Debbie and Matt and their family visiting with us, and so welcome. And they're from Canada, and not too far from where our family lives in Michigan, the last place that we were in ministry there in the United States before raising support to come to Scotland. And so we welcomed them, glad they were able to make a trip and come see Scotland. And it's especially nice that it looks like this outside. It's not always sunny, and we might say seldom sunny for the last two months, so praise God, it's a beautiful day, and we're enjoying it as well. All right, Daniel chapter six. And so we're continuing this morning with our theme for the year, which is Thou Art Worthy, O Lord. We're gonna do a little bit of a series, I'm not sure how many weeks we're gonna go on this, but we started this last week, and the theme text is Revelation chapter four, verse 11. Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honor, and power. For thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. We talked about that, O Lord, is speaking about supreme master, okay, and he's worthy to receive, okay, so speaking about what he is worthy of, and last week we looked at worthy of obedience. We talked about worthy of obeying the gospel, worthy of our obedience, and our servanthood was the two points that we looked at last week. This morning, as we come to Daniel, the text that we're looking at is a story of devotion and a story of worship. And again, obviously, with the name for the book, Daniel, most of the story is in there about the life of this man. And so Daniel 6 is about him. And with Bible characters, sometimes we do name association. If I said, fill in the blank, David and, you'd probably say Goliath, right? If I said Jonah and the... Well, and if I said Noah in the ark, and so you come to Daniel and it's Daniel in the? Lion's Den. Lion's Den, okay, and that's where we are, we're looking at Daniel in the Lion's Den, and I suppose maybe that's from our Sunday school years and hearing those awesome stories, and this is truly a great story, and the word of God pops into our head, maybe the pinnacle moment, or a pinnacle moment in the life of that Bible character. Halley's Bible Handbook gives us some insight into Daniel's life. It says Daniel was in the first group of captives taken from Jerusalem to Babylon. He was of royal or noble blood. Josephus says that Daniel and his three friends were related to King Zedekiah, which gave them easier entry to the palace of Babylon. Handsome, brilliant young men who were under the special care of God and trained by him to bear witness to his name at the heathen court that then ruled the world. It's a very powerful place. Daniel's been taken there, and Daniel's a captive there. He didn't go there of his own volition, thinking, you know, as a teenager, where would I like to go? Daniel, as a teenager, was uprooted and taken into a foreign country as a prisoner. Now Daniel could have been bitter about that. That could have been in the heart of this young man. Why is this like this? It's not fair. Why have they been brought to this place? As he rose quickly in position, he went into great power. He could have become prideful and began to think, I don't need God. And that could have been Daniel's heart. But Daniel's a humble man. He becomes a great man of God. He was a committed follower of Jehovah. And the prophet Ezekiel, as Ezekiel speaks about Daniel under the inspiration of God, he speaks about Daniel in his early to mid 30s. And it says there in Ezekiel, God said, Ezekiel 14, 14, though these three men, Noah, Daniel and Job were in it. They should deliver but their own souls by the righteousness of the Lord God." In other words, God looked for three examples of mighty men of God that were righteous men. Daniel was included in that, and at the time he was included in that, he's still alive. He is a relatively young man. So he's a very godly man. And so we come to this story this morning of Daniel in the Lion's Den, Daniel chapter six, and again, let's read at verse one. It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom 120 princes, which should be over the whole kingdom, and over these three presidents, of whom Daniel was first, that the princes might give accounts unto them, and the king should have no damage. Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was in him, the king thought to set him over the whole realm. Okay, so Daniel's right up there. He's one of the first that the king thinks about. The king's thinking about this guy is a good guy and obviously the hand of God is upon him and so he is a blessed man and he's thinking of putting of leadership. Indeed, he would become that into that position. Halley's Bible handbook says what a remarkable man unswerving in his own religious convictions. He wouldn't eat the king's meat, yet so loyal to his idolatrous king that he was trusted with the affairs of And again, the integrity of Daniel is that Daniel would do his best for the kingdom that he found himself in. So he's a godly Israelite man, he's prospering in an idolatrous foreign country. It's not surprising then that there's gonna be nationals in that nation there looking at this transplant and saying, why is he getting such an exalted position? And that envy and things like that creep in. And so verse four. Then the presidents and princes sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom, but they could find none occasion or fault. For as much as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him." I mean, you've got your adversary there, and so you're going to try to find some skeletons in his closet or things like that. So they're really investigating that. And that, again, is a normal type thing. In the United States, we've got a new Speaker of the House that's been elected there in the United States. And his name's Mike Johnson. He's a born-again believer. I've seen him interviewed on Sean Hannity, and I actually watched the whole interview, because it was so intriguing, because at the beginning, he says, he's wondering about my worldview. I'm a born-again Christian. I believe the Bible. He's talked about how everybody brings with them into politics their worldview. That's his worldview. He ended that interview by saying, you know, it used to be in the day when there was a struggle and a big thing going on politically, you get on your knees as a people and you'd seek God. He said, I think we need to do that again. I thought, well, that is great. You know, it's interesting, the media struggled to find something