From His Heart

Guest (Male): Do you know when to say no? Here's Pastor Jeff Schreve.

Dr. Jeff Schreve: Daniel knew as a believer in Yahweh God, he was to let his light shine and to stand up stand up for the Lord God, and he did. And he was in a dark place called Babylon, a place where they worshiped false gods, a place where uh debauchery and sin was the order of the day. He was in a dark place and he shown brightly for the Lord. And you and I can learn so much from him and from his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, about how to live the Christian life in an unchristian world.

Guest (Male): This is From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Schreve, and thank you for joining us today for the Tuesday broadcast. Today we're going to begin a timely series called Shine, How to Live the Christian Life in an unchristian world. Being a Christian in today's world is not easy. There are opportunities and temptations for compromise everywhere you turn. But when it comes to God and what he desires for you and your life, compromise is not part of the plan. What does God have to say to us about handling the pressure and temptation of compromise? Today's insightful lesson is called When to Say No.

It's the first of this six message series that will be in for the rest of the month. If you miss any, you can always go online to listen to those that have already aired when you go to fromhishart.org. If you can now though, open your Bible to the Old Testament book of Daniel. Here's Pastor Jeff to explain how to live an uncompromising life by knowing when to say no.

Dr. Jeff Schreve: We're starting a brand new series today on the first six chapters of the book of Daniel. Daniel was a guy who let his light shine for the Lord. And we're going to learn how to do that and how to live out the Christian life in an unchristian world, an increasingly unchristian world, the world in which we live in today. It's becoming not only increasingly unchristian, it's becoming anti-Christian and hostile toward Christians. And if you have been watching the news, if if you've been tuning into what's going on, you know that our world is getting uh and our nation getting further and further away from God, further and further away from his word and the Judeo-Christian values that this country was built upon.

You know, it was Barack Obama who said in 2007 that America is no longer a Christian nation. Now, he got hammered for that, but you know, really when you think about it, what he said was true. We used to be a Christian nation, but we're no longer a Christian nation. And if you hold to the truths in this book, you're often times marginalized and smeared and slammed and maligned. And Christianity used to be something that was um respected and revered, but not anymore. So, here's the question. As the world gets darker and darker and darker, how can you and I shine for the Lord?

It's harder, isn't it? In one sense it's harder, but in another sense it's easier. You know, if you go outside at 12:00 today, let's say well, maybe a little after. Uh but you go outside around noon, sunny day, beautiful day that we have here in Texarkana, and you turn on a flashlight, a high-powered flashlight, but in the bright sun, a high-powered flashlight doesn't really draw much attention because it's drowned out with all the other light. But you take that same high-powered flashlight and you go out not at 12:00 noon, but at 12:00 midnight, and you turn it on, and all of a sudden it attracts uh the attention of everybody around because everything else is dark.

And when light comes on in the darkness, boy, it draws people's attention. Now, that's what God has called us to do and called us to be. Jesus said in the book of Matthew, you are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do men light a lamp and put it under the peck measure, put it under the bushel, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your father who is in heaven.

Daniel didn't have that scripture because he lived in the 600s and 500s BC. But Daniel knew as a believer in Yahweh God, he was to let his light shine and to stand up stand up for the Lord God. And he did. And he was in a dark place called Babylon, a place where they worshiped false gods, a place where uh debauchery and sin was the order of the day. He was in a dark place and he shown brightly for the Lord. And you and I can learn so much from him and from his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, about how to live the Christian life in an unchristian world.

Daniel chapter 1 I'll begin reading in verse 1. Scripture says this, in the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, the year was 605 BC that the scripture is referring to. In the third year, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim, king of Judah, into his hand along with some of the vessels of the house of God, and he, Nebuchadnezzar, brought them to the land of Shinar, which is just another name for Babylon, to the house of his God. And he brought the vessels into the treasury of his God.

Often times they would do that in the Old Testament, and when one nation conquered another nation, they would say, we did that because our God is stronger than your God. And so then they took some of the the vessels, the cups and things like that from the house of the Lord, and they brought them into the house of Marduk, their God, or Bel, another name for their God. And they said, see, we have defeated the God of the uh Jews. We've defeated Yahweh, and his utensils now are being used by our God. And so that's what they did.

