"Living in Babylon" | Daniel 1 | Pastor Keith

And we're in Daniel for a reason.

The reason we're in Daniel is when we're at the pastors

conference away. I prayed and spent a lot of time

with the Lord in the evenings, unable to sleep a couple of

times because we were away to go to the conference.

But we also I was a way to seek the Lord on a few things and and

Daniel knew what book should we teach after the Book of

Revelation and Daniel was the book that the Lord guided me to

because in Daniel it's the manual how to live in a

difficult anti Christian world. It's the it's the book.

It's the book. If you have teenagers.

Actually, if you were here today and you're 5th between the age

of 15 and 17, can you just stand Male, female, everyone that's

between the age of 15 to 17, please stand up.

Please start. We got there a couple there, a

couple over there, 15 to 17. Yeah.

If you're 15 to 17, stand up. We want to see you.

OK, That's the age. Just keep standing.

That's the age of Daniel and his three friends.

So look around. That's how young they were.

Thanks, guys. Ladies, take a seat.

That's the age. And we're going to learn from

people that age how to live the Christian life in a difficult

world. We're going to learn from these

people absolutely, Absolutely. Today, as Christians, we're in a

conflict, a conflict of massive proportions.

There you see the outline of Daniel before us.

Our enemy, our adversary is Satan is very real.

And the spirit of the Antichrist.

That's the the stuff we see in all the protests.

It's the it's the the venom behind kill the Jews and gas the

Jews. And people celebrating when

Charlie Kirk was killed, people actually celebrated, went on

Twitter and said it's the best thing that ever happened.

Yeah, he should have. He should have died, should have

killed more of them. You go, how could that happen?

Even Mick Jagger said. How can people actually

celebrate the murder of a father or a husband?

It's because you and I live in a world and the Bible opens our

eyes to what the world is. It's not just trees and grass

and human bodies and cars and dogs and cats and things like

that. There's a spiritual world, our

adversary Satan is very real and the spirit of Antichrist that is

everything against Christ. The apostle John warned us and

it's in Top Gear this, this anti Christian, anti God spirit at

the moment. John said in 1 John chapter 4

1 John 4:3

verse 3. Every spirit that does not

confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God.

And this is this is the spirit of Antichrist, which you have

heard was coming and is now already in the world.

That's 2000 years ago. We see our enemies footprints.

Satan, the spirit of Antichrist, we see his fingerprints.

They're fingerprints. They foul stench over

everything. We see it in the government.

How can governments vote to make law so you can kill and abort

children right up to full age now?

Full term. Yeah.

Don't like. I don't think I will put them

down. That was one of the reasons why

people killed Charlie Kirk. He spoke strong against life and

abortion. People say, well what's it's the

females bodies. He said, yeah, Charlie Kirk said

in one of the times he said, yeah, what about the female

bodies of the little girls yet born their bodies.

And so governments, our government, you know, in

Australia, 83,000 abortions occur per year.

That's Optus Oval packed and another half again.

You know, we read in the Old Testament of a God called Molech

and and and it was a wicked worship this God Molech and you

can see the statues of these little gods Molech and they have

brass and they have hands standing like that.

So they're brass hands and to bring favour and and the worship

of Molech, you would price place a newborn baby after the statue

has been heated up into a fire white hot and then you would

place the child in the arms of that statute as a sacrifice,

killing it to Molech. This is why God said, you know

when you go into the promised land and people are worshipping

in this way, you got to wipe that out.

You got to remove it completely. Yet today Molech lives in

Australia exists the worship of Molech.

We see that in government elections, we see the movies,

the streaming services and such can constantly on our daily TV

news, in our shopping centres, our neighbourhoods, reaching

into our churches. Now, sadly, as one denomination

after another weakens, allowing so called tolerance and equality

to overrule God's word, all in the name of let's just make some

changes. More people will come.

Yeah, more people will come because you're no longer the

church. You just say a mob gathered

together. You know, we we're going to have

free beer and a free pony rides and circus rides and we can feel

the place and we can pay. Man, that church is really boom.

