Episode Transcript
If you take your Bibles and turn to the book of Daniel, chapter 6, Daniel chapter 6, and God willing will be expounding verses 11 through 13.
Another way of saying that we'll be explaining verses 11 through 13.
The title of the message this morning is The Assembly of the Wicked.
The Assembly of the Wicked.
Now the past two weeks we've been studying the history of Daniel's leadership under the reign of King Darius the Mead after The Medes and Persians conquered the kingdom, Babylonian Empire, actually.
And Daniel had been serving in a very high political position, one of three Presidents there in this new kingdom.
And King Darius was so pleased with Daniel's wisdom and service.
He thought just to put him over everything and just let him s rule over everything under him.
When the other political leaders serving under the king got wind of this They were determined to stop Daniel from climbing up that political ladder and ruling over them.
Politics back then is no different than politics today It's just the evil heart of man.
There are some people who just really have a lust for power.
Not a lust to do what's right.
But a lust for power.
And they used the people in their love for the people.
Trying to help the people as their excuse for really wanting to satisfy their lust for power.
So we learned last week that they taught King Darius into signing a law that banned people from praying to anybody but King Darius for 30 days Now that wasn't the king's idea.
It was the politician's idea.
Everyone except for Daniel, of course.
Because they knew Daniel prayed faithfully to God three times a day.
So they knew if they made that law, then they could get Daniel arrested and then Daniel put to death For breaking the king's law.
So of course King Darius had no idea that that was their plan.
He he was rushed Into making this decision.
We looked at that a few weeks ago.
He loved Daniel.
He would have never signed this into law had he thought it through.
And knew that this could hurt Daniel.
But he did.
He signed it into law.
And Daniel being faithful to God, after it was signed into the law, guess what he did?
He continued to pray three times a day anyway.
Even though the penalty for breaking that law was death The Bible says in Daniel 6.
10.
Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house, and his windows being opened in his chamber toward Jerusalem He kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he did aforetime.
And now this brings us to our text this morning.
Brings us into verse 11.
Daniel went into his house to pray to the one true God.
Look in verse 11.
Then these men, here's our word, assembled.
The title of our message is the assembly.
Of the wicked.
These men assembled and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God.
If you're taking notes, write down in your margin, Psalm 22, verse 16.
Psalm 22, verse 16, Jesus, in the book of Psalms. was speaking in the Old Testament.
In the Old Testament book of Psalms, because Psalms is not only poetry The Psalms is prophecy.
And so Jesus in the Old Testament book of Psalms, in Psalm chapter 22 was prophesying from the cross before the cross ever came.
And if you look in verse 16, if you'll write Psalm 22, 16 in your margin outside of this, Jesus said For dogs, and that represents Gentiles, for dogs have compassed me.
Here's our word.
The assembly of the wicked have enclosed me They pierced my hands and my feet.
Now we're going to learn about the assembly of the wicked this morning.
By God's grace, we're going to divide our text into three divisions, the politicians assembled.
The politicians deceived, the politicians disparaged.
We'll say that again if you're taking notes.
The politicians assembled.
The politicians deceived, the politicians disparaged.
So first, the politicians assembled.
Now this is the second time that we see the assembly of the wicked doing their thing.
This is the second time they assembled together.
The f the they they first assembled to connive.
If you'll look back in Daniel 6, verse 6 and 7.
They assembled to talk the king into making this ridiculous law So they could try to get a good man put to death.
Look in Daniel 6, 6 through 7.
Then these presidents and princes assembled.
There's the first time they assembled. together to the king, and said thus unto him, King Darish, live 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 thirty days, save of thee, O King, He shall be cast into the Den of Lions.
That was the first assembly of these wicked men.
The assembly of the wicked, Jesus said, have enclosed me What does that mean?
That means all those leaders in Jerusalem assembled together Came together, agreed together, took counsel together to put this man, Jesus, to death And how do they do it?
He said in the Psalms, they pierced my hands and my feet.
Now here we are in Daniel, and we see the assembly of the wicked again.
The political leaders are getting together, counseling together, conniving together to put this man to death.
Not through having his hands and feet pierced on the cross, but having his hands and feet pierced in the lion's den.
Did you know that in the Hebrew When you read there in Psalm 22, and it says, they pierced my hands and my feet.
This is no accident, folks.
Do you know what that means in Hebrew literally?
If you were to read a Hebrew Bible translated into English, it would say like a lion at my hands and feet.
You go back and you read a Jewish Old Testament translated into English, and it will say like a lion.
At my hands and feet.
Here's the assembly of the wicked trying to get a good man put to death by having a lion piercing his hands and feet.
