Somebody Is Drawing a Line to Separate You From God.
11/28/2021 Daniel 6:1-9 Ephesians 6:10-20
I can remember as a kid the all important drawing a line in the sand. When you were upset with someone and they wanted to put you on front street, they would draw a line and dare you to cross it. If you came across the line, that was a declaration to start a fight.
We as Christians are called to live peaceably with everybody as much as it depends on us. So we should be willing to submit, to think of the other person, to seek compromise and to try our best to just get along with people. However, we should recognize that someone or something is always drawing a line in front us just hoping that we will cross it.
When the religious leaders of his day wanted to get rid of Jesus, they tried to trap him by drawing lines that they hoped he would cross. They wanted to force him to choose between what was popular and what they believed was contrary to the word of God.
Satan himself attempted to get Jesus to cross over the line with his temptation, “If you just worship me one time, I will give you all the splendor and the wealth of this world, and you can have everything without going through the pain and agony of the cross.”
Have you ever thought that just doing something one time, can’t really hurt you that badly only to discover you were wrong? You wished later that you had never crossed the line. Sometimes it’s easy to see the line when we’re stepping away from Jesus, but other times it sneaks upon us real quietly.
It could come as a phone call, a smile from someone, an offer to help you out of a situation, a chance to keep someone else from getting deeper in trouble. For us as believers, the Holy Spirit will often throw up a warning light and we can look at it and change course or ignore it and get deeper into trouble.
When God called us, the Bible tells us that he called us of darkness into his marvelous light. In other words we crossed a line to get to where God wants us to be. Not everyone is happy that we cross the line, because they know that it means, we have changed.
We can’t do some of the things we use to do. We recognize a higher calling on our lives. Our goal is to do what’s right and pleasing in the eyes of God. That’s what it means to love the lord our God with all our heart, our soul, our body, our strength and our mind.
But our love for the Lord and our commitment to Jesus is going to be challenged. We all are going to have to choose whether or not to cross the line of putting God first in our lives. Sometimes somebody is going to ask us to lie for them to cover for their mistakes. Sometimes somebody is going to offer us something, we know we should reject but we’re not going to want to hurt their feelings?
Sometimes something we have wanted for a long time is finally going to come our way, but in order to get it, we will have to compromise our commitment to God.
Sometimes we will minding our own business, doing what is right, and not bothering anybody, and someone will up against us and force us to choose between God and our position. Have you already made up your mind what you’re going to do?
Have you ever not been invited somewhere because your family or your friends knew you were not going to be happy there, and they knew that you were presence there would put a damper on the party?
Have you ever not been consulted because people knew what your stand would be, so they didn’t want your input into the decision making process? When people know in advance what you’re going to do because of your relationship with the Lord, that says a lot about your integrity, but it can also be used against you.
Let’s meet a person today who knew what it was like to be looked down upon because he didn’t fit in with the majority of the people. He knew what it was like to be lied about because of his honesty. He knew what it was like to have his good deeds twisted and called evil.
He knew what it was like to have others betray him, when he had done them no wrong. He knew what it was like to risk losing everything, including his own life because he had made up his mind to serve God and God alone.
Daniel was from God’s chosen people. The people of God had rejected God’s authority over their lives and after many years of rebellion, God sent the Babylonians to punish them. Some of the people were taken away as hostages to make sure the people obeyed the king of Babylon. Daniel was one of those hostages. Daniel had been carried away as young teenager as captive to the land of Babylon.
As a teenage he made up his mind not to cross the line when it came to serving God. In chapter one of Daniel, he took a stand against eating the King’s food, because the food was sacrificed to the Babylonian God.
To eat the king’s meat was a declaration that the Babylonian god Bel was Daniel’s provider. Daniel refused to eat the food at the risk of severe punishment. Read the first few chapters of Daniel and you will see how God lifted him from his position to being the third highest ruler in the land of Babylon.
Well the Babylonian government was overthrown by the Medes and Persians, but Daniel had such a good reputation as a leader and administrator that the new government kept him in office. He was known for his honesty and his integrity. The new king of the Medes and Persians was King Darius.
We find in the first few verses of Daniel chapter 6, that Darius appointed 120 satraps or governors to rule over the kingdom, with three administrators over them one of whom was Daniel. The king was no fool, and knew that out of a 120 people, who would be seeing a lot of money in taxes which were to come to him, some of them were bound to be corrupt.
He knew some would take bribes, some would skim off the top of the taxes, and some would rule their country to their own advantage. So he set Daniel and two other guys over the 120 rulers.
Now here’s a Daniel, a minority in one of the top three positions. But Daniel did his job so well it got him into trouble. The 40 leaders under him were obviously less corrupt and probably turned in more money. Daniel probably didn’t have any problem firing officials who were not doing their job or who were cheating the king. King Darius noticed, Daniel was out doing both of the other two leaders, and he decided. "Wait a minute, I think I ought to put Daniel over everybody."
"At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent."
