Well, brothers, it's a delight to be with you this weekend. And I give greetings to you from Emmanuel Baptist Church in Coconut Creek, Florida. And when I moved there, I thought there would be a creek somewhere and maybe coconuts, but I haven't really found the creek or the coconuts. There's a lot of palm trees around for sure. I'm not sure why they call it Coconut Creek, but that's where we live. You wonder where that is? It's about 40 minutes south of West Palm Beach, which even though it's West Palm Beach, it's on the east coast of Florida. About 20 minutes north of Fort Lauderdale, about 45 minutes north of Miami. That's where we're located. There's many of you men here that I know and have known for some of you for many, many years. It's good to see some of you brothers. It's a delight to be able to renew fellowship and there's others of you that I've never met and I look forward to getting to know you and to meet you and And I give greetings to you from our church. We've been praying for you and praying for this conference for some time, and they'll continue to pray for you. I give greetings from our pastors there. Pastor Bob Dekoma, some of you may know him. He's been a pastor there at Coconut Creek at Emmanuel since 1987, I believe. And then Paul Faris is another one of the pastors. You may remember Johnny Faris. Paul's his brother who took care of him for many, many years and later became a deacon in our church, and now he's an elder. And then our latest addition to our eldership, Pastor Nick Kennicott, who's actually traveling back and forth from Georgia right now until he moves his whole family down in May. So he'll be preaching all of the sermons at our church this week on the way. And so greetings to you from all of them. We're really looking forward to getting to know you and fellowship with you. And please pray for me as we look at God's word. I think I gave the theme for this week as lessons from the book of Daniel or something like that, which is a pretty broad, uh, theme. And, uh, cause that gives me the whole book of Daniel, right? To draw from. And so, but, uh, I want you to turn with me tonight to Daniel chapter three and, uh, Some of the messages this week will be taken from Daniel 3, not all of them. God willing, what I'm probably going to be doing is giving three messages from Daniel 3. Probably two of them will be before Sunday and then I'm going to be working in another message from Daniel chapter 9 probably sometime tomorrow and then on Sunday I'll finish up Daniel 3 and I'll finish up Daniel 9 so that's kind of how it's going to go that's my plan so tonight I'd like to read the first 15 verses of Daniel chapter 3 so you can follow with me if you'd like in your Bible Nebuchadnezzar the King made an image of gold whose height was 60 cubits and its width 6 cubits. He set it up in the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. And King Nebuchadnezzar sent word to gather together the satraps, the administrators, the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image which King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. So the satraps, the administrators, the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces gathered together for the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. And they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Then a herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages, that at the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, you shall fall down and worship the gold image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. And whoever does not fall down in worship shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning, fiery furnace. So at that time, when all the people heard the sound of the horn, flute, harp, and lyre, in symphony with all kinds of music, all the people, nations, and languages fell down and worshipped the gold image which King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Therefore, at that time certain Chaldeans came forward and accused the Jews. They spoke and said to King Nebuchadnezzar, O King, live forever! You, O King, have made a decree that everyone who hears the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery in symphony with all kinds of music shall fall down and worship the gold image, and whoever does not fall down in worship shall be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. There are certain Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, have not paid due regard to you. They do not serve your gods or worship the gold image which you have set up." Then Nebuchadnezzar, in rage and fury, gave the command to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. So they brought these men before the king. Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying to them, Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the gold image which I have set up? Now, if you are ready, at the time you hear the sound of the harp flute, horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, and symphony with all kinds of music, and you 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?" Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king and we'll stop there as we'll be picking up with that later in the week. Let's pray together. Our Father, as we come to You this evening, we humbly bow before You, the God of the universe, and we want to thank You tonight for Your mercies to us in Christ Jesus, for Your kindness in giving to us Your Son to redeem us from our sins, to reconcile us to You. We thank You, Father, that we can come to You in prayer, knowing that Your ear is open to us, that You hear us as we come in Christ's name. We thank You for Your Holy Word that You've given to us to instruct us We pray, O Father, that you would help us tonight to understand your word and to see its relevance to every one of our lives. We pray that your Holy Spirit would come tonight, that your word would be preached with the Spirit sent down from heaven upon it. that you would guide us and teach us, illuminate our minds, warm our hearts, strengthen our faith, convict us of our sins, and lead us in the pathway that you would have us to go, that we might bring honor and glory to you. