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O KING, LIVE FOREVER
INTRODUCTION:
Daniel, in his lifetime, saw
four kings leading two different empires
-One king was
insanely proud and fashioned himself a god
-He
sacked the Temple of God
-He led
Judah into the Babylonian captivity
-One king was a
foolish idol-worshipper
-He
profaned the Temple utensils in a drunken orgy
-One king was a
proud heathen who sent Daniel into the lion’s den
-On king was bent on
universal conquest
-Every king kept the
Jews captive
-The
Jews hated each king
-Yet
Daniel served every king as the number 2 or 3 in charge
Today, we live under a
president-elect many here do not support
-He espouses some
un-Christian views
-He
supports the Freedom of Choice act
-Abortion legal in all 50 states
with no exceptions
-He
supports sex-ed in kindergarten
-He
supports wealth-redistribution over work
-On
the surface, he is not as evil as the heathen kings of
Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, Darius and Cyrus
-Yet,
when he came out of the lion’s den,
-Daniel said “O king, live forever!”
In light of God’s eternal,
sovereign order; how should we, as Christians, deal with ungodly
leaders?
-Remember ROMANS 13:1-7,
our job with government leaders is to obey and pay taxes!
-As long as they do not violate God’s Law
-What is our responsibility in light of God’s called
leaders?
-Let us learn from Daniel
DANIEL 6:1-23
PRAYER
Sam Shoemaker relates:
There are, in every
situation, two factors: there is what happens, and there is how we
take what happens. How we take what happens goes back to what kind
of person we are, and what kind of belief we have about life as a
whole.
If the whole scheme of life is not a scheme at all but a chaos, if
there is no thread of purpose running through it all but only
confusion, then our misfortunes are just part of the general mess.
But if God is, and if life is His creation, with meaning in the
middle of it, then we may hope to discover a pattern which will both
give coherence to it all and help to interpret any one event in the
unfoldment.
With Daniel, we see a thread of
purpose all through his life
-He wanted to honor
God in all he did
-Martyn Lloyd Jones
said “Faith is a refusal to panic”
-David showed this in spades as he calmly went into a
cave to pet some lions
-This strong thread of faith allowed him to serve a
heathen king without compromising God’s law
-We
must follow Daniel’s example to learn how to live godly in an
ungodly land
If Barack Obama calls one of us
to serve
-We should go to
God’s anointed king
-But, we
can only serve as far as God’s law allows
-Our
call would be to work as a proper steward in our country
-By our example, we can teach
our leaders
I want Barack Hussein Obama to
be the most successful president of all time
-For this to happen,
he needs our prayers and our support
-Remember
2 CHRONICLES
7:14 requires His
people to humble themselves for God to heal their land
-Daniel’s faith and influence caused Nebuchadnezzar
to humble himself in front of an Almighty God
-Nebuchadnezzar’s testimony of
DANIEL
4:37
shows that by Daniel’s example, he was probably saved
-He actually forced Israel’s king to worship Israel’s
God
-If God can turn this heathen king’s heart
-He can turn Obama’s heart
-But only if we do our part!
To truly live godly in an
ungodly world, we must:
1. Serve man
2. Bow to God
3. Give God the
glory
I. SERVE MAN
Daniel willingly served a
heathen king
-Similar to Joseph
in Egypt
-Similar to prophets
in apostate Israel
-Similar
to us in the Laodicean church
-David understood
his required service to God’s chosen leaders well
-1
SAMUEL 26:8-11
-David was
the anointed king of Israel
-But he would serve Saul until
God placed him there
-After all, Saul was
also God’s anointed
-He followed well his own advice
of PSALM 46:10
-Be still and know that I am God
-Daniel knew Israel
would again be honored by God
-But, for now, he would accept God’s sovereign
judgment and serve God’s chosen kings
-He would honor God by honoring His leaders
-Should we not do the same?
His witness was solid
-Your actions scream
louder than your stated principles
-As Paul said in ROMANS
2:21: “Thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost
thou steal?”
-Daniel’s actions
screamed righteousness
-VS 5 – We shall not find any occasion against this
Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God
-They did not know God, they were heathens!
-Yet they knew Daniel’s
character
-O to have Daniel’s
witness!
-You want God to be glorified
in an ungodly land?
-Give a godly
account of yourself!
-If your enemies have to build a case against your
God because you give them no opening
-Who do you think will win?
He suffered persecution
-But Daniel did not
deserve his persecution!
-Guess
what, Satan cheats – LIFE IS NOT FAIR!
-My Christ died on a
cross for my sins
-Than
was not fair!
-But I’m glad He did!
If God calls you to serve in a
heathen regime
-The heathens will
not like it!
-He’s
sending you to be His witness
-But the
world hates Him! – So it will hate you!
-MATTHEW
10:22, MARK 13:13, LUKE
21:17 all say:
-“And ye shall be
hated of all men for my name’s sake
-John says the same
thing in a different way
-Repetition is important! Do not assume world will love you if it
uses you!
II. BOW TO GOD
Where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound ROMANS 5:20
-Satan used evil men
and a prideful king to outlaw prayer
-What
did Daniel do? Reread
DANIEL 6:10
-He
relied on the strength of He who was inside of him to defeat he who
was in the world!
Notice how he prayed “As he did
aforetime.”
-His God is the same
yesterday, today and forever
-He
would honor God the same way
-The law
was passed, yet he was not:
-Fearful – changing his habits thereby showing men to be more
powerful than God
-Presumptuous – Going out and shouting out prayers to show how
“holy” he was
-He prayed as he knew would please God
-Nothing more, nothing less!
