Participants: Ty Gibson & James Rafferty
Series Code: DBOTB
Program Code: DBOTB000007B
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00:01 Welcome back to our study of Daniel Chapter 6.
00:02 James we are discovering some incredible things here. 00:05 I want to point out that it 00:06 is a common misconception that righteousness by faith or 00:11 salvation by grace through faith is a New Testament truth, 00:16 and that it is not in the Old Testament. 00:18 Those people back in the Old Testament they were saved by 00:20 keeping the law and there wasn't the faith factor for 00:23 salvation and deliverance in the Old Testament that we 00:27 have in the New Testament. 00:28 But here we see both in King Darius as well as in Daniel, 00:32 we see a beautiful exemplification of justification 00:38 by faith, righteousness by faith, 00:40 salvation by grace through faith. 00:41 First of all, in the King, he says, to Daniel, as he 00:45 realizes that this law has gone forth and it can't be 00:49 changed because the law of the Medes and the Persians 00:52 is a law that is irrevocable and cannot be changed. 00:56 He says to Daniel, in verse 16, "your God", Daniel, 01:01 "whom you serve continually, He will deliver you. " 01:05 There is a confidence there in King Darius. 01:08 He knows something of Daniel's God. 01:12 Yes the principles that you are talking about are all 01:15 the way through this Chapter. 01:16 You see faith being 01:18 manifested by not only the 01:20 King but Daniel. 01:21 For example in the context of the decree being written, 01:24 Daniel, by faith, goes to his room, the windows are open 01:28 and he is praying towards Jerusalem. 01:29 While he has faith and confidence in God he is taking 01:32 action, he is doing something. 01:34 He is working in harmony with that faith. 01:37 Yes and you see faith and works mingled also in the King. 01:41 While he says in verse 16, "your God whom you serve 01:47 continually, He will deliver you. " 01:49 That is a very strong manifestation of confidence and 01:52 faith in Daniel's God. 01:53 But then it says in verse 18 that the King engages, through 01:59 the night, in fasting and he is obviously troubled. 02:04 It says "his sleep went from him. " 02:06 So he is a little stressed out about this. 02:07 He likes Daniel and doesn't want to see Daniel be thrown 02:10 into the lion's den and be executed. 02:12 And yet he is confident. 02:16 We know that he is expecting Daniel to be delivered, 02:20 because he doesn't just say this whole thing is a 02:23 disaster, he goes to sleep, no he doesn't just go to sleep 02:28 but he is praying about it maybe? 02:30 It doesn't say that he is praying about it, but he has 02:33 learned something from Daniel. 02:34 He is at least fasting and immediately when morning comes 02:38 he rushes, the Scripture says, he went early, he arose 02:42 early in the morning and "went in haste to the lions den. " 02:47 "He spoke into the lions den with a lamenting voice. " 02:52 "And he says, Daniel, servant of the living God," 02:56 verse 20, "has your God, whom you serve continually," 03:01 "been able to deliver you from the lions?" 03:04 So that is a question. 03:06 Who is he talking to and why is he even saying that 03:07 if Daniel is dead? 03:08 Obviously this is works, working with his faith. 03:12 If he doesn't have works he doesn't go to lions den. 03:15 If he doesn't have works he doesn't talk because he's 03:18 be talking to nobody, he'd be talking to dead bones, 03:20 he would be talking to a skeleton. 03:22 So he has works, but these works are not the reason 03:24 why Daniel is saved. 03:26 Daniel isn't saved because he has been fasting through 03:28 the night, Daniel isn't saved from the lions because 03:31 he goes to the lions den the next morning and opens, 03:33 or rolls away the stone and talks to him. 03:35 Daniel is saved by faith in God. 03:38 God is the only One who can save Daniel. 03:40 God is the only one who can save us. 03:42 We are saved by grace through faith, 03:44 but it is the gift of God, it is not of works 03:46 lest any man should boast. 03:48 But we are his workmanship, Ephesians 2:8-10 says, 03:51 "created in Christ Jesus unto good works. " 03:54 Obviously the faith of Daniel, and the faith of Darius, 03:57 have led them to good works, to corresponding works. 04:00 The king had to be extremely gratified James, when he heard 04:03 the voice of Daniel speaking back, "O king live for ever," 04:07 verse 22, "my God sent his angel and shut the lions" 04:12 "mouth so they have not hurt me because I was found" 04:16 "innocent before him and also O King, I have done" 04:20 "no wrong before you. " 04:22 He had a conscience void of offense. 