Standing in the Power of Christ

[0:00] Well, do turn, if you would, to Daniel chapter 6, which is a chapter all about standing in the power of Christ.

[0:16] With this chapter we come to the end of the first half of the book of Daniel, the part of the book that deals with the stories of Daniel and his comrades in Babylon and of the kings and the powers that they rub shoulders with.

[0:32] And so in a sense this chapter marks a transition. But don't forget that until the end of chapter 7 we're still within one coherent section of the book, chapters 2 to 7, that are written in a different language from the rest of the book, that are written in Aramaic, not Hebrew.

[0:52] And so this little section is a carefully arranged book within a book. And when we remember that it helps us to get the message more clearly. First of all, remember Aramaic was the lingua franca of the world in that day.

[1:06] It was the language everybody spoke. And so this section of the book in particular is shouting its message to the whole world for everybody to hear.

[1:17] It's saying listen. It's saying learn about God Most High, the one true and living God. And remember the bookends, chapter 2 and chapter 7, are the two visions that surround the stories in between.

[1:32] And they force us to look up to the big story, not just to focus on the individual dramas of the stories in the chapters in between.

[1:44] And of course the big story is that the God of heaven is sovereign. Remember chapter 2? He changes times and seasons. He removes kings and he sets up kings.

[1:59] And he is even now setting up a kingdom that will never be shaken. There is a war raging in the heavenly realms. We are going to come to that very particularly in chapters 9 and 10.

[2:11] But the outcome of that war is not in doubt. The kingdom will be established. Remember chapter 2 verse 44? The God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed.

[2:26] Chapter 7 echoes the same message even louder. Chapter 7 verse 18. The saints of the Most High God shall receive the kingdom. And they will possess the kingdom forever and forever.

[2:39] So we mustn't ever forget that in the midst of the struggles in the here and now. But nor must we forget that the war in the heavenly realms to establish God's kingdom is a battle that's going to be played out in every age on planet earth.

[2:59] The winds of war in the heavenly realms blow on the earth and they surround the real life experiences of God's people and of the enemies of God's people.

[3:12] And that's what we see in chapters 3 to 6 in between. And the center two chapters, chapters 4 and 5 that we've just looked at, of course, are the stories of two pagan kings and their encounter when they come face to face with the God of heaven.

[3:28] And we discover that even those who seem to have the world at their fingertips, even for them their future is entirely determined by their reaction when they are faced with the God of heaven.

[3:44] Either you humble yourself before the Most High God, you bow to Him who is God in heaven like Nebuchadnezzar, or you refuse like Belshazzar who knew it all but refused to humble his heart and therefore was found wanting, was judged by God.

[4:06] The winds of war blow across the enemies of God's people but also, of course, they blow across God's people themselves, the saints of the Most High. They too are not spared the hostility of a world that is at odds with its creator.

[4:20] And so there are real threats to them that come from these earthly powers and there are real battles for them to be fought and there always will be and there will always be stands to be made.

[4:35] Now we all know that only too well, don't we? Our lives are full of battles all the time, battles without, conflicts that we face in the world and battles within, with our own sin.

[4:46] And that's why we need to remember this big picture. That's why we need to remember that God is on the throne. That He is in control.

[4:57] Whatever sinister powers seem to be in the ascendancy in this world, never forget to look up and realize that God Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men.

[5:09] And it's a great message of encouragement to Christian believers. Take courage, says God. Do not fear. Stand firm in this knowledge and trust in God whose plans and purposes cannot be thwarted, cannot be frustrated.

[5:27] It's a huge message of encouragement. But of course at the same time it's also, isn't it, a message of warning to those who oppose God. Do fear. Do be worried.

[5:40] Don't stand against God. You can stand against Him, but you cannot stand against Him and win. And that's what we see played out in the stories in chapter 3 that we've already looked at, the fiery furnace, and chapter 6, as God's people stand firm for God in the midst of great hostility.

[6:02] There are many similarities between this chapter here, chapter 6, and chapter 3, and yet there are also differences. For one thing, that was a story of youth.

[6:13] The three men were probably young men. But in this chapter, chapter 6, Daniel is now at the very least in his 70s and very probably in his mid-80s. And we discover that all the trials of faith are not yet over, even for a man in his 80s.

[6:31] In fact, it seems that this is the greatest trial that Daniel has ever had to face. And here, the pressure and the temptation is not to a sin that he will not commit.

