We read the Holy Scriptures together tonight in Daniel chapter 3. Our text will be the chapter, but especially from the viewpoint of verses 16 through 18 in this chapter. We should note that in chapter 2, Daniel has interpreted the king's dream of the great image in the valley destroyed by the little stone cut out of the mountain the kingdom of Christ would destroy the kingdoms of this world. And after interpreting his dream, verse 48 tells us that the king made, that's chapter two, verse 48, the king made Daniel a great man and gave him many great gifts and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon. And then in verse 49, we read that Daniel requested of the king And the king set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the affairs of the province of Babylon. But Daniel sat in the gate of the king. Chapter 3. Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold whose height was threescore cubits and the breadth thereof six cubits. He set it up in the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the princes, the governors, and the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. Then the princes, the governors, and captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces were gathered together onto the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar, the king, had set up. And they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. And then Herod cried aloud to you, it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages, that at what time you hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music, you fall down. and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar, the king, has set up. And whoso falleth not down and worshipeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. Therefore, at that time when all the people heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and all kinds of music, all the people, the nations, and the languages fell down and worshipped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. Wherefore, at that time, certain Chaldeans came near and accused the Jews. They spake and said to the King Nebuchadnezzar, O King, live forever. Thou, O King, hast made a decree that every man that shall hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, shall fall down and worship the golden image. And whoso falleth not down and worshipeth that he should be cast into the midst of a burning, fiery furnace. There are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, have not regarded thee. They serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. Then Nebuchadnezzar, in his rage and fury, commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Then they brought these men before the king. Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them, is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, do not ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up? Now, if ye be ready, that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackcloth, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made well. But if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning, fiery furnace. And who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If so be, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thy hand, O king. But if not, Be it known unto thee, O King, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Chadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Therefore he spake and commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated. And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. Then these men were bound in their coats, their hosen, and their hats, and their garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Therefore, because the king's commandment was urgent, And the fire exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished. and rose up in haste and spake, and said unto his counselors, did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, true, O king. He answered and said, lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace and spake and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the Most High God, come forth and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came forth of the midst of the fire. And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king's counselors being gathered together saw these men upon whose bodies the fire had no power. nor was a hair of their head singed. Neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them. The Nebuchadnezzar spake and said, blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel. and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king's word and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god except their own god. Therefore, I make a decree that every people, nation, and language which speak anything amiss against the god of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill, because there is no other god that can deliver after this sort." Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon. May God Write his word on our hearts. This chapter is about you. It's about me. It's about everyone who by grace confesses Jesus Christ before men. It's about the church. It's about this church. It's about the church in the end of the world. It's about the church and believer in the days of Antichrist, in which the worship of man is commanded for all. This chapter is not just ancient history. It is history. It is not a story. It is not a teaching model. It is not mythical. It is factual. There were three young Jewish captives in Babylon who were cast into a furnace. And the pre-incarnate Son of God, Jesus Christ, walked in the midst of that furnace with them, and they were not hurt or burned. It happened. But it's not just ancient history. It is scripture that is written about you, about me who confess Him. It is telling you as a young person, God speaking, of what you can expect in your life and what the world today, led by the devil, is after and what it will mean to confess Jesus Christ before men. It's about those who do not hide their confession of God and of Christ as Lord and Savior from men. It's about those in whom the Spirit of God dwells. The book of Daniel in the Old Testament is what the book of Revelation is in the New Testament. The book of Daniel is not only prophetic of the end days in chapters 7 through 12. If you're acquainted with the book, you know that Daniel is going