Daniel and the Lions' Den

6 · Transition to the second major question, signaling a shift from theology (should we be surprised?) to practice (how should we respond?)

Question 2 How do we respond when bad things happen? We're going to look at two contrasting responses in this story and what we learn from them.

7 · Exposition of Daniel's response to the crisis: he continued praying exactly as he had before, demonstrating consistency and radical obedience despite the threat

The first character is Daniel and his response, verse 10. When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he had done previously.

8 · Theological claim drawn from the exposition: Daniel's lack of panic and continued obedience reveals his conviction that radical obedience to God is safer than compromise, even when it appears risky

Notice, in the face of direct opposition against him, Daniel is not freaking out. He is not panicking. He is not getting angry. Nor is he saying, okay, you know What? For? For 30 days I just won't pray to the Lord. He prays as he had done previously. And guys, this is risky. But Daniel knew that the safest thing to do was radically obey God as he had done for decades of his life since Daniel. Chapter one.

9 · Claims that Daniel's response reveals two things: consistency of faith regardless of circumstances, and a prayer life shaped by Scripture

The way Daniel responds reveals that he was consistent in his faith despite the circumstances of his life. He developed a habit of prayer as we've read, and it seems that God's word has shaped the way he prays.

10 · Cross-references provided to support the claim that Daniel's prayer was Scripture-shaped, pointing listeners to 1 Kings 8 and Psalm 55 for further study

A couple different texts to look at and for note takers, First Kings 8, take a look at that. And also it seems Psalm 55 had a heavy influence on how he prayed.

11 · Exposition of Psalm 55:17 to show the three-times-daily pattern of prayer that Daniel adopted, demonstrating consistency across all circumstances

It says here Psalm 55, 17, evening and morning, and at noon I utter my complaint and moan and he hears my voice. He prayed consistently in moments of rest, in moments of difficulty. He was consistent in his faith despite the circumstances.

12 · Theological claim about the root of Daniel's response—desperate dependence on prayer and Scripture—followed by diagnostic questions to expose common patterns of circumstance-dependent prayer among listeners

And his response to the opposition and to the trials of his life is a product of seeing his desperate need for prayer and God's word. Do you have this same desperation when life is difficult? Does that eliminate or significantly reduce your prayer life and time with the Lord? Is your prayer life just as up and down as your circumstances are? Or do you treat prayer like that? Break in a case of an emergency, up on the wall and say, okay, this is level 10 now I gotta go and pray.

13 · Claim about spiritual maturity: Daniel's decades of walking with God produced an increasingly quick reflex to turn to prayer when trials came, treating it as a weapon always at hand rather than a last resort

As he has grown spiritually into his 80s, what we notice is Daniel's response time in going to prayer has shortened and shortened as he has matured in his faith. When trials abound, he has grown quicker to pulling out the weapon of prayer. He has his scheduled appointments every single day with the Lord and he does not miss those appointments.

14 · Personal story from military deployment illustrating the necessity of always carrying a weapon in combat

I remember being in Afghanistan and there was not one place I did not take my weapon with me. I would go into the defect. My weapon was having lunch with me. My weapon was having dinner with me all meals. I couldn't go to the bathroom without bringing my weapon. It was on me at all times.

15 · Multi-layered theological claim about prayer: it is the weapon against the triune enemies (flesh, world, devil), the means of refuge in God, and the instrument that re-centers our hearts by making God big and our problems small

