CEFC Sermons
But, If Not
We're coming to Daniel chapter 3 and Daniel records the fiery furnace a good morning for that this morning I guess this is not a political statement but there is a God in heaven and we've seen that the last 17 18 hours there is a God in heaven who rules and overrules in the affairs of men let's continue to pray not now but I can pray now but continue to pray for our country I think sometimes we forget to pray for the rulers and those in authority and to pray for our country and we have a real reminder here this morning to continue to pray there is a God in heaven we have a lengthy passage in front of us from the book of Daniel and if you want to turn to your pubival it's page 938 it might be easier for you to follow along 938 and I'm just going to read a few of the verses and then we'll comment on many of them so let's stand together I'm going to read from verse 13 on just a few verses most of us are very familiar with the account of Shadrach, Meshach and Nabednego but beginning with verse 13 of Daniel chapter 3 that Nebuchadnezzar in a rage and fury gave the command to bring Shadrach, Meshach and Nabednego so they bought these men before the king and Nebuchadnezzar spoke to them saying is it true Shadrach, Meshach and Nabednego that you do not serve my gods or worship the gold image which I have set up now if you're ready at the time you hear the sound of the horn the flute the harp the lyre and the sultry in symphony and all kinds of music you'll just fall down and worship the image which I have made good but if you do not worship you shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace and who is the God who will deliver you from my hands and Shadrach, Meshach and Nabednego answered and said to the king oh Nebuchadnezzar we don't have to answer to you if that's the case our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and he will cause us to be delivered from your hand but if not let it be known okay we will not serve your gods nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up may God bless his word let's be seated as we look this morning but if not man is basically religious it's obvious as you go around the world you find that all people all ethnic groups have some substance of religion man is incurably religious he inevitably bowels to some shrine he either worships the true God or some false God but he is incurably religious in Romans chapter one we read a lot of what is happening here and I'm gonna just read a few verses from Romans 1 beginning with verse 18 the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth say the truth is suppressed in unrighteousness because what may be known of God is made known to them for God has shown it to them for since the creation of the world his invisible attributes are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and Godhead they are without excuse because although they knew God they did not glorify him as God nor were they thankful but became futile empty in their thoughts and their foolish hearts were darkened as a result professing to be wise they became fools and they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man and birds and four footed animals and creeping things therefore God gave them up man turns his back on God God eventually turns his back on those individuals man has made gods out of woods and stones and individuals incurably religious snakes and birds and whatever else is out there and they begin to worship the creation rather than the Creator aren't you glad this book begins with that Genesis 1 1 in the beginning God created we know who we're talking about we know the Creator God and we worship that Creator God and it's part of worship that we're talking about this morning who do we worship we talked about you are my king he is the king the one that we worship and a hundred and a hundred and twenty people gathered together worshiping Christ our nearer in heart and spirit then they could possibly be if they became unity conscious it's not our unity that we're looking at it's our oneness in Jesus Christ that's all important and once we have that oneness in Jesus Christ once we're looking in worship to him we will be united that brings the unity so we don't have to work toward it's not bad to work toward unity but that's not should not be the ultimate goal the ultimate goal is worshipping God and that worship that brings us together and our eyes turn to him in closer fellowship the Old Testament tells us much about man's religious nature it's characteristic of man to create gods like himself and they become more and more like that God you see in this way man can accommodate his sinfulness the problem with worshiping the true God is that you have to face reality if you're going to worship the true God you have to face the reality that you're inadequate you cannot worship the true God without Jesus Christ Raimi reminds us of that very frequently there's only one way to worship the true God through Jesus Christ and so as we worship him we come together in a unity but there's a reality that we have to face and there are inadequacy and we have to recognize that we are sinful man doesn't want to say they're sinful man doesn't want to acknowledge their sinfulness but once you do that you can worship the true God so if you reject those you invent a God who is a lot like you and a God who's like you is easy to get along with because you're easy to get along with aren't you and so here in Romans 1 we saw there's a constant conflict between creation and the Creator and we see what happens when we reject the true God the Scriptures over and over forbid idolatry that's what we have here in Daniel chapter 3 these Hebrew men who are known by their Babylonian names we know them best by Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused to bow to the idol they knew idolatry was wrong why because the Word of God teaches that