Episode Transcript
Daniel chapter 6 verse 14 is where we'll be studying this morning, taking God's word verse by verse.
And the title of the message this morning is Unintended Consequences.
Unintended Consequences.
After Media Persia conquered the Babylonian Empire in about 539 BC, the prophet Daniel, we learned, was promoted by King Darius.
The Mede to be one of the three presidents over the former Babylonian Empire.
And being pleased with Daniel's work, the king thought, you know, I'll just put Daniel over the entire kingdom.
Not sharing the governance with two other presidents, but overseeing the entire kingdom himself under Darius.
It's a great promotion.
Would have been.
The other two presidents and politicians, however, under them didn't want Daniel to rule.
So to get Daniel out of their way and cut the competition out, because politics is an awful dirty business.
Always has been.
They talked the king into issuing a command that nobody could pray to any God or man except for King Darius for thirty days.
They knew Daniel prayed faithfully to God three times every day, so they figured they could act as if they were going to.
To give the king a great honor for 30 days by passing this law, then catch Daniel breaking that law by obeying God and Then they could get Daniel out of the way, because the penalty was to be sent to the lion's den.
So, King Darius, all happy that they wanted to honor him for 30 days, he signs the law.
That they wanted him to sign, and that made the penalty for praying to anyone but Darius death by lion's den.
For ease of learning, I've divided this verse up into three main points if you're taking notes and want to write them down ahead of time.
The king's sin Came with, number one, unintended consequences.
The king's sin, and thus sin in and of itself, number two. came with unheard words.
And the king's sin, number three, came with unequal outcomes.
Sin comes with unintended consequences.
It comes with unheard words.
And sin comes with unequal outcomes.
That's what we're going to be learning this morning through this story.
First, unintended consequences.
The king was so caught up in the moment of how these politicians wanted to honor him that he never thought about how this law might affect someone else.
But after passing this law, these politicians didn't waste any time heading over to Daniel's house to catch him praying to God, which Daniel again did three times a day.
They caught Daniel in the act of praying, and then they went straight to the king with the news in feigned outrage, we learned last week.
As if they were trying to protect the king's honor.
Look back with me 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 his petition three times a day.
Do you remember the law you signed, King Darius, that whoever prays to anyone but you for 30 days would be cast into the lion's den?
Well, Daniel doesn't care anything about you because he's been praying three times a day to his God.
Well, when the king heard this, his heart sank.
You know why?
Because he loved Daniel.
And the thought of Daniel dying because of a foolish, not well thought-out law that he had signed, it broke the king's heart.
Look with me in verse 14.
Then the king, when he heard these words, was sore displeased with himself.
They were hoping the king would be displeased with Daniel.
They were hoping to make a big rift between the two.
But he wasn't.
The king was displeased with himself.
King Darius was foolish for having signed that law.
But King Darius was an honorable man.
You have to give him that.
Darius knew that he had made a mistake by signing that law.
And he admired Daniel's faithfulness to God.
In fact, the reason that he was thinking about promoting Daniel to begin with as being such a wise governor Was because he prayed to God and was filled with the Spirit of God.
That's what made him a wise governor to begin with.
He would have never tried to shut down Daniel's prayer to God.
King Darius, however, would now have to cast the man that he wanted to promote over his kingdom into a den of lions.
Because Daniel was doing what it took to be the kind of leader the king desired.
What a mess.
The king was only trying to.
Pleased the politicians by signing that law.
The king would have never dreamed that it would have turned out like this.
But this is the problem that we run into when we disobey the word of God, as King Darius did.
Do you know what people often do before they commit a sin?
I bet you do, because you've probably done it yourself.
But before people commit a particular sin, one that they know is they really shouldn't do.
I'm not talking about just the day-to-day things because we all come up short, don't we?
I'm talking about the decisions that we make that we know are wrong.
And before we do them ahead of time, we think through them.
And people often consider what they believe the consequences of that sin is going to be.
They think it out.
And they determine in their heart that the benefit of their sin Is going to outweigh the consequences of their sin.
Otherwise, they wouldn't commit it, right?
If they thought, oh, this isn't going to be worth it, then they wouldn't do it.
But they think, yeah, I.
I may suffer some consequences from this, but you know what?
I really believe this is going to benefit me.
I really need this.
I really need to cheat on this test at school.
I really need to do something at work.
I really need to.
To sleep with this woman or this man over here and cheat on my wife.
I need to lie about this because I may get in trouble.
So it's worth it this time.
This time is something that I should do.
So they commit the sin, knowing what they're doing is wrong, knowing they will have to pay a price for it.
