Knowing Who is on the Throne

The scripture reading comes from Daniel chapter 1.

Daniel 1 · chapter mention

Please follow along on the screen, the bulletin, or your own Bible.

Starting in verse 1, we read,

In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah,

Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem and besieged it.

And the Lord gave Jehoiakim, king of Judah, into his hand

with some of the vessels of the house of God.

And he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his God,

and placed the vessel in the treasury of his God.

Then the king commanded Aspenaz, his chief eunuch,

to bring some of the people of Israel,

both of the royal family and of the nobility,

youths without blemish of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom,

endowed with knowledge, understanding, learning,

and competent to stand in the king's palace,

and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans.

The king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate

and of the wine that he drank.

They were to be educated for three years,

and at the end of that time, they were to stand before the king.

Among those were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah.

And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names.

Daniel he called Balthasar,

Hananiah he called Shadrach,

Mishael he called Meshach,

and Azariah he called Abednego.

But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king's food

or with the wine that he drank.

Therefore, he asked the chief of the eunuchs

to allow him not to defile himself.

And God gave Daniel favor and compassion

in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs.

And the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel,

I fear my lord the king who assigned you your food and your drink,

for why should he see that you were in worse condition

than the youths who are of your own age?

So you would endanger my head with the king.

Then Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of eunuchs

had assigned over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,

Test your servants for ten days.

Let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink.

Then let our appearance and the appearance of the youths

who eat the king's food be observed by you

and deal with your servants according to what you see.

So he listened to them in this matter

and tested them for ten days.

At the end of the ten days,

it was seen that they were better in appearance

and fatter in flesh

than all the youths who ate the king's food.

So the steward took away their food

and the wine they were to drink

and gave them vegetables.

As for these four youths,

God gave them learning and skill

in all literature and wisdom.

And Daniel had understanding

in all visions and dreams.

At the end of the time,

when the king had commanded

that they should be brought in,

the chief of the eunuchs brought them in

before Nebuchadnezzar.

And the king spoke with them.

And among all of them,

none was found like Daniel,

Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.

Therefore, they stood before the king.

And in every matter of wisdom

and understanding

about which the king inquired of them,

he found them ten times better

than all the magicians and enchanters

that were in all his kingdom.

And Daniel was there

until the first year of King Cyrus.

This is the word of God.

Great.

Thank you, Angie,

for reading that long passage.

And good morning, everybody.

Again, great to see you.

And welcome.

Lovely to have you with us.

If you are new to Watermark

and I haven't met you,

my name's Kevin.

And it's great to have you with us today.

Now, we are diving into this book of Daniel,

this Old Testament book.

And the book of Daniel

is about so much more

than lions' dens

and fiery furnaces

and children's stories.

The book of Daniel

really is about two things.

It's about sovereignty

and it's about faithfulness.

And again and again,

in the book of Daniel,

as we go through it

over the next six or seven weeks,

we're going to see that

what God's going to tell us

is that He alone is sovereign.

If you're new to church,

the word sovereign

is a kind of technical word.

It means that God is on the throne.

He rules and He reigns.

And Daniel's going to tell us

again and again

that God is the one

who's on the throne,

not any other power

or political power

or economic power.

But the book of Daniel

is also about faithfulness.

It's about God's faithfulness

and how God calls His people

to be faithful to Him

even in the midst

of living in this world,

this city,

which at the time

was not a very God-honoring city.

And so in many ways,

even while our world

looks very different

to the ancient city of Babylon,

in many of the ways,

the underlying belief system

and the underlying values,

even of a city like Hong Kong,

21st century Hong Kong,

is actually similar

to many of the underlying

belief systems and values

of an ancient city like Babylon.

Babylon was a city

that ran on power.

It was a city

that ran on wealth.

It was a very performance-orientated city.

It was a city

where there was huge

economic inequalities

between the wealthy

and the poor.

And so in many ways,

the values and the belief systems

are quite similar.

And so the question

we're going to look at

in this book

again and again is,

what does it mean,

what does it look like

to be the people of God

in the midst of the cities

in which we live

and for us,

in the midst of 21st century Hong Kong?

Now, today we're going to dive

into Daniel chapter 1.

Daniel 1 · chapter mention

And the book of Daniel,

the first chapter

kind of sets up

the rest of the book.

In fact, actually,

in the original writing,

chapter 1 is written

in the Hebrew language

and then in chapter 2,

it changes to Aramaic.

