The scripture reading is back in Isaiah 44, starting at verse 9. Isaiah 44, starting at verse 9. We're going to be looking in Daniel chapter 3 in a moment where we will see the folly of idolatry by Nebuchadnezzar, and that's what Isaiah This section of Isaiah 44 addresses, starting at verse 9. All who fashion idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit. Their witnesses neither see nor know that they may be put to shame. Who fashion to God or cast an idol that is profitable for nothing, behold, All his companions shall be put to shame. And the craftsmen are only human. Let them all assemble. Let them stand forth. They shall be terrified. They shall be put to shame together. The ironsmith takes a cutting tool and works it over the coals. He fashions it with hammers and works it with his strong arm. He becomes hungry and his strength fails. He drinks no water and is faint. The carpenter stretches a line. He marks it out with a pencil. He shapes it with planes and marks it with a compass, shapes it into the figure of a man with the beauty of a man to dwell in a house. He cuts down cedars or he chooses a cypress tree or an oak and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a cedar and the rain nourishes it. Then it becomes fuel for a man. He takes a part of it and warms himself. He kindles a fire and bakes bread. Also, he makes a god and worships it. He makes it an idol and falls down before it. Half of it he burns in the fire. Over the half he eats meat. He roasts it and is satisfied. Also, he warms himself and says, ah, I'm warm. I've seen the fire. And the rest of it he makes into a god. his idol, and falls down to it and worships it. He prays to it and says, deliver me, for you are my God. They know not, nor do they discern, for he has shut their eyes so that they cannot see, and their hearts so that they cannot understand. No one considers, nor is there knowledge or discernment to say, half of it I burn in the fire. I also baked bread on its coals. I roasted meat and have eaten. And shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood? He feeds on ashes. A deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, is there not a lie in my right hand? And there is a great uh... holy sarcasm the lord in his word is mocking the foolishness of man those who make them shall be like them as the psalmist said what we worship we come to resemble when we worship the true and living god well then we grow in holiness and and in the likeness of him. Well, let's come to this third chapter of Daniel and see the folly of man. And let's ask the Lord to bless the time in his word. Father, we come now to this great chapter in the book of Daniel. We pray that The lessons contained here for us that you would have us learn are that you would drive them home into our minds and hearts, that we would understand your word, that we would believe it, that we would love it, that you would use by your spirit your word to increase our faith and cause us to love and serve you more. And we pray this in Christ's name, amen. Well, this third chapter of Daniel virtually preaches itself, as you're going to see. Once again, we're seeing the corruption of man, who always craves worship. As he exalts himself, he wants to be Worshipped, he refuses to acknowledge the living and true God. And that's the heart of sin. That's what happened in Eden, when the serpent came to Adam and Eve, right? You shall be as God. There it is. That's Satan's desire. I will ascend to the heavens. I will be like the Most High, and so forth. And that's the lie that he deluded Adam and Eve with, and every person. dead in sin still is diluted by that lie. So all of the corruption and evils that we see working around us in life today that we've seen really come to evidence itself in our own nation in the last few years especially is motivated by one thing. You see man exalted to some office in a nation and so forth, a king or a president and so on. And he lusts to be as God and to be bowed down to. This is if you want to understand sin, you must understand those things. And certainly, A great picture of man in his sin is what we call the narcissist. And if you read up on the characteristics of a narcissist, you will see with some more clarity the nature of sin. As we already mentioned in the first session this morning when we heard Lloyd-Jones speak to us on Daniel chapter 7, We should all be very much praying for President Trump now, that he would never succumb to that trap that the devil always wants to put before him, but especially someone in his position. And that's that evil of pride. It's the snare of the devil. And we're going to see that sin here in King Nebuchadnezzar here in this chapter. And you would think that when we get to, you would think that he'd already learned his lesson about this from the events in the previous chapter. But here comes his pride and his lust for self-glory again. Chapter 2 had ended with, you remember, that the king had had a dream. And he calls on his wise men to come and interpret. And Daniel is the one. who is enabled by God to interpret that dream. And here's just a summation of it from chapter 2 to set the context for us in chapter 3. You, O King, were looking, and behold, there was a single great statue. That statue, which was large and of extraordinary splendor, was standing in front of you, and its appearance was awesome. The