DANIEL 6 THE DEN OF LIONS2011 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Daniel 6 The Den Of Lions

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You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2011. Daniel chapter 6. As we continue our journey through the book of Daniel, let's start out looking at verses 1 through 3 and we'll go back and talk about some background here to Daniel chapter 6.

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Verse 1 it says,

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Here in Daniel chapter 6, what we have is a picture or an account of something that took place late in Daniel's life.

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Going back to the beginning of the book of Daniel, he was a very young man when Jerusalem was conquered by Babylon. And as a very young man, probably around 16, 17 years old, he was taken captive by Babylon and taken back to Babylon to be trained in the ways of Babylon. And him, as well as a couple of his friends, we've talked about them in the past, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,

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These guys were faithful to the Lord and they purposed in their hearts not to defile themselves but to be faithful to God even though they were captives there in Babylon. And so in that situation, God really went before Daniel and blessed him and gave him favor and King Nebuchadnezzar, who was the king of Babylon when Jerusalem was conquered, really liked Daniel and his friends.

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He had some issues with God that he had to work through, that God was revealing himself to King Nebuchadnezzar. And Daniel was a large part of that. And so Nebuchadnezzar really favored Daniel and gave him some high positions there within the government because God was with him and it was clear that God was working in his life.

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Well, then last week in Daniel chapter 5, we saw another king who was in Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar had since died and now Belshazzar was the king in Babylon. He was actually the second king and his father was still the king, but Belshazzar was the one who was ruling in Babylon. And similar to what God did in Nebuchadnezzar's life, God used Daniel to speak to Belshazzar.

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to reveal to him and give him insight about what God was saying, what God was doing. And then, going forward, we saw last week in Belshazzar's life that when Daniel spoke to him and revealed to him the meaning of the writing on the wall...

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That the very night it was fulfilled and that was that Belshazzar was removed as king. He was killed. And Babylon, the whole nation of Babylon fell that same night to the Persian Empire. We often refer to it as the Medo-Persian Empire because it was a combination, a joining together of the Medes and the Persians.

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And so the Medes and the Persians gathered together. They conquered Babylon there that same night with Belshazzar. And now we're seeing a new person on the throne, a new person in charge. His name is Darius. Now there's some discussion by historians and scholars about who exactly Darius is. There's basically two people.

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main understandings of who Darius is. Darius could be Cyrus, that's the first opinion. Cyrus was the king of Persia and so he was the ultimate king of the whole Persian Empire. But also Darius could be another guy named Gubaru who was the commander in charge of leading the attack on Babylon and he was placed by Cyrus as the person in charge of the whole Babylonian realm.

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And so, you know, Darius is a title and it could be referring either to Gubaru or to Cyrus and scholars debate about that, but it's not really that important. But so there's this guy, Darius, who's now on the throne and now Daniel's instrumental in his life as well. And he has favor in Darius's eyes because of the work that God is doing through Daniel. And it's very clear that God is with him.

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And so what we're looking at here is kind of the end of a long legacy of Daniel's life. He's around 80 years old at this point, and he's been used by God high up in the ranks of the government there in Babylon and now in Persia to minister to, to reveal God to those who are in charge.

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And here in verses 1 through 3, we see Darius as he's now kind of setting up the kingdom and reorganizing now that he's in control, now that Babylon is officially conquered. So Darius divides the kingdom into 120 areas or he gives, you know, delegation to, he gives authority to 120 satraps.

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Now we don't know exactly what a satrap is, but it's some type of prince or authority, some type of governmental structure that he's applying here. And so there's these 120 authorities or leaders or princes that are over the region of Babylon. And then over those 120 satraps, he places three governors.

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And so the 120 oversee all of Babylon. The three governors oversee the 120 satraps. And then, of course, the king relates directly to those three governors. And so what we find here is that Daniel was one of those governors. Again, we find him very high up in the ranks. God has given him a very prominent position there within the Persian Empire and specifically within the region of Babylon.

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And so their job was to monitor, to supervise the 120 leaders, the satraps, to make sure that the king suffers no loss, to make sure that there's no funny business, that there's nobody ripping off the king or trying to embezzle money or do those types of things. And so their job was to make sure that everything was taken care of properly and that the king wasn't being stolen from.