[6:42] It's not temptation to bow down to the statue on the plains of Jura, as it was in chapter 3. But rather, it's temptation about a positive duty that he is tempted to omit, just to continue his lifelong, faithful service of God.

[7:01] His daily life is going to put him at odds with the law of the land. And so, if chapter 3 was perhaps especially a word of great challenge to the young people, well, here's a great challenge tonight to those of us, well, how shall I say it, more senior members of the congregation.

[7:19] Because this is a story about a man in his 80s and about keeping faithful right to the very end. But of course, if you want to be in your 80s, the kind of person that is able to stand as Daniel stood, then we mustn't leave it to our 80s, must we?

[7:41] It's something that's going to begin right now, whatever age you are, however young you are. And the whole point here is made clear in verse 10.

[7:54] Daniel's entire life had prepared him for this moment. He carries on the pattern of the way he has always been. As one writer says, we don't suddenly become soldiers of Christ in time of battle.

[8:08] Soldiers need long training in the battles of the Lord. So, with that by way of introduction then, let's look at this dramatic chapter under three headings. First, the weakness of the world's power.

[8:22] Then the witness of the believer's prayer. And then the wonder of God's pattern. First of all then, the real weakness of the world's apparently very menacing and controlling power.

[8:38] And that's really the main message of this story as it unfolds for us in verses 1 to 9 and then again in verses 12 to 18 as this whole plot unfolds against Daniel and the way it leads him eventually into the den of lions.

[8:53] It seems as if the power of the world and the demanding laws of this world have absolute power. And it seems that these things totally dwarf the feeble frailty of God's laws and sweep God aside as society and as culture asserts itself over and against the sovereignty of God.

[9:21] It seems like the God of heaven himself and the people of the God of heaven are powerless against the laws of the Medes and the Persians. I guess it often seems like that today doesn't it?

[9:34] Powerfully irrevocable laws of political correctness and public opinion before whom God must flee before whom his church must bow and scrape.

[9:47] In fact it may seem to be like that to us almost all of the time as we live our lives in this 21st century but here's the message of chapter 6 of Daniel it is not so. And this chapter shows us that all such power is ultimately weak and utterly impotent against the spirit of a man who is himself a slave to God's holy law who is possessed by the spirit of the most high God and therefore cannot be possessed cannot be controlled cannot be bought by any other power in this world.

[10:23] The world's powers may look great they may seem terrifying but no they cannot overcome those who are connected with real power the power of God in Christ the power of the world to come the power of the kingdom that will never be destroyed that's the message of this chapter it's a clash of powers and the world's power is weak whatever it may be and however it may seem to us we'll look at verses 1 to 3 it sets the scene doesn't it this is a new chapter for Babylon a new empire has begun a fresh start and the manifest sleaze of the decadent Babylonian empire that we've been reading of in chapter 4 and chapter 5 has given way to a new administration a new leader under Darius the Mede but it seems that the same old problems seem to surface again pretty quickly don't they look at verse 2 the king is worried about corruption in inland revenue he's worried about honesty in his treasury and we know that's true don't we that same old sleaze very quickly gives away to new sleaze so a little while ago it was cash for questions now it's cash for peerages it's just a different version of the same thing and that's apparently what was going on in Babylon and so of course

[11:50] Daniel stands out in the midst of all of this as a tower of integrity he's a man who cannot be bought and it seems that he stood out because there were so few of them like that around and I guess it's again just the same today isn't it very refreshing when they do stand out I mean when you find an MP somebody like Frank Field who is a man of honour and principle and can't be bent or even Tony Ben who is completely bonkers but at the end of the day he is always the same at least you know where you are with him you can't buy Tony Ben can you utterly unpredictable in a predictable sort of way but Daniel stood out and so he's appointed verse 3 says as the chief president he's made the chancellor of the exchequer not because he loaned Darius a million pounds for his leadership campaign but because verse 3 says he recognised that an excellent spirit was in him and we know whose spirit that was don't we of course it was the spirit of the most high the one true

[12:56] God and that's why the king knew he could trust him as chancellor because he was a man of God and we know how important it is that the king or the leader in number 10 can totally trust his chancellor in number 11 don't we the less said about that the better I suppose but nobody in the today program had to quiz the cabinet about the relationship between Daniel and Darius it was absolutely clear everybody knew that Daniel was absolutely straight everybody knew Darius trusted him and everybody knew why because he was a man ruled by the law of God and that's why verse 4 is so inevitable isn't it the presidents and the satraps sought grounds for complaint against Daniel except they can't because he's faithful and honest and it seems to madden them all the more and they realize that it's only going to be by putting a direct challenge to his loyalty to the king and forcing him to choose between loyalty to

