WEBVTT 00:00:01.229 --> 00:00:06.030 The text says Daniel slept with lions. The text 00:00:06.030 --> 00:00:09.550 also says King Darius was up all night, afraid. 00:00:11.169 --> 00:00:14.669 Now you tell me, who was really the trapped one? 00:00:20.789 --> 00:00:23.949 Today we are standing at the edge of a hole in 00:00:23.949 --> 00:00:26.969 the ground. Not a storybook cave, not a children's 00:00:26.969 --> 00:00:30.699 Bible illustration. A real pit cut into stone 00:00:30.699 --> 00:00:34.479 by an empire that knows how to make death official. 00:00:35.420 --> 00:00:38.960 Torches flicker above it, lions panting below. 00:00:39.439 --> 00:00:42.659 And an old man named Daniel stands quietly at 00:00:42.659 --> 00:00:46.060 the edge, not protesting, not performing, not 00:00:46.060 --> 00:00:48.240 changing a single thing about who he's been for 00:00:48.240 --> 00:00:51.280 decades. The law has been signed, the system 00:00:51.280 --> 00:00:54.159 is in motion, and faithfulness is about to be 00:00:54.159 --> 00:00:57.240 tested in the dark. And wherever you are right 00:00:57.240 --> 00:01:00.320 now, kitchen table, car seat, night shift, break 00:01:00.320 --> 00:01:03.880 room, couch with a TV still glowing, you have 00:01:03.880 --> 00:01:06.200 wandered into a small town church on a Sunday 00:01:06.200 --> 00:01:09.280 morning. The doors are open. The service has 00:01:09.280 --> 00:01:11.459 started. We're going to talk today about Daniel 00:01:11.459 --> 00:01:14.400 in the lion's den, about systems that can't repent, 00:01:14.519 --> 00:01:18.640 and about a God who still works overnight. And 00:01:18.640 --> 00:01:26.769 I'll see you on the other side. in the lion's 00:01:26.769 --> 00:01:33.670 den today and i bet i hope that there is going 00:01:33.670 --> 00:01:36.569 to be something about the way that we talk about 00:01:36.569 --> 00:01:40.689 daniel in the lion's den today that maybe you 00:01:40.689 --> 00:01:46.189 hadn't thought of before i hope so i'm gonna 00:01:46.189 --> 00:01:49.810 jump right in you're gonna join with me okay 00:01:49.810 --> 00:01:55.859 church i want you to imagine a night that smells 00:01:55.859 --> 00:02:06.060 and feels like cold stone and fear. Okay? This, 00:02:06.200 --> 00:02:10.180 not in church right now. No hymns, no altar, 00:02:10.340 --> 00:02:13.840 no incense curling towards heaven, no choir humming 00:02:13.840 --> 00:02:17.639 a song softly in the background, assuring us 00:02:17.639 --> 00:02:20.419 that everything is going to be all right. No, 00:02:20.479 --> 00:02:27.000 friends, I want you to imagine Just a pit cut 00:02:27.000 --> 00:02:32.120 into the earth by men who got paid by the hour. 00:02:33.479 --> 00:02:41.300 Cold, permanent, official. The kind of hole a 00:02:41.300 --> 00:02:44.960 government digs when it wants you to know that 00:02:44.960 --> 00:02:49.099 the dying that takes place there is sanctioned. 00:02:50.889 --> 00:02:57.189 This is not some cartoony fairy tale cave with 00:02:57.189 --> 00:03:00.750 ivory around the edges and a Disney soundtrack 00:03:00.750 --> 00:03:05.870 swelling in the background. This is state infrastructure. 00:03:07.349 --> 00:03:16.000 It is a sanctioned execution site. The kind of 00:03:16.000 --> 00:03:21.099 place built by an empire that does not plan on 00:03:21.099 --> 00:03:28.460 apologizing and has no plans on leaving. The 00:03:28.460 --> 00:03:34.120 Persian Empire didn't build things for a season. 