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. On October the 4th, 1944, Joseph Meier Neusser was called forward to take the oath of allegiance to Adolf Hitler. He stepped forward and said, I cannot take an oath to Hitler in the name of God. I cannot do it because my faith and conscience do not allow it. Well, he was sentenced to death for treason and ordered to Dachau to be shot. Why? Because he refused to bow to the idol. On March 27th of last year, Byron Cross, an elementary school physical education teacher in your own state of Virginia, was placed on leave after he told the school board that he could not, quote, affirm that a biological boy can be a girl and vice versa. Recently, two employees of Kroger grocery store in Conway, Arkansas, asked to be excused from wearing the new company aprons with a rainbow heart embroidered on them. After efforts graciously to appeal, one even asking if she might wear her name tag over the rainbow, They were both terminated. And there are other examples like this that I could give, that I could mention. You probably know many other like examples of these types of things that are happening in our society and in our culture today. And what was the crime of these people? Their refusal to bow to the latest cultural idol. Well, this kind of pressure upon God's people to bow to the dictates of a world in rebellion against God or pay a price for it is nothing new. As I draw our attention in some of the sessions this week to this third chapter of the book of Daniel, here we see it many thousands of years ago in a place called Babylon. Now my plan this evening is to kind of introduce us to this passage by giving an overview of the first 15 verses of the chapter this evening to set the stage for what's going to follow. And as I do that, I'll also later be drawing out some of the lessons that are here, even in these first 15 verses for us. But first of all, we want to understand what's happening and understand the passage properly and clearly. And as we look at this, first of all, we have the setting up and dedication of a golden image. We read in verse 1, Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold whose height was 60 cubits and its width 6 cubits. He set it up in the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. Notice that this image was of great expense and value. It was made of gold, or it was at least overlaid with gold. And it was also of enormous size. The text says its height was 60 cubits and its width was 9 cubits. Now I tried to imagine that in my mind and you get a picture of a very narrow statue that's 60 cubits high and only 6 cubits wide, but it was probably placed upon a pedestal as well. And so when you consider the pedestal it was placed on and the statue itself, it was 90 feet tall and 9 feet wide. It was gigantic. We then have reference to its location. It was set up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. No one really knows for sure where that is, but apparently it was a plain that was not too far from the capital city. And there on the plain of Dura, out in that wide open space, it could be seen from all around, this huge, imposing figure of glittering gold. Now, a question, I think, that naturally arises from this is what did this image represent exactly? Now, the text doesn't tell us specifically. Some argue that the image may have been a representation of Nebuchadnezzar himself. That's possible. It was common for kings in those cultures to make statues of themselves. If you know something about Daniel chapter 2, Nebuchadnezzar had his dream of that statue that was made up of all kinds of different metals and the head and the shoulders were gold that in the interpretation Daniel told him that that part represented him and his kingdom and of course that in that vision the prophecy was that all of these kingdoms of the earth were going to be destroyed ultimately by the kingdom of God and perhaps Nebuchadnezzar in creating this image of gold, entirely of gold, is intending to represent himself and as a kind of a protest even to that vision that my kingdom is great, my kingdom is going to be greater, it's going to continue forever. We don't know for sure. It may be that In a more general sense, he intended to represent his empire or as a symbol of the empire, one of the gods understood by Nebuchadnezzar to be a symbol of the empire or the cause of its power. An image embodying the power of the state that will demand the religious political homage of its subjects, a kind of worship of the spirit of Babylon and a Babylonian worldview. But whichever way you look at it, we're faced with a first and second commandment issue. you shall have no other gods before me and you shall not make for yourself a carved image you shall not bow down to them so this is the challenge that will face these young men so we have this image set up and then we have the calling of a convocation a great gathering of the chief dignitaries and officials from throughout the various provinces of the Babylonian Empire. In verse 2 it reads, and King Nebuchadnezzar sent word to gather together, and you have then all of these various officials, satraps, the administrators, the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces were summoned to come to the dedication of the image which King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. So he calls together all of these dignitaries, all of these officers of various levels from throughout his empire. This is an official state-sponsored dedication service. And then in verse 3, we find that, indeed, at the appointed time, all of these officials who were summoned from across the empire, that they arrived at their appointed place, as we're told, in verse 3. And then in verses 4 to 6, a proclamation is made. After they've all arrived there, verse 4, then a herald cried aloud, to you it is commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages. Now notice several things