And then here's Jesus on the cross, and he's saying, the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me like a lion at my hands and feet.
Wow.
So here they are, the assembly of the wicked, all coming into agreement to King Darius.
Now here's the thing about the assembly of the wicked Anytime you see a large group of politicians agreeing on something and wanting to pass a law real quick, you better know something's wrong.
Have you seen how long it takes to get a budget?
I don't think we still have a budget.
We have what they call stop gap.
Y'all heard of stopgap?
Do you know what that means?
Stop gap is Latin for we can't get a budget together.
That's all it is It's not really Latin.
But it's all it is.
We haven't passed now state of Texas, the God blessed state of Texas.
Did you know in our Constitution we cannot go into debt?
State Texas always has a surplus of money.
We always have extra money.
We have a budget and we always have more money than we need.
Federal government, they can't even pass a budget.
Why?
Because this man wants this, this man wants this over here.
This person's trying to, it's all me Now, if you see all these politicians, it takes forever.
You can't get the Save America Act passed.
Can't get all kinds of things passed.
Why?
Because of selfish motives But if you see a whole big group of politicians, all by the way, they never seem to run out of money for themselves, do they?
So if you get a whole bunch of politicians And you see them in agreement on something and they want to pass a law real quick, you better mark it down.
There's going to be something in it for them.
And right here, there's something in it for them.
There's no bickering, no fussing, no let's hear from the other side of the aisle on this.
No, no.
We're all in agreement, King.
This is what needs to be done.
And he says here, we've all 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 thirty days, save of thee, O King, He shall be cast into the den of lions.
Now they are assembling to condemn.
They assembled to catch Daniel breaking this law so that they could condemn him.
So these are high-ranking politicians that run the kingdom under King Darius.
And you'd think They'd have something important to do somewhere.
Instead of worrying about this little old thing like this, this little pet peeve law of theirs.
You'd think they would need to be conducting some business throughout their respective locations in the kingdom, but no, they're all gathered at one home in the kingdom, Daniel's home, assembled together for the common purpose of condemning an innocent man simply for praying to his God.
And you watch over there in the United Kingdom right now, and they're passionate.
You watch in Europe, they're passionate about condemning believers.
These men are 100% agreement on killing Daniel.
Not because it was good for the kingdom But because they thought it would be good for them.
Here's a kingdom truth for you this morning.
It's easier for people to work against a common enemy. than to work for a common good.
You'll see this over and over in politics.
Unfortunately, sometimes you may see it in the church too.
In the politics of a church that's not following the will of God.
But because of our fallen nature It's easier for people to work against a common enemy than to work for a common good.
First, the politicians assembled.
Second, the politicians deceived.
They deceived.
They deceived by feigning, that means pretending their loyalty to the king.
Look with me in verse twelve.
They then they came near and spake before the king concerning the king's decree.
This is after they caught Daniel praying.
Hast thou not signed a decree?
That every man that shall ask a petition of any god or man within thirty days, save of thee, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions?
Oh here they are all pious.
These are great patriots.
They're all assembled.
How can they explain what they were doing at Daniel's house to begin with at his prayer time?
I'm sure they had had some story. about what they uh were going to do.
But uh they're all assembled up there and they come to the king and they say, uh king?
Is it true that uh uh did didn't you sign that law?
Remember that law?
Didn't you sign that law that if anyone prayed anyone but 30 days That they'd be casting the dental lines.
Well yeah, I signed that law.
Yeah, I did.
I signed that law.
They're acting like Like they're questioning him on it.
Well, you did sign that in the law, didn't you?
They they acted like they're zealous for the king's honor.
They acted like they're very concerned about the king's law being upheld in the kingdom And they didn't care one bit about the king's honor.
But in politics, every rotten deed Needs a noble cause.
You hear that?
In politics, every rotten deed needs a noble cause.
This way they could carry out their plan to murder Daniel for political gain in the name of defending the king's honor and obeying the law.
When you're listening to a politician speak, you always look in the background.
What's he going to get out of this?
What what what is going to be the end result of this?
But they're going to put something out there, some some honor, some Moral outrage they're always going to have.
They said, King, didn't you sign that into law about not praying to anyone for 30 days?
And in verse 12, the king answered and said, The thing is true According to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not.
Remember the law of the Medes and Persians where once the king signed something into law, that law couldn't change.
It couldn't be broken.
It couldn't be rescinded And so they're coming to the king.
We're simply being patriotic.
We're upholding the law and honoring our king.
I love listening to these liberal politicians.
I love, it's amazing.
By the way, if you have not watched it, I recommend everybody go to Facebook And go to the Department of State, Marco Rubio's Facebook page.
