Daniel and His Boldness — Daniel 1-6

0:00 Thank you so much. Had a good weekend. Amen? Amen. Amen.

0:05 I like to hear amens. Amen. I even get my, I get my students to say an amen in classroom. You know, these kids in homeschool class, I'll get wound up as a teacher and we'll get talking about the lord and it's all, you know, it's all academic there and stuff and yet I'll get so wound up. I'll look at those students and I'll say, give me an amen and they get it.

0:29 The boy, they love it. Those kids. They love to say amen. So, so do I. So, I want you to turn to Daniel chapter six.

0:38 This morning, we're going to finish up our study in the book of Daniel. And I do appreciate you guys allowing me to come and and do a study like this. I haven't I haven't looked at the book of Daniel a great deal. I have I have taught on it and and preached on it, but, this has inspired me even more to, to maybe do a a larger series down the road in our own assembly on this because Daniel is such a rich and deep book. Daniel chapter six We'll read these verses.

1:19 It pleased Arise to set over the kingdom a 120 princes which should be over the whole kingdom and over these presidents, of whom Daniel was first that the princes might give accounts unto them and the king should have no damage. Then, this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes because an excellent spirit was in him and the king thought to set him over the whole realm Then the presidents and princes sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom, but they could find no occasion nor fault for as much as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him. Then said these men, we shall not find any occasion against this Daniel except we find it against him concerning the law of his god. And these presidents and princes assembled together the king and said thus unto him, king Darius, live forever. All the presidents of the kingdom, the governors, the princes, the counselors, the captains have consulted together to establish a royal statute to make a firm decree.

2:37 But whosoever shall ask a petition of any god or any man for thirty days save of thee, oh king, shall be cast into the den of lions. Now, oh king, establish a decree and sign the writing that it be not changed according to the law of the Medes and Persians which altereth not. Wherefore, king Darius signed the writing and the decree. Now, when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house and his windows being open and his chamber toward Jerusalem. He kneeled upon his knees three times, excuse me, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his god as he did a four time.

3:21 Then, these men assembled and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his god. Then, they came near and spake before the king concerning the king's decree. Hast thou not signed a decree that every man that shall ask petition of any god or man within thirty days, save of thee, oh king, shall be cast into the den of lions. The king answered and said, the thing is true according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which alter it not. Then answered they and said before the king, that Daniel, which is the children of the captivity of Judah, interesting, captivity of Judah, that's been seventy years now and he's still, they're still referring to him as one of the captives.

4:08 He doesn't regard you. He regarded not thee, oh king, nor the decree that thou assigned but make it his petition three times a day. Then the king when he heard these words was sore displeased with himself and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him. And he labored till the going down of the sun to deliver him. And these men assembled unto the king and said unto the king, know oh king, that the law of the Medes and Persians is, that no decree or statute which the king establisheth may be changed.

5:06 And the king went to his place and passed the night with fasting. Neither were instruments of music brought before him and his sleep went from him. Then the king arose very early in the morning and went in haste into the den of lions. And when he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel and said, excuse me, unto lamentable voice unto Daniel and the king spake and said to Daniel, oh, Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God whom thou serve as continually able to deliver thee from the lions? Then said Daniel unto the king, oh, king, live forever.

5:47 My goddess and his angel and shut the lions' mouths that they have not hurt me. For as much as before him, innocency was found in me and also before thee, oh, king, I have done no hurt. Then the king was exceeding glad for him and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no manner of hurt was found upon him because he believed his god. And the king commanded and they brought those men which had accused Daniel and they cast them into the den of lions, them, their children, their wives, and the lions had mastery of them and break all their bones in pieces or ever they came at the bottom of the den.

6:31 Then king Darius wrote unto all people, nations, languages that dwell in the earth. Peace be multiplied unto you. I make a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom, men tremble and fear before the god of Daniel for he is the living god. He deliverth, excuse me, and steadfast forever and his kingdom is that which shall not be destroyed and his dominion shall be even unto the end. He delivereth and rescueth.

6:59 He worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth and who hath delivered, excuse me, who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the lions. So, this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus, the Persian. Let's pray. Our father, we pray this morning as we come before you thanking you for our lord Jesus Christ, thanking you for the opportunity to come and to preach. Thank you for the opportunity to look at the book of Daniel and to consider things concerning the life of this wonderful man.

