amazing things, amazing deliverance, amazing works the Lord worked through them. And in all of this, through faith, in the one true living God, they exhibited great courage. All of them faced tremendous opposition. Some even faced death. And that took courage. I would say tonight, who here wants to be courageous? Everyone wants to be courageous, right? Nobody wants to be a coward. Anybody get out of bed this morning and go, you know what, today I want to be the best coward I can be. It doesn't happen. You might not get out of bed and think, I want to be courageous today, but you know what? We do. We want to be courageous. And right after Hebrews 11, the hall of fame of faith, we have Hebrews 12. In verse 1 and 2 it says, Therefore, in light of this great cloud of witnesses, this hall of fame of faith, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." We have this great cloud of witnesses that surrounds us that have been recorded, men and women of great courage to encourage us. And I put some definitions, if you've got the handout going tonight, we've got some definitions there, of courage and encouragement. Courage being the mental or the moral strength, mental attitude or moral strength or virtue to persevere and to withstand danger, fear, and difficulty. Another gentleman defined it as a realistic confidence in the worth of a cause that motivates a positive action. In the life of the believer, is there not a cause? There is certainly a cause. In fact, there have been whole messages and even series that have been taught on is there not a cause. Is there not a cause to live for Jesus Christ? Is there not a cause to take your ambassadorship Seriously, is there not a cause to reach out to the lost with the message of the gospel? Is there not a cause to take a stand for righteousness? Is there not a cause to pass on the baton of truth, thinking as a parental role? Is there not a cause, if you're here today as a young man or a boy, to pick up that baton of truth and carry it forward? There's a cause. There's a worthy cause. And because of the value of that cause here, we should be filled with courage and encouragement. Because in running this race with endurance, it takes courage. There's going to be opposition. There's going to be disappointment. There's going to be setbacks. The world is not your friend out there. It wants to see nothing happen in regards to your spiritual success. And while it might be positive, and while it might from time to time pat you on the back and say, job well done, When it comes to making hay for the Lord Jesus Christ, it has absolutely no interest in seeing you be successful. And we have that here in the book of Daniel. We have an example of these young men here, likely still teenagers at the time the story begins, who face some severe opposition, who grew up in a time of great and tremendous disappointment. They saw their country lose its independence. It was conquered and it was subjugated to a foreign power. It was first by Egypt and shortly after that by the Babylonians. They had deposed and imposed leadership. After King Josiah died, the last righteous king of the nation of Judah, Jehoaz is anointed king by the Jews, but he's put down three months later. And the Egyptian pharaoh comes in and says, no, no, no. No, Jehoiakim, he's going to reign. He's going to be my guy in your country. But then Pharaoh loses control of the country and Nebuchadnezzar takes over on the scene. And now Jehoiakim is his vassal. The kingdom's been in tremendous decline since the death of Josiah. There was a time there for a period of just over 30 years where the pagan idol worship, some of it absolutely terrible, child sacrifice and everything, was finally done away with. True worship was now restored in the temple again. There was a national revival, a genuine national revival, and goodness was returning to the land, but that had come to an end. And as soon as Josiah died, all those that came after them practiced evil. just as Manasseh had done, it says. And their allies in the region are now getting subdued by Nebuchadnezzar as well. Any of the friends that they had in the region are no longer their friends. In fact, they turn on them. They're their enemies. They begin to raid the country, pillaging it. So now that there's want in the land again. You know, we're privileged to not know truly what want is. We've all been well-fed here. We haven't had to wonder if the water's going to come out of the spigot, if we're going to be hungry, if we're going to go home and have anything to eat after the men's camping trip. Those are just things that we're privileged to not have to consider right now. But that became a reality in the nation of Judah at this time. It became incredibly worldly. In fact, many of the advisors now, because Jeremiah, the prophet Jeremiah, is ministering in Judah during this time, and he's completely ignored. And if not ignored, he's persecuted. Godly wisdom is no longer appreciated in his nation. The people are taxed. The people are taxed so that the rulers can build for themselves mansions and palaces and storehouses. And in fact, they're taxed and then these rich rulers don't even pay their workers. And they start enslaving their brethren. The leaders heap to themselves false prophets, rejecting the words of the true living God they seek counsel elsewhere. And in fact, now the pagan idol