head of that statue was made of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. You continued looking until a stone was cut out without hands and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed all at the same time and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors. And the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth." So as we saw last time, this was a vision of human history given in advance, the secession of these great world empires of Babylon, that head of gold, Media, Persia, the silver of the image. Greece comes along with Alexander the Great, and then Rome until the kingdom of God then finally comes and does away with them all and fills the earth and is a kingdom that lasts then forever. We would have thought then, as I said, that Nebuchadnezzar, from what Daniel told him about that dream, interpreting that dream, would have learned his lesson and learned to acknowledge God. In fact, this is what he said at the end of chapter 2. Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face and did homage to Daniel and gave orders to present to him an offering and fragrant incense. The king answered Daniel and said, surely your God is a God of gods and a Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, since you have been able to reveal this mystery. All right? So we think, oh, there, you know, Nebuchadnezzar. He's humble, and he's finally got it. But as we're going to see here in chapter 3, the lesson that he learned there was short-lived, and it was only partial. He hasn't acknowledged that there's only one living and true God. He's told Daniel that surely your God is a God among the gods, right? He still holds on to his old gods. But he still doesn't get it. And once again, then, he is consumed by pride. So here's the first six verses, then. of chapter three. Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, the height of which was 60 cubits, and its width six cubits. He set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent word to assemble the satraps, the prefects, and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates, all the rulers of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar, the king, had set up. Then the satraps, the Aramaics, they were big on lists and repeating the lists. And you'll see that here. Then the satraps, the prefects, the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates, And all the rulers of the provinces were assembled for the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. And they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Then the herald loudly proclaimed, to you the command is given, O peoples, nations, and men of every language. That at the moment you hear the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery, bagpipe, and all kinds of music, You are to fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar, the king, has set up. But whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire." So here's his thinking. This is surely what has been going on. In the previous chapter, in that vision that God had given him, He, his kingdom, and he himself was represented in that first image in his dream by the head of what? Of gold. The head of gold. And then there's another kingdom's going to come, silver, and another one, and so forth. And down and down it goes. So he, no doubt, gets to thinking about this. And he's thinking, you know, My kingdom is never going to be conquered by another kingdom. That's not going to happen. I'm going to improve upon this image that I saw in my dream, and I am going to command that an image be made and the whole thing is gold from head to foot. In other words, Of his kingdom, there will be no end. That's what he is saying by making, then, this image. And so he makes the image. It's 60 cubits high and 6 cubits wide, a cubit being, they think, about a foot and a half. So you're looking at a 90-foot statue, 9 feet wide. And it's set up on a plane. that's no doubt like really flat country there, you would have been able to see this thing from miles, from miles away and a very long distance. And he gives this order through his heralds. And he tells them all people's nations meant a very language because he had conquered many different nations and subjected the people to his kingdom. And the herald says, when the orchestra starts playing, that's your key to bow down to this statue and worship it. In other words, worship the King Nebuchadnezzar. That's what this was all about. Edward Young, in his commentary on Daniel, gives some insight here. He says, it was a common practice of the Assyrian kings to erect images of themselves with laudatory, self-praising inscriptions in conquered cities or provinces as symbols of their dominion, the usual expression in such cases being, a great image of royalty I made. When Daniel called the king the head of gold, chapter 2, the king became puffed up with pride. and decided to erect a golden image. Thus, the image represented the deified Nebuchadnezzar, to worship me as God, you see. And then this isn't voluntary worship. This is the typical worship of a tyrant. It's accompanied by a threat. Whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire. You saw the same thing in the early church experience in Rome, right? Representatives of Caesar would come around to your town And everyone there was to offer incense to an image of Caesar and declare