And part of the reason for that,

it changes back again later on,

but part of the reason for that

is because Daniel chapter 1

Daniel 1 · chapter mention

is like a prologue.

It's setting up the themes

that we're going to see

throughout the book

again and again.

And so what we're going to see today

is that if,

for those of us

that are followers of Jesus,

if we're going to be faithful to God

in the midst of the world

that we live in,

in the midst of this city

and the other big cities

to which maybe you move or live,

we've got to remember four things.

There's four things

that I think God wants to show us

in chapter 1 today.

So let's dive in.

The first thing is this.

If you're going to be faithful to God,

if you're going to become

the person that God,

the sovereign God,

wants to call you to be,

you've got to remember

who's on the throne.

Who's on the throne.

Now, when we read Daniel chapter 1,

Daniel 1 · chapter mention

look who's on the throne.

It's fairly obvious.

It's this guy called Nebuchadnezzar,

okay, Nebuchadnezzar II.

And what happened is this setting

is in 605 BC,

Nebuchadnezzar's father

had just recently,

two or three years before this,

demolished the Assyrian empire.

The Assyrians were the world superpower.

He had crushed them.

He came on down to Egypt

and there was a battle

called the Battle of Carshemesh,

I think it was.

He crushed the Egyptians.

He then dies

and his son, Nebuchadnezzar,

gets on the throne.

And Nebuchadnezzar wants to prove

to the world

that he is no slouch.

He has every bit of authority

and ruthlessness

as his dad did.

And so Nebuchadnezzar's on the throne.

He comes to Jerusalem,

605 BC.

He lays siege to the city of Jerusalem.

He wipes out the king

and he destroys it.

Now, at this stage,

he just does that

in the first step of that.

Later on,

he's going to come back

and wipe it out fully.

But in this instance,

what he does

is he takes the king,

the royal family,

high-ranking members of society,

the political,

the cultural elites,

and he takes them back to Babylon

and he enters them

into this three-year re-education program

that Angie read about.

They go to this Ivy League

Babylonian university.

They learn all about

Babylonian culture

and literature

and the arts

and the astrology

and the values

of Babylonian culture.

In a few years' time,

Nebuchadnezzar's going to go

back to Jerusalem

and he's going to

really wipe it out thoroughly.

He's going to pull down the temple,

burn all the buildings,

rip down the city walls,

and march everyone

back into Babylon

in the exiles.

But at this stage,

what he does is

he just takes the political

and the cultural

and the economic elites

with him

back to Babylon.

So look at verse 2

of what Angie read to us.

Nebuchadnezzar takes

the holy things

from the temple

and it says here,

he brought them

into the land of Shinar

to the house of his God

and he placed the vessels

in the treasury

of his God.

So Nebuchadnezzar

goes to the temple

in Jerusalem

and he takes all the

holy and sacred things,

he marches them

back to Babylon

and he sets them up

in the temple

to his false god.

It's kind of like

somebody coming

and taking down

a cross

in our church

and then setting it up

in a Buddhist temple

as a stand

from which to burn incense.

So you take like a cross,

the thing that's

most sacred to us

and say,

oh, let's use this

to burn incense

to our gods, right?

It's absolutely sacrilege.

And so what are

the Israelites thinking?

At this stage,

they're thinking,

where is God?

How can God

allow this to happen?

It seems like God

has become impotent.

I mean,

God is completely weak.

How can God

allow this to happen?

To everyone in Jerusalem,

it seems like God

has fallen off the throne

and is just allowing

Nebuchadnezzar

to run rampant.

But what God

wants us to see here

is actually

over and above

the work of Nebuchadnezzar

and the plans

of the earthly kings

stands the sovereign God,

the God of Abraham,

Isaac, and Jacob,

the God of the Bible

who rules over

all the affairs

of mankind.

Look at what happens

in verse 1 and 2.

If you've got your bulletin,

read it with me.

It says,

In the third year

of the reign of Jehoiakim,

king of Judah,

Nebuchadnezzar,

king of Babylon,

came to Jerusalem

and besieged it.

And the Lord

gave Jehoiakim

into his hands.

So who came

and besieged Jerusalem?

Nebuchadnezzar, right?

Who gave him,

Jehoiakim,

into his hands?

The sovereign Lord.

That's right.

And actually,

the passage we looked

at last week,

Jeremiah 29,

says the exact same thing.

We didn't look,

we didn't pick it up.

