The Consequences of an Uncompromising Life, Part 2

Daniel 1:10-21

     I had an interesting experience this week when I saw a copy of the latest edition of Psychology Today, which is a magazine dealing with the professional area of psychology. And there was an article in that magazine about fast talking. Now, I remember when I first came to Grace Church, the people used to get on me a little bit about talking so fast...not too many people say much about that. I don't know whether I've slowed down or whether you've just sped up in your listening, one of the two has happened. But I used to hear - You're talking way too fast, you're talking way too fast. And I used to say to people - I have a lot of things that I need to say and I figure that I can't talk as fast as you can think, so I'm behind to begin with. And if I'm going to catch up with you, I've got to talk real fast or you'll get bored. And I just used to say that off the cuff, some of you may remember me saying that when you told me I talked too fast and...sort of a backhanded compliment to say I'm trying to speed up to catch up with your brain. But in the latest issue of Psychology Today, they have done some tests that literally prove that up to a certain point, the faster you talk the greater the interest and the higher the retention. So, with that we'll go on.

      But I was really amazed to find that out. I'd always believed that and now they've tested and found out...in fact, you may be seeing that thirty-minute television programs, according to this article, will be done in fifteen minutes, they'll just speed it up and you'll lose nothing. And commercials, they say, now with a hundred thousand dollars per thirty seconds, they can now use a fifteen second one and they can double their income. It's amazing but when you cover a lot of ground rapidly, people stay interested and they retain the information. And so, I just really was excited about that. Now I have some support for the way I talk ... and that was kind of exciting.

      Well, let's rapidly go through Daniel chapter 1 and hope you retain it. Daniel chapter 1...and we have been looking, beginning in our last study, at verses 8 to 21...Daniel 1:8 to 21. I'm going to read it to you to set the scene for our study tonight.

      "But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's food, nor with the wine which he drank. Therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. Now God had brought Daniel into favor and compassion with the prince of the eunuchs and the prince of the eunuchs said unto Daniel, I fear my lord, the king, who hath appointed your food and your drink, for why should he see your faces worse looking than the youths who are of your age? Then shall ye make me endanger my head with the king. Then said Daniel to Melzar, whom the prince of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, Test thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days and let them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then let our countenances looked upon before thee and the countenance of the youths that eat of the portion of the king's food and as thou seest, deal with thy servants. So, he consented to them in this matter and tested them ten days. And at the end of the ten days, their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the youths who did eat the portion of the king's food. Thus Melzar took away the portion of their food, and the wine that they should drink, and gave them vegetables. As for these four youths, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. Now, at the end of the days that the king had said he should bring them in," that would be three years, "then the prince of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. And the king conversed with them and among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: therefore stood they before the king. And in all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm. And Daniel continued even unto the first year of king Cyrus."

      Have you ever heard it said - Every man has his price? I'm sure you have. Your price is the point at which you sell out your claimed conviction, the point at which you abandon your moral standard for some personal gain.

      I always think of the story of the lady at the banquet and the man sitting next to her noticed that she was very lovely and after having a rather non-descript conversation finally said to her: "Would you go to bed with me for $100,000?" And she kind of smiled and looked at him and said: "I think I would."

      A little later he said to her: "Would you go to me...to bed with me for $10.00?" She said: "Huh, what do you think I am?" He said, "We've already established that, we're only negotiating the price."

      Does every man have his price? Will everyone of us sell out at some point or another? Do all of us have moral standards that are only valid insofar as they accommodate our desires? Or, do we then when we have a greater desire, set it aside for the sake of those standards which we say we believe?

      Martin Luther stood before the Diet of Worms. They demanded that he recant or lose his life. But he would not deny Christ.

      Latimer and Ridley stood before the stakes where they were to be burned to death for their faith in Christ, and their executioners demanded that they deny the Lord Jesus Christ. They refused and were consumed in the flames.

