Well, again, good morning, good morning, good morning, church. You guys are looking good this morning. Uh, way better than I remember. Um, thank you for being here today and I mean, it's so good to be back. Um, even if it is a depressing back to school, uh, Sunday, it is a good day to be back. Hey, before we jump in the word this morning, can you guys just say thank you to all of the people who have communicated all summer long in this place? God has done a huge work, um, here. It's awesome. I, I'm, I'm not sure I'm believing your claps, but I'm more excited about it than you are. Um, it has been such a blessing to me, uh, to be able to hear them and to worship and just to be a part of this church. And here we go. We are back at it this year.
And listen, I truly believe that God is going to do some things in our midst over these next months like we have never seen before. All right? But hey, we got some work to do today. So if you got a copy of scripture, I want you to go ahead and turn with me to the Old Testament book of Daniel. The Old Testament book of Daniel. Now listen, if you don't know where Daniel is, no harm, no shame in that. Go to that table of contents in your Bible and you can find it. If somebody has a problem with that around you, we will call the ushers down and kick them out because we need their seats, all right? Uh, we need their seats. So find the book of Daniel. And what we're gonna do over these next couple of months is we're gonna take a pretty close look at this action pact and example given Jesus pointing an eternity describing book that shows every single one of us, not just what happened back then, but how we, all right?
Every single one of us, how we can live, how we can thrive, how we can shine, how we can point to God in whatever Babylon that we're living in. Now, I know that's a little bit confusing to you, okay? But it's not going to be by the end of the day, because what we're gonna see in this book is it is actually a mirror image of where we're living today, where every culture has lived since the fall of man in Genesis chapter three. And it's going to essentially point in a couple months from now to what eternity is gonna look like for those of us who know Jesus. Now, let me point a couple things about the book as you're finding it. Number one, it is, it is a book that is written in a time period of incredible distress. There are nations against nations.
There is phony leadership. You don't know who to trust. The church is kinda halfway in. It's halfway out. There's many people that are walking away from God. And essentially, God, in the very beginning of this book, what God does is God decides, for his people, the Jews, God decides enough is enough of you guys not worshiping me. And essentially what God does is He brings to fruition what the prophets had said would happen if God's people did not turn to Him. You see, 20 years before the Book of Daniel, 20 years, the prophet Isaiah and the Prophet Jeremiah showed us what we're about to see was going to happen. In fact, let me read you just a little bit of backstory here to show you how this happens. In Isaiah chapter 39: six, Isaiah shows us that God is going to allow Jerusalem to be taken.
Isaiah 39: six says this, "The time will surely come when everything in your palace and all that your, all that your predecessors have stored up until this day will be carried off to Babylon. And some of your descendants and your own flesh and blood will be taken, that will, that is born to you will be taken away and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the King of Babylon." If you skip over to Jeremiah chapter 25, just for some context, verse 11, it says, "The whole country will become a desolate wasteland. And those nations will serve the king of Babylon for 70 years." Listen, listen, listen, this is the setting of the Book of Daniel. God's people have compromised. They've given in, they've walked away from God, and now God is disciplining them. He's disciplining them, not out of anger, but to bring them back to him because ultimately God knows it's going to be His people, the Jews that are going to show in the Old Testament who God is and who Jesus is.
So things are bad. Things are pretty bad. But what this book shows us is that in the midst of even in exile, it shows us a couple of young guys that decide to stand in the name of God. It shows us a couple of young guys that have a purpose in their heart to honor God in any Babylon that they end up living in. And it actually shows us how we in 2026 can stand for God. Now, the book of Daniel is a little bit different. This is why preachers don't ever preach through because there's got a lot of stuff in it, okay? It's got a lot of stuff. In chapters one through seven, the book of Daniel is all about Daniel's life, all right? These are the, these are the stories of old. If you grew up in Sunday school, you probably remember a lot of these stories of Daniel.
And then in chapters eight through 12, we actually get to Daniel's prophecies about the re - the restoration of Israel, about the coming of the Messiah, about the coming of Jesus on his second coming. Also, what I want you to point out in this book is that chapter one starts off written in Hebrew. That is the language of the Jews, right? And then chapters two through seven swap over to the Babylonian language of the day. And then the last chapters, eight through 12, when Daniel's given his prophecies about the end of times, it actually swaps back over to Hebrew. So all of that is to say this. Don't get lost in all the details in these next couple of weeks, all right? Don't get lost in all the stuff. The reality is, is that Jesus is king, that God is in control, and that all God asks us to do is to stand wherever he has planted us.
