Sunday, October 3, 2021 AM

Good morning everyone.

Good to be back together after an interesting week or so. Continue to keep those who are just feeling under the weather in your prayers especially for Becca just that her oxygen numbers would come up and that she might be able to come home for Jackson as well.

A few announcements as we get started this morning. Come back tonight for our evening service at 530 and then looking ahead to this

Wednesday we've got a few people that are that lead some ministries on Wednesday night that are going to be out of pocket so we will not have dinner for the church this

Wednesday and then also tag will also be off this Wednesday as well but we're going to pick those back up next week and both the meal and tag but this

Wednesday we will have Bible study and prayer in the fellowship hall so that's at 630 p .m.

come for that and then looking ahead now that we're in the month of October we'll have

Reformation celebration on Wednesday October 27th at 545 in the evening that's always a fun thing for everyone to participate in and then the

Sunday before that truth group in the evening then as well our

Friday verse for this week comes from Titus chapter 3 verses 4 through 6 but when the goodness and loving -kindness of God our

Savior appeared he saved us not because of works done by us in righteousness but according to his own mercy by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the

Holy Spirit whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior amen a few other announcements this coming

Tuesday at Christian Heritage Academy there's going to be a hymn sing so it's kind of a it's a program first time that it's been put on but the junior high and high school choirs are going to sing traditional hymns and maybe some more modern hymns but everyone here is invited to attend it's free to attend at the

CHA auditorium there on 29th southeast 29th Street and Sunny Lane in Del City but at 7 p .m.

you are welcome to come and there's plenty of space if you if you need to social distance from from people but it would be a good night to come and worship together with other believers also we want to give you guys the opportunity we had

Vernon Denny Johnson here a couple weeks ago sharing their work their mission work that they've done in Africa and we want to take up a love offering for them so the plates will be at the back of the auditorium and if you want to just mark love offering

Vernon Denny Johnson but we want that money to go towards really the publishing and printing of God's Word in the

Palico language they've spent many years doing the hard work of translation and that translation is complete and now they want to put it to paper and get it into the hands of those people over there so love offering for the

Johnson's we'd appreciate that also we're coming closer to Christmas time so operation

Christmas child giving is going to be continuing for the next couple months so there's some needs in your bulletin you can see for the month of October flip -flops sunglasses some other things as well and then there's always needs in the sewing ministry so related to operation

Christmas child we're going to have a brief video to watch for operation Christmas child and then after that video is done dad will come up and open us in prayer in Matthew 28

Jesus say go and make disciples of all nations as a student

I can't really go around the world and share the gospel but I can share the gospel with people by packing shoeboxes these shoeboxes change children's lives

I was watching these children and in my heart

I was just feeling pain I asked God that what must

I do what must I do to help these children he's good he brought the

Christmas child shoeboxes and the great dungeon as a student you can make an impact missionally to be part of something global the global mission without even having to go overseas this is gospel opportunities on both ends of the box this shoebox is so much more than just a gift for a child it's really the plant to an eternal life being with Jesus a lot of these children their life is absolutely transformed when

I open my key I was excited I was having a smile from here up to the yeah they hear good news kids can contain something that's exciting to them

I would say they're the greatest evangelist she said when

I went to the greatest journey my heart was open and when

I always read my books it seemed like God is with me I feel like I'm in heaven when

I accept Jesus I was like born again it can be a way to just show them that someone cares someone out there loves them and just knowing that like God loves them in this tangible way can really make an impact so shoebox is such an incredible opportunity for a child to get to know

Jesus and then not just that but for that family to also get to know Jesus and so it just multiplies beyond that this weapon study really change they know scruptures they know prayers they know how to pray those kids they used to pray for me and tell me some scruptures when

I stole them there's no other way I have to give my life to God he stopped drinking alcohol and she's now the woman of God God changed their life it's a big business and I really appreciate it as a student and serve in a real way would you join me in prayer

Lord as we have just witnessed in this video the joy that comes to the heart of one who has been redeemed by faith in Christ Lord fill us with that joy this morning

Lord I think often when we come to this time on Sunday mornings at least for me my mind often goes to Mary and Martha and I often am reminded of the fact that I am so much more like Martha and Mary I am distracted by many things cares of my heart circumstances around me my own sin all these things all these things often

Lord keep me from looking to you from being more like Mary who just desired to come and sit at your feet and to worship the

Lord would you free us this morning from all the things that distract our hearts and help us today in this moment to turn our eyes upon Jesus Lord thank you for your grace and your mercy your loving kindness toward us you are worthy of all praise may your name be exalted may

