When Society Grows Dark - Part A

As I read through Daniel 6 this week, I couldn't help but thinking that the day is coming when scenes like what we're about to read could play out in the land of the free, in the home of the brave. On today's Connect with Skip Heitzig, Pastor Skip begins a message about the darkness in society and how God is still at work for our good and His glory. We're glad you've joined us today. Connect with Skip Heitzig is here to connect listeners like you to God's unchanging truth and bring more people into His family. That's why we make teachings like this one today available to you and so many others on air and online.

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Okay, let's open our Bibles to Daniel 6 as we join Skip Heitzig for our message today. A couple years ago, I had the opportunity to be at the White House in Washington, D.C. and we went on a little tour after being in the Oval Office. We went up to the second floor where there is the Lincoln bedroom, the famous Lincoln bedroom.

I'd always wanted to see it. We were shown the Lincoln bedroom and they showed what it was and interestingly, Abraham Lincoln never slept in that. It was never his bedroom, but it was at one time his office and it was his cabinet room. And in the corner of the Lincoln bedroom, it's now a bedroom, in the corner of that is a desk and it was Abraham Lincoln's personal desk.

And on top of the desk, I went over to look at, on top of the desk is a copy. It's the fifth and final copy handwritten of the Gettysburg address, signed by Abraham Lincoln and dated by Lincoln. And the words of part of that are that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.

My eyes fell on those words. It was amazing to be able to read those words penned by Abraham Lincoln himself, but I have since discovered that those phrases that he used of the people, by the people, for the people, were not phrases he himself conceived, but that he took them from a sermon that was preached by a minister by the name of Thomas Parker, who in his sermon spoke about a government of the people, for the people, and by the people. And so Lincoln liked that so much, he put that in his Gettysburg address. They're great phrases, but question, what happens when the government is no longer for the people? And that is exactly the situation that Daniel is facing in chapter 6. He finds that the government, of which he is a part of in Babylon, is poised against him because of his faith in God.

That brings up, at least it brought to my mind, I was old enough to remember when he said this, Ronald Reagan in his inaugural speech in January of 1981 addressed the crowd and he said, government is not the solution to the problem, government is not the solution to the problem, government is the problem. And I've always resonated with that on a number of different levels, but my heart goes to a question that David asked in Psalm 11. He said, when the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? When the foundations are destroyed, and the idea of foundations is when the pillars of state are destroyed, what can the righteous do?

What happens when the very things that are put in place originally to protect the upright are being undermined? What can the righteous do? Well, we are in this series called Dark Room, how God takes the negatives of life and turns them into positives. In the Bible itself, we discovered in our first study on this little series, the whole Bible is in essence a dark room from cover to cover. God is the master artist. He allows his people, the best of people, to go through the worst of times. The stories of Joseph and Moses and David, which we have already covered, all of these stories, and now Daniel, all of them could be summed up in a single verse. It's probably the most famous verse in the book of Romans, Romans 8 28, for we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those that love God and are called according to his purpose. But today we are studying Daniel, and Daniel is unique in that the darkness he experienced was actually a darkness created by the government that was around him. I've always loved the story about three men who were arguing about their professions, of which was the oldest profession in history, and the surgeon piped up first and he said, well, I read in the Bible that Eve was made by God carving a rib out of Adam. That makes my profession a surgeon, the oldest profession. An engineer who was in the room said, well, actually, and the Bible says before that, in six days God created the earth out of chaos.

That's the job of an engineer. Well, there was also a politician in the room who piped up and said, ah, but who made the chaos? We know as Christians there are two main passages of our relationship to human government in the New Testament. We have referred to them and taught on them in depth before. One is Romans chapter 13 and the other is 1 Peter chapter 2. It talks about how we are to conform up to a point and disobedience is warranted only when it crosses a certain line.

We've covered all of that. What we need to cover and do in this section in Daniel chapter 6 is an Old Testament example of that. And we're going to look at several verses in chapter 6, but let me remind you that the Christian's relationship to the government has always been important throughout church history. By the way, you should know that just about every Christian generation in history has struggled with the Christian's relationship to the government, and that's simply because Christians find themselves in various eras of church history under all sorts of different forms of government, from totalitarian governments and despotic rule and tyrants to more of a free society, republics, and a democracy like we have. Historically, in the United States, the church has fared better than in most countries.

For one, one obvious reason, and that is the Christian influence that has been in our country. Daniel did not have that luxury. Daniel was part of a very heavy-handed rule of the Babylonian empire that has just passed off the scene, and now another one, the Medo-Persian empire, is in its place. So it's getting rough for Daniel, as you will see. But as I read through Daniel 6 this week, I couldn't help but thinking that the day is coming when scenes like what we're about to read could play out in the land of the free, in the home of the brave.