And church. Here's the reality of the Christian life. The flesh, the world and the devil are always waging war with our souls. Always. Prayer is the weapon. Prayer is the radio helping us communicate with God what happens when we pray. I was reminded in Psalm 3 this week that prayer is refuge. Psalm 3 talks about how the Lord is our shield when we cry out to him and that he is the lifter of our heads. This Image In Psalm 3 is this idea of the Lord holding a shield with one arm and also using his other hand to lift our eyes so we can look at him. We can fix our gaze on him. And it's him looking into our eyes saying, even with all this going on, I see it. You can look to me for help. I'm with you. I'm in control. I have a plan. Trust me. Through prayer, the lifter of our heads recenters us by putting the Lord back in the center of our hearts where he belongs. And desperately, Daniel desperately saw how just because we are so prone to wandering, we are so prone to say, all right, Lord, let me push you to the edge here. I have this going on right now. Prayer helps us recenter our lives. Rightly. It puts the Lord back in the center. It pushes the other things out to the side. Here's what I have often found. The profound effect of prayer that I've noticed in my life is that when God is big in my heart, my problems and my worries become small. When God is big in my heart, my problems, my worries become smaller. And this is the challenge of the Christian life. We have things constantly vying to have that position in our hearts that want to say, we need to be bigger. We want to be bigger. And the challenge of the Christian life is saying, no, that is for the Lord. That spot is reserved for Him. Prayer is one of the most powerful resources we have in the Christian life, along with God's Word and the Holy Spirit. And Daniel knew that Daniel had an excellent spirit within him. His prayers were shaped by God's word. He prayed as he had previously done, three times a day. He learned that when something bad happens, going straight to the Lord.

16 · Direct application questions pressing the congregation to assess their prayer habits: do they pray quickly when trials come, and do they have a daily prayer rhythm, or are they spiritually unarmed?

When bad things happen in life, are you quick to prayer? How about just in general? Is prayer a daily habit for you, or are you walking around the battlefield without a weapon?

17 · Transition from Daniel's response to Darius's response, noting the narrative's emphasis on Darius as a literary move that invites self-examination

What's interesting about the account of Daniel in the lion's den is that the text really doesn't focus that much on Daniel. A lot of the text is focusing in on King Darius. So let's look now at Darius's response, verse 13.

18 · Exposition of Darius's response: distress, all-day effort to save Daniel, inability to reverse the law, sealing Daniel in the den, sleepless night fasting without entertainment

Then they the satraps and high officials, answered and said before the king. Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, O King, or the injunction that you have signed, but makes his petition three times a day. Then the king, when he heard these words, was much distressed and set his mind to deliver Daniel, and he labored till the sun went down to rescue him. Then the king commanded and Daniel was brought and cast into the den of lions. And the king declared to Daniel, may your God whom you serve continually deliver you. And a stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den. And the king sealed it with his own signet and with the signet of his lordship that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel. Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting. No diversions were brought to him, and sleep fled from him.

19 · Theological observation drawn from the narrative: the irony that Darius, in the safety of his palace, is more unraveled than Daniel in the lions' den

It's interesting that as we shift from the lion's den to the king's comfortable palace, who's the one whose life is coming undone here? Darius. He's not the one that's thrown into a pit of hungry lions, yet his life is unraveling. He labors all day to come up with a plan to rescue Daniel. He can't eat, he can't sleep. You could just picture him pacing around his palace all day. What's plan A? What's plan B? That's not gonna work. What's plan C? What can I do? Walking through the palace library looking for a loophole? How can I reverse this law? The situation for him has become all consuming. It says in verse 18, no diversions were brought to him. Some translations say no instruments were brought to him, no dancers were brought to him. Everyone sees that this guy is losing it. How can we kind of cheer him up? And he's like, I don't want that. I am so consumed by what is going on.

20 · Exposition of verse 2 to diagnose the root of Darius's panic: self-preservation

But why? Why is he this way? Look at verse two, a very interesting observation in the text. He sets up these leaders over the kingdom so that the king might suffer no loss. His kingdom is at stake here. He had just taken over the reins and now his best leader is probably dead. There's major concern here about his self preservation and the perception of his kingdom. And he is doing everything in his own strength to try to fix this mess.

21 · Application framing the two responses as diagnostic mirrors

We read about these two very different responses in our text. But this is in our Bibles today because we are meant to read it and reflect and ask in difficulty, am I more like Daniel or Darius.

22 · Pastoral confession: the preacher identifies his own tendency toward self-reliance rather than prayer, modeling vulnerability and honesty about the gap between aspiration and practice

As I have been reading and studying this, the Lord has been working on my heart and convicting me that I am more like Darius than I realized. In my heart I want to be like Daniel, but I functionally live more like Darius.