But in verse 1,

it says,

Nebuchadnezzar came

and took the exiles

with him back to Babylon.

Verse 4 reads,

Thus says the Lord,

the God of Israel,

to the exiles,

those that I,

the Lord,

have sent into Babylon.

Now,

what God is saying

is that over and above

the affairs of politicians

and kings and rulers,

God sits on the throne.

Now,

we may think,

oh,

that's easy to say

retrospectively, right?

History happens

and then you just write

in your Bible,

oh,

well,

God was involved

in all of it.

You're just rewriting history,

okay?

But actually,

in the Bible,

God often foretells

that this is going to happen.

For instance,

about 120 years

before this happened,

the prophet Isaiah

goes to Hezekiah

and he says this

to Hezekiah

in Isaiah 39.

He says,

Hear the word

of the Lord,

Hezekiah.

The days are coming

when all that is

in your house,

in other words,

your royal palace,

and that which your fathers,

the kings have stored up

to this day,

will be carried off

into Babylon.

Nothing will be left

in Jerusalem

and some of your own

descendants,

in other words,

members of the royal family,

will be taken away

and will serve

in the palace

of the king of Babylon.

Now,

what's amazing is

when Isaiah writes this,

Babylon is like nothing.

They're not a world superpower.

They're not very strong.

Assyria is the world power.

Babylon is just

some city

in the far east.

But Isaiah writes and says,

The time is coming

because you are not obeying God

when everything in Jerusalem

is going to be carried off

and taken to Babylon

and some of your descendants

are going to serve

the king of Babylon

in his palace

120 years

before it actually happened.

Friends,

you see what God is saying here?

What God is trying to tell us

is that no matter

in every city,

in every age,

in every generation,

there will be things

that happen

that cause us

to wonder and fear

and think,

where is God?

God has fallen off his throne.

Is God really in control?

And what Daniel

wants to show us

is that over and above

the rule and the authority

and the reign

of kings and queens,

presidents and empires,

stands the sovereign God,

that God alone

is on the throne.

God's people

end up in Babylon

not because of Nebuchadnezzar

but because God sent him there.

The sovereign God

is on the throne.

Later on in the book of Daniel,

this is like one

of my favorite scriptures

in all of the Bible,

okay?

Daniel chapter 5,

Daniel 5 · chapter mention

Daniel speaks to a man

called Belshazzar

who's a king

who follows Nebuchadnezzar.

So Nebuchadnezzar dies

and this guy Belshazzar

becomes king.

And listen to what Daniel

says to him.

He says,

So talk about

supreme authority, right?

Nebuchadnezzar's like

the most powerful man

of the most powerful nation

of all the world.

If he wants you dead,

you're dead.

He wants you alive,

you're alive.

Supreme authority, right?

But then look at the next verse.

But when his heart

was lifted up

and his spirit was hardened,

said he dealt proudly,

he was brought down

from his kingly throne

and his glory

was taken from him

until Nebuchadnezzar knew

that it's the most high God

who rules the kingdoms

of mankind

and sets over them

whom he wills.

Proverbs says,

The heart of a king

is like a stream of water

in the hands

of the living God.

He directs it

where he wants.

And what we see

in Daniel chapter 1,

Daniel 1 · chapter mention

it's not only macro events

like kingdoms

and empires,

it's micro events as well.

Look at verse 9 with me.

It says,

God gave Daniel

favor and compassion

in the sight

of the chief of the eunuchs.

Verse 17,

And as for these four youths,

God gave them learning

and skill

in all the literature

and the understanding

of Babylon.

Do you see what God's saying here?

God is saying that

despite how things appear,

God is the one

who's on the throne.

Sometimes we look around us

and we say,

God, where are you?

How could this be possible?

And the story of Daniel

is that over and over again,

God wants us

to have confidence

that he's on the throne.

Now,

why do we need to know this?

Who cares, right?

That's great

for the theology classroom,

but how does that

actually help you

in your Monday to Friday?

Friends,

all of us

are going to go through

times in life

when the storms of life

comes

and the fire comes

and all of us

are going to need

a robust theology

of the bigness of God.

If your view of God

is small

and minuscule,

you'll be tossed

by the wind

and the waves

and you'll be thrown.

But if you're able

to see the bigness

and the majesty of God,

it'll be like putting

roots down

into the foundation

that will hold you strong

in the midst

of the storms

and the fires of life.

Tim Keller

wrote this incredible book

10 years ago

called Walking with God

Through Pain and Suffering.

