Great Father, what a joy it is on one hand to know that all of our ways are known to you, but also is a sense of warning that goes with that, that all my ways are known. The psalmist tells us, where can I go from you? If I go down to the bottomless parts of the earth, you're there. If I soar the highest of heavens, you're there. God, you know us. You know our thoughts afar off. You are the great God. You are the good God. And it reminds us over and over and over again that you are the gracious God. The very fact that you know us intimately and we're still alive is because your grace is amazing. It's kind. Your steadfast love goes past our rebellion and sets loving kindness into our hearts, an eternal, holy, loving kindness. You have granted us salvation through Christ's perfect work. And we get to stand fully complete because His righteousness is put to our account. And so, Father, we come empty-handed this morning. We have nothing but our sin and we come confessing that it is our sin that destroys the relationship with you, but it is your loving kindness that grants to us all the perfections of Jesus in order that we may live out that righteousness. What a gift, what a God, what a salvation. So Father, our hearts often get lonely. Our hearts often are weighed through the difficulties of life, and we often don't see well. Not just physically, but spiritually. We can't figure out what you're doing, or if you're even there at times. And yet your word tells us all of our ways are known to you. And your word constantly reminds us that you are there right next to us. So may we believe you. May we trust you. Lord, we are weak. We are prone to wander. We're prone to leave the God that we love. And so we need hymns like this and others that remind us that you are our rock, you are our fortress. You alone deliver us. You alone are our salvation. So will you comfort our hearts this morning? Will you be our God this morning? And Father, may we live this morning in light of the we of corporate worship. and not the I. And Lord, may we give ourselves to each other as we give ourselves to you. Father, we want and we rejoice, but we want to hear the gospel again and again and again. So let us hear your words of gospel grace this morning as we read from the Old Testament, as we explore what you have said throughout all time. And Lord, we're excited to know that the gospel goes out not only from this pulpit here, but around the world. You are bringing people from all tongues, all tribes, all nations to yourself for the purpose of declaring your glory into that world, into that part of our world. And so Lord, we rejoice this morning that the gospel is going out through Zach and Cassidy Cann in Papua New Guinea. Lord, what an enormous undertaking it is to take a language that's not yet put in writing and put it in writing so that people would hear the gospel. Would you grant them wisdom? and the tenacity and the encouragement to press on and do the very difficult work of translation so that people would hear God's Word. Lord, I also pray for churches that would be preaching the Word of God. Lord, I can't help but think of the Red Brick Church in Stillman Valley, Illinois, where Pastor Braun's, Lord, pastor's there. Lord, he and Jamie are undergoing the testing of a lifetime through her cancer right now. And so, Lord, I don't know who's preaching there this morning, but I pray, Father, that they would be strong in the Lord and the power of his might, that the word of God would rain forth there, that people would see their pastor and their wife struggling in life right now and see them praising God and the glory of God being exposed right there in Stillman Valley. Lord, thank you for testings like this. Thank you for trials, difficult like this. in order to rip the cover off of our own false religion, and it causes us to see your glory and depend totally on you. And Lord, thank you for your grace that's working in and through the both of them right now. And I pray that that grace, same grace, and the word of God would permeate that entire church this morning, give them strength there. Now, Lord, be here this morning. Without you, we can do nothing. And frankly, without you, we do not want to do anything. We want to please you, but we want to hear from you. May your power and presence be with us as we read your word. We pray and ask these things because of Jesus. Amen. You may be seated. So good to see you here this morning. Take your Bibles with me. Turn to the book of Daniel. It's like two-thirds of the way through of the First Testament. So as you look at the beginning of the Bible, kind of go about two-thirds of the way through and you'll see the book of Daniel. And we're in the third chapter this morning. We'll get through the entire third chapter. If you don't have a Bible, you can look at the right in the pew in front of you and grab one of those black books. And if you don't have a copy of that, you can take one of those books home with you. We'll replenish it. We've got enough. All right? They're there for you to have a copy of the Word of God. I see some of you fanning yourselves. It's that time of year that we prepare for the cold and realize that it gets very hot. Especially these folks over here, the sun beats right down on you. Be thankful for the sun, can we? In fact, I would say open it up and let me just bake in the sun, right? We so desperately need that. I think it was 11 days of gray. And every one of you were feeling it, because I would talk to you and you'd be going like, oh yeah. And now rejoice. Isn't that beautiful? This is one of my, I love it when the sun is out here. That's awesome. All right, Daniel chapter three. We're gonna read the entire chapter. Are you ready? This is God's word. May we be careful how we hear it this morning, all right? King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold whose height was 60 cubits and its breadth six cubits. He set it up in the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. Then King Nebuchadnezzar sent to gather the satraps, the