[0:00] We're making our way through. This is the last sermon in our series of the life of Daniel, in Daniel chapter 6. But the next couple of weeks, we're going to still be in Daniel, kind of bringing things together for us in Daniel chapter 7, kind of looking at the broad theme of this kingdom, this eternal kingdom of God that kind of finds its way, kind of crystallizes and summarizes itself for us there in Daniel chapter 7, where the Ancient of Days is entrusting the kingdom to the Son of Man. And of course, we know who the Son of Man is, who Jesus Christ, who kind of embraced that identity and kind of wore that for himself during the Gospels. And so we're going to see this eternal kingdom coming to us in Daniel chapter 7. And then Bill Williamson will be able to teach through Daniel chapter 9, kind of the prayer that's there in a couple of weeks. We want to give you one last glimpse at the life of prayer in the person of Daniel. And it is impactful. I would encourage you, of course, to be here. Turn with me, if you would, to Daniel chapter 6. If you're using the Pew Bible, it's on page 743. For those of you who have not been here in our series, I want to just kind of try to catch you up to where we are. We're in the second half of Daniel chapter 6. And the chapter kind of starts this way, kind of moving even back to Daniel chapter 5, verse 30 and 31. It says, that very night, Belshazzar, the Chaldean king, was killed. And Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about 62 years old. Now verse 1 of chapter 6. It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom 120 set traps to be throughout the whole kingdom. Now this theme that we're going to pick up again next week is to kind of trace these subsequent kingdoms, the rise and the fall of empires, this
[2:10] Babylonian empire, Babylonian kingdom, and now the rise of this Persian kingdom. Kingdoms will come and go. Kings will come and go. But what we're going to see and what we have seen in Daniel chapter 6 is that God's kingdom remains. It's God who is instrumental in raising up kings and putting kings down. And it's God's servant, Daniel, who remains steady. This fixture of constant, this constant fixture that has been since the beginning of Daniel and we'll now, we'll see in Daniel chapter 6, as a testimony to the enduring quality of God's kingdom. Daniel will be promoted again. As we saw last week, he's now the chief official over all of the officials over the entire kingdom of Media Persia.
[3:10] We saw that while he was a gifted individual, it wasn't because of his networking ability. It wasn't because of his LinkedIn account, pulling the right strings, positioning himself in the right way, jockeying for position, kind of edging people out because of his skill and authority and his ability to position himself. What Daniel does so consistently is he devotes himself to God.
[3:39] The thing that has amazed me and has been an encouragement to me throughout the testimony of this book is the absolute commitment of Daniel to trust in God regardless of the shake-up and uncertainty of situations.
[4:00] Daniel was steady. Daniel was fixed. Daniel was devoted. His character. We see the testimony of his character even last week, but then pushing into chapter 5, where we find in verse 11 of chapter 5, the spirit of the gods was in him.
[4:20] He is light and understanding like the wisdom of the gods. Then in verse 12, an excellent spirit was in him. Then again in chapter 6, we find in chapter 6 verse 3, He was distinguished from the others. Why?
[4:34] Well, because an excellent spirit was in him. And when the other officials who were jockeying for position, trying to find a way to ruin Daniel, they go on this examination process and they, what do they find in verse 4?
[4:51] They could find no ground for complaint or any fault because he was faithful. No error or fault was found in him. We come to understand that it's God who continues to promote Daniel to his position.
[5:09] It's God who puts kings down. It's God who raises his servants up. It's God who keeps putting and pushing Daniel into the forefront. It's what we find in 1 Peter chapter 5.
[5:22] It's the way in which God works with his servants. Beginning in verse 5, it says, Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility towards one another.
[5:34] For God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. So humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time he may exalt you.
[5:46] We saw last week, and we'll see this again this morning, that it was Daniel's humility and Daniel's faithfulness that positioned him for usefulness.
[5:59] You see, God delights in using humble, faithful servants. And God understands that his humble, faithful servants are useful.
[6:11] They're useful to wait for God's timing. They're useful to point to who God is, not to draw attention to themselves. And that's what's happening through this entire book of the life of Daniel, that Daniel keeps showcasing and spotlighting the work of God in his life, not drawing attention to himself.
[6:31] But this, of course, makes all of the officials in this new kingdom really upset. Why does this foreigner keep getting pushed to the forefront?
