SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/7/2023 9:09 AM
I want to preview what will be happening over the
next few days on our study in the book of Daniel, Lord willing. Over the next few days I will be quoting from
a sermon that John MacArthur preached back in 1979 on the last verses in the
first chapter of Daniel. I listened to
this sermon the other day when I was doing my walk and at that time it seemed
to me that it would be good to include it in our study of Daniel. I did the study of Daniel back in 2013 and
have been using what I wrote then along with many introductions from John
MacArthur’s sermons, and then went to what I wrote back in 2013. I hope that over the next few days as you
read over this sermon that the Lord will use it in a way to bring glory to the
Lord, and that it will edify your life as you go through this study of Daniel.
The Consequences of an
Uncompromising Life, Part 2
I had an interesting experience this
week when I saw a copy of the latest edition of Psychology Today, which is a
magazine dealing with the professional area of psychology. And there was
an article in that magazine about fast talking. Now, I remember when I
first came to Grace Church, the people used to get on me a little bit about
talking so fast. Not too many people say much about that. I don’t
know whether I’ve slowed down or whether you’ve just sped up in your
listening. One of the two has happened. But I used to hear, “You’re
talking way too fast. You’re talking way too fast.”
And I used to say to people, “I have
a lot of things that I need to say, and I figure that I can’t talk as fast as
you can think, so I’m behind to begin with. And if I’m going to catch up
with you, I’ve got to talk real fast or you’ll get bored.” And I just
used to say that off the cuff. Some of you may remember me saying that
when you told me I talked too fast and sort of a backhanded compliment to say
I’m trying to speed up to catch up with your brain.
But in the latest issue of
Psychology Today, they have done some tests that literally prove that up to a
certain point, the faster you talk, the greater the interest, and the higher
the retention. So, with that we’ll go on.
But I was really amazed to find that
out. I’d always believed that and now they’ve tested and found out.
In fact, you may be seeing that thirty-minute television programs, according to
this article, will be done in fifteen minutes, they’ll just speed it up and
you’ll lose nothing. And commercials, they say, now with a $100,000.00
per 30 seconds, they can now use a 15 second one, and they can double their
income. It’s amazing, but when you cover a lot of ground rapidly, people
stay interested and they retain the information. And so, I just really
was excited about that. Now I have some support for the way I talk, and
that was kind of exciting.
Well, let’s rapidly go through
Daniel chapter 1 and hope you retain it. Daniel chapter 1. And we
have been looking, beginning in our last study, at verses 8-21, Daniel 1:8-21.
I’m going to read it to you to set the scene for our study tonight.
“But Daniel purposed in his heart
that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s food, nor with
the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the
eunuchs that he might not defile himself. Now God had brought Daniel into
favour and compassion with the prince of the eunuchs. And the prince of
the eunuchs said unto Daniel, I fear my lord the king, who hath appointed your
food and your drink: for why should he see your faces worse looking than
the youths who are of your age? then shall ye make me endanger my head
with the king. Then said Daniel to Melzar, whom the prince of the eunuchs
had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, Test thy servants, I
beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us vegetables to eat, and water to
drink. Then let our countenances looked upon before thee, and the
countenance of the youths that eat of the portion of the king’s food: and as
thou seest, deal with thy servants.
“So, he consented to them in this
matter, and tested them ten days. And at the end of the ten days their
countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the youths who did
eat the portion of the king’s food. Thus Melzar took away the portion of
their food, and the wine that they should drink; and gave them
vegetables.
“As for these four youths, God gave
them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had
understanding in all visions and dreams. Now at the end of the days that
the king had said he should bring them in - ” that would be three years “ -
then the prince of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. And
the king conversed with them; and among them all was found none like Daniel,
Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: therefore stood they before the
king. And in all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king
inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and
astrologers that were in all his realm. And Daniel continued even unto
the first year of king Cyrus.”
Have you ever heard it said every
man has his price? I’m sure you have. Your price is the point at which
you sell out your claimed conviction, the point at which you abandon your moral
standard for some personal gain. Does every man have his price?
Will every one of us sell out at some point or another? Do all of us have
moral standards that are only valid insofar as they accommodate our
desires? Or, do we then, when we have a greater desire, set it aside for
the sake of those standards which we say we believe?
Martin Luther stood before the Diet
of Worms. They demanded that he recant or lose his life. But he
would not deny Christ. Latimer and Ridley stood before the stakes where
they were to be burned to death for their faith in Christ, and their
executioners demanded that they deny the Lord Jesus Christ. They refused
and were consumed in the flames.
People like that have no
price. They can’t be bought. There’s no point at which they sell
out. I mentioned to you some weeks ago that I had the occasion to meet a
Dr. Hong who is the principal of the largest Christian school in the world of
some 6,000 students in Seoul, Korea. Dr. Hong told us that he had
occasion when he was a boy to watch the Japanese infiltrate North Korea where
he lived, and they came to his house because his father was a leader in the
church, and they demanded that his father deny Jesus Christ or they would cut
off his thumbs, and they began with the first thumb and he wouldn’t deny
Christ, and they cut off the second thumb and he still wouldn’t deny
Christ. Some people don’t have a price. They don’t sell out.
There is no compromise no matter what the cost.
But, on the other hand, we often
hear of people all the time who boast their moral standards, who extol their
righteous character, who want to announce their great set of convictions, yet
for expedience sake, they sell out. They abandon those convictions when,
for some reason or another, they feel themselves better suited to that.
Compromise is very subtle.
Listen. People say they believe the Bible, but they stay in churches
where the Bible isn’t taught. People claim convictions about sin and
punishment until that sin is committed by their own children. People say
they must speak out about dishonesty and corruption until it refers to their
boss and might cause the loss of their job. People have high moral
standards until their lusts are released from the bondage of a holy conscience
by an unholy relationship and then they rationalize their compromise.
People are honest until just a little dishonesty will save them a lot of money.
12/7/2023 9:14 AM
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