Kaiser Curios, Kaiser Curios. Of course, the Christians would say Jesus is Lord, right? Jesus Curios, Jesus is Lord. But this would be Caesar is Lord. And then once you offered your incense, burned your incense to this image, they would issue you this little certificate that you would have. And it's really kind of a forerunner of receiving the mark of the beast that we read about in Revelation, then, you see. And so here it is. Nebuchadnezzar comes along. You better bow down. It's a flat place. Anybody still standing up when the orchestra's playing is going to be spotted then right away. Well, here then are these three friends of Daniel. And they know that they cannot, they must not, Worship any other God except Yahweh. They know that. Exodus 20, you shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate me. showing loving kindness to thousands, to those who love me and keep my commandments." Now, in these kind of situations, the response of the masses of the people, the large majority of the people, is always going to be, well, of course, it's a no-brainer. We're going to bow down and worship. I mean, I don't want to be thrown into that fiery furnace. And that's exactly what happens here. Verse 7, therefore, at that time, when all the peoples heard the sound of the, and I'll just say orchestra, right? all these instruments, all the people's nations and men of every language fell down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. So there it was. That's what the mass of humanity is always going to do. As soon as they do that, they punch their ticket to hell. You see that again in Revelation. Whoever receives the mark of the beast, that's it. You belong then to the beast. Well, no doubt out of jealousy, because we're told, as you'll see here in verse 8, certain Chaldeans, that's another name for These weren't just subjects from different nations. These were native Babylonians, these Chaldeans. And no doubt, out of jealousy, due to the fact that the king, Nebuchadnezzar had chosen and appointed Daniel and his three friends to the high offices that they held then in the land. You can bet that these other, the Chaldeans, well, they don't like that. They're jealous of them, and they're just looking for some way to get even. You'll see that same spirit again in chapter 6 in the account of Daniel and the lion's den and so forth. But here they come with their flattering speech. In Daniel 6, the account of Daniel and the lion's den, it's the same kind of individuals that put the idea to give an edict that for the next 30 days everybody has to worship the king. That it was them that went to the king and gave him the idea and he was dumb enough to sign the edict that he couldn't get out of. And so it wouldn't surprise me if, in this case, one of these Chaldeans had put the seed of this idea for building this image and commanding everybody to bow down into the king's head. But he chose it. He does it. He is the one that issues the command. Well, we read about this all then, this plot, starting in verse 8. For this reason, at that time, certain Chaldeans came forward and brought charges against the Jews. They responded and said to Nebuchadnezzar the king, oh, king, live forever. You know, they're going to flatter him. You, oh, king, have made a decree that every man who hears the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery, and bagpipe, all kinds of music, is to fall down and worship the golden image. But whoever does not fall down, so they're going to. almost patronize him. It's like, remember what you said? You know, whoever doesn't fall down in worship shall be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire. There are certain Jews whom you've appointed, whom you have appointed over the administration of the province of Babylon. The idea here is, and King, you gave these Jews privileges, and look at how they're returning the favor that you've done. This is the kind of wicked scheming that's going on here. There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the administration of the province of Babylon, namely Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, have disregarded you. They do not serve your gods or worship the golden image which you have set up. You know, in Rome, I've only read the first part of it, but in Augustine's book, and it's a thick one, The City of God, he talks about the experience of the early Christians in Rome, in the Roman Empire, and how they were persecuted and slandered. And one of the charges that were brought against them Because the pagans had plundered Rome itself at that time. They'd already invaded and plundered Rome. And one of the charges that were brought as a result against the early Christians is, you guys have offended the gods of Rome. You refuse to worship the gods of Rome. And now this is why this has happened, you see. So, well, it's a similar type thing here. These Jews, O king, they don't serve your gods, and they don't obey you. The king is a fool. The pride of man always turns the man into a fool. A fool. So because here's these three Jews, they were a great asset to Nebuchadnezzar. He knew they were Jews. He had to know something about them that, of course, they weren't going to bow down. They benefited him greatly. They excelled in wisdom and ability. That's the reason he chose them for the offices that he had put them in. He's going to cut the branch