[6:44] Why is this exile from Judea in charge of everything? So these officials concoct a plan. They devised this plan of, after putting Daniel's life under the microscope, they're unable to find anything to ruin him.
[7:00] Instead, what they need to do is they need to use his faithfulness against him. They essentially weaponize Daniel's faith and devotion to God and seek to use that as an instrument to destroy him.
[7:16] They've come up with this plan. They're going to invite and pray on the pride and the seeming logic of King Darius and convince him that he needs to kind of pull in the loyalties of his kingdom and have all of those subjects in his kingdom pray to him.
[7:38] So the king agrees. He signs this decree. And without realizing it, he signs Daniel's fate. The consequence of which was to cast Daniel into the lion's den, which we'll look at in more detail this morning.
[7:53] Daniel hears this decree and immediately goes to his house. He immediately goes up to his roof. He opens the window of his lattice.
[8:04] He directs his focus to Jerusalem, to where the temple would have been, where the God of Israel and his presence was most fully realized.
[8:15] And he prays to the God of Israel. Of course, he's caught in the act, as it were, and the accusation is brought before the king. And the king, in anguish, labors to deliver Daniel.
[8:31] Deliverance will be our key theme, our key word throughout this passage. We're going to see this on several occasions. And just at the beginning of the onset of this study, just underline for me the words that we find in this section, beginning in verse 14, this word deliver.
[8:48] In verse 14 it says, And the king set his heart to deliver Daniel. That's our word. Then in verse 16, Then the king declared to Daniel, May your God, whom you serve continually, deliver you.
[9:02] Then in verse 20, The king declared to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you? Then finally in verse 27, Speaking of God, For he delivers and rescues.
[9:18] He works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth. He who has saved Daniel from the power of the lions. Spoiler alert, God saves Daniel from the lion's den.
[9:33] But why? Why would God put Daniel through the paces, as it were? Why would God introduce this trial, this trouble, to Daniel's life?
[9:49] What the enemies of Daniel sought to do to ruin Daniel, becomes an instrument of God to push God forward as the one who can deliver.
[10:03] In other words, God uses Daniel's trials to draw attention to God's triumph. God uses Daniel's trials to draw attention to God's triumph.
[10:19] What is God using in your life this morning? What trials, what troubles, what difficulties, what pains are you working through, even in this moment?
[10:30] What challenges are you experiencing in the here and now? Recognize that God wants to use those challenges, those trials, those tribulations, so that you can show and draw attention to God's power.
[10:48] God wants you to maximize your trials to draw attention to God's triumph. That's what God does through trials. And by the way, it is a joy for us.
[11:00] It should be a joy for us in the midst of those trials to recognize it as an opportunity and say, oh God, please help me to be faithful with this trial to draw attention to you.
[11:12] And that's exactly what Daniel does. Daniel faithfully devotes himself to God in and through this passage and in and through this book of Daniel.
[11:22] There seems to be this steady heart that is so at ease and at rest in understanding that God is in control of all the circumstances of life in time, in time, in time again.
[11:38] God uses those trials to draw attention to his triumph. And God wants to do the same for you. God wants to do and accomplish the same purposes for his people today.
[11:49] God wants to do the same for you. God wants to do the same for you. There's a famous pastor from the 1800s. His name is D.L. Moody. And D.L. Moody got on board of this ship in London and he was on his way to New York.
[12:01] And at some point along the way, the drive shaft of this ship broke and it created a hole in the hull of the ship. So the ship begins to sink.
[12:12] And D.L. Moody describes this experience in this way when he says, The officers and crew did all they could to save the vessel, but it was soon found that the pumps were useless, for the water poured into the ship too rapidly to be controlled.
[12:26] There was nothing more in the power of man to do, and the ship was absolutely helpless. While the passengers could only stand still on the poor, drifting, sinking ship and look into our possible watery graves.
[12:42] It, of course, was a desperate situation. After several more days, the ship continued to experience increasing damage.
[12:55] And D.L. Moody entered in what he called the darkest hour of his life. He describes it this way when he says, I could not endure it. And imagine yourself in this situation.
[13:07] I must have relief, he says. And relief came in prayer. God heard my cry and enabled me to say, From the depths of my soul, Thy will be done.
[13:21] Sweet peace came to my heart. Let it be north field or heaven, he said. It made no difference now. I went to bed. I fell asleep almost immediately and never slept more soundly in all my life.
