The Delivering God

[Posted by permission. Chippenham Old Baptist Chapel.]

Sermon preached at Old Baptist Chapel, Chippenham by Mr. G. D. Buss on Lord’s Day morning, 3rd June, 2018

“Thy God whom thou servest continually, He will deliver thee.”—Daniel 6:16

These are most remarkable words, in more than one way. They were spoken by an ungodly man, King Darius. As far as we know, King Darius had not got the fear of God in his heart at all. Yet, this man was God’s mouthpiece to Daniel. There was something in King Darius’s heart that recognized that Daniel and his God had right on their side. And it is a wonderful thing that this is recorded for our help this morning hour, because the days in which we live are not so dissimilar from the day in which Daniel was called to live in Babylon. It was a lonely path for Daniel. It seems there were not many who were willing to stand and be counted on the side of the God of Israel in the land of their captivity. But Daniel was one of them. It brought reproach, it brought danger, it brought hatred and it brought persecution. But, and here is the blessing of our text this morning: his God stood with him.

It is very instructive to notice how Daniel came to be in Babylon. When the captivity first began in the reign of Zedekiah (who was the last king before the captivity), hundreds and thousands of young men, (and no doubt women), were taken captive. They were taken down into Babylon. It was the will of the king, Nebuchadnezzar, to conform them to the ways of Babylon. Thus, he changed the names of Daniel and his friends, hoping that by changing their names he would change their character and they would fit into the ways of Babylon, which, of course, were ungodly and unscriptural. Daniel, at this time, was about fourteen years old. You know how teenagers can be. But, although this lad was taken at that young age, we do not read of any resentment. And, the remarkable thing is that it is very evident that before he was taken, the Lord had begun a work of grace in his heart. God is never limited in that respect. He can begin a work of grace at any age.

So, in his teenage years, Daniel was sent down into Babylon with his friends. The wonderful thing was that his religion did not change in Babylon. Whether he was in the land of Israel, or whether he was in Babylon, Daniel’s religion did not change. Whether he served Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, Darius or Cyrus; throughout the reign of all those kings whom Daniel served, he did not change his religion. He was not like the chameleon, which is a creature that changes its colour according to the environment around it. Daniel was not like that. And, friends, if we fear God, we should not be like that, either. Whether we are at home, in the House of God, in the street, with our friends at school, at college or at work, it should be evident that we fear God in all those places. We should not hide our light under a bushel, but in our very manner of life it should be evident that there is something different in our behaviour, that the fear of God has wrought. Only the fear of God could have wrought that in Daniel, and only God, whose fear it was, could have kept Daniel. Remember, he was a man of “like passions as we are.” He had his other nature, which, no doubt sometimes wished for something easier. Yet, there was grace.

Grace is a most blessed thing. It is suitable for every place into which God puts His people, in every condition they may come into and every step they have to take. The word ‘grace’ covers it all. “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.” You must not think that the place where God has put you is a place beyond help. Friends, “God is able to make all grace abound” where He has put you. ‘But,’ you say, ‘if you knew my wretched heart and its potential, surely you would doubt it!’ No, I would not doubt it, as I too have a heart just like that which you complain of. But, friends, “God is able to make all grace abound toward you” even there. Romans 5 verse 20: “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” Your heart is wretched, and so is mine. But grace is stronger. In the Book of the Revelation we read of the Church at Pergamos. Where did they dwell? “I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seat is.” God put that Church there. God gathered a little group of believers round there. It was a place where “Satan’s seat” was. What a place to put a Church of Christ! Surely the Lord could have chosen a more comfortable place; a greener spot! But, no. For His honour and glory, He put a Church right next to Satan’s synagogue. Dear friends, in a personal way that is what He does in your heart and mine, if we are children of God. Your old nature is Satan’s synagogue. Oh, the havoc he makes of it! You know it, child of God, don’t you? But, is there a work of grace alongside it that has given you this blessed promise: “But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound?” Blessed be God for conquering grace. I had not thought to say that this morning in the way that I have, but, nonetheless, there may be a purpose in it. There may be one here this morning beginning to learn what he or she is by nature, who has come to that conclusion: ‘It is impossible for me to be a believer; it is impossible for me to be a true Christian with a heart like mine.’ Friend, you are deceived in that matter. Satan is a liar. “With God all things are possible.” Even a heart like yours, as base as it is, as plagued as it is and as vile as it is, “God is able to make all grace abound toward you.” Take your wretched heart to Him.