off that he's sitting on. He's going to kill these men who are of a benefit to him. So verse 13, then Nebuchadnezzar in rage and anger. This guy, he's given to this, this rage and anger. Gave orders to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Then these men were brought before the king. Nebuchadnezzar responded and said to them, is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I've set up? Now, if you are ready, at the moment you hear the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trident, psaltery, and bagpipe, and all kinds of music, to fall down and worship the image that I've made very well. But if you do not worship, you will immediately be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire." And then here is a, you see, the book of Daniel has a consistent theme. It's that God is the God of gods, that he is sovereign. He's the sovereign Lord, that he rules over Babylon. and over the king. And so Nebuchadnezzar, in his rage and his sin, he asks a pertinent question, only he does it with an evil motive. The question he says, and what God is there who can deliver you out of my hands? Now, he would say, you see how arrogant he's become there? He's like, I'm higher than you. any god if i say you're going in the furnace you're going in the furnace and no god there isn't any god that's higher than me can can get you out of this well as it turns out his question is going to be answered not the way that he thought what god is there who can deliver you out of my hands well he's about to find out now Here's this moment of decision for these three young Jewish men. And it's not a unique decision. It's a decision that every single Christian has to face in one degree or another. Bow down and worship the image, everything will be OK. Refuse to bow down and worship the image, you're going in the furnace. There it is. And as I said, to one degree or another, in one form or another, every Christian is going to be faced with that kind of a dilemma, that kind of a choice. It's going to happen. Jesus was saying to them all, If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. Remember the rich young ruler? Sell everything you have, come follow me. Keep everything you have, you cannot be my disciple. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake, he's the one who will save it. For what is a man profiting if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the son of man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory. and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels." And we see this theme repeated over and over again. Paul told Timothy, indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Beware when all men speak well of you. Anyone claims to be a Christian, but you don't know anything about what this is talking about then examine yourself and take care if all men speak well of you. 1 Peter 4, beloved, don't be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you which comes upon you for your testing as though some strange thing were happening to you. But to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing so that Also, at the revelation of his glory, you may rejoice with exultation. If you're reviled for the name of Christ, you're blessed because the spirit of glory and of God rests on you. And nothing's different today. You know, I think, is it in Philippians where we're told that Paul was, Paul said he just It weighs upon him because so many people who had initially claimed to follow Christ were now had fallen away, gone the way of the world. And that's Broadway. Many are they who find it, who travel on it. And nothing is any different today than it was for these three young Jews. every Christian, every genuine Christian, at one point or at many points in your life, you are going to be ordered by the world to bow down to an image. And if you don't, then, well, in history, some have been burned at the stake as a result, you see. But we see it today, right? I mean, it's not hard to think of examples like this. Bow down and accept the so-called transsexuals onto your team or else you can't be on the team or your team will be disqualified and you can just forget about that athletic scholarship that you were going to get as a result. Bow down and embrace the evolutionary basis of science. And if you don't, you can just forget about that career in science that you were going to Pursue and you'll be kicked out of the university. Bow down and worship by accepting an ecumenical spirit in your denomination. And if you don't, you're going to be labeled a troublemaker and expelled from the, you know, that's the story of, oh man, now his name is going to, let me, the early Presbyterian in the early 1900s. that they kicked out. And he founded the Orthodox Presbyterian. What? Well, not Huxom, although he suffered. Yeah, the Orthodox, the OPC. But at any rate, that's what happened. The so-called Christian Reform Presbyterian denomination expelled him from the university where he was teaching as well, or bow down and accept all perversions of human sexuality around us today, or you're going to lose your job. This happens to people all the time. We've seen athletes, and some of them have have stood, they've paid the price, where they're told, you need to wear these pride colors on your uniform. And if you don't do it, well, then there's going to be consequences. And so Nebuchadnezzar's