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Well, it tells us there in verse 3 that Daniel distinguished himself above the other governors. There was something different about him. He was above the 120. He was one of the three governors. But even as one of the three governors, there was something distinct about him. And Darius noticed there's an excellent spirit in him.

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He's got something about him. There's something special about him and the things that he does are blessed. God blesses the things that Daniel is involved in and he's faithful.

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And so the king now is thinking about, maybe I should make Daniel even higher and place him over the governors because he's just such a faithful man and everything he touches just is blessed and is going well. And so as he's thinking about this, the rest of the leaders, the 120 satraps, the other two governors, they begin to dislike Daniel even.

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to a great degree, to a great extent. And they begin to plot and plan how they can get rid of Daniel. Now as we look at these things in Daniel chapter 6, I want to remind you of something I've shared probably just about every week. And that is that what we have in Daniel, in these historical accounts, is a good picture of what a believer is to be like in the workplace.

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Because these things aren't, you know, situations that happened at the temple in Jerusalem. These aren't things that happened in Israel. These are things that happened in Babylon. And in Babylon, Daniel, well, he had an occupation. He was to do the work that the king called him to do. And he was to fulfill the positions that the king had called him to fulfill. It was his workplace.

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It was political, it was part of the government, but it was his workplace. And what we have in Daniel is a great example for us of what a believer is to look like in the workplace. The way that we as believers are to behave ourselves, the character and integrity that we are to have.

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And so with that in mind, we'll come back to Daniel chapter 6 in just a moment, but I want to jump forward to Ephesians chapter 6 to just give us a little bit of clarity about what is expected of us as believers in the workplace. God has some very clear things to share with us about our behavior, about our character, about the way that we work for those who employ us. Here in Ephesians chapter 6,

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The Apostle Paul is dealing with the subject of bondservants and masters. Now we don't use those exact terms today, but that relationship between bondservant and master is the basic equivalent of employee and employer today. It's the same type of relationship. I think that bosses would like to think that there are masters.

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But, you know, it's not in the sense that we think of as servants and masters today. Back then, again, it's more equivalent to our employee-employer relationship.

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And so we pick up what Paul says here in Ephesians chapter 6 verse 5. It says, bond servants, so that's employees, okay? Be obedient to those who are your bosses or masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling in sincerity of heart as to Christ.

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So Paul says here in Ephesians chapter 6, he says, okay, employees, listen up. This is how you're to behave in regard to your supervisors, in regard to your bosses, in regard to your masters.

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He says, He says,

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For real, not just faking it, not just acting it, you know, not just pretending, but have a sincere heart towards your bosses and supervisors. He says, "...as to Christ." Now, this will take a little bit to digest. In fact, we'll have to grapple with this probably for many years to come. But what Paul is saying is, you are to relate to them in fear and trembling and sincerity of heart as you do to Christ.

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You are to relate to them in the same way that you relate to Christ. That authority that is over you in the workplace, you are to behave towards them in the same way that you behave towards Christ. You're to be submitted to them. You're to be obedient to them. It goes on in verse 6. He says, "...not with eye service as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart."

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Man, we learned some powerful things here. He says, not with eye service. So not only when they're looking at you, not only when you're physically being supervised, are you to be faithful and behave in fear and trembling and have a sincere heart. No, not just when people are watching, but as bondservants of Christ, he says, doing the will of God from the heart. Did you catch that? Paul says, look, treating your boss this way

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behaving towards your supervisor in this manner, that is the will of God. And you're to do it from the heart. You're to do it in sincerity. You're to have a real respect for them and be submitted to them because that is the will of God. Verse 7, "...with goodwill doing service as to the Lord and not to men."

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And so he says your attitude about this job is not that, "Well, I'm not going to do a good job because they don't deserve it or they didn't give me the time off or they did this or they did that."

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But I'm doing this to the Lord. And so the idea, the understanding, in fact, in Colossians, he says, we're to do all things as unto the Lord so that we don't do it halfheartedly or just kind of, you know, piece it together and not really fulfill, you know, what we're supposed to do, but just kind of make do or do enough to look like we're getting the job done. But we're to do it

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Fully, with all of our heart, as unto the Lord. This is the way that we are to serve those that God has placed over us. Verse 8, knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free. So whether you're an employee or not, he says, whatever good you do, you'll receive back from the Lord.

