Sunday, May 23, 2021 AM

Let us, young and old, join together, as did the First Continental Congress, in the first step, in humble heartfelt prayer.

Let us do so for the love of God and His great goodness, in search of His guidance and the grace of repentance.

Almighty Father, if it is Your holy will that we shall obtain a place and name among the nations of the earth, grant that we may be enabled to show our gratitude for Your goodness by our endeavors to fear and obey

You. Save us from violence, discord, and confusion, from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way.

Defend our liberties and fashion into one united people the multitude brought hither out of many kindreds and tongues.

Endow with Your spirit of wisdom those whom in Your name we entrust the authority of government, that there may be justice and peace at home, and that through obedience to Your law we may show forth

Your praise among the nations of the earth. In time of prosperity, fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in You to fail.

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as You give us to see the right, let us finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for Him who shall have borne the battle, and for His widow, and for His orphans.

Continue to guide and sustain us in the great unfinished tasks of achieving peace, justice, and understanding among all men and nations, and of ending misery and suffering wherever they exist.

For we are given power not to advance our own purposes, nor to make a great show in the world, nor a name.

There is but one just use of power, and it is to serve people. Help us to remember it,

Lord. God, be with us as You were with our fathers. May You not leave us or forsake us, so that we may incline our hearts to You, to walk in all

Your ways, that all peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is

God. There is no other. Amen.

Good morning. It's good to see everyone here this morning. Welcome to Sunnyside Baptist Church.

If you're visiting with us, we're glad you're here as well. Hope to be able to meet you this morning. But we are here to worship together the name of the

Lord. Couple of announcements as we get started this morning. Our evening service is tonight at 530.

Come back for that. And then after the evening service for the young adults, we'll have truth group following the service, where they'll have lesson time and some food and some things as well.

Coming up on Wednesday, we'll have dinner for the whole church. That's at 545. And then at 630, we're going to be having a tag open night.

And what that is, is you're welcome to invite any friends or family outside the church to come and watch your kids participate and tag.

They're going to kind of share what they've been doing over the course of the past semester or so. So be here for that as well.

Next Sunday morning, we'll be participating in the Lord's service together. And then the next day,

Memorial Day on May 31st. This week's fighter verse comes from the book of Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 40, verses 28 and 29.

Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting

God, the creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary.

His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint. And to him who has no might, he increases strength.

Operation Christmas Child Giving is still going on. There's a donation box out in the foyer there where you can give yo -yos and jump ropes and puzzles and some other things as well.

Just a reminder, next Sunday evening, we will be having flock groups.

There are some different locations depending on the flock group. So please see your elder to know where you're going to be meeting.

I think I heard that my dad's flock group, Ken Smith, they're going to be meeting here at the church.

So check with your elder. If you're not sure of your flock group, I think we have those out on the bulletin board in the hallway.

So you can check to see what group you're in there as well. But that's next Sunday evening in lieu of being here at the church all together.

There's still some needs in the nursery for the month of July. And then just a reminder again, on Saturday, July 24, we'll have a faith night at the ballpark.

If you're interested in joining the church and going together to a ball game there downtown, those tickets are $5 a piece.

You can sign up for those out in the foyer, the hallway out there.

One final thing, we continue to be in prayer for the Barcelos and the

Browns and the Mounts and the Gathrides, the loss of Dewey. We're thankful that he's not in pain anymore.

We just want to keep remembering them in prayer. But a few things regarding the week upcoming with regard to those services.

On Tuesday, there will be a viewing and visitation from 5 to 7 PM. That's at the

Ford Funeral Home. We'll get the details of addresses and things out in a future email.

But that's 5 to 7 PM. Wednesday, there will be a graveside and burial service at 1030

AM at Arlington Memorial Cemetery. And then there will be a memorial service for Dewey at Meadowwood Baptist Church in Midwest City at 1

PM. So some key dates and times to remember. But continue to lift those families up in prayer.

Any other announcements this morning? Yes, ma 'am. Oh, Same Page Summer.

Those of you who have participated in the Bible reading challenge, Same Page Summer is getting ready to start up on June 1.

If you're interested in doing that again or doing it for the first time, there are some plans on the back table back there.

You can gather those up. There'll be kids' plans, I think maybe next week, specifically for kids, that they'll be able to go through with the adults at the same time.

But get a partner, get an accountability buddy to go through the word together.

I think it's been a real encouragement to people over the course of the past several years. But that starts June 1.

OK, we're going to have a graduate recognition now. All right, well,

Emily Bender, please come forward and be embarrassed. Yes, congratulations.