In fact, I think they are already starting to do that. Let me just plant something in your heart, though. C.S. Lewis made a very important observation, and he said that human beings live forever while the state is only temporary. Listen to his beautiful analogy. He said, human beings live forever, the state is only temporary. It's this quality of everlasting life that makes the individual more important than the state. With that in mind, I want to jump into our text and show you five truths to keep in mind as we face an ever-darkening society. And the first is that persecution is inevitable.

Persecution is inevitable. Verse one, let's read a few verses. It pleads Darius to set over the kingdom 120 satraps to be over the whole kingdom, and over these three governors, of whom Daniel was one, that the satraps might give an account to them so that the king would suffer no loss. Then this Daniel distinguished himself above the governors and satraps because an excellent spirit was in him, and the king gave thought to setting him over the whole realm. So the governors and satraps sought to find some charge against Daniel concerning the kingdom, but they could find no charge or fault because he was faithful, nor was there any error or fault found in him. Then these men said, we shall not find any charge against Daniel unless, unless we find it against him concerning the law of his God. Okay, Daniel is a godly man living a godly life in an ungodly culture.

And you know what that means, right? You know what it says in 2 Timothy chapter 3, all those who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. That's a promise in the Bible.

All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. Well, Babylon here is under new management. Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom has gone off the scene.

The Medo-Persian Empire is now the new ruler in town. It is not unusual when a new kingdom comes into play where they will use existing talent, and Daniel was a part of the previous administration, so he is brought into this one. But the people around him in these government positions aren't too happy with Daniel.

Daniel rises above them. Daniel is in a place of notoriety and leadership, but there are 120 satraps. And you're going, what is a satrap?

Is that like a mousetrap? No, a satrap would be like a provincial ruler. It would be like a state governor. There was 120 provinces then, 120 state governors then, and then there are three governors here. Daniel is one of them. They're like cabinet members to the king that oversee those provincial rulers. Well, they have their their sights set on Daniel, and here's a simple observation. I just want you to notice in this text that persecution is coming from the source of it here is government officials. Government officials.

Let's see what happens. Verse 6, so these governors and satraps, all of them, Daniel's outnumbered, thronged before the king and said to him, King Darius, live forever. All the governors of the kingdom, the administration, the satraps, the counselors, the advisors have consulted together to establish a royal statute and to make a firm decree that whoever petitions any god or man for 30 days, except you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions.

They know Daniel's practice. Now O king, establish the decree and sign the writing so that it cannot be changed according to the law of the Medes and the Persians which does not alter. Therefore, King Darius signed the written decree. We believe that all of these events happened in one day. One day, unlike American law courts where things get carried out for months and years, justice in Babylon and in Medo-Persia happened in a single day so that the decree was probably signed in the morning. Daniel prayed and was watched at noon and he was sentenced by evening.

And I say that because it was a custom of the Medes and the Persians to have executions take place before nightfall so that Daniel was cast into the lion's den probably on that same day at evening time. But here's what I want you to see. Here's a godly man, Daniel, in the crosshairs of powerful government officials. Powerful government officials. Lord Acton, who was a British historian and politician, said, power corrupts but absolute power corrupts absolutely.

He was right. One of our greatest threats, you know, I'm hearing a lot of politicians talk about the greatest threat to humanity and greatest threat to our country. They come up with a lot of ideas about that. They're saying it's systemic racism.

That's one. Or some government officials are saying it's global warming or it's white supremacy. And actually, they're wrong. One of the greatest threats now is the government. And I say that because the government has come to a place where, and not just in our country, but I think in many countries around the world, where it is simply demonstrating that it cannot fulfill its God-given design. Its God-given design, according to Romans 13, is to restrain evil and reward good. Restrain evil, reward good.

You got one job. Restrain evil, reward good. Romans 13 verses 3 and 4 in the New Living Translation says, for the authorities do not frighten people who are doing right, but they frighten those who do wrong. The authorities are established by God for that very purpose, to punish those who do wrong.

That's beautiful and that's right, but it doesn't always work that way. Let me remind you of the one who wrote those words was Paul the Apostle. Paul the Apostle was in violation of the government, probably more than any other person in the New Testament. He was often thrown in prison for preaching the gospel, and eventually he got beheaded by a government mandate. They killed him.

The last two years have been interesting, have they not? Our government has shut down churches a couple years ago, while allowing bars and strip clubs to be open, calling them essential businesses. That is a failure. Government has failed.

And the reason for such a failure is a spiritual reason. Any government is made up of people. Any government in any era is made up of people.