prefects, the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the justices, the magistrates, and all the officials of the providences to come to the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Then the satraps, the prefects, and the governors, and the counselors, the treasurers, the justices, the magistrates, and all the officials of the providence gathered for the dedication of the image that the king Nebuchadnezzar had set up. And they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up, and the herald proclaimed aloud, You are commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages, that when you hear the sound of the horn, the pipe, the lyre, the trigon, the harp, the bagpipe, and every kind of music, you are to fall down and worship the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. And whoever does not fall down in worship shall immediately be cast into a burning, fiery furnace. Therefore, as soon as all the peoples heard the sound of the horn, the pipe, the lyre, the trigon, the harp, the bagpipe, and every kind of music, all the peoples, nations, languages fell down, worshiped the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Therefore, at that time, certain Chaldeans came forward and maliciously accused the Jews. They declared to King Nebuchadnezzar, O King, live forever. You, O King, have made a decree that every man who hears the sound of the horn, the pipe, the lyre, the trigon, the harp, the bagpipe, and every kind of music shall fall down and worship the golden image. And whoever does not fall down in worship shall be cast into a burning, fiery furnace. There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, pay no attention to you. They do not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up. Then King Nebuchadnezzar, in furious rage, commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought. So they brought these men before the king. Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up? Now, if you were ready when you hear the sound of the horn, you should kind of go like, do these people really repeat this every time? You're just going like, really? Did they do this? I think they did. I really think they did. Now, if you're ready when you hear the sound of the horn, the pipe, the lyre, the trigon, the harp, the bagpipe, and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall be immediately be cast into a burning, fiery furnace. And who is the God who will deliver you out of my hands. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God, whom we serve, is able to deliver us from the burning, fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king, but if not, Be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up. Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury. The expression of his face was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He ordered the furnace heated seven times more than it was usually heated, and he ordered some of the mighty men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning, fiery furnace. These men were bound in their cloaks, their tunics, their hats, and their outer garments, and they were thrown into the burning, fiery furnace because the king's order was urgent, and the furnace overheated, The flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell bound into the burning fiery furnace. Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, did we not cast three men bound into the fire? They answered and said to the king, true, O king, Can you imagine true hooking? Yeah, you're right, you were always right. He answered and said, but I see four unbound walking in the midst of the fire and they are not hurt. The appearance of the fourth is like a son of God. Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the burning fiery furnace. He declared Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out and come here. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the fire, and the satraps, the prefects, the governors, and the king's counselors gathered together and saw that the fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men. The hair of their heads was not singed. Their cloaks were not harmed, and no smell of the fire had come upon them. Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, Therefore, I make a decree. Any people, nation, or language that speaks anything against God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb and their houses laid in ruins, for there is no other God who is able to rescue in this way. Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon. This is the end of the reading of God's word. Profound, isn't it? Amazing story here. A young lady by the name of Casey Bernal was a teenager who was martyred in April 20, 1999, at that famous school shooting of Columbine High School, just outside of Denver, Colorado. She was 17 years old. And several reports of the fatal shootings that included 11 classmates and one teacher who were also killed suggested when one of the murderers, a fellow by the name of Eric Harris, asked Cassie if she believed in God, she said yes. He immediately shot and killed her because of her faith. Cassie's decision to stand for Jesus was not a spur of the moment decision with no chance to reflect on the potential consequences. It was a decision she had already settled in her heart long before. In a letter written to a friend less than a year before her death, Cassie penned these words, quote, when God doesn't want me to do something, I definitely know it. When he wants me to do something, even if it means going outside of my comfort zone, I know that too. I feel pushed in the direction I need to go. I try to stand up for my faith at school. It can be discouraging, but it also can be rewarding. I will die for my God. I will die for my faith. It's the least that I can do for Christ dying for me. You know, honestly, if we're honest with ourselves, it's a hard thing to know just exactly how each of us would respond in such a volatile situation like that. But our text today speaks to this very point in life. Not every decision for