Daniel 3 • The Fiery Furnace

[Music] other we thank you for the opportunity to gather here in this place and if we have gotten to the place where we take it for granted this this this freedom that we have in our country to assemble together and to talk about the things of the Lord not only free to do it in this place free to broadcast it on the Internet Lord if if we've begun to take all that for granted then forgive us and we want to praise you and thank you for your you're amazing love and Lord as we take time tonight just to ponder the wonderful things that you've blessed us with father may we be careful to give you thanks in all things as your word says to acknowledge you in all of our ways to acknowledge your your kindness your patience your goodness your love father you've blessed us sometimes we can get to complaining about things the way they are not having enough of this or enough of that then we remember how people have it in other countries we see how richly blessed we have been so we pray that you'd keep us from that sort of an attitude that does take things for granted and instead we pray that you'd help us to really truly give thanks and we thank you Lord that we can come together tonight and be in your word and learn and grow and we pray that the word would change our lives we look to you father to do a good work tonight we know that you're faithful always so be with us we pray in Jesus precious name amen amen go ahead and open your Bibles to Daniel chapter 3 Daniel chapter 3 I think one of the reasons that the Book of Daniel continues to be such an amazingly popular book is no doubt the fact that it contains so many wonderful stories you know as old as we may get as old as old as the Lord may allow us to get we never get tired of hearing stories do we I mean it's just amazing I I remember sitting and watching my kids you know listen to stories that their mom would tell them when they were really small and and we would read Bible stories together as a family and just the looks on their faces you know that that rapt attention to the to the whole story thing and and I I realized that doesn't go away you know we just get older but we still love great stories and Daniel is chock full of great stories and chapter three is one of them and this is a this is a story that some of us who were raised in church you know we learned these stories we learned about the the three Hebrew yeah of course the you know the King James tended to kind of rule and reign in terms of language and so they they were always referred to as the three Hebrew children and yeah you know as a kid I always thought you know that Nebuchadnezzar was throwing like six-year-olds and furnaces and stuff and and and who knows he may have but you know these these guys are are probably in their early 20s or something like that but anyway we'll get into the story but before we do I want to just remind you of what happened in the previous chapter you'll remember that Nebuchadnezzar was having a recurring dream for which he had no interpretation he called all of his wise men in to interpret it for him but the one caveat that he laid at their door was that they not only had to interpret it for him he wanted them to tell them tell him what the dream was he wasn't going to tell him the dream first and of course you know they they they couldn't believe he was even saying it but Nebuchadnezzar was dead serious and he said in fact if you can't and if you're gonna sit here and blow smoke at me all day I just want you to know what's going to happen to you he said I'm gonna cut you into pieces and destroy your homes and and so they they couldn't do it so Nebuchadnezzar put out the the order to kill all of the wise men of whom Daniel Shadrach Meshach and Abednego were a part Daniel got wind of it and went before the Lord and you know how it went last week the Lord gave him not only the interpretation but the dream as well and he was able to go into the presence of the king and give it and you'll remember what the dream was because Nebuchadnezzar was seeing over and over again this picture of a statue a great and wonderful statue with a golden head and a silver upper area chest and and and and and with a decreasing kind of metal decreasing in terms of I guess worth but increasing and strength all the way down to to the feet he learned through the interpretation given him by Daniel that he was the head of gold so I don't know what that would do to your mind I mean I don't know what that would do to your head if if if the Lord had given you this dream you know in repetitive fashion and you're so frustrated and finally in this miraculous work of grace God enables this one individual to tell you what this dream is and you find out that you're the head of gold you are the glorious head of all these Gentile kings glorious in your kingdom glorious in your rule in your reign and God says I have given you Dominion you remember he said that didn't época desert I've given you Dominion in the earth that's a pretty heavy thing to hear from God because guess what when God gives you something you've got it you know what I mean and nobody can take it away from you you know it's one thing for you and I to gain things in and of ourselves and by ourselves they can be taken away but when God gives you something it's it's safe so so Nebuchadnezzar is is is reeling with this idea that he's the head of gold and like I said I don't know what that would do to your head but we find out in this chapter what it did to old nebby because it went straight to