Turn with me in your Bibles, if you would, to Daniel chapter one. As we continue our study through the book of Daniel, this is part two to the sermon that was begun last Lord's Day. And so the text, the same text will be used, Daniel chapter 1, and we'll be reading verses 8 through 16. Daniel 1, verses 8 through 16. But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the 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 liking than the children which are of your sort? Then shall ye make me endanger my head to the king. Then said Daniel to Melzar, whom the prince of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, Prove thy servants I beseech thee ten days, and let them give us pulse to eat and water to drink. Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee, and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the king's meat, and as thou seest, deal with thy servants. So he consented to them in this matter and proved them 10 days. And at the end of 10 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 that they should drink and gave them pulse. Often you young people hear me preach from texts of scripture that were written by older men or written about older men or women. And you may be tempted as young people to think, well, when I'm older, then I will take my faith in Jesus Christ seriously. Then I will study God's word more diligently. then I will spend more time with God in prayer. Right now, I'm just a youth. I'm just a young person. I'm a teenager. I'm a young man or a young woman. I have plenty of time in the future to become serious about my relationship with Jesus Christ. Young men, Young women, don't allow this temptation to settle in and become the way you think and the way you act. Don't think for a moment that Jesus does not want to use you, use you at your young age to build his kingdom. He has a work to do in your life and he has a work for you to do on his behalf. He may be training you now for some future work, but he is even able now while you are young to use you in very important and significant ways. Your work in your family, and in your home, your work in your school, your work in your jobs outside of the home, your work in the church must not be wasted. It must not be considered unimportant to you. You know that the Bible, throughout the Bible, God speaks to you young people, he speaks to the youth, he speaks to young men, he speaks to young women. In Ecclesiastes 12.1, the Lord says through Solomon, remember now thy creator, when? In the days of thy youth. While the evil days come not, Nor the years draw nigh when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them. As you grow older, it's not going to get easier. As you grow older, it's going to get harder. Remember the Lord now in the days of your youth. You will never, ever regret remembering the Lord while you were young, not forgetting Him, believing, trusting Him, loving Him, obeying Him, studying His word, spending time in prayer with Him. That is a regret. You'll never say, oh, I so regret having spent so much time with the Lord. What you'll regret as you grow older is not having spent that time with the Lord. Those are the regrets of all of us who are older, that we didn't spend that time with the Lord. Ephesians 6, 2 and 3 is directed to you. Honor thy father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise, that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. The first commandment with promise to honor your father and your mother. not to be a burden to them, to be an honor to them, to be a help, to pray for them, to encourage them, to be obedient. Then as you turn to the Proverbs, how many different Proverbs begin with my son, my son, my son, which again, can certainly be applied to my daughter, my daughter, my daughter as well. Like Proverbs 110. My son, if sinners entice thee, that is if sinners tempt thee, consent thou not. When temptations come, my son, my daughter, don't give in to those temptations. Don't give way. Look to the Lord. Don't be taken captive. You have the strength in Jesus Christ to fight off those temptations that come your way. Or what about Proverbs 520? And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman and embrace the bosom of a stranger? Here the Lord is saying, while you're young, Do not be carried away with the lusts of the flesh. Do not let your fleshly lusts take you away into sin and immorality, either in actually partaking or in watching and looking upon the internet. Do not partake of those things. Turn away from those things by God's grace. Or one more in Proverbs 19.27, cease my son. to hear the instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge." Well, in order to not hear the words that cause you to err from the words of knowledge, you must have the words of knowledge. You must know what the words of knowledge are. It implies that you have learned, you are growing, you are reading God's word, you are learning through the confession of faith, through the catechism, you're learning through good, sound works, more and more truth concerning the Lord, your God. And you, the word of God says, are not to depart from that. Interestingly, again, in the word of God, the Lord has included many, many examples, but let me give you some examples. For example, of children who were godly children, like Samuel. He ministered