bad to say about this man, but they've tried. And if they could, they would. And there's some things that they've tried to slander with help, but they actually have to kind of twist things, even as you see here in this story of Daniel. So these men wanted to find a fault with Daniel, but he's a faithful man. He had passed scrutiny. So we continue our reading in verse five. Then said these men, we shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God." Okay, so they had to find a way in which the beliefs of Daniel could be brought into conflict with the national law because they knew that then they would have something You know, doesn't that sound like the day in which we live, that there is a great desire on the part of those that are seeking to attack Christianity and Christian values, that they're seeking to bring a conflict between those that would obey God and those that would obey the laws of the land. So, if they look at Daniel, he's a faithful worshiper of God, if they could somehow make that punishable, then they would have a way to attack Daniel. Then these presidents and princes assembled together to the king and said thus unto him. King Darius lived forever. All the presidents of the kingdom, the governors and the princes, the counselors and the captains have consulted together to establish a royal statute and to make a firm decree that whosoever shall ask a petition of any god or man for 30 days, save of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions. Now O King established the decree and signed the writing that be not changed according to the law of the Medes and Persians which altered not. Wherefore King Darius signed the writing and the decree." Now he's going to regret that, but he signed it and put it into law if he had realized how it would impact Daniel. And we know from later on in the story, he would have stepped back from that. But maybe in pride, thinking, oh, that, you know, everyone's going to look to me or things like that. And the men had said, we all consulted, we all thought about together, we think this would be a great thing. He goes ahead and he signs it into law. So what the law is, it stated that you're not allowed to petition any God or man for 30 days. And so that's gonna forbid worship. You can't go to God. You can't pray to God. No matter who you are, the only person you can come to and petition is the king. The punishment? You're gonna be thrown into a den of hungry lions. Lions have been starved and are there in that pit, very hungry. You're gonna be cast into that. And the reality is that the law could not be changed, okay? So once it's signed, it's signed, it's a done deal. There's nothing that you do about that. And so that had taken place. And so the question is, what's Daniel gonna do? All right, we understand he's gonna worship God because Daniel, What I want to preach on this morning is God is worthy of your worship, no matter what it costs you. So, again, continue with our idea of thou art worthy of the Lord. God is worthy of our worship, no matter what it costs us, no matter what the sacrifice would be, that God is worthy of that. You know, this morning, do you balk at paying too great a price to truly worship God? Is that too high? Whatever that is, that keeps you from really fully worshiping God. Is that too great a price to pay to worship God? Do you give God the worship of which he is truly worthy? Daniel did, right? He really put God in that position of your first, no matter what, and he honored God. So again, the challenge is this morning, God is worthy of your worship, no matter what it costs you. Let's pray and ask the Lord to help us become the word of God. the Word of God. Thank you for our opportunity already to jump into, again, one of the great stories in the Bible, Father, kind of one of those highlights in the Word of God. And Father, what a blessing it is this morning to come to Daniel chapter 6. And thank you for the audience that's here this morning to hear the Word of God, that we sit under the truth of the Bible and, Father, the work of the Holy Spirit. And I do thank you Spirit of God, for your faithfulness to take the truth and apply the truth to our hearts. And we ask, Father, that we have ears to hear this morning, that there be crystal clarity in our hearts and minds as we listen to the truth of the Word of God. That would be convicting and convincing and helpful. But Father, as we looked at last week, that we not be hearers of the Word only, but that we be doers of the Word. Father, that we sit right now and think, God, you tell me anything in my life that needs to change to be in accordance with the Word of God. If I haven't been giving you the worship of which you deserve and are worthy, then God, I commit right now to doing that. May that be a prayer. And Father, I pray that the Spirit of God, please help me as I speak. I can't speak without your enablement. I pray that you'd help me to preach biblically. Practically, lovingly, and powerfully the truth of the word of God and Father that you'd be glorified. Bless the kids class this morning. May they know the presence of God there as well. May you do a good work in the hearts of each young person. It's in Christ's name we pray, amen. All right, so God is worthy of our worship no matter what it costs us. And so first of all, God is worthy of worship convictions, okay? A conviction is a firmly held belief or opinion. Sometimes somebody can look like they have convictions. A lot of times, a politician likes to get a vote or something, so they'll say, you know, I've got convictions about that. It might be something that somebody in the community has convictions about. They feel very strongly about that. They're gonna tenaciously hold onto that, and so the politician will say, I've got that conviction as well. Then they'll get into office and there'll be some antagonism or something and some giving and taking and they'll easily let go of something. And if that's important to you, you're sad, right? Why didn't they hold to that conviction? That's why I voted for them. I thought they would hold tenaciously. a conviction when tested, you don't let go of that. If it's really something that you firmly believe and say, this is my conviction, then you're going to hold on to it no matter what. And so when you have worship convictions, you're holding to the Word of God. So you're grabbing hold of the Word of God and say, no, this is what God says, so I tenaciously grab a hold of that. Now God's worthy of that, right? God's worthy