Verse by verse teaching - Daniel 1:8 "Purpose in a Palace"

Alright Daniel chapter 1 and verse 8 if you're with us for the first time this morning we teach verse by verse exposition so we start at chapter 1 verse 1 in a particular book of the Bible and we explain every verse all the way through till we get to the end of that book and this morning brings us to verse 8 the title of the message this morning is purpose in a palace purpose in a palace let's pray father we thank you for your word I thank you for everyone who's here this morning I thank you father for those who are tuned in online right now as well and how precious it is to me to see them just like looking out father on the audience and seeing them here and I pray father for each and every person this morning that you'll take our distractions of this world away from us and set our eyes on you and feed us with the bread of heaven or we prayed in Jesus wonderful name the one who feeds his sheep amen in the previous verses we saw that the king of Babylon had appointed food and wine for the people of Judah those that he had captured and taken as his servants we also saw that the servants of kings eat the food of the kings they serve that was an important principle that we learned even as God also has appointed us his servants to eat and drink of the food and wine that he partakes of with us we saw the gospel is the food and drink that God has appointed us praise the Lord I love feeding on the gospel don't you all do I love feeding on the gospel Jesus said his body is our bread and his blood is our wine and by that food we joyfully live and serve our king the king of Babylon did not belong to the kingdom of God however he worshipped and served false gods and Daniel and his godly companions Hananiah Mishael and Azariah did not serve those false gods they serve the one true God and king and Abba Geneser by his chief eunuch we saw changed those godly men's names names that glorified their relationship with God he changed their names will be learned last week he couldn't change their identity in remembering their true identity as God's servants the ungodly King when he supplied these godly men a portion of his own meat to eat he supplied that meat look now in verse 8 but Daniel purposed in his heart Daniel purposed in his heart and here's what we learn to remember Nebuchadnezzar represents the the prince of this world who's the devil Jesus called him the god of this world and he represents the prince of this world the kingdom of the fallen race of men and Daniel and his servants represent people who belong to the kingdom of God but who have to occupy who have to live in and among ungodly people while waiting on their king I'm waiting on my king I can't wait for Jesus to come but in the meantime we have to live among ungodly people who serve in live as part of an ungodly kingdom and so the king had a plan his plan was to nourish was to have these men consume the food that he wanted them to eat the God of this world also has a plan he wants us to be nourished by consuming the food that he has for us to eat the problem is that food is not good for us we need to feed on the food that God has for us and the world always has something for our consumption doesn't it in its get filthier and filthier the further we go in into the future unfortunately but the king had a plan but Daniel had a purpose he purposed in his heart underscore that word purposed in the Bible the king plan to feed them with his own meat but Daniel purpose in his heart to not eat anything that God did not approve of boy I tell you what you remember that the next time you sit in front of television you remember that the next time you plan on going to the movies you remember that the next time you plan on surfing the Internet the next time you plan on listening to the radio we should not consume anything that God has not given us to eat to purpose in his heart means Daniel determined in his heart to abide by God's Word rather than the king's word here's the kingdom truth for you this morning when you're bound to your circumstance remain guided by your purpose when you're bound to your circumstance remain guided by your purpose right now we're bound to the circumstances of our lives we met a four years four years we've had to watch foolish people run and ruin our country but you know why doing nothing the world you can do about it for years now longer than four years we've had to endure and watch our nation marry two men together nothing you can do about it but when you're bound to your circumstance you've got to remain guided by your purpose and that's what Daniel was doing here in this case Daniel purpose in his heart look back in your text that he would not defile himself that was Daniel's purpose the Hebrew word translated defile here has the idea of separation and the reason it has the idea of separation is is because when you're polluted then you're separated you're polluted you're separated could you imagine going out getting all hot and sweaty and smelly and dirty and your wife is all clean and pretty and dressed up when you come home and you walk in hot and sweaty and smelly and dirty and she's got she just got out of the shower she has a nice clean beautiful dress on she's all made up could you imagine just going over there with all your dirty clothes and just giving her a hug and kiss do you do that what you do