man made a lot as his blessing to the public reading of his holy and inspired word.

[4:09] Another passage that we read earlier in Daniel chapter 1. Daniel chapter 1 and this evening we will be looking at this verse in verse 8.

[4:22] Daniel chapter 1 verse 8 goes, When we come to this particular passage in the Old Testament, the character Daniel, perhaps very famous or very well known to most of us in this room.

[4:54] Daniel, or at least Babylon, the kingdom of Babylon has just taken over Judah or Jerusalem over a ten year campaign of battles and siege and so on.

[5:10] And we know that Babylon was going to take over Judah because the Lord has prophesied over the kings of Judah and their idolatry that because of the idolatry, the kingdom of Judah would fall to the Babylonians.

[5:28] This was already prophesied earlier. Now, Daniel was going to be one of those young men in Judah who was going to be taken away from his parents and brought to the land of Babylon along with other Jewish boys.

[5:47] And this whole group of boys was selected not because of their fitness, not because of their spirituality, but because of their appearance and stature and their intelligence and so on.

[6:10] And they were made to walk about a thousand miles to Babylon. If you think how far is it, about a thousand miles, it's a bit like going from Dublin all the way down south to the south coast of England and back.

[6:26] So that's about a thousand miles. And we know that's the case because of, in verse 4, a youth without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in wisdom, endowed knowledge, understanding, learning, and so on.

[6:42] And they entered Babylon after walking a thousand miles or thereabouts. And Babylon is one of the greatest cities in the ancient world.

[6:53] Now, did they enter via the Ishtar Gate, which is supposed to be this grand gate, as they enter into Babylon at that time? Did they enter that particular gate, the Ishtar Gate, when it was being built?

[7:11] Did they witness the hanging gardens of Babylon, which you know is one of the seven wonders of the ancient world? Did they witness that? Did they see its grand door and so on?

[7:24] Who knows? They were brought there in order to study the Babylonian language and literature. So we see in verse 4, to teach them the ending of verse 4, they were competent to stand in the king's palace and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans, the Babylonians.

[7:43] So these were people who were brought into the place in Babylon, trained to enter into the king's personal service.

[8:01] You can say it's almost like joining the civil service in those days, except they were brought by force, not exactly something that they volunteered for.

[8:13] But we know that's the case. We read in verse 5, in the second part, they were to be educated for three years, and at the end of that time, they were to stand before the king. Now this gets quite interesting.

[8:27] It's really interesting here. We read in Daniel's account here. Daniel had no problems, at least on service reading, he had no problems with studying the Babylonian language and literature.

[8:44] No problems with that. In fact, he didn't complain about a change of names, at least the scriptures is silent about that. He was given a new name, Belteshazzar, and his friends was called Shadrach, Meshach, and Benico.

[8:59] They were given new names, Babylonian names. Didn't complain about it. The only time when he had a real big issue is only when he was asked to eat the food from the king.

[9:14] That's been interesting. No problems with the language, the literature, even a change of names. But when it comes to the food from the king's kitchens, he had to draw the line.

[9:27] And so this is my first point to my sermon. But Daniel, the first two words, but Daniel, shows us something about a contrast with what had happened before.

[9:45] The name change, the language, the literature, no problems with that. But Daniel, there's a change there. The scriptures is introducing something different from before.

[10:01] There's a bit of a compare and contrast. There's a compare and contrast here. Now, it's easy for Daniel to enter into Babylon and to stand in awe at the Babylonian culture, the education.

[10:22] And the Babylonians were well renowned for that. If you go to the British Museum, you can see some of the artifacts of Babylonian culture, education, and so on. And the Babylonian cuisine.

[10:34] He could have seen the, if you want to put it in modern lingo, the bright lights in big city of Babylon. Perhaps he even witnessed the emperor worship. You know, the whole grand deal of it all.

[10:47] And it's easy for someone like Daniel, and he would be a very young man at that time, to forget all about his Jewish roots. To forget all about his Jewish culture.

[11:00] To forget all about the God of the Israelites. How many times have we heard, hear of friends, or even perhaps some of our own children going to big cities, and suddenly they've just turned.

[11:18] They just change completely. They're just drawn in by the bright lights in big cities. Now, Daniel could have just gone down that way wholesale.