[14:05] God and loyalty to the king that's going to trap him and also they know that if they do do that they will trap him because they know that for Daniel no matter what God is always going to come first it's just worth thinking about isn't it if somebody was out to get you or me would it have to be that would you or I be so clearly identified so clearly transparent that we would only be able to be got at that way and that we certainly would be got at that way because we would always always put God first quite a challenging thought isn't it but you see when a life is lived publicly and obviously in the power of the spirit of God when it's shaped in every way by the word of God the law of God then two things are inevitable first you will make real impact on the world in the workplace in society in public life you will be noticed just as

[15:10] Daniel was noticed and your life will bear witness to God that's what happens when you live that way but secondly and just as inevitably there will be conflict because situations will inevitably arise that cause you to choose between your allegiance to God and your allegiance to this world and you know the world and its institutions and its people do not like being made to play second fiddle to God and because of that there will be conflict if you do snub the world if you refuse to make God play second fiddle to the world's claims on you then there will be conflict there always will be that's why Paul when he's writing to Timothy says everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted that's why he says to

[16:13] Timothy especially if your work is in ministry prepared to endure suffering and you see all this political chicanery that we read about in this chapter arises directly out of Daniel's faithfulness to God and out of his fidelity to God's word and so what happens well verses 6 to 9 show us a well-worn tactic of oppressive regimes what do do you do well you pass a law that people of every religion and none can easily accommodate to accept for the true people of the true God and that still goes on today just as blatantly in many parts of the world in some of the ex-Soviet countries even at the moment laws are being passed to force churches to register officially or else lose all their recognition but of course registering officially means that you must do certain things and you cannot do other certain things like evangelize and so the churches that are in bed with the government are quite happily getting on with their lives they have no intention of evangelizing they suck up to the establishment but of course those churches which are gospel churches and seeking to preach the gospel of the kingdom find themselves outlawed so what the law is effectively saying is stop what is at the very heart of your life of faith or else face reprimand stop it and we welcome you and that's just what we have here isn't it bow to the new laws of the Medes and the Persians enacted by the king welcomed no doubt by all the people there's no big deal at all but utterly in conflict with the word of the living

[18:03] God you know it couldn't be more relevant to us in the western world today we live in a pluralist multicultural society just like Babylon we're increasingly rejecting the very idea of moral absolutes of right and wrong of truth and error the only absolute that we have these days and it's becoming a compulsory one is that we have no absolutes so if it's okay for you then it's okay it's no one's place to say that anything could be wrong in itself it's just a matter of personal preference whether it's to do with sexual matters or whether it's to do with ethical issues like abortion or euthanasia or anything else what matters is just what people want what matters is what governments decide so in the in the matter of law and parliament and jurisprudence we're seeing huge shifts taking place once in our nation here and most of the western civilization as a whole free societies were founded on principles of liberty that acknowledged that above all human laws was a higher law the law of

[19:18] God or in terms of jurisprudence natural law and all individual freedoms and indeed all other laws were established with reference to this so for example the American Declaration of Independence talks about it being self-evident that men are born free and have the right to liberty and self-determination and so on self-evident by natural law by the higher law above which there is nothing but increasingly such concepts of an absolute law of God or even a law of nature are being rejected there is no such moral law at all so the only thing that matters is not what is right but what is legal and there can be no universally accepted moral principles and so all that matters is what's called positive law that is man-made law laws that men make according to what men want but you see what a dangerous society that becomes if we think that we can decide to make mere human law the be-all and the end-all and forget about the moral law of God that is always true for all time whether you call it that or whether you call it natural law then we're open to the whims and the follies and worse of governments of lawmakers we're open to the tyranny of political correctness of public opinion that's just exactly what's going on here in Daniel chapter 6 bad men making bad laws and once the king had been persuaded even a king with absolute power couldn't do anything to avert the unforeseen consequences because it seems of the even greater power of public opinion you can't do a u-turn on this oh king you can't upset the political climate not even if it's utterly unjust oh it's the law of the

[21:21] Medes and the Persians we've made those laws up of course he could have repealed it he was the emperor and yet he couldn't because of well the power of flattery and image and concern for credibility and losing face and all of these sorts of things we see it all the time don't we with our politicians just like Herod who was trapped by his own flattery into beheading John the Baptist just like Pilate who wanted to let Jesus go but couldn't although he could and so often that's where this kind of positive law gets you remember where it got Germany in the 1930s German lawyers made laws that said it was legal to murder handicapped people and the mentally ill and gypsies and Jews the Nuremberg trial saw these

