well if you're visiting uh this morning we are working through the book of daniel a good book and we are in uh the first chapter we began the study last week and now we're going to conclude the first chapter um i invite you to turn to daniel chapter one daniel chapter one follows the book of ezekiel and you'll find that chapter on page 875 in your bibles let's give our attention this morning to god's wonderful and holy word we'll read the entirety of the chapter in the third year of the reign of jehoiakim king of judah nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it and the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand and some of the vessels of the house of God and he brought them to the land of Shinar to the house of his God and placed the vessels in the treasury of his God now remember that's the thesis to the whole book that's a challenge right from the beginning just as the Philistines had tried to subdue the ark and put it in the place of in the before Dagon to worship and Dagon fell over with his palms broken this sets up the arrogancy of this great king of babylon to think that he could subdue yahweh but the lord doesn't knock down nebuchadnezzar right away at least so then the king commanded ashpenaz his chief eunuch to bring some of the people of israel both of the royal family and of the nobility used without blemish of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom endowed with knowledge understanding learning and competent to understand the king's palace and to teach them the literature and language of the chaldeans the king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate and of the wine that he drank they were to be educated for three years and at the end of that time they were to stand before the king among these were daniel hananiah mishael and azariah of the tribe of judah and the chief of the eunuchs gave them names Daniel he called Belteshazzar Hananiah he called Shadrach and Mishael he called Meshach and Azariah he called Abednego now our text but Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king's food or with the wine that he drank therefore he asked that the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself and God gave Daniel favor in the and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs and the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel I fear my lord the king who assigned you food and your drink for why should he see that you were in worse condition than the youths who are of your own age so you would endanger my head with the king then Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had assigned over Daniel Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah test your servants for 10 days. Let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then let our appearance and the appearance of the youths who eat like the king's food be observed by you and deal with your servants according to what you see. So he listened to them in this manner and tested them for 10 days. The end of 10 days it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths who ate the king's food. So the steward took away their food and the wine that they were to drink and gave them vegetables as for the four youths god gave them learning and skill and all literature and wisdom and daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams at the end of the time when the king had commanded that they should be brought in the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before nebuchadnezzar and this king spoke with them and among all of them none was found like daniel hananiah mishael and azariah therefore they stood before the king and in every manner manner of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them he found them 10 times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in his kingdom and daniel was there until the first year of king cyrus and there ends the reading of chapter one well obviously life can be very confusing living in a world that the lord has told us ultimately is not our home we of course are citizens here for a time but our ultimate citizenship is in heaven as the apostle said that was no less true in the days for daniel and his friends it's a lot easier to live in this life when times are peaceful when life is good as we say i don't see too many the life is good t-shirts anyone wearing those anymore i don't see those very often back in the 90s those were in weren't they we face a little opposition for our faith or when christianity is the um you know today we face a little opposition christianity is the has been the favored religion in america that's that's a that's a nice scenario for us that's a good scenario for us but it can be disorienting when we face living in a time when the governments of this world and their leaders turn and we find ourselves soon to be the chief opposition to their project new moralities are being established moralities that were based in as christianity was embedded in law and in order in this society are being pulled left and right. I mean, you saw the bill that's before our governor this week. It's not a good one. I won't rehearse all that. I've said before, we are products of what we know. And what we have known, what we have enjoyed is the morality of our faith as something embedded in law and rule. But what happens when we find ourselves living in times when all of that's turned upside down the real confusion for us is what christians are looking for as a vision right now what they're asking about is what do we do how do we handle this and we're seeing a variety of different responses right now some militant responses expecting a triumphal outcome we see sort of passive responses we see all kinds of responses in struggle of what to do in the changing times that we're in how are we to conduct ourselves in babylon when what are the battle lines that we draw and is it our job to make babylon christian that's a big one is that our job what are we to do in times