of a people that would take the word of God and say, I'm going to tenaciously grab hold of that and hold that for God. It's a sad day when God's people don't hold to God's love. You know, when they easily turn aside from God's truth. It's a glorious day. Well, there's a church that, no matter what, everything's gonna be thrown at them, but by the grace of God, they say, no, I mean, this is where we stand, okay? Daniel did that, verse 10. It said, now, when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, okay, he knows that it's happened. Now, Daniel knew that his religious liberty was under attack. He wasn't surprised by this. Daniel knew when that motion, that law was tabled before the king and presented to the king, he understood that that was happening. He knew that the law was a personal attack against the worship of God. They could put it through however they wanted to. I doubt they said anything about Daniel. I doubt they said anything about Jehovah God. But Daniel knew, when they were working on that law, that that's exactly what it's about. It's about attacking religious liberty. He knew that the human law was in conflict with God's word. And so he knew all this was taking place, that these things were going to come to a head, and yet Daniel knew what he was going to do. And it didn't change when that writing went into effect, when the writing was signed. He knew what he would do. He knew that when men say one thing, and God says another, you obey God, okay? And so, you know, you got the king on the one hand, and all that, all the authority of the kingdom, and then you've got God on the other hand, and all the authority of God. You could ask, was Daniel a rebel, you know? Because he's gonna break this law. As soon as he knows that it's there, he's gonna go and break it. Is he rebellious in his life? Did he easily disobey authorities? Was that a pattern that was in the life of Daniel? I mean, when you study the book of Daniel, very submissive. Remember when he's asked to eat the king's meat, first of all, he goes to one man and says, hey, would it be possible that I would not do this? This violates my convictions. And that man says no. He goes to another man and says, hey, would it be okay? Try us with pulse. Let us eat this other food instead of the king's meat. Test us in so many days, right? But you see him just graciously appealing and graciously working with authority, not just disregarding authority. Remember the story where he's told to tell the dream. If you don't tell the dream, all the wise men and counselors are going to be killed. And Daniel goes to the king and he appeals and says, hey, would you give us some time, just a little bit of time to work on this and ask our God about this. Again, that submission to authority we see really in the life of Daniel. We see it in the life of his friends. The king says, Bow down to my idol. King Nebuchadnezzar sets up that idol, and you gotta bow down. And you see that they stood in biblical convictions, but when they're brought before the king, they're not rude, they're not unkind. They don't mince words or something like that. They're very clear about the fact that we're gonna stand, but again, they do so graciously and consistently. They're the close companions of Daniel. And so it's beyond doubt that Daniel was a man that was submitted to God, or submitted to authority, and that's exactly what God intends for us. God intends for us to be a people that, when it comes to loss of the land, that we're exemplary in our submission to earthly authority. 1 Peter 2.13 says, Submit yourself to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether it be to the king as supreme or unto governors as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of them that do well. For so is the will of God that with well-doing you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. So, as a general rule, any law that is out there that we've got here in Scotland, that we've got in the United Kingdom, that impacts our life no matter what it is, we may not agree with it, we may strongly disagree with it, but as a general rule, every single law like that, as a believer, we ought to submit to that, we ought to be an example of somebody that is submitted to that. But there's one exception to this rule, that is when a law of the land violates the law of God, you obey God, okay? Or so when a lesser authority violates the law of a greater authority, you obey the greater authority. The Apostle Peter helped in that. But you remember Jesus Christ gave the great commission to his disciples. He said, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. And so they began to do that. After waiting in prayer and the spirit of God being given on the day of Pentecost, they got out there and they began to boldly proclaim Jesus Christ crucified and risen again, Jesus Christ, the Messiah that died for the sins of the world. So they began to fulfill that great commission that the Lord had given to them. The same didn't wait long before a human authority steps in and says you can't do that. You got to stop doing that. And so in Acts chapter 5 verse 27, the Sanhedrin, the ruling body of the Jews is there These Jewish men are brought in and they forbid them to give the gospel. So when they brought them, they set them before the council and the high priest asked them saying, did not we straightly command you that you should not teach in his name and behold you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine and intend to bring this man's blood upon us. Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, we ought to obey God rather than men. Okay, so they said stop, but they stepped back from that and said, wait a second, Jesus about this man and his doctrine, and they stepped back from that and said, we ought to obey God rather than men. So when an earthly law conflicts with a heavenly law or God-given law, it's our responsibility by biblical conviction to say, I will stand with God. Praise God, Scotland's been a nation that has done this over and over again. Believers have stood up and said, we believe God, we stand with God. A great example of that is in the 16, 60s to 1680s, it's called the Killing Years here in Scotland as covenanters signed the national covenant saying we're not going to yield to the King of England and as religious dictates, we yield to him as our king, we yield to him as our political authority, but when it comes to the church, we're going to worship God as we see fit. Obviously, there weren't any