The Sean McDowell Show - Daniel 1:1-8: The Principles You Decide Before the Pressure Comes

0:00Life Audio. Morning, church. We just finished up a series on Acts and we're about to jump into 30 weeks on the book of Romans. Side note, start reading it, start studying it, start listening to it. Young man asked me recently, he said, what three books should I read? I said, my advice is Genesis, Gospel John, and Romans. Now this morning, before we jump into Romans, we're going to take a look at one of the most beloved Old Testament figures. But before doing so, I've got a question for you. What are the principles that you most deeply live by? If I should pull out a sheet of paper your phone and write down the principles that shape your relationships, your spiritual life, your job, what would they be?

1:01Could you turn to a neighbor? By the way, I won't have you turn to a neighbor. In all the introverts said, amen. Could you say, here's the principles that are most important to me. One of the gifts that my father gave to me was to think through my principles and then through the power of the Holy Spirit and other believers, try to live by those principles. He had thought through what his principles were for parenting, for finances, for ministry, for learning the Scripture, his marriage, et cetera. Years ago, I don't know why this story popped into my mind, but probably 25 years ago. I had a chance to go with my mom and my dad and my wife to Russia in January. Maybe I shouldn't say a chance to go in January, but we went, it was beautiful. It was a three day passers conference. Now one of the principles my dad had thought through in his life is he's had a lot of success.

2:04And when you have success, people want to treat you differently and better sometimes than others. One of the things that my father would say to me, he said, I don't want people to treat me differently. We all have a gift. We're all made in the image of God. Don't treat me better. It was a principle he tried to live by. So we show up in Russia. It's freezing. And I'll never forget is we're pulling up. Our host came out and he said, look, we have all the pastors staying over here. But for you, Josh, we have these really special accommodations. And without any hesitation, my dad said, thank you for wanting to treat me well. But I have a principle that I want to be treated differently than other people. And you please put me with the pastors over there. No hesitation. Why? Because that was a principle he had thought through. See, the reality is that decisions you make tomorrow are shaped by the principles you choose today. The decisions you and I make tomorrow are shaped by the principles we develop today.

3:12Now the person we're going to look at is the person of Daniel, who is a person of principles. Daniel rooted his identity in the character of God and what God said about him. And he brought those principles to Babylon. That's why he could stand up when tempted and pressured in such a powerful way. So he had cultivated and thought through what those principles were. You see, you don't develop convictions in Babylon. You bring them into Babylon. You don't develop convictions in Babylon. You bring them into Babylon. Now I remember when I was in high school, this story popped into my mind. I'm going to use a few stories to motivate students because we have a lot of high school and college students who will, like Daniel, be stepping into a very different situation and the question will be, how do I faithfully follow Jesus in a different place? So I thought back when I was, I think I, 1991, do you remember when magic Johnson came

4:18down with HIV? How many of you remember that announcement? Now magic Johnson is one of the greatest basketball players of all time. And I was sitting in my room in Julling, grew up in the mountains of San Diego, listening, I probably the right of the station was either B100 or 91X if I remember. And what came across is they said, we have an announcement, the great basketball player magic Johnson has HIV. Now if you're 40 and under and somebody says, tell me about the pandemic, you say the pandemic was, this is the participatory part of the program. It was COVID, right? If you're 40 plus, the pandemic was HIV, the AIDS virus. I'm sitting in my room and I hear this and I was stunned. I thought I'm not going to get to see him play basketball anymore. And how could this happen in magic? He's like the nicest guy ever. Why didn't I notice it at the time? It turns out, let's just say his lifestyle caught up to him. But shortly after this, I remember some young adults got the idea that they wanted to

5:19help young people, which at that time included me, Jen X, avoid the mistakes that magic Johnson made. So they had a tape that they gave to people with a list of questions you would ask somebody before you would sleep with somebody. Now if you want to avoid what happened in magic Johnson, probably good questions to ask, like, have you slept with somebody else in the past six months? Have you taken intravenous drugs? But when I heard about this, I remember thinking, how realistic is this? Is this really going to help young people? And the heat of the moment say, you know what? I just want to be responsible. Let me take out my note and ask you some questions. It doesn't work that way. See, if we don't develop convictions before the temptation or challenge or Babylon comes, we're likely going to make decisions that we regret. This is where Daniel steps into the picture. And Daniel, chapter one, verses one through eight, not Daniel one through eight.