of revolution what are we to do when there's active opposition now to who we are and with this added fear how bad might it become i told you last time satan has two strategies he is to fill you with so much worldliness that he just seduces you away with that if that doesn't go well he heats up furnaces that's what daniel will show us this is why daniel is important for us for at present somebody came up to me this morning and just said this they said this is really remarkable how much this book so many years ago still applies to this day that's because the word of god is living it knows the lord knows exactly what we need and these truths don't change but what when we open up this book this is important to study because we're not really in the place of open persecution yet but i don't think too many people would argue that they see the seeds of it coming we're studying judah living in babylon in the time of persecution in a time of great efforts to reprogram them that's what we looked at last week to reprogram and assimilate judah into babylonian life to become babylonians that's the goal here that's what chapter one is all about it's the first strategy that we're studying and we learn a lot from this for we do see in daniel and his friends we don't see revolutionaries in the midst of this do we i mean it's kind of an important point we don't see revolutionaries or people trying to overturn the nebuchadnezzar in government they are clearly here believing that god has appointed all this as bad as it is do we believe that right now do we believe that the times and seasons are so in god's hand that he ordains whatever is to come to pass do we do we believe that what we learn here is how daniel worked within the system what daniel did in the midst of this with great efforts to remain loyal to his king but it's surprising because it's not the kind of things that we would ever stop and say yeah that's the way forward because they're little things they trusted the whole way through that god was in control of the circumstances he would entrust himself daniel to the lord's providence as he and his friends sought to maintain their separate status as a people that was the big point we're see it's the big point we're seeing here is really the separate status that they have in the midst of this great reprogramming effort it's immensely comforting then to open up chapter one and to watch the lord work in surprising ways ways ways that we would not take note of generally in what we would expect the lord to do in a time like this in a dangerous season like this and that's what we're looking at here these early sections of daniel are meant to help us to encourage us to remain faithful in the little things as god so orders the events of history and that he is demonstrating how his kingdom comes through all of this that's an important point to this book these first chapters are demonstrating how the kingdom comes and in what ways and what we can expect the kingdom and what shape it will take when there's active opposition against us and that's my goal today is to show you that how the lord is working here and that it would prompt us to be and encourage us to be calm and centered and a trusting people at times when we don't know what to do so everyone wants to know what to do sometimes sometimes the answer is a lot simpler than you think and that's what's before us as they face opposition so there's three emphases here two that are directly given in the text and i think you can infer the third one um in the way that the text daniel speaks of something of god's surprising way of working in the background and in the details in the unfolding events that are before us to show you his absolute control over at all his absolute sovereignty over it all we believe in the sovereignty of god it's important to remember the setting for just a minute nebuchadnezzar has implemented a great strategy a great plan to subjugate and to control the jews in his kingdom the jews were never known as easy people to subjugate they were they were rebellious and they were well you heard about them in the wilderness they're stiff-necked and nebuchadnezzar knows this his plan was to take their nobles their finest of young men and make them examples for all of israel to show what he can accomplish and what life could be for them in babylon if they bow to him if they serve the chaldean king remember they're 15 to 17 years old this is every parent's nightmare he has taken them from their parents he has done things to assimilate and to reprogram daniel and his friends he has number one put them through a rigorous education program to reset their minds now again it wasn't so much that learning the literature of a particular nation is wrong but we know what they what he was doing he was he was training them in the astrology and the magic know if the magician show up in this he wants them to be this as eunuchs in the kingdom great magicians for his cause and the superstitious magic and astrology of the chaldeans we know this today all around us and what we face our children are the target for the ideologies that come at us it was like this from Egypt when I said last time Pharaoh at last ditch effort was willing to let the children of Israel go but says leave your children there was a reason And Lennon and these guys said, give me your children by five and I'll have them for life. I want their minds early. This is exactly what's going on here. He has tried to do this and this is what we face today in great efforts to conform us to the ideologies of Babylon. And as of recent, those ideologies are being pressed down hard on us to win our children and to assimilate them. Because as we know, the church is one generation from extinction, isn't it? He can pull that off. Even down to pronouns, he's got them. Feeding them with the best of Babylon's delights is the first strategy. From the king's table, wine and food. Then, of course, to erase their identities. To change