Daniel chapter 12 and verse 3 declares, those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. The prophet Daniel was wise, the prophet Daniel shone and he shines as one of the greatest of all the prophets. There are more prophecies in the book of Daniel than any other book in the Old Testament. Daniel is the most quoted from book in the book of Revelation. In fact you cannot understand the book of Revelation unless you understand Daniel and Ezekiel, the two greatest prophets of the Old Testament in terms of the number of prophecies and the extent of the prophecies and the distance in the future in which they saw. As a young man of 16 years old, Daniel was exiled from his home country in Jerusalem after 605 BC. When Babylon first conquered Jerusalem, Daniel and his three friends were selected for special service. One of the ways that the Babylonians would weaken the people was they took the leadership out. They took the best of the people, the cream of the nation, military leaders, nobles. Intellectuals, artisans, soldiers, they took them out to Babylon to leave the nation of Israel weak that they were not able to resist because they now had the top echelon of their leadership taken away. And Daniel was one of those. Daniel was from the very family of David. He was related to the king himself. And Daniel and his three friends were selected for special training in Babylon because the scripture says they were good looking, no blemish was found on them, they were gifted in all wisdom, they possessed knowledge, they were quick to understand and had the ability to serve. Quick to understand and had the ability to serve. Proverbs says that a person who is excellent in his service will not serve before mean men, he will serve even before kings. Talent and hard work and diligence will be recognized and will be rewarded with opportunities to serve. Although he was an exile in a foreign land, Daniel rose to the highest level of leadership under three kings in two empires over more than 70 years. An extraordinary career, an amazing man, a phenomenal life of service for God. Yet, although he served in pagan courts, He did not compromise his faith. In fact, we do not read in the Bible any criticism or weakness or flaw in the character of Daniel nor of Joseph. We're not saying there was none, but the scripture records no flaw, although it does of the other saints of God. But Daniel and Joseph stand out as exemplary as real examples of integrity in pagan courts. There's a lot of similarities between David, between Daniel and Joseph. Both Joseph and Daniel were exiled from the lands of their youth, from their homes. In their youth, taken away captive to foreign lands. But because of their integrity, they rose to the highest levels of responsibility, serving even in the king's courts. Both were unjustly accused and harshly treated. Yet God used their hardships and their wisdom in interpreting dreams to have them promoted in the pagan courts to the highest levels without compromising their faith, their integrity or their principles. There is much we can learn from them. Daniel is like Moses, both a statesman and a prophet, but Daniel is still further than any other prophet. The book of Daniel has moral conflicts, and we are going to encounter moral conflicts in our lives and our ministries. In chapter 1 we see pagan self-indulgence, pagan gluttony, idolatry is confronted by the courageous conscientious abstinence of God's children. They refuse to take this food offered to idols. They refuse to indulge in the king's court and the alcohol that is flowing freely. You can imagine the king's court, there is no shortage of food and indulgence. You can have every kind of food in abundance, the best, the most. Daniel and his three friends say, we would rather have fruits and vegetables and water that has not been offered to idols. and see after a few weeks who is healthier. And this is the first conflict. You see, when they were young they made a stand. And it's important that we make a stand early. That you make a stand on the small matters. Because whoever is faithful in the small matter can be trusted in the large matters. Until we show our integrity in the small matters, can we expect God to trust us with the large matters? And we see that the fruit and vegetables and water of God's people is superior. to all the king's royal food and then you see the heathen mysticism and the worldly wisdom is exposed as worthless as King Nebuchadnezzar has a disturbing troubling dream and he calls his wise men he says interpret my dream for me it's deeply troubling to me and the wise men want to know well what was the dream I've forgotten the dream he says you must tell me what my dream was and what it means and they said there's no one who knows who can do this Tell us the dream and we can interpret it, but nobody can tell you what you dreamed. And so Nebuchadnezzar flew into a rage and ordered all his wise men to be executed. Daniel and his three friends of doubtless only recently arrived in Babylon, beginning their training. And now they hear that it's about to be over. In fact, their life's about to be over. They're all to be executed, them too. They counted amongst the wise men of Babylon. and ask for time and Daniel speaks to the Lord and the Lord gives Daniel insight and wisdom to not only know the dream but to interpret the dream and he goes to Nebuchadnezzar and this dream is a dream of a monster, a giant, a head of gold, shoulders of silver, chest, stomach of bronze, legs of iron, feet of iron and clay and then a stone not cut by human hands strikes the statue and it crumbles to dust, and the wind blows the dust away, and the stone grows to the amount that fills the whole earth. Daniel says these are the kingdoms of the earth. You, Nebuchadnezzar, are the head of gold. The head of gold is for the Babylonian empire. After you will come another empire, not as great as yours. That's the shoulders of silver, which turned out to be the Medo-Persian empire. Two shoulders to one empire. the Medo-Persian Empire. And then, after that, there's the Stomach of