Take your Bibles with me again and turn to the book of Daniel. Tonight we're going to be looking at Daniel 6. This is probably one of the top five best‑known Bible stories in all of Scripture—Daniel and the lions’ den.

This is one that you probably remember from flannel graphs as a kid in some basement church classroom, or maybe from one of those little illustrated Bible story books that somehow found their way into every doctor’s office waiting room.

Just because we've known this story since we were children doesn't mean there isn't anything left for us to learn from it.

And it's my prayer that tonight your faith would be challenged and your trust in God would be strengthened by this little story of Daniel.

Let's get started by reading the first 9 verses of Daniel 6.

1 It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom an hundred and twenty princes, which should be over the whole kingdom; 2 And over these three presidents; of whom Daniel was first: that the princes might give accounts unto them, and the king should have no damage. 3 Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king thought to set him over the whole realm. 4 Then the presidents and princes sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find none occasion nor fault; forasmuch as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him. 5 Then said these men, We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God. 6 Then these presidents and princes assembled together to the king, and said thus unto him, King Darius, live for ever. 7 All the presidents of the kingdom, the governors, and the princes, the counsellors, and the captains, have consulted together to establish a royal statute, and to make a firm decree, that whosoever shall ask a petition of any God or man for thirty days, save of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions. 8 Now, O king, establish the decree, and sign the writing, that it be not changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not. 9 Wherefore king Darius signed the writing and the decree. Daniel 6:1-9

Darius is the person who has been made the king over Babylon and the Babylonian Empire by Cyrus the Great, leader of the Persians. Remember, the Persian Empire conquered the Babylonian Empire. We talked about that last week.

Darius is probably not a name. There's not a man named Darius who shows up in the historical record of this time. It's probably a title—a title given to the person put in charge of the Babylonian Empire. He was sort of the king, but the king under the Medes and the Persians.

Now, when you're in charge of a big thing like the Babylonian Empire, you can't audit every tax that's taken by yourself. You can't watch every street corner. You can't handle every conflict. There has to be delegation.

And so one of the first things that Darius does is he sets up a bunch of governors—120 of them—and over these governors he places three men who report to him. You can think of Darius as kind of the CEO, and these three men are the C‑suite.

These are the executive vice presidents of the corporation that is the Babylonian Empire. One of these guys who gets picked is Daniel. Daniel has this reputation for honesty and excellence, and he is chosen to be one of the three leaders who report directly to King Darius.

Interestingly, Daniel is probably in his 80s at this point. He's a very old man—likely semi‑retired at the beginning of Daniel chapter 5. Yet here he is, pulled back into government service at the very highest levels.

Apparently he was very, very good at it, because Darius was so impressed with Daniel’s character and capabilities that he planned to make Daniel the one person in charge who answered directly to him.

All the other leaders would be below Daniel in the pyramid, answering to him.

Now, this throws the rest of the guys—the rest of the leaders—into a rage. They're not happy about it—probably they're envious, jealous of this promotion. It's very likely that Daniel's honesty was a hindrance to their laziness or their dishonesty.

Maybe they wanted to take a little for themselves, and having an honest man like Daniel as their boss was an impediment to that. Very likely there's a bit of anti‑Semitism involved. Daniel was an exile from Israel, and there's evidence that the Jews were despised even here in Babylon.

For whatever reason, these two other leaders, along with the 120 governors, decide they’ve got to get rid of Daniel.

So they start digging into Daniel. They start doing some opposition research, as they'd say. They're looking for skeletons in his closet, and they can't find anything. Daniel is just that good; he's a faithful man.

He's a man who walks with God, who loves the Lord, and he's a man of incredible character. They can't find anything to blame him for, so they say, “Well, if we're going to get rid of this guy, the only option we have is to target his religion—to find something in the law of his God that we can use against him.”

So they hatch this plan. They find a way to exclude Daniel, and they meet with Darius and say, “All of us leaders have gotten together.” (Of course that's a lie—Daniel's not involved.) “All of us leaders have gotten together, and we have come up with this law.”

The law says that for the next 30 days, nobody can pray to anybody but you. And if they do pray to anybody but you, they are going to get thrown in the den of lions.

This probably flattered Darius. He probably thought, “This is a great idea to consolidate leadership under me, and I’m getting the respect of all these leaders.”

They're showing their loyalty to me, and everybody's with it. So let's do it.

Before we move on to the rest of the story, I want to make a couple of points of application from this.