Christ be lifted up fill us

Lord with the Holy Spirit that we might offer up to you this morning the sacrifice of praise the fruit of lips that glorify your name thank you for the time that we have this morning to gather together and Lord may may these moments go with us may the work of your

Word continue to bear fruit not just this morning but throughout this day and in the week to come thank you for your loving kindness in Christ and we give you glory honor and praise and blessing in Jesus name

Amen if you're able would you stand with me for our call to worship our passage this morning is in Psalms 71 continuing

Psalm 71 we'll be reading verses 9 through 11 so if you're here or if you're online read with me together do not cast me off in the time of old age forsake me not when my strength is spent for my enemies speak concerning me those who watch for my life consult together and say

God has forsaken him pursue and seize him for there is none to deliver him and so if you would turn in your

Psalms for worship hymnal page 71b we'll be singing right out of this passage of Psalm 71 it's marked it's marked verse 6 and 7 old age when strength fails leave me not for enemies against me speak to take my life they plod they say

God has forsaken him none sees him none will save Oh God do not mean far from me

God hurry to my aid and our next song is in our little black hymnals hymns modern and ancient page 71

I'm sorry excuse me page 21 by faith we'll sing all the verses

I by faith we see the hand of God in the light of creation's grand design in the lives of those who prove his faithfulness by faith and by faith our fathers the power of his promise in the hall

Oh by God's own a place where peace and justice stand as children of the promise we will fix our eyes on him our soul's reward till the race is finished and the work is done we'll walk by faith and not by faith the prophets all when the

Lord Messiah would appear with the power to break the chains of sin and death and rise triumphant from the grave we will stand as children of the promise we will fix our eyes on him our soul's reward till the race is finished and the work is done we'll walk by sight by faith the church was called to go in the power of the spirit to the lost to deliver captives and to preach good news in every corner of the earth by faith the mountains shall be moved and the power of the gospel shall prevail possible

Oh we will stand as children of the promise we will fix our eyes on him our soul's reward till the race is finished and the work is done we'll walk by faith and not by sight we will stand as children of the promise we will fix our eyes on him our soul's reward till the race is finished and the work is done we'll walk by faith and not by sight we'll walk by faith and not by sight

Then we'll sing the chorus of Great is Thy Faithfulness Great is

Thy Faithfulness Great is Thy Faithfulness All I ask,

Lord, unto me Open your

Bibles this morning to the book of Isaiah, chapter 2. We'll be finishing the chapter.

We'll start in verse 12 this morning. As we read together, we should be simultaneously filled with the fear of the

Lord and at the same time have comfort in what we read. Starting in verse 12.

For the Lord of hosts has a day against all that is proud and lofty against all that is lifted up and it shall be brought low against all the cedars of Lebanon lofty and lifted up and against all the oaks of Bashan against all the lofty mountains and against all the uplifted hills against every high tower and against every fortified wall against all the ships of Tarshish and against all the beautiful craft and the haughtiness of man shall be humbled and the lofty pride of men shall be brought low and the

Lord alone will be exalted in that day and the idols shall utterly pass away and people shall enter the caves of the rocks and the holes of the ground from before the terror of the

Lord and from the splendor of His Majesty when He rises to terrify the earth.

In that day mankind will cast away their idols of silver and their idols of gold which they made for themselves to worship to the moles and to the bats to enter the caverns of the rocks and the cliffs of the cliffs from before the terror of the

Lord and from the splendor of His Majesty when He rises to terrify the earth.

Stop regarding man in whose nostrils is breath for of what account is he?

Would you pray with me? Our Holy Heavenly Father what a sobering passage a passage that when we read we should be filled with holy fear of You of Your power, of Your justice, of Your perfection of Your sovereignty

Father You are over all things by all things all things hold together by the power of Your Word and yet Father we as believers who have put our trust and our hope in the saving work of Your Son Jesus Christ as terrifying as these words are we can find comfort and peace in them knowing that the justice that we seek and we desire will surely be handed down from You and it will be perfect and it will be complete

Father as we worship You this morning through song, through the reading of Your Word through the preaching of Your Word help us to be hopeful, joyful not to fear man in anything but to put our trust in You and to rest in the fact that in the end

You will be glorified we ask all these things in Jesus name, Amen You may be seated

We're going to continue our song service back to our Psalms for Worship hymnal if you would turn to page 59B

I'm going to sing I Wait For You the tune will be familiar to you the tune is the same as Be Still My Soul I Wait For You We crave for gifts and bring them down Let sinful deeds and lies catch up with them

