As we opened up this particular study and preaching series in Daniel last week, we focused on what is the big picture of Daniel and what are we to understand about what Daniel is and what it's about. And we took some time to do that, just looking at the themes. The name of our series is called God's Kingdom Unrivaled. And that's because when we look at the big picture, we're seeing that The stories that are given to us in the book of Daniel are not ultimately about Daniel. They're about God and they're about his kingdom. And what we see is there's this war between the kingdom of God and the kingdoms of the earth. And we see that God, although it may seem like he and his people are being conquered, no, we see that God is actually sovereign over all things. And he's sovereign over all people, including all kings and kingdoms. And so even though the appearance of those things look significantly, you know, in trouble, that's not the case. So this is a book that's to encourage us and for us to pay attention to the details of how we are to understand how God works in His providence and in His raising up of rulers and His taking down of rulers, but not just rulers, everyday people all the time. This is helpful for us. So we looked at the first seven verses and we saw important opening verses. In fact, we asked the question, what are we to learn about the opening verses in this book? And our point from last week was that our sovereign God shows us his faithfulness when he judges his people's unfaithfulness. That God shows his faithfulness when he judges his people's unfaithfulness, and we looked at the history of Israel and how they were taken away into captivity by Babylon, that their temple was destroyed, that the people were marched off by the enemy into a different land. And we see that it was God who did this. It may look like God and his people were conquered, but no, it was God who was orchestrating these events. In fact, it was God who, through his prophets, Jeremiah and others, wrote that this exact thing would happen in detail. It talked about in Jeremiah 25, we'll be able to connect on that a little bit later, that they would be taken away in captivity to Babylon, even by King Nebuchadnezzar by name, and they would be marched away. And so, as we continue on in the stories, picking up in verse eight, it really is, the chapter is one unit, and what we're gonna see is that the chapter has three points, so we already had from last week, but we have two more points this morning. And it's gonna follow a very similar format as last week, because this chapter is same unit. In fact, 1st Daniel 1.2 says this, and the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, Nebuchadnezzar's hand, with some of the vessels of the house of God, and he brought them to the land of Shinar, which we understood Genesis 11 is an appeal to the kingdoms of man, like the kingdom of Nimrod, shown against God in Genesis 11, to the house of his God, and placed the vessels of the treasury of his God. And this was something that we should, if we were reading this just on a human level, we should gasp and go, oh no! God and his people are being taken captive. Oh no, the holy vessels are being taken from the house of God into the house of a ruler king. Oh no, God is conquered. But that verse two, the Lord gave, in the Hebrew, we're gonna see this phrasing is gonna be repeated three times in this chapter, giving us our structure. It's not the whims of humans or even the highest ruling humans of the land who are in control of things. It is God who is in control of things. and therefore it is the Lord who gave his people up to an enemy king. And so it is our sovereign God who shows his faithfulness when he judges his people's unfaithfulness because he's showing that he's fulfilling what he said he was going to do if his people were unfaithful. So as we continue to read, we're going to see here in verse 3, The king commanded Ashfenaz, the chief eunuch, to bring some of the people, both of the royal family and the nobility. Youths without blemish, of good appearance, 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 the language of the Chaldeans. We saw last week that this is King Nebuchadnezzar's reprogramming of these youths, and that these youths were, yes, impressionable, probably in their teenage years, maybe as old as their young 20s, But we see that God is allowing and orchestrating all this to happen. And what is King Nebuchadnezzar doing? Trying to take over Israel, not just by their holy things, but by taking over their youth. And so he's re-educating some of their finest youth. In fact, he's trying to make them Babylonian. He's trying to turn them, even culturally, against their God and against their people. Daniel 1.5 says, the king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate, which by the way, just think about it for a sec. He apportioned them like the king's food, which is actually the best food. The food, the highest food, if it's good enough for the king, he's given it to them. That's actually, some people might go, what's the problem? This is the best food being given in the land. But we're going to see how this story moves forward. what he ate and what he drank and the wine that he drank and they were to be educated for three years in this retraining program and at the end of that time they were to stand before the king. So as we now jump into verse 8, which is where we start for this morning for our passage, we need to see how these Hebrew, these Israelite youths who were full of wisdom and skill and knowledge, how were they handling this Babylonian retraining program? Well, verse 8 makes it really clear. 