The Bible tells us that if we are believers, this broken, sinful world in which we live is not our home.
So how can we stay strong in our faith when we face opposition for our beliefs and feel pressure to blend into the surrounding culture? Today we'll hear an encouraging message on Truth for Life as Alastair Begg teaches from chapter one in the book of Daniel. Here we have the record of what happens to these particular individuals. The king, verse 3, commands his chief eunuch to bring some of the people of Israel, of the royal family, the nobility, the youths without blemish, and so on. Just bring the cream of the crop in here.
And what we'll do is we'll make sure that we fashion them and refashion them in such a way that they will be done with that old stuff about the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. If we can get our hands on them, if we can educate them, if we can rename them, if we can l loc relocate them, just change their whole world view. Then we'll have them. They're a brilliant program. of subtle coercion and sometimes not so subtle coercion.
What they're seeking to do is to make sure that they change the way these fellows think about the world. And the way in which it is done is, first of all, by a geographical relocation. That's straightforward, isn't it?
Well, it is straightforward, but it it causes at least us to pause on this. When they were taken away from all that represented familiarity to them. All that geographically, if you like, represented security to them. All that, if you like, kept them in the routine of their lives. Just to be taken out of that.
could in itself Find them saying Well, I no longer have the place I used to go to. I no longer have the people I used to spend time with. I no longer have the reinforcement of my family members.
So I think I'll just give it up for a while. Or maybe I'll just give it up for good. It happens quite routinely to youngsters when they go off to university. Yeah, apparently just a change of location is enough. No longer the reinforcement of their peer group.
No longer the opportunity to gather. as they once did with God's people. Just a change of location. It's not enough to overwhelm these fellas. What about a change of education?
They were going to be made competent. by learning the literature and the language of the Chaldeans. will change their names. And of course, what we would like to do. Is to give you a daily portion, verse 5, of the food that the king ate and the wine that he drank.
But the one thing they can do and they're going to do is resist the temptation to change the plans of a diet. Because the distinguishing features of God's people were marked in part, in measure. by things that were apparently Strange. And those features We're not simply for them external manifestations of nothingness. But they were a practical effulgence of deeply held convictions about what it meant for them to belong to God.
And so it was. that he takes his stand And as a result of doing so, Having resolved, verse 8, He then makes a request to the chief. of the eunuchs.
Now that's no small thing.
So we don't get the impression here that Daniel and his friends were rabble-rousers. No, they were bright, they were good soldiers, they were decent fellows. And yet there was a point, there was a core in them, there was a resolve in them, there was something at the very heart of them that couldn't be shaken. And it was that which caused them to take the stand that they took. And God gave them favour.
Now, what's the point? It's simply this. that in a foreign land Where the people of God Had already laid down their harps, remember? Remember their exiles.
So these exiles, Psalm 137, Remember the old Rastafarian song. Um By the rivers of Babylon, You know? We sat down. Oh, we wept It was really good. When we remembered Zion.
And so the people of God said we might as well hang up the harps and give up the singing. Because how can we Serve and sing to our God in a foreign land. Look at us. We're a miserable minority. We're crushed.
The prevailing forces are such that they seem to be squeezing the life out of us. And you expect us to sit down here by the river and sing. Yes. That's the environment. And so Daniel is telling the story to the exiles, first of all, and he's saying, listen to what happened to us when we got there.
God who brought us there went before us there and gave us favor with this character. Essentially, he liked these boys. But he was afraid for his life. And in that tension, he was living. It should make you think of Joseph.
And fight, I'm sure it does. You remember how he was given favor. with the cupbearer To the king. He couldn't control that. That was something God did.
But the jailer or the eunuch here in this instance is predisposed to them, but he's not about to lose his head. And the strength of it is fairly obvious, isn't it? I love the sentence here in ESV, verse 10: so you would endanger my head with the king. You know, you're a nice guy, and I know you've got a program, and so on, but no, it's not going to fly. And then verse 11, Daniel said, Oh, well, it can't be the will of God.
If it was the will of God, then everything would have worked out nicely, so let's just give it up. No. Then Daniel said, okay, if we're not going to get something out of the CEO, let's try the COO. And that's exactly what he does. Then he said to the steward, whom the chief of eunuchs has assigned over Daniel.
Hey. The king's a bit worried about his head, but I got a deal. How about you give us 10 days? Give us a test for ten days, and I'm going to show you that we'll actually be in better shape than the rest of the guys that go on the portions.