6:21I told someone recently that they're like, you're preaching on eight chapters? I was like, no, eight verses. Although last week, I'm pretty sure George preached on eight chapters if I'm not mistaken. So it's possible. But we're going to look at eight verses. Daniel one verse one. It says in the third year of the reign of Jehovah, Kim, King of Judah, never can as your king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and be staged it. Now the larger story is told in second king chapter 25. But what happens is if you have Jerusalem, and this is like roughly six century BC, which is not a very big city. It's not now it wasn't then. And for two years, Nebuchadnezzar and his army surrounded Jerusalem. Can you imagine being in there, peering over the walls, seeing the most powerful, one of the most powerful armies in the world just waiting to star view out. Well, they hit a famine.

7:22Eventually there's a breach in the wall. And the Israel kings men, they tried to flee, get away. The Babylon, the Babylonians come in and they destroy the city. They burn down, destroy the temple. And actually the king of that time, Nebuchadnezzar, took the last king of Israel, put his sons right before him and slaughtered him. But according to the text, gouged out his eyes and took him to Babylon. Now killing his sons meant your reign is done. There's a new king in town. Now is the last thing he saw. Nebuchadnezzar was a ruthless king. He also got to realize this is probably the lowest point at this point in the history of Israel. Now why? Go back 400 years earlier. And during the time of King Solomon, they have so much wealth that people from around the world are coming to see gods blessing and gods power and get wisdom from Solomon

8:25and there's peace in the land. Now four centuries later, Assyria exiled Israel, Judah is exiled by Babylon. Babylon is destroyed. And Jeremiah writes a book called Lamentations because they're lamenting the loss. This is where Daniel steps in. In verse two, it says, and the Lord gave Jehoiachim, now the king of Judah, into his hand with some of the vessels of the house of God. And he brought them to the land of Shainar, which by the way is modern day Iraq, to the house of his God and placed them in the vessels of the treasury of his God. Now if you're paying close attention, the text just revealed something else very important about Nebuchadnezzar. And he broke one of the commandments and the command he broke was number, I'm just kidding, I know it's still summer. He actually broke the number one commandments. Don't have any gods before me. Now when I, as a kid, I remember hearing that going, don't have any gods before me.

9:28Does that mean there's other gods and just make God number one? Like that doesn't make sense. That's not the point of it. It's saying, don't put any other gods in my presence. Don't compare any other gods to me. I alone in God, Isaiah 43, 10, there was no God form before and there's no God formed after. What did Nebuchadnezzar just do? He took vessels and treasuries from the house of the ones who God and did what with them. He put them in the house of the false gods. So not only is Nebuchadnezzar ruthless, he's also godless. But notice, I don't want to miss this before we keep going. Why did Nebuchadnezzar defeat Israel? It's not because he was so militarily brilliant. It's not because he was patient. It's not because they're so powerful. That's not why they won.

10:29They won because verse 2 says, and the Lord gave Jehovahic him King of Judah into his hand. The only reason this happened is because God sovereignly allowed it to happen. Now I don't know why, always, probably more often than I don't know why God allows bad things to happen. But at this point, Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon seemed unbeatable and undefeated. What we're told is God is sovereign and he's in control and he's doing this for a purpose. Will we trust him? You know what's incredible about the story? You can still see the sovereignty of the hand of God today in Babylon. Now what do I mean? Isaiah chapter 13 and Jeremiah chapter 50. So Jeremiah is written roughly around this time, but shortly before the structure of Babylon, Isaiah is written two centuries before 8th century.

11:33Isaiah 13, Jeremiah 50 says this, Babylon will be destroyed. It will never be rebuilt. And Jackals, owls and hyenas will live there. Now a friend of mine is an archaeologist who lives in Jordan, just east of Israel. Has an amazing YouTube channel called Expedition Bible. He's an archaeologist. And he got permission from the Iraqi government to go into ancient Babylon and do a documentary of what he saw. That was fascinating. Is what did I say at 13? Jeremiah 50 say it'll be destroyed and never be rebuilt. To this day, it's like a graveyard. It's still never been rebuilt. In fact, Saddam Hussein's palace bumps right up against ancient Babylon. And he took photographs of take a wild guess what he recorded. Jackals, owls and hyenas living there to this day.

