The Living God Delivers

When Daniel knew that the document had been signed

full stop, let, let Daniel is fully aware of what just took place. He knows the king has signed into place a rule that's unchangeable, irrevocable, that if anyone makes a petition to any God or anyone other than the king, they will be thrown in the lion's den. It's very important. Daniel is fully aware as a very highly respected high official. When he knew this, he went as he always did.

He went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber. open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and give thanks before his God as he had done previously.

The other is very intentional to tell us Daniel knew exactly what the cost was. And he continued with the same pattern he had always done. He went up to his room three times a day and prayed with the windows open. Now, I'm going to be honest, as I wrestle with this, I'm probably walking home after hearing about this decree thinking, you know, maybe I'll close those doors today. Maybe I'll take to heart Jesus's command that I should be praying in my private secret prayer closet. That's the most true prayer, is to hide away, and it's just between me and Jesus anyway. But then there's another passage where Jesus says,

if you deny me before men, I'll deny you before God.

Which really has a lot more to do with this passage, because if he were to break his pattern, all of a sudden start closing his doors, he's doing so out of fear of man, not fear of God. As we wrestle with this, we need to take seriously He had created such a pattern. They knew where he prayed every day. They knew that he prayed every day. Three times a day, he would give thanks. He would be turned in the direction of Jerusalem. There's no fault. He's a faithful man. And that comes out of his faithful prayer life. As we wrestle with what the ethical dilemma could have been, should he shut the door? Should he try to hide away? Maybe not be so public, Daniel. We think about these ethical dilemmas, what would you do if this ethical dilemma happened? The beauty of what Daniel has done is he's so committed to God, committed to being faithful to his law, that I don't think he had any decision that he had to make as he went home. He was going to do what he always did in faithfulness. Our dilemmas are usually taken away once we realize God has given us clear scripture and clear commands and clear patterns for our lives. Our goal is to be so faithful that They aren't dilemmas, we're just going to be faithful. He turned to Jerusalem because of that passage we heard read earlier from 1 Kings, I believe, in that when if you're taken out of the promised land and you're in a foreign land, pray towards Jerusalem. And I believe that's supposed to show the posture. We in our rebellion have been taken out of the promised land and we're praying for God to restore us. We're looking back to the promised land because we're in exile, longing for God to restore us as we repent. God has kept Daniel giving him favor favor. We've seen God humble and exalt leaders. Daniel has, has, has seen how God just has Kings as putty in his own hands. I believe that's what we see here. Daniel in his older years, he's not afraid of this decree. It's not going to change what he does. Kind of reminds me of the martyrdom of Polycarp. I don't know if you're familiar with this. I encourage you to read it. It's short. It's really encouraging. One of the first early, uh, church history martyrdoms. And, and, and he's, he's, he's put on trial for not burning incense to the emperor in worship. And he says, I will not honor another God. Very much like chapter two. And, and they, they give him an opportunity. Will you, will you honor the emperor? Will you die? And. Well, polycarp says

80 and six years I've served him and he has done me no wrong.

