A Challenge for the New Year -Living Faithfully in Babylon

Amen, as always. I do enjoy our worship. Well, I hope that you have all had a good Christmas. I know that we have. We have enjoyed some good family time. We gave a few presents, received a few presents, and I think that I will receive a few bills after. Isn't that right? We pay for Christmas later. But I do long to get back to normal. I'm sharing that with Jared earlier. This is the time of the year where I'm ready for everything to come back to normal. I'm ready for my family to be back to normal. I'm ready for a routine and church life. I'm ready for us to get back.

I'm going to share a little later as we close when we'll start back small groups and things such as that. I'm ready for small groups. I'm ready for Wednesday nights. I'm ready to get back to normal. But it is good to be here this morning, even though it is kind of a busy time. This time of the year. Well, take your Bible and turn back to Daniel. I know that earlier I read a few verses out of chapter one. But turn back to Daniel and have your Bible open there. And we're going to reference some verses starting in chapter one. And you'll be able to follow me through the message.

And like I said earlier in our scripture reading, we're going to read a few verses really as we progress. Now, I want to challenge you to get into the book of Daniel this week. You've got plenty of time. I promise we do not have Wednesday nights. So we're not studying anything on Wednesday nights. You've got plenty of time to read the book of Daniel, especially the first few chapters, really all of the book because it pertains to Daniel. There's so much that is here. We're really not going to do it justice this morning. Now, if you think about it right here this morning, aren't we at the end of 2020?

I mean, what do we have five days left of 2020? I'm sure there is a lot of 2020 that we would all love to leave behind. Now we have a smaller crowd this morning. We could just stop and make us a list. Could we not? You know, if the crowd's larger, we can't do any group participation. We won't do that because we would go a little over. But think about it. There is a lot that we would love to leave behind that we have enjoyed. And I say that sarcastically in 2020. Wouldn't it be nice to leave a global pandemic behind? Wouldn't it be nice to leave this coronavirus behind? We've all been trying to work hard to dodge the coronavirus.

I was very thankful. I was reminded of how thankful we should be. I was talking with a pastor friend of mine in Oklahoma, and they had an outbreak in their church and they had over 20 people. It was a really rough time. I wish we could leave all that behind, the pandemic, the coronavirus. Some of us would like to leave our political situation behind. You know, something we don't really talk about much anymore, the lawlessness and the riots. A friend of mine lives in Nashville. We were texting yesterday about that suicide bomber. It's awful. There's a lot of lawlessness and riots that have popped up in this year.

We'd like to leave all that behind. Of course, the increasing immorality of our land, we'd love to leave all that behind. I thought about it like this. Some of you have personal struggles that you might not would like to share. You'd like to leave those behind. There's a lot about 2020 that we would love to leave behind. But you know, for us, 2020 hasn't been all of that bad. There's been a lot of good in 2020. We moved our church. We were obedient to the leadership of the spirit and we moved our church. We've had a lot of much needed spiritual growth in our church before our move, back in March and after our move.

And some of our spiritual growth has been really, really tough. It has all been good. But let's face it. 2021 might not get any better. 2021 may be tougher. 2021 will most definitely, most definitely be even more sinful. We learned in our study of Romans chapter one that our country and culture is under a personal judgment. The judgment of God. This is a judgment from heaven, from God. And unless our country and culture repents and turns to God and to God's ways, our country will become even more sinful. We've been turned over to these three awful judgments.

You know, as born again Christians, we must be ready to face 2021, no matter what it brings our way. But with God's help, we must determine to be victorious. Now think about it. With God's help, we must determine to live a victorious Christian life in the new year, no matter what comes our way, not a defeated Christian life, not a half-baked Christian life. No. As we venture into 2021, we must determine with God's help to live faithfully for our Lord Jesus, for His purposes here on earth, and ultimately for His glory and honor in our lives.

Now this morning, I want us to briefly examine a man who faithfully lived for God in a very wicked culture and country. Now some of you are familiar with Daniel, and you know all about Daniel, this Old Testament prophet, and he faithfully lived for God in a very difficult set of circumstances. It's an understatement to say it was a wicked culture and country. And there is much that we need to learn and to emulate. There is much that needs to challenge us. And like I said earlier in our scripture reading, I'm going to come back to this and we're going to try to hold on to this message and let it spiritually energize us for the new year.