his head here's what it says in Daniel chapter 3 verse 1 and we're just gonna read the first verse just for a moment here it says King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold 90 feet high and 9 feet wide and set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon well there you go that's what happened I mean that is that is how it affected King Nebuchadnezzar and rather than then be humbled by the interpretation rather than understand that all this had been given by God because that's what God made very clear to him I've given this to you and and by the way I'm going to take it away and I'm gonna give it to another kingdom and then I'm gonna take it away from them and give it over to another Kingdom and and so on and there was this progression in the statue itself but rather than the you know being humbled rather than being brought to repentance the king the King actually saw himself in a you know in a more exalted light and sought to enhance his image throughout the kingdom and and and so forth now I want to also say and this is important here it's not that Nebuchadnezzar didn't appreciate God it's not that Nebuchadnezzar didn't appreciate what God did in his life and it's not that he didn't appreciate Daniel's ability - to interpret the dream and so forth because Daniel moved as you know so powerfully through the prophetic ministry by by not only again telling him what the dream meant but telling him what his dream was in the first place without even so much as a hint as to what it was but rather than then all those things changing Nebuchadnezzar in a positive way it it changed him in a different way and he became puffed up to use a or conceded if you will depending on your Bible translation to use a New Testament term and if you remember where that New Testament term is you might remember somebody else who had the potential of getting puffed up because of a revelation you know revelations from God's Word can do that it did it in Nebuchadnezzar's life excuse me I don't know if it happened in the Apostle Paul's life but I do know that God gave him something to keep it from happening do you remember what I'm referring to I'll put the scripture up on the screen for you so you can see it it's from second Corinthians chapter 12 and Paul writes this to the Corinthians he says and I know a man I know that this man rather speaking at first of himself in the third person whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know but God knows was caught up to paradise and he heard inexpressible things that man is not permitted to tell and then he changes to the first person to say to keep me from becoming conceited or again puffed up because of what these surpassingly great revelations he says there was given me a thorn in my flesh a messenger of Satan to actually torment me and that that word torment is a little harsh and we we tend to see a word like that and think wow you know that we're a little uncomfortable that God would give us something to torment us you know why would God and give something to me to torment me I'm his child well Paul explains it he says to keep me from becoming conceited in other words to keep me from exalting myself here's a man and and again you have to assume we don't know if Paul ever became puffed up but we have to assume the potential was there otherwise why would God do it right why would God do it you have to believe that that God was arresting a very real possibility within Paul's life to become self absorbed and self-focused because of the revelations that he was receiving from the Lord you got to remember something about the Apostle Paul people worshiped they tried to worship Him are you aware of that on the island of Malta and other places actually people came and started I mean they were getting they were pulling out some oxen because they were gonna like Hara let's get these big animals that were gonna slaughter him and sacrifice because Paul's our God and and and and and they were kind can you imagine if somebody believed you were a god because some miraculous thing had just happened through you how can you imagine how people looked at Paul you know the Bible says that when he was in Ephesus the the miracles of the Lord were so extraordinary that people would take sweatbands that Paul wore and lay him on people and they would be healed that's pretty amazing and I'm sure the word got to Paul you know what was kind of shaken along those lines and so how would you feel you know I I we've been able to actually you know you watched some television evangelist and and you think wow how'd they get to be the way they are maybe God worked in their life in a very powerful and amazing way and suddenly now it's all about them can that happen you bet it can you bet it can it happened in bikini tzer's life it had the potential at least of happening in the Apostle Paul's life been the interesting thing about this whole thing about divine knowledge is that it can it can actually puff us up in a carnal way even even scriptural knowledge you know here at Calvary Chapel we love to go through the Scriptures chapter by chapter verse by verse and we really emphasize you know the teaching of God's Word but the fact of the matter is even scriptural knowledge if it is separated from humility and godliness it can cause damage because it can puff us up and get us thinking that we're you know hot stuff because I know the answer to your question I know right where that verse is found and I and I'm able to debate you into a puddle you know that can puff