“Tell Him all your sad complaints.”

W. Gadsby

Hide nothing from Him; He sees it, anyway. Beg Him to do what He has promised to do in James 4: “But He giveth more grace.” The God who gave Daniel grace to stand can give you just the same grace, because He is the same God. He has the same grace to give, even now.

Let us now come back to good Daniel, serving King Darius. Darius was a Mede. When the Chaldeans were overthrown, Cyrus took over. Cyrus was a Persian, but he had an ally in the Medes. So, it was the Medes and the Persians that were ruling. The Persians were dominant, but the Medes were given certain territories which they could rule over. That is why we find this man, Darius, in Babylon. He was appointed by Cyrus to be a ruler over that part of the vast empire; the vast empire that God gave to him. Darius recognized, like Nebuchadnezzar had, and like Belshazzar had (wretched man that he was), that there was something distinctive about Daniel. Daniel had gifts, talents and a character that made him stand out. But there was something even more distinctive about Daniel that these men perhaps wondered at. For, even ungodly men have talents, much natural wisdom and skill in managing this, that and the other. But there was something about Daniel that seemed different. What was it? “The fear of the Lord.” Now, dear friends, is that seen in you? Whatever your work maybe, wherever God has placed you; do men see that you fear God? Do they see a difference? Yes, God has given you talents, and you should use them. He has given you abilities: put them to the right use in the fear of God. But, do men see the way you do things as they watch you? Do they see a difference? When those around you are swearing and cursing, do you think: ‘This is not according to the fear of God?’ When others may be wasting their employer’s time, do you say: ‘I must not do that. I am paid for a certain time. It is stealing.’ Remember that, younger friends, when you go to work. Again, when you hear others lying and taken actions in business which are not honourable, if you are a ‘Daniel’, you will have to say, ‘I cannot go along with that.’ The late Mr J. O. Pack, a most godly man who preached in this pulpit many times, was a director of a boot and shoe firm in Northampton. Once, the managing director of that firm asked Mr Pack to a sign letter that was not altogether truthful. Mr Pack refused to sign it. Mr Pack suffered much persecution from that man. But, sometime later, he called Mr Pack and told him: ‘You were right, and I was wrong.’ Friends, whatever the reproach and whatever the cost, remember: “Them that honour me I will honour.”

So, there were those who were watching Daniel in Babylon. But there was that terrible thing: jealousy. O, what a terrible thing jealousy is! It “is cruel as the grave.” There were men who were jealous of Daniel. By the time it came to Darius’ reign, Daniel was an older man; no longer a teenager. They were jealous of the gifts God had given him and the authority he had. But they were more jealous of his religion. It shone, as it were, a light on their dark hearts and their dark ways. And, rather than seek Daniel’s God, they wanted to destroy the very mention of Daniel that they might go on in their sinful ways, unhindered and with no reproach coming on their guilty conscience. And so, they devised a scheme. They watched Daniel. And the world is watching you.

“Watched by the world with jealous eye, 

That fain would see our sin and shame.”

C. Wesley

The world watches you; there are those that especially watch for your consistency to see whether you will act honourably. When a child of God acts dishonourably, you will find the world is very quick to notice it. They are very quick to say: ‘If that is what Christianity is, then, what is it worth?’ How solemn, dear friends, when the world has to reprove you! Even Abraham, the father of the faithful, was reproved by Abimelech because he told a lie about his wife, Sarah. He said: “She is my sister.” He was afraid he would be killed because she was a beautiful woman. ‘Abraham, where is your faith?’ He was not walking in the fear of the Lord at that point. How solemn to have been reproved by an ungodly man, Abimelech! God put the words in Abimelech’s mouth, as well.

Well, dear friends, may we remember to walk consistently, with God’s help, and not bring reproach. Remember what James says: “That worthy name by the which ye are called.” He is not speaking of your own, personal name, your family name, your denominational name or even your national name. Friends, that worthy name is Christ’s! It is His name that is on you, if you are a child of God. And, when something is done that is dishonourable to Him, it is His name that is reproached and His name that is dishonoured. Oh, do remember that! May it put a restraint on you. May you be watchful. It is solemn if you are known by others as a Christian, and yet, such is your behaviour that it brings dishonour on the name of Christ.