Why? Because we all live in a proverbial Babylon. So man, I don't live in Babylon. Well, not really, but yes, you do. And here's what I mean by that. You see, Babylon is used as a place. It is a place. Actually, where we're about to enter into Babylon here in kind of 605 BC, it's actually what we would call as modern day Iraq. But Babylon started all the way back in Genesis chapter 11. Genesis chapter 11, Noah's family comes out of the boat. They move on to this plane of shinar, and they begin to build this tower. They begin to build this monument, not to God who just delivered them, but to themselves. And as a result of that, God spread them out, put confusion in their language. And this tower from that point on was known as the tower of Babyl. See how God did that?
Babyl. And now we join it at the same location at the superpower of the world of the day, Babylon. That's what we're looking right here. But Babylon not only stands for Sinar of Genesis chapter 11 or, or Babylon of Ancient Israel's time, but the spirit of Babylon, we catch up with it in Revelation when we begin to see some of the end of times events come up with the antichrist. So listen, don't think of Babylon as just a location. Think of Babylon anytime you hear that word as a culture that stands opposed to God's rule. So anytime you hear this, okay? In these next couple of months, when I say the word Babylon, I just want you to think any culture, any time period, any location as a symbol that opposes Jesus. And as a result of that, let me challenge you, church. We are living in a Babylon.
All right? With that being said, let's get onto the text right here because I wanna show you how we can thrive, how we can live in our Babylon so that we can stand for Him. Daniel chapter one, verse one. So read through the text and I'm just gonna pull some application. It says this, starting in verse one. It says, "In the third year of the reign of Jehokem, the King of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem and besieged it." Now put your finger there because Jehovahkam is, is the, the king of God's people, Southern kingdom, Israel, Nebechanezzar. We're gonna call him Neb, all right? That's a lot of word there. Neb is the King of Babylon. All right? He's the evil king, came to Jerusalem and besieged it. Verse two, "And the Lord delivered Jehoakum, the King of Judah, into his hands.
Along with some of the articles from the temple of God, these he carried off to the temple of his God in Babylonia and put in the treasure house of his God." Now, I want you to notice what we just clearly read. What does the Bible say? Now here's the question, all right? I want you to answer this. Who delivered Jerusalem into the hands of the Babylonians? Who did it? God did it. Now, that messes with some of your theology, right? Why? Because many of us, when we hear of God, we only think of blessing. We think of riches. We think of, of glory. We think of joy. And listen, he is all of those things. But listen closely to me, church. There also comes to point to when we have turned our back so hard on God. When we have turned our back so many times on God.
When we've compromised so much, walked away so hard that eventually God will say, "Okay, Sparky, you wanna live so much without me?" Go ahead and try it out. Go ahead and try it out. You ever been there in your life? Eventually, God will give us what we really do desire sometimes and allow us to go try it out for a little while. Church, listen, God literally right here is saying, Hey, listen, you might think that you can just keep walking in your sin. You might think that you can just keep walking in your way, but God says, I will keep my promises. I will. And I, God says, and I will not be mocked. I will not be mocked. You see, God had already told them, little backstory, over and over and over again. Hey, listen, I gave you this land and I can take you out.
God had told them over and over again. I gave you this land as a blessing and all you gotta do is worship me. I gave you this land, land as an inheritance and all you gotta do is hold me true and hold me most high. He told them over and over again, if you walk away from me, if you walk away from me, I'll remove you. If you walk away from me, I will give you over to your enemies. And in 605BC, we begin to see this happen. Why? Well, first of all, because they were half worshiping God and half worshiping culture. Listen, that's called idoltery. Second of all, they had one of the worst kings and worst rulers of their time, and they were bowing down to the little G gods anyway. Third of all, they, they hated the fact that they had to keep the Sabbath day and the Sabbath year.