So grateful for all of our families who make the sacrifices necessary to educate their children and to provide schooling for them in a way that teaches them to fear the

Lord. And so thankful. Proud of you. Congratulations. We have a gift for you, a very traditional gift in there with a note to remind you of when we gave it to you and why.

But I'm going to read a little bit about Emily, just in case you don't know her well enough. I'm going to go ahead and say a few things about her.

Emily is the fifth of six children of Ray and Ginny Bender.

She is quiet, yet witty with a surprising dry humor. So you appreciate your dad's jokes, right?

Over the years, she has enjoyed soccer, martial arts, and music, including piano, band, and three years of harp.

She has been in classical conversation since she was 10. Both she and her parents are very grateful for each of her tremendous tutors and many others who have invested in her.

Emily is planning to attend cosmetology school because she loves to help her friends with their beauty needs.

Well, congratulations. We're very, very proud of you. I should also say, before we have one of our elders come and pray for us, we're going to spend some time in preparing our hearts for worship.

Oh, what a blessing it is to call you,

Father, to be your children, to know your watch care over us, to know your love, to know your discipline.

As we gather this morning, help us to worship you and to give you praise and glory and honor.

Help us to sing from the heart. Help us to be an encouragement one to another.

We thank you for the life that we have in your son, the Lord Jesus, the abundant life, the eternal life.

And most of all, Father, we thank you for your son, the Lord Jesus, our

Savior, who gave his life that we might have life.

Forgive us where we fail you. Help us to grow in the grace and knowledge of your son, the

Lord Jesus. In his name

I pray. Amen. Would you stand with me for our call to worship?

We're going to continue our readings in Psalms chapter 65 today. We'll be reading verses 5 through 7.

Read with me together. By awesome deeds in righteousness you will answer us,

O God of our salvation. You are the confidence of all the ends of the earth and of all far off seas, who established the mountains by his strength, being clothed with power.

You who still the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves, and the tumult of the peoples.

Our first song this morning is in our blue hymnals, Immortal, Invisible.

He is the only wise God. ["Immortal,

Invisible"] Unresting, unhastening, and silent at last is my power.

To all life thou givest, to all great and small, he's done no change in me.

Great Father of glory, all the angels adore thee, all kneeling beside thee.

All praise thee. Worthy thereof am

I to see this glory. And then also, in trusting

Jesus, page 355. Good morning.

We'll be in 3rd John, near the very back of the Bible. 3rd

John. And we will be reading the entire book.

So, the 3rd epistle of John, starting in verse 1. The elder to the beloved

Gaius, whom I love in truth. Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.

For I rejoiced greatly when brethren came and testified of the truth that is in you, just as you walk in the truth.

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the brethren and for strangers who have borne witness of your love before the church.

If you send them forward on their journey in a manner worthy of God, you will do well, because they went forth for his name's sake, taking nothing from the

Gentiles. We, therefore, ought to receive such that we may become fellow workers for the truth.

I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence among them, does not receive us.

Therefore, if I come, I will call to mind his deeds which he does, pratting against us with malicious words.

And not content with that, he himself does not receive the brethren and forbids those who wish to, putting them out of the church.

Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen

God. Demetrius has a good testimony from all and from the truth itself, and we also bear witness, and you know that our testimony is true.

I had many things to write, but I do not wish to write to you with pen and ink. But I hope to see you shortly, and we shall speak face to face.

Peace to you. Our friends greet you. Greet the friends by name. Would you pray with me?

Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for giving us all of the answers and the solutions of our troubles and our problems inside your holy word.

You have truly helped us, Father. You have spoken. May we listen to you, and may we, by your grace, by your strength, by you working in us, both to do and to will.

May we do your good pleasure, Father. May we do good, and help us, Lord, to walk worthy of the calling in Jesus Christ.

And it's in his name we pray. Amen. You may be seated.

Our next couple of hymns are in our HMA hymnals. We'll first sing page 123, to the praise of his glorious grace, and then after that will be page 110,

Speak, O Lord. Since we've heard the good news.

10, Speak, O Lord.

Speak, O Lord, as we have received you.

Your truth planted deep in us, shape and fashion us in your lovingness, that the light of Christ might be seen today in our days of faith.

Speak, O Lord. Fill in us all your senses, for your teachings are full of obedience.

Oh, just how

I want to choose in the radiance of your eyes, cause our eyes to see your majesty.

Speak, O Lord. And renew our minds, not just grasp the heights of your plan.

Changed from the days we'll stand on your promises and by fortune.

Now let's go to the Lord together in prayer. Father, we come before you today.

