Home Page:   www.ProphecyWatch.biz

A LION IN A DEN OF DANIELS                         
Pastor Tom Hughes
Daniel 6:1-28

I want you to imagine what Satan would feel like if he were just miraculously picked up and plunked into the middle of this church today.

How successful is he in your life at this time?

Isn’t the church a “Daniel’s den?”

Aren’t we all supposed to live like Daniel?

Aren’t we all supposed to have the faith that Daniel had?

Aren’t we all supposed to have the kind of Christian experience that if we were thrown into the midst of the lions’ den we too would be successful?

Shouldn’t this church be a den of “Daniels’” this morning, just filled with people that have Daniel-like faith?

Is our church a place where the faith that sustained Daniel is exercised in a way that brings glory to God?

Who were these “lions” in Daniel’s story? Who do these lions represent anyway?

I want you to think about what it would take to live your life in such a way that you would make the devil feel like a lion in a den of ‘Daniels’ this morning. I want him to have a bad day! I’m tired of him always making us have a bad day!

He is a roaring lion prowling the earth, seeking whom he may devour! Well, I want to devour him! I don’t want to worry about him stalking me, I want to stalk him! I want to be the hunter; I don’t want to be the hunted.

Doesn’t the Bible say that “…the gates of hell shall not prevail against you?” I don’t get how people preach about that text. They always talk about: “The gates of hell will not prevail against you. They can’t stop us. All the demons in hell can’t hurt us! They can’t hurt our church!”

That’s not what that text is talking’ about! When I think about it that way, I think about an army picking up gates and carrying the gates and beating us with them! That’s not what that text says.

It doesn’t say the gates of hell shall not prevail against you as the devil picks up the gates and comes and beats on the church!

We’re supposed to storm hell’s gates, bash down the door, go into hell, grab the brands that are in the fire and pluck them out! The gates of hell shall not prevail against us!

We’re supposed to be the ones attacking his kingdom and ripping his kingdom down, and stealing his people right out from under his nose!

What’s with all this defensive stuff? “Oh, the devil’s pickin’ on me! Poor me!”

How about we live like Daniel lived and make the devil feel like a lion in a den of ‘Daniels’?

Are you tired of having’ him beat you up in your life and hurt you and your family? Those lions represent the world. They certainly, in verse four of Daniel chapter six; they certainly represented Daniel’s coworkers, didn’t they?

Daniel 4:6…
6 “Then these presidents and satraps assembled together to the king, and said thus unto him, ‘King Darius, live for ever.’”

I’ve got a news flash for you: “The devil doesn’t play fair.” Have you figured that out yet?

“I can’t believe it, Pastor, I tried so hard to do the right thing, and I got fired!”

The devil doesn’t play fair!

“I tried to do what was right and my whole life fell apart!”

What’d you expect him to do, stand there (clapping) and go, “Good job! I’m so happy you’re a Christian”?

Satan doesn’t play fair! He is going to attach you and use every sneaky, underhanded technique and thing that he can do to undermine you and make you miserable and hurt you.

The coworkers that had Daniel thrown into the lions’ den were the very ones that Daniel saved their life just months before. They were gonna be killed and Daniel interpreted the dream (of Nebuchadnezzar) and saved their life. Did they thank Daniel? Were they grateful to Daniel? No! They were jealous and they hated him because he was righteous. And Jesus said, “If the world hates me, the world will hate you, too.”

Don’t expect your friends and neighbors and relatives to go, “Oh, what a lovely person! And you’re such a good Christian, I just love that about you!”

No. Expect them to be jealous, and hateful, and do evil things. Don’t be shocked when the devil attacks you because you’re a Christian:

And he’ll go to your family, then he’ll go to your job, then he’ll go to your neighbors.

And if you’re getting along with your neighbors and he can’t find a chink in your armor there, he’ll go to your boss.

If he can’t get you through the boss, he’ll go to your friends.

If he can’t get you through your friends,

He’ll go to your wife or your husband,

Or your mother, or your father,

Or your aunt, or your uncle.

He’ll try to get you through the family,

He’ll go through your employer,

He’ll go through your coworkers

He’s looking for a chink in your armor so he can hurt you. He does not want you to be successful.