golden image, and the order to bow down and worship it, are still with us today. And they always have been, along with the threats of the fiery furnace. Here is the result. And the question then comes right home to each one of us, what will we do when we're faced with those kind of situations? You know, here's these three young men. Come on. Why do you want to cause trouble for us and for everybody else, yourselves? Just bend your knee. It's just a little thing. All you've got to do is take this little bit of incense and burn it in front of this little image of Caesar, and everything's going to be OK. Why would you want to bring all these trouble and consequences down upon your head? John Bunyan experienced that. They told him, look, here you are in prison and separated from your wife, children, All you have to do is agree to stop preaching, right? That's all you have to do, and we'll let you out. But he knew full well that he had to remain faithful to the Lord. I think it's important for us to understand that when we stand for the Lord like this, and like these three young men were doing, just get ready for it. You are gonna be told that you are the problem. You're the troublemaker. You're the one that's being divisive. Come on, just agree with the Pope on this. You're the one that's being schismatic and separating from the true church, you know? All those kinds of things are going to come at you. So for a young person, for example, in school, here's the coach of their athletic team or the principal of their school. Or for anyone that's in the workplace and gets called in to the human resources department for some reason, or in a church denomination. You're called to meet with the leader of the denomination, hauled into their office. And you can tell that you're in trouble. You're being stubborn and uncooperative. You're the problem, and you'd better come around to our way of thinking or else. That's how this thing goes down. And that's what was happening with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. The enemies of these three men knew full well from the start that they weren't going to bow down. That's why I think that some of these enemies were actually at the root of putting this idea in the king's head. They'd seen the faithfulness of these three young men. You remember the book of Daniel starts out with them not wanting with Daniel and them not wanting to eat food that had been sacrificed to idols. And so there was that test. If you do not worship, you will immediately be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire. What God is there who can deliver you out of my hands? And so there's the image. The crowd is there and waiting. The king is waiting. The furnace is blazing. What are they going to do? And bring it home, what are you going to do? What am I going to do? This church. would have a whole lot more people in it if being a Christian didn't cost anything. But most people who profess to be Christians have never had to pay any kind of a price. They'll bow down to, well I didn't, you know, I didn't really worship the image. I don't really believe Caesar is God. I just went through the motions. That's all. Jesus won't have that. He won't fall for that. No. You burned incense to the image. You bowed down then to the image. So the pressure is on us to compromise then in some way. Just do this little thing here and you won't lose your job. Come on, just go along with things and you'll be able to stay on the team. Some of the price that's typically paid, that's required to be paid by the Lord, is remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Remember the Lord's day. Don't forsake the gathering together of the saints. Well, I had this going. I had that going. You know, if I've got that thing happening over there, well, the Lord understands I can't come to church because what? Because what, you see? Being a Christian costs us something. There's a cost to follow Christ. And if we're not willing to pay that price, well, then we can't be his disciples. So what did these three do? Well, here it is in verses 16 to 18. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O King. But even if he does not, let it be known to you, O King," and here they put it in like super clear terms, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you've set up. We're not going to do it. Here's this holy defiance. What are they saying? Throw me off the team, cancel my scholarship, prohibit me from entering the university, fire me from my job, throw me out of the church, do what you will. I'm not going to conform and bow down to your false god. I'm not going to do it. This kind of a thing we've experienced in our church here, we've experienced this numbers of times. I think every time we've tried to be part of a denomination, we've been labeled troublemakers and basically told to get out. So in one of the cases, a so-called conservative evangelical denomination that we were in for a time, they rewrote the Constitution. A committee had rewritten the Constitution on bylaws of that denomination. And then they handed out copies of it. And as you read it, I mean immediately, it was like so obvious. Now this was like probably close to 20 years ago. But they were already into pronouns. They changed the pronouns in the original constitution so that they were gender neutral. Now, why would you do that? Why would you do