Fourth of all, they trusted in their national alliances more than their alliances with King of the universe, God. And God basically is looking at them here and saying this. Here, I wrote as a principle in your notes. God's basically looking at them and looking at us and saying this, listen, you can't continue in your sin and think that everything's gonna be okay. You just can't do it. You can't continue in your sin and think that God is just gonna continually give you a pass and give you a pass and give you a pass because he's a loving God. Isn't he, Pastor Matt? Yes. And sometimes the loving God needs to put us in exile for a little while to bring us back to him and show us that he really cares. You see, God's in control. And God will do what He ultimately needs to do to bring us back to Him.
Now, what's happened in the story? All right? Goes old Neb, all right? Nebuchadnezzar. Neb has gone to Jerusalem and taking it over. All right? He's not only taking it over, just to stick it at him a little bit more. He went to the temple, some of the holy items that was used to worship God. He captured some of those items, took them back to Babylon and put them in his pagan little G God worship just to say, "Hey, my God's bigger than your God. And what are you gonna do about it?" That's what he said. But then keep watching because it gets even worse. Verse three. Says, "The king ordered Aspenaz." That's like the king's like servant, main servant, right? The chief of the court's officials to bring some of, to bring into the king's service some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility.
Now pay clin - pay attention here. Young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude of every kind of learning, well-informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king's palace. Don't look at your neighbor because that ain't you, right? Watch what he said. He was to teach them the language in the literature of the Babylonians. The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king's table, and they were to be trained for three years. And after that, they were to enter into the king's service. Now, this seems kind of weird if you're conquering a town, right? Seems kind of a weird plan, but let me give you a little backstory because here's what's happening. Neb, in the middle of his conquering, he had to actually pause in the middle of it and go home. Why? Because his father had died.
The dynasty was taking a hit from a bunch of other suitors that actually wanted to take the king's throne Nebuchadnezzar away from him. So in the middle of this battle on the farther horizon, he has to pause. He has to run home to ensure that he was still the king. So as a result of that, instead of finishing the job, he decides, "Hey, here's what I'll do. I'll round up 100-ish." That's what most theologians believe. "About 100 of the brightest, hundred of the smartest, hundred of the best looking without any defect boys that are here. I will bring them back to Babylon. I will indoctrinate them. I will brainwash them. I will change them. I will knock them down to their lowest of low so that I can grow them back up to be little Nebuchadnezzar servants. All right? That's what's happening here. Why? Because then what Nebuchadnezzar thought is he could use those boys to then come in and rule the rest of Israel.
The rest of what happened when he brought all the rest of the people back into Babylon. That's his plan, was to brainwash and indoctrinate. But it's eerily interesting how it's done. It's eerily interesting how Babylon of this day is really a picture of what Babylon of our day and Babylon of any day tries to do of a God follower to try to make them fall and become something that God doesn't want them to be. So now, what are you talking about? What are you talking about? Let me give you the game plan, because here's what I know. If we can see the game plan in Daniel's life, here's my prayer for us, that we can walk out here today and begin to identify the game plan that the Spirit of Babylon still wants to give us. Let me give you the game plan of how to get these guys into service.
Number one, what happened? We just looked at it. What happened in these boys' life? The spirit of Babylon always tries to completely isolate us from other believers. It's what happened in the boys' lives, right? What happened? These guys came in, they overtook. They literally took them as slaves, trafficked them, if you would, into another country to indoctrinate them. These guys were now away from their community of faith, away from all other believers, away from their place of worship, and now they are away from any sort of accountability system around them that would worship how they worshiped. In other words, they were away from everything that they had known in any Christian support system. Let me ask you something. When is it that Satan comes at us the most? He comes at us the most when nobody else is around us to check up on us.
He comes at us the most when nobody else is around us to encourage us. This is the spirit of Babylon. It's what he's been doing from the beginning of time and what it will do to the end of time. It always wants to isolate us. So here's the deal. Here's the deal. If you find yourself isolating from the community of faith, you begin. You have to begin to ask yourself, "Hey, is this of the Lord? Or is this of the spirit of Babylon?" You see, these, these boys were isolated. They were brought out. They were brought out on their own. They didn't stop there. It wasn't just isolation, but number two, there was a reshaping of their beliefs. A reshaping of their beliefs. If you think about these boys, they were the best of the best. What does that mean? That means they knew the word of God.