And then it says in verse 3, then the king ordered Ashpenaz, the chief of his officials, to bring in some of the sons of Israel, including some of the royal family and of the nobles, youths in whom there was no defect, who were good-looking, showing intelligence in every branch of wisdom, endowed with understanding and discerning knowledge, and who had ability for serving in the king's court. And he ordered him to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans. And the king appointed for them a daily ration from the king's choice food and from the wine which he drank and appointed that they should be educated three years, at the end of which they were to enter the king's personal service.

Now, among them from the sons of Judah were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Then the commander of the officials assigned new names to them. And to Daniel, he assigned the name Belteshazzar, to Hananiah, Shadrach, to Mishael, Meshach, and to Azariah, Abednego. How can you and I shine in a dark world? Well, we can learn from Daniel and his his three friends. I want to give you three encouragements today as we study the book of Daniel chapter 1. Encouragement number one, you and I can commit to God regardless of the circumstances. How are we going to shine?

How are we going to get this little light out there and not hide it under a bushel or put it under a a blanket or under a coat or under a bed to get it out there on the lampstand? Well, first of all, you and I can commit to God regardless of the circumstances. Daniel had difficult circumstances. Daniel and his three friends they were ripped from the land of Judah from Jerusalem. They were part of nobility there. And when Nebuchadnezzar came in to uh to Jerusalem and besieged the city and came in there, it was 605 BC, and he took back captives.

He kidnapped some of the young guys and to said, you're going to come to Babylon and you're going to serve me. Well, Daniel had no choice in the matter. He is kidnapped, he's taken, and uh Nebuchadnezzar did that three times. He came back in 597 BC, slapped Jerusalem around a little bit more and their king around, and then he took other captives back with him. And then the third time he came, 586 BC, he wiped out the city. And he destroyed the wall and he destroyed the temple and he took thousands back with him to Babylon.

You're going to serve me here. And so here's Daniel. He all of a sudden he finds himself man, I'm in Babylon. This is wicked Babylon, and I am serving the king. And then he goes through this indoctrination program that they put him through because they wanted him to go to Babylonian graduate school to learn the literature and the language of the Chaldeans. And uh so Daniel went through that and he learned the mathematics and he learned astronomy and he learned astrology and he learned the the language of the Babylonians, which was Akkadian, which was a difficult uh language to learn.

And he had to pour over the books and he had to spend a lot of time uh preparing as he was in this school. And there were pressures put on Daniel. There were pressures put on him and his friends to conform to the ways of Babylon. But Daniel never conformed to the ways of Babylon. He handled the pressure and he handled the uh the forces against him, and he never cracked under the pressure. Now, you and I, we face pressure to do two things, compromise and conform. That's why the scripture says in the book of Romans, I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship, and do not be conformed to the world.

Phillips translation says this, don't let the world around you squeeze you into its mold. We feel the pressure just like Daniel uh felt the pressure. But you know what Daniel knew? He knew when you say no. And this is what they did to Daniel. It's like, okay, you're not going to be in Jerusalem anymore, you're going to be in Babylon. We had no choice about that. That that was just something that happened to him, no choice at all. And I'm going to put you in Babylonian graduate school and you're going to learn the literature and the language of the Chaldeans.

And Daniel said, all right, I can I can do that. I mean, you're going to teach me some stuff I'm not going to believe, but I can I can do that. I can learn that. Hey, I took a lot of geology at the University of Texas that taught me about how the earth was billions and billions of years old. It taught me about evolution. It taught me that uh that mathematical equation, all these smart guys uh that don't believe in God uh hold to nobody times nothing equals everything, uh hard equation. But uh you know, so I learned all that stuff.

I was like, all right, I can I can learn that. I can read that and I am not going to believe that, but I can learn your stuff. And Daniel and his three friends, okay, we can learn all that stuff. And then they said, well, we're going to change your names. They said, well, we don't have much control over that. And so they had beautiful Jewish names, Hebrew names, and they changed them to Babylonian names. The name Daniel Daniel is a cool name. It means God is my judge. And they changed his name to Belteshazzar, which means prince of Bel.

Bel was the name of their false god, Bel or Marduk. They called uh different names for the same god. Hananiah had a great name. His name meant God is gracious. They changed his name to Shadrach, which means illumined by the moon god. Mishael he has the coolest name. You're thinking about some of you pregnant moms, you're thinking about names. Hey, how about this name, Mishael? It says who is what God is. But they changed his name to Meshach, which means who is like the moon god. And then Azariah, his name means God is my helper.