7:30 We thank you father that we can learn from his example and we pray that as we see him this morning, once again, we'll learn from this great example of his boldness before you. In Jesus Christ name, we pray. Amen. So, you see behind me, Daniel. Very good.

7:50 So our messages this week have been Daniel and his times. We talked about the times in which Daniel lived. Daniel is a signature book in your Bible because it begins the commencement of the current age in which we live where god is dealing with the world from a governmental standpoint, from a stewardship of government standpoint through gentiles, not his people Israel. I I overheard some of your discussion groups yesterday, and I was very pleased to hear one of the table... Tables going through the prophetic plan of God as laid out in Daniel chapter nine.

8:25 God is certainly not done with his people Israel. We believe that. But in this current age, he is still dealing through the Gentiles. He is calling both Jew and Gentile. Male, female, slave free.

8:44 Whatever you are, whoever you are, God is calling you to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. To believe on him is to be set free from sin, to be reconciled to a God that you are currently distant from, to know a God who you currently do not know, to be brought into his loving favor and given eternal life, A life that will ultimately be in the presence of Jesus Christ. So we're thankful for that. Daniel and his times. Daniel and his change, we talked about how the the rulers of Babylon as well as all Gentile, powers try to place upon us changes or shape us into their mold.

9:38 That's what Paul describes in Romans 12 when he says, do not let the world mold you. Do not be conformed to the world. Be transformed. Next, we look at Daniel and his purpose. Daniel's purpose was given to us in chapter one and verse eight.

10:43 And so Daniel and his friends stood tall, stood up to Nebuchadnezzar, and in the face of the fiery furnace, they were able to to withstand and they were promoted by Nebuchadnezzar. This morning, we want to talk about Daniel and his boldness. Daniel and his boldness. Now, what is boldness? Boldness is courage.

11:09 It is courage in in the face of a great deal of obstacles. We can describe it as bravery, as fearlessness, freedom from timidity, freedom from fear, and also boldness can be described as liberty. As believers, when the when the writer of Hebrews talks about boldness, it means we have this profound liberty to stand before god without any fear and so boldness carries with it a great deal of a great aura of god's blessing on his people. God gives us boldness. Paul the apostle prays for boldness when he was out preaching the gospel to the Ephesians.

11:59 He said, I want you to pray for us that we'll have boldness that we might preach the gospel as we ought. Now, Daniel is going to need boldness because he was going to face lions in a lion's den. Now, this is often the picture that we see of lions and Daniel. We see, I've sort of wondered, I said, you see Daniel standing there and these lions kind of walking up curious and sometimes you'll see Daniel there toward the end. He's kind of laid back and all the lions are laying around.

12:28 So, we don't we don't get I think a good picture. We don't see this kind of a picture of lions. Lions are not friendly animals. Lions can be vicious. In fact, there are there are pictures you can see of the feeding frenzies of lions.

12:46 And so Daniel faced the prospect when he was tossed into the lion's den of this hungry lion group with a feeding frenzy upon him. So, in our study, we've looked at dates. Now, our date we look at this morning is five thirty nine BC. This is when Babylon has fallen to the Medes and Persians. The second great empire, the second great Gentile empire will will arise.

13:19 The Medo Persian Empire was a dual empire. The the culture at the beginning was primarily the Medians. They were a large group of people, very powerful people. And thus, the man in our story today will be named Darius the Mede. And yet, we re...

13:39 Read in history that it was actually Cyrus the Persian who was ruler over the Medo Persian Empire. And so by the time you get to the book of Esther, which will be several years away from this, but but less than a century away, you will see the the emphasis of the empire shifted back to the Persian Median Empire under king Ahasuerus. So this calendar that we've looked at, we see here is Daniel surviving in 539. And the book of Daniel does not go very much beyond this because this is when Cyrus comes to power. So this is the historical context that we find ourselves in this morning.

14:55 The wicked flee when no man pursue it but the righteous are as bold as a lion. I love that because god has given us the boldness of a lion, the boldness that can can stand in all opposition because our god is a god who instills in us boldness. Great boldness in our savior, the lord Jesus Christ. Now, the the the book of Hebrews chapter 11 is called the Hall of Faith and we read in there in verse 33 that there were men who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, and stopped the mouths of lions and I think Daniel, I would think you would agree that Daniel is probably among that group. Daniel is not mentioned by name in the book of Hebrews, but he falls into the category as one who stopped the mouths of lions.