And one of the things

he says in that book,

amazing insights,

he says,

every one of us

are going to face trauma

and trials in our life.

It's just a matter of time

before we encounter something

that just challenges you

no end.

And he says,

when you face the storms

and the trials of life,

there are three kinds of people.

Some people who are,

let's say,

atheists or agnostics.

You don't have any belief in God.

Okay?

Take one person.

Second person,

someone who's a Christian

but they've got a small view

of the sovereignty of God.

They know God

is kind of,

sort of in control.

Maybe God wants us

to be a good person.

But they don't really have conviction

that God is on the throne.

And the third person

is somebody who knows

that God rules and reigns.

And Tim Keller says this,

when the storms of life come,

when the fires come,

the first person

will say,

oh well,

there's no meaning in life anyway.

Stuff happens.

That's just the way it is.

The second person

will be the most broken by it.

The second person will say,

God, where are you?

You've abandoned me.

How can you let this happen?

I thought you were meant to be good.

But the third person,

the person who has a robust theology

of God's sovereignty

will be able to say,

God, I don't know why you're lying to this.

I don't know what's going on

but I know one thing.

I know you're good

and I know you're on the throne.

Do you see what this means?

It means for those of us

that are followers of Jesus,

if you're a follower of Jesus

but you haven't wrestled

and come to understand

that God is the one

who's on the throne,

when the storms of life comes,

when the fire comes,

it will throw your faith.

You'll feel abandoned

and let down.

But if you know

that God rules and reigns,

you might not understand

why he allows what he allows

but you'll have the confidence

to know that God is in control.

He hasn't abandoned me.

Does that make sense?

Okay, I hope that makes sense.

Okay, are you still awake?

Okay, great.

This is the point of Daniel chapter one.

That even though it looks like

Nebuchadnezzar's on the throne,

actually God is on the throne.

He rules and he reigns.

And Daniel's point here

is that if we,

who are followers of Jesus,

are going to be faithful to Christ

in the midst of our city,

in the midst of what's going on,

you have to learn

the lesson of Daniel.

You have to know

that Nebuchadnezzar's not on the throne,

Caesar Augusta's not on the throne,

Jesus is on the throne.

Okay, second thing is this.

Character trumps gifting.

Now, Daniel is obviously

a very gifted man, right?

You read the book of Daniel

and he's super smart.

He's very clever.

He's a genius.

He's got profound wisdom.

I mean, just look at what he says here, right?

The way he negotiates

with the chief of staff of Nebuchadnezzar.

God gives him supernatural gifts and talents.

He's obviously a very wise

and incredibly gifted man.

And this is, of course,

exactly what Nebuchadnezzar's looking for.

Look at what Nebuchadnezzar says

to his chief of staff

when he sends this guy

on a recce trip to Jerusalem.

He says, listen, I want you to go.

Look at what he says in verse three and four.

Bring some of the people of Israel,

members of the royal family and nobility,

youths without blemish,

people of good appearance,

skillful in wisdom,

endowed with knowledge,

understanding and learning,

and competent to stand before the king.

So Nebuchadnezzar is looking

for all the kinds of things

that we look for

in potential spouses

and in future employees, right?

Someone from a good family background,

someone with good looks,

okay, that helps,

someone that's got intellectual smarts,

and someone that has good social EQ,

okay?

All the things that we look for in society.

And,

but what God is showing us here

is that actually what God wants us to see

that those things,

though Daniel has them,

those are not the standout quality for Daniel.

In God's kingdom,

what sets you apart

is not your family background,

your intellectual credibility,

your social EQ,

your good looks.

What sets you apart in God's kingdom

is actually character.

It's actually character.

At the time that Daniel and his friends

go to Babylon,

they're teenagers,

they're 16 year olds,

and they are seduced

and wined and dined by the king.

The king pays for the Ivy League education.

The king is bankrolling their board and lodging.

The king is setting them up,

feeding them with stuff from his table,

his food,

and all that.

And amazingly,

Daniel and his friends

fully engage in the culture

and the city that they're part of.

They absolutely do

what Jeremiah tells them to.

They put down roots,

they settle,

they are loving the city

in which they're part of.

But there comes a point

where there's a line in the sand

that Daniel knows

for him to cross that line in the sand

is going to go against

who God is calling him to be.

And so look at what happens in verse 8.

It says,

Daniel resolved

that he would not defile himself

with the king's food

or with the wine that he drank,

and therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs

to allow him not to defile himself.