brother Doug you come in you don't do it Sheila you don't let him do that so so you see the idea here of defilement that's pollution causing separation now you think of the beautiful wife that's clean with a beautiful dress on and the man that's dirty with you know filth on his outward body and then you think of a righteous and a holy God and that righteous and holy God is much more pure much more clean much more undefiled than us than that than that wife in sin is much more filthy than any kind of dirt or contamination or body odor we could have on us and so this is the idea with defilement Daniel didn't want to be defiled because he didn't want anything in his life that put division between him and God you know he didn't we that's a purpose in his heart we need to have that purpose as well if a man was defiled under God's law in the Old Testament he couldn't eat the holy things and he couldn't participate in certain holy functions he couldn't go into the tabernacle and that was a picture back then of our broken fellowship with God due to sin sin is unclean sin defiles the child of God sin makes us unfit to stand in God's presence so to teach the Israelites that principle and to thus teach us that principle to teach us that all uncleanness must be washed away for our fellowship with God to be restored God ordained certain things in the Old Testament law to be clean and unclean certain things that were clean would have to be enjoyed and certain things that were unclean would have to be washed away they had to there had to be some kind of cleansing some kind of washing away of that filth about that Old Testament law if you ate or carried an unclean animal for example that had been killed so you went out hunting and you you you took back a wild hog or you took a rabbit or you took something that you were not supposed to eat something that was deemed unclean under the Old Testament law and you you carried that back home Leviticus 11 25 says and whosoever beareth aught of the carcass of them that is the unclean animals shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the even and then there's the rest of the day you're unclean just touching it just carrying it you are unclean beard to wash your clothes and and and get yourself clean and you're going to be unclean until the even in the Old Testament God gave Israel a comprehensive list of clean and unclean animals and God deemed that animal to be clean when he did they could eat it and when God deemed an animal to be unclean they couldn't eat it they couldn't touch it God gave them this law to teach them and to teach us the important principle that an unclean man can't enter into the presence of a holy God Leviticus 11 46 through 47 this is the law of the beasts and of the foul and of every living creature that move within the waters and of every creature that creepeth upon the earth to make a difference this is the reason for the law to make a difference between the unclean and the clean and between the beast that may be eaten and the beast that may not be eaten that's the beautiful thing God taught them there's some that are clean there is something that is unclean and if you get defiled then you have to have that that filth washed away or you're not getting near me thank God for the scripture in the book of the Revelation which was a fulfillment of all that Old Testament law when they said unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood Jesus death on the cross did something that those Old Testament washings could not do and eating an animal that was considered unclean caused a man to be defiled meaning his association with the unclean animal caused him to be unclean for the rest of the day so if you ate unclean animals every day then you'd continually be unclean according to Old Testament law that was some Daniel had determined his heart that he was not going to do and that is something that we should purpose in our hearts that we're not going to do now remember the clean and unclean animals that doesn't apply to us today it was just an illustration God gave to show them the difference between cleanliness and uncleanliness and Jesus came and he explained all of that he said it's not that which goes into your body that defiles you is that which comes from your heart that's what really needs to be washed away and that's something all those washings with water in the Old Testament including John the Baptist washing with baptism could not do it could not wash the heart I don't want anything in my life is going to hinder my walk in my fellowship with God I don't want anything like that yes praise God will always be saved and forgiven by the sacrifice that Jesus made but I'd rather live like David when he fought triumphantly against Goliath than live like David when the world was crumbling around him because of his sin with Bathsheba he was saved in both circumstances he was justified by his faith in the coming Savior but one was living in victory the other was walking in shame and defeat I don't want to live that way I don't want to be defiled and we as children of God should purpose in our heart that we will not defile ourselves look back in your text with the portion of the king's meat with the portion of the king's meat when you're looking at television you see these commercials come on and it's just filthiness things that they advertise today that I'd you would have