15:59 But he was different than Samson, wasn't he? Samson was a guy who was strong and and rose up against the lion and tore the lion as a kid because of god's great strength in Judges chapter 14 and then David himself told Saul the story of the day a lion and a bear came against him and he tells Saul, he says, there came a lion. I went out after him. I smote him. I caught him by his beard.

16:27 I smote him and I slew him. These are two men in the Bible who were confronted with an individual lion and they slew him. But Daniel's situation was a bit different. Daniel's boldness had been well established. Daniel, in his choice of food in chapter one, purposed he wouldn't eat the king's food.

16:48 That was a bold thing Daniel did. Daniel had boldness before Nebuchadnezzar on two occasions. Daniel had to tell Nebuchadnezzar the truth about dreams that he had, about things that were true about his life, and how Nebuchadnezzar is is high and mighty as he thought he was. God had his number. Daniel's boldness before Belshazzar in chapter five, this...

17:14 The chapter preceding this was well noted because Daniel had to go in the presence of a of a group of drunken powerful men and tell them a truth about the the fact that their kingdom would fall that night. Daniel's three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were bold. We learned about that last night. The boldness which wherewith they stood before King Nebuchadnezzar. But this time it was a bit different.

17:47 Daniel's boldness was a little different in chapter six and how he stood for god. We'll talk about that as we go on. Well, the question arises, who was Darius the median? This is the the leader of the day. Now, Darius the median we said, was not the not the real controller of power.

18:16 We mentioned that the Persian Empire was composed of two ethnic groups and that Cyrus was the biblical historical conqueror of Babylon. Look down at verse 28. It tells us here that Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus, the Persian. So Cyrus is really the true king, and yet some have began to to to question the story here. Some some of the skeptics have said, ah, that's wrong.

18:47 We don't know who this Darius, the median was. We we've never heard of him in history and the real conqueror of Babylon, the the king, first king of the Achmanian Empire was Cyrus and so you see Cyrus at the beginning of the book of of Ezra and his his lineage will go all the way through Esther and Nehemiah, this Achaemenid Empire. We don't know this Darius and yet Darius through constant research and study has been found to be a man who was actually actually the uncle of Cyrus and the scripture tells us that Cyrus had placed Darius over the province of Babylon. Darius was a a man who was essentially second in command to mister Cyrus. And so Darius had all the authority in Babylon.

19:56 So there are several Dariuses, but this Darius has been found to be historically accurate as the man who was Darius the median, Cyrus's uncle, and appointed over this region. Now, if you'll notice here in chapter five, back up one chapter, it says in verse 30, in that night was Belshazzar, the king of the Chaldeans slain, and Darius the Median took the kingdom being about threescore and two years old. So Darius is 62 years old. He's the Median king of the province of Babylon, but he is under the authority of Cyrus the Persian. So here we have this this chapter where Daniel is confronted again with the worship of his god versus versus the principles of the Persian Empire.

21:24 I remember hearing a story years ago of a man, some of you may be familiar with this story. There was a man who he was hiking in the in the Northwest and in trails and he lost his young son. His young son of about three or four years old. They lost him and they did a search for several days And during the search, they found the tracks of a young boy. And crossing the tracks of the young boy were also the tracks of a mountain lion.

22:00 They interviewed this man on the on the, TV, and he began to tell of how they had been looking for his boy. He saw the tracks, and then they saw the tracks of the mountain lion that crossed the tracks of his son. And the man broke down and began to weep as he talked about them seeing those tracks. They never found his son but I can imagine a young boy on a trail being confronted by a mountain lion and I thought, what horror, what a horrible way to die as a person, a young person, totally defenseless and helpless. Being ravaged by lions would take a great deal of boldness.

22:42 Now, the story goes here that these men had seen Daniel elevated in the kingdom of Babylon. Darius Amed was probably well aware of the fact that Belshazzar had highly exalted Daniel, made him third in the kingdom, and so Daniel had a life in politics. And so these men come along and they said, you know, Daniel being a politician, surely there's some skeletons in his closet. You know, we could be used to politicians with skeletons in their closet in our country. And so they said, well, let's figure out if we can find something.

23:20 And they they looked back. They did research on Daniel and they said, you know, we can't find a single thing wrong with Daniel. The only way we're gonna be able to get anything on this guy because these these fellows again were obviously jealous of Daniel's position as a president. They said, we only thing we can do is find something concerning him and his god. What a testimony.