But believing the sin is worth it and that they're going to come out ahead in the end.
A few years ago, there was a man I know who had a very distinguishing career.
It was the job he had always dreamed of.
Everybody respected him, and life seemed to be going so well for him.
But one day he chose to commit a particular sin.
He knew it was wrong.
And the events that unfolded after he made that decision.
It caused him to lose the respect that he had earned.
It caused him to lose the job that he enjoyed.
And even several years after making that poor decision.
He was still complaining that nobody would hire him.
I personally know that he realized that was a big blunder that he did.
And I hope today that he's living a better life.
But you know what?
The decision he made, it went far beyond what he expected it to.
The price that he paid.
He probably thought that he had counted the cost of his sin, but he never counted on all that happening.
Here's a kingdom truth for you this morning.
Intentional sins often have unintentional consequences.
Intentional sins often have unintentional consequences.
The king's sin came first with unintentional consequences.
Don't think That you have it all figured out, don't think that you're going to be able to say, Well, this is what this is going to cost me right here.
Sin never gives you the upfront cost.
Those who know me know I can't eat dairy.
I used to be able to, I can't anymore.
My system just won't tolerate it anymore.
But I have learned about a certain product.
That uses A2 protein.
Y'all may not be familiar with that, but cows make A2 protein and they also make A1 protein.
And so milk usually has both those proteins in it.
Some cows genetically only produce A2 protein and it's easier to digest.
And so I have been enjoying, the milk still bothers me, but I've been enjoying the A2 yogurt that we get from Brahms.
It doesn't bother me a bit.
In fact, it helps.
I ate all I want, it doesn't hurt me.
And so I Tammy and I made some incredible it's calzone, but For us, American Hicks, we call it Cal Zones.
So we made some incredible cow zones yesterday.
These folded up pizzas.
They were so good.
And when I looked at Tammy's and I saw all that melted mozzarella cheese on hers, and I look at mine and I just see, blah.
You know?
When we got through making that and we got through eating, I said, I'm going to go do some.
Some work.
I'm doing an evangelism project right now that I started on yesterday in my study.
I said, I'm going to work on that project.
And I'm also going to get on the internet and see if I can find some A2 cheese and try that.
Man, that's just hard to find in this one place that I found.
You have to give your email address and sign up on the list before you can even see the cost.
Brother, if it's i i if I've got to ask, I can't afford it, right?
If I got to sign up for that, I don't want it.
So, old Richard gonna do without.
But that's the way sin is.
You got to sign up for it before you're going to know what it's going to cost.
It's never going to tell you the hidden charges, the hidden fees that come with it.
You will always pay more.
Than what you gain through sin every single time.
Don't be deceived on that.
So first, the king's sin came with unintentional consequences.
Second, the king's sin came with unheard words.
Unheard words.
Look in verse 14, an underscore.
When he heard these words.
When he heard these words, notice how I put the emphasis on these.
You see, the king had already heard all their words before.
When they came to the king and gave him their sales pitch, he heard everything they had to say about that law.
All the benefits, how wonderful it was going to be, the honor he was going to get.
King Darius had heard their sales pitch and all the positive things about signing the law, but they didn't say anything about Daniel when they spoke to the king the first time.
They didn't say, oh, king, by the way, what we're wanting to do is catch Daniel, and then we'll get.
They would have never told the king that.
They only told him what they wanted him to hear, just like the devil does.
Just like the world does.
Last week, I read an advertisement about an investment that pays a fixed interest rate of 8.
5%.
Compounded daily.
Brother Shepard, I'd love to have something like that.
Love to.
And it can be withdrawn anytime without penalty.
You could get this amazing rate, they said, by investing in the company's real estate bonds.
Well, I went to the company website.
Skeptical, but I'll look.
And I watched their informational video.
It had a guy on there that sounded kind of like the Godfather.
Looked kind of like the Godfather, dressed like the Godfather.
And he told me all the reasons I should invest in the real estate bonds and how the real estate could make all this money if you own this rental property.
But they never said anything about the risk involved.
But most importantly, he never talked about the real estate that they owned.
And that your bonds would actually be secured by.
What real estate is it?
So I'm all good for For a great investment, but before I invest my hard-earned money, because I work harder than most anybody here, before I invest my hard-earned money, I want to do some research on it.
And you know what I found?
I found that the company was taking all the money that people were sending into them and they were investing it in U.
S.
Treasury bonds.
Now listen, U.
S.
Treasury bonds don't pay 8. 5% interest compounded daily, not even compounded yearly.
They don't pay that much.
And they said, well, we're putting them in U.
S.
Treasury. until we can find the real estate we want to buy with it.