Christ has an immediate exposure to the end of the barrel of a gun or a burning at the stake, but every day our hearts wrestle in battle between God's wisdom and God's glory and God's grace and our own desire for glory, our own desire for self-affirmation and our own self-wisdom that we so boldly declare. Daniel here is telling us in his book how to live godly in this ungodly and very hostile world that we live in. It's a tale of two kingdoms. And like any battle, like any war, War often leaves people fearful, confused, shattered, and in deep darkness. And here, three young men are living in a strange land. They're hostages. They're prisoners. And even by the time we get to chapter three, Jerusalem is destroyed so much so that there's nothing for them to return home to. They have no place to go. And the kingdom of Babylon seems to have its upper hand, not only over Israel, not only over Babylon, but over the entire world known at that time. But one of the things that we have seen in every scene thus far, we see God is just as powerful in Babylon as he was in Jerusalem. God is not weak here. God has not forgotten them. But in our text today, what is exposed further is something very personal and something that I want you to understand that is true in your own life. It is very personal. But what we see here is something that is very needed in times of great sorrow and great testing. And what we see here is the presence of God Himself. We all desire God to show His might and His power every day, all the time. We desire that, don't we? Daniel knew this personally. Today he wants his readers to take hold of something very profound about life and that is the core of this text. God's presence is often revealed clearest amid the fire. God's presence is often revealed in the clearest way, in the middle of the fire. You see, we all desire to understand his glory and his might, and we often want the results of God's presence in our lives, but we rarely expect it to come via the fire. I think Job understood it and he said it best halfway through his book in Job 2310, but he knows the way that I take. When he has tried me, I shall come forth as gold. He understood that the trial was a mechanism, a fire to bring out gold. But the fire is very important. It's a very important component of the process of displaying his glory. And this process of life under fire teaches us three things in this text that I want you to see. And let's look at them long and hard. First of all, what this begins to show us is the idolatry of the heart is confronted. And we see this in verses one through seven. It's been approximately eight years between chapters two and chapter three. This would have given Nebuchadnezzar plenty of time to think about the dream that Daniel interpreted the meaning of the dream, it would have given him several years to feast on the realities of all that took place as we learned last week. In fact, if you remember in chapter two, verses 37 and 38, Daniel said this, you, O king, as a king of kings, you are this head of gold. And what Nebuchadnezzar did not immediately pick up on is that what Daniel said in the middle of those statements, Nebuchadnezzar missed. He heard this idea that I am this head of gold, that my kingdom is very special. But what Daniel said in the middle of this is God of heaven has given you the kingdom, the power and the might and the glory. This is from God. Nothing you have is from you. You didn't do this. God has done this for you. And all of Nebuchadnezzar's boasting and adulations about God that we found out and we remember last week didn't have a genuine heart connection to him. Apparently there was no real repentance in chapter two, but yet another doubling down of his own Godness, his own greatness and need of affirmation. But it sounded really good. And if people would have just heard what he said, they would have gone like, oh wow, he would have gotten saved. Right? And boy, modern evangelicalism would be going, live on King Nebuchadnezzar, now a child of God. Hold the phone. Wait just a minute. Now Nebuchadnezzar sets up this 90-foot image of himself. Apparently, he didn't listen well. In this text, the battle goes from the wisdom of man and the wisdom of God, as we saw in chapter two, and now it switches to the image of man versus the image of God, and it's flat-out brazen idolatry. This bumps it into the category of the law of man versus the law of God. You will not win against the law of God. You see, idolatry reveals what's really going on in the heart. And it's often the heat of life that shows where our hearts really are. And you can tell which image mattered to Nebuchadnezzar and his great dominion. As I read through this, if you were listening, I highlighted it for you. 11 times Nebuchadnezzar's image is mentioned in chapter three, 11 times. The image, the image, the image, the image. You can tell which image mattered to Nebuchadnezzar. It's as if Daniel wants us to see how exposed idolatry really is in the heart of man. Nebuchadnezzar was bent on displaying his image. I mean, it was a 90-foot tall image, and it was put, they said, in the plain of Dura, where all could see. And this is exactly where the people of God had another dominant skyline, if you'll remember. It was the place of the Tower of Baal, the Tower of Babel. Now, this tower is set up with the image of Nebuchadnezzar. The Tower of Babel, gone. So Nebuchadnezzar does it again, goes into the same place, and builds this 90-foot image of himself. And Nebuchadnezzar's own self-affirming heart is guiding him, but he knows exactly what he's doing. There's nothing in this text that doesn't tell us he knows exactly what he's doing. And it's intentional rebellion. His heart is desperately wicked, and now it is exposed. He wants the people on earth to know who reigns, who is sovereign, and you, who everyone should be fearing, and who is it? It's him. So Nebuchadnezzar's image now stands face-to-face with the image of God, and it cannot win. It's the same old battle that, quite honestly, is faced every day with every believer. It's