worship is back on the scene in full force again. And Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and Daniel all grew up to see this. They likely saw the end of Josiah and they saw this terrible regression. It's kind of hard to see when you lose something. When you have it and you lose it. If you've never had it before, You know, it's kind of like you don't know any better, right? But when you have the chance to have something good and great and then to see it squandered and taken away, this becomes a time for them of great disappointment. And I think in some ways, even the last year and a half or two, apart from maybe perhaps some specific or unique trial that the Lord has allowed to touch your life, just the circumstances that we've lived through here have been kind of a time of disappointment. Not to the order of magnitude that Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had faced, but we weren't able to gather here last year. That was a disappointment. Some had VBS, some didn't. Some were able to gather with family, some weren't. Some had travel plans, maybe a family vacation that came together, it didn't. Some of the sporting events and the things that everyone likes to do over the course of last summer, many of them didn't come together. School has been a challenge. There's been all kinds of challenges and disappointments. And the thing with disappointment is one disappointment kind of compounds upon another, upon another, upon another, and before you know it, you can start to become discouraged. And after you become discouraged, all of a sudden doubt can start to enter in. I mean, if you think about these men here in Judah, would you not start to get discouraged? Would you not start to doubt the goodness of God? Seeing all of this calamity start to happen to not just your country, generically and in kind of a sterile fashion, it's easy to think of it like that. This is affecting your friends, your family, those that you grew up with. Everyone is now suffering in this nation. And where is the Lord in this? You might think, where is the deliverance? And you begin to doubt the goodness of God. And it takes courage to look beyond that and to by faith, knowing the goodness and the character of God, knowing the truth of the Word of God, knowing the precious promises of God's Word, to by faith trust that and to have courage to press on, to fight the good fight of faith. which is what these four gentlemen did. So as we move on here, finally they're carried away. So in Daniel chapter 1, Nebuchadnezzar finally comes up against Judah. He does it twice. This is the first time. And we'll read Daniel 1 verses 1 through 4. In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand with some of the articles of the house of God, which he carried into the land of Shinar, to the house of his God. And he brought the articles into the treasury of the house of his God. And then the king instructed Ashvanaz, the master of his eunuchs, to bring some of the children of Israel and some of the king's descendants and some of the nobles. Young men in whom there was no blemish, but good looking, gifted in all wisdom, possessing knowledge, and quick to understand, who had the ability to serve in the king's palace, and whom they might teach the language and the literature of the Chaldeans. So now Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are in these company that are carried away from the land of Judah. They're carried away for a life sentence of compulsory service in their enemy's government. That'd be a disappointment. They lost their country. They lost their city, they lost their homes, they lost their families, and access to their spiritual leadership. It's all gone. You know, in some ways it almost kind of sounds like the modern day college experience. Use your city, your home, your family, your spiritual leadership, but in spite of this, In spite of this loss, this hardship and the opposition and the disappointment, again, they remained faithful. And we'll see examples here shortly. So these gentlemen, as they're carried away, grew up in a time of great disappointment. And all of a sudden, it kind of culminates with we're finally, we're captured. We're getting taken away. We've lost everything that we've held dear. I forgot to fill that one in on the blank. But these men here were benefactors of faithful spiritual leadership. So at some point here, since pagan worship had become rampant in the country again, Daniel, Shadrach, and Meshach either had access, whether it was Jeremiah, Habakkuk had been ministering here, perhaps the remnants of the true worship and priesthood that Josiah had restored before was functioning. These men had benefited from being taught the Word of God. These men had also applied it themselves. They had taken what they had learned and they had made it their own. It's one thing to sit and warm a chair. It's another thing to make it your own. It had made all the difference for them as they were carried away. Again, they knew who God is. And by faith, in this moment, faith's a perilous unknown. You know, the unknown I was talking with was another believer on Wednesday night. And sometimes the most scary thing is simply just the unknown. It's just not knowing. It's knowing that something's coming and not knowing what it is. And in this case, I mean, where would your mind go? We're getting carried