      People like that have no price. They can't be bought. There's no point at which they sell out. I mentioned to you some weeks ago that I had the occasion to meet a Dr. Hong who is the principal of the largest Christian school in the world of some 6,000 students in Seoul Korea. Dr. Hong told us that he had occasion when he was a boy to watch the Japanese infiltrate North Korea where he lived and they came to his house because his father was a leader in the church and they demanded that his father deny Jesus Christ or they would cut off his thumbs and they began with the first thumb and he wouldn't deny Christ and they cut off the second thumb and he still wouldn't deny Christ. Some people don't have a price. They don't sell out. There is no compromise no matter what the cost.

      But, on the other hand, we often hear of people all the time who boast their moral standards, who extol their righteous character, who want to announce their great set of convictions, yet for expedient's sake, they sell out. They abandon those convictions when for some reason or another they feel themselves better suited to that.

      Compromise is very subtle. Listen, people say they believe the Bible, but they stay in churches where the Bible isn't taught.

      People claim convictions about sin and punishment until that sin is committed by their own children.

      People say they must speak out about dishonesty and corruption until it refers to their boss and might cause the loss of their job.

      People have high moral standards until their lusts are released from the bondage of a holy conscience by an unholy relationship and then they rationalize their compromise.

      People are honest until just a little dishonesty will save them a lot of money.

      People know something to be definitely wrong but for the sake of making peace, they cover up the truth.

      People will do an act directly violating their claimed conviction if they are asked by someone they admire, someone they fear or someone from whom they seek a favor.

      People won't say what ought to be said because they feel they might lose face.

      And so go the compromises.

      Adam compromised God's law, followed his wife's sin and lost paradise.

      Abraham comprised the truth, lied about Sarah, and nearly lost his wife.

      Sarah compromised God's Word, sent Abraham to Hagar who bore Ishmael and lost peace in the Middle East.

      Esau compromised for a meal with Jacob and lost his birthright.

      Saul compromised the divine word, kept the animals and lost the royal seed.

      Aaron compromised his convictions about idolatry and he and the people lost the privilege of the Promised Land.

      Samson compromised righteous devotion as a Nazarite with Delilah and lost his strength, his eyes and his life.

      Israel compromised the commands of the Lord, lived in sin and when fighting the Philistines, lost the ark of God.

      David compromised the moral and divine standard of God, adulterated Bathsheba, murdered Uriah and lost his child.

      Solomon compromised convictions, married foreign wives and lost the United Kingdom.

      Ahab compromised, married Jezebel and lost his throne.

      Israel compromised the law of God with sin and idolatry and lost their homeland.

      Peter compromised his conviction about Christ, denied Him and lost his joy. Later on, he compromised the truth of the one church for acceptance with the Judaizers and he lost his liberty.

      Ananias and Sapphira compromised their word about giving, lied to the Holy Spirit and lost their lives.

      Judas compromised his supposed love for Christ for 30 pieces of silver and lost his eternal soul.

      Compromise...sad word. But, there are some people who don't compromise. There are some people who have no price, you can't buy them.

      Moses before Pharaoh...David, several times in his life...Paul before Festus, Felix, and Agrippa...and Daniel before Nebuchadnezzar. Verse 8 of Daniel 1: "But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's food, nor with the wine which he drank. Therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself."

      And frankly, beloved, there's no better illustration of an undefiled, uncompromising man in the Bible than Daniel. Now, we're studying Daniel, for over 70 years he lived in this foreign land of Babylon, amidst the pagan Chaldeans and for those 70 years he never compromised his convictions. He couldn't be bought. There was no price. From the time that we pick up the story here, he's fourteen years of age until he is in his eighties, he does not compromise. He will not compromise.

      And we have seen that when the Babylonians and the Chaldeans brought these young men in in the first deportation in 606 B.C., the first phase of the Babylonian captivity, when they brought these young men in, they were all of the noble house of the ruling class of Israel, or Judah, they were, some of them, from the very royal seed itself, they picked off, some historians estimate, between 50 and 75 of the prime young men, princely young men and they brought them in to brainwash them and to turn them into Chaldeans who, with a Jewish background, could help them rule in the process of leading Jewish affairs. They were going to take over the world, they were going to turn Judah into a chattel state and they wanted some young men who knew the Jewish situation who could be Babylonian rulers for them amidst the Jewish people and over them even while they were in captivity.