somebody's heart and mind up to the point where you know they they're no longer operating in the spirit now they're operating in the carnal flesh and and and you are starting to do more damage than good so it's it's pretty interesting isn't it you know that and you know the other thing that it reminds us of people is that miracles don't save people I mean it can have the I I'll say this I I suppose it has the potential let me say that I'll I'll be fair about it a miracle can can can have the potential of certainly getting someone's attention and it certainly got Nebuchadnezzar's digit in fact you know you remember at the end of the last chapter as soon as Daniel you know did all this you know Nebuchadnezzar was all too ready to say well your God is the god but you'll notice something he never bowed down to that God he never bowed his knee to that same God he was very appreciative and very acknowledging you know and you know I think there's a lot of people like that in the world today I think that there are people who appreciate your God I think they appreciate Jesus Christ for the person that he was as as portrayed perhaps even in the Gospels and and and they would be you know they wouldn't think of saying something bad about your God or about your Savior but that doesn't mean they're willing to worship Him that doesn't mean that they're willing to give their lives to him somebody can even appreciate to come to church you know but that doesn't mean that they're here to bow the knee to Jesus Christ so we're gonna kind of see here in Nebuchadnezzar's life throughout the the course at least of the beginning of the Book of Daniel how the Lord increasingly uses circumstances to get his attention but it says in verse 2 that he then summoned the satraps prefix governors advisers treasurer's judges magistrates and all the other provincial officials and remember that because he's going to say that a lot of times and I'm not gonna repeat it every time to come to the dedication of the image he'd set up so all those guys assembled for the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up and they all stood before it so you can imagine you know they're sitting in front of this 90-foot you know statue and then the herald loudly proclaim this is the Royal announcement about it says this is what you are commanded to do O peoples nations and men of every language as soon as you hear the sound of the horn flute zither lyre hype harp I got a slow down pipes and all kinds of music you must fall down and worship the image of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up furthermore just in case you were thinking of doing your own thing whoever does not fall down in worship will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace you know that which is just incentive by the way so therefore what do you suppose they did as soon as they heard the sound of all those instruments and all the music all the peoples nations and men of every language did exactly what they were told to do they fell down and they worship the image of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up they all fell you know prostrate before the Lord or before the statute rather they fell you know they got down underneath put their faces to the ground in an act of you know obeisance and worship of this this gold statue well okay so Nebuchadnezzar is kind of get in his way and it says in verse eight that at that time some astrologers came forward and once again your Bible may say Chaldeans we talked about that last week why the Chaldeans were known as astrologers because that was kind of the predominant career path that they've taken and they came and they denounced the Jews and they said to King Nebuchadnezzar Oh King live forever you have issued a decree o king that everyone who hears the sound of all those instruments and all the kinds of music must fall down and worship the image of gold I don't know if you remember that King but that's not we do and that whoever does not fall down in worship will be thrown into a blazing furnace but you know King there are some Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon and then they named them Shadrach Meshach and Abednego and those are there those are their their Persian names their Babylonian names you'll remember and and those specific men they tell him pay no attention to you O king they neither serve your God's nor worship the image of gold you have set up so it's you know it's bad enough they're not you know so here they are they're in your kingdom and they don't give credence to the gods that you worship nor are they willing to worship you O king and this grand image that you have set up well you can imagine how Nebuchadnezzar feels about that it says in verse 13 that he was furious with rage and nebuchadnezzar summoned Shadrach Meshach and Abednego so these men were brought before the king and Nebuchadnezzar said is it true Shadrach Meshach and Abednego that you do not serve my gods or worship the image of gold I have set up now when you hear the sound of the horn flute zither lyre harp pipes and all kinds of music if you are ready to fall down and worship the image I made well very good but if you do not worship it you will be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace and then what God will be able to rescue you from my hand you have to admit one interesting thing about Nebuchadnezzar is he was not willing to simply take the these other men their word for it about Shadrach Meshach and Abednego he said he didn't just simply bind them and throw