Because sins and curses that they speak

In that concern is return unsatisfied

But as for me, I'll sing about Your strength

Each day with joy singing of Your steadfast love

For You have been my fortress, my defense

My refuge when the times of trouble come

I sing, my praise is all my strength

For He is God, my court, my

God of love In our last song we'll go back to our

HMA hymnals page 95, O Church Arise 🎶

With all the Christ our captain For now the weak can say that they are strong In the strength that God has given

With shield of faith and belt of truth We'll stand against the devil's vice

And army bold, whose battle cry is love

Reaching out to those in darkness Our call to war, to love the captive soul

But to rage against the captor And with the sword that makes the insecure

And Christ will have the pride for which He died

An inheritance of nations Come see the cross, where love and mercy meet

As the Son of God is stricken Then see

His foes uncrushed beneath His feet For the conqueror has risen

And as the stone is rolled away

And Christ emerges from the grave

This victory march continues to the day

Every eye and heart shall see Him So Spirit come, good strength in every stride

Give grace for every hurdle And we may run with faith to win the prize

Of a servant good as saints of hope

Still I know a way Medelling triumphs of His grace

We hear their calls and hunger for Christ We stand in glory

Amen.

Lord, we ask that You would come to this church and continue pouring out Your grace upon us and provide for us the health that we need, the safety and the courage and the focus and everything we need to continue as a church.

Lord, we are entirely dependent upon You for this. Lord, we have

Your promise from Your Son Jesus Christ that the gates of Hades will not prevail against that which

He is building and that we are built upon the rock of His life and death and resurrection and even now we serve

Him in His ascension and eagerly look forward to the day when in complete and utter victory

Christ returns. So Father, we look to You and we ask again that You would provide what we need to worship

You and to rejoice in You and to be in unity together, loving one another in Christ.

Father, we ask that You would help us today as we read Your Word, as we consider its meaning.

I pray that You would reveal to us Your Son Jesus Christ. He would be the, not only do we know

Him as the light of the world, but Father, the light of our lives in every aspect. I pray that You would cause

Christ to shine and to illuminate who we are in Your eyes.

That we would see things Your way and that we would say things Your way, that we would confess

Your truth and our sinfulness and Christ's glory and our lowliness and that by the truth of Your Word that You would guide us into all wisdom, into all truth, into all courage in these days.

I pray this and I pray for those who can't be with us today, who are sick and struggling. I pray that You would bring healing into their lives as You would restore them by the power of Your Holy Spirit because of Your love for us, because of Your Son Jesus Christ who died on the cross for our sins and bore our sicknesses and sorrows.

Lord, I pray that You would just heal our dearly beloved ones who are sick and ailing.

And Lord, I pray that You would encourage those who are far from us and can't be with us today. I pray that You would give them great comfort in Christ and I pray that there would be joy in their hearts as they ponder the resurrection of Jesus.

And I pray all these things for His sake. Amen. I'll invite you to open your

Bibles to Daniel 6, Daniel chapter 6, starting a new chapter in this book.

You may have noticed how complete each chapter seems, a full story encapsulated in each chapter.

And the title I have for this chapter is A Discerning Son. A Discerning Son.

Daniel is a book full of riddles. A book full of riddles. We see real life riddles in the matters of statecraft where life and death are always on the line.

We also see apocalyptic riddles in the fabric of dreams and visions displaying the rise and fall of empires.

Daniel is a book of riddles in which wisdom triumphs over all.

And the riddles of Daniel are all answered in the revelation of Jesus Christ.

In chapter 1, we learn that wisdom is the principal thing. Facing all the problems of paganism, what we need is

God's wisdom, which, of course, begins with the fear of the Lord. In chapter 2, we observe that wisdom is justified by all her children and that those who fear the

Lord will triumph with Christ in His kingdom. Chapter 3, we were reminded that by wisdom kings reign.

The government rests upon Christ's shoulders and statism ultimately fails when it meets Jesus. In chapter 4, we meditated on God's resistance to the proud and rejoiced in God's grace, which humbles us unto salvation.

In chapter 5, we looked at the hand riding on the wall and the importance of God's revelation.

We don't know our doom unless God reveals it to us. And as we come to Daniel chapter 6, we turn our eyes to a discerning son by whose excellent spirit we are shown the blessings of obedience in the fear of the

Lord. So I'm going to read the first 10 verses of Daniel chapter 6.

Daniel chapter 6, verses 1 through 10. If you'll please stand with me as I read these words of our

Savior and Sovereign, Jesus Christ, by His spirit, through His prophet, Daniel.

It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom 120 satraps to be over the whole kingdom and over these three governors, of whom

Daniel was one. That the satraps might give account to them so that the king would suffer no loss.

Then this Daniel distinguished himself above the governors and satraps because an excellent spirit was in him, and the king gave thought to setting him over the whole realm.