[11:32] Let's go for it. Let's go for the emperor worship. Let's go for the culture, the education, the lights, and the glitz, and the glamour, and everything. It's very appealing.

[11:46] It's very appealing. And we live in a society in this day and age where society is very appealing. It's appealing to young people. It's appealing to older people.

[12:00] There's a lot of big draws to society in this day and age. There's a lot of glitz and glamour. We have a celebrity culture. Don't think we need to, I need to explain more on that.

[12:13] There's a celebrity culture at the moment. Not at the moment. It's been going for years now. But now it's even made more pronounced with the internet. You have Instagrammers.

[12:26] I never knew there's such a word. There's YouTubers. Those of you who do not know, well, ask your children or your grandchildren. And it's so appealing to some young Christian to be sucked away into that culture.

[12:42] To be drawn away from the simplicity of the word of God and living for the word for living for Christ and through his word to be sucked away into that culture.

[12:54] culture. Nothing new under the sun. The apostle Paul in his own little band of helpers, of his own band of helpers, he had one Demas.

[13:06] We read in 2 Timothy 4, verse 10, For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica.

[13:18] Even the apostle Paul with his band of helpers, very close-knit band of helpers who helped him in his missionary journeys, in his evangelistic zeal and mission.

[13:33] And yet, out of them, there's one Demas who forsaken Paul, having loved this present world, and is departed. But what about us?

[13:47] What about us? We say we will follow the Lord. Perhaps when we were young, we say we will follow the Lord. Well, where are we now? Perhaps at some point in our life, we say we will follow the Lord.

[14:01] I love the Lord and I want to follow Him. Great! Well, where are we now today? Have we maintained that path?

[14:11] Are we still following the Lord? Have we forsaken all the things of this world, the worldly pleasures and everything? Have we forsaken all of that and we are still walking that straight and narrow that leads to glory?

[14:26] Or have we drifted so far away from the Lord? And now we are right thick in the thick of modern day culture.

[14:39] Where are we? Where are we? And we realize that we are right in the we've been drawn into societies and all the ideologies of society and what society is saying and we are just following it blindly.

[14:59] What are we going to do about it? Are we going to say but Daniel replace Daniel with your own name? When others see us will they say okay but this person is different but Mr.

[15:21] so and so Mrs. so and so Miss so and so is different. Truly it's a comparing contrast that we have here with Daniel but Daniel but Daniel resolved that he will not defile himself with the king's food.

[15:39] This really is a real compact contrast between the believer in Christ and the unconverted person. And you know what society may not like the Christian and they may say they were different.

[15:57] Is there anything bad with that? Well we'll see later on in the case of Daniel nothing wrong with it. We'll see later on that in fact it serves Daniel some good as well to be different.

[16:13] Perhaps you hear that very famous line dare to be a Daniel. Well can we say that we are like Daniel in this passage before us but Daniel there's a compare and contrast there's a difference in Daniel.

[16:30] Now we go on to the next point Daniel purpose in his heart. Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself. Now like I say he was a young man.

[16:43] It doesn't really matter he's a young man. He's a young man. But even as a young man he consciously planned. He was determined.

[16:54] In fact one translation said but Daniel made up his mind not to eat the king's food. Now we touch on the king's food issue later on.

[17:09] But he made up his mind. He was determined. He planned no I will not eat the king's food. Now only genuine conversion in his heart allowed him to make that cow decision.

[17:27] He had a new heart. He had a changed life. His will his inclination everything in his life has been bent towards God.

[17:40] And so because of that he made it very clear through prayer I'm sure of that that he would not eat the king's food. He purposed in his heart. And you know now you can say maybe Daniel's parents had something to do with that.

[17:58] Who knows. You can say maybe the Old Testament church or the Old Testament tabernacle worship had something to do with that. The priests and so on. Okay.

[18:09] Maybe there may be some influence over Daniel's decision not to eat the king's food. But the point is this. He purposed in his heart. He made up his mind not to eat the king's food.

[18:23] He was very determined about that. The Christian is one who consciously or conscientiously resolve to live a godly life.

[18:36] There's no two ways about it. The Christian one who determines makes up his mind makes up her mind to live a life for Christ.