away by the Babylonians. How's this going to play out? Probably not good. You know, they just besieged our city and carried away the articles of the house of God. They're not friendly. And now we're carried away for compulsory service. But next we move on. We start to get some glimpses of where their heart was in all of this. Anyone could have whined. Anyone could have thrown in the towel and just said, I guess we're captured. We're just going to let life wash over us. And it is what it is. And these young men didn't. We'll pick it up in verse 8. But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with a portion of the king's delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank. And therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. Now God had brought Daniel into the favor and goodwill of the chief of the eunuchs. And the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, Well, but I fear my Lord, the king who has appointed you food and drink. Why should he see your faces looking worse than the young men who are your age? Then you would endanger my head before the king. But Daniel here, with humility and reason, says, Daniel said to the steward, whom the chief of the eunuchs had said over Daniel, Hananiah, Meshiael, and Azariah, please test your servants for 10 days, and give us vegetables to eat and water to drink, and then let our appearance be examined, and the appearance of the young men who eat the portion of the king's delicacies. And as you see fit, deal with your servants." And so the gentleman in charge of them, he consented with them in this manner and tested them for ten days. But the point is here that they sought not to defile themselves. And in not defiling themselves, they sought to honor God. They'd already been carried away here now to be instructed in all the language, literature, wisdom, customs, traditions, et cetera, et cetera, of a pagan culture. They've been given new Babylonian names by this point. These men did not want to defile themselves. They wanted to see God honored in what they did. Now that takes courage. Anybody here ever had to speak up for what is right before? Nah. Do you have to think about it a little bit? Kind of got the rouser speech going on inside your head, going, all right, you know what, this is the thing to do. We're just going to trust the Lord here. We're going to move out here. Got to do it, right? Because it takes some courage. It takes some thinking through going, you know what, the cause is worthy. I'm willing to perhaps face a little bit of persecution or some name calling or whatever it is. I mean, nobody here is going to get stuck to the wall with a spear these days. But it takes a little bit of a pep talk sometimes. We need courage and we need encouragement. But they speak up. You know, perhaps they were risking some friendship here. It says God had brought them into favor with this man. Oh, geez, if we start whining and asking for things, you know, he ain't going to like that. Maybe it's just best we keep our mouth shut here and see where this goes. No. No, they didn't want to defile themselves and they wanted to honor the Lord, so they spoke up. And they made a simple, humble request. And God honored that. But an interesting proverb here that perhaps, who knows, they had committed to memory at this time. But it's certainly one, it's a favorite memory verse in our home. But to keep your heart with all diligence for out of its spring the issues of life. And to keep your heart there really means to guard it. To be on guard. It was used in light of setting up a night watch around a garrison to guard it, thinking that there's imminent attack. And the truth is, as believers in Jesus Christ in a sin-cursed world, there is. There's always imminent attack. There's always a temptation to compromise on one little thing here, one little thing there. There's a temptation to get discouraged and to doubt. There's a temptation to just let it roll. and to not stand with courage at this point, and we'll just see what happens tomorrow, maybe it'll magically get better. I mean, that's the temptation. But we're to keep our heart, we're to guard our heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life, and these gentlemen did that. Because it says, as we read, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are right there with them. They didn't hide, they were right there with them. Let's just turn over a page here towards the end of chapter one. We'll see another example here of how they had applied themselves and sought to honor the Lord. As they're taught the language and literature of the Chaldeans. They're immersed in a foreign culture. A godless, well, not actually godless, but a polytheistic culture. Certainly opposed to the one true living God. And yet they're expected, in order to perform the duty that they've been captured and carried away for, to be well-steeped and versed in all of these things. They were to be astrologers. They were to serve with the rest of the magicians and the soothsayers of the court. They were exposed to all of this and immersed in it and had to excel in it. Which is interesting. Through all of that, through all of this worldly knowledge accumulation, they remained faithful. Verse 17, we'll pick it up here in chapter 1, says, And now at the end of the days, when the king had said that they should be brought