There's something about how long polycarp was able to know, serve and be faithful to God that there was no way at that moment he was going to worship another. I say this because if we're going to be under persecution and the time comes for us to give an answer. You might be blessed by the Holy Spirit to have just a supernatural, powerful, courageous faith, but we normally see in Scripture in the pattern of life is those who have ordered their lives according to faithfulness will be the ones ready to make that answer. I'm concerned for young people because it's too easy to think I'm going to put off the kind of patterns that I know Scripture commands. and expects of me. I'm gonna put them off because I can learn those things later. I'm gonna kinda be me for now. I'm gonna do me for now. I'm gonna do other things and I'll put those patterns on later. You're training your heart now to love the things you'll love? And if you ever get to those patterns, it'll be just harder to learn them? If your life is worth patterning around God in the future, it's worth it today. It's the right way to live. I'm also concerned for some older people who believe that lie, that I'm going to put off those right patterns. And you've actually learned patterns that just seek casual Christianity and comfort. You consistently pattern yourself to be a slow-boiled frog that lacks courage and commitment. The beauty of it is God calls you today. Repent. Believe. Learn to put in place the kind of patterns that will make you a faithful servant of the Lord. There's always excuses for not being faithful. There's one reason to be faithful. The God who is worthy of all worship is faithful to us. The God who is worthy of all worship is faithful to us. Here's what's good news or terrifying news. You are getting better at what you practice. Are you practicing the godly patterns that develop godliness? Are you developing excuses and sin and sinful desires? You are getting better at what you practice. Daniel is demonstrated as somebody who has, he's been doing this previously. He has a regular pattern of knowing God, seeking God, praying after things of God, and he's found faithful. Our second section, our second point, the king's distress. And this is verse 11 to 18. And 11 to 13 shows a new scene. We now have these high officials. And if you have a camera angle, you're thinking about a movie, you've got Daniel up there in his prayer chamber. You just have the camera really focused in on him bowing down before God in the direction of Jerusalem. You see just the focus in on Daniel. And now, all of a sudden, you're going to back out, and you're going to see these high officials deviously thinking, ah, there he is. We've got him. They're watching him, thinking, we've caught him. He broke the decree that's irrevocable, unchangeable. We got him. The king is approached then. They assure him, king, you've written this law and it cannot be revoked, verse 12. We asked you to write this law, you wrote it, it can't be changed. And then verse 13,

then they answered and said before the king, Daniel, who was one of the exiles from Judah, He pays no attention to you, O King, or the injunction you have signed, but makes this petition three times a day.

So they didn't go straight away, I think. I think they went and they waited for him to pray. They came with the proof. They've made the accusation. They have all the witnesses. And they even made it personal. King, he pays no attention to you. That's how they've tried to assign his sin according to his law. They got him. The law that can't be changed, Daniel's broken it. They've brought that broken law to the king. Now, what will he do? 14 to 18, I want you to see how much is focused now on King Darius.

Then the king, when he heard these words, he was much distressed and set his mind to deliver Daniel. and he labored till the sun went down to rescue him.

Now this is the twist in the plot. This great king, this great ruler, he just signed a decree, now it's unchangeable. He has used his authority to create a rule you cannot changed the law, and everything up to this point has just been straightforward storytelling. Very economic in the way our author has been using words. But notice we start to get some emotion. The king is distressed. You're starting to feel how he feels. You're starting to get pulled into the king's problem. He's distressed, he's worried, he's troubled. This is such unpleasant news. It's so unpleasant, notice what the king does. The king determines, I will deliver Daniel from my decree. So he spends the rest of the day, he has until night to find a way to rescue Daniel. This is unusual, I think. The king who wrote the law can't fix the law to save Daniel. I kind of wonder if the best analogy here is the Jurassic Park principle. Why do we keep making things that can eat us? Why do we keep thinking we can control nature? Why build something with such power that we will then have no power over? The power he's used is now out of his control. He can't rescue him. See, Darius has created his own dilemma with his own pen. He's created his own distress by writing this law in, and he is powerless to save Daniel. Now, I believe the primary focus of this whole story is King Darius. All right, your heading says Daniel the Lion's Den. That's a primary focus of the story, but I believe this is a key focus, but the key character is Darius. It begins with Darius, it ends with Darius. We don't have any emotion from Daniel. We only have one sentence from Daniel. Most of the dialogue, most of the declaration we have is about Darius. I wanted to kind of change our ways of thinking about the story because of the way the story is told. We see Darius go through a variety of different emotions and distress, later joy. We see him and what he does. So far, we've seen Daniel's a great guy. He's above reproach. He prays regularly. And we're going to hear one thing from him, but Darius is the center of attention for this entire story. It's kind of amazing to think about how God has been so focused on teaching the kings of the nations who he is. And here Darius is also in focus. Darius has had to realize he is not able to save Daniel. He is powerless now. I think we're supposed to be burdened for King Darius. He calls his own trouble. That's a whole other kind of trouble that's hard to deal with. But notice verse 15,

then these men came by agreement to the king and said to the king, no king, that is a law of the Medes and the Persians, that no injunction or ordinance that the king established can be changed.