Well, that's the theme of the message that we're going to look at this morning. I have us a challenge from the life of Daniel. And I believe his example of how he faithfully lived for the Lord there in the Babylonian culture, I believe that can help us in God's call for us to live in our day and in our time. Now I do want to give us a little background information here. There are some of you. You are familiar with Daniel, but some of you might not be as familiar with Daniel. And so really just have your Bible open. We'll get to those verses here in a minute. Now the book of Daniel, some of you have read and studied the book of Daniel.

Some of you may not have studied and read the book of Daniel. But the book was written, of course, by Daniel. We know this for several reasons. First of all, there are many verses in Daniel that identify Daniel as the writer. Also, the book is written in a particular manner. It is autobiographical. And we see this starting in chapter seven, starting in verse two. And then third, Jesus specifically states that Daniel wrote the book. And we see this in Matthew 24, verse 15. Really, if Jesus said it, we just know it. But who was this Daniel? Who was this Daniel?

Daniel is probably most remembered from his connection with his friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And he is also famously remembered for spending a night in the lion's den. But there's more to Daniel than just those associations and those particular events. Daniel was a Jewish nobleman. And he was taken into Babylonian captivity really as a young teenager. He was from the southern kingdom of Judah. Some of you know your history here. You know that the nation had been divided. Israel was the northern kingdom. It was comprised of ten tribes. And Judah was the southern kingdom. And it was comprised of two tribes.

They had split almost 200 years prior. And that was under the reign of King Rehoboam. Now Daniel was taken into captivity in the first deportation of the Jews to Babylon in 605 BC. There in Babylon, he lived out his remaining days. And scholars tell us that he probably lived into his 80s. And Daniel was strong. He was a strong and godly young man. He was very successful in many ways there in Babylon. And God opened up these unbelievable doors of service there in captivity in Babylon. But notice, God opened up a door politically. First he was very successful politically. He rose to a position of a royal official and personal advisor to kings.

He was successful in working with two world leaders which were the Babylonians and the Medo-Persians who had come later and conquered the Babylonians. And then spiritually he was very successful. He was a prophet, a true prophet of the one true God. But what about the background, the context of the book? I've said this before, context is king. You've got to know what's happening behind the book. The book begins in 605 BC when the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem and they took Daniel and many others into captivity. We read that earlier in chapter 1. The Babylonians were used by God to execute judgment upon Judah.

The great Old Testament prophets like Jeremiah, Habakkuk and Zephaniah had warned the Jews that their sin and rebellion against God would be punished. Earlier, prophets like Isaiah had warned the people of the danger of judgment but the people continued to live out in rebellion against God in his ways. The Babylonians conquered the Assyrians, then they conquered Egypt and then they came to Judah in 605 BC when they overran Jerusalem. And this brought God's judgment on Israel and Judah to completion. Israel, the northern kingdom, had already fallen to the Assyrians 100 years earlier.

And ultimately, the Babylonians took back two Babylon, three waves of captives. The first wave was in 605 BC, the second wave was in 597, and the third wave was in 586 BC, and Daniel was among the first wave of captives taken back to captivity in Babylon. Now, what's the purpose of the book? It's really a lot here in this book, but yet it has a simplistic and singular purpose. Daniel wrote this book for his own countrymen, for the exiles, those Jews living in Babylon. He wrote to encourage them, he wrote to encourage them because much of the world was dominated by sinful Gentile powers, including them.

And in Daniel, through his book here, he emphasized the sovereignty of God in all of human history. And there's a key verse that reveals Daniel's emphasis. This would be the theme of the book, chapter 4, verse 35, and I'm quoting, "All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing." What does he say? "All the inhabitants, all of the peoples of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he," that's God, "does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth." See God's sovereignty there?

And he goes on to say, "And none can stay his hand," that's God's hand, "or say to him," that's God, "What have you done?" I think you see his sovereignty there. Now, I want to explain to you my approach with our message. I'm not going to focus on Daniel's prophecies. Some of you, you're familiar with Daniel. You know it is full of great prophecies. And I'm not going to focus on his accomplishments, although Daniel accomplished much. I want us to take a few minutes, and I want to make a few observations concerning the man, just the man. I want us to really pay close attention to certain spiritual characteristics that he possessed.

I started to call them habits, but they're more than habits. They're part of his character. They are a part of his being, although these were things that he did do. This Daniel was faithful. He was faithful to serve God in a very sinful world, in a very sinful and difficult time. And we need to see, I'm calling this the secrets to his faithfulness. And I will use the word success. And when I say success, I'm talking about spiritual success. So we're going to make observations about this young man, Daniel. Six observations to be specific. And like I said, we will read some verses as we go through the message.