[13:34] Of course, God also rescued D.L. Moody and being able to bring him back to shore. But there was rescue, real rescue, that happened in the moment before physical rescue ever came.
[13:48] It was rescue of understanding that God was sovereign, even in the trial. God wants to accomplish the same for us. God wants us to recognize there is deliverance that can come.
[14:00] Sometimes that deliverance comes from those trials. Sometimes that deliverance happens through those trials. Do we believe that in every situation that God is introducing into our life, that God intends to maximize those trials for the purpose of drawing attention to him and through us to call attention to a God who saves, a God who delivers.
[14:28] So if you're not there with me already, turn to Daniel chapter 6. We're going to be picking the story up in verse 14. And we're going to see this contrast that will happen.
[14:39] The power of men versus the power of God. And it has been this picture that has been at the front of our story, the front of this narrative from Daniel chapter 1 to Daniel chapter 6, from the very beginning.
[14:53] Who is really the one who's in power? Who's really the supreme authority? Our first point this morning is the power of man will fail.
[15:04] The power of man will fail. Make sure that when you're trusting in power, you trust in the power of God, not the power of man, because the power of man will fail.
[15:15] Notice verse 14. Then the king, when he heard these words, and by the way, the words were that Daniel has just been praying, not to you, but to his God.
[15:26] And so he hears these words, and he was much distressed. He set his mind to deliver Daniel. And he labored till the sun went down to rescue him. Then these men came by agreement to the king and said to the king, Know, O king, that it is the law of the Medes and the Persians, that no injunction or ordinance that the king establishes can be changed.
[15:49] The power of man will fail. And here we find the king's desperate attempt to deliver Daniel. The king is desperate to deliver Daniel. We find these words.
[16:00] He's much distressed. There was some level of commitment, some level of partnership, some level of investment and allegiance, even before, even between these two men, some relationship that these two guys had, and a dependence that Darius had on Daniel.
[16:23] And he understood how significant this would be. So he was much distressed. And it says he labored, which literally means he set his heart. I think our translation says he set his mind.
[16:36] He was emotionally involved. This word deliver, of course, will become a key word for us in the remaining parts of this chapter. And this would have been a whirlwind day for Darius.
[16:49] Sometime in the morning, he is signing this decree. He's thinking he's going to be able to put all of his kingdom back together and establish loyalty and allegiance. All the while, his officials were actually gunning to manipulate him.
[17:04] Daniel would go, and he would go home to pray. He's caught. And now, Darius' number one official is going to go to the lion's den. And so the king is trying to fix the mess that he's created.
[17:19] He's frustrated. He's emotional. He's desperate. No doubt he throws every resource of his power into the mix to undo this situation that he's created for himself.
[17:33] Darius, king of Babylon, now comes face to face with the restriction of his power. He comes face to face with the boundaries of his authority.
[17:44] He comes to a place of recognizing how desperate he is to actually bring any deliverance to Daniel. In verse 16, we find the king's desperate hope for deliverance.
[17:57] His desperate hope for deliverance. Notice, Then the king commanded, and Daniel was brought and cast into the lion's den. And the king declared to Daniel, May your God, whom you serve continually, deliver you.
[18:10] This word for den is the word for pit. It's another use of the word for a cistern or to dig. It's similar to the word that was used for the brothers of Joseph when they threw him into the pit.
[18:26] It's a similar word for us, the difference between the Hebrew and the Aramaic. Accounts of the Persians executing their victims in such a manner is recorded in history.
[18:37] And while the descriptions of the den aren't given to us in detail here in Daniel, we do find in archaeology in parts of the world in that day that these lion's dens would have been like large caverns.
[18:56] In our family, when we visited Idaho, we went to some natural caverns that were created. This would have been like a large square cavern under the earth.
[19:06] It would have had like a partition in the wall. This particular one that was found in Morocco had a partition in the wall so that the lions could move from one side to the other and you could kind of close things off and access the one side and clean it while the lions were in the other side.
[19:26] Then it would have a hole in the top. You could kind of peer down and watch the activities that were taking place below, making sure the execution was going according to plan. The lions and everyone would come into the opening of this cave and there would be a rock that would be over the mouth of that opening.
[19:46] Probably similar to what we find here in our passage. This was a cistern that is filled with lions. They would intentionally starve these lions so the victims would be unable to escape.
[20:01] So these are not a few sleepy, lethargic old lions that we're talking about as some skeptics have assumed.