them into a furnace you know on someone else's testimony he asks them about it and then even says to them you know listen we're gonna kind of give you a second chance here and when you hear the music if you get down on your knees and put your face to the ground then it'll go fine for you but if you don't I'm gonna repeat to you what's gonna happen he says you'll be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace and then I want you to notice that little itty-bitty challenge that he put at the end of that statement and you got it you got a wonder you know what nemi's thinking everything he says then what God will be able to rescue you from my hand it's like he just set the stage for the whole thing right there and Shadrach Meshach and Abednego replied to the king o Nebuchadnezzar we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter if we are thrown into the blazing furnace the God we serve is able to save us from it and he will rescue us from your hand O king and I love this next statement but even if he does not we want you to know o king that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you've set up guys can I stop you right there for just a moment and can I can I highlight for you how glorious this statement is and must be to the ears of the Lord because this is the voice of faith this is the voice of unconditional faith because what they are basically saying is we are going to trust our God and it doesn't really matter what he does now we believe that he has the power to deliver us in fact we even believe he did it he will deliver us but if there's first you know any reason why we may be mistaken in that we want you to know without a shadow of doubt that we're still not gonna worship your God I mean what they are essentially saying to the King is that our obedience to the Lord our God is not predicated upon just all the things that he can do for us or even against us for that matter Nebuchadnezzar you see has set up this the system of of worship that is mandated to the people of his kingdom by basically saying here's the statue here's the music worship it when you hear the music oh and if you don't achillea and you can see you know how the world deals with those sorts of things you know the world the world you know kind of operates on threats don't they and and guilt there was a pastor I was listening to sue and I were up her to retreat recently he was talking about how the world uses like shame and guilt and threats and stuff to motivate people to do things you know and you hear this is this is a kind of a watchword of the of the times but people will talk about your carbon footprint have you ever heard that term that basically means how much you're kind of sullying the world or or the environment or something like that and your carbon footprint is based on several things you know how big your home may be and how much what kind of heating or air conditioning it's using maybe even how many animals you own and what they're putting into the atmosphere you know how that's crazy how many how many trips you take on an airplane per year for years this is funny this is a little bit of an aside but for years I've been using this little program on my computer called word web and it's just this little freebie dictionary program that just kind of resides there and whoever you need to look on I look up a word you click on it and and it brings up whatever word you've got highlighted and gives you definitions give you synonyms it's a neat little program well every so often this program pops up on the screen and says how many airline trips did you take in the last year and if you answer anything more than two or even I think one one if you answer more than one the program locks up and says you're done we're not gonna let you work or that will won't we won't work on your computer anymore it happened to sue she happened to take a couple of trips like to California and this and that and so she's like she's just answering the question you know she thought maybe it was like I don't know if I answer the question maybe they'll email me something about plane tickets you know like a deal on plane tickets but this thing comes up and goes your carbon footprint is too big goodbye you know and it's gone and then and and so it's just crazy but you know think about what they're using to try to manipulate people and get them to to think the way they want to think we're gonna we're gonna use guilt we're gonna use shame we're gonna tell you that you know this is what you're doing and you're and make you feel like you are personally responsible for global warming whatever that is you're personally responsible because you've taken one too many plane trips this year and and so forth but that's see that's the way the world operates isn't it that's the way the kingdom of man operates it's he's got a strong arm yeah he's got a gives you to feel shame and guilt and and and with threats and and things like that you know because otherwise you can't get people to do things you know just try and see what happens if you don't pay your property taxes for a year just-just-just see what happens you know you'll have a you know somebody with a badge at your door knocking on the door and you know if I trying to find out what's going on in your life because basically they're they're gonna say if you don't do this here's what we're going to do and the reason they have to do that is because in the kingdom of man that's the way it's established and see Nebuchadnezzar is just operating in the kingdom of man okay