We give you thanks for the way you've provided for us all this last week.

You're such a good and heavenly father. You know our weaknesses and our needs, our concerns.

You are such a good heavenly father who provides, who sees beforehand, who knows beforehand, and loves us beforehand.

Lord, we thank you for giving us your son, Jesus Christ, the one with whom you are well pleased, that even while we were yet sinners, that Christ died for us upon the cross, and he has risen from the grave, and he has ascended to your right hand, where he has been seated in all authority.

Heavenly father, if you have given us him, you will give us all that we need.

Help us to trust you. Help us to think of you first, and to think of you most.

Do so today and in the days ahead. We pray these things, looking to Jesus, the one with whom you are well pleased.

Amen. I invite you to open your Bibles to Daniel chapter 1.

Daniel chapter 1, we'll be reading verses 8 through 21 this morning.

As in Daniel's time, so in ours, we live in a moment of pagan rising.

Paganism is at the heart simply oneness. You see that manifest in the state being considered the whole, while family, church, education, medicine, business, and so on are just parts to the whole.

The state is the whole, and we're all just parts of it. You can see that manifest, that ideology, that philosophy in which we live today.

That was the same way as in the time of Daniel. Everything falls under the heading of the state, which is totalitarianism, the classic and current bedfellow of paganism.

We experience something of a soft totalitarianism as opposed to hard. Hard totalitarianism works tyranny in order to save the state, all in the name of the state.

The soft totalitarianism works in order to save you and your neighbor.

You're in need of saving, and the state is here to do that through its various parts.

So we have a connection to the time of Daniel in the sense of how things manifest under paganism.

Now Daniel had a unique experience. He was taken from his home in Jerusalem.

He was a prized vassal pressed into service in Babylon.

He had nothing to do with the sovereign shake -up, the timing of God's judgments upon the covenant breakers there in Jerusalem.

It was simply that Daniel was part of that. He was caught up in this sovereign shake -up, and all he knew and his friends knew is that they were not in Kansas anymore.

All that was familiar and comforting had been stripped away. A new power structure determined his daily routine.

A new culture pressed in around him, and the pagans were running a power play on him and his friends.

For immersing them in Chaldean education and subverting them through state incentives, the pagans sought to convert them to the

Babylonian worldview, even changing their names. What Daniel needed for his day is what we need for our day, and that is wisdom.

Wisdom is the principal thing. We must get wisdom. Its beginning is the fear of the

Lord, and its summation is Jesus Christ. We need wisdom.

By it, we can see the sovereign shake -up. Through it, we can confront the pagan power play.

According to it, we may execute a godly battle plan. And that's what we find in verses 8 -12 of Daniel 1.

I invite you to stand with me as we read this passage. The response of wisdom is the word of our

Lord. But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with a portion of the king's delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank.

Therefore, he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.

Now God had brought Daniel into the favor and goodwill of the chief of the eunuchs, and the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, I fear my lord the king, who has appointed your food and drink, for why should he see your faces looking worse than the young men who are your age?

Then you would endanger my head before the king. So Daniel said to the steward, whom the chief of the eunuchs had said over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, Please test your servants for ten days and let them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink.

Then let our appearance be examined before you in the appearance of the young men who eat the portion of the king's delicacies.

And as you see fit, so deal with your servants. So he consented with them in this matter and tested them ten days.

And at the end of ten days, their features appeared better and fatter in flesh than all the young men who ate the portion of the king's delicacies.

Thus the steward took away their portion of delicacies and the wine that they were to drink and gave them vegetables.

As for these four young men, God gave them knowledge and skill and all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.

Now at the end of the days when the king has said that they should be brought in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar, then the king interviewed them, and among them all none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.

Therefore they served before the king. And in all matters of wisdom and understanding about which the king examined them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers who were in all his realm.

Thus Daniel continued until the first year of King Cyrus. This is the word of the

Lord. Thanks be to God. You may be seated. When considering the problems of our day and their intertwined complexities, it is clear that we face riddles beyond our ability to solve.

Wisdom is the principal thing. Therefore, get wisdom. Wisdom, the wisdom of God, stored fully in Jesus Christ is what we need.

And we have a need today to resist paganism. To resist paganism.

And our analytical tool for resisting paganism is the wisdom of God in Christ.

We've looked at the sovereign shakeup in verses one and two, at God's sovereign timing and purpose.

We've looked at the pagan power play in verses three through seven, how they sought to immerse, subvert, and convert these young Jewish men.

And now we begin to consider a godly battle plan. The response of wisdom coming from Daniel and his friends here in chapter one.

