From His Heart

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Do you know when to say no? Here's Pastor Jeff Shreve.

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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. He was in a dark place called Babylon, a place where they worshiped false gods, a place where debauchery and sin was the order of the day.

He was in a dark place and he shone brightly for the Lord. 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.

There is tremendous truth. There is hope that you always dream of love. He can heal every scar.

Speaker 1

This is from his heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve. And thank you for joining us today for the Tuesday broadcast. Today we're going to begin a timely series called "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 we 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 fromhisheart.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.

Speaker 2

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 today is not only becoming increasingly unchristian; it's becoming anti-Christian and hostile toward Christians. If you have been watching the news and tuning in to what's going on, you know that our world and our nation are 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. He got hammered for that, but 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. If you hold to the truths in this book, you're often marginalized, smeared, slammed, and maligned. Christianity used to be something that was respected and revered, but not anymore. So here's the question: as the world gets 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 o'clock today—let's say, well, maybe a little after—but you go outside around noon on a sunny day, and you turn on a high-powered flashlight, it doesn't really draw much attention because it's drowned out by all the other light. But you take that same high-powered flashlight and go out not at 12 noon, but at 12 midnight, and you turn it on. All of a sudden, it attracts the attention of everybody around because everything else is dark. When light comes on in the darkness, it draws people's attention. Now that's what God has called us to do and 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, 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 600-500 BC era, but he knew, as a believer in Yahweh God, that he was to let his light shine and to stand up for the Lord God. And he did. He was in a dark place called Babylon, a place where they worshiped false gods—a place where debauchery and sin were the order of the day. He was in a dark place, and he shone brightly for the Lord. 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 one. I'll begin reading in verse one. The 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." Oftentimes, they would do that in the Old Testament. When one nation conquered another nation, they would say, "We did that because our God is greater than your God." They took some of 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. They said, "See, we have defeated the God of the Jews. We've defeated Yahweh, and His utensils now are being used by our God."

Then it says in verse three, "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 three friends. I want to give you three encouragements today as we study the Book of Daniel, chapter one.

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 blanket or under a coat or under a bed? Well, first of all, you and I can commit to God regardless of the circumstances. Daniel had difficult circumstances. Daniel and his three friends were ripped from the land of Judah, from Jerusalem. They were part of nobility there. When Nebuchadnezzar came into Jerusalem and besieged the city in 605 BC, he took back captives—he kidnapped some of the young guys—and said, "You're going to come to Babylon, and you're going to serve me." Daniel had no choice in the matter. He was kidnapped and taken. 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. The third time he came, in 586 BC, he wiped out the city, destroyed the wall, and destroyed the temple, taking thousands back with him to Babylon.

So here's Daniel. All of a sudden, he finds himself in Babylon, serving the king. He goes through this indoctrination program because they wanted him to go to Babylonian graduate school to learn the literature and the language of the Chaldeans. Daniel went through that; he learned mathematics, astronomy, astrology, and the language of the Babylonians, which was Akkadian—a difficult language to learn. He had to pour over the books and spend a lot of time preparing as he was in this school. There were pressures put on Daniel and his friends to conform to the ways of Babylon. But Daniel never conformed to the ways of Babylon. He handled the pressure and the forces against him, and he never cracked under the pressure.

Now, you and I 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." Philip's translation says this: "Don't let the world around you squeeze you into its mold." We feel the pressure just like Daniel felt the pressure. But you know what? Daniel knew when to say no. This is what they did to Daniel: "Okay, you're not going to be in Jerusalem anymore. You're going to be in Babylon. We had no choice about that; that was just something that happened to him."

"I'm going to put you in Babylonian graduate school, and you're going to learn the literature and the language of the Chaldeans." Daniel said, "All right, I can do that. I mean, you're going to teach me some stuff I'm not going to believe, but 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 mathematical equation that all these smart guys who don't believe in God hold to: nobody times nothing equals hard equation. But, you know, I learned all that stuff. I said, "All right, I can learn that. I can read that. I'm not going to believe that, but I can learn your stuff."

Daniel and his three friends said, "Okay, we can learn all that stuff." Then they said, "Well, we're going to change your names." They said, "Well, we don't have much control over that." They had beautiful Jewish names, Hebrew names, and they changed them to Babylonian names. The name Daniel is a cool name; it means "God is my judge." They changed his name to Belteshazzar, which means "Prince of Bel." Bel was the name of their false god, Bel, or Marduk—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 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." Then Azariah, his name means "God is my helper." They changed his name to Abednego, which meant "servant of Nebo," another one of their false gods.