in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them before Nebuchadnezzar, and the king interviewed them. And among them all, none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Therefore, they served before the king. And in all matters of wisdom and understanding about which the king examined them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers who are in all the realm." And thus Daniel continued until the first year of King Cyrus. Who came through for these guys? They sought to honor the Lord in who delivered. The Lord. Who delivers 10 times out of 10? It's not Shaft. It's God. It's the Lord. Every time. Every time. In fact, things get a little tougher for them, though. Now that they're serving, they're in the crowd, right? They're in the crowd of the Chaldeans, the magicians. You know, a prestigious group. These were the wise men of the land. These were who the king went to for advice and counsel. I mean, pretty awesome job, right? I mean, for getting carried away in captivity to Babylon, you landed a pretty good job, right? Would there not perhaps be a temptation to go, hey, let's just play it cool and ride it out. We're all set here. But the Lord gives Nebuchadnezzar a dream. We'll just run through it quick. He gives him a dream and Nebuchadnezzar is troubled by this and then he puts a test to the Chaldeans. because I'm sure he sees the smoke show that the magicians put up every day and he's probably looking for a chance to maybe get rid of a few of them. He says, I don't need these people in my year all day long with their charms and enchantments, etc. So he has a dream and now he calls for the Chaldeans, all the wise men of the land. You guys are going to tell me the dream and you're going to tell me the interpretation. And they kind of panic, because it's never happened that way before, right? Everybody always tells them the dream, and then they all kind of have a little confab and come together and go, well, this is what I think it means, and we're going to go tell the king. Well, the king says, I ain't telling you the dream. And they say, but you have to. And he says, no, no, no. No, you wise men and magicians. You tell me the dream and its interpretation. And if you don't, you're all dead. And being an absolute monarch, you can do stuff like that. So we'll pick it up in verse 14 of chapter 2. So Daniel here, he catches the guy that's carrying out the king's order to kill the wise men, verse 14. Then with all counsel and wisdom, Daniel approached Ariok, the captain of the king's guard, who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon. Remember, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and Daniel, they're all in this crowd too. Their head's on the chopping block here as well. He answered and said, and said to Ariok, the king's captain, why is the decree from the king so urgent? And then Ariok makes the decision of the king known to Daniel, and Daniel went in and asked the king to give him time that he might tell the king's interpretation. Now, that took some courage, right? The absolute monarch of the land that's coming to take your head off here. In fact, you catch the captain of the king's guard as he's about to go execute the king's command here and says, hey, can you just hold off for a second here? I want to go talk to the king. And you go before the king and you ask for a little more time. That took some courage. We'll find the reason why. Because Daniel had faith in who God is. Verse 17, then Daniel went to his house and he made the decision known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, that's Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that they might seek mercies from the God of heaven concerning the secret so Daniel and his companions might not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. He goes in and he asks the king for more time so that he can go home and he and his friends can pray. And God delivers. We won't go there, but God answers the prayer and tells him the dream and he gives him the interpretation. Which is a great application of another simple proverb we're all familiar with. It says, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths. This is what's happening in their life, and this is what can happen in your life and my life, when by faith we take God for who he is, add his word, and seek to honor him. We have a cause for courage. We can ask a king for some more time. We can stop the guard who's about to start killing all the wise men, and go, hey, hey, hey, just a second here. I have a God who can answer the prayer. I have a God who can deliver. So from the beginning here, we'll hit the handout blanks real quick. From the beginning of their captivity, they sought not to defile themselves, but honor God. And then when faced with execution, they prayed together. And then as we turn to the end of chapter two, we'll pick it up in verse 46. After Daniel explains, tells the king his dream and gives him the interpretation, then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face prostrate before Daniel and commanded that they should present an offering of incense to him. And the king answered Daniel and said, truly your God is the God of gods, the Lord of kings and the revealer of secrets, since you could reveal the secret. Then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts and made him ruler over the whole