Episode Transcript
Daniel chapter 6, verse 25 through 28 this morning.
God willing is the verses that we'll be expounding.
The title of the message this morning is Learning from the Lions.
Learning from the Lions.
The past few weeks, we've had an amazing study of Daniel's victory over the lion's den.
In the previous verses of God's Word, we've learned that Daniel's trial, his sentence, his condemnation, commital to the lion's den. an ultimate victory over the grave, over death.
It was a highly detailed prophetic picture of our salvation.
Over death through Jesus when he came and, like Daniel, was tried, sentenced, condemned, and was victorious over death in the grave.
By God's grace, we're going to see this morning what happened as a result of Daniel being raised from the lion's den.
We're going to see that it was a prophetic picture.
Of what happened as a result of Jesus being raised from the grave.
After learning that God delivered Daniel from the lion's den, King Darius, remember he's a Gentile king over the Medo-Persian Empire, which was over all the world at this time.
This Gentile king wrote a decree that summarizes the effect of Daniel being raised from the lion's den.
And this summarization also is a prophetic picture of the effect of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
You may think, Brother Richard, we have seen how Daniel's trial, condemnation, deliverance from the grave, was a prophecy of the coming gospel of Jesus.
It was wonderful.
We're so thankful for that.
But could the letter of a Gentile king Actually, be inspired by God as a prophetic utterance?
Absolutely, yes.
Absolutely, yes.
Don't forget the Gospel of Luke.
Luke was a Gentile.
There are five Gospel truths.
That we learn from Darius' letter this morning.
Five gospel truths that we're going to learn from King Darius' letter. which I would like for us to see this morning.
And if you're watching for the first time, we welcome you online And if you're here and we're not sure who you are, introduce yourself in the comments.
I'd love to know you.
Five gospel truths.
The first gospel truth we're going to learn this morning is the gospel's beneficiaries.
The gospel's beneficiaries.
When God commanded That the gospel would take place when he composed the gospel plan in eternity past.
What people did God include in his plan?
Who all would benefit from the gospel of Jesus Christ?
The people King Darius is writing to this morning.
Are legally obligated to acknowledge, identify, and participate in Daniel's deliverance from the lions.
And that is a picture of the gospel.
And so as he's writing to these people, commanding them to acknowledge and identify With Daniel's deliverance from the lions and the God who delivered him from the lions.
The people who he writes to to command to identify with that deliverance.
Is a picture of who the gospel of Jesus Christ is written to, so that we can identify with His deliverance.
So let's look here now in verse 25 and see who they are.
Then King Darius wrote unto, say those two words, all people.
Boy, isn't that good.
All people.
That's why Jesus said, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
He never said, except.
He never said accept.
The king Darius wrote unto all people: Who is the gospel for?
The gospel is for all people.
So, who did Jesus die for?
He died for all people.
If you are a person Then you can rest assured that Jesus died for you so you could be saved from your sins Because you're one of the many people that this gospel was written to.
And that word all doesn't just belong to all people.
As if that wouldn't be enough.
But it also belongs, look back in your text, to all what?
Nations and languages that dwell in all the earth.
It's not limited to one particular part of the world.
It's not limited to one particular type of people.
So if someone says, well, all people, That means all white people.
That means all black people.
That means all brown people, but not all white people.
That means all white people, but no black people.
That means all male, but no female.
No, it's all people.
So here's what the Calvinists will try to do.
When you look in the gospel in the New Testament, it will talk about how Jesus died for all people.
And then they'll say, well, all people means all elect people, but not all people.
So, yes, it's all people, but it's not really all people.
Look what he's saying here.
Watch this carefully.
Learn it in the Old Testament, you'll accept it in the New Testament.
I hope everyone's paying attention this morning.
So it says here: all nations. and languages that dwell in all the earth.
It doesn't matter who you are.
It doesn't matter what nation, that means what people group you belong to.
It doesn't matter what language you speak.
It doesn't matter what part of the world you live in.
Jesus came to save all people, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth.
Can't get any plainer than that.
Brother Richard, is this really a picture of the gospel of Jesus Christ?
Let's just move to the last book of the Bible, the book of the Revelation, together.
Revelation chapter 14, verse 6.
Revelation chapter 14, verse 6.
And see what the Apostle John said.
And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven.
Having the everlasting gospel.
You hearing that?
The everlasting gospel.
And who's this gospel going to be preached to?
To preach unto them that dwell on the earth.
Isn't that, brother, that's the same thing we're reading here in the book of Daniel?