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And sometimes employees don't like to, you know, be faithful in the things that they're called to do or told to do in the workplace because they feel, well, I'm not being compensated fairly. I don't make enough money for this. This isn't in my job description. And on and on and on we go. But he says, do it with all your heart, knowing you'll receive from the Lord.

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good things. You'll receive from the Lord what is right and just. The Lord will take care of you. It's not, you know, their role. God might use them, but he might use something else. He's going to take care of you. And so you are serving the Lord in the workplace. And God's will is for you to be obedient to those that have been placed over you in the workplace. And so you're going to receive

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And if you are faithful to do that, God will take care of you. He'll provide for your needs and He'll give you a just reward from the Lord. Then verse 9, now we talk about employers. So for those of you who have authority in the workplace, and you masters, supervisors, bosses, do the same things to them, giving up threatening, knowing that your own master also is in heaven and there is no partiality with him.

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And so he gives a little word of encouragement there to those who do have authority. He says, you need to do the same things to them. You need to treat them knowing that there's no partiality with the Lord. And so you need to do your job to the best of your ability and take care of them knowing that they're God's children, knowing that your master is going to be dealing with you in the same way that you deal with those that God has placed under you in the workplace.

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And so there we have just a little bit of a snapshot from the Apostle Paul of what a believer in the workplace should look like. And that is what we see pictured for us in the person of Daniel. And so let's go back to Daniel chapter 6.

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And so Daniel is being faithful in his role. He's being faithful in his position. And King Darius is noticing. He's saying, wow, this guy does everything as unto the Lord. He does it with all of his heart. And God is really blessing the things that he does. And so he's beginning to think, maybe I should set him over all the kingdom. Let him take care of everything because he has an excellent spirit.

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But again, the other guys, the other leaders began to become jealous. And so verse 4 says, So the governors and satraps sought to find some charge against Daniel concerning the kingdom, but they could find no charge or fault because he was faithful, nor was there any error or fault found in him. Then these men said, We shall not find any charge against this Daniel unless we find it against him concerning the law of his God."

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Verses 4 and 5 are pretty mind-blowing when you stop and think about it. These guys, okay, there's 120 satraps, these princes, these rulers, and then the other two governors, they're getting jealous of Daniel. They're like, oh man, king wants to promote him. What can we do? We need to put a stop to this. And so they begin to investigate his life. They begin to examine his dealings.

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They examine his books. They examine his practices. They examine his life. And they are unable to find anything to charge him with. So we saw back in verse 3, first of all, Daniel had an excellent spirit. And as we look at these things, I would encourage you to ask yourself, does this describe my work ethic? Does this describe me in the workplace? Do I have an excellent spirit?

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You remember back in Daniel chapter 1, verse 20, after all the three years of training that Daniel and his friends went through there in Babylon, King Nebuchadnezzar interviewed the whole graduating class. And it says he found none like Daniel and his three friends. In fact, it describes him, King Nebuchadnezzar described him as being ten times better than all the rest. He wasn't just a little bit above, but it was clear, it was remarkable that

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how much better Daniel and his friends were than the rest of their graduating class. That was in the very beginning of Daniel's life and ministry. And now, almost 70 years have passed and he still has the same testimony. That's astounding. That's absolutely incredible. He had 70 years of faithful, continual excellence. Boy, that is lacking these days.

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And those who declare themselves or call themselves believers. It's very easy to, you know, be excellent for a short period of time. To, you know, be really good and be on top of everything and get the things done and live the way that God calls us to live. And we can all, you know,

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Summing up some determination and January 1st comes around, we make some New Year's resolutions and we're going to go and we're going to do it. We're going to be what God has called us to be in the workplace. But very often, those things fade pretty quickly. They don't last very long. We begin to get lazy again and complacent and we kind of back off and slack off in certain areas.