So the governors and satraps sought to find some charge against Daniel concerning the kingdom, but they could find no charge or fault because he was faithful, nor was there any error or fault found in him.

Then these men said, We shall not find any charge against this Daniel unless we find it against him concerning the law of his

God. So these governors and satraps thronged before the king and said thus to him,

King Darius live forever. All the governors of the kingdom, the administrators and satraps, the counselors and advisors have consulted together to establish a world statute and to make a firm decree that whoever petitions any god or man for 30 days except you,

O king, shall be cast into the den of lions. Now O king, establish the decree and sign the writing so that it cannot be changed according to the law of the

Medes and Persians which does not alter. Therefore, King Darius signed the written decree.

Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day and prayed and gave thanks before his

God as was his custom since early days. This is the word of the

Lord. Praise be to God. You may be seated. Sometimes pictures pop up on my screen saver or my background or whatever, in my office or on my laptop of my kids.

I say, well, who's that? And I tell them, well, that's a hero. That's a hero.

That's Arthur Pulaski or that's Tim Stevens or that's James Coates. They're in prison for preaching the gospel.

They were told not to preach the gospel and they did it anyway and they got thrown in jail right in front of their kids, sometimes thrown down in the middle of a highway, handcuffed.

Sometimes people tried to burn their houses, travel restrictions. Articles written by doubting churchmen who have given the run of their churches over to the state and these doubting churchmen write scandalous articles against them for preaching the gospel when they've been told not to.

Called fools, they are discerning sons. Called fools, they are discerning sons.

We've also been watching Dispatches from the Front, Tim Kazee's documentary series wherein he is on the front lines where the church is pressing forward in the kingdom of God and our brothers and sisters in Christ give out

Bibles and worship on Sundays and they gather for prayer and they try to feed the hungry and they baptize new converts and all of it's against the law.

They break the law day after day, week after week, defy the civil magistrates all in the name of Christ.

They are called fools but they are discerning sons and daughters. These are people

I hope my children will consider modern day examples to follow.

Men and women who fear the Lord. As we consider Daniel's response to tyranny

I think we should keep in mind the wisdom of obeying God rather than man.

Proverbs 28 .7 says whoever keeps the law is a discerning son. Whoever keeps the law is a discerning son.

But a companion of gluttons shames his father. Wicked men oppose the law of God, that's no surprise.

But along with that comes an opposition to the man of God. Wicked people oppose the law of God and so they oppose the people of God.

It goes hand in hand. But as we see in Daniel chapter 6, and I think this is the lesson of Daniel chapter 6, lawmakers must submit to the lawgiver.

Lawmakers must submit to the lawgiver. And we start off in verses 1 -10 and consider that the discerning son obeys

God rather than men. I think it's helpful to offer examples to our children and to our grandchildren and it's good to even be those examples for them.

But having done so we have not achieved our goal by simply daring them to be a Daniel. We've not really achieved the goal yet.

Because Daniel wasn't even a Daniel. Except that he was filled with the

Holy Spirit and emulating Christ. That was the difference in his life.

Daniel actually serves as an important picture of Christ, a type of Christ. And it's important that it is to Jesus, always to Jesus, that we and our children and our grandchildren are to look.

The discerning son obeys God rather than men. We're going to think first of all about the blameless behavior of Daniel, which of course points us to Christ.

And in fact we often see pictures of Christ in these situations. Remember Joseph? Falsely accused, suffering, brought low, brought back up high, at the right hand of, not first Potiphar, then the right hand of Pharaoh.

David persecuted, brought low, cast out, brought back to high office. Mordecai.

There's Mordecai at the right hand of Ahasuerus in the book of Esther. And we keep on seeing this picture of someone at the right hand of power, faithfully serving, suffering opposition yet overcoming.

We just see that picture again and again and again. Look, there's God's anointed servant at the right hand. And a wise man at the right hand.

We see this in verses one through three. It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom one hundred and twenty satraps to be over the whole kingdom and over these three governors of whom

Daniel was one, that the satraps might give account to them so that the king would suffer no loss.

Then this Daniel distinguished himself above the governors and satraps because an excellent spirit was in him.

And the king gave thought to setting him over the whole realm. We've been looking at the kingdom of the Babylonians.

That's chapters one through five in Daniel. Now we're on to the kingdom of the Medes and Persians. In the dream that Nebuchadnezzar had of the statue of the four empires, the four kingdoms, there was the golden head and then there was the silver chest and arms.

And the silver chest and arms represented the double empire of the

Medes and the Persians. And this empire was not as glorious as a kingdom as Babylon.

They did not shine as bright. They did not bask as fine. But it would have more reach. It would have more reach.

