When Society Grows Dark - Part B

It's a promise you'll be persecuted by the religious establishment.

You'll be persecuted by the secular world, the secular governments, and even by your own family. So persecution is inevitable, therefore boldness is indispensable. Today on Connect with Skip Heitig, you'll be encouraged by Skip to be bold in the face of persecution, just like Daniel was. It's a powerful word you'll want to hear, so stay right there. Hi, this is Pastor Skip, and we have prepared a package about seeing this life through the eyes of eternity.

Here are the details you'll need to receive this resource. Hell, here's what C.S. Lewis said about this subject.

C.S. Lewis wrote in his book, The Problem of Pain, these words, There is no doctrine which I would more willingly remove from Christianity than this, if it lay in my power. But it has the full support of Scripture and especially of our Lord's own words.

It has always been held by Christendom, and it has the support of reason. Ecclesiastes says God has put eternity in our heart. To help you understand what awaits both believers and unbelievers in eternity, we've put together an exciting resource called The Eternity Package, featuring Skip's booklet, Hell, No, Don't Go, and seven of his strongest teachings about eternity, including The Truth About Hell and What Most People Don't Know About Heaven. This powerful new resource package is our thanks for your gift of $50 or more to support the broadcast ministry of Connect with Skip Heitzig. So get your copy of the Hell, No, Don't Go booklet and the Eternity Package on CD or as a digital download today when you give a gift of $50 or more.

Give online securely at connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888. This eternity package is some of the most powerful information for you and to give to family and friends. See, if there is no hell, then the Bible is a book of myths. If there is no hell, then Jesus was just a misguided soul. If there is no hell, then the crucifixion was pointless. There's no significance in dying to save us from what? If there's no hell, then you should sin as much as you possibly can, because it's not sin. It's just fun, right? It's just all about you getting pleasure in this life, sucking it like an orange dry at every drop of enjoyment you can. So get your copy of the Hell, No, Don't Go booklet and the Eternity Package on CD or as a digital download today when you give a gift of $50 or more.

Give online securely at connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888. Now let's join Pastor Skip in Daniel 6 as he begins his lesson today. Verse 10, do you notice what it says? When he knew the writing was signed, he opened the windows toward Jerusalem, knelt down three times, and prayed and gave God thanks as was His custom since early days. Daniel is just doing what Daniel always did.

He was always faithful, and any government mandate wasn't going to change that. He said, I'm going to open my windows, I'm going to pray to God, I've been faithful, I'm going to be faithful. You see, if the satraps and the rest of this gang had been able to stop Daniel from praying, those officials would think it worked. It worked.

What next? And that would ruin his testimony. Nothing would stop Daniel's prayer. Nothing would stop Daniel's prayer. I think Daniel believed it's better to die for a conviction than to live with a compromise. This could end my life.

I could die because of this. I'll die because of this in obeying God. Now, when we get to the New Testament, Jesus makes wonderful promises, but some of them are promises that, though they're wonderful and honest, we don't underline them because they're uncomfortable. Jesus said, here's a promise, behold, Matthew 10, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. What a wonderful Savior we have, right? I'm sending my sheep out in the midst of wolves. You go, well, that's kind of mean. You know, it's funny, every now and then I'll get people saying, man, I wish I lived in the era of the apostles. Really?

You do? Because they didn't have it easy. They had a rough gig. He said, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. It wasn't because he wants his sheep eaten, but he wants wolves converted. But he said this, beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their own synagogues. You will be brought before governors and kings for my sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. Now, a brother will deliver a brother to death and a father his child, and children will rise up against parents, and you will be hated by all for my name's sake. It's a promise.

You'll be persecuted by the religious establishment, you'll be persecuted by the secular world, the secular governments, and even by your own family. So persecution is inevitable, therefore boldness is indispensable. Here's the third truth. Trust is essential.

Trust is essential. I love how the story unfolds, and I'm going to have you Skip a few verses. Down to verse 16, so they sign this. Daniel gets in trouble. So the king gave the command, and they brought Daniel So the king gave the command, and they brought Daniel and cast him into the den of lions. But the king spoke, saying to Daniel, Your God, whom you serve continually, he will deliver you. Then a stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the signets of his lords, that the purpose concerning Daniel might not be changed.

Now the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting, and no musicians were brought before him, and his sleep went from him. Question, how did Daniel react to all this? Well, we're not told, but there's no word in the text that Daniel, you know, said, Hey, I protest.

That's not fair. Or, Come on, God, I've been serving you my whole life. By the way, we think Daniel was about 86 years of age in chapter 6. He's been serving the Lord in Babylon over 70 years. He's been faithful to God. Maybe he felt like God betrayed him and didn't protect him. He could have voiced that. He didn't. He seems, as I read this, he just seems resigned.