You've put this in law. It cannot be changed. You're not above the law, king. Your laws must be fulfilled. Darius could not save him. These guys are still after him. They're there to make sure Darius knows this. Verse 16,

then the king commanded and Daniel was brought and cast in the den of lions.

King Darius says to Daniel, who was going to be thrown into the lion's den according to his decree, may your God deliver you. We really should feel the angst of this king. I am sending you to the lion's den. I'm going to put my signet on that lion's den, and this is his hope and his declaration to Daniel as he's sending him to his supposed death.

May your God, whom you serve continually, deliver you.

May your God, whom you serve, deliver you. And a stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den, verse 17, and the king sealed it with a signet and the signet of his Lords. And nothing might be changed concerning Daniel. If you're, you're, you're hearing the story, this can't be changed. This is what Daniel does continuously. The laws can't be changed. God's law is what Daniel is committed to. We see something has to break. There's God and his law. There's the king and the Persian decrees. There's Daniel, there's the high officials, there's a king. What's gonna break? What changes? Daniel serves continually, the law of the comedians, it cannot be changed. Something has to break in this story. What will it be? In 18 again, King Darius is in focus.

Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting.

I don't know if he's praying to his God, praying to the God of Daniel. The idea here is he's committed to a religious practice with the hope that, well, what he's already said, the God of Daniel would deliver him. No diversions were brought to him, no entertainment, no food, and sleep fled from him. So again, our author isn't telling us how Daniel feels. Not telling us how Daniel's responded. He's focused in on the king who sent Daniel the lion's den and said he lost sleep all night. He fasted. He wanted no distractions. He's a man in distress with a burden. Our third point, our third major movement, the king's deliverance. Verse 19.

Then at daybreak, the king arose and went in haste to the den of the lions.

Now, he's the king. While he cannot have the authority at this point to change the law, he could just have said, hey, somebody come and tell me what happened to the lion's den. He could have sent a servant to find out the information he wants, but notice he arose. He woke up early. He went in haste. He must see it. He is committed and is in distress over Daniel and what is taking place.

And as he came near to the den where Daniel was, he cried out in a tone of anguish.

Again, we feel for this king. There's distress. He's lost all sleep. In anguish, he cries out.

O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lion's den?

This is the climax of the story. This is a high point of tension. Will his distress be relieved because of Daniel's deliverance, or will his distress go on because, according to the law he wrote in, his own decree, Daniel's dead. That is how he speaks of Daniel. You are the servant of the living God. That is not as if God was alive or not alive. It's the true God, not, not a false God of an image, a dead substance. Uh, the, the, the active God, the true God, you, O Daniel, the servant of the living God, whom you serve continually, has your living God been able to save you? When the resolution of the story is clear, he hears Daniel's voice and what striking words Daniel says first, Oh, king live forever. Oh, king live forever. We've seen this phrase throughout Daniel, and it seems to be a phrase that's regularly declared as a way of showing honor to the king. Respect. Now, could Daniel have said, yeah, no thanks to you? Could have. It would have been a true statement, but it wouldn't have been a godly statement. It's pretty amazing the honor Daniel is showing to the king who put him in the den, who's saying, have you been delivered from the problem I created for you? Has your God been better than me? Again, Darius needs delivered from the problem he's created. The problem being Daniel needs delivered from his lions. Has your God been able to deliver you when I could not? Oh, King, live forever. Daniel has learned over and over again as we've seen God teach the kings before him. God most high rules over the kingdoms of men. He's not afraid. He trusts God. He knows King Darius is under God and that's why he, I believe that's why he doesn't renounce him or speak foolishly of him or speak disrespectful of him or play the victim game here. Daniel knows God most high rules. Daniel's a testimony of how to Honor the king. Oh king, live forever. And then he assures him,

my God sent his angel and shut the lion's mouths and they have not harmed me.

