Amen. Alright. Let's get to the book of Daniel. Daniel chapter one. So yes, we are going to get to all the prophecy and stuff, but we do need to lay some foundation here concerning Daniel, this man that God used in one of the most wicked regimes the world has ever seen.

Likely more wicked in ways than Hitler and Stalin and Mao, the worst the worst of the past couple of centuries, Nebuchadnezzar was among them. So I wanna start with this verse this evening. It's found Ezekiel twenty two thirty. Ezekiel was a contemporary of David's. He was only about ten or so years older than David.

He was taken in his twenties into exile with his wife from Judah into near the city of Babylon, a bit south of it, but not in the city proper. Ezekiel wrote this under inspiration of the spirit. He wrote, God speaking, and I sought a man among them that should make up the hedge and stand in the gap before me for the land that I should not destroy it, but I found none. This was the testimony of God in the days leading up to the destruction of the Sea Of Jerusalem. It's about this time in the book of Ezekiel that Ezekiel in exile heard that his beautiful home city had been forever destroyed, seemingly so.

Not forever though. And he was indeed distraught over the news and the Lord was too. The Lord had sought someone to stand in the gap, to refuse to compromise with the wickedness of the day, but he found none. But it wouldn't be but a few years later that he would find one After the city of Jerusalem had been destroyed, young man named Daniel only in his teens when he was taken would stand in the gap for the Lord in the city of Babylon. Would be instrumental in the providence of God, not only for the people of Babylon, but also for the people of Israel.

And he is the one that this book is is about, though really it is about the Lord. And I want to start this evening in Daniel chapter one and verse nine with the uncompromising life of Daniel. Now God had brought Daniel into favor and tender love. Well, verse eight actually. Verse eight.

But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat nor with the wine which he drank. Therefore, he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. Now God had brought Daniel into favor and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs. The prince of the eunuchs said unto Daniel, I fear my Lord the king with appointed you meet your meat and your drink. For why should he see your faces worse liking than the children which are of your sort?

Then shall ye make me endanger my head to the king. Now that was no overstatement, exaggeration on this fellow's part. Nebuchadnezzar made a habit of that without conscience. Verse 11, then said Daniel to Melzar whom the prince of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, prove thy servants, I beseech thee ten days. Let them give us pulse to eat, water to drink.

Pulse would include vegetables, grains, that sort of thing. Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee and the countenance of the children that eat the eat of the portion of the king's meat and as thou seest, deal with thy servants. So he consented to them in this matter and proved them ten days. In other words, tested them for ten days, gave them this opportunity. They did not eat what the king had ordered.

They ate vegetables, grains, and drank water. The end of the ten days, their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king's meat. Thus Melzar took away the portion of their meat and the wine which they should drink and gave them pulse. As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill and all learning and wisdom. Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.

Now at the end of the days that the king had said he should bring them in, then the prince of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. The king communed with them and among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Therefore, stood they before the king. That they had an audience with the king, were used as advisors to the king. And in all matters of wisdom understanding, all that the king required of them, he found them 10 times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in his realm.

And Daniel continued even unto the first year of King Cyrus. It's like seventy or eighty years later. That is a long time. So this tells us one of the first acts of Daniel after his captivity in Babylon and of the continuation of that type of behavior and conduct all the way through his time as he served the kings of Babylon and of Persia. Back to back to Josh Daniel's upbringing, While sons while Josiah's son, we mentioned him last week, his name is Jehoiachin, was not affected by the revival in Israel.

In other words, Jehoiachin did not seek the Lord. Josiah who was a godly man, godly king of Israel brought revival. How did he bring revival? Well, he found the word of God and he had it read to the people. And the word of God is powerful and it changed many hearts and many lives.

But not the heart of who? His son Jehoiakim. However, it did seemingly touch the heart of Daniel and his friends. And as such, the preparation of Daniel to be the spokesman for God in Babylon and the prophet of the ages began even before he was taken in the years of his youth. Do the years of our youth matter?

Yeah, they do. Ecclesiastes twelve one says, remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth while the evil days come not nor the years draw nigh when thou shalt say say I have no pleasure in them. Remember now thy creator when? In the days of thy youth. Because the days that will come will be affected by the days of your youth.

