Stand Firm in Your Faith

So Daniel chapter six, starting at verse one. It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom a hundred and twenty satraps to be throughout the whole kingdom, and over them three high officials, of whom Daniel was one, to whom these satraps should give account so that the king might suffer no loss. Then this Daniel became distinguished above all the other high officials and satraps because an excellent spirit was in him. And the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom. Then the high officials and the satraps sought to find a ground for complaint against Daniel with regard to the kingdom, but they could find no ground for complaint or any fault because he was faithful, and no error or fault was found in him.

Then these men said, we shall not find any ground for complaint against this Daniel unless we find it in connection with the law of his God. Then these high officials and satraps came by agreement to the king and said to him, O King Darius, live forever. All the high officials of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps and the counsellors and the governors are agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce an injunction that whoever makes petition to any god or man for thirty days, except for you, to you, O King, shall be cast into the den of lions. Now, O King, establish the injunction and sign the document so that it cannot be changed according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be revoked. Therefore, King Darius signed the document and injunction.

When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he had done previously. Then these men came by agreement and found Daniel making petition and plea before his God. Then they came near and said before the king concerning the injunction, O King, did you not sign an injunction that anyone who makes petition to any god or man within thirty days except to you, O King, shall be cast into the den of lions? The king answered and said, the thing stands fast according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be revoked.

Then they answered and said before the king, Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, O King, nor the injunction you have signed, but makes his petition three times a day. Then the king, when he heard these words, was much distressed and set his mind to deliver Daniel, and he laboured until the sun went down to rescue him. Then these men came by agreement to the king and said to the king, Know, O King, that it is a law of the Medes and Persians that no injunction or ordinance that the king establishes can be changed. Then the king commanded, and Daniel was brought and cast into the den of lions. The king declared to Daniel, May your God, whom you serve continually, deliver you.

And a stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet and with the signet of his lords that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel. Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting. No diversions were brought to him, and sleep fled from him. Then at break of day, the king arose and went in haste to the den of lions. As he came near to the den where Daniel was, he cried out in a tone of anguish.

The king declared to Daniel, O 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, and they have not harmed me because I was found blameless before him. And also before you, O King, I have done no harm. Then the king was exceedingly glad and commanded that Daniel be taken up out of the den.

So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no kind of harm was found on him because he had trusted in his God. And the king commanded, and those men who had maliciously accused Daniel were brought and cast into the den of lions, they, their children, and their wives. And before they reached the bottom of the den, the lions overpowered them and broke all their bones in pieces. Then King Darius wrote to all the peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied to you. I make a decree that in all my royal dominion, people are to tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, for he is the living God, enduring forever.

His kingdom shall never be destroyed, and his dominion shall be to the end. He delivers and rescues. He works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth, he who has saved Daniel from the power of the lions. So this Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian. I have been preaching right through the book of Daniel at Westside.

I just did the last one last Sunday, so we have finished that series, and we have been looking at how we are called as God's people to stand firm. And this morning, we are going to look at how to stand firm in your faith. That is the heart of this story: Daniel's decision to be faithful no matter the personal cost to himself. I am going to break the story into six parts, and we are going to unpack each part and look at how it points us to Jesus and how, or what it means for you and me today. So chapter six starts with how Daniel is distinguished.

According to verse two, Daniel was one of the three high officials that King Darius set over the whole kingdom of Babylon. And verse three says, Then this Daniel became distinguished above all the other high officials and satraps because an excellent spirit was in him. So let us start by reflecting on Daniel's excellent spirit. What set Daniel apart? What distinguished him from everyone else was his excellent spirit.

But what is that? Well, the spirit can refer to our breath. That is often how the Hebrew word is used to speak of man's breath, in which case Daniel had exceptionally good smelling breath. But that is not what it means here. Usually the word spirit refers to our whole lives, to all of us.

It is another way of speaking about Daniel's exceptional qualities. Earlier in chapter one, it talks about Daniel's exceptional wisdom, how he was wiser than all the other wise men. But here in chapter six, we see evidence of Daniel's exceptional morality. In verse four, we are told, the high officials and the satraps sought to find a ground for complaint against Daniel, but they could find no ground for complaint or any fault because he was faithful, and no error or fault was found in him. They could not find any grounds to accuse Daniel of misconduct because Daniel's life was without error or fault.

He was known as a man of exceptional faithfulness. He was faithful to God. He was faithful to his king, and faithful in his commitment to his official responsibilities. In fact, verse three says, the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom. Daniel's excellent spirit distinguished him from everyone else.