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But what we see here in Daniel is this 70 years of just solid, faithful ministry. So much so that these guys are investigating his life and they can't find anything wrong. He has an excellent spirit. His attitude is great. His heart is right. He's not bitter. There's been government changes. There's been all kinds of things that have happened that we've already seen in the book of Daniel. And yet his heart's right. He has an excellent spirit.

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Does that describe your situation, your role in the workplace? Do you have that kind of excellent spirit? Lasting excellence like that requires a very real relationship with God. And that's what we see Daniel had. We'll continue to see it here in this chapter. He had a real relationship with God. He wasn't just faking it. He didn't just kind of go through the motions. It was real. And that is what is required. See, that's why none of us can last forever.

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in that excellence on our own. We can be determined and we can make resolutions and we can try really hard, but we run out of gas pretty quick. But you see, if we have a real relationship with God and we're connecting with Him and we're talking with Him and He's talking with us and He's molding us and shaping us, well, our lives are going to be dramatically different. He's going to be continuing the work that He began in us. Lasting excellence requires a real relationship with God.

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So many times, us as Christians, we have a very bad reputation in the workplace. There's many employers who will declare, I'm not going to hire any more Christians. Because lots of people call themselves Christians, but they don't live it. They don't live the lifestyle like Daniel did. They don't follow Ephesians chapter 6, what Paul declares there. As believers, this is our responsibility in the workplace. This is God's will.

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For us to be faithful, for us to work hard, for us to do it as unto the Lord, because it is indeed the Lord that we are serving. Daniel had an excellent spirit. He always knew, he always kept in mind, I'm serving the Lord. Even though he was at work, even though he was there in Babylon and now in Persia, he knew, the Lord has me here and I'm going to do it to the best of my ability. He had an excellent spirit. Well, not only that, verse 4 tells us,

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that they investigated, they looked and they could come up with no charge or fault. Why? Because he was faithful. Again, does this describe your work ethic? Are you faithful? So faithful that if there was to be an investigation by all of your co-workers, that they wouldn't be able to find anything to charge you with. Now, of course, this is not saying that Daniel was perfect and that he made no mistakes.

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But that he corrected his mistakes. It's the idea, it's the understanding that he was a man of integrity, a man of character. And for sure, like the rest of us, he made mistakes. But he didn't rip off his employer. He didn't slack off. He was faithful to the job and to the role that was given to him. He was a man of integrity. Does that describe you in the workplace? If your co-workers decided, hey, let's do an investigation. Let's examine this Christian person.

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Let's look at their work. Let's look at how they follow company policy. Let's look at the breaks and the lunches. Let's look at the clocking in and the clocking out. Let's look at the things that are required and expected of this employee. Can we find any charge? Would you be found faithful like Daniel was? This is incredible. Again, this doesn't come from his own strength. This comes from a real relationship with God.

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And I would suggest to you that when we lack in these areas, it's not that it's because we're just lazy or because we need to really stiffen up our determination. Again, if we try to do it on our own strength, we'll run out of gas. But if we are connecting with God in a real relationship with Him, He'll be doing that work.

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From very early in his life, Daniel purposed not to defile himself. He wanted to make sure nothing interferes with my relationship with God. He wanted to make sure I keep a clear and clean connection to God. I don't want anything to interfere. And so whatever that takes, whatever cost it is, I don't care. I'm going to stay faithful to the Lord. And as a result of his relationship with God,

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he gets this incredible testimony there in the workplace. This incredible work ethic where he is found faithful and no charge, no fault is able to be found in his life and in his work. In verse 5, we see that they concluded, we'll never be able to bring a charge against him unless it's concerning the law of God. They concluded, Daniel, he's going to be faithful. After all, he's been doing this for 70 years and he's been faithful the whole time.

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So we're not going to find any fault with him in regard to the things of the kingdom, in regard to the policies, in regard to the laws, in regard to his responsibilities. The only way we could charge him, they decide, is if it has to do with the law of his God. If we can come up with a way to make him have to violate the law of his God, he'll be faithful to God and so he'll violate God.

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The law of the land. And then we'll be able to charge him. Again, does this describe your work ethic? Does this describe you in the workplace? If it doesn't, there's something wrong. And not something wrong in the sense like you should just kind of go, yeah, we've all got our problems and there's lots of room to grow. No, there's something seriously wrong.