It's run by people. Have you figured out that people are sinners? And so sinners with power are dangerous. And they're a threat to the godly, whether it's Pharaoh or Nebuchadnezzar or Darius or Pilate or Caesar Nero or fill in the blank. You have a human system made up of evil people whose job it is to stop evil.

Good luck with that. 1 John 5, verse 19 says, We know, little children, we are of God, and the whole world lies in the sway of the wicked ones. So you have Satan, the ruler of this world, the Bible calls him, who operates the system of the world so that even the best of governments are bound for failure, and the Bible predicts it's not going to get better. The Bible predicts it is going to get worse. May I remind you how it's going to culminate before the return of Christ? Revelation chapter 13 talks about the culture being so devoid of godly influences that the leader that emerges is seen as a beast who has consolidated power, where he is seen with seven heads and ten horns, and on his head is a name of blasphemy or a blasphemous name. So this is where history is moving.

This is human government. It is this story in Daniel retold in every generation and will have a final expression of that under the Antichrist. Now look at Daniel chapter 6. Look at verse 7. All the governors of the kingdom and the administrators and satraps, the counselors and advisors, have consulted together to establish a royal statute and to make a firm decree that whoever petitions any god or man for 30 days, except you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions. In other words, Daniel, stop praying. Well, I remember hearing the words, stop meeting, stop singing.

You can't sing, you can't preach, you can't hug. No, you have to separate and get locked down. Did you see the report this week from John Hopkins? It released a study this week that said all of the lockdowns did absolutely nothing to reduce COVID deaths, and they said, and I quote, lockdowns should be rejected out of hand. They figured that out two years later. So two weeks to slow the spread became two years to control your life. And so we are starting to see persecution from the source of the government.

COVID, I think, was the excuse. It is continuing. They're taking advantage of it. Now they continue with the LGBTQ, with transgender issues in athletics, with social justice and Black Lives Matter and critical race theory, and they're trying hard to cram it down everybody's throat.

And listen, here's what you need to know. Their target is mainly us. Their target is the church. They want to cancel church. They want to cancel truth. They want to cancel scripture. They want to cancel you, just like they have canceled the lives of millions of babies in wombs since 1973.

They want to continue that. That's government. And they do this by trying to tell us it's for our good. It's for your good.

It's for health reasons. It's for human rights. I'm going to give you the words of a British statesman.

We're going to throw it up on the screen. His name is William Pitt. He was a one-time prime minister in England. He said, necessity is the plea of every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants. Get people afraid and they'll do whatever you want. A fearful society will always comply. Panicking people will believe anything. I think the big epidemic and pandemic has been fear, more than anything else. So persecution is inevitable, therefore brings us to our second truth.

Boldness is indispensable. Verse 10. Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he said, okay, whatever you want, I got to obey. He went home and in his upper room with the windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as was his custom since the early days. Then these men assembled and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God. Daniel didn't just not stop praying, he opened his windows so that everybody could see that he was defying the order. Now, I got to think Daniel had a few options here. He could have said, look, I can lay low for 30 days, you know, I mean religion is a private matter anyway and I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings, so okay, I'll just go along with it.

It's only for 30 days. I'll pray in secret. Now, you got to get this. Daniel's motive is important. He's not opening his windows and praying out loud, probably in Hebrews they knew. He's not praying to any Babylonian God, he's praying to his God. He didn't do this to rub their noses in it or to get in their face with it or to be ostentatious or out of spite. 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. That concludes today's message from the series Dark Room. Find the full message as well as books, booklets, and full teaching series at connectwithskip.com. Right now, we want to share about a resource that will give you a glimpse of what eternity will be like for believers and for unbelievers. Skip Heitzig has some straight talk about hell. The lake of fire is name of a place of eternal torment. You might call it the final hell.

The Bible calls it the second death. So hell is an actual place. There's a second fact I want you to notice, and that is hell is an intentional place. This is critical information about the future of those who reject salvation through Jesus.

But that does not need to be the destiny of any man or woman on earth. That's why we've assembled a special resource called the Eternity Package to give you confidence in your eternal home and an urgency to share Christ with those who don't believe. God created hell for a very specific reason. Verse 41, he will say to those on the left hand, depart from me, you curse into the everlasting fire. Here it is, prepared for the devil and his angels.

God did not create hell as a place to punish people. The Eternity Package comes with seven of Pastor Skip's most powerful messages about eternity, covering topics like the truth about hell, what most people don't know about heaven, the second coming of Christ, and much more. You'll also receive his booklet, Hell No, Don't Go, about the glory of heaven and the torment of hell. This powerful new resource 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 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. Join us again tomorrow for part two of Skip's message, When Society Grows Dark. 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. ... Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.