the same battle you fight every day. Idolatry comes with this battle. And with this battle comes unbelievable pressure these men are under. It's an unexpected pressure. And the pressure is never passive, but always seems to grow within the hearts of those who believe in God. Because everything they say and do puts more pressure in the culture that they live in that's rejecting their lifestyle of godliness. And so every way they turned, it was more and more pressure that was on them. And what we see here are two great demands, and I want you to see this. This is something that wasn't just true here, it's true in our own lives as well. First of all, the demand to conform to this image, conform to Nebuchadnezzar's false world. You see, when one refuses God, there's always this gravitational pull to automatically find something to worship. find someone or some mechanism where I can make idolized and give myself to them. Because we were designed by God to worship. It's actually in our DNA to reflect glory. And originally it was designed to reflect God's image and to worship God. But when we dismiss God as God, we can get very creative in whom or what we're worshiping. Our world is very creative today to give to us gods, small g gods, to worship. And so this image, this king, this arrogant and proud heart of Nebuchadnezzar brings demands. And he demands assimilation into his created culture. It's a created culture. It's not genuine. It's not of God. It doesn't please God. But he demands conformity to his plan. We see it begin to unfold because this brings great pressure on those trusting God, because it directly confronts their worldview and their trust in God. So notice a couple things. The demand is to conform to earthly authority. I don't know if you saw this. Verses one through seven, we hear the name Nebuchadnezzar, but with Nebuchadnezzar, there's this attachment to it. Nebuchadnezzar the king. Nebuchadnezzar, the king. And verses one through seven, it comes up six times and it stresses the earthly rule or authority where he holds. And we're after this point in the text, it appears only once in verse nine and once in verse 24. So there's something that Daniel is getting at in these first seven, that this text is designed for us to conform, for them to conform to this earthly authority. this very volatile individual. And those that want to live to please God find great tension here because they want to please God, but they also need to obey earthly authority. What do we do? We saw this tension, did we not, during COVID? Like the government comes in and says, no church, you can't meet. And there's tons of churches going like, okay, we won't meet. Then there's others that go like, oh, I'm not sure what's going on here. This is what we did. We weren't sure what was going on. And so for a couple of months we said, all right, we won't, but we're gonna continue to meet online. And then we said, all right, we're gonna take and we're gonna start meeting again. But you saw this great tension and it brings a lot of pressure because everyone has to have a say on what we should do and what we should not do. So conform to earthly authority. But notice secondly, and this is perhaps even worse, there was a conformity to the fear of man. And we see this in verse three. Look down in verse three where he talks about this group of people. There's a list of people here that are required to come and join in the celebration. I'm not gonna reread it again because it's over and over, it's repeated. But you see this in verse three. I don't know what a satrap is. It sounds kind of weird. Like, I don't know, plumbing maybe? Some guy that does plumbing? I don't know. There's a satrap. And you see this list of people, but it's this broad list. This list is quite telling. It's a host of civil leaders from literally top to bottom. There's a whole collection of strata here. There's the very bottom strata and the very top of strata that's here. And then we see a praise band. There's this group of instruments. And I don't like this rendition of it because I think my favorite instrument in all of the Old Testament is the sackbut. And it's listed in there, but they call it bagpipe. It's the precursor to the bagpipe. And it's called sackbut. And it's just like, I would rather Just call that, I mean, it's just a funny name, right? Do you play the sackbut? Yeah, that's what I play, I play that. It's really, really good. But these are, this is life. And what Daniel is getting at here, this says that all truly powerful people, all truly wise people live like this. This is what they do. If you're living in this world at this time, this is how you should see life. It's the same thing that happens in our world when you're in the break room, right? Or you're watching the news, or you're in the college dorms. Everyone tells you, this is what's normal today, right? This is, you're on social media. They all tell you, this is how you should think. And they even change the definitions of words so that it sounds reasonable, and even acceptable, because how can you argue with someone who is seeking to be so inclusive? This is how we live today. You guys, you Jews, you listen, that's old stuff. This is how we think today. And so they were gathered. Scripture tells us they were gathered. They were told and they were threatened. Now a thinking person would stop and go, wait a minute, that's just, that's abusive. Like, there was no freedom here. There's no charity given here. There's no way of getting around this. But you see, understand something. Fear of man has quite the pressure to it. And so what are we told? Well, we're told exactly what took place, what happened. Everyone bowed down. Everyone fell down and worshiped. I like what one writer says about this. There's tremendous coercion that comes from being among a whole mob of flattened worshipers. Isn't that true? It would be very obvious who bowed down. Everyone and who didn't. Three. Just stood there. I mean, you couldn't get around that. I mean, like, well, I meant to bow down. Shadrach, did you