So first, I want us to see that Daniel, he remained pure. Or you can say it like this, he remained undefiled. While he was there in Babylon, this Daniel, he remained pure and he remained undefiled. I want us to go back to verse 6 and read on down to verse 8. Among these were Daniel. And we could say it was Daniel and his associates. We have Hananiah, Michel, and Azariah. They are of the tribe of Judah, the end of verse 6 says, "And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names." Daniel, he called Belshazzar. Hananiah, he called Shadrach. Michel, he called Meshach. And Azariah, he called Abednego. Now, we need to understand what's happening here.

Really, these verses are representative of a lot. In taking the exiles into Babylon, the goal of the Babylonians was to make these Jewish exiles thoroughly Babylonian. In chapter 1, verses 6 and 7, we see that they all received new names, Babylonian names. Daniel and his companions. See, before all of their Jewish names related to the one true God. They had spiritual meaning. Daniel's Jewish name, it means God is my judge. But Daniel's Babylonian name, Belshazzar, it means Baal, protect his life. Now, simplistically, what's happening here is this. Daniel and his companions were given pagan names with pagan meanings.

And that means a lot, and it speaks to a lot. So they would have received new Babylonian names, but more. They would have learned a new Babylonian culture, and they were to be assimilated into Babylonian customs. They were to wear Babylonian clothes, and to eat Babylonian food, and to worship Babylonian gods, and much, much more. They were to become Babylonian in every way. But see, in all of this cultural and spiritual assimilation, because that was the Babylonian's desire, I want us to see how Daniel remained pure. Look at verse 8. Verse 8 shows us how Daniel remained pure in Babylon.

But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king's food or with the wine that he drank. Therefore, he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself. Here we see that Daniel had a crisis. You might have heard a term like this. He had a crisis of decision. Now, what was his crisis? Was it a new language? No. Was it a new Babylonian education? We read earlier that they went to school for three years, a Babylonian school. Was it about culture? Was it about the name? See, none of those things were a problem necessarily for Daniel. The problem was with the law of Moses or the Word of God.

See, Daniel could not break God's Word. To eat Babylonian food would have made him unclean. He would have been ceremonially unclean. He would have violated God's Word, thus violating his relationship with God in every way. So he had a crisis here, not with the new name, but with the food. But ultimately, it was because he would have violated God's Word. And we see that he made his choice. We see that he took his chances. He was obedient and he was seemingly defiant. So here we see that Daniel was refusing to become Babylonian. Now, what was the result of this first act of defiance? He was defying the Babylonians now. What was the result?

God gave him favor with the officials. If we read on down in verse 9, we see that favor. God gave him favor in his physical appearance. God blessed him physically. We see that in verse 14 and 15. God gave him favor in intellectual ability. We see that in verse 17. God gave him favor before the king. We see that in verse 19. And they were 10 times, Daniel and his friends, they were 10 times better than the magicians and the pagans of Babylon. You see? So he remained pure. He remained undefiled. Now, for us, we have a great lesson here. We must see that God's people must remain pure in this ever increasingly sinful world.

Our world is becoming more and more anti-God, anti-Bible, anti-man. And we must remain pure in this increasing sinful world. Now, when we think about purity, and when we say the word purity, automatically we think about and speak about sexual purity. And yes, we must remain sexually pure. We must be pure in our values, in our morals, in those pressures, and in those temptations. Jared and I earlier were discussing a very famous Christian preacher and apologist who has just recently passed away, and it's come to light that he was not sexually pure. It's a very, very sad circumstance. What did he do?

He caved into the pressures and the temptations, and he was not pure sexually. And so we must think about it in terms of morality, yes, but it's more than that. We must remain pure as we adhere to God's word, no matter what the culture says, in our doctrine, and in our theology. As the people of God, in every way, we must hold true to what God's word says, and anything from the culture that comes against God's word, we must push that aside. We live in a day when many churches are going the way of the culture.

Many churches are adopting this social justice gospel, and the woke gospel, and so many other things, and some of you might not even know what those things are, but it is our job as pastors and elders of the church to protect you from that. Why? Because we have to stay pure. We have to stay undefiled from what the world would do to the gospel and the work of the church. See, this covers a broad range of things. And so Daniel was pure. He was undefiled. He would not violate what God's word says.

