One of the things that we find hard to reconcile many times is how through the history of the Bible and throughout Christian history, all the way up to the present, people who love God and serve God are not protected from adversity and the fires of difficulty in life. God's people are not immune to trials. And for whatever reason God chooses, he allows his people, people who are living obedient lives, people who love him and he knows they love him, to walk through some very difficult seasons of life. And sometimes we wonder how long those seasons are going to last. Can they last forever, and how much longer we will last within those seasons? And that's the passage that we're looking at tonight from Daniel 3. The title of the message is When the Heat is On. And I want you to turn with me to that chapter, the third chapter of Daniel, as we look into this passage of scripture, which for little boys and girls who are growing up in Sunday school. And for those of us who are grown up boys and girls, we remember hearing the story about the three Hebrew boys in the fiery furnace. It's been preached, it's been taught throughout the centuries, and it is a story that has been used to inspire faith in God in the midst of difficult and formidable adversity. So what I want us to do is to look into Daniel chapter three beginning in verse one as we see that Nebuchadnezzar made a gold statue and the dimensions of the statue were given, 90 feet tall and nine feet wide. He set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. Then he sent messages to the high officers, officials, governors, advisors, treasurers, judges, magistrates, and all the provincial officials to come to the dedication of the statue he had set up. I mean this was a gathering of the who's who of Babylon. "So, all these officials came, "they stood before the statue King Nebuchadnezzar had set up "and then a herald shouted out, "'People of all races and nations and languages, "'listen to the King's command. "'When you hear the sound of the horn, the flute, "'the zither, the lyre, the harp, the pipes "'and other musical instruments, "'bow to the ground "'to worship King Nebuchadnezzar's gold statue. "'And anyone who refuses to obey this decree "'will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace.' "So at the sound of the musical instruments, "all the people, whatever their race "or their nation or language, "they bowed to the ground and they worshiped the gold statue "that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up." Now we're going to look at the entirety of this chapter, but we're going to stop there with verse number seven. Between chapter two where we were last week and chapter three where we are tonight, some years of time have passed. It could be as few as several years, couple of years up to as many as 16 or 20 years that have passed between the image that Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream, which Daniel interpreted for him, and now this humongous statue that King Nebuchadnezzar has constructed out on what is called the plain of Dura. And before we get into the meat of this passage, I want us to to make some connections if we could. Because in that image that Nebuchadnezzar had seen in a dream in the second chapter, which Daniel interpreted for him, Daniel had revealed to Nebuchadnezzar that he was that golden head on top of that image he had seen in his dream. Nebuchadnezzar, the head of gold and the statue, his kingdom was the head of gold along with him and God revealed through Daniel to Nebuchadnezzar, "Nebuchadnezzar, you're a great King and your kingdom "is the greatest in all of the earth." And apparently, between having that image revealed and interpreted by Daniel in chapter three, Nebuchadnezzar has allowed his pride to get the best of him. And that's why he has this huge statue constructed out in the middle of this plain so it could be viewed from every possible angle in the region where it was constructed. It's even described as having been 90 feet tall and nine feet wide. Now it was disproportionately, a constructed statue to have that ratio, 90 feet tall and only nine feet wide. It certainly looked like something other than human, but maybe it had this huge pedestal or base, and it was at the top of that base that this gold-layered statue was perched, 90 feet tall. That's mighty tall. Now I like to call this passage in chapter three a switchboard. It's a switchboard. You know what a switchboard is? It's a phone system that connects an incoming call with the intended recipient of the call. I think it's accurate for us to call this scene the switchboard between history and prophecy. In other words, in this scene in Daniel three where this 90-foot tall statue overlaid with gold has been constructed, it is the switchboard between the past and the future. You might put it this way, the past is calling the future right here in ancient Babylon. So I want to take a moment to connect what I'm calling the dots of Babylon. And let's think about the past that is calling. The past that is calling is the tower of Babel, which is described in Genesis 11. And the tower of Babel, as you may remember, was this symbol of universal defiance against God. In Genesis 11:1-2, it says, "At one time all the people "of the world spoke the same language "and used the same words. "And as the people migrated to the east, "they found a plain in the land of Shinar," as most translations call it. But the New Living goes ahead and translates it