Welcome back to our
study of Daniel Chapter 6.
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James we are discovering
some incredible things here.
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I want to point out that it
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is a common misconception
that righteousness by faith or
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salvation by grace through
faith is a New Testament truth,
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and that it is not
in the Old Testament.
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Those people back in the
Old Testament they were saved by
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keeping the law and there
wasn't the faith factor for
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salvation and deliverance
in the Old Testament that we
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have in the New Testament.
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But here we see both in King
Darius as well as in Daniel,
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we see a beautiful
exemplification of justification
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by faith,
righteousness by faith,
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salvation by
grace through faith.
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First of all, in the
King, he says, to Daniel, as he
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realizes that this law
has gone forth and it can't be
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changed because the law
of the Medes and the Persians
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is a law that is irrevocable
and cannot be changed.
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He says to Daniel, in
verse 16, "your God", Daniel,
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"whom you serve continually,
He will deliver you. "
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There is a
confidence there in King Darius.
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He knows
something of Daniel's God.
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Yes the principles that
you are talking about are all
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the way through this Chapter.
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You see faith being
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manifested by not only the
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King but Daniel.
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For example in the context
of the decree being written,
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Daniel, by faith, goes to
his room, the windows are open
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and he is praying
towards Jerusalem.
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While he has faith and
confidence in God he is taking
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action, he is doing something.
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He is working in
harmony with that faith.
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Yes and you see faith and
works mingled also in the King.
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While he says in verse
16, "your God whom you serve
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continually, He
will deliver you. "
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That is a very strong
manifestation of confidence and
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faith in Daniel's God.
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But then it says in verse 18
that the King engages, through
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the night, in fasting
and he is obviously troubled.
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It says "his
sleep went from him. "
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So he is a little
stressed out about this.
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He likes Daniel and doesn't
want to see Daniel be thrown
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into the lion's
den and be executed.
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And yet he is confident.
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We know that he is expecting
Daniel to be delivered,
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because he doesn't just
say this whole thing is a
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disaster, he goes to sleep,
no he doesn't just go to sleep
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but he is
praying about it maybe?
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It doesn't say that he is
praying about it, but he has
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learned something from Daniel.
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He is at least fasting and
immediately when morning comes
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he rushes, the Scripture
says, he went early, he arose
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early in the morning and "went
in haste to the lions den. "
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"He spoke into the lions
den with a lamenting voice. "
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"And he says, Daniel,
servant of the living God,"
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verse 20, "has your God,
whom you serve continually,"
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"been able to
deliver you from the lions?"
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So that is a question.
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Who is he talking to and
why is he even saying that
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if Daniel is dead?
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Obviously this is
works, working with his faith.
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If he doesn't have works
he doesn't go to lions den.
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If he doesn't have works
he doesn't talk because he's
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be talking to nobody,
he'd be talking to dead bones,
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he would be
talking to a skeleton.
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So he has works, but
these works are not the reason
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why Daniel is saved.
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Daniel isn't saved because
he has been fasting through
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the night, Daniel isn't
saved from the lions because
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he goes to the lions den
the next morning and opens,
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or rolls away the
stone and talks to him.
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Daniel is saved by faith in God.
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God is the only One
who can save Daniel.
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God is the only
one who can save us.
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We are saved by
grace through faith,
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but it is the gift of
God, it is not of works
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lest any man should boast.
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But we are his workmanship,
Ephesians 2:8-10 says,
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"created in Christ
Jesus unto good works. "
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Obviously the faith of
Daniel, and the faith of Darius,
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have led them to good
works, to corresponding works.
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The king had to be extremely
gratified James, when he heard
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the voice of Daniel speaking
back, "O king live for ever,"
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verse 22, "my God sent
his angel and shut the lions"
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"mouth so they have not
hurt me because I was found"
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"innocent before him and
also O King, I have done"
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"no wrong before you. "
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He had a
conscience void of offense.
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He has walked in integrity.
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He knows that God is
going to deliver him.
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I think Daniel was confident
from the very beginning
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of this whole situation,
he knew that God would be
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faithful and deliver him.
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It even says down in verse
23, "no injury was upon him. "
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And I love these words James,
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"because he
believed in his God. "
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Righteousness by faith,
salvation deliverance by virtue
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a faith in God's
goodness and power to deliver.
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Not by virtue in
any confidence that
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Daniel had in himself.
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There is so many parallels
here to the plan of salvation.
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So many glimpses
into the heart of God.