So as we venture into 2021, we must renew our commitment to purity, purity according to God's word and God's standards, purity in morality and sexuality, yes, but yet purity in anything that would contradict God's word. Second, I want us to see that he was a true witness. We see that Daniel, really Daniel and his friends, they were a true witness. Turn over to chapter two with me, really towards the end of chapter two. I want us to read verses 27 and 28, Daniel chapter two, chapter two, verse 27 and 28.

And Daniel answered the king and he said, "No wise men, enchanters, magicians, or astrologers can show the king the mystery that the king has asked them." Now I will explain this as we continue. Verse 28. "But there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries and he is made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the later days. Your dream and the visions of your head as you lay in the bed are these." Here we see that Daniel found himself in a very unique way. He was in a very unique situation. The king, the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar has a dream.

And the king would usually allow his sorcerers, his magicians, these magicians and enchanters to interpret his dreams. But this time the king required them to tell him his dream and to give the interpretation as well. And of course they couldn't do it. Daniel goes to the king, he goes to the king's officials and declares that he could tell the king his dream and that he can interpret his dream thus sparing the lives of the sorcerers and those magicians and those enchanters. Go read the rest of the story. But I want us to see how he was a witness. I want us to see how he was a true witness of the one true God.

He witnessed first with his actions. He witnessed first with his actions. Remember earlier, what did the king see in Daniel and his friends? Holiness. Earlier with the food and the defilement with food, they stood true to what God's word said. So they had a strong witness with their actions first and foremost and then he witnessed with his words here in chapter 2. Daniel was a bold witness through the circumstances which God had ordained for him. Daniel came before the king not on his behalf but on God's behalf. And so Daniel was a witness with his actions first long before he was a witness with his words.

And that was so very important and we need to see that. He was a witness with his words yes, but his witness with his actions came first and that validated his witness with his words. And for us, as we're about to step into the new year, we must be a witness to the lost world around us. All around us are lost people. Our neighbors are lost. Family members are lost. The lady that you encounter at the grocery store, she is lost. The man or the woman that you encounter in your workplace, they are lost and they are in need of Christ. And we must determine to be a witness for Christ. Oh, but we've got a witness with our deeds first.

We've got a witness with how we live first before we can ever witness with our words. I think I've shared this story before, but I remember years ago when I was working in full-time construction. Years ago when I was in full-time ministry before and I stepped out of full-time ministry, I got a job with a contractor doing carpenter work. And I'll never forget we were on a roof doing some work and there were some subcontractors there. There were electricians there, sure. And they were plumbers there, I'm sure. And I know they were roofers there.

And we were on the roof doing some carpenter work while the roofers were over there doing roofing work. And I'll never forget one of the men on the roofing crew heard that I was a pastor. And he said, "Oh, I know what kind of preacher you are. I know how you live. Oh, if you hit your finger with a hammer, I know what kind of words you're going to say." And he began to degrade me and talk about how I was a living contradiction to say, "I know who you are. I know what you'll do. I know how you'll live." I didn't say anything. One of the guys that I worked with spoke up and said, "No, he didn't live like that. I've known him a long time.

He didn't live like that. I've worked with him for over a year. He didn't live like that." And I had witnessed that fellow carpenter. I'd shared the gospel with him as he had watched me live. And I didn't have to defend myself. Oh, a coworker who was a lost pagan defended me to the other lost pagan. You see? I had lived it. I had lived it in my works and in my deeds. I think about years ago before I went into the ministry. When I was a layman in my home church of Highland Baptist Church in Laurel, there was a group of us that leased a piece of land, and we deer hunted together. It was a good thing.

We would deer hunt on Saturdays and at different times. And all of the guys we went to church together. I'll never forget there was a guy deer hunting with us. And later he came to faith in Christ. And he testified publicly. He said, "You know, I would go deer hunting with these guys, and they live for God at the deer camp, just like they live for God here at church." And he talked about how we live, not what we said. See? We were witnessing with our deeds first and how could we ever witness with our words? So in 2021, let's make sure that we witness with our actions first.

We must first truly live the Christian life, and we must first love sinners and serve sinners, and then we can verbally be that true witness. And then third, I want us to see that he or they worship at all cost. I want us to see that they, that would have been Daniel and his friends, they worship at all cost. Let's turn over to chapter 3. I want us to read a couple of verses in chapter 3, starting in verse 9. I'll back up to verse 8, on down to verse 12. "Therefore at the certain time, Chaldeans came forward and maliciously accused the Jews. They declared to King Nebuchadnezzar, O King, live forever.

