Building Convictions

Daniel 1:5-12

Introduction: Standing Firm: Living Biblical Convictions in a changing culture. My goal in this series is to give you spiritual backbone to stand true to God in every situation. Staying true to God and not dipping your sails is critical in a changing culture.

Tonight, I want to preach from this passage on how do we build Godly convictions. How can you have Godly convictions in a godless society?

There is no doubt this is one of the most important areas of Christian growth. This serious subject will be one that will fortify your family when you apply this Biblical truth properly.

There are three important guidelines we must keep in mind when establishing Godly convictions. You must have them and here are three guidelines.

To know what a Biblical conviction is: A deeply held belief based on Scripture in which you apply to your life by the guidance of the Holy Spirit. A conviction is more than an opinion or personal preference. It is settled on what is true, what is right, and necessary before God. Our convictions shapes how we think, what we choose, what say, and how we live.

Preference what we think about certain things-which might right or could be changed when acceptable. Not all bad but this is what the world would have. This is a worldly approach to living rather than a godly approach. The reason: Preference starts with the outside-if a certain action would not look good in the sight of others, or it might upset others, or it might make me look bad before others. The problem with preferences is they are subject to change as society changes and things become more acceptable. The world’s acceptance of things have changed and besides, whatever your preferences are, when you are away from everyone who knows you and they will not know, a preference is alright to change. Sometimes preferences are watered down Bible convictions.

Principle-a principle is a timeless truth. This is most often based on the Scripture. In fact, the Bible teaches principles on how to live our lives based on the Bible. When you read your Bible, these will pop out so clearly in Scripture. Example: Paul gives a discussion in I Cor. 10 on whether it is right or wrong to eat meat offered to idols which would be much cheaper. However, we don’t meat that way today. At the end of passage, he concludes with if offends my brother then I will not eat. This is the principle-we should not eat or participate if hurts our Christian witness to someone.

Here is how you use you would build a Biblical conviction about what you allow your eyes to look upon.

Psalm 101:3 “I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.”

Principle: we are not to look at things that are displeasing and honoring to God. This means filthy movies, TV shows, pornography, magazines, books and any kind of suggestive material. By consuming these things, we are weakening our conscience and affects our spiritual life as well is totally displeases God.

As we look into Daniel’s life, he was somewhere between 14-18 years old. He was selected to be educated into the Babylonian culture. However, Daniel had a much deeper belief. He believed in Jehovah God. In formulating personal convictions, there are four decisions he had to make.

Decision 1

Decide to start with God’s Word

It is our absolute source of truth. It is not how I feel or what I like or what is acceptable to others-last week we studied having a conviction at the authority of God’s Word.  For Daniel it was lodged in his heart v. 8.

We must ask ourselves: what does the Bible say?  What principles (timeless truths) are established in Scripture? For Daniel it was the food the king was providing for them as prisoners of the state was forbidden. Perhaps ham sandwich, bacon, or prohibited birds.

Here he is away from everything he was taught and who would know? Daniel was well aware that God would know.

Proverbs 15:3 “The eyes of the Lord are in every place, Beholding the evil and the good.”

Decision 2

Decide apply God’s Word in life situation Dan. 1:8

Daniel was put into an incredible situation.  He was a prisoner of the Babylonians who were pagans. 

Daniel was about 900 miles by caravan away from home.  Nobody knew him and he was in a pagan culture where violating his convictions would be totally acceptable.  The Babylonians would not have known it was wrong anyway so, he could’ve gone along with everyone else and ate whatever he wanted. He could have followed the crowd, but he decided to live his personal life according to God’s Word.

In verse 8-it was in his heart.  If he would have violated his convictions, he would have been sinning before God.  Remember:  conviction is in the heart.  To violate a Biblical conviction for the believer is sin.   A conviction is an unalterable life choice that drives our Christian life. 

It would be easy to say:  I don’t have any nor do I want any conviction. Yet you cannot avoid living your Christian life without convictions. That would be one less pressure in my life.  Things would be so much worse if we allow the world to set our preferences.

Decision 3

Realize your convictions will be tested v. 12

This why we must anchor them in God’s Word.  We are seeking acceptance from others or how we feel about certain things.  It is a Bible truth we live by.   In verse 12-they were prove what God said. The word means put someone to the test-here is Daniel but ultimately it is God.  Your convictions will be tested so they must be strong enough and anchored enough in God’s Word to pass any test.

Whether it would be from our peers or from social media or from governmental authorities. Whether you are in a place alone or whether you are away from those who know you or those who don’t know you, you decide, even if you are tempted greatly, you will with God’s help pass the test.

Decision 4

 Give the Holy Spirit freedom to lead us.

The Holy Spirit will always lead us to the Scriptures and exposes to us what we should do.  Psalm 119:11-when God’s Word is hid in your heart, you will naturally be led away from sin as you allow the Holy Spirit to work in your life.  You will build Holy Spirit convictions. 

As we obey God-led convictions we will be stronger in our convictions.

We train our conscience to be Biblical.  This is where even though you may not remember everything you read or understand everything, God is building in your conscience a Bible bank of information that you will recall one day in life situations.

A healthy conscience should be:

- Sensitive enough to respond to sin

- Informed enough to recognize what Scripture teaches

- Strong enough to resist pressure

- Humble enough to remain teachable

Conclusion: Do you have personal, Bible convictions? In a world that is pushing you into sin and drawing you away from God, you must have Biblical conviction. Perhaps you need to start. You might need to come to the altar and seek God on personal convictions: what you see, what you hear, what you eat , what you drink, and where you go.