In the Old Testament, the reigns of four powerful kings—Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, Darius, and Cyrus the Great—stand out as significant symbols during the Jewish people’s 70 years in Babylonian captivity.
Daniel 6:1-7 NLT
1 Darius the Mede decided
to divide the kingdom into 120 provinces, and he appointed a high officer to
rule over each province.
2 The king also chose
Daniel and two others as administrators to supervise the high officers and
protect the king’s interests.
3 Daniel soon proved
himself more capable than all the other administrators and high officers.
Because of Daniel’s great ability, the king made plans to place him over the
entire empire.
4 Then the other
administrators and high officers began searching for some fault in the way
Daniel was handling government affairs, but they couldn’t find anything to
criticize or condemn.
He was faithful, always responsible, and
completely trustworthy.
5 So they concluded, “Our
only chance of finding grounds for accusing Daniel will be in connection with
the rules of his religion.”
6 So the administrators and
high officers went to the king and said, “Long live King Darius!
7 We are all in agreement—we administrators, officials, high officers,
advisers, and governors—that the king should make a law that will be strictly
enforced.
Give orders that for the next thirty days any person who prays to
anyone, divine or human—except to you, Your Majesty—will be thrown into the den
of lions.
That was a lie.
Daniel was not in
agreement.
Satan uses lies to take us into
bondage.
Satan fell because of his
pride.
You are the most like Satan
when you are in pride.
Pride is Satanic.
You are the most like God when
you walk in humility.
1.
Pride opens the door to deception.
Darius wouldn't have been
deceived if he wasn't prideful.
He wanted to be prayed to like God.
Pride comes from insecurity.
Darius was a Mede.
The real ruler was
Cyrus who was a Persian.
He was insecure because he was a Mede and not a
Persian.
Daniel 6:8-9 NLT
8 And now, Your Majesty,
issue and sign this law so it cannot be changed, an official law of the Medes
and Persians that cannot be revoked.” 9 So King Darius signed the
law.
Belshazzar, being greatly
alarmed at the mysterious handwriting on the wall and apprehending that someone
in disguise might enter the palace with murderous intent, ordered his
doorkeepers to behead anyone who attempted to force an entrance that night, even
though such person should claim to be the king himself.
Belshazzar, overcome by
sickness, left the palace unobserved during the night through a rear exit. On
his return the doorkeepers refused to admit him. In vain did he plead that he
was the king.
They said, “Has not the king
ordered us to put to death anyone who attempts to enter the palace, though he
claims to be the king himself?”
Suiting the action to the word, Darius grasped
a heavy ornament forming part of a candelabrum, and with it, shattered his
skull.
Daniel 6:10 NLT
10 But when Daniel learned
that the law had been signed,
he went home and knelt down as usual in
his upstairs room, with its windows open toward Jerusalem.
He prayed three
times a day, just as he had always done, giving thanks to his God.
Daniel is not making a
point. He did not change his habits because of the new law.
1 Kings 8:35-36 NLT
35 “If the skies are shut
up and there is no rain because your people have sinned against you, and...
if
they pray toward this Temple and acknowledge your name and turn from their sins
because you have punished them,
36 then hear from heaven
and forgive the sins of your servants, your people Israel.
Teach them to follow the right
path, and send rain on your land that you have given to your people as their
special possession.
Psalms 55:17 NLT
17 Morning, noon, and night
cry out in my distress,and the Lord hears my voice.
Daniel didn't become prideful
because he stayed in communion with God while he studied God's Word.
2.
Pride always brings regret.
Daniel 6:16 NLT
16 So at last the king gave
orders for Daniel to be arrested and thrown into the den of lions.
The king
said to him, “May your God, whom you serve so faithfully, rescue you.”
Daniel 6:18 NLT
18 Then the king
returned to his palace and spent the night fasting.
He refused his
usual entertainment and couldn’t sleep at all that night.
We must make decisions based
upon the principles of the Word of God instead of insecurity and pride.
Just because it is a good deal does not mean that it's God's will.
3.
Pride causes spiritual blindness.
Daniel 6:23-24 NLT
23 The king was overjoyed
and ordered that Daniel be lifted from the den.
Not a scratch was found on him,
for he had trusted in his God.
24 Then the king gave
orders to arrest the men who had maliciously accused Daniel.
He had them thrown
into the lions’ den, along with their wives and children.
The lions
leaped on them and tore them apart before they even hit the floor of the den.
The spell was broken because
Darius humbled himself.
Here's a story about how Jesus healed a blind man which could have cost them their lives.
John 9:6-15 NKJV
6 When He (Jesus) had
said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He
anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay.
7 And He said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is
translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.
8 Therefore the neighbors
and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, “Is not this he who
sat and begged?”
9 Some said, “This is he.”
Others said, “He is like him.”He said, “I am he.”
10 Therefore they said to
him, “How were your eyes opened?”
11 He answered and said, “A
Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to the pool
of Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and I received sight.”
12 Then they said to him,
“Where is He?”He said, “I do not know.”
13 They brought him who
formerly was blind to the Pharisees.
14 Now it was a Sabbath
when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes.
15 Then the Pharisees also
asked him again how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put clay on
my eyes, and I washed, and I see.”
Jesus had worked on the Sabbath
to put clay on the blind man's eyes.
The blind man had worked by
washing it off.
Therefore, both Jesus and the
blind man had worked on the Sabbath and deserved punishment by the Jewish leader's understanding of the Scripture.
Exodus 31:14 (NKJV)
14 You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it
is holy to you.
Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to
death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall
be cut off from among his people.
John 9:18-21 NKJV
18 But the Jews did not
believe concerning him, that he had been blind and received his sight, until
they called the parents of him who had received his sight.
The Jewish leaders could not
believe the miracle because in their minds it violated their understanding of
keeping the Sabbath.
19 And they asked them,
saying, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind?
How then does he now see?”
20 His parents answered
them and said, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind;
21 but by what means he now
sees we do not know, or who opened his eyes we do not know. He is of age; ask
him. He will speak for himself.”
John 9:24-27 NKJV
24 So they again called the
man who was blind, and said to him, “Give God the glory! We know that this Man
is a sinner.”
They believed that Jesus was a
sinner because Jesus had broken the Sabbath by working on the Sabbath to open
the blind man's eyes.
25 He answered and said,
“Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know.
One thing I know: that
though I was blind, now I see.”
No person with a theological
position cannot win a conversation with someone with an encounter with
Jesus.
26 Then they said to him
again, “What did He do to you?
How did He open your
eyes?”
27 He answered them, “I
told you already, and you did not listen.
Why do you want to hear it
again? Do you also want to become His disciples?”
The blind man was kicked out of
their house of worship, but Jesus came and found him.
When religion kicks you out,
Jesus will be there to welcome you in.
John 9:39-41 NKJV
39 And Jesus said, “For
judgment I have come into this world,
that those who do not see may see, and
that those who see may be made blind.”
40 Then some of the
Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, “Are we blind
also?”
41 Jesus said to
them, “If you
were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’
Therefore your sin remains.
If you would just admit to
God that you need Jesus, He would take away your sin.
The key to
forgiveness is to admit that we need a savior.
We must turn from our
pride and surrender to Jesus.
Ask, what is the Holy Spirit
saying to me through this message?
Robert Morris, Gateway Church
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