Series: a Survival Guide for Saints in a Secular Society

Series: A Survival Guide for Saints in a Secular Society
“We Must Maintain Our Spiritual Integrity”
(Sunday Morning September 18th, 2011)

Passage: Daniel 6:1-7

O.S. In Matthew 5:13-16, This is What Jesus Had to Say About How Important It
is for All of Us Who are Christiansto Maintain Our Spiritual Integrity; He Said,
“13 You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it
be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out
and trampled under foot by men. 14 You are the light of the world. A city set
on a hill cannot be hidden; 15 nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under
a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.
16 Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good
works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven”

-> The Word “You” in Those Verses, as I Pointed Out Last Week, is Very Specific;
Jesus Literally Said “You and You Alone are the Salt of the Earth” and “You
and You Alone are the Light of the World”

-> The Salt Illustrates the Fact That We are to be a Moral Preservative in Our
Society, and the Light Illustrates Our Ability to Expose Sin and to Impart
Spiritual Truth

-> And So, if You and I, Who are Followers of Jesus Christ,are Not Willing to Take
on This Responsibility of Being the Salt of ThisEarth and the Light of ThisWorld,
There Will be noSpiritual Salton This Earth or Spiritual Light in This World

-> And This Would be a Tragic Reality Because It Would Lead to Unimpeded
Spiritual Decay and Unprecedented Spiritual Darkness

-> Jesus Also Made It Clear That This is Not the Only Problem That Can Occur

-> In Fact, I Want You to Notice That Jesus Very Clearly Mentioned Two

Other Problems That Could Cause This World to be Without Spiritual
Salt and Without Spiritual Light

a. There is the Problem of Corruption

-> “If the Salt Loses Its Saltiness,” Jesus Said, “It is Impossible for It to Become
SaltyAgain”

-> He Was Referring to Our Testimony, and He Was Saying, in Essence, That
Losing Our Testimony Will Cause Us to Lose Our Influence

-> If Our Lives Become Filled With Moral Compromise, if There is Little
or No Difference Between Us and Everyone Who Lives Around Us,
if We Use the Same Profane Speech, and We Cheat Our Fellow Man,

and We Become Worldly and Self-Absorbed (Me, Myself and I), Our
Effectiveness in This Secular Society of Ours Will be Cancelled Out

-> Lot, as I Pointed Out Last Week, is an Example of This, Because in Genesis 19:14
We are Told That Lot Went Out and Tried to Warn His Sons-in-Law About God

Destroying the City of Sodom“But,” the Bible Says “…heappeared to his sons-
in-law to be jesting” (Elaborate = Becoming Like the World to Reach the World/
Os Guiness “He who dines with the devil had better have a very long spoon”)

b. There is the Problem of Cowardice

-> “14You are the light of the world….” Jesus Said, “…a city set on a hill cannot
be hidden; 15 nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, …”

-> When Jesus Talked About Putting a Lamp Under a Basket, He Was Referring
to Christians Who are Too Cowardly to Practice Their Faith in Public

-> We Know That Joseph of Arimathea Was Like This, Because We are Told
in John 19:38 That He Was “…a disciple of Jesus, but a secret one for fear
of the Jews,…”

-> And Therefore, for Many Years, Joseph of Arimathea Was Not Able
to be an Influence Upon Others for the Cause of Christ (Elaborate)

Q.n = So, What Does All of This Have to do With Daniel?
Ans = Daniel Was Never Corrupted or Cowardly

-> And Consequently, We are Going to See That Daniel’s Light Shined so Brightly
and for so Long in That Secular Culture of His Day That Many Saw His Good
Works and They Glorified His Father and Our Father Who is in Heaven

-> That is What I Believe This Passage of Scripture is All About; And So, With
This in Mind, I Have Divided It Into Two Parts

I. …in Order to Withstand a SatanicAttack

1) That Will be Based on Jealousy

vs 1-4a (Read)

-> The Motive for This Attack is Fairly Obvious

-> Daniel Was a Foreigner, and by This Time He Was Also a Very Old Man

-> He Was Born Somewhere Around 625 B.C., and the Timing of These Events Could
Not Have Come Any Sooner Than 537 B.C.