The word resolve here

talks about setting your face

determined on something.

It's actually the word

that's sometimes used in the Bible

for like a cast

that you put over your arm.

Someone breaks their arm,

you put a cast on them,

the hard cast

that's going to keep

that arm firm and fixed.

Daniel resolves,

he's got this resolution

that he says,

I know where I stand.

He's got the strength of character

to know where his convictions lie

and where not to cross that line.

Remember how in,

earlier on in the Bible,

Samuel goes to this man called Jesse,

and God tells Samuel

to anoint one of Jesse's sons

to be the new king of Israel,

the first king of Israel.

And so Jesse brings out all the sons

and Jesse does exactly

what Nebuchadnezzar does.

He brings out his sons

that are good looking,

intellectually smart,

social EQ,

good background, right?

And he says,

here's my eldest son.

He's strong,

he's fit,

this man will make a good king.

And he goes through all the sons

and God says,

I haven't chosen any of them.

And God says,

man looks at the outward appearance,

but God looks at the heart.

In the language of the New Testament,

Paul says the same thing.

Paul says,

it's not your spiritual gifts

that God looks for,

things like speaking in tongues

or leadership

or prophecy

or words of knowledge.

It's not spiritual gifts

that make you great in God's kingdom.

It's spiritual fruit.

It's the fruit of the Spirit.

It's things like patience.

It's things like kindness.

It's things like gentleness.

It's things like having grace

for those that have hurt you.

It's things like being merciful

to those that society looks down upon.

Those are the things

that God actually looks for.

The gifts of the Spirit

are just the things

that God gives us

by his sovereign will.

God anoints you,

that's wonderful.

But it's the fruit of the Spirit,

the fruit of walking with Jesus

that actually God is looking for.

And friends,

in our city,

we love to invest

in our skill sets,

in our abilities, right?

How many of us are parents?

We are always sending our kids

to extracurricular activities, right?

Extra Chinese,

extra maths,

extra tennis lessons,

extra piano lessons,

extra whatever lessons.

Think about in the marketplace.

We're always trying

to build our resume,

our CV.

But what God is looking for,

he says those things are not bad,

but actually the kind of people

that are going to make

a difference in the city,

if you want to be faithful to Jesus,

it's not just our resume,

it's actually our character.

God wants to build our character.

How do we build our character?

What does it take

to build our character?

Well, let me just run through

a couple of things quickly.

The first thing is actually

it takes deep reflection of God.

Have you ever spent time

with someone

that is really outstanding,

someone who's brilliant,

and you go away

from being with that person

and you just want to

become better yourself?

Do you know what I mean?

You spend time with someone

who's so compassionate,

so kind,

and you feel like

you want to be kinder yourself.

The more time we spend with God

and reflect on his nature

and his character

actually develops within us

a longing to become more like him.

Deep reflection on who God is.

How do we become people of character?

Well, you go through trials

and tribulations.

We mentioned this earlier,

but nothing will shape your character

like the fire and the storm.

But as Keller reminded us,

when you go through

the fire and the storm,

the difference between growing you

and destroying you

is whether you can hold on to God

in the midst of it.

There's nothing like the fire

and the storms of life

that's going to grow your character

and make you to become

a person of substance.

And that's actually one of the things

I find hardest

about being a parent.

On the one hand,

I want to deliver my children

from the difficulties of life

because my heart goes out to them.

But I also know

the difficulties of life

is actually what's going to grow them

and mature them, right?

And God is the same.

He allows us to go through challenges

to grow us.

But you know the other way

that you develop character

is through cultivating

a life of repentance

and confession.

As Christians,

one of the things

that we do as Christians

is we are called

to examine our hearts,

to constantly reflect,

where am I being defensive?

Where am I being proud?

Where am I blaming others?

Where am I pointing my fingers

to other people?

Where am I living

for my own glory

rather than God?

And God says

as we cultivate

a habit of reflection

and repentance

and confession,

actually we shape the character.

We become the kind of people

that God's calling us to.

And so while Nebuchadnezzar

is pleased

that he scored

these young guys

with the perfect resume,

what sets them apart

in Babylon

is not just their resume

but actually their character.

The kind of people

that God's called them to be.

And friends,

if we're ever going to serve

our city

by remaining faithful to Jesus,

we've got to become

the kind of people

that are growing

our character as well.

Okay?

So that's the second thing.

Third thing is this.

I'm going to run through this

really quickly.