23:47 If you were some... Well, you know the old saying, if you were accused by law of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you? And so Daniel is taken and he's thrown into the lion's den. Now Darius is a bit sympathetic to Daniel, and yet Daniel still has to realize that he he he has to take a stand. He cannot waver.

24:19 He cannot say, oh, Darius, can we work this? I know you like me. I like you. Can we work something out? You see, the law of the Medes and Persians and you'll find this out also in the book of Esther that the law of the Medes and Persians could not be reversed.

24:36 Once it was set in motion, it was rigid and fixed. There were no appeals to the supreme court. The law was fixed. And so we're gonna look at some principles of boldness. We'll look at several this morning.

24:51 But principles of boldness for you and me. How do we function in our day in 2025? How do we display a boldness for God living in the the times we're living in? When we have a real enemy, the real enemy of us is the prince of the power of the air. It is principalities and powers in high places.

25:12 The Bible says we don't wrestle with flesh and blood. We wrestle against those things. And so we live in a culture and in a society that is ruled by the rulers of the darkness of this age. Paul says to to the Thessalonians, the mystery of iniquity is already at work, and it is at work. And it takes for you and me to live in this world to be bold for Christ.

26:07 Darius being the highest person in the land, Daniel was able to still stand and say, no, I'll go to the lion's den. The psalmist says, I will speak of thy testimony also before kings and will not be ashamed. There is a lot to consider with political power. I think we underestimate political power sometimes. When we are when we are engaged or invoked to submit ourselves to the powers that be, it can often be very intimidating.

26:44 The disciples in the book of Acts, they were threatened by Caiaphas and all those leaders. That was very intimidating. We often look at Stephen as Stephen in the book of Acts stood before the religious rulers. We we often look at a picture of boldness and yet Stephen was being confronted with the intimidating powers of the priest, the high priest there and and all the sadducees as they looked at him in chapter... At the end of chapter five and into chapter six, and they said, are these things true?

27:25 Be very intimidating. It does not consider those things. Boldness realizes our God has set up a kingdom. In fact, I want you to do something with me here and this is what will... I I want you to remember this.

27:41 Daniel lived his life by really three main verses in the book. I want us to do this. I want you to to to look at Daniel chapter four with me. Daniel chapter four. And we're going to go backwards and I'm gonna show you what I think are the three key verses in the whole book of Daniel.

28:07 You get these and you got the book. You got you got the outline or the basis of the book. You get these and you got the outline for how to live your life. Number one, Daniel chapter four and verse 17. This matter is by the decree of the watchers and the demand of the word by the holy ones to the intent that the living may know that the most high rules in the kingdom of men and gives it to whosoever he will and sets up it over it the basis of men.

28:51 That is a major theme in the book of Daniel. That god is in control no matter what government, no matter what ruler, no matter what power, god is in control. Daniel lived by that. That's number one. Number two, number two and we'll back, we're backing up, you see.

29:12 Daniel chapter two and this was actually uttered by Daniel in in chapter two and verse 28. Daniel as he's speaking to Nebuchadnezzar says this, but there is a god in heaven that reveals secrets. There is a and I'm just gonna stop there. There's a god in heaven who is pleased to reveal things to his people. You and me are like no other people, brothers and sisters.

29:50 I have not seen nor ear heard nor has entered into the heart of man the things that god has prepared for them that love him. Now, we read that verse and we say, oh, that's heaven. No, it's not. It's now Because the very next verse in first Corinthians two says this, but god has revealed them to us by his spirit. We know more.

30:15 We are in the know. We got it down pat. We know the future. We know the past. We know the god of the universe.

30:21 We know the savior of the world, and he's in control. And the last thing, Daniel lived his life accordingly. We looked at it yesterday, chapter one and verse eight. But Daniel purposed in his heart. You get those three things down.

30:47 You got the book of Daniel figured out. You get those three things down. You got life figured out. Amen? I get an amen on that one.

31:24 You ain't god. He's god. We gotta remember that. We gotta remember we have a savior, the lord Jesus Christ, who sits above all principality and power. Hallelujah.

31:36 He has been given... Hey, he has made over head over all things to the church. God has placed all things under his feet. We don't see everything placed under him yet. The writer of Hebrews says, but we see the lord Jesus Christ there waiting.

31:52 God has said to Jesus Christ, sit here at my right hand, what? Until. Until. We are living in the great until. By the way, we we had the lord's supper this morning.