Then we'll take them out and we'll buy in other words, you think you're investing in real estate bonds And they don't even own any real estate.
They own no real estate at all.
And so all the money that they're paying you In interest, do you know where that money is?
It's your money.
They're simply taking a little bit of the money you've given them, and they're paying a little bit back to you, and you think you're getting all this interest.
And they're just you know what happens?
If they stay in those secur in those Treasury bonds, they're going to be paying what?
Well, they're paying 4% or something right now?
And they're paying you 8%.
You know what's going to happen after a while?
They're going to run out of money.
Companies are going to go belly up, and you're going to lose your hard-earned money.
But none of that was mentioned in the informational video.
I had to do some research on it to find it out.
Like the politician sells pitch to King Darius, it just didn't come up in the advertisement.
Satan also didn't tell Eve everything she needed to know when he tempted her to eat from the forbidden tree, did he?
And he doesn't tell us the whole story either.
But you know what?
If we would simply listen to God's word, then we wouldn't have to worry about missing out on anybody else's words.
That's the beauty of it all.
If Adam and Eve would have just simply listened to thou shalt not eat of it, for the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die, that should be enough.
Did God tell them everything?
No, but he told them everything they needed to know.
Did the people come into King Darius tell him everything?
No.
Neither did they tell him everything he needed to know.
You see?
Had King Darius, though, listened to God's word, which says, Thou shalt have no other God before me.
That would have been enough.
He wouldn't have to worry about missing out on the politician's words.
Sin comes with unintentional consequences.
Sin also comes with unheard words.
Don't just sit there and listen to the sales pitch the world is trying to give you.
And then buy into it, because you're going to lose every time.
You better listen to God's word.
His word alone is going to tell you everything you need to know, and His word alone is going to not come with unintentional consequences.
So it comes with unintentional consequences.
Sin comes with unheard words.
And third, and lastly, sin comes with unequal outcomes.
It always comes with unequal outcomes.
Look back with me now in the same chapter.
Look back in verse 7, please.
Daniel 6, verse 7.
All the Presidents of the Kingdom, the Governors and the Princes, the Councillors 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.
Look at that.
For thirty days, save of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions.
Thirty days, if you have your Bible out underscore, for thirty days.
This sin was only supposed to last for 30 days.
I mean, how much harm can come from such a brief law?
In Texas, we have what's called the sunset clause.
We have a sunset committee.
And so there are certain agencies that will just cease to exist. unless the sun will set on them, unless the sunset committee deems that they're still needed.
And that Sunset Committee meets on a regular basis to make sure that they're needed.
And if they don't deem they're needed, by law, they will naturally just go away.
And so after 30 days, this law would just go away. 30 days, one month.
How much harm can come if we don't like the law?
It's okay, it'll be over with next month.
It's no big deal.
But the duration of a man's distress won't equal The duration of his disobedience.
Repeat that again.
The duration of a man's distress because of his sin.
Will not equal the duration of his disobedience.
It will always be greater.
Las Vegas is infamously known as what?
Sin City.
City likes being known as that.
In fact, not too many years ago, I don't know how many of y'all remember it.
But Las Vegas used to have a slogan in their tourism commercials.
What happens in Vegas?
Look at that.
Y'all remember.
What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.
I remember watching one of their commercials once, and it had a man.
In this room, and it had some sleazy women, and it had a man dressed up as the devil.
And that man was looking at those women, those women were tempting that man, and that devil goes, Come on, come on, tempting him.
It's okay.
Go ahead.
Las Vegas.
Issued a commercial encouraging people to come to their city to commit sexual sins.
Because it's okay.
What happens in Vegas will stay in Vegas.
What you do here will stay here.
You can commit this sin in our city, then you can leave the sin, go back home.
It'll be like it never happened.
It'll just be that time period that you were with us in Vegas.
My goodness, what a lie.
That's the same old 30-day scam that those politicians pulled on King Darius.
Just 30 days.
Listen, do you know what it takes to destroy your lives?
Not even 30 days.
Not even 30 minutes.
You can destroy your life in 30 seconds.
We got a trial going on right now up in, was that Plano, where one young man stabbed another young man in the heart and killed him.
All that heated emotion over nothing, over nothing.
And now a young man is dead, and another young man's life is ruined.
And people are upset on both sides.
And you know what?
That's unintended consequences.
Never expect that stuff to happen.
But that brief moment can last A lifetime.
But that's the same old 30-day scam those dirty politicians pulled on King Darius.
Go ahead and do it.
It'll be over with when you leave, and no long-term harm will be done.
But the city of Las Vegas, you know what they don't tell you?