[18:49] Do I purpose in my heart to serve the Lord? Do I purpose in my heart that I will serve the Lord? And do I want to serve the Lord because he saved me and has adopted me as his child?

[19:04] Or do I just want to serve the Lord because I want to earn my way to heaven? Well, the Christian will say, no, I will serve him because he has saved me, he has converted me, he has brought me into his presence as his child.

[19:19] And now because of that, I want to serve my heavenly father. And I want to make this my goal in life. I want to resolve, I want to purpose in my heart, I want to make up my mind that I will serve the Lord.

[19:35] Our motive for serving the Lord, our motive for living a godly, holy life, must be one out of love and gratitude. Not trying to curry! Flavor away to God's good books, if there's such a thing.

[19:48] Our motive must be out of love and gratitude for what the Lord has done for us and what the Lord has done in us.

[20:01] The Old Testament has lots of examples. Job said, I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a young woman. He purposed in his heart.

[20:13] I made a covenant with my eyes. The Psalmist, Psalm 17, thou hast proved my heart, thou hast visited me in the night, thou hast tried me and shall find nothing.

[20:24] I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress. Job made a covenant with eyes. The Psalmist, purposed in his mouth not to transgress.

[20:37] Psalm 119, Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee. I purposefully, determinedly, conscientiously, take the word of God, keep it in my heart, obviously read it, keep it in my heart so that I might not sin against the Lord.

[20:59] Some of you may have read the resolutions of Jonathan Edwards, the American pastor, theologian, back in the 18th century.

[21:10] as a teenager, as a teenager, Jonathan Edwards set down a series of thoughts and practices to help him grow in grace.

[21:25] 2 Peter chapter 3 says, but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So, Jonathan Edwards wanted to grow in grace, and so he put down his thoughts onto pen and paper, or whatever, on paper, that he will put down a number of resolutions as to how he will grow in grace.

[21:51] And he will read it, and re-read it, so that his mind is focused and renewed day by day. And Jonathan Edwards became renowned to be a man of great humility and godliness, and the Lord used him to ignite one of the greatest revivals in church history.

[22:17] Now, I just read a couple of just two of these resolutions of Jonathan Edwards. Resolution number one, I will do, I will do whatever I think will be most to God's glory, and my own good, profit, and pleasure for as long as I live.

[22:38] I will do all these things without consideration of the time they take. I will do whatever I think will be most to God's glory. Resolution number 53, to improve every opportunity when I'm in the best and happiest frame of mind, to cast and venture my soul on the Lord Jesus Christ, to trust and confide in him, to consecrate myself wholly to him, that from this I may have assurance of my safety, knowing that I confide in my Redeemer.

[23:13] He made it very clear, I have purpose like Daniel, I have purpose in my heart, I have resolved that I will do this to God's glory, I will live my life for Christ to trust and confide in him.

[23:31] He wrote this when he was 20 years old, 1723, he was born 1703, so he was 20 years old when he wrote these words. In this day and age, where everything is all about relativity, everything is all about sound bites, easy, the easy way out, the easy way of Christianity, which has led to very much low moral standards, perhaps it's good for us if we are Christians to learn from Daniel, to purpose in our heart not to sin against the Lord, not only that, but to also cultivate holiness unto the Lord.

[24:16] Now, I know we are all good Calvinists, I trust, but even then, even then, we believe that yes, the Holy Spirit works in our hearts so that we are made more pure, we are made more holy unto the Lord, the Holy Spirit separates us through the word of God.

[24:41] Yes, we do acknowledge that, but even as Christians we need to resolve, we need to purpose, have a purpose in our hearts to make up our minds, to live our lives for the Lord.

[25:00] Otherwise, passages like in Ephesians 6, the whole armor of God would make no sense. Paul would not have written the whole armor of God in Ephesians chapter 6, if all the Christian needs to do is sit by and holiness just diffuse onto us.

[25:18] No, we need to work towards it, we need to resolve to do it. Now, my third point is this, Daniel avoiding worldliness or compromise.

[25:31] Daniel avoiding worldliness or compromise. What did Daniel purpose himself not to do? Now, I've already mentioned that he, it's written there, he defiled, not to defile himself with the king's food.