But of course we have to consider the validity of even talking about battle. Is it really a battle?

Is Daniel and are his friends really in any kind of conflict with Nebuchadnezzar, Ashpenaz, and the

Babylonian culture? Should they be considering that they are in some kind of war?

Really, is that legitimate? Is that appropriate? Is that the correct response?

Many say we are not at war with the culture or at least we shouldn't be.

The approach of many among Big Eva today, evangelicalism at large institutionally.

Some consider that if we are to take our position and stand at odds with a culture that we are supposed to redeem, that this would be counter to the gospel and counter to the central tenet of the incarnation.

That's why we get blog articles that sound like what the church can learn from Snoop Dogg about exaltation.

To be clear, Christ redeems us from slavery to sin.

And he transfers us from the dominion of death into the reign of his life.

And he does that by his incarnation, not by capitulation.

The Bible reminds us that we wrestle. Repeatedly we are told that we wrestle.

We war against spiritual rebellion within and without. We are against the ideological rage that is against Christ.

The apostles warned and warred against the paganism and the heresies of their day.

And Christ opposed the wicked and perverse generation which crucified him. And who will say that the prophets were not warriors?

That they didn't fight against rampant pagan idolatry? Certainly the issue was not flesh and blood, but the anti -Christ, anti -God, pagan philosophies were manifest in many.

Sometimes those who were in charge. The rulers, the state, who was saying, thou shalt, when

God said thou shalt not. When the state says, thou shalt not, when God says, thou shalt.

So Daniel and his friends find themselves in a battle against the prevailing paganism into which they were thrust.

And the larger story arc of Daniel confirms that. The larger story of Daniel, the way that the whole book is structured, shows a conflict of God's kingdom over and against the kingdoms of men.

At the very center of the book, you find, of the book's structure, you find two kings who are humbled.

Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar. Nebuchadnezzar was humbled in a way in which he repented and came to believe in the one true

God and give him praise. Belshazzar was humbled to his own destruction.

But on either side of the story of Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar, we have two stories that we are very familiar with.

The fiery furnace and the lion's den. Examples of what happens when

God -fearers come into conflict with a pagan state who are saying, thou shalt or thou shalt not in contradiction to the

Lord. On the outer parts of those conflict stories in Daniel 2 and Daniel 7 through 9, we have the revelation from God about four pagan kingdoms that are ultimately conquered by the kingdom of God which is ruled by Jesus Christ.

And on the outskirts of Daniel 1 and chapters 10 through 12, what do we find?

We have exile at the beginning and a promise of return from exile in the end.

At the beginning, we see a descent into the land of death. At the end, a promised resurrection from the dead.

So you see how the whole book of Daniel is structured around the idea of there being a conflict, a conflict between the ways of God and the ways of men.

The authority of God and the authority of man. Those who fear God and those who fear man and fear death.

There's a conflict throughout. So yes, I think it's legitimate to talk about battle, to talk about war, to see here opposition.

Chapter 1 itself confirms the fitting use of the term battle as we see throughout the chapter the repetition of some key terms.

Fifteen times we read about kings and fifteen times we read about Daniel and his friends and it's all centered around the contest of food which is repeated five times.

It was just a strange kind of thing to be in conflict about. I mean, why that? We've talked about that a little bit but why are they in a contest about food?

Is that really what Daniel and his friends should be protesting about? Dissenting over, resisting conflict is a riddle to us all.

Isn't it? Conflict, human conflict, that is a riddle to us all.

When is it necessary? When is it not necessary? What are the proper approaches?

What are the tactics and strategies that are actually biblical, those that are Christ -honoring?

Why has conflict come? Should I really get involved? Oh, we need wisdom.

Conflict is a riddle and we need wisdom to respond. Now, Daniel and his friends, we see, given their situation, they make

God -fearing appeals, which we're going to look at this morning. And then we see them being used of God by the end as God -fearing agents.

This is all part of a godly battle plan. Not the only one. There are several in the

Bible. This is one of them. And let's consider the wisdom on display here.

I think it is wisdom that leads us to Christ. So, the appeals are made in verses 8 through 14.

Now, Daniel and his friends, remember, have just been captured. They have been captured from their homeland by a superior power,

Babylon. They have been taken away from everything that they once knew. They are entirely dependent upon the generosity, the provision, the security, and so on of a pagan state.

And they have been instructed that they belong to Nebuchadnezzar, and he's going to repurpose them for his will.

They are going to serve in his government. They are going to serve as vassals to help improve his governance.