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. Let me just stop here. How does Daniel and these other young men handle this being placed in a foreign land with a foreign people, with a foreign language, even being given foreign names? foreign food, how do they handle? Do they submit themselves to the culture or do they say, no, we are going to follow God's ways? Well, we clearly see the resolve of Daniel. Daniel resolves that he would not defile himself. No, I'm not going to eat what the king gives me or drink what the king gives me if that will defile me. I'm gonna follow what God says, even when I'm in a foreign land. Even when I'm amongst enemies who are surrounding me, I'm gonna resolve in my heart. It's a choice, a commitment made beforehand. No, I will not be led around by enemies in a way that would defile me, that would make me unclean. Some people would say, oh, they don't, you know, why wouldn't he wanna eat the food? Well, there's actually a few reasons why, but he clearly repeats himself in verse 8. He says at the beginning of verse 8 that he would not defile himself, and at the end of verse 8 he says he asked the eunuch, chief eunuch, so that he would not defile himself. Clearly, the food and the drink of King Nebuchadnezzar would have been some sort of defiling of himself. Let me read a few quotes from some helpful teachers talking about this passage. It says, why refuse the food? Their minds, as well as their bodies, are being fed by the Babylonian court. If they prosper, then to whom should they attribute their development and success? The Babylonians. However, by refusing to eat the food of the king, they know it is not the king who is responsible for the fact that they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men. who ate the royal food. Their robust appearance, usually attained by rich fare of meats and wine, is miraculously achieved through a diet of vegetables. Only God could have done it. Now, I mentioned last week as we seek to rightly interpret the scriptures and rightly understand their emphases, we must back away from trying to make Daniel the hero or these men the hero and try to understand that this is a theocentric book. It's centered around God. God is the main character. And so we should expect the human characters to somehow rightly point, especially if they're good examples like Daniel and these men and these young men, that they're doing things for God's sake. And so it makes sense that they wouldn't want to be defiled and give credit to the Babylonian king and to their reprogramming and their food. No, they want to make sure that they're giving glory to God and to God alone. Not only that, the defilement piece, Another commentator, Sydney Graydonis, says this, there's a second reason why Daniel may have refused the royal rations of the food and wine. Usually a portion of the meat and wine at the king's table would first be offered to the Babylonian gods. Partaking of this food would have been an indirect act of worshipping the Babylonian deities. When Daniel takes his stand not to eat the royal food and drink the royal wine, he takes his stand against the Babylonian gods and for the God of Israel. I will not eat food that has been sacrificed to idols. We see this being a problem not only in the Old Testament, but even during the New Testament age. We see the Apostle Paul speaking of food sacrifice to idols in 1 Corinthians 8, 1 Corinthians 10, and in other places. This is a problem not just for people in the past, this is a problem for people now, to participate with other wrong deities and wrong worship. And so he didn't want to defile himself with the king's defiled food or food that had been sacrificed to idols, he wanted They wanted to honor the Lord by following God's rules and God's laws, even when they're not in their homeland, because they're under the right and the righteous king, even when there is some other ruling king over them on earth. So let's get to our first point here in our passage, starting in verse 8. It's going to be similar to the wording of last week, but if you're writing notes, you can write this first point down. It's this. It's that our sovereign God, gives his people favor when they seek to be faithful in the world. Our sovereign God gives his people favor when they're seeking to remain faithful. He favors his people. And in the same way that we see that God gave Israel, the people, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, we're gonna see God giving again in verse nine. God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs. God gives his people into the hand of his enemies, showing his faithfulness and their unfaithfulness. But now we're going to see in this passage, in this section, he's giving Daniel favor. So we can immediately remember God is sovereign. It says, our sovereign God, he's sovereign over all things. The very large movements of history, like literally the migration and the captivity of a whole people group moving from their land into a foreign land, Babylon, through a tyrant king. The large movements of history. God is sovereign over those things. But not just the large movements of history. He's sovereign over the personal details and affairs of even individual men. we see him being sovereign over Daniel, and sovereign over these Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, over their life, and over what food they would be eating, and what favor they'd be getting. So God is sovereign over all things. And so be encouraged today, brother, sister, friend, God is sovereign over all things, over the big things, and over the little things, over the things in your life, over the very small details that maybe you're worried about, God is sovereign over those details. And so we can trust Him that God loves us and He's for us if we're in Christ, and that He will help us, especially as we are seeking to be faithful to Him. As we live in the world around us that is seeking to pull us away from God, seeking to influence us towards worldliness, towards selfishness, towards pride, towards self-dependence, as we