about this proclamation. First, the essence of the proclamation is a command that at the appointed moment everyone is to fall down and to worship this gold image. that Nebuchadnezzar has set up. This is the whole purpose for which he has called together all of these dignitaries and required them to make this journey. And for some of them, it was no doubt a long journey to the plain of Dura. He's called them all there to the dedication of this image, not merely to unveil it as a work of art, but to require them to fall down and to worship it. Indeed, the entire atmosphere here is fused with a religious aura and atmosphere. an official gathering of this multitude out on the plain to stand before this gigantic golden figure glistening in the sun in all of its magnificence, all the pageantry of ceremony and aesthetic stimulation as the occasion is dramatized and enhanced by the finest orchestral accompaniment, including a full range of musical instruments. The horn, the flute, the harp, the lyre, the psaltery and symphony with all kinds of music it says. Some of these were Persian instruments, some of them were Greek instruments, some were Jewish. It was something like a multicultural religious concert. But not only was there all this pomp and ceremony to impress the senses and to allure them to comply with this worship, there was also a terrifying threat to frighten them into compliance if anyone was reluctant to fall into line. Anyone who refused to bow down and to worship the image at the appointed time was to be cast that very hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. So this was not merely a friendly invitation to join Nebuchadnezzar in the worship of his idol. It was an authoritative mandate backed by the power of the state and the threat of torture and death. So on the one hand, There are the charms of pop and ceremony and music to allure them and to make all of this seem very attractive and inviting, but there's also something sinister in the atmosphere. There might be the appearance of celebration and enjoyment, but it's a nervous enjoyment, because there, not too far away, stood that fiery furnace with its smoke billowing up to frighten anyone who might be tempted not to conform. Well, being surrounded with these temptations, how did the multitude respond? Well, they responded as most of mankind has and does under this kind of pressure. And in verse seven, we have reference to the general compliance of all who were present as we read. So at that time, when all the people heard the sound of the horn, flute, harp, and lyre, and symphony with all kinds of music, all the people, nations and languages, fell down and worshipped the gold image which Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Everyone conformed, they all complied. There's nothing but a sea of people from all across the empire lying prostrate upon the plain before this image, with their rear ends in the air and their faces in the dirt. But as we come to verses 8 to 10, We find that among that vast multitude, there were three exceptions, just three, three young men who refused to bow. And just think of how they must have dramatically stuck out in sharp contrast to all the others. The whole empire, as it were, is bowing down in the persons of this vast multitude of officials, but there stands three, not by accident, but deliberately, three alone, who have the audacity to remain on their feet because of their devotion to God. Well apparently the crowd is so large that Nebuchadnezzar didn't even see them, but there were others who were quick to make him aware of this. As we move now from the setting up of the image and its dedication to consider secondly the accusation brought against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Verse 8 says, Therefore at that time certain chaldeans came forward and accused the jews and that word translated accused is a very interesting word it's an idiom you know what an idiom is it's a It's a common expression, it's a common way of saying something in a particular society or culture that if you took it literally would mean something different. For example, if I were to say to you, it's raining cats and dogs outside, well you know that I don't mean that literally, that cats and dogs are falling out of the air, but that's an idiom in American culture. It's one of the ways we say that it's raining really hard outside. Well, this word translated accused here can literally be translated, they ate their pieces. They ate their pieces. And this was a common idiom in that language for a malicious, hateful accusation. There's an underlying malice here in these Chaldeans. Verse 12 indicates that this was at least, in part, driven by envy. You remember Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were Jews. They were from among God's people, children of the captivity, who had been promoted to high positions in the province. And no doubt, some of these Chaldean officials, Babylonians, native Babylonians, were jealous. And now they saw their opportunity. Notice what they say. First, they remind the king that he has indeed made this decree, and they remind him of all the details of the decree. In verses 10 to 11, as though he didn't already know them, you, O king, have made a decree, and so on, and they go over all the details of the decree, and they inform Nebuchadnezzar that these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, have refused to comply. And notice the manner in which they do this in verse 12, to try to aggravate the offense. Again, I think an indication that they were motivated by malice and by envy. They remind the king of the great dignity that he has bestowed on these three men. These men who, by the way, are Jews. Not Babylonians. Look at verse 12. There are certain Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, though they are Jews, we remind you, foreigners, captives of men of a despised nation. Yet, O king, you have been kind in setting them over the affairs of the province, if not perhaps a little naive, And it's these very men, prominent officials in the