unto Eli as a young child, serving the Lord in that capacity. Or the example of teenagers. Like Joseph was taken into, sold into slavery as a teenager into Egypt. Or like Daniel and his three friends, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, teenagers. Or like Mary, the mother of Jesus, a very godly young woman. The Lord has given an example of young men, like David, man after God's own heart, who communed with the Lord there as he cared for the sheep of his father. Or Timothy, whom Paul called his own son in the faith. In all of these ways, the Lord is saying, you don't have to wait and you must not wait till you're older. but you must walk in the footsteps of even these young people. So you don't have to say, everything we hear in the Bible is about older people, therefore, the Christian faith must just be for older people. No, what we find throughout the scripture is that is for you, is for each of you who can understand what I'm saying today that you are called by God to walk in his ways, to be like these children, like these young people, like these young adults that I have just mentioned and many others as well. Rather than spending your youth on yourself and on your own pleasures, it's time for you to pray and to meditate upon what God would have you to do with your life for Him even now while you're in your youth. Not simply what you will do for God in the future, but what God would have you to do with your life for Him right now. Don't waste these years. Use them for the glory of God. Your families and your church need you. God uses the young to accomplish great things for his glory. We return today to the great test in which God placed young Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah after they had been taken captive to the foreign city of Babylon, you recall, by King Nebuchadnezzar, separated from their families, separated from their friends, separated from everything that they knew, separated from the sacred ordinances of the one true religion found there in Jerusalem in the temple. And last week we covered the first main point from this text, which was the firm resolve of Daniel in this test. Now this week we want to move on to the last two main points. Today we're going to be looking at the means God used to deliver Daniel in this test, in Daniel chapter one, verses nine through 14. And then we will be looking at the conclusion God brought to this test in Daniel one, verses 15 through 16. So first of all, the means God used to deliver Daniel in this test, verses nine through 14. 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 liking than the children which are of your sort? Then shall ye make me endanger my head to the king. Then said Daniel to Melzar, whom the prince of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, Prove thy servants I beseech thee ten days, and let them give us poles to eat and water to drink. Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee, and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the king's meat, and as thou seest, deal with thy servants. So he consented to them in this matter, and proved them ten days. Soon after arriving in Babylon, As we noted last time, the Lord tests the loyalty of Daniel and his three friends. Will they walk in faithfulness to the Lord, their God, only when it is easy, only when it's pleasant, only when it's comfortable, or will they walk in obedience and faithfulness to the Lord, even when it's hard? even when it's difficult, even when it might cost them their very lives. Will they be faithful to the Lord? Nebuchadnezzar had appointed, according to Daniel 1.5, he had appointed daily meals from his own table to feed these teens, 14 to 15 years of age, in preparation to serve as officers within his royal court. Now, this was not a cheap food. It was not food that was unhealthy. This was the best food that Babylon had to offer. This was food from the king's table. that was appointed for Daniel and his three friends to eat of. And it should be, as we also noted last time, that the king appointed this menu for them, this diet for them. That which King Nebuchadnezzar appointed was not optional. It was something that they were required to do. The king did not usually, particular kings of that nature like Nebuchadnezzar did not suggest things or merely recommend something. They commanded and when they commanded it was to be done. And so here he appoints this diet to defy the king at any point that he had commanded could mean death. And that was the fear of the, of Ashkenaz here, who was the officer of Nebuchadnezzar, who was given the chief responsibility of caring for Daniel and his three friends. He feared, he said, I fear my Lord, the King. And he says, if I change this diet, I endanger my own head. I'm going to be hung. My head's going to be cut off. I'm going to lose my life. So again, this was not something that was to be taken lightly. This was an important test that involved not simply sacrificing certain privileges, you know, losing your driver's license for a period of time, or being grounded to your room and confined to your room for a few, the consequences of this was that you could be taken down and executed for not following the king's command. There was a major problem, though, with the king's food. It was food that had first been offered to the gods of the Babylonians as a sacrificial meal. After careful consideration of God's will in this matter, Daniel, again, a teenager, 14 to 15 years of age, Daniel, we read in Daniel 1a, purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself and sin against God, his savior, by eating the food that had been offered to idols. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10, 20, actually that had been offered to demons, to demons. This young teenager, Daniel, made up his mind at that point. What was God's will? And once he purposed in his heart what God's will was, he determined that he was going to do God's will regardless of the cost that he would suffer. Once he knew God's will, his trust in the Lord, his love for God would lead him the rest of the way. Similar to Joseph, who would not defile himself with his master's wife, even though it meant he was thrown into a prison to decay and rot away there, for who knows how long he would have remained there, but for God delivering him from it. So it was with young Daniel. He would not be defiled by disobeying God. Dear ones, that kind of commitment will only come in your life, whether you're young or whether you're old, will only come in your life from spending time with Jesus Christ and his word. One who is unfamiliar with Christ, one who is unfamiliar with the word of God isn't going to make those types of sacrifices. Only one who is very familiar with God, only one who is willing to suffer for Jesus Christ is going to make that type of a sacrifice. And that's what the Lord Jesus teaches us, first the cross, then the crown. First, we suffer in this life, then we receive the reward of everlasting life. There's no other way. We can't skip the cross to get to the crown. We must go the way that Jesus appointed. First was the cross for him. First was the crown of thorns, then the crown of glory. And so likewise, we who walk in his path and in his way. Daniel's heart, his mind, his body were completely devoted to the Lord as a teenager here in this situation. No doubt he served the Lord back in Jerusalem from the time he was a child raised in a godly home. But here, he's separated from all of that. He's all on his own. Daniel had purposed in his heart what he must do. Now he must work it out practically. in word and deed. Not simply purpose it in his heart, but now he must work it out. He must do it. Did Daniel go directly to the king, King Nebuchadnezzar, and tell him that he refused to eat his food that had been offered to demons? No, he didn't do that. He could have done so, I suppose, but he didn't choose to take that approach. Rather, Daniel sought other means to remove himself and his friends from the idolatrous, sacrificial meal before it became necessary to directly confront the king. Ultimately, had everything else failed, it would come down to that, that he refused to eat the meat and it would be He would be brought into direct confrontation with the king, but he sought other means first, lawful means, in order to remove that temptation and that test from before him. See, it was not necessary that the king know what Daniel had decided. All that was necessary was Daniel not sin against God by eating the sacrificial meal. Sometimes, again, it seems as though in order to, whether we think that this is required of us or whether we think that the most powerful, conspicuous, visible testimony is required on our part, that we jump all the way to the last resort when there are several means first that we can lawfully take before we have to face, as it were, the king. Daniel took that route, lawful. And we'll see here the means that he used. He went to one of the king's chief officers, Ashpenez, who was given the responsibility, as I said earlier, to prepare these young teens for the royal court. Because Daniel had purposed and is hard to do the will of God regardless of the cost to himself, God here works in a marvelous way to bring about a means for Daniel to obey God and yet for his life to be spared. God often, I believe, waits. to work on our behalf and in our lives in a similar way until we, like Daniel, purpose in our heart to do God's will and then we set out to do it. God is waiting for us many times to call forth faith and love and obedience in our life. It's like the Lord is saying to us so often, like the priests who were carrying the ark, as they got closer to the Jordan River, nothing happened, nothing happened. They were 10 feet away, five feet away. The river was still flowing, overflowing, and not until they touched the water did the Jordan River break. The Lord is waiting for us to take that type of faithful stand for Him. to obey him, to purpose in our heart, to walk in his ways, for him to work in our lives, to show us how marvelous, great and powerful and mighty he truly is. Dear Wednesday, the duty is ours. The results and the consequences are God's. Let's not worry about the consequences or the results. Let's focus on what our duty is. That's what Daniel did. He focused upon what his duty was before God, what God's will was. And then the consequences, fall as they may, he was willing to accept them. Daniel's purpose and act to obey God here meant that he must disobey the king. He must disobey the king. This was civil disobedience. Civil disobedience, disobeying what the king commanded. But every Christian is called to practice