seek to be God-dependent, as we seek to be God-glorifying, God-honoring, God will give us favor too. Because God is a God who gives his people favor, just as we see here. Let's see here, he says specifically, verse nine, that he will give favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs. Now, I think there's a reason why, just like in the first section, it doesn't seem like God, like it's a good thing, right? In the first point, we see, oh, God gave his hand, gave the people over into the hand of their enemies. That doesn't seem like a good thing. But God is doing his work and his plan. It's a similar thing in the second point of the chapter. He says that he gave favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs. But as we keep reading, it doesn't quite seem like that's happening. Let's read in verse 10. Verse 10, it says, and the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, I fear my lord, the king, Nebuchadnezzar is what he means, who assigned your food and your drink. For why should he see that you are worse in condition than the youths who are of your own age? Like, what if you're gonna be worse? I don't want him to see that. So you would endanger my head with the king. Wait, didn't God just, didn't Daniel just say that God gave him favor with the chief eunuch? And what is the answer of the chief eunuch? I don't like this idea. What if the king doesn't like the way you look and that's gonna be bad for me. If we read the story rightly, If we just stop at this moment, it kind of feels like there's a disconnect. Wait, I thought he said he was going to give him favor. But just like in the first point, it's God, through the author Daniel, stating this clearly, unequivocally, no, God is working. even when it doesn't look like God is working. God is giving favor even when it doesn't look like God is giving favor. We should remember that. Things as they appear are not always as they are. And so we must trust God's word when he says he's giving them favor. In fact, imagine Daniel at this moment and his friends at this moment. God gave him favor, but why, he just said no. Didn't he just say no? least implicitly. Well, let's keep reading so we can maybe see if there's any tension relieved here. We do see it in verse 11. Verse 11, does Daniel give up? Is Daniel discouraged? Does Daniel go, oh no, well, if you won't let me do it, then I guess we better eat it. No, he doesn't stop with the concerned chief eunuch. He keeps on asking. He sticks to his guns. He stays faithful even when people don't like this idea. Verse 11, Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had assigned over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Let me just stop here. This is a small thing but worth pointing out at this moment. If you don't succeed at first, try, try again. Daniel did not give up when it came to being faithful. We're going to receive pushback when it comes to our Christianity, pushback when it comes to the world, pushback when it comes to our family, pushback when it comes to our workplace. But we see a good example of the favor of God on Daniel, and that he kept him resolved. He kept him faithful. And we must give God the glory and God the credit for Daniel's ultimate being faithful, but we must not cave in to the temptation. And in fact, if you have a chief eunuch, notice he's a chief eunuch, he's on top. If the top guy, if the head boss, if the CEO, if you will, who has the most authority will not answer your request. Go to a lower ranking one. Look what he does. He goes, now Daniel said to the steward, whom the chief of the eunuchs had assigned over Daniel. In fact, this was mentioned quite a bit ago. It came up during our time during the COVID era, if you will, this idea of the doctrine of lesser magistrates. There's this idea that we cannot and should not follow men when they go against the commandments of God. Right? We defy men to make sure we don't defile ourselves. Amen? And we deny ourselves against sin and we follow God. We obey God rather than men. Well, the doctrine of the lesser magistrates is this idea that if there's a higher king or a higher level of authority who has a rule on the land or who is making things so that Christians would be going against God or going against conscience, then we should not follow what the higher magistrate says. No, we should go to a lesser true authority that one of the higher magistrates has given authority to and try to work with a lesser authority so that we do not have to defile ourselves, we do not have to go against God, we do not have to go against conscience. We actually see an example of this idea right here. Daniel didn't see it as just like, well, you're the top guy. I guess there's no one higher to go to. I guess I better just fall in line and follow the culture and follow what everybody else is doing. No, that's not what we see happening. We see Daniel staying resolved by the strengthening of God and going to some other appropriate authority and asking for their help. And guess what? Here is where we see God giving the favor to turn the heart of this authority. So, this is an important thing to point out. Don't give up when things get hard. Stay faithful to God, faithful to Christ, faithful to our call as Christians, and keep going. Look what he says. We see the wisdom of Daniel. We see the prudence of Daniel not to give up. Verse 12, he puts it before him this way, test your servants for 10 days. Give us a trial run. See how it goes. Notice. Daniel did not demand these things. This is another important thing. Daniel was working with the authorities, and when one higher authority was not able or not willing to comply with what Daniel was wanting to do to honor God, He went to a different authority and asked them to be able to do that. And he was reasoning with this lesser authority so that they give us a trial run. See what you