Standing Alone In A Hostile Environment

Title: “Living for God in a Hostile Environment” Script: Daniel 1

Type: Expository Series Where: GNBC 9-28-25

Intro: There will be times in your life that you will be challenged to stand alone. Sometimes, you’ll find yourself in situations where you will need to decide if you will obey God or “follow the crowd”. Your decision will either glorify God or give the enemies of God an opportunity to scorn Him. It is very important to stand for what you believe in (especially if your conviction is coming from what God has clearly said); even when others have a different opinion or thought. The truth is, standing alone requires courage. It is important to know that courage is not the absence of fear; it is confidence in something or someone greater than the emotion of fear.

To stand alone, one must have confidence that obedience to God and His word will ultimately result in a superior outcome. We can always stand alone for truth, if we have this confidence in the Lord and His Word. In today’s passage see Daniel & 3 friends called to make a stand in a potentially very hostile environment.

Prop: Exam. Daniel 1 we’ll see 3 Choices one Must Make to Thrive Spiritually in a Hostile Environment.

BG: 1. Most likely Daniel was probably MS or HS age when deported to Babylon.

2. Judah’s captivity was a divine judgment for the sins of this nation. Daniel’s prayer, recorded (chapter 9), reveals his grasp of this fact. Daniel was fully convinced that it was God who gave Jehoiakim king of Judah, into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar.

Prop: Exam w/me 3 Choices Daniel Made that we must as well, to thrive Spiritually in a Hostile Environment.

I. Choose to Stand Firm in the Face of Isolation and Indoctrination. Vv.1-4

A. Daniel Chose to Stand Firm in the Face of Isolation.

1. Nebuchadnezzar had a plan to bend and mold these conquered peoples to his own will.

a. Daniel and the other deportees were isolated. These young men were removed from their nation, culture, and most likely families, taken at least 500 miles away, and forced to matriculate into the University of Babylon whether wanted to or not. In Babylon they were separated from all they previously held dear, worship of God, teaching of the WOG, fellowship with the people of God, daily life as a citizen in the nation of the chosen people of God. Tough to stand for what you believe when think you are alone. (Even Elijah!)

b. Daniel was part of the first wave of captives held hostage in Babylon. Several attacks on Jerusalem would follow, with many Hebrews deported to Babylon to spend 70 years in captivity. As were others, Daniel was torn from his native land, his family, and his friends, so far as we know, never seeing his homeland again. Since he is referred to as a “eunuch” and was educated to serve in the king’s court, it’s almost certain that Daniel suffered castration as culmination of his humiliation as a Hebrew hostage.

2. Isolation Can Actually Be Used inour Lives to Experience God more Deeply.

a. Illust: Hea Woo, a North Korean Christian imprisoned in a labor camp for her faith, powerfully experienced God when she was alone and uncertain she would survive to the next day. Hea Woo lived through deplorable concentration-camp conditions, but it was in this isolation that she heard the voice of God. “Physical labor was hard, but something harder was that we did not have freedom of faith,” Hea Woo says. “We could not pray freely, but I still prayed in [my] heart. When people were asleep, I woke up to pray. It was so pitiful that we did not have freedom of faith; I really yearned for freedom. “Although there was nobody, God protected me with His grace. When I prayed that I could become light and salt, He told me to ‘share and sacrifice.’ And he also told me to evangelize. There were so many answers I got through my prayer.” Hea Woo experienced God deeply in her isolation.

b. Chapter 1is critical to our understanding of the entire Book of Daniel, providing the historical setting for the entire book, and especially revealing the mind set of Daniel and his three friends. It explains, in part, the reasons for Daniel’s rise to a position of great influence in the Babylonian government. It also shows the importance of having a core group of friends who share your worldview and will support and encourage you in difficult times. In his isolation, Daniel experienced God deeply.

B. Daniel Chose to Stand Firm in the Face of Indoctrination.

1. The Chaldean’s had a curriculum Daniel and his friends would be forced to endure.

a. For 3 years the best and brightest of Judah’s youth were taught “the language and literature of the Chaldeans” (v.4) This WAS NOT your fun “study abroad” option! Learning the language and literature of the Chaldeans might seem harmless enough, after all even today we study foreign languages and literature. True, however, the aim of this course in “Chaldean Classics” was conversion! Yes, would study Aramaic, culture and religion of the land. The goal was not merely academic, it was to retrain the minds of these young men so in three years they would think like Babylonians and NOT as Judeans.