idolatry is wrong it's unacceptable to God they knew they could not please God and bow down to an image of gold the Word of God is so explicit an idol is anything that we put in the place of the worship of God these young men were well educated in the Word of God in Hebrew the Apostle John were told he's probably in his 90s toward the end of his life and they carry him into church can you picture the Apostle John being carried into church they probably didn't have pews like this an air conditioning but John is being carried in and he says two things little children love one another and then he quotes the last verse of 1st John and he says keep yourselves from idols that would be the message this morning love one another keep yourselves from idols Nebuchadnezzar the king the king of the great Babylonian Empire a marvelous incredible Empire for its day stretching over the then known world of the Middle East he's the greatest monarch on the face of the earth and he has an idea verse one of chapter three Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold whose height was 60 cubits and it's with six cubits and he set it up in the plain of Dora in the province of Babylon and I dolechus act if you just go back a few verses to chapter 2 and verse 47 say man Baba King of Babylon said Daniel truly your God is the God of God the Lord of Lords a revealer of secrets just a few verses later what's he doing he's building an idol you see he saw this image in his dream of an idol of golden head and Daniel said that's you you're the golden head ah why don't I build one and everybody can bow down and worship me and I dollars was act remember the golden head from last week the brass and the silver and the the iron and the clay the Babylonians the Medes the Persians the Greeks the Romans and finally the 10 confederation of kings that were waiting for and Nebuchadnezzar knows that Daniel tells them things that his seers and magicians and the caudians could never have told him he recognizes that Daniel's God is the God above all gods I just want to follow that God you see he said your God Daniel is the ultimate deity there's many deities but yours is the ultimate and so he made an image of gold and it's huge a cubit is the measurement from your elbow to your fingertip and I checked it out 18 inches don't don't do it now when you go home to do this afternoon that's 18 inches so this image is going to be 90 feet tall a telephone poles about 40 feet so take two telephone poles and put one on top of the other and you get an idea how tall this image is 90 feet tall and it's covered in gold I don't think it was solid gold but it was covered in gold incredibly expensive mining gold in those days it was difficult it was very valuable and by the way 60 cubits and six cubits is kind of interesting because the Babylonians had a sexa-gestimal system nothing to do with the body sexa gestimal system based on sixes our system is based on tens we have a decalogue and ten and so forth they were based on sixes so it's another proof that Daniel lived during the Babylonian period and so he set it up on the plane of Dora which is in the province of just outside of the city about six miles southeast of Babylon and a French archaeologist a number of years ago discovered an absolutely huge brick foundation perhaps that's where the idol was set up we don't know so what's the Nebuchadnezzar doing he's pulling people together what do we do to gay we poll and find out what's the most important thing to people and that we try to pull people together based upon the poll the unity he wants to unify his nation and the best way to unify his nation is to get people to worship him bow down and worship him he wanted the allegiance of the leaders he wanted the allegiance of all the people to bow down he wanted to make sure that people were loyal to him I suspect he was a bit insecure in fact the fact that he had this dream it bothered him what's going to happen when I pass along until verse two and three we're not going to read them for you but essentially they say the same thing get together all of the leaders the governors and the captains and the princes and the judges and the treasurers and the counselors and the cabinet members and the sheriffs bring all the important people together for this dedication of this beautiful statue that I built and then he says all the people of all the rulers of all the providences everybody needs to come to the dedication which he set up all this symbolizes that what this monarch wants is the people to bow down and worship him he was simply doing what all men tend to do he wants to be the center of attention and what people do who don't know God they substitute for him they invent gods of their own thinking yes man I believe has a God-shaped vacuum within him but I also believe that man fills that vacuum with his own gods he doesn't have the true god he's gonna take another god into that vacuum into his heart into his heart into his life into his attitudes so having established his great idol he demanded that everybody worship this boss Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego into a difficult situation they knew the law of God regarding idolatry they knew what it was like to set up graven images they knew how heinous it was to the mind of God they knew it was unacceptable and this was their hour of decision and so in verse two and three everyone stands before the image they dedicate the image let's move on to verse four to the command and Nebuchadnezzar said when the herald cries allowed to you it is commanded oh people nations and languages that is everybody no matter who you are doesn't matter who you are you are to pay attention verse five and the time that you hear the band strike up I'll just put it that way let the band strike up you will fall down and worship me and you do it immediately you don't say well I'm gonna go here I'm gonna