23 · Extended personal story illustrating the Darius-like pattern in the preacher's own life: initial self-reliant panic over ministry challenges before eventually turning to prayer

Here's what this has looked like in my life recently and this is full disclosure. Me being real here. With so many people wanting to join our community group ministry at Cross of Grace the last couple months and us reaching capacity, my initial response was This I need to start identifying new leaders. I need to start raising up new groups. I need to start meeting with these people. I need to do X, Y and Z and all the above. I didn't want to look like a failure. All I was thinking about was what do I need to do to fix this? Can I muster up enough strength to solve this on my own? Remember what I said earlier, that when God is big in our lives, our problems become small. But the reverse is also true. When our problems become big to us, God often becomes small in our hearts. It took me a lot longer to realize and I care to admit that I should probably go to the Lord with this. I started to realize through prayer, Lord, this is your church, which you will provide for your church. You will provide the leaders when we need them. Lord, I'm going to still do my best. But Lord, this is your church. This is not all on me.

24 · Application naming the common human pattern (self-reliance before prayer) and restating the sermon's main thesis as corrective: trust God the deliverer

But if we're honest with ourselves, we all can think of ways that we are more like Darius than Daniel. Like Darius, we often spend more time running around trying to solve things on our own strength before ever going to the Lord in prayer. But Daniel 6 is in our Bibles to remind us that when things are difficult in this life, we are to trust God the deliverer.

25 · Cultural reference illustration (trust fall exercise and video) used as analogy to distinguish trust in God (falling backward toward Him in prayer) from self-reliance (falling forward/flat on face)

So to help further illustrate the contrast between Darius and Daniel, I was reminded of one of my favorite team building exercises, Trust falls. Has anyone ever done a trust fall before? Okay, so in a trust fall, for those of you who are like, what the heck is that? Our production team is going to play a video for us in a minute showing us what a trust fall doesn't look like. But a trust fall is meant is between two people. There is one person who is standing there, arms crossed, eyes closed, and their job is to fall back into the arms of the other person. The other person's job is simply to catch them. But there are times when people misunderstand how to trust fall properly. We're going to watch a quick video here and close your eyes and just fall down, okay? Okay. Then Lauren's gonna catch you. Okay? It's called the trust fall. Okay, Trust fall. Ready, set, go. I have yet to experience that in my life. I hope I do at some point. But guys, that video, that video we just watched, that is Darius in Daniel chapter six, falling forward, flat on his face. And we fall flat on our face. In trials and difficulty when we say, I'm going to move away from the real source of control and power, I'm going to do things my way. Daniel knows how to properly do a trust fall with the Lord. Trusting in God is falling backwards. It's moving toward God in prayer. It looks like going to God's word to sustain us time and time again and saying, lord, when I have a hard time believing this, help my heart believe. It's going back to the Lord and saying I need to remind myself of all that the book of Daniel has taught me so far. Heaven rules God's kingdom and reign is unending. God's plans will not be thwarted. He is in complete control.

26 · Closing application questions for the second major section, pressing listeners to identify with either Daniel's trust or Darius's self-reliance

Friends, how do you respond when bad things happen in life? Is your response like Daniel moving forward, moving toward the Lord in prayer? Or is it like Darius moving away from God and toward self reliance and self preservation?

27 · Transition to the third and final major question: the grounds for trusting God as deliverer

Our third question, our last question, why can we trust God will deliver with the question marks of life?

28 · Exposition of Darius's anguished question at the lions' den with ironic pastoral comment on the timing of his theological inquiry

Verse 19 Then at break of day the king arose and went in haste to the den of lions. And as he came near to the den where Daniel was, he cried out in a tone of anguish. The king declared to Daniel, o Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God whom you serve continually been able to deliver you from the lions? Seems a little too late to ask him that question.