that? Well, it's a conservative Bible-believing denomination and churches, and why would you? Well, because we, you know, now they refuse to come out and say this, but, well, You know, we kind of have an agenda on the back burner here that someday we want to ordain women to the ministry of the pastorate and elders and so forth. But we don't believe the Bible permits that and instructs that. So you can see what's happening. And then once you yield to that, then pretty soon here comes all the perversions of gender so forth down the line. Well, anyway, we told him that. We said, you've changed the pronouns. You've made this document gender neutral. Oh, no. No, we didn't do that. That's not what we're intending here. And I remember telling him, so you threw the gold into the fire and the calf jumped out. That's what you did. Aaron's calf had jumped out. Is that what you did? And of course, immediately, we're labeled, well, this denomination is not the place for you. And well, they were right. It wasn't the place then for us. But this is the kind of thing that you will run into. Whereas the pressure is on, why can't we all just get along? Why do you have to make an issue out of this? Why? Because your way is broad way, and Christ's way is the narrow way. That's why we're making a deal then out of this. Let it be known to you, O King, we're not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up. We're not going to then conform. God had given them this faith, and they knew that he insists upon full and complete obedience. No one's going to get into heaven by having one foot in the world and supposedly one foot in Christ's kingdom. What did they mean when they said, we don't need to give you an answer concerning this matter? Well, what they meant was, King, in this regard, you do not have authority over us. Your authority as a king is given to you by God. but he has not given you authority to go against his word, to go against him. He has not given you authority to bind men's conscience, to demand that we bow down to this image. You have no authority to do that, so we don't need to give you an answer concerning this matter. This is true in regard to the state The Lord is the one who has ordained the civil authorities. And he's given them certain powers, specifically to restrain evil. That's the specific function of government, is to restrain evil. But God has not given the state authority to bind men's conscience. So for instance, When your employer, if your employer would come to you and say, hey, here's these nice little pride stickers here, and we would like to have all of our employees have them on their desk. So here's yours, just stick it on your desk there. Your employer has no authority to do that, none whatsoever, to require it. No one has authority to push those kinds of issues down the throats of the citizens then. And our response to all of these efforts is to simply say, well, go ahead and dismiss me from my job, throw me off the team, expel me from the university. I am not going to worship your gods. I am not going to comply. You have no authority, then, to do this. Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with wrath, and his facial expression was altered toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He answered by giving orders to heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated. He commanded certain valiant warriors who were in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in order to cast them into the furnace of blazing fire. Then these men were tied up in their trousers, their coats, their caps, and other clothes, and were cast in the midst of the furnace of blazing fire. That's the wrath of Satan. And you face that. You will face that when you say, no, I won't conform. I'm going to be faithful to Christ and do what you will. And you don't want to yield to the accusation that you're the problem. You're the one that's causing that causing the trouble. No, King, you're the one that's causing the trouble by giving this idolatrous order then in the first place. Consider the pressure these young men had been on. They were young. They were captives in a foreign land. They were talking to the absolute monarch of the world, King Nebuchadnezzar of the most powerful kingdom. They didn't have any powerful friends to support them. And there's, you can feel the heat from the furnace already and they're heating it up. And yet the Lord's faith, the faith that the Lord's given us goes into action at those times. Here's this great passage from Isaiah 43. And I bet these three young men had read this passage before. But now, thus says the Lord, your creator, O Jacob, and he who formed you, O Israel, do not fear, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by name. You are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, nor will the flame burn you." Once again, Nebuchadnezzar is going to be humbled now. Here it is, verse 21. Then these men, who were tied up in their trousers, their coats, their caps, and their other clothes, and were cast into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire. For this reason, because the king's command was urgent and the furnace had been made extremely hot, the flame of the fire, this is almost comical here, the fire slew those men who carried up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. But these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell in the midst of the furnace of blazing fire still tied up. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astounded and stood up with haste. Now, whatever the structure of this furnace was, it was big enough that they could be walking around in it. And it was big enough that you could see into it. Maybe it was something like one of those old wigwam burners that used to be around here all the time. There used to be one up in Miami. I think it was about one of the last ones that we've seen, but those things would get incredibly, incredibly hot. But at any rate, Nebuchadnezzar the king was astounded and stood up in haste. He said to his high officials, it's kind of like this, like, you guys, was it not three men we cast down in the midst of the fire? They replied to the king, certainly, O king. He said, look. I see four men, loosed, walking about in the midst of the fire without harm, and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods." So their bonds had been burned off of them. But their clothes weren't singed. And they were just walking around in there, talking to this divine being. Who is this one that's with them that looks like a son of the gods? Who is this? Anyway, he's just like blown away. I think, and it's probably an orthodox position, that this was the pre-incarnate Lord Jesus Christ who was with them. He's like one of the son of the gods, and one of his names that he used for himself in the Gospels is the Son of Man, and so forth. So here's this great promise. And it's repeated numbers of times in scripture. When you stand for Christ, when you refuse to bow down to the image, when you say to the world, well, do what you will, I'm not going to conform, I'm not going to do it, you won't be alone. You will not be alone. God's promise, Christ's promise to us is absolute. Psalm 23, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Acts 18, the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, don't be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you. And no man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have many people in this city." Well, Nebuchadnezzar calls out to them. He came near to the door of the furnace of blazing fire. Must have kind of died down after a while. He responded and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, come out, you servants of the Most High God, and come here. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out of the midst of the fire. The satraps, the prefects, the governors, and the king's high officials gathered around and saw in regard to these men that the fire had no effect on the bodies of these men, nor was the hair of their head singed, nor were their trousers damaged, nor had the smell of fire even come upon them." So if you burn a big brush pile out back behind your house, and you're just out there for a little while, and you come in the house, you smell like smoke, right? And how much flame does it take, and how long to singe a hair on your head? Just almost in and in. None of that stuff happened to them at all. And all of these officials, including the king, saw this. He addresses them as servants of the Most High God. You wonder where these Chaldeans were who had accused them, right? They were probably, like, just trying to fade off into the background. Well, finally, the chapter ends. Nebuchadnezzar responded and said, blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants who put their trust in him, violating the king's command. and yielded up their bodies so as not to serve or worship any god except their own god. Therefore I make a decree that any people, nation, or tongue that speaks anything offensive against the god of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb. He's a violent guy, right? And their houses reduced to a rubbish heap inasmuch as there's no other god who's able to deliver them and deliver in this way. And at that point, I bet you the ones that had accused these three in the first place was like their mouths were shut. Then the king caused Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to prosper in the province of Babylon, and God was glorified. But remember, they said, we know God can deliver us from this. Even if he doesn't, and he may choose not to, we're still not going to bow down, right? Even if God intervenes here so that I get to keep my job, right? That will be fine, but even if he doesn't, I'm still not going to bow down and worship that golden image. And there is, you can read for yourself that passage from Matthew that I printed on the last page there from Matthew 10. These are the choices that are always put before each one of us as Christians in a fallen and wicked world, and we need to be certain that we make the right choice. And it's very freeing, it's very freeing to just realize that we're able to say, look, do to me what you want. I'm going to follow Christ. I'm going to be faithful to him. And he will certainly see me through. Father, we thank you for these great lessons from your word. We pray that you would enable each one of us to have the faith that these three young men had in the face of that hard, hard test. We pray, Father, that we would not permit the world to force us to bow down to its demands, but that we would always be faithful to you Entrust ourselves to you knowing that you are with us even if we go through the fire. Thank you for this in Christ