-> So, We Know That Daniel Had to Have Been at Least 88 Years of Age

-> But Nevertheless, Darius (Comment - Liberals Attack - Ubagaru or a Title for Cyrus)
Recognized That Daniel Had “Distinguished Himself”Among the Other “Commissioners”
and “Satraps,”and That DanielPossessed “an Extraordinary Spirit”

-> Here Was a Man in His Late 80’s or Early 90’s Who Was Still Excelling in His
Profession, and He Was Doing so With a Great Attitude(Elaborate = 55 Tired)

-> It Has Been Said That a Person’s APTITUDE Plus Their ATTITUDE Will Determine
Their ALTITUDE; and in Daniel’s Case, This Proved to be True

-> The King Saw That Daniel Still Did His Work With Great Excellence, and That He
Was a GiftedLeader; And So, He Decided to Give Him a Promotion

-> But the Other “Commissioners” and “Satraps”Resented This Fact

Q.n = Why Did They Resent This Fact?
Ans = They Might Have Been Fearful

-> For You See, It is Not Uncommon for People With This Kind of Authority to Misuse
Their Authority for Personal Gain

-> They Might Have Been Withholding Some of the Taxes That They Had Collected,

and They Might Have Been Using It for Their Own Pet Projects(House by the Euphrates)

-> The King Knew That a Man Like Daniel Would Bring a Stop to These Kinds of Things,
and This is One Reason That He Wanted to Promote Him(vs 2 - Read)

-> But of Course, These Other “Commissioners” and “Satraps” Knew This About Daniel
as Well;and So, They Knew That They Had a Lot to Lose if This Promotion Occurred

Ans = They Were Definitely Jealous

-> We Can be Sure of This; Because When They Reported Daniel’s Actions to the King,
They Referred to Him as “A Foreigner” Reflecting Their Prejudice

-> They Resented the Fact That This “Foreigner” Had Been Placed Over Them, and They
Resented This so Much That They Wanted to See Daniel Put to Death(go to Extremes)

-> This is Why Solomon Said in Proverbs 27:4That

“Wrath is fierce and anger is a flood, but who can stand before jealousy?”

-> “Jealousy” is the Same Motive That Caused the Jews to Come Up With a Plot to Kill
Jesus, and This is Why They Found Some Who Would Falsely Accuse Him

-> For You See, Jesus Was Becoming Too Popular; So, the Members of the Sanhedrin
Convened,and They Came to This Conclusion; They Said,

"If we let Him go on like this, all men will believe in Him, and the Romans will
come and take away both our place and our nation." (John 11:48)

-> You See, It Was Their Power and Their Positions That Were at Stake; And So, They
Decided That They Would Find a Way to Murder Jesus

-> And Listen, There are People in Our Society Today Who Will Seriously Resent Any
Godly Man or Godly Woman for the Same Reason

-> A Moral Life is a Rebuke to Them, a Higher Set of Moral Standards is a Threat
to Them; and So, They Will do Anything They Can to Undermine a Righteous
Man or Woman’s Success

______

Ill: C. Everett Koop is an Example of This; He is a Christian Man Who Was Appointed
by President Ronald Reagan in 1981 to Become the Surgeon General of the United
States

-> He Was Nominated in Part Because of His Conviction That Abortion is Wrong
Since It Involves Taking the Life of a Human Being Made in the Image of God

-> So, as You Can Imagine, the Attacks From the Liberal Media Came Out
Immediately and With a Vengeance

-> The Washington Post Called Him “A Fundamentalist ChristianWith a Lincolnesque
Beard…the narrator of a controversial anti-abortion film,” and the Boston Globe
Called Him “A mere Clinician with tunnel vision” (Elaborate = His Credentials)

2) That Will be Hindered by Righteousness

vs 4-5 (Read)

a. They Noticed His Consistency
-> Here Was a Group of Political Conspirators Doing Everything They Possibly
Could to Find Some Dirt on Daniel, But They Came Up Totally Empty
-> Daniel Had Occupied a Political Position for Over 70 Years, Think of That;
and Yet, by Their Own Admission, These Who Were Trying Very Diligently
to do so Could Not Find One Single Thing Wrong With His Moral Character