29 · Framing claim about the purpose of the passage: it exists to answer the universal question of whether God can be trusted to deliver

But verses 19 through 28 are in our Bibles to answer the question that everyone at some point in life wonders, can I trust God will deliver in exile while living on foreign land away from home, serving under various pagan kings? Israel knew God saved his people during the time of Moses. God saved his people during the time of the judges and the kings. But they wondered, will he save us now? As we read this, we sit here wondering, can God really deliver Daniel from the mouth of the lions? Can God do something about the evil schemes of the enemy? Can God work through unjust leaders? Can God accomplish His purposes despite all this mess? And we sit there wondering, can God deliver me from the things I am going through? God preserves this account in his word to answer that question for us.

30 · Exposition of Daniel's miraculous deliverance, the judgment on his accusers, and the explicit reason given: "Because he had trusted in his God

Verse 21 Then Daniel said to the king, O King, live forever. My God sent his angel and shut the lions mouths. And they have not harmed me, because I was found blameless before him. And also before you, O King, I have done no harm. Then the king was exceedingly glad and commanded that Daniel be taken up out of the den. And so Daniel was taken up out of the den and no kind of harm was found on him. Why? Because he had trusted in his God. And the king commanded and those men who had maliciously accused Daniel were brought and cast into the lion's den. They their Children and their wives. And before they even reached the bottom of the den, the lions overpowered them and broke all their bones in pieces.

31 · Theological claim drawing conclusions from the narrative: God can be trusted, will triumph over evil, and works through messy circumstances

Daniel 6 answers all those questions with a resounding yes, God can be trusted. Yes, God will triumph over evil. Yes, God can work through the Messiness of Daniel 6 and through the messiness of our own lives. Church. Can God deliver? Yes. Often we read stories like this and we're tempted to just say from our childhood, like, oh yeah, that's just a nice story that makes people feel good. But we often forget this historically happened. Daniel in the lion's den is not just a feel good story, but a story meant to tell us about who God is and and what he is like for his people.

32 · Series of diagnostic application questions pressing listeners to affirm belief in God's present power, providence, and deliverance—with a pointed question about whether that belief survives past Sunday

A few questions for you. Do you believe the God who shut the mouths of lions is the God who is present with you every moment of your life? Do you believe God is powerful? That you do not have to rely on your own strength and works? Do you walk through your trials and your suffering knowing the same God who had a plan and a purpose in Daniel's life has a plan and purpose in yours as well? Do you believe he still delivers today? If yes, will you believe this on Wednesday morning?

33 · Theological claim connecting Daniel's prayer habit back to his theology: his speed in turning to prayer was a product of his confidence in God as deliverer

Daniel believed all of these things and that's why point number two, he was so quick to go to the Lord in prayer. He goes to the Lord in prayer because he believes and he knows that God is a God who delivers and will deliver his people in this life or in eternity.

34 · Transition claim: Israel looked back to Daniel's deliverance; Christians look back to a greater deliverance in Christ

And here's the cool thing about Daniel 6 is the people of Israel were able to look back at the example of Daniel time and time again when they needed those reminders. Here's the good news for us today. We get to look back to Jesus and the cross.

35 · Extended typological reading: point-by-point parallels between Daniel and Jesus (conspiracy, prayer, tomb, deliverance, enemies defeated)

The story of Daniel 6 is pointing to the truer and greater Daniel. Jesus Christ. Guys, look at the parallels just all over this text here. Daniel was plotted against by the high officials and satraps. Jesus was plotted against by the chief priests and scribes. Daniel prayed as their plan to kill him was unfolding. Jesus prayed in Gethsemane on their way to arrest and put him on trial. Daniel was thrown into a tomb of lions to die. Jesus hung on the cross to die and was placed in a tomb. Daniel escaped death unharmed and was brought up up out of the tomb. Death could not hold Jesus down. He rose out of the tomb three days later. Daniel's enemies were defeated in the end. Death, Satan and sin were defeated once and for all by Jesus Christ. Notice not anything Daniel did that produced these results. This was completely the work of God. Daniel was delivered from the wrath of lions and death. Our text tells us why because he trusted God. Today sinners are saved from death, from the wrath of God's holy justice, from eternal hell by simply placing their faith in Jesus, who made faith even possible.