Is if we're going to become

the kind of people

that love and serve our city,

we've got to know

what it means to worship.

What it means to worship.

Look at Daniel

and his friends here.

They go to Babylon

and amazingly,

they say yes

to all sorts of things

in the city.

They say yes

to new names.

So Nebuchadnezzar

gives these guys

Babylonian names.

They say yes to that.

They say yes

to Babylonian education.

They say yes

to Babylonian culture.

They say yes

to all these things.

But there's one thing

that Daniel and his friends

say no to.

What is it that they say no to?

It's the food

and the wine.

Right?

Now,

why does Daniel do that?

Well,

the point that Daniel's making

is not that we should

all become vegetarians.

Okay?

That's not Daniel's

main point here.

And he's not saying

that alcohol is bad

and we shouldn't drink wine.

Okay?

And this is not also

some secret code

for Christian dieting techniques.

Okay?

Sometimes,

I don't know if you've ever

heard this,

when I was growing up

people used to talk about

the Daniel diet.

Okay?

We should all do

the Daniel diet

and eat more vegetables.

And that's probably

good for us.

Dr. Graham,

you can tell us

vegetables is probably

a good thing, right?

But that's not the point

of Daniel chapter 1.

Daniel 1 · chapter mention

What's going on here?

Well,

remember in the Bible,

having a meal with someone

is always a sign,

it's always symbolic

of saying,

I welcome you,

I accept you.

Remember,

Jesus is always

getting in trouble

because he's always

eating and having meals

with the people

that the Pharisees

don't want to accept

and welcome.

And so he's having a meal

with the tax collectors

and the sinners

and the Pharisees

are saying,

how can you welcome them?

How can you love those people?

You should be rebuking them.

Jesus is having meals

with them

and he's always

getting in trouble

because it's Jesus' way

of saying,

I'm not just opening

my home to you,

I'm opening my heart.

I'm welcoming you.

And friends,

that's why actually

having communion

when our hearts

are bitter

with other members

of the church family

is actually a very

hypocritical thing to do

because when we take

communion together,

it's a way of saying,

I recognize you,

I welcome you,

I accept you.

But if there's

unforgiveness in my heart,

that's actually not

a good thing to do.

And so having a meal

is always a way

of welcoming someone,

of accepting them.

Now look at what's going on

here in verse 8.

Verse 8 says,

Daniel resolved

that he would not

defile himself

with the king's food.

The word defile

is in the Old Testament

a word that has to do

with worship.

Remember,

God's people

were not allowed

to go to the temple

if they were defiled,

if they were unclean.

And the issue

for Daniel here

is not the food,

what tastes good

or doesn't taste good.

The issue for Daniel

is there's something

going on here

that Daniel knows

that if he crosses

this line,

for him,

that in his heart

would mean

I'm moving into

Babylonian worship.

Okay?

There's something

going on here

for Daniel

that he's saying,

at this point,

if I say yes to this,

I'm selling my soul.

Daniel knows

that for whatever reason,

for him to say yes

to Nebuchadnezzar

at this point

meant that he

couldn't come before God

with a clear conscience

in worship

and say,

you are my God,

I live for you.

Now,

friends,

for all of us,

that's going to be

a different thing.

The Bible doesn't

actually say,

there's some things

the Bible's clear on,

right?

Like,

don't have sex

before marriage.

That's just,

it's just clear.

It's pretty hard

to say yes to that

and come to God

before worship

and say,

God,

I live for you,

right?

The Bible's pretty clear

on those kinds of things.

But there's a whole bunch

of things

that actually the Bible's

not clear on

and we've got to know

in our heart

what is our conscience?

What is the line

in the sand for me

that if I say yes to this,

it's going to be really hard

for me to come before God

and worship

and say,

Christ,

I live for you,

I give you my all.

For some of us,

maybe it's

what we do with our money.

For some of us,

maybe it's

what we do with our time.

For some of us,

friends,

it's going to mean

maybe even saying no

to a certain job

or a pay rise

or a certain promotion

because saying yes to that

is going to be,

in a way,

selling our soul.

It's going to be engaging

in the act of worship.

It's when work

becomes more than work,

work becomes worship

to our culture.

Friends,

though the pressure

is great,

will you dare

to be like Daniel

and resolve

in your heart

that while God

has called us

to love and serve

the city,

he hasn't called us

to love the things

of the city primarily

but to love him

and thereby

to serve the city.