[20:11] But we get a sense of the size and the strength and the sheer power of these lions when we look at verse 24. It says, This is the same den, the same group of lions, the same power that was represented here in verse 24 is the same power that was available earlier in the chapter.
[20:50] Darius, of course, is concerned. He has a reason to be concerned. And God has used this situation to call attention to God's wonder-working power.
[21:00] The miraculous display of God's power is now brought out into the open. Darius is forced to recognize the limitations of his power.
[21:12] He's been confronted with the limitations of his wisdom and his foresight. He has been forced to see how prone he is to manipulation. And he knows that everything right now is totally out of his control.
[21:28] So Darius offers some semblance and what I find intriguing about this is that Darius will offer a semblance of a prayer in hope, this prayer of desperation, this long-shot prayer as it were, because every other option is expended.
[21:48] What I find fascinating is that in this 30-day window where all petitions and prayers were to come to Darius, now what we kind of see here is that now Darius is kind of offering a prayer to Daniel's God through the mediation of Daniel where he says, may your God, whom you serve continually, deliver you.
[22:11] It's a mighty prayer full of theology. I broke this down just in a few pieces to briefly walk you through how powerful this prayer is.
[22:22] He begins with, your God. These words in the Aramaic are in construct relationship and basically all that means is two words in the English that are joined together and become one word in the Aramaic.
[22:38] Your God. Darius observed the inseparable nature, inseparable quality of Daniel's relationship with God. Your God belongs to you, Daniel.
[22:52] and you belong to your God. This inseparable quality of this relationship that is so personal, that is so marked by affection.
[23:07] Daniel's affection for God and God's affection for him so that Darius even comes to describe God in these terms. He's not just the God of heaven.
[23:18] He's not just the most high God. He's not just the God of Israel. He's your God. The identity that is so intertwined and interlaced with Daniel himself, the servant, describing the love of God for Daniel.
[23:38] Then he says, whom you serve. And again, this is a word that is in a construct relationship. It describes this intensive, continual pattern of service that Daniel has for God.
[23:53] This continual expression of his life. It is this ever-present reality for him. You get this sense that nothing drives Daniel quite like his service to his God.
[24:06] Let's not forget that here in the book of Daniel and also throughout the Old Testament, we find that service and worship go hand in hand.
[24:16] These terms are synonymous. We saw this back in Daniel chapter 3 in verse 12 where the accusers will say of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they say, they do not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.
[24:33] And then Nebuchadnezzar in verse 14 will say, is it true that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up? And then in verse 18, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego will reply, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.
[24:56] Darius understood the underlying reason for Daniel's disobedience. Darius has come to understand that Daniel is a man who is committed to one objective and that is service of God.
[25:12] This was not about defiance to a decree. This was not about disloyalty to the king. This was about allegiance to the God of Israel, to Daniel's God, serving him, worshiping him.
[25:25] Daniel's service and devotion and worship were undivided. They were uncompromised. They were unbroken, unwavering, and undeterred. His service and worship were continual and faithful and consistent.
[25:41] Then he ends with, may this God deliver you. Deliver you. Another construct relationship where the verb deliver is joined together with a pronoun you.
[25:55] Attached to convey the idea that God's power was inseparable with God's servant. Where he begins with your God. God's relationship, God's identity was intertwined with his servant Daniel and now the affection that God has for Daniel is met with the power of God that's going to be working out in Daniel so that in Darius' mind God's character was bound to the deliverance that God would provide to Daniel in the lion's den.
[26:31] It was a mighty prayer of desperation. but it was a prayer of sincerity. It wasn't a prayer of sincerity excuse me because Darius didn't know God's power.
[26:47] Darius didn't have this relationship with God which now turns to verse 17 the king's desperate night of waiting. The king's desperate night of waiting.
[26:59] It says in a stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den the king sealed it with his own signet and with the signet of his lords that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel.
[27:11] Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting. No diversions were brought to him and sleep fled from him. Then at the break of day the king arose and went in haste to the den of lions and he came near to the den where Daniel was.
[27:29] He cried out in a tone of anguish the king declared to Daniel O Daniel servant of the living God has your God whom you serve continually been able to deliver you from the lions?
[27:41] The king's desperate night of waiting Darius goes back to the palace and by the way all of this I believe is by design where God is putting Darius in a situation where he's helpless where he's come to the end of himself and now Darius is hoping beyond hope perhaps just maybe God will help to deliver his servant Daniel.