Daniel was different. And in that way, Daniel prefigures Jesus, because it was Jesus' excellent spirit that distinguished him from everyone else as well. Luke tells us that Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favour with God and man. As he got older, people noticed that there was something different about this young man. And later, like the Babylonians were amazed by Daniel's wisdom, so people were astonished by Jesus' teaching.

The things that Jesus said amazed people. And like people could find no fault in Daniel, so they could find no fault in Jesus. In fact, Jesus did not just have an excellent spirit of all who have ever lived, his was a perfect spirit. The Bible says Jesus is holy, innocent, unstained, separated, or distinct from sinners. Even more than Daniel, Jesus is distinguished from everyone else by his perfect and blameless life.

So the first question I want to ask you this morning is: What about your spirit? Do you have an excellent spirit that distinguishes you from other people? If you believe in Jesus, you have been given the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit makes you different from those around you. It might not always make you different, but the Holy Spirit is continually making you more and more like Jesus Christ.

So that when everyone else panics, you find a calmness in your spirit. When other people get angry, you show kindness. When others get frustrated, you display patience. When others seek revenge, you forgive. When others give in to hate, you show undeserved love.

Does your spirit, the essential part of who you are, reflect the spirit of Jesus who lives in you? Like Jesus and like Daniel, are you keeping in step with the spirit? Now you would have thought that being distinguished would mean Daniel's life would be smooth sailing, but verse four tells us that the other high officials and satraps conspire against him. So let us take a look at the conspirators' plan. Verse four starts, Then the high officials and the satraps sought to find a ground for complaint against Daniel.

The king planned to honour Daniel, set him over the whole kingdom, but everyone else was trying to undermine him. What we are seeing here is the spirit of envy. They envied Daniel's position and authority. In what ways do you and I envy other people? Jesus says, For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, and he specifically mentions envy.

Paul lists envy as a work of the flesh, and he says, Let us not become conceited, envying one another. When we see God's blessing being poured out on someone else, whatever it is, whether they are healthy, or they are happy, or they got a great marriage, or good kids, or their ministry is going well, do we celebrate God's work in their lives, or do we envy them? Because envy is a big issue in Australia. We call it the tall poppy syndrome. We tend to cut down others that are doing well instead of celebrating God's goodness in their lives.

So these conspirators envy Daniel, but they cannot find any dirt on him, and so they decide to manipulate Darius' weakness. They know Daniel prayed faithfully every day to God, and so they go to King Darius, and they say in verse seven, Whoever makes petition to any god or man for thirty days, except to you, O King, shall be cast into the den of lions. Darius likes this suggestion. It panders to his pride, to his self-importance. He does not, for a moment, stop and think about the morality of it, let alone the consequences of agreeing to such a proposal.

Instead, verse nine says, Therefore, King Darius signed the document and the injunction. Again, we see this reflected in Jesus' life and ministry. Despite Jesus having an excellent spirit, the religious leaders conspire against him. Matthew says, The Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him. Again and again, they tested Jesus, trying to undermine his credibility, whether it was his view on divorce or taxes or adultery.

Even Pilate, the Roman governor, could tell the religious leaders were envious of Jesus. Despite Jesus' excellent spirit, people conspired against him. And the truth is people will conspire against you and me as well. Jesus says, If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. In fact, he says, Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

People will revile us and persecute us and conspire against us. The Apostle Peter talks about how we may suffer unjustly, that we may suffer for righteousness' sake or suffer for doing good. And he says, Beloved, do not be surprised as though something strange were happening to you. Like Daniel and like Jesus, the world conspires against God's people. As God's people, the world will say things against us.

They will make us look like hypocrites. They will say all sorts of things. So despite his excellent spirit, which distinguishes him from everyone else, people conspire against Daniel. So how does Daniel respond? What does he do in this situation?

Well, in verse ten, we see Daniel's faithfulness. Verse ten says, When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem, and he got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he had done previously. Firstly, note Daniel's knowledge. Daniel knew the document had been signed. Daniel knew the consequences.

He knew that if he prayed to God, he would be thrown to the lions, and that is not just a euphemism, he would literally be thrown to the lions. And yet despite knowing that, the first thing Daniel does is go home and he prays. The guys conspiring against him knew that he would. They suggested thirty days just in case, but they could have just done one day, because Daniel prayed every single day to his God. So let us take a look at Daniel's prayer.