And not just that, but what else he say?
And to every nation and kindred and tongue and people.
Listen, if you belong to a nation, the gospel belongs to you.
If you dwell on the earth, the gospel belongs to you.
If you speak a language, the gospel belongs to The same language we're reading here in Revelation about the gospel that it's written to is the same language we're reading here about the prophecy, the prophetic. picture of the gospel that it was also written to.
You just can't get any plainer than this.
If you dwell on the earth, And you're a person, then the gospel is for you.
Now that we have seen the gospel's beneficiaries, let's take a look at the gospel's blessing.
That is, The gospel belongs to us, but what's the benefit of having the gospel?
What does the gospel give?
King Darius tells all these people that dwell in all the earth.
Of every language, tongue, kindred, and all that.
He says, Peace be multiplied unto you.
My wife and I were talking yesterday about the value of peace.
Peace is a marvelous gift from God.
You know, you say, Brother Richard, life is the greatest gift from God.
Do you know there's a lot of people who are living that would rather die because they're miserable?
What good is it to have life if you have no peace?
And he says, peace be multiplied unto you, the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Offers peace to a troubled world.
It offers peace by giving us the assurance, first of all, that we are not condemned by Our sin.
It offers peace between the creature and the creator, us and God.
It offers peace between us and each other because I can forgive you in the person of Christ.
King Darius said, Peace be multiplied unto you.
And the Apostle Peter, speaking of the gospel, said in 2 Peter 1, verse 2.
Grace and peace be multiplied unto you.
And how does that grace and peace come?
Through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
How was this peace being offered to these people in King Darius' time?
Through the knowledge of God in what he had done with Daniel.
And now we're seeing it offered to us through the knowledge of God and what he did with Jesus.
Now that we have seen the gospel's beneficiaries, and now that we have seen the gospel's blessing Let's consider the Gospels obeisance.
The Gospel's obeisance.
If you're taking notes, O-B-E-I-S-A-N-C-E.
The Gospel's obe Tense.
The gospel is a universal gift.
We make that very clear.
And sometimes when I teach on this, people get sideways on it.
Don't get sideways.
Hear me out.
Hear me out.
Because we don't just teach a little sliver of the gospel.
We teach the whole gospel.
We don't teach just a little piece of God's word.
And let you go hungry and be a little child the rest of your life.
We teach the whole counsel of God's Word, and there's no contradiction in any of it.
So hear me out.
The gospel's obeisance.
The gospel is a universal gift, but the gospel makes a universal demand.
You see, salvation is God's free gift to man.
But in order to accept the gift, you must acknowledge the giver.
Right?
This morning, some of y'all who were here a little earlier, you may have seen My grandkids come up here and get a prize.
I try to bring them a prize every Sunday.
If I don't, it gets expensive.
Because if I don't remember a prize, I end up pulling out my wallet and giving them cash.
Prizes are much cheaper.
Grandkids, would y'all hold up the prize I gave you this morning?
It's not the best prize they've ever had.
Did y'all get excited about that prize?
You like it?
Okay, good.
Those are grape tomatoes we grew in the garden.
Usually it's a little sweeter what I give them, or a little different, but I brought them grape tomatoes this morning to eat.
Now, did y'all pay kids?
Did y'all pay for that?
Y'all didn't pay for it?
You didn't give me any money.
Did you have to do anything for it?
It was completely free gift, right?
But could you have gotten that gift any other way than knowing that I was the one who gave it to you and knowing where to come to get it?
No.
If you wouldn't have known who had the grapes, you wouldn't have known where to go to get it.
And if you wouldn't have known it was grandpa giving it to you, you might have not trusted the person giving it to you to put it in your mouth.
You can't accept the gift of God's salvation without acknowledging the God who gives it.
This is a universal demand of the gospel.
That's why salvation is by faith.
I can just hear someone now say, Brother Richard is a false teacher.
You know, I've been accused of being a false teacher before.
I have.
Brother Richard is adding to faith.
Church, our scripture this morning, which is what I'm teaching, is not adding to faith, it is enlarging upon it.
It is explaining it.
Darius said, Look in verse 26, I make a decree.
The gospel makes a decree, folks.
The gospel comes.
With the decree that in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble in fear before the God of Daniel.
That's the decree of the gospel.
Did you know that for all eternity, those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior?
We're not only the body of Jesus, Jesus is our head and we're his body.
But Jesus is also our king and we're his citizens.
We belong to the kingdom of God.
In his king is Jesus Christ.
And so for all eternity, we are going to belong.