And so they had a bigger need for organization. They had four capital cities.

They had many different people groups, many different kingdoms in this one empire. And so their need for a bureaucracy was clear.

So Darius the king, he was not interested in an inefficient government.

He did not want waste and incompetence and graft and corruption to go unchecked.

So he tried to organize things in a way that would highly advantage him and the empire.

He wanted his empire to be kept in fighting trim, a well -oiled machine that suffered no loss. And why did

Darius want this? Because he was made in the image of God. He was made in the image of God.

Exercising dominion and being organized and trying to accomplish things. This is hardwired into Darius because he's made in the image of God.

And he wanted to be as efficient as possible. And so his approach was to appoint 120 satraps over all the different provinces of his government.

What's a satrap? A satrap is like a combination of a district attorney, a sheriff, and a county commissioner.

You put all those three together, you get a satrap. And there's 120 of these appointees.

And in three groups, 40 to a group, and they'd all report to a governor.

And then the governors would report to Darius. And this is the way that Darius thought would be best to organize his empire.

It wasn't too long before he noticed that the third of his empire, under Daniel's governorship, was doing really well compared to the other two.

Man, this third of the empire is doing really good. Everything's going smooth.

I'm getting a lot of return on my investment. But these two thirds over here, they're not as good.

I think there's something to this Daniel character. And so he's thinking, man, I'm going to put Daniel in charge of the whole thing.

Daniel exhibited wisdom and abilities which proved his capacity to run the whole empire.

Now, what is the source? What does the text say? What is the source of his competency, of his proficiency?

Because he has an excellent spirit within him. Now, we are not left to guess at what kind of spirit that is.

This isn't a matter of having a good attitude, positive thinking. What kind of spirit is this?

Well, we have already been told. We have already been told throughout the previous chapters and even in this chapter that it is the

Holy Spirit who is in Daniel. That the Holy Spirit anointed Daniel for this role.

And so Darius, like Potiphar and Pharaoh before him and Ahasuerus after him, finds it very compelling to have a right -hand man who can handle all this in the empire.

We're going to think more about that in a moment. But it's clear that the Holy Spirit makes a real discernible life difference in a person's life.

You can tell the difference between somebody who has the Holy Spirit and who does not. Darius is a pagan emperor and he can see the difference.

There's a difference in Daniel and the difference is the grace of God at work through the power of the

Holy Spirit in his life. So he is a wise man here at the right hand of Darius.

Darius wants to exalt him even more. And verses 4 -5 we see the profile completed by the faithful servant without fault.

The faithful servant without fault. Verses 4 -5. So the governors and satraps sought to find some charge against Daniel concerning the kingdom but they could find no charge or fault because he was faithful nor was there any error or fault found in him.

And then these men said we shall not find any charge against this Daniel unless we find it against him concerning the law of his

God. Dale Ralph Davis says this chapter begins with a miracle.

Look, a squeaky clean politician. These Chaldeans were jealous of Daniel.

Man, we don't want him elevated even further. He's not even a native. He's from the west.

He's not even an eastern person and good grief. We don't want him to continue to be elevated.

We want the power. We want the recognition. We want to keep doing what we want to do and being less than the efficient.

They poked around in all the usual places. Hey, let's bring this Daniel down. This is not going to be hard. We all like cheat and steal.

We'll just find out how he's lying, how he's cheating, and how he's stealing and we'll take him down. Simple. He's not a local.

He's a foreigner. It'll be easy to peg him with these things.

We'll scandalize him and then we'll get rid of him. And they couldn't find anything. They thought everybody lied and cheated and stole because they did.

They figured everybody did. It's amazing. When government officials do not act corruptly and their administration flourishes in righteousness, they can't be charged with corruption.

Incredible. So they decide to isolate him based on his faith.

This little light of Daniel was shining too bright for their comfort and they wanted it out. So how do we do that?

Well, we've got to do something to change the laws, to bring the civic religion to bear upon him in such a way that he'll have no way out and he'll break a law and we'll have him then.

Proverbs 28 verses 4 -5 says, Those who forsake the law praise the wicked.

Think about that. Those who forsake the law praise the wicked.

Hear any praise of the wicked in our culture? Any praising of the wicked in our culture?

Why do they praise the wicked? They have forsaken the law. But such as keep the law contend with them.

Those who keep the law contend with those who praise the wicked. They don't pat them on the back and say, oh, it's okay.

I'm glad that you are glad about yourself being glad in whatever you do. They contend with them.

Verse 5, evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the Lord understand all.

I wonder if we believe this. Proverbs 28 verse 5, Evil men do not understand justice.

We have to stop listening to evil men trying to tell us what justice is.