bow down? Well, I meant to. I just, I had something in my foot. I just like, oh, no, no. They stood there, firm. It's real pressure to conform. Why? Because everybody's doing it. Now, let's be honest. Every one of us know that pressure. And some of you are sitting there, well, I wouldn't have. Be careful. There were a lot of people who did, and there were only three that didn't. And then the question always comes up, where was Daniel? Daniel doesn't say. I think he had COVID. He was probably home. The demand to conform. And then secondly, there's the command to bow down. And we've already seen that, but idolatry is pretty slick. I mean, Nebuchadnezzar is pretty slick here. Idolatry knows right where to go and it has specific pressure points. And so there's this arrogant rebellion that demands worship. Even Nebuchadnezzar agrees that humanity was designed to worship. And so the pressure then becomes internal and it's very intense. Nebuchadnezzar is not asking anyone to give up their god. But he's simply asking them for the bow down, yet only at certain times. You can go back to serving your God later, but at these particular times, when you hear this band play, you bow down. And he was offering a certain rhythm of worship. And I mean, this would have been like a massive worship experience. I mean, there was music there, there were convenient times, and there was this mega church experience. You're not gonna know this, you just have to experience it. And yet there's also this not so subtle extreme pressure to participate. And then there's consequences if you don't. You see, all of us are confronted all the time with our own idol of affirmation, self-glory and self-satisfaction. All of us, all of us wrestle with this. We too demand people bow down to us, to affirm us, to satisfy us, to just go along with the crowd. But this idolatry that's inside each of us always demands, it always wants, and yet it is never satisfied. And you see this with Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar, you see this great emotional pendulum that just swings. He swings clear over here. And how many times has he gone into a rage? How many times has he said, no, God is the God, he is the God, you serve only him. And then you see him go way over here, and then he pulls himself way over here. Emotionally, it's like whiplash over time. You see, God's righteousness gives, or idolatry takes. God's righteousness meets needs and is content. Sin consumes, God provides. Sin takes, God gives. So idolatry is confronted here. And I think that's on purpose. But notice secondly, notice then that God gives them the opportunity to be courageous. And I love this, the opportunity for courage. And we see this in verses eight through 18. Understand something, with each test and each mounting pressure of the battle between God's divine wisdom, God's image and providence, and man's own fouled up image and wisdom is an opportunity to have courage to simply believe God. Be still, my soul. My God will undertake to guide the future as He has the past." So this is an opportunity to just simply believe God. And this is why these young men are sent there. It's the why of the testing, to tear back the covers of our sin of unbelief and independence, our struggle for independence. But the path is a circuitous route. with pain and times of great doubt and despair, and it will take great courage and tenacity." And he outlines this in three areas. There's three areas. First of all, in the reality of suffering. And you see this in verses 8 through 12. Look at verse 8 with me. At that time, certain Chaldeans came forward. The word therefore is always a telling word. That's why, if you remember when I read it, I stopped right there. And those of you that are here all the time, you should go like, oh, I know why I stopped, because that word is therefore, right? There's always this vested interest of the enemies of God to make sure God's people look bad. It's always this way. So certain Chaldeans, took this opportunity to make God's people look really bad in front of the king. Now remember something. Remember chapter one? This was part of the large group that looked really bad when they couldn't come up with the king's command, but Daniel did. It always seems like there's this great malice that's dumped out on God's people when they're simply trying to do what's right. These guys have no fight with the Chaldeans. But the Chaldeans definitely have a fight against them. And so for these three guys, it was pretty simple. We must do what God says no matter what. This was ingrained into their lives. I wanna meet their parents someday. I wanna meet Daniel's parents. These guys had parents that just ingrained within them that no matter what, you must do what's right. The problem is they look like Holy Joes. And holy Joes like this always take on the ire of the world because humble, right living is always a front to those who live lives of deceit, always. So they maliciously accused the Jews. You see that in verse eight? They maliciously accused the Jews. That's an idiom, it's a Jewish idiom that literally means they ate their pieces. I chuckled at that. I'm like, I know what that means. So we have this thing that we do. Some of you know we have this cute little dog named Tater. If you don't know that, just look on my social media, you'll see her, all right? It's just an adorable little thing. Love her to death. She has more energy than, she energizes us. But one of the things, if we take her outside, she does her business, she comes in and she gets a treat, all right? And I, because I'm trying to save the treats, I just break it in half and give it to her. But then we have this other dog and she kind of wants a treat too. And so I tossed the other treat to her, but I think she's part blind or something, because she knows it's fallen somewhere. But before she can get that treat, Tater has jumped off the couch and gotten the treat. This is what it means to eat the pieces. And what it is, it's a thing of jealousy. You're not gonna get one up on me, I'm gonna get one up