Faith in God

Order of Service

• Call to Worship — Psalm 34:1-3
• Hymn — When Morning Gilds the Skies
• Prayer of Invocation
• Confession of Sin
• Assurance of Pardon — Colossians 1:13-14
• Scripture Reading — Luke 4:31-44
• Hymn — I Love Thy Kingdom, Lord
• Pastoral Prayer
• Offering
• Hymn — My Faith Looks Up to Thee
• Sermon
• Hymn — Great King of Nations, Hear Our Prayer
• Benediction

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Sermon Title: Faith in God

Scripture: Daniel 6:16-28

I. Saving Faith Serves God

A. King Darius twice identifies Daniel as one who serves God "continually" (Daniel 6:16, 6:20); Daniel's trust in God is encapsulated in verse 23

1. The Aramaic word for "serve" carries the sense of reverence, fear, and worship of a deity
2. Its Hebrew cognate describes priests who continually served in the temple; Daniel, in exile with no temple, fulfills the same role

B. Daniel's continual prayer (three times daily, window open toward Jerusalem) was the visible expression of this service

1. A commentator notes: the real den of lions was Daniel's bedroom — the great battle took place at the open window, not in the lion's den
2. This mirrors Jesus at Gethsemane, who also prayed three times before facing the cross, contrasted with disciples who slept and then scattered
3. Three prayers led to courageous obedience and resurrection; three sleeps led to Peter's three denials

C. Prayer is the chief manifestation of faith — not eloquence or ability, but utter helplessness cast upon God

1. The Spirit takes fumbling, childlike prayer and brings it before the Father (Romans 8)
2. Prayer is simply: "Lord, I am a sinner — save me; I am helpless — help me"
3. Consistency in prayer produces consistency in service and trust, which gives way to deliverance

II. Saving Faith Believes in the God Who Judges

A. The satraps who schemed against Daniel are themselves cast into the lion's den — along with their wives and children — and are destroyed before they reach the bottom (Daniel 6:24)

1. No divine protection is afforded them; the outcome is the exact opposite of Daniel's deliverance
2. This may reflect the cruel practice of Persian kings executing entire families, which God may not condone — yet the scene should not be softened so much as to obscure the reality of God's wrath

B. This is an instance of lex talionis — the punishment fits the crime

1. The satraps devised the lion's den as the fate for lawbreakers; they now meet that very fate
2. Compare Haman in Esther, who erected the gallows for Mordecai and was hanged on them himself
3. This principle underlies all of Israel's law: eye for an eye, the punishment fits the crime

C. Christ takes this principle and gives it its positive expression in Matthew 7:12: "Do unto others as you would have them do to you — this is the whole law and the prophets"

1. The full weight of lex talionis was poured out on Christ at Golgotha on our behalf
2. Having received mercy, we are now called to treat others as Christ has treated us — laying down his life for his friends
3. To treat others with unequal balances is to spit in the face of the God who has passed down the punishment that fits our crime

III. Saving Faith Believes in the God of the Nations

A. The Abrahamic covenant establishes the ultimate purpose of God: that nations and kings would be drawn to the Lord (Genesis 17:5)

1. This promise reaches a climax with Solomon, when kings and queens from the nations came to pay homage (Psalm 72:10-11)
2. Here in Daniel 6, a pagan Persian king praises God in language worthy of the Psalter: "He is the living God, enduring forever; his kingdom shall never be destroyed"

B. Each pagan king's narrative in Daniel ends with praise of Yahweh's everlasting dominion

1. Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon praises God's everlasting dominion in Daniel 4:34
2. Darius of Persia now does the same in chapter 6 — corresponding to the head of gold and chest of silver in Nebuchadnezzar's statue vision (Daniel 2)
3. This is the perfect segue to Daniel 7:14, where the Son of Man receives a kingdom that all peoples, nations, and languages shall serve

C. What is unique is that Daniel is a lowly Jewish exile — yet through him, empire after empire confesses the everlasting dominion of the God of Israel

1. Jesus, likewise, is a lowly Jewish carpenter dying in exile at Golgotha — outside the camp where the dung was burnt (Hebrews 13); "When I am lifted up, I will draw all men to myself" (John 12)
2. In AD 313, Constantine issued the Edict of Milan, legalizing Christianity; in AD 325 the Council of Nicaea produced a confession of the triune God — the emperor of the iron-and-clay feet signing his name to the declaration that Christ's kingdom will have no end
3. Three of the four kingdoms in Nebuchadnezzar's vision ratified for all posterity that the kingdom of the God of the Hebrews lasts forever
4. It is through the church's faith in a lowly, exiled, crucified carpenter that kingdoms totter — the power of God unto salvation for all who believe (1 Corinthians 2:2)