uh maybe I'm stepping one step over the boundary here but you know on Facebook people are constantly writing things on their profile thing and it says if you feel you know if you if you love your mom or something like that then repost this or you if you love Jesus you know copy and and and paste in t and I get so mad when they do that because that's you know what that's the world's way of conveying things if I can't if I can't get you to say that you love Jesus out loud on Facebook all by yourself I'm gonna post something on there that says if you don't do it you're a slimeball it's the world's way of doing things and it's really sad you know anyway step off my soapbox so I am so have you by the way have you noticed have you noticed that God doesn't operate that way have you noticed in your life that he'll let you walk away have you noticed that if you noticed he'll let you just go back into the world and do the things you did before he'll let you do that and he won't threaten you and he won't create this ugly black cloud over you or say I'm gonna cut you into pieces and ruin your home he continues to love you and what he does is he uses he he basically sends his Holy Spirit to draw you back you know the Holy Spirit has been referred to as the Hound from heaven who goes out in search of those who have wandered off and and just to to gently and lovingly pull them back into the fold and and I love that that's the way the kingdom of God operates remember what Jesus said here he is he's got this flock of 100 sheep and one of them goes away what does he do does he threaten it does he threaten them all to begin with you guys walk away once and you are dog meat I mean I'm telling you I'm just gonna feed you to the wolves no Jesus said that the Good Shepherd will leave the ninety-nine sheep and go out in search for the one and when he finds it he'll bring it back and he'll celebrate with his friends because he found what was lost that's how God operates I just want you to see the difference so so Shadrach Meshach and Abednego basically tell you know the the King and I love what they say to him again they say you know we really we really don't need to explain all this to you but we and we don't need to defend ourselves in this matter because we are doing what is right by the way by the way do you know that they were living in the Babylonian Kingdom at this time right and the king is the authority right now this is an interesting sort of a twist but do you know that God's Word tells us to obey the authorities who are in charge you go to the book of Romans chapter 13 it says obey the authorities I know that because I had to put that verse on my - one time on my car to keep me from going over the speed limit but I'm not sure it worked but it was there at least for a while when I had my little sporty car I don't think the other ones can go over and we are to obey the governing authorities of the land and you know what that was no less true of Shadrach Meshach and Abednego they were also to obey the governing authorities of the land except when those governing authorities tell them to do something that is expressly contrary to what God has already told us to do and God had already said you know that we are to have no other gods before him right so what we find in the New Testament we find this kind of running through the the the Bible we we see the the Apostles standing before the Sanhedrin and even though the Romans are basically kind of in charge for the Jews anyway the Sanhedrin continue to be the ruling council of the Jews and they look at these twelve appar eleven apostles as the case may be and they say to them you do not preach in this name any longer and and they look at them square in the face and say judge for yourselves whether it is right to obey God or you and they weren't being cocky they were being arrogant they were simply establishing a fact God has given us a command and he Trump's you but see that's the point you and I are not given the freedom just to spit in the face of the governing authorities just because we're Christians we are to obey we're to be obedient people we are to be law-abiding citizens that is the testimony that we are to give to the world but do you understand that there is actually an added testimony when we have that level of civil disobedience that it comes into play related to the Word of God when we step into this situation where Shadrach Meshach and Abednego are in a place of the potential of personal harm but for the case or for the sake of obedience to God we are giving an even greater testimony and saying yes but we will serve the Lord our God in him only and we are here to be obedient to the governing authorities in every respect that we are able but in this one area we cannot comply and the reason is you have asked us to do something that God has commanded we not do and you know what you're off the hook for that one but even that were to do humbly and I see the Chad rec Meshach and Abednego are doing that as well so I want to read verse 18 again because it's so powerful would you just bear with me as I read it again it says but even if he does not referring to rescue 8 them we want you to know oh king that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up then Nebuchadnezzar was furious with Shadrach Meshach and Abednego and his attitude toward them changed he was being a little conciliatory before but now he is just plain out mad and he ordered the furnace heated seven times hotter than usual and commanded some of the strongest soldiers in