Look at all the people that are attracting there to do what?

Better off going to the royal show.

Well, that might be more expensive, I don't know.

The tragedy, anger and sickness of sin is everywhere in every

sphere of our fallen world. As a Christian, if you have

received Christ as your Lord and Saviour, repented of your sins,

ask him to come into your life being born again.

Is it possible for that person to live godly in such wicked

days? You go Keith, I don't know it's

a struggle at work. I'm the only Christian in my

family, I'm the only Christian in my sporting team.

If I was to mention that I was a Christian or pro Jewish in any

way or or or anti abortion anyway, oh man I'd be

ostracised. And if it is possible to live

godly in such wicked days, If so, how?

How can I do that? Can our youth have hope in a

world that has erased the definitions of male and female?

Never forget watching the US Parliament, government,

Congress, whatever it is called and a Congress person was a

woman was asked. Please give me a definition of

what a woman is. I mean seriously couldn't define

what a woman is. Actually DNA defines it.

It's pretty easy. Can our youth have a hope in

that world? Well, we can't define male or

female. We've redefined marriage.

I mean, people are marrying anybody and multiple marriages,

multiple peoples, people are marrying themselves.

People are marrying them on our cyberspace.

They're they're marrying someone who lives in the computer and in

their cyberspace. We've redefined family.

What is a family? We used to be mum, dad and kids,

didn't it? That ain't gonna happen.

Yeah. They've obliterated the roles in

terms of father and mother. You can't say that.

Can't say father and mother. Can you live in such a world?

Yes, you can. The answer from God's Word is

yes, you can. In Matthew chapter 19, verse 26.

Matthew 19:26

Don't. We'll, we'll get to Daniel.

Jesus said with men this is impossible, but with God all

things are possible. And so we're going to look at a

young Jewish teenager by the name of Daniel as to how we too

can stand and live as Christ's disciples in a world that hates

Christianity. Well, Australia doesn't probably

hate it. As I was thinking about it,

Australia simply ignores God. Our culture just ignores God.

Well, now I did it. Genesis 65.

Before the flood, God described the world a lot like now.

The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth,

and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only

evil. Continually.

Hear the adverbs there. Genesis 6-8.

But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

Daniel lived some 2600 years ago, and yet this young teenage

Hebrew leaves us such a godly legacy that Jesus himself

commends Daniel to us as a prophet of Almighty God.

People say, well, Daniel can't be.

It had to be written after the events.

It's too precise. It's too well done.

How could Daniel write these things and name names and kings

and empires before they've been informed?

It's impossible. Well, Daniel is a prophet

because Jesus says he is. Matthew 2415.

Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation spoken

of by Daniel the prophet, so Jesus Christ says everything

that Daniel says is right on. The 1st 8 chapters of the book

of Daniel are filled with words of warning to the most powerful

king living on the earth at that time.

Absolute dictator. His empire was Babylon.

The King's name? Nebuchadnezzar, a few more kings

are in this space that Daniel will work with and warn as well.

And then in chapters 9 to 12, Daniel shifts into Bible

prophecy. Bible prophecy again.

We're going to do Bible prophecy again.

Actually, yes, because we teach through the Bible. 1/3 of the

Bible is Bible prophecy. So if we didn't touch Bible

prophecy, we'd have to take a third of the Bible away and go,

well, only going to do the other 2/3.

So 9 to 12, Daniel receives directly from an Angel of God

events of the future. He receives God's plan also for

the nation of Israel. Now, that's important because

many churches today said, well, God's finished with his role.

But in the book of Daniel, an Angel is sent by God to tell

Daniel what's going to happen to Israel in the last days.

It doesn't say. And God spoke to Daniel by an

Angel about Australia, about Germany, about the USA or Great

Britain. No, he speaks about Israel.