36 · Evangelistic turn: warning to those outside Christ, followed by the gospel offer

Here's the thing. If you are not in Christ like these officials and satraps, you will face God's justice one day because of your sin. But this is the good news of the Gospel. God did something to prepare and provide a way of deliverance. Amen. Do you have that assurance today that God will deliver you at the end of your life and that you will be with him forever? Jesus died so that all who believe in him and trust in him will have eternal life and will have their sins forgiven.

37 · Exposition of Darius's decree proclaiming the God of Daniel as the living, enduring, delivering God whose kingdom is eternal

And this chapter reminds us of the great hope and victory we have as the people people of God. Look at how Daniel's faithfulness in the midst of opposition impacted Darius in verse 25. Then King Darius wrote to all the people, nations and languages that dwell in all the earth, peace be multiplied to you. I make a decree that in all my royal dominion people are to tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, for he is the living God enduring forever. His kingdom shall never be destroyed and his dominion shall be to the end. He delivers and rescues, he works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth. He who has saved Daniel from the power of the lions. So this Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus, the Persian church.

38 · Theological claim about God's providence in suffering: God uses trials to display His glory and point others to Him

God never ever wastes the bad things that happen to his people. In fact he uses them according to his purposes so that through us we can then proclaim the hope and victory found in only Him. There's hope and purposes in our trials and our suffering that others need to hear. And you never know what other people what the Lord will do in their lives by hearing your faithfulness in trials. Look what this did in Darius life. And now we have this pagan king who went from self preservation to I need to proclaim this kingdom

39 · Transition to the sermon's final move: looking forward to Christ's return and the vindication of faith

Last Comments as we close, while we can look back to the cross to shape our responses to the bad things in life, we also have the privilege of looking forward turn to first Peter Chapter one

40 · Exposition of 1 Peter 1:6-7 connecting to exiled believers' trials and the eschatological vindication of tested faith

Just to give some context here, Peter is talking to exiled Christians who are going through trials and he is reminding them of the living hope that they have in Christ and how God has an inheritance waiting for them in heaven when we get there is what he says in verse 6 in this in this living hope we have in this inheritance that's waiting for us in this you rejoice, though now for a little while if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

41 · Doxological exposition: our tested faith is precious to Christ Himself

Look what he says here. Our faith is precious to who? Verse 7. He's talking about Our faith is precious to Christ. One day we will all stand face to face with the Lord, and the lifter of our heads is going to look at us and he's going to say, man, when you when you walked through the loss of your child and you still had faith and you still trusted me, that pleased me, he will say. When you walked through those difficult medical situations with your families and you stood firm in your faith and trusted me, that pleased me. To Daniel, that was hard. That was scary. But you still had faith as you were thrown into the den of lions and you trusted me and that pleases me. Well done, good and faithful servant.

42 · Theological claim: believers have two vantage points—looking back to the cross for assurance, looking forward to Christ's return for vindication and worship

Church we get to look at the cross, and then we get to look to that day when all of God's purposes are revealed. In all the trials that we walked through, in all the opposition we faced, we will stand rejoicing at the face with Jesus.

43 · Closing application: when trials come, do not panic but remember the pattern of God's faithfulness

So to wrap things up, Church when bad things happen in this life, let's not panic. God is not surprised by this. We do not need to be surprised either. Many of our brothers and sisters have walked down this path of difficulty, of trials, of suffering and opposition. Our own Savior faced injustice and opposition in his life and ministry as well. And when bad things happen, take a deep breath. Remember, God has delivered his people before. God will do it again in this life or the next. It's a Church with this victory that is ours in Christ, let us remain faithful. Let us pray like we believe the Truths of Daniel 6.

44 · Sermon conclusion restating the central question and answering it with confident affirmation before moving to closing prayer

Church Last question Can we trust God the Deliverer? Can we trust God the Deliverer? Yes and Amen. CHURCH let's pray.