[28:08] All of this was by design. God bringing and emphasizing the king's futility and drawing attention to God's sufficiency.
[28:20] This has been a whirlwind day. Started with Darius feeling at the top of the world and now has ended with Darius understanding his desperate need for God himself.
[28:33] Now we're back in the palace and one thing on Darius' mind something in his heart believes that maybe just maybe God will save Daniel.
[28:45] Perhaps it was the strength of Daniel's conviction. Perhaps it was the record of Daniel's God or the writing on the wall and testimony of Daniel being able to deliver and interpret the words that were written on the wall.
[29:01] Maybe it was the public record of the fiery furnace or maybe the public proclamation from Nebuchadnezzar himself at the end of Daniel chapter 4.
[29:12] Whatever it was, Darius' response indicates that there is this flicker of hope that maybe God will be able to save. But as the hours go by, the urgency of the situation is intensified.
[29:29] Darius spends the night fasting which is a way to represent his heart of sorrow, his heart of grief, his heart of urgency. He puts away his food, he puts away his entertainment, he's unable to sleep.
[29:42] And then at the earliest possible moment, what we find here in the text, at the break of day, at the instant the law has been fulfilled, this 62 year old man is jetting across the palace, he's running across the city, he's going out to that den, he's got to know for himself, is Daniel okay?
[30:05] He calls out in a tone of anguish and notice, oh Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?
[30:20] This identity of the living God that he expresses here is really uncommon in the Old Testament, but it's used twice here in Daniel chapter 6.
[30:30] It's often associated in the Old Testament, as few of the times it's used, it's often associated with God's delivering power over the nations. Nebuchadnezzar will use a similar concept in Daniel chapter 4 verse 34 when he says, I bless the Most High and praise and honor him who lives forever.
[30:53] You see, God was a living God, not like the dead, lifeless gods of Babylon or Persia. It expresses this quality and nature of God, his presence, his activity, his involvement in the affairs of men, his engagement in the world and active in the lives of his servants.
[31:16] Both Nebuchadnezzar and Darius come to understand this identity of God as being powerful, accessible and present. But now we contrast the futility, the failure of man's power.
[31:31] Man's power will fail but God's power will flourish. That's what we find in verses 21 to 28. The power of God will flourish. Put your hope in the power of God.
[31:44] Notice in verse 21, Then Daniel said to the king, O king, live forever. my God has sent his angel and shut the lions' mouths and they have not harmed me because I was found blameless before him and also before you, O king, I have done no harm.
[32:06] God sends his angel to deliver Daniel. God sends his messenger. God sends his power. God sends his presence, his very presence to help Daniel.
[32:21] God delivers. He's a God who is not distant. He's a God who's not removed. He's a God who is not apathetic or uncaring.
[32:32] He's a God who is present. He's a God who answers. He's a God who is imminently He's a God who is available to his people. And God helps Daniel. Why? Well, Daniel says here, because I was found blameless.
[32:46] I was found blameless. And because I have done no harm. Daniel's commitment to God just continued to shine through his life. And Daniel somehow understood that in the providence of God, he was using this very situation to draw attention to God's power and to use the lion's den as a gospel catalyst for this king, for this heathen king.
[33:14] Somehow Daniel understood at the very beginning what God was about to accomplish. I was faithful. I was blameless. And I have done no harm.
[33:27] This word I've done no harm should sound a bit familiar because if we remember at the very beginning of this chapter when the satraps and officials were put together they were put together for the purpose of so that we find in verse 2 Daniel had faithfully served his God and that translated into faithfully serving this king.