The decisions we make now will affect the things we do tomorrow. And we can't go back and change some of the things in the past, but we can change what we do today to affect our what? Our life tomorrow and our testimony and our service before the Lord. Remember now. Remember now.

Don't put it off. Daniel didn't put it off. Daniel was already a godly man as a teenager when he was taken along seemingly with his three friends. This upbringing resulted in several character traits quite evident in God's recorded biography of the statesman prophet and captive. Character traits which every child of God should endeavor to imitate and which made Daniel the perfect fit in God's plan for him and for Nebuchadnezzar.

First, a quick reminder. I kind of hinted at this earlier, but a quick reminder of the brutality of Nebuchadnezzar. The last king of Judah was a man named Zedekiah. Zedekiah was caught by the Babylonians trying to flee the city of Jerusalem. What did Nebuchadnezzar have done to Zedekiah?

This is what Nebuchadnezzar had done. He had his family all gathered. He had each family member paraded before Zedekiah. He had each one brutally murdered in the sight of Zedekiah, and then he put out Zedekiah's eyes. So the last thing Zedekiah, the king of Judah saw was the brutal slaying of every one of his wives, his children, and most likely others in his family.

That was the brutality of Nebuchadnezzar. Brutality not dissimilar from what we saw on the news maybe this past week, perpetrated by Hamas. Proving sadly that when given opportunity, motivation, and upbringing, men are still capable of horrific violence and evil and disregard for human life. Humanity is still at heart sinful and evil. And that's why we need a savior to change the hearts of men and women, boys and girls.

It changed the heart of Daniel early in life and affected him for the rest of his life. It will at least in part change the heart of the one of the most brutalist brutal dictators to ever live. A man by the name of Nebuchadnezzar as we go as we see through our story here in the book of Daniel. This was the man that took these young men to Babylon, and he was every meant as evil as the terrorists that took those lives in Israel this past week. And Daniel, I am sure was aware of this.

Daniel may have even seen the death of his parents before he was taken, though we can't be sure of that. Yet when the time came to choose whom he would serve, as Joshua put it, Daniel chose who? Daniel chose God. At the risk of death, over compromise with the enemy and his demands, Daniel purposed in his heart. Daniel refused to compromise his faith or obedience to God to placate the world.

He refused to compromise. Now compromise is not always a bad thing. Sometimes in fundamental circles, we throw around the word compromise as though compromise is always evil. Compromise is not always evil. Compromise can actually sometimes be good.

We must often compromise with others at work over work related projects or decisions. You can't always get your way even if you're right. In order to work together in a job situation, you have to learn to what? You have to learn to compromise. And sometimes you may even be right about something.

Your way may be the best way, but if you have to work with other people in a partnership, somebody has to what? Somebody has to to be flexible, to give, to work with others. So you have to learn to compromise in work related situations over certain things. We must often or sometimes compromise at home over family related decisions. Partnership almost always involves at times compromise because the fact is you don't always agree.

So therefore, someone has to or both best to compromise and to give a little. We must often compromise at church over manners related to maintenance and decorations and schedules and sometimes even to a certain degree ministry. Working together involves compromise, people giving and being flexible and working with others. A leader unable to compromise when it is needed will either be a tyrant or they will accomplish nothing. In either case, they will be a failure For being a tyrant and always getting your way or getting nothing done at all are both failures in the sight of God.

So compromise is not always a bad thing. A matter of fact, in many cases, is actually a good thing for any partnership to function. There must be room at times for compromise. But there must also be a recognition of what cannot be compromised. There are some things which must not be compromised.

There are certain areas in which as children of God, we must not flex. We must not bend. We must have a determination to stand firm in the face face face of opposition. For instance, our faith, our beliefs and doctrines taught in God's word must not be what? Compromised.

In Jude, it says we need to contend for the faith. What does that mean? It means we need to stand firmly on what God's word says. If God's word says that Jesus was born of a virgin, then Jesus was born of a virgin. If the God's word says that he rose again bodily from the tomb, then he rose again bodily from the tomb.

If the Bible says that heaven is everlasting and sadly so is hell or the lake of fire, We must stand firm on what God's word says. God's word says that adultery and murder and stealing are wrong, then we must stand firm. They are what? They are wrong no matter what the world around us does. Sometimes that's easy.

