Good morning! Grace and peace to you from Jesus who is, who was, and who is to come!  He is the bread of life, the spring of living water, the Word of God incarnate, the Good shepherd who gave his life for the sheep. He is the crucified and risen One who continually intercedes for us before the Father.  That means he prays for us – and he’s praying for us right now!

 

Hebrew 7:25 says “Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.” Heb 7:25 

 

So what’s he praying for?  To find the answer we need to look at who Jesus is and what he has done.  Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world – that means our sin. Jesus prayed from the cross, “Father, forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing.”  The only thing between us and the holy wrath of God is his blood and his intercession on our behalf.

 

How did you do with keeping the 10 commandments this week?  You know, that stuff about “I am the Lord your God, you shall have no other gods before me?” 

 

Or “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.”  Or “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy?”

How about the stuff about honoring our elders, sharing with our neighbor, keeping our thought life pure and moral, not lying or being dishonest, not coveting our neighbor’s stuff? 

 

I didn’t do very well. In fact, when I thought about it - I broke every commandment multiple times everyday.  Jesus took the Pharisees to task, not because of what they did or didn’t do but because they used their piety to cover up and deny their absolute depravity before God.

 

The cross was no joke. We dare not dismiss what God has done on our behalf. The cross is a stark reminder that unless God acts on our behalf, we are all lost under the holy wrath of God.

 

But God loved us so much that he sent his One and Only Son, and Jesus loved us so much that he emptied himself and came. He took our sin upon himself and carried it to the cross. And he this morning he is interceding for us. He continually prays for us that we will turn from our sin and trust the cross alone for our salvation.

 

With that in mind, let’s open our Bibles to this marvelous story of Daniel and the lions’ den.  Daniel chapter 6.  Daniel is in his mid-80’s.  Yet he is one of 3 administrators over the huge bureaucracy of the Medo-Persian empire. His job is to clean up and prevent corruption – people bilking the system to cheat the king and build their own little kingdoms.

 

Vs 3 “Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrator and the satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom.”  Dan 6:3

 

Dealing with an honest man can be good or bad.  You want to buy a used car from an honest man.  But do you want the same honest man to sell that clunker in your driveway? People liked doing business with Daniel because they could trust him, but they didn’t like the fact that he wouldn’t participate in their scams! It’s called duplicity, opposite of integrity! 

Now Daniel’s integrity was putting a serious crimp in the action of some of these bureaucrats. So they hatch a scheme, to destroy him. They know they won’t have any luck charging him with fraud or treason or dereliction of duty.  So they attack his devotion to the LORD.

 

Note that:  Daniel’s life isn’t being threatened because of what he’s doing wrong, but because of what he’s doing right. Sounds like what happened to Jesus. Sounds like what Jesus promised would happen to us if we are willing to live lives of integrity and holiness before God.

 

Daniel wasn’t perfect – he made no claim to being perfect.  But there was no pretense, no falsehood in Daniel. Let’s look at what the Proverbs have to say about integrity…

 

The conspirators trick the king into proclaiming an edict that anyone caught praying to any god except the king will be thrown in a den of hungry lions – and the king, not discerning the evil intent behind their plot, signs the edict into law.

 

When Daniel hears that the edict has been signed, he refuses to be intimidated.  He returns to his bedroom, falls on his creaky old knees and prays 3 times a day, just as he always has. 

 

What does he pray for?  He begins with thanksgiving and praise.  And then he asks the Lord for help to faithfully perform his duties.  He probably prays for the king, the nation and even for his enemies. He prays for forgiveness for his sins. He prays for Jerusalem and that the Lord would soon return his people. I doubt if there was ever much “poor me” stuff in his prayers.

 

It isn’t hard for the spies to catch Daniel in the act.  The evidence is gathered and Daniel finds himself accused of treason and thrown before the king.  The king is in a dilemma.  If he frees Daniel, he breaks his own law. If he condemns Daniel, he loses his best advisor and friend.

 

The king can see right through the monkey trial that had been set up but he is powerless to stop it.  Daniel, it appears, says nothing in his own defense. He trusts the Lord to intercede.

 

Then an amazing thing takes place. Just before Daniel is thrown into the hole in the floor where the lions were held, lions by the way that were accustom to feasting on human flesh, the king says to his 80 year old friend, “May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!”

 

Obviously, the integrity of Daniel’s life has touched this king’s heart.  The stone lid is dropped over the mouth of the den and the king secures it with a wax seal. He made the accusers seal it as well. Evidently he didn’t want these creepy guys helping the lions!

 

That night the king couldn’t sleep. Early in the morning, at the first light of dawn, the king hurries to the den. Sound familiar? “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?”

Can you imagine the thrill in King Darius’ heart to hear his old friend’s voice – “O king, my God sent his angel and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, O king.”

The story ends with the destruction of those who conspired to destroy Daniel. So what are we to take from this story?  Let’s compare Daniel to the conspirators.

But there is an even greater point here. Daniel would be appalled if we were to come away from this story believing that it was Daniel’s righteousness that saved him. All of Scripture points to one great truth…  

 

We are in bondage to sin and cannot save ourselves. There is only one degree of sinful and we all qualify. Our depravity before God is deeper than we can imagine. But we have a savior who is greater than our sin. It is only through his blood and his cross that we are set free from the lion’s den of God’s righteous judgment. Will we like old Daniel, humble ourselves and get on our knees, moment by moment, day by day and confess our sin, and ask for God’s help.

 

Let’s read again from 1 Peter.

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.  Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.  To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen. 1 Peter 5:6-11