They will be used as wise men, as counselors, as advisors, and so on. They belong to Nebuchadnezzar is what they are being told.

Daniel and his friends consider the situation. They are just sheep among wolves.

They have no capacity to leave. They're stuck.

They have no power of their own. They have no authority of their own. What resources do they have to spend?

What leverage do they have to use? No. He and his friends are seemingly on their own, but they're not on their own, because they have the

Lord. They have God, and they make God -fearing appeals to those in authority over them.

And we see that as they do, they're being as shrewd as serpents and as harmless as doves. But first of all, verse 8, notice the inward resolve in verse 8.

But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank.

Therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. He says, well, you know, what's the point?

I mean, it all belongs to the Lord anyway. All the food belongs to God. All the wine belongs to God.

It doesn't matter what source it comes from. Well, you know, all the kingdoms of the earth belong to the

Lord, but Jesus would not take it from Satan's hand. Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself by taking from the king's supply.

The food itself would not corrupt his heart. The taking of it would. So we've talked about the food from the world table.

It probably included meats that were off limits to the faithful practitioners of the old covenant, but there's nothing wrong with the wine.

There's also no guarantee that the vegetables they requested would not have been consecrated to idols.

As we look later in Daniel chapter 10 in verse 3, we notice that when he fasted, he took a break from eating these very types of foods when he was there in Babylon.

So the dietary laws are not what is the major concern here. The issue, as we talked about last week, was incorporation, to be attached to the king as the king's man, to take of the king's delicacies, which are deceptive, to be bought by the king.

That was the issue that Daniel and his friends resisted. The education, of course, was immersive, but the king's delicacies, that was subversive, and Daniel and his friends determined not to defile themselves.

It's very clear in the text. It is because the food and wine came from the king's table that Daniel and his friends object.

Now, the inward resolve here is important. It's interesting that Daniel and his friends are not being presented with fiery furnace or a den of lions at this juncture.

They're not being told, you must commit idolatry.

And they say, oh, well, now's the time to resist. They're not being told, you must not pray to God.

Oh, now it's time to resist. Long before that, there was another issue, a much smaller issue, not at all at the same level, something that many would say, oh, we can all agree to disagree about something as small as this.

Daniel resolved in his heart, he purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself by taking this subversive incentive.

And it is this inward resolve that was contagious with his friends that we see on display later on.

But those moments, those critical moments came later.

This is what has to be done first. Biblical wisdom, beginning with the fear of the

Lord, mandates they take a stand now. They take a stand now. When the state demands, not wisdom, when the fear of man and the fear of death, not the fear of the

Lord, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Whatever the Lord requires of us, that we will do. But when the state demands that we would mask or distance or stop singing or don't take communion or don't gather or don't preach or don't baptize, when the state says that, because we're here to save you and save your neighbor, and therefore, since the church is only part of the whole, the state, the state determines how we worship.

That's a pagan conception. If the state demands all this and then says, oh, and here's government funding to replenish your dwindling coffers, oh, churches, you have state church.

And then you have the underground church. This is already the reality in Canada.

We experienced a season of it here, and it's still going on in some places. But it's very clear where there's a state church and there's an underground church.

If we don't fear the Lord when they say, oh, these are small things. These are small things.

These are unimportant things. We can agree. If we don't fear the Lord when these kinds of, so we say they're small pagan dictates.

Nobody's saying you can't worship. They're just telling you how. If we don't fear the Lord when these kinds of dictates come to us, how will we fear when things intensify?

If they do these things when the tree is green, what will they do in the dry? We have to make stands now.

We have to resist now in the fear of the Lord and show ourselves faithful to Christ in the small things before the bigger things are given to us.

Daniel did not conduct a cost -benefit analysis of resistance. He purposed in his heart to refrain from the king's devocacies, just like wisdom demanded in Proverbs 23.

Look at the importance of the heart. Now, if you back up, back up just one verse.

Ashpenaz, verse 7, determined is the Hebrew word. He determined names for these

Jewish vassals. He determined for Daniel Belteshazzar.

And in verse 8, Daniel determined in his heart that he would not defile himself.

It's the same word in the Hebrew three times in a row. When it was read out loud to the children, they heard it.

We should hear it as well. Ashpenaz determined this, and Ashpenaz determined that, but Daniel determined this.

The pagan state may determine to convert him, to eradicate his identity, to make him forget that God is his judge,

Daniel. But Daniel determines he will not compromise. He will not defile himself.

So the pagan state pressed outwardly, and Daniel flexed inwardly.

He resolved, I will not compromise. I will not defile myself.