Not his personal, but the actual government Facebook page, the State Department.
And he put a wonderful post on there, I saw yesterday, about how we are we're we're uh uh started as a Christian nation and the purpose of our origin was to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And I'm sitting there watching that Brother Shepherd and I'm thinking, I it's I would have never imagined ten years ago.
That I would be listening to an official speech on an official government page declaring that we originated for the purpose of spreading the gospel.
And I thank God for the stand that man has taken.
I do.
And so these people though, these liberal politicians, here's Marco Rubio talking about the founding fathers and the pilgrims that came over here.
And the liberal people hate any mentioning of God or the Bible, any idea of the fact that our freedom comes from God and not from government.
Our liberties come from God and not from government.
Yet at the same time, when it's convenient to them They will quote Scripture.
When it's convenient to them, they will say, well, our founding fathers never envisioned this.
And I'm like, you don't care anything about the founding fathers, or you wouldn't be here, because you don't believe right.
But this is what it was.
Every rotten deed needs a noble cause.
So they're acting as if they're patriotic and upholding the law. honoring the king.
Their cause uh uh wa was supposedly a noble, but it that noble cause was simply to conceal their rotten deed.
They deceived by feigning their outrage against the enemy.
We have fake outrage all the time from politicians, fake outrage all the time by organizations.
Look in verse 13.
Then answered they and said before the king, that Daniel, which is of the children of the captivity of Judah, regardeth not thee.
O King, nor the decree that thou hast signed, but maketh three his petition three times a day.
A feigned noble cause always needs plenty of feigned outrage And you'll see these organizations and these politicians, and they'll be outraged.
All the rioting in the streets.
Half the time they don't know what they're rioting over You've seen people go out there at these protests interviewing them.
They don't even know what they're there for.
They're just getting paid to show up.
But it gives the idea, the perception, that the public's really angry about this.
And it's for a noble cause.
And there's always power and money at the end of it.
Well, I was watching the other day.
George Floyd's, uh, boy George Floyd, man, he deceived a bunch of people.
All those, they they use that, that's their noble cause George Floyd's family.
They have a charitable organization now that you can donate to to help fight against things like George Floyd had to go through.
Let me tell you what George Floyd went through.
He reaped what he sowed.
That's what he went through.
And there they're collecting all this money with this feigned moral outrage.
They're collecting all this money in to help this noble cause.
And there was his brother.
Sporting a $45,000 necklace that he's wearing.
Guess where your noble cause money's going to?
$45,000 of it's hanging around that man's neck.
If he cared about all the oppression of the people, he'd hawk that piece of junk and give it to his oppressed victims Someone's calling me on the phone and I'm not gonna answer it.
I usually keep that on silent and then when I keep put her on silent I can't hear anybody call me it uh at home and uh turn it back on uh loud and then uh on uh on the the volume uh whatever it's called when it's not on silent.
I turn it off silent And now someone calls me at church.
And I almost promise you, whoever's calling me at church is wanting some money.
I apologize for that.
But politicians love to stand behind the microphone.
They love to pretend to be outraged over their enemies' actions.
There was a trooper I used to work with in Jacksonville.
He was testifying once in a trial, and there was a crooked politician. crooked politician.
And uh uh he was uh he was a uh a uh uh lawyer And he was the defense attorney, and he was acting like he was outraged over the trooper's actions, and he was trying to discredit the trooper on the witness stand, attacking him in front of the jury.
But when that trial broke for lunch, my partner at the time, it wasn't Jimmy, it was another man My partner at the time and that defense attorney went out to eat together for lunch And he said, we were laughing and cutting up about, boy, you got me good that time.
Well, I got you that.
And he said, we were cutting up.
He said, Richard, it's all just a game.
And you know what?
I'm too real for that.
I couldn't go eat with a man who's trying to discredit me and my testimony. in public.
Truth is not a game to me, but truth is a game to many people.
To master unrighteous motive, crooked people try to create the image of moral outrage Again, we saw that in the Black Lives Matter demonstrations.
It was feigned outrage to cover up a corrupt motive the Black Lives Matter Organization explicitly stated on their website, and I pointed out during that time.
Many of y'all were not here at that time.
But the Black Lives Matter Organization specifically stated one of their main reasons for existing on their website was to destroy the nuclear family.
You know what the nuclear family is?
That's a mama, a daddy, and children.
That's one of their main objectives The family God designed.
But you can't rake in millions with that out front.
You're going to have to have some fake moral outrage.
And so you put that up front.
We're going to be morally outraged over so-called racial violence by police officers.