civil disobedience in accordance with the first commandment, thou shalt have no other gods before me. that when the magistrate acts as God, then we must say, no, you're not God. You don't have that authority that you claim to have to tell me to do what is contrary to God's will. God never gave you that authority. God has called the civil magistrate to be the minister of God to us for good. Good as defined by the law of God. And when rulers, by way of their constitutions, by way of the laws that they enact, by way of their own behavior, will not submit themselves to the law of God, to that which is good. They denude themselves of that authority. They have then no authority to command us to do what they claim they have. It is simply raw power on their part, force that they can use, violence that they can use, but we do not yield a conscientious objection to those who rule unlawfully, do not have the authority of God to rule. Civil disobedience, dear ones, is not mob rule. Civil disobedience is not rioting, murdering people, torching cities. That's not civil disobedience. It's taking a stand like Daniel did. It's taking a stand that one will not defile oneself in sinning against God, even though it is commanded by the rulers of the land to do so. This is not something that is novel. This is not a truth that has not been practiced by the saints throughout the scripture. Peter and the other apostles told the Sanhedrin in Acts 5.29 when they were told not to teach or to preach in the name of Jesus any longer, we ought to obey God rather than men. Books are filled with the faithful testimony of such witnesses and martyrs of Jesus Christ. And taking a stand and saying, no, we cannot do this. To do so would be to sin against the Lord, our God, and we cannot do so. Books are filled with those who are fined those who had ears cut off, noses split in half, who received marks forged upon their skin, who were tortured, imprisoned, quartered, dissected, hung because they would not say yes to a civil magistrate, to a ruler who commanded them to do what was contrary to God's will. And we are to follow them as they have followed Christ. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11, follow me. as I follow Christ. As Daniel purposed to do the will of God and not to defile himself here, so the Lord granted another way for Daniel to obey the Lord without compromise and without coming into direct confrontation with King Nebuchadnezzar. but first he purposed in his heart to do what was right, and he set out to do it. Then God opened the doors. So often God doesn't show us what he's going to do until we first purpose in our hearts that we're going to do. Why should he show us a way if we haven't purposed in our heart we're going to follow him and trust him? And the way that the Lord opened for Daniel and his friends was through a lesser magistrate, Ashpenaz, a chief officer of King Nebuchadnezzar, whom Daniel approaches and speaks with in the verses that we just read in verses nine through 14. It was the Lord who had brought Daniel into the good favor of Ashpenaz, a chief officer of Nebuchadnezzar. After Daniel in verse eight purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat that had been offered to idols, verse nine begins, now God. Daniel purposed in his heart Now God. Now God begins to act. Now God begins to show and to open up a way. Now God. Don't overlook the significance of that. Now God. Now God, it says, had brought Daniel into favor and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs. Amazing. The prince of the eunuchs loved Daniel. The word of God says so right here. A heathen, a pagan, ruler. Officer in King Nebuchadnezzar's court loved Daniel. No doubt this was the work of God. I'm not saying that God had nothing to do with putting this love for Daniel in the heart of Ashpenaz. But let me suggest to you that that love was fostered by Daniel's own character, by Daniel's own life, by his respect. that he had and showed by way of his teachable nature, by way of his tender heart, by way of the example that he set, the good example that he set for the other young men, by way of his willingness to do what he was told to do that was lawful. by way of his honesty, transparency, by way of his unwavering conviction in the Lord, his God. As God had graciously given to Daniel a new heart of faith and love and obedience to God, so God caused Ashpenaz to love and appreciate what he saw in Daniel's life. Young Daniel here, 14 to 15 years of age, became a godly witness to Ashpenaz and no doubt to many others who saw and witnessed the kind of character that Daniel had. Even though he had been taken, violently taken from his family, taken from his home, taken captive And yet Daniel, yet in that state of captivity, had such influence as a young man upon the chief officer that Nebuchadnezzar had appointed to oversee him. It's quite amazing. Daniel had not allowed the fact that his captors had taken him away from family and home. He did not allow that to lead him to hate them and to despise them, but he had committed all his ways to the Lord. so that he could be mightily used of the Lord even for this particular situation and case that we see here presented. Rather than living in discouragement, depression, because he had been taken captive, which would no doubt have been easy to do, He showed