Now those “lions” not only represent Daniel’s coworkers, they represent the evil angels, don’t they? Don’t they represent Satan and all his evil angels trying to rip you to shreds and tear you apart and ruin your life? Don’t they represent Babylon, the worldly mindset of Babylon?

The story of Daniel is the story of a frustrated devil, of peril prevented – Satan was one frustrated lion on that day. He set the trap, he had it all engineered, he had it all figured out how he could get Daniel and just rip him to shreds, and nothing went as he planned it to go!

How can we, so frustrate the devil in our lives that we, too, can make the devil frustrated and feel like a lion in a den of Daniels?

I’d like to suggest four ways that you can frustrate the lions and be victorious in your life:

STEP #1

First, you frustrate the lions by having a disciplined prayer life.

Doesn’t the Bible say, “Pray without ceasing.”? We should pray every single day.
10 And when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house (now his windows were open in his chamber toward Jerusalem) and he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did before.

Daniel was successful in the Den of Lions because he first knelt in the “den of prayer.”
Daniel prayed at regular times, even under the threat of death. He didn't let the world force him into its mold.

He realized that the key to his success in life was directly related to prayer.

There was a preacher watching a marble cutter at work. And the preacher said to the marble-cutter, “Boy, I wish I could deal such clanging blows on the stony hearts of my congregation!” Knowing the preacher, the he workman replied, “Maybe you could if you’d work like me: on your knees.”

A pastor who doesn’t pray is a weak pastor.

An elder who doesn’t pray is a weak elder.

A deacon or deaconess who doesn’t pray is a weak deacon and a weak deaconess.

Daniel had a deep appreciation for God and he prayed three times a day. No matter what, he had his prayer time scheduled. And he not only prayed, but in Daniel 6:10, 11, it says Daniel praised God three times a day.

10 And when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house (now his windows were open in his chamber toward Jerusalem) and he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did before.
11 Then these men assembled together, and found Daniel making petition and supplication before his God.

If prayer is the breath of the soul when we inhale; then praise would certainly be the breath of the soul when we exhale. The two go together. Daniel knew that praise brings power.

Daniel couldn't have stopped himself from praising God even if he wanted to.
When a Christian truly loves the Lord, they just have to praise him.

Seventh-Day Adventists know about when to worship, but they have a lot to learn about how to worship. “All of us need to praise God more than we do.” –Ellen G. White.

In our prayer lives, how much of our praying is spent praising God and telling Him of His wonders and his glorious attributes?

When is the last time you spent twenty minutes just telling God how great, and beautiful, and wonderful He is? No, we just go to church once a week and maybe prayer meeting, and that’s it! And we become a Seventh-Day “only” Adventist. How sad is that?

How often are we supposed to pray? “…without ceasing.”

On a daily basis, we need to have a prayerful relationship with Christ! And if we’re praying; if we’re praising God everyday, it won’t be any big deal to say, “Amen!” or “Halleluiah!” or “Praise the Lord!” on Sabbath because we’ll be so used to doing’ it, it’ll just bubble out!

Daniel couldn’t have stopped himself. If you’re a Christian and you love the Lord, and the preacher talks about Jesus and His blessings, can you just sit there and not say anything?
Can you not praise God? Well, some of us can.

“Aunt Betty” used to love to shout “Praise the Lord!” when the preacher preached. He’d say something’ that would move her soul, and she’d go, “Praise the Lord!” The only trouble was, the preacher didn't like to be interrupted. So he offered to give Betty two brand new blankets if she would just keep quiet for one month.

She did pretty well until a visiting preacher came and did a revival service. And as the new preacher talked about the forgiveness of sin, and the blessings and joys of salvation, Betty thought less and less about the blankets, and more and more about the Lord until finally, she could stand it anymore. She jumped up out of her seat and said, “Blankets or no blankets, Praise the Lord!”

Three times a day the mighty Daniel dared to defy the devil and knelt down with the Angels of God and had a prayer and praise love feast with Jesus, and “he praised God!” the Bible says. He knelt in front of those Babylonians and he said, “I praise you, O God, king of the universe! There is no one so mighty, so glorious, so powerful as You are!”

And the Babylonians took note and they hated Daniel because he praised the Lord, and he loved God!

Don’t you want to praise God at least three times a day? Or would you rather just play “Church” and be a dull, boring, dead “Sadventist (Sad Adventist), or a “Madventis”(Mad Adventist)? ” Don’t you want to be a “Gladventist (Glad Adventist)”?