[25:45] Now, this is where it gets a bit tricky. Defile himself with food and drink? You may scratch your head and think, well, what is this about? Depends on which commentary you're reading, there's several explanations offered.

[26:01] Some may say that the food that's eaten by the Babylonians may contain foods that are actually forbidden in the book of Leviticus. So, for example, pig's meat, pork, or horse meat.

[26:17] In Leviticus 11 and Leviticus chapter 17, it says you're not supposed to eat those cow foods. Now, it's known that the Babylonians do eat pork and horse meat.

[26:31] But, it's interesting, Daniel didn't just resolve that he would not defile himself to the king's food, all with the wine that he drank. The wine. There isn't an unclean wine in the book of Leviticus.

[26:46] So, evidently, there's more to it than that. There's more to it than that. The second explanation is the food and drink were offered to idols. the gods of the Babylonians.

[27:00] Now, it's quite easy to say that, right? Maybe the food was offered to the idols and so Daniel just said, no, I'm not going to eat that. He could have said like what Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 10.

[27:15] No, I imply that what pagan sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. So, Paul in the New Testament says, well, you know, don't eat those food that's been offered to the idols.

[27:32] And so, Daniel could have just said, well, this food was offered to idols, to the gods of the Babylonians, so I don't want to eat that kind of food. Could have said that. Now, that's a possibility.

[27:44] But perhaps there's another reason. Perhaps there's another reason. And it's to do with Eastern cultures, even to today, it is still quite common.

[27:58] Eating the king's food represents accepting the king's friendship and patronage. Eating the king's food represents accepting the king's friendship and patronage.

[28:14] Now, in the Old Testament and even in Eastern cultures or even in Oriental cultures, sharing food is quite a big thing. Sharing food shows closeness.

[28:28] Actually, it's the same even in this country, isn't it? Sharing food shows closeness, a commitment to a relationship. You can even read this in Genesis 31.

[28:40] In fact, in the Bible, you see quite a number of occasions where food and drink is mentioned. specifically mentioned. You can't think, well, why so specific?

[28:53] Well, we read in Genesis 31 54, it reads, he offered a sacrifice in a hill country and then he invited his relatives to a meal. There's almost a connection there.

[29:05] After the sacrifice in the hill country, then there's this whole feasting with his relatives. In Nehemiah chapter 8, we read, so the Levites calmed all the people saying, be quiet for the day is holy, do not be grieved.

[29:19] And all the people went their way, what? To eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing. See, there's this connection with food and drink and celebrations and so on.

[29:34] And then there's another occasion that we read in 2 Kings chapter 25 verse 29 and this is to do in connection with this account in Daniel.

[29:47] King Jehoiachin accepted food from the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar's son. not this particular incident, but later on. And we read that Jehoiachin, the king, he was already in prison for quite a number of years.

[30:03] Nebuchadnezzar's son, so not this Nebuchadnezzar, but his son, invited Jehoiachin to come out of prison.

[30:14] And so Jehoiachin, we read in 2 Kings 25 verse 29, put off his prison garments and every day of his life he dined regularly at the king's table.

[30:28] Now, there's a subtle hint there of misplaced loyalty. Jehoiachin came out of prison and dined regularly at the king's, this is the king of Babylon, at the king's table.

[30:48] There's a misplaced loyalty there. He's betrayed the Lord God Almighty by turning to the king of Babylon and feasting at his table.

[31:00] There's a subtle hint there. In fact, we know that to be the case because Daniel chapter 11, we're going to read later on, if you do read it, chapter 11, verse 26, we read it.

[31:12] Even those who eat at his food shall break him, his army shall be swept away and many shall fall down, slain. There's a warning there from Daniel. Don't just share food with the king of Babylon.

[31:26] Don't just get into collaboration or cooperation with the king of Babylon. In fact, the scriptures in the Old Testament is so many times we read the kings of Israel and of Judah having form alliances with Egypt and other foreign countries and God condemns that.

[31:52] God says you don't do that. You live under my rule and I will bless you. You join forces with other nations whether it be Egypt or Syria or wherever you will not be blessed and it is wrong it is sin.

