Daniel chapter number six. Can you find it? Put your finger there. Turn over to Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter number 11. In our study through Daniel, we've been looking at the living godly in a heathen culture. And I'm going to start off with the ending. God wants us to live by faith in a heathen culture. And the folks that we found here in Hebrews chapter 11, we call it the Hall of Faith. And may our name be written there in heaven for the things that we've done here on earth. We've not faced the things that they have. I doubt we'll face, I pray that we don't have to face the things that Daniel's gonna face tonight. But Hebrews chapter 11, verse 32, and I wanna start there. And what shall I more say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Barak, and of Simeon, sorry, and Samson, and of Jephthah, of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets, who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, attained promises, you can underline this if you want to, it's our study, stopped the mouths of lions, who through faith, yeah, who through faith, they quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens, women recede their dead, raised to life again, and others are tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, We're tempted, we're slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskin and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth. I'm just gonna read part of this last one. And these all having obtained a good report, how? Do faith. Let's pray, shall we? Heavenly Father, Lord, we love you. We thank you, Lord, for your blessings to us. Guide us now as we continue through the word of God, dear Lord. Guide us each step that we take in our personal readings, devotions, the sermons that we hear, the messages that we catch, the verses that we see on the walls, dear Lord, that you bring to our heart and mind. Help us to continue to grow in faith, not wavering. but always, dear Lord, moving forward. For Lord, we know there will be a blessed day ahead. But Lord, guide us tonight, guide me, and help me, dear Lord, to share from my heart what you've already shared to me. Lord, we praise you and pray all this in Jesus' name, amen and amen. Are we of faith? Are we living by faith? Can we even compare to these to live by faith? Oh, may we try. Oh, may we strive. Oh, as we pray and as we have surrendered ourselves and dedicate ourselves to say, if such a time came, if such a time came with the trouble and the tribulation and the trials and the persecutions were to come our way, may we stand as these stood here in Hebrews and the ones that we've been reading about here in the book of Daniel. We looked in review, quick review, Daniel 1, the first introductions, we learned about the young men that were taken into Babylon and how Babylon, the culture, the heathen culture was trying to change them and make them more like them. But they stood strong, they stood firm, and God gave them a special gift, a special blessing for taking a stand. In Daniel 2, we see the first light. the first light that's given to where the dream was given to the king. And Daniel comes and shares that it is given by God. It's given by the most holy God, the first light. Light is introduced unto the king here in this heathen nation. And my friend, we are living in a nation right now that needs to see first light. Even in our area, if we were to go out, and we need to go out and knock on doors, and we need to knock on doors, that we will find people that have never seen the light. We need to get out and shine the first light. And Daniel did, and the king saw, but he didn't receive it. Chapter three, it comes up to the first fight. The building of the statue, and the gold statue, and the music played, the bow down to, and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego said, we will not bow. Don't you know I have power over you? And they said, you have no power over us, only God. God will see us through, and if he doesn't, that's fine. We're gonna continue to serve our God, the first fight. But we know who came out in the end. Although there was fire involved, these three stepped out untouched, unscorched, not even a scent of the smoke upon them. But oh, the ropes were burnt, and the men that tossed them in were toasted. But with God, they made it through the fire, and you can too. Chapter four and chapter five, we came up to first choice, to where the kings needed to make a choice whether to now decide to acknowledge God, acknowledge who he is. Nebuchadnezzar had another dream and the dream about tree and the tree and also him becoming a beast if he did not continue honoring the Lord. And so for a full year, as Daniel would interpret the dream to him as to what would happen and that what happened was is that after that year, he stood up and says, look at a kingdom that I made. He just chose the decision of pride over the decision of the Lord. And what was said came true. A voice from above saying, it is here, it is now, your kingdom is being removed from you. And he became as a beast. As a beast, his kingdom was removed. And it came a time for him to get his knowledge back. He had converted his heart, kind of like Jonah and the belly of the whale. It took him three days. But God said of Nebuchadnezzar, it would take seven. Seven what? We don't know. Seven seasons, seven years, seven days. It took seven of them. Seven, hmm, the number of completion. But in that, when Nebuchadnezzar came out, what was he doing? He was praising the Lord. He saw