his army to tie up Shadrach Meshach and Abednego and throw them into the blazing furnace so these men wearing their robes trousers turbines and other clothes were bound and thrown into the blazing furnace the king's command was so urgent and the furnace so hot that the flames of the fire killed the soldiers who took up Shadrach Meshach and Abednego and these three men firmly tied fell into the blazing furnace that is that is so amazing and then King kept to his feet in amazement and asked his advisors weren't there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire and they replied well certainly okay and he said look I see four men walking around in the fire unbound and unharmed and the fourth looks like a son of the gods by the way it doesn't tell us whether any of his advisors were able to see that fourth person in the fire it could very well be that Nebuchadnezzar was the only one that saw that fourth person in the fire frankly that's the only one that had to see it hit that individual that person because he had the authority to bring them out and once he brought them out everybody else was going to know a miracle had taken place even if they didn't see the fourth person and so it says that Nebuchadnezzar Owen by the way there's a lot of speculation as to who the fourth person was and of course you know it's probably it's a very very popular idea that this is the pre-incarnate Jesus this is this this is the Son of God the Word of God if you will who who has not yet obviously been incarnate as a human being born of the Virgin but is now manifest as in in human form in order to walk through the fire with Shadrach Meshach and Abednego and frankly I have no problem with that you know interpretation I I do have to say however that it is it is at least some level of speculation God could have sent you know an angel do the very same thing and it and frankly it wouldn't have caused any problem to the story or to the whole issue anyway because even if it was an angel and not actually Jesus himself in a pre incarnate form it doesn't really matter because you know it's all God anyway you know who's doing everything and enabling everything but I do like the idea I do because it does provide for us a pretty cool picture of God walking through the flames you know of our lives I mean I mean and and and kind of underscores the fact that we don't like to hear and that is that God doesn't always take us out of the flames I mean that's one of those things that when I'm personally feeling the heat of life and circumstances I want to be delivered make no mistake about it I'm not praying for God to help me get through it I want to be released from it don't you I mean let's let's just be honest you know other people you don't start laying hands on me and praying God just give them the strength you know to walk through this time I going deliver the jerk you know it's like just I want to be out of this thing you know but you know ultimately I can say that there have been far more times in my life that God has walked through it with me there I mean I can count times I've actually been delivered from something on one hand I don't have enough fingers and toes to tell you how many times the Lord's walk through the fire with me and I'll bet you the same is true for you and have didn't we learn a lot those during those times I mean the deliverances are fun I mean the deliverance would be like Nebuchadnezzar going oh man you guys just okay just don't hang out when the music plays so that other people don't see that you're not worshiping and just go home and go to bed or something I don't feel like throwing in the fire today that would have been it you know I mean how would the story have ended then you know but that's kind of the way we're praying you know we're praying that God's gonna kind of swoop in and just change the circumstances in such a way that you know we don't have to go through the fire oh thank you very much please untie me I'm gonna go home now Oh wouldn't that be fine but I'll tell you some we don't learn as much that way we do we we don't learn as much that way and I will tell you that God has on a couple of occasions that I can recall kind of swooped in and picked me up out of a situation and truly brought a deliverance but far and away more times he just walked through the fire so nebby can approaches the furnace here in verse 26 and we see him shouting and saying Shadrach Meshach and Abednego servants of the Most High God notice that it's interesting how changes isn't it come out he says come here or zeal King James has come hither so Shadrach Meshach and Abednego came out of the fire now that's an amazing statement they should have fried they shouldn't be even alive but they came walking out of the fire and it says and this is this is the amazing thing that the satraps prefix governors and royal advisors crowded around them now you you a to wouldn't you you'd want to go take a look at these guys I mean they got some kind of crazy asbestos going on here and it says they saw that the fire has not harmed their bodies look at this nor was a hair of their heads even singed how many of you guys have like gotten rid of your eyebrows from time to time you know lighten the grill you get that thing you turn on the gas and you're yeah they can't get the thing to light and also cool you know and you go in the house and I don't have any eyebrows you know and that was just the grill right and you know here's this furnace heated seven times hotter than it normally is when they kill people it's not