[32:12] And so Daniel resolving not to eat the king's food perhaps he realized if I add the king's food I am showing that I'm in collaboration in cooperation and I go along with whatever the king of Babylon is doing and Daniel is saying no I'm not going to do that I'm not going to do that isn't it interesting that in the New Testament when the accusers of Christ they want to accuse Christ of all kinds of things they seem to have a habit of accusing Christ of being a glutton and a drunkard a friend of tax collectors and sinners interesting that the accusers of Christ will lump food and friendship together isn't interesting and so I think Daniel purposed himself not to defile himself with the food and drink from the king because he knew that if he accepted and ate the food from the king he would be in collaboration he would be having a close relationship with the king of

[33:35] Babylon and he didn't want that he did not want that he is happy to take on the training take on the education he didn't even mind the change of name but when it comes to eating the king's food he had to draw the line because he didn't want to show his public declaration of friendship closeness and dependency upon the king of Babylon this is Daniel he's going to rely on the Lord not on the king of Babylon so he drew a line on that and perhaps that is the reason why he resolved not to define himself the king's food but what about us what about us you may have heard that saying that Christians are in the world but not of the world the the apostle John in 1 John chapter 2 under inspiration of the

[34:36] Holy Spirit writes 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 that can be easily said of Daniel if Daniel were to love the food and the the patronage and the friendship of the king of Babylon the love of God is not with him the love of God is not going to be upon Daniel you know we live in this society and we have to accept working in perhaps some of us working in an environment that is ungodly perhaps we may have family members who are not Christians and who perhaps live in a way that we struggle with we feel uncomfortable with perhaps we accept that and perhaps we may also accept the fact that we serve in a government that sometimes put up laws and policies that is downright ungodly yes we pray for our governments and local governments national governments yes but the laws that they put forward we know that it is against the word of

[35:58] God but we still have to serve the governments that we live under where do we draw the line where do we draw the line well some professing Christians do not draw any lines at all you just blindly follow whatever everyone else is doing where do we draw the line we must draw a line somewhere somehow 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 if we are Christians then we know and we ought to know that we must turn away from the ideas of the world the dictates of society the pressure from our friends and perhaps even our family members to turn away from the Lord if we're

[36:59] Christians that's what we ought to do well if we're not Christians there's even greater reasons to turn to the Lord and go on the right path on the straight and narrow and to follow the word of God what the word of God has to say how to live our lives so Daniel drew the line on the issue of food and drink because he didn't want to be seen to be having close fellowship and friendship with the king of Babylon God but remember I said that the Lord did bless him and this is my fourth point it sounds slightly strange Daniel's evangelistic efforts Daniel's evangelistic efforts notice this in verse 8 we read at the second part therefore he asked the chief of eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself you know Daniel didn't show any kind of fanaticism or even rudeness when he rejected the food all he did was to ask the chief of the eunuchs please don't let me eat this food

[38:05] I wonder what the conversation would be like I wonder about that how did he ask the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself I can't eat this food for the reasons!

[38:22] being what do you think? what do you think he would say to him to the chief of the eunuchs I love the Lord the God of the Israelites the God of my forefathers Abraham Isaac Jacob the God who brought us out of land of Egypt as slaves the God who has blessed us with many blessings I fear the king yes but I can't eat this food whatever he said evidently didn't get him to trouble yeah I think we can all say that whatever he said to the chief of the eunuchs didn't get him to any trouble later on we know there's a test eating the vegetables was 10 days but that's a separate matter but didn't get him to any trouble but he got his point across that's what

[39:26] I'm trying to say he brought the point across that the reason why he didn't want to defile himself is because he follows the Lord he followed the God of the Israelites and he was very calm about it he stole the chief of the eunuchs not to let!