They don't tell you that your sexually transmitted disease that you get while you're in Vegas isn't going to stay in Vegas.
It's going to come back with you.
They don't tell you that your troubled conscience is not going to stay in Vegas.
It's going to come back with you.
They don't tell you that your polluted mind isn't going to stay in Vegas.
It's going to come back with you.
And it will.
Verse fourteen says, He was sore displeased with himself.
The devil wants to tell you that your sins are going to make you feel good Your sin's going to make you happy.
I mean, if sin, if something doesn't make you feel good and it doesn't make you happy, I guarantee you, you're not going to do it.
The devil says, sin's going to make you happy, sin's going to make you feel good, sin's going to make you a better you, and now what happens as the result of King Darius' sin, he's now disappointed with himself.
He now feels bad about what he's done.
He was sore displeased with himself.
The devil doesn't tell you that sin's pain will always last longer than sin's pleasure.
Oh, there's pleasure in sin for a season, the Bible says.
Sin always has its pleasure for a season.
I can almost promise you I feel very, very certain.
That the tree of the knowledge of good and evil tasted very good.
Very good.
I mean, Eve took and ate from the tree first, right?
Don't you think I mean, wives, tell me this.
If you took a bite out of something and it tasted rotten, spoiled, bitter, whatever.
Made your tongue draw up.
Would you go offer that?
Would I?
Some of you probably would.
But if you loved your husband, would you go offer that to him too?
No.
I believe she ate from that tree because it said it was pleasant to the eyes.
It wasn't ugly.
It looked good.
I believe when she ate from that tree, I think it tasted so sweet.
I think it tasted so good.
You know, the Bible talks about eating something sweet, and when it gets to the belly, it's all bitter.
And that's the way that tree of the knowledge of good and evil was.
But it had pleasure for a season.
By the time it gets down and they digest what took place, we've been having sorrow ever since, haven't we?
And so sin has pleasure for a season, but the pleasure of sin will never outlast the pain of sin.
Pain is always going to be more.
The devil doesn't tell you that.
Here's a kingdom truth for you this morning.
Every small sin has a bigger consequence.
Every small sin has a bigger consequence.
The king was displeased with himself.
Look back in your text, and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him.
He wanted to change the outcome of his decision.
How many of y'all have ever done something before that you knew were wrong?
You then began to suffer the consequences of it, and you wished To God, that you could go back and change the decision you made.
Anybody in here?
Hands everywhere.
You can attest.
That's what we're learning this morning from God's Word is true.
You know it by experience.
You know what people will do?
Having learned that by experience, the next time it comes up, a lot of times they'll make the same foolish choice again.
Why?
Because the devil will take the same scam, he'll give you the same unheard words.
He'll give you the same sin that has the same unintended consequences.
And he's going to package it up, though, in a different package.
The same problem in a different package, and you'll think, hmm, well, maybe this will turn out better than the last time.
It looks different No, if it goes against God's word, it is the same mistake that you're making.
No matter which part of God's word you're violating, you better always go with the scripture.
Don't violate it.
He wanted to change the outcome of his decision.
He set his heart on Daniel to deliver him.
Look back in your text, and he labored till the going down of the sun to deliver him.
I've got to reverse this.
I've got to somehow change.
What I've done and change the outcome of what I've done.
King Darius did all he could to reverse the course of the sin he committed and delivered Daniel from the lion's den, but we're going to find out next week.
He couldn't do it.
He could not do it.
His sin had a bigger consequence than he expected.
And Christian, it's that way with us.
Don't make the mistake of violating the Word of God.
Because sometimes you can undo the outcome of the sin that you committed.
I promise you, Adam and Eve wished till the day they died when they watched the murder of their son, they had to bury one of their kids.
When they watch the outcome of the sickness and the trouble they had and the infighting between Adam and Eve that I'm sure they had, like most all couples have, they're going to have arguments with each other and we never had that before.
They wished to God they could have changed it.
But they couldn't.
Christian, never think you can size your sin up.
Because sometimes all the king's horses and all the king's men can't put what sin has broken back together again.
That's what this king learned.
Father, we thank you so much for your precious word.
And Father, we pray, dear Lord God, that we all will take this warning to heart.
We have seen through real history.
What sin can do in the life of one man, and how its duration and its impact Can be far greater than what we anticipate.
And Lord, we pray we'll learn from this man's mistakes so we don't have to endure those in our own lives.
Father, we also thank you for the people who are here.
May your word impact their lives for good as they yield to it.
And, Father, Lord, may you bless the food that we're about to receive next door to our bodies as well.
We ask these things in Jesus' wonderful name.
Amen.