Daniel is a fantastic example for us of what it means to live as a believer in a pagan world. He's a picture of what it looks like to be a Christian in a world that is hostile to Christianity.

You know, Daniel is not a preacher. Daniel was not in what we would call full‑time Christian service. He's not a missionary; he's just a regular guy, working in politics and all kinds of places.

And yet Daniel may have been one of the greatest preachers that ever lived. God used him to get His message out.

I think for too long we may have unintentionally told people—not in so many words, but enough—that the best way to serve God is to be a pastor or a missionary. Everyone else, outside that small circle, ends up feeling like a second‑class servant of God.

I don’t think that’s biblical at all, and it’s not helpful. Sometimes the greatest impact we can have is simply being Christians in ordinary places. The factory where you work needs Christians. The doctor’s office needs Christians. The civil government needs Christians. And God can use you there.

So the first principle, if you want to write something down, is this:

1. God can use Christians who are salt and light in dark places.

Salt and light, of course, come from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, where He said, “You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world.”

God wants us to be salt and to be light. Now, there are a couple of follow‑up principles to that.

First,

A. In order for us to be salt and light, we have to be among the rot and darkness.

Salt serves no purpose in a salt shaker. Throughout history, its intended effect was not flavoring food but preserving it. It was the main preservative they had.

Well, how does salt preserve food? It has to be rubbed into the meat, into that thing that would rot if it wasn’t there.

And here's what this means for us: God needs you to be in places in the world. We are not to huddle up in our little Christian community and never have any interaction with lost people. We are to be right there in the middle of society and be salt and light for Christ there.

When I think about my prayer and my hope for Bible Baptist and the people here, I’m praying that God would raise up pastors, missionaries, and servants of God to go out into the world and carry on His work.

But I’m also praying that God would raise up people in our community—police and fire chiefs who love the Lord and want to serve Him; doctors and nurses who love the Lord and want to serve Him; coaches in the public schools who love the Lord and want to serve Him; teachers who love the Lord and want to serve Him; and civic leaders who love the Lord and want to serve Him.

Listen, I can understand the frustration of going to work and being surrounded by filth. Just today I had a meeting, and the man I was meeting with probably cursed a dozen times in an hour. I don’t like that; it grates on me when people do that.

And it’s constant. Guys, you know what it’s like. The world and the church are very different places.

But rather than retreat completely from the world, have you considered that God wants you to be a witness in that office, in that break room? In that place where it’s so different from the church?

In order for us to be salt and light, we have to be among the rot and darkness. Daniel was certainly that in Babylon.

A second sort of sub-principle here is...

In order to be salt and light, we must not lose our distinction.

The plan that Babylon had for Daniel and the other exiles was to get the Israel out of them, to get the Judah out of them, to make them a bunch of Babylonians. One of the remarkable things in the story of Daniel is that that never happened.

Daniel was distinct. From chapter one, his diet is distinct—he’s not going to eat what everybody else is eating because God’s law told him not to. And here he’s in his 80s.

This is probably 60‑something years later, and he’s still distinct. He’s been living in Babylon, but Babylon’s not in him.

If we are going to be salt and light in the world—in the places where we work, in our families, in our neighborhoods—it doesn’t mean we have to be like everybody else.

It doesn’t mean we join our coworkers in that dirty joke. It doesn’t mean we pick up all the excesses of everyone around us.

No. To be salt and light, we have to be different. We have to be distinct.

We're to be in the world, but the world can't be in us. You know, it's like a boat—if a boat isn’t out in the middle of the water, it isn’t doing much. It isn’t serving its purpose.

But when water gets into the boat, you’ve got a problem. Christians who are not in the world, rubbing shoulders with the world, aren’t going to have much impact. And if they’re just like the world—if the world is in them—they also won’t have an impact.

The salt has lost its savor.

• In order for us to be salt and light, we have to be among the rot and darkness.
• In order to be salt and light, we must not lose our distinction.

A third thought here about being salt and light we can learn from Daniel is...

In order to be salt and light, we should be faithful in our work.

Daniel wasn't just promoted because he was faithful to God. Daniel was promoted because he was faithful to his work. He was a good, trustworthy worker who put in a full day’s work. He didn’t loaf; he actually tried to do what his boss had hired him to do.