do that maybe I'll do it tomorrow the word here in the Hebrews you're going to do it as soon as you hear the music fall down and worship the image verse six creates an issue here for us and whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast immediately into the midst of the burning fiery furnace and so now there's consequences if you don't bow down and worship this image at the precise moment so we go from the ceremony to the command and now to the conspiracy here in verse eight therefore at a certain time Chaudians came forward and accused the Jews interesting here the Chaudians came they were the leaders they were in the southern part of Babylon but they were the the leaders the intellectual leaders the emotional leaders and the word that is used here accused is to chew up every here somebody say I'm gonna chew you up and spit you out well that's pretty much what these shall do that's how Danians were doing they were gonna chew up the Jews they were so angry with the Jews why were they angry because they were foreigners they were Jews and they were put over the Chaudians the ones who were supposed to be the greatest in the kingdom now were just a little bit lower I believe there's a lot of jealousy going on there it doesn't just happen in politics it happens even in churches in Christian work we can get jealous rather than saying thank God for those he's raised up where he's placed me for the gifts and callings that I have anyway they move ahead and they begin to accuse the Jews and they say these men that you fast-tracked do you know what they're doing they're not bowing down they're not worshipping you they're not doing what little tattle tales there's thousands of people bowing down but we saw three people who weren't because we've been watching them great got our eye on them and they were angry and so they speak hypocritically to the king as if they were defending him they accused the Jews as if to aid Nebuchadnezzar and finding out if everybody had obeyed down to verse 9 and they spoke to the king Nebuchadnezzar and said oh king live forever remember from last week you meet a king you need to have that phrase in mind oh king live forever they give him all the flowery words that he likes king we just want to assure you that we are committed to you we are following you but we found three people who aren't following they were envious of these Jewish boys and they wanted to change that and then they go on in verse 10 and say king you made a decree and they go through the whole deal here oh king you made a decree that everyone who hears the band strike up must fall down and worship the golden image and whoever does not fall down shall be cast into the midst of the fiery furnace and making sure they have the fact straight and then verse 11 the 12 rather there are certain Jews ah there are certain say they're foreigners they're not even one of us that you've said over the affairs of the province of Babylon and their names are Shadrach Meshach and Abednego and these men have not paid due regard to you they don't serve your gods they don't worship the golden image which you set up well Nebuchadnezzar was fine with that wasn't he no verse 13 Nebuchadnezzar flies into a rage and fury the Holy Spirit gives us two words again he's an a rage and a fury and he gave the command to bring Shadrach Meshach and Abednego before the king and Nebuchadnezzar verse 14 spoke to them saying is it true Shadrach Meshach Nebednego that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image which I've set up I'm going to give you a second chance guys if you're ready when you hear the band strike up good but if you do not worship you shall be cast immediately into the midst of the burning fiery furnace and who is the God who will deliver you from my hand these slaves these imported individuals these foreigners you've made the rulers over us we're going to get them back they're not serving your God their destiny was sealed wasn't it perhaps perhaps Shadrach could have said and I was nothing anyway and I'll bow down but I'll pray to the true God Shadrach might have said that Meshach might have said everybody's going to do it and if we're going to reach these Babylonians we might as well go along with it Abednego might have said well you know fire could be pretty hot pretty dangerous it could be fatal and what good is it if we're dead we don't know they said those things who those kind of excuses they could have been thinking about they're on the spot and so we go from the conspiracy to the fourth of the narrative the coaching Nebuchadnezzar is trying to save their lives he said I'm going to give you guys a second chance just when the band strikes I'm just just bow down just just doing everybody else is doing it will be fine and Shadrach Meshach and Abednego answered and said to the king oh Nebuchadnezzar they didn't put all that other stuff in there okay they're respectful but they didn't put the rest in there oh Nebuchadnezzar we don't have to answer you we know in our hearts we know exactly where we stand if that's the case our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fire refurness and he will deliver us from your hand okay but if not if not it's okay either way it's okay let it be known to you okay that we will not serve your gods or worship your image amazing isn't it the conviction these young men have said we don't have to think about this we know we know the word of God we know where we stand and we're going to stand upon the word of God we don't have anything to say we've already said it nothing to say to you they had gone too far and these young men could not go along with it one way or another it's going to be okay it doesn't really matter because the God of angels armies because always by our side we will not serve your gods nor worship the golden image we don't have any absolutely don't have any out absolutely we serve a God who