To the kingdom of God.
And he, as the scripture says, shall reign forever and forever.
But you know what?
How many of y'all want to belong to a kingdom?
Where you have rebels in that kingdom who fail to recognize the authority of Jesus Christ.
How many of y'all want to spend forever in a kingdom like that?
Do you know why you don't want to spend forever in a kingdom like that?
Because you're living in the kingdom like that now.
And we're tired of it.
And we are ready for the time when every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
And that is the decree of the gospel.
Before we can accept Christ as our Savior, we must accept the fact that He is our Lord and our God.
There's simply no other way.
It's not two steps.
It's not two different things.
It is one and the same thing.
You see, Before I can acknowledge that Jesus has delivered me from my sins, I first have to acknowledge I have sins, right, Brother Doug?
Now, if I acknowledge I have sins, that means I have committed an offense against somebody.
And if I have committed an offense against somebody, that means the person who says I committed the offense has to have authority.
Otherwise, there's no offense at all.
What would you say right now if the Ayatollah of Iran Let's say the Aitoll of Iran made a law right now, and he says, This woman right here, From now on, she's got to wear a big old burqa all over her head.
And only this much of her eyes can be seen.
And the Aytolla makes that did you know the Ayola has probably has a law like that, wouldn't you all think?
She got to wear her burqa.
Now that's the law in Iran.
Now, are you going to pay that long?
No.
Because you don't recognize his authority over you.
You see?
So she doesn't go around thinking, Oh my goodness, I'm a lawbreaker.
She didn't go around doing that because she doesn't recognize his authority over her.
But before I can come to Christ as my Savior, there's going to have to be some conviction in my mind that I have something to be saved from, right?
Or else why come?
Would you agree that before you can go to a restaurant, you got to acknowledge that you're hungry?
Why else would you go get something to eat?
You've got to acknowledge that there's a need that you have inside you before you go to the restaurant and fill that need.
And so he says here, I make a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble in fear before the God of Daniel.
In other words, all these pagan people in my kingdom, all these unbelievers.
Are commanded to acknowledge God for who He is, the God of all creation The God who is the one who has authority over all the earth.
The gospel is for all men everywhere.
But the gospel demands that all men everywhere repent.
Acts chapter 17, verse 29 through 31.
Says, For as much then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is likened to gold or silver or stone, graven by art in man's device, as the way pagans think.
And the times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent.
Because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, then that He hath raised him from the dead.
It is impossible to accept the truth of the gospel without accepting the truth of the God who declares it to you.
Last week, Chick-fil-A franchise offered free chicken.
Free food to anyone who dressed up like a cow and came to the restaurant.
How many of y'all did that?
Just them?
Any of y'all see that on news or Facebook?
Nobody?
You did?
You did?
I'm going to get a cow costume for you next year.
Been a while since they did.
They used to do it every year.
Some of my kids and grandkids took advantage of this, some of them right here on the front row.
So, y'all can testify for a fact the food was free, right?
Food was free.
But it was impossible for them to get the food without acknowledging the franchise.
You see?
They couldn't believe in the gift of a chicken sandwich without first believing in the giver of the chicken sandwich.
Or else, how Would they have known where to go receive it?
Now you listen to the gospel message here, John 3:16.
For God so loved the world.
Do you realize that the gospel message starts out with the giver?
Before it declares the gift, for God so loved the world.
That he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
You cannot believe in the gift of the Son without believing in the truth of the Father who gave him.
A person cannot accept the Son God gave without acknowledging the truth of the God who gave Him.
The two are one and the same.
In John 12, verse 44, Jesus cried.
And said, He that believeth on me believeth not on me, but on him that sent me.
So when you believe, In Jesus, as the one who died on the cross for your sins, you naturally believe in the God who sent him.
And you naturally believe in the authority of that God over you.
Nobody can accept the salvation God offers.
And deny the God who offers it.
There's going to be many sinners in heaven, a lot of sinners in heaven, former sinners, that is.
A lot of former sinners in heaven.
But there will be no God deniers there.
By eating the king's bread, you are bowing to the king's authority.
It's one and the same thing.
And we do so.
Why?
Look back in your text in Daniel.
Why does he make this decree to all the people in the earth?
For he is the living God and steadfast forever.
And his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be even unto the end.
We believe on Christ as our Savior because we know the God who sent him is the living God.
Who shall reign as king even unto the end?
There will be no stopping Jesus.
Now, there's going to be an end in a sense, and that end, don't be confused by that.