to receive prophecies. And these prophecies are going to be repeated almost verbatim in Revelation chapter 13. in which Revelation chapter 13 tells us that the Antichrist will have an image made unto himself, and that all must bow down to it at the threat of death. But it's not only prophetic in those chapters, but it's prophetic in the first six chapters, in the history. In this history, we are being taught what the life of the child of God will be in this world as we walk into tonight, the last days. To be identified with Christ, to be willing to stand for our faith by God's grace, no matter what that may cost. This is about you. This is about every young person here. This is about every child here. This is about every family here. This is about you and me. And it emphasizes two things. Throughout, it will emphasize to us two things about a true faith in the last days as a young person in Christ. The first thing that it will emphasize to us is the need of godly friendships. We have Daniel's three friends. They stood here strengthened by each other. They stood as a band of spiritual brothers. They were not just three young guys who hung out and did dumb things. They were not just confessing God in outward name. But they actually had strong hearts of faith, a faith that they shared with each other in their own home and school, that they spoke to about with each other. Their friendship was a friendship truly and unashamedly in the Lord Jesus Christ. It was spiritual in Christ. And it strengthened them to stand in a wicked world. Spiritual friendships for you as a young person. These are essential. God gives that opportunity and grace here to have your friendships spiritual in Christ. The second thing it emphasizes to us is that true faith is personal. This is the only chapter in which Daniel is not mentioned. Daniel's not there. We don't know where he is. He's not there. Up to this point in the book of Daniel, Daniel had been their leader. Daniel was the go-to man. Daniel was the man who had spoken boldly before the king. He had always been there to lead the way. But he's not there. No explanation is given. He's not there. Each one of them must stand. He's not there because the faith of the friends, the faith of each young man, each young woman here must not rest upon someone else. but it must rest solely in Jesus Christ. And in knowing him by his wonderful grace and walking with him in the days before the furnace is heated, faith must come to its own. Faith must do the right thing no matter what. Faith must answer for itself before the world. I call your attention to the friends in the fiery furnace, the intense pressure, the amazing confession, and the promised protection. If ever there were three young men who stood before overwhelming pressure to simply conform to the world and to hide their spiritual identity in Christ before the world, if ever three men stood before that, it was then. The faith of these three young men had been put to the test already. It had been put to the test already with Daniel in their early teen years. They refused to eat the meat that was offered to them in the school of Babylon, following the word of God and being faithful. But at that time, there had been no overt threat of death. And they were not dealing directly with the face of a king, but with his servant, Ashpenaz. In chapter two, They had been tried to a greater extent when Nebuchadnezzar, in his anger against his wise men for not interpreting his dream, had threatened to kill all the wise men, including them. Only Daniel had persuaded the king. to give him time and had interpreted the king's dream. But now this is different. This is immediate. It is either confess the name of God or deny him. There's no way out. There's no side door presented to them. And they must do this. They must make this choice publicly before all on the spot. What? were they going to do, the command was clear. There was no couching on it. Bow and worship the idol of man. Bow before the world's God. Bow before Antichrist himself, the false God, and do it immediate, or the consequence would be utterly frightening, the worst death that a person could think. Nebuchadnezzar had made an image of gold, we are told, in the valley of Dura. You will remember chapter 2 of the book of Daniel, where God had given him the dream of the image in the valley which represented all the kingdoms of the earth. And he was the head of gold. Now, Nebuchadnezzar had forgotten the whole message, the punch line of his dream, that stone, the kingdom of Christ, God's kingdom that he would establish in his son Christ, would destroy the kingdoms of the world and grind them to powder. He has forgotten about that, but he does remember. that evidently his kingdom is this head of gold over all future kingdoms to come in this world. He's concentrating on that head of gold. And he thinks that since that's the case of his kingdom, we ought to make this a reality. And so he makes an image of gold 90 feet tall, 9 feet wide, high and glorious, and properly displayed in the plain of Dura. It's very visual. And he sets up the event. The cartography is a very festive event. It's like the beginning of the Olympics. He has gathered all the dignitaries, anybody who is somebody, judges, financiers, officers in his kingdom, the top brass of his military, district rulers. And he calls all the people in the surrounding area people who represented all nations and languages. Babylon was a cosmopolitan city. In his city of Babylon were all the nations known to man and all the languages that were spoken known to man, all people. And he arranges for an impressive orchestrated event. six instruments, he stages everything meticulously to one grand moment that when the sun shone upon his golden image, the image which represented him and the band played, all must fall down on their face and worship. There can be no descent. Is this political conformity to a one world rule and government? Yes, it is. Is this religious? Yes, it is. He is asking, he is demanding the soul of men and women to bow to his image, to worship the beast that he has made. His image represents the enthronement of man, not the worship of the only true God, the worship of the creator of all and of his son, Jesus Christ, the living and true God, our God, but the image that he has set up, which is the enthronement of every sinful human desire. His image