kingdom, who have been so ungrateful as to disobey your command publicly before this great assembly." You see, that's kind of this subtle insinuation behind their words. And then they suggest, these three men have done this as an expression of contempt for you, O King, and your authority. They say, These men, O king, have not paid due regard to you. They have shown contempt for you by their actions in spite of all that you've done for them. They do not serve your gods or worship the golden image which you have set up. Now, there's a lot of nice things that they could have said about these three men, things that were true. They could have reminded the king. that on the whole, these men have always been good law-abiding citizens. They had graduated at the top of the class in the Babylonian University, chapter 1. They were involved with Daniel in the interpretation of that terrible dream that you had, Nebuchadnezzar, that we read about back in chapter 2. They've proven themselves to be loyal, diligent civil servants. who do excellent work. They could have mentioned to Nebuchadnezzar all of those good things about these men. And then on the basis of that, appeal to the king to be lenient with them with respect to their honest religious scruples. But that's not their attitude. The fact is they were out to get Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And they're all too glad to have this occasion to accuse them. And brothers and sisters, there's no sisters here, but brothers, I don't think there are any sisters here, but brothers, it can sometimes be shocking. It can even take us by surprise how malicious worldly men can be toward Christians. It may be all hidden underneath the surface. never suspected, on the job, in the office, in the public sports arena, or wherever it might be. It may be hidden under a thin veneer of politeness and social courtesies and friendly smiles, but when the occasion arises, suddenly they show their true colors, they pull out their dagger tongues, and they strike at the godly Christian. As John writes in 1 John 3.13, Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you. But now in verses 13 to 15, notice thirdly, the reaction of Nebuchadnezzar to their noncompliance. Notice several things about his reaction. First, he lost it. He blew his top. Verse 13, then Nebuchadnezzar in rage and fury. Second, he called for the three men and interrogated them, and he gave them an opportunity to deny the charge. Verse 14, Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying to them, Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the gold image which I have set up? Then in verse 15, he gives them a second chance, and he presents them with a choice. He would much rather they conform than create a spectacle. by their devotion to Yahweh, so He gives them a second chance. But if they still refuse to bow to the image, into the fiery furnace, they will go. Verse 15, now if you're ready at the time, you hear the sound of the horn, we're going to strike up the orchestra again one more time, and when you hear the music begin to play, If you'll 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 then notice here how Nebuchadnezzar closes his threat with a word of defiance, defiance toward God himself. And who is the God who will deliver you from my hands? Which tells us, by the way, that he knew that the reason for their noncompliance was their devotion to God. Well, we all know what happened. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stood their ground in the face of these threats. They refused to comply and we have their famous confession in verses 16 to 18, which God willing, we'll look at tomorrow morning. But at this point, I want to break off from the text and I want us to look at what we've seen so far and draw out some practical lessons from it. What is the practical relevance of this passage for us who live here today in the United States of America in the 21st century? How is it relevant for us? Well, several things I want us to see from this passage. First of all, here we have a sobering example of a kind of pressure Everyone who would follow Christ must be prepared to face. Must be prepared to face. Now these three men had already faced many pressures to compromise and to cave in to a Babylonian worldview and religion. For example, when they were first ripped away from their homeland and from their parents and their families and taken from Judah and carried into Babylon, they were enrolled in the Babylonian university and subjected to Nebuchadnezzar's brainwashing policies. They faced the pressure of dramatic cultural change. The pressure of indoctrination, the attempt to promote identity confusion with the changing of their names and so on. And here we have additional pressures in this difficult situation. The pressure of sticking out from the crowd by refusing to do what everyone else is doing. the pressure of the malice and the envy of evil men who are eager to find occasion against them, and above all else, the pressure of suffering, the pressure of the terrifying threat of the fiery furnace. But listen, brothers, these are but examples of the kind of pressure that every soul who would follow Jesus Christ must be prepared to face in this world. Jesus said in John 15, 18, if the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you. A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. The Apostle Paul put it this way in 2 Timothy 3.12, yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. Now for over 20 centuries, Now totalitarian regimes and false religious establishments have told Christians that they must either conform to their demands or suffer or even die. We may be tempted to think that that doesn't happen anymore, but the fact is, if you look at the statistics, there's probably never been any time in history in which it is happening more than it is happening now. Severe persecution of Christians is found especially in Muslim countries and in China and Vietnam and portions of India in many countries today God's people are languishing in prisons are restricted