04:24 He has walked in integrity. 04:26 He knows that God is going to deliver him. 04:29 I think Daniel was confident from the very beginning 04:33 of this whole situation, he knew that God would be 04:36 faithful and deliver him. 04:37 It even says down in verse 23, "no injury was upon him. " 04:44 And I love these words James, 04:46 "because he believed in his God. " 04:51 Righteousness by faith, salvation deliverance by virtue 04:54 a faith in God's goodness and power to deliver. 04:58 Not by virtue in any confidence that 05:00 Daniel had in himself. 05:01 There is so many parallels here to the plan of salvation. 05:04 So many glimpses into the heart of God. 05:07 For example, in verse 23 it said, "then was the King" 05:10 "exceedingly glad for him. " 05:11 We are delivered from a lion, when we choose salvation, 05:14 when we chose to have faith in God there is joy in heaven 05:18 over one sinner there is joy in heaven. 05:20 Darius is a type of God in this sense that he is 05:23 exceedingly glad when Daniel exercises his faith 05:26 and finds salvation in his God. 05:28 God is exceedingly glad when we exercise faith and find 05:32 salvation in Him. 05:33 Also it says that his sleep went from him. 05:35 When we look at the big picture of the character of God, 05:38 the Bible teaches us that God doesn't slumber or sleep. 05:42 He is interested in us and working in our behalf 24/7, 05:45 365 a year, He is continually working in our behalf. 05:49 He fasted, Jesus said I will not drink of the fruit of 05:53 this vine, grape, until I drink it anew with you 05:56 in My kingdom. 05:58 We have these types of Christ, these types of God that are 06:00 seen in the attitude, in the heart, in the spirit of 06:04 Darius towards Daniel. 06:05 There are other parallels as well on the negative side 06:08 of this story. 06:09 Those who enter into this betrayal of Daniel and seek to 06:15 pressure and trick the King into executing Daniel, 06:20 we can see characteristics here of the enemy of our souls 06:25 and how he works to entrap us into thinking that would 06:29 drive us away from God. 06:30 For example James, what about the idea here that the law 06:35 of the Medes and the Persians is unchangeable. 06:38 God's laws are unchangeable, God's laws cannot be set 06:43 aside and yet God's mercy triumphs over justice because 06:47 where sin abounds grace much more abounds. 06:50 The devil continually is trying to drive us away from 06:54 the Savior, away from salvation by pressing upon us our 06:58 guilt and a sense of condemnation and separation from 07:02 God by trying to get us to believe our sin is so great 07:06 that even God, by His grace can't save us. 07:09 In fact, God's law is unchangeable and justice must 07:11 be executed and there is no forgiveness with God. 07:15 Yet Darius reveals that yes the law can't be changed 07:20 but at the same time there is mercy in the heart of God. 07:23 Daniel is saved by virtue of God's mercy, not because 07:27 Daniel is righteous in and of himself. 07:29 I really like that because when you look at the context 07:32 of this story in light of the plan of salvation, 07:35 you find here in verse 14 that when the king realized 07:40 what he had done, "he was sore displeased with himself. " 07:44 In the big picture of the great controversy, God recognizes 07:47 what we have done and He takes responsibility for our 07:52 sin, He takes upon Himself the consequences of our 07:56 iniquity and allows us to experience the mercy rather 08:00 than the justice of the sentence. 08:02 So what we see in God is, we see this blending of 08:05 mercy and justice. 08:07 He doesn't do away with His law, the law is the very 08:09 essence and foundation of who He is. 08:11 God is love, Jesus said the greatest Commandment is to love 08:13 God and the second is to love your neighbor as yourself. 08:16 So the government of God needs this stability of law, 08:20 but it must have mercy in the context of the fact that we 08:23 are sinners and there is only one way we can be saved. 08:26 That is by the grace and mercy of God. 08:28 King David gives us a beautiful insight to this balance 08:32 between justice and mercy 08:34 when he looks forward to 08:36 prophecy to the cross and he 08:39 says that mercy and truth kissed 08:42 each other at the cross of Calvary. 08:45 When we look at what happened to the Lord Jesus Christ 08:49 in those final hours of His life, what we see is the 08:53 heart of God manifested. 08:55 We seek God eager to save, to deliver. 08:58 We see God exercising mercy and grace and at the same 09:01 time we see that Jesus, is in fact, 09:05 bearing our sin and dying. 