Turn to Daniel chapter 1. Daniel chapter 1. I know as I ask you to turn here that this will be a familiar passage of scripture and one that you've probably heard read from many, many times and you've read over it yourself and there's not a lot that I'd be able to point out that you wouldn't already know. But while you're turning, I want to ask you this. How is your Christian walk right now? How do you feel like you're doing? Are you as close to the Lord as you possibly could be? Now, most of us, maybe we would answer, well, Brother Brad, I'm trying pretty hard. That's not what I'm getting at tonight. You know, just to try pretty hard. One day we're going to stand before the Lord and usher to say we're going to give an account for how we live by this Word of God. And on that day, that's all that's going to matter. Nothing else is going to matter. You know, how much we had in our bank account, how big our house is or was, what we drove. None of those things are going to matter. Not at all. We will consider that as dumb, as Paul would say. What's going to matter is how we live by this book. How we serve the Lord faithfully. That is going to matter more than anything else. And we know this. As God's people, we know this. And yet we go through life and we, well, I'm... Brother Barry, you asked me about my Christian walk. I know I could do a lot better than what I'm doing. If we know to do better, and we don't do it, it's sin. They're no use in trying to dress it up or to soften that blow, any at all. If we choose not to be close to the Lord like we should, it is sin. Because if you know to do good and do it not, it is sin. Say, well, Brother Bad, I know I could do better. Then do better. And you can say the same to me, Brother Bad, you need to do better. Do better. We may say, Brother Bad, well, concerning my Christian walk, I kind of have heart. If I was honest, I just kind of half-heartedly, you know, served the Lord. I don't want to get on his bad side. But I'm not really going over much trying to serve the Lord either. I'm just somewhere in the middle and just kind of half-heartedly going through this. If I feel like I might be about to bring wrath upon myself, I'll try to do a little better for a little time. I just try to manage it. It's kind of a seesaw thing with me. Just kind of managing my Christian walk. Try to make up for some mistakes all along. I guess there's a number of ways we could answer that question. How does your Christian walk with the Lord? Look at verse 8. Daniel and what we think of as the three Hebrews, they've been brought into captivity and they see a lot of things going on in their life. Some changes that are being made from outside influence trying to influence them to be more like the world. less like God's people and more like the world's people. That's what they're doing. So they see this. Verse 8, you know this verse. Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with a portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank. Therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. Now God had brought Daniel into favor and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs. And the prince of the eunuchs said unto Daniel, I fear my lord the king, who hath appointed your meat and your drink, for why should he see your faces worse in liken than the children which are of your sort? Then shall you make me endanger my head to the king. Then said Daniel to Melzart, whom the prince of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hannah, Mishael, and Azariah. Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days, and let them give us ports to eat and water to drink. Then let our countenance be looked upon before thee, and the countenance of the children to eat of the portion of the king's meat, and as thou seest, deal with thy servants. So he consented to them in the matter, and proved them ten days. And at the end of the ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king's meat. Thus Melzar took away the portion of their meat, and the wine they should drink, and gave them pause." We'll cease reading with these verses tonight. And again, Daniel purposed in his heart. How's your Christian walk, Daniel? Well, he's not just trying to do better. Well, I could do better. I could do worse. I'm just half-hearted. No, he's not half-heartedly doing anything. He has purposed his heart. He has set himself to please the Lord. That word purpose there, I looked it up. I thought I knew the definition for it, but I tell you, it blew me away whenever I realized how binding that word really is. He purposed his heart. That means to cast in. They might cast in your lots. You know, I'm all in. To cast in, it means to ordain. We ordain creatures. What are we doing with them? We are setting them aside and purposing them for a work. They're different. They're set aside. They are purposed for the work that God would have them to do. That is ordained. That's what this means. To ordain, to determine. So, Daniel said, I'm in this for the long haul. How purposed