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And you need to get on your knees and you need to clear up those lines of communication and purpose in your heart not to defile yourself and make sure that you're right with God. And make sure that you're connecting with God. Make sure that you are spending time regularly with the Lord. That you have a real relationship with Him. You can't fix your workplace attitude and actions on your own. Only God can do that. And He does that work in us when we are spending time with Him.

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And so that means we might have to go back to that purposing in our hearts and consider, is there stuff that's cluttering up my life, that's keeping me from clear communication with God? Is there sin in my life? Is there weights in my life, things that hold me back? Maybe the Bible doesn't expressly forbid them, but these video games are taken away from time to sit with God and His Word, or this...

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show or this hobby or this activity or this sport. It's taking away from and I'm not spending the time with God that I need to spend and that's evident because look at my workplace. Look at my work ethic. Look at my situation. I'm not like Daniel. And so you might have to go back to, okay, what do I need to do to clear up those lines of communication? To make sure I'm right with God. I'm connected with Him.

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He's speaking to me. I'm speaking to him. We have a real relationship and he's doing a work in my heart. It'll be evidenced by an excellent spirit, by faithfulness, and by a faithfulness to the law of God. Well, they come up with their plan and we see it take place in verse 6. It says, "...so these governors and satraps thronged before the king and said thus to him, King Darius, live forever."

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Verse 1.

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Now, O king, establish the decree and sign the writing so that it cannot be changed according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which does not alter. Therefore, King Darius signed the written decree. So they decided we're not going to find anything against him unless it concerns the law of his God. So let's make it illegal to pray. We know Daniel was faithfully praying to God.

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So let's make it illegal to pray. And so they go before the king and they mislead the king. They tell him, look, all of us agree. All your leaders, all your authorities, all those that you've appointed, we all have come to this great agreement. Here's what you should do. Now, of course, they're lying because Daniel wasn't part of it. But here's what you should do. Let's make a law. For 30 days, nobody can petition any god or man except you.

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If they want to pray, they have to pray to you. If they have a request, if they have a need, if they have a situation, they must bring it to you. Everybody must look to you for their solution, for their lives, and not to God. Now King Darius is, well, he's kind of puffed up, he's misled. Oh, everybody thinks this is a good idea. Well, I don't mind this. It sounds like a pretty good deal. And so he signs the decree. Now notice there in verse 8, it talks about the law of the Medes and the Persians, which does not alter anything.

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So they sign this into law. They make it the law. 30 days, you can't pray to anybody except for Darius. Now once this is signed, it can't be changed. Not even King Darius can change it. This is the structure of the laws and the government that was in the Persian Empire. And so it's a law that is not going to be altered. And we'll see Darius try really hard to alter it, but he's unable to.

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It's illegal for him to. He's not able to change the law. Now this is a big difference from Babylon. Babylon, King Nebuchadnezzar, he could do whatever he wanted. He could change the law. He could cancel the law. He could kill whoever he wanted. He could raise up whoever he wanted. It didn't matter. He had full authority, full control, but not so here in the Persian Empire. And so he signs this decree. And it's going to be the case for 30 days. No one is...

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to pray to any other God except for King Darius. Verse 10, "Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home and in his upper room with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as was his custom since early days. Then these men assembled and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God.

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And they went before the king and spoke concerning the king's decree. Have you not signed a decree that every man who petitions any god or man within thirty days, except you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions? The king answered and said, The thing is true, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which does not alter.

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So they answered and said before the king, that Daniel, who is one of the captives from Judah, does not show due regard for you, O king, for the decree that you have signed, but makes his petition three times a day. So what happens now there in verse 10, Daniel hears about this law. And what does he do? The same thing that he's always done. There's a new law in place. It makes it illegal to pray to God.

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Daniel has a choice to make. This is a question that often gets brought up. When is it okay to disobey the authorities that are over us? We've seen in the last couple of chapters, in Romans chapter 13, God puts authorities over us and we're to be submitted to them as unto the Lord. But when is it okay for us not to submit? When is it okay for us to disobey? And we see the answer here in Daniel's example.