their names here as who they were as God's people with these godly parents. renaming them in the names of the Chaldean gods. Everyone knows that's exactly what he's doing here. So you see the great strategy here. Retrain their minds, fill them with the delicacies of Babylon, and erase their identities. There it is. That's all very alive today. I said last week, they stood on a chance on their own. Who wouldn't want fame when you're searching for the meaning of life? wouldn't want riches who wouldn't want recognition in the kingdom used to be that american idol was cool but we have all our new things now everyone wants recognition i remember when i was at humboldt state years ago one of the most pagan universities it was kind of a mini berkeley as i look back at the whole education that i received i learned some good things there but i look back on it it was given at many ways at that time to re-educate me and to retrain me in the lies of babylon there's no doubt about it i told you what i heard in the classrooms they even went after john calvin and that's not a figure they talk about in the universities very much. I can tell you this. I was not strong enough to stand on my own. The religion department was the absolute worst. It's an even worse scenario when Christian institutions are retraining our young people's minds away from this truth. You understand that? It's an even worse scenario when so-called Christian institutions are doing this. And beloved, we cannot be ignorant on that point any longer. The surprise here is verse 8. But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the king's delicacies. They can go after the minds, they can go after the senses, they can go after identity, but I think there's a striking thing here that Daniel's heart is raised. Interesting word he chose. He wouldn't drink wine and eat the meats in Babylon, but something encouraging was happening in Daniel. Again, it wasn't that eating the meat and drinking wine was wrong. It was that Daniel saw what he was doing. he saw what the king was doing. It takes a lot of wisdom to see what is happening. He knew it was a strategy to win his heart. He knew it was a strategy to conform him to Babylon. And he refused it. I will not, the word strong here, defile myself, I will not touch the filth of that king. It's a strong word. And I guess I say to our young people, do you see who you are? Do you know who you belong to? Do you see what they're trying to do to you? That's the wisdom that comes out in this. Now this is a huge problem for Daniel, of course. This is a scenario you don't ever want to be in. This is not the scenario you ever want to find yourself in. he considered, as Moses, the reproach of Christ, greater wealth than the treasures of Babylon, we might say, for he was looking for the reward. And I think that's the real great encouragement here, that we do, we raise our children, we have to send them into the world at some point, and the goal of the world is to assimilate them, the goal of the world is to conform them, the goal of the world is to erase their identity in Christ, and our children have no power in themselves, hear me, our children have no power in themselves to overcome those pressures. But that's where the text surprises us. This is where I said up front, how does God's kingdom come, and what can you expect, and what are we to do? This is where Daniel helps us in these times. Look at the resolve in his heart. This is what they want from all of us. But Daniel has something true in him, in the heart. Daniel chose his king over this king, over the indulgence of Nebuchadnezzar. Calvin notes here that right now what's happening, and I don't think you can miss this, is the Holy Spirit is empowering Daniel. You want to know where the Holy Spirit is? In things like this. Moments like this. I've always wondered, where's the Spirit? Here you go. The Holy Spirit is empowering. What an encouragement. He does this for us, and He does this for our children. But where we see this power rests upon Him, not when life is eat, drink, and be merry. Not when we say life's good with a t-shirt. It's not when we're untested or when we are indulgent on all the delicacies of American life. That's not where we see the Holy Spirit typically rests. We see Him precisely come when we are at our greatest moments of weakness. In places where the trials and the opposition is the greatest. I mean, God could have struck Nebuchadnezzar like Herod with worms in chapter 1 when he tried to do that to the vessels of the temple, couldn't he have? That would have been a great story. Daniel would have been over, just like Herod was over. God didn't do that. What does it highlight first? The first surprise here is this. It should really encourage us, if you look at your children and your grandchildren, God's power rests upon them in moments like what we are beginning to experience. not that it never rests in other scenarios but in the surprising ways when we're confused and when we're wondering and we think how could this happen or what are we going to do or this is well beyond us it's now it happens we face times like this and what do we see we say we see great strength start to be showcased precisely when things are the most dark does the greatest light begin to shine that's history that's how god's always worked you know those in darkness have seen a what a great light what is god doing in moments like this daniel's in a predicament here the king has appointed his delicacies he is to eat them because the king has decided to give them the best of foods and after this set period of time to bring them in front and see who looks the best see who came out the best who's suitable for the kingdom if he refuses the king's food it's going to be evident in his body but daniel refused the effort to reprogram him in such a way because he knew it would take away and what the king was trying to do is take away his loyalties to christ to refuse the foods of