people that were doing that. There's one story at that time of the Wicton martyrs in Wigtown, and there's a monument there. During the killing times of Covenanters in the 17th century, Margaret McLachlan, an elderly woman of around 63, and Margaret Wilson, around 18 years of age, were sentenced to be tied to stakes in the tidal channel of the River Bladnock, near its entrance to Wigtown Bay, to be drowned by the incoming tide. I think it's called the Solway Firth right there. The ploy was that the younger woman might be persuaded to change her mind after watching the older woman drown. The strategy failed and both died. They gave a worthy testimony to God saying, God is worthy of worship. We ought to worship God as the Bible says. And because of that, they sealed it with their lives because they so tenaciously held on to that conviction. God is worthy of a people that by conviction grab ahold of his word and say, I will tenaciously hold to this. You know, I wondered this morning, how are your worship convictions? How strongly do you hold to it? I mean, there was a lot of that for Beth, attending a gospel preaching church or praying to God. In the case here of Daniel, I mean, would it be something that you would say, by conviction, I hold to this. And so God is worthy of worship convictions. God is worthy, secondly, of worship confidence, worship confidence. It says, Daniel, in verse 10, he went into his house and his windows being open in his chamber towards Jerusalem. Okay, Daniel knew he could trust God with whatever happened and in confidence, he just goes to worship. He's not, you don't see fear in his heart or his life. He's just very bold in what he does. And so he didn't go into hiding. He goes to his normal place. He doesn't close the windows to try to secretly worship God. Okay, I can't worship God in public. He doesn't think. He just does his normal routine of worshiping God. Confidence is defined as the feeling or belief that one can have faith in or rely on someone or something, okay? That sense that, no, I can trust it, I am confident about this. Daniel, again, had great confidence in God. Confidence can be, at times, it can be this place that sometimes we put confidence in somebody and somebody is unfaithful and they can let us down. Proverbs 25, 19 says, confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken truth or a foot out of joint. It could be that way. It's like, man, why did I trust in that? I thought they were solid. I remember as a little boy, and I've shared this story maybe too many times, but as a five-year-old, I remember a young lady that lived next to us, and she said, you know, Ben or Benjamin, you know, And I dreamed about it, and I thought about it, and I'm 47, and that was 42 years ago, and I still am hurt by it because I put confidence in her. I thought, man, she's gonna give me a radio-controlled airplane. So, I mean, we could do that in life sometime. People may let us down, but Daniel looked at it and said, you know, God's got this. He was gonna be confident in God. It says in Psalm 118 verse nine, it's better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes. Daniel could have said, well, I trust in King Darius. I'll trust in the King to get me out of this. But we know that Daniel was confident in his worship because his confidence was in God. It says again in verse 11, Then these men assembled and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God. They found him again because Daniel was just open about it. He's not afraid. He's not gonna let that law change anything about his life. He's just gonna go in confidence to worship God. This past, just over a week ago, our family went down to Dumfries and enjoyed getting down in the borders a little bit, getting away. We took a picnic lunch with us, and they were by the River Niff in Dumfries that often floods right in that area. There were flood defenses up, and I think they'd just gotten past a season like that. And so we're down there, and you know, it's time to pray. So we take off our caps and bow our heads, and we pray, and we ask God to bless our food. And I don't know about you, you know, sometimes, As you begin to do something like that as a Christian the devil says hey people are watching You know that these other people they don't believe in God and they're looking at you they think you're nuts They think you're crazy, you know as the lady said to be on the phone this week as I said Wednesday We're having a range cooker Delivered and I said, you know, we leave at half five to go to church because not many people say that these days I said, yeah, it's interesting, isn't it? I said, the God that created you and gave you life and sent his son, Jesus Christ, to die for you, and you're right. So many people today just don't do that. And as a Christian, we can become, we can become afraid, we can become, yeah, what would people think if I, you know, I got my food right here, I just ordered it at a restaurant, what if I confidently worship God and I take off my cap, right? I bow my head in prayer and I seek my God. You know, there oughta be a little bit of boldness in us that says, you know, by the grace of God, I'm not gonna change things. I might just say to an unbeliever like I say to a believer, hey, God's been good to me today, or look around at God's creation and praise God right in front of that person because that's what worship confidence does. And Daniel had that. Daniel didn't care what they thought He didn't care about there might be consequences that we're going to talk about. In a second, Dan just goes, hey, God is worthy of worship confidence. You know, does your worship change because of others around you? Do you change your patterns of worship? Because, you know, somebody's there and they'll think it's strange if you say, hey, I've got to go, I've got to get to church, or I've got to, you know, read my Bible, or you're with somebody, you're out and about and maybe traveling with them or something like that. In a normal pattern of your life, by the grace of God at home, as you get up, you read your Bible, you have your prayer life, but you're around somebody else on that day, does that pattern continue? And so God is worthy of that, isn't he? He's worthy of worship convictions. I will worship God. He's worthy of worship confidence, just that it doesn't matter what you think about me, I worship God. And then third, God is worthy of worship consistency, worship consistency. It says he kneeled upon his knees three times a day and he prayed, okay? So