are you, Daniel? I believe we know the answer to that. We see it later on with the lion's den. To the death, I am purposed to serve the Lord. I'm not going to let an outside force change my walk with God. So he put a period on that, I believe. So Daniel is in favor with the prince of the eunuchs. He's in favor and tender love with the prince of eunuchs, and that is not some perverted type of love, but rather that is a friendship type of love that he would have there. You remember David had a love for Jonathan, his friend, that surpassed the love of women. And that's not a bad thing to have a good friend, and Daniel had made friends. You know, even in a very hard time, If you will look to the Lord, the Lord will make a way. He'll make a way that you can breathe, a way that you can have some relief. And that's what we find here, that even though he's in captivity, even though it's harder to serve the Lord, maybe because of the lack of freedom, God has still fixed in a way, when it looks like the whole world fell apart around him, He's still fixed a way that he's got this one guy, really, maybe more than one of the eunuchs that they show favor toward these men. They see something in them and they have befriended them. But he is a friend and he's got tender love toward him and he's been put in charge of keeping Daniel. So he says, look, I will help you out, Daniel, I do. We're friends. I love you as a friend. I want to help you out, but I don't want to take any risks. And he certainly does not want to put his head in danger. So if you don't do your job right, off with your head. I don't want to put my head in danger. If the king looks at you and you're unhealthy, you've lost weight. He may have my head, so I want to help you out, but I don't want to do it with any risk involved. I can work with you until it puts me in trouble." So Daniel looks at this and, okay, I can work with that. I can work with that. You give me a chance and I'm going to show you. Here's what I want you to do. Prove us ten days. You prove us and you see if our God does not bless us for obedience. You watch it. Pay close attention to it. So he said, bring on the pulse and water. I don't know why he requested that. But I believe what he's saying is I am willing to make a sacrifice And I'm going to watch God bless. And I want you to watch and see God bless us for faithfulness. And so bring on the porch and the water. He didn't say bring us venison. He didn't say bring us milk and honey and watch us get fat. He said, no, we're going to sacrifice. You take all the king's meat, everything that's set out for this king that has been set aside to fatten us up, so to speak, to make us healthy. You put all of that over here and we're going to eat pokes. So pokes is not the most appetizing meal. From what I understand about pulps is basically it is peas or beans or lentils that kind of mashed up into some kind of soup type stuff. I don't know exact definition, but you say, well, I like peas. You like them breakfast, lunch, and dinner for 10 days. And you look over here and boy, they eat high on hog. Probably literally, that's probably what they're trying to offer him. Because it was against, well, against the law for the Jews to eat that. Against God's law. So, we're not going to defile ourself, we'll eat this pulse. So, I said all that to say this, you have to purpose your heart to resolve to pulse in water. That's sacrifice. Obedience to God is important. You say, well, that's not a very big sacrifice. Well, the sacrifices got bigger down the road. But it starts with this. Obedience to God is important. It is so important that it warrants sacrifice for a child of God. that I have to be willing, if I'm going to walk with the Lord, I have to be willing to make some sacrifices if God, you know, so chooses. Be willing to. See, Daniel was saying, look, we're not expecting venison. We're not expecting milk and honey. We're not expecting you to go out of your way to try to make us comfortable because of our religion. We just want you to prove us. You give us the scraps, the pulps, and we will eat that and water, and you watch us and see, God bless us. And so I want you to know this old Melzar is proving these men, and he is watching them. And his life is on the lines. I believe he's watching them like a hawk. Every time they eat, he's wanting to know how much they eat. Probably observing their weight. Paying close attention to their health. No doubt watching to see if they really are satisfied with pulps and water. And at the end of it all, God blesses through it and they're in better shape than everybody else. Imagine that. God's people fight for them. At the end of the whole trial, they're in better shape than all the rest of the folks. Tonight, can I tell you, child of God, that the world is proving you to see just what lengths are you willing to go to for your Jesus? For what you say you believe. Daniel, you say you believe in God. Oh, we're going to watch and see how this goes. You're going to get burned out on that porch after a