the light. But we find over in chapter number five, first choice of his son that came along, Belshazzar, who did not. In fact, he did not go after the things of the Lord, although he should have. He didn't go after. In fact, he defiled the things of God by having the goblets and the items that were used in the tabernacle, in the wilderness and in the holy of holies were brought and he brought them forth to use them in a perverted way, putting wrong things in them. And the handwriting on the wall came. and the kingdom was removed from him. He had a choice too. But his choice wasn't to go after the way of his father after God. And Daniel comes and makes the interpretation. But I like what he says there in the last part of chapter five to where he says, thou hast known. Thou hast known from thy father. There are people that will grow up in a Christian home. There'll be people that will see, there'll be people that are in church, there'll be people that will know the right things to do, but in the end, as they turn away towards themselves and unto the things of this world, unto the heathen culture, and they wonder why trouble comes, but it will come. But can I tell you something? As we enter chapter number six, the title, The Last Testimony, And so why is Daniel, why is Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego being put through testing and trials? The same reason why you do, and the same reason why I do, to honor the Lord, to demonstrate our faith. How shall we know of God's presence if we don't go through trouble and trial? How shall we know of his grace? How shall we know of his love if we're not put to the place to where we cry, Abba, Father, help God? And he comes, and he meets the needs. When things are out of our hands, it's God's hands that we depend upon. So let's get now into chapter number six, faith. Daniel's now an old man. Daniel has gone through many things. He's gone through now his two kings, now he's unto a third, but not only into a new king, but a new kingdom. The Babylonians are no more. The Babylonians have been conquered. The first, we see here in verse number one of Daniel chapter one. It says, and it pleased Darius to set over the kingdom and 120 princes whom should be over the whole kingdom. And over these three presidents of whom Daniel was the first, and the princes might give accounts unto them, and the king should have no damage. Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and priests, sorry, princes, because an excellent spirit was in him, and the king thought to set him over the whole realm. If we go back to chapter number five, we see there at the very end, the very last verse, who this Darius is. And Darius, the Median, took the kingdom being about three score and two years old, 62 by age. He's not a young man. He's a part of what we call the Medo-Persian culture. The Medes and the Persians joined together in battle, in fighting, and in conquering. Some of the Persians would take other kingdoms. Here, Darius takes this one, the Babylonian one. He's now in charge. He's now the big honcho. He's the one that is over all the Nebuchadnezzar, thought that was all his, the golden kingdom. Didn't take very long for that golden kingdom to be taken from him by God. And so now Darius is there, and Darius is now in charge, and Darius understands, and Darius has probably already heard about this guy named Daniel. He's not a regular guy. He's not a regular wise guy either. He is something more. He is something special. And Darius understands that. I wanna say Darius himself was a very smart man too, to now put Daniel in charge. We find number one, the leadership choice. The leadership choice. So we find the new leadership. Not only new leadership, we find a new organization. This new king comes in, he puts in new people, he places new leadership, and not only does he have his wise men, but he also has wise men over the wise men. By which Daniel was preferred, verse number three. So here's old faithful Daniel. He is preferred above everyone else. He's neither a Babylonian, nor a Midianite, nor a Persian. He is none of those. He's in Hebrew. He's different altogether. He's not one of them because he believes in God, capital G-O-D, God. Not their many little g-gods, but the big G, God. He believes in the one and only, the most holy one, the one that he's been preaching about, the one that he's been teaching about, the one that he's been praying to, the one he's been faithful to, the one that's given him the vision, the one that's given him the dreams, the one that's given him the knowledge in order to share with the kings, to share with those around him. God has given him something special. God has lifted him into a place for doing one thing. You ready for that one thing? Living by faith. Living by faith. He never wavered. He never turned. We'll see that in just a minute. And we find, thirdly, it says there that he had an excellent spirit, verse number three. He was preferred, verse number three, David was preferred above the presidents and princes because of an excellent spirit was in him. He was different. He had different things about him. And along with differences, number two, comes the envious crowd. The envious crowd. I mentioned this to you the other day, I guess last week, maybe two weeks ago, that the world doesn't like us. The world doesn't appreciate our happiness. The world doesn't appreciate our stand. The world doesn't appreciate our doctrine. The world doesn't appreciate our hope. They try to do it on their own. They try to create it