12:36Friends God is sovereign. Babylon seemed undefeated, but everybody seems undefeated who challenges the ones who forgot. And Daniel knew that, which is why we're going to see his boldness emerge in a minute when he stands up to Nebuchadnezzar. All right, verse 3. Says then the king commanded Ashpinaz, his chief unit, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family, of the nobility. Youth throughout blemish have got appearance, skillful and always. And the doubt would not understand he learning, competent to stand in the king's court. It teach them the literature and language of the Caldians. Now a unit, quite obviously, was a castrated male and a king would put a unit in charge of his harem because he couldn't impregnate his harem. But this is his chief unit. So here's Daniel, exiled in a foreign land, and he's one person away from the king. So he has the ear of the chief unit who now has the ear, so to speak, of the king.

13:38Daniel is close to the king in this. Now I do find it fascinating how differently Pharaoh treated Israel than how Nebuchadnezzar did. Pharaoh's approach was, we're going to put him in Goshen in a different land. We're going to impress them, enslave them, and use them as a resource. Nebuchadnezzar was a little bit more like, let's assimilate them, and let's find the best of the best to serve in the king's court. Very different model. And by the way, what's he looking for? It says basically those without blemish, good appearance, smart, brilliant, stand, king's court. In other words, the best, the best like, pastor Nate. I mean, honestly, he's fit. He's got a full head of hair. He's smart. If we get exiled to Babylon, they're taking him just for the record. Now kidding aside, here's Daniel in a foreign land, and he's being brought into the king's

14:38court. But what's so interesting to me is what Daniel considers concerning that he won't do and what doesn't concern Daniel. Daniel's not concerned about the language and literature of this polytheistic pagan nation. He's not concerned to learn that. At least he doesn't express that in the text. Why? I actually think if we know God's word well, we know what we believe and why we believe it. We're not afraid or threatened by ideas that are contrary to God's word. In fact, I think we actually invite it. So now in full time at Biola and Talbot, but for 21 years, full time at part time, I was at Capsunna Valley, Christian School, CBCS, teaching Bible. And maybe my second year teaching got together friend of mine. I was like, we've got to take our students the most godless, secular place we can take

15:41over, bring in 80s, signastics, talk to our students. So for years, we take our students at CBCS to Berkeley. Hey listeners, it's Kelly from Life Audio. We know life gets busy and sometimes it's easy for your faith to get pushed to the side. That's why we created the Good Word, a free weekly newsletter designed to give you a moment to slow down, be encouraged, and reconnect with what matters most. God's word. Inside, you'll find devotionals, guided prayers, podcast recommendations, and other faith-built content we think you'll love. No ads, no clutter. It's good content to help you stay rooted in God's word throughout your week. Sign up for the Good Word today at LifeAudio.com-forward-slash-the-good-word. That's LifeAudio.com-forward-slash-the-good-word. The first year we went over 20 years ago, I kid you not, there were people living in trees.

16:45They were pro-choice, but they were living in trees so the trees would not get cut down. Our Southern Orange County students had like no context for this. We brought in atheists, gnostics, unitarian reverence to challenge our students. I'm not afraid why, because Christianity is true. And if we know what we believe, we should invite conversations and interaction with people who see the world differently. People show no concern there, but here's the question for Daniel. And it's the same kind of question you and I ask in different ways. The question is, how do I navigate living in an environment that is unsympathetic to my beliefs? How do we navigate living in a different environment that is unsympathetic or in some ways against what we deeply believe? And one of the key answers is building principles rooted in the person and character of God.

17:48We see Daniel do that, let's turn to verse 5. Says, the king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate and the wine they needed drank. They were to be educated for three years, and at the end of that time they were to stand before the king. In other words, for three years they went to Babylon University. For three years to be taught a completely different way of seeing the world. Now don't miss how deeply they would want to fit in. Imagine, first off, if you're Daniel's friends and thinking, wow, they selected us to be in with the king, what's the pressure they're feeling? If we do whatever the king says, we'll have security, we'll have good reputation, we'll have education, we'll have food, our lives will be so much easier. If we just fit in and do whatever the king says. Now imagine you're 16 years old, which might be the age that Daniel roughly was.