In some cases, it may be a little harder. There are some countries in which standing firm publicly for some of those things can get you in trouble, particularly when it comes to there's only one way to heaven and that's who? Jesus Christ. Faith alone in Jesus. We must not compromise our integrity.

We must not compromise our integrity. We must be honest. We must be fair and just and righteous, loving and kind. And we must not compromise and allow the world to conform us to its image, but for us to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. The world is gonna tell us, oh, just be tolerant.

That is a deceitful word the way they use it Because what they're saying is you must compromise your faith and integrity. If we're going to be salt and light for Jesus, we must not compromise our faith or our integrity. And this we see in a teenager and a young man and a middle aged man and in a mature man and in an elderly man named Daniel. He would not compromise the things that he could not. And he followed up a purpose in his heart with wisdom, grace, courage, and faith.

This remained the clear trade of Daniel's throughout his time in Babylon. When the chips were down, Daniel didn't cave. He didn't panic. He didn't surrender to the enemy. He trusted in the Lord.

God gave him favor with his captors. Right away, God gave him favor with his captors. You would think that his captors would hate him, but instead God gave him favor. God gave him peace and prosperity as a captive in a foreign land. God gave him audience with the most wicked and powerful man of an age.

He had the king's ear for many years. And not only one, but two and three. God gave him prominence and power despite his exiled status and God gave him a long and productive life. Yes, there was the possibility that taking a stand here and many other times could have brought him what? Death.

But only if God allowed because Nebuchadnezzar still answered to who? He still answered to God. He may not have recognized it. He may have not have known it until a few chapters later when he was kind of forced to, But he did and Daniel knew it. And so Daniel, when the time came to stand in the gap for God, there was a man in Babylon who was willing to stand in that gap for God's people, for the Lord, for the Lord's testimony.

His name was Daniel. So Daniel was faithful. That is loyal and dependable. This is what God expects from us all. First Corinthians four two says that moreover is required in stewards that a man be found faithful.

That is all God asked, is that we trust him and then we do our best to obey and to serve him. Sometimes our best is a little different than somebody else's. That's okay. God just wants you to be faithful. He demonstrated that is Daniel an incredible trust in the Lord and faithfulness to him.

He truly trusted God and so was really genuinely faithful to him. So when the choice had to may be made, Daniel chose the Lord. Faith leads to faithfulness. For when you know in your heart that God has your back, then it makes it a lot easier to stand in the gap for the Lord. That's what made it possible for another young man named David to walk up to a nine foot giant and tell him that he was wrong.

Wrong about the God of Israel and wrong about the outcome that was to come. And to take that sling and that stone and hurl that little rock at the head of a nine foot giant and then watch him fall. How could David do that? Why was he faithful? Because he had faith.

A man filled with faith is also likely to be faithful. In Joshua one nine, the Lord said to Joshua, have not I commanded thee be strong and of a good courage? Be not afraid neither be thou dismayed for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. God said to Joshua, don't be afraid, have courage. Tell these people get in there.

Let's do it. Don't worry about the giants in the land. Don't worry about the the walled cities and the chariots and the weapons of war because I'm sending you. And if I send you, I'm going with you and you don't have anything to fear. I think Daniel may have studied that passage of scripture.

I think Daniel may have known of the exploits of Joshua and the exploits of David. He believed in his heart that God would take care of him. And so he was faithful. He was faithful and he was consistent. He demonstrated consistency throughout his recorded life.

It wasn't just the one time here in Daniel one that we read about the consistency in the life of Daniel, his faithfulness and his uncompromising ways. It was again and again and again that Daniel demonstrated this faithfulness and trust in the Lord. He was consistent for decades. Nothing inconsistent is recorded in his life. Now that does does that mean he never failed?

No, it does not. He was a sinner. He failed. But God didn't record any of that and that's rare. Because when you talk about Noah, after he got off the ark, he got drunk.

Talk about Abraham, he lied about his wife, told him that she was just his sister in two cities fearing for his own life. Moses? Well, Moses, well, he killed an Egyptian before he left Egypt. And then when he was supposed to speak to the rock, he got angry and what? Struck it.

Almost every character in scripture that we is talked about a lot demonstrates failures. God didn't record those, Daniel. And I think it was because they were few. And when everyone else was bewildered and panicked because the king had sent out a decree saying kill all the wise men because these these guys here in the palace, not including Daniel and his friends, can't tell me the dream and what it means. What did Daniel do?