You, O King, have made a decree that every man who hears the sound of the horn, of the pipe, the lyre, the trigon, the harp, the bagpipe, every kind of musical instrument, shall fall down and worship the golden image. And whoever does not fall down and worship, shall be cast into the burning fiery furnace. There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O King, pay no attention to you.

They do not serve your gods, little G, or worship the golden image that you have set up." Chapter 3, chapter 6, see here in these verses are probably two of the most famous Bible stories that we know. The story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, we know that story. What? They were thrown into the fiery furnace. And then the other famous story, the story of Daniel, being thrown into the lions then. We see this later on in the account. Now we learned these Bible verses growing up, probably in vacation Bible school or Sunday school. But I want us to look into these verses and I want us to see how these men worship at all cost.

If we look at verse 4 and 5, we see a declaration. We see a declaration. That's earlier in the chapter. "In the herald proclaimed aloud, you are commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages, that when you hear the sound of the horn, the pipe, the lyre, all of the different kinds of musical instruments, you are to fall down and worship the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up." See, there was a declaration in the land that they were to worship this handmade golden image God, little G. But then we have a risk.

Because verse 5 says, "And whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into the fiery furnace." They took a risk. And then we see the obedience. We read that earlier in verse 8 all the way down to verse 12. So there was a declaration in the land. There was a risk. If you didn't worship the golden image, you would be thrown into the fiery furnace, but they were obedient. These three young men would not bow down. They wouldn't worship the image that the king had made. They were being obedient to the law of God. Exodus 20 verse 3 says that they were to have no gods, little G, before God, big G. Now, a question.

We see Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego mention, but Daniel is not mentioned. We really don't know where he was. We know that they were administrators under the king, and Daniel was there in the king's court. Daniel had always been a leader, but we don't find him in this situation. But this standard was a part of Daniel's life. And we will see this reality as we continue. But for us, as we're staring at 2021, we must see that we must be faithful. See, they worshiped, did they not? And we must be faithful in our worship. Now, we must be faithful in worship in two ways.

First of all, in our personal worship, in our own Bible reading, in our own prayer, really in everything that we're studying in the life of the church, what we're studying on Sunday mornings, what we're studying in small groups, what we're studying on Wednesday nights, we must be faithful in our personal worship and devotion to God. But then second, we must be faithful in our corporate worship. Hebrews 10, verse 24 and 25 says, "And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and to good works." That's written to the local church. What do we see the writer of Hebrews saying?

Let's consider how we can join together and we can stir one another up to good works in the church and out of the church. Verse 25, "Not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near." What's the point? Being faithful to corporately gathering together. Now, at this point, I think it would be good for us to ask a rhetorical question or two. What hinders us in our worship? What could be hindering us in our personal worship? What could be hindering us in our corporate worship?

Personally, could too much social media be hindering you and distracting you in your personal worship? Could too much devotion to hobby and all that time we want to spend on ourselves, could that be hurting our personal worship? Could too much television be hurting our personal worship? See, the list can go on and on. Could you just be this? You're just too busy. You've let yourself get too busy. But what about corporate worship? Could you be allowing your job to keep you away from corporate worship too much? This is one that might surprise you. Could it be family that pulls you away and keeps you away from corporate worship?

You know, there are a lot of people, they have family and family needs, and that family just always happens to have a need on Sunday. Could we be treating Sunday like any other day, like it's a Saturday? See, all across America, for most Americans, Sunday is just another Saturday. But we've learned it's not. It's the Lord's Day. So as we step into 2021, we must make sure that we are faithful to worship. And see, folks, when we come back, when we come back after the holiday, we must dive right into small group, we must plug right into Wednesday nights, we must be faithful in our personal worship, in our corporate worship at all costs.

And last time I checked, I don't think any of us are taking the risks that these men took. Well, let's move on. I want us to see fourth, he was truthful in tough circumstances. We see that Daniel, he was truthful in difficult or tough circumstances. I want to start turning over to chapter four. And I want to read a couple of verses here. I want to read a couple of verses, verse 19, and then just verse 27. Obviously, I'll refer to a lot of what's happening here. Verse 19, "Then Daniel, whose name was Belshazzar, was dismayed for a while, and his thoughts alarmed him.

The king answered and said, Belshazzar, let not the dream or the interpretation of the dream alarm you. And then Belshazzar answered and said, 'My Lord, may the dream be for those who hate you and its interpretation for your enemies.'" Now, there's a lot going on here, and I will explain. And then verse 27, "Therefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable to you. Break off your sins by practicing righteousness and your iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed and there may perhaps be a lengthening of your prosperity." Now, here, Daniel is in another set of difficult circumstances. The king has had another dream.