-> No Womanizing, No Embezzlement, No Occasion of Drunkenness or Disorderly
Conduct, Not Even Some Measure of Irresponsibility or Slothfulness (Ex. Clock)

Q.n = Could This Same Thing be Said About You? (Ex. Tithing, Diligence, Attitude)

-> This is so Vital to Our Effectiveness That in 1 Timothy 3:2 the Apostle Paul Said
That an “Overseer” a “Pastor”or “Elder”Should be “Above Reproach”
-> And in the Greek, That Literally Means “Nothing That Can be Laid Hold Of”

b. They Noticed His Commitment

-> This Group of Men Not Only Noticed That Daniel Was Morally w/o Fault;
They Also Noticed in the Process That He Was Deeply Committed to God

Q.n = Now, Could This Same Thing Also be Said About You?

Q.n = If Someone Accused You of Being a Christian, Would They be Able to Find
Enough Evidence to Convict You?(Ex. Workplace Ex. Habits Ex. Ministry)

Q.n = When is the Last Time That Someone Caught You Praying? Witnessing?

-> In 1 Peter 2:12, the Apostle Exhorted Us to do This; Listen, He Said,

“Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing
in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds,
as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation”

-> That Phrase “Day of Visitation”, by the Way, Could Refer to the “Day
of Conviction” or the “Day of Judgment” or Both

-> When God’s Spirit Moves on Their Heart, This Will Make a Difference

3) That Will be Executed With Insight

vs 5-7 (Read)

-> Politicians Have Turned Against Their Fellow Politicians for a Variety of Reasons

in History, But I Can’t Think of Any Other Time in History When They Tried
to Expose One of Their Own Because He Was a Man of Prayer

-> This Was a Demonically Inspired Plot if There Ever Was One, and It Followed
the Pattern of One

Q.n = What do You Mean Pastor?

Ans = There is a Common Pattern

a. They Did This in Collusion

-> Three Times in This Passage; We are Told That “They”, the “Commissioners”
and “Satraps,”Collectively Assembledin the Presence of the King
-> And This Reminds Us of the Fact That Those Who Try to Accuse and Uproot
a Righteous Man Should Know That They Will Never Succeed Alone
-> So, They Will Come Together Collectively; They Will Develop a Think Tank, and They
Will Conspire Together Against a Righteous Man in Order to Try to Bring Him Down

-> No One Could Entrap Jesus, for Example, One on One, and They Often Came
Out Looking Like a Fool When They Did

-> Like the Sadducee in Mark 12 Who Gave Jesus This Long Elaborate Story
About a Woman Being Married Seven Times; and Then, He Asked,
"In the resurrection, when they rise again, which one's wife will she be?” (Mark 12:23)

-> The Sadducee Thought That He Had Jesus on That One, But He Got
an Embarrassing Theology Lesson Instead When Jesus Said,

“24…you are mistaken, (in) that you do not understand the Scriptures
or the power of God? 25 For when they rise from the dead, they neither
marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven”(Mark 12:24-25)

-> The Pharisees and Sadducees Failed to Entrap Jesus One on One on Several
Occasions; So Ultimately, We are Told inMatthew 27:1 That

“…all the chief priests and (all) the elders of the people conferred together against
Jesus to put Him to death” (Elaborate = Collusion, Conspiracy, a Caucus of men)

b. They Did This With Confusion

-> These Men Really Didn’t Know How to Entrap Daniel Until a Satanic Lie
Was Whispered in Their Ear

-> For You See, Satan Knows the Crevice in Every Man’s Armor, and He Knew
That the Crevice in Darius’ Armor Was His Pride
-> So, They Came Up With This Diabolical Scheme That Involved Convincing
Darius That He Should Sign a Decree That Would Result in Him Being
Worshipped as a god for 30 Days

-> More Men Have Been Trapped by Their Pride, by the Way, Than by Any Other

Method

-> They Will Foolishly Agree to do Something in a Rash Moment When They
are Being Flattered, andThey Might Regret It Later; But Then, They are
Entrapped by Their Pride