[33:57] And I trust for those of us who are doing our service as to the Lord wherever you are that your service is to God and what that entails or what that means is that it's also helping to promote and encourage and advance the company that you're in and the managers that you work for the two are not incompatible in this event Daniel knew that his life would be preserved because he understood what God meant to accomplish through it of course throughout history not all people who are blameless are preserved in this way we can just look to the example of Christ who through the divine appointment of God was put to death on the cross and was raised the third day we know the testimony of the apostle Paul who at the very end of his life his head was taken off and throughout the course of his life the suffering that he experienced at the hands of wicked men we know that
[34:59] Peter the apostle Peter the tradition is that he was also crucified upside down for the sake of his confession of Christ and then the martyrs throughout history we know that blameless people do not are not always preserved from hard things but we do know that God will deliver them through those hard things as the song that we sang I think it was one of the one last two songs that we all await and anticipate those of us who are in Christ Jesus wait for the ultimate deliverance from this life to be captured into glory to be with our Savior that's the real deliverance that all of us are looking forward to to be reunited with Christ and Daniel proved Daniel proved that God's promise to Abraham was true where God says I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you in you all the nations will be blessed and that leads us to our final point that
[36:02] God uses Darius to vindicate Daniel he used Darius to vindicate Daniel notice verse 23 then the king was exceedingly glad he commanded that Daniel be taken up out of the den so Daniel was taken up out of the den and no kind of harm was found on him because he had trusted in his God and the king commanded and those men who had maliciously accused Daniel were brought and cast into the den of lions they their children and their wives and before they reached the bottom of the den the lions overpowered them and broke all their bones in pieces do we trust in God to bring about proper vindication or are we working the system to get what we deserve are we using the tit for tat are we are we using the eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth are we trying to find ways to get even as it were or are we trusting in
[37:10] God to purchase and to bring about the vindication that we feel like we deserve are we those who like Christ are willing to say Father forgive them for they know not what they do are the exhortations from Jesus on the sermon on the mount that says love your enemies do good to those who persecute you pray for those who despitefully use you and then entrusting ourselves to God who promises that vengeance is mine I will repay says the Lord is there the kind of confidence in our heart that says God whatever you bring about in the situation if it means more challenges and trouble for me and opportunities to shine your triumph through the situation and I'm going to trust you to deal with those individuals who are bringing harm to me because I believe that you are the
[38:10] God who is over all vengeance belongs to you you will repay says the Lord and God faithfully does that through Darius invindicating Daniel finally we find in verse 25 to 28 that God uses Gentiles to exalt his name God uses Gentiles to exalt his name this is astounding here we are in Babylon now in the city of Babylon now the empire of media Persia that the reason why Daniel and his buddies are in this place to begin with is because of the rebellion and wickedness of their forefathers and the condemnation of the judgment of God the discipline of God to bring them here into exile and God has used that instrumentally as a conduit for the gospel to the Gentiles and now it's a Gentile who will be a light to the other Gentiles check check this out verse 25 then king
[39:11] Darius wrote to all the peoples nations and languages that dwell in all the earth peace be multiplied to you I make a decree that in all my royal dominion people are to tremble and fear before the God of Daniel for he is the living God enduring forever his kingdom shall never be destroyed his dominion shall be to the end he delivers and rescues he works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth he who has saved Daniel from the power of the lions so this Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian here is this doxology of this Persian king that is so much like what Nebuchadnezzar will say in chapter 4 it's a to make his glory known to peoples who would otherwise not know him it all leaves us with this final question and that is do you know the savior do you know the
[40:21] God who delivers have you experienced that for yourself that delivering power and the ultimate delivering power that God gives over our sin over our future judgment over the condemnation that we deserve the discipline that we deserve because the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord Jesus who paid the price for our sins on the cross Jesus who died and rose again so that we could have our sins paid for the punishment absolved through faith in Christ have you come to a place of believing that Jesus is the only way to God by confessing your sin by asking for repentance by turning your heart and bowing your knee to the king king Jesus and making him the lord of your life essentially saying God you call the shots in my life and I want my life like Daniel to demonstrate humility to you and faithfulness so that you can make me useful
[41:26] I trust if there's anyone here this morning that does not know Jesus as their savior this might be the moment that the invitation is open the offer is available all you need to do is acknowledge that God alone can save it's not based upon your works it's not based upon your performance praise the lord it's not based upon the checks and balances of your life that all seem to go well on the tally sheet because we know that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God we've all missed the mark as it were but only Jesus has lived a perfect life and has been able to meet the standard that you and I could never meet and so he paid the price so that we could enjoy forgiveness that comes only through faith in Jesus I trust our faith in God that
[42:27] God is helping us like Daniel to not to see our trials as something to pray away but seeing our trials as opportunities opportunities to spotlight and showcase the triumph of God the delivering power of God in that situation oh may God help us to do that faithfully Lord thank you for the life of Daniel for his example for his testimony Father I pray that we would follow after Daniel's example especially that we would seek to be humble that we would seek to be faithful that we would capitalize on the moments of trouble to draw attention to your triumph help us to be faithful we pray in Jesus name amen God bless you have a great week miracle