is greater than all gods and he will deliver us on compromising conviction the faith is so real they will not bow down verse 19 and Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury and the expression on his face changed you ever see anybody get filled with rage maybe a driver you know no on the road or so you could see it in people's face is the rage the fury the anger that was there his face changed and is noted here in the scriptures and he spoke and he doesn't ill advise thing he commanded that they heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated if you wanted Shadrach knee shack and Abedne go to suffer it turned the heat down slow cooker he raised the heat up seven times it's amazing when people do in their anger isn't it how they actually end up hurting themselves and their cause he's lost control people in anger lose control and so verse 20 he commanded certain mighty men of valor who were in his army to bind them Shadrach knee shack and Abedne go and cast them into the burning furnace and these men were bound in their coats and their trousers and their turbans and their other garments they were all dressed up they were gonna they were before the king and they were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace verse 22 because the king's command was urgent and the furnace was so hot you have to smile at this part don't you the flame of the fire killed the men who took up and through Shadrach knee shack and Abedne go in and these three men Shadrach knee shack and Abedne go fell down in the midst of the burning furnace they fell down and they were bound do you ever feel in the course of your life in a fiery furnace in a trial and you're cast down and you're bound you don't know what to do you don't know what to do I want to remind you what's gonna happen there's gonna be a fourth man in the midst the Lord Jesus Christ is always with us I am with you always even to the end of the age you may feel in the furnace you may feel cast down you may feel bound you don't want to do but there's one who breaks the bonds there's one who sets us up on our feet takes us up takes up our cause and is with us and any way that it goes is absolutely fine if we're under his control under his authority and so they're loosed and walking around we see in verse 24 King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished he rose in haste and spoke saying to his counselors didn't we cast three bound men into the fire and they said yes yes three men look he said I see four and they're loosed and they're walking around they're upright they're unbound and they're unburned that's how you go through life upright unbound and unburned when you walk with the Lord Jesus Christ he's astonished they're not lying down they're walking around they're not burning up and roasting like the men who threw them in in fact they're just walking around down there she need to be having a conversation and the fourth one looks like a God or our son of God and I believe Nebuchadnezzar here is thinking of an angel because he uses the word angel later on I don't think he would have recognized the son of God if you saw him but he realized something supernatural was happening so whether whether whether it was an angel or whether it was the Lord Jesus Christ is not really important they were not alone and we are not alone in our life verse 26 Nebuchadnezzar went near the mouth of the burning furnace and spoke saying Shadrach knee-shacking he knew their names didn't he Shadrach knee-shacking the bed to go servants of the most high people will recognize in your life who you serve at what altar you bow and Nebuchadnezzar recognized that the God that was here was the most high God the men's match he said come forth come out of there come from the midst of the fire verse 27 and all of the administrators and governors and counselors gathered together the whole gathered around to see this there's a testimony here of the men whose bodies the fires had no power greater is he who is in us and he that is in the world Satan has no power over the believer the hair of their head was not sins no where their garments affected and the smell of fire was not on them you ever get around somebody who's been smoking for 30 seconds and whoa you smell it it's right on yet but no I couldn't even smell the smoke on this these guys they didn't even have to have a fire sale is that wonderful the most high come forth verse 27 they gathered around they saw what had happened in verse 28 Nebuchadnezzar spoke saying blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego who sent his angel here he recognizes as an angel a messenger and delivered his servants who trusted in him they have frustrated the king's word and they yielded their bodies that they should not serve nor worship any God except their own they yielded their bodies does that remind you of a verse in Romans I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice is that what these men did they presented themselves living sacrifices and they were protected God was with them God was working no smell of fire on them nothing at all a full investigation was given and the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego was blessed as the most high God I'd like to think that Nebuchadnezzar was converted here I don't think he was he just said I'm gonna put you at the top of my God so I've got lots of gods but your God is going to the top of the heap he's sticking with his polytheism he says your God has got to be way up there he's got to be supreme he's maintaining his tradition bless it be the God I just have to bless the God of people who would not compromise and the world will bless your God if you don't compromise will not worship any other God and then verse 29 he makes it decree that people and nations and languages cannot say anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego because if you do we saw it