Listen, as a believer in the world, you have a tremendous opportunity to be a witness, to make an impact for Christ. But don’t advertise your faithfulness to God if you’re going to be a terrible worker. Don't advertise your faithfulness to God and then talk badly about your boss behind his back with the other employees.

Don't advertise your faithfulness to God and be the guy who always shows up late and leaves early.

Don't advertise your faithfulness to God and be the contractor who never gets the job done.

9 Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things; not answering again; 10 Not purloining, but shewing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things. Titus 2:9-10

• In order for us to be salt and light, we have to be among the rot and darkness.
• In order to be salt and light, we must not lose our distinction.
• In order to be salt and light, we should be faithful in our work.

All of this supports the principle: God can use Christians who are salt and light in dark places.

But there is a second principle we can learn here from this episode in Daniel's life, and that is...

2. As salt and light, we should expect to be misunderstood and even mistreated by the world.

Daniel's faithfulness and his hard work brought him a lot of promotion. He's promoted in chapter one, in chapter two, again in chapter five, and here he's promoted once more in chapter six.

But with that promotion also came a level of scrutiny, dislike—and might I even say, hatred.

You see, these other leaders literally wanted to kill him. This plan that they hatched—and they got Darius to sign—was intended to kill Daniel. They could have imposed a lesser punishment, but they went straight to the lion’s den.

Because they wanted to be sure Daniel wasn’t around to spoil their plans.

You know, I don't think Daniel is obnoxious. I don't think Daniel was forcing all of these pagan people to stop being pagan. I think he was just faithful. But his faithfulness to the Lord put him at odds with the people around him.

And church—I'm going to tell you, if you're faithful to God as a light in the darkness, it's not always going to make people like you. In fact, often people will really dislike you.

Think about Charlie Kirk around this time last year—a little over a year ago. Shot in the neck for what? For having faithful conversations with people.

There were lots and lots of people who hated him. They saw him as a threat. They wanted him gone, and they cheered when someone did it.

I doubt very seriously that your faithfulness is going to cause somebody to put a sniper scope on your neck, but it might cause you to be overlooked for promotion.

It might cause you to be excluded from the cool group at work or at school. It might cause you to be teased, and even oppressed.

Be faithful anyway. Serve the Lord anyway. You don’t serve the Lord to get promoted at work. You don’t serve the Lord to be popular, to get likes. You serve the Lord to serve the Lord.

You trust Him with the consequences.

Let's continue reading here.

10 Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime. 11 Then these men assembled, and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God. 12 Then they came near, and spake before the king concerning the king’s decree; Hast thou not signed a decree, that every man that shall ask a petition of any God or man within thirty days, save of thee, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions? The king answered and said, The thing is true, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not. 13 Then answered they and said before the king, That Daniel, which is of the children of the captivity of Judah, regardeth not thee, O king, nor the decree that thou hast signed, but maketh his petition three times a day. 14 Then the king, when he heard these words, was sore displeased with himself, and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him: and he laboured till the going down of the sun to deliver him. 15 Then these men assembled unto the king, and said unto the king, Know, O king, that the law of the Medes and Persians is, That no decree nor statute which the king establisheth may be changed. 16 Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions. Now the king spake and said unto Daniel, Thy God whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee. 17 And a stone was brought, and laid upon the mouth of the den; and the king sealed it with his own signet, and with the signet of his lords; that the purpose might not be changed concerning Daniel. 18 Then the king went to his palace, and passed the night fasting: neither were instruments of musick brought before him: and his sleep went from him. 19 Then the king arose very early in the morning, and went in haste unto the den of lions. 20 And when he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel: and the king spake and said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions? 21 Then said Daniel unto the king, O king, live for ever. 22 My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions’ mouths, that they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before him innocency was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt. 23 Then was the king exceeding glad for him, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he believed in his God. 24 And the king commanded, and they brought those men which had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions, them, their children, and their wives; and the lions had the mastery of them, and brake all their bones in pieces or ever they came at the bottom of the den. Daniel 6:10-24

So they catch Daniel doing what Daniel always did. Every day he opened his window toward Jerusalem and he prayed.

Daniel finds out about this silly law. He's a smart man.

He knows exactly why they did this. So what does he do? He opens his window and he prays. He could have made all kinds of excuses. He could have said, you know, “I can’t keep being a witness if I’m not alive. I can’t keep being a witness if I’m in the lion’s den, chewed to bits.” But he didn’t do that.

He’s faithful to the Lord.

Church...