on you. And this is exactly what they're doing here. They're coming and they really don't have much to say about these Jews, but the reality is they don't like them because they seem to get the appointments. Why didn't we get the appointments that you did? They're jealous, they're filled with envy. and so verse 12 certain jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of babylon the jews got that appointment we didn't get it so we're going to make them look bad and king we're even kind of making you look bad because you appointed them they even stress this personal affront to the judeans that they pose to the king. And they use this term kind of in a derogatory way. These Jews, they allege, they thumb their nose at the king's order. They don't care about what you say. That's a kind of igniting the fire, as it were. And this was an attempt to get back at these Jews now. And these guys are facing something they never bargained for. They weren't trying to poke the bear, as it were, with these Chaldeans. They were simply trying to do what's right. But it's exile life. It's life in exile, and their worldview collages with the people who are right around them, and it results in this painful suffering of ridicule, mockery, and perhaps the most painful pain ever, rejection. Idolatry causes this rejection, and it's painful. Nobody, nobody wants this kind of rejection. but in the face, in the reality of suffering, they needed to have courage. Secondly, in the face of heightened fear, we see this in verses 13 through 15, there's a certain emptiness in the fury of humanity when it goes against God's word. So what we see here is known as, is what is known as a setup. I don't know if you listened, but you would have heard that word, those two words, In chapter 3, verse 1, look at that. Look up there in chapter 3, verse 1. You see the word made? Nebuchadnezzar made? It's a very telling word. It's the same word in verse 15 where he says, I have made. But Daniel isn't happy for you to know that Nebuchadnezzar merely made this statue. He intensifies it by saying nine times that this was a setup. Nebuchadnezzar set this all up. He says it in verse 1, verse 2, twice in verse 3, verse 5, verse 7, verse 12, verse 14, and 18. And if you aren't careful, you will completely overlook this. I mean, this is something that a man made and set up. So it's intentionally pointing to himself. It's pointing to man. It's intentional. So there's automatically with the people who are trying to trust God, there's this internal battle that goes on with the turmoil of truth. It's like Daniel is simply rehearsing to all of us that when it is made up by man, we're really under no obligation to believe it or to obey it. Why? Because it's not true. Nothing there is as it should be. God's word has the final and right answer for our lives. It's like Daniel says, it's not true. It's not true. It's not true. Nine times he goes like, it's not true. This isn't true. This isn't real. It's false. This guy made it up. It's set up. So God gives certain courage, even in times of heightened fear, if we will simply stick with what we know is true. My friend, one of the reasons that you struggle in areas of your own life is you will not stick with what is true. Your life is always and your mind is always concocting these things that like a 90 foot thing, I deserve more than that. Is that true? Do you really deserve that? And you struggled this week because of what you feel like you deserve. God gives these men certain courage in times of heightened fear. And we know what God says by reading it. And it takes courage not to rationalize, but to trust God. Not to find an escape, but to lean into God. And it takes courage in the face, finally, of God's commandments. And this is where the rubber hits the road. And we see this in verses 16 through 18 here. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego said to the king, O King, O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve. At the end of verse 15, he asks this telling question. Like he should have known the answer to this. I think he did. What God will deliver you out of my hands? What God is more powerful than me? That's the question. And so he would take courage to believe God regardless of what they see is going on. They see the furnace. They see everybody else bowing down. And that brings in certain feelings. But regardless of what they see and regardless of what they feel, these three men knew the answer to that question. What God was it? Well, it was the God they serve. We serve him all the time. This is who we serve. It's their only answer. So right here is where the line is drawn between courage and fear. They have served God over and over and God has pronounced to them his faithfulness through his eternal promises. God has said to them, I will never leave you. And they're confident in the ability of God. Notice this, they're confident. He is able to deliver us. And God's promises were ruling the day in their hearts. And when we look carefully into the heart of God's commands, we cannot forget that the only possible way in which we can live out His commandments is the grace of His perfections on our behalf that secures us. And these guys understood this. So these guys stared into God's commands, knew that they were lost without His grace, and they dug in their heels and they put their confidence in God's promises. This, my friend, is the key. So with that courage, they climb up one more staircase to see God's glory, and they underscore their confidence in what I call the theology of even if not. Look at verse 18. I love this. Verse 18. But if not. Our God can do this. And I love what the NAS states it, because they get it from the Aramaic, and it's the even if not. I think it's much more powerful than but if not. Even if not. You see, my friend, this story is really famous because we know they make it out unscathed. But I think it should be famous for the even if not theology. This is deep waters for them, and it really is for us. What does this look like for us? Well, it dies to our