He has had another dream, and he must interpret that dream. But here's the situation. Daniel does not want to give the king the interpretation. We can see from the text that Daniel was apprehensive in giving the king the interpretation of the king. But in the end, Daniel did give the king the interpretation of that dream. And this was all about God's divine judgment. You see, that's what was happening with the dream. This was divine judgment on King Nebuchadnezzar for his pride and for taking credit for all that God had done for him. Now, notice a few specifics here. Daniel was alarmed by the interpretation. We see that in verse 19.

Now, why was this the case? Daniel was close to Nebuchadnezzar. He had served under King Nebuchadnezzar for many years, and he had been greatly used for God during those years. So he was alarmed by this interpretation. And then also, Daniel was sorry for the interpretation. We see that in verse 19. What does Daniel say? "If only this applied to your enemies." And then Daniel was ultimately truthful to the king. We see that in verse 27. Now, what could have been the king's reaction? What could Nebuchadnezzar have done to Daniel? Daniel did risk losing a friendship, but ultimately he risked losing his life.

Remember, Nebuchadnezzar was the king. He had authority and power to take life. But Daniel was truthful even when it cost him. He lived in security, really in great privilege there in the palace. And he was also being used by God, but Daniel had to be truthful no matter the circumstances, no matter the cost, no matter if it cost him his life. He had to be truthful. Now, for us, we have 2021 right here. And you know what that means? Tax season's right around the corner. I mean, it's right around the corner unless you just wait until the last minute like some do. But a question here, will we be truthful on our taxes?

Will we be totally honest when it comes to dealing with the IRS? That's just one example. And see, for all of us, there are thousands of circumstances and opportunities where we can be honest or dishonest. Oh, we can be honest or dishonest on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. And see, we must be truthful people. Truthful people. I thought about a young man that I knew years ago just because of time and living in a different city. I've lost contact with this young man, but I'll never forget when this young man came to faith in Christ, all of a sudden he came to a crisis of truthfulness.

You see, prior to coming to Christ, he'd been pretty much an alcoholic. And one night when he was drinking and he was riding down an old country road, he ran over someone, a man on a bicycle, and he killed him. He ended up there at the hospital, and I don't know how they did it, but somehow they lied to the authorities and the young man didn't admit that he was driving. They stated that his father was driving so he could get his son out of the jam. But years later when this young man came to faith in Christ, he knew he had to be truthful. He had to go to the authorities, and he did. He could tell his wife, "I might not come back.

They might put me in jail. I could go to prison for manslaughter or murder or whatever." But he had to be truthful. But you know, I think about a man that I've known from way back, and he just happened to have some conflict in the life of the church. You know, he didn't see eye to eye with some folks in the life of the church. And rather than work things out and rather than extending grace, what did he do? He pulled back. He had a conflict, and he wasn't honest, and he wasn't truthful, and he wasn't gracious, and he wasn't kind, and he lives with brothers in a way in which he should not. See, a truthful circumstance or untruthful.

And I give you those two illustrations to show you that we have a myriad of circumstances that come our way, and we're testing whether or not we're going to be truthful or not. Do we fudge the clock when we go into work? Do we lie to our boss? Do we take things that we shouldn't take from work? See, truthfulness and dishonesty, we have those choices all around. So in 2021, we must determine to be truthful people. And you know, maybe you need to write an untruthful circumstance from 2020. Maybe a part of 2021 is becoming truthful about something that you weren't truthful about back in 2020.

Fifth, I want us to see that Daniel, he was strong in prayer. We see that he was strong in prayer. Just one verse, one verse, chapter 6 and verse 10. When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, we're going to discuss what that means. He went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber or upper room open toward Jerusalem. See, they always yearned to go back home. And then it says he got down on his knees three times a day and he prayed and he gave thanks before his God as he had done previously. See, when we get into chapter 6, things have changed. When we get into chapter 6, we see that a lot has changed.

See, the Babylonians were ultimately conquered by another power. They were conquered by the Persians and the Persians were led by King Darius. King Darius had set up governors and he had set up three commissioners over the governors and Daniel became one of the three commissioners. See the high place he had with another king? And Daniel immediately began serving successfully Darius just like he did King Nebuchadnezzar and just like before God was with him and God gave him success under another pagan king. But again, he found himself in a crisis of decision.