Why? Because God has not finished

with Israel, his people. But in these prophetic writings

particularly, Daniel will, with incredible precision tell us in

detail of the very day that would be ahead when Messiah

Jesus would actually ride into Jerusalem on the cult of a

donkey we call Palm Sunday. He would say on this day he'll

come. And he did.

Yes, God will paint us a broad brush picture of empires, the

raising and falling of leaders in Daniel and powers.

But we will look intensely first up in this glorious book.

We will look at God's love, God's direction, God's care and

focus on you and I as individual believers.

We saw this very thing occur on the cross.

You know, God just doesn't deal in lumps and clumps of people.

He is your personal Saviour. The Lord is my shepherd.

I shall not want on the cross. As Jesus is dying on the cross,

he's, he's taken on the sins of the world, yours and our sins.

He's dying there. He's in absolute agony.

He looks down. What does he do?

Oh everyone, woe is me, woe is me.

Oh man, I'm doing. Look what I'm doing for the

world. No one speak to me.

I'm in the most powerful, important thing in history.

Now he looks at his mother, Mary, who's weeping at his feet.

And she says, he says, mum, John, I want you to look after

John the disciple John and John, the youngest of the disciples.

I want you to look after my mum now.

Take her to your home and make her like she's your mum now.

And John did they eventually let went and lived in the area of

Ephesus. So Jesus is dying on the cross

for the sins of the world and yet he cares about his mum and

he cares about his youngest disciple, John.

So Daniel, we kind of usually leap into Daniel, but we forget

pre Babylon Daniel. So Daniel is between the age of

15 to 17, he's in Jerusalem and the Babylonian army is laying

siege to Jerusalem. People are being slaughtered.

There's blood in the streets. They're screaming, this foreign

group of soldiers, the Babylon Empire, it's it's plundering

Jerusalem. And Daniel is there as a

teenager, He's of royal blood. So he's in Jerusalem.

He's in the palace as the army is invading Jerusalem.

Babylon, mayhem, bloodshed, screaming, murdering, crying all

around him. Soon the Babylonian soldiers

break in. They grab hold of him.

They seize him. Anyone who resists, they kill.

They grab him and his family and his friends.

Some are taken off to be slaves and some are taken off and

killed. This is all happening to a young

teenage boy. Others like Daniel are, are

selected a taken prisoner, pick at him, him, him, grab him.

And Daniel sees his father and mother for the last time ever,

15 to 17. Think about that.

We we kind of gloss over that. That sits behind them for the

last time. And he's taken away along with

his cousin Azariah, who's also of royal blood.

Then he begins a journey, a force March, 1500 kilometres by

foot. It's going to take him four to

five months, 4 to 5 gruelling months in chains.

And he's marched to Babylon. As I said, he's between the age

of 15 and 17. And in all this that is

happening to Daniel, to this young godly teenage boy, guess

what? He is in God's perfect will.

Got that? This is God's plan for Daniel.

He's in God's perfect will. Verse One In the third year of

the reign of Jehovah, king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of

Babylon, came to Jerusalem and besieged it.

And the Lord gave notice. Who's in control here?

The Lord gave Jehoiakim, king of Judah, into his hand, because

God was allowing the Babylonians to bring judgement upon Israel

with some of the articles of the House of God, which he carried

into the land of China to the House of his God.

And he brought the articles into the treasure House of his God.

This is Babel. Then the king Nebuchadnezzar

instructed Ashfenez, the master of his eunuchs, to bring some of

the children of Israel, in this case teenagers, some of the

King's descendants and some of the nobles, young men.

Daniels in this, in whom there was no blemish, but good

looking, gifted in all wisdom, possessing knowledge, quick to

understand who had the ability to serve in the King's palace

and whom they might teach. This is what's going to happen

to them, the language and literature of the Chaldeans.

The king appointed for them a daily provision of the King's

delicacies and of the wine which the king drank and three years

of training. So they're going to enter a

three year force training programme so that at the end of

that time they might serve before the king.