representing erasing God completely and enthroning man, darkness, what every soul would have of itself and worship him as the leader who brought this, made this possible. And if you don't, you are immediately labeled as a bigot. as evil, as an enemy of humanity and worthy of extermination in the quickest and cruelest manner possible. You must be silent. There must be unity. Unity in the worship of man and his own and against God. That day was like When you see a football stadium, a college football stadium on homecoming, filled with 100,000 in the stand and out in the parking lot, thick, and in the middle at the 50-yard line is an image. And everyone bows down, except three. that did not go unnoticed. You will not go unnoticed by this world. In a life of godliness, they will see you. Some of the Chaldeans, that is, the magicians, true Babylonians, sorcerers, came forward to accuse three Jews It's not hard for us to imagine that these Chaldeans were very jealous of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who had just leapfrogged over them by the king's appointment. And they come, and they appear very pious. Thou, O king, has made a decree that everyone at that moment was to worship, that there would be a conformity of worship in the promotion of man, of humanity. But three Jews who you set up over the affairs of the province in Babylon have not obeyed your command. And they bring charges. They say, they do not regard you. You must take this personally, Nebuchadnezzar. They're not responding to you. They appeal to his pride. They don't serve your gods. They do not accept that all religions are of equal value. They do not accept that there is truth apart from their god. They claim their god is the only truth, not you. They don't worship your image, the symbol of what you have created to unite man, to bring the common good. They don't agree to this. There's no argument being made here for religious freedom, nothing like that. They do not serve your image. They don't worship the gods of Babylon. This is a personal affront to you. They are intending to incite Nebuchadnezzar. It's not just a statue, Nebuchadnezzar. This is all about you and your glory and the glory of man and what we have worked so hard to attain. Think about it, King. If they get away with this in defying your command, what else can they do? Nebuchadnezzar becomes furious. He doesn't become as furious as he's going to get. In a moment, we're going to see that he's actually enraged by the devil who always stands behind the Antichrist. But he is in a full fury, only it's controlled. He's going to show his power. He's going to back them down. He's going to exercise self-control. He's even going to show his reasonableness. He's going to show his authority. He brings them before him. He's mad, but he says this is what we'll do. Just so there's no misunderstanding, we'll go through it again. We'll get the band out there. We'll tune the harps. We'll get all the people back out there. and will do it all over. And when you, you're gonna be there, you three friends, and when you hear it, you will bow down. And if you don't, you will at that moment be cast into the furnace of fire. Now think of all the pressure upon these young believers. Every eye was on them. There was the pressure, be conformed to this world. Go along with it. We're created. Every one of us may say that I'm an individual, I do my own thing. That's not true. We are created that we don't want to stand out, that we want to belong. We don't like to be different. We don't like it if our clothes aren't the same, if our looks are different, if our hairstyle is different, what everybody else is doing. We believe that this will gain us acceptance. But this here is not just cultural. It's not just physical. This is spiritual. The unity here is a unity of man, of what man considers to be peace and tolerance. Just will you please bow down to the essential goodness of man and human nature? Will you just bow down and agree that truth is impossible, it's relative, it really doesn't even matter anymore. You want God, fine, but it's not important. Each of us can have our own spiritual life according to our own definition. You can make it up as you go. Let's come together. Why do you have to have this insistence of your own way, your prejudice? And we don't want to stand out. We need to remember that these three friends are not the only Jews that were present. They certainly aren't the only Jews that were brought as captives to Babylon. There were other Jews with them, their peers, who had come and had worshipped with them in the temple back in Jerusalem. But they had made their peace with this. they had become comfortable with their situation in Babylon. They didn't want to rock this boat. And they don't have a problem with doing it. We should remember that by this point, the three friends have grown up in Babylon. They were young teenagers when they left Jerusalem. They've been away from that. They haven't been near Canaan. They haven't been in the temple. They haven't had the privilege of worshiping where God called them to worship for a long time. They were surrounded day after day with idolatry and all the culture of the world. And it would have been easy to say, we don't have a choice here. If we want a job, if we want to eat, will have to give some concessions to this. And then there was the intimidation. The king himself. They're not dealing with a secretary. They're dealing with the king. And they would be marked out, and they would be known immediately. The phone camera would be on them. It would be all over media right now. Everyone, as many as they could possibly tell, would know about them and their faith and their testimony of God. And even their peers would be saying to them, now just keep it to yourself. What's wrong with that? So also today, the pressures are upon us the same way. And even much of the church is saying, we must send a message to the world that basically we are like them, because then maybe we can get among them and influence them. So if we talk and swear and drink and spend our weekends as they do, that we're sending the message, well, we're not so much different than you are, and then we can slowly influence them in our Christian faith. And behind it all was Satan, Satan who seeks that those who confess, those who are here tonight, you and I, publicly declaring we love the Lord our