Daniel chapter six, and we'll be reading the entirety of the chapter. Let's give our attention now to the word of God. Daniel chapter six, beginning with verse one. It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom 120 satraps, to be throughout the whole kingdom, and over them three high officials, of whom Daniel was one. to whom these satraps should give an account so that the king might suffer no loss. Then this Daniel became distinguished above all the other high officials and satraps because an excellent spirit was in him and the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom. Then the high officials and the satraps sought to find a ground for complaint against Daniel with regard to the kingdom. but they could find no ground for complaint or any fault because he was faithful and no error or fault was found in him. Then these men said, we shall not find any ground for complaint against Daniel unless we find it in connection with the law of his God. Then these high officials and satraps came by agreement to the king and said to him, oh, King Darius, live forever. All the high officials of the kingdom the prefects and the satraps and the counselors, the governors, are agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce an injunction that whoever makes petition to any god or man for 30 days except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions. Now, O king, establish the injunction and sign the document so that it cannot be changed according to the laws of the Medes and the Persians, which cannot be revoked. Therefore, King Darius signed the document and injunction. When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open towards Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously. Then these men came by agreement and found Daniel making petition and a plea before his God. Then they came near and said before the king concerning the injunction, O king, did you not sign an injunction that anyone who makes petition to any God or man within 30 days except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions? The king answered and said, the thing stands fast according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, which cannot be revoked. And they answered and said before the king, Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, O king, or the injunction you have signed, but makes his petition three times a day. Then the king, when he heard these word, was much distressed and 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, no, king that it is a law of the Medes and the Persians that no injunction or ordinance that the king establishes can be changed and the king commanded and Daniel was brought and cast into the den of lions a king declared to Daniel may your God whom you serve continually deliver you And a stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet, with the signet of his lord's, that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel. Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting. No diversions were brought to him, and sleep fled from him. And at the break of the day, the king arose and went in haste to the den of lions. As he came near to the den where Daniel was, 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? And Daniel said to the king, O king, live forever. My God sent his angel and shut the lion's mouth and they have not harmed me because I was found blameless before him and also before you, O king, I have done no harm. Then the king was exceedingly glad, commanded that Daniel be taken out of the den. So Daniel was taken 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. Then King Darius wrote to all the peoples, nations, and languages that dwell on 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 and his dominion shall be to the end. He delivers and rescues and 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. Thus far, the reading of God's holy word. Let's pray together. Well, Lord, we thank you for this historical record of your mighty works, and we pray that as we consider this very familiar account of Daniel and the lion's den, that you would be gracious to us and assure us of your great power and great grace and the way you work in our lives and deliver us from our enemies and from the enemies of the Lord Jesus Christ. Would you be with us tonight? Give us wisdom and understanding of your truth and help us to apply it well to our lives to your glory. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Well, there are few stories in the Bible that are more well-known than this one of Daniel and the lion's den. And more than likely, especially if you were raised in the church, you have heard the details of this event in Daniel 6 many times over. The story of course is included in almost every Bible storybook that parents will read to their children. There are songs about this particular event. It is certainly a popular lesson for Sunday school and many sermons perhaps that you've heard on the passage. But I think the real question goes beyond that. It's not, have you heard? or are you familiar with this story? But the question is, do you know what Daniel and the lion's den has to do with you? Children, do you realize that this story is not just something that happened many, many years ago, A wonderful story of how God delivered a faithful servant. This is talking about how God continues to work in each of our lives. So the answer to that question, do you know, is this, that in more ways than one, probably in many ways beyond what you think, this story applies to us. Now, we have never been taken captive by a foreign army. We are not currently living under the reign of a pagan ruler who has total authority over our lives. And lions are not the typical form of punishment when you disobey your boss. But here is something that applies to us. There are numerous similarities between what happened to Daniel back then and what happens to us now and may very well happen to us in the future. We're gonna highlight four particulars as you see them listed in your outline there in your bulletins. Four ways, number one, the wicked still rise up against the righteous. Two, the godly still pray to God for his help. And three, God still intervenes on behalf of his people to help them and deliver them. And