Now from among those of the sons of Judah were Daniel, Hananiah,

Michel and Azariah. To them the chief of the eunuchs

gave names. He gave Daniel the name

Belichazza to Hananiah Shadrach, to Michelle Meshach and to

Azariah Abednego. So Daniel, a Hebrew teenager,

was to be a light to the Gentiles.

So Daniel, this kid is Hebrew. His mission from God for a 15 to

17 year old kid, Daniel, you're going to be a light to the

Gentile world. Think about that.

We kind of go, well, when the kids grow up, you know, we might

let them do some stuff around church and hey, hey, at the age

of four, Samuel was already ministering in in the temple

with Eli wearing a little ephod. Remember, at the age of 15 and

17. And if you're a 15 to 17 year

old, I really want you to hear this.

God has a mission for you as he does to others.

And I say, well, I'm too young. What would I know?

I don't know anything. Well, Daniel was chosen by God

to be a light to the Gentile world on behalf of God.

That was his mission, the wonder of Daniel's calling.

Imagine that. Yet we find in God's will for

Daniel he was to be deported, forcibly, taken from his

comfortable life in the court, the palace of Jerusalem's royal

family, taken to a foreign land, a Pagan land.

But again, this was God's plan for Daniel's life.

You know, so often, you know, you and I, we want God to lay

out out his plan for us because we think, oh, who am I going to

marry? And what job am I going to have?

What Car will I have? And how tall will I grow?

And will I be good at sport? And we look at all these things

God's going. Ever thought of another country?

Ever thought of serving the king, the most powerful,

dangerous king in the world being in its course?

God's plan for Daniel's life was far different.

So God shifted their location, Daniel, along with these three

Hebrew friends. Why did God shift?

Because God needed them elsewhere. 1500 kilometres, 5

months travel at their own walking Daniel we do not find.

When all this has happened to Daniel and he's come from a

traumatic environment, we don't know.

We don't find Daniel kicking and screaming, shouting.

How could God do this? How could God allow this?

This is unfair. I'm separated from mum and dad,

I'm away from the palace, I'm having a walk here.

I'm a prisoner, I'm a slave. He doesn't cry out to God and

say God, I don't love you anymore.

You know what? I hear that so often now, a

little bump in the road comes into people's life.

Well, you know, I'm done with Godwin.

And and what happens is is, you know, everyone's got to coddle

around and I'll like, yeah, sorry.

We'll, we'll we'll help you through this situation.

I remember police, the young police constable coming over to

me. I was the chaplain at the police

and in the Chapel. He come over to get some advice.

He says, you know, I'm really struggling.

You know, I don't know how about I don't really want to be police

officer. And you know, my just my dad

wants me to the police, be a police officer and everything

like this. And I think he was expecting me.

Oh well, heck, this is what we can do.

We'll adapt the programme and help me through.

I said just leave, quit, go and mow lawns, be a fisherman.

Now it's forcing you to be a police officer.

Oh, you're not going to talk me around?

You don't want to be a police officer.

You walk out the door, hand, hand in your your resignation

and go and be happy and do whatever you like.

You see, I think a lot of counselling that we give is to

help people to stay in the grovel in the hall.

And it's unfair. Yeah, yeah, we see it's unfair.

And we allow them to stay and God's put them in that place for

them to grow up. And sometimes I think we work

against what God is doing. Daniel.

Daniel didn't say, oh, God, the trauma.

I've seen the bloodshed, the screaming.

In that moment, I can never do anything for anyone else.

I'm the one that needs help. No, Daniel, I'm sending you the

battle on. Some things are going to happen

to you there, and this is what I want you to do.

And you know what Daniel did? He went along with God.

He went along with God. Daniel accepted what God was

doing in his life and he, in spite of all that he had lost,

all that he experienced, all that he had lived through, he

remained true to God. That's the plan of Calvary

Chapel and why we teach the word of God.

If if you move, you're going to the Army, you're going to the

Navy, or you're going to work on a, A, a mining camp or

something. Our aim is to teach you the word

of God so that you don't have to be sitting here Molly coddled by

everyone and go, oh, poor, poor you.