18:54You've been taking from your family, your city's been destroyed, you're standing before the most powerful king on the earth. Do you really think you'd refuse the king's food? Now all of us say yes, because all of us are the heroes of our own stories. But the question is, have we built principles like Daniel? Is our identity rooted in God? And are we willing to sacrifice something when push comes to shove, living faithfully as a follower of God? Verse 6 says, among these were Daniel, Hennoniah, and Michelle, and Azaraya of the tribe of Judah. And the chief of the unites gave them names, Daniel, Shack, Rack, and Benny. If you don't know Shack, Rack, and Benny, you need to go back and watch an old episode of. Veggie Tales says all the people who were tortured and raised on it.

20:00Of course the names are Shadrack, Meshack, and Abednego. Now notice what's happened with Daniel. They've changed Daniel's home. They've changed Daniel's education. They've changed his language. And now they've even changed his name. But one thing they cannot change are the principles that Daniel brought with himself to Babylon. And don't miss how significant a name changed was. And God gives a promised Abram, changes his name to Abraham. Sarah, Sarah. Jesus calls Peter a rock. Names mean something. But what's so interesting to me here is why is it the food that trips up Daniel? Why can they change everything in his life?

21:02But also the food is like time out. That's going too far. Well that brings us to verse 8. Which by the way, one of my favorite verses in the Bible that I think is the heart of the book of Daniel. Why he could be a faithful steward through such pressure and temptation in Babylon. What the prophet says, but Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself. By the way, what tense is resolved? You're like it's still summer. You're killing me McDowell. Resolved is past, isn't it? See Daniel didn't bring his convictions to Babylon. Daniel brought his convictions to Babylon. He did not develop them there. Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself the king's food or with a wine that he drank. They're free asked the chief of the innings to allow him not to defile himself.

22:03Now what's wrong with the food? When I was a kid and I hear the story in Santa's squad, I thought well the food was obviously sacrificed to idols. I just believe that for years until I actually read the story, it doesn't say that. It doesn't say the food was sacrificed to idols. Now the other possibility is that the food was non-cocher. And they had laws about what they would eat, given the time of Moses hundreds of years earlier. But they're in Babylon, at least for season none of the food is kosher and they have to survive, so I'm not sure if that's it. What hit me is I was thinking this through. I think it's more what food represents. I think food represents now that I would be fully dependent upon the king. I think that's what it represents. Imagine you have a pet and your pet relies upon you for everything. Your pet is going to die unless you give it what?

23:05Food and water and it can literally eat from your hand. That's what makes it a pet. I think maybe at this point, Dan is like, you can change my name. We can change our language. You can change where I live, but I will not eat the king's food. Because now the king is literally sustaining me. That's going too far. Regardless of the exact reason, Daniel had convictions and eating the king's food was going too far. Now by the way, what could Nebuchadnezzar do? We already saw that he's a ruthless and be godless. He didn't fear the Lord. He could end Daniel's life in a moment, but Daniel asked if he could not defile himself. Let me ask you again. What are the principles that you live by? Can you write them down? Are they rooted in Scripture?

24:08What are the hills you may be compromised on? What are the hills you'll die on in terms of your faithfulness before the Lord? Some of these are big questions. Some of these are smaller questions. For me, a smaller one is I enjoy using YouTube. To me, it's an amazing resource for two reasons. Equip Christians and reach non-Christians. That's why I do it. When I got into that space, I realized, oh, this is like a Darwinian survival of the fittest for clicks and views. Some people will do anything. Clickbait to get views, to get money, to build a platform. That's not why I'm on it. My principle, and I'm not saying I perfectly do this, to be appropriately provocative. Meaning you've got to provoke people to watch your stuff, but how do you do in a way that's appropriate? An opportunity is coming along like, oh, if I attacked this person or if I did that, I'd get a ton of views and I'd make money. It doesn't draw me in because that's not my principle of why I do it.

25:13What are the principles of your job? Principles of your marriage. Principles of living out faithfully your life in your neighborhood. What are those principles? Because think about the way you cut a log. If you cut a log, the way it comes out is what? It's the way it goes in. It's the power of principles thinking through them ahead of time. Someone who closed by telling you two stories, two stories of people who found themselves in unexpected situations, but who both brought with them convictions to that situation. One it ended well, one it cost the person something. First one was a college student by the name of Jana. She's go at a public university in our wonderful state, which will remain unnamed. She was in a class and one of the assignments they got was to analyze pornography, to watch it and analyze it sociologically.