the king would not only have been harmful to Daniel in the moment but it was a capital offense you have to understand he's done this gets out by the way we're going to look at Nebuchadnezzar's command not to even pray soon and Daniel opens the windows and starts praying we're going to study this Daniel knows this so Daniel says to the servant that he can't eat the king's delicacies because it's going to defile him. It's a hard issue with him. Servant says, well, that puts me in a really bad scenario, Daniel. I fear the king. If you don't eat for this time period, what he's appointed, you're going to be in worse condition. And if I reveal that you rejected the food of the king, he will kill me. Daniel says, well, then test us 10 days. Just give me vegetables. Some of you might think that's the worst scenario in life. Give me Brussels sprouts. Give me peas. Vegetables and water. And you can observe after a while our appearance, after 10 days. And you judge by what you see. Now again, Holy Spirit's empowering. This is clearly a revelation. Daniel understands things. Daniel is getting revelation here, but he also has faith. This is the faith of Hebrews 11. Don't miss it. You can observe what happens. All the servant had to do, here's the surprise, here's the big surprise. All the servant had to go do was tell Nebuchadnezzar, and he's done. What a terrible circumstance. stand for your faith over food are you kidding me just eat the meat daniel have the steak because if he finds out you're you're done the surprise are you ready but god gave daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs isn't that something choosing christ one would think one would earn hatred right god so turned the man's heart in the midst of this so that daniel is and his friends are favored you ever think one of the reasons the culture doesn't respect us very much right now and we look pretty pathetic in the cultures because we have come to a place of not standing about much of anything. We're embarrassed. They don't see people with conviction about the Sabbath day. We're embarrassed. We haven't taken our worship seriously so it doesn't look any different from the world's when it comes to entertainment. We're embarrassed. God doesn't give favor in those kinds of moments. We live in a day where we can't be inconvenienced over food. Here's my point. It's precisely in the little things. Look at the favor come. The things we would never think are great. The message here is more than that. The message here is even better than that. It is that God has absolute control over the hearts of all leaders, even the lesser magistrates, Even wicked tyrants, He even has control over how they feel about us. It may be that we are made repulsive to them. Or He may on a dime turn their feelings so that we are really respected. Where are we right now? What we often see is in the midst of great opposition, He turns situations like this so that pagans take an interest in us and find favor, give us favor. God tends to give his favor to people who are in jail. Or at least that's what Paul would have realized. How amazing it is that the Lord controls even the feelings of people. That's how sovereign he is. He turns feelings, emotions, So there is no circumstance outside of his hands that he is not moving and working in people to turn, if he wants, in the midst of the greatest opposition, the whole thing to favor us. So the first thing to see is that's how much control he has. And we have to live believing it because that's what Daniel believed. He gives us favor from the most surprising of people so that we should never fear when we're in situations that are just too great and beyond us, ever. But what else does God do? He does a surprising thing and He gives strength. God, we're moderns. But God works in our bodies in ways He wants to work. Some of you should be dead right now. But you're not. Do you know why? Because he's not done with you. Because he's showing compassion on you. Of all the dumb things you've done. But where's strength found? That's the question. What do we see in Daniel? Something that Israel never seemed to learn. Man does not live by what? Bread alone. But by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, that is the key here. What Daniel did in serving Christ and loving Christ and following Christ and trusting Christ, believing Christ and having faith in Christ, showed that God has the power and the circumstance to uphold him if he wants or not. That's how he lived. Our calling in times of opposition, as I said last time, is not to do big things for God, beloved. We've got to stop with the big stuff. Be faithful in the small things that are hidden. Nebuchadnezzar never even knows about this. It's a religion of the heart. It says, I'm not going to do this thing because in secret it would offend God. What are the things that tempt us to embrace the sensuality of Babylon? The little things. Maybe it's as simple as our families being here every time there's a worship service called because your children need it. Maybe it's saying, I'm not going to watch that or be a part of that violent thing. I won't partake of that event because it's not right. it spills over into witness, which in turn showcases God's power over hearts to favor you in moments like that. It's His power and strength shown in the most surprising of ways. He who is faithful in little things shall be in much. What just happened here? God had so much power and control over everything. Every cell over the physical life is completely in His hand so that now after 10 days here examined, they're brought out and they're better in appearance and they are fatter in their bodies than all the youths who ate the king's food. Well, that's not a case for vegetarian diet, let me tell you. It's an important point to the book though. After God healed Hezekiah, after he begged to be healed, Hezekiah then rested in his own strength And the whole point was over and over what got them