on their own. They try to live the world life on their own. It's bigger. It's badder. It's badder to them, they think. But yet they get more miserable the more they have. And yet they do more things that are out of this world and trying to do the best things that are out of this world with drugs and everything else. But when they wake up on the other side, it is all empty. As Solomon told us, it's empty, it's vanity of vanities, vexation of spirit, but the child of God has hope, has purpose, has vision, has faith. And so now we have number two, the envious crowd. And I want you to see here verse number four. First of all, the vanity of sinful man, the vanity of sinful man. Then the presidents and princes sought to find occasion against Daniel. We're going to get him. He's not like us. He's not one of us. He doesn't even think like us. You know what? We're going to get him out. We're going to get him out of there. Because the king has now placed him over us. So these guys are getting together against Daniel concerning the kingdom and who's ruling what. I like what it says there. But they could find none occasion nor fault. For as much as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him. Then said these men, we should not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God. So we have the vanity of sinful man, and secondly, the traits of a godly man. The traits of a godly man. They said, they said, no fault. They said no fault. There was one pilot later on, about 600 years later, that will come up and say the same thing. Pilot said there is, I find no fault in him. And that one that he says that to is to our Lord Jesus Christ, to find no fault. There was no fault found in Daniel. He was faithful in what he believed and what he did. He did not stop living, doing, being as what he's committed to do. They could find no fault. They could not find no crime. They could find no bad things from him. He did not demean anybody. He spoke the truth. He judged truthfully and he brought everything of truth. He was faithful and he was true. But what got him there is that he was obedient unto his Lord. They said that of him. They wanted to come and get him. They wanted to break him down, but they could not unless they find fault in him regarding the law of his God. The law of his God. You see, there's a position that is held by a pastor that God has said that they must be of a specific way. This is a true saying in 1 Timothy 2, sorry, 3, verse 1 and 2, and verse 7. If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach. Moreover, he must have a good report of them which are without, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. I'd say Daniel was walking the life of a pastor, of a preacher, of a proclaimer. But can I tell you something? Not only should a pastor should be striving to meet these qualifications and guarding to protect their heart and protect their family and protect their testimony regarding the classifications here for a pastor, not only should a pastor be striving for that, but every child of God should be striving for that. It is a position for every Christian to live for, by faith, desiring a good work, should be being blameless. The guys should be the husband and one wife, not the ladies, should not be the husband and one wife. But you see, we ought to be vigilant. We ought to be sober and have good report, given a hospitality apt to teach and have a good report of those around us. You know, if you talk to business people and folks in lending and folks in things that have, they lend money out. If you ask them point blank and say, who are some of your worst people that don't pay back? And believe it or not, not only will they say the deadbeats, but they'll come up and say, the Christians. The guy comes in, he says he's a Christian, this one businessman said, I'm really guarded. I was sharing with somebody the other day in regards as an auto mechanic that worked on cars and he would help somebody out with their car, a Christian person with their car, and he said they would hardly ever pay back. The Christian, that ought not be. It ought to be the Christian that pays the bills first and on time and ahead of the game to be blameless in the community, to be able to be able to stand up and hang their head high and say, I am a Christian. I do what I do because of God by faith. Let there not be a mark against us. And Daniel, there was no mark. There was nothing they could do to Daniel except pressure the points of which he followed under the commandment of his God. So we find here the plots against the faith. The plots against the faith. Verse six, then these presidents and princes assembled together to the king and said unto him, King Darius, live forever. And all the presidents of the kingdom, the governors, and the princes, and the counselors, and the captains have consulted together to establish a royal statute and to make a firm decree. that whose service shall ask a petition of any God, let's say capital G, or man for 30 days, save thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions. They're buttering up the new king. The new boss is on the scene. And here come the president. Oh, yeah. King live forever. Will you make a decree? Can you make a decree that nobody can ask anything from any other God or man? Okay? But you! Okay? Because you're the mighty king! You're the new king here! You are King Darius! Now, O King, establish the decree and sign the writing that it may not be changed according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, which