This is the twelfth in a series of expositions of the book of Daniel. This message was delivered at Hillcrest Baptist Church on the morning of November 4, 2012. This message deals with the accusations and prejudicial laws that believers will often have to face, and the fact that our true freedom comes from Christ. This contains an audio recording of my message, along with my sermon notes and a study outline. Please note that the sermon notes are not a full transcript.
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Study Outline:
SERMON NOTES:
Daniel 6:1-10 / Lies and Laws
v.1:
Darius had just conquered Babylon, and the usual reorganization of government was afoot.
No doubt, Darius put his most faithful servants in charge. It would be vitally important for the conquering king to be sure that he had leaders that he could count on.
There were 120 satraps who would oversee the different day to day operations of the kingdom.
v.2:
There were three governors in charge of all of the satraps, and they would answer directly to the king, and protect his best interests.
Of those three governors, Daniel was the first.
Daniel didn’t ask for the job, he didn’t politic for it. In fact, Daniel was an old man, and probably would have been viewed as loyal to the old regime, given the positions that he held.
It wouldn’t have made sense for the king to appoint him to such a position. Under normal circumstances, Daniel most likely would’ve been killed.
The difference here was that God was working, and He still had a job for Daniel to do!
v.3:
Because of Daniel’s great ability, the king planned to place him over the entire empire.
God is amazing, and often does the totally unexpected. The things that don’t make sense to us.
v.4:
This promotion of Daniel brought to light a conflict between the king’s officers and Daniel.
The rest of the king’s officers had probably politicked and sucked up for a long time to get to where they were at. These people had probably been loyal to the king for many years.
They most likely viewed Daniel with suspicion, as an outsider. It’s not uncommon today for an outspoken committed Christian to be viewed as an outsider.
Today, wherever you find dedicated believers living and working with unbelievers, you often find the same forces at work that are described in this chapter. Whether in family, churches, corporations and governments.
One thing is for sure, they wanted Daniel Gone.
When a Christian who is constantly around unbelievers refuses to compromise, that Christian is often seen as a threat to their way of life.
What this is really called is conviction, but since people don’t usually want to see fault in their own life, they’ll try to find fault in yours.
The other administrators and officers became jealous. They tried to find some fault in Daniel, some way to accuse him.
Obviously, Daniel lived a very blameless life, as we all should.
1 Thessalonians 5:22
Because of Daniel’s blameless life, they could’ t find any fault in him.
If your co-workers wanted to accuse you, how hard would it be for them to find fault?
v.5:
Since they couldn’t find any fault with Daniel, they would have to create it.
They concluded that their only chance would be to condemn Daniel because of his religious practices.
vv.6-9:
They did the same thing that many people do today, they used legal manipulation.
They simply made Daniel’s normal activity illegal by banning prayer.
Does this sound familiar?
The same thing happens today:
Prayer in school
Public display of Christian symbols
John Bunyan (not Paul Bunyan): Government licensing of preachers.
In some nations, Christianity is outlawed
The list goes on.
What would you do if it became illegal to practice your faith? v.10:
Daniel continued to pray, as he always did. He didn’t try to hide it.
He prayed three times a day, just like always.
Psalm 55:17
And he obviously had peace.
Philippians 4:6-7
Daniel continued to serve his God just like he always had. Daniel didn’t change.
In today’s climate, many Christians are concerned about what may become of our religious freedom.
Many Christians have the misguided notion that if our faith is criminalized, then we can no longer serve God.
One well know conservative, evangelical pastor recently said that you can’t serve God without freedom.
Tell that to Daniel, tell that to Peter and John.
Acts 4:19-20
Tell that to the Christians in China, India, the arab nations, etc. Tell them that they can’t serve God, just because the law says so, and see what kind of response you get!
Our true freedom resides in Christ, and nobody can take that away.
We are to serve Him, no matter how the political winds shift, no matter what men may say.
Our service to Christ should never depend on what man says we can and cannot do. It should depend solely on our love for Him, and what He has commanded that we do.
As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
In Defense: The Blog 
Posted on November 17, 2012
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