Centennial Park Baptist Church – Sunday November 15^th, 2009 – 10:30 am

DESCENT INTO THE DEN

Daniel 6: 1-10

¹It seemed good to Darius to appoint 120 satraps over the kingdom, that they would be in charge of the whole kingdom,  ²and over them three commissioners (of whom Daniel was one), that these satraps might be accountable to them, and that the king might not suffer loss.  ³Then this Daniel began distinguishing himself among the commissioners and satraps because he possessed an extraordinary spirit, and the king planned to appoint him over the entire kingdom.  ⁴Then the commissioners and satraps began trying to find a ground of accusation against Daniel in regard to government affairs; but they could find no ground of accusation or evidence of corruption, inasmuch as he was faithful, and no negligence or corruption was to be found in him.  ⁵Then these men said, "We will not find any ground of accusation against this Daniel unless we find it against him with regard to the law of his God."  ⁶Then these commissioners and satraps came by agreement to the king and spoke to him as follows: "King Darius, live forever!

⁷"All the commissioners of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the high officials and the governors have consulted together that the king should establish a statute and enforce an injunction that anyone who makes a petition to any god or man besides you, O king, for thirty days, shall be cast into the lions' den.  ⁸"Now, O king, establish the injunction and sign the document so that it may not be changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which may not be revoked."  ⁹Therefore King Darius signed the document, that is, the injunction. ¹⁰Now when Daniel knew that the document was signed, he entered his house (now in his roof chamber he had windows open toward Jerusalem); and he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God, as he had been doing previously.

I The MOTIVES of the governors

* JEALOUSY

“Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy?” Proverbs 27: 4

* FEAR

* GREED

II The MANNER of the governors

* Intense Scrutiny

* Ingenious Proposal – The governors focuses on:

- An area of Daniel’s life that would never change

- A system of law which nobody could alter

III The MORALITY of Daniel

* A consistent PERFORMANCE

* A consistent PURITY

* A consistent POWER

Daniel lived before the coming of Christ to earth, before the Crucifixion and Resurrection, before the Pentecost and before the Indwelling of the Holy Spirit in all believers. He had a very close relationship with God.

The “secret” of his first 3 consistencies ( above ) lay in the final “P”:

* A consistent PRAYER LIFE

Final verse in Daniel Chapter 1: 21 “ and Daniel continued…..”

The message - To be Continued……….

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