You tough time. Yeah, flat tie.

Oh, that's difficult. Oh, you kick your toe.

Oh, that's terrible. You know, come and sit down and

we'll look after you so that when you go away into the real

world outside there, you can still live for Christ.

You can say, no, I don't live that way.

No, I read my Bible at lunchtime.

Yeah, this is what I do. You know, I'm.

But I don't, I don't, I don't live that.

I don't do that lifestyle. Our aim is to make you into the

man and woman of God through the teaching of God's word.

Now, what would God do through him?

I'm not sure if you're all aware, but throughout Scripture

we see God using, and I'm going to say this, you need to listen

to this, using difficult times to accomplish His will and those

He has called to serve Him. I don't like difficult times.

I struggle in difficult times, but it's where God says, because

Keith, you're a bit of a sook, you're weak in those areas.

And I'm going to bring you through the school of training

by the Holy Spirit. I'm going to lead you, you're

going to get some boots in the behind, some slaps around the

ears, and you're going to grow up and stop being selfish.

And I'm going to make you into a man of God.

And I'm still in that process because that's what God was

doing to Daniel. Moses for example, would not be

so well known to all of us if God had not allowed the

Egyptians to enslave Israel for 400 years.

Gideon, mighty man of valour, Gideon, Bible says, would be a

nobody if God did not give the Midianites 150,000.

I think it was the opportunity to suppress God's chosen people,

Daniel, with these 300 men. Oh my, oh oh, Oh my, oh you

blokes just come on. And how do they win the battle?

Held up a lamp, smashed it, shouted sword and Gideon, God

and Gideon and the Midianites killed themselves.

Jonah would be a disaster if God had not allowed him to spend 3

days and three nights in the belly of a great fish.

This morning, I believe each of us have been given a mission.

For starters, we've all been given the Great Commission.

That's the great command. Mark 1615 And he said to them,

Jesus, go, that's you and I. Our job is to go into the world.

God has commanded you. It's not a suggestion while

someone else could. No, no, you go into all the

world. And what are we to do?

Preach. That is, share the gospel to

every creature. Do you do that?

There is a reason and a purpose. God has created you for that.

You are alive now and for that reason as an individual, as a

married couple, and as a family. When you get married, it doesn't

fall away. When you have kids, it doesn't

fall away. The calling of God spreads to

your spouse and and flows on to your children.

It doesn't just drop off. Oh, it used to be me, but now

I'm married. That's all over now I got kids.

No married couples. If believers get married, they

should be both on fire for the things of God.

I should, we should, God should see an increase in their service

towards God, because now there's two of them encouraging one

another, reading the word of God, praying and saying, what

can we do to serve the Lord? Ephesians 210 For we are his

workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God

prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

For we are God's masterpiece, His artwork.

He has created us anew in Christ Jesus so we can do the good

things He planned for us long ago.

So what good things are you doing for God?

What are the good things that God has planned for you all?

I don't know. In here is where you find out

what they are in prayer. As you wait upon the Lord with

your Bible open, as you serve the Lord, as you come to church,

you see a need. There's the purpose.

Daniel, Hananiah, Michelle and Azariah were unable to fill

God's mission in each of their lives within the comfort of the

walls of Jerusalem. Couldn't be done there in your

life today. There will be times, perhaps

even now, when God needs to shake your life up a bit to

ensure your eyes are now open and your heart seeking Him as to

what He has for you to accomplish His will in your

life. When a situation comes, when a

trial happens, it's something rocks your boat, it's got down.

Hello, got your attention because all of a sudden, if you

are believing, you start praying.

Lord, don't you start reading. Oh, God, why is this happening?

God, Lord, leave me. That's why he allows it.

Because you've been drifting. You've been doing your own

thing. I remember Pastor Chuck Smith,

He was in his late 70s. All the pastors had gathered,

you know, the work that had happened.

Calvin Chapel had just flourished.