Because when you look at Jesus coming to rule and to reign for a thousand years, it says he must reign until he puts all things under.
His feet, and then it says, After he has done all of that, he'll deliver up the kingdom to God.
You see And so the kingdom is going to be forever, but it's going to be in stages.
So don't get confused by the end.
There are going to be ends of certain dispensations.
But there'll never be an end of the kingdom of God and those who believe on Him.
Okay, we've seen the gospel's beneficiaries, we've seen the Gospel's blessing, we've seen the Gospel's obeisance.
And now let's see the gospel's blessed hope.
What is the blessed hope of the gospel of Jesus Christ?
King Darius goes on to say, look in verse 27, he delivereth and rescueth.
This is why we acknowledge the God above us.
This is why we accept the truth of our Creator.
Listen, I've dealt with people.
I've dealt with people who don't believe in God.
And let me tell you, they have no blessed hope.
They have no blessed hope at all.
They live this life, they're angry.
At religion.
They're angry at Christians.
They're angry at circumstances.
They get frustrated and they fumble through life from one conflict to another conflict until they finally stumble forever into hell if they do not repent and acknowledge God.
But those of us who acknowledge God, acknowledge our Creator, we have a blessed hope in his Son, and that is he delivers and he rescues.
I have a body I need to be delivered and rescued from.
I have a world that's in Turmoil that I need to be delivered and rescued from.
I have sin that I need to be delivered and rescued from.
And we all live in this world that is in bondage to sin, Satan, and death.
We live in a chaotic existence, and only God can deliver and rescue.
But the blessed hope of the gospel is this: we should tremble and fear before his great name.
Because He has a blessed hope for us.
We should bow the knee and accept His authority and His truth because He delivers and rescues.
Now, there's two different words here: to deliver means to set free.
To set free, you're chained up.
You're in body.
Listen, when we're born in this world, the clock starts ticking on us dying.
We are chained to death.
We are chained, bound to the grave.
We are born into a fallen nature.
We're bound to lie, we're bound to be selfish, we're bound to sin, and we're chained to it.
But God delivers, it says here, and deliver means to set free.
Through his Son Jesus, he sets us free from all of that.
Not only does he deliver, but it says he rescues.
Now Daniel was sentenced to death, but God delivered and rescued him from that death.
And to rescue means to take us out of the trouble that we're in.
That's what God did for Daniel.
And once again, this is a picture of what God does for us through Jesus Christ in sending Jesus to die for our sins.
2 Corinthians 1, verse 9 and 10.
2 Corinthians 1, verse 9 and 10.
But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God, which delivereth I'm sorry, which raiseth the dead, who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver, in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us.
All of this in Daniel is a picture of Jesus.
God delivers and He rescues.
He sets us free from sin and death.
That's why Jesus said, whom the Son shall set free, whom the Son delivers, He's free indeed.
He's delivered indeed.
He delivers and he rescues.
You know what's going to happen, Brother Doug, one day?
One day we're going to be here on this earth, whether we're alive.
Or whether our bodies are sleeping in this grave.
Right now we're trapped in this old world.
And we're either trapped standing on it or buried under it.
But we're trapped.
Now, I've been delivered from my sin.
I have been set free from all of it, thank God, through the blood of Jesus Christ.
But one day I'm going to be rescued from it.
Jesus is going to come in the sky.
The Bible says he's going to be in the clouds.
He's going to come with clouds.
When he comes with clouds, you know what's going to happen to the believers here on this earth?
We're going to be rescued.
We're going to be delivered out of it, taken out of it, taken up.
The Bible says, We'll meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with.
The Lord.
And Darius says, I'm commanding all men everywhere to acknowledge this great God because He is the one who delivers and rescues.
The blessed hope of the Gospel is that God through Jesus Christ set us free from our sin.
He delivers and He will take us out, rescue us from this wicked world one day, and to assure us of the Gospel's blessed hope.
He gives us lastly, look back in your text, the gospel's breathtaking works.
Not only the gospel's blessed hope, but the gospel's breathtaking works.
Look back.
It says, and he worketh signs and wonders.
In heaven and in earth, who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the lions The God who delivered Daniel from the power of lions, He works signs and wonders in heaven and in earth.
The God who delivered Jesus Christ works signs and wonders.
In heaven and in earth.
The resurrection of Daniel from the lion's den was a sign on earth that made the public wonder in amazement in Daniel's day.
And it assured them that the God of Daniel was the living God and Savior of mankind.
Even so, the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the tomb was God's sign and wonder for us in Jesus.