They went looking for some dirt to bring up on Daniel as to why he shouldn’t get the job. They all knew Daniel was qualified for the position, but that would hit them hard in their economic pockets.
My friends it is important that we take a stand in our lives for God as early and as often as possible, because someone is going to go looking into our past when God gets ready to promote us to bigger things or better situations.
Those governors and satraps searched and searched to find something on Daniel. Thank God, Daniel had said no way to the bribes during his many years of service. Thank God he hadn’t brought women into his office and sexually harassed them. He hadn’t fooled around with anybody’s wife. Thank God he hadn’t fudged and kept a little money to himself when he thought no one was looking.
Thank God he was willing to check up on his people to make sure they were doing what he told them to do. Thank God he was a person of honesty and integrity. The Scriptures said they couldn’t find a thing.
Some of you here God is seeking to exalt to some very high places. Are you keeping your record clean so that you can take it when God offers it? The little stands you are taking now are going to count in the long run.
The men said look, "We not going to find any dirt on Daniel. The brother is too clean, and we’re not going to be able to make any lies or rumors stick. The only way we can get him is to force him to choose between obeying the law and obeying His God. After all these years, he’s not about to go against God." Isn’t it something when the folks who don’t know God, know you love God so much, they can count on you to do the right thing in relationship to Him. You see once we make our position with the world clear, they stop trying to tempt us to do some things.
Now how can we get the king to make a law punishable by death, which Daniel won’t obey. Someone said, "well you know old Darius has a serious ego problem. He’s got a big head and we can use it to our advantage. Let’s appeal to his pride."
So they went to big headed Darius. They said king, you are great and there is none other like you. All of your officials from one end of the kingdom to the other have made an agreement that you should pass a law, that for the next 30 days, no one in the entire kingdom is to pray to any god except to you. If the person disobeys, the person shall be thrown into the lion’s den. And this law shall be irrevocable so that if anyone breaks it, there will be no room for mercy.
Not every official had agreed to this new proposed law. I’m sure Daniel had not been consulted. But the satraps wanted to pretend there was no opposition to the new proposed law. They wanted to silence the voice of their opponents by pretending they did not exist.
Isn’t it interesting, that these men know that the king is not a god, and they know the king could not answer anybody’s prayers, but they want to force everyone to declare that he is and that he can because of their own secret agenda.
They want everyone to be on their side of the line by believing something they know isn’t true. You may say, how could they get people to believe something they know is false. Well it’s happening today and many of us are falling line.
Have you ever wondered what hidden agendas are behind the things being thrown upon us today? Why do leaders in our society today insist them a man can become a woman and a woman can become a man simply by passing a law saying they can do it? This is no different than trying to make Darius a god by passing a law and making you recognize that a man can become a god.
Some of us know that God created us male and female for a reason, and that you are what you were created. Yet we are told to cross the line, and insist the word of God is a lie. We are told by our society, that when it comes to sex, everything God’s word says is practically a lie. Everyone should be able to do whatever they want to do without any consequences.
What is the agenda behind teaching our children to admire a person because of their sexual preferences and to spend a month celebrating this in our schools, in the news, in the movies and everywhere else.
Why is it that we must deny the word of God, and be punished simply for not agreeing with what a person does in their bedroom? It was Jesus himself that told us in the beginning, God created us male and female why are we crossing the line and saying there are actually many genders, and we can’t be limited to two.
The real agenda behind today’s politics is to destroy the trustworthiness of the word of God. If God’s word was wrong about sex, then the seeds are planted for doubt about other truths in the bible. If God got sex wrong, then maybe God Jesus and salvation wrong as well. Every teaching becomes up for grabs.
Where we all the people who should have had a problem with this new law from the king. Where were the people who knew no man could become a god and it was worthless to pretend that he could?
Where would we have been and where are we today? Now some of us would not miss praying to God for 30 days. We would have said, well secretly I’ll pray to God. Or I’ll do it in hiding where no one could see me.
But that wouldn’t have been taking a stand. It would have been compromising. God is looking for men and women of integrity. Integrity is doing the right thing in God’s eyes even when you know there would be consequences. Daniel had a habit of praying three times a day with his windows open toward the land of Israel. Daniel had made up his mind as a teenager that he would not cross a line to get on the good side of the crowd.
When Daniel gets news of the law, he does not run in and beg the king to change it. He does not cry out "oh God how could this happen. " He does not agonize over whether or not he could go 30 days without prayer. He didn’t go hide in a cave to pray. There are some 50,000 Jews minimum in the kingdom who are looking to see what Daniel is going to do.
What Daniel does is exactly what his enemies believed he would do. The brother took a stand. He leaves the office and goes home that day. He goes upstairs into the room with the windows opened toward Jerusalem and starts to pray. The Bible says, three times a day he prayed, just like he did before.
It doesn’t matter what law Congress passes approving sin or what the Supreme Court rules in opposition to the word of God, a follower of Christ is to always be subject to obeying Jesus Christ. Daniel has already won in the eyes of God because of his refusal to cross the line.