STEP #2

The second way you frustrate the lions is by a continual, ongoing, love relationship with Jesus.

Satan hates that.

Daniel walked with God. He was on a first name basis with God. In Chapter 6, Vs. 20, 21 he says, “My God sent his angel (Gabriel) to shut the lions’ mouth.”

20 And when he came close to the den to Daniel, he cried with a lamentable voice; the king spoke and said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom you serve continually, able to deliver thee from the lions?
21 Then said Daniel unto the king, O king, live for ever.

Daniel served his master Jesus continually, moment by moment.

27 He delivers and rescues, and he worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who hath delivered Daniel from the power
of the lions.

Who is our Deliverer? Who rescues us? Jesus!

Daniel wasn't looking at the lions; he had his eyes fixed on Jesus. The things of earth grew strangely dim, in the light of his glory and grace!

It’s all about Jesus!

And in that lion’s den, he had Jesus in his heart! And so he said, “Here, kitty, kitty.” He laid his head down on that big old’ furry pillow and had a nice nap!

STEP #3

The third way you frustrate the lions is by obeying God in the minor matters as well as the major matters of life.

5 Then said these men, We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God.

Daniel underwent the strictest scrutiny. Everybody tried to find a fault in Daniel and they could not find one.

He gave an honest day's work for an honest day’s pay. So they picked on his religion that had saved their very lives.

The world won’t applaud when you serve the Lord.

Some think prayer is a minor part of Christianity. If prayer is a minor part of Christianity, then we all need to “major” in that “minor.”

Martin Luther once said, “I am so busy now that I find if I did not spend two or three hours each day in prayer, I could not get through the day. If I should neglect prayer a single day, I should lose a great deal of the fire of my faith.”

Martin Luther prayed two to three hours every day so that he could be a powerful witness for Christ.

“Well, Pastor, I have to work for a living!”

While you’re working, can you pray?

While you’re at that red light, can you pray?

While you’re eating’ your lunch on your lunch break, can you pray?

You’ll pray if you love the Lord.

I’m gonna say something a little shocking to some of you: The reason you never pray is because you’re not in love with Jesus! You have a cold, dead, boring, lifeless religion! You have lost your first love! Wake up (!) because you’re gonna go straight to hell and be lost because you don’t have a love relationship with Christ! And just as surely as you’re going to take your next breath, you will go to hell and you will be lost if you don’t have a love relationship with Christ.

Being a Seventh - day Adventist, and coming’ and sitting’ in this church is not gonna save your soul! I can go sit in a garage for eight hours; that don’t make me a car!

A Christian is someone who is in love with Jesus!
They have a burning passion in their heart for Christ! They love the Lord!

If you’re going, week in and week out, and you have no prayer life,

And you’re not talking to Christ,

And you’re not in love with Jesus,

You are dead as a door nail, and you’d better be born again and be revived because if you don’t you will be lost. Wake up!

You’re not saved because you’re a Seventh - day Adventist, you are saved because God is a Rescuer and a Deliverer, and He will deliver you from your cold, passionless, dead, lifeless, legalistic, boring religion!

Religion will not save you or me, or anyone else – it is only Christ and His love, and compassion and the sacrifice He made for you on Calvary’s tree that can save you. Are you in love with Him? If you are, then you’ll talk to Him every day.

Are you in love with Him? Then you’ll talk to Him every day!

How would my marriage be if I never talked to my wife? If I saw her twice a week and said, “Hi; bye.”? What kind of marriage would I have? You call that being in love?

I’ve seen people who are in love. I’ve experienced it myself for 25 years. That woman can do anything to me: make me so mad at her I would like to just poke her eyes right out of her head – she could do anything to me and say, “I’m sorry, will you forgive me?” and I would say, “Yes.”

She would tell me to walk through a burning wall and I would do it if she really needed me to do it – not because I’m such a great guy, I am in love with her! I love her to death. I would do anything for her because I love her except give up my God and Savior. I will not do that. But if you love somebody, you are passionate about it.

I love the way the kid’s today talk about love: “Honey, I love you. I’d swim the deepest ocean. I’d traverse the highest mountain, and I’ll be over Friday night if it doesn’t rain.”