Now you will know that the reason that the the concern was there was because they anticipated That If They did not take The meal plan that was part of the Babylonian program. Then They would be seen to be, verse 10, in worse condition than the youths who are of your own age. And when you are then seen to be in worse condition, then the king will be ticked, then I lose my head, so sorry, not going to do it. Wouldn't be prudent, not at this juncture.
So Then Let our appearance and the appearance of the youths who eat the king's food be observed by you, and deal with your servants according to what you see. That is pretty gutsy. That is very Very God see. There's no precedent for this. He's saying We're going to trust God.
You put us to the test and we're going to put God to the test. We're going to see what God will do with us. When we don't do with you what you want us to do. In other words, faith is for him and his friends, obeying. despite the consequences.
And at this point, no one can know. Verse 14.
So he listened to them in this matter and tested them for ten days. And at the end of ten days it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths who ate the king's food.
So the steward took away their food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables. Cue the Daniel Diet. Right?
Now, is anyone reading this text or not reading the text? I don't pay attention to Daniel Dyer, and maybe I should, but the fact of the matter is. It this program, they ended up fatter, not thinner. That was the whole point.
So it's a ch uh Yeah. There's no country in the world that you can make a butt better than the continental United States. The gullibility of people is beyond comprehension. It's amazing. It really is.
Anyway, I say it with the greatest respect.
So, people are on the Daniel diet eating vegetables and stuff. Let me tell you something, you eat vegetables and water for three years, you ain't gonna look as good as these guys, I guarantee you. Because the reason they look so good at the end of three years was not the diet. It was a miracle. God showed himself strong.
By every other mechanism, they should have looked gaunt and withered and pathetic, but they looked vibrant and terrific, and they had a snap to their skin and they looked absolutely super. Why? Because God did it. And every day that passed in the three years when they woke up and looked in the mirror, it would be a daily reminder of the fact that God is no man's debtor and God is able to show himself strong. And every passing day as it elapsed, the message was there again.
And Daniel writes this down, and the people of God are saying, you know, that is really quite amazing. But they should have known, shouldn't they? God had done something dramatic when he rescued Moses from the bulrushes. He'd done something incredible when he parted the Red Sea. He had brought them across the Jordan on dry land.
He had banished the jolly forces of evil against them. They had seen Joshua stand forward and they had seen the walls of Jericho collapse. We've seen a lot of evidences of God's grace and goodness too, haven't we? And yet some of us Have hung our harps We began to complain. to bemour everything.
In verse 17, as for these four youths. As for these four youths, God gave them. It's the third God gave them. I think these God gave thems are really the key to understanding this chapter. First of all, in verse 2, God gave.
Uh Jehoiakim. into the hands of the Babylonians. Verse 9, God gave Favor. With the Authority sent Verse 17, God gave them. learning and skill in all literature.
and wisdom. And Daniel had a special understanding of visions and dreams, which, of course, is going to become apparent as we read on in the chapters. In other words, God intervened on his behalf and gave him supernatural revelations, supernatural knowledge. And so the end of the time comes. In verse 18, that's the end of three years.
The king had Commanded they should be brought in, and the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. I wonder if he was smug, you know. I wonder if, I just, I would, I'd like to know. Because remember, he had. looked on them with favor, but he was frightened he was going to lose his head.
And now I think he probably came in leading them in. Here my boys, we've got the group. The program has worked exceptionally well. Um The re-education has, I think, been very, very good. We've tested them in the literature of the Chaldeans, and they're exceptional.
Um They really settled well in their new digs. Uh not at first, but They're fine. And they've responded well to their names. In the beginning, they didn't always respond when I called them by their new name, but now they're perfectly happy with it. And as you can see here, I mean, in terms of their physical Fitness.
Uh there. They're a standout. And they must all have got together and congratulated one another on how well everything was going. Boy, we've this is an internship program of Amazing capacity. We'll be able to reproduce this again and again and again.
But what they didn't know. And what man as man does not know. Is that God? The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. was in control.
was in control of their relocation. oversaw their re-education. granted them resolve. And grace. where they were prepared to take a stand.
And in this and through this. He was working his purpose out. You know, we always say, don't we, that the Bible is a book about Jesus. And that every so often, as we turn up to the pages of the Bible, we find ourselves almost. Thrust forward by the wave underneath of us, pushing us forward to where we almost inevitably must end up.
Because Daniel takes us to Jesus very quickly, doesn't he? Daniel It's taken away. into the exiled situation of Babylon. The Lord Jesus. leaves the glory of heaven.
and steps down into the ignominy of time. and into our broken world. Daniel in the face of great struggle and temptation. commits himself to the law of God. Jesus in the face of temptation.
Even in the garden of Gethsemane, says, I have come to do your will, O Lord, not my will, but your will be done. Daniel is exalted to a place of particular usefulness. And Jesus is exalted to the right hand of the Father on high. from whence he will come. to judge the living.
And the dead.
So you see The real emphasis of this and of the passages that follow Is not this? And I have I might even have preached these sermons in the past. God forgive me. But it's not Um about your diet. And it's not about, you know, Daniel didn't drink wine.
or big stakes, and you shouldn't either. Or Daniel was a really tough guy. Why can't you be a tough guy like Daniel? You know, Daniel, Daniel, Daniel, Daniel. Daniel, if he came back, he'd go, Why are you talking about me?
This whole thing is about God. The reason I wrote it down Was so that you would realize living with the pushback of secularism. That the God who sovereignly controlled the sixth century Babylon B C is as much in control of 21st century Western culture AD. Daniel was enabled To trust him. And you May trust him.
Two. You need to know, says Daniel. That uh that uh uh the the the Babylonian gods have have have not been successful. They haven't been successful. You know, I was watching yesterday on the the golf coverage.
or the the coverage of nothing.
So I tell you, the inventiveness of uh the inventiveness of uh Uh uh The the the the two guys sitting behind that desk.
So, whatever the names are, it doesn't matter. But I mean, it was a tour de force. On their part. It started around seven o'clock in the morning when I turned it on. And they were still sitting behind the desk.
Ow! And hours later, talking about nothing. They talked for the whole time about nothing. Showed the same thing. Look at that ball move.
Whoa, look at that. Yeah. Nice, look over here. Yeah, it moved over there. Oh, it's back over here.
Look at that.
Okay, well, let's go over to Phil. He'll show us where it's moving.
Okay, it's moving over. I said, what a job. You know, this is amazing.
Well, how did I get there?
Well, because I was thinking, I was thinking about how. I mean, I had some ideas for them, didn't you? Look. Why did they not go out into the town of St. Andrews?
and move amongst the people and get some good Footage. I mean all this stuff they couldn't have done. Because they can't get out of their own way. They think they're really significant. I mean I say it with the greatest respect.
They think that every time we tune in we want to see them still sitting behind the desk. And it's it it moved over here. What's up with the media? By and large, the media is completely opposed to the message of Christianity. There's nothing new in that.
Lord Reith, who founded the BBC, this is how I got here. I'll be back and finished in a second. Lord Reith, who founded the BBC, was a tall man from the Highlands of Scotland. He would preside over the directors and the producers of the BBC in routine meetings. In the late sixties, as secularism began to take its hold in the British Isles.
Some of the young producers and directors began to challenge the idea. that the BBC would provide any kind of religious coverage at all. And their line of reasoning went like this. The world is changing. Our culture is changing.
And we want simply to be representative of that changing culture. People have lost any interest in God, in the Bible, in the church, and in everything else. And frankly, it's over, and we ought to just acknowledge God. That it's over, and stop hymns of praise, and stop the evening meditation, and all that kind of stuff. And apparently Lord Reith was not charmed by that.
And he stood up at the end of the table, addressing the young man who had made this speech, and he said to him, Young man, The church will stand. at the grave of the B B C. The church will stand. at the grave of the BBC. and at the grave of Fox.
and at the grave of MSNBC. and at the grave of every proud monument raised to man's defiant, rebellious heart. And you and I, as living in the peculiarly privileged minority status of life at this point in history, need to hear the words of Jesus ringing down through time as he gathers his disciples together and he says, Fear not, little flock. for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you The kingdom. The kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms Um our Lord and of His Christ.
And he will reign forever and ever. Daniel was looking forward to a day that he did not see. We are looking back to a day we have not seen. And together we look forward to a day to which Daniel draws us. In the meantime, With the exiles of sixth century Babylon.
towards the exiles of twenty-first century. Western culture. Be encouraged. Be comforted. God.
Actually. Reigns. You're listening to Truth for Life with Alastair Begg. Alistair returns in just a moment. Here at Truth for Life we are always looking for more ways to share the gospel with as many people as possible, and among the many exciting initiatives that are currently underway, we have a number of book translation projects.
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Now here's Alastair to close with prayer. Father, thank you. Help us to navigate our way through these things. Help us, Lord. to know what it means to Have all the tact and the courage and the grace and the insight of these men.
in such a way that devalues ourselves and our own preoccupations. and makes much of you. Let your kingdom come. That your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.
rest upon and remain with all who believe. Today and forevermore. Amen. Amen. Thanks for listening.
Does God ever reveal his plans through unbelievers? Tomorrow we'll explore the answer. The Bible teaching of Alastair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life. Where the Learning is for Living.