[39:48] him defile himself now it's a good lesson for us that's why I say it's Daniel evangelistic efforts later on we read that this is going to appear a few more times in chapter 1 again verse 11 Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of eunuchs had assigned over Daniel Hanani Michelle and Azariah test your servants for 10 days let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink he's going to bring up again in a very calm manner how he addressed the Babylonian steward it's a lesson there for us it's good for Christians to withhold our frustrations when we speak to those who are unconverted especially when the unconverted person challenges us when a person who is not a believer challenges us about something from the Bible for example it's very easy for us to bite our lip or our tongue and try to why is this person so silly

[40:58] I wish I could just say something sometimes it's good for us to just hold our tongue and not to exhibit hostility to those who are unbelievers and this happens quite a lot especially in this day and age of social media you know some Christians react very badly when being challenged you can read sometimes in the comments if you I want those people read the comments on social media some Christians react really badly and then they start moaning when they lose the debate and they start saying they're being persecuted for the faith woe is me no that's not the approach of Daniel that's not the approach of Daniel we don't need to be rude or abrasive or hateful we follow Christ we follow Christ with all our heart mind soul and strength and we tell people in a way that is gentle and kind but truthful obviously truthful

[41:59] I'm sure Daniel didn't tell a porcupine I'm sure he told the truth he asked the chief of eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself he just said it as it is he just said it as it is Daniel knew he had to maintain a good testimony he knew he's still a follower of the God of the Israelites he's not going to turn away from that and we know that to be the case because in chapter 6 that famous passage about Daniel and the lion's den we know that that was to be the case because Daniel chapter 6 verse 10 the king commanded and Daniel was brought and cast in the den of lions and the king declared to Daniel may your God whom you serve continually deliver you evidently Daniel 1 to Daniel 6 he was consistent in his walk so we can say quite confidently that in chapter 1 when he spoke to eunuchs the chief of the eunuchs he said

[43:10] I follow the Lord God Almighty the God of the Israelites I'm sorry I don't follow the God of the Babylonians and I don't want to be seen in cahoots in close relationship in close friendship with the king of the Babylonians I'll be trained I'll be educated I'll even learn your language and you can even give me a new name which if you think about it is a big thing and in this day and age in this country you can change your name via deep hold quite easily but for somebody in Jewish culture to change the name is quite a big thing it's a significant event he didn't mind that but he was saying very nicely very clearly I follow the Lord the God of the Israelites and because of that I won't eat the food that is from the king's table what a testimony what a testimony but what an evangelistic effort is that we see here in

[44:13] Daniel he just say it as it is you know sometimes sometimes we as Christians we do overthink our evangelism we feel we need to come up with some kind of scheme and some kind of plan yes we need some kind of plans of course but sometimes we do overthink it I know I still do what am I going to say to this person come out with a mental flow chart or what if the person asks this question you go to this path and ask a different question you go to that tell the person in front of us the gospel of Jesus Christ you may have heard this phrase gossiping the gospel that's based on Acts chapter 11 when we read that some of them men from Cyprus and Cyrene went to

[45:13] Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus the Lord's hand was with them and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord it's not really a great indication that these people who went amongst the Greeks were having big pulpits and having open air preaching they probably just went amongst them and told people do you know about the way of salvation do you know about the one true and living God do you know about!

[45:50] really you want to know more about him away we go with the gospel message do you know about your sin do you know about your conscience about why there's this thing called conscience that nobody can explain even among your Greek philosophers do you know how can your conscience be at peace with God how do we do that how can our troubled conscience be at peace with God well there's this person Jesus who went to the cross of Calvary died on the cross of Calvary!

[46:30] your sin and for your salvation trust in him believe on him and your sins are forgiven and then you will be at peace with God perhaps it's as simple as that perhaps it's as simple as that and you know what interestingly I believe society knows that as well even in this day and age of unbelief I think that society knows that when we tell people about the gospel need not be from a pulpit like this I mean obviously the primary means of expounding the word is from the pulpit yes but perhaps just gossiping the gospel society knows that is very effective talking to people about Christ is a very effective way of telling people about the gospel which is probably one reason why if you look in this day and age especially in recent days or recent months the big attacks against

[47:37] Christians are those who just say to another person can I pray for you five words can I pray for you and that was enough to get them into trouble with the law because people do realize there is a challenge there there is a Christian speaking can I pray for you simple as that and I think Daniel is doing just that his evangelistic effort in just telling the eunuch the chief of the eunuchs I don't want to defy myself with the king's food I follow the lord and I can't be seen having fellowship with the king the king of Babylon didn't kick a fuss he allowed that to happen later on in chapter 6 as I read the king acknowledged that Daniel's God will protect him amazing evangelistic effort from

[48:40] Daniel well may the lord help us in this few thoughts on Daniel chapter 1 and verse 8 and we conclude