00:03:34.199 --> 00:03:39.280 They built things to last. And this pit, this 00:03:39.280 --> 00:03:44.539 den, was built to outlast. the men that were 00:03:44.539 --> 00:03:50.599 thrown into it. And somewhere above that pit, 00:03:50.680 --> 00:03:53.699 torches hiss and crackle against the evening 00:03:53.699 --> 00:04:02.120 wind. Somewhere below it, lions pace. Not roaring 00:04:02.120 --> 00:04:05.659 yet. That's a detail we need to sit with for 00:04:05.659 --> 00:04:10.039 a second. The lions aren't performing. They're 00:04:10.039 --> 00:04:15.419 not agitated. They are just breathing, waiting. 00:04:17.220 --> 00:04:23.560 They've done this before. The empire feeds them 00:04:23.560 --> 00:04:27.899 on a schedule. And tonight, the schedule says 00:04:27.899 --> 00:04:34.620 a man is coming. And that's all the lions know. 00:04:34.759 --> 00:04:40.050 That's all the lions need to know. And standing 00:04:40.050 --> 00:04:43.089 at the edge of the hole, looking down into the 00:04:43.089 --> 00:04:46.649 dark the way you look into anything that might 00:04:46.649 --> 00:04:51.329 have the capacity to swallow you whole, is an 00:04:51.329 --> 00:04:57.250 old man who has survived more regimes than anyone 00:04:57.250 --> 00:05:02.149 in that room could count. Daniel, wide -haired, 00:05:02.269 --> 00:05:09.410 steady -eyed, hands... Shaped by decades of prayer, 00:05:09.709 --> 00:05:14.470 knuckles thick, fingers bent slightly inward 00:05:14.470 --> 00:05:18.310 from years of pressing palms together on a foreign 00:05:18.310 --> 00:05:22.529 floor, praying towards a city he hasn't seen 00:05:22.529 --> 00:05:29.810 since he was a very small boy. And he's not shouting 00:05:29.810 --> 00:05:34.000 scripture. And he's not pleading his case. He's 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:37.920 not calling down fire or rattling off his resume. 00:05:38.019 --> 00:05:44.139 Or, nor is he reminding anyone that he's been 00:05:44.139 --> 00:05:46.680 fateful longer than most of them had been alive. 00:05:47.939 --> 00:05:53.300 He's quiet. And that is what makes this story 00:05:53.300 --> 00:05:58.569 dangerous. Because a man who is quiet at the 00:05:58.569 --> 00:06:04.189 edge of his own execution is a man who's already 00:06:04.189 --> 00:06:07.589 settled something the rest of the room hasn't 00:06:07.589 --> 00:06:13.430 even started wrestling with yet. Now, the story 00:06:13.430 --> 00:06:17.329 of Daniel in the lion's den, right? We often 00:06:17.329 --> 00:06:21.990 tell this story about bravery and just felt bold 00:06:21.990 --> 00:06:27.639 and bulletproof. Like one morning, he strapped 00:06:27.639 --> 00:06:30.980 on courage the way you might strap on armor, 00:06:31.160 --> 00:06:34.920 looked in the mirror and said, today I am going 00:06:34.920 --> 00:06:40.079 to show the empire who's boss. The Bible doesn't 00:06:40.079 --> 00:06:47.060 say that. Not even close. Bible says the king 00:06:47.060 --> 00:06:51.500 signed a law, a law that said for 30 days, no 00:06:51.500 --> 00:06:57.050 one could pray to any God. Except Darius himself. 00:06:59.129 --> 00:07:02.730 And Daniel went home. Chapter 6 and 10. When 00:07:02.730 --> 00:07:05.709 Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went 00:07:05.709 --> 00:07:08.170 into his house. He kneeled on his knees three 00:07:08.170 --> 00:07:11.709 times a day and prayed and gave thanks before 00:07:11.709 --> 00:07:19.930 God as he had done before. As he had done before. 