own version of how God should do His divine providence. Faith happens right here in black and white, and when it comes right down to it, it is black and white. Whatever God decides, we are good with Him. Notice I didn't say we are good with it. Whatever God decides, we're good with it. No, my friend, whatever God decides, we are good with Him. That personalizes it. We typically live with the thought that my faith works as long as I get my outcome. I don't mind believing as long as I get what I think I should, but this isn't how it works, is it? God certainly is able to do what you want. God's glory always looks a great deal different than our outcomes because his view is eternal and infinite. Ours is puny. When will we just believe that our view in life is so shortened? If you remember back in Ecclesiastes, I used the illustration of God's trombones. It starts off with this telling voice. This young man, young man, your arms are too short to box with God. It's so true. They knew it. They knew what God had said and they were confident in God's revealed will. They did not know what God would really do. And so they placed their confidence in what God said he would do. And I love this, one writer says this, these men give us then a full balanced picture to faith. Listen to this. Faith knows the power of God, he's able, verse 17, guards the freedom of God, but if not, verse 18, and they hold the truth of God, we will not serve your gods, in the last part of verse 18. They know the power of God, guards the freedom of God, and holds the truth of God. My friend, this is the essence of true Christianity, right here. It offers such sweet hope. And finally this morning, the opportunity of confidence. My friend, We get so down in our culture and in our world today. We look at the news, we hear the news, and we just go like, oh, it's so garbage. And on one hand, it is. It seems like it is always an opportunity to magnify the wickedness of humanity, where this is an opportunity to magnify and to showcase courage and confidence in God. But the reality is it's just one more opportunity to God to showcase his divine sovereignty, his power and glory. Every opportunity is God at work to demonstrate his great might. For humanity, the emotions are now out of control, but with God, he is not out of control. God has this. And if nothing else, God, through this gracious and giving Nebuchadnezzar just one more chance to see God and repent. I mean, Nebuchadnezzar made big pronouncements, but no repentance, and there's a lot of things that happened in this text. But I would urge you to understand one big theme that Daniel is underscoring here, and that is this. God never, ever promises to keep you out of the furnaces of life, never. ever promises to keep you out of the furnaces. That's never his point. Some fires are brought on by our own sin. Some furnaces are brought in by the sins of others. And sometimes there's absolutely no explanation for the furnace, except for God himself. God never promises to keep us from any fire. He does promise to be with us in the fire. And his promises are his presence. And right away Nebuchadnezzar is filled with wrath and he goes on this abusive rampage again. And notice it's, if you don't do what I say, in loving this God and giving themselves to this God, guess what? I'll hack you to pieces. I'll destroy your houses. This guy's trigger happy, man. He just is looking forward to hacking somebody and blowing away some house. And I'm pretty sure that these three men knew what was happening. They're bound, they're carried to the fire. When they see the fire, jump out and devour the men who had bound them. And they're tossed in the fire like kindling wood. And notice two astounding things that happen. First of all, God does the impossible. Look at verses 24 and 25. Then Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, did we not cast three men bound into the fire? The worst thing had happened to these guys, right? I mean, the men who bound these guys were consumed But in an astonishing twist, these three men were unharmed. Scripture says that they literally fell in, and we don't know how the furnace was built, but I can imagine it was a tumble since they were bound. But Scripture says they were bound with everything, their outer clothes, even their hats. I'm like, I wonder what hat they wore, you know, Bass Pro Shop hat, you know, or something like that. Like, they got their hat on, man. I'm like, whoa, they had their hat on. I'd love to have been in the fire to see the astonished look on their faces when they realized how they were not consumed. Think about that. I mean, you should sense them perhaps tightening up and embracing for the pain when they hit, but then they look at each other and there's this, I envision this visual smirk that comes across their face and perhaps a wagging of their heads in relief. God does the impossible and they were free from the flame. I mean, their clothes were not harmed, their hair was unsinged, and I call this impossible because simply, because they knew what was at stake, and they were willing to give it. Their even if not theology ruled the day, and you can imagine the smirk on their face. God, again, God. I wish to see more of those kind of smirks on people's face when they see God at work. It's just God again. Isn't that great? God being God again on our behalf. But then secondly, God does the unimaginable. We see this in verses 25 through 27. Do you see this? He answered and said, but I see four men, unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they're not hurt. And the appearance of the fourth is like the Son of God's. They received comfort in the flames, a comfort that is unimaginable. And this is what we miss out on when we try to duck out of the pain that God brings to us. It went from three men to four. I can't even imagine how that must have felt. Nebuchadnezzar goes from bringing up math, three plus one is four, to matters of freedom. They're no longer bound. To matters of security, they're not hurt. And finally, matters of identity, the