four, if God is pleased, we may yet again live to see a ruler over this land, over other lands in the world, that loves and honors the living God and seeks to do his pleasure. Now Daniel chapter 6 opens with yet another Babylonian king who rises to power. This man's name is Darius and about this king the scriptures say almost Nothing. Very little that we can say about this king. He's mentioned maybe three times in the book of Daniel and it's literally just his name. Who he is, where he came from, his descendants, so forth. All of these things, any effort to identify this man or characterize this man are pure speculation. All we know is this was the third king to reign over Babylon in the days of Daniel and his friends. Perhaps what we need to do is not focus on Darius, but to realize that what stands out here is that once again, it's Daniel's faith and Daniel's commitment to live according to God's will that is going to be put to the test. And my friends in that Daniel is no different than we are might be different circumstances. It might be different consequences, but our faith and our commitment to God is going to be put to the test in the days in which we live. Well, let's look at these four elements that I mentioned earlier. The first, the wicked plotting. Now, verses one through three describe the situation. Darius has placed 120 officials over his entire dominion, his kingdom, of which there are three high officials, governors, as one translation puts it, and Daniel is one of those three. Further, Daniel, as he did under Nebuchadnezzar and as he did under Belshazzar, has distinguished himself, he's proved himself both wiser and better at his job than all the other officials. in the kingdom of Babylon, so much so that we read Darius is thinking about putting Daniel in charge of the whole kingdom. Now as you can imagine, Like in many workplaces that we see today, when a particular individual gets the favorable eye of a superior and they are exalted above all the other people in the workplace, many times, as here, these other officials are not happy. As a matter of fact, they were quite jealous And so beginning in verse four, they weren't just unhappy, they began to plot and to scheme against Daniel. They desperately want something that they can accuse him of, something that will disqualify him. But the problem is, Daniel is above reproach and there's literally nothing wrong that they can find in regard to the way he serves the king in Babylon. So they realize if they're going to succeed, it's going to have to be in the area of his faith. It's going to have to be in the way that he sought to serve God. And they come up with a plan. And the plan is simply this. Make a law that no one, absolutely no one, can pray to any God or man other than King Darius for 30 days. Now, my friends, things or have not changed much with us as it did with Daniel. The fact is, the enemies of God and the enemies of the church of Christ have not changed. The wicked still despise the godly and when they see them, they hate them. They are still looking for ways to destroy us, they are still looking for ways to keep us from serving and honoring God. They scheme, they lie awake at night and plot and their goal through the work of the wicked one is to, number one, lure us from the path of righteousness by some temptation, by some attraction. If that doesn't work, they seek to frighten us from continuing on that path of righteousness. They want to discourage us and dishearten us, and so they will threaten, and they will do all that they can to turn us aside. And if that doesn't work, then they will make it their goal to punish and to persecute the righteous for their obedience to God's law. And to accomplish this, many of you know this, to accomplish this they will not hesitate to lie, to cheat, to steal, and even to kill. My friends, think about what we saw happen last week in Nashville. That was not somebody who was just upset because of the counseling they were receiving. It was one in whom the wicked one was working to attack and to assail the godly. the one who will stop at nothing to do as much harm as they possibly can. But that comes even closer when you realize because the wicked hate the righteous, because they scheme and they plot against us, that means that if you, brothers and sisters, Seek to live holy lives that honor God. If you seek to live a life and be faithful and true to the word of God and to his commandments, you are going to attract their attention and their hatred. and they are going to do what they can to stop you from honoring God. This has been going on for millennia. This is nothing new. It was going on in the days of Daniel. It was going on in the days of the apostle in the first century. Turn over to 2 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians chapter 2. And verse 11, Paul is dealing, this is a very instructive passage, Paul is dealing with a problem, a serious problem in the life of the Corinthian church. And it's this, learning to forgive a sinning brother who has repented. It's not an easy thing, and yet Paul writes that the Corinthians were to forgive this man who had fallen into terrible sin. But notice how he states it in verse 11, as he encourages them to forgive him. In verse 11 he says, lest Satan should take advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of his devices. My friends, when you have extreme tensions between you and another church member, between you and another family member, this is not just about you and them. Satan tries to use those situations to his advantage over us. He wants to disrupt the fellowship. He wants to tear down the unity that we are meant to have as the body of Christ. Satan will use this and many other things to tear the church apart. And if you've been a Christian for very long, you know it all too well, how many churches have been literally torn in half because of such things. But not only there, if you turn over to Ephesians 6, and this is why I wanted to give the Christian in complete armor away. Here, Paul is writing to the Ephesians. They're facing the same type situations. They're facing temptations, they're facing trials, they're facing difficulties. And what does Paul say in Ephesians six and verse 10? Finally, my