ever imagined being on TV when I was growing up but you see all the filthiness come out you see all the junk pop up on social media you see all this junk that is the king's meat that is the God of this world cooking in hell's kitchen something for your consumption he wants you to feed on it that you may live by it God says no that's unclean don't eat the portion of the king's meat you eat the portion of the king's meat you eat the portion of the king's meat that God gives you from heaven that way you live by God's Word you think according to God's Word and that is how we are to live that's what doesn't defile us Daniel purpose his heart he would not eat the portion of the king's meat the next time you're tempted to look at something you shouldn't look at listen to something you shouldn't listen to have something on that shouldn't be on in your home you think to yourself I am purposed in my heart I am NOT going to defile myself with a portion of the king's meat Babylonians didn't follow God's Old Testament law they ate things that were considered by God's law to be unclean Daniel knew this so Daniel knew that the king's kitchen would be unclean once you had unclean animals in the kitchen the whole kitchen was unclean under the Old Testament law if unclean meat such as pork if it were to touch something then whatever it touched would be unclean so you you're preparing pork in the king's kitchen you're preparing beef or venison or something that they could eat under the Old Testament law in the kitchen that matter whole things contaminated all of that meat is contaminated and Daniel knew this it would be the case and so God anticipated it too and and so in fact in in in speaking to the northern kingdom of Israel now we're dealing with Judah right now in in the book of Daniel but dealing with the northern kingdom of Israel God said in Hosea 9 3 now that takes us back to the book we just left right God said in Hosea 9 3 they shall not dwell in the Lord's land but Ephraim shall return to Egypt and they shall eat unclean things in Assyria it happened to Israel and now was happening to Judah not only was it unclean because of the kind of animals that were being butchered and eaten but it was unclean because the animals had been sacrificed to Babylonian gods and Daniel want to know part of that Daniel had to eat of course you got to eat but he didn't have to defile himself doing so there are choices we can make in life you know even though Daniel was living among unclean people he purposed in his heart that he would not be an unclean man how many of y'all live among unclean people you go to work they got filthy mouths they got filthy minds and you gotta live among this stuff I've had a lot of men come up to me and say man it's it's so hard for me when when I go to work and having to be around all this junk here all this stuff exposed all these things you can't escape it we're living among unclean people but we have to purpose in our hearts that we're not going to be one of them here's a kingdom truth for you this morning we have to live with unclean people but we don't have to partake of their unclean things we have to live with unclean people but we don't have to partake of their unclean things Daniel purpose in his heart that he would follow God's Word regardless of what the rest of the kingdom was doing now notice that Daniel purpose in his heart before the king's meat was served to him he hadn't yet had to eat the king's meat he just knew was coming and so Daniel thought you know I don't care if I starve to death I am not going to defile myself by eating that meat that's been sacrificed to idols that comes from unclean animals I don't want to do anything to break my fellowship with God under his law he purpose this in his heart before the king's meat was served to him and that tells us the time to determine your standards is when you're in prayer with God not when you're at the table with your friends the time to determine your standards is when you're in prayer with God not when you're at the table with your friends and that king's meat is being served to you the time to decide to follow God is before you face temptation not when you face temptation man that's not that's not the time to make that decision that decision needs to already be made and Daniel teaches us that here in God's Word Daniel had a purpose in the palace and so must we he purpose to not defile himself with the king's meat look back in your text nor with the wine which he drank so meet and wine because wine was poured out also as a sacrifice to the false gods this y'all ever heard the word libation that's what that is so they would take they would take a portion of the wine and they would pour it out as a drink offering pour it out to to their false gods that was the way they did it is similar to a wave offering in the Old Testament they would take food and they wave it to God but here with the wine they pour it out to God so the meat and the wine the meat and the drink would have defiled Daniel being offered to the false God Exodus chapter 29 verse 41 Exodus 29 41 and the other lamb God said thou shalt offer it even and thou shalt and shalt do there to according to the meat offering of the morning and according to the drink offering thereof for a sweet savor and offering made by fire unto the Lord so we see God mentioning mentioning a drink offering here in the Bible and