he's got a worship pattern, and that worship pattern is three times a day, he takes the time, step aside, and to seek God. You know, similar to what David said in Psalm 55, 17. He said, evening and morning and at noon, while I pray and cry aloud, he shall hear my voice. You know, there's gonna be multiple times during the day that I'm gonna get with God and spend that time with God. You know, I was thinking about Jesus. I thought, you know, does the Bible show Jesus praying at different times? And there actually are different times that Jesus prayed. The Bible records them in the morning. going to prayer, Mark 1.35, in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out and departed into a solitary place, and there he prayed. On the day of the feeding of the 5,000, which is later in the day as that took place, he goes up into the mountain to pray. At the Last Supper, as Jesus observes that with his disciples, after that he goes out and he goes into the night watches, and he spends some time in prayer in Gethsemane as he says to his apostles, sit ye here while I go and pray yonder. And so we know Jesus was consistent in his worship. We know that Daniel was consistent in his worship. We know that David was consistent in his worship. You know, all of us are consistent at things that are important to us that are things that maybe are vital to us. Most of us eat consistently, right? Maybe think about it, certain times, certain foods, certain places. I mean, it's just a routine that is in our life that we consistently would eat. We sleep consistently, or we try to. And if we don't sleep consistently, maybe we nap consistently, or things like that. But it's a pattern that's in our life that's just something that you just know that you're going to do. Some of us consistently follow the news, or have a TV program, or a sports team. I mean, that's just a consistent part of our life And again, work is something that's consistent. Generally speaking, get there on time, work certain hours, get done at certain times, it's just a part, it's a routine of our life. You know, I wanna ask you this morning, do you have a consistent pattern of worship in your life? Is there a worship routine? Because this wasn't, Daniel didn't establish something, Daniel had something. Three times a day, he would go and that was his worship pattern where he would spend time with God. And so is there a consistent time for us in the word of God? Is there a consistent time for us in the house of God? Is there a consistent time for us in prayer? Just that pattern that's a daily pattern or a weekly pattern, we're spending time with God. And so God is worthy of worship consistencies, worthy of worship confidence, he's worthy of worship convictions. And then God is worthy of worship consideration. It says he gave thanks before his God. And so, interestingly, Daniel's not just doing this despite the people that made the law. Daniel's getting that place because he's got a meeting with God. He's going to get on his knees, he's going to talk to his God and say, God, thank you. Thank you for the things that are happening in my life. And, and, you know, I just wonder this morning, if a law came out like that, would our first thought be, I'm going to go pray, or would our first thought be, get on social media and say, I can't believe this has happened. This is incredible. Can you believe that the government would make this law and say, you can't do this? That wasn't Daniel's first response. Daniel's first response is, man, I just gotta go talk with God. He said, we're gonna go spend some time in prayer. The importance of our worship is that we're meeting with God. It's interesting, it wasn't just about Daniel doing a form. There's a lot of people that are religious that their prayer life is about going in, kneeling down, maybe lighting some candles, meditating, kind of zoning out there, getting a religious feeling, and that's what their prayer life is about. That's not what prayer is about. Prayer is about going to God the Father through God the Son by the Spirit of God, right? It's being united with God, it's that fellowship, we have with God through the Son of God Jesus Christ that died for us. There's a little book that Pastor Steve Anderson, not the guy that's famous because of his Basically, I'd say he's a heretic, but the man that is the administrator of Baptist World Mission, our mission agency, a good friend of mine that came and stayed at our home recently, but he gave us these booklets, and these booklets are written by Robert Munger, and it's entitled My Heart, Christ's Home. And it's about the idea of our fellowship with Jesus and how there's different compartments in our house. It's a very interesting kind of allegorical type read about making associations between different aspects of how are we letting God into our life. And so this section is called The Living Room. And it says, so morning after morning, I would go downstairs to the living room. He would take a book of the Bible from the bookcase, open it, and we would read it together. He would unfold to me the wonder of God's saving truth, recording on his pages, and make my heart sing as he shared all he had done for me and would be to me. Those times together were wonderful. Through the Bible, the Holy Spirit Either I'd respond so our friendship deepened in these quiet times of personal conversation. However, under the pressure of many responsibilities, little by little, his time began to be shortened. Why, I'm not sure. Somehow, I assumed I was just too busy to give special, regular time to be with Christ. This was not a deliberate decision, you understand. It just seemed to happen that way. Eventually, not only was the period shortened, but I began to miss days now and then, such as during midterms or finals. Matters of urgency demanding my attention were continually crowding out the quiet times of conversation with Jesus. Often, I would miss it two days or more in a row. One morning, I recall rushing down the steps in a hurry to be on my way to an important appointment. As I passed the living room, the door was open. Glancing in, I saw a fire in the fireplace and Jesus sitting there. Suddenly, in dismay, it came to me. He's my guest. I invited him into my heart. He has come as my savior and friend to live with me, yet here I am neglecting him. I stopped, turned, and hesitantly went in. With downcast glance, I said, Master, I'm sorry. Have you been here every morning? Yes, he said. I told you I'd be here to meet with you. I was