providence of Babylon. and chief administrator over all the wise men of Babylon. Also Daniel petitioned the king and he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the affairs of the province of Babylon. But Daniel himself sat in the gate of the king." You know what, when success came, when faced with execution, they prayed together, and when success came, they stayed together. Daniel didn't get promoted and go, you know what, finally, I've got what I've been looking for here, and you know what, my faithful friends, you know what, that have been with me the whole time, that have been a source of encouragement for me, you know, finally, I've got to where I want to be, and good luck to you folks. I'm encouraged by that, because that's often a temptation, and oftentimes you see it. People finally get to where they want to be, and then who needs you anymore? Right? I don't need you. You know, you were great five years ago when I had a need, but you know what? I don't have any needs. Now I got everything I want, and who needs you? That's not how they operated. They stayed together. And again, was God faithful to deliver them? Absolutely. Absolutely. They stepped out by faith, it took courage, and God delivered. But now another unique test comes upon these guys. And as we start in chapter 3, it's probably worth noting that many scholars believe that now some significant time has passed. Because as you go through chapter 3, Nebuchadnezzar has obviously forgot what he just said in these last few verses about the one true God being the God of gods and the Lord of kings. He's likely gone back now for the for the second time, laid siege to Jerusalem and taken anybody and everything that could go. He took it all. He cleaned house. The only thing left were the poor and the destitute now in the land of Judah. And he's probably thinking, he's pretty big stuff. He conquered the one true living God, the God of Judah. His gods have triumphed over them now, and now he's got cause to celebrate. So verse one of chapter three, Nebuchadnezzar, the king, made an image of gold whose height was 60 cubits and whose width was six cubits. He set it up in the plain of Dur in the providence 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 providence to come to the dedication of the image which King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. He's feeling pretty good about himself, and he puts an idol up there to do it. And what's interesting about this is Shadrach and Meshach and Abednego now are going to be faced with the decision is, like many things in life, we have a chance to see what direction things are going. We understand what's coming. Have you ever stopped and thought about, you know, what's the golden image the world's building for me today? It's got one for you. It's got one for your sons. And it wasn't constructed overnight. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego here got to watch this construction project out in the plain of Dura go on for months, if not longer. What's he doing? In fact, they probably didn't have to wonder. They were in a position of authority in Babylon. They probably knew exactly what was going on. And not only that, as he sends out this decree to go gather everybody from all the corners of the empire here, we're going to come and have a gathering of dedication, you know, that took some time, too. And it wasn't an email. And it wasn't a quick drive to Babylon. It took time with a horse and a rider. But Proverbs 22.3 says, A prudent man foresees evil, and he hides himself. But the simple pass on and are punished. The word hides there is actually the Hebrew word for guard. To protect against a perceived danger. And how often do you and I give consideration to what is the world up to? What golden image is being built for me? What golden image is being built for my sons? What is there? Because a prudent man, when he foresees evil, would guard himself. And I think that's exactly what Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did. They had the opportunity to see this image being constructed for quite some time. They had time to know that the decree has gone out and everybody's going to gather and dedicate this image. They had time. to guard their heart, to think about it. We're going to be faced with a decision here, and what are we going to do? Is this the hill we're going to die on? Turns out it is. Turns out it is. But as we think about living in a world that's completely opposed to us as children of God, what is the hill that you're willing to die on? And that's between you and the Lord. But it's worth giving you to think, because there's a hill out there somewhere. And the prudent man foresees the evil, and he guards himself. But let's pick it up here. We'll go to chapter 3, verses 4 and 6. So then the herald cried aloud, and said to you, It is commanded, O peoples, nations, languages, that at the time you hear the sound of the horn, the flute, the harp, the lyre, the psaltery, the symphony, with all kinds of music, you shall fall down and worship The golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. And whoever does not fall down and worship, shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning and fiery furnace. While the hill to die on has appeared now, the decree goes out. Here's the deal, you're gonna fall down, you're gonna worship this image, and if you don't, you're going in the furnace. So what do they do? The music goes off, the harp and the psaltery and the symphony and all the jazz. And who's left standing? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And how does the crowd respond? Let's pick it up in verse 8 of chapter 3. Now therefore at that time there were certain Chaldeans, I'm sure who weren't envious at all that Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had been exalted to leader of the Chaldeans and great administrators in the land of Babylon. But these certain Chaldeans come forward and accuse the Jews. It's those Jews you let into this country. And they spoke and said, O King Nebuchadnezzar, O King, live forever. You, O King, have made a decree that everyone who hears the sound of all the music And whoever does not fall down and worship, verse 11 here, shall be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. There are certain Jews who you have set over the affairs of the providence 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 golden image which you have set up. And Nebuchadnezzar is a fit. He's furious. What is this? And he calls these men before him. And now they've got to answer. They're face to face with the king, who's in full fury, who's ready to throw him into the furnace. We'll start in verse 15. He says, now if you are ready, I'm going to give you a second chance. We're going to play all the tunes again. You're going to fall down in worship. Now, if you're ready, at the time you hear the sound of the horn, the flute, the harp, the lyre, the psalter, the symphony, with all kinds of music, you shall fall down and worship the image which I have set up and made, and that is good. But if you do not worship, you shall be immediately cast amidst the burning, fiery furnace. And who is the God who will deliver you out of my hands? Now, would this be a moment where it would take some courage? We'd be thinking, okay, you know, we stood once. It's not really panning out for us here. Yeah, I guess. I mean, all we've got to do is bow down, right? I mean, really? We could bow down. We don't have to be sincere. We could just bow down, but we're still going to worship God. I mean, how many compromises would you be trying to rationalize yourself into at this point? Quite a few, probably. I would be. I'd be thinking it through going, Jesus, is it worth it? Really? Fiery furnace? No, no. But Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, being the men of faith and courage that they are here, boldly answer the king in verse 16. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter, because you should have known better. If that is the case, our God, whom we serve, is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us from your hand, O king, But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the golden image which you have set up. You know, and that went over like a fart in a space suit with King Nebuchadnezzar. He's furious. He's full of fury. He's fully enraged. Because not only have they not bowed down, you know, like the three dudes standing up in the crowd, he's drawn them forward. They're standing right in front of him now, in front of all the counselors, the governors, and the whatnots of the land, and they defy him. That took some courage. So he's full of fury, and what does he do? Well, he heats the furnace up seven times and he chucks in Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. But who delivers? You, young man. God delivers. God delivers. And we'll pick this up here in verse 23. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound in the midst of the fiery furnace. And then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished. And he rose in haste and he spoke saying to his counselors, do we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fiery furnace? And the answer is said, true, O king. Well, look, he answered, I see four men loose walking in the midst of the fire and they are not hurt. And the form of the fourth is like the son of God. And Nebuchadnezzar comes near the mouth of the burning fiery furnace. He spoke, saying, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out and come here. You know, he peeks in there and he sees something like this. And he's astonished. Whoa! Never seen that happen before. He's amazed. Not only is he amazed, everybody's standing there watching this whole show. Every counselor, governor, magistrate, everybody, the who's who of Babylon are all there witnessing this whole event. And what's his conclusion here? Verse 28. Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who sent his angel and delivered his servants who trusted in him, And they have frustrated the king's word and yielded their bodies, that they should not serve nor worship any god except their own god. Therefore I make a decree that any people, nation, or language which speaks anything amiss against the god of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be cut in pieces, and their house shall be made an ash heap, because there is no other god who can deliver like this." That's pretty amazing. So these three men, with courage and boldness, take a stand for what is right. They don't compromise. And God delivers them. And in all of this, who is honored? God. God's honored tremendously. This whole scene goes down in front of the who's who of Babylon. The king and all who reign