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It's okay to disobey when the authorities above you try to force you to choose between them and God. When they try to force you to choose between them and God, then you must disobey and choose God. That's the only option. Peter and the rest of the apostles came to this conclusion as well in Acts 5, verse 29. There the authorities of the day were telling the apostles to stop preaching in Jesus' name.

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And they respond, we ought to obey God rather than man. We must obey God rather than men. And so it's okay to disobey when they force us to choose to obey them or to obey God. We must obey God. And we must put God first. And that might have consequences. You might be thrown into the lion's den. But you must obey God rather than man. What's interesting to me here is that Daniel didn't change his behavior because of this new law.

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He went up, he opened his windows, he faced Jerusalem, according to what Solomon had prayed back when the temple was established. He faced Jerusalem and he prayed to God three times a day. And it says there in verse 10 that this was his custom since early days.

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Since he was very young, this was his practice. This is what he did. Every day, he would pray. He would go up into his room. He'd open the windows. He'd look towards Jerusalem. He'd get on his knees and he would pray to God. Again, what we see here is that Daniel has a real relationship with God. He's got a real connection. He's really communicating with the Lord. In the same way that you and I have opportunity to connect with God. Even more so because we have the advantage of

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of what Jesus accomplished for us upon the cross. We have the advantage of the Holy Spirit. We have the advantage of being invited into the Holy of Holies, Hebrews chapter 10 tells us. And so we have access, full access to God. We need to make this kind of connection. This needs to be the practice of our lives, that we are regularly involved in this relationship with God. As the law is passed, Daniel hears about it and he doesn't start to back down or compromise.

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Well, maybe I'll just close my shade so people can't see when I pray. No, as his custom was, he continued on as he had been practicing his whole life. Nor did he put up a show in protest and go stand in the middle of the square and pray really loudly for everybody to hear. No, he just continued his custom. It wasn't about...

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The law, it was about his relationship with God. He continued on, it doesn't matter, I'm going to continue on in my relationship with the Lord. And if you make laws against it, that doesn't matter. I'm not here to prove anything, Daniel's basically saying. He's not out there just, you know, for show to try to make a point or for the principle of the thing and say, no, we have the right to pray to whoever we want. No, he just continued his practice.

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Because for him, it was about his relationship with the Lord. That's what he was concerned with. That's what he was focused on. That was the main passion and point of his life. Again, he's a good example for us. Is that the main passion and point of your life? Your relationship with God? So that it doesn't matter if against the law, it doesn't matter if your geography changes, it doesn't matter if your job changes, it doesn't matter who's in charge. Your most important thing in life is

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is your relationship with God. That's what God requires of us. And so many times we as Christians, we have a bad reputation in the workplace because that's not what we have. We don't have that full, all-out commitment to the Lord. We have a half-hearted, I don't want to go to hell, I want to go to heaven, but I also am too consumed in other things to really devote myself to the Lord. And so the result is the workplace situations that we see.

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People say, yeah, I'm a Christian. I go to church. But their work ethic, their workplace presence is nothing like Daniel. You take it back to Daniel's relationship with God and you see there's the source. Again, when we're lacking in the workplace or you could even look at any other aspect of our lives. You're lacking in the home life. You're not fulfilling your role. You're not doing what God has called you to do there within the family. Go back to that relationship with God, that clear connection with God.

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It's our relationship with God that enables us to be changed and to live the Christian life that God has called us to live. So Daniel continues his custom. He continues to pray three times a day. And as they expected, he would. They gathered together. They watched. Oh, yep, yep, there he is. He's praying to God. Okay, let's go tell the king. And they go tell King Darius, hey, didn't you sign this law?

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Let's just recount it for you just in case you forgot. Here's the law. You can't pray to any other god or petition any other man. He only took you, king. Oh yeah, I signed that, king says. Yeah, not only that, but yeah, according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, it can't be changed or altered. That's right. That's what I signed. And they said, ha, we got you now. Because Daniel, that guy, one of those captives from Judah, he's been petitioning his god three times a day. Their plan worked out exactly right.

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As they had hoped so far. Verse 14, And the king, when he heard these words, was greatly displeased with himself. He realized, oh man, they set me up. And he set his heart on Daniel to deliver him, and he labored till the going down of the sun to deliver him. Then these men approached the king and said to the king, Know, O king, that it is the law of the Medes and Persians that no decree or statute which the king establishes may be changed.