even more ashamed. He had been faithful in spite of my faithlessness. I asked him to forgive me, and he did, as he always does when we acknowledge our failures and want to do the right thing. He said, the trouble is that you've been thinking of the quiet time of Bible study and prayer as a means for your own spiritual growth. This is true, but you've forgotten that this time means something to me also. Remember, I love you. At a great cost, I have redeemed you. I value your fellowship. Just to have you look up into my face warms my heart. I really love you. You know the truth that Christ wants my fellowship and that he loves me, wants me to be with him and waits for me, has done more to transform my quiet time with God than any other single fact. Don't let Christ wait alone in the living room of your heart, but every day find a time and place when with the word of God and in prayer, you may be together with him. And we're talking this morning about the theme of our year, thou art worthy, or Lord, he is worthy of us consistently spending time, not just in prayer, with Him. He deserves us spending time with Him in the house of God, not just again with each other, praise God, that's the body of Christ, that's a blessing, but it's with Him. And so God's worthy of worship consistency, consideration, confidence, and convictions. And then fifth, God is worthy of worship continuation, worship continuation. Notice what it says about Daniel, it says, as he did, four time okay so everyone knew Daniel worshiped God that's why the these guys have thought about this all right we got attacked in and where can we get him he's really consistent in that thing about walking with God the king knew that Daniel was walking with God he cried out at the at the lion's den this is fast forward in the story of verse 20 but it says whom thou service continually able to deliver thee from the lions. The king looked at it and said, Daniel, I know that you serve God continually. The people looked at it, they knew it as well. You know, one of the greatest things about Daniel's faithfulness to God is that it was a witness to others. They would look at it and say, it's kind of like that lady said to me, nobody goes to church anymore. People look around today in this area and they say, I don't know anybody that's faithful to God, worships God, really walks with God. Okay, so there's not many examples like that, but these people in Daniel's day, they look at Daniel and say, one thing I know about Daniel is that Daniel is somebody that continues in his worship for God. As a teenager, Daniel was faithful to God. As a teenager, Daniel 1.8, Daniel had a purpose in his heart that he wouldn't have to defile himself. He could have justified, in fact, he's not at home. He's with a heathen king. He could have justified living an ungodly life, but Daniel as a teenager said, man, I am going to worship God. I'm sorry, there's a lot of smoke out there right now. Yeah. Say, why don't you just glance out there, just to make sure everything's all right, okay? So, it's just, that's just not normal. I'm just sorry to draw our attention away. I don't want us to miss what God has for us here. Okay, and so, as a teenager, Daniel did that. Now, Daniel, at this point in the story, Daniel is no longer young. Daniel is old. He's probably 70 years old, maybe 80 years old. And you look at Daniel and you go, what is Daniel doing in his life? He is still doing the same thing that he did as a young man. You know, one of the saddest things of our generation is the change that's taking place where you have people that were faithful to God, were obeying God, were doing the right thing. But now fast forward. In some cases, it's not 50 or 60 years. In some cases, sadly, it's 20 years, it's 10 years, it's five years, and you say, what happened? There has been a drastic change in that person's life. Praise God for people that look at the Word of God and what it says, but continue thou the things that thou hast learned, and by the grace of God, have that pattern in their life, and they're just gonna go on for God. They're just gonna be faithful for God. King David was like that, not just in his youth, but as an old man, he was still obeying God. Psalm 71, 18, his testimony and prayer to God. He says, now also when I'm old and gray-headed, oh God, forsake me not until I've showed thy strength unto this generation and thy power to everyone that's to come. David didn't look at his life and say, well, I did it in my youth, I obeyed God, and so it's okay now. He said, by the grace of God, I'm gonna continue for God. We gotta be people that say, I don't wanna just live for God now. I wanna live for God five years from now, 10 years from now, 20 years from now. I don't wanna just reach my kids. I wanna reach my grandkids. And if I live long enough, I wanna reach my grandkids and great-grandkids for God. We gotta be somebody that says God is worthy of that. God is worthy of somebody that It's gonna be that person that just sticks in there and says, I'm gonna worship God now, and I'm gonna worship God next year, and I'm just gonna continue for God. Are you still doing as much or more in your worship for God as what you were doing last year? Is 2024 gonna be a year that you say, God, you are as worthy this year as you were last year, as you were 10 years ago. My faithfulness to you, God, I wanna give you that of which you are worthy. God is worthy of worship continuation as he did a four time. in the case of Daniel. Worship consideration, worship consistency, worship confidence, worship convictions. And then God is worthy of worship consequences. Daniel made a decision, I'm gonna worship God. And because of that, there's consequences that are taking place. And so verse 11. Then these men assembled, they found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God. Then they came near and spake before the king concerning the king's decree. Hast thou not signed a decree that every man that shall ask a petition of any God or man within 30 days, save the Theo king, shall be cast into the den of lions? The king answered and said, the thing is true. According to the law, the means Then answered they and said before the king, That Daniel was of the children of the captivity of Judah, regardeth not thee, O king, nor the decree that thou assign, but maketh his petition three times a day. And I believe as the king heard this, that his heart sank. Because I think on his part it was unintentional that he never intended to write a law that would hurt that