And Daniel knows

that for him

there's a line in the sand

that moving beyond that

goes from just serving

the city

to worshiping the city.

And Christ calls us

and says,

the best way

that we can serve

our city

is to make sure

that our love for Christ

is preeminent.

Okay,

maybe I'll just

leave that point there.

I hope that makes

some kind of sense.

Okay,

fourth thing is this.

Last one is this.

In order for us

to really love

and serve our city,

for us to be faithful

to God

in the midst of Hong Kong,

we've got to understand

God's redeeming grace.

God's redeeming grace.

Look at Nebuchadnezzar's

strategy here.

Now,

Nebuchadnezzar's

is a smart guy.

Look at what he

does here

in chapter one.

Nebuchadnezzar

is pillaging

Jerusalem.

Okay,

and he's getting

all these exiles

to leave Jerusalem

and to come

and work

as slaves

in his Babylonian empire.

But Nebuchadnezzar

doesn't want

a refugee crisis

on his hands

and he doesn't

want

a rebellion

on his hands.

And so,

what he does

is he's going to

come and decimate

Jerusalem,

but the first thing

he does

is he gets

the cultural

and the political

elites

to leave Jerusalem

and he comes

and inculcates them,

indoctrinates them

in Babylonian culture

15,

20 years

before the rest.

Okay,

does that make sense?

So,

he gets

the noble

families,

the king

and the queen,

the nobility,

the royal members

of the family,

et cetera,

the political

and cultural elites.

he brings them

to Babylon

and he indoctrinates

them in Babylonian

customs and culture

so that when

the rest of Jerusalem

comes there

15 years later,

they see their leaders

and they say,

oh,

I guess life here

is not so bad.

We should just

follow those guys.

We should do

what they do.

So,

Nebuchadnezzar

wants to get

the leaders

and get them

on his side

first

before he brings

the rest of the nation.

Okay,

does that make sense?

Very smart.

But friends,

what the Bible says

is that what man

intends for evil,

God intends

for good.

Because look at

what God does here.

God does the exact

same thing.

God sends

15 years

before the rest

of Israel

going to Babylon,

God sends

a bunch

of faithful,

character-filled

men that have got

resolve and character

ahead

so that when

the rest of Israel

come 15 years

later,

they see Daniel

and these other guys

that have been put

in positions of prominence

serving Babylon

and yet faithful

to God

and the rest of Israel

can go and say,

let's follow those guys.

God does

what Nebuchadnezzar

was hoping to do,

God does

for his kingdom.

And what that means

is that as Israel

gets to Babylon

and they see

Daniel and his friends

serving faithfully,

they can remain

faithful to God

and 70 years later

they will go back

to Israel

and rebuild

the temple,

rebuild Jerusalem,

re-engage God

and become faithful

to God's people

once again.

But notice here,

it's not just that

God is being

good to them

because he's a nice guy.

Remember,

why is Israel

in Babylon

in the first place?

Remember what we said

last week?

The reason God's people

are in Babylon

is because of their

constant rebellion

and their rejection

of God.

For hundreds of years

God has been saying,

turn to me,

turn to me,

don't reject me

and they constantly

reject God.

So eventually,

God brings the Babylonians

as his instrument

of discipline,

his instrument

of punishment,

his instrument

of judgment.

God takes Israel

into Babylon

as an act

of discipline.

Okay?

Does that make sense?

But as my friend

Stephen Rain points out,

before God

has even instituted

the discipline,

he's already working

on their redemption.

Before God

has even brought about

their punishment,

he's already working

the plan

to bring about

their restoration.

Before God

has even finished

the correction,

he's already putting

in place a plan

to bring about

their renewal.

Israel hasn't even

gone to Babylon yet,

they're still on

their way there

and God is already

putting in a place

to send the leaders

ahead so that

they can restore

Israel and save

them and redeem

them.

It's kind of like

this, okay?

This is my friend

Stephen Rain,

this is his analogy.

He says,

it's like imagine

your child does

something really,

really naughty,

okay?

Really bad

and you send them

to their room

and you say,

you go to your

bedroom and I'm

going to come in

there and I'm

going to deal

with you,

right?

And they go

to the bedroom

and on the way

to the bedroom

you see this flyer,

this amazing holiday

to Disneyland,

Europe.

And you're like,

oh, that's a good

idea.

And you go online

and you book

this amazing holiday

to Disneyland.

On the way

to dealing

with your child

you're already

thinking of the

restoration plan.