The commissioners, those governors, they came to Darius and they urged him to sign into a law that no person could pray to any God other than Darius. All these kings had a God complex, did they not? And if they did, they would face what? Death in the lion's den. Now notice how the situation revealed Daniel's devotion to prayer. Really, the situation revealed his devotion to God. We see that he prayed even when he risked his life. He knew the law had been signed. Isn't that what we saw at the beginning of the verse? He knew that the document had been signed.

So he risked his life when he went into his prayer chamber and he prayed just like he had always prayed. Verse 10 says that he had always prayed. This was like he had done previously. So Daniel was a man of prayer. And see, prayer was his connection not just to Jerusalem, not just to back home. Prayer was his connection to God. He stayed connected to the one true God. And for Daniel, he stayed connected to God in prayer, and this was not an option. Now for us, we need to ask ourselves a question. How is our prayer life? Is our prayer life weak? Is our prayer life weak? If our prayer life is weak, then our connection to God is weak.

You see, prayer is our communion with God. Prayer is our connection with God. Prayer is our time with God. I wrote it down this way. Prayer is a two-way exercise, but really it's more than a two-way exercise. It is us bringing our petitions to God, yes. But prayer is also our submission to God, yes. But also prayer is God working in our hearts and in our minds and us wrestling with God and his will and our desires. See where it's so much? I remember years ago, my wife and I went through one of those marriage books. Some of them are good, and some of them are not so good.

But I remember we went through one of those, and the book talked about having a love language. You know, we have these love languages. Some have the love language of gifts. Some have the love language of service. I don't know all the love languages. My love language isn't gifts. My wife's love language isn't gifts. To be honest with you, at birthday and holidays, we just discuss what we're going to get. And it really doesn't matter if I get a gift or she gets a gift. But oh, my wife's love language is time. See, if we get too busy, my wife wants time.

What she's wanting to do is she's saying, "Look, let's put everything on hold, and I just need your time." And it doesn't have to mean that we're going to go out to eat and spend a lot of money over a nice, expensive meal. No, we could just go to Walmart. She just wants time. And what she's really saying is this. I want connection, and I want to talk, and I want to share, and I want to hear from you, and I want you to hear from me. You see? And that's what prayer is. Prayer is our communion with God, and it is our connection with God.

It is us bringing our petitions to God, yes, but it is us in submission to God, submitting to His Lordship, God working in our hearts and in our minds as we pray over His Word and what we're learning at church. Prayer is so much. And look, folks, that should be our love language. Daniel was strong in prayer. And you know, maybe for 2021, we need to let Daniel remind us and show us. We need to knock off the rust and recommit our lives to true prayer. Maybe we've just got a little bit too busy. And then sixth, this last characteristic, I want us to see that Daniel served God constantly.

Now, I want us to look at a few verses here at the end of chapter 6, really starting in verse 19. This is after he had been thrown into the lion's den. Now, notice what happens. Then at daybreak, the king arose, and he went in haste to the den of lions. And as he came near to the den where Daniel was, he cried out in a tone of anguish. See, he's heartbroken. The king declared to Daniel, "Oh, Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God whom you serve continuously been able to deliver you from the lions?" Then Daniel said to the king, "Oh, king, live forever.

My God said His angel to shut the lion's mouths, and they did not harm me, but I was found blameless before Him, and also before you, oh, king. I have done you." It's not in the text, but that's what he's saying. "I have done no harm to you." Of course, we know what happened to Daniel. We know the story. He was thrown into the lion's den, but God protected him, and God haunted King Darius. The king was deeply disturbed that he had been tricked by his officials, but his hands were tied. His hands were tied by the law that he had signed, and he was not able to eat or sleep because he knew what had happened to Daniel. This was all a sham.

But notice how we see how Daniel served God continuously, constantly, consistently. The pagan king said that Daniel served God constantly. Isn't that what the verse said? He cried out and said, "You serve God continually, consistently, constantly." That's what he said. And you know, specifically, think about it. The Word of God said that Daniel served constantly through the mouth of a pagan king. You see that? In one way, the Word doesn't say it, but yet in another way, the Word does say it because it records that Darius said it. So we see that Daniel had what I call reputation and character.

I borrowed this years ago, and I've kind of made it my own. Reputation is what others say about you. Why character is what God says about you. Now, what did Darius say about Daniel? He said, "You serve God constantly, continuously, consistently." Well, what does God's Word say about Daniel? Daniel served constantly. God is saying here through Darius that he served him consistently. So his reputation was of godliness, and his character was of serving consistently in godliness. And we must see that God desires our service. In 2021, as this new year is coming, we must serve. Now, the question is where? Where do we serve? Now, think about this.