[22:22] Nazis trying to defend themselves on those grounds it was legal we were just keeping the law we were obeying the laws of the Medes and the Persians but you see they were convicted weren't they because it was recognized that there is a higher law that makes that kind of heinous thing heinous wicked wrong all the time and that's the issue here you see Daniel knew that there was a higher law a higher throne and there are times and that there are always going to be times when believers know that because of that they must obey God rather than man that's not to say that Christians have a license for fighting for our rights all the time of course not Daniel it seems cooperated at the highest level in the society in which he lived seeking justice and faithfulness and the prosperity and the integrity of the world in which he lived but when the choice is obeying

[23:30] God or bowing to godless tyranny then there is no option for the believer but to obey God and that's true in our society and that will increasingly be true in the professing church in our world as it too imbibes increasingly the postmodern air of pluralism as it becomes more and more reluctant to stand up for the uniqueness of the Lord Jesus Christ the God of heaven and the unique authority of his law his supreme rule of faith and life over against the laws of the Medes and the Persians that we're making up today that's exactly what's going on at this very moment in these issues that are before the church of Scotland general assembly exactly that and we'll be scorned and we'll be hated by others for it we'll be called fundamentalists and other ecclesiastical swear words as Daniel no doubt was by the other Jews it seems the other captives who saw perhaps his stand was unnecessary and troublesome and making life hard for other people oh yes but as Ronnie

[24:46] Wallace says in his commentary here with Daniel therefore it was the old story of a man who cannot avoid a giving offence because he has come under the constraint that what he believes is the final truth exclusive and shattering to every other system that wants to exist alongside it utterly intolerant of the possibility that anything else could claim the same finality he goes on to say when anyone makes this claim for his religion in the world today he's bound to face the same problems as Daniel faced well are you ready to face the same problems Daniel faced but God says let's be encouraged because this story as well as showing us the real malevolence of this world's powers and its nefarious laws nevertheless its great message is actually to expose this world's very real impotence and weakness does the law of the

[25:55] Medes and the Persians triumph over the law of God no it does not it is utterly weak it's utterly unable to do so the law the king enacts with the seal of the Medes and the Persian has power it seems only to paralyze the king himself that's the great irony he's trapped by his own law or at least by his own vanity and hostage to opinion and so on in court and country when we read verse 15 we're supposed to laugh as the proud king hears that he's made himself powerless by his own power it's the law of the Medes and the Persians oh king you've passed it and you've paralyzed yourself it's pathetic you see it's the world's power being shown up for being so weak as it really is but even more importantly the world's powers and laws have no power to break Daniel he does not yield and by verse 17 when he's thrown into the den it is Daniel who has won the great victory just like chapter 3 the king is actually defeated even though here this king at least is full of remorse and so are the satraps although they don't know it yet the one who is totally free and totally at liberty is not the emperor of the world it's not Darius he's hoist on his own petard he's powerless now it's Daniel

[27:25] Daniel who is a slave to God's law he knows God's in control he knows that in his service is perfect freedom Daniel faces up to the lion's den with calm and collected equanimity it's Darius who's running about fearful and depressed you see that brings us to verses 10 and 11 which is the very heart really of this chapter the witness of Daniel's prayer verse 10 bears witness to the fact that Daniel's life and integrity were real because his relationship with God was real and his relationship with God was real because it was staked utterly on God's word of promise on his word of covenant on his gospel you see real faith is a living relationship with God and it's visible in a real trust in God's word of promise and in a real love for God's kingdom above all other things in this world and that's what this verse about Daniel's prayer pays such witness to you see there's vast significance in these words that Daniel's window was always open towards Jerusalem that his prayer was being focused towards that place as his custom always was as one version says as had been his custom since earliest days see it indicates his total trust and his obedience in God's promise his promise to hear and to answer prayer go back and read 1st Kings 8 and see how God would answer prayer to anybody who prayed towards

[29:14] Jerusalem even if they were far away even if they were away in exile praying towards God's temple was being obedient to God's word of promise it indicates dependence upon God in every situation you see Daniel's no fool he knows what's going on he knows he's in danger that's why he makes petition and pleas to God he's utterly depending upon him it also indicates his submission to God's sovereign will he's giving thanks in all circumstances that the first thing that you do when disaster strikes and you get down on your knees to pray is it not usually the first thing I do when suddenly you discover you've got a sickness you've lost your job or something else is happening do you get down on your knees and give thanks to the God of heaven you see Daniel is indicating his submission to God's sovereign will for every part of his life but above all