Well, these jealous men were watching Daniel. They could not find any fault with him. They watched him in everything: what he said, how he behaved and the matters that he handled. They could not find anything wrong. In the end they came to this conclusion – and it is just the same today; there are those who are trying to catch believers out on this very point: ‘We will have to have a law that contravenes the law of his God. We know Daniel well enough to know which way he will choose. He will choose the law of his God. And that will bring him under the reproach of the king. We can see his end very quickly.’ The one thing they knew about Daniel because he did not hide it and nor should you hide it; was that he was a praying man. Do men know that of you? I think I may have told you before, but it bears repeating at this time. There was a young man working in Bedfordshire many, many years ago. He was very able in his job, but he had a very difficult employer. This difficult man had control over the finances to give out for various projects. Friday afternoons was when the workers would know if they would get the money for their projects, or not. One after another of this young man’s colleagues went in to see this difficult man, but all came out with long faces. They had been turned down. But this young man went in and was given just what he wanted. He went back into the office and his colleagues asked him how he had got on. He told them that he had got what he wanted. He was just about to take all the credit, but his conscience reproved him. He said: ‘I must tell you, that was an answer to prayer. I prayed about it, and my God has kindly given me the answer.’ He was not ashamed of Jesus. He was not ashamed of being a praying man. Are you? Do others know you are a praying man, woman, boy or girl? Is it known?

Well, it was known of Daniel. He opened his windows towards Jerusalem three times a day. That dear man was looking toward what he knew was at Jerusalem: the Temple. He knew that within the Temple was “the Holiest of all,” where the Shekinah glory dwelt. And the Shekinah glory overshadowed the ark, and the blood-sprinkled mercy seat. Daniel knew what had been there in the days before the Temple was ravished by the Chaldeans. And, although it lay in ruins, the God of that blessed mercy seat still remained. Daniel looked back towards the God of Israel and what he knew the mercy seat spoke of: a place where sinners might approach. And, bless God, He can still be approached now. Christ is the mercy seat, His blood is the sprinkled blood within the veil and His name prevails.

“The vilest sinner out of hell, 

Who lives to feel his need,

Is welcome to a Throne of Grace, 

The Saviour’s blood to plead.

W. Gadsby

Poor sinner, you are welcome! You say: ‘But I do not know if I am a child of God.’ Come as a sinner, then! ‘But I do not know if I am one of the elect.’ Come as a sinner and see what the Lord will do with you. Blessed be His holy name, He says: “All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me; and him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.” You say: ‘But Daniel was a perfect man, as far as we can see.’ Certainly, in the Book of Ezekiel we read of three men, Daniel, Job and Noah, mentioned as outstandingly upright men. Yet, my dear friends, Daniel, Job and Noah would have said: ‘Yes, we know what we are by nature. And we know what we need: mercy.’ Daniel knew very well that when all was said and done, what he was, he was by the grace of God. And, what he would have been without that grace was a plague to him every day. That is why he needed the mercy seat. And that is why you need it and why I need it. You cannot do without it, friend! No.

And, so it was. He turned his face toward Jerusalem three times a day. That was not the only time Daniel prayed. Friends beware of a religion that is just a public religion. What is your religion in secret? What closet religion have you got? What have you got before God that no one else sees? What sighs go up? What cries go up? What groans go up? What tears are shed? What requests are made, about which no one else knows anything? Beware of your religion if it is just outward; there is something solemnly wrong if it is. Daniel’s religion was not like that. Although he prayed publicly three times, I am sure this man prayed his way through the whole day, every day.

So, those men who were jealous of Daniel decided there was something they would do. They could manipulate the King. He was a foolish man like some of the other kings who reigned during that time in Babylon. King Darius was manipulated by these men who were jealous. They determined that they would make a law saying that no one was to pray to anyone but the king (that was to flatter him) for thirty days. They knew that Daniel would not move an inch or an iota against his own principles. They knew they would catch Daniel out, or so they thought. So, they got the king to sign a decree. And, as soon as Daniel heard of the decree, he went on just as he did before. He did not trim his sails, as it were. He did not amend his behaviour. Had he done so, it would have been dishonourable to his God. He was not being blatantly bravado, don’t think he was. But Daniel knew that if he ceased to pray publicly, there would be those who would say immediately: ‘Ah! What is your religion worth, Daniel, if you can hide it when reproach is perhaps going to come upon you?’ The dear man opens his windows towards Jerusalem. It was all the more reason to pray now the shadow of death hung over him! And it is all the more reason for you to pray, sinner, because the shadow of death hangs over you, and me: “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” That appointment is made. It is in the diary that God has. Your name is written against a day, an hour and a minute, even a second when your soul will depart this body. Remember that. Daniel knew that it was possible, quite likely according to human reasoning, that he could be called into eternity any day because of the reproach that was upon him. All the more reason to pray, dear friends! I wonder how many of you have prayed about your latter end this last week? I wonder! Has anyone? I wonder if anyone has prayed this prayer:

“Prepare me, gracious God, 

To stand before Thy face;

Thy Spirit must the work perform, 

For it is all of grace.”