It doesn’t matter if he’s thrown to the lions or not, and what happens in the lion’s den. That’s all left up to God. He was not going to let the fear of others and what they might do, keep him from obeying God. Daniel is now almost 80 years old. His commitment to His God is the same at 80 as it was at 15.
The men know where to find Daniel praying. They get the evidence. They take it to the king. Say king, you remember the law you passed about people praying only to you for thirty days. The king says, "yes, not only is it the law, that law is irrevocable and nothing can change it."
“Well king, you’re not going to believe this, but you’ve got a foreigner who does not pay attention to your law even though it’s written out. The guy’s name is Daniel, the one you put in charge of following your rules. He still prays three times a day, and he’s not praying to you because we heard him for ourselves.”
The king is greatly troubled inside. He finally realizes he has been set up by the other leaders just to get rid of Daniel. The new law had nothing to do with honoring the king. It was all about executing Daniel.
King Darius gets people searching the law to see if an exception could be made. He does not want to lose Daniel and his skills. It’s getting night and he still does not have a solution.
Isn’t it ironic, that the King is declared God and yet he can’t find a way to save Daniel. And the rulers come back and said, “Now king you remember the law can’t be changed and we have Daniel down here with us so that you can pronounce the sentence.”
What is King Darius going to do now? He can not take a stand and say the law is stupid even though he know it is. It would make him look bad. So he shoves the problem back into Daniel’s hand.
He says, "Brother Daniel, I hope the God you serve continually is able to save you from the lions. They throw Daniel into the dens with the lions and seal the top of it with rocks. Daniel is 80. It’s amazing he survived being thrown into pit some 10 feet deep.
Daniel is there to face a bunch of hungry lions with no natural weapons. He does not go in trying to do Kung Fu or Jo Jitusu or whatever on the lions. He is willing to face whatever came his way. He is now about 80 years old. He has served God for too long and too well to back out now. As the old spiritual says, "I think I’ll run on and see what the end is going to be."
But the funny thing about that night isn’t that Daniel isn’t afraid. The strange thing is the king can not sleep. He doesn’t eat anything that night. He doesn’t want any entertainment. He keeps wondering what time it is. Is Daniel still alive? What’s he going to find when he removes the rock from the cave. Is Daniel’s God really God? Why did he let the others trick him into getting rid of Daniel?
On the other side of town, it’s party time. The satraps are thinking Daniel is lion’s meat and gone for good. One of the good ole boys would get his position. There would be a little more freedom to cut corners and take bribes without ole honest Dan, Mr. Integrity himself around. What a victory celebration. It all went along according to their plan. But wait. But God. Your enemies can plan your defeat, but God. Say it, But God. But God can make a difference.
At the first crack of dawn, the King gets up and run’s to the lion’s den. The king said "Somebody move that stone out of the way. “Daniel, oh Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God whom you serve continuously been able to rescue you from the lions."
Daniel yells back, "Oh King, I’m good. I’m feeling fine. I’m a little hungry and the lions are too. You see when I got down here, a couple of lions started to growl, but ahm before they could do anything, God sent an angel and closed up their mouths. They haven’t hurt me, because God found me innocent. King you know I have not ever done anything wrong in your sight.”
The king is overjoyed to hear Daniel’s’ voice. " What are you waiting on, quick get him out of the den." Daniel comes out without a scratch on him, because he had trusted in his God. The king orders those who had tricked him to check out and see if the angels were still holding the lions mouths. No sooner than they got near the bottom, the lions overpowered them and crushed their bones. Their plot of evil had come back on their own heads.
The king made a new law. “Daniel’s God is the true and living God who can do all kinds of miracles. Let everybody in my kingdom fear and reverence the God of Daniel.” We’re not going to win the world for Christ, by becoming more like the world to be more acceptable to it.
When Jesus called us to follow him, Jesus didn’t promise a bed of roses. He didn’t promise a life free of problems. He didn’t promise everything will turn out okay. He did promise us the truth.
The truth is, all of us are sinners who have broken the law of God and headed for hell and eternal punishment. But God loved us all so much, He’s made it possible for us to have life forever in Jesus Christ. We’re not going to be able to take the kind of stands that Daniel took by ourselves.
We need God’s spirit to dwell inside of us. We also need to agree with God, there is no temptation which comes our way, that God won’t provide a way for us to escape it if we want to escape it. Now Jesus did not die for us to become part time believers. Jesus said, first sit down and count the cost to see if you’re going to be willing to stand for me when times get hard.
If you’re not going to stand, you cannot be my disciple. But if you intend to give it your best shot, and you’re willing to get up and try again when you fail, I’ll always be there for you. Together we can stand, and after its over, we are to keep on standing.
Summary: We must be willing to stand firm on the side of God, regardless of the price that we are called to pay. It’s not easy being a follower of Jesus Christ.