while. It's going to get tough on you after a while. You're going to give in. You're going to throw in the towel. But He proves them. And they turn out. God bless us through it all. The world watches us, Brother Joey. Sometimes a lot closer than I wish they would. The more you say that you're with Christ, the more that the world watches you. and not just watching and cheering you on, but watching, waiting for you to mess up, waiting for you to give in, waiting for you to not have faith in the Lord. Well, I want to say, just how obedient are you? What are you willing to give up to maintain your faithfulness? What are you willing to deal with? How far are you willing to go? I'll tell you what the answer is. So often, we as God's people, we've gotten spoiled. We've gotten used to having things our way, doing things our way. And we look, you can't expect me to give up the wine and the king's meat for pulps. You can't expect me to. God, surely God does not expect us to make that kind of sacrifice. I mean, eat pulps. Surely God don't expect us to do that. Daniel didn't look at it that way. I am more than willing to eat pulps. And you watch. This world we live in is just too hard. Too hard to be faithful to the Lord nowadays. You know what our culture does? shouldn't mean very much to a child of God as far as how we walk in this world. Now, I'm not saying we shouldn't love our country and it shouldn't break our heart to see all the trouble that our country is going through and the world is going through and with all of our heart we should be trying to win souls to Christ. So we should care about our culture as far as how evil it is and wanting them to know the Lord. But as far as it affecting how we walk with the Lord, it really shouldn't matter. And if we were willing to purpose our heart, ordain our heart, it wouldn't. Let the world do what it wants to do. I'm going to serve the Lord. I'm going to be faithful. If the Lord wants me to eat pork, I'll eat pork. Drink water. The Word of God should mean everything to us. If it says it, God's Word says it, that settles it. I'm going to live up to it. I'm going to live by God's Word. So often we're not willing to make that kind of sacrifice. Our obedience should be worth starving over. What did Job say about it? I esteem the word of God more than my necessary food. It shouldn't mean that much to us, does it? I asked you about your Christian walk. Does the word of God mean more to you than your necessary food? I didn't say that extra meal at midnight, that late night snack, your necessary food. I believe it meant that much to Daniel. I believe what Daniel's saying with all this, and I know maybe it's not written in just that way, but I believe it's just as real. I believe that I will starve to death before I defile myself. I'm gonna do it. And they watched him. They proved him. And at the end of it all, they say, you know what? They tried. And they took away all that temptation out of their face and gave them bolts and water. And they kept on eating bolts and water. Often we'll give up our walk with Jesus if it means having to choose bologna over hamburger. Just give up. I want to tell you something, child of God, you're being proved. This world is watching you. People around you, they're watching you. They look at you. You say you're with Jesus? Let me see if that's true. Let me see how faithful you are to Him. Let me see what you're willing to sacrifice for Him. Let me see if you're really faithful like you say you are. Look over at Mark chapter 14. Mark 14, verse 66. Before we read, let me ask you this. If Peter, the Apostle Peter could come preach to us tonight, wouldn't you want to be here to hear him preach? Man, that would be fine. One of the apostles, and especially Peter, he was so fiery and so fateful. What about right after he denied the Lord? Do you still want to hear him? What if you knew he denied the Lord like he did? That might be a hindrance to us. I tell you what, I ain't going to hear Peter. That man just threw him a cussing fit. I'm sure it had an influence on a lot of people, didn't it? Look at verse 66, and Peter was beneath in the palace. There cometh one of the maids of the high priest, and when she saw Peter warming himself, she looked upon him and said, And thou also was with Jesus of Nazareth. But he denied, saying, I know not, neither understand I what thou sayest. And he went out into the porch and the cock crew, and a maid saw him again, and began to say to them that stood by, This is one of them. And he denied it again. And a little after, they that stood by said again to Peter, Surely thou art one of them, for thou art a Galilean, and thy speech agreeth thereto. But he began to curse and to swear, saying, I know not this man whom ye speak. And the second time the cock crew, Peter called to mind the words that Jesus said unto him before the cock crew twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. And when he thought thereon, he wept. Let's get this situation. A man of God walked with the Lord. How's your walk