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So the king gave the command and brought Daniel and cast him into the den of lions. But the king spoke, saying to Daniel, Your God, whom you serve continually, he will deliver you. Then a stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the signets of his lords, that the purpose concerning Daniel might not be changed. King Darius is upset with himself. He realizes, oh man, these guys set me up.

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They don't like Daniel. They had me sign a law. Now Daniel's going to need to be thrown into the lion's den. It says that he set his heart on Daniel to deliver him. And he worked hard all day till the going down of the sun, trying to figure out a way, trying to find that loophole. How can I get out of this so that Daniel doesn't have to be thrown into the lion's den? And as the sun is going down, those guys come back and say, King, you can't get out of this. You got to do it. And so he gives the command.

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Daniel is taken. Again, he's probably about 80 years old right now. So this is not some young guy that they're throwing in. This is an old man they're throwing into the lion's den. And Darius says, Daniel, your God is able to deliver you. Notice he says, your God whom you serve continually. It was known. Daniel didn't have to go around and tell everybody, hey, I serve God. I'm a believer. I'm faithful to Jehovah or Yahweh.

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Darius knew. It was his testimony. It was his life. You serve God continually. We all see it, Daniel. And that God that you serve continually, Darius says, he's able to deliver you. And so he had some faith in this God of Daniel's. But he has to give the command. He has to be cast into the den of lions. Being faithful to God. Purposing in your heart not to defile yourself. Having this type of workplace ethic.

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Following Daniel's example in the workplace, understand, it doesn't mean necessarily that you're going to get promoted and accolades and oh yeah, you'll be running the company in no time. No, it might just mean that you get thrown into the den of lions. It might mean there's some trials. Maybe your workplace is the den of lions that you've been thrown into. But God is faithful and He's with Daniel through the whole thing. Look at verse 18.

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Now the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting, and no musicians were brought before him. Also his sleep went from him. Then the king arose very early in the morning and went in haste to the den of lions, and

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And when he came to the den, he cried out with a lamenting voice to Daniel. The king spoke, saying to Daniel, Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions? Then Daniel said to the king, O king, live forever. My God sent his angel and shut the lions' mouths so that they have not hurt me because I was found innocent before him. And also, O king, I have done no wrong before you.

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Darius doesn't get much sleep that night. He's fasting. He's mourning. The usual entertainment of the evening, he doesn't receive it. And he doesn't sleep all night. You ever have one of those nights where you're just miserable and you're just waiting for that first glimpse of sunlight? Well, Darius sees that first glimpse of sunlight. He's been up all night. He's been worrying. He's been stressing out about Daniel.

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As soon as the sun dawns, he gets up early, he quickly runs, he runs to the lion's den. And he cries out, Daniel! It says he calls out with a lamenting voice. He's sorrowful, he's terrified. Oh, Daniel, was your God able to save you? Was your God able to deliver you? And Daniel says, oh king, live forever. I'm here, king. God sent his angel. He shut the lion's mouth because I was found innocent before him.

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See what Daniel says there? I was found innocent before God. You see, the main thing, the primary thing of Daniel's life is his relationship with the Lord. He had to make sure in his life that he was innocent before God. That he was faithful to the law of God, faithful to God's specific call in his own life. And that's why he opened the shutters and prayed towards Jerusalem just like he always did. Because that's what God had asked of him.

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And he had to be found innocent before God. He was faithful to God, even if it would cost him being thrown into the lion's den. And so God preserves Daniel. It's a great miracle. He's protected in the den of lions. The lions do not hurt him. Verse 23.

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Now the king was exceedingly glad for him and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den and no injury whatever was found on him because he believed in his God. And the king gave the command and they brought those men who had accused Daniel and they cast them into the den of lions, them, their children and their wives. And the lions overpowered them and broke all their bones in pieces before they ever came to the bottom of the den.

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Daniel here is protected. He's pulled out of the lion's den. Those who accused him, those who gathered together, who set the trap and said, all right, now we got him and went to the king and said, hey, King Daniel's praying. You have to throw him into the lion's den. King Darius says, bye-bye. He throws them in. Not just them, but their wives and their children as well. Their decisions impacted their family, just like your decisions impact your family.