altereth not the law of the Medes and the Persians, were so. It was the law. It was the end. You could not change it. It can't go back. Wherefore King Darius signed the writing and the decree. It was done. He was beguiled. He was sucked in. They conned him. They buttered him up. They gave him, they dangled the carrot in front of his nose and said, hey, you're the king, you can do this. And nobody should go talk to anybody else, oh king. They need to come to you if you want to ask anything. Oh, whether it's a god or whether it's a man, they need to come to you. Doesn't that sound good, oh, King Darius? You're the new king. It should be that way. It'd be wonderful to set yourself up that way. And Darius said, okay, I'll sign it under the law of the Medes and the Persians. It was done. And I'll tell you something, I think this is where we are today in our society. You know, the only way our culture can get us and use us is to use our faith against us. They try to say that what we're doing is wrong and what they're doing is right. And their popular opinion is better than our little opinion. And by faith, oh, you trust in faith. Well, that's fine. Well, God says that you should not do this. And they twist it and they move and they take verses out of context to make things work for the better. And unless you are savvy about what's going on, you can get kind of sucked into that. You shouldn't preach so hard. You shouldn't preach so firm. You shouldn't preach what the Bible says. You shouldn't preach about folks doing things they should not be doing, but we ought to be loving and kind and kind, tenderhearted. You shouldn't read where the Bible, as I just mentioned, that a man be with a man or a woman to be with a woman in matrimony should not happen, should not ever happen. It's what God says, but they would say, oh, that's wrong. You're hurting people's feelings. They use it against you. to tear you down, to pull you away, to get you to go over into their culture. Our pro-life stand is not popular with them. Our pro-family stand is not popular with them. Our pro-Bible is not popular with them. And if we don't take a stand as Daniel's taken a stand, and as the others have taken a stand, we will lose it. We will lose it. The plots against the faith. Number three. the dedicated child of God. What did Daniel do in this heathen culture? What did Daniel do when this came up? You got five things coming here real quick. But verse number 10, now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house and the windows being open, he wasn't hiding. Did you get that? He wasn't hiding, the doors were open. in his chamber toward Jerusalem. He kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he did afore. First of all, it's not there, but if you want to add to it, number one, he was dedicated to prayer. You want to make it through this society, dedicate your life to prayer. Dedicate yourself to talking to God. Dedicate to set that time apart. Daniel did it three times a day. Morning, evening, and at noon. Three times a day to get the Word of God going in his heart and in his life. He was dedicated to prayer. But not only that, it says here, he gave thanks before his God. He was dedicated to thanksgiving. Although everything that has already happened to him, everything that's happened to his friends, the fact that he's not, you know, where he belongs, he's not amidst the people that to worship with, he's worshiping basically alone. But yet he was still dedicated to thanksgiving. You want to make it through this heathen culture? You want to get through and survive through this? Run through it in the realm of thanksgiving. What's the opposite of thanksgiving? Too many words that are negative. Negative words, negativity. I had an assistant pastor when I worked in Pennsylvania, and if someone was talking in a negative fashion, he'd speak up and say, that's your negativity speaking there. That's your negativity. That's your negativity. Don't be negative. Be positive. Be thankful. Be thankful. He was dedicated to prayer. He was dedicated to thanksgiving. He was dedicated to his far country. He was dedicated to his far country. Why is that? He opened the doors to his chambers toward where? Toward Jerusalem. He could have picked any direction. He's praying unto the Lord. Where is the Lord? Pastor preached about it this morning. Where is the Lord? He's here. He's right here, he's right now. And my friend, we don't need to open a door towards a certain direction. But Daniel's heart was home. Daniel's heart was for Jerusalem, his home. He was dedicated to his faraway country and never stopped. Number four, he was dedicated to death. He was dedicated to death. First part of verse 10, now when Daniel knew, when Daniel knew that it was signed, he already knew that what he was going to do next was the step of death. But he also knew, I will not stop. He says, I will not bow down. He says, whether it's the flame or now it's the lion, I will not stop serving my God. My friend, what is it going to take you to stop serving your God? What's going to take you to step away? What is it going to take you to stop reading and stop praying and stop serving and stop giving thanks and stop sharing and start telling others? What is it going to take? Was it something little or is it going to be something big? Oh, my friend, may it be nothing at all that'll turn us from serving our God. He was dedicated to death because Daniel knew. And then lastly, verse number 11, We'll get there. He was dedicated to testimony. Dedicated to