Bronze, and that represents the Greek Empire of King Alexander the Great. And then there's a terrifying empire, one like iron that will crush everything in its path. But it'll split into two, as the Roman Empire split into East and West, and it went for a long time. But in the end, it showed it had feet of iron and clay. But the stone that the builders rejected is worthless. Jesus, the rock of our salvation, the rock that was with Moses in the wilderness, out of which flowed rivers of living water. The rock struck these statues and it crumbled to dust, the wind blew it away, and the stone grew to be a mountain that filled the whole earth. And so our Lord is the fulfillment of this dream. And Nebuchadnezzar is told by Daniel, in the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed. And this kingdom will not be left to another people. Your kingdom is going to be left to other people. Everything you built will be taken up by another kingdom and another. Man's kingdoms come and go but for a season. But God's kingdom will endure forever. It will break into pieces and consume all those kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. Now, perhaps inspired by this dream, Nebuchadnezzar erects a massive 90-foot idol, a huge statue, probably one similar to one he had in a dream. And he commands everyone to worship it. When the music plays, Everyone is to bow before this idol representing the power of Nebuchadnezzar. Know that he's proud that he's the king of gold, that his empire is of a finer quality, metal-wise, than the others. Complete autocracy. His word is law. Everyone bows except Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, the three friends of Daniel. Now these three friends of Daniel, they had backbone. The others were like spineless jellyfish. They just bowed, they flopped. When the music played and the command was given, they bowed before this idol of the state. But not Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. They stood firm. They stood up like sore thumbs and Nebuchadnezzar flew into rage. Is it true that you disobey my command to bow on orders at the statue I have set up? Which is the God that can deliver you from my hand? And Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego responded, Our God whom we serve is able to save us and He will. But even if He does not save us We will not bow before your idols, nor will we serve your gods. Nebuchadnezzar flies into a rage and orders the furnace heated seven times hotter than it had ever been before, so much so that the soldiers who carried these three brave young men bound to cast them into the furnace, they were incinerated themselves. So great was the intensity of the heat. But then there began to cease the three young men walking in the fire unharmed. Their bonds have gone. No doubt what they were tied up with burned. But they were not burned. They did not bend. They did not budge. They would not even burn. They stood firm and there they were walking free in the midst of the fiery furnace unharmed. And Nebuchadnezzar says there's a fourth man with him, and he looks like the son of God. And Nebuchadnezzar orders them to come out. And he says, blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who sent his angel and delivered his servants who trusted in him. There is no other God who can save like this. And so we see victory. Heathen idolatry of state religion is confronted by the courageous determination of God's children, who determine to worship God alone. They will bow before none but God. And then you see the pride of a pagan king, humbled. Nebuchadnezzar is walking on top of his gardens. He built the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. He married a Persian princess. She came from the mountains, she wasn't impressed with the flat plain of Babylon. So he built on top of a ziggurat, this mountain of tiered terraced gardens, hanging gardens, phenomenal. And he put a zoo with the most exotic wild animals on the top of it. And one day he's walking on the top of this, what is called one of the seven man-made wonders of the world, in the ancient world, he says, Am I not great? Look at all the great things I've accomplished. And he's proud. And he's given a dream. God warns him. And Daniel interprets dreams and says, Oh, your majesty, may this apply to one of your enemies. Because this dream that he had of this tall tree that reached high into heavens and all the birds of the air came into the tree, the tree was going to be chopped down and the stump was going to be chained. He said, Your Majesty, unless you repent of your pride and give honor to God, your power will be taken from you. You will lose your mind. You will be crawling in the dust like one of the beasts of the field. You will be eating grass like an animal. And Nebuchadnezzar sometime later, in great pride, is boasting in God's judgment. And he loses his mind for seven seasons. Now when the book of Daniel speaks about seven seasons, Babylon only counted two seasons a year. There was the summer and the winter. Dry season and wet season. There were only two seasons. So seven seasons would mean three and a half years. And there are in fact documents that have been found, inscriptions in Babylon. where Nebuchadnezzar says, for four years I did not build or accomplish anything. And that must be a euphemistic way of referring to when he lost his mind. And he was literally put in his own zoo on the top of a ziggurat along with the other wild animals because he lost his mind for those three and a half years, those seven seasons. And finally Nebuchadnezzar's humiliation brings him to lift his eyes to heaven, and understanding returns to me. And I have blessed the Most High, and I have honored him who lives forever. For his dominion is an everlasting dominion. And this kingdom is from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are as nothing before him. He does according to his will amongst the armies of heaven, and amongst the inhabitants of the earth. And no one can restrain his hand. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of Heaven, all his works of truth and all his ways of justice. And those who walk in pride, he is able to bring down. Pride comes before a fall. God resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. Now if this is true for a pagan king, it's even more true for preachers and teachers. Not many of us should be teaching as the Bible says, for we teachers will be judged with greater strictness than the others. It is a fearful thing to have responsibility, any responsibility, but to have responsibility in the kingdom of God, to be a servant of God, to handle a word of truth, to deal with eternal matters affecting people's eternal salvation. These are fearsome things. They cannot be like the undertaker. We need to learn from Daniel. the importance of humility. God resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. Then Belshazzar, the son of Nebuchadnezzar, the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, he has a drunken feast of revelry with a thousand guests and even brings some of the temple implements that were used in the temple for the worship of God from Jerusalem, brings them in. And they have this festival, this feast, drunken orgy. And a hand comes and starts to write against the wall. Mini, mini, tickle, parcel. The people are terrified, of course. They call for Daniel. No one else can interpret this. Number, number, weight divisions, Daniel says. You are weighed in the balances and you are found wanting. Your kingdom is taken from you. Your kingdom is going to be divided and taken from you and given to the Medes and the Persians. And that's done. That very night while they were busy feasting and not on the walls protecting their great massive city of Babylon, the Medes and the Persians had built a damn wall and diverted the river. Euphrates so that the moat went empty and they were able to swarm up the walls and in a surprise attack take Babylon and Belshazzar was killed that night, the night of his drunken revelry and blasphemy, a drunken blasphemer was judged by God. And that's where we get the word, the writing on the wall. People often don't see and recognize the writing on the wall. God is often writing words of warning on the wall, so to speak. And we should see the writing. Because we are being weighed in the balances and if we found too light, we fail. Eternally. It's an interesting thing that the very year that Nebuchadnezzar set that great statue up on the plains for everyone to worship, that was the same year that Jerusalem was destroyed. It was the year when Jerusalem was burned in 586 BC. And you can imagine the people shocked We thought God would protect his city of Jerusalem, his people of Judah, his temple. That's all been destroyed, burned down by idol worshippers. How can this be? Well, for generations the prophets have been mourning the people. Don't delude yourself that you are God's people, you're not God's people, you're living in an immorality, an idolatry, you're engaged in interfaith worship. You are guilty of injustice. How can you expect God to worship you? You're not the bride of Jehovah. You're the whore of the world. You're a slut. You're a prostitute. These are the words of Jeremiah. These are the words of Ezekiel. The people are warned. 120 years before the destruction of Jerusalem, Samaria had fallen. Israel, the northern kingdoms had fallen. How much clearer could God make it to the people? Don't trust in your name. You're not saved by race, you're saved by grace. Do not think you're saved because you can say, we are Hebrews, we are Israelites, we are the blood of Abraham. That's irrelevant. God can make children of Abraham out of the rocks. If you are not going to be true to the covenant obligations, don't expect covenant privileges. If you will not obey God, don't expect His blessing and protection. What arrogance to expect all the blessings of the covenant when you don't fulfill the obligations of the covenant. If you live in rebellion to God, don't expect Him to bless you. There's an amount of people today who keep talking about God will bless me, God will provide, God will come through for me. God is under no obligation to give us anything except justice, which would be an eternity in hell. If God was to give us what we deserve, we would get eternal judgment. What we need from God is grace, undeserved favor, mercy. And yet the people of Israel and the people of Judah were so backslidden, so idolatrous, so apostate. that they had turned from God, they were even sacrificing their babies, which is the terminal fate of any civilization, when it can kill its own babies. Under King Manasseh they were even sacrificing their babies in the Valley of Hinnom, which the Lord Jesus used to describe hell. The Valley of Hinnom, Gehenna, was the rubbish heap of Jerusalem, where the people just kept throwing the rubbish and the fire never went out, the flames never went out, the smoke continued to ascend day and night, Week after week, month after month, year after year. It was the rubbish heap where the whole city's rubbish kept getting thrown. And Jesus said, that's what hell is. God's rubbish heap. For those who have no use for him, and he has no use for them. They will be thrown into God's eternal rubbish heap. The burning trash heap of Gehenna. The valley of Hinnom. In that valley of Hinnom, King Manasseh even sacrificed his own children. to demon gods. The Judeans were so backslidden in the prospect they were involved in immorality. They were involved in worship of the false gods. They had all kinds of idols of these false religions brought into the temple. They desecrated the holy place. They were immoral. They were idolatrous. And God was going to judge them. And now it had happened. And Jerusalem was in ruins and the temple had been burned with fire. But in the same year that the temple was burned with fire Three Hebrews stood firm in Babylon and they didn't burn. You see, Jerusalem might have been burned, but God was not burned. The temple may have been destroyed, but God is alive. He wasn't limited to one geographic location. Nobody can use God and abuse God. That is why it is insane today