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You can see here in verse 24, it's not just that the lions were not hungry and that's why they didn't bother Daniel. Because before they hit the ground, their bones were broken. They were being attacked and mauled by these lions. They were hungry. They were ferocious. But God protected Daniel. He preserved Daniel. And notice what it says there at the end of verse 23. It says, "...no injury was found on him because he believed in his God."

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He believed in his God. Again, it was all about his relationship with God. He believed in his God. He was faithful to God. He was found innocent before God. He lived his life centered around his relationship with God. And even in the midst of the lion den, he was preserved because he believed in his God. Verse 25 says,

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Then King Darius wrote to all peoples, nations and languages that dwell in all the earth, peace be multiplied to you. I make a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom, men must tremble and fear before the God of Daniel.

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Verse 28, So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian. Check this out. Now King Darius makes a new decree.

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It doesn't change. It can't be altered. So this is a decree that's going to be firm. It's going to last for the duration of the Persian Empire. He says, To all nations, peoples, languages, here's my decree. Everyone must tremble and fear before the God of Daniel. Suddenly, the king's decree is the gospel message to the whole kingdom. The whole kingdom will now know about God. They'll know that his kingdom is

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is the one which shall not be destroyed and his dominion shall endure to the end. They'll know about eternity. They'll know about the kingdom of God. They'll know about this God whom they are to fear. They'll know about the kind of works he does in delivering and rescuing and working signs and wonders. It's this God who delivered Daniel. And so this message about God is delivered in the form of a decree, in the form of a law which cannot change to the entire nation.

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So that God is revealing himself to an entire nation through this situation that took place because of Daniel's faithfulness to God and his co-workers trying to get him in trouble. Amazing. Amazing how God works, isn't it? We're going to spend some time now worshiping the Lord together. The worship team can come up and get ready. And as we do, I want you to consider this.

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This idea of having your relationship with God the most important thing like Daniel did and in doing so the rest of your life will be impacted because you'll be transformed into the likeness of Jesus. What if God wants to use you within the workplace to accomplish a similar thing? What if God wants to use you to bring the CEO to the point where he makes a company policy everybody must fear God?

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Because he reigns on high. Because he's king of kings and lord of lords. What if God wants to use you to send a message and reveal himself to a whole country? God can do it. Daniel was just a guy who purposed in his heart not to defile himself. He said, I'm going to make my relationship with God the most important thing in my life. Again, in the workplace, many times Christians have a bad reputation.

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Because there's so many who call themselves Christian, but they really have no relationship with God. Their life demonstrates it, their life shows it, but they still say, yeah, I go to church, I'm a Christian. Is the example of Daniel a good picture of your workplace, of how you are, of your example, of your faithfulness, of the excellent spirit that is in you? If it's not, you need to go back to this relationship with God. It has to be real. It cannot be fake.

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You need to have a genuine relationship with God. And that is available to us by faith in Jesus Christ because He took the penalty for our sins so that we have full access to God by faith in Christ. We're forgiven by faith in Christ. And so we all have the same access to God. None of us has any advantage over the other in regards to access to God. We all have the same access because Christ paid the full price on our behalf. And so we can be forgiven of sin.

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And we can come and sit at the feet of Jesus. We can come into the presence of God. We can walk in relationship with Him because He's accomplished the work. But it has to be real. It can't be fate. It can't just be ritual or religion that we practice. There needs to be genuine repentance. We need to genuinely, sincerely, purpose in our hearts not to defile ourselves. So as we spend this last few moments together worshiping the Lord,

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I want to ask you to spend this time with God. Be real. Be genuine. Don't fake it. Don't just get through the time. Connect with Him. Spend time in prayer. Spend time worshipping Him. As God leads, spend time praying with one another or sharing with one another things that God's putting upon your heart. As we worship the Lord, let's really connect with Jesus. Let's really connect with God. Let's allow Him to do the work in us that He wants to do.

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so that we can be like Daniel in the workplace and in the home and in our nation, shining the light, making a difference, and being a testimony of who God is. Let's worship the Lord together. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.