testimony. We see down in verse number 11. He knew they were coming. He was waiting for them. I'm gonna talk to my God, 30 days worth, every day, morning, afternoon, and evening. You wanna find me? Here's where I'm at. My doors are open. I'm not hiding my faith. I'm not hiding what God has for me to do. I'm not hiding my love for him. And my friend, neither should we. Neither should we. My friend, it seems like the Christians have been the ones that are now coming out, need to be in the closet, and we need to come out of the closet. Oh, my friend, we need to be on the front lines. We need to be dedicated. We need to be serving as soldiers in the army of the Lord. We need to be on the battlefield. I'm on the battlefield for my Lord. Yes, I'm on the battlefield for my Lord. A testimony. He wanted to let his light continue to shine wherever it needed to shine, however it needed to shine, through whatever storm that was coming his way, he was gonna continue to let his light shine. Number four, Roman number four. The unchangeable charge. The unchangeable charge. So as I read verse 11, then these men assembled. Who are these men? The ones going after Daniel. And found Daniel praying. Of course they did. And they knew they would. And making supplication before his God. Then they came near and spake before the king concerning the king's decree. Hast thou not signed a decree? that every man that shall ask a petition of any God or man within 30 days, save the old king, shall be cast into the den of lions. The kings answered and said, this thing is true according to the law of the meads and the persons which altereth not the unchangeable charge. Then answered they, I'm sure they had their chest down out there, their heads up high, they had everything on, they were just, man, they were just puffed up. Then answer they, and said before the king, That Daniel, that Daniel praying and making supplication before his God, that Daniel, which is of the children of the captivity of Judah, they knew where he was from, regardeth not thee, O king, nor the decree that thou hast signed, but maketh his petitions three times a day. They knew that he was doing it. Can I tell you something? People know what you're doing too. And they know what we're not doing. Three times a day, verse 14. Again, the unchangeable charge of the Medes and the Persians. So I want to share with you the king's plight. The king's plight. It can't be changed. Then the king, when he had heard these words, was sore displeased with himself, and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him, and he labored to the going down of the sun to deliver him, and displeased with himself. It's at that moment the light came on, or shall I say the finger was pointed at himself. What did I do? What did I just do? The one that I just lifted up because of who He is. The one that I just lifted up because of His faith, because of the special things from God that He has, the special man that He is. What did I do? I knew this. So he was displeased with himself. Secondly, his heart was set to deliver Daniel. I've got to fix this. I've got to fix this. He's doing it in his own hands. He's doing it with his own ways. He's now the king. He should be able to have a way to get Daniel out. I'm the king, I canceled all this. Oh, he can't. Because once it's signed of the Medes and the Persians and he goes against that own signing, he is now putting his own life on the line. It's now his own life that will be taken in death. And so he labored, he labored to the going down of the sun to deliver. A little sub point to this just to think about. If only we could have this heart that the king has regarding the lost that we know. The lost ones. Those without Christ. If we can get to the heart, to where we are displeased with ourself, to where we know that we're not telling like we should be telling. We're not going like we should be going. We're not sharing like we should be sharing. The world is gonna die and Daniel is gonna die if he can't find something to change it. And my friend, we need to have a heart that if we don't go and tell that the folks need to learn about Jesus and how they can be saved and how they can have heaven and have forgiveness, my friend, we need to have it in our heart. If we don't go, who will? Who will? The King has that heart. He's displeased with himself. Oh, may we be displeased with ourselves. And may we have our hearts set then to deliver. to go and to tell, and then to labor, not to stop. He said he did not stop until the going down of the sun. Number five, the unfailing concern. The unfailing concern, this thought continues. So we have the message from the king. Verse 16. Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel and cast him into the den of lions. Now the king spake and said unto Daniel, thy God whom thou service continually, he will deliver thee. The unfailing concern. He will deliver thee. He will deliver thee. He is now a man of faith. He is a man now trusting in Daniel's faith. Although a heathen man, although from a heathen culture, he understood and has now accepted that Daniel's God is gonna do something here. Daniel, your God's gonna deliver you. This is not a question mark. He doesn't say it with a question mark. He will deliver thee, period. My friend, can I tell you something? God will deliver you too. Verse 17, a stone was brought and laid upon the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet, with the signet of his own lords, that the purpose might not be changed concerning Daniel. So the message of