They don't have a clue. They don't know what right from wrong is. They don't know what justice is.

And the church should stop listening to evil men trying to tell us what justice is. Those who seek the

Lord understand all. Why? Because we're so smart? No, because the Lord is the light of the world.

And He illumines everything so we can see what things are. Why was

Daniel outperforming the other governors to such an obvious degree?

Why were they so jealous of him because he outperformed him? Well, it's because of the excellent spirit.

Chapters 1 and 2 and 4 and 5 say again and again that the

Holy Spirit is in Daniel. The Holy Spirit is in Daniel. Everybody takes note of the

Holy Spirit who is in Daniel. And it is clear that the

Holy Spirit is in Daniel. The primary evidence of the Spirit -filled person is the fear of the

Lord. It's the fear of the Lord. That's how you can tell.

And we need to be discerning children in our day, which means that we need to follow through on that exhortation in Ephesians to be being filled with the

Holy Spirit and submit to one another in the fear of the Lord. The fear of God.

This is exciting news for the Jews. This is exciting news for the

Jews because all the promises about the new covenant was to come. The promises in Ezekiel, the promises in Jeremiah, the promises in Isaiah, even the promises out of Deuteronomy.

The promises of the new covenant to come that God would establish in Jerusalem, in Judea, in that land of promise.

The new covenant would be marked by every single member of the covenant being filled with the

Holy Spirit. They would all be spiritually alive. Not one of them would lack the breath of God in spiritual life.

All of them, every member of God's people would have the very same spirit that Daniel had.

And this is important because there was work for them to do. Israel and Canaan was a recapitulation of Adam in the garden.

They had work to do. Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. Spread out the light of God, the image of God throughout the world.

They had work to do, but they were failing at it. As bad as Adam failed in the garden, Israel was failing in Canaan.

Look at them. They're all in exile. Look at the city. It's torn down. The temple is destroyed. They're not doing a great job at all, but they've got a promise.

They've got a promise about the new covenant, about the Holy Spirit coming, about Jesus the

Messiah coming, born of a virgin, and He was going to change everything. And where would

Jesus Christ be? Where would Jesus Christ be?

Where is He today? Is He not at the right hand, full of wisdom?

Is He not at the right hand, a faithful servant? Is He not at the right hand,

King of kings and Lord of lords, all authority being given to Him in heaven and on earth? And where are we?

Paul says we are seated with Him, seated with Christ in the heavenly places.

Everything belongs to Christ. We belong to Him. And we've got work to do in the name of Christ.

We need to declare the authority of Christ over all things. And we need to live out the righteousness of Christ in all things, following Him, following His lead.

The path back to what we're supposed to be in the image of God is only through Christ, with Him and through Him, who's at the right hand.

Daniel is at the right hand of Darius, and he is working hard, and he is doing well.

What is he up to? Well, as a lawmaker, he has submitted himself to the lawgiver.

And the lawgiver is God. And Daniel's a lawmaker in the civil realm, and so he has submitted himself to God, who is the lawgiver.

And you've got to wonder, Daniel has lived through the ups and downs, the turmoil of Babylon, who destroyed

Jerusalem and brought such sorrow and suffering to the people of God. Daniel served there, and he was elevated under Nebuchadnezzar, forgotten under Belshazzar.

Now he's elevated again under Darius. Now he's in the empire of the Medes and Persians. And Daniel is working hard, getting up every morning, going to work, and helping the empire of the

Medes and Persians flourish. Let's go. Let's be more efficient, folks.

Let's make sure that the taxes are being used as efficiently as possible. Let's make sure we don't have any corruption going on.

And let's make this the best empire we can make it. Why is Daniel doing that? Why is

Daniel doing that? Shouldn't he be agitating, complaining loud and long about these big, unjust, corrupt systems that are oppressing him and his people, keeping him from being able to go back home and see the holy land that he was ripped out of when he was just a little kid?

Why is he trying to make the Medes and Persians the best version of themselves that he can? Because as a lawmaker, he submitted himself to the lawgiver, and the lawgiver told the people of God in Jeremiah 29, verses 4 through 7, thus says the

Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all who were carried away captive, now that's

Daniel, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon, build houses, dwell in them, plant gardens, and eat their fruit.

He's telling them to be independent, self -sufficient, working hard, so that they're not dependent upon the funds from Babylon, but that they are going to work hard and labor and provide for themselves and their families.

And then he says, take wives and beget sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons and give daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters, that you may be increased there and not diminished.

And he means keep it in the family. He didn't say go marry a bunch of pagans.

Now, here's verse 7. And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the

Lord for it, for in its peace you will have peace. God says, seek for the shalom, the wholeness, the goodness, the peace of the city that you are in.