00:07:21.480 --> 00:07:25.379 I need you to hear those four words like they're 00:07:25.379 --> 00:07:30.920 a hammer hitting a nail. No escalation. No social 00:07:30.920 --> 00:07:36.500 media announcement. No dramatic pause where he 00:07:36.500 --> 00:07:39.860 turns to the camera and delivers a monologue 00:07:39.860 --> 00:07:45.660 about standing firm. Daniel doesn't react to 00:07:45.660 --> 00:07:51.540 the law. He doesn't even dignify it. with a change 00:07:51.540 --> 00:07:56.600 to his routine. He goes upstairs, he opens his 00:07:56.600 --> 00:07:59.519 window towards Jerusalem, the same window he 00:07:59.519 --> 00:08:05.519 has been opening for decades, and he prays. The 00:08:05.519 --> 00:08:09.259 law reacts to Daniel, not the other way around. 00:08:10.199 --> 00:08:13.319 And that's the first thing text this morning 00:08:13.319 --> 00:08:16.680 wants us to notice. The most dangerous thing 00:08:16.680 --> 00:08:21.069 Daniel does in the whole story. is refused to 00:08:21.069 --> 00:08:27.009 be novel. He just keeps being who he's been. 00:08:28.709 --> 00:08:35.370 That is enough to get him killed. Listen now 00:08:35.370 --> 00:08:40.029 to the word as it comes to us from the prophecy 00:08:40.029 --> 00:08:45.500 of Daniel, chapter 6, verses 11 and 12. Then 00:08:45.500 --> 00:08:47.840 these men assembled together and found Daniel 00:08:47.840 --> 00:08:50.799 making petition and supplication before his God. 00:08:51.659 --> 00:08:54.860 Then they came near and spoke before the king 00:08:54.860 --> 00:08:59.179 concerning his decree, that every man who makes 00:08:59.179 --> 00:09:02.299 petition to any God or man within thirty days 00:09:02.299 --> 00:09:07.379 except to you, O king, shall be cast into the 00:09:07.379 --> 00:09:11.190 den of lions. Notice they don't accuse Daniel 00:09:11.190 --> 00:09:14.149 of treason. They don't accuse him of conspiracy 00:09:14.149 --> 00:09:19.330 or rebellion or plotting a coup. They accuse 00:09:19.330 --> 00:09:24.610 him of routine. He's doing what he's always done. 00:09:25.129 --> 00:09:29.389 And somehow that has become the most threatening 00:09:29.389 --> 00:09:35.710 thing to the empire. Verse 14. Then the king, 00:09:35.929 --> 00:09:38.690 when he heard these words, was very displeased 00:09:38.690 --> 00:09:42.169 with himself, set his heart on Daniel to deliver 00:09:42.169 --> 00:09:45.289 him, and he labored until the going down of the 00:09:45.289 --> 00:09:51.049 sun to deliver him. Now hold that line. We're 00:09:51.049 --> 00:09:53.669 going to come back to that line here in a second, 00:09:53.690 --> 00:09:57.549 because that verse is doing a lot more work than 00:09:57.549 --> 00:10:02.509 most sermons give it credit for. So here we are 00:10:02.509 --> 00:10:09.509 in the story. Daniel is calm. The conspirators 00:10:09.509 --> 00:10:15.870 are smug. And the king, the most powerful man 00:10:15.870 --> 00:10:21.649 in the known world, is unraveling like a cheap 00:10:21.649 --> 00:10:27.470 suit in the rain. Which should already tell you 00:10:27.470 --> 00:10:31.730 something about where the real power is in this 00:10:31.730 --> 00:10:36.879 room. Because it's not on the throne. It's on 00:10:36.879 --> 00:10:43.559 the floor, on its knees, facing Jerusalem. Church, 00:10:43.559 --> 00:10:48.059 we have been trained to ask the wrong question 00:10:48.059 --> 00:10:52.980 about this story. Every Sunday school flannel 00:10:52.980 --> 00:10:57.340 board, every VBS craft table, every children's 00:10:57.340 --> 00:11:00.259 Bible with the cartoon Daniel smiling next to 00:11:00.259 --> 00:11:03.240 a lion that looks as if it has wandered. in from 00:11:03.240 --> 00:11:07.919 a stuffed animal factory. And they all train 00:11:07.919 --> 00:11:11.919 us to ask, how did Daniel survive the lions? 