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For example, in verse 23
it said, "then was the King"
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"exceedingly glad for him. "
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We are delivered from a
lion, when we choose salvation,
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when we chose to have faith
in God there is joy in heaven
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over one sinner
there is joy in heaven.
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Darius is a type of God
in this sense that he is
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exceedingly glad when
Daniel exercises his faith
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and finds salvation in his God.
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God is exceedingly glad
when we exercise faith and find
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salvation in Him.
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Also it says that
his sleep went from him.
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When we look at the big
picture of the character of God,
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the Bible teaches us that
God doesn't slumber or sleep.
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He is interested in us and
working in our behalf 24/7,
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365 a year, He is continually
working in our behalf.
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He fasted, Jesus said I
will not drink of the fruit of
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this vine, grape, until
I drink it anew with you
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in My kingdom.
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We have these types of Christ,
these types of God that are
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seen in the attitude, in
the heart, in the spirit of
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Darius towards Daniel.
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There are other parallels
as well on the negative side
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of this story.
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Those who enter into this
betrayal of Daniel and seek to
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pressure and trick the
King into executing Daniel,
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we can see characteristics
here of the enemy of our souls
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and how he works to entrap
us into thinking that would
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drive us away from God.
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For example James, what
about the idea here that the law
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of the Medes and the
Persians is unchangeable.
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God's laws are unchangeable,
God's laws cannot be set
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aside and yet God's mercy
triumphs over justice because
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where sin abounds
grace much more abounds.
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The devil continually is
trying to drive us away from
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the Savior, away from salvation
by pressing upon us our
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guilt and a sense of
condemnation and separation from
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God by trying to get us to
believe our sin is so great
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that even God, by
His grace can't save us.
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In fact, God's law is
unchangeable and justice must
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be executed and there
is no forgiveness with God.
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Yet Darius reveals that
yes the law can't be changed
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but at the same time there
is mercy in the heart of God.
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Daniel is saved by virtue
of God's mercy, not because
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Daniel is
righteous in and of himself.
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I really like that because
when you look at the context
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of this story in light
of the plan of salvation,
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you find here in verse 14
that when the king realized
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what he had done, "he was
sore displeased with himself. "
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In the big picture of the great
controversy, God recognizes
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what we have done and He
takes responsibility for our
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sin, He takes upon
Himself the consequences of our
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iniquity and allows us to
experience the mercy rather
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than the
justice of the sentence.
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So what we see in God
is, we see this blending of
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mercy and justice.
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He doesn't do away with
His law, the law is the very
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essence and
foundation of who He is.
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God is love, Jesus said the
greatest Commandment is to love
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God and the second is to
love your neighbor as yourself.
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So the government of God
needs this stability of law,
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but it must have mercy in
the context of the fact that we
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are sinners and there is
only one way we can be saved.
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That is by the
grace and mercy of God.
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King David gives us a beautiful
insight to this balance
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between justice and mercy
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when he looks forward to
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prophecy to the cross and he
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says that mercy and truth kissed
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each other at
the cross of Calvary.
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When we look at what happened
to the Lord Jesus Christ
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in those final hours of
His life, what we see is the
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heart of God manifested.
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We seek God eager
to save, to deliver.
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We see God exercising
mercy and grace and at the same
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time we see that
Jesus, is in fact,
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bearing our sin and dying.
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If the law of God could have
been changed, the cross would
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have been
completely unnecessary.
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God would have just
changed His law to accommodate
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fallen man in his sin.
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The fact is that God's
law is the foundation of His
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Government and really a
transcript of His character.
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It is the essence of
what love is, God's law is.
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So God's law can't be
laid aside anymore then God's
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character can be
changed, anymore than God's love
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can be laid aside.
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He maintains the integrity
of His law and the cross
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proves that the law of
God is immutable and yet that
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the mercy of God is able
to save in spite of our sin.
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And yet we see this in
the story to, we see an
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unchangeable law and
unchangeable principle,
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and yet we see
salvation for Daniel.
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We also see the justice.
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We see here as we read in
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verses 24 and 25, it says
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here, "and the King commanded,"
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"and they brought those men"
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"which had accused Daniel
and a cast of them into the"
00:10:01.36\00:10:03.70
"den of lions, them, their
children, and their wives;"
00:10:03.73\00:10:06.30
"and the lions had the
mastery of them, and brake"
00:10:06.33\00:10:08.90
"all their bones in
pieces ever they came"
00:10:08.94\00:10:10.87
"at the bottom of the den. "
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And what you find
here is you find justice.