Our analytical tool for resisting paganism is the wisdom of God in Christ. Now, this inward resolve to not defile himself speaks of wisdom.

Fear the Lord, not man. Fear the Lord, don't fear death. Fear the Lord, and don't defile yourself.

To fear the Lord is to turn away from evil. All right?

And so the resolve, this inward resolve, has to be cemented in place, because Daniel's going to pursue a course of wisdom.

He's not going to have it easy when he does, and so there has to be an inward resolve to make any headway at all.

What keeps the resolve in place is the fear of the Lord. Wisdom being the principal thing.

Look how foolish it is from an outward pagan perspective. Look how foolish it is for Daniel to make waves.

This is really not the way to make friends and influence people.

This is not good tactically. This is something that is incredibly trivial from an outward pagan or uninformed perspective, one that has not seen the emergence, subversion, conversion power play.

If we're not using the wisdom of God to analyze that, we don't understand why Daniel's resisting this. Why would he?

I mean, he's rejecting something that is tantamount to bountiful generosity. How rude of Daniel.

I mean, the Gospel Coalition would have been writing articles about what the church could learn about the grace from Nebuchadnezzar's hospitality, cautioning against spending political capital on tertiary concerns, and reflecting on the need for humility and caution and rejecting conspiracies.

This looks absolutely foolish to the pagans and to the world and to the compromise, the fact that he wouldn't eat the king's food.

Are you kidding me? He's giving you opportunity. He's being generous.

It's from his own table. But in fact, this is the pure wisdom of Christ, what looks like foolishness to the world, is wisdom of God.

And note that we move from the singular Daniel, him, to the plural in the next two verses, them.

Do you see this in verse 10? The chief of the eunuchs,

Ashpenaz, is talking about plural, you.

All right? All of them, your faces, your faces, looking poorer than the other ones, which means that it's

Daniel talking, but he's got some friends with him. And this is interesting. Daniel is certainly the chief of the four, but he's the one talking.

So what's going on here? Did they nominate Daniel as their chief?

He's speaking for them? Well, that's good. That's good. Have a central voice, but more than one person there.

That's a good thing. Or could it also be that they were all thinking it, but Daniel's the one who said it?

And as soon as he said it, they stand with him? Because, yeah,

I wasn't going to say it, but since you did, I'm with you. Maybe they hadn't figured it out yet.

Something was unsettled in their soul. They needed something to bring this to clarity in their own mind, in their own heart.

And when Daniel spoke, they said, yes. Yes, that's exactly right. You're absolutely right. We're going with you.

But in any case, you see that the inward resolve of Daniel is genuine because it doesn't stay inward.

This inward resolve is seen as genuine because it doesn't stay inward.

It breaks through as sure as a living seed breaks the crust of the soil.

It will come out. A resolve to fear the

Lord. It will come out. It is no good for us to say that inwardly in our hearts, in our heart of hearts, we are not ashamed of Christ or his words in this perverse and crooked generation.

It is not good enough to say that this is the case in our heart of hearts. If it is the case, it will come out that we're not ashamed.

It will be obvious that we're not ashamed. And words will come out of our mouth that honor

Christ, that show our allegiance to Christ, our loyalty to Christ. And do you know every time that happens, every other

God -fearer in hearing is encouraged? Every God -fearer's faith is strengthened and the resolve is increased because, yeah, yeah, thank you for saying that.

I believe that too. So Daniel resolves in his heart.

And then he speaks up. Now notice the interesting interaction in verses 9 and 10.

This initial refusal, verses 9 through 10. What happens first?

He requests the chief of the eunuchs, verse 8, that he may not defile himself. So he makes an appeal to the guy who's in charge of all of the eunuchs.

And he says, look, I don't want to eat the king's food. I don't want to defile myself. Verse 9. Now God had brought

Daniel into the favor and goodwill of the chief of the eunuchs.

This is Ashpenaz from earlier in the chapter. And the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, I fear my lord, the king, who has appointed your food and drink.

For why should he see your faces looking worse than the young men who are your age? Then you would endanger my head before the king.

So good news. God has given favor to Daniel.

Favor between him and Ashpenaz, the chief of the eunuchs. Now the chief of the eunuchs, he has a very important position in the

Babylonian bureaucracy. He's in charge of this re -education camp with Daniel and his friends and whoever else that they've grabbed along the way.

So he's an important man. He's got a lot of authority. He makes decisions that really do impact Daniel and the lives of his friends.

And Daniel has his favor. Daniel is in his good graces. Daniel has

Ashpenaz's ear. Ashpenaz listens to Daniel. He likes Daniel. And why is this the case?