the stone, the message from the king, the message of the stone, that the purpose might not be changed. So that there may be no way someone is now gonna move that stone. And there's two ways. so that one can't get out and so that others can't get in. You see, he wanted to make sure that it was completely in God's hands. He didn't want Daniel to die at the hands of anybody else. And if it was gonna be because of the lions, because of the decree, then it was totally God doing the job. It's in God's hands. In times in our life, my friend, it comes to the point that we have no other way of helping even folks that we love that are going through trials, going through sickness, going through pain, whether it be financial, whether it be unto death. It's when we trust in God. As this king said, oh, may we have faith to say our Lord will deliver. Our Lord will deliver. So I wanna share with you the message from the heart. The message from the heart. Then the king went to his palace and passed the night fasting. Neither were instruments of music brought before him and his sleep went from him. Then the king arose very early in the morning and went in haste unto the den of lions. Here's a couple more things to add that aren't there on your list. How to handle a lion's den in your life. How to handle a lion's den in your life. And this king's doing it. Number one, pray. You want to handle a lion's den in your life? Pray. Go to God. Go to God. It's out of your hands. You can't do anything about it. Give it to God. Pray. Number two, fast. Fast. The king passed the night fasting. Go to the Lord and fast. Read about biblical fasting, giving up, and giving of yourself unto the Lord through a fast, saying, Lord, I do this for you, not for me. And then thirdly, separate, separate. He said neither were instruments or music brought before him. He got alone. He got quiet. He got quiet. He needed God to do something here. Number four, have a sorrowful heart a sorrowful heart. Verse number 20 comes in, and when he came to the end, he cried with a lamentable voice, a sorrowful heart. Pilate like number five, arise with expectation. Arise with expectation. When you go to pray, pray that God's gonna do something. When you're fasting, knowing God is gonna do something. You separate yourself, you and God, and you're talking to God, knowing that something is going to happen. With that sorrowful heart, that burdened heart, arise with expectation. The Bible says in Hebrews 11, verse six, but without faith it is impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. So we find in verse number 19, again. Then the king arose very early. Well, he arose very early because he wasn't sleeping. And went and what? In haste unto the den of lions. He went there quickly. Verse 20, when he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel. And the king spake and said unto Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God? whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions. He's expecting, but yet as man we cannot. I believe, but Lord help thou my unbelief. And here's the king, O Daniel, did God do it again? Did God deliver you again? And so he's crying unto the king, then verse 21, then said Daniel unto the king, probably the sweetest voice he's heard, O king, live forever. My God has sent his angel and has shut the lion's mouth so that they have not hurt me. For as much as before him innocency was found in me, and also before thee, O king, I have done no hurt. Then was the king exceeding glad for him, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no manner of hurt was found on him, because he believed in his God. He believed in his God. Do you believe in your God? Do you really believe in your God? If you believe in your God, give me a hearty amen. My God can do anything but fail. So here he is. O Daniel, are you there? Did your God, the one that you serve faithfully, did he see you through? And Daniel responded with, O King, live forever. O King, live forever. My God has sent an angel. My God has shut the lion's mouth. I have no herd on me. There's nothing wrong with me, and neither have I found to do any harm to you either. My friend, when we go through times of testing and troubles and trials, the world is kind of confused on how we handle things, and they may even come to you just as this king comes to you and says, I know you're going through testing and trials, I know you're on that hospital bed, I know you have no way out, I know they're getting ready to take your home away from you, but can I ask you as the morning came, because I thought for you and I prayed for you and you are a faithful servant, did your God meet the need? And as a faithful child of God, may we lift up our head and say, oh king, my God has delivered me again. My God has delivered me again. Somebody wrote a little song, God delivers again. Oh my God delivers again. Just when things look hopeless, he reaches out his hand. Then all the forces of evil have set to flee at his command. So just when things look hopeless, my God delivers again. And God delivers. He does. And so, well, what about my brother? The Lord took my brother home. Can I tell you something? As a child of God, we're still on the winning side. We're still on the winning side. I'm a winner either way, whether I go or whether I stay. The loved ones that have gone on before, I have a daughter, I have a mother. Folks that I loved are already there. They are already home. And as we just say, our heart is already home. We'll get there sooner than later. But until we