God did it. Glorious would be, you know,

thousands got saved and Chuck says between and I think it was

80 between 75 and 80 he come out and he said this has been the

hardest year of ministry I've ever had when everyone went what

you mean it gets harder and he was in the in the in the latter

years of his life and in ministry.

Now we most times will not understand what God is doing and

why. But so often as we look back in

hindsight, we see God's hand has been leading and guiding us

along the path as to where we are now.

With the changes of maturity, the storms, the trials, the

scars we ban now each have reshaped us.

And to the man and woman that God can now use us, we finally

surrendered. Well, the question is, have we?

It is critical in your walk as a believer when you're in the most

difficult times to be looking for God, for He's there.

Israel was in Babylon because of God's judgement upon them as a

nation. They had breached the Sabbath

and they had bowed down and now fallen into idolatry.

But even in the midst of God's judging the people of Israel by

Babylon, God had a mission for Daniel and his three friends

that would take them to the king of the most powerful empire on

earth at this time. And so Daniel arrives in

Babylon. Think about this.

He's 1517 years of age. First day he gets there.

What happens when they eventually arrive in Babylon

after many months of marching? What did their young eyes see

before them that was different to Jerusalem?

First of all, one of the seven wonders of the world, the

Hanging Gardens of Babylon. This massive city, the river ran

through it, but it was the most Pagan and powerful city in the

world. God's everywhere.

A new language and they couldn't understand what people said.

That a different culture, they dressed up when they comb their

head differently. That a dictator king who was all

powerful. He said, you're dead.

And that was it. For Daniel, Hananiah, Michelle

and Azariah, there was no, oh, I don't like this God, I'm going

home. There was no home to go to.

No going back. Remember, we sing that song.

I've decided to follow Jesus. How many times have you sung

that? You know what the words say?

No going back, no going back, The cross before me.

Nebuchadnezzar's plan for these three young teeners, What was

it? You're going to teach them?

Everything about Chaldea, Babylon.

And you know what? The very plan that

Nebuchadnezzar had and Babylon had for the teenage kids.

It's the same plan, moms and dads here today that an

Antichrist spirit LED world is seeking to do with your children

right now to reeducate them, change what they think about

marriage, about fathers, mums, dads, abortion, euthanasia.

The world, the education system is geared to change your kids.

Nebuchadnezzar's plans was to make these four Hebrew male

teenagers Babylonians. For these young Hebrew teens.

Yeah, They're allowed to hold to their Judaistic faith.

They can have that. That's allowed.

Yeah. You can still have the God of

Israel. But here's the other part.

As long as you worship the Babylonian gods first.

So the compromise was OK. Oh, you mean we can worship the

God of his? Yeah, but you got to worship our

gods first. You know, a similar lifestyle

for many churchgoers today, it's the it's the lifestyle of

Christian compromise. They come to church and

everything else in their life is first.

Their finance is first, Their, their, their, their hedonism is

first. All this is first.

And God sort of fits in down here.

Now, for a Jew, this was a problem.

Is that a problem for you? Because it's one of the 510

commandments. Because the problem is a very

real problem. Deuteronomy chapter 5, verse 7.

Deuteronomy 5:7

You shall not have other gods before me.

You shall not have other gods before me.

That's idolatry. Each of these young men were

about to face something that God said would happen back when

Babylon was not yet a world power.

It's just a a young nation. And the Babylonians sent a group

of people to visit Jerusalem. King Hezekiah was in charge at

the time of Israel. And as they arrived, he he

showed these visiting Babylonians some nice people.

Hey, come have a look around. Here's the temple.

Look at all the gold. Look at all the silver.

Look at all the treasures that we have.

Oh, man, that's. Oh, that looks pretty good.

Oh, come on. I'll show you more.

So when the Babylonians left and returned home, the prophet

Isaiah came and said to Hezekiah, hey, who are these

guys that just turned up? What'd you do?

And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, well, I showed him around, I

showed him the temple, I showed our treasures and everything

great like that. Here's what happened.