brother, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. And the way you do that, It's verse 11, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles, the word is literally the schemes of the devil. The devil was scheming through his people in Daniel's day. The devil was scheming through Satan in the church at Corinth. The devil was scheming against the Ephesians. And Paul says, put on the whole armor of God. We do not wrestle with flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against rulers of darkness of this age. against spiritual host of wickedness in heavenly places. And so put on the armor of God, put on the belt of truth, put on the breastplate of righteousness, put on the shield of faith, put on the sword of the spirit, the word, and put on prayer. That is the only way We can stand against the wild schemes of the devil. Brethren, our God has given us weapons for this spiritual battle. But like we heard this morning about you must use your spiritual gifts in the church. You must use the weapons God has given you. And that way, we are able to overcome the enemy who is still plotting against us. Well, secondly, we see not only that the wicked are still plotting, but the godly are still praying. You know, it's a very interesting scene that the psalmist draws for us in Psalm 11, verses two and three, when he says, the wicked bend their bow. They are ready to strike. And if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? Same situation the psalmist is facing even before Daniel. The wicked bend their bow. They are ready to cause pain and death and trouble at every turn. What can the righteous do? Well, my friends, Daniel shows us what to do. When the wicked plot, when they scheme, what do you do? Well, Daniel tells us in verses 10 and following that when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, what did he do? He went home with his windows open He got down on his knees and prayed in plain sight, and that is what we must learn to do. Scripture cannot be more clear. When the wicked plot, and when they scheme, and when they rise up against the righteous, what do you do? You should pray. This is why J.C. Ryle writes on this topic, the most important thing Christians can do in times of trial is pray. Brethren, we don't have strength or wisdom or knowledge sufficient for the task. We must go to God in prayer. This is why Robert Murray McShane puts it when he says, your prayer life says a lot about your faith. He says, what a man is on his knees that he is and no more. You can talk a good game, you may have a lot of knowledge, you may think you understand the word of God exceptionally well, But what you are on your knees, that my friends is what you are and no more. When the enemy rises up against you, it's not time to relax. It's not time to retreat. It's not time to run and hide and fear and worry. When the enemy rises up against you, run to God and pray. I want you to take note of several things about Daniel's prayer, three in particular. Number one, he prays with the windows open towards Jerusalem. Now, don't misunderstand this. If we just read that, we might think, well, that's kind of ostentatious. I mean, it sounds like Daniel is just trying to be seen in his devotional time and prayer. Calvin says he was making a right use of the means of grace. He was making a right use of the means of grace. What is the windows being opened towards Jerusalem have to do with the right use of the means of grace? Well, this is the way he explains it. Jerusalem was a reminder of God's presence, of God's covenant, and of God's promises. Daniel is looking towards Jerusalem as a means of remembering God's past mercies. Like Psalm 103, do not forget all his benefits. And he's making use of Jerusalem as a reminder of God's past mercies and a reminder of God's promise. Solomon that if my people which are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways I will hear them and I will forgive them and I will heal their land." Daniel is making a right use of the means of grace to remind him of God's promise, his mercy, and his covenant and presence. Secondly, he prays three times that day. So Daniel just doesn't pray once, He doesn't just go home after he hears the decree has been signed and say a quick prayer and maybe nobody will see and take note of the fact. No, he prays three times. Daniel's prayer life was structured. It was regular. It was disciplined, not haphazard. Sometimes I hear people say, well, prayer should be spontaneous. But my friends, good spontaneous praying rises out of good habitual praying. It's like a musician who is able to perform on the spot, impromptu, and give an excellent performance. The only reason he can do that It's because he is habitually and regularly and structurally practiced and practiced and practiced. Daniel's prayers were structured and disciplined. And because of that, he was able to pray as he does in chapter nine, an extraordinary prayer on the spot. Thirdly, he prays giving thanks to God, as was his custom. Daniel knows the decree is signed. He knows that if he prays, it's not going to be pretty. Trouble is staring him in the face. Trial is staring him in the face. And yet still, according to verse 10, he prayed and gave thanks before God, as was his custom. Now it doesn't say specifically how old Daniel was here but if we add up all the years under Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar and Darius and Cyrus, Daniel has to be approaching 70 years of age. And yet this was his custom from the earliest days of his life. He prayed. He prayed using means to remind him of God's covenant and promise. He prayed structurally three times every day. He prayed giving thanks every day. This was his custom. I think of Psalm 100 when it tells us to enter into his gates with thanksgiving. My friends, every time you walk through these doors to worship God, it should be with a thankful heart, even, even when great trials are surrounding you. Daniel prayed and gave thanks. Thirdly, the Almighty intervening. Now beginning with verse 11 and going through verse 23 we have a summary of what happens when the jealous co-workers make their accusation. The king looks desperately for a way out of this but there is none and so in verse 16 it is commanded that Daniel be cast into