Day, which he showed to the world openly, and he documented that event in his word for us, the Bible, so that we can see it and believe.
God works signs and He works wonders.
Not just in earth, but Darius said also in heaven.
Now the Hebrew equivalent of the word sign, to wonder means to be in amazement.
The Hebrew equivalent of the word sign, because remember, this is Chaldean that we're reading here in Daniel.
The Hebrew equivalent of the word sign is the same word.
That God used in Genesis chapter 1, verse 14 when he made the The heavens.
Listen to this, Genesis 1:14.
And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night, and let them be for said with me signs. and for seasons and for days and years.
So we understand the seasons, don't we?
Man, we understand it's summertime right now.
We understand the days and the years.
We spin around once, that's a day.
We go around once, that's a year.
We have seasons as we make that trip around the sun, but there are signs too that these heavens, the sun, the moon, the stars were put there for.
You see, every day the sun rises, it is a sign to us that this world was made by a God of order and a God of power.
The Bible says day unto day utters speech, testifying to all the world.
And one day that same God is going to use the signs in heaven.
The one that's for signs in Genesis 1:4.
Remember, God put them there for signs, and He's going to use those signs in heaven.
To signal the end of this kingdom and the beginning of God's kingdom here.
Those are for signs.
When you read that in Genesis that the heavens are for signs, the lights, the sun, the moon, the stars, they are for signs.
Understand that we need to be looking up.
Because when we look up and we start seeing those signs in the heaven, it's going to be time to start seeing the sun coming very soon afterward.
One day, God's going to use the signs in heaven to signal the end of this world, the deliverance of the saints, that's those of us who believe on Him, and the judgment of all unbelievers.
Luke chapter 21.
Verse 25 and 26, look what Jesus is.
Now remember, Jesus is the same one who created The heaven and earth in the beginning.
Luke 21, 25 through 26, Jesus is the one who said, Let them be for signs.
And there Jesus says, and there shall be signs where?
In the sun.
You see that?
Isn't that amazing?
Maybe you never connected that with Genesis before.
But when God said in the book of Genesis chapter 1, verse 14, let them be for signs, he already knew.
That he was going to use these great lights that he put in the heavens to be signs to us on the earth.
Remember what Darius said?
He does signs and wonders where in the heavens and in the earth.
How is he going to do both?
By having a sign in heaven shown to us here on earth.
He does both.
He raised Jesus from the dead that was on earth.
He's going to show us these signs.
Luke 21:25, and there shall be signs in the sun, Jesus said, and in the moon, and in the stars.
Folks, listen when we're looking at end-time events, because remember, Daniel is a book of prophecy.
When we're looking at end-time events, King Darius is letting us know there is a direct correlation between what God did with the resurrection of Daniel. and signs and wonders that God works in heaven and in earth.
Because when we come to the New Testament, there is a direct correlation between what God did with Jesus.
And what he will do with signs in heaven as well.
If you'll remember when Jesus died on the cross, what happened in heaven?
The sun quit shining.
You remember that?
So there was a sign in heaven verifying the Sun on earth.
And before Jesus comes again, Jesus says, there shall be signs in the sun and in the moon and in the stars.
And upon the earth, distress of nations with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring.
We're going to be watching this earth starting to wind down.
We're going to be watching the heavens starting to wind down.
And we're going to be watching.
Cataclysmic events in heaven and on earth signaling the end is coming.
Verse 26: Men's hearts.
Failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
You're going to see cataclysmic events in the sky, in the sun, in the moon, in the stars.
You go to the book of Revelation, it has more detail on it.
In that day, it won't go well.
For the people who don't acknowledge God and accept His Son.
But for those of us who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be delivered.
And rescued, and we shall prosper in God's kingdom in Jesus' reign forever and ever.
So, verse 28 says as we close out this chapter, So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius.
You see how that works?
All of this is a picture of us.
Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian, and we are going to prosper in the reign of Jesus Christ.
And God willing, we'll take back up in chapter 7 of the book of Daniel next Sunday.
Father, we thank you so much for your precious word.
Thank you, Father, for this amazing truth you've given us.
Thank you, Father, for this amazing prophetic book.
Thank you, Lord, that the Old Testament and the New Testament, Father.
They collaborate with one another.
They co-witness of one another.
And you said in the mouth of two or three witnesses, Lord.
Every word would be established.
And Lord, you've given us two witnesses in your word today.
We thank you so much.
In Jesus' precious name, bless the people who came.
Give everyone a safe trip back home.
And we ask it in Christ's name, Amen.
