Fearing God Because of His Power to Rescue

- Recently I had the privilege of reading Al Rocker’s book Ruthless Tide……

- this is the story of the Johnstown Flood in Johnstown, Pennsylvania in 1889…

- this event is actually what motivated another great writer--David McCullough--to begin publishing books on various aspects of American History…

- His very first book The Johnstown Flood …published in 1968 is a marvelous read as well…

- there are so many unique aspects of this story that a number of different teaching points spring forth…

- but the one for our purposes this morning is the possibility of allowing one’s fear of something small to obscure the importance of respecting or fearing something far greater…

- this flood killed over 2200 hundred people and resulted in property damage, in today’s dollars, of 484 million dollars……

- what is beyond dispute is that what made this catastrophe far worse was the presence of a dam that had been made in the mountains 14 miles upstream from Johnstown…

- It was originally constructed by the government as part of their canal system…

- as we even know here locally, canals were quickly replaced by railroads…so the government sold it to the railroad which in turn sold it to a group of wealthy investors from Pittsburgh…people like Andrew Carnegie and Henry Frick…

- they wanted to build a fishing/hunting club high up in the mountains…to escape the noise and pollution caused by some of the very industries they were developing in the cities…

- the prize was black bass…and the members of the private club built beautiful mountain homes where they and their families could come and relax and fish in the summertime…

- on the day the rain began, the man in charge was Colonel Elias Unger…He was the president of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club and had made his money in the railroad business…

- the dam had a spillway, so if the water level reached a certain height…water would be released before going over the top…

- because if water went over the top…that could cut into the side of the dam, causing it to fail…

- the problem with the spillway is, it would let the fish out…

- so they constructed an elaborate fish-guard apparatus connected to a bridge to stop that from happening…

- the problem with that was, during a flood, the fish guard would also trap floating debris like tree limbs and other vegetation which would prevent the water from flowing properly when needed…

- that’s what happened on May 31, 1889…Roker tells it like this…A man from town named John Buchanan told Unger that both the bridge and the whole fish guard apparatus should be taken down—fast…The only real chance for defeating the inexorable rise of the lake was to remove all obstruction at the original spillway and hope it would release enough water to lower the lake and relieve the dam. And yet, removing the fish guard would let the bass out. They were the pride of the Club, Unger’s chief concern. Buchanan argued, but Unger stuck to his guns. He made a fateful decision. He wouldn’t take down the fish guard (Al Roker, Ruthless Tide, pp. 112-113).

- what happened next was the largest loss of civilian loss of life at that point in American history.

- by time the wall of water hit Johnstown, it was 60 feet high and traveling 40 miles an hour…

- 1600 homes were destroyed…4 square miles of downtown completely destroyed…

- bodies were found as far away as Cincinnati…and as late as 1911….

- 99 entire families died…124 women and 198 men were widowed…98 children were orphaned…

- in part, because a Colonel Elias Unger [he called himself that, by the way, though he had never served in the military]…but he afraid to take the fish guard down, because some of the black bass might escape…

- the lesson is – don’t be afraid of a small thing…and lose sight of, and respect for, a force far more powerful…

- with that in mind, please open your Bible to Daniel chapter 6…We’re talking this morning about Fearing God because of His Power to Rescue…

- when we started this series on Overcoming Fear and Worry…we pointed out that not all fear is wrong… Proverbs 1:7 - The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.

- what we’re going to see today is that when you have a right fear, awe, reverence, for the God of heaven and earth…the God to whom we’ve been reconciled if we trusted Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord…

- if we have a right fear, awe, reverence of our God…we won’t be worried about little things…like black bass…or really big lions…

- read Daniel 6:1-28

- so we’re talking about Fearing God because of His Power to Rescue, and with the time we have remaining, let’s look for Four characteristics of courageous faith when the lions are roaring.