They changed his name to Abednego, which meant servant of Nego or Nebo, which was another one of their false gods. So, they they changed their names. I heard about a man, he was in in the at the bank standing in line. All of a sudden he looked over and standing in another line was this woman. And he looked at her and all of a sudden the light went on and he came up to her and he said, Mary Jones. Wow, I hardly recognized you. He said, look at that, your hair is different. You used to wear glasses, now you don't wear glasses anymore.

And And man, you're dressing so nice and you look like you've lost about 20 lbs. You just look great. And she looked at him and she said, well, I am not Mary Jones. He said, look at that, you even changed your name. They changed Daniel's name. And Daniel said, you can change my name, but you're not going to change my nature. You can change what you call me, but you're not going to change who I am. And so Daniel said, it's okay for me to be in Babylon. God has allowed this to happen. It's okay for me to learn the literature and the language of the Chaldeans.

That doesn't cause a problem. It is okay that you change my name because I know who I am. But then they said, now we want you to eat the king's choice food. And it says in verse 8, but Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the king choice food or with the wine which he drank. Daniel knew when to say no because now they were asking him to do something that was going to defile his temple, defile his own body. And that was to eat the king's meats. Now, this is good stuff.

The king doesn't eat slop. And so they're not asking Daniel, hey, we're not saying that you got to eat uh you know, rice porridge with worms. We're not giving you that stuff. We're giving you the king's choice food and wine and uh you're going to love it. And Daniel said, well, it may taste good, but it's going to defile me because I'm under the dietary laws of the Old Testament. And I don't eat ham sandwiches and pork chops and bacon and eggs and and lobster Thermidor. I can't have any of that stuff. And furthermore, he's thinking this in his head, furthermore, this stuff is all offered to idols before it comes uh before the king, before it comes to us.

And he said, I can't have that. I can't eat food that's sacrificed to pagan gods. And he said, if I eat that, I'm going to defile myself. And it says that he made up his mind that he would not defile himself. Hey, you and I, we feel pressure to conform and we have to make up our mind that we're not going to defile ourselves because we want our light to shine. Now, it has well been said, beliefs are something we hold, but convictions are something that hold us. And Daniel had convictions. And what are convictions?

Convictions are predetermined answers. We need predetermined answers so that we can know when to say no. So, you don't need to wait until you're in the throes of a big temptation to decide, well, what am I going to do here? You know, it's like, well, I don't really have any standards when it comes to sexual morality and and you know, I know that I'm probably not supposed to do this, but it's not a conviction that really holds you. And so you get involved and you're making out in the backseat of a car or something like that and And then it's like, well, what am I supposed to do here?

This is starting to move in a direction that's going to go too far and Hey, you got to know way way before that you have a predetermined answer. Hey, I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to participate in sexual immorality. I'm not going to participate uh and and hang out at parties where people are getting uh drunk and there's drugs going around and that's that's not going to come in and defile me. I'm not going to cheat at work. I'm not going to cheat at school. I'm not going to cheat on my taxes.

Why? Cuz I don't want to be defiled, cuz I want to honor God in my life. Hey, do you have some predetermined answers in your life? When I was in college, I was studying for a final with a friend of mine and a couple of his friends. And we were studying and I I was right on the cusp between an A and a B and I needed to get an A on that test. And we're studying and and my friend Ross starts saying, well, what uh what about this question? And I was like, I don't I don't know the answer to that one.

He said, what about this other question? I said, I don't know. Man, is that in the notes? That's not even in the notes. And then he asked me a third. I said, he's not going to ask that. He said, yes, he is. I said, he is. He said, yeah, we stole the test. He said, do you want to see it? I'd like to. You know, I I mean, that's what went through my head. I I'd like to see it, but I thought no, I don't want to see that. I I don't want to see it.