      So, they wanted these young men brainwashed and first they decided to change their names to cut them off from their heritage. And then they, of course, removed them from their country so that they wouldn't have any roots or connections there. They then wanted them to be educated and learned in all the Chaldean information. They wanted them to be attacked from every angle with Chaldean identification. And the final thing was to brainwash them by feeding them the food of the king so that their life style would become adapted to that of the palace of the pagans in Babylon. And that, of course, is where Daniel drew the line. Why? The Old Testament didn't say anything about taking a foreign name and the Old Testament didn't say anything about learning information from foreign teachers, but the Old Testament said - Don't eat food offered to idols and don't eat food that isn't properly prepared according to God's dietary laws for His people. And the bottom line for Daniel was the Word of God. And when eating the king's food violated the Word of God, because all of the food that was offered in the palace was, at one point, offered before the gods, Daniel couldn't do it and that's where he drew the line. He drew the line at the Word of God. This is true conviction. This is the character that is so admirable in Daniel. At a young age, he and his three friends, out of all of the 50 or 75 young men, and we don't know how many, but we only know four who took a stand. And later on when all of them appeared before the king, down in verse 18 and following, there were only four that the king noticed as different. The rest of them in this three year education had bought the bag, had eaten the king's meat, had adapted the life style, had become Chaldean and in so doing they had lost that unique place that God would have given had they been obedient to His law. And so, Daniel is a tremendous illustration of conviction, especially in a young man.

      You know, our...our country once had that. I was reading this week, and I found something very interesting. There is in West Point a prayer known as "The Cadet Prayer." It is repeated every Sunday in chapel services by the cadets at West Point. I don't know if you ever heard it, but this is what it says:

"Make us choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong and never to be contented with half truth when whole truth can be one. Endow us with courage that is borne of loyalty to all that is noble and worthy that scorns to compromise with vice and injustice and knows no fear when right and truth are in jeopardy. Amen."

      A great prayer. An uncompromising prayer. We once knew in our own country the meaning of an uncompromising life. Even Aesop in his fables knew the price of compromise. Aesop speaks in one of his fables about the time when the beasts and the fowls were engaged in war. The bat tried to belong to both parties, says Aesop. And when the birds were victorious, the bat would wing around telling them he was a bird. And when the beasts won a fight, he would walk around among them assuring everyone that he was a beast. But soon his hypocrisy was discovered and he was rejected by both the beasts and the birds and consequently he had to hide himself all day long and could only appear at night. Compromise...

      Daniel wouldn't compromise, neither would Mishael, Azariah or Hananiah. And what were the results of their uncompromising life? Let's go back and look at them. And we said there were some...some things that come out as characteristics and consequences of an uncompromising life. I'm just going to mention the ones we talked about last time and then we'll go on to the rest of them.

      First of all, when you live a life that doesn't compromise, that doesn't fall prey to the life style of the world, that doesn't sell out at any price, you will find, number one, an unashamed boldness ... an unashamed boldness. In verse 8: "Daniel said to the prince of the eunuchs, Tell the king I can't eat his food it will defile me." And I told you last time there would have been a lot of other things he could have said that would have been easier. He didn't have to be so blatant about the fact that the king's food would defile him, but one of the characteristics of an uncompromising strong stand where someone has convictions is that that individual has an unashamed boldness to speak the truth. He could have hemmed and hawed about the fact that he wasn't use to the king's diet, or he was so use to Jewish food that it wasn't agreeing with his stomach and he was going to have an upset stomach and he could have wormed his way out of it, but no, there was a tremendous confrontation about the fact that it violated God's law and it would be a defilement to Him. And we find that he had this unashamed boldness. When they came to him later and said - You're not allowed to pray -he went to his window, threw the window wide open and prayed like he always did, just as boldly as ever because that's the character of uncompromising spirit.