to the most lowly and menial tasks of society and some suffer under cruel tortures and die Even horrifying deaths because of their faithfulness to Christ. This is going on in our world today And listen, it may be coming soon to a place near you very near you. Some of you may have heard of Richard Wombrand. He's one of the founders of the magazine, The Voice of the Martyrs, a man who served the underground church in Romania when the country was overrun and taken over by the communists and was under communism, a man who himself spent 14 years suffering torture and prison for his faith. Wombrand tells of how he sought to prepare the church for suffering. He says, quoting him, I remember my last confirmation class before I left Romania. I took a group of 10 to 15 boys and girls on a Sunday morning, not to a church, but to the zoo. It'd be an interesting Sunday school class to take the kids to the zoo. Before the cage of lions, I told them, your forefathers in the faith were thrown before such wild beasts for their faith. Know that you will also have to suffer You will not be thrown before lions, but you will have to do with men who would be much worse than lions. Decide here and now if you wish to pledge allegiance to Christ." They had tears in their eyes, he said, when they said, yes. I was greatly blessed back during the height of the COVID crisis by reading a book by the Puritan John Flavel. I was actually reading it out of his complete works. I think I found out later it's actually been published in a small book form, one of those little paperbacks. And it seems to have begun as a series of sermons he preached to his congregation. And he takes as his text Acts 21, 13. Then Paul answered, what do you mean by weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus." I am ready not only to be bound, but to die for the name of the Lord Jesus. And Flavel draws from this text this doctrine, this proposition. Quoting him, that it is a blessed and excellent thing for the people of God to be prepared and ready for the hardest services and worst of sufferings to which the Lord may call them. And then in typical Puritan fashion, he goes on to give an entire series of sermons on that theme. It's a wonderful work. I really highly recommend it. It's entitled Preparations for Suffering or the Best Work in the Worst of Times. Well, there's a sense in which the same title could be given to the book of Daniel. And it especially applies to this third chapter. Thank God that we here in America today, now, we're not living under the most severe forms of persecution, but my dear friends, times are changing in our land. There are winds of blowing in our society that do not bode well for the Christian church. I don't know where it will all lead. I'm not a prophet or the son of a prophet, but as Christians, we need to be prepared. It's going to be increasingly costly to be a true Christian in America. A Christian worldview no longer prevails in American culture. Christianity is increasingly hated and ridiculed. Christian morality is labeled as oppressive. Christians are negatively misrepresented in the media and entertainment. And Christians even now are increasingly becoming the victims of a cancel culture, which is ultimately seeking to cancel God Himself. And it's likely we're going to face situations in the years to come in which you must choose to either keep your job or obey God. Obey God, stand for the truth, and be kicked off the team or compromise in order to continue to be able to participate. Obey God and be attacked and slandered and ridiculed, stand for truth and the gospel, or bow to the false gods of the spirit of our age in its rebellion against God. And even in those times when we are relatively free from the most severe forms of persecution, still the words of the Puritan Samuel Rutherford will be true in the life of every true child of God. You will not get leave to steal quietly to heaven in Christ's company without a conflict. and a cross. And this is one of the reasons Jesus spoke to those who would follow him about counting the cost, what our brother in God's providence read even a few moments ago from Luke chapter 9. He knew that it's no child's play to be a Christian. There's a cost involved because this Babylon world will expect us to follow its ways, bow to its philosophies, obey its rules, and support its causes. Satan, the god of this world, sets up his image, and that image is sin, or that image is perverted ways of anti-Christian thinking that are given a sophisticated appearance of wisdom together with the empty pleasures and pomp of this world system that are deceptive and alluring. And those who will not worship the image will find that in one way or the other, the burning fiery furnace has not been put out yet. It may not be prison or torture or death. You may or you may not be thrown into a literal fiery furnace, but there are verbal insults, being falsely accused and slandered in an attempt to ruin your reputation. Lies being told about you or to discredit you. Men saying all manner of evil against you falsely for his sake, for Christ's sake. There's rejection. Realizing that certain people are talking about you behind your back. That uncomfortable feeling that your presence isn't wanted and you don't fit in. Faithfulness to Christ sometimes results in those who you thought, really thought loved you. You thought they really were your friends, and yet they begin to grow cold towards you and to reject you, even your own family members. And we could go on, because there's hardly an end to the various ways the cross will come to the child of God. And there's more coming, brothers, more coming, I'm afraid. Bow to the LGBTQ and XYZ. Every year it's another letter. I've lost track of all the letters. That's as far as I've gotten so far, LGBTQ. But I know they've added something else to it. But bow to the more crazy and wicked and ungodly and perverted it gets. They just keep adding more things to it. But whatever it's called now bow to it or pay the price Sign the company's diversity policy Affirming