Firstly, he prays toward Jerusalem, and he does that because that is where the temple used to be. He probably remembers Solomon's prayer at the dedication of the temple in First Kings eight. Solomon prayed, If if your people sin against you, and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy so that they are carried away captive to the land of the enemy. And if they repent and pray to you toward the city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name, then hear in heaven your dwelling place their prayer and their plea and maintain their cause. And here Daniel is, a captive in the land of the enemy, and he is praying toward the city that God has chosen in the hope that God would hear and maintain his cause.

But unlike the Muslims that pray towards Mecca and the Jews who still pray at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, we can pray to God anywhere because God no longer lives in a temple built by human hands. God is everywhere, and we can turn to him in prayer no matter where we are or which direction we are facing. We pray to an omnipresent God. So that is the first thing. Daniel prays towards Jerusalem.

Secondly, we are told that he prays three times a day. Nowhere does the Bible command us how often we should pray, but three times a day would be a great start. Paul actually tells us to pray without ceasing, which does not mean we should never stop praying, but that prayer should be our first response in every situation we find ourselves in. We should be constantly throughout our day turning to God in prayer. If you are going to stand firm in your faith, you need to pray.

How often do you pray every day? Thirdly, Daniel prayed on his knees. Again, the Bible does not say we have to pray on our knees, but it is a sign of respect to bow before the sovereign Lord God Almighty. But if you are too old or stiff to get down on your knees, which I must admit I am finding harder and harder as these get on, you can still bow your hearts before the Lord because God sees your humility before him. In fact, God cares about your heart attitude more than your external religious observances.

So you can bow down before God in prayer. But what exactly did Daniel pray? Well, all that we are told is that he gave thanks before his God. He has just found out that if he prays, he will be thrown into the lion's den, and the first thing he does is give thanks to God. I do not know about you, but I find that a little strange.

What is to thank God for? In that situation, what would he be thanking God for? Well, straight after telling us to pray without ceasing, Paul says, Give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. God wants you to thank him in every circumstance, whether it is good or bad. What exactly are we thanking for?

Well, for everything, because God uses everything for our ultimate good. In some way, even our suffering and our struggles, God is using to shape us and mould us into someone that relies on him and trusts on him, not on ourselves. Even when it seems we have nothing in this world to give thanks for, we still have every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus to thank him for. If you want to know what they are, check out Ephesians one. We have been adopted by God.

We have been forgiven. We have been given the spirit. We have eternal life. God is with us. Like Daniel, do you give thanks in all circumstances?

And again, Daniel's faithfulness foreshadows the faithfulness of Jesus. Like Daniel, Jesus knew what his faithfulness to his heavenly father would cost him. Over and over, he tells his disciples that he will be handed over to the religious leaders and be beaten and killed. And yet, despite knowing what lay before him, Jesus remains faithful to his heavenly father. In fact, on the night before his death, like Daniel, Jesus turns to his heavenly father in prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane.

And like Daniel prayed three times daily, Jesus prays three times in that garden. The Bible tells us that while Moses and Daniel and many others were faithful in all God's house as a servant, Christ is faithful over God's house as a son. The faithfulness of Jesus far exceeds that of anyone else who has ever lived. In fact, I have always loved Second Timothy two verse thirteen: If we are faithless, He remains faithful for He cannot deny Himself. Jesus Christ was faithful to his heavenly father no matter the cost, and the cost was his life.

And He is faithful to you and me. So I want to ask you, How faithful are you? When you are faced with spiritual challenges, whether they are your personal circumstances or external persecution, do you keep walking with the Lord? Do you keep praying? Do you keep trusting?

Do you keep sharing the hope that is in you? When the world conspires against you, do you stand firm in your faith? Will you keep following Jesus like he followed his father's will no matter the personal cost? Like Jesus says, Will you take up your cross and follow him? So being a man of excellent spirit who faithfully prays to God, you would expect God to answer Daniel's prayer and save him from the plans of these conspirators.

But that is not what happens. Rather, what we see is the conspirators' victory. They set a watch on Daniel, and verse eleven says, They found Daniel making petition and plea before his God. They go there and they see him praying to God. And immediately, they run to Darius and ask him, O King, did you not sign an injunction that anyone who makes petition to any god or man within thirty days, except to you, O King, shall be cast into the den of lions?

And the king, rather proud of the fact, says, I certainly did. And with glee, they tell him, Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, O King, but makes his petition three times a day. And it is at this point the king realises his blunder. Verse fourteen: Then the king, when he heard these words, was much distressed and set his mind to deliver Daniel. Darius loved Daniel, and he realises that he has just unintentionally signed his death warrant.