00:11:13.960 --> 00:11:21.419 But the text shows us something and asks us something 00:11:21.419 --> 00:11:28.809 else entirely. Because... The text keeps circling 00:11:28.809 --> 00:11:32.450 back to a question that's harder and sharper 00:11:32.450 --> 00:11:39.509 and a lot less fun for a coloring page. Why couldn't 00:11:39.509 --> 00:11:45.250 the king save him? Now, King Darius here is not 00:11:45.250 --> 00:11:52.529 a cartoon villain. He's not Smedley McPeel twisting 00:11:52.529 --> 00:11:58.590 his mustache, whatever. He likes Daniel. He depends 00:11:58.590 --> 00:12:04.149 on Daniel. Promoted Daniel over every other administrator 00:12:04.149 --> 00:12:08.389 in the empire because the man, Daniel, had what 00:12:08.389 --> 00:12:13.789 the text calls an excellent spirit. This is a 00:12:13.789 --> 00:12:17.730 king who trusts the man he is about to throw 00:12:17.730 --> 00:12:23.970 into this hole. And the law? We're talking about 00:12:23.970 --> 00:12:27.710 here. The law wasn't even written to kill Daniel. 00:12:29.009 --> 00:12:34.389 It was written to flatter Darius. And that's 00:12:34.389 --> 00:12:36.789 the part that should make our blood run cold. 00:12:37.269 --> 00:12:41.350 The conspirators didn't draft legislation against 00:12:41.350 --> 00:12:46.269 Daniel. They drafted legislation for the king's 00:12:46.269 --> 00:12:49.789 ego. Daniel just happened to be standing in the 00:12:49.789 --> 00:12:55.830 blast zone. And now the king discovers something 00:12:55.830 --> 00:13:02.610 that is absolutely terrifying. He's not sovereign. 00:13:03.429 --> 00:13:11.169 The system is. The law of the Medes and the Persians, 00:13:11.169 --> 00:13:17.659 which does not alter, which cannot alter. has 00:13:17.659 --> 00:13:20.980 more authority in that room than the man wearing 00:13:20.980 --> 00:13:25.000 the crown. Darius can conquer nations, but he 00:13:25.000 --> 00:13:30.539 can't pardon a friend. Now, let me say it plain, 00:13:30.659 --> 00:13:37.200 because the text says it plain. Lions are not 00:13:37.200 --> 00:13:43.100 the real danger in our story today. The law is. 00:13:44.230 --> 00:13:49.250 Specifically, a law that cannot repent. Verse 00:13:49.250 --> 00:13:52.509 12, the king said the thing is true according 00:13:52.509 --> 00:13:56.190 to the law of the Medes and the Persians, which 00:13:56.190 --> 00:14:02.950 does not alter. That probably chilled him down 00:14:02.950 --> 00:14:07.399 to the soles of his sandals. A law that does 00:14:07.399 --> 00:14:13.360 not alter. A rule that cannot bend. A system 00:14:13.360 --> 00:14:19.799 that cannot say I was wrong. That's not strength. 00:14:19.840 --> 00:14:23.879 That's rigor mortis wearing a crown. That's a 00:14:23.879 --> 00:14:28.539 corpse pretending to govern. Anything that cannot 00:14:28.539 --> 00:14:33.360 repent is already dead. Just hasn't stopped moving 00:14:33.360 --> 00:14:40.830 yet. Darius spends the entire day trying to find 00:14:40.830 --> 00:14:46.750 a loophole, calling advisors, re -reading the 00:14:46.750 --> 00:14:51.230 fine print, pacing the halls of a palace he supposedly 00:14:51.230 --> 00:14:58.889 owns, trying to find one crack in the wall to 00:14:58.889 --> 00:15:04.480 a law he himself signed into existence. And when 00:15:04.480 --> 00:15:10.840 the sun goes down, he's got nothing. No precedent, 00:15:11.039 --> 00:15:16.240 no exception, no escape clause. And verse 18, 00:15:16.320 --> 00:15:20.279 he gives the order. Then the king went to his 