his captors that he was the one who was truly free in the Lord. He knew the freedom of God. He knew what it was to be able to manifest that glorious freedom to love God, to serve God, to obey God, to keep his commandments. And that had a great influence upon Ashpenaz. Dear ones, we bemoan, we cry out when we suffer far, far less than being taken captive, removed from our family, removed from our, removed from our family, removed from our homes. We, We go into depression when anything is taken from us. We are so discouraged. We can see it all over our faces, all over in the way we speak and the way we use our words. And yet here was a godly teenager, someone for you young people to imitate. who did not allow what he had suffered to affect his testimony for the Lord Jesus Christ. So whatever you've been through, whatever you've suffered, I can guarantee you, it's not as bad as what Daniel had gone through. Ashpenaz here listens to Daniel, but he tells Daniel that he fears for his own life if the king should hear that he has changed their diet. In verse 10. Here we see the difference between those whose loving submission is to the king of kings, which brings courage, as in the case of Daniel, and those whose fearful submission is to earthly kings, which brings terror as in the case of Ashpenaz. There was courage, biblical courage is not the absence of all fear, but rather biblical courage is doing the will of God in spite of the fears that you might have. What is there to be afraid of? Or how can you exercise courage if there is nothing to fear? Courage is exercised in the face of fear. And yet, true courage doesn't allow the fear to paralyze, but by faith and trust in the living God, and in the promises of God, in the presence of God, in the power of God, one goes on to do what is right, what is in keeping with God's word. When we struggle, dear ones, when we fight, when we struggle with God to do his will because it is hard, because the consequences may be difficult that we will face, when we struggle like that, almost certainly fear will paralyze you. In your struggle against doing God's will, there's not confidence, there's not boldness, there's not courage. If you're struggling against God, if you're fighting against God to do His will, that's where fear will come. But it's rather in submitting to yourself, stop fighting against God, stop warring against the Lord, and against his will, and rather trust him, love him, and obey him, and purpose to do his will regardless of the consequences. That's where courage arises from. Fear arises when our eyes are upon our own weaknesses. Courage arises when our eyes are upon Christ and his power, his promises. Well, Daniel is not deterred here by the fear of Ashpenaz, but goes to the Melzar, actually in the King James text, it has Melzar as if this was the name of an individual, but more likely, this is not the name of an individual because the article is used in front of the word, the Melzar. And so probably referring to a subordinate office. under Ashpenaz, one who more directly cared for the diet and the meals of Daniel and his three friends. Whether this was done with the approval going to the Melzar, whether it was done with the approval of Ashpenaz or not, we're not told. It may be, however, that Ashpenaz simply referred Daniel and his three friends to the Melzar, to this officer. It is likely the Lord gave to Daniel this plan by way of revelation. We know that Daniel, we'll read about this in the next sermon, the verses that follow our text for today, that God had given Daniel the ability to prophesy, to understand dreams, to receive revelations from God. And so this may have come by way of revelation from God, this 10-day test that was proposed by Daniel to the Melzar. In this test, Daniel basically says to the Melzar, test us for 10 days, feeding us only pulse and drinking only water and see what we look like basically after those 10 days. Pulse, the word pulse comes from a Hebrew word that means that which is sown by seeds, which would include vegetables, grains and perhaps even fruits. So basically Daniel was saying put us on a vegetarian diet with water. That's not in any way to be teaching that that is God's will for all of us to be on a vegetarian diet because God gave even clean animals in the Old Testament to eat, according to Leviticus 11, and to offer sacrifices, which the priests then ate from. And in the New Testament, likewise, in the vision that Peter had upon the roof and the great sheet was lowered from the heavens, not only was there clean animals, there were unclean animals in this, and probably all unclean animals were in this great sheet that the Lord said, kill and eat. And Peter said, I can't, I've never eaten anything unclean. And the Lord said, whatsoever I have called clean, don't call unclean. So by virtue of that, the Lord was declaring that this distinction between clean and unclean meats was now forever gone. Likewise, in first Timothy four, verses four through five, Apostle Paul says, for every creature of God is good and nothing to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. So Daniel, here, was content to have less than what perhaps he could have had for sure by way of the feast from the king's table. But he was content to have less and to forgo the king's food in order to be faithful to the Lord. He