I. Remember the Lord Appoints the Fearful Times – (vv. 1-3)

- part of the obvious contrast in this story is Daniel who remains calm and focused through the entire event, and King Darius who’s afraid of all sorts of things…

- the clear lesson is – when you fear the Lord properly, you don’t have to fear people and things…the potential loss of a few black bass isn’t going to distract you from the major themes of life…

- that’s why the issue of God’s sovereignty is so important…

- if you allow you eyes to gaze over the end of chapter 5, you’ll see that an important transition has just occurred…

- the Persians have replaced the Babylonians…

- that means that Daniel is in his eighties…he’s been serving pagan kings for 70 years…which allows him to have a very important perspective on human history…

- how did he get to Babylon to begin with?...

A. God gave the times of trial to Israel

- the book began with these words…Daniel 1:1–2 - In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. The Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the vessels of the house of God; and he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and he brought the vessels into the treasury of his god.

- for hundreds of years Bible writers had told God’s chosen nation that they would be taken captive if they forsook the Lord…

- even before they entered the promised land…Moses explained the wonderful blessings they would enjoy if they loved God wholeheartedly and on that foundation of gratitude, chose to obey His Word…

- but Moses also laid out the penalties for disobedience in places like Leviticus 26…

1. Part of God’s plan is to humiliate those who live opposed to God.

- Leviticus 26:14–17 - But if you do not obey Me and do not carry out all these commandments, if, instead, you reject My statutes, and if your soul abhors My ordinances so as not to carry out all My commandments, and so break My covenant, I, in turn, will do this to you: I will appoint over you a sudden terror, consumption and fever that will waste away the eyes and cause the soul to pine away; also, you will sow your seed uselessly, for your enemies will eat it up. ‘I will set My face against you so that you will be struck down before your enemies; and those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee when no one is pursuing you.

- Leviticus 26:33–34 - ‘You, however, I will scatter among the nations and will draw out a sword after you, as your land becomes desolate and your cities become waste. ‘Then the land will enjoy its sabbaths all the days of the desolation, while you are in your enemies’ land; then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths.

- a rather significant portion of our Old Testaments is devoted to calling God’s people back to repentance and faith so they would not have to face this kind of destruction….which says much about the patience and forbearance of God…

- but in 586 BC, their nation was conquered by Babylon and young leaders like Daniel were deported there in an attempt to assimilate them into Babylonian culture…

- what the Babylonians did not count on was the strength of character He would give those like Daniel who chose to stand for Him whatever the cost…but the Lord had predicted that too…

2. God arranged the times to cause us to seek the Lord for hope.

- Deuteronomy 4:25–29 - “When you become the father of children and children’s children and have remained long in the land, and act corruptly, and make an idol in the form of anything, and do that which is evil in the sight of the Lord your God so as to provoke Him to anger, I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will surely perish quickly from the land where you are going over the Jordan to possess it. You shall not live long on it, but will be utterly destroyed. The Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord drives you. There you will serve gods, the work of man’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell. But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul.

-men and women like Daniel are the fruit of that promise…they are more focused on what the King of heaven is up to than the world’s ever-changing leaders and ideas…

B. Wisdom learns to trust the Lord’s perfect timing – (vv. 1-2)

- way back in chapter 2… Daniel 2:20–21 - Daniel said, “Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever, for wisdom and power belong to Him. It is He who changes the times and the epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings; He gives wisdom to wise men and knowledge to men of understanding.

- so by time we get to chapter 6, we’re seventy years into that story from Daniel’s perspective…and it would not have surprised him at all that Babylon has now been defeated and the new Persian leader is making changes…

- Daniel 6:1–2 - It seemed good to Darius to appoint 120 satraps over the kingdom, that they would be in charge of the whole kingdom, and 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.