these idolaters would take a sample that wine they would pour it out of their false God and Daniel determined that he would not defile himself with either the meat or with that drink look back your text therefore he requested he put in a request I want you notice that Daniel requested Daniel did not demand this was Daniel's attitude when he was in the king's palace this has to be the Christians attitude in the king's palace as well Daniel knew whose kingdom he was in so what did he do he did what Jesus said he rendered to Caesar the things that were Caesars and to God the things that were God's he rendered honor to whom honor was due in that kingdom and we have to do the same don't go around acting all holier-than-thou and upping it up and I'm better than you and demanding your rights and all those other things be respectful whenever you exercise your godly standards always be respectful Daniel knew that God had set those ungodly people over him that was God's judgment that's the reason Babylon had taken Judah captive to begin with because of Judah's sin so Daniel knew that God had set those ungodly people over him at that time so he was respectful to them but at the same time he was unwavering in his obedience to God so have that humble attitude but have that purpose in your heart at the same time I'm going to be I'm going to be submitted to my God but I'm going to be respectful to the the the earthly authorities that I'm that I'm having to work under or work with so Daniel requested look back in your text what he requests Daniel requested of the Prince of the eunuchs that means Daniel went to the proper authority he went to the proper chain the Prince of the eunuchs was his immediate supervision so Daniel has this the standard issue and and so what he does he says well here's what I'm gonna do I'll put in this proper request to say that you work at Walmart there we we had a couple here that years and years ago the the woman and the wife never came to church unless one of her family members was playing a special on the piano she'd always get be able to get off of work for that other than that she couldn't come to work she had to work at Walmart on Sundays and I said well what about Wednesday night and they got real quiet you know you come to church on Wednesday never did but you know what when you say you're working at Walmart and they get you working on Sundays you know what you do you don't say I'm not working on Sundays I'm a child of God well you go about it with that attitude they may never schedule you working or being off on Sunday but you go with the proper attitude through the proper channels that's what we're seeing with Daniel and you're going to say you know what I'm determined in my heart you know I've got this sincerely held religious belief is how they worded today and I'm requesting accommodation because I really don't want to work on Sundays I'm determined that I'm going to be in the house of God with my family and that's what I'm going to do you know a while back and and and there are exceptions I understand when I was a highway patrolman I had to work on Sundays somebody's got to go work those crashes Luke our song leader sometimes he has to work on Sundays because if you have a heart attack you want somebody be in the emergency room to help you on Sunday we understand that and God understands that brother Shepherd our associate pastor sheriff's deputy he doesn't work on Sundays he won't work on Sundays and the the sheriff's department has honored that request and recently he promoted and he was willing to work all night long graveyard shift so he could be in church on Wednesday nights and because of his attitude with his supervision when it came time to the to the shift they accommodated him and they said working this shift that allow you to go to church on Wednesday nights Andy and that wonderful in it good to have not a battle with your employer but a relationship with him isn't it better instead of being offensive to those authorities over you that you end up being a testimony in a witness for God to those authorities over you that's what Daniel wanted to do and you know what because of how Daniel responded in these circumstances going through the proper authorities with the proper attitude trusting in his God and determined in his heart there's some things he's not going to do but instead of going in there all bullheaded he went in there with hand in hand giving them the respect and the authority that to the concern the authority that that they deserve that was due to them and later on we're going to see in the book of Daniel God used Daniel to be a great testimony in that kingdom and I could have destroyed it had he not done that but he goes to the prince of the eunuchs he politely request to the proper channels the proper way concerning his Christian convictions on the job in the king's palace Daniel maintained his standards while maintaining his respect so always be respectful of inferior authority when you are yielding to superior authority and repeat that again always be respectful to inferior authority when you're yielding to superior authority our goal is not to insult is to obey and be a witness for Jesus so Daniel requested back in your text that he might not defile himself he explained his dilemma to the prince of the eunuchs he explained his dilemma to the boss he let him know that the Kings meet