00:10:12.27\00:10:14.41
The reason why the king is
so severe with these men is
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because they have lied
over and over again to the king.
00:10:17.35\00:10:20.18
They lied in verse 7, "all the
presidents came together", and
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all the presidents
hadn't come together.
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They lied in verse 13,
"they answered and said before"
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"the king that Daniel,
which is of the children of the"
00:10:26.72\00:10:29.49
"captivity of Judah,
doesn't regard thee O King. "
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Daniel did regard the king.
00:10:32.09\00:10:34.03
He was the only one
that was regarding the king.
00:10:34.10\00:10:36.30
He was the only one that
was faithful to the king and so
00:10:36.33\00:10:38.73
the king realizes, when
this whole story unfolds,
00:10:38.77\00:10:41.24
he realizes these men have
deceived him, they have lied
00:10:41.27\00:10:44.27
to him, and they are the
ones that should reap the
00:10:44.31\00:10:46.88
consequences of
their own actions.
00:10:46.91\00:10:48.74
The Bible in Revelation
says that those who are in the
00:10:48.78\00:10:51.85
lake of fire, those
who are lost in the end.
00:10:51.88\00:10:53.42
Those who receive the
justice and the consequences of
00:10:53.45\00:10:56.25
their actions are inclusive
and those people are liars.
00:10:56.28\00:10:59.82
What God is seeking to
reveal to us in this context is
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don't connect with and become
one with the sinful wicked
00:11:04.53\00:11:09.06
lying element in
your nature and the nature
00:11:09.10\00:11:12.20
of those around you.
00:11:12.23\00:11:13.57
They, their wives,
their children, if we become
00:11:13.60\00:11:15.54
children of the devil, if
we are married to the devil,
00:11:15.57\00:11:18.07
if we are connected with
the devil because the place of
00:11:18.11\00:11:21.11
torment, place of hell
and punishment, the place of
00:11:21.14\00:11:23.81
annihilation has been
reserved for the devil and
00:11:23.88\00:11:26.51
his angels, not
for any human being.
00:11:26.55\00:11:28.82
If we refuse the
mercy and love of God.
00:11:28.85\00:11:31.05
If we refuse to connect
with God and forsake all of our
00:11:31.12\00:11:34.69
sins and give them to
Jesus, then we will be included
00:11:34.76\00:11:38.29
with the devil in that judgment.
00:11:38.36\00:11:41.13
Those who betrayed the
king and Daniel weren't anymore
00:11:41.16\00:11:46.07
sinners than Daniel
himself, or the king,
00:11:46.10\00:11:49.27
or Nebuchadnezzar.
00:11:49.30\00:11:50.64
They had the opportunity
for salvation as well as
00:11:50.67\00:11:54.98
every other sinner, but
they did not avail themselves
00:11:55.01\00:11:59.45
of the grace of God.
00:11:59.48\00:12:01.65
They were not perceiving,
they were not receiving,
00:12:01.68\00:12:04.92
and they were not accepting
the grace of God by which
00:12:04.95\00:12:08.12
they themselves
could have been delivered.
00:12:08.16\00:12:10.26
As Chapter 6 of Daniel
comes to a conclusion James,
00:12:10.29\00:12:14.36
we have something
similar to what we find with
00:12:14.40\00:12:17.43
Nebuchadnezzar and that
is that Darius begins to bear
00:12:17.50\00:12:20.84
testimony and he sends out a
memo, a letter to every nation
00:12:20.87\00:12:27.44
and people group, and
language group on the earth and
00:12:27.48\00:12:30.38
he says, like Nebuchadnezzar
before him, peace be
00:12:30.41\00:12:33.31
multiplied to you and
then he begins to extol
00:12:33.35\00:12:36.22
the God of heaven.
00:12:36.25\00:12:37.99
You know what he
is wanting to do here?
00:12:38.02\00:12:39.62
He is wanting to do what
we were just talking about.
00:12:39.69\00:12:42.19
He is wanting people to
make a decision for God.
00:12:42.22\00:12:44.66
He doesn't want them to end
up like his wise men ended up.
00:12:44.69\00:12:47.13
I want you to know about
this God and take a stand
00:12:47.20\00:12:49.80
for this God because
He is the God of gods.
00:12:49.83\00:12:52.30
He is the King of kings.
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He is the living
God, Darius proclaims.
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He is steadfast for ever.
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He says that his kingdom
is a kingdom that will endure
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forever and he says that
He is a God who delivers and
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He is eager to deliver
every one of us dear friends.
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Turn to Him and you also,
like Daniel, will be saved.
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