Babylonia to let us know that this is what eventually became Babylon. And so all the people settled there. Then when we look down in verse number four of Genesis 11, they said, "Come, let's build a great city for ourselves with a tower." You see that. "With a tower that reaches into the sky. "This will make us famous "and will keep us from being scattered all over the world." So I want us to stop there and think about this. When we go back to the past in what became called Babel, there was this tower that was built, a towering image they were constructing as a symbol of their independence from God, as a symbol of the ingenuity and superiority of the human race. And it's understood as being superior to God himself. And that was where God, in an act of judgment, scattered them with confusion, which is what Babel really means. It was on that very piece of real estate called Babel that the ancient empire Babylon would later be birthed. And that leads me to the passage where we are today. Let's connect the dots from Genesis 11 to Daniel 3 to what we're calling the statue of gold. And just as the tower of Babel was a symbol of universal defiance, this statue of gold is a symbol of universal idolatry because Nebuchadnezzar had commanded that all people of every race and every language, and every culture that they bow down and worship this 90-foot tall image. So the tower of Babel from times of old. Now this statue that Nebuchadnezzar has built, which is universal idolatry in its embodiment. Then I want us to reach forward into the future by adding number three, which is the beast of Revelation. The beast of Revelation is a symbol of universal deception. So in Genesis 11 there's universal defiance in the tower of Babel. In Daniel 3 where we are tonight, there's universal idolatry in this statue of gold that Nebuchadnezzar had built and commanded everyone to bow down and worship. And then when we look forward to the last book of the Bible in Revelation 13:1, John who is writing the book of Revelation says that God gave him the vision of a beast rising up out of the sea. Now this beast rising up out of the sea in Revelation 13 is the symbol of a human being that we call the antichrist. And the kingdom of this beast or this antichrist, who is a human being, who is empowered by none other than Satan himself. In the book of Revelation, the kingdom that belongs to this antichrist, who will lure all the nations of the world into his domain. Do you know what that kingdom is called? God, the Holy Spirit inspired John to dub the last days kingdom of the beast or the antichrist as Babylon. So what we've done is we've simply connected the dots. And in a chapter 13 of Revelation in verse four, it says that John describes the people of the earth worshiping the beast. And they ask, "Who is as great as the beast "and who is able to fight against him?" So think about this with me. Tower of Babel, Genesis 11, statue of Nebuchadnezzar, all people are to worship, Daniel 3. And then Revelation 13, the antichrist that all the people on the earth at that time will bow down and worship. Now, I want us to think about this statue that Nebuchadnezzar has had built. This statue symbolizes all of the defiance, all of the idolatry and all of the deception that the kingdoms of this world exploit and deploy to distract people and to draw people's attention away from the true and the living God. That's exactly what they do. But in many translations, the dimensions of this statue in Daniel 3 are used by the word cubit, which is one of the dimensional measurements from the times in which the book of Daniel was written. So what I want to do is to display this little slide for you about the statue of gold. In most translations, it's described as being 60 cubits high, which is 90 feet and six cubits wide. Do you see the the 60 and the six. And then fast forward to Revelation 13:18, John says, "Wisdom is needed here. "Let the one with understanding solve the meaning "of the number of the beast for it is the number of a man. "His number is 666. So, I thought it was interesting for us to go back and look at the dimensions listed in cubits because they are in multiples of six. And the number six is the number of humanity and it is that number six that is given to the beast or the antichrist in the last days. Now, this may seem like a lot for us to bite off at one time, but I'm telling you, I love connecting the dots of Bible prophecy because when you see the Bible in its respective component parts all woven together to communicate an overarching message intended by God for his people, and specifically for us today, it causes me to have a greater belief in the Bible as the word of the living God. So just by way of review, we've connected the dots of Babylon, the tower of Babel in Genesis 11, the statue of gold in Daniel 3, and the antichrist who is called the beast in Revelation 13. Now, this is just my introduction. You hear what I'm saying? We haven't even gotten to point number one. Now I hope nobody says, I've got better things to do than this. Don't you log off. If you log off right now, may your food not digest well as you try to eat dinner and go to sleep. But I pray if you continue watching this, it'll be the best meal you've ever had and it'll sit well on your stomach and you won't get sick and you won't experience the plagues of the Bible. Stay with me. Here's main point number one. Main point number one. The world will always force a dilemma of allegiance. The world