But there is nothing that he can do to save Daniel. The laws of the Medes and Persians cannot be revoked. Who came up with that dumb idea? It does not matter how bad the law is, you cannot do anything about it. Anyway, verse sixteen says, Then the king commanded, and Daniel was brought and cast into the den of lions.

The king declared to Daniel, May your God, whom you serve continually, deliver you. And a stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet and with the signet of his lords, that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel. The conspirators' plan worked. The king was planning to make Daniel ruler over the whole kingdom, and now he has just thrown him into the lion's den. The conspirators have won.

And that is what it looked like when Jesus was hanging on the cross. It looked like Satan had won the victory over Jesus. In fact, I want to look at three things in verses sixteen and seventeen of our text, and see how we see them in Jesus' crucifixion and death. Firstly, Darius says to Daniel, May your God deliver you. At least Daniel has someone rooting for him, but all Jesus had were the religious leaders mocking him with the words, He saved others, he cannot save himself.

Darius hoped God would save Daniel, but the religious leaders thought no one could save Jesus. And in this moment, God does not. Jesus is not saved from the cross. Jesus is not saved from death. Jesus dies, and even his own disciples think Satan has won.

But secondly, notice the stone that they placed over the lion's den. They placed a similar stone over Jesus' tomb. Jesus died and was buried, and it was over. But thirdly, notice how Darius and his lords sealed the stone over the lion's den, in the same way Pilate sealed the stone covering Jesus' tomb. Satan's victory was signed, sealed, and delivered.

Jesus talked about the sign of Jonah, how he would be buried three days in the earth. He could have talked about the sign of Daniel, how he would be cast into a den with a stone rolled over it and sealed. You see, sometimes it can feel like Satan is having the victory in our lives. So often it feels like the world is winning. In some parts of the world, the church has been so persecuted that not one Christian remains in that region.

When we look at our own country, it can feel like secularism and materialism and atheism is winning. When we look at our own lives, sometimes it feels like we are losing the battle against sin. Sometimes when we look at the church, we do not see victory, we just see division and failure and brokenness. Sometimes it feels like Satan is winning. But brothers and sisters, this is not the end of Daniel's story, and it is not the end of Jesus's story, and it is not the end of our story.

Because next we see Daniel's deliverance. The next morning after a sleepless night fasting, Darius rushes back to the lion's den, and verse twenty says, He cried out in a tone of anguish, O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions? It is interesting that in verse nine, he thinks people praying to him is a good idea, but here he has been up all night fasting and presumably praying that Daniel's God would save his friend. Darius cannot save him. He was hoping God would.

And against all hope, verse twenty-one says, Then Daniel said to the king, O King, live forever. My God sent his angel and shut the lions' mouths, and they have not harmed me because I was found blameless before him, and also before you, O King, I have done no harm. God saves Daniel. God sends an angel to shut the lions' mouths. The lions were meant to rend him limb from limb, and yet he is completely unharmed.

Why? Because Daniel was found blameless. Verse twenty-three says, Then the king was exceedingly glad and commanded that Daniel be taken up out of the den, and no kind of harm was found on him because he had trusted in his God. Again, no harm was found on him because he trusted in his God. So I want to unpack three ideas in those verses and how they apply to you and me.

Firstly, God saved Daniel because he was blameless. The truth is God only saves the blameless, those who cannot be accused or blamed of sin. To which you should immediately quote Jesus' disciples, Who then can be saved? And the answer is no one. Paul says, There is no one righteous, not even one.

There is no one who is blameless in this world. So how are sinners like you and me saved? Well, the answer is only those who have been clothed in the righteousness of Jesus can be saved. You can only be saved if you have been made right with God through faith in Jesus. Only Jesus can present you holy and blameless and above reproach before God.

Like Daniel, you need to be blameless before God, and that is only possible through faith in Jesus. Secondly, God saved Daniel because he trusted God. Again, the truth of the whole scripture is God saves those who trust in him. Jesus says, For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. You and I can only be saved from our sin through faith in Jesus and his death on the cross.

We can only be saved by trusting that Jesus went down into that grave for us and that he was raised for us. Like Daniel, you need to trust God. Thirdly, God lifts up those who trust in him. Like Daniel was lifted up out of the lion's den, so God lifts us up out of our sin. The psalmist writes, The Lord lifts up the humble.

If you are willing to humble yourself before God, he will lift you up out of your brokenness and out of your sin, out of your despair. He will lift up your spirit and give you courage and strength. Sometimes he lifts us up out of our circumstances, but he will certainly lift you up out of the eternal consequences of your sin. He will lift you up into glory. And that is exactly what we see in Jesus.