It's wrong for you to steal I this I didn't say this to him, but I'm thinking this in my heart, that's wrong. That's cheating. Uh hey, you want to cheat, you you go ahead and cheat, but I'm not going to cheat because that's wrong. And as soon as I heard that they had stolen the test, I was like, you know, I I can't I can't do that. That's okay. I don't want to see that test. I had a predetermined answer. God didn't want me to cheat. I can't cheat. Hey, listen. When you're put in the the vice and the world's trying to squeeze you into its mold so that you so that you sin and you defile yourself through sexual immorality or drugs or alcohol or cheating or greed or whatever it might be, you're like, wait a minute.

You got to remember this. If you're a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you're called to let your light shine. And if you fall and fail in this situation, man, you your testimony is at stake. So, it is important to have a predetermined answer. The most important verse in Daniel chapter 1 is verse 8. Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the king's choice food. Our testimony is at stake if we don't let our light shine. The Bible says in Proverbs 25, like a muddied fountain and a polluted spring is a righteous man who yields, falls down, and compromises his integrity before the wicked.

Good friend of mine when I was in college much stronger Christian than I was, a lot further along in the Lord than I was. His name was Tim Martindale. He's a pastor today uh the last time I checked. It's uh been many many years since I've talked to him. But he told me a story about being in high school. He had a great testimony all through high school. He had become a Christian when he was just uh probably 8, 9, 10 years old and he walked with God. He really let his light shine. And he said he was at a party and the people at the party, they knew that Tim was a believer.

They knew that he didn't drink. And Tim said just to kind of see what would happen, he grabbed a can of beer from the trash can and he washed it out and he filled it up with water. And the the group was all in the living room there at this party. And he sat down on the couch with his can of beer that was filled with water, but he didn't tell anybody. And he just began to drink that. And he said one of the girls there looked at him and her eyes got big. And then she started to cry.

And she ran out of the room into a back bedroom. And Tim followed her and said, hey, what what is it? What what's what's going on with you? And she said this to him. She said, Tim, I thought you were for real. I thought you were true and genuine, but you're a fake just like every other Christian. And he said, no, no, no, no, no, it's just water. Look, it's just water. And she wasn't very happy with him after that, but but he said he learned a lesson that day. People are watching. Your testimony is at stake.

Man, when you and I do things, when we we participate in the the dirty jokes at school or or at the office, when we we use uh foul language and then we try and and excuse it by telling people, excuse my French, you know, that in French. We all know that. And uh we just we don't think it's a big deal. It's a big deal. It's a big deal. Your testimony is at stake. And like a muddied fountain and a polluted spring is a righteous man who yields and compromises his integrity before the wicked. Daniel said, I can't do that.

Daniel probably knew that verse in Proverbs chapter 25 and he said, I can't do that. I can't defile myself with the king's choice food.

Guest (Male): There's no doubt about it. It's hard to not yield to compromising situations in life. But as Christians, we must because our testimony is at stake. There's much more to learn about this next time when Pastor Jeff will explain how to know for sure when to say no. Is the enemy winning in your thought life? Would you like to learn how to tear down the strongholds that hold you back by taking those thoughts captive and then walking in freedom by going deeply into a deeper study of God's word? Well, earlier this month, Pastor Jeff shared a brand new six message series called This Is War, Overcoming the World, the Flesh, and the Devil.

And this dynamic series is our gift of thanks to you this month for your support of any amount. To get yours on a USB flash drive, CDs, DVDs, or MP3 download, simply call 866-40 Bible, 866-40 Bible, or go online to fromhishart.org requesting the series This Is War, Overcoming the World, the Flesh, and the Devil. Hey, you don't have to live in defeat. God will equip you to win. And your gift helps others hear this truth and walk in victory, too. God bless you and thank you for your generosity this month. When you're online there, you can find out how to get the series we're in now at the end of the month called Shine, How to Live the Christian Life in an unchristian world.

Call 866-40 Bible or go online to fromhishart.org. God bless you for standing with us to share Christ with the world. Christ is in the world and he can also be in you through the Holy Spirit. Remember this verse today as we close, John chapter 16 verse 33. I have said these things to you that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart, I have overcome the world. Well, our time is up for today as we have concluded part one of the first message in the series Shine. But be sure to join us on Wednesday for part two of the lesson When to Say No.

That's Wednesday here on From His Heart.

Dr. Jeff Schreve: From His Heart is the listener supported broadcast ministry of Dr. Jeff Schreve speaking the truth in love to a lost and a hurting world. Remember, no matter what, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Find out more at fromhishart.org.