So they changed their names. I heard about a man who was at the bank, standing in line. All of a sudden, he looked over, and standing in another line was this woman. He looked at her, and all of a sudden, the light went on. He came up to her and 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, man, you're dressing so nice. You look like you've lost about 20 pounds." She looked at him and 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."

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's 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." It says in verse eight, "But Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the king's 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 meat.

Now, this is good stuff. The king doesn't eat slop. They're not asking Daniel, "Hey, we're not saying that you gotta eat, you know, rice porridge with worms." They're giving him the king's choice food and wine, and he was going to love it. 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. I don't eat ham sandwiches, pork chops, bacon and eggs, or lobster thermidor. I can't have any of that stuff." Furthermore, he's thinking this in his head: "This stuff is all offered to idols before it comes before the king, before it comes to us." He said, "I can't have that. I can't eat food that's sacrificed to pagan gods." He made up his mind that he would not defile himself.

Hey, you and I feel pressure to conform, and we have to make up our minds that we're not going to defile ourselves because we want our light to shine. It has well been said, "Beliefs are something we hold, but convictions are something that hold us." Daniel had convictions. What are convictions? Convictions are predetermined answers. We need predetermined answers so that we can know when to say no. 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."

You know, "I know that I'm probably not supposed to do, but it's not a conviction that really holds you." You get involved, and you're making out in the backseat of a car or something like that, 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." You gotta 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 and hang out at parties where people are getting drunk and there's drugs going around. 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? Because I don't want to be defiled. 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. We were studying, and I was right on the cusp between an A and a B, and I needed to get an A on that test. We're studying, and my friend Ross starts saying, "Well, what about this question?" I was like, "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." 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. Do you want to see it?"

I'd like to, you know? I mean, that's what went through my head. I'd like to see it. But I thought, "No, I don't want to see that. I don't want to see it. It's wrong for you to steal." I didn't say this to him, but I'm thinking this in my heart: "That's wrong. That's cheating. Hey, you want to cheat? You go ahead and cheat. But I'm not going to cheat because that's wrong." As soon as I heard that they had stolen the test, I was like, "You know, I can't do that. That's okay. I don't want to see that test." I had a predetermined answer: "God doesn't want me to cheat. I can't cheat."

When you're put in the vice and the world's trying to squeeze you into its mold so that you sin and defile yourself through sexual immorality, drugs, alcohol, cheating, greed, or whatever it might be, you have to remember this: if you're a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you're called to let your light shine. If you fall and fail in this situation, your testimony is at stake. So it is important to have a predetermined answer. The most important verse in Daniel chapter one is verse eight: "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."

A 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, the last time I checked. It's 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 probably 8, 9, or 10 years old, and he walked with God. He really let his light shine. He said he was at a party, and the people at the party knew that Tim was a believer. They knew that he didn't drink. Tim said just to kind of see what would happen, he grabbed a can of beer from the trash can, washed it out, and filled it up with water. The group was all in the living room there at this party. He sat down on the couch with his can of beer that was filled with water, but he didn't tell anybody. He just began to drink that.

One of the girls there looked at him, her eyes got big, and then she started to cry. She ran out of the room into a back bedroom. Tim followed her and said, "Hey, what is it? What's going on with you?" She said this to him: "Tim, I thought you were for real. I thought you were true and genuine, but you're a fake, just like every other Christian." He said, "No, no, no, no, no, it's just water. Look, it's just water." Then she wasn't very happy with him after that, but he said he learned a lesson that day: people are watching. Your testimony is at stake.

When you and I do things, when we participate in the dirty jokes at school or at the office, when we use foul language and then we try and excuse it by telling people, "Excuse my French," you know that ain't French. We all know that. We just don't think it's a big deal. It's a big deal. Your testimony is at stake. 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."

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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, and 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? Earlier this month, Pastor Jeff shared a brand new six-message series called "This is Overcoming the World, the Flesh and the Devil." 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 prommisheart.org, requesting the series "This is Overcoming the World, the Flesh and the Devil." 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, you can find out how to get the series we're in now at the end of the month called "How to Live the Christian Life in an Unchristian World." Call 866-40-BIBLE or go online to prommisheart.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.

Speaker 2

There is treasures true There is love there is hope that you always dream love he can heal every scars real true real love real from his heart.

Speaker 1

From his heart is the listener supported Broadcast Ministry of Dr. Jeff Shreve 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@fromisheart.org.