do, may we be faithful to go and to do because of our heart. And may we share and tell God's blessings. Verse 24 talks about now how man's judgment. Man did this. God never told. Darius to send these people in there, that was man's doing. But God showed that these lions were for real. These folks didn't even hit the bottom before they were destroyed. God's judgment, man's judgment. God is not to blame. The demonstration of the power of the lions is real. The innocents go free, Daniel, and the guilty are punished. But can I tell you something yet on that old rugged cross that was completely flipped? The innocent was published while the guilty go free, that's you and I. Because of Christ, we're the guilty ones. But because of Christ, the innocent one died for us. We go free, Jesus. I'm closing now. Number four, sorry, number six, the victor's crown. the victor's crown. Then Darius wrote unto all the people, nations and languages that dwelt in all the earth, peace be multiplied unto you. I make a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom, men tremble in fear before the God of Daniel, for he is the living God and steadfast forever. And his kingdom, that which shall be not be destroyed, That's a real preachy point right there. Real preachy point. He lays it out for us. You know, there should be an amen at almost every one of those points. Every one of them. We should tremble in fear before the Lord God, should we? For he is the living God, is he not? He is steadfast forever, is he not? His kingdom, that which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be forever and ever. He delivereth, the rescueth. Oh, my friend, why would we want to turn to any other place for our help? Why would we want to follow any other way, any other pattern, any other culture, any other means? We are living here and we can live godly in this heathen culture. The theme in these six chapters of Daniel come down, break down to three, and we see them in our lives. God's people standing firm without compromise in their convictions. We must continue to stand. Number two, we see God honors and protects his servants, and he does. Number three, the testimony of God's work makes the ungodly see and tell of the greatness of God. They see and they tell of God's greatness, of what they see in God's people, that's you and that's me. That's me. The point, if we do not stand firm in godly convictions in this heathen culture in which the world wants us to change, they will not see and respect the things of God. When it costs us something, then they will see and they will believe. What does it cost us? What does it cost us? It cost Daniel his life, almost, if it hadn't been for God. The others, time and again, would have been put to death if it hadn't been. But the story of Daniel goes on, although there's more in the writings of Daniel and Daniel's dreams and the prophecies that come forth. But can I share with you what happens next? You see, what happens next as we see at the last verse there, verse number 28, So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian. Cyrus. Who was Cyrus? Well, Ezra chapter one, verse one tells us. Now in the first year of King Cyrus, king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and put it also in writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he hath charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Here is a heathen king who is being moved by the hand of God, who has followed and has seen the testimony of one named Daniel. Daniel. Do you think he just all of a sudden got that out of the blue? No, he saw and learned from the king and from Daniel what is going on, but not only them. Not only them, if we go over then to Matthew, or into Luke, we see more so in Matthew that the wise men came from the East. In the New Testament, these wise men were called the Magi, descendant wise men from the same as Daniel. For in the Medo-Persian culture, as well as the Babylonian culture, these wise men were called the Magi, or the magicians. The Magi. Daniel, long deceased, chief wise man, as you would say. Daniel chapter seven, verse 13, describes the Messiah as both God and a man. And thereof, these wise men, many years later, came seeking the one from whom he spoke of. But yet there's also another story here. My last bit. I'm gonna read this to you. Tell me whose story this is. This is a story about a man without blame, faithful to God in all his ways, a man that was given and noted for prayer, sent to his death by the jealousy of those who wanted to prevent his exaltation, condemned to death by the plotting of his enemies and the law of the land. He was thrown into a stone room Pretty good story, huh? Is that a coincidence? Oh, no, my friend, that's God. That's God. Let God be praised. Let us stand up in faith. Let us stand believing. Let's take steps forward. Let's take action. Let's stand for something, because if you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything or everything every time. Take a stand. Get a heart, get a burden for this lost culture that we live in. How to live godly in a heathen culture? Just be. Just be that child of God that He wants you and He wants me to be. With our heads bowed and eyes closed. Heavenly Father, Lord, we love you. We thank you, Lord, for tonight. And thank you for stirring my heart again. And Lord, thank you for the truths that all point back to you. Lord, we love you. Guide us now, dear Lord. and help us each to make a decision tonight, a decision to stand for you. We pray all this in Jesus' name. you