the moral legitimacy of gay marriage and transgenderism or be fired from your job Wear the rainbow jersey during gay pride week or be kicked off the team It's got it. These things are going to continue. They're going to they're going to multiply and where's it all going to end? I don't know But understand, brothers, that the experience of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego is nothing new. It's been the experience of God's people all the way down through the ages, and in one way or another, and to one degree or another, there will be a cross to bear. And there will be a price to pay to be truly faithful to Jesus Christ in a world that has gone mad and is set against Him. some more and some less, in some countries or societies more and in others less, but certainly we're not to think that our generation of Christians is somehow so uniquely special that we can expect to be exempt. No, as the scripture says, all who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution in one way or another with one degree or another. This is why we need to think about these things. And we need, as Flavel exhorts us to in his book, to prepare ourselves for them beforehand. None of us, not a one of us in this room, myself included, can stand in our own strength. And we need to be praying. We need to pray that God will make us stand and that he will help us to stand. And listen, don't be satisfied with a weak, uncertain, shaky, fuzzy-wuzzy kind of faith in Jesus Christ. If you're going to be able to stand, you need to know what you believe, and you need to know why you believe it, and you need to know that you belong to Him, that Christ is yours, and you're His. You need to know that. It's time for you to no longer be satisfied with this kind of fuzzy, kind of halfway sort of hope that maybe I think maybe I am a Christian. You need to know. You're not going to be able to stand. If you don't know that you know Him, if you don't have an experiential faith and confidence in Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, and that God is for you, and He's with you, and you belong to Him. And then you need to know why you believe what you believe. I still remember when I was a young man, it's a long story, but I got converted just as I was coming out of seminary. And I used to go in Christian, and I struggled with assurance, trying to understand the gospel. And I would go in Christian bookstores. I've said to people before that I'd rather send my children into a liquor store to buy a Coke than an average Christian bookstore to buy a book. But I'll go into these bookstores, you know, kind of general kind of Christian bookstores, you know, where they sell all the trinkets and a few books and things, and look for a book, you know, something that would help me. But in God's providence, I remember I came across a copy of Grace Abounding, John Bunyan's testimony of his own conversion and God's dealings with him. And I still remember reading in that book, he talks about how his pastor exhorted him when he was a young Christian to not take truth secondhand. that as you learn the truths of the Bible and the doctrines of the faith, don't be content to just receive them secondhand, but seek the Lord and pray for the Holy Spirit to burn those truths into your own heart, so that they become yours experientially, so that you believe those things, not just because someone told you, but because you've come to see them for yourself. He said, otherwise, when the time of temptation comes, and when Satan comes, and when the pressure is really on, You'll let go of that truth. You won't hold on to it because it's not really yours, you see. And so this is a reminder, brethren, we need to pray that God will burn his truth into our hearts with such conviction that when the trial comes, you'll not be swept away with the rest of the world down the broad road that leads to destruction. That leads me now to a second lesson. Secondly, let us learn from this narrative to see the idols in both the allurements and the threats of this sinful world as the ridiculous, empty folly that they are. John Payton, the missionary to the New Hebrides, the cannibals there, he tells a funny story. It's one of my favorite books. If you've never read it, I really recommend you read John Payton's autobiography. We've read it to our kids, two different rounds of reading it. I have kids stretching from 30 to 12. every time they don't want me to put it down they love it and it's it's really interesting his autobiography it's very challenging it's it's got some wonderful beautiful pictures of of Christian his relationship to his father a number of things but he was a missionary to the New Hebrides Islands and he tells a funny story about one of the natives on the island of Aniwa who got converted it was a woman named Yakin and And one of the first visible features, he says, of the change from heathendom to Christianity was the desire to wear clothing, instead of going about naked, as these natives normally did. Well, when Yaacon, who had been converted to Christ, when she was to marry another recently converted native man, she determined in the wedding to show just how Christian she had become by the amount of clothing she would wear. She scrounds around for this and that, he says, and it was the most amazing, ridiculous sight when she came walking in for the wedding. She came in wearing a man's coat over her grass skirt. Over this, he says, she hung a vest, and above that, most amazing of all, she had taken a pair of men's trousers, planted the body of them on her neck and shoulders, and somehow, leaving her head and face, looking out from between the legs, with a leg from each side streaming over her chest and dangling down in front of her. Fastened to one shoulder was a red shirt and to the other a striped shirt waving about like a pair of wings. And around her head was another red shirt wrapped around like a turban with a sleeve hanging over each ear. On top of that, it was an extremely hot day and the sweat was pouring down her face in streams. And Peyton says