Martin Luther looked at prayer as the life force of his faith. Prayer is what we need! If we aren’t praying, we are losing! That’s why we’re so depressed. That’s why we go to psychiatrists and pay them $120 an hour to tell us to get rid of our guilt!

And that’s why:

No matter how much ice cream we eat

Or alcohol we drink,

Or pornography we watch,

You can’t satisfy through entertainment and worldly appetite the things that Jesus has put in your heart to long for!

He’s made you so there’s a hole in your heart that only He can fill! And if you’re trying’ to fill it with all this garbage, you’re gonna be lonely and depressed for the rest of your life!

Haven’t you ever heard the song: “Only Jesus can satisfy your soul, only He can change your life and make you whole. The world may try to satisfy that longing in your soul but only Jesus can satisfy your soul!”?

It’s all about Jesus!

Martin Luther prayed a couple hours a day and we can’t even find a half an hour in the morning to spend time in our Bible and pray, and have our worship.

Listen to me, church member:
if you’re not reading your Bible and praying on a daily basis

you’re not having a love relationship

there’s no connection

there’s no you talk to Him, he talks to you; you’re not having any give and take

and there’s no love relationship

There’s no interaction, you’ve got a deep spiritual problem and you need to fix it now because it’s only gonna get worse.

You’ve got to make a decision to frustrate these “lions” by having Bible study and prayer everyday, spending time praying every day. And there’s a million ways to pray.

You can:

pray while you’re doing’ the laundry.

pray out loud

pray silently

open your eyes and look up to heaven

close your eyes and bow your head

I don’t care how you do it, just do it! Spend time with your Savior. Talk to your God. Have a personal relationship with Jesus. If you don’t, you’ll never find what you’re looking’ for in life.

You’ll go through the rest of your life unhappy and miserable and wondering’ why:

no matter how much TV you watch,

no matter how much you drink or eat,

no matter how many milkshakes or ice cream sundaes you stuff down your throat,

You can never find happiness and joy. There’s always something holding you back -- you always have that empty feeling deep in your soul: It’s because you need Jesus.

David said, “My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.”

When you feel those pangs

those lonely aches

those depressions

when you’re feeling like no matter what you do your life can never come together and you’re always feeling frustrated and lonely –

Close the door, go in the bathroom, get down on your knees, spend a half hour, talk it over with Jesus! And when you’re done, you won’t feel the way you felt when you shut that door! He’ll reveal His presence to you. And when you meet Jesus and He reveals His presence to you, your life will be sweeter and you will have that peace of mind that you can only get from Jesus Christ.

STEP #4

Fourth, and finally, frustrate the lions by putting your faith in God.

Why was Daniel delivered?

23 Then was the king exceeding glad, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no manner of hurt (injury) was found upon him, because he had trusted (believed) in his God.

Daniel was delivered simply because he had faith in his God! Daniel was saved by Grace, through faith.

The righteousness of Christ covered Daniel. That beautiful white robe came down from heaven and draped over Daniel’s shoulders (!) and made him beautiful! It made him invisible! It made him inedible! Very important to Daniel! Christ’s white robe made him inedible because he had Jesus.

The law was broken (the law of the Medes and the Persians) and it couldn’t be changed. Daniel had to go into the den.

And today, the law of God has been broken and it can’t be changed. The Ten Commandments can’t be changed! God can’t just change the law and get you out of this with a loophole! No! No! Somebody’s got to die! Somebody’s got to pay the price!

Are you gonna pay or are you going to let Jesus pay?

Daniel let Jesus pay and the white robe covered Daniel. The law of the Medes and Persians: God’s law is like that law – it was broken and Daniel could not buy his way out. He was a very wealthy man but he could not buy his way out.

Daniel was very intelligent. He couldn’t think his way out. No matter how many good deeds he’d done, no matter how many perfect Sabbaths he’d kept, no matter how much literature he had distributed or no matter sermons Daniel preached – he could not earn his way out! He couldn’t earn his salvation, he couldn’t earn his righteousness, he couldn’t redeem his life. All Daniel could do in that den was trust God! That’s all he could do.

When you’re in a lion’s den looking into the eyes of hell and the saliva is dripping from Satan’s chin, you had better not be leaning on your own good works for your salvation (!) ‘cause if you are, you’re going to make a tasty meal!