They knew who God had called them to be. They were the smartest. They were the brightest. And now they brought them out of their land to do what? To begin to reeducate them, to begin to brainwash them, to begin to indoctrinate them. Why? Because Babylon wanted to change their convictions. Are, are, are you feeling where I'm stepping in this? Same tactics today. He wanted to change their convictions. In fact, look at verse four, look at verse four. Watch what it says. It says, "He was to teach them the language and the literature of the Babylonians." Now, yes, that means to teach them the history and the, and the arts and the government of the Babylonians. Yes, it means to teach them the science and, and, and it means to teach them the maths of the Babylonians because they were the most advanced culture, the most powerful culture that ever existed.
But there's way more to that because this, Babylon was also the center of the world of witchcraft and the occult. It was the center of the world of that. And we're gonna see that. How many times in this book dreams and interpreting of dreams and witchcraft and all of this stuff is gonna come up. There were so many pagan beliefs in witchcraft. What Babylon was trying to do is it was trying to wash out the old God convictions and put in the new world convictions. Wash out the old Yahweh worship and place into them a spirit of I am a new thing. You seeing what's happening, right? There's isolation. There's a change of beliefs. Number three though, it gets even worse. There's also this attempt to change identity. To change identity. I hope you're feeling where I'm stepping in this one, right? There's a change of identity.
Why? Because if I have my convictions changed, it's pretty easy to change an identity. You see, in Babylon, the first thing that we're about to read in verse six, the first thing that happens to these boys is the rulers begin to try to change their names. Now, Lord, that doesn't mean a whole lot to you because your mom named you Susie because it was cool and she read it in a baby book, right? But in Hebrew times, you were named after who your family really and truly believed God had made you to be. You were named in a way that it was a prophecy of something that was over your life and who God wanted you to be. So the lulers literally changed their names from God honoring Yahweh worshiping names to names that would, that would line up with the Chaudhian and Babylonian culture.
Really and truly, they were trying to take who God had created them to be and say that's not who culture wants you to be. Does that look at some identity challenges that we're dealing with right now in life? In fact, look at the verses. Verse six, it says, among those who were chosen to be, among those who were chosen were some from Judea. Here's their names. Daniel, Hananiah, Michiel and Azariah Verse seven, the chief official gave them new names. Oh, parents, do not let this culture give your kid new names. To Daniel, he gave the name Belchazar. Do you know what Daniel means? Daniel in Hebrew means God is my judge. Belchazar means per - the protector of Bale.
Keep going. To Hananiah, he gave the name Shadrach. Hananiah means God is gracious. Yahweh is gracious. Shadrach means under the control of the moon God aku. Keep going. Michiel, he gave the name Mishak. Mishak means there's none like Yahweh. Mishak means there's none like Aku. And then to Azariah, meaning God has helped me. That's what Azariah means. He gave the name Abend Nigo. It's, it's stammed together, meaning he's the servant of the Babylonian wisdom God. Oh, are you seeing this? They're breaking these boys down. They're breaking them down from who God had made them and trying to make them into something that God never intended them to be. And I hope you're seeing what's happening to these 15-year-old boys. So many of you that are in this service, this is where your life is right now. Plato says that they would've been somewhere between the ages of 14 and 17 years old.
They had been completely taken away from their homeland. It had been invaded. Possibly their families had been destroyed. The temple had been torn into pieces and shreds. Now they're being indoctrinated with an education system that was putting lies into them and not godly truths. They were being broken down and said that's not who God made you. You're probably something else if you're unhappy.
You think it's hard to live for Jesus in your school? What about the Babylonian school? You think it's hard to live for Jesus in your workplace? What about in Babylon? You've been completely stripped of everything, but it doesn't in there. It doesn't in there. In fact, after the Spirit of Babylon does those three things, here's number four, here's what it always does. On top of all those things, it pushes, number four, it pushes a new lifestyle. It pushes a new lifestyle. Why? Because it's isolated. It's broken down. It's renamed. It's pushed something into us that God has never wanted us to be. And then it pushes a new lifestyle. But oh, here's the deal though. Here's the deal. This is where Daniel draws the line. This is where he draws the line. So it's the question is why did he draw the line here? Why didn't he draw the line earlier?