and wine would defile him according to God's law he let him know that he would serve the king of Babylon I'll do my job but ultimately I am a servant of the Most High God and this gave Daniel the opportunity to stand out from the rest of the people while standing up as a servant of God and from this time forward for better for worse Daniel will be known as a man who feared the Lord what Daniel went through was written as an example to us though we are not defiled with unclean animals anymore we are defiled by living with unclean people in the thinking of unclean people and as Daniel determined to not defile himself with their portion we have to determine to do the same in our day this was made in a practical point in 2nd Corinthians chapter 6 verse 14 through 17 we're told be not be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness and what communion hath light with darkness and what concord hath Christ with Belial or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel in what agreement hath the temple of God with idols for ye are the temple of the living God as God has said I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people wherefore or because of this come out from among them and be separate saith the Lord watch this now in touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you you see everything we're reading about in Daniel we're not just reading some story of something happened to some unfortunate fellow years ago we're reading the story of our lives the king of Babylon represents the devil the kingdom of Babylon represents this fallen world Daniel and his godly friends represent the church that is bound to live in this ungodly environment but God says while you're living in this ungodly environment you make sure to touch not the unclean thing as they could need the holy things when they were unclean in the Old Testament so we can't feed on the holy things when we defile ourselves in the New Testament how many of y'all have ever got caught up in sin let me back up a little bit this is even worse how many of y'all have ever had sweet intimate fellowship with God I mean you're feeding on God's Word you feel like God's so close to you you're thanking God for all that Jesus has done for you oh you and God seem so close time passes maybe a little later in the day and your mind gets caught up thinking things that are unclean you get caught up doing something you shouldn't do saying things you shouldn't say and you know what when you're doing one you're not doing the other have you noticed that it is impossible to feed on one Kings meat in feet on the other Kings me at the same time absolutely impossible you can't feed on the bread of God and feed on the bread of the world the same time I know when I'm really close to God and I'm enjoying fellowship with him a lot of times I think oh Lord don't let this go away don't let me do anything to spoil this Lord let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable and I sought Oh Lord my strength and my Redeemer as the psalmist says because when you're feeding on one Kings meat you can't feed on the other and the devil knows that and that's why the devil all day long he's gonna come around to you and say smell good hey Nelda's wearing my blanket I gave her y'all notice it smell of that now next thing you know you start you start getting your mind on the on the the king of this world's meat and on that that those things that defile you and when you do and you're feeding on those things suddenly you realize kind of like when Jesus looked at Peter after the croc crowed three times God will come up remind you hey what you eating there Richard and you suddenly realize oh God I'm so sorry I'm so sorry and you know what that intimate fellowship have you ever noticed it's not immediately restored it's not it takes time for you to confess acknowledge God I'm wrong forgive me for violating your word and then it's like there's some time before finally God says okay that's long enough do you know what that is that's being unclean till the even that's what it is they wash their clothes just because they wash your clothes didn't mean you're clean you have a little time in the corner that's basically what it is that's what God was telling when they touch that dead body or they touched into done clean animal they they defiled themselves in some other way Gus you got some time in the corner you're gonna be unclean till it for the rest of the day come even time they could go to bed with a clean conscience praise God they go to bed knowing everything's okay between them and God but you know what I don't want that time when I'm out of fellowship with God so we need to purpose in our heart that we're not going to eat the king's meat father we thank you so much for your precious word thank you father for these practical lessons in the book of Daniel when we read about Daniel father in that palace were reading about us in the palace of this world when we read father about the food that was given for his consumption we reminded father of all the garbage this world wants us to consume and yeah it wants us to delight in it and to crave it Lord we pray you'll fix our appetite on the bread of God and help us to not partake of the king's mate let us walk with undefiled hearts to your honor and to your glory and may we enjoy perpetual fellowship with you we ask in Jesus wonderful name amen