segment of the population like Daniel that believed in God, worshipped God. Daniel was a good man, he's a faithful man, he's right up there. And so he's made this law that hurt, I'll say this. There are special interest groups that are jockeying to get the MSPs and the MPs to sign into law laws that will hurt Christians. But I'll say this, not every MSP or MP understands the impact of the laws that they're making. And so in some cases, now I'd say maybe a lot of times they do know, but in some cases, there's gonna be unintentional consequences that they're not thinking through, that they're not realizing how this law that they're making is gonna impact those that are good citizens, that are godly citizens, okay? So maybe there's a little unintentional consequence, not on the part of these men. These men have made the law to do this, but the king looks at it and goes, oh. Then the king, when he heard these words, verse 14, He was sore displeased with himself. He set his heart on Daniel to deliver him, and he labored till the going down of the sun to deliver him. Then these men assembled unto the king and said unto the king, Know, O king, that the law of the needs of persons is, that no decree nor statute which the king established may be changed. They got the king in a tough spot. He's gonna put them in a tough spot in the future. Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and they cast him into the den of lions. Now the king spake and said unto Daniel, By God, whom thou servest continually, he's gonna deliver thee. And a stone was brought and laid upon the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet, with the signet of his lord's, that the purpose might not be changed concerning Daniel." We know the end of the story. Daniel's living it. Daniel doesn't know. But as an old man, he says, man, I'm just gonna worship my God. I'm gonna obey God. Come what may. And what came was not great. It smells, it's dark, these beasts are hungry. I mean, none of us go, hey, that's great, I'd love to go to dinner blinds, especially hungry dinner blinds. And so Daniel takes that, I'll just say this, he took it for God and for God's glory. And here's a question for you. Is God worthy of a servant who would obey him and suffer for it? Is God worthy of that? Well, Jesus Christ comes to mind. Philippians 2.8, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, he became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. He cried out to God in the garden, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless not as I will, but as thou will. What is the cup? The cup of suffering, the cup of shame, the cup of separation from God. It speaks about Jesus in Hebrews 12, in verse two, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, and for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God, for consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest you be wearied and faint in your minds, him not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. Jesus Christ suffered and died because God is worthy of servants that would suffer in obedience to him, right? And that was worship. And so this morning, are we gonna pull back as a believer and say, wait a second, Pastor, if I really stand for God and stand for biblical conviction, in our day, Pastor, I might face jail, I might face whatever. I'm certainly gonna possibly face, and our church has faced it even recently, ridicule online or things like that. They're gonna attack us on Facebook if we really hold to that. I'll just say this, God is worthy of a people that will stand and say, I will suffer for my biblical convictions and my worship. And so Daniel did, and God is worthy of that. God is worthy of worship consequences, worship continuation, consideration, consistency, confidence, convictions. Then finally, God is worthy of worship converts, worship converts. Look at verse 18. Then the king went to his palace. He passed the night fasting. Neither were instruments of music brought before him, and his sleep went from him. Then the king arose very early in the morning, he went in haste unto the den of lions. And when he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel. And the king spake and said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, it is thy God whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions. Then said Daniel unto the king, O king, live forever. My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lion's mouth, that they have not heard me. For as much as before him innocency was found in me, and also before the evil king have I done no hurt. Then was the king exceedingly glad for him, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he believed in his God. And the king commanded, and they brought those men, which had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions, them, their children, and their wives. And the lions had the mastery of them, and break all their bones in pieces wherever they came to the bottom of the den. Then King Darius wrote unto all people, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth, peace be multiplied unto you. I make a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble in fear before the God of Daniel, for he is the living God, and steadfast forever. And his kingdom, that which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be even unto the end. he delivereth and rescueth, he worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the lions. So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, in the reign of Cyrus the Persian. Okay, so Daniel obeyed God and because of that there's worship converts, the king The king dealt with the ungodly men and he took care of that situation. But then he says to his people, listen, I want you to know something. There is a God, there is a God that is a true God. There is a God that is worthy of devotion, that is worthy of worship. This Daniel in my kingdom so loved his God that he went into the den of lions. And I'll tell you a story. He didn't die there in that den. God spared him in that den because that God is the God. Why? Because Daniel stood. And he said, I'm gonna worship God. And because he worshiped God, King Darius looked at that and said, that God is the God. Do you know what this generation means? They need people that will say, this God is my God. and I hold to biblical convictions, and by my continuation and my consistency and the things that we looked at about what God is worthy of, by these things, they look at that and say, that God is the God, and