will always force a dilemma of allegiance. Nebuchadnezzar issued this ultimatum after he had this big 90-foot tall statue built. He said, "Now when the Babylonian philharmonic orchestra baton drops "and the band plays and the song is heard, "everybody near and far hit the ground "and bow down as an act of obedience to my decree." I mean, this dude was on the ultimate power trip. He was so full of himself, it isn't funny. And so according to the scripture, everyone out on that plain surrounding that statue, when the band started playing, they dropped to their faces in pseudo worship except for three men. We have reason to believe Daniel wasn't even out here when this happened. Or certainly he would have done the same thing that these three men, his friends, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, also known as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, they did not worship this image. And so some of these astrologers, some of these magicians, these wise men who were on the payroll of King Nebuchadnezzar, they approached the King because they wanted to be narcs. They wanted to report the fact that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego did not comply with the King's orders to bow down when the band started playing. So what they did, they were reminding him of this decree that he had sent out. "O King, long live the King. "We've come to tell you something. "You remember the decree you said "that everyone must bow down and worship "when the band starts playing." But look in verse number 12, they said, "But there are some Jews, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, "whom you've put in charge of the province of Babylon. "They pay no attention to you, Your Majesty. "They refuse to serve your gods "and they do not worship the gold statue "that you have set up." So these young men stood true. They were true to their convictions regarding the diet. Remember in chapter one, Daniel made the appeal on his and their behalf not to defile themselves with the Babylonian food and wine, but to have a biblical diet, a vegetarian diet, and now they're standing true to their convictions once again in chapter three and they are saying, "We will not bow down no matter who gives the decree, "no matter what the threat is, no matter what the risk is, "we will not bow down to any god, but Jehovah God." Now folks, here's the thing. What are we saying here? The world will always force us into this dilemma of allegiance. Will we bow down to false gods? Or will we bow to the true and living God? God is not ambivalent on this matter. Remember the 10 commandments? He says, "You're not to have any other God besides me." Not only that, but God expressly forbids the construction of any kind of an image before whom we would be tempted to bow. So, they knew what the commandments of God were. And you see this throughout the Bible. Remember when Moses told the people in Deuteronomy, "The Lord your God is one God "and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, "all your soul, all your mind." You know what all means. It means God gets all and there's nothing left to give to any other god. One of my favorite verses about drawing a line in the sand and determining in this dilemma of allegiance which God you're going to serve as Joshua, the great leader of the people of Israel who took them into the promised land. You remember what he said in Joshua 24:15, he said, "Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve. "But as for me and my house," say it with me, "We will serve the Lord." That's what Joshua said. And then, I think about what Jesus said. Jesus said a lot about allegiance, but in Matthew 6:33, he said, "But seek first the kingdom of God "and His righteousness." In other words, Jesus just picks up the kind of loyalty, devotion, and allegiance that Jehovah God demanded in the Old Testament. And Jesus transfers that same mandate and requirement to himself. And he says, "Anyone who follows him "must follow him supremely and with no competition, "no competing affections for the gods of this world." And each one of us has to come to the place in our lives where we decide that we're going to worship God, that we're going to follow Jesus and no other gods. Do you know what the resolve of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego was? Simply put, "We will not bow down." And I want to invite you to make that same commitment in your heart and in your life. I will not bow down. I will only bow to the Lord my God, but I will not bow down at the alter of competing gods which are false gods because my God is a jealous God. Here's the second thing I want you to jot down. Not only that the world is always going to force us into a dilemma about our allegiance. But the second thing is this, we must not fear the wrath of our adversaries. Please take time to write that down. We must not fear the wrath of our adversaries. Now, you know the truth is it is our fear that is the basis for our reluctance to stand for God. Anytime we waiver on taking a stand for God, on being true to our convictions, fear is always at the root of it. Now, to our shame, very few of us have a fiery furnace to fear like these three young men did. In our case, we're usually afraid of the wrath if somebody cracking a joke about our faith. How does that even compare to a fiery furnace? We're often afraid of someone making fun of us or leaving us out of the group or not friending us. Social ostracization. We sometimes will