And that way they can cover up their evil purpose and their financial corruption.
How many prosecutions have we seen?
We saw a lady over the Black Lives Matter just the other day.
She got arrested for funneling. so much of that money in and and uh and uh money laundering and and and and through this feign moral outrage they convicted an innocent police officer of murder Because the world was sold a bill of goods in the name of moral outrage.
Some of y'all may cringe when I say he was innocent.
Because you've seen the moral outrage.
You've watched the demonstrations.
And you think he had to have done something wrong.
I'm telling you.
That man, the the only victim in that was the policeman.
That's the only victim was that poor policeman They emboldened criminals when they convicted him.
They disparaged police officers.
The man was on drugs The man was resisting arrest.
The man was in the middle of committing a crime.
And not once did they beat him.
Kick him.
All you see is that officer leaning like this, with his knee on his neck, trying to keep him down.
And you know what?
Me and my old highway patrol partner, we used to work together.
We were working together during that time.
I said, Jimmy I'm gonna lay on the ground like that.
I want you to come over and I want you to put your knee on the back of my neck just like that.
You know what?
I could breathe just fine.
Just fine In the original testimony, contradicted from the doctors, from the autopsy, contradicted what they ended up changing it to to convict him.
They feigned their loyalty.
These politicians did.
They feigned their outrage.
And then they projected their desire.
Watch this carefully.
They projected their desire.
Look back in verse 12.
Then they came near and spake before the king concerning the king's decree.
Hast, underscore in your Bible, thou, the word thou, hast thou not signed a decree?
Watch what they're doing here.
Do you know what projection is?
Projection is when you take What you're doing, and then you project that onto somebody else to make it look as if that's what they're doing.
That's what's happening here.
They didn't come to the king and say, King, didn't we get you to sign that law the other day?
Didn't you sign that law for us?
They came and they said, King, didn't you sign this law?
They're projecting their actions onto the king.
And by doing so, they're making it look like this is the king's deal And they're backed out of it and all they're doing is trying to support the king.
It's what they're doing.
People do this all the time.
They'll do it in the home.
They'll do it in the workplace.
They'll do it in politics They'll do it in society.
But they were projecting what they wanted as something the king wanted Now have you ever known anyone like that?
Have you ever known anyone there are some people who are so good at taking their idea And making it appear as it was somebody else's idea so they can get it done.
Anyone ever see anyone like that?
Ooh, that's what these guys are doing.
Projection.
This is their idea.
They're trying to make it look like it was the king's idea.
They're trying to turn their fight with Daniel into the king's fight with Daniel.
And they get to watch and all we're trying to do is support here.
And nobody points the finger at them.
Because they're politicians.
Didn't you sign a decree, King?
Somebody is going against you, King.
They're trying to get the king all riled up.
Listen, the king had no beef with Daniel The king loved Daniel.
But this was being sold to the public as a matter between Daniel and the king.
Never let someone use your name. as the headliner for their fight.
We'll say that again.
Never let someone use your name as the headliner for their fight.
Don't get dragged in to somebody else's drama.
The politicians assembled, the politicians deceived.
And lastly, the politicians disparaged.
They disparaged.
Look with me in verse 13.
Then answered they and said before the king that Daniel Underscore, which is of the children of the captivity of Judah.
Underscore that.
Which is of the children of the captivity of Judah.
Regardeth not thee, O king.
Now this was the politician's way of distinguishing Daniel from themselves.
Now it's been many years since Daniel was taken from Judah.
Daniel has served in a distinguishing career.
As a prophet and a politician up to this point Number two man under the king.
He was the first of three presidents, the Bible says.
But notice what they do when they point Daniel out.
They say, Daniel That captive from Judah.
See what they're doing?
That's what the devil will do.
That's what feigned, morally outraged people will do That's their way of saying he's not one of us.
He's just a captive from Judah.
He's not one of us, King.
And notice how they didn't refer to Daniel for what he really was.
He's not a captive of Judah anymore, Brother Doug.
He's second man under the king.
But now they're referring to Daniel according to his past They're referring to and identifying Daniel according to his humble and shameful origins.
That Daniel, which is of the cap uh the captivity of Judah They didn't identify Daniel by what he had accomplished in the present, but what he had experienced in the past.
And church, that's what the devil will do to you if you will let him.
I've seen it.
I've experienced it.
You've seen it probably.
You've experienced it.
And you may not have known that's what was happening.
But the devil will disparage your heart by reminding you of your past in hopes of discrediting your present.
Y'all ever had the devil do that to you?
You have?
Yes, sir.
I see a lot of hands going up.
He'll remind you, boy, my my wife was talking yesterday.