think. And he requests this. He does not demand this. He requests this. And he says, make a comparison between us and between them. See how it goes. Let's have a test trial run. Notice the prudence. Sometimes we need shrewdness. We need wisdom in how we're to interact, especially as we interact with authorities that may not be on our side. We can see how God gave him favor in wisdom and in shrewdness. In fact, I appreciate this quote by Sinclair Ferguson at this point. He says, we do not need, we do not read any harsh words. with Daniel, rather he responded to his situation in a spirit of humility and respect. He requested permission of the chief of the eunuchs and of the steward. He did not go out of his way to embarrass either man or on account of his own faithfulness. He allowed no harsh words about others to pass his lips. Indeed, at this stage, he does not seem to have explained to either man that he had already resolved that whatever the response, on no account would he defile himself. He seems rather to have patiently explained his situation, his desire to be faithful to his Lord, and that his request may be received." This is important for us to understand because sometimes when we talk about defying the king or defying authorities in order to follow God rather than men, sometimes people then take license to be rude or to be revolutionary. But we see that's not the case here with Daniel. We see as God gives favor to Daniel, that doesn't include Daniel being a jerk. It doesn't include Daniel demanding his own way and making a big scene. Now, I could see if it were to come to life or death and you needed to stand in the way of somebody who was gonna get killed unjustly and you needed to yell or you needed to call things out. We do have examples of John the Baptist calling out Herod, saying, hey, you cannot have your, right, you cannot commit adultery in this way. So there are times where you need to call out very clearly very openly, the sin of leaders, and say that's not okay. But there are other times where you can use wisdom, you can request, you can, if you will, play within the system to be able to get a result that would be God-honoring. And I think it's one of those things where we should seek to be a godly, peaceable people. And if we are pressed and pressed and pressed to the point where we have to defy, we should defy and follow God, not man. But we should always seek to keep our wits about us. We should seek to, just like Jesus, when he was struck and misunderstood and maligned and reviled, he did not strike back. He did not fight evil with evil, neither did Daniel. And so this is an important instructive for us. We may defy authorities who call us to sin against God and against conscience, but we may not compound sinning by the manner in which we go about defying. If that's required of us, God can bless us in our defiance, if it's God honoring defiance, but we must still be self-controlled in how we go about these things. But here we see the now response of the steward who was over Daniel and the others. Verse 14, it says, so he listened to them, and in this matter, and tested them for 10 days. Okay, he gave them favor, he said, let's try it. Verse 15, and at the end of the days, it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths who ate of the king's food. So the steward took away the food and the wine that they were to drink and gave them vegetables." Now, I'll have to say it again, just because it needs to be said. This doesn't have to do with a particular Daniel eating fast regimen. We should not be taking away that the primary understanding of this passage is not, let's all take a Daniel fast. Let's all just eat vegetables. Let's all just drink water. That's not the point of this story. And for those people who've used it that way, I would say, God help you, God bless you, you're missing the story. This is about God's sovereignty, God as king of kings, ruling over the earth, ruling over his people, ruling over the kingdoms of the world, and he is sovereignly guiding his people, helping his people, even in the midst of captivity, God is winning. That's what this is about. And we can learn from these examples, and we can be blessed and comforted by the sovereignty of our God. This is not about a vegetarian diet. So if you've ever been personally, either, if you've ever said, used these words to justify a vegetarian diet, or if you've heard other people, personally, you should repent, and then just be kind to those people who maybe deal with that and have that understanding. We don't have to hurt them. But no, that's not what this is about. This is about God. It's about His faithfulness. It's about His sovereignty. It's about His kingdom. It's about His reputation. It's about His holiness. It's about His people thriving in the midst of difficulty. It's about His people having faithfulness and showing favor during times when they're not at full strength or when they're not in their land. So we must understand this rightly. You know this very thing? was specifically prayed for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years earlier by King Solomon. You know when King Solomon was dedicating the temple, he asked for this very specific dynamic to be, for God's people, to if they sin, which Israelites sin, that's why they were kicked out into captivity, if they were to confess and if they were to seek to be faithful again to God, that God would answer their prayers and show them compassion from their captors. This passage we're reading is a fulfillment of King Solomon's prayer. Let me read to you from 1 Kings chapter 8. Verse 46 and 48 and 50, Solomon prays, if they sin, the people of Israel, if they sin against you, the Lord, for there is no one who does not sin. It's a good doctrine of total depravity, right? For there's no one who does not sin. And if you are angry with them and