That's what God

is doing here.

As he sends

his people

into Babylon

to deal

with them

and to punish

them,

to discipline

them,

he's already

instituting the

plan for their

correction,

their restoration,

their renewal,

and their redemption.

And that's

actually what

the last verse

of chapter 1

is all about.

Look at the

very last verse.

It says here,

Daniel was there

until the first

year of King Cyrus.

Well,

who is King Cyrus?

Well,

King Cyrus is the

leader of the

Persian Empire

who overthrew

the Babylonians

who turned

to the Israelites

and said,

I don't need you

in my kingdom.

Why don't you

go back to

Jerusalem and

rebuild the

temple,

rebuild the

city,

rebuild your

walls?

Why don't you

go back and

worship your

God back in

your nation?

At the very

end of the

very first

chapter,

God is putting

a little hint

in store here.

He's saying,

yes,

I'm going to

send these

guys to Babylon.

Yes,

I'm dealing

with them.

But this

isn't the

end of the

story.

This is a

temporary

arrangement.

Actually,

what I've

got in

plan is

their

redemption

and their

restoration

and their

renewal.

Even before

God's people

have come

to Babylon,

God is

already

putting in

place

their

renewal.

And friends,

it's the same

thing we see

in the

book of

Ruth.

Naomi is

convinced

that God

has abandoned

her,

he's rejected

her,

he's done

away with

her,

things are

going wrong

in her

life,

and the

very last

verse of

the first

chapter is

a promise

of hope.

God is

not done

with her,

but God

is going

to redeem

her,

heal

her,

and restore

her.

And so

right at

the outset

of the

book of

Daniel,

God wants

his people

to know

though their

sin is

great,

his

redeeming

grace and

his mercy

is greater

still.

You see

that?

Though

their sin

is great,

his redeeming

grace and

his mercy

way outstrips

even their

worst sins

and failures.

God wants

his people to

see that

though their

rebellion calls

for judgment,

his mercy and

his heart of

compassion calls

for their

restoration and

their renewal.

If only they'll

humble themselves.

If only they'll

come to him

with faith and

repentance.

Friends,

isn't the

redeeming,

restoring,

renewing grace of

God simply

incredible?

Isn't it amazing

that when we're at

our worst,

God is already

orchestrating a plan

to redeem and

renew us?

Friends,

you know,

the Bible says

that actually

the story of

Israel and

Babylon is the

story of every

single human

being.

The Bible says

that when we

were at our

worst,

God was

already putting

in place

plans to

redeem us

and to

renew us.

The Bible says

that while we

were still

enemies of

God,

while we were

shaking our

fists at God

and saying,

we don't want

your way,

we want to be

our own

king,

while we

were still

sinners,

God sent

his son,

Jesus Christ,

to die on

the cross.

And do you

remember the

words of

Jesus while

he's on the

cross?

While he's

being nailed

to the cross

by his

enemies,

Jesus prays

his prayer

and he says,

Father,

forgive them.

They do not

know what

they do.

Friends,

when you were

at your

very worst,

when you

had abandoned

God and

when you

had wanted

to be on

the throne

of your

own life,

when your

life was

wrecked with

sin and

guilt,

Jesus went

to the

cross for

you.

Jesus had

not abandoned

you.

Jesus had

not given

up on

you.

Friends,

when you

didn't know

Jesus,

Jesus knew

you and

he went

to the

cross for

you.

How

astounding,

how awesome,

how unbelievably

incredible is

God's redeeming

grace.

Friends,

you know what

the secret is?

God's renewal,

God's restoration,

God's great

redemption isn't

automatic.

It's free,

but it's not

cheap.

It requires

our humility.

It requires

our submission.

It requires

that we come

to him in

faith and

repentance.

It requires

that we come

to him and

say,

Jesus,

have your

way.

Friends,

the story of

Daniel is that

God wants to

show us that

he is on the

throne,

that no matter

what's going on

in our world,

God rules and

reigns,

and we can

trust him,

even in the

midst of the

storms and

the trials of

life.

Daniel 1

wants to

tell us and

show us that

character trumps

gifting every

single day.

And God wants

to show us that

if we're going

to be faithful

people of God

in the city,

we need to

know what it

means to

worship him.

We need to

know what

does it mean

to put Christ

first,

even in the

midst of the

most trying

and difficult

circumstances

of our life.

But ultimately

God wants to

know that

there will be

days when we

fail.

There will be

days when it

doesn't work

out.