Now, I love, I can't wait to know what this actually looked like. Did the angels come and just like close their mouths? Because they still have claws, right? I wonder if it's just every time an angel appears in scripture, they're terrifying. I wonder if the angel just coming, and the lions having the creaturely instinct God has put in them, realizes something greater than them is there. Or if it's just the angels, they giving the lions that look only your mama will look at, look at you like, and just like, you shut down, right? You know you did something wrong, and even if you didn't, you're gonna confess sin, because your mom's giving you that look. The angels just staring at the lions, the lions are terrified. all night long. As God rules over all, his angels have power over these lions. God is in control. He is sovereign. He is able to deliver. That's the answer. Yes, he has been able to deliver me and he has delivered me. Daniel goes further and explains why he suffered no harm. Because I was found blameless before Him, that is God, and before you, O King, I have done no harm. He's now getting into the whole situation, the story. The high officials who have accused me, it's now proven false. God has vindicated me. The accusations that threw me into this lion's den, God has proven that I'm blameless before Him, above reproach, not sinless, above reproach, And I'm blameless before you. I have done you no harm, King. Verse 23. The king was exceedingly glad. The king was glad to hear God had proven him wrong about the decree. That God could deliver Daniel in a way that he could not. The king is joyful. He goes from distress to anguish to glad again that we see how the king is being carried along by God in the story in this change of emotion. And the significance is God is the righteous one. He is the vindicator. He has proven. Daniel is not guilty by saving Daniel's life. Therefore demonstrated the king that he was wrong. And these high officials were wrong and the law was wrong. So what does the kingdom?

The king was exceedingly glad and commanded that Daniel be taken up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no kind of harm was found on him because he had trusted in his God.

Again, the key there is he was faithful. And then 24,

and the king commanded, and those men who had maliciously accused Daniel were brought and cast in the den of lions. They, their children, their wives, And before they reached the bottom of the den, the lions overpowered them and broke all their bones in pieces.

There's been a change. God did not change. God's law did not change. By God's grace, Daniel did not change. The king has been changed. Now that irrevocable, unchangeable law of Persians, it's been changed. Because Daniel has been saved by the power of God and now because of that he's changed his ruling and now the guys who accused Daniel and insisted he write the law, they're thrown into the lion's den. Because Daniel was unharmed. Now verse 24 might seem harsh because it is. All right, the guys who did this, them getting thrown in, that's kind of eye for eye justice. If they're wiser children, we might have a difficult time wrestling with this. I believe this probably functions in a way that the headship of this culture would work, but as we wrestle with, is this harsh? Is this beyond justice? Women, children, that seems unfamiliar in a way that hurts, but I just wanna make sure we understand where we're at in the story. We are supposed to rejoice right now because God has proven himself the deliverer and the vindicator. justice has happened at some level. We're supposed to rejoice the king has been changed and has changed who is worthy of punishment. Our final point, the king's doxology. God has delivered Daniel from the lion's mouth to the lion's den. God has delivered Darius from his own decree God has brought about a great change, and so we see Darius do what kings have done before him, praise God.

Then the king Darius wrote to all peoples, nations, and languages that dwell on all the earth, peace be multiplied to you. I make a decree that in all my royal dominion, people are to tremble in fear before the God of Daniel.