There's only one-way of escape: Jesus Christ, the perfect God-man! He is your only hope for deliverance! Jesus is your Deliverer, your Savior, your Rescuer, your righteousness, praise God!

When you get to the end of your rope and you realize that all you’ve got is God, tie a knot in it and hang on ‘cause God is enough!

When you realize that all you’ve got is God, you’re actually in a wonderful, wonderful place if you just trust the Lord.

Conclusion:

The lions of this world will meet not with just frustration when they try to devour the Daniels of King Jesus, but they will all meet their own doom. Their evil deeds will boomerang upon their own heads, and Satan will be destroyed!

24 And the king commanded, and they brought those men that had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions, them, their children, and their wives; and the lions had the mastery of them, and brake all their bones in pieces, before they came to the bottom of the den.

In Revelation 12: 10, 11, the Bible describes the defeat of the roaring lion. It says the saints “overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the blood of the word of their testimony.”

10 And I heard a great voice in heaven, saying, Now is come the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, who accuses them before our God day and night.
11 And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony; and they loved not their life even unto death.

You overcome by what Christ did for you the cross.

Yes, Satan is a roaring lion, but on the cross, Christ conquered Satan!

Jesus took him by the jaw and pulled open his mouth and took a big pair of pliers and pulled every one of his teeth out!

He may be a roaring lion, but if you have Christ as your Savior, he is a toothless lion and he can't hurt you! Praise the Lord!

Now he may try to “gum” you to death, but he can’t hurt you (eternally – he can’t steal your salvation). Lucifer is a defeated foe! The Bible says, “Now is the accuser of our brethren cast down. Christ's victory is our victory!

Summary

So if you have a disciplined prayer life

If you walk with God continually, even in the little matters of life

And if you put your faith and trust only in a wise God, the king of Kings, the Lord of Lord's, our beloved Savior

If you have a personal relationship with Christ everyday,

If you’re a true Christian, a true disciple, not just some “Sa-dventist” who’s in the church in name only, but you’re a “Gl-adventist,”

You’ve got a personal relationship Jesus,

Christ is in your heart and you’re walking by faith like Daniel,

Then you will truly frustrate the Devil and make him like a lion in Den of Daniels in your life!

And that’s what we want. I want to see living, breathing, powerful Christians.

Much time in prayer: much faith, much strength, much victory.

Little time in prayer: little strength, little victory.

I had someone say to me once, “Pastor, you only need to preach for twenty minutes.”

I said, “Is that right? Let me ask you a question:

When you watch a movie, is it twenty minutes long?

When you watch a TV show, is it twenty minutes long?

When you read a book, is it twenty minutes long?

“Sermon-ettes” make “Christian-ettes”!

Why is it you can take time for everything else, but when it comes to spending time listening to God’s Word being preached we suddenly have no time? Could it be because we are spiritually lukewarm? Dead? Yawning in the face of God?

It takes time to be holy! Relax! Enjoy you’re special church time in the presence of Jesus! We’re together as a family! Why hurry? Why miss the blessings that come from lingering in the presence of God?

Are you on fire?

Are you passionate?

Do you love God this morning?

Are you like Daniel: do you have a faith that

Will trust Him no matter what?

Are you reading your Bible every day?

Are you praying?

Are you walking by faith?

Or are you in trouble spiritually? If you’re in trouble; if I’m talking to you:

If you haven’t been doing these things;

If you have a cold, dead, lifeless, legalistic, joyless religion – wouldn’t you like this to be the last day you have to live like that?

Wouldn’t you like today to be the first day when you have a true Christian relationship with Christ where you become a real disciple – a fire-breathing, walking, talking, true Christian?

Wouldn’t you like this to be that day? If you would, then choose Jesus today!
If you would like Jesus to come into your heart, won’t you stand up for him right now?
Won’t you open your heart, and invite him in by praying for him to come in right now?

Let us pray:
“Jesus, we open the door of our heart to you right now. Please come inside our heart and forgive us of all our sins. Create a new being; transform us into the person you want us to be. Change us; convert us; cover us with your white robe; save us through you’re life, death and resurrection today, we pray in Jesus name, Amen!

________________________________

All Scriptural References: King James Version

Ellen G. White References: www.whiteestate.org

Transcription: Wendy J. Riebel

This sermon is also available on cassette tape.

Visit our church website: www.ProphecyWatch.biz

Free Sermon