or have a position of power and authority in the whole land. Everybody gets to see God's deliverance because of this. And not only that, what's really amazing is an outcome here of Nebuchadnezzar's decree is that the Jews all of a sudden have tremendous religious freedom in the land, right? At this time, the whole nation of Judah has been captured and carried away. And what happens to anybody if they speak against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, or Abednego? Well, cut in pieces and your house is made in Ashi. So is anyone going to bother the Jews? No, no one's going to bother the Jews. And think about it from the exiled Jews' perspective. You have just went through this time of great decline in your country. And during the second siege Nebuchadnezzar lays against the city, it's a terrible time. It lasts for about 30 months. There's starvation, cannibalism, everything else occurs in the city. It's an awful siege. And these people now are captured and carried away into Babylon. Do you think they'd be a bit discouraged? Do you think they'd be doubting the goodness of God? but to now firsthand hear and see the amazing deliverance that God performs for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. What an encouragement that would be to know that, yes, the one true living God is for real. He's really at work and he's here with you. And that's the God we have, a God who can deliver, a God who can encourage. A God who, through faith in Him, His character, His truths, His promises, you know, the fear of the unknown should not be a fear of the unknown. We should have great courage in light of the unknown. All the what-ifs. What if this? What if that? What if this happens tomorrow? What if that? Those things are small in comparison to the ability of our Lord to deliver, and therefore we should have great courage. We can have great courage personally as children of God in being ambassadors for Christ. It takes courage sometimes to reach out to people with the gospel. They have courage in that. I am so thankful that over 20 years ago somebody had enough courage to present me with the gospel. Time and time and time and time again. Anyone here thankful for someone who had enough courage to share the message of the gospel with them tonight? Amen. Anyone here thankful for spiritual leadership that's had enough courage to persevere and endure in light of opposition and everything else to be able to feed you the Word of God so that you're equipped as you are today? Hear, hear. Anyone here hope that they can have enough courage to carry on the baton of truth and pass it on to their children or their children's children someday? Absolutely. Absolutely. And that's why these guys are recording scripture for us. What an encouragement. A powerful encouragement. People that, through simple faith in who their God is, took a stand for what it was right. They demonstrated courage, and you know what? God delivered for them. So with that, as we think about our handout here, hopefully you've been filling it out. We'll put those up for a minute. But thinking about where we started in Hebrews chapter 12, one and two, what a great cloud of witnesses. And since we're surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight. The stuff that bogs us down, holds us back, causes us to be fearful, causes us to not, by faith, exhibit great courage. Let's lay those weights aside. Because we have example after example after example after example for us in the word of God of men and women who have trusted the Lord, who were courageous, and God-delivered. And I think if we're honest and we look back in our own lives, how many times has God delivered for you? Time and time again. Consider those things and let us be encouraged with those things here this evening. Why don't we close with a word of prayer? Family, Father, we are very grateful. Just what a privilege it is to be able to have a camping trip here this year, to be able to gather together with believers of like and precious faith this evening, to be able to open up a copy of your very own word, Father, to see such powerful examples, Father, of young men who were faithful, who knew who their God was, entrusted you fully, who sought to honor you, Father, and were used mightily to provide encouragement and deliverance for many. Father, as we just consider those who've been courageous and gone before us, we do thank you for those who you put in our paths, Father, to share with us the message of the gospel. and we could come to the realization of what Christ has done for us in dying on the cross, to see that eternal life is a gift freely offered to anyone who would put their faith, their confidence, 100% of their trust in Him alone as their Savior. We just thank you for those that you did direct and put in our paths, and that, Father, and that even as we consider that we're all ambassadors for Christ here this evening, that we would prayerfully consider whom you might have us to courageously and boldly perhaps open our mouth to and share the gospel with. Again, a thank you for all the labor that has gone into the camp here, Father, for those even who have prepared food and meals and the planning that's gone into this to provide for such a tremendous time of fellowship and encouragement with one and others of many local churches. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.