Now, before we get into what the praise is, I want to make sure we understand These words are all elsewhere in Daniel previously. Peace be to you. That's what Nebuchadnezzar has said. It needs to go out to all people's nations and languages. That's also something Nebuchadnezzar said. That those words actually began chapter, uh, three that parallels this passage. We're, we're, we're never going to understand all peoples must worship this image. Now we've got Darius saying all peoples must worship the living God. What a fantastic parallel of contrast as we've seen, as we've been carried along by the author. From the King of Babylon declaring everyone must worship a golden image I've made, a dead God, to now King Darius saying all peoples must revere the living God. Anytime prose turns into poetry, we need to pause and recognize that something important is happening. They must tremble and fear the God of Daniel. Why? He's a living God. He's not one of these false gods we've always been worshiping. He's not something we made out of our own hands. He's the one true God of life who gives life. He's the one true God of action. He is the one and only most high God.

He endures forever. His kingdom shall never be destroyed and his dominion shall be to the end.

Again, very repeated language we've seen and we'll see it next week. God's dominion is forever. His kingdom will no, no end, unlike Nebuchadnezzar, unlike Cyrus and others. Then we get to the main focus. Not only does this rule extend forever, and does he have almighty rule, but he uses that rule for good.

He delivers and he rescues. He works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth. He who has saved Daniel from the power of the lions.

He is worthy of all worship because He is the living God, the one and only true God. He has all power and dominion, and praise God, He uses that power and dominion to deliver, to rescue, and to save. And we have this final word,

so this Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus.

It's Persian. Think about how we're gonna apply this passage. God is the deliverer. Typically the Old Testament I want to connect that idea of deliverance to Exodus But I'm not sure Darius is thinking about Exodus because Darius isn't an Israelite Here is simply there was a problem that I created There's a problem that God has brought deliverance to and it was a problem of death As we think about this One of the great deliverances we see in this passage is he delivers justice God is the great vindicator I say that because there's many in this church who have been or wrestling through an accusation, a trial of that kind of someone declaring you guilty or you will have to wrestle with this. It's a smaller voice in the story, but it's important. Vengeance belongs to the Lord. He will bring justice for those who trust in him. For those who are truly blameless in him, he will bring justice for those who are guilty before him. It's a warning. He will bring justice, but God delivers justice. God is both the just, he will punish every sin as it deserves and the justifier. He forgives those who confess their sin, but. Above justice, before we can even think about justice, it's God brings true righteousness. God makes right judgments and proves the innocent, innocent. Now regarding the deliverance of salvation, these lines are nothing. God looks down, sees his faithful servant in trouble. I'll just send an angel. Angels just look at the lines. Bow down like little kittens. No problem. But our real problem is something that angels can't solve. See, our real need for deliverance is from our sin against God himself. Our real problem is against Satan and angel himself. Our real problem is against death. Only the God of life can solve these problems, and God himself came down to save us. God the Father sent his son not to just stare danger down but to become like us and to actually experience all those dangers and to suffer for our sin. Christ dying on the cross was God himself coming to deliver us by becoming like us in every way. To take on the punishment of sin we deserve as the righteous God who delivers justice. He's just and that sin is punished in Jesus Christ on the cross and we're still declared forgiven and righteous because we believe in Him who took that penalty for us. Jesus doesn't come and shut lion's mouth. He shuts up our accuser, Satan. Here's why Satan is so powerful over us. What he says is true. He accuses us of sins we've committed. true sins against God and His law, and God Himself shuts him up by declaring, those are no longer sins of guilt because I have paid the penalty in full. If you're not a believer this morning, that's what you need to believe. There's a sin problem you cannot fix. It's a sin problem you've caused on your own. You've rebelled against God. You've made the kind of mistakes and decisions that have led a life of rebelling against God. Only God can save you from your sin against God. You might be somebody here who relates to Darius and that just some foolish decisions have led to some foolish consequences or some really dangerous consequences and that I really feel for Darius. He's a villain at some level, but he also ends up with the praise of God. And that's who really is focused in on from going from, from distress to joyful. He made some decisions that he then regret in every way. I think we can all relate as to how we can get ourselves in such trouble, cause ourselves such pain and agony. And the beauty of it is God helps us even unwind and untangle the sins that we cause in our own lives. If you think you're in a place where you're like Darius, you're just, you're wound up, you're tied up, you're bound up, you don't know what to do, you cannot save yourself. You need help. And God Almighty can help you. The Holy Spirit lives inside of you to untie those knots, to point you to the forgiveness of Jesus Christ. If you're a believer, you can ask God to help you get out of the distress that you keep trying to deliver yourself from. You're not gonna be able to do that. The last thing I wanted to say is how we really should want to relate to Daniel, or rather, we should want to relate to God like Daniel. You just don't all of a sudden become a Daniel. He's in his 70s, 80s at this point. He's an old man who set out a life of patterned obedience. And that's why there's no protest, that's why there's no kicking back against uh, the king, he, he, he trusts God. We should want to have a life that's so ordered around a love for God and a love for his word that we would have the kind of patterns that Daniel has. Again, the simple verse 10 just tells us everything that's great about Daniel. And it's that he's, he knows a God who's faithful and he's faithful to him. I want to give you some, some, some practical points that you can practice. What are your priorities? Notice Daniel does not change his priorities with a change of a law or a change of a king or a change of a threat. Priorities lead to what we practice. Are we truly committed to knowing God and making Him known? If you don't know what your priorities are, where do you spend your money? Where do you spend your time? So first, what are my priorities? Am I seeking to know and live under the cross? Am I seeking to know Christ crucified? Am I seeking to live in his resurrected life? That should be your priority, believer. Are you praying regularly? Again, that's the key. Prayer for the Christian is like life for us, or breath, breathing for us. Secondly, I ask, what are your patterns? Because that actually shows you your priorities. What is it that you put in pen on your calendar that you refuse to miss? And what is it that you will use regularly as an excuse to miss what's right and good for God? How quick and easy is it for you to just miss something that is related to a Bible study, a prayer group, fellowship? We've got priorities. We've got patterns. Where's your presence? 2 Samuel 11 is one of the most devastating chapters in all of scripture. That great king who is a man after God's own heart. It's where he sleeps with Bathsheba and murders her husband. You know where it starts?