not stand up for our faith because we're afraid of people talking about us behind our backs. Someone might cross the line and call us an extremist. That's no fiery furnace. But we have cowered down in fear from those kinds of responses we anticipate. Now, I don't want to take away from the sting that any of those presents to our heart. No one wants to be made fun of. No one wants to be joked about, talked about behind one's back. No one wants to be left out of the group. But when you look at what these three guys were against, a fiery furnace, which was really a death sentence. The King had said, "Anybody who doesn't comply "with my order to bow down "when that band plays and worship that statue "will be thrown into that oven and incinerated." So in verse 13, when Nebuchadnezzar heard that these three had not bowed down, it says, "He flew into a rage." Do you see that? "He flew into a rage. "And he ordered that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego "be brought before him. "When they were brought in, Nebuchadnezzar said to them, "'Is it true Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, "'that you refuse to serve my gods "'or to worship the gold statue that I have set up?'" Oh, look at what he says. "I'm going to give you one more chance to bow down "and worship the statue I have made "when you hear the sound of the musical instruments. "But if you refuse, you will be thrown immediately "into the blazing furnace." And then look at this, "What God will be able to rescue you from my power." Now let's think about this King. Look at him. Oh, he's big stuff, isn't he? He thinks he's all that and a bag of chips. Notice the rage. It says he flew into a rage. And you know it takes a little man to have a big temper, but that's exactly what happened to him. He is in sense that anyone would dare defy his order. So you see his rage, but you not only see his rage in that passage, you see his arrogance. I called attention to it when we were reading it. He says, okay, "I'm going to give you one more chance, "one more chance to do what I've commanded you to do." You know what I want to say? Oh, how generous you ego maniac. Oh, how generous? How benevolent of you to give these three young Godly men one more chance to turn their backs on their God and to make you their God. Oh, how kind of you sir, to give them one more chance to bow down. But you know what I really see in this passages, I see Nebuchadnezzar's utter stupidity. Oh, I said it. Oh, I said it, stupidity. Because in verse 15 he says, "If I throw you in the fiery furnace," he says, "what god will be able to save you from my power. "What god can save you from my power." You know what I want to say? I am so glad you asked that question, O mighty, omnipotent King Nebuchadnezzar, cause you're about to have that question answered real quick. I'll tell you the God who can save his children, the God who will come to the defense of his children, who've been marked with his love, who trust in him against all odds. It is the Lord God, Jehovah God of all gods, King of all Kings. He is the God, and your power is no match for that God. Oh, I need an amen somewhere out there in cyberspace right now. So you have the King. What a Knothead? What a numbskull? But let's not overlook some more characters in this passage. Remember, the only way the king knew about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, not bowing down to this golden statue, is because there were informants who came and tattled on them. I'm calling them the accusers. So you see, it wasn't just the King's wrath that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were facing. It was the wrath of their accusers who were turning them in and reporting them to the great and mighty one, King Nebuchadnezzar. They went to the King, and, oh, when you read this, and hey, can I just tell you something? I don't even know what these guys' names are. They're not even dignified with names assigned to their words, but I can tell you, I have met many people just like these guys. And you have, too. We've all met people like this. They know how to work the system. They know how to manipulate. They know how to play to a narcissist ego to manipulate the outcome that they want to achieve. And they know how to pull the strings of people in power to get even with people they do not like. Oh, I know I can get a witness on this somewhere from somebody. They reminded the King of the decree. By the way, do you think the King needed reminding of his decree, that when the band plays, everybody has to worship? He remembers what the decree was. But in verse number 11, they remind him. "The decree also states that those who refuse to obey "must be thrown into a blazing furnace. "But there are some Jews, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego." Oh, and look how they worded it, "Whom you put in charge of the province of Babylon, O King. "They pay no attention to you, Your Majesty. "They refuse to serve your gods "and do not worship the gold statue you set up." Now let's step back for a moment. Before they're taking aim at Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, these Chaldean astrologers are actually taking aim at the King. Did you catch it? They're saying, "Oh, great King, you made the decree, "but there are three men," understood, "three Jews, three men who don't fit in here "in our Babylonian culture, "three men of a different ethnic background, "three men of a different religious background, "three