32:06 If you don't come to the lord's supper, you ought to come because the Bible says, we are going to do that what? Till he come. That's what he wants us to do. Peter and the apostles answered one day. They said, we ought to obey god rather than men.

32:24 It's a great ethical dilemma sometimes for us. When do I when do I resist government? When when do I stand against human government? Will you stand when human government's laws violate god's laws? You say, yeah, but but but we got all kinds of that.

32:44 God has given everyone of us in this room a conscience. God expects us to exercise our conscience before him and when our conscience is telling us that the laws of men are in violation of god's laws, we stand with god. We always will. We cannot buckle. We cannot we cannot finesse it.

33:09 Number... So, Daniel had one supreme rule and that was god is first. No other gods. Number three, boldness does not calculate minimizing the cost. Now, this was different.

33:25 This is why we said this was different. This wasn't life or death. This was thirty days. I I just don't do it for thirty days. And if that was me, I'd try to figure out, what can I do for the next thirty days?

33:39 Maybe I can go busy myself on a project, and I won't have to deal with it. And after thirty days, I'll go back to being serious again. After thirty days, I'll start praying to God three times a day. But right now, I'll just kind of lay low. This was only a temporary thing.

33:56 When it's only a temporary thing, does our faith become temporary? This was different. It doesn't minimize. How can I minimize this? Daniel, just let Darius could have worked it out with him.

34:11 Daniel, can you... Maybe don't be so noticeable for thirty days and it'll be over. That's not what boldness does. Boldness said, you told me to shut up for an hour? No, I'm not.

34:32 I'm going to speak. Number four, boldness is by faith and not by sight. Look at verse 22. Now, verse 22 says, here, according to Daniel, my god has sent his angel and shut the lion's mouths and have not hurt me. Now, we don't know if god saw the angel.

34:57 The reason I bring this up is Nebuchadnezzar the the three Hebrews, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they're in the fiery furnace, but they look over and they got that fourth guy with them, and that's the son of God. And they were looking right at him. Boy, we are not gonna get hurt. And everybody saw the fourth one walking around with him. It doesn't really say that Daniel saw anyone that night and all he saw was lions.

35:29 And folks in our day, we're not going to always see. In fact, our brother read from second Corinthians chapter four this morning. It tells us that we don't look upon the things that are seen but we look upon the things that are unseen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal. Faith is not by sight and so even when you're in the lion's den and you don't see the lord there beside you, he is there because the Bible says in first Peter whom having what? Not seen, you love.

36:09 In fact, that's the definition of faith. Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. Thomas, Jesus said, blessed are you because you've seen me. Oh, blessed are they who have not seen, not seen. That's what faith is.

36:35 Boldness is what I can say. I don't see him now, but I know he's there, and I know he will protect me. That's what faith is. Boldness is always by faith. Number five, boldness is born out of a consistent, disciplined life based on the word of God.

37:23 That's just my own thing. No, actually, it's not. Back in second Chronicles chapter six, Solomon had said this, he said, if they sin against thee for there is no man which sinneth not and thou be angry with them and deliver them over to their enemies and they carry them away captives unto a land far off or near, yet if they bethink themselves in the land whether they are carried captive and turn and pray unto thee in the land of their captivity, saying, we have sinned. This is second Chronicles six by the way. We have sinned and done a miss and have dealt wickedly.

38:02 If they return to thee with all their heart and with all their soul, in the land of their captivity, whether they have carried them captives and pray toward their land which thou gavest unto their fathers and toward the city which thou hast chosen and toward the house which I have built for thy name then hear thou from heavens even from thy dwelling place their prayer and their supplication and maintain their cause and forgive thy people which have sinned against thee. Daniel knew the scriptures. And he knew that in the book of second chronicles, God had said, you pray toward this place whether you're captive or not. You might say, well now Daniel, don't you know that Israel's kinda laying in rubble? Don't you know it's destroyed?

38:54 Don't you know Nebuchadnezzar just laid the city low and it's probably still smoldering? Why are you praying there? Because God said pray there. The world may mock us, may tell us it's old, it's gone, it's archaic, but we believe God. We believe the Bible.

39:17 I was reading somewhere the other day where a statistic came out that said 51% of evangelical Christians cannot state what the great commission is. 51%. And and only as it turns out, about 17% can accurately quote what the great... Who knows what the great commission is? You know what the great commission is?

