Is Your God Able To Deliver?
I. King Darius has just spent a miserable night.
A. He realized that he had be hoodwinked by wicked men to condemn
a man to death that he highly loved and respected, one who he
was considering to set over the whole realm.
1. These men had appealed to his vanity, and pressured him
to sign a foolish decree that no one could offer a
prayer or petition to anyone except him for a period of
thirty days. The penalty for such an offense was to be
cast into the lions den.
2. These men were jealous of Daniel for they knew he was
being considered for this high post they were all
coveting.
a. They also knew that he was a man of such
honesty and integrity that they would never
find any flaw in his performance.
b. They also knew of his devotion to his God, and
his consistent prayer life.
c. Thus the decree was designed to trap him.
B. When Daniel knew that the decree was signed, he continued to
pray three times a day before his open window that faced
Jerusalem.
1. This breach of the commandment was reported to Darius
the king, and when he heard it was Daniel, he knew that
he had been played for a fool.
2. He sought for some loophole in the law whereby he might
rescind the order, but according to the law of the
Medes and Persians, once such a law had been sealed it
was irreversible.
3. At evening the men came to the king to insist that he
enforce the law.
C. The king was caught in a trap and could only speak with great
regret to Daniel, yet he encouraged Daniel declaring that his
God whom he served continually would deliver him from the
lions.
1. God often gives us words of encouragement from the
strangest places.
2. We had a very lovable young man around here for several
years. Due to drugs and an accident, he had mental and
speech problems.
a. God used him in special ways. While he was in
the mental ward at Orange Co. hospital, his
Psychiatrist called the church asking how he
could get saved. He said we have a young man
over here that seems to know only one thing but
he knows it well, he tells me all the time that
Jesus loves me. I need to know this Jesus.
b. Kay was going through one of those times when
she was discouraged and feeling a little down,
and she said, "Lord I just need to be assured
of Your love for me." Presently the phone rang
and this young man who slurred his words so
much that he was difficult to understand said,
"Sister Kay", and then in the clearest, most
distinct way he said, "Jesus wants you to know
that he loves you." He then reverted again to
his stuttering slurring speech pattern.
D. Though the king had encouraged Daniel with these words, he did
not fully believe them himself, so he spent a sleepless night.
1. He ordered dinner canceled as well as the orchestra.
2. He tossed and turned all night ruing his folly in
signing that decree.
3. Early in the morning he headed for the lions den and
ordered the stone rolled away from the door of the pit,
he then called down into the darkness in a lamentable
voice, "O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God
whom you serve continually able to deliver you from the
lions?"
4. Relief and joy filled the heart of the king as Daniel
answered "O King live for ever, My God has sent his
angel and has shut the lions mouths and they have not
hurt me."
II. Is your God able?
A. Earlier in the book of Daniel when the three Hebrew children
were being threatened with the burning fiery furnace by king
Nebuchadnezzer, they answered, "The God that we serve is able
to deliver us from your burning fiery furnace." And He did.
B. Our God is a delivering God, and He is able to deliver you,
from the fiery furnace, or the lions den.
C. Are there any limits to God's ability?
1. Is there anything that God can't do beside lie?
2. After Paul had prayed for the church in Ephesus, where
He asked God to do some impossible things, such as
comprehend the love of Christ which was beyond
knowledge, and to be filled with the fullness of God.
He then declared, "Now unto Him that is able to do
exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think."
3. God's ability goes beyond your ability to ask or think.
4. He said to Jeremiah, "Behold I am Jehovah, the God of
all flesh is there any thing too hard for Me?
D. We are told that one of the keys of Abraham's faith was that he
believed that what God had promised, He was able also to
perform.
1. Do you believe that God is able to do what He said He
would do? Then what is your problem? Why are you
worried.
2. Many times we are like King Darius, in that we may
encourage others, and assure them that God is going to
take care of things, but we are not quite sure. In the
morning, he asked the question, "Is your God able to
deliver you?"
III. What are some of the things God is able to do for you?
A. He is able to keep your from falling and to present you
faultless before the presence of His glory.
1. Paul asked, "Who are you, that you should judge another
man's servant, before his own master he either stands
or falls, and God is able to make him to stand.
2. In spite of what others might be saying about you, or
judging your weaknesses, God is able to make you to
stand. He is able to keep you from falling.
B. II Cor. 9:8 "God is able to make all grace abound toward you.
That you may always have sufficiency in all things and abound
in every good work."
1. O the wonderful grace of Jesus, greater than all my
sin.
2. And to think that He is able to make this grace abound
toward me.
C. Paul's glorious words of confidence to Timothy. "I know the
one in whom I believe and I am persuaded that He is able to
keep that which I have committed until that day." I have
committed the keeping of my life to Him, and I know He is able
to keep me.
1. I am weak, but He keeps me.
2. I may stumble, but He keeps me from falling.
3. I may fail, but He never fails, and I trust in His
ability and not my ability. And I know that He is able.
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Chuck Smith (1927 - 2013)
Pastor Chuck was used in the Jesus People revival where he was used along with others to minister to the hippy young people. They saw a work of the Spirit where many were added to the church and discipled. He has raised up many pastors who are a part of the Calvary Chapel movement now and where he pastors the large Costa Mesa church in California.The Calvary Chapel movement is based of simple principles that Chuck Smith taught over the years such as: The priority of agape love, Simple fellowship amongst the saints, the breaking of bread, the teaching of God's word chapter by chapter and verse by verse. And lastly and most importantly the principle not by might nor by power but by my spirit saith the Lord.