Athletes, they serve, and they serve in the arena of their competition. Well, where do football players serve? They serve on the field, the gridiron. Where do basketball players serve? They serve there on the court, on the hardwood. Now, where do baseball players serve? They serve on the field, on the diamond. Do they not? Well, Christians serve in the church. First in the church, that is our arena, our field. I'll never forget years ago, I ministered to this family. And you know, this family were hit and miss. They came to church some and didn't come to church.

But you know, any time they miss, they covered over their activity with spiritual excuses. Oh, they would go camping. Oh, they would go fishing. Or they would always have these family excursions. And they had all of this high and mighty language. Oh, we're having a Bible study with our family. Oh, we're having great family worship. And see, they would cover over their activity with spiritual excuses. You see, the problem is this, that's not biblical. What does Hebrew say? "Don't forsake the assembling of the gather." I don't care if you have a family camp out and you study the Bible, be consistent to God's church. That's where you serve.

You know, when we come in the life of a local church, we have our natural gifts. We have our natural abilities. We have our resources. We have opportunities when we bring all of that to serve in the local church. I said this a few weeks ago. If you see that the floor is dirty, you might see that the floor is dirty because you have a natural ability to clean it. But then we come with our spiritual gifts. And there are always needs and opportunities in the life of the church. And we come and we want to serve. You know, I am reminded of my service in the church and how I look at my driver's license.

Yeah, I just renewed my driver's license and so I was reminded of my service. See, when I look at my driver's license, I see that I have a CDL license. Well, that goes way back. See, when I was a layman in the life of the church, we had a need in the life of our church. The youth pastor wasn't old enough to get the CDL license to drive the bus. So I raised my hand. I said, "I'll do it." I went and took the test. I got the CDL license and I drove the bus all over creation for people in the life of the local church. And you know what? I got a blessing out of that.

I was serving the Lord, driving that bus, on mission trips and all kind of activities. I was serving. And you might say, "That's no big deal." Oh, it was a big deal. And so whatever we do, see, we must serve in the life of the local church. We bring our gifts, our abilities, our resources, our opportunities, and then our spiritual gifts. We see that in 1 Corinthians 12, and we pour our lives in service constantly in the life of the church. And as we step into 2021, we must step into the new year as servants. Remember what we studied in Philippians 2.5? What is Paul saying to that Philippian church?

There was some bickering going on, a little party spirit going on. What does he say? "Have this attitude in yourselves," which was in Christ Jesus. What was Christ's attitude? He was a slave. He humbled himself and left heaven and came all the way down to be a slave and then ultimately died. So we had that attitude to be a slave. And if we have that slave attitude, we'll serve constantly. Now, as I conclude, I want to summarize everything that I have shared in six words.

Right now is when you probably think, "Well, Pastor, why don't you just give me the six words at the beginning, and we could have cut this thing by about five minutes," and that was it. No, the six words come out of everything that we've studied, really, and then some, because I left a lot there for you to study. Go back and study Daniel chapter 1 all the way to chapter 6, and study and look at what we see in the life of Daniel. Chances are, if you study it thoroughly, you're going to see something that I missed. Good. Now, here are our six words. Purity, witness, worship, truthfulness, prayer, service. Write them down.

Put them on a Post-it note. I'm old-fashioned. See, I still use Post-it notes in my study. Put them on your computer screen, on your phone background. I mean, put them somewhere in a prominent place and memorize them. You know, we have certain things around our house as reminders, and what I'm showing you is this. We need to make these six words a part of our life. They were characteristics of Daniel. They were a part of his life. They were what he did. They were who he was. You see? Purity. Yes, sexual purity, but purity from the world as it relates to the word. We want to be pure as we obey the word and reject the world. Witness.

We've got to witness with our actions and with our words. Worship. We've got to worship personally and corporately. Truthfulness. We must be truthful people. Prayer. We must be in communion with God and service. We pour our lives into the local church. So the new year, was it five days? 2021. We'll still write 2020. If you're like me and you still write an old fashioned check every now and then, you might even write 2019. We have those brain cramps, but see, we're jumping right into the new year, 2021, and we must live faithfully in our Babylon.

And if we will work hard to make these six things characteristics in our life, what we do, listen, I've got to believe that we can step into the year victorious and live the year victorious. So what have we seen? A challenge for the new year. I call this living faithfully, faithful to God, living faithfully in Babylon. And the challenge is that we would live faithful in our Babylon, living faithfully to our Lord.