like he did the you know did the initial temperature wouldn't kill just fine and and yet they're not even singed not even a hair on their head is harmed and it says their robes were not scorched here's the real crazy thing there wasn't even the smell of fire on them didn't even smell like they've been camping at all and Nebuchadnezzar to talk and he says praise be to the God of Shadrach Meshach and Abednego who has sent his angel and rescued his servants they trusted in him and defied the king's command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any God except their own God now I want you to stop there again by the way this is a very nice thing for him to say I mean I and isn't it well said when you when you when you read it I mean didn't he sum it up well I think he did a great job I mean look at it first of all he starts with praise praise be to the God of Shadrach Meshach and Abednego and then he rightly kind of describes what took place who sent his angel and rescued his servants and then he tells why because they trusted in him and then he even admits what they did against him they defied the king's command excuse me and and to the point where they were willing to even give up their lives rather than do what I had asked them to do and they were only going to worship their own God now you can see here very clearly that once again nebuchadnezzar is filled with admiration he is filled with respect he is has obviously he's amazed I mean he's blessed and and he thinks that their God is really something else but you will also recognize too that he makes no move to worship or serve the Lord himself and he continues to refer to God as their God in true pagan form because you see even as a pagan I'm gonna believe if I were a pagan that there are all kinds of gods and obviously their God is the God of the fire because that you know I mean if I have thrown in the water their God probably would have wouldn't been able to save them but as it was we picked fire and their God happens to be the god of the fire so you know praise be to their God you know sort of a thing he's not he's not he's not coming to his senses related to the worship of all those other gods he does not say here I am going to immediately go into my kingdom and destroy every temple erected to every other god that people bow down to and I am immediately going to go and destroy that vile golden statue that I erected to the exultation of man didn't say that did he say anything about that in fact Nebuchadnezzar's not done learning some life lessons here but then again God's not done with Nebuchadnezzar either and we'll see that as we go on but so Nebuchadnezzar is going to is going to follow this thing up with a decree it says therefore I decree and that's what Kings do best they give decrees that the people of any nation or language who say anything against the god of Shadrach Meshach and Abednego be cut into pieces in their houses be turned into piles of rubble by the way that was a very popular thing to do if you didn't kind of you know go along with the king and what his decree I mean cutting people into pieces and reducing their homes to piles of rubble that was kind of the standard thing in there look what he says for no other God can save in this way but notice he's still kind of giving credence to other gods he's saying no God can do it quite like this you know but we're not yet ready to crown this god the god of gods or the king of kings or the lord of lords or however you want to say it and then it tells us that the king then promoted Shadrach Meshach and Abednego in the province of Babylon and how many people there are like this in the world just like Nebuchadnezzar as I said before they would probably never dare to speak a word against the God that you and I serve many of them but it is another thing altogether to bow their hearts in his presence admit that they are guilty sinners in need of a savior you know I don't I can't talk to somebody and it's usually not always but it's usually a young person who started dating someone and they come up to me all excited - pastor Paul pastor Paul I want to tell you I'm dating so-and-so and my first question you know to them is if I've never met the individuals I was the same is this person a believer are you dating a believer and I cannot tell you how many times I've heard someone say you know they believe in God and and you know what how I feel about that statement I mean that means zilch that means absolutely 100% zilch doesn't mean anything and I just remind them that demons believe in God you see even if somebody has a respect for God even if somebody has an appreciation even if they said to me you know what tell you my boyfriend he is in awe of God that doesn't mean he's saved that doesn't mean he is willing to bow his knee to the king of kings and the Lord of lords and say I am a sinner before your sight and I need you as my savior and I recognize that it is only your blood that can save me and the sacrifice that you made on the cross for me that do you understand the difference between base level appreciation and somebody humbling themselves I mean truly humbling themselves and recognizing their need of a savior and saying that you know I am hopelessly lost and without Jesus I have no hope of life of any kind do you see the difference so I've kind of stopped you know I've I've changed my wording when I'm asking people anymore about if the person they're dating or whatever is you know I stop saying a long time ago are they a Christian because you know you you'd