R. Elliott

Has any young one prayed that, I wonder? Search your heart out. ‘Oh,’ you say, ‘I don’t need to pray that yet!’ How do you know? How do I know? Life is a brittle thread. And, although in Daniel’s case he was delivered, we read of others who were not delivered. In the First and Second World Wars, there were godly people who fought and came back. There are some remarkable instances of how they were preserved. But many godly fell on the battlefield. It did not mean they were not godly or gracious; it was the sovereign will of God that took them home in that way. The point I am trying to make is that life is uncertain, as we look at it.

“Only this frail and fleeting breath 

Preserves me from the jaws of death; 

Soon as it fails, at once I’m gone, 

And plunged into a world unknown.”

J. Newton

Oh, dear friends! If that is so, and it is so, oh to meet a God that we have known at the mercy seat! That is the point. Daniel knew that if he was to die a martyr’s death, he would not meet an unknown God. Would you? Would I? Would you have to stand before a God whose Word you had never really received, whose gospel you had no heart for? When all was said and done, would it be that you loved this world more than Christ, your sins more than righteousness and the way of the wicked more than the way of the righteous? How would you stand before such a God? Lay it to your heart, sinner. May God lay it to your heart. Or, would you say: ‘But the Lord knows my heart. There is that aching desire after Him. There are one or two little evidences in my life that He has been my prayer-hearing, prayer-answering God.’

Well, Daniel prays. His enemies see it. How glad they were! How they rejoiced! They got together. ‘We can now go to the king. We have Daniel trapped. We have him ensnared.’ So, the King is suddenly faced with making this unexpected decision. He had been flattered by the foolish resolution that was put before him in the first place. Beware of flattery. It is one of the most, subtle ways that Satan uses to ensnare sinners. Flattery: it is a solemn thing. Beware when all men speak well of you. “Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you!” Something is wrong if that is the case.

Well, Darius was flattered when he made the decree, but, foolish man that he was, he did not realise the consequences of it. Friends weigh up your decisions. Lay them before the Lord. Weigh them up according to the Word of God. Then you will know what consequences there might be. Well, Daniel did that, but Darius did not. And Darius suddenly realised that his chief minister, that is who Daniel was by then, was now facing execution. It wasn’t what Darius wanted. He loved Daniel in a natural sense; he was one of his most trusted men. Darius laboured long that day to try and deliver him. I wonder what he did! I expect that first of all he argued with these men about what an unkind thing they were doing. But they were adamant. “The thing is true, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not.” Perhaps the king went to Daniel: ‘Daniel, could you not repent of this? Could you not say you are sorry for praying? Could you not say you will not do it again?’ We do not know, but Darius laboured hard in one way or another. But he failed. “The law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not” had to be fulfilled. The law of man is inflexible like that sometimes, especially when it is against the Church of Christ.

So, it comes to the critical moment: Daniel must be thrown into the den of lions. “Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions. Now the king spake and said unto Daniel, Thy God whom thou servest continually, He will deliver thee.”

There are three things from this text that I want to bring before you this morning. First of all: “Thy God.” Darius did not say: “My God,” did He? What a distinction! Later, Daniel could say: “My God hath sent His angel.” Oh, the difference between “Thy God,” and My God”! It is the difference between heaven and hell, isn’t it? Salvation and damnation! You can be an onlooker and see what the God of gods can do, but not be a partaker. Darius was like that. May you and I not be like that. May we not be satisfied until we can say of Daniel’s God, ‘He is mine.’

“My God, my Father, blissful name! 

O may I call Thee mine?

May I with sweet assurance claim 

A portion so divine?”