- all of that was like the black bass flopping around…Daniel wasn’t overly concerned with their new ruler and this new organizational structure…why? – because he lived in fear, in awe, in reverence of the Lord…

- if you know the book of Daniel well – you might even think back to a dream that King Nebuchadnezzar had at the beginning of the book…God allowed Daniel to interpret it and it foretold that Babylon would be replaced by Persia…nobody would have believed that at the time…

- but now it’s coming to pass…because Daniel 2:20–21 - Daniel said, “Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever, for wisdom and power belong to Him. It is He who changes the times and the epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings; He gives wisdom to wise men and knowledge to men of understanding.

- but please remember this…

C. The Lord is present even in fearful times to help us live faithfully – v. 3

- Daniel 6:3 - Then 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.

- see, what happens when you take your eyes off the black bass flopping around and focus on the larger issues involved?...

- your character will stand out because you possess an extraordinary spirit…

- as our pastoral staff was studying this passage this week, Pastor Anderson made the observation that there are multiple occasions of Daniel being watched in this passage…and that’s true…that’s part of what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ…

- 1 Peter 2:11–12 - Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.

- please step back and consider – what is God up to in the events He’s allowing in your life right now?...are you seeing God’s hand in the trial…and are you asking Him to give you wisdom to be a person of understanding?...

- His Word has the ability to “make wise the simple”…

- would those around have reason to conclude that you possess an extraordinary spirit?...

- by the way – I need to address something up with our church family because I didn’t pass this test with a careless comment I made from the pulpit a few weeks ago…

- I mentioned a FB post I had made about seeking balance in the racial unrest discussions…and I said that some people had lit their hair on fire about that…

- what I didn’t consider is that some would go to my FB page after my comment and try to determine who I was talking about and even criticize them…

- that was foolish on my part to speak carelessly while criticizing others for speaking carelessly…

- so since I did that publicly, please forgive me for that and I’m happy to discuss that privately with others to seek their forgiveness as well…

- now, the text goes on to teach us to…

II. Trust the Lord Prepares You to Respond Faithfully to Great Trials (vv. 4-10).

- so what happened when Daniel distinguished himself?...an immediate promotion?...praises all around?...a rocking chair for this 80-year-old man?...

A. Faithful living in an ungodly world often results in unjust persecution.

- Daniel 6:4 - Then 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.

- God had a plan for Daniel that was far better than immediate blessing for his faithfulness…

- that’s one of the fundamental questions of this text…what was better for Daniel…

- immediate blessing for his faithfulness…or additional persecution so God’s glory could be displayed in an even greater way by his additional faithfulness in the lion’s den?...

- so in our cultural context – what’s better – an immediate end to the virus…a 4^th of July party in the parking lot where we all burn our masks…or ongoing struggle with this pandemic so God’s glory can be on display through our patient obedience and trust?...

- we could say it this way…

B. Seeing your life in the larger story of God’s purposes gives you courage

- its amazing what these men concluded… Daniel 6:5 - Then 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.”

- the only way we’re going to get something on this guy is if we can find a way to criminalize his obedience to his God…

- Daniel 6:10 - Now 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.

- was Daniel worried about these commissioners, and satraps, or the injunction of the king?...they were like Colonel Elias Unger’s black bass…there was something far more important and powerful to be focused upon…

- how would Daniel have known about God’s larger story?...because of his knowledge of Scripture…

- earlier we talked about Moses’ predictions in the book of Leviticus…that would have been around 1400 BC…

- here’s another time there was a similar proclamation…it was by King Solomon, when the temple was dedicated…around 1000 BC…here’s part of what he prayed…

- 1 Kings 8:46–51 - When they sin against You (for there is no man who does not sin) and You are angry with them and deliver them to an enemy, so that they take them away captive to the land of the enemy, far off or near; if they take thought in the land where they have been taken captive, and repent and make supplication to You in the land of those who have taken them captive, saying, ‘We have sinned and have committed iniquity, we have acted wickedly’; if they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies who have taken them captive, and pray to You toward their land which You have given to their fathers, the city which You have chosen, and the house which I have built for Your name; then hear their prayer and their supplication in heaven Your dwelling place, and maintain their cause, and forgive Your people who have sinned against You and all their transgressions which they have transgressed against You, and make them objects of compassion before those who have taken them captive, that they may have compassion on them (for they are Your people and Your inheritance which You have brought forth from Egypt, from the midst of the iron furnace),

- Daniel’s concern was not what the earthly king might do – it was on what his heavenly king had promised to do…

- so, Daniel 6:10 - Now 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.