outcasts. "But by the way, those same misfits and outcasts "are the three men that you put in charge over everything." This was a backhanded insult against the King. "These are the three Jews whom you elevated, O King. "Well, guess what, the truth is, O King, "all that you've given them with their position "and their rank, look how ungrateful they are to you "for what you've done for them." Oh, I'm telling you, they were working him like a puppet (laughs) and he fell for the trick. The truth is this, these Chaldean astrologers were envious of these foreign men who had been elevated to ranks of authority over top of them and they were determined to bring them down. I have always considered myself a pretty naive person and I've always been inclined to give people the benefit of the doubt. And that's gotten me in a lot of trouble through the years by placing trust in people who weren't deserving of it, who weren't worthy of it. And it's taken me years and years into my adulthood to really come to grips with the fact that there are people who declare themselves, even if they don't verbalize it, it's in their own heart, who are working against you, people who make themselves your enemy. I've just never wanted to believe that. And I've finally come to the place in life through a lot of hard knocks and a lot of discovery about human nature to realize there are people who are against me. I can't think of anybody in particular right now, but just through the years of life. The same is true for most people. It will be difficult for you to get through life without there being enemies along your pathway. Sometimes it starts on the playground when we're at school. But at other times it can be in the workplace or it can be in a family kind of setting. Who knows what the different arena may be. But if you get through life and never have an enemy, you ought to consider yourself blessed, or you are either a hermit and you never did anything worthwhile and you never made difficult decisions that people disagreed with. Now, here's what I want to ask you. Remember what we're talking about here. We're talking about we must never fear the wrath of our adversaries because many times we can be led to make foolish choices, compromising choices, just out of fear of the people whose anger causes us to tremble, whose displeasure or disapproval, we would do anything to avoid incurring or inciting. And I want to give you a word of caution, a word of admonition tonight from someone who's learned this from hard knocks, as well as studying scripture and just life experiences. Don't ever be afraid of your enemies. Never be afraid of your enemies. Over and over in the scripture we have words of caution against being afraid of people. If we're going to fear anybody, we need to fear the Lord God. I was looking through this earlier today in Psalm 118. I want to give you a few passages to read when it comes to not being afraid of your enemies. The writer there says, "In my distress, I prayed to the Lord "and the Lord answered me and set me free." Look at this. "The Lord is for me so I will have no fear. "What can mere people do to me?" Do you see what the writer's asking? "If God is for me, what can some human "that God created do to harm me?" Verse seven, "Yes, the Lord is for me, he will help me. "I will look in triumph at those who hate me. "It is better to take refuge in the Lord "than to trust in people. "It is better to take refuge in the Lord "than to trust in princes," or powerful political leaders. So understand what the Bible is saying here. When you belong to God and you are walking in the will of God and the favor of God is on your life as his beloved child, why should you or I ever be afraid of anyone plotting our downfall or plotting harm against us? We should never be afraid of a human enemy. And then David prayed this in Psalm 35:1. He said, "Plead my cause, O Lord, "with those who strive with me." Look at what he asks God to do. "God fight against those who fight against me." And down in verse 24, "Vindicate me, O Lord my God, "according to your righteousness "and let those against me not rejoice over me." Do you believe that God gives us the permission to pray those kinds of prayers? Well, I sure hope he does because I have prayed those kinds of prayers before when I have known for a fact there were people plotting against me, people who had positioned themselves in a hostile posture against me. And what's so sad is this has happened in church. This has happened in different places where I've served God. And there've been times when I've cried out in desperation. "O God, to the best of my knowledge, "I'm seeking to do your will. "I'm seeking to be obedient. "I'm seeking to be your vessel, your messenger, "your shepherd of your people. "And there are people who are intentionally plotting "my downfall and placing obstacles in my path "and I'm asking you to fight them off for me "so I don't have to." And I've heard Dr. Stanley talk about this many, many times. It's amazing. And if you live long enough, you'll see this happen. When you know, to the best of your knowledge, you are seeking the walk humbly before your God with a pure heart, you can just watch God go before you and move the enemies aside and you'll still be standing to tell about it when they're all gone. In Proverbs 29:25, the writer says there, I hope you're writing these down, by the way. The writer says, "Fearing people is a dangerous trap, "but trusting God means that you will have