Daniel two thirteen. Daniel two thirteen. Wanna turn there? Decree went forth that the wise men should be slain, and they sought Daniel and his fellows to be slain. And Daniel answered with counsel and wisdom to Arioch, the captain of the king's guard which was gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon.

He answered and said to Arioch, the king's captain, why is the decree so hasty from the king? Then Arioch made the thing known to Daniel. Daniel went in and desired of the king that he would give him time and that he would show the king the interpretation. Then Daniel went to his house and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah his companions that they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret that Daniel and his fellows should not perish rest with the rest of the wise men and Babylon. And you may know the rest of the story and the rest of the story is this, God did answer their prayers.

God God did tell him the dream and the interpretation. He went back to Nebuchadnezzar and Nebuchadnezzar relented and didn't kill the rest of the wise men including Daniel and his friends. We'll get to the dream and the interpretation later in our study. When Belshazzar called for Daniel, he called for him because his wife told him that there was an honest and trustworthy man in the kingdom that could interpret the handwriting on the wall. Though Daniel was a little bit out of the loop at the time, his faithful reputation preceded him and was not forgotten.

And when the time came to tell Belshazzar what the writing on the wall meant, Daniel didn't pull any punches. He didn't water it down. He didn't sweeten it. He told him this is what it means. Your kingdom is gonna be taken from you.

When Darius passed the law that Daniel could not pray to anyone but Darius, knowing the law, what did Daniel do? He refused to compromise with the world. And he went down back to his home and he got down on his knees and he prayed like he did every day. And he let God take care of the rest and boy, God did take care of the rest. His character rubbed off on his friends who in chapter four would refuse to bow before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had made.

A testimony to their faithfulness, courage, but also to their friends who no doubt had a part in supporting them. Any will anyone can show courage once, but Daniel did it again and again and again. The test is not what you do just one time, but the test is what you do today and tomorrow and the next day and the next year. And God is able by his grace to help us to be more like Daniel too. And then Daniel was wise, wise beyond his years.

He showed grace and wisdom in his approach to this this issue here in Daniel chapter one. He showed respect for his captors though they may have not deserved it. Nonetheless, Daniel showed respect for them. Daniel showed shrewdness in his request. The Bible says Jesus said, be as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves.

And that described Daniel. He was wise but he was harmless. But he used his head that God gave him and he trusted in the Lord to give him wisdom. In making a request rather than making demands, he showed great wisdom. In showing in demonstrating concern for his superior, he showed wisdom and love.

He showed faith in giving God the opportunity to work things out. Give us what? Ten days. Just ten days. Give us ten days and see how we compare after ten days.

Now the diet may have had a small part to do with what happened ten days later, but I think more God had something to do with what happened ten days later. He gave God the opportunity to show himself mighty in Daniel's behalf and in his friend's behalf. He was wise. The Bible says that if we will ask God, he will also give us wisdom. If we will ask and heed it and take time to think things through like Daniel, God will help us to make decisions like his that will have an impact on the world around us, that will give God the opportunity to show himself for the for the almighty, ever faithful, loving God that he is.

If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of who? Let him ask of God and God will give it to him. In the book of Proverbs, we learn that wisdom is priceless and it is also available to all those who will seek it and desire it, who will search for it and ask and petition the Lord for it. And so God blessed him. In each case, God stepped in and rewarded Daniel's faith and courage.

And God will do the same for us. It may not always come in the manner or time we expect, but it will come. Sadly, so often we miss out on seeing that, on experiencing that because we who are lacking in faith are not so faithful and not so courageous, not so consistent, and not so wise as our friend Daniel. But the difference is a matter of faith and trust. And if we will learn to trust God as he did, then we too can be used of God in this world.

Let's pray. Dear heavenly father, thank you Lord for Daniel and for his testimony, for his example that he set his for us here in scripture. Thank you Lord for how you used him to touch the hearts of many in the wicked city of Babylon, to be a light and a testimony there, to change the course of the life of Nebuchadnezzar and others around him. What an opportunity this captive was given because he chose to live an uncompromising life. Lord, I pray that we will see the wisdom in that, the reward in that, and that you deserve that in our lives also.

That you might use us in this world today. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.