00:15:20.279 --> 00:15:24.759 palace and spent the night fasting. No musical 00:15:24.759 --> 00:15:28.659 instruments were brought before him and his sleep 00:15:28.659 --> 00:15:42.639 fled from him. Let that sink in. Daniel sleeps 00:15:42.639 --> 00:15:50.399 with lions. The king doesn't sleep at all that 00:15:50.399 --> 00:15:56.379 night. So I'll ask you, who's really trapped 00:15:56.379 --> 00:16:03.720 here? Who's really in the den tonight? Because 00:16:03.720 --> 00:16:08.419 from where I'm standing, the man in the pit appears 00:16:08.419 --> 00:16:12.220 to be a heck of a lot freer than the man in the 00:16:12.220 --> 00:16:17.899 palace. And this is where we usually rush. We 00:16:17.899 --> 00:16:21.220 hurry past the night because we already know 00:16:21.220 --> 00:16:25.950 the morning part. We sprint to the angel. We 00:16:25.950 --> 00:16:29.070 fast forward to the miracle. Skip the dark part 00:16:29.070 --> 00:16:32.909 because the dark part often makes us uncomfortable. 00:16:33.090 --> 00:16:37.610 But the miracle takes all night. Which means 00:16:37.610 --> 00:16:42.590 something else happens first. Something the text 00:16:42.590 --> 00:16:49.009 refuses to let us skip. Verse 16. Daniel is lowered 00:16:49.009 --> 00:16:53.419 into the pit. Then the king commanded and they 00:16:53.419 --> 00:16:56.639 brought Daniel and cast him into the den of lions. 00:16:57.519 --> 00:17:01.580 The king spoke and said to Daniel, your God whom 00:17:01.580 --> 00:17:06.559 you serve continually, he will deliver you. Notice 00:17:06.559 --> 00:17:09.859 it does not end with a question mark. It's a 00:17:09.859 --> 00:17:18.200 declarative statement. Let's stop. Do you, can 00:17:18.200 --> 00:17:22.910 you hear the hope and? Hopelessness tangled together 00:17:22.910 --> 00:17:26.150 in that sentence like two threads you can't pull 00:17:26.150 --> 00:17:33.789 apart. I believe in your God. I, Darius, I just 00:17:33.789 --> 00:17:38.450 can't do anything about this. That is a confession 00:17:38.450 --> 00:17:44.740 and a surrender in the same breath. admitting 00:17:44.740 --> 00:17:49.420 out loud that his kingdom is not strong enough 00:17:49.420 --> 00:17:53.980 to protect an innocent man. And that sentence, 00:17:54.259 --> 00:18:00.180 that sentence still gets people killed. Every 00:18:00.180 --> 00:18:04.599 time someone in power says, I know this is wrong, 00:18:04.680 --> 00:18:09.400 but my hands are tied, somewhere a stone is rolling 00:18:09.400 --> 00:18:15.240 over a pit. Verse 17, a stone was brought and 00:18:15.240 --> 00:18:18.839 laid on the mouth of the den and the king sealed 00:18:18.839 --> 00:18:20.980 it with his own signet and with the signet of 00:18:20.980 --> 00:18:27.099 his lords. The paperwork is now complete. The 00:18:27.099 --> 00:18:30.559 seal has been pressed. The system has done what 00:18:30.559 --> 00:18:35.539 systems do. It has processed a human being into 00:18:35.539 --> 00:18:41.910 a category and filed him under resolved. And 00:18:41.910 --> 00:18:47.349 now the law gets what it demands. Or so it thinks. 00:18:49.890 --> 00:18:56.369 Scripture gives us almost nothing about Daniel's 00:18:56.369 --> 00:19:02.650 night. No dialogue, no panic. There's no prayer 00:19:02.650 --> 00:19:08.630 recorded. We do not have the benefit of any angelic 00:19:08.630 --> 00:19:12.829 conversation transcribed for our future study. 