that her soon-to-be husband looked at me smiling quietly as if to say, you never saw and all your world a bride so grandly dressed." Well, there's something about that humorous kind of over-the-top nature of that situation that reminds me of this passage. And here's where we need to look more closely at the text. The text doesn't say anything directly about this, but it does so subtly and suggestively. I tried to kind of emphasize it as I was reading the text, but you see there's something here that it might be hard for us to see at first glance. Del Ralph Davis is very helpful here in his commentary in drawing attention to this in the text. A closer look at the literary style and the repetitions of this narrative make it very clear, I believe, that the narrator is engaging in some holy sarcasm in this passage. He's actually speaking in a mocking manner. to help us to see something of the silliness and the stupidity of this whole idolatrous affair. First notice the verbs that the writer uses. In the very first line we read, Nebuchadnezzar the king, Abad, an image of gold, made an image of gold. Nebuchadnezzar himself uses the same verb in verse 15, if you fall down and worship the image which I have made. Nebuchadnezzar made this image? And we're supposed to worship it? Something some man made, as Davis points out, for an Israelite, that statement sums up the theological asininity of the whole affair. But then we have the almost machine-gun-like repetition of the Hebrew verb kum translated set up. Did you notice how many times that's repeated over and over? The image which I set up. The image which Nebuchadnezzar set up. It appears in the first 18 verses of this chapter nine times. And always with reference to the image that the king set up. This image was set up by Nebuchadnezzar. You see, the narrator is mocking this. He's highlighting how foolish it is, this thing that this man made and set up. But then notice something else. I think it's clear the writer's also mocking all the glitter and the pop of the occasion. Did you notice in the reading all the repetition? It's kind of monotonous when you're reading this passage. Keeps repeating the list of dignitaries. and giving these extended lists of all the musical instruments and so on. When you read this, it comes across kind of monotonous and strange. Why does he keep repeating all of this? It's not good writing. Maybe he failed a writing class. It's not good writing unless he has a point he's trying to make. Verse 2. And Nebuchadnezzar sent word together, and here we go, the satraps, the administrators, the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates, and all the officials of the province to come to the dedication of the image, this image which Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Verse 3, here we go again. So the satraps, the administrators, the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates, and all the officials of the province gathered together. Now he could have just said, so they all gathered together, but no, he goes through the whole list again. And I believe he's mocking the whole thing. What about the musical instruments? Verse five, at the time you hear the music, no, At the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, psaltery, and symphony with all kinds of music, you shall fall down in worship." Verse 7, So at that time, when all the people heard the sound, and here we go again, of the horn, flute, harp, and lyre, and symphony with all kinds of music, verse 15, oh no, not again, yeah again, now if you are ready at the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, psaltery, and symphony with all kinds of music, and you fall down and worship the image, the image, by the way, which I have made good, and so on. This is holy mockery. The whole affair is a joke. It makes me think of, when I was studying this, it made me think of the Super Bowl halftime show, which I haven't watched in years because I don't watch football on Sunday because I keep the Sabbath on Sunday, but the Super Bowl halftime show, but I, you know, I hear about it and I'll read about it in the news, or it makes me think about the pre-Olympic celebration, how the Super Bowl halftime show, the pre-Olympic celebration, if you notice how they just get more and more and more extravagant, every single year more ostentatious every year to the point of being absolutely ridiculous Well again, the narrator reports this event in a way that's actually making fun of it, and he's doing it on purpose, from one perspective, to gullible worldlings. All of this is very impressive, this occasion. I mean, have you ever seen anything like it? This is the most magnificent thing I've ever seen. I mean, the flute, the sackbuck, the harp, all these musical instruments from all these regions of the empire, and all of these dignitaries that are all here together. Wow, this is awesome. This is wonderful. Yet at the same time here, the writer is exposing the fact that in reality it's foolish and pathetic. God wants us to see and to feel the ridiculousness and emptiness of the glitter and pomp of this world and all of the idols that it worships. Because the more we're able to see the folly of it all, the better able we are to resist its efforts to conform us into its mold. Yes, this is a terrible trial for these young men, but we're also to see what a farce it is. What a farce. And facade and charade are all the baubles and pleasures and pomp and show that Satan uses to try to draw us away from our devotion to our Savior. There's nothing real in it. It's all a lie. Made up gods. Created by men. That can never help you. but only degrade you and can never satisfy the true and deepest needs of your soul. pop and show, bright lights, the pretty figure, the handsome face, the stylish clothes, the rocking music, the party, the crowds, the special effects, the money, the big house, the prestigious position, the emblems of state, and the perks that come with towing the party line. the facade behind the power that tries to scare us with its threat. God wants us to see it because the more we see the folly and the emptiness of it all, the less likely we are to be intimidated by it or to be tempted to conform to it. And so it is, brothers, with the best this world can muster up, and so it is as well with its most terrifying threats. They are folly and emptiness and weakness. before God. He who sits in the heavens laughs. And He promises to His people that whatever we are called upon to face because of our devotion to Him, there is no cause to fear. Don't be intimidated. Trust in Him and whatever you have to endure, He will be with you and He will not forsake you. He may or He may not deliver you from the fire. But if it's His will for you to go through the fire, He will be with you in it as He will be with these three Hebrew children. And then thirdly and finally, here in this passage, we have a searching example of a choice that we all must make. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were faced with a choice. Give in to the pressure and bow to the image or be worshipers and servants of the true God alone, whatever the consequences and whatever the cost. And this is the same choice you see that confronts every single one of us this evening. Every one of us. There's no middle ground. We're either all in with Christ or we're not in at all. You understand that? We're either all in or you're not in. God or Satan. Bell or Jehovah. Christ or the world, righteousness or sin, the narrow way that leads to life or the broad road that leads to destruction. This is the choice. And you can't have it both ways. It must be God alone and His Son, Jesus Christ, our blessed Savior, or we can bow to the pressure of this world and to avoid the furnace, go along with the crowds of our day who are rushing over the cliff that falls into hell. What about you? What about you? young man here, older man, who will you trust? Who will you serve? God or mammon? Christ are the idols of this world. My friend, have you, as a helpless, self-condemned sinner, come to Jesus Christ for mercy? Have you received him by simple faith as he's freely given to sinners in the gospel? or forgiveness and acceptance with God? And have you taken up the cross to follow Him by His help and grace, no turning back, whatever the cost? Or are you part of the crowd on the plain of Dura bowing before some stupid idol that will never satisfy you and will ultimately damn you to hell in the end? May God grant that this night you will turn to Christ from idols. to serve the living and the true God. Galatians 1, 4, Jesus Christ gave Himself for our sins that He might deliver us from this present evil world. And He is able and He is willing to save you. If you'll only repent and run to Him and come to Him and cry to Him and fall upon Him in faith for mercy and salvation, He will receive you and He will save you. And He will bless you with eternal glory and unspeakable joy in the world to come. And remember, my dear friend, there is a furnace much more dreadful than Nebuchadnezzar's furnace. Much more dreadful than his furnace. Much more dreadful than the furnaces that this world threatens us with. That fiery furnace that the Bible calls Hell. That furnace that will never be put out for all eternity, where the worm dies not. And there's gnashing of teeth, and those who enter that place will never escape. And unlike Shadrach and Beshach and Abednego, who fell into the furnace and they were not hurt, you will not avoid being hurt, but you will suffer forever the agonies and torments of the damned in hell. What is the little furnaces that the world tries to intimidate us with? The pressure of our peers and our friends and others around us. What are those furnaces compared to the eternal wrath of God in hell forever? But you don't have to go there. The good news of the gospel is that God in His great love has provided a Savior. And though your sins may be many, they may be mountains upon mountains upon mountains of sin. The blood of Christ cleanses us from all of our sin. When we put our trust in Him, and He is able and willing to save you, repent, come to Jesus Christ, and He will have mercy upon you. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved. Well, God willing, we'll come back tomorrow and we'll continue to work our way through this third chapter as we consider the stand that these three men took, some of the characteristics of that stand and some of the practical lessons that we can learn from it. So let's pray together. Our Father, we thank you tonight for your holy word. We thank you for how timely it is, how practical it is, how something that happened so many thousands of years ago is so relevant to our own lives and our own situation. We pray you'd help us to take these lessons to heart, to remember these things. And we pray that by God's grace, you would preserve us and keep us faithful to you all the way to the end, Lord. that we would not cave in to the pressures of this wicked world to turn away from our Savior. Help us to be faithful to you. Help us to stand where it's sometimes very difficult to stand, costly to stand. We pray, Father, for those in this room tonight who are outside of Christ. Lord, they are sitting ducks for Satan's attacks. They have no power to resist him. They're in bondage. The strong man holds them in his clutches. But Lord Jesus, you are stronger than him. And we pray that even this night and this weekend that you would come by the Spirit and that you would invade their house as it were, that you'd cast out the strong man. We pray, Father, that you would draw them to your Son, that you would open their eyes to see their dreadful, dreadful lost condition. and to see in Christ the perfect Savior, the glorious Savior, who is able and willing to save them. Oh Lord, we pray that in this men's conference, that not only will those of us who are Christians be built up in our faith, but we pray that you would snatch sinners from the clutches of Satan and rescue them, and that we would see sinners converted unto you. Hear our cry, O Father. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.