the lion's den and the king speaks to him and says, your God whom you serve continually. May he deliver you. The king is not pleased. He knows he's been duped in this whole situation. Daniel is cast into the lion's den. And the king comes, in verses 20 and 21, first thing in the morning, after a sleepless night, and he cries out in anguish and says, has your God been able to deliver you from the lions? more than likely he was expecting the worst. But Daniel answers and he says, my God sent his angel and shut the mouths of the lions. My friends, this is a stunning and miraculous display of the power of God. It stands out among all the examples of scripture as a poignant reminder that nothing, nothing is too difficult for our God. But notice, once again, like with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, God could have removed the trial entirely, but he doesn't. Instead, he is with Daniel in the trial and through the trial. We must remember that God's ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts. Sometimes God is pleased to deliver his servants. but sometimes he allows them to suffer, to be put to the test. This is why James can write, as he does in chapter 1 and verse 2, when he says, count it all joy when you fall into different trials, different difficulties, knowing That those trials is what God uses to produce patience and perseverance and all manner of spiritual fruit. Young people, especially, listen, none of us wants to go through hard, difficult times. None of us. It doesn't feel good. It's hard. It hurts. But God, his ways are not our ways. He has ordained that through those trials, through those painful experiences, he is going to produce fruit in your lives. Now when we are allowed to suffer and perhaps even die, We must bow and confess, shall not the judge of all the earth do right? Many of you know the events of this past couple of weeks have been difficult for me. It was two weeks ago, Sunday evening, I was preaching on Belshazzar and how he was weighed in the balance and found wanting and died that night. And I asked you, if it happened to you tonight, would you be ready to face the judge of all the earth? And almost within 24 hours, I received word that one of my dearest friends, fellow pastors, former elder died suddenly of a massive heart attack. Perfectly fine, all day at Presbytery, got in the car to go home, clutched his chest, in 10 seconds he was dead. I can't make sense out of that. But I know that God, in his word, has promised. He does it for good. I can't see how, but I know God is true to his word and to his promise. So when the trials come, learn to trust God. Believe in God. The emphasis here falls upon verse 23. God delivered Daniel because he trusted God. He believed in God. This is exactly what Hebrews is referring to in chapter 11 and verse 33 when it says, by faith I stopped the mouths of lions. Daniel believed God and he trusted God. It was not Daniel's power, it was God's power and Daniel's faith looking to God for deliverance and God heard him. Well lastly, the king proclaiming, so beginning in verse 23, 24. tells us that the king was glad that Daniel was okay. It also tells us that he commanded that those who had falsely accused Daniel, along with their families, would be cast into the lion's den and they were utterly destroyed. Sometimes, my friends, God executes justice immediately. Sometimes we will have to wait till eternity to see that justice but it will come. More importantly is the impact that all of this had upon Darius. This king writes a proclamation to every person in the kingdom the entire kingdom. And he tells them, I make a decree that every man is to tremble in fear before the God of Daniel. He is the living God. His kingdom endures forever. It will never be destroyed. He delivers, he rescues, he works wonders on behalf of his people. And my friends, as proclamations go, This is a pretty impressive one. And obviously, Darius had learned much from Daniel about the being of God, the God of the Bible, the living God. And I would like to think that that knowledge changed Darius, that it converted him. But I'm just not sure we can say that with certainty. Darius still speaks of God as the God of Daniel, not our God. He speaks of God as the living God, as this one who should be worshipped and acknowledged as having great power. But he does not acknowledge his own personal trust in him. And I really don't think that's the issue, so I don't want you to get sidetracked here. The most important thing is this question. Has your knowledge of who God is and what he is like changed you? Has your knowledge of God according to the scriptures brought you to faith in Jesus Christ and repentance from your sin? My friends, all the knowledge in the world can be helpful, but if it doesn't change you, at the end of the day, it means very little. Has what you know about God changed you? You realize the God of Daniel is the same God that we preach and teach every Lord's Day. The God of Daniel is the God that we seek to serve today. It would be profitable, I think, for each and every one of us to look at what Darius has to say here and to reflect upon that tonight. This God is the living God. This God has a kingdom that will never end. It will endure forever. This God is the one who delivers his people from trials. This God is the one who rescues us in desperate times. This God is the one who works wonders for the glory of his own name. We began with that hymn, blessed be the Lord our God. Let us end with that same thought. This great God, the God of Daniel, the living God, God who works wonders, is he your God? Is he our God? And let us bless his glorious name. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this wonderful illustration of a man who loved you and sought to serve you no matter the cost. May you work that same grace in each of our hearts. Lord, it's so easy to become afraid, to tremble before our enemies, but you are the mighty God of Jacob. Oh Lord, place a hedge about each and every one of us here tonight and those listening to the live stream. We pray our God that you will exalt your own name and glorify the Lord Jesus Christ through your work in us and through us. We pray in his name. Amen. Let's take a moment as we consider these truths.