COMPROMISE? NO, IT’S TIME TO STAND UP!
Dan. 1:3-20
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR
1. One hot summer day, a man was filling up his black pickup truck at the local gas station. He wasn't very careful, and he got gasoline all over his jacket's left sleeve.
2. He ignored it, and left the station after paying for the gas. As he was driving down the highway, the heat of the sun on his truck's black paint was enough to ignite his jacket sleeve.
3. He drove faster, waving his arm out the window in an attempt to extinguish the flames, but they just burned hotter!
4. As he speed down the highway, a state trooper saw the situation and pulled him over. He jerked the man out of the truck and rolled him on the ground until the fire was extinguished.
5. As the man dusted himself, he thanked his rescuer. He watched as the officer began writing him a ticket!
6. Confused, he asked, "You're writing me a ticket!? What for?" The officer replied, "Possession of an illegal fire arm."
B. TEXT
3 Then the king ordered Ashpenaz…to bring ….4 young men…showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians. 5 The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king’s table. They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king’s service. 7 The chief official gave them new names: to Daniel, the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego. 8 But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. 9 Now God had caused the official to show favor and compassion to Daniel, 10 but the official told Daniel, “I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you.” 11 Daniel then said…12 “Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13 Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.” 14 So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days. 15 At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. 16 So the guard…gave them vegetables instead. 17 To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds. 18 [After 3 years] the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar. 19 The king…found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king’s service. 20 In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.
C. THESIS
1. COMPROMISE: The difference between its verb and noun form is amazing.
a. COMPROMISE (noun). Define: “agreement.” Synonyms: accommodation, adjustment, bargain, concession, fifty-fifty, happy medium, middle ground, settlement, trade-off.
b. COMPROMISE (verb). Define: “put in jeopardy.” Synonyms: cop out, dishonor, embarrass, endanger, give in, hazard, imperil, jeopardize, menace, ruin, sell out, weaken.
c. IF WE MAKE A COMPROMISE WITH THE WORLD, WE IMPERIL OUR STANDING WITH GOD!
2. Has God changed? "Be ye holy, for I am holy." For Daniel and his friends to not obey God about food, was to leave the separated life. That separation was what made them special.
3. "Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord, “and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you" 2 Cor. 6:17.
4. In today's passage, we're going to observe how 4 young men's courage changed the course of their lives.
5. The title of this message is, "COMPROMISE? NO, ITS TIME TO STAND UP!"
I. CULTURAL BRAINWASHING
A. WAYS THEY TRIED TO BRAINWASH THEM
Babylon was an ancient seat of civilization, dating back to Gen. 11 and the tower of Babel. It was a center of learning, wealth, hedonism, and idolatry. Nebuchadnezzar wanted the neophytes reprogrammed, brainwashed to become Babylonians. He did it three ways:
1. SEPARATION FROM THEIR FAMILIES/countries. Cults do this and so do fascist/totalitarian governments to gain control over the youth.
2. CHANGED HIS VERY NAME to make them forget their heritage and God. He changed their identity.
a. Daniel = "God is my Judge."
Belteshazzar = "Bel protect his life."
b. Hananiah – “the Lord shows grace”
Shadrach – “Command of Aku”
c. Mishael – “Who is what God is?”
Meshach – “Who is what Aku is?”
d. Azariah – “the Lord helps”
Abednego – “Servant of Nebo(Nabu)”
3. IMMERSED them IN THE WAYS/learning OF BABYLON. They sent them to a school where, not the Bible was taught, but astrology, enchantment, worldly philosophies, etc. and they were daily force-fed them.
B. BRAINWASHING TODAY
1. Same Agenda Today. Through mass media, movies, the internet, schools, government -- worldly philosophies are taught our kids. Evolution, "Gay is okay," alternate lifestyles, sex outside of marriage is normal, situation ethics.
2. I’ve been especially concerned by prominent Christians cratering, by strong conservatives switching sides on the Gay-marriage issue, and by the wholesale abandonment of Biblical morals by the President, the Media, and by many politicians. Christians must begin to stand up!
3. PUSH: SOCIAL CHANGE THRU “TOLERANCE”
a. TOLERANCE (defined) -- a fair, objective, and
permissive attitude toward those whose opinions, practices, etc., that differ from your own; the willingness to tolerate opinions or behavior that you don’t agree with.
b. The problem is, they DON’T just want you to “tolerate” the sin they’re promoting, they want you to AGREE ITS OK! We can’t/ won’t do that. So they level the charge of BIGOTRY at us. We must accept that if we stand our ground, we will be labeled
4. WE ARE FAST BECOMING an AMORAL SOCIETY
“Amoral"-"having no moral standards, restraints, or principles." Is this really what we want?
5. Permissiveness destroys the structure for a civilized and valid society. The farther our country goes from God’s Law, the more chaotic it will become. For example, since 1960:
a. Divorce rates,25-50%; Marry rate, 85-45%
b. Poverty. Marriage drops child poverty 82%; 71% of poor families are unmarried!
c. Cohabiting Couples- 8 million couples, are 2 to 4 times as likely to divorce if they do marry!
d. Sexually transmitted diseases, STDs: 19,000,000
new STD infections each year; 65,000,000 living with an incurable STD; 1 OUT OF 4 high school girls has an STD;
85% of our population will get HPV during their lifetime.
e. Falling Education Scores, SAT down 14%
f. Unmarried Births, now 40%!
g. Early Sexual Activity, high with fatherless homes
h. Crime of Children of fatherless homes
6. The social engineers are WRONG! The structure the Bible establishes for the home and society clearly has better results for families and society than the bankrupt concepts of the liberals, which have brought widespread disintegration.