00:19:14.670 --> 00:19:21.890 Just silence. Just a man and some lions and the 00:19:21.890 --> 00:19:27.130 God who made them both alone in the dark. And 00:19:27.130 --> 00:19:31.109 when Daniel finally speaks, when morning comes, 00:19:32.009 --> 00:19:35.990 Stone is rolled away and the king calls down 00:19:35.990 --> 00:19:40.970 with a voice the text describes as lamentable, 00:19:41.089 --> 00:19:48.390 a voice that had been crying all night. Daniel 00:19:48.390 --> 00:19:54.630 says this, my God has sent his angel and has 00:19:54.630 --> 00:19:58.750 shut the lion's mouths and they have not hurt 00:19:58.750 --> 00:20:05.619 me. Notice, What Daniel doesn't say, he doesn't 00:20:05.619 --> 00:20:10.059 say God removed the lions. He doesn't say God 00:20:10.059 --> 00:20:14.720 killed them. He doesn't say God turned them into 00:20:14.720 --> 00:20:17.640 kittens or teleported them to another province. 00:20:17.960 --> 00:20:23.400 God shut their mouths. The lions stay lions. 00:20:24.119 --> 00:20:28.420 The system stays violent. The pit is still a 00:20:28.420 --> 00:20:35.079 pit. But their power has been interrupted. Something 00:20:35.079 --> 00:20:39.759 between the teeth and the man and the teeth close 00:20:39.759 --> 00:20:45.579 on nothing. The system executes its sentence, 00:20:45.660 --> 00:20:53.180 but the sentence doesn't land. Now church, here 00:20:53.180 --> 00:20:56.980 is where the story steps off the pages and into 00:20:56.980 --> 00:21:03.759 our living rooms. Into our kitchens. Into that 00:21:03.759 --> 00:21:07.720 2 a .m. silence when you're staring at the ceiling 00:21:07.720 --> 00:21:11.440 and wondering if faithfulness even matters anymore. 00:21:12.759 --> 00:21:18.380 Because some of us are Daniels this morning. 00:21:19.920 --> 00:21:24.059 Not loud, not building a brand around our convictions, 00:21:24.200 --> 00:21:28.539 just faithful. In ways that are so ordinary, 00:21:28.640 --> 00:21:33.740 so daily, so unremarkable that the world barely 00:21:33.740 --> 00:21:37.059 notices until it decides it can't tolerate us 00:21:37.059 --> 00:21:42.359 anymore. You're the one who keeps praying, who 00:21:42.359 --> 00:21:46.960 keeps showing up, who keeps opening the window 00:21:46.960 --> 00:21:50.660 towards Jerusalem even when Jerusalem feels like 00:21:50.660 --> 00:21:56.170 a distant rumor. Nobody applauds that kind of 00:21:56.170 --> 00:21:59.269 faithfulness, not until it becomes inconvenient 00:21:59.269 --> 00:22:07.269 enough to punish. And some of us are Darius. 00:22:09.109 --> 00:22:14.630 We signed things we didn't read closely. We nodded 00:22:14.630 --> 00:22:18.690 along with the rules while they worked because 00:22:18.690 --> 00:22:23.859 the rules kept things tidy, orderly. And they 00:22:23.859 --> 00:22:26.720 flattered us just enough to make us feel important. 00:22:27.539 --> 00:22:30.599 We benefited from systems until those systems 00:22:30.599 --> 00:22:34.839 turned on someone we love. Suddenly, we discover 00:22:34.839 --> 00:22:40.059 a terrible truth. A system that cannot repent 00:22:40.059 --> 00:22:47.539 eventually will demand blood, even from its architects, 00:22:47.700 --> 00:22:55.170 even from its friends, even... From a king. The 00:22:55.170 --> 00:22:59.190 lions are honest. They only do what lions do. 00:22:59.349 --> 00:23:02.529 You can't blame a lion for being a lion. But 00:23:02.529 --> 00:23:06.950 the law, the law pretends. The law pretends to 00:23:06.950 --> 00:23:10.990 be righteous while destroying the innocent. The 00:23:10.990 --> 00:23:14.910 law wears a robe and a seal and speaks in a passive 00:23:14.910 --> 00:23:17.390 voice, so nobody has to take responsibility. 