[30:20] Daniel's prayer towards Jerusalem shows that it is love for God and love for his kingdom and the progress and the glory of his kingdom that is absolutely at the very heart of Daniel's life it doesn't matter what the circumstances are what matters to him is God's Jerusalem the place where God dwells on earth Jerusalem is joy and delight Jerusalem is where his heart is and despite the current dire situation of Jerusalem which is broken down and its walls falling apart despite all of that he knows that God is building his kingdom he knows God will continue to build a kingdom that will have no end and that overshadows everything for Daniel whatever the discomfort whatever the danger whatever the disaster he is about to face his window is open towards

[31:21] Jerusalem he is praying thy kingdom come thy will be done that's what matters to Daniel you see verse 10 is a witness to real living faith in the heart of this man it's the kind of faith that James speaks about in James chapter 2 faith you can see not just words but actions it's a life that is lived 100% for the progress of the city of God the kingdom of God the gospel of God that's what this crisis reveals about Daniel and crises are very revealing things aren't they in our lives crises reveal true priorities don't they if a death threat is on you because of faith in God what do you do do you hide your allegiance to God and try and save your skin or do you honor God and his kingdom continually above all and so save your soul just another way of saying is the gospel really dictating your life and witness in every part whatever the circumstances or are you allowing the circumstances of life to shape your gospel witness two opposite things aren't they do the windows of your heart stay firmly open towards

[32:54] Jerusalem despite times of struggle times of cost times when a real stand is called for do they or do they get closed at least in public maybe just for a little while for 30 days or so until the dust settles plenty of time later on for making a stand is it that because you know the thing is windows that don't get opened very much have a habit of getting stuck closed don't they very hard to get them open again and that can happen can't it in Christian people can happen in Christian churches too the windows are quietly closed just for a time perhaps in a crisis but they never open again crisis you see reveals true priorities and the crisis reveals true character crises don't create character but they reveal the character that's been there all along that's been growing and developing

[34:00] Daniel was in his 80s but of course this stand all began back in chapter 1 verse 8 when at the age of 14 he would not defile himself for the king's meat and his life had been lived daily weekly yearly on that principle ever since this stand was just revealing what was true and had become true all through his life and by the way it's when we get to chapter 6 verse 10 that Daniel actually enters the real lion's den a den that's far more ferocious than the one he ends up in in verse 16 see verse 10 implies that this is an ongoing process of days or even weeks verse 13 has the enemy saying Daniel is still doing this three times a day you see he's going on and on days and weeks perhaps of testing and temptation knowing that the secret police were on to him knowing he was being observed knowing everything was being noted down and going to be taken to the king against him how easy do you think that was for Daniel three times a day day after day after day after day days when his real adversary the devil was prowling around him like a roaring lion desperate to devour his faithful witness that was what was going on you see that's what

[35:26] Peter talks about in his first letter in chapter 5 the real lion tormenting believers and you know those lions the devil and his minions they didn't actually want Daniel in the lion's den they wanted Daniel out of the lion's den they wanted him to avoid it that would have been the real victory for them that would have been the great victory for the power of the world for the power of the devil for the weakness of human flesh if Daniel had succumbed and never gone into the lion's den the devil is far far keener to destroy Christian people's witness than to destroy their bodies because he knows that Jesus tells us that when the devil attacks you if you're faithful even to death there awaits for you a crown of life that's what the devil's trying to get away from us and that was the real testing for Daniel that's the real miracle in this chapter not that Daniel got out of the lion's den but that he got into it would you have got into the lion's den would you that's the miracle it's Daniel's patient unspectacular undaunted ongoing day after day faith relationship with his

[36:48] God God like like Dick Lucas often says if you want to see a miracle today look at the person sitting next to you in church they're a miracle it's a miracle of God's preserving grace that ordinary people day after day go on in faithful walking after the Lord Jesus Christ and that's the victory in this chapter that's the great miracle the battle was won in verse 10 in Daniel's prayer and the paradox is that it was in facing the lions head on that Daniel is actually delivered from the lion the enemy who wanted to destroy his testimony to wreck his faith what does James say resist the devil and he will flee from you and after that battle the battle for faith and faithfulness which really was a war a war of his persistent determination to keep going to keep the kingdom of God and the progress of that kingdom uppermost in his mind after that battle well the lion's den was easy indeed it was as we see from verses 18 to the end of the chapter