      Secondly, we saw last time that an uncompromising life not only has an unashamed boldness, but secondly, an uncommon standard ... an uncommon standard. It says, "He did not eat the king's food, nor the wine which the king drank." In verse 12: "He ate only vegetables and water," which means he didn't eat any meat from any source and he didn't drink any wine from any source. Now, that wasn't required, that was an uncommon standard, that was a cut above. And you remember last time, I told you, that in the Old Testament when it came to the priests and it came to those who wanted to take the deepest vow of consecration, and when you come into the New Testament and you look at John the Baptist, the greatest man that ever lived up until his time, and then you look not only at John the Baptist but at the elders of the church, you find that in all of these high places, there is a statement that they are not to be given to wine. Those who are given high spiritual responsibility have an uncommon standard. He chose to live on another level. And we suggest to you that an uncompromising life doesn't play on the edge of the best, it chooses the highest and the noblest standard of all, no matter what the price.

      For months Eric Liddel trained as a track athlete for the purpose of winning the 100 meter race in the Olympics of 1924. Sports writers all over the country predicted that Liddel would win the 100 meters. And then he learned that the 100 meter race in 1924 in the Olympics was scheduled for Sunday. This posed a problem. Eric believed that he could not honor God by running in the contest on the Lord's day. His fans were stunned by his refusal. Some who had praised him began to call him a fool and the press laughed at Eric Liddel because he wouldn't run on Sunday.

      Suddenly, a runner dropped out of the 400 meter race and they had no alternate to take his place and it was scheduled for a week day. Eric offered to fill the slot even though this is four times as long as the race he had trained to run. When he ran the race, Eric Liddel won the race. In 1924, he ran 47.8 seconds. Incredible time. And he was a winner.

      God gave him his gold medal. God honored his non-compromising spirit. Later, Eric Liddel went to China as a missionary and in 1945 he died there in a war camp...ever as uncompromising as he had been before.

      It just seems, to me, that people who really make a difference in the world, set a standard that is a cut above everybody else. It isn't the required thing. It's just that extra noble step that sets them apart.

      So, an uncompromising life issues in an unashamed boldness and an uncommon standard, and thirdly, we shared last time that it results in an unearthly protection...an unearthly protection. I believe God unusally protects those who are uncompromising. Verse 9: "God brought Daniel into favor and compassion with the prince of the eunuchs." That's amazing. God brought Daniel into favor and compassion with the prince of the eunuchs. Daniel didn't have to play politics to gain that, did he?...we learned last week. Daniel was given that by God who controls the heart of every living being. And if God wants them to be kind to you, then He'll take care of it. You don't have to compromise to gain your ends. You don't have to compromise to gain the goals you think you must attain. To do so is to eliminate divine protection, but to be uncompromising is to invite the protection of God Himself. I'd rather stand bold-face to the king and condemn his sin and have God on my side than wiggle out of it and have the king on my side and God against me, wouldn't you? Because God can control the heart of the king.

      Let me read you just a portion of Scripture from 1 Samuel chapter 2 verse 22. "Now Eli was very old," Eli, the high Priest, "and heard all that his sons did unto Israel and how they lay with the women who assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation." They were horrible sons. "And he said unto them, Why do you do such things? I hear of your evil dealings by all this people." It's not good for you to do this and it's not a good report I hear. You make the Lord's people transgress. If one man sin against another, the judge shall judge him, but if a man sin against the Lord, who shall mediate for him? Notwithstanding they hearken not unto the voice of their father because the Lord would slay them."

      In other words, God...get this...actually held them in a constant state of rebellion in order to bring them to judgment. They had gone so far there was no possibility to repent. God literally controlled their rebellion.

      And verse 30: "The Lord God of Israel said, I said indeed that thy house and the house of thy father should walk before me forever; but now the Lord saith, Be it far from Me, for them who honor Me, I will honor. And they who despise Me shall be lightly despised."