A. Steele

To be able to say as Thomas did, when all his unbelief was swept away by that view of Christ’s wounds: “My Lord and my God.”! Dear friends, how is it with you this morning hour? Can you say of Daniel’s God: ‘He is mine’? Have you proved Him to be a prayer-hearing, prayer-answering God? Have you proved him to be a promise-giving, promise-fulfilling God? You say: ‘I believe I might have. But, at the moment, I am in a great trial. He seems not to be prayer-hearing or prayer-answering.’ Well, how did Daniel feel? The Lord didn’t intervene and keep him from the lions’ den, did He? Daniel had to be thrown into it. The Lord could have prevented the three Hebrews from going into the fire that Nebuchadnezzar had made, as we read of in a previous chapter. But, no. They had to go into it. Friends, it is like this with you and with me. Sometimes we have to go into the fires to prove who God is. We have to go into deep waters to prove that He is who He is.

“When through the deep waters I call thee to go, 

The rivers of woe shall not thee overflow;

For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless, 

And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie, 

My grace all-sufficient shall be thy supply; 

The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design 

Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.”

K., 1787

Perhaps this is how it is with you this morning hour: the Lord could have prevented this den of lions, but into it you have to go. The God who put you there will stand by you, stand with you and bring you out of it. He will. Yes, the Lord could have prevented it, but it was His sovereign will that Daniel should go into it.

“Thy God whom thou servest continually, He will deliver thee.” Listen to this, dear friends. Daniel served his God in the den of lions as well as out of it. That is grace, isn’t it? There are many people like Pliable who can walk well when the sun shines on them; when there is nothing to hinder them. But, when they come to the Slough of Despond, they get out the same side as they went in. ‘If this is religion,’ Pliable says to Christian, ‘I do not want anything to do with it.’ Mind you, when he got back to the City of Destruction his neighbours laughed at him. Secretly they admired Christian more than Pliable. Even the world acknowledges consistency. It acknowledges it, and, strangely enough, it values a man of integrity. Daniel was such a man. He did not cease to fear God in the lion’s den or when he was out of it. “Thy God whom thou servest continually.” Oh, for continuing grace! It is one thing to begin, isn’t it? But continuing is another thing. “If ye continue in My word,” says the Lord, “then are ye My disciples indeed.” There are many who, when they have been faced with lions’ dens like Daniel was, have turned back. It was Thomas Cranmer who recanted and at first denied what he had professed concerning Christ, as the only way of salvation? But, when he was bought back from that backsliding path and went into the fire, literally, to be burned to death, he put the hand that had signed the recantation into the fire first. ‘Let that burn first,’ he said. That was grace, wasn’t it?

So, friends, continuing grace is a wonderful mercy. Daniel was a continuing believer, right from his teenage days. He died, we understand, when he was seventy years old in Babylon. That was a great age in those days. Daniel was serving his God right until the end. Oh, my dear friends, may we have a religion like that! May we not be like Demus, who, for a while even preached the gospel! He forsook Paul, “having loved this present world.” May God deliver us. Ahithophel took “sweet counsel” with David. Yet, when things got hot, Ahithophel forsook David. He changed sides, as he thought it might be better for him politically and, eventually, went and hung himself.

So, we could go on. May God give us continuing grace. God must give it. That may be a trial to some of you who do fear God; ‘Will I endure to the end?’ You know the weakness of your heart. You know the fear of man. You know what you would be, left to yourself. You have no stones to throw.

“When any turn from Zion’s way, 

(Alas, what numbers do!)

Methinks I hear my Saviour say, 

“Wilt thou forsake Me too?”

‘Oh!’ you say, ‘Lord, it is quite likely that I would forsake Thee, left to myself!’ Indeed, it is certain. But, blessed be God, dear friend, hear the Saviour’s prayer: here is the security of the children of God. “Holy Father, keep through Thine own name those whom Thou hast given Me.” Friends, keeping grace, preserving grace, comes from Christ. If you look within for it, you will not find it. It is in Him. And, those of you who feel so vulnerable at work, perhaps, or at college, or somewhere else where you have to be; go to Him for preserving grace. You cannot stand in your own strength. “My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Continuing grace.

“Thy God whom thou servest continually, He will deliver thee.” I could not help thinking in meditation of those words that were thrown at the dear Saviour as He hung on His cross. Remember, dear friends, He did not shun the cross, did He? Nor did He shun the shame, nor the ignominy. He took the cup of wrath in His hand that His Father put into it to drink, because it was His Father’s will He should do so. But, listen to what words they hurled at Him: “He saved others; Himself He cannot save.” “Let Him save Himself, if He be Christ, the chosen of God.”

“Himself He cannot save.” 

Insulting foe, ’tis true;

The words a gracious meaning have, 

Though meant in scorn by you.”