how many people make an idol of Israel. I'm talking about the political state that calls itself Israel in the Middle East. And weep and wail over Jerusalem and the Jews. What would the prophets say? There is not one prophet who gave Israel a blank check. Nobody gets a free pass. Nobody. Nobody can claim the covenant blessings unless they fulfill the covenant obligations. Could you imagine any of the prophets of the Bible Speaking about Israel today, like John Hagee and other false prophets, who even go so far as to say, it's blasphemy to take the gospel to the Jews, they're God's people anyway. Listen, there's not three ways, there's two ways. There's the broad way to destruction, there's the narrow way to life. There's two types of people, not three. There are God's people and there are those who are not God's people. There are those who are saved, those who are not saved. There are those who are going to heaven, those who are not. There's not a third way. Nobody is saved by race. There's only one way of salvation, that's by God's grace alone, through the atonement of Christ alone, received by faith alone. Scripture alone is our authority. And there is not one prophet who gave the people of Judah a free pass. God destroyed Jerusalem twice and destroyed the temple twice to emphasize the importance that you do not have the right to claim the covenant blessings unless you are true to the covenant obligations. Nobody has the right to say, God must protect me, God must bless my work, God must not do anything. He is in heaven and you are on earth, He is the creator, you are the creature, you have no right to tell God what to do. And God does what is right and just. In this case, he destroyed Jerusalem. But in the year that he allowed the Babylonians to destroy Jerusalem in judgment, he showed that he is alive. He is more powerful than these idol worshippers. And the idol worshippers who destroyed Jerusalem, they would themselves be destroyed. You see an arrogant king humbled. You see carnal sacrilege condemned. And you also see the malicious backbiting and conspiracy to condemn Daniel into lion's den. You see how that is defeated by the protection of God over Daniel. Because Darius the Mede set three governors over his 120 satraps and one of the three governors was Daniel. And then Daniel distinguished himself above all the governors and satraps because an excellent spirit was found in him. And the king thought to setting Daniel over his whole realm. So the governors and the satraps sought to find some charge to bring against Daniel concerning the kingdom. But they could find no charge or fault in him. Because he was faithful. Nor was there any error or fault found in him. Daniel is an extraordinary person. So those who sought to bring down Daniel persuaded King Darius to do a foolish thing. to issue an edict by which the people were to abstain from worshipping anyone except the king. But Daniel continued to pray towards Jerusalem on his knees, by his window, openly. And then they had him. And they condemned him. And they brought him to be thrown into the lions' den. These lions were abused. These lions were not fed. These lions were starved so that they would be violent and vicious to any of the king's enemies. and Daniel's thrown to lion's den but he's not harmed because Jesus is the lion of the tribe of Judah and these lions knew that Daniel's one of God's and they were patient and the morning Darius came and Daniel could say my God sent his angel and shut the mouths of the lions so they would not hurt me because I was found innocent before him and also king I've done no harm before you And those lions' patience was rewarded, because all the persecutors, all the false accusers, they were thrown into the lions' den, and they provided a good meal for the lions. Then Darius wrote, to all the peoples and nations and languages that dwell in the earth, peace be multiplied upon you. I make a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom, men must tremble in fear of the God of Daniel, for he is the living God, and steadfast forever. His kingdom is the one that will not be destroyed. His dominion will endure to the end. He delivers and He rescues and He works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth. He has delivered Daniel from the mouth of the lions. God's power is revealed in His acts of judgment. Jerusalem is judged for immorality and idolatry. The heathen diet of gluttony offered to idols and alcohol is rejected. Worldly wisdom is exposed as worthless and powerless. Idolatrous state religion is defeated. An arrogant king is humbled. Carnal sacrilege and blasphemy is condemned. Pagan persecutors are punished. Human kingdoms are destroyed. God's power is seen in his revelations. God has power over the past. God has power over the present. God has power over the future. God has power over eternity. You shall not follow the crowd to the evil, the law of God says. Compromise can be cooperation with the devil. Do not compromise your faith. Compromise makes you powerful. Dare to be a Daniel. Dare to stand alone. Dare to have a purpose firm. God is all powerful. He has power over life and death. He has power over nations and rulers. He has power over angels and people. What a saviour. He can deliver people from execution. He can save them out of a blazing furnace. He can rescue them out of a pit of lions. God saves us from judgment. God is with us in the worst of circumstances. God knows our future better than we know our past. God protects us from the power of evil. Praise Him. Trust Him. Serve Him. Let us pray. Lord God, we want to thank and praise you for your love and your mercy and your grace. And we want to thank you, Lord God, for your matchless servant, Daniel. And we pray, Lord God, that you may put in us something of the spirit of Daniel, that there may be something of a spirit of excellence in us and of integrity, that we would be faithful to you. Help us, Lord God, to be brave and bold for you, to be faithful to your word, the Bible, and to be faithful to your work, we pray through Jesus' precious name. Amen.