was willing even to incur the wrath of the king. He was willing to lose his job, his position. He was willing to lose the comforts of this life. He was even willing to lose his own life in order to walk in faithfulness to Christ. As a teenager, as a young person, Not as someone who had lived a long time and had grown and matured in the faith like a Moses at the end of his life or like a Joshua that we read about in our Old Testament scripture reading today at the end of his life. No, here's a young man, a teenager. Jesus said that you cannot serve two masters Young people, you've got to decide who you're going to serve. There's no middle ground. You can't be neutral in that question. You're either going to serve Jesus Christ or you're going to serve the devil. To serve yourself is to serve the will of the devil. To serve Jesus Christ is to follow, to trust him, to trust in Jesus as your alone Savior and Lord, to love Him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, to obey Him, and when you fail, to obey Him, to repent, and to seek His forgiveness, and renew your obedience. You have to choose today Whom you will serve. You don't know if there's going to be a tomorrow. You don't even know if there's going to be the remainder of today. Choose you today whom you will serve. Do you care? Does that even kind of enter your radar at all? Do you care about the question, choose you today whom you're going to serve? If you don't even care, you've already answered the question. Do you pray? Do you pray that Jesus would be first in your life? First in how you spend your money? How you spend your time? Do you care? Does Jesus care about those types of things? If he's Lord of your life, yes, he cares about everything. He cares about it all. You care who you spend your time with. You want to spend your time with those who are worldly, those who are ungodly. Spend your time following in the footsteps of the rich and the famous. the athletes, following in the footsteps of the wicked. Who do you want to spend your time with? You would be wise, Solomon says in Proverbs, walk with the wise. If you want to be a fool, walk with the fools of this world. What will you watch? What will you listen to? What will you read? All of those questions will determine who is Lord of your life. Who is Lord of your life? And if Jesus is not, repent. Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him. Cry out to him. This was not a test, dear ones, in the case of Daniel that would require months to judge whether the vegetarian diet with water was having a beneficial or ill effect upon Daniel and his friends. It was purposely made short, 10 days, 10 days, so as to make abundantly clear that it was God that was blessing the food that was eaten and even the water that was partaken of in such a remarkable way. 10 days. Well, usually a 10-day diet doesn't have such dramatic results. that we can see, you know, like a clear difference from what we looked like 10 days before. And it usually takes longer than that. But in this particular case, and again, I believe that's why this was probably a revelation from God to Daniel to say, I will show the difference in 10 days of this particular diet that Daniel you will be using, you and your friends will be using. And so this was again, I believe, not simply an ordinary natural, but a supernatural work of God in blessing the food, blessing the water in such a way as to bring forth a clear distinction and difference between Daniel and his three friends and all the others that were eating of the king's table. Which, by way of a side note, when we ask the Lord's blessing upon our food, it really should, what we have just said, it should cause us to think in terms of, do we really understand what we're asking? that we want God to bless the food that we are about to eat in such a way that it would have that type of a nourishing effect and blessing in our bodies, in our minds. Because if we don't understand what we're really doing, then we're just going through the motions. It's just become a ritual for us. You see, by the power of God, the Melzar here consented to Daniel's plan. By the power of God, he was persuaded. Again, Daniel's influence, not only upon Ashpenaz, but upon the Melzar as well. His godly influence that he consented to this particular test and this plan, moved by God to do so. Proverbs 21.1, the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord. As the rivers of water, he turneth it whithersoever he will. He's able to move the hearts of kings and of rulers. The means God used here required Daniel To do what was not easy, what was not pleasant, and going to Ashpenaz, and going to the Melzar, I'm sure that Daniel would have preferred not to have to take those steps. But that was the means that God used. That was what God wanted Daniel to do, is to take those steps. Many, many times, dear ones, that which God calls us to do to be faithful is not easy. It's not comfortable, it's not pleasant. But it is the way of the Lord to teach us, to train us, and to test us whether we'll be faithful. I'm reminded of, the means that God used to heal Naaman, the Syrian captain in 2 Kings 5. A young Hebrew maid had been taken captive, served in Naaman's household. And Naaman was a leper. And she told Naaman of the power of God that was present in Israel. through the hands of