God as God and Jesus Christ as the only Savior, Satan, wants you to deny that before men. The three friends in verse 16 answered, O king, we're not careful to answer you in this matter. We are not going to serve thy gods. You can set it all up again, but we are not going to worship the golden image you set up. Their answer, and this is very important, was immediate. Obedience must be immediate. It was decisive. It was straightforward. It was clear. When they say we are not careful, they are not answering in disrespect. They are not showing defiance to authority. Not at all. They show respect to the authority that God had before them. But they say to the king, we're not undecided. We are not uncertain what we are going to do. We're not struggling over this one. We're not weighing the pros and the cons. And this is, we're not going to bow. We're not anxious about what we're going to do. And this is amazing to us because we might think, putting ourselves in their position, that perhaps they could have said to the king at this point, king, king, can we just have a lifeline here? Can we just have a moment? Can we wait for Daniel? Remember Nebuchadnezzar? Remember Daniel? Can we wait for him to get back before we answer you? Can we go talk to the elder or to my dad about this? Or, King, what if the three of us just huddle up here together for a few moments and we can work it out among the three of us and maybe come to a compromise with you? Maybe we can just, would you agree to a nod, King? Just a little nod to it, would that be all right? No, no, no, they are decisive. This is not complicated. This is not complicated to faith. To the flesh it's complicated, but not to faith. You can do it over again. We're not going to bow. They understood, and this is so important for us, whether we're old or young, obedience to God must be first. And if it is not first in our life, if we compromise and not make it first, we slide into far, far deeper trouble. And there are two elements to their faith, two elements to this wonderful faith. It's confidence in God's ability. Verse 17, if so be our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from that burning fiery furnace. God can save us. God does have power. We are confident in God's power to hold us. And number two, Their faith was submission to God's will. But if not, if God does not will to save us, be it known unto you, we're not going to bow. They were saying, we don't know. We don't know. God hadn't told them. We don't know what God has willed for us if he's able to do all things. We only know that we're in His hands right now, and we are going to submit right now and receive His will. That is the heart of biblical faith. That is the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, to trust God's power, that He will keep you, even though you don't know God's plan, to believe in His power, and to submit to His will. We don't have a promise from God that He's going to deliver us out of our immediate troubles tonight, that He's gonna take away sickness, that He's going to relieve the stress that your life is under. that he's going to lift the fears that seize your heart and crush on your lungs, that he's going to solve the troubles that you have cried to him to solve. There's no guarantee of any of those things, that they will have the ending that we would desire, but We do have His promise that He will always be with us and that faithfulness to Him will not be in vain. Faithfulness to Him will not be in vain. He is not promising you a legion of angels. He's not promising to make you fireproof. He's not saying you will not die. He is not saying that you won't experience, heart-rending troubles in this life and those things that crush your spirits. There's no promise of that. But he's promising you his strength in them and his faithfulness, which will never be in vain. And that's what makes these words so utterly amazing. Our God is able to deliver us. His strength is sufficient. And if not, we will submit to His will. Knowing that faithfulness to Him is never in vain. Think of the reasons. that they could have used to justify bowing down to this image. Think of the reasons that we bring when we're confronted by that moment. We know what that moment was, and we know when we have failed in that moment, when we were there and we had to stand and be identified then for Christ. They could have reasoned and said, well, God is gracious. He understands. He'll forgive. He'll understand what we really didn't have a choice. It wasn't the right time to make that testimony. He'll understand that we're functionaries of the state. This comes with our position. If we're going to work here, We're dignitaries of Babylon. We're counselors and advisors. It's our job. We might be personally opposed to that. We might think that it is sinful against our God. But we're here. We're doing a job. We need to go along with it, at least outwardly. We can't show any disapproval of these things. They could play mind games with themselves. What's a knee after all? What is it to bow down after all? It doesn't mean anything. It's not in my heart. The other two guys will know that we don't mean it. They could have said, we have families to care for. They might have said, look at our exalted place in Babylon in the rule of the government. If we are eliminated, our replacements will not be very favorable to God's covenant people. God put us in this place for our influence, and therefore we ought to use it for the covenant people of God, even if it means we go along with this. All the justifications that would go through our minds, but they did not follow them. Because they understood, children. This is what they understood, first of all. Follow me. Because they understood that to add to God is to erase God. I'm talking in math terms. If you have God and you decide you're going to add something to him, you have erased him. You have denied him. Nebuchadnezzar was saying, I'm not asking you per se to deny your God. He goes in the end of the chapter to talk a lot about good things about this God, this God. I'm not asking you necessarily to deny your God. You want to come here and worship? Fine. I just want you to acknowledge my God. You can have your own belief. as long as you put your belief under the category, small case, gods. If you say he is a god, your god, just don't say he is the only god who must be loved and