[38:04] Darius is in a much worse state than Daniel it's Darius who can't sleep it's Darius who can't eat it's Darius who's got early morning wakening we all know the story don't we Daniel Daniel are you okay says the king early in the morning yes God sent his angel to shut the mouths of the lions because I was found blameless before him says Daniel and there follows the vindication of the man of faith and the justice and the judgment for the enemies of God and then the proclamation and praise of the living God who is the God of life and who gives life who rescues and delivers who does signs and wonders in heaven and earth we know the story so well but I want you to notice just as we close something very important something very wonderful here and it's the wonder of God's saving pattern you see Daniel's victory and deliverance in the den of suffering and through it is at the same time both evidence of God's wonderful redeeming purpose of grace and at the same time a vivid foreshadowing of the climax of his great act of redemption accomplished forever accomplished in the death and resurrection of Jesus

[39:25] Christ you see why should Daniel's deliverance why should it be such a great encouragement to you and to me is it because we can assume that we will always be delivered from death or from trials in every stand if we take a stand for God well of course it can't be otherwise there would never have been ever a Christian martyr would there in fact there would never have been the death of any Christian if that was what our hope was to be no but this deliverance shows us the wonderful pattern of a God who saves and a God who always saves in the same way with the breaking in of the power of the world to come into this world a power that brings salvation and a power that gives us a glimpse of what will one day be true for all of us a world where men and women are restored to their true image in Christ a world where we do at last have full authority over all creation and over all creatures including lions and all all of these instances of the in breaking of God's power of the world to come into this world they all bear the hallmark the pattern of that great breaking in that great once and for all breaking in of the new creation into this world in Jesus

[40:52] Christ when a greater than Daniel was also arraigned on false charges against an innocent man and when another ruler who had power to release him at his fingertips would not release him because of losing public face and gave him over to his death and who also was sealed in a tomb with a great stone rolled over its mouth and where also early in the morning at the break of day the tomb was found not to have triumphed and he who was in it was found to have defeated the very jaws of death itself and destroyed death forever by his risen victory and by his vindication that proclaims justification for himself and to declare all his saints as God declared Daniel blameless before God you see this story is so wonderful just because it shows the inescapable pattern of our God and Savior the God who breaks in to save this is what our

[42:07] God is like this is what he does this is what he loves to do for all of those who love him for all of those who trust him as Daniel did this is the gospel it's the message of the God who breaks in to save with the power of the world to come and that's the glory of this story Daniel's deliverance and salvation was from death by the presence and the power of the angel of God the same angel who saved the three men in the fiery furnace the one who was like to a son of God and who indeed was the eternal son of God himself and that salvation was because that son of God did himself once and for all suffer in the fire of death and wrestle over the lion of death so that having tasted death for us and standing once and for all in our place for our sin he might forever stand with us and give to us and share with us his risen power and as he stands in victory sin's curse has lost its grip on me for I am his and he is mine bought with the precious blood of Christ and it's that you see that makes this story such a great story of hope for us

[43:32] Daniel is a prophetic book like all the Old Testament scriptures that echo the deliverance of God for his people it points forward to the glorious victory the climax in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Lord Jesus Christ will stand with every believer who trusts him just as he stood with Daniel through every trial of life and through the great trial of death itself and he shall work deliverance forever for everyone who puts their trust in him because through his own death in the fire overcoming the line of death he declares all his people blameless before God as Daniel was so declared so we're going to sing no guilt in life no fear in death this is the power of Christ in me from life's first cry to final breath

[44:44] Jesus commands my destiny no power of hell no scheme of man can ever pluck me from his hand till he returns or calls me home here in the power of Christ I stand and that's the message of the law of this God the law of Daniel and that's why we too should echo the same praise as Darius and tremble before the God of Daniel the God who is the living God enduring forever whose kingdom will never be destroyed whose dominion shall be to the end because he delivers he rescues he works signs and wonders in heaven and earth he who has saved Daniel from the lions he who has raised Jesus Christ from the dead so that the lions of death can harm none who trust in this

[45:46] God that's the message of this chapter in the book of Daniel so let's rejoice and sing these words that we just quoted of this great hymn in Christ alone in Christ alone my hope is found he is my light my strength my song this corner stone this solid ground firm through the fiercest drought and storm what heights of love what depths of peace when fears are stilled when strivings cease my comforter my all in all here in the love of Christ I stand and tark прямо