- the next part of the story places the contrast in bold relief….

III. Fear the Lord and Believe He is Powerful to Change and Deliver (vv. 11-27).

- what’s amazing in this story is who ended up losing a night’s sleep…

A. You will be trapped in worry when you fear people (vv. 11-15, 18-20).

- Daniel 6:14a - Then, as soon as the king heard this statement, he was deeply distressed…

- Daniel 6:14b - …and set his mind on delivering Daniel…

- Daniel 6:14c - and even until sunset he kept exerting himself to rescue him.

- Daniel 6:18a - Ten the king went off to his palace and spent the night fasting

- Daniel 6:18b - and no entertainment was brought before him

- Daniel 6:18c - and his sleep fled from him.

- Daniel 6:19a - Then the king arose at dawn

- Daniel 6:19b - at the break of day

- Daniel 6:19c - and went in haste to the lions’ den.

- Daniel 6:20 - When he had come near the den to Daniel, he cried out with a troubled voice. The king spoke and said to Daniel, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you constantly serve, been able to deliver you from the lions?”

- does this remind you of a verse from Proverbs?... Proverbs 29:25 - The fear of man brings a snare, but he who trusts in the Lord will be exalted.

- can I ask you this am – have you been trapped in worry because you’re fearing the wrong things?...

B. God can deliver in ways that human authorities are powerless to change (vv. 14-17, 21-22, 25-27).

- part of what’s amazing here is how little the Bible says about what this night was like from Daniel’s perspective…

- Daniel 6:22 - My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths and they have not harmed me…

- if God did that for Daniel, do you think He could do that for you?...

- and did you notice…Daniel spoke very respectfully to the very king who had tried to take his life…

- Daniel 6:21- Then Daniel spoke to the king, “O king, live forever!

- how could he say that?...

C. You can trust the Lord to bring perfect justice to the wicked (v. 24).

- Daniel 6:24 - The king then gave orders, and they brought those men who had maliciously accused Daniel, and they cast them, their children and their wives into the lions’ den; and they had not reached the bottom of the den before the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones.

- and – realize some might say – now I feel badly for them…

- well, perhaps that detail is there for anyone who would say – maybe the lions didn’t bother Daniel that night because they weren’t hungry…

- but more importantly – to remind us of the eternal spiritual realities here…everyone is going to spend eternity somewhere – which is why it’s important to ask God to help us live Daniel…so others will be attracted to trusting Him while the possibility exists to do so…

- Lord willing, we are going to study this later this fall when we return to the book of Romans….but this is why a person can choose to return good for evil… Romans 12:18–21 - If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. “But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

- isn’t it wonderful the way this passage ends?...

IV. Wait for God’s Exaltation at the Appointed Time Instead of Worrying about the Future (v. 28)

- this final proclamation is nothing short of amazing…

- Daniel 6:25–28 - Then Darius the king wrote to all the peoples, nations and men of every language who were living in all the land: “May your peace abound! “I make a decree that in all the dominion of my kingdom men are to fear and tremble before the God of Daniel; For He is the living God and enduring forever, and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed, and His dominion will be forever. He delivers and rescues and performs signs and wonders in heaven and on earth, who has also delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.” So this Daniel enjoyed success in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.

- [develop the comment that a school administrator made to Scott Grass a few weeks back about his school’s response to e-learning last semester…I’ve never been prouder of many of the people associated with our school, and I’ve never been more disappointed with others…]