We see Jesus lifted up from death. Peter on the day of Pentecost proclaims, This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death because it was not possible for him to be held by it. It seemed as though Satan had won, but at his point of victory, he is defeated. And it is Jesus who gets the victory. It is Jesus who defeats Satan and sin and death.

In fact, we see Jesus lifted up into glory. Paul writes, God raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion. Jesus is delivered from death, and he is exalted above everything else. And the truth is when we trust in Jesus, we too will be delivered from death. The Bible says, He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.

We may not be delivered from every circumstance we face in this life. We may still face suffering and sickness and persecution. One day we will all still face death, but death has been defeated. And in Christ, we will be delivered. Like Jesus, we will be raised victorious.

And so we come to the final scene in Daniel chapter six, where Darius issues two commands. The first is that the conspirators be destroyed. Verse twenty-four: And the king commanded, and those men who had maliciously accused Daniel were brought and cast into the den of lions, they, their children, and their wives. And before they reached the bottom of the den, the lions overpowered them and broke all their bones in pieces. The scene is incredibly brutal.

Not just these men who envied Daniel, but their children and their wives as well are destroyed in the den of lions. But it reminds us that there is an internal punishment for those who reject God, for those who conspire against God's people. Paul says Jesus will return in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction. Those who reject God and persecute his people shall face eternal destruction.

But the second thing Darius commands is that all his subjects should fear Daniel's God. Verses twenty-six and twenty-seven: Darius says, I make a decree that in all my royal dominion, people are to tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, for he is the living God enduring forever. His kingdom shall never be destroyed, and his dominion shall be to the end. He delivers and rescues. He works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth, he who has saved Daniel from the power of the lions.

All of those phrases are intended because what Darius does here is he bursts into song. This is a song of praise to the living God, to the God who is not dead like the gods of stone and wood, but who is alive, who hears his people, who answers his people, who loves his people. It is a song of praise to the eternal God, the God who endures forever, whose kingdom will never be destroyed, whose dominion will never end. It is a song to the God who saves, who delivers and rescues those who trust in him. We are to fear the Lord because he is the living God.

He is the eternal God. He is the mighty deliverer. And it is not just Darius who calls us to fear and worship God. This morning, God is calling you and me to fear and to worship him because of what he has done for you in Jesus Christ. Brothers and sisters, I want you to see Jesus in this story of Daniel and the lion's den.

Jesus has an excellent spirit that distinguishes him from everyone else. Jesus is conspired against by those who envy him, and yet Jesus remains faithful. And because of that, he is killed and he is cast into a grave over which they roll a great stone and they seal it. And yet Jesus is delivered from death, and he is victorious over Satan. And as Jesus' followers, you and I walk this same road that Daniel and Jesus walked.

We do not just have an excellent spirit, we are filled with the Holy Spirit that distinguishes us from everyone else. And people will conspire against us, and they will persecute us, and they may even kill us. But we are called to be faithful. We are called to remember the victory that we have in Jesus Christ, that we have been delivered from our sin and that we will be delivered from death. So brothers and sisters, let us stand firm in our faith, trusting in our saviour Jesus Christ, and let us praise the living God who delivers those who trust in him.

Amen. Let us pray. Dear heavenly father, we thank you for this well-known and wonderful story that we find in the Old Testament in the book of Daniel. And Lord, we thank you how this story points us ultimately to your son Jesus and to what Jesus has done for us. Lord, we thank you that Jesus was able to fully please you in every way.

That Lord, he was without sin, that he was blameless and above reproach. And yet, Lord, despite his excellent spirit, the world conspired against him, the world crucified him on a cross, and he died and he was buried. And Lord, he did all that for us. Lord, he died that we might be declared above reproach and blameless. Lord, he died that our sins might be dealt with.

But Lord, the wonderful good news of the gospel is that Jesus rose again, and in his resurrection he defeated Satan, and he defeated our sin, and he defeated death. And Lord, in him we have the hope of eternal life, that you too will raise us up out of the pit, that you will lift us up into your presence, that Lord you will give us eternal life and glory. And so Lord, I pray that each and every one of us here today would stand firm in our faith no matter what the world throws at us. Lord, I pray for your protection. But Lord, I pray that you would keep us strong.

And that even as we get surrounded by darkness and surrounded and attacked by Satan, that Lord we would keep trusting in you, that you will never leave us nor forsake us. And that in Jesus, we will stand one day before your throne and that we will be vindicated. So Lord help us walk with you this week, trusting in our saviour Jesus Christ in whose name we pray. Amen.