He seems silent. Now remember, Daniel knew that the document was signed and Daniel opened his window so people could be able to see and hear what he was doing. He certainly knew the punishment would be a lion's den. He knew what a lion's den was. Again, I had the privilege a few years ago, several years ago now, of being in Babylon in Iraq and going to the ruins of Babylon, and the tour guide pointed out the square hole in the ground where they believed most certainly was the lion's den where Daniel was thrown. Just to stand there and imagine the scene was breathtaking. Daniel knew that was coming, but Daniel went and Daniel prayed like Daniel always prayed and silently resigned himself to the lion's den, I believe, because I think Daniel saw the lion's den as God's will for his life, strangely. I mean, why else do you open the windows and pray publicly knowing that you are going to be thrown into the lion's den because the edict has been signed unless you go, well, I'm going to do it anyway because I believe this is God's will for my life.

No pleading, no protesting. It reminds me a little bit of another martyr in the church. His name is Polycarp. Have you ever heard that name?

Polycarp of Smyrna, 156 A.D. He was arrested. He was burned at the stake for his faith in Jesus Christ. When they arrested him and they were tying him up, some of the soldiers pleaded with him to deny Christ. To just deny Christ. Just say you don't know Jesus, deny him, give this stuff up, and you'll live. He goes, I'm not going to deny Christ. And it got some of the soldiers mad, and they said, the fire is going to be hot.

You're going to burn. And Polycarp said, fire isn't going to be half as hot as what you're going to feel when you die. And Polycarp said this, 86 years.

He was 86 like Daniel. 86 years I have served him, and he has never wronged me once. How shall I blaspheme my king who saved me? Those were his last words.

His body went up in flames, and he saw that as the will of God. I have a question for you. What would it take to make you stop being a follower?

What would it take? What experience in life would be, in your mind, the straw that breaks the camel's back? Death of a child?

Loss of family members or position? You know that Satan studies you. Jesus said to Peter, Satan has been asking for you.

He wants to sift you like wheat. I'm reminded of Job in the Old Testament. Job did lose his children and did lose his health, lost everything. He had nothing left except his life, and then he said this, though he slay me, yet I will trust him.

I'll die. Let it be. Though he slay me, I will trust him. Trust is essential. So persecution is inevitable. Boldness is indispensable.

Trust is essential. Let me give you a fourth truth as we face a darkening world. Deliverance is possible.

It is possible. And here we have that possibility shown to us in verse 19. The king rose very early in the morning and went in haste to the lion's den. And when he had come to the den he cried out with a lamenting voice to Daniel. The king spoke to Daniel saying, Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God whom you serve continually been able to deliver you from the lions? Frankly, it's a little too late for that question, but I guess he thought if I get an answer back, God did deliver him. If I hear no answer, the answer would be no, he didn't, because he's lion's food. Then Daniel said to the king, O king, live forever.

My God sent his angel and shut the lion's mouth so that they have not hurt me, because I was found innocent before him, and also, O king, I have done no wrong before you. Then the king was exceedingly glad for him and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the lion's den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, no injury whatsoever was found on him, because he believed in his God. And the king gave command and they brought those men who would accuse Daniel, and they cast him into the den of lions, them, their children, their wives, and the lions overpowered them and broke all their bones in pieces before they ever came to the bottom of the den. Boys, I read this story, it sounds to me like the king didn't get any sleep that night, probably had insomnia, tossing and turning, fretting, worrying about Daniel, and it sounds to me like Daniel's getting a good night's sleep in the lion's den. I picture Daniel getting up in the morning, just like as peaceful as can be. He made it all through the night.

The king, on the other hand, was kvetching over this. I heard a great story about a man who was in a storm, and he was on a ship, and he was scared, but he suddenly remembered Psalm 121, which says, he that keeps Israel will never slumber or sleep. And so he was tired and but scared, and he finally looked up to heaven and he said, since you never sleep, there's no sense in both of us staying awake.

So he went and got a sort of a good night's sleep on that ship. Here's the point, Daniel was delivered by God, and when that happens, it's awesome. But it doesn't always happen. It happens, and when it happens, it's cool, but it doesn't mean that God will always deliver you from every problem and every evil, as we have seen so far in Scripture.

When it happens, it's cool. Listen to this, true story. There's a church in Nebraska, it's called the Westside Baptist Church, this happened several years ago. At the Westside Baptist Church in Nebraska, choir practice took place every Wednesday night at 7 30 on the nose. Because they wanted to start at 7 30, most all of the choir got there way in advance, usually around seven o'clock to get ready so they could start promptly at 7 30. But on one particular night, nobody came early, and they all had good excuses.

The piano player took a nap and slept in, one kid had a problem with his homework, another couple's car didn't start. Eighteen choir members, all of them were late. So what that means, and it never happened before in their history, they said, at exactly 7 30 p.m., nobody was in the choir loft. On that particular night, there was a leak, a gas leak in the furnace, and at precisely 7 30 p.m., the church exploded and went up in flames. What's interesting about the story is that the furnace room was directly below the choir loft. So the choir loft would have been ground zero and everybody would have gone up and been killed. Nobody was injured.

Now that's cool when that happens, I love reading about that, I love applauding when that happens, but it doesn't always happen. Isaiah believed in God and trusted in God, and they cut him in two. Peter loved God and trusted God, he was crucified upside down.