3. Being salt and light requires courage.

It takes courage to be different. It takes courage to do the right thing, even when it costs you something.

Can I ask you something?

When being faithful to the Lord—being faithful to His Word—is going to affect your comfort or your prosperity, are you still faithful?

Are you willing to do right, even when doing right hurts? That's what it takes to be salt and light. It means taking a stand when the easier thing to do would be to compromise. It means taking a stand when it might cause misunderstanding in your family or among your co-workers.

Well, how do you find the strength to do this? How do you find the courage to be faithful when it's hard?

I think the answer's in our story. I think the way Daniel got his courage was through the law of God.

The way Daniel got his courage was through those regular times of prayer toward Jerusalem.

So, a fourth principle, if you're writing these down, is...

4. The strength to be salt and light comes from our personal relationship with God.

How can you expect to have the strength to stand when the only spiritual meal you get is at church on Sunday morning? How can you have the strength to stand if you aren't communing with God, the source of your strength?

Church, the most important part of Daniel's life happens to be the part that was the least visible. He was able to be a strong light because he was regularly recharging in his devotions with God.

And we need the same thing.

We could also say...

5. To be salt and light we have to look to a different place than the Lord.

I read something in prepping for this that I thought was wonderful. The writer was talking about how Daniel opened his window towards Jerusalem every day. He was looking to Jerusalem because it was in Jerusalem that the Temple was. It was in Jerusalem that the ark was. It was through Jerusalem that he had his conduit to heaven. So he wasn’t looking to Jerusalem per se; he was looking to heaven.

And this writer (I believe it was Alexander Maclaren in David Guzik's commentary) said that most people wake up every day and they look to Babylon. They look to the world. (Babylon is a strong picture of the world in Scripture.)

They look to their fortune. They look to their popularity. They look to their power or their ego. The things that are in the world.

If we want to be truly different, we can't look to Babylon; we have to look to Jerusalem. We can't look to this world, but we should look to Heaven.

And when our hearts are set on that other place, our behavior will be different.

Let me give you one more principle and then we'll wrap this up.

6. Being salt and light does not guarentee God's protection from harmful present consequences.

In the story, Daniel, of course, is thrown into the lion's den, and God protects him there.

It's funny—the Bible tells us Daniel slept with the lions, and Darius was beating himself up over getting swindled into this whole thing, not sleeping at all. Daniel had a better night's sleep with the lions than Darius did in the king's palace.

Of course, God miraculously protects Daniel from those lions.

And let me just say, if you put yourself in a lion’s pen, you are going to die. There was a guy, I think, a couple of weeks ago who climbed into a den with some giant tigers. It did not work out well for him.

Down in Africa, they told us the place we visited used to have a lion, and a Chinese guy climbed over the fence, and the lion liked Chinese food.

But God sent an angel and calmed these lions and protected Daniel, of course—you know the story. Darius wakes up and Daniel's fine. These crooks who hatched this plot get thrown to the lions, and suddenly the lions remember how hungry they are.

I don't think it's right for us to look at this story and learn the lesson that if we're faithful to God, no harm will ever befall us. Because that's just not true.

The truth is, all those who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. Being faithful to God doesn't mean God always spares us from the consequences of wicked men.

You want an example of that? Look no further than the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus was thrown into the lion’s den. Jesus was placed on the cross.

And He was far more faithful than Daniel was.

I think the lesson isn’t that we’ll always be spared from harm and consequence, but that God will work out good no matter what.

God is always good, whether He stops the mouths of the lions or not. And God is always in control, whether He stops the mouths of the lions or not.

Let's read the last couple of verses here, and we'll be done.

25 Then king Darius wrote unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto you. 26 I make a decree, That in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel: for he is the living God, and stedfast for ever, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be even unto the end. 27 He delivereth and rescueth, and he worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the lions. 28 So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian. Daniel 6:25-28

What an amazing thing that God did. The Lord was praised. The Lord was magnified by this pagan king, making a decree to everybody that there is no God like our God. That wouldn't have happened if Daniel hadn't been faithful to God.

That wouldn't have happened if he hadn't been salt and light. And it wouldn't have happened if he hadn't let God place him right in the middle of the darkness. I don't know where God has you right now, but can I encourage you to be faithful, to trust in Him, to draw your daily strength from Him, to look not to the world and this present life, but to look to heaven and have your heart there.

The world doesn't understand people like that, but God can sure use them. Let's stand and pray.