      God says - Look, you may be the high priest and you may have all of the promises of that priesthood, but I will set those at naught if you dishonor Me. If you honor Me, I'll honor you. If you despise Me, I'll despise you.

      The point is this: the way we live either brings God into our defense or sets God against us. And when we are obedient to God and live an uncompromising life, God honors us. God is our defender. It's tremendous, tremendous truth, people. And I hope, if you weren't here last week, you'll get the material on that and study it through. I think about Joseph so often. Joseph and Daniel are almost like parallels. Here was Joseph, sold, as it were, into slavery by his evil brothers. And what happens to him? He winds up as a prime minister of Egypt. Both Joseph and Daniel were in a foreign kingdom. Both of them came to the rank of prime minister. Both of them came there through the protection of God. Both of them possessed extraordinary prophetic powers which served to elevate them to high places. Both of them were able to confound all the pretenders and the phonies in those kingdoms. In spite of all of the Satanic charlatans swarming around the courts of Egypt and Babylon, these two men, because of an uncompromising life, were protected by God and they were given places of high prominence.

      A person who lives an uncompromising life will be elevated by God. Somebody said that politics is the art of compromise. I think that's true. I've often heard people say, and maybe I've said it myself more often than I thought about it, that no one can ever reach a high place in politics today without at least compromising somewhere along the line. And I think basically what should be said is people who are in high places in politics have usually gotten there by compromising. But if God wanted you there and you didn't compromise, Held put you there. And if you did compromise, then you're there on your own. So, compromise only takes you out of the place of protection.

      Verse 10: "And the prince of the eunuchs said unto Daniel, I fear my lord the king who hath appointed your food and your drink, for why should he see your faces worse looking than the youths who are of your age? Then shall you make me endanger my head with the king."

      In essence, the prince of the eunuchs, Ashpenaz, says - Daniel, I like you a lot. You're a terrific guy. And I'm fond of the other three friends of yours, but I'll tell you, Daniel, I'm afraid of the king. If I don't feed you the king's food, you know what will happen? You'll come out at the end of this three years and you'll be peaked and pale and washed-out and...and weak, and the king will look at him and say - What's the deal here? And it will cost me my head...capital punishment.

      So, behind the scene lurks the phantom of Nebuchadnezzar, you see. I think it's interesting that Ashpenaz at least takes the time to give Daniel the reason, which shows me that he really did have compassion. He wasn't just barking out orders without any substance he gives him a reason. He tells him his thinking. As much as he likes Daniel and has compassion, he will not lose his head over this. So, things immediately went into neutral. Daniel got turned down on his refusal to eat the king's food.

      Now, listen, Daniel doesn't get rebellious, he doesn't get testy, he doesn't get angry, he doesn't get mouthy, he's firm, he's gracious but he's very persistent...very, very persistent. He hasn't given up. He's under divine protection and he's looking for another way.

      Now, let me sum up those first three points. I want you to get them. When you live an uncompromising life, number one, you have an unashamed boldness. Number two, you set an uncommon standard. And number three, you enjoy an unearthly protection.

      I thought I might illustrate those three, just to sum them up, from a portion of a book that I have read and I hope you've read. I've commented on it before it was in print and it is in print now. It's called A Distant Grief. It's the story of Kefa Sempangi, that marvelous pastor of the church in Uganda--the church which was so terribly brutalized by Idi Amin before he was removed from leadership. And here is just an excerpt from the book.

      This was a particular Easter Sunday when the Christians had been persecuted and terrible things were happening as Amin's Nubian killers were moving out to do everything they could to disrupt Christianity. This is what the writer Kefa says:

      "Despite the growing shadow of Idi Amin, Easter morning, 1973, began as a most joyous occasion for the redeemed church. The sun had just risen and the sky was empty of clouds when the first people began arriving at the compound where we worshiped. They came from almost every tribe, from the Baganda, the Besoga, the Bunyacoli, the Acoli and the Langi, the Baguari and the Bakisu. They came from as far away as Masaka, a town 80 miles southwest of Kampala. There were old men with walking sticks and young women with babies on their backs. There were small children with flowers in their arms. There were doctors and lawyers, businessmen and farmers, cotton growers and government workers, only a few traveled by car or taxi. Most came on foot or rode bicycles. Others crowded into lorries so lopsided they seemed ready to collapse at any moment. By nine o'clock, over 7,000 people were gathered. It was the largest crowd ever to attend Sunday service at the redeemed church. When there were no more places in the compound, people climbed trees or sat on the roofs of the lorries. A few large groups set up in nearby yards with their own amplifying systems and hundreds stood in the streets. Before the service, the elders and I met in the vestry, an empty house by the compound, to pray. We felt deeply the hunger in the hearts of the people who had gathered for worship. We knew their desire to hear the Word of God and prayed that their lives would be transformed by its power. As we poured our hearts out to the Father in agonizing intercession, desperate scenes from the previous week flashed again in my mind.     I saw a face burned beyond recognition and a woman huddled in a corner weeping. I saw a crowd of soldiers standing in the park cheering. And I heard the sound of boot crunching against bone. I remembered the arrogance of the mercenaries and the dreamlike deadness of my heart. And once again the triumph of evil overwhelmed me. I felt a deep fear. I myself had fallen, how could I hope to strengthen others on this Easter? Who was I to feed God's children in this most desperate hour? What words could I speak? My brothers and sisters needed courage to stand firm in the growing terror. They needed strength to sustain them in suffering. They didn't need my sermon, they didn't need my thoughts on the resurrection. My father had been right. In such times, men do not need words, he had said, they need power."

      "I took my Bible and went to preach that Easter morning with new courage. My message was the suffering of Jesus Christ. I spoke of His triumph over evil and His victory over death. I spoke of the power of His resurrection. And behind me were the elders, sitting on a bench and praying. In front of me, thousands of unfamiliar faces. There were believers in need of encouragement and unbelievers in need of salvation. At 12:30 the sun was pouring hot on our heads and I tried to close the service." That's three and a half hours later.

      "The people refused to leave. We have not come for a church service, someone shouted, we have come to hear the Word of God. Go rest yourself and then come back and preach again. The crowd clapped and shouted their approval. I went to the vestry for a brief rest and returned in the mid-afternoon. Hardly a person had moved. I preached for three more hours. And this time when I finished, no one objected. The sun was going down and everyone knew the hour had come to close the meeting. It was not safe to travel after dark. We didn't know whether we'd ever see each other again, or when God might call us home, but we went out in peace because we had seen with our eyes the salvation of the Lord. And with a loud 'Amen' from the people and a final chorus from the choir, the Easter service ended and I turned to the elders and we embraced praising God. It seemed as if days instead of hours had passed since we had met for prayer. I was exhausted but there was joy in my heart. God had answered our prayers. He had broken bread and fed His people. I had to push my way through the crowd and when I finally arrived at the house, I was exhausted and too tired to notice the men behind me until they had closed the door. There were five of them. They stood between me and the door, pointing their rifles at my face. Their own faces were scared with the distinctive tribal cuttings of the Kakwa tribe and they were dressed casually in flowered shirts and bell-bottom pants and wore sunglasses. Although 1 had never seen any of them before, I recognized them immediately, they were the Secret Police of the State Research Bureau, Amin's Nubian assassins. For a long moment no one said anything and then the tallest man, obviously the leader, spoke, 'We're going to kill you,' he said. 'If you have something to say, say it before you die.'

      "He spoke quietly but his face was twisted with hatred.

I could only stare at him. For a sickening moment I felt the full weight of his rage. We had never met before but his deepest desire was to tear me to pieces. My mouth felt heavy and my limbs began to shake and everything left my control. 'They'll not need to kill me,' I thought to myself. 'I'm just going to fall over. I'm going to fall over dead and I'll never see my family again.'

      "I thought of Pinina, home alone with Damali. What would happen to them when I was gone? From far away I heard a voice. And I was astonished to realize it was my own. 'I do not need to plead my own c