safety." Some translations put it this way, "The fear of man brings a snare." The writer here, the translation in the New Living says a dangerous trap. Why is fearing other people a dangerous trap? Because fear of people puts us in bondage. Jesus said, "Whom the son sets free is free indeed. "You shall know the truth "and the truth shall make you free." God did not save us for us to live in the bondage of fear towards other people. And then all of us know this, that shepherd psalm, Psalm 23. You know it by heart. But you know what I want to focus on in that 23rd psalm is verse four. "Yea, though I walk through the valley "of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil." Why don't we need to fear? Because David said, "God, you are with me. "Your rod and your staff, they comfort me." But look at verse five. Oh, don't miss it, don't miss it. David said, "Dear God, you prepare a table before me "in the presence of my enemies." I want to read that again. "Lord, you prepare a table before me "in the presence of my enemies. "My cup runs over." So let me ask you a question. What does it mean for David to say that God prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies? What do you do at a table? You eat at a table. A table in Psalm 23 is the symbol of our provision, of everything that we need in order to live, in order to survive, that table of blessing, that table of food, and drink, and sustenance. And David says, "When my enemies are pursuing me, "when my enemies are plotting against me, "what do you do, O God?" You sit me down at a table and you load the table down like a banquet. And my enemies have to watch as you feed me, clothe me, shelter me, take care of me. You prepare this table before me and my enemies don't understand why it is that my God keeps taking care of me. David said, "Thank you God for setting the table "and causing my enemies to watch me eat and drink "and be blessed despite their efforts to do away with me." Oh, I just love these verses. So here you not only have the King who has declared himself an adversary of these three fine young men, godly young men, non-compromisers. But you have these accusers who've thrown them under the bus with the King. And speaking of accusers, I just want to give you a little word study tonight, that did you know that the Hebrew word from which we get the formal name for the devil is the word "Satan." And the word "Satan" is the Hebrew word for accuser. Oh yeah. That's what Satan really means. It means the one who accuses. So when you see these dudes prosecuting Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego with these accusations. "O great and mighty King, o great and mighty King, "remember the decree, remember the decree, "whoever won't worship the statue, "you're going to throw them in the furnace. "O King, these three Jews that you elevated over all of us, "we've come to tell you they didn't bow down. "They are noncompliant with government regulation." Those were the accusers. And by accusing God's children, they were doing the work of Satan himself. So what I'm saying to you is this, we must never, ever, ever fear the wrath of our adversaries. Are you still with me? Let's continue. Write this down. Our faith is in God regardless of the outcome. Our faith is in God regardless of the outcome. You see, too often our faith, my faith especially, is predicated on ideal circumstances. I'm usually fine trusting God when there's no fiery furnace in the picture. When I don't feel any heat, I don't smell any smoke, I'm not having any pain or discomfort in my life. Everything is smooth sailing. Oh, it's great trusting God under those circumstances. When there's no financial issue, no health issue, no struggle in a relationship. When there's no price that I'm having to pay for following Jesus Christ, I'm pretty good in times like this. Because you see, I think I'm not unlike many others. I want a faith that insulates me from hurt and disappointment. I'd like to have a faith that whenever there was something difficult, I could speak to it and cause it to flee. I'd like to have a faith that would exempt me from suffering. I'd like to stand up here tonight and tell you, "Oh, I love God, I love Jesus, "I'm a pastor, I'm in a church. "I have my quiet time, I pay my tithes "and I don't ever have any problems "because when you're a child of God, serving God, "obeying God, you'll never shed a tear, "you'll never do without, you'll never hit a bump, "you'll never have a problem," but that would be a lie. It's simply not true. And I want to tell you, no matter what you hear someone on television tell you about, name it and claim it, blab it and grab it, decree it, and it shall come to pass. All the stuff you hear, there is no such thing as faith in God without problems, obstacles, and hindrances. There's no such thing. The Bible promises that we're going to have difficulties as God's children. Our faith is in God himself, not in what we want God to do for us. Our faith is in God himself, not in outcomes. Our faith is in God, not in the circumstances he arranges because we think we deserve those things for being faithful to him. I want you to look in verse 16. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the King, "Nebuchadnezzar, we don't need "to defend ourselves before you. "If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, "the God whom we serve is able to save us. "He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. "But even if he doesn't, "we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, "that we will never serve your gods "or worship the gold statue you have set up." So the prosecution has rested. These knucklehead accusers have thrown our three friends under the bus. And Nebuchadnezzar has said, "Bring them before my throne." And they stand there with a resoluteness, with calmness, with assurance, and they say, "We don't owe you any explanation." Can you imagine that? They said, "We will offer no defense for our actions, "for you see we're forbidden to bow down "and worship this statue to the gods of Babylon. "Oh no, we serve the true and the living God." I want to tell ya, I know you probably think every passage in the Bible I preach is my favorite passage because it seems like every time I'm preaching, I say, this is one of my favorite passages in the Bible. This really is, and this really is because this passage gives us one of the most balanced pictures of faith you'll ever find in all of the word of God. It's what I call the two sides of faith. For instance, I want to give you the first side of faith. The first side of faith is this. When you're facing the fiery furnace, you can say with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, "Our God is able," period. That's what they said. The God whom we serve is able to save us. That's one side of faith. They said, throw us in the fiery furnace, but this is what we know. Our God can save us from the fire. They knew that he could. That's just one side of faith. Here's the second side of faith. Sometimes He chooses not to. Sometimes He chooses not to. You see in verse 17, they said, "The God whom we serve is able to save us. "We know he can." But in verse 18 they came back and said, "But if he chooses not to, even if he doesn't." Now, here's what I'm saying to you. I believe that is real faith. Real faith is when we know what God can do. And by the way, what can God do? God can do anything he chooses to do. God is able, if you were here tonight, I would say, repeat that with me. God is able. What is he able to do? I love that passage in Ephesians. It says he is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above anything we could even imagine to ask him to do. God is able. But this is what they said. "Even if God chooses to let us burn in the furnace "and be dissolved into little piles of carbon ash," they said, "we still believe that he is the true "and living God." It is, I know what God can do, but even if God in his wisdom chooses not to do what I'm expecting him to do, what I'm asking him to do and what I know he can do. If God chooses not to, we will still worship him as our God. What a beautiful picture. And that's what I call real faith. But here's the last thing I want you to write down. The last thing I want you to write down as far as a main point tonight is this, God uses the fire to accomplish His purposes. God uses the fire to accomplish His purposes. When they stood with such confidence and boldness, and they basically said, "We ain't doing it." I'd like to think they might've been from Mississippi or South Georgia. "We ain't doing it. "We ain't bowing down to your image. "You can turn up the heat, you can threaten us, "you can beat your chest, you can intimidate us, "but we ain't bowing down. "We ain't going to do it." And sure enough, they didn't do it. You know what he said, he said, "In fury," there he goes again, "Flying off the handle, how dare them defy me "after all I've done for them. "Heat the furnace up seven times hotter." Now, I don't know how you do that, but they threw extra wood in there. They probably threw some oil in there. And boy, it was blazing hot. And in verse 21, it says, "They tied them up. "They threw them into the furnace, "fully dressed in their pants, turbans, robes, "and other garments. "And because the King and his anger "had demanded such a hot fire in the furnace, "the flames killed the soldiers "as they threw the three men in." So it was so hot. The guys that were throwing Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, these soldiers throwing them into the furnace, they were killed by the heat. So verse 23 says, "Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, securely tied, "fell into the roaring flames. "But suddenly Nebuchadnezzar jumped up in amazement. "He exclaimed to his advisors, "'Didn't we tie up three men "'and throw them into the furnace?' "'Well, yes, Your Majesty, we certainly did.' But in verse 25, he said, "Look, I see four men loosed and walking about "in the midst of the fire without harm, "and the appearance of the fourth "is like a son of the gods." Now, I've heard this passage preached so many times. I've studied it so many times and I think I get more excited every time I hear it. Every time I study it, every time I have the privilege of teaching it or preaching it, I get even more excited than I thought possible. The King is looking in there and instead of seeing three men, he saw four. Instead of seeing them bound, they were free. Instead of seeing them riving in anguish from the flames, they're walking about in comfort. Instead of their being consumed, they were completely intact, unharmed, and the Bible goes on to say they walked out of that furnace. Oh yeah, they walked out. They walked out. Verse 26 says, "Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, "they stepped out of the fire. "And the high officers, officials, governors, "advisors crowded around them and saw," look at this, "the fire had not even