Paul loved God and trusted God, he was beheaded. But either way, if you're a Christian by life or death, you're always delivered. If you live, you're delivered. If you die, you're delivered big time.

We have nothing, Christian, I hope you get this, we have nothing to fear. I might die. Didn't you get told that you will die? If not, I'm telling you right now, gonna happen, lest the Lord comes and the rapture gonna die. It's a deliverance. For me to live is Christ, to die is gain.

So that's how Daniel faces it, okay, I'm gonna die now or die later, I'm 86. It could be today, it could be years down the road, but it will be a deliverance nonetheless. Deliverance is possible. Takes us to our fifth and final truth, and that is influence is unmistakable. What Daniel affects by this calm resignation to the will of God, by this boldness to worship God in these circumstances, is influence. That's what he gets out of it.

Influence is unmistakable. Verse 25, look what happens. He gets delivered. Verse 25 tells us, then King Darius wrote, to all peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth, peace be multiplied to you. I make a decree that every dominion of my kingdom, men must tremble and fear before the God of Daniel. For he is the living God, and steadfast forever, his kingdom is the one which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall endure to the end.

And he delivers and rescues, and he works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth. He who has delivered Daniel from the power, who has delivered Daniel from the power of the lions. So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian. Now when I read this, it sounds more like King David than King Darius. It sounds more like a Hebrew king under the covenant of God than a pagan king who's getting influenced by a prophet, but that's what it is.

He was so touched by this man's life that he writes this psalm of worship. So you have a secular man deeply impacted by the life and testimony of Daniel. Incidentally, Daniel was one man who influenced two kingdoms, the Babylonian kingdom under Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, the Medo-Persian Empire, Cyrus, and Darius. Four rulers, one prophet. Four leaders Daniel was able to affect. And I would even press that just a little bit and say not only did Daniel impact those two empires, but he impacted the next events in the next hundreds of years, because a group from Babylon called the Magi, of whom Daniel was at one time the head of, will travel to Bethlehem looking for one who was born king of the Jews. There's only one way I can think of historically how they would even be tipped off to look for a Jewish king hundreds of miles away from Babylon, unless it was Daniel who instructed them.

So I conclude that Daniel's influence is one that lingered on for centuries. Here's my point. It doesn't take many people to make a difference. It just takes the right people. Just takes the right people. When God puts the right people in the right place at the right time, and those people are bold in their God and trust in their God, this is the result. This is what happens. Happened to Joseph, happened to Moses, happened to David, happened to Daniel. Influence.

Through the dark room of their lives, the negatives that they experienced became positive. So I want to close with just an encouragement to you to be faithful and stay faithful. Stay faithful to God.

Things are getting weird out there, things are getting rough out there, the country's being divided, always has been, it's just very, very, very, very evident right now. Be bold. Don't flinch. Stay faithful. Keep worshiping. Keep serving your God.

1st Corinthians 15, therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. But, it's not going to be easy. It's not going to be easy. You are shining your light in a society filled with darkness, and that darkness is getting worse and worse. And you need to know that darkness is coming. There's a moral darkness that is coming, and that moral darkness will be aided and abetted by the government. 2nd Timothy chapter 3, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution, but evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. 2nd Thessalonians, Paul writes, the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way, and then the lawless one, that's the Antichrist, will be revealed.

Our Lord Jesus said, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake, but he who endures to the end will be saved. So, sometimes we choose our darkroom like Moses, sometimes our brothers sell us out like Joseph, sometimes the darkness is around us in society, and it means you and I have to shine the light even brighter, be more bold and more steadfast, and not shrink back. Engage with them.

Engage with them. Let's make this our slogan. I'm gonna put it up, I've showed you this before, but it's one of my favorite things. It's a slogan of an African-American church in Kansas City. Wake up, sing up, preach up, pray up, and pay up, but never give up or let up or back up or shut up, until the cause of Christ in this church and in this world is built up. Come on, that's cool. That's Skip Hitek with a message from the series Darkroom.

Find the full message as well as books, booklets, and full teaching series at connectwithskip.com. Now, let's go in the studio with Skip and Lenny with news about a trip to Israel you can take. Well, if you've ever dreamed about visiting Israel, let's make that happen. Lenny and I are leading a tour group to Israel next summer in 2024. We'll start up north visiting Nazareth, the Sea of Galilee, and the Jordan River. We'll spend several days in Jerusalem, see the Temple Mount, the Garden of Gethsemane, the Upper Room, and more.

Now, visiting the places where the scriptures unfolded, where Jesus lived out his earthly ministry, it never gets old. Make plans to join us next summer in Israel. See the itinerary and book this Israel tour with Skip and Lenny Hitesig at inspirationcruises.com slash c-a-b-q.

That's inspirationcruises.com slash c-a-b-q. And we're excited to send you more content from Pastor Skip and this ministry right to your mobile device. To join our new text messaging group, just text the word connect to 74759. That's connect to 74759. Then be on the lookout for your first message, a video from Pastor Skip welcoming you to the group. Come back tomorrow as Skip begins a message call, Facing Darkness with Grace. Connect with Skip Hitesig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.