with the Lord, Peter? I tell you what, the whole world may deny Him. I won't deny Him. A little lady. He's followed the Lord afar off. He's doing better than everybody else. They didn't follow Him. We know of. He's kind of Went down below, and he's warming himself by the fire, maybe just where he can keep an eye on the Lord. And all of a sudden somebody says, hey, you're one of them fellas that walk with the Lord, with Jesus. You walk with Him. You identify with Jesus. I don't know what she's talking about. And another maid does the same thing. No, no, no. But here's the thing. People know us. They watch us. They begin to put two and two together. This is one of the disciples that was with Jesus. And even his speech gives him away. He can't deny that old accent. He's got it. He's got to live. He has walked with Jesus. He identifies himself with the Lord. I'll tell you what, tonight Peter was not ready for pulps and water. I can't make that kind of sacrifice. He wasn't ready to choose the hard road. A lot of times that's the case with us. We're not ready to use the hard road. Not ready to do something that might put us in peril. See, obedience was not convenient. All my life, walking with the Lord as far as going to church and telling others that I know the Lord, that has been convenient for me. It's really not been that hard. In fact, especially in the South, they've got to expect you to go to church. For the most part, they do. So if it comes up, where do you go to church? Well, I don't mind telling somebody, I go to church down Clear Branch. It's been kind of convenient. I believe this, Brother Mike, I believe we're fast approaching a day where it's not going to be that convenient anymore. In fact, people look at us like we're strange because we get up on a Sunday morning and go to church now. Might get to be just a tad harder. Might have to choose the pulps and the water. Peter was not ready. It's just not convenient right now. In fact, walking with Jesus was hazardous to his health. Not everyone is ready for pulps and water. Jeremiah 12, very interesting verse in Jeremiah chapter 12 and verse 5. It says there, if thou hast run with the footmen and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? And that's just the first part of that verse. Don't you think about it just a minute. If you've run with the footmen and they wearied you, how are you going to run with horses? I believe that's a very simple way, just a simple analogy that the Lord has given us to say, hey, if you can't be faithful when things are not very hard, how in the world are you going to be faithful when things get tough? The remainder of that verse, and if the land of peace wherein thou trustest, they weary thee. How will thou do in the swelling of Jordan? If you get worried whenever things are at peace, how are you gonna get alone whenever Jordan swells out of his banks? How are you gonna, whenever things get tough? I tell you tonight, if Daniel couldn't stick with the Pope's in the water, he probably was not gonna maintain his prayer life when he was facing a lion's den. Daniel saw to begin with, I have got to take a stand. And once he took it, I've purposed my heart, I've ordained my heart. I'm in this for the long haul now. And then all of a sudden it come along, well, if you bow down, during this trial period, if you bow down to anyone other than the king, then you're gonna get thrown into the lion's den. And guess what? Them old evil people, they will watch. Let's see what he does now. I'm sure, Brother Mike, I am sure whenever they looked in that door and he was bowed down to his God, they were licking their lips, we've got him now, but don't you know he's a part of them at thought? He's still bowed down? Facing a lion's den? A den of lions, not just a lion's den, a den of lions. You reckon that had an effect on them? Probably didn't matter much, because they ended up being fed to the lions later on. But even when he was cast into the den of lions, they were still watching. And that king come along early. Daniel, I'm just here to check, was your God able to get you out of this? I'm still here, king. I'm still here. I'm gonna tell you what, that stand changed the kingdom. We may never know what a good, true, faithful stand does to those around us, but we can rest assured of this, people are watching to see. They wanna know, you gonna handle that pulps and water? Or are you gonna be able to maintain that for very long? When we prove faithful, it may change a heart. That's what letting your light shine means. Prove to be faithful. I believe I can say this. The pulps in the water is worth it. It's worth it. It was worth it to Daniel. It'll be worth it to us if we're willing to make a sacrifice to stand for the Lord. God will show the world. I'm with these folks. I'm with them. He didn't let Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego down, did he? They stood with the Lord. He didn't let them down. He's still our God. He's still able to take, and if we're willing to walk with Him, He'll stand with us.