7. “Don’t let the world squeeze you into its mold” Romans 12:2; Phillips. Illustration of the farmer who had a pumpkin the size and shape of a 2 gallon jug. (In Other Words #164).
7. Daniel and his friends bucked the system, went against the flow, swam upstream. "Any old dead fish can float downstream, but it takes a live one to go upstream."
II. DANIEL’S DECISION
A. MADE EARLY
1. Much of our future will depend upon our earliest days and decisions.
2. We often excuse the thoughtlessness of youth. We shouldn't. We should note that the careers/lives of people are often made or ruined during the teenage years.
a. A pregnancy or crime can result in a life of thwarted purpose.
b. Good character and a decision to go to college can catapult a life to higher ground.
c. NOW are built the foundations of life upon which everything else will be built.
3. ILLUSTRATION.
a. On the summit of a hill in one of the western states of America, there’s a courthouse so situated that the raindrops falling on one side of its roof descend into Lake Erie and from there, through the St. Lawrence, into the Atlantic Ocean.
b. The drops on the other side of the courthouse roof go West and South until they reached the Ohio and Mississippi rivers and enter into the ocean by the Gulf of Mexico.
c. A faint breath of wind determines the destination of these raindrops for 3000 miles. So God uses a single act to determine, sometimes, a human destiny for all time and eternity.
4. NOW is the time to decide to stand strong for God! Your decision this morning will determine your destiny from here on!
5. COMPROMISE JOKE. Many want to do like the Sunday school boy. The teacher told the story of Lazarus and Dives. "Which would you rather be?" The boy answered, "I want to be like the rich man while I live and then I want to be like Lazarus when I die." No! You can’t be both; only one. Which one?
B. SEEMED ILLOGICAL & DIFF. TO TURN DOWN
Imagine that you’re Daniel & Co. The problem is the food is 1). Unclean animals, 2). Not prepared correctly according to the law of Moses, 3). Dedicated/sacrificed to
idols. That certainly wouldn't be difficult to turn down, would it?
1. BEST FOOD IN THE WORLD! Food of Kings!
a. Steak, shrimp, lobster, Blue Bell, Pizza, Tacos
b. Best chefs in the world;
c. All you can eat. Very difficult to turn down that dinner! The alternative was vegetables and water.
2. OTHER JEWS WERE EATING IT.
a. 2 Kings 25:29-30 says that the deposed King Jehoiachin of Judah regularly ate at the king's table without objection.
b. Why should Daniel and company make themselves different from other Jews?
3. WAS AN HONOR; Evidence of the King's favor.
a. Wouldn't it be foolish to offend your benefactor?
b. Many are afraid to offend an employer to obey God.
c. A lie of Satan: "Unless you compromise, you'll lose your position." Remember who is really in charge of your life. Seek to please God and you will really prosper.
d. Compromise and you will lose all.
4. The Food and Wine of the King's table was a test to Daniel and his friends of their commitment to God.
a. Test of whether God was Lord; whether they would obey Him or not.
b. We too have tests. Will we give in to pleasure? Will we be cowed by the world’s influence?
III. A TEST PROPOSED
A. THE TEST
1. Vs. 12 -- "10 days of vegetables and God's blessings and I'll be better off than those who eat at the King's table." Jesus said, "I have meat to eat that you know not of."
2. Proverbs 15:16, "Better a little with the fear of the Lord and great treasure in trouble there with."
3. The world has a right to look each our lives and see if it's worth it to serve God; it has the right to examine us and see if we are “fatter and fairer” than those who eat the Kings meat.
4. Research shows that people who regularly read their Bibles and go to church are healthier, live longer, their marriages are better, their kids are better, and then they get life after death in heaven!
B. THE RESULTS
1. Vs. 15 "appeared fairer and fatter than all others;"
2. Vs. 17 “God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom."
3. Vs. 20 "the King... found them 10 times better than all."
4. Vs. 21 "Daniel continued... unto the first year of King Cyrus." Daniel would not have spanned five Kings if he hadn’t taken his stand during the first King!
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION: Broken Hindu god
1. In remote villages in India, Hindus who convert to Christianity face death-threats and oppression. They must stand firmly to live for Christ. Yet they are secretly respected for their closeness to God.
2. In one village, several Christians were taken by force by eight fanatic Hindus to the home of a Hindu "mother." They were ordered to heal her of her polio-like illness.
3. The leader of the Christians stated that since their captors had weapons, they intended to hurt them if they failed.
4. He told them that they were not afraid to suffer and die for their beliefs, if the Lord chose not to heal this woman.
5. But he felt privileged to have the opportunity to pray that God would show His love and healing power, even to those who mistakenly believed in Hindu gods.
6. As they prayed the leader felt heat in his hands. Clearly the power and presence of the Lord was there. After the prayer it wasn't long until the woman stood on her feet healed.
7. During the prayer a Hindu god toppled of the "god shelf" and was irreparably damaged. That day the angels and those Christians rejoiced over nine new converts
added to The Book Of Life. [Voice of the Martyrs; Shatter the Silence]
B. THE CALL
1. “He (Moses)chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time” Heb. 11:25.
2. How many of you are willing to take a stand, to speak up? To say things are sin if God says they are sin?
3. Prayer for salvation of unsaved.