God had brought Daniel into the favor and goodwill of the chief of the eunuchs.

Do you see that? Do you see how Daniel ended up in the favor of this state official, this pagan official?

The wisdom of man constrains believers to curry favor and goodwill from pagan technocrats and statist authoritarians.

How? By compliance and virtue signaling. Whatever you say, we will do.

And we will agree with all of your values as much as we can. And we'll tell everybody else to do the same.

That is the wisdom of man. That is how the church is being told to curry favor and goodwill from those who are in charge.

Do we need goodwill? Could we do more if we had the favor of governing officials?

Absolutely. Absolutely. And this is seen time and again in counties where the churches have the favor of the sheriff.

They get to keep meeting. They get to keep meeting. They get to have their services.

They get to sing hymns without masks on their face. In counties where they have the favor of the sheriff.

Counties where they don't, here come the fines. Here come the imprisonments.

That was the experience of this whole last calendar year. It is the experience currently in the

Dominion of Canada. In the provinces where they don't, where the church does not have the favor, all they have to do is go underground.

Pastors imprisoned, churches fined, church property being stolen and confiscated by the state.

But in areas where they have the favor of the ruling officials, they're free to worship.

So yes, it is a benefit to have, but how do we gain it? How do we get it? Do we get it by fearing man?

Do we get it by fearing death? We don't get it by trying to bribe in some fashion those who are in charge.

That doesn't succeed at all anyway. Look at what God does. Daniel fears the

Lord, and the Lord grants him favor with Ashpenaz. Now, Daniel didn't have to have it, but what a blessing that he did.

When he went to Ashpenaz to say, look, I don't want to defile myself by taking food from the king. Ashpenaz said, I get it.

Why did he have favor? It is the fulfillment of God's promise. The fulfillment of God's promise.

Back in 1 Kings 8, verses 48 -50, the consecration of the temple,

Solomon is praying and prophesying over the temple, and he says this in verses 48 -50,

And when they return to you with all their heart and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies who led them away captive, and pray to you, so they're praying from captivity, they pray to you toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, the city which you have chosen, and the temple which

I have built for your name. So when they're in captivity, and they turn their faces back to their homeland, and they pray and they worship

God, looking back to the temple, then hear in heaven your dwelling place their prayer and their supplication to maintain their cause.

Notice Solomon knows where the dwelling place of God is. It's in heaven. It's not on earth. This is just shadow.

And forgive your people who have sinned against you and their transgressions which they have transgressed against you.

Now listen. And grant them compassion before those who took them captive, that they may have compassion on them.

Same Hebrew word here, favor and goodwill. Same exact word.

You may remember that Daniel had this little habit. Daniel chapter 6 verse 10.

Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home 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. See, God kept his promise.

Daniel feared the Lord. That's why ever since his early days, like here in Daniel chapter 1, he's on his knees, he's praying to the

Lord, he's looking back at the shadow of Christ revealed in the temple, he's looking to the revelation of Christ that was given to him in the temple and in the city, just like it says in 1

Kings 8, that he's fearing the Lord, he's praying to God. And what did God do? He kept his promise and gave him favor with his captor.

You see, he feared the Lord and he had what he needed for that moment. Now, Ashpenaz has mercy on Daniel and he receives his dissent, his resistance, his request favorably.

He doesn't shut Daniel down, but Ashpenaz flashes his pagan credentials.

Notice that Ashpenaz fears man. Do you see his refusal?

I fear the Lord, the King, and he fears death.

You would endanger my head before the King. Do you hear it? I'd like to help my job.

I just got to do my job here. I mean, I agree with you in principle, but here's the thing. I fear the

King and I fear death. You see, you see how controlling the fears of man and death are.

I mean, Ashpenaz is just, he's vitally concerned for Daniel's health and his friend's health. So no, of course he can't comply because he's afraid of their health doing poorly and he's going to be in trouble with his boss and he may lose his job and his life.

You see how controlling the fears of man and death are. He wants to help Daniel, but he cannot because he's still enslaved.

Well, that's it. I mean, God closed the door, so it's over. That wasn't

God's will. I mean, God went so far as to show this to Daniel because he gave

Daniel favor with Ashpenaz so that Ashpenaz really likes Daniel and everything and he still said no. So that's obviously not the will of God because there was resistance to the request.

That's it, right? You come up against a problem, then that's

God saying, this is not my will. You've encountered a problem in obedience to me and that means that you should not do this.