26:15As a Christian, she had a issue with this. Call my dad, she's like, what do I do? She said, ask the professor if he'll let you out. She's like, can I get another assignment? He's like, nope, if you don't watch this, it'll affect your grade. Call my dad again. She's like, what do I do? Why don't you propose to your teacher that he allow you to write a paper and give a presentation why pornography is damaging to society and you should be allowed out of this assignment. She went to the professor and he accepted that she called my dad back, was like, now what do I do? Gave her some content. She gave her presentation before the class and it was done what she reported back. As the teacher said, you know what? That was a compelling presentation. Not only do you not have to do this assignment, anybody else who wants an alternate assignment, I will give you one. And according to this young woman at the time named Janice, she said, have the class got up and walked out. She didn't anticipate that situation, but she brought her convictions with her.

27:18A different situation. Some of you are US women's soccer fans. You might recognize the name J. Lean Hinkle. A number of years ago, about a decade plus ago, she was one of the best female soccer players in her position. She was invited up to play on the US women's national team, but was already somewhat of a controversial figure because after the 2015 ruling of a burger fell versus Hodges, the Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage, she posted this on social media. She said, I believe whatever, every fiber in my body that was written 2,000 years ago in the Bible is undoubtedly true. This world may change, but Christ in his word never will. She didn't attack somebody. She didn't even mention the issue. She just signaled, I'm Christian, and I think God got certain things right, and I'm going to live my life according to it. Well, after this sometime later, she was invited up to the national women's soccer team. But one thing the team was, you could say, forced to do, was to wear a certain jersey

28:22in support of gay pride. Now, you might hear this and say, you know what? She should wear it. She should just be a witness from the inside. It's just a jersey. You're welcome to make that argument. I'm talking about the predicament that Jaylene found herself in with her convictions before the Lord. So she went out and she said after three days of prayer and reflection, she chose to withdraw from the women's national team rather than wear the jersey. She said, quote, if I never get another national team call up again, then that's a part of his plan and that's okay. This is powerful. Maybe this is why I was meant to play soccer, to show other believers to be obedient. That's conviction. That's principles. Not just cheap, but when it costs you something and you value faithfulness, that's when our witness speaks.

29:23I don't close with a quote for you that might put this in context. Years ago I had a chance to interview one of my favorite thinkers. You might recognize the name, Oscar Guinness. British thinker brilliant. And he's in his 80s. And towards the end of the interview, I said, I said, Oscar, actually I probably said, Dr. Guinness, I'm curious, what do you think your legacy will be? On that figure, he said, he goes, Sean, legacy is a secular idea. All that matters is God says, well done, my good and faithful servant. He was exactly right. Someday friends, your career is going to end. Someday your reputation will disappear. People are going to forget you and they're going to forget me. Your accomplishments will be forgotten, but there's one sentence that will matter in the end, well done, my good and faithful servant.

30:28The question is, what separates people who are good and faithful servants and those who aren't? One thing, not the only thing, is that it's people like Daniel who have their identity first in the character of God and build principles that through the power of the Holy Spirit and the strength of other believers enable us to live them out with conviction. Because remember, the decisions you make tomorrow are shaped by the principles you choose today. You don't develop convictions in Babylon, you bring them to Babylon. What are the convictions that shape your life? Are they biblical? Have you written them down? Have you shared them with somebody? If you want to be faithful witness like J. Lean, and Janna, and Daniel, we've got to cultivate those, build them into our lives and be willing to live and die for them.

31:30I think that's what Jesus asks us to do. Amen? And if you enjoyed this show, please hit that follow button on your podcast app. Most of you tuning in haven't done this yet, and it makes a huge difference in helping us reach and equip more people and build community. And please consider leaving a podcast review. Every review helps. Thanks for listening to the Sean McDowell show brought to you by Talbot School of Theology at Biola University, where we have on campus and online programs in a polygetic spiritual formation, marriage and family Bible, and so much more. We would love to train you to more effectively live, teach, and defend the Christian faith today. And we will see you when the next episode drops. You're fearfully and wonderfully made. God looks at your heart, not your gene size. Do you know the verses? You have still stress over your body? Oh, I get it. I was raised in charge, but I struggled with food, eating disorders, and my body for decades.

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