00:23:17.589 --> 00:23:21.710 The decree has been issued. The statute requires. 00:23:22.049 --> 00:23:26.430 The policy states. No fingerprints, no names, 00:23:26.509 --> 00:23:34.470 just a stone rolling over someone's pit. And 00:23:34.470 --> 00:23:40.309 if the story sounds familiar, it should. Because 00:23:40.309 --> 00:23:43.210 the Bible is telling us this story twice, isn't 00:23:43.210 --> 00:23:48.250 it? Another innocent man. Another unjust system. 00:23:49.450 --> 00:23:53.569 Another stone sealed over the mouth, the earth. 00:23:53.930 --> 00:23:57.529 Another long night. Another morning that changes 00:23:57.529 --> 00:24:04.950 everything. Pilate knows Jesus is innocent. Darius 00:24:04.950 --> 00:24:09.839 knows that Daniel is faithful. Both say in their 00:24:09.839 --> 00:24:13.579 own words, with their own accents, in their own 00:24:13.579 --> 00:24:21.299 empires, I can't stop this. And both are wrong. 00:24:22.940 --> 00:24:27.660 Because God isn't trapped by our paperwork. God 00:24:27.660 --> 00:24:30.839 doesn't recognize the finality of our systems. 00:24:32.269 --> 00:24:34.990 God doesn't read our legislation and say, well, 00:24:35.150 --> 00:24:39.789 I guess my hands are tied. God does his best 00:24:39.789 --> 00:24:42.990 work overnight in the dark, in the places we've 00:24:42.990 --> 00:24:46.230 sealed shut and signed off on and walked away 00:24:46.230 --> 00:24:52.230 from. The stone on Daniel's den has a seal. The 00:24:52.230 --> 00:24:56.970 stone on Jesus' tomb has a guard. And God rolls 00:24:56.970 --> 00:25:00.569 them both back like they're nothing. Because 00:25:00.569 --> 00:25:07.029 to God, They are nothing. Every empire that has 00:25:07.029 --> 00:25:10.730 ever sealed a stone over the mouth of the faithful 00:25:10.730 --> 00:25:13.710 has discovered the same thing in the morning. 00:25:13.990 --> 00:25:19.509 The seal is broken. The stone is moved. And the 00:25:19.509 --> 00:25:26.009 one you buried is standing. Verse 19, chapter 00:25:26.009 --> 00:25:31.119 6. Then the king arose. Very early in the morning 00:25:31.119 --> 00:25:35.440 and went in haste to the den of the lions. He 00:25:35.440 --> 00:25:40.400 doesn't stroll. He runs. The king running through 00:25:40.400 --> 00:25:43.640 corridors, past guards, down steps slick with 00:25:43.640 --> 00:25:47.279 dew. He runs like a man who's been holding his 00:25:47.279 --> 00:25:49.720 breath for eight hours and can't hold it one 00:25:49.720 --> 00:25:53.160 second longer. Verse 20, when he came near to 00:25:53.160 --> 00:25:56.140 the den of Daniel, he cried with a lamentable 00:25:56.140 --> 00:26:00.799 voice, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is 00:26:00.799 --> 00:26:05.039 your God, whom you serve continually, able to 00:26:05.039 --> 00:26:13.160 deliver you from the lions? Able. Not willing, 00:26:13.299 --> 00:26:18.740 able. That's not a theological question. That's 00:26:18.740 --> 00:26:21.460 a man begging the universe to still be good. 00:26:22.519 --> 00:26:29.539 Somebody else's God. Daniel answers from the 00:26:29.539 --> 00:26:34.359 darkness, from below, from the place the system 00:26:34.359 --> 00:26:40.220 put him, from the sealed Psalm 21. O King, live 00:26:40.220 --> 00:26:46.119 forever. My God has sent his angel. The first 00:26:46.119 --> 00:26:51.339 voice the king hears at dawn is a testimony that 00:26:51.339 --> 00:26:57.799 the empire tried to silence. And it's not angry 00:26:57.799 --> 00:27:06.099 and it's not bitter. It says, live forever. Grace, 00:27:06.099 --> 00:27:11.799 climbing out of the pit. Grace, blessing