God’s ways do not change,
neither should His servants –
ACTS 5:27-32
-In all ways, we must
obey God rather then men!
-Today, let’s say
President Obama calls me to be a spiritual advisor
-After discussion, he asks for a way to make abortion
acceptable to evangelicals
-Do so; I get great reward, nation’s
spiritual advisor!
-I’d
have to give him the Apostle’s answer and get fired
-President Obama is
God’s anointed
-But we
can only serve him if we obey our God
As we approach the end times,
things will get worse
-Chinese Christians
and those in Muslim lands hide
-Holy
Spirit leads them to keep His witness in those lands
-If we serve ungodly
king, when do we hide and when are we bold?
-We must
rely on the same Spirit
-Not
for our physical security, all the Apostles save John were martyred
-But for God’s eternal security!
If Christianity becomes a hate
crime, what then?
-MATTHEW
10:18-20 – Pray!
-If
Spirit gives you what to say, He will give you grace to say it!
-God will be glorified
-God will honor your service
-I’d
rather be you when Jesus calls us than your tormentors!
III GIVE GOD THE GLORY
Jay Keslar says:
There are two ways of handling pressure. One is illustrated by a
bathysphere, the miniature submarine used to explore the ocean in
places so deep that the water pressure would crush a conventional
submarine like an aluminum can. Bathyspheres compensate with plate
steel several inches thick, which keeps the water out but also makes
them heavy and hard to maneuver. Inside they're cramped.
When these craft descend to the ocean floor, however, they find
they're not alone. When their lights are turned on and you look
through the tiny, thick plate glass windows, what do you see? Fish!
These fish cope with extreme pressure in an entirely different way.
They don't build thick skins: they remain supple and free. They
compensate for the outside pressure through equal and opposite
pressure inside themselves. Christians, likewise, don't have to be
hard and thick skinned--as long as they appropriate God's power
within to equal the pressure without.
Daniel was able to operate in
any situation
-Why? – He did not
rely on his own power as #2 in the kingdom
-Or his
own goodness
-He relied on God’s grace which was given in equal
measure to each trial
-We see three things from Daniel upon his
release
1. O KING, LIVE FOREVER
-His 1st thought was not on his unfair
situation, his enemies or vengeance
-It was on the king he was called to serve
-I serve my God; He placed me here,
so I serve you
-Look at his concern
- “Before thee O king, have I done no hurt!”
-He shows no guile,
hatred or vengeance
-Think
of the witness to this heathen king
-Think
of the witness to the people
-God was glorified fully!
2. MY GOD HATH SENT HIS ANGEL
-By his ability to
interpret dreams, Daniel had a strong reputation
-He could have easily bolstered his reputation with
shown power over animals
-Who gets the credit?
-It was not me, King Darius, my God sent
this angel!
-See today’s faith healers
saying this?
-Daniel was able to fend off Satan’s arrows because
he fully relied on God
-Good example to us!
3. HIS FAITH SAVED HIM
-Being #2 in the
kingdom did not keep Daniel safe
-No manner of hurt was found on him because he
believe his God
-If you look to
politicians for power, remember Daniel
-Satan’s
minions will try to bring you down
-Look
for King Darius to save you (he loved Daniel), you will be lion chow
-Honor
God, He will protect you
CONCLUSION
Joseph Stowell tells of a conversation he had with a pastor in the
former Soviet Union.
"Stalin's reign was the worst time," said the pastor. "I had two KGB
agents come to me and say, 'We'll take care of you. You stay the
pastor of that church, but once a week give us a report on every one
of these Christians. Work for us.'
"I can't do that to God, and I can't do that to this flock," he
replied.
So they sent him to a prison camp in Siberia. He endured the forced
labor and the cold for ten years. But he did find other Christians
in the camp, and God used these believers to fulfill his purposes.
"I was a carpenter building towns for Stalin," said the pastor.
"We'd go out in sixty-mile radiuses, and there we would fellowship
together. Today there are hundreds of churches in Siberia as a
result of these small prisoner fellowship groups."
When men refuse to compromise, they may lose much, but through them
God will fulfill his higher eternal purpose.
Today, we serve what many
believe to be an ungodly administration
-If we humbly serve
it, we can give glory to God as Daniel did
-If we refuse to
compromise God’s Law
-We can
see the miraculous as Daniel did
-We may
see God’s eternal purpose as he showed the Russian pastor
-He served Stalin by building cities
-He
bowed to God by not feathering his own nest against his flock
-He
gave God the glory in seeing those fellowships built
200 years prior to Cyrus, Isaiah
gave him the charge, by name, in Isaiah 45
-God saw Cyrus, do
you not think He saw President Obama?
-God is
not surprised, by Him kings rule!
-Do you
think all of God’s promises are now null and void because our Saul
was not elected?
-We
will soon serve the Messiah who sits on the throne of David!
In the meantime, how can we
serve our anointed king?
-“O king, live
forever”
-Follow
his laws
-Pray
for him and all of his princes
-Obey
God over man if there is a conflict
-Rely on
the Spirit if we become outcasts
If Obama is not the Anti-Christ
-Only by humbling ourselves in front of God can we
see our land healed
-Part of humbling ourselves is submitting to His
chosen leaders
If Obama is the Anti-Christ
-Then our redemption
draweth nigh
-IS
THERE A DOWNSIDE HERE? |