39:49 Who knows what the great commission is? Yeah, I'm a little worried there. How do you expect to be bold when you don't know what the great commission is? Go into all the world and preach the gospel. That's the great commission and we only half of us, half of us evangelicals even know what it is.

40:13 How do you expect to be bold? How do you expect to be bold if we know what the don't know what the scripture says? How do we expect to be bold if we don't know that Jesus Christ is god, a very god? How do we expect to be bold if we don't know who the person of Christ is? How do we expect to be bold if we don't know what it means truly to be saved, to be justified, to be reconciled, to be redeemed if we don't know such things?

40:40 If we can't articulate to the world what we believe, how do we expect to be bold? Can't just wear a little bracelet, you know? What would Jesus do? God said it, I believe it, and that settles it. That that phrase, I teach my kids in apologetics.

41:01 Don't use that one on anybody. Give an answer. Daniel prayed because he knew the word of god Pray toward that place and he did it every day. Number six, boldness is in the living god. Verse 20, the king comes to Daniel.

41:26 He cries with a loud loud voice and he says, oh Daniel, servant of the living god. Boldness is in the living god. Verse 26, again, the phrase is used. He is the living god and steadfast forever. The living god, Moses, the first time the word living god is used Moses asked the people of Israel, he said, what people, what people has ever stood in the presence and heard the voice of the living god as you have and lived.

42:07 The living, our god is alive. Our god is living in this day. He is the author of life. He gives us life and he is alive despite what the world may say. In fact, you and me, the Bible says this and I'm going say it's about Westlake Bible Chapel.

42:25 Paul tells Timothy, he says this, he says, if I tarry, I want you to know how to behave yourself in the house of god which is the church of the living god, the pillar and ground of the truth. Your testimony here at Westlake to Cleveland and to all this community is this is a gathering of people who trust in the living god and we we establish the pillar and ground of the truth. That's a that's a tall order, isn't it? Paul gave that to Timothy in the in the city of Ephesus. But it's for you and me.

43:10 We're a testimony that there is a god in heaven who is alive. And when we believe that and we embrace that, boldness ensues. And finally, number seven, boldness isn't always the loudest. We think the bold guy is the guy that stands up and just runs his mouth. I've seen more guys claiming to be bold put their foot in their mouth because they couldn't say it right or they said it wrong.

43:39 Boldness is not the loudest guy. Look at verse 10. It says, Daniel, when he knew the writing was signed, he didn't grab a sign and go out and protest. I protest the decree. Rights for Jews.

43:55 Rights for God's people. No. It says here, he went to his house, his windows being opened in the chamber toward Jerusalem, and he kneeled down upon his knees three times a day and he prayed. That was his boldness. I'm gonna believe god.

44:13 I'm gonna do what god says. Our lord Jesus Christ wasn't the loudest, was he? The Bible says, when he was reviled, he reviled not again. If anyone ever had the right to, if anyone ever had the right to stand for himself, to own his cause, and to declare unto the world how unjust they were in criminalizing him. How unjust they were to hang him on a cross.

44:39 How unjust they were to indict him before a silly court of Sanhedrin, a silly court of Pilate, the governor. If anyone ever had the right to stand up and declare all that fraudulent, it was Jesus Christ. But as a lamb led before the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, he opened not his mouth, and yet he was bold. Oh, our savior was bold. Boldness is not always the loudest.

45:35 He can. If anything we learn from the book of Daniel, God can deliver. God is a deliverer. And if you're here this morning and you're not saved, you've never trusted Christ, God wants to deliver you from the emptiness of your life. He wants to deliver you from where your life has brought you.

45:57 And that little thing tugging on you in your heart, god has given you. It's called your conscience. Number three, are you willing to obey god rather than men? Daniel and his boldness. Well, I trust these things have been profitable to us and I wanna thank you again so much for all your hospitality and all the good time we had here.

46:24 May the lord bless his word. May the lord bless Westlake Bible Fellowship. Let's pray. Father, we want to thank you again for the scriptures. Thank you for the things we learn.

46:34 Thank you for all these wonderful truths that you've given us. We pray our father that we would consider Daniel his times. Consider Daniel the changes that were imposed upon him. Daniel, his purpose. Daniel, his friends, Daniel, his boldness.

46:55 We pray our father that we would go forth from here as more faithful soldiers for our lord Jesus Christ. His name we pray. Amen. Thank you.