Q.n = Are You Familiar, for Example, With What Happened to Herod Antipas?
Ans = His Stepdaughter Herodias Performed an Erotic Dance for Him and…

-> In Matthew 14:9, the Bible Says This; It Says,
“Although he was grieved, the king commanded it to be given because of his
oaths, and (Listen to This)because of his dinner guests” (Trapped by Pride)

c. They Did This With Coercion
-> Darius Didn’t Want to Follow Through With Throwing Daniel Into the Lion’s
Den; But Then, the “Commissioners” and “Satraps” Ganged Up on Him

-> All We Have to do is Fast Forward Through the Bible Several Hundred Years
Later, and We Can Hear the Jewish Leaders Stirring Up the Crowd
-> Governor Pilate Wanted to Release Jesus, But the Jewish LeadersConvinced
the Crowd That They Should Ask for Barabbas to be Released Instead
-> And So, He Had Jesus Beaten Thinking That This Might Evoke Some
Sympathy; But Again, the Jews Stirred Up the Crowd, and They Began

Shouting “Crucify Him!” “Crucify Him!” COERCION!(Matt 27:22-23)

Pt = (Are You Listening?)A Righteous Man With a Good Testimony is so Powerful
andInfluential for the Kingdom of God That Satan Will do Anything He Can
to Try to Destroy His ReputationIncluding the Use of FalseAccusations

II. …in Order to Achieve a SpiritualVictory

1) A Godly Response

a. A Quiet Continuation

vs 10 (Read)

-> The Key Verse in This Passage is This One, in My Opinion, and the Key
Phrase Comes at the End Where It Says “as he had been doing previously”

-> Daniel Simply Refused to be Sidetracked, and He Continued to do What
He Had Always Done

-> Three Times a Day, He Opened His Windows, and He Got on His Knees,

and Prayed and Gave Thanks as He Had Done Before

-> He Probably Got This Pattern From King David Who Said This in Psalms 55:17;

He Said,

“Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice”(NIV)

-> Now, I Think You Would Agree With When I Say That a Lot of Christians
Would Have Never Gotten This Far, Because Someone Would Have Found

Some Grounds for Making an Accusation Against Them (Fine Toothed Comb)

-> Even Fewer Christians Could Say That This is Their Regular Pattern of Life

-> And by the Way, I Just Have to Say This, “None of Us, Listen to Me Now,
None of Us Can Say That We are TooBusy to Pray” (Elaborate = Daniel)

______

-> I Saw a Sign in a Man’s Office One Time That Said This; It Said,
“If You’re Having an Especially Busy Day, Skip Your Devotions”

- Signed Satan

______

Q.n = Is Your Prayer Life More Important to You Than Life Itself? It Was to Daniel.

-> Another Reason a Lot of Christian Would Never Have Had to Face the Lion’s
Den is Because They Would Have Compromised Which Would Have Been
so Easy to Do (Any Number of Excuses = 88 Years of Age = I’m Prayed Up, It’s Only 30
Days; I Will Just Pray Privately, I’ll Just Stand Instead of Kneel, and They’ll Think - Traffic)

b. A Quiet Confidence

-> Daniel Didn’t Become Obnoxious or Impertinent, and He Didn’t Try to Beat
These Guys at Their Own Game or to Out Politic Them
-> No, Instead, He Just Acted in Quiet Confidence and He Placed His Trust

in His God Who He Knew is Sovereign
-> And This is the Same Was That Jesus Responded When He Was Ensnared,

the Prophet Isaiah Tells Us That He Was…
“…Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before
its shearers,…”(Isa 53:7)

-> The Apostle Peter Tells Us That…

“…while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered
no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously”
(1 Pet 2:23)

-> Daniel, Like Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Just Gave His Case Over
to Our Sovereign God Trusting Him to Use It for His Glory

-> And as We All Know, God Came Through in a Big Way for Daniel

______
Ill: This Reminded Me of John Bunyan Who Wrote the Most Popular Allegory of All
Time Entitled “Pilgrim’s Progress”