Now, this verse gets used a lot today as a cover for compromise. And I just read an article on the

Gospel Coalition, and someone quoted this, and she went on to say, well, this means when you're talking to people who are transgendered, try to use all these secular sources to kind of hint at that maybe through natural law, they may be out of focus and not having the best in their life.

And don't use any scripture. So, that's just reverse engineering.

People's like, this is the way I want to act and live, and then I'm going to try to find stuff in the Bible that maybe helps me do that.

How did Daniel carry this out? How did he seek the peace of the empire that he was in?

Did he compromise in order to seek the peace? He was faithful to the

Lord. Faithful to God. He was a discerning son, fearing the

Lord, not fearing man. And that's how, in that context, he sought for the good of everyone around him.

And so, God told His people they were to continue repentantly in their exile to exercise the creation mandate of be fruitful, multiply, and exercise dominion.

And He wanted them to do that because they were the light of the world. He says, the promises of the new covenant are amazing in the

Old Testament. He said, when you guys go back, the Gentiles will be grabbing on to the hymns of your robes.

Let's all go up to Jerusalem. Let's all go hear what God has to say. So, they were to live by faith in the coming new covenant to be revealed in the context of a rebuilt

Jerusalem. So, they were going to seek the well -being, the peace and prosperity of their systemically unjust oppressors.

They were not going to rage against them, seeking to destabilize and destroy them.

Certainly, they were not giving two thumbs up to the paganism and the idolatry and so on.

But they were going to labor as God -fearers in interest of subverting, if not entirely converting, the system to the glory of God.

How did that go, by the way? Nebuchadnezzar was born again, and he published the gospel through state -run media.

That was pretty neat. Darius would see the light and mandate in his empire the worship of God.

Cyrus the Persian would also convert, and he would shake loose the gold, silver and precious stones from the coffers of the kingdoms for the rebuilding and beautification of Jerusalem and the temple.

Now, Daniel was not in control of that, but God was. Christ is in charge. He always has been.

He always will be. Daniel was not called to master the situation, control it, and get rid of any variables.

He was called to be faithful in the situation. Be faithful in the situation.

The obedient labor of Daniel as a civil magistrate meant, first, he had to submit himself to God so that his behavior and his decision -making would massively bless those he served.

How does a civil magistrate, a lawmaker, bless those whom he or she serves?

By submitting to the law -giver, first and foremost, the one who made us, designed us, and knows what's best for us.

This all, of course, points us to Christ. Christ rules by the anointing of the

Spirit with the fear of God. Isaiah 11, verses 1 -5 is a Christmas passage, but it is very pertinent to the picture, the type of Christ that we see in the life of Daniel.

There shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.

The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him. Think of Christ's baptism, heaven's parting, the

Holy Spirit in the form of a dove, giving a visual to those who are watching, coming down and resting upon Christ.

The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the

Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge, and of the fear of the Lord, the Spirit of the

Lord. Now look, verse 3, His delight is in the fear of the Lord. Messiah's delight,

Spirit -anointed Messiah's delight, is in the fear of the Lord. After we hear all of the, in the last description of the

Spirit, is the Spirit of the fear of the Lord. So I'm saying the primary evidence of someone being filled with the

Spirit is that they fear God. They fear

God. And he shall not judge by the sight of his eyes, nor decide by the hearing of his ears, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth.

He shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked. Amen. Righteousness shall be the belt of his loins, and faithfulness the belt of his waist.

Wait, this is the Spirit, this is the armor of God from Ephesians. It's on Christ, and we are to be clothed with Christ.

But look at this Holy Spirit, this excellent Spirit, a sevenfold glory. He rests upon God's right -hand man,

Jesus of Nazareth, anointing him, confirming him before all, as the Christ. And look, the government rests upon Christ's shoulders, and his delight is to fear the

Lord. And so he administrates his authority, his kingship, accordingly, the

Spirit of God, under the fear of God, according to the law of God. Daniel is just emulating

Christ. He's typifying Christ. He's depicting the one to come.

And so we also should reflect Christ in our lives. Now this, of course, is going to kick up some opposition.

Daniel's godliness, which gave him favor. Think about this. Daniel had favor with Darius because Daniel was godly.

He was godly. He feared God. He loved his neighbor. He was responsible with what he had been entrusted with.

That's godliness. That's basically on every single job posting

I've read recently. I'm not looking for new jobs. We're doing exercise in vocations and teaching the kids about different vocations.

Hey, look. Look how many jobs people want you to do with these different vocations. And basically in the description of the resume is, we want a godly person.

Someone who's going to show up on time, stick with it, be diligent, be responsible.