Well, listen, here's the deal. Because in every other thing that we have seen, you can discern truth from lies. You can discern in education what's truth from lies. You can discern in somebody trying to name you something going, "That's not who I am. I know who God has made me to be." You can discern in convictions what is of the earth and what is of God. But here, what you're about to see, the food deal was different. The food deal was different because it was one of the main key ways that God had called his people to remain separate, to remain isolated, to remain different, to remain set apart in Leviticus 11, Deuteronomy 14, Exodus 23. Don't, don't quote me on that one, but I think it's it, right? It was in all those verses that God said, "I'm commanding you to be different, to live a holy, set apart life." Well, watch what's happening in verse five.
It says this. It says the king assigning them a daily amount of food and wine from the king's table. And they were to be trained for three years. And after that, they were to enter into the king's service. But they knew they couldn't do it. Why? They didn't know if this food had been offered to idols. They didn't know if it was clean food. They didn't know if it fit the Jewish dietary, dietary laws. And they knew that eating and drinking in this Babylonian way was a way that they could not set themselves apart and be holy. So listen, before I get 75 emails to join you in the Daniel diet this week, this has nothing to do with exactly what they ate. In fact, they got fatter. All right? We're gonna see it in a minute. All right? What it has to do was that no matter how hard culture tries to press us down, change us, give us new convictions, there comes a point in all of our lives where we need to stand for the one true God that not just is here today, not just was there, but will be in eternity to give us hope.
That's what it's about.
You see, the question is not, is it different back then as it is today? No, it's the same demon. It's just a different day. The question is, how will we stand? How will we stand? In fact, watch Daniel's life. Look at verse eight. Look at verse eight. Probably one of the key verses of the whole book. And it gives us a plan. Verse eight says this, "But Daniel." Oh, church, look at this, look at it, look at it, look at it. But Daniel resolved not to defile himself. Man, what if that was overcry? What if that was our heart? What if that's our convictions? He d - he resolved himself not to defile himself for the royal food and the wine. And he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself in this way. Now, don't get lost in the food here. Get lost in this idea of being resolved.
Why? Because here's what resolved means. Resolve means to predetermine, to set into motion, and to not bow down in advance. That's what resolved means. It means literally I will not. In fact, write a couple of these quick hidden principles down so you can remember this week. Here's the first one. The greatest stands for Jesus happened not by accident, but are already predetermined. That's what Daniel's showing us here. Listen, you don't stumble into holiness. You get that, right? You don't accidentally walk into holiness. Holiness comes when we resolute in our heart and we predetermine that no matter what the situation is, I will stand for the King of Kings and Lord of Lords that has my eternity secure. That's where holiness comes from. In fact, also write this down. The second principle is this. The greatest way to stand in a culture for Jesus is not internal beliefs, but by outward holy lifestyle.
And outward lifestyle. Look, I'm not knocking internal beliefs. You know me well enough to know that doctrine matters. But if we're gonna affect our culture, it's not in just what we think and know, it's how we walk. That's what it's saying. Daniel knew this. Daniel knew this. He knew that he couldn't leave it up to chance to go, "Well, maybe I can have a little bit of this and maybe I can have a little of that." He knew that he needed to stand and watch how he points to God. Look at verse nine. It says this. It says, "Now God had caused the official to show favor and compassion to Daniel. But the official told Daniel, I'm afraid of my Lord the king who has assigned you food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young man of your age?
The king would then have my head because of you." And listen, that was a true statement. We're gonna see that through the book. The king did not mess around. Amen? Verse 11, then Daniel said to the guard and whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Henaniah, Michiel, and Azariah, Please test your servants for 10 days. They're like, "Hey, listen. I get it. Three years is a long time. Just test us. Just watch what God does. Watch how God always comes through. Watch how God is in control." Verse 12, "Please test your servants for 10 days. Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. And then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food and treat your servants in accordance to what you see." In other words, hey, test my God because he's faithful. So we agree to this and he tested them for 10 days.
Write this third principle down and we'll work through it. Number three, here it is. We will never make a difference for Jesus till we are different in Jesus. What does that mean? That means we don't accidentally make a difference for Jesus. It means that we don't accidentally happen into this stuff until we are in Jesus, walking in Jesus, trusting Jesus, giving our hearts to Jesus. We will not make a difference until we are different. What does that mean? How should we be different? 'Cause that's always the question, right? I mean, are Christians just supposed to be these weird people that hold signs and we say repent or go to hell? No.