served. You may say that Jesus is a savior, but you may not say he is the only Savior and all others are false and vain. If we add to the truth, we deny the truth. And number two, they understood the first commandment, thou shalt have no other gods before me. They understood that there's no fine print there. Him only shalt thou serve. Not him shalt thou serve unless it's very hard. Unless is going to bring you reproach. Unless we will have to suffer. Unless we will be targeted. and bigoted, called bigots, unless thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, unless you're in an influential position. Even if it means death, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shall we serve. That's the grace of God. that we need. Should you and I, who by grace are created in the image of God through Christ, should we bow down to the gods of this world? Nebuchadnezzar is furious. He's full of fury. The form of his visage was changed. He's controlled by the devil himself. In his very eyes, with his eyes, men scatter before him. He commands the furnace to be heated seven times. It's like the blast furnace in Gary, Indiana, in the steel mills. when we had our class outing trip to the steel mills. And out of the blast furnace would come red hot steel to be molded. We were far away, we moved on the catwalk, and the heat was upon our cheeks. He commands this blast furnace. And he commands the soldiers to bind them and throw them in. And the soldiers are consumed by the heat, yards away from the entrance or next to the entrance of the furnace. But the flames had no power on them. Their ropes are burned, but their hair is not singed. My mother would send me out to burn the garbage. She knew I was a firebug, and she'd always look at my hands and my arm to see if my hair was singed or my eyebrows were singed. But there's none of that. There's no smell on their garments. The flames had no power over them. Isaiah 43, when thou walkest through the fire, I will be with thee. It had no power because the fourth friend who was always there, the fourth friend made himself known even to the world, the son of God. This was, in the Old Testament, the angel of Jehovah. This was the prefiguration of the Son of God, and he walked among them. The one who has said to us in his resurrection, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. The one who has said, who will separate you from the power of my love. There were two miracles. One miracle in the furnace, but the other miracle, he was with them. And by his grace, he gave them to confess a good confession before the world. And he kept them, and he saved them. He will keep you. Again, we don't know the outcome. but he will keep you in every trial that you face. He is able and he will impart to you tonight strength to stand. He will save, Hebrews chapter seven, he will save to the uttermost them that come to God by him. It is not what we are walking through tonight, it's who is walking with us. He walks with us. So we read in Hebrews 11 of these three friends who through faith quenched the violence of fire. These three friends. If you go home and count it, Their names are mentioned 12 times. After verse 12 in this chapter, their names are listed three times, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, 12 times. Why 12 times? Because the Holy Spirit wants us to remember. They quenched the violence of fire. We ask, but how? How can we do that? All of us, but young people, children, this did not come out of nowhere. There's not a special shot that you get for this moment. We don't come to this out of a life of indifference to Jesus Christ today. We don't just magically at that moment, stand before the world if we're not busy and earnest with our faith right now. There's those who were here when Professor Decker was your pastor. He was my pastor when I was in high school, and I remember him preaching. It might have been from this chapter. I don't remember the text, but I remember him preaching on an old year's night. And he preached vividly and powerfully of the last days and of the difficulty that will come to the church and Christians in the last day. And after the service, it was a cold night, we stood outside South Holland Church and the young people, some of us, went up to ask him because we were moved by this. And we asked him and we said, Pastor Decker, Reverend Decker, how are we going to stand in that day? And I remember his answer. He said, the question is not how are you going to be able to stand, but are you standing? Are you standing tonight? These young men had stood when the trial was smaller. They didn't say, well, this is a little thing. It doesn't matter. They were faithful in what came to them. They had each other. They genuinely walked with each other as young people in the Lord Jesus Christ. They weren't afraid to identify among themselves Jesus Christ as their Savior. They talked about it. They believed. These three young men believed the sovereignty of God We don't have the strength to stand in temptation if we don't believe the sovereignty of God. If God is an appendage to our life, if God is just something for Sunday, then we won't have that strength to stand during the week with our temptations. By God's grace, it must be in our hearts this night. Do you believe that our God is able? He is sovereign. Do you believe that our call is simply always readily to submit to his will? You and I know much more truth than Chadrak, Meshach, and Abednego. They had the promise We know, we know this fourth one who was in the furnace. We know that on the cross, with his own blood, he put out the fire. The fire of the wrath of God that we deserved, he extinguished it. We walk through that fire and we are not consumed. He put it out. This one, Jesus Christ, is with us tonight. Whatever our walk of life may be, whatever the trial of faith may be, and in your trials, he will be with you in your furnace. He may not remove necessarily the trial, but he will meet you in that trial, and he will keep you. Let us be decided. We will confess him before men. Amen. We seek thy grace tonight, O Lord. We thank thee that thou hast made it unmistakably clear of the place of faith in Jesus Christ in this perishing world. Give us to renounce all reliance on our own strength. Give us to know him today and to walk with him in trust and obedience. Bless thy word to our hearts. In Jesus' name, amen.