be shocked what kinds of people think they're Christians but have no respect for even the Bible or so forth and I started to say do you see in their life a vibrant growing faith in God that manifests itself in a humility toward the word of God and an obedience to the Spirit where you are witnessing the fruits of the Holy Spirit manifesting in their life on a regular basis that's a tough one see because you can't squeeze the he believes in God part and and make it work there you know what I mean or even he respects God or even he's in awe of God because Nebuchadnezzar was in awe of God he was in awe how in the world did he pull this one off these guys don't even smell like smoke he was amazed but he did not worship he did not surrender his heart he did not submit his will to the king of kings and Lord of lords and you and I have got to increase our level of discernment as it relates to the statements that people make about God and their feelings for God and their appreciation for God sometimes we are just so longing to believe that somebody is right with God I mean we don't want to even entertain the idea they might not be so anything they'll give us will just man we'll take it you know I mean if you even just own a Bible I'll be happy if you come to church with me on Christmas and Easter that's good enough for me you know if you just don't get in my way of going to church that's good enough we'll get married you know we'll we are so ready to compromise unfortunately and this story is such a powerful reminder to you and I how we can be so it someone can be so admiring and so amazed at God and still unchanged at least unchanged in a positive sort of a sense so and you know it's a good reminder in our own lives just how the word is affecting us how I am receiving the Word of God on a regular basis and and and am I am I changed am i being changed by his word you know do I get done with my morning devotions go wow that was a that was a great passage but I'm hiring it like I am a bouquet of flowers and it no more changes my life than seeing a full moon on a beautiful summer's night I mean we can look at the word we go wow that is beautiful but the bottom line question Jesus told us always is are you willing to take that word and put it into practice in your life that is always the issue that is always the concern the wise man he says takes the Word of God and applies it he's not looking at the Word of God for what is awesome and wonderful and and and and and so forth he's looking at the Word of God for what does it say to me what does it say about how I'm treating people what does it say about how I'm treating my spouse what does it say to me about how I'm parenting my children what does it say to me about how I'm running my business how I'm treating you how I'm treating this person how I how I look at at different racial groups you know what is the Word of God say to me about how I'm spending my money how I'm spending my free time what is the Word of God say to me about the words that come out of my mouth the thoughts that I think the movies that I watch and on and on and on and on so if the Word of God is not having an impact in our lives then we're just like Nebuchadnezzar we're all appreciative and we can even write our little profile thing on Facebook and quote the verse that we read that morning ago isn't that cool but if we don't come down to a place of embracing the word then what have we what have we done what exactly have we done it's become this religious sort of a you know foo-foo thing that really doesn't have any lasting impact in our lives so there we are Daniel chapter 3 great great Chapter III love it I really do I love the lessons that we get from it too so let's close in prayer father in heaven we are busted every one of us because even as I speak here about your word kind of running off our backs without entering into our hearts I I am guilty as charged and like my brothers and sisters who are here in the auditorium with me and even those who are watching live on the internet or or later on as they're watching this video we're guilty we're guilty of opening up our Bible reading a paragraph or a chapter or even a couple of chapters and closing it and not thinking another thing about it we're guilty of seeing some pretty incredible answers to prayer and never coming back and saying thank you and allowing those circumstances to build up our faith and increase our hope we are guilty of put other things in front of you so father we ask you tonight humbly to forgive us and we ask you in Jesus name that we would have a new attitude toward the word that we would look at your word every day with a singular question Lord what are you saying to me today and how do you want me to apply this word in my life today God make us wise people make us smart people who build our structure on the rock because your promise to us is that it's going to remain even though those times of the heated furnace come our way thank you so much for giving us this time tonight these wonderful reminders in the Book of Daniel we're so grateful to you Lord we love you we ask you to give us a whole heart towards you we ask all of these things the name of our Savior Jesus Christ amen [Music] you

Channel: Calvary Chapel Ontario

Views: 25,131

Rating: 4.8403549 out of 5

Keywords: Bible, Bible teaching, Thru-the-Bible, verse by verse, Calvary Chapel, Bible study, Christianity, New Testament, Old Testament

Id: Lp-cWFkpfp8

Length: 53min 45sec (3225 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 09 2018