Isaiah 39 verse 5. Isaiah said to Hezekiah, Hear

Isaiah 39:5

the word of the Lord of hosts, Behold, the days are coming

future, when all this that is in your house and what your

father's have accumulated until this day shall be carried to

Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the

Lord. And they will take away some of

your sons who will be descended from you, whom you will bigot.

And here's what was going to happen to them.

And they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.

And so, besides leaving Jerusalem, being attacked,

marching 1500 kilometres, five months now in a Pagan empire,

you know what happened to Daniel and his three friends?

They made them Munichs, castrated.

So all the dreams, these young Hebrew men, teenagers, all their

dreams about being a father, passing on their family name,

playing with their children, they're gone with the, with the

mutilation at that moment that each could have said, well,

that's the final straw. We're done with you, God.

No, they each held on to their faith, their God and their hope.

It says in verse 8, but Daniel purposed in his heart that he

would not defile himself with all the King's food, the wine

and what they wanted him to do. God was very specific about what

animals could or could not be eaten in the Mosaic law.

Now here's the deal. And this is where Western

society and what happens in church happens today because

Satan comes in and whispering to, to to Daniel and he wished

whispers to you today. What's the big It's not such.

It's not such a big deal, Daniel.

You can pick your way through the food, set this forbidden

stuff aside, don't make a fuss. And who's going to know you're

1500 kilometres away? Who's going to know Satan

whispering in Daniel's ear? What the What's the big deal?

God got you into this mess. See how He rewards your

faithfulness to Him. Look what you got to go through

church. You today face the same

scenario. Well, if we sleep together,

though we're not married, it's not such a big deal.

Who will know what difference? What difference does it really

make? I mean, it's just a piece of

paper, isn't it? No, God says it's, it's

fornication. Well, God got me into this

financial bind. The difficulties I'm having now.

He can't expect me now to tithe and to give surely, when I'm

just keeping my head above water.

Read the book of Malachi. When you don't give you Rob God.

God says test me. It sounds like the Garden of

Eden all over again. These whispers.

Listen. Godliness is not fluid, it

doesn't adjust. Morality is not situational.

God has laid out what is righteous living.

When we tamper with God's standards, when we flaunt His

word on righteousness, we separate ourselves from God with

our sins. Christians can do that.

We become weak men, weak women, weak teenagers because we're

just gone with the flow. And God doesn't like weakness

husbands. One Peter chapter 3, verse 7.

In the same way, you husbands must give honour to your wives.

Treat your wife with understanding as you live

together. She may be weaker than you are,

but she's your equal partner in God's gift of new life.

Treat her as you. So treat her as you should so

your prayers won't be hindered. So you can be coming to church,

but if you're mistreating your wife, you can pray as much as

you like. God says I'm not listening.

I am not listening to you. Get yourself sorted out.

Be the right husband you should be.

Then I'll listen. You see, there's an impact when

we as Christians sin. It's worse than when unbelievers

sin. But Daniel, the boys make a

stand. I want to ask you, have you ever

made a stand for Christ like Daniel?

What enabled Daniel to take this stand to purpose in his heart?

You know, you can read as much as you can about Daniel chapter

Daniel 1 · chapter mention

1 and Daniel purpose, but there's nothing.

No, God didn't go. Daniel, I'm giving you this

superpower now to do this. No, only one thing can be the

answer. It was Daniel's knowledge that

he possessed of the word of God. Daniel was a man of the word of

God. It was this knowledge that

controlled the spirit and manner in which Daniel refused the

King's food, along with the strength of character to discern

and decide. It's called the book of

Galatians, reader. But note what they didn't do.

They didn't act on. Well, I, I've lost my job, you

know, because I was, you know, witnessing to everybody all the

time. And I was having my Bible out

when I was supposed to be answering the phone and handling

them. And I just go and no, no, no,

they didn't go on strike. We're not eating the Babylonian

food. We're Hebrews.

They didn't do that. They didn't storm into the

kitchen and shout out to the cooks.