Elisha, the prophet. And the king of Syria sent with a letter in the hands of Naaman the captain to the king of Israel. And the king of Israel said, who do you think I am, God, that I can heal you of this leprosy? And then was sent to Elisha, and Elisha didn't even come out to meet him, and so he was kind of, Naaman was put out, a very proud man with his rank. He was put out that Elisha didn't come out, sent his servant Gehazi to go out and to tell him to go and dip, or to wash seven times, to wash seven times in the Jordan River. And Amon said, well, the Jordan River is just so filthy, it's so dirty, it's so muddy, it's so unclean. Why can't I just go back home and wash seven times in the two rivers that pass through Damascus, the Abana or the Farpar rivers? And the servant said, you know, if the prophet had asked you to do something really hard and difficult, wouldn't you have done it? Can't you humble yourself to do what he has told you to do? And finally he humbled himself and did so and was healed. You see, the point being, many times we don't like the means that God gives to us that we are to go through in order to glorify him. We want to have the clean water, not the muddy Jordan. Anything else, God, but that way. I'll do it any other way you want, but Lord, don't take me down that path or down that road. God knows what's best. God is testing you. Are you going to be faithful, even if the path that he said is not the one that you would like to go down? He's testing you. Will you be faithful to him? Finally, the conclusion. Conclusion God brought to this test in verses 15 through 16. And at the end of 10 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 that they should drink and gave them pulse. After the 10 days, Daniel and his friends clearly, conspicuously looked and appeared healthier in their bodies, eyes, faces, hair, complexion, flesh, more full, not gaunt, not skinny or lean. but filled out. It was a clear difference from all the others. Not just judging where they themselves were prior to that, but comparing them to all of the others. After that brief test for 10 days, the Melzar was so convinced that he was safe, that he was safe and not at risk. He, from that time, fed them. with that vegetarian diet and with the water that had, that food that had not been offered to the gods of Babylon for three years. The Lord brought Daniel and his three friends through this perilous test as they first purposed in their hearts to do God's will and then not only purposed but followed through in doing God's will. John 13, 17, Jesus says, if you know these things, happy, that is blessed, are ye if you do them. Not simply if you know them, are you blessed, but you're blessed if you know them and do them. If you purpose in your heart and if you do it, Not simply purpose in your heart, like a New Year's resolution, and then forget, but you purpose to do what God has called you to do in his word. As I close, I appeal to you young people, as Paul appealed to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4.12, let no man despise thy youth. But be thou an example of the believers in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity, be an example, as Daniel was an example. Dear young people in the Lord, you are being tested daily, just as Daniel was. Maybe his test was different, but you are being tested as well daily. Don't minimize, don't discount the test that God brings into your life. Call upon the Lord Jesus while he may be found. Call upon the Lord Jesus who himself was tested as no man has ever been tested. And because he passed his test, he will be with you to pass the tests that come into your life. You're not alone in the tests that you face, whatever they may be. These tests, are preparing you for ways in which the Lord will use you now and will use you in the future. Despise them not, rather see the hand of God in them. See God's hand in the tests that come into your life. God is teaching you. to trust him. God is teaching you in all those tests to love him. God is teaching you in all those tests to obey him regardless of the cost that you may suffer. Amen. Please stand with me in prayer. We thank thee, our Lord, that thou art our teacher, a teacher who's so patient with us, a teacher who instructs us, gives us examples to behold in scripture and even examples outside of scripture. Thank thee, our Lord, for thy holy word, which is our guide, for our savior who has been tested, who has, who in his test, sweat great drops of blood. And yet, Lord, thou did bring him through that test. Thou did bring him to sacrifice his life for the sins of his people and to be raised again for their justification, to demonstrate and prove that indeed God had accepted his sacrifice, and they are forgiven. Lord, we pray, cause us to walk in the path of Christ and all of those who walk after Christ. Thank thee, our Lord, for thy holy word. May thy blessing be upon our children Our young people, teenagers, our young adults, God, show them, by tender mercy, by love, show them, our Lord, the way through all the tests that they are facing, to lean upon Thee, to trust in the Lord with all their heart, and lean not unto their own understanding, and in all their ways acknowledge Thee, and Thou has promised that thou wilt direct their paths. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.