At the time of year when kings go out to war, David stayed home.

Very important that you are where you're supposed to be. Where are you in your presence? Are you with the things of God and with the people of God and in the presence of God? Or are you putting yourself in foolish places where you will make foolish decisions? We are supposed to be where we've committed to be. We are supposed to be in the presence of God with his people under his word. That is how we are protected from the foolishness that will ruin our lives and others lives. And third, and they're supposed to get punchier as we go along, are you punctual? You shouldn't be late to the things of God. All right, caveat. If you were walking out the door this morning and you had a baby blowout, you should have stayed to fix that, clean that up, and then come late. I insist upon it, actually. All right, so there's caveats. Folks have a pattern of being late. I really want to ask, how is it you're redeeming the time if you're always late? That seems to be out of order. I think it's hard to always be late and practice redeeming the time. When we're excited about something, when we expect something, we come early with expectation. How we spend our time, where we spend our time, the way in which we commit our time, it's creating the kind of patterns that's going to form you Yeah, all these are heart problems. And the heart is changed with our habits. I want us all to be like Daniel. I desire us to be like a Daniel who really is modeling Christ, whose pattern is such a way that as a perfect, obedient human Jesus was regularly seeking God in prayer, seeking to worship God in truth. Like Daniel, he's got patterns that aren't going to break in persecution. He's got patterns that establish him as a faithful servant of God. When we're in danger, we can keep to these patterns. It prepares us for persecution, and if there's no persecution, your life is patterned to praise God. Will you pray with me? Father, we thank you for how gracious you are to save us from the sins that we have committed, even from the knots we create with our own foolish decisions and our rash vows and our casual way of being lazy. Not expecting enough from you. Not seeking to know what you expect from us. Thank you for the way you deliver us. Thank you for the way you've given such a testimony that you are the one who rules over all, and you are the just God. And you use the great power you have to deliver us from evil outside, from the twisted sins inside. Lord, may we seek you to find the grace to repent, to know you, and to make you known. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.