I want that God as my God. I just wonder today how many people are being impacted by our worship. I mean, who would there be that sees us at all, that looks at us and say, I see their faithfulness to the house of God, I see their faithfulness to the word of God, I see their consistency in their life, and I look at that and I say, that is an example of Christianity. Again, very sadly, in our day, there's so many that are not the example that Daniel was. because they didn't give God what he was worthy of, the worship of which he was worthy. We gotta look at that today and say, how is my life impacting others that look at me and they see me, I say, I'm a Christian, they know where I go, they know what I do, and they are watching us. God is worthy. That theme is gonna be before us a lot this year, thou art worthy, O Lord. And when we see it, maybe one of the things that we think about as we see that sign, thou art worthy, O Lord, and we think about, you know, God is worthy of worship, and that made our minds go back to Daniel 6, and what Daniel did is he worshiped God. You know, I wonder this morning, is God receiving the worship that he deserves from you, that which he is worthy of? Do you have worship convictions? Are there things that you just hold to that and say, I will not let this go. This is something that I will tenaciously grab ahold of, no matter what. Do you have worship confidence? Doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. Don't hide your head in shame. The last thing I want you to know is, no, I'm a Christian, but somebody that is bold, say, I'm glad you know I'm a Christian. I'm glad you know I pray. I'm glad you know I go to church. Glad you know that I walk with God. Worship confidence. Do you have worship consistency? Are there regular times a day that you spend with God in prayer? Whether one or three or whatever it is that that's just a pattern of life. You take time every day to pray, take time every day to get in the Word of God that you're consistently at the house of God and the house of God is open. That is a pattern of your life to be there worshiping God with your family. Worship consistency. What about worship consideration? Have you forgotten that worship is about meeting with God? That's not just about prayer. That's not just about a form, that it's a personal interaction with God. And when you come to the house of God as we have today, that's not just to give a religious sense to my day, but it's, I wanna meet with God, I want the spirit of God to speak to my heart. Worship consideration, thanking Him for what He's done. What about worship continuation? Is this gonna change in the future? Are you anchored it down? Have you decided that, hey, this is made for life, I'm just gonna be faithful, I'm gonna continue for God. What about worship consequences? You know, is it okay if you suffer for it? Is that gonna stop you or is God worthy of that? You'll just say, hey, praise God and what a delight it is, what a joy it is to identify with Christ and what he suffered for me. If I suffer for him because of my convictions, that is fine. What about worship converts? Again, by God's grace, I really believe this. If we'll get those first points right, that there will be people that will be in this church because they'll look at us and say, man, I saw, you're going through there I saw you you get it maybe get attacked a little bit for standing for God I looked at that and say I respect that and that's real and I want that why is that so important this morning because God is worthy of them every single one of us ought to look at this story and say you know what That's a great model. That is what God's worthy of. And I think, frankly, a lot of us would have to say, but that's not exactly what I've been given to God. And if it's not, God, help me to change that. Help me to get that right for you right now. We're coming to invitation time. What invitation is, is what we looked at last week. It's the opportunity. We've looked in the mirror of the word of God. It's the opportunity to say, okay, time to fix it. Time to change it. If the Spirit of God's spoken specifically to my heart about something that I know, that's not in my life. To be honest, I don't really worship God like that. I don't look at that and say, you know what? Let's get that right. Let's make sure I get that right. I wanna say this too and conclude. If you're not saved, you've never received Jesus Christ as your savior. You can't worship God at all, okay? It's only through Christ. So we're not talking about form this morning. We're not talking about the idea that you just come and you have a religious feeling and you come to church or you pray or you read your Bible, but it's about knowing God in a personal way through the Son of God, Jesus Christ, that died on the cross for your sin and that you personally have put your faith in Christ and received God's gift of everlasting life. That's where worship begins. And so if you don't have that encouragement this morning, make that your decision today to receive Jesus Christ as your Savior. Let's pray. Father, just pray that the Spirit of God would have his way. And I pray right now in the quietness of our hearts as we bow before you, Father, you're the God that knows our heart. You also know exactly what you said to us about our Father, it could be that the Spirit of God is convicted, and I believe that, and Father, that the decision needs to be made now. It's not something we should say, well, I'll wait, I'll make a decision when I get home. Father, if it's a decision to do daily devotions, that needs to be made. If it's to repent and say, God, I'm so sorry, I haven't worshiped you as I should. I see, I need the convictions, I need the continuation, I need the consistency, and all these things that we've looked at. Then I pray, Father, that again, we just make that decision, I'm gonna give God what he's worthy of. Father, you might have spoken to some hearts about coming to Sunday school at 10 o'clock on Sunday mornings, or coming at 11 o'clock faithfully, or coming on Sunday nights at six o'clock, or coming on Wednesday nights at seven o'clock and worshiping God as a church and meeting with God as a church. And so Father, whatever it is, I pray that we would respond. I pray that we would yield. I pray that we'd obey. It's in Christ's name we pray, amen. Let's stand, we'll please sing a hymn of invitation. The hymn of invitation is trust and obey, 418. 418, trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey, 418.