No fork, no pork. No fork, no pork.

No, they use wisdom. Let's have a test.

Daniel verse 11 to 14, and I'll paraphrase it for you.

Let us eat the food that we think we know we can eat.

And after 10 days, if we're no good, if it's no good, then you

know, we'll go go ahead with you trusting in the Lord because the

eunuch head of the eunuch said, hey, if you finally how you do

this, you turn up and you're skinny and scrawny.

Oh, cut my head off Daniel. You see, when you surrender to

the Lord's commands and you live to please him, he, God will

always be with you 100%. He will be intimately involved

in your life. In that moment.

God did not just bless for that moment.

No, God opened the doors and poured out His abundant blessing

upon them and before them. Verse 9.

Now God had brought Daniel into favour and tender love with the

Prince of the eunuchs. That means sympathy.

God dealt with the eunuch's heart, the chief eunuch's heart,

and created a a relationship because Daniel came across as a

wise, young, sensible man, and the eunuch trusted him.

You see, God allowed them to excel before the King's eyes.

God allowed them to shine above all the others.

That's what happens when you obey the Lord.

You can live righteously, even in Babylon.

Don't tell me your school's too tough, your workplace is too

tough, your sports team is too difficult.

You and I face situations every day when we have the choice to

say yes to God or yes to ourselves.

The wheat from the chaff, the wise from the foolish.

Most of those will be small decisions where Satan will

whisper, well, it's not really a big deal.

I mean, really doesn't matter. Who's going to know this one

time? Just ask God to forgive you for

it later. But every decision as to whether

we sin or obey God is a big one. Why?

Because every sin is big, our sins can separate us from God.

They can close our ears to His voice.

They can place us out of His will.

They can make us vulnerable to the enemy's attack.

Our sins also grieve God, but they hurt us ourselves terribly.

Jesus said He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also

and much, And he was unjust in what is least is unjust also and

much. There are not too many

professing believers and churches today who are not

there. There are sorry too many who are

not living in peace. Yet they're believers because

peace only comes from knowing you are right with God because

of His wonderful grace, which is why we live obediently before

Him in a sinful world. We know what He has done for us.

We celebrated it today and we love Him.

That's why it's called the Eucharist, the table of

Thanksgiving. You can have the peace of God

today if you start living right for Him.

Daniel 121 final verse. And Daniel continued even until

the final year of King Cyrus. It meant Daniel continued to

live before the Lord. He continued to stand fast and

as a result he had the favour of God.

You say maybe some of you were saying this, well, I don't have

the favourite God in my life. It's probably because you're not

standing up for for God. That's how you get the favour.

Well, if I stand up, I'll lose my job.

No, not if you stand up and are wise, say, well, you know, I

know you, everyone wants us to do this, but that's against my

faith. That's against what the Bible

teaches. I'm a Christian.

You do it in a way that's wise. Wise as a serpent, gentle as a

dove. When a man's wise please the

Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.

Proverbs 16, seven. So let's wrap this.

If Daniel had filed or compromised in his first Test,

how great would have been his lost?

Think about that. He would simply be a nameless,

forgotten teenage refugee in history.

What will you be in the history? And then in the eyes of your

children, your family, your wife, your children?

Will you be a man? My dad was always a man of God.

He stood up for the things of God.

We speak of things being tough today, don't we?

Oh, yeah. But Keith, it's difficult.

Where I work, it's difficult. Hey, how difficult was it for

Daniel? Seriously, is your life anywhere

as difficult with what Daniel went through?

No, the Bible called, it's called to us is to not be

conformed to this world, Romans chapter 12 but to be transformed

Romans 12 · chapter mention

by God's word and his power in our lives.

Where has God placed you to be wise like Daniel, to be strong

like Daniel, to be honoured like Daniel in your school, in your

workplace, in your family. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father use me. I surrendered to you this

morning. Strengthen me as I read your

word. Help me to be like Daniel in

Jesus name, Amen.