Please send us a godly. Be godly. They don't know what that is, but they value it.

And the reason why Daniel is so favored by Darius is because he's godly.

It's also the reason why he's being persecuted. It's also the reason why he's being persecuted.

The Apostle Paul's razor. All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.

All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. That's not all you're going to experience.

It's not like godliness is all about being persecuted. No. There's joy.

There's abundance in Christ. Very often there's blessings to you and your family and everybody your family touches because of godliness.

But there's also persecution. There's also persecution. It comes along with trying to pursue godliness.

But that is not an indicator that you are failing to seek the peace of the city in which you dwell.

That's not an indicator that somehow you failed to be Christ -like because people get upset because your little light is shining a little too bright for their eyes.

When it comes to... And everyone here, you need to understand your capacity as a lawmaker.

It's not just civil magistrates. You make rules for yourself, don't you?

You make rules for yourself to govern yourself. You say, yeah, it's in the law of God, but the reason

I have a rule, I don't steal. Why do

I discipline myself to not steal? Well, the lawmaker said, don't steal. And I follow the lawkeeper,

Christ. And so I make a rule for myself, I don't steal from people.

You make rules for yourself. Things that are maybe not so obvious.

I go to bed early. Someone else goes to bed late. Okay, fine. I go to bed early because I am not a nice person if I go to bed late.

And the lawkeeper wants me to love my neighbor. He's my righteousness. I want to follow him.

I want to love my neighbor. I want to love my wife and my children. And I notice that when I go to bed early, I love them better than if I go to bed late.

I make a rule for myself, you see. But it's not... So I'm a lawmaker unto myself, but what am

I doing? It's not about what other people think about my rules that I make.

It's about what pleases the law keeper, who is the fullness of my righteousness.

I want to follow him. And you're a lawmaker in your family. Fathers, husbands, you're a lawmaker in your family.

You make rules. You set directions. This is what we're going to do. Parents, mothers, and fathers, you make rules for your children.

Those rules that you make within the family, as you own businesses and employ people and you labor and work, you make rules for folks.

People who are working for you, you make rules for them. Or you find a way to manage things.

And you're a lawmaker. Well, you need to submit yourself to the law giver in all those things.

Husbands and fathers, you don't get to just decide to do whatever you want with your family.

You submit yourself to the law giver. And as you follow the law keeper, he will lead you into all wisdom about the rules that you do make.

Same with parents and their children and folks and their businesses. And of course, that's the way it goes in the church.

Right? Even to say, we're going to show up at a certain time, and here's what we're going to do, and here's how we're going to organize our worship service, and here's how our church is organized, and so on and so forth.

We're making decisions, and policies, and even rules, and so on and so forth. We shouldn't be making the rules about how we meet, and where we meet, and when we meet, and what we do when we get here, based on how people think.

And what the world wants us to do, or what the civil magistrates want. We have to submit ourselves to the law giver.

What does the head of the church, what does Christ want us to do when we get here? And how does he want us to treat one another and live together? Let's follow him!

We're all making laws in some capacity, and we need to submit ourselves to the law giver, fearing the

Lord, asking him to fill us with his Holy Spirit, and this is how we can be discerning sons and daughters in the world in which we live.

As lawmakers, we need to submit ourselves to the law giver. Let's close with a word of prayer. Father, I thank you for the time you did give us in your word today, and Lord, I pray it's been a blessing to everyone who is here.

Help us to submit ourselves to you, not to the whims of men, and the things that they constantly change their minds on, but that as we take up our responsibilities and our stewardship, even if it's just personally, or in our families, or in our service in the state, or in the church,

Lord, I pray that we would submit ourselves to you, and that you would fill us with your

Holy Spirit as we serve Christ, so that we can maximally glorify him.

We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Would you stand with me for a song of benediction?

I want to go back and sing the whole song of great is thy faithfulness. God, I can testify that God has shown his faithfulness to both myself and my family, and this song is a testimony to our great and faithful God.

Sing with me together. Great is thy faithfulness,

O God, is thy faithfulness,

O God, is thy faithfulness, is thy faithfulness,

Lord unto me. Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest, and springtime and harvest,

The moon and stars in their courses above Join with all nature in manifold witness

To thy best mercy and love

Great is thy faithfulness, great is thy faithfulness

Morning by morning new mercies

I see All I have needed thy hand hath provided Great is thy faith to me

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth

My presence to cheer and to guide

Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow

Blessings of mine within thy sight

Great is thy faithfulness, great is thy faithfulness

Morning by morning new mercies

I see All I desire is faithfulness,

Lord unto me May the love of the

Father and the grace of the Son and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all.