the 00:27:11.799 --> 00:27:16.970 man who couldn't save him. Grace, stubborn as 00:27:16.970 --> 00:27:23.529 always, finding a crack to sneak through. Church, 00:27:23.690 --> 00:27:28.650 the good news today is not that lions stop being 00:27:28.650 --> 00:27:33.390 lions. Lions will always be lions. Systems, man, 00:27:33.450 --> 00:27:36.390 they will always be systems. Paperwork will always 00:27:36.390 --> 00:27:40.569 be waiting. The good news is God is not impressed 00:27:40.569 --> 00:27:44.490 by systems that claim to be irreversible. The 00:27:44.490 --> 00:27:47.230 good news is that faithfulness does not need 00:27:47.230 --> 00:27:51.630 to be dramatic to be dangerous. The good news 00:27:51.630 --> 00:27:54.990 is that the night is not the end of the sentence, 00:27:55.069 --> 00:28:02.329 it's the pause before God speaks. So, if you're 00:28:02.329 --> 00:28:06.750 praying quietly this morning, if you're tired 00:28:06.750 --> 00:28:10.450 of being told you're not loud enough, not brave 00:28:10.450 --> 00:28:15.720 enough, not... Enough, enough. If you're faithful 00:28:15.720 --> 00:28:19.619 in ways nobody notices until they decide to punish 00:28:19.619 --> 00:28:25.339 you for it, hear this. Night is not as long as 00:28:25.339 --> 00:28:29.359 it feels. Stone is not as final as it looks. 00:28:29.420 --> 00:28:32.559 And the lions don't get the last word. Remember, 00:28:32.660 --> 00:28:36.119 the first voice of mourning is always testimony. 00:28:36.880 --> 00:28:45.940 Amen? Amen. Friend, before you go back to whatever 00:28:45.940 --> 00:28:48.380 waits for you on the other side of this moment, 00:28:48.559 --> 00:28:51.440 I want to sit with you for just a second longer. 00:28:52.019 --> 00:28:54.940 Because some of you are tired in a way that sleep 00:28:54.940 --> 00:28:58.200 doesn't seem to fix. You have been faithful without 00:28:58.200 --> 00:29:01.059 applause. You've kept praying without seeing 00:29:01.059 --> 00:29:04.619 much change. You've done the ordinary quiet work 00:29:04.619 --> 00:29:07.460 of showing up and lately you have been wondering 00:29:07.460 --> 00:29:12.119 if it even matters. Today's story says that it 00:29:12.119 --> 00:29:15.630 does. It says the night is not proof that God 00:29:15.630 --> 00:29:18.970 has left. It says the dark is often where God 00:29:18.970 --> 00:29:23.109 does his most precise work. And it gently asks 00:29:23.109 --> 00:29:27.670 us something too. Where have we trusted systems 00:29:27.670 --> 00:29:31.650 that cannot represent more than God? Where have 00:29:31.650 --> 00:29:36.490 we trusted systems that cannot repent more than 00:29:36.490 --> 00:29:39.190 the God who can still shut the mouths of lions? 00:29:39.809 --> 00:29:43.180 And that question isn't to shame you. It's meant 00:29:43.180 --> 00:29:46.559 to wake you up. Comfort and conviction. Holding 00:29:46.559 --> 00:29:50.119 hands like they always do in the Gospels. Now, 00:29:50.160 --> 00:29:53.140 if you heard something today you hadn't heard 00:29:53.140 --> 00:29:56.440 before, or if an old story opened up in a new 00:29:56.440 --> 00:29:58.799 way, go ahead and throw that like in the offering 00:29:58.799 --> 00:30:01.299 plate. It just lets us know you were here and 00:30:01.299 --> 00:30:04.279 you listened. And if you want to keep walking 00:30:04.279 --> 00:30:06.640 with us into the new year, how about you type 00:30:06.640 --> 00:30:09.900 your subscribe? That way you'll know when we're 00:30:09.900 --> 00:30:13.380 having church again. Until then, friend, Be blessed.