Blessed be His holy name; His love to His Father, His love to His people, His love to the law and His love for His gospel held Him to the cross until the cup was drained and until the work of the cross had been done. Bless Jesus for that continuing love, mercy and faithfulness in His loving heart. If it were otherwise, we would not have a gospel to preach and we would not have a hope beyond the grave.

Come back to good Daniel. “Thy God whom thou servest continually, He will deliver thee.” Into the lion’s den goes Daniel. The king goes away. He is not the only king we read of in Scripture to have a restless night. A guilty conscience! Do you know what that is? It may seem a strange sermon to some this morning. However, there may be a purpose in it. Have your sins ever kept you awake at night? That is a question, isn’t it? You may have tossed and turned and hoped for sleep to forget them. But, no. The Lord did not mean you to. And what did you do with those sins? Sadly, Darius did not do anything with his. Dear friends, if you have a guilty conscience (I know not why I say that this morning hour), there is only one place to take it: to the foot of the cross that I have just mentioned. There the blood of atonement is sprinkled, yea, poured out in love and mercy!

“Let the water and the blood,

From Thy riven side which flowed, 

Be of sin the double cure,

Cleanse me from its guilt and power.”

A. M. Toplady

Take that guilty conscience to Him! Yes, you are guilty. Yes, you are a sinner; you have offended God. You may have offended others, as well – that I will leave between you and the Lord. But take it to Him. There is nowhere else to take it. You say, ‘Perhaps my conscience will forget it, eventually.’ If God has searched your conscience, nothing will put it right but the blood of Christ. A short memory will not do. No. You will not want it to ‘do’ if you are a child of God, either. You will want to have ‘short accounts with God,’ as the Puritans used to say. May we have ‘short accounts with God.’

Let us come back to our text. The king has a sleepless night. Neither music, nor talking could help him. What about Daniel? This is history, friends, not an allegory or a parable. Daniel goes into the lion’s den and has the best night he has ever had. Some of God’s people have had the best nights they have ever had during their troubles and trials. Not every night is like that, I know. But, sometimes, they can say with the good woman we read of in 1 Kings: “It is well.” What was it that made everything well for Daniel? He had the presence of the Lord. “My God hath sent His Angel,” he told the king the next morning. The Angel of the covenant stood by him and stood with him. The Angel had power over those lions’ mouths. They did not come near Daniel all night. Friends, the Lord does have power over the lions. Poor David, when he was in a low place, said: “My soul is among lions.” Yes, sometimes God’s people feel that with their unbelief, corruption, the devil, the fallen nature of their old, carnal mind: they feel they are among lions. Is there anything to subdue these lions? Yes. The Angel of the covenant can. Perhaps you have lions in your path at this time. It may be the Lord’s will for you at the moment to feel just like Daniel did. We read that David said: “No man cared for my soul.” Even Paul said on one occasion: “At my first answer no man stood with me.” But the Lord has control over lions, bears and whatever may come against God’s people. “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of Me, saith the LORD.” Remember that.

So, when the king went to the den the next morning; “he cried with a lamentable voice.” He never thought he would hear Daniel’s voice again. “O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions?” Is it possible? He stretches his ear out. Is there any response? Oh, with what amazement, and thanksgiving, in a sense, Darius would have heard Daniel’s words. “O king, live for ever. My God” – I have proved Him in this den of lions. I have proved Him to be my God again – “My God hath sent His angel, and hath shut the lions’ mouths, that they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before Him innocency was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt.” Daniel was brought out of the lion’s den with no mark on him. No bite marks; nothing at all, because the Lord stood by him. Oh, what a shield God is!

“A sovereign Protector I have, 

Unseen, yet for ever at hand.”

A. M. Toplady

Friends, I tell you, when God puts a shield around you, the devil cannot break through it, man cannot break through it and even your wretched heart cannot break through it. “Behold, O God our shield.” Blessed be God for it.

So, Daniel is delivered. But judgment comes upon his persecutors. You say, ‘It seemed rather harsh.’ Well, dear friends, we are, first of all, recording what the Word of God says. The days in which Daniel lived were very harsh days. But, leaving that aside, remember what the Lord said through His servant Samuel to Eli concerning his sons. “Them that honour Me I will honour, and they that despise Me shall be lightly esteemed.” Remember that. And remember another principle – I will leave my text here: “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” “For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption.” These presidents did just that. “But he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.” What did our Lord say? “He that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.” May God add His blessing.