09:06 If the law of God could have been changed, the cross would 09:11 have been completely unnecessary. 09:12 God would have just changed His law to accommodate 09:15 fallen man in his sin. 09:17 The fact is that God's law is the foundation of His 09:20 Government and really a transcript of His character. 09:24 It is the essence of what love is, God's law is. 09:28 So God's law can't be laid aside anymore then God's 09:31 character can be changed, anymore than God's love 09:35 can be laid aside. 09:36 He maintains the integrity of His law and the cross 09:39 proves that the law of God is immutable and yet that 09:43 the mercy of God is able to save in spite of our sin. 09:46 And yet we see this in the story to, we see an 09:48 unchangeable law and unchangeable principle, 09:50 and yet we see salvation for Daniel. 09:53 We also see the justice. 09:54 We see here as we read in 09:56 verses 24 and 25, it says 09:58 here, "and the King commanded," 10:00 "and they brought those men" 10:01 "which had accused Daniel and a cast of them into the" 10:03 "den of lions, them, their children, and their wives;" 10:06 "and the lions had the mastery of them, and brake" 10:08 "all their bones in pieces ever they came" 10:10 "at the bottom of the den. " 10:12 And what you find here is you find justice. 10:14 The reason why the king is so severe with these men is 10:17 because they have lied over and over again to the king. 10:20 They lied in verse 7, "all the presidents came together", and 10:22 all the presidents hadn't come together. 10:23 They lied in verse 13, "they answered and said before" 10:26 "the king that Daniel, which is of the children of the" 10:29 "captivity of Judah, doesn't regard thee O King. " 10:32 Daniel did regard the king. 10:34 He was the only one that was regarding the king. 10:36 He was the only one that was faithful to the king and so 10:38 the king realizes, when this whole story unfolds, 10:41 he realizes these men have deceived him, they have lied 10:44 to him, and they are the ones that should reap the 10:46 consequences of their own actions. 10:48 The Bible in Revelation says that those who are in the 10:51 lake of fire, those who are lost in the end. 10:53 Those who receive the justice and the consequences of 10:56 their actions are inclusive and those people are liars. 10:59 What God is seeking to reveal to us in this context is 11:04 don't connect with and become one with the sinful wicked 11:09 lying element in your nature and the nature 11:12 of those around you. 11:13 They, their wives, their children, if we become 11:15 children of the devil, if we are married to the devil, 11:18 if we are connected with the devil because the place of 11:21 torment, place of hell and punishment, the place of 11:23 annihilation has been reserved for the devil and 11:26 his angels, not for any human being. 11:28 If we refuse the mercy and love of God. 11:31 If we refuse to connect with God and forsake all of our 11:34 sins and give them to Jesus, then we will be included 11:38 with the devil in that judgment. 11:41 Those who betrayed the king and Daniel weren't anymore 11:46 sinners than Daniel himself, or the king, 11:49 or Nebuchadnezzar. 11:50 They had the opportunity for salvation as well as 11:55 every other sinner, but they did not avail themselves 11:59 of the grace of God. 12:01 They were not perceiving, they were not receiving, 12:04 and they were not accepting the grace of God by which 12:08 they themselves could have been delivered. 12:10 As Chapter 6 of Daniel comes to a conclusion James, 12:14 we have something similar to what we find with 12:17 Nebuchadnezzar and that is that Darius begins to bear 12:20 testimony and he sends out a memo, a letter to every nation 12:27 and people group, and language group on the earth and 12:30 he says, like Nebuchadnezzar before him, peace be 12:33 multiplied to you and then he begins to extol 12:36 the God of heaven. 12:38 You know what he is wanting to do here? 12:39 He is wanting to do what we were just talking about. 12:42 He is wanting people to make a decision for God. 12:44 He doesn't want them to end up like his wise men ended up. 12:47 I want you to know about this God and take a stand 12:49 for this God because He is the God of gods. 12:52 He is the King of kings. 12:53 He is the living God, Darius proclaims. 12:56 He is steadfast for ever. 12:58 He says that his kingdom is a kingdom that will endure 13:03 forever and he says that He is a God who delivers and 13:06 He is eager to deliver every one of us dear friends. 13:10 Turn to Him and you also, like Daniel, will be saved. |
Revised 2022-11-14