in chapter two he's gonna do it again I'm gonna cut you to pieces do you think the Chaldeans were happy at the beginning of chapter three what do you think they felt like now they thought they had these men they're gonna put them down and get rid of these and they're being elevated and their God is being elevated you and I will probably never face a fiery furnace quite like that what we are going to face trial by fire we do face trial by fire Satan tries test come from different sources Satan tested Jesus Peter says Satan goes around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour we're told that he's Satan is the accuser of the brother he accuses us day and night before God he wants to plant evil thoughts he wants to divide and conquer he wants to sow mistrust and misunderstanding he wants to sow unforgiveness Paul said he had a messenger from Satan sent to buffet him Satan is going to afflict the people of God so Satan's there the world's going to torment us the world's going to try and lure us away to get us to worship other things the world of work the world of our families of our businesses of our social life the world is going to try to force us to compromise and God made permit trials in our life testings he was twelve reminds us that God brings testings to refine us to chasten us as believers but when we worship God alone we refuse to bow to earthly kings when we worship God alone we refuse to bow to earthly powers when we worship God alone we refuse to bow to ideologies we refuse to bow to systems we refused to bow to interruptions we refused about to inconveniences we refused about to unwelcome circumstances we refused about frustrations who refused about a self pity poor me and when we refused about all those things we set the stage up for God's honor for God's glory about two months ago I was speaking to somebody who attends the church here who gave me a second-hand testimony so it's second-handed and it's two months old so I'm pretty close in relating it but they told me about an individual who attends church here who was so effective so consistent in their testimony when they went through a trying experience in their life their testimony was so effective people saw the power of Jesus in that person and they were turned to the gospel because of that testimony as that person went through their fiery trial and they're seated in the congregation and I'm sure there's other testimonies like that this morning we will have heartaches and disappointments they come in all shapes all sizes and unfulfilled romance a lingering illness the untimely death of a loved one an unachieved goal broken promises broken homes broken marriages severed friendships wayward and rebellious children a medical report depression that won't go away a temptation that you just can seem to break and others we're going to have trials some from Satan some from the world some that God allows directly but God is refining his people that we may stand courageous and uncompromising and here's the point are you ready it leads to worship it leads us to worship we heard this morning in our pre-service prayer time it's not worshiping worship it's worshiping him worshiping him uncompromising standing courageous leading us to worship setting our whole life upon worship surrendering to worship and if you didn't worship yesterday it's hard to come in here this morning and worship and if you worship today you should be worshipping tomorrow worship is to feel in the heart and express in some appropriate manner the humbling but delightful sense of his all we worship in humility nothing else can humble us like worship as we said our hearts before him over in Hebrews chapter 12 we read these words therefore since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken talking about our eternal kingdom let us have grace by which we may worship God acceptably with reverence and godly fear it matters how we worship a lot of people were kind of worshiping this idol wasn't the right way it matters how we worship and we need to learn to worship and continue to learn to worship in spirit by the spirit spirit to spirit and in the truth of the word let us have grace by which we may worship acceptably with reverence and godly fear when the heavens open up and the Holy Spirit comes and pours out the spirit of grace and mercy we feel that worship we sense that worship we sense his uncreated loveliness his love for us and the presence of the most ancient mystery let me tell you if you can understand God fully today you cannot worship him there's certain mystery to God I will not bow the knee to anything I can understand completely but there's a certain mystery to God a certain great there than we are a greater awesomeness to God and so we'll never get on our knees and say holy holy holy to that which we can figure out but what we do know of God we can worship him and the local church exists to do corporately what the individual supposed to be doing all week long shall I say that again the local church exists to do corporately what we should be doing all week long worshiping God showing forth the excellency of him who called us out of darkness into marvelous life who shined upon us that shining upon us that shine will come through us we are saved and we often heard we're safe to serve I'm going to change that we are saved to worship and out of that worship we will serve and we will serve God with reverence and godly fear the hymn writer says when through fiery trials thy pathway shall I my grace all sufficient shall be thy supply the flame shall not hurt thee I only design thy drawst to consume and thy gold to refine we're going to close out with two songs this morning the first one is we fall down we fall down we lay our crowns at the feet of Jesus the greatness of mercy and love at the feet of Jesus and we cry holy holy holy is the lamb let's worship together as we sing we fall down