Well, we got some good water in that water fountain back there.
My wife was talking yesterday.
She was visiting with a young woman.
And that young woman talked about her early life.
And she said, I did some things back then that I'm ashamed now when I look back on them.
And my wife said, how many in here can raise their hand and say you never were ashamed of anything you did when you were young?
Everybody has.
Almost everybody.
But you know what?
That devil will bring stuff up sometime.
He'll say, well, you can't do this.
You're just this person over here.
You can't do anything.
Look at your upbringing.
Look at where you came from.
Look what your past is.
Look what you're guilty of doing in the past.
And he'll try to disparage your heart and crush your spirit.
By pointing back at your past and trying to identify you based on your past failures.
There's nobody in here that doesn't have past failures.
Yes, somebody's failures are whoppers.
There's no doubt about that.
But you know what?
They're no bigger than the cross.
No bigger than the cross of Jesus Christ.
The devil will disparage your heart by reminding you of your past in hopes of discrediting your present.
Do you remember the fake moral outrage of Potiphar's wife?
With Joseph.
Fake moral outrage.
Joseph was uh was the man second in charge under Potiphar, over his his uh estate.
And Potiphar's wife kept trying to get Joseph to commit adultery with her.
And Joseph was a righteous man.
He said, I'm not going to do my boss that way.
No ma'am.
Not gonna do it.
She kept tempting him and kept tempting him and finally nothing worse than a woman's scorn, she's like, well now I'll get him He's not going to do me like this.
I'll show him.
Now I want you to listen to how she identified Daniel in Genesis chapter 39, verse 14.
Genesis 39, 14, she says, she it says, She called unto the men of her house and spake to them, saying, See he that is my husband Potiphar, he hath brought in an Hebrew unto us to mock us.
He came unto me to lie with me, and I cried with a loud voice.
Joseph was the smart, capable, handsome young man that ruled Potiphar's house when she had her eyes set on him.
But when he wouldn't go along with her wicked desires, he was an Hebrew who had come to them as a slave.
Because that's how it started, a Hebrew slave.
She says, he brought a Hebrew in here.
He brought in a dirty Jew.
That's what she's saying.
He's not one of us.
Just a Hebrew slave.
That man was smart.
He was in charge of everybody Church never let the devil disparage your heart by reminding you of your shameful past.
Don't let him do it.
We see that's his tactic right here in the Bible.
You see, God does not identify us by our wretched past.
He identifies us by our righteous Savior.
Whom He has imputed His righteousness to us Galatians chapter 6 verse 15 says it this way.
For in Christ Jesus, that's our Savior.
Neither circumcision availeth anything, that's a Jew.
Nor uncircumcision, that's a Gentile.
God doesn't care if you're Jewish. or if you're a Gentile.
He doesn't care if you're male.
He doesn't care if you're female.
He doesn't care if you're bond or if you're free.
He doesn't care if you're poor or if you're rich.
He doesn't care about your past or your future.
All he cares about is this.
What?
A new creature.
And folks, you know why we were new creatures?
Because our past is old.
It's behind us.
And all we have to do is look forward.
To be made like Jesus.
The Bible says, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.
That's all that matters to God.
So we'll close with this.
There's no dirtier politician than the devil.
He's the one that split heaven He's the one that's that that that that uh destroyed the human race by by deceiving The assembly of the wicked.
We deal with it all the time.
We see it all the time.
Not only in the political realm, but in the spiritual realm.
And when the devil reminds you of your past.
Just turn the tables on him and remind him of his future.
Our future is bright.
His is very, very dark.
Father, we thank you so much for your precious word.
We thank you, Father, God, that with you, and I love what your word says in the Gospel of John.
The law came by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
When Jesus came, there was no fake moral outrage.
When Jesus came, there was no hidden agenda.
When Jesus came, it was just truth.
The truth that we were sinners in need of a Savior.
The truth that God had fulfilled His law and fulfilled His promise by sending us His Son.
And Father, we thank you, dear Lord God, that with you, Father, we always see things clearly.
We always know what we're dealing with up front.
We don't have to look, Father God, for anything that you're doing under the table.
But Lord, it's always open and clear for us, dear Lord God.
As you show us the way, the truth, the life in your Son.
And we're grateful, Father, that because of Him We may have a dreadful past, but we have a delightful future.
The devil, Father God, had a delightful past.
And now he has a dreadful future.
And thank you, Lord, for helping us keep those things in perspective this morning.
And let us be like Daniel, though the enemy identifies us by our past.
We continue to be identified in Jesus Christ.
As new creatures, in his name we pray.
Amen.