And there's nothing worse than a weird Christian, amen? Nothing worse than weird Christian words that people use that nobody knows what you're talking about, right? How should we be different? Daniel gives us two huge ways right here. Number one, write 'em down because this is how we should be different. Number one, we should be different in uncommon holy standards. We should be different in an uncommon holy standard. What does that mean? That means Daniel was determined to live exactly how God had called him to live. He was determined to live exactly set apart as God had made him. He was determined to live exactly according to the word of God, and he was not concerned with how other people lived. Oh, believers, what if we were so concerned about how we live way more exponentially than how other people lives? I think we would make a difference, wouldn't we?
Daniel was concerned about himself. I want you to see in this picture here that only four of these boys chose not to saddle up to the buffet at the king's table. Only four of them. He wasn't concerned. He wasn't concerned with just living out the worldly minimum, if you think about it. He wasn't. No. He went way past the world minimum. He went way past it. What? Straight to the heart of God. Why? Because Daniel so wanted to distinguish himself from the gluttons and the drunkards of Babylon that he even drew the line at water only, right? So he'd be like, mm-mm, Matt, can't do that, right? That's the point. The point is, is God's not calling you to water only. He's calling you to live such a distinct life among others that no matter at what time that God busts into the party of Babylon, that you would not look like it and you would look like you're his.
That's what he's calling. Man, let me ask you something. Are you, are you creeping up to the line of worldliness? Or are you committing to live a holy lifestyle that sets yourself apart?
I mean, just think about the big four in our lives, right? Say, man, what are the big four? You know what they are? Sex, power, money and language. Those four. Are you living a holy lifestyle or are you creeping right up to the common lifestyle that this world puts at you? Are you distinguishing yourself? Are you so living like the world that you look like everybody else? Or are you resolute and saying, God, there may be consequences, but I'm yours. Uncommon holy standards. And here's the second way we stand up. Number two, with fearless courage and boldness. With a fearless courage and boldness. Oh, I love what Daniel does here. Why? Because he takes it all he can, right? He filters all the education through his, his godly knowledge. He's like, oh yeah, I got that. He filters the idea of you can try to name me what you wanna name me, but I know who I am in God.
But eventually when it came to defiling himself, putting it in him, he stood up and he was like, I can't do it. And listen, he's not making this assumption for anybody else. It's about him, right? What does he say? I can't do it. And you know that this wasn't a one-time conversation. You know that there had to be talks around this. You know that the guard was like, what are you talking about? Have you seen what the king's eating? What are you talking about? I mean, it's like lobster and ribeye every day up there. And you wanna eat some seeds and some vegetables? Get out of here asparagus. I mean, what are you talking about, Daniel? But Daniel had this holy courage to stand where nobody else was standing, to stand in what God had already laid him out to do and to say, God, I know that those that honor you, you will honor.
I know that those that bless you, you will bless.
Let me ask you, are you living in that kind of courage? Or are you teetering on the line of Babylon around you? What does God do when we live this kind of courage? I think there's a couple things that we're already seeing. The first one is I think that we can see that when we stand in this kind of courage, there is always just this uncommon influence that we have. Listen, some of you, you are desiring to be influential. You are desiring to be a light for God. Maybe just maybe God is asking you to distinguish yourself with him and not the culture so that you can have this uncommon influence. Listen, the test has already been given, right? God has stepped in. He shows out. Look at verse 15. It says this. It says at the end of 10 days, they looked healthier and they looked better nourished than any of the young mens who ate the royal food.
So the guard took away their choice food and their wine. Always wondered if the guard ate it or if he just said, don't give it to us anymore, right? Side point. They were to drink and gave them vegetables instead. You see what happens when we stand for God? God gives us this influence that we have never had before. He gives us these ideas in our minds that we've never had before. He gives us not only that, but number two, he also gives us this God established favor that we don't deserve, but we're not pointing at ourselves. We're pointing at who God is. If you see in verse 15, it literally says that God gave them better results. In other words, God always takes up the defense of those who stand uncompromisingly for him. He does it every time. I, I, I though about Proverbs 16: seven this week where it literally says, when the Lord takes pleasures in anyone's way, he causes their enemies to make peace with them.