Right? How many times do we say that? How many times do we know from the scripture, okay, this is what we're supposed to do, and then we have this conviction and then we hit an obstacle and we say, oh, well,

God shut that door. That is not faith.

That is not living by the word of God. That is not living in the fear of the Lord. That is living by experience. I mean, if God wanted

Daniel and his friends to resist successfully, he would have made it easy on them, wouldn't he? No.

Wisdom does not faint in the day of adversity. Wisdom does not roll over in bed like a door swinging on its hinges and say, oh, there's a lion in the streets.

Wisdom does not put her hand in the bull and then give up rather than retrieving her aim.

So if we're going to resist paganism, we've got to get around the initial refusals, the roadblocks.

If we're going to stay faithful to the Lord, we have to operate in the fear of the Lord. We've got to change the play.

Can't run up the middle, go end around. That's non -negotiable.

Now, how does the Lord want us to do it? We'll pursue that in obedience. That's the approach of faith.

We live by the word, not by the results. We live by the word, not by our experiences.

You see that often when you read the book of Acts. Notice the innovative request then, verses 11 through 14.

So Daniel said to the steward, whom the chief of the eunuchs had sent over,

Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, please test your servants for 10 days and let them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink.

Then let our appearance be examined before you in the appearance of the young men who eat the portion of the king's servants.

So he consented with them in this matter and tested them 10 days. Daniel and his friends.

Notice they are still using their real names, by the way. Do you see that? Ashpenaz has renamed them, but they didn't accept that.

They didn't get what they wanted from Ashpenaz, a lesser magistrate under Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar is the head man.

Here's Ashpenaz. He's a lesser magistrate with the authority of Nebuchadnezzar to do his will.

And they can't get what they want from Ashpenaz, so they go to even a lesser magistrate than Ashpenaz. And they say, hey, steward, we have a proposal for you.

Do you see what they do? They couldn't get to Nebuchadnezzar to hear him say yes or no.

They could get to Ashpenaz, and he said no, but they know what the will of God is, and they've got to obey God, so they go to an even lesser magistrate under Ashpenaz.

And they know what the steward is about. The whole point of the steward is to make Ashpenaz happy so that Ashpenaz can make

Nebuchadnezzar happy. They know how the economy of a fear of man works. So they propose a 10 -day test.

A 10 -day test would not ruin a three -year product, and it would be set against a control group, and so the only risks seem to be to Daniel and his friends falling behind in their health regimen.

So the steward agreed. He said, okay, sure. Let's try it out. Let's try it out.

Sounds like Daniel and his friends are putting the entire matter into the hands of the steward, but in actuality they are putting themselves into the hand of the

Lord. He's the only one who can make this turn out well. A few years back there was a book that came out from Rick Warren about the

Daniel diet, or the Daniel whatever, I forget what it was, and tried to make a lot of money off this diet of vegetables and water.

When you read the text and you find out the result, and I'm sorry to spoil the result, but they end up fatter in flesh.

Their faces were fat after 10 days.

They had fatter faces than the rest of them did after eating nothing but vegetables and water for 10 days.

That's not how it works. That's not how it works. This was proving the

Lord's hand in their life. He was the one who gave them favor all along the way.

He's the one who made this test turn out well. They took a direction.

Notice, here's part of the godly battle plan. We know what's right. We're going to do it, but then we're getting resistance from pagan authorities, and so we're going to continue doing what the

Lord wants us to do. We're going to find ways to make appeals to keep on being obedient to the Lord, and notice what direction they go.

They go in a direction that is even more dependent upon the Lord than before, not less.

Do you see which direction they get pushed? Into more dependence upon God, not less dependence upon God.

That's important for us to recognize. Commitment to Christ.

Commitment to God's word. That's where we begin. Fear of the Lord. That's where we begin. And then, of course, whatever appeals that we make to those or in the pagan world, our obedience is on the table.

Our freedom is on the table, but not our obedience.

Christ is worthy. Let's pray. Father, I thank you for the time we've had in your word. I pray that you show us your wisdom.

I thank you for the example that you show us. ...of your wisdom seen in Christ.

And even as we see Christ beaten and shamed and crucified for our sake in our place, oh,

Lord, we see his obedience was perfect. His obedience was perfect, and we thank you that we rest in his obedience and rest in his righteousness.

Help us to fear you. Help us to live accordingly. Help us to be ready to persist in our fear of you, in our honoring of Christ, no matter what may come.

Give us wisdom to know the ins and outs of conflict, and that we would be ever more dependent upon you.

We pray these things for Christ's sake. Amen. ♪♪♪

Would you stand with me for our song of benediction? ♪♪♪