God IS Able

Text:

Title: God is Able

Introduction: The Book of Daniel consists of two distinct parts. The first part, consisting of the first six chapters, is chiefly historical; and the second part, consisting of the remaining is chiefly prophetical. The historical part of the book speaks of the period of the Captivity, the writer who alone furnishes any series of events for that dark and dismal period during which the harp of Israel hung on the trees that grew by the Euphrates. In the words of the writer of , “And them that had escaped from the sword carried he (i.e. Nebuchadnezzar) away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia.”

(Begin reading from verse 1-3)

I. Daniel was Favored (1-3)

• Daniel was somewhere about ninety years old when he was cast to the lions. He had been for many years the real governor of the whole empire; and, of course, in such a position had incurred much hatred and jealousy. He was a foreigner and a worshipper of another God, and therefore was all the more unpopular, as a Brahmin would be in England if he were a Cabinet Minister. He was capable and honest, and therefore all the incompetent and all the knavish officials would recognise in him their natural enemy. So, hostile intrigues, which grow quickly in courts, especially in Eastern courts, sprung up round him, and his subordinates laid their heads together in order to ruin him. They say, in the words of my text, ‘We cannot find any holes to pick. There is only one way to put him into antagonism to the law, and that is by making a law which shall be in antagonism to God’s law.’ And so they scheme to have the mad regulation enacted, which, in the sequel of the story, we find was enforced.

• These intriguers say, ‘We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God.’

• Now, then, if we look at that confession, wrung from the lips of malicious observers...HATERS...

II. Daniel was Framed (4-15)

· Their Jealousy (4a, ref. 1-3)

· Their Pondering (4-5)

· Their Plot (6-15)

o The heartless plotters (6-9, 11-13, 15)

▪ (6-9) Their subtlety…

▪ (11-13) Their spying…

▪ (15) Their “pseudo” support…

o The tireless Potentate (14)

▪ It’s hard to rest when you realize you have made the wrong choice/decision.

III. Daniel was Faithful (10, 16-18)

o The fearless prophet (10)

▪ Don’t allow your haters to change your conviction.

▪ If you doing what’s right, keep doing what you been doing!

· The Reality of Danger (16a, 17)

o The stone kept the presence of Daniel in!

o The stone could not keep the power of God out!

· The Reality of Faith (16b, 18)

III. Daniel was Freed (19-24)

· The Den of Danger Transformed Into a Den of Deliverance

Conclusion