into this very mess was the kings kept looking to other kings to be their deliverers and uphold them and provide for them. This is what got them here. I think Daniel showcases something so important for us among the kingdoms of this world. Daniel's not a revolutionary. he refuses to look to the food of Nebuchadnezzar and that's a big message for us he refused to look for strength from Nebuchadnezzar at this time he refuses to look to that king's promises and that king's provisions and that king's honor that would take away his loyalty to his king you see that's important for us no political ruler let me just say this because we always have to say it no political ruler should ever be given your trust if that leader promises you a good life in babylon with lots of food and lots of good stuff and he's arrogant and pompous about that don't fall into it it's not your king no political leader should have our loyalties we honor them in the position as god is but they don't give us the good life they don't have the power to do that that signals something's gone wrong in the community if we ever get to that place The Lord is our everything. Daniel rejects Nebuchadnezzar and the whole chapter showcases it as his king. Daniel trusted in the Lord. God gave them favor. God gave them strength. God gave them, finally real quick, understanding. Verse 17. For these Jews, God gave them learning and skill in all literature and wisdom. Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. Notice in the most hostile times what God did for them, not only did he favor them against all odds, Not only did he strengthen them with vegetables that showing he has control even of their bodies, but he excelled their minds, which was the first thing Nebuchadnezzar claimed. There's got to be a chiasm here. Bob, Dr. Godfrey can figure that out. It rounded off back with the mind. He tried to control their minds and fill it with the literature, and God establishes a prophet among them. That's what just was said. Who could understand God's dreams and revelations to control the kingdom of Babylon. To direct the kingdom of Babylon. And that final encouragement here is that when the nations of this world attempt to stamp us out for what we believe, the Lord strengthens our minds and he gives us wisdom to know how to behave in times like this. That's what we need right now. We need wisdom. We don't need to be figuring this out ourselves. we need wisdom from god because we lack of how to conduct ourselves and in the midst of it he shows us his prophet that's what we're left with these young men are brought into nebuchadnezzar who's completely unaware and they stand before the king and they stand out in ways that are better 10 times better in wisdom and understanding than all his best magicians and enchanters they are exalted in the kingdom of god and in the kingdom of babylon for god's purposes and what began as a program of assimilation and reprogramming with all the recourses of Babylon now they stand fully equipped as servants of Christ ready to tear down a kingdom through the wisdom of God. And that's how Christ's kingdom comes, beloved. In the midst of opposition, what does God do? What does Daniel foretell? that our king would come into this world and that he would endure all the temptations of the world. He wasn't a revolutionary. He found favor with God and man. He stood above all the trials and the tests. And when the king sought to kill him right from his birth, not only was he preserved until the time, but he always taught us and showed us and saving us what it means to live not by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from his mouth of the king. The hearts of rulers were in God's hands. The hearts of rulers were always in God's hands, so much so, and in the most surprising of way, that he turned the hearts of rulers against his son to crucify him. To destroy him. And in the end, that sacrifice was the means of saving and advancing his kingdom to the ends of the earth, a kingdom that can never fail. The message is clear. You have nothing to fear. Our king controls all the affairs of mankind. God shows, says Calvin, that all earthly power which is not founded on Christ is perishing and that speedy destruction is threatened to all kingdoms who over-exalt themselves to obscure the glory of Christ. No matter what they do, no matter what they attempt, there's nothing that can be done to separate us from our King. He has your hearts. And as we purpose in our hearts to serve Him, He orders everything according to a perfect plan to showcase the advancing of His kingdom coming in surprising ways to tear down the kingdom of Antichrist in ways you don't expect. And that's what we're left with here to end and close out chapter 1. A young boy with all these efforts to reprogram, chapter 1 ends with one line that should stand out, and Daniel was there until the first year of Cyrus. Who's not there? Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel was preserved. 70 years, and that's what he promises. he has the power to do it and he will do it. So we should purpose in our hearts and the little things to serve the risen king who has all power and authority over all the kings and kingdoms of the earth. In his fear, let us walk the path that he has for us. And by grace and the Holy Spirit, he will give us to do that. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for helping us through this chapter. And give us, Lord, confidence and trust in You. May every heart bow to the King, the true King. Not any other King of this earth. As we trust in the Lord to supply our strength, our food, our everything. We're too weak, so we confess we need Your Spirit. Would You grant us Your Spirit, more of Your Spirit, we pray. Since You give grace in Your Holy Spirit to those who ask, we ask. That we would have wisdom in these times. that you would guide us in the light of the kingdom of Christ. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.