fourth is the appearance is like the Son of God. Now, there's a big debate. Was this a pre-incarnate Christ? Or was this Michael the archangel? We don't know. Daniel's not clear here. I think it was a pre-incarnate Christ. The four weren't standing there, but were noticeably walking around. That is an indication. They're fine. They're fine. And this is the God of the unimaginable. I have an idea, I have just a notion that they were dancing a bit. I don't know if they high-fived back then, but I think probably some fist bumps or high-fiving, some hugs were going on there. This was really, really cool. Like, nanny, nanny, boo-boo, you can't get us. It's amazing. You see, this furnace story tells us of deliverance, but it's not about deliverance, my friend. Don't get caught up in that. It's about worship. Daniel 3 means to tell us that the only matter that matters is that we keep the first commandment even if it kills us. To live constantly with the truth that there is no other God but God. has to be the heartbeat of our life. And everything that God sends to us is out of his divine love, mercy, and care, and a desire to reclaim his glory throughout the entire world. That's what it's about. And if you don't link up with that, my friend, you will not be able to exclaim well the multiperfections of our God. But see, we live in a post-empty tomb time. And so there's this added reason to remain faithful. We can look back and see this whole story and go like, wow. Christ promises that he will be with us until the end of the ages. He said this. There's a story that the Communist Party in Russia, about the Communist Party in Russia, they sent KGB agents to the nation's churches on a Sunday morning. And one such agent was struck by the deep devotion of an older woman who was kissing the feet of a life-size carving of Christ on the cross. And he asked her, babushka, that's a term for grandmother, are you also prepared to kiss the feet of the beloved general secretary of our great communist party? And she looked at him and she said, why of course, she shot back, but only if you crucify him first. I think we could meet the three words, burning, fiery, furnace, with three other words, old, rugged, cross. And see God granting to us his presence and his perfections. So I wanna ask you three questions and give you one encouragement this morning, and I'll go quickly. What are the idols that are most pushed on you in our world culture today? Can we be honest with each other? We spend more time on the idol of our cell phone. And it represents a whole host of self-promising things that never satisfy. Our kids, our college students, our members, what are the ones, what are the idols being pushed on those right around us? Secondly, how is obeying God bringing great stress in your life? Because it will. How are you experiencing God and his great grace and his glory to you in that battle? You see, my friend, the Christian experience is marked by a collision of being marked by God in a world that wants nothing to do with God, being with Him in a world that is not with Him, of striving to be faithful in a world that insists upon its own way, going upstream against the cultural current while everything else is going with the current. And so Christ said in Luke 9, 24, for whoever shall save his life will lose it. and whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. So grabbing onto life, trying to control it and pull it in, you'll lose it. You'll trust God. I see the fire, I see the flame. Even if not, I'm gonna trust him. Number three. What does then, even if not theology, look like in your life? What are you giving into every day, all the time, that you shouldn't be? Because God somehow isn't the God you think he is. And I wanna leave you with one encouragement. If you're in the fire, cease striving and know that God is God. it will be okay. Because if you endure, you will get a view of God like no other. God has put you in that fire so that you will see him like no other has seen him. And this is the very best thing that could ever happen to you, that you'll see God. Christ has suffered for you so that you can endure in this life with ultimate victory. Put your full weight on Him and trust Him. Will you do it? He deserves your faith. He gives you the faith. Trust Him. Father in Heaven, thank you for giving us stories like this, stories of great pressure and great pain, great decisions. But Lord, what we see here is not Humanity at its finest. We see God and all of his glory working to save humanity. And you doing it in such a way that your glory is exposed. And now, thousands of years later, we get to see it and smile and rest in his ever goodness. Lord, I pray for those in the fire. Lord, this week has been very fiery for some of our people. And the question is, are we going to believe God? Are we going to believe his promises? Are we going to believe our own feelings? Are we going to give in to our own way? Are we going to trust him even though everything inside of us says, no, I don't want this. God grant us through your word, faith to believe you, to trust you. You are the good God. There's no one like you. And Lord, those in the fire, help them to realize it's okay. It's God's design. And help them to catch a glimpse of you that will be stunningly life-changing for them for the rest of their lives. Thank you for being our God, for loving us. We pray and ask these things in Jesus' name, amen. I want us to end with a hymn this morning. It is one of my favorite hymns, I have to say. I have several, but this is one of them. And be still my soul. It's what we should, I think they sang that right before they went into the fire. Probably not that tune, probably not even those words. But I think they looked at each other and said, be still my soul. Because their soul was a human soul that would have questioned, that would have wondered. And some of you are going through the fire and you need this hymn. And you need to talk these truths into your own heart. So stand with me and let's sing, be still my soul. The Lord is on your side.