touched them, "not a hair on their heads was singed, "and their clothing was not scorched. "They did not even smell of smoke." Can you imagine? "And Nebuchadnezzar said, "'Praise to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. "'He sent his angel to rescue his servants "'who trusted in him. "'They defied the King's command "'and were willing to die rather than serve "'or worship any God except their own God.'" What a glorious ending. And just to boot, they got promoted even more after this miraculous deliverance God gave them. But I want us to go back to this idea of even though they were delivered while they were in that fire and they were delivered from the fire, why do we have to go through the fire? And I want you to remember this, that God has a purpose for the fires of life. He has a purpose. When you and I look back over our lives, we would never have chosen to walk through the furnace. I know I wouldn't have. Sometimes the furnace that we're cooking in was set on fire because we were playing with matches we shouldn't have been playing with. But then there are other times where the furnace of fire that we're walking through was through no fault of our own. It's just something that God in his wisdom allows us to go through like these three young men. So let me ask you, why the fire? Well, I don't know why God always allows us to walk through it, but here's some possible answers. In the fire is where we experience God's presence. In the fire is where we experience God's presence. You see, three men were thrown into the fire, but when the King looked inside the flames, he saw a fourth man walking with the three who had been thrown in there. Now, Nebuchadnezzar in his ignorance said, "This person looks like a son of one of the gods. He knew that it was deity. What he did not know is that it was most probably the Lord Jesus Christ. It was what we call a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus, which means Jesus showing up on the scene before he was born in Bethlehem, a pre-Christmas Revelation of Jesus. It's where we feel God's presence. I wonder how many of you can look back on fiery furnaces in your own life and maybe you're going through a fiery furnace right now. I would say that many of us are going through a fiery furnace with the Coronavirus, and our nation on lockdown, and the economy screeching to a halt, people being fired, people losing loved ones, people wondering if they'll be able to pay their mortgage, keep their home. It's in the fire that we feel God's presence. I'm going to tell you something else. In the fire is where others see Jesus with us. Because listen to me, when you're going through the fire, just like these three, somebody's watching you while the flames are lapping up and bringing you harm. And the flames are causing adversity for you. Someone like the King is watching you. And what an amazing witness for them to look at what you're going through and they're able to see Jesus at work in your life. That's what the King said. "There is a fourth man in that fire." That was Jesus. Jesus shows up not only to us, but other people watching can see Jesus when he's helping us in our tough times of life. I'll tell you something else. In the fire is where our lives are changed. How many people when they give testimonies about being saved, about giving their lives to God, how many of those people will tell you a testimony about adversity, about difficulty, about heartache, and brokenness? You see, it's in the fire where our lives are changed. And then it's in the fire where we see how strong our faith is. Your faith isn't tested in good times. Your faith is tested in the fires of difficulty. That's when we see what our faith is really made of. And then I want to say this, in the fire is where the best parts of our story are written. The best parts of our story are written. The making of me is not primarily good times that I've been through. But the making of me, the making of my life story has been by and large written through the fires of the furnace of adversity, difficulty, brokenness, emptiness, opposition, disappointment, betrayal, financial difficulty, on and on, the list goes. The greatest chapters in the book of my life have been written in the fiery furnaces that God himself has allowed me to walk through. And I know if there was a way I could hear from you tonight, many of you would say, "Me too, me too." My greatest chapters in the book of my life story have been written in the times when I was going through the hottest fires. Tonight I've got good news for you though. Do you realize that if you're a child of God, the only fire that you or I will ever go through is the fire in this life. Because when we get to heaven, praise God, there'll be no more fire, no more furnace, no more difficulty, no more adversity, but peace, and joy, and love, and perfect unity with God, our Savior, throughout the unfolding eons of eternity. So don't you think it's worth it to stand tall in times of testing. I pray God will help us all to be faithful to Him. O God, we praise you tonight. Thank you, thank you, thank you for letting me study this passage and preach this passage and to have my own faith renewed from studying it and preaching it. And my prayer as I've prayed throughout the days of this week, was that you'll take this message and use it to strengthen people's determination to stand up and be faithful and true to the Lord our God until you call us home. In Jesus name. Amen and amen.