Do you realize there is a supernatural moment in our lives that when we take a stand for God, he gives us influence we've never had. He gives us favor that we don't deserve, and he gives it to us to shine a light on him. I just wanna point out again, they weren't jerks about it. In verse 12, actually, Daniel uses the word please. I love that about him. It means that we can stand up for Jesus and still be liked. And God moved and they didn't suffer. I, I mean, go, go back to verse 15. Remember what verse 15 says?
In the NIV, it just says they looked better than the rest, right? I love the ESV. Some of you, that's kind of your version, you love the ESV, you're cool, your hips are, you probably wear cool clothes or something, right? Listen to this. In the ESV, it, it says that they were fatter in the flesh than those around. I can relate to that. Amen. Yeah. You know what that means? It means that even though they seemingly lacked by the world's standards, God took them and elevated them and made them exactly who they needed to be. L- listen to me, church, listen, listen, listen. That's what God does. Every single time. God takes something that the world looks at and goes, "You're crazy for that." And goes, "Hey, come on, Matt. I gotcha. Come on, Matt. I gotcha. Students, don't forget, these are 15 year olds." And what ultimately happens, not only this uncommon influence and his favor, but the last thing I just want you to write in your notes is this, because this is what God does every time.
God, God gives us blessings. He gives us blessings. Not in this name it, claim it kind of blessing. Not like, "Man, if I eat some vegetables today, I'm gonna get a million dollars." That's not how it works.
What it means is this, God blessed them even though nobody understood how that should be happening. God gave them the blessing. They avoided the pagan lifestyle. And watch this. Let me close up the chapter. It says this in verse 17. It says, "These four young men, God gave them." Listen, here's what he does. Knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel. Oh, don't miss this. You're gonna need to hold onto this for the rest of this book, right? And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds. What does that mean? God took them as smart, as sharp, as good looking, as the best of the best. And he, he was able to help them learn the Chaldean ways. He was able to help them learn the Jewish ways, the divine ways. And God gifted them with this ability to be influencers, to be those guys that took a stand for him.
And watch what happens when we don't compromise. Last verses, verse 18, it says this. And at the end of the time, this is three years. We covered three years and one day, monumental day in Burn Hickory's life. Here it is. At the end of the time, set by the king to bring them into a service. The king official, he presented them to Nebachadnezzar. Verse 19, the king talked with them. Underline it. And he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Michelle, and Azariah. And so they entered the king's service. Verse 20, here it is. It gets even better. In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them 10 times better than all the magicians, than all the enchanters. In the whole kingdom. In verse 21, and Daniel remained like the next 70 plus years. And Daniel remained until the first year of King Cyrus.
Oh, church, I hope you're seeing it. Does the math add up in God's economy? No. Does the math add up when you look at culture versus what God wants you to do? No. But every single time we stand for the name of God, in the power of Jesus, God bless us. Even in the exile, he blesses. Even when we don't fully understand it. You think Daniel and the boys understood what was going on? No. You can't eat some nuts and be fatter? No, it doesn't work that way.
But every single time that we say no to ourselves and no to Babylon and yes to Jesus, we love the people around us. And we say, here am I, God. God, bless us. Why? Because God's faithful. If you wanna make a difference, you gotta be different. If you want God to stand in the gap for your life, stand firm. This is chapter one in the boy's story. We got 11 more to go. Here's my question. What chapter are you off? Where are you in your story? Maybe today, this is the first time you've ever realized that you absolutely need to surrender your heart and life to Jesus. Listen, in just a minute, we're gonna sing a quick song together. I'm gonna stand right by this next steps banner. And if you need to surrender your heart to Jesus today, man, just walk over to me and go, "Hey, man, I need Jesus." And we wanna pray with you and walk with you in that.
We wanna welcome you to the family today. And here's the cool part about it. When you center your life to Jesus, Jesus gives you a new name, and that is a son and daughter of him.
Maybe today you know Jesus though. There's some things in your baby life that you're bowing down to. What is it this week that you just need to say not today? Not right now. Where Jesus use me.