give them to an enemy, which is what he does in this case, hundreds and hundreds of years later, so that they are carried away captive in the land of the enemy. far off or near if they repent with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies who carried them captive and pray to you toward their land which you gave to their fathers the city that you have chosen and the house that you have built for your name then here in heaven your dwelling place, their prayer, and their plea, and maintain their cause, forgive your people who have sinned against you and all their transgressions that they have committed against you, and grant them compassion in the sight of those who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them. Is this not amazing? This just shows you how God really is sovereign, that God is using the past prayer of a king of Israel to think forward of God, please protect your people. Your people sin like crazy, right? And so when they sin and when they mess up and when you punish them, like you said you were gonna punish them, oh, help them to repent. And if they repent, please hear their prayer. And if they're in another land, please give them grace and compassion and allow their captors to have compassion on them. That's exactly happening in our story today. This is God's sovereignty. This is God's rule over all the earth, over all of history. Not just then, but now. God is sovereign over all these things. He uses the prayers of the righteous to bring about his will. This is good for us to know. And so, let me ask a question for you as we think of these things. Do you now, as we think of this story, do you resolve in your heart not to defile yourself and trusting God that he will show you favor? Are you going to live a life of faithfulness, a faithfulness to Christ the King, a faithfulness to the words of scripture, faithfulness to the gospel ministry, faithfulness to the great commission of being an individual, being a family, being a church that is called to faithfulness in Christ? Are you resolving yourself not to be, let yourself go into sin? No, no, I, by God, with all the strength that you've given me, Lord, I'm gonna do everything I can. Strengthen me, show me your favor so that I can stand up in the time of temptation. I cannot give in. Even though I'm weak, even though I'm feeble, I know that you are good to your people. So have you resolved? Will you resolve? Will you resolve today by the power of Christ? If you're in Christ today, you have the power of Christ through the Spirit in you to say, Lord, strengthen me, resolve my heart. I will not give in. Fight the sin that God has given you to sin. Those besetting sins, say, I will not keep falling into those sins. Sins of the mind, sins of the heart, sins of my mouth. I resolved, Lord, help me, help me to continue fighting my sin, to remain faithful, to not let my anger get the best of me, to not allow that anger to pour out into my speech that hurts people, that slanders, that breathes murder instead of life and love. Will you resolve to press against the pressure that is on you when you have family members who don't want you to honor the Lord's Day, who don't want you to follow, don't be so strict, don't worry about it. We can hang out, we can have our parties if we want. It's not a problem, God wants us to be happy. Don't be so strict or legalist. Are you gonna resolve in your heart to press against the pressure on you and say, no, I will not give in to my family, I will not give in to my friends, I will not. I want to honor the Lord, I want to honor his day, I want to honor him with my life, with my mouth, with everything that I believe, everything that I do. Press against the culture in our world. I resolve not to be made like the world, to be made into the idol worship of Babylon. Or in our case, we're not going to be, I don't know, Americified. We're not going to be turned, we're not going to be following the quote unquote American dream or American ideals. There's nothing wrong with the idea of trying to own a home, or to try to do well, or to pass on an inheritance, or have your kid's life be better than yours life. There's nothing inherently wrong with that. But sometimes the church and Christians can be swept away by American idealism. And we start following an American dream. We start following, caring more about our retirement, about the size of our home, about what people think, about what street we live on. What clothes we wear, where we go out to dinner. I think many of us are feeling the pinch of that in these times when things cost more. It's kind of hard to do American Dream when you can't afford it. But I'm going to press back and say, I'm going to be more Christian than I am American. There's nothing wrong with being American. It's just not our primary identity. Will you resolve to not be pressured by the peer pressure? In your workplace, when other people are happy to cheat and steal and lie, when other people are creating alliances against you or against other people, you're gonna resolve. I will not participate with this inappropriate, sinful behavior just so that I can get ahead or not be on the outs. I wanna be a part of the cool crowd at work. No, resolve in your heart. Lord, I wanna do whatever is pleasing to you. I wanna do it in your way, in your time, and whatever happens. What if people don't like me because I stand up for Christ? I say there's only two genders. I say we should talk about marriage the way we should talk about marriage, or we call out education in our society a certain way, saying no, we cannot be indoctrinated in these pagan ways. or our neighbors. I will not give in to these crazy Halloween. We just got done with that season. I hate when Halloween happens and our whole neighborhood turns into this evil demonic fest with ghouls and goblins. I know they're just plastic, but it's so obviously wicked. I mentioned it before how one of the houses had a cauldron of witches that were burning Puritans in a cauldron. It's like, that's murder. You're celebrating the persecution of Christians. Not okay, you know, not okay. We're not going to think like, oh, it's not a big deal. It's just plastic, it's not a big. No, I will not let the sensitivity of wickedness be diminished. I'm going to pray against those things. I'm going to seek to have conversations with people. Do you, will you, have you, will you resolve in your heart to follow the Lord and to be faithful, trusting that He'll show you favor? Even though you might get pushed back, He'll show you favor. I was encouraged, maybe some of you may know about the resolutions that Jonathan Edwards made as a young man. He was known for making a long list of resolutions. I think maybe even over 70 of them, if I understand correctly. I read through some of them a while back, Let me just give a few examples. The 18th century American preacher, theologian, philosopher Jonathan Edwards wrote a series of resolutions, I Resolve, 70 of which were completed prior to his 20th birthday. This is young. This is actually appropriate because that was probably about the age or younger that Daniel was at. This is not just for old people. This is for all people, right? No matter what age. So young people in the room, be encouraged. Be encouraged. We can be godly. You can be godly by the power of Christ. You can learn the scriptures. You can be faithful. You can grow in wisdom. You can have wisdom. You can navigate through hard situations. God can be with you. Look what Jonathan Edwards says. Resolved never to do any manner of thing, whether in soul or body, less or more, but what tends to the glory of God. I resolve to do everything to the glory of God. Wow, what a resolution. Everything to the glory of God, no matter how big, no matter how small. Resolved that I will live just So as I can think, I shall wish I had done, supposing I live to an old age. Meaning, I don't want to live with regrets. I'm going to resolve to live in a way that even if I live to a long age, I will have done the same thing that I wish to have done. Meaning, I'm going to be thoughtful. I'm going to be careful. I'm going to be wise. I'm going to be prudent. I'm not going to be impulsive. I'm going to do things very carefully. Resolved, never to give over, nor in the least to slacken. my fight with my corruptions, however unsuccessful I may be. I will keep fighting sin, no matter what, even if I give in to sin. I will never stop fighting my sin, because Christ is too important. My witness is too important to God's glory, to the church, to my family. I will keep, I will not give in and say, oh, it's too hard, I'm too far, I'm too deep. I resolve to never give up. in this fight, resolved never to do anything which I should be afraid to do if I expected it would not be above an hour before I should hear the last trump. Meaning, even if I know that the Lord was coming this very hour, I'm gonna live as though I'll be fine with whatever choices I make, even if Christ is coming back right now. Because he's on his way, he's on his way. This is the type of resolve. In the way that we see God giving favor to Daniel, God can give favor to us to have this kind of resolve. Praise the Lord that he does that in showing us favor. You know, the scripture says in James 1, religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father is this, you visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world. And again, in chapter four of James, he talks about not wanting to be worldly. This is what we're talking about. We're resolving not to be worldly. Verse 4 of chapter 4 says, God loves us. He's jealous over us. He's not indifferent over the fact that we are faithful or unfaithful, worldly or unworldly. God wants our righteousness. He calls us to be righteous. Verse six says, but he gives more grace. Isn't it true that we will not be righteous? We are not righteous in our own strength. Praise the Lord for the gospel of Jesus Christ, that Jesus is the one who is righteous. Jesus is the one whom we must lean on and place our faith in and continue to rest in his righteousness, because our own righteousness fails us day after day. And so that doesn't mean that we are unrighteous. That means we can give ourselves unrighteousness. No, God gives us grace. He gives grace to the humble to repent. And so I resolve to repent and to repent and to repent. He gives more grace. Therefore, God says, I oppose the proud, but give grace to the humble. Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. This is our battle. It's not just Daniel. It's not just Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. This is the people of God. This is our walk. And God will show us favor. He will help us to remain faithful. So let's look at our second point. What are we to learn from this first chapter? Well, God gives, you know, he shows his faithfulness in the first week when he judges his own people's faithfulness. And not only that, our sovereign God, he gives his people favor when they're seeking to remain faithful. It's not just favor he gives. Our second point for this morning is that our sovereign God gives his people wisdom when his people seek to remain faithful in the world. He gives favor and he gives wisdom. Favor is from outside, right? Favor is from the people who are surrounding you. Now, we saw it wasn't favor from every single person in the world, but it was a favor to be able to get through the needed situation. Now he's gonna give wisdom, which is, look at what we see here in Daniel. Verse 17, 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. Verse 18, at the end of the time when the king had commanded that they should be brought in, and 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 look what it says, verse 20, and in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, king tested them. And he found them 10 times better than all the magicians and the enchanters that were in all his kingdom. And I'll just stop there. Actually, no, verse 21 is the last verse. It says, and Daniel was there until the first year of King Cyrus. God doesn't just give favor, he gives us wisdom. And we see really clearly that we, as his people, have access to God to pray for wisdom. right? That we are to lean on God. I mean, James says it really clearly. If you lack wisdom, ask God, who gives generously, and God will give wisdom. He gives it without reproach. There's so much wisdom He has to give. So when we get stuck in situations that are going to want us to compromise, we shouldn't give up. We shouldn't give in. We should fight back, we should be careful, we should be courteous, but we shouldn't be courteous with our sin, right? We should be honoring of the authorities that God has over us, but determined to follow Christ and Christ alone with God's commands and with our conscience. But we should also know that God will give us the wisdom that we need. And what we see here in this clear example of verses 17 through 20 is that God gave them learning and skill in all literature and wisdom. And in verse 20, in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, he found them 10 times better than all the magicians and the enchanters. You know, sometimes we just think things are too hard. Think things, this is too hard, it's too much work. This is never gonna end. You know, I'm in the difficult relationship that just keeps going on and on and on. I've expended all of my energy and all my thought process on what to do. But God gives wisdom. God gives skill. God gives enabling power to be able to maneuver through life and to not compromise. He loves us, He's for us, and He is guiding the details of our life. Will we submit to Him? Will we ask for His wisdom? Will we seek to live according to His wisdom, not the wisdom of the world? Not try to take shortcuts, but ask and double check and triple check. What does the Word say? What do godly Christians say? What do the church members say who can help give me wisdom? What do my pastors say what can get pastoral counseling about a situation? What does God's word say? Teach me God's word so that I can live a life of faithfulness to God. That's all the wisdom we need. Well, God will give us help and hope in times of impending compromise. We should push back. should not throw in the towel. You know, that last verse is not a throwaway verse. When we look at verse 21, it says, and Daniel was there until the first year of King Cyrus. Why did he say that? Well, he already told us in verse one of the chapter that it was the year of the king related to Nebuchadnezzar and Jehoiakim. Well, he's actually, this is the beginning of the chapter and the end of the chapter, he's giving us a time marker. And what we see here is that this time marker actually shows us that God is fulfilling more scripture. Let me read a quote here from Sinclair Ferguson again. about this year. It says the first year of Cyrus was the year in which the decree was issued that enabled the Jews to return home. You know what it's saying? God gave Daniel and these men favor until he rescued them by sending them back home. God was with them the whole time, which was, by the way, was a 70-year period. This is a long time to remain faithful. Well, God was with them the whole time. God's presence was with them the whole time. God's favor was with them. To what? To remain faithful. To not go against the commands of God. To not give in to compromise. To not think too lowly of God and his people. But to think highly even when the world is falling around. Even when our bodies want to sin. Even when our friends and our family are not helpful to our spirituality. God is with us. And God kept them. God will keep us, but look what it says. It was the first year of Cyrus was the year in which the decree was issued that enabled the Jews to return home. 2 Chronicles 36 makes this really clear, verses 22 and 23, and it was Jeremiah 25, verses 11 and 12, that specifically prophesy that the Israelites were going to be in Babylon for 70 years. So here's where the calendar all matches up. Bing! Isn't it amazing how scripture is constantly fulfilling other scripture? It's all woven together. These are not separate books. This is God, the one author of scripture, weaving it all together, showing that he is king, he is God, he is sovereign, even over history. So some 70 years after that time when Daniel and his friends were taken into exile, we are thus reminded that God's faithfulness proved sufficient for Daniel throughout the entire time of exile. Babylonian kings came and went. Indeed, the Babylonians themselves were replaced as the ruling world power by the Medo-Persians in the person of Cyrus, yet God sustained his faithful servant throughout the whole time. And in the same way, he is able to preserve us throughout the trials and the tribulations we face. No matter how intense they may be or how long they may last, when the world does its worst, God's faithfulness is enough. Amen? God is faithful to his people. He's faithful to his kingdom. His promises are sure. We do not have to worry. We need to trust the Lord, resolve ourselves to follow His ways. Pray to Him for wisdom and favor and help. He will hear our prayer. He will help us, even when it doesn't seem like He's helping us. Even when it seems like there are bumps and in our way, there are obstacles, not everybody's gonna be for us. God's favor's still with us. Don't give in, don't give up. And so let me ask you, do you seek to use God's wisdom while in the world to give God glory? Are you seeking to be faithful and seeking to use the wisdom that God offers us in his word? Are you a deep student of God's word? Do you love his word? Do you read it daily? Do you pray it? Do you memorize it? Do you learn it? Are you coming to church here? Yes. But in other Bible studies? Because this is the wisdom of God. The wisdom of God is found in the scriptures. And so are you seeking to use that wisdom of God? Learn that wisdom of God? a person who can not just understand it, but actually live the wisdom of God while in this world, so that God gets the glory. This is not so that we get the glory. It's not so that we could say, crush that one, doing great. This is so that God gets the glory. First Peter says it well. The second chapter of 1 Peter, starting verse 11, says, Beloved Christians, I urge you as sojourners and exiles, it's exactly like Daniel, that we are a similar situation. Heaven is our home. When God, when Christ comes back and brings heaven and earth together, this world is not our home as it is now. It will be our home later. But as we are sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, and they will, people will come against Christians, they'll come against you if you are a Christian, that they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. And so, do you, will you seek God's wisdom to use it in the world for God's glory? These are important lessons for us. We are to understand that God gives us favor as we're seeking to be faithful, and that God gives us wisdom as we're seeking to be faithful, and so God is our source. But we must not end here. This is not merely a sermon or a lesson so that we can live a successful life. These stories are here to point us to the only true, righteous, wise King, Christ. These stories in Daniel are meant us to foreshadow the person and the work of Jesus Christ himself. Just like Daniel was obedient to follow God's laws of not eating the wrong food and not defiling himself, he followed God's ways, didn't give in to the pressure. We see there being a truer and better Daniel who has no blemish. being the one who is ultimately faithful for us. Let me read another quote here. As Daniel in Babylon was obedient to God's law, so Jesus was obedient to God's will in all things. Even when it became clear that God's will for Jesus was to offer up his own life, Jesus prayed, my father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done, Matthew 26, 42. As God guided Daniel to a place of great authority in Babylon, so God guided his son Jesus to a place of even greater authority. God highly exalted him, Jesus, and gave him a name that is above every name so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. This story is not merely about do good like Daniel did good. We are to see Christ in these pages. We're to see that Christ is the one who fulfills all righteousness. Christ is the one who we've been looking for and waiting for. And so we should place our faith in him. Christ was the one who did not demand his own way, like Daniel used his wisdom and used his manner in a way that was godly. Look at Christ all the more. Indeed, Daniel illustrated the principle that true faithfulness is not only seen in our determination to stand firm, but in the way we stand firm, and in the spirit in which we do so. Jesus is the illustration of this par excellence. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously. We see Jesus when we see Daniel in his life. We see echoes of the truer and better Daniel. And so I want to leave us with this good news, good news that this Daniel story points us to Christ and not to ourself, not to our good works, not to our own faithfulness, but to the faithfulness of Christ. And so the good news of the gospel is not simply that God is faithful to those who are faithful to him. No, it is that a Savior has come to deliver faithless and compromised saints like us. Our salvation rests not on our ability to remain undefiled by the world, but rather on the pure and undefiled offering that Jesus has provided in our place. Jesus came voluntarily into this world, and with all its pains and trials, he endured far greater temptations and sufferings than Daniel did, or than we will ever, Hebrews 4.15. Yet he remained entirely faithful and pure until the very end, without spot or blemish, and grants the perfection of his obedience to all those who trust in him by faith, 1 Peter 1.19. What is more, Jesus has already returned from his time of exile and now sits at the Father's right hand in heaven. He has prepared our places there and his presence there already is a guarantee that one day we will be with him there as his people. A cross is the means by which God's faithfulness redeems the unfaithful. The resurrection and the ascension are the surety of our inheritance in heaven. Amen? Remind yourself often of this gospel. Fix your eyes on Jesus. Christ crucified, Christ raised, Christ exalted. He has not only pioneered the root home, he is the root home. Trust in him and ask him to work in your true faithfulness. Amen. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, thank you for the story that you've given us through the scriptures of Daniel, Hananiah, and Mishael, and Azariah. Lord, we thank you for giving them favor, giving them wisdom, Lord, as you give your people favor and wisdom. And yet, Lord, we know that this ultimately is that you gave your son favor, your beloved only son, and you gave him wisdom to grow in stature before God and men. He is wisdom itself. So Lord, thank you that we can be pointed to Christ, have our faith in him and him alone, not in our own faithfulness, but Lord